Rainbow Dash couldn’t believe how she got herself into this position. One minute she was in the warehouse, hiding from Officer Warrant and then the next minute she was dressed as Scootaloo’s favorite superhero and then dragged into a parade by the P.A., mistaking her as a stunt pony. She stood there in front of a cheering crowd with her blank and stunned expression, not sure what she should do.
“Hey! Don’t stand there like a dummy, wave!” The costumed Hum Drum snapped who stood next to her.
“W-wave?” she said dumbly as she slowly brought one of her forehoof up and started waving at the crowd.
Her wave started out slow and awkward, but as she was waving, the crowd’s cheering grew louder. Encouraged by this, Rainbow waved much more naturally and a smile grew from her muzzle. She even started doing some various poses that she memorized from Scoot’s comics to please the crowd more.
“O-okay, I’ll admit, this is awesome!” said Rainbow as she continued to ‘perform’ for the crowd.
While this isn’t the first time she performed for the crowd since she joined the Wonderbolts for quite a while, and she always enjoyed the attention. But acting like their beloved superhero to make everypony happy, especially the kids felt very… special, even if this is all a misunderstanding. If only her friends and family, especially Scootaloo knew where she was now.
From the distance, Scootaloo felt this was a dream come true as she watched her hero from afar for the first time. Zapp looked a hundred times better in the flesh then how she looked in the comics or even from the film. There was also something else that was awesome about Zapp but she couldn’t put her hoof on it. Her thoughts were interrupted when Zapp appeared to be saluting towards her direction. Feeling giddy, Scootaloo quickly did a salute of her own towards her hero.
“Now that the Power Ponies have finally arrived, Zapp will do something very special for the kids! Am I right Spikey-wikey?” said Pinkie from her stand.
“You bet Pinks!” Spike replied. “In just mere moments, Zapp will select the lucky colt or filly to come up to the stage to pick up the hot new toy, her Zapp action figure! …man I wish I was there!”
As they announced it, a small panel opened from the floor of the float and the toy slowly rises up from the sage in all of its glory. Rainbow had not noticed it, until ‘Hum Drum’ got her attention.
“Hey! Pick it up! Pick up the toy!” ‘Hum Drum’ hissed.
Rainbow blinked. “The… toy?”
She looked down and her eyes widened when see saw a Zapp action figure, the very same toy that she spent the whole day hunting down with everything she had gone through, was right there in front of her at hooves length. She picked up the toy with her hooves and examined it delicately. It was not a fake one like the one that Flim Flam Brothers almost gave her from Manehattan or was she dreaming, what she was holding now was the real deal.
“…yes,” she whispered, barely held back her tears of joy. She laughed happily before she raised the toy up in the air in her victor pose.
“YEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSS!!!!”
Elsewhere from the roof of one of the buildings in Ponyville, a pegasus mare while wearing her costume was waiting for her cue to ‘reveal herself’ during the main event of the parade. Her job was simple: she is going to invade the Power Ponies float and they’ll exchange a few lines with each other. Then they will perform their fight choreography for a few minutes before they’ll let whatever kid they picked to do something to ‘save the day’ and then she’ll disappear with the lines of, “I’ll have my revenge.” It sounded corny, but straightforward. She was not looking forward to the part when she gets ‘zapped’ by the main hero, but hey, it’s a living.
Suddenly, she felt somepony grabbed her from behind and covered her muzzle, preventing her from fleeting or call for help. As she struggled, she heard her captor spoke.
“I like your outfit, so I’m just gonna have to borrow it! Nighty-night!”
Before she could comprehend that pony’s words, she felt a sharp pain from the side of her head and her vision went black.
At last, Rainbow Dash finally got the toy that Scootaloo wanted! Even if it was not in a box, the toy looks great without it. She can take it home after the parade and give it to Scootaloo just in time for Hearth’s Warming. Nothing can possibly ruin her moment now.
“What are you doing? Pick a child!” ‘Hum Drum’ exclaimed.
