Harmony and Balance

by BlazingShadowBrony


Chapter 5-Around Town Antics and Threats Revealed

Chapter 5

Around Town Antics and Threats Revealed

Twilight had never been so interested in another pony’s life before she heard Riverbank talk about his. She learned of how he learned about his special talent being that he retains all knowledge he's achieved from reading, unfortunately for Twilight, he never explained the water in his cutie mark. Twilight also learned that Riverbank was a writer himself, but under an alias as to not attract too much attention to their group. He told her how he met Firewing and Storm, then how he made friends with Windy and Red. He told her of their many adventures through the towns they got kicked out of. Like how the last town had Parasprites and how he thought he could examine one without trouble, which led to him telling her how Windy got them out of town with a saxophone and a megaphone.

Twilight and Riverbank left the library at that time.

"...and he was walking on his hind legs and thrusting his hips," Riverbank said while laughing uncontrollably, "All the while leading the Parasprites out to the woods. I've still got the notes in my saddlebags, I think I've figured out why the Parasprites do what they do though. But I'd need my notes, they have the details. So what about you Twilight? How did you earn your cutie mark?"

Twilight, who had been laughing at how Riverbank described the motions Windy used with the Parasprite song, suddenly looked into the stallion's eyes. She noticed that they looked hungry, like Riverbank wanted to absorb all the information he could. She smiled, "Well, how about I tell you when we meet up with the others?"

Riverbank smiled back, "Why not? That way we can all share some info about each-other." Riverbank's eyes seemed to flare at the thought, adding to Twilight's admiration to his immense hunger for knowledge. They walked to the park and sat near a fountain, sharing theories and speculations that nopony else would dare wrap their minds around. Eventually, Riverbank asked if Twilight had ever overexerted herself while using her magic.

Twilight put her hoof to her chin to think, then she answered with a story about a showmare, an Ursa Minor and the water-tower being turned into a baby-bottle for the cranky Ursa. She also mentioned that an Ursa Major was walking through the nearby forest with the water-tower looking down at Twilight. She told him that it leaned down and gently patted her on the head before going back to its walk. Riverbank visibly shuddered, saying that he heard the giants were surprisingly gentle and that Twilight was very brave and powerful to send an Ursa Minor back to its mother asleep. Twilight blushed at the compliment and turned her head away. She felt happy that Riverbank was so kind to her, when some of the colts and stallions back in Canterlot were rude and usually trying to hit on her for...unmentionable acts. She turned her head back to Riverbank and saw none of that in his eyes, she only saw the kindness and lust for information in those seaweed-green eyes of his.

When Twilight saw him close his eyes and smile, she felt something tug at her heart. She couldn't explain it, but she remembered a feeling quite similar back in Canterlot with that one colt. She was told by her parents it was a crush, but this was different, it felt deeper and more powerful than a crush. Twilight snapped back from her thoughts when Riverbank asked, "Uh...you okay? You’re blushing really hard. Do you feel sick?"

"Wha!? No, I'm fine. I was just thinking," she lied, knowing full well that she wasn't just thinking. She was also feeling a tug at her heart at the sight of the knowledgeable, yet good looking, stallion to her side.

Twilight quickly changed the subject to Alternate Universes and the Time-Space that surrounds it. That got them both talking about it for a couple hours and forgetting about all that was around them, until a harsh reality came smashing itself full force into them.



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Snowfall was quite the interesting fellow to say the least. Rarity watched as the icy-blue stallion ate, and swallowing before he spoke. But when he spoke, he spoke, not of the weather or anything more for stallions, but he talked about the design of the boutique and of the dresses around the boutique. Yesterday, he only complimented Rarity on the looks of her business, but now he asked questions on why she chose certain colors and the like.

Rarity tilted her head, "Why do you want to know, darling?"

Snowfall shut his mouth tight at the question, then answered, "I'm sorry. I'll stop asking, but I was just wondering because I'm a designer. I draw up designs for everything and was just wondering why you chose certain colors and such."

Rarity, who insisted on taking the dishes and washing them, took a glance at the cutie mark on the stallion's flank. Now she understood why he had drawing utensils, but the snowflake was still a mystery to her, "How pray tell is a snowflake involved with design?"

"That, my dear, is a simple answer! I also make ice sculptures in my spare time." Snowfall answered, his voice filled with pride and a hint of uncertainty. But Rarity would ask later, for now she wanted to learn more about his designs. At the request of seeing them, he pulled a large amount of paper from his saddlebags. He arranged them on a corkboard that Rarity brought out and let her see them. She gasped at how intricate some of the designs were, one was a dragon-themed vest for young colts, another was a dress designed to be like a river and yet still have enough room to trot comfortably. All his designs were mind blowing, he even had drawings of other ponies in an artistic style while keeping the distinct qualities of the ponies.

