Some of the poems in this FanFiction are in the tune of actual songs. The poem in this chapter, is in the tune of Sober, by Pink.
This chapter has a couple of references to one of my first chapters, Nothing More. Remember, all those years back? You can read the chapter again if you want to understand this one more, I'm not stopping you. You don't have to though. c:
• Chapter Forty-four: Grey as Dust •
…
"Maid! I need a hooficure!"
"Maid, make me a salad?"
"Don't keep me waiting, maid!"
"Maid! Come here this instant!"
"Maid!"
The orders were rolling in, one by one, piling up into an endless list like the terms and conditions to a product. She'd need to be fast...
Fortunately for Cinderainbow, fast was her forte.
She unleashed her two appendages. The feathers were in drastic need of preening, bent and crooked, laden with dust, but were decent enough, nevertheless.
She sent a swift glance at her hoof, bandaged by a cheap, poor-quality watch. The second hand was ticking, and with mere docility, she waited for it to reach the twelve. That was when it would truly be one o' clock.
Three...
Two...
One...
Zero!
The wind swept from her gushing wings, sending the drawers gaping. She selected a single bowl, tossing it straight into the air where it collided with the low-hanging light.
The light shuddered, and buzzed on and off, but was otherwise unaffected.
The bowl was still falling to the floor... but it was in slow motion, as with alarming speed did the pegasus grasp her ingredients and toss them into the air, just above the bowl.
"A leaf of romaine lettuce, freshly plucked from the garden, cleanly diced carrot, capsicum, cherry tomatoes, chickpeas, lentils, cucumber, olives, celery, radish, and a dash of mint and parsley!"
Cinderainbow slid open a drawer, wielding the knife and fork like a samurai, before throwing them into the air. They soared above the still-descending-bowl, and through the falling vegetables, slicing them apart as expected. From there, they kept flying, all the way into a fly-wire window across the other side of the room. They pinged from the material, as though it were a trampoline, and they came soaring back, coursing through the vegetables, yet again, and landing in Cinderainbow's outstretched hooves.
She gave a triumphant grin, before diving to the floor, slipping across the frosty tiles like a seal across ice, just in time for the bowl to land neatly upon her back, followed by all the ingredients, creating a pyramid of salad with the single leaf of parsley atop.
She flung the knife and fork into the bowl, before racing from the kitchen, causing all the drawers to close in her wake. From there she crossed the bathroom, where she snatched a hoof-filer in her teeth.
In a matter of seven seconds, she'd arrived at her designated location- she'd been timing it.
"Your salad, Miss Diamond Tiara." Cinderainbow saluted, placing the bowl before the scowling filly. "Bon appétit! As for you, Miss Silver Spoon, your hooficure."
"Uh huh." The slate-coloured filly extended a hoof, and Cinderainbow placed the filer before it, just about to get to work...
"What is this?" Diamond Tiara caterwauled, cringing down upon her meal.
"Is there something wrong, Miss?" Cinderainbow abandoned Silver Spoon, gazing irritably over Diamond Tiara's bowl.
"Most certainly," the filly chided. "This carrot is too big. You can't expect me to be able to swallow this filth!"
I wish you would swallow it. That way, you'd choke and die, and give me one less pony to serve under, Cinderainbow thought as she took the knife. With a rapid flick, she had halved the vegetable.
Giving Diamond Tiara a curt nod, she returned to her other master.
"What took you so long?" demanded Silver Spoon.
Yes, what took me so long? I know that three seconds is a lifetime.
"I apologise Miss, your sister required my assistance."
"Well do better next time, I find this service appalling."
"Of course, ma'am."
"And don't call me ma'am. It makes me feel old!"
You're the last pony who needs to worry about being old, Cinderainbow heeded as she ran the filer upon the filly's hooves.
Grey.
Cinderainbow was grey.
Cinderainbow was a lack of any hue, just a variation of different shades and tints.
She was a legitimate rainbow of cinder.
However, she wasn't greying from age, no, she was sixteen.
