Weather Factory, the Control Room

As Scootaloo stopped at the door, she began to wonder if she really wanted, or needed, to know the answers to the questions she still had. Thus far, what she'd learned, both about her former heroine and about herself, had been horrifying.

What Rainbow Dash had been doing was quite the opposite of friendly, and she'd been anything but loyal. Now, the crusader was going to confront her. Clearly, the azure pegasa was the source of the friendship problem. If there was any chance of solving the problem without killing the representative of loyalty, the pegasetta knew she was going to have to find it now. But, then again, Rainbow Dash had already killed six ponies, had made Scootaloo kill three of them. Was there any chance of salvaging a pony like that?

The pegasetta's thoughts were interrupted by the doors sliding open in front of her. And, as she watched, she saw a pegasa in shadows, sitting in front of what looked like some kind of enormous, bizarre desk. There was a wall where she saw pictures that glowed and moved, or at least flickered. And, she wasn't entirely sure what all was on the floor part of it; she was too small, and that floor surface was at the wrong angle.

Scootaloo slumped into a canine position, at the same time wondering if the mare at the desk was Rainbow Dash, and hoping she wasn't. Then, the mare started turning to her, and the crusader caught glimpses of her face highlighted by the light from the pictures, indicating azure body fur and mane of different colors, at least red, orange, and yellow.

The pegasa, once facing her visitor, said, “Scootaloo, it's so nice to see you again. Will you kindly come in?”

There was no doubt now, it was indeed Rainbow Dash.

The pegasetta felt sharp pain shoot through her stomach as she heard those three words that had started the question. Still, even though they no longer had the power over her they'd had before, she rose to all fours and proceeded to amble into the room. And, once she entered and was clear, the doors slid closed behind her.

Alarmed, she jumped and turned a hundred eighty degrees to defend herself.

But, she was startled again when she heard her former idol say, “Oh, you don't need to worry about those doors. They won't hurt you.”

Again facing the azure pegasa, Scootaloo took a minute or two to calm herself, then swallow, drily, before saying, “I-I-I … w-w-was …”

Rainbow Dash immediately interrupted her by saying, “I know. You were called by the cutie map back in Ponyville to come to Cloudsdale and find and solve a friendship problem.”

The pegasetta stammered, “M-m-me and P-p-pinky P-p-pie.”

The representative of loyalty asked, “And, did you find the source of this 'friendship problem'?”

The crusader slumped again into a canine-style position. She couldn't stop the tears from streaming down her face as she nodded, then pointed to her heroine.

Pointing to herself, the azure pegasa asked, “Me?” She then scoffed before continuing, “I'm one of the elements of harmony. How could I be the source of a friendship problem?” And, she started to cackle.

Scootaloo rose to all fours again and said, still pointing at the azure pegasa, “You killed ponies. And, you made me kill ponies. How is that friendly?”

Rainbow Dash scoffed again and shouted, “Those three stallions? They didn't deserve to be governors! They couldn't even control themselves!”

The crusader put down the hoof she'd been pointing at her heroine before shouting in response, “And you're any better!?” Under her breath, she said, “I can't believe I'm saying this,” before shouting out, “but, you don't deserve to be a governor either!” And, she immediately covered her face with a front hoof, maybe to defend herself from an attack she'd almost guaranteed to get, perhaps in a desperate attempt to prevent sobs from escaping. At the moment, she wasn't sure.

And then came the azure pegasa's response: “How dare you. I came here to rescue Cloudsdale from making the biggest mistake of its existence.”

With all the anger she could muster, Scootaloo spat, “And a great job you did of it.”

The representative of loyalty continued, “And, do you really think I wanted to kill Fluttershy, Mayor Mare, and Pinkie Pie?”

The pegasetta shouted, “You know that one of those was the mayor of Ponyville! And, the other two were your friends!”

Rainbow Dash continued, “That's why I had you kill them, so their blood wouldn't be on my hooves!”

