//------------------------------// // Chapter VII: Fastest Thing Alive // Story: To End A Life // by Diceman //------------------------------// Chapter VII: Fastest Thing Alive "Absolutely Not!" Twilight yelled, getting an angry glare from a nearby filly reading a book on beginner chemistry. Twilight grinned at the filly and drew her attention back to Rainbow Dash, being careful to lower her voice. "Do you have any idea how badly in shape your body is for that kind of exertion? You could get injured or worse, crippled" Twilight said, barely maintaining her inside voice. "See what I mean sugar cube? You taint no spring chicken anymore. It's in the best interest that you hang up yer jumpsuit and retire, leave the record breakin to the youngins" Applejack put her front leg over Rainbow Dash's shoulders, pullin her close for a hug. "You don't have to prove that you were the fastest mare, I already knew you was; everypony in town does." Rainbow Dash pulled away from Applejack, snorting in frustration. "That's the problem, was is a past tense. Nowadays all the top pros look down on me like I'm a has-been, some of them even question my legacy entirely; like I lucksacked my way to the top. That a flight school failure making it big was just a fluke, an accident." "Rainbow, I don't know what to say, but you need to let it go. Your records are well documented. You held and still do hold multiple world speed records. That's the thing though, records are meant to be broken; it's just part of life." Twilight looked off down one of the isles, her horn glowing faintly as one of the books sprung off the shelf and floated to her. She then set the book down on a nearby table. "It should be in this one, History of Flight volume twenty-eight." Twilight opened the book, flipping the through the glossary to find the entry for Rainbow Dash. "Let me see, Povell Powers, Queasy Bert, Rapid Railer...huh, I must have the wrong volume, you're not listed in here." Twilight levitated another two volumes from the isle she got the first one from. Setting them on the table she quickly looked through them, only to find that Rainbow Dash wasn't in those books either. "What is going on here? I could have sworn that I got the year right" Twilight looked dismayed, her mind racing that she may have gotten the wrong books. "Twilight, the only place you will find me listed is unofficial flight history volume seven, right before the entries on UFO's." Rainbow Dash grumbled, tossing her mane to the side in disgust. "But, what? How? You're practically a legend around here. There's no way you're not in the official books. Your record breaks were broadcast live to millions around the world. You were on the cover of every sports magazine for nearly a year; even the swimsuit edition!" Twilight covered her mouth blushing, hoping that Rainbow Dash and Applejack didn't hear the last part. "Why would you be lookin at a swimsuit sports magazine Twilight?" Applejack asked, puzzled. "Silly, I help spike with putting books back on the shelves in the correct order and section. That particular magazine was really popular with the colts in Ponyville. Had to keep ordering new ones cause the pages were sticking together for some reason. Colts in the area must have sticky hooves for some reason" Twilight said, giving off a fake grin. Iron Eagle gave out a audible snort, earning him a glare from future Twilight. "Sure 'sorting' also, gross." "Yes, yes, laugh it up. I was a little dense to the simple explanations back then" Twilight groaned. "To be fair though Rainbow did have a nice rear end." Iron Eagle sent Twilight a sideways glance, entirely not expecting her to admit to something so personal. "What? Every mare goes though that phase. It's entirely normal." Twilight shook her head and directed her attention on the scene at hoof. Doing her best to avoid eye contact with Iron Eagle. "Ummm Twilight, you do know that was probably-" Applejack was cut off by Rainbow Dash shaking her head. Past Twilight arched her head in confusion. "Anyways, I can check the other books real fast with a mass glossary spell." Twilight took a step back and closed her eyes. Dozens of books flew off the shelves and circled her, kicking up quite a gust of air. Each one opened up individually and quickly flipped through the pages before closing and flying back to their original destination. Twilight opened her eyes, her once look of confusion was now replaced with what could only be explained with a face of utter contempt or rage. Here eyes were narrowed and her teeth were clenched tight, as if she was ready to punch a pony in the face. "This is preposterous!" Twilight growled. "What kind of shenanigans is going on here?" "You all right Twi?" Applejack asked. "No, I'm not alright. Rainbow Dash isn't in ANY of the books in here aside from the unofficial editions and I don't know why. She's set more than her fair share of records, enough that she should have her own book." Twilight was visibly shaking with rage. Rainbow Dash lowered her head somberly. "N-not even a single entry? I thought I might have missed something." Twilight's horn lit up as she created a portal in mid air being projected from her horn. "Call Flight Historians Society" Twilight said in a commanding tone. An image of an old greying stallion with half moon spectacles on his face appeared in the portal. "Ahh Princess Twilight! what an unexpected surprise. What can I do for you today, your highness?" Twilight seemed to want to yell at the stallion, but took a deep breath to compose herself before speaking. "It has come to my attention that multiple world record setting athlete Rainbow Dash is not in ANY of the official record books that your society prints. I am contacting you today to rectify this error in the name of historical accuracy" Twilight said sternly. "Hmmm, that is odd, even I know Rainbow Dash has quite a few records under her name. I was actually at a couple of them with my grand children when she set them. Quite the flier she was." The old stallion motioned an assistant over to him and whispered in her ear. " If you will give me a few minutes while we hunt down the former heads ledger. I'll need the details before I can lodge a formal edit to the record." A few tense minutes passed until the old stallion walked back to the portal. "I have terrible news your highness, it seems that while we are indeed the ones that printed those books we are in fact not the ones that wrote them. It appears from the ledger that the Royal Flight Academy is the ones that are responsible for all the entries and writing for the past few decades. I suggest getting a hold of them to rectify this error." "Oh, I will. Thank you for your time" Twilight replied, barely keeping her tone of disgust hidden. Twilight closed the portal and promptly opened another. "I'm gonna get to the bottom of this." A young blue mare with a sunshine yellow mane appeared in the portal. "Desk of the Royal Flight Academy, deans office. How may I-" The mares eyes went wide as she set them on Twilight. "Y-your highness! W-what can I do for you this fine day?" "I need a conference call with the dean to rectify a grave error in your history books that you have been writing over the last few decades" Twilight stated calmly. "I- umm, I'm not sure if I can help you there. The Dean is in a really bad mood today...I'm, well, terrified I will lose my job if I bother him" The mare stared off to her side at a large oak door behind her desk. "If he fires you I'll double your pay and you can work reception here. This is important that I see him" Twilight said reassuringly. Iron Eagle stared at future Twilight then at past Twilight. He had a strange feeling that his mind kept wanting to make double takes; not being fully convinced that they are both one in the same being. "I-I'll get him." The mare pressed a red button on her desk, a short buzzing sound indicating that the intercom was on. "Dean, we have a call from-" "DID I NOT TELL YOU NO CALLS TODAY!!??" A loud and very angry voice came through the desk intercom. "B-but sir! It's Princess Twilight on the line!" The mare squeaked, clearly terrified. "I don't care if it's Celestia herself, no calls means no calls. Also I expect your desk to be cleared out by this evening, I have no use for receptionists that cannot follow simple orders." "B-but" A buzzing sound indicated that the dean had forcefully ended the conversation from his side. "It's fine. I will deal with the dean myself." Twilight closed the portal and nodded to Rainbow Dash and Applejack to come closer to her. "Girls, we are going to the root of the problem. I hope you didn't eat anything too heavy recently." The room slowly started to break apart; entire parts of it blowing away like grains of sand until there was nothing left, but a black empty void. "What's going on? Is it supposed to do that?" Iron Eagle asked. Teleportation causes brief lapses in memory sometimes. It's kind of like the doorway effect; you enter a new room and the reason for entering said room escapes you for a moment" Twilight explained. "Oh, like going to the kitchen for a sandwich and then just starting stupidly into the fridge for a minute or two." "Pretty much that, pay attention though; this next part is