Chapter 168: (Arc 4: The Burdens We Carry)
Tell me… what are you afraid of?
What is it that worries you?
That makes you anxious?
That gives you chills?
Take a moment right now and think about that for me.
Pick it out and focus on it.
…
Done?
Now imagine you are facing that fear right now.
Imagine that it is overwhelming you.
That you are unable to fight back.
That you’re only able to run and hide from it.
You run and run and run and run… and… you get away from it.
What was it you were afraid of?
Something scary?
Somepony who wishes harm on you?
Oh, what does it matter?
You got away right?
You can go on your way… right?
Now tell me what you were running from. I’m all ears I’m listening.
What are you most afraid of? Say it aloud.
…
Thank you for the answer, but guess what?
It’s wrong.
You heard me… wrong.
What are fears really born from, hm?
What is required for a fear?
An individual, and a cause.
You notice… that’s two things. You cannot have one without the other.
And a fear of something around or nearby you, well… that splits it into two halves, and gives you the chance to stay clear of it.
What’s so scary about something you can avoid?
Now…
Let me tell you what you’re really afraid of…
What everypony truly fears the most… even if they don’t know it.
You fear… when the two halves… are one in the same.
When you are the one… and the cause.
You cannot run from you.
You cannot hide from you.
And the more you ignore it… the worse it becomes until it consumes you whole.
Your shortcomings, your missteps… your flaws.
They are all a part of you and you cannot escape them.
There is nothing you can fear more…
Than YOU.
Piercing the Heavens
Arc 4: The Burdens We Carry
Chapter 168: What in Equestria Happened?
“Oh come on!!!” Dash yelled as she glared up into the icy stare of Captain P.L. “It’s been two weeks!” she yelled while pointing to the double doors behind him and the group of Thestrals and crystal guards on duty. Twilight Sparkle stared quizzically at Luna’s guard captain as Dash growled angrily.
“By the order of Princess Luna—”
“Nopony is allowed to enter!” Dash finished for him, mocking his voice while tipping her head back and forth before pressing a hoof over her head, crossing her eyes, and blowing raspberries.
“Rainbow Dash…” Twilight placed a hoof on her shoulder, but she shrugged it off. P.L. narrowed his eyes at her, but she shot a glare right back as she hovered into the air to get eye level with him.
“What, don’t like my impression of you? Tough shit, Count Buckula! Get one of the gods out here to give me answers or I’ll imitate the sound your ass makes whenever Luna asks you for a back rub!” she threatened while slowly rising higher to look down at him.
“Honestly, I don’t get what you’re after,” Discord’s voice suddenly filled the air. He appeared out of thin air, leaning and resting an arm on P.L.’s head. The thestrels with P.L. hissed loudly at him, but with a snap of his fingers, Discord summoned small spray bottles labeled ‘hissy horse water’ that started spritzing them in the face. They flinched, backed off, and covered their faces with their wings as the bottles advanced on them.
Dash instantly shifted her anger to Discord, nearly pressing her nose to his.
“YOU.”
But before she could say anything, Discord lifted a hand and clamped his fingers over her lips, making a comical squeak noise.
“I don’t know how many times I have to explain this to you,” Discord casually rolled his eyes as he pushed her away from him. Dash grabbed his arm and yanked her mouth free.
“I’m about to let my hoof start asking the questions if you don’t start telling me what’s happening in there!” she demanded. Discord sighed.
“For the millionth time, WE DON’T KNOW," Discord said flatly.
“Then let me see him!” she demanded. Discord snorted.
“For the million-oneth time, WE DON’T KNOW. That’s why we’re keeping him isolated!”
“What the hell does that even mean?!” Dash threw her arms out, Discord reached up and pressed a finger over her head, slowly forcing her down.
“It means we have a very fragile situation with a regular stallion that suddenly became a god, who is undoubtedly in a state of extreme traumatic shock while his mind is likely being overwhelmed by things he cannot comprehend, and should never have been able to comprehend. It’s been two weeks, but Lulu and I still haven’t figured out how this happened or what we could possibly do about it. This is something we have never encountered before and we need to understand it before we try anything else. This kind of power is not to be taken lightly, you know.” He explained as he pushed Dash all the way down until her hooves were on the ground. “Is that better? I don’t know what else I have to say to get through to you. This is a dangerous situation and because it involves the power of a god, you’d think you’d want gods to handle it!”
Dash growled at Discord, but was stuck underneath his hand. Twilight made her way forward and grasped Dash’s shoulder, trying to calm her down. Discord released her and huffed, crossing his arms and shaking his head as he leaned on P.L.’s head again. The thestrels were darting about and hissing as the spray bottles continued to chase them, the Crystal guards present just standing still and watching cautiously.
“Set aside our past disagreements for a moment and think about what we’re dealing with here. You were there when he freaked out. You were there when we struggled to put him in stasis, and you were there when we made the choice to quickly get him away from anypony else. Yet you persist like I’m keeping secrets from you! If Lulu and I don’t understand what happened, that should worry you… a lot! And you should appreciate that we’re trying our damnedest to figure it out for you.”
Discord stood still as Dash just kept glaring at him. Discord sighed and shrugged. The spray bottles were now bopping the thestrels over the head after running out of water.
“Or, you know we could let you in, you might disrupt his sleep, and he’ll start screaming and start shooting magic beams everywhere every time he blinks again. Does that sound better? Let’s just add more expenses to Princess Cadence’s repair bill for the palace.”
“FINE!” Dash yelled, grumbling as she landed and turned her back on him. “Screw this!”
“Dash!” Twilight tried calling to her, but she stormed off.
She and Discord watched her leave. Twilight glanced up at Discord. P.L.’s face was beginning to turn red with anger as Discord continued to use him as an armrest.
“What?” Discord asked as Twilight just stared. The thestrels leapt at him again, but a garden hose appeared and floored them with a large stream of water.
“The two of you, truly haven’t figured anything out?” she asked calmly. “Not even you?” She added. Discord didn’t say anything for several seconds.
“I hate to say it, but yes,” he glanced over his shoulder at the door. “This is… unprecedented. Completely unknown and unexplored territory. For all the time I’ve existed and all the things I’m capable of… I really don’t have a damn clue how this happened or what we can possibly do about it.”
Dash quietly grumbled to herself as she trudged down the halls of the Crystal Palace. She wasn’t walking in any particular direction, she just walked and everypony that came near her steered clear as if she was a wrecking ball.
