A sergeant in the Equestrian National Air Force is discharged from service and must restart his life. A past that he was commanded to bury comes back swinging, and he must choose to embrace it and face being a traitor, or leave behind his old life completely.
He flew head first into the fray as the mighty griffon bared its claws, and ended the life of his wingman and best friend. He could only watch as the beast turned on him, about to end his life. But he felt no horror, no fear, this happened way too often. This was getting repetitive and obnoxious. Just before the claws dug into his shoulders, however, he closed his eyes and felt the familiar tugging that signaled awakening.
He could feel himself return to consciousness and he sighed as he remembered the nightmare that he would have at least once a week for the past eight years. This freaking PTSD was just a pain sometimes, but at least it didn't affect him worse than these freaking nightmares.
His eyes opened as he took in all of his surroundings as he would every morning. He had a military-spec room; better than barracks by a long shot, being a training sergeant in the Equestrian National Air Force had its perks. The bed was stiff, but a bed, and it was blandly furnished, with a small, barred window, bedside table, some chairs and his own bathroom; once again rank perks.
He glanced out the window and could see that it was still before the princesses had switched roles, with Luna's night still ruling the sky. So he began his normal morning routine.
He checked the letter that he had kept for the past eight years that had also haunted him for the past eight years. The royal seal that adorned it was still broken in the same place as when he first opened it.
You are no longer to go by the same name and title; from now on you are to take on the identity of your wingman, Geronimo, and you have been promoted to training sergeant due to your special talent for aerial maneuvers. Your family has been informed that you died in the accident, so you are not to contact them, for if you do you will be found guilty of treason. Disguise yourself so that nopony will recognize you. In Peace and Harmony, Princess Celestia
Ouch, that was just as painful as the first time. But for fear of banishment/imprisonment/death he did as instructed. He grabbed several bottles of military-spec hair dye, the dye completely covers any color, lasts 30 hours exactly, unless washed out; it was designed to aid in disguises so that a pony could quickly change identity. He covered his cutie-mark with a shade of red that perfectly matched his coat, then drew a target on over it, simulating a different cutie-mark. Then he took a brown dye and ran it through his multi-colored mane.
Satisfied with his appearance he began putting on his specially modified dress uniform; because this was a special day. "Wake up Geronimo! You know today is the day, right?" A familiar voice called from the hallway, Geronimo couldn't believe that this headstrong stallion was taking his place. He had been his assistant and Geronimo knew that this day was coming but he just couldn't believe that it was today.
"Hold up," Geronimo shouted at the door, "I'm coming, Hotshot." This stallion had been with Geronimo since the first platoon came to be trained. He was only one year younger than Geronimo, and had joined at the same age, but was under-trained, however he showed promise, so Geronimo had him promoted to his own assistant, so he could teach him everything he could.
Geronimo then entered the hallway, bringing the cocky face of the new training sergeant into view. A look of confidence that he saw in the mirror every day looking back through the eyes of another pegasus. "You are so much like me that it is scary," Geronimo laughed, "now can you tell me what the plan is today?"
"Well I will take the first part as a compliment seeing as you were one of the four best fliers ever in the history of the ENAF," he said with raised brow, "as for your question, it is exactly what you told us to do. We are stopping at the next town to drop you off so you can start your new life, speaking of which wouldn't you like to do more research? I know you got discharged, but, really just picking a random town and diving in headfirst and without any knowledge of it? That seems stupid."
"Diving in headfirst with very little knowledge is my specialty, and I won't know nothing, you are going to tell me the name of the town, and send a letter to the princesses that that is where you dropped me off."
"Well I guess that I have no choice then." Hotshot sarcastically replied. "And the name of the town is, Ponyville."
"Hmmm... Well let's see what it is like, shall we?" Geronimo said gesturing towards a porthole in the gigantic, war-based airship that they had been aboard for the past few weeks, and when Geronimo received his honorable discharge.
They peered out over the now light-bathed landscape, seeing a small, quaint town, bordered on either side by trees: one set of trees was a forest and the other was painstakingly organized into neat rows.
"Ohhh look an apple orchard!"
"Thank you, 'Captain Obvious'!"
"You're welcome, 'Sergeant Sarcasm'!"
"Hey I am a sergeant now that you are leaving!"
"Don't let it go to your head, Hotshot, now let's land this thing."
"Well then, I hope, I will see you around Hotshot."
"Uhh... Geronimo? You never told me what happened when you lost your-" he was cut off by Geronimo's expression becoming suddenly cold enough to freeze an entire ocean.
"You can ask the others, if you see them, just never bring it up with me. Ever." and with that his face went back to its overconfident, happy self. "See you later."
Just as they finished their conversation the door to the airship closed, leaving Hotshot to his thoughts, 'I guess that I will never know what happened then..." He let out a sigh as he returned to his quarters in order to write a letter to the princess.
Big Mac's jaw dropped just as he emerged from the field to see a giant, military airship taking off, leaving a single pony in full military attire saluting the vessel.
"Eeeyup..."
"Howdy pard'ner!" Applejack said in a friendly tone.
The military pony standing there, who was apparently very high ranking, due to his abundance of medals, donned a pair of reflective Aviator sunglasses and turned to face the two farm ponies. He began to speak but stumbled slightly through his words.
"ha- er,.. I... Ahem. Sorry, allow me to try that again. I am Sergeant Geronimo, drill sergeant, trainer, and I was one of the Mustangs of the 51st squadron." He said with an air of power and importance, as though the farm ponies would understand or care.
"Pardon?" Big Mac drawled.
"It means that I was one of the four best fliers in the world at one time and have been training pegasi to defend and fight for this great nation for the past eight years because of it."
Geronimo watched as the orange mare with green eyes, and the Stetson on her head, raised one of her eyebrows suspiciously at him. This change in demeanor made Geronimo's head spin, 'She cant be seeing through me that easily, can she? My disguise is flawless. The only part of that story that was a lie was the part about my name, everything else was dead on, what is she suspicious of? Could it be-'
"Flier?" her sweet accent twanged off derailed his train of thought.
And then he realized what she said.
His ears drooped and he gave the other two a cold glare. Applejack and Big Macintosh could almost feel the temperature of the early morning air drop a few degrees, just because of the way this pony was looking at them.
"Uuuuuuhhhhh... Yeah, well, ah thought ya had ta be a pegasus to be in the Air Force." Applejack apologized, hoping that he would explain what was going on without resorting to violence.
Big Mac took several steps forward to protect his sister, in case this 'Sergeant' became violent.
"And what, pray tell, is telling you that I am not a pegasus, hmmm?" He said, his voice dripping with angry sarcasm. "How can you be so sure?"
"Y'all don't got no wings." Big Mac said to the almost violent pony. "In case ya didn't notice, pegasi got wings."
Geronimo twisted his head around and undid two buttons, on specially installed flaps on the back of his uniform; one on either side of his back. He looked back at the two earth pony farmers that he was talking to, and stretched his wings to their full extent. Revealing two uneven, feathery stumps that came out of the slits in the uniform specially designed to accommodate a pegasi's wings. The scar tissue at the ends, showed that there was at one point, large, powerful wings mounted on these stumps. "Who is to say that I am not a pegasus?" and with that he walked off towards town, leaving two shocked, confused, and awed earth ponies, trying to comprehend what it would be like to lose a part of them that was that much of who they were.
Dear Princess Celestia, Sergeant Geronimo received your letter informing him of his honorable discharge, and had us put him down in the next town we came to. The town that we dropped him off in was a small, semi-rural town by the name of Ponyville. He has commanded me to relay this information to you. Your Loyal Servant, Sergeant Hotshot
"Well I hope this is good enough." Hotshot said to himself as he carried the letter to the ship's communications unicorn, who was responsible for sending messages throughout the fleet, and the country. "Hey, send this to the princess would you?"
"Sir, yes sir!" the young mare replied, eager to do what her superior officer told her.
Ignoring the youth's enthusiasm Hotshot began to think. 'I wonder if I will ever see Geronimo again? And why do I feel as though something bad is going to happen to him?' shaking the thoughts from his head he continued down the hall to the training room where he was about to start training the new recruits.
After a while of walking through the orchard, Geronimo decided to tuck his wings back into his uniform. He had everything he owned in the pockets of his uniform, which basically consisted of an assortment of letters, and his hair dye. He couldn't help but feel as though sompony was watching him. He decided to keep his cool and not let it get to him. The longer he walked the more he felt like he was being watched, so he decided that whoever it was, he was going to freak them out when he got to town. He focused on his hearing, and everything that he could see, without moving his head.
The being that was following him was apparently everywhere. He could tell that it was only one, but the extremely light noises that it made in the trees seemed to show that it was not a physical being, tied down to being at one place at one time. They came from all over. Geronimo's confusion grew with every sound. It wasn't the sound of walking, or even physical contact with the ground of any sort. Whatever was following him was bouncing with an unnatural springiness.
After ten minutes of walking Geronimo was able to identify an extremely erratic pattern in this being's movement, and just before they arrived at town, he kicked a small rock to just where it was going to be next.
'Thunk' "Ouch!" whatever it was it talked, "what was that for?" in a high-pitched hyperactive girl voice.
"That was for stalking me for the past fifteen minutes." he said while continuing on his way. "Why we're you doing that? If I may be so bold." after he asked that, a pink mare emerged from behind a tree and had a mane that appeared to be a pink cloud, like the ones when discord took over the world.
"Well I my Pinkie Senses told me that there was going to be somepony new at Sweet Apple Acres today and I just had to know if it was true so I came down here as soon as I could and then I saw you and I was like 'is that the new guy?' so I was following you trying to figure out what kind of pony you were so I could tell what kind of surprise party to throw you-"
"Wait, wait, wait. Surprise party?" Geronimo cut her off from her one-breath, run-on sentence.
"Yep! But now you know about it so it won't be a surprise. Shoot."
"Well, throwing me a surprise party would be a vey bad idea, miss...?"
"Pinkie Pie! But why don't you want a surprise party?" and with that her mane began to deflate slightly as though it were a balloon and her smile became a slight frown.
"I love parties, miss Pie," with that her smile returned and her hair re-inflated. "but surprises are a bad idea for a war veteran with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder."
"Okie Dokie Lokie! Oh and call me Pinkie!" and then she bounced off, unnaturally, into the town, her mane and tail bouncing behind her.
Geronimo shook his head to try and get that confusing conversation out of his head, before continuing on into town.
The mayor was sitting at her desk doing routine paperwork, when her secretary knocked on her door. "Come in." She said with the fluid perfection of one who does this everyday.
"Mayor Mare, there is a stallion here requesting citizenship, he says that he has a letter from Princess Celestia that should aid in the process." the secretary said with a tinge of suppressed boredom in her voice.
"Well let him in." the mayor requested.
The secretary turned and left, shortly returning with the aforementioned stallion. He was a tall, strong, stallion with a scarlet coat and a short, brown, military manecut, and similarly well-kept brown tail. But the most noticeable thing was his well decorated ENAF uniform, which was weird because he was an earth pony by the looks of it.
"How may I help you today sir?"
"I am Sergeant Geronimo, and I'm one of the Mustangs of the 51st, and I would like to gain citizenship in this town." then he began digging through many papers in his uniform to pull out one specific one and pushed it to the mayor. "I believe that this might aid in the process."
She looked down at the letter and broke the Sun Seal that was adorning it, which symbolized that it was written and sent by the princess herself. The mayor donned her glasses and began to read,
To whom it may concern, Sergeant Geronimo is under my command and is to be granted citizenship in whichever town he so pleases. If there are any questions that you may have concerning the process, please feel free to write to me and I will help however I can. In Peace and Harmony, Princess Celestia
"Well, Sergeant, we will begin working of this immediately, so I suggest that you find a place to stay before it gets dark." she said while pulling some paperwork out from her desk and getting to work.
Geronimo showed himself out of the town hall and began to wander around town. His stomach decided that it was time to start searching for somewhere to eat. Eventually he found a nice outdoor place where he ordered a daisy sandwich for lunch.
He bit into the food that was not prepared months in advance and loved every bite of it. Just before he finished however he was interrupted by a pony speaking in what was apparently a Bitish accent.
"Ooohh darling! I simply love the ensemble! As well as the look of a stallion in uniform." Geronimo noticed the mare that was gushing over his dress uniform. She was a unicorn that had a white coat and a very styled bluish-purple mane.
Deciding to have a little fun, he adopted the same accent as her and responded with, "Oh, thank you darling. I do try to look my best on special occasions. And today is a very special day indeed."
"And why is that dear?"
Geronimo dropped the accent and said, "Because I just moved in this morning, in fact, I just got out of a meeting with the mayor." he allowed his smug smile to get a little bigger as he watched the mare's reaction to his accent switching.
"We-were you making fun of me?" she accused him.
"No I was not making fun of you ma'am. I was merely entertaining myself by switching accents, to watch your reaction. By the way my name is Sergeant Geronimo, and I was a mustang of the 51st, and your name, miss?" He made his introduction as courteous as he could to make up for his lack of respect earlier, plus she seemed like the kind of mare that would demand respect, adding a small bow to add to the effect.
She blushed slightly at his bow and cleared her throat before continuing, "my name is Rarity, and I am the owner of the Carousel Boutique. I would just love it if you came by my shop and would allow me to make a suit for you, Sergeant."
"I may just have to take you up on that someday, or at least have you mend these." gesturing to his well worn uniform.
"Well if you ever need help from me or want a new set of clothes for any reason at all, please don't hesitate to come by the boutique." Rarity said with a kindhearted smile, before leaving him to his lunch.
The communications unicorn aboard Sergeant Hotshot's airship looked at the letter that her commanding officer had entrusted her to send to the princess.
"Now, how do I do this?" she wondered out loud. "I can't remember the protocol for sending urgent mail to the princesses. Do I send it to her advisors, or is there a way to get it directly to her?"
She decided to try sending it directly to her ruler. She concentrated on the letter, as well as the princess. Suddenly the letter burst into a magical green flame with the smoke heading out the window and heading to Canterlot.
"I think that that worked..."
Princesses Celestia and Luna were sharing tea together, when suddenly a letter materialized out of its magical smoke, and unfurling in front of the sun princess.
"I wasn't expecting a letter from Twilight and she is the only one who sends letters this way... Hmmm..." she trailed off as she was reading the letter, her face contorted deep in thought.
"Is something wrong sister? You seem perplexed." the night princess asked.
"I don't know. One of the greatest Training Sergeants in our nation's air force has just been honorably discharged, but the thing that worries me is that he is now in Ponyville. I don't know why, I just feel that there was something I should be worried about with him there."
"Sister, you worry too much, with the Elements there, there is nothing to worry about." the darker of the immortal princesses reassured her sister before finishing her tea. "Now, if you will excuse me, I must go prepare the night."
"Alright sister, I will see you later, but I just can't stop feeling like there was something I should remember, oh well." And with that, the princess put away the letter, and returned to her tea.
After finishing his lunch Geronimo headed out, attempting to gain a better lay of the land. The whole process was much more difficult when he couldn't fly. Even the past eight years, which he spent without wings, he was in the airship with a birds-eye view of everything. Now he was landlocked, only able to see to the next corner before his line of sight was blocked by something. He felt claustrophobic, like he was trapped. He began to look for a way out of town, searching for some open space where he could breathe.
His search became more frantic as he started trotting through the streets weaving through the ponies littering the streets. His trotting became a full-blown gallop, to a passing pony he was just a blur.
Suddenly he saw an opening, so, putting on an extra burst of speed, he leapt over several ponies and a fruit stand, flying straight into...
Town square.
He landed on his hooves and skidded to a stop, where he looked around, trying to find a way out to any open area. Luckily there was enough open air in the town square to allow him to calm down.
Once he had calmed his nerves, he looked around to see what there was. The saw many interesting buildings, including what appeared to be a life-size gingerbread house, and a tree house.
What?
A tree with living space hollowed out of it and built onto it. A very impressive structure indeed. Geronimo decided to go and see what this impressive building was all about.
Upon closer inspection it appeared to be the public library. Geronimo decided that, even though he hated almost all reading, he should catch up on more recent history and important events.
As he stepped inside, a small ding from a bell greeted him, and he was struck by a realization. It was bigger inside than outside. The main floor couldn't have fit inside of the tree trunk that it was hollowed out of. As he was standing there and marveling at what he saw, a small, purple, unicorn mare came trotting down the stairs, levitating a stack of books behind her.
The purple unicorn looked at Geronimo and introduced herself, "Hello! My name is Twilight Sparkle, I run the library here in Ponyville. Can I help you, sir?" she said with a polite smile.
"Uh, yeah, my name is-" he was then cut off by a small, purple and green reptile coming into the room carrying a mountain of books.
"Twilight, where do you want these? They're really heavy." it said, obviously straining due to the weight.
Just put them somewhere else Spike, I'm busy right now. You were saying." Spike then waddled back towards the back of the room and set down the books, only to have them bury him in a pile of paper.
"Riiight... Anyways my name is Sergeant Geronimo, I have just reached the end of my service, and I am rather out of the loop. I know very little of what took place, outside of military endeavors, in the past nine years. Do you have anything here that could help me?"
At the mention of his military service, Twilight Sparkle's eyes got huge, her ears perked up, and a huge smile spread across her face. Spike also popped his head out of the pile of books. "What?" Geronimo said, beginning to worry about what may, or may not happen.
"You must have so many exciting stories! Could you tell us some?" as Twilight was talking papers, quills, and ink wells were all floating towards the very excited mare. "We could write a book! Historians all over Equestria would love to hear about this! There are so many things that you could tell us!"
Spike then chimed in with, "Did you ever kill somepony?"
"Whoa, Whoa, whoa. Calm down. I am sure that someday you will hear all of my stories, but for now, how about I get caught up on what has happened in the past few years? Is that ok with you?" Geronimo pled, trying to avoid reliving those memories, for now.
Twilight let out a depressed sigh, disappointed about not hearing any of this veteran's exciting war stories. "Fine, let's see what we can find for you. And Spike clean up that mess."
The little lizard-thing grumbled something about having already cleaned it up once, while the other two began scouring the shelves.
After a couple hours, Twilight had found a very recent history book that told everything he needed to know. So he checked out the book and left to find somewhere to read it. He found a large tree, outside of town, he then took off and folded his uniform, before he laid down and read until it got dark. While he was reading; however, he stumbled across something very, very fascinating, the Elements of Harmony.
Now he had heard of the Elements, every foal heard of how the princess had used them to defeat Nighmare Moon and Dischord, he had even heard that there were six ponies who had become the bearers of the Elements two years ago. He did not know who they were until just now.
There was a picture of the stained glass window portraying the six ponies and a name to go with each. He recognized four as ponies that he met today, the orange one, apparently named Applejack, the pink one named Pinkie Pie, the white one named Rarity, and the purple librarian named Twilight Sparkle. There was one he didn't recognize though, a cream colored pony, with a pink mane, named Fluttershy.
But he did recognize the last one. Rainbow Dash.
"No way... it can't be her... What are the odds? How could I have stumbled upon all of this by accident? And why wasn't I informed about this? I think that I deserve to know that she has become one of the Bearers of Harmony."
He made a decision, "If she lives nearby, I need to find her, I need to apologize to her for everything she lost... Crap... She's gonna kill me. Why did I have to pick this town?"
Geronimo laid down his head on a patch of moss and went to sleep trying to think about how he could best avoid getting pummeled.
Rainbow Hunt Geronimo dreamt that night, but not his usual nightmare. This time it was a cyan, rainbow maned pegasus, that was trying to end his life, not the usual griffon. And this was scary. Geronimo hadn't been truly scared in years, and this was horrifying. The hate in her eyes was enough to tear out his soul. No matter what he did or said, Geronimo couldn't calm her down. The last things that he saw were two horseshoes, flying at his face at an unholy speed.
Geronimo's eyes snapped open, and he felt himself drenched in a cold sweat, and his heart was racing.
After a few minutes he had calmed down enough to see a problem. His hair dye was running due to his sweat, and the fact that it was almost time for the 30 hours that it lasted to be up. Thankful that it was still early and almost nopony would be up, he set out to find a place to wash up.
He grabbed his shampoo and hair dye and climbed to the top of a hill to search for a lake or a stream. Almost immediately he found a small stream at the foot of the hill and he headed off towards it.
Fluttershy was doing her early morning feeding rounds, putting out food for the early risers. She then walked across the bridge that was spanning the stream that cut through her property, when she noticed something odd. The stream had an unnatural brown coloring to it. She looked upstream, trying to find the source when she thought she saw something. Her curiosity got the best of her; however, and she went to investigate.
Geronimo had just finished applying the last of his hair dye when he heard cautious hoofsteps he turned around to see the other Element of Harmony, that Fluttershy mare creeping around a corner. Quickly he hid his hair dye behind himself, hoping that she didn't see anything.
The careful mare looked up to see the strong, proud stallion looking at her curiously. She took the moment of awkward silence to hide behind her mane.
"Oh. I'm so sorry, I didn't know that you were here. I'll just leave now." the embarrassed mare said hoping that he wouldn't be mad at her for sneaking up on him.
"No, no its okay. I was just finishing up here anyway. So... My name is-” suddenly cut off by the quiet pegasus gasping and staring at him. "What?"
"Oh! You poor thing!" she exclaimed barely louder than a whisper.
"What are you talking abou- oh... Right, I'm not wearing my uniform. You can see everything. Including my wing stumps." Geronimo said, his face going from confusion, to deadpanned annoyance. "Yeah, so I see you've noticed my slight disability. But I've learned to live with it. Sooo... You're that Fluttershy mare, right? Element of Kindness or something?" with that she gave a small nod, "I am Sergeant Geronimo, Mustang of the 51st squ-" at that he was cut off by another quiet gasp from the shy pegasus.
"Y-y-you w-w-were in the f-51st?" she stammered through shock, awe and a twinge of fear.
"Yeah! Wait... You've heard of the 51st? Nopony around here has recognized that yet." he said, surprise and thanks filling his voice.
"H-have you met Rainbow Dash yet?" the small pegasus said hiding behind her mane.
"Actually, I was planning to do so today. Could you point me to where she lives, Ms. Fluttershy?" he asked politely.
The pink-maned mare gave him directions to the hill that the colorful mare had her house floating above. The military pony donned his uniform, careful not to let her see any of his disguise materials, and headed off in the direction she pointed out. "If she isn't there you could try Sweet Apple Acres, she likes to practice her flying over the fields." she called after him. Fluttershy sighed, "I hope she at least listens to him first. I feel so sorry for that poor stallion."
Applejack was working the fields as usual. Hard work usually helped her get her mind off things, but not today.
She just couldn't get that stallion she met yesterday out of her head. That Geronimo guy made her confused.
Something was wrong about him. She couldn't put her hooves on it. He just didn't seem real. Almost everything he said checked out fine, but there was something about him that made her feel like he was lying.
She sighed and went back to kicking trees to get her mind off the new stallion. That wouldn't last long though.
Geronimo had eventually located the hill Rainbow Dash had made her house over. He looked up at it and, from what he could see, it was magnificent.
The large cloud house had rainbow wells on the roof, causing full-spectrum waterfalls to cascade down the walls. Giant pillars held the roof up above the second story. The clouds were all of the highest quality.
"Nice." he said with a smirk of appreciation for the architecture and the build quality. He then steeled his nerves and braced for impact.
"RAINBOW DASH." he yelled, attempting to get her attention, but nothing happened. There was no response from the magnificent house, just empty, crushing, silence.
He waited a few more seconds then tried again, only to get the same result. This convinced him that she was not home. He let out a deep sigh and decided to head out and find that apple orchard. "While I'm there I should find and apologize to that Applejack mare and the stallion she was with for how I acted to them, they didn't know not to ask about my wings. I hope she isn't too mad at me, a farmer like that could do some serious damage with a kick; and, depending on if I find Rainbow first, I could already be almost dead."
Rainbow Dash was having a good day, she had gotten up a bit early to do her weather duties so she could have more time to practice her flying, she was attempting a few stunts that she hadn't ever tried before, she had seen them performed a couple times before, years ago, but... Never mind.
She was going to get them. She twisted, turned, dove, climbed, looped and executed almost all of the moves flawlessly, but now it was time for the show stopper, her signature move. The Sonic Rainboom.
She did a quick aileron roll into a sharp climb, gaining altitude rapidly. She pumped her wings hard, climbing up to the point where she couldn't go any higher.
Then she turned around.
She put her face towards the ground, and then she started pumping her wings hard again. She could feel the wind pushing back. Her eyes began to water as she squinted against the speed. The Mach cone began to form in front of her, and she pushed harder, her wings burning. She could feel the barrier starting to give and approach the breaking point.
Then it shattered.
Colors filled the sky as she broke the sound barrier, her world went silent as no sounds could reach her and she laughed in pure joy at her accomplishment. Unaware that said joy wouldn't last long.
Geronimo had found the farm and was wandering the lines of trees following the rainbow streak in the sky. He was too busy watching the sky to see that he was trotting straight into the path of the legs of an equally distracted farm pony.
He heard a noise that sounded like hitting a coconut with a two-by-four. Followed immediately by his vision going white. And all sounds become muffled, as though he were under water.
Then he noticed the pain. All of the pain. He couldn't think clearly, but he knew that he was in a lot of pain, mostly in his head. He had experienced pain worse than this to be sure, but it had never been in his head.
His senses started to return one by one, starting with vision. He blinked a few times and could see a blue dot trailed by a rainbow contrail flying straight down. He could hear somepony talking to him and it started to get clearer but all of his energy was focused on that blue dot. Suddenly there was an explosion of color as the blue dot broke the sound barrier.
He smiled. He remembered the Sonic Rainboom, those were some good times... Wait... Who just did it? Oh right he was searching for Rainbow Dash when his head exploded or something. Now who was that talking?
"Hey! Can ya hear me partner?" somepony drawled. It must have been that farm pony. "Ah'm real sorry 'bout that. Ah jus' didn't see ya."
He mustered enough strength to say, "'M ok... Been hurt worse..." he was then able to focus on her rather cute, very worried looking face.
"Y'all sure? Ah kicked ya right hard."
"I'm sure, and I'm sorry for how I acted yesterday, I understand that you didn't know any of my history. However if you want to know more sooner follow me; I need to go find Rainbow Dash. Judging by her trail, she went that way." he said while standing up and pointing in the direction her rainbow trail headed off in.
She agreed and as they walked she asked him, "So how do ya know Rainbow?"
Applejack noticed that he looked hurt but he answered, "I'm a... a family friend."
That answer didn't sit well with Applejack. But she needed to know more, "So why do ya need ta find her?"
"Well if you keep following me you will find out." he said with a forced smile.
They walked in silence for a few more moments and then she asked with genuine curiosity, "Why did ya want ta apolergize ta me?"
"Hm. I thought I answered it earlier on my way back into consciousness. I am sorry for acting the way I did to you and your... Coltfriend?" he more asked the last word.
"What?" she asked raising an eyebrow and looking at Geronimo.
"You know the big red guy you were with, I never got his name, yours I got from a history book, Miss Applejack." he said hoping that the conversation wasn't taking a turn for the insulting.
He was pleasantly surprised when she started laughing, "Aw, Shucks!" she said between laughs, "That was Big Macintosh, he's mah older brother, not mah coltfriend." then continued to laugh.
"Well I guess that it's good that it's only one of those things." Geronimo said with a laugh. Then he muttered under his breath, "Does that mean you're available?" he said half-hoping she heard him and half-praying she didn't.
"Pardon?" he breathed a sigh of relief that she hadn't.
"Nothing worth repeating at the moment." he said as they approached the edge of the field just in time to see Rainbow landing.
"Excellent flying. Almost flawless. You looked as though you were slightly unsure about those moves, but you were confident enough in your abilities to enable yourself to pull through." he said with the air of a judge.
"Uhm... Thanks?" Rainbow said to the unknown stallion standing before her. Who gave this earth pony the right to compliment her flying ability? On the other hoof he did seem to know what he was talking about. And also why did his uniform seem familiar?
"Also, if I may make a suggestion, hold that controlled stall slightly longer before your hard bank to the right. It will make the following climb much easier." he said with a certainty that wouldn't be rivaled.
Rainbow had enough of this guy talking like he owned the sky. "Alright, 'earth pony' who gave you the right to tell me how to fly? Huh? 'Cause I don't see anyone better than me around here to tell you what to tell me." Well that was slightly confusing, but it got Rainbow's point across.
"I worked with a pegasus by the name of..." he paused to brace himself and get the courage to say a name he hadn't mentioned in eight years. "Spectrum, Spectrum Dash. Your brother, and he gave me that permission."
Applejack perked up, "Brother? Ya never said that ya'll had a brother!" her excitement for her friend growing. But one look at Rainbow's face made her excitement disappear, quickly replaced with confusion.
Geronimo took the responsibility of sharing the story, "Well, 'had' is the key word there. We served together in the ENAF, we were best friends, I was his wingman, and he died because I was not good enough." Geronimo said, pain filling each one of his words. A single tear dripped down from under the lens of his sunglasses.
The air raised a couple of degrees as Rainbow became angry. She became red, all the joy from her Sonic Rainboom had vanished with the appearance of this guy. This guy who thought he could just come and be friends, who thought that she wouldn't hold a grudge.
Rainbow launched herself at the stallion. Her front hooves stretched out before her, ready to pound on Geronimo.
Geronimo didn't flinch.
Rainbows hooves made contact with the jaw of the stationary pony, dislocating it on impact, and sending him flying.
Applejack tried to get Rainbow to stop, but the colorful mare was too enraged, she couldn't hear anything.
Geronimo was, once again, blinded by the pain. This time he knew what was going on and was able to keep track of where he was, and what he was doing.
Currently he was falling.
No, wait, somepony caught him and is carrying him up.
Uh oh.
He shook his head and blinked hard, trying to get his vision back, and it worked. Just in time to see his captor and him pass through the cloud level.
She turned her rage twisted face towards him, and let go. He realized something that she obviously didn't, he was still able to walk on clouds, even without wings.
Just as that thought finished, he landed on the cloud. Then he scrambled to his hooves and attempted to plead his case with the violent mare. "Aug, ugh, aaaeeuuughung!" realizing what was wrong he brought his hooves up to his chin and with a sickening 'pop' he relocated his jaw.
Rainbow Dash flinched at that and landed on the cloud, taking up a fighting stance.
Geronimo was finally able to get out, "Look, Rainbow, if you would allow me to explain, I will tell you the whole story."
She looked at him, her eyes full of distrust and hatred. "I don't know..."
"Seriously? You don't trust me enough to tell you what happened? You seriously think that I am going to lie about that day?" he said, confusion written on his face.
She looked at her hooves slightly ashamed, but still distrusting. "Alright, but I'm taking you to the ground, Applejack can tell if somepony is lying, even in a letter." she said.
That gave Geronimo a moment of hesitation as he worried about his point of view, then he had an idea. "Ok I will do it just get me down there."
A psychopathic look crossed her face as he realized his poor choice of words.
"Uh oh."
She kicked the clouds beneath them and they split open, allowing him to fall through.
He had experienced this sensation enough times in his dreams, that he didn't yell, scream, or even panic. He tumbled through the sky and writhed into an upright position, spread out his legs, and popped the stumps through the slits in his uniform, slowing himself down significantly.
Just as he reached 100 feet, a pair of blue hooves wrapped around his waist and slowed him down to a relatively safe speed, then dropped him again.
He hit the ground hard and for the third time that day, experienced immense head pain. "Uuuugh... I'm gonna need to visit a doctor... My head hurts." then he heard galloping coming his direction.
"Ya alright sugarcube? Ya took a mighty tumble there." Applejack said with intense worry filling her words.
"Ugh. I deserved it, all of that." he said pushing himself up from the ground, just as Rainbow Dash landed beside them.
"What on Earth did ya'll do to deserve that?"
"You'll see. Oh yeah and Applejack, you are my lie detector, so if anything doesn't check out, let me know." Rainbow said with a sadistic grin.
Applejack looked at the two pegasi with confusion. Then Geronimo began.
"Eight years ago, in the Air Force, there was a squadron known as the 51st; they were the four best fliers in Equestria. They consisted of a mare, named Blue Angel, and three stallions named Red Arrow, Geronimo, and the best of all of them, Spectrum Dash.
They were the greatest fliers ever, whenever a small inside fighter job was needed they were called in to dispatch it. They took care of dozens of small uprisings in the North.
Then one day there was a rather unexciting call. 20 griffons starting an uprising in the mountain range, I forget which one, so they headed out. The four of them took on nineteen of them, it was no problem for soldiers of such high caliber.
The last griffon was different, however. He was a golden griffon, the alicorn of the griffon world, bigger, faster, stronger, and still no problem for the four professional fighter, pegasi.
This was not an ordinary encounter however, this particular griffon had found a way to enchant his talons, increasing the sharpness of said talons, to a point where they could slice through anything, flesh, wood, metal... Bone..."
Tears were flowing freely from his eyes as Geronimo said that last part. He then took a deep breath to calm himself and return to the story.
"Anyways, Spectrum had taught all of his best moves to the other three, and Geronimo attempted to use one, known as the Buccaneer Blaze, to get around to the other side of the griffon. Spectrum saw the mistake in using the maneuver; however, and attempted to distract the beast.
Before the beast turned on Spectrum it ripped the wings right off of Geronimo's back. Then it turned on Spectrum, ripping his wings off as well.
The two fell while the other two dove, attempting to catch them.
They caught us and took us to the infirmary, I survived while he died from a loss of blood.
I have regretted that decision every day since. But I have wanted to apologize for your loss, I know what it is like, he was like a brother to me." he sighed as he finished up the story.
"Now, if you will excuse me, I need to find a place to spend the night." he said as he turned to leave.
"Whoa there partner, y'all can stay in the barn if ya don't have a place to sleep tonight." Applejack offered sympathetically.
"Thank you, I appreciate it. And now that I do not have to do that, I shall go talk to a doctor about a headache." he said while he was walking off.
"Well AJ, I have never felt like more of a jerk in my entire life, what do I do?" Rainbow plead to her honest friend.
