//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Rainbow Dash Defending/Arrival To Ponyville // Story: Guardians of Harmony: Friendship is Magic // by Admiral Producer //------------------------------// The next day was a particularly bright and sunny day in Ponyville. This was in part due to the fact that the Weather Patrol pegasi were working overtime to prepare for the Summer Sun Celebration. The day was Tuesday and was an infectious chatter about in Ms. Cheerilee’s Schoolhouse as the schoolponies settled into their seats and prepared for their lesson. Today was to be a special one, they were told. Each one of them had noticeable cutie marks on their flanks, except for three of them: an earth pony filly named Apple Bloom, a pegasus filly named Scootaloo, and a unicorn filly named Sweetie Belle. The three of them rarely talked to each other outside of class and the only times Apple Bloom had ever spoken to Sweetie Belle or Scootaloo about anything was when the class bullies, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, would pick on them and they would vent to each other briefly before going their separate ways. Apple Bloom had always wanted to actually hang out with them, but spending time with her close friend Twist kept her pretty busy. The class instantly quieted down when Cheerilee came in. She was a light purple earth pony mare with three yellow flowers as a cutie mark, symbolizing her love for making others happy. “Alright class, settle down. We have an important lesson to get to,” Cheerilee spoke to her students gently. When they all were paying attention, she continued, “Today we’re going to talk about cutie marks.” “Boring…” Diamond Tiara muttered. “I gotta agree with her on one thing…” Scootaloo put her head in her hooves, “This is just rubbing it in.” “You all can see my cutie mark, can’t you?” Ms. Cheerilee indicated to her flank. She then flipped the page on her wooden clipboard, “Like all ponies, I wasn’t born with a cutie mark. My flank was blank.” “Awwwww…” Twist said, “It’s so precious!” “If that’s what you call it.” Sweetie Belle replied to her from the back bitterly. Cheerilee was about to continue her lesson when all of a sudden, the sound of gunshots rang out from outside the school. She was instantly on alert, having been taught the proper protocol from early on. The class noticed it too. Apple Bloom knew the sound because Applejack kept a hunting gun that belonged to their father Bright Mac in the shed. BOOM!! Another gunshot. This one followed by the splintering of wood. Somepony was trying to shoot their way in! “Hide, class!! In the corner!!” Cheerilee told them quickly. She quickly shut all the windows and closed the curtains. The fillies then all got up and ran towards the corner, huddling together when all of a sudden eight grey stallions all in black coats burst their way in through the wall. The leader was a unicorn stallion, who was carrying a black briefcase with his magic, knocking Cheerilee out cold with it. The leader sniffed the warm air in the schoolhouse, removing his glasses to take in the sights momentarily as his henchponies advanced, shooting everything in sight. He then proceeded to follow his fellow stallions. When they got to where the students were all huddled up, the leader made a dismissive gesture with his hoof. “Demonstration, please.” The stallion next to him obeyed and pointed the gun right at the eyes of Sweetie Belle, who squeezed her eyes tight in fear. Chuckling to himself, he removed the gun from her face, but still kept it out for good measure. Cheerilee had just gotten up and was being escorted by the seventh henchpony over to the back corner with her students. “We’ll be making a statement shortly,” the terrorist leader announced, “Until then, if I see any movement, you’ll have a lot of dead foals on your hooves.” All of the students closed their eyes and silently prayed to Princess Celestia that help was coming. Meanwhile outside, in the midst of all the chaos, atop a massive bed of clouds was a cyan pegasus mare with a rainbow mane and tail, sporting a multicolored lightning bolt underneath a cloud for a cutie mark. It was Rainbow Dash, the fastest pony alive. She stared at the terrorist attack with a look of built-in fury and anger. Her resolve made clear, she flew at top speed from the cloud bank towards the schoolhouse. The eighth henchpony had stepped outside for some air while the hostage situation was going on. He smiled in triumph to himself as his fellow colleagues were doing their work. Soon, Celestia will know true fury from ponies like us. He thought to himself merrily. Suddenly, he was yanked up from his spot and grabbed in a chokehold by Rainbow Dash who was hovering above him. “Who are you?!” Rainbow Dash demanded, “I have a right mind to report this to the bucking authorities. Now who are you?!” “We’re a small group of reactionary terrorists,” the stallion