//------------------------------// // Late Again!? // Story: Dashin' All The Way! // by sonicfan05 //------------------------------// The atmosphere in the city was dark and cloudy. The thunder boomed as lightning zipped from one cloud to another. The winds were howling as debris flew around violently in the air. There were usually the signs of a terrible storm that was caused by nature.   But this particular storm was much more unnatural than usual.   A lone figure was hovering over the city, staring down with a sadistic glee on the pony’s face. She wore a green jumpsuit with black lighting pattern on her chest and hooves. She had a dark green helmet with yellow visor goggles as eyes with black lighting across the top. Her mane was the only thing that was not covered by her helmet since it was sticking out. She even had a long dark green cape, flowing with the wind behind her.   Her attention was towards the five figures that were battered and bruised with chains wrapped around them. The first one was the pink mare dressed in white and purple tights. She was annoying at first because she couldn’t even touch her due to that mare’s speed. But thanks to her stormy winds, she was able to lift that mare off the ground, making that mare’s powers useless and then quickly took her out.   The next one was the mare with purple mane with blue and green tights. Her radiance powers had her on the ropes, but her minions were able to overwhelm her.   The lasso-wielding mare and the purple alicorn leader were on her toes but the lighting she summoned was able hit that lasso pony and knocked her out. This caused the leader to check on her partner, which was enough distraction to take the leader out with her gust attack to the back of the leader’s head. It was a cheap shot, but she doesn’t fight fair.   The most difficult opponent was the yellow mare in a green jumpsuit. That mare wasn’t a big threat to her at first, but after she took out that mare’s teammates, that mare got angry and become a giant monster. Every attack she threw had no affect on the giant mare, brushing it off like it was nothing. She resorted to use her wind to lift a huge steel beam and then knocked the giant mare out by hitting the back of the giant’s head.   The green costumed mare laughed mechanically. “At last! With the Power Ponies out of the way, I shall destroy this pathetic city with my stormy powers and then I will build my empire in its place. No one can stop me now!”   “Not so fast, Shadow Hurricane!”   Shadow immediately stopped laughing and then she turned and glared at another costumed pegasus mare across from her. She wore a dark blue costume with white hooves with yellow lighting streaks. She also wore a white and blue helmet with her rainbow mane sticking out. She even wore her lighting bolt necklace that was around her neck. This mare is another member of the Power Ponies. And on top of that, she is also Shadow Hurricane nemesis, who is always a thorn on her side.   “Zapp!” Shadow spat with contempt. “Impossible! I thought I had you trapped within my stormy vortex with my machine from my lair!”   Zapp smirked. “I would have, if not for this guy!”   A tiny dragon emerged from the roof of a building. “Yeah! It’s a good thing I know something was up so I came rescue her!”   Zapp frowned at the costumed dragon. “Hum Drum… you happened to be there while you were grocery shopping.” Zapp said bluntly.   Hum Drum quickly shushed Zapp. “She doesn’t have to know that!”   Shadow growled. “Curses! I knew I should’ve take out that useless hero!”   “HEY! I’m not useless!” Hum Drum snapped.   “Well that’ll be your downfall!” Zapp declared as she held up her necklace to make it glow. “It’s Zappin’ Time!”   Shadow Hurricane let out her battle cry as she flew straight towards Zapp to tackle her. Unfortunately for her, she was hit by Zapp’s lighting bolt, stunning her. Shadow tried to recover but Zapp tackled her at high speed and they went through a tall building like paper and then they crashed to a ground.   Both of the costumed mares immediately stood up and then they exchanged blows after blows with their forehooves. Shadow Hurricane tried to knock Zapp back with her uppercut, but Zapp dodged it by a hair and then Zapp counterattack shadow with her roundhouse kick, sending shadow to the ground. Just when Zapp was about to land the final blow, Zapp was suddenly been tackled and held in place by Shadow’s minions. They all wore the same jumpsuit as Shadow Hurricane, except their main color scheme is black and purple instead of green and they don’t have capes.   Zapp struggled in frustration as Shadow stood up with a smirk.   “Hey! That’s cheating!” Zapp accused angrily.   