Dawn Lightwing tries to live life as a normal foal, but must contend with the scars of his past life.
Second story of the Savage Skies series: Dawn Lightwing has overcome many trials in his life; persecution for his unique eyes, living amongst the monsters of the Everfree Forest. But now all of that is behind him. He's been adopted by Fluttershy, mended from his conflict with Applejack, and now sits poised to go to school and live the life of a normal foal. Unfortunately, Dawn's past is not so far behind him as he would like, as his experiences have left scars on his mind and heart that threaten everything he has gained since coming to Ponyville.
Celestia's sun shined down on Ponyville, casting its light across the various buildings, seeping in through windows and bidding the buildings' occupants to rise and greet the day. Further afield, at a small cottage on the outskirts of town, perched just at the edge of the Everfree Forest, one such inhabitant had already been awake for some time. In the yard outside the cottage stood a young colt, a pegasus. His coat was jet-black, while his mane and tail were an eye-catching silver. However, his most interesting features were his eyes, which sported glimmering blue-green irises, each framing a vertical slit pupil, giving his eyes a distinctive resemblance to those of a cat...or a dragon.
It had been these unique features that had caused this colt a great deal of trouble during his early life, earning him scorn and hostility from ponies all across Equestria. Even after coming to Ponyville and finding a safe haven with the kindly Fluttershy had not spared him from persecution, as it was soon discovered that one of Fluttershy's closest friends took exception to this colt's eyes. Even now, Dawn Lightwing still bore reminders of Applejack's reflexive bigotry.
The blackness of his coat was paradoxically marred by the near-pristine white of the bandages wrapped around his barrel and the light-gray of the cast that incased one of his wings, tangible reminders of Applejack's unreserved attempt to kill him. It would be several days before the colt would recover.
Fortunately for him, things had started to go his way. A visit by Princess Celestia had successfully gotten Applejack to see the error of her ways, causing the mare in question to come down to the cottage, where Dawn lived with Fluttershy, to apologize for her past actions. It had been a harsh, emotionally charged morning for both of them. But Dawn and Applejack had managed to mend the rift between them. Even now, as the colt stood silently out in the yard, schooling his mind to thoughtlessness, two mares were inside the cottage, discussing his future.
"Yer adoptin' him!" exclaimed Applejack as she stared at Fluttershy with wide eyes.
"Yes," replied the canary-colored mare, shrinking back behind her pink mane, "Um, that's not a problem, is it."
Applejack took off her hat and set it onto the table. "Ah don't know. Ah ain't so sure 'o this. But Ah suppose it ain't mah place to say, given that mah judgment hasn't been the best these past few days." The two of them were seated at Fluttershy's kitchen table. Applejack accepted Fluttershy's invitation to join her and Dawn for breakfast, the kind and gentle pegasus having hardly taken any time at all to forgive Applejack for her transgressions now that she had apologized. The country mare hadn't needed any for herself, having eaten before coming to the cottage, but had accepted to spend some time with her friend and try to further mend things with the colt.
Dawn hadn't said a word since they had come in. He had returned to his usual, stoic countenance after calming down from his emotional outburst in response to her apology. Applejack had been a bit unnerved by his silence, but Fluttershy assured her that the jet-black colt wasn't much for conversation at meals. Afterwards, Dawn had gone out into the front yard to meditate while Fluttershy shared her plans with Applejack.
"Could you please tell me what the problem is?" asked Fluttershy, "Is it about Dawn?"
"Well, sorta," replied Applejack hesitantly, "Ah have some experience with this, since Big Mac and Ah we're the ones who raised Apple Bloom after our parents died. Takin' care of a foal ain't an easy job. Are ya sure yer ready fer all that?"
"But...isn't that what I've been doing for the past several days?"
"It ain't quite the same sugarcube," said Applejack, "What we're talkin' about is fer the long haul. It seems easy when it's fer a short while, but carin' fer a foal is a long-term commitment. Once ya make it official, ya can't back out."
"It should be fine," said Futtershy with a smile as she looked out the window and watched the colt sitting motionless in the yard. Once again, her animals were taking to using Dawn as an interesting perch/seat. "Dawn's such a well-behaved colt. And he can take care of himself very well. It will be a lot easier than with most foals."
"Ah suppose," admitted Applejack, following Fluttershy's gaze, "But don't ya think that all 'o that good behavior might be because he thinks of himself as yer guest. Once he's yer son, he might not be so easy to manage."
"That would be nice," said Fluttershy, her smile taking on a wistful quality as she continued to watch her soon-to-be son, "It would be good for Dawn to act more like a colt his age and have fun, maybe get into some trouble.
"And besides," she added, cutting off Applejack when the orange earth pony opened her mouth to interject, "I need to do this, even if it is hard, even if things do go wrong, even if it is more responsibility than I'm used to. Dawn needs me. He needs a pony he can depend on to be his support and his home." Fluttershy's tone was surprisingly resolute as she turned to regard Applejack with determination. "I need to be that pony for him. And yes," she said, anticipating Applejack's next inquiry, "It has to be me. I can't trust this to anypony else. If I were to turn away from Dawn after everything I've said and done, he would break. And I'm afraid no one could heal him."
Applejack stared dumbly at her hat for a moment. "Ya've been givin' this a lot 'o thought haven't ya sugarcube?"
Futtershy nodded.
Applejack let out a soft sigh and set her hat back on her head. "Then Ah won't try to stop ya. Ah'll do whatever Ah can to help. Ah'm sure the others girls'll do the same."
"Thank you Applejack," said Fluttershy, getting up, "Do you want to come into town with us. I'm going to start on Dawn's adoption process today."
"Why not," agreed Applejack, following the pegasus's example, "Ah don't have to do any apple-buckin' today on account 'o the Princess knockin' all the apples we needed of their trees yesterday."
"Um...did the Princess really...apple-buck?" asked Fluttershy, tilting her head in confusion.
"Nah," answered Applejack, grinning sheepishly, "Ah got a mite uppity with her yesterday and she put her hoof down...literally."
Fluttershy giggled at the notion and made her way out the cottage's door, Applejack in tow. It took some time for Fluttershy to dissuade her animals from remaining perched on the young colt's back. However, within a few minutes, the trio of ponies were ready for their trip into town.
Twilight shifted nervously as she waited on the bench at the train station. The guards dispatched by Princess Celestia were due to arrive on the overnight train from Canterlot. She was a little bit worried, not knowing whether or not she could work with the Royal Guards, who were more than a little infamous for their stoic, unflinching demeanor, which made them utterly unapproachable. They were a far cry from the local Town Guard, who were much more personable. Even though Twilight had grown up in the halls of Canterlot's palace, she had seen little of the guards beyond their unflinching guises and motionless bodies. The fact that her brother, one of the warmest and friendliest ponies she had ever known had spent a period of his time standing in a similar manner still seemed quite alien to her. But then again, Twilight rarely had anything to do with Shining Armor when he was on duty.
She was pulled from her introspection by the sound of a whistle and the low chugging of an approaching engine. Looking up, Twilight could see the train slowing down as it entered into the station, the squeal of brakes making her wince even as her nose twitched from the acrid smell of burning coal. Twilight got up from her seat as the attendants opened the doors, allowing the passengers to disembark before any of the ponies waiting on the platform where permitted to enter the cars.
Twilight cast her eyes about, looking for any sign of the expected guards. While she knew that Shining Armor had selected them for their ability to not draw attention to themselves, she hoped that there was some way she would be able to recognize the expected ponies.
Not many ponies got off. Ponyville was just a small town, after all. In spite of its proximity to Canterlot and the fact that the six ponies responsible for Equestria's salvation called it home, the small town never really seemed to get all that much attention. Still, enough ponies were getting off the train that Twilight couldn't track them all. Once the attendants permitted passengers to board, the scene simply became even more chaotic, further reducing any chance Twilight had of spotting the guards. With a sigh, she lowered her head and gave up. Her only hope now was to wait and see if the guards recognized her instead.
As the confusion of the unboarding and the boarding of the train subsided, a whistle sounded and the massive machine began to pull away from the platform, gathering steam as it rolled on towards its next destination. Twilight watched it go forlornly. Had she been mistaken? Were the guards meant to be on a different train? Just as she was about to give up hope and return to the library, Twilight felt the touch of a hoof on her shoulder. Gasping in surprise, she spun around to see two ponies standing behind her.
The earth pony and pegasus stallions waited patiently as Twilight took them in. The pegasus was a dark gray color, with a mane and tail of an even darker gray with dark purple highlights, giving him the appearance of a rain-laden storm cloud. His eyes were a shade of faded green that took everything in slowly and easily, giving the impression that he was aware of his surroundings without having to exercise any real effort. Looking past his front, Twilight was surprised to see a rolled scroll emblazoned on his flank. The earth pony's coat was a deep blue color, the kind of color Twilight imagined she would see in the depths of the ocean, contrasting nicely with his crimson mane and tail. His eyes were an unremarkable shade of blue. Twilight had been surprised by the pegasus's cutie mark, but the earth pony's was even more surprising. His flank was decorated by a purple iris, not the kind of thing one would expect on the flank of a Royal Guard.
The earth pony stallion wore a belt of light blue silk, slung over his right shoulder and diagonally across his back. Holstered on the back of the belt was what looked like a long-handled knife with a crimson tassel hung from where the handle joined the blade, worn so that the handle projected just over the stallion's right shoulder, seemingly so that he could reach up and draw the weapon in an instant. The pegasus, on the other hoof, wore a dark purple silk shirt. The front was held together by a series of ties. It seemed rather loose on him, the sleeves in particular, but he wore it with the ease of comfortable familiarity. The cuffs and collar of the shirt were decorated with modest, white embroidery. Twilight wasn't sure, but she thought that Rarity might like the fashion sense of these two stallions.
Twilight blinked in confusion as she and the stallions sized each other up. Their bodies weren't like what she was used to seeing among the Royal Guards. Their musculature didn't seem as substantial as that of the usual guards, but more supple and flexible. She realized that their bodies were like Dawn's, the kind of martial artists. Furthermore, their silent demeanor was different from the forced stoicism Twilight was familiar with when she saw the guards accompanying Celestia or guarding different wings of the palace. Theirs was more of a relaxed watchfulness that allowed them to keep track of their surroundings and spring into action at a moment's notice.
"Uh...hello?" Twilight wasn't sure what to say in this situation. These two were not the kind of ponies she had been expecting when she had heard that guards were coming from Canterlot. They didn't strike her as being like the Royal Guards at all.
For a moment, the awkward silence continued and Twilight was afraid that she had been a bit hasty in her initial assessment and that they were the silent type after all. But then, the earth pony's face broke into a pleased, beaming smile. "Miss Twilight Sparkle, it's such a pleasure to finally meet you."
"Uh yeah..." said Twilight, pausing uncertainly, "Nice to meet you too. Are you the ponies my brother sent?"
"We are indeed," replied the earth pony in a pleasant tone. He stooped his head in a polite bow. "I am Red River and this is my friend and comrade in arms..."
"Storm Front," finished the pegasus, bowing as well.
Twilight tilted her head in confusion. "Are you two really from the Royal Guard?"
Red River threw his head back and laughed uproariously. "That's an amusing notion," he said, "Us! In the Royal Guard. Can you imagine us acting like those stiffs Storm?"
Storm Front didn't join in the laughter, but Twilight spied a brief smirk flitting across his face. Apparently the notion amused him as well. In spite of this, he quickly stilled his face to a more neutral, though friendly tone and answered the flustered unicorn's question. "We are not from the Royal Guard. Ultimately, your brother didn't feel that there was anypony on the Guard who was up to the mission he needed them for. Because of that, he turned to a mutual friend of ours, who recommended us for the job."
Twilight frowned. "A mutual friend...? Wait, so you were hired for this, not assigned?" A nod confirmed her suspicions. "Are you two...mercenaries?" She drew back slightly at their affirmative nod.
Mercenaries were a rare breed in Equestria. Given the state of affairs within the country and its peaceful relations with its neighbors, ponies who made a living on their skill at arms and combat were few and far between. Most ponies with an affinity for combat ended up in the Guard. Others might find themselves employed as retainers of the various noble households, although their roll was considered more decorative than useful. True mercenaries, who moved around and sold their skills for the sake of fighting, whatever the reason, were generally looked down on as uncouth louts who dirtied the nation with their presence. After all, they made their living on bloodshed and violence. Could there be anything more despicable for a citizen of Equestria?
And yet, Shining Armor apparently trusted his friend and, by extension, these two enough to send them on an important mission ordered by Princess Celestia herself. Twilight just didn't know what to make of that. Nonetheless, she realized that she needed to work with what she had. Twilight made the decision to reserve her judgment until she knew more about these two strange ponies.
"Thank you for coming," she said, smiling politely, "I look forward to working with you. Perhaps we should adjourn to the library for now."
"Certainly Miss Sparkle," agreed Red River while Storm Front nodded politely. Twilight set out from the train station, the two stallions falling into step behind her. Given their rather unique appearance, they drew some odd looks from the citizens of Ponyville. However, those did not concern Twilight as much as the prospect of running into a particular pink pony who would propose perpetual parties if provided the possibility.
Happily, Pinkie Pie did not make an appearance and the three made it to the library without incident. The two stallions stared around at the myriad number of books lined up on every wall, covering every conceivable subject and genre.
Red River snorted in amusement. "At least you're going to be well entertained, Storm." The dark-colored pegasus huffed and continued to examine the books.
"Do you like to read?" asked Twilight.
"That's like asking if a fish likes to swim," quipped Red River, earning him a reproving glare from his companion.
Twilight felt an amused smile spreading across her face. "I think we're going to get along just fine."
"Hey Twilight, who are these guys?" The three ponies looked up to see Spike descending the staircase from their room, carrying a stack of books in his arms. The lavender unicorn lifted the tomes from the dragon and set them back in their places on the shelves, earning a thankful look from the dragon. A closer look around saw that Spike had been working on his chores while Twilight had been out. It saddened her slightly as she was reminded how much she still tended to take her assistant for granted.
"This is Red River and Storm Front," said Twilight, indicating them respectively, "These are the ponies my brother sent to help us with Dawn."
Spike nodded and headed off to the kitchen. Twilight could hear him busily getting together implements to make lunch. Both of the stallions had watched the little dragon with a great deal of interest.
"An interesting little fellow," murmured Red River. Storm Front nodded.
"That was Spike," explained Twilight, "I hatched him for my entrance exam into Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. The Princess raised him after that and then entrusted him to me as my assistant. He's actually closer to a little brother."
"Interesting," muttered Storm Front, looking at the door to the kitchen, "I wonder what kind of dragon he'll grow up to be."
"What do you mean?" asked Twilight.
"We've run into all sorts of dragons over the years," explained Red River, "And they are always different. No two are ever really alike. There's no clear division between types, like there are between pony tribes. Dragons come in just about every size and shape imaginable. This guy..." He jabbed a hoof in Storm Front's direction. "Has always been as curious as heck as to why."
"Really!?" squealed Twilight, seemingly conjuring a notebook and quill from nowhere, "Can you tell me about it. This could be a huge boon to the scientific community! Can you imagine what it would be like to have such extensive knowledge of dragons."
Storm Front tilted his head, perplexed by Twilight's enthusiasm. "Perhaps another time."
"Oh, okay then..." Twilight drooped, a blush covering her cheeks as she realized that her inner scholar had once again gotten the better of her.
"If anything," Storm Front continued, "We should be discussing the nature of the assignment. I understand that the situation is not simple bodyguard duty."
Twilight nodded. "Calling it bodyguard duty would be a mistake. Dawn Lightwing is more than capable of protecting himself...or he will be, once his injuries heal. What the Princess and I are concerned about is the notion that any conflict involving him might affect other ponies, especially as we get him more settled in Ponyville. What we need are guards who can help protect civilians and maintain order in a conflict and ensure that nopony gets caught in the crossfire, should such a conflict occur. At the same time, we don't want the guards to have an overt presence, as that might give the impression that we think that Dawn himself is a source of danger for Ponyville."
"An interesting situation," mused Storm Front, "I take it that we will be operating incognito."
"We'll need jobs then," agreed Red River, looking more serious than he had all day as he stroked his chin pensively.
"We will also need to secure housing."
Twilight blinked and stared at the two stallions. "Aren't you already here on a job?"
"Well yeah," replied Red River, his tone slightly irritable, "But you said it yourself that we can't let on why we're here. And obviously, it would be suspicious if two such able-bodied stallions moved into Ponyville and didn't take on any kind of job. If we're going to blend in, then we need to go the whole way."
"I see," said Twilight, slightly taken aback by the sudden change in Red River's demeanor. Are these guys really the right choice?
"That said," remarked Storm Front smoothly, defusing the mounting tension in the room, "Do you have any recommendations for jobs we could take that would also allow us to get a handle on the community and quickly respond to any problems that come up?"
"Hmm," Twilight mused, tapping her chin, "I can't be sure. The best way would be to ask the girls and see if they have any suggestions. They're already aware of the whole situation, so we don't have to hide the reason you're here from them. They could be a big help."
As though summoned by Twilight, there came a knocking at the door. "Twilight! Are ya home sugarcube!"
"Applejack!" exclaimed Twilight, opening the door with her telekinesis. She was relieved to simply hear the orange mare's voice again, having worried about what she might have been like after having been chastised by Princess Celestia. Applejack came trotting into the library, followed by, of all ponies, Fluttershy and Dawn.
As the colt came walking, in a slightly lopsided manner, into the library, he immediately noticed the presence of Red River and Storm Front. In an instant, the atmosphere of the library thickened. Dawn's uninjured wing extended partially as his body fell into the slightest of crouches. It was subtle, but noticeable. The reactions from the two mercenary stallions were even subtler still. Storm Front's right front hoof lifted the barest fraction of an inch off the floor, while Red River's head twitched to put his muzzle a tiny bit closer to the handle of his weapon. All three of them froze in their respective positions, as still and silent as statues. For a moment, the air felt as though it were heaver than lead and weighed down heavily on the three mares as they found themselves caught in a dangerous situation without any slightest idea as to the cause or reason.
A few seconds later, Dawn's stance relaxed and he closed his good wing. Storm Front and Red River likewise resumed their normal postures and settled back into their places. The oppressive atmosphere evaporated like the morning dew.
"Um...what just happened?" squeaked Fluttershy, having dived to the floor and covered her face with her hooves. She peaked out from behind them long enough to take in the two unfamiliar ponies before squeaking and covering her face again.
"Ya got me on that one," admitted Applejack, "Ah'm just as bamboozled as y'all are."
"My apologies," said Dawn calmly, trotted over to Fluttershy and gently leaning against her, trying to reassure her with his presence, "You startled me. I was surprised to encounter two ponies as skilled as you. I admit that I am quite inferior."
Red River let out a snort of laughter as the two stallions shared a glance that hovered somewhere between amused and impressed. "You've got a fair bit of experience to be able to tell that much from just that. You need to give yourself more credit squirt."
"So, this is what a student of the Gale King is like," remarked Storm Front, "And to think that he is merely a novice. What a frightening notion indeed."
Twilight found herself more than a little surprised that neither of the stallions seemed to have noted Dawn's most prominent feature. It seemed once they had marked him as a fellow martial artist, they hardly noticed anything else.
"So I take it that this is Dawn Lightwing," said Storm Front.
"A pleasure," greeted Dawn, his tone surprisingly warm.
"While we're at it, I'd like to introduce my friends," said Twilight, jumping back into the conversation, feeling as though, if she didn't say something, she would be left behind, "This is Applejack..."
"Howdy." Applejack tilted her stetson in salutation.
"And down here is Fluttershy."
Encouraged by Dawn, Fluttershy came out from behind her hooves and mane and bobbed her head in greeting. "H-hello. Nice to meet you."
Red River and Storm Front bowed their heads in acknowledgment and gave their names in turn. Twilight's eyes narrowed as she listened to the stallions beginning to chat with her friends. Their demeanor had shifted in subtle ways. Red River's previous boisterousness had been toned down. Meanwhile, Storm Front's quiet mannerisms had gone from aloof and distant to a placid neutrality similar to the kind that Dawn typically exercised, but more relaxed and at ease than the colt.
The two stallions happily explained their reasons for being in Ponyville, along with the nature of their assignment and solicited advice from the mares. Twilight found Applejack and Fluttershy's reactions surprising. Applejack, having already experienced the consequences of being overly suspicious and paranoid, had returned to her natural mannerisms of greeting the newcomers in her typically enthusiastic manner. What truly surprised Twilight was how quickly Storm Front and Red River were able to lead Fluttershy out of her shell and get her comfortable with their presence.
In the space of a few moments, these two stallions had subtly altered their behavior in ways that, while minuscule in degree, had the tremendous effect of quickly endearing them with two ponies they had only just met. Twilight wouldn't have even noticed had she not just been talking to them right before this. She thought about asking them about it, but hesitated when Dawn caught her eye. Her eyes widened as she realized that the colt seemed to understand what she was thinking and slowly shook his head. Twilight opted to withhold her comments.
"So ya need a job 'o some sort so ya don't stand out all suspicious-like?" asked Applejack, now that the two stallions had finished their explanations.
"Yes, and preferably ones that give us a wide range of access to the town and surrounding areas so that we can keep an eye on things," replied Red River with an easy smile.
"Oh, I have an idea," ventured Fluttershy softly, "Storm Front should talk to our friend, Rainbow Dash and try to see if she can get him a position on the weather team."
Applejack smacked one hoof on the other. "That's brilliant 'Shy. On the weather team, he'll have a birds-eye view of things and be able to move over the entire town without causin' a fuss."
Fluttershy blushed and sank low at the praise as she smiled timidly.
"That seems prudent," agreed Storm Front, nodding in approval.
Red River sighed in disappointment. "I guess that leaves me. You're lucky Storm, it's always easy for you to find a job in situations like this."
"True enough," the cloud-colored stallion nodded in agreement.
"Working on the weather team definitely gives you the advantage of range. I'll need some job where I can listen to ponies talk and find out if things are happening behind the scenes, so it needs to be a place where ponies meet and speak regularly."
Applejack opened her mouth and seemed about to suggest something, but apparently thought better of it and closed her mouth again, her eyes shifting about nervously. Nopony seemed to notice this.
"How about the Sugarcube Corner!" suggested Twilight eagerly, "It's one of the most popular establishments in Ponyville and ponies are always coming and going there."
Applejack blanched, her face taking on that peculiar expression one might get when a juicy apple one has been admiring has been snatched away before one has a chance to try it. The one who did the snatching had done no wrong, but, for some reason, it still seemed unfair.
"No wait!" exclaimed the orange mare, deciding to take action, "If yer wantin' a place where ponies meet and talk regularly, it's gotta be the market! Almost everypony goes there at some point."
"That's sensible," admitted Twilight, "But there's still the issue of finding Red River an actual job. Most of the stalls are operated by family businesses, so they probably wouldn't be all that willing to hire a new hoof out of the blue. The only other option we might have is if Red River opened a stall of his own. But what product would he sell?"
"Maybe his special talent could tell us the answer," suggested Dawn, speaking for the first time since the conversation began in earnest.
"Um...what exactly is your special talent, Mister Red River? That is, if you don't mind me asking?" Fluttershy shrank back as she made her inquiry.
Without the slightest hesitation or embarrassment, Red River answered, "Flower arrangement."
The entire conversation ground to a halt as all the participants, save Storm Front, froze as they processed what they just heard, their eyes drawn to the purple iris decorating Red River's flank as its meaning finally registered with them. If Rainbow Dash were here, she'd be on her back laughing.
"Well, you might be able to get a spot with Rose or Daisy," mused Twilight, "But their stalls are off the beaten path as far as the market is concerned. You wouldn't be in a good position to keep an eye on things."
"He can work fer us," said Applejack, a little more haste in her voice than she would have liked, "If we have somepony who can sell the apples in town, then Big Mac and Ah can get more done on the farm; and our apple stall is set up in the main thoroughfare."
Red River tapped his chin. "As cover stories go, that is a good one. I would still like to see if this Sugarcube Corner place is a good possibility as well. I can make a decision afterwards."
He got up and trotted for the door, closing it just as Spike came out of the kitchen, plates of food resting on his claws and one balancing precariously on the top of his head and yet another poised on the tip of his tail.
"Here's lunch Twilight, I made extra when I heard the others come in."
"Thanks Spike." Twilight took the food from him and levitated it to the table.
Now free to look around, Spike's eyes settled on Dawn and widened considerably. "Whoa! Your eyes are just like mine!"
Dawn blinked and returned Spike's gaze. Twilight coughed politely. "Dawn, this is Spike, my Number One Assistant. Spike, this is Dawn Lightwing."
"Nice to meet you," said the little dragon cheerfully as he moved around the table and offered a claw, which Dawn met with a hoof. Introductions finished, the ponies moved to settle around the table.
As they started to eat, Twilight cast a dubious glance at Applejack. "Why exactly were you so insistent that Red River work for you?"
"Uh...well...ya see..." Applejack's glance roamed across the room, looking everywhere except for the eyes of her lunch companions as the orange mare did her best Fluttershy impression. "Ah really do think it's a good place fer him to keep an eye on things. And Ah meant what Ah said about Big Mac and Ah bein' able to work at the farm more. That'll increase our yield, which'll help our profits. If Ah can spend some more time bakin', Ah'll be able to diversify our products, which'll help things sell better and..."
"Dawn's life and the peace of the town hinge on this and you want one of our guards to work for you so you can improve your business?" The reproachful tone in Twilight's voice forced Applejack to sink in her seat. Glancing over, she saw Dawn raise an eyebrow at her. Strangely, there was no reproach in his look, but rather an innocent curiosity.
She has a rather poor poker face. But there's enough truth in what she says that it doesn't make all that much of a difference. She's lying by omission. He was curious about Applejack's true reasoning, but didn't ask.
To everyone's surprise, Storm Front came to Applejack's rescue. "Those are sound reasons, which would help us justify his presence. It's perfectly logical from a business perspective. If she has any reasons other than that, it is not our place to press, so long as she means no harm."
Twilight frowned, but decided to let the subject go. The group resumed their lunch. As they ate, Fluttershy explained her plans, prompting a round of congratulations from Twilight and Spike. After they finished, Spike cleared the dishes away while Twilight and Fluttershy went over to help the yellow pegasus go over the particulars of the adoption process. Dawn moved to help Spike with the cleanup while Storm Front began to peruse some of the books in the library. Applejack joined Twilight and Fluttershy, the three of them planning things out and trying to assemble a list of all the things Fluttershy would need to go through with the adoption.
Things were proceeding smoothly, right up until everypony caught the sound of hooves rushing right up to the door. Their eyes snapped over to watch as it swung open with surprising violence, allowing Red River to gain entrance. He slammed the door back shut with tremendous force and braced his back against it, leaving the stallion standing there, gasping wildly as he surveyed the library, his pupils shrunk in terror. For a moment, he simply stood there, still heaving before settling his gaze on Applejack.
"Your stall, I'll work it!"
For a brief moment, nopony said anything. No one really had any idea what to say. The three mares turned and looked at each other, sharing a knowing glance.
"Oh dear, I hope Mister Red River is okay after that," said Fluttershy as she and Dawn approached Town Hall to settle the matter of his adoption.
"Apparently I only got a small sample of her when we met the other day," remarked Dawn, "I guess that even a master like that stallion would break if he met her in a situation where she had no reason to exercise restraint."
Fluttershy's lip twitched nervously. "Yes. Pinkie Pie can be a little...much for some ponies."
Dawn chuckled before shifting uncomfortably. This did not go unnoticed.
"Are you alright Dawn? Is your injury hurting? Oh Dear! Should we go see the doctor?"
"It's fine," answered Dawn as calmly as he usually did, "It's just that, with one wing in a cast, I have a little trouble keeping my balance."
"Oh." Fluttershy smiled and dipped her head. Before Dawn realized it, he had been lifted up and deposited on her back.
"I can walk," he protested.
"Don't worry about it," said Fluttershy, smiling over her shoulder at him, "It's okay to accept help from other ponies when you're hurt."
Dawn sighed and refrained from making any further protests, although it wasn't Fluttershy's words so much as the no-nonsense look in her eyes that stopped him.
The two arrived at Town Hall and were ushered into Mayor Mare's office. The distinguished, older earth pony listened as Fluttershy explained the situation. She smiled encouragingly when the shy pegasus finished and went over to a filing cabinet and retrieved a small number of forms.
"I am quite happy to assist you as best I can," she said, spreading the forms out on the table, "Since it seems that you have your affairs quite in order, this should go rather quickly."
The next two hours seemed to disappear in a blur of papers as Mayor Mare explained parts of the process and carefully interviewed the mother-to-be, as well as the prospective son. Questions about Fluttershy's suitability as a caretaker for the young colt were quickly and efficiently addressed, thanks to the coaching she had recieved from Twilight earlier that day.
During the entire time, Dawn noticed that, while he got the occasional odd look from the mayor, she never once mentioned his condition. He remembered getting a few odd looks from the other ponies they had passed on their way over, but nothing that even began to approach the hostility he was used to seeing. It seemed that Fluttershy had not been lying about him being safe in Ponyville. It made him wonder if there was something wrong with the towns he had been chased out of before.
Interestingly, the two mercenaries were not the only important ponies who arrived on the train from Canterlot.
To say that Rarity was off-balance would be an understatement of epic proportions. She was not unused to entertaining visitors, particularly if they were her friends or her clients. She liked to think that, no matter how distinguished or important her visitors might be, that she was able to maintain a professional attitude that would allow her and her client to conclude their business in an expedient manner.
However, having Fancy Pants of all ponies drop in out of the blue showed Rarity that she still had a ways to go.
After the near panic attack had abated, Rarity realizing that she hadn't so much as a single hem to show the stallion that might appeal to the tastes of him or his wife, she calmed after he explained that his reason for coming was not actually business-related...at least, not in the typical sense.
So it was with some degree of trepidation that Rarity finished laying out her finest china and preparing the stallion some tea from her finest stock. Rarity had to admit that she was not liking the way the situation was turning out at all. After asking for the chance to speak with her, the stallion had simply sat pensively at the table, occasionally twitching his mustache as he waited for her to finish preparing tea. The only sign that he was comfortable was the fact that he'd removed his monocle and set it on the table in front of him.
"My apologies for dropping in unannounced like this," he said as he waited, "But I wanted to keep my business with you discreet."
"I understand," replied Rarity as she poured the tea for the two of them.
"Now then," said Rarity, doing her best to stifle the tremor of nervousness that threatened to creep into her voice, "How can I help you my dear sir?"
"Please, there's no need for formality Rarity," said Fancy Pants, "You're a friend of the family now. I know that Fleur is looking forward to seeing you again in the future."
"That's very lovely. How is your dear wife coming along?"
"Quite nicely," replied Fancy with a pleasant smile, "It will be another few months before the foal is due, but she's taking her pregnancy quite well."
"That's reassuring," said Rarity with a small smile.
Fancy Pants sighed before sipping the remainder of the tea in his cup. "As nice as it is to speak with you, I'm afraid that I didn't come here simply for the purpose of exchanging pleasantries."
"Whatever is the matter?" asked Rarity, "You seem so worried."
"It's just..." Fancy picked up the cup as Rarity refilled it and drained it the way most stallions drained a shot glass of whiskey when they were about to do something unpleasant. "I don't know how to break it to you Rarity, but I think we need to cut off our business relationship for a time."
Rarity was most fortunate that her own cup was scarcely an inch above the saucer, as her magic suddenly released and dropped it down with a clatter. Though the cup was undamaged, tea slopped over the sides, staining the saucer below. "What? But Fancy Pants, I thought we were doing so well..."
"We were," replied Fancy Pants, "And that is part of the problem. Please don't think that this has anything to do with the quality of your work." He sighed again. "The truth of the matter is that I'm suggesting this for your sake. You need to suspend your business, not just with me, but with all the rest of the Canterlot nobility."
"But...why?" asked Rarity, scarcely able to believe what she was hearing. Catering to the needs of Canterlot's nobles had been one of her dreams from the moment she had opened her boutique. While she wouldn't rate her desire to get in with the upper class on the same level that Rainbow Dash expressed her desire to get into the Wonderbolts, it still stood as one of the major milestones of achievement that Rarity had dreamt of since she was a little filly.
"Once again, the problem is not with you, but with us," replied Fancy cooly, "Though I wish we could celebrate your success, I very much fear that certain members of the nobility are seeking your business for the wrong reasons. Worse still, I am afraid that this problem is mostly my fault."
"How so?"
"Do you remember how we first met?" he asked.
Remember? Rarity mused, How could I forget? The memory of her first meeting with the impeccable noblestallion was burned into her memory, not only as one of her greatest moments of success, but also as a particularly embarrassing period of her life, one that still brought a light blush to her face at the thought of it. After all, though she'd finally attracted the attention and interest of the nobility, she'd done so by shunning her own small town origins before her friends reminded her that where she had come from was something to regard with pride, not shame. The fact that Fancy had supported her in this was one of the cornerstones behind Rarity's continued success in the Equestrian capital.
"Back when we first met, I invited you to attend the Wonderbolts Derby with me because I learned that you were staying at the Royal Palace, which marked you as an important guest of the Princess. I thought it an appropriate courtesy to extend an invitation to you. However, during that brief time we spent together, I came to see what a magnificent mare you were, with so much more depth than many of the other nobles I usually associated with. I couldn't help but take a liking to you. And you certainly did an excellent job of charming my associates as well.
"The problem lies in the fact that the reason I invited you continued to be seen as the reason I associated with you. Amongst the nobles, most don't conceive of associating with an unfamiliar pony unless it is for personal gain. You were a guest of Princess Celestia and it wasn't long before other found out exactly why you were a guest at the palace."
"You mean Twilight?" asked Rarity. Her friend had been the one to ask Princess Celestia to provide Rarity with a place to stay.
"Yes," said Fancy, "And this is the crux of the problem. Many of the nobility are seeking your business not because your fashions are making their mark on the Canterlot scene, but because you are friends with Princess Celestia's personal student, whom she is rumored to love like a daughter."
"Oh dear," whispered Rarity.
"And while that may seem perfectly innocuous for now, there are quite a few in the upper class who have designs on Dame Twilight Sparkle," continued Fancy Pants, "And their efforts to solicit your business are actually designs on their part to allow them to manipulate her through you."
"And so you want me to suspend my business with them?" asked Rarity, "But how could they use me to get to Twilight?"
"It might seem innocent at first," said Fancy, "Perhaps starting by inviting you to a few events and subtly suggesting you bring her along. But before long, they may start trying to force you to do their bidding by threatening your business unless you comply with their demands."
"But..." Rarity worked her mouth, struggling for words. "But to give up something I've dreamt of my entire life..."
"I understand my dear," replied Fancy, reaching out with a forehoof and gently stroking Rarity's own in a consoling gesture, "Fleur and I also desire to see you succeed, but for the right reasons, not because your boom in business has been orchestrated as part of somepony's attempt to manipulate somepony else."
"I suppose I have no choice," said Rarity, holding back a sob.
"It won't be forever," said Fancy Pants, giving Rarity his most charming smile, "You have more genuine friends amongst us Canterlot ponies than you think. Right now, I'm working with them on something that will hopefully insulate you from any future attempts at such manipulation."
"Really?" asked Rarity.
"I promise," replied Fancy Pants.
Setting down his cup, he stood up and took up his monocle again. "I must apologize for leaving as abruptly as I came, but I need to catch the next train back to Canterlot, so I can be back in the city before my absence is noticed."
"Thank you for your warning darling," said Rarity with a smile as she escorted him out the door, "I appreciate all that you're doing for me."
She watched as the stallion set off for the train station, waving lightly as he went along his way. After waving back, Rarity turned to go back inside the boutique, closing the door behind her. For a long moment, she simply sat in the center of her showroom, staring vacantly at the products of her work. With a shudder, she finally let out a despondent sigh.
The sun was well past its zenith and beginning its slow, inevitable descent towards the western horizon as Dawn and Fluttershy emerged from Town Hall, newly designated mother and son. Technically, it would be the better part of a month before the paperwork was cleared by all the proper authorities and their relationship became official, but it was enough for them. The ebony colt stifled a yawn as his turquoise eyes surveyed the scene of ponies going about their afternoon business.
"What's next?" he asked.
"Well, I thought we'd stop by the school and see about you getting signed up for class," explained Fluttershy, "Then we should stop by Sugarcube Corner and talk to Pinkie Pie about your welcome party."
"Do we have to?" asked Dawn, his memory conjuring a vivid image of a thoroughly traumatized Red River.