responded with a shiver, “who want to turn back the clock a thousand years-“ “Boring!!” Rainbow Dash yelled, “Why the hostages?!” The stallion laughed. “You’re too late. The countdown’s already begun. In just a few short moments, this town and the EverFree Forest…boom!! While the world watches…” The lead stallion had unpacked his briefcase and started a countdown. Once the timer had reached 0, a bomb would go off, destroying everything in its path. “Down with the modern world,” he cooed, “back to the dark ages and the safety of holy fear.” The fillies didn’t dare move. The seventh stallion kept his gun brandished in case any one of them tried to make a break for it. The students all felt tears come to their eyes, not knowing what was about to happen to them. Just then, there was a loud crash and Rainbow Dash crashed through the roof, landing with a resounding thud on four hooves. The leader noticed this and fired two rounds of ammunition at the pegasus, both of which she dodged. Then, Rainbow Dash ran through the classroom, dodging the rain of bullets fired at her with unprecedented speed. Grabbing several bullets at light speed, she threw them all at the other henchponies, four of them collapsing with a thud and the others barely managing to this. BUCK!! WHACK!! KICK!! Three more fell to the ground at Dash’s hooves. With only 5 seconds left, she grabbed the briefcase and flew up into the air, crashing through the roof once more and flinging it up into the sky, where it lingered for the remainder of the countdown before exploding harmlessly in the air. The leader stallion blinked for a few seconds, taking a moment to see whether Dash truly was gone. When he was sure that she was, he chuckled to himself, thinking to himself that the athletic pegasus had died from the blast. Raising his gun once more, he aimed it at Cheerilee and the students, who all cried out, begging him not to pull the trigger. Diamond Tiara collapsed on Silver Spoon sobbing and Apple Bloom hugged Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, who were too scared to refuse and hugged back, thinking this would be their last moment alive. Twist had already fallen on the floor, paralyzed from fear. The lead stallion laughed maliciously. He didn’t care that he was the only one of his gang left. The fact that he had won was the real accomplishment. “Like lambs to the slaughter…” he grinned, firing a bullet at the students. But just as the bullet was about to reach them, there was another crash and it was intercepted by none other than Rainbow Dash, who had survived the explosion. The lead stallion blinked, hoping he wasn’t seeing things. But it was true. Rainbow Dash had survived and she was absolutely infuriated. BOOM!! Another bullet fired, this one intercepted as well by Rainbow Dash, who just tossed it away harmlessly. Running through the rain of shots again, she caught each one of them and flung them away from the students. She stopped at the last one. “I don’t believe it!” The stallion cried out, “What are you?!” “Loyal.” Rainbow Dash stated plainly. As the stallion scrambled to get another gun, Rainbow Dash reared her right hoof and punched him right through the front side of the building, where he landed right next to some local police ponies who had just arrived on the scene. As the dust cleared, Rainbow Dash turned her head towards Cheerilee and the students, who were all staring wide-eyed from her display of heroism. She had saved them. “Is everypony alright? You all okay? You okay? You okay?” she asked them as she helped each one of them up. Apple Bloom wasted no time in high-tailing it out of the school where it was safe. Dash finally turned her head to Scootaloo, who was staring at her in shock and awe. She came down to the orange filly’s level and asked her gently, “You okay, squirt?” Scootaloo nodded slowly, “Can I be like you someday?” Rainbow Dash wiped away approaching tears at that question. She smiled at Scootaloo and told her, “You can be anything you want to be.” Scootaloo just bobbed her head on response, letting herself be helped up by her savior, her mind still reeling from the day’s events. ——————————————————————————————————————————————— Meanwhile, the carriage from Canterlot finally arrived in Ponyville. The royal guards touched down gracefully. “Thank you, sirs,” Twilight thanked them. All three of them nodded in acknowledgement. “So what’s the plan, Twilight?” Spike asked her. “We’re going to oversee plans for the Summer Sun Celebration,” Twilight told him. As he was about to respond, she continued, “I know the Princess wants me to make friends too, but I’m only here for business. I’ll talk with the Princess after the celebration.” “But Twilight-“ Spike began. “I understand you’re concerned, Spike,” Twilight stated a matter-of-factly, “But the future of Equestria does not rest on me making friends.” She would soon realize how wrong she was about that.