Shadow chuckled darkly as she slowly walked towards a captured hero. ““Foolish Zapp! You should’ve know that in a battlefield…” Shadow summoned an electric shadow ball from her forehoof. “It’s a free-for-all!”   Before Shadow could slam the ball to Zapp’s chest, she was suddenly tackled to the ground by a white and pink blur. While that was going on, each of Shadow’s minions was pulled away from Zapp. One was pulled away by a lasso, one was snatched by a giant purple hand, one was blasted away from an icy beam, and the last one was sent flying after he was punched in the face by a giant yellow hoof.   Shadow gritted her teeth in pain after she was tackled and then her eyes widened when she spotted every member of the Power Ponies stood by Zapp.   “How did you all escape!?” Shadow demanded.   Just then, Hum Drum walked by while carrying a giant red tool with blades. “Chain cutters!” Hum Drum responded with his taunting smile.   Shadow growled furiously. “Curses! Shadowbolts, ATTACK!”   More of Shadow’s minions appeared from out of nowhere and then rushed in towards the heroes to assault them.   “Everyone! Take care of these pests!” Zapp cried as she watched Shadow trying to flee the scene. “I’ll take care of Shadow!” With that, she flew past Shadow’s army and chased after Shadow Hurricane.   Shadow cursed as she quickly fly around various buildings to get away from that meddling hero. Zapp was getting on her fast, but Shadow had a plan. The chase goes on for some time until Shadow reached the top of the tallest building in the city. Zapp cuts her off before Shadow could fly any further.   “It’s over Shadow! You have no where to run!”   “Aw, what a shame,” Shadow mocked. “Because somepony else wanted to join in on our fun!”   Right on cue, one of the Shadowbolts slowly appeared from behind the building. In his hooves was a small pink pegasus filly with light blue mane, struggling from the Shadowbolt’s grasp.   “Zapp! HELP!”   Zapp scowled. “You fiend! Let the kid go!”   Shadow smirked. “Poor choice of words.”   With a nod to her minion, the Shadowbolt let go of the kid and letting her drop. The kid screamed as she was falling to the streets below.   “Kid!” Zapp screamed before she bolted straight down after the kid.   The kid was descending faster and faster to the ground, but Zapp was determined to catch her with all of her speed she could use. Zapp reached out towards the filly with her hooves as they were halfway down. Just before the kid was about to become a pony pancake, Zapp swooped over her and caught her just at the nick of time.   “Gotcha kid!”   The filly squealed and hugged Zapp around her neck. “Thanks Zapp! I knew you would save me!”   As they landed safely on the ground, Zapp looked up as they heard her nemesis shouting from above her.   “Curse you Zapp! Next time, I will have my revenge!”   And with that, Shadow Hurricane released her storm clouds around her, obscuring Zapp’s vision. By the time the clouds dispersed, Shadow Hurricane had disappeared.   Shortly after that, Zapp’s teammates rushed to her side and then a pegasus stallion with a suit and tie as well as a pegasus mare in her red dress rush up towards Zapp.   Zapp gently placed the filly down to the ground. “Your kid is safe Mr. Mayor.”   “Mommy, Daddy!” the filly cried as her relieved parents enveloped her into a hug. As the mare continued to hug the filly, the Mayor looked up to Zapp with a gratitude smile.   “Thank you! All of you, for saving our city and my daughter!”   "No need to thank us Mayor!" Zapp smiled and then saluted the Mayor. “You can always count on the Power Ponies!” Everypony within a movie theater applaud at the hero from the big screen in front of them for overcoming her enemy and save the day. The theater itself was a stadium like structure, filled with many leather reclining chairs with swiveling tables for their meals. Many different ponies (and dragon), young and old were on their seats, watching the latest superhero movie: Power Ponies: Zapp’s Legacy, including six young fillies (and dragon) from the middle row seats. One was a purple dragon with green eyes, belly and spikes. Normally, he stayed at the crystal castle to help the Princess of Friendship for royal duties. But today, he joined the fillies at the theater to keep an eye on them so they don’t get into trouble. That, and it was also an excuse for him to watch the newest Power Ponies film since he’s a big fan of the comic series. The next one was a pink filly with a tiara on her head. She is the main funder of today’s movie going to this fancy theater room, but it wasn’t a problem for her because she is very wealthy. She invited all of her friends including the filly next to her. That filly that sat next to her was a gray filly with light gray mane wearing pearl necklace and blue glasses. She is this pink filly’s