Chapter 2
Rainbow Dash let out a heavy groan of impatience as she circled the slowly meandering pair below. Sometimes it was really hard being the fastest, swiftest, agilest, most awesomest flier in all of Equestria, because it meant that everypony else was just so feather flipping slow! Even most other pegasi could barely hope to keep up with her, and unicorns and earth ponies might as well be moving in slow motion. She could have flown to Ponyville and back a dozen times already. A dozen and one now! A dozen and two! Dozen and three…
She was tempted to streak off and see if she could repair some of the mess Twilight had made of her sky. Much as she couldn’t exactly blame the unicorn for doing what she needed to do, it still irked Dash to the point that if there had been any clouds left in the area, she would have bucked them into oblivion as a means of venting. Which would have been entirely counterproductive, but dang it, she wanted to kick something!
Rainbow reeled in her impulses though. For one, the thought of having to do the same job twice in the same day just grated on her. Besides, Ponyville could deal with one day of unscheduled cloudlessness, it wouldn’t kill anypony. Granted, her supervisor might just chew her out until she wished for death, but only if he could catch her. Which they both knew he couldn’t, even if she hadn’t been in a league of her own, the League of Ultimate Awesomeness. Hazards of flying a desk there, Future Forecast probably couldn’t keep up with a pony on the hoof at this point, if he could even get that big gut of his airborne to begin with.
Yeah, the heck with it. She’d done her job, totally not her fault somepony else had hijacked her clouds when she wasn’t looking. And if it meant she had to sneak into Forecast’s office to swipe her assignment folder for the next week or so, well that would just add an element of challenge to her day. Celestia knows she could use the excitement, weather working was far too routine to be any real fun.
Really she just stuck around because she didn’t trust Rashid. Everything about the guy just set off alarms of suspicion in her head. The way he had dodged her questions, that weird thing he had done with his, admittedly, kind of awesome looking metal eye, how he'd just casually been able to disguise himself as a pony. Who’s to say he hadn’t been here before, sneaking around and spying on them? And how did he even get here? Rainbow could have sworn she’d heard Twilight saying something about Princess Luna hiding Equestria from the rest of…of…well whatever the hay the rest of everything that wasn’t Equestria is called.
Mostly though she was distrustful of how he had dangled some vague threat to Equestria in front of their faces, and then refused to explain anything until they were somewhere more private, and even then he seemed to imply he was going to withhold information. Threats to Equestria were practically a second job for Dash and her friends. The Elements of Harmony, whether using the actual Elements or not, they had foiled the plans of plenty of nefarious and wicked creatures and ponies. What made these Outersizers so dangerous? Dash certainly wasn’t worried, especially not of a group with such a goofy name.
Eventually, finally, they reached the edge of Ponyville proper. As they did so, Dash saw Rashid pause, his head turning slowly but cautiously. She frowned at the odd behavior, and made a low pass in time to hear Twilight ask him what was wrong.
“Nothing,” Rashid replied calmly. Too calmly in Rainbow’s opinion. “Just presenting an opportunity.”
“For what?” Dash demanded, coming in to land.
“Nothing,” he answered. “Not at this time it would seem.”
“Huh?”
Apparently however Rashid was done with the conversation, as he just started walking again. Dash saw Twilight give the wizard a quizzical glance, and then she glanced over at Rainbow. She gave the pegasus a shrug and seemed to put the incident out of mind, turning to catch up with and resume leading the cryptic old guy.
Dash narrowed her eyes, fixing the wizard with a sneer as her wings flared in a dramatic display of her feelings, but then realized nopony was watching her and let the expression drop. Muttering to herself, she flew off after them, keeping close now to make sure she wouldn’t miss anything. Like how Rashid seemed amusedly surprised at all the friendly waves and greetings of welcome he was receiving from the ponies in the streets as they passed through town. What was that all about huh? Or the way he just all casually held out a hoof to stop Twilight right before the Cutie Mark Crusaders went rocketing on by, narrowly avoiding running the unicorn over with their Scootaloo propelled wagon. Dash had to give the little filly some props, for a pony who couldn’t get herself off the ground yet, she could manage some serious speed.
