Rainbow Dash had managed to gather her reading materials for the day, namely Big Mac’s Dream Journal. She was about to start reading when something caught her attention.
There was a rumbling like distant thunder. The sound caused her airborne house to quiver slightly. She looked out her window at the perfectly clear skies, just as was scheduled.
The rumble still hadn’t stopped, so she looked around, her eyes eventually spotting a rising dust cloud in the distance.
“Uh oh...” She recognized what it was, and it would certainly cause some issues in town if it wasn’t handled quickly.
She leapt out of her window, pumping her wings harder than she had in months, to get back to the Apple family house. Her keen eyes began scanning the neatly kept trees of the familiar orchard for her orange friend.
Finally, she located her, bucking some trees in the East field. Rainbow felt like her wings would rip off as she pulled into a sharp dive. She slammed into the ground, mere inches from her best friend, panting heavily.
Applejack leapt, spilling the basket of apples that she had been carrying all over the ground. “Rainbow, why’d ya do that?”
“*gasp* There’s *pant* a *breathe* stam-*gasp*-pede.” She managed to stammer out from between gathering lungfuls of sweet, sweet, air.
Applejack froze in place, an apple falling out of her clutches as she was attempting to place it back in the basket. “Where.” Was all that she could demand of her colorful friend, who had managed to get back much of her breath.
"East, heading towards town."
"Let's go." Applejack said, pulling her hat tight to her head. She then let out a sharp piercing whistle, causing the scruffy little dog, that was napping a few rows away, to perk up. "Winona! Let's git!"
The two ponies and one dog took off towards the distant rumble of heavy hooves.
There was a murmur of activity in Ponyville, something was rumbling in the distance, but Nopony could quite tell what it was.
Eventually, one of the pegasi flying over the town spotted something in the distance.
There was a rising cloud of dust on the horizon, and the horizon was moving.
“Stampede!” screamed the pegasus that spotted the oncoming disaster.
Rarely has one word caused so much chaos, but as soon as it left her muzzle, the townsponies became an explosion of noise and movement.
The panicking ponies hurried around the town, desperate to escape from the coming onslaught of bovines. Aimlessly running and screaming, the locals trampled property, plants, and each other, causing damage to the town before the stampede was even close.
“Look!” came the triumphant shout of a little colt, as he pointed to the left of the rising dust cloud. “It’s Applejack!”
“And Rainbow Dash!” yelled one of his friends.
“And- uh… The Dog!” finished the third.
Shouts of jubilation rang out from the inhabitants of Ponyville, as they recognized the coming of their salvation. Everypony in town watched with bated breath and awe, as the two ponies and a dog rounded up the cows.
Eventually, the stampede had been redirected around the town and pulled to a stop. Everypony cheered, throwing hats into the air, and stomping their hooves on the ground in celebration.
“Mooriella,” Applejack began to scold the cow at the head of the charging herd. “Just what was that all about?”
The, normally placid, cow was jittering, and shifting her eyes from side to side, as though searching for something. “Oh, s-s-so s-sorry, d-dear.” She said, before she continued to scan the area.
Applejack could tell something was wrong to cause her to act this way. “Mooriella, what’s wrong?” She asked forcefully, but kindly, as Rainbow Dash alighted beside her, and Winona sat on her haunches wagging her tail.
“W-well,” the cow began, and then tok a deep breath, “It’s,” she scanned the area and leaned in, so that only the two ponies could hear. “That time of year for us,” The acknowledgement caused Applejack and Rainbow Dash to blush slightly. “And Manolete is back.”
The ominous tone that she finished with brought chills to Applejack’s spine, and Rainbow just sat there, confused. “Wait, who’s Manolete?” She asked, trying to get back on the same page as everyone else there.
“Manolete’s a bull,” Applejack informed her friend, “And he goes from place ta place durin’ the year.” Applejack looked back at the herd, “And it sounds like he’s on a rage.”
