//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: A Still More Glorious Dawn Awaits // by CDRW //------------------------------// A Still More Glorious Dawn Awaits Chapter 6 By CDRW Applejack Comprehension ~ Day 2 It was a slight lessening of the darkness that woke Applejack up. The soft, blue-tinted light peeking through the living-room window was the first hint of dawn, signalling that the new day was about to start. She sat up and realized that she had spent the whole night in the armchair. At some point she'd slumped down and curled up into a horribly unnatural position to use the arm like a pillow, and now her back was complaining heartily about it. And for some reason there was a blanket draped over her, though she didn't remember ever getting up to get one. Applejack stretched to try and work the kink out of her back and then looked around. The lamp still stood on the end table, but it was all out of oil, and the photograph of her parents still stood next to it. It was a bit stupid, but for some reason she felt heartened by the fact that they were still smiling. And there was something else. Laying next to the lamp, was a note. Applejack pushed aside the blanket and reached out to pick it up, trying to ignore the sudden memory of the smell of smoke from her dream. It was a short note, written in a delicate script that she recognized at once. I'm going to look for him. Please tell Applebloom I'm sorry. Fluttershy P.S. Please look after the animals while I'm gone. They need to be fed three times a day. Angel knows which animals need what food and how much, so you can just ask him. Also, make sure their water is refilled twice a day. I'm so sorry about asking you to do this, but I have to go now or I won't ever be able to do it, and I just know you'll take good care of everyone. And if it's all right with you, could you please explain to Angel what's going on? He's probably worried because I never came home yesterday. Applejack slowly put the letter down on the end table and tried to think of what to do. Twilight Sparkle Comprehension ~ Day 2 Twilight awoke to the feel of Spike's hand shaking her shoulder gently, his claws digging into her skin just a little bit. Wearily, she sat up and dispelled the silencing spell that she'd used to keep from waking him up during the night. Her dream had left her with a tight ache in her throat and a sick feeling in her stomach that made it difficult to speak, but she managed to croak out "I'm up Spike, just give me a minute," and waved him off without opening her eyes. There was a long moment of silence, and then Spike said "Alright Twi. Breakfast is in ten." There was concern in his voice, but he'd learned long ago not to ask her how she'd slept. The answer was always "badly." He left her side quietly, the soles of his feet making a soft padding sound on the wooden floor. She heard the creak and click of the door as he left the room and closed it behind him. Twilight collapsed back down onto the soft hotel bed and curled up into a shivering ball, using her magic to wrap the blanket around her body as tight as she could to try and fight off the cold empty feeling that still lingered in her bones courtesy of her nightly nightmare. At least this one hadn't been as bad as usual. Sometimes Twilight wondered why she still had these dreams. They'd started after her parents died, and for good reason. She couldn't remember the actual event, but her memories of the aftermath were enough to give any filly nightmares. Shouldn't they have faded by now though? At least a little bit? Maybe they wouldn't stop because it was her fault, and some part of her deep down still remembered doing it. Only Celestia really knew what happened for sure since she was the first pony on the scene afterwards, and she wouldn't tell Twilight. It wasn't hard to put the pieces together though. She'd been in the middle of the applied magic portion of her entrance exam, and was failing. She was supposed to hatch a dragon egg, but couldn't bring up any magic at all. In desperation, she'd poured every ounce of strength into making something happen, anything at all. Then there was a rainbow-colored explosion outside the window and she'd blacked out. When she'd woken up, she had a cutie-mark showing her special talent for magic and the dragon's egg had hatched. And everypony in the room was dead. Nopony knew what had caused the explosion, but the rest of it was obvious to Twilight. She'd already been scared and stressed, and when the explosion startled her it was enough to push her past her block. All the magic inside of her had come out in one massive surge of uncontrolled thaumaturgical energies, and then... She pulled the blanket tighter. Maybe it was right that she still had nightmares. With her eyes still closed, Twilight started her morning ritual. It was something Celestia had taught her as a filly, one of those stupid placebo things that grownups told foals to do when they're scared because it makes them concentrate on something else, and then suddenly they're not scared anymore. It was stupid and childish, and Celestia would probably laugh at her if she knew that Twilight still did it. Twilight took a deep breath and in her mind's eye she pictured Celestia's face, wise and kind and always with that tiny smile, like she knew something that nopony else did. She reconstructed every detail as best she could remember, from Celestia's violet eyes that matched the color of her student's coat, to her still youthful and unlined face, to her mane which always reminded Twilight of the Aurora Borealis. Then Twilight moved on to her teacher's body: her pure white coat and her wings large enough to enfold a normal pony in their embrace; her long flowing tail in pastel pinks and purples, greens and blues that matched her mane perfectly; and last of all, her cutie mark, a bright yellow emblem of the sun. Before she knew it, Celestia, the Empress of Equestria, Goddess of the Heavens, and the most important pony in the whole world stood against a background of black in Twilight's mind's eye, every detail exactly as it was in real life. When she was certain that she had it, Twilight moved on to the next pony, careful not to let the image of Celestia fade as she divided her attention. Shining Armor's eyes were sky blue and very striking, and they seemed to radiate...something. She never was sure what. Her brother had presence. He wasn't particularly strong looking or imposing—though he was very handsome—or even smart, but anypony who looked at him immediately knew that he was a good pony, and that they could trust him with anything. He was a member of the Palace Guard, and even more importantly, on Celestia's personal detail. Twilight had a feeling that it was only a matter of time until he was promoted to Captain of the Guard. He was definitely going to be first in line for the spot when Ivory Tower decided to retire. One by one, Twilight visualized the faces of all the ponies—and dragon—who