Chapter 8: "It's much harder to escape than to break in."

Alpha stared at Luna with fear. He wasn't scared of her. He was scared that she knew about Beta. She could screw up his one and only chance at finding out his reason.

"Shit."

Luna's horn began to glow as she fired a spell at Alpha.

"DOWN!"

Alpha instantly stopped flapping his wings, and dropped like a rock, missing the incoming spell by mere centimeters. He spread his wings and banked hard left, flying into the factory. He broke through a disintegrating wall and kept flying.

"Focus on protecting us from her spells; I'll get us out of this mess!" Alpha told Beta. "Fire back if you must, but non-lethal spells only, I don't want her to die just yet."

"Don't worry about me, focus on your flying!"

Alpha banked hard right and left as he flew through the collapsing facility. He saw flashes of light on the walls and knew that Beta was fighting off Luna as best as he could. Alpha flew to the floor and landed. He set off down the corridor and took a left into pitch blackness. He slowed his breathing and listened. He heard the sound of hoofs hitting the ground as Luna landed, looking for Alpha. She walked toward his position, not able to see due to the lack of light.

"It's pretty dark inside here, Alpha. Don't let the monsters catch you." Luna said aloud with a grin.

"The only monster I can see isn't within me." Alpha responded.

"I am a guardian when compared to Beta. Did you know he killed ponies? He slaughtered them for fun."

"Don't always listen to your sister, Luna. She banned you to the moon for 10 centuries, or have you forgotten that already?" Beta replied. "She is hiding something from us, you have to admit that."

"Don't you dare talk about Princess Celestia. My sister has never lied to me. She banished me to protect me and Equestria. She has no reason to lie to me."

"She has nothing to lose to lie to you. But that doesn't mean she doesn't have anything to gain. If you are who your reputation says you are, then you protect and visit colts and fillies dreams, right?"

"That is correct, but why should it matter to you?"

"Do you remember any of my dreams when I was alive or any of Alpha's dreams?" Alpha had begun to move around in the darkness. His eyes, already used to being in the dark, had adjusted instantly and were able to see Luna. Luna was blind. She couldn't see a damn thing, but could hear Alpha's steps and breath.

"I do not protect those who kill."

"Don't be so naïve, Luna. I was a mutant before I had my…incident. I was a victim. I don't remember you visiting me in my dreams." Beta said, circling Luna.

"That was 900 years ago, Beta." Luna said with fear in her voice. "I was still Nightmare Moon on the moon."

"That may be so, but you weren't in Alpha's dreams when he was in the RF; before I met him. And even after I met and helped him, you were never there, never visited, never protected. That was 3 years ago." Alpha was in front of Luna. She had no idea that he was so close to her. He was using the walls to bounce his voice to sound like if he was everywhere at once.

"I was still on the moon." Luna said, moving her head left and right, trying to hear his breath.

"WRONG! Before I bonded to Alpha, I watched you. You were at the Castle. You banished on the moon for 900 years, not 1000 years. You stayed at the Castle with your sister. You slowly revealed yourself to the staff and guards of the Castle. I was watching you. The reason you haven't committed suicide from depression of being alone for 900 years is because of me. When you were on the moon, I was with you. The elements that banished you to the moon obliterated my body. I decided, after I found out that I was dead, to go to you. Do you have any memory of this? Or do you choose to forget it all? Choose to forget all that I have done for you and listen to the excuse of a sister that Celestia is?"

"ENOUGH!" Luna screamed her voice full to the brim with fear. Her horn glowed red as everything in the room except for Alpha was engulfed in flames.

"Shit, time to run." Beta told Alpha.

"No shit Sherlock." Alpha replied as he ran past Luna and down the hallway. He took flight and took a hard right, flying out of a broken window. Once in the open, Alpha knew he needed to get somewhere safe.

"Go to Ponyville, I doubt she will hurt an innocent pony there."

"Let's hope so." Alpha said as he dived down and flew faster than he had ever dared to go towards Ponyville.

