Tails of Sacrifice

by CommanderX5

Ch.2 - Dash and the Flying Lily

There were three favorite things in her life: Competing, speed, and naps, all equally important. Well, maybe not, as flying fast was still a top priority, but naps were a close second.

Today she enjoyed her second favorite activity as her back sank into the puffy cloud, a comfort that only pegasi had the privilege of enjoying. She held her forelegs under her head for support while rays of the sun shone from above.

“Hey! Heeey! Heeey!!”

It wasn't to her liking when a loud voice woke her, interrupting her well-deserved nap. Frowning, she pushed herself to the side, peeking down from behind the cloud at whoever dared to interrupt her between-practice-nap.

"If you want hay, go to a restaurant. Can’t you see I'm sleeping here!? " She raised a forehoof to keep sun-rays at bay as she narrowed her eyes. The sight of a pegasus often proved superior when compared to other pony races, which helped her see details of the loud newcomers on the ground.

The one who woke her up and was now staring up at her appeared to be a young filly, an earth pony with a hedgehog cutie mark. Her mane and tail were a mix of violet and purple. The odd part, however, was that this filly was yelling at her from the back of a pony-sized fox.

Now, a pony owning a pet wouldn't be out of place if it was a little cat or an enthusiastic dog. A little earth pony riding a flour-colored fox three times her size on the other hoof was waaay out of the ordinary. Said fox having not one, not two, but five long fluffy tails were weird even by Ponyville's standards. 

Now that I think about it, Fluttershy often plays with animals way bigger than her, but she's an exception. What is this filly thinking? The pegasus thought as she jumped forward and descended, her wings flapping at a slow pace.

A mental message reached her mind, Yes. We can see that you were sleeping, just as we can see that clouds still cover the sky.

The pegasus tapped her chin, her full attention now on the filly's lips. "You can talk without opening your mouth? Neat."

"It wasn't me," the filly said, her tone filled with authority. She gently poked the fox's head and added, "It was Lady Kyuubi. She spoke to you telepathically." The fox nodded. "Are you Rainbow Dash?"

"The one and only. Have you heard of me?" Dash asked as she hovered in front of the fox's face, rubbing her chest, her head raised in pride. Her closed eyes opened widely. "Hey, wait. What did you say? This fox can talk?"

I am a kitsune, and yes, I spoke to you within your mind. The kitsune lowered her head with respect. My name is Kyuubi. I'm a student of the princess tasked with overseeing preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. Nice to meet you, Rainbow Dash. She raised her head and turned to the side, revealing a pony who was sitting behind her neck. And her name is Lily.

"Nice to meet you," Lily said, stretching her forehoof towards the pegasus. "I'm Kyuubi's student and her trusty assistant. I also consider myself to be her bodyguard. Nice to meet you." 

The kitsune raised her forepaw towards the pegasus, taking Lily's example.

Dash stared at the exposed paw for a moment, confusion clear on her face. After a moment to understand the gesture, she booped kitsune's forepaw with her hoof, then did the same for the filly. "Yeah, sure." She rolled her eyes. "I bet you're the princess's pet or mascot. But a talking five tailed fox-kitsune? That's still cool."

Kyuubi frowned and stared at her paw, unfamiliar with that particular gesture.

Lily placed her hooves on the kitsune’s head and stretched her neck towards Dash. "Lady Kyuubi is not a pet! She's one of Celestia's students. Say you're sorry this instant!"

Dash chuckled, waving her forehoof dismissively. "Not falling for that. Like I would believe that the princess took a big fox as her student." She smirked as she pressed her muzzle against Lily's. "And that part where you're a student of a pet sounds even crazier."

If you don't wish to believe me, fine, I can live with that and won’t force you to believe, but you shouldn't neglect your duties. Kyuubi pointed at the sky, her eyes narrowed and judging. You're in charge of the weather, so I would be grateful if you started clearing the sky.

Dash yawned, stretching her limbs. "Sure, sure, but after my nap. Need to recharge after my practice."

Lily asked, "Practice?" 

Dash nodded. "I want to impress the amazing Wonderbolts!" she shouted, her sleepiness temporarily replaced with excitement. She pointed at a poster on the wall. "They will perform at the celebration. I will impress them with my stunts so much that they will ask me to join in. Oh, yea!"

