//------------------------------//
// 42- The Brave 
// Story: Bound by Scales 
// by FrostTheWolf 
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Bound by Scales- The Brave




        Out of all the things that Twilight was expecting to do today… this was definitely not one of them. The Alicorn was just finishing through the last of the tasks that she needed to complete, which included keeping her castle organized and her personal library all tidy. However, when she got an unexpected letter that was from Starlight… and now a Friendship report for that matter, it was the start of what was going to be a major dent in her plans for the day.

        The letter that she received told her that the situation in the Changeling Kingdom that involved Thorax’s brother, Pharynx, was much worse than what she originally believed. Not to mention the fact that one pony who she and her friends have encountered before from when Rainbow Dash first was accepted at Wonderbolt Academy seemed to be behind it. But there were also still many questions on her mind, most of them being details that were mentioned in the letter. One of them being how a failed Wonderbolt trainee managed to do it.

        The only part that was troubling her now… is actually trying to find Rainbow Dash. She wasn’t in her home in Cloudsdale, was not at the Weather Factory or Wonderbolt Academy when she went to go look and couldn’t find her friend in Ponyville either. Despite this though… there was still one place that she had not had the chance to check.

        And that was back at the hollow, where her coltfriend was. And with her brain in overdrive, all she could do was race over and use her magic to fling the door open. “Rainbow, I need to-”

        Yet, the scene that she barged into was… one that made her blush. Rainbow was lying on the bed, with rose petals everywhere and in a very suggestive posture. Before looking to Twilight and immediately springing into the air. “What the hay, Twilight!? Do you even consider knocking?!”

        “R-rainbow… W-what-?”

        “I had all of this set up so Aaron and I could be able to spend some time alone… But NO, you just HAD to barge in and mess up my plans!” The Pegasus snapped at her. “And just when I thought I could be able to reach the next step of my relationship with my coltfriend.”

        That… had a blush on Twilight’s face emerge and caused one of her wings to shoot up out of nowhere before she forcefully hand to set it down. All to her friends dismay. “So, what important matter is going on in the world to which you had to accidentally ruin the setup for my third date with Aaron?”

        All Twilight could do… was deeply sigh as her horn lit up and grabbed the letter that was in her saddlebag, handing it over to Rainbow for her to read. “Read this…”

        Rainbow, grabbing the letter with one of her wings, soon began to read it to herself and scan the information that was on the page… but at one particular point in her reading was when she was thrown off guard. “WHAT THE BUCK!!!?!”

        Of course… that did not go unnoticed as both of them heard the sound of crying as they saw Ken open up a window. “Hey, keep it down out there! We got a baby sleeping.”

        “S-sorry!” Rainbow replied back as Ken closed the window, a slight blush appearing on her face. “So… I’m taking that this is a big deal…”

        “Extremely,” Twilight responded. “The Changeling Kingdom is one of Equestria’s newest allies and Thorax went out of his way to save us when we were captured by Chrysalis. If there’s turmoil in his kingdom now, that could really cause problems if Thorax was wanting to be allies with foreign leaders.”

        “Still… Lightning Dust though,” Rainbow said to herself. “I don’t know why she would go as far to do this or what lead her to making these decisions… She’s not the kind of pony who does what others tell her to do.”

        “So like you then.” The Alicorn stated.

        “Yeah… Hey! Not cool!!” The pegasus snapped, while also paying attention to the window to make sure that she didn’t have anyone yell at her for being too loud. “Still… I find it hard to believe that some… Mistress ‘Fate’ is getting her to do all of this.”

        “You do realize that could just be a term that means something along the lines of Lady Luck right?” Twilight asked, wanting to hear her friends reaction. However, what she did not expect for Rainbow to do was facepalm herself as she looked back at the alicorn with a deadpan expression. “What?”

        “There’s actually a pony here that is named ‘Lady Luck’, Twilight… and she’s one of the ponies that Ken’s aunt hired for her bar/restaurant venture or something like that,” Rainbow told her, which was something that definitely caught Twilight by surprise. “Back to the main topic though… what are we going to do now?”

