//------------------------------// // The amazing race between Rainbow Dash and Scootadark // Story: Chaos: the Age of Spike // by Kaliann25 //------------------------------// Apple Bloom was sleeping peacefully, dreaming about apples and chaos, when several punch-like noises awoke her. The girl looked at her alarm clock, three o’clock. She still had two more hours of sleeping, who the hay was making that noise that early in the morning? She looked outside the window: her older sister was practicing kicking apple trees and raising dumbbells. “Applejack!” The small filly yelled from her window. “Some ponies are trying to sleep!” Applejack looked up and blushed slightly. “Sorry about that Apple Bloom, but Granny Smith kicked me out of the barn and Big Mac from the north field” “Then go to the south field and let us sleep peacefully!” Kept complaining Apple Bloom. “Some of us have some chores to do on the morning so let us sleep!” Said that, the girl rudely closed her window leaving Applejack first very upset about her little sister’s attitude, but after thinking for a while she had to admit she was the one who was wrong. All members of the Apple family had a lot to do during the day and that’s why their sleeping hours were highly appreciated. Without saying a word, she dragged her dumbbells to the south field, but the fruit bats also kicked her out of there. At the end she sighed and went to sleep. “Dang it Applejack!” Complained Granny Smith later, serving breakfast to Applejack. “Love sports is something, but don’t let your family sleep is out of the question. What’s the urgency to train that much? Another fool competition is coming? Then listen to me young lady: if you keep awaking us not only ya’re not going to that competition but also the next three that comes to town. Understood?” “Eeyup” mumbled Big Mac also angry. Applejack grumped but nodded. When they all finished breakfast, Applejack took her little sister to school. “What’s the matter Applejack?” Asked Apple Bloom at half way. “Why that urgency to train? It can be bad for ya’ to push ya’rself too hard. Touched by her sister’s concern, Applejack smiled to her: “A’m sorry Apple Bloom. A’ don’t think you understand it but… yesterday A’ found that there’s somepony as strong as me and that upsets me. A’ can’t allow that something like that happen!” Apple Bloom blinked surprised. “But A’ thought you liked to compete with other ponies, why is that pony upsetting ya’? Applejack sighed. “Because that pony is cheating Apple Bloom. This new so caller rival didn’t get her strength by hard training as me; no, she obtained her powers from certain magic dragon and because of that she claims to be ma’ rival! A’ can’t allow this, it hurts my athlete proud. But don’t worry about it, you keep exercising and ya’ll be as strong as me, but fairly not cheating” Apple Bloom didn’t say anything but inside she felt a little guilty for make her older sister feel that way, but more satisfied of herself than anything else. Her sister has just confirm that they had the same strength in her form of Shadow, but the best part was that Spike told them that the stronger they get in their normal form, the stronger their chaos form will be. So ready to trick the Harmony again, Apple Bloom looked at her sister with her puppy eyes ready: “Applejack, do you mind if A’ train with ya’? What ya’r doing is just amazing, going this far to defeat your rival. Can A’? Can A’?” Applejack rolled her eyes with a funny smile, of course she saw that one coming. “Sure ya’ can Apple Bloom. We’re a great team together” Apple Bloom smiled pleased, even if she was secretly her sister’s rival, nothing really changed between them. And if you think about it, the only thing that really changed was that instead of annoy their sisters by accident or hobby, now they were doing it professionally. It was fun. Anyway, they arrived to school and Apple Bloom ran to meet with her friends. During the classes there was nothing important to report, until math period (right after recess) when a letter materialized before Apple Bloom, who quickly passed to Sweetie through Twist, but suddenly Diamond Tiara intercepted the piece of paper. Unfortunately for the rich brat, Apple Bloom knew that nothing too compromising for them was on the note and only complained: “Miss Cherrylee, Diamond Tiara is passing notes!” The teacher stared to Diamond Tiara: “Diamond Tiara, care to read us what’s most important than our class please?” “Please don’t make me” “We’re waiting Diamond Tiara; or your parents will hear about this in your monthly report” said the teacher sternly. Diamond Tiara was trapped, damn CMC; they would pay for this: “See you at three, don’t be late. This message will self-destruct in three, two, one…” —BOOOM!