Rainbow’s smile was intently wiped away. “W-what?”
“Pick a child! Whatever child you pick will come up and get that toy!” he explained.
Rainbow looked around the crowd as she saw many young colts and fillies begging her to choose one of them. Rainbow’s heart sunk. She finally got the toy Scootaloo wanted in her hooves, only to be forced to give it away to another kid. She was tempting to flee from this float so she can get away with this toy, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. If she were to do that, not only this will be a thousand times worse than what she almost did at the Rich’s manor, but she’ll end up ruining an image of a superhero that many colts and fillies looked up to. She won’t bring herself to make a run for it, but she still doesn’t know what to do in this situation.
Then, luck was finally on her side when she finally spotted a certain group of ponies she was looking for since she arrived to the parade. All of her friends and family were there, standing on the sidelines in the front of the crowd by her left side. Rainbow was relieved that her wife looked okay and that Spoiled was nowhere to be seen. But the pony Rainbow was happy to see the most, was her beloved daughter, Scootaloo, looking up at her with her awestruck smile.
Rainbow opportunity was perfect. Not only her daughter will get her present on the spot, but Scootaloo also about to received her gift from her favorite superhero too. How awesome would that be as her Hearth’s Warming memory!
Without a moment of hesitation, Rainbow lifted her hoof and pointed towards Scootaloo’s direction. She nearly chuckled in amusement when she saw her daughter’s eyes light up in delight.
“OH MY GOSH! SHE PICKED ME!” Scootaloo screamed in happiness, as her wings were flapping up in down in excitement.
Rainbow’s smile widened. That’s right Scoots! This toy is—
“No way Scoots! She’s pickin’ me!” Apple Bloom cried.
Rainbow intently frowned. Oh boy.
“No, she’s actually picking me!” Sweetie Belle argued with a squeak.
No! I’m picking Scootaloo! Rainbow inwardly cried in frustration.
“Please! The pony she picked was me!” Silver Spoon exclaimed with a scoff.
Definitely not you! Rainbow thought with distain.
“You’re all wrong! The pony she picked is obviously me!” said Diamond with her sassy attitude.
Rainbow kept herself from scowling at that filly. OH HAY NO! You already got your action figure!
Rainbow grew more nervous as Scootaloo and her friends were arguing who ‘Zapp’ actually picked. If this keeps up, either one of Scootaloo’s friends would end up mistakenly get the prize or Rainbow will be forced to pick another child. Not wanting either of those scenarios happen, Rainbow Dash decided to take a risk. Rainbow took a deep breath and then announced with her strong, clear voice.
“SCOOTALOO!”
The argument between the fillies stopped and then they looked up at her with their stunned, awe faces. Scootaloo in particular, widened her eyes in shock.
“She… she knows my name!” she uttered loudly in wonder.
“Well how about that, Zapp has chosen a child… and apparently it was Scootaloo!” Spike announced through the speakers with some surprise from his voice.
“What a coincidence! We knew another filly who was named Scootaloo too!” Pinkie chirped.
“Uh… Pinkie. That IS the same Scootaloo we kno—
“Anyway, will our lucky little filly please get up to the stage and get your prize!”
With some encouragement from Twilight and all of her friends, Scootaloo wasted no time to gallop on the streets and made her way to the float. Once she climbed up, she couldn’t believe that all of the members of the Power Ponies were here, waving and smiling at her. Where she has her eyes on the most was her all time favorite Power Pony, Zapp, who was standing there with a smile while holding an action figure of herself. Scootaloo always dreamed about meeting her hero up and close, but she never would have imagined that her dream would someday be a reality.
Scootaloo heart was pounding both from eagerness and nervousness as she slowly walked up to her hero. She eventually reached ‘Zapp’ about a hoof’s length away from her and the young filly looked up her in awe. ‘Zapp’ gave Scootaloo her beaming smile and softly placed the toy in Scootaloo’s hooves.
“Happy Hearth’s Warming Scootaloo!” ‘Zapp’ said warmly.
