//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 // Story: Speed of a Different Dash // by entiegon //------------------------------// (WW) Rainbow Dash had been having possibly the most amazing dream of her life. And what could be more amazing than being a superhero? True, she had this particular dream on and off ever since Princess Twilight Sparkle had arrived, bit it was still her favourite. And it never played out in the exact same way that it had previous nights, making it feel like a real superhero experience. This time, she was flying around the city and making sure that there were no demon invasions occurring when she felt something slide over her wrist. It was sort of slimy, and definitely cold, but it felt dry at the same time. Not to mention, the way whatever it was moved felt like water flowing over her wrist and made her skin itch. Then her nose was poked by something sort of pointy and somewhat wet. And the strange thing about it was that whatever it was seemed to be licking her nose at the same time. It wasn’t long after that that Rainbow Dash decided it was time to open her eyes. But, where she was hoping to see maybe some books or one of the other girls in the room, she instead saw a white and yellow scaled head and red beady eyes staring at her. And, thanks to her brain still thinking it was still asleep and thus on the lookout for any demon invasions, the first thing she thought of was that it was some kind of demon that had come to seize control of her body and force her to fight for the upcoming invasion that its leaders were planning. The result of such thoughts was a rather loud scream of terror (though she would deny any fear she had). It practically echoed through the house, waking anyone who had still been asleep within a matter of seconds. Not even the ‘demon’ liked the sound of her scream, hissing its displeasure at Rainbow Dash as she moved as far away as she could from where she had been sleeping. “ Dash, are you alright?” Sunset Shimmer asked as she hurried back into her room from the bathroom after taking a shower to help freshen up for the day. “ Alien! Alien demon! It’s come to take me to its leaders so they can make an example out of me! They’re going to turn me against all of you! I need to defend myself before it can take me! Do you have any weapons I could use?” Again Rainbow was hissed at by the creature, though she paid no attention to it and instead looked around the room for anything she could use as a weapon. “ Uh, Rainbow Dash?” Twilight yawned. “ What? There’s a crisis going on here!” “ No there’s not. That was Herman.” “ Herman?” “ The snake.” Finally, Rainbow Dash turned to where Twilight Sparkle was pointing. Sure enough, there was the snake that had been in its terrarium only the night before, now coiling itself gently around Pinkie Pie’s arm as she raised it to her face so that it was at eye level with her. Only then did the rainbow haired girl realised that her ‘alien demon’ did not really exist. Unfortunately, it still sent a cold shiver down her spine just looking at the reptile. “ Silly, Herman.” Pinkie laughed as the snake flicked its forked tongue out at her. “ You’re not meant to scare Dashie!” “ I-I-I wasn’t scared!” Rainbow Dash tried to defend herself, but it was a weak attempt. All she got in reply were a few drop dead looks from the others that clearly stated she wasn’t fooling anyone; Applejack adding to the humiliation with a knowing smirk on her face. Fluttershy, however, seemed to sense that there was more to the tough girl act than met the eye and her own concerned look proved it. But she obviously decided to drop the subject for a later time due to the fact that – as always – she remained silent. “ Like you wouldn’t scream if you woke up and suddenly there was this white thing with beady, red eyes glaring at you.” Rainbow glowered, still trying to defend herself. Applejack, however, was having none of it. “ Ah distinctly remember ya screamin’ ‘bout ‘alien demons’ an’ how they planned on turnin’ ya inta one of their slaves. An’ this was all before ya started goin’ off ‘bout somethin’ ta do with weapons. So, ya sure ya weren’t actin’ over the top a little bit, there?” “ No.” Rainbow’s response was quick, but the way she averted her eyes made It clear that she wanted to drop the subject before it developed into something more personal. And, as usual, her stubbornness was going to make sure that the subject was dropped. Not to mention the silence that once more hung in the air was starting to make the others a little worried about her. Herman even slithered over Pinkie Pie’s arms and shoulders in an attempt to find a safe area to hide. That was when Sunset decided to break the tension with a change of subject. “ Well, now that we’re all up, we might as well start the day. How does pancakes sound?” She asked. “ Oh, oh, oh! I want berries! Lots and lots of