//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: A Sad Mare's Story // Story: The Stone of Storms // by Wordy Notes //------------------------------// Storm Stallion grumbled as he flew across the skies, heading for a quarry, in particular a spot that had been sealed only for special access. As he landed on a platform, he was greeted by two pegasi guards dressed in white and black uniforms. “Halt! State your business and your intentions!” One of them said. Storm responded by taking his helmet and goggles off, showing them a very annoyed expression from his jade colored eyes, “It’s me, guys. Chill out.” He walked past them and moved further through, passing by many worker ponies that were busy chiseling and digging away at the rocks. Eventually, he walked into an office guarded by a pair of unicorns who were dressed similarly to the pegasi that had seen him in. Inside the office was a third unicorn, a mare with a magenta mane tied back into a bun with a green coat and a cutie mark resembling a compass. This unicorn was dressed in what appeared to be a lab coat and had a pair of glasses adorning her navy-green eyes. “You’re back early.” She said turning her attention away from reading what appeared to be survey maps. Storm simply glared at her and dropped the helmet on the ground as it rolled toward her and came to a rest at her hooves, “I take it things didn’t go well?” “They did up until another mare showed up out of nowhere. Guess she doesn’t like playing fair in a fight she’s losing,” he said to himself, “But more importantly, I think your boss lied to me. This suit didn’t do anything to make my abilities stronger.” “Well of course it wouldn’t. You’re a fool if you really believed that.” She replied with a blunt tone. “He said that if I got dressed up in this new outfit then I’d be able to get abilities that I’d never had before!” Storm roared as he got closer to the unicorn. “Keep your voice down if you would. I don’t respond well to being yelled at.” She replied with a calm tone. “May I remind you, Storm, that I in no way stated that you would get those abilities from simply wearing that outfit. You seem to have misunderstood my intentions.” A deep voice came from the side of the room, causing both ponies to turn and look at the one speaking to them, a pegasus stallion with an ice-blue coat and a well groomed teal mane tied into a braid. He wore what appeared to be a fancy white robe adorned with gemstones of various blue hues and lined with a gold colored trim that also held the symbol of his cutie mark, a pair of icicles and a snowflake. The most striking aspect of his appearance was made clear as he turned to face the other two ponies in the room, revealing his irises were a light gray color, perfectly suited to further increase his already cold appearance, “The suit I have given you was merely a confidence booster as well as a way for me to see the potential of your abilities if lined with said confidence, and I must say that I am very impressed. I’ve never seen a pegasus not of our order exhibit your abilities.” Storm chuckled, “Well, what can I say? I guess I’m just special.” He finished with a bright grin. “What I am concerned with is your apparent lack of self-control and sense of judgment as well as your apparent inability to properly handle yourself in physical combat.” The pegasus walked forward, slowly approaching Storm. “My what now?” Storm asked with an inquisitive look before he winced as the icy pegasus got close to him and looked deep into his eyes. “I asked that you merely combat that pegasus you have an apparent unknown grudge with. While you did that, you also attacked her in a populated town, in front of many witnesses and thus endangered innocent ponies and most undoubtedly caused damage to the town itself!” The pegasus’ previously subdued expression turned to a tone disapproval, “Subtlety is apparently not a word that you seem to understand.” “Look, Solstice, I-“Storm started. “I am not finished!” The pegasus roared, causing everyone in the room to shudder, particularly Storm as he was the focus of the wrath, “In addition, it is apparent you have no way of defending yourself should an opponent attack you in close quarters. This shows you obviously are confident no one can touch you, but I can assure you that overconfidence will be your downfall.” “I…I understand what you mean.” Storm took a deep swallow as he nodded and bowed to Solstice. Solstice stepped back and turned away from him, “You may go now. I’ll call you again when either I or North Star require your services,” Solstice gestured to the unicorn and with that, Storm turned and walked solemnly out of the office, but not before glancing back with a quick glare as he left. “Don’t you think you were a little hard on him?” Star asked him, having a small look of pity for the younger stallion that had just left. “No, I don’t,” Solstice