best friend and they’ve been together since they were babies. The next three fillies were well known around Ponyville who helped other ponies’ cutie mark problems. The first one was a yellow earth pony with orange eyes and long red mane with a pink bow. The other one was a white unicorn with purple and pink mane with green eyes. And finally, an orange pegasus with purple mane who was currently jumping up and down her seat in excitement after seeing her hero saving the day. “YEAH! GO ZAPP!” she cheered loudly, spelling her popcorn in the process. Everypony in the entire theater turned and shushed the young pegasus, making Scootaloo stop jumping and gave the crowd her apologetic smile. “Scoots!” Apple Bloom snapped in her hush voice. “Ah know yer excited, but be quiet! If you keep this up, you’ll get us all kicked out” “Yeah! Even with my influence won’t save us when that happens!” Diamond Tiara warned in her whisper tone. Scootaloo rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. “Uh he he he… sorry.” It was early evening outside of Ponyville’s Movie Theater. Snowflakes was falling, the decorations were up around town and everything was covered in a blanket of snow. The five fillies and dragon walked out of the theater wearing their hats, scarfs and snowshoes and continued down the snowy road. One particular filly couldn’t stop fangirling over the film they just watched. “That. Was. AWESOME!” Scootaloo cheered with her wings flapping in excitement. “That is now officially my favorite movie of all time!” “A little too excited if you ask me.” Said the gray filly known as Silver Spoon with her deadpanned voice. “Your antics nearly got us all in trouble five times throughout the movie!” Scootaloo let out her exasperated sigh. “I said I was sorry! Besides, we didn’t get thrown out, so we’re fine!” “That may be, but you were kinda distracting when you cheered loud and hopped up and down whenever Zapp appeared on screen,” the young white unicorn known as Sweetie Belle pointed out. “I wasn’t that distracting!” Scootaloo argued. “Now, now everypony!” Spike spoke up in his smoothing tone. “Scoots was just excited about the film. As a fellow Power Ponies fan, I can relate. To be far, everypony else were excited when there were some epic fight scenes. So it’s save to say that we got off easy.” Scootaloo smirked. “See! At least somepo- er… somedragon agreed with me!” Silver Spoon frowned. “He was just defending you because he is your brother.” “My stepbrother,” Scootaloo corrected. During the three fillies and a dragon conversation, Apple Bloom started a conversation on her own with Diamond Tiara. “Well Dee, despite Scoot’s behavior, we just wanted to thank you again for inviting us to the movie!” Diamond flashed her farmer friend her genuine smile. “No thanks necessary Apple Bloom. You’re all my friends and I’m more than happy to spent time with all of you.” Diamond then leaned over and whispered into Apple Bloom’s ear. “Between you and me, despite Scootaloo’s… overenthusiasm, I’ll take dealing with that then to spend another one of my mother’s boring trip to high class social event any day!” Apple Bloom giggled in response. “Zapp is my all time favorite super hero!” Scootaloo suddenly proclaimed. “She’s cool, she’s tough, and her powers are awesome, especially the way she flies!” Sweetie Belle had a sly smile on her face. “Kinda reminds you of a certain rainbow-mane mother of yours?” Scootaloo paused with a blush on her cheeks. “Well… yeah… but Zapp is a different type of cool!” Almost a year ago, Scootaloo had a family like everypony else. Both of her parents were never around because they both had demanding jobs, leaving her alone most of the time. She knew that they love her, but she wished they could’ve been around more, including the holidays. Unfortunately, her parents were ‘not around’ anymore and she was alone without a family. Until Rainbow Dash and her newly wedded wife, Twilight adopted her into their family and they’ve been together since. Despite going through her tough time, she is really happy that she have a family to go to, including to her newly adopted mother, Rainbow Dash; which she still couldn’t get used to the idea of that. She still acted like the same Rainbow Dash she knew all those years ago, except there were times that she did act like… well, her mom. Sure, it was a little annoying when they told her to clean her room, do her homework or not to stay up late, but they also took care of her and they did a lot of fun activities too. So Scootaloo wouldn’t trade it for anything. The only issue was Rainbow Dash has been busy with her job as the member of the Wonderbolts for both the performances and training recruits. Scootaloo is proud and admired Rainbow Dash for performing