were important to her, and her shivering slowly faded away along with the cold. Last of all, she remembered her parents as they were when they were alive, happy and proud of her, with love in their eyes. They were both unicorns. Her mother was grey with a light purple and white-striped mane, sky-blue eyes, and three purple stars for a cutie mark. Her dad was the cool blue of the sky at twilight, with a slightly darker, meticulously combed mane. His cutie mark was a somewhat ludicrous picture of a crescent moon nestled snugly inside the curve of another, larger crescent moon. Sometimes when she couldn't sleep Twilight lay in her bed trying to imagine what special talents went with those cutie marks, but she never could come up with a satisfactory answer. Mentally, Twilight stepped back and looked at the image she'd wrought. Everypony was standing together like they were posing for a family photograph. Everypony was happy, and even the years since her parent's death hadn't done anything to dim their images. She felt better, ready to face the day, but she couldn't get up quite yet. There was something wrong with the picture. Somepony was missing. The cover of History of Equestria, A Foal's Guide flashed in her head unbidden, almost driving out the imaginary family portrait she was holding on to, and suddenly she knew what was missing. Next to Celestia, almost on its own, another pony began to take shape. The book said Celestia's sister was in charge of the night while she was in charge of the day, so Twilight imagined another Alicorn like her, a little smaller, and dark blueish purple instead of white, but every bit as regal. Her face was imperious and had an inexplicable, but undeniable exotic beauty, unparalleled by anything else in existence. Like Celestia, her mane and tail flowed in a breeze that didn't touch anything else, and Twilight could see stars in them, as if they were a tear in the fabric of reality and the other side looked out into the void of space. Twilight smiled in satisfaction. The new addition might not be a real pony, but it felt right to have her there next to Celestia. Slowly, she opened her eyes and unwrapped herself from the blanket. Today was going to be a long day, but she was ready for it. And when she was done trying to find ponies for the Summer Sun Celebration Committee in Ponyville, she could see if the little town had a library and start doing some real research into the story of Nightmare Moon. Pinkie Pie Comprehension ~ Day 2 "Oh good, you're not dead." The first sight Pinkie Pie saw when she opened her eyes was The Great and Powerful Trixie's face right up in hers. It wasn't every day that a pony was able to render Pinkie Pie speechless, but in her defense, it was very early in the morning and she wasn't actually awake yet. Slowly, she closed her eyes and opened them again. Trixie was still there, so she croaked out the only thing she could think of. "Huh?" "Trixie was a little bit worried about making you spend the night outside, but we're not close enough to Canterlot for the Cutie-Mark-Killer to come after you—not that Trixie has any idea why they'd want your cutie mark anyways—and there was no way in the nine hells that Trixie was going to let you sleep in her bed! Now get up, it's time to go. If we hurry, we'll make it to Canterlot today, and Trixie will have a chance to rest up before her audition tomorrow!" Trixie's head disappeared from view and Pinkie Pie found herself staring up at a wooden ceiling crisscrossed with beams and chains and a whole bunch of other junk about two feet over her head. "Huh?" "Er..." Trixie's head reappeared with a plastered on, toothy smile. "Trixie means your audition of course. Don't mind her. Sometimes her tongue gets a little ahead of itself. Trixie is sure you understand what that's like." Then she disappeared again, leaving Pinkie Pie looking at what she now recognized as the underside of Trixie's wagon. The grass Pinkie was laying on tickled her cheek as she turned her head to peer blearily in the direction Trixie had gone. "...Huh?" Rainbow Dash Comprehension ~ Day 2 The air up here was just the way Dash liked it. Cold. Yeah, it was summer, but at this altitude, and this early in the morning, it was still cold enough that she could see her breath as it puffed out into the crystal clear air in time with every other downbeat of her wings. She could feel the air's numbing bite on her nose, her ears, and the leading edges of her wings, but the exercise of flying was enough to keep the rest of her body pleasantly cool instead of freezing. It was like a slap in the face to wake her up. She could nap in the afternoon when it was hot and muzzy. Right now, it was time to fly. Nearly all of the streets in Canterlot below were deserted, probably because even Celestia herself was just barely out of bed and raising the sun. Dash could see it barely coming up over the horizon from her vantage point high above the city streets, but most of Canterlot still sat in the shadow of the mountain. The only thing that wasn't hidden was the royal palace itself. Since it sat so high up the mountain, and was a little more southward than the city, some sunlight just barely managed to catch on its golden domes and minarets, making them look like little spots of fire against the black backdrop of the sleeping city. Somewhere down there was the Canterlot Pony Express station, and her soon-to-be new job. All she had to do was find it, and that wasn't going to be hard at all. Pony Express stations were important, so it was going to be in the nice part of town. And since the Express was a pegasi-only outfit, their buildings always had an easy-to-see landing pad on the roof for couriers. It made them nearly impossible to miss from the air. She'd probably be able to find it on her first fly-over. She reached back and gave her saddlebags a quick tug to make sure they were still strapped down tight and then nosed downwards into a dive towards the city. Canterlot was a pretty weird city when you thought about it. All the buildings looked the same, whether from the air or from the ground, and the entire thing was one gigantic maze of cobblestone streets that were way too narrow for a place that big. And then there was the whole "built on a cliff" thing. How on earth did all those unicorns and earth ponies keep from killing themselves? The crowds during the daytime probably sucked like nothing else, but right then the streets were almost empty. The only pony Rainbow Dash could see was a blue unicorn in a nice suit lying in one of the gutters. Probably some noblepony who'd passed out drunk after a party or something. In spite of herself, Dash started drifting lower and lower towards the city until she was skimming just above roof-line. The narrow, twisty streets slipping by below her hooves would have made the perfect obstacle course, and she wanted nothing more than to go blasting through them at top speed. The problem was, she needed to stay