Dashaloo Days: Angry Flight Training

by RGLloyd

Twilight's Revelation!

Dash sat back against a pillar, dodging Scootaloo's impatient worried glare. "I just don't know what went wrong!" Dash mimicked her friend Derpy, trying to defuse the tension as she waggled her eyes.

Scootaloo fought down a giggle. "No, you're not getting out of this one with some silly joke! And you leave Ms. Doo alone! When I'm over to play with Dinky. Ms. Doo will paint cutie marks on us of whatever we want. Dinky's always running around with new cutie marks."

"Wow, that's soo cool. I never thought of that when I was a kid. What kind of cutie marks does she paint on?" Dash wasn't just happy that Scootaloo had a short attention span, but suddenly found herself transfixed, why is this interesting to me? It's just silly kid stuff...I don't care about this...but... Dash sat down, crossing her forelegs.

Scootaloo's eyes lit up. "Oh, all kinds! I once got an alligator wrestling one," Dash cringed, "and a dragon taming one," Dash looked away with a shiver, old memories stirred of how frightening dragons could be. "Spike played with us that day too. He played a vicious fire breathing dragon, with real fire too!"

Dash shot Scootaloo an angry glare. "That's dangerous! You should never play with fire! I'll have to talk to Twilight because that's not happening again!" Dash sat, her jaw open in shock induced by her own words.

"Wow...now you really do sound just like my mom..." Scootaloo raised a worried eyebrow, her original train of thought being re-railed. "What's gotten into you?"

Dash cringed, whipping her mane side to side to shake off Scootaloo's statement. "Sorry I just, I don't know. I think I'm losing it. You shouldn't play with fire, but yeah, I uhm..."

"Ok I get that. What about the rope. You were the one who pushed me off in the first place. Then you freaked out about it." Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Come on Dash, that's a little weird."

Dash felt a squeezing pang in her chest. Ow! Cut me some slack would ya? "I've done that training myself, and taught more than a few pegasi. I didn't do anything different this time. I even gave you the same intro speech. Pushing the trainee off the ledge without warning is just a way to say 'welcome to the herd.' Everypony goes through it..." She stumbled over her words, pausing, biding time.

"I won't give up asking until you tell me. Somethings wrong Dash, even I can tell that. You have to tell me!" Scootaloo sat firmly in place, she leaned forward inches from Dash as she tried to make direct eye contact. "I'm your sister!" Dash winced at the word 'sister'.

"I don't know kiddo. I don't understand it either. You were falling, and I just...panicked. I measured the rope already. I knew it was safe, but when I saw you falling..." She choked on her words, tears welling up in her eyes. "I can't do this. I've seen so many pegasi hurt in the field at the end of those ropes. It just felt...it felt like you were right there as bait for a roc!" She grabbed Scootaloo. "It's so stupid! But I can't seem to shake this..."

"Is there another kind of training?" Scootaloo muffled through Dash's embrace.

Dash cleared her throat, gathering her nerves together. "Yeah, we can do this. I just have to focus."

Scootaloo wiggled out of Dash's forelegs, much to Dash's dismay. "I'm going inside to make some food while you clear your head, and stop worrying about me. That little fall didn't even phase me."

Dash reached out, her hoof as shaky as her nerves, pleading to Scootaloo as she trotted obliviously into the house. "I know...It's just...I need..." Dash felt a slight lonely melancholy set in as her little sister disappeared. How could she understand? I don't even understand it myself...I think I could really use a hug right now. She bit her lip, and punched her frustration into the cloud.

---

Dash approached the library. Having been sent out by Scootaloo to pick up some ingredients for lunch, she decided to use the opportunity to talk to Twilight to clear her head, I'll visit Fluttershy later, since she's in the opposite direction. It's not like I could get any kind of advice on this from Twilight. She'd totally mess things up worse. So yeah, I'm just going there to talk about nothing, not to get advice, and definitely not for sappy things like hugs. Dash chuckled inwardly, phhtt, Twi being sappy. There's no way she could help me. Her brainiacness would just mess everything up worse. She looked up, surprised out of her thoughts, to see Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie huddled together outside the library door, concern and worry etched onto their features.

"Hey girls!" Dash trotted up, feeling lucky to have found three new distractions from her problems.

"DASH!" The three yelled in unison, and quickly surrounded their startled friend.

Applejack took the lead. "We were just about to come n' get you!"