— Effectively the note exploded leaving Diamond Tiara humiliated and covered in ashes. Finally, after finishing school and homework, the three agents of chaos reunited with Spike on their clubhouse. Only one of them delayed a little bit. “Apple Bloom! We waited ages for you!” Complained Scoots when she finally arrived. “Sorry girls, A’ had sports practice with ma’ sister. She’s training to be stronger than Shadow so A’ have to get stronger as well” Scootaloo and Sweetie nodded understanding the feeling. Even if magic wasn’t Rarity’s thing, she also was practicing for the next time she’ll confront to Black; and of course Rainbow Dash was dying to defeat Dark showing her who was the best Pegasus of all times. But back to reality, Spike clacked his fingers making appear an small object before his agents: “Next prank is an easy one, and just like the last time do whatever you want to stop them from stop me. And most important: have fun” The girls transformed, this was going to be interesting. At the next day: Twilight woke up early as always. For a minute she thought in go and wake Spike but quickly changed her mind, since he had all the power of chaos, he prepared several traps before his door in order to not being bothered. And of course the purple alicorn didn’t forget last time, when the floor turned into soap and she slipped all the way downstairs. So since that time, Twilight and Spike agreed to put a sign whenever Spike wanted to rest: DO NOT DISTURB PRANK DANGER BEYOND THIS POINT And of course Twilight only stared to the sign and sighed getting into the bathroom ready to take a shower. But as soon as she looked to her mirror, she quickly noticed that something was very wrong. Somehow she became into a red and black alicorn. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” Spike got into the bathroom. “What happened? Are you hurt?” The black and red alicorn walked to Spike menacingly. “Spike! Is too early in the morning! You are going to fix this NOW!” The dragon shrugged: “Come on Twi! You look great! It really suits you!” Twilight grinded her teeth: “Listen to me Spike, if you changed to black it’s your problem! NOT ALL OF US HAVE TO WEAR THE SAME COLOR!!” “Don’t be mad Twilight, again: it really suits you. Besides, you’re very good with magic, you can change your colors yourself; but I recommend if you better call the other ones and use the chest, after all the idea is to save the world from my pranks, right” Said that he clacked his fingers teleporting to his room and keep sleeping. Twilight just looked at the mirror again forcing a smile: “At least is safer than the last one. Anyway, let’s go have breakfast before stop this” At Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack woke up earlier than usual to begin her morning exercises, after being kicked out of several placed she finally found a small place to train before start her chores. But as soon as she got downstairs, she saw that something was completely wrong: instead of her family she found giant apples staring at her. Of course apples didn’t had any eyes but she knew they were staring at her. The smallest one nodded. “So you finally decided to show up. We were waiting for so long Applejack Apple, TO MAKE YOU THE SAME THING YOU DID TO OUR SISTERS! The other apples began to bounce to Applejack menacingly: “LET’S MAKE HER CIDER! LET’S MAKE HER CIDER!” Seeing that was too much for Applejack so she did what she had to: run for her life, but the giant apples rolled after her ready to make her sider; or perhaps a pay. Applejack arrived to town waiting to ask for help but instead of ponies she found more giant apples ready to have their revenge: “What if we cut her into slices and serve her as part of the salad?” “I don’t know, I PREFER TO MAKE HER JELLY!” Applejack screamed in fear, living her worst nightmare. In her escape she bumped into a yellow apple who moved its leaves furiously. “How dare you to attack me? Oh, I guess you want me to make you into puree and serve you to my children!” Applejack screamed louder and ran to a tree where she climbed to the highest branch. The apples began to buck the tree trying to make Applejack fall: “You can’t hide forever! WE’LL MAKE YOU THE SAME THING YOUR FAMILY DID TO US BY GENERATIONS!” But Applejack wasn’t the only one with problems, at her cottage Fluttershy woke up as always feeling Angel’s little paws on her head. Her animal were waiting for their meals. The yellow Pegasus smiled: “Hi Angel! What do you want for breakfast?” A white pony with gray mane shook his head. “I don’t know who the buck is Angel. Who are you and why do you keep us here? Everything is full with ponies in small animal cages. WHO ARE YOU, A KIND OF PSYCHO AND WE’RE YOUR PRISONERS?” Fluttershy screamed jumping backwards and ran to see her beloved pets. Like the stranger said, instead of animals she had ponies, prisoners in small cages. Again she screamed in fear and flew to Ponyville to get some help. In