Chapter 17: The Winner is…
There was an intense silence in the air. The dust slowly began to settle as the shadowy image of a pony pileup became visible. All the other ponies moaned and groaned as they rubbed their head trying to shake away the dizziness. Twilight, Celestia and Luna stared with their mouths wide agape at the incredible sight, with their horns still lit.
As the ponies pulled themselves out of the pile, they were all shocked to discover that Alex was nowhere among them. He had all but vanished. Instead there was a long and deep skid mark on the ground leading several feet away from them. Following the trail, they saw figures lying on the ground with one of them having a wing that was slightly twitching. As they raced over to get a better look, everypony’s eyes widened with more surprise when they saw that one of the figures was Alex!
Once they got a better view of the lucky pony, Celestia smiled and cleared her throat.
“The hunt is over! The winner is… RAINBOW DASH!”
“Aaaaw…” the other ponies groaned with disappointment.
“YAY!” cheered Pinkie Pie.
Rainbow Dash slowly opened her eyes. The Sonic Rainboom sent her diving so fast she was hardly able to acknowledge what had happened. “Hng..!” She sat up and rubbed her head. “Off… What happened..?” Her ears perked as she heard a familiar noise. Looking down, Rainbow quickly discovered who she was sitting on.
“Groan..!” Alex rubbed his head. “What hit me..?” Opening his eyes, he found himself staring into the cerise eyes of an equally surprised blue pegasus. Alex cringed. “Oh crud…”
“I caught him? I caught him! I CAUGHT HIM!” shouted Rainbow Dash as she happily shot into the air with joy. Everyone looked up as she soared through the air in her victory celebration. She swooped and zoomed around for a while before suddenly landing back down on Alex and pinning him down. “YAHOO!!!”
Rainbow Dash quickly reached for the bottle around her neck. She uncorked it and began to splash its content all over Alex. With the deed done, she hovered above him and thrust her right foreleg in a triumphant cheer. “YES!”
The other ponies witnessed this action with confusion and they quickly trotted over.
“Congratulations Rainbow Dash.” said Celestia smiling.
“Oh yeah! Rainbow Dash won the hunt! Who’s Best Pony? Rainbow Dash that’s who! Oh yeah! Oh yeah!” Rainbow, hovering in the sky, danced her victory dance in celebration.
“Okay, okay, ya’ don’t have to rub it in.” said Applejack. Rainbow finally landed and giggled.
“Admit it Applejack, you guys just didn’t stand a chance against my awesomeness!”
“Ah say ya were jus’ lucky.”
“Lucky?!? Luck had nothing to do with it! I’m just that awesome! On now Alex is mine!”
“Sure… Whatever ya say Dash…” Applejack rolled her eyes.
“Yes… Congratulations Rainbow Dash.” grumbled Twilight with a forced smile. The others pretty much did the same. While they were happy for her, they all really wanted Alex for themselves. “By the way, what was that you sprayed Alex with?” asked Twilight.
“Just a little something Zecora cooked up for me.” answered Rainbow with a huge grin. “By the time it’s done its work, I’ll be taking him home.”
“Home? As in… your home? Is it a cloud-walking potion? Because you know you can’t keep him there without having him fall through the floor, right?” Twilight pointed out.
“And wouldn’t he be a wee bit too heavy for you to carry all the way darling?” added Rarity.
Rainbow Dash giggled. “Oh trust me! The potion I gave him will solve both those problems. Just you wait and see.”
“Uh Dashie…” uttered Pinkie. “I don’t think we’ll be able to see anything. Because Alex is gone...”
Rainbow Dash quickly turned around, and true enough, Alex was gone. The ponies gasped and looked around for him, thinking he had taken the opportunity and run off again. Rainbow however just trotted up to where he was lying before and looked around with a keen eye. She suddenly noticed something in the grass. “Gotcha!”
Like a cat, she dove into the grass and pulled something out. The ponies gasped once they saw what she was carrying with her teeth. It was Alex, only now he was small as a mouse again. Shaken up by that sudden tackle, Alex soon saw the ponies in front of him and gulped as he realized where he was.
“Help me..?” he silently pleaded.
“Rainbow… You shrank him?” exclaimed Twilight. Rainbow nodded with a grin. “But why did you-?”
Before Twilight could get an answer, Rainbow suddenly tossed Alex in the air and caught him in her mouth.
GLOMF!
Her friends all gasped, louder this time as Alex disappeared in her mouth.
With big puffy cheeks, Rainbow winked at her friends before suddenly taking off and heading in the direction of her home in Ponyville. All her friends just stood there and blinked. They hardly said a word before Pinky finally broke the silence.
“Wow! She must really like him!” She then pouted. “Aw… And I didn’t get to try…”
“Did you see that Princess?!” Twilight asked Celestia.
“I did Twilight.”
“How can thou stand there and let this happen? We should do something!” said Luna with concern. Her eyes then narrowed and her wings flared as she was about to follow Rainbow. “I swear, if she harms him I’ll-!”
“You will do nothing!” said Celestia with a stern voice. “None of us! The rules of the hunt is clear. Whatever she does with him is out of our hooves. All we can do now is trust Rainbow Dash to the right thing.” She then trotted away.
“And where art thou going if I may ask?” asked Luna.
“To write a letter.”
Before Luna could ask anything else, Celestia disappeared with a flash. Everyone looked at eachother with concern. They never really fully understood what Rainbow Dash wanted with Alex, but from her actions it didn’t seem pleasant.
“Wha-? What is she going to do to him?” asked Fluttershy worried as she trotted up next to Twilight who was looking in the direction of where Rainbow has flown.
“Well, she’s not going to eat him that I know for sure.” said Twilight. “But I don’t think I would want to be in his shoes right now…”
*****
It didn’t take Rainbow Dash long to reach her home. She circled around for a bit before flying through one of her open windows. Once inside, she locked the doors and windows, making certain she was alone before she bent down she spat Alex out onto the floor.
PTUI!
“What..?” Slightly dripping with saliva and feeling a bit groggy, Alex sat up and tried to comprehend what had just happened. From he could understand, he had traveled in Rainbow Dash's mouth.
“Where am I” Alex looked around at his new surroundings before eyeing the giant blue pegasus behind him. He gulped as Rainbow grinned menacingly at him.
“Welcome to my home Lexy.”
He got up and quickly backed away, tripping over his own legs and landing back on the floor again. To his surprise the floor looked like it was made up of clouds.
“You can’t imagine how long I have waited for this moment...” She licked her lips and readied her hoof.
Alex trembled with fear. “Please… I didn’t mean it! I’m sorry!”
“It’s too late for ‘sorry’s’, twerp! It’s payback time!” she laughed manically and raised her hoof. “This is for tricking me!” Alex tearfully braced himself as it came down upon him.
BOOM!
*****
Next morning…
Peace and tranquility had returned to Ponyville once more, following yesterday’s chaos that happened. Questions and rumors still circulated around the mysterious human and whatever became of him.
Fluttershy was flying in the direction of Rainbow Dash’s house. Ever since she flew off with Alex, she had been growing concerned and had trouble sleeping. Rainbow had not been after leaving Whitetail Wood and she had been absent all day. It was now in the middle of the afternoon.
‘I do hope everything is okay…’ She thought back to what Twilight had said before and was really worried that Rainbow had done something awful to him. She trusted Rainbow to never harm a soul, but she couldn’t shake off the bad feeling she had. As she ran through every worst possible scenario in her head, she was finally within view of Rainbow’s house. ‘Oh, I REALLY hope everything is okay. Poor Alex… He must be-’
CRASH!
“What in Equestria was that?” Fluttershy heard a loud crashing sound coming from the house.
BOM!
CRASH!
There were more loud noises and it sounded like a war was going on. Picking of the pace, Fluttershy quickly reached the house and searched for the nearest open window. She was really careful and snuck a peek in…
“GOT YOU NOW!”
CRASH!
“HEY!”
“Eeep!” Fluttershy squeaked, just avoiding a vase that suddenly flew towards her. Taking another peek, she finally saw what was going on. The whole room was a mess. Pillows and blankets were everywhere. Tables and chairs had been tipped over. In the middle of it all was Rainbow Dash, struggling to pull a blanket that had wrapped itself around her head. She looked like she had been through quite a beating as she was all scuffed and bruised.
Finally pulling off the blanket, she snorted and looked around the room while panting.
“*PANT!* Where are you, you little..?”
Suddenly in the corner of Fluttershy’s right eye, she saw Alex as he jumped out from behind a tipped over chair and made a dash towards the sofa. He was soon spotted by Rainbow.
“Tank! Quick! Stop him!”
Tank made an attempt to block Alex’s path to the sofa and tried to grab him with his beak. Alex casually avoided him and leapt onto the sofa and disappeared between the pillows. Rainbow then flew through the air and dived head first towards the sofa.