She had had it up to here with this. It had been two weeks since Soarin apparently turned into a divine alicorn. It was an unexpected conclusion to a massively confusing and painfully twisted scenario. And since then Discord and Luna had locked him away in a chamber with no windows and hadn’t allowed anypony in to see him. And for what?! To study him? To prod and poke at him? To…
Dash stopped for a moment and looked out a window towards the palace’s inner courtyard. She stared at the torn up grass, the ruined garden arrangements, the damage to the surrounding structure of the palace, and all the local workers that had been called in for repairs that were slowly moving along.
She exhaled loudly.
Okay, so maybe she couldn’t quite deny everything Discord said. There was actually a bit of an incident. After Soarin’s transformation, he… immediately lost control of himself. But it wasn’t anything like his magic woes of the past. When the initial shock had worn off he stood there shaking, his eyes darting all about. He barely moved an inch and a surge of magical energy expelled out of him, knocking everypony back. He gasped and tried to hold still, but any movement, any slight twitch caused another burst. He tried turning his head and a beam of yellow magic shot from his horn, blowing a huge hole in the courtyard wall.
Dash remembered the look in Soarin’s eyes. He looked afraid, he looked overwhelmed, as if he was a ticking time bomb and any jolt would hurt everypony around him. But the way his eyes shook, the way his breaths were short and his gasps and wails shot out rapidly suggested something was happening to his mind. The way his eyes and body twitched was uneven and unnatural. Something eventually snapped because he suddenly screamed in what sounded more like fear than pain. Magic ejected outward from him, tearing up the courtyard, breaking chunks out of the palace’s crystal surfaces. Everypony was forced to take cover as the powerful pulses lashed out. Anypony hit was thrown back, some so hard that they flew all the way back to the courtyard walls.
Soarin’s screams had disappeared behind a shrill screech that accompanied the light shining brighter and brighter around him. The flow of energy wouldn’t cease, thrashing and flowing around like a beast let loose from a cage. But in her head, Dash could hear his voice, she could hear him grunting and wailing. And right before Discord and Luna rushed in to contain him, she swore she heard him say…
“Help me.”
It took both Luna and Discord together to encircle and suppress Soarin. Not even Discord’s chaos magic could handle it without Luna supporting him. Sombra was one thing, the focus and execution of his power gave him the aptitude to face and repel them. But this was simply an uncontrolled outflow of power, and watching two gods struggle to simply hold something like that down was concerning. But as soon as they had him unconscious, they whisked him away before anypony else could do anything. And since then they had been keeping him confined.
So maybe… Discord and Luna were doing the right thing right now. Their recent track record gave her every reason to be biased against them, but after what happened to Soarin…?
Dash growled in frustration, turning away from the wrecked courtyard and continuing on her way, albeit much more calmly and without the stomping.
Figuring out what happened? That she agreed with.
Still no word from them two weeks in? Would it hurt them to tell her something? Anything at all about it? At least let her see him? The way they were handling this only made her feel like they were hiding things from them… again. But based on Discord’s initial reaction after the transformation… was there anypony who knew what happened?
“No, they still won’t let me in,” Spitfire’s voice came from around the corner. Dash came to an abrupt halt and blinked. “If they don’t tell me something soon I might just use P.L.’s head to break down that door.”
Dash swallowed, slowly peeking around the corner to see Spitfire talking to Fleetfoot.
“Why won’t they tell us anything?” Fleetfoot said with a pout.
“I don’t know,” Spitfire said with a snort. “I tried talking to Princess Cadence and Twilight Sparkle about it, but they haven’t been told anything either. Shining Armor doesn’t even know what’s going on in there despite his own detachments being assigned to stand guard.”
Fleetfoot held her breath, her cheeks puffing out briefly before the air released with a quiet fwoosh between her lips.
“Can we like, kill Discord please?” she suddenly asked while tipping her head back and groaning. “I just really want to snap his long squiggly neck. Am I allowed to do that? You think anypony would hold it against me?”
“I sure as hell wouldn’t…” Spitfire agreed with a huff. “Luna could use a swift kick in the ass too.”
“I don’t give a damn about Luna, honestly.” Fleetfoot scoffed. “Have you seen the two of them work together? She doesn’t do anything without Discord patting her on the head and calling her a good little moon.” Fleetfoot rolled her eyes. “She won’t even fart without asking him if it’s what Celestia would do first.”
“I can’t disagree with any of that, but I just don’t know.” Spitfire sighed. “I’m so tired of them, but under the current circumstances? I guess we’ll play this their way for now since… well… if Soarin really did trip and fall into becoming a god, if there’s one thing they are better at understanding than us, it’s the whole god thing. But if they keep us in the dark much longer then I’m taking matters into my own hooves.”
Dash flinched and quickly pulled back as Spitfire turned slightly in her direction. She placed herself up against the wall and waited. She heard the sound of hooves, but they faded, suggesting Spitfire did not go in her direction.
Dash slumped down and sighed.
She had been avoiding Spitfire. The situation with Soarin was one big fat question mark on everyone’s minds, but it didn’t erase the crazy situation that unfolded leading up to it. The Wonderbolts made it out of the chaotic clashing alive and Spitfire even admitted during the process that she had gone too far, but… Dash DID subvert her… and they did clash. It made her feel awkward around her, like there was a big elephant in the room every time they crossed paths. They hadn’t spoken at all over the past two weeks.
“Dash?”
“YIKES!” Dash launched upward, her wings opening to catch herself in a hover as she looked down. Fleetfoot was standing below her, looking up quizzically at the spooked Dash. “Oh… hey…” Dash exhaled as she lowered herself and landed beside her. “Sorry…”
“Are you okay?” Fleetfoot asked, but blinked and shook her head. “Never mind, stupid question,” she said with a sigh. “Did you just try to force your way in to Soarin too?”
Dash turned away and leaned her head against the wall.
“Yeah, but you have one guess as to how that went,” she said exasperatedly as Fleetfoot shifted beside her.
“The sexy stiff ass roadblock, eh?”
“And the snaggledouche,” Dash snorted as she started walking.
“Wait, Discord said something to you?” Fleetfoot asked as she trotted up to follow alongside.
“Not really, he’s just been telling me to go away each time,” Dash grumbled. Fleetfoot lifted her eyebrow.
“So he’s been coming out when you go there? Sheesh, he pulls his head out of his ass for you but snubs me and Spitfire…” Fleetfoot perked up, noticing Dash flinch slightly when she mentioned Spitfire. “Hey, are you two okay by the way?”
“No, I want to soak him in water, wind him up, and rat tail him against a concrete wall,” Dash snorted.