She was grey from the six years of hard work, with not a single Celestia-damned bath!
Hence, she'd forgotten what she'd used to look like. She'd forgotten her aspirations, her achievements, her previous life.
She could only remember a particular filly by the name of Scootaloo and an ice-blue colt.
Soarin.
I wonder how he's going, she pondered. I wonder if he remembers me...
She shook away the cruel fantasies. No, six years, remember. He's probably all grown now, he's probably settled down in some posh home in Cloudsdale with his fillyfriend. I hope that she's nice. Soarin deserves somepony nice...
"Hey! Not that hard!"
Cinderainbow returned to reality as Silver Spoon recoiled, a venomous grimace plaguing her features. But beneath the scowl, Cinderainbow could sense the ripples of pain submerged deep in the filly's lake eyes.
"You hurt me," Silver Spoon spat. "Concentrate, or you know what'll happen!"
Cinderainbow nodded, genuine guilt heating her fur. Silver Spoon was always the more sensitive of the two siblings, and if she'd been hurt, then she meant it. Likewise, she was still a prissy brat who deserved to be punished, not that Cinderainbow would ever say it out loud.
Okay, now let's focus. No more silly hopes!
"Isn't he so dreamy?" Diamond Tiara began, munching upon a piece of celery as she flicked over the pages of a magazine, not reading, just drooling over the pictures.
Cinderainbow suppressed a gag. Not this conversation again!
"Who is?" Silver Spoon asked.
"The prince, you blockhead!"
"Oh, right! The prince!" Silver Spoon gave an unconvinced laugh. "Isn't he a gem?"
Diamond Tiara snorted. "You know which prince I'm talking about, right?"
"Not really..."
"Nitwit! I'm talking about the one who disappeared!"
"Oh! That one! Yes, he's so... mysterious!" Silver Spoon gave a flaunted sigh. "I understand what you mean by dreamy!"
"But he disappeared!" Cinderainbow cracked, no longer able to tolerate the sickening puppy-love.
"We didn't request your opinion!" Diamond Tiara hissed, before giving a terse grin. "But yes, it's depressing, isn't it?"
"So depressing!"
Cinderainbow swallowed down all the revolt which was churning in her mouth like the aftertaste to vomit. They would have been four years old when he disappeared! They're crushing over a pony twice their age! This is wrong on so many levels!
A couple of minutes passed, and boredom began to dominate over Cinderainbow's short attention span.
She began to whistle, but it was cut short as Diamond Tiara looked up from the magazine she'd been 'reading,' her glare that of murder.
Cinderainbow coughed, before finally making her move. "So... about that pay check we were discussing the other day."
"Don't even think about it," grumbled both Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon in unison.
"But girls!"
"Misses!"
"Apologies. Miss Diamond Tiara and Miss Silver Spoon, please take into account that I am sixteen, practically an adult!"
"To be an adult, you have to be eighteen!" Silver Spoon dismissed. "There's a two-year gap."
"But I work so hard!" Cinderainbow cried. She could feel a strain in her lungs. They'd been like that since she'd began inhaling all the coal dust. She knew that it wasn't good, but what could she do about it? "Work like this doesn't grow on trees! I've risked my life just serving you, and I'm repaid by zilch!"
"Because there's no need to repay you," Silver Spoon rebuffed with a snide roll of the eyes. "And you know it."
"Oh come on!" Cinderainbow growled, her fur beginning to rise. "You're already stinkin' rich! Paying me won't make no difference to your wealth, whatsoever!"
"Enough!" Diamond Tiara snarled, snapping shut her magazine and springing to her hooves. From there, she marched forward until she was level with Cinderainbow. "You're poor, and we're rich. We're the leaders, while you're the servant! And you know what servants do?" She didn't wait for an answer. "They serve! Now quit your whining, because if you don't then we'll call Spoiled Rich, and then Spoiled Rich will call Chrysalis, and you know what Chrysalis will do?"