The crusader retorted, “I only killed them because you were controlling me! I had no choice!”

The pegasa immediately asked, “Well, isn't that the difference?”

Scootaloo paused for a moment, confused, before asking, “What?”

Rainbow Dash answered, “A real pony makes decisions. A slave pony simply obeys.” After a momentary pause, she continued, “I gave you those wings because you weren't going to fly with the ones you had before. Isn't that friendly enough for you?”

Presently, the little filly shouted, “This isn't what I wanted! Yes, I wanted to fly, but I never wanted to kill another pony!” Unable to contain it anymore, she sobbed, “I thought you'd always be a pony I could respect. B-but, … b-but, you're not. You've become a monster, and you've turned me into one! You're not loyal anymore! You're not friendly anymore! You're not even a pony anymore!”

The azure pegasa retorted, “Well, if I'm not a pony, then neither are you. I gave you those wings, and those forelimbs; and I can take them away again. I just can't give you back the ones you had before.”

The crusader sobbed, “I wish I'd never used any of these things.”

Presently, Rainbow Dash asked, “Will you kindly—”

But, before she could finish her request, Scootaloo shouted, “No, I will not! You can't make me do anything anymore, not with those words, never again! I'm not your slave anymore!”

At this point, the representative of loyalty started to grin; and she took a step toward the orange filly as she said, “Oh, I can get you back.”

Suddenly fearing for her life, the crusader instinctively pointed a forelimb at the approaching azure pegasa and said, “P-please, R-rainbow D-dash, d-don't m-make m-me d-d-do th-this.”

Presently, a sphere of energy started to form at the end of her hoof.

Rainbow Dash took another step, continuing, “A real pony makes decisions.”

The sphere of energy leapt from the fake forelimb and across the left side of the azure pegasa's face, burning away the skin and eye on that side of her head, exposing the bone underneath.

Another sphere of energy formed as again the pegasetta plead, “Rainbow Dash, n-n-no.”

The representative of loyalty took another step as she continued, her voice almost masculine now, “A slave pony simply obeys.”

The second sphere of energy leapt from the forelimb, this time across the right side of Rainbow Dash's face. Now, all that was left of her head was her skull.

At this point, the azure pegasa reared up on her hind legs, then collapsed forward on her visitor, roaring in an unnaturally deep voice, “Obey me!”

At this point, Scootaloo rolled onto her back. Thrusting her forelimbs up to prevent the impending attack, she screamed, “No!”

The Castle, in the Map Room

Discord and the three element bearers sat in their places around the cutie map, waiting for evidence of what was going on in Cloudsdale. Knowing that three ponies had already died, two of their own among them, since the map had sent Scootaloo and Pinkie Pie to the home of the pegasi; the four waited around the table, wondering who would be next, hoping the mission would end before there could be any further loss of life.

It was late in the afternoon, and, in spite of Spike's insistence, none of the four had eaten anything. Whatever had happened up in that city in the clouds, something had gone horribly wrong, enough that ponies' lives had been lost. The cause was, as yet, unknown; and every pony wanted to know what it was.

Discord felt he already knew, and just wanted the little filly to come back so he could understand why his favorite element bearers had to be killed. And, after that, well, he wanted to decide the fate of that little orange brat.

Then the thing they dreaded happened again: the cutie marks of Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity started to glow crimson.

Too spent to really react the way they had before, the three ponies simply looked at their hips before turning to the map, to the cloud that was at this point closest to Rarity; and watched as a white, outlined cloud appeared above it, one with a lightning bolt under it, colored red, yellow, and blue.

Spent as they felt before, the three element bearers couldn't help feel a flood of grief as they watched the cutie mark of the representative of loyalty flicker, then expand and fade, then disappear. But, then, another cutie mark appeared in its place: a shield of red, white, and reddish-purple, with a pink wing, outlined in the reddish-purple, in the middle of it. This image radiated and flashed crimson.