Fluttershy favored the colt with her best encouraging smile. "Oh, it's best if you let her do her thing. Pinkie's always nice enough to let the guest of honor have some input. She'll throw her party eventually, so at the very least, you can talk to her and keep things from getting out of hoof."
Dawn shrugged and continued walking. "I guess I will simply have to make due."
His mother (It's going to take some effort to get used to thinking of her like that.) simply giggled and led the way.
When they arrived, Dawn's eyes narrowed as they took in the sight of the building, with its red walls and white trim as well as its prominent bell-tower. He had never been inside a school before, having learned everything he needed to survive and then some from his Master. However, both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had emphasized the importance of going for reasons other than the purely academic.
"Let's see," murmured Fluttershy as she stole a glance at the nearby clock tower, "Class should be getting out any minute now..." She let out an undignified squeak as the afternoon bell tolled at that exact moment, signaling the end of another day of lessons. Almost instantly, a stream of foals of varying ages spilled from the schoolhouse doors, most of them giving barely any notice to the pair of ponies standing in the yard. When the dust from the mass exodus cleared, there were three familiar fillies standing in front of them.
"Hey Dawn!" exclaimed Scootaloo, bouncing up and down in excitement, "I never thought I'd see you here. What are you doing here?"
"Apparently, I am to be enrolled," replied Dawn. He was greeted by three of the widest grins he had ever seen.
"That's awesome!" shouted Scootaloo, "We're gonna have so much fun. School can be kinda lame some times, but Miss Cheerilee is a really cool teacher."
"And after school, ya can join us when we go crusadin'!" added Apple Bloom.
"When do you start?" Sweetie Belle wanted to know.
"That's what we came to find out girls," answered Flutttershy, smiling widely at the sight of the trio of fillies so excited about going to school with Dawn. At the very least, he wouldn't be isolated from the other foals.
A small tingle went down Dawn's spine. His body might have been injured, but his senses weren't dulled in the slightest. Given the nature of his eyes, he was not unused to the gazes of other ponies. However, since coming into Ponyville, he had felt nothing other than mild curiosity and confusion. As a result, he was not surprised to feel eyes on him once again. But this time, he sensed an emotion behind the gaze that he had the misfortune to be very familiar with, hostility.
Carefully, he shifted his gaze without turning his head. It was a trick he had a great deal of practice with. Often, when being watched, it was best not to let the watcher know that you were aware of them, lest you trigger some reaction before you had a proper knowledge of the situation. In his peripheral vision, Dawn tracked down the source of the gaze and the two fillies it belonged to.
They were two earth ponies, one a pale pink color with a light purple mane and tail, which sported a broad white stripe, her head decorated with a glittering tiara. The other was a gray foal with a mane of lighter gray, wearing a pair of angled glasses on her nose. Of the two, the pink one seemed to be the more hostile, glaring not just at Dawn, but his three new friends as well. He almost chuckled at how petty her anger seemed. It didn't even approach the kind of glares Dawn was used to getting. The gray one seemed to simply be glaring because the pink one was doing it and didn't want to be left out. Dawn was left with the lingering impression of a lackey and a yes-mare.
Those two will probably make things interesting, he thought, not relishing the kind of "interesting" that those two fillies would probably bring to his life.
His musings were interrupted by the appearance of a rose-colored mare stepping out through the doors of the schoolhouse. She immediately took notice of the two ponies standing in the yard, chatting with the three most...remarkable members of her class.
"You've gotta come over and see our new place after you're done here," said Scootaloo, her cheeks beginning to ache from how hard she was grinning, "Mom got us a new house and we just finished moving in."
Dawn directed a questioning glance to Fluttershy, who nodded encouragingly. "If it's not any trouble, then we would love to come over."
"Awesome!"
Cheerilee coughed softly to get their attention. "Girls, I think those two are here to see me. You should go on and enjoy the rest of your day."
The Cutie Mark Crusaders quickly acknowledged her instructions and left so that Fluttershy and Dawn could speak to the teacher. Cheerilee gave the two her best smile and ushered them inside the building.
Once inside, Fluttershy happily explained what had happened while the teacher lent an attentive ear. Once she was finished, Cheerilee looked over at Dawn, who had been sitting calmly and silently the whole time.
"And this is what you want?" she asked.
Dawn raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you supposed to assert that this is the best thing for me?"
Cheerilee smiled. "As much as I wish it was, school isn't necessarily the best thing for everypony, especially ponies like you who have been through so much at your age. Have you even been inside a classroom before?"
Dawn shook his head.
"It's a completely different environment from anything you've experienced. You might find it difficult to adjust."
"Um, is there a way we could find out?" asked Fluttershy.
"There is," answered Cheerilee, reaching into a drawer behind her desk, "Please take a seat in the back of the room while I do some assessments. I also need to find out where Dawn is with regards to our curriculum." Cheerilee pulled out a variety of books and testing forms. After seating Dawn at one of the front desks, she laid out the materials. "Now then, I want you to read this passage if you can..."
"This is so cool!" exclaimed Scootaloo, rushing magic into her wings and lifting herself off the ground before drifting back down like a wind-blown leaf, "Dawn's gonna be in our school. I can't wait! Maybe we can even do our flying lessons during recess."
"Ya seem pretty excited to have that colt in our class," teased Apple Bloom, a mischievous grin lighting up her face, "Are ya sure ya ain't sweet on this colt."
The jibe quickly brought the orange filly back down to earth as she cast a glare at her friend, a blush coloring her cheeks. "Th-that's not true!"
"But you really seem to like him," added Sweetie Belle, smiling innocently, "You usually don't like talking to colts."
"Uh...well...I mean...he's teaching me how to fly, of course I'd be excited," stammered Scootaloo as her eyes shifted one way and then the other.
Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom shared a look before deciding that Scootaloo had had enough teasing for the afternoon. Together, the three fillies began to hash out their activities before they were interrupted by a voice from above.
"Hey girls!" The three fillies looked up to see a two-toned gray blur swoop down and alight on the ground in front of them.
Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom smiled politely when they saw the familiar colt, but Scootaloo simply scowled. The colt smiled, a little uncertain at the unpleasant expression on Scootaloo's face. "Um..."
"Howdy Rumble," greeted Apple Bloom.
Tunderlane's younger brother scratched the back of his head as he tore his gaze away from Scootaloo, who continued to glower at him. "I was just wondering if you girls had anything planned for this afternoon."
Apple Bloom tilted her head to the side. "Well, not yet..."
"And nothing that concerns you," sniped Scootaloo, snorting and turning her nose up in a display of high-hoofed dismissal that would have made their greatest tormentor, Diamond Tiara, proud.
"Oh, uh..." Rumble lowered his head and stared forlornly at the ground, "Sorry."
Once again, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom exchanged glances, trying to figure out what to do about the situation, when Sweetie Belle's face suddenly lit up. "Oh yeah, that's right. I uh...I have something I need to do. Rumble, you wanna help me?"
Looking slightly consoled, Rumble lifted his head up and looked questioningly at Sweetie Belle. "What do you need?"
Sweetie hesitated slightly before rushing forward and grabbing the colt's hoof and dragging him off. "I'll tell you when we get there."
As they dwindled in the distance, Rumble's final shout echoed in the ears of the two remaining fillies. "Get where?"
For a moment, Scootaloo didn't know what to say. It took her a few seconds to process what happened before glaring in the direction of the departed pair and fluffing the feathers of her wings indignantly. "What the hay was that about? Why's Sweetie running off with Rumble?"
Apple Bloom sighed. "Ah really shouldn't have to answer that Scootaloo. More importantly, what's yer problem with him? He's a nice colt."
Scootaloo snorted and fixed her gaze on the ground. The ultimate truth of the matter was that she was jealous. Rumble was practically her opposite. If Scootaloo could be considered a late bloomer, Rumble was a prodigy. It was common knowledge that pegasus foals showcased bursts of energy that allowed them to take flight mere days after being born. Both Rumble and Scootaloo had been no exception to this rule. But for most foals, once they burned through all that extra energy, they returned to the ground and were unable to truly fly for another few years. That had been even more true than most for Scootaloo.
Rumble, on the other hoof, had apparently never stopped flying even after he had grown out of his infancy. Even though he was the same age as Scootaloo, he could fly much better than any other pegasus in his class and as well as many adult pegasi. With his ability, he had even been allowed to participate in the Tornado Day event to send water to Cloudsdale. A lot of the other foals in their class speculated that Rumble would be able to easily join the Wonderbolts once he was old enough as even Rainbow Dash admitted that she hadn't been able to start flying as early as he had.
And yet, in spite of this, Rumble was polite, modest, and unassuming. He never seemed interested in bragging about his accomplishments. When the subject came up, he was quick to turn the conversation in a different direction. It didn't help that he was shy and didn't really like all the attention that his talent brought him. The colt had no interest in fame or being a celebrity and lived quietly with his older brother, fully expecting to join him on the weather team some day.
All of that irked Scootaloo. Rumble had been blessed with the talents and ability that she had always wanted for herself. Even worse, the way he never seemed to make full use of them only served to aggravate her further as she felt that his lack of interest in showing off his talents was a way of looking down on ponies like her, who always seemed cursed to lag behind geniuses like him. It certainly wasn't helpful that Rumble seemed to have a crush on the feisty orange filly, which she regarded as even more insulting.
In the end, jealousy and resentment colored Scootaloo's view of the colt, prompting her to respond to his presence with hostility and anger. She wanted nothing to do with Rumble, no matter how much interest he expressed in her.
Apple Bloom sighed, not seeing any way to fix the situation. She liked Rumble (not that way, but in general) and didn't like to see him get such cold treatment from one of her friends. Unfortunately, there was little she could do as Scootaloo showed a stubborn streak that could rival Apple Bloom's sister. She wouldn't be changing her mind anytime soon.
"So...what is...all the rush...about?" gasped out Rumble as he and Sweetie Belle finally came to a stop a considerable distance away.
"Sorry," answered the unicorn filly, smiling shyly at him, "I lied about having something I needed your help with. I just didn't want you to have to stand there and deal with Scootaloo's bad attitude."
"Why?" asked Rumble staring at the ground, "Did I do something wrong?"
"No," said Sweetie, "It's just that Scootaloo's really jealous of you. You're the same age as her and you can fly so well..."
"Why is that important?" demanded the colt as he looked up, his eyes beginning to brim with tears, "I mean, I can fly really well for my age, I know that. But I'm not that special. Look at me!" He pointed at his flank, still void of a cutie mark. "I'm a blank flank like you girls. I haven't found my special talent either and whatever it is, it's clear that flying isn't it. Why does it bother Scootaloo that much?"
Sweetie sighed. "I don't know. It just does. You're such a nice colt Rumble. But flying is very important to Scootaloo, especially since she can't do it herself. It's not reasonable of her. But maybe..." Sweetie paused, thinking for a moment.
"Maybe what?" asked Rumble, voice heavy with desperation.
"It's just that...Scootaloo is finally learning to fly. Maybe if she can start flying herself, she won't be so jealous of you."
Rumble blinked in surprise. "You really think so?"
Sweetie gave him her most encouraging grin. "I certainly hope so."
"So there you are." The two foals looked up to see Thunderlane descending towards them. "I've been looking all over for you."
"Hi bro!" exclaimed Rumble, his previous melancholy all but forgotten.
"The boss has us herding clouds again. Wanna help me push some?" Thunderlane absolutely loved his younger brother and enjoyed spending time with him. He was happy to invite Rumble to help him with his weather duties, knowing that the colt liked nothing more than playing with the clouds. Rainbow Dash even spared a few extra bits as a sort of "pay check" for Rumble's assistance. It wasn't much more than a little extra spending money, but appreciated all the same.
"Um..." Rumble glanced uncertainly towards Sweetie Belle, who nodded, her smile not faltering in the slightest.
"Go ahead," she said, "It'll help you feel better."
"Thanks!" Rumble took to the air in pursuit of his older brother, the two of them quickly becoming specks in the sky.
"Don't give up," whispered the unicorn filly as she watched them go.
"Okay, we're done."
Fluttershy blinked and snapped out of her stupor. Having not been in school for quite some time, the mare had quickly begun to tune out the process as Dawn was being tested. Taking a moment to look out the window, she saw that the sun had descended further. The sky was beginning to take on the vivid hues as Celestia's fiery orb set to make way for Luna's moon. A fair period of time had passed since Cheerilee had started testing Dawn.
"So...how did it go?" asked Fluttershy as she hovered up to the front of the room.
Cheerilee smiled. "You have a very intelligent son, Fluttershy. His reading and comprehension skills are well ahead of most foals his age, though his reading speed is lower than average, probably from a lack of practice. He's also proficient in mathematics at his age level, although his mouthwriting could use some practice...or maybe a lot of practice...Let's put it this way, he has a head start if he wants to be a doctor. His knowledge of history is spotty, but that's to be expected considering his background. Academically, I see him having few difficulties with my curriculum. However..." she glanced uneasily at the colt who was listening calmly.
"What?"
A sigh escaped the teacher's lips. "I had some very interesting discussions with Dawn while we were going through the process. He is very intelligent and observant. He also doesn't hesitate to ask questions or pursue the subject further to get a better understanding. All of these are important skills and very appreciated, but...they may not help him deal with a classroom environment at this level."
"Why not?" asked Fluttershy, "You said they were good things."
"They are," said Cheerilee, "Any teacher would love to have a student as inquisitive as Dawn. The problem is that I wonder if he can control that impulse in the classroom. I'm responsible for the education of over two-dozen young colts and fillies who all require my attention. As much as I would like to, I can't just stop class and go off on tangents just because one student would like to make further inquiries. I'm also a little worried that Dawn might not always take the work I assign seriously if his attention is drawn by something else.
"It's clear that his previous caretaker took a much less structured approach in Dawn's education, one that hinged on discussion and conversation in a one-on-one situation where both participants were able to express their thoughts freely. Unfortunately, that doesn't translate well to a classroom full of other foals and a teacher, like myself, who is more limited in what she can say to her students."
"That does not seem to be a problem to me," remarked Dawn, "If that is the case, I can easily restrain myself and behave in an appropriate manner."
"Are you sure?" asked Cheerilee.
"Trust me. I have experience with...restraint." Fluttershy flinched at the cold tone of the colt's voice.
"That's not what I meant," said Cheerilee, prompting a look of confusion from the colt, "I don't think you should have to be in an environment where you feel that you have restrain your desire to learn. You are already well above the level of most ponies your age when it comes to your education. Your time might be better spent with a pony who can meet your needs in that area. I'm not sure you would get much out of my classes."
Dawn thought this over. "Even so, I would still like to attend. Both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy said it was important, if only for helping me experience life around ponies my age."
"I see," mused Cheerilee, thinking for a moment. She had to admit that it was a good point. Even if Dawn's education was well ahead of his age group, there was still the matter of his social development. Going through school was an important part of everypony's life. It was how they learned to engage and interact with other ponies their age.
"You have a good point," admitted Cheerilee, "If you really feel that way, I would be glad to welcome you to our class."
"Wonderful!" exclaimed Fluttershy, "When can he start coming?"
"It's going to take a few days for me to get the paperwork for his admission done," mused Cheerilee, "And it might be best to wait until his injuries are healed. I would say that the Monday after he gets his cast off should be the perfect time."
"Then it's settled," said Dawn, "I suppose this will be a new chapter in my life."
"Your farm is quite lovely," observed Red River as Applejack led him through Sweet Apple Acres. The setting sun cast the trees of the orchards in stark relief, the colors of the sky blending with the subtle greens and browns of the trees in a magnificent tableau.
"Oh...ah...thank ya," said Applejack. With the stallion around, she found herself having to work harder to get a proper sentence out, often making more than one false start before speaking. She felt a certain uncomfortableness in his presence, but not an unpleasant kind.
It had seemed the natural thing to invite Red River to stay with the family in their house, rather than force him to go out and look for an abode of his own. The azure stallion would be able to stay in the guest room. He would then take the apples down to the market for sale each day. Applejack realized that she would have to explain this to her grandmother and brother. She hoped the two of them were not upset by her sudden decision.
The farmhouse came into sight and the two of them strolled up to the door. Big Macintosh came ambling outside to greet them. "Howdy sis," he said, "Ya set things straight with that colt?"
Applejack gave him a smile. "Ah sure did."
"Good." Macintosh then turned his attention to their guest. "Who's this?"
"This here is Red River. Ah can explain it a little more later, but he's gonna be workin' fer us fer a while. Ah figure he can run the apple cart in town while we work the farm. It'll help us run things better."
Big Macintosh said nothing for a few moments, carefully scrutinizing Red River with his gaze. The mercenary stallion was impressed. Big Macintosh was a simple farmer and yet his gaze was as piercing in its analysis as any master martial artist. Red River felt as though his potential, both positive and negative, was being carefully quantified and evaluated.
It would seem that he is a master in his own right.
Finally, Big Macintosh finished his observation and nodded to his sister. "Ya approve?" she asked.
"Eeyup. Now come on inside. Granny's got dinner on the table. Ah don't think she'll have a problem settin' the table fer one more."
Applejack and Red River followed Macintosh inside, where he was introduced to the rest of the family. Apple Bloom, as excitable and enthusiastic as ever, immediately peppered the mercenary with questions about his experiences, his origins, and his cutie mark. Red River answered as best he could, though he refrained from giving a full account of his career, instead only giving a few highlights and generalities If anypony noticed that he was being evasive, they were too polite to let him know. He had rarely felt so welcome anywhere in his life.
Applejack behaved strangely throughout the meal, her eyes frequently shifting nervously around the room, responding awkwardly to any attempts to get her to participate in the conversation. Apple Bloom, too busy being enthralled by the new arrival, naturally failed to notice any of this. However, both Big Macintosh and Granny Smith were quick to pick up on the subtle hints that something was off with Applejack.
Once the meal was over, Macintosh offered to show Red River to his room. Apple Bloom, who faced the prospect of school the next day, followed. When they were alone, Granny Smith turned a knowing eye on her eldest granddaughter. "So, Ah see ya brought somethin' more than a new friend home."
Applejack blinked and looked over at the elderly mare, confusion evident on her features. "Granny, what the hay are ya talkin' about?"
"Ya can't fool me hon." Granny winked. "Ya've taken a fancy to that there stallion, haven't ya."
For a moment, it seemed that a pair of red delicious had taken up residence on Applejack's cheeks as she sputtered and stammered, searching for a retort or protest, but coming up short each time. Granny Smith merely chuckled at Applejack's flustered state and began to slowly totter off to her own bed.
"Ah ain't complainin'. That stallion's a looker fer sure. Ya sure know how to choose 'em."
Silence descended on the house, leaving Applejack alone in the living room, quietly wishing she could dig a hole in the floor, climb down into it, and never come back out.
Dawn yawned widely from his position on Fluttershy's back. It had been a long day for the colt. He and Fluttershy had been invited to join Scootaloo and her mother for dinner, where they were once again congratulated on the adoption. Melon Cream seemed especially pleased with the development and had been more than happy to invite the pair back another night. Scootaloo's energy and enthusiasm, on the other hoof, had been exhausting for Dawn to deal with in his current state. His introverted nature seemed to only be heightened by his injuries and had been further compounded by having to deal with several more ponies than usual.
Dawn and Fluttershy hadn't managed to make their planned stop at the Sugarcube Corner to see Pinkie, so Fluttershy suggested that they try again another day. The shop had already closed for the night and Dawn was much too tired to try and deal with the energetic pink pony in any case. As it was, he was nearly asleep on Fluttershy's back as she slowly opened the door to her cottage.
"Dawn."
"Yes?"
"Welcome home."
"...It's good to be home mom."
Dawn had to visit the hospital two more times for additional, albeit less tiring treatments from the doctor. Within three days of his injury, his ribs were sufficiently healed that Dawn no longer had to wear the bandages around the midsection. Four days later, his wing was declared healed and the cast removed. The injuries and the conflict that had caused them seemed a fleeting dream to the young colt, who was faced with a future that promised to bombard him with novel experiences.
Most daunting, in the immediate sense, was his upcoming welcome party by Pinkie Pie, who, at Dawn's insistence, promised to keep the affair relatively tame (by her standards) to help him be more at ease. As it turned out, she simply compensated by also making the party a welcome party for Red River and Storm Front as well, giving her the excuse to make it a larger affair, much to the exasperation of all three guests of honor.
Then, of course, there was something even more important looming in the future, one that filled even the serene and calm Dawn with an overwhelming sense of anxiety; his first day of school. The prospect of spending an extended amount of time with colts and fillies his age made Dawn (who could flatten a timber wolf without even trying) more than a little nervous.
"Hi! Do you like your party? Well? Do you!" Pinkie Pie bounced in place, grinning from ear to ear as she gleefully interrogated the young pegasus colt standing numbly before her. Considering that her first word to him that evening had been "SURPRISE!!!" with enough force to make Dawn's ears ring, he counted himself lucky that the pink mare had at least shown enough decorum to lower her volume to something that might have been remotely considered normal. The Canterlot Royal Speaking voice had fallen out of favor for a reason. Princess Celestia decided that she was a little tired of having to replace her officials every two years or so because they had gotten hard of hearing after spending an extended time in her presence. If Pinkie's voice could exert so much force with a single word, one shuddered to envision what the effects would be after enduring such an assault every day of your life over the course of years.
The colt contented himself by tuning the exuberant pink mare's words out and comparing her to his new mother (seeing as he wouldn't be able to get a word in edgewise for a while yet). They were a study in contrasts to be sure, almost total opposites in some cases. Where Fluttershy was shy and retiring, Pinkie was outgoing and practically forced herself into the presence of others. Fluttershy was quiet, to the point of nearly whispering most of the time, even with the ponies close to her. Pinkie was outrageously loud, even when she wasn't making a concerted effort to deafen somepony. Dawn found it hard as to how two ponies so thoroughly at odds could become such good friends.
It took him a few seconds to realize that Pinkie had finally stopped ranting and was staring at him expectantly. "It's...nice," he said, glancing around.
Pinkie Pie tilted her head in confusion, not seeming to like his answer. "Nice?...Oh...that's...nice." Her head sagged and her mane and tail seemed to deflate like a pair of fluffy balloons. While Dawn was instinctually wary of the pink mare, he didn't like seeing her upset. It seemed...unnatural somehow.
"I'm sorry if my response was a bit underwhelming," Dawn offered gently, "It's just that I've never been to a party before, so I don't really know what to think about this one."
Pinkie's forlorn attitude vanished like a bit in the hooves of an accomplished stage magician. Her eyes widened to an almost impossible degree as her mouth opened to draw in a gasp that forced Dawn to brace himself against being sucked towards her. "Oh that's terrible! You've never had a party before. That's so sad!" Then she froze as a new thought occurred to her. "Oh wait! That means that this is your first party! Oh wow! Now I have to go and make sure that it's even more super-special-awesome than ever!"
Dawn held out a hoof, forestalling any movement on Pinkie's part. "I would say that the fact that it's my first party makes it super...uh...what you said enough."
"You think so?" asked Pinkie uncertainly, glancing around as though sizing up whether or not the party needed additional rounds from her cannon.
"I'm certain."
"Come now Pinkie dear. How is this darling colt supposed to enjoy this party you worked so hard on if you drag him off into a corner and interrogate him the moment he arrives?" Pinkie and Dawn turned to see Rarity making her way through the ponies milling around the main room of the Sugarcube Corner.
During the day, this was where ponies sat at tables and enjoyed the treats they purchased at the counter, which was now covered with a bright pink cloth to allow it to serve as a buffet table, with plates piled high with varying delicacies and foodstuffs. A bowl of punch, surrounded by small cups, sat on one end. The tables that normally filled the shop had been moved into the back room to open up space, which Pinkie had filled with implements for her favorite party games. A music player with a moderately-sized set of speakers sat in one corner, cycling through various songs at random and playing them out just loud enough to provide a comfortable ambience, but not so loud that anypony had to shout over them just to be heard.
"Come dear, you are in dire need of a round of Pin the Tail on the Pony. Let's leave Dawn and give him the opportunity to mingle." Throwing a perfectly manicured hoof over Pinkie's shoulders, Rarity gently led her away from the young colt, turning to throw him an understanding smile and a wink over her shoulder. Dawn had to admit that Rarity seemed to have a keen sense of social situations that completely eluded him.
Now that his senses were no longer occupied by Pinkie's presence, Dawn took the opportunity to get a better look at his surroundings and take in the party. Whatever else he might have said about the manic and somewhat aggravating mare, she seemed to have elevated party planning to a science. The room was decorated tastefully with banners and streamers in soft blue and green colors, Dawn's favorites, which instilled him with a sense of calm and ease. Thanks to the party games she had set out and the food she had provided, guests had plenty to keep themselves occupied so that Dawn would not find himself uncomfortably becoming the center of attention unless he wished it. Even the number of guests themselves seemed to be a concession to Dawn's personality. There were plenty of ponies present to be sure, but their numbers were sparse enough that, even when moving through the thick of them, Dawn was fairly certain he wouldn't feel too overwhelmed. The whole affair was quite calm, but relaxed, rather than subdued. Many of the ponies Dawn saw were simply content to hang out and chat with each other, rather than feeling obligated to be overly active.
At his mother's urging, Dawn had been involved with the planning from the very beginning. To his surprise, Dawn found that "getting involved" consisted of answering a few questions before Pinkie sped off to begin her work. If the final product was any indicator, Dawn was impressed at how well Pinkie had designed the affair to suit his sensibilities.
About the only thing he had had an actual say in had been the location. Obviously, Fluttershy's cottage was out. The Apples would have been willing to lend their barn to the festivities, having done the same in the past. But that had also been ruled out on account of all the extra space, which might have given Pinkie ideas about expanding the size of the event. Both the library and the Carousel Boutique had been ruled out as their respective inhabitants didn't feel like cleaning up after a Pinkie Pie Party. Rainbow Dash's house was also a no-go, being accessible only to pegasi (and Twilight simply did not have enough cloudwalking spells to go around). In the end, Pinkie's home/place of employment had ended up as the natural choice, both for its suitability to their purposes and the fact that it was one of the only places left on the list. Its moderate size kept Pinkie from inviting too many ponies. The Cakes, who actually owned and ran the bakery, had graciously offered to take the twins to visit relatives in a neighboring town on that night to allow Pinkie to use the venue as she pleased...so long as she cleaned up afterwards.
Dawn milled through the crowd, moderate though it was, taking everything in. The ponies who had been invited were all close friends of his mother and her immediate friends. Over on one end of the room, he spotted a mint-green unicorn laughing amiably with a cream-colored earth pony. In another section of the room, a pair of grayish blue pegasi, one with a flowing green mane and the other a blue and white spiked mane, chatted amicably with a white pegasus mare sporting a pink and green striped mane.
Slipping over to the counter turned buffet table, Dawn sampled a few of the treats on display and was surprised to find that, even here, Pinkie Pie had accommodated him. While pastries of various shapes and sizes, included Pinkie's favorite cupcakes, were represented, none of them disagreed with the young colt. While Dawn had been living the life of a civilized pony for the better part of a month now, his digestive tract was still getting the hang of digesting foods that used processed ingredients. While a run-of-the-mill cupcake might no longer send him running for the nearest toilet, the typically sugary confections still made the colt woozy at best. Dawn doubted that he would ever develop much of a taste for sweet things, definitely finding that his palate preferred savory dishes. He particularly enjoyed pickles, something his doctor had recommended (along with yogurt) to actually help his body digest foods better. Fortunately, none of the foods Pinkie provided were overly sweetened. Dawn was particularly enjoying a muffin studded heavily with a mix of berries when he turned and looked into a pair of the most unusual eyes he had ever seen.
The eyes were amber in color, but that was hardly remarkable considering that his own eyes were a vivid turquoise. Even that aside, pony eyes tended to run the gamut of the visible spectrum. No, what was truly strange was the fact that the two eyes seemed to move independently of one another, frequently pointing in different directions. It was a little disorienting to be honest.
The eyes belonged to a gray pegasus mare with a blonde mane and tail. Though it was hard to make out from his position directly in front of her, Dawn thought he could see a cutie mark composed of a cluster of small bubbles decorating her flank.
"Hi," said the gray mare with a tone of cheery friendliness that could have rivaled Pinkie Pie, "Are you the pony this party's supposed to be about?"
Dawn nodded slowly. In spite of the fact that her manner made him think first of Pinkie Pie, he found her presence much less overbearing and easier to deal with. She didn't make him feel like he was being overwhelmed by her very presence.
"It's nice to meet you. I'm Ditzy Doo."
Dawn bobbed his head in polite acknowledgement. "Dawn Lightwing. I've heard about you from somewhere..." he paused to think while an uncomfortable expression ran across Ditzy's face, "Oh that's right. Scootaloo and her mother stayed with you when they were looking for a new house."
The gray mare heaved a sigh of relief and chuckled. "Yeah, that's right." She stepped aside to reveal a small unicorn filly. The filly was a grayish purple with a blonde mane that matched Ditzy's. She was a fair bit younger than Dawn and stared up at him with wide, amber eyes. "By the way, this is my precious muffin."
Dawn blinked as the little filly introduced herself. "I'm Dinky!"
He gave Ditzy a questioning look. "Your daughter, you mean?"
Ditzy's smile widened and she nodded eagerly. "Yep, she's my muffin."
"Your eyes are really neat!" exclaimed the filly, looking up at Dawn, who flinched slightly, "How'd you do that? Can you teach me how to do that?"
Dawn cleared his throat nervously. "I didn't do anything for them to be like this. Unfortunately, I was born this way."
Dinky tilted her head as though she didn't quite understand. "Why do you say that like it's bad. I really wish I was born with eyes like that."
Dawn didn't quite understand how to respond to that. He turned to look up to Dinky's mother, who laughed a little at his discomfort. "Thanks to me, she's used to being around ponies with weird eyes." As though to prove her point, Ditzy's eyes once again drifted in separate directions.
"I can see that," Dawn admitted, "I'm guessing that condition gives you a few problems."
Ditzy sighed and nodded slowly.
"Having your eyes wander around like that must wreak havoc with your depth perception," observed the colt. Seeing the confused look the mare gave him, he decided to simplify. "You have a hard time telling how far away things are."
Ditzy nodded again, smiling now. There weren't many ponies who understood her disability. Most were happy with their own, rather unflattering, assumptions about her behavior.
"And I'm also guessing that they also make it difficult to see directly in front of you when they stray like that, which means you have trouble seeing where you're going."
"Wow, you're pretty sharp," said Ditzy with a cheerful grin, "Most ponies just assume I'm stupid."
"I can sympathize," replied Dawn, realizing that he had found a kindred spirit of sorts.
The ice broken between them, Dawn and Ditzy began to talk while Dinky chimed in every once in a while. Dawn shared stories of his time in the Everfree Forest, while Ditzy related some of her own misadventures, one of which involved her accidentally wrecking Town Hall because she had misjudged the distance between it and some thunderheads she was trying to disperse.
The party was only in its early stages. While Dawn and Ditzy were getting acquainted, the Apple family (minus Granny Smith, who was happy to be in bed at this hour), along with their new tenant and the night's second guest of honor, arrived. In spite of his previous experience, Red River didn't seem overly troubled by the prospect of spending an evening at Pinkie's party. The outgoing earth pony had already spent the past few days working the Apple Family's apple stall. With his friendly nature, he easily attracted customers and boosted the family's profits more than enough to make up for the salary they paid him for his work. In addition, he was already becoming well-acquainted with many of the other ponies in town.
"Not a bad job, if I do say so myself," mused Red River as his eyes swept over the room, taking in the decorations and the other guests, "I don't think any of the social functions in Canterlot are even half as good as this." A slight smirk graced his face. "And their mares aren't even a third as beautiful as these lady-ugh!" The azure stallion winced as Applejack's elbow connected firmly with his ribs. Red River looked over to see Applejack glowering at him.
"Ah didn't bring ya down here so ya could ogle mares," she growled irritably.
While Red River made an effort to placate his employer, Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom were already moving off towards the buffet line. With his stature allowing him to see over the crowd, Macintosh had already spotted Dawn and Ditzy and was now moving to meet them, his youngest sister in tow.
"Howdy!" chirped Apple Bloom as the two siblings reached their destination, "How do ya like Pinkie's party?"
"It's quite pleasant," admitted Dawn, smiling at the two Apple ponies, "I was afraid she might make it much more raucous. But this is a nice way to meet other ponies."
"Ah think ya have it a little easy though," remarked Big Macintosh, moving to stand next to Ditzy, "There ain't many ponies as sweet as Ditzy here."
The gray mare blushed fiercely at the compliment and leaned gently against the massive red stallion, who smiled and leaned ever so slightly back. The affectionate exchange did not go unnoticed by Dawn and Apple Bloom, although Dinky appeared to already be used to it.
"P-perhaps I should go meet some other ponies," said Dawn quickly.
"Ah'll come with ya," added Apple Bloom as she quickly fell into step with him, leaving Ditzy, Dinky, and Macintosh behind.
"Are your brother and her...?"
"Yep," replied Apple Bloom, directing an amused glance over her shoulder, "But they're so shy about it that they're always tryin' to be d...dis...what's that word?"
"Discreet," said Dawn.
"Eeyup. Anyway, a few months ago, Ditzy hurt her hoof somethin' nasty and Mac just about went out o' his mind worryin' over her. Just about everypony knows about 'em no, So Ah wonder when they'll go ahead and make it official."
"Is there something stopping them?" Asked Dawn. Apple Bloom shrugged.
"Big Macintosh is the most popular stallion in town," squeaked a new voice. Both Dawn and Apple Bloom looked over to see Sweetie Belle coming up to them. "He's really popular with all the mares. I heard my sister say that he's afraid that some of them might get jealous of Ditzy and do something bad to her if they announced it."
"But enough gossip," exclaimed the white filly, "This is a party, let's go have some fun while we're waiting for Scootaloo to get here!" With that, she grabbed the hooves of her two friends and towed them off to try some party games with her.
Meanwhile, a polychromatic streak came rushing in through the door. Rainbow Dash skidded to a halt just short of ramming into a very startled Pokey Pierce before grinning and posing dramatically. "Okay guys! Now that the coolest pony in town is here, this party can officially get started!"
"Geez Rainbow," sniped Twilight Sparkle as she stepped into the room, Spike riding on her back, "You know this party is for Dawn, so could you tone down the self-promotion?"
"Sorry Twi," teased Rainbow, giving her friend a cheeky grin, "Coolness stops for no mare."
"Is that so?" Rainbow froze at the sound of the new voice as its owner made his way in next to Twilight. Storm Front quietly took in the sights for a moment.
And embarrassed blush spread across Rainbow's cheeks. Her attitude dropped immediately and a sheepish grin plastered itself to her muzzle. "Sorry, I get carried away sometimes."
"Only sometimes?" muttered Spike, who received an irritated rap to the top of his head for his troubles.
"Anyways, this party is for Storm Front too," declared Rainbow, "So let's head on in."
Storm Front nodded impassively before gracefully making his way through the moderate crowd. Oftentimes, ponies seemed to only notice him peripherally, stepping aside to give him room to pass, but otherwise not bothering him in the slightest as the stallion made his way to the food.
Rainbow frowned as she watched him depart. Like the rest of the group privy to the situation, she knew Storm Front's real reasons for being in Ponyville and had been more than willing to give him a spot on the weather team. She was a pony short after what had happened to Flash Spark anyway. Storm Front quickly proved himself an able worker, efficiently doing what was assigned to him and more. In this period of drought, where finding stray clouds to gather was especially important, a pony like Storm Front, who made an extra effort to do more than his fair share, was an excellent addition to the weather team.
In addition, even though he hardly interacted with any other ponies on the team, they were slowly beginning to follow his example. In spite of the rather troubling nature of the current situation, Rainbow couldn't be happier with the overall improvement in her own team.
But something about the storm cloud-colored stallion bemused her. Storm Front was quiet and unassuming. In fact, it was disturbingly easy to forget he was in the room if you weren't thinking about him at the time. He was the kind of pony who could stand right in front of you without being noticed unless he deliberately did something to attract your attention. Rainbow honestly didn't know what to think about this strange new pegasus. He wasn't particularly friendly, nor was he hostile in any way. He simply kept to himself and nopony seemed overly troubled to leave it at that.
The only pony she had seen Storm Front interact with regularly, in the few days since she had hired him, was Twilight. Storm Front was a frequent visitor to the library and spent much of his free time amongst the books and scrolls of Twilight's collection. Rainbow never inquired as to what Storm Front read, guessing that his choice of literature was just as dry and boring as Twilight's.