"Rainbow, Ah would accept his apology, and apologize for being so rude to him. If ya will 'scuse me, ah got ta get back to apple buckin'." the farm pony said before they went their separate ways.
There was a slight rustling in the barn as somepony was putting the finishing touches on her secret plan. "What did he say about surprise parties again? Oh yeah! He loves them! This is going to be perfect."
"Well, Sergeant, it would appear that you have a rather severe concussion." The doctor said without looking up from his clipboard.
"I figured as much." Geronimo responded dryly.
"Drink a lot of fluids, and take these when a headache appears." he said giving the bruised Sergeant a bottle of pills. "Thanks" Geronimo said, readying himself to leave.
As his curiosity got the better of him, the doctor said, "If you don't mind me asking, how did this happen?"
That caused Geronimo to laugh, confusing his doctor, "Well, always watch where you're going in Sweet Apple Acres. And don't aggravate Rainbow Dash. Anyways I will see you later Doc."
The implications of what this pony was saying sunk in to the doctor as his patient trotted out of the room. The pain that this pony had just lived through was almost impossible to survive. Just thinking about it made the doctor shudder.
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"Ugh, I am starving, I have only had that one sandwich in two days, and I need food. Great now I am talking to myself." he muttered while he was walking into town. He approached the fist place he saw to buy food, which was an apple stand being run by that Big Mac stallion.
"Hey, I would like to buy one bushel of apples, also I would like to apologize for how I acted towards you and your sister yesterday. I was wrong, and I am sorry, so what do you say?" Big Mac was getting the bushel of apples ready while Geronimo was going through his apology.
"Don't worry 'bout it." he said and pushed the basket towards the veteran. Before Geronimo even had a chance to thank the farmer Big Mac had moved on to the next customer. So he just tossed the bits onto the table, leaving a substantial tip for the kind stallion.
He wandered town, eating his apples, searching for the library to return the book.
He found it and knocked on the door only to get the response, "Come in, it is a public library." shrugging he walked in, and was again greeted by the bell over the doorway ringing.
Inside he saw the little lizard-thing cleaning books up off the floor. "Hey buddy, I wanted to return this book." he said after putting the book on the nearest table. "Also where is that Twilight Sparkle mare at?"
The lizard-guy wasn't paying attention to who the stallion in the library was. "oh she is helping Pinkie organize a surprise party for that new guy, Geroni-" but he was cut off before he could finish.
"WHAT!!!?!? I told her no surprises, thank you for warning me." he was fuming as he walked out the door, slamming it behind him. Spike was now standing in a pile of books, eyes huge in fear because of the outbreak from the stranger. "No problem."
"Pinkie, are you sure it's ok for us to be doing this? He doesn't seem to be the kind of pony to surprise well." Twilight said to the over-enthusiastic mare who was currently in her element.
"hmmm... Twilight, I think I know what I am doing, I know everything there is to know about making the best party ever." she said while inflating and tying off balloons, and letting them float up to the roof of the barn.
"How do you do that?" Twilight said staring at the balloon as it rose to the ceiling and bounced off the top.
"Do what?" Pinkie asked while icing the cake with the precise hoof of a trained professional.
"Make those balloons float up there, without helium." Twilight pointed out.
"Silly Twilight, they're balloons, of coarse they float!"
"Wha? Ugh, it's not worth it." she said while Pinkie Pie bounced off towards the entrance to hang the sign. Just as she got on a ladder, Applejack burst in, knocking Pinkie off her perch.
"What in tarnation? What is going on here?" She demanded, having not known about the party beforehoof, she was confused.
"We are throwing a surprise party for the Sergeant!" Pinkie yelled as she came bursting out of a barrel wearing a party hat.
"How did ya know he was gonna be here tonight?" Applejack asked the hyperactive pony.
"My Pinkie senses told me." said the pink party pony, as though it were the most normal thing in the world. Then she began to hang streamers from the rafters.
"And why didn't ya ask me first?" Applejack asked, annoyance staining her voice.
She then heard just a buzzing as Pinkie Pie began to explain her thought process, starting at when she first met Geronimo, and continuing through every thought up through the point where Applejack asked why she didn't ask her before setting up a party in the barn.
"Alright! Ya can stop now. Ya can throw yer party in 'ere just clean up when yer done. Now ah've got a headache." She mumbled while leaving the barn. As she opened the door, an angry red blur came storming through the open door and right up to Pinkie Pie.
"Pinkie Pie. What. Did. I. Say. About. Surprises?" Geronimo said raising one eyebrow and tapping one front hoof on the floor of the barn. Pinkie bounced down from the rafter she was currently on, to get to eye-level with the irate veteran.
"Ooh Ooh Ooh! I know this one! They are bad ideas for ponies like Pete Esdee." she said, bouncing with excitement, "So what do I win?"
"You 'win' the ability to NOT throw me a surprise party." he deadpanned.
"N-n-no p-p-party?" Pinkie Pie's hair deflated.
"That is not what I said, I said no 'surprise' party." he explained, "I appreciate all this work, but I would appreciate it more if you told me about it beforehoof."
"Okie-Dokie-Loki!" she said, her hair reinflating, "Ooohh! We are throwing you a party tonight!"
"Thanks. I got that." he deadpanned once again.
Twilight, who had been watching in confusion, spoke up, "Did she just try to say that you have PTSD?"
"Yep," he pushed his wing stumps out of his jacket, "I lost my wings, and my best friend in battle. That experience haunts me in my dreams on a pretty regular basis." Then he walked out of the barn shouting back, "I will see you girls tonight."
He left the two mares in shock and Pinkie's party planner mode on full-throttle. "We have to make this the greatest party ever, for his sake."
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The party went off, pretty much, without a hitch. Geronimo met almost all of the ponies in Ponyville and, in doing so, discovered a distinct lack of stallions. He didn't care all that much, he just noticed.
The party continued late into the night. And by the time everypony had left, and the party had been cleaned up, Geronimo was exhausted. There was one thing he needed to ask Applejack before going to bed, though.
"Hey Applejack," he called to her as she was leaving, "is the hay for me to sleep on, or for me to eat?"
The question struck her as being extremely funny, "Heh, it's whatever ya want it for. Now g'night." After she left he snuffed out the light and slipped into a dreamless sleep.
-------------------------------------------------
Geronimo awoke to the sun pouring in through some cracks in the walls, and immediately he realized that it was later than he usually woke up. He jumped out of the little nest he had made for himself in the hay, and began heading out of the barn. As he left he saw Applejack heading out to the fields, next to her brother, so he headed out towards them.
"Ah feel bad, makin' 'im stay in the barn, but there's somethin' about 'im. Ah don't know, Ah just don't feel like he's tellin' the full story." Applejack explained to her brother.
"Eeeyup." the big, quiet pony responded.
Before Applejack could continue, her name was called, from back towards the barn. The Sergeant was trotting towards them, not in his uniform, and covered in hay. "Would you two mind if I used one of your showers?" the stallion asked politely.
"Go on ahead." Big Mac nodded his agreement.
"Thank you so much." he said as he turned to leave.
Applejack sighed, "Ah just don't know 'bout 'im."
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Geronimo just had to laugh at all of the apple-based grooming products in the Apple's shower. It made sense, it was just funny.
He scrubbed himself thoroughly, getting all of the dirt, from when he was knocked to the ground, out of his coat, as well as all of the hay he had slept in. It wasn't until he saw the brown tint in the water that he realized that he forgot something.
"Horse apples." he looked back and saw that his cutie mark and tail were exposed. He checked the other side of the shower curtains and saw what he had feared. He definitely had forgotten his dye.
He finished up his shower and dried off quickly, as he tried to figure out what to do. The youngest Apple had gone off to school already, her siblings were working the fields, and the old one was sleeping somewhere. He could get through the house unnoticed, but getting to the barn would be more difficult, with the two siblings out in the fields, he would have to keep a sharp eye out for them.
Carefully, he crept out of the bathroom. He quietly snuck down the hall and towards the kitchen, and consequently, the door. As he entered the kitchen he could smell the faint aroma of breakfast, still lingering in the air. The delicious mixture of apples, cinnamon, and syrup caused him to pause for a moment.
In that moment, however, the doorknob turned, and in walked Applejack. She saw the stallion standing in the kitchen. He gave a sheepish smile and offered, "This isn't what it looks like?"
Applejack looked at the red stallion, with a reverse-rainbow mane and tail, (instead of progressing from red to violet, it went backwards) and a cutie mark very similar to Rainbow Dash's. He had a sheepish grin on his face, like he knew that he was guilty and was currently just hoping she would take it easy on him. She wasn't.
"YOU NO GOOD, LOW DOWN, TRESPASSIN' VARMINT!" she yelled at the mystery stallion. Whose face immediately changed to one of confusion.
"Trespassing? Then I guess that it really isn't what it looks like." he said, with a little bit of pleasure entering his voice. "Look, this is- Wha!" he was cut off as she started to attack him, from across the room she began grabbing and throwing anything that she could, apples, pies, jars, chairs, knives, anything that she could get her hooves on. He ducked, rolled, and dodged all of her attacks. Eventually he knocked over the kitchen table and used it as a barricade.
"Listen! I can explain!" he shouted from behind the wooden table, as a knife dug in from the other side and through, the tip sticking out right beside his ear. "Stop throwing blades!"
"Get out here and fight me!" she screamed, brandishing the toaster.
"And just take, whatever it is you are currently preparing to launch, to the face?"
"Yes!"
"I am NOT fighting you!" he yelled, "look, if I give up willingly, will you please NOT maim me? And maybe listen to what is going on?" after he said that, the barrage against the table ended.
"Alright..." the farm pony said slightly nervous, "come out now."
He stood up, and just as he reached his full height, he was surrounded with rope. It tightened and he fell down, slamming his head on the floor. "Uuuugh... That hurt. Not the worst I've felt, but still."
"Geronimo...?" Applejack asked disbelieving, upon seeing his severed wings.
"Only kind of." he said, squirming to a position where he could see her face. "Look, I am not Geronimo, he was my wingman. I am Spectrum Dash, Rainbow's older brother." Applejack just stared at him, shock and confusion twisting her face, "That story I told you was completely true, I just used some creative liberties to work around saying which one I was. Geronimo was semi-responsible for my 'death' but I should've told him not to use certain maneuvers in battle." by this time tears were flowing freely from his eyes. "We both lost our wings, but he lost more blood than I did, and thus he died."
"Here is where things get weird. The princess had decided that I was to become a training Sergeant, and was determined to keep me in the service. She knew that Geronimo was an orphan, everypony did, she decided that it would be easier to tell everypony that I died, rather than telling them why I wasn't coming back. Upon threat of being convicted of treason, I have been scared into taking the identity of my best friend. I am not allowed to tell anypony or I will, to quote the princess, 'be found guilty of treason.' So I have lived for the past eight years under a name that was not my own, doing a job that I did not want to do."
The pain in his voice was evident. Applejack untied his hooves and allowed him to stand up, and as soon as he had risen she wrapped him in a hug. "Ah'm so sorry ya had to do that. Ah am sure that we can get this mess cleared up."
He broke the hug and looked at her, "No. We can't clear this mess up, because I am still under threat of arrest. And you will be too if you tell anypony who I really am." he looked into her green eyes and just hoped she got what he was saying. "Understand?"
"Ah do..." she hesitated, breaking eye contact, "but Ah've gotta tel ya. Ah'm downright terrible at keepin' secrets." she looked back up at him with a sheepish smile.
"Well, just try not to say anything that could get us arrested, ok?"
"Sure thing partner!"
They stood in the ruined kitchen awkwardly for a few moments before he spoke up. "Well... Why don't you get back to work, while I put my disguise back on and clean the kitchen? Sound like a plan?"
"Alright, sounds good to me." she said, dipping her Stetson and leaving once again for the fields.
Spectrum sighed, "Well, that makes everything all the more difficult." then he put on his disguise and went to work cleaning the kitchen.
Rainbow Dash's head was spinning. She had tried for years to push down any memories of her brother, and push away the pain that came with them.
Then all of a sudden this crazy stallion comes out of nowhere, saying he is the one responsible for the death of her brother, and he apologizes for her loss.
Then he tells a story that makes her unable to be properly mad at him. No matter how hard she tried, no matter how hard she flew, she couldn't stop thinking about him. She needed to talk to somepony who could help her forgive him and ask for forgiveness. But who could she talk to? Who would know how to respond kindly? Oh wait... Kind... Fluttershy.
The speedy pegasus rolled hard to the left and pulled up hard, bringing her to face the quaint cottage of her oldest friend. Diving fast, she reflected on her relationship with her quiet friend and her brother.
In flight school she hung out mainly with Gilda and Fluttershy, Gilda was great to compete and show off with, but she was always poor at the whole, listening thing. Fluttershy, on the other hoof, was the exact opposite, she appreciated Rainbows tricks, but couldn't appreciate them properly. However, whenever Rainbow needed to talk Fluttershy would be there.
She remembered the day she had received the news of her brother's death.
She had been flying with Gilda, each one showing off their favorite moves, apparently Gilda had a brother too, they weren't very close, but Rainbow knew she secretly looked up to her brother. Rainbow was about to try out one specific move she had seen her brother pull off, she said to her griffon friend, "Watch this! My brother made this one up, it's called the Buccaneer Blaze!"
After performing the move she landed beside her friend, "Nice moves, Dash!" Gilda said, "ya know I would like to meet your brother someday, he seems like he could teach us some cool things."
"Yeah, G. He is the best flier in the world! One day I'm gonna be as good as him." she said puffing out her chest with pride.
"Ms. Dash," a pony in an air force uniform called out to her, "could I talk to you alone for a minute?"
"Uh, sure?"
The two walked off to the picnic area and sat down at a table, "So what did you want to talk to me about?"
"Ms. Dash, it pains me to tell you this, but your brother was killed in action." his face was sullen and he said something else but Rainbow Dash was too out of it, she couldn't think straight.
She vaguely remembered walking over to Gilda. "What's up?" her friend asked her.
Then Dash burst into tears, burying her face in her griffon friend's feathery chest, sobbing uncontrollably. Gilda had no idea what to do, she tried her best to comfort her friend, using her claws to stroke her mane, and attempting to say things to calm her down. Eventually Gilda realized that she needed to get Dash to somepony who could help and listen better than her. But who? Maybe that quiet pony that dash hangs out with? What was her name? Shy... something. Oh well she will know what to do. They arrived at the quiet mare's dorm and Gilda knocked on the door and the yellow pony answered, "Hello?" upon seeing her friend so shaken up, she felt horrible, "Oh Rainbow, you poor dear. Come inside and tell me what happened." she escorted Dash inside, while Gilda stood uncomfortably at the door.
"I gotta get to class, so come talk to me later, I guess..." She said rather confused.
Fluttershy comforted Rainbow until she was able to tell her what had happened.
"Oh Rainbow, I am so sorry to hear that." Fluttershy said upon hearing what had happened. "Remember, I am here for you, everything will be ok." she said, stroking her distressed friend.
Rainbow shifted from blinding sadness, to blind fury, "It w-was h-his wingm-man's f-fault, that Geronimo he wrote about! I will get him back someday!"
Fluttershy was shocked, "How can it be his fault?"
"I-I don't know." she admitted, "but he could have saved him, he was his partner, they are supposed to watch out for each other! I WILL get him back for this." she said, anger filling her eyes. But the anger was once again replaced by sadness, as her feelings overtook her, and she bawled into her friend's mane.
"There, there don't do anything too crazy Rainbow, you will always have me to talk to."
Dash flared her wings and pulled up hard, landing lightly on Fluttershy's welcome mat. Knocking on the door, she called out, "Fluttershy, I need to talk to you. I need some help with something." She looked around and didn't see her friend anywhere. She looked in the window and didn't see her inside.
"Where could she be?" Rainbow thought aloud, "Wait, what day is it? Ugh, she is at the spa with Rarity." she realized. There was nothing that Rainbow Dash hated more than the spa; however, there was no other option.
Rarity and Fluttershy were together for their weekly meeting at the spa. They did the standard thing, they talked about the past week and all the new gossip, but most of all they talked about the Sergeant.
"Darling, you know the new stallion, the one pinkie threw the party for, what do you think of him?" Rarity said as several ponies attended to her hooves, "I personally think that he is a rather confusing individual. When we met, he began by having fun at my expense, but then he treated me like a true lady. Much better than my little fiasco with Prince Blueblood." she shuddered, remembering the horrible stallion, "but that is in the past. Sergeant Geronimo, however, seems to be a very respectable stallion, and one who demands respect as well. What is your impression of him dear?"
"Oh, well, he seems very nice. He was very understanding when I snuck up on him, while he was taking a bath." Rarity and all of the mares working in the salon looked at the shy pegasus.
"You snuck up on him while he was bathing?" Rarity said, raising an eyebrow and putting on a sly grin. "Soooo... When? Where? And how was it?"
"It isn't what you think." Fluttershy defended, "I was feeding my animals and noticed something upstream so, thinking it was a critter of some kind, I went to investigate. I was being careful, so I wouldn't startle it, and I rounded the bend and he was just finishing drying off. I was so embarrassed. But he took it well." Fluttershy then got a look of worry on her face, "I just hope Rainbow gives him a chance."
"What about Rainbow, darling?" Rarity asked, her curiosity piqued.
"Didn't you notice that she wasn't at Geronimo's party?" Rarity nodded, "Well back in flight school..." Fluttershy proceeded to tell what had happened the day Dash learned about her brother's death.
She was just finishing up when a crash was heard from the entrance, and many beauty products came spilling out into the spa. Followed by a rather sheepish looking Rainbow Dash. "Hehe... Sorry." she looked around a little and laid her eyes upon Rarity and Fluttershy who were currently in the middle of a hooficure. She hovered over to them and said, "Hey Fluttershy, hey Rarity, I need your help." she sat down, and just as she did one of the spa workers approached her hooves with a file, "Nonononono, I don't want that." she looked at her friends, "Hey guys, you know that Geronimo stallion?" the others glanced at each other and nodded, but Dash didn't notice because she was looking at her hooves. "Well I kinda need to apologize. Ya see..." she told the whole story, starting at him complementing her flying and finishing with him apologizing.
"So you see, I need to apologize, and accept his apology."
"Well then darling, you must do so. It seems rather simple to me."
"Yeah, um, why do you need our help? If you don't mind us asking."
"Because, I am no good with apologies. I can usually accept them well, but the grudge that I have held against him for all these years is making it hard to accept." she sighed, "I also always planned on ripping his wings off, but I can't do that. He already lost them." she slammed herself down on the lounge chair, "Arg! Why is admitting that I was wrong so hard?"
Rarity laughed slightly, "Dear, I think that comes with being a mare, but you really should go ask forgiveness, he seems reasonable enough." and with that Rarity and Fluttershy moved on to the next phase of their spa treatment. Leaving Rainbow with her thoughts.
"Why does this day keep getting more and more uncomfortable?"
Forgiveness Rainbow Dash flew around town, searching for Geronimo. "I just gotta get this over with. Now where is he?" she searched all over town and then remembered that he was staying with Applejack at the farm. So she swerved off towards the orchard.
She flew over the rows of apple trees, searching for the stallion. At one point she thought she saw him working the fields but upon landing she noticed her mistake.
"Can I help ya, Ms. Dash?" Big Mac said, kicking a tree.
"Oh, sorry, no. I was looking for the Sergeant." she said taking off.
Big Mac hooked himself up to the apple cart, and took off for the barn. "That mare is always in a hurry."
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Geronimo emerged from the kitchen, now coated in apple by products. "I need another shower." he looked up to see Granny Smith sleeping in her chair. "How on earth is she still asleep?" he grabbed some paper towels and began cleaning himself off as he walked out the door.
He wiped an apple pie crust off of his face as a blue blur landed in front of him. "Oh, hello Rainbow Dash, how can I help you? Need to let off a little steam and need a punching bag? 'Cause I'm here, just let me take off my sunglasses, I don't even know how they stayed on and didn't break last time, but I probably won't be so lucky this time." he said while beginning to remove his sunglasses.
"No, no I don't want to hurt you."
He pushed his sunglasses back up and looked at her, raising an eyebrow. "So what do you want?"
"I Wa-. I nee-, I-." she sighed, took a deep breath, and attempted to say what was on her mind. "Look, I'm trying to say... This isn't easy for me... I'm sorry." she mumbled hanging her head.
"What?" he asked honestly confused.
"I said I'm sorry ok?" She snapped at him. "I have held a simple grudge against you for the last eight years, I planned on beating you senseless if I ever saw you. I hated you. But now that I have met you, and you explained the whole story, I regret every thought I had about ripping your wings off." Geronimo raised his eyebrows in surprise. "I'm sorry for thinking it was your fault."
"Apology accepted," he said with a comforting smile. "Now, I haven't seen you do much flying, but I know a good one when I see it. So how about you let me train you?"
"Why would I need you to train me?"
"Because your brother taught me everything he knew, and I have been training pegasi for the past eight years based off of what he taught me." he said with a slightly cocky grin. "And the best one out of all the ponies I taught, became my apprentice, and can't begin to compare to your raw abilities."
"Do you really mean it?" she asked with a huge grin covering her face.
"Every word." His voice then changed to one of curiosity, "Now tell me, have you ever considered joining the Wonderbolts?" She rolled her eyes, "It's just my lifelong dream. Why?"
"Well what if I told you that some of the stunts I can teach you, would make you better than any of the Wonderbolts. And what if I told you that there is a group out there looking for flyers of your caliber, that if you joined, could give the Wonderbolts a run for their money?"
"What are you talking about? The Wonderbolts are THE BEST fliers in ALL of Equestria. Who could be better?"
With a smug smile he responded, "The 51st."
"But I was told that they disbanded after your crash." she said confused. "And anyway I am not joining the military."
"That isn't what I meant, because the first part is true," he said looking down, "the 51st no longer refers to a squadron I'm the Air Force, now it refers to two fliers who could put any of the Wonderbolts to shame, a flightless pegasus who used fit in that category, and the memory of your brother who taught the other three. We had made a decision, that as soon as we were out of the military, we would start a flight team that would be the best. On my last mission that dream went down with me. And it won't get back in the air unless it's on the wings of another, and those wings could be yours. I am certain that if you find them, you could convince them to restart that dream."
Rainbow was bouncing with excitement, "Where are they? How could I find them?" she said, her voice cracking.
"Well, you could..." he prepared to answer, but then confusion swept his face. "I-I don't know. I can't remember where they would be. Hmmm, I guess that the Wonderbolts would be a better option, more secure future, better initial paycheck, and I am sure that you could find their tryouts. So have you ever tried out before?"
"Well I took first in the Best Young Flier competition by doing a Sonic Rainboom, saved several of their lives, and hung out with them for a whole day." she said, puffing out her chest.
"Impressive, but have you ever tried out?" he asked.
"Well, no." she admitted.
"Well that explains why you aren't in yet. They need to know that you are committed, that THIS is when you want to be on the team." he said, facehooving. "But now I can teach you stunts that will make you irresistible to the team."
"Why are you doing this for me? I was just rude and violent to you, and you respond by teaching me stunts that are going to make my dreams come true, why?" she asked cautiously.
"Because, I have been taught the best stunts ever, I have been teaching pegasi the best stunts that they could handle, and none of them could handle the more intense moves."
-----------------------------------------------
Thunderclaw pumped his wings, rising into the sky. That freaking griffoness had him following a cold trail.
Where could she be?
Thunderclaw had been hired by Gilda's parents to go and find her after an argument drove her away. He always had a bit of a crush on her, so he was more than happy oblige.
The only problem is that when he started off he had no leads as to where she could be. He had vainly searched the neighboring griffon towns and villages, without any success. Then one of them mentioned that she had a few pegasus friends from her flight camp in Cloudsdale.
It wasn't much of a lead, but it was better than aimlessly flying in circles, so he took off for Cloudsdale. Upon reaching the sky-bound town; however, he was starving and almost dying of thirst, due to poor planning, and lapsed into unconsciousness. He spent several weeks recovering and then searching the city for any signs of his quarry.
Eventually he found out that she had been in town a little while ago, but she had headed out to see an old friend of hers named Rainbow Dash.
Now he was headed towards that Rainbow Dash's current town of Ponyville and he should be able to get there in a few days. Now he extended his wings and tucked his talons and back paws in, preparing for a long glide.
-------------------------------------------
Dash's wings had never been so sore in all of her life. Geronimo's training was the hardest flying she had ever done, but the moves that he had taught her would blow the minds of anypony at flight camp, and he said he hadn't even taught her the more advanced moves.
"So how do you think our first training session went?" he asked with a sadistic grin. "Don't worry, that was just an evaluation, to see the full extent of your abilities. You, Ms. Dash, are the first one I have ever instructed to complete that so perfectly, you are the best flier I have ever seen." he finished with praise, "Training will be easier from here on out."
"Really... I... Was... That... Good?" she was able to say between breaths.
"Absolutely, now go home and get some rest, I will give you tomorrow off, but the day after we will start with some real training."
Rainbow left, trudging her way towards the hill that her cloud home was floating over. As she did so, Applejack returned from the field.
"Why does Rainbow seem so tired?" she asked the Sergeant. "She looks like she jus' did a week's worth a' applebuckin' in a day. Ah should know, ah've done that 'afore."
Geronimo just chuckled, "She just started MY training regiment, the first day is always the hardest. But before she knows it she will be taking the flying world by storm." he smiled with pride at what his newest pupil had accomplished. "Her brother would be so proud."
That last sentence confused Applejack, "Uh, ain't you her brother?"
"Yeah, but I like to try and stay in character." he looked into her eyes, "It's true though, I am extremely proud."
Applejack looked deep into his eyes and felt as though she could see everything about him. She couldn't help but feel a strange mixture of happiness and sadness, for everything that he had endured, and all the progress he was making in his new life. She suddenly found herself nuzzling the stallion.
Neither of the two ponies had put any time into a romantic relationship, so the sudden affection made them horribly confused. Both of the ponies just stayed in the position that they were in, for fear of upsetting the other. They stayed that way for a few minutes, until Applejack broke the awkward embrace, "Uh, if y'all will a'scuse me, Ah gotta take a shower." She broke away from the awkward embrace and headed back towards the farmhouse.
As Applejack approached the house, Big Mac looked at her, raising an eyebrow with a smug smile on his face.
"What're ya starin' at?" Applejack asked, glaring at her brother.
He shook his head, looked back at his sister, and smiled, "Nuthin'"
------------------------------------------
Rainbow Dash approached the hill that her house was anchored to. She couldn't wait to get home and take an extremely long shower. Every joint in her body ached, her muscles would be extremely sore for the next few days. She was almost entirely unable to move her wings, they were so sore, that she couldn't flap them hard enough to lift off.
She began to worry about various things, beginning with work. If her wings hurt this bad tomorrow, then she would be grounded, and there would be no way she could do her job with the weather team, she would have to call in sick.
The more she thought, the more she realized that she had a bigger problem on her hooves. She could walk to the hill by her house with no problem, but getting up to it was going to be a problem, since she couldn't fly at the moment.
Rainbow looked up and saw her gorgeous house floating in the air, and found herself without the ability to reach it. She sighed and spread her wings, cringing from the pain that it brought, and began to flap. She pumped her wings as hard as she could and...
Nothing.
She didn't lift off the ground at all, she was sweating and she was exhausted. She had no other ideas.
"Cud." she whispered under her breath.
Then she inhaled deeply, clenched h teeth and tried again, giving it all she had, and then...
Liftoff.
She kept flapping as hard as she could and eventually made it up to the level of her front door. She reached out and her wings gave way, her front hooves caught her front porch, as the rest of her fell. She was able to hold on just long enough to pull herself up onto her doorstep.
She crawled into her house, and up onto her bed just before lapsing into unconsciousness.
Opportunity Thunderclaw awoke on the cloud he had fallen asleep on, he looked around, to see that his surroundings hadn't changed at all since he went to sleep. "Alright, so I got no wind to deal with, otherwise I would've moved overnight. And I'm talking to myself, I need to find civilization."
He scanned the ground below him, searching for a viable source of breakfast, "I don't want to deplete my food supply and have another experience like my trip to Cloudsdale. Oh. My. Word. I really need to stop talking to myself."
He spotted a stream nearby, grabbed his gear, and swooped in, grabbing a fish on the first pass. He swallowed the fish whole, then swooped by again, gaining a beak-full of fresh stream water. "Ahh, well, onward to Ponyville. Arg!"
----------------------------------------
Rainbow Dash woke up, less sore than she was anticipating, but still in almost paralyzing pain. She was able to stumble out to her kitchen where she stored some pain medicine.
She popped a couple pills in her mouth, and downed them with a glass of water. She was going to have to go in to work today, and it was going to be the most miserable day at work, ever.
--------------------------------------
Morning went as usual on Sweet Apple Acres, except that Applejack was doing her best to avoid Geronimo and her brother.
She was avoiding Geronimo due to the little awkward-fest that they had the day before. She was avoiding Big Mac due to the spectacle she made of herself the day before, she didn't know, or want to know, what he would say.
Big Mac was just working the fields like he did every day. Soon, though, Geronimo came up to him. "Hey," Geronimo said, "I'm going into town. If you see Applejack, could you tell her that's where I am? I tried to find and tell her earlier, but it's like she's avoiding me." Big Mac hid his smile with practiced excellence that would befit a butler. "Sound good to you?"
Big Mac mulled it over, carefully decided the best wording for what he was about to say, and what he would tell his sister, so he responded, "Eeyup."
"Cool, thanks." Geronimo said before trotting off into town.
----------------------------------------
Geronimo arrived in Ponyville and began his search. He was looking for any of Applejack or Rainbow's friends. He wandered through the town, heading towards the town square, searching for one of the four mares or their place of business. It had been several days since he had worn his uniform, and was beginning to grow accustomed to the judgmental stares from passing ponies.
Some aimless wandering accomplished, he stumbled across a building that looked like a carousel, and had a sign out front that said, 'Carousel Boutique'.
He recognized that name from somewhere, but he couldn't remember where. He thought for a moment, but couldn't make the connection.
"Oh, well." he said and walked in through the front door.
---------------------------------------
Rarity was stuck in a creative rut, she had been in the fashion designer's version of writer's block for over a week. She had simply no new ideas, she kept coming back to things that had already been done. She was racking her brain once again, hoping for inspiration to strike, when suddenly, there was a customer.
'Maybe doing something for somepony would help to reset my mind.' she thought to herself.
She walked toward the entrance and closed her eyes, so as to make an elegant appearance, she walked into the welcome area of the boutique and said, "Welcome to carousel boutique!" she opened her eyes, "Sergeant? What a surprise! What can I help you with?" but before he could respond, inspiration hit her like a train, "Wait! I have just the design for you! Follow me and we will get started."
He stood there shocked for a moment, then followed her mumbling, "Well it isn't why I came here, but ok"
Geronimo just stood there while the seamstress did her job, measuring and examining her latest project. Eventually he broke the silence.
"You know that this isn't why I came, don't you?" he asked, hoping that she would understand.
"Oh? Then tell me darling, why is it that you came?" she asked, her eyes barely leaving her work; which, by this time, had become a rough shell of a suit.
"Well I'm kinda curious, do you know how I know Rainbow Dash?"
"No, Darling, I wasn't aware that you did know her." she said, now making some adjustments to her drawing.
"Well, I served with her brother in the Air Force." that caused Rarity to look up from her work, and stop what she was doing entirely.
"Rainbow has a brother?" she asked.
Geronimo looked at the floor, "Had. Had a brother. He died on the same mission that I lost my wings, but I want to know why she never talked about him." he said, curiosity lacing his voice.
"I don't know, but she had to have her reasons." she said, while comparing multiple types of fabric.
After a few more moments of work-filled silence, Geronimo spoke again, "I have another question, if that is ok with you."
"Oh, sure thing, Darling, go right on ahead." she said, now making several more drawings.
"I was wondering if Applejack had a special somepony, at the moment." he said, doing his best to keep his cool and not seem to awkward.
Rarity started to laugh. Quickly, she composed herself, as well as she could, and said, "Applejack has always been too busy to get in a relationship, she doesn't want to get distracted, and lose productivity. So she does not now, or ever before, have a coltfriend. Why do you ask?"
"Like I said, I was just wondering. Now if you will excuse me, I have some more errands to run." and with that he began to leave the boutique.
Rarity called out to him, "Come back tomorrow to see the finished product."
"Ok, sounds good."
After he had left Rarity was wondering, "Why did he want to know if Applejack..." she let out a gasp, and a huge smile plastered her face. "I need to start designing a dress!" Fabrics, needles, thread and scissors began flying all around the room as multiple designs became reality.
------------------------------------
Geronimo arrived back at the farm and began his search for Big Mac. Through some additional aimless wandering, he stumbled across the farm pony. His stomach was doing somersaults as he mentally prepared himself.
He approached Big Mac and noticed the abundance of apple baskets, he saw this as an opportunity so he grabbed it.
"Hey Big Mac, could you use some help with those baskets?" he asked hoping that it would give him a chance to talk.
Big Mac looked at all of the baskets surrounding him and the nearby trees. He then considered his options. "Eeyup."
They loaded themselves up, and headed toward the barn.
After about a minute of walking, Geronimo decided that it would be the best time to plead his case, "Hey, so I am curious, what are your feelings about Applejack dating?"
Big Mac looked at the Sergeant, and just shrugged.
"Because I was thinking about asking her out on a date. And you would appear to be the stallion of the household, so I wanted to be respectful and ask you first." he said as respectfully as he could.
Big Mac smiled kindly at the Sergeant and said, "Ah approve." his face then went very somber, "But, if ya hurt mah little sis, Ah will buck ya all the way ta the moon, got that?"
"Got it. Thank you, sir!" Geronimo said, his stomach calming down. "Ya know, that is the most I've heard you say at one time."
The two of them worked together until the sun went down, and they returned to their beds for the night.
------------------------------------
Thunderclaw grabbed a small cloud and pitched camp for the night. Upon checking his map, he determined, that he should be able to get to Ponyville by noon the next day. He curled up in a ball, readying himself for sleep, and drifted off into the land of dreams.