high in order to spot the Pony Express station. She didn't have time to go off and start having fun. "Oh come on!" she cried, her voice loud in the quiet morning air. She reached out and gave a chimney a hard slap with her left hoof as she blew past. "It's not like I've got an appointment! There's nothing wrong with having some fun for a few minutes." It was still really early in the morning anyways. Sure, the Express stations were open twenty-four seven, but that didn't mean they'd want ponies knocking at this hour. Her whole plan to show up early to impress them was starting to look a little stupid anyw— "Wait a minute..." A flash of red and white flickered between the roofs in the distance. Dash flapped her wings hard a few times to gain some altitude and scanned the area again. After a few back and forth passes with her eyes, she saw it. About half a mile off, just above the roof-line, was the landing pad for a Pony Express station. She back-winged and hovered in place while she stared hard at the building and tried to think. She shouldn't just rush into this. Yeah, she could go straight there and beg and plead for a job like any average pony, but that wouldn't cut it. She needed to do something...awesome. Something that would make them forget about even asking her for a resume. Something that would show them she was the best flyer in all of Equestria. Sonic Rainboom. Her wing-beats slowed down, and Dash landed on the purple-tiled roof of somepony's house, chewing on her bottom lip. A Sonic Rainboom would be awesome. About as awesome as anything could get in fact. The problem was, she'd only ever done a Sonic Rainboom once in her life, when she got her cutie mark. She'd practiced her flying flank off ever since then and still couldn't pull another one off under even the best conditions. Wuss. "I am NOT a wuss!" she blurted, and then snapped her mouth shut when she heard her words echo in the silent pre-dawn air. Nervously, she cocked her ear to make sure she didn't hear anypony stirring in the house below. After a few tense seconds of silence, she relaxed, convinced that nopony had heard her; but just to make sure, she fluttered over to the roof of another house a few buildings down. Who knew how a Canterlot pony would feel to find some stranger just hanging around on their rooftop? "I'm not a wuss," she muttered to herself again. She could totally do a Rainboom if she needed, but these weren't optimal conditions! All she'd had to eat for the last, who knew how long, was wild grass. Not exactly the most filling or nutritious thing around. And she had saddlebags with her. Those would totally kill her aerodynamics! Yeah, she could still go fast while wearing them, but not anywhere near Rainboom speeds. And she sure as Celestia's Sun wasn't going to just leave them somewhere where some other pony could rifle through them and take her stuff! Suddenly it dawned on Rainbow Dash what was happening. This wasn't about doing awesome stunts. She was just stalling because she didn't want to do it. "Ugh!" She gathered her haunches up underneath her and leapt into the air with a powerful spring, flapping her wings hard and fast as she sped towards the Pony Express. Rarity Comprehension ~ Day 2 Rarity stepped back and admired her handiwork with an exhausted, but incredibly smug smile. She'd done it. Three days worth of hard work in one night, and every single dress was fabulous. Who would have guessed that the key to inspiration was simply a lot of pressure, a bit of sleep-deprivation, and entirely too much caffeine? The input of generous and knowledgeable strangers didn't hurt either. The triumphant fashionista had to fight down the sudden urge to burst out into fit of giggling. That wouldn't do at all. Ladies didn't have giggle-fits, at least not when their little sisters were staying with them because their parents were out of town for a few weeks and might get woken up by the very un-ladylike behavior that she was trying so very hard not to do, and see said lady in the throes of said un-ladylike behavior and blackmail her with it for the rest of her days. Rarity swayed a little on her hooves and tried to think, was it un-ladylike to feel a little loopy after doing the impossible on no sleep and too much coffee? Probably. Yeah, she should probably go do something else. Something else that wasn't sleeping. At the very least, she needed to get out of the boutique for a few minutes. She still had an incredibly important and long day ahead of her, and she needed to figure out what to do with the town hall. A change of scenery would help her focus, and the morning air might help her clear her head. Rarity could probably use the opportunity to send some hoof-written notices to all her customers informing them that their dresses were ready for pick-up and payment. Mail that went out in the morning usually made its way to its destination that very same day so long as you were sending it to another address in Ponyville, not that many ponies did that when they could just walk next door, but Rarity was running a business and using the post would help maintain that air of professionalism she always strove for. That would be a nice touch, better than sending Sweetie Belle around to tell them, and much better than just waiting for them to come in one by one. If everything went right today, she was going to be leaving town soon and she'd need to have all her orders picked up and paid for as quickly as possible. Excitedly, she ran over to her desk and pulled out several sheets of paper and a quill and started writing furiously. During the night, Rarity had developed a non-stop jittering throughout her entire body, and it took every ounce of control she had to keep the quill from shaking around in the grip of her magic and ruining the notes, but somehow she managed. Then she folded them all up, placed them in some envelopes, magicked a saddlebag from its place by the door, and carefully placed them inside. Rarity started towards the door, but on her way she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror hanging on the wall and gasped. "Oh no no no no no!" She was an absolute wreck! Her mane stuck up all over the place, her tail looked like a ball of yarn after her cat Opalescence had had her way with it, and she didn't have one bit of makeup on! Rarity dropped the saddlebag and bolted for the restroom. A few minutes of quick and painful brushwork later she at least looked presentable, however the makeup was proving to be more of a challenge than she'd expected. Her jitters weren't going away, and she nearly put her eye out with the mascara brush. But with a little patience, and some muttered curse-words that nopony else knew she knew, she had herself looking presentable. With that done, she was ready to face anything the day could throw at her. Quickly, so as to try and get her blood flowing a little bit, she trotted to the door and walked outside into the cool morning air. *** Rarity was just