The cows all nodded their confirmation.
“Where was he last?” Applejack demanded, hoping to keep the town, full of blissfully unaware ponies, behind her from any damage or injuries that the hormone-fueled bull might cause.
“He was out by the Everfree forest, and coming this way.” One of the other cows spoke up.
“Fluttershy!” Rainbow shouted, desperately worried for the safety of her timid friend, who lived on the edge of the aforementioned forest.
“You go warn her.” Applejack demanded. “Ah’ll go git help.” The two ponies took off in opposite directions, one flying at a blisteringly fast pace towards a cottage at the edge of the Everfree forest, and the other one galloping back towards the farm that she ran.
Rainbow Dash had managed to warn Fluttershy of the possible oncoming disaster. Fluttershy had immediately demanded help getting all of her critter friends inside, luckily Rainbow Dash was the fastest pony alive, and was able to do it in almost no time at all.
She was now debating what to do. On one wing, she could go back to town, and see if Applejack needed any more help back in town. On the other wing, she could try to find the bull, to make sure that he didn’t harm anyone.
Plus, Rainbow Dash had never seen a bull in real life, so…
She climbed higher into the sky, gaining a better view of the ground so that she could look out for the rampaging beast.
She scanned the edge of the dark forest, and eventually laid eyes on the lumbering black form of the beast. The sheer size of the angry individual was immediately made known to the airborne mare. He was significantly taller than Big Mac, and muscular enough to make the red pony seem wimpy. The two horns growing out of his head were each the length of Princess Celestia’s, but these had a deadly hook at the end of them.
Rainbow couldn’t tell what the big deal was, he didn’t really seem to be doing anything dangerous, but then he bumped a tree.
As though the tree had deliberately disrupted him, he reared back, and slammed the sharpened end of his horn deep into the trunk of the tree. Quickly, he ripped his head to the side, and uprooted the small maple.
Not satisfied that the tree had learned its lesson, he stomped on it repeatedly, and gored it many times, trying to be sure that it was dead. Finally content with the death of the timber, the beast continued on its way.
Rainbow had never seen such a violent display, and she had watched a griffon hunt, clean, and eat a squirrel. She decided that keeping her distance would be a good idea.
Then she saw something that made her heart drop almost fast enough to knock her out of the sky.
There was a foal.
Specifically it was that cute little Pipsqueak colt from Trottingham. He was just standing there, less than one hundred feet from the bull.
Rainbow dove in, determined to get the child out of there. She landed behind him, to find that he was crying.
Shrugging that off, she trotted over to him. “Hey, kid, we gotta get out of here.”
“I-I can’t,” he choked out.
“Why not?” Rainbow Dash had been on the ground for much longer than she wanted to be, that bull might be there soon.
“I’m stuck.” He explained, showing her that his front hoof had been pinched between some rocks, probably while he was playing on the pile.
“Oh, alright, I gotcha.” Rainbow said, as she began to pry the rocks away from him. He had a small smile form on his face, as he could feel himself becoming free.
A snort caused Rainbow to stop what she was doing, and turn. As she turned around, she saw Manolete.
The bull was fifty feet away from her, glaring in her direction with bloodshot eyes. Rainbow Dash had never been so scared in all of her life. The monster lowered his head, so that the two points of his horn were pointed at her.
She attempted to recall any of Big Mac’s bullfighting stories, but nothing came to mind. She began to panic, but then she took a deep breath, determined to avoid looking weak in front of the little kid behind her.
She glared daggers at the beast, just noticing the shiny gold ring in his snout. He snorted, causing the ring to move, and scraped a hoof on the ground.
She walked to her right a few steps, observing as her opponent followed her with his eyes. Glad that he watching her instead of Pipsqueak, she lifted into the air, just a few inches off the ground to help her maneuver.
Then he charged.