CRASH!
“Oh my!” Fluttershy shielded her eyes. She almost dared no to look. By now Rainbow had cleared away all the pillows of the sofa. There was no trace of Alex anywhere.
“Gone? But how..?”
She didn’t notice at that moment that Alex had cleverly hid himself inside the pillow. Thinking it was safe, Alex carefully pulled himself out of the pillow and snuck away, only to run into Tank who tried to swat him (albeit very slowly).
“Woah!”
“Huh?” Alex’s yelp caught the attention of Rainbow. “Now I got you!” She dived off the sofa straight towards him. Tank, seeing Rainbow dive towards them, quickly hid in his shell. Alex joined him. “Whoa! Aah!”
CRASH!
Fluttershy shielded her eyes again. Once the noise had died down she took a peek in. As the dust inside settled, Fluttershy was met with a curious sight. Rainbow had her whole head stuck inside Tank!
“Hey! What the..!” She sat up and tried to shake it off. She then tried to pull it off. On the other end, Tank’s head popped out just as Rainbow got up on her hind legs. She staggered blindly around and Fluttershy nearly laughed at the sight of this turtle-headed pony that wobbled around. “Tank! Get off me!”
Rainbow fell on her back and used all four legs to pull her head out of Tank.
POP!
Tank flew across the living room and landed safely on one of the pillows on the floor. Rainbow painfully rubbed her head and opened her eyes. To her surprise, Alex was lying face down on her muzzle. He slowly raised his head and found himself staring into Rainbow’s eyes.
“Aha! Gotcha!” she tossed Alex off her muzzle and landed him flat on his back.
Fluttershy watched as saw Alex lay helplessly on the floor before Rainbow as she raised her hoof threateningly over him. “Oh no!”
“Game’s over litte squirt! I win!” She reared up and made ready to flatten him.
“RAINBOW DASH! DON’T-” Fluttershy cry was merely a whisper and she watched helplessly as Rainbow brought her hoof down on him. “Eeeek!” She covered her eyes.
BOOM!
Fluttershy turned away and whimpered. She couldn’t bear to watch. She could not believe that Rainbow Dash would-
“BAHAHAHAHA! That was great!” Fluttershy suddenly heard Rainbow’s laugh and opened her eyes. She was utterly confused as she saw Rainbow jumping around and having fun. She then looked at the floor and, much to her great relief, Alex was alright. “Looks like I win this round!”
While she was glad that Rainbow wasn’t hurting him, Fluttershy was curious as to what exactly they were doing. ‘Are… Are they playing a game?’
“Yes Rainbow Dash… You win... Again…” Alex laughed sarcastically as he got up and dusted himself off. While he was glad that she didn’t kill him, a part of him wished that she would. He was exhausted and they had been at it for three hours.
“10 minutes and 35 seconds. A new record!”
“Can’t we play another game that doesn’t involve me getting chased and nearly flattened?”
“C’mon Lexy, we can’t stop yet! You have to admit that this is really fun!” Rainbow laughed. Alex didn’t really find this whole ‘Cat n’ Mouse’ game exactly fun.
~~*~~
Flashback…
“…It’s payback time!” Rainbow laughed manically and raised her hoof. “This is for tricking me!” Alex tearfully braced himself as it came down upon him.
BOOM!
Alex shivered on the floor. I’m dead! I’m dead! I am SO dead…
But then he realized something strange. He was still alive! Confused, he opened his eyes and then flinched as he suddenly saw Rainbow Dash looking at him at ground level, sporting a rather large playful grin.
“SIKE!” Rainbow exclaimed, followed by a loud fit of laughter. “BAH HA HA HA! You should’ve seen the look on your face! Priceless!” Alex was dumbstruck. He had half expected her to end him right then and there, but instead she was rolling over with laughter.
Finally collecting herself, Rainbow lowered herself back down to his level and smiled some more. “Did you honestly think I was going to squash you? Boy you obviously don’t know me very well.”
“Wait… So… You’re not mad at me anymore?”
“Oh don’t get me wrong squirt. I’m still mad about what you did and I am going to punish you.” She leaned down and looked him dead in the eyes. “You’re going to stay here forever in my floating cloud fortress and be my toy.”
Alex was not thrilled about this. “Wait… Did you say ‘cloud fortress’?”
“That’s right! There is no escape for you. We’re way above ground and the only way out of here is with these.” She showed him her wings. “The entire floor of this house is made up of special hardened Cumulus made for my pet tortoise, so it’s strong enough to hold you as well.” She pointed to a corner and Alex was surprised to find she did have a pet tortoise.
She then grabbed him with her teeth and flew out the window. Alex was amazed at what he saw. It really was a cloud fortress (or more accurately a house) and it was floating in the air. Rainbow flew around for a bit before she stopped and hovered over some clouds just outside her house. “But should you ever think of venturing outside…” She then dropped him. Alex fell straight in through the cloud towards the ground.
“AAAAAAAAAAAH!”
He dared not to look. Suddenly, he landed on something soft and discovered he had landed on Rainbow Dash’s back. With impressive speed, she had intercepted him just as he fell through and caught him before he could reach ground.
“…well then you’d best have a parachute.” she giggled.
“Okay! OKAY! You’ve made your point!” yelled Alex. “Take me back in, please!”
She flew him back inside and place him back on the floor. Alex was relieved to be on solid ground (or in this case cloud), but he was still shivering. He honestly thought he was done for.
“Ah jeez…” Rainbow saw how Alex shivered and whimpered on the floor and regretted her action. She gently scooped him up and held him close to her muzzle. “Hey..? Are you okay? Sorry if I scared you.”
“Scared me?!? I really thought you were going to kill me!” he yelled.
Rainbow scratched the back of her head and giggled sheepishly. “Gee… I didn’t mean to frighten you that much… I was only teasing.”
“That’s hardly what I would call teasing!” Alex yelled.
“Lighten up Lexy! You’ll love it up here. Look! I even bought this earlier today.” Alex looked and saw what appeared to be a rodent cage on a table. Looking closely at the interior of the cage, he spotted a small doll bed, a table with chair, a mirror, a sandbox and a bucket of water. It even had a hamster wheel. “Whenever you get bored, you can just exercise.”
“Gee… You shouldn’t have…” Alex answered sarcastically. Rainbow opened the cage and carefully placed him inside. She then lifted the cage and carried it up to her bedroom. Alex got a good view of Rainbow’s bedroom and her bed was made entirely out of cloud. In fact, most of all of her furniture was made of clouds. He even saw the walls decorated with posters of the Wonderbolts and he was convinced that she indeed was a devoted fan.
Rainbow placed Alex on her desk. “Well, it’s late and we’ve got a lot of playing to do in the morning. So you can sleep in my bedroom tonight.”
“And just what kind of games are we going to play exactly?” asked Alex, getting a bit curious to know what she had in mind.
“You see Lexy , after what happened back at the library, I never realized what a challenge you were. You looked so small and helpless, and yet you outsmarted me at every turn and gave me quite a beating.” She then flinched and rubbed her head. “Which I’m still feeling the hurt from… Ouch!”
Alex snickered a bit as he recalled that incident. It was fun, seeing Rainbow injure herself like that. “So… What about it?”
“Tomorrow we’re going to do that again. Only this time we do here and the rules are simple. You run, I chase!”
Alex couldn’t believe his ears. This was his purpose? To play a ‘Cat n’ Mouse’ with her for the rest of his tiny life? “You can’t be serious..?”
Looking out the window, Rainbow noticed it now evening and she felt really tired now. “Well, it’s been a long day.” Rainbow yawned. “Time to hit the sack. Sleep tight Lexy! See you tomorrow.”
“I can hardly wait…” Alex muttered sarcastically as he leaned against the bars of the cage. He did not look forward to tomorrow… ‘Celestia owes me BIG for this…’
End of Flashback…
~~*~~
Alex didn’t get much sleep after that talk last night. The thought of being her toy made him nervous. That, and that Rainbow kept snoring like a drunk stallion in a stable and keeping him awake. Eventually he got some sleep, but by then it was nearly morning.
That morning he was given a good breakfast and savored it as much as he could incase this day was to be his last. It wasn’t long before Rainbow decided to begin their fun.
Despite her playful nature, Rainbow was a monster. She never got tired and no matter how much Alex tried, she hardly gave him a chance to take a breather. She did however give some time to prepare before the chase, but that was little comfort to him.
“Okay… How about one more game and then we take a break.” said rainbow Dash. “But could you try and not make it too easy for me this time? That last hiding spot you chose was too obvious. I’ll count to 50 and you better not be here when I finish.” She sat down on her haunches, closed her eyes and began to count.