replied coldly as he walked over to the map she was looking at before the interruption, “The little fool could’ve cost us sorely with his actions. In fact, I believe it might be a miracle if the princesses don’t track down our operation and shut it down within the day.” “If I may speak freely, Solstice, wouldn’t you agree it was just as foolish of an idea to let him settle his grudge with this pegasus? You essentially gave him free reign to do whatever he wanted and that could’ve been the reason for this happening.” North Star said with an air of logic. Solstice paused for a moment and held his hoof to his chin in deep thought before turning back to his assistant, “You make a good argument, Star. Perhaps encouraging this in order to gauge his abilities was unwise…at least not without closer observation. Thankfully, this won’t have to happen again. I have seen what he can do. He is extremely powerful, shockingly so in fact.” “There are few pegasi that have the kind of weather control abilities you and the other ministers possess , Solstice. How do you know for sure this isn’t some type of trick?” Star asked. “Please have faith, Star. Not everything has an immediate explanation,” Solstice walked back over on the other side of the table where the map laid, “Much like the secrets of the object we seek, answers will come in all due time.” Star scoffed, “Forgive me if I don’t share your same optimism for his innate talents, Solstice. I am a pony of science and I refuse to believe something exists as fact without an explanation.” She said with a very disapproving look. “Ironic considering you’re a unicorn,” Solstice chuckled. “Magic, while still relatively mysterious, still has some type of an explanation behind it, as do the power pegasi have over the weather. I find it interesting how similar the two are, but that isn’t the point of this conversation,” Star glared, fire burning in her eyes, “What I’m trying to say is that I don’t trust that pegasus and his little thunder powers as far as I can throw him.” “Alright, alright, no need to get angry, Star,” Solstice said quickly, trying to calm her anger, “I’ll take your advice and look into it. You haven’t ever steered me wrong before and I don’t think you will now.” He said with a breath of relief as Star composed herself. “I apologize for that outburst, Solstice. There is a lot riding on this, for the both of us.” Star said as she pushed her glasses up. “I understand, believe me. This is also why I have to return to Canterlot soon to attend a meeting of the Ministers. I only hope that they consider the evidence I have been able to discover so far and hopefully reconsider their stance on this particular project.” Solstice said as he began leaving the office, “I bid you adieu for now, dear North Star.” “You too, Solstice,” Star said as she went back to looking through maps, but stopped quickly and turned to Solstice, “Oh! Before you leave, I have to ask. What should we do with the prisoner? She’s been here for a day or two now at least.” Solstice turned back to his assistant, showing a thoughtful look, “Hm…I guess that will depend upon the results of the meeting.” He said before he unfolded his wings and left. **** Rainbow awoke about halfway during Fluttershy and Applejack carrying her back to Ponyville. The two of them, as well as Scootaloo, were relieved to see that she was alright. However, given the injuries she had received as well as them finding her unconscious in the first place, they insisted she go to Nurse Redheart’s to get herself checked out, with the cyan pegasus begrudgingly agreeing. “Hm…” The nurse mare said as she held a light and shined it into both of Rainbow’s eyes, causing her to blink and get a sour look on her face, “Well, judging by the reaction of your eyes and the visual test I gave you, you don’t appear to have a concussion,” she said as she set the light down, “Just a nasty bump on the head.” “That’s good. Last thing I need is getting sidelined because of a head injury.” Rainbow said, rubbing the bandage around her head. “I have to ask, how exactly did you get hurt?” She asked. Rainbow froze for a moment and scrambled to think of something to say. She couldn’t just tell Nurse Redheart that she had fought with an older version of Scootaloo (especially with the real Scootaloo standing a few feet away from her in the first place.) Rainbow then looked back over and put on a bright smile. “Oh, um, I was just flying through the forest and tripped and fell down that hill…and then I guess while I was tumbling, I must’ve hit myself in the head with one of my own hooves,” she blushed, “Kind of embarrassing, I know, heh heh.” Rainbow immediately glanced over at the other three ponies in the room with her. Scootaloo and Fluttershy both looked concerned while Applejack had a much different look of both deep thought and judgment on her face. It was that look that told