“Not Discord,” Fleetfoot snickered. “Spitfire.”
Dash stopped, keeping her head down as Fleetfoot took a few more paces and turned around.
“I’ll take that as a… no?” she asked, tipping her head.
“Hrmmmm…” Dash groaned and rubbed her face with a hoof. “No, I…” she started and paused. “Fleet, I straight up disobeyed her orders. We literally fought each other while chasing after Sombra. I don’t regret my choices, but come on. How’s that make the ‘Element of Loyalty’ look?”
Dash looked up to see Fleetfoot’s eyes pointed away from her, rubbing the back of her head.
“What?” Dash asked.
“I mean, kind of bad but… I dunno. It’s not like any of us are doing much better right now. Spitfire hasn’t issued an order since the battle. I haven’t said anything to her but we’re all just sort of floating around and waiting for her to say something. It made sense when it was two or three days and we were all exhausted, but now we just don’t know what’s on her mind.”
“All of the Wonderbolts?” Dash blinked in surprise.
“Pretty much. I don’t know, maybe she feels a little awkward about it too. We did kinda sorta turn on her too at one point. She hasn’t brought it up, but I can tell she’s not happy with herself or how any of it went. Plus, you know she’s still dealing with the Wave Chill situation too.” Fleetfoot rubbed the back of her head while frowning. “Nopony came out of that for the better. The entire thing was a mess that she had a hoof in making, and now she’s got a force that’s both very confused about the situation and wondering what got into her. All the while dealing with the rest of our merry band of factions all at each other’s throats… The Renegades haven’t been very talkative lately and I swear I haven’t walked by a single Thestrel without one of them nipping at me since then…” she blinked. “Well, not that that’s any different from how they usually act.”
“I haven’t really talked to many other Wonderbolts since…” Dash admitted. “I didn’t really think about it that way with Spitfire.”
“Don’t worry so much about it, I’m doing what I can for her for now.” Fleetfoot assured her. “And it’s not like we’ve all been out and hopping about. Everypony’s been a bit… out of it.”
“I’ve just been scared to face her I guess. Hell, maybe I’ve been afraid to talk to any of you,” Dash added.
“Hey, you’re talking to me!” Fleetfoot smiled, batting her eyelashes comically.
“It’s hard to be afraid of you, Fleet,” Dash said with a weak smile.
“Some might beg to differ,” Fleetfoot winked, but then put on a serious look as she placed a hoof on Dash’s shoulder. “Look, let me handle Spitfire. She’s at just as much of a loss as the rest of us. We’re all trying to get out of this funk, but don’t ever worry about talking to me. We’ve been through too much crap together to start avoiding one another.”
“Thanks, Fleet,” Dash nodded, sighing lightly as they turned down the hall to leave the palace.
“And… hey,” Fleetfoot continued. “While we’re at it, keep me informed about anything else you hear about Soarin from Discord, will ya? Seems to think you’re worth talking to and that’s more than anypony else is getting right now.”
“Doubt I’ll get much, but I’ll try,” Dash nodded as the two passed through the front gate and started towards the nearby hotel where the Wonderbolts were housed.
“By the way, do you ever have the urge to bend him all the way backwards and force feed him his own ass?”
“Huh?” Dash blinked as her keycard didn’t work. She stared at the hotel room door for a moment before trying it two more times. She scrunched her face when it refused to work and pounded her hoof on the door.
A moment later it opened, Dash immediately started forward but ran face first into High Winds, almost full-blown head butting her accidentally. Dash flinched in surprise and quickly stepped backward.
“I love you too, you need something?” High Winds asked sleepily.
“I SAW THAT!” Blaze suddenly leapt up on High Winds’ back and jammed a hoof in Dash’s face. “FUCKING BACK OFF WHORE! I’M NOT SHARING! By the way hi, what the hell do ya want?” she instantly shifted down a gear, asking out of curiosity. Dash stared for another moment, she and Blaze both squinting as High Winds yawned, causing her crystal form to shimmer brightly.
“Uh…” Dash glanced up at the door number. 622. “Oh… wrong room.”
“You sure?” High Winds asked monotonously as Blaze traced circles on her back with a hoof. “Thought you finally came around.”
“Came arou—” Dash twitched and her face turned red. “No, no… Just wrong room, I’ll let you two get back to… the mid-morning grind.”
Dash quickly grabbed the door and shut it.
“Fgdfgs…” Dash verbally shuddered and shook her head out before shifting one door over to 624. “Pay attention, Dash…” she said to herself as she used her keycard and the door immediately unlocked with a soft click. She had no idea when it had happened, but at some point Blaze and High Winds ended up occupying the room right next to them a week after the battle. Some interesting noises had been testing the soundproofing of the hotel walls the past few nights.
She opened the door to her room, the sound of commotion quickly meeting her ears. She had split from her squad after breakfast to try and force her way in to Soarin.
“You’d feel the same way if you had trouble fitting through doors,” Matteo grumbled angrily as Little Star giggled to herself. Dash walked in, turning to sit on her bed as Matteo glared down at the laughing Little Star on the bed beside hers. Squall was sitting in a chair in the opposite corner, staring out the window.
“It’s safe to say I’ll never have that— oh, hey Dash,” Star leaned over. “Any luck?” she asked with concern, completely ignoring Matteo leaning further over her and glaring down harder.
“Hrm…” Dash hummed unenthusiastically.
“Guess not,” Star pouted with a quiet snort as Matteo leaned further over her and glared harder. “Feels like we’re back to square one—what?” she turned and giggled as Matteo continued to try and push the definition of the word ‘looming’ to new heights.
“It’s actually a problem,” Matteo insisted.
“Just shimmy! At least a fifth of your girth is fluff and feathers!” Star snickered more as Matteo leaned so far down that his beak was pressing down on her head.
“Hrm…” Dash hummed again as she thought about Star’s comment and ignored the amusing scene.
Back to square one? Maybe, though she wasn’t so sure she entirely agreed. In terms of Soarin, power forced into him, and his apparent inability to control it? The gods being tight lipped and secretive? Yeah, that was familiar ground.
But otherwise… there were several things that had Dash convinced it was a whole different ball game. For starters, the way the gods panicked and hid him away. When Soarin was first dealing with magic inside of him they had a quick solution and were on top of the situation. That clearly wasn’t the case here.
Hissssssssssssss
Sombra’s magic was forced into him by an outside source. What happened out in the courtyard was willingly done by Soarin.
Hissssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
Lastly, what was going on with her? She still felt like—
HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Dash flattened her brow and tipped over in the direction of the noise. Her eyes widened at a massive red balloon directly behind her.