Watching from outside the window, Fluttershy was glad that Alex was safe and they were just playing. But by the looks of it, it was a rough game and she knew how wild Rainbow could be. She really felt sorry for Alex and wanted to climb in and rescue him, but she didn’t want to make Rainbow Dash angry. She decided to go in and try reasoning with her and somehow make her see that she shouldn’t treat Alex like that.
She was about to head for the front door when a shadow suddenly swopped passed from high above. She squeaked and immediately hid beneath the clouds. She carefully peered up from her hiding place and her eyes widened as she got a good look at the shadowy figure.
‘What? What is SHE doing here?’
*****
“13… 14… 15…”
Alex looked around for a good hiding spot. He run out good options and Rainbow was close to finishing her counting. Out of options, he eyed an empty bowl on the floor. He turned it over and quickly hid under it.
“32… 33… 34…”
Suddenly there was a knocking on the door.
KNOCK! KNOCK!
Rainbow stopped counting and eyed the front door. “Now who could that be?” She flew over and opened it. She gasped with surprise as her unexpected visitor was familiar face she had never thought she would see again.
“Hi Rainbow Dash!”
“Gilda?” Rainbow Dash just gawked as her old gryphon friend flew in. “I thought I’d never see you again! What are you doing here?”
“I was just in the neighborhood. I happened to come across your house and thought to myself that maybe I should pay my old dear friend a visit.”
“Really?” Rainbow Dash didn’t quite buy it. After what happened the last time she was in Ponyville, it ended rather poorly. “Is that the only reason you came here?”
“Well that… And THIS!” she suddenly pulled forth a newspaper and showed to Rainbow. Rainbow read the front page and saw the picture. “That’s you isn’t it?”
Rainbow looked away embarrassed. “Yeah…”
“Oh man! I can’t believe you did that! I heard about your enrollment in the Wonderbolt Academy and that you were going to participate in their opening airshow. I said to myself; Rainbow Dash is obviously going to pull off something neat that will just blow their minds. And then you pull this stunt in front of every pony in town. You must’ve practiced for weeks to do that.”
“Months actually…” Rainbow blushed with more embarrassment.
“MONTHS!?! Wow! I used to think you were a dork, but I never believed you would blow an opportunity like that. The Wonderbolts will be like; Meh! Saw that in yesterday’s paper. Do something more original.”
“Are you done?” Rainbow frowned at her.
Gilda snickered. “Yeah… I’m done. Honestly though, I didn’t come just for that. I have been thinking a lot about what happened the last time I was here.”
“You mean how you ruined Pinkie’s party and yelled at everypony?”
“Yeah… Believe it or not, that wasn’t really my proudest moment.” Gilda sighed. “I’ve missed you Dash. We used to be cool you and me.”
“Things changed Gilda. I changed. I’m sorry… You got your friends and I’ve got mine…”
“Yeah… I suppose…”
They both stood there look at eachother awkwardly. As much Rainbow hated to admit it, she missed Gilda. She felt she needed to seize this chance and somehow patch up their friendship. While Gilda did act like a jerk, she often thought of herself as a bad friend for abandoning her because of one bad episode.
“It didn’t end well for us did it?”
“No… It didn’t…”
“You know… I been thinking about trying this again. Give it one last shot and see if we still can make this friendship work.”
“That would be nice Dash.”
“Say Gilda! Would you like something to drink? I have some apple juice in the kitchen.”
“I guess that would be… Sheesh! What happened here?” Gilda finally noticed the state of the living room.
“This? Oh! Ehehe…” Rainbow laughed sheepishly. “…just playing around with my new toy and my tortoise Tank. Sorry, I didn’t expect company. Here let me just…” Withing moments, Rainbow cleared away the tables, chairs, pillows and blankets off the floor and tidied up the sofa. She then led Gilda and sat her down. “There! Sorry about the rest.”
“It’s okay Dash.” snickered Gilda. “I’m not much a neat bird myself.”
“Oh! That’s right! The juice! I’ll be right back!” Rainbow quickly zoomed out the kitchen, leaving Gilda alone in the living room. As Gilda sat patiently and waited for the refreshments, she seemed to be looking around for something.
Alex, still hiding under the bowl, realized that Rainbow Dash had a visitor. He had snuck a peek from under the upside down bowl and was nearly terrified by how frighteningly huge this Gilda was compared to Rainbow Dash. He wasn’t really keen on meeting face to face without Rainbow around and decided to sneak away and make to the safety of Rainbow’s room.
As Gilda looked around, she suddenly noticed the bowl on the floor moving very slowly away. Curious, Gilda got up and approached the bowl. She stopped its movement and picked it up with her talon. She was surprised as there didn’t seem to be anything under it. She didn’t notice that Alex had clung himself to the walls of the bowl and was holding on for dear life. He prayed that the gryphon wouldn’t spot him.
Sadly enough however, she did.
“Well well well… Look what we have here.” Gilda grinned with surprise. She reached into the bowl and pulled him out. Alex tried to free himself from her talon but she had a firm grip on him. She was holding him so hard he was barely able to scream.
She brought him up close to her face. “Looks like Dash has a little rodent problem.” She suddenly licked her beak. “But we can fix that…”
Alex was lifted high above her head and his eyes widened as Gilda opened her mouth and casually dropped him inside. He screamed as she closed her beak and began to taste him.
“Mmm… Delicious…”
“GILDA!!!” Gilda was suddenly tackled by Rainbow Dash, causing her to spit Alex out. Rainbow quickly scooped him up from the floor and held him close as she distanced him far away from Gilda. “What in Equestria are you doing!”
“Duh! Solving your little ‘rat’ problem! What does it look like?” coughed Gilda as she got back on her paws and talons. “Seriously, I thought you knew all about us gryphons?”
“He’s not a rat Gilda!”
She then eyed him more closely now. “What is he then? Your pet or something?”
“He’s not a pet either! And he’s NOT yours to eat! He’s too play with. He’s my toy!”
“Toy?” Gilda cocked an eyebrow.
“Yes! His name is Lexy. He’s a human I caught yesterday.” Feeling confident that Gilda wouldn’t try anything stupid, she showed him to her. Alex wasn’t thrilled being held so close to something that nearly tried to eat him. “Say hello to Gilda Alex.” Alex said nothing. “Go on! Say ‘hi!’”
“Hello…” said Alex weakly.
“Lexy, huh?” Gilda now got more curious. “To play with? What can he do exactly?”
“He can run real fast and is really slippery. I chase him around and try to grab him while he dodge me any way he can.” Rainbow grinned. “It’s real fun!”
“Wow!” said Gilda. “Can I try?”
Rainbow looked at Alex pondered a bit. Alex however didn’t like the idea one bit. “Rainbow Dash, no! She doesn’t-”
Rainbow ignored him. “I suppose it’s okay I guess…”
She put Alex down on the floor. Gilda’s paws and talons seemed to scrape eagerly on the floor, as if she made herself ready pounce on him. Alex got more nervous when he saw the look in her eyes.
“Now remember, just be car-” Before Rainbow could finish, Gilda flared her wings and dove towards Alex. Before Alex could even get ready, he suddenly found himself firmly in her talons again. “GILDA!?”
“Pfft! This is fun? Hardly a challenge! She turned her back on Dash and held both talons around him.
“Gilda! What are you doing? Don’t squeeze him!”
“Why not? He’s a toy! What could happened?” She then squeezed him.
SQUEAK~!
“Huh? What the…” She squeezed him some more.
SQUEAK~!
“By my feathers, that’s just hilarious!” She began squeeze him repeatedly while laughing.
SQUEAK~! SQUEAK~! SQUEAK~! SQUEAK~! SQUEAK~! SQUEAK~!
“You’re right Dash! This is fun!” Gilda laughed as she kept squeezing him. Rainbow Dash’s eye just twitched as she struggled to contain her anger. “If I squeeze him any harder, do you think-”
“STOP!” yelled Rainbow and quickly pulled Alex away from her. “What are you doing? I told you to be careful!”
“Sheesh Dash! It just a toy.” Gilda suddenly snagged Alex away from Rainbow. “What else can he do?”
“Hey! Give him back!”
“Let’s see if he can fly!” Gilda suddenly tossed him out the window.
“LEXY!” Rainbow’s pupils shrank and she immediately flew after him out the window. She grabbed him just before he could reach the edge of the cloud.
Once she got him safely back inside, she breathed a sigh of relief and glared at Gilda. “What did you do that for? He can’t fly! He doesn’t have any wings! What’s wrong with you?”
“I’m just playing Dash! Didn’t you say he was a toy?”
Rainbow snorted at Gilda. She then noticed Alex huddling close to her fur, clinging to her like a scared child would to his mother. She quickly realized what she had been doing and mentally scolded herself for it. She turned towards Gilda again and scowled at her.
