My name is Barry Allen and I'm the fastest pegasus alive

by Kaliann25


Race 14

Race 14: The first song of the Canary, and the first race of The Dash

Barry returned from his grocery shopping to find the mansion in complete disarray.  Everything was broken, torn, ruined.  Arrows stuck out of walls, floors, and ceilings. The living room was strewn with papers.  It took less than a heartbeat for Barry to deduce what had happened.  This was a job for not just the Flash, but all of the Arrow's allies.

“Rainbow Dash!  Rarity!” called the Flash as he canvassed the sleepy town of Ponyville.

From her cloud house, the cyan pegasus landed in front of Carousel Boutique.

“Flash! What’s going on?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Yes, did something happen?” asked Rarity, joining them.

Flash nodded.  “I’m afraid boss Blood had been ambushed.  He needs our help.”

Rainbow Dash grinned.  “You can count me in.”

She disappeared in the multi-colored streak, and reappeared with her new speedster outfit.

“Cute suit,” said Flash approvingly.

Rarity reappeared in her new uniform.  It was a deceptively simple black body suit with a black domino mask and black buccaneer boots for the rear hooves. A telescoping bo staff was held in a holster on her left foreleg. The real disguise lay in what she did with her body. Her mane and tail were both straight and blond, while her fur was now peach-colored.

Rarity asked, “So, do you think they figured out who the Arrow is?”

“I’m not quite sure, but if we don’t hurry, all bets are off.”

Unknown location:

At first, he barely felt it, but, slowly, the headache began to annoy him.  It gradually grew in intensity until it woke him up.  Then, he noticed the other source of pain, on his back hooves. He opened his eyes and looked around. Harsh lights and exposed rafters greeted him as he looked down.  He looked around and saw stacks of crates on the ceiling. He closed his eyes for a moment and looked again.  He was in a warehouse, hanging upside down from his back-hooves, tied with a heavy chain and shackles.  He sighed, more annoyed than afraid.

“This is just great.”

Blue Blood began to swing to one side to another, gaining more height with each swing.  It was painful; the shackles were pressing his hooves, but he let the pain sharpen his focus.  Each move from his body stressed the chain a bit further until the weakest link broke.

Blue Blood rolled to break his fall.  He came to his hooves and faced the door, waiting.

As the prince expected, a bunch of thugs walked into the warehouse to see what was going on.  They looked at the prince crouching on the floor, smiling.

“Please don’t mind me.  It didn't feel right just hanging around.”

The thugs looked to each other, unsure of what to do. A commotion came from the back of the pack.  The thugs stepped aside, allowing the boss to pass. The boss looked curiously at Blue Blood, through his round, thick-framed glasses, and smiled.  The prince raised an eyebrow as he recognized this pony. Of all the nobles in the Crystal Empire, this one was the last he would have suspected.

“You know?” asked Blue Blood coldly. “I never would have guessed it was you.”

“Same here, Mr. Blood, or do you prefer Arrow?” the pony said, with his high-pitched voice as he combed his long, messy beard.  “At first, I thought my employees made a huge mistake. Seriously, her Royal Highness Cadence’s bratty cousin? But just now, you convinced me.  It takes a special pony to break that chain.”

“Well, is not the first time I've found myself in chains,” explained Blue Blood.

The boss smirked. “I can’t wait to hear all of your wildly exciting stories, Mr. Arrow, but, thanks to you, we’ve been having a lot of trouble making our deliveries into Equestria, and I’m really busy at the moment. We’ll have a ‘nice talk’ later.  I’m looking forward for it.”

Blue Blood sighed. “You’ll regret this.”

The boss chuckled. “What exactly, Mister Arrow?”

“Not killing me, now that you have the chance.”

Canterlot, Blue Blood’s mansion:

Rarity did all she could to evaluate the documents the thugs planted in Blue Blood’s home. They were fake, but they had to have some real information to be plausible.

Two gusts of air announced the arrival of the two speedsters. “Hey, did you find something?” asked the fashionista.

“Yeah, the guy Barry and Blue Blood arrested the other day, Street Junk, was killed in jail,” said Rainbow Dash, frowning. “And you won’t believe this; they found one of the Arrow’s arrows at the crime scene.”