"It's nice to finally see Dawn getting acquainted with other ponies." Rainbow Dash turned at the voice to see Melon Cream trotting through the door.
The sky-blue mare only barely noticed an orange and fuchsia blur go barreling past her hooves with a brief "Hi Rainbow Dash!" before Scootaloo was off to find her friends.
Melon watched her daughter go and shook her head with a brief chuckle. "To think I would see the day she would be more excited about something other than seeing you."
Rainbow chuckled. "Well, Dawn is the one teaching her to fly after all. I'll bet she's pretty eager to move on to more advanced stuff after getting stuck with the basics for a full week."
Across the room, a gray pegasus colt looked away from his brother and their conversation with a couple of other ponies from the weather team to see Scootaloo barrel almost directly into Dawn Lightwing. Rumble scowled at the gleeful manner with which Scootaloo greeted the ebony colt. Why doesn't she treat me like that?
Rumble felt an angry jealousy build in his chest. He hated the fact that Scootaloo snubbed him, but was perfectly happy to be nice to this other colt, who just happened to wander into town. He would have been happy to help her learn to fly if she had asked him. With a low snort, Rumble looked away and simply glared at a nearby wall.
The party had gone rather well, as far as Dawn was concerned. While he hadn't spoken to everypony, he had essentially "met" all the guests as far as he was concerned. More importantly, they had seen his eyes and had not been repulsed in any way. And he had had plenty of fun playing the party games with the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who now included him in their number; a fact that, for some unknown reason, filled the colt with a strange sense of foreboding.
So it was with a great deal of satisfaction that Dawn slipped into his new bed, which had been procured by Fluttershy shortly after his adoption, in his new room, which had likewise been prepared, and drifted off to sleep. Another two peaceful days would pass before the next major event in Dawn's life, his first day of school.
"Do you have everything you need?" asked Fluttershy as they stood outside the schoolyard gate.
"Yes," replied Dawn, making a quick check of his brand new saddlebags just to be on the safe side, "I have all my supplies, the books you picked up, and my lunch."
"Oh good," replied Fluttershy with a smile. She wanted to do everything she could to make Dawn's first day of school perfect. Of course, there was only so much she could do. "Do you want me to meet you after school ends?"
Dawn shook his head. "Scootaloo will be wanting to continue her flying lessons, and then there's whatever else these 'Crusaders' do, so I might not be heading home for some time.
"Alright, but remember to get back in time for dinner," instructed Fluttershy, truly feeling like she was a mother now, "And you'll want some time to work on your homework too."
Dawn nodded. Fluttershy glanced around, seeing that she wasn't the only parent dropping her foal off. "Dawn. This may be a little difficult, but some of your classmates may not be as nice about your eyes as other ponies."
The colt tilted his head, silently inviting an explanation from her. "Foals can be mean sometimes. They aren't really bad and there's nothing wrong with you. It's just that they don't know any better. So please, don't let anything that some ponies might say about you in school get to you, okay."
Dawn nodded again, not feeling the need for a response, even though he could have easily pointed out that, in his experience, most adults' treatment of him in the past had been just as baseless (minus the whole "not knowing any better" part). Fluttershy smiled encouragingly at him and leaned down to nuzzle him gently. To her surprise, Dawn nuzzled her back. She had been expecting him to shy away from the gesture of affection, like many colts did when their mothers acted like that. "Have a good day," she whispered before planting a kiss on his cheek.
Dawn gave her a final nod of acknowledgment before stepping through the gate and making his way into the school. Fluttershy watched him go, a single tear trickling down her face. "I really hope everything works out for him."
Fluttershy stepped away from the gate and began heading towards the market to purchase the supplies she needed to care for her animals. Unbeknownst to her, a rust-colored earth pony watched her leave before turning his eyes back to the schoolhouse and then fixing them back on Fluttershy in an angry glare. Hanging back, so as not to be noticed, he began to follow her.
"Class, this is Dawn Lightwing. He was just recently adopted by Fluttershy and will be joining us from now on. I expect everypony here to do their best to make him feel welcome." Dawn bobbed his head politely as Cheerilee finished his introduction, taking a moment to sweep his eyes over the classroom and take in the various responses to him.
Cheerilee had felt a little uncomfortable at the prospect of relating Dawn's family circumstances. Many ponies were reluctant to admit that they were orphans or that they had been adopted at some point. But, at the same time, Fluttershy was fairly well known around Ponyville, so Cheerilee knew that some kind of explanation would be required as to how she suddenly had a son. Dawn had given her the go-ahead in the first place and didn't seem the slightest bit troubled by the topic coming up.
"Dawn, why don't you take the seat next to Scootaloo," suggested the teacher. Dawn angled his head ever so slightly to give her a raised eyebrow, to which she responded with a sheepish grin. Dawn walked straight to his desk and took his seat next to an eager-looking Scootaloo.
For the rest of the morning, Dawn observed and listened as Cheerilee conducted class. He watched how Cheerilee managed the other foals, calling on them to answer questions, moderated discussions, and assigned activities to manage time and keep their interest peaked. Naturally, with so many different individuals in one room, it was obvious that no single method of teaching would work for everypony. But by using a variety of techniques, Cheerilee did her best to keep the entire class involved. Dawn didn't really participate. He answered when he was called on, which was rare, and did the assigned activities. But for the most part, he simply observed the classroom environment and tried to determine how to best fit in it without disrupting it.
The behavior of the other students didn't elude Dawn either. His sharp ears picked up the whispers of various pairs of students, talking when they were certain Cheerilee couldn't hear them. He also felt a number of eyes boring into him from every angle. He was new. He was strange. So even as Dawn watched, he was watched in turn. Fortunately, he could pick up very little hostility from any of the surrounding foals. There was a great deal of curiosity. That was easy to understand. He was a novelty after all. The two fillies he had seen when Fluttershy had brought him over were still watching him with looks of carefully concealed disdain. However, he sensed another intense gaze coming from a different part of a classroom. A gray colt was eyeing him with a look that resembled anger. However, the exact emotion behind it was something Dawn could not place. He simply opted to ignore it and continue on as though he had noticed nothing.
"Apples! Get your Sweet Apple Acres apples right here!" Red River's voice rang across the market, easily discernible from the shouts of the other stallholders. It was the kind of projected voice that could be heard in any crowd. Fluttershy usually saved the Apple family stall for last when she made her market visits. She bought a substantial quantity, both for herself and her animals. It was easier to buy the apples last so that she didn't have to haul them along for the rest of her shopping. As it was, she was considering stopping by the school to see how Dawn was getting along, but thought better of it. Young colts tended to despise their parents fawning over them, especially when there were witnesses around.
"Hello Miss Fluttershy. How has your morning been?"
The butter-colored pegasus couldn't help but smile at Red River's question. While normally quite loud and boisterous, his manner and voice always tended to soften when she approached so that she didn't feel uncomfortable around him. It was a nice gesture, which Fluttershy greatly appreciated.
"It's been lovely," answered Fluttershy as she perused the apples for sale, "I just dropped off Dawn for his first day of school earlier."
A low chuckle escaped the stallion. "That should be an experience for him. Hopefully he doesn't cause too much trouble."
Fluttershy blinked in surprise. "Trouble? But Dawn's always such a well-behaved colt."
Red River shrugged. "When you've been maligned and mistreated your whole life, you tend to behave that way to the first ponies who show you kindness in a long time. But that kid has some issues." He frowned sternly. "He's too detached. As he is now, he has absolutely no internal concern about causing pain to anyone who draws his ire."
"Wait. Wasn't he always trying not to do that?"
"That was before. The more comfortable Dawn Lightwing becomes in this town, the more hostile he'll be to attempts to disrupt this comfortable life he has now. And because of his detachment, he lacks the empathy to truly understand the pain he's capable of doling out. To him, it's something to be calculated and measured against whatever scale he thinks is important. That makes him dangerous. He could really hurt somepony like that."
A shudder ran through Fluttershy's body. Red River's words stirred unpleasant memories. Flash Spark and Applejack appeared before her mind's eye. But still, she knew that it wasn't entirely Dawn's fault. Dealing with hatred on a daily basis as he had had caused Dawn to shut down emotionally. He was slowly beginning to regain his heart after all this time.
"It'll be alright," she said, "I just have to show him the right way to do things."
Red River grinned at her response. "Now that's how a mother thinks. You'll do just fine. So what'll it be?"
Fluttershy looked around the stand, having a hard time deciding what she wanted. The Apples cultivated several varieties of their cash crop. And now that Red River was being employed to sell the produce, Applejack had wisely used the extra time to begin baking a variety of apple-related goods that could also be sold at the market. Red River had arranged it all with an impressive eye for detail. The apples and baked goods were arranged in a manner that used their colors and shapes to draw the eye quickly from one to the other, so that anypony who approached the stand instinctually surveyed the entire array of products offered. Fluttershy was easily tempted to buy more than she had originally intended.
As Fluttershy made her final choices and turned to Red River to settle the bill, she noticed an unusual look on his face. "Miss Fluttershy," he said softly, beginning to tally her total, "Don't look now, but you have a follower."
A startled "eep!" escaped the mare, but before she could spin and look, Red River's hoof touched hers gently.
"I said don't look," he told her sternly, fixing her eyes with his gaze, "Keep acting as though we're still bartering for the price. We don't want him to know we're onto him."
"Onto who?" Fluttershy asked as she followed Red River's instructions and began slowly fishing out bits.
"Earth pony stallion, dark red guy...looks like a pickaxe cutie mark...anypony you know from around here."
Fluttershy slowly shook her head and placed another bit on the counter. Red River hummed for a second. "He's been glowering at you all morning. I haven't seen him around here before, so maybe he's from out of town. Of course, I haven't been here for very long, so I can't say I know everypony, but I've seen most of the regulars to the market. I wonder how long he's been on your tail."
"Do you think it might be because of Dawn?" asked Fluttershy nervously.
"It could be. Let's see what he's up to." Red River's eyes flicked around. "You know that alley between the flower shop and the stationary store?"
The yellow pegasus nodded. "Yes. It's a dead-end."
"Do you trust me?" Red River received another nod. "Head down that alley. If that guy follows you, I'll close in behind him and we'll find out what he's up to. If he doesn't, we'll use the opportunity to lose him so you can get back home without being followed."
"But what if he finds me again?"
"If you come back to town, you'll either be hanging around here, where I can help you, or with your friends, right?" Fluttershy nodded. "You'll be fine. Just in case, I'll tell Storm to keep an eye on him if we don't settle this today."
"O-okay..."
Fluttershy placed the final bit for her payment down on the counter, which Red River scooped up into his bag, his pleasant smile back in place. "Thank you for your business Miss Fluttershy."
Fluttershy picked up the basket of apples in her mouth and trotted down the street. When she reached the designated alley, she turned down it and trotted towards the back. She had to stop herself from breaking into a run in her nervousness. It would have made little difference as the alley was a dead-end anyway. Of course, for a pegasus, that was never much of an impediment. But Fluttershy's fear always seemed to stifle her flight. So if she was too scared to take off, she wasn't getting away.
Now she heard hoofsteps behind her. Still, she forced herself to continue along as though she was unaware that she was being followed. When she reached the end of the alley, she stopped and spun nervously about, nearly tossing her apples from the basket in the process. Standing in front of her was the stallion Red River warned her about.
He was muscular, nowhere near the level of Big Macintosh, but well-built all the same. The muscles, combined with his aggressive posture and angry countenance combined to give him a brutish look.
Slowly, Fluttershy set the basket down. "Um...is there something I can help you with?"
For a long moment, the stallion was silent. When he finally spoke, it was two words. "I saw."
"Oh. Uh...what was it that you saw?" asked Fluttershy, shrinking back from his glare.
"I saw you and the demon." That last word he spat out, like he was trying to clear something unpleasant from his mouth. "You dare sully yourself by consorting with that monstrosity?"
"D-do you...do you mean...D-Dawn?" said Fluttershy, even though she already knew the answer.
"You know," said the stallion, not phrasing it as a question, "You are not being deceived. You know what he is and you still shelter that beast. You are a traitor to your own kind and shall be punished for your sins." The stallion began to move towards her, setting each hoof down with a resounding thud that betrayed his belligerent intent.
Fluttershy squeaked and backed away, but stopped as her hindquarters smacked into the wall at the back of the alley. Unfortunately, her wings were again frozen in fear, unable to lift her off the ground. Fluttershy had no means of escape left.
"I never thought you would be so uncouth as to address a lady in such a manner." The stallion froze, turning slowly around to see Red River standing in the alley mouth. "I suggest you leave before I take steps to correct your behavior."
The rust-red stallion let out a growl. "You would stop me from exacting righteous punishment?"
"No. I would stop you from carrying out assault," replied Red River blithely.
"Then why don't I teach you a lesson as well," snarled the stallion, striding towards Red River.
Red River waited patiently until the stallion had almost closed with him before he moved. Abruptly, his right hoof whipped up to the long-handled knife he wore over his back. Pulling it free, he swung forward, leveling the blade at the approaching thug. As he swung, the handle extended, revealing several collapsed sections that snapped into place, lengthening the weapon. By the time the tip was level with the stallion, Fluttershy could see that the weapon was not a knife, but a spear, one that was a good bit longer than Red River from snout to tail.
The angry stallion stopped short, just before he would have impaled himself on the blade, drawing back from the weapon nervously. Red River gave him a polite smile. "Now then. Tell me your name."
"Bedrock."
"Are you from Ponyville?"
"No."
"Where are you from?"
"Colt Hollow."
"What is your reason for being in Ponyville?"
"I came for business purposes from the mines."
"Are you a member of the Order of Celestial Light?"
The stallion, as though suddenly remembering his dignity, drew himself up, although he still shied away from the tip of Red River's spear. "I am."
"I see. I am placing you under arrest for attempted assault. You will come quietly down to the Town Guard station where you will be held in custody until the magistrate can decide your fate."
An animalistic snarl escaped from the stallion. Swinging his hoof, he batted Red River's spear aside and rushed at him, closing in before Red River would have had the chance to bring the weapon around for another strike. Bedrock was inside the reach of the blade anyway, so he was certain that he had the upper hoof.
Red River grinned and simply let the force of Bedrock's strike swing the spear around, spinning the shaft around his leg to reverse his grip and thrust forward with the butt of the weapon in a single fluid movement, sliding his fetlock along the shaft to extend his reach. The blunt end of the weapon thudded heavily into Bedrock's chest, its force intensified by his own forward momentum. The rust-red stallion's lungs expelled their air with a gasp and he staggered backwards. Before he could recover, Red River reversed the grip on his spear again, this time bringing the shaft directly down, shaft flexing with the force of the swing, on the top of Bedrock's head with an almighty crack. The brutish pony dropped like a sack of bricks.
Red River took a moment to sit down, popping the segments of the spear's shaft back inside one another until the shaft had been retracted back down to its original length. "Amateur," he grunted, sheathing his weapon and turning to a stunned Fluttershy. "I can take it from here. Have a nice day."
The bell announcing the beginning of recess was greeted with the excited squeals of the foals as they fled through the doors of the oppressive schoolhouse and out into the yard, where they could frolic to their heart's content until the next bell sounded their return to the dreaded classroom.
Dawn lounged under the shade of a tree, quietly eating his lunch. Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom soon joined him. "So how about we get started after we eat," suggested Scootaloo excitedly, "I wanna keep going on the second exercise."
Dawn frowned. "No. Not here. The second exercise is not something to practice in the middle of a schoolyard. If you want to practice during recess, continue working on the first exercise."
Scootaloo frowned. "But..."
"Think of this as your opportunity to experiment with it. Start seeing how high you can lift yourself, how easily you can start and stop. You might even be able to experiment with moving around." Getting up from his lunch, Dawn stepped into the open and spread his wings, lifting himself barely off the ground. Then, before the eyes of the watching fillies, he began to glide sideways, only barely angling his wings. He stopped, drifted the other direction, stopped again and slid backwards a few meters before settling back onto the ground.
"Once you have full control of your magic, you will have complete freedom of movement in the air." His lesson finished, Dawn moved back to his lunch. "It shouldn't be hard for you to get the hang of. If you manage it today, I'll even give you a third exercise to practice."
"Really!" exclaimed Scootaloo. She began eating quickly, eager to jump to the next step of her training.
"Aw," protested Apple Bloom, "And here Ah thought we'd be able to get some crusadin' in this afternoon."
"It's okay," said Sweetie Belle, "We can do that tomorrow instead."
Having finished her lunch in record time, Scootaloo dashed a short distance away and spread her wings. She lifted a full pony's height of the ground and began to angle her wings. She immediately shot sideways with a startled exclamation, dipping her leading wing too much and threatening to slam flank-first into the ground.
Dawn's wing flickered and a gust of wind cushioned Scootaloo, righting her body and helping her settle back into a neutral position. All three crusaders regarded Dawn with awe, as he hadn't even bothered to look at Scootaloo before he acted. "Work gradually," he said, without looking up from his meal, "At your current level, it can be very easy to overcompensate. If you do, you'll only end up throwing yourself around. If you find yourself losing control, move back to your recovery position."
Scootaloo nodded hesitantly and tried to move in the opposite direction. She moved much more slowly than the last time. However, angling her wings a little more suddenly caused her to gain speed. With a startled yelp, Scootaloo flared her wings, briefly forgetting Dawn's warning and careened backwards at an angle. Finally remembering what her teacher told her, she brought her wings back out to level and drifted to a stop. She sighed with relief.
Maybe if I try using less magic when I move... Scootaloo drifted a little lower and angled her wings. This time, she didn't gain speed, but moved more consistently, her hooves just barely skimming above the grass.
"Good," said Dawn, this time lifting his head up to look at her, "You've figured out how to regulate your magic. Now use it to help guide your flight."
Scootaloo did as she was told and was soon drifting in every direction, shocked that she was able to control her movements so well. She even experimented with using her magic to accelerate and decelerate.
As she continued to practice, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle went back to their conversation.
"So how're things workin' out fer ya and Featherweight?" asked Apple Bloom.
A sigh escaped Sweetie Belle's lips. "They didn't work out for us. I guess we just didn't have a connection. What about you?"
Apple Bloom lowered her head, her eyes continuing to trace Scootaloo's motions through the air. "Ah ain't got a special somepony yet. Ah just don't know what to look fer in a colt."
"Oh really?" inquired Sweetie coyly, "And here I've been hearing that you're spending an awful lot of time around the library lately."
Dawn listened silently to Apple Bloom's startled protestations with a small degree of amusement. Fillies...
The bell signaling the end of school rang out over Ponyville. Fluttershy glanced up from her animals and wondered how Dawn's first day had gone. She had briefly entertained the thought of going to meet him at the front gate, but opted not to, in case he decided to do something else before he came home.
I can't wait to hear all about it, she thought as she turned back to her chores.
Dawn trotted out with the Crusaders. Scootaloo was bouncing with excitement, her wings lifting her up off the ground before drifting back down. "Hurry! I want to get started as soon as I can."
"Well well well. What do we have here?" Dawn barely turned his head to acknowledge the derisive chortle that followed those words, seeing the pink filly he had seen glaring at him and the other Crusaders throughout the day. "Four little blank flanks all in a row, trying to get their cutie marks nice and slow."
"Great, now she's rhyming," groaned Sweetie Belle.
Dawn raised an eyebrow at the pink filly's sneer. "And you are?"
"I'm Diamond Tiara. My daddy Filthy Rich is only the most important pony in all of Ponyville. So you'd better remember that." Diamond Tiara slid like a mound of pink ooze, slinking to stand between Dawn and the Crusaders. A quick glance told him that her gray lackey, who seemed to shadow her every step, had remained where she was standing, a look of uncertainty on her face.
"I see," he said simply, "Nice to meet you." With that, Dawn brushed past Diamond Tiara and cantered over to Scootaloo and the others.
"Where do you think you're going?" snapped Diamond, glaring at him from behind, "You think you can get away with brushing me off like that?"
Not even pausing, Dawn glanced over his shoulder as Scootaloo and the other girls fell into step behind him. "If you ever happen to say anything worth listening to, I might consider paying attention."
The four trotted off, leaving Diamond Tiara standing there, her mouth flapping soundlessly. By the time she regained control of her voice, Dawn and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were long gone. "Why that little..." she growled.
Meanwhile, Dawn was leading the group into the park, where there was plenty of open space to practice in. "So those fillies were...?" prompted Dawn.
"Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon," growled Scootaloo, "They're a couple of stuck-up rich girls who pick on others because they think they're better than everypony."
"And they really like to pick on us 'cause we don't have our cutie marks," added Apple Bloom.
"I see."
"Silver Spoon's not so bad though," Sweetie Belle chimed in, "It's just that she acts like a jerk when Diamond Tiara is around."
Thinking back to the differences between the two, Dawn could agree with that assessment. He thought about asking about the third pony that had followed them out of the schoolhouse, but decided not to, considering that the dark gray pegasus had hidden himself in a cloud above and wasn't doing anything.
They stopped in a grassy field, where Dawn turned to Scootaloo. "Let's begin. I want you to show me the second exercise."
Scootaloo groaned. "I thought you were going to show me a new trick."
"That comes later. For now, practice what you've already learned."
With a sigh of defeat, Scootaloo swung her wings down and rocketed upwards. Both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle gaped at their friend's sudden ascent. They watched as Scootaloo reached the apex of her upwards journey and began to fall back downwards, only to extend her wings and catch herself with her magic. The orange pegasus drifted back down like a falling leaf.
"Again," said Dawn. This time, Scootaloo didn't protest, but launched herself upwards yet again. When she drifted back down a few moments later, Dawn nodded. "I want eight more repetitions from you. Proceed." And up she went again.
"Ah don't get it," said Apple Bloom as her eyes tracked Scootaloo's flight, "Why are ya makin' her do this over and over again?"
"Repetition breeds familiarity," replied Dawn, not taking his eyes away from the orange pegasus, "The entire purpose is to get her familiar with the mechanics of pegasus flight to the point that they become almost instinctual. The first exercise builds her magic and builds an understanding of how magic enables pegasus flight in the first place. The second exercise shows how our magic is tied to the movement of our wings. Without using as much power, she can get much more force from flapping her wings, thus generating thrust. These are basic skills upon which all more advanced maneuvers are based. Everything that comes after this will do so as a natural growth out of learning to apply what she has already learned. At this rate, it won't be much longer before she actually starts flying."
Scootaloo finished her eighth and final launch. She was dripping with sweat and was starting to breathe hard. Still, her gaze remained determined when she turned to look at Dawn, who nodded when her eyes met his.
"Well done. From what I can see, you have sufficiently mastered the second exercise to the point where I can trust you to carry it out outside of my supervision. From now on, I want you to aim for twenty repetitions a day."
Scootaloo's eyes nearly bugged out of her skull. "Twenty times! You want me to do that twenty times every day."
"From now on," answered Dawn, "And, you can start to experiment with your descent. Earlier today, you were practicing how to use your magic to guide your flight. Now you can do that when you apply the second exercise and use both together. I still want you to continue the safe descent you've been practicing all this time, just to build your stamina and for safety's sake. But it won't be much longer until you don't have to bother with descending."
"And what does that mean?"
"That you'll be flying."
Scootaloo blinked in surprise and looked at her wings. "Oh. Awesome!"
Dawn's lips twitched in a light smile. "As you continue to work on it, you'll be able to feel your way through the basics of flight. It won't be very long at all at this rate. Now, we'll begin the third exercise I promised."
Scootaloo let out an eager squeal, grinning from ear to ear.
Dawn took a few steps back from his student and settled into a light crouch. "Now this is where our instruction really breaks away from typical pegasus flight techniques," he explained, "The ones you just learned operate on the same principles that regular pegasus flight relies on, most pegasi simply aren't aware of how their magic operates and won't be able to use it as efficiently or effectively as you will. But this is completely different."
With that, Dawn jumped. His wings remained tucked into his sides as he launched himself several meters into the air before dropping back down, his legs bending to absorb the impact.
For a moment, no one said anything. The three fillies stared in confusion. "What was so important about that?" asked Scootaloo, "I mean it was pretty high and all, but that was just a jump, right?"
Dawn smirked. "Perhaps I need to give a better demonstration." Once again, he crouched down and leapt. From a standing position, it was a truly impressive jump. But what really stunned the fillies came next. As he reached the apex of his leap, Dawn bent his legs and kicked out, as though he were trying to jump again. Only, instead of flailing impotently, the colt's legs seemed to push off something solid and launched him higher into the air. As he reached the top of his second leap, he repeated the process, going higher still. Up and up he went until his position was at the point where Scootaloo usually reached the peak of her rapid ascent when she practiced the second exercise. From there, Dawn simply let himself fall. However, as he was about to hit the ground, his legs kicked out once again. This time, Scootaloo felt a powerful gust of air. Dawn slowed to almost a complete stop before dropping the remaining few inches onto the grass.
"What was that?" asked Apple Bloom, after getting her jaw up off the ground.
"That was another exercise of pegasus magic, this time through the hooves," Dawn explained, "We pegasi can easily stand on clouds because of our natural magical ability. But clouds are simply condensed moisture in the air. Some clouds are magically modified to serve different purposes, such as building materials and sculptures, but they are still fundamentally just collections of airborne water, which is why none of the other pony breeds can walk on them without magical assistance.
"From there, it's not a far reach to assume that we can do the same with the air itself. That's what we are already doing with our wings after all. By expelling magic through my hooves at the moment of my kick, I bind the air beneath them into a sort of platform that I can push off of. Naturally, because air is less substantial than water, I can only keep such a platform together long enough to kick off of it. However, I can manipulate it in much the same way that I would manipulate the air with my wings, thus using it to push me even further."
"Can you stand on air?" asked Sweetie Belle.
Dawn shook his head. "A pegasus' hooves have fewer outlets than our wings do. And they are not designed for the same level of fine control that our wings are, so I can't maintain the platform for any real period."
"Then what's the point of it?" asked Scootaloo incredulously, "I mean sure, it looks kind of neat, but i don't see the big deal about just being able to jump on air."
"Just like the first and second exercises, this is a basic skill that you will eventually build upon," replied Dawn, "Once you master it, you can use it for much more than simple jumping. And once you figure how to use it and your wings at the same time, you can eventually do things like this..." Dawn abruptly vanished from sight. The Cutie Mark Crusaders stared blankly at the space he had occupied until a polite cough directly behind them caused all three fillies to leap into the air with a trio of loud yelps.
Dawn was standing directly behind them, as though he had been there the entire time and they had simply been facing in the wrong direction. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom could only gape, but Scootaloo managed to find her voice. "How the hay did you do that? Rainbow Dash isn't even that fast!"
"You're quite right," agreed Dawn, "She's nowhere near this fast. In fact, she's much faster."
"Huh?"
"It's not so much speed as it is acceleration," explained the colt, "I use my magic to eliminate air resistance in my direction of travel and prevent drag behind me. Then I use my hooves and wings to accelerate to top speed almost instantly. When I reach my destination, I use that technique with my hooves to help stop just as quickly, so it appears..." again, Dawn vanished and reappeared a few meters away before flickering to another location, "Like this." He stopped, once again in front of the girls. "I can only really use this for fast starts and over short distances. Otherwise, I simply transition back to normal flying once I reach top speed.
"The first three exercises that you've learned form the foundation of flight. Everything else you practice as you hone your flying skills will grow as a natural extension from these three exercises. Once you have finished learning the third exercise, you will no longer need my guidance to fly."
"Just like that?" asked Scootaloo, "I finish this third exercise and we're done?"
"You are practically flying already," answered Dawn, "What comes next is simply applying what you know to stay in the air. We started out this way so that you can work out how to control yourself before we begin any actual flying in order to reduce the risk of serious injury."
"Okay," said Scootaloo, deciding that she had had enough explanations for one day, "How do I get started?"
"It's basically the same as how we started. Only, instead of using your wings, you are now reaching through your hooves." Dawn lifted his front hoof and thrust it at Scootaloo, who suddenly felt a burst of air against her muzzle.
"Alright then," muttered the orange filly, "Here goes nothing."
From his perch on a high cloud, Rumble watched the entire affair. He wasn't close enough to hear what they were saying, but he didn't dare bring the cloud down any closer. Given how high Scootaloo was shooting up earlier, he would have been spotted quickly. Every now and then, the colt had to look around and make sure none of the weather ponies were coming to collect his cloud. He would put it back in the holding area when he was done, so he didn't feel obligated to worry too much.
It was all he could do to contain his seething jealousy of Dawn. What's so great about him? I could've taught Scootaloo how to fly if she wanted. I've always tried being nice and polite with her, like my brother said. But this guy just swoops in out of nowhere and suddenly they're like best friends. It irked him to no end. Rumble understood that Scootaloo was jealous of his natural talent for flight, but had always made an effort not to do anything that might have been considered rubbing it in her face.
"Tomorrow," muttered Rumble, "Tomorrow I'm gonna find out just what it is that makes that guy so special."
Taking to the air, Rumble set his hooves on the cloud and began pushing it back towards the holding area.
Scootaloo collapsed, panting, onto the ground, her own legs too tired to hold her up any longer. Her coat and mane were matted with sweat, her wings ruffled and unkempt. The effort of exerting her magic so much had left her completely exhausted.
"Well," remarked Dawn, a hint of amusement in his voice, "I think we'll leave it here for the day."
"That was..." gasped Scootaloo, "...So hard...it's nothing like...what I do with my wings."
"You worked really hard," said Sweetie Belle, giving her friend an encouraging smile.
"Yeah, ya just need more practice," agreed Apple Bloom as she checked the sun's position, "And Ah think it's time to get home. Miss Cheerilee's math homework ain't gonna do itself."
A low groan escaped from Scootaloo. "I'm too tired to move. I don't think I can get home."
She yelped as a sudden gust of wind lifted her off the ground. Before she could do anything, it abated, leaving her to settle onto Dawn's back. "I'll take you home," said the ebony colt.
"Dawn, you don't have too," protested the orange filly, "You don't need to carry me."
To her surprise, Dawn gave her a warm smile over his shoulder. "It's fine. Consider this a reward for your hard work."
"Huh?"
Dawn turned and nodded to Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. "We'll see you tomorrow." Once again, he looked over his shoulder at Scootaloo. "Hold on tight." He spread his wings. Realizing what was coming, Scootaloo wrapped her forelegs tightly around Dawn's neck as he lifted off the ground.
With a single downward sweep of his wings, they rushed up into the air before Dawn turned and oriented on Scootaloo's house. Another flap and they were shooting off over the town, the force of acceleration making Scootaloo clench her teeth as she clung to Dawn all the tighter. Instead of maintaining his speed, Dawn spread his wings slightly and let their momentum peter out, slowing to a comfortable cruise. Taking the opportunity, Scootaloo looked down and saw Ponyville stretch out beneath them. Looking around, she could see the fields leading up to the edge of the Everfree, a foreboding dark green blur stretching towards the horizon. Looking another way, she saw the mountains leading up to Mount Equis, where Canterlot rested majestically, as beautiful from this distance as it was up close.
"This is great," she whispered.
Dawn chuckled softly. "It won't be long before you won't need me to get this view."
Scootaloo laughed along with him before lowering her head and pressing her muzzle into his withers. "Even so, I'd still like to have you with me," she whispered, a slight blush coloring her cheeks.
Fluttershy hummed as she added some herbs to the soup she was preparing for the evening meal. The colors of sunset were stretching across the sky, indicating that the evening was coming on. Before long, Luna's moon would be visible on the eastern horizon just as Celestia's sun disappeared over the western one. Dawn still hadn't come back yet. Fluttershy worried a bit that something might have happened to him. The fact that he could take care of himself perfectly well seemed not to matter anymore. He was her son after all. It was perfectly natural for her to worry.
As the soup was nearing completion and just as Fluttershy was beginning to fear that she would need to put dinner off, she saw a black streak cutting through the evening sky. That streak dipped down towards her house, making it apparent that Dawn was coming in for a landing. He abruptly turned sideways and halted just as he was about to make contact with the ground, stopping so abruptly that it seemed that Fluttershy was looking at a photograph that had just been taken of him, rather than looking at him directly.
He cantered out of sight briefly and Fluttershy heard the door open and close softly. As she listened, she could hear Dawn moving about the living room, setting down his belongings, before moving to the kitchen. "I'm home," the colt announced as he stepped through the doorway.
"Welcome home," answered Fluttershy, smiling as she moved the pot to the table, where two bowls waited for their dinner.
"I'm sorry for being so late," said Dawn as he took his seat, "Scootaloo was too tired to walk after today's lesson, so I carried her home. Then I stayed so we could do our homework together."
"That's wonderful to hear," said Fluttershy as she filled the bowls, "Would you tell me about your day?"
Dawn nodded and began to recount his experiences as they ate. It was an awkwardly stilted conversation, Dawn not used to talking during meals. He occasionally tried to talk with his mouth full, only to stop when he realized he was on the verge of spitting food out with his words. At other times, he took several awkward seconds to respond as one of Fluttershy's queries caught him with a mouthful that was larger than polite, which took several tense seconds as he rushed to finish chewing and swallow.
Once the dishes had been washed, Fluttershy went on her evening rounds to inspect her animals while Dawn read quietly in the living room. A little over an hour later, with the moon rising in the sky, the two of them went to their beds. As she got ready, Fluttershy debated whether or not to tell Dawn about her encounter with that stallion in the market, but decided not to bother him with it. The last thing he needed now was for somepony to bring up the traumas of his past.
After she had finished getting ready for bed, Fluttershy took one last opportunity to check on Dawn in his new room. Seeing him resting peacefully under the blankets filled her with an indescribable warmth. He didn't even stir as she quietly walked up. Lowering her head, Fluttershy gently nuzzled the sleeping colt. "Goodnight Dawn," she whispered before leaving, shutting the door behind her.
Having developed an understanding of the classroom dynamic, Dawn was a more active participant on his second day of school. He tried to moderate his behavior so as not to take away time from the other students during discussions and even tried to help his three new friends work through difficulties during times where they worked independently.
He was still largely viewed as an oddity by the rest of the class. Given that his nature was rather aloof, he seemed largely unapproachable to the majority of the other foals, even though he was a little more talkative than the previous day. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon kept their distance during the morning, the former even refraining from any snide comments, even when the opportunity presented itself.
However, Dawn sensed that the gray pegasus colt, whose name he had learned was Rumble, was watching him even more closely and much more intense hostility than before. Still, it was considerably mild compared to what Dawn was used to dealing with, so he ignored it. However, once the bell for recess rang, events conspired to ensure that Dawn couldn't ignore him any longer.
Once again, Dawn was with the Cutie Mark Crusaders while they ate their lunch. Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were making their plans for that afternoon. They were cycling through a few different activities they wanted to try their hooves at, while the colt looked on, perplexed.
"I fail to understand how any of this will help you get your cutie marks," he said.
"Well, we figure that if we try enough things that we'd find that one thing we were really good at and then we'd have our cutie marks," answered Sweetie Belle, "And besides, it's fun to try new things."
Dawn tilted his head in confusion. "I suppose..." he admitted.
The feathers of his wings twitched, feeling a foreign eddy in the air currents of their immediate vicinity. Keen senses, honed to their limit by his time living in the Everfree Forest, immediately picked up the soft sounds of breathing, the shift of hooves on the ground, the flutter of wings, the hiss of fur against tree bark. The group was sitting under the same tree they had been the previous day. And Rumble was hiding just on the other side of it. It would have been easy to write off the other colt's presence as purely coincidental, except for the barely audible signals of a pony that was clearly trying to conceal his presence.
Dawn flicked his ears, pretending to listen to the Crusaders' conversation as he tried to divine his shadow's intent. He understood that Rumble viewed him with some kind of hostility. But it was different from the pure anger and fury he had received from Applejack and the ponies he had dealt with before. It was also different from the superior sneers he had received from the likes of Diamond Tiara. Perhaps he had better start categorizing things like this. He was so focused on his attempts to discern Rumble's intentions, that he failed to notice the feathers on Scootaloo's wings twitching, her own ears swiveling to seek the source of an unknown sound. He also missed the moment comprehension dawned on her as she realized what she'd sensed.
"Hey!" Scootaloo's angry shout broke the comfortable cadence of conversation, the bright orange filly suddenly on her hooves, glaring at the tree. "I know you're there! What do you think you're doing?"
Apparently, Rumble's skill at stealth wasn't up to the standards of normal foals. Or at least, that was Dawn's initial thought. However, Scootaloo's practice with her magic had heightened her sensitivity to the flow of air around her. Without the kind of experience that Dawn had, Scootaloo wouldn't be able to discern any details about her surroundings, but she could still feel a certain "offness" about them.
