My Little Pony: Sora's Misadventures in Equestria

by Codex92

The Washouts

Out in the fields, Sora and Cozy Glow had a small sparring session from the filly's request. He couldn't say no when it would just be a bit of harmless training so she could hone her fighting skills a little bit. Sora just mainly blocked as Cozy Glow did all the swinging as their Struggle bats thunked and clacked with each blocked strike. It may have been a few days since he and the others heard of the disaster of Friendship University, but Sora was still peeved that he didn't clock Flim and Flam upside their heads for using their friendship lessons for monetary gain.

Cozy stopped fluttering around Sora when she noticed the grumpy frown on his face. "Umm, did I do something wrong?" she asked worriedly.

Snapping out of his grump funk, he remembered where he was. "Oh! Sorry, Cozy, it's not you," he assured the filly. "I'm still mad about the whole Friendship U thing."

"Oh. Run by those two unicorns, Flim and Flam?" the filly asked.

Sora nodded with a scowl. "Yeah. THEM," he grumbled. "I can't believe Riku was the one who dealt with them. If I was there, I'd tear down that school, no matter what the consequences."

"You really don't like them, do you?" Cozy asked.

"Absolutely not. Those two two-timing swindlers deserve NO sympathy from me after what they've done to Applejack and her family. Twice," he said. "A little lesson in honesty: you want to sell a product, make sure the deals are fair and what you're selling actually does what you promise. Otherwise...?"

"You're taking bits from ponies through dishonest means," Cozy Glow answered.

"Exactly." Sora ruffled the filly's curly mane, making her giggle. He gripped his Struggle bat, getting himself back into training his apprentice. "Now, back to buzzing around like a bee and stinging like a bugbear."

"Yes, sir!" Cozy Glow said.

The filly was about to charge in, only for Rainbow Dash to suddenly swoop down, knocking Cozy Glow out of the air as the mare seemed to be in a panic. "Sora! We got trouble!"

"Trouble? Where?" Sora asked as he looked around.

"It's Scootaloo!" Rainbow exclaimed.

His jaw dropped, mortified to hear the orange pegasus filly was in peril and feared for her safety. "What is it!? Heartless!? Nobodies!?"

"Worse!" Rainbow said.

"The Organization's after her!?" Sora questioned.

"EVEN WORSE!" Rainbow screeched, baffling Sora.

"...The heck is worse than the Organization!? Just spit it out, for light's sake!" Sora argued.

"Just-UGH! Come on!" Rainbow grabbed Sora's hoof, speeding off and dragging the wielder behind her.

Cozy Glow's head spun as she laid splayed out on the grass. Shaking her head, she sat up, looking around to no longer find Sora and Rainbow Dash in sight.

"I guess training's over for now," she said to herself. Shrugging, stood up and began walking back into town. "I wonder if there's anything I can do to help at the castle. Maybe Master Xion can teach me something."

---

"Rainbow, slow down!" Sora shouted as Rainbow weaved through the apple trees of Sweet Apple Acres. He had to twist and contort his body to avoid smacking into the branches and leaves while being dragged through the air. They soon arrived at the Cutie Mark Crusaders' clubhouse. Rainbow made a sharp dip to the ground, catching Sora off guard as he wasn't able to recover in time and slam into the ground with a hard thud. "Ugh!...Thanks for the warning."

"Stop goofing around and come on," Rainbow hissed. Pulling the stallion's face out of the slight indent of his body in the ground, she dragged him at a slower pace up to the window of the clubhouse. "Just look."

Sora rolled his eyes and took a peek inside. He could hear Scootaloo being excited about something, though what was inside was not what he expected. Inside the single room were several banner flags hanging along the ceiling, one set alternating between green and yellow colors with a lightning bolt in the middle, the other set dark blue with a bright green fire with eyes at the round base. There were green and black balloons, one of them bearing a green lightning bolt, and there was even a balloon figure of a pegasus in black and green balloons. A poster, floor mat, and even a cardboard cutout had a pegasus wearing a black and green flight suit with a visor helmet covering their head with green lightning bolts sticking out from the sides of the helmet. Scootaloo seemed to be admiring what seems to be a stunt flyer, or a stunt team that wasn't the Wonderbolts if the poster showing the suited up pegasus flying between several sawblades, and nearly cutting it close from being mere inches from the spinning death blades.

Confused, Sora looked at Rainbow, who seemed mortified. "...Ok...So, what exactly is the issue here?" Sora questioned.

"Scootaloo is worshipping these ponies she calls 'The Washouts'," Rainbow grumbled. "She ended her Rainbow Dash Fan Club meeting far too early and put all this stuff up."

He gave the mare a blank, deadpanned glare, completely unamused that her idea of an emergency was having her ego shot down by their number one fan looking at some other stunt flying group. "...Seriously?" Sora questioned. "You dragged me away from Cozy Glow to show me Scootaloo likes something that isn't you? I thought she was, oh, I don't know...IN ACTUAL DANGER!?"

Rainbow winced as she was shouted at, but he also alerted Schootaloo from her daydreaming. "S-Sora?" Scootaloo called out as she looked out the window. She grimaced when she saw both him and Rainbow hovering by her window, zipping off to her Washouts memorabilia to try to hide it. Rainbow dashed over to the clubhouse's entrance with Sora following her so she doesn't do or say anything stupid to upset Scootaloo. The filly was trying to take down one of the posters, failing to hide its contents as she turned to face them. "Uhh, h-hey! What's...What's happening?"

"What's going on with this new fan club of yours?" Rainbow questioned, completely jealous. "I overheard everything like I always do with your fan club meetings about me."

"Wait, you eavesdrop on my Rainbow Dash Fan Club meetings?" Scootaloo asked. Blanching, Rainbow stammered as she tried to come up with an excuse. Sora walked inside, pushing the mare's blabbering jaw closed, silencing her. "You watch my Sora Fan Clubs too, Sora?"

"I don't, but I wouldn't-" Sora paused, doing a double take as he looked at Scootaloo. "...I have a fan club?"

"Well, yeah, but only on Saturdays," Scootaloo said. "After Christmas last year, we got quite a lot of new members, and it's crazy sometimes."

"But not crazier and awesomer than my fan club, right?" Rainbow asked.

Sora sighed, pushing Rainbow Dash over to the thinking corner of the CMC's clubhouse. "You stay there and keep quiet," he warned, then went back to Scootaloo while Rainbow pouted bitterly. "How come I never heard about this fan club about me?"

"You are pretty busy, but almost every colt and filly in Ponyville attends. Even Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon," Scootaloo said.

"Really? Even those two, huh?" Sora was a bit touched at the fan club dedicated to him. Despite it wrong to eavesdrop on them, he wanted to see what every member of his fan club did during their meetings. Getting back to the topic at hand, Sora looked at the Washouts souvenirs. "So, who are 'The Washouts'? And why are you the only one present for this new fan club you put up?"

"Only the newest, and greatest, and only stunt troupe in Equestria!" Scootaloo excitedly explained.

Getting out of her timeout spot, Rainbow approached Scootaloo and Sora. "Stunt troupe?" she repeated.

"Uhh, how can I explain it?" Scootaloo mumbled to herself. "They're like the Wonderbolts, but they're twenty bajillion times cooler!"

Rainbow gasped in shock. "'Twenty bajillion!?'"

"They do all sorts of extreme stunts that focus on daredevilry and sheer guts rather than boring old flight and formation junk," Scootaloo added, clearly getting more and more excited talking about the Washouts while traumatizing Rainbow Dash.

"'Boring old flight and formation junk!?'" Rainbow parroted angrily.

"Rainbow Dash!" Sora shouted, glaring at the pegasus and pointed his hoof back to the thinking corner. "Corner. Now."

"Sora, she's calling the Wonderbolts lame!" Rainbow argued. "How can any pegasus call the Wonderbolts lame!? I'M a Wonderbolt! I can't be lame!"

"She didn't say that," Sora said. "She just said they do different stunts." He looked at the dangerous poster of the Washout weaving through sawblades, grimacing a little from how close the image had the pegasus between the very thin gap of bladed wheels spinning at ludicrous speeds. "...That are...apparently a lot more dangerous and thrilling." On the podium the CMCs have to announce their meetings, Sora noticed a flyer for the Washouts sitting on it. Taking a glance at the surprisingly eye-catching background of the decked out Washout in the black and red background, he noticed they were going to be holding a show in Ponyville this weekend. "Looks like they're going to perform their stunts around town in a couple days. Maybe we should see what they can do."

"Really!?" Rainbow exclaimed in disdain.

"Really!?" Scootaloo gasped in awe.

"Yeah. I mean, it's not like these guys actually fly through treacherous obstacle courses that could seriously injure themselves, right?" Sora asked. "Probably just smoke and mirrors to give it a real thrilling experience. And we'll bring everyone."

Scootaloo squealed almost as loud as when she first met Rainbow's parents, quickly and tightly hugging Sora's foreleg. "Thank you, Sora!"

"Yeah. Thanks," Rainbow grumbled.

---

The next few days came and went in a blur, and Scootaloo couldn't wait. Sora had offered the idea of seeing the Washouts, even though Rainbow Dash voiced her reluctance to seeing a rival flight team outmatching the Wonderbolts. They thought she was just jealous that some other team was getting Scootaloo's attention as a role model, even though Sora was just as much her role model as she was. She claimed it didn't count because she was Scootaloo's best flying role model and Sora was the best fighting role model, which didn't count as jealousy in her eyes.

The line to get in was packed as most of Ponyville had thought of camping out last night to get themselves a front row seat for the show. Everyone managed to find themselves a spot in the bleachers, grabbing some snacks and munching on some "Xtreme" chocolate cupcakes made by Pinkie earlier this morning. Along with the wielders, the Mane Six, the Crusaders, the Young Six, Lea had even invited Sweet Delight and Axle Beam.

"I have never seen an air show before," Sweet said. "It sounds exciting to see what the Washouts are going to do."

Axle Beam fidgeted excitedly in his seat, unable to wait to see the show. They could see the different sets of obstacles that were set up for the event, some of them pretty dangerous despite not being active. There were those saw blades from the poster Sora saw, a trio of crushers with spikes on both the top and bottom platforms, a massive iron weight that would literally crush someone to death, a set of poles jutting out at different angles with rounded ends and orange and yellow jagged lines in the background to emphasize running electricity, and a trail of rings leading into a pool, which was meant to be a safety dive when they lit the rings on fire. In the middle of all these obstacles were a large pillar-like torch and some cannons aimed at the sides.

"Definitely going to be a pretty dangerous stunt routine with all these death traps," Xion said.

"Ah, relax. These guys must be professionals if they can survive all these 'deadly obstacles'," Lea assured the nervous Nobody. "It's all just a gimmick. Now, what we do, THAT'S much more death defying."

As they waited for the show to start, Rainbow grumbled in annoyance. "Can you guys believe this? It's a total Wonderbolts ripoff!"