with the elite fliers in Equestria. But because of that, Rainbow didn’t get to spend much time with her than she used to. And even if Rainbow did have the time, she would be late for every one of Scootaloo’s performances, including all of her scooter competitions. Today, she was going to the final round of the Junior Pro Scooter Competition and hoped that Rainbow Dash will make it to see her perform this time. “Spike! Scootaloo! Over here!” The girls and dragon turned to see their Alicorn Princess, Twilight Sparkle, standing by the town’s frozen fountain, waving at them. “There’s Twilight!” said Spike. “We gotta go Scoots!” “You girls still coming to see me at the Junior Pro Scooter Competition tonight?” Scootaloo asked with her hopeful tone. “You bet Scoots!” Apple Bloom answered with a smile. “We wouldn’t miss it for the world!” said Sweetie Belle with a squeak. “We’ll be there!” Silver Spoon replied. “Yeah, we’re looking forward to see you… shred!” Diamond Tiara answered awkwardly. Everyone stared at Diamond oddly, which she took notice. “What!? I had Randolph looked up the phrases these ponies said at those events!” Scootaloo shook her head amusingly before she took off. “Thanks girls. See you later!” Spike waved goodbye to the fillies before he followed after his stepsister. They both ran across the town until they were close to Twilight. “Hey you two,” Twilight greeted warmly. “How’s the movie?” “It was awesome!” Scootaloo answered with her huge grin. “Zapp kicked Shadow Hurricane’s flank!” Spike added who was also geeking out. Twilight chuckled. “I bet she did. So Scoots, are you ready for the scooter competition?” “I was born ready!” said Scootaloo, feeling confident. Twilight smiled. “Alright, let’s go home to get you prepare and then we’ll go to the event.” As the three of them were heading to the castle, Scootaloo spoke up. “Um… is Rainbow Dash home yet?” Scootaloo said meekly. Twilight frowned but kept walking. “No, she’s not home yet, but she should be finishing up work soon.” Scootaloo huffed in frustration. “Oh come on! She better not miss this again! This is the most important part of the competition! She said that she’ll be there but she’s always miss it!” Twilight inwardly cringed. She hates seeing Scootaloo very upset, especially if it involves her wife. As much as she loves Rainbow Dash, Rainbow can be forgetful at times, which was bothersome. She secretly hoped that her scatterbrain wife won’t forget to show up this time. “Don’t you worry Scoots,” Twilight reassured, more to herself than her adopted daughter. “I know Rainbow doesn’t have a great sense of time, but she will be there! I bet she’s working very hard so she can spend more time with you.” “Let’s get this party started!” Fleetfoot cried as she popped open a bottle of champagne. Every member of the Wonderbolts cheered as they begin to celebrate their Hearth’s Warming Party within the Wonderbolts Headquarters. The decorations were hung up, the food was on the table and the holiday music was playing in the background. Everypony was dancing, eating and laugh merrily as they were having fun with the party. All except for one. In one of the offices of the Wonderbolts Headquarters, was a cyan rainbow-maned mare with a cutie mark of a cloud with a slightly curved three-colored lightning bolt. Her name was Rainbow Dash. She was sitting by the desk, working on one of many paperwork she been filling out since early this morning. Normally, she is more of a stunt mare and preferred to take action like performing their stunt shows or help out any crisis to protect other ponies. But ever since she got married, she decided to help out at the Wonderbolts Academy to teach new recruits and show them the ropes. While it was fun to act like a drill sergeant, especially towards newbies, but she was doing this to help other ponies succeed and put them on the right track. When they did, she felt very proud of all of her students. Of course, just because she’s a high-ranking Wonderbolt, that doesn’t mean she can escape from paperwork. It’s her least favorite thing as a Wonderbolt, but hey, it comes with a job. She took a brief glance at a small picture frame that was sitting on her desk. The picture frame itself, contained a photo of herself along with her wife, Twilight Sparkle, Spike the Dragon, Starlight Glimmer and her adopted daughter, Scootaloo; smiling at the camera with their castle home in the background. Rainbow Dash smiled at the memory. This was the day she married to Twilight and adopted her Scootaloo on the same day almost a year ago. She never imagined she would settle down with somepony and start a family, especially to an egghead. She dedicated herself to train herself to join the elite fliers, which are the Wonderbolts and be