"Come out here!" She snapped, her fuchsia tail lashing in agitation.
Slowly, Rumble crept out from his hiding place, looking quite ashamed to have been caught at spying. Both Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were staring at him in surprise, having not noticed his presence. Dawn watched the colt out of the corner of his eye, patiently waiting to see what happened next.
"Rumble," growled Scootaloo, "You'd better have a good reason for spying on us."
"I uh..." Rumble averted his eyes, unable to meet the gazes of any of the girls.
"You know, it's bad enough that you're always bugging us. But now you're stalking us! Just how creepy can you get?" Scootaloo was positively fuming and Rumble was wilting under her glare. Worse still, her shouting was attracting the attention off the other foals in the yard, putting Rumble on the spot even more.
"What is it gonna take to get through to that head of yours?" yelled Scootaloo, "We don't want anything to do with you!"
"Scootaloo!" snapped Apple Bloom, jumping between her and Rumble, "Yer goin' too far. Ya need to stop actin' like ya got a bee in yer bonnet and calm down."
"Yeah," agreed Sweetie Belle, joining Apple Bloom, "Why are you always so angry at Rumble anyway? We get that you're jealous that he can fly. But that's no reason to treat him like this."
Scootaloo backed away from the other two fillies. "What are you talking about? Rumble's always butting in and shoving his snout where it doesn't belong."
"He's just tryin' to be friendly," said Apple Bloom. Both she and Sweetie Belle knew better than to say what they knew about the real reason Rumble kept trying to join them. The poor colt was embarrassed enough as it is. If everypony on the yard heard the truth, Rumble would probably not be able to show his face in school for weeks.
Rumble was mortified. He had been trying to work up the courage to confront Dawn when he had been caught by Scootaloo. Now, here he was cowering behind not one, but two fillies while she ladled out a liberal helping of verbal abuse. Taking his eyes off Scootaloo, Rumble could see that the other foals in the yard were now watching and listening to the confrontation. He could already hear the taunts he would be getting after this. Rumble might not have been one to care overly much about his image, but that didn't mean that he wanted to draw extra teasing onto himself. But what truly depressed him was hearing how vigorously Scootaloo was rejecting him. All he had really wanted was to spend time with her and maybe tell her how he felt. But now, he was hearing all too clearly what she felt about him.
"Don't you stand up for that wimp!" Scootaloo shouted at Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, "I don't care how nice he is. A gutless loser like that doesn't belong with us!"
Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom's jaws dropped. They had never heard their friend say something so cruel before. Behind them, Rumble felt something break. Tears began to run out of his eyes. If he had bothered to look around, he would have seen that Scootaloo's exclamation had shocked almost everypony in the schoolyard. Even Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were gaping at the affair. Nopony had ever expected such vitriol from Scootaloo.
Unable to conceal his hurt any longer, Rumble spread his wings and hurtled out of the yard, flying away from the school as fast as his wings could carry him. Before anypony could say a word, Rumble was a speck in the sky. He left behind a cluster of wide-eyed foals staring in the direction he had gone. Even Scootaloo was stunned, having not realized how hurtful her words must have been.
Silence reigned for a moment, no one wanting to say anything. Dawn watched the whole affair, betraying nothing about his thoughts. He merely waited to see what would happen next.
It was Sweetie Belle who broke the lull when she smacked Scootaloo across the muzzle...hard. The pegasus filly's head snapped to the side with the force of the blow, a red welt standing out against the vivid orange of her coat.
"I don't believe you," said the white coated unicorn, tears falling from her eyes, "I don't care how annoying you think he is, but Rumble never ever deserved to be treated like that." Turning sharply, Sweetie walked deliberately towards the schoolhouse, making it abundantly clear that Scootaloo wasn't to follow.
"I...what?" Scootaloo was at a loss for words.
"Ah have to say the same." There was a weary sadness in Apple Bloom's voice, one that contrasted with Sweetie Belle's explosive rage. "Ah expected that kind 'o manure from Diamond Tiara. But Ah'd never thought Ah'd hear it from you." With that, Apple Bloom turned slowly away from Scootaloo and trudged after Sweetie Belle, throwing a disappointed glance over her shoulder as she went.
Slack-jawed, Scootaloo watched her friends leave, unable to say a word. The spectacle over and done with, the other foals had lost interest and were beginning to wander away. Even Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had taken themselves elsewhere, not wanting to tangle with Scootaloo in her current state.
Only Dawn remained, watching patiently as Scootaloo tried to come to terms with what happened. He said nothing, offering neither support nor criticism. Finally, realizing that he was still there, Scootaloo spun around, a desperate need for reassurance in her eyes.
"You understand, right?" she asked, desperate for some kind of affirmation.
"Frankly, I don't understand," answered Dawn calmly, "What is it exactly about that colt that makes you so angry." His reptilian gaze was unnerving, especially when he threw its force behind such a probing question.
Scootaloo couldn't meet his eyes any longer, glaring at the ground. "Because he's always trying to butt in."
"And why does that anger you?"
"Well, whenever I see him, even if he doesn't say anything, he's always reminding me that he can fly and I can't, that he's so much better than me. It feels like he's rubbing it in my face."
"Shouldn't that not be an issue anymore now that you are learning to fly as well?"
"Well yeah...but that's not the only thing..."
"Then what is it?"
"He pisses me off! Okay?" Scootaloo snapped out, glaring at Dawn before looking angrily away. "He's been able to fly since he was born. That's the most awesome thing ever. Even Rainbow Dash didn't start flying that early.
"But what really makes me mad is that he doesn't even care! If it were me, I would be doing all sorts of cool stuff. I'd fly with Rainbow Dash and get her to teach me all her awesome moves! I'd join races and competitions and win them and show how good I am. But he doesn't do anything. He has all that talent and he's wasting it. He doesn't care at all about how awesome he could be. All he does is lame stuff like helping his brother out on the weather team. He's just gonna end up as a nopony...a failure."
"Interesting..." mused Dawn idly, “Something in what you said sounds familiar.” He lowered his eyes and stared at the ground thoughtfully as he tried to puzzle out what Scootaloo’s words had reminded him of.
The orange filly's jaw worked soundlessly as she tried to come up with something...anything to say to that. While she hadn’t expected Dawn to jump adamantly to her defense, she wasn’t prepared for the complete lack of concern the colt seemed to show for her situation. She wasn't able find an answer to Dawn's words as a sharp summons issued across the schoolyard.
"Scootaloo! Inside right now!" Cheerilee was standing, looking at her student from the entrance to the schoolhouse and she did not look happy.
Drooping under the teacher's stern glare, Scootaloo slowly trudged towards the building while Dawn watched her leave. Now he was alone in the schoolyard, resting quietly as he waited for the bell to summon the foals back to class.
The cloud holding area designated by Rainbow Dash was a fairly large chunk of sky a ways to the east of the town, away from the border of the Everfree Forest, where the strange conditions of that region might cause the clouds to disperse or otherwise behave strangely before they could be used. The Everfree was also now the main source of the clouds the weather team had been gathering, stray wisps and clumps drifting out from over it after forming mysteriously within its borders.
Within the holding area, the clouds had been carefully placed to keep them separate. If too many were condensed together, the resulting cloud might get over saturated and be predisposed to premature precipitation. So the smaller clouds were spaced out neatly, which served Rumble just fine as the last thing he wanted to rest on was a raincloud.
The gray pegasus colt sobbed quietly, burying his face into the fluffy material. Right now, he didn't want anypony to see him, didn't want them to see just how much Scootaloo's words hurt him. Is that really what she thinks of me? Is that all that matters to her? I guess I never really had a chance with her after all. I'm such an idiot.
A slight breeze stirred his mane and the cloud shifted as more weight settled down on top of it. Sniffling, Rumble looked up to see a pair of magenta eyes gazing down at him with concern and worry.
"You okay kiddo?" asked Rainbow Dash, horrified to see Rumble in this state. She had always thought he was a nice kid. He may not have had much ambition, but he was sweet and kind and always tried to help out whenever and however he could. He reminded her of Fluttershy a little, which was probably another reason she liked him. And while she might always identify more with Scootaloo, Rainbow would always have a soft spot for the little colt.
Rumble sniffed and looked away, terrified. Rainbow Dash was probably the last pony he wanted to see him in this state. He thought about bolting. Only the realization that he could never get away from Rainbow if she decided to chase him and the comforting warmth of her wing settling over his back kept him in place. The gentle contact helped calm Rumble, making him feel a little better, in spite of what happened before.
"So what happened?" asked Rainbow, "You can tell me."
So Rumble told her...everything.
Scootaloo grumbled to herself as she glided in for a landing in front of her home. Compared to the five repetitions it had taken to get to school, seven was a disappointing number. Scootaloo blamed it, at least in part, on the fallout of her confrontation with Rumble. Rumble didn't come back for the afternoon and Cheerilee had been furious when she had learned the cause of his abrupt departure from the schoolyard.
Scootaloo had been given an hour's detention and a notice to take home to her mother, explaining what had happened. It had been almost painful to spend a full hour alone in the classroom, save for her teacher, with nothing to do but her homework. The worst part, however, was that, even if she hadn't gotten detention, Scootaloo would still have not had anything to do, as her friends wanted nothing to do with her at the moment.
Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom didn't say another word to the orange filly, refusing to even look at her or acknowledge her presence in any way. The moment the bell rang, they were gone before Scootaloo could utter so much as a single syllable. And Dawn was...well...Dawn. He had never been one for talking much about personal matters to begin with. And Cheerilee did not allow him to stay behind.
What he had said to her in the yard hadn't sat well with the filly either. His casual observation of her behavior gnawed at her in a way that made her feel sick inside. It felt more like she was a specimen being dissected on a table than another pony that he was actually talking to.
And now she was faced with the prospect of showing the note to her mother. Scootaloo dreaded that more than anything. What would Melon Cream say when she learned what her daughter had done?
Could this day get any worse? Scootaloo winced even as the thought crossed her mind. As if in answer to that question, she felt the breeze of an arriving pegasus wash over her back. Turning around, she saw the familiar sky-blue coat of her idol. Scootaloo was briefly elated to see Rainbow Dash land in her front yard. But that quickly changed into a sense of foreboding when she saw the solemn look in Rainbow's eyes.
Scootaloo didn't like the look in Rainbow Dash's eyes, not one bit. Her body suddenly felt heavier as she realized the weight of disappointment in the polychromatic mare's gaze. The realization clicked in her head almost instantly. Rainbow knew. And she was not happy about it.
Before she could respond, the door to Scootaloo's home swung open to reveal Melon Cream, who had seen her daughter arrive at the front door and had been surprised to see Rainbow Dash swoop in to talk to her. "May I ask what's going on?"
Rainbow looked up, a solemn expression Melon had never seen on her face before, even when Rainbow had been talking about her bitter memories of Flight School. "Hey there. Can I borrow your daughter for a moment?"
Melon tilted her head slightly, trying to figure out what was wrong. "Of course, may I ask why?"
Rainbow sighed. "Scootaloo and I have to talk about some...things. I'm sure she can tell you just as well as I can. In fact, that's why you're home so early today, isn't it squirt?"
Scootaloo wanted to shrink into herself until she vanished from the face of the earth. While she had been kept for an hour after school, she would normally have been out for another two hours, maybe more, afterwards crusading with her friends or learning to fly from Dawn. Turning around, she reached into her saddlebag and produced the note from Cheerilee, explaining the situation. "Here mom," she said.
Melon took the note wordlessly. At a nod from Rainbow, she began to read. For a moment, there was silence as Rainbow and Scootaloo waited for Melon to finish. When she did, she looked at her daughter with a disappointment mirroring Rainbow's. She briefly considered scolding Scootaloo, punishing her too. However, a single look at Rainbow changed her mind. Rainbow Dash knew. And if anything, she seemed even more disappointed in Scootaloo's behavior than Melon was. If anything was punishment, getting scolded earnestly by her idol would be more than enough for Scootaloo.
Melon nodded her assent. Rainbow nodded back and silently gathered Scootaloo in her hooves. She shot skyward, leaving the filly's saddlebags on the ground. Melon sighed and picked them up. She had never been much for scolding her daughter, especially when Scootaloo received more than enough of that from Cirrus Stratus. Given how much he berated her, Melon had always found it hard to work up the wherewithal to scold Scootaloo when she actually did something wrong. That was going to have to change apparently.
Scootaloo felt her hooves settle on the soft surface of a cloud. Looking around, she saw that she was now in the weather team's holding area. Other clouds dotted the sky, all carefully spaced out to keep them from condensing before the team had set up a storm. Rainbow settled on the cloud in front of her.
"Scootaloo, I know what happened with you and Rumble."
For a moment, the foreboding feeling Scootaloo had felt building within her was flushed out by a sense of anger and indignation. That snitch! He must've run right to Rainbow Dash and spilled everything. Is this his idea of getting back at me?
"I found him, right here." Rainbow jabbed a hoof into the cloud they were standing on. "He was here, crying his eyes out when he should have been in school. I asked him what happened and got him to tell me the truth."
Rainbow's gaze was smoldering with anger now. "Scootaloo. What you did was. Not. Cool. I don't think I can find the words to express how unhappy I am with you now."
And just like that, Scootaloo's anger was extinguished. Now she felt a new weight settling on her soul, shame.
"Scoot, why in Equestria would you say something like that?" asked Rainbow desperately, "That was cruel. You were bullying Rumble. I thought -scratch that- I know you're better than that. So why?"
"He makes me mad!" snapped Scootaloo, unable to hold it in anymore, "It's not fair! I've been wanting to fly for the longest time, but I can't. I'm a lame pegasus with some kind of freakish defect who's only starting to learn how to fly. But Rumble's been able to fly since the day he was born! He has that awesome talent and what the hay does he do with it? Nothing! He just sits on it and does nothing with it! He could be totally awesome. But instead he totally ignores it and acts like a pathetic wimp. It's like he's rubbing in my face how easy it is for him. He's got what I've wanted my entire life and he won't do anything with it! Why would I want anything to do with a loser like him? He's just gonna end up as some kind of washed-up failure who could've been something great, but just threw it away."
"Squirt," said Rainbow, her eyes almost tearing up, "Do you have any idea how much you're starting to sound like your father."
Scootaloo froze. Now she realized why Dawn had found her words familiar. He’d heard Melon Cream describe exactly the kind of mindset that Scootaloo herself had been tapping into when she was venting about Rumble to describe why Cirrus wasn’t a part of their life anymore. To hear Rainbow’s unconcealed horror and sadness in her voice made Scootaloo sick to her stomach.
"You're jealous because Rumble has the kind of talent you'd been hoping for all your life. That's understandable. What's not understandable is how much you hate him because he doesn't do what you would have done if you had it. It's his life. There's no reason for him to live a certain way just because you think so. You don't get to force your expectations on another pony like that."
"My dad got to," muttered the petulant filly, "He got to shout and scold me because I wasn't doing what he wanted to me to do all my life."
Rainbow let out a defeated sigh. "And we were wrong to let him get away with it for so long. But that's why you're not living with the jerk anymore. But Scoots, I think your dad rubbed off on you a lot more than we thought. The fact that he got away with it for as long as he did doesn't make it right. And that certainly doesn't give you the right to do the same thing to someone else."
At that moment, Scootaloo wanted to sink into the cloud.
"And I especially don't like how you think Rumble's some kind of failure. I know the kid. Heck, I like him. Even if he doesn't become a Wonderbolt or a hero of the Royal Guard or whatever, he's still gonna be alright in my books. With his skill, he could be a first-rate weather manager that any town would kill to have running their skies. If he can find a life that he's happy with, then he's succeeded enough. Not everypony has to be some kind of celebrity."
Scootaloo sighed. "But that's not what I want with my life."
"That's fine," said Rainbow, "No one said you had to be satisfied with that kind of life. It's just wrong for you to hold it against Rumble for not wanting the same kind of things out of his life that you would want. Nopony said that doing anything with Rumble meant you had to be tied down to that kind of life."
"Why do I even have to be with him?" snapped Scootaloo, "I don't want to do anything like that with colts yet."
"You don't have to," answered Rainbow, "If you're not interested, just say so. What's not cool is turning this whole thing into some kind of vendetta against Rumble."
Scootaloo lowered her eyes to look forlornly at the cloud beneath her hooves. Rainbow gently ran a hoof through her mane. "Look squirt, this isn't about me or anyone else trying to run your life. It's about you hurting Rumble just because something about him rubs you the wrong way. That's not cool, that's what a bully would do. And you are not a bully."
The filly sniffed loudly. Rainbow picked Scootaloo up and set the orange filly on her back, giving her a smile of encouragement. "Come on squirt, let's get you home." She soared through the sky to take Scootaloo home.
Fluttershy listened intently as Dawn recounted the day's events over the dinner table. "Scootaloo said that?" she asked in shock, "How could she be so cruel?"
Dawn tilted his head. "I've noticed that ponies don't seem to be aware of how cruel they can be. It seemed comparatively minor to me."
Fluttershy froze, Red River's comment from the previous day sitting in her mind. He's too detached. While Dawn was aware of how much Scootaloo's words had hurt Rumble, to him, it was an abstract issue. He hadn't perceived Scootaloo's anger or Rumble's suffering with his heart. It was the condition of a pony who had dealt with enough suffering of his own and emotionally distanced himself from the pain and anger of others, even when it wasn't directed at him.
"Why didn't you stop her?" she asked.
Dawn shrugged. "I didn't really feel that I should. I was uncertain as to what input I could have on the situation, much less what way I could affect it or what way I should affect it."
Dawns words confirmed her fears and Red River's assertions. His heart was numb. And while the ebony colt was beginning to reopen his heart to feelings of love and affection, anger and pain still didn't have any bearing on him.
Fluttershy sighed and shook her head, not quite sure how to approach the problem. "Dawn. I feel like you're distancing yourself from other ponies. What happened with Rumble and Scootaloo was something you might have been able to stop."
"But why should I?" asked the colt, "Especially if I don't fully understand the situation."
Fluttershy smiled sadly, "Because you understand, better than anypony, what it's like to have your feelings hurt, what it is to be rejected, insulted, attacked...you know what that's like. That's why you want to keep it at a distance. But Dawn...other ponies can feel those things too, so if you can protect other ponies from those sorts of things, you should."
Dawn looked away. "I don't understand," he said, "That won't help me master myself."
"What do you mean?" asked Fluttershy, "Are you talking about that thing your Master and Princess Celestia talked about?"
"My Master said that truly mastering the Gale King can only be achieved through being at peace. My emotions, especially the negative ones, are a source of turmoil." Dawn turned to look back at Fluttershy. "Those things are a burden I can't afford to carry."
"That's not true," said Fluttershy, surprised by the certainty in her own voice, "We need our emotions, even the negative ones...No...especially the negative ones because they are important. Dawn, what you're talking about isn't peace. It's emptiness. That's no different from being dead!"
Dawn leaned back, his eyes widening in shock at what Fluttershy said. For a moment, he sat silent, still trying to process her words. When he spoke, his voice was hesitant and uncertain. "I...I need to think about this..."
Dawn left the table and fled the cottage. Fluttershy only caught the barest glimpse of him taking to the air before he was gone. A few tears leaked from her eyes as she began to clear the table, praying silently that she hadn't driven him away.
Sweet Apple Acres was a realm of darkness. The setting sun extended the shadows of the countless apple trees, causing the darkness to wash across the hills, turning the normally vibrant colors of the trees and apples dull without the light to illuminate their beauty. In another hour or so, it would be too dark to see much off anything without a lamp or torch.
Red River didn't mind as he stood in front of a single tree. He had picked one close to the farmhouse, allowing him to return easily once night had fallen. Picking a more secluded location had appealed to him, but he opted out since the Apple Family tended to worry if he was out of sight when the darkness of night fell and he wanted to reassure them.
In the branches of the tree hung several strings, about as thick as yarn. Dangling as they did, they swayed and danced in the slightest breeze. Red River eyed them calmly as he hefted his spear in one hoof. The azure stallion burst into motion. The tip of his spear was a silvery blur shadowed by the crimson blur of its tassel and the tan blur of the shaft. The weapon danced as Red River wielded with one hoof or the other, sometimes both of his front hooves at once, rearing onto his hind legs.
After a series of rapid movements, Red River settled back into a crouch, holding his spear in his right fetlock, the shaft stretching diagonally across his back while the tip, held low, almost penetrated the ground. In front of him, the hanging strings now sported a single small knot each. After pausing for a breath, Red River exploded into motion again. This time, when he came to a halt, the strings dangled freely, their knots untied as neatly as though they had never been touched to begin with. There wasn't a single sign of fraying that would have indicated that the spear's blade had cut the strings.
A smirk spread across the stallion's face as he relaxed his stance and returned to a resting position. "I thought I'd be seeing you around here sooner or later," he said cheerfully.
Dawn silently landed on the ground behind him. "That was brilliant," observed the colt, "I never imagined that you could wield a spear with such finesse."
A low chuckle escaped Red River's lips. "You didn't come to see me practice did you? Why don't you go ahead and ask me what you really want to?"
"You know why I came here?"
Red River snorted, turning away from the strings. "I knew you would be here after I had a quick talk with your mother about you. I noted some problems you were having. I figured that after she tried talking to you as mother to son, you would be here to talk to me, as one martial artist to another."
"Then what exactly is this problem?" asked Dawn.
"Oh I think you know, you just don't want to admit it."
"Then please spell it out for me."
Red River yawned. "You're numb. You're numb to fear, to anger, to pain, all those things you experienced in such heaping quantities in that dark period of your life, you've taught yourself to shut it all out."
"Is there something wrong with that?" demanded Dawn, "My Master said that peace was critical to mastery. He said that I must be in control of my heart in order to truly obtain that peace."
Red River adopted a relaxed stance, resting the shaft of his spear on his shoulder. "How naive of you. I didn't realize you would misinterpret your Master's teachings that badly."
Dawn blinked, shocked into silence.
"Don't go mistaking the peace you seek for the apathy you have. You won't accomplish anything by cutting off your emotions...let me amend that...you might end up sending yourself into an early grave, but that's about it. Seeking peace has nothing to do with surrendering your emotions."
"Are you saying that my emotions are the key to peace?" asked Dawn, "But my Master said my emotions could lead me to ruin."
"They could," agreed Red River with a shrug, "If you let them. If you allow them to control you. But you don't have to."
"I don't...have to...?"
The azure stallion rolled his eyes. "Of course not. Your emotions are only a component of yourself. They don't exist to dominate your will. They are a part of your heart and soul, a component, critical to its function but not absolute in its existence."
Dawn tilted his head slightly. "I don't follow..."
"Think of it in terms of your body. Are your muscles everything? Your bones? How about your blood? No. It's all those things together, and much more besides, that make up your body. No single component has absolute importance. So it is with your heart. Your emotions are a critical part of your being, but they are not absolute.
"Both pain and pleasure serve their purposes. Fear alerts you to danger. Anger can give you power. Love and friendship connect you to others. What is essential is that you do not allow them to control you."
"How do I do that?" asked Dawn, his head spinning in confusion.
"By becoming one with your heart, by feeling emotion, experiencing it, and, above all else, understanding it. When you do, you will achieve the level of awareness of self that you need in order to obtain true mastery. Otherwise, you can go through your forms as many times as you like and never reach what you seek." Red River gave the colt a cheeky grin before rapping him on the head with the shaft of his spear. The movement had been so swift and unexpected that Dawn was utterly unable to react. "If you weren't so numb to your fear, you would have been able to dodge that."
Dawn stood there blinking as Red River stepped past him and ambled up to the farmhouse. "You should probably get home," the stallion suggested over his shoulder, "I'm sure your mother's worried about you."
Dawn bowed his head. "I will. Thank you for your advice, you've given me much to think about." He started walking, towards the border of Sweet Apple Acres. Dawn always felt he was able to think better when his hooves were on the ground. Its solidity reassured him.
His path took him along the edge of the farmhouse. As he went past its rear, he saw a small vegetable patch where the family grew various foods to supplement their meals and as ingredients for their baked goods. Despite the failing light, Granny Smith was out tending some of the vegetables, using a small spade clutched firmly in one fetlock. As Dawn went past her, her gaze shifted in his direction.
The colt was suddenly beset by the sensation of an impending attack. His body reacted instantly, wings spreading, a burst of magic carrying him back away from the elderly mare. Dawn immediately cast about, looking for any sign of the attack. Granny Smith was the only pony in his vicinity, the only one the signal could have come from. But she had not moved an inch, merely continuing carefully work her way through the vegetables.
"What was that?" he asked, "Why did you suddenly act as though you were about to attack me? I thought you were about to stab me with that spade."
A wheezing chuckle forced its way out the lips of the old green mare. "Ah didn't do a thing. That was all you."
Dawn stared at her for a moment. "I don't understand."
Granny Smith sighed and took up her spade and began her slow amble out of the vegetable patch, heading for Dawn, whose coat was beginning to disappear into the surrounding darkness. "Here Ah was, tendin' to mah garden, mindin' mah own business when ya come along. All 'o a sudden, Ah feel a kinda tension in the air, felt it gatherin' right at the tip 'o mah spade here. So ah thought Ah might have to defend mahself. What ya felt was a reflection of yer own fightin' spirit. Yer much too strong sugarcube."
Dawn sat heavily. "Too...strong..."
"Yer too strong, if ya really want to master anythin', ya need to make yerself weaker first."
"Make myself...weaker?"
"Are ya a pegasus or a parrot whippersnapper?" Granny Smith grinned, her white teeth shining in the darkness. "Ah understand. Yer always on guard. Ya can't even look at a pony without thinkin' 'o him or her as a possible enemy. Yer always on the lookout, always watchin'. But sugarcube...that's no way to live. Yer spirit's wound up like a spring. If ya keep it up, yer gonna snap and it ain't gonna be pretty.
"So, in order to really use that strength of yours, yer gonna have to make yerself weaker."
Setting an easy pace, Granny Smith walked into the farmhouse. Dawn watched her go, his eyes narrowed. There was none of the usual shakiness he had previously seen in her movements. Her gait was smooth and measured, though slow. Turning his head, Dawn examined the garden. The ground was mostly untouched. And who goes out to tend to a vegetable patch at this time of night? Her gardening had simply been an excuse. The ancient mare had been waiting for him.
Dawns knees began to shake, then quake, quickly escalating to the point where he could only just barely remain standing. He felt as though he had been standing close to something truly immense and that he was beyond fortunate to have been passed by without harassment. It was hard to believe that this was the same shaky pony who’d shambled into his hospital room all those days ago. Who is that mare? She’s like a colossal mountain.
Rumble was silent throughout class the next day. He remained completely unresponsive to any attempts by Cheerilee or the other foals to engage his interest. It was clear that school was the last place he wanted to be right now, but he had not been given a choice in the matter. He wasn't the only one.
Scootaloo looked positively miserable. Every few moments, her gaze would wander over to Rumble, linger for a few seconds, before turning back to her desk. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom seemed quite troubled as well. The distressed state of the four foals formed an oppressive atmosphere that hung over the class like an unscheduled storm. It was a welcome relief when the midday bell signaled to the students that it was time for lunch and recess. The mass exodus was less like a group of foals trying to rush to the playground and more like ponies fleeing a burning building.
Dawn had observed quietly throughout the morning. He had tried to remain as active as he could. But the state of his three friends and the other pegasus colt had been troubling in ways that perplexed him, especially Scootaloo. Whenever he found himself noticing her troubled state, Dawn felt a tugging on his heart, a sensation that reminded him of the pain that had beset him when Applejack had broken his wing. He didn't like that feeling, not one bit. Initially, his instincts screamed at him to stifle that feeling. There was no need to be so anxious for Scootaloo after all. She was merely his student. That was what he had tried to tell himself, even though she was his friend as well. But as he tried to distance himself from the pain, the words Red River had said to him echoed in the back of his skull. You're too detached.
As he walked sedately out the doors, Dawn cast his glance around the schoolyard. Rumble sat in one of the furthest corners of the yard, staring emptily at his lunch, not bothering to even touch it. On the swing set in the center of the schoolyard, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle sat limply in the swings, gently pushing themselves back and forth as they stared vacantly at the ground. Scootaloo sat alone in the group's usual spot, eating her lunch, but barely paying attention to what was going on around her. Dawn's eyes flicked between all three locations and he made his decision.
Rumble looked up at the sound of approaching hooves to see Dawn coming to a stop next to him. A smoldering fury kindled in Rumble's gut, but was quickly quenched under the weight of his own depression. "May I sit here?" asked Dawn.
The other colt nodded wordlessly and Dawn set his lunch down. For a moment, he ate silently, not bothering to say anything. Scootaloo was watching, eyes wide with shock, while Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle looked on in confusion.
Dawn finished the last piece of his meal and turned his head ever so slightly to look at his companion. "So, Rumble was it?"
Rumble stiffened, his head shooting up. He appeared to be shocked by the question.
"May I ask why you seem to dislike me?"
For a moment, Rumble's mouth worked soundlessly, unable to come up with a response. "I...what do you mean?"
"You seem to dislike me for some reason. I simply asked why."
Rumble lowered his head. "How did you know that? I never said or did anything."
Dawn turned to look at the other colt full on. "I have a great deal of experience with ponies disliking me." His dragon-like eyes bored into Rumble. "Before I came to Ponyville, I had to deal with regular threats to my life. I can easily detect hostility when it's directed at me. You've been watching me ever since I joined the class. Can you explain why?"
"I..." Rumble's voice choked. "I was jealous of you, okay?" There was no point in hiding it any longer.
"Jealous?"
"Yeah! I liked Scootaloo. But whenever I was around her, all she did was get angry and mean. Sweetie Belle said it was because she was upset that I could fly and she couldn't. I tried a bunch of different ways to try and get her not mad at me. I used to make sure I wasn't flying when I was around her because I was afraid she might think I was trying to rub my talent in her face. When that didn't work, I just tried to be as nice as I could, but she never gave me a chance."
Rumble whipped his head around so he could return Dawn's dispassionate gaze with his own glare. "And then you come in out of nowhere and she's all excited and happy. You can fly too, but she never gets angry with you like she does with me. It made me mad. What's so great about you? What makes you so special?"
Dawn turned away from Rumble and looked down, contemplating what the colt had told him. "It seems odd to me," he remarked, "Scootaloo has been my student and the first friend my own age I have made since I came here. I certainly can't say that I know her well enough to speak for her. But...I thought that perhaps, we could be friends."
Rumble had to pick his jaw up off the ground. "What?"
"I don't see any reason we couldn't," Dawn continued, returning Rumble's startled stare, "And I think it might be good for both of us, Scootaloo as well. When I see everyone like this it...saddens me."
Rumble blinked. "You don't sound sure of that."
"I'm not," Dawn admitted readily, "I've had to deal with negative emotions like fear, anger and sadness so much that I gave up on trying to deal with them. I became numb. But mom and others have told me that's not right or healthy, that I shouldn't shy away from them. I'm only beginning to understand how to do that. I can reason things about what other ponies feel quite easily, but I can't actually feel it, or at least I couldn't."
Rumble wasn't sure how to respond to that. He wasn't even sure he knew what Dawn was talking about. Hay! He wasn't sure Dawn knew what Dawn was talking about. However, he did understand something. Dawn was completely out of his depth and trying something new and different, something that was uncomfortable for him. Rumble knew how that felt.
"I guess we could be friends," he said a little hesitantly.
The two of them looked at each other silently for a moment. "So, now that we're friends...what do we do?"
Rumble shrugged. "Not sure. What kind of things do you like to do."
"I meditate and practice during most of my free time. Otherwise I've been teaching Scootaloo how to fly." Dawn shrugged back. "I understand that most of those are not popular hobbies."
Rumble nodded and thought for a moment. "Well, if you fly, we could always go flying together."
"We might want to hold off on that until Scootaloo can join us," suggested Dawn.
"Good point," agreed Rumble before stopping to think, "By the way, how good a flyer are you?"
"Competent," answered Dawn simply.
"Then maybe we should try racing after school."
"Racing..." mused Dawn, "I've never done that before."
"You'll like it," said Rumble, a smile spreading across his face as the topic of the conversation shifted to something that he liked, "I race with my brother all the time. It's nothing serious, but we improvise some obstacle courses through Whitetail Woods fairly often. It's a lot of fun."
"What's this about racin' now?" The two colts looked up to see Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle join them. Faced with the prospect of doing something fun that afternoon, Rumble gleefully explained his plan to them. Unnoticed by all, except Dawn, Scootaloo watched the proceedings with a great deal of misery and frustration.
Rainbow Dash swooped through the clear blue skies, her eyes casting around for any clouds in her area. She was working one of the sectors right up at the edge of the Everfree Forest. Sadly, it seemed that all the clouds in this space had already been rounded up. That didn't bode well in the slightest. Looking over, she saw that Cloud Chaser and Flitter were having better luck over the reservoir, where natural evaporation had upped the humidity sufficiently for condensation to occur, resulting in naturally forming clouds occasionally appearing.
For the last storm, the weather team had been able to recycle many of the shade clouds previously sent from Cloudsdale. But there hadn't been any further deliveries since, leaving the weather team to make up for the lack by clouds harvested from the wild weather of the Everfree when they drifted over. Looking out over the forest, Rainbow sighed and wished she could fly out and gather some of the clouds from over the forest instead of waiting for them to drift out into Equestrian territory. But her hooves were tied. She had even briefly considered having the weather team make their own clouds from the reservoir water. It wasn't impossible. The team's efforts would essentially amount to a simplified version of what the weather factory at Cloudsdale did anyway. But she knew that wasn't a possibility either.
The legislation governing weather management was strict. The factory owners in Cloudsdale and other pegasus cloud cities jealously guarded their monopoly over cloud production. After all, if any team of weather pegasi could make their own clouds, then the economy supporting cities like Cloudsdale would collapse. The same was true of allowing ponies to harvest weather from places like the Everfree. Weather teams were legally forbidden to do either. It was for similar reasons that there were laws in place to limit things like groundwater irrigation.
The obvious problem was that when the weather factory failed to meet its needed output, the consequences could be severe. Rainbow Dash had been forced through a small mountain of red tape just to enact the water conservation efforts she had set up. Anything more than what she could do now was a pipe dream short of actually defying the law, which would get her fired, or worse, slapped with a fine and a criminal record, something that would really put a damper on her efforts to get into the Wonderbolts.
Rainbow cast a worried glance in the direction of Cloudsdale, which was a white blur on the horizon. Things couldn't stay like this forever. They had to get better eventually...right?
Cirrus Stratus glared at the rainbow-maned mare hovering by the edge of the Everfree Forest. In the days since his wife and daughter had left him, he had sunk into a sort of angry lethargy. He could barely work up the energy to leave the house anymore, much less do important things like work. He had recently received notice of his termination at the Post Office due to the fact he hadn't come in at all. Before long, he would run out of bits to continue paying the bills. He might even lose the house at some point.
And, as far as he was concerned, there was one mare responsible for it all. Rage formed a burning lump in Cirrus's belly as he continued to stare at Rainbow Dash from the cover of a nearby stand of trees. He fully intended to find a way to give her what he felt he owed her. Then, perhaps, he would take back his wife and his daughter and live the life he was meant to.
Having had his fill of stalking, Cirrus slunk away from his cover before taking to the air, flying low until he was in Ponyville proper. He avoided contact with other ponies. Apparently word of his family leaving him had gotten out and they were taking the side of his wife and daughter, in spite of the fact they had abandoned him. Cirrus let out a low growl. He would show them. He would show them all.
The stallion returned home, oblivious to the fact that he himself had been watched. High above, a different pegasus stallion wearing a silk shirt wheeled about and returned to the section of sky he was supposed to be patrolling.
The Whitetail Woods were looking...desiccated. The last rainstorm had been reserved for Ponyville's farming community, which meant that, aside from the forest's maple grove (cultivated for their sap), the forest had been left untouched. The trees, hardy after many years of growth, looked relatively healthy, though their leaves were beginning to droop. But the grass, save for the little growing along the banks of the various streams and brooks that wandered through the woods, was beginning to turn brown and wilt. Many of the wildflowers had already wilted away, making the forest look considerably more barren. The result resembled a locale caught in a disjointed position between different seasons, the trees still looking much like they did in the present late summer while the grass and other plants looked as though they were going through fall.
In spite of this, or perhaps because of it, the wood was still a beautiful and scenic place and the group of foals could hardly keep their eyes from wandering as they traveled along one of its many paths. "So you and your brother race through here?" asked Sweetie Belle.
Rumble nodded shyly. "We do it almost every Saturday. It's a lot of fun."