important" Twilight said as she pointed to black void below them slowly beginning to take the form of a floor. In just a few seconds a new room had formed; one with a large oak desk sitting to the right of very thick and heavy looking twin wood doors. The room was very ornate; brass handles, smaller oak tables and rows of books that ended in gold lettering on each shelf. The walls were adorned with very expensive looking wallpaper that shined like freshly spun silk. All around the room were dozens of gold laced frames; each depicting different Wonderbolts from previous generations. Iron Eagle stared around the room, mouth agape at all the history around him. However, before he could make comment on it a sudden pop turned his attention to the front of the oak desk. Twilight, Applejack and Rainbow Dash appeared; startling the mare at the desk and causing her fall out of her chair. "Are you okay sugarcube?" Applejack said as she quickly helped the mare up. "I-I'm...f-fine?" The mares gaze met Twilight's; her eyes widened and her breathing slowly turned into hyperventilating. "Y-y- Your, high-ness!?" She was visibly shaking as if both nervous and terrified at the same time. "Can you buzz me in to the deans office?" Twilight asked calmly. "I need to have an emergency hearing with him. It's of the upmost importance." "I...I c-can't help you. He locked the door from the inside and revoked my security clearance...right before firing me." The mare began to sob uncontrollably. "I ...I don't know what to do...how can I afford rent now?" Twilight sat on her haunches next to the crying mare, putting her wing over her back. "You have nothing to worry about; when I'm done with the dean I'll have you hired at the Canterlot royal library." "B-but I can't make that commute every day...my apartment is in Cloudsdale, northwind avenue" the mare said. "I'll work out the details with you once I am done with the dean." Twilight closed her eyes and with a pop blue bag landed on the floor in front of her with an audible thud, following by what sounded like the jingle of money. Rainbow, Applejack, would you two do me a favor and take this young mare out to lunch. She really needs to calm her nerves." Twilight levitated the small bag and set it firmly in the crying mares hooves. "T-this is really heavy. This is easily a months wages for me, a-are you sure I can-" "Wait, that little amount is a months wages? What kinda slave driver do you work for err..." Rainbow Dash stopped, realizing she didn't know the crying mares name. "Minty is my name, Minty Fresh. Also, yeah the dean voted to cut funding to staff to finance something or other. I'm not too keen on the details." "That smug jerk. I seen hay burger flippers make more. Once I get my hooves on him I'll-" "You'll let me handle it Rainbow Dash. You two just go get yourselves some food our new friend here" Twilight said, smiling. "Hey, no fair. I wanna have a word or two with that dean myself" Rainbow Dash said angrily. "By words you mean two hooks to the kidneys followed by an uppercut right?" Twilight said, rolling her eyes. Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to argue, but quickly realized that Twilight had called her out on her plans. "Would it change your mind if I went with a kick to the liver instead of the uppercut?" "No, no Dash, it wouldn't. Also, I've known you far too long to think for a second you would forgo the uppercut" Twilight said, giggling. "She's readin ya like an open book sugarcube" Applejack added, smiling slyly. "Fine, fine. I'll let egghead handle it. Minty, Applejack, let's go get us some grub; I'm starving." Rainbow Dash helped Minty to her feet, handing the bag of coins to Applejack to carry. "So, where do you reckon we should eat?" Applejack asked. "I dunno, I stopped living here years ago and the foods always pricey. I wonder if Big Don's is still open; they had some amazing pizza" Rainbow Dash said. "Big Don's closed nearly a decade ago. There is a nice Mexican grill where it used to be though, we could try that" Minty recommended. "Don't care where we eat, so long as it's not Cloudsdale cloud pastries. Stuff goes right through me" Applejack said. Before the trio opened the door leading outside, Minty turned back to Twilight, beaming at her. "T-thank you so much you're highness. You're every bit as amazing as I have heard." Past Twilight blushed. "Thanks I ummm...well, I don't handle compliments very well." "I should have never given her that job" Twilight said dejectedly. "Why? Was she a bad receptionist or something?" Iron Eagle asked. "No, she was quite exceptional at her job. Sadly, five years from now she will die after being hit by a trolley in Canterlot. Both her and her unborn child died because of this one little decision of mine to intervene." Twilight shook her head. "You can't go blaming yourself for random events that you don't have the power to control. The future isn't set in stone and even if some of it is; that's far outside any ponies power to prevent." Iron Eagle tried to console Twilight, but she batted him away with one of her wings. "I don't need your pity right now. You can't even fathom the amount of dead ponies I have directly or indirectly killed in my time." Twilight stared toward the door, watching her past self try and pry it open. "Had I known then what I know now, I would have executed the filth behind that door without a second thought." "Jeeze, why does the dean need a magically reinforced door? It's not like ponies are out to kill him." Past Twilight lowered her head and fired a bolt of magical energy into the door. "And a double tumbler magic seal?" Twilight stepped back, puzzled as to why so many different magical protections were on the door. "It doesn't make any sense. There's at least two dozen different spells active keeping this door shut. I guess I can just buzz my way in..." Twilight walked up to the oak desk and pressed the large red button on the desk. "This is Princess Twilight, I am here for an emergency meeting with the dean." "And I'm the prince of dolphins. Even if you are Twilight, I have no time for you today, so move along little girl" the deans voice replied over a nearby speaker. "Little girl huh?" Twilights eyes started to glow a hot white. She lowered her head and fired a beam of light into the middle of the door. "What is she...ewrrr...past you doing?' Iron Eagle asked. "Blowing up the door. Thing is with over saturating an object with magical protection is raw unbridled power will overload it with ease" Twilight replied. "Wait, you blew up the door to the deans office? Isn't that ultra illegal, even for a princess?" Iron Eagle asked. "When I get frustrated I was never one for subtlety. Sure I liked thinking my way out of problems, but as the power of being an Alicorn grew with me I started using the brute force approach a bit more often than I should have." Future Twilight pointed to the door, just as past Twilight blew it open, showering the entire room in splinters. "What is the meaning of this!" A voice shouted from the other side of what used to be the door. The dust from the door settled, revealing a large room with a single solid brass desk in the middle, peeking from behind it was a pony with an orange wavy toupee, a blue business suit and pale white coat that seemed to be too unrealistically shiny. "Oh...no wonder, it's YOU." Twilight said with a disgusted undertone in her voice. "I usually don't pull rank, but when the Princess asks for an audience, especially with an individual paid though the state coffers; I expect only two outcomes; yes your highness or at the very least 'I'll fit it on my schedule'." Twilight walked into the room, eyes still glowing in a show of power. "Are you...trying to bully him?" Iron Eagle asked. "Oh, I know who this pony is. He ran for the governor position for Appaloosa a few years back. He had a very unpopular anti-bison platform and got creamed in the election; the only vote cast for him was his own. Calling him a right jackass would be an insult to mules everywhere" Twilight said. "I should have you arrested for this intrusion, but-" "But none of the guards within three counties like you and I know most of them by name" Twilight said, cutting the dean off. "Abuse of power much?" Iron Eagle said. "Yeah, maybe a bit, but as we explore my memories further you will understand why I should have just killed that filth when I had the chance" future Twilight said, the tone of her voice shifting into a deeper, angrier state. "I don't get it, what could thi-" Iron Eagle stopped himself mid sentence as he noticed a brass bar with the name carved in the front of it that read 'Ronald Thump'. "Oh...oh, no." "So, now that you destroyed my beautiful door and asserted your authority. What can I do for you, fake princess?" Ronald Thump said, a smug grin on his face. "It has come to my attention that multiple world record setting pegasus Rainbow Dash has been scrubbed from the books your office publishes. I am here to investigate the reasons why" Twilight said in a commanding tone. "Oh, that little failure of a mare" Ronald Thump replied, a smirk on his face. "Excuse me?" Twilight replied, the hint of anger in her voice barely contained. "You see, one of the older