John was frantically looking for Vinyl. He was covered in his own blood but did not care, he needed to find this mare and fast before he was caught by the guards. As he was flying, he looked behind him to see if he was followed when he crashed into Octavia. Octavia and Vinyl were out for a stroll to see the sunset.

"I am so sorry, wasn't looking where I was flying." John said as he got up frantically, afraid he had made to much noise.

"Next time, watch where you are flying. Why are you in such a hurry?" Vinyl said as he helped Octavia up.

"I'm looking for somepony. It's important that I find her right away before anything else bad happens." John replied, looking around.

"Anything else bad happens? Who are you looking for?" Vinyl asked.

"A Unicorn called Vinyl Scratch. I have a message and a package from somepony for her. It is essential that I find her and give her it." He said; his heart racing. It was starting to get dark.

"Well you are looking for me. I am Vinyl Scratch. What's up?" She said, cheerfully.

John open Alpha's bag and took out the jar of blood. He held it up and showed Vinyl the jar. Octavia screamed and fainted. Vinyl looked at Octavia's unconscious body, then looked back at John, taking a step back.

"Is that Blood!? Why do you have a jar of blood? Why are you giving me a Jar of blood? Are you fucking sick?" Vinyl demanded.

"It's not just blood. Open the jar." John told Vinyl, his heart returning to normal.

"Why?"

"Don't ask why. Just do it."

Vinyl took the jar from John and opened it. She watched as the blood turned into a rainbow-colored liquid. Vinyl stared at the liquid then looked at John and saw the dried blood on his face. Her eyes widened as she slowly realized what the jar of blood meant.

"It's real? The Rainbow Factory is real?" She asked as she looked back at the jar.

"It was. I am from there. I was spared because I was able to lift heavy metal object with ease. The Pegasus with the metallic wing freed and sent me to find you. He wants me to tell you that he needs to talk to you as soon as possible." John said.

Vinyl closed the jar and watched as the liquid inside turned back into blood. "Why? Where is he from? What is his name? What do you mean "was"? Is it gone? What happened?" Vinyl asked.

"Slow down. He did not tell me why. I do not know where he is from. His name is Alpha. He…" John stopped as he stared at the clouds above him, his eyes widened as his jaw dropped.

"What? What did he do?" Vinyl asked, getting annoyed

"Sweet Celestia." John muttered.

"What are you looking at?" Vinyl asked as she looked where John was staring at. "I don't see anything."

"Coming from the clouds." Octavia replied. She had already gotten up and had been watching the glowing light fall from the sky. Vinyl looked up and saw the glowing orb fall.

But it wasn't a glowing orb. It wasn't a orb at all. It was two Pegasuses. One seemed to be chasing the other. The one chasing the other was inexplicably dark blue. The one being chased was white…or red. Vinyl wasn't sure.

"Luna….." Vinyl whispered. "What is she doing?"

"Chasing Alpha." John answered Vinyl, watching the spectacle, unable to do anything.

Alpha was flying straight down at a 90 degree angle. He was going as fast as his body could let him. He already broke through the sonic barrier, creating a halo of Red and Blue, which stunned Luna for a few seconds, but did not slow her down. He was already going too fast to stop. He leaned back hard and started to pull up. He pulled up away from the ground just at the last second, the air behind him crashed down into the dirt, creating a huge sound similar to what a cannon sounds like when fired. Beta was firing spell after spell at Luna to keep her at bay.

"It's now or never, Alpha. We need to lose her."

"I know, I know. She is just too fast. I can't seem to shake her off."

"Getting tired Alpha?" Luna said in a mocking fashion. "We have just begun to play. It would be a shame for me to win when we have just started."

"Alpha, I'm running out of spells here. Do something!"

"You might not like what I am thinking of doing."

"I don't care what it is, just do it!"