"But Ah thought ya didn't like racin' or any of that other sports stuff," Apple Bloom pointed out. It was true. Rumble frequently avoided joining any actual competitions, even those meant for foals his age.
Rumble sighed. "It's fun racing my brother because we're just playing and having fun. I actually tried one of those official competitions once and I totally hated it. Everypony was obsessed with winning. It was like none of them really liked what they were doing unless they won, so winning was all that mattered. It was scary, so I dropped out before it even started."
"So you just enjoy racing for its own sake then," said Dawn, "Win or lose, the outcome is unimportant so long as you enjoy the experience."
Rumble nodded slowly and uncertainly. Dawn actually sat down, his hoof to his chin in thought. "That is actually quite profound," he mumbled, thinking it over.
Perhaps this is the sort of state of mind that I seek, he thought to himself, I have largely studied the Gale King as a means to an end, that end being a way to protect and defend myself. To that extent I have pursued the mechanical aspects of the style as far as I can. But perhaps what I need is to allow myself to be absorbed into the act of practicing itself. If Rumble races not because he sees a race as a competition, but as something to be experienced purely for its own sake, then perhaps I can try something similar. A fight is another form of competition in its essence. A slight smile spread across Dawn's face as he thought he might have stumbled across some important secret.
"Um, Dawn?" asked Apple Bloom, waving her hoof before the colt's vacant eyes, unaware of his epiphany, "Are ya in there?"
"Oh, sorry," said Dawn, snapping out of his reverie, "Let's continue."
As the quartet started walking again, an orange and purple figure took up a position behind them. Scootaloo followed the group at a cautious distance, watching and listening to everything, her expression still forlorn. She wanted to approach, but her feelings of shame and guilt stopped her. She was sure that Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle would push her away again. And she couldn't even look Rumble in the eye anymore.
For the first time, Scootaloo understood what Rumble must have gone through every time he had tried to join them, only to have his attempts arrested by her angry glares and barbed comments. It felt horrible. The feeling only compounded her sense of shame.
In actuality, all four of the foals had been uncertain about Scootaloo's position. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle both remained very unhappy about Scootaloo's behavior and had adamantly decided against inviting her unless she specifically apologized. However, it was clear that their hearts weren't in it and they were clearly disappointed when Scootaloo failed to make any effort to make amends before the foursome had made for the forest. Rumble hadn't said anything on the topic before they left, but it was clear that he wasn't certain he wanted to speak with the pegasus filly again, lest he trigger another outburst like the previous day's. Dawn kept his thoughts to himself. His efforts to make himself more open to the feelings of others had succeeded in apparently forging the beginnings of a connection with Rumble. But he was still uncertain about what he could do to help the overall situation with Scootaloo. So, he waited and silently kept track of her as she followed along silently behind them at the very edge of his awareness.
The group stopped at a small clearing, where Rumble pointed out a pair of trees standing side by side with a pair of red ribbons tied around their trunks. "That's the starting line," he said with a happy smile. Rumble began to lay out the course that wound its way through the forest. It was a ground-level course that used the trees as fixed obstacles, with the ribbons denoting where to go. The red ribbons marked the starting point and also signaled parts of the course where the flyer had to go straight. A yellow ribbon meant a left turn. A green ribbon meant a right turn. A series of trees, marked with pink ribbons, indicated a slalom where the fliers had to weave between the trunks until the pink ribbons ended.
"So ya run this course every time ya race yer brother?" asked Apple Bloom. While the layout was impressive, the fixed position of the trees meant the course couldn't be varied in structure, unlike the ones made from clouds that pegasi normally used.
"Why don't you use clouds?" asked Sweetie Belle, "Then you could use as much airspace as you wanted and set up whatever course you liked." That much was true. Official pegasi courses, not to mention training ones, ran the gamut from simple circular tracks where speed was essential, to mind-boggling pieces of architecture that utilized the three-dimensional potential of pegasus flight to its absolute limit. Everything from daring loops to carefully constructed perspective puzzles that used the fact that most clouds essentially looked alike to hide twists and turns was conceivable. Compared to all that, the relatively mundane tree course set up by Rumble and his brother seemed tame by comparison.
"I wish we could. But clouds like that have to be requisitioned from the weather factory in Cloudsdale. And they're expensive. My brother can't afford anything like that. Hay, even Rainbow Dash can't afford it and she's the manager." Rumble let out a defeated sigh before brightening back up. "But this is good enough for me. My brother even gets Cloud Chaser and Flitter to change up the ribbons without us knowing sometimes. That way we can be surprised when we race."
"Interesting," muttered Dawn, thinking about it. His realization was immediate. Thunderlane was, in essence, training his brother in advanced flying skills. The ribbons served as signals to indicate the path the course took. Changing them up kept Rumble and Thunderlane from memorizing the course, which meant that Rumble had to look for and understand the signals and respond to them immediately, lest he lose ground. The fact that it was a race kept Rumble from slowing down if he had difficulty understanding where he was supposed to go. It was the kind of training that would serve Rumble well in almost any pegasus job. His brother seems to be the thoughtful sort.
"So are you familiar with the layout of this course?" asked Dawn, looking at his soon-to-competitor.
"Yeah," Rumble looked down, "My brother and I ran it just this Saturday. But that was just the first time. I'm sorry, but I didn't think about racing you until just today, so I couldn't get anypony to change it up."
Dawn tilted his head. "That's fine. If I can read the signals, it shouldn't be a problem. Shall we get started then?"
"Sure. Let's get stretched out first." Rumble began to go through a series of warmups and stretches that showed he was quite experienced with the physical side of flying.
Dawn simply rolled his wings and fluttered them to shake out his joints, stretching his muscles only slightly. His Master had taught him ways to keep his muscles supple and ready, even during periods of extended inactivity. "In the real world, you will rarely have the time to limber up for a fight. Your enemies won't give you the luxury of going through your stretches. You must learn to maintain a state of physical readiness, able to respond at even the slightest provocation."
It was a lesson that had served Dawn well in his life, both before and during his sojourn in the Everfree. After all, many of the angry ponies seeking his life and the monsters of the forest looking for the same never gave him any warning before they struck.
By the time Rumble was finished, Dawn was waiting for him at the starting line. Rumble was a little worried, hoping that his opponent didn't pull a muscle or otherwise injure himself because of his lack of preparation. In spite of that, he resolved to do his best and took his place. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom stood on either side of the pair. Behind them, Scootaloo slowly paced into the center of the clearing, her eyes following them intently.
"Ready!" squealed Sweetie Belle, raising her hoof.
"Set!" shouted Apple Bloom, mirroring her friend.
The two fillies took a moment to share a glance before grinning. Thanks to the excitement of this race, they were able to forget their fight with Scootaloo, if only briefly. But anger and hardship could wait for a little bit. They had made a new friend and it was time to watch him do what he did best.
Their hooves descended as their voices shouted out as one. "GO!!!"
"What's the big deal with dragging us all out here Thunderlane?" asked Rainbow Dash, giving her friend and subordinate a mock glare.
"Oh come on boss," protested the stallion with a slight grin, "It's not like there are any clouds for us to find right now. We must've all gone over our assigned sectors a dozen times by now. Besides, look..." He jabbed down sharply with his hoof, indicating the woods below them.
Following his instructions, Rainbow Dash gazed down. She and Thunderlane weren't the only pegasi hovering over the Whitetail Woods at the moment. They had already been joined by Thunderlane's fillyfriend, Cloud Chaser, who in turn had been joined by her sister, Flitter. Blossomforth and Cloud Kicker also showed up to see what all the hubbub was about with Storm Front swooping silently in from above, his presence barely a footnote to the group.
Below them, Rainbow Dash was surprised to see a small group of foals standing in a clearing. There were five. In the clearing proper were Rumble and Dawn, along with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. Hanging back behind them a short ways was Scootaloo. Rainbow felt her heart lurch when she saw the bright orange filly, who was clearly still forlorn with the events of the previous day.
"This is the first time Rumble's brought anypony from school out here," explained Thunderlane, "This is huge!"
Cloud Chaser giggled and gently nuzzled into her coltfriend's neck. "Aw, you're just so happy to see Rumble make some friends."
"You bet I am," proclaimed Thunderlane, grinning from ear to ear.
"What's so big about this place though?" asked Cloud Kicker, looking down dubiously.
Thunderlane gave them an enthusiastic explanation of the course he had set up. Rainbow Dash was duly impressed with the idea. After all, she had spent much of her time honing her agility in Applejack's orchards, dodging between trees. She was surprised by Thunderlane's audacity. The rather random arrangement of the trees of the Whitetail Woods was a far cry from the neatly spaced rows of apple trees that made up the orchards of Sweet Apple Acres. This kind of course was substantially riskier to run.
"You and I are gonna have to run this thing a few times," Rainbow said with an eager smirk as she glanced at Thunderlane, "I can't believe you kept such a wicked course all to yourselves."
Thunderlane blushed. "Well, I thought it would be a good idea. Rumble needs something to put all his energy into."
Flitter and Cloud Chaser both giggled knowingly.
"Hey!" exclaimed Cloud Kicker, "It looks like Rumble and the new colt are gonna race."
"Really?" exclaimed Thunderlane. This was an unexpected development. Rumble normally wasn't competitive in the slightest. Even the races between him and Thunderlane were purely for fun and the young colt couldn't care less who won and got his enjoyment from putting forth his best effort. Ideally, that was the perfect attitude for a race, but given the highly competitive nature of pegasus society, it was rarely enough. To see Rumble racing against somepony other than his brother was completely unprecedented.
"Oh, they're at the starting line," whispered Blossomforth, apparently forgetting that they were already several dozen meters up and didn't have to worry about being noticed unless she began to shout.
Sure enough, Dawn and Rumble were at the starting line, with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle eagerly giving the countdown. Everypony focused their attention on the two competitors, save Rainbow Dash, who once again flicked her eyes towards the isolated Scootaloo, who watched the whole affair from a distance. They watched and saw the signal. However, the beginning of the race was so swift, almost everypony missed it.
Rumble's eyes threatened to pop from their sockets in shock at what he witnessed. One moment, Dawn was standing next to him on the starting line. As Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom dropped their hooves, it was like watching a frame skip on a film reel. Before he even realized it, Dawn was several meters ahead of him and pulling away rapidly. It was like the colt had teleported away from the starting line and was now hurtling down the course at top speed.
Gritting his teeth, Rumble put all his strength into his wings, surging forward, even as he tucked his legs in and pushed his snout out, trying desperately to get as streamlined as possible. As he strained to his absolute limits, he was rewarded with the sight of Dawn, who was no longer pulling away as quickly. Before long, Dawn was no longer pulling away and now the gap between the two colts was beginning to close. Rumble was gaining ground. In spite of his absurdly fast start, it was clear that Dawn was slower than Rumble in terms of pure speed.
For the time being, they proceeded straight ahead, their path indicated by the occasional red ribbon dangling from a tree trunk. However, the first turn was coming up fast. Rumble remembered this well enough from the first time had run the course and angled his wings to take the turn without losing speed.
Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom gaped as they watched the colts surge off. Dawn and Rumble were swiftly receding in the distance. An unpleasant realization dawned on Sweetie Belle. "How are we gonna watch them if we're on the ground like this? I can't see a thing anymore."
Apple Bloom thought about it, tapping her chin thoughtfully. Looking around, she spotted a nearby hilltop, one that looked like it might have a good view of the course in its entirety. "Over there," she shouted. The two fillies wasted no time in rushing off to find the vantage point.
Scootaloo lifted a hoof to follow them before reconsidering. The other two fillies were likely still sore about the way Scootaloo had treated Rumble the previous day. She didn't feel like confronting them just yet. Instead, she tried to figure out a different way to watch the race. Her wings twitched and a smile spread across her face as an idea solidified her in her mind. Scootaloo spread her wings and with a single, sweeping downstroke, shot upwards.
The orange filly rocketed upwards. As she reached the apex of her flight, she lifted her wings and swept them down again, sending her higher still. Reaching the apex of her second ascent, she could see Dawn and Rumble clearly as they streaked between the tree trunks. Leveling out her wings, Scootaloo began to apply her other lessons. Just like the other day in the schoolyard. Instead of descending, she used her magic to hover in the air.
Without the ground directly beneath her to provide a certain sense of stability, Scootaloo wobbled considerably as she glided through the air in a rather ungainly manner. Working desperately, she was able to stabilize herself enough that she could focus her eyes on the race below. Moving her wings carefully, Scootaloo drifted into a slow pursuit that would keep the two colts in her sight.
The first turn of the race arrived so swiftly that, even though he had been expecting it, Rumble nearly missed it. He barely got a glimpse of yellow showing on his left. He angled his wings, leaning heavily into the turn but allowing himself to swing around so as to come out of the turn with most of his speed intact. It was a tricky move to pull off in the cramped confines of the forest, but Rumble succeeded admirably...
...And was very nearly sent tumbling by the shockwave as Dawn surged past him on the inside. The Dawn's sudden acceleration caught Rumble completely off guard. He was floored. Pulling off such a tight turn at these high speeds should have been impossible. But now, Dawn was once again surging ahead and Rumble was forced to pour all of his strength into catching up.
"Sweet Celestia!" shouted Cloud Kicker, rearing back in shock, "Did you see that?"
"Saw it," replied Blossomforth, her voice hollow with awe, "Still working on believing."
Even Rainbow Dash, experienced racer and stunt flyer that she was, was stunned by the display. Rumble's turn had been functionally perfect, the kind of turn she would have pulled off in the same situation. But Dawn once again seemed to vanish at the corner, only for the watchers' eyes to catch up to him once again as he hurtled through the next straightaway. She hadn't been able to see what move the ebony colt had pulled off, but the results couldn't be argued with.
If he can teach Scootaloo to fly like that, she's gonna be amazing.
Rainbow zeroed in her focus on Dawn, watching as he and Rumble approached the next turn. It happened so quickly, Rainbow wasn't entirely sure what he did. Dawn twisted sideways, bringing his wings up for a powerful downstroke. As he passed the tree marked with a green ribbon, his hooves seemed to lash out at nothing. In perfect synchronicity, Dawn's wings rushed down and he shot off to the right. Once again, Rainbow briefly lost sight of him as he accelerated out of her field of vision before finding him again.
"Uh oh," groaned Thunderlane, pressing and embarrassed hoof to his forehead.
Wondering what he was talking about, Rainbow turned her attention to Rumble and gasped to see that the poor colt had stumbled at the last turn, apparently catching it too late to react and was now struggling to regain the ground he had lost.
Rumble's cheeks were flushed in embarrassment. He had been so focused on Dawn, he had forgotten to pay attention to the course itself. When the right turn had come, Dawn vanished from his vision like a mirage. Rumble noticed the ribbon a split second later. But it was too late to react. He shot wide and banked heavily into the turn. Before he could resume flying at full speed, he had to reorient himself and find his way back onto the course. It was a grievous error, one that had cost him a great deal of ground as Dawn continued to lengthen his lead.
With a frustrated growl, Rumble beat his wings and rushed to catch up to the colt. What's wrong with me? It had been months since the last time he had stumbled over a turn like that. These days, even when Flitter and Cloud Chaser had freshly reset the course, Rumble had little difficulty adjusting to the changes just by looking for the ribbons that marked the path he was supposed to take. Having gone through this process dozens of times now, Rumble knew how to look for and recognize the signals as they came. There was no reason for him to be slipping up this badly. If things continued like this, Dawn would only widen his lead further.
Dawn! That's it! I'm getting way too worked up about him. I'm so fixed on what Dawn's doing I'm losing my focus. In the friendly races with his brother, Rumble had always been able to absorb his consciousness into the act of racing itself, without sparing a thought for his opponent. When he was flying, it was just him and the course, with no need to worry about anything else. Racing with someone other than his brother had made that abundantly clear.
Taking an enormous risk, Rumble closed his eyes. He took a deep breath and pushed Dawn's presence in the race out of his mind. When he opened his eyes, he felt fully in control. The next turn was coming. Rumble took it without the slightest hesitation, his focus narrowed and his sharp eyes already scanning for the next ribbon.
"Looks like your brother's got his head back in the game," observed Cloud Kicker with a wide smile as the race progressed.
"Whoo hoo!" shouted Cloud Chaser, pulling an exultant loop, "Go for it kiddo!"
The pegasi of the weather team continued to watch the race with abject fascination. Dawn had gained a sizable lead, thanks to Rumble tripping up on the second turn. He continued to take corners with ridiculous agility. In spite of this, Rumble was actually beginning to close the gap again, his sheer speed allowing him to overcome the advantage of Dawn's ludicrous dexterity.
Rainbow Dash watched carefully as Dawn approached the slalom, almost missing the light hoof tapping on her shoulder. Looking over, she saw Storm Front hovering next to her. Storm Front silently gestured with his hoof, drawing Rainbow's attention to a patch of sky over the forest. Her eyes widened at what she saw, a small orange and purple filly soaring in a rather ungainly manner over the course, her eyes fixed downwards.
Rainbow's eyes widened at the sight. She exchanged a glance with Storm Front, who nodded silently as she quietly withdrew from the cloud of watching ponies. When she was far enough away, Rainbow Dash sped up and rushed back to town. She needed to talk to Pinkie Pie about something.
Rumble had nearly caught up to Dawn. He now had the other colt in sight as he rounded the next turn. Up ahead were the trees marked with pink ribbons, indicating the slalom. Rumble narrowed his eyes in concentration. If he did this right he could minimize the shifts he had to make and go through the obstacles without losing the slightest momentum.
Dawn banked slightly to get around the first tree. Swiftly, he kicked out and shot sideways through the gap between the first two. As he did so, he kicked in the opposite direction, halting his sideways momentum before launching himself sideways in the opposite direction. Too late, Dawn realized his mistake. His method, while blindingly fast, was abrupt and wasted a great deal of energy as he was forced to skip from side to side. With each movement, he was overcompensating for the previous one, losing precious time as he shuffled back and forth between the trees.
Rumble, on the other hoof, flowed between the trees as naturally as water around rocks. Easily adjusting and drifting into each slalom, he sped through the obstacles easily, barely different than flying in a straight line. The tips of his feathers brushed ever so slightly against the rough bark as he shot past the trees. Coming in low, he cut under Dawn and continued on, taking the lead for the first time.
"The new kid didn't do so well on the slalom," noted Cloud Chaser as she watched.
"Rumble's going to win!" exclaimed Flitter jubilantly.
"It's not over yet," Blossomforth pointed out, "They have a ways to go before they reach the finish line."
"Rumble's faster," observed Cloud Kicker as her eyes followed the competitors, "But that other kid's got some crazy moves. If he can get enough of a lead through the turns, he might be able to avoid being overtaken on the final straightaway."
"Hmm," mused Thunderlane, "What do you think, Rainbow Dash?" Silence greeted his query. Looking up, Thunderlane blinked in confusion, looking around for the rainbow-maned pegasus, who was nowhere to be seen. "Rainbow?"
Rumble's field of vision narrowed. He didn't notice the scenery in the slightest. The world around him narrowed to the trees before him and the ribbons marking the course. He drifted into a turn around a yellow ribbon, which was almost immediately followed by a green one, then another yellow, sending the course into a vicious S-curve that could send him careening off into the surrounding foliage if he wasn't careful. Once again, he felt the shockwave of Dawn's sudden acceleration wash against him as a black streak with silver highlights shot past him, Dawn's cornering allowing him to make up for the time he lost on the slalom.
Rumble could care less. He spared no thought for the other colt and focused all his strength into his wings, pushing himself harder than he ever had before. Once again, he pulled past Dawn on the latest straightaway, only for the colt to gain again on the next turn. As it was, they were neck and neck.
Rumble's coat was soaked with sweat. The muscles powering his wings were burning from exertion. Here came the last turn. Rumble leaned into it as hard as he could. He could feel the strain on his wings nearly double. Once again, he felt the burst of air as Dawn took the same turn, shooting past Rumble on the inside. The gray colt felt a brief twinge of anxiety, but forced it down. Sparing any thought for his opponent would distract his focus. Instead, Rumble focused on drawing out every last ounce of strength he had. His wings beat a furious tempo as he accelerated down the final straightaway.
Dawn was just ahead. Then they were right next to one another. Agonizingly, Rumble began to pull ahead, first by a nose, then a head. By the time they shot through the final pair of flags, Rumble was leading by half a body length.
The two colts flared their wings. Rumble's hooves skidded across the ground as he failed to fully cancel his momentum before he landed. Dawn managed to make a much more controlled landing and settled to a complete stop the moment his hooves touched dirt.
Rumble's legs shook nearly giving out as the rush of adrenaline faded, leaving him feeling tired, woozy and like all his bones had been replaced by jelly. All told, there were worse sensations he could be dealing with. Right now, all he wanted to do was collapse to the ground and not get up until his body felt like a solid object again.
As it was, he really did collapse when Sweetie Belle slammed into him like a white bullet, knocking Rumble off his hooves as she tackled him in a fierce hug. "Congratulations!" she exclaimed, practically squealing in her excitement.
"Ya both put up a mighty good show," Apple Bloom weighed in, smiling widely as she trotted into the clearing, "Ah was bitin' mah hooves at how close it was."
"Sweetie..." gasped Rumble as he struggled extricate himself from the unicorn's embrace, "...air!"
With a gasp, Sweetie Belle released the poor colt and jumped back. As she did, her mind reflected on the situation she had just been in and she flushed a brilliant red. "I-oh...I'm so sorry Rumble I didn't mean to..."
A hoof steadied Rumble's shoulder and helped him up into a sitting position. Looking over, Rumble saw that Dawn was helping him sit up. "That was an excellent race," he said simply.
"Thanks," panted Rumble, suddenly aware of the fact that for all his efforts, Dawn didn't seem to be breathing very hard. In fact, he looked nowhere near as tired as Rumble did. Rumble found himself frowning. "You didn't take it easy on me, did you?"
Dawn shook his head. "No. In fact, I haven't exerted myself like that in some time."
"Then how come you're hardly even breathing hard?" asked Rumble, his tone accusing.
"Breathing techniques," replied Dawn simply, "I've been taught how to control my breathing to help recover from exertion and to even allow me to exert myself further than I already have."
"Huh," mused Rumble. That actually sounded pretty useful. "Could you teach me how to do that?"
"Certainly. They aren't the most difficult skills to learn." Dawn stepped aside and allowed Rumble to use his side to help him rise to a standing position.
"In any case," said Rumble, "That was pretty fun. We should do it again some time."
Dawn found himself returning the other colt's smile. "That sounds like a good idea." He extended a tentative hoof. "So...friends?"
Rumble looked down at the hoof for a moment before raising his own and bumping them together. "Friends."
Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were beaming at the display. However, their attention was drawn by the sound of rushing air and hooves smacking into the dirt. Looking over, they saw Scootaloo settling onto the ground, looking surprisingly tired herself.
An uncomfortable silence fell over the clearing. For a moment, the only sound audible was that of Rumble's still heavy breathing, which was almost matched by Scootaloo's. She stood stock still before finally beginning to walk slowly over to where Rumble stood, her face lowered to the ground, refusing to meet Rumble's eyes, her expression unreadable. When Scootaloo came to a stop in front of Rumble, she slowly looked up.
Their eyes met. Rumble flinched away instinctually, his subconscious expecting another round of verbal abuse. However, what he saw in Scootaloo's eyes gave him pause. Her anger and resentment were gone, replaced by sorrow. "Rumble..."
Her voice was barely a whisper. Rumble found himself leaning forward to try and catch the next thing she said. Scootaloo squeezed her eyes shut as tears ran out of them. "I'm sorry."
Again, silence fell over the group. Scootaloo said nothing else. She merely stood quietly as tears continued to run down her cheeks. Rumble was dumbfounded, unable to find anything to say. He wasn't even sure of what to think. he never expected Scootaloo to apologize to him and certainly not like this. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom looked on with expressions of fear and concern, worried over the course things might take. As was his wont, Dawn observed impassively, simply waiting patiently for the next step in the sequence of events.
In spite of his expressionless face, Dawn's insides churned. Now that he had become friends with Rumble, having felt a bond forming between the two of them in their race, he found himself hoping that Rumble would accept Scootaloo's apology. He also found the expression of fear and guilt on her face deeply uncomfortable to look at. The whole thing struck him as strangely familiar, quite similar to how Applejack had apologized to him over a week ago.
Slowly, Rumble lifted up one wing and brushed his feathers ever so gently against Scootaloo's cheek, gently wiping away her tears. Scootaloo's eyes opened tentatively at the touch and she looked up to see warmth and acceptance in Rumble's eyes as he gave her an encouraging smile. "Thank you," he said, "And I forgive you."
Before any more could be said, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom tackled the orange filly simultaneously, sending the trio into a complex tumble before settling into a three-way embrace. Scootaloo hugged her best friends fiercely, tears once again flowing freely.
"Don't ya ever do somethin' like that again ya big chicken!" cried Apple Bloom. Sweetie Belle said nothing and simply chose to gently nuzzle Scootaloo, who simply held her friends all the tighter.
Dawn looked on and felt the beginnings of a smile tugging at his lips. He was starting to feel relieved and briefly wondered if this was what Red River had been talking about. He certainly felt nowhere near as empty as he did before.
Rumble also smiled as he watched the Crusaders make up with each other. Part of him felt a little guilty that he had indirectly been the cause, or at least the catalyst, for their temporary breakup. He felt much better knowing that they were happy and together.
Thunderlane wiped a tear from his eye as he watched the tender scene play out below them. He had initially planned on heading down to congratulate his little brother on his victory, but stopped when he saw Scootaloo arrive. Rainbow Dash had reported the incident between the two foals to him yesterday. While Thunderlane had been angry with Scootaloo, he had allowed Rainbow to be the one who handled the affair. As it turned out, it had been the right thing to do.
"Looks like things are turning out alright," said Cloud Chaser, who had stooped down with him. She gently nuzzled her coltfriend's cheek. The fact that Thunderlane wasn't afraid to show that gentle, sentimental side of himself was one of the things she loved about the stallion, although she would never outright say as much.
"Yeah," agreed Thunderlane, deciding to give the foals some privacy, "We should get back to work."
Cloud Chaser nodded and the two of them flew up to join the rest of their team.
The afternoon having been spent, the group of five foals went their separate ways, their hearts lighter now that the affair with Scootaloo and Rumble had been resolved. Dawn soared along on his way back home, riding the thermals rising off the ground as the sun set. His wings were a bit worn out from all the exercise they had gotten that day, but he was still a ways from being completely exhausted.
"Hey Dawn!" Looking around, Dawn saw Rainbow Dash hovering nearby.
"How can I help you Rainbow Dash?"
"Actually, I wanted to ask about Scootaloo," said Rainbow as Dawn coasted to a halt, hovering in the air without actually flapping his wings, "About that thing with Rumble?"
"They made up," answered Dawn simply, "She apologized after the race today."
Rainbow let out a relieved sigh. "That's great. With all that' happened, I so did not want that hanging over everypony's heads."
"With all that's happened?" asked Dawn, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh right," blurted Rainbow, "I actually wanted to tell you something else. This is kinda big, so we might need to talk for a while."
"Why don't we go to mom-my home," suggested Dawn.
Hearing Dawn refer to Fluttershy's quaint cottage as his home caused a warm feeling to build in Rainbow's chest. "Sure. I wanted to talk to your mom about this too. Let's go!" The two pegasi resumed their flight, now heading straight for Fluttershy and Dawn's house.
Twilight's studies were interrupted by a knock on the door. Lifting her nose away from the books, the librarian made her way to the door and opened it to reveal a gasping Ditzy Doo, resting on top of a rather large crate. "Special delivery," wheezed the gray mare as her eyes spun about their sockets.
"Oh no! Ditzy! Are you alight?" asked Twilight, "You shouldn't be handling packages that large. It's not safe."
"I'm...fine," gasped the exhausted mailmare. In spite of her protests, Twilight quickly grabbed Ditzy with her magic and levitated her into the library. She quickly situated Ditzy on some cushions while she went to the kitchen to fetch some water.
After ministering to her guest, Twilight turned back to the door and examined the crate. It was a little too large to fit through the door itself, so Twilight decided to teleport it in. A few seconds and two bursts of violet light later and the crate was sitting on the floor in the center of the library. Twilight used her magic to pry off the screws holding the top down and lifted it away to reveal several books, binders and folders
"Oh!" exclaimed the lavender unicorn with a gleeful squeal, "These must be the texts Princess Celestia promised me. Now I can start my research. I'll have to let Dawn know right away."
"Hey Twilight, what's going on down there?" asked Spike, peeking his head over the balcony that looked down from their bedroom, "Whoa! You didn't order a bunch of books behind my back again did you?"
"No Spike," deadpanned Twilight, "This is all the information the ponies in the royal archives were able to dig up on the Eyes of Nightmare. With these, we can get to work on figuring out just what they are and where they came from. Hopefully, we can destroy the Cult Solar's credibility, which should give Dawn some peace of mind."
Spike nodded and stood up, groaning a little, arching his back and rolling his shoulders with a pop. "Okay, I'll come down there and help you get those sorted out."
Twilight looked up at her assistant with more than a little concern. "Are you sure Spike? Your shoulders don't still hurt do they?"
"They're still sore," answered the dragon calmly, "But it's nothing I can't handle."
"What's wrong?" asked Ditzy as she looked up from her water.
"Ah, it's nothing big," said Spike as he descended, "A couple days ago, I started getting this ache in my shoulders. It's not too bad, but it does get a little itchy once in a while."
"Oh." Finished with her water, Ditzy got up and headed for the door. "I have to get back to work. Have a nice day you two."
"Bye Ditzy," said Spike waving.
"Don't overwork yourself," added Twilight as Ditzy took to the air, waving a hoof in acknowledgment.
Working together, Twilight and Spike laid out the various tomes, scrolls, binders and other assorted packets of information that constituted everything contained in the Royal Archives that pertained to the Eyes of Nightmare. There was a great deal of disparate information to sort through, some of it useful, much of it pointless or inconsequential.
"It's gonna take a few days to sift through all this," muttered Twilight, cracking her neck, "I'm going to have to set up for at least one all-nighter. Think you can help me with that Spike?"
Spike sighed. "I don't really have much of a choice. Just remember, you still need your rest and you need to eat, so let's not go overboard."
Twilight gave her dragon an amused smile. "I think you're right. Besides, Dawn's not having much difficulty with anypony in town, so I don't think there's much of a rush."
"What about that guy Red River picked up?" asked Spike, "The one who almost attacked Fluttershy."
"He's still in custody right now. It might be one or two more days before anyone from Colt Hollow comes to check up on him, which gives us a pretty generous margin given the distances involved." Twilight grinned. "We'll be fine. Just to be on the safe side, could you head down to Fluttershy's and let her and Dawn know that all this just came in?"
"No need." Before Spike could even open his mouth to answer, the library's front door opened to reveal Dawn and Rainbow Dash, who trotted in, looking in awe at all the material Twilight had laid out.
"Wow, is this all about Dawn's eyes?" asked Rainbow.
Twilight shrugged. "For the most part. The Princess had the ponies working the archives go over them for every scrap of information pertaining to the Eyes of Nightmare that they could find. I think they may have gone through and pulled out every scrap that even mentioned the Eyes in order to come up with this amount of material.
"I'll be honest with you. Most of it isn't going to be of much use to us. I highly suspect that there's a lot of pointless speculation, some more drivel from the Cult Solar and the occasional off-hoofed mention. There probably isn't going to be a lot that could tell us about the nature of the Eyes themselves. That we're going to have to some studying to find out."
"Then what is the purpose of all this?" asked Dawn, gesturing to the texts.
"The biggest thing I hope to find is information concerning other ponies who may share your condition. There are a lot of anomalies cropping up with your situation, Dawn. I suspect that your condition is unique." Twilight paused for a moment. "Or...at least unique past the basic fact that the Eyes themselves are quite unique. With any luck, we'll be able to confirm the identities of other ponies with the eyes and, with further research and, if we're lucky, contact these ponies ourselves and get the particulars of their conditions. If we can glean any of that information from this mess, we'll be off to a good start."
"I see," said Dawn simply.
"By the way," added Twilight, "Now that we have the information, in a couple of days, I'd like to have you come over so we can start more in-depth studies of your own eyes. With the instruments in my lab we can get all sorts of data I can't get by myself."
"Sounds like a blast, Twilight," said Rainbow Dash quickly, "Actually, there's something else I wanted to talk to you about. Do you think you could help us with something?"
Twilight blinked. "Sure. Just what is it?"
Rainbow scratched her mane. "Well, we were on our way to Fluttershy's place to talk to her about it when I realized we could use your help to. You see...something pretty big just came up..."
Scootaloo suppressed a yawn as she landed clumsily in her front yard. She was worn out from finishing the last of the twenty repetitions that Dawn required of her for the day. She had indeed been experimenting with her descents and had gotten him to coach her a little earlier that afternoon. Aside from that, she had spent the afternoon with the other Cutie Mark Crusaders in their multiple attempts to find something that would identify their cutie marks. Their group was now five strong with the addition of both Dawn and Rumble, both of whom were often quite content to simply watch the antics of the three fillies, rather than get involved themselves. Dawn in particular seemed in no hurry to find his cutie mark and apparently didn't understand the appeal of tree sap.
A slight smile spread across Scootaloo's face. Things felt so much better after she had apologized to Rumble the day before yesterday. She had to admit that, once she had let go of her issues, he was a fun colt to hang around. Although she didn't have the same feelings Rumble apparently felt for her. At the very least, she was resolved to talk to him about it at some point and let him down gently, rather than lead him on.
A rush of air ruffling her mane told Scootaloo that another pegasus had settled down on the ground behind her. Turning around, she was hit by an unsettling feeling of deja-vu when she saw Rainbow Dash standing on the ground behind her.
"Squirt," she said, her tone stern, "We need to talk."
The churning feeling in Scootaloo's stomach doubled at those words. This was playing out almost exactly like the other night, where Rainbow had scolded her for her attitude towards Rumble. What's she mad about this time? fretted the orange filly, She didn't find out about our plan to get lightning bolt cutie marks did she?
Rainbow rested a stern hoof across Scootaloo's shoulder. "I saw what you did the other day. We need to talk to your mom about this."
What I did? Scootaloo wondered. She wondered if Rainbow meant her apologizing to Rumble. But wasn't that a good thing? Why would she be acting so harsh about Scootaloo doing something she had wanted her to do?
"Lets go squirt. Come on, get a move on." Rainbow began prodding Scootaloo up to the front porch, before opening the door for her and shoving her inside.
Two things immediately occurred to Scootaloo. First, Rainbow had never let herself in like that before. She would always knock and wait for Melon Cream or Scootaloo to open the door for her so she wouldn't be intruding. Second, the house was completely dark. Even though the sun had only just started setting, the house was usually still lit when she came home. Scootaloo's body tensed as these two off factors made her even more wary than Rainbow's strange mood had.
And then the lights came on. Their harsh brightness caught the filly's eyes, which had already been trying to adjust to the darkness, and dazzled them. Scootaloo had to blink hard to readjust her vision. But just as she was trying to recover from the sudden visual stimulus, her ears were assaulted by the shout of a single word rising from a multitude of voices with a force that threatened to send her tumbling back out through the front door. The word itself stunned her more than anything else.
"SURPRISE!!!"
Unlike their old house, the front door of the new house Scootaloo and her mother occupied opened straight up into the living room, a living room that was now festooned with streamers, confetti and banners of a variety of colors, shapes and sizes. Two small tables were set up with punch and treats, while another held a small stack of presents. A single large banner hung over the center of the room, its brilliant orange color matching Scootaloo's coat, while the fuchsia letters spelling out CONGRATULATIONS matched her mane.
Scootaloo reeled in shock for a moment. Rainbow's little prank had gone off perfectly, leaving her completely unguarded for the actual surprise announcement. Her confusion was compounded by the fact that she was uncertain as to what this party was about. It certainly couldn't have been about her making up with Rumble. A look at the array of ponies attending didn't give her any hints. Rainbow and Melon Cream were there, of course, as was Dawn, looking strangely proud, Rumble, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom and their older siblings, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, who had undoubtedly been the one to set up the party, Twilight and Spike, and a number of ponies from the weather team. None of this really helped Scootaloo figure out just what the party was for.
"Uh hey," said Scootaloo meekly, giving the group a shy wave, "What's the occasion?"
Everypony stared at her for a moment. Rainbow spoke up from behind her. "Squirt, this is your First Flight Party. Remember? I promised you one."
"First...Flight...?" Scootaloo blinked in confusion.
"Yeah Scoots," said Rainbow, chuckling, "It was just the other day, while you were watching that race. Remember?"
