From the Mouth of Babes
He folded his glasses and tucked them into his jacket pocket. The plain inspector vanished as he removed the jacket, revealing the great alicorn. The little nursery room seemed to catch on fire as he entered. Dash figured the little inmates must be terrified to see this hot, radiant being looming over them.
Yeshua stooped down to comfort the fillies. He loosened each knot with gently controlled magic, and unwrapped the bonds of each one with his hoof.
When he freed the pale blue filly's legs, she immediately wrapped around his foreleg and clung tight for security. With the gag removed, the first word from Cloud Lily's mouth was, "Daddy!" He brushed her wintry mane off of her face and looked into her tear-blurred eyes.
Dash raised her eyebrows in genuine surprise. They reacted as if they already knew him. Surely they're not his kids. Of course they weren't, each young pony was from a different family anyway.
Yeshua sat down next to her so that she could lean on his side while he unbound the bruised colt.
Shooting Star pleaded, "I'm really sorry! I'll do better, I promise!"
Yeshua picked up the bright orange colt. "It's okay. You're okay. You didn't do anything wrong."
Shooting Star was still anxious. "Somebody told us it was okay, but then the angry guys came." He looked down and to the side, hiding the swollen side of his face.
The great golden alicorn tenderly nuzzled him and kissed his bruised cheek. He lowered the little one back to the floor, to stand on his own four hooves. "There. How does it feel now?"
Shooting Star touched his face with a look of wonderment, and beamed, "All better! That works even better than mommy's kiss the booboo. Are you the doctor?" The dark mark and the swelling was gone without a trace.
Another filly whined, "I want my mama. This place is scary!"
"You need to wait here just a bit longer. Nothing bad will happen now. You'll get to see your mama in a little while," he reassured.
It was obvious to Dash as she watched that his tenderness for them was genuine. Frankly it was amazing that these kids would trust anyone, after all they'd been through today. Even through the soundproof glass she could feel the warm, wholesome presence that radiated from him. She stepped back, as if she was afraid to fall under his spell.
Cloud Lily said, "I don't wanna go to the doctor anymore. They said they would help us but now it's all scary."
Yeshua patted her head. "There is no doctor here. They were lying, and that was wrong."
Shooting Star was disappointed. "But… I wanna get better at flying. They said, he said the doctor would make me better at flying around, and I wanna do tricks and be cool and make my mom proud, and, and fly better."
"You don't need a doctor for that, you just need more practice," the big alicorn said in a fatherly tone. "You know what else? I'm already proud of you."
"Buh buh but I'm not very good," the little colt fretted.
"You are worth more than your wings. Even if you can't fly right, I'm proud of you. If you can't run right, I'm proud of you. If you get the sniffles and can't smell right, I'm still going to be proud of you." He lightly pressed the little one's nose as if pushing a button. "Wouldn't it be silly to be upset with someone because of their nose?"
Shooting Star stared crosseyed at his own snout, pondering the question.
"I'm proud of you right now," Yeshua encouraged, "and your mom loves you too, just the way you are. She didn't want to send you away, she was told she had to."
"Do you think my dad will really love me no matter what?" Cloud Lily asked, saddened.
"Honey, your dad is kind of a jerk right now," he said bluntly. "He loves you, but he's being very selfish. He'll only tell you that he loves you when you're doing good in school and winning competitions. He thinks that if he rewards you when you mess up you won't try to do better. His dad was very harsh with him, and that's what he thinks love looks like."
She looked down, dejected. "He sent me away… because I'm not good enough. Nobody wants me."
"It's not your fault," he told her gently. "He doesn't know how to help you, and is afraid of what people will say. He sent you away, but he didn't mean for it to be like this. He was told you would go to a special school where they would help you, but that wasn't true." She hugged his leg tightly.
"It's going to take your dad a long time to realize how much you mean to him. Until then," he said, holding up her chin and looking her in the eyes. "I'll be a father to you. I will always be watching over you, and I'll always be proud of you."
Cloud Lily nodded, a tear in her eye. He pulled her into a tight, comforting hug for a minute until she calmed down. And another while until she smiled, feeling loved.
