//------------------------------// // Omake: The Chicken Arises (Not part of the Twidash contest) // Story: Mare Do Well vs Professor Nightshade // by ssjgokillo //------------------------------// Mare Do Well vs Professor Nightshade Omake- The Chicken Arises Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic The Chicken Annual #1 Origin of The Chicken         Many tales have been told of The Chicken’s fabulous exploits, especially being the sidekick of the ever mysterious Mare Do Well.  But while The Chicken has been on many adventures, and helped foil many a foe, nopony has ever heard how mild mannered Scootaloo became The Chicken.         Nopony that is, until today.  Onwards True Believers! ~:> The Chicken <:~         It was field trip day for the students at Ponyville Academy for Rambuctious TYkes, and though many were still getting used to the change in the name of their school (caused after a generous donation was made by one P. Pie), most were too excited to be getting to go somewhere that wasn’t the schoolhouse.         Today they were going to the Golden Oaks Library, to see some of the science and magic experiments that were being produced by the town librarian, Twilight Sparkle.  The teacher hoped that it would spark an interest in science in some of the foals under her care... or at least show them what real science was... she swore that if one more student turned in another baking soda volcano...         Three fillies however, were not excited about this field trip.  Typically these three, who had dubbed themselves The Cutie Mark Crusaders, would be ecstatic at getting to see something new, as that could give them ideas for how they could get their cutie marks.  However, these three fillies had already trie Cutie Mark Crusaders Mad Scientists (YAAAAAY!)  and Cutie Mark Crusaders Aurors (YAAAAAAY!), the latter not working out very well considering only one of them was a unicorn.         The students filed into the library, which had been reorganized today for the occasion.  All around the room tables and blackboards were set up, each one containing some experiment or notes.  The room looked like something straight out of that Frankenstallion movie.         In the center of the room, stood Twilight Sparkle and it was clear to everypony that the purple unicorn was almost buzzing with excitement at the prospect of teaching the young foals.         What nopony had been expecting was the rainbow-maned pegasus who was also in the library, chatting idly with Twilight as the students came in.         “Rainbow Dash!”  Scootaloo shouted with joy, zipping past the other students to stand next to her idol.  “What are you doing here, I didn’t know you liked science!”         Rainbow blinked, just now noticing the orange pegasus filly.  She smiled at the filly, and ruffled her purple mane with a hoof.  “Heh nah, science isn’t really my thing.  I’ve just been hanging out a lot with Twi this past week and she asked if I’d lend a hand.”  Rainbow said.  Scootaloo watched as the two mares smiled at each other, before they each quickly turned their heads away from the other.  What the hay was that about?         “Alright class, settle down, and we’ll let Ms. Sparkle show us what she’s been working on.”  Ms. Cheerilee said.  Instantly the fillies and colts quieted down, moving to sit down in front of Twilight, who was smiling brightly at the class.         “It’s very nice to have you all here!”  She chirped brightly.  “I have a lot of different things I’ve been working on that I’m sure you’ll all find fascinating.”  She moved to the first table, and began explaining the experiment she had concocted to see if Pinkie Sense could accurately predict the weather.  No matter how many times Rainbow Dash told her that she could simply tell Twilight the weather schedule, since she helped set it up.         Of course, the absence of bright colors, flashes, or playful noises quickly made most of the students lose interest.  It also did not help that Twilight had a tendency to get a little... wordy, when she became excited about the pursuit of knowledge.           As fate would have it, Rainbow Dash was in a similar boat to the foals trapped in the room.  Only instead of losing interest in what Twilight was saying, she was just staring at her with a dopey smile on her face as she listened to her talk.         Rainbow, so lost in her daydreams of lavender, did not notice as she leaned against one of the tables containing Twilight’s experiments.  She also did not notice as her hoof rested on a button connected to one of the cages on the table, causing it to slide open.         A white feathered chicken poked its head out of the cage, looking around to make sure the coast was clear.  It’s captor was faced away from her, and it seemed the smaller ponies in the room were either asleep or just not paying attention.  This was it, the chance she had dreamt of!  She quickly ran from the cage, and hopped off the table.  She skirted around the edge of the room, trying to remain as inconspicuous as a chicken in a library could be.         She was almost to the door when she saw it.  Another chicken had obviously been captured by these ponies!  She was currently sleeping between a yellow pony and a white pony, obviously bespelled by one of them.  It was her solemn duty to try and save this poor chicken.         She crept up slowly and nudged the orange chicken with her wing.  The chicken did not budge.  Well, desperate times call for desperate measures.  So she leaned forward, and pecked the orange chicken.         “YEOWCH!”  