//------------------------------// // Chapter 20: Crowd Control // Story: Time to go // by MasterHunter55 //------------------------------// Time to go Chapter 20 Crowd Control Hunter was enjoying the dark that he had been dumped in for the past few hours. It was just how he had imagined the end of the universe, and he had always entertained the idea that it would be fun to be the last thing in existence. Except for the being alone until he died part. That part always seemed like a bummer. Then all of the sudden, there was a nice, bright light shining into the empty space. “Great, now I get to see the beginning of the universe.” Hunter thought to himself. “Hunter. Hunter. Can you hear me?” Said an ominous voice. “Oh hey God, I was wondering if you would show up.” Hunter said aloud. “God? I'm not God.” Said the booming voice. “If you aren't god, then who are you?” Hunter asked, doing a couple flips in the space. “It's Rainbow Dash.” Said the ominous voice. “Can you hear me?” “I guess I can. Should I just go towards the light then?” Hunter asked, flying towards the light anyways. “Light? I guess so.” Said the voice, which started sounding more and more like Rainbow Dash. He eventually was being flooded with light and he closed his eyes. Then, when he opened them he was in the hospital room again, he opened them slowly, and blinked a couple times. Eventually his vision focused and he could see the balloons and the window. He saw Rainbow Dash sitting in front of the window, looking at him intently. “You're awake.” She said, “Finally.” Hunter thought about that word for a moment. Finally? What did she mean by that? “How long have I been out?” Hunter finally asked, his mind flooding back to him. “You've been asleep for almost 2 whole days,” Rainbow Dash said, she had a hint of worry in her face. “Two days?” Hunter asked. “You haven't been looking after me the whole time I was sleeping have you?” “No,” She responded, “The doctors sent me home a couple times, but every chance I got, I came back to see if you had woken up yet.” “Anyone else come to visit?” Hunter asked. “Michael and Trixie did once.” Rainbow Dash said, “Trixie was actually looking for me. She wanted to apologize.” “That's wonderful.” Hunter said, trying to sit up slowly. “It caught me of guard that's for sure.” Rainbow Dash said, “She came in here and basically grovelled, I couldn't believe it.” “That's the power of friendship I guess.” Hunter said, giving Rainbow Dash a smirk. Rainbow Dash realized what he was implying. “Are you saying we should have forgiven her from the start?” She said, a hint of anger in her voice. “Yes.” Hunter said, his brow furrowing. “That's exactly what I'm saying.” “You say it as if forgiving people is the easiest thing in the world.” Rainbow Dash argued, standing over the back of the chair. “You can't tell me that every time someone does you wrong you just straight up forgive them.” “I try.” Hunter said, “That's really what counts.” Rainbow Dash sat in the seat. She was really just arguing with herself, trying to justify her reasons for being angry at Trixie. Now that Trixie had come to apologize, she really had none. “I'm sorry,” Rainbow Dash said with a sigh, “We shouldn't be arguing when you just woke up.” “It's alright,” Hunter said, “Arguments are good for the mind. What's been happening?” “Well, we had a light drizzle yesterday, so you used up one of your sick days, but seeing as how it's summertime, you've had most of your time off.” Rainbow Dash explained, “Trixie has been going around apologizing and looking for work, and Michael says that she's going to be living in your house.” Hunter's eyes widened as his eyebrows rose, “Oh really? That's sudden.” “Yeah,” Rainbow Dash agreed. “Michael said it's because nopony else would want to live near her, let alone sell her a house.” “Looks like I have to teach forgiveness to a world of love and tolerance.” Hunter said sternly, more to himself. “Hey, Ponyville is a nice place, and the ponies here are nice. They're just not willing to put things behind them like you are.” Rainbow Dash argued again, this time she was defending the whole town. “I guess not. If she's going around apologizing then I suppose she'll find work anytime now.” Hunter said with a sigh, he looked around the room again. The balloons were still full on attacking the ceiling. “Those are some intense balloons.” “Pinkie knows her balloons.” Rainbow Dash said, looking at the floating balls of color. “I almost forgot, Applejack brought a bushel of apples to your house, and Fluttershy brought these for you.” Hunter looked over at the beautiful roses and tulips that sat in a small vase on the windowsill. “Fluttershy brought those?” “Yeah, she said that you could use some nature in your room. I don't know what she meant, but she also said that the nature was for your eyes.” Hunter thought about this for a moment. What an interesting thing to say. He knew that his eyes were green and often reminded him of the green outdoors, but nopony had ever made the comparison physical before. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Hunter said to himself, thinking how in this context it had a different meaning. In this case, it wasn't that he thought it was beautiful, like the saying described, but that it meant the eyes of the were what were beautiful. Had the green of his eyes really had that much of an impact on Fluttershy? He remembered that after looking at her on his doorstep, she seemed to stand taller around him, and she didn't whisper so much. Or maybe he was just over thinking this for some reason. “They're pretty anyways.” Hunter said, “I'll have to thank her later.” He noticed that he had multiple I.V.'s in his arms. They must have been to sustain him while he was in what they surely must have thought was a coma. “So when do we eat?” Hunter asked, looking at Rainbow Dash. “Twilight dropped these sandwiches off for when you woke up.” Rainbow Dash said, lifting a basket up above the bed. She opened it up and pulled out some slices of bread with flowers in between. Hunter took one, finding it easy to lift his arms with new strength. He grabbed the sandwich and bit off half of it, chewing it quickly and swallowing, then he stuffed the rest of it in his face and finished it. Rainbow Dash just took a small bite of hers as she watched Hunter do the same thing to another sandwich. Good thing Twilight packed enough for a small picnic. Hunter continued to devour the sandwiches and pretty soon they were all gone before Rainbow Dash could finish her first one. Hunter let out a little sigh as he patted his belly. “Those were delicious.” “I just can't believe you ate all of them,” Rainbow Dash said finishing hers, “and so quickly too.” Hunter realized that she was right. He had been too caught up in eating to notice how fast he was devouring the food. He wondered if this was how Goku felt all the time. He had just finished all those sandwiches, but he could still eat. Hunter pressed the nurse button, and soon Nurse Tenderheart was in the room. “I would like to leave now.” Hunter said bluntly. “Are you sure?” Nurse Tenderheart said, “We didn't even know you had woken up until just now!” “I'm sure I'll be fine,” Hunter said, “My appetite has returned, and I feel great. Can we get these I.V.'s out please?” Nurse Tenderheart shook her head as she removed the cords from Hunter's arms. Hunter swung his legs out and stood up, sending an arm into the air as if for a pose. He once again got a vision full of stars, and he felt dizzy, so he sat back down on the bed. He sat there for a moment and let the feeling pass before standing up again. For some reason he enjoyed the feeling he got whenever he stood up too fast. He looked over at Rainbow Dash who was busy packing up all his things in the basket. Then she opened the window and shoved all the balloons into the sky. “Beautiful.” Hunter said, looking at the now balloon filled sky. He strolled right up to the front desk of the hospital. “I'd like to check out now.” Doctor Stables walked by and his eyes went wide. “Hunter, you're up! Are you leaving? Are you sure that's wise?” “I do what I want.” Hunter said, crossing his forelegs. For a second they stood like that. Hunter eventually dropped his hooves and said, “Yeah I think I'll be fine.” “If you insist.” The Doctor said, “If you have any complications, come straight back.” “Will do.” Hunter said, waving as he walked out of the hospital. Rainbow Dash walked beside him as they exited. Hunter got outside and breathed in the air. “Don't you think you should get back on four legs?” Rainbow Dash asked from below Hunter's height as he stood on two legs. He had walked on two legs all the way out of the hospital. “Right,” Hunter said dropping to all fours. “I guess I just went back to basic.” Then out of nowhere he caught his hooves on the ground and he stumbled on himself, falling on his face again. “Ow.” Hunter mumbled. Rainbow Dash chuckled at how funny he looked as he fell. “You alright?” Hunter picked himself up with his wings, floating