"What do you mean?" Scootaloo asked. "The show hasn't even started yet."

"Yeah, but look at what we're sitting on!" Rainbow tapped her seat on the bleachers to emphasize her point. "Hello!? The Wonderbolts have bleachers, too!"

"Rainbow Dash, ALL entertainment venues that are outdoors have bleachers," Aqua said. "You can't expect to fill in seats without SEATS for the guests attending whatever's being held."

Rainbow growled, then pointed to the snacks everyone had bought from the concession stands. "And popcorn and cotton candy!? Seriously!? What a ripoff!"

Everyone groaned at the ridiculous amount of jealousy Rainbow had. "They sell snacks and drinks for patrons to eat and drink while enjoying the show," Ventus said.

"If you didn't want any part of seeing a rival stunt team, then why did you agree to come along?" Sora questioned. "You could have said no."

Rainbow was going to make another pointless argument why, but loud rock music played through the loudspeakers, signaling the start of the show. "This is the time! This is the place! This is the team! Green fog began pouring in from the sides as the announcer spoke over the loudspeakers, veiling the wide stage in front of the stands. As it began to dissipate, they saw the stars of the stunt show center stage in front of the cannons and torch. There were only three members of the Washouts: one was shorter than the other two, a stallion and two mares by their respective builds, all dressed in their signature green and black flight suits and helmets protecting their bodies, leaving only their wings and tails on display. From what they can see of their exposed appendages, the small stallion had red wings and a bright orange tail, the taller mare of the two had purple wings with a white and light blue streaked tail that curled like a cloud at the end, and the other mare had green wings with and orange and yellow streaked tail. "This is...the Washouts!"

The trio struck a pose as the cannons fired loudly, launching confetti on the crowd, and the pillar erupted and shot out a plume of yellow fire like a volcano. "Huh. Flashy entrance," Terra said. "Not a bad start."

"And the confetti cannon work is of high quality and Pinkie approved!" Pinkie added as she actually ate the colorful bits of paper that sprinkled on them.

Ignoring Pinkie's randomness, the Washouts flew off and soared over the crowd, giving the lucky rows a high five as they passed. One of the mares flew over the group's bleachers and gave Scootaloo a high five, making her squeal and even more hyped up for the main event. Rainbow wasn't impressed and watched with boredom as the Washouts gathered together at a pony-sized slingshot.

"Say it with me now," the announcer said. "The Washout's official motto-

"Leap before you look!" the crowd said as they cheered.

"'Leap before you look?' That's not a good motto to teach kids," Xion uttered.

"Probably part of their act to hype the crowd," Lea said. He pat Axle's head as he looked down at the colt. "You know not to jump into anything without making sure it's safe, right?" Axle nodded, then tapped the side of his head to show he understood and got it memorized. "Atta boy! See? Axle's a smart kid."

On the field, the short stallion pegasus seated himself in the catapult while the other two Washouts pulled it back to launch him. "Remember, ponies. While they are amazingly awesome, the Washouts are highly trained professionals with protective fire-proof flight suits! Do NOT try this at home!" the announced advised, relieving Xion somewhat as they at least gave a fair warning for everyone not to mimic the same dangerous stunts themselves.

The two mares finally let go, launching the stallion across the stage. As he freefell to the ground, the green-winged mare flew ahead, passing a bit of metal ramp with spikes jutting out, which seemed to be where the short stallion was about to land from his trajectory. The mare held up a trampoline, which he landed on and bounced off toward a seesaw, where the other mare with purple wings was standing at the ready. He launched her and sent her soaring, then activated a lever that electrocuted a set of flight wings, catching most of the crowd off guard. The mare weaved through the rings flawlessly without touching any part of the conductive metal sparking with dangerous electrical currents.

As she flew over the crowd, she picked up a torch, then flew straight into the burning pyre of the center pillar, lighting her torch while coming out unscathed. Rainbow's jaw dropped as she finally paid attention to the stunts, completely forgetting about her ire toward the team and began hanging on the edge of her seat. They watched the purple-winged pegasus fly over to a cannon, where the green-winged pegasus mare was sitting inside, planning to launch herself at high speeds. The fuse was lit, the mare giving the crowd a salute before ducking inside, the cannon firing a second later. Sent in the air, she dove back down and began picking up speed, angling herself as she began to enter the deadly obstacle course.

The first obstacle were several spinning poles with sharp spikes jutting out, which she weaved through flawlessly. "Whoa," Rainbow uttered as the stunt flyer headed toward the swinging pendulums of sharp blades. Rainbow was biting her hooves, unable to look away as the mare flew straight through, barely weaving from her path as each swinging blade barely missed her. Then came the spiked crushers as they slammed open and closed like the jaws of a fanged beast. Rainbow quickly grabbed Sora, startling him from enjoying the show as she held him in fear for the pegasus. "She's not gonna make it!"

Sora shook his head, but focused back on the action. The Washout began flying through the crushers, making it through the first, then the second, but the third one smashed down on her right at the end, feathers flying off from the impact. The crowd gasped as some of the squeamish crowd looked away, but the scare faded when the mare flew out unscathed, showing everyone she was fine, or barely grazed. The audience roared in applause at the display.

"Wow! What a close call!" Sora cheered as he clapped his hooves. Rainbow was still holding onto him, awestruck and finding some sort of respect for the talented stunt team. Smirking, he peeled the pegasus off of him. "You seem a bit impressed, Rainbow. Already want to join Scootaloo's fan club for the Washouts?"

Shaking her head, she looked at Sora, then back to the Washouts as she tried to nonchalantly unimpressed. "Uhh, they were...kinda cool," she said, though she couldn't help but wonder who those three flyers were.

---

After the show, the crowd dispersed while some lingered behind to get autographs from the Washouts. Sora, Rainbow, and Scootaloo stayed behind, the pegasus filly wanting desperately to get an autograph, but was too nervous to go up to them.

"I can't just go up and talk to them," Scootaloo said as she began to backpedal.

Sora stopped the filly and nudged her forward. "Come on, Scoots. They're not going to turn down giving another fan their autograph."

"And one of the reasons you made a Rainbow Dash and Sora fan club because of how fearless we are," Rainbow gloated. "Observe." Sora rolled his eyes as Rainbow flew up to the tent were two-thirds of the Washouts were cooling themselves off from their routine. Sora had to help nudge Scootaloo over to the, still full of nerves meeting a new set of idols. "Hey, guys!" Rainbow greeted the mare and stallion, who both stared at her in silence. With their helmets off, their fur and manes matched their wings and tail colors, though the mare's curled mane was short and she had a scar on her left eye and the short stallion's mane was swept back. "...Uhh, so, as a fellow aerobatic professional, we really enjoyed the show." Rainbow chuckled a little as she prepared herself to get some impressed looks from the rival stunt team. "Actually, you might recognize me since I'm a-" Rainbow leaned over to Sora and Scootaloo, the latter dumbfounded to be in such close proximity to the Washouts. "-pause for dramatic effect-" Sora sighed and shook his head as he gave Rainbow a sideways leer. "-a Wonderbolt."

The mare and stallion in the Washouts looked at each other, then, to both Sora and Rainbow's surprise, began laughing. Confused, the duo looked at each other, then back to the Washouts.

"Join the club," the mare said, he accent sounding like she was born in the land down under. Scootaloo squealed in excitement, hearing they were former Wonderbolts at one point, though Rainbow and Sora were still utterly confused. "No, I mean, literally. Join the club. We're called 'The Washouts' because we all used to be Wonderbolts like you," she said as she pointed to Rainbow Dash, chuckling some more. "Until we 'washed out'."

"You guys actually used to be part of the Wonderbolts?" Sora questioned skeptically.

"Sure have." The mare grunted as she stretched out her left hind leg, wrapping a bandage around as she seemed to have sprained or injured it during her routine. "Name's Rolling Thunder. I got booted out of the Wonderbolt Academy because of 'flagrant disregard for hazardous weather'." Rolling Thunder blew a raspberry at the disregard for her own personal safety during training, which began to wave red flags for Sora. "If doing barrel rolls through nine hundred million volts of electricity in a raging thunderstorm is wrong, then I don't wanna be right."

"Cool!" Rainbow exclaimed in awe, but Sora did not agree with her statement.

"And this here is Short Fuse," Rolling Thunder said, introducing the trio to the pint-size stallion.

"Nice meeting ya," Short Fuse greeted.

"What got you kicked out?" Sora asked.

Immediately, Short Fuse's calm grin quickly exploded into anger as he hovered over Sora. "ANGER ISSUES! GET OFF MY BACK!"

Startled, Sora fell over backwards, his ears ringing from the short-tempered little stallion's enraged shouting. "...I see," he uttered.

"So, uhh, who's the leader?" Rainbow asked curiously, finding no sign of the third member nearby.

"Only the most reckless ex-Wonderbolt of all time," Rolling Thunder said.

Behind them, their leader came swooping down for a landing, kicking up dust as she hit the dirt. The mare began to take off her helmet, but when she revealed her face, Sora's eyes widened in shock. The leader, and the WORST ex-Wonderbolt who got kicked out and founded the Washouts was Lightning Dust.

"Lightning Dust?" he uttered.

The mare leered at Sora and Rainbow Dash, still remembering the two of them after their time at the Wonderbolts Academy. "Sora."

"Lightning Dust," Rainbow growled.

"Rainbow Dash," Lightning growled back.

As the two mares were about to butt heads, Scootaloo lifted up her hoof. "Scootaloo," she said, introducing herself sheepishly as she got Lightning's attention. "I'm Scootaloo. Hi."

Despite her nerves, Sora was not happy learning Lightning Dust was the group leader of the Washouts, though he wasn't surprised after learning about Rolling Thunder and Short Fuse's backstory. He grabbed the filly and pulled her away from Lightning Dust, confusing her.

"Scootaloo, Lightning Dust isn't a trustworthy pony," he said to the filly.

"I knew somepony like you would be the brains behind a crazy idea like the Washouts!" Rainbow said to Lightning. "Or I should say, 'lack of brains'!"

"You two know her?" Scootaloo asked excitedly.

"You should know her!" Sora exclaimed, shocked how the filly completely forgot about this reckless pegasus when she did a report on Rainbow Dash's life. "You told Rainbow's parents about her when she made it into the Wonderbolts Academy!"

"And these two are the reason I got kicked out of the Wonderbolts," Lightning added as she scowled at Rainbow and Sora. They both scowled back at her while Scootaloo grimaced, recalling her book report for school almost a year ago. The tension was immediately shattered when Lightning suddenly grinned and was ecstatic, baffling Sora and Rainbow Dash. "And it was the best thing that ever happened to me!"

"...Huh?" Sora uttered. "Getting kicked out was...the 'best'???"

"It's great seeing you wingponies again," Lightning said, a bit too casually after she should be incredibly upset with the duo for getting booted out of the Wonderbolts, and with good reason. "Heard you're a full-fledged Bolt now, Dash."