        “What else?” Twilight told her, as if the answer was clearly obvious. “I’m going to help out Starlight and Trixie… and you are coming with me.” All Rainbow could do was gulp for a moment… before looking back at her and asking a question.

        “Um… Can I take Aaron with me? You did… well… ruin my plans for later…” All Twilight could do was groan at that, before letting out a deep sigh.

        “Yes… You can let him come with you.” Despite saying that though… Twilight had a very bad feeling that this was not going to end well for them.



        “Well?” Trixie asked Starlight as both mares were waiting with King Thorax inside that of his own personal chambers. “Have you heard anything?”

        “Trixie, I only sent the letter like ten minutes ago. Can you not complain about this?” Starlight asked, sounding rather annoyed since this was the third time that Trixie had asked that question within the last few minutes.

        “Yeah, but given how this is kind of a BIG deal, it wouldn’t be that of Ms. ‘Princess of Friendship’ to take her time on such an urgent matter,” Trixie… made a valid point there. Even with her rather eerie attempt at trying to impersonate Twilight’s voice, the fact that she had not responded yet was no laughing matter. “What do you think she’s doing right now? Find a book on how to handle foreign disputes?”

        Starlight rolled her eyes at that as she looked back at the magician. “If anything, it would be more like Twilight to find somepony else to lend a hand… I think Spike used the phrase ‘It’s too dangerous to go alone’ to explain it to me in simple terms.” Of course, it was around that same time when the Unicorn finally got a letter back from Twilight as she began to open it up and read it. “Oh… Well, that sounds… good I think. Twilight says she’ll be there momentarily and she’s bringing Rainbow Dash with her… ‘P.S. Rainbow’s Coltfriend is coming too… Spike, please get me some aspirin because I feel like I’m going to get the mother of all headaches… wait, you aren’t still writing, are you?’.”

        “Oh wow… For a moment, I thought she was using one of those new ‘Spell to Speech’ devices that they’re developing in Canterlot,” Trixie giggled, before she felt the scroll that Starlight was reading being thrown at her head as it knocked her off the chair she was sitting on. “Ow! Hey!”

        “I can’t believe you’re trying to be humorous in a situation like this…” her friend sighed, shortly before looking back at Thorax. “I’m sorry about her behaviour-”

        “There’s no need to apologize…” The Changeling King told her as he got up from his seat and looked outside. “If anything… they seem to be arriving now… Hmm?”

        “What’s wrong, Thorax?” Starlight asked.

        “The letter said that Rainbow’s coltfriend was with them, right?” Thorax asked… before looking back at them. “Then why do I only see two of them?”




Point of View: Aaron




        Okay… personally, I thought that the day after we were thrown into a crazy Campaign of Carnage that I would at least have the time in order to spend with my marefriend… but nope! Instead, I get dragged along by Twilight and Rainbow on some ‘important matters’ and to make things worse, I got separated from them all because Twilight sneezed while she was reciting the spell for long range teleportation. Luckily, both Fire and Thunder were okay, even if they were both still in their pony forms-.

        “Uh… what are you? And why are you in my hunting ground?”

        When I looked up, all three of us looked at the person who was speaking. It was a changeling… but not like the others. This one looked like one of old changelings when Chrysalis was still queen but with purple eyes and red ‘mane’… and I was not liking it’s attitude. “I would ask you the same thing… and since when was this yours? I don’t see anything with your name on it.” I told him in a defensive manner. Because from his earlier tone, it sounded like he was wanting to pick a fight with me.

        “I’m the only changeling that hunts for love anymore, and this was where we used to hunt.” The changeling said bitterly. “Before my brother ruined it. Now get out, you scared the animals away when you arrived.”

        Looking around, I didn’t see any animals at all… so, this guy must have a couple screws loose or something. “Whatever then… Geez, finding Rainbow and the others is going to be a pain in my ass…” I said to myself, thinking that no one would be listening to me talk to myself.

        “Oh, the ponies must be with my brother at the hive.” The changeling pointed at a far away structure as he picked up his saddle bag which was ancient and worn.