the best flier in Equestria. She intended to not let anypony slow her down towards her dreams. That is, until she met Twilight. Years ago, they first met when Twilight visited Ponyville to supervise the preparation for Summer Sun Celebration. They were acquainted for the event and then they became best friends along with the others after they saved the world from Nightmare Moon. As years gone by, the two of them grown closer. Twilight introduced Rainbow Dash to reading with the Daring Do series (Rainbow’s favorite) and helped her pass the Wonderbolts entrance exam by using Rainbow’s monitoring ability. Rainbow Dash in turn taught Twilight how to fly when Twilight first got her wings. Even when Twilight had her doubts about being a princess, Rainbow Dash came by her side and told her how awesome she is as a princess and as a pony. Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure when that happened, but at some point, she had fallen in love with the egghead. She wasn’t sure what to do at the time, but she figured the best course of action was to put some sly moves on her and act cool as always. So one night, she visited Twilight’s tree house (before Tirek destroyed it) while Twilight was reading by the fireplace. Rainbow did as she planned until she kissed Twilight on the lips in the heat of a moment. She thought Twilight rejected her and tried to leave, only Twilight caught Rainbow with her magic. Rainbow felt ashamed for her actions and confessed Twilight her feelings. To Rainbow’s surprise and delight, Twilight kissed Rainbow back and said she felt the same way. The rest they say, was history. As she was finishing up her report on another one of her students ranking performance when she heard her office door opened. She looked up just in time to see her boss and friend, standing in front of her desk. She is a yellow-coated mare with a flamy style mane in several shades of orange. Her cutie mark is an image of three licks of flame, resembling an abstraction of a phoenix. She was also wearing a Santa Hooves’ hat on her head. “Hey Rainbow Dash,” said the yellow mare. “What are you still doing in here? We’re having our Hearth’s Warming party outside. You should come out and join us!” Rainbow Dash shook her head before she went back to writing her papers with her mouth. “I can’t Spitfire, I need to get all this paperwork done and over with before I have time to join the party.” “As much as I like to get the job done as quick as the next pony but why would you rather spend all day working in the office during the party and not wait until after Hearts Warming? It’s not like those papers are going anywhere before you get back.” “I wanted to get these papers done and out of the way so I can spend more time with my family, especially Scootaloo. That way, I won’t have to miss her Junior Pro Scooter Competetion on the twenty third of this month.” Spitfire raised her eyebrow. “Um… Dash… today is the twenty third.” “What!?” Rainbow screeched. Rainbow looked at the calendar on the wall with all the days marked with an ‘X’ except for the twenty-third with a red circle around it that said: “Scootaloo’s Junior Pro Scooter Competion,” and “DON’T BE LATE” in bold words. Rainbow then looked up at the clock above her office door. To her horror, she saw the big hand on a clock was on the number nine, while the little hand was in between a seven and an eight. She only has fifteen minutes before the Scootaloo’s competition began. “OH CRUD! I’m gonna be late!” Rainbow shouted, as she put her quill down and then she quickly flew over to her coat hanger and took her red scarf with orange and yellow stripes on each ends. “I’m sorry Spitfire, I gotta go! I don’t wanna miss Scoots performance!” “It’s fine Dash, I understand,” said Spitfire. “In fact, take two weeks off starting tomorrow. You earned it!” Dash smiled as she wrapped her scarf around her neck. “Thanks Spitfire! Happy Hearth’s Warming!” Spitfire smiled back. “Happy Hearth’s Warming to you too!” With that, Rainbow Dash quickly flew out of her office, nearly knocked over a startled blue stallion with dark blue mane in the process. Once Rainbow disappeared down the hall, Soarin entered Rainbow’s office with a raised eyebrow. “So Spitfire… do you think she’s going to make it this time?” Spitfire shook her head. “Nope.” Due to the snowy weather, the Junior Pro Scooter Competition took place within Ponyville’s Town Hall. Normally, the Town Hall was for town meetings or any political discussion took place, but Mayor Mare was kind enough to allow them to use her Town Hall for the occasion. In return, she wanted to be the host for the final round of the Scooter Competition. Why she wanted to was anypony’s guess. Then again, after you spent many days in the office for