No, focus Dash! Suspicious wizard is being all suspicious!
She tore her eyes away from the tiny multicolored dot of the Crusaders vanishing into the distance to find Rashid and Twilight stopping outside Sugar Cube Corner. Again, Rashid paused, his good eye sweeping the area, a slight frown of puzzlement creasing his features.
“Odd,” he muttered as Dash zoomed in overhead.
“What is?” Twilight asked.
“This was the most likely spot,” the wizard replied, though his tone suggested he was more talking to himself. He gave a shrug and started walking again.
“Likely for what?” Twilight inquired, turning the group down the street towards the library. Rashid didn’t answer, he just shook his head and remained silent.
Oh he is so up to something, Dash just knew it. She dropped to hover even closer, practically right over the wizard’s head. He craned his neck to look up her, turning his steel eye on her. That was it. He didn’t scowl, or glare, or really do much of anything. And yet Rainbow suddenly felt that maybe she could give him a little more space.
Because she wanted to of course. She landed next to Twilight, on the side opposite of Rashid, where only his normal eye could be seen. Because she felt like walking next to her friend. No other reason.
The group approached the living tree of the library, and once again Dash saw the wizard pause to survey the area as if he expected something to pounce on him at any second. His gaze even flicked upwards to inspect the high branches above.
“Okay, what are you looking for?” Dash demanded, zipping right under Twilight, who gave a startled yelp. She eyed the wizard right in his face, despite the little voice in her head that was screaming out a warning. She ignored the voice; it was always saying stupid things: The ground’s too close, pull up! That passage is too narrow, you won’t fit! Don’t kick the dragon you idiot!
Okay so maybe that last one had been a fair warning, but it’d all worked out fine in the end.
She stared Rashid right in his good eye regardless, ignoring both her inner voice and the odd sense of pressure that had started building, the feeling of suddenly falling forward, of being drawn into that steady dark orb…
“Dash!” Twilight’s voice rang in her ear, jolting her even as she felt the aura of magic seize her and yank her off her hooves. She hung in the air, supported by the unicorn’s power for a second that lasted about halfway to forever as her mind floundered. “Dash, are you alright?”
“Uh, yeah,” Rainbow scoffed as her mental faculties got back in order. “Why wouldn’t I be?” Twilight stared up at her for a long three count, and then let out a sigh of relief. She followed Twilight's gaze as it flicked over to the wizard, who was staring at her with an odd look, like she had surprised him somehow. What was that about?
“Could we please just get inside so we can talk about…things?” Twilight asked, a twinge of annoyance in her tone.
“Hey! He’s the one who keeps holding everything up!” Dash protested as she was lowered to the ground, pointing an accusing hoof at Rashid.
“My apologizes,” the wizard said humbly. “I have not seen a town such as this one before.”
“Yeah, whatever,” Dash scoffed. “You haven’t been sightseeing, you’ve been looking out for trouble. Like you think somepony is about jump on you from the shadows. I mean I don’t know what it’s like where you come from, but around here we generally don’t have to worry about being ambushed.” She flung open the library door as she talked, stepping inside.
Which was when she was ambushed.
Somepony pounced on her from above, the unexpected weight shoving her down almost to her belly even as a pair of forelegs wrapped around her neck. Her assailant squeezed with a sudden, terrible strength, and Dash managed only a startled “Gkk!” before her air was cut off. And then a trumpeting voice erupted right beside her left ear, the outburst of sound threatening to drill itself straight through her skull and out the other side.
“Welcome to Ponyville!” a familiar, overly bubbly tone cried cheerfully. Dash flinched in alarm and pain, and managed to turn her head enough to relieve the pressure on her throat.
“Pinkie Pie!” she rasped, trying to wriggle out of the exceedingly enthusiastic hug of greeting. She felt her ribs creak as the pink party pony relaxed a bit.
