//------------------------------// // Your Worst Nightmare Approaches // Story: Heroes and Magic // by Crimson Doom //------------------------------// Ponyville was a lot quieter, a lot more boring with Rainbow Dash gone. Still, the ponies managed to adjust. Some of them more than others. Out of the Mane Six, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Applejack missed her the most. Pinkie pined for her partner in pranking and the sheer energy Dash had. Nothing compared to her own endless enthusiasm, of course, but in her mind, more energy was never bad. She threw herself into more parties at any conceivable occasion to try not to think about it, which eventually prompted Twilight to outright tell her that Spike’s 1.76384 birthday most certainly did not warrant a party. Not that Spike would have objected, of course. Applejack’s main competition was gone. She didn’t have somepony to push her to greater athletic accomplishments with a well-placed taunt. Plus, she and Rainbow had always been close, when they weren’t squabbling over who was the better athlete. They both had little patience for anything especially complicated, preferring the simpler things in life. They could talk and agree about almost anything (unless the subject was who was the better athlete or Rainbow’s ego), which was a welcome release from the days when it seemed the apples were being contrary on purpose. However, out of all of them, Fluttershy was hit the hardest. They were as different as night and day, sure, but they were close friends and had been since flight school. Dash always stood up for her and wasn’t afraid to push her outside of her comfort zone if she needed it. And when Fluttershy needed a shoulder to cry on, Rainbow’s was always available. The yellow pegasus could often be found looking at the stars at night, straining her eyes for a flash of rainbow, blue, and green. Twilight and Rarity, not being as close to Dash as the others, weren’t hit as hard, but often after a couple of hours of quiet work, they’d wonder why Dash hadn’t disturbed their concentration yet, and then remember. Rarity in particular found it quite distracting; somehow the expected interruptions helped keep her concentration better than when there weren’t as many distractions. (I say not as many because Sweetie Belle was still around and a predictable source of mischief.) And Twilight, although harder to distract, found her mind wandering to Rainbow every time she opened an astronomy book. Outside of the Mane Six, the one pony struggling with Dash's absence the most was Scootaloo, obviously. She missed her idol and hero quite a bit, but when she wasn’t distracting herself with imagining what cool shenanigans Dash was up to in space, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were suggesting several Cutie Mark ideas related to Rainbow Dash in an attempt to keep her from brooding for too long. Turns out none of them are Cutie Mark Crusader tellers of Green Lantern stories, bards or poets of the same, lifesavers, police, or firefighters (those last two got them into serious trouble. Not that that had ever stopped them.) Even those that weren’t especially close to Rainbow missed her presence. One of Bon Bon’s most reliable customers was gone. Ditzy Doo missed the one pony who didn’t treat her like someone disabled (except Pinkie Pie, but Ditzy wasn’t sure if that counted). Even Angel, the least sentimental being in Ponyville, had to admit that Rainbow could motivate Fluttershy far better than he could. Still, life went on without Rainbow, and things eventually settled down a little. But that doesn’t mean that nothing of interest happened during her absence… ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The night was dark, made darker by the new moon. No, it wasn’t a stormy night, what gave you that idea? In any event, Carousel Boutique had been closed for a while, and everypony within was in bed. Which wasn’t to say that they were asleep. Sure, Sweetie Belle was snoring lightly, occasionally humming a few bars of the Cutie Mark Crusader theme in her sleep. But Rarity was wide awake. There wasn’t a reason for her wakefulness. Indeed, if there was one, she’d have gone to address it long ago. No, she was inexplicably and irritatingly alert. Which was why she was awake to see the rock flying through her open window, landing on the floor with a soft clunk. Rarity was up in an instant, checking out the window to see the culprit and give him or her a good tongue-lashing… …but nopony was there. Rather confused, she turned to examine the rock and noticed the small piece of paper taped onto it, which read: “Come to Sugarcube Corner. Wake Pinkie Pie as quietly as possible. I’ll meet you there. I’ll make it worth your while. “Don’t worry about Sweetie Belle. I’ve made sure that the other Crusaders won’t be waking her tonight.” The note was unsigned and written in cursive. Probably a unicorn, then; most members of the other races didn’t have the dexterity to write in the flowing style. Well, she supposed she wasn’t getting any sleep tonight anyway… ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ It was surprisingly easy to get Pinkie Pie up early. Mostly because she was already awake. “Blinky eye, itchy back left knee, twitchy back right knee, achy tail,” Pinkie mused, a lot quieter than usual as she sat on her bed. “What’s that one mean? I remember it from somewhere...” “How should I know, Pinkie?” sighed Rarity. “Now if you’ll listen to me for one moment…” Of course, Pinkie didn’t. “What is it, what is it? I know I know this one… Oh yeah! Last time I felt this combo, it was when Twilight was following me! But who’d be following me at this time of night?” A gravelly male voice chuckled, making Rarity jump. “I wouldn’t mind having your prescience. It would make my mission much easier.” “My what now?” Pinkie wondered. “‘Prescience’, Pinkie. Your