"Yeah," Rainbow admitted, still confused. "But, we're still-"

"Mad at me?" Lightning said.

"Obviously," Sora answered.

"Hey, was it wrong of me to endanger the lives of your friends?" Lightning asked. "Yeah. But now, I only endanger those two knuckleheads."

She pointed to Rolling Thunder and Short Fuse, with the mare somehow on a massage table and the midget stallion giving her a back massage. The duo laughed, though Short Fuse looked like he was ready to pop his top and muttered under his breath, stomping his hooves a bit more aggressively on Rolling Thunder's back. Sora had no idea what other injuries that mare had, but clearly, she didn't care much about breaking any part of her body just for a thrilling flight. He was going to end the meeting, but Scootaloo had slipped from under his hooves and went up to Lightning Dust to get her autograph.

"H-Hey, Scootaloo," he called out, but the starstruck filly didn't pay attention.

"Come on. I know the two of you miss me," Lightning said.

"I actually don't," Sora admitted. "You almost got a lot of the recruits back then hurt from trying to be the best through all the exercises. You even made Rainbow clip her wing going through a hole in one of the floating islands when searching for the flags."

"Yeah, it was a bit dangerous, but the two of us had fun, right, Dash?" Lightning said. "We had the two fastest times on the Dizzitron." Rainbow wanted to admit that it was fun, at first, but the glare from Sora told her to shut up and stop giving Lightning Dust any sense of redemption from her reckless antics at the Academy. Lightning Dust went over to Scootaloo and leaned down to the ecstatic filly, stamping her picture of the Washouts with her hoof print. "Wanna know the secret, kid? We basically ignore everything the Wonderbolts ever taught us about safety."

That didn't sit well with Sora as Lightning blatantly told Scootaloo loud enough for him and Rainbow to hear. "There's safety rules for a reason, Lighting Dust," Sora growled, snatching Scootaloo and keeping her far away from her. "In order to find the best flyers, they need to know about certain safety rules to not only keep themselves safe, but others around them, whether it be the rest of the team or spectators watching in the stands."

"Ah, don't listen to him," Lightning said, brushing off Sora's stern gaze. "He's not even a Wonderbolt, but he's definitely got the snooty air of being one. All those 'rules' are just ways of keeping their little club exclusive so they could feel good about themselves. I started the Washouts because I believe anypony can be the best of the best."

"By risking your life for the lives of others because you want to live life dangerously? Yeah, great inspiration to a kid," Sora grumbled.

"Well, hearing about your dangerous exploits with these shadow monsters, we're looking for a substitute," Lightning offered. "Rolling Thunder's gonna be out for a while."

"Yeah," Rolling Thunder grunted, lifting up the leg she had bandaged earlier. "During the finale, I caught the old hind leg in the Crushinator Jaws of Smashalot. Patent pending."

"Want to give us a hoof?" Lightning asked Sora. "You could show off your skills to the crowd with our obstacles. Much more daring than a Wonderbolt can do."

"Thanks, but no thanks," Sora said.

Lightning shrugged, then looked at Rainbow. "What about you, Dash? You wanna join?"

"I appreciate the offer, but I'm already a Wonderbolt," Rainbow said.

"Ooh! I'll do it!" Scootaloo offered, making Sora and Rainbow gawk at the filly. "Can I do it!?"

"Absolutely not!" Sora exclaimed.

Scootaloo batted Sora's hooves, shocking the stallion when she gave him a defiant look. "I wasn't asking you."

Lightning Dust laughed, mostly at Scootaloo's enthusiasm rather than her telling the startled Keyblade wielder off. "You're cute, kid, but technically, you haven't washed out of the Bolts, which is kinda our thing."

"But that's still a no!" Rainbow emphasized, backing Sora up with denying Scootaloo trying to help the Washouts and be a part of their group.

"What if I joined and dropped out super quick!?" Scootaloo suggested.

Rainbow snatched Scootaloo, having had enough. "That's it! You're coming with us, squirt!"

"Where to?" the filly asked.

"To hear what the actual Wonderbolts think about you joining just to drop out of the Wonderbolts!" Rainbow exclaimed. She was about to fly off, but Sora was still standing there, still stunned from Scootaloo's defiance. She flapped over to him, tapping his head, snapping him out of his stupor. "Come on, Sora. We're seeing the Wonderbolts to get Scootaloo to change her mind."

"Uhh, r-right," Sora uttered, following the rainbow-maned pegasus.

"Say hi to Spitfire for me!" Lightning Dust called out as Sora and Rainbow took to the air.

---

When they reached the Wonderbolts headquarters, the team was hard at work on their routines for the next tour. Rainbow was obviously excited and tried explaining to Scootaloo how the tricks are pulled off, but Scootaloo was just bored. Sora wasn't paying attention, too distracted by what Scootaloo said to him. She always looked up to him, even breaking from her tough girl persona to tell him what was bothering her. But now, she wanted to join the Washouts and do some of those dangerous stunts with them when he was trying to protect her from getting herself injured. He didn't know if her excitement of the event compelled her to join, but whatever it was, Sora was baffled by her decision.

"Hey! Sora!" Waking from his thoughts, Sora looked up to see Spitfire hover down to the ground, wearing her drill instructor outfit as she oversaw the Wonderbolts' routine drills. "Long time, no see."

"Uhh, hey, Spitfire," Sora greeted.

"You good? You got that distant stare going on," Spitfire said.

"Well...Scootaloo's wanting to join this group of stunt flyers called the Washouts," Sora explained. "And...it's led by Lightning Dust, and she made a team comprised of Wonderbolt washouts."

Spitfire frowned, Sora able to see the deadpanned glare behind the mare's sunglasses. "I see. What exactly do they do for their shows?"

"Dangerous stunts with really dangerous obstacles, like the Crushinator Jaws of Smashalot, patent pending," he said.

Spitfire looked over to the bleachers Rainbow and Scootaloo were sitting on as they watched the Wonderbolts practice. Scootaloo was bored and looked at a book detailing the Washouts instead of the Wonderbolts, annoying and frustrating Rainbow Dash when she didn't want to watch.

"Don't worry, Sora. I got this," Spitfire assured. Sora followed her as they approached the filly. Rainbow spotted them, wondering what her boss was about to do as she pulled Scootaloo's book away, getting her attention. "So, you think the Washouts are cooler than the Wonderbolts, kid? You know what happens when something goes wrong with the Crushinator Jaws of Smashalot?"

"Patent pending?" Rainbow added in, though Sora had hoped no one would ever decide to patent such a dangerous obstacle.

Scootaloo shook her head silently in response, then got her answer as Spitfire suddenly got up in her face and went into aggressive drill instructor mode. "You end up in a full body wing-and-hoof cast drinkin' through a straw!"

Scootaloo staggered back slightly and sat down, feeling a little unnerved by Spitfire's answer. "But with enough practice-"

"Practice!?" Spitfire interrupted as she walked around the filly. "Well, la-dee-DOODLE-DAH!"

"Uhh, Spitfire," Sora tried to intervene, but Spitfire continued.

"Lemme give you a different scenario," she said to Scootaloo. "You're probably saying to yourself, 'I'm young. I'm strong. I'm gonna go out there and STUNT some TRICKS with my new friend Lightning Dust!' Well, I'm here to tell you that if you play that game, you're gonna find out it's pretty hard to stunt tricks in a FULL BODY WING-AND-HOOF CAST DRINKIN' THROUGH A STRAW!"

Rainbow and Sora looked at each other, seeing Scootaloo was already beginning to feel greatly intimidated and traumatized when she could have gotten the memo from the first explanation. "Ok, I think she gets the-"

"I'M NOT FINISHED!" Spitfire shouted, flying up to her youngest Wonderbolt and Keyblade wielder, shocking them into silence, then turned back to Scootaloo. "Listen, I get it, kid. I used to be like you, telling myself, 'I'm gonna touch the sky!'"

"But I don't-" Spitfire flew up to Scootaloo, shoving her hoof in the filly's muzzle to silence whatever complaints and continued going nuts.

"Well, whoop-dee-DOODLE-DOO!" she exclaimed, snatching Scootaloo and hovered her in the air. "You think you got it made in the shade? Well, things are gonna be pretty shady indeed when you can't go out in the sun, 'cause you're in a FULL BODY WING-AND-HOOF CAST DRINKIN' THROUGH A STRAW!" Spitfire began shaking Scootaloo, rattling her head around and making her dizzy as well as deaf from her shouting. "DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!?"

"Uh huh," Scootaloo babbled shakily, wanting the Wonderbolts captain to stop shaking her.

Spitfire stopped, dropping the filly back down. "Excellent. Have a hat," she said, surprisingly calmer and not throwing out her voice, plopping a Wonderbolts hat on the dazed filly's head.

Sora quickly scooped up Scootaloo, highly regretting asking for Spitfire's help. "Ok, thank you very much, Spitfire," he said awkwardly. "We're...gonna be on our merry way now."

"Cool. And tell Riku I said hi," Spitfire said with a salute before getting back to coordinating her team.

Rainbow and Sora quickly flew back to Ponyville, most of the flight pretty quiet after the "helpful" bit of advice from Spitfire. "...Well, that was a bit...intense," Rainbow thought aloud.

"I didn't want Spitfire to go at Scootaloo like a drill instructor to a Wonderbolt trainee," Sora said. They arrived at the clubhouse, where Scootaloo leapt out of Sora's hooves, discarding the Wonderbolts souvenir. "Look, Scootaloo, we don't want you to get yourself hurt. Especially me."

"Exactly," Rainbow agreed. "And you'd be following in our hoofsteps, or mostly mine and be an actual Wonderbolt some day. Everypony's dream, right?"

"More like 'following your wingflaps'," Scootaloo grumbled.

Sora grimaced, knowing Scootaloo had a tough time trying to get herself off the ground and be able to fly for herself. He was a bit miffed at Rainbow Dash for forgetting their number one fan had flight issues.

"Same difference," Rainbow said.

"Rainbow!" Sora scolded.

"Gee, thanks for clearing up what you two fantastic flyers think I should do," Scootaloo sarcastically remarked.

"Clearing things up is one of my specialties," Rainbow said, completely ignorant to Scootaloo's sarcasm and her annoyed leer. "Now, let's all go in that clubhouse and rip up all your Washout posters to tiny pieces and throw them off a cliff."

Baffled by Rainbow's logic, Sora groaned and flew into the clubhouse after her, leaving Scootaloo alone as she walked away from the ridiculousness. "Rainbow Dash, you can't just do something like that!" he chided.

Rainbow was already rolling up and gathering all the Washouts stuff Scootaloo had hidden in the clubhouse. "Sora, you hate Lightning Dust as much as I do! Scootaloo can't like the Washouts; only us!"