“Dashie? Whoops, wrong pony!” Pinkie said, completely unabashedly. She hopped down off Rainbow’s back, and the pegasus drew in a shaky breath of air.
There was a sound suspiciously like a muffled giggle behind her, and Dash turned to glare as Twilight and Rashid stepped through the doorway. Both of them were trying to hide smiles of amusement, and both were failing. Twilight more so than the wizard, though the way his living eye gleamed more than made up for his degree of self-control over his features.
The amusement was knocked right out of him however as Pinkie quickly shifted targets, bounding on over to Rashid and unleashing the full force of her cheerfulness upon the poor sap.
“Welcome to Ponyville actual new pony! And you really are a new pony as well as being a new pony to town and just makes this even more exciting because I love meeting new ponies or even new not ponies I just like meeting new anyones and you are most certainly a new someone…”
Dash rubbed gingerly at her throat with a hoof as she watched, with no small amount of smug satisfaction, the wizard’s normally stoic expression falter, even if it was only slightly. Both eyes were staring wide at the avalanche of greeting rushing towards him. He fell back before that overwhelming babble of sound, slowly perhaps, but step by step he retreated. And Pinkie of course just kept on coming, matching each stride with one of her own, her delight at getting to meet somepony new flowing out in an unending tide of irreverent chatter.
“…was saying to myself ‘Pinkie Pie, that’s just the silliest thing ever’ and of course I was right and that’s how I knew it would just be perfect and so I already sent away for it so that it might hopefully be delivered in time for your party because come on, what is a party without…”
Footsteps sounded on the stairs, and Dash tore her eyes away from the spectacle to see Spike come clomping sleepily into the main room to investigate the noise. He cast bleary eyes upon the gathering, noticed Pinkie Pie and the new comer, and let out a short grunt. Then he turned to head back upstairs, most likely to resume the nap he had clearly been woken from.
“Hold up there Mister!” Twilight called out, her magic scooping up the drowsy dragon and floating him over to where she was sitting before her writing desk, a quill scratching rapidly across a scroll of parchment. “I have an urgent letter I need sent.”
Spike murmured something that might have been consent, and rubbed at his eyes.
“…and that is why I desperately need to know, strawberry or watermelon?” Pinkie wrapped up, her breath coming in short, quick pants as she paused. She looked up expectantly at Rashid, who had backed himself into a corner retreating from her, but had at least managed to regain control of his features. His metal eye shone brightly as he regarded her for a long moment, and then he replied.
“This, was the least likely of the times and places for you to appear.”
“Well duh!” Pinkie spouted, giving a little giggle and snort. “Wouldn’t have been much of a surprise welcome if you had been expecting it!”
“I…” Rashid seemed lost for words for a moment. “I suppose I cannot question your logic, though your capability to enact it has me baffled.”
“Join the club,” Twilight remarked in a deadpan tone as she rolled the scroll up and hoofed it over to Spike, who trudged over to a window and took a deep breath.
“Spike, wait!” Pinkie suddenly exclaimed, but she was too late. The dragon huffed out a burst of green fire, incinerating the missive. The resulting cloud of ash and smoke swirled out the window…and promptly turned a one-eighty to come streaking back inside. The little guy let out a startled “Whoa!” as he ducked. The smoke whipped across the room and curled in on itself in a sudden tight spiral that quickly transformed back into a roll of parchment.
It landed on the floor right at Pinkie Pie’s hooves.
“…well poo,” the party pony declared.
“Pinkie?” Twilight said, her tone somewhere between bafflement and accusation. “What did you do?”
Pinkie stared back at Twilight for a moment, her wide blue eyes blinking innocently. Then she laughed softly, a laugh that was far too calm and reserved to belong to the party pony. Her eyes closed, and when they reopened they had changed. Those blue orbs were suddenly filled with the weight of time and vast wisdom.
“I suppose there isn’t any point in playing pretend any longer,” a sweet, melodious voice came from Pinkie’s lips. It didn’t belong to her at all, though Dash was certain she recognized the voice. If the look of shock on Twilight’s face was any indication, she did as well.