The crowd cheered from this display as Scootaloo checked out the toy in her stunned silence. Twilight and the gang were very happy for the little pegasus as she deserved some happiness after all she went through earlier this year. Even ‘Hum Drum’ was wiping away his invisible tear from his eye from the display. Whether the guy underneath the suit was actually emotional or not was anypony’s guess.
After a minute of processing that this was not a dream, Scootaloo looked up to ‘Zapp’ with her genuine smile.
“Wow! T-thank you so much Zapp!” she said softly before her epression changed to a look of confusion. “But… how do you know my name?”
‘Zapp’ chuckled. “Well Scoots, the truth is… I’m—”
“THAT TOY IS MINE!”
Both Scootaloo and ‘Zapp’ looked up to see a costumed mare flying towards them. She was dressed in a green jumpsuit with black lighting pattern on her chest and hooves and a long dark green cape. She also wore a dark green helmet with part of her mane sticking out and a yellow visor goggles as her eyes with black lighting across the top.
“Uh oh everypony! Here comes one of the Power Ponies and Zapp’s mortal enemy, Shadow Hurricane!” Spike announced.
The crowd booed as ‘Shadow Hurricane’ landed on the float. She paid them no mind as she looked up to her targets with her manic grin on her face. ‘Zapp’ eyes widened in shock and horror when she realized who that pony underneath the suit was.
“Lightning Dust?”
Lightning snickered. “In the flesh!”
Then almost all of the costumed Power Ponies rushed up and stood in front of Lightning in a form of a shield.
“Hold it Shadow Hurricane!” said ‘Masked Matter-Horn’. “We won’t let your evil reign on our special par—”
“Oh, shut up!” Lightning snarled as she lifted up her forehooves at them and activated the ‘shadow blast’ from her suit.
Normally, it was set up in a way that should be harmless to other performers as long as it set to the right level. However, shortly after Lightning knocked out the real actress, she turned up the settings to the max, as a result, her shadow blaster knocked the heroes off of the float and they were sent flying towards the side of the building. They all landed on the ground into a pile and each of the Power Ponies members were knocked out cold as a result.
Lightning chuckled darkly as she examined her suit. “Ooooooh! I could get use to this!”
From their announcer chairs, Spike turned to Pinkie with his confused and nervous look. “Uh… Pinks? Was this from the script?”
Pinkie shrugged. “Beats me! But this is good entertainment!” She took out a container filed with popcorn from her mane, much to Spike’s confusion, and then starting eating them while watching the ‘show’.
As Lightning Dust slowly walked towards the only ponies standing on the float, ‘Rainbow’ beckoned Scootaloo over to her.
“Stay behind me squirt!” Rainbow exclaimed, as she stood in front of her.
Lighting Dust had clearly lost her mind. She knew that Lighting was going to get Scoot’s toy by any means necessary. Rainbow was determined to never allow that mare to lay a hoof on her daughter, not while she was around.
Lightning Dust eventfully stood in front of Rainbow Dash and sneered at her.
“Hey there hero, like my costume?”
“Lightning Dust… don’t do this!” she begged softly. “You’re crossing the line!”
Lightning scoffed. “Hey! I told you once, and I’m telling you again, I will do anything to get that toy! And I’m not gonna let you or anypony else stand in my way!”
Suddenly, ‘Hum Drum’ ran up to Lighting Dust and then wacked her arm.
“Hey pal! This isn’t how we rehearsed it!” he shouted angrily.
Lightning turned to face Hum Drum with a look of disgust. “Shut it Hum Drum! In fact, nopony likes you!”
Before anypony could react, Lightning used her shadow blaster and shot ‘Hum Drum’ off the float and landed on the road. As he was lying there, moaning in pain, many colts and fillies ran up to him and started punching and kicking him.
While Lightning eyes were on that pitiful sidekick, Scootaloo quickly ran past Lightning before Rainbow could stop her. Unfortunately Lightning noticed her right away.
“Hey get back here kid!” Lightning shouted and was about to give chase.
