Tale of the Shadow Pony

by AtomicShockwave

[Chapter Twelve: A Cutie Catastrophe]

We headed into Twilight's house and up to our room. Twilight got onto her bed and laid stomach down, Applejack then got on top of her and began to give her a back rub.

"Where's it hurt Sugarcube?" Applejack said as Twilight calmly closed her eyes.

"A bit in the middle, thanks alot for this Applejack." Twilight said as I noticed Rainbow Dash looking at me out of the corner of my eye. I looked over at her with a quizzical look.

"You don't expect me to..." I said looking at Rainbow Dash.

"Yes I do, or you know... You could just pay the 250 bits out of pocket for one at the salon... Either way you're getting fixed up." Rainbow Dash said tapping her hoof.

"On top of that, I want to go flying. And you're not coming with me if you're all busted up." Rainbow Dash said.

I rolled my eyes and climbed onto my bed and laid stomach down like Twilight. We were directly across from each other and I looked back at Rainbow Dash.

"Wait, Why am I going flying with you?" I asked confused as she got on top of me more.

"You have wings now! And the conditions of having wings is you have to fly with me and race me and so on! Unless your chicken..." Rainbow Dash said as she began to rub her hooves into my back.

"I don't have to do shit." I said rolling my eyes.

"Bok bok!" Rainbow Dash said as everypony but myself giggled.

Rainbow Dash began to go a bit harder with the massage. But it didn't hurt, it was helping the pain that I had sustained away. I sighed and closed my eyes.

"Looks like somepony is finally beginning to enjoy himself." Twilight said with a laugh as I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah... what ever you think..." I said as I slowly closed my eyes again.

"The apple red in ya face says otherwise Sugarcube." Applejack said with a chuckle.

"I'm not red and don't call me Sugarcube!" I said with a growl.

The others laughed a bit as I groaned, irritated as all hell.

Rainbow Dash then applied a large amount of pressure into my upper back as I heard a crack. It hurt for a split second, but after that the pain began to melt away.

"How's that?" Rainbow Dash said as she got off of me and gave me a smirk.

I got up and stretched myself out.

"A lot better." I said as I cracked my neck and took a deep breath.

"Yeah, you're lucky you got the better one." Rainbow Dash said with a chuckle.

"That's only because I would do ya first Dash, remember that!" Applejack said as the sound of Twilight's back cracking was heard.

"Whatever you say AJ." Rainbow Dash said with a smug look.

"Am I missing something?" I asked, confused as to what was happening.

"Well when work gets to worky for AJ and when I end up being too awesome in the sky we massage each other. So the each of us literally has one another's back." Rainbow Dash said as Twilight began to stretch out.

"So for that, you owe me a race." Rainbow Dash said as she headed outside.

"Fine! I'll leave you miles behind!" I said rushing out of the house behind her.

I looked around but she was no where in site.

"Up here hot head!" Rainbow Dash said with a laugh.

I looked up to see her flying high in the air. Her body nearly blended in the the clear sky, as her colorful hair was making her stick out like a sore thumb.

I flew up quickly to her and she smirked.

"Three two one go!" Rainbow Dash said quickly as she flew off quickly.

"You bitch..." I said as I quickly flew after her. I managed to catch up to her in no time at all.

She looked to her side and was surprised to see me. She was obviously not going all out considering she was able to rush ahead even faster. I grit my teeth as I continued forward. Catching up to her slowly but surely. We were easily far from Ponyville as this point as we were in some large ridge.

We we're flying side by side. I peaked up to the top left of the ridge... And it seemed that two small dots began to fall. A yellow one... And a white one... I squinted my eyes a bit and noticed it was a couple of fillies. My jaw dropped.

"Dash!" I managed to force out pointing to the fillies.

"On it!" Rainbow Dash yelled out as she swooped down. I was right behind her as she caught one of the fillies. I managed to catch the other and the two of us landed safely.

"Are you fillies out of your mind! What were you thinking?!" Rainbow Dash yelled, scolding them.

"We were tryin to get our Cliff Jumpin cutie marks!" The little yellow filly said as horror filled Rainbow Dash's face.

"WHERE'S SCOOTALOO!?" Rainbow Dash yelled, asking the two fillies.

"S-she's on a higher cliff..." The small yellow one said. I looked at Rainbow Dash.

"Stay here!" I said as I flew up out of the ridge a bit. I landed on the cliff that the two fillies jumped from.

"Oh no..." I said as I felt my heart sink. A small orange filly, just lying there. Lifeless.

I gulped and went over to the body. I gently laid my hoof on her neck. There was no pulse but she was still warm. We we're minutes, maybe even seconds too late.

"Leon! Did you find-" Rainbow Dash said before she sat there in shock.

My heart only sank more as I heard the deafening scream of the young mare. She rushed over to the filly's body and began to shake her.

"Get up Scootaloo... come on... You're b-big sister is here... I-It's me... R-r-rainbow Dash..." Rainbow Dash said as her voice was getting more and more shaky. I went over to her and laid a hoof on her back.

"I'll go get the others home and go get help." I said after I gave her a gentle pat. I flew down to the fillies and they were sitting there. They weren't crying. Not yet at least.

"I-Is she... Is she going to be ok...?" The young filly asked. Unaware of her friend's fate.

I leaned down and put a hoof on the filly's head.

"She'll be just fine. Dash has got her. Come. I'm going to take you two home." I said as I began walking back towards Ponyville.

"So... you're Leon?" Asked the small white one as I looked back at her.

