When a crash reveals how badly Rainbow Dash has been neglecting proper hoof care, her friends insist she get a hooficure. It's for her own good, after all! But why does the prospect seem to bother her so much? A concerned Fluttershy tries to help... and uncovers a painful secret she never suspected.

Rainbow has always kept her friends at foreleg's length -- can the two ponies' relationship survive such close contact?

The megaspells detonated. The world died. While most of the surviving ponies did so in underground Stables, the pegasi hid in the clouds. Rainbow Dash, the most celebrated of their ranks, disagreed with their abandoning the world below and left to seek those in need. In doing so, she was branded a traitor. For when Rainbow Dash left, she took the key to the pegasi's continued dominance with her. To retrieve this "key", the pegasi hired a mercenary to bring it back. The mercenary was Gilda, an old friend from long ago. The "key" is Dash's head.

Set in the world of Fallout: Equestria, the story takes a look
at the pony behind The Mysterious Stallion perk.
Nopony knows who he is, or why he does what he does.
All anypony knows is, if she is lucky, he might come to her
rescue. A rifle shot out of nowhere. ending the lives of her
would be attackers. All they've seen is a strange stallion bearing
a rifle and magnum revolver. All they hear is the roar of his gunfire.
They call him The Mysterious Stallion.

Princess Celestia has a nightmare of her faithful student dying in a horrible attack that destroys most of Ponyville.
What is worse, though - is her response within the nightmare.

This story is an indirect prequel to my other story: An Old Guardspony'sLast Duty.
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/13398/An-Old-Guardspony%E2%80%99s-Last-Duty

I wrote it as a separate story because mixing too much [Dark] into [Normal] stories is frowned upon – and I wanted to describe a nightmare that is vividly bad enough to make Celestia want to do something about it.

~~~~~
Many Thanks to my Moony Maiden - you know who you are! Your editing prowess has made this work at LEAST 20% cooler.

(As always - MLP:FiM belongs to Hasbro. They own the world - I only play in it.)
Picture used under Creative Commons License (http://www.flickr.com/photos/patrickgensel/7003567267/in/photostream/)