Scootaloo thought about it. She remembered leaping up to get a bird's-eye view of the race and then using her magic to stay up there instead of descend. Suddenly, it clicked in her head. She had been...
"Squirt, you were flying."
Scootaloo froze as comprehension washed over her. That day, rather than simply return to the ground like she had all the other times she had performed the second exercise, she had actually used her magic to maintain her altitude. At the time, it hadn't even occurred to her. She had been so fixated on the race and her need to apologize to Rumble that she hadn't given any thought whatsoever to the fact that she had indeed taken flight.
"I...flew..." Those words felt like magic in and of themselves. Just saying them made Scootaloo's heart beat faster. "I flew." Scootaloo began to tremble with excitement, a powerful sense of euphoria making her feel as though she weighed nothing.
"I FLEW!!!" All other thoughts departing, Scootaloo rushed and flung herself at her mother, who caught the filly in a tight embrace as Scootaloo nuzzled energetically into her chest. "Mom! Mom! I can fly! I can finally fly!"
Both mother and daughter shed tears of joy as Melon nuzzled the top of Scootaloo's head. "I'm so proud of you dear."
"Well, now that Scootaloo's caught up, there's only one thing left to do," declared Rainbow Dash. "Lets party!" She thrust a hoof into the air. The other guests needed no further encouragement.
Cirrus Stratus hit the ground, stumbling forward a few steps after failing to completely kill his momentum before landing. Looking up, he saw his mother looking down at him from the front porch of their home. Her dispassionate expression alone wasn't enough to wilt the colt's exuberance like it usually was. This time he had done something great. This time, he was sure, she would be proud of him; his father too.
"Mom! Did you see it? I flew! I made my First Flight!"
Mother sighed before nodding. "I did see Cirrus. And to be honest, I think you could have done better. Your efforts were clumsy at best. How can you possibly hold that up as a First Flight."
Cirrus tilted his head, confused. "Because it's the first time I flew."
Mother shook her head again. "No Cirrus. You are destined for greatness. A colt with a pedigree like yours cannot have such an embarrassing First Flight. If you showed that to other ponies now, you would making a laughingstock of us. Is that what you want? Do you want to bring shame on your family by making such an utterly lackluster effort and calling that your First Flight?"
She shook her head and slammed a hoof onto the cloud porch. "Absolutely not! You will not speak of this again until you have learned to fly properly. Am I understood?"
Cirrus shrank under his mother's glare, his ears going back. "Yes mom."
Cirrus glared at the house his wife inhabited. It seemed that glaring and glowering was all that he did anymore. He couldn't approach. Melon Cream had already filed the restraining order. Coming within a certain distance of her or Scootaloo would earn him a trip to prison. And so, Cirrus was stuck watching his wife and his daughter like some kind of outsider. It was mortifying.
Inside, he could see the silhouettes of ponies moving about as they celebrated his daughter's First Flight. It was a momentous milestone for any young pegasus, rivaling the importance of receiving a cutie mark. Had it been up to him, there would have been no First Flight party. A First Flight didn't warrant a party unless it was truly perfect. Cirrus learned that the hard way. After being told off by his mother, he had practiced his flying in secret, perfecting his skills until he had a flight that his parents thought warranted a celebration. Cirrus got his First Flight party, just like he wanted. But it only made him feel hollow. It wasn't really celebrating his First Flight. He had ruined it with his own lackluster efforts.
To see Scootaloo actually being permitted to celebrate her First Flight (which couldn't have been impressive in the slightest if her manner of arrival was any indication) irritated him. To celebrate it like this would be to reward her for her lack of effort in honing her skills and teach her that mediocrity was an acceptable fate. Scootaloo was fast sliding down a slope that would only lead to her eking out a life in total obscurity; nothing but a failure. And everypony in that house right now was helping her do just that.
Had he not known that doing so would have gotten him arrested on the spot, Cirrus would have forced his way into the house and told the ponies what he really thought of their foalish shenanigans. There was no way he could allow them to continue to corrupt his daughter like this. I need to act.
"How's yer back feelin'?" asked Apple Bloom as she sat with Spike, the two of them sipping punch and watching the festivities.
"Still achy," admitted the dragon, once again rolling and popping his shoulders, "And now it's starting to get itchy too."
"Ah hope yer not comin' down with somethin'."
"Me too," admitted the drake readily enough, "Coming down with some kind of unknown disease would really ruin my day. Twilight would probably go crazy because we don't know anything about the kind of diseases a dragon can get."
"Maybe yer back's just sore from liftin' all those books fer Twilight," suggested Apple Bloom.
Spike shrugged. "Makes about as much sense as anything else."
Apple Bloom looked like she was about to say something when she caught sight of somethiing out of the corner of her eye. "Hey look!" she exclaimed, pointing to catch Spike's attention.
Following the line indicated by her hoof Spike saw Scootaloo leading Rumble out of the living room and into the kitchen. Apple Bloom rapidly stood up and rushed after them. "Come on Spike! Ah think somethin' big is about to happen!"
"Woo boy," groaned the dragon as he followed along, "That doesn't make me happy in the slightest." Considering the kind of "big things" that seemed to happen around him and his friends, he wasn't sure he wanted to know.
Rumble's cheeks heated up as Scootaloo led him into the kitchen. Then, to the colt's surprise, Scootaloo continued to lead him right out the kitchen door and into her back yard. For a moment, they stopped and stood awkwardly. Scootaloo looked like she was working up the courage to tell him something. The anxiety made Rumble's heart beat a little faster.
The orange filly crossed her front legs and gave Rumble a mournful look. "Listen Rumble...I'm really sorry about what I said before."
"It's okay. I forgave you, remember?" Rumble leaned towards her, trying his best to be encouraging.
"It's not okay!" blurted Scootaloo, "Because I...because I knew how you felt about me and I held a stupid grudge because of my jealousy. I was just so angry and I took it out on you."
"You knew..." whispered Rumble, his cheeks now practically glowing in the evening light.
"Yeah. That's why I'm really sorry," said Scootaloo, "Because I know how you feel and..." She hesitated, unsure if she should say what came next. Best get it over with. I've hurt him enough. "Because, even though I'm not angry or jealous anymore, I still don't feel the same way about you."
Rumble's blush vanished. "Oh," he said, his voice breaking.
"I'm so sorry," whimpered Scootaloo, looking down, "But I didn't want to lead you on or try and fake it. That would have only made it hurt worse."
Scootaloo felt Rumble's hoof brush against her cheek. She flinched away from the touch, afraid to even look at him. "It's okay," said Rumble. It seemed his mouth and his heart weren't in complete agreement though. Dreams died hard. "I understand."
"You do?"
"Yeah. Thanks for being honest with me."
Rumble tuned around and made his way back into the house. In the kitchen, Apple Bloom and Spike withdrew from listening before the colt could figure out they were there. However, they weren't the only ones. As Rumble slowly moved towards the door to the living room and back to the party, he felt a pair of forelegs wrap around him from behind as somepony gently pulled him against her.
"Rumble?" Rumble's ears twitched as he recognized the voice.
"Sweetie Belle?"
"I'm sorry...I heard you and Scootaloo and...and I..." a sniff escaped her, "I eavesdropped. I know it's wrong but..." She went silent as Rumble slowly pulled away from her. At first, the little unicorn filly wilted, thinking he was angry with her. But then Rumble turned around and pulled her into a full embrace, resting his head over her shoulder. Sweetie felt the spreading dampness as his tears began to soak into her coat. She wrapped him up in a hug again and let the colt cry silently against her.
This is it. This is my chance! Cirrus tensed, trying to figure out what to do. Scootaloo was alone in her backyard, apparently sulking over her conversation with that pegasus colt. He probably rejected her for being such a weak flier, thought Cirrus viciously, thus thoroughly cementing his skill in overlooking basic details in the conversation. But in his mind, he was more concerned with his course of action.
He had to get Scootaloo away from her mother, that much was for sure. He couldn't very well start a confrontation right there in Melon's yard. Even with the party going on, it wouldn't be long before someone noticed he was out there with Scootaloo and, with the restraining order in place, he would quickly find himself being towed away to prison. No, the best course of action would be to just swoop in and grab her before anypony noticed. Then, he could get her to see things his way at his leisure. Once Scootaloo understood how serious Cirrus was about securing her future, he was sure that she would come around.
However, Cirrus's plans were disrupted by the appearance of another colt. Cirrus blinked as his eyes took in the strange young pony, whose coat was pitch black with a silver mane. Especially noticeable were the colt's unsettling eyes, turquoise, with vertical slit pupils, like a dragon's. Cirrus felt a shiver go down his spine. This colt was unnatural, he was sure. There was no way a pony could be born with eyes like that unless his lineage was tainted in some way.
As he watched, the colt began to speak with Scootaloo, who seemed somewhat comforted by his presence. Cirrus's hesitance at acting in the presence of another pony vanished as he noticed how taken his daughter seemed with that strange colt. There is no way in Tartarus that my daughter is having anything to do with a freak like that! Cirrus sprang into action.
"Scootaloo?" The orange filly lifted her head at the sound of Dawn's resonant voice. Looking over, she saw him standing behind her.
"Did you hear us?" she asked.
"No. I only just got out here. But I can piece together what happened, more or less." Dawn stepped a little closer as Scootaloo turned around to face him.
"I just didn't want to drag it out or it would have hurt him even worse," said Scootaloo, lowering her head, "But I still hurt him again. After everything I did to him already, I went and hurt him all over again. I'm a terrible friend!" She was practically shouting by the last sentence.
"Sometimes there is no option to avoid pain," said Dawn simply, "Life doesn't work that way. Sometimes there's no ideal solution. Sometimes there's no way you can avoid hurting yourself or others. Sometimes, the only thing you can choose is who you hurt...and how much."
Scootaloo looked up, surprised by the weight of Dawn's voice, as though he spoke from personal experience. He continued to talk. "Of course, you could do what I did and learn to ignore it, shut off your feelings and not worry over how much something hurts. You can make yourself numb." Now it was his turn to look away. "But I've been finding out that that path is not the best one lately."
"Dawn..." Scootaloo didn't know what to say.
It became a moot point then, because Dawn suddenly tensed. A red and blue blur rushed at the colt from behind before Dawn could turn around. Instead, he simply sidestepped, his left wing flaring out. Scootaloo heard a burst as the displaced air slammed into the attacking pony and flung him across the yard. The unknown pony plowed into the dirt, leaving a substantial furrow. Now that he was stationary, Scootaloo's jaw dropped as she recognized the compass cutie mark on the stallion's flank.
"Dad!"
Cirrus Stratus struggled to his feet, extricating himself from the small trench he had just dug through the backyard. Upon standing, he wheeled about, his eyes fixing on Dawn. "Get away from my daughter you freak!"
Dawn sighed and rolled his eyes. "Another one."
Scootaloo planted herself between the two. "Dad! You've got it wrong. There's nothing bad about Dawn. He's the one who's been teaching me how to fly."
Unfortunately, this declaration did nothing to salve Cirrus's anger. If anything, it only seemed to inflame his fury as he bared his teeth. "To see you associating with scum like that..." His voice was a low growl. "It's clear that I can't trust your mother with raising you. You're coming with me right now! I will decide your future and I will make sure to do it right."
"From what I have heard, that's no longer your prerogative," observed Dawn as he stepped out from behind Scootaloo, "I believe her mother has made certain of that."
"That's because my wife is a sentimental idiot," snapped Cirrus, "She doesn't know the first thing about what's best for a pegasus. This little brat certainly doesn't." He jabbed a harsh hoof in Scootaloo's direction. "She can't be trusted to make her own decisions in life. Time and time again, she's shown me that she only knows how to make a failure out of herself. First she associates with that dropout Rainbow Dash and now she's milling around with a freak like you. It's clear you come from tainted blood. No pegasus with any brains would have anything to do with you."
Dawn tilted his head. "Tainted ancestry. Tell me, are you aware of the source of this 'taint?'" Dawn's question brought both Scootaloo and Cirrus to halt with the sincere curiosity in his tone.
"Dawn, you aren't believing this are you?" asked Scootaloo, staring at him in horrified shock.
The colt shrugged. "It seems a valid line of inquiry to me. Granted, calling it a taint is a little strong, but it is entirely possible that my eyes are the product of some form of mixed lineage. If we could find the source then I think Twilight Sparkle and I might be able to answer our questions."
"Filth!" snapped Cirrus, "How dare you treat this like some kind of joke. I don't know what kind of filthy sodomy your parents engaged in to produce something like you. But there is now way a defect like that is natural."
"Well," mused Dawn, unfazed, "It still seems a valid question, but I can see I won't get any useful information from you."
"Quit treating this like some kind of damn game!" howled Cirrus, flaring his wings, "Get the hay away from my daughter. Scootaloo, you don't have any choice. You are coming with me now!"
Cirrus leapt into the air, his wings flapping to gain height as he tried to fly over his daughter's head to attack Dawn. But he had vanished. Suddenly, Cirrus's vision was cut off as Dawn appeared directly in front of him, his fierce draconic gaze boring straight into Cirrus's own. Instinctually, Cirrus threw his hoof at the colt, but Dawn's form seemed to blur and melt, before flowing around Cirrus's hoof like water. The colt seemed to spiral up Cirrus's forelimb before spiraling up and around his barrel, making several rounds in an instant.
The air beneath the stallion's wings came alive, sweeping him into a roll, like he had been caught in a very sudden, very small, yet very powerful storm. All control was stollen from him as he found himself whirling round and round. Before his eyes, the entire world became and indistinct, spinning blur.
Scootaloo watched the event in stunned awe. Dawn's maneuver had set Cirrus spinning like a top. Suddenly, the axis of rotation seemed to shift and it now was Dawn who seemed to be spinning in place while Cirrus whirled around him. In fact, both were in motion through the sky as Dawn pulled his opponent into a sharp dive, all while keeping them both spinning. At the last second, Dawn halted his body's rotation, sweeping Cirrus around him and flinging the helpless stallion straight down.
Cirrus slammed into the ground...hard. The close distance of his fall was made up for by the speed and force, accumulated through several revolutions around Dawn's body. He hit hard enough that he made a deep impression in the packed dirt beneath the backyard's grass. A hacking wheeze escaped Cirrus's mouth as he hit, the breath being forcefully knocked from his lungs. Dawn landed daintily on the ground past where Cirrus had landed, not even bothering to turn his head to look back at his handiwork.
"I thought I'd give you a demonstration of what your daughter will one day be capable of," said Dawn levelly as he turned around and strode past the fallen stallion, "Perhaps you can judge for yourself how much of a failure she will be."
Scootaloo stared, torn between awe and horror at the spectacle before her. She had heard about Dawn being powerful. After all, she had once seen him knock Applejack away like a baseball. She had also heard the story of him saving Fluttershy on two different occasions, once from timberwolves no less. Her father was no fighter by any means. But she hardly expected to see Dawn spin him about like a top right before tossing him like a rag-doll. Hearing about his exploits was one thing seeing them another.
And yet, a sick feeling filled her at the sight. For better or worse, that was her father lying prone on the ground. However much grief he had caused her, Scootaloo couldn't stop loving him. It hurt to see Dawn treat him like that, even if he deserved it.
However, she found herself shocked still further when Cirrus rolled over onto his stomach and forced himself back up onto his hooves. The motion was slow and unsteady. Clenching his eyes shut and gritting his teeth, Cirrus managed to stand up. When his eyes opened, Scootaloo gasped and took an involuntary step back. His normally gray eyes were tinged with red as he directed a savage glare at Dawn's backside. Scootaloo was horrified to see her father angry like this. She wanted to rush inside and find her mother, but fear kept her rooted to the spot.
Dawn paused, but didn't look back. "I didn't strike hard enough to make you pass out. However, that pain should serve as a warning."
Had Cirrus's glare been an actual force, Dawn would have been incinerated on the spot. As it was, he simply allowed the stallion's hatred wash over him like a wave breaking against the rocky shore. Dawn showed no more regard than a stone for Cirrus's animosity.
Cirrus was well past the point where he could articulate a response. Rage and pain warred across his being in equal measure. His field of vision narrowed to the point where the only things he could see were the colt in front of him and his daughter behind Dawn. Everything else was lost to a sea of red. Cirrus's anger peaked when his eyes locked onto Scootaloo. It was her! Everything he had lost, all that he had suffered; it was all Scootaloo's fault. Because she didn't listen...because she didn't do as she was told...I've lost everything because of her! With an inarticulate howl of pure rage, Cirrus surged forward, his mind no longer certain whether he was trying to attack Dawn or Scootaloo. He just wanted to leap on and tear into the first thing that crossed his path.
Scootaloo's eyes widened as she watched her father charge. She had seen Cirrus look at her and felt the full force of his rage. She wanted to run. She wanted to cry. But she could only stand there and watch as Cirrus threw himself at Dawn's backside. She tried to shout out a warning, but couldn't get her mouth to work. No sound would come out.
It was pointless anyway. Dawn already knew what was coming. A sigh escaped his lips. Looking ahead, he saw the fear in Scootaloo's eyes. He felt a fountain of anger spring up in his heart. No father should put that look on his daughter's face. He no longer felt so concerned about what damage Cirrus suffered. Before, he had simply been batting the stallion away, the way one might brush off a spark falling on their fur. But the anger in Dawn at Scootaloo's father changed his attitude. Before, he had merely been defending himself. Now however, he wanted to punish Cirrus Stratus for his behavior.
"Perhaps I've been too lenient," said Dawn with an angry snort and raised his right wing.
Before, Scootaloo's fear had kept her anchored in one spot. But now, it made her suddenly back away. This time, the source wasn't her father, but Dawn. There was something different about the way he held his wing as he prepared his attack. The angle was wrong. Instead of holding it out and level, Dawn had instead raised it upwards diagonally, aligning the feathers so they pointed straight back at the charging Cirrus like the edge of a blade. The way the atmosphere swirled around the wing made Scootaloo quiver, making her back away even more. She didn't think she was going to like what was about to happen.
Fortunately, Dawn never got a chance to act. A hissing sound cut through the air, followed by a dull thunk of impact as something slammed into the back of Cirrus's head, right in the poll. Scootaloo's eyes caught a flicker as something small retreated from the point of impact, her eyes tracing the motion all the way up to where a dark gray and purple pegasus hovered.
Whatever Storm Front had attacked with vanished into the sleeve of his shirt. He stared impassively down on the affair before slowly dropping down to land behind the fallen Cirrus. Dawn turned around and regarded Storm Front carefully.
"Your assistance wasn't necessary," said Dawn.
For a moment, Storm front said nothing, only carefully examining Cirrus's limp form before finally meeting Dawn's gaze. "Still too numb."
Dawn raised a questioning eyebrow. Storm Front continued. "You were prepared to maim him."
Scootaloo gasped, turning her eyes to Dawn, searching desperately for any sign of denial in his expression. However she only saw a look of acknowledgment in his eyes. She shivered and backed away from him slightly. She had never seen this side of Dawn before. He seemed so cold, so callous, so cruel at that moment.
"I don't feel that numb," protested Dawn, his tone calm and even.
Storm Front shook his head. "You acted in anger. You were told not to allow your emotions to control you. You may be feeling more, but your development is uneven. You need to balance yourself or you will only become a danger to those around you." Storm front reached into his sleeve and produced a cord, which he used to bind Cirrus's limbs. As he worked, he said something else. "The fact that your awareness wavered and narrowed is proof that you have a long ways to go."
Dawn blinked in confusion before turning around. Suddenly, he realized that they had gained an audience. The party's attendees were assembled on the back porch, looking on with various degrees of shock. Turning his eyes to Scootaloo, the only pony close enough to actually hear his conversation with Storm Front, he saw something else...fear. Scootaloo was afraid of him. Dawn's heart dropped in his chest and his body felt like it had suddenly been dipped in ice water. He wrenched his gaze away, unable to meet her eyes.
If, after everything else, I make her afraid of me, then I truly am wrong.
"I will be taking this stallion to the hospital," declared Storm Front, lifting off and taking the cord in his mouth, allowing him to carry the unconscious stallion through the air.
"After that, you can take him to prison," said Melon Cream coldly. With a huff, she turned around and marched back inside. One by one, the other members of the audience filed in after her, leaving Scootaloo and Dawn alone in the backyard again.
For a moment, Dawn and Scootaloo stood there, uncertain about what to do. Then, slowly, Dawn raised a hoof toward Scootaloo. Just as he was about to touch her, the filly flinched away from him. Dawn froze, unable to do or say anything more. The orange filly slowly inched away from him before turning and dashing back inside. Now alone in the yard, Dawn stood as still as stone, hoof outstretched. In his mind, he was certain that he had lost Scootaloo's friendship for good.
Cirrus's appearance had put a damper on things, but Pinkie Pie showed her skill in doing her best to get the party back on track. Rumble appeared to have gotten over Scootaloo's rejection and seemed to be enjoying himself now. Sweetie Belle stuck close to him and they ended up playing several games together.
Unfortunately, Scootaloo was no longer in much of a mood for parties or games. The things she had seen that night haunted her thoughts, completely dispelling the euphoria of finally getting to have her long-awaited First Flight Party. The thing that troubled her most was the shiver that went down her spine every time she now thought of Dawn. She had seen a side of him tonight that filled her with trepidation. As it was, in spite of her status as guest of honor, Scootaloo hung around the edges of the celebration and did her best to remain unnoticed.
She didn't succeed as well as she hoped. It was her party after all. The filly flinched when she felt a gentle hoof touch her shoulder. Turning around, she looked up at Fluttershy. "Scootaloo, what's wrong?"
Scootaloo diverted her gaze, somewhat unwilling to tell Dawn's mother that she was now thoroughly terrified of her son. "Nothing," she said softly.
"Now I know that's not true. Is it something your father said or did?"
Scootaloo silently shook her head.
"Is it something...Dawn did?"
Scootaloo hesitated slightly, before nodding slowly. Fluttershy withdrew her hoof. At first, Scootaloo wondered if she was about to be scolded. But instead, she felt a gentle wing wrap around her. "Please tell me," requested Fluttershy, giving Scootaloo her most encouraging smile.
Dawn had not rejoined the party. Instead, he sat silently in the backyard, staring at the aftermath of his brief fight with Cirrus. His mind replayed the words Storm Front had spoken to him and added them to the advice he had gotten from Red River and Granny Smith. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Scootaloo's face, the fear in her eyes when she looked at him. I'm a fool, he thought sullenly, How can I ever face her again? I don't think I can face Fluttershy like this. Perhaps I should leave.
"Dawn."
The colt's heart skipped a beat at the sound of his mother's voice. Looking up, he turned his head to see Fluttershy slowly walking towards him. She sat next to him and wrapped a wing around her son. "Scootaloo told me."
Dawn looked back to the ground and blinked away tears, albeit with limited success. "I...I saw how much Scootaloo was afraid of him. It made me angry. I...I wanted to hurt him...wanted to make him suffer for frightening his daughter like that. I thought that, if his pegasus heritage made him so proud that he had to ruin his daughter's life to make him feel better, I thought it appropriate that I take that heritage away."
Fluttershy gasped softly. "You mean...?"
"I was going to cut off his wings," said Dawn, "It didn't even occur to me that I was taking things too far. If Storm Front hadn't been here, I would have crippled and maimed Scootaloo's father.
"And the worst part is..." Dawn's voice cracked. He turned his head to look back up at Fluttershy again. "...I never felt I was wrong to do so. The only reason I feel bad now is because I know Scootaloo is afraid of me. I don't the feel the slightest bit of remorse for what I was about to do."
Slowly, he began to pull away from Fluttershy. "I've been trying to understand what you and everypony else have been trying to teach me. But I can't seem to grasp it well enough to avoid hurting the ponies close to me or driving them away. It seems that, ever since I've arrived, I've done nothing but cause you and everypony else hardships. I'm starting to wonder if those ponies from the other towns, the ones who rejected me, were onto something. I may not be a demon, but I seem to be a blight all the same."
Fluttershy's wing tightened around Dawn, pulling him back against her side. Before he could say anything else, Fluttershy wrapped her arms around him and held the colt close to her. "Don't ever think of yourself like that ever again." Fluttershy's voice hummed with an anger Dawn had never heard before. "You are not a bad pony and you are not a blight." She used one hoof to tilt Dawn's head up so that he could look directly into her eyes. "We all love you Dawn. And I will never...ever regret making you my son."
She gave him her brightest smile and gently kissed the tip of his snout. "I'm alive today because you saved me in the forest. I'm safe today because you protected me from that stallion. And right now, a certain filly is having her First Flight Party because you taught her how to fly.
"Dawn. You made a mistake tonight. You did something wrong. But that's what happens. Ponies make mistakes all the time. What's important is that you learn from them so that you don't make them again. You're going to make other mistakes too. Please don't give up just because of that."
Unable to respond, Dawn simply leaned against his mother as the silence of the night pressed in around them.
"So, Dawn went that far," mused Red River as he listened to Storm Front's retelling of the encounter between the colt and Scootaloo's father.
Storm Front simply nodded before taking a sip from the tankard of cider set before him. The two of them reclined in the kitchen of the Apple Family household. After dropping Cirrus Stratus off at the hospital, Storm Front had come directly to confer with Red River. Granny Smith had been kind enough to supply the two of them with food and drink before ambling into the living room.
At least Cirrus's fate was little cause for concern. For violating the restraining order, he'd spend a month in prison. For additional charges, such as the attempted kidnapping of Scootaloo, it was highly likely that the Cirrus would be permanently banned from setting hoof in Ponyville again.
"That's a bit troubling," muttered the azure earth pony as he worked his mind for some kind of solution to the problem, "If this keeps up, he may be the one we end up protecting the townsponies from."
"Ah told that colt he was gonna snap someday." The two stallions looked up to see that the Apple Family matriarch had returned to the kitchen. She grinned as she tottered over to help herself to some pie.
Red River frowned as he regarded the ancient mare. He was no idiot. Several days of sharing the house with her had revealed a side he wasn't sure her own family knew about her. He had heard Applejack's recounting of how Granny Smith had helped found Ponyville. But that was an event that had occurred hundreds of years ago. "Just who are you?"
Granny Smith turned and gave the azure stallion a knowing smile. “Why Ah’m just little old Granny Smith, no more, no less. Ah ain’t anythin’ special. ‘Course, Ah’ve been Granny Smith to five generations ‘o Apples now. A mare with mah years has a certain perspective. Ya two young’uns best pay attention to that.”
The two stallions exchanged glances. "So what do we do then?"
Granny Smith sighed. "There ain't anythin' else to it. If we leave things as they are, that colt's not gonna be able to figure things out before he does somethin' he'll really regret." Her expression turned severe. "No helpin' it. He has to die."
Normally, the weekend was something fillies and colts especially enjoyed. It was a time where they were free from school to play and relax, enjoying an entire two days of free time. Dawn however, did not find the weekend so enjoyable. The fact that Scootaloo's First Flight Party had taken place Friday evening only meant that he had a whole two days to mull over his mistake and his problem. He didn't even consider stepping away from Fluttershy's house on Saturday.
Scootaloo was having similar issues. Ironically, she found herself wishing that she could be in school right now. At least then, she would have something to distract her from her current train of thought. As it was, when she joined the other Crusaders for their usual weekend activities, she found herself constantly looking over her shoulder to see if Dawn tried to join them. She honestly didn't know what she would do if he did show up. Part of her was worried when he didn't, the other part relieved.
Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Rumble were quick to pick up on Dawn's absence as well as Scootaloo's odd behavior. Unfortunately, she tended to brush aside their inquiries about what was going on. The situation cast a shadow over their usually jovial proceedings.
Dawn remained at home with Fluttershy, barely willing to set foot outside her door if it wasn't necessary. Fluttershy was disappointed by his behavior, but decided to allow it on the condition that he still returned to school come Monday. Dawn looked towards Monday with growing anxiety, worried about being forced to confront Scootaloo and her newfound fear of him.
On Monday, it seemed as though the events of the previous week were beginning to replay themselves, only with the participants shuffled. This time, it was Dawn who remained miserably silent throughout the day, barely ever responding to prompts from Cheerilee and otherwise hoping that the other students would forget his presence. Scootaloo watched him warily from her seat and shifted position a few times, but otherwise seemed normal. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Rumble looked on in confusion, wondering what just had happened between the two of them.
Dawn's self-imposed isolation continued during recess, as he retreated to a separate corner of the schoolyard and read silently. The Cutie Mark Crusaders and Rumble clustered together in their usual spot and tried to figure out what was going on. However, Scootaloo pointedly ignored any questions directed towards her.
As it was, a certain pair of annoying fillies saw an opportunity for themselves. Dawn had finished his lunch and was passing the time by reading a book he had borrowed from the the library when he heard approaching hoofsteps.
"Aw, what's the matter? Did the other blank flanks decide you weren't cool enough to spend time with them?" Diamond Tiara's voice was laden with mocking condescension. However, Dawn chose not to pay her any mind and instead chose to continue reading, although making sure to keep aware of her in case she or Silver Spoon decided to do something other than simply mock him.
"It's pretty pathetic when you think about it," continued Diamond, "It's bad enough that you're a blank flank. But it must hurt that you're so low that even other blank flanks won't let you spend time with them."
Dawn's eye didn't even twitch at her jibes. He continued to read silently, ignoring Diamond Tiara. He was quite aware that she was simply fishing for some kind of reaction from him and would jump on the opportunity should he attempt to respond.
"Come on Diamond Tiara, this is lame," complained Silver Spoon, "I don't even think he can hear you. Maybe he went deaf over the weekend. That would certainly explain why he didn't do much during class."
Dawn noticed that, in spite of her rather cruel words, Silver Spoon's complaint seemed more of an effort to defuse the situation, while masquerading it as another taunt in order to avoid arousing any suspicion on Diamond Tiara's part that she might be sympathetic to him (if that was the case). Had he not been holding a facade of unresponsiveness, he would have raised an eyebrow at her remark.
"Nah, he can hear us just fine," said Diamond Tiara airily, dismissing Silver Spoon's theory, "The little freak's just pretending he can't hear us."
Well, she nailed that in one, thought Dawn wryly.
Diamond Tiara continued. "It doesn't surprise me that you aren't hanging out with the other blank flanks anymore freak. After all, what kind of pony would want to spend time around a monster like you. I bet they got sick of you watching them with your creepy eyes all the time."
She leaned in closer. "Are you just trying to pretend that you're a normal pony so that everyone will forget what you really are.
"I can't believe that anypony would even try to be friends with you. And I can't imagine what kind of pony would want to adopt something like you either. Really, there must be something wrong with that Fluttershy if she can let you stay in her house." The other foals were noticing Diamond Tiara's attempt to harass Dawn. Those that had come within earshot were shifting uncomfortably at what she was suggesting; although, whether it was because they secretly agreed with her or thought she was taking things too far was up for debate. The other Crusaders had noticed the commotion and, with the notable exception of Scootaloo, who remained where she was, they were coming to try and put a stop to it.
Diamond Tiara continued on as though she didn't notice she had drawn an audience. "I should talk to daddy. I bet, if I tell him, he'll just buy Fluttershy's house so you two can get thrown out of town. You should leave before something even worse than that happens. We don't want freaks like you in Ponyville."
Dawn finally decided he'd had enough. He could easily handle insults and threats directed at him. But he was not about to allow his mother to be insulted or threatened because of him. For the first time since Diamond Tiara had started speaking, Dawn looked up from his book and regarded her with his unnerving gaze.
Diamond Tiara flinched back away from him slightly before trying to reclaim her mask of bravado. However, the slight quaver in her voice betrayed her nervousness. "What's the matter freak? Are you angry? It's not like you can do anything about it. If you tried to hurt me, you'd just regret it."
"Why is that?" asked Dawn.
"B-because if you hurt me, then my daddy will punish you," stammered the pink filly.
"And what makes you think that he'd find you worth avenging?" asked Dawn.
Diamond Tiara's jaw dropped. Dawn continued. "As far as I can tell, you aren't worth anything on your own."
For a moment, Diamond Tiara's jaw worked in the eerie silence that had descended on the schoolyard. "I...I...What?!"
"You threaten me with your father's influence. You threaten me with your father's wealth. But, in all honesty, what do you do for yourself? Everything you speak of belongs to your father, while you yourself have nothing." Dawn rose to his hooves and turned to face the arrogant filly head on. "Is that why you try so hard to assert your dominance? Is it because you realize that, without your father's name, without his wealth, you would have nothing? You would be nothing." With each question, Dawn took a step forward, which Diamond Tiara matched with a step away. He advanced until the now thoroughly frightened filly was backed up against the wall of the schoolhouse.
"That's the truth, isn't it. You cling so desperately to your father because you know that you have nothing of your own to threaten with. Even that cutie mark you're so proud of...Perhaps it means nothing more than the fact you are a pretend princess, dressed up in your father's money. In the end, the only thing you are is a doll, another way to show how rich an powerful he is. You hardly rate as a a daughter at all."
The other foals looked on in shock at Dawn's tirade. It seemed as though an icy wind was blowing through the yard. Diamond Tiara quivered against the side of the schoolhouse, trying desperately to come up with some kind of rebuttal, but failing utterly. Finally, she bolted, dashing around the corner and disappearing, possibly into the building. For a moment, there was no motion, then Silver Spoon slowly trotted off to look for her friend, throwing a frightened glance over her shoulder at Dawn, who was struck with the strangely eerie notion that this was akin to what had happened last week.
Dawn let out a low breath and closed his eyes. He could feel everypony's gaze upon him. He didn't expect exultation that he had finally done what so many wanted and put Diamond Tiara "in her place." But he was troubled to feel that the only feeling hanging in the air seemed to be fear. He knew that everypony, even his friends, were watching him warily, wondering what he would do next. Would he tear into one of them in such a verbally savage manner? What if they actually got him angry enough to lash out?
And Dawn joined them in that thought. He was getting worried. He had done something similar to Applejack, but felt more justified given that she had been trying to actually attack him at the time. But, even then, he hadn't been right to verbally abuse her like that. It seemed that the newfound security of his home with Fluttershy was emboldening him to be less tolerant of abuses against him. But Dawn was finding that his responses were...rather cruel. Is this my true nature?
Dawn remained frozen, staring at the section of wall Diamond Tiara had been cornered against. He couldn't bring himself to turn around and look at the other foals, sure that they would draw back from him the instant they thought he might notice them. Dawn didn't blame them for that. He suddenly found himself feeling very tired.
If anything, the rest of the day was even worse than before. Now, all the Crusaders, along with Rumble, were regarding Dawn rather warily. The other students were no better. Diamond Tiara refused to say a single word for the entire afternoon and Silver Spoon flinched whenever Dawn's gaze brushed by her. The atmosphere in the classroom was oppressive. Cheerilee did her best to soldier on and keep the lessons going, but was having a hard time keeping the foals engaged.
When the bell rang, Dawn departed on his own, heading back home by hoof, rather than flying. Nopony tried to stop him, every other foal in the class keeping their distance as he went on his way. The colt was so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he barely noticed the blue and red stallion who moved to bar his path.
"It seems that you haven't quite taken my advice to heart," said Red River as he gazed down at the colt.
Dawn took the interruption of his thoughts in stride and looked up at the stallion. "I am trying. But you could be right to say that I don't seem to be making much progress."
Red River slowly shook his head. "Unfortunately, in a lot of ways, you are making too much progress. After all, you seem to have gotten very good about experiencing anger."
A sigh escaped Dawn's lips as he looked back the way he came. "But I don't have a handle on understanding the pain of others."
"You understand it as an abstract concept. You can read their reaction and measure it against their normal behavior and rationalize the pain, fear and anger of others, just like a scientist linking cause and effect. What you lack, is the capacity to truly connect with the feelings of others. Over time, you might be able rediscover this capacity that you stifled, but I fear for the damage you might cause in the meantime."
Dawn tilted his head, not quite liking the direction this conversation was heading.
Red River sighed. "It pains me to take such drastic action, but I am afraid that we can no longer risk allowing you to run free as you are."
"What do you mean?"
Dawn froze as Red River fixed him with a stern gaze, the full force of the stallion's will crashing down upon him. For a moment, Dawn felt helpless, unable to move. "We have decided that you cannot be permitted to live.
"Dawn Lightwing. It has been decided that, in order to protect the ponies of Equestria from your impulses, which are backed by truly awe-inspiring power, that you will have to die. Storm Front and I shall be your executioners and the date shall be six days hence. You have that time to put your affairs in order. We will meet at the quarry outside of town. No one should bother us there.
"If you do not wish to die, your only choice is to leave and never show yourself in any part of Equestria ever again. If you do, we will find you and we will end you."