"Yeah... That's right. And you two are?" I asked as the yellow one jumped in front of her friend.

"You're really Leon!? Oh my gosh oh my gosh you're so cool!!" The yellow one said ecstatically, ignoring my question.

"I'm Sweetie Belle, and this is my friend Apple Bloom." The white one said as she pointed over to the yellow one.

"Yeah... I'm Leon. You heard of me?" I asked as Apple Bloom began to run ahead a bit.

"Of course! My sister told me all about you! You're the handsome fella who saved her from a creepy red monster!

"Brian...?" I muttered to myself as I began to think hard.

"Who and a what now?" Apple Bloom said as I shook my head a bit.

"Handsome you say?" I said with a slight chuckle.

"That is what she said..." Apple Bloom said as she trotted forward.

"Your sister is Applejack? Right?" I said following close behind.

"Yep! Applejack's my big sis!" Apple Bloom said cheerily as I looked over at Sweetie Belle.

"Then you must be Rarity's sister." I said as I looked at her.

"That's right!" Sweetie Belle said with a smile.

"That means... Scootaloo is Rainbow Dash's sister..." I said with a heavy tone as Sweetie Belle shook her head.

"Not quite... Scootaloo is.. well.. an orphan. She had no family that she knew of and long story short. Rainbow Dash took her in." Sweetie Belle said as my heart sunk even further.

The fillies stayed behind me most of the time. Occasionally getting distracted by some strange plant or even each other.

"Apple Bloom, where do you live?" I asked as I looked back at her.

"I live at the Sweet Apple Acres!" Apple Bloom said looking at me.

"I'll bring you home first. And how about you Sweetie Belle?" I said looking over at the young white filly.

"I live with Rarity." Sweetie Belle said as I rolled my eyes.

"Where does Rarity live...?" I asked afterwords as Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes.

"In her shop...." Sweetie Belle said as I looked at her confused.

"The first floor is the shop, the second is where we live." Sweetie Belle explained.

"Ahh Makes sense." I said as I walked to Sweet Apple Acres. I knocked on the door and there answered a kind old green pony.

"Hi. I was just bringing Apple Bloom here home. Do you know if Applejack is home?" I asked as the old pony smiled. Apple Bloom rushed in without hesitation.

"She's uhhh over at her Twilight's house...." The old pony said with a smile.

I nodded and looked over at Sweetie Belle.

"Alright, you're next. Let's go." I said as I headed into Ponyville. I went to Rarity's Boutique and went to go into the front door but Sweetie Belle stopped me.

"Follow me." Sweetie Belle said going around the back of the house. With a confused look I followed her as she lead me to another door.

"Customers in the front, Family and friends in the back." Sweetie Belle said as she knocked on the door.

Rarity opened up and smiled.

"Welcome Home Darling! Did you have fun?" Rarity said patting Sweetie Belle.

"Still no cutie mark..." Sweetie Belle said with a sigh. That's what was bothering her this whole time. I had a feeling she knew. But I couldn't tell her...

"Leon? What do I owe this visit for." Rarity said with a soft smile.

"It's nothing. Just this little one was a bit a ways from town and I figured I'd bring her back." I said with a nod as I began to walk off.

"Well you're welcome here anytime! Especially if you're looking for a wonderful outfit!" Rarity said as I nodded. As Rarity shut the door I rushed to Twilight's house. I opened the door and rushed in. Twilight and Applejack seemed to stop mid conversation to look over at me.

"Oh Leon. Welcome back! ... Is... Everything alright?" Twilight asked looking at me, a concerned look on her face.

"It's... I... I need you two... Applejack.. wait outside." I said with a gulp.

"S-sure thing..." Applejack said as she went out of the house.

I sighed and I still couldn't push my words out.

"I... Do... do you have anything that well... would hold a pony..." I said with a sigh.

"Umm.. Yeah yeah... I think I have a stretcher... Did something happen to Rainbow Dash??" Twilight said concerned.

"More or less... We need to hurry though." I said looking at Twilight.

Twilight then rushed in the back and with her magic she carried out a folded up stretcher.

"Good.... Now let's go." I said with a sigh as I headed outside.

"What's going on now Leon?" Applejack said a concerned look.

"I'll explain when we get there.." I said trying to hold my head up.

The walk was silent. Nopony said a thing. I managed to find a path that lead up the cliff in which Rainbow Dash and the poor filly's body was.

We walked for a bit and I felt as if something wasn't right. It was here. But where? I began looking around as I noticed a small blood puddle where the filly's body once was.

"What the...." I said confused as Applejack and Twilight looked at each other.

"What's wrong?" Twilight said looking at me.

"Too many things..." I said as I was confused as to what happened. Did Rainbow Dash move her?

"Where's Rainbow Dash live?" I said looking at them with a stern look.

"She uh- uh." Twilight said with a shaky stutter.

"WHERE??" I yelled, looking deep into her eyes.

"It's a cloud house in the air, east from Ponyville." Twilight said as I hesitated none to fly straight there. As I got there I knocked on the door. There was no answer. I forced my way in and began to look around frantically. I soon came across a room with the door wide open. I peaked in and saw Rainbow Dash holding Scootaloo with a smile on her face.

"R-Rainbow..." I managed to get out as there was a bit of a choke in my throat.

Her head snapped right to me. And even scarier then that. So did Scootaloo's.

I gasped and looked at Rainbow Dash.

"Rainbow Dash... W-what did you do..." I said giving her a stern look.

End Of Chapter