up off the ground and wiping rocks from his face. “I'm fine. Why don't we just fly for a while, I need to talk to the boss anyways.” “Why?” Rainbow Dash asked, “You're already covered on that day of rain.” “It's not about that.” Hunter said, “I need to talk to him about something else.” “Like what?” Rainbow Dash asked, an eyebrow raising. “Training.” Hunter said. “Like job training?” Rainbow Dash asked, chuckling, “You don't need job training.” “Not job training.” Hunter said, “Fighting.” ><>< Trixie stood at the front of the Ponyville city hall. Michael was standing beside her, and she was leaning on the pedestal. Twilight, and all her friends excepting Rainbow Dash were standing behind her. She gulped as she looked out over the crowd. Almost all of Ponyville was there, and she was about to tell them all the one thing that they, and she, would never have expected. “Are you sure we have to resort to such extreme measures?” Trixie asked Michael. Michael looked up at her and said, “The more public, the more humiliating. The more humbling it is.” “Very well.” Trixie said with a sigh, she turned her face towards the crowd. Some of them looked confused as to why she had called a town wide meeting, and most of them just had angry looks on their faces. Trixie cleared her throat, using her magic to amplify her voice slightly. “Now, I know that most of you don't like me,” There was mumbling throughout the crowd, most of it in agreement, “and I know that my visits to Ponyville in the past have all been destructive.” “You used two children as slaves to pull your cart!” One voice yelled. Another followed suit with, “You used your magic to take away my mouth!” Trixie turned around to Pinkie Pie who had just yelled. “Oh yeah, you apologized for that, sorry.” Pinkie Pie said. Trixie turned back around to hear somepony else yell, “You tried to take control of the whole town!” A lot of ponies were grumbling at this point. Twilight stepped up to the pedestal, and tried to quiet everypony down. The crowd grew louder and louder, until eventually it seemed they were going to step up, and trample Trixie. Then a cannon went off. “Quiet!” Pinkie yelled, refilling her party cannon with confetti, “Or do I have to use this?!” The crowd went silent, and everypony settled down. Trixie stood back up to the pedestal and looked back over the crowd. Now everypony there had an angry face on. “Now with that said I just have one more thing to say. I'm sorry.” The faces of the ponies didn't seem to change. “What I did was horrible and wrong. I was blinded by arrogance, and I'm sorry.” A couple of the ponies in the crowd seemed to soften a little at her words. It was working. “I know that most of you won't forgive me for what I did,” She continued, “but I just want to apologize anyways.” At this, most of the ponies in the crowd lost their angry faces, and some of them started to look confused again. “I don't feel like I deserve your forgiveness, but I thought that I should at least try to say that I'm sorry.” The crowd was silent. Many of those who had been the most angry with Trixie were surprised at her switch in character. Others nodded with compassionate eyes and walked away. Had they forgiven her? The rest of the crowd just sat there. Not sure what do to. “So...” Trixie said, “That's all I have to say.” She hopped from her pedestal and walked with Michael off the stage. The crowd seemed to follow her movements with their eyes, and then one pony walked from the front of the crowd. It was a familiar gray pegasus, with bubbles as her cutie mark. “I forgive you.” Derpy said, walking up and holding out a muffin. Trixie grabbed the muffin. “T.. Thanks.” She said quietly. “No problem miss!” Derpy said, bringing her hoof up for a salute. Then the Doctor followed up behind her. “I forgive you.” Trixie just sat on the ground as the Doctor took Derpy down the road, and the crowd started towards her. This was it, the crowd was going to have their way with her. They were going to lock her up and spit on her, they were going to get out the pitchforks and the torches. They were going to hate her forever. “I forgive you.” Said the first pony to arrive from the crowd. Trixie just gawked dumbfounded. “I forgive you.” The next pony said, Trixie's eyes wide. The crowd had formed a line, and they were all walking slowly forward to forgive her. As they each forgave her in sequence, they would walk off behind her, going about their business. “I forgive you,” Said Lyra walking off with a couple of hand shaped