“Gilda… I think you should leave…” She then trotted over to the front door and opened it. “Like right now!”
“What?”
“Will you please leave?”
Gilda protested. “Come on Rainbow Dash! You’re choosing your stupid toy over me?” She gritted her teeth. “Why are you concerned anyway? You did’t seem to have any problems with chasing him yourself.”
“That… That was different! We… were playing!” She then looked on the floor and quickly realized what she had done. ‘No… I was playing…’
“Come on Dash. Let me have another go!”
“You know what Gilda? This was a mistake.”
“Dash!”
“Leave… Now!”
Gilda snorted. “Fine! I’ll leave you alone with your precious little ‘toy-friend’. For a while I thought you had changed. That I was going to have my friend back again. Guess I was wrong…” She marched passed Rainbow Dash and out the door. Once outside, she stopped and glared back. “Smell ya later Dash! Hope you screw up.” She spread her wings and took off.
Rainbow Dash snorted some more and slammed the door. She held Alex close as she flew up the stairs towards her bedroom.
“Are you okay Lexy?”
“I am… Thank you! I thought she was going to…”
“Ssh! It’s okay Lexy. She’s gone now.” Rainbow comforted him as she arrived in her bedroom. “She’s gone and you’re safe.”
She was about to put Alex back in his cage when she suddenly froze. She looked at the cage. She then looked at Alex. Looking back at the cage, she remembered what Gilda had said and she glowered at it. She then angrily pushed it off the table.
“What are you doing?” asked Alex confused as he saw the mess she had just made. Rainbow then gently placed him on the table.
“My little Lexy… I’m SO sorry!” said Rainbow Dash, tears starting to build up in her eyes. “I’ve been a bully! I shouldn’t have treated you like that!” She then scooped him up again and held him close. “The more I think about it, the more I realize that I was no better than Gilda. I wanted to play with you but now I realize I’ve done nothing but caused you grief. Forgive me!”
Alex didn’t say anything. That is, he couldn’t say much at all as Rainbow was squeezing too tight in her hug. Still, Alex did feel that Rainbow had changed somehow and she sounded more nicer now. He was finally able to breathe easy as she stopped hugging him and dried her tears.
“Rainbow..?”
Both Rainbow and Alex turned and suddenly saw Fluttershy through the bedroom window. “Oh hey Fluttersh-FLUTTERSHY?” Rainbow exclaimed. She then got nervous. “How… How long have you been there?”
“Long enough to see everything that happened...”
“Oh..!” Rainbow put Alex on the floor and then rubbed her foreleg nervously. Fluttershy flew in through the window and landed in front of her. “Fluttershy… Listen… What happened just now…”
“I know Rainbow Dash…” said Fluttershy. “And it’s okay.” Fluttershy carefully picked up Alex and held him close. “I’m glad you stood up for Alex. But if you’re going to keep him, you’re going to have to treat him with more respect.”
Rainbow was quiet and listened.
“Alex is a living creature Rainbow Dash. If you keep this up and he breaks, he may not be fixed…” she gently nuzzled him. Alex seemed to blush at that moment.
“You’re right Fluttershy. Fortunately there’s something I can fix right now.” She flew back down into the kitchen. Fluttershy and Alex waited until she came back, only to now head for the window. “Follow me.” Confused, Fluttershy followed Rainbow out the window and down to the ground beneath the house.
“Put Lexy down Fluttershy. Please?” Fluttershy did what she asked and gently put him down on the ground. “Listen Lexy… When I said that potion was permanent… I lied.” She reached for something behind her and pulled out a bottle. “Zecora made this antidote. I kept it just in case. I’m not a bad pony Lexy. I was never going to let you suffer like this.” She opened the bottle and poured some of its content over Alex. Within mere seconds, Alex soon felt himself getting bigger and it wasn’t long before he was back to his normal size.
“I’m… I’m not tiny again!” cheered Alex and leaped around with joy. “I’m not tiny anymore. Yahoo!”
“That was a nice thing you did Rainbow.” said Fluttershy with a smile.
Rainbow was glad to see Alex so happy, but now came the hard part. “Lexy..?” Alex stopped cheering and turned towards Rainbow. She could now see the anger in his eyes. “I’m mare enough to admit I’ve been a complete jackass. But if you want payback for what I’ve done then go ahead.” She closed her eyes and lifted her chin. “Go ahead! I deserve it!”
“Rainbow…”
“Don’t Fluttershy! You know I deserve this! Go ahead Lexy… Let me have it!”
Alex eagerly raised his fist and was ready to pay her back for all the trouble and humiliation she had put him through. But no matter how angry he was and how much he wanted to, he just couldn’t bring himself to hit her. He also noticed Fluttershy who stood silently by, pleading him not to do it. He then sighed and lowered his fist.
“I’m not going to hit you Rainbow Dash…”
“Wh- What?”
“I said, I’m not going to hit you. Believe me, I want to but it just wouldn’t accomplish anything. Besides, you showed me that you really cared for me despite everything that happened.”
“Still…” Rainbow bit her lip. “I can’t live with myself knowing I hurt you…”
“And you think a fist to the face is going to make things better? If you really want to redeem yourself, you’ll just have to stop being such a jerk. Maybe then I’ll consider forgiving you...”
“I WILL! BY CELESTIA, I SWEAR I WILL!”
“Can I have that in writing..?” All three turned and saw Celestia, Luna and the rest of the Mane Six plus the Crusaders appearing out of some nearby bushes.
“Princess? Guys?!? How? How long have you been..?” She then eyed Fluttershy. “Did you..?”
“I swear Rainbow. I didn’t…”
“Fluttershy didn’t know, Rainbow Dash.” said Celestia. “By the time we got to her house, she was already on her way to you.”
“Celestia… I… I'm so sorry! I’ve been really bad!”
“At least Alex is still in good health.” Celestia smiled before looking rather stern a few seconds later. “I hope you’ve learned a valuable lesson from all of this? Am I right?”
“I have Princess! I’ll never treat anypony, no matter who they are with such disrespect ever again! While anypony can be jerks, it’s not my right to do worse onto them! Do onto others…”
“…As you would have them do onto you.” Celestia finished for her. “In the end you showed Alex you really cared and made a tough decision in doing so.”
“I know Princess…” Rainbow sighed. “Gilda was a jerk but I still wish I could make up for that…”
“You still can Rainbow.” Celestia unfolded her wing and gestured to the bushes. It signaled a familiar gryphon to come forward.
“Hi Dash…”
“G- Gilda?” Rainbow stuttered. “But… But you… Wait... Was this a test?”
“A test of loyalty you might say.” Celestia confessed. “We were all a bit worried about your ambitions for Alex and wanted to see just how far you would go, so I wrote to Gilda and asked her for a favor.”
“Favor? Her?”
“Your princess wrote me and asked if I could drop in on you and pretend to put your little Lexy in danger just to teach you a little lesson. I thought to myself it could be fun…”
Rainbow frowned at her. “Fun? Really?”
“Well that…” Gilda rubbed the back of her head and seemed nervous. “…and because I really wanted to see you again. That part wasn’t a lie. No hard feelings, Dash?”
“Hard feelings?! You nearly crushed him! I heard him squeak!”
SQUEAK~!
Rainbow suddenly heard a familiar noise and then eyed something in Gilda’s talon. It was a squeaky toy. “Had you fooled there didn’t I? Even I can play jokes, remember?”
Rainbow Dash blushed and giggled weakly. “Ehehe… Yeah Gilda. You really got me there!” She took a moment to breathe a sigh of relief. “Okay, so you didn’t try to squeeze him. But you still tried to eat him.” This shocked many of the ponies around them.
“Yeah… To be fair, your princess wasn’t very specific on what exactly Lexy was…” She then noticed Celestia narrowing her eyes. “I’m kidding!” Gilda nervously laughed. “I knew exactly what he was. It was all playacting!”
“Really?” Rainbow was relieved that Alex was never in any mortal danger. “That’s good to hear.”
‘Phew! Dodged a bolt there!’ thought Gilda as she rubbed some sweat from her feathers.
“So… Does this mean you want to become friends again? Do you still wanna-?”
Gilda laughed. “I’m flattered Dash, but I’ve moved on. You’ve got way better friends than I could live up to be and you don’t need me. I have my own world and it suits me way better. Hope you understand.”
“Sure.”
Gilda then turned towards Alex. “Nice meeting ya kid! Sorry for the scare and all that... You know..?”
“It’s okay I guess…” Alex shrugged. “All part of the act, right?”
“Maybe..?” Gilda playfully smirked while licking her beak. “Maybe you would like to visit me and the Gryphon Kingdoms someday?”
“Yeah… Maybe…” For some reason Alex felt he probably shouldn’t visit her anytime soon.