Dawn's body had gone numb as his mind processed Red River's pronouncement. He couldn't help but feel that the entire situation was ludicrous. It had all the trappings of a bad dream. Here he was, in a town where the population didn't immediately organize into a mob upon his appearance, living with a mare who had willingly become his mother, attending school with foals and making friends his own age for the first time in his life, and now he was faced with his impending death at the hooves of the two stallions who had been originally called into town on his behalf.
Then, Storm Front's admonishment of him came into the colt's mind. It was followed by the frightened expression on Scootaloo's face after he had almost crippled her father. He remembered the fear and wariness he felt from the other foals in school. They weren't wary of something as superficial as his eyes, but because he had given them good reason to regard him with fear. Dawn felt hollow inside, as though all the progress he had made, all the things he had gained, had been without meaning. Perhaps Red River was right. Perhaps he was too dangerous to be allowed to roam unchecked. Perhaps it was for the best that his life was brought to an end before he ended up hurting an innocent pony.
Red River did not stick around for the colt's answer. He merely left. Dawn was so lost in thought that he barely noticed. Upon realizing that he was alone, once again, Dawn let out another sigh. What do I do now?
What do I do now? Rainbow Dash let out a groan and pushed away from the desk. Paperwork was the part she hated most about managing the weather team. If she had just been a rank and file member, she wouldn't have to worry about forms, schedules or cloud requisitions. All she would have to do was follow directions and put the clouds where they were supposed to go and buck them away when they weren't needed anymore. But no; she had to take the job as manager when it opened up. A higher position generally meant a better chance to show her skills and responsibility, which would improve her standing as a Wonderbolts candidate.
The fact that the Wonderbolts were a flight team was an important fixture. For all that she practiced her stunts and routines, honing her flight skills and improving her physical abilities, Rainbow knew that those alone would not be enough to be considered for a position with her idols. Being in the Wonderbolts meant sharing the sky with other ponies, namely your teammates. By showcasing her skills as a manager, Rainbow Dash was able to demonstrate that she could be responsible, not trying to do everything herself and able to coordinate the work of her subordinates. While it was a far cry from the close in-flight coordination practiced by the Wonderbolts themselves, it was still a step in the right direction.
That knowledge didn't make the paperwork any more bearable, especially at times like this, when the only news Rainbow was tending to receive was bad news. The weather factory was still unable to provide the clouds the town needed and the team's meager haul of collected clouds wouldn't be enough to sustain a full rainstorm, even if they limited it to just Ponyville's farming community. That meant that the next storm would be insufficient to fully water the crops, which would mean that another storm would have to be scheduled even sooner, giving the team even less time to gather more clouds, which meant that the following storm would have to be smaller still. It was a vicious cycle that showed no signs of ending.
Aggravating things was the fact that Rainbow Dash's inbox was stuffed full of complaints from distressed citizens, unhappy that their flowerbeds weren't getting watered or that the parks and Whitetail Woods were wilting away in the drought. Rainbow could explain the problem until she was blue (well...bluer than usual) in the face, but a lot of ponies wouldn't accept what she had to say. She knew more than a few letters were accusing her of being just plain lazy, as though she was truly irresponsible and cruel enough to cause a drought just because she wanted more nap time. If anything, her anxiety over the situation meant that Rainbow Dash was getting even less sleep than usual. Mare Mayor had informed the sky-blue pegasus that she had even received a couple of petitions to relieve Rainbow Dash of her position. Fortunately, the Mayor was going to do nothing of the sort. But that didn't decrease the irritation Rainbow felt at being saddled with the blame for the crisis. One thing she had learned about being in charge, even when it wasn't, it was still your fault.
Rainbow Dash had even briefly entertained flat out breaking the law. However, she read an article in the latest issue of the Ponyville Post about the weather team in Long Fields, another town that got their weather from Cloudsdale, who had done just that. Unfortunately, Cloudsdale had reacted with frightening speed and shut the team down, arresting the members and heavily fining the town itself for use of illegally created weather. The article had Rainbow's blood boiling, but it also had the gears in her head turning.
Even though they were being impossibly sluggish to respond to the crisis, the authorities and Cloudsdale were still lightning fast when it came to responding towards anypony who broke the rules. It was almost as though they wanted to drag out the drought as much as possible. It was like the ponies who ran the Weather Factory were trying to strangle the farming communities of the Cloudsdale Distribution Zone. The rumors Rainbow was already hearing from Cloudsdale itself were unsettling. But this new development only made her suspicions and fears more concrete. If that was the case, Rainbow Dash was afraid of what she would have to do next. I'll have to go to Cloudsdale and deal with the problem directly.
Dawn soared gracefully over the roofs of Ponyville, watching laconically as the inhabitants went about their afternoon business. He knew that he had at least two hours before he needed to return home (lest Fluttershy get worried). Initially, he had planned on going back directly after school. But Red River's chilling pronouncement had put an end to that plan of action, if only because Dawn no longer felt like going back currently.
He was torn over what to do. Part of him wanted to simply run, to disappear once again into the depths of the Everfree, where things were, if not safer, much simpler. There would be no more worrying about interacting with other ponies, no more worrying about his stunted and uneven emotional development, no worrying about other ponies trying to kill him for reasons superficial or not.
But leaving meant leaving Fluttershy. It meant leaving Rainbow Dash. It meant leaving Scootaloo and the other Crusaders, for all that Dawn was aware that he probably wasn't quite as welcome among their number as he was before. For the first time, Dawn felt as though he truly had a home. And he didn't want to leave that behind.
That meant, however, that come the deadline, he would have to face Red River and Storm Front, who had promised to carry out his execution. Dawn had no desire to allow that to happen. But in his very first encounter with the stallions, Dawn had sensed that their skills and experience surpassed his own. The Gale King was powerful, but it was far from absolute. As martial artists, Red River and Storm Front stood on a plane above him. Even if he fought to the fullest of his ability, Dawn was fairly certain that the only outcome that awaited him was death.
The only other option available to him was to simply sit and allow for the final blow to fall. And given the way things had been going recently, the ebony colt was beginning to find that choice less and less distressing. They're right after all. I've already been proven to be unstable and unreliable. It might be safest that I be put down before I hurt Fluttershy, Scootaloo or some other innocent. His thoughts on this matter had been disturbingly dark as of late.
Dawn's train of thought was interrupted by the sight of a familiar-looking gray pegasus, who was hovering over the train station, waving at him cheerfully. Ditzy Doo was apparently going on her rounds. Dawn knew that she flew to deliver the mail in the morning and then to deliver heavier packages in the afternoon. She was one of the most dedicated employees of the local post office and had a reputation as a hard worker, in spite of the difficulties and occasional minor disaster caused by her condition. She flew the majority of the local routes in town while other ponies took care of the long-distance deliveries (due to her sense of direction being one of the things currently affected by her disability).
In spite of himself, Dawn felt a small smile on his face as he gave the mare a half-hearted wave in return. It was difficult to remain down in the face of Ditzy's constantly upbeat personality. He watched as Ditzy descended to the station bellow to pick up a parcel that had been brought in by the train. Naturally, shipping by train was a bit less expensive than shipping by pegasus when it came to long distances.
As she took to the air again, Ditzy began to head off in the direction of wherever the package's intended recipient was, only to catch her wing on the weathervane on the station's roof. Knocked off balance, Ditzy let out a startled cry as she deviated off course. Before she could regain control, she ended up ramming into a flagpole, which stunned her enough to knock the poor mare out of the sky.
Dawn's reaction was almost instantaneous. Using his wings and hooves, the colt accelerated, seeming to vanish from his original position only to materialize directly beneath the plummeting Ditzy. Spinning about, Dawn whirled his wing in a circle, catching Ditzy in an ascending air current that slowed her descent and killed her momentum. The gray mare's wings caught the sudden updraft and allowed her to descend slowly back to the ground. Fortunately, she had the forethought and dedication to continue maintaining her grip on the package until she landed.
Looking around, Ditzy let out a relieved sigh and sank to her belly, letting out a dejected moan. Looking around, Dawn saw that there were several other ponies in the vicinity, many of whom wore expressions of anger and disgust. A couple of mares were hiding giggles. A few simply looked weary, having seen this situation play out several times in the past. Many were surprised to see Dawn appear seemingly out of nowhere to catch Ditzy.
"Are you alright?" asked Dawn, extending a hoof and gently propping Ditzy up.
Ditzy groaned. "I just don't know what went wrong."
Ignoring the tittering coming from their impromptu audience at Ditzy's remark, Dawn thought the matter over. "It seems a fairly simple issue to me."
"Huh?" Ditzy focused her eyes on the colt...or at least, she tried to. As she moved one eye over focus, the other wandered off on a separate track, only for the first to drift off when she tried to correct the second's deviation. As a result, her eyes seemed to be in constant motion, wandering in different directions. Dawn certainly didn't envy the headache the condition must have given her on multiple occasions.
"You misjudged your distance from the roof, while your eyes probably missed the weathervane. When you clipped the weathervane, the resulting disorientation caused your eyes to shift again, creating a blind spot where the flagpole was. You didn't even know it was there until you rammed into it." Silence descended as Ditzy listened to Dawn's explanation. She found it completely on the mark. Some of the ponies who had been listening in actually seemed to be pondering what Dawn had said.
Dawn could understand Ditzy's plight quite well. It was bad enough that she could almost never get her eyes' fields of view to overlap well enough to provide her with the stereoscopic vision necessary to maintain proper depth perception. The fact that both eyes seemed to wander on their own tracks whenever she tried to get one or the other under control meant that Ditzy's field of vision was constantly shifting and changing, creating blind spots in one area and then another, only to shift further as her eyes continued to spin out of her control. If a blind spot was a known quantity, it could be compensated for. However, because hers were always changing, Ditzy never knew for sure where her blind spots would be and couldn't compensate for them. It was a no-win situation for her. Dawn thought he would almost prefer to be blind, rather than have Ditzy's affliction.
Thinking it over, Dawn wondered if there was a way to help Ditzy overcome her problem. She had probably gone to doctors before in order try and correct the problem. Dawn couldn't fix her eyes. But...maybe...I can teach her how to make do without them.
With a sigh, Ditzy picked the package back up and spread her wings. "I need to get this delivered," she said slowly before lifting into the air. To her surprise, Dawn joined her.
"Do you have some free time after this?" he asked, "There's something I would like to try. It may be of help to you."
Ditzy gave him an uncertain nod. This was her last delivery of the day. She hoped Dawn wouldn't mind Dinky coming along, since Ditzy was loathe to leave her at home longer than she had to.
Dawn found himself smiling a little as he accompanied Ditzy on the last leg of her current deliveries.
Scootaloo didn't feel much like crusading lately. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Rumble all sought to find some way to cheer her up, but seeing Dawn's fierce and surprisingly cruel put-down of Diamond Tiara had stolen a great deal of their enthusiasm as well. And it seemed that all the tree sap in the world couldn't make the situation any better.
Ultimately, the orange filly decided that she just needed some time to herself. After using her wings to shoot up into the air, Scootaloo tried flying again, just as she had done when she had been watching Dawn and Rumble race. She found it was much easier to maintain her position in the air, although the finer points of maneuvering were still a little much for her at this stage. Scootaloo found herself wobbling and making ungainly turns to try and correct her course.
Unfortunately, flying through Ponyville's airspace, particularly when Scootaloo was only beginning to understand the process, was almost as bad as when she tore through the town streets on her scooter. Although the sky wasn't crowded with pegasi, there were enough going about their business to take exception to the unskilled filly as she tried her hardest to weave through them. All told, Scootaloo was quite lucky she managed to get through a portion of the sky without incident.
As she flew, she turned her eyes and suddenly noticed the presence of Dawn. The weeks of practice Scootaloo had put into developing her basic skills caused her to immediately flare her wings up to bring herself into a hovering position to avoid hitting anything due to her distraction. Looking over, the filly saw Dawn flying alongside Ditzy of all ponies as he apparently accompanied her on her delivery rounds.
Part of Scootaloo wanted to duck and hide when she saw the colt. However, she could see that Dawn hadn't yet noticed her, or at least wasn't showing it if he did. She wondered what he was up to. Part of her just wanted to turn around and escape before Dawn noticed her. But the other part was curious over what Dawn was doing with Ditzy. Her curiosity won out and Scootaloo carefully turned around to follow Dawn and Ditzy.
"So what are we doing here?" asked Ditzy as Dinky slid off her back. She and Dawn had stopped to pick Dinky up before the colt led them out to the edge of the Whitetail Woods.
"I was thinking I could help you work around the problem with your eyes," explained Dawn.
"Really?" asked Ditzy, unable to keep the excitement from her voice. She had gone to see numerous specialists in an attempt to correct her vision problem. But the results had always been the same. There was nothing to be done.
Dawn nodded. "The key would be to reduce your dependency on your eyes so that you can navigate without them."
"Fly without my eyes? Is that possible?"
In response to Ditzy's question, Dawn closed his eyes and took to the air. He sped straight towards the first few trees. Ditzy and her daughter watched in horror, expecting the colt to slam headfirst into a trunk. However, Dawn banked and easily circled around the first one he encountered. He quickly wove his way through several more trees and even rose up and looped around some smaller branches before turning about and returning. After settling on the ground, he opened his eyes and looked up at Ditzy.
"How did you do that?" she asked in stunned awe.
"It's an easy skill to learn, but difficult to master," explained Dawn, "Pegasus wings are extremely sensitive to the flow of air. You can learn to read that flow to predict the presence of obstacles in order to avoid them."
"How?"
Dawn gave her an encouraging smile. "It's simple to start. First I need you to close your eyes..."
Scootaloo watched from her hiding place up in one of the trees as Dawn walked Ditzy through the same exercise he had originally started her on. She was surprised to see the ebony colt teaching Ditzy. Scootaloo had originally assumed that Ditzy was simply clumsy. It was what almost everypony in Ponyville thought. She knew that the gray mare was friendly and kind. After all, she had let Scootaloo and Melon Cream stay in her home until they had found a new house. Melon and Ditzy were old friends, apparently since before Scootaloo had even been born. Even though she knew better than to believe the worst rumors that flew about the bubbly gray mare, Scootaloo couldn't help but feel a bit frustrated by her tendency to crash so easily.
To her surprise, as Scootaloo listened, she heard Dawn's instruction take an unusual turn...
"You feel air around you quite keenly now, don't you," remarked Dawn as Ditzy stood with her wings unfolded.
Ditzy nodded her assent. "Good," said Dawn, "I want you to focus on that feeling for now. Block out your thoughts about everything else. Simply pay attention to the feeling of the air flowing over your wings. What can you tell me?"
"Hmm," Ditzy mused, "There's a light breeze blowing from the west. The sky is really clear and the air is really dry."
"All accurate," complimented Dawn, "Now, I want you to walk forward...slowly. Pay attention to how the air shifts around you as you move through it. Follow the sound of my voice."
Ditzy did as she was bid, taking careful steps in Dawn's direction. The colt fell back slowly, calling out instructions to keep Ditzy on course. As she did, she felt a strange eddy pulling at the air currents on her left side. "Muffin, do you mind standing back a bit?"
"Okay momma," said Dinky, falling back slightly.
On the other hoof, Dawn's mouth spread into a smirk. "Miss Doo, could you tell me how you knew your daughter was next to you?"
Ditzy ground to a halt. Her eyes shot back open as the realization came to her. She hadn't seen Dinky, of course, her eyes had been closed after all. Now that she thought about it, she had missed the other cues well. The only thing that stood out was the change in the air currents caused by her daughter's approach.
"That's right," said Dawn, drawing on the lecture his Master had given him when he'd learned this skill, "Air is a fluid substance, always in motion and always flowing. Solid bodies displace the air around them. Even stationary objects create some form of interference that can be sensed through your wings. A moving object creates a greater disturbance still. You sensed the peculiar change in the air caused by your daughter's presence. Already you were able to identify qualities about it unique to her."
"Amazing!" exclaimed Ditzy in wonder, "It's sort of like learning how to see without my eyes."
"Indeed," agreed Dawn, "Unfortunately, there is only so much I can teach you. It's virtually impossible to explain how different sensations translate into different things. You may even feel things differently from the way I do. Rather, what you must do now is start learning from experience how to interpret the flow of air over your wings.
"The most basic application of this technique is identifying obstacles. Once you gain a decent understanding, I think you'll find that you'll be able to react to obstacles even better than a pony with perfectly functioning eyes. The air is all around us. Once you learn to read it, you will have no blind spots to worry about. As you continue to practice, you'll even be able to extend your range further and sense things that are farther away. This is simply advancing the application of your magic."
"How far could I see?" asked Ditzy.
Dawn shrugged. "It's difficult to say. On my best days, I can maintain a clear picture of everything within a twenty-meter radius of myself. I'm working on expanding it farther, but that's the best I can do for now. And I've been honing this skill for several years now."
"Hmm," Ditzy tapped her chin in thought, "It'll be nice just to be able to fly like a normal pegasus without running into stuff."
"Keep in mind that your skill is still at a basic level," said Dawn, "You're only beginning to understand it. Even if you can sense obstacles, it will take time before you'll be able to identify them and react to them, at least until you have more experience. Furthermore, you'll need to expand your range if you want to be able to sense obstacles with enough time to avoid them."
"Okay," said Ditzy, her mood falling slightly.
"But we can start working on that now," said Dawn. He lifted a hoof and pointed towards the forest. "Start walking that way. The moment you feel some unusual sensation in the air, stop. Try to identify what you were about to walk into and then try to navigate around it. Remember, go slowly."
Ditzy nodded and closed her eyes again. Recalling Dawn's original instructions for the exercise, she once again spread her wings...
Scootaloo's fascination now eclipsed her fear of Dawn. She found herself listening carefully to his lecture, something she rarely did. She noted the instructions Dawn gave as he walked Ditzy through the exercise and started envisioning trying them on her own. Quivering with excitement, Scootaloo quietly watched for the rest of the afternoon as Dawn put Ditzy through her paces.
Ditzy showed herself to be a surprisingly apt student. From the very beginning, she was quick to identify the presence of trees, rocks and other obstacles. Only once or twice did she bump into a wide trunk before she could realize it was there. Fortunately, the very slow and deliberate pace Dawn made her move at spared the mare from any injury. Little Dinky though, had grown tired of watching such slow and sedate activities and settled in for a nap.
After three hours of practice, a very tired Ditzy finally scooped her daughter up onto her back and set off into a trot towards home. Dawn politely accompanied the mother and daughter. Scootaloo briefly pondered following them, but decided to go her own way. Remembering Dawn's statement about his own capabilities suddenly made her very nervous. What if he knew she had been watching the entire time? Worse still, what if he got angry over it? The orange filly could scarcely begin to imagine what might happen should Dawn get angry with her.
Scootaloo decided she had seen enough for the day. Vowing that she would try Dawn's exercise later, she took to the air, her motions getting smoother and cleaner every time she lifted off the ground, and set off on her flight towards home.
Dawn had indeed noticed Scootaloo's presence after she had started following them. He chose to act as though he hadn't noticed. He wasn't prepared for any kind of confrontation. Worse, he could still tell that Scootaloo was afraid of him. He still couldn't perceive her emotion in anything other than the abstract sense, but the colt still chafed at the distance that had seemingly opened up between them. At the very least though, I can still do this much, he thought, knowing that Scootaloo had been watching and listening as he instructed Ditzy. He knew that she would soon try it on her own, and suspected that she would even execute it with as much care as he had made Ditzy use. He could only hope that would be the case. After all, Dawn doubted that Scootaloo would stick around long enough to hear a lecture from him.
Having left Ditzy and her daughter at the front entrance to their home, Dawn took to the skies to fly back to his own home. The distraction afforded by Ditzy's lesson fell away from his mind and he was once again confronted by the stark reality of his situation. In six days, he would die. He didn't hold any illusions that he would somehow be able to seize victory from his more skilled and more experienced opponents. In a sense, Dawn felt as though he had already accepted his death. So he decided to use his remaining time to do what he could for somepony who had a better chance than him. If nothing else, I can leave behind something other than misery for a few ponies.
The days passed in a blur for Dawn. He got up, went to school, doing his best not to cause any further trouble. In the afternoon, he helped Ditzy finish her deliveries so that he could help her refine her wind-sense. Then he returned home to his mother for dinner before falling into bed to begin the cycle all over again.
Fluttershy noticed the change in her son. He had already been quite melancholy over the events at Scootaloo's party. But now, it seemed like something in the colt had broken. On Wednesday, Fluttershy had gone into Dawn's room, more than a little shocked to find that he hadn't gotten up yet (the colt being the habitual early riser that he was), only to find him lying on his bed, gazing pensively at the ceiling as though contemplating whether it was even worth getting up to face the new day. Dawn no longer went through his forms every morning, choosing to instead sit and brood on the couch.
Fluttershy was at a loss over how to help him. Dawn looked like a colt who had received a death sentence (she was quite lucky she didn't know how accurate her assessment of Dawn's mood was). Dawn was uncooperative at best, refusing to discuss his problem with her. Fluttershy had heard that he had been spending time with Ditzy and wondered if that had anything to do with it.
Dawn was slowly coming to terms with his situation. He had only ever seen Red River or Storm Front a few times since Monday, at a distance at that. But still, he could feel the inevitability of his situation pressing down on him. He hoped that, with a week of training, he could give Ditzy enough pointers that she would be able to continue her own training after he was gone. Right now, that was the best he could manage. He also wished he had time to teach the basics of the Gale King style to Scootaloo, like he had promised. But he felt he could leave somewhat satisfied, given that he had already taught her to fly. Perhaps that was enough.
It had never even occurred to him that he could appeal to the authorities. In all of Dawn's prior experience, going to the Guard of whatever town he was about to be run out of had done nothing to improve his situation and frequently only served to exacerbate it. Furthermore, the grim finality of Red River's statement had brooked no thoughts of resistance. One way or another, Dawn would have to face them, or depart Equestria entirely. Part of him accepted that. Part of him felt that he deserved the fate that was now imposed on him. He'd seen his darkest inclinations dragged out into the light and Dawn was truly afraid of the pony he might become.
Like with the authorities, the thought of informing his mother, or his mother's friends never occurred to him. It was more than likely that Twilight Sparkle could intercede on his behalf, maybe even make his problem with the two mercenary stallions vanish like a puff of smoke. But Dawn couldn't bring himself to feel that he deserved such intervention; that doing something like that prevented him from confronting the consequences of his actions.
What if he ever lost control like that again? What happened if he snapped at another pony? What happened if somepony like Storm Front or Red River wasn't around to stop him? No, getting help from his mother or her friends wasn't the answer. Getting anypony else involved wasn't the answer.
One way or another, this was his battle and his alone.
The days continued to pass by. It was Saturday before he knew it. Tomorrow, Dawn would face Red River and Storm Front, and he would probably meet his end at their hooves.
Fluttershy had been working on grooming one of her many animal friends when she heard a soft tapping on the door. Dawn was still in his room. Fluttershy had no doubt he was awake. He had come out to eat breakfast with her before retreating into isolation once again. She wondered who it was that could be knocking.
Opening the door, Fluttershy's eyes widened in surprise. "Scootaloo! What are you doing here?"
Scootaloo shifted uncomfortably. "I was wondering if I could see Dawn," she said softly. She clearly looked torn about whether or not she really wanted to see the colt again, but at least she was making the effort.
Fluttershy couldn't help but smile. "Oh, that's wonderful. Dawn's in his room right now. He's been so depressed all week. Maybe you could cheer him up."
Scootaloo winced. She had seen that Dawn had been down in the dumps, but had been too afraid to approach him. Slowly, she walked up to his room and knocked on the door.
"Come in."
Reaching out with a hoof, Scootaloo slowly opened the door to see Dawn on his mattress, staring pensively at the pillow. His expression was blank and unreadable. When his eyes found hers, Scootaloo flinched away and saw Dawn flinch at the same time. She realized that it hurt him to know that she was afraid of him. After everything, his personality and own flaws had done what his eyes could not and driven one of his very first friends from his presence.
Still, Scootaloo forced herself to step into Dawn's room and walked towards him. "Dawn," she said, coming to a stop at the edge of his bed, "I'm sorry."
"For being afraid of me?"
Scootaloo recoiled like she had been slapped, casting her gaze down and away from the black colt. "W-well..."
"It's true," said Dawn decisively, looking away as well, "And I don't blame you. I should be feared."
"D-Dawn...?"
"All those ponies who had always shouted at me, attacked me, forced me into hiding, I suppose they can be happy. In a way, I have become the very monster they wanted me to be."
"That's not true!" blurted Scootaloo suddenly looking back up at him, "You aren't a monster. I admit I'm scared of you. But that's because there are moments where you don't seem to be in control, where you're trying to hurt a pony just for the sake of hurting them. That's bad and it's wrong, but it doesn't make you a monster."
"Then what does it make me?" asked Dawn, "I didn't just want to hurt your father. I wanted to maim him. In my frustration I decided that I would take the sky away from him forever. What you are afraid of is very real. How am I not a monster?"
"Because you can change," answered Scootaloo, "If you really were a monster, you'd be so sure that you're right that you'd be angry at me for being afraid of you. You're like this now because you realize something's wrong with you. That means you can fix it!"
"Even if that is true," said Dawn, "What happens until I am fixed. What if somepony gets hurt because I was left to my own devices while we try to fix me? I'm too dangerous to be allowed to run loose."
Scootaloo cautiously climbed up on Dawn's bed. "We'll deal with it," she said, laying down next to him and leaning against him, "Me, your mom, all our friends, we'll keep you from hurting other ponies while we try to help you fix yourself."
Dawn looked down. "I would thank you, but it's too late. My sentence has already been pronounced. Tomorrow, I die."
Scootaloo took a moment to pick her jaw up off the bed. "What?" Her voice was barely a squeak.
"Red River and Storm Front will be ending my life tomorrow. They determined that I am much too dangerous to be permitted to stay. So tomorrow, either I leave Ponyville and never show my face in Equestria again, or I die."
Saturday was an excellent day for business. Red River had already sold all his stock and was in the process of the dragging the wagon back to Sweet Apple Acres for more. His enjoyment of the beautiful afternoon was marred by the sound of wings flapping. Scootaloo descended out of the sky and skidded to a stop in front of the stallion before wheeling around and glaring at him.
"What the hay do you think you're doing?" she demanded, "Why are you trying to kill Dawn?"
"Ah, I see I've been found out," remarked Red River casually as he continued pulling the cart, "I underestimated you. I didn't think you would have the courage to approach Dawn before my deadline. Perhaps that is for the best."
"What are you talking about?"
Red River shook his head. "Storm Front and I have decided we cannot permit Dawn to live when he presents such a dire threat to innocent ponies. Can you honestly say that he's harmless."
Scootaloo paused and looked down. "No...but still...It's not fair to punish a pony for what he might do."
"In this case it's more than a 'might,'" replied Red River, "He actually was about to cut your father's wings off last week. Only Storm Front's intervention stopped him. And what about that filly in your class? Had Dawn been angry enough with her, he would have had no compunction against badly injuring her."
Scootaloo grit her teeth in frustration. Diamond Tiara had not shown up in class for the entire week after Dawn's verbal destruction of her self-esteem. Silver Spoon was still attending, but refused to speak about her friend's situation. The Cutie Mark Crusaders and many other foals in the class would have been happy to have a week without the snooty filly to make their lives miserable. But the unpleasant circumstances, under which the affair had occurred, made her absence seem more depressing than anything else.
"Th-that's true...but he didn't," Scootaloo finally managed to say, "And it doesn't work to say 'but he could have,' because he didn't."
"I suppose so," murmured Red River, "I don't have much choice in the matter. I'll tell you the truth, so long as you promise not to visit the colt again today."
"What truth?"
"The truth that we are not merely trying to kill Dawn Lightwing, but rather, save him."
Scootaloo blinked, staring up at the stallion in stunned silence. "Okay. Tell me what's going on."
Rarity looked up from her latest design as she heard the bell over her door tinkle, signaling the arrival of another customer. Going out into the public portion of her shop, she put on her most welcoming smile to greet the customer. "Welcome to the Carousel Boutique, how can I help you?"
Rarity came to a stop upon identifying the visiting stallion. He was a very familiar customer, bearing a brown coat and a slicked back black mane shot through with strands of gray. The brown earth pony wore a suit that was perfectly-tailored for his well-toned physique that showed his cutie mark, three bags of money, to his advantage. Rarity knew it was perfectly-tailored because she was the one who tailored it. This stallion was one of her best male customers after all. "Filthy Rich, darling! What brings you here this day? Do you have another commission for me?"
Filthy Rich sighed and smiled, his expression surprisingly shy given what a powerful (financially speaking) and self-assured pony he was. "Actually, Miss Rarity..."
"Just Rarity darling, there's no need to be so formal with me."
"Actually Rarity, I have a request of a rather personal nature."
Rarity blinked in surprise. It was unlike Filthy Rich to be so hesitant. And while she counted him as a friend, she had never thought she would get something like this from him. "Perhaps we should retire to my kitchen and we can discuss this."
"That would be...nice."
Once in the kitchen, Rarity set about making tea for her and her guest. It seemed odd for the stallion to come to her with a personal request given that their relationship, while friendly, had always maintained the professional distance between a businessmare and her client.
Once the tea was steeping on the table, Rarity seated herself with a smile and addressed the stallion. "What can I do for you Mr. Rich?"
Filthy Rich sighed and gave the designer a sad look. "I'm sure that you are familiar with the antics of my daughter."
Rarity frowned. That was one...unpleasant aspect of their relationship. "Yes. I have heard many things about her from Sweetie Belle, some of them very unflattering."
"If you could be so kind, could you give me some examples?"
Rarity tilted her head as she thought. She dreaded going over the details with Diamond Tiara's own father. It seemed like the sort of thing that could ruin a relationship with her client, one of the things that kept her from bringing up the issue with Filthy Rich before. However, it was clear that Filthy Rich wanted honesty. She doubted he would tolerate an attempt to dissuade him from the topic.
"To be honest, there have been days that Sweetie Belle came home in tears because of what Diamond Tiara has said and done to her and her friends. To put it simply, if mildly, from what I've heard, your daughter is a terror."
A sardonic smile made its way briefly across the face of the stallion. "The same could be said of your sister and her friends."
"In a sense," Rarity said, acknowledging the halfhearted response with a nod, "Although the context is completely different. Sweetie and her fellow Crusaders are terrors by accident. They mean well and generally just want to find their cutie marks and enjoy their foalhoods. The trouble they cause is largely a consequence of them not thinking all the way through their actions.
"In contrast, Diamond Tiara is a terror in the sense that she deliberately sets out to make the lives of other foals a misery. She derives a degree of amusement from hurting others and making them fear her."
Filthy Rich sighed. "I was afraid of that. And yet, from what I hear, your sister and her friend, who happens to be a member of the family that is the very source of my present wealth and position have been bullied by my daughter for quite some time. Why is it that this has never been brought to my attention before?"
Rarity's lip trembled as Filthy Rich brought up the million bit question. "To be honest, I suspect it has to do with the relationship we've had over these past years. You are a valued client to me and a close family friend to the Apples. I fear that neither of us has brought this to your attention because we feared losing your business."
Filthy gave Rarity and incredulous look. "Are you saying that you've been allowing your sisters to suffer because you were afraid that you would lose me as a source of income?"
Tears ran down Rarity's cheeks as she acknowledged it. She hated getting emotional in front of a client like this. But the situation and its repercussions were driving her past the breaking point. "Yes. I'm a horrible sister sometimes, I know. It seemed so trivial at times and easier to look the other way. And things seemed to get easier for Sweetie Belle after she found her friends and formed the Crusaders. I thought that maybe, even if your daughter continued to bully them, she wouldn't be able to hurt them as badly because they had each other. But that doesn't excuse my negligence, does it?"
Filthy Rich shook his head. "No it doesn't. And it doesn't excuse my negligence either. I've heard rumors from other ponies regarding my daughter's issues, but either dismissed them or ignored them. To know that my daughter has been behaving in such a way and that I have failed to take any action to correct her behavior undermines me as a father."
With a sniff, Rarity dabbed her nose with a napkin before pouring tea for her and her guest. "I suppose we've both made mistakes then," she observed, "Is that why you're here then, to rectify them?"
Filthy Rich nodded before taking a small sip of his tea.
"May I ask what brought this on?"
The stallion directed a pensive gaze into the liquid filling his cup. "Earlier this week, Diamond Tiara came home from school, crying her eyes out. I barely got a chance to ask what was wrong before she threw herself at me and asked if I really loved her. She asked if maybe I thought she was some sort of doll, another toy I could use to show off my wealth. I was horrified to even consider the notion.
"After I assured her of my love and got her sufficiently calmed down enough to talk, she told me what happened. Apparently some colt in school suggested that she was worthless because everything she had originally came from me."
Rarity gasped, covering her mouth with her hooves. "Oh dear."
Filthy Rich nodded. "I'll admit, I was furious with whoever had told her this. But after I learned the truth, Diamond Tiara started insisting that I get revenge for her, that I punish the colt who hurt her feelings. She wanted me to buy Miss Fluttershy's home and force her and her son out of Ponyville."
Rarity blinked. "So the colt that hurt Diamond Tiara was Dawn?"
There was a brief moment of confusion before Filthy Rich nodded. "You know him?"
"Yes, Fluttershy just recently adopted him. He'd been living on his own for quite some time. He has a unique condition with his eyes that makes them look very distinct. He's suffered a great deal of mistreatment from ponies because of that."
Filthy Rich tapped his chin with a hoof. "That explains why Diamond Tiara occasionally called him a freak."
Rarity took a sip from her own cup. "I'm sorry to hear that Dawn's words traumatized your daughter. But it seems she did bring it upon herself. It wouldn't surprise me if she was harassing that colt over his eyes. When he snaps he tends to resort to psychological attacks to avoid doing physical harm to other ponies. At least, that's what he did to Applejack when she put him in a similar situation."
"In other words, he exercised a great deal of restraint and my daughter brought this upon herself."
"Well..." Rarity hedged, "I can't quite disagree with the latter. But with the former...to be honest, it doesn't sit well with me. The last thing I would want would be for Dawn, or anypony for that matter, to become a bully himself simply for the purpose of defeating another bully. It only makes matters worse in the long run."
"But ultimately," sighed Filthy Rich, "It all comes back to my daughter and her own actions. This brings us to the favor I wanted to ask of you."
"Which is...?"
"Are you familiar with what happened to my wife?"
Rarity pondered that for a moment. It was common knowledge that Filthy Rich had divorced his wife not too long ago. It was common opinion that it was for the best, as the mare proved to be a total shrew who showed nothing but contempt for Ponyville and its inhabitants. Finally, she managed to dredge up an appropriate answer. "Yes."
"In all honesty, marrying that mare was the greatest mistake I ever made. The only good thing that came out of it was my daughter, who remains the only truly good thing that mare produced. Had I come to a decision earlier, I might have been able to remove her from our lives before she did too much damage.
"Gilded Lily came from one of Manehattan's oldest and richest families. Originally, I thought she agreed to marry me because we were in love. As it turned out, it was only another business venture to her and her family. They tried to go behind my back to shortchange the Apples in order to get higher profits and generally treated my suppliers and friends like dirt. Ultimately, I decided that I couldn't continue to be her husband if it meant compromising on my principles.
"But the damage had already been done. Diamond Tiara has apparently absorbed many of her mother's attitudes towards ponies less wealthy and fortunate than ourselves. It's my fault for not doing something to rectify that sooner."
"How awful," gasped Rarity, "How can I help?"
"Well, the problem is that even though Gilded Lily is gone from our lives, her attitudes still influence Diamond Tiara." Filthy Rich looked up at Rarity and smiled. "As it is, I still believe that Diamond Tiara requires a mare in her life to help teach her the proper way to behave around other ponies. I believe you could be that mare."
In spite of herself, Rarity's cheeks showed a slight splash of red. "I'm not sure what you're suggesting."
Catching onto Rarity's concerns, Filthy Rich backtracked quickly. "Oh no! I didn't mean it that way. What I want is to see if perhaps you can teach Diamond Tiara some things about being a proper lady and how to treat others with the respect and dignity they deserve."
Rarity thought it over for a moment. "I don't see why not. What exactly do you have in mind?"
"Scootaloo? Are you alright?" Melon Cream watched with concern as her daughter pecked halfheartedly at her dinner.
"I'm fine," answered Scootaloo, "I just have a lot of things to think about."