-------------------------------------
Rainbow Dash awoke the next morning, less sore than the previous day, but she wasn't about to let that get her down, she was going to start training with Geronimo today. This was going to be a good day.
-------------------------------------
Applejack had gotten up early and begun her chores before she normally would. She couldn't get Spectrum off of her mind, she couldn't deny that she had feelings for him. She tried to get into her work and forget about everything else.
That worked for a little while.
"Hey Applejack!"
"Augh! Don't sneak up on me like that, Spectrum!"
"Sh! Sh! Sh!" he panicked, slamming his hoof over her mouth. "You're really bad at keeping secrets aren't you?" he asked with a slight smile, which caused her to smile and blush. "And anyway, I didn't sneak up on you, I walked right up to you, you were just zoned out."
"Hehe, sorry." she said kicking at a rock on the ground. "So, why did ya come ta see me?" she said, trying not to let him see how uncomfortable she was around him.
She was failing miserably, and he forced back a laugh, "I was just wondering, if you had any plans tonight." he said, putting on a nice smile.
She could feel her heart beating, as well as her cheeks becoming flushed. "Ah, uh, don't think so. W-why do ya ask?"
"I was hoping that maybe you would want to go with me on a picnic." he said, now blushing. "Sooo... What do you say?"
By now Applejack was blushing profusely, and shuffling her hooves uncomfortably, "Ah, Uh, y-y-yeah, Ah would love to." she said with a huge grin.
He let out a huge breath, that he didn't know he was holding, and said, "Great, I will take you out this evening, perhaps at six?" "That sounds nice." she said, still uncomfortable.
He took another deep breath, and said, "Alright, I will see you then, but for now, I've got to go teach Rainbow Dash some of the greatest aerial maneuvers of all time." And with that he left the farmer to her own thoughts, which were now hopelessly stuck on the stallion.
----------------------------------
Rainbow Dash was currently working her way through an intense maneuver, that Geronimo had taught her.
She felt at first that his methods were obsessive, but she couldn't argue with his results.
First, he talked her through the moves on the ground, without letting her fly. Then he made her perform all of the wing movements in the stunt; once again, without liftoff. Finally he had allowed her to take off and try the stunt.
She was having the time of her life, learning all of these new tricks. At the moment she was halfway through the stunt when she heard somepony yell. She lost her focus, but that wasn't the biggest problem. The biggest problem, was that she crashed into that somepony.
The two were now falling out of the sky; spinning, tumbling, and almost completely out of control. Rainbow twisted and turned, struggling to get a glimpse of the pony who knocked her out of the sky. She wasn't able to see much, but she could tell that the somepony, was actually a griffon.
"Gilda!" Rainbow yelled.
"Wha?" the Griffon responded.
"Why did you come back here? And why did you do that?" Dash asked while beating on the unsuspecting creature.
"Augh! Knock it off, you psycho!" the griffon yelled, and kicked Rainbow away. They both recovered from the collision and landed on the ground.
"Why did you knock me out of the air, Gilda!?" Dash yelled at the griffon.
"I knocked you out of the air?!? I was just flying along, when suddenly, some madmare comes spiraling out of the sky and crashes into me. Then she calls me 'Gilda' and starts pounding on me. I'm a GUY, dang it!" the, now obviously, male griffon said to Dash, who was feeling pretty bad.
"Oops, hehe. My bad." she said, uncomfortably, "I'm sorry, I'm Rainbow Dash, the fastest flyer in all of Equestria!" she said puffing out her chest. "I was trying out some new moves, and didn't see you there."
"You're Rainbow Dash?" He asked.
"Yeah! You've heard of me?" she asked, pride filling her voice.
"Kind of, I was looking for you. You said you know Gilda?"
"Yeah, what about her?" she asked, her voice very displeased.
"Well we live in the same village, and after a fight with her parents, almost two years ago, she left. I was in charge of hunting her down. YOU are my best lead since I started. And you appear to know something about her, so do you know where she is?" he asked with desperation filling his eyes.
Rainbow looked ashamed, "I'm sorry. I don't know where she is. She came to town a while ago, but then we kinda ran her out for being rude to everypony in town."
"Well that is just wonderful." he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "I give up, I have nowhere else to look. I can't go home, her parents hired me to find her, and if I don't, they will kill me. Simple as that, I now have nowhere else to go." he said as he sat on the ground. "I guess I will have to find a place to stay, maybe I can start a new life here." he said aloud to himself.
Rainbow Dash said, "Well I guess I better get back to my training." then she prepared to take off, only to be stopped.
"Wait, you said that you are the fastest flyer in Equestria, so how about a race?" he said with a slightly evil grin.
Rainbow looked at him and laughed, shaking her head, "Look, buddy, I can break the sound barrier, there is no way you can keep up with me."
He nodded his head, "Very impressive, the name's Thunderclaw by the way, but you can call me T.C.," then he walked over to her, and put his foreleg around her, "and, I am the best flier that the griffons have to offer. Ya see, ye have our own, 'Best Flier" competitions, and I have won three years in a row."he said smiling and pulling her in tighter.
She grinned at him, "Oh, you're on!"
There was some rustling in the bushes nearby, as something was coming through. Suddenly, Geronimo stuck his head through the branches, "Rainbo- Oh... I didn't mean to... Interrupt..." he said with a bit of distaste in his voice, upon seeing the griffon with his arm around Rainbow. "Rainbow, come over here." She broke away from the embrace of the griffon, and walked over to the Sergeant.
"What's up?" she asked rather hesitantly.
"I was just coming to check and see if you were alright, and to tell you that our training session is over." he said, continuously checking on Thunderclaw. "Oh, yeah, do you happen to know any good picnic areas nearby?" he threw in as an afterthought.
"Yeah I- wait. Are you asking me on a date?" she asked, rather confused and disgusted.
"Huh? No! You have no idea how awkward that would be." he retorted, finally taking his eyes off Thunderclaw, who was getting really uncomfortable under his scrutinizing stare.
"Yeah it would be awkward, it would be like dating my teacher."
"You don't know the half of it, it would be worse than that, trust me. Anyway, I am taking Applejack out for a picnic tonight, and I don't know the town or surrounding areas that well." he explained.
"Oh, ok- WAIT! You're taking Applejack out?" she screamed, confused at the concept, her farmer friend just didn't seem like the kind to date.
He recoiled a bit, "Yeah, I am. Is that a problem?"
"I guess not, but if you hurt her, I will carry you high into the stratosphere and drop you onto a rock. Got it?" she threatened.
"Got it." He assured her, "You know, you are the second pony to threaten me like that."
"Who was the first?"
"Big Mac Threatened to kick me to the moon." He said, "So, DO you know any good picnic spots?"
Rainbow gave him the best directions she could to the spot she had decided on, and then he left for town.
"So... I wasn't interrupting a family meeting was I?" T.C. Asked.
Rainbow laughed at that, "No he isn't family."
"I woulda' guessed that you two were brother and sister, but whatever." He said, shrugging his wings.
"No we're not. Now about that race..."
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Geronimo returned to Rarity's boutique, to see the finished product. As he arrived he was ushered in to the showroom, which was filled with many new dresses and suits.
"Here you are Sergeant." Rarity said as she handed him a folded suit. "Go on, try it on, see how it fits." He began to put on the shirt but was interrupted, "Good Heavens! I have a changing room you know?"
He looked at her confused. "Why? I did come in here without clothes in the first place."
"Oh, right, do carry on."
Geronimo was finally in the new suit, which had taken many ideas from the ENAF uniform that he had, but was designed in such a way that it could be worn more places.
"I like it." he said, "How much do I owe you?"
"Darling, you don't need to pay me. That design gave me the idea for this whole new line of fashions!" she said gesturing around to the designs scattering the room.
"Please, I have plenty of money, I can pay, and I will pay." he said pulling out a pouch full of bits, and handing them to the fashionista.
"Oh, well thank you darling!" she said, graciously accepting the money. "Oh and would you send Applejack over, to pick up her new dress." then she added in a saucy undertone, "Before your date."
"She asked you to make her a dress?" he asked, rather confused. "Why? It's just a picnic." he wondered aloud.
Rarity practically exploded. He couldn't understand most of what she said, but he could tell that she was excited. She was obviously very happy for her friend. Before long she was talking about a wedding dress, and that was where Geronimo decided to cut her off.
"Hey! Whoa there. Calm down, I'm just taking her for a picnic, nothing more, yet."
"Well let me warn you, Sergeant, I simply adore the color of your coat, and I believe that I have just the design to make with it." she said with an evil look in her eye.
"That makes three threats, Big Mac is kicking me to the moon, Rainbow is dropping me out of the sky, and you are making me into clothing." he said, changing back out of his new clothing, and putting them in a bag, "Now if you will excuse me I need to pick up a few things for my date tonight."
"Have fun!" Rarity called to him, with a huge smile on her face.
Applejack had worked extra hard all day, she was determined to get off early and prepare for her picnic date. She had finished so early, in fact, that she didn't know what to do with herself.
She was trying not to get too worked up, but she couldn't help but try to impress him. She wanted to be the best she could be for him, but what was the best way to do that?
Then she had a revelation. The spa.
The spa was the place to go if she wanted to look her best. She needed to unwind a bit anyway.
She arrived and ordered the house special, called 'The Rarity'. It was heavenly, the hooficure was great, it also got rid of the tough callouses on her hooves from working all day. The massage was magnificent, she hadn't had one since the whole 'Gabby Gums,' incident; and she hadn't felt this relaxed in years. She even had them do her hair and makeup.
Applejack was now at home, waiting for her date to pick her up.
------------------------------------
Geronimo had picked up all of the things he needed, food, beverages, a blanket, and a basket to put it all in. He perched the basket on his back and began walking to Sweet Apple Acres.
When he arrived, he prepared himself for his date; he showered, he put on some new hair dye, combed his mane, put on a collar, and a loose tie. Just before he went to the farm house to pick up his date he put the basket on his back and his sunglasses on his face.
He walked over to the door of the farm house and knocked, which was answered by, "Come in!"
He opened the door and saw the most gorgeous mare he had ever seen. Applejack had her hair done into a single braid, draped over her right shoulder, and she was wearing her usual Stetson, as well as some green and red boots, to match her eyes and cutie mark. She was simply stunning.
"Wow, way to go. You have successfully fried my brain." he said with a slightly sarcastic smile.
"Aw, shucks." she said, blushing and kicking at the ground with one of her boots.
"I'm serious, you are so beautiful, that I am completely unable to think straight." that caused her blush to get even worse. "Now let's go."
They walked to the spot that Rainbow had directed him to. They made simple small talk, and just enjoyed each other's company.
They had both become much more comfortable around the other, but there was something bothering Geronimo. "Hey, Applejack, mind if I ask you something?"
"Sure thing, Specs, what is it?" she asked playfully.
That caused him to falter, "Wow... Nopony has called me that in years... And you aren't allowed to either, unless it's just us." he said with a touch of nostalgia. "But anyway, I was told that you never had a special somepony. I was wondering why, you are like the perfect mare, and I find it hard to understand why." he explained.
Applejack was shocked and embarrassed, "Who told ya that?" she demanded. "And why?"
"I wanted to ask you out, so I went to your friend Rarity, who made a dress for you by the way." he threw in. "I asked her if you had a coltfriend at the moment, she laughed and told me you never had one." he recalled. "I know why I've never had a special somepony, I just wanted to hear your reasoning."
"Ya never had one either?" he shook his head, "Well, Ah jus' always had work ta do, and Ah didn't want ta need ta slow down." she said, looking at the ground and playing with a pebble. "So... Why did YOU stay single?" she accused. "As 'The Best Flier in the Air Force' there had ta be plenty of opportunities." she said, slightly sarcastically and with genuine curiosity, while looking up at him.
"Well, I'll be honest with you, there haven't been any mares who caught my attention like you." he said, with a smile, making her blush. "didn't you notice how I tripped over my words when I first met you? You are the only mare that I've ever wanted to date." then he squirmed slightly. "That, and as a drill sergeant you don't want the ponies under you to think that you were ever soft enough to get into a relationship. Believe me, I've seen it happen, to my own drill sergeant." he said that with a laugh, "We never let him live it down."
Applejack laughed at that. They continued through the date, having pleasant conversation, and laughing at each other's jokes.
Celestia lowered her sun, while Luna raised the moon and stars. The two ponies just stared at the stars, until Applejack dozed off, leaning against the Sergeant.
He looked at the sleeping mare, she was just too freaking cute, he smiled and closed his eyes, and he dozed off.
Geronimo had a pleasant dream, he couldn't remember it, but it was better than his usual. It had something to do with Applejack, but he couldn't remember specifics.
He could feel himself coming out of his realm of dreams; however, something was off. He could feel something beside him, and leaning up against his side.
He slowly opened his eyes, and realized that he was outside. He looked around, confused, and then his eyes landed on a face.
The face was leaning against his chest, and apparently sleeping. He was still only partially conscious, so he couldn't think clearly. He could only think to do one thing.
Scream.
He flailed, while screaming, until he was on his hooves. Coherent thought was only coming back, a little bit at a time. His next thought was, 'What did I do?'
Applejack was shocked out of sleep by her, now screaming, date. "What's wrong?"
His mind was trying to quickly piece together what was happening, but he hadn't remembered everything yet. He decided to go through all that he did know. First, he woke up outside, next to another pony. Next, that pony was leaning against him. The pony was a mare, very pretty and very familiar. Who was she? Then he realized that she was Applejack. At that piece of information, others poured in. He had a date with her last night, there was plenty of small talk, but then they looked at the stars for a while, his mind went blank after that, 'Crap.' he thought to himself.
"Uuuh... What happened last night Applejack?" he asked nervously, his voice cracking with worry.
She was horribly confused, "Ya took me out fer a picnic. And, if Ah might add, Ah had a wonderful time." she added with a smile.
"So, why were we sleeping out here?" he asked, desperately trying to remember what happened after they were looking at the stars.
"We jus' kinda' dozed off, why?" she was confused again.
Sure enough, everything checked out, now that she mentioned it, he could remember everything that happened last night. "Alright good, I remember now."
"What did ya think happened?" she asked, nervous suspicion filling her words.
"Honestly, after we started watching the stars, I couldn't remember a thing; and I really didn't want Big Mac having any reason to kill me."
"Big Mac wouldn't kill ya." she said with a laugh.
"Well, Rainbow, Rarity, and Big Mac, have already threatened to kill me if I should hurt you in any way. And each one has promised to do so in their own special way!" he said, with mock mirth in his voice.
That shocked Applejack, and she started to get mad, but then realized that they were just being good friends and family, plus Spectrum seemed to take it well.
"So, Applejack, what do you say we get back to your house?" he offered, after cleaning up from the picnic and putting everything back in his basket.
------------------------------------
Big Macintosh was getting worried. Applejack and Geronimo didn't return to the farm last night. He got up early and started his work, always keeping an eye out in the direction that they had headed off the night before.
He had worked for about a half an hour, before he saw them. They were walking down the path, laughing like the best of friends. And she was leaning against him.
Mac didn't know wether to feel happy for her, or furious with him. He chose to wait and see what had happened last night, before making his final decision on the matter.
He could just overhear the last part of Geronimo's story, that his sister was now laughing at, "... It's true! I promise you, you will never look at rainclouds the same way ever again." as he finished up Applejack burst into another fit of laughter. "You go on ahead, I need to talk with your brother, excuse me." he said, with a light bow.
Applejack went towards the farm house, while Geronimo walked over to Big Mac.
"Alright. Where were ya with mah sister?" Big Mac asked, rising to full height and staring down on the Sergeant.
"I am terribly sorry, about not having her back here last night." Geronimo said, with all sincerity, "We just sort of dozed off while looking at the stars, nothing more."
"So, Ah don't need to kick ya to the moon?" Big Mac asked, with rised eyebrows.
"Nnope." Geronimo responded, using the farm pony's trademark saying.
Big Mac laughed and said, "Alright, yer ok in mah book."
"So I was wondering," Geronimo started, "Do you need any help on the farm? Any time that I'm not training Rainbow Dash, or dating your sister I spend here anyway. So I would be willing to work for my keep." he offered.
Mac considered the extra work, the extra productivity, and the extra revenue, with only one more mouth to feed. "Eeyup."
-----------------------------------
Rainbow Dash awoke in her cloud bed, as usual, and started to think about the previous day. After her training session, she had spent the rest of the day with T.C..
He was a very good flier, he wasn't quite as fast as Rainbow, of coarse, but he was pretty fast. As a Griffon, however, he was more flexible, and thus more maneuverable than she was, which made races, with lots of obstacles, extremely close. She had finally found some competition, someone (he was a griffon, so she couldn't say somepony) who was a good enough flier to give her a challenge.
And she liked it, a lot.
As she was getting ready for work, followed by training, she kept thinking about the previous day, and her mind kept wandering to T.C. And she couldn't figure out why. She just couldn't place why she kept thinking about him, and how cute he was, until she realized that she had feelings for him.
She was trying to rationalize her feelings at work. She didn't want to need to slow down for a guy, but he didn't seem to need her too. There was also the whole 'Element of Loyalty' thing, and she wouldn't, and couldn't, get into a relationship she wasn't expecting to keep.
She decided, on her way to training, that she would give him some time; then, if she still had feelings for him, she would consider getting in a relationship.
Rainbow was hoping to be able to get her mind off of everything during training, but that wasn't about to happen.
Geronimo was waiting in the same place where they had practiced the day before. Then she remembered that he had gone on a date with Applejack. She was going to have some fun.
She landed right beside him with an evil grin on her face. "So... How did it go?"
He looked at her, with a raised eyebrow, "I could ask you the same thing, and also, how did it go with your little monster friend." he said, his voice dripping with hate.
Rainbow recoiled in shock, what was he talking about? "Uh, what on earth are you talking about?"
"That friendly little beast, who had his arm around you yesterday. How did things go with it?"
Rainbow was confused, and horrified. "Are you talking about T.C.?" she asked, shock and anger creeping into her voice.
"Oh, how cute! You already have a nickname for it! Are you gonna take it home? And feed it, take it for walks, and keep it like a pet?" he asked sarcastically. Then he mumbled, "It's what they all deserve."
Rainbow Dash couldn't believe what she was hearing, "WHAT!??! He is a great guy! What could you possibly have against him?"
Geronimo looked down, ashamed, and said, "It's not him, specifically, it's all griffons. It is extremely hard for me to NOT picture it ripping my wings off and killing my best friend every time I see one." he sighed, "I almost ripped his beak off and shoved it down his throat, when I saw his arm around you, but then I saw your smile, and realized that he wasn't trying to hurt you." he looked up into her eyes, having taken off his sunglasses, revealing very familiar blue eyes, "I'm sorry, I will try to be more accepting, but for now lets get training."
When he had finally allowed her to fly, she was thinking about his eyes. Why did she know them? They were so familiar, but she couldn't place why. When she almost lost control during a flat spin, she realized that she needed to pay closer attention to what was happening with her flying. She continued practicing the routine until it was flawless.
Geronimo was on the ground, watching, evaluating, and critiquing her; when he was joined by another.
"She's good, isn't she?" the other asked him. Geronimo looked at him and saw that it was that griffon, the one Rainbow Dash called T.C..
"Yes she is. She is one of the four best fliers I've ever seen." he said, and then looked into the eyes of the griffon. "And if you hurt her I will kill you, with your own claws, and make it look like a suicide." the griffon looked surprised. "I am her trainer, by the way, my name is Geronimo." he said holding out a hoof and putting on a smile.
The griffon smiled and grabbed the hoof, shaking it vigorously, "My name is Thunderclaw, but you can call me T.C.." they got to talking while watching Rainbow perform her routine. They talked mainly about flight techniques, T.C. gaining many ideas, until Rainbow was done with training.
Rainbow landed in front of the two, panting heavily, and asked, "How did I do Geronimo?"
He walked up to her and said, "You did fantastic." then he leaned in to her ear and said, "Oh, and I approve of him." he then turned and walked away, leaving Rainbow standing there, stunned.
T.C. walked up to Rainbow and said, "He's a pretty nice guy, when he isn't threatening to murder me. But all in all we seemed to get along fine."
Rainbow looked at him and raised an eyebrow, "So everything is cool between you two now?"
He looked in the direction the Sergeant had headed and said, "Was it not cool between us at one point?"
"Never mind, so what do you want to do?"
-----------------------------------
The next few days progressed relatively normally, there were the usual simple shenanigans from the Applejack and her friends. There were a few major changes, however, such as Applejack and Geronimo were now dating, as well as Rainbow Dash and T.C..
Every one of Applejack's friends had successfully threatened to kill Geronimo, should he hurt her; Twilight brought up the gem mines beneath Canterlot Castle, she said that they would make an excellent torture chamber, he couldn't understand Pinkie Pie's threat, it had something to do with baking but she talked too fast, and finally Fluttershy promised to throw him to the ground and snap his neck, that is if he didn't mind. They had also all done the same thing to Thunderclaw, since he was dating Rainbow. But other than those few things, everything was normal, until another pony came to town.
Geronimo had taken Applejack out for a lunch date, and the two were walking through town square, when they noticed a large crowd.
Upon further inspection the crowd was mostly pegasi, and mostly mares. They decided to see what was going on.
They worked their way through the crowd and saw Soarin, in his Wonderbolts uniform. They listened to what he had to say, and it turns out that there were Wonderbolts tryouts coming up soon, and he was touring the country getting pegasi to sign up.
Geronimo had an evil grin on his face, he leaned in to Applejack and whispered, "Watch this!" he puffed himself up, put on an angry face, and stepped up on the stage, before shouting, in a voice that testified to him being a drill sergeant for eight years, "Private Soarin, ATTENTION!"
Soarin stopped in the middle of signing a poster, and snapped into military attention.
"How many times do I have to tell you to stop flirting? Now drop, and give me 40!" Geronimo said, now pacing back and forth in front of the Wonderbolt.
"Sir, Yes sir!" Soarin said, and was now doing wing-ups.
It was too much for Geronimo, who now burst into laughter, confusing Soarin to no end, he didn't know whether or not to stop doing the exercise. He didn't have to be confused for long, as Geronimo had recovered enough to tell him, "You can stop, I was just kidding."
Soarin stood up and looked at him confused, "Sergeant, is that you, sir?"
"You can stop calling me sir, but yes. Now where is that little yellow filly that I was always yelling at you for flirting with?"
"Oh, she's on a different tour, the coaches don't like having us together." he said, sounding rather dissapointed. "So why are you here, s-." he cut himself off before he finished. He then started again, "If you would like, I'm sure the rest of the coaches would be willing to give you a shot, I can get you in." he offered.
"No, that's alright, I have a personal student now." with that Soarin's jaw dropped. "And she wants to try out, so I thought I would get her the sheet."
"Well, here you go." Soarin said, handing him the sheet. "I can't wait to see what she can do." then he turned to Applejack who had joined her coltfriend on stage. "You look familiar, do I know you?"
"Ya bought a pie from me at the Gala." she reminded him.
His eyes were huge, "And it was the best pie I have ever tasted." he went over to a small trailer and pulled out a sack of bits, "Could I have twelve of those for the trip?" he asked handing her the money.
"Sure thing!" she said, before they all went their own separate ways, but Applejack sent Geronimo back later with the pies.
Rainbow Dash had just finished up her weather duties when she saw a commotion in town. She had no idea what it was, so she went to check it out. Her search was definitely warranted, because she saw Soarin, the Wonderbolt, doing... Wing-ups? Yes he was definitely doing wing-ups on stage, flanked by Geronimo?
Rainbow was confused, and she was going to find out what was going on. She attempted to approach the stage from the sky, but was blocked by some bodyguards, so she had to approach from the ground.
She landed at the edge of the crowd, and slowly pushed her way through the ponies. As she arrived at the stage she noticed that Geronimo had left, but she could see Soarin. She called to him and he looked in her direction.
"Hey! I remember you, you saved my life, did a Sonic Rainboom, and then at the Gala, you saved my pie! You thinkin' about joining the 'Bolts, Miss Dash? 'Cause we could use a pony like you on the team."
Rainbow couldn't believe it, Soarin knew her name. This. Was. Great! "Hehe, uh, yeah. I am thinking about it. So what do I need to do?"
He handed her a paper, "Fill this out, send it in, and show up on the date and time that is on there." he said, pointing out each thing. "I have a good feeling about you, but you will have tough competition." he told her, then with a smile, "I hope to see you then."
"O-ok, see you then Soarin!"
She then took off toward the Inn where T.C. was staying, she needed to tell her boyfriend about everything that had just happened.
She loved calling him that.
-----------------------------------
Geronimo was returning to the farm, after delivering the pies, when he saw Rainbow Dash fly overhead, he called out to her and she looped around and landed beside him.
"Hey what's up?" she said slowing to a trot beside her teacher.
"Soarin was in town today, giving out information about the next Wonderbolt tryouts. So I picked one up for you." he said, holding the sheet of paper. She laughed and held her own up. "Ah, you talked to him too."
"Yeah I did, and I saw you talking to him, so how do you know him?" she asked.
Geronimo smiled, memories coming back, "He was in the Air Force while I was a trainer. I trained him and Spitfire." Rainbow Dash's mouth was agape. "He was always flirting with her, while she was always trying to pay attention. They were both fantastic, but not quite 51st material." he said, appearing deep in thought.
She had the biggest smile ever plastering her face. "And you think that I am?"
He looked at her with raised eyebrows, and said, "Did you really just ask that? If I didn't think that, I wouldn't have taken you under my wing." She looked at his back and the stumps where his wings should be. "Well, so to speak."
They arrived at Sweet Apple Acres, where Geronimo checked in with Applejack, before they headed out for training, preparing a routine for her tryouts.
-----------------------------------
Soarin flew as fast as he could, back to the Wonderbolts' training hall. He hauled the sack of pies with him, desperately trying to get back so he could dig in to one.
He burst in to the hall and saw that all of the other 'Bolts had returned. "Great news everypony!" Then he lifted the sack of pies, "And I have pie!" and he started passing out the pies.
"What's the news?" Spitfire asked, biting into a slice of pie.
"You will never guess who I found in Ponyville today!" he said, finishing off a pie.
"Yes, and I did see her there, but that isn't who I was talking about." he said, while licking the pie pan clean.
"Then who did you see?" Spitfire asked.
"Sergeant Geronimo."
The ponies who had been in the Air Force let out a collective gasp, while the ponies who hadn't been trained by him, had still heard of him, and everypony started talking at once.
Rapidfire shouted, "Wait, Wait, Wait!" everypony quieted down. "What is the 'good news about meeting him there?"
Soarin puffed out his chest, "He picked up a pamphlet."
Spitfire looked at him with raised eyebrows, "You know he doesn't have wings, right?"
"He picked it up for his private student." a few of the team were appalled at the thought, a few didn't quite get it.
Spitfire's mouth dropped open, "Who. Is. It?" she demanded. "He was always complaining about, how bad we were compared to the 51st, this student of his is going to be fantastic." she said with her eyes lighting up.
"I don't know, he never told me who she was."
Fleetfoot spoke up, "Wait the student is a she? What if Rainbow Dash is his student?"
The room went silent for a moment. Then Soarin said, "No, she came and picked one up, just after he left."
"What if she didn't know he picked one up for her?"
More silence.
Spitfire broke the silence with, "Then I think we all know who the next Wonderbolt is."
Later the excitement had died down, and everypony had finished their pies, except for Soarin, who had packed an extra one for himself.
Spitfire was still curious about Soarin's trip to the countryside, so she decided to learn more. "Hey, Soarin!" she called out. "You never told us how you found the Sarge', so how did it happen?" he looked up from the refrigerator, where he was stashing his extra pie, to see Spitfire coming towards him.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. I didn't find him, he found me." he said, looking rather embarrassed. "before I saw him, he yelled at me for flirting, and made me do wing-ups." he said, rubbing his neck with his hooves.
Spitfire was getting angry, "You were flirting with another mare?" she growled defensively.
"What? No! I was just signing a poster! Honest! He just always yelled at me for that in training, so he knew it would get me." he said, defending himself, "I promise, you are the only one for me." he said with a suave smile.
Spitfire softened, "Aw, why do you have to be so cute? I always tried to pay attention, and you always made it so hard to do." she accused playfully.
"Ya know," he said, walking off in another direction, "He brought you up too."
"Really! What did he say?" she asked, following him. The two then talked late into the night, reminiscing about their days at training with Sergeant Geronimo.
-------------------------------------
Rainbow Dash had just finished her first run-through of the routine that she and Geronimo had planned for her tryouts. She felt great.
She was struggling to keep her composure when performing the stunts. She lost control and fell out of the routine several times, but now she had just finished the first complete run-through, with no big slip-ups, just minor instability issues. She was so confident that this routine would get her into the Wonderbolts.
Rainbow landed just a little bit away from her trainer and walked over to him. "So what do you think? Can I get in?"
"If you practice that, polish it, and make it your own, they will give you their uniform, immediately." He said confidently. "In fact, if they do not let you in, I will cut off my own ear, and eat it." she laughed, "No, I am serious, I don't think you believe me." he said with a straight face.
She took a small step away from him after that, "Sooo... Anyway. Thanks for training me. I can't wait until tryouts! Do you have any other tips for me?" she asked hopefully.
By this time, they had arrived at the farm house, where Applejack was coming out to meet them. Geronimo thought about the question, and responded with, "Quit your job at the weather team."
Both of the mares who were there yelled in unison, "WHAT!?!?"
"Listen, you need to give your employer at least two weeks notice of your resignation. The Wonderbolts will want to start your official training immediately. You have three weeks until tryouts. If you resign now, you will have one entire week to polish up your routine." he reasoned, "That is my advice."
Applejack pulled her coltfriend aside. "Are ya nuts?!? What if she doesn't make it? She is yer sister, and ya should be tellin' her ta have a back-up plan."
"I am also her coach, and as her coach, I am telling you that she is the best flier in the world at the moment." he was completely serious. "if they do not beg her to join, they are dooming themselves to failure, and deserve to be made fun of."
"But what if she doesn't make it?"
"If she doesn't make it," He announced, so Rainbow could hear from where she was. "I have already promised to remove, and eat, my own ear." he said proudly, while Rainbow nodded. "I have trained more than half of the Wonderbolts, and Rainbow is better than all of them together."
Rainbow Dash couldn't believe what she was hearing, her private trainer had trained more than half of the Wonderbolts, and said that she was better than all of them. She could already hear crowds chanting her name, "Rainbow! Rainbow! Rainbow..."
"Rainbow!" Applejack called, snapping her friend out of her trance. "Go 'n get T.C, 'n the girls, we're gonna have a bit of a dinner party." Applejack said, gathering some supplies for soup.
"Oh, ok." Rainbow Dash said, before taking off to gather the guests.
-----------------------------------
The three weeks leading up to the tryout dates were rather uneventful. Rainbow Dash used any extra time she had to practice her routine. Geronimo worked with her, suggesting things to do, to add flair and pizzazz. With the extra help that Geronimo had brought in, the Apple family was bringing in plenty of extra money. Everypony was having a pretty good life.
Twilight decided to plan a sleepover, with only her five best friends. As ponies started arriving the party began to unfold.
Pinkie was the first to arrive, with her party cannon of course, and went to work decorating.
Fluttershy arrived next, and helped Twilight and Pinkie wherever they needed it.
Rarity followed, with homemade sleeping bags personalized for each of the six ponies.
Applejack then arrived with a trailer loaded with snacks, and the last of the season's apple cider.
Lastly, Rainbow came bursting through the door. "Sorry, girls, I was practicing my routine. I only have one week left, and I need it to be perfect." she said, with fire in her eyes.
Rarity rolled her eyes. "Yes, darling, we all know. When you aren't practicing, or hanging out with T.C., you are talking about practicing, or hanging out with T.C.."
"I don't know," Fluttershy spoke up. "It's nice to see one of us with a special somepo-, er, someone of their own." she said kicking lightly at the floor.
Pinkie Pie poked her head out of the popcorn bowl, "Two of us!" she said, with a wink at Applejack, who blushed and hid behind her hat.
Late into the night, after some games, and snacks, the six settled down for a game of Truth or Dare.
Several turns into the game, it came to be Twilight's turn. "Ugh, that was disgusting, I will never eat that again! Now, let's see... Applejack! Truth or Dare?"
"Uuh... Truth?" she said, unsure of the coming question.
"Have you and Geronimo kissed yet?" she asked with a sultry smile.
Applejack smiled nervously and rubbed her neck, "Well, uh, no."
Rainbow Dash laughed, "You have been dating longer than me and you haven't kissed yet?" she was rolling with laughter.
"Well have you kissed T.C. yet?"
"Yes I have." she said proudly, then she said, confused, "and it was weird."
"What was weird about it, darling?" Rarity asked.
"He has a beak, that just doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel bad though." she added, quietly.
Her friends all laughed as they continued into the night.
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Gilda flew towards Ponyville and her old friend, once again. This time, however, she had cargo.
And this cargo was disgusting.
As a griffon, she was a carnivore, but she didn't like the idea of the death of something that can understand the concept of death. And her cargo was a dead part of a dead thing, that could understand death, if it were alive still.
Just the thought of that, made her shiver. She needed to get this to Ponyville as soon as she could. She just hoped that Rainbow Dash would listen to her.
Thunderclaw was out for an early morning flight, mainly trying to get some protein. Dash was ok with him eating meat, but she didn't like to see him do so. She also told him to keep away from her friend Fluttershy's animals.
To do so, he flew away from town. He found a small stream, and some woods, he eyed up the stream and, with his powerful vision, located a large trout. He swooped down, catching the fish in one of his large talons. He then swallowed it in one gulp.
He looped back around, attempting to find another prey to help fill his stomach. He quickly spotted a rabbit and snatched it up.