qualifications circa 899 CE required that any flight related records must be accompanied by a flight school registry. In short they must have attended and graduated from flight school. Since your friend dropped out of flight school she was never qualified to hold any records" Ronald Thump said, a smug grin forming across his face. "So she was never book smart, that hardly matters here. She is a seven time decorated hero of Equestria, she holds dozens of records and has helped saved the lives of thousands, if not millions of ponies. Also, no other dean dead or alive before you ever enforced such a rule. Spitfire's great grandfather isn't scrubbed from the books and he was a simple farm pony before he joined the Wonderbolts." Twilight argued, though from the blank expression on the deans face; he wasn't even remotely listening to her. "I have yet to get around to him and that smug bitch Spitfire yet. You see, I am currently working to remove flight record keeping altogether. It creates inferiority complexes in Earth ponies at other schools. This creates lower scores on tests and thus should be stricken from the record. Quite frankly it has been unevenly hooved for a long time now; not a single Earthpony record on our books." Ronald Thump picked up a book from his desk and quickly turned through the pages. " Not. a. single. one." Past Twilight stood there for a moment, mouth agape as she tried to process the inanity of Ronald's argument. "You run a flight school for Celestia's sake! You know, for creatures that FLY ! Complaining about a flight school having records for creatures that fly is like complaining about a culinary schools records for best cookies. The entire school is built on the narrow scope of just a few abilities. Discrediting creatures that fly because others cannot is racism." "You're...really fired up back then." Iron Eagle commented. "Sometimes I wish I could have the same passion now as I did back then. As we go through these memories, you will understand why I don't" future Twilight said somberly. "And? You know how many ponies apply to this school every year that cannot fly?" Ronald asked. "My guess is none. Because you know, lack of flight ability in a FLIGHT SCHOOL" Twilight replied, her tone shifting to yelling to emphasize certain words. "Exactly right. You should also know that enrollment is down. We can no longer just pander to just creatures that can fly. This is just a step to be more inclusive for other ponies that may want to learn at this fine establishment." Ronald picked up a piece of paper on his desk and pushed it toward Twilight. Twilight read the paper, quickly glossing over the middle portion until she noticed the large red numbers at the bottom. "So you're in the red about a hundred bits or so due to less enrollment this year. Why not just ask the treasury for a funding review, or do a bake sale. Also, I noticed quote a few programs are being entirely cut. Botany, music and airship engineering are all entirely gone as of next year." Twilight slammed her hoof onto the desk, the paper she was ready ripping in two and the desk itself cracking at the legs. "I call shenanigans on your claim of lack of enrollment and changes to history to increase diversity. Especially when you cut half a dozen programs that all ponies would be interested in. As of now you are suspended from your duties as dean pending an investigation." "Too bad you can't do that" Ronald said, sitting down in his chair and reclining it backwards. "What part of Princess did you not get? Like I said, I'm not one to pull rank often, but your mismanagement of this school is abysmal" Twilight growled. "I am very well aware of your falsely given rank. However, as Luna is the one that installed me in this position, she is the only one, barring Celestia herself that can remove me" Ronald replied, a smug grin forming across his face. Twilight gritted her teeth angrily, but managed to take a few deep breaths to calm herself down. "Fine, I'll speak with Luna then. I suggest you don't get too comfy in that chair. By the end of the day I suspect a far more qualified pony will be in it." "Cute. Now if you could run along and...do whatever friendship princesses do that would be great. I have work to do an you're taking up more time than you're worth. "You really don't like this guy do you?" Iron Eagle asked. "Originally I found him little more than a pest. He wasn't very well liked in most places, except a very fringe group of pro-earth pony groups. Before this event I never took his antics seriously, occasionally getting bills in to be shot down, being a general racist jerk. So long as you don't give them a platform their horrible ideas usually don't get any traction." Twilight sighed. "I'm sure you read about him in history books though, about what he nearly accomplished." "Yeah, but books probably doesn't send home exactly how terrible he was. I kinda want to see for myself personally" Iron Eagle said. The room began to break away again, dissolving into black and slowly rebuilding the next memory. Iron Eagle and Twilight found themselves sitting in front of a very ornate pair of double doors. Each of them was deep blue with gold trimming. In the middle of each door was a brilliant sapphire shaped like a half crescent moon. "Wait, isn't this the door to Luna's personal quarters? I was expecting us to be transported to he night court or office" Iron Eagle said. "Are you absolutely sure you want to do this Twilight?" A familiar voice could be heard echoing down the hall. "Yes, I want this resolved as soon as possible" past Twilight replied. "Are you super sure? Honestly even I do not dare to wake up Luna in the middle of the day like this. It's practically asking to be blasted." "Celestia..." future Twilight said, gritting her teeth. Iron Eagle watched as Princess Celestia slowly approached them. He stood at attention, just like the guards on either side of the hall did, each bowing as she passed by. She was a slightly different Celestia than what he was used to. She moved with far more power and grace, her mane was brighter and the colors more vivid. She also seemed to lack the look of perpetual tiredness she carried around her. Instead it was replaced with radiant power, so much so that he could feel it as she approached. "Yeah, she was always like that when we were still on good terms. The sensation of being around her even seeps into your memories; the power you are feeling from her is very much real." Future Twilight made a sideways glance at Iron Eagle, whom was ready to bow his head. "You don't have to do that, she can't see or interact with you in any way." "S-sorry, just a habit that they ingrain into you hard during basic training. I wonder though; as a side tangent of sorts; if you could feel the power radiating from her back then, then how did she lose so many fights? Historically speaking I mean." Twilight rolled her eyes at Iron Eagle. "A combination of her natural gentle nature, general combat incompetence and not intervening when she feels that it would be an opportunity for those below her to grow. The enemies that decided to pick fights with Luna on the other hoof, somehow thinking she was the easier target, were always sorely mistaken." "Really? I didn't read much into that" Iron Eagle said. "Well, sit back and watch. You're about to get a demonstration of what she was capable of" Twilight said. "Alright Twilight, I warned you. I'll be in the hall with the guards behind a barricade of sandbags if you need me. Royal guards, I suggest you all move about a hundred or so yards from the door and behind the sandbags I'm about to make. if you value your coats anyways." Celestia lowered her horn and fired a beam of rainbow light down the hall, forming a stack of sand bags about four feet tall in the middle and twenty feet wide. "Wait, wh-" before Iron Eagle could ask what was going on, a dozen or so royal guards ran down the hall and jumped behind the sandbags, quickly followed by Celestia who popped he head over the top of the bags, quickly putting a green army helmet on her head. "Go on Twilight. We are ready here." Celestia yelled from down the hallway, giving a very forced grin. "You're over reacting, how bad can she possibly be?" Past Twilight shook her head and opened the double doors just enough to slip in. A few tense moments passed and there seemed to be no real activity in the room. "Huh, this is a bit anti- climat-" A sudden roar came from Luna's room, a chilling roar that sent a chill down Iron Eagles spine. "How dare you disturb my slumber!" Luna roared. Within moments an explosion of epic proportions made a Twilight sized and shaped hole in the double doors as she flew through them. Her body skipped off the floor a couple times skidding to a halt upside down in front of the sand bags. "Someone get number on that trolley?" Past Twilight said. "You weren't kidding" Iron Eagle said, his mouth agape. Past Twilight began to slowly stand up, but her body was in tatters. She was bleeding from her nose and eye sockets, her stagger did little to disguise the completely shattered bones on her left set of legs. She also appeared to have lost quite a few teeth and her fur coat seemed to be completely singed all the way around her