POW!
She winced as the balloon popped right in her face. Matteo squawked, Star shrieked, and Squall nearly fell out of his chair.
“RIGHT IN THE KISSER!”
Dash opened her eyes to see Twister directly in front of her where the balloon was a moment ago. His lips were puckered and he was making loud sucking noises, his face slowly collapsing inward as if he was sucking his own face into itself.
Matteo and Star simply rolled their eyes and went back about their business.
But Dash glared hard at Twister as his face vanished into itself.
And then there was this…
Dash lifted a hoof and jabbed it against Twister’s stomach. His face instantly unsucked itself, his nose re-extending with a loud TWANG. He blinked as he saw Dash glaring at him and instantly threw on an extremely wide smile.
“So are you going to come clean with me?” she asked him in a serious tone.
“Ah… alas… I must,” Twister turned sideways and tipped his head back dramatically. “I celebrated Cinco De Mayo on the twelfth of October! I have dishonored my family, I must commit Sudoku!” Twister fell onto his back, pulled out a magic marker and started drawing grids and numbers on his stomach.
Dash was rolling her eyes the moment he started speaking. In the past Twister played off his out of character moments of serious discussion or intervention and she just went along with it. But if he thought he could do the same after… the chess game with Ruin, he had another thing coming.
Her squadmates had no idea what she had witnessed with him, but she hadn’t told them because she wasn’t sure they’d understand. Twister had always left them out of their private interactions and if she tried to talk to them about it, they may think she’s lost her mind for thinking Twister could do anything serious.
No, this was between her and Twister… he had specifically engineered it that way and it had to be for a reason. She clearly wasn’t going to get a straight answer, but she was onto him. There was more to him than meets the eye. She had felt that way since he started his shenanigans with her, but it appeared to go much deeper than she could have ever imagined.
What was the deal between him and Ruin? How did they fit into this whole mess? She saw and heard everything, but they seemed so out of place, as if they were sitting outside of reality. The way they spoke of influencing and ‘nudging’ the course of events as if it were some kind of competition? She just had no clue what to think or to believe. If not for the situation currently before her she’d give this much more thought, but as of right now it was too… out there to piece together any sort of picture.
But, as for Twister himself, for the moment she was convinced that he was committed to aiding her. She felt like she was being gently pushed into seeing the world around her in a different light. She was beginning to believe things, starting to question things. Not just about things that were happening to her and to those around her, but things outside the box too. Twister already had her thinking before the battle broke out, but when she managed to avoid Nightshade by… well… breaking through reality the way Pinkie Pie would apparently by sheer force of will alone, she was really starting to think hard about it. It felt like Twister was slowly trying to make her aware of more, and that made it clear he was in her corner, whatever that may mean for them… or him. Without any clear answers she could live with that… at least for the time being, not that she was certain the answers could possibly make any sense. But eventually she would seek answers from him, perhaps if she found ways to uncover more about him. Because for all the help he had given her, she refused to just let it be… especially after Ruin revealed Twister’s actions that unleashed Sombra.
There was a method behind the madness. But there was no indication to what ends. Who or what was she dealing with in Twister? Hell if she knew. But until she learned more, she was fine with him as long as he kept contributing to her and the squad.
And maybe… now that she understood him and the way he operated more… maybe she could make use of him in ways that she had never considered prior. It was certainly something to keep in mind.
Dash blinked and Twister was gone. She turned back over to see him bouncing around the room on a double base like its stand was a pogo stick. He went right up to Squall and started serenading him.
“IS YOU IS…”
“Shut up.” Squall growled.
“OR IS YOU AIN’T…”
“Cut it out.”
“MY BABEH!”
“I SAID—”
Squall was cut off as a pie came hurling in from out of nowhere and slammed into Twister’s face, but it was accompanied by a loud metallic CLANG. The pie burst and fell apart to reveal a clothing iron was hidden in it, slowly sliding off twister’s face to reveal completely flattened features.
“I see I’m attracting a rather sophisticated audience!” Twister commented as the bass shrunk down and he started vigorously wiping the remainder of the pie from his flattened face.
“Twister, leave Squall alone,” Star appealed to Twister as he began shaking and screamed, falling over as he failed to get any of the pie off his face. Star looked up to see Squall staring at her, but he quickly looked away, back out the window. She stared at him for a moment before sighing and shaking her head.
“GAH!” Matteo grunted in surprise as Twister suddenly popped up right in front of him with a giant fluffy moth sitting on and covering his entire face.
“Excuse me, do I have something on my face?” he asked in a muffled voice.
“For crying out…” Dash grumbled, rolling off her bed and groaning. She couldn’t hear herself think. She moved towards the bathroom door and yanked it open hard.
CRUNCH
The room went completely silent. Dash stared down at the doorknob in her hoof… then looked at the hole in the door where the doorknob was a second ago.
Right… this was a thing too.
“Again?” Star asked as she, Squall, and Matteo all looked over towards her. “How do you keep breaking the—”
“DON’T WORRY MA’AM!” Twister popped up in front of Dash wearing a construction helmet and a tool belt that was so long that it was laid out three yards along the floor behind him. “I’LL HAVE IT FIXED IN A JIFFY!”
Dash paid little attention to Twister as he pulled out a jackhammer, started it up and jammed it into the bathroom door. The door literally exploded, sending pieces of wood flying all over the room. Dash flinched and turned her head slightly as she was battered by the woodchips. Twister grabbed the doorknob out of her hoof, followed by loud banging and drilling noises.
Dash just kept staring at her hoof, furrowing her brow.
“All in a day’s work!” Twister cheered. Dash looked up to see the door completely fixed. Twister jammed his face into hers and made his eyes as wide as he could. “NOW STOP BREAKING SHIT.”
Dash quickly pushed Twister aside and opened the door, this time carefully, entering the bathroom. Little Star and Matteo just glanced at one another as the door hovered shut, but stopped short of closing completely.
Dash placed herself in front of the mirror, putting her hooves on the counter and staring directly at herself. She blinked a few times before running some cold water and splashing it on her face.
This was the other thing… strange stuff was happening to her too. The surge she felt when Soarin transformed never went away, she could still feel it. It was another checkmark in how her days had gone the past two weeks. Wake up, demand to see Soarin, get rejected, and try to go about her day without… breaking anything. No, she wasn’t being violent out of anger. It was just happening.