"Well, here goes nothing." Alpha banked hard up and right. He spun around and went onto an intercept course to Luna. "Stop firing and fire the brightest spell you got on my mark!" Alpha told Beta, the distance between him and Luna was closing.

"Ready!" Beta said.

Alpha waited until his front hooves were a hoof away from Luna's face when he banked hard left. "NOW!" He screamed. Beta shot off his spell. It rebounded off Luna and turned into a small sun, temporarily blinding Luna. Alpha was blinded as well, but not as bad as Luna. "SHIT!" He screamed as he covered his eyes, his wings giving out at the same time.

"Why did you stop flying?"

"My wings are too tired. They stopped flapping."

"Shit. Try to land somewhere soft, like grass."

Alpha painfully spread his wings as opened his eyes. He tried as hard as he could to glide to a softer area but it was no use. He was over a forest with no grassy hill or open patch of land in sight. He spotted a trail with some ponies on it and aimed there, hoping the ponies on the trail were friendly and would help him. Alpha braced for impact as he hurled toward the ground. He covered his face with both wings and curled up into a ball, tucking in his legs. He hit the ground with such velocity that the cement trail was pulverized where he hit. Alpha was somehow conscious, and got up slowly.

"Let's not do that again. Beta, are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I tried to slow down our speed by firing a spell at the trail, hoping it would rebound and hit us, which did not work out as I expected."

"Did you think that the spell might kill us instead of slowing us down?"

"I was in the moment. Wasn't really thinking, so no, I wasn't thinking that the spell could kill us. I was thinking that if we didn't slow down, we would paint the trail red and decorate it with bone, flesh and metal."

"Well it worked. What you did made the impact a lot softer, but did not slow me down." He looked at his metallic wing. "Shit, this thing can take some serious damage before warping. There isn't a single scratch on it." Alpha said. He took a step forward and fell to the ground, exhausted. "So tired…."

"I am not surprised. Your body will be hurting tomorrow. Let's go back to the cave."

"Too tired….need…to...sleep…"Alpha said, his eyes nearly shut.

"Then let me take over. I'll get us home."

"….." Alpha was already asleep. Beta sighed as he took over manually, and got up. He looked up at the night sky, looking for Luna.

"I hope she is alright. Didn't mean to hurt her badly, just temporarily blind her." Beta said to himself. He slowly walked on the trail, exhausted. He walked into Ponyville and found a public restroom with a public shower. "Alpha, wake up. Found a shower, I think it has warm water. It will help you relax." Alpha didn't respond. "Fine, your loss." Beta took off the metallic wing, setting it on the wall opposite to the stall. He then walked into the shower stall and twisted the knob, closing his eyes as he felt the warm water spray onto face. He washed the blood out of his skin and mane. He winced as the water hit his burnt wing. Beta heard the door open and close, but dismissed it as the wind outside and went back to washing his tail. Once he had washed all the blood out, he turned off the shower and walked out of the stall. He saw movement to his right but did not move. If it was Luna, he would be already dead. He looked to his right and saw Vinyl staring at him, his wing behind her.

"When were you going to tell me?" She asked.

"Tell you what? That I am real? That the Legend is true? There is a lot that Alpha isn't telling any pony. I can't blame him. He has been through events similar that I went through when I was alive.."

"So, you are Beta, right?"

"That is correct." Beta looked at Vinyl, his eyes, mane and tail glowing red. "I am Beta."

"You killed ponies 900 years ago because you could; because you wanted to; because it was fun hurting others. And now you are here to hurt more, right? Why else would you be here?"

"You are correct about what I did when I was alive. You are not correct why I did it." Beta shook his head. "I cannot tell you why I did what I did because you won't believe me. You won't understand why I killed so many ponies. I did have fun doing it, hurting others. But you have to understand Vinyl Scratch, one does not hurt others just because they can. They must have a reason to do so. I am not here to hurt more. I am here because Alpha needed somepony. He was alone and hurt when I met him. Since then, I have helped him through his life: I have toned down the pain he feels, kept him company, made sure he doesn't feel alone, and got him out of his personal hell. The Past doesn't always describe the pony. It tells another what they have done, what they have learned, but does not define that pony."