so long, anypony would do anything to join in on the action. The room inside of the Town Hall was huge, with many ramps and other obstacles scattered around the area. Many ponies from all over Equestria were sitting on the bleachers to see the show, including many friends and family of Scootaloo, sat up from the top row! From the very top there was Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie (who was holding popcorn and a foam hand with the number one on it), Fluttershy, Twilight, and Starlight. From the row beneath them, most of Scootaloo’s classmates were there, including Scootaloo’s best friends; Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Spike, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. Many waited anxiously for the event to start. After about a half hour of waiting, Mayor Mare trotted up on the field and spoke into her microphone. “Ladies and gentlecolts!” Mayor Mare announced. “Welcome to Our Fifteenth Annual Junior Pro Scooter Competition!” The whole crowd was cheering and stomping on their hooves in applause. “It was with great pleasure to see many young fillies and colts from all over Equestria to come here in our town to perform and wow us with their amazing tricks on their scooters. If it were up to me, all of our young contestants are already winners for making this far.” The whole crowd cheered and applauded again in agreement. “And now, with great honor, please put your hooves together for our final contestants!” One by one, each colt and filly came out and skated towards the center of the field with their scooters. Many ponies cheered and applauded for each contestant that showed up. The one who showed up last was Scootaloo and all of her best friends cheered loudly for her in support. “You can do it Scoots!” “We believe in you!” “You got this Sis!” “Kick their flanks Scoots!” “Go get ‘em Scoots!” Pinkie Pie, now dressed in her cheerleader’s outfit… somehow, stood on her rear hooves and waving her pompoms around. “WHOO HOO! GOOOOOOO SCOOTALOO!” As she watched the event unfold, Starlight Glimmer leaned in close to Twilight’s ear. “Hey Twilight,” she whispered. “Is Rainbow Dash coming? I thought she said she’s not going to miss this.” Twilight bit her lip. “She’s… a bit late, but she should be coming.” I hope. “Oh man, oh man, oh man, oh man!” Rainbow chanted in panic as she flew as fast as she can out of Cloudsdale and headed towards Ponyville. “How did I forget again?” She knew that she had already missed the opening ceremony. The good news is, that Scootaloo will perform last before the rest of the contestants. If she could reach the Town Hall before Scootaloo is up, then she would need every once of her speed without stopping if she were going to make it. But even at her top speed, it was still not fast enough to reach her destination in time. At this rate, I’m not gonna make it! Rainbow thought in frustration. Then, an idea came to her. She was thinking about using her most famous and signature move, her Sonic Rainboom. On one hoof, by using the Sonic Rainboom, she will get double the amount of her speed and by the time she arrives to the Town Hall, the competition will be half finished. On the other hoof, by using that awesome speed boost, it will only cost her ability to steer, which will be hard to control. Despite the huge cost, Rainbow Dash already made up her mind. It’s a long shot, but I’m willing to take that risk! So Rainbow Dash pushed herself forward while sticking both her forehooves out. She already felt the air barrier pushing back against her, but Rainbow Dash refused to falter. Sonic Rainboom, don’t fail me now! Rainbow continued to push herself against the barrier, which was now getting smaller and rainbow lights streaked around her. Rainbow kept pushing and pushing until the barrier finally breaks and a loud explosion. She shot forward mush faster than before with a huge trail of rainbows behind her. Rainbow Dash let out her huge cheer. “AW, YEAH! Scootaloo here I come!” Rainbow Dash continued to shot forward, heading towards her destination. Within minutes she arrived at a small town just before Ponyville. Rainbow mentally calculated that she’ll arrive at Ponyville’s Town Hall in less than ten minutes. Rainbow felt confident that she’ll definitely going make it. Rainbow can already see Scootaloo’s eyes lit up in happiness when Rainbow finally made it to Scoot’s performance for the first time in a long while. Suddenly, Rainbow heard a shout, which snapped out of her thoughts and her eyes widened when she realized that she was getting dangerously close to the Town’s Hearth’s Warming tree with a few ponies screaming at her to watch out. “UH OH!” Rainbow cried. Rainbow tried to make a turn to go around the tree, but she could barley