Her spirit was connected to Soarin. And Soarin was now apparently a god thanks to taking on Celestia’s magic. There had to be a connection between that and what was happening to her, there was no other explanation. She couldn’t really explain it, but there were some clearly noticeable things… one being a sudden increase in strength. That was the fifth time she had broken a doorknob. The other day she punched a stone wall after getting frustrated with Discord and left a visible divot in it. She accidentally bumped into sompony the other night and they were thrown to the ground as if she rammed them.
She shook her head out, whipping the excess droplets of water from her face as she stepped back from the mirror. She stared for several moments, her eyes scanning her body over. She turned to the side as she continued to look herself over, bobbing her shoulder back and forth, reaching over and running her opposite hoof over it. She bent and flexed her legs and flank before turning back to face the mirror, brushing a hoof over her chest.
There was no doubt about it. She knew her own body quite well from several, ahem, self-admiration sessions in the past. There was clearly an increase in mass and tone all over her body along with the strength. Not that she was complaining or anything, but it definitely wasn’t normal to suddenly gain a physique that probably would have taken several months of extremely focused training to get otherwise… But it also wasn’t normal to inadvertently rip off doorknobs.
She sat down on the floor as she continued to look at herself.
Curiosity got the better of her. She looked down at her arm. She took a deep breath and clenched her hoof, tensing her arm as she bent it across her chest, flexing it as hard as she could. The cords of muscle in her arm bunched up and swelled beneath her fur to an impressive size. But surprisingly, no matter how hard she squeezed… it felt like there was no strain on her joints. She exhaled and released the tension, staring at herself in the mirror again with a somewhat concerned look.
That wasn’t natural at all. None of this was natural. It had to be because of her connection with Soarin. With their spirits connected, she had constantly felt things that had been affecting him directly. Sometimes things happened to her too. So the power flowing through Soarin was likely the cause of this little ‘boost’ she was experiencing.
But…
Dash blinked as she stared at herself for a few more seconds and bit her lip. She looked down and flexed her arm again, staring at it for a moment. Her lips curled into a smile as a slight tingling sensation crawled through her. Her vision was filled with a subtle, barely noticeable yellow tint as she touched her opposite hoof to her arm. She looked up and swayed slightly as she flexed both her arms, bouncing her eyebrows as if it was just another morning in front of the mirror for her. She was so focused on her body that she did not see the very faint yellow glow in her eyes.
“This is… kind of awesome I guess…” she said with a satisfied nod.
“Are you okay in here?”
Dash abruptly put her arms down, slamming her hooves to the floor as she stiffened in surprise. The soft glow in her eyes vanished as she glanced to her right. Little Star was peeking through the door with an eyebrow raised.
“Uh…” Dash’s eyes darted back and forth.
“Were you checking yourself out? You looked pissed a minute ago.”
Dash grabbed her mane and pulled it down over her face, grumbling in frustration as she turned pink with embarrassment.
“Is there a gym in this hotel?” she suddenly asked. Star blinked and tipped her head.
“Yeah?”
“What floor?”
“Third floor.”
“If you need me I’ll be there,” Dash got up and quickly pushed past Star, pausing briefly by the door to make sure she didn’t tear out the doorknob before she left.
Star stared for a moment before turning and looking back into the room. Squall had Twister on the ground and was repeatedly punching his face in, accompanied with a comical squeak with every hit, but Matteo was looking towards the door. Star just shook her head and shrugged before moving to pull Squall off of Twister.
Matteo, however, narrowed his eyes, clicking the tips of his beak back and forth. He got up and left the shenanigans behind, leaving the room himself.
“Huh…” Dash blinked in surprise as she scanned the small hotel gym. “Better than I thought it’d be,” she said to herself as she stepped in and let the door close behind her. They were staying at a nice hotel in the middle of the Crystal Empire’s royal district, but it certainly wasn’t a luxury establishment. Regardless they had some decent equipment for being a standard hotel gym, enough to give her a decent workout at least.
The place was spotless and looked like it hadn’t been touched in days, but with the Wonderbolts recovering and occupying the entire building, she wasn’t surprised. She needed this though. She was stressed out and frustrated, and breaking a good sweat always helped her clear her head. And... Guess she could test out her new strength while she was at it. It would be a nice distraction.
Don’t think, just lift. Don’t think, just rep it out. Don’t think, just work it. Have some fun.
Dash kept repeating it to herself as she got down to business. But even as she laid back on the bench press and focused on pushing the dumbbells up and down, she still thought of Soarin. It wasn’t so easy to strike him from her mind, especially when his status was so uncertain. Her conversation with Fleetfoot had also put forward something new to think about. Why was Discord going out of his way to confront her whenever she showed up and not with anypony else? That couldn’t be a coincidence, there were no coincidences with Discord.
He kept saying the same thing to her. Something about Soarin being unstable, something about him being in a fragile state, something about him being overwhelmed. All things that Dash was willing to believe after what happened after the change, but… maybe she’d stop ‘bothering’ him if he’d be a little more informative about what was going on in that room.
What exactly were Discord and Luna doing in there with him? What warranted keeping him completely hidden away for two weeks now? Discord said they were being extremely careful, but what did that mean? What were they doing, poking him with a stick from behind sandbags and seeing what happens?
But, on the flip side, what if they really were trying to figure it out… and two weeks later they still had nothing? As much as Dash had come to distrust Discord and Luna recently, that was a fair point to consider. But regardless they couldn’t at least tell her anything?
Dash blinked as she pushed the dumbbells up and held the top of her rep.
Uh… how many was that? She wasn’t paying attention. She was using forty pounds in each hoof, and typically she could only get around six to eight reps before putting them down. She counted to three before all those thoughts just went through her head and was pretty sure she just did at least ten or twelve more, and felt like she could do another three at least.
She abruptly set the dumbbells down and sat up, blinking as she looked down at her hooves. Her eyes slowly shifted over to the dumbbell rack. They only went up to sixty, being a hotel gym and all, but… she had to try.
She hoisted the sixty pounders off the rack, immediately noticing that she was able to, one in each hoof with some difficulty. Last time she tried to pick up one of these she needed both arms. She heaved them over to the bench and laid back carefully.
She took a deep breath as she lowered the dumbbells on the first rep… and exhaled, pushing them back up. Her eyes widened in surprise as she managed to press them up and had plenty of strength left to do more without question. So she did more. Each rep was harder than the last, and by the fourth rep she was starting to struggle. But she managed to force out two more before letting the dumbbells go, the rubber edges bouncing against the padded floor with soft THUMPS.
