THE MAGIX: CHAPTER 6: Control

When Rain finally woke up again, she was back in her dorm. She pushed her covers off and tried to sit up, but the motion made her feel sick. She flopped weakly back down onto the pillow.
There was a knock at the door. "Is it safe to come in yet?" Amber's voice asked from the other side.
Rain groaned. "I guess," she mumbled incoherently.
Amber opened the door and peeked inside. "Are you okay?" she asked. "You don't look so hot."
Rain strained to sit up again. "You're noticing that now?" Her head was pounding and her stomach felt twisted. A dull ache had embedded itself into her nerves.
"You probably had the worst reaction I've ever seen," Amber said, trotting over to Rain's bed and sitting down beside her. "You were really struggling to accept the truth. We were reading your POV codes. Part of you knew it was real and wanted to believe it, but you also thought it was too horrible to be true. It happens all the time, but you..." The unicorn trailed off.
A pang of guilt hit Rain. "Look, I'm sorry I attacked you," she began, her voice sorrowful. "I was so scared and I- I just lost control." She rubbed her throbbing head. "What even happened out there?"
"You went insane with shock, puked, and passed out," Amber replied bluntly.
Rain slumped forward. "I've got to stop doing that."
Amber laughed. "It's okay," she said. "It's happened to the best of us. The truth can be really scary. Nopony ever wants to believe it at first, but you'll come to accept it. Just give it some time."
Rain looked up at her friend from behind her bangs and gave a weak smile. "Thanks."
Amber grinned back at her. She put her forelegs around Rain and hugged her. "Don't mention it. I'm here for you. I always will be."

It was getting late. Rain sat alone in the Firestar's common room, the second-largest one on the ship where the crew spent most of their spare time. She sat on one of its several broken-in couches, stretched luxuriously over the cushions, her wings half-folded and relaxed. She held a notebook and pen in her hooves. Spiro had told her earlier that day that most ponies spent their spare time keeping a vlog or writing. Rain had never kept a diary before. She'd never been that kind of mare, all girly and bubbly. Her tomboyish mind wasn't sure where to start. Suddenly, an idea came to her. She put the pen to the paper. The first few words had only just appeared when a red-maned head poked into the room. It was Ash.
"Can I join you?" he politely asked.
"Sure," Rain responded, and she scooted over to make room for Ash. He cantered over to the couch and settled himself directly next to Rain, ignoring the extra space beside her. Rain looked suspiciously at him for a second, then turned back to her notebook and continued writing. Ash sat quietly next to her, his eyes darting around the room and occasionally towards the unsuspecting pegasus next to him. He took a deep breath.
"Look, Rain," he said, turning toward her. "I didn't come here just to sit. I wanted to talk to you." He slipped a hoof under one side of Rain's notebook and shut it, his hoof awkwardly brushing hers.
"Okay..." Rain murmured, sliding the notebook onto a small coffee table beside the couch. "What did you want to talk about?"
Ash casually put a foreleg over the back of the couch. "I wanted to talk to you about...us."
A chill ran down Rain's spine. "What about us?" she said, trying to deny her suspicions.
"Us," Ash continued, "as, you know...us."
Rain noticed his shoulder move, and his foreleg lowering ever so slowly. He was trying to get an arm around her! She grabbed his wrist and pushed it back towards him. "What are you talking about? We are not a couple!"
"No, not now," Ash said flirtatiously. He leaned over his beautiful, winged obsession, his face coming unsettlingly close to hers. "But we could be."
Rain pushed him away forcefully. "No!" she shouted at him. "I don't want to be your girlfriend, okay? I just don't want a relationship right now. Maybe not ever, now that I'm stuck out here!"
She pushed herself off the couch and grabbed her notebook. "It's really late. I should go." Without another word, Rain sped off down the main corridor and disappeared.
Ash smiled coyly to himself. "So that's how she wants to play..."

Several days passed. Soon, it was just another training day. It was Rain's first time trying out with a tutorial mission, something called Return2Sender. She stood atop a tall platform along with Amber, Neon, Ash, and Misty, who was coaching her younger crewmates. The four trainees had been split into teams of two. Ash was paired with Amber, Rain with Neon.