Pinkie threw her forelegs around Dash. "Dashie! It's soo scary in there. Twilight's gone nuts, and I am fluent in cuckoo, but there's just no de-crazifying that mess! Even if she only spoke like one word before we all ran. I know my transcrazilating skills won't work! Believe me..." she backed up and shot Dash some serious pony drama, "...I tried!"

"Transcraziwahh? Wait, what's going on?"

"Trans-craz-il-ating," Pinkie elaborated. "The act of translating crazy talk into boring."

"Into boring?" Dash threw a 'mare you crazy' look at Pinkie.

"Oh, Dashie, now you're just being difficult!" Pinkie looked away, crossed her forelegs, and tapped an irritated hoof as she leaned against the library tree. "Can you at least try to take this serious?"

Applejack facehoofed, and shook her head, but was cut off by Rarity before she could continue. "You have to help her Rainbow Dash! Twilight really is in serious trouble," Rarity covered her eyes, "oh it's just horrid. She's forever tainted the 'Twidorable Reading Pose,' permanently marring its elegant perfection in my mind." Rarity shot a hoof upward reaching towards the sky, staring at the clouds as if begging them to wipe away horrors that cannot be unseen, and swooned over with finality driving her point home. "WE...NEED...A...HERahaho!"

Dash rolled her eyes, and puffed up. "Hey, you all know who you're talkin' to right? So Twi's in one of her moods? No sweat, I got this." Dash strutted forward as Pinkie, and Rarity grinned and nodded in encouragement.

"Whoa there, Nelly!" Applejack threw a foreleg in front of Dash. "I think you need a bit more preparin' than that." Dash listened increasingly more intently as Applejack recounted her tale of slightly played down terror.

"Wow! That's...uhm...wow!" She looked at the library door apprehensively, a shiver bolted down her spine, but she stood, and moved forward with her head lowered in challenge. Suddenly, my problems don't look so big. She thought, Wait! This is my problem now. Aww, horsefeathers! She looked back trying not to look apprehensive. "So, uh, why aren't we going in together again?"

"Because when you fail here, we're getting Celestia. Just wanna make sure we're all on the same page so you aren't boasting about how you could have handled it later, and how we should have just called you to begin with." Applejack shot Dash her 'Apple fresh' grin.

Dash's jaw dropped, and her brow furrowed. "Hey! Really?"

"No, not really Dash. We're all scared out'a our wits here. I was just tryin' to take the edge off." Applejack re-flashed her grin, but it was slightly wilted.

"Hah, you had me goin!" Dash snickered. "Don't worry about me Applejack. There's nothing about Twi that scares me. We're friends. I can handle creepy magic."

Applejack stepped forward, and placed a hoof on Dash's shoulder. "Don't look into her eyes." Pinkie, and Rarity averted their eyes when Dash shot them an inquisitive glance. "Trust me," Dash met Applejack's gaze straight on as it stared right through her, "don't look into her eyes."

---

Dash opened, stepped through, and determinedly shut the library door behind her. Deciding to just jump in, and commit, she braced for what lay ahead. Twilight sat calmly in the middle of the room. Her body balled up with legs tucked under. Her head held still, and tail arched up and back like a rainbow. It's what Dash and her friends had come to call the 'Twidorable Reading Pose.' Dash smirked, and shook her head, letting her guard down. Sure Twilight's mane was a little disheveled, but what else was new? Phhtt, Rarity and her stupid hair fetish. She's just as adorable in that pose as she is any other day. She couldn't see any ghosts, or white wisps flying around. It's just Twi being Twi. Sitting there, as always, reading a... Dash froze and did a double take, book?

The floor in front of Twi, where a book should be, was suspiciously vacant of anything slightly bookish. "Twilight?" Dash moved closer. No answer. "Hey, wake up, you got everypony scared out there!" Twilight's ear twitched in irritation. Dash's blood percolated, "HELLO! Drop the reading act for a moment, this is serious!"

Twilight's head spun around, her brow furrowed angrily as she frowned in irritation. Dash could handle that, what she couldn't handle was Twilight's eyes. Pools of inky black swirled with feathery wisps of faint white dancing lights glared at Dash, through Dash, and she was sure, straight into her soul. Dash recoiled, backpedaling as her mind somersaulted around the situation. An overwhelming feeling of nakedness coursed through her, every mental wall shattered before that piercing gaze, she could feel Twilight's magic crawling through her mind. "Stop!" Dash commanded shakily. Twilight stepped closer, those depth-less pools of dark radiance stripping Dash apart. Twilight's voice sounded in her head, loud, ethereal, booming, overwhelmingly powerful. The meaning of Twilight's words were lost as they drove Dash's mind into submission. "Please..." Dash begged desperately, too terrified to speak further as Twilight backed her into a corner.