"These are...fantastic! Hmm?" Rarity saw the edge of a photo and went to look at it, when Snowfall suddenly removed all the drawings and the photo from the corkboard. He neatly put them away and said, "Would you look at the time. Aren't we supposed to meet Twilight at the park?"

Rarity looked at the clock she had hanging and gasped, "Yes! Let us move darling. We don't want to be late!"

"Never! Being late is uncouth! Perish the thought!" Snowfall said as he followed Rarity out of the boutique, both of them laughing at their sarcasm and humor.

Both ponies made their way towards the park, one looking absolutely divine, the other looking dashing and handsome. They spoke of the latest season of clothes and what would go together and what types of designs would go best with the colors.



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Pinkie and Windy were on their way to the park, where all the friends agreed to meet when Windy suddenly ran off in the direction of the forest. What Pinkie saw when she caught up to Windy just outside the forest edge, was a mangled family of bunnies and a mostly blue-maned Windy. His mane, which was normally just as curly as her's, was straight and down. She saw tears coming from his eyes as he looked at the bunnies.

"Why?"

"Huh!?" Pinkie looked as the stallion’s mane seemed to change color from mostly-blue to mostly-red. His face changed from anguish and sadness to one of anger and hatred.

"My sense warned me! My sense warned me that somepony was going to do this! WHY!?" He screamed, his mane becoming frizzed as well as straight. It was a bloody-red before it switched back to the straight, mostly-blue mane it was. Pinkie stared in fear at the happy-go-lucky pony's sudden mood swing before she herself lost half of her sight to her own mane straightening and falling down to earth. She trotted up to Windy and sat, feeling like he needed the company.

After about 5 minutes of grieving and tears, Pinkie put her hoof on Windy's shoulder and led him away from the horrible sight. Windy's mane changed colors again and returned to it's puffy curliness, albeit it was still had a majority of blue, but it was going back to the multitude of colors it always was. Pinkie was still a bit depressed, that is, until Windy told her a funny joke that got her mane poofy again and she laughed with a snort to accent it. They both laughed and bounced to the park, giving off an air of happiness and laughter.



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Red and Applejack were headed to town so they could meet up with their friends, when Applejack asked a strange question.

"What's with y'alls cutie mark? Ah understand the apple, but not the splitting boulder. Care ta explain?"

Red stopped dead, "What's there ta know? Ah'm a farm pony, the boulder should be self-explanatory." He only looked straight ahead, even as Applejack looked him over for signs of lying, but he was clean.

Or...he's jus' not tellin' the whole truth. Ah better keep an ear open fer any signs of slippin' up. Ah want ta trust 'im...but somethin' jus' ain't right. Applejack thought to herself before continuing the conversation, "Okay, that makes sense. So, do y'all know why your family is mad at us Apples?"

Red then continued to walk, "Naw, it's as big of a mystery to me as it is y'all. All Ah can say though is that Ah know both sides are at fault fer this feud." Red talked kinda slow, as if he was thinking the whole thing over before saying too much, a lot like Big Macintosh.

Applejack thought as she walked, managing to only say, "Ah wouldn't put it past Ol' Strudel an' them ta start a fight. But ah ain't singlin' anypony out until Ah find out more." Applejack hung her head low, thinking in the back of her mind that her family held most of the blame.

"Ah know how y'all feel. Cousin Burgundy prolly started somethin' with y'alls relatives, that little filly is gonna get her dues one o' these days. She's becomin' spoiled, an' all her parents do is spoil her more." Red seemed to think for a moment, "Now that Ah think about it, Burgundy an' her little friends are real sneaky. Ah should know, they stole the best o' the crop back at mah hometown, an' they merely blamed it on me. They know how ta twist a situation inta their favor..."

Applejack looked up at the steel colored pony as realization hit him. Red leaned down and whispered into AJ's ear a plan, one to bring the families back together. Her eyes widened and sparkled with happiness, Red's plan was brilliant, but it required some help from their friends.

Red and Applejack then walked to the park, talking about all the misadventures of their respective families. Red told about his younger sister's first try at bucking apples and how she succeeded in having the one directly above her thump her in the head. Applejack countered with a story about one of Applebloom's many tries to achieve her cutiemark, and how it ended with her curing cutiepox. Both ponies told stories until they reached the park, where they found Twilight and Riverbank talking on the edge of the fountain.