“Pr-princess?” the unicorn said in disbelief. The form of Pinkie Pie gave her an approving smile, and then she simply dissolved into light. The vaguely pony shaped blur glowed a cheerful pink for an instant, and then it flashed through a whole spectrum of hues before becoming a brilliant white. The light expanded, growing in stature, luminescent wings sweeping wide, a spiraling pulse becoming a horn. The glow faded, and Princess Celestia stood before them all, still smiling favorably down at her student.
“Alright, you may come out now,” Celestia spoke into the stunned silence, and a pair of books toppled from one of the many shelves lining the room. From between the impossibly narrow space created, a poofy pink mane emerged, followed swiftly by Pinkie Pie’s whole head.
“Thanks Princess!” she chirped brightly. “Was getting cramped in there.” She struggled a bit, and pulled a leg out with an audible pop as she worked to wriggle free.
“No, thank you for allowing me to borrow your appearance for this,” Celestia replied gracefully. She turned to face Rashid, who had managed to school his features into a carefully neutral mask. The princess favored him with a smile, but Dash thought she could see something a bit off about the expression, something in the alicorn’s eyes. A sort of tight, controlled concern.
They looked at each other for a moment, just a few seconds, but somehow it was more than that. Rainbow couldn’t put her hoof on it exactly. She knew a lot of ponies thought she didn’t pay much attention, and there was perhaps some truth to that. But when she was watching, when she was focused on something, there was little she actually did miss. One does not simply fly through Ghastly Gorge unawares for example, not with danger lurking in every twisting turn and gloomy shadow. She could be extremely aware, when there was something worthwhile to be aware of.
It was fast, whatever passed between the princess and the wizard. They just seemed to casually look the other over, but Dash knew it was something more than that. She'd been in a few exchanges like that before, that cold, tactical evaluation of somepony else, of trying to figure out what they were capable of, of ranking them as a potential ally, or threat, or somepony of no consequence. Flight camp had been full of such moments. Unfortunately she couldn't understand a single flying feather worth of the exchange before her, and she felt like she was missing out on a great deal of it, as if she just lacked the means to sense all that was going on. Celestia and Rashid however apparently came to some kind of understanding, as they both gave the other a brief, subtle nod at the same time, conveying a sense of mutual respect.
Then the wizard’s form blurred, and the pony was gone, replaced by the man. Dash saw Celestia blink as she was forced to actually look up at somepony, or someone in this case. The way she held her head suggested she was rather unused to doing so. The wizard planted the end of his staff on the floor, pulled one arm across his chest, and bowed at the waist. He held the pose as he spoke.
“Your majesty,” he rumbled in his deep voice, his tone full of respect. “Please forgive me for coming uninvited into your realm. I meant no disrespect by this trespass, and claim only ignorance of how to have acquired permission prior to my arrival. I hope that you may permit me to remain, at least long enough to provide the details of the situation that has brought me into your nation.”
That raised the princess’s eyebrows. A bare half inch at most, but Dash caught it. Celestia didn’t let her surprise slow her response however.
“Rise wizard,” she replied formally. “And put your mind at ease, I take no insult from your unannounced arrival. You have my permission to remain, for a time at least.”
“My thanks to you,” Rashid said, standing upright again.
“Wow, you are really tall!” Pinkie exclaimed, hopping both figuratively and literally into the middle of the conversation. She bounced excitedly as she stared up at the wizard. “I mean I’ve seen taller but only with like, dragons and other super big creatures so I never would have imagined anything taller than a minotaur until Dresden showed up and then I was all like ‘there is no way anyone can be taller than that’ but whoa was I wrong!”
“Dresden…” Rashid murmured, his gaze flicking over towards Twilight for an instant before returning to Pinkie. “Harry Dresden?”
The party pony let out a gasp as if she was about to inhale her lungs right down into her hooves. She bounded into the air, latching onto the front of the wizard's robe in a death grip and bringing her face to his until their noses touched.
“You know Harry?” she squealed excitedly.
