Rainbows and choices

21

'You remind me of somepony, you know? A failures that tried to hold us of so that her friend could escape. You follow in her hoofsteps. But let me already tell the end of that story. She and her friend are both dead! Oh, poor Aurora. She sacrificed herself for nothing in an attempt to save Scootaloo.' I said with a smile. A shocked expression appeared on Sandbar's face. 'Oh, yeah. I had completely forgotten that.' I said while pretending it just occurred to me. 'You and the CMC are friends, right? Together you tried to stop Cozy Glow and so on. Did you realize that Scootaloo had ended here? She didn't make it easy for us. Dash finally got hold of her. The last words Scootaloo said to Rainbow Dash were: you have beautiful eyes. That's how your friends end up. At the machine, with a few last deep words that nobody cares about. And you are Aurora in this situation. Do you want to know what Rainbow Dash has done with Aurora? She walked towards her, took her wing, AND PULLED HIM FROM HER PATHETIC BODY!' I said and I kicked Sandbar in his side on the spot where the wings of a pegasus would be. I felt his ribs break under my hooves and he fell to the floor with a cry of pain. 'Aurora didn't scream. Do you know what Dash did next?' I said. I lifted up Sandbar and hung him on the machine. 'She pulled off her other wing too, while she hung over the machine.' I said and I kicked Sandbar's other side. I flew to the lever and pulled. The machine just started spitting out Sandbar's summer colors when I flew out of the room with a gust of wind.

There was a pipe in the corridor ceiling. There were regularly such pipes in the corridors. They were made to fly up and down quickly. My "friends" still had the leather bands around their waist. They couldn't use their wings. I, on the other hoof, shot up through the first pipe I saw. I knew the entire Rainbow factory as the tip of my hoof. I knew that I could cut a piece here towards the exit. My "friends" couldn't escape. Flying was faster than walking. I came to a sudden stop when I thought I heard voices. I tried to listen where they came from. It was as if they ..., but they couldn't. How could they come from around the corner if they were supposed to be one floor below. They couldn't have climbed the nearest stairs. It was too far away. I tried to focus on what they were doing. 'well seen, Smolder.' Gallus said, breathing heavily. 'Maybe we shouldn't stay here. They will catch us.' Said Smolder. 'Those workers haven't seen us go up, you know.' Silverstream said, also out of breath. 'They're coming back. I think we should split up. With two they cannot follow us all three. We have that advantage until Black Blue finishes with Sandbar. So we have to hurry.' Said Smolder. 'Wait, how did you get your wings free? Because if we split up, you're not going to pull us up anymore.' Asked Gallus. 'I burned through the leather band.' Said Smolder. 'Can you burn ours too?' Silverstream asked. 'Dragon scales can withstand fire, but I don't think your feathers are that fire-resistant.' Smolder said. 'If you do it very carefully now. I know you can do it.' Silverstream said. I heard Smolder's attempts to carefully burn through their bands. Then it became quiet. I flew around the corner to know why I no longer heard them and to grab them. They were gone. Split up, as their plan had said. I cursed. Why didn't I grab them when I had the chance. I dived into the corridor on the left. I was fast, very fast. After less than a minute I could clearly see a piece of light blue tail disappear behind a corner. I flew around the corner at an impossible speed and started the chase like crazy. Silverstream could now fly instead of just running, but I was still faster. Silverstream suddenly plunged into a pipe. My reflexes were good and I followed her. She did this several times in a row trying to get rid of me. I think it was about 7 time's down, 4 time's up. 5 time's to the left and 6 time's to the right, until she came to a sudden stop. I had her where I wanted her. The corridor under the room with the pegasus device. The corridor had no doors and ended in a small room. Just big enough for a big dragon. The walls of the room were made of iron and splashed with blood. The remnants of the failures that were thrown into the pegasus device ended here. Silverstream vomited when she saw a bloody pile of bones and meat lying on the floor. I knew the room was emptied today. I knew exactly who these bloody remains were once. 'Is that...?' Started Silverstream. 'Yes.' I answered coldly. She turned around, feeling too many emotions to read one on her face. I hadn't walked into the room. I did not have to come any closer to the remains of my "friends" than I already was, thank you very mutch. Silverstream walked backwards out of the room, unable to move her eyes from the bloody pile. Just outside the door she bumped into me. She turned, desperately looking for an exit. She saw a pipe. Right above our heads. She shot up. I didn't even bother to fly after her. Like I said, I knew the entire Rainbow factory as the tip of my hoof. This pipe was very narrow. Smaller than the rest. It was no problem to fly up for a pony. Silverstream was a hippogrif. Her wings were bigger. I was right. She hit her wing against the side of the pipe and landed with a loud crack in front of my hooves. I grabbed her one wing in my mouth and shot up myself. Without problems to carry the hippogrif. Silverstream tried to escape by hitting her other wing. But she stopped when her wing slammed hard against the side of the pipe and a loud crack and a cry of pain followed. 'W-w-where are we going?' Asked Silverstream scared. I didn't answer. I knew exactly where this pipe ended up.