Rainbow the farm mare knew she was lying about what had happened, but for whatever reason she didn’t say anything about it and instead piped up about something else. “Well, I’m mighty glad you’re fine, sugar cube. I know Scoot and Fluttershy here are too.” AJ glanced over at both Fluttershy and the small filly, looking like she was on the verge of crying. “Rainbow, I got really worried when I saw-“, Scootaloo cut herself off and looked away for a moment to wipe tears out of her eyes before turning back to Rainbow, “I mean…I knew you were alright the moment I saw you!” She said, putting on a much different tone and expression of confidence, “You’re the Dash and there’s nothing that can take you down.” “Except some crazy violent older version of you.” Dash thought. “Thanks, Squirt.” Rainbow stood off the examining bed and walked over to Scootaloo, rubbing the filly’s mane with her hoof and messing it up, “It’s good to know my number one fan thinks I’m invincible.” She said. “Even though I’m totally not.” “It looks like you’re fine, then,” Nurse Redheart closed a folder containing a record of Dash’s past medical history (which given her luck when it came to flying and crashing into things was rather extensive), “You can go now, just try to take it easy.” “You got it.” Dash gave a small salute as she immediately left the clinic and walked outside. Before she could fly anywhere, though, she was stopped by the three ponies who had brought her there. “Hey, Rainbow, we been meanin’ to ask ya’. When are y’all gonna’ go talk to Twilight?” Applejack asked. “Talk to Twi?” Rainbow asked with a confused look before she suddenly remembered the events from earlier, “Oh…um…I don’t know.” She replied. Rainbow had almost forgotten about her argument with Twilight from earlier, but she wasn’t sure what she was going to say now, especially after learning who the actual mysterious mare had been in the first place. “You should go talk to her soon. I think she’s just as upset as you are,” Fluttershy added, “Um…you are upset too, right?” She asked, her eyes widening with concern at the answer. “Of course I am!” Rainbow sternly said, her voice cracking and her blushing because of it, “I just don’t know what to say to her right now, but I do promise I will go talk to her as soon as I do,” she sighed, “I’m just wrecked right now and it’s starting to get late”, she glanced over at the sunset that was beginning to form. “Well, okay then. I guess it would be none too fair to ask you to go do something you ain’t in no state o’ mind to do.” Applejack said, “But you better be ready tomorrow or I swear I’ll send Pinkie Pie to come get you.” “Hey hey, no need for extreme measures, AJ.” Rainbow waved her hooves, “I’ll show up, don’t worry.” “I can be there too if you want.” Fluttershy said with a comforting smile. “I’m sure we’ll all be there, Fluttershy.” Applejack replied, “But in the meantime, I guess we’ll let ya’ get some rest”, she glanced down at Scootaloo, “And we better get you home, Scootaloo, I’ll bet your mom and dad are about to wonder where you are now.” “Probably, yeah,” Scootaloo said as she got worried, “Later, Rainbow!” “Bye, guys.” Rainbow said with a wave as she soared up into the air and took off toward her house, finally able to drop her fake smile as she began to process the day’s events and continue to come back to one question. “What in the hay is going on around here?” **** Rainbow walked inside her house and shut the door behind her, “Home sweet home.” She said with a sigh as she walked in. As she stepped across the cloud floor, she was greeted by a green tortoise who gave her a bright smile when he saw her. Rainbow smiled and patted him on the back of the shell, “Hey, Tank. Nice to see you, buddy.” She said to him as she stood up. In addition to helping create the device Tank used to fly, Twilight had also done her a favor and offered to cast a more permanent version of the spell that made non-Pegasi able to walk on clouds, thus allowing the tortoise to be able to live in Ranbow’s house without having to resort to his flyer all the time. As she thought about this, Rainbow dropped her head as she thought about the way she had treated Twilight. “Friends don’t talk to their friends like that…no matter what the situation. Twilight probably hates me now and she values friendship a lot, maybe even more than Pinkie Pie! She’s probably never going to forgive me for that.” Rainbow thought, her mind racing with all the possibilities of the conversation tomorrow. “You’re a terrible friend, Rainbow Dash! I told you that it wasn’t me as Mare-Do-Well and you didn’t trust me enough to believe me when I was telling the truth! I never want to see you again!” She would angrily say and then Rainbow would walk out and that would be the end of it…at least in the hypothetical scenario Rainbow had created in her mind. She began to choke up as she fought back