"That doesn't mean you just throw out her things, even if I agree that Scootaloo shouldn't get involved in a dangerous stunt team led by that mare!" Sora said. He grabbed Rainbow, pulling her out of the clubhouse and got her to drop Scootaloo's souvenirs, despite wanting to keep her away from any influence to doing dangerous and reckless stunts that could severely cripple her. After dragging her outside, he found no sign of Scootaloo around the clubhouse, or the farm for that matter. "Scoots!?"

"Where'd she go!?" Rainbow exclaimed.

Sora growled. "Gee, what do you think!? You were going to through out her stuff that she bought!...Even though I...also don't like them..."

"Come on, we gotta find her and make sure she changes her mind!" Rainbow sped off to search for Scootaloo, but Sora couldn't even get his wings to twitch.

His heart was heavily conflicted. He cared deeply for Scootaloo as much as he cared about Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. They were getting older and eventually grow up, and he was able to respect their boundaries if he didn't fall for their adorable, youthful charm, but Scootaloo's choice in a career as a daredevil was a jarring decision. Even before she got her cutie mark, Scootaloo was like Rainbow Dash when it came to being fast and adventurous. Now, however, Scootaloo wanted to be a deadly risk taker and try pulling off stunts in dangerous obstacles like the Crushinator Jaws of Smashalot, and, as Spitfire put it, winding up in a full body wing-and-hoof cast drinking through a straw.

His mind and body wandered, aimlessly making his way out of the farmland and into town. Sora didn't know why Scootaloo was resenting him so much and ignoring his warnings, even though he was also being a bit overprotective. After the Storm King's invasion and Xigbar gave them a verbal fright, how could he NOT worry about their safety? When Rainbow came to him to tell her Scootaloo was in trouble, he actually thought the Organization was planning on kidnapping the Cutie Mark Crusaders again. But why Scootaloo didn't want his advice or guidance anymore was a mystery that was going to break his heart.

"Sora?" Snapping out of his mindless daze, he realized he was walking in a slump through town, and Xion was beside him, trying to get his attention for who knows how long. "You finally awake? You're just...walking around with a long face, and I was trying to get your attention for the last couple minutes."

"...Oh...I was?" he asked.

"What's wrong?" Xion asked.

"...It's...about Scootaloo," Sora said. "And the Washouts."

"What? Are you jealous of them?" Xion asked teasingly.

"Would you be jealous if you found out the pony leading the Washouts was Lightning Dust?" Xion's smirk immediately turned to a startled grimace.

"Lightning Dust?" Xion repeated. She knew about Lightning Dust: reckless, endangered the team and Rainbow Dash, and had no disregard for safety. "Makes a lot of sense with their performance. But what's got you so down between Scootaloo and the Washouts?"

"Scootaloo wanted to join the Washouts!" Sora exclaimed. "She wanted to do some crazy stunt to fill in for one of them who got their leg nicked by the Crushinator Jaws of Smashalot! Patent pending!"

"She wants to join them?" Xion repeated. She was definitely on Sora's side. If she was dealing with the filly, she would want to do anything she could to assuage her into going down such a dangerous career choice. "That's strange. She knows the difference between dangerous and absolutely insane feats of demise, so why is she pursuing this?"

"I-I don't know," Sora said, slumping heavily with a sigh. "Lightning asked me and Rainbow to help, and I can trust her as far as I can boot her out of another flight academy, and Scootaloo just...felt like volunteering. I don't know if I'm being way too overprotective of her...but...I don't want her to do this."

"I know. I feel the same way," Xion admitted.

"I mean, I've been a good role model," Sora said. "Dash, too...except she took things a little bit too far by wanting to chuck out Scootaloo's Washouts stuff...But the more we kept expressing how dangerous it was...she just...wants to join them even more."

"Right..." Xion was just as conflicted as Sora was, though she didn't have that much of a connection with Scootaloo like Sora had; a personal pseudo-sibling relationship that only strengthened their bond. Much like her life, she didn't have much freedom or choices to make in the old Organization, despising being tied down and being told what to do all the time. As much as she hated to tell Sora what she knew both of them would not like, she didn't want him to strain his relationship with Scootaloo after all these years in Equestria. "...Sora...you know you can't control everything in her life. Not even by force."

Sora grimaced, but he nodded. "Yeah...She's going to be an adult at some point, and she needs to...spread her wings, so to speak. I'm just worry about her..." He looked down at his hooves, looking back on all the different people, ponies, and creatures he's met in his life as a Key bearer. "...I worry about everyone."

Xion gave Sora a small pat on the shoulder, trying to give him a reassuring smile. "You have a good heart, Sora. Scootaloo knows that, too," she said. "And, if she ever does make a mistake, she'll come to you for advice or comfort, and you won't judge her for any poor decisions and takes it as a learning experience."

"Of course I wouldn't judge her," Sora said. Sighing again, Sora ran a hoof through his mane, contemplating what he should do. "...Maybe I should talk to her again. Tell her I would be devastated if she got injured and I couldn't protect her." While trying to figure out where the pegasus filly could have gone, Sora had an idea where to look first, and it was not a pleasant one. "...I know where she might be...Wish me luck, Xion."

"For talking to Lightning Dust again, yeah," Xion said. "But with Scootaloo, you won't need it."

Sora gave Xion a small grin and a nod, then flapped his wings and took to the skies, heading off to the field where the Washouts have their show set up. It shouldn't have taken him long to reach the outdoor stunt show, but his pace was nervously slow as his mind reeled with worst-case scenarios from anything dumb he would accidentally say to make Scootaloo hate him. When he reached the tents, he saw Rainbow Dash already heading toward Rolling Thunder, Short Fuse, and Lightning Dust. He landed next to the Element of Loyalty, who nodded to him in a silent greeting, both of them noting how nervous they seemed to chat with Scootaloo and talk her down from appreciating the Washouts.

Lightning Dust was busy working on a new stunt diagram for the show while Rolling Thunder practiced her flight patterns, despite being injured, and Short Fuse was about to eat a sandwich. "Wow. You're working really hard on this new stunt," Short Fuse complimented. But when he took a bite of his sandwich, his temper flared as he spat out his bite. "WHAT KIND OF SORRY EXCUSE FOR A TOMATO SANDWICH IS THIS!?"

He threw his snack in a random direction, which wound up heading straight for Sora and Rainbow as it ended up smacking Sora in the face, plopping messily on the ground at his hooves. "...Wow. He must be a blast at parties," he grumbled, wiping off a stray tomato that lingered on his snout.

"Sorry, you two. Autograph session's over," Lightning Dust said to the two visiting pegasi. "Unless you wanna buy Short Fuse's limited edition half-eaten tomato sandwich."

"I'M NOT SIGNING THAT ABOMINATION!" the midget stallion shouted, proceeding to stomp on his spoiled lunch in anger.

Ignoring the short-tempered stallion, Rainbow and Sora weaved around Short Fuse and went up to Lightning Dust. "We're looking for Scootaloo," Rainbow said. "Has she been around here?"

"Oh, isn't she the pony who used to respect the two of you?" Lightning teased.

Rainbow growled, about ready to deck this mare, but Sora stepped in. "Look, we just want to apologize to her for trying to quit making her like you when we personally don't," he said.

Rolling Thunder and Short Fused stopped what they were doing, standing beside their leader as all three Washouts glanced at each other with cheeky smirks on their muzzles. "Oh, I'm pretty sure she still likes us," Lightning chuckled.

"Huh?" Hearing one of the tent flaps open, Sora and Rainbow looked at the tent, their jaws dropping at what they saw coming out. Giving the shocked duo a pose was Scootaloo, wearing a green and black flight suit and had a helmet in one of her hooves. "WHAT!?"

"Meet our newest, and youngest, Washout," Lightning said.

Sora was completely stunned. Somehow, the Washouts found the time to make a Washouts flight suit for Scootaloo, or borrowed one of Short Fuse's clean set and fitted it to her smaller frame, and she was proud to be part of the team. He was speechless, his jaw flopping as his brain tried to force his voice to work as so many things wanted to be said. Rainbow snapped out of her shock first to voice her disapproval of their inviting Scootaloo, a CHILD, to be a part of their stunt team.

"Lightning Dust, I know we kinda go way back, but we cannot let her do this!" Rainbow exclaimed.

"I don't need you standing up for me!" Scootaloo argued.

"Obviously, you do!" Rainbow argued back. "Because you can't see how dangerous this is! Don't you remember what Spitfire said!?"

"Ugh. Lemme guess," Lightning Dust intervened, pulling out a pair of sunglasses matching Spitfire's and put them on. "'You'll be in a full body wing-and-hoof cast drinkin' through a straw!'"

Rainbow Dash didn't appreciate the Wonderbolt washout making fun of her boss, but she ignored Lightning Dust and grabbed Scootaloo's hoof. "That's it! We're leaving!"

Scootaloo pulled her hoof back, startling Rainbow. "Just because I look up to you and Sora doesn't mean I have to BE either of you!" she exclaimed angrily. "But based on YOUR definition of what makes somepony great, I have bad news! I'll never be the best of the best or a Wonderbolt! Because I! Can't! FLY!" As the filly looked away, upset that she was still unfortunately grounded and unable to lift off the ground with her wings, Rainbow grimaced and backed away slightly. She and Sora both knew Scootaloo had a problem flying, old enough to start practicing a couple years ago, but could barely hover a few feet off the ground. Despite the depressing admission, Scootaloo fought back against what wasn't hopefully a permanent handicap as a pegasus and was back to being excited. "But not being able to fly doesn't mean I can't do something awesome! Like strapping my scooter to a multi-stage liquid-fueled rocket and jumping twenty-two wagons lined up in front of a roaring crowd!"

"...That's...oddly specific?" Rainbow uttered.

"That's 'cause it's what she'll be doing in the show tonight," Lightning said. She even showed them the diagram of Scootaloo's stunt she drew up, practically rubbing it in the stunned pegasi's faces. "It's gonna be awesome and everypony's gonna eat it up."

Rainbow stammered, unable to follow up with some argument after the bombshell of Scootaloo's disability, at least hoping that it wasn't and she needed some more time for her wings to grow in. She looked to Sora for some help, but the Keyblade wielder was still frozen in his dumbstruck state. She didn't know if he was listening the whole time or his brain was rebooting from seeing Scootaloo in her Washouts uniform, but he was obviously not going to be much help convincing Scootaloo to back down. Anxious, Rainbow looked at the filly, her eyes expressing absolute seriousness about her decision.

"A-Are...Are you sure you...really want to do this?" Rainbow asked.

"Yes, and there's nothing you or Sora can do to stop me!" Scootaloo said.

Sighing in defeat, Rainbow hung her head. "...You're right. You're your own foal, and you have to make your own decisions," she said, disheartened.

"Good! Because I already have!" Scootaloo said.

She turned and walked over to her new team, to Rainbow's disappointment. Rainbow went to Sora to drag him off and let Scootaloo hang out with her new flight team, but when she looked at his face, she was startled to see he went from being paralyzed in shock to being absolutely livid. Growling, Sora stomped toward Scootaloo, forcefully grabbing her hoof and pulled her away from Lightning Dust, Rolling Thunder, and Short Fuse.