berries!” Pinkie leapt up from her seat, instantly forgetting about the snake on her shoulders. “ And whipped cream! We can’t forget the whipped cream!” “ Of course, Pinkie. Just make sure you put Herman back in his tank before you come out into the kitchen, okay?” “ Okie dokie, Sunny!” With a salute, Pinkie Pie hurried to, gently, place the snake back in his home. She even almost forgot to close him in, too, she was that excited about pancakes for breakfast. Thankfully, she only had to turn around once before she remembered what was involved in placing Herman back in his tank and locked the terrarium so that he didn’t try to escape. After that, all anyone could do – and this included the snake – was watch as the hyperactive mass of pink practically charged out of the room in search of her pancakes. Rainbow Dash tried to follow her out of the room, having seen an escape route open up before her, but there was one slight problem that stood between her and freedom. Fluttershy. The usually shy girl was standing by the door, trying to look confident in what she was about to do despite the worry from earlier still showing clearly on her face. “ You do know that you can talk to us, don’t you?” She asked tentatively. “ Of course I do! Why wouldn’t I?” Rainbow replied. But again she received looks that told her that the others weren’t convinced with her words. This time, however, no one said anything about it. Fluttershy merely sighed before leaving for the kitchen with Twilight and Rarity in close pursuit. Applejack was the only one to coax Rainbow Dash forward before Pinkie Pie ate all the pancakes, using the grumbling coming from the girl’s stomach as a way to get her moving. Speaking of pancakes, a massive stack of them were what greeted the girls when they arrived in the kitchen a short time later. And a smaller stack sat right next door awaiting the newest batch that Sunset was currently watching over. Not to mention the smell was starting to fill the house, making a number of stomachs growl hungrily in anticipation of what was to come. Over by the table, Pinkie had seemed to find an outlet for all her pancake-loving energy as she was dancing around the table and setting it up for breakfast. Of course, this was worrying both Fluttershy and Rarity; they were practically cringing at even the slightest thud from the table. Neither Applejack nor Rainbow Dash could blame them. Even though they all knew that their friend was an anomaly to the world of physics - and that she was actually pretty focused despite the fact that she didn’t look it - it was still fearful to watch when glasses, knives and bowls full of various types of berries went flying through the air. Amazingly, however, not one single berry found its way to the floor below as the bowls flew through the air. That was partially due to Pinkie Pie somehow sensing when a berry was going to escape the clutches of its ceramic plate and thus making sure that the berry ended up in her stomach. What was even more amazing was the fact that the energetic girl had managed to throw the bowls in such a way that they didn’t turn over themselves even once, instead only spinning like they were pretending to be UFOs. It was then that Rainbow’s problems began, though no one realised. What started out as watching a seamlessly harmless bowl of berries spinning in the air towards the table one minute, turned into a slow throbbing headache the next. And the haze that surrounded the edges of her vision was starting to solidify as if it was trying to search for something invisible to the naked eye. This change alone was starting to make Rainbow’s eyes water, which the girl hurried to destroy any evidence. “ Y’all righ’, Dash?” Applejack asked, noticing the mad dash Rainbow Dash had done to prevent her tears from falling. “ I’m fine. Just hungry and way tired.” Rainbow Dash replied as she moved her head away and tried to act normal. It didn’t really work considering she almost tripped over on her own feet a couple of times as she made her way to the table. “ Apparently that tired that you’re almost fallin’ flat on yer face.” “ Well, it’s not like you focus properly when you’re tired.” “ She has a point.” Twilight muttered, taking a seat at the table next to Rainbow Dash as she brought with her various condiments for the breakfast. The other girls quickly followed their example, taking their places at the table as Sunset Shimmer brought the pancakes over. Pinkie instantly started bouncing in her spot the second she saw the food being brought over, unknowingly making the cutlery she held bang against the table. Yet the girl somehow managed to keep herself from diving on top of the massive stack, easily confusing Rainbow Dash who thought that – like the Pinkie Pie she knew – this Pinkie Pie would do just that. Instead, a small stack of pancakes – four in total – was placed on the plate before her, curtesy of