After his breakfast, he started his ascent. His mind began wandering to the past few weeks, and all of the events following his arrival in Ponyville. He thought about Rainbow Dash specifically. He thought about how beautiful she was, how funny she was, and how proud his parents would be. They might be hesitant with the whole, 'pony' thing, but once they got to know her, they would love her. And if they didn't love her, Rainbow and Thunderclaw would just stay in Ponyville, or wherever she wanted to be.
He was so proud of her accomplishments over the last few weeks. She loved to show off the new stunts that Geronimo taught her, and T.C. loved to watch. He gave her suggestions on how to personalize her routine, and she took them to heart. Her routine was almost as much his as it was hers.
He was flying back to Ponyville, when he heard something off in the distance. He recognized the sound, and he hadn't heard it in over two years. It was the eagle-like screech of Gilda. He looked around, attempting to locate the source, and eventually he spotted it.
He could just make out a figure in the distance, and upon closer inspection, it was indeed a griffon, whether or not it was Gilda was still to be determined. So he decided to get a closer look.
-----------------------------------
Rainbow Dash looked around from her vantage point on a cloud, she could see everything. She didn't like to wake up this early, but today she, and Geronimo, had their own plans later on and decided to get training done early. She had only one more day until she needed to be in Cloudsdale for tryouts. She could already feel her nerves building up, but she had practiced her routine so many times that she could do it flawlessly with her eyes closed, and with a heavy cross-wind. She had never felt this prepared for anything in her life.
Her routine was insanely difficult, and actually deadly to an untrained pegasus. The g-forces that she would pull were intense, the strain on her wings would be enormous, and she had overcome all of them. She went through the pattern one more time, before landing beside her instructor.
"How do you think I did?" she asked, breathing heavy.
"You did fantastically." he said with a smile. "So fantastically in fact, that I have decided to pass on some information." he said, secretively.
Rainbow raised an eyebrow, "What kind of information?"
"A stunt." he said simply, "A stunt that your brother was working on. He never decided on a name for it, he also never, successfully pulled it off." he added mysteriously.
"What's it like!" Rainbow Dash asked, excited.
"I don't know exactly." he admitted, causing Rainbow to look at him with confusion. "It is still in a theoretic stage." he began to explain. "My-" he cut himself off, "His thought process, was that if one were to perform a Sonic Rainboom inside of a thunderhead, it would change the structure of the lightning, rain, or cloud. We don't know for sure, because he never made it." he said, with his ears drooping, "he was on the verge of getting it, when we were called to battle..." he began to drift off. "Anyway, I wanted to tell you about that, but you have to promise me that you won't attempt it until after you get back from tryouts, got it?"
"What!?!" she screamed, "you can't tell me about something so awesome, and then tell me not to try it!"
"I can, and I just did."
"Augh!"
----------------------------------
Gilda was flying into Ponyville, determined to be rid of her sickening package. She was coming up on the town when he heard a familiar screech, one that made her forget about her mission.
It sounded like Thunderclaw.
She knew that he liked her, and she knew that he would do what she asked because of it. She also knew that she liked it.
Where had he been for the past year? She had returned to town after everything had gone bad here in Ponyville, and he wasn't there, and no one knew where he was.
So why was he here?
"Thunderclaw? Is that you?" she asked, while scanning the skyline for the other griffon.
"Yep." came the answer from overhead, she bolted out of fear, and got up beside him.
He was now laughing at her reaction, "What are you laughing at, dweeb?" she asked and punched him playfully in the arm.
He just shrugged and said, "I dunno. So what brings you here?" he asked, then pretended to remember something, "Oh, yeah, and WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN FOR THE PAST TWO YEARS!?!?!" he screeched in her face.
She recoiled slightly, what was he talking about? Why was he so defensive? And why did he seem more confident, like he didn't feel like he needed to impress her? "Uh, what do you mean?"
"Your parents hired me to find you and bring you back. I searched for about two years, and didn't find a thing! My only lead led me here, to your friend Rainbow Dash, who had no idea where you were. So I thought to myself, 'I can't go back home without her, so I guess I will just stay here.' and that is where I have been for the last few weeks." he concluded.
"Oh, well, I came here, things fell through, and I returned home, over a year ago. Your family has been wondering where you are." she informed him, and he seemed to get annoyed. "So, you're living here now?" she asked, slightly disgusted.
"Yeah," he said, "Everyone is really nice, as long as you don't try to eat them or something."
"Whatever. Look I need to go talk to Rainbow Dash, so if you don't mind, I kinda need directions, so if you could show me the way, that would be fantastic."
"Sure thing, I was about to head over there myself."
"Why?"
"We are... really good friends."
------------------------------------
Rainbow Dash arrived at her cloud home, mad about Geronimo telling her about that stunt, and then telling her she can't do it yet. She understood not wanting her to do anything stupid two days before tryouts, but still couldn't he wait until she got back? Oh well.
She took a shower and sat down to relax for the first time in weeks, it felt great. She just sat there and looked at her latest 'Stunt Flier' magazine, and her eyes landed on what the next month's issue would be. 'The New Wonderbolt!' and she realized that it would be her, as long as she did everything right. But before that could sink in, there was a knock at the door. "Ugh, I just wanted to relax." she mumbled, then yelled, "Who is it?"
"It's me!" she heard the unmistakeable voice of her boyfriend say, "And I may, or may not, have a friend who wants to talk to you."
She opened the door and said, "What is that supposed to mean?" then she kissed him passionately.
"It means," he said, "That she may, or may not, be a friend;" he said, gesturing over his shoulder, "but she does want to talk."
Rainbow looked in the direction that he pointed in, to see, a now very confused, Gilda. "You..."
"Ok Dash, look, I know we left off on the wrong foot, but just hear me out ok?" she tried to rationalize.
Dash continued to glare at the griffoness, "Fine. Both of you, come in." she turned around and walked into the house, followed by Thunderclaw, and a very confused Gilda.
Gilda spoke up, "Ok, first, what in the world is going on between you two?"
Dash looked at T.C. confused, and said, "Didn't you tell her?"
He was smiling, "No. I thought that it would be more fun to watch her reaction to a kiss or something." he looked at his disgusted ex-crush. "And I must say it was priceless."
"Anyway, Gilda, why are you here." Rainbow attempted to change the subject.
"Oh, oh, oh..." she remembered why she was there. "Uh, it's what's in this bag." she said, holding up her cargo.
"What is it?"
------------------------------------
Geronimo and Applejack were together for lunch, taking a break from all of the work in the fields. They they talked about their past and they talked about Applejack's future, and then Geronimo realized something.
"I have no future." he said, with slight fear.
"Pardon?" she said, looking at his face.
"I don't have any plans for the future." he said, moving slightly towards panic. "I didn't have any plans for after the military. And I am NOT going to keep taking private students, Rainbow was special." he let out a deep breath, "I just don't know what to do with my life."
"Aw shucks, ya can live 'ere on the farm. Ye've helped us so much, ah don't know if we could go back to only two workers." she said nuzzling in to his coat.
"Thanks, I appreciate having some sort of plan."
------------------------------------
T.C. stood up to leave, "If this is a private thing, I can go." he offered.
"No, no." Gilda demanded, "It would probably be better if you stayed here for this." she reasoned, which made the other two feel slightly uncomfortable.
Gilda said to Rainbow Dash, "Ok, so you know how your brother was killed by some griffon revolutionaries?" Dash nodded, concern all over her face. "You, also, know how the one who killed him was a golden griffon?" Dash nodded again, but T.C. had realization growing in his eyes. "Well, it turns out, that the griffon who killed your brother was MY brother. And it turns out that he kept your brother's wings as a trophy." she then held out the bag. "And I brought them to you, I didn't know if you wanted them. He left the cave and left them in his room. I saw them and thought you might want to say some last goodbyes, or something." Gilda said, giving the bag over to Rainbow Dash, who looked at it with a strange mixture of fear, curiosity and longing.
"Thanks..." she managed to say to her old friend, "I really appreciate this." she said, looking into her old friend's eyes.
Gilda didn't know what to do then, so she did what she always did when confronted with a situation she was uncomfortable in. She left. "Well, goodbye you two. I hope I will see you later. Oh, yeah, I also put his diary in there; on page 32 you will see his account of the battle." Gilda said, before walking out the front door and taking flight.
Thunderclaw saw the look of pain on Rainbow Dash's face and he swept her into a huge feathery hug. She nuzzled her face into the feathers on his chest, and sobbed openly. He did everything that he could to comfort her, and finally, she calmed down enough to say, "We should look..." gesturing to the bag, that was now laying on the floor. "B-but, c-could you do it? I d-don't know if I can." she stuttered.
Thunderclaw loosened the drawstrings on the bag, and pulled the opening wide enough to see inside, he saw red feathers. "Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked the mare who was holding him tight.
"I-I'm sure." she said, hesitantly.
He reached his claw in, carefully, and grasped the item. He pulled it out and realized that it was definitely wings, and they were mounted on a wall mount, as one would a hunting trophy, and underneath of the wings, there was a small plaque, one that said,
Private Spectrum Dash, of the 51st squadron. My Greatest Kill.
Thunderclaw looked at the whole mount in horror, unable to comprehend being that proud of bringing death. Rainbow Dash reached out and took the wings, as fresh tears began to flow again. While she bawled into her brother's feathers, T.C. pulled the diary out of the bag. He looked back at Rainbow and asked, "Do you want me to read it?"
She nodded.
-----------------------------------
Geronimo looked at Applejack and started laughing.
"What's so funny?" she asked, but he was laughing too hard to respond.
Eventually he was able to calm down enough to talk, "I just realized, that you are the Element of Honesty, and I am the Princess' personal lie. Can you imagine how confused she would be if she saw us together?"
She thought about it for a few moments then she started to laugh as well.
-------------------------------------
T.C. turned to page 32 and began to read:
Today, I am planning some raids in the mountains. With 20 griffons to feed, i need a lot of supplies. But these towns should be a piece of cake to conquer. One day I, Gold, shall rule all of Equestria, and I will start with these small, mountain settlements. I have just picked up a new weapon, magically enhanced claws, if they work the way they are supposed to, I should be able to cut through anything, or anyone, that gets in my way.
A later entry, apparently from the same day, said:
It all went wrong. Everything went horribly, terrifyingly, wrong. The Air Force was called in. But it wasn't just any squadron, it was the 51st. I was leading my troops away from a town, when we were attacked from behind. I turned to see the most awe-inspiring and horrifying sight ever. There were four ponies, wearing Air force flight suits, killing all of my troops. They were dropping like flies, and eventually all 19 of them, were dead. The massacre left me, alone, against the four best aerial fighters that the world had to offer. My only hope to live was that one of them might make a stupid mistake, that I could take advantage of. Thankfully it happened; one of them, a certain Geronimo, attempted to fake me out, appearing like he was going to attack me head on and then duck underneath and slice me open, but I saw it coming, and ripped his pretty little wings right off his back. I then saw out of the corner of my eye, another one coming in to save his friend, and I took off his wings, then I realized that it was Spectrum, the best of the four, so I kept his wings as a trophy, something to show off my greatness. But instead of trying to kill the other two, I flew away, and took refuge in a cave, where I am currently.
After that, all entries stopped, as though he didn't care anymore and gave up. T.C. Looked at Rainbow, who was still crying, and held her tight for almost an hour.
After she calmed down she said, "We should go and show this to Geronimo, he should see these."
---------------------------------
Applejack and Geronimo were walking though the field when they heard somepony calling for them. Geronimo looked up and saw Rainbow Dash, and T.C. Flying towards them, and T.C. was carrying a bag.
They landed and trotted over to Geronimo and Applejack, who both immediately noticed that Rainbow had been crying. "What's wrong Rainbow?" Geronimo asked, concerned.
"An old friend of mine, Gilda," she pointed out to Applejack, who had met the griffon. "showed up today and gave me this bag." she said, gesturing towards the sack, that T.C. held in his claws. "and I feel like you should see what is in it."
Thunderclaw opened up the bag, as Geronimo reached in, and pulled out the mount.
He stared at it in disbelief, he looked at the wings that were in front of him. He felt them. He examined them. He then checked one more thing, he lifted them up, looking for one specific feather, and when he found it he let out a weak laugh, "These are definitely, Specs' wings, look." he said, pointing to a bright blue feather, that was tied around one of the wings.
Rainbow let out a small gasp, as she realized that he was pointing to one of her feathers. The first primary feather that she had molted, she showed to her brother, he then tied it onto his wing, as 'something to remember her by.' She was on the verge of tears again, but this time she held them back.
"Hey Rainbow, since you have to leave for tryouts tomorrow, do you think that I could hold on to these while you're gone? There are a few things I want to say to him." he said, looking sadly at the severed wings.
"Mmhmm." she consented, before taking off to get ready for the next few days.
No one there knew the ideas that were running through "Geronimo's" head at the moment, though, ideas that could give him a future.
Rainbow Dash awoke early the next morning, she was excited, but she should be. This was the day that she had been waiting for her whole life. Nothing could ruin her mood, because today she left for Wonderbolt tryouts. Tomorrow would be the day that she actually tried out, and then would find out if she made it.
Who was she kidding? There was no 'if's about it. She would be a Wonderbolt by the end of tomorrow.
She went through her routine once, and executed it flawlessly. She continued to practice, throwing more complicated challenges into the mix, such as, clouds, fog, cross breeze, and any other hindrance that she could think of. Every time she did it effortlessly. But she managed to exhaust herself, so she took a shower, ate breakfast, and headed over to Thunderclaw's apartment, to spent the last few hours before she left with him.
-----------------------------------
Applejack walked though the fields, thinking about her friend, when she stumbled across the clearing where Geronimo and Rainbow Dash practiced. Geronimo was sitting in the middle of the clearing. She trotted over to him and leaned her head against him.
"Ya thinkin' 'bout her too?" she asked her coltfriend.
"Yeah, and you just missed the show." she looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "She came over here and practiced for a few hours, she just left."
"Don't worry, Ah'm sure she'll do fine" Applejack assured him.
"Oh, I'm not worried." he said, "she has more raw ability than any of the Wonderbolts, and she has one of the best flight routines I have ever seen." he looked into Applejack's eyes. "And I doubt she wants to see me eat my ear." Applejack just shook her head.
-----------------------------------
It was still early in the day, but Pinkie Pie had organized a small farewell party, one to show her friend how much they all cared for her. It was over before noon, and as soon as it had finished, Rainbow took off into the sky, anticipating the next two day's events.
Today, she needed to get to Cloudsdale, where the Wonderbolts would hold primary elimination rounds, she figured that they would just be speed and agility tests, but whatever they were, she could handle them.
She put on a confident smile and flapped hard. She hadn't realized before how much her extra training did, but she quickly discovered new strength as she almost immediately formed a mach cone. The experience of such astronomical acceleration, was phenomenal, and she laughed extremely hard.
She flew high into the atmosphere, and broke the sound barrier, with the least amount of energy that she had ever used to do so. She then put her wings out and went into a supersonic glide. She would be in Cloudsdale in no time at all.
-----------------------------------
Applejack and Geronimo had gone back to the farm and were now working. "Hey, A.J.," Geronimo called, "I've got a headache, so I'm gonna go get some medicine."
"Sure thing, Sugarcube." she called back.
Geronimo went into the kitchen of the farmhouse and pulled out the bottle of pills that the doctor had given him at the Hospital, which he knew were running low. He dumped the last pill out of the bottle, "Great." he said, rather annoyed, "Now what am I gonna do?" then he realized something. "I have an idea!"
He grabbed some things and went back out towards the field, he knew that Applejack would be too busy applebucking to look at him, but he still hid the package slightly.
As he approached where his marefriend was working in the field he shouted over to her, "Hey! Where does that zebra live?"
"Why?" she called, between kicks.
"I need more migraine medicine, and she seems like a good call." he yelled.
"Oh, she lives in the Everfree Forest." she said, and called specific directions.
"Thanks, Sugar!" he yelled, before he ran off into town, toward the forest.
---------------------------------
Rainbow Dash arrived in Cloudsdale way earlier than she expected, but still after the Wonderbolt tryout room had opened, so she decided to go and check out the competition.
She entered the room and saw some of the other early arrivals, some ponies, she recognized from the Best Young Fliers competition, and a few ponies she had never seen before. She decided to sit back and watch some of them prepare.
She started laughing quietly, realizing that a few weeks ago, she would've been scared to death by how prepared these ponies looked. Now she looked at them as though they were foals, horribly out of their league. She was lost in her thoughts when somepony approached her.
"Hey, Rainbow Cr-, uh I mean, Dash. You trying out too?" she glanced over to see one of the guys who was a jerk to her and Fluttershy. Hoops, was it? Yeah, that was it. "So... Are you going to do your Sonic Rainboom, and show us all up?"
She laughed slightly. "That's just me going fast." She said, waving her hoof through the air. "They already know I can do that, my routine is something that will show what else I can do."
"So, does this mean that the rest of us have a chance?" he said, his voice filling up with hope.
She started rolling with laughter, pulling attention from the other hopefuls. Then she looked at him and quietly said, "If you could pull off my routine, I would cut off my tail, take up knitting, and knit you a hat out of it."
He looked at her with horror covering his face. The butterflies in his stomach were becoming wasps as he realized the implications of what she was saying. "Oh... ok... I, uh, will just go over, uh, somewhere... Else..." he said as he wandered away.
Rainbow did some stretching, and pretty soon, the doors to her future were opened. Rainbow felt confident and walked through the doors.
----------------------------------
Geronimo trotted towards the forest, but, as he was on the way he ran into the little purple lizard-guy. Who burped out a small jet of flame when he fell.
"Whoa!" Geronimo shouted, scrambling away from the small reptile.
"Sorry! That happens when I get surprised." he reasoned.
"Are you a dragon?" the little guy nodded, "Awesome! Now I gotta keep going." he said, picking up the bag that he had dropped and taking off.
------------------------------------
Zecora was adding some final touches to the brew she was working on, when she heard hoofbeats coming down her path. She looked up from the broth as it was bubbling to perfection. She pushed the kettle off of the fire and opened the door for her visitor.
"You're somepony I haven't met, For, you've a face I could not forget." She said to him ushering him inside.
"Hi I'm Geronimo, and you're Zecora, right?" she nodded. "I have a few things to ask of you. I was told that you are excellent with medicine, potions, and natural remedies. I am in need of your help with two things." he pulled out his bottle that should have painkillers in it. "I ran out of headache medicine, and was hoping that you could get me some new stuff." he then pulled out some bits, "I can pay."
"I have the remedy you seek I made this batch just this week." She passed him the potion.
"Look, here comes the awkward part," he said, rubbing his neck with his hoof. "I want you to see if you can, how do I say this?" He was pacing, trying to think of the right wording. "Can you try to reattach my wings?"
She stepped back, confusion and horror covering her face. He then pulled the wings out of the bag, "These were taken from me during battle, using magically enhanced claws, and I was wondering if maybe you could at least see if it was possible."
She looked over the wings, and examined the stumps on his back before she said; "I have seen this spell before And an antidote, what's more. I might just give you the cure, But it could leave you very sore."
She warned, but he didn't care. "I have probably felt worse pain than it can cause anyway."
She hesitantly began to prepare the new brew to fix Geronimo's wings.
-----------------------------------
Rainbow Dash had made it through the first heat of elimination. 'Made it through', was not the right term, neither was 'passed'. The best fitting term would be, 'dominated.'
The hopefuls were divided into groups, then they were pitted against each other in a race. The qualifiers were then re-grouped, and re-tested, until the group had shrunk to one-third the original size.
Rainbow was the only one to be first in each of her heats. She felt extremely confident, there was no way she could lose. And in the next elimination system, an obstacle course, she helped to solidify her place as the next Wonderbolt.
She was just as successful in the obstacle course, as she was in the head-to-head races. She excelled, and was currently awaiting the letter that gave her a place in private tryouts the following day.
All of the hopefuls were staying in the same hotel, arranged by the Wonderbolt's trainers, so that they would know which room to deliver acceptance letters to. Rainbow was currently laying on her bed, trying to get some sleep, but it wasn't working. She wasn't tired, all of the other contestants were exhausted, but not her. Today had been like one of the easier practices with Geronimo; so, if all of the others were struggling as much as they seemed to be, she would have no problem beating all of them tomorrow.
She was thinking about her routine, and she started to go through it in her mind, while doing all of the required wing movements in real life, when suddenly there was a knock on the door. Her heart started beating faster as she approached. She turned the knob, and there was Fleetfoot, with a letter for her.
"Here you go Miss Dash." she said with a smile, while giving Rainbow the letter. Rainbow had never been so excited in her life. "We can't wait to see what you've come up with." Fleetfoot said, before walking down the hall.
Dash ran into her room and ripped open the letter. She scoured the page, to find her tryout number. When she finally saw it, her heart sank slightly. She was number 25, the last one to try out. There was nothing worse than going last, because everypony else would have gone before her, they would judge her based on how everypony else did.
Then she got to thinking, what if they had picked her last, because she was the best, and give the others a bit of a chance? She liked that thought, and with those happy thoughts bouncing around in her head, she went to sleep.
---------------------------------
Zecora was now applying the salve that she had mixed up. She had made the brew into a topical ointment, to rejoin limbs. The biggest problem, however, was that it needed to be applied to a fresh wound, so she needed to cut open both Geronimo's wing stumps, and the severed end of the wings, to be able to properly reattach the appendages.
The salve was now applied, and it stung. It felt like millions of wasps were eating away at his wings. Zecora was chanting something in Zebrican, but even if he could've understood it, Geronimo was in too much pain to listen.
He fought unconsciousness, harder than he had fought anything in his life. He was being proven wrong, horribly wrong. This was quickly escalating to becoming the worst pain he had ever felt. He couldn't tell if he was hearing drums, or his own heartbeat accompanying Zecora's singing.
Suddenly; however, all sounds seemed to stop, all of his senses became muted, and he lost his battle with unconsciousness, as it took him over.
---------------------------------
The next morning, Applejack was in panic. There was something terribly wrong. Geronimo always came back to the house, but last night, he didn't.
She scoured the entire orchard, looking for her coltfriend, but he wasn't on the property. She began running through town, asking all of her friends if they had seen him, but none of them had.
She was running out of ideas, so she began recruiting ponies to help in her search, and soon, her four friends, spike, and herself, were scanning the town for any signs of the stallion.
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Rainbow Dash flew to the Cloudosseum, passing many of her competitors along the way, they were all flying like they were sore, and tired. She laughed and flew slightly faster, not fast enough to break the sound barrier, but fast.
She arrived, showed her letter, and was escorted into the waiting room, where all of the other contestants were slowly arriving. After they were all there, Spitfire and Soarin walked into the room, smiling. Spitfire began, "Congratulations! All of you! You are the 25 best fliers in the world right now, but we only have room for one more on the team." at this Rainbow Dash smiled.
Soarin then spoke up, "So, this is what is going to happen, you are each going to come out, into the Cloudosseum, where you will perform your routine for us. We will then direct you out one of the doors, and get back to you later on if you did or didn't make the team." he said, looking around the room, "Everypony understand?" they all voiced their agreement and the Wonderbolts walked into the stadium.
-----------------------------------
Geronimo rolled over in his sleep, and felt a sensation he hadn't felt in years, he felt his wing twist underneath of him. He bolted awake, finding himself lying on a mat in Zecora's house. He looked at his back, and saw one of the greatest sights that he had seen in years, he saw his wings. He ruffled the feathers, and they followed suit. He adjusted them, and they adjusted. For the first time in eight years, he was about to stretch his wings.
He flexed the muscles that extended his wings, and...
Screamed.
His muscles had atrophied, and were now causing him extreme pain. He realized that he wouldn't even be able to use them without months of physical therapy, but he needed to try.
He brought himself to his hooves as Zecora trotted in, and handed him a bowl filled with something, and told him to drink it. He was hesitant at first, but after all she had done for him he decided to trust her. He took a deep swig of the potion, and immediately felt the strength returning to his wings, he stretched them and felt the muscles do what they should. He flapped them once, and although not as strong as they used to be, he felt himself lift off the ground. He laughed and leapt for joy, giddy as a foal earning their cutie mark.
"You, ma'am are a miracle worker. You should write a book. The world needs this knowledge." he said, looking into her eyes. "Now if you will excuse me, I must be off." He said as he gave her a small pouch full of bits and took off towards town.
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Rainbow Dash had watched all of the other competitors proceed to their tryouts, but the way the room was set up, one couldn't watch the competition, but there was no way that any of them were going to be half as good as Rainbow, she was sure of it even as she flew into the monstrous stadium.
"Hey, Rainbow Dash!" Spitfire called from the judges' booth. "Can't wait to see what you've come up with!" she said, lifting her pencil to her notepad.
Rainbow took a deep breath, this was the moment she had been waiting for her whole life, and so, she began.
She executed the routine as flawlessly as she ever had, and after it was over she landed, looking up at the ponies she had always looked up to, awaiting their judgement. They whispered among themselves, for what felt like forever, Rainbow was sweating. Eventually they seemed to reach an agreement, and Soarin looked at Rainbow with a smile, "Go though those doors over there, the ones to the left."
She flew over to the doors he had pointed out, and when she went through them, she noticed that something seemed off. Instead of leaving the stadium, like she expected, she wandered into a room, lined with lockers.
"Uuuuhh... I think that I'm in the wrong room." she said, before backing towards the door.
"What are you doing?" Spitfire asked, walking through the door, with the rest of the team in tow.
"I, uh, was, uh j-just leaving. I th-think I came through the wrong door." she stammered.
"No, you are in the right place." Spitfire assured Rainbow Dash, "Welcome to the Wonderbolt locker room."
Rainbow Dash's eyes became huge, as she looked around.
"Welcome to the team." Soarin said to her.
Dash felt lightheaded, did he really just say that? She was in a bit of a daze while they showed her around the place, and assigned her a locker.
"Now we gotta get you fitted," Spitfire said, "Now, can you get my measuring tape, and some string from my locker?"
Rainbow, still dazed, walked over to Spitfire's locker and opened it. When she opened it she was greeted with pictures of Spitfire and Soarin. She scanned the inside of the locker, looking for the measuring gear, until her eyes settled on another picture.
"Uuuuhh... Spitfire? Why do you have this picture in here?"
"Which one?" she asked walking over to her locker. Rainbow pointed to the one she was talking about. "Oh, haha. Yeah, I used to have a huge crush on him. You know about the 51st squadron, right?"
Rainbow nodded. "Geronimo was my private teacher."
Soarin looked up from the pie that he was eating, "That explains a lot."
Spitfire gestured back to the stallion in the picture, "He was their leader, he was the best flier ever, but he went down in battle." Spitfire looked disappointed. "I have pictures of most of the 51st, but I could never find one of Geronimo for some reason..." she sort of zoned out, "Anyway, he was always my favorite." she said, gesturing at the picture in the locker, "Why did you ask?"
Rainbow mumbled something, "What was that?" Spitfire asked.
"H-he was m-my..." she looked around slightly uncomfortable, "He was my brother." she said, looking at the familiar blue eyes, and cocky grin, in his air force flight suit .
"What?!" all of the Wonderbolts said in unison.
"Your brother was Spectrum Dash?!" Spitfire yelled. Then a smile spread across her face. "Was he as great as everypony said he was?" then something struck her. "Oh, well this makes the last few minutes really awkward." she said with blush spreading across her face. "I will just, uh, do this." she grabbed her measuring equipment and closed the locker, "So, anyway, let's get you measured."
After measuring Rainbow Dash for her new uniform they told her she was free to do what she wanted for two hours, then meet the team back at the locker room for scheduling. Rainbow realized that she was starving, so she headed out for lunch.
----------------------------------
Geronimo was busy with the surprise that she had planned for Rainbow Dash's return.
If everything turned out the way he wanted, this would be one of the greatest surprises ever.
He couldn't get over the feeling of flying again. It felt great. He kept all of the advice that he had shared with his students over the years in mind.
He was having a bit of trouble; however, remembering weather control. How does one make a thunderhead again? He did the most logical thing he could think of and started packing together fluffy white clouds. As he did, they began to darken.
The storm was starting to come together nicely over the Everfree forest.
Now he just had to wait for Rainbow's return.
-----------------------------------
Rainbow was eating lunch at a small outdoor diner, but she felt like somepony was watching her.
She kept looking for the pony who was watching her, and eventually she found them. There were two ponies at a table not far away. One was a mare with a blue coat, yellow mane, and her cutie mark was a pair of wings and a halo. The other was a white Stallion with a red mane, and cutie mark of a flaming arrow.
The two ponies kept glancing at Rainbow and whispering. She was becoming horribly uncomfortable. Until she looked towards them and noticed they were gone.
She took a deep breath and went back to her lunch, until...
"Um, excuse me?" she heard a female voice say, making Rainbow jump. "Oh, sorry, uh would you happen to be Rainbow Dash?"
Rainbow turned to the voice and saw the blue mare from earlier standing next to the stallion. The mare was actually very pretty, and her voice was smooth. "Uh, yeah, why? Have you heard of me?" Rainbow said, confidently.
The mare laughed, and the stallion spoke up, in an accent much like Rarity's, "You could say that. I am Red Arrow, and this is Blue Angel." Blue Arrow smiled and waved. "We were part of the 51st, with your brother."
Blue Angel then said, with remorse, "We are so sorry about what happened."
"Yeah, thanks, I understand." Rainbow said.
"So how's he doing?"
"What?" Rainbow said confused, "He died."
Blue Angel gasped, and Red Arrow asked, "When did that happen?"
"Uh, you were there, it was on your last mission." Rainbow explained.
The two other ponies looked at each other and then back at Rainbow. Blue Angel then said, "Who told you that?"
Rainbow was now confused and uncomfortable, "Uh, Geronimo did, he has been training me for the past few weeks."
The others were even more confused now. "Miss Dash, Geronimo died on that mission, your brother survived."
Rainbow Dash's head was now spinning with all of the confusion. "Then, wait, he said he's been a Sergeant in the Air Force for years..." she drifted off. "I need to get home!" she said, starting to panic.
"Why?"
Rainbow then explained the whole series of events since Geronimo arrived in Ponyville, including the part about her giving her brother's wings to him, bringing agreement, about getting home, from the two other ponies.
They rushed back to the Cloudosseum, bursting in through the doors of the locker room. To be greeted by some of the team, and Spitfire finishing up Rainbow's uniform.
"Hey, Rainbow, you can't bring anypony else in here." Spitfire said, then she saw who they were, "Oh. My. Gosh. You guys are the 51st! You can be in here whenever you want!" She offered, becoming extremely excited.
"Look, guys, I need to get home." she said to the other members of the team.
"Why?"
"Geronimo is dead." Blue Angel said, bluntly.
"And has been for eight years." Red Arrow chimed in.
"Wait, no, he wasn't. He trained most of us." Soarin corrected.
Red arrow stepped forward. "Listen, I watched him die, you were trained by an impostor."
Blue Angel spoke up, "What did your Geronimo look like?"
Spitfire said, "Well, he was red-"
Then she was cut off by Blue Angel, "There is your first problem, Geronimo was yellow, with a green mane."
The room was silent for a few moments then Rainbow Dash broke the silence, "Hey! I gotta go! If any of you want to tag along that would be cool, but right now I need to get there." all of the Wonderbolts who had been trained by "Geronimo", as well as Blue Angel and Red Arrow, volunteered to accompany Rainbow to her home, to confront the faker.
"Hey, Dash," Spitfire called, tossing her her new uniform, "Put this on, it minimizes wind resistance."
Soon, all of the ponies were ready to go to Ponyville, so they headed off, in a 'V' formation, with Rainbow Dash leading the way.
-----------------------------------
Pinkie Pie was doing two things at once, she was preparing Rainbow Dash's 'Welcome Home' party, and she was searching for Geronimo.
She was busy hanging some balloons when she noticed something weird. So she stopped the nearest weather pegasus, and pointed it out.
"Hey, Cloudchaser," She called, "What is with those clouds?" she said pointing to the large dark clouds forming over the Everfree Forest.
"Hey, Pinkie!" she said, then she looked towards the Forest. "Oh, uh, I don't know anything about that." she said, getting slightly uncomfortable, "How about I figure out what I can, and tell you back at Rainbow's party, Ok?"
"Okie Dokie Loki!" Pinkie said, before bouncing off.
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Rainbow Dash was hardly able to believe what was happening to her at the moment. She was currently leading a squadron of the best fliers in the world. Some of which she had posters of, and signed memorabilia. And to top it all off, she was wearing her own Wonderbolts flight suit. She was officially a Wonderbolt.
If the situation at hoof wasn't so serious, she would probably be doing some crazy flips at the moment.
A few ponies behind Rainbow, Blue Angel and Red Arrow were evaluating her flying.
"She really does fly like he did." Red Arrow said, just loud enough for Blue Angel to hear.
"Yeah, but she's a bit more graceful." Blue Angel agreed.
"So, do you have any idea who actually taught her?"
"Well, judging by how little wasted energy there is in each wingbeat, I would say that I have an idea. But I don't know why he claimed to be Geronimo."
"Yeah, I agree, that has been bugging me for a while too. Looks like we just have to wait and see."
------------------------------------
Twilight Sparkle was freaking out, she had no idea where Geronimo was, and nopony knew what was going on with the crazy storm.
She only knew to do one thing, write a letter to the Princess.
In the middle of the search for Geronimo, and the planning of the party for Rainbow, Twilight stopped and had Spike write and send a letter to Princess Celestia.
-------------------------------------
Princess Celestia was simply enjoying a nice afternoon tea, when an unexpected letter came from Twilight Sparkle. She put down her teacup and started to read.
Dear, Princess Celestia,
There is turmoil here in Ponyville, as there is an unplanned storm rolling in from the Everfree Forest. The trouble this is causing has been increased due to the absence of my dear friend, Rainbow Dash, who is currently in Cloudsdale due to Wonderbolt tryouts. She is the most qualified to take care of the storm.
Another issue has arisen due to Rainbow Dash's trainer, and Applejack's coltfriend, going missing. He was a high-ranking sergeant in the Air Force before coming here. His name is Geronimo. He went missing yesterday, the day that Rainbow left for Cloudsdale.