Rarity gulped. “So, the Crown thinks the Arrow did it.”

“Exactly,” confirmed Rainbow Dash. “We must find Blood before something really bad actually happens.  Dang it, I never thought I would have to save him, of all ponies.”

“It happens; everyone needs help from time to time,” said Barry calmly.  “But first things first, we must see where the evidence leads us.”

The red and golden streak disappeared through the front door, only to reappear, two seconds later, with two portable cork boards and a small box of tacks.  He put them in the center of the living room, and began to pick through the disaster the thugs left, pinning the incriminating documents to the boards.  Once everything was posted, he organized the papers by the type of information each provided.  Then, he turned to the two confused mares.

“What?  I’m a forensic scientist.  This is child's play compared to my real job,” he said with a smile.

“Oh, I see.”  Rarity smiled.   “So, tell us, Barry, do you see something we can use?”

“Not at the moment,” said Barry as he bit his lip.   “But, now that I think about it, they may have planted evidence at his clubs as well.  Rainbow Dash, can you check it out, please?”

“Sure thing!” said Rainbow Dash, disappearing into a streak of light.  A few seconds later, she came back with a cardboard box on her back, and another portable cork board.   “Well, they were sure trying to frame Blood.  I found a lot.”

“Unbelievable!  Nopony would doubt that Blue Blood is the ringleader,” said Rarity, examining a couple of documents.  The papers were forged correspondences from Street Junk, reporting each day's transactions to Blue Blood.  “So, they want that the Crown to think that Street Junk was just Blue Blood's lackey.”

“Luckily for Blood, I got all this before anyone else could see it,” said Rainbow Dash proudly.

Flash nodded in silence as he examined all the forged papers.  “And the best part is that we finally have a solid clue,” he said as he showed the mares what he had circled on each document.   “According to this, Blood have received all the merchandise at this address.  Now, we just have to find out who owns it.”

Rarity frowned thoughtfully and then smiled.   “Easy enough, dear.  We can just go to the registrar's office and look it up.”

Barry raised an eyebrow; Rarity reminded him someone back at his world, but he didn’t say anything.  He then nodded.  “What are we waiting for, then?”

Rarity jumped onto Barry’s back. "Do be gentle, dear." With that, the group went to City Hall.

When they arrived, Rarity dismounted and said, “Leave me here; I think I would be more useful as a lookout.”

Flash and Rainbow agreed, and charged into the building at full speed.  Meanwhile, Rarity melted into the shadows, as Blue Blood had taught her.

The two speedsters entered the building through an open third-floor window, moving too fast for the alarm spells to detect them.  They quickly found the room they were looking for, but the door was locked.  Barry grinned.  “Hey Rainbow, check this out.  You’ll like this!”

Barry started to vibrate, and, to Rainbow Dash's surprise, he phased through the door. He unlocked the door from the inside.

“Whoa!  How long until I can do that?” asked Rainbow Dash, using all her self-control to avoid yelling in excitement.

“With time, Rainbow.  Everything is mostly empty space.  It's just a matter of moving your molecules to fit between those of what you're trying to move through.  Once you can feel each molecule, it's easy.”

Rainbow smiled. Between the two of them, it took only a few seconds to locate the information they wanted.

As Rarity waited for her friends, she heard a couple of guards coming to their direction.  The disguised unicorn closed her eyes; this was her first real battle.  She held her breath until she heard the two pass in front of her.  Silently, she sprang out behind them and dispatched each with a sharp blow from her bo staff.

Inside the registrar's office, the cyan pegasus called her mentor.

“Hey, Flash!”

“Did you find something?” asked the scarlet speedster.

Rainbow nodded.  “Yes, but it doesn’t make any sense.  This house is registered under the name of . . . Sunset Shimmer.”

“Do you know her?” asked Flash.

“Not so much, but a little, yes.  She’s Princess Celestia’s former student, but she's been living on the other side of the mirror for years.”

Flash scratched his head.

“The mirror?”

“Forget it; what matters is that Sunset Shimmer is living outside of Equestria, and, as far as I know, she’s not coming back any time soon.  So, who is maintaining her home?”