balloons. “I forgive you,” Said the next pony, and the next pony, and the next pony, and the next pony. It continued on, and one by one the ponies forgave her, like it was no big deal. Trixie's eyes welled up again, and she was overwhelmed by the response of the crowd. “I forgive you Trixie.” Said Snips, Snails right beside him. “Yeah Trixie, me too” Snails said, and the two foals walked off into town. Eventually the whole of the crowd had passed her by, and the square was empty. The five of the mane six who had attended, stepped off the stage and stood in front of Trixie, tears still on her face. “I can't say I'm happy about it.” Applejack said, “but I forgive you sugar cube.” “I can forgive the past, just so long as you don't ruin anything more in the future.” Rarity said. “I... I forgive you too.” Fluttershy said quietly, shying away behind Applejack. “So how do you feel?” Twilight asked. “Happy.” Trixie said, tears of joy dropping from her face, as she wiped them off she stood up. “Thanks Firestorm.” She said, turning to Michael who had been by her side throughout the whole thing. “I think you're ready to go job searching now.” Michael said, “Now that everypony's forgiven you.” “Alright,” Trixie said, “Let's go.” “If it's a job you're looking for,” Pinkie Pie said, “The cakes have been looking for another pony to run the shop. Sometimes I have to leave and I need a fill in.” “You mean I could have asked you this whole time?” Trixie asked. “I guess so!” Pinkie responded. Trixie let out an exasperated sigh, and said “Gah! You mean I could have avoided this the whole time?!” “Yeah,” Michael said, “I think it was worth doing though.” “I guess you're right,” Trixie said, hanging her head a little. Then she brought her head up, “I'll take you up on your offer.” “Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie Pie said, hopping. Then a cyan pegasus followed by a gray alicorn flew over head. The gray spot in the sky stopped, saw the whole of the mane group below him, and flew down. “Hey guys, what's going on?” Hunter said, landing. “Just helping Trixie apologize to the whole town.” Michael said, patting her on the shoulder, as if showing her off. “Oh good. How'd it go?” Hunter asked, walking closer to the group. “Good actually, the whole town lined up to say they forgave her.” Michael said, looking at Trixie. Trixie looked up at Hunter, he seemed to have gotten the hang of being a pony. Then he fell onto his front. Hunter brought himself back up onto his knees. “Fuuuuuuuuuuu!” Michael just laughed his head off, and the rest of the spectators were as confused as ever. Rainbow Dash flew down, she had just realized that Hunter wasn't following her anymore, and came back to find out what had stopped him. She chuckled as she saw him get off the ground. “I'll just have to trip a ton more before I get the hang of this don't I?” Hunter asked himself. “I guess so,” Rainbow Dash answered anyways. “Why'd you stop?” “I just wanted to know what was going on with everypony else.” Hunter said, pointing to all of her friends. “Hey guys, what's going on with Trixie?” Rainbow Dash asked. “She just apologized to the town.” Twilight explained. “The whole town?” Rainbow Dash asked, raising an eyebrow. “That takes guts, I guess you aren't as weak as I thought you were.” “Weak?!” Trixie scoffed, and stood up. “I am anything but weak.” She was about to start up her magic to show Rainbow Dash who the weak one was, but she felt Michael's hand on her side, and remembered what she had just been doing. She scoffed again and sat back down. “Right,” Rainbow Dash said, “I guess I forgive you for all that stuff you did, but if you ever try and hurt Ponyville again, all bets are off.” She glared at Trixie, and Trixie stared daggers back. “If you ever try to hurt any of 'my' friends, I'll have to make one of your wings much larger than the other.” Trixie said with a smirk. “You can't do that! You don't have that amulet thingy!” Rainbow Dash said, floating off the ground to gain height, and a little bit of surprise on her face, remembering the last time she had that done to her. “Try me!” Trixie said, taking on a defensive stance. Hunter grabbed Rainbow Dash's wings and she fell to the ground with a thud. “I'd like to see how that turns out, but we have things we should be doing. Later Michael!” Hunter flew off, and Rainbow Dash rubbed her chin. She gave Trixie a quick glare before taking off again, “Hey! I'm gonna get you for that!” “I bet you won't!” Hunter yelled, chuckling. “Later Hunter!” Michael