He roared an unnatural bellow, causing Rainbow’s hair to stand on end. Careful to make sure that her opponent would leave the colt alone, Rainbow flew off to her right even further. He stopped, and changed his trajectory to be aimed at her.
She repeated this process twice, desperately trying to be sure that he wouldn’t return to Pipsqueak. But she couldn’t do it forever.
The heavy exertion that she had put on her wings this morning without stretching or breaks finally caught up with her, as they seized up.
She tumbled to the ground, and lifted herself to her hooves, where she froze.
The pure fear at the sight of the charging bull barreling towards her was unlike anything she had felt before. She could do nothing but brace herself for impact.
Then, her saving grace came in the form of two hooves slamming into the underside of the beast’s right horn.
His head twisted to the left, and the torque forced his body to do the same. He slammed into the ground, and slid to a stop right In front of Rainbow and he rolled until he had managed to get back to his hooves.
Both of them looked around, shocked at the sudden interference. They saw who it was at the same time.
Big Mac was standing right where he had kicked the bull’s horn. Rainbow Dash’s heart soared at the sight, while Manolete lowered his head to meet the challenger.
Mac snorted, apparently infuriating the bull, as he decided to rush him. Mac sidestepped at the last second, crouching underneath of the massive horns, and transferring his strength into the monster’s rear leg, knocking it out from underneath of its center of mass, and causing the raging beast to lose its balance and brutally make contact with the ground. Before the creature was able to get back to its feet, Big Mac trotted over, and planted an applebucking kick on its forehead, knocking it unconscious.
Rainbow Dash collapsed with exhaustion and shock. Quivering as the pain in her wings became overbearing, and shuddering as the fear washed over her.
She was completely unaware of Applejack rushing to Pipsqueak’s aid, but she was entirely aware of the large hoof wrapping around her abdomen and pulling her into a tight hug.
“Ssshh, ssshhh…” She felt the comforting caress of the the big, red, stallion. “It’s alright now…”
Rainbow leaned into the muscular chest and allowed everything she had just witnessed to melt away. Then, determined to still look tough, she joked, “That wasn’t any fun at all.”
Big Mac chuckled slightly at the mare’s false confidence, the deep rumbling reverberating through his chest and into Rainbow’s head. “Well, ya were doin’ jus’ fine.” Then he lifted her chin and looked into her eyes, “But, if yer gonna start bullfightin’ let’s start a little smaller. Kay?”
Rainbow laughed a little, “I think I’ll leave that to you.”
Then two tiny hooves found their way around Rainbow, and she looked down to find that Pipsqueak had been freed and was now hugging her.
“Thank you for saving me miss Dash.” He said, in that cute little accent of his.
“Aw, it was nothing kid,” she ruffled his mane lightly, “Anyway, Big Mac did all the work.”
Mac patted the colt on his back, and said, “Don’t worry ‘bout it sport. Now, run on home, yer parents are worried sick.”
“Aye-Aye, Captain!” The little colt said with a salute, before running off toward Ponyville. Both of the older ponies blushed slightly, when he did so.
Rainbow, suddenly aware that she was still being hugged by Big Mac, blushed even more and stood up, shrugging off the big stallion’s arm. “Well, I think that, uh, I might go take a nap. This whole, uh, thing, made me tired.” She then spread her aching wings, and flew up to her home where she went to sleep immediately, thinking the whole time about the feeling of Big Mac’s firm embrace.
Rainbow awoke after about an hour of a relaxing sleep, and with her mind cleared, she began to read
Our stay in Baltimare was notably short, with nothing else of major influence occurring.
Daring Doo discovered that her next job was in the same direction that my ship was headed. As the crew and myself had grown rather accustomed to and fond of her presence aboard the ship, I offered passage, which she graciously accepted.
The biggest change that occurred was that I had accepted a job transporting goods to another town further down the shore. I was running low on funds, and wanted to continue to pay the crew, and since it wasn’t too far out of the way, I decided to take the offer.