inexplicable knowledge of what’s happening or is about to happen around you. Pinkie Sense, in other words,” Rarity explained patiently, still looking around for the owner of the voice. “Where is he? I can only assume he’s the ruffian throwing rocks through windows.” “Indeed.” The voice came from a different direction this time, and an Earth Pony stallion emerged from the closet as if he had melted out of the shadows. His coat was a dark red, a color which Rarity realized explained part of how he hid so well; red was surprisingly hard to see in the dark. His short immaculate mane was a dark grey, which too helped with the stealth. His expression was grim; she got the feeling he smiled a lot but never truly meant it. Rarity shivered involuntarily. It wasn’t so much his appearance as the atmosphere he brought with him. He practically radiated fear and gloom, an atmosphere that could daunt anypony. “Hiya! I haven’t seen you around town! Are you new here? I bet you’re new here! I can’t believe I don’t have my Welcome Wagon ready! I really shouldn’t have eaten all that cake batter… You willing to wait until tomorrow for your very special welcome? Oh, or maybe I could just throw you a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party, that could work!” …well, almost anypony. “That won’t be necessary, Miss Pie,” graveled the stallion (yes, I know graveled isn’t a word, but that’s pretty much what he did!) “I need to commission Rarity for a couple of projects, and I included you because keeping secrets from you is a futile endeavor. I trust you can keep all of what I say tonight private?” “Of course!” Pinkie exclaimed, somewhat offended. “After all…” “Yes, yes, ‘forever’. I get the picture, Miss Pie,” the gravelly voice deadpanned. “I’ll be requiring secrecy of you as well, Miss Rarity.” “But of course, assuming your intentions aren’t malicious,” Rarity qualified. “They aren’t. At least, not to anypony that doesn’t deserve it,” he growled, angry at something. Rarity prided herself on her ability to read other ponies, but she wasn’t sure exactly what he was so bent out of shape about. Still, she didn’t feel as if he meant harm to the innocent. “You have my word,” she committed. "Just to be sure, Pinkie Promise." Rarity and Pinkie swore. “Now, what is this commission?” asked Rarity. “Two things,” the stallion began. “First, a large sticker to cover my Cutie Mark. It must match my body color precisely, have a moneybag Cutie Mark, and be indistinguishable from my natural coat.” Raising an eyebrow, Rarity replied, “Easy enough to make, but what do you need that for?” “To hide his Cutie Mark, duh! He must be planning on surprising somepony with a surprise party!” Pinkie grinned. “…” “…” Eventually the stallion spoke, completely ignoring Pinkie. “For the second commission, I need a suit. Full-body with mask to conceal my face and mane, impact and magic resistant. Capable of stealth. Easy movement. Fake Bat-Pegasus wings for gliding and intimidation. Bat motif. Beyond that, you’re free to improvise.” Rarity’s eyes widened. “A very tall order, Mr…” “Call me the Bat, Miss Rarity.” “Mr… Bat?” An odd name, to be sure. “You sure it’s not Bruce Wayne?” Pinkie asked, eyebrow raised. “…yes. I’m quite sure,” the Bat said, the slightest hint of puzzlement entering his voice. That didn’t even sound like a pony name. Griffin or donkey, maybe. But not pony. “This will take me months!” Rarity exclaimed with slight dismay, which shortly turned to enthusiasm as she realized that she had been itching for a good challenge ever since the Gala last year. “Oh, but of course I’ll do it! This will be my finest work yet, or my name isn’t Rarity Tabitha Belle!” “For these commissions and your silence on the matter, I’ll pay 130,000 bits.” “130,000?” Rarity gasped. That was more than Hoity-Toity had paid her for dozens of her finest dresses! “Y-you really needn’t pay that much, Mr. Bat! I would have done it for 13,000!” “Precisely why I’m paying you 130,000.” “Wha… but… what… I… Pinkie, can you believe this?” Rarity stuttered, turning to look at Pinkie. “Yepperoo!” Pinkie said, grinning. “I can believe it just fine! He’s gone now, by the way.” “What?” Rarity turned back to the stallion, who indeed was there no longer. “Wha? Where did he go?” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ When she got back home, there was another note on her pillow. “Send a letter to 223 Dark Night Avenue via Spike when you’re ready to have them picked up. Do not tell anypony who you’re sending the letter to. My measurements are below.” Rarity scanned the paper and indeed, every measurement she would need was below, plus a few that she didn’t. Really, what would she need his eyelash lengths for? Nonetheless, she dutifully memorized the length. At the bottom of the paper was something in different handwriting, more cramped and less fancy. “Please excuse Master ‘the Bat’ for any rudeness. Without me to keep him in line, he tends towards the abrasive. Here’s hoping he didn’t offend you too badly.” Rarity stifled a laugh. Didn’t want to wake Sweetie, after all. Whoever this was, he or she had a sense of humor. Probably had to, in order to work with that Mr. Bat. She was too awake for bed, so she went to her desk, levitated her glasses to her, and began writing the measurements down, as well as sketching a just a few design ideas and oh, this could be how she could add magic resistance, although she’d need Spike to get some black opals for her to match the color scheme, although maybe some citrine in just the right place could really set off the stylized bat logo she had jotted down… When Sweetie Belle woke up that morning, it was to a snoozing Rarity at her desk, various papers with design notes scattered across the desk. “Asleep at the desk again, sis?” Sweetie muttered, shaking her head. “Honestly, that’s the third time this week!”