At Fluttershy's home, things were quiet. In the living room, the only sounds that could be heard were the quiet sobs of the canary yellow mare as she wrapped her son tightly in her forelegs. Dawn didn't make a peep, but wasn't able to stop his own tears. Now that she knew, Fluttershy had been able to do little else. She'd heard the truth when Dawn had been talking to Scootaloo earlier, having been eavesdropping in hopes of hearing the two friends reconcile.
At first, her plan had been to gather all her friends and confront the two stallions. However, Dawn refused to allow Twilight or any of the others to get involved. Furthermore, if he delayed on the promised day, then it was all too likely that the two stallions would come for him, wherever he might be, which meant that ordinary ponies could get caught in between them. And so, Dawn clung stubbornly to the two options that he had been given, which, in turn, forced Fluttershy to make a choice of her own.
"If there's no other choice, then we'll leave," she said softly, "I can't lose you Dawn. We'll leave. But I promise, no matter what, I won't let you go alone."
Dawn slowly closed his eyes and resigned himself to his fate. "Alright."
Dawn awoke as the sun began to climb over the horizon. Slowly and deliberately, he untangled himself from his mother's embrace and carefully got down from the couch. Heading towards the door, the colt stopped and cast one last longing look back at Fluttershy, sure that this would be the last time he would see her.
Dawn couldn't deny that her suggestion had some degree of appeal. He would always have her by his side. But at the same time, he knew he couldn't do that to his mother. She had a life here in Ponyville, with friends and animals to look after. There was no way Dawn could make her give all that up. In the end, I am a monster of my own making. Now I must face my unmaking. With that depressing thought, Dawn left the cottage and took to the skies.
Red River stifled a bored yawn as he looked out over the desolate waste of dirt and rocks that was the quarry outside of Ponyville. Here and there, he could see holes that had been dug by the Diamond Dogs, pests that they were. One of the first things Red River had done in his free time was to check and see if they still resided in the area. But the mutts had disappeared completely. It suited him just fine.
"Do you think the kid'll come?" he asked giving Storm Front a sidelong glance.
Storm Front nodded. "I hope so. Otherwise, all this preparation was for nothing."
"It looks like we're gonna have an audience," noted Red River, his eyes twitching in the direction of a small rock pile. Even thought they were trying hard to keep hidden, the rather vivid manes of the Cutie Mark Crusaders tended to give them away whenever they tried peeking over the rocks.
"I'm surprised you told Scootaloo," remarked Storm Front.
"It seemed the best thing to do at the time," said Red River, "I didn't want to start a fight with her and I certainly didn't want her to spread around what we were planning. If Dawn Lightwing heard a word of it, this might not work."
"That's assuming it'll work at all, even given the best circumstances," said Storm Front, "In spite of what Granny Smith says, I still feel as though we don't have the level of skill necessary to make this work."
"It would certainly be easier for our friend," Red River admitted, a slight, but eager smile spreading across his face, "But it's an exciting opportunity to test the extent of our skills."
Storm Front gave his friend a look of reproof. "A young colt's future rides on the outcome of this. Are you sure you should be treating it so frivolously."
The azure stallion let out a derisive snort. "If anything, this excitement shows just how seriously I am taking this. If it weren't something worth hazarding our lives over, I wouldn't be getting near this wound up."
Storm Front looked as though he was about to say something back when his eyes snapped over to the horizon, where the sleeping town of Ponyville was being illuminated by the rising sun. "Hush. He's coming."
Dawn Lightwing slowly descended to the ground in front of the two stallions, his usual neutral mask in place. For a moment, the three ponies simply sat there, doing and saying nothing.
"I'm impressed," said Red River, "You had the integrity to come and face your fate."
A sigh escaped Dawn's mouth. "I had no choice really. Even if I tried to leave secretly, mo-Fluttershy would have come after me, which could have gotten her hurt. At least this way, I don't have to worry about her setting off on some ill-advised quest to find and save me."
"It seems that you are at least becoming aware of the wider repercussions of your actions," observed Storm Front.
"I've always been aware of that," answered Dawn, "That was the reason I retreated to the Everfree Forest to begin with, because I knew how the actions I took would affect me in the long run."
Red River couldn't help but chuckle. "It's sadly ironic that, for all your extensive foresight, you ended up being blind to things under your own nose. It's a pity that we couldn't sit back and watch your development. But your Master invested you with too much power to be left in the hooves of somepony as unstable as you.
"Now then..." In a single swift move, Red River drew his weapon from its holster over his shoulder, the handle extending to form his favored spear. With shocking dexterity, the stallion whipped it through a series of spins around his body before settling into a crouching position with the spear cradled in his right fetlock, the shaft running diagonally across his back and the tip leveled down towards the ground at a shallow angle. "...How will you meet your fate?"
In response, Dawn took a deep breath. Immediately, the air around him seemed to shift purely with the force exerted by his lungs. Letting out the breath, Dawn snapped his wings out to their full extension, in the process, sending a burst of air rushing out from him in a circular shockwave. There was no destructive force behind this release of power and it barely ruffled the manes of the two stallions as it washed over them. But the motion was still laden with the full force of Dawn's intent, his resolve to fight. It was a tingling sensation that made Red River and Storm Front feel as though their whole bodies were being jabbed with countless tiny needles, the hairs of their coats standing completely on end from the sensation. The colt's vivid turquoise eyes fixated on his opponents, completely clear and free of doubt for the first time in days.
"Well now," commented the azure earth pony, "That's quite the attitude you've got. Hard to believe a kid like you can put out a fighting spirit this strong."
"All the more reason we can't let him roam unchecked," said the dark gray pegasus. Storm Front snapped his own wings open lifting his body from the ground. In a simple motion, he snapped his forelegs out, the cloth of his sleeves making a fluttering noise before fading into stillness.
An oppressive silence settled over the quarry as the three warriors readied their bodies and minds for the fight to come. From the very moment Dawn had arrived, it was clear that no quarter would be asked, nor any given. This was a fight to the bitter end, in which each participant would be putting his life on the line to seize victory. The winner would walk away, the loser would be left a lifeless slab of meat.
For a moment, Dawn reveled in the purity of this sensation. For all their reasons and excuses, Red River and Storm Front wielded intent to kill unmarred by fear or hatred. Their intent was pure and unsullied. There was no baseless anger, no burning jabs or insults. It would be the first time that he had ever fought against other ponies who truly regarded him as a fellow warrior, as an equal, a peer. It saddened him to think that this was probably the last time he would be able to experience this sensation.
The world became deathly still. Nopony moved. There wasn't even the slightest twitch of ear or tail. Any shift, however small, could mark the beginning of the battle. Even the tiniest twitch, the flicker of an ear, the blink of an eye, the hitch of a breath, meant that one had lost control of his body, in however minor a fashion and placed him at a disadvantage. In the realm of true battle, this razor thin disadvantage could mean the difference between life or death.
Fluttershy's heart dropped when she realized that she had woken up alone. Her forelegs and chest were still warm with Dawn's recent presence, but his absence stood out even more starkly as a sensation. Realizing that she was alone, Fluttershy sat bolt upright, casting her eyes about frantically, looking for some hint of the young colt's presence. But the cottage was empty, save for her and her animals, who had spent the night and morning in their burrows and houses to give mother and son some peace for the night.
The front door nearly broke as the yellow mare slammed it open and bolted out into the yard, looking in every direction she could, hoping to spy the ebony colt as he went about his forms or meditated in the grass. But there was no sign of him. Terrified questions raced through the mare's head as she faced the absence of her son. Where was he?
A light touch on her leg stole Fluttershy's attention and directed it downward. She was surprised to see Angel standing there, patting her leg eagerly in an attempt to get her attention.
"What is it Angel? Do you know where Dawn went?" The white rabbit nodded and stuck out a paw sharply. Following the line in which she pointed, Fluttershy let out a relieved breath when she realized that Angel was pointing in the direction of Ponyville...only to stop as she realized that his paw was also indicating the direction of the quarry, where Dawn had confessed that he would be meeting Red River and Storm Front.
Angel tumbled backwards as the blast of wind from Fluttershy's launch sent him head over cottontail. By the time the dazed and disoriented rabbit recovered, Fluttershy was little more than a yellow and pink speck on the horizon.
"Are they gonna do anythin' or what?" asked Apple Bloom impatiently. Scootaloo leveled an angry glare at her friend, who apparently didn't appreciate the severity of the situation. She was wondering if she should regret bringing her friends along to watch. Scootaloo herself had to sneak out of her house. She had then gone to Rumble's house and roused the colt to make a swift flight to Sweet Apple Acres to collect Apple Bloom while Scootaloo herself had made the shorter one to the Carousel Boutique to wake up Sweetie Belle.
Sweetie Belle was silent, her teeth chattering with nerves behind her upraised hooves as her terrified eyes focused on the arrayed ponies in the quarry ahead of them. She only calmed when Rumble sidled up against her, his presence providing the white unicorn filly with enough security that she was able to relax a little.
Scootaloo turned her gaze back to Dawn and his opponents, who remained motionless as the sun continued to trace its way up the sky. While she didn't like Apple Bloom's rather thoughtless comment, she had to agree with its sentiment at the very least. There was nothing happening and yet the tension in the air was so thick that she could hardly breathe. Every one of her senses was strained to its limit by her desire not to miss a single instant. In spite of Red River's confession, Scootaloo didn't find herself feeling particularly optimistic about Dawn's chances as the stare-down between him and the two stallions wore on.
Scootaloo's ears twitched and her feathers picked up an errant breeze spiraling across the quarry's flat expanse. The gentle rush of moving air washed over Dawn's feathers, stirring them gently. His wings shifted every so slightly. And then, in the space of an instant, all three ponies blurred into motion. And just like that, the battle was joined.
Dawn barely had time to react as Red River closed with him. It seemed as though the azure stallion had taken a single step and the comfortable distance of several meters between them had vanished as though the earth itself had shrunk to bring them closer together. Only the sharp sound of several impacts in swift succession against the ground were any indicator that the stallion had taken more than a single step. Closer still was the tip of Red River's spear, whistling as it lanced straight for Dawn's heart. Dawn's reflexes kicked in and his body moved without even needing his thoughts to guide it. He slipped to the side of the thrust so fast that, to the untrained eye, Red River's spear seemed to actually pierce him before the afterimage vanished. Having ducked inside the reach of the spear's blade, Dawn might have closed with Red River to prevent him from bringing the business end of his weapon to bear, but had to react to another attack instead as Red River swung the spear sideways, the shaft bending with the force of the swing, intending to simply batter Dawn with the length of wood if he couldn't reach him with the metal point.
Dawn's left wing flared out, creating an almost solid wall of air that caused Red River's swing to rebound away from him, while his right wing flashed forward, sending a separate blast of compressed air straight at his adversary. The force of the blast actually gouged away at the ground, sending a concentrated wave of dust at Red River and turning several small stones into dangerous projectiles. Red River relaxed his body as the attack slammed into him, riding it back to keep from actually being harmed by it while he spun his spear to deflect the small stones launched his way. When his hooves came back into contact with the ground, Red River stepped forward, executing the same lightning-fast advance as before; only, this time, it seemed to be even faster given he hadn't been repelled even half of the original distance between them.
But Dawn was no longer there. The consequence of displacing so much air had created a pocket of low pressure behind and to the right of him. Kicking out with his legs and backwinging, he seemed to vanish and materialize further back as the tip of Red River's spear plunged through his original position. With a mighty downstroke, Dawn shot upwards, darting out of the fearsome spear's range. From above, Dawn would be able to take advantage of his flight to rain down the full strength of his attacks on the helpless earth pony below...
...Or he would have had his ears not picked up the hiss of an approaching projectile. Dawn was forced to abandon his plan of attack as he ducked under an attack from above his position. His eyes picked out the silvery blur of a small ball of metal as it came to an abrupt halt exactly where his head had been. Faster than he could blink the ball was retracted via the chord attached to it back to where its thrower, Storm Front was flying, the cord extending out from his sleeves.
As Storm Front retracted the weapon, Dawn surged forward, attempting to take advantage of the opening. His hopes rose when, in his apparent haste to retrieve the weight so he could strike with it again, Storm Front seemed to accidentally wrap it around his own barrel. Those hopes were quickly smashed when the move was revealed to be intentional, sending the ball of metal swinging around him on a perfect course to intercept Dawn's charge, forcing the colt to halt his advance and backpedal to avoid having the weapon slam his muzzle from the side. Even as Dawn fell back, Storm Front reversed the course of the weapon's swing and, in a single fluid movement, unwrapped it from around his body and sent the weight lancing straight at Dawn again.
As Dawn ducked beneath the flying weight, he felt a disturbance in the air currents beneath him. The colt realized that multiple efforts to evade Storm Front's attacks had now driven him back down into the reach of Red River's spear. Quickly kicking against the air with his hooves, Dawn managed to dodge the first thrust. But Red River quickly retracted and thrust again, several times, the spear moving so rapidly that it seemed to be in multiple places at once and bend and twist unnaturally as its tip relentlessly sought Dawn's life. The blade seemed to whistle as it split the air, which, along with the rattling sound made by the shaft, served as a near-constant distraction for Dawn.
Dawn responded with several swift dodges and also created twisting whirlwinds that wrapped around the spear's shaft and pulled it off course. As he did so, he could sense Storm Front closing in from above. His ears perked at the whistling sound of the weight as it swung in a close arc, threatening to crush his skull. Dawn's wings worked independently of each other, the right continuing to parry Red River's thrusts from below and the left creating whirling, plane-shaped eddies of air that deflected Storm Front's attack from above.
Dawn's position did not afford him any advantages. He had known, from the moment he had first laid eyes on them, that the two stallions were vastly more experienced and more skilled than he was. Their weapons went beyond being mere extensions of their bodies and seemed to be living creatures in their own right that sought his life of their own accord. Worse still, their teamwork was flawless. They went beyond the concept of merely ganging up on him to take advantage of their numbers. Red River used the speed and reach of his spear to keep Dawn off-balance while Storm Front pressed in from above to keep Dawn from retreating out of the spear's reach. Between the two of them, they were able to keep the colt boxed in and stop him from fighting to his full potential.
Their skill at fighting together was highlighted further when Dawn dodged the metal weight once again as it zipped through the space he had occupied. At the same time, the spear stabbed up at him again. Dodging both attacks, Dawn saw the cord attached to the weight wrap around the shaft of the spear. At first it seemed that the two weapons were about to tangle each other up, giving Dawn the opening he sorely needed shift the fight to his advantage, only for Red River to give a slight tug. The weight, which had flown straight past Dawn, shifted into a swing that came at the colt from a completely unexpected angle. Sidestepping quickly Dawn managed to avoid the strike, but only barely. He suppressed a wince as the weight grazed his side.
Ignoring the pain, Dawn used the only thing he had going for him, raw power. Taking advantage of the time both of his opponents used to retract their weapons from the combination attack, Dawn swept his right wing out and back in a wide arc that sent the appendage sweeping from in front of him, to all the way around behind him. Putting the full force of his magic behind the motion and enhancing it by putting his entire body into it as well, Dawn exerted power most pegasi could only dream of.
The sky howled as a spiraling column of wind sucked up dust and dirt from the ground, the massive funnel cloud roared into life. Large boulders were ripped from the ground and tossed aside like foals' playthings. Both Storm Front and Red River vanished from sight as the tornado swallowed him whole. In the eye of the storm, Dawn looked on impassively as he prepared for his next move, knowing that this desperate attack was unlikely to buy him much time.
As she watched the battle, not fight, battle, Scootaloo had remember to force her mouth closed. From the beginning of the fight up to Dawn's tornado, barely a couple of minutes had passed. The speed at which the three ponies moved utterly stunned the filly, her eyes all but left behind to the blur of attacks, dodges, parries and counters. She knew that all three participants were strong fighters. She had seen Dawn, a colt her own age, bat aside Applejack, a full-grown mare and an incredibly strong one at that, like she weighed nothing. She had seen him turn her own father into a ragdoll. But for the first time, she saw what it was like for Dawn to fight against ponies who could truly stand against him.
As the tornado engulfed the group of three ponies, Scootaloo chanced taking her eyes away from the melee in front of her to survey the state of her friends. Sweetie Belle clung tightly to Rumble, who appeared to be ignoring her completely, his eyes focused on the battle with surprising intensity. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo was gratified to see, appeared to no longer have any complaints about the lack of anything happening.
Turning her attention back to the battlefield, Scootaloo fought gamely against the sickening feeling in her gut. From what little she had seen, it was clear that both Red River and Storm Front had been genuinely attacking to kill Dawn. It was hard to really see any details thanks to the sheer speed at which the combatants exchanged blows and the distance from which the group of foals watched. But Scootaloo knew better than to even think about trying to move closer.
Her eyes traced the funnel cloud as its momentum dissipated, looking for a sign that any of the boulders the tornado was lifting and tossing about like so much chaff were heading in their direction. Thankfully, they were safe for the time being. She was in awe of the power on display. The tornado was certainly formidable. Rainbow Dash could produce one just as large, or even larger, on her own. However, that required her to spend at least a full minute flying in a tight circle to get the necessary air moving. Dawn had created one the same size almost instantly from a single wingstroke.
The low roar of wind died down as the tornado spun itself out in the absence of being fed a continual supply of magic to maintain its fury. As the dust cleared, Scootaloo glued her eyes back to the battle.
For a moment, stillness returned to the battlefield as the participants paused to take stock of the situation. Dawn had sustained only a minor impact to his side. There was a slight pain, but he was able to ignore it easily. In contrast, both Red River and Storm Front seemed uninjured. Dawn found himself frowning at the implications. He had the distinct sense that neither of the armed warriors had fought with their fullest strength. Rather, they had managed to corner him with nothing more than fantastic technical skills and excellent teamwork. Once they brought their true strength to bear, this battle would enter another dimension altogether.
On the ground, Red River rose out of a protective crouch. Sinking down, he had sent his magic into the earth itself and drawn the earth's power back out, binding them together and holding him fast against winds that had thrown boulders larger than his own body about like toys. Storm Front seemed to have simply ridden through the intense air currents and had also not been harmed in the slightest.
"Well," observed the azure stallion from below, "That will do for our warmup."
Dawn swallowed as Storm Front began to twirl his weapon in a circle, accelerating until it became a blur. At the same time, Red River snapped his spear into position for another attack. From both Stallions, Dawn could practically hear the crackle of power as their magic began to infuse itself into their weapons, their spiritual energy infusing spear and weight with full killing intent. Dawn's senses extended to the air itself, allowing him to feel his opponents readiness in a way few ponies would appreciate. Red River's spear literally cut through the air, splitting it like it was a solid object. The spinning of Storm Front's weapon was beginning to create unique currents of its own.
Seeing he had no other choice, Dawn steadied his wings and readied his most deadly technique. Taking the initiative, Dawn launched the first strike. Spinning his body about, he targeted both his opponents and swept his wings out in a completely different motion from before, the feathers slashing through the air like knives. Storm Front and Red River immediately noticed the change as, in line with the motion of Dawn's wings, the view seemed to shift in a way that would be hard to describe.
It was like looking at how water refracted visible light so that anything that penetrated the surface seemed to bend at an unnatural angle, only from the side rather than above. Everything above the line Dawn's wing created seemed to slide the barest fraction of a centimeter one way while everything below the line seemed to slide a tiny bit the other way.
The stallions sensed that danger was immediate and reacted accordingly. Red River ducked under the line of attack, feeling some strands of his mane shaved away by its passing. Looking back, he saw the attack split the ground behind him as though the earth had been divided by the world's sharpest knife. Up above, Storm Front went into a roll that carried him above the attack launched at him, yanking the weight and its cord out of the way as well.
This was Dawn's deadliest technique, using his wings to create a blade formed from a vacuum between layers of air. Its edge was sharper than any metal edge ever forged, capable of slicing through stone and steel as though they were nothing but paper. It could cleave a pony in two before he could even feel the pain caused by the attack. No physical barrier could block it, nor could it be parried. This was the technique that Dawn had been prepared to use on Cirrus Stratus during their brief fight last week.
Flowing fluidly from defense to attack, Storm Front used his roll to put the strength of his whole body behind his next attack, swinging the weight down from directly above Dawn, who swung out a wing and created a barrier of solid air to stop the strike. But as the sphere impacted, the barrier shattered, slowing it only by a fraction of a second, barely enough for Dawn to escape outside the swing's radius.
Dawn used his hooves to kick off the air, allowing him to instantly reverse his course and send him barreling straight for Storm Front again. As he did, his wings turned into an indistinct pair of blurs, flashing in seemingly random directions. Storm Front's eyes widened at the brazen charge, then widened even further as the air between the two pegasi seemed to fracture, making it seem like he was looking at Dawn through a sheet of cracked glass. Dawn's purpose became clear. He intended to turn the length and reach of Storm Front's weapon against him by trying to cut the cord.
Once again, it seemed as though the metal weight and the cord it was joined with had a mind of their own. Even as Storm Front twisted and turned his way through the barrage of wind blades, the weight seemed to move independently, also slipping through the gaps between Dawn's attacks. Then, as Storm Front slipped through the last few blades, he kicked out with his hind leg, a movement that sent the weight barreling straight for Dawn's forehead.
Dawn backwinged while also moving the wings to inscribe a large circle in the air before him, compressing it to create a solid wall to stop the attack in its tracks. This shield was much stronger than the previous one. Dawn was confident that he could deflect Storm Front's attack.
Which was why he was caught off guard when the shield exploded on contact with the weight, sending a powerful shockwave barreling into the colt and sending him tumbling. Over the roar of the rush of air slamming into him, Dawn heard a faint crackling and realized what must have happened. Storm Front had channeled his pegasus magic into the weight, allowing him to transfer its destructive force into the air itself. Dawn's shield had only served to give him a denser source of air with which to attack.
Worse still, the shockwave hadn't just slammed into him, but rushed through him. A wave of dizziness and nausea washed over the colt as he felt his insides shudder under the assault. His ears were especially affected, making it difficult for the colt to recover his balance. When he did, his vision swam before him and he had difficulty reading the wind around him through the waves of disorientation that assaulted his mind. It was an unbelievable stroke of luck that he even caught the barest inkling of the next attack.
Dawn felt a rush of power surging up from below him, along with that fierce whistling noise. Twisting his body, Dawn just barely managed to execute a roll out of the way as something rushed up past him. Rolling upright, he looked down to see Red River retract the spear, a cocky smile decorating the stallion's face as he wound up for another strike. The spear cradled in his fetlock practically shined with its own luminescence as Red River thrust upward with it. As he did, the spear actually began to spin like a drill in his grip, not stopping until the azure stallion had completed his thrust with it.
Dawn felt, rather than saw, the attack continue out past the spear's physical reach, lancing upwards and bridging the distance between him and it almost instantly. Dawn barely managed to dart out of the way, the attack catching his tail and actually blowing a sharply defined hole in the hairs of his tail, causing several strands to float away.
It seemed that Red River employed a shockwave based attack as well, one that launched a razor sharp point straight at its target, allowing him to hit objects beyond the length of his spear. It seemed that distance would not be able to keep the stallion from piercing his targets after all. Even more shocking, as an earth pony, Red River's attack was not born directly from his magic, but rather from the technique itself. Whereas Dawn and Storm Front input their magic into the air directly to create the desired affect (Storm Front using his weapon as a medium), Red River charged his spear with his magic and then used the motion of the spear itself to create the desired affect. Dawn was terrified to think what that attack would be like up close.
As it was, the colt had little time for such musings as Storm Front closed in, the strange metal weight flying for Dawn's head again. This time, Dawn dodged by shifting his head a few inches to the side. Storm Front pulled back on the cord, halting the weight's flight directly next to Dawn's head. Dawn heard a loud pop of exploding air before his vision blurred and swam again, his left ear ringing. Storm Front had created another shockwave, this time sending the attack directly into Dawn's inner ear, knocking him completely off-balance. Even as Storm Front pulled the weight back, Dawn could sense another thrust approaching from below as Red River took advantage of his momentary disability.
Dawn threw himself as far out of the way as he could, a sense of desperation settling into his stomach. He couldn't keep up with both of them at once. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before one of the stallions landed a debilitating blow, giving them the opportunity to finish him off at their leisure. He was going to lose.
Fluttershy had seen the tornado. She knew the fight had already started, but continued to strain her wings as Ponyville rushed by underneath her. She pushed herself harder than she ever had before, harder than she had when she had been chasing Rainbow Dash when the other mare had been under the influence of Discord, harder than she had flown when she'd thrown herself into the tornado to send water to Cloudsdale. She knew she had to do everything in her power to stop the fight before Dawn got hurt or even killed and she had to do it fast. This was clearly very different from the colt's brief altercations with Applejack. From their talk last night, Fluttershy was aware that Dawn fully expected not to survive the confrontation.
But she had to go anyway. Her son was there and he needed her.
Agony drew a searing line across Dawn's flank as he failed to completely avoid another attack from Red River. His control and finesse were faltering as the two stallions steadily chipped away at him. Having been pressed onto the defensive, Dawn could do little more than launch a wind blade at one enemy or the other. But his efforts were now barely doing more than inconveniencing them. Once again, he was losing altitude as Storm Front continued to hem him in from above, forcing him down towards the ground where Red River could bring his spear into play in an even more fearsome fashion than he had already.
Dawn wasn't sure what he could do, if anything, to turn the tables on his opponents. They were too skilled, too experienced, too completely in-sync with one another for him to keep up with. He was too hard pressed to come up with another tornado or even a powerful blast of compressed air to buy him some time and distance. The blades of wind were the swiftest and most dangerous techniques he had in his arsenal and the stallions easily evaded them. There was only one thing Dawn hadn't tried.
Dawn's Master and even Princess Celestia herself had warned him against trying this before he was ready. In a worst case scenario, it might even lead to his death. But then again, Dawn pondered, My death is all but certain if I don't try it. There was no more room for hesitation or debate. It was time to try lightning.
Dawn threw himself clear of another swing by Storm Front's odd weapon and began preparing. Focusing on the air directly under his feathers, Dawn began to agitate it fiercely, stirring it with his power. He kept the air compressed, maximizing the friction he could almost feel between the individual molecules. The process seemed gradual to him, but in reality, it took no more than three seconds for the power to begin to build up as Dawn continued to fuel it with his magic.
Red River readied his spear for another thrust from below while Storm Front's weight was already swinging in from the side. Dawn felt the crackling power building around his wings. His ears reported the snap of the first spark. The hairs of his coat stood on end and his mane and tail bristled as the electricity built in the air around him.
With an ear-splitting crack, a bolt arced from the feathers of his left wing and crackled up its length into Dawn's shoulder, flowing across to his right wing, which he shot out in the manner he had practiced countless times in his forms. Only now, instead of directing the wind, he was channeling a bolt of pure energy. A twisting bolt of lightning lashed out from his wingtip like a whip, arcing across to the metal weight swinging at him. In an instant, the stream of electricity traveled up the cord and straight into Storm Front's outstretched hoof, causing it to spasm involuntarily, interrupting the weight's swing and causing the older pegasus to fall back. That one hadn't been particularly powerful, but Dawn now had the room to try something bigger.
Swinging his wings like they were joined by a rod that ran across his shoulders, Dawn wheeled them counterclockwise, increasing the amount of air in motion and adding to the building energy. He could already see Red River on the ground, spear drawn back, ready for another thrust. The spear began to move forward, starting to spin again. But the speed of light was faster than Red River.
Channeling a much more powerful charge, Dawn's wings swept up the crackling energy, concentrating more and more of it together. This time, the charge was building across both wings. Tilting to the side, Dawn added the charge from his left wing to his right wing and launched the mighty bolt directly downwards.
Red River caught the discharge directly on the tip of his spear. To Dawn's stunned awe, Red River seemed to react almost instantly, aborting his attack, but maintaining the spear's rotation. The lightning almost seemed to gather around the pole-arm's rotating blade before Red River dipped it swiftly down, grounding the strike out in the earth without coming into contact with the electricity himself.
Dawn considered launching another lightning strike, but was struck by an odd sensation. His wings were burning. Searing agony rolled across them and his shoulders. The colt's nose twitched when he picked up the scent of scorched flesh. Oh! That's why I'm not supposed to use lightning yet. An even more troubling feeling gripped Dawn as he felt the flow of air under his wings slipping away. Looking over, he saw that several feathers had been burned off. The damage to his wings undermined his magical control. As a result, Dawn began to fall.
And down below him, Red River waited, spear at the ready to deliver the final blow. Fighting past the pain, Dawn channeled as much of his magic as he could into his wings, using it to grip the air. In his addled state, he wasn't sure whether he wanted to attack Red River or simply slow his fall...perhaps both. His efforts felt clumsy and uncoordinated, which they were. The flow of magical energy through the damaged wings triggered a whole new sensation of pain, which Dawn fought past as he aimed his last gasp strike downwards.
The barreling wave of compressed air descended on the earth pony stallion like a transparent hammer. Red River never wavered, instead thrusting his spear upwards as before, its glittering blade tearing through the air and opening up a hole around him. Still, the secondary effect of Dawn's effort worked more or less as planned, the effort burning away much of his momentum. The ebony colt didn't slam into the ground, but he still landed hard.
Dawn's legs buckled to absorb as much of the shock as possible. The burning feeling on his wings and back was almost overwhelming. Still, he fought to keep his head clear, knowing that his opponents weren't about to let up just because he was injured. Through the haze, Dawn thought he could hear a voice screaming his name.
Once again, Red River closed in, seeming to bridge the distance between them in a single step. Dawn's wings were approaching useless. He could barely feel anything from them aside from the pain from the burns. As Red River approached, Dawn reacted almost instinctively, his mind reeling from the irony of what he was about to do. He almost wished a certain orange-colored, stetson-wearing mare was watching this right now. He turned and bucked.
Naturally, it wasn't an ordinary kick. Using the same trick that granted him incredible acceleration and maneuverability in the sky, Dawn used his hooves to launch a concentrated gust of air directly back at the incoming stallion. Unprepared for the trick, Red River was actually caught off-guard for once and took an attack full in the chest. The force was strong enough to normally launch Dawn several meters into the air, so it actually halted the stallion's momentum and even knocked him back. The strike bought Dawn a few fractions of a second, but it was enough as an epiphany struck the colt. He had discovered a way that he could continue fighting.
Red River advanced again, this time more on guard. As he flickered in close, Dawn kicked up off the ground, using his hooves to push off the air itself. Instead of launching himself upward, Dawn instead pushed himself sideways, stepping to maintain a continuous stream of air between his hooves and the ground that made him glide across the earth.
Red River's first thrust missed, but he quickly retracted the spear and attacked again. Dawn bobbed left, but the strike was a feint, he barely managed to duck down so that the the real thrust grazed his shoulder rather than punched straight through it. A grimace flashed across his face, but the colt pushed in closer. Even though Red River could still use the shaft of the spear to bludgeon him, it was much easier to read and avoid or counter than the usual flurry of thrusts that were almost impossible to follow with the flaring tassel obscuring the blade's movement.
This close in, Red River was forced to use the spear more as a staff as he swung and blocked. Dawn attacked with his forehooves while he used his rear ones to keep on the move. Red River tried to step out in order to bring his spear's blade into play, but Dawn matched his every move, keeping the fight close. He was forced to continue using the spear's shaft to deflect the hard, concentrated bursts of air Dawn launched from his hooves, jabbing them out in fierce punches.
The damage to Dawn's wings had robbed him of his ability to sense his surroundings through the air currents. The light whistling in his ears was the only warning the colt had before he ducked out of the way of a straight down attack from Storm Front, the round metal weight shattering the ground where Dawn had been standing a second before. Dawn tried to control his dodge to keep Red River from gaining distance, but Storm Front's attack had succeeded in drawing his attention for a brief instant. In that flickering gap in Dawn's awareness, the azure stallion made his move. Dawn turned back to the fight only to see...nothing. Red River wasn't there.
Then Dawn noticed the shadow on the ground. His eyes widened in shock and he looked up. Red River had leapt high into the air, his powerful legs propelling him several meters up. From that position, he would be able to stab down at Dawn easily. However, none of that occurred to the colt as his higher cognitive functions had been briefly suspended by the utter disbelief he felt over the situation.
This kind of move was something he had never considered. Earth ponies drew their power from their magical connection with the earth, drawing its magic into themselves to grant them the impressive strength and stamina that their race was famed for. However, doing that required that the pony in question maintain contact with the earth. Certainly earth ponies could jump as well, if not better than any, but they were still basically severing their connection with the earth and its power, which could only be restored when they returned to the ground.
In martial arts, that connection was even more important. Earth pony stances were based off of using the ground as a support and source of strength to empower their attacks. Their tactics were based off of fighting from below, being immovable and indomitable. Even Red River's lightning fast movements were executed by keeping at least one hoof in contact with the ground at all times, so that it was closer to an incredibly fast walk than anything that resembled running.
Thus, Red River's movement was in utter defiance of everything Dawn had ever been taught about earth pony martial arts. Disbelief locked his muscles in place for a brief instant before Dawn kicked off, using his magic to fuel a leap that would carry him inside Red River's reach again. But it was too late. The desperate maneuver kept him from being impaled, but the shaft of Red River's spear descended on Dawn's shoulders like an almighty crack.
Dawn would have screamed but the impact and pain had stollen the breath from his lungs so that what emerged was nothing more than a strangled wheeze. And even that was cut short as he slammed chest-first into the ground, his ribs groaning from the impact. Briefly, Dawn wondered if he would expire from asphyxiation before the two stallions could finish him off. But after a brief shudder, his disrupted diaphragm restarted itself and Dawn was able to suck in air greedily. Not that it made him feel any better when a bone-jarring thud announced Red River's return to earth.
"Looks like this is it," said the stallion simply, lifting his spear deliberately. There was no posturing, no hesitation. Dawn could feel the killing intent emanating from its tip as it moved into position to claim his life.
"Your battle was well fought," commented Storm Front as he landed somewhere outside of Dawn's field of vision, "But not well enough. You can pass in peace."
Pass in peace. What a joke! Dawn scoffed as time seemed to slow down. In those final instants, visions of the past few weeks flashed through his mind's eye.
Meeting Fluttershy, entering into her home, eating with her, talking with her, listening to her, waking up in her embrace, the warmth of having a real mother...
Teaching Scootaloo to fly, catching her when she fell, attending her First Flight party, protecting her from her father, visiting her home...
Fighting with Applejack, hearing her apology, mending their grievances...
Rainbow Dash and her straightforward approach to life, Twilight Sparkle and her infectious enthusiasm for academic advancement, Pinkie Pie and her irrepressible desire to make others happy, Rarity and her social savvy helping to keep him from feeling overwhelmed...
Finding a kindred spirit in Ditzy Doo, helping her overcome her difficulties, seeing her smile and laugh with her daughter, seeing her smile contentedly as she leaned against Big Macintosh...
Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Rumble, racing, adventuring to find their cutie marks, tree sap...
To Tartarus with peace! Dawn's mind snapped and he was overwhelmed with a burning desire. He felt new strength surge into his limbs. He had to fight! He had to fight and keep on fighting! He had to live! Even the burning pain of his injuries seemed to vanish before this realization. Dawn wanted to to live!
But it wasn't enough. The spear still came down.
Fluttershy could see them now. Her eyes had caught the flash of lightning and now she arrowed in towards the battlefield. However, she could see that the fight was in its final stages.
She saw Red River jump.
She saw Dawn fall.
She saw the spear rise to deliver the final blow.
Fluttershy screamed with all her might, hurtling in towards the combatants. She didn't know what she was going to do. Maybe she was going to try and take the thrust in Dawn's place. Maybe she would slam into Red River and knock him off balance enough to stay the final blow. It didn't matter though, as she was too late. She saw the spear come down.
"NO!" Scootaloo shrieked as she tried to lunge out from behind the cover she and her friends had been hiding behind. Red River's words from the previous day had been forgotten. All she could see before her was the fact that Dawn was about to die. She came to a screeching halt as Apple Bloom clamped her teeth down on Scootaloo's tail, digging her hooves in to stop the orange filly's charge.
"No!" screamed Scootaloo as she struggled and thrashed, "Let me go! Let me go! I've got to help him!"
"Ya can't," growled Apple Bloom through her clenched teeth as she maintained her grip on fuchsia tail. She couldn't let her friend rush out where she might get hurt, but if she tried to articulate herself anymore, she would lose her grip.
It was pointless anyway. The spear was already coming down.
Dawn felt the blade slip into his flesh. He felt death come for him. To his surprise, it didn't hurt as much as he thought it would. It felt as though the world around him vanished. All the pain, all the anxiety, all the hurt disappeared. There was only himself and nothing else. And then, Dawn knew peace.