We had slept in port all night, after loading up the new goods, and any lingering crew members. It was now early morning, and Sea Dog and I were belting commands out to the crew.
“Tighten the riggings!”
“Untie those moorin’ lines!”
“Hoist the mainsail!”
“Somepony get Grog out of the crow’s nest.”
Soon we were back on open water and keeping a good clip.
“Hm, I never expected to hear Big Mac use the term, 'clip'.”
“Astro.” I shouted over to the pony who appeared to be focusing on a school of tuna swimming by the ship. “Astro!” I called louder, noticing that he appeared to be oblivious. “ASTRO!” Finally I got his attention, and he trotted over to me.
“Yes, Captain?” he responded with a distant expression.
“This still the right headin’?” I asked, pointing at the compass mounted to the helm.
He examined the precise heading and looked to the horizon, then at some device that he was levitating at eye-level, and concluded, “Yes, Captain, We could go further east, to get into deeper waters, but this is the right heading.”
I nodded my approval at his work and he left. Shortly after I adjusted the course for deeper waters, I heard a shout from the crow’s nest.
“Cap’n!”
“Eeyup.”
“There’s a ship to the Northeast.”
“Any flags?”
“No, sir.”
I furrowed my brow in thought, “Jus’ keep an eye on her, if anythin’ happens tell me.”
The dog returned to his watch, and I returned my attention to the wheel in my hooves. Half an hour later there was another call.
“She be gaining on us, Cap’n.”
“Alright, sails at three-fourths, Ah’ll adjust our course.” I reasoned, hoping that it was just another sailor, and nothing unfortunate.
“Hey, Mac.” Came the warm voice of Daring Doo, and I turned my head to see her beautiful eyes. “I got the ‘go ahead’ from Stitch to test out my wings, so I’m going to fly around a little bit.”
“Oh, I know that feeling.” Rainbow Dash said, remembering one time specifically, when she broke a wing and ended up in a hospital for a while. That was actually when she discovered the joys of reading.
I nodded, giving her my blessing on her journey, but then I thought of something. “Try an’ see if ya can find anythin’ out ‘bout the ship followin’ us. Don’t get close, just keep an eye out.”
“Aye-aye, Captain!” She said, with a salute of her hoof.
After an hour of sailing, Daring Doo landed back on the deck of the ship, and trotted up to me.
“Well, I can’t tell much from here, but the crew is primarily griffon.” I thanked her for the information, and before I could do much else, Pointer called to me again.
“C-cap’n?” I heard him say weakly.
“Eeyup?”
“She’s r-raised her c-c-c-colors.”
“And?”
“They belong to the Swiftwing.”
Rainbow gasped, clutching the book closer to her chest.
The entire crew froze. All eyes looked to me, even Grog’s bloodshot eyes were pinned to my forehead. I had no idea what to do.
So I improvised.
“Smoky Mirror, get all the unicorns below deck, to the guns. Ah want them primed, and ready to fire on mah command, got it?”
“Yes sir!” came a collective shout, and they all began to rush below deck.
“The rest of you, wait fer mah instructions.”
There was an eerie calm that settled over the entire sea, chilling everyone on the deck down to the bone. The only sounds were the waves against the hull, the flapping of the sails, and the faint sound of cannons being loaded below deck. Nopony made any sound, and I watched the ship.
It was a vicious looking vessel, with black sails, and a long slim hull. The flag waving from the pole had a black background with the image of a birdlike skull and skeletal wings on either side. From our position, I couldn’t make out how many cannons it had, but I could guess that it was more than we had.
Then something extremely unexpected happened.
One of the crew members of the Swiftwing took flight, soaring towards my ship.
“Stand yer ground.” I commanded the crew. I could feel their trepidation as the collective fear became palpable. There were a few moments of pure, sickening, silence, as we waited for the oncoming griffon.