Cinderainbow ducked her head, allowing her unkempt mane to droop over her snout. "She'll send me to jail."
"Precisely, but she won't send you to just any jail, no! She'll send you to juvie, and she won't send you to just any prison for juveniles such as yourself! She'll send you to a juvie of labour, and there, you'll have to work off your flank, twice as hard, twice as rough, twice as life-threatening, and you know what?"
"What?" Cinderainbow hardly dared to ask.
Diamond Tiara smirked, her eyes flashing with cold malice. "You won't get paid a bit!"
"Roasted!" Silver Spoon began to snicker, eagerly awaiting Cinderainbow's next move.
Cinderainbow sighed, falling to her rump and allowing her prickled fur to flatten. "You're right. That will happen." She paused, narrowing her eyes. "But that doesn't mean that it's the right thing to do!"
With a rebellious shriek, she zoomed into the air, whizzing above Diamond Tiara and smashing through the stained-glass window.
Fragments of glass exploded out in every direction, snatching the bits of sunshine and magnifying them outwards. Cinderainbow kept her eyes squeezed shut as the pinches of glass splintering her fur, pricking her skin with ant bites and drawing rivulets of blood.
Her mane wavered like grass in a breeze, puffs of dust and excess debris whisking away, from her mane to her flapping tail.
"No! Come back!" Diamond Tiara wailed, but already, Cinderainbow had whooshed into the distance, leaving no more than a shattered window, and a cluttered, grey feather in her place.
…
"This was a stupid idea," Soarin muttered as he cut through more of the vegetation.
He was hungry, he was thirsty, he was tired, he had no supplies or props, he had no idea where he was going, and above all, he was lost.
"It's a big world. Cinderainbow could be anywhere. The chances of finding her..." He reframed as an oversized beetle flew for his face, beating a dozen flaps per second in its lopsided venture of flight. It eventually became swathed in Soarin's mane.
He could feel it as it drummed against his scalp, but no longer was he motivated to remove it.
"Who's idea was this anyway?" Soarin grumbled, pacing another few steps. His lips periodically twitched as the undergrowth seized his legs, inflicting rashes and scars, staining his fur with the thick layers of mud. "Discord! That's right. It was his idea." With a pulsating headache, he shrieked into the treetops, "well I hope that you're happy! While you get to relax in Fluttershy's cosy lil' cottage, I have to trek through the wilderness and get bitten by insects not known to science. Thank you so much, Mr Chaos! What equality our world is coming towards!"
Shaking his head, he made another few stumbles. That was when there was a boom.
…
"This was a stupid idea," Cinderainbow muttered as she shot through the sky.
The clouds were white and cottony, tumbling passed her like sheep through a narrow fence. She remembered her childhood in Cloudsdale, back when she'd been a milkpony. She remembered the one time she'd been fired thanks to Derpy Hooves. The klutzy mare had banged into her as she'd been doing her job, and every jar had been shattered.
That had been both the worst, and the best day of her life.
It had been the worst, because she'd lost her job, and it had been the best, since it was the day she'd met Soarin.
She sighed, finally reaching a cloud unique to the others, as while the others were white like snow, this one was dark and grey, like the colour of her mane, the colour of her fur and the colour of her soul.
She gave a sniff, and couldn't stop the tears from welling in her eyes. "Shoot," she whispered, wiping away the droplets, but they returned after just a moment's absence. Sentiment was probably her most despised enemy.
"I don't wanna be a part of evil's story.
Or the one who's blurred out by fear's daunting tomb.
I don't wanna be that one who works from night to morning.
Cause I'm stronger than you know, but that strength's gone now, so long."
The cloud felt damp and uninviting beneath her mass, and she shivered as a breeze began to pick up. Nevertheless, the sun was blazing down on her, creating a bundle of contradiction.
"Oh, what have I been through?
How I tolerate?
Can't I fly above it?
Why did I let my life come down this road?"
She stood up, gazing down upon the earth. The trees were like tiny popsicles below, and the ponies were merely ants dotting the land.