The friendship mission was over, and was more-or-less successful. It just hadn't gone the way it'd been intended to go. Not even one pony was supposed to die, much less three. Scootaloo and Pinkie Pie were sent to Cloudsdale to find and solve a friendship problem. Apparently, the problem had been found and solved, but at a cost that shouldn't have occurred.

There were going to be questions to answer, at least from the remaining element bearers and Discord. The princesses would have to be notified about what had happened, and there'd likely be an investigation into the matter. But, for the present time, their waiting was at an end. They could look forward to Scootaloo's return, or so they hoped. And, in the mean time, at least Spike hoped, the three remaining element bearers, and maybe even Discord, might finally eat something.

Weather Factory, the Control Room

As the body of the azure pegasa slumped and collapsed to the side, forcing the little filly to roll with her, Scootaloo was afraid to push away from it. She knew what had happened this time. She'd felt the blade leap out from that one front hoof as she touched the chest of her heroine with it. That close, there was no way Rainbow Dash could've avoided it. She'd felt the pulsating muscle inside the chest against the metal, knew that muscle would damage itself against the blade. She even felt that muscle's pulsating slow down and eventually stop.

The head, now devoid of anything that could display emotion, had simply dropped in front of the pegasetta and hung there, forcing her to look into those hollow eye sockets if she dared to look up.

Scootaloo didn't want to be there any longer. But, at the same time, she was afraid of retracting that blade. She knew that if she did, if she moved her hoof away, that dark red fluid would spray out, covering her. Yes, she'd killed her heroine. But, she didn't want everypony to know that she'd killer her. And, even though Rainbow Dash had stopped being the awesome pony she'd once been, she still had been a heroine to so many foals. How was Scootaloo going to face them, how was she going to tell them that Rainbow Dash had stopped being a superheroine?

Then Scootaloo noticed that one of her hips was glowing again. Turning to look at it, she saw that her cutie mark was glowing and radiating again. Her mission was over. But, something was wrong. Shouldn't her cutie mark be glowing white? So, why was it glowing crimson red instead?

Then, memories of the past two days returned to her, and she knew the answer. During this mission, four ponies had died, including her companion. In no other mission before this one had any pony, any creature at all, lost their life. And, she'd been the one to cause four ponies to lose their lives. Yes, Rainbow Dash had been in control when she killed three of those ponies, but was that an excuse? She couldn't answer yes or no, not for certain. All she knew was that she felt responsible for all four deaths, including the one she'd just caused.

Was the nightmare over now? She'd found the source of the friendship problem here, and she'd solved it. But, at what cost? Well, she could answer that question at least. If she counted those lost on this mission, those lost from the moment she and Pinkie Pie had set hoof on Cloudsdale's cloud, it'd been four pony lives. If she included those three stallions that Rainbow Dash had killed before the friendship mission, it was seven. But, would there be further cost after this? Having caused the death of three element bearers, not to mention Ponyville's mayor, could Scootaloo be sure that she wouldn't be killed next? Perhaps she deserved to die, for all the deaths she'd caused. But, were those deaths her fault? After all, she wasn't in control when she caused them.

Those thoughts of hers were interrupted when the double doors slid open, and Commander Spitfire took a step through them. Seeing the little filly there, she asked, “Scootaloo, are you alright?”

The crusader, alarmed by the intrusion, immediately retracted the blade from the azure pegasa's chest, then pushed away from her. Rising quickly, not aware of the fountain pouring onto her closest hoof, she asked the fiery-colored pegasa, “What do you want? Haven't you done enough?” Not waiting for any answers, she ran out through the open doors and out of the weather factory. And, there on the steps, she looked at the front hoof and willed the blood-covered blade to reveal itself. Sickened by the sight of the object, and not wanting it to be a part of her anymore, she swung her hoof against the edge of the step, breaking the blade with ease that surprised her. And, after that, she galloped back to the bank to see if she could move Pinkie Pie's body back to the balloon.