move an inch. Realizing that it was already too late for her and she shut her eyes right before she crashed right into a tree. The entire tree tipped over and was falling towards the market area of the town. Many ponies screamed and galloped out of the way to avoid getting crushed. By the time everypony left the area, the tree crashed into the ground, destroying a few market carts and an outdoor patio of the town’s restaurant in the process. In the wake of the destruction, Rainbow peaked out of the tree and held her head with a groan. “Owwww, my head.” After she got her bearings, her face went pale from all the damages around the area that she caused. While the ponies were not hurt, many were still running, screaming and crying in confusion. Everything that was underneath the tree was destroyed, including their town sign that was in its way. This whole scene was so chaotic; the things Discord had done before he reformed were harmless in comparison. “…Oops,” Rainbow muttered. She stealthily got out of the tree and then she slowly turn around so she can sneak away from the area. She would’ve succeeded with her escape if she hasn’t bumped into somepony. Rainbow looked up to see a dark grey pegasus stallion with black and grey mane, wearing a blue police uniform shirt, black tie and a badge on his left breast. His cutie mark on his flank is a golden police badge. By the looks of his uniform and his age, he may be on the force for years. As the police officer stared at her with his deep frown, Rainbow gulped and chuckled nervously. “Uh… he he he…. hello officer.” At that point, half of the contestants had already performed their tricks in the competition. As the young colt from Manehattan took his turn to compete, Scootaloo took glimpses towards the bleachers and then the entrance doors. While Scootaloo was happy that her friends and family came here to support her, but the one pony that mattered to her haven’t arrived yet. She sighed both in frustration and anxiety. Rainbow Dash, where are you!? You better not miss this again! Shortly after the police officer caught her in the act, he interrogated her about her actions for the past fifteen minutes, including asking for her information. This of course, annoyed her, but she knew it wouldn’t be any good to make the officer angry and throw her to the slammer. So Rainbow Dash kept herself calm and answered his questions to the best of her ability. The quicker she’ll help resolve these issues, the sooner she can leave. After going through the cop’s questions, the only penance she’ll get was a ticket with a fine. It wasn’t too bad of a punishment, considering that she only caused minimal damage and no pony was hurt. Rainbow Dash was willing to accept it, but there was just one problem, which caused Rainbow Dash to argue with the stallion in blue now. “I’m telling you officer, I am not drunk!” Rainbow persisted, keeping her anger in check. “I was out of control because of my Sonic Rainboom!” The police stallion stared back with his stern look. “Look lady, I don’t care what you call that stunt, I demand that you do what I say and follow all the field sobriety tests I gave you. If it turns out you’re not drunk, you’re only going to get a ticket and let off with a warning.” “Can’t you just give me a ticket and leave it at that?” Rainbow pleaded. The officer shook his head. “Rules are rules ma’am.” Rainbow huffed with impatience. “Look, I’m sorry officer, but I’m in a hurry! I need to be at my daughter’s scooter competition!” For the first time they met, the cop changed his expression to a mock-like concern. “Oh gee, I am so sorry that I took up all of your sweet time just to make you follow a few simple procedures,” he said sarcastically. “It’s not like I’m doing this to make sure you are not a danger to our society instead of doing this for the sake of my performance of duty! How thoughtless of me!” Rainbow bit back her retort. “Look officer, I-“ “That’s Officer Warrant to you!” he interjected with a glare. Rainbow sighed in annoyance. “Look Officer Warrant, I need to be somewhere important and I don’t have time to do you’re stupid tests!” Rainbow turned her back towards the cop and began to flap her wings. “Now if you excuse me-” “Very well,” Officer Warrant spoke up as he took out his notebook from his uniform pocket. “If that’s you’re choice, then it looks like I’ll have to warrant your arrest for disobeying an officer and for putting other ponies in danger due to your reckless performance.” “WHAT!” Rainbow screeched, turning back towards the officer. “You can’t do that!” Officer Warrant looked up and gave Rainbow his challenging look. “Well it’s either you do my tests and you’ll only get a ticket afterwards or you spent the whole night in jail. Your choice!” Rainbow