        “Well… Thanks,” I said, surprised by that small tidbit as I adjusted my glasses and scratched the back of my head. “Geez, just when I thought that the possibility of a pegasus brainwashing a changeling was the weirdest thing I heard come out of someponies mouth today…”

        “What was that?” The changeling suddenly asked, glaring at me.

        “Oh… It was just something I heard recently… which just sounded crazy,” I told him for a moment… only to realize that his gaze was still focused on me. “Especially since this was something that Dash told me about some mare that she was once friends with-”

        The changeling was off in a flash. To which… I wasn’t really sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. But from the way that Fire and Thunder were looking at me, I had a feeling that I didn’t want to be here when that guy returned.

        Yet… just as I was beginning to move… I heard another flash and turned around to see that he was back… and there was someone with him.

        A pegasus mare with a cocky grin. Looked like the mirror image of Rainbow, but with different colors. She landed more than fifteen feet away, hunched over with her discolored wings flared.

        “Well, well, well… looks like one of the marked has come to play…” She said, narrowing her eyes.

        “Um… I’m sorry, but who are you?” I said, raising an eyebrow as I folded my arms for a moment. This mare, just from the way she was acting, was making me feel rather uncomfortable… and the predatory gaze on her face was not helping. Not to mention that I can’t tell what she was saying at all.

        “I’d take offence if I was a year younger, but I relish you not knowing. Makes things interesting for me, Aaron.” The mare grinned wickedly, her wings twitching in what seemed like pain.

        But more importantly… “How the f*ck do you know who I am?” I asked.

        “Tsk, tsk, Aaron. You’re sounding like Dash, all demanding.” The mare teased darkly.

        “More like you’re being creepy and hostile,” I muttered, before shaking my head and refocusing my attention. “So, what exactly do you want?”

        “Oh, me? I want to see an old friend again, catch up, maybe watch a flic like that Daring Do movie coming out.” Lightning sounded almost honest, but there was an underlying malice to her words. “But alas, today’s not the day.”

        Personally… I find it surprising that a pony who looks like Rainbow’s Alter Ego would use the term ‘alas’ while they were speaking. Because that would be something that Rainbow wouldn’t say though. She continued on for a long long time… but the amount of words that she had to say could not exactly go well with my patience right now.

        And at one point, I was done with waiting. “Oh for Christ’s sake, get on with it!!”

        The mare’s ears folded back. “Perhaps Polomare went too far…” She then yawned, shaking herself like a wet dog trying to dry off. “What do you want outta me?”

        Now we were getting somewhere… I think. “I believe I’m the one who’s supposed to be asking that question. What do you want outta me?”

        “Your death.” The mare simply said. “Dash’s suffering. And to please my family.”

        “Yeah… not happening,” I sighed. “You can try, but I think it’s not going to be a really good time… plus, I highly doubt your parents would be really excited to learn what you’ve become.” Now was when I needed to be ready for if this mare was going to do something. Because I had a bad feeling that bringing up that tidbit on family was like flipping her the bird.

        “Oh, no, the Night Mother’s quite pleased.” The mare’s grin became ear splitting, as her eyes showed a level of insanity that I’d never seen before. Something that looked to be far worse than that of Tina or that crazy Orendi girl I’ve seen before. Yet, the look in her eyes almost looked downright murderous and broken.

        Though… this ‘Night Mother’ thing sounded rather suspicious. “This… coming from a mare… who has the face of a psycho murderer. What are you going to do now, start calling your friend there ‘Puddin’?”

        “Pharynx will be a brother of the night… If he chooses.” The mare said, looking at the changeling.

        Pharynx looked to the side. “I… need to see my brother before I make any decisions.”

        “Then go.” The mare stated, and Pharynx was gone soon after. The mares wings began to smolder, orange sparks flickering off as embers. “Now… you have been marked by my family, Mr. Aaron… I am not meant to end you here, but I’ll break your spirits!”

        Immediately, Fire and Thunder transformed into their demon pot forms as both gauntlets were on my hands. Fire in my right hand and Thunder in my left. And all I can do was give her a small smirk. “You can try…”

        The mare flew with such speed I barely had time to react as her wings combusted completely, each feather engulfed in an intense flame. Barely dodging her first move, I launched myself into the air as I felt Lightning began to channel through my left arm. The technique was called Lightning Flash, and it would allow for me to strike an opponent from above shortly after launching myself up.