body. "Like I said, Luna was the far stronger fighter of the two. The reason you probably didn't read much into it is because the few that did decide to fight her were destroyed utterly. If there is any being, mortal or otherwise that I would fear to go head to head with; it would be her." Future Twilight stood up and walked toward her past self, shaking her head. "Sadly, this is the closest I have ever come to death since becoming an Alicorn. The pain back then was far beyond what a mortal body could sustain; if I had been just a few years younger..." Future Twilight sighed. "Well, I did warn you Twilight. I suggest you lie down for a few minutes and let your body heal. Moving around after a blast like that isn't smart" Celestia suggested. "How many ponies has Luna accidentally killed just by being woken up like that?" Iron Eagle asked, aghast. "None; she used to wake up using a reverse force shield; it pushes with enough force comparable with what magical energy is inside the creature being pushed. The guards all know better, but the few that have done it have gotten away with only a few scrapes and a broken bone or two. I made the mistake of putting up a shield on myself; as you can see it ended poorly." "No, no , no what have I done!" Luna yelled as she ran past Iron Eagle, tears forming in her eyes. She stopped just a few few from Twilight, her hoof over her mouth. "T-those injuries, they are...so very grave." Luna bent over, running her horn over Twilight's body. "Hold still, I will help accelerate your healing." After a few moments, Twilight stood up, wiping the blood from her mouth. "Sister, may I ask why you were not healing her yourself? Surely you knew how much she pain she was in" Luna asked. "I warned her well ahead of time of what could happen. I saw it fit that she not be coddled in her mistake; a reminder that while she may be functionally immortal, she is in no way immune to pain." Celestia said as she stood up. Most of the guards began to slowly peek up above the sandbags and after making sure the coast was clear, returned to their posts. "I see. Still, what could be so important as to risk waking me?" Luna asked. Twilight took a few moments to speak, her body still shivering from the shock she sustained earlier. "I came here about your appointed dean of the Royal Flight Academy." "Shall I take your complaint first or put it in the the rest of them?" Luna turned on the spot, her horn lighting up with a blue glow. A couple seconds later a large sack flew from her quarters and landed in front of her. The bag slumped open revealing a virtual cascade of letters, some opened. "So what is it he's doing this time? Is he trying to push weather denial again? Denial of deeds of unicorns? No more corn muffins in the cafeteria...ok, maybe that last complaint was mine." Luna picked up letter after letter, listing infractions varying from the incredibly minor to incredibly serious. "His school is responsible for publishing flight history record keeping or at the very least is sub contracted out to do it. He completely expunged all of Rainbow Dash's records from the books. Even books going further back than when he was dean are missing them" Twilight explained. "This is a very serious accusation Twilight, are you absolutely sure of this?" Celestia asked. "Yeah, I checked as many books as I could. It's like he recalled multiple older versions and had her expunged from them. I even visited him at his office to confirm my suspicions. He's also cutting dozens of programs from the school; citing a lack of funds. I...also kind of blew his doors up." Twilight stared at the floor, her cheeks running bright red. "I would chastise you for lack of control , but..." Luna stared back at her door which still had a Twilight shaped hole in it. "I fear I am not one to talk about keeping my temper in check." "I know...I just..." Twilight sighed. "Rainbow Dash wants to try to break the world speed record again. I tried to talk her out of it by showing her she still had records left that haven't been touched in a long time." Celestia shook her head. "She is well into her mid-fifties. I know she was once the fastest flier alive, but the stress on her body at this stage of her life could lead to severe injury or even cripple her." "That's what I told her, but I'm afraid she might do something stupid." Twilight said. Luna took a deep breath. "Sadly, I cannot remove him from office. I am bound by the contract that we both signed a year ago." "Then...then what can I do Luna? This is a miscarriage of justice! He's intentionally destroying a ponies legacy for his own self-" "Calm yourself, Twilight." Luna interrupted. "I said I couldn't remove him; I can however forcefully cancel his publishing contract and have Rainbow Dash's flight records reinstated. There of course will be a recall of all the older books to rectify this injustice." "Oh, Thank you so-" "However" Luna interrupted Twilight again. "This will cost quite a bit and I fear he will use my decision as leverage to gain power elsewhere. He will attempt to put the blame of his own poor financial decision on me and any political allies I may have in order to gain favor in the voting block. I cannot foresee the damage he can do in the future, but I an predict he will continue to be a right pain in the flanks." "Like trying to run for senate again? Didn't he get demolished last time?" Twilight put her hoof on her chin. "Actually, why did you hire him for that position?" Twilight asked. "Lack of options mostly. He managed to bribe the pony I was going to give the job into dropping out or at least that's why the rumor was. As much as I hate to say it he weaseled his way into being a top pick. He may seem ignorant and a dullard, but he's quite good at petting all the right manes if you get my drift." Luna lifted the bag of letters into the air and send it flying back into her room. "Out of three candidates he won due to the others simply dropping out. That said, I do believe it was ultimately the right choice or at least, he was before the mail started flowing in." "How can she say that? He's clearly nothing but a self serving jerk" Iron Eagle complained. "Why?" Twilight asked, her head tilted sideways and lips curled in disgust. "Keep your friends close and your enemies close, Twilight. It's how you avoid political disaster." Luna sighed "It's one of Celestia's older doctrines she uses." "Keep your friends and enemies rich and you will soon find out which is which." Celestia said, correcting Luna. "You will understand once you take a more active role in governing" Celestia added. "I guess Luna's solution is adequate for now. Personally I would like to see that racist waste of space eat crow, but I can bide my time for now. Thank you Luna." Twilight nuzzled Luna under her neck affectionately, Luna returning the favor by nuzzling her back. "By the way...how much do I owe you for the door?" Twilight asked. "Oh that? Don't worry about it, tis just a door. I'm just glad I didn't cause any lasting damage to you" Luna replied. Iron Eagle looked on, clearly confused how Twilight could be so...affectionate with Celestia's sister. "I don't think I have ever seen Luna and Celestia be that affectionate with another pony. I mean, yeah Cadence had no problems with public displays of affection; but this seems out of character from the current Luna and Celestia I know." "Back then we truly loved one another, depended on the others for support" future Twilight said somberly. "I guess I best get going. This may not be an immediate solution, but I'm sure Rainbow will understand." The room began to break apart into a void again. Slowly it began to reassemble into the cloudy ground that was Cloudsdale. It was a street Iron had been to quite a few times in his youth, though most if not all of the shops on either side of the street were entirely different than the ones he knew. "Hey, this is Storm street! I cut school at the arcade a lot on this street!" Iron Eagle said. "Cut?" future Twilight said, glaring at Iron Eagle. "Errr...." Iron Eagle grinned nervously at Twilight, rubbing his leg behind his neck. "Would socially redistributed time be a better description?" "No, no it wouldn't" Twilight replied, rolling her eyes disapprovingly. "What are you waiting for? A pay raise? Arrest her and her cohorts for stealing out of my office!" A very familiar voice with a haughty overtone caught Iron Eagles attention. "W-what?" Minty Fresh said, stepping back. "Are you dense or something pardner? You fired minty here and she left without so much as cleaning out her desk. The only crime that occurred was the emotional damage you did to this poor mare" Applejack said, stepping in front of Minty to protect her. "That and your stupid haircut. I mean, I'm not Rarity, but if she was here she would ask what squirrel curled up and died on your head" Rainbow Dash added, mockingly. The two police ponies on either side of Ronald barely managed to contain their sniggers. "I'm sorry, who are you again? I don't speak to failures" Ronald retorted. "Excuse me? You want to repeat that to me one more time?" Rainbow Dash said, getting right up in Ronald Thumps face. "I said, I don't speak to low class, ignorant, inbred, bottom of my hoof