Flash pondered for a second.   “Does she have any living relatives?  Parents?  Siblings?”

“I have no idea. Shall we go to Vital Records?”

The two speedsters ran to the office on the next level.   Flash again phased through the door.

“You know?” he asked Rainbow Dash.   “It was easier when I could do these things legally on the job.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, as she began looking for the Shimmer family.  “You’ll return home soon, city boy.”

This time, it was easy; all they had to do was to find the last name Shimmer. Apparently, Sunset had only one living relative, a younger brother.  Once more, Rainbow couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

“Rainbow, what is it?” asked Flash.

“The name,” explained Dash, showing the sheet to her teacher.   “Dang it, Starlight won’t like this, won’t like this at all.”

Flash tilted his head.  “Starlight?  The one living with Twilight?” he asked.

Rainbow nodded.   “We must go to the Crystal Empire.  Right now.”

Crystal Empire:

Sun Burst, Princess Flurry Heart’s Crystallizer, and one of the newest members of Crystal Nobility, was returning home after a strangely satisfactory day.  He was looking forward to ending the night with a nice cup of tea and a good book.  But, when he returned home, he noticed something was wrong: the door was open.

“What?  Thieves?” asked Sun Burst, bursting into the room.

Once he was inside, he didn’t find thieves.  Instead, an old friend was waiting impatiently.  She was one of the Elements of Harmony, Loyalty to be more precise.

“Rainbow Dash?  What are you doing here?” asked Sun Burst.   “As much as I would love for having you as my guest tonight, entering without permission is beyond rude.”

Rainbow Dash glared at him.   “Is that so?  And what about foalnapping ponies?”

Sun Burst frowned at this, but remained calm.   “What are you talking about?”

Before Sun Burst could react, Rainbow Dash dissolved into a cyan blur, and appeared right before him, with both forehooves on the collar of his cape.  “I’m not in the mood, Sun Burst.  Where is Blue Blood?”

The light orange unicorn grinned.  “So, it was true; somehow you gained that Flash guy abilities.”

Rainbow Dash slowly cinched down the collar.  "Where is he?"

Sun Burst created a smokescreen, and teleported to the alley near his home.  As he started running he caught a blur of motion from above.  He stopped and looked up, but saw nothing out of the ordinary.

“What?”

When he looked forward again, he realized a pegasus in a red bodysuit was standing before him.

“There’s no escape, Sun Burst.”

One more time, Sun Burst created a smokescreen, and again, he was planning to teleport away.  However his plans were cut short when a bo staff struck him from behind. A mare in black subdued him when he tried to get up.

“Great job dealing with him,” congratulated Rainbow Dash, appearing behind Rarity.

“It was nothing darling, we were lucky that he wasn’t expecting us,” said the unicorn in black.  She pinned his neck to the ground with her staff.  “Now, where’s Blue Blood?!”

“Hey, watch it!” said Rainbow, stopping her friend from putting her full weight on the staff.  “Are you influencing Blood, or is he influencing you?”

“Sorry, okay?  But I’m worried about him!” said the new vigilante.

Sun Burst looked over his shoulder, silently calling his thugs to deal with the group of heroes, but Flash spotted them on time, and in a fraction of a second, he left them all unconscious.

“No more tricks,” warned the scarlet speedster.  “Tell us where the Arrow is.”

Sun Burst let out a defeated sigh.   “I guess he was right.  I should have killed him when I had the chance.”


Sun Burst’s dealers were having the time of their lives.  Now that they captured the Arrow, they could have their revenge.  So long as they left him able to talk to Boss Burst, they were free to do as they please.  Try as they might, they could not get Blue Blood to make a sound.

The thugs were experts in inflicting pain. They tried every weapon in their arsenal.  Blue Blood was clearly suffering, but refused to give them any satisfaction.

“This dude is making me nervous.”

“Then, what shall we do?”

“What about . . .”

A commotion outside the warehouse caught everypony’s attention.  Blue Blood grinned.

“As I thought, this was the miracle I was expecting.”