Do you wish to impress the fastest fliers in Equestria when you can't even keep the sky clear on time? Kyuubi asked. I ask you to reconsider.

"Pfff... I can clear the sky in ten seconds flat," Dash said before yawning again. She saluted and flew up, returning to her cloud, before assuming her previous sleeping pose. Her rest didn't last long as she felt annoying poking on her shoulder. "Cut that out," Dash said, her eyes still closed.

"The Wonderbolts aren't that amazing. They are super fast and know cool tricks, sure, but they lack in some other areas. They still need to improve their combat skills and durability."

Dash snapped her eyes open and quickly pushed herself to a sitting position. "Take that back!" No one insulted the Wonderbolts on her watch!

She blinked in confusion, then rubbed her eyes in disbelief, yet the scene before her remained unchanged. Her brain struggled to comprehend what she now saw. Lily, the earth pony she spoke to a moment ago, floated before her very eyes. And she was pretty sure that her cloud was still several meters above the ground. She felt a gust of wind on her fur, coming from the hovering filly.

Lily crossed her forelegs and shot the pegasus a raspberry. "I take back nothing. My team practices combat with the Wonderbotls, and they don’t impress us."

Dash failed to retort as she could only stare, her mouth agape. When one of the smirking filly’s hooves closed her mouth, she asked, "You’re an Earth pony, and you can fly, but how?"

"Fly? It's nothing like that," Lily said as she spun in mid-air, sending a wave of wind which shook Dash's tail and mane. "I use wind magic to keep myself afloat. It also let's me run on air or jump extra high." She walked to the side of the pegasus and pulled her wing. "It can't match the flight of the pegasi, but it allows me to fight on their turf." She gave Dash's nose a seemingly casual poke, causing her to fall off the cloud. 

Dash flapped her wings quickly, flying up to the earth pony as something inside her awoke. An earth pony capable of flying by using wind magic. Suddenly, she felt a desire to know more about this cool earth pony, a similar desire to what she had felt when she saw her first Wonderbolts' show.

"Considering that you are too lazy to do your job, how about I do it for you? I'm sure the Wonderbolts would love to hear how an earth pony beat you at your own game."

Dash narrowed her eyes and grit her teeth, her muscles tense. Not only her reputation with the Wonderbolts was at risk, but she wasn't going to be surpassed by a flying and very young earth pony. She’d never hear the end of it! "Not if I can clear them first."

"A race then. Let's see who can hunt down more clouds. I’ll take that way. Three, one, go!" Lily said, impatiently skipping number two before jumping towards a nearby cloud.

Dash felt a strong wind push against her, a side-effect of Lily's air jump. Her wings went into overdrive as she flew towards a nearby cloud in the opposite direction, piercing through it with the help of pegasus magic. Quick contact from her stretched forehoof sent the needed heat to vaporize the puffy cloud. 

As she dashed towards another cloud, she noticed a little orange aura at the tip of Lily's rear hoof, her pegasus sight at work. The filly kicked one cloud, only to bounce from it to another and another as if she was the ball in a pinball machine. 

Not daring to fall behind, Dash doubled her efforts, piercing or kicking a few clouds apart every second. As she cleared her side of the sky and was now sniping clouds on Lily's side, the earth pony smashed her hooves together. Dash felt a wave of intense heat, causing several drops of sweat to fall from her forehead and several clouds surrounding Lily to vanish in an instant. 

Dash and Lily now glared at each other, neither daring to back down as not a single cloud remained in the blue sky. It became clear to her that in terms of speed, she surpassed Lily's air jumps a few times over. On the other hoof, this earth pony could clear clouds in close proximity to her with waves of intense heat, which surpassed even the weather manipulation of a pegasus.

The pegasus smiled proudly and stretched her hoof. "You're pretty good, for an earth pony."

Lily returned the smile and booped Dash's hoof. "You're pretty good, too, for a lazy pegasus."

Dash felt a jolt of pain and heat go through her entire body as she used her willpower to maintain her smile. Even not closing her eyes proved challenging. Aside from feeling the heat that still lingered on Lily's hoof, she experienced strength that even Applejack never showed before. This filly was something else.