failu-" Iron Eagle watched as Rainbow Dash moved like lightning, landing two quick body shots followed by a vicious right hook that sent Ronald Thump tumbling over onto his back. "She's...really fast for a mare her age. That was what, three solid hits in under a second?" Iron Eagle asked, still mesmerized. "She was a 6th degree black-belt in three separate martial arts. Frankly I'm still surprised to this day how much she managed to hold back" future Twilight added, bemused. Ronald managed to drag himself off the floor, barely managing to stand up on all fours. "Well, what are you waiting for? Arrest her for assault!" "Yeah, no. You asked for that one bud" one police pony said. "Are you kidding me? That's THE Rainbow Dash. My kids would crucify me if I arrested her and my apartment isn't big enough to contain the hate mail I would get. Like Bob said, you asked for it" The other police pony added. "Rainbow Dash stand down!" Twilight yelled. "I wasn't gonna hit him anymore Twilight, I promise. I hit him just hard enough to get my message through" Rainbow Dash said, grinning ear to ear. Twilight sighed and walked over to Ronald. "Accusing your former receptionist of theft when I watched her leave without so much as cleaning out her desk is one thing, but using it as an excuse to harass Rainbow is another." "As if I need an excuse to call her a cheating, lying, manipulative failure of a pony. I bet she even managed to cheat on all her world record...oh wait, those don't exist" Ronald said smugly. Other ponies in the room gasped, most of them mumbling comments about him lying. One filly even got smacked upside the back of the head for calling Ronald an F bomb. "Why does he seem to have such a massive hate boner for her?" Iron asked. "She was one of the major donors against his campaign. The organizers she hired helped empower the Bison enough to make sure he never took office. Ronald had a long history of going after potential political opponents" future Twilight said. Noting that he had gotten the attention of all nearby ponies, Ronald stepped toward Twilight, grinning. "If you little failure of a friend wants to prove me wrong then I have a challenge for her." Twilight's eyes went wide for a moment, her face quickly contorting into an angry stare. She walked right up to Ronald's face and mumbled under her breath "Don't you even dare, you so much as utter those words and I will make it my personal crusade to ruin you." Ronald snorted at Twilights threat and turned to the crowd. "A contest! If Rainbow Dash is half the mare she thinks she is, then she should be able to break the current airspeed record for flying." "You're on!" Rainbow Dash yelled, without so much as a moment of hesitation. The crowd of ponies cheered, most of them chanting Rainbow Dash's name in unison. However, a few of the older pegasus had looks of deep concern on their faces. Twilight shot Rainbow Dash a worried look. Her lips began to move without any sound coming out. She seemed to be moving her lips as to say "You can't do this, it's too dangerous." Rainbow Dash noticed the worried look on Twilight's face and shot her a confident, albeit terrified glance in response. The scene once again began to break apart, fading back to the black void, much to Iron Eagle's dismay. "I thought this only happened when a teleport was occurring. It just keeps doing this ...scene change for the lack of a better word, leaving out some of the details." Iron Eagle stared at Twilight, hoping she would have an answer. "Maybe the potion is causing intentional memory lapses. I don't know for sure without further testing. However..." Twilight pointed ahead of her, the void began to rebuild the memory bit by bit. They were now sitting in Twilight Sparkles home, the once combination castle and public library. One could hear the chirping of crickets outside, the moonlight was shining in through the windows; illuminating the books on nearby shelves. The sound of chatter came from behind them and the door to the room swung open. Past Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Applejack walked into the room, each seemingly having something on their minds, but being hesitant to be the first pony to bring it up. "Twilight" Applejack said, as she jolted her eyes slightly to the left to indicate Rainbow Dash next to her. "I need to hit the hay, my brother's probably gonna growl at me for sittin him with the rest of the chores today and I need to be up early tomorrow to, well, remedy that problem. I trust...you can deal with the elephant in the room in my absence?" Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes as Twilight merely nodded in response. "Okaley dokeley then. I'll see you two latter, good night." Applejack turned around and walked through the doorway, closing it behind her. Past Twilight walked toward the back wall of the room where the fireplace was and lit it using her magic. She sat down on her haunches and beckoned Rainbow Dash over to her. "We...we really need to talk about what happened earlier today. I didn't want to kill the moment earlier, but this is very serious" Twilight said somberly. Rainbow Dash sighed and sat opposite of Twilight. "I know, I messed up, but...he insulted my pride like that. I couldn't refuse his challenge; not with so many ponies watching me. Especially all the colts and fillies." "I know, but you should also realize that your body is in no shape to take on the world airspeed record." Twilight levitated a book from one of the shelves and opened it, quickly flipping through the pages. "If memory serves the current world record holder was Fireball, yes?" "Spitfire's daughter, yeah" Rainbow Dash replied. "And she beat your previous world record by how much again?" Twilight asked. "About six hundred kilometers an hour or so" Rainbow Dash said dejectedly. Twilight closed the book and stared at Rainbow Dash for a moment. "By about six hundred and twenty or so kilometers to be exact." Twilight levitated the book back onto the shelf. "I know your pride doesn't like to take a hit, so I formulated a plan to get you out of this inane challenge while letting you save face." "I don't want to pull out of-" "Let me finish before you argue with me Rainbow" Twilight interrupted. "It's not anything too terrible." "I'll bite Twi, what is your plan?"Rainbow Dash asked. "As you are very well aware, a pegasus mare your age starts losing some of the magic built into her body. This is a linear decline in both airspeed, agility and in some cases lift" Twilight explained. "Roundabout way of calling me old" Rainbow Dash huffed. "Sorry, I'll get to the point. You see, I can call in a few favors with doctors I know to have you deemed unfit to compete. I can even talk Celestia herself into signing off on the doctors examination. See, some ponies would question a pony doctor calling you unfit, but no pony would bother to question Celestia's judgement on the subject." Twilight smiled "See, it's an all win plan!" "Twilight...I, I'm gonna compete. Nothing you can say will talk me out of this." Rainbow Dash lowered her head, as if feeling ashamed of herself. "Rainbow, you can't do this. You could lose the ability to fly for the rest of your life, be crippled or worse; die in the attempt." Twilight slowly raised her voice "I'm not ready to bury a friend. I don't want my last memories of you to be dying from exertion in the air, or spending the rest of your life in a wheelchair!" "And I don't want to spend the rest of my life being called a coward, a has-been and a failure!" Rainbow dash growled. "That pony is out to destroy everything I have achieved in my life, to destroy my legacy in its entirety. To-to..." Rainbow wiped away a tear. "To make sure I die forgotten." "Rainbow, I already told you I have the history books situation well and covered. It's only a temporary problem! It will go away soon!" Twilight pleaded. "That's easy for you to say! I'm here wasting away while you sit there, ageless; in a the body of a twenty something. Ponies will always know who you are; you will always be there for them. I don't have that much time left Twilight, that legacy is all I have to my name." Tears were now freely flowing down Rainbow Dash's cheeks, staining the carpet below. "You could DIE Rainbow. Your pride isn't worth losing your life over!" Rainbow Dash yelled. "Then maybe I should die! I would rather die a champion doing what I love than die in some hospital bed a dozen or so years from now!" Rainbow Dash yelled, her breathing heavy. "I- I..." Twilight didn't know what to say, how to retort. Rainbow Dash collapsed on the floor, sobbing intensely. "I-I have to do this Twilight. I don't even care if I break the stupid record. I have to do this for me! I-I have to know where I stand. I can't look at myself in the mirror if I don't at least try!" Twilight's eyes teared up, her head kept shifting from left to right, almost as if she was imagining the options set before her. She was clearly distraught and confused as to how to proceed. On one hoof she would possibly be signing her own friends death warrant...on the other, her friend would live, but never be the same; possibly even cutting ties with her entirely. Iron Eagle watched as past Twilight contemplated what Rainbow