Scootaloo scream, jumping into the air and causing all eyes to focus on her.  The chicken, realizing its cover had been blown, beat a hasty retreat, promising that she would come back for her fellow chicken.  The rest of the room watched as Scootaloo reached the apex of her jump, before falling to the ground.         “Uhhh, Twilight... what was that?”  Ms. Cheerilee asked.         ‘Oh!  Nothing to worry about Cheerilee.  One of the experiments I was going to show your class was one I was running on the effect of magical exposure to animals.  It’s kinda boring right now though, as none of the animals have displayed any changes.”  Twilight explained.         “So...is Scootaloo going to be okay?”  The teacher asked.         Twilight nodded her head.  “She’ll be just fine, like I said none of the animals have displayed any changes.  But how did that chicken get out of it’s cage?”  She looked over towards the table, and saw Rainbow staring at her, her head resting on her hooves, with her foreleg resting on the cage unlock button.                  “Ugh, Rainboooow”  Twilight growled.           The sound of Twilight’s annoyed voice instantly snapped Rainbow Dash out of her daydream.  “Y-yea Twi?  What’s up?”         Twilight facehoofed.  “You let one of my chickens escape!  Will you please go grab it, I don’t want to have to start this experiment over.”         Rainbow flew into the air, and gave Twilight a salute.  “I’m on it Twi!”  She said, zooming out of the library.         “Ugh, my head...”  Scootaloo said as she slowly sat back up.  The room stopped spinning, and she could see her fellow Crusaders looking at her in worry.         “You okay there Scoots?”  Applebloom asked.                  Scootaloo nodded and got back on her hooves.  She felt alright, but her head was pounding.  “I think I’m alright, I’m just gonna go outside for a moment.”  She said.           She walked out of the library, her vision still a little blurry.  Who knew that a chicken could hit that hard?  It felt like she had been hit by...                  “Hey kid look out!”  A panic voice called from her side.  Scootaloo looked up, and just barely had time to jump back before a pony-drawn carriage went barreling past.  Her chest was heaving and her eyes were wide with shock.  She had almost been killed!  After a moment, she felt movement along her back.  She turned her head, and noticed her wings flapping weakly.         “Gadzooks!  When that Chicken bit me, it must’ve given me some of its attributes!  That would explain why I couldn’t fly out of the way of that carriage!”         “Uhhh Scoots, you’ve never been able to fly.”  Applebloom said as she and Sweetie Belle walked up to their friend.  They had decided to follow her outside, since whatever she was up to had to be more interesting than Twilight’s talk about quantum magical theory.         Scootaloo whirled around, a stalked towards Applebloom.  She pressed her face right against the yellow filly’s, and glared into her eyes.  “It-was-the-chicken!”  She stated, her tone leaving no room for argument.                  Applebloom just pulled her head back, trying to get her personal space back in order.  She rolled her eyes, knowing that no amount of talking was going to get through to her hot-headed friend.  “Whatever you say Scootaloo.  Now come on, we have to get back inside or else Ms. Cheerilee is gonna notice we’re missing.”         The three fillies walked back into the library, but Scootaloo was no longer paying attention to Twilight’s lecture.  Something had clearly happened to her when she had been bitten by that magical chicken.  She had somehow gained... chicken powers!  Destiny had seen fit to give her the powers of a chicken, now she just needed to figure out what she was going to do with them. ~:> The Chicken <:~         That night, hidden away in her room, Scootaloo tested to see what powers the magical chicken bite had given her.  She seemed to have been blessed with the chicken’s inability to fly, as well as an increase in her skittishness, which she took to calling her “chicken sense”.  She also thought she may have been given the proportional strength of a chicken, but she’d never seen a chicken try to lift anything so the jury was still out on that one.         But what should she do with her newfound powers?  Surely destiny had not given her this gift for no reason!           The reason came to her as she looked around her room, her eyes falling upon a poster of her idol, Rainbow Dash.  Rainbow Dash was so awesome, if she had been given super powers, she’d use them for something just as awesome.         That’s when it hit her.  Scootaloo knew what her powers were meant for.  But she would need a costume, for nopony could ever know that while during the day she was just plain-old Scootaloo, at night she would become... ~:> The Chicken <:~         “In this corner, a newcomer to our ring.  She may be small, be we think she’s quite “plucky”, the one, the only....THEEEEEEEEE CHIIIIIIIICKEN!”  The stallion in the center of the ring cried out, as a light flashed upon the corner of the ring.           Standing there was what seemed to be a small filly in a costume made of white feathers.  A red rubber “comb” topped her head, and a yellow beak painted on her luchadore mask.  The filly climbed up onto the turnbuckle, waving her hooves at the cheering fans in the crowd.         Of course, the perfect use for her newfound powers would be to exploit them by using them to fight in Ponyville’s Underground Wrestling League.  That was obviously what Rainbow Dash would do if she had been given super powers!         