Seeing Lily descend to the kitsune, she landed next to them.

Congratulations. You have cleared the sky in only six seconds. I counted, an excited and proud voice reached their minds.

"Six!" Dash shouted in excitement. By splitting this task in half, they cleared the sky at extreme speed. "But who won? Who got more clouds?" She looked at the large fox with expectations in her eyes, her tail flapping at a quick rate. She smiled widely as kitsune's paw pointed at her. 

I paid attention as best I could. I believe you got sixty percent of the clouds.

“Aw yeah, that’s right!” Dash raised her head in pride and then bowed while receiving applause from Kyuubi and Lily.

Thank you for your cooperation, Rainbow Dash, Kyuubi said as she levitated over a map from a spot between her neck and shoulder. You can go back to sleep. I hope we'll meet you at the celebration. Kyuubi bowed her head politely. 

"Are you kidding?" She flew up, now hovering in front of Lily. "I'm not leaving until I learn how you can do all that cool stuff!" Dash noticed a proud smile as Lily started rubbing her chest, a gesture she often did when a fan asked about her achievements. 

"Sure. I am more than happy to appease a new fan." Lily turned around and gestured with her head. "You can tag along."

Dash nodded in excitement as she started flying a meter over Lily's head. "Where are we going?"

To find Miss Fluttershy. She's responsible for the music and is the last pony I need to check on.

The pegasus flew forward, now hovering in front of the kitsune, flying backward. "Flutters? Oh yeah, I know where she is. Just follow me and we’ll get there in the blink of an eye."

I would appreciate it.

Dash nodded before flying ahead, only to return to the group a moment later with a disappointed frown. She landed, now walking on four hooves. While she didn’t doubt that Lily could follow at great speed, the kitsune couldn’t fly and didn't seem like a speedy sort. Not to mention pulling those five sizeable tails had to slow it down. 

She displayed her shining teeth as she looked at the earth pony, several questions born in her mind. "So, how can you fly? What's your story?"

Lily took two steps for each one of the pegasus. She glanced at Canterlot and said, "I come from a long line of adventurers. My ancestors found a powerful artifact with a wish-granting spirit. They wished to become the strongest and most unstoppable adventurers in the world."

Dash nodded. "Sure, sure. So you got all those cool powers from your parents?"

Lily shook her head.

It wasn't a gift but a curse. An evil Ifrit granted their wish, but the price was great.

The pegasus listened with full attention. Evil? Cursed? It was getting better and better.

They couldn't restrain their strength, hurting those around them. Faster aging was also the price whenever they used their powers.

Dash tilted her head to the side. Why was Lily so young then?

The curse was passed down to the next generation. When I first met Lily, she was three years old. Let's say she wasn't much smaller than she is now.

Dash watched as the filly gently nuzzled kitsune's foreleg. 

"Kyuubi fought bravely for years against the curse. Whenever she managed to purify me, my parents' curse would infect me again," Lily said, looking at the kitsune. Dash recognized that stare as a look of pure admiration, one she often had when watching the Wonderbolts. "But she didn't give up, and after hundreds of attempts, she turned my curse into a blessing."

Dash started flying backward, leading the duo through fields of grass as they left the sea of colorful homes. A few bushes and trees painted the background. "And this blessing gave you all kinds of superpowers? Is that why you can fly?" She winked. "Super-mare."

Lily giggled before shaking her hoof dismissively, now walking on three. "Quite the opposite. I lost all my powers, becoming no different than any other filly.”

"W-what? Then how?" Dash flew closer, her muzzle close to Lily's face as her heart started beating at a faster pace. She was no closer to getting the answer than she was a minute ago.

Lily smirked and pressed her hoof against Dash's muzzle, pushing her away as the pegasus yelped in response. "Simple. I rebuilt my strength and durability from the bottom up. This blessing didn't give me any powers but instead expanded my limits." Lily ran over to a nearby tree. She stood on her rear hooves and wrapped her forehooves around its surface as much as her short legs could.