Misty began explaining the rules. "Listen close, Rain. This is just recap for the rest of them, so pay close attention and get as much of this as you can." She motioned to the vast urban labyrinth around them. The arena. "This is your playing field. Each team takes one section. Amber, Ash, your goal is at the south end." She pointed to one edge of the maze. "Rain, Neon, yours is north. The distances are of equal length, and the difficulty is the same. We don't play favorites here. Remember, this program uses agents as obstacles. They will be shooting at you, but no one's really getting hurt. This is what we call a "snap" program. If you get injured in a way that you would either be killed or unable to continue the mission, you are automatically woken up and jacked out, what we call snapping out of it. There is a building at each end of the arena. The simulated situation is that top secret files have been accidentally sent and are currently in agent possession. The objective is to break into the building, hack the computer network, erase the files and get back here as fast as possible. Everypony clear?" All four of the apprentices' heads nodded. Misty smiled contently. "Wait a second. I almost forgot. Saph, the eraser!"
"Eraser?" Rain asked. Suddenly a tingly feeling emerged in the tips of her wings, then came closer and closer to her back. It continued on until it reached her shoulder blades and disappeared. Rain looked behind her to see what had happened to her. She saw that everything looked normal... except her wings were gone.
"My wings!" she gasped.
"Relax," Neon said coolly. He turned to face her from the side. She saw that his wings had disappeared, as did Amber and Ash's horns. "It's the only rule here. No wings, no magic, just mindpower. If you focus enough, you can do anything. Simple, really. Just watch." He approached the northern edge of the platform. Rain followed.
Misty held a stopwatch. "At your places!" she commanded.
"Remember," Neon whispered to Rain. "Focus."
"So all I have to do is think really hard, and I can do it?"
"Basically."
Misty held up her stopwatch. "Aaaaand... BREAK!" she shouted, pressing START.
Neon leapt gracefully off the platform, landing on the softly on the ground with a fluid, catlike grace. Rain imitated him perfectly, but instead of alighting gently on the ground, she crashed uncontrollably into the pavement. She gritted her teeth as she peeled herself off the concrete.
"You weren't focusing, were you?" Neon asked sarcastically.
"Ya think?" Rain shot back.
"You'll get the hang of it," he said, helping her up. "Now let's go."

The first part of the course was easy. The two wingless pegasi simply had to run, making their way toward the building as fast as possible. Occasionally a police officer popped up, who they'd have to knock out. Even that was effortless. Rain's newly acquired fighting skills came in handy. When they finally reached their goal, a basic, grey-brick four-story office building, they climbed a fire escape and pried open a third-story window. Once inside, they set off to find the base for the building's computer network. They managed to threaten that information out of a captured security guard, who was also later knocked unconscious. The base wasn't much. Only an empty room with nothing but a computer atop a metal office desk. It was only after they'd hacked the system that things got difficult. They'd located the file and it was still deleting when Rain heard a sound outside. She nudged Neon, who tiptoed over to the door and put an ear against it.
"What do you hear?" Rain asked, trying to will the file to erase faster.
"It's... voices. And hoofsteps! They found us!" Neon said in a stage whisper to his companion.
The computer blipped. The file was gone. Rain quickly closed out and shut the monitor off. "Now what?" she asked.
The locked door knob jiggled. Neon shot backwards away from the door and next to Rain at the desk. "We're doomed."
"The culprits are in here, sir." The voices were right outside the door.
"They've locked it!" a nervous-sounding voice said, probably belonging to the guard they'd interrogated.
"That won't be a problem," a deeper, confident voice said.
"The agent programs are running," Neon whispered. "We've got to get out of here."
Rain looked at the wall opposite the door. There were two closed, frosted-glass windows. "Maybe, if we could just get a window open..."
Before she could finish, a loud slam erupted from the other side of the door. "One more should do it," the agent's voice said.
"They're breaking through the door!" Rain whispered in a panic.
"Quick, behind the desk," Neon whispered back. "They'll just shoot blindly at first. That should crack the glass enough for us to break through."
Just as the pair slid behind the desk, the door burst open, destroying the lock and bending the hinges in half. Sure enough, a storm of bullets rained down. The gunfire pounded against the metal of the desk protecting the two hackers, drove several holes into the wall, and spread cracks all across the window glass.
"Wait," another guard's voice spoke up. "Where are they?"
"Hiding. They'll come out soon enough," the agent responded. "Shoot at anything that moves."