"No! You are NOT doing this!" he scolded angrily. "I don't care if this is what you want! Get out of that flight suit!"

"Let go of me!" Scootaloo shouted, unable to pull her hoof away from Sora's stronger grip. "I'm going to perform my first stunt tonight, and you can't stop me!"

"Well, I refuse, because you're going to get yourself killed!" Sora argued.

"You're not my dad, Sora!" Scootaloo argued back while still being dragged away. "Let go of my hoof! You're hurting me!"

"Oh no," Rainbow muttered worriedly. She tried to stop Sora while the Washouts just watched the drama unfold, all three of them a bit startled when Sora dragged their young recruit away. "Sora, just let her go!"

"You really want her to do this, Dash!? I thought you wanted to keep her away from them!" Sora shouted, pointing to Lightning and her team. "Don't you care!?"

"Of course I care, but you can't control her life forever!" Rainbow exclaimed. "We both can't!"

"Then I'm controlling her life so it doesn't end far too soon!" Fighting back against Rainbow while still pulling Scootaloo away, Scootaloo let out a grunt and threw her helmet at Sora.

The thick flight helmet struck him in the cheek, making him wince and let go of the filly. Sora went back to snatch her this time, only to be met with Scootaloo's hind legs in a swift buck in the nose. He staggered back and fell on his rump in surprise, holding his snout as his anger turned to shock as he stared at the defiant pegasus filly.

"I don't need you to protect me every single day, Sora!" Scootaloo shouted.

"Y-You-" Sora tried to speak, but Scootaloo threw her helmet at him again, making him wince as it bounced off his foreleg.

"Get away from me!" the filly screamed angrily. "You clearly don't care about me if you can't let me do what I want! I'll never be able to fly, no matter how hard I've practiced! How can a pegasus like me be the best of the best if I can never fly like you or Dash!? I'm USELESS as a pegasus!"

"I-I-I...But I never..." Sora stammered, shakily reaching his other hoof out to Scootaloo, but she smacked his hoof away.

"Leave me alone, Sora! I don't ever want to see your stupid face ever again!" she exclaimed, panting heavily as she grabbed her helmet, ready to throw it at Sora again if he tried to touch her.

Sora knew he screwed up and acted way out of line. Tears began to run down his cheeks as Scootaloo didn't look him in the eyes anymore. Even though his nose wasn't broken, his heart had. Her words cut through him like a knife, peeling it out of his chest and stomped it into mush. He blew his chance to let Scootaloo make her own choices in life, and ended up ruining their relationship from his overprotectiveness becoming far too forceful than he wanted. Without a word, Sora shakily stood up, removing his hoof from his nose, and with a choked back sob, he turned and flew away, leaving her alone like she asked.

"Sora!" Rainbow called out, but the stallion was already long gone.

She looked back at Scootaloo, who was already being ushered by Lightning Dust to keep away from her. Torn between letting Scootaloo do what she wants and changing her mind and dragging the filly away like Sora had, she gave up and flew after Sora, losing track of him as she hovered around town. Admittedly, what Sora did was completely messed up, but he didn't deserve to have Scootaloo drop him out of her life forever. Rainbow had no idea if Sora would show himself at the Washouts' show later this evening, but if something ends up going wrong with Scootaloo's stunt, someone had to be there to keep an eye out for her, even if she didn't need it.

---

The Washouts' second show was about to begin as the sun was beginning to set. The same crowd came back for some more exciting stunts as they eagerly awaited what else the group could do. It was a surprise to hear there was a last minute addition to the team, and that new addition happened to be Scootaloo. Xion was blown away by this news, mostly for the worst, but it was Scootaloo's choice. She was snapped out of her silent fuming when Pinkie shoved a scooter-shaped cupcake in her hooves. It amazed her how fast Pinkie can bake these sweets despite claiming she made them late doing so, but she didn't question it and munched on the pastry.

"Looks like another full house for the second show," Riku said.

Glancing at the two empty spots on the bleachers the group were in, Xion noticed Sora and Rainbow Dash were nowhere to be seen. "Where are those two?" she uttered before looking over to Kairi. "Hey, Kairi, was Sora with you a couple hours ago? Last I saw him was in town looking for Scootaloo."

"No. I haven't seen him since we all watched the first show," Kairi said.

"You guys think they didn't want to see Scootaloo take part in a dangerous stunt show like this?" Ventus asked.

"Ah, she'll be fine," Lea said. "They're not going to let her jump through a flaming hoop or jump over a pit of spikes. I betcha she's gonna jump off a ramp and do some tricks before landing on the other side."

High above the stadium, sitting on a cloud, Rainbow Dash looked down at the stunt arena. She could see the trick Scootaloo was going to perform in the center of the field. Twenty-two wagons sat side to side in a long row with two ramps on either end, and Scootaloo's starting point, to her fear, started at the top of a tall hill with a dirt path, with the rocket-propelled scooter sitting and waiting to be launched. If Sora didn't freak out earlier, he would have definitely done so after seeing the size of that massive rocket Scootaloo would be propelled by.

"And here to introduce the most dangerous stunt we've ever performed, it's you fearless captain, L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-Lightning Dust!" The audience cheered as Lightning Dust flew to the center of the field and took off her helmet.

Riku gagged on his cupcake, coughing and sputtering in shock. "Lightning Dust!?" he exclaimed. "How the heck was SHE the one who made this group!?"

"You know her?" Terra asked.

"She's a reckless dropout who was a Wonderbolts recruit, and would have gotten several ponies hurt if she stayed any longer at the academy," Riku said. "I thought her tail and wings looked oddly familiar."

Lightning Dust picked up a microphone, giving it a small tap as she heard the muffled thumps through the speakers. "In just a moment, the newest member of the Washouts will be rocket-sledding down the hill, up that ramp, and over all twenty-two wagons to land on the other side in one piece!" she announced with a small laugh. "If she's lucky. Put your hooves together for Half-Pint Dynamite!"

Lightning Dust pointed to her two colleagues as they held up a round banner with their logo on it. Scootaloo took her cue, jumping and tearing through it for a dynamic entrance, tucking and rolling as she stood up and waved to the crowd. She then hopped on Lightning Dust's back as the mare flew off, showing their new addition off to the audience before zipping up the hill.

"Oh boy. This probably won't end well," Rainbow muttered to herself.

Silently following Lightning and Scootaloo, she couldn't make out the small talk the two had. When Scootaloo saw how big the rocket was on the scooter, her bravery went right out the window as she started to get cold hooves. When Rainbow caught a better look, it was more than just one huge rocket attached to a small cart behind the scooter; there four smaller rockets attached as well, two on the scooter and two stuck to the sides of the bigger rocket with duct tape, and there were more rockets sitting in the chests that Lightning planned to add on.

"Wow," Scootaloo uttered shakily. "That sure is..."

"Dangerous? Nah!" Lightning assured the filly, but doing a poor job of it as she let the filly off and walked up to the rocket. "Well, maybe a little."

"H-Has anypony tested it before?" Scootaloo asked.

"Where's the fun in that?" Lightning asked back. Rainbow did not like that answer, even as Lightning attached another small rocket to the big rocket. She could see Scootaloo was shaking, her anxiety skyrocketing, and quite literally with how much thrust all those rockets would give if they were active. Sora would have put a stop to this, no ifs, ands, or buts. "There we go."

"M-More rockets?" Scootaloo uttered, terrified.

"You're not thinking of backing out, are you?" Lightning questioned the filly.

"N-No!" Scootaloo reassured, but she couldn't stop herself from trembling. "I'm just...thinking about drinking through straws."

"Are you the president of my fan club or not?" Lightning questioned some more.

"Of course! It's just-" Scootaloo was interrupted by a small poke in the chest as Lightning Dust hovered over the filly, making her feel small and powerless from her aggressive stance.

"You wouldn't want to get impeached for dishonoring my wishes, would you?" the mare asked, pressuring Scootaloo more and more.

"Is...Is that a thing?" Scootaloo asked sheepishly.

Getting annoyed by the pegasus filly's hesitation, Lightning Dust grabbed Scootaloo and set her on the scooter, putting her helmet on for "safety". "Light it up!" she shouted, signaling her two teammates from down below.

Looking down at the arena, Rainbow gasped in horror when Rolling Thunder and Short Fuse set the wagons on fire. Jumping over some wagons didn't sound that dangerous, but the additional, un-tested rockets strapped to the back to propel Scootaloo faster than she could blink, and setting the wagons ablaze to add more danger to the already dangerous stunt was taking it way too far for the traumatized filly.

"That's it! I can't let her do this!" Rainbow exclaimed and dove down from her cloud. She landed next to the scooter, surprising Scootaloo, but Lightning Dust was furious at the interruption. "Scootaloo, as much as I want you to make your own choices, I really, REALLY insist on stepping in and getting you out of harm's way before something really bad happens to you!"

"Back off, Dash!" Lightning warned. "Don't interrupt our show!"

"Screw you, Dust! You don't even care about anypony but yourself!" Rainbow exclaimed.

Scootaloo pulled the visor of her helmet up, her whole body trembling in fear. "M-Maybe Sora was right," she whimpered, suddenly feeling guilty for yelling at Sora and disowning him as her older brother figure. "I-I'm backing out. I can't do this."

"Too late!" Lightning Dust slammed on the red button sitting on the scooter's handlebars, igniting all the rockets attached to it.

Rainbow gasped, but wasn't able to snatch Scootaloo in time as she screamed with the scooter blasting off down the hill. "SCOOTALOO!!!!" she cried out. She tried to race after the speeding scooter, but Lightning Dust rammed Rainbow Dash into the ground, keeping her pinned on her stomach. "What are you doing!? Do you realize how much danger you put Scootaloo in!? The rockets might blow up and take her out with them!"

"She's one of us, Dash! And we follow our motto: leap before you look!" Lightning Dust grunted.

Rainbow struggled to break free as Lightning kept her pinned down, forcing her to watch Scootaloo helplessly zoom down the hill. The audience were excited at first, but when the rocket-propelled scooter hit the ramp and launched upward into the sky, it quickly turned to horror as the filly couldn't control the rockets' direction and the stunt would end in disaster.

"Oh, shoot!" Riku exclaimed.

He, Ventus, and even Kairi shot up from their seats to help Scootaloo, but the rocket was getting further and further away faster than they could take off. Scootaloo was afraid to let go, her hooves glued to the handlebars as she could only hyperventilate and fear the worst. She heard one of the rockets sputtering, which sounded like the big one. The flames behind it shot out, speeding up Scootaloo's dangerous ascent and heard an ominous hissing sound. She screamed for help, but not even Rainbow Dash could keep up with her at this rate.