turning the corner next to the post office when she was nearly bowled over by Clementine coming the other way at a dead run. "Mrs. Clementine," she exclaimed as the other pony ran past, "Is something the matter?" The other mare was a mess. Her mane was down and it looked like she hadn't brushed it at all after getting up, and she had a frightful expression on her face. At hearing Rarity's call, she abruptly skidded to a halt, turned, and ran back to where she was standing. "Applejack sent me to find you! She says you know Fluttershy. You haven't seen her have you?" "Yes, Fluttershy is one of my closest friends." Rarity didn't know what was going on, but Clementine's distress was contagious, and she was starting to get worried herself. "But I haven't seen her in days because of work. Why, what's wrong? Has something happened to her? I was supposed to meet her yesterday at the spa, but she didn't show up." "She's gone missing!" Clementine said. "She was staying with Applejack last night because of the news about Macintosh, and when we woke up this morning she was gone! She left a note saying she was going looking for him. Everypony's out looking for her, but we can't find her, and Applejack asked me to come and see if she'd showed up at your boutique." Rarity's breath caught in her throat at Clementine's words. News about Macintosh? Gone looking for him? Missing? A torrent of questions swirled through her head, and she couldn't figure out which one to ask first! "I...I'm not sure I understand. Fluttershy's missing?" Clementine nodded frantically. "Gone, last night. She just up and left without telling anypony." Where would she go? What news? Was this why she skipped out on the spa visit yesterday? Big Macintosh is on his way home from Zebrica, why would she go looking for him? How would she go looking for him, that's halfway around the world! That's not like Fluttershy at all! Rarity swallowed. There would be time for questions later, first they had to find her. "Where have you looked?" Clementine gestured back the way she'd come with her hoof. "Applejack's heading up to Fluttershy's house right now, and she sent Applebloom over to the Carrot farm next door to find out if they'd seen anything. The poor filly was a right mess; she thinks this is her fault. I think Applejack really just gave her something to do so to keep her from breaking down. Applejack told me to come find you since I already knew where you lived, and Mimosa is walking around town to see if she's still here for some reason." The older mare shook her head. "Though if she's not at her house or with you I don't see why she would. Her note was pretty direct. And none of us could ever hope to catch a pegasus with a head start" "I can't think of any other ponies she would go to if she wasn't even going to tell me she was leaving." Was Fluttershy really gone? What kind of news could prompt her to just up and leave? Why didn't Applejack have any pegasus ponies out looking if they were the only ones who could catch her? "Maybe..." Rarity said, glancing around as she tried to get her sluggish mind around the situation and at the same time think of something productive. Her gaze landed on the bulletin board outside the post office, with that picture of the handsome stallion in the cowpony hat still up. Would Fluttershy go there to check her mail first? Of course not! Rarity wanted to smack herself for thinking something so stupid. What would Fluttershy do if she was going to leave on a long trip? She didn't have a clue. Okay. What would Rarity do if she was going to leave on a long trip for mysterious reasons? "It's a long way to Zebrica. She would need supplies. Maybe she went shopping?" she finally blurted out the only thing she could think of, fully aware of how stupid she sounded. Thankfully, Clementine didn't laugh, just nodded and asked "Are there any stores open at this time of day?" "This way." Rarity took off down the road as she looked back over her shoulder and called to Clementine. "I think there's a few ponies in the market who open their stalls this early. And while we're there we can find some pegasi to help look for her." Rainbow Dash Comprehension ~ Day 2 The inside of the Pony Express station was surprisingly posh, not the sort of thing you expected to see from the fastest, most no-nonsense delivery ponies there were. The walls were covered with wood paneling and there was a painting on each one of different pegasi in various epic but stupid flying poses. In the corner between the walls and the ceiling, there was some sort of carved wooden thingy that went all the way around the little waiting room. There were two very comfortable looking red velvet chairs whos arms were formed from the back of the chair curving around and dipping just low enough that you didn't feel like you were sitting in a big teacup. Then there was the counter where customers came in and did whatever it was they did to get a letter or package delivered. It looked like a bar. One of those high-class bars that probably cost a whole lot of bits. And behind that very bar-like counter stood an older but still in-shape red pegasus with a yellow mane who seemed to be trying not to fall asleep. Just the way she'd practiced before, Dash casually strolled up to the counter and said "Hey, I heard you were hiring pegasi. One of your guys delivered a scroll to me yesterday and said I should apply. Brown pegasus, about my age, never got his name though." Should have gotten his name Dash. Name dropping doesn't work if you don't have a freaking name to drop! There's got to be a million brown pegasi i— "Ah, so you're the mare Sandy was talking about!" Rainbow Dash blinked. "Wait, what? He told you about me? But how did he know I was even coming?" "He didn't, but told me I should keep an eye out for you anyways. He was quite keen about it, said I'd recognize you on the spot, and I quote '''cause there ain't no other pegasus who looks like her." Crap! What do I say! This was completely throwing off her groove! She'd spent all last night on a cloud practicing how she was going to answer any questions that they asked and everything they talked about, but now the whole conversation was off course. It was time to improvise. "I, um..." Okay, it was a bit confusing that that stallion was so keen to recommend her like that, but never look a gift horse in the mouth, right? She was pretty darn recognizable though. With her mane, she tended to stand out in a crowd. "So yeah, you need fast ponies, and it looks like this Sandy guy's put in a recommendation for me. So do I have the job?" She felt very much like pounding her head on the table, but instead, she looked the old pony straight in the eyes and smiled her most confident smile. Her "I'm awesome and I know it, and you know it, and I know you know it," smile. It was the sort of smile that made ponies who thought they were fast challenge her to a race. If she could just get him to take the bait... The old pony's eyes