"I run! I fly!
Orders can't find me!
Why does this terror live and survive?
They're gone! I've strived!
Six years of nothing.
Why can't I have what used to be mine?"
She released her wings from the sides of her back, and with an agile swish, she took the skies.
"I don't wanna lose someone who used to be me.
It scares me how one race can change a life.
I don't care if even past was not that perfect.
What I remember's worth everything, but I lose."
The sky darkened, baring the crescent moon and its following stars, each sprinkled like glitter upon a page.
"Oh, the present's falling.
A sad excuse of life, hits me to blame.
And time keeps on rolling.
And by the time everything's right, I'll be dead so there's no aim!
I run! I fly!
Orders can't find me!
Why does this terror live and survive?
They're gone! I've strived!
Six years of nothing.
Why can't I have what used to be mine?"
She flew up, blending with the neutralised surroundings. All that was of colour were her eyes, which were of a violent pink, almost red.
"Save me now! Save me now! Save me now!
Don't ask how! Don't ask how! Don't ask how!
Find the missing piece, of me!"
She flew higher and higher, to the point where she were one with the stars, higher than the earth, higher than the clouds.
"Save me now! Save me now! Save me now!
Don't ask how! Don't ask how! Don't ask how!
Find the missing piece, of me!"
With a final swoop, she stopped flying altogether, and was stagnant in the air, staring down upon the innocent land.
"If you look, take a look
At the underprivileged.
You will see all those who
Failed with what they had."
She began falling, firstly it was slow, before the free fall picked up speed and the air buffeted into her limbs. The air pressure was fatal, and it felt as though she were being torn apart, but she didn't stop it. She just kept falling, falling, falling.
"I wish I just thought bad, never better!
Because when it all comes into scale,
Bad could always be worse.
No.
No."
She finally twisted into a nosedive, allowing the air to shape its way around her aerodynamic feathers.
"I run! I fly!
Orders can't find me!
Why does this terror live and survive?
They're gone! I've strived!
Six years of nothing.
Why can't I have what used to be mine?"
She continued to plummet, and with each passing second, the ground grew dangerously close. With the wind lashing at her eyes, buckets of tears began to form, wobbling out in globules.
"I run! I fly!
Orders can't find me!
Why does this terror live and survive?
They're gone! I've strived!
Six years of nothing.
Why can't I have what used to be mine?"
The ground was inches away, and with a final second, she pulled up, feeling the weight of the sky beneath her two wings before she was catapulted into the atmosphere.
In the very process, there was a deafening boom, and a ringlet of blazing fire amplified as a halo, sundering across the earth's surface. It was of many greys: ashes, leads, granites, seres and cinders, misted by a wave of smoke.
The blaring sound continued to echo, many miles away, and even after all the colours had faded, the aftershock was tumultuous.
"Why can't I have what used to be mine?"
Cinderainbow gasped, floating back to the ground, where she dared to gawk upon the ruptured earth.
"A Sonic Rainboom," she whispered in awe, her eyes glimmering more than just pink, but an entire kaleidoscope of varying colours. "A Sonic Rainboom," she repeated, shaking her head as though this mystery of nature were mere fiction.
Finally it all sunk in, and a beam from ear to ear stretched across her face. "A Sonic Rainboom! I just did a Sonic Rainboom!"
…
Soarin could only gape as the raucous hoop swam across the sky. It was a beautiful and notorious figure, defying the sound barrier- defying the very laws of physics.
It was breathtaking.
And it was also very rare.
Soarin had only ever seen one pony who could pull off a Sonic Rainboom, and that was-
"Cinderainbow!" Giving an effervescent shrill, he spread out his wings and was in the sky without a second's delay.
The Rainboom was already fading, but Soarin had a rough clue as to where it could have occurred. It wasn't that far away, too. Now that he was in the air, his perception was clear, and by giving a quick evaluation of his surroundings, he could conclude that he was currently nearing Los Pegasus, which was where the Sonic Rainboom had most likely manifested.