Neon and Rain sat silent behind the desk, waiting for a break in their attackers' concentration. Two minutes passed, then three. The guards must be losing interest by now.
"On my signal, okay?" Neon breathed directly into Rain's ear.
"Okay, got it," she whispered back. They positioned themselves to make a break for the left window.
"3, 2, 1...GO!" Neon shouted. He bolted for the window and kicked the glass, shattering what remained of it to pieces. Rain shot out after him.
The guards snapped to attention, quickly realizing that their prey was escaping. "Shoot, you idiots!" the agent snapped. "Shoot them!"
There was another flurry of bullets to dodge. Neon sprang out of the broken window and Rain instantly followed, narrowly dodging the shots being fired behind her. Neon landed first, catching himself and landing on his feet. Rain once again fell haphazardly, plummeting awkwardly to the ground and crash-landing directly on top of Neon's back, throwing him to the ground. They both forced themselves back to their feet.
"I really need to work on that focus thing," Rain panted, completely winded from her fall.
"No time for that," Neon said helping Rain find her footing. "Run!"
They sped off down the street, back towards where they came from. The agent and guards burst through the front door, only to see the culprits escaping. "Forget this," a guard muttered. "They're gone."
The agent snatched the guard's gun out of his hooves. "Fine by me," he spat. Then he took off in the direction the hackers had gone, running unnaturally fast.

Meanwhile, Neon and Rain were busy bolting back toward the maze's center. Lost in her speed, Rain's hoof caught in the grate of a storm drain. She tripped and fell to her knees. The already exhausted pegasus pulled herself back up, gasping and wheezing, completely out of breath. "I think-" she panted, unable to get out an entire sentence, "I think- we- lost them."
Neon seemed fine, not having broken a sweat, barely even breathing heavy. "No," he said. "You can't outrun an agent. It's impossible. They're too fast."
Rain couldn't stand the idea of more running. Her legs already felt like dry twigs about to snap. "How do they do that?" she asked breathlessly.
"They control the Magix. They can do anything they want. Now no more questions." He tugged at Rain's forelegs, trying to drag her onward. "We have to keep going before-"
A loud gunshot cut him off before he could finish. "Move!" he shouted, grabbing Rain by a hoof and not giving her much of a choice.
Rain forced her legs to work. She pushed forward, trying to focus, but doubt tugged at her mind. She wasn't sure how much longer she could make it before her whole body gave out. "Keep going, keep going," she repeated to herself. "Just a little longer..."
Suddenly, she found it a little, if at all, easier to move. The second she realized she'd mastered the art, she lost her focus all over again. Her worn-out legs gave in and she tripped and crashed into the street. The agent saw that she'd fallen, becoming weak and defenseless. He trained his gun on her and fired.
Rain rolled over and over, just barely managing to avoid the bullets. One whizzed past her shoulder, another past her ear, so close she could hear the air rushing around it as it sliced through. She tried to pull herself up, but her legs wouldn't work. It was becoming harder and harder to move. Rain felt a sting at her hip. One of the bullets had sliced across her skin, leaving a hot, painful cut. Another bullet snapped across her shoulder, then her ankle. Her energy was draining. Rain no longer cared that this was only a training program and that dying here only meant waking up. It didn't matter. She was scared. It wouldn't be long before this mission would be over.
Neon stopped dead and spun around at the sound of the gunfire. "Rain!" he screamed. He dashed towards the agent, who was still focused on the mare, and kicked him squarely in the side of the head. He toppled over sideways and lost his weapon. Neon kicked him again, this time in the side with more force than the last. The agent flew into the side of a nearby building and crashed to the ground, momentarily dazed.
Neon rushed over to his fallen companion. "Get up," he begged her, desperate. "Come on, please, get up!" He pulled Rain to her feet. The agent was slowly coming to his senses. Neon had managed to get Rain to stand, but she still couldn't move. He tried to drag her a few feet, but Rain's stiffened legs could barely even work.
She looked up at him, her eyes huge. "Help me," she squeaked.
The agent shook himself awake and saw the hackers in their desperate attempt to escape. He dragged himself across the ground toward his gun, lying where it had fallen when Neon had knocked it out of his hooves. He grabbed his weapon and took aim.
Rain gritted her teeth and strained to keep moving. Her whole body was completely rigid."Focus, Rain!" Neon screamed. "Focus!"