“Well, see ya around Dash. And good luck with the opening act.” With that, Gilda spread her wings and flew away, with the sound of an eagle echoing through the air.
“Opening act..?” realization then hit her. “OMGOSH! The Wonderbolt Show! I still haven’t got anything for the opening act.”
“It’s okay Rainbow…” said Twilight sporting a reassuring smile. “I’m sure you’ll impress everypony with your new move.”
“Yeah, but it won’t blow anypony’s mind. I really had a good thing going on before all this happened.”
“Don’t worry Rainbow Dash!” said Scootaloo. “Just do it again. We’ll just pretend it didn’t happen.”
Rainbow laughed. “Thanks kid, but I don’t think everypony is going to forget something like that…”
Alex felt a bit bad for Rainbow Dash at that moment. He knew that was his fault and he had to make it up to her somehow. He then had a thought. “Rainbow? Do you…” he whispered something in her ear.
“A little. Why?”
“Well…” He whispered some more. Everypony tried to listen, but couldn’t quite make it out.
“Really? Are you sure?” asked Rainbow, looking rather surprised.
“Why not? I owe you that much.” He reached out his hand. “So what do you say? Do we have a deal?”
Rainbow smiled. “Deal!” She reached out her hoof to shake his hand-
ZAP!
“GAH!” Sparks flew through the air as electricity suddenly filled her body, singeing parts of her mane and tail. Her body seethed with smoke as she collapsed on the ground. Momentarily dazed, she shook her head and quickly recovered with a rather surprised look on her face. “Huh!?! What the-?” Alex grinned, turned his hand and revealed a buzzer.
“Gotcha!” said Alex with a huge playful grin.
“He really got you there Dashie!” laughed Pinkie as she appeared behind him.
“Thanks for the buzzer.”
“*Giggle-Snort!* You’re welcome!” Pinkie gave him a hoof-bump and they both laughed. Rainbow just gawked at them before she too eventually began to snicker and laugh.
Soon everypony present all joined in and laughed.
*****
Twilight never received her Hoofbel prize. Yet in spite of this, it didn’t stop her from learning more about Alex and where he came from. She visited him regularly and he would tell her all he knew about his world and its workings. She in turn would teach him all about Equestria and gave him free access to her library any time he wanted to borrow a book. She apologized for the hard time she, Spike and her friends had put him through and she especially apologized for hurting his feelings.
Using her magic for much better use, it didn’t take long before they both eventually became good friends.
Alex managed to pay Applejack back for the apples he ate by helping her out with some odd jobs around the farm. While she never got the chance to make a fortune out of him, she was impressed with his working skills. She apologized for her behavior and even wanted to hire him as a farm hand.
She even went as far as practically making him a part of the Apple Family.
Fluttershy never got the chance to care of Alex like she wanted, but she did however provide for him a house in which to live as a sign of apology. Moving it closer to Ponyville, it became a second home with all the comforts that he required.
Fluttershy would visit him regularly to check on him and see how he was doing.
Pinkie Pie never got to throw Alex his ‘Good Bye Human’ party. Instead she threw him a ‘Welcome Human’ party and it turned out to be a huge success. She apologized for her behavior and was happy to see Alex getting along with the other ponies and that they in turn got along with him.
Even though she had lost her pet, Rarity never gave up on her creativity. In an attempt to salvage her ruined dress, she unexpectedly created a design so unique and so retro that it became the talk around Canterlot. Needless to say, her dress earned her more than enough Bits to repair her boutique and buy more supplies.
Seeing that Alex had been responsible for ruining her dress in the first place, she gave him his share of the profit for the trouble she put him through. She even offered him a time at the spa as a sign of good will.
The CMC would visit Alex often, to play with him and tell him about their adventures in crusading for their cutie marks. They still didn’t earn any, but always remained in high spirit (much to the painful chagrin of Alex’s ears). At times they even invited him to join in and help them, often resulting in hilarious hijinks.
They apologized for the jar treatment they gave him, and Alex just found them too adorable to stay mad at for that.
While it did take a while, Alex eventually forgave Luna for bringing him to Equestria. Luna made it her solemn vow to watch over Alex and to make sure nopony and nothing threatened him. On occasion she would visit Alex in his dreams as often as she could and through his creative mind, they had many grand and fun adventures together.
With the magical tether binding Alex to the mirror gone, Celestia eventually admitted to herself that humanity probably wasn’t ready for her and her ponies just yet. Still, when she told Alex about her true intentions, he did feel rather embarrassed after that. Still, that didn’t mean all was lost. She continued her work on the mirror, and with new notes based on Luna’s actions, she believed the answer to cross the barrier safely was very close…
In return for him being a good sport in letting her and her ponies hunt him, Celestia let Alex ride her and he had her parade through both Canterlot and Ponyville, earning a lot of surprised looks from her subjects.
*****
Days later, there was a huge spectacle across the skies of Ponyville as the Wonderbolt Show was currently underway. A makeshift cloud stadium had been formed above the town and hundreds of pegasi filled the stands. On the ground, a makeshift stadium was erected for earth-ponies and unicorns who had also gathered to watch the Wonderbolts and their Reserves.
In both arenas, there was a large Magic Monitor that gave everypony a clear and close view of the performances that would be made by the Wonderbolts.
As everypony had settled in, it was time to begin the show. The Mane Six, the Crusaders and even the Royal Sisters were present to witness this great event. Of course, the biggest event was the Opening Act which included not only Rainbow Dash, but Alex as well.
“This is positively exciting!” said Rarity.
“It sure is!” said Twilight. “But what exactly is Rainbow and Alex going to do? They weren’t very clear on that…”
“They said it was goin’ to be a surprise.” said Applejack.
“A surprise! Ooh! Ooh! I love surprises!” yelled Pinkie Pie and sported a cap with two cider cans on each side. “Bring on Alex! Wohoo!”
Soon enough, a pegasus announcer took the air and spoke through a microphone.
“LADIES AND GENTLESTALLIONS! WELCOME TO THE GREAT WONDERBOLT SHOW!”
There was a lot of cheering and applause form above and below.
“WE HAVE A LOT IN STORE FOR ALL YOU YOUNG AND OLD FILLIES AND COLTS OUT THERE, AS EQUESTRIA’S VERY OWN WONDERBOLTS WILL BE READY TO DAZZLE YOU ALL WITH GREAT AND LEGENDARY FEATS OF FLIGHT AND AGILITY! BUT BEFORE WE BEGIN THAT, WE’LL FIRST HAVE OUR OPENING ACT WITH EQUESTRIA’S PROUD WONDERBOLT RESERVES!”
Everypony cheered.
“PLEASE GIVE A BIG HOOF TO THE WONDERBOLT RESERVES!”
Soon dozens of pegasi of the Wonderbolt Academy filled the skies and began to perform various aerial stunts and acrobatics that amazed the audience. While they were still too far off from being actual Wonderbolts, they still managed to put up a good show.
The show went on for quite a while and it was soon time for the main event.
“Wow!” said Fluttershy. “ Look at them all!”
“That there is pretty neat!” said Applejack.
“But still no sign of Rainbow or Alex…” said Twilight. “Where could they…”
“ATTENTION EVERYPONY! THE MAIN WONDERBOLT SHOW IS ABOUT TO BEGIN! HOWEVER, BEFORE WE BEGIN, WE HAVE A SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!”
Everypony looked to the Magic Monitor as it flickered and revealed a large wooden platform high in air above them, held up by several pegasi wearing oxygen masks.
“HIGH ABOVE PONVILLE, SOME 20 000 FEET, AN SMALL AERIAL PLATFORM HAS BEEN STATIONED AND MADE READY FOR THE STUNT THAT WILL SOON BEGIN THE MAIN EVENT.”
A loud chatter of excitement echoed through the crowd.
“IT WILL BE PERFORMED BY NONE OTHER THAN PONYVILLE’S FAVORITE FLYER; RAINBOW DASH!”
A familiar cyan pegasus suddenly zoomed through the air and landed on the platform. It was Rainbow Dash!
“YAY! Rainbow Dash!” cheered Scootaloo.
As everypony was cheering for Rainbow Dash, another figure appeared from behind her. It was a large biped with his own Wonderbolt uniform, complete with googles.
“AND JOINING RAINBOW DASH IN HER GREATEST STUNT, IS THE HUMAN LEXY!”
“ALEX?!” exclaimed Twilight.
“So that what she wanted it for!” exclaimed Rarity.
“RAINBOW DASH, AND HER PARTNER LEXY, WILL DIVE FROM THIS PLATFORM. LEXY, WHO I MUST REMIND EVERYPONY, IS THE VERY HUMAN SOME OF YOU READ ABOUT SOME DAYS AGO!”
There was more excited chatter in the audience.