"Cinderainbow!" he cried. "Cinderainbow! Where are you?"
He zipped through the clouds, cherishing every effort and every burst.
He needed to be quick.
I can't lose her again.
"Cinderainbow!" He yelled, ignoring his resistant lungs. "Cinderainbow! Cinderainbow! Is that you? Cinderainbow?"
…
She was still frozen in the reverence of surprise, minutes after the fete had been accomplished. She still couldn't believe it.
She had a small memory of doing a Sonic Rainboom from when she'd been young, but she'd always thought that it were a dream, or the trick of a young pony's mind. Up until now, she'd always thought that it were just a foaltale.
She turned to her feathers, which were now strained and dislodged from all of the flying.
Flying.
I didn't know I could... fly... goodly I mean.
She was still shaking her head when the voice began to sound. It was muffled, but it was oddly familiar.
She listened closer, before finally making out the words being shouted.
"Cinderainbow! Cinderainbow!"
She stiffened. "Oh no! No!" She whipped around, but there was nopony in sight. Nopony yet.
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon must have told Spoiled Rich of my escape! She must have told Chrysalis! Chrysalis must have sent her guards out on me! Or worse- she may be looking for me herself!
Many questions flurried about Cinderainbow's mind, but she was certain of one thing.
This voice couldn't be good, and she couldn't let whoever it belonged to, find her.
She scanned her surroundings, trying to locate any form of hiding spot. Barren. Everything was barren.
"Oh no!" she squeaked, before another idea came to her. Wings. Since I'm now great at flying! Right?
She peered at her feathers. If they could talk, they'd probably be saying 'please don't! We're tired! Don't use us, we beg you!'
But they couldn't talk, and she was tired and afraid and she needed to get away. "Let's give these bad-boys another go, shall we?" she muttered, before flinging herself into the air.
…
From far away he could see the rainbow of grey steam streaking from the pony as she flew. Every pegasus had their own style of flying, and hers was fearless, precise, and perfect.
Just like Cinderainbow's.
The second thing Soarin noticed, was that she was in a hurry, and the third was that she was flying away from him.
"Oh no you don't!" he bellowed, before applying more leverage and darting forward, feeling his own path of stream tailing behind him like a streamer. "Cinderainbow! Wait!"
His voice only seemed to make her fly faster, as she pierced through the sky with just the effort of a moth's flutter.
It became apparent to Soarin that he was lagging behind, no matter how hard he tried. She always was the better flier, he mused. Back when we were foals. Looks like nothing has changed.
He wasn't going to deny that she looked different. Not only was she older, but she was no longer bright and colourful, consequently her name Cinder-'rainbow.' She was now of a mute and plain grey, her mane entirely colourless, and her fur of a dim blue, as though it were soaked in dust.
His eyes widened. It was dust! He could see the mini particles wafting from her back as wind's tongue ran down it.
But that wasn't nearly the worst of it.
The most devastating thing of all, was her wings.
Her incredible, precious wings, the wings that had won her countless races, the wings which'd been through so much.
While some feathers were separated and ruffled, others were stuck together as though somepony had drowned them in glue. Potent with dust and other substances, they were bent and crooked, some even jagged, or hanging like a puppet from thin string.
It was a perplexity how she could fly at all- then again, she was Cinderainbow.
If she can fly like this now, I won't dare imagine how she flies with tidier wings! Soarin shivered, wondering if it were possible to break more than just the sound barrier. I have to catch up to her. But how?
Finally, an idea popped into his head, and he veered to the diagonal right, still going her approximate direction. As he expected, she flew more to the left.
"Keep going," he whispered, knowing that his voice would be lost in the billowing gale. "Lefter, a little more to the left..."
Finally they were both flying in his desired path. Okay. Let's do this. Building up every ounce of energy, he made a beeline forward, thrusting his wings with all his might.
It was obvious that Cinderainbow had noticed his sudden rush, and she scooted away with a frantic beat of the wings- a bad move on her part, as with the very move was she thrown into a rampaging storm to the west of Los Pegasus.