Any help in either of these areas, whether it be advice or physical assistance, would be greatly appreciated.
Your Faithful Student,
Twilight Sparkle.
The princess couldn't believe what she was reading, the words had to be false. She remembered receiving a letter about the Sergeant recently, but she couldn't remember what it said.
She dashed to her room, leaving her tea and her letter on the table. She burst in through the ornate doors of her study and found the letter she was looking for, sure enough, it said that Sergeant Geronimo had been dropped off in Ponyville.
It was signed by his replacement, Sergeant Hotshot.
She was going to be visiting his ship soon.
------------------------------------
Hotshot was finally getting used to instructing the troops. He had just finished all of the training that he was required to do, and some ponies were even saying that he was better than Geronimo.
He knew that he would never be better than Geronimo, but he could at least demonstrate the techniques to his troops.
Today was the day that they graduated from boot camp, where they were assigned to a squad and readied for battle. There was just going to be one more training regiment before they were sent out.
Hotshot walked into the training hall on the ship, where the troops were gathered. "Attention!" he shouted, in his 'Drill Sergeant' voice. They lined up, while he was marching back and forth in front of them trying to think of the best final workout to make them do. Then, suddenly, there was an explosion in another part of the ship, bringing a sudden increase in pressure. The ship rocked slightly, and an alarm began to go off.
Geronimo reacted, he shouted to his troops, "Grab weapons, and move out! Move! Move! Move!" he said, while directing them to the arms closet and then the door. All of the recruits had filed out, when he stormed into the hallway; to find all of his troops laying, face-first, on the floor. He was about to start yelling at them, when a much more commanding voice started talking.
"Sergeant Hotshot." he heard the voice of Princess Celestia say. "Do you have any idea what you have done?" she demanded, in a voice only slightly louder than talking, but filled with rage.
He dropped into a bow, and said, "No, Princess, I do not." he forced himself not to stutter or show nervousness in front of the soldiers.
She stormed up to him, parting the sea of ponies, and bent down to look into his eyes, "You could have given away one of the biggest secrets, that I have gone through extensive lengths to keep, by placing Geronimo in Ponyville." She said, with a dangerous whisper.
"I'm sorry, Princess, but I still don't know what you're talking about."
"You are coming with me." she said, with her horn starting to glow.
"Wha-" was all that he could say, before he was engulfed in a ball of yellow magic.
The soldiers began standing up one by one, and they began to mumble to each other, about the Sergeant, and what he was taken by the Princess for. With each passing of the story, the theories became more and more unbelievable. Some of the ponies were speculating that he was actually a spy from a neighboring country, some thought that he was a government agent who accidentally sold government secrets to revolutionaries in the north, some didn't have any idea what was going on and were perfectly happy thinking of their Sergeant as a great individual.
------------------------------------
Geronimo was sitting atop his grand creation, the thunderstorm was huge, and he was proud of it. Now if his plan worked, he would make it even better; if it didn't, he would just end up destroying the clouds, but either way, he would make a grand entrance to Rainbow's welcome back party. He couldn't help but feel bad for Applejack though, he didn't want to leave her without telling her, but he knew that she would've tried to stop him. She would just have to meet him there.
Suddenly he saw something on the horizon, it was a 'V' formation. He looked closely at it, and realized that it was Rainbow leading, and wearing a Wonderbolt flight suit. He had never been more proud in his life. Then he examined the rest of the formation, he saw all of the Wonderbolts that he had trained, as well as the other two mustangs of the 51st. Sure enough, there were Blue Angel and Red Arrow. They probably told Rainbow that Geronimo was actually the one who died. This whole thing should make his entrance all the more interesting.
He got behind his masterpiece of a storm and began to push, and slowly it began its movement toward town.
Eventually he got it to move on its own, he then let it go, as it moved in, covering the town. He then flew high into the air, and awaited the perfect moment.
------------------------------------
Rainbow flew into the town, and set down in the town square, quickly noticing the assorted party supplies. She started to look around, when suddenly most of the ponies in town jumped out and shouted, "Surprise!"
Rainbow Dash took a step back, and attempted to realize what was happening. It only hit her what was actually happening when Pinkie Pie jumped out and yelled 'surprise' a few moments after everyone else.
She momentarily forgot about all that was going on, while she reveled in the limelight of her own party.
T.C. walked up to her, and gave her a peck on the cheek. "We all knew you would make it." he said, while nuzzling her affectionately.
Then she remembered the pony who seemed the most confident in her ability to make it. Geronimo. Who was currently out of sight.
"Where is Geronimo?" she demanded. Then she saw the clouds rolling in and asked, "and what's with the storm? I didn't think any were planned for today."
Twilight stepped up, looking very disheveled and out of sorts, "That's just the thing, nopony knows where he is, or what is with the clouds. The weather team doesn't know what to do." she said, with worry in her voice.
Blue Angel stepped forward, and asked, "When was the last time anypony saw Geronimo?"
Applejack, with a tear stained face, said, "Well he went to get some more headache medicine from Zecora, and he never came back."
Rainbow then said, while jumping into the sky, "Then let's go talk to Zecora."
-----------------------------------
Geronimo was pumping his wings hard, he couldn't remember needing to work this hard before. He must have gotten weaker. But now wasn't the time for that, now was the time to break the sound barrier.
He flew, head first, into the black clouds and flew hard. He could feel the mach cone forming, and it was forming fast. He gave one final push,
and shattered the sound barrier.
-----------------------------------
The ponies in town square were about to head out to Zecora's house, when suddenly there was an explosion in the sky. Everypony stopped and looked up to see the storm cloud filling with color.
The clouds were becoming every color of the rainbow. Also the lightning looked just like the multi-colored lightning bolt on Rainbow Dash's cutie mark.
Everypony was so awestruck by the weather phenomenon, that none of them recognized the arrival of another pony.
The pony walked up to Rainbow and said, "Wow, that's impressive." causing her to jump.
She looked at who had said it, and saw that it was Geronimo in his full sergeant uniform. As a reaction she took an offensive stance and growled.
Applejack rushed over to her coltfriend and wrapped him in a hug. "Where've ya been, partner? Ah was so worried." she said, nuzzling his neck.
"I had a bit of a reaction to the medicine Zecora gave me, and I passed out." he explained, while returning her affection.
Rainbow then shouted, "Applejack! Get away from him, he isn't who he says he is!" which earned a collective gasp from the crowd.
Geronimo put on a slightly creepy smile. "Oh, aren't I?" he asked. By now the storm clouds had opened up, dumping rain on the citizens of Ponyville. "Who told you that? Was it those two?" he asked while pointing to Red Arrow and Blue Angel. "I guess the princess never gave you two the memo. I was commanded to be Geronimo, but if you want to see who I really am, just wait a few moments, the rain should wash away the hair dye." as he said that, Rainbow could see brown streaks starting to run down his face. "That is, if you don't already know."
The crowd had started to murmur, as they could see streaks of color starting to form in his mane and tail, and as his cutie mark began to become blurry and unclear.
"Oh," he said, beginning to reach to his back, "One more thing." he then undid the buttons holding the special flaps down, and pushed his wings out of the holes in the jacket. "I got these back." which drew gasps from everypony.
Rainbow was now standing with her mouth agape, there was only one pony that he could be, but to her, that pony had been dead for years.
"So, know who I am yet?" he said, watching Rainbow's face for a reaction; and he was getting a reaction. Rainbow's lip was quivering, and tears were forming in her eyes. His smile then went from creepy, to caring, he walked over to Rainbow, and said, "Hey, Sis."
When he said that, she began to actually cry. Tears poured down her face. She leaned in to him, burying her face in his chest, while he wrapped his wing around her. He pulled her in tight, and said, "I wished so much that I could have told you, but I couldn't."
"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!" everypony turned to see Spitfire flipping out. Her eyes were huge and she had the biggest smile on her face. "Oh. My. Gosh. Mr. Dash, I am a huge fan. I can't believe this is happening. Can I have your autograph?" she asked, holding up her poster of him and a pen.
"Sure," he said, taking the poster and pen, "You do know that I taught you, right?" he could just see her head spinning, as all of her training was turned upside down.
During the emotional reunion of the two siblings, T.C. walked over to the two siblings and looked at all the similarities. The manes were the same color scheme, just inverted, their eyes matched each other's coat, and their cutie marks were almost identical; Rainbow's was a white cloud with a rainbow lightning bolt coming out of it, and Spectrum's was a black cloud with three of the same lightning bolts coming out of it. He then said triumphantly, "I knew he was your brother."
Rainbow rolled her eyes, and Spectrum laughed. Spectrum then gestured him over towards them, and said, "Come on over here. Join in on this hug, I don't hold anything against you." T.C. did as he was told and hugged the two reunited siblings.
Rarity spoke up, "So, you said that you couldn't tell her that you were actually her brother, why ever not?"
"Because I will be arrested for treason if the princess finds out." when he said that, Twilight's eyes became huge.
Spike leaned over to the purple unicorn and started, "Hey, Twi-" then he was cut off by her selling his mouth shut, with her magic.
There was then an explosion of yellow magic erupting in town square. When the yellow light cleared, it revealed Princess Celestia, accompanied by a red stallion with a mane and tail that looked like fire, much like Spitfire's, just cut into a short, military style. The stallion also looked very disoriented, as though he wasn't expecting the teleportation.
"Ah, I see that she found out." Spectrum said, then he shouted, "My wings are so pretty! Aren't they, princess?"
She looked at him and saw his confident smile, which infuriated her, she looked over the group hug that he was currently part of, looked over the party that was taking place, and she only saw the apparent traitor, flaunting his wings that he had somehow got back, and blatantly defying her.
"Sergeant! You are going to prison, you will have a hearing at the end of the week, but for now you are going to prison for treason."
"Alright." he said, which brought surprise from everypony around him. "There are just two things that I would like to do first." he then kissed Rainbow Dash on the cheek. "One." then he walked over to Applejack and kissed her passionately on the lips. "Two. Alright, princess, let's go to prison." he said as he walked over to her. The princess and he were then engulfed in her yellow magic as they were taken away to Canterlot Prison.
"Wait! Wait, princess! You forgot me!" the red stallion shouted, "I need to get back to my soldiers! Why did you bring me here?" As he continued to shout into the empty air where the princess used to be, ponies were starting to recover from what had just happened. T.C. Was comforting, a now openly crying, Rainbow Dash. Applejack was still standing in shock at the experience of her first kiss, and the thought that her coltfriend was now in jail. And Twilight was trying to figure out how badly she had messed up two of her best friends' lives.
Pinkie Pie had never had a party crashed so badly before. And no one wrecks a Pinkie Pie Party. Pinkie Pie was pretty perturbed at the pony princess ruining Pinkie's party. She was going to fix what the princess broke.
----------------------------------
Twilight felt horrible, if it wasn't for her letter then Rainbow would have her brother, and Applejack would have her coltfriend. However, Twilight ruined it. It was all her fault, and she was going to fix it.
She had all of her friends gathered, as well as the two ponies from the 51st, the Wonderbolts T.C. and that red stallion that the princess had dropped off. They were gathered in the library.
"Alright, everypony, we need a plan to get Spectrum back." Twilight said, while pacing back and forth, "But first I think that we all need to learn who everypony is. I am Twilight Sparkle."
They continued around the room each one introducing themselves. When they got to Pinkie, however, she seemed zoned out and wouldn't talk to anypony.
Then they arrived at the mystery stallion. Spitfire hadn't paid him much attention, or vice versa, but when he spoke Spitfire recognized him. "My name is Sergeant Hotshot, and I don't know what is going on here."
After some more attempted plotting, Rainbow realized something, "Wait. Applejack." she said, looking at her farmer friend. "You were dating my brother..." she almost asked. "Did you know?" she raised an eyebrow.
Applejack was getting uncomfortable, "Uuuuhh..." she attempted to convince her friend.
"YOU KNEW!!!!" she screamed, the other ponies all jumped to hold the rainbow pony back. "How could you date my brother, and not tell me?"she screamed from the restraining hooves of the ponies around her.
"He told me that if anypony found out, he'd be arrested, and he was right."
By now Twilight was squirming in her seat, "listen, I think we need a real plan, alright? Any suggestions?" finally they decided to await the day of the trial and perhaps offer some defense.
-----------------------------------
Spectrum Dash was sitting in his jail cell, the princess had him placed in solitary, with heavy security placed upon him. He tried to plan out his defense, but he was never any good at lawyer-ey stuff.
It was very boring in his lonely cell. He wasted the time by doing some confined aerial maneuvers. He also took up singing to entertain himself. He realized, pretty quickly, that his years commanding troops had done a number on his vocal chords. His previously beautiful tone quality had been replaced with a slightly raspy, kind of dirty, voice.
When he sang he discovered that it fit a blues style very well. So he made up songs about his life and belted them out at the top of his lungs. Sometimes when he was finished, he could hear the guards at the end of his hallway, talking about him. He could feel their sympathy, and he knew that was what he had to do in the trial.
------------------------------------
The day of the trial came, and while all of the ponies who had met with Twilight in the tree were arriving at the Canterlot courthouse, Celestia had sent Luna with some guards to pick up Spectrum.
Spectrum was sitting in his jail cell, busy singing one of his songs. Too busy to notice the hoofsteps coming down the hall.
Luna walking through the dungeons, to the Solitary confinement wing, where her sister told her she was keeping a traitor.
Celestia had warned her about this individual. He was the greatest fighter that Equestria ever had in its military. He was the fastest flier, the best at maneuvers, and the best training Sergeant the Air Force had ever seen. This one pony could take down an entire squad of the Royal Guard in a matter of minutes. He was one to look out for.
Celestia had told Luna that, since she demanded authority, she would be the one to pick him up from prison. He would also need to have somepony watching over him who could keep him under control, and Luna, being an Alicorn, could do that. She just couldn't fall for his tricks.
She walked into the hallway where the traitor was stored, and noticed singing. There was beautiful blues singing emanating from his cell. The guards were standing there, calm and collected as ever, except one had a tear coming from his eye. The singing was very sorrowful, and very beautiful. She couldn't make out the words from here, but she knew that just by the tone they were sad.
"Guards," she said to the two ponies standing there, "Does he do this often?" she said, referencing the singing.
"Yes, your majesty." the dry-eyed one said.
"He has been singing songs like this all week." the other said. "They are all about the most depressing things, such as, your best friend dying, your family thinking you are dead, and just living a lie." he said, pushing through the pain he felt for the creature at the end of the hall.
Luna looked past them, to the door of the cell. "Is he hostile?"
"No, not at all." Guard number one said, "He is always very polite, very nice, and very happy when he isn't singing."
Princess looked hesitantly down the hall, and commanded that she be allowed in to his cell.
Spectrum was only halfway through his song, when he heard somepony walking into his room, he stopped his song, and said, "What? Is it feeding time already? I barely finished my last meal." then he turned around to see Princess Luna. "Oh, hello Princess." he said, with a respectful bow. "And what brings you to my humble dwelling?"
She looked at his sincere smile, and couldn't feel threatened. No matter what warning her sister gave her, she couldn't see him as a bad guy. "Today is the day of your trial and I have been sent to bring you to the courtroom."
His eyes got big, "Wow. I am honored. Why do I get a Royal Chauffeur?" he asked quizzically. "I'm not that special."
"You were deemed too dangerous to allow regular guards to transport you."
"Oh," he said, getting depressed, "I don't know why. She kicked me out of the military for being incapacitated."
"Really?" the princess asked, surprised, while leading him out of the cell. "You don't seem incapacitated."
"I'm not anymore," he began to explain, "I lost my wings in a battle eight years ago, as well as my best friend, and I was then commanded to pretend to be my best friend, under threat of, well, this." he said, referencing his current situation. "If I told anypony who I really was." he said, with a deep sigh.
Luna couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Did my sister give this command?" she asked.
"Yep." he said, calmly, "if you can get my things I will show you the letter if you want." he offered.
Luna had seen many ponies being led to their doom, but none had been as calm as he had. It was slightly disturbing, watching this stallion be so comfortable with submitting to his fate, whatever it may be.
After a few more moments of silent walking, with the princess flanked by her guards, Spectrum spoke up again. "I hope I get banished."
"What?"
"Banishment feels like the best option. Death is the end of me, so that doesn't seem great." he reasoned, "Prison would be ok. I could maybe write my story and get it published or something. But at least in banishment, I could try to start a new life in whatever barren wasteland that I get dumped in, and build a house, find food, and entertain myself. Yep, I think that is my punishment of choice." he said, with a hint of a smile on his face.
Once again, Luna was disturbed. This pony just didn't have any hope, and he was perfectly fine with whatever punishment came his way. Simply put, he was deranged.
------------------------------------
Princess Celestia was having second thoughts. This pony had a life. He had a family, that she hadn't allowed him to see in years, due to a simple selfish desire.
She didn't want to go back on her word, and she had promised that he would be found guilty.
She took a deep breath and decided that she would just have to wait and see what kind of turns the trial took.
The Pincess of the Sun saw the defendant dropped off at his desk, and then her sister came into the Princesses' royal jury box. While there they could watch any trial, and overrule any decision made by either the jury or judge. They rarely used it, unless the trial pertained to them, and no pony alive could remember the last time they overruled a decision.
Luna leaned over to her sister and asked her a question, "What exactly is going on, sister?"
Celestia was watching the pony at the defendant desk carefully, he played with a pencil, pulled out a piece of paper and started doodling on it. He was just sitting there, unfazed by what he was about to go through. "Luna," she sighed, "I fear I have made the wrong decision."
"I feel the same way. I have made and stepped up to my mistakes, I admit that they were far more... destructive than this, but this poor pony's family has been sure of his death for years. He finally had a life, once he was discharged from the military, he had a loving marefriend, and he finally had his sister back. You took away eight years of his life, and stained the same eight years of hers." Celestia looked into the eyes of her sister. "he told me his life story on the way up here." Luna explained, "you need to own up to your mistakes, sister. You can go through with your twisted plan, or you can give this pony his life back. I am going to go restrain the 'captive.'" she said as she walked out of the room, shortly afterward appearing behind Spectrum, who greeted her like a soldier greets his commanding officer.
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The six mares from Ponyville, the Wonderbolts, what's left of the 51st, and Hotshot all were attending the trial.
During the train ride to Canterlot, Rarity had spent almost the whole time marveling over Blue Angel's beauty, and Blue Angel, was getting uncomfortable with it. The Wonderbolts were talking with Red Arrow about flight techniques and attempting to get him to teach them tricks.
Four of the five remain mares were trying to think of ways that they could prove his innocence through character witnesses. Rainbow was trying very hard, not to give Applejack dirty looks, but the thought of her dating her brother were almost too weird to get over.
The two remaining ponies were each lost in their own little worlds, with Hotshot trying to figure out what was going on, and Pinkie trying to figure out how she was going to avenge her slaughtered party.
Suddenly Hotshot had an epiphany. He remembered something that Spectrum had told him, when Spectrum was still Geronimo.
"Hey!" Hotshot shouted, "I just realized something. I have no idea what the heck is going on. Would anypony care to fill me in?" they spent the rest of the trip filling him in on the entire story.
They eventually arrived at the courthouse, when they found their seats, Twilight noticed that Pinkie Pie was missing. "Oh, no."
------------------------------------
The trial began. They brought copies of the letter written by Princess Celestia, and the prosecutor read it aloud to the gathered ponies, who were quickly gaining mixed opinions about the princess who wrote it.
"Does the defense have anything to say about the letter?" the judge asked.
"Yes, yes I do." Spectrum said, "Permission to approach the bench?" the judge nodded. "If you will notice," he said, pulling out the original copy, "it is written to a Training Sergeant in the Equestrian National Air Force, I do not fit that description."
"I beg your pardon?"
"I was discharged from service, due to being "unqualified", and thus no longer qualify as a Training Sergeant in the ENAF." he said politely.
The prosecutor then spoke up, "Unqualified? I have looked over your history, and you are the MOST qualified pegasus in the history of the Air Force. How are you 'unqualified?'"
"Well that depends, which 'me' are we talking about here?" he asked, bringing more confusion from all of the ponies in the room. "Spectrum or Geronimo?"
"Uh... Spectrum." the prosecutor responded.
"Well, if you look in Spectrum's official record, you will notice that he died in battle eight years ago, so that makes him horribly unqualified." he said, leaning back.
"Oh-kay, then let's look at you as Geronimo."
"Geronimo's record would tell you that he lost his wings in the same battle. Due to a recent law that has been passed, a wingless pegasus is unqualified to be in the Air Force." he said with a shrug.
Specs could feel the prosecutor getting annoyed with his loopholes. And they continued on with the trial. They would bring out evidence and he would find a loophole that, even though it didn't prove his innocence of revealing who he was, it irritated the prosecutor.
Eventually, when it came to be time to decide on the verdict, the judge reluctantly determined him to be guilty of giving away what she deemed to be 'important government secrets.'
Spectrum gave a small sigh and walked to his jail cell, awaiting his sentence. Princess Celestia couldn't take watching this. She sat silently through the whole trial, listening to how horrible she was.
She was crying by the time they had pronounced him guilty. She couldn't take it anymore, her sister was right, she had to face up to her mistakes.
The jury was having the hardest time trying to decide a punishment fit for him. He was technically guilty, but no pony thought that he deserved any of the punishment.
Then the princess made a decision, she knew what she had to do. Suddenly, though, there was a loud bang. She looked back and saw the two guards lying in a pile of confetti. She looked around the corner attempting to see what had happened. Then she heard somepony come up behind her.
"Don't move, Princess." The pony said with malice filling her voice. "No one, and I mean NO ONE, ruins a Pinkie Pie Party."
Princess Celestia had never heard the Premier Party Pony so angry. She turned around and saw the mare wearing full commando gear. She had a tight black suit on, with a bandolier filled with water balloons, a now smoking, new shoulder mounted party cannon, and wearing war paint. But the most disturbing thing was her long, strait hair and the twisted look on her face.
"You ruined a Pinkie Pie Party, and I am here to fix what you ruined." The twisted mare said, from behind her hair.
"Wh-wh-what d-do you m-mean?" The princess stammered out.
Pinkie leaned in and whispered in the princess' ear.
"Pinkie, I was already planning on doing that." The princess said.
Suddenly the pink pony sat up straight, as her hair re-inflated. "Okie dokie lokie!"
Spectrum Dash was sitting in his cell, playing with a bug that he had found. He was getting extremely bored waiting for his sentence, there was only so much that a pony could do with a cockroach, after all.
He had just ran it through its second lap of the perimeter of the cell, when suddenly there was a sound of somepony unlocking the door.
His attention was drawn away from his new pet, just long enough for it to escape. He looked back down and saw that his arthropodal friend was gone.
"Aww..." He said, then looking at the pony who came in the door, "You owe me a new cockroach."
The guard looked at him, confused, but then gestured for him to follow.
"What? You're not going to tell me what my sentence is?" He asked, incredulously. "Oh, wow, that is rude." he said, following the guard pony out, to see a prison carriage. The door was open, it had no windows, just the one door, a couple of benches, and a breathing vent. "Nice." he mused.
The convict jumped in, and sat on one of the benches and asked hopefully, "Sooooo... You gonna tell me where we're going now?"
The Guard just shook his head and slammed the door.
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The five mares and their traveling party had never felt as hopeless as they did during the trial. There was nothing they could do to change Spectrum's fate. He was stuck with whatever the judge and jury decided.
After the 'guilty' verdict, the group left, with Rainbow and Applejack in a mood worse than ever before.
The prosecutor came up to them, and apologized. "I'm so sorry," he said, "this was my least favorite case. I have defended thieves, murderers, and real traitors. But never before have I felt so horrible about somepony being declared guilty, due to me." he said, with a hung head, before heading off into town.
Then, while all of them were in a fit of depression, Pinkie Pie showed up, wearing her trademark smile, and her 'Celebration Soldier Suit.'
"Hey, Everypony!" She cheered, "We need to get back to Ponyville right away, I have a surprise for everypony!"
"Uuuuhh... Pinkie?" Fluttershy said, "I don't think a party would be the greatest idea at the moment. That is, if you don't mind..." she trailed off, hiding behind her mane.
"Silly Fluttershy! Now is the perfect time for a party!" She said, before realizing something, "Wait... How did you know the surprise was a party?"
"Pinkie, Darling, your surprises are always parties." Rarity deadpanned. " Well, this surprise is bigger than JUST a party! Come on let's go!" she screamed, somehow managing to herd the ponies out from their picnic tables, and towards the train.
When they boarded the train, questions began to be asked.
"Pinkie, where were you during the trial?"
"It's a secret!"
"Sergeant Hotshot, why are you coming with us?"
"I couldn't escape the herd. And I really need to bet back to my troops!"
Then Spitfire came up to Rainbow, who was staring out the window being comforted by her boyfriend, "Hey, Rainbow," she just grunted in response. "Listen, I understand this is hard, but we need to know if you will still be up for being a Wonderbolt. We are going to stay in Ponyville for two days, we need to know what your plan is before we leave. If you do decide to join us, you can help with the scheduling." Rainbow's idol said comfortingly, before leaving her alone with her boyfriend.
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Spectrum was riding in his dark little box. Judging by the smooth ride, and the air pressure drop, he determined that it must be one of those carriages enchanted so that pegasi could pull them in the air. Suddenly he felt it bounce a few times and slow to a stop, before getting pulled into what would seem to be a train. He could tell because he could hear the engine hissing as steam built up in the boiler.
Realizing how long it would be before he arrived anywhere, he laid on the floor and went to sleep.
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Princess Celestia could feel all uneasiness leaving her since she made her decision. She went to her sister to tell her about her decision.
"I'm very proud of you 'Tia." Luna said to her older sister. "So, what do you plan on doing now?"
"Well, I would like your help with, furthering my little plan..."
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The ponies bound for Ponyville were still on the way when night fell.
Applejack didn't know whether to feel sorry for, or jealous of Rainbow Dash. The farm pony was one of the only ones still awake, she just couldn't get any sleep, thinking about her poor coltfriend.
She couldn't imagine the pain that Rainbow had been through, she lost her brother for eight years. Then she got him back for a few minutes, just to have him taken away from her again.
She could at least partly understand what Rainbow was going through. She had just lost her coltfriend. Spectrum was just a great guy, and she couldn't bear to think of him being punished for something he couldn't help.
Then she looked back at her multicolored friend, who had her face buried deep in Thunderclaw's feathers. Seeing this made Applejack's jealousy spike. At least Rainbow had a special someone that she could cry on. He then nuzzled his beak into her feathers, and Applejack was slightly weirded out by the relationship.
Applejack found herself wishing that Spectrum was on the train with her, there to cover her in his newly reclaimed wings. She could almost hear him sining blues, songs about what could've been. She closed her eyes, and he was there, cradling her in his wings, singing to her.
She broke out of her daydream, and the others awoke as the train pulled into Ponyville Station.
They all poured out of the train car and Twilight Sparkle asked, "Ok, Pinkie, where and when is this party?"
Pinkie bounced out of the train, as happy as ever. "It will be in the morning, in town square, so everypony better be there." she almost sang, bouncing off to get her decorations and begin set up.
No pony noticed the large black carriage being unloaded from one of the cars further back. Or the two large figures flying in their direction.
-----------------------------------
Spectrum hated his lightless box. He awoke from his fitful sleep, having absolutely no idea how long he had been asleep. He then sang for the rest of the trip.
His songs were about the future he wished he could have, the future he almost had. He pictured himself working on the farm with the Apples for years to come. He pictured himself marrying, having foals with, and growing old together with Applejack. He could feel the tears forming in his eyes.
He eventually felt the train coming to a stop, followed by his carriage being unloaded and parked.
"Wait... You're just gonna park me here!" he screamed out of the box. "THIS is my punishment? Being left here to die in this dark box?" he sighed. "Well there are worse ones, I guess" he said, after no pony answered.
He just sat in his dark box, awaiting his death, and knowing that it would take several days. Suddenly he heard hoofsteps coming his way, he decided to ignore them. The locks on the door of the carriage began to glow with a yellow magical aura. He decided he should speak up. "Hey!" He shouted, drawing a pause from the magic user behind the door. "I am a convict and I believe that this is my death sentence, so if you don't want to have that on your hooves I would recommend not messing with the locks." confident that the meddling unicorn would leave him alone, he closed his eyes to sleep. Just as he did; however, the locks became undone, and the door flew open.
"I told you, I am a convict, this is my death sentence, close the door and let me die."
"I am not that cruel." he heard a very powerful feminine voice say defensively.
He opened his eyes, to see both of the princesses looking at him. The older, taller one looking pretty hurt.
"Really? I have eight years of my life, and my family's life that says so. And I am sure that there are several mares crying themselves to sleep right now because of what has happened during the last week."
-----------------------------------
T.C. flew Rainbow Dash to her cloud house and started to say goodnight on the front step of her home.
"Hey, T.C.?" Rainbow said, before he flew off.
"Yea?"
"Would you mind, maybe, sleeping here tonight?" she said sheepishly.
"No, I don't mind at all." he confirmed, as they went inside and sat on her couch, talking until Rainbow got a fresh burst of tears and cried until she fell asleep with her head tucked under his wing.
---------------------------------
Applejack walked home, finding that Big Mac had stayed awake, awaiting her return. One look at her face and he knew what had happened. He walked up to her and wrapped her in his big fore hooves, as she cried into his shoulder.
Eventually they broke the embrace and went their separate ways, each going to their own rooms, and Applejack crying until a poor sleep came over her.
------------------------------
Princess Celestia was feeling terrible. "Look, Spectrum, I would like to make it up to you and them." he raised his eyebrows, "Technically, I have given you a royal pardon for any wrongdoings that you have committed against the country. And I would like to throw a party in your honor, tomorrow morning. I would also like to use the party as an opportunity to apologize to everypony for what I have done." she said the last part as she looked intently at her hooves.
Spectrum looked at the ashamed princess, then at her sister who simply nodded. "Alright, sounds good."
Princess Luna then said, "Would you like to do anything before my sister and I change rolls in the morning?"
Spectrum thought for a moment, then he said, "You know what there are two things that you two could help me with."
------------------------------------
Big Mac was sleeping, dreaming about adventuring, traveling the world, fighting monsters, and rescuing ponies in need. As he was leading his ship by night into uncharted waters, a familiar voice from the stars spoke to him.
"Captain Macintosh."
"Yes Milady?"
"Can you keep a secret from your sister, and first mate, Applejack?"
Mac was now rather confused, he never needed to keep a secret from his sister, they told each other everything, but if the queen of the stars wished it so, he would try. "For how long would I need to do this, Milady?"
"Only a few hours good captain."
"I shall try my best not to displease you."
"Very well I shall show you the way." suddenly the stars began to change position, guiding them deeper into uncharted territory. There was soon a thick fog, that cleared, showing cliffs, that possessed dozens of waterfalls. The ship was being pushed by the unnatural wind towards one particularly large one. The crew did everything that they could to avoid crashing, but to no avail. The ship was about to make contact with the waterfall, when suddenly
Big Mac awoke, desperately needing to pee.
"Dang." he muttered, "Ah wanted ta hear that secret."
He crept down the stairs, careful not to wake Applejack or Apple Bloom, not worrying too much about Granny Smith, as she could sleep through a twister.
After he had relieved himself he started heading back upstairs, when suddenly there was a knock on the door.
"What in tarnation?" He mumbled, "Who's out a' this time o' night?"
He opened the door to see the last pony he expected standing there with a smile on his face.
It was his sister's arrested coltfriend.
"Hey, Big Mac." he said to the stunned farmer. "I would like to talk with you privately, is that alright?"
Big Mac just nodded, unable to even think enough to answer verbally.
"The Princesses here," Spectrum said, gesturing to the two royal alicorns behind him, "Gave me a Royal Pardon, and I would like to know if you can keep a secret from your sister." he inquired.
Big Mac was creeped out now, "Maybe..."
"Just for a couple of hours?"
More confusion, "Ah'll try mah best."
"Just don't tell her I'm alive ok?" Big Mac nodded his understanding. "Also I would like to know your opinion on me marrying your sister." he implored.
Big Mac was caught off guard for the second time in a few minutes. He looked at the pony standing before him. He remembered everything about him since he first came to Ponyville. If it wasn't for the whole, 'pretending to be somepony else,' thing, he would be perfect for Applejack. That one issue was not his fault, though, so he could let it slide. Honestly, Mac, couldn't actually think of any reasons for him not to marry Applejack. So he smiled softly, and said, "Ah approve."
"Thank you, Sir." Spectrum said to his future Brother-in-Law, before heading out to town, followed by the Princesses.
Big Macintosh sighed, "Eeyup." Then he turned and returned to his bed.
-----------------------------------
The odd trio of two princesses being led by a convict approached the shop/house of Ponyville's jeweler. Princess Luna's horn glowed, and Spectrum asked Celestia what she was doing.
"My sister has control over much of what happens in the night." Celestia answered. "Including the ability to control, or at least influence dreams."
"If I want somepony awake, I show them images of running water, soon they need to..." Luna drifted off, rolling her hoof as though trying to find the right words, "Take care of business."
Pretty soon the sound of hoofsteps was heard from the house, quickly followed by water running. Luna then put on a slightly smug smile, as her plan worked flawlessly for a second time that night.
Princess Celestia then approached and knocked on the door. To quickly hear hoofsteps coming down the stairs to the front door.
"What is it? It's the middle of the night!" the jeweler said, with heavy eyelids. Then he saw who it was. "Princess Celestia!" he said with a bow, "How can I help you this fine evening?"
"My friend here needs an engagement ring by morning." she said referencing Spectrum, "Do you think you could help?"
"Absolutely!" he said enthusiastically, "Just be careful not to wake my wife please." he requested.
After some looking, and mild bartering to keep the jeweler from just giving him the ring because Spectrum came with the princesses, Spectrum left the store with the perfect ring for Applejack.
Pinkie Pie was just putting the finishing touches on her party decorations when the princess traded places of their charges in the sky.
She was exhausted, but her secret plan with the princesses must continue. She now just had to make sure that all of her friends were there.