darted back and forth between the two of hers for a half a second, and Dash felt a bead of sweat forming on her neck. Finally a smile started growing all over his face and he started laughing. She chose to believe that was a good sign. Until he fell on his back behind the counter and started kicking his legs. "Ha ha ha! Oh wow. Bucking perfect. I can see now why my son was so keen on you. Just perfect." His son? Was that a good sign or a bad sign? After a few attempts to get up that were stymied by some pretty hardcore chortles, the old pony managed to pull himself to his hooves and wipe a tear from his eye. "The name's Red," he said as he extended a hoof over the counter for her to shake. "Rainbow Dash," she replied, taking his hoof. "Well Rainbow Dash, don't get ahead of yourself there. It doesn't matter who you are, you gotta prove yourself able to work here first. We can't have any slow ponies working for the Express after all." It was all Dash could do not to start flying laps around the room. She had it! She had it! She freaking had it! "You don't have to worry about that one bit," she exclaimed with a much more genuine smile. "I'm the fastest pony in Equestria." "Yeah, we'll see about that." Red stepped away from the counter towards a little door in the wall next to it and opened it, beckoning her inside. "Step into my office for a minute. You got your resume on you?" Son of a— Dash almost froze up mid-stride as she walked through to the other side of the counter, into Red's "office," but she didn't think he noticed. This was the part where everything always went straight to tartarus. "Yeah, I got my resume right here." She patted her saddlebag but didn't reach into it, instead she just walked into the room pretending to inspect the scenery. Play it cool Dash. He likes you. All you got to do is get him to give you a flight trial. The resume doesn't matter. Just a little speed bump, and you're a pegasus. You can fly over speed bumps. Speed bumps don't mean jack to you. Now figure out what to say. It was a boring room. An almost empty room. A room with absolutely nothing in it that she could comment on to distract Red. All that there was behind the front counter was a desk against the back wall with a swivel chair and a filing cabinet in the corner next to it, along with another door that led somewhere else. Desperately, Rainbow Dash scanned the room for something, anything at all that she could use to change the conversation, and then she hit the jackpot. Right there on the desk was a scroll case that had a seal with an emblem of the sun stamped onto it, and behind it was a small picture in a frame. With a flap of her wings, she lifted up, propelled herself to the other side of the room, and landed right in front of the picture. "Is this your family?" she asked while most definitely not picking the frame up. That particular move had already cost her one job interview. She just pointed at it. "Yup," Red said with pride. "That's from a few years back, before Sandy was old enough to start working here, but that's everyone." "Everyone" was six ponies. A younger version of Red was standing next to a scarlet unicorn mare that had to be his wife, and in front of them were three pegasi and an earth pony; all except the oldest had coats that were varying shades of red. Sandy had to be the brown one, and it looked like he had a sandcastle cutie mark. "Cute kids." Seriously. That's it? That's all you've got? "Thank you." Red walked past her and sat down on his swivel chair, then he took the scroll case and put it into his delivery bag that had been sitting on the ground next to the desk. When he was done, he swiveled around so that he could see her. There weren't any other chairs in the room, so Dash just stood there, shifting from hoof to hoof. "Now, if you could just hand me your resume, we'll get started here." Dash couldn't help letting her ears droop a little as she reached into the bag and pulled out one of the copies of her resume and gave it to him. Red scanned the piece of paper quickly, and then scanned it again, his eyebrows climbing higher and higher as he looked for all the stuff that wasn't there. "You seem to be missing the first page." Dash's wings twitched and her ears drooped even lower. "No," she said. "That's the whole thing." Red looked up over the top of the page with one eyebrow raised. "You don't have any work history on here." "This'll be my first job." "Or schooling." "I uh..." She should lie. She really should. This was the part that always screwed her over. "Ididn'tfinishschool." The silence in the room could have smothered a baby. Why wasn't he saying anything? He was just looking at her! Was he waiting for her to say something? She should say something. Something that wasn't stupid! Wait, she'd prepared for this! She'd memorized a whole little speech for things like this! "I dropped out of flight school because they were going too slow and I needed to train so I could get accepted into the Wonderbolts." Her words started running together, and Dash realized that she was on the verge of babbling. This wasn't going to work. She needed to be calm. Cool. If she was cool, then everything else was cool. Rainbow Dash closed her eyes, took a deep breath, then opened them and started again. "I needed a more specialized and tougher training regimen than what flight school could offer, because I'm working to get into the Wonderbolts. It totally paid off too, I really am the fastest pony in Equestria and I've got one of the best aerobatics repertoires you'll ever see. The problem is, getting approved for entry into their training program is a longer process than I expected because they only accept about three candidates a year. I missed the deadline for this year and I need a job to keep me aloft until I get everything squared away." *** Holy crap, it worked! Somehow, against all odds, Rainbow Dash and Red were hovering ten thousand feet above the top of Canterlot Peak about to start her flight test. It must have been 'cause I threw in "repertoire." I should probably learn a few more words like that. Could come in handy. In all actuality, her flight test had probably already begun, because they were a whole lot higher than pegasi normally went. Anypony less fit than her would have passed out from lack of oxygen long ago. As it was, she was flapping frantically just to keep her altitude in the thin air, and her chest was heaving in and out two or three times to each flap. Red didn't look much better. She had to respect him though. The dude was old, but he was giving her a workout. "So, you think you're good," he shouted at her. His demeanor had completely changed now that they were up in the air. Gone was the friendly laughing pony from the office, and in his place was a hardened Express Pony. "The best!" Dash shouted back at him. "Are you fast?" It didn't matter what he threw at her though, Express Pony or not. She'd passed the interview and now they were in the sky. This