Suddenly, Rain's mind cleared. A single word rose up, and she knew nothing else. Run.
Focusing as hard as she possibly could, Rain squeezed her eyes closed willed her legs to work. She felt the numbness and stiff, painful feelings melt away. A sudden burst of energy blazed through her. Her eyes flew open and she shot forward just as the agent fired his gun. It was safe. She could run again. Rain took off, dashing back towards the arena's center, Neon close behind. Rain didn't stop. Everything had become so clear. Only that one, lifesaving word existed now. Run.
There it was. They'd reached the center. The huge platform rose up in front of them. Neon and Rain scaled up a fire escape to the roof of a building near the platform, around the same height. They could see the smooth black top of the platform in front of them. They raced to the roof's edge. It was almost finished.
Neon backed up a few steps, then raced to the edge of the building and jumped. He sailed through the air between the two structures, flying fearlessly as though he'd never lost his wings. Rain watched in surprise as he made the distance and landed gracefully atop the platform.
Rain stared. "Whoa."
She saw Neon looking back at her from the platform. "You can do it, Rain!" he called out to her.
Rain stared down at the potential fall before her. Forty feet, maybe fifty? If only I still had my wings... she thought. Rain backed away from the edge and gulped. She'd just seen Neon do it. That meant it wasn't impossible, right? You can make it, she thought hopefully. Just focus and...jump.
Rain gritted her teeth, shut her eyes, and sped forwards. She opened her eyes at the last second and leaped off. The sky-blue projectile flew towards the platform. You can make it. Almost there...
Rain crashed onto the platform and skidded across the top, almost falling over the other edge. She dug her hooves into the floor and screeched to a stop. Then she just lay still, sore and panting from her adventure. She heard cheering from above her. Several pairs of hooves helped her to her feet.
"You did it!" Amber was holding Rain up, supporting her bruised, battered weight. Next to her was Neon. They both let go and allowed Rain to stand on her own.
"I-I did? I did! I made it! Woohoo!"
Neon raced back in and hugged her tightly. "You were great! That was-" He blinked and stiffened up as if he hadn't realized what he was doing. He quickly let go of her. "That- that was- really good," he laughed nervously.
Rain grinned and turned back to Amber, and the two mares began chatting excitedly. Neon shook himself. How could he have been so stupid? He looked over his shoulder at Ash. His best-friend-turned-enemy was glaring furiously at him, his dark grey eyes ice cold and a hoof scraping angrily at the ground. Neon looked looked away and shivered. He was officially on thin ice.
Misty approached Rain, smiling broadly at her new apprentice. "20 minutes, 36 seconds. You did great out there," she said, slapping a hoof playfully on Rain's back. She winced and gave Misty a pained smile. Misty quickly drew her hoof back. "Sorry. You took one hay of a beating out in the arena. Weren't about to let that stop you though, huh?"
Rain grinned, glowing with happiness. "Never."
Ash cantered up to her. "You're really good. Probably better than any of our new recruits. You're just... amazing." He began staring blankly at her. "You have beautiful eyes."
Rain inched away. "Um, thanks?" she mused, groping for a response.
Misty shouted out above the crowd. "Okay, party's over. We're jacking out now."
The whole scene shimmered out and Rain woke up.

When Rain opened her eyes, there was a faint salty taste in her mouth. She opened her mouth and touched her tongue. She drew back to see a faint bloody film on her hoof tip.
"What the..." she mumbled. Her body wasn't all bruised and battered as it had been in the program.
"The blood, you mean?" Horus was standing at her side, taking notice of her confusion. She nodded. "It appears along with any injuries you acquire. The more serious, the more blood." He smiled proudly at her. "You did fantastically for a first-timer."
Rain got out of her chair and stood up. "Is it my gift?" she asked.
"It just may be," he answered

Neon was walking innocently down the hallway to his dorm. Ash suddenly appeared out of nowhere. He jumped in front of Neon, stopping him dead in his tracks.
"You just don't know when to stop, do you?" he hissed. "You're like a drug addict, but with Rain. You're a Rain addict!"
Neon sidestepped Ash, trying to walk past him. "What is this about?" he asked as Ash blocked him again. "You've gone completely insane. What is wrong with you?"
"You're the one who's insane!" The unicorn slammed his victim up against the wall. "I told you not to touch her and you feel her up right in front of me!"