Dash was telling her. Watching as she slowly realized that this was important to her and that denying her this...could mean the end of their relationship. "I should have pushed her harder back then" future Twilight said. "Instead I let my own feelings cloud my judgement, my own yearnings to keep her as a friend over what was clearly in her best interests." "I kinda get where Rainbow is coming from. I mean, I'm not like a lot of pegasus, but a large chunk of us value our pride more than anything in the whole world. I may not, but I get where she was coming from" Iron Eagle said. "Rainbow...I'll help you. Under one condition, that you train up you body for a few months and we put a safety device on you. If..if I'm to help you, I need to have at least little piece of mind." Twilight walked over to Rainbow Dash, nuzzling her. "I- I couldn't bear to lose you." Rainbow Dash stared into Twilight's eyes. "Y-you mean it egghead? You will help me out with training and everything?" Twilight pulled away smiling. "Well, not right away. I still need to contact the inventors guild about getting a device to keep you out of harms way, though I do have a few ideas. Also, I have to figure out where we can do your training, away from all the reporters and prying eyes." "And to hide it from Applejack?" Rainbow Dash asked. "She...didn't seem to keen on letting me try." "Well, maybe at first. I want her to warm up to the idea slowly if at all possible. You know she can be stubborn...like another pony I know." Twilight pointed at Rainbow Dash. "I know, but you gotta understand where I'm coming from." Rainbow Dash lowered her head. "Also...I guess I was kinda jealous of you for a moment there. I guess knowing that being an Alicorn gives you youth, power and effectively unlimited fame kinda hurts. Deep down I resented that, knowing my own body was starting to fall apart." Twilight sighed and stared into the fireplace. "I actually asked Celestia to either restore my own mortality or grant my friends extended mortality. She refused on the grounds that it would be incredibly unfair for other ponies and that I should have more time as an Alicorn to adjust." Twilight turned back to Rainbow Dash "I even discussed possibly turning the lot of you into Alicorns. However, Celestia never told me how to initiate such a transformation and she mentioned the pool of power Alicorns pull from is limited; meaning it only recharges every few centuries." Rainbow Dash sighed "Yeah, I know. You mentioned that a couple times before. Still must suck though, for both parties I mean. Us getting older..." "And me sitting here not able to do a thing about it" past Twilight replied. The two sat there for what seemed like twenty minutes, each one not wanting to be the one to break the awkward silence. "Sooo...can we start that training now or?" Rainbow Dash asked, doing her best not to sound desperate. "Not right now silly, it's the dead of night. Come talk to me in a couple days. I should have everything setup for you by then" Twilight said, giggling. "Alright! Workout session with Twilight, hope all that book reading didn't get you out of shape!" Rainbow Dash turned and opened the door. She then looked over her shoulder "And Twilight...thanks." Rainbow Dash walked out the door, closing it softly behind her. "So, I guess you gave in then?" A low rumbling voice came from above, startling Twilight. "Spike, don't do that!" Twilight complained, jumping slightly into the air before turning to him. "H-how do you know what we talked about?" "I'm not deaf sis."A towering shadow walked into the light coming from the fireplace, it was around ten or so feet tall and easily dwarfed Twilight. "Wait, is that spike? Somehow I imagined him a bit...bigger" Iron Eagle said. "Dragons take a few centuries to reach the size you seen him in my home. Wyverns and Pit Drakes are the ones that grow fast; both of which are not true dragons" future Twilight said. "Didn't know that. Also, what's a Pit Drake?" Iron Eagle asked. "A kind of quasi-dragon that hunts and eats ponies, goats and other small prey. Thankfully they are mostly relegated to very far off desert environments" Twilight replied. The room began to break apart again, this time far more quickly than before. As the scene slowly built itself Iron could make out hundreds of silhouettes; ponies of all ages where gathered behind loose netting pinned up on poles. He could make out food vendors of all kinds lined up behind said crowd selling what appeared to be everything from Rainbow Dash wigs to rainbow colored Tacos. The scene continued to build, the sky a completely clear and a nice mid day blue. On the far end near what looked light a launch pad were a trio of thrones. Each with their own markings to signify whom it belonged to; A half crescent moon for Luna, a sun for Celestia and a crystal heart for Cadence. "I don't see a chair for you Twilight" Iron Eagle said. "I wasn't super into public events back then. Also, I was Rainbow Dash's coach and advisor; it was much better for me to be on the field than a spectator" future Twilight said. Suddenly the low roar from the crowd became deafening. Chanting of Rainbow Dash's name echoed across the field, almost to the point of being ear drum popping. From behind the three thrones stepped out a small entourage of ponies and a fairly tall dragon. At the front of the group was Rainbow Dash, smiling and nodding at the crowd. She seemed to be wearing a dark blue vest, a red and blue ball cap and her signature Wonderbolts flight suit. To her left was Twilight Sparkle, carrying a briefcase around her neck along with a name tag to identify her job. To her right was an orange pegasus with a light purple mane that Iron didn't recognize. Behind the orange pegasus was the sister of Rarity; Sweetie Belle being followed shortly by Rarity herself. "Jeeze, every pony in hall of heroes is here. There are even a few I don't really recognize" Iron Eagle said, barely containing his exuberance. "The orange pony with the purple-ish mane is Scootaloo and the one with the blue star spangled cape is Trixie Lulamoon. The pony next to Rarity is-" "Sweetie Belle, I know. She ended making a pretty popular line of insulated horse shoes a long time ago" Iron Eagle interrupted. "That seems...a bit outside what someone of your demographic should know. I mean, I get you're a little bit of a history buff, but that tidbit is a little obscure; especially for a soldier." Twilight raised an eyebrow at Iron Eagle. "Well, you see. One of my ancestors dated Sweetie Belle's daughter and well, they got hitched. So, we are kinda related by marriage" Iron Eagle said, embarrassed. "Quite a few of the ponies you knew have family lines that still exist. Well, except for- "Rainbow Dash. She never married, though she considered Scootaloo an adopted sister; though I never really kept in contact with her after...well, you will see" Twilight interrupted. "You hear that crowd Twilight? This is what I live for!" Rainbow Dashed waved to the crowd. "Now, now darling, don't let it all go to your head" Rarity said, bemused. "Nah, it's her day. She can have a little bit of an ego" Trixie added. "Oh, hey. I didn't expect to see her here!" Rainbow Dash ran over to one of the corners of the crowd. "Fireball! Spitfire! I didn't expect to see you two here!" Rainbow yelled. "Why wouldn't we be?" Spitfire asked. "Yeah, it's great to see you flying competitively again!" Fireball lifted the left side of her mane up, showing off the outline of a tattoo that looked exactly like Rainbow Dash's cutie mark. "I don't even care if you beat my record or not today. I'll always be your number one fan!" Rainbow Dash smiled, though she could practically feel the glare coming from Scootaloo right towards Fireball; though Fireball either didn't care or didn't notice. "I'll give it my best shot." Suddenly a small group of royal guards from each side walked onto either side of the thrones and lifted trumpets up to their mouths. A quick blow into the horn quickly silenced the crowd as Luna, Cadence and Celestia descended from above to take their seats. The crowd watched silently as one of the guards quickly moved a microphone up toward Celestia. "We are gathered here today to witness Rainbow Dash-" The crowd erupted in a low roar at the mention of Rainbow Dash's name, interrupting Celestia briefly. "As well as many others try to break world records in flight. I would like to remind everypony to have the upmost respect for each of these contenders, I will no tolerate jeering from the crowd. Each and every one of these brave ponies are risking their life and health for our entertainment; they are all champions in my eyes." Celestia passed the microphone to Luna. "The games will begin shortly, once the games commissioner checks the equipment." Luna waved a pony over in front of the throne. He was a much older greying pony, one with barely a single black stripe going down his rather wild mane and a blue coat that was very faded. "Allow me to introduce Celková sabotáž, our recently appointed games commissioner!" Luna yelled. "Wait, why does that name ring a bell?" Iron Eagle asked. "Because he was pushed into his position by that asshole over there" future Twilight pointed to the other side