She sat up abruptly again, panting slightly as she looked at her hooves again. She rotated her shoulders and shook out her arms, and was surprised that the burn from the reps only lasted a few seconds before her body felt ready to go for another set. Without hesitation she picked the dumbbells back up and did another set for the same amount of reps, and when she finished the same thing happened, as if her recovery time in between sets was roughly a fraction of what it typically would be. And there was no increase in difficulty in between, like every set was her first set.
She looked herself over curiously after finishing a third, but moments later the curiosity was overtaken by some mild excitement. The fact that it was unnatural didn’t seem to be sticking in her head as much as ‘what else can I do?!’ was.
Dash got right up off the bench and began making her way around the gym, going from lift to lift, from equipment to equipment, purposely setting and lifting weights higher than she typically could… because she could. All of her personal records were out the window in an instant. She wasn’t putting up numbers like Spitfire, Soarin, or most of the elite male Wonderbolts, but the increase in her numbers was too noticeable to ignore.
The more she did, the more she enjoyed herself. She started enthusiastically bouncing around in between sets.
“Aw yeah, get after it! Looking good!” she chanted to herself, chuckling as she went from one thing to another, keeping her eyes on herself in the mirror as she moved about. The workout high was rushing harder than it ever had before and to top it off, she had a great pump going with very little strain or fatigue that typically came from getting further into a workout. Every hard push and strain from a heavy set was gone within ten seconds. She started feeling it a little bit as she kept going, but it barely slowed her down at all. It was like she could almost work out forever.
For the moment, everything she had been worrying about was gone from her mind… which was what she was trying to do, but it had nothing to do with relaxing. The more she did, the stronger the rushes of euphoria got. All sense of her surroundings and all sense of caution had gone out the window. She started trying to recklessly lift weights that were clearly too heavy for her, but she didn’t care, she wanted to try anyway. She was having fun, she felt amazing, and she didn’t want it to stop.
Before she knew it she was back where she started, on the bench with the heavy dumbbells, pushing out as many reps as she could while yelling like Bulk Biceps in between each. When she finished the set, she literally threw the dumbbells to the floor, sat up and immediately tensed up her body while laughing.
“WOOOOO! Yeah! Ha ha!” she got up and turned to flex in the mirror. “This is so awes—”
Her eyes widened and she gasped loudly at her reflection.
Her eyes were glowing yellow, and there was a yellow light surrounding her.
“AH!” she backed away from the mirror and nearly tripped over a dumbbell on the floor, stumbling and falling onto her plot with her back propped up against the bench. She stared at her reflection, panicking for a moment before she started frantically brushing her hooves over her body as if trying to swat the light away, rubbing her eyes in an attempt to do the same.
When it didn’t work, she steeled herself, took a deep breath and closed her eyes while rubbing her hooves against her temples.
“Calm down, calm down, calm down, calm down, CALM DOWN!” she said over and over to herself, holding her eyes shut and taking several deep breaths.
When she opened her eyes, the glow was gone, both from her body and eyes. She slumped down and sighed in relief.
“What in the world was that?” A voice suddenly came from off to the side.
“BWUH?!” Dash perked up, her eyes widening and darting about until she spotted… Matteo in the mirror. She turned around and propped herself up on the bench, staring at Matteo sitting near the water fountain… which… was on the opposite wall of the entrance. Dash looked back and forth between where he was sitting and the door several times. “How… long have you been there?!”
“A little while,” Matteo answered simply.
“How did you get over there without me seeing you?!” she added.
“I walked.”
“…right.” Dash sighed and let her face drop against the padding of the bench. She was so entrapped in her own pleasure that she didn’t see a giant Griffon walk right past her? “I forgot you’re the thick fluffy ninja with those paws and talons… You’re a master at giving me heart attacks.”
“That’s what my wife tells me too,” Matteo stood up and made his way towards her. “So, care to explain what that was just now? That didn’t look very normal.”
“Ugh…” Dash groaned as she sat back down on the floor. “Well, I’ve been keeping this to myself mostly, but the cat’s out of the bag now, isn’t it?” She shook her head as Matteo came around in front of her and sat down. “Ever since Soarin transformed, I’ve been—”
“Acting strange, looking at yourself in the mirror, and tearing out doorknobs,” Matteo finished for her. Dash looked up and stared at him with a flat expression. “As far as I’m concerned, only the third one is new.”
“Gee thanks,” she huffed.
“You’re welcome.”
“Son of a… anyway,” Dash grumbled. “Okay so you’ve noticed a thing or two. But something happened to me after Soarin transformed and it hasn’t gone away. I think it has to do with our spirit connection. Whatever is in him is flowing through it into my body and… giving me one hell of a charge. I don’t know what else to call it.”
“And you thought going to the gym would help,” Matteo suggested.
“I guess I did? But… what I saw just now has me worried,” Dash admitted.
“Lighting up like a streetlamp is problematic, yes.”
“No you dingbat,” Dash grunted as Matteo continued to stare stoically. “It hit me the moment I saw the glow, two specific things came to mind, one of which you weren’t around for, but both of which were not good things.” Dash looked down at her hooves and over her body. “Back before we met, before the tryouts or anything and before Soarin had that silly horn strapped to his head… he was dealing with the magic inside of him unaided and it had positive and negative effects. The most obvious effect was that he was able to work hard and exert himself without ever getting fatigued and tired. But it wasn’t a good thing because he couldn’t sleep and constantly had headaches. I haven’t had trouble sleeping or anything yet, but…”
“But his magic was blue and belonged to Sombra, did it not?” Matteo pointed out.
“Yeah that brings me to the other…” Dash shuddered. “You remember when… Soarin suddenly showed up one day and started strutting around, flirting with every mare, and looked like he was high on his own adrenaline at all times?”
“And beat Silver senseless,” Matteo added.
“Yeah and almost forced himself on me later like a wild animal,” Dash took a moment to grit her teeth as she recalled the incident. “That’s when we discovered the yellow colored magic within him, which we now know belongs to Celestia. It turned him into… something he wasn’t. Made him weird, crazy, and lose control of himself through his own pleasure. I can still remember how scared he was after he came to. He was so worried that he could have really hurt me or somepony else.”
Dash took a deep breath as she looked up at Matteo.
“I don’t know if that’s what just happened to me or what. It never got revved up until now when I tried to work out and started getting excited about how much I could lift.” She shrugged. “Don’t get me wrong, I like the new strength, the extra muscle, the endurance, recovery, and whatnot, but… I don’t want to lose control of myself like Soarin. That scares me.”
Matteo said nothing, he just kept staring.