was her turf. "The fastest!" "Can you think on your hooves? React at a moment's notice no matter what happens?" "Nopony smarter!" Red grinned wickedly. "If you beat me, you've got the job." Then he snapped his wings closed and plummeted to the ground below. "Wha—" Rainbow Dash didn't finish that word, because she realized that she should be flying, not talking. She pulled her wings in and started free-falling after him. You couldn't catch up to another pony in free-fall, because gravity doesn't play favorites, but there weren't many things better at accelerating a pony with no effort either. Gravity was a pegasi's best friend. Another good friend of the pegasus was her tail. Yeah, it added a little bit of drag, but not enough to offset its use as an excellent rudder. That tiny amount of drag generated by it waving in the wind was all she needed to nose down and streamline her body. No wings needed. For the first hundred feet, all Dash did was keep them tightly folded against her side to pick up speed. Her nose and ears were immediately numbed by the icy wind at this altitude, and her face was so cold and stiff it felt like it was made out of wax. The rushing air made it impossible for her to keep her eyes open more than just a fraction of an inch, and she berated herself leaving her goggles in her saddlebag back at the office. What if she hit a cloud of mosquitoes or something when she got lower? But it was way too late for that kind of thing now. She was committed. She was right behind Red. And she was still going way too slow. She opened her wings just a tiny bit—not so much that it slowed her down, but enough to catch a wingfull of air—and snapped them back to push herself even faster as she rotated mid-dive to orient herself so she wouldn't be upside down when she came down to the mountain. "Hey you cheater!" Dash's words were ripped away by the force of the wind, but Red looked back anyways. It looked like he could hear her. "Where's the finish line?" "Figure it out, you're a smart pony!" he tossed back at her. Oh. It. Is. ON. Wing-beat after wing-beat, she pushed herself faster and faster towards the ground. She was going to beat him. Just look ahead, predict his flight path, scan the ground for the landing, and blow on past. Red was fast, but not as fast as her. Not by a long shot. This was going to be awesome. This was going to be spectacular. This was going to make Gilda cry herself to sleep at nights in envy. This was going to be Wonderbolts worthy! And then Red spread his wings. Only a tiny bit. Not enough to slow him down very much, but just enough to give him a little bit of maneuverability and turn his dive from a straight line into a tight corkscrew. Dash's eyes narrowed even more. She could catch him now, pretty easily too. The corkscrew didn't slow him down much but, but it did add a lot of distance to his flight path. His saddlebag wasn't helping his aerodynamics either, this was almost certainly as fast as he could go, so there wasn't going to be any surprising bursts of speed. Problem was, in that flight pattern he could break off at any time in any direction. There was no way she could predict where he was headed now. Unless she thought of something quick, Dash would have to stay right on his tail and then pass him when he picked a direction, and hope it wasn't a feint. Think! She could beat him. All she had to do was think. There had to be a clue where he was going. He would have said something, or done something to tip her off. It was pretty clear now that Red was a humongous plothole, but she didn't think that he wouldn't give her a fighting chance to— "Wait a minute, the delivery bag!" That thing wasn't just for show! Red had put something in it before the interview. A scroll that he was going to deliver. What was it? She didn't remember seeing an address, just a seal that looked like the sun. Just like Empress Celestia's cutie mark in fact. All of a sudden, the pieces clicked into place and she knew where he was heading. She could see it right there below her. The palace had its own Pony Express landing pad for urgent messages to the Empress. Rainbow Dash grinned and surged ahead with her wings. They'd only been diving for a few seconds, but that was easily enough to cut the distance between them and the ground in half. She still had time to catch him though. The thicker air down here was refreshing. She was strong. She was fast. She was passing Red. The mountaintop streaked past them in a blur, and she angled herself towards the palace below, but she wasn't done accelerating yet. One beat, and her wings were starting to ache. Two beats and she felt pressure building in front of her face. She could do it this time. Every time Rainbow Dash had tried before, she'd failed. But this time was different. She could already feel it. Something in the air and in her feathers told her that she could do it if she just pushed hard enough. Three beats and she broke through that resistance. The world around her exploded in a rainbow glow, and though she knew that everypony in Canterlot was going to hear it, she didn't catch the faintest hint of the sound of the explosion. For her, everything was silent, because she was going faster than sound itself. Sonic Rainboom. In less than a second, she was so close to the ground she felt she could probably start counting ants. She threw her wings wide and caught the air. All at once she felt the dual sensation of somepony trying to tear her wings from her back while trying not to black out from the extreme g-force as she slowed just enough that she didn't splatter like a bug when she came down on the landing pad hard enough to crack it and kick up a mushroom cloud of rainbow colored smoke. Twilight Sparkle Comprehension ~ Day 2 Only a few minutes after they had left the hotel and climbed back into the chariot to head for Ponyville, Twilight found herself slipping into an unaccountably bad mood. Maybe she'd slept worse than she thought, or maybe she was just bored. It wasn't like anypony had said anything to make her feel this way. In fact, Spike was taking a nap on the floor next to her, but she was irritated and restless, and not looking forward to the long trip at all. She glared down at Spike. Why the hay was he sleeping anyway? The sun was barely up, he shouldn't need a nap this early in the morning, baby dragon or no. With a snort, she stomped her hoof hard on the floor of the chariot to see if that would get him to stir, but all it did was make the whole vehicle wobble in the air behind the two guard-pegasi that were pulling it. One of them glanced back, and Twilight shot him a murderous glare. He blanched and quickly turned to look forward again. What? Did he think I was gonna fall out? Or throw Spike off or something? He probably did. He probably thinks that since I'm not a pegasus I'm going to get all stupid the second we're in the air. Never mind that I've ridden in one of these things a thousand times and never even come