and there stood Ronald Thump, grinning from ear to ear. Future Twilight wasn't the only one to notice his presence as past Twilight pointed him out as well. "See Rainbow, here's your chance to beat a record and push it right in his smug face." Rainbow Dash smiled. "Well, at the very least I can show him I'm no joke." Twilight set the briefcase she was carrying around her neck on the ground and opened it. Inside was a single small silver bracelet with a clock interface and a few small black boxes with wires going in between them on the surface. Twilight lifted the bracelet our of the briefcase and wrapped it firmly around Rainbow Dash's left foreleg. "Listen, the tests we ran this morning showed you can only go maybe a dozen or so kilometers above the current record safely. This device will slow you down if you go over the safe speed." Twilight reached down and touched the clock interface on the front of the bracelet. The device buzzed for a moment and the clock showed all zeros on the front, indicating that Rainbow Dash's current speed. Several other ponies started to line up near the throne, each of them putting on similar devices on various legs. "Mine looks a bit different than theirs, Twilight" Rainbow Dash said, noting that the other ponies devices were copper and looked quite a bit lighter overall. "Yours has experimental equipment in it. Yours will still report airspeed back to the ground, but it also slows you down with a generated reverse thrust wave, in case you get to close to your max speed" Twilight explained. "Hold on a second; I've never seen an airspeed counter like that before!" The games commissioner walked over to Rainbow Dash, waving the stallion behind him that he was fit to fly. "You should have gotten the paperwork from the inventors guild. Rainbow Dash is much older than all the contenders here; this device will make sure she doesn't over exert herself" Twilight explained. "Still, rules are rules. I have to check the calibration on all airspeed devices before use" the games commissioner said. He reached into a black saddlebag and pulled out what looked like a jagged red wand from his backpack. He then shot a quick glance over to Ronald and then leaned over to Rainbow Dash's left foreleg. A spark jumped from the wand and the numbers on the clock went wild for a second before all resetting to zero. "Why did he look at Ronald just now?" Iron asked. Twilight was silent, but the look of disgust on her face told the story better than words ever could. "Hey, what was that just now?" past Twilight asked. "I reset the gizmo to it's default setting. It's to prevent tampering with it to make the wearer seem faster than they actually are." The games commissioner put the wand back in his bag and signaled to Celestia that all was well. "I should have rechecked the calibration back then..." future Twilight growled. "I have the all clear from the commissioner and now I pass the microphone to Princess Cadence." Celestia stepped away, motioning Cadence to move forward. "Ahem" Cadence cleared her throat and tapped on the Microphone a couple of times to make sure it was working. "As you all know Rainbow Dash will be the first flier in the sky today. She had recently had her records re-instated after a clerical error" Cadence gave a slight pause sending a somewhat mean glare at Ronald's direction. "Accidentally erased some of her achievements. She is here to prove that even an old mare can show some whipper snappers how it's done as she will be attempting to break the world air speed record." Suddenly a young filly ran up to the stage, yelling "Where is da pwince?" At princess Cadence. Her mother quickly ran up and pulled her away by the tail, apologizing profusely. Cadence gave a hearty laugh. "Not to worry little one, Shining Armor is doing just fine. He's currently supervising construction in the crystal empire and could not attend today. Also, before anyone asks, yes, Flurry Heart is still being a bit...stubborn to say the least." "What does she mean by that?" Iron Eagle asked. "I thought you knew. I mean, you have probably had more contact with her than I have in the past centuries" Twilight replied snidely. Iron Eagle scratched the back of his ear nervously. "Cadence never really talked about her much. I heard she is still around, ruling some far off kingdom somewhere." "Well, I really don't know too much myself. I know she got heavy into the dark arts at some point, dunno what happened after that." Twilight mused for a moment, maybe she got sick of living and found a way to kill herself before I did? Then again if she did I would have never heard about it... Iron Eagle stared at future Twilight quizzically, raising one eyebrow in suspicion. "Without further delay, let the games begin!" Cadence yelled, tossing the microphone aside. "Rainbow Dash, Rainbow Dash!" The crowd cheered in unison. Rainbow Dash walked a few dozen or so feet onto the airstrip, waving at her adoring fans until she reached her starting point. She then slowly lowered her goggles over her eyes, slightly adjusting them for comfort. She slowly began to flap her wings and flick her tail, making sure they everything was in order. The roar of the crowd began to die down, everypony watching Rainbow intently. With a powerful gust of air she took off from the airstrip straight up into the sky performing an aileron roll followed quickly by a barrel roll maneuver. She then stopped midair to inspect her path for obstacles. After a brief moment she began to move, quickly gaining speed. Huh? Rainbow Dash thought. That's weird, I feel a bit heavier... Rainbow Dash stared at her bracelet and noticed a green glow emanating from it. That can't be right, I'm nowhere near at my limit for the slowdown to be in effect... Rainbow Dash thought for a moment; should she wave down Twilight and tell her of the malfunction? No, that would kill the crowd and they man suspend my attempt entirely to investigate. The thought of going through more red tape to get another shot at this was already bad enough...but the thought of the shame she would suffer from her fans was far more pertinent in her mind. "I can't let them down!" Rainbow Dash yelled. She put both of her forelegs forward, forming a cone shape at the end. She took a deep breath and began to beat her wings as hard as she could. She pivoted her body into a sharp dive. She could feel the front of her body rattle as the air in front of her began to form a mach cone. Her body felt as if it was gaining a lot of weight quickly and the bracelet on her foreleg was starting to push back, trying it's hardest to slow her down. The mach cone forming in front of her began to shake her body violently. If she didn't find a way to put more power into her wings soon, she would lose too much speed to even make a sonic boom; let alone break the airspeed record. Pull yourself together girl, you're the best there is. You don't believe in slow or failure! It was all or nothing, Rainbow Dash began to beat her wings harder and harder; every beat becoming a little more painful to maintain. She could see bit of the warp cone in front of her warping, spitting out small changes in color; a signal that she was at the sonic rainboom barrier. She was only a few hundred yards from the ground, if she didn't rainboom now and pull up, she would fail. Just a bit more... The crow watched with baited breath as Rainbow Dash pulled up. Just as she did a explosion of rainbow colors flew out in multiple directions, followed by Rainbow Dash gaining a streak of Rainbow colors behind her. "Good going Dash, just a bit more!" Past Twilight yelled. Rainbow Dash's breath was going a mile a minute as she did her best to maintain her speed. Her wings were practically on fire, her heart felt as if it were going to explode in her chest at any moment. The bracelet on her foreleg whined under the strain of trying to slow her down. "Just a little bit more!" Rainbow Dash growled. Rainbow Dash put everything she had left into her wings and pushed forward. The bracelet whined one more time in a futile attempt to slow her, but then went silent. Suddenly she felt as if time was standing still, everything around her was little more than bright white light. She could just barely make out the crowd and trees below. Her body no longer hurt but at the same time she could feel her flight suit setting fire at the seams. She looked down and noticed every second she was passing over Saddle Arabia, Hoofington, Canterlot and Ponyville. Trippy, I wonder how fast i'm going? In the crowd below was an entirely different story, most of them were standing horrified at a white light flying overhead multiple times a second. Past Twilight was jogging in place nervously, yelling at Luna, Celestia and Cadence to do something. "She's at 30% the speed of light!" Twilight yelled staring at the odometer on her briefcase with a dumbfounded expression on her face. "If we don't find a way to slow her down she will die!" Celestia, Cadence and Luna all shot Twilight nervous glances and then looked at one another. Each seemingly at a loss as to what to do. "Twilight...I'm at a loss as to how. There's no way we can stop her at that speed safely" Celestia said. Twilight stared at the odometer, the numbers