Several things happened at once then, though again Dash was left without the proper context to really understand what she saw and felt. Her wings tingled slightly, almost like they did when she was dealing with an extremely well charged thundercloud. Rashid jerked his head back in surprise at the sudden proximity, his staff rising an inch or so from the floor as he sought to maintain his balance. Both Celestia and Twilight tensed, the princess’s hooves sliding ever so slightly to widen her stance, as if she was preparing to either leap into motion or to resist a sudden force.
Then Rashid smiled.
“I do know him,” the wizard confirmed, carefully reaching up with his free hand and gently prying Pinkie loose. He set her softly back on the floor, and as he did, Dash would have sworn it felt just like having a lightning bolt land nearby. She could feel it through her hooves, an energy in motion, and she felt that she could have made a spark if she touched anything metal at the moment.
The tension in the room broke, Twilight and the princess relaxing. Pinkie remained oblivious.
“Are you friends? Cause he’s definitely our friend.” She spread her hooves wide to indicate the room, or perhaps even the entire town. Sometimes it was hard to tell with her. “And friends of friends are practically already friends!”
Rashid however shook his head. “No, I cannot claim friendship with him,” he told Pinkie, who’s ears dropped in disappointment. “Though I think I could well like the man, given the right time and circumstances.”
“What do you mean?” Pinkie asked, something hopeful in her eyes.
“That…” Rashid sighed. “Would be a very long tale, and full of secrets that are not mine to divulge.”
“Oh, okay!” the party pony accepted chipperly, earning a brief hint of surprise from the wizard. Pinkie obviously caught it, because she added. “Secrets are important. I’ve never ask anypony to break a promise of keeping one.”
“Ah,” Rashid replied simply, straightening back up. He regarded Pinkie for a moment more, and then turned his attention back to Celestia. “We have much to discuss I believe.”
“We do indeed,” the princess confirmed. Her own gaze flicked from Rashid down to Pinkie, and Dash finally, finally felt like she understood what she saw. Celestia’s eyes were filled with consideration, her thoughts clearly working towards some conclusion that she reached a second later. When she looked back at Rashid, it was with the sense of a wall collapsing. Dash hadn’t even really been aware of it until the feeling was gone, but its absence all but slapped her in the face.
Celestia suddenly felt like Celestia again, radiating that warm, comforting, somewhat motherly sense of care and happiness Rainbow suddenly realized had been missing since her appearance. Or since she had stopped pretending to be Pinkie Pie anyway.
Wait a minute…
“Hey, princess?” Dash’s mouth started working even before her brain really caught up with her train of thought. “Did you really not know it was me when you jumped on me?”
“Oh, well…” Celestia replied, a trickster’s smile dancing across her features.
“Oh come on, seriously!” Dash protested, and Celestia laughed.
“I am sorry about that Rainbow Dash,” the princess said fondly.
“I hope you realize I was this close to chucking you across the room,” Dash informed her, hovering up into the air in order to bring her two front hooves a bare feather’s width apart.
“And I would have well deserved it,” Celestia acknowledged without concern. “Do you think you might forgive me?”
“Yeah, well, I guess…” Dash grumbled slightly, though her heart wasn’t really in it. The princess suddenly stepped up alongside her, catching her with one great wing that pulled her into a brief hug.
“Tell you what,” Celestia said in a low, private voice. “I’ll owe you a favor for helping out as well as you did.”
“I…I was helping?” Dash most certainly did not squeak, nor did she blush uncomfortably at the sudden, intimate proximity. She tried to shake the feeling off. “I mean, course I was!”
“Deal then?” the princess asked warmly.
“Sure, deal, no hard feelings,” Rainbow nodded, and Celestia beamed at her. Nearly literally really, as close as she was, the princess’s smile was almost like staring into the sun itself. Dash felt dazed by it, and didn’t even realize she had been released until her hooves hit the floor. She had to blink a bit to clear her head.
“Twilight,” Celestia was saying as Dash came back to her senses. “Might I ask you to put a pot of tea on to boil?”