The stallion in the center of the ring turned to the other corner, pointing to it with a hoof as the crowd quieted down.         “And in this corner, that might mare of muscle, our undefeated Heavyweight Champion, give it up for the one, the only, General “The Wok” Tsoooooooooo!”         The lights flared onto the opposite corner of the ring as pyrotechnics shot off all around.  Some kind of heavy beat music was playing, as a mare bigger than Big Macintosh was revealed.  She flexed for the crowd, before grabbing the mic from the announcer.         “CAN YOU SMELL WHAT THE WOK IS COOKING?!”  She yelled out, causing the crowd to go wild.  She threw the mic on the ground, and turned to face The Chicken, cracking her neck as she did.         “Oh buck...”  The Chicken whimpered.... ~:> The Chicken <:~         “Look kid, I hate to break it to ya, but we only pay the winning fighters here.  You don’t win, you don’t get paid.”  The overweight stallion sitting behind the desk said.                  Scootaloo sighed in disappointment, limping out of the office.  The fight had ended thankfully fast.  The Wok had tossed her around a bit, before pouring some strange brown sauce on her and pinning her to the mat.  The match hadn’t even lasted a minute, but it drove the crowd wild.         Unfortunately, it looked like her get-rich-quick scheme wasn’t going to pan out.  At least not in the wrestling ring.         Dejected, Scootaloo slowly limped towards the exit of the arena, when she heard a shout come from behind.         “Stop!  That guy’s making off with tonight’s winnings!”  The overweight manager called out, far too tired from walking around his desk to try and stop the stallion.         Scootaloo watched as the stallion ran past.  She contemplated trying to stop him, but all the aches in her body protested any action other than lying down somewhere.  Besides, one look at this stallion and it was clear he was suffering from the feather flu, he probably needed the money for medicine or something.         With that put out of her mind, Scootaloo began the slow, painful trek back to her home. ~:> The Chicken <:~         The next day, after school had been let out for the day, Scootaloo found herself ignoring her aching body’s protests as she sped towards the library.  Some of the fillies and colts on the playground had been talking about a rumor that was going around town, but she had to see it for herself.  It just couldn’t be true!         She burst into the library, and her worst fears were realized.  There, lying on a couch and covered with blankets, was Rainbow Dash.  She looked pale, her normally fierce eyes were vacant and tired.  Twilight stood next to her, wiping the sweat off her brow with a cloth.         “Rainbow Dash!”  Scootaloo cried, rushing to the side of her idol.  The sound of her voice seemed to bring Rainbow Dash back to consciousness “Hey Scoots, wh-what’s up?”  Rainbow asked, before a coughing fit erupted from the pegasus. “Wha... what happened to you Rainbow Dash?”  Scootaloo asked, tears beginning to pool in her eyes. It was Twilight who answered her, levitating a glass of water to Rainbow Dash as her coughing subsided.  “Featherbrain here crashed into some stallion last night while she was looking for that chicken that got loose.  Turns out the guy had a pretty bad case of the feather flu, and now Rainbow has got it too.” Rainbow set the glass of water down, and motioned for Scootaloo to come closer.  “S-scoots, I don’t think I’m going to make it...”  The pegasus said, a small cough escaping her. “Rainbow Dash, how many times do I have to tell you, it’s just the feather flu!”  Twilight said.  Her tone was exasperated, but she’d been through this all morning.  Even if Rainbow Dash hardly ever got sick, that was no reason to treat a simple illness like it was the end of the world. Rainbow Dash ignored Twilight’s comment, focusing on the orange filly by her side.  “L-listen Scoots, you’re a good kid, and I just wanted to tell you something.  Something my father told me when I was a filly, and they’re words I lived my life by.” Scootaloo’s eyes widened.  The words that Rainbow Dash lived her life by?  That was like being told the secrets of the universe.  She leaned closer, desperate to hear every last word that came from her fallen idol. Rainbow Dash took a breath, before imparting her “final” words of wisdom to the young filly.  “Remember these words squirt.  With great Awesomeness, comes great Radicalness.”  And with those words spoken, Rainbow Dash fell back against the couch, her eyes closed. Scootaloo had tears running down her face as she took one last look at her mentor and friend.  “I won’t forget Rainbow Dash, I promise!”  She said, before running out of the library, leaving an exasperated Twilight Sparkle. “IT’S JUST THE FEATHER FLU!”  Twilight scream to nopony in particular. “Hey Twi, keep it down, I’m trying to rest here...”  Rainbow Dash mumbled.   Twilight resisted the urge to scream in frustration, if only just barely. ~:> The Chicken <:~ Standing atop the roof of the Ponyville Academy for Rambunctious TYkes, The Chicken looked over her town.  It was her fault, it was all her fault.  If she had simply been awesome that night, and stopped that stallion, then Rainbow Dash would... she would... No!  She wouldn’t dwell on that.  What was done was done.  Instead, she would dedicate her life to the ideals of Awesomeness and Radicalness, she would become a force of justice, using her powers for the betterment of ponykind! Lookout villains of Equestria, The Chicken has arisen!