tears by tightly closing her eyes, even though no other pony would be there to see her if she did lose it and started bawling. Before she could, however, Tank had gotten over to her and nuzzled one of her back legs. She turned back to see the tortoise was trying to comfort her, almost as if he was trying to ask what was wrong. Rainbow sniffed and put on a fake smile. “Don’t worry, Tank. I’m okay…alright, I’m not okay. Today was horrible!” She said as her voice wavered, walking over and sitting down on a cloud couch, “First off, I had a run-in with this super lame-o pegasus who calls himself Storm Stallion. I know, right?” She looked over at the tortoise, who was slowly making his way into her living room, “But I fought him off and sent him packing, which was kinda’ fun I’ll admit,” she laughed as she thought about her first battle with Storm Stallion, but quickly went back to a serious tone, “But then the jerk shows up in town while I’m about to have lunch and starts a fight and then Mare-do-Well shows up again and I think it’s Twilight, only it ended up not being her. It was Scootaloo! Well, not actually since she was taller, older, and could actually fly. I’m pretty sure it was Scoot though since, well, how many other pegasi do we know that are orange, right? But…I don’t know what to do now.” She leaned back on the couch and gave a frustrated, prolonged groan, “Agh! I don’t know what to say to Twi tomorrow or what to do about that dork or that impersonator!” She covered her face with hooves. She then took a breath and slowly exhaled as she looked down to see Tank standing next to the couch and stretching his head up to nuzzle her head. Rainbow calmed slightly and patted the tortoise’s shell yet again. “I guess you’re right. I do just need to chill,” she said as she hopped off the couch, “You might not be able to give deep advice or anything, but you’re an awesome listener. I guess I’ll think about it while I’m asleep.” She yawned, “I’m gonna’ go get some rest. Sorry to turn in early on ya’ buddy, but I’m totally spent for the day…and that’s saying something for me!” She chuckled as she ascended the stairs to her bedroom, waving goodnight to her pet. **** Shortly after she had fallen asleep, Rainbow awoke to sounds coming from downstairs. She opened her eyes and slowly arose from her bed, being careful not to make any noise as she did and began creeping downstairs, watching for any signs of any intruders. She wasn’t sure why anypony would want to break into her house. “Unless they’re trying to steal stuff from my training room! Oh, if they make off with any of my trophies or my karate gear…” She thought, steeling herself as she moved down to the bottom level. She put herself up next to the wall and leaned around the corner, seeing that none other than the older Scootaloo mare from earlier come around the corner and them nearly touch noses as they came into eye contact for a short time before they both jumped back on the floor, obviously startled at running into one another. Rainbow was the first to get up to her hooves and jumped back up, getting into her combat stance in anticipation for a fight. “Alright, you ambush me in the forest, sucker punch me, and now you break into my house?! You’re really asking for it now!” Dash angrily began approaching the mare. “Whoa, whoa!” She responded, holding her hooves up, “I didn’t come here for a fight. I just wanted to talk.” She said as she got back up. “Oh? Well that’s good then because I have a ton of a questions for you! Most importantly, what do you know about that Storm Stallion weirdo and why do you look like a little filly pegasus I know?” Rainbow yelled at her through clenched teeth. “That’s because I am that same pegasus, Rainbow. I’m Scootaloo!” She said, taking her hat off and allowing Rainbow to see her fully, “Well, I’m not the same Scootaloo you know anyway.” “Say what now? When I said I had questions it meant I wanted answers that made sense you know!” Rainbow facehoofed. “I’m getting there already! Oh for Celestia’s sake, I forgot how impatient you could be sometimes,” Scoot rolled her eyes, “Now listen…I’m not from this time period. I came back in time in order to stop Ponyville from being destroyed. I was going to try and do it on my own, but this whole thing is bigger than me. So…I guess what I’m saying is that I need your help.” She said, looking to Rainbow with a pleading look. “Whoa, whoa, slow down! You’re telling me Ponyville’s going to get destroyed? By what? By who? How? When? How do we stop it?” Rainbow quickly said, sounding more frustrated with the answers she had taken in. “I guess that reaction was to be expected,” Scoot said, taking a breath, “I’ll give you some more details. A few days from now, Ponyville gets hit with a massive storm. Not just any normal storm, though, this one was unplanned. Lightning strikes everywhere, ice permeates all throughout