        However… what I did not anticipate was how quick the Pegasus actually was. She evaded my attack like it was nothing, and sent a small torrent of flame into my chest, catching my shirt on fire and burning into my chest, and in that same moment landed with all of her weight onto her four hooves. Which kicked me in my face.

        “Son of a…” I cursed. This mare, not only was somehow able to avoid my own attacks, but counter them. But there’s no way I’m letting her harm Dash and the others… Channeling energy in my right hand this time, where I had Fire, I now threw out my fist at the mare as she was closing in. Hoping to get a hit. She ducked a split second before I landed in and rammed into me. I felt my lungs lose air and swear I heard a snap.

        Did she… Oh god, she broke my ribs… “Agh! B-back off!” I snapped, kicking her to try and gain some distance. Only to notice that part of my shoe was now beginning to burn away in the process. However, I could still feel the pain in my chest and it was getting harder to breath.

        “What was that about breaking your spirits? Am I close yet? Because I’ve barely toyed with you.” The mare snarked, a cocky smile adorning her face. Personally… I didn’t want to admit it… but I was in a bit of a bad spot right now. I needed to find a way to get everypony’s attention and get help. Otherwise, I’m dead-.

        PYOOM!!

        Wait… Did I just hear magic past by my head?

        Lightning was on the ground, having backed away. She held her hoof against her face, as the magical beam had somehow entered one of her nostrils and exploded outward, causing a lot of blood to flow out.

        “Buck!” Lightning cried out, clearly in more pain than me. When I turned around though, that was when I saw Starlight, Twilight and Rainbow racing over in a hurry. Shocked to see the state that I was in.

        “Oh dear Celestia, that wasn’t supposed to happen!!” Starlight gasped. “I only meant that to distract her, not harm her!!” Um… not to be rude… but are you overlooking the fact that I’m in too much pain to move and-.

        “Aaron!!” Oh thank god, somepony finally noticed. I turned to see Rainbow immediately run to me, before looking back at Twilight. “Twilight, hurry!! Aaron’s hurt-!”

        However… it was in that moment that Rainbow finally saw the pegasus mare that was trying to kill me. Lightning Dust, who was right now shuddering from her injury… and looked really pissed off right now. “D-dust?”

        “Dash~?” Lightning mocked through the pain, a forced smile on her face. “Nice to see ya, I suppose. Wish it were under better circumstances for me.”

        However… Rainbow just stared in disbelief, before glaring directly at her. “What the buck is wrong with you? What did Aaron do to you to deserve this?!”

        “You’re so naive… so naive…” Lightning Dust let her head sag as she let the blood from her muzzle drip into the dirt. “You’re the reason, Rainbow.”

        “You almost killed my friends!! What happened to you back then was your own fault, not mine!!” Rainbow glared at her. “If you come one step closer-”

        “Don’t!” I immediately coughed up a little more blood after I cried out. But I still needed to warn her. “She’ll burn you to cinders if you try-”

        “Wait… Burn…?” Rainbow replied back… but for a moment, it looked like something clicked inside her head. “No way…… You’re…”

        “Wait… How in the world can she try to burn us?” Starlight asked, while Twilight herself looked to be trying to perform some form of medical magic to ease my pain. “Pegasi only have weather magic, not fire magic.”

        “Try telling that to her…” I coughed again. “She has the wings to prove it…”

        Lightning Dust’s head locked eyes with Rainbow, her new injury showing for all to see as she spread her wings once more, each one smoldering like before. “I only followed my idols example… I was never taught a lesson. I didn’t know any better. Yet I was tossed out the moment you suggested it. You, who were the Element of Loyalty, a famous mare that even I looked up to!”

        “I never suggested anything!!” Rainbow snapped. “I even told Spitfire that I would quit because of your fiasco. You don’t care for anyone but yourself…” She gritted her teeth, acting defensive and staying close to me while Starlight and Twilight were both tending to me and channeling their magic to my injuries.