"Stop rambling about, Beta. I know what you did. You killed ponies for fun. Once you self-taught yourself dark magic, you went insane. You went on a killing spree, flaying and torturing any pony you saw. You left no survivors, you spared no one. You are a murderer and a killer. You are a bully." Vinyl said, enraged.

"I AM NOT A BULLY!" Beta screamed. He stomped his front hoof down in anger and lowered his head as a ring of blue flames surrounded him, "Like Alpha, you and countless others, I am a victim. Society was different when I was alive. I was a mutant, able to use magic. If you were a mutant back in my time, you would be hated by all Ponies, Unicorns, Pegasus, and Alicorns. I was hated, discriminated, bullied, beat up, attacked, and left to die." Beta tried to control his temper. "I only killed those who hurt me, who made it their life goal to make my life hell. I left survivors; I spared those who had been hurt by others. I killed and wiped out the bullies. I made sure that if I was to die, no mutant would be hurt again." Beta looked up at Vinyl, not as angry as he was earlier, but still annoyed. "I am a victim. When I first found Alpha, it was right when he lost his wing. I took control of his body and made sure those who hurt him were made to suffer. I saw my younger self inside him. He reminded me of myself before I went insane. So I bonded with him. I made myself a promise that I would do what I can, whatever I can to protect him. To make sure he does not follow in my hoofsteps." Beta stared at Vinyl, the blue flames slowly turned orange as Beta considered Vinyl as a friend or an enemy. "Don't you dare hurt Alpha or I'll rip off your horn from your skull. And before you ask, it is possible to do that. I have done it before."

"Don't worry, I won't." Vinyl said, insulted by Beta but not wanting to get on his bad side. "So what are you here for?"

"Alpha was punished for saving a red mare 1 week before his 11th birthday. He was punished by having his wing taken off. The original punishment was to be killed but the guards said that they had special orders from the Princess to keep him alive. I am here to help Alpha find out what reason Celestia and Luna have to keep Alpha alive but hurt." Beta explained. "But I will leave that for when you talk to Alpha. For now, I need to get back to our cave. Alpha is extremely tired, and so am I." Beta walked past Vinyl, grabbing and slipping on the metallic wing and headed to the door. Beta opened the door when he stopped and looked back at Vinyl. "I'm sorry for getting angry earlier. It's a time I do not want to think about. I am glad Alpha met you, he finally has a pony he considers a friend and can trust that isn't within himself. Goodnight." Beta walked out of the restroom to see Octavia and John waiting for Vinyl. He nodded to both and walked off to the forest.

Vinyl walked out of the restroom a short time later. She looked at John and Octavia before watching Beta walk into the forest.

"What happened in there?" Octavia asked Vinyl.

Vinyl looked at Octavia with a depressed look. "I'll tell you later." She looked at John. "Thanks for giving me the message and package. I'll keep them safe to give to Alpha when I see him again."

"Don't mention it. I owe him after what he did for me." John said, nodding to Vinyl. "I must go, It's been 5 years since I have seen my wife, I'm hoping to surprise her." He said as he flew off. "Goodnight to you both."

"Good night." Octavia said to John. She looked at Vinyl. Vinyl looked back at her with a concerned frown. "What's wrong, Vinyl?" She asked.

"It's nothing." Vinyl said, hiding her feelings with a smile. "Come on, let's go home. We've had a hell of a night tonight. I'll tell you when we get there." She told Octavia and started to head to her home.

Beta had just arrived at his cave. Not even bothering to start a fire, he turned around and laid down on the ground. He was exhausted from destroying the factory. He slipped of his wing and covered himself with it, using it as a make shift blanket. He put his head on his front hoofs and fell asleep fast.

If Beta were to look up before he fell asleep, he would have seen two white glowing ovals watching him….