Dash grinned, feeling a rush in excitement as she watched the action. A pony several times smaller than the tree pulled it from its roots, now holding the entire thing over her head. A few patches of dirt fell onto filly’s head, tail and mane.

"The more weights I lifted and the more I struggled, the stronger I became." The earth trembled the moment Lily showed the tree back into the hole. "The more I got hurt, the more durable I got."

And trust me when I say that she was lifting every single weight she came across. Myself included. Kyuubi's second and third tails shone with silver aura as she reinserted and healed the tree and leveled the ground. Lily sure was a handful. She was so determined to train at every opportunity that I had to heal her a few times a day, which only stimulated her training. Kyuubi smiled awkwardly. Also, I believe constant contact with my magic affected her aging speed. That's why she's so small even after two decades.

“I don’t mind. It just means I can stay longer with you and have a lot more adventures.”

Kyuubi chuckled before levitating patches of dirt from the filly, following it up with a few cleaning licks. Lily giggled in response as she exposed her muzzle for this show of affection.

Dash gained a toothy grin, and one could imagine stars flashing in her eyes. So this pony endured a curse for years, and once it became a blessing, she trained restlessly to reach her full potential. Saying Dash had gained an immense amount of respect for this earth pony would be an understatement. While impressing the Wonderbolts was still her top priority, befriending Lily became the close second.

"Wait, but you haven’t answered my main question, how can you fly?" Dash asked, realizing that she still didn't get an answer. Sure, she loved the story, so she had no complaints, but still. "Can you skip to the part where you learn how to reach the sky? Please." She held her forehooves in a pleading gesture, only to be pushed aside by kitsune's levitation, saving her from crashing into a tree. "T-Thanks." No longer flying backward, she started walking beside her soon-to-be-friend.

Lily raised a single hoof and showed it to Dash, walking on three. "Watch."

Dash could see a green aura before feeling gusts of wind flap her tail and mane.

"Thanks to Kyuubi's blessing, I can channel various types of magic with my hooves. I can't cast ranged spells as unicorns can, but I can boost my body in various ways," Lily lectured as the aura around her hoof changed color to bronze.

Dash looked at the ground when Lily stomped, causing a weak quake and several stones to shoot from the road. She noticed a blue aura as the stones froze in solid ice, then red as the ice melted in an instant. Yellow aura summoned a few bolts of electricity. Finally, green formed around four of Lily's hooves as she started hovering a few centimeters above the ground.

"Kyuubi helped out a bunch of Elemental Spirits. They returned some of that favor by teaching me Elemental magic." The filly puffed her chest, rubbing it. "And it turned out that I am super good at it. It fits my close combat style perfectly."

I was not able to learn much, but I asked them to teach Twilight as well, so you're not the only one.

"I'm still better." Lily blew a raspberry at Kyuubi who rolled her eyes at the competitive filly.

Dash squealed, struggling to contain her excitement. So this blessed filly learned from powerful spirits? The word ‘cool’ wasn't good enough to describe her. She was no less than super awesome. Furthermore, Lily's magic reminded her of hers. Pegasi could affect temperature with their hooves, causing clouds to burst into rain or evaporate. Summoning a bolt of lightning from clouds was a breeze, and she had her signature tornado. She lacked earth manipulation, though.

Finally, a worthy opponent to compete against! Beating Lily is going to be so much fun! Dash thought as she trotted in place.

"I live in Canterlot Castle with my parents. If you want, I can introduce you. They have plenty of fun stories about their past adventures." Lily spin-kicked before backflipping, a little display of her agility. "Or we can practice combat. I usually duel only our friend and my rival, Twilight Sparkle. She’s Princess Celestia’s other student. I’m sure you’ll meet her at the celebration or inside the local library."

"Count me in," Dash said before asking. "By the way. Aside from combat, do you like to compete in sports?"

"Do I?" Lily wrapped her hoof around Dash's neck, squeezing it to the pegasus’ hidden discomfort. "Better be ready to get utterly destroyed!"

Kyuubi gave the ponies a cheerful smile, no doubt satisfied with the blooming friendship between two fellow athletes. She bit her lip a moment later when Dash’s face turned purple and freed the pegasus from Lily’s vice-grip with her levitation.