close to having an accident! Twilight knew she was being unfair, and she knew that she needed to get her mood under control pretty soon or else she'd be grumpy all day long; but as she stared at the pegasus flapping away in front of her, she couldn't help but wonder how he would react if she clocked him in the back of the head with a book. With a sigh, she closed her eyes and started imagining Celestia's face. Rarity Comprehension ~ Day 2 Rarity walked with her head hung low, her coat all sweaty, and her legs sore from running willy-nilly around Ponyville. Nopony else had seen anything of Fluttershy. Most of the ponies, like Rarity, hadn't seen her in days, let alone this morning. And while she and Clementine had managed to get the members of the weather team to organize a search party, they weren't having any luck because nopony knew where to look except "East." For everypony else in town though, life went on like nothing had happened. What was wrong with them? Did nopony care? What were these ponies doing that was so important? She twitched her ear around to listen when she trotted past a mare who was talking in a low voice to a friend of hers. "Did you hear about Fluttershy? Well, I heard..." The other mare lifted a hoof to her mouth to stifle a gasp of horror. Rarity dropped her eyes to the ground and sped up a little, her saddlebag feeling like a heavy weight on her back even though it only held a few letters. Perhaps it was uncharitable to say they were acting like nothing had happened. They just felt like there wasn't anything they could really do, and they couldn't drop everything in order to feel sorry for a pony they barely knew. Fluttershy might be one of the best, kindest ponies alive, but her shy nature meant she hadn't made very many friends besides Rarity. Even Clementine had eventually gone back to the farm with Mimosa after they'd run into her in the streets, citing that they had done everything they could until news cropped up. She sighed and kicked at a rock in the street, unmindful of the fact that it might scuff her hooficure. Was there really nothing else she could do? No matter how she turned the problem over, her mind came up blank every time. Fluttershy was long gone and they didn't have any clue where she was. She could have an entire night's head start and be dozens of miles away by now. She had a hard time imagining Fluttershy flying all night without resting, but then again, she had a hard time imagining any of what was going on. Rarity still had things she had to do as well. If she could think of anything that would help her help Fluttershy, she would have dropped everything to do it, but today was an important day and she couldn't just abandon her promise to Mayor Mare. Maybe she could get Applejack and go after her? No, Applejack couldn't leave the farm right now. Not with the way things were right now. And how would they find her, or even just catch up to her? Fluttershy wasn't the most physically fit pony around, but even a slow pegasus could travel fast since they didn't have to follow roads or go around things that got in their way. She could always try the train, but there weren't any direct routes to Zebrica. The only line she could think of would take her so far out of the way that it would be faster just to walk. And how would she find Fluttershy when she got there? Assuming that the pegasus hadn't taken the much more likely option of turning back rather than fly half-way around the world on a wild goose chase. Fluttershy was obviously distraught and not thinking clearly, but with how much time a trip like that would take, she'd eventually calm down and come back. The real danger was that she'd get in an accident, or fall afoul of some unsavory ponies. She prayed to Celestia that those weather ponies could find Fluttershy soon. In the absence of any good ideas, Rarity found herself just standing in the middle of the street. It suddenly struck her that they'd never set a specific time to meet, only that it was sometime in the morning. Would she even be there yet? She was very enthusiastic about her job, and this day was as important to her as it was to Rarity. Probably more, actually. So she might have stepped out to go to the office early this morning. By now there were plenty of other ponies out on the street starting their day anyways, so it wasn't out of the question. Suddenly, Rarity noticed that some of them were giving her nasty looks and she realized she was blocking the path. With a quick word of apology, she stepped off to the side of the road underneath the eaves of a building. Maybe she should go to the post office and drop off her letters? They suddenly didn't seem so important, but she really should get those dresses out of her shop as quickly as possible, regardless of what she did next. It would give Mayor Mare more time to get to the town hall too, if she wasn't there already. It would also give Rarity some opportunity to think up ideas. Not that she was feeling in a very creative mood at the moment. "Yes. I think I'll do that!" she exclaimed a little louder than she'd intended. Without another moment's hesitation, she started walking again. It wasn't long before she drew into sight of the building. The post office was a pretty small building, perhaps about the size of the Cakes' bakery, but that was only because Ponyville was a pretty small town. Despite that however, it was one of the central social venues in Ponyville. Not in the sense that ponies gathered there for town meetings or events, but in that when you stopped by to pick up or drop off your mail, you couldn't help but run into three or four acquaintances and start talking to them. Everypony goes to the post office sometime, and the community took full advantage of that. Just outside of the door was a very large bulletin board where ponies placed event announcements, news, and anything else that could affect the ponies of Ponyville. And on that billboard right now was a poster of a handsome stallion. The poster had caught her eye several times before, mostly on account of the intriguingly good-looking western style outfit he was wearing, with worn, but still nice vest and cowpony hat. To be honest, he reminded Rarity a lot of Applejack. Speaking of Applejack, Rarity really needed to go visit her as soon as possible. She was Rarity's friend too, and with everything that was happening, even the strong little mare was probably having a hard time of things. "Perhaps I should tell Mayor Mare that I can't help her today..." As she drew closer the post office, the poster on the bulletin board once again drew her attention, but this time it was for a different reason than his outfit or nice features. In big block lettering above the picture was spelled out WANTED FOR MURDER and underneath, BRAEBURN APPLE 100,000 BIT REWARD, DEAD OR ALIVE. "Wha?" What on earth was this? Was this stallion related to Applejack? After a moment's hesitation, Rarity tore the poster down with her