Sunset. The other girls also receiving similarly sized stacks. It was only once Sunset was seated, beside her girlfriend and with her own stack of pancakes, that the pink force finally erupted. In a matter of seconds, a stack of pancakes that easily doubled the four on Rainbow’s plate had appeared on Pinkie’s. A can of whipped cream and a few randomly sprinkled berries later and the tower looked more like a large cake rather than a stack of pancakes. But even as everyone laughed at the whipped cream and berry moustache and beard that Pinkie Pie now sported thanks to her face-diving her food, the headache that Rainbow Dash had grew worse. Whether it was because of the laughter or the faintest memory returning to the front of her mind, she wasn’t sure. But it couldn’t have been the laughter. It was strange, though. The worse the headache got, the more prominent that memory became, quickly making Rainbow realise that something was supposed to be happening that day. Yet, the memory still seemed out of reach. Vaguely, as she realised that the others were talking while she was fighting with herself, her mind registered the fact that someone had mentioned the word ‘race’. And just like that, the memory was at the front of her mind and giving her full access despite her previous attempts. Two similar looking faces emerged in her mind’s eye; one blue skinned and golden haired, the other blue haired and cream skinned. Following them came the memory of arranging a race between the two of them. Finally, the loudest of curses erupted out of her mouth since her arrival in this new world. “ Ya sure yer okay, Dash?” Applejack asked once she had swallowed her mouthful. “ No. I have a race I gotta win today. Against Lightning Dust and Indigo Zap. My reputation is on the line!” Rainbow replied as her panic grew into agitation. “ But there’s nothing on the line.” As usual, Pinkie didn’t understand and so got up from the table to check the clothes line from out the side door. “ It’s not literal, Pinkie.” Sunset sighed. “ Oh.” A giggle escaped Pinkie Pie as she returned to her seat. “ Silly me.” But Rainbow Dash wasn’t focussing on the hyperactive girl anymore. She was having a hard time just trying to focus on what was going on around her. And she could tell that her attempts at trying to stay focussed was forcing strain to show within her. Almost as soon as she had mentioned her race with Lightning Dust and Indigo Zap, her headache had become unbearably painful. She honestly thought her head was going to explode on her, she was in that much pain from it. Not to mention the blue haze that covered her vision was getting thicker and thicker by the minute. It was almost like it was trying to blind her. And she wasn’t happy about that idea one bit, her annoyance easily slipping into her straining features. The worst part about all this, though, was that both her legs had started going numb. It felt like a thousand burning pins and needles were constantly being forced into them in an attempt to break through the ice-cold feeling that was spreading up from her toes. That sensation along was all it took to send panic rushing through the athlete, mixing with everything else that she was feeling. And, with the addition of that panic, it was easily noted by those who sat in front of her. But it was the sharp intake of breath, as Rainbow realised that she would have to stop playing sports if she lost the use of her legs, which gained everyone else’s attention. “ Rainbow Dash, what’s wrong?” Fluttershy asked, concern sweeping through her voice with each word. “ I… It’s nothing. Nothing’s wrong.” Rainbow Dash lied. She didn’t want the others to think of her as weak, after all. But the pain she was obviously in and the fact that she clearly refused to even make eye contact with anyone was enough to let the others know that something was definitely wrong. They just didn’t know what. And the fact that Rainbow’s stubbornness was clearly aiding in her denial that there was something wrong just made things all the more difficult. Eventually, Sunset got fed up with waiting for Rainbow Dash to let her and the others in on what was happening and, following her gut instincts, went to get her mobile phone from her room. When she returned, however, she noticed an entire table filled with solemn faces. “ What happened?” She asked, her gut tightening as the words left her mouth. “ She can’t feel her legs.” Applejack replied, indicating to Rainbow Dash who was looking down at the fists she clenched on the table. “ Okay, that does it.” “ What are you doing, Sunset?” Twilight asked, noticing the flash of reflected light from the phone’s screen. “ I’m calling for backup. I have this feeling that we’re going to need it.” “ Backup? What kind of backup?” “ I’m calling Adagio. Now. She may be able to help us figure out what’s going on and how we’re going to get you home, Rainbow Dash.”