“AND AS A HUMAN, LEXY HAS NO WINGS BUT WILL DIVE TO THE GROUND WITHOUT ANY FORM OF PARACHUTE AND SAFETY NET!”
“What?” exclaimed Twilight. “Is she nuts? He’ll get killed!”
“Ooh~! Neat!” said Pinkie and pulled out a camera to take a picture.
“RAINBOW DASH, PONYVILLE’S FASTEST FLYER, WILL FLY A MILE AWAY, DIVE AND THEN RACE BACK TO PONYVILLE TO INTERCEPT LEXY BEFORE HE HAS THE CHANCE TO HIT GROUND!”
There were loud gasps in the audience.
“Woah Nelly!” exclaimed Applejack. “Ah don’t care how fast Rainbow is, that there’s cuttin’ it a bit close!”
“Not to mention it’s utterly ludicrous!” added Twilight. “That distance and her speed combined with his size and weight, he’ll be too fast and too heavy for Rainbow to carry to safety! Even if she somehow manages it, she’ll seriously hurt herself doing it! Along with him! We have to stop them!”
“Too late!” said Pinkie Pie.
“IT LOOKS LIKE THEY READY FOALKS! AND… HERE THEY GO!”
There was complete silence as both Rainbow and Alex jumped off the platform simultaneously. While Alex plummeted straight towards the ground, Rainbow shot off into the distance and was soon out of view. All eyes now focused their attention on Alex as he calmly fell to earth.
Many long and agonizing minutes passed as everypony followed Alex’s descent through the Magic Monitors. Everypony was nervous and wondered if Rainbow would actually make it. Even the Princesses looked a bit concerned.
“I don’t like this…” said Twilight. “Rainbow is taking a big chance. Why is Alex going along with this?”
“To make it up for Rainbow Dash.” said Pinkie. “Since he ruined Dashie’s original stunt, he decided to help her out with this one.”
“But to put himself in danger like this? It makes no sense!”
Meanwhile a mile away, Rainbow Dash dove down at a fantastic speed. With only inches away from hitting the ground, she then made a sharp vertical turn and, along with a Sonic Rainboom, headed straight back towards Ponyville and the stadium at full speed.
Back in Ponyville, Alex was still falling and was now starting to come into plain view of the cloud stadium. All the pegasi gasped with excitement and horror as he fell straight passed them and down towards the Ponyville stadium. Many ponies on the ground were frozen with excitement while others covered their eyes and dared not to look.
“ALEX!” Fluttershy half-cried.
“She’s not going to make it!” Twilight panicked as Alex got closer and closer. “He’s going to hit!” She aimed her horn and readied herself to save him herself.
“Don’t ya dare Twilight!” said Applejack and pulled her horn away. “Rainbow Dash will make it! Ah jus’ know she will!”
The suspense was building up as Alex was getting closer and closer to the ground. All seemed to be lost until…
“LOOK! OVER THERE!” yelled Pinkie Pie.
Everypony looked and saw the in the distance a blurr of rainbow colors moving towards Ponyville at high speed.
“IT’S RAINBOW DASH! YAY!”
“But… Will she make it?” Twilight bit her hoof nervously.
Everypony held their breath. Alex was close to only a few hundred meters before hitting the ground. All eyes were now on Rainbow Dash as she got closer and closer. Would she make it? Would Alex make it? Would-
SWOOSH!
Alex was but a couple of meters from the ground when there was a great gust of wind and he was intercepted by Rainbow as she zoomed across the stadium at great speed. It was so fast that it all happened in a great flash of multicolored lights.
Momentarily blinded, the audience was unable to see what actually happened. Once their sights returned, they saw Rainbow as she shot straight up into the air passed the cloud stadium, in a loop and back down towards it.
Finally coming to a complete stop, she hovered in front of all the pegasi present, breathing heavily through her nostrils while sporting some rather puffy cheeks. Aside from that, there seemed to be no sign of Alex.
Her friends watched on the Magic Monitor as it zoomed in on her. There was still no sign of Alex anywhere and Twilight was getting worried. “What happened? Where is he? And what is she..?”
Rainbow then opened her mouth. Her tongue rolled out and-
“TA-DAA~!”
Everypony gasped and cheered as Alex stood there before them on Rainbow Dash’s tongue, now tiny and completely unharmed. Even the rest of the Mane Six was amazed and applauded loudly.
“The Shrinking Potion!” yelled Twilight relieved. “So that’s how they did it!”
“Told’ja she would make it.” said Applejack with a grin.
With a light flick of her tongue, Rainbow gracefully tossed Alex into the air, making him flip backwards and land on her head, followed by even more cheering.
“I think they liked it.” Alex smiled.
“They sure did Lexy!” laughed Rainbow. “They sure did!”
*****
The show pretty much went on as it did. Following the opening act, the Wonderbolts put on an amazing show and everypony was stunned by their performances. Of course, the biggest talk around was Rainbow Dash’s opening act with Alex.
Once it was all over, they had a competition for the best performances throughout the show. Rainbow Dash and Alex won first place for their opening act and was rewarded with a large gold trophy with a golden Wonderbolt pegasus statue on the top. It was personally handed over to them by the Wonderbolts themselves, promising Rainbow Dash a bright future with the Wonderbolts.
Once everypony had left for home, only the Mane Six, Crusaders and the Princesses were left to congratulate both Rainbow Dash and Alex. Pinkie however was busy viewing her reflection in the trophy and made silly faces.
“Congratulations for winning the trophy for best Opening Act Rainbow Dash.” said Twilight. “Even the Wonderbolts were amazed. I have to admit, my heart was literally in my throat at that moment.”
“Thanks Twilight. But I couldn’t have done without Lexy.”
“No sweat Rainbow.” said Alex with a grin. “Of course you did most of the work.”
“Hey! It was a team effort.” She gave him a hoof-bump, which she hardly felt.
“I’m proud of you Rainbow Dash.” said Celestia. “I… No! WE’RE Proud of you both! You both showed good effort and teamwork today.” As everypony paid attention to Celestia, they didn’t notice Pinkie as she curiously eyed Alex for some reason. “Nopony will ever forget this day.”
“Thank you Princess!” Rainbow Dash literally beamed with pride.
“Alright everypony! Hows ‘bout we all go to Sugarcube Corner n’ celebrate with some ol’ chocolate milkshakes!” said Applejack. Everypony cheered.
“Sound wonderful!” said Celestia.
“We would like this milkshake as well!” said Luna in her regal tone.
“Yeah! Great idea A.J.! What do say Lexy? Lexy?” She felt around her head and realized he was suddenly gone. “Hey! Where’s Lexy?”
Everypony gasped. They at first assumed they had accidently stepped on him and quickly raised their hooves. Even Celestia and Luna did the same. Everypony’s attention was soon drawn to Pinkie as she just sat there sporting some rather puffy-looking cheeks and seemed to be savoring something.
“Mm-Mmm~!”
“PINKIE PIE?!?” Rainbow Dash suddenly put two and two together and paled. “Pinkie Pie! Spit him out right now!!!”
Pinkie spat Alex out of her mouth. “*Ptui!* Bleh! He doesn’t taste good at all! I don’t see why you like it so much.”
Rainbow quickly pulled out the antidote and brought him back to his normal self. Still covered in Pinkie’s saliva, Alex just sat there quietly and frowned.
“Um… Are you okay Lexy?”
Alex suddenly shot Rainbow a glaring look before then suddenly looking passed her at the trophy. “Rainbow..? Could I borrow that trophy for a moment?” He said in a rather polite yet creepy voice.
“Um… Sure… But why would-?”
Alex suddenly got up, grabbed the trophy, lifted it high above his head and stormed towards Pinkie. “SO YOU WANTED A TASTE? THEN HAVE A TASTE OF THIS!”
Pinkie just smiled and playfully yelped as she dodged a swing. She then stuck her tongue at him and galloped away in a flash with Alex in hot pursuit, swinging the trophy around like a baseball bat.
“MEEP! MEEP!”
“GET BACK HERE!! I JUST WANT TO GIVE YOU SOMETHING!!”
“Hey! That’s our trophy Lexy! Come back!” yelled Rainbow and raced after them.
Everypony suddenly began to laugh and watched as the three of them raced up and down the hills before disappearing from view.
THE END!
i think the CMC should be next.
Is he holding it in a manner similar to how this guy holds it?
img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130714160054/teamfortress/images/1/19/Scout_taunting_with_the_Bat_TF2.png
5309076 Yeah
Can you just picture it?
while I admit their all funny the one I'm most looking forward to is pinkie pie
I like it.
well done sir.
Fluttershy please
Typos! Gotta catch 'em all!
Also, I think you should do Fluttershy next.
I rather liked it. Can't wait for the rest!