magic, rolled it up and put it in her bag, and bolted as fast as her tired legs would carry her towards Sweet Apple Acres. Rainbow Dash Comprehension ~ Day 2 Oh crap, I came in too hard. She'd probably get in trouble for accidentally wrecking their landing pad. Good thing there wasn't anypony nearby to get hurt. It seemed like an eternity before the smoke started to clear. In reality, it was only a few seconds, but it was still more than long enough for Rainbow Dash to imagine the looks on the faces of the ponies who were even now probably running out to greet her. Shock. Awe. Shock and awe, but mostly awe, and maybe a few fussy ponies going on about her having to pay for repairs to the landing pad, but who cared about that because she had a job now and she'd done a Sonic Rainboom! As she stood there, still in her perfect landing pose, with her chest heaving in and out as she tried to catch her breath, Dash was jumping around in her head like a little filly who'd just discovered espressos. She'd done it! She was the only pegasus to ever do a Sonic Rainboom, and now she'd done it again when it really mattered! That job was as good as hers, if she decided to keep it that was. The Wonderbolts were based out of Canterlot, and there was no way they would have missed seeing that Rainboom. Hay, she'd done right over the frigging palace! They'd probably offer her a position on the spot! "Suck it Gilda. Who needs to get their rear in gear now?" she said to herself. Finally, the smoke began to thin enough that she could see a bunch of ponies running out of a set of doors that led into the palace. No doubt they were here to gawk and cheer. Dash straightened up even more, and prepared herself mentally for what was about to happen. Rainbow Dash expected a lot of things, gushing, excited squealing, autograph requests; but one thing she hadn't expected was to feel a unicorn's magic wrap around her sand smash her into the ground and pin her wings and legs so tight it felt like he was trying to make some Rainbow Juice. For all of a second, she struggled violently against her restraint as she tried to open her wings and get her hooves underneath her. What the hay were they thinking! But then the magic field squeezed her so tightly that it forced all the air out of her lungs in one squeaky wheeze, and all of a sudden taking another breath was the single most difficult thing she'd ever done. The pieces of the cracked and broken landing dug into her side like knives, and she couldn't even turn her head to look up as she heard the sound of clopping hooves approach her. She could still move her eyes though, and out of their corners she saw that the pony walking up to her was snow white and wearing golden armor. Apparently he was a guard, and probably the unicorn that was holding her down. Oh horseapples. Dash's field of vision twisted around all of a sudden so she could see her attacker's face clearly, and the sudden lack of pain in her side and a touch of vertigo made her realize that he had lifted her off the ground so they could see eye to eye. Aside from being pinned, the sensation of floating through the air without actually flying or having any control at all was very disturbing. Frantically, she pushed against the magic with all her strength, tried to get away, or even just loosen it enough to say something like "Could you let up a bit? I can't breath." All she got for it was a painful squeeze, so she settled down and contented herself with returning his glare and trying not to pass out. The stallion was a little bigger than average, but next to some of the other guards that were filing onto the landing platform and surrounding them, he looked kinda small. He was white all over with a shockingly bright blue and blue-streaked mane, and was looking at her with a piercing glare that could have struck some ponies dead. His golden armor covered up his cutie mark, and even though it was exactly the same as what the other guards wore, they were looking at him like they expected him to give them an order. He wasn't giving any orders though. In fact, he wasn't saying anything at all. He just stood there glaring back at Rainbow Dash, and with every passing second his bright blue eyes grew harder, and his magical grip around her body tighter. The stare-off was broken when a middle-aged white pegasus with a golden mane and wearing purple-enameled armor with golden edges stepped out of the doorway behind the unicorn. "Is everything under control Shining Armor?" He asked in a high tenor voice. The unicorn's eyes widened a tiny bit and he whirled around and saluted, all without lessening his grip on Dash one bit. "Yes sir! Ivory Tower sir! I have apprehended the culprit, and Concord and Maximus have gone after her accomplice!" Right on cue, Dash heard shouting coming from somewhere behind and above her. Both Shining Armor and Ivory Tower turned to look at it, and Dash recognized Red's voice. He wasn't yelling at the guards though. He was yelling at her. "What the hay were you thinking! You bucking idiot! You bloody foal! Do you have any bucking clue what you've gotten us into? I have a family to take care of you festering pile of horse apples!" All of a sudden, she was glad that she couldn't turn around to look at him. Apparently, she didn't realize what she'd done. Yeah, she'd banged the place up a bit, but nopony got hurt, right? So why were they treating it like she'd murdered somepony? "Be silent," Ivory Tower said, and even though his voice was thin and reedy, Red shut up mid-rant like Celestia herself had threatened to banish him. Then he turned towards Rainbow Dash and she saw why. He might not have a very intimidating voice, but his eyes were as grey and cold as iron. Dash wasn't normally the kind of pony to put much stock into old mare's sayings, but if it was true that the eyes were the windows to the soul, then this pegasus didn't have one. She shivered and tried to look away. "You are under arrest for the usage of a rainbomb in Canterlot, an Act of War under article three of the Geneighvah convention, and for assault on the Empress's person," the pegasus said, and without another word he turned around and walked back into the palace. Red let out a low groan, and Dash, who was just starting to realize how much trouble she was in, would have echoed it if that Shining Armor pony wasn't squeezing her so tight that she was threatening to black out. One by one, the other guards followed him, and just before the unicorn that was holding her went through the door, he turned Rainbow Dash onto her back so she was looking up at the tower above her. Right off the bat, she noticed two things. The first was that it was The Tower of the Sun, where Celestia held court. Even though she'd never seen it before, it was easy to tell. That exact same view was stamped on one side of every bit in Equestria. The second was that every single window on the tower was blown in from when she'd buzzed it while doing her Sonic Rainboom.