glowered at the cop. I hate this guy! “And now, our final contestant of the evening is a young pegasus filly from our own town in Ponyville.” announced Mayor Mare with her mick in excitement. “Please put your hooves together for Scootaloo Sparkle!” All of the Ponyville’s residence, including Scootaloo’s family and friends, cheered loudly from their bleachers. With her name called, Scootaloo slowly ride up to the edge of a ramp with her on the scooter. She took a glimpse at the bleachers and then the entrance doors at the far end of the room in hopes that Rainbow Dash will arrive and see her perform. When Rainbow Dash was nowhere in sight, Scootaloo sighed in disappointment before she looked down with her game face on and then she started to skate down the ramp. Rainbow Dash had never felt so humiliating in her entire life. For the next half hour, she did all the field sobriety tests as Officer Warrant instructed. It started out with something simple like an eye test, which was following the cop’s wing with her eyeballs without moving her head and a balance test, which she has to lift two hooves of the ground from one side about six inches and hold for thirty seconds and then do the same with the other side. But then it gets ridiculous when he made her close her eyes and touch her muzzle with her hooves and then her wings, count all of her feathers on her wings, name all of the princesses in Equestria, and solve a simple math problem like one plus one. Now, Officer Warrant made her do the “Trot-and-Turn” test by trotting nine steps on a straight white line, that he drew on a ground with a chalk, and then trot back. Once Rainbow Dash walked back with a perfect balance, Rainbow turned back towards Officer Warrant with an irritated look. “Okay, I did all of your stupid tests!” Rainbow said angrily. “Can I go now?” Officer Warrant shook his head. “Not quite. Now I want you to recite the alphabet.” Rainbow let out her long sigh. “Fine! A. B. C—” “Backwards.” Rainbow glared daggers at the cop. I really hate this guy! “Let’s give these young ponies another round of applause!” Mayor Mare requested. The whole crowd complied while some hooting during the applause. Every young pony that just performed during the competition was standing on stage facing the crowd, waiting for the final verdict. Mayor Mare took the center of the stage by her microphone stand while holding a white envelope. “It was a very close competition folks, and after a long debate, the judges finally made their decision.” Mayor Mare slowly opened the envelope while everypony in the building were waiting at the edge of their seats. Pinkie Pie in particular was biting her hooves out of nervousness while everypony else were bending towards the Mayor in anticipation. Even Spike the Dragon was crossing his fingers as he anxiously awaited for the final result. Mayor Mare finally took out a piece of paper from the envelope and then began to read the final results with her microphone. “The winner of the Junior Pro Skater Competition is…” Everypony held their breath as Mayor Mare playfully paused for dramatic effect. “SCOOTALOO SPARKLE!” The ponies that represented Ponyville cheered loudly for Scootaloo, including all of her friends and family. Pinkie jumped up into the air and cheered the loudest. “YAY SCOOTALOOOOOOOOOOO!” Scootaloo nearly choked in emotion as Mayor Mare proudly presented Scootaloo with a huge golden trophy with a miniature pony riding on a scooter on top. Scootaloo looked up towards the bleachers and waved at her friends and family in happiness as they in turned waved and cheered back. Scootaloo stopped waving and took a glimpse at the entrance doors again, only to see nopony there. Scootaloo looked down and sighed in sadness. Note to self: send my complain letter to the police department about this guy after the holidays! Rainbow thought angrily as she landed in front of Town Hall in the snow. At that point, the sun was already down and the moon is up in its place. The colors in the night sky had a mixture of purple and blues with stars dancing over the horizon. While there were barley any clouds, flurries were still falling down, landing on an already snow covered ground. Rainbow rushed into the building and galloped down the hall in hope to see Scootaloo in the scooter competition in time. Please I didn’t miss it! Please I didn’t miss it! Rainbow finally made it to the hall doors that lead to the main event and opened it. But when she entered the huge room, everything inside was empty and semi-dark. There was nopony around except for the janitor, who was busy cleaning everything up from the background. I… I miss it. Rainbow Dash slumped forward and let out a single tear from the corner of her eye. “I’m… so sorry Scoots.”