Shooting Star was mesmerized by the dancing white flames that made up the mane of this mysterious, heavenly presence. He reached out to poke it carefully, but hesitated. "Can I touch it?"
"Go ahead, it won't hurt you," Yeshua invited.
The little one formed a mischievous smile. Instead of poking with his hoof, he sprang head first into the flickering warmth and vanished in the big pony's mane.
The other fillies gave a little gasp as he disappeared. There was a moment of suspense.
Shooting Star's face poked out from the gently rolling blaze. Triumphant, he announced, "I'm a FIRE!"
"Yes you are," the alicorn said, mirroring the tiny pony's grin.
"No way! Is it hot?" his friends asked in wonder. "Are you burnt up?"
There was a little magical "poof" sound. The happy foal hopped out, completely unaffected except for one important detail. "Lookit! Ohmigosh I got my cutie mark! That's so cool!"
Rainbow Dash almost did a double-take when she saw a flame emblem on the hind quarters of the foal. Did he really just get his freaking cutie mark? More importantly… Did Yeshua just GIVE it to him?
"What does it mean? Do I have fire power now? Fwoosh!" he said, pointing his arms out and pretending to shoot fire out of his hooves.
"You're so silly. It means that you're brave and faithful. A lot of ponies trust you, and you inspire them. Ponies see you being brave and you make them brave too. See?"
The other fillies had already started playing in the magical fire. Shooting Star looked around at the others, and back to Yeshua. They shared a grin.
Dash tried to put the pieces together. Cutie marks have some sort of connection to Harmony, she knew that much. She remembered her five friends who had gotten their cutie marks all on the same day, before they had even met, as if they were meant to come together. And they were meant to come together to use the Elements of Harmony. The Elements even changed form to match the emblem of their bearers. So Harmony had something to do with destiny, even with existence, and being somehow out of harmony was the whole reason for the magic crisis. The Rainbow Factory was there to make up for its apparent absence.
Dash had felt so alive and special when she had been filled with the magic of the Elements. That experience was unforgettable. I'd give anything to feel that again. But now it had rejected her. She couldn't use her own cutie mark, much less the Elements themselves.
"Don't go," Cloud Lily begged. "I'm scared. What if more angry guys come?"
"No more angry guys," he promised. "I'll put a magic seal on the door so no one can come in or out. As long as you can see it, nothing bad can happen. And when it goes away, that means the trouble is over and you can go back to your parents."
"Thank you mister!" Shooting Star responded confidently. "I bet the bad guys will get in trouble now."
"Don't worry about them." Yeshua motioned toward the other kids. "Just make sure to cheer up your friends while you're waiting here."
The little colt stood a little taller. "Yessir okay."
"Before they get their cutie marks it's easier to believe they don't have destinies." He glanced towards the little fire filly. Through the glass they saw Shooting Star give Cloud Lily the last cookie. She smiled sheepishly and took a bite.
Still in his true form, Yeshua pointed his horn at the door cast a spell. A seal appeared, like the one he had placed on the front gate. At the same moment, identical glowing marks appeared in front of every holding cell.
She knew in that moment that he would not let a single foal be harmed. This was a clear sign that they were under his protection. Why would he pledge to defend some random fillies he had never met until just now? He's acting like they're his own kids! Everything about his words and behavior told her that there would be no little ones going to the Machine today. And if not today, perhaps not ever. That must be why he had come—to stop the Rainbow Factory once and for all. She shuddered to think why he wanted the Machine activated at full power. He must be close to completing his plan.
Anger rose up inside Dash, blocking out the other emotions that tormented her. How could you take this away?
She had already tried being nice. This time she spoke up assertively, realizing she didn't have anything to lose. "When you're done playing grandpa, I've got something to show you."
She swiveled and headed straight for another secured door on the other side of the room. This one had no windows or decorations or guards. She swiped her access card on the panel. "While you're making me feel bad, look at all the good we do."
She swung it open to reveal a room full of medical equipment. A low hum and an occasional beep signified that the system was functioning as usual. The gadgets, tubes, and monitors all centered around glass vats full of yellowish liquid, each no bigger than a fish bowl. A tiny equine figure floated in each one. They were fleshy and awkwardly proportioned. Plastic umbilical tubes pumped the fluids necessary to keep them alive, and each vat had a heat lamp that kept it warm. There were rows of them.