I watched as it soared overhead, flying slightly erratically, before it tucked its wings into its sides and dove towards my ship. I took a deep breath and braced for the impact.
Rainbow Dash did the same.
The mighty, winged, beast slammed into the deck, his cape draping over his shoulders. The black-tinged red feathers on his head and wings gave him a dangerous look, the blades that served as talons and beak furthered that image, and the wild yellow eyes locked it in.
“Helloooooo, everybody!” He announced, throwing his wings out and his head up, and spun in a circle, his actions revealing a pistol and a cutlass. He seemed to me to be extremely full of himself.
“Yeah, I know ponies like that.” Then Rainbow thought about that for a few moments. “...and I might be one of them.”
“Welcome, to my ocean.” He finished with a cheesy smile, that confirmed his hotheadedness. “I assume that you know that I am Captain Black Swiftwing, so I won’t bore you with that, but I haven’t seen this ship before, so I thought I’d take a look.” He said as he began to walk around the deck. “Hmmm… Bit of a wimpy crew if you ask me.”
“Ah didn’t.” I spoke up, showing how little I cared for his attitude.
He raised his brow, and turned to face me. “Oh? And who are you?”
“Ah’m the captain, and Ah’d appreciate it if ya’d leave.”
His eyes widened in faux shock as I defied his orders, “You’re talking back to me? Wow, I haven’t gotten that in a while.” He seemed to think for a moment, placing his talon on his beak. “You know what? I like you, you got guts, for a legless earth pony,” The hilt of my pistol was beginning to feel incredibly inviting. “So I think that I won’t kill any of you, or sink this ship; however, I will take what I want, because it’s what I do.” He seemed to look past me, and he began to walk in that direction. “Right now, I want this pony, Daring Doo, if I’m right?”
“No!” Rainbow growled, almost able to feel the hungry eyes of the red-feathered griffon on her.
The clicking sound, of the hammer on my pistol locking into place, halted his progress towards the growling mare. “You touch her, an’ Ah will put a lead ball in yer lungs.” I alerted him.
He turned back to me, a confident smile on his beak, “I like you. Would you like to join my crew?” I think my scowl told him all he needed to know. “Ah, too bad, but I will give you one more chance to not die.” He pulled a white flag out from his cloak. “If you raise this by the time I land back on my ship, we will board, take all of your goods, and leave, as long as you don’t fight back. No one gets hurt.” He said it like it was the best option. “If you don’t, then full broadside.” He shrugged his wings. “It’s your choice.”
He dropped the white fabric, and took to the sky, leaving many of the crew stunned.
“What do we do, Cap’n?” Sea Dog, my most useful advisor, asked.
I stared at the mass amounts of cannons reaching out of the side of the opposing ship, through holes in the hull, racking my brain for inspiration. Then I had an idea.
“Someone, git Smoky Mirror, an’ a lit lamp.” I belted out to my crew. Chance then dove below decks, eager to do my bidding. He quickly returned with the mare I had asked for, and the lamp.
“Do ya think ya can keep this burning?” I asked the worried unicorn.
“Aye, Captain.”
“Do it.”
“What’s he planning?”
I then placed the lamp on the bulwark and eyed up my target. I took a quick glance at the enemy captain, flying much higher overhead than he needed to. I looked back at the opposing ship, placed my good back hoof against the lamp, and bucked.
The glass oil lamp soared through the air between the two ships, the magically contained fire still burning. Time felt as though it slowed down as I watched it approach the target, and then I succeeded.
The lamp went straight into the centermost gunport, and I smiled.
Apparently, my crew wasn’t as excited as I was, as they began to say some last goodbyes, a few of them kissing each other farewell. I even felt Daring Doo cling to my leg out of desperation.
The griffon captain was soaring towards the deck of his ship at unnatural speeds, when my plan kicked in.