        “But you stood by as Spitfire kicked me out! The Wonderbolts were my dream! I could have learned if they even gave me a chance! I didn’t even get a bucking warning!” Lightning’s eyes watered. “Spitfire encouraged me, so I kept doing it! And, on the note that I don’t care about anypony but myself? I didn’t have a single pony looking out for me, or anything.”

        “If you cared about my friendship with you… you wouldn’t have done something to harm my friends.” That… was fierce. Not to mention bold. But I had a bad feeling that something like that was going to make Lightning Dust even more angry… and want to attack us. I couldn’t move, Twilight and Starlight were too focused on me and Rainbow wouldn’t stand a chance against Lightning in this state. Come on, there’s gotta be something I can do!

        “I was terrified when we lost control of that tornado! I didn’t see your friends, and you could’ve helped me… But no, I bet your ego for being the best kept you from speaking out when Spitfire took away my life’s dream.” Lightning Dust laughed humorlessly. “And look at me now, barely anything compared to the Element of Loyalty, the Wonderbolt, the adored Rainbow Dash while I lost my wings and my life!”

        SMACK!!!

        “Shut… up…” Rainbow snapped as Lightning was knocked back a bit from punching her in the jaw. “You can throw a pity party all you like… but I’m not going to take any crap you have against me, my friends, my family or those I care for the most. Your actions lead to your own consequences… and you laugh at it like it’s all a game to you.”

        Lightning’s wings were set ablaze. “That’s why I hate you, Dash… You’re stuck in a little bubble, where you think the world is black or white. Where’s Trixie or Starlight’s punishments? I did a mistake and somehow I’m to blame!” Dust began cackling weakly as she backed up, wobbling slightly from the blood loss. But my concern… was that she was going to lash out at us.

        Well… If I’m going to black out soon… then perhaps I say one last thing before doing so. “Perhaps if this Night Mother never found you first and mindwiped you into what you are now-” Hold on a moment, need to cough up again… Okay, now where was I. “Perhaps things could’ve been different…”

        “Yeah, right…” Lightning said bitterly. “Not after I lost my wings...”

        “Sure thing, ‘Icarus’…” I groaned again, not really wanting to deal with this sh*t right now because of the amount of pain I was in right now.

        “Funny… I was given Icarus’ Wings after mother tore off mine…” Wait, what the f*ck? Is she being serious? And why does she look like she’s in some kind of dream when saying that?! That’s just f*cking creepy!! Why did you have to make everypony here look freaked out of their minds, including me?

        Lightning Dust then collapsed onto her side, coughing up blood and whimpering. “Sweet mother… Sweet mother…” Of course… that was when I saw Starlight do something that… well… threw all of us off guard. She took the same healing spell that was being used on me… and redirected it back to Lightning. Healing her injuries from before and stunning us in the process.

        “Starlight, why would-?”

        “Because I believe that there’s a chance that she can change… it doesn’t have to be like this…” Starlight told the Alicorn. “Remember… I helped Trixie change and I also tried to reform Chrysalis. Helping her is no different from helping them.”

        “But she could harm you…” Rainbow told her, trying to tell her that she was a still a danger.

        “Rainbow… I know that there might’ve been some bad blood between you two, but look where that’s gotten her…” Starlight told her, looking back at my marefriend with a firm gaze in her eyes. “She may look like a different pony, but I feel as if the Lightning Dust that you knew is hidden under all of that… and she’s begging for us to help her. And that’s something I can’t say no too.”

        “But I can!” Pharynx’s voice came from behind and rammed his head into Starlight’s side and landed on his legs. He stared down at Starlight. “Tell Thorax that I’ve made my choice…” With that said, he grabbed Lightning with his teeth and tossed her into the air, transforming himself into a large beast right before she landed in his back. The Unicorn could only be able to slowly rise onto her hooves… before realizing that it was too late.

        Both of them were gone… some of us were hurt, both physically and emotionally… and after all was said and done, there was just one thing that we had to admit… We screwed up. Big time.

        Now if you excuse me… I’m about to pass out.



        Pharynx landed at the edge of the hive’s land, reverting back to his true form and letting Lightning Dust collapse to his side. She was barely conscious, and Starlight hadn’t healed her completely, meaning her muzzle was still very much red, and would leave a scar.