"I was just happy for her! There is nothing-"
Ash cut him off. "I am not kidding, Neon!" he hissed. "Don't mess with me!"

Meanwhile, Amber and Rain were in their dorm relaxing after another long day of training. Amber was stretched out on her bed, a book floating in front of her surrounded by an orange aura of magic. Rain was sprawled on the floor, exhausted and mindblown, her head reeling.
"Hey, Rain," Amber said, closing her book and setting it on her pillow, "there's something I've been meaning to ask you."
Rain looked up from her place on the floor. She propped herself up onto her elbows and stretched out her sky-blue wings, glad to have them back. "Ask away."
"A few days ago, you know, just after being shown the truth, you sort of had that... episode, remember?"
The pegasus snorted. "Yeah, barfed and passed out. Like I need to be reminded."
"Well, while you were still freaking out, like, a second before you went unconscious, you said something." Amber fell silent for a moment, lost in thought. "I... I think it was a name or something... What was it again? Pinkie. Yeah, that's it. You said Pinkie and blacked out."
The unicorn turned around to face Rain. "What I want to know is... who's Pinkie?"
Rain sighed heavily and looked down. "Oh, that," she murmured. She'd been trying to forget it for days, ever since leaving Ponyville and joining the Firestar's crew. And now she had to remember. Again. "Pinkie Pie. She was... she was my best friend. While I was still in the Magix. We were really close, and I missed her a lot. And when I learned what was going on... I was just really scared for her, still being trapped in there and all."
Amber's gaze softened from curiosity to sympathy. "Oh... I..." she stammered. "I didn't know. You see, I didn't really have any friends when I came here. I forgot that your life was different than mine." She looked at her heartbroken roommate. "You still miss her, don't you."
Rain looked up at Amber, glassy eyed. "You had no friends? That's so... sad."
Amber shrugged. "Not so much now. No friends means nothing to miss." She suddenly laughed at herself. "I'm sorry. Got a little carried away there. Honestly, it's such a sob story. I didn't mean to-"
"No, I'm fine really," Rain cut in. "Feel like a swap?"
Amber grinned. "Sure."
"It all started in about sixth grade. Well, the real beginning was way before then. My name used to be Ebony Spice. You see, ever since I was little, I'd always been kind of... different. I was never like other ponies. I had this... well some would call it a superpower. You remember the potential's talent that Horus told you about? Well, I have dreams about the future. I see things in my dreams before they happen. So I always knew that there was something strange about me, something nopony would understand. I knew I was different.
Well, we all know how ponies can be about the different ones. Yeah, I got bullied a lot as a filly. I was considered weird pretty much everywhere. When I was little, I thought that other foals would think it was cool that I could see the future. Some of them did. But that wore off fast. By second grade, my talent was getting scary. Even my own parents were afraid of me. Nopony thought being psychic was a gift. They all thought I was a freak. And, pretty much, all hell broke loose.
Well, life went on, business as usual. I didn't let the other foals get to me. I knew I was special and it didn't matter what they thought. For some reason, I knew that being a freak would change my life in a way theirs never would. But it wasn't until four years later that I finally figured it out.
I was 11 when I had the first dream. It was so weird. I can't even remember exactly what happened. All I remember was seeing a stallion there. I could never remember his face, but saw that he had a trenchcoat and sunglasses. I remember he told me that he knew me. He said he knew about my powers and what everypony was doing to me. He told me that I was special and that I had a gift that they didn't. The last thing he said was that someday, it would set me free. Then I woke up.
Of course, I had no idea what that stallion was talking about. But ever since I had that dream, I'd had this feeling that there was something wrong with the world. There was something I knew that nopony else was aware of. Nothing felt the same anymore. Eventually, I decided that I had to figure it out for myself.
I was 12 when I first learned to hack computers. It had always seemed so cool, and I'd always wanted to learn how to do it. After I started, it sort of became an addiction. It was fun, rebellious, and I loved it. I never expected it to become my special talent though," she said, tapping the black pixel firework on her flank. "That's how I got this little mark of mine. Nobody could figure out what it meant my talent was. Of course, I never told anyone what it really meant. Nevermind, back to the hacking story. Soon I found a use for my new skill. Since regular internet use wasn't getting me the answers I needed, I decided I had to go deeper. At first, nothing. Even hacking into every information site I could find and digging through the classified archives of almost every library on the planet didn't help me. I still couldn't find my answer. After six months of searching, I gave up. I spent a year being depressed afterwards.