Outside the warehouse, Sun Burst’s thugs were trying to defend themselves with magic, weapons, and even hooves.  Their assailant was simply moving too fast for them to see, let alone touch.  Each thug the cyan blur passed fell unconscious.

In the meantime, Flash and Rarity watched, enjoying the show.

“Tell me, Flash, aren’t you going to help your student?” asked the unicorn in black.

“Nope, she has to learn.  Seeing her like this proves to me that she is ready.”

Rarity nodded.   “Okay, but for me, I must go rescue Blue Blood.  Excuse me, darling.”

Flash nodded, and Rarity began walking to the warehouse door.  Some thugs tried to block her way, advancing menacingly, holding knives with their magic.  However, this time Rarity was ready.  She extended her bo staff with her magic, and prepared to fight.  However, the cyan blur disposed of them before she could even strike a single blow.

With a small shrug, Rarity advanced toward the door.  It was locked, but she broke through with a simple blast of magic to the lock.

The thugs surrounding Blue Blood suddenly turned and aimed their knives at the newcomer.  Rarity smiled, and invited them to attack her.  They ran toward Rarity, but stopped when she made her horn glow.  However, instead of going to manipulate her staff, or attacking the thugs, the blue light concentrated on Rarity’s throat.

The thugs exchanged a few confused looks, and ran toward the stranger once again.  Then, Rarity grinned, and shrieked.  It was no normal shriek; it was a powerful, ultrasonic shriek that made everypony bend in pain, Blue Blood included.

Once the thugs were incapacitated, Rarity used her bo staff to strike the nearest on the jaw, making him fall.  She bucked him, sending him into one of his partners, still incapacitated by the ultrasonic shriek.

Blue Blood had a splitting headache, but still he managed to concentrate, and he noticed that one of his enemies had dropped his hatchet.  He grabbed the weapon with his magic and smashed open the lock securing his chains.  The chains dropped just in time for him to cover his ears before Rarity's next sonic attack.

Sun Burst’s thugs again doubled over in pain.  While Rarity bucked one unconscious, another went to grab her.  To his surprise, he was spun around. Held in Blue Blood's magic, he saw the prince's grin.

“It’s my turn now,” said the prince, as he smashed the thug against the wall.  “If there’s one thing I had learn back at the island, it's patience.”

Then he grabbed another one, who was trying to slip away.  “Going somewhere, fool?”

Blue Blood simply kicked him on the face repeatedly.

“Blood, stop it!” warned him Rarity.

“This guy's been having fun with me all day; it's my turn.,” said Blue Blood coldly.

“We just dismantled their little operation; that’s enough revenge for today,” replied Rarity.

Blue Blood looked around.  He nodded calmly when he noticed none of the thugs were left standing.

“I guess you’re right.  By the way, when I told you to weaponize your screaming, I was just being sarcastic.”

Rarity giggled.  “I know, but, since I learned that spell for the Pony Tones, I thought it was a good idea.”

“Nice trick, I must admit.  But, who are you supposed to be?”

Rarity thought about it for a minute, and smiled.  “Call me, the Canary.”

Rainbow Dash entered, and smiled at Blue Blood.   “Hey, is nice to see you in once piece.”

“I am lucky by having you three at my side, I guess.”

Rainbow grinned, and disappeared in a streak of light, only to return, and surrounded Blue Blood.  When she was finished, he was dressed in his Arrow outfit again.

“Thank you, Dash,” said the Arrow with a smile.  “But, this suit feels different.  Is it new?”

“You’re welcome,” said the Canary.

Blue Blood just gave an approving nod to the newest vigilante, and took a look around.  A red and golden streak was going all over the warehouse, making sure to neutralize all the ponies, and putting all the evidence on display until the Royal Guard arrived.

The Arrow smiled, satisfied.   “Thanks to you, guys, we’ve stopped this operation once and for all.  But, where’s that moron, Sun Burst?”

“Right here!” said the Flash, coming with the bound unicorn on his back.

The Arrow bumped hooves with everypony.   “Once again, thank you.  I could never do this without you.”

The Dash winked an eye at him.   “Hey, what are friends for?”

Blue Blood raised an eyebrow, but he nodded.  “Yeah, what are friends for?”