She went from house to house, waking ponies up, and telling them to meet her at the town square. She woke up all of her friends; except for Applejack, who was up earlier than usual, working harder than ever in the fields.
After a lot of convincing, Pinkie finally convinced the farmer to come with her to the party.
Almost all of the towns ponies were gathered in town square. They were dancing, and snacking, and all having a good time. The Wonderbolts, minus Rainbow Dash, and the two ponies of the 51st were performing for the crowd, they were performing routines that would make the average Wonderbolt show look horribly lame.
Rainbow Dash, didn't know any of the routines, or how to fly in formation, so even if she felt up to flying with them she couldn't. She was instead settling for watching while wrapped in the strong, comforting wings of her boyfriend.
Applejack was currently getting lost in an apple cobbler. She was trying to forget about the last few months of her life. But no matter what she tried, it didn't work. She was unable to watch the performing ponies, because they reminded her too much of him. She didn't feel like she could do anything, because whatever she did, it reminded her of her lost love. Applejack sighed and pushed away the, half eaten, cobbler.
Suddenly there was a hush in the crowd as Princess Luna stepped up onstage. "My sister has an announcement to make, that I am most proud of her for." the night princess said, before stepping aside to allow a grief stricken Princess Celestia to take her place.
"My subjects," she said, with a hung head. "I have made poor decisions in my life. One of the worst I made very recently. I took away a family member of one of your citizens due to an old promise and a poor decision. The guilt..."
Applejack tuned her out. "Apolergizin' doesn't change wha' happened." she grumbled to herself.
"Maybe not," somepony said beside her, "but she was hoping that maybe if she did this, you could forgive her."
"Did what? J-" Applejack cut herself off when she realized who she was talking to. "W-w-wa..." she stuttered, trying to make sense of it.
"Yeah, it's confusing," her coltfriend admitted, "but long story short, she gave me a Royal Pardon, and set me free last night, really late. Oh, and I talked to your brother."
Applejack was confused, "'Bout what?"
"About this." he said, pulling a small box out from under his wing and kneeling down. "Applejack, will you marry me?" She was stunned and unable to think straight. "I love you, and I never want to be away from you." She started crying, with the biggest smile she ever had plastered on her face. Then there was a noise that pulled their attention from each other.
"Uh oh." Spectrum said, "You hold this," handing her the box and the ring, "make your decision and tell me the answer when I get back. Right now I need to stop Rainbow from mauling the princess." With a rush of wind, and a streak of colors, he was heading to the stage where several ponies were attempting to hold a blue and rainbow ball of violent energy. Applejack was still speechless, and just sat there looking at the ring, and trying to think.
A scream broke the early morning party, "You think that apologizing makes it OK to take away my brother?!?!" Rainbow shouted at the princess, through her boyfriend's talons.
"Calm down, Rainbow." called the voices of the ponies and griffon that we're holding her back.
"Yeah, Rainbow, calm down. Everything is ok." A familiar stern voice said. Upon hearing that, she stopped fighting. "This little outbreak of yours pulled me from some important business."
She turned to see her brother standing before her again. A slight scowl of disapproval on his face, one that she knew all too well. "I-I'm sorry, Specs." she said, hanging her head. "I was- I mean, I wanted- you know..." she stammered, trying to get him to understand what she was trying to do.
He was trying to contain his laughter.
It didn't work.
Rainbow looked up to see her brother rolling on the ground beside her laughing so hard that he was crying.
"What?" she said, "What's so funny?"
"I haven't yelled at you like that in years, and you reacted the same way." he was able to squeeze out before breaking into laughter again. Rainbow began to blush. "Listen, I'm flattered that you would attack the all-powerful ruler of the land on my behalf, but you don't have to, I'm ok." he said after recovering.
"Wait... You... You're here?" Rainbow said, finally realizing what was happening.
"Apparently the princess here," he referenced Celestia, "is turning over a new leaf and not keeping secrets, like this one, from the populace. She is also attempting to rectify any harm caused by said secret." He explained to his little sister.
"Rectify?" Rainbow said, raising her eyebrow.
"Don't judge me and my choice of words. Now if you will excuse me I have some pressing business to attend to." He said stepping off of the stage. He began to walk back to the dessert table, where he had left his potential fiancée, with butterflies in his stomach.
He hadn't gotten very far when he was jumped. An orange blur came out from the gathered crowd of ponies that were parting to form a path for him. The blur knocked him to the ground and very quickly locked lips with its victim.
"Mah answer, is 'yes,' cowboy." Applejack said, during a short break in the kiss.
The two passionate ponies were soon interrupted by a large, red, hoof stomping on the ground beside them. "Scuse me, but Ah forgot somethin' last night." Big Mac drawled through a scowl at Spectrum.
"What is it?" Spectrum asked, slightly worried.
"Ah made a promise, when yo asked me ta date mah sister. Do ya remember what it was?"
Spectrum's eyes went huge with realization and he got up from under his fiancée. "Yeah," he said with a sigh.
"Ya hurt mah sister somethin' awful when ya got arrested." Spectrum closed his eyes and braced himself. "Now, fer hurting mah sister ah outta' kick ya to the moon, like an promised." Big Mac said, drawing horror from his sister. "But, Ah think that ye've just made up for it." then his face melted into a warm comforting smile. "Welcome to the family."
Spectrum looked at the farmer and smiled, before bringing him into a big hug. He then used his wings to pull any surrounding ponies into the group hug; they included his future wife, Rainbow Dash, and Thunderclaw. Other surrounding ponies joined in, such as the Wonderbolts, Applejack and Rainbow's friends, the princesses, and even Hotshot, who was as happy as he could be for his old instructor.
The party then proceeded faster and harder than any party ever had. The Wonderbolts performed better than they ever had, with accompaniment by the three members of the 51st, they created routines that stopped all commotion below, routines that made even Hotshot and Rainbow Dash stare in awe.
There was one pony who, however badly he wanted to be there, needed to be somewhere else. "Princess Celestia?" Hotshot asked, "Could I please return to my men?"
"Sergeant Hotshot?" the princess said, confused, "Why are you here?"
"You brought me here a week ago, and I currently have no idea how to get back to my ship."
"Oh, I'm sorry about that." she said with a blush, "Here let me get you there."
Pinkie Pie then popped in out of nowhere saying, "But not without cake and party hats!" as she said that she forced the items into his possession.
"My troops can't see me in a-" and at that moment he disappeared in a flash of yellow magic.
------------------------------------
Hotshot's troops had been given a replacement sergeant, since theirs disappeared with the princess. They weren't complaining, though, this sergeant had no idea what he was doing, and was much easier to deal with. There was less hard work for them, especially if they managed to convince him that it was hard.
The troops were in the barracks, returning to the almost daily ritual of discussing what had happened to the real sergeant. Suddenly there was a flash of yellow light, that manifested itself in the form of a pony. The troops jumped to attention, ready to face the unknown menace. The light quickly died down and they recognized the pony as their Sergeant.
"- party hat." He said as he became solid. He looked around himself and recognized his surroundings as the barracks on his airship. He then looked at the cake Pinkie Pie had given him and sighed.
The troops, terribly confused, looked at their Sergeant to see that he had a pedicel of yellow cake with pink icing and, sure enough, a bright blue party hat. The ridiculous sight was too much, as all of the soldier ponies burst into laughter. The humiliated Sergeant just trotted out of the room, dropping the cake and hat into the trash can on the way out.
He was reinstated as the Drill Sergeant on board and he returned to his normal life.
------------------------------------
The party in Ponyville continued late into the evening. Both of the princesses had gone home, deciding to get some rest as they had been up for more than a day.
There were two ponies there who both felt like they needed to begin planning for an upcoming event.
Pinkie Pie was lost in thought, sipping from the mug of melted chocolate that she dipped out of the fondue fountain. Her mind was, for once not on the party at hoof, but on planning the perfect wedding reception for one of her closest friends.
Another mare was lost in thought as well. Rarity was going through designs in her head for her farmer friend's perfect wedding dress. She needed to get designs down on paper, so she pulled out a pencil and began sketching designs on napkins.
Rainbow was dancing with Thunderclaw, and having the time of her life. They were owning the dance floor, having a slight competition with her brother and her best friend. The moves that they were pulling were phenomenal. It was the Wonderbolt's turn to stare in awe as the four ponies tore up the dance floor. When the song ended, the four ponies stopped their dances in elegant poses, drawing thunderous applause from the crowd.
The four dancers went over to the punch bowl, to get something refreshing after their little competition. As they sipped their punch there was a question burning in a few of their minds, and Applejack was the first to speak up.
"Alright," she said, her curiosity getting the best of her, "Where in tarnation did y'all learn ta dance like that?"
Rainbow Dash blushed, and her brother laughed, "Mom and Dad made us learn when we were little; I don't know why, but I am surprised to see that you still remember Rainbow." he said with a look towards his little sister.
She could feel her awesome reputation slowly getting sucked away, as everypony there learned something that she tried to keep secret. She sighed, and then said, "Yeah, I try not to let other ponies know, it's kind of embarrassing. But T.C. was surprising, I had no idea about that." she said with a sly smile.
"Huh?" he said, not really paying that much attention to the conversation, "Oh, yeah, I learned a little bit of dancing for a wedding once, but most of that was improv." the ponies looked at him in disbelief. "What? It's true."
Then he pulled the attention of the others to what had his attention earlier, "Rainbow, what is your friend doing over there?" he said pointing to a white and purple unicorn sitting among a pile of napkins and floating several in the air while talking to herself.
"I don't know..." Rainbow admitted, confused by Rarity's current behavior. Applejack then decided to ask for them.
"Uuuhh... Rarity, what're ya doin'?" she asked while approaching her fashionista friend.
"Oh, hello Applejack. Congratulations!" Rarity said, while looking up from her napkins, "What am I doing, you ask?" Then she realized who it was that she was talking to. "Oh, Applejack! You can't see it yet, it isn't ready!" she yelled, using her magic to pick up all of the napkins surrounding her. "Tata, darling. I will talk with you later." Rarity said, as she walked off.
Confusion abounded as the eccentric mare trotted off. The small group split up shortly afterwards.
-------------------------------------
Blue Angel and Red Arrow were having a nice simple chat, they had discovered that no matter how long they had been married, they never ran out of things to talk about. Suddenly; however, their conversation was interrupted.
"Excuse us." They turned to see several members of the Wonderbolts. "We have a proposition for you."
"What's up?" Blue Angel asked.
"The Wonderbolts have been talking, and we were wondering if you would like to join." Soarin offered.
"I'm terribly sorry, but we are part of a team. If you can't get the whole team, you don't get us."
"B-but Geronimo is dead." Spitfire argued, "How can we get the whole team?"
"You gotta talk to Specs about that. But now, we're gonna dance." Blue Angel said grabbing her husband.
As the couple danced off, Spitfire's eyes lit up. "Can you imagine, Soarin? Spectrum Dash on the Wonderbolts, flying with him every day." While she was fantasizing, her wings began inadvertently flapping on their own, making her float slightly above the heads of the other ponies.
Soarin was feeling rather uncomfortable. "Hey, remember, he's taken." he bit her tail and pulled her back down to earth. "And so are you."
A blush spread across her face as she looked to her co-captain, "Sorry, I got a little bit carried away." she nuzzled up to him to show her affection and apologies.
-----------------------------------
Spectrum Dash was getting Applejack and himself a slice of cake, when he was approached. There were several Wonderbolts coming over to where he was.
"Oh, hey guys. Excellent show, you must've had a great teacher. Oh, wait." He said with a sly smile. "Anyway, what's up?"
"We were just talking with Blue Angel and Red Arrow, and we wanted to see if you three would join us as part of the team." Soarin offered.
He looked into their eyes, with heavy confusion, "You really know how to pick the worst time to ask that don't you?" They shifted under his gaze. "You guys all managed to watch me tie myself down to a farm for the rest of my life. I can't leave Ponyville anymore, so if you can find away around that, come talk to me." he said walking away.
The team began brainstorming, trying to think of a way to get the three best fliers in the world to join their team.
------------------------------------
Rainbow Dash was watching as T.C. attempted to explain why he had talons and a beak to a group of foals, for the third time. His fruitless attempts were hilarious to Rainbow. As she sat back, laughing, one of the Wonderbolts came up to her.
"Hey, Misty," Rainbow greeted her, "what's up?"
"Not much." the teal pegasus admitted. "I've just been admiring your town here." she said, gesturing around her. "It's a shame you would need to leave to join our team, everypony here seems so nice."
That made Rainbow think. Did she want to leave her friends? Could she even do it? The more she thought about it, the more depressed she became. "Yeah, Misty, I'm gonna hate leaving this place..." she trailed off.
"Hey, what if I told you that you didn't have to leave?" Misty taunted.
"How else will I train?"
"The rest of the 'Bolts and I have been talking, with ourselves, your brother, and his team, and I believe we have made a decision." Misty announced proudly.
"A decision? On what?"
"We want you four to form a small squadron, here, in Ponyville. It would be a reforming of the 51st, with YOU as the fourth member."
Rainbow Dash was speechless, she would be able to join the Wonderbolts and she could stay here with her friends. She was eventually able to say one thing, "...ok..."
-------------------------------------
The party had eventually ended. Everypony, except for one, had gone back to their overnight haunts. The one remaining pony was still trying to plan the perfect reception.
Pinkie was still sitting by the, now off, fondue fountain attempting to sip the hardened chocolate in her mug.
Several months had passed since Spectrum officially returned. Life had assumed a new tempo. Rainbow, now an official member of the Wonderbolts' 51st squadron, spent her time, outside of official training, helping Thunderclaw at his new dance studio; which was bizarre in and of itself.
Blue Angel and Red Arrow were still working on adjusting to life in their new town. They had been accepted wholeheartedly by the entire population of Ponyville. Many new friends were made, Blue Angel had picked up a part-time job at the local spa. She introduced massage techniques that she had taught herself early in her military career, to aid with overworked wings.
Red Arrow had started a fireworks company, making the finest pyrotechnics in all of Equestria. His company took off like a rocket, and soon he was hiring ponies of all types to do different parts of the manufacturing process. He had even started a new plant just outside of Las Pegasus.
Big Macintosh had broken one of his legs, when a dead tree branch fell on him. Luckily, Spectrum was able to take his place. With the extra labour that Specs had brought in earlier in the season, they were far enough ahead of schedule that he was able to take afternoons to practice with his new team.
Twilight Sparkle had spent a month with the princess, helping her to aid the ponies and their families that her secrets had hurt. Using permission of the same families and the princess, Twilight wrote and published a book, called, Celestia's Secrets. It immediately became a best seller.
Celestia was now reading the book about herself and the pain that she caused. She realized that some of it was a lie, these weren't all of her secrets. She had one more secret, that could change the way that the government functioned if anypony found out. It could ruin her reputation, more so than these secrets had. If anypony found out, there might even be an uprising. Thankfully for her, there was no way that anypony could find anything out about it for a long time... Right? It would be many years before she had to face the consequences, wouldn't it? It had been so long since she had hidden this information, that she couldn't remember her plans for it. She put the book down and scoured old records, she read through her diary that she had kept since she became ruler, but nothing said anything. Oh, well, she was fairly confident that she wouldn't need to deal with that for a long time.
------------------------------------
Rarity had finished her design for Applejack's wedding dress. It was a work of pure magnificence. She had designed several dresses, and had Applejack pick her favorite. The design that she had picked, fitted Applejack's personality perfectly.
The wedding was going to be outdoors, in the fall, at Sweet Apple Acres. Rarity had originally been horrified at the thought of an outdoor wedding at a farm, but she realized that it would be in the fall at an apple orchard. The leaves would be beautiful, the apples would be perfectly ripe, creating a contrast of colors as well as a gorgeous smell, and the air would be just cool enough to warrant wearing something, but not something too restricting, and thus could be stylish. There was also nothing better than fresh Apple Family Cider, such as could be found that time of year.
Applejack was supposed to come to the boutique today to see the finished product of her wedding dress, and Rarity couldn't wait. Rarity kept adjusting the dress on the mannequin, making sure that it fit just perfectly. She was too focused on the dress to hear the bell ring, signifying somepony entering.
"Wow..." Rarity turned to see Applejack standing in the doorway, with her mouth agape. "Rarity... It's perfect..." Rarity could see her friend's eyes glistening.
"Oh, darling, it was an honor to do this for you." Rarity smiled. "It is just wonderful, seeing you so happy with Spectrum." She sighed, "and after all that you have been through for him, making this dress for you was the least that I could do."
Applejack, understanding how Rarity usually is, argued, "Rarity, Ah can't let ya jus' give this ta me. It ain't right."
"But, Applejack, we're friends." Rarity counter-argued, "I would simply love to see you wear it on your wedding day."
"Ah understand." Applejack explained, "But as yer friend, ah refuse ta let ya lose bits on this dress."
After much disagreement that escalated into a screaming match, another pony entered the store, unnoticed by the bickering mares.
"Hey. Hey. HEY!" the new arrival shouted, attempting to get the attention of the two yelling ponies. It worked. "Would you two quiet down? You're getting noise complaints." Rainbow Dash said, standing just inside the door. "What's this about anyway?"
"Rarity, here, is tryin' ta jus' give me mah dress, and Ah'm not about ta let 'er."
"I am trying to give you a gift, Applejack, why won't you let me?"
"QUIET!!!" Rainbow shouted, attempting to bring order back to the conversation. "How did I become the problem solver? Alright, how about you two strike a deal? Maybe not full price, but enough to make Applejack feel like she payed." Rainbow suggested.
"Good idea, Rainbow." Applejack agreed before working out a price with Rarity, Rainbow Dash stayed to keep it from reverting back to screaming.
After a price was agreed upon, Rarity asked a question that had been burning at the back of her mind for a while now. "So, Rainbow, when will I be seeing you in here for your dress?"
"I dunno- wait... What?" She retaliated.
"Yeah, has T.C. Popped the question yet?" Applejack said with a sly smile.
Rainbow was feeling rather nervous, "Do you two know something I don't know?" she asked, her heart beating faster, as the anxiousness grew.
Rarity just shook her head while applejack answered, "No, we don't know anything, jus' curious if y'all had talked 'bout it yet."
Rainbow's heartbeat returned to normal, she was relieved and slightly disappointed that they didn't know if T.C. was going to ask her to marry him. "No, nothing like that has come up yet." she said before walking out the door. Maybe it should...
------------------------------------
Spectrum Dash and Red Arrow were working together. Specs was working out a flight routine, while Red Arrow was attempting to work his pyrotechnics into the same routine.
"No, you and your sister would light your Roman Candles here."
"How would we keep them from burning out?"
"I could make them light like road flares." he offered, shrugging.
They continued talking for a few minutes, when they heard a distant screech. The two pegasi looked at each other, nodded, and took off.
The stallions flew in the direction that they had heard the screech coming from. They flew in a practiced search formation, scanning for the source of the sound. Then Red Arrow saw it, and signaled to his parter.
There was a griffin laying, beaten and bleeding, in a bush.
They swooped in, landing around the wounded bird. Red Arrow pulled back the bush, while Specs rolled the female griffin onto her back, careful not to do any further injury. Specs saw her face and he gasped. She cracked open her eyes and whispered one word.
"...help..."
------------------------------------
Applejack had gotten back to the farm house, she had put the wedding dress away. It was finally feeling real, she was actually getting married. She felt light and carefree. She looked around to see if anypony was around to see her, and then she let out a giddy little squeal.
She began to walk out to the field, but first she had to check in on her brother.
"Hey, Mac." She said to her brother as he limped across the kitchen. "Ya doin alright?"
He looked up from the oats that he was eating; not at her, but out the window. "Eeyup. Ah'm alright, but they ain't." he said, looking out the window.
"Pardon?" Applejack asked, and Mac gestured out the window.
There was her coltfriend, alongside Red Arrow, carrying a makeshift stretcher that had a wounded griffon on it. They set it down, and Specs pointed off in the direction of the barn, shouting something at Red Arrow, who then followed his directions.
Applejack rushed outside, to find Spectrum staring at the griffon with the strangest expression she had ever seen. It was a mix of confusion, horror, and hatred.
"Specs," She started, "What's wrong?"
He didn't look up, he just continued staring at the poor bird. "She... She looks just like him..."
Applejack then looked at the face of the griffon, "Wait, Gilda!?!" she screamed, as Red Arrow returned with the apple cart.
"You know her?" Specs yelled, looking into his marefriend's eyes, with a look of determination. "How?"
"We can talk about this on the way to the hospital!" Red Arrow shouted at them, "Now help me get her into the cart!"
They loaded her up and began running to the hospital, with the cart harnessed to Spectrum.
"Alright," Applejack started to explain, "She used to be your sister's best friend, but that ended when she came to town and was a jerk to everypony."
"Red," Specs turned to his teammate, "go get my sister, meet us at the hospital, you should also tell her to bring T.C." with a quick nod and a flare of his wings, Red Arrow was in the sky.
Specs glanced back at the unconscious griffon in his cart and thought, 'I need to ask a few questions.'
------------------------------------
Rainbow Dash was in her house reading the latest 'Daring Doo' novel, when there was a knock on the door.
She folded a corner of the page and stood up, the knock came again. "Alright, I'm coming." She called, annoyed that this visitor was interrupting her story.
When she opened the door, Red Arrow was standing there, exhausted. "Rainbow," he panted, "Get T.C. And come to the hospital." then he dove off her porch.
Rainbow began to panic, why did he wand her to come to the hospital? Why did she need to bring T.C.? Ok, she didn't know what to think, but now she needed to get moving.
------------------------------------
The first thing Gilda noticed was the bed. It was soft, and it felt great. She tried to go back to sleep, but then she noticed something else. There was a very angry presence in the room.
Normally she wouldn't notice or care, but this felt weird. It felt as though someone was trying to kill her by staring at her. She could feel the piercing stare looking right through her. Eventually it became too much to take, and she opened her eyes.
She was in a hospital. She was getting IV fluids and she was bandaged very heavily, then she scanned the room for the angry individual. It didn't take long to find him. He was a pony, sitting to one side of her. He had a reverse prismatic mane, like the inverse of Rainbow Dash's. His Cutie Mark was also similar to Rainbow's but instead of the cloud being white, it was black, and there were three rainbow lightning bolts.
But what caught her attention was his bright blue eyes, staring at her as though she had killed everyone that he loved, and now he was going to make her pay.
She looked into his lethal gaze and was only able to muster one word. "What?"
"What." he said blankly, "All you can think to say is, what." his voice was growing louder, "I ought to rip you to shreds!" he screamed in her face, while standing up. Gilda was starting to panic, she could see that the farm pony behind him wasn't going to be able to hold him much longer.
Then her saving grace arrived in the form of a sky blue mare with a rainbow colored mane and tail, along with her griffon boyfriend.
"We're here! We're here!" she announced sliding on the tile floor.
"Now, why?" T.C. demanded. "Wait. Gilda?"
"Why are you here, again?" Rainbow demanded. "and why are you injured?"
"Before I answer any questions, you need to answer one of mine." they nodded their agreement. "Why does he want to kill me?" Rainbow looked at her brother who had a look of absolute malice on his face. She had no choice but to wonder why he had to find her, why couldn't it have been somepony else?
"Uh, G. I would like you to meet my brother, Spectrum Dash."
"Ok, he's your brother, that doesn't explain why he wants to kill... wait. Your brother is dead. I was there when you got the message at flight school. My brother had his wings mounted as a trophy in his room."
"THAT WAS YOUR BROTHER!?!?!" Spectrum screamed at her, causing her to recoil at the anger in his voice and the pain in her ears.
He could see that she was getting worried, and very scared, so he took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. "I'm sorry, but you look a lot like he did, and I have been haunted by the memories I have of him for the past nine years now. I can still see him killing my best friend and then turning to me to rip my wings off..." he said fading away.
"Wait... But you have wings." Gilda said questioningly. "If my brother ripped your wings off, how do you have them now?"
"Specs," Rainbow said, attempting to calm him down. "She was the one who brought your wings back here."
He took another deep breath, "Alright, I'm sorry." he admitted. Then he explained what had happened for him to get his wings back.
"Ok, Gilda, we answered your question, now you answer ours." She nodded her understanding, "Why are you here, and injured?"
"Well, here goes." she said, looking down. "Know how I told you by brother ran away from home? Well, it turns out that he was actually forming some sort of army, to take over the Northern Provinces. He has been terrorizing other towns, gaining support and gathering minions." she said, with her voice trembling slightly.
"His 'campaign' most recently led him to our town, he demanded that we all join him. When we refused, he beat us and took us captive." Tears fell from her eyes as she continued.
"He took me, and beat me, demanding that I join him. When I kept refusing, he locked me up. I was able to escape and fly down here, but my injuries were too serious to make it the whole way here." then she looked at the stallion her brother had killed. "Thank you for saving me..."
"N-no problem..." he managed. The ponies who were gathered there had lapsed into silence, deep in thought. Several, who had experienced similar, could feel their anger growing. Those who hadn't, were thoroughly horrified.
They had walked into the hallway shortly after, because Gilda had passed out again. "Red." Specs said, turning to his second-in-command, "Get Angel and meet the rest of us back at the barn. The 51st is officially back in business."
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There were four Pegasi, two griffons, two earth ponies, a dragon, and a unicorn gathered in the Apple Family barn. Spectrum Dash was at the head of the gathering, marching back and forth, overseeing his ragtag crew, waiting for a response from the princess. They all sat in uncomfortable silence, until the small dragon's stomach rumbled, everyone gathered turned their heads to face the source of the sound.
A few seconds of agonizing silence went by before he belched out a plume of green flame, which materialized in the form of a scroll with the royal seal on it. Spectrum caught the paper, before it had completely solidified, breaking the seal and reading it aloud.
Dear Captain Spectrum Dash, As the princesses we hereby recognize the Mustangs of the 51st, reinstated as a military branch for special missions. We have received and appreciate your warning of the Griffon uprising in the Northern Provinces, and your first mission is to take care of the issue. If possible, bring the leader back to Canterlot Prison for interrogations. Don't get yourselves killed. In peace and harmony, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna
"Captain... I like it." Spectrum said, puffing his chest out slightly. "But more to the point, we are going in to battle with the only beast that has ever bested my team. We need to get training, so Applejack, Big Macintosh, Miss Sparkle, and Spike, if you would leave, we need to get training." he said, adopting a commanding stance.
The serious face on the new captain brought discomfort from those he was talking to. They hurried out of the doors, grumbling about how, "I wanted to see them training." and "Mah fiancé jus' kicked me outta mah own barn." but quickly all of those complaints were ended.
"AttenTION!" came a violent shout from the inside of the barn, loud enough to rattle the shutters. The ponies and dragon who had been kicked out of the barn cringed at the sound and hurried away from the barn, hoping to escape the wrath of the energized captain.
Back inside the barn Spectrum was pacing in front of his troops. Red Arrow and Blue Angel were standing at attention, immediately returning to their military mindset. The remaining three were scared and standing on shaking hooves.
"Alright," The Captain shouted, "You are all soldiers now. Many of you I have trained or trained with. One I have seen fly, and the final one of you, I have no idea how good you are." He said walking by, saying each description while in front of the corresponding figure.
"This session will simply be for me to see how good you each are in rapid response situations. It will start off with a simple skill evaluation."
The skills test went well, the official members of the 51st passing perfectly, while the griffons could still execute all of the moves, just not as perfectly.
The tests progressed into evaluations of how fast they could react, how quickly they could switch manuevers, and how immediately they could follow orders. Once again, the pegasi excelled, where the griffons were slightly behind.
The sun had set on the first day of training and the troops were exhausted. Spectrum stepped in front of them, looked at them, and smiled. "You did excellent, you going to make the best airborne combat team that the world has ever seen." His smile then turned back into a stern glare, "Tomorrow we begin to learn how to fight. But first I want to know something." he paused, looking into each of their eyes with a look that could rival that of a cockatrice. "Can. You. Kill?" he put a slight emphasis on each word to cover the importance. "Think about that tonight and get back to me in the morning." he said before walking back into the barn and over to the nest he had made for himself when he was first allowed to stay there, where he curled up and went to sleep.
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Early morning came and the soldiers of the 51st were slowly arriving at their training grounds. Gilda and T.C. were confused about something however, and needed answers.
The team awaited their captain patiently, wondering when he would come out of the barn. They were starting to get antsy, and were debating whether or not to go in and wake him up, when suddenly Rainbow arrived. She looked like she had just awoke, and like she was not happy about it. T.C., trying to be a good boyfriend, told her how beautiful she was and kissed her on the cheek, drawing a gag from Gilda. Rainbow didn't pay him any attention, because she didn't get much sleep the night before. She was tired and grumpy and decided that if she didn't get to sleep in, then neither did her brother.
She kicked open the barn door, and flew over to his hay-bed, preparing to wake him up and...
He wasn't there.
Panic began to set in as the team scoured the barn for their missing captain. After a few minutes of searching, Red heard something.
"Shhhh... Wait... Is that him?" They stopped what they were doing and heard distinct wing beats approaching. The five of them hurried outside and looked up to see Spectrum with a large sac thrown over his back.
"Who wants Breakfast?" he asked as he landed, dropping the sack beside him, which landed with a sickening slosh. "It's fresh!" he added, attempting to make the wet sack full of something seem more appetizing.
Red Arrow and Blue Angel looked at each other, knowing what was in the sack, and backed off with Blue Angel saying, "No thanks. I never really liked fish."
Rainbow was horrified. She couldn't imagine her brother killing innocent fish, let alone eating one. "F-f-fish? L-like the a-animal? In the water?"
Specs sighed, "Yes, Rainbow, the animal." he said, working on untying the drawstring of the bag.
Gilda and Thunderclaw were confused and intrigued by the PONY bringing them fish. "Uh, what kind of fish?" Gilda asked, hoping for something good.
By this time Spectrum had successfully opened the bag, and was sifting through the piles of aquatic meat. "Let's see... I have rainbow trout, large mouth bass, catfish, and a salmon, as well as a few clams." he said, holding each fish up accordingly. He then got to work on building a fire.
"I'll have the trout!" Gilda shouted snatching one of the colorful fish out of the bag.
"Dibs on the salmon!" Thunderclaw said, before he grabbed the reddish fish in his beak and swallowed it whole. "Here, Rainbow, I think you will like the trout." he said, passing the fish to his marefriend, who wasn't really paying attention.
"The catfish is still alive." she said, pointing a hoof at the ugly fish, that was still gulping for water.
"No it isn't, catfish are just like that." Specs said, while he used a knife to gut and fillet the bass. "They just act alive when they a really dead. Just don't worry about it, and eat your trout, sis. Pegasi are part-bird, or something, so we are able to eat fish. I even like it. But I would recommend cooking it first." as he said that, he laid his two fish fillets on a frying pan over the fire he had built.
She felt slightly nauseous just looking at the scaly, dead, thing in front of her. "I don't even know where to begin." she said, hoping it would get her out of this exercise.
Gilda could see her intent, and decided to mess with her a little. "Here, let me help you." She picked up Rainbow's rainbow trout and with the practiced claw of a master, she gutted, skinned, and filleted the fish using her claws. She then proceeded to eat the leftovers, drawing stares from the pegasi. "What? It's still good fish!"
"I agree with her." T.C. said, "And, speaking of which, can I have yours?" he said, looking at Specs who, in turn, looked down at his fish head and guts, which were being attacked by a small group of kittens. "Nevermind..."
After Rainbow's trout had finished cooking, they all stared at her as she held a piece of the fish in her fork. "Do I really need to do this?"
"Yes." Spectrum said, smugly.
"But, Blue Angel and Red Arrow didn't have to." she reasoned.
"We already did, in basic training, so he knows we can." Red argued. "Besides, we get the clams."
Rainbow raised her eyebrow. "I like clam chowder." Blue Angel explained with a shrug.
Rainbow closed her eyes, groaned, and quickly put the piece of fish in her mouth. Surprisingly, it didn't taste that bad. She chewed and felt the interesting texture breaking over her tongue. It was actually alright, but it could use some seasoning. "It's not too bad..." she mumbled. T.C. was excited, now they could eat together, and she wouldn't be disgusted when he ate fish. Spectrum was excited because he realized that the experiment was a success.
"Alright troops, now we are going to spend the rest of the day hunting, but first I have a question. Do you three have any experience killing things?" he said, looking at e newest members of the team.
Thunderclaw sarcastically responded, "No, I have your sister catch my breakfast every morning."
Then Gilda chimed in with a childish voice, "My momma still digests my food before I eat it."
Spectrum blinked at that disgusting mental image and then realized his mistake, "Right, you two are griffons, you eat meat, you hunt on a daily basis. I agree it was a stupid question." he said. "You two don't have to do this training exercise, and neither do Red, or Angel because I have seen them kill things. Rainbow, you're up, go kill something and bring it back to me." he said, with a commanding voice and a confident smile.
"WHAT!?! Why?" Rainbow screamed, stepping back.
"It will prove that you can bring yourself to kill something." her brother said with confidence. "Plus, Fluttershy is taking care of an injured wolf so she needs meat."
Rainbow was shocked, she didn't even know what to do. She was flying over Whitetail woods, holding the knife that Specs had given her, looking for something to kill. Her sharp eyes settled on a rabbit.
She gulped, adjusted the handle of the knife, and angled into a dive.
-------------------------------------
Spectrum Dash was thinking through a battle plan, trying to decide how he could take the militia by surprise and bring them to their knees. The whole time he was doing that, he was sharpening some spikes that he could attach to his horseshoes for use as a weapon.
Gilda was talking with Thunderclaw for a while and they reached a similar conclusion. Why were they there? Neither of them had been expertly trained, neither of them had been in real battle before, neither of them knew why the Captain wanted them. They had decided to ask him, but they would wait until he didn't have a weapon in his hooves.
They waited for a while and then, suddenly, he dropped the spikes, lifted off the ground and zoomed over to Red Arrow, and whispered something in his ear. Red Arrow seemed to like whatever Spectrum had told him, and he took off in the direction of town.