I will admit this is so far my least favorite version but it still has SOMETHING good about it.
Fluttershy or CMC next please?
Gaping plot hole: Why is it that watching their friends act like sociopaths teaches the mane six nothing, but seeing background characters do the same things flips a light switch in their brains?
now to do something i should have done long ago....
Ill teach you to try to eat me!springfieldspringfield.co.uk/media/framegrabs/season9/s09e04/s09e04_162.jpg
what would happen if pinkie won? party assistant extraordinaire?
5309307
Thats what I wanna know! They see each other vying for Slavery and exploitation, and they don't even notice!
I'm starting to get annoyed that Celestia and Luna keep showing up acting like they know what's right. It seemed like you only include them to make the story abit longer by just repeating what the winner had eventually realized.
Edited
I was just thinking today that it's been too long for an update. Please to be posting Fluttershy's next and soon.
Where did we learn? Rainbow Dash has vorephilia fetish.
IT'S A 6 INCH TALL HUMAN! EAT IT!!! NUM NUM NUM NUM NUM
As I'm going on I hope Celestia is next so HE CAN AT LEAST GO HOME
Okay seriously, WHY IS ALEX SUCH A WUSS?!?! After all of the hell he's been put through, there is no way he could forgive all of them, especially not this easily!
5309361 Alex gets forcefully turned into a pony and has super shitty time having to relearn how to exist. (Like seriously, the only thing he could still do after being forced into a new body is think, everything else, even something like walking he'd need to relearn over a long and painstaking process
5310585
Oh, turn him into a little colt. Its back to school for you munchkin.
I kind of like this ending and am looking forward to next one. But I would really like to see ifis If Discord had won, even though he wasn't a part of the game it would still be hilarious. A very dark hilarious indeed.
5309843 Rules of the story. You can't conclude it without having Celestia or Luna give some kind of moral speech. They are afterall alternate endings and everything they do is happening for the first time.
5310276 Contrary to popular belief, a pony's mouth is also a hand
5310465 Saving her for last
5310577 He's quite a softy...
just as I expected, dash showed just just how ireeresponsible she was and it was a good thing she did not win the canon ending
I was hoping the potion she got was a different one that would have grown Alex or something
And really celestia, the rules of a hunt are more important than saving a living creature's life?
5310577 The reason is simple, he is a wuss for our amusement.
Can you rename the "canon" ending as "What if... Twilight won", that way people sort of get to choose an ending (and it will open up the opportunity to do a different canon ending where our protagonist "wins" - if you want to that is).
5310774 will there be a he dies or offs himself ending? im wanting to see those and the luna ending
I wanna see the Celestia or Luna ending...
5310276
Seems more like she was carrying him in her mouth more for convenience's sake than anything. Ponies who aren't unicorns kind of have a difficult time carrying something like that around, especially when you fly as fast as RD does.
not that I'm complaining5311181 i know that man, i was just being funny. Of corse non-unicorn species need to carry most things with their teeth.
5310774 ikt i was just being silly, of corse non-unicorn specices need have to basicaly carry most small object with ther teeth.
Lol i wouldn't mind if rainbow shrunk me down and did the same thng, only thing is to look out for her mentally unstable gryphon friend.
This story cannot have the comedy tag anymore. Being total, outright assholes "for the sake of comedy" isn't funny at all. What this story deserves is the Dark and Tragedy tags if this keeps happening.
...Because following "the rules" is better than preventing imminent death?
*Splat!* Later on, Rainbow is found sitting in a cell for manslaughter.
It's as if you went to one of Oprah's author presentations, and she started handing out "assholes" and "[story] plotholes". Except she gave you fifty of each to use in this story.
Alas, you can keep the comedy tag IF, AND ONLY IF you make Discord sending Alex home and screwing over everyone's plans the CANON ENDING. It would be the only ending that would be honestly funny; all of them, going through *that* much trouble just to get Alex, only for him to suddenly disappear. Now that would be funny.
5310814 I've thought about it and I haven't decided yet. Maybe when all endings are finished, then perhaps I'll consider it...
5310925 Sadly, he likes to live...
5311053 If a unicorn and a dragon can be a couple, then why not? Besides, it's not like they're going to jump into a haystack or anything...
5311654 It is. They were on the ground at the time.
5311877 Why do I get the feeling you're not reading all the way through..?
And if everything you say is true, then Looney Tunes and Tom & Jerry lied to me...
5312106 Yes, I did read through everything. The conclusions don't feel as if they truly learned the lesson, because as of yet, the conclusion(s) haven't made up for chapter upon dragged-on chapter of them being assholes to him, not to mention that so far, there's no ending where they all learn a lesson at once, which includes the princesses and CMC.
There's also the glaring fact that he comes from a different world/dimension. Tom and Jerry are protected by the "Rules of Cartoon Physics". As soon as they go off-screen, they can regenerate; as long as they don't look down, gravity hasn't set in yet; even though gravely injured, they can "insta-heal" when they need to run by "jumping" out of the bandages;they have personal pocket dimensions; etc. BTW all of this was in the show, so the ponies are covered by "Cartoon Physics" too (also explaining Pinkie. Seriously, why does no one ever make the connection?). Alex comes from a different dimension. Since he wasn't ever "converted" into a "cartoon human", these physics cannot help protect him, meaning that he can actually die. That is the difference.
5312207
5312106
In Tom and Jerry, it's always the aggressor who gets hurt. The audience can laugh at them because it's their own fault for using their position of power to bully someone weaker, when they could have chosen to stop.
This is more like Tom tormenting Jerry while Jerry begs for mercy, until Jerry's will is completely broken. Then Tom says, "Should I not have done that?" and gets rewarded for it. Meanwhile, Jerry still doesn't get to go free.
5312559 You know in tom and jerry, there where quite a few episodes that depicted just the same power balance, and jerry got hurt more often than tom.
5312207
Have you ever seen "Who framed Roger Rabbit?" When Eddie Valient entered Toon World, he was subject to their cartoon physics rules, that means he could fall from a 40 meters point for a whole 1 minute, while not getting crushed at impact at all.
Who is to say that the human doesn't become subject to the rules of the 'ponyverse' when he gets there?
Of course, you could argue there are universes where the human still retains his own physical laws, but you can't deny there are some universes where his physical existence adepts to the laws of physics that apply in that universe.
Your argument is invalid. The multiverse is wide and vast, don't underestimate it.
damn, i really wanted to see pinkie's ending because that's one of the only ending that i can't predict what would happen. i mean turn him into a pony, there are so many ways this can go with that hyper-active pile of cotton candy (to be honest the ending are following a formula which i'm okay with since there's been little twists in between but i don't see fluttershy's ending standing too far from it, my best guess how it would go is that flutterbutt wins, keeps him in the sanctuary with no hope of leaving, yellowshy thinks shes doing a good thing but then sees or being told by her friends that he is miserable, allows Alex to leave and Alex instantly forgives her) anyway, if anything the cmc should be next.
5312857 Meh, dude... this is fiction anyways. And I simply don't find quadrupet ponies as dating material (it's just weird for me). That's just how I am. No helping it. Besides, even if an anthro biped pony (like on my avatar) was to be flat, I wouldn't mind that much, coz she'd still look human enough.
The canon ponies on the other hand... well cartoon ponies. They're like cute pets, that are also intelligent but I still consider equal term sentient beings.. *shrug*
5312106 I'd go through with both the chapter name change and the Alex wins/escapes ending.
Anyway, here are the main reasons I have for not having this in my favs or a high ranking bookshelf and are probably the reason for most (if not all hate).
1) Alex is a massive fucking idiot. There have been so many opportunities for him to run/escape and he didn't. He could have also chosen to get caught by [best pony (based on their treatment of him)] instead of risking it if he was going to get caught no matter what anyway.
2) He's treated as a second class citizen by everypony (except Zecora, maybe). His views were never even considered by anypony. Celestia used him to teach her subjects a lesson ignoring any possible mental trauma that could happen to him.
3) He has no emotion or personality. He instantly forgives (which I can accept), but proceeds to trust ponies that have previously betrayed him and isn't affected by past experiences. He doesn't cry, get angry, get depressed or anything about loosing EVERYTHING he ever knew.
4) No character development. There was a resolution chapter at the end. That was it. Nothing else. No slow slow spiral into depression, no slow realisation by the ponies that he's sapient like them and should be treated as such.
5) This is not a comedy. This is a few one liners and scenes. That's it. A comedy is not a series of bad things happening to someone. For this to be a comedy he has to have a chance to fight back. Some sort of competition for freedom and stuff. At the moment the only competition is between the ponies. The only laughs were at what the ponies did to each other. Me laughing at Alex is like laughing at my cat catching a bird, ripping a wing off it, and chasing it around my garden whilst catching it and letting it go until it gives up and collapses (this happened - my cats action, not me laughing at it, I threw up at the sight).