Suddenly, Scootaloo felt herself being snatched off the scooter with her helmet flying off from swift rescue, and right in the nick of time as the rocket blew up several seconds later. She winced and clung onto whoever saved her, hearing the ponies down below all scream in horror as they watched the explosion from the ground. She looked up, surprised to see her savior was Sora. Part of her was relieved, but when she saw his face, she wished she was lost in that deadly explosion. He kept staring straight ahead as they descended, his jaw locked in a stern frown and a look of rage on the verge of being unleashed. There were moments where she'd seen Sora get mad before, but never with this much intensity in his gaze.

When the audience saw Sora with Scootaloo safely secure in his arms, everyone had breathed a sigh of relief and applauded the stallion for the swift save. Even Rainbow was glad Sora swooped in, cutting it really close as none of them expected the rocket would have malfunctioned and blown up. Lightning Dust got off of Rainbow and flew down to her show's field, ticked off that the stunt was ruined when Sora dove in to help Scootaloo. Rainbow flew after her to meet with Sora and Scootaloo as they touched down, wanting to make sure the filly was ok and not too shaken up from the terrifying ride she was forced to take.

With the show abruptly ending after a near fatal accident, the Key bearers and the Elements of Harmony ushered everyone away from the outdoor stadium the Washouts set up. Short Fuse and Rolling Thunder were miffed that their second show was forced to end, though they didn't expect the rockets to blow up. As they extinguished the flames that burnt the twenty-two wagons to piles of burnt lumber when Sora landed on the ground, lowering Scootaloo to the ground. Scared of being scolded by him, Scootaloo backed away from Sora slightly, keeping her eyes glued to the ground.

"Hey! What the hay were you doing!?" Lightning shouted as she landed in front of Sora. "Were you trying to botch our show!? It was going great until you two interfered!"

"Are you nuts!?" Rainbow exclaimed. "You put Scootaloo on that rocket and forced her to ride it, and it could have caught her in the explosion if Sora didn't save her in time! You care more about your stunts more than her!?"

"She would have been fine if she didn't want to bail!" Lightning argued as she looked at Rainbow. She didn't notice the scowl on Sora's face deepen, his eyes shrinking to pinpricks as every muscle in his body tensed in fury. "She knew what she was getting into, but I guess the little Washout's going to end up being a complete washou-!"

Completely out of nowhere, faster than any pegasus could blink, Sora swiftly blindsided Lightning Dust with a hard punch in the face. She was slammed to the ground, startling Rainbow Dash as she backed away from Sora. Rainbow was going to say something to Sora, but she grimaced when she saw the rage etched on his face. She was afraid he was going to unleash his Anti-Form on Lightning Dust for what she did to Scootaloo. Too stunned to even try to hold him back, Rainbow watched Sora stomp up to Lightning Dust as the sucker punched mare groaned, surprisingly still conscious as she rubbed her cheek.

"You shut your damn mouth before my next punch knocks out every single one of your teeth!" Sora threatened.

Rolling Thunder and Short Fuse gawked at what Sora did after they put out the flames, the short stallion's temper flaring as he flew toward Sora. "HEY, WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA KNOCKING OUR-!?"

Quickly glancing at Short Fuse, Sora shot his hoof toward the pint-sized stallion, grabbing the chest of his flight suit and pulling him right up to his face. "CAN IT, SHORT STACK, OR YOU'RE GONNA SEE JUST HOW TICKED OFF I CAN REALLY GET!!!!" Sora shouted back with the same intensity of Short Fuse's bursts of anger. Startled, Short Fuse flinched, then yelped as Sora flung him into Rolling Thunder, sending both pegasi crashing into each other and tumbling across the ground. He heard Rolling Thunder let out a yell as she finally expressed some pain from her earlier leg injury, but Sora didn't care about them; he was focused on dealing with the Washout who nearly got his surrogate Crusaders sibling killed. Glaring back at the mare, Lightning managed to get to her hooves, but she wasn't able to escape from Sora's wrath as he lunged at her, pinning her back to the ground. "You have a lot of nerve to do that to a child, Lightning Dust!"

"S-Sora?" Rainbow called out, but the stallion ignored her, picking Lightning Dust up in his hooves by her flight suit.

"If you want to do these reckless stunts, you NEVER put anyone's lives in danger!" he continued yelling. "There's a damn good reason why anything that could involve injury has safety rules, and you endangered Scootlaoo's life with that stupid rocket; A FREAKING FILLY'S LIFE!" Lightning tried to retort, but Sora gave her other cheek another swift punch, knocking her back down to the ground again. "Don't even THINK about opening your mouth until you're done listening to this very important lesson, you washout! That's not something to be proud calling yourself! You were kicked out of the Wonderbolts because you endangered everyone around you by showing off like a death-defying daredevil!" Lightning tried to crawl away, scared out of her mind, but Sora grabbed her again, then threw her hard into the ramp Scootaloo had shot upward from her forced rocket-propelled scooting. Rainbow and Scootaloo winced as Lightning slammed into the curved slope, the latter shivering in fear and regret for getting Sora this upset and irate. Sora slammed into Lightning Dust again, making her grunt as he knocked the wind out of her. "You want to kill yourself to perform some grand, deadly trick!? Fine! But don't you DARE force anyone who's barely even prepared with the same mentality as you; which is more STUPID than fearless!"

"I-I-" Lightning wheezed, but her mouth was forcefully shut as Sora grasped her muzzle, forcing her head to look skyward, then pointed with his other hoof to the dissipating smoke cloud from the malfunctioned rocket's explosion.

"If I was just a few seconds too late, Scootaloo would have gotten blown up with that damn scooter! If she dies, YOU'RE the one liable for her death! Screw being stuck in a wing-and-hoof cast; she'd be buried six feet under, and it's all because you're worried about your stupid stunt going off than someone else's life!" Sora yelled. Forcing Lightning to look back at him, she was frozen in terror. At the Wonderbolts Academy, he was just a weird and goofy stallion who had skills, but that stallion wasn't there anymore. He was mad beyond reproach, furious far from what he was feeling as he glared daggers at her with his muzzle in an enraged frown, his teeth gritting and clenching tightly as if they would crack under the pressure. "Your continued negligence will continue costing more lives if you keep 'leaping before you look', because one day, that next leap will be your last! Clearly, you didn't learn a DAMN thing when you got kicked out, and you wear the title of washout like a badge of honor! I should clip you and your team's wings permanently so you don't do something that stupid ever again!"

Lightning let out a frightful gasp. She shook her head, her eyes pleading him not to do that as her wings clutched tightly to her sides. Sora growled and brought his hoof up again, making the mare flinch as he was about to punch her again. Breathing heavily, Sora silently glared at her, keeping her pinned against the ramp as he thought of following through with his promise. After belting out all he had to say and giving Lightning Dust a few good hits, he took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly through his nose. It was rare for him to get this enraged, but if anyone or anything did something horrible to any of his family, friends, or loved ones, he wouldn't hold himself back.

Lowering his reared back hoof, but still keeping his grip on Lightning's flight suit, he hovered away from the ramp with the mare in tow as she was helplessly carried by him. "Take your washouts and leave Ponyville," he said with an eerie calmness, despite still glaring at the mare with the intent to bodily harm her. "I suggest pursuing a different career choice. If I ever see you, or hear anything else about your stunts harming anyone, especially if it's someone I know, getting a bruised face will be the only gentle beating I'll give you."

Sora then flung Lightning Dust to the ground, landing her next to Short Fuse and Rolling Thunder after they got themselves untangled. Without a word, the three washouts took to the sky and fled, leaving behind all their equipment. Sora continued watching them until they were out of sight, making sure none of them decided to look back. The field was now barren aside from the abandoned deathtraps, empty bleachers and concession stands, and the three pegasi. Rainbow was slightly relieved Sora didn't go too far with Lightning, even though she did deserve it, but it still unnerved her to see someone like him snap and ever be that aggressive.

Sora breathed deeply, his posture relaxing slightly, but he was still on hinge. He looked at Scootaloo, who quickly averted her gaze to the ground. She didn't run away, knowing she wouldn't escape from someone faster than her, but her hooves were glued to the ground. His shadow loomed over her, making her wince and force her eyes to look upward. He looked down at her, his expression emotionless. She looked to Rainbow Dash for help, but the mare was still just as stunned, unsure if she should intervene and pull him away from her again. Scootaloo felt awful for what she told him, and from his silence and neutral frown, he was expecting an apology.

"...I-I..." Scootaloo was on the verge of tears. She truly thought that Sora wouldn't want anything to do with her after all he had been doing was looking out for her, and she was the cause for his complete change in demeanor. "...I'm sor-"

Before she could apologize, Sora had quickly scooped Scootaloo up in his hooves and held her tightly to his chest. Scootaloo was a bit startled being hugged by him after getting so mad. She felt his whole body shudder, not in anger, but in worried relief.

"I'm so glad you're ok," Sora uttered. "I thought I wasn't going to make it..."

"...Y-You're not...mad at me?" Scootaloo uttered.

"No. Never," he assured the filly. When he pulled her away from his chest, Scootaloo saw tears rolling down Sora's cheeks with a look of guilt on his face. "I'm sorry for what I did earlier. I know I acted irrationally, but...I was just really scared of what would happen to you if you did something that dangerous, even if you were confident in yourself." He hung his head in shame. "I get that you don't want to see me ever again...I just want you to know that, if you really don't want me in your life anymore, I won't stop saving you from any trouble you get in."

Regretful, Scootaloo shed tears, shaking her head and ramming her body into Sora's chest, hugging him tightly. "I DO need you, Sora!" she cried, feeling Sora hug her again. "I didn't mean it! I swear! I was just...I was afraid I would never be as awesome as you or Rainbow Dash if I couldn't fly. And I thought...I could perform stunts and do something impressive like you two."

"Scootaloo, you don't need to do something crazy to be awesome like us," Rainbow said as she approached the two, happy to see Sora and Scootaloo's relationship wasn't completely shattered after what happened earlier. "If anything, it's kinda my fault for making you think that. And I wound up dragging Sora along, too, all because I was jealous that you had a fan club for some other flight team. I probably don't deserve to have a fan club for how I overreacted."

Scootaloo looked at Rainbow Dash as Sora continued to hold her. He lowered her back down, giving the filly's head a comforting rub to get her attention as he smiled at her.

"You're already the best of the best, and you don't need to prove it to us without needing to be airborne," Sora assured. "I know I seemed like I wasn't there when you came out wearing a Washout flight suit, but I don't want you to give up on being able to fly. One day, your wings will finally help you soar to the clouds. So, I refuse to give up on you and will do whatever I can to help you reach what you dream of accomplishing...As long as you don't give up on me for my own selfish actions."

Scootaloo smiled back at Sora, wiping her eyes and shook her head. "I trust you, Sora," she said. "I know you'll never give up on me. Or anypony."

"Good," he said, giving Scootaloo a light noogie.

She giggled and hugged Sora again, but when she let go of him, she looked down at the green and black flight suit she still wore. "I guess the Washouts Fan Club is going to be officially canceled."

