The other End of Balance

by Dostoron

Loyalty is not always black and white

"You said that Rainbow Dash might be a Problem, could you get more into Detail?"

Coldheart nodded.
"I got to know a few sides of her in ponyville General, she is brash, a bit full of herself and loves three things, her friends, flying, and the wonderbolts, in that exact order. she isn´t too fond of rules from what i can gather and from what i saw during my stay in appleloosa she can probably Change her mind when she´s faced with reason, she will however never Abandon her friends, if you really do something as stupid as talking to her, be careful of how much you say."

You mull her words over, she had a Point, the six of them were always there to pull celestia out of the fires she started, usually Long in the past but still.
"Your Suggestion is noted, and thank you for your help, i probably don´t say that nearly enough to any of you. Well, it´s time for me to Stretch my wings, maybe have a Little race with the best flier in Equestria."

"What? no, didn´t i say-"

You were already out the door and up in the sky.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In case Coldheart doesn´t amputate your head when you return you should probably thank her, she was right about the rainbow mare being in the clouds, napping on a Nimbus, which was such a golden opportunity you couldn´t resist.
Being as silent as you could be you snuck up until right next to her ear.

"HEY, You´re rainbow dash, right?!!"

"GAH" the mare bolted straight up a few dozen meters, good Thing there´s open sky above and not a ceiling. She Orients herself and frowns as she spots you grinning like an idiot.
"hey, what gives? do you always yell into the ears of sleeping ponies?"

"heh, only when i get the Chance, so are you rainbow dash or just some poser?"

"Poser? No poser could contain this much awesome. I´m the real Thing." no poser could contain that much ego... okay maybe they could.

"good, i was looking for a racer that puts up a challenge at least, a Metropolis like Manehattan and i´m still unbeaten." it was not a lie per say, the best pegasi in the royal guard couldn´t catch you.

"heh, your lucky day, i´m up for it." she put on a cocky grin and crouched at the edge of the cloud.

"kingdom state building, Liberty. direct flight, loser buys lunch. Sound good?" You flexed your wings a bit and crouched down next to her.

"Count to three. One."

"two."

the three kinda went unsaid when you both shot off as fast as you could, your race track had minor Troubles with clouds, but that actually helped you Keep up, your wings cutting through them effortlessly while rainbow dash had to weave around them, a Basic but important difference between male and female pegasi, the males making up for their lack of agility with sturdier wings that simply stood their course.

"not bad, but can you Keep up?" Rainbow dash shouted towards you, her mistake if she wanted to waste her breath taunting you.
The two of you were relatively even at the Kingdom state building, Rainbow dash however seemed to mobilize her reserves now, weaving through the scattered clouds much faster.
Deciding that she was ahead far enough to not see you you flared up your wings, the crackling electricity making short work of your obstacles before you even touched them, this tiny Advantage really began to bear fruit when you almost caught up, the torch of liberty approaching fast, too fast, she was by a few meters ahead.

*Clang* her hoof against the metal echoed, declaring her the winner.

"oh yeah, no one beats the best flier in Equestria" Rainbow dash exclaimed, her heavier breathing however was a clear giveaway, you had gotten Close.

"heh, i got Close but i admit defeat. Lunch is my treat." you told her, making no secret of the fact that your Stamina had not deterred as much as hers, Your physical Fitness had a simple recipe, spend years in prison.

"heh, you didn´t fly too shabby there.... oops, i don´t know your Name." she looked a Little sheepish now, an Expression that managed to make her look rather cute.

"Thunderhead. not to be confused with the guy that´s got the whole City on edge."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rainbow Dash was amazingly talkative over lunch, most of it about flying and the wonderbolts, but you had been able to direct the conversation towards her friends more, now it was time to throw the hook.

"You and your friends sure get a lot of excitement in ponyville, but that kinda begs the question what you are all doing here, i mean, your Fashion friend i would expect, your friend Applejack i would understand, but what drives the rest of you here?"

She looked surprised for a second, you had made sure to not say anything she didn´t tell you, had she caught wind already?
"Didn´t you see the News? there´s a bunch of criminals here trying to start Trouble."

"I only know of the Thunderstorm dudes, and why would you come here for them?"

"They´re spreading bad Images of Princess Celestia, they attacked princess Luna and they´re criminals from Cloud Haven."

"Is the princess hurt?"

"... well... no, i guess, they put some sort of collar on her and she lost a few of her powers, but still. what about Celestia?"

"far as the News told me, they´re only making us see the places where she herself messed up. i mean it is her responsibility to fight against such abuse of power."

"what are you, one of them?" whoops, less passionate or you might as well turn yourself in.