        Lightning weakly stood up, shuddering in phantom pains and pains of her more recent injury. Pharynx was beginning to become worried for her mental state. Not that he really cared for her, but for himself if she were to fly off the hinges.

        A voice then greeted the two, “Welcome, I’m thankful that our dear sister is with us, in the Night Mother’s unliving embrace. We’ll treat your injuries at home, sister, and afterwards you’ll continue training.” A human woman stepped into clear view, wearing a royal victorian-esque purple coat. Her words caused Lightning to flinch, but there was no malice in the woman’s words where Pharynx was concerned. “And thankful that she convinced you to join the Dark Brotherhood, brother Pharynx.”

        The changeling grinned. “Where do I start?”

        “We have more Equestrians to recruit… Come, we have a grave to dig up.” The woman turned, and a black vortex opened. “Welcome to the family~”




Point of View: Aaron




        “Oww… my head…” I groaned as I finally began to open my eyes… However, this time I was not in the changeling kingdom… but back at home in the hollow. As I tried to get up, I noticed that I had several bandages around where my ribs were and… wait, why are there rose petals all over the place-?

        “Aaron!!” Oww! Dashie, why did you have to throw yourself at me the moment that I wake up… wait… are those tears going down her face? “I’m so glad you’re okay!”

        “E-easy Rainbow…” I told her, even though she didn’t let up on holding onto me. Note to self: Don’t overestimate Rainbow’s strength like… ever. “I know that you’re relieved to see me but… what happened?”

        “Aaron, you’ve been out for a few hours…” Wait, I was? Seriously? “I’m so relieved to see that your awake, but Twilight said you should take it easy. She healed your injuries, but you need to take some time off or they’ll open back up again…” Dully noted… though, why was Rainbow acting… different? I mean… Rainbow is Rainbow, for sure. But she seemed to not be her typical self.

        “Rainbow… is something wrong?”

        “Umm… W-well… Remember what L-lightning Dust said earlier?” Seriously, that’s what’s bothering her-? “The whole thing about how I’m to blame for what happened… Well… She’s not wrong… I feel as if what she was saying to me was true… I just… really didn’t want to accept it though because I wasn’t sure how everypony would think of me because of it-”

        That… was when I placed a finger on her nose, a sign for her to stop talking. “Rainbow… I don’t care about what happened… and I know that there are things that you regret. But whatever it is… it’s not going to make me look at you any differently.” More tears began to come down Rainbow’s face as she hugged me again. This time a little bit more softly as I looked back at her and returned the hug.

        Though… now would be the right time to ask about one thing that stood out to me. “So… what’s with the rose petals?”

        Instantly, a blush emerged on Rainbow’s face as she looked back at me. “W-well… I was wanting to… well… have things be a bit romantic… I thought we could spend some time alone… before Twilight dragged us into the whole thing with Starlight.”

        That just had me sigh for a moment, before smirking as I looked back at her. “Who says that we can’t spend that time now?”



        “Hey Pinkis… is it just me or am I hearing somepony screaming right now?”

        “Oh for f*cks sake, SHUT UP!” Pinkis’ friend Fluttershout’s voice caused everyone in the temple to go deaf for more than three seconds.

        After waiting a little while though… Applejack groaned. “Um… I don’t think that helped any…” Yet, the only thing that Fluttershout did accidentally do… was wake up Candy again. “I got it this time… Just come on inside Shout. I don’t think we should try to wake up the whole Hollow at this point.”



Somewhere in Equestria

        “Why are we standing over a grave…? On a hill no less, this is cheesey as crap!” Lightning Dust said, having returned to some semblance of normalcy after… some treatment.

        “Because we’re recruiting.” The human woman replied as droplets of rain sprinkled onto them. “This pony assisted our Listener when she arrived here years ago. She’ll help us relocate our link with the Night Mother, and beyond.”

        Pharynx grumbled. “Your pony names are pathetic… Who would name their hatchling ‘Pear Butter’?” He asked, looking at the gravestone. “Besides, she’s dead…”

        The human woman pulled out a red gemstone. “Not for long…”




End Chapter 42