going higher and higher. "Please, Rainbow Dash, stop before it's too late..." "This...seems to be a problem" Rainbow Dash said. The seems on her flight suit had burned away and the suit itself flew off her body as if she was covered in butter, burning into ash seconds later. Okay, pretty sure I broke the record at this point, time to slow down a bit. Rainbow Dash tried to angle her wings to catch air in order to slow herself. However, the second she even moved them a hundredth of a degree to the braking position the wider feathers at the bottom edge of her wings sheered off entirely and set fire behind her. "I...I can't slow down?" Rainbows thoughts raced. If she couldn't slow down naturally, then maybe she could maybe slow down by drag alone. She could stop flapping her wings and glide to a safer speed. Okay then, just gotta stop flapping my- It was just then the realization struck her; she hadn't been flapping her wings for a couple minutes now; except, she was somehow still gaining speed. "This doesn't make any sense!" She yelled angrily. Her mind raced, thought after thought and solution after solution being struck down. All except one, a theory she once barely paid attention to in science class. That means...I will have to go faster and break that barrier to go back in time to stop myself from going this fast to begin with... Down below the crowd seemed to be enjoying the light show, but puzzled as to why after breaking the speed record she kept going. Twilight could only watch as the odometer kept going up. Rainbow Dash had already surpassed seventy percent of light speed and was still climbing. There has to be something I can do to stop her...or slow her down. Twilight thought. "Time parallel skip? No, don't know any spells for that. Maybe a quantum entanglement? No, that would just make the object I entangle with her go light speed as well. Maybe I could pop back in time to stop her?" A stern shake no from Celestia quickly put that idea to bed. "Why not!?" Twilight cried. "It will only be a couple seconds!" "That is a fair point." Iron Eagle mused "I mean the spell to travel back in time is heavily restricted, but you could have easily-" Future Twilight shook her head. "No, I couldn't. I used too many time jumps to stop Tirek from rising to power during our second encounter with him. The fabric of time can only handle so much jumping and righting itself in a certain time frame. If I had jumped back in time then it still wouldn't have stopped present Dash from breaking the time barrier." "I don't follow" Iron Eagle said. "If I jumped back, the fabric of time was already seriously stressed, it may have caused a quantum time explosion if Rainbow Dash went back in time at the same time. Think of time as an accordion, it can be compressed when jumping around to add to it, but eventually that compression will fail if abused. If time jumping were safe then Luna or Celestia would have used it to stop the potion from spilling on us to begin with." Twilight shook her head somberly. "It will be millions of years before it is safe to time jump again. I regret ever using it against Tirek..." Past Twilight kept coming up with new ideas, only to shoot them down seconds later due to some technicality, lack of time or ability. She kept at it, until a flash of light and an small explosion broke her out of her panic stricken chain of thought. Rainbow Dash had vanished. The crowd went silent, the only sound that could be heard was the billowing of a light eastern wind on the trees and grass. A couple seconds later another flash of light appeared on the runway and there stood Rainbow Dash; her entire body trembling. "Rainbow!" Twilight and her friends ran as fast as their legs could carry them, stopping only a few feet short of her. "Rainbow!? Are you alright?" Twilight asked the panic and worry clear in her voice. Rainbow Dash smiled and stared at Twilight. "Yeah, egghead. Everything is f..fi...fine..." Rainbow Dash collapsed on the runway, her body shaking violently. "Rainbow!" Twilight ran up to Rainbow Dash, holding her head up in her forelegs. "Dash, what's wrong! Where does it hurt!? I can heal you I can-" "Sorry egghead...I...I'm...Sorrrr...yy" Rainbow Dash said. Rainbow Dash body began lose color, her rainbow mane and coat fading to shades of grey and then black and then grey again. Her entire body quaked for a moment and then laid still. Within moments her body became as ash, breaking apart on the spot and falling through Twilight's forelegs. "Rainbow Dash? Rainbow Dash!" Twilight yelled. She pawed at the ash pile on the ground and then began to fire spells in quick succession at the pile of ashes. "Sugar cube!" Applejack yelled, grabbing onto Twilight by her midsection and pulling her away. "No, shes not gone, I can still save her!" Twilight yelled, struggling against her friend. However after a few more futile spell cast, she collapsed on the ground, crying profusely. "No...this can't be happening." Twilight watched as the pile of ash slowly began to fade away, leaving only a single feather from Rainbow Dash behind. It took a few moments to sink in, but The mood in the crowd changed from confusion, disbelief and then sadness. Most of the ponies were crying and the few that managed to keep their composure were just barely holding back the tears. Many of the other fliers head their heads bowed respectfully for their fallen comrade. Even the thrones setup toward the back had it fair share of noise coming from it; Cadence had broken down and was crying into Luna's shoulder. "Why! Why did she go that far mom!?" Twilight could heard Fireball scream from the crowd. She glanced over and found her collapsed on the ground, her face in her mothers coat. "I should have never set that stupid record, then she would still be here!" The mood was no different in the group of Twilight's friends. Rarity had broken down sobbing uncontrollably, refusing to be consoled by her sister. Scootaloo just stared off into the sky, completely devoid of any kind of activity as if she was still in shock and disbelief as to what just occurred, Spike trying in vain to snap her out of her trance. Iron Eagle stood there, dumbfounded as to what exactly happened. He had read before that Rainbow Dash died on this day, though the books he read attributed her death to exhaustion. This however, was a completely different story than what he was raised to believe. He turned to Twilight to try and ask her for a answer, but noticed she was absolutely livid. She seemed to be glaring angrily at somepony; at first he thought she may be glaring at Celestia, but after tracing her stare he noticed it fell on the one pony in the crowd devoid of any kind of sad emotion; Ronald Thump. "I swear if I knew then what I knew now, I woulda burned his sorry behind alive on a stake then and there" Twilight growled. Doing his best to ignore her violent outburst, Iron pressed on with his question."So...what exactly happened?" Iron Asked, still lost as to what exactly occurred. Twilight stood up, still visibly shaking with anger. "He blackmailed the games commissioner specifically to tamper with her bracelet. Mind you we didn't find out about it till years later when he died and left it in his journal, long after Ronald was executed." Twilight sighed "as for what exactly happened, time was still heavily damaged and compressed going backward, but not forward." Iron Eagle scratched his head. "Errrmmm, I think I get it? Sorry, theoretical science was never my strong suit." Twilight rolled her eyes "And to think you are related to me. To put it in laymen terms she went so fast she skipped forward in time well past the heat death of the universe and went so far forward that she managed to reach quantum breakdown of the universe. There since she was near the end of time she was able to get back to where she started. Since time was able to right itself at that point." "That...I think that breaks physics in some ways. Also, you figured that out that quickly?" Iron asked. Twilight seemed taken aback for a moment, seemingly not registering that Iron had complemented her. "No, I figured it out years after the fact. I'm smart, but I'm not that smart. Took a long while to get around the math. Unfortunately, Dash far exceeded the abilities of Alicorn magic. She was traveling at least a couple dozen times the speed of light, if not more." Iron stood there, his mouth agape. "B-but I read that record, it's not listed as such!" Iron Eagle lifted his his hoof, tapping his chin. "Also, that still doesn't explain what happened to her." "Because the computer handling the odometer could only register mach fifty five or so. The odometer itself worked fine, the computer hit an error around that point. As for Rainbow Dash...time caught up with her; she brute forced the cosmos and the second she stopped it pushed right back, aging her billions, if not trillions of years in mere seconds." Twilight stood up and stared somberly at her former self. "Why Applejack! Why did I say yes to her! Why didn't I be a good friend!?" Past Twilight cried, pulling on her friend. A tear shed from future Twilight's eye as she turned away toward Iron Eagle. "I hope you're ready for the other failures...they only get worse from here."