6) He was caught, he could have used his wits, made random references at the ponies and various comebacks, and managed to survive by running, hiding, and trickery. There wasn't even a last stand.
Now before you say I've faved things that do 2, 5 and 6. Those either weren't comedies, gave the protagonist a chance/ had the protagonist try, or had character development.
Ask me and I'll elaborate because I'm too lazy to write a report.
5312207
He wasn’t converted into a cartoon human, because he already was a cartoon human from the start.
When writing about fictional humans, they don’t always have to be realistic ones. Alex could’ve been Johnny Bravo and same thing would still have happened.
5312559 True, but Rainbow Dash isn't Tom. Tom and Jerry are natural enemies, so Tom's actions are obvious. Rainbow Dash likes to play rough and it took a gryphon like Gilda to make her see just how far she had gotten.
5312915 Relax! They're not killing the idiot
5315958
1) Precisely. He’s an idiot.
2) He’s an alien. He has no Equestrian Rights (yet). Also, Celestia trust her ponies to do the right thing in the end. She knows they would never intentionally harm him out of spite or malice.
3) That’s because the ponies are so darn cute. He just can’t get TOO angry at them. He’s annoyed and irritated, but that’s about it.
4) Everything happened in just one day. And because everything runs on ‘Cartoon Logic’, he can’t get traumatized because he's also cartoonish.
5) He did have a few moments fighting back. Nothing big, but he did fight back. And mostly by just running away.
And the ponies aren’t being bloodthirsty predators. They’re just being stupid.
6) Celestia asked him to play along so that the pony who caught him would be taught a lesson. Anything he would’ve said to them would probably be ignored or not taken seriously.
I... just don't like these endings. any of them so far.
Maybe its because of how unrealistically he is handling being used like, well, an animal or a toy despite being sentient. Maybe its because Celestia and Luna have no clear care for him, otherwise they would step in earlier than they do in the endings. Or maybe its because the ponies are having to learn to not be so cruel to an equal sentient being.
I understand that humans can forgive the most horrendous things, such as a father and mother forgiving someone for murdering their child, but even then that's a hard process to even start, let alone come to end with. For me, Alex just outright forgiving the ponies for what they did and instantly becoming best friends with them just leaves me irritated.
These endings are quite good within the context that Alex is a some-what 'cartoony' Human. I think you are a fairly good writer, overall.
5316460 Just... no.
1) You say that like it's a good thing. There are two types of idiots that usually work. The ones with no common sense which are usually either an antagonist or someone who over thinks things: e.g. Ash (pokemon), Twilight (mlp), Tom (Tom and Jerry), etc. And the ones with only common sense, usually the (good) grunts and practical people like Rainbow Dash. Alex fits into neither of these. He doesn't use common sense, he doesn't use any "sense" at all.
2) No rights isn't an excuse. Especially when there are multiple sapient species that they are exposed too. If a magic talking pony appeared in your garden would you ignore it and treat it as an animal? Would you do that if mlp wasn't a TV show and there were no fictional equivalents in your life? And if it was helpless too you as well?
Yes, she trusts them to do so in the END. What about before then? Look at what RD did. That would still leave him traumatised.
3) So what if he somehow has a good resolve to not get openly angry, what do you think internal monologues are for? He still has no emotions whatsoever and no personality. He's a blank slate, why didn't you let him develop?
So you wouldn't cry or feel depressed if you lost EVERYTHING and EVERYONE? Then were presented with an opportunity to get it back which turned out to be a lie? Is there any human alive who has emotions that wouldn't feel sad or angry?
4) Bullshit. I've seen a shit tonne of character development in stories that took place in under an hour and were under 2,000 words. You have no fucking excuse for not developing your characters personalities (especially if they stared as a generic blank slate) once you've written over 50,000 words and over 10 chapters. He's been betrayed and used. That tends to impact people. A lot.
Also, bull-fucking-shit, he doesn't get cartoon logic because cartoon things didn't happen to him.
5) So basically everyone is stupid? It's the dialogue and actions and how the protagonist deals with it that makes comedies like this funny. Look at this cuddly thing, it works because the protagonist runs and is not a generic retarded Alex.
6) And why would he play along? He had no assurance everything would be OK for him. He doesn't (or shouldn't) even trust Celestia. The whole ending feels like some sort of typical writers cop-out.
5319228 Give it up, please. You make it sound like he shouldn't have fun writing fan-fiction. There are people who appreciate the story for what it is, myself included, and he doesn't need to please everyone.
5319228
1) Like I said; He’s an idiot
2)
True, but none of them are human…
I wouldn’t know unless it really happened. And it most likely never will…
Would’ve been interesting though…
To be fair, that was kinda his own fault. And besides, it’s no different than being chased off a farm with some farmer wielding a shotgun.
3) Develop into what? Not an idiot?
This was meant as a comedy and not to be taken too seriously. Something some Readers seems to do for some reason…
He got sad and angry a few times
4)
What do mean ‘cartoon things didn’t happen to him’? It’s a My Little Pony fic. It’s based of a cartoon.
5) Maybe I’ll look into that some time…
6) Because he’s a gullible idiot. Because he’s got no other options (because he's an idiot). And because it’s MLP
That, and because I needed an excuse to have all of them chase him and give the Readers a chance to vote for their favorite pony
Sometimes reason and logic kills the fun of the story. If Twilight had written a letter and explained her late Friendship Report in ‘Lesson Zero’ from the start, then we wouldn’t have had a fun time seeing her crack down and go insane
5321850 1.) Once again, you say that like it's a good thing.
2.) Sapient means appearing or being wise or of relating to humans and seeing as almost every species in Equestria can speak, read, write and DO MATH I think it's safe to say that, I'd rather be shot by a shotgun than blasted by a blue rainbow pegasus rocketing at the speed of sound from an incredibly high altitude.
3.) No. Develop into an actual character all we know about him is that he's an idiot and being chased by ponies. That's all we get, and all we're given. He seems way too forgiving in the end.
4.) Yes it's based on a cartoon but nothing cartoony happens to him. The only cartoony thing that happens to him was the poison joke which was only unique to MLP itself. All he is is on the run that's it. Also he shouldn't just be sad or angry sometimes with how things are he should be trying to kill them!
5.) You call everypony hunting Alex like slaveowners working a slave back in the days of the Civil War, them being 'stupid' I'd understand if they were under a large amount of stress that would cause them not to think straight, but seriously?
6.) He may be a gullible idiot, but even an idiot would want to feel SAFE! Nobody is that stupid to allow ponies out for his body to either be locked up, used for stage shows, used as a toy, turned into stone, used to conquer another world, to get a prize make into one of them (IE Conversion Bureau), and a pet. I have never seen something so rude so cruel to your 'main character' since Putting Your Hoof Down!
5328112 Another one? Man, calm down. You act like it is a crime to have fun writing fan-fiction. That is all it is meant to be, shared fun. If you don't like it don't read it.
5328647 People can enjoy it if they want, plus just because I have tons of problems with it doesn't mean I can't enjoy it. By keeping him close to the ponies, it keeps the reader on the edge of their seats. It makes them want to see what happens to our main character. And while that never happens it still makes us want to see him safe. How do you think I was able to enjoy Sonic Adventure 2? And just because A few people dislike this story for how little sense it makes, just as many can like it for the exact same reason. For me, I like and hate this at the exact same time, but don't let somebody ruin your fun.
"I'm Pcuspard, otherwise known as Gamer, and I remember so you don't have to!"
5328745 I understand your criticism and I respect it. Heck, I respect everyone's criticism and I have no problem with some not liking it.
But like neosuduno said, I was only having fun when writing this. I just wanted to write a hilarious HiE story with an end that nobody would expect. Sure, the story and the actions of the characters don't make a lick of sense, but that's because it was meant to be. It is a Chase Story and it was written to be similar to style and spirit of the actual show.
But as with most Chase Stories, in order for it to work the characters would have to be slightly ‘out of character’ and thus ignore logic and common sense without being malicious and cruel about it.
Many times it was hard and I had to come up with ideas on what each pony would want Alex for without making it the same thing. And of course, make it strange and funny. The biggest challenge was altering the character of each pony without making them too dislikable.
And as to why I never made Alex mad or hostile against the ponies? There are so many reasons for it, but the foremost reason was because I wanted his character to be unique. There are so many HiE stories with humans shooting their mouths off and being over-the-top mad as hell, so I wanted this one to be more gentle and sympathetic, as well dumb, paranoid and too kind for his own good.
Basically, the kind of guy we love to know but can't help taking advantage of.
Still, one learns from ones mistakes, and this story is no exception. I know it’s not the best story I’ve written, but at least it made some Readers laugh and enjoy it