“Of course Princess, right away,” the unicorn replied dutifully. Dash could hear her hoofsteps heading off towards the kitchen, but the pegasus’s gaze remained fixed straight ahead. Coming out of the daze, Dash found her mind focused to a degree she only normally achieved in the middle of her most daring, most exhilarating, most dangerous stunts. It was a presence of mind and awareness that seemed to make the whole world slow down, until she had time to savor ever little detail and nuance.
In that moment, she knew with absolute certainty that she was the only one watching the wizard. That she was the only one who caught the look that passed across his face. Dash didn’t even have to turn her head to know he was looking at Celestia, and his expression flickered through so many emotions that Dash never could have caught them all at any other time.
He was baffled, a question clear in his features. What are you?. Then he was unnerved, uneasy, quickly transitioning into open concern. Then oddly, sadness, a sense of unbearable tragedy, before finally his expression settled into grim determination, his eye shining with defiant purpose. For that instant, he looked ready and able to topple mountains if he thought it necessary.
And then the moment passed, and Dash felt her mind slip back into regular speed even as Rashid smoothed his face into its usual calm. He strode forward as Celestia politely invited him over to have a seat with her, the sound of metal clinking and water running coming from the kitchen. Pinkie Pie was bouncing around the scene, a steady stream of chatter filling the air around her.
What are you? The thought flashed across Dash’s mind like a bolt as she watched the wizard sit down across from the princess, to discuss whatever terrible thing had brought him to their peaceful land.
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Now I'm not sure what should scare me more. The fact that Twilight is receiving occasional lessons from everyone's favorite inadvertent pyro, or that Celestia can somehow flawlessly pull off a Pinkie imponynation (complete with brain frying moments of perfect and simple logic).
Hmm, this is getting interesting. On a side note, you should problably brush up on your writing of Dash. IMO, she seemed to care about being cool in exclusion to all else, and she would not have consciously done a bad job as a weather pony because she didn't feel like fixing the mess Twi made.
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Nice job with the tone of the story thus far. It still is Dresdenish, but more how I imagine a story with the Rashid would feel.
I'm glad I wasn't the only one that was waiting for Pinkie to great the new pony.
Dash, you're over-thinking things again.... correction, you are thinking again. Hazardous things, there...
Heh, Celestia just wants to cuddle with Rainbow.
Of course, it's not like I can blame her for that. 
Also, I am really wondering what Rashid knows about Celestia.
interesting, giving Dash Intellectus even if only temporarily
>>>The thought flashed across Dash’s mind like a bolt as she watched the wizard sit down across from the princess, to discuss whatever terrible thing had brought him to their peaceful land. >>>
And then they went outside and found the heaps of dead ponies that the evil monster demon had slain.
Heh heh.
3002998 hey you don't know it is an evil monster yet. Maybe it's a special outsider from a land of cotton candy, and it wants to only force feed them with happiness and cheer. Of course that would also mean that all of reality would have to be a lie but still, it could happen.
3012635 Maybe it wants to TURN THEM INTO COTTON CANDY AND GOBBLE THEM ALL UP!!!
Evil monster.
3014549 or maybe he wants to cross two artificial wormholes through a yellow dwarf star and produce enough jelly beans to make a balloon big enough to float out of our universe to make a party for teenage dinosaurs. Thus creating equestria.
My personal theory is that when Celestia and Luna were the bearers of the Elements, one of the three Celestia had was Laughter. She certainly seems to have more of a sense of humour than her sister.
Honestly, I kind of saw Rashid expecting Pinkie. A bit too obvious. That, or I just know the characters well enough. And I kind of forgot Rashid tends to meddle with a little timey wimey himself until I finished the chapter.
2986955
I would have to say the first, as the second can easily be due to
3344594 well, if anyone understands how Pinkie's Reality Warping works it's either Rashid, the Merlin, Mab, Titania, Discord, Mother Winter, Mother Summer, Uriel, Laschiel... or any of the other Cosmic Weight Entities in DF, actually.