The lamp oil had managed to ignite the gunpowder being stored with the cannons, causing massive explosions to rip the ship apart. Timber, cannon shot, and griffons were thrown from the source of the explosion. The larger pieces of the vessel began to sink, and masts began to fall, as the scourge of the sea was ended.
The pure joy that burst out among the crew of my ship, made me feel as though I had finally earned my position as Captain. Hugs, hoof/paw shakes, and other forms of congratulations were shared throughout the crew.
Then something else, that was completely unexpected, happened.
Two tan hooves grabbed my face, and pulled it down to Daring Doo’s level, where she began to press her lips against m-
“HEY!!!” Rainbow shouted at the book, “He’s mine! Back off, sister.” She slammed the pages together, and shoved the book away from her, folding her hooves in front of her and pouting.
The pit in her stomach grew, as she wanted to learn what happened in the rest of the story, and she realized that she had absolutely no right to make that assertion.
She slid the book back, and flipped through the pages, until she found the right one.
Two tan hooves grabbed my face, and pulled it down to Daring Doo’s level, where she began to press her lips against my own. My eyes snapped completely open in shock, and I stayed stock-still.
Eventually, she pulled back, breaking the kiss, and blushing furiously. “You were going too slow…” She said, as though it explained everything. “And, thanks for saving us.”
A big, goofy smile was plastered across my face for a long time following that, as I hadn’t felt that complete in a long time.
“That was…really good…” Rainbow mumbled to herself, satisfied with how her captain had handled the situation.
Shortly, she returned to Sweet Apple Acres, for several reasons. After she had returned her favorite book to its proper resting place, she began to search the premises for a certain hero of hers.
“Hey, Applejack!” Dash called out to her friend, who was hauling a cart of apples somewhere. “Do you know where your brother is?”
“Yep.” She said, “He’s in the barn, jus’ be careful.” But the colorful pony had already left, before hearing the warning.
The heavy barn door creaked open slightly, as Rainbow stuck a head inside. “Big Mac?” She called out.
“Eeyup?”
“Ah, there you are,” she said, beginning to trot to where his voice came from. “Well, I realized that I never really thanked you for earlier this morning, so thanks.” She finished, wrapping him in a hug, that caused both of them to blush.
Then she noticed the massive bundle of blankets in the nearest hay pile, that appeared to be moving. “Uh, Mac, what is that?”
“Manolete.” He responded.
Rainbow’s heart began to pump hard, and her wings flared out, attempting to make her seem more threatening, and allow for instant flight. “W-w-why is h-he here?”
“He’s recovering, an’ don’t worry, he’s harmless now.” Unable to take his word for it, Rainbow began to trot in place with fear, as the lumbering bull began to awake.
Manolete pulled his head out of the blanket and began to glance around, noticing Big Mac and then Rainbow Dash. As he noticed the prismatic pegasus, he shrunk back into his makeshift bed. “I am truly sorry, Mademoiselle,” He said, his head dropping, “For zat, truly despicable display.”
The accent made it sound as though he was from Prance, and that threw Rainbow Dash off. “Uh, what?”
“I was not myself, and I am so sorry for what I put you through.”
“Oh, yeah, I’m just glad Mac was there.”
“Me too.” He said, looking up at the red stallion. “I would not ‘ave been able to live with myself had I hurt Mademoiselle Dash or zat foal.”
Mac was busying himself by rubbing the back of his neck with a hoof. “Heheh, it was nuthin’.”
“It wasn’t ‘nothing.’ You saved my life Mac, Thank you.” Rainbow Dash said, as she wrapped her hooves and wings around Big Mac’s neck.
She eventually go of him and backed down, scratching the floor with a hoof, and blushing as red as the stallion she was just hugging. “So, I guess I’ll see you later… Bye Mac… Bye Manolete… I guess.”
As Dash backed out of the barn, Mac could feel Manolete staring at him. He turned to see the bull looking at him, raising an eyebrow with a smug smile.
“Shut it.”