Applejack and Red decided to wait to tell about the family feud, and the plan to fix it, until everypony was there. They joined the two studious ponies and talked with them.



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"You think you can keep up?"

"Of course! I'm Rainbow Dash! The 'Best Young Flier' in Equestria!"

Storm and Rainbow woke up late and now they figured their friends could wait for Storm to teach Rainbow a new trick. They were perched on a cloud above the edge of the Everfree Forest and positioned to race. "I'll go first." Storm said, his large wings flaring out a bit more. He dove off the cloud and let Rainbow do the same, then he did a few barrel rolls and loop-de-loops before climbing up high above the Everfree. He let Rainbow catch up before saying, "You might get dizzy. Firewing called it the 'Eagle Corkscrew'."

Rainbow tilted her head, "Why did he give this next trick that name?"

"This is why!" Storm immediately dove down, wings plastered to his sides, as he reached the sound barrier. The cone threatened to snap back and throw Storm through the sky, but Storm let his wings go straight behind him and he angled them so they would make him start spinning. When the wind hit his wings, he jerked into a spinning dive, causing the cone around his forehoof to spin with him. He never broke the sound barrier, but he sure as hell made it look beautiful, a sharp screech accompanied the spin, making it sound like an Eagle going for it's prey. Storm then opened his wings slowly, causing him to decelerate and he pulled up after breaching the treeline. He came back out of the forest and landed on a cloud, soon accompanied by Rainbow Dash.

"THAT WAS SO AWESOME!" She nearly screamed, she looked at Storm. She all of a sudden blushed, he was sweating and his wings were twitching, but she was looking at his chest. It was bulging with the muscles he had used to keep his forelegs straight and firm, as to keep the cone around him. He looked up at her and she quickly asked a question, as she turned her head towards where Storm just came from. "Who taught you that move?"

Storm chuckled, drawing Dash's attention back to him, "Nopony. I learned it myself, with a little help from Firewing. We found out that his wings make it easier to see the positions we need for certain stunts and when I combined the position for a spin with the speed needed to reach the sound barrier, I pulled that off. Granted I crashed the first time, but it was awesome! You should try!"

Rainbow smiled, "No way!"

"HUH!?"

"You made that move, it's your original stunt," she beamed. "I probably wouldn't be able to pull it off anyways."

Storm looked into Rainbow Dash's eyes. He found the most beautiful color there that spoke the truth, and he loved it. He laughed, "You're right." Storm sat on the cloud until he gathered back his strength, "C'mon! We're gonna be late."

Rainbow got up and flared her wings, taking off into the sky in front of her. "Yeah, we should go."



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"She's defenseless! FIRE!"



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Storm heard a voice, very low and rumbley, shout 'Fire'. He knew it wasn't good, but when a blue light erupted from the forest, making a b-line towards Rainbow, he knew it was worse. Can't keep the promise now. I have to get Dash outta the way of that light! the Pegasus thought to himself before letting loose his inner power.

The yellow pegasus felt time slow down, as electricity and magic coursed through his body. His mind now worked faster, his body and wings now twitched with energy, and his reaction time was increased to the point where nothing would hit him. He jumped towards the cyan body and he wrapped his forelegs around her. He took into account that he could kill her if he hit her wrong or tried to accelerate her body to his speed. He let his power recede as he flapped his wings and slowed down to normal speed.

Rainbow saw Storm move too fast for her eyes to track him, then he grabbed her around her lower chest area and pushed her out of the way of a blue light that barely tagged his tail. But what Dash saw made her shudder, as the tail was shredded to pieces and thrown about. She realized that was aimed at her, and that would have been her if it wasn't for Storm's ridiculous speed and timing. It wasn't long before Storm was taking Rainbow away from the forest with a horrid feeling in his gut and half a tail. He let her go and she started flying, but not without the slew of questions that Storm knew were coming. "WHAT THE HAY!? HOW DID YOU DO THAT!? HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT LIGHT WAS AIMED AT ME!? ARE YOU A SPY!?"

Storm only shook his head, his mind being bombarded by traces of electricity and loud questions. He held up his hoof, "Rainbow...please...stop talking. My head hurts from what I just did to save your tail and your questions aren't helping." Storm landed on a nearby cloud and rubbed his temples. "To answer your questions, I can't tell you. I heard somepony say 'Fire' in a way that wasn't a panic from a fire. No, I am not a spy, I am a pegasus. Now, we need to go meet up with the others. Firewing can answer your first question."

Without another word, they flew off to meet with their friends.



...terminate CH5.EXE...initiate CH6.EXE...

Author's Note: I was sick during this chapter...that's all I have to say...I need to go lie down...*cough*