Then, when I was 14, I was over my previous failure. It was summer, school was out, I was bored, so I decided to have a little fun. I went onto an anonymous online chat room. I talked to strangers for a while, but that wasn't cutting it for me. So I did what any mischievous little potential would do. I hacked the site.
Well, I was in, and I could now see all the information of everypony who was online. After scrolling through loads of email addresses, passwords, and other totally private information, I came across this one profile. At first I thought I was hallucinating. But no, it was real. There was one pony online who didn't have any information at all. No name, no email, no online accounts, nothing. So I clicked, and my computer shorted out. I sat there for about ten minutes staring at a black screen before I noticed the green cursor blinking in the corner. So I typed hello. You know, just to see what would happen. And I got a response.
I talked to the stranger for a long time. I sat in front of my computer for at least an hour, if not more, asking questions, telling stories, and talking to this random, unidentified pony like they were my best friend. They said they knew who I was. They knew a lot about me, about my life, my psychic powers, and my paranoia about the world. But even though I asked over and over, they wouldn't tell me anything about themselves. So finally, we arranged to meet at a bookstore the next day. So later-"
"Wait, wait, wait. You arranged a meeting over the internet with a total freaking stranger?"
"Yes, I did. It's not as bad as it sounds."
"Amber, how stupid were you in eighth grade?"
"A lot less stupid than your commentary. Now shut up and let me finish."
"So anyway, our conversation was over, and my computer suddenly fixed itself. Well, that was weird and all, but I wasn't surprised. The next day, I went to the bookstore, just like I'd planned. Well, nopony was there. I figured they weren't there yet, so I stayed in the back and waited. I waited there all day. Nopony showed up. It was getting really late, and the store would be closed in an hour. Finally, I heard the door open. Somepony walked in and headed straight for the back, as if they knew I was there. I got scared, so I hid in the shelves and just froze where I was. I hear the pony coming closer and closer. Soon they were right in front of my hiding spot. I heard a voice say, "Come on, Ebony. I know you're there. Come out, I won't hurt you." I poked my head out of my hiding place, and I never expected who I'd see standing there.
It was the pony from my dream. Guess who he actually was?"
"Horus?"
"Exactly. So I just came rushing out at him like a crazy fangirl. I had never been so happy in my life. I asked a million questions, and he told me everything. He told me about the Magix, how I knew the truth, and that it was why I felt the way I did. Suddenly everything was so clear. I knew what I was meant to do with my life. I wanted to stay with him longer, but then the lights shut off and we heard the doors lock. The store was closed. Horus helped me sneak out a back way. Before we left, he gave me a communicator, those little black cell phones we all have. He told me that if I ever needed him again, I only needed to call. Then he just disappeared.
A day or so passed. I thought about what Horus had told me. He could help me. With him, I could change my sad little life forever. So the next night, I called him. We talked for hours, just like we did on the chat room. It went on for two weeks. I could feel that I was getting closer and closer to Horus. He was the only friend I'd had in years. Every time we talked, I felt different. It's like I was picking a really difficult lock, and every time I broke through another boundary, I was one step closer to getting it open. I knew it wouldn't be long until this lock would finally break open, and spill all its secrets to me.
One night, I was talking to Horus again, when I finally told him how I felt. I couldn't stay where I was any longer. I wanted to know what was out there, and I would do whatever I had to do to find out. Then I asked him that one question, the one that always changes everything. What is the Magix?
He came for me the next night. He brought others with him, Ash, Misty, and Terra. Terra's not around anymore, but never mind. That's another story that I don't want to tell. So they picked me up and brought me to the complex in Ponyville, the one where we brought you to be jacked out. He gave me the same talk that he gave you, more or less. I told him I'd already made my choice. I picked the right door, woke up, changed my name to Amber, and... here I am! So, what's your story?"
Rain stared up at Amber from the floor, mouth hanging open. "That... that actually happened?"
Amber smirked. "Yep. Everything, even the dreams. I still get them sometimes, but they're not so bad now."
The pegasus rolled her eyes. "Forget it," she said. "My story is nowhere near as cool as yours."
Amber laughed. "Come on. I don't care. Tell me anyway."