---

Ten minutes earlier...

Twilight poured over the ancient text in front of her, temporarily losing focus as she hit the end of a chapter, and took a second to recount what was shaping up to be one of the greatest days of her life. Princess Celestia had sent to her via firemail an ancient text with a cryptic message stating that hidden within the pages was the secret to summoning the spirit of Star Swirl the Bearded. The chills still coursed down her spine. Hidden on the note in secret lettering that took her an eternity of fifteen minutes to decode was an ancient spell needed to read the book of spirit texts.

Twilight pondered on how far in the summoning spell was, and savored the anticipation. The texts were immune to all magical influence including her speed reading spell. The tactile feeling of turning the pages by hoof sent happy little shivers through her. She marveled at the thickness, and weight of each page. She closed the book momentarily, and ran a hoof over the hoof weaved wooden cover for the hundredth time. Tens of thousands of tiny strands of delicate wood weaved into an intricate relief of the moon surrounded by stars that each twinkled with a faint light all its own. She briefly wondered if the moon on the cover even matched the phases of the real moon, again, just as awe struck as the first time she thought it. Mentally she checked the date, and noted the moon phase was exactly as depicted. Highly unlikely that's a coincidence, but we shall see. It was a little experiment completely out of her control, forcing her to wait in patient anticipation, as oddly exhilarating as hoof turning the pages. She giggled excitedly.

A far off voice irritatingly demanded her attention. Go away! She growled mentally, can't you see I'm the busiest pony in Equestria right now! The voice persisted, even louder. She spun around, "WHAT!?" And then a warning on the note came to mind too late. 'Read alone!' Not again!

---

When Dash opened her eyes, Twilight was sitting before her, trying to look as meek as possible. Her eyes had returned to normal, and the words she spoke were words Dash understood in a familiar voice that Dash was immensely relieved to hear. "Twilight, what the hay was that?"

"Sorry, Rainbow Dash, I was busy reading. I guess I got a little carried away with some new spells Princess Celestia sent me." She rubbed a hoof nervously on the back of her mane, sadness thick in her tone.

"Well you got everypony scared half outa their coats! You nearly killed Applejack with fright, Pinkies trying to psychoanamize you or something nuts..."

"Psychoanalyze?" Twilight corrected, then winced, That is part of my problem. I have to stop doing that.

"I don't know, it's just Pinkie, and Rarity's been freaking out."

"Rarity freaks out about everything, and Pinkies not qualified... to..." Twilight trailed off as Pinkie's head popped up into a window. She hoofed at her manically wide eyes, then to Twilight, back to her eyes, back to Twilight, and her head slowly sunk down out of sight. "Wow..."

Dash raised a concerned eyebrow. "Yeah, see what I mean? You're in for it now."

Twilight sighed. "Forget about all that. None of it matters. What about you?"

"What do you mean what about me?" Dash fought against the jitter in her voice.

Twilight moved closer. "Dash I saw everything. I...uhm...felt your pain." I want to help so bad. I need to help. I have to fix this. I can do this. I felt her pain, so I should at least be able to understand how to help a little better.

Dash picked herself up off the floor quickly, meeting Twilight head on. "Hey! I can handle some pain, got it?! And I don't appreciate you going, and messing around in my head like that!"

Twilight backpedaled. "Dash I didn't mean too! I swear, it was just a side effect of the spell. It allows me to see into the ethers, into ethereal books, and..." She paused, diverting her eyes. "...into souls."

Dash gritted her teeth, and pawed uncomfortably at the ground. Her hackles rose to her discomfort, as she glared in warning at Twilight. "What, exactly did you see then?"

"Dash relax, you could tell me anything. You were on your way here to discuss it with me anyway weren't you? What better way for me to understand than to actually experience it alongside you." Twilight shot Dash her trademark 'I know it all' grin. "So its okay, I won't tell anypony, and perhaps I can help." Please let me help!

"NO! It's not okay Twilight! I needed..." Dash trailed off, fighting down the anger pulsing through her.