He heard her scream as the tempest picked her up, effortlessly shaking her like a doll. She lost her flight, and was sent into a spiralling whirlwind, her wings and legs flailing as the gust changed its mind, as unpredictable as it was.
Soarin took a gulp, turning to his Cutie Mark, which was of a lightning bolt surrounded by an erratic storm.
"Don't fail me now, special talent," he uttered before diving head first into the greedy hurricane.
Almost instantly did the winds grab ahold of him, spinning and flowing in the anticipation of throwing him off course, sending him into an uncontrollable ball of peril.
Their whimsical voices lapped his ears, like the ocean through a shell, but they were blatant and clamorous, laughing their deathly-threats. They wanted him to fail. They wanted him to crash and burn.
But Soarin was ready. With each burst of currant, he'd follow the charge, keeping his wings tight and small in order to prevent the wind's catch.
It began to grow restless as he neared the storm's eye, but with great experience and endurance, he was able to overcome the blizzard's fury.
He looked around, squinting for a hint of Cinderainbow's trademark mane. Something- anything of red, orange, yellow, green, blue or purple. but everything in sight was grey. Grey from the storm's clouds, to the leaves churning with the air.
"Drat!" he cursed, remembering the dust which lathered Cinderainbow's fur, staining it like oil through water. "Nonononono..."
Everything looked the same, just grey, grey, grey.
There must be something... something that can tell her apart from everything else...
Just a colour- a colour other than grey. A colour that no matter what, would always be the same...
"That's it!"
For the second time this day, an ingenious idea dawned upon him, and with a new flare of energy, he inspected the area once again.
Finally he saw it- those bright roseate eyes, the same ones he remembered from all those years ago, except now, they were wide and desperate with fear.
Now that he'd seen her, he couldn't miss her, her whole form made sense against the ripping cyclone, she was unseeable.
Giving a deep breathe, he sailed forward, approaching her with ease in spite of the storm's anger.
She was desperately flailing her wings, trying to steady herself and gain balance. But with her wings spread agape, she was allowing the wind to find pockets, all the merrier to bang against and reap more havoc. Her eyes further widened as she noticed the pegasus approaching her.
"Why are you following me?" she screeched, kicking away with minimal success. "I can handle this myself! Go away you creep!"
"Stop that! You're going to hurt yourself!" Soarin yelled, hoping that she'd catch his words above the gale's never ending song.
"I don't care!" she retorted, clenching her teeth as the wind changed its course, yet again.
Always so headstrong, he thought, floating a careful pace closer. "Listen to me, Cinderainbow."
"No!"
"Listen!"
"Get lost!"
"You need my help!"
"No I don't!"
"Cinderainbow-"
"Beat it!" She lashed a hoof forward, a feeble attempt of a punch which only dizzied her more. "I don't care what you say, just- woah!"
With a flash of light, a hand of spindly fingers clutched out for Cinderainbow, only narrowly missing her head. At the exact same time, there was a boom which sent tremors up and back Soarin's spine.
"Lightning..." he whispered, his vision becoming obscure beneath the shadow of horror.
No... not now! He remembered a young version of himself, gazing wistfully through a fogged window before the rakes of white fire came clawing the sky. He'd hidden under his bed as his old mother sung nursery rhymes to lull his tears.
Another flash howled through his ears, bringing him back to his senses.
"I don't care what you say!" Soarin roared, pleased as the mare's face of annoyance contorted into that of surprise. "I'm getting you outta' here, and fast!"
With a single pump of the wings, he was sent gliding into her. She began to protest, but it happened all so fast that they couldn't have blinked.
Lugging Cinderainbow along, Soarin pummelled into a cloud before breaking free of the storm and falling into the sky's clear heart.
And then they were plummeting to their dooms.
Down, down, down to the earth before they both crashed.
I was going to write more, but I got lazy and decided to end it on a cliffhanger. I'm horrible, I know.