yelled back, “Now how about that job?” He asked Pinkie. “Let's get going! Gummy will sure be happy to have a new person in the shop, he loves making new friends!” Pinkie Pie said, hopping off towards sugar cube corner. "I'm sure the affections of an alligator were just what I needed." Trixie said to herself. The group disbanded, and Michael, Trixie, and Pinkie Pie all went to the sweet shop. ><>< “You want me to teach you to fight?” Roid Rage asked, standing calmly behind his desk. “Yes.” Hunter said, standing calmly in front of the desk. “Well you've come to the right place then.” Roid Rage said, showing off his muscular arms. “I thought as much.” Hunter said, following Roid Rage as they walked out of the office, the muscular pegasus flew off towards another area of Cloudsdale and Hunter followed. Rainbow Dash had gone off ahead someplace. They flew to a square, cloud building and went inside. It immediately looked like a gym, it had giant fans for flying against, weights, and punching bags. Roid Rage led him to a room on the right side of the building and he entered to see it was decorated like some kind of dojo. They walked into the main room, and Hunter saw Rainbow Dash in the middle, wearing a white karate outfit and a rainbow belt around her head. She was surrounded by other pegasi with the same look, but they had varying colors of belt's around their heads. Rainbow Dash had a serious look on her face, and looked like she had taken a defensive stance. The ponies around her had the same look and stance. Hunter was about to run forward to help her, but Roid Rage held out his hoof, holding him back. Hunter stopped resisting and watched the scene intently. Suddenly one of the ponies stepped towards Rainbow Dash, trying for a hit. Rainbow Dash smirked, as she pushed his arm up and stuck her back hoof out, kicking the pony in his forward hoof, and removing his balance. Then she threw the pony over her shoulder, landing him flat on his back, on the floor. Two more ponies started their attack, one going for her middle, and the other for her arms, trying to immobilize her. Rainbow Dash stayed crouched, and swung her foot to her right, causing the pony going for her arms to trip and fall over her, landing on her other attacker. Another pony tried to run forward and grapple her, but she brought her arms up, clubbing the attacker in the chin and then finishing him off with a punch to the stomach, and a kick to the side. She turned her attention to the last pony standing on the outside of the ring. Hunter thought for a moment that he was scared to approach her, but when Rainbow Dash moved her hoof, beckoning the attacker, he moved forward, punching and kicking. Rainbow Dash dodged the attacks, and the pony jumped in the air, doing a spin kick, which Rainbow Dash ducked to dodge, and landed, doing a sweep for Rainbow's legs. Rainbow Dash jumped in the air, doing a small flip over her opponent and spinning around with a kick. Her opponent dodged and they continued to trade blows. Hunter watched as Rainbow Dash dodged and moved. She was graceful in her movements, and everything she did flowed. Never was a movement wasted, and the battle was like a dance. Each partner guessing at the others next move, and compensating, bringing on the next step. Hunter watched as Rainbow Dash danced with the other pony, doing kicks, flips and punches, and dodging the same. Eventually, Rainbow Dash kicked her opponents knee from behind when he had started to spin, dropping him to his knees, and allowing her time to bonk him on the head. The pony fell to the ground with a groan and lay there, seemingly unconscious. Rainbow Dash wiped her brow, and walked back over to where Hunter and Roid were standing. “That was refreshing.” She said taking a towel from Roid and putting it around her neck. “That was awesome!” Hunter said, putting his arms into the air, “I didn't know you had such impressive fighting skills!” “I try,” Rainbow Dash said, reveling in the praise. “The boss here taught me everything I know.” “Guess I sought after the right teacher then.” Hunter said, looking over at the muscular pegasus. “Let's get started.” Roid Rage said, stepping into the middle of the ring. “Now?!” Hunter exclaimed, “Are you sure?” “I have to know how much you know about fighting, before I can teach you anything else.” Roid Rage explained. “Alright, but I'm a weakling. Don't be surprised if I don't put up much of a fight.” Hunter said. Hunter walked into the ring and set himself in the stance he had seen