“Well, say something,” Dash pushed, looking for confirmation that he was listening.
“Come here,” Matteo said simply as he stood up and walked over to the gym’s single power rack set up opposite of the dumbbells.
“Huh?” Dash blinked as she watched him set the barbell down to bench press height and pull the attached bench out underneath the bar.
“Come here,” Matteo repeated while pointing to the bench.
“No, I think I’m done for now,” Dash quickly shook her head when she saw him reach for the weight plates.
“You have interest in seeing your strength, do you not?” Matteo asked as he slid the first plate on and went around to the other side. “Then come over here. We can test it as we did during the cadet tryouts. I’ll spot you so you can keep your eyes on me and focus on the lift instead of the high,” he suggested while twirling a talon beside his head.
Dash stared blankly at him, then down at the barbell, releasing a heavy sigh.
“Okay, you’re right… I kinda want to see,” she stood up and made her way over slowly, still a bit spooked by what happened to her. But with Matteo there she could focus on him instead of herself like he suggested. “I did this for two reps during the tryouts,” she said pointing to the barbell with a 45 pound plate on each side. “Can probably do mo—”
Before she could finish, Matteo pulled 35’s off each side and slapped them on. Dash froze and stared at the extra weight on the bar.
“205?” she said while raising an eyebrow. “Matty, I’m just a little stronger, I didn’t steal Macho Savage’s questionable protein stash.”
“That was also before you became a Wonderbolt, worked with us, and got personal training from Silver Lining. That should be taken into account as well,” Matteo explained as Dash scrunched her mouth.
“Well, alright, but just over two hundred pounds may be a bit much,” Dash said as she laid back on the bench and placed her hooves on the bar.
“Less talking, more heavy lifting. I won’t let it fall on you, just push it up.”
Dash took a deep breath, trying her best to not get… excited as she pressed her hooves to the bar and Matteo helped her unrack it. She immediately felt the pressure on her body as Matteo released his talons and let her take it. Dash felt a slight rush as the weight pushed down on her, but she kept her eyes fixed on Matteo glaring down at her and concentrated. She lowered the bar slowly, her arms and body shuddering as she controlled the descent, breathing in as she halted the bar just an inch from her chest.
“HUP!” Dash exhaled as she pushed with all her strength. There was a slight edge, the bar moving up about an inch before stopping in place.
“Come on!” Matteo yelled down to her. “Up!”
Dash gritted her teeth and put everything she had into it, the bar slowly edging upward again. And after it got past a certain point, Dash was able to thrust upward with a loud gasp.
She did it. It was really hard, but she did it.
Her eyes were wide with surprise as Matteo grabbed the bar from her and placed it back into the rack. Dash immediately sat up and just stared forward, her jaw agape.
“Whoa…” she said quietly to herself, taking a moment to look herself over cautiously, but thankfully no sign of the yellow light was around her. “That was like…” Dash looked over her shoulder at the weight on the bar. “That was Spitfire weight! I mean…” Dash turned and sat sideways on the bench. “Okay, she probably would have pushed that for another three or four, but still!” Dash chuckled to herself as her body tingled for only another moment before it felt like it was recovering again. Though she noticed it was slightly slower this time. Perhaps it just took much more to tire her out now, but it was still weird.
“Impressive,” Matteo commented as he put away the weights for her. Dash blinked and scoffed, giving him a smug look.
“Oh please, that’s not even a fraction of what you can do Mr. LiftAllTheWeight.”
“Still impressive,” Matteo insisted as he came around and sat in front of her again.
“Yeah, I…” Dash frowned suddenly. “I mean I guess. It’s kinda weird now that I think about it. It’s cool and all but… feels like I’m cheating. Doubt I could have done that without… this.”
“You speak as if that’s a bad thing.”
“I like to earn things, Matty,” Dash clarified.
“I’d say you deserve a little extra after what you’ve been through.”
Dash blinked and glanced towards the mirror at herself as Matteo made that particular point. She briefly scanned her body again before her lips curled into a small smile.
“Well, I guess I can enjoy it a little bit,” she chuckled. “So long as I keep myself from getting weird.”
“That would be advised,” Matteo nodded in agreement. “Now that we have that settled, answer me something.”
“Huh?” Dash glanced up at him. “What?”
“Soarin,” Matteo said simply.
“Soarin? What about him?” she asked.
“You’ve been frustrated and complaining for two weeks about the gods not letting you see him. What are you going to do about it?” he asked bluntly.
“What am I what?” Dash tipped her head, then flinched as Matteo poked her in the chest.
“You want to see him, and you keep letting them say no to you. What are you going to do about it?” he pressed.
“What am I…? Uh… I can’t do anything about it, Matty,” she said with a huff.
“Why?” Matteo asked simply. Dash opened her mouth to speak, but didn’t know what to say. “Where did this passiveness come from? What’s stopping you from sneaking in there?”
“Matty, I can’t just…” Dash trailed off, her expression going blank as she realized what she was about to say.
She had literally just taken matters into her own hooves against Spitfire and the entire Wonderbolt force two weeks ago during the battle over Sombra.
Matteo was right. What the hell was stopping her? Discord and Luna could shove it, she wanted to see Soarin!
“You know what? Screw it,” Dash stood up, shook out her head and cleared her throat. “TWISTER!”
“He’s back at the—AH!” Matteo squawked as Twister popped out of his chest fluff and extended his neck until his head was right in front of Dash.
“I heard my name!” he exclaimed cheerfully. Without looking at him, Dash grabbed him by the neck and yanked him out of Matteo’s fur.
“Come with us. We’re doing this right now.”
---To Be Continued---
Art in this chapter by: Foxenawolf
As mentioned last chapter, the title poster is by: Nightyscribbles (Full resolution: right here)
And off we go! Soudns like things did not go so well for Soarin the moment he broke from his thousand yard stare... and as a result he's been hidden away to be... studied? But do Discord and Luna even know what they're doing? Sure doesn't sound like ti... this ought to be an interesting situation.
Looks like Dash is feeling pretty darn good with Celestia's power shooting through her indirectly from Soarin... maybe a little too good, we all remember what happened when Soarin first experienced that. 
And now, it looks like Dash remembered that she just told everyone to get bent not too long ago, so it's time to do it again. If they wont let her see Soarin, she'll let herself in!
So you may have noticed this is quite a short chapter. Thing is, i made it a point in my arc 4 outline to be much more organized with my ideas, when things occur, and where i can have reasonable cut off points. We may still have some longer chapters, but only if the certain scene or progression calls for it. I tried my best to learn from my mistakes in arc 3, would be a disservice to all of you if you stuck with me this long and i didnt try to improve along the way. 