"I sympathize with pegasi that get locked up for no reason, that is all." you said, hoping to divert her attention

"what do you mean?" success

"i read up on a bit of historical Information, of course, the unicorn Scholar writing that crap thought thunderwings to be dangerous, because they were powerful, but i´ve seen articles that glorify locking up teenage pegasi for life for no other reason than having them, i even found an article where they tossed in a ten year old filly because of a suspicion. Do you want to know what Cloudsdale, the wonderbolts and every Pegasus of any Station did? they looked the other way as it happened, when they dragged them in kicking and screaming, crying for their parents, for mercy, for Celestia. Do you know what Celestia did? She approved. the unicorns made front against thunderwings to Keep the pegasi opressed, or have you met a Pegasus noble that isn´t a hooflicker to a unicorn?
Sorry, to talk myself up like that but let´s face it, what happened there was not justice, on the contrary, if a ruler let´s her subjects get out of hoof like that, maybe she´s a bad ruler."

Rainbow just sat there.
"A ten year old filly, like scoots, and out of a suspicion."

"probably a founded one, her parents both had the `birth defect´ of being thunderwings, it isn´t even hereditary, any Pegasus could become one."

"locked up for life, in Cloud Haven... how could they do that? just... why?"

"why indeed, maybe you shouldn´t focus too much on the good things, you might stop seeing what you Need to see."

"You said you sympathize, but i don´t think that´s all, is it?"

"I told you what i had to say, and i paid up, a Piece of advice for the day, don´t just take everything you hear, even honest ponies can be wrong and can Change their minds when questioned"
You spread your wings and flew off, checking from time to time if she was following you, finally confident she wasn´t you returned to your new home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Grr i swear i should really just test `eternal pain´ out on you."
Coldhearts reception was a lot better than you had expected, you weren´t strapped to a lab table and no chainsaw nearby.
"i hope you´re Aware of the risk you are taking if-"

You turned to her, you had just about enough.
"STOP! i will have you know that i have never once been unaware of what could happen if this whole Thing goes sideways, because then i´m confident i´ll go down in history as the first execution in millenia. or another nasty fate, so don´t you come to me with risks, because i am Aware of them, but unlike you, i´m not scared of taking them."
whew, that had been building for a while.

Coldheart simply Looks at you with her ever present frown.
"... Duly noted. Was it worth the risk?"

"most likely, i may have shaken the faith of the most loyal Pony in the world. it´s time to figure out who´s next though."

Author's Note:

so yeah, rainbow dash with 2 votes, also the reason why was explained really well, i like writing for votes that Show the voter really thought about it.

EDIT: by the way, General Feedback, besides the obvious mistakes in spelling and grammar is equally welcome, i´m open to constructive criticism if í can help it.

Comments

[Max Caulfield]

NOW, Fluttershy...?

[jolan5]

"probably a founded one, her parents both had the `birth defect´ of being thunderwings, it isn´t even hereditary, any Pegasus could become one."

Could you explain this sentence to me please, because I don't really understand it.

I also have a question, do thunderwings remain in Cloud Haven until they drop dead, or is there an age where they are deemed "Safe for society"?

[DarkAscension]

The way I see it, out of the remaining Elements, Twilight would be the most difficult to turn. So I'd save her for last. I'd go after AJ next, I'm sure she would see the wrong in throwing innocent Ponies in prison just because they have a special ability. I don't think she would join up right off, but all I got to do is get her to question Celestias rule. Just like what I did with Rainbow. Having the two most stubborn Mares on our side will deffinetly help turning the others later on.

[DarkAscension]

3750944 Basically a Founded Suspition means that there is evidence to support their therory. So, "If her parents are Thunderwings, she must be as well." And Hereditary means your born with a Condition because your parents have it. I'm sure someone can explain it better. But "You" say that it isn't, and that any Pegasus can become one.

Hoped I helped.

[Phase Nexus]

Yeah, I noticed that you tend to go with votes that are explained really well, so I figured that that's what I needed to do to get my point across.

[Dostoron]

3751080
usually in case of a draw i go for the one with better Explanation, Shows that you put thought into your decisions and seeing what intent you have on your votes helps me writing the next chapter, for that same reason i´m currently tending towards applejack

3750944
DarkAscension explained it about as well as i could, that aside i openly admit i never thought through what else happens to thunderwings from a certain Age, i guess they are sent to a sort of "Exile colony" after a certain amount of years, after their Spirit is broken.

[Phase Nexus]

3751180
Ah, the Living Lie Detector. She would be a good choice. If we got her and dash it would make getting the rest of the 6 easier, but it would be more risky. We should go for Sparkle last. She'd be sooner to listen if her friends were sure of our position and it's support.

[jolan5]

3751036 Thanks for explaining

3751180 Alright, Exile community it is. Maybe we can find some allies there?

[Phase Nexus]

3766118
Wait, no! I didn't mean it like that!
Nate what have you done? Now we have to wait longer for the next chapter!
I'm sorry! I didn't know!