the town, wrecking buildings, destroying the ground, and basically wiping the town off the map.” Rainbow listened in hard concentration at the mare’s story, taking in all the details and looking for any signs that she might be lying. The scary part was that it sounded like she was telling the truth. “Uh huh,” Rainbow said, still thinking about everything, “Do you guys know what causes it?” “Yeah. Your friend earlier? The dork in the costume? Everypony was sure it was him. He got a hold of something that juiced up his weather abilities and he went berserk. Why he went after Ponyville we have no idea, but it doesn’t matter. I need to find out what he gets a hold of and then stop him from doing it.” Scoot said, apparent anger present in her tone. “Wow. Who knew somepony like that could turn out to be so evil?” Rainbow asked rhetorically. She then remembered something else…something she had seen on Scoot’s face when she had been unmasked during the fight in Everfree, “Hey, Scoot, one more question. You obviously didn’t want me to help earlier, and there was something on your face that made it look like you were sad, so I gotta’ ask. What happened to me after that whole Ponyville gets annihilated thing?” “It’s…not important.” Scoot said, trying to duck the question and doing a poor job at it. “Level with me here, Squirt. I need to know.” Scoot closed her eyes and looked at the floor, “During the evacuation, there were some reports that sounded like there were some ponies stuck in a house somewhere. You volunteered to go look for them, but there was a fissure in the ground from some ice that caused the building to collapse and….” She looked away from Rainbow, squeezing her eyes shut but failing to prevent a tear from falling. “...I didn’t make it out.” Rainbow said, finishing her sentence with a look of shock. She thought back to when she was in flight school. There had been one day where she’d screwed up a maneuver and ended up face-planting into the ground and ended up with a broken leg and nose among other things. The facts that Scoot had just told her was a similar feeling of anguish…only this one was purely mental. Rainbow took it in and then sighed before speaking up, “Alright. I guess this exactly how I should have expected a really horrifically awful day to end. Par for the course, right?” “But that’s why I came back!” Scoot looked over at here with a more hopeful expression, but quickly wiped her eyes with her cape before continuing to talk, “If we stop this from happening then Ponyville won’t get wiped out and you’ll survive! That’s why I need your help, Rainbow. I might have my own skills and equipment, but what I need is help from one of the best fliers in Equestria, and that’s you.” Rainbow grinned, “You still worship me, I see,” she said as she walked over and put a hoof on Scoot’s head before messing up her mane, “You can count me in, then. You sound confident about this so I’ll be too.” “Even if I’m still mentally freaking out about the fact I just got told I might die in a few days.” “Good. Anyway, I have a lead on the thing that Storm Stallion snatched that made him super powerful. We’ll head there in a few hours, okay?” Scoot said. “You got it.” Rainbow nodded, “Uh…I guess if you want, you can crash on my bed if you want.” “Ugh, thanks. I’m sick of sleeping outside all the time.” Scoot said happily as she darted upstairs, Rainbow smiling at her as she did. “She can try and cover herself up with all kinds of armor and try to act super cool…but she’s still the same old Scootaloo.” **** “Uh, hey, AJ? Could I ask ya’ something?” Caramel asked as he looked back at the covered tray he had strapped to his back. “Go right on ahead, Caramel.” Applejack replied as the two of them walked through the early morning hours. “Well, this is Rainbow Dash we’re talking about here. She’s probably not even going to be up until at least 11 or noon and…it’s 4 in the morning right now.” Caramel said with worry as he looked back at her. “I’m a firm believer that anypony can be up at anytime so long they have a nice fillin’ breakfast to help ‘em out, and that’s exactly what Rainbow’s getting’,” Applejack replied with a matter-of-fact tone, “As both their friends, I’m gonna’ make darn sure Twi and Rainbow make up, no matter what hap-“ Applejack stopped as she glanced up to Rainbow’s house, seeing that the weather patrol pegasus was flying off toward the northwest and it looked like she was being followed by another pegasus as well. “Guess I was wrong. She can get up early.” Caramel said, oblivious to both the situation and Applejack’s annoyance. “Ohhhh! Why that no good, irresponsible filly!”, Applejack shouted, “If she thinks she’s gettin’ outta’ her chat by flyin’ off inta the sunrise then she’s got another thing comin’!” Applejack charged off after Rainbow, leaving a shocked and confused Caramel standing alone under Rainbow’s house.