Next chapter is already in production 
Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed! It's good to be at it again!
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calm wind: updates
unswole:
It's nice seeing some Twister weirdniss. I can't wait to see what Dash does next chapter.
Yay! New chapter!
Interesting start to arc 4. Yeah, I don't trust the gods either. They have proven time and again they can't be trusted. Even if they are doing the right thing, I still won't trust them. Everything they say and do is in question. Hell I wouldn't be surprised if they are trying to take the power away somehow out of fear of their own power. Though I doubt they know that Dash is getting some of Celestia's power. Nice throwback there.
Nice to have Twister's antics back, too. I've missed the random little bugger.
I wonder if Dash is going to visit Silver anytime soon. I think she'd like to visit her mentor after all of this.
Now before I get into things with this chapter let me put something into perspective.
I started just as the final chapters of arc 3 were being released and by the time I caught up, I only had to wait for a single chapter.
This took me approximately 2-3 months of reading spread out across a wider timeframe.
Now after that, I read Shifting Melodies and The Lost Stanzas in also about 2-3 months over a wider timeframe.
(Also because of that the word screw has become completely ruined.)
This is to show how resilient I am for reading. Literally just a few hours I read a one chapter story that was over 35K words long.
Now that that's out of the way, this was a nice chapter to get into the swing of things. I've completely forgotten your writing style due to how long it's been since I've read something of yours so it's nice to see it again.
Can't wait to see how the Little Squall debale is resolved and the result from it.
Speaking of which I have discovered Little Stars theme.
Faulty - Asunder (feat. Lilikha)
Dueces!
Oh also there is one instance of Twister not being capitalized so yeah.
I'M NOT DOING CORRECTIONS FOR TWO STORIES IN ONE DAY!
Calm Wind: updates
Well i guess im not going to sleep tonight
This just keeps weirder and weirder. (I like it)
10235878
Indeed
10235850
Seems to fully know how to tap into the 'in case of situation, yell Twister' method by now
10235854
i really wanted to get to arc 4 because a lot of the stories norms are back where they belong. i never meant for the 'situation' of arc three to drag on for so long, lots of staples in the story took a back seat
Loved this chapter.
“205?” she said while raising an eyebrow. “Matty, I’m just a little stronger, I didn’t steal Macho Savage’s questionable protein stash.”
That was a pro gamer move.
10235858
Believe me, Star is not going to let what happened with Squall and Ruin go. And not because she wants to pry,
10235881
theres gonna be lots of weird
10235878
gave ya a nice short one tonight
10235907
TOWER OF POWER! TOO SWEET TO BE SOUR!
Definitely excited and nervous for Dash and her new gloweyness.. thing
At least she's aware of the psychological implications as well, but when Soarin's involved I hope she can keep her cautious state of mind. Regardless, huzzah! New arc, new twists and turns
10235913
it was all 'damn this feels good' until she remembered what happened last time she saw the effect on somepony
Twister: Do YOU EVEN LIFT BRO!!!
The gingerbread pony bench pressing mini marshmallows on a toothpick "GAAAAAAAA"
Twister: ONE THOUSAND
10235916
and then the marshmallows caught on fire
10235904
That she does. I hope we discover more of Twister's and Ruin's origins.
10235937
This honestly one of the favorite mysteries I've been waiting for in the fics I've been reading. Where? Why? How? When!? Who!?
*Dark Helmet facemask slam*
10235971
What kind of dark helmet did you imagine when you did the face slam?
The title should be Burdens, not Burden's. Don't know how I missed that the first time.
10236031
oops
Literally. They were probably grinding on each other when Dash opened the door.
Things are strange
10235929
Twister: All according to plan :P
10236090
most likely
10236094
very
Did I really catch a relice the same day? Sheesh... K, bedtime. And Buff horse... I've gained 15 LB of muscle in 3 months. I'm so proud of myself. almost as high as Dash right now playing see what I can do with this.
10235980
thanks for the mental image
10235980
10236190
Lol, exactly I was thinking of the very end of this clip.
Rereading the chess match between Ruin and Twister right now is only making me more eager to figure it all out. But I also am preparing myself for a possible ambiguous explanation of their fourth wall smashing.
Any chance Dashie's gonna punch her hoof all the way through Discord's snaggledouch face? And that it'll actually hurt him?
10236464
Aw, that would make a lot of sense.
10235909
I had a feeling... I'M READY FOR IT.
damn, dash’s yellow glow thing is kinda cool and mildly terrifying ngl. i wonder what happened to celestia and sombra.
10236149
nice! get after it! 💪
10236399
With Discord, its definitely possible
10236499
If he's not careful, she just might
10236543
you may find out soon
10236582
i daresay he lacks the backbone for it
Pics are showing up as errors for me.
Also, good start to the new arc.
10236726
first one is just the poster from last chapter at the end, heres the second: https://www.dropbox.com/s/mj8ti4osuob6yb5/glowing.png?dl=0
Huh, must be something on your end
thanks!
Gods gotta be gods, but now Soarin is one as well so??????
Also, 10000 friendship points for Fleetfott. She's the best really
And Matteo... NEEDS TO PUT A FRIGGING BELL ON! But 10000 friendship points for him too. He's such a good boy, a great friend, and even better squadmate, with the best replies to anything
And he can't fit through pony doors lmao 
I can't
Great chapter as always, buddy!
10237049
Matteo is best giant fluff ninja
Yippee!! New chapter!! And a great one, too. I’m so looking forward to the next chapter!
10237822
indeed, Dash is not thinking reasonably and not recognizing the mistake she made. Having a personal relationship with the top bolts is making her feel a bit betrayed, and she takes her emotional outbursts out on Soarin. Alas, characters need to learn and grow as a story progresses, and Dash is still in the early stages at this point in the story.
I do recall working on this portion of the story though and i was proud of how it turned out. I wanted to engineer a scenario where the readers cheered when Dash gave Arctic what she deserved, but then when it cost Dash the elite spot, to have the readers look back and think about feeling good about Dash hitting Arctic, to feel like it wasnt the right course of action after, and then to feel anxious when Dash lashed out instead of thinking about it like they, the readers, were.
Ah good times... ive been writing this story for so long now... 
10238044
we;re back in action!
Spitfire needs to get her act together. A few days rest & refit is one thing but 2 weeks is too much.
The Shadowbolts are getting THEIR act together too, you know.
At the least, everyone is probably going squirrely from inaction, they need to restart training