"Yeah, that's probably for the best," Rainbow said. She then had a creative idea as she gave Scootaloo a grin. "Although, I think there's a fan club in need of some new members."

"Really? Who?" Scootaloo asked.

"Oh, you'll see," Rainbow promised. "How about you get yourself out of that flight suit and get you back home? I think you've had enough excitement for one day."

Scootaloo nodded and went off to one of the empty tents to take off her flight suit. "Who else were you going to include, and for which fan club?" Sora asked Rainbow.

"Who do you think?" she asked back with a cheeky grin. Sora crossed his hooves, giving the mare a blank stare. Rainbow rolled her eyes and laughed. "No, not me. For Scoots."

"A Scootaloo Fan Club?" he asked, surprised.

"Duh. She obviously deserves one," Rainbow said.

"...Yeah. She sure does," Sora agreed. "Bow Hothoof and Windy Whistles better be invited as members. They adore Scootaloo like a second daughter they never had."

"As if I'd leave my parents out of that club." Even though the idea of creating a club for Scootaloo was an uplifting one, Rainbow was still a bit nervous after seeing Sora almost think of pummeling Lightning Dust's face to a bloody pulp. He may be fine now, but she wasn't sure if he was truly fine deep down. "Hey, Sora, you all good now?" Understanding what she meant, Sora frowned, let out a sigh, and gave a small shake of his head. Rainbow could tell he did not like what he had done in his anger, which was just as similar as his fury last year when they all met Kaito. "...I know I can get on your nerves sometimes, but...you rarely ever get that...aggressive when you're that furious."

"You haven't seen me that upset when I was a kid," Sora said with a dejected frown. "...When I heard about what happened to my dad out at sea." Rainbow grimaced, unable to imagine Sora as a happy-go-lucky kid, only to pull a complete one-eighty in her personality and be so mad, bitter, or physically violent. "I was mad for weeks, and I wound up hurting my mom, Riku...even Kairi." As he mulled over the bouts of anger he's experienced in the past, he pulled out Kairi's charm from his pocket. "I felt awful when I struck her when she didn't do anything but try to help me...Being that angry, it feels far worse than accidentally unleashing my Anti-Form; I actually had control over my actions when I was that upset."

"Heh. Thank goodness I didn't push my luck that far," Rainbow sheepishly mumbled.

"I try not to let my anger get the better of me," Sora continued, letting out another sigh as he stuffed the charm away and looked at her. "I saw everything Lightning did to Scootaloo before that stunt went wrong. She didn't learn her lesson after the Wonderbolts Academy. And she was willing to ruin her own life by putting someone like Scoots's life aside for a dumb trick. Anyone who dares endanger my friends, family, or loved ones, I will never forgive them, or myself, if I can't stop them."

Rainbow nodded as she believed Sora's words, but she's confident in his abilities after coming this far from the adventures he's been on. The two headed off to check on Scootaloo, making sure she didn't get herself tangled up in the flight suit. As they approached Scootaloo when she exited the tent, neither of them were aware of someone watching them from one of the hills in the distance overlooking the abandoned Washouts stunt field. Concealed in a white and pale green robe, a mare had watched the area since the start of the second Washouts stunt show. Underneath the veil of her hood, she had a small, relieved grin on her face.

Behind her, a flash of light revealed a portal, gleaming with light as another robed mare walked through. Unlike the first mare's outfit, she wore a robe of white and light pink, but with a cloak wrapped around her shoulders that was a crimson red in color. Beneath the hood, most of the pony's face was concealed by a mask in the shape of a bird with a sharp beak, a tuft of feather plumage sticking back with two bangs running down the sides of the mask like dreads, colored white with rose pink eyes. Beneath the mask, one can make out her lower muzzle, her revealed fur a similar shade of pink as her mask's eyes.

"Keeping an eye on her again?" the masked mare asked as the other pony glanced back at her.

"I-I'm sorry," she apologized as she bowed her head toward the bird-masked mare. "I just...couldn't help myself. Part of me regrets what I had to do years ago, but...with what we do-"

"I get it," the masked mare interrupted. "It's a tough job. Especially right now." The other mare nodded in agreement, then looked back at the field. The masked mare stood next to her, watching Sora, Rainbow Dash, and Scootaloo leaving the field and headed back into Ponyville, the trio talking about something they couldn't make out from their distance. "So, that's her?"

"Mhmm," the mare mumbled with a nod.

The masked mare kept her eyes on the stallion. "And she's hanging out with him. Heard he's got quite a lot of skill, and he isn't even a master yet." She clicked her tongue in annoyance and shook her head. "Too bad he loves to break the one important rule one must always remember when traveling from world to world."

"He cares a lot for her," the other mare said. "If he didn't show up when he did, I would have been the one to save her when that rocket could have killed her." Glancing to her superior, she gave her a worried gaze. "...Is it possible that...we could...?"

"You want to bring her back, and invite that kid as well?" the masked mare questioned. Her subordinate winced slightly, but nodded her head after a few seconds. "Well...that all depends on when you and your husband decide to finally do something about it. Especially when we're all a bit busy with another serious matter."

"Y-Yes," the mare uttered with a nod.

They both watched as the three pegasi headed into Ponyville, the sun beginning to set in the distance. "Find anything about 'her'?" the masked mare questioned. The other mare shook her head, disappointing the superior as she let out an annoyed huff. "Just great. It shouldn't be that hard finding her, yet she was able to slip away without a trace. Let's head back and see if anyone else found any leads." The subordinate mare faced her and gave her a nod, turning toward the portal of light, but glanced back at the town for a brief moment before walking through. The masked mare looked back at the town as well, frowning slightly. "If we don't find her soon, who knows what kind of trouble she'll cause."

She made her way through the portal after the other mare, which closed after passing, leaving no trace as it disappeared in a flurry of glowing lights fading away in the breeze.

Comments

[HarryBuilder]

Okay I'm seriously Confused!

Who were those two masked mares?! And who is this she they're referring to? I don't know anyone in the KH Series but then again I've never seen the mobile games.

[Postwarmonkey50]

She looked back at Scootaloo, who was already being ushered by Lightning Dust to keep away from her. Torn between letting Scootaloo do what she wants and changing her mind and dragging the filly away like Sora had, she gave up and flew after Sora, losing track of him as she hovered around town. Admittedly, what Sora did was completely messed up, but he didn't deserve to have Scootaloo drop him out of her life forever. Rainbow had no idea if Sora would show himself at the Washouts' show later this evening, but if something ends up going wrong with Scootaloo's stunt, someone had to be there to keep an eye out for her, even if she didn't need it.

Wow, that was cruel even for you Scootaloo.
He's the only one who ever gave a damn about you whenever you struggled, the only one who knew what you went through, and this is how you repay him?

Maybe you do want him to die.

[Postwarmonkey50]

Completely out of nowhere, faster than any pegasus could blink, Sora swiftly blindsided Lightning Dust with a hard punch in the face. She was slammed to the ground, startling Rainbow Dash as she backed away from Sora. Rainbow was going to say something to Sora, but she grimaced when she saw the rage etched on his face. She was afraid he was going to unleash his Anti-Form on Lightning Dust for what she did to Scootaloo. Too stunned to even try to hold him back, Rainbow watched Sora stomp up to Lightning Dust as the sucker punched mare groaned, surprisingly still conscious as she rubbed her cheek.

"You shut your damn mouth before my next punch knocks out every single one of your teeth!" Sora threatened.

Rolling Thunder and Short Fuse gawked at what Sora did after they put out the flames, the short stallion's temper flaring as he flew toward Sora. "HEY, WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA KNOCKING OUR-!?"

Quickly glancing at Short Fuse, Sora shot his hoof toward the pint-sized stallion, grabbing the chest of his flight suit and pulling him right up to his face. "CAN IT, SHORT STACK, OR YOU'RE GONNA SEE JUST HOW TICKED OFF I CAN REALLY GET!!!!" Sora shouted back with the same intensity of Short Fuse's bursts of anger. Startled, Short Fuse flinched, then yelped as Sora flung him into Rolling Thunder, sending both pegasi crashing into each other and tumbling across the ground. He heard Rolling Thunder let out a yell as she finally expressed some pain from her earlier leg injury, but Sora didn't care about them; he was focused on dealing with the Washout who nearly got his surrogate Crusaders sibling killed. Glaring back at the mare, Lightning managed to get to her hooves, but she wasn't able to escape from Sora's wrath as he lunged at her, pinning her back to the ground. "You have a lot of nerve to do that to a child, Lightning Dust!"

"S-Sora?" Rainbow called out, but the stallion ignored her, picking Lightning Dust up in his hooves by her flight suit.

"If you want to do these reckless stunts, you NEVER put anyone's lives in danger!" he continued yelling. "There's a damn good reason why anything that could involve injury has safety rules, and you endangered Scootlaoo's life with that stupid rocket; A FREAKING FILLY'S LIFE!" Lightning tried to retort, but Sora gave her other cheek another swift punch, knocking her back down to the ground again. "Don't even THINK about opening your mouth until you're done listening to this very important lesson, you washout! That's not something to be proud calling yourself! You were kicked out of the Wonderbolts because you endangered everyone around you by showing off like a death-defying daredevil!" Lightning tried to crawl away, scared out of her mind, but Sora grabbed her again, then threw her hard into the ramp Scootaloo had shot upward from her forced rocket-propelled scooting. Rainbow and Scootaloo winced as Lightning slammed into the curved slope, the latter shivering in fear and regret for getting Sora this upset and irate. Sora slammed into Lightning Dust again, making her grunt as he knocked the wind out of her. "You want to kill yourself to perform some grand, deadly trick!? Fine! But don't you DARE force anyone who's barely even prepared with the same mentality as you; which is more STUPID than fearless!"

"I-I-" Lightning wheezed, but her mouth was forcefully shut as Sora grasped her muzzle, forcing her head to look skyward, then pointed with his other hoof to the dissipating smoke cloud from the malfunctioned rocket's explosion.

"If I was just a few seconds too late, Scootaloo would have gotten blown up with that damn scooter! If she dies, YOU'RE the one liable for her death! Screw being stuck in a wing-and-hoof cast; she'd be buried six feet under, and it's all because you're worried about your stupid stunt going off than someone else's life!" Sora yelled. Forcing Lightning to look back at him, she was frozen in terror. At the Wonderbolts Academy, he was just a weird and goofy stallion who had skills, but that stallion wasn't there anymore. He was mad beyond reproach, furious far from what he was feeling as he glared daggers at her with his muzzle in an enraged frown, his teeth gritting and clenching tightly as if they would crack under the pressure. "Your continued negligence will continue costing more lives if you keep 'leaping before you look', because one day, that next leap will be your last! Clearly, you didn't learn a DAMN thing when you got kicked out, and you wear the title of washout like a badge of honor! I should clip you and your team's wings permanently so you don't do something that stupid ever again!"