"I get it Dash! I know you don't believe I can understand emotions. I know you don't trust me!" Twilight dodged Dash's shocked expression. "You know I still want to help though right? Because, you are my friend, and I care." Tears welled up in Twilight's eyes. "I know I'm an egghead! You tell me every chance you get! But you aren't perfect either you know! I really care, and even if I don't have the answers to your emotional problems, or any emotional problems for that matter because I can't even fix my own. I guess I'm just a cold encyclopedia!" Tears streamed down Twilight's cheeks as she backed a shrinking Dash down, speaking haltingly. "I still understand enough! I would have freaked out too, Dash. She called you..." Dash clamped a hoof over Twilight's mouth before she could finish.

"Enough! I don't need to hear it, and you don't need to say it. got it?!" Dash bucked at the wall sending a reverberating thud through the tree. "I don't ever need to hear that again! It was a mistake..." Dash's breath gained weight as her own words stung, dragging through her airways forcing her chest into working twice as hard to draw in the thickening air. "I'm sorry Twilight, I'm so sorry. It's not you okay? It's me. I can't trust anypony with my problems. It's not just you. It's everypony!"

"Well you sure seem to trust Fluttershy!" Twilight shot back.

"Everypony trusts Fluttershy! She's the princess of emotional trauma therapy." Dash glared vehemently.

"Right, and I'm just the emotionally ignorant Twilight, Princess Celestia's pet! The princess everypony snickers at because I'm an obsessive compulsive nerd prone to stress breakdowns, magical disasters, and the complete incapability to empathize!" Twilight spun around walking back to her book.

"Twilight, what?! I never thought any of that! I can't even pronounce half of that!"

"Just get out! Leave me alone!"

---

Dash exited the library. Her cheeks flushed, beads of sweat dripping down her temples joined in little streams that ran down her neck. Eye's narrow, dark, forbidding, sheltered by a twitching angry brow. Her snout wrinkled, teeth bared, nostrils flared, and a growl rumbling up her throat. Head lowered on an arched neck she clopped forward dangerously. Wings hovering inches above sweat matted sides, feathers jittering with her thundering agitation. Her friends lowered their ears, and backed off. Stepping aside in silence, nopony dared make eye contact, each of them knowing full well they had overheard something forbidden. Each of them thinking furiously on how to help as Dash leaped into the air, ignoring her aching wings, and spiraled towards home to face off with the root of the problem.

Comments

[RGLloyd]

The Twidorable Reading Pose:

pinkie.ponychan.net/chan/files/src/133150564245.png

Oh... and let me apologize ahead of time for abusing Rarity's quirks. I will try to make up for it later at some point by accentuating her good points.

[Metool Bard]

Well, that escalated quickly.

Honestly, I don't blame Dashie for getting upset and not opening up to Twilight. No matter how good Twi's intentions are, she can't just force herself into her friend's mind and expect her to be okay with it.

Not sure if I can say the same thing about Twilight's outburst, though. It's true she might've been caught in the heat of the moment, but consider this. Twilight earned her wings and her crown because of everything she learned about friendship. Not only that, but Dash was with her pretty much every step of the way. Does she really think that RD views her as nothing but a cold-hearted bookworm? I'm beginning to think that the spell Twilight was working on was ripped out of Discord's playbook rather than the spell book of Starswirl the Bearded.

[RGLloyd]

2679620

It's the fact they went through those trials together that elicit the response. Being so close the barriers between them aren't nearly as thick as they would be between strangers meaning that such painful words come a lot easier.

Twilight voiced her own insecurities, derived from the train of thought Dash had exhibited earlier. She expounded upon them needlessly and got caught up in the moment as you said. Dash was at a loss for words, only being able to focus on her own plight because of her already emotional state not being able to make room for Twilight's issues. Overall the end result is they fed off each other.

True heat of the moment arguments happen chaotically. I dislike the idea that seems to permeate almost all fiction I've ever read that a character will voice exactly what they mean in exactly the way they need to for it to come across exactly how it should. In a true argument, things are said without considering old ties, and without thinking. There is truth in all the words spoken, whether they are meant to hurt, meant to release ones pain, or meant to convey meaning. It's the emotions attached to them that truly matter though. But all that is for future chapters. Think of everything Twilight just said as, "Please let me help, it hurts that you won't let me help you. I fear you don't trust me. Am I not good enough? I can't handle this! It hurts too bad! Go away!"

[Metool Bard]

2679653

Touché, my good man. Touché.

[RGLloyd]

2679936

And now I have to accurately exhibit that in the following chapters in an interesting and intriguing way without diluting the focus: Emotional advancement between Dash and Scoot.

Hehe...hehehe.... Oh crap!

[Cold Spike]

Man, by the end of this story there is going to be a lot of things that need to be fixed with feels. MOAR!