T.C. approached his new captain, and the brother of his marefriend, with determination. Spectrum noticed this and looked at him with a sincere smile. "Captain?" Spectrum nodded. "Why did you want Gilda and I to stay? We are horribly under-experienced."
Spectrum's face became serious. "Because, my team, that had much more experience working together, lost to this same leader years ago. That failure cost me my wings, my identity, my family, and my best friend. I will not let that happen again. With you on the team, we will have insider information, better training, and more fighters. All of that combined makes you both valuable members of the team. You also are going to be easier to train to fight than my sister. " he threw in as an afterthought.
"I finally got that stupid rabbit." they heard Rainbow saying as she approached, holding a limp white form in her hooves. "This thing was a pain!" she said.
Specs could tell that this thing had made her angry, which in turn made it easier for her to kill it. "Good work, sis. Wait... Where is my knife?" he asked noticing a distinct lack of blood.
"Well, I dropped it, and now I can't find it." she said sheepishly, the limp bunny in a heap on the ground.
"So how did you kill it?"
"I, uh, broke its neck." she said, rubbing her own.
"Nice, way to improvise!" Spectrum said, "Now everyone, take the rest of the day off, we leave before sunrise so you better get some rest. We will be doing aerial combat training on the way tomorrow morning." he said, walking towards the farmhouse.
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Applejack was worried about her fiancé, she knew that of all the ponies around, he could take care of himself and the others, but this was the same griffon that had almost killed him eight years ago. She took a deep breath, and sliced up a few more apples, readying them to be baked into a pie.
Just as she was putting the top crust on her delicious masterpiece, the door opened up and in stepped Spectrum. "Hey, Sugar Cube." he said, as he trotted up to her, kissing her on the cheek, causing her younger sister Applebloom to pretend to barf. "Oh, you find that gross, do you?" he said with a mischievous smile.
Applejack caught on to his little plan, and dove for his lips. The two kissed passionately, leaving the youngest Apple sibling to back out of the room in shock and horror.
When she was gone, Applejack broke the kiss, "So, do ya think they're ready?" she asked, referencing the group of soldiers that he had been working with all day.
He didn't follow the train of thought. "Applebloom? And who? For what, this?" he referenced the spontaneous make out session. "NO! Absolutely not! Who is he?"
"What? No! Ah meant yer troops, are they ready?"
"Oh, ok, no. They are not ready." he admitted. "But I have a few tricks up my sleeves, so as long as everything goes as planned, we should win." he said with confidence enough to rid Applejack of all her worries.
All of her worries, that is, until the apple fritters in the oven started burning.
Gilda was up earlier than usual. She had never been in real battle before, and today she would be fighting for the freedom of her entire town, and several others.
She had witnessed the fighting that took place when her brother took over, the violence, the pain he caused... It was too much. She wouldn't sit by and watch her friends and family back home be beaten and enslaved. It didn't matter that it was her brother who was doing these horrible things, he needed to learn a lesson.
Even when she was just a little fledgling he was crazy. He learned that he was a golden griffon, the strongest and largest of them all, and went crazy. He claimed that he was the rightful king of the griffons, that all would bow down to him. Gilda had even started to believe him. She looked up to him, even when he looked down on her for being less than he was. It took her years to discover that his ramblings were just power hungry rants. Before she went to flight school, where she met Dash, he was talking about building an army, she left on poor terms with him after telling him to just fly away with his army and never return.
When she came back from flight school, her parents became increasingly more distant and uncaring, it even got to the point where she was fending for herself when the other fledglings her age would still hide under mommy's wing when there was a storm.
She pushed down any emotions that were forming from her little walk down memory lane and returned to the task at hand, breakfast.
She swooped down, seeing a stream right where T.C. said it would be. She flew just over the surface of the water, causing a small wake to form behind her. She spotted a school of fish and dunked her talons beneath the surface of the water, bringing them up with a decent size fish in each one. She swallowed the first one whole, then took off into the clouds. She perched on top of a low, puffy cloud that was just big enough for her, watching the creek below her.
She saw Thunderclaw buzzing in, the same way she had, fishing for his breakfast. She couldn't get over the fact that he had gotten over her. He used to have a huge crush on her, but now she was just a friend. She would never had admitted it, but she had a small crush on him too, but it was too much fun using his feelings to manipulate him. She could get him to do whatever she wanted.
Now he was in a serious relationship with her old best friend. She felt happy for both of them, even if the relationship was a bit weird. She couldn't help but feel that, now that they were together, she wouldn't be able to get to know either of them much better.
He had grabbed four fish at the creek below, but why did he need four?
Rainbow.
He was probably hoping that she would join him this morning, now that she had eaten fish, and slightly enjoyed it.
Gilda jumped off of her perch and soared after the other griffon.
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Rainbow Dash was curled up in her bed, simply trying to get some sleep. She had stayed awake late into the night, trying to wash the blood of that poor bunny off of her hooves, she couldn't get over the feeling that ending a life brought. She felt like a monster.
She knew that after time, the pain would go away. Eventually she could sleep again, but she also knew that it would need to get worse.
She was going to battle.
She would need to kill other things that can understand the concept of death, other things that she could have a conversation with.
She had never felt so alone as she did at that moment, and Rainbow Dash hated feeling alone.
After what felt to be hours, but were actually only a few minutes, Rainbow noticed something. There was a smell of something cooking. It smelled good, but she had never smelled it before. Whatever it was, it was coming from the kitchen.
She got up, going over the karate routines that she knew in her head, in case whoever was in there meant her harm. She pushed the door to her room open, carefully avoiding creaking, and began lightly walking down the hall to her kitchen.
As she approached the kitchen, she noticed the light was on as well as the small sizzle of something being fried. She poked her head through the entrance to her kitchen to see a griffon standing at her stove, humming lightly to himself and wearing a dorky apron.
"T.C.? Why are you here? And what are you doing?" Rainbow asked her boyfriend.
He jumped a little at the sound and turned to see her standing in the doorway, looking very tired. "Oh, good morning, Sleepyhead!" He replied happily. "I'm making breakfast. I have fried fish, fried eggplant, omelets, and apples." With each item he referenced, he motioned to a different dish that was spread out on her table. "I thought that you might appreciate a nice breakfast, and I was hoping that I could join you." he offered with a kind smile.
Rainbow just stared in amazement at the wonderful spread of food before her. "Where did you learn to cook like this?" she asked, momentarily forgetting the impending events of the day and gaining a smile.
"Well, food is essential to life; therefore, make it good." He stated, while flipping one of the fish fillets in the skillet. "Also, I spent two years tracking Gilda, I learned pretty quickly how to cook. Otherwise I would be eating raw fish all the time and that is disgusting." He said, remembering times when he would get sick from too much of the cold, scaly creatures.
"Anyway, dig in!"
The two of them sat down, eating until they were full. Then they heard a cautious knock on the front door. T.C. stood up to answer it, and when he opened it, he was greeted by the shameful face of the griffoness that he had a crush on for years.
"Gilda? Why are you here?"
"I, uh, was hoping to talk with you and Dash." she said, uncomfortably. He could see that she had something specifically on her mind, and he decided to let her in.
"Hey Rainbow, you have more company!" he sang, with an almost bird-like chirp.
"Who is it?" she asked as the two griffons walked into the kitchen, not bothering to turn and see while she was cleaning some of the dishes from breakfast.
"Hey..." Gilda said sheepishly.
"Gilda? Why are you here?"
"I just wanted to talk." She managed to say with desperation.
"Alright, we don't have to be at the farm for another hour and a half, so what's up?" Rainbow said, still unsure if she should be doing this.
Gilda took a deep breath before starting, "Listen, I'm sorry, ok? I was having a hard time at home, my parents treated me like crap, my brother was deranged, and I had very few friends. T.C. was the only who would talk to me, and I took advantage of him." She was starting to cry as she told her story.
"I put on a fake strong act and pretended to be completely under control. Really I just wanted to hang out with you Rainbow, I wanted to be with someone who actually was in control. Somebody who actually had everything figured out. But it seemed like you replaced me, you didn't care. You figured out how to be in control by leaving me for other friends." Tears were now openly flowing as the griffoness poured her heart out to the two closest friends she ever had, something she never had the strength to do before.
"Hey G." Rainbow spoke up, wrapping her hooves around her old friend, "It's ok. I forgive you."
"Wait." T.C. chimed in, "You were using me?"
She hung her head in shame. "Yeah..." she finally admitted.
"Hm... Well ok then." he said, just accepting that he was being used. "Well, it's a good thing that we are all on good terms, as we will be spending a lot of time together starting really soon." he said, bringing the other two into a group hug.
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Spectrum Dash was gathering some supplies for the battle with Red Arrow at the Pyrotechnic's workshop. He had already gathered light armor, provisions, backpacks, and goggles for each of his teammates. He had modified the armor to accommodate the 'supplies' that he was gathering with his old friend.
Once they had enough gathered together, they split the load into separate packs for each member of the team. Each pack included some food, first aid equipment, and some of Spectrum and Red Arrow's 'supplies' which were packed at the bottom in a separate container.
They were now on their way to the meeting place at the barn. Red Arrow could see his old friend and teammate disappearing, only to be replaced by a Captain. Spectrum began to see nothing more than troops. His old friends, new one, sister, and a griffon he didn't really care for; became nothing more than the troops under his command. He wouldn't let any of them die this time, but he wouldn't take it easy on them because of relation either.
The two pegasi landed, seeing Blue Angel talking with Rainbow and the griffons.
Immediately Spectrum spoke up, "AttenTION! Troops, put on these packs." the Captain said, while he and Red Arrow passed the pre-made backpacks out to the others. "Each one contains armor, which consists of a chest plate, goggles, and guards for your wings, provisions for yourself, medical packs, and a separate waterproof container which is not to be opened until I give the command. Do I make myself clear?" By now the others had put on the packs and all gave a nod, signifying their understanding. "Good, those containers hold the key to our strategy, they are of upmost importance. Also when you put on your armor, the backpack can be removed from the pack and the straps become the harness for the armor."
He donned his own gear then headed out in front of the others. "Do not let personal feelings get in the way of your fighting." He then turned around to face them. "Also, your wingman assignments are as follows: Red Arrow and Blue Angel," the married couple looked at each other and nodded, each knowing how the other fought as they had been partners for years, "Rainbow Dash and Gilda Highwind," those two were confused about the choice, but were cut off and unable to voice their concern. "As well as Thunderclaw Talon and myself. These are not only your wingmen, but also your training partners."
He stood next to T.C. and said, "Watch your wingman's back and they will watch yours. Train with your wingman, learning your strengths and weaknesses, as well as theirs. Strengthen each other, and learn to function as a unit. It should take four days to reach our destination, in that time we will be training, for the first two days we will work solely with our partners, after that we will be sparring with the other teams. Know your partner as well as yourself. If you know your partner's weak points, you can guard them. Do you all understand?" they nodded.
"Alright then, let's move out."
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The first day of travel/training went better than the Captain had expected. They made excellent distance, getting much further than he had expected. Also the others seemed to be picking up on their partner's weaknesses.
Rainbow Dash had discovered a significant speed advantage over Gilda, while Gilda had noticed Rainbow's poor blocking.
Red Arrow and Blue Angel were like watching a dance pair. They knew each other so well that they could predict what they would do next. The Captain knew this would happen, counted on it actually, hoping that having the two of them be so in sync would pose a bigger challenge when it came to the group sparring.
Thunderclaw was difficult for the captain to figure out, however. He didn't block blows, he absorbed them or deflected them. Using the Captain's own force, which he used a lot of, against him. Eventually the Captain was able to discover something to use against him, he was poor when switching fighting styles. When going from one to another, whether it be air to ground, or just the stance that was being taken, it took him a little while to regain his composure.
All in all Captain Spectrum Dash was pleased with the progress of his troops.
The troops continued on, the second day of traveling and sparring resulted in a tight connection between partners.
Gilda was picking up the pace, providing a better challenge for Rainbow Dash to work against. Rainbow had begun watching her weak spots, blocking them so that Gilda couldn't get a clear shot, often.
Red Arrow and Blue Angel were getting faster, they were flawlessly avoiding letting the other gain the upper hoof.
Thunderclaw and the Captain were working on their own flaws as well. Thunderclaw was attempting to get better at switching styles and stances, according to the situation. The Captain had the hardest time with his biggest issue however. As someone who was used to always making solid contact, he was almost always putting more force than he needed behind beach blow. Eventually he was able to draw back enough that when T.C. took advantage of his blows he could recover faster, occasionally landing a better hit because of it.
Once again the squadron slept well that night.
The next night they began sparring against the other groups, T.C. and the captain went up against Rainbow and Gilda first. The fight was leaning heavily in the favor of the Captain and T.C. until Rainbow had an opening, a wide open shot to the Captain.
She was able to take him to the ground with one kick, but instead she hesitated. She saw her brother, her inspiration, her coach, the one that she had looked up to for years, and the one she had missed for years, and she couldn't hit him.
He used the opening and hit her upwards into the air, quickly getting over her and kicking her down to the ground, effectively emptying her lungs. Having Rainbow down allowed him to assist T.C. with Gilda.
She had observed T.C.'s inability to change fighting tactics quickly and was changing stance, position and style as often as she could. T.C. was holding on well, but was getting tired and beaten. The Captain flew in, faster than Rainbow had while training with Gilda, and tackled her, pinning her to the ground and effectively ending that sparring session.
When the Captain and T.C. fought against Red Arrow and Blue Angel, they put up a good fight, but their opponents knew each other so well that it was a hopeless cause. When attempting to split the two ponies up, the Captain and T.C. only succeeded in getting themselves separated and spelling their own doom.
The fight between Rainbow and Gilda, and the married couple, went by much more quickly. The trained team quickly disabled the under-experienced novices. quickly they were separated, and their flaws were exploited.
Even though they were beaten, bruised, stiff, exhausted, and bedding on the ground, they slept like they were on mattresses stuffed with pegasus down.
The final day of travel involved some inclement weather and a nasty headwind, but they still pushed onwards, reaching a cloud that would serve as an outpost for the night, until they started their attack the day after tomorrow.
Their sparring sessions went similar to the day before, but with much closer results. Results such as, much lighter blows from the Captain, giving him better control of the outcome of the fight, quicker fighting adjustments from T.C., better defense from Rainbow, who was also able to land an extremely solid hit on her brother, temporarily giving her team the upper hoof, and Gilda was much faster. The undefeated team of Red Arrow and Blue Angel was even struggling to keep their lead.
After the sparring was done, the Captain came out to go over the plan. “Alright, troops, tomorrow is a day just to rest up and get our strength back. We will also be using it to set up our secret weapon.” he nodded at Red Arrow.
“In the capsules that I included in your packs each contain fireworks. They are not intended as a weapon, but if you can manage to use them as one, do so.” he said, while walking pst the ponies and griffons gathered on the large cloud base. “Remember, your wingman is your best bet to stay alive, so keep them alive as well.”
He stepped over to the married couple and looked at them, “You two will be setting up the fireworks on the opposite side of the town. Don’t get caught.”
Then he looked to his wingman, “We will be doing the sides, and I repeat, don’t get caught.”
He then looked at Rainbow and Gilda, “You two will be setting the biggest charge up on this cloud, and don’t get caught.”
Each group nodded their understanding as he got to them. “we will be taking turns with our wingmen to do watch tonight, starting with myself and Thunderclaw, moving on to Gilda and Rainbow, and finishing up with Red Arrow and Blue Angel. Now, the rest of you, get some sleep.” he commanded as he and his wingman took their posts.
Their watch was terribly uneventful, the most excitement that they had was when a bat flew by, catching its evening supper. They awoke the next two guards and took their turn sleeping.
--------------------------
In the ranks of General Highwind there was a griffon who had just relieved the preceding soldier. His name was Hawk. Hawk was a smaller griffon, but he was fast, strong, and working his way up through the ranks of the militia that General Highwind had formed.
It didn’t matter where you were on the chain of control, you still needed to do guard duty, unless you were the General himself. So Hawk had taken his position watching for attacks.
His shift started pretty uneventful, most of the intruders were bugs and the bats attempting to catch them. He almost started drifting off to sleep when he noticed a shimmer in a large cloud up over his head. He thought it was probably just a star shining through the cloud, but decided to investigate anyway.
He approached the spot that had shimmered earlier and began his ascent into the vaporous structure. He poked his head through, and was immediately greeted by a flash of colors and a bag over his head.
The bag was quickly followed by his limbs being tied together, his wings being tied to his sides, and a small pinch in the back of his neck.
'Hmmm...' he thought to himself, 'I wonder what the general would give to know about this... I guess I will wait and see if this is good or bad."
"Alright." A slightly scratchy, very serious, and very deadly sounding voice overhead whispered. "As far as I can see, you have two options. Option one, you can tell us everything about what is going on, then we use some fancy potion to erase your memory of this meeting. Or, two, we simply use the potion right now. If I were you, I would lean towards option one, because if you choose option two, I will get mad. And if I get mad I might get a little generous with the memory potion."
Then Hawk heard some whispering from further away.
"He wouldn't do that, would he?" a slightly rough, tomboyish female voice said.
"Oh, he would." an absolutely heavenly feminine voice said.
"Just shut up you two, and pay attention." a vaguely familiar male voice said...
"Don't tell me to shut up!" first girl.
"Shhhh!" "So," first voice again, "If you want to do option one, nod." Hawk nodded. "Alright good." he then removed the bag enough so that Hawk could talk, but not enough to see.
"Ok, so everything I know, let's see..." Hawk spilled the entire plan for the future of the militia, as far as he had been informed, then he continued. "But eight others, and myself, wanted to try and take the program down from the inside, so we have been working our way through the ranks to attempt to take it down from the top. I was doing this to save our people from a life of tyranny, as well as with hopes of meeting women using hero status to my advantage." there were a few seconds of awkward almost-silence, broken only by the stifled laughter of the female voices in the background, "Wow, I didn't mean to share ALL of that."
Suddenly the bag was pulled off of his head and he found himself looking into the face of a very serious pony. The pony was red with a reverse-rainbow mane and vibrantly blue eyes, and he seemed familiar for some reason...
The blue eyes were scrutinizing, and Hawk felt like he was staring into his soul.
Hawk would not be beaten.
He stared back, knowing full well that the pony was trying to see if he was lying, and he knew that he didn't lie.
After a few moments of the intense staring, the pony leaned back, and looked at his troops, "He's telling the truth."
"How do you know?" said a royal blue one with a yellow mane, that possessed the angelic voice.
The first pony merely held up a hypodermic needle, the tip coated in what appeared to be blood mixed with a blue liquid. "Truth serum, and possibly too big of a dose." he said, furrowing his brow slightly.
"How did you get truth serum?" said a light blue mare with a rainbow mane, who was the owner of the tomboyish voice.
Then the commander of the group, the interrogator, who was already digging through a bag, held up a book. "Your zebra friend finally wrote a book, and I bought the first copy." He said with mild pride, bringing an eye roll from the mare.
Hawk was currently examining the rest of the group. There was one more pegasus, a stallion, white coat, red mane, slightly manic look in his eye. There were also two griffons, one a male and the other a female, the griffoness looked confident, and tough. Also she looked very attractive. But the male was different.
"Wait... T.C.? Is that you?" Hawk asked, laying his eyes upon the best friend he ever had, and hadn't seen in over two years.
"Hawk?" the griffon who went M.I.A. said, looking at his old friend.
"Where have you been?" Hawk said excited, ignoring the weird looks from the ponies and cute griffon as he tried to get a better look at his old friend but was unable to due to being hogtied. "You've been gone for over two years!"
"We don't have time for this!" the white stallion whispered in an accent that sounded like an upper class accent, without the 'I'm better than you' feel to it. "We need to get you back down there before they send back-up."
"I agree." the leader pony said, "Here's the plan, late tomorrow night we will attack, the signal will be fireworks. When the fireworks start to go off, that is when we will attack." he said, gesturing to the small team gathered in the cloud. Then he started ripping a dark green sheet into triangles. "Wear this over your beak when the attack starts, it will help with smoke inhalation and identification. Here is one for you and the eight others you talked about." he said, handing over nine makeshift bandanas. Then he handed one to each of the other griffons, "You two wear these as well, I don't want to accidentally take down my wingman."
While he was being untied, Hawk noticed the griffoness glancing his way. Once he was untied he stood up, and tried to make himself seem less like he had just been tied up. He knew that trying to impress her was stupid, and that there was a chance that one of them wouldn't make it, but there was just something about her confidence...
"Here, eat this." the leader said, handing him a plant of some sort.
"What is it?" Hawk said, grasping the vegetation in his talons.
"Rhubarb. I know it's gross, but it neutralizes the effects of the truth serum."
Hawk winced and quickly swallowed the plant whole, immediately feeling slightly more at ease.
"Now go." the red pegasus said to him, pointing down with his hoof.
With a slight flourish, Hawk spread his wings and took off, going into a sharp loop before diving below the cloud.
Rainbow turned to Gilda with a knowing look. Gilda just rolled her eyes and muttered, "Shut up."
"Well, troops, looks like our job just became a little bit easier."
------------------------------------
Hawk returned to his post, the griffon who was on watch with him looking at him with suspicion and slight relief.
"Where've ya been?"
"Above the cloud cover, I thought I saw something, but it was nothing."
The other guard wasn't buying it. "Why were you up there so long if it was nothing?"
"I got turned around, I was never good at orientating."
The day before the attack went by all to quick. Preparations were made hurriedly, luckily without any of the group being caught. Everyone was still sore from the four days of hard flying and brutal training, so they took turns massaging and being massaged, under the inspection of Blue Angel.
By late evening, they were all rather rested up and relaxed. Just after supper they went to bed, under the same watch shifts as before, but they started earlier, so they could end earlier.
Rainbow couldn't sleep after her watch. She just kept staring at the stars, thinking about the next day, thinking about the upcoming battle.
She couldn't help but wonder what would happen if she died. What would happen if any of the others died. What would happen if she lost her brother again.
"Gilda?" she asked, hoping her griffon friend was still awake.
"Yeah Dash?" Rainbow let out a sigh of relief.
"I'm scared."
"Me too."
"What if I die? I don't want to die."
"Believe me Dash, there are two guys in this group who would fight this entire battle by themselves if you got hurt. Also, I will not let you die, I need someone to watch my back."
Rainbow let out a small chuckle at her friend's joking. "Thanks G. I needed that."
A few moments of silence passed, hearing only the bats screeching then Rainbow decided to mess with Gilda. "So, Hawk..."
"Shut up, dweeb." Rainbow could hear the griffoness shuffle in her cloud bed, drawing a smile from the mare.
"Oh come on, he thought you were hot." More shuffling. "And he is available by the sound of it. I saw the way you were looking at him, if both of you survive tomorrow you two should totally go out."
"You really think he likes me?" Rainbow had never heard Gilda so... Unsure.
"Of course, didn't you see how he tried to act all tough when my brother untied him? And the little loop before diving below the clouds? He was showing off, and trying to make himself seem good enough for you." she said, reassuring her old friend. "I only know because I have done that before."
"Thanks, Rainbow, I needed that." Gilda said softly, before they softly drifted into sleep for two more hours.
The Captain came around and woke everyone up, sending them off to their respective clouds. They went silently, each one donning their armor, and mounting some of the fireworks on them.
They had smoke bombs, that they could either trail behind them, or drop into a crowd. They had roman candles designed to light like flares, with a simple twist of a cap. They had rockets, and they had firecrackers. Each one was ready to fight a war. Each member of the team was at their stations, at the clouds strategically placed around the griffon camp.
The captain gave the signal and they all lit their respective fuses, feeling adrenaline begin coursing through their veins. The fuses would burn for 60 seconds, giving them enough time to get off of the clouds and prepare for battle.
The Captain felt a familiar feeling, the adrenaline, mixed with mild rage and a bit of excitement. He Gestured to the others to advance, and they did, each pair going to their own respective sections. Each pair was to take out a guard station, by the time the fireworks went off. He was positioned over the west guard station.
Then time slowed down.
The sky lit up as the first mortar wet off, filling the sky over the griffon compound with a bright red light. Before he could even hear the ‘boom’ the Captain was diving for the first griffon. He had his hoof out in front of him, and he made contact.
The hoof dug in to the small gap where the wing met the back of the beast. With a slight pop, the wing came out of socket; and with a wheeze, all of the air left the griffon’s lungs. He couldn’t even scream and before the other guard could, his limp companion slammed onto him, driving both of them to the ground, where T.C. Sliced their throats.
The compound was filled with many different colors as the rockets and mortars continued screaming into the sky and sending colorful explosions through the dark night sky.
Rainbow was having a hard time, she couldn’t bring herself to kill anyone there, but she could handle hitting them.
She would beat her opponents, using her superior speed to outrun any attacks and plant more hits on the griffons she was facing, until Gilda came in and finished them off. This system was working pretty well, neither of them getting any real injuries, just minor bruising.
The griffon troops were beginning to pour out of their barracks. Attempting to identify the source of the noises that were interrupting their sleeps, to be greeted with the colorful flashes of light that blinded them as they came out into the night.
Blue Angel and Red Arrow were enjoying themselves immensely.
“Just like our first date, huh Red?” Blue Angel said in between bucking griffons as they were coming out of their barracks, before they even had a chance to see what was going on.
“Hey, in my defense, I didn’t expect the soup to taste like that, how would I know the entire kitchen staff would come after us- er... me, like that?” he said, slamming his attacker into the ground and breaking his neck.
Blue Angel just laughed at her husband as he, once again, tried to justify his actions that day.
T.C. Watched his captain as blood stained his coat, the look on his face unnerved him. The red pegasus was being stained a much deeper shade as griffons went down around him. It almost seemed unfair, attacking these creatures when they were asleep, but T.C. Quickly pushed the thoughts of that out of his head as he realized that they would’ve done the same.
While he was distracted by ethics an enemy swung at his back, drawing some blood, before the Captain knocked him down and used as much momentum as he could gather to slam his hooves into the griffon’s chest snapping several ribs which punctured his lungs.
The Captain looked at his wingman with expectancy, trying to convey thoughts without vocalizing them, which oddly worked.
T.C. Nodded his understanding, the captain ripped a smoke bomb off and drug it over a striker, lighting it, before he threw it on the ground. The casing broke, the materials inside scattering, making the smoke spread intensely and rapidly.
The cloud of smoke distorted their figures long enough for them to take off and towards the largest building, the command center.
Blue Angel dug her knife into the spine of a hostile and up. When she did she noticed a large cloud of smoke, with two figures flying out of it and towards the command center of the compound, she caught her husband’s attention and pointed with her hooves to the Captain and T.C. before taking off, quickly followed by her wingman as he comically used the face of a different griffon as a springboard to lift off.
Gilda was fighting off several hostile griffons, while Rainbow unleashed three smoke bombs and a couple firecrackers into a mostly full barracks. She quickly slammed the door shut and was greeted with the sound of explosions and screaming.
As the poorly ventilated room filled up with smoke, Rainbow and Gilda continued to fight. Suddenly a griffon leapt into the fray, swinging a sword he was wielding in his talons at Gilda’s side.
Just before he made contact; however, another set of claws twisted the weapon from his grasp. Gilda looked up to see Hawk wrestling the very confused griffon to the ground. She couldn’t help but smile, slightly, as the attractive male joined their fighting team.
Several more blows were exchanged between each of the fighters and their respective opponents. Another of the traitorous griffons joined their team, allowing them to truly decimate their, barely awake, opponents.
Rainbow glanced into the sky, watching for the rest of her team. She saw two pairs of beings taking off into the night sky from their respective positions of carnage. Quickly, she whistled to her teammates, dropping a smoke bomb and taking off into the sky.
Gilda followed quickly, the other two struggling to keep up, and understand what was happening.
The team merged together just outside of the tower that make up the command center.
Avoiding the spotlights that were being activated, they went over the plan.
“Alright,” the Captain shouted over the fading fireworks and the craziness happening below, “You two, guard the tower, don’t allow anyone else in, get the other traitors to help you if you can.” He said to Hawk and his partner.
“The rest of you, come with me, we are going to find a way in. We will get to the general’s quarters however we can.” He quickly swerved off, the others following in formation.
---------------------------------------
The team were able to force their way through the primary guards, and were able to locate the location of the general’s office. The golden griffon had perched his office at the top of the tower, and the only way was up through a series of staircases and hallways.
They fought through the first few floors with very little resistance, a few griffons that were still confused were all that they ran into.
About halfway to the top they reached a locked door. “Hey, Anypony know how to pick a lock?”
“I got it, sir.” T.C. chimed in. He then stepped forward and inserted a claw into the lock, twisting it and working on the tumblers. As they waited for the griffon to accomplish his task, the others just stood around awkwardly. The Captain, in the awkward air, looked between his troops and the locked door, and as time progressed he knew that there had to be someone coming to find them.
His suspicions were proven correct as he looked to the back of the team and saw a griffon stalking the group and pouncing towards Gilda.
Time once again seemed to slow down as the Captain pumped his powerful wings. He shot over the gathered troops, his wings pulling the air out of the hallway and slamming it against the door.
The attacker made eye contact with the Captain in the split-second before they collided, and saw the face of a mother bear protecting her cubs.
The Captan looked at his troops as he stepped out of the bloody mess that used to be a griffon. Looks of horror on almost every face, including those that were used to watching death.
"What?"
"Was all of that really necessary?"
"Probably not, but I am not about to let any of them harm my troops, I will not let anyone else die under my command." He said with an air of someone who had been hurt, and would not be hurt again.
"Got it, Captain." T.C. said, looking up from the lock that had previously held his undivided attention. "Woah, what happened?"
"Don't worry about it, now let's move." The Captain said, pushing past him through the, now open, door.
They fought their way up through the rest of the building, until they saw it. The door to the general's room.
It was about four inches thick of reinforced steel, held in place by the most complicated locking mechanism any of them had ever seen.
"How are we getting in, Captain?"
"I honestly have no idea." he admitted, staring at the metal plate as though it would tell him how to get in.
"I could probably handle it." Red Arrow piped up.
"How?"
"I brought a few quarter-sticks."
"Of dynamite?"
"Yep."
The rest of the team stared at him for a few moments as he dug the explosives out of his pack.
"Here they are!"
"You're so lucky that I like your accent." Blue Angel said, shaking her head.
------------------------------------
General Lyle Highwind was in his office staring out of the barred windows.
He could see the destruction outside, the bloodbath of his soldiers. This would be a truly terrible thing if any of them even deserved to call themselves griffons.
The disgusting creatures slaughtering each other outside were just a disappointment to the griffon race. They were all scrawny, and very few of them were independent enough to lead any part of his army. Also they were all losing to a few wimpy ponies, and a few griffons, it’s not like they were even fighting an army, and they were still losing.
He saw several griffons be torn apart by one of his commanders, a certain Hawk. He was a good fighter, and one of the best leaders in the group, but still he was too small to ever be considered a real griffon.
Wait... Why was Hawk killing the other troops?
That dirty little double crosser had betrayed the great General Highwind. As impressive as that was, he would still be punished, once this was over.
Now, how should the greatest griffon that ever lived enter the battle? He could-
BOOM
An explosion ripped the giant door from its hinges and locking mechanisms. The large metal sheet was twisted and mangled as it flew through the room, slamming into the wall mere inches from the beak of the General.
He turned around to face the empty hole where the door used to be, that was now full of smoke and dust, with a small pile of rubble covering the floor.
He peered into the space that was left, to see a figure coming through the smoke. The figure was a griffon, male, and slightly familiar, not one of his soldiers, but familiar.
The griffon had a slightly creepy smile on as he greeted him. “Hey, Lyle, long time no see!” after no reaction came the griffon continued, “What? Don’t you remember me? I had the biggest crush on your sister, and then when she ran away, your parents hired me to find her. Oh! And whenever I came over to your house, you looked down on me with disgust.” He said with a sickening smile.
“Uh...”
Then two ponies walked into the room, two that looked really familiar...
“You...” The dark blue one said, hate woven into her angelic voice.
Then the male spoke up, “You killed one of our best friends, about eight years ago.” He said with his weird accent.
Then the General recognized them, they were two of the 51st. They had killed his entire militia with the help of that Geronimo guy and Spectrum Dash, both of which he had killed that day, so why did they only say one?...
“Look who else we brought to the party!” the griffon cheered, pointing to the doorway as Gilda walked in, looking like she was about to rip him limb from limb.
“You took away my brother and left a twisted psychopath in his place, you don’t deserve to lead this country, you are less of a griffon than any of those outside who died fighting tonight.” She hissed at him, tears beginning to form in her eyes.
“But she doesn’t even hold the most against you!” The male griffon chirped, the creepy excitement was really beginning to unnerve the General.
Then a sky blue pegasus with a rainbow mane walked into the room, “You took my brother, my inspiration, and my best friend away from me. My name is Rainbow Dash.”
The General was absolutely sure that he could take these losers, they didn’t even have the guts to kill him if they could. After all, he did kill the great Spectrum Dash, the greatest fighter to ever grace the skies. He didn’t even care if this mare was Spectrum’s sister, he could still take her.
With that confident thought in his head he saw the last pony enter the room, and all confidence left.
Entering the room was a scarlet coat and a reverse-rainbow mane, and his bright blue eyes were glaring at him with an intensity that could make a dragon back down.
It was Spectrum Dash.
“H-h-h-huh... I-I-I-I...” The General stuttered, trying to formulate his thoughts into something useful.
“What? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” The dead pony said to him.
The General couldn’t even make proper thoughts, as he saw the, blood coated, pegasus flare the wings that had been mounted on his wall for eight years.
“I want a rematch. Sound good?” He said raising an eyebrow. “I’m just warning you though, I don’t fight nice.”
The two circled for a while, each one trying to get the upper hand, but neither gaining anything. Sometimes one would attack, but would get overturned by their opponents.
After about 10 minutes of this Spectrum Dash spoke up, “So, you know how I said I don’t fight nice?” As he said that, the General’s legs were taken out from underneath of him, as the others in the room tripped and tied them up.