Rain sighed. "Okay, fine. You asked for it."
The pegasus shut her eyes and concentrated for a second, digging deep into her memory, searching for all the things she'd been trying so hard to forget for so many years. She took a deep breath. "Here goes..."
"I grew up in Cloudsdale. You know, that exclusively pegasus city up in the clouds over Ponyville? Yeah, there. Not that it matters. Honestly, my past kind of sucks. It's not even a good story. So if you don't want to hear anymore, just tell me, okay?
First of all, there was my parents. My mom and dad had never really wanted foals. I was sort of born as an accident. They didn't care about me at all. So, yeah, I was treated like crap but was too little to develop a grudge. So I just lived with it. But when I got older, my parents found a way to make me work for them. When I turned five, they started using me to make themselves look good. I became their little living trophy. Suddenly I was expected to be perfect in every single freaking little way. If I even put a hoof tip out of line, they would freak out. The things I got punished for became smaller and smaller, from bad grades to swearing to wearing my mane wrong. And that wasn't even it."
The memory of three jockish colts pushed its way forward and collided with the other. The short, painful clips played over and over in Rain's head, memories of relentless teasing, scornful laughter, hearing the words "Rainbow Crash" over and over and over.
"There were these three colts. They're stallions now, but they haven't changed at all. I can't even remember their names, but they're still there. They'd tease me and my friend Fluttershy all the time. We were both really bad fliers. They called us Rainbow Crash and Klutzershy. They'd push us around constantly. Sad part is, they never got in trouble. Everypony saw us getting harassed, and nopony did a damn thing about it.
So here I am. My parents think I'm their slave. I'm the worst student in flight school. I'm getting bullied by three clueless jocks. And nopony cares. So I'd been just dealing with it for forever. Then, one day, something just snapped. I have no idea what happened to me then. But something changed. And I regret nothing. I was sick of being the damsel in distress. So I fought back. Hard."
Amber was totally absorbed into Rain's story. "I knew it!" she said suddenly.
"Huh? Knew what?"
"Everypony who has ever escaped the Magix had had a hard life of some sort. That's the way it works. You know my story. Horus's parents died in a fire, Misty lived with a dysfunctional family, Neon was institutionalized, everypony has some sort of story. It's how the Magix operates. It seeks out the special ponies and alters their lives bring them down. It's its way of keeping them in line and preventing them from realizing their true potential. It sort of connects us all."
"Oh. It all makes sense now." Rain went quiet for a moment, delving back into her memories. But this one wasn't hard to find. She remembered exactly how her rebellion began.
"I was around 10 when it finally hit me. Like I said, I was tired of being a victim. I wanted to fight back and give life what it deserved. So I stopped everything. I didn't follow rules anymore or live up to everypony's expectations. I turned into a rebel. I didn't care what anypony thought anymore. It was my life now, and it was mine to control.
Of course, those stupid jocks kept bullying me and Fluttershy. I bet they never expected to get a hoof to the face for it! And, obviously, I was the one who got detention, but I didn't care. I'd finally gotten back at them.
Flying was my biggest problem. It was the only thing that I really enjoyed, but I sucked at it. So instead of practicing my flight school lessons and following my teacher's instructions like a good little filly, I just flew. Who the hay knew? Turns out, just doing it myself worked better than being taught ever did. Well, except for some collateral damage, but it payed off in the end."
Rain and Amber giggled. Nopony could have guessed that one of Equestria's top amature flyers had started off so badly. Rain continued.
"As you can imagine, my parents weren't too happy about the new Rainbow Dash. I'd ruined everything they'd worked so hard to turn me into. They fought me pretty hard over it. My life at home became one huge screaming match. But if this was what freedom meant, it was worth it.
After a few years, I decided my revolt could be pushed even farther. I learned how to hack from the internet when I was 12. I'd never used my computer skills and was still pretty novice. But somehow, once I got started, I just became an expert. In just a few weeks, I became a master computer hacker. I actually think that might have been when my double-life started. Hacking changed me. I loved it almost as much as flying. Pretty soon, my parents gave up, I became an official badass, and... here I am!"
She finished off the story with a smile.
"Told you," Amber said. "Everypony's got a story to tell."
Rain shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. Mine is nowhere near as cool as yours, though."
The mares laughed. "That's okay," Amber giggled. "I can forgive you for not being this awesome."