Rainbow Dash in just a moment prior. They stood there for a moment, Hunter trying to guess what Roid would do first, and Roid deciding where he should test Hunter first. Roid went straight for the face, Hunter immediately leaned backwards, dodging the blow. The muscle didn't stop his attack, and brought his other hoof in for a stomach punch. Hunter wiggled to the side, looking like a bag in the wind. Roid tried kicking him from the opposite side, and Hunter did a kind of side flip over it, and when Roid tried to kick him again with the other hoof Hunter hit the deck. Roid was a little confused at how Hunter could say he had no experience, and still be able to dodge like this. He went to jump on Hunter, but Hunter did a silly roll to the side, his arms above him. Once Roid was on the ground, he swept his legs around trying to kick Hunter in the head. Hunter had rolled onto his back, and set his back hooves into the ground, just enough to push off of them and get a good half foot into the air. Roids legs swept under Hunter harmlessly, and he swung them around to get up on all fours. Hunter landed on his front hooves and pushed off again, getting him up off the floor. Roid charged him for a headbutt, and Hunter did a backflip, landing his front hooves on Roid's back, before he finished the flip, landing behind Roid on the mat. Hunter returned to the defensive stance. Roid Rage stood up and turned around. “So you can dodge. Now try and attack.” Hunter stepped slowly towards the teacher, and sent his hoof forwards going for the face. Roid Rage thought he would let him get one hit, just so he knew how strong he was. Roid Rage got a literal, and relative slap in the face. He didn't know what to think of that. He turned his face back to Hunter. “Really? Is that all you got?” Hunter just drooped, “I told you I was a weakling.” “Yeah, but a slap?” Roid asked. “It's more demeaning.” Hunter responded. “Yeah, for the attacker maybe.” Roid said, “Now come on! Hit me!” Hunter put his hooves up, and then leaning back, he swung his hoof at Roid with all the force he could muster, full on the forehead. “We have a lot of training to do,” Roid said flatly. His face hadn't moved at all, and Hunter's hoof was just sitting there resting on his head. Hunter just hung his head. “Crap.” Rainbow Dash had started laughing when she had watched Hunter dodging, and hadn't stopped since. Now she was on the floor, rolling around. “My sides!” She managed to yell. Hunter just walked to the corner, and put his head in it. If he was in an anime, he knew that he would be shrouded with that black, that always accompanies depression. Roid Rage just kicked Rainbow Dash in the stomach. After sitting on the floor for a few seconds to regain her breath, she propped herself up on her front hooves, “Hey! What was that for!?” “Are you so quick to forget your first session?” Roid asked, raising an eyebrow. “Yeah! I mean, no! I was a filly then!” Rainbow Dash said, “He's way older than I was!” This just caused Hunter to slump to the floor, and sigh. The clouds above him seemed to grow dark, and they started to drip. “Yeah, but remember how you felt after all those other fillies laughed at you?” Roid Rage continued, looking at the ceiling. “Confounded thing is always leaking.” He said to himself. “Yeah, but then I bucked all their faces in,” Rainbow Dash said, getting up off the floor, “I don't think I've seen a wimpier punch.” The ceiling above Hunter suddenly started to downpour, and Hunter didn't even move, he just sighed. Rainbow Dash and Roid Rage, looked at the sorry sight of an alicorn. They stood there for a moment, and Rainbow Dash didn't know if it was funny or sad. She walked over to the depressed looking alicorn and punched the roof, releasing the rest of the water and dumping it all on Hunter in one small flood. Hunter just sighed again. Rainbow Dash thought it was interesting how gray he looked, both literally and emotionally. “Hey, just because you're a weakling doesn't mean you can't train.” Rainbow Dash said, trying to be supportive. Hunter leaned forward on to his face, and sighed again. “Not helping” Roid Rage said from the door. “Come on, we need to change that.” Rainbow Dash said, lifting Hunter up by the wings. Hunter's wings were surprisingly strong, and he pulled them back in, causing Rainbow Dash to fall on top of him. Rainbow Dash now lay across Hunter's back, as if in a dog pile. “Maybe you can hit them with your wings.” Rainbow Dash said, moving to get up. Hunter just sighed again.