The golden griffon was now laying on the floor, staring into the eyes of a very sickeningly happy pegasus. “So... You are about to feel what I felt eight years ago...”
“Fine, kill me. All of those outside are loyal to me.” he spat at his captor.
“Hahahaha!” the creepy laugh was not reassuring. “I said that you would know what I felt. I didn’t die, you just tore my wings off. So I will use your own talons to rip your wings off, also, the princess wants you alive.” He said, walking to where the golden griffon’s front legs were tied.
The pegasus raised a hoof, and brought it down hard on the talons of General Highwind, snapping one of them off in a blur of blinding pain. He then picked it up in his mouth and walked over to his back.
“This is going to hurt, very, very, bad.” He muttered around the claw in his mouth. Then he brought the magically enhanced point down on the base of the wing, drawing it across and effectively severing the once great appendage.
The General then passed out from the pain as he laid on the floor, under the blood stained 51st squadron.
Gilda was in tears as she watched the unconscious form of her brother fall to the ground beside his, now useless, limb. She wrapped the stump as Rainbow patted her on the back, attempting to comfort her old friend. While they sat on the floor, the Captain pulled out some paper, ink, quill, and a jar full of some green liquid and began to write a letter.
“What is in that jar?” Asked Thunderclaw.
“Oh, this?” the Captain asked holding up the jar in question. “It is apparently a jar of Spike’s breath, and although I don’t know how he did it, I can use it to send a letter to the princess, telling of our victory.” He finished, striking a heroic pose.
He finished his letter and dipped it in the jar, suddenly becoming engulfed in a green flame, and flowing out of the room on a magical air current.
Rainbow’s eyes had followed the wisp of smoke out of a hole in the wall, were the the door had hit it when it blew off the hinges. Then, just as it went out of view, Hawk passed in front of the door, grappling with another griffon, and falling fast. Rainbow bolted up and dashed over to the hole, looking out to see her new ally falling fast and bleeding.
There was only one thing Rainbow could think to do, she dove.
She flew as fast as she could.
She flew faster than she ever had.
The Sonic Rainboom that resulted caused all of the fighting to stop. She caught up with the two falling griffons, with very little effort, and latched onto the back of the attacker. She then dug the knife that she held in her mouth into the back of the offending griffon.
She then threw the corpse off of her friend’s crush, and wrapped her hooves around him.
Hawk felt his fall being slowed, and then he felt his body being laid on the ground. He turned his head to see his rescuer.
It was that rainbow mare that was part of the attack team, from the night before. "Sorry, but I cant let you die before you take my friend on a date." She said with a creepy smile.
"Wha...?" That didn't make sense... And Hawk felt weird...
Then that red guy peeked out of the hole in the tower, he said something about freedom, and the battle being over, and the princesses. Then the pretty griffon came down to see Hawk... Maybe she would stay with him while he slept...
He was waking up. He tried to open his eyes and for some reason, it hurt. The light that was coming from overhead hurt his eyes, like he hadn’t opened them in days. Then he decided to just leave his eyelids closed for a little while.
He laid there, taking in all that he could without the use of his eyes. There was beeping, and electronic voices, it smelled almost sickeningly clean, but without a soapy smell. Then it hit him, he must be in a hospital.
The bed underneath of him was soft, but getting uncomfortable, and his right arm felt numb, like he had slept on it wrong.
Then there were voices.
“Hawk...” was all he could make out at first. But why would there be a hawk in a hospital? Oh, wait, that was his name.
Upon that realization, Hawk decided to attempt to open his eyes again. He was rewarded with only slightly less pain upon opening them. He finally got them open and was greeted by the sight of a white unicorn mare with a pale blue mane, right in front of his beak. The unexpected face caused him to jolt slightly, and the unexpected jolt caused her to push him further into the mattress with her hooves.
“Sir, I am going to have to ask you to lay still. You have lost a lot of blood, and still need time to recover.” She said with a concerned expression.
Hawk nodded in understanding and began to take in his surroundings. He was in a hospital bed, the one in the middle of the room, with tarps separating him from the other patients. There were many machines that he didn’t recognize, some of which were hooked up to him.
There was one machine that interested him. It was pumping something into his right arm, and as he began to lift and examine his limb, but before he actually saw it, he saw her, that pretty griffon had fallen asleep on the waiting room couch.
He could almost feel his heart pop as he saw her curled up on the cushions. For just a moment he felt like there couldn’t be a better sight in the world. He had completely forgotten about whatever it was that he was thinking about, and just watched her, until someone came in.
He turned to see the red pegasus walking in, wearing an Equestrian Air Force uniform, being led by the nurse pony from earlier. She was discussing something with him in hushed tones, before they looked at him.
Hawk made eye contact with the nurse, who was holding something telekinetically behind her back. The item was wrapped tightly and he couldn’t make it out, but there was something about it.
“Excuse me sir,” the nurse said, looking at him, “the captain, here, said that you might want this.” She then levitated the wrapped item over to the bedside table and set it down before walking out of the room mumbling to herself, “I will never understand soldiers...”
“Hawk, Equestria is in your debt.” The red pony, apparently a captain, said to him. “I am terribly sorry about what happened, and that they couldn’t do more here to save it, but I promise you it won’t be permanent.” He said, with a reassuring smile.
“Wha-argh!” Hawk cut himself off short as his dry throat seized up. The captain picked up a glass of water from the table and helped Hawk drink it. Once the glass had been emptied and Hawk’s throat was feeling better, he tried again, “What are you talking about? What won’t be permanent?”
With that, the pony’s face darkened slightly, his confident smile dropping into a worried expression. “You don’t know?” Hawk shook his head, “Uh... Well... Y-you lost your right arm. They couldn’t fix it.” He finished, hanging his head.
Hawk couldn’t believe what he was hearing, his arm was gone? He lifted up the appendage and found it cut short, stopping just below his elbow, and wrapped in thick layers of gauze. He tried to move the muscles, but nothing happened. He brought his other claw up to meet it, and waved it through the empty space that used to be limb.
After a few more moments of attempting to wrap his mind around the concept, the Captain said something, but he wasn’t paying attention, his arm was gone. Suddenly, something that the Captain had said clicked as being strange. “Wait.” Hawk demanded, still staring at the stump. “You said that this wasn’t going to be permanent, how can you say that? My arm is missing!” He yelled, causing the griffon sleeping on the couch to stir.
“Shhhh!” the Captain attempted to quiet him, “Don’t tell the nurse, but there is a Zebra back home, that knows some crazy things. Including, how to reattach limbs.” He said with a sly smile.
“How do you know this?” Hawk asked, desperately hoping for a way to get his full mobility back.
“Do you know who I am?”
“Should I?”
“Well, you have probably heard of me.” The Captain said, confidence returning. “My wings were mounted on the wall of your ex-general for a little over eight years. He deemed me, his ‘greatest kill’.” The Captain said, his confidence coming back full-swing.”My name’s Spectrum Dash.” He said, striking a pose, somehow his mane and tail flowed impressively.
Hawk’s brain broke.
“Wait... But, your dead. General Highwind ripped your wings off and you plummeted to your doom.” Hawk stuttered senselessly, the few fragments of his brain trying to comprehend the information that broke it initially.
“No.” Simple enough answer, “My friends, Blue Angel and Red Arrow managed to catch me before I hit the ground. Then, through some complicated events, I went into hiding for about eight years. Now, I am standing here in your hospital room, telling you that you helped save Equestria from immense turmoil, thank you.” He finished, giving Hawk a slight nod in thanks.
Hawk was speechless. The Greatest Flier of All Time, was praising him? This would obviously be a dream if it weren’t for the whole, ‘missing an arm’ thing.
“Anyway,” Spectrum brought him out of his musing. “ They should be letting you out of here by tomorrow, we can then take you to our place and get you fixed up. After that you are free to do what you wish. And if I could make a suggestion on that front,” He leaned in, to whisper into Hawk’s ear. “That one over there seems to have taken a liking to you. That is all that I’ve got to say.”
The Captain then turned to leave, shutting the door slightly too hard behind him, and causing the pretty griffon on the couch to wake up.
“Mmmph. Wha...?” She looked around obviously trying to make sense of her surroundings, then their eyes met. “...”
“... Hey...”
---------------------------------
T.C. was giving Rainbow a full tour of his, rather beaten up, hometown. Showing her all of his favorite places to eat and hang out. Finally they came to an area that was all to familiar for T.C.
“Well, Rainbow,” He said with a sigh, “This is where I grew up; right down there is the house that I grew up in, and as far as I know, my family still lives there.”
After a few minutes of silence, Rainbow spoke up. “Can I meet them?”
He looked into her eyes, big and full of hope and a passion that he fell in love with. “Sure, let’s go meet my folks.”
They walked up to the door of the house, a simple, but rather large house; and T.C. knocked.
There was the sound of scurrying inside as many different individuals scurried though the house. It was that sound that made Rainbow realize that she knew very little about his family.
Early in the relationship, they had reached an agreement; neither of them had the greatest family lives so they left them alone.
They knew a little bit about each other. He knew that after her brother had disappeared, she and her parents grew apart and eventually she ran away. Years later she tried to reconcile with them, but when she went home, they were nowhere to be found, they had just vanished, Leaving town due to the disappearance of their two only children.
She knew that he had come from a large family, one with lots of brothers and sisters. He was the middle child and could never seem to impress his parents, he always felt like he was less than the others. It was for that reason that he was so willing to leave home and search for Gilda.
Soon there was a slight rattling at the door, and the knob turned revealing a ragged old griffon, his fur was turning gray and his feathers were drooping. He looked at T.C. with a disapproving eye, and said, “So, the Prodigal Son returns...”
“Hi, Dad.” T.C. Responded with an unreadable expression.
“Well, come in, I guess.” The grizzled old bird said, turning around and walking into the house.
The building was in a state of being almost perpetually dirty, for there were children running around. The fledgeling griffons apparently belonged to one of T.C,’s siblings, who was staying at home. They were adorable, Rainbow Dash noted, their undeveloped feathers were a fluffy grey and their lion fur was still mottled with the spots of their infancy.
Obviously, to them, she was the most fascinating thing ever. She was so colorful, and she was like nothing they had ever seen. Ponies didn’t live nearby, and none had ever been in their house before, so immediately they decided to follow her.
Of course, their uncle that they had never met was fascinating too, but he wasn’t a colorful pony.
T.C. Couldn’t even try to hold back a smile when he saw the little cubs playing with his marefriend. She was very good with kids, even when they were over-excited. Within a few seconds it had gone from staring, to questions, to a gentle wrestling match, where Rainbow was lying on the floor with the grey puffballs climbing over her.
At that moment it became official. Rainbow Dash was the only girl in the world for Thunderclaw. He couldn’t marry anyone else. He had been trying to decide if he should ask her to marry him for weeks, and now it was official.
“Thunderclaw, get in here.” His father’s gruff voice called him into the kitchen. He quickly did as he was told.
After he entered the kitchen, his father closed the door behind him. “Why did you bring that pony here?”
He was taken aback, his father didn’t even know her name, why was he angry? “Uh, well, she’s my marefriend.”
There was a gasp from another part of the room, and he turned to see his mother, the fattest griffon he had ever seen, sitting at the table and holding a claw to her beak.
"You're dating that thing?!?" T.C.'s father hissed.
"Yes I am, and she is the best girl that I have ever met. If you have a problem with that, you can deal with it yourselves." He was starting to get mad, how could they be so racist? "I come back after two years, as the owner of a rather successful business, with a good marefriend, and as one of the ones that delivered the town from the tyranny that it suffered under, and all you can do is shoot down my decisions?" He was positively fuming now, "Alright, I'm leaving for good now. You don't need to be ashamed of me anymore." He turned and stormed out of the kitchen, slamming the door.
“So, your name is really ‘Raptor’?” Rainbow interrogated one of the fluffy little griffons, who was currently puffin out his chest.
“No, his name is Keiko.” One of the little griffon’s sisters said to Rainbow, drawing a snicker from the colorful mare, and an ashamed sigh from Keiko.
“Well I think Keiko is a great name.” She said, picking up the little one’s chin so she could look into his cute little yellow eyes. The little guy smiled back and wrapped his little arms around her neck.
“Thanks Auntie Dash.”
Rainbow’s voice caught in her throat for a moment, “No problem squirt.”
“Hey Rainbow, as touching as it is to see you connecting with my nieces and nephews, that I don’t even know myself, we need to go.”
A chorus of ‘Awww’s came from the fledglings surrounding his marefriend.
“Why do we have to leave? I haven’t even met your parents yet.” She reminded him.
“Yeah, that is probably not the best of ideas right about now.” He said, helping her off of the floor. “But seriously we should be going, I need to talk with your brother. Also I think that he was planning to head out today.”
“A-alright, I guess. Bye guys! You should come visit us in Ponyville sometime.” She called back to the children.
“OK!”
Just as they were leaving they ran into a rather large griffon walking towards the door. “T.C.? Is that you?”
“Charlie!” the two stepped up and hugged each other. “I haven’t seen you in years!”
“Me neither!” his voice was fittingly low.
“So are those yours in there?” T.C. referenced the little griffons inside.
“Yeah, they’re a wingful. The wife sent me over to pick them up.” He explained. “Speaking of the wife, who is this?” he said, turning to Rainbow with a smile.
“I’m not his wife, just his marefriend. My name is Rainbow Dash, and you are?” She chimed in.
“I’m Charlie, this AWOL idiot’s big brother, nice to meet you!” he said, grasping her extended hoof and shaking it vigorously.
“Well, Charlie, we have got to go and pick Hawk up from the hospital. He needs some medical attention that they can’t give him here.” T.C. Explained.
“Ah,” Charlie said, his face drooping a little, “Just bring him home in one piece.”
“Well, that’s the plan. Well, it’s good to see you again.” T.C. said, walking away.
“Nice to meet you!” Rainbow called.
“See you two later!” Charlie shouted back, as he walked in the door, just to be attacked by the tiny griffons.
“So, why does he care so much about Hawk?” Rainbow asked her boyfriend as they took to the skies.
“Well, he is my brother as well.” T.C. Said, shrugging. The revelation drew a gasp from the colorful mare beside him. “I would’ve told you, but we haven’t had much time to talk recently.”
Rainbow grunted in agreement as they approached the hospital.
--------------------------------
The door to Hawk’s hospital room opened, as T.C. and Rainbow walked in. They saw Gilda had pulled a chair over to the side of the bed.
Hawk had a large grin across his face, as he greeted his brother and his marefriend. “Hi, guys! You know, it’s great to see you again, T.C.”
“You too, Hawk. So I see that you and Gilda have been getting to know each other.” He finished up with a smile, causing the griffoness to blush slightly.
Hawk wasn’t going to let his brother win this one, “Yeah, she is really great, I can see why you built a shrine to her in your room.” Gilda and Rainbow Dash started laughing, and T.C.’s face turned a bright red. “And this must be Rainbow Dash, I have heard a lot about you, nice to meet you.” He held his stump out to meet her, then realized his mistake, and switched arms.
“It’s nice to meet you, too.” She said, meeting his gesture.
“So, I hear that your dating my brother... Well, as far as I can tell, you two are perfect for each other, so I approve.”
“Thanks, that means a lot.” T.C. said, face still slightly red.
“When are they letting me out of here?”
“Now, if you’re ready.”
“Well, I want to get this back, so let’s go.” He turned, and got out of his bed, wobbling on his uneven amount of limbs. Gilda quickly came in to hold him up.
The group walked into the lobby, where Spectrum and The other two ponies were waiting.
“Everyone ready to head out?” A general noise of approval sounded among the ponies and griffons, and they all took off.
---------------------------------
“Hey, Captain?”
“T.C. We aren’t in a military setting anymore, I’m just a friend and your marefriend’s brother.”
“Well, I wanted to talk to you about that.” That drew a raised eyebrow from the red pegasus. “I wanted to ask your sister to marry me, and I wanted to know your input.” He said hopefully.
Spectrum merely looked into his eyes for a few moments, until a huge smile broke out across his face. “I am all for it.”
“Thank you, sir!”
“I will be your brother soon, and I am a friend, you don’t have to call me that.”
There wasn’t anypony in Ponyville that wasn’t excited about the upcoming party. After five days, they finally received news from the 51st.
The news came in the form of a letter from the princesses, giving full detail of the battle, the casualties and the prisoners, as well as the griffons that had acted against the General and his militia, aiding in an internal takedown.
Pinkie Pie had immediately taken to planning a party, Rarity decided that each of the combatants in the 51st deserved a new ensemble, Applejack and Big Mac made an early batch of cider, and everypony else in town decided to help welcome the local heroes back.
Ten days after the 51st had left Ponyville, they returned. They returned tired, bruised and holding their heads up high. Even hawk, who had finally learned how to walk with only three-and-a-half legs, was standing tall.
The party had lasted all day. The townsponies had all gathered together, celebrating, singing, and all-in-all having a good time. Some, such as Spectrum, Rainbow, Applejack, Thunderclaw, and Pinkie were dancing, having the time of their lives, happy to be together and alive. Others, such as Blue Angel and Red Arrow were simply staying to the outskirts of the party, enjoying each other’s company. Still more, like Gilda and Hawk were enjoying a quiet night, talking and walking on the outskirts of town.
In the following week; Hawk’s arm was fixed, he and his brother spent time together, he also spent a lot of time with Gilda. Everyone in town seemed to be having a great time, preparing for the local wedding of the decade.
--------------------------------------
Hawk was sitting on a cloud, staring out at a sunrise as he finished up his breakfast. T.C. landed on the cloud, to find his younger brother examining his right arm, right at the point where it had been severed.
"It is truly amazing." Hawk said, not looking up from his wrist. "What they can do with magic and potions, the whole, 'reattaching limbs' thing is just nuts."
"Yeah, I know," T.C. hadn't felt this nervous in a while, his younger brother had been his best friend growing up. "So... I wanted to talk to you..."
"What's up?" he rolled his wrist, feeling the sensation of feeling again.
"You know Rainbow, right?"
"Yeah, your marefriend, nice girl, what about her?"
"What do you think about me getting married?" he decided to just put it out there, seemed like the best option.
For the first time during the conversation, Hawk looked into his eyes, the piercing gaze of his brother's blue eyes searching for weakness in his facade.
"Hmmm... Well, as hard as it is to see you getting married, I think that, out of anyone, she’s the best I could think of for you.” Thunderclaw let out a sigh that he didn’t know he was holding. “There is one thing that I am curious about; however,” T.C. took another deep breath. “Could you two have kids?”
That drew a pause, the question had never been brought up. T.C. had never considered it before. Was that even possible? A griffon and a pony? Would it work? What would the kids even be?
Hawk laughed at his brother’s confusion. “Well, now that I have apparently broken you, I have something to say to you myself, I have started to get more serious with Gilda, and I was wondering if you were ok with it.”
“Well of course I am ok with it, why wouldn’t I be?”
“You used to be really into her, and she is even why you left home, and I just wanted to let you know first.”
“It’s just fine.” He said, “So, how about a race, for old time’s sake.”
“You’re on!” and with that, the two were off, speeding towards the horizon.
----------------------------------------
Gilda walked up to Rainbow Dash, who had decided to take a break from her training at the local park; and as she approached Dash she let out a small sigh.
“So, Dash...” Gilda had no idea how to do this. “Um, thanks for helping Hawk and I get together. And thanks for not holding too much of a grudge.”
“Come on, G, we were like best friends in flight school. I can’t stay mad at you.” She said. Then, looking “So, speaking of Hawk, how is it going between you two?”
For the first time in years, Dash saw Gilda start gushing. “Oh. My. Gosh. He is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. He is handsome, fast, a true gentleman, and don’t even get me started on the way he makes me feel...” Dash was rolling on the cloud laughing her head off. “What? You feel the same way about T.C. don’t you?”
“Yeah, but it’s just funny seeing you be so mushy.” She said, composing herself just long enough to say that.
“Yeah, yeah.” Gilda said, her face becoming more and more red. “Well, you seem to be pretty serious with T.C., so are you two going to get married anytime soon?” She asked, trying to turn the conversation around.
It worked.
“Uh, I, er, um, I-I don’t know?” Rainbow stuttered.
“What to you mean, ‘you don’t know,’ hmm? It seems like you would have talked about it.”
“We have talked about it, just not much, and we never made any real decisions, and we haven’t really looked into it that much, and we’re really busy...” she kept going like that for a little while, talking really fast and breaking out into more of a sweat than she would in flight training back at school.
“Dash, Dash, relax, seriously. I’m sure that it will come up, plus, I don’t think that you could really ever leave him, being the whole ‘element of loyalty,’ and whatever.”
“Thanks, G, I guess you’re right.”
“I’m gonna go get some fish, want any?”
“Nah, I’m good.”
----------------------------------------
Two more weeks passed, the ponies getting back to their normal lives, for the most part. Applejack and Spectrum were getting final preparations ready for the wedding. Hawk and Gilda had gone back home, and as they were leaving both gave knowing looks back to a couple that was waving goodbye.
T.C. And Rainbow noticed the looks, and shuffled uncomfortably.
Later that day, after a nice, long, date, just filled with each other’s company and the activities that T.C. had organized; a simple race through Ghastly Gorge, some small stunt competitions, and a nice picnic dinner at sunset on a cloud at the edge of town. After their dinner they merely sat on the cloud watching as the princesses switched posts.
T.C. Felt his marefriend snuggle up into his feathers at his shoulder, and as he wrapped his large wing around her, he could smell her shampoo, her sweat, and burnt ozone in her hair, a mixture of smells that he had grown to love. As he realized that it was actually happening, his heart started pumping faster, adrenaline flooding his veins, and he felt his body get high off of the stimulus.
He felt under his wing, reassuring himself of his goals, and realized that he was going through with it.
He looked at the mare to his left and reached up underneath of his right wing. “Beautifull...” he whispered.
“Yeah, it sure is...” She agreed.
“I was talking about you.”
She turned her face, making eye contact with him. “That was soooo corny.”
“Yeah, I know, but I’m not too good at this.” He shrugged. “So I’m just gonna say it.” He then pulled the little box out from under his wing. “Rainbow Dash, would you marry me?” at that moment he opened it, revealing a ring, suspended from a necklace chain.
Rainbow looked at the sparkly thing in the box, then up at her boyfriend, back at the box, back at T.C. And then she got her voice. “Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh, OhmygoshohmygoshohmygoshOHMYGOSH! YES!” She leapt up on her fiancé and tackled him, wrapping her hooves and her wings around him, and kissing him repeatedly.
---------------------------------------
Applejack was standing outside of the barn, making a few checks to her wedding plans. The catering seemed to be ordered correctly, the cake was coming, her dress was ready, the distant guests were beginning to arrive. Everything seemed to be going well. This would be the first time that many of her distant family had met Specs, and she couldn’t wait.
Sure, a few of them might be slightly insulted by the notion of a pegasus joining the family, but once they knew how hard he worked they wouldn’t have a problem with him.
She couldn’t believe that it was happening, she was going to get married in two days.
It was unreal.
The stallion of her dreams couldn’t begin to compare to her future husband.
While she was thinking about him, he walked up to her. “Hey, Sweetie.” He kissed her on the cheek, and tickled her slightly with his wings, drawing a small giggle. “Have you heard any news?” he said with a sneaky smile.
“Whatcha mean?”
Then there was a distant scream and they looked over to where it came from. There was a small cloud highlighted by the setting sun, and they strained to see what was happening. Specs had a sly smile on as they heard a little bit more come from there.
Suddenly a rainbow shot out from the cloud and streaked across the sky, originating at an explosive ring. The dark light from the setting sun making the rainbow appear different. Then they heard the explosion as the sonic boom reached their ears.
Applejack gasped as she realized who it was. “Rainbow! We gotta help her!”
“She wouldn’t be doing that,” Specs said, pointing at the intricate designs the colorful contrails were making. “if she was in trouble.”
Then the rainbow began heading towards them, another figure emerging from the cloud as T.C. joined her. They both alighted in front of Spectrum and Applejack, sporting huge smiles.
“Guess what.” Rainbow exclaimed, trying to get closer to the other ponies without leaving T.C..
“What’s up?” Specs said, his smug grin painfully obvious to everypony, but Rainbow Dash.
“We’re getting MARRIED!!!” she screamed, pulling a necklace with a ring on it away from her chest. Then she jumped Applejack, pulling her into a large hug. As they talked, Spectrum and T.C. Pulled each other into a firm, quick, man-hug, Spectrum welcoming the griffon into his family.
“I’m sorry,” T.C. Said to Specs and Applejack, “I really didn’t think about it being so close to your wedding.” Rainbow looked back at him, confused. “I didn’t mean to steal any of your thunder.” He hung his head and Rainbow started to get slightly sad, just starting to think about her friend in respects to her wedding.
“Aw, Shucks.” Applejack said with a huge smile. “It ain’t a problem at all. In fact, y’all finally got mah mind on somethin’ other than mah weddin’ and it feels good.” She reassured them with a smile.
And with that the two couples went their separate ways, one pair going to go spread the good news, and the other going back to work on final preparations for their wedding.
A repetitive ringing went out as knives and glasses met, and Applejack and her new husband turned to each other and kissed, drawing cheers and ‘Awww’s from the gathered ponies.
The wedding had ended with the colorful fall leaves lightly swirling through the crisp autumn breeze. Various scents of the season were filling the air as well, the hot apple cider had even been prepared specially for the occasion. Members of the Apple family from all over Equestria had brought the cream of their crop, each making their own special dishes and supplying a feast befitting royalty.
The wedding and reception had gone by without too much excitement, that is except for one of the elder apple clan member attempting to deny a pegasus membership into the family, but he was silenced fairly quickly.
Big Mac’s toast brought tears to many eyes, due, in part, to the well written sentiment, and partially due to the fact that they hadn’t heard the big, red, stallion say so much at once.
During Big Mac’s toast, Princess Celestia sighed.
“Sister,” Luna whispered, noting Celestia’s depressed mood. “Why art thou so depressed? This is a happy occasion; the union of two souls, especially of those we love, is always a good thing.”
“Yes, Luna, I agree, it is a very happy occasion.” She said, with a forced smile.
Luna wasn’t believing it, but decided that she would let her sister tell her when she was ready.
Celestia was watching the proceedings with a slight feeling of depression. Watching the two become one family reminded her of her own family issues. Sure she finally had her sister back after one thousand years, but she was still missing something... Why did some mistakes have to be worse than others?
The Wonderful day ended with the newlyweds boarding a train, heading for Canterlot, where they would catch a zeppelin heading for the coast. A small island country known as the Domaneican Republic would be their honeymoon location.
It took a lot of arguing to persuade Applejack to go, as it was in the middle of cider season, and the farm would be busy. Finally Big Mac was able to convince her that the farm would be fine for two weeks, by recruiting Cousin Braeburn and some of his siblings to come join the workforce for the time being.
The two had finally left the station, waving goodbye to their friends and families. They headed off on their first real adventure as a married couple.
“Wow, Ah’ve never been snorkelin’ ‘afore! It was so beautiful down there.” Applejack observed to her husband, who nodded in agreement.
They were finishing the second to last day of their honeymoon. The two weeks had passed too quickly, but nothing they saw while they were there could even compare to Applejack. Spectrum had never seen anything more beautiful than the mare tucked under his wing, the salt water was tangling her hair enough to give rarity a heart attack, but her green eyes were accented by the setting sun and her mane and tail perfectly complemented by the sand.
He kissed her lightly on the cheek, causing her to blush and snuggle up tighter. “Thanks, partner.” She whispered to him.
“No problem.”
The happy moment was interrupted by the slight rumble of Applejack’s stomach, deepening her blush, “Whoops, sounds like Ah’m hungry...” she observed.
“Haha, yeah, me too, meals here aren’t like back home. They taste good, but aren’t very filling.” He looked down at his watch, checking the time for his reservation. “Hmmm... Looks like we can’t really go to dinner for another hour...” He said, frowning.
“Ah saw a smoothie stand down the beach a little way, Wanna check it out?” she offered.
“Sure, sounds good to me.” And so, they set off down the beach.
As the stand came into view, Spectrum began to develop a strange feeling. “Sweetie?”
“Yeah, sugarcube? What is it?” she asked, sensing his discomfort.
“Do you recognize the mare at the counter?”
“No, Ah don’t think so...” she was racking her brain for the identity of the older mare.
“Does this look like her?” he asked, pulling a wrinkled old photo out and showing it to her. He had shown Applejack the picture before, it was a picture of Spectrum and his family just before he joined the Air Force; Rainbow was standing proudly on his back, her wings extended proudly, and their parents were standing behind her.
He was pointing at his mom, and staring intently at the mare at the smoothie stand. Looking between the picture and the pony at the stand, Applejack realized that, sure enough, it was the same mare.
--------------------------------------
Sunny Dash was working the smoothie stand that she and her husband had started almost seven years ago. It was a nice little stand, and had actually started a chain of the fruity stands throughout the Domaneican Republic.
Her husband was in the back unloading a cart full of fresh fruit. He was the best. He had stayed by her, helped her, and encouraged her. Their children were gone, their son died and their daughter ran away, and he still stayed with her. They had searched together for a year before their private investigator told them the search was futile, and still he searched.
Finally they accepted the loss of their daughter and moved out of Cloudsdale, everything back in Equestria made them think of their lost children; and so, they moved. They moved to The Domaneican Republic, started a fruit stand, and a new life, ignoring everything
“S’cuse me miss.” A customer called, drawing her from her reflections.
“Oh, yes, how may I help you?” She said to the customer.
“Do ya have anythin’ with apples?” The customer was a pretty orange mare with a cute country accent, topped off by her Stetson and vibrant green eyes.
“We sure do, just a moment.” She responded with a smile, before gathering some of the supplies. She pulled an assortment of fruits from the fridge, some kiwis, bananas, oranges, and apples. They got their apples from Sweet Apple Acres, there was no orchard in the world that could compare to the Sweet Apple Acres’ apples.
“What would you like, Sweetie?”
“Apples, kiwi, and some banana, please.”
As Sunny began to work on the smoothie, the mare spoke up again, “So, have ya read Princess Celestia’s book?”
“Ah, no, I haven’t kept up on Equestrian news and happenings since my husband and I moved here, eight years ago.” She said, digging out the ice for the smoothie. “Why do you ask?”
“Well, it’s very revealin’, tellin’ all sorts of secrets n’ such.” The customer said.
“I have never been too into gossip.”
“Ah think ya’d like it.”
“Why is that?”
“Because,” a slightly scratchy male voice said. “I was one of the secrets.” Sunny knew that voice. It had been almost ten years since she had heard it. She turned around slowly and saw him.
Standing in front of her was her dead son.
His bright red coat, his deep blue eyes, his vibrant full-spectrum mane, and a kind expression painted across his face.
She blinked hard, there was no way on earth that he could be there. “Specs?... Is it really you?”
“Mmhmm.” He affirmed, “And I could ask you the same thing. Rainbow misses you as much as I did. She searched for you after Nightmare Moon’s return, and nopony in Cloudsdale knew where you went.”
“Rainbow’s alive too?” Tears were welling up in her eyes, and her voice was wavering.
“Yep, and she regrets running away, but I think you should come home with us,” he said, wrapping a wing around the pretty orange mare and pulling her in tight. “And talk to her yourself.”
Tears were now flowing freely down Sunny’s face, after all these years, she discovered that both of her children were alive. She couldn’t contain herself and she flapped her wings, boosting her over the counter and right into the hooves of her long-lost son.
Finally she was able to compose herself enough to call her husband, “Storm, Sweetie, get out here, you are going to want to see this.”
“What is it, Sunny?” A voice responded from the storeroom.
“Your son.” Spectrum spoke up, just as a dark grey pegasus stallion walked through the door.
The stallion looked up, seeing something he hadn’t thought he would ever see again. He saw his wife hugging his son. At the beautiful sight he broke down and cried, humbling himself to a point that he hadn’t been to in years. The older stallion joined his wife and son in a passionate embrace.
Spectrum shortly pushed his parents away, and gestured to the mare standing beside him. “Mom, Dad, this is Applejack, co-owner of Sweet Apple Acres in Ponyville, Element of Honesty in the Elements of Harmony, and my wife.”
“Howdy.” She said, a bright red blush covering her cheeks.
“Hello.” Her in-laws both greeted cheerfully.
“Wait.” Storm Dash said, “Did you say that you owned Sweet Apple Acres, in Ponyville?”
“Ah, sure did.”
“Well, what a small world, that is where we get all of our apples from!” He exclaimed. “You are definitely welcome in our family.” He finished up with a smile.
“Speaking of welcoming into our family,” Spectrum said, sheepishly rubbing his neck, “Rainbow is engaged as well.”
The shock from that statement hung in the air for a few moments before Sunny responded, “Well, if you approve, then I am sure we will too. I am willing to accept anypony into our family that you are.” She finished with a smile.
“Well, I definitely approve, but he isn’t a pony, he is a griffon.” More shock silenced the elder ponies.
“A-a-a griffon?”
“Yes, but he is a great guy, running his own business in Ponyville, and he truly does love her.”
“Well, I guess that is alright, what do you think dear?”
“It’s alright with me I guess.” Storm said, then looking at his son, “If you approve, I approve.”
“Well, Ah’m glad we cleared that up,” Applejack said, cheerily. “So what do ya’ll think about comin’ back with us ta see yer Daughter and ‘er fiancé?”
“When do you two leave?”
“The day after tomorrow.”
“I think we could make it.”
----------------------------------
Rainbow Dash had developed a new flight routine with T.C. and was so excited, that she couldn’t wait for Spec’s return. Today he and Applejack were coming home and they were going to be waiting for the train to pull in.
Eventually she fell asleep on his fluffy chest, and he fell asleep with his head hanging off the edge of the bench.
She awoke to someone calling her name.
“Rainbow? Why are you here?” It was Specs.
“Specs? Oh, I developed a routine with T.C. Here, and couldn’t wait to run it by you!”
“Rainbow, I think you should see something first.”
“Fine, but make it quick.” She relented.
“Uh, Rainbow...” A familiar, sweet, voice said to her right.