Lightning let out a frightful gasp. She shook her head, her eyes pleading him not to do that as her wings clutched tightly to her sides. Sora growled and brought his hoof up again, making the mare flinch as he was about to punch her again. Breathing heavily, Sora silently glared at her, keeping her pinned against the ramp as he thought of following through with his promise. After belting out all he had to say and giving Lightning Dust a few good hits, he took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly through his nose. It was rare for him to get this enraged, but if anyone or anything did something horrible to any of his family, friends, or loved ones, he wouldn't hold himself back.

Lowering his reared back hoof, but still keeping his grip on Lightning's flight suit, he hovered away from the ramp with the mare in tow as she was helplessly carried by him. "Take your washouts and leave Ponyville," he said with an eerie calmness, despite still glaring at the mare with the intent to bodily harm her. "I suggest pursuing a different career choice. If I ever see you, or hear anything else about your stunts harming anyone, especially if it's someone I know, getting a bruised face will be the only gentle beating I'll give you."

Sora then flung Lightning Dust to the ground, landing her next to Short Fuse and Rolling Thunder after they got themselves untangled. Without a word, the three washouts took to the sky and fled, leaving behind all their equipment. Sora continued watching them until they were out of sight, making sure none of them decided to look back. The field was now barren aside from the abandoned deathtraps, empty bleachers and concession stands, and the three pegasi. Rainbow was slightly relieved Sora didn't go too far with Lightning, even though she did deserve it, but it still unnerved her to see someone like him snap and ever be that aggressive.

Whoa, when you said that Sora would go angry and never forgive someone, you weren't kidding.

[Postwarmonkey50]

They both watched as the three pegasi headed into Ponyville, the sun beginning to set in the distance. "Find anything about 'her'?" the masked mare questioned. The other mare shook her head, disappointing the superior as she let out an annoyed huff. "Just great. It shouldn't be that hard finding her, yet she was able to slip away without a trace. Let's head back and see if anyone else found any leads." The subordinate mare faced her and gave her a nod, turning toward the portal of light, but glanced back at the town for a brief moment before walking through. The masked mare looked back at the town as well, frowning slightly. "If we don't find her soon, who knows what kind of trouble she'll cause."

Wait, they're talking about Cozy Glow, aren't they?

[Postwarmonkey50]

"You want to bring her back, and invite that kid as well?" the masked mare questioned. Her subordinate winced slightly, but nodded her head after a few seconds. "Well...that all depends on when you and your husband decide to finally do something about it. Especially when we're all a bit busy with another serious matter."

Wait, are those her parents?

[Postwarmonkey50]

Wow, great chapter.
And holy crap that was intense. I never felt my heart beating so fast in all my life.

The Washouts wasn't my favorite episode, but thank you so much for giving Lightning Dust the punishment she deserved. Seriously, she had that coming for like five seasons.

[ArlynntheDragon]

Lightning, Lightning, Lightning. Don't make Sora angry, you wouldn't like him when he's angry. The plot thickens once more...................I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Kreotre]

Awesome job 😎👍

[Moonlight_Mist]

11243133
The second one reminded me of Foretellers/Lost Masters, with the robe and the mask, but none of the original five had a bird mask. The females among the Foretellers were Invi and Ava, who wore a snake mask and a fox mask, respectively. Their names were derived from the latin names for the cardinal sins, with the only one missing being pride, which fans have long suspected to be the source of the name of the Master of Masters. So maybe the mysterious 'M' formed a similar group in Equestria, that has been passing down the ancient ways ever since?

[shining paladin]

Awesome chapter Keep up the good work mate cant wait for the next chapter

[MLPFanForever]

Oh man! That was intense, to say the least! Good on Sora! Looking forward to the next chapter.

[Spotlist]

Wow. That ending was suprising, and with two new mysterious characters added! With that said I have some speculations I want to share with everyone here from this chapter. With spoilers just in case cuz of some big Union X stuff, so I better do it to be on the safe side. I'll have a TL;DR part at the bottom of this comment.
11243155
I agree with you here with the cloaked character implying to wanting to ''bring her back''(Scootaloo) when asked by the masked character, which implies this mare know's her, or is related to Scootaloo. Which would make us think this is her biological mother, or someone blood related to her.
11243154
I also think you're right, here with them searching for Cozy Glow which gives us a glimpse as to how Cozy obtained a keyblade, and make us think what correlation does Cozy have with these characters to know her?

They both watched as the three pegasi headed into Ponyville, the sun beginning to set in the distance. "Find anything about 'her'?" the masked mare questioned. The other mare shook her head, disappointing the superior as she let out an annoyed huff. "Just great. It shouldn't be that hard finding her, yet she was able to slip away without a trace. Let's head back and see if anyone else found any leads." The subordinate mare faced her and gave her a nod, turning toward the portal of light, but glanced back at the town for a brief moment before walking through. The masked mare looked back at the town as well, frowning slightly. "If we don't find her soon, who knows what kind of trouble she'll cause."

Also I caught how the masked mare says anyONE instead of anypony, that tells me she isn't from Equestria, and also notice how they have the ability to use portals of light. Like how the Union X keyblade wielders travel from world to world, which makes me think they have keyblade magic.
Then again the worlds in Union X aren't REALLY real so there's that. However they are using portals of LIGHT which implies they side with the light, but then again those that side with the light aren't necessarily good. An example would be the Master of Masters since those who have seen Union X know what he did during the keyblade war which was sacrificing a TON of wielders for kingdom hearts and to drawing out the 13 deadly darknesses from wherever they were with the chaos and disharmony happening across the different unions.

With that said my final question is:
If the cloaked mare is Scootaloo's mother and if they know keyblade magic does this mean Scootaloo has a not-so-ancient keyblade legacy? If so the impications of this are WILD and I honestly think it'd be cool if that's true if the author does do that, but either way if it does happen or not I'll keep reading this awesome story that got me into Kingdom Hearts in the first place.

TL;DR
Cloaked mare wearing white and pale green might be Scootaloo's mom. Masked mare wearing white and rose pink may not be a pony. Both mares can travel through portals of light like the keyblade wielder's in Union X. Scootaloo may be related to keyblades, and maybe gain one later on?

[TimerWolf43]

"Exactly." Sora ruffled the filly's curly mane, making her giggle. He gripped his Struggle bat, getting himself back into training his apprentice. "Now, back to buzzing around like a bee and stinging like a bugbear."

I don't know if this is intentional but that sounds a reference to Cars (2006)

[Codex92]

11245866
Float like a Cadillac, sting like a Bimmer? And not really intentional since I just came up with something sillier than the phrase, "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee."

[TimerWolf43]

11246002
Still, sounds similar enough for me to unsee it now.

[PHONEGUYhello]

11243155
Maybe, codex92 would need to change the plot a bit for the last crusade episode. The story follows very close the original shows story on mlp side of the crossover. As stated in an earlier chapter of this crossover scootaloo admitted to sora in secret that she's an orphan and that chapter was made way before the last crusade episode was released. In the actual show she never mentioned her parents at all and when the episode came she was fully aware of who they were and that they were alive all along and not acting as if they were dead or anything. But was excited to see them after so long. So in This story codex92 has to change that episode up a bit at least the beginning of it before it follows the original mlp episode as close as it can with sora and his friends added in.

[Postwarmonkey50]

11254457
Okay...that makes sense actually.

[Codex92]

11294603
Ok, I get what you're saying, but nothing in any of my chapters with any of the couples is in any way intentionally promoting abusive relationships. I do NOT condone either side in a relationship doing any actual harm to the other, and none of the couples are doing that on purpose. It's supposed to be like comedic backlash for the boy when they say or do something stupid or nonsensical, and the girl gets annoyed and hits them to bash what they did/said out of them. Neither of these characters would want to do anything too physically painful to the point where they actually do feel like it's abusive. And, if you do want to know, my thoughts are that it's not right for a guy to harm a girl, because that's morally wrong, but I also know it's not right for a girl to do the same; two wrongs don't make a right.

If you don't like this story, fine. You don't need to read it anymore, but don't assume I'm putting in something I see from a cartoon and anime standpoint as silly physical humor as a serious issue in real life. And in case you completely forgot, KH did show a small moment matching the "abusive relationship" from the beginning of the first game between Sora and Kairi: Sora tries to explain what happened in the Dive to the Heart section, but Kairi doesn't believe him and gives him a thunk on the back of the head to stop him from making up excuses despite Sora having actually experienced the "strange dream". Not a painful blow that's seriously physically or emotionally traumatic; a little plonk that does hurt, but not in an abusive way. There are more serious relationship issues later on that show up, and are resolved without any abusive violence. So, either keep reading and shake your head at anymore "abuse" between the characters (and don't you even say I don't know any of the characters from either media in this crossover, because I am a diehard fan of Kingdom Hearts, and I do research for both sides to make this story as accurate with lore, monsters, etc. to avoid making mistakes, even acknowledge some I may have overlooked and change to make it better), or you can just stop reading and move along. I write to make an enjoyable and entertaining story for the fun of it. If you think you can write one better without the issues you point out, then write a better story.

[TheNewFrederick]

11296499
Yeah. As unlikable as tsunderes can be, that's the whole point of it, they are characters who are annoying for shits and giggles, go figure. It's all anime staple.

[JesusG0987]

Hey Codex, it has been a while since you last update, three months to be exact. So just asking, when will the next chapter pop up, I'm looking forward to what happens next.

[RainbowRaptorDash1]

11325207
Another Kingdom Hearts world I hope.

[rikithemonk]

11337984
Ok, So. Sora, being a diltz decides to run from the cops, rather than do what I would. Which would be to give up. So he gets attacked and chased by someone whose life he saved once. Someone very ungrateful for it. Then after being hunted down and attacked by said ingrate, he saves her a second time.

Me, I wouldn't and I stand by that. Never help those who wish you harm. She made her decisions, she can get out of the situation herself. If she dies, then there is one less pain in the ass that I have to deal with.

As for the cop....Ok, you're right. While he is an ass, he hasn't proven dangerous yet. I'm betting that it was the over all irritation in the situation in general that made me say that. Now, that being said, that guy, because of his attitude and unreasoning blindness/mindset is a dangerous person, and a dangerous person in a high position of power. You have to really watch those.

What I would have done, wouldn't have made a heroic story. I would have surrendered, knowing that the heartless would be killing people the entire time I was imprisoned. I would have simply waited for the princess to talk to me and explained the situation to her as best that I could. By that time, there would be quite a few heartless, and I would have had the backing of the crown to return to Ponyville to get the situation back under control. I would have tried to get that same guard captain to lead the contingent of guard going with me back to Ponyville. I would have then tried to see to it that he was in the most dangerous part of the battle. Partly to see if he had value as a leader.

I fully admit that I'm more of a villain than a hero.

Monk

[talontitanbane]

Lightning dust. Crime: foal endangerment. Sentence: 100 years dungeon!