“Hey leave her alone!” Rainbow yelled, running after Lighting.
However, Lightning used her shadow blaster on Rainbow and was knocked down to the ground.
“Ooooh this isn’t good Pinks! Shadow is beating Zapp!” Spike cried.
“I know Spike!” said Pinkie, acting like she was panicking. “This would mean the end of Equestria and all the love and friendship as we know it!”
With a grunt, Rainbow got back on her hooves just in time to see Lightning captured her daughter.
“Zapp! Use your lightning attack!” Scootaloo cried as she struggled from Lightning’s grasp.
“What?”
“Your necklace! Shoot lightning from your necklace!” Scootaloo quickly clarified.
Rainbow quickly inspected her lightning bolt necklace she received from earlier. She then remembered that the P.A. said that she could shoot magical lightning beams that from it. Thinking quickly, Rainbow turned the switch on the necklace power up to the point to only stun Lightning and then she aimed her necklace at her rival.
“Yo Dust!” Rainbow cried.
When Lightning caught her attention, Rainbow smirked.
“Eat lightning!”
Rainbow shot a single ‘lightning bolt’ at Lightning’s head and stunned the turquoise pegasus. This was enough to get Scootaloo free and ran up to Rainbow for safety. Once Scootaloo was in safe range, Rainbow shot one bolt after another at Lightning. Lightning grunted in pain with each hit until one final bolt shot her on her chest and she fell backward on the ground.
“YEAH!” Rainbow cheered as everypony in the crowd cheered.
“Wowie Zowie! Zapp just defeated Shadow! We’re saved!” Pinkie squealed happily through her mic.
“That was awesome!” Scootaloo cheered.
Rainbow smirked. “Yes it was! Now let me take you back to your—”
Suddenly, smoke came out from the floor of the stage, and many pegasi in dark jumpsuits leaped out from the holes and tacked Rainbow Dash.
“Uh oh! It’s the Shadow Bolts! Shadow Hurricane’s evil henchponies!” Spike cried with a fake of distress.
Rainbow struggled as the four ‘Shadow Bolts’ kept piling on top of her.
“Hey let me go! I need to get to my daughter!” Rainbow cried which fell to death ears.
Scootaloo meanwhile was terrified that her hero was in trouble. She wanted to go in there to help her. Just before she could run over to ‘Zapp’, she felt somepony yanked her up from the floor and lifted into the air. Her eyes widened in fear as she was once again captured by ‘Shadow Hurricane.’
“HA! End of the line kid!” she said with a cocky smirk.
Scootaloo tried to struggle, but ‘Shadow’s’ grip was too strong. She quickly look around, desperately trying to find another means to escape. She noticed that her one of her hoof was loose and ‘Shadow’s’ right wing was very close to her. In one swift moment, Scootaloo grabbed ‘Shadow’s’ right wing and took a huge bite on the base of the wing.
“YEOW!” Lightning roared in pain.
Both her and Scootaloo fell to the ground with Lightning took the blunt of the fall. As Lightning whimpered in pain and rubbing her wing, Scootaloo took her chance to jump off of the float and then ran down the road and into the crowd, not paying attention to Twilight or any of her friends calling out to her. Lightning finally noticed the young pegasus escaping and let out her angry snarl.
“Y-you BRAT! I’ll get you for this!”
Lightning was about to fly after her, but the pain on her right wing where Scootaloo had bitten, prevented her to lift herself off from the ground. Seeing that there was no other option, Lightning leaped off of the stage and ran after the orange filly.
It was expected that Scootaloo was picked to meet up and received a toy from Zapp. But Twilight was happy for her stepdaughter that she meets her hero, even though it was just a mare in her superhero suit. She titled her head when she got a good look at Zapp as Scootaloo walked closer to her. There was something about that mare that looked… familiar to her, but couldn’t put her hoof on it.
“Hey Twilight,” Starlight mumbled worriedly. “Was this part of the show?”