"This is the spectra of the future," Dash explained. "Special magicians teleport fetuses out of the womb before they can be born. Once they're collected they're called neophytes. These new incubators can keep them fresh, so we can transport them here for the Machine. This way we will be able to make rainbows without any harm or suffering. This is what you call progress."
He stared at the complex life support system and shook his head in disbelief. "Is this what you've done with all your knowledge of healing?" It obviously wasn't there to save lives, but only to keep the meat fresh.
"What's the matter?" she taunted. "Mares love it because they don't have to actually give birth, but you wouldn't understand that. Neophytes are hardly alive anyway! You want to be nice? This is compassion, the equine thing to do."
She led the way into the room which was not only well lit but impeccably clean. "Obviously they aren't as big, but they give more product per ounce, for egghead science reasons. At one point we're going to switch over, but the magic deficit keeps growing, so until we can open more clinics, we do both."
She squinted at the pudgy, half-formed bodies. "Look at these little blanks. Mares come to us and they're gonna have to call off their life plans, all because they got stuck with these things."
He did look, peering closely at the closest neophyte. His gaze softened again, surveying its little features and observing its chest rise and fall with the beat of its tiny heart.
She was irritated that he seemed to think they were cute. "Isn't a mare's destiny, her hopes and dreams, worth more than this little blob of flesh?" she derided. "And look how many ponies we help! They come to us, begging for us to make them not pregnant. One little teleportation, and poof! They're free."
"Free from motherhood?" he asked, without looking up.
"Yeah," Dash insisted. "I don't know if you noticed, but you made it a pretty bucking tough assignment."
"Pretty tough to do alone, anyways," he conceded, but added, "but it's not like you to back down from a challenge."
Dash scoffed, "A challenge, huh? You probably want to keep us locked up in our homes! Did you give me this cutie mark to do laundry and wash dishes? I don't think so!"
He was so absorbed with the tiny ponies that he offered no retort.
She took the opportunity to hammer her point home. "Once we make the transition to neophytes as our only source for spectra, all of your touchy-feely arguments about feeling sorry for fillies will go away. I mean, they're not even real ponies. It's not a crime if there's no victim. Do you want to force foals to grow up where nobody wants them? Now that's wrong."
He walked the rows slowly, appreciating each one as an individual, though Dash couldn't tell them apart. Of all the things he had done, this made her the most nervous. She didn't know what exactly she was afraid of, but just being there with him, knowing who he was…
To her surprise, he opened one of the incubators and lifted its little occupant out of the amniotic solution and held it in his hoof. He gingerly touched his other hoof on the neophyte's chest. Its eyes didn't open, but its legs moved ever so slightly in response. He gazed at it lovingly. "Oh, look at you. Everything you will be is already in there, right where I put it. You just haven't had time to show it."
He removed the intravenous tubes, disconnecting it from the machinery. Dash was caught off guard. Was he pulling the plug on it? He cupped the little fetus in his arms, drew a deep breath, and exhaled on it. Before her eyes, it grew slightly larger, and its skin became fuzzy with new fur. Its stumpy little mane and tail were bleached. He stroked once, and the hairs turned to a sandy cream color at his touch. He stroked again, adding blue to its mane and tail. Finally, he tenderly kissed its forehead, and its eyes opened. There it sat, a perfect little foal. He was a colt. "Who wouldn't want you?"
The sight made Rainbow Dash cold and clammy, as if she had seen a ghost. She put a hoof to her stomach, sensing rising nausea. She was both ashamed and terrified. She tried to back away quietly. He was facing away from her at the moment, and a rising panic told her that she should be out of sight by the time he turned around. She cast another glance at the neophyte, but seeing the baby was almost excruciating. The foal gave a little cry, and that being comforted it.
Her bowels revolted.
She spun around and started to run but found herself staggering instead. She practically limped as she made her way around the corner into a maintenance hallway. She grasped onto a bio-waste bin, pushed the flap open with her snout and vomited inside. She heaved and spat out her breakfast. She panted and coughed as she tried to get rid of the last of it. She collapsed onto the floor before she was done, too devastated to care.