Her thoughts were interrupted when Shadow Hurricane appeared in front of them. It looked like a harmless performance at first, but the moment when Shadow blasted the other Power Ponies away, Twilight knew that something was wrong. She met with many ponies from their own floats and knew about their performance inside out, including the Power Ponies float. She clearly remembered that this wasn’t part of the act. It could be that they changed it at the last minute and never notified her, or…
Her eyes widened when she thought of another possibility that this was not an act at all. Her fears were confirmed when that Shadow pony captured her daughter, only to let her go after Scootaloo bit her wing. Her fears grew when she saw Scootaloo running away toward the other side of the road as the costumed villain was chasing after her.
“Scootaloo!” Twilight cried.
When Scootaloo failed to hear her, Twilight ran out of the street to get to her daughter, only to be stopped by a police officer.
“Easy Princess!” she said soothingly “It’s all part of the show, now get back to the sidewalk!”
At that point, Starlight caught up with them. “Twilight, what’s going on?”
“Are you blind!?” Twilight exclaimed, ignoring Starlight. “My daughter’s is being chased by that mad mare!”
The cop turned briefly and then faced Twilight again with a grin. “Oh cool! She’s wonderful!”
“NO!” Twilight screamed. “I personally approved of this show but she is definitely not part of the show! Not out of my way!”
Before either mares could say anything, Twilight ran past them and gives chase to her daughter in hopes of saving her.
Rainbow kept pushing and knocking the Shadow Bolts off of her, only for them to keep coming back to slow her down.
“I don’t have time for this!” Rainbow shouted and she bucked a few minions away from her. Just when she thought she got rid of them all, more ‘Shadow Bolts’ appeared on stage, ready to tackle her. Rainbow grunted in annoyance.
“Jeez! How many of these ‘henchponies’ did they hire?” Rainbow muttered.
“Move it! Move it! Move it!”
Lightning kept pushing and shoving many ponies out of her way to reached the pegasus kid. But each time she was getting closer, some random ponies would ended up blocking her on purpose so they can help the filly out. Weather they thought they were part of a show or actually tried to help the filly, Lightning wasn’t certain. She growled in annoyance as she made a mental note to never go to any parades for as long as she lived.
Meanwhile, Scootaloo ran as her life depends on it. She contently waved around the crowd to get more running distance from the evil villain. She was thankful that the ponies she ran by along the way, helped her slowed ‘Shadow’ down, but it was only a matter of time before her luck ran out. She eventually spotted a ladder, which was leaning on the side of the City Hall. With nowhere else to go, Scootaloo ran towards the ladder and began to climb.
As Scootaloo started climbing, Lightning Dust caught up to her. She would have snatched the filly off the ladder if not for those meddling ponies who blocked her way. By the time she reached the ladder, Scootaloo was too far for her to grab. Her wing was still too sore from the bite, so Lightning ended up climbing the ladder after the filly.
“When I get my hooves on you, I will personally teach you not to mess with ponies like me!” Lightning snarled.
Rainbow grunted as she threw another one of the minions over her shoulder. Once the pony landed on the ground, Rainbow sighed in relief. However, four more ‘Shadow Bolts’ appeared from the stage’s trap door and then advancing towards her.
“Let’s get her!” one of them cried.
Rainbow shouted out in frustration. “Alright! I had enough of this!”
Rainbow quickly picked up one of the Shadow Bolts that she already defeated and lifted him over her head.
“Hey! What are you doing?” he shouted nervously.
“Sorry about this!” said Rainbow as she tossed him over her head.
Neither of the Shadow Bolts had time to dodge when their screaming teammate was launched towards them. After he crashed into them, they were all knocked down to the ground like bowling pins. Once she was sure that no other ‘minions’ were after her, she looked up towards the City Hall where her daughter was climbing away from Lightning Dust.
“Hang on Scoots!” said Rainbow with her determined look.
She wasn’t sure where it comes from, but she felt it was appropriate for her to say that certain line as she was flying away towards City Hall.
“IT’S… ZAPPIN’ TIME!”