her way a small squirrel bumped into her. Fluttershy’s veterinarian instincts kicked making forget about what happened before; and she tried to help the small animal but the rodent screamed in fear and climbed to the highest branch of a tree to escape from her. “No, get down little friend! I only want to help you” said Fluttershy kicking the tree to make the squirrel come. She could fly but she didn’t wanted to scare the animal even more. But the squirrel screamed louder making Fluttershy sigh, this would be a long day. By her way, Pinkie woke up smiling as always and went downstairs to have breakfast with the Cake family, but instead of the cakes she found giant candies who stared at her happily. Pinkie smiled even more, this was going to be very fun; she wanted the candy and she’ll have the candy. So she quickly ran back to her room, grabbed a net, and ran again to the kitchen ready to begin her hunt. “In moments like this, I love to be me” she said happily. But the candies weren’t an easy pray and as soon as they saw Pinkie with the net, they began to run calling her. Pinkie Pie accepted the game and tried to chase them, but somehow the candies escaped from the Cake’s house. Not accepting her defeat, Pinkie took her net and followed the candies, only to see that all Ponyville were populated with giant candies instead of ponies. “Candy, here comes Pinkie” She noticed a butter lollipop calling an apple caramel on a tree, perfect to begin so Pinkie Pie attacked. This was weird but Pinkie liked it. At other side, Rainbow Dash slowly opened her eyes in her cloud-home only to realize she was in a normal earth pony house; and the worst of all: she lost her beloved wings turning into an earth pony. She screamed but not in fear but in anger. “I bet this is another of Spike’s pranks. But he came too far this time, NO PONY MESSES WITH MY WINGS, THAT DRAGON IS GONNA PAY!” And she ran the faster she could to Twilight’s castle ready to use the Rainbow Powers to undo this thing. In her way she saw the now unicorn Applejack holding to a branch in a tree while Pegasus Pinkie Pie was chasing earth pony Fluttershy with a net. What the heck? Anyway I have to get Twilight soon. During her race she also spotted Pegasus Rarity getting into the fight between friends yelling something about walking jewels; but again, Rainbow didn’t pay much attention to that and finally arrived to Twilight’s castle. Rarity had another weird day, surrounded by walking jewels that seemed so fabulous and great; bigger, shiner, better than any other jewel she saw before. She had to put her hooves on that jewels and make the greatest outfit with it, she really had to; so she began to chase and storage the giant jewels armed with a small car and a rope. In the meantime Twilight finally finished her breakfast and mentally prepared herself to stop Spike’s prank, even if change everypony’s color wasn’t too bad. “And now than I think about it, this is mostly silly, a little rushed if you ask me…” Then some desperate knocks on her door called her attention. Twilight opened the door to see a now red Rainbow Dash with a grayscale mane. When Rainbow saw Twilight, she let escape a small tear. Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Rainbow? What happened? Why are you crying?” “Rainbow? What happened? Why are you crying?” “Do you really have to ask? SEE WHAT SPIKE DID TO US!” Twilight shrugged. “I know, but it isn’t too bad, his prank is a little too dumb this time, after the first and second one he lowered his level” “Twi, I know you’re in denial but be strong. With the Rainbow Powers we can get everypony back to normal. You’ll have your horn and wings back; and me my wings” “What are you talking about? Spike only changed our colors to red and black” “Twi, we’re both earth ponies now” “Rainbow, did you fall on your head again by any chance? I can clearly see your wings, they’re red now but that’s it” Both mares stared to each other like trying to understand or guess who was wrong. It was when Twilight, guided by a strange feeling, casted a Spell to the two of them; and like she thought, two pairs of funny-looking glasses fell from their faces and the world get back to normal. Rainbow took one of the glasses, finding a small message on a side: ‘Spike’s crazy glasses, use for a distorted vision of reality’ Both mares facehoofed. “You have to be kidding me” mumbled Twilight. “I know, but I have to admit this one was pretty original. Crazy glasses, at least we know now what are we dealing with” Twilight nodded but immediately got pale. “What?” Asked Rainbow. “Rainbow Dash, think: if everypony is seeing their own version of reality, that means that sooner or later sompony can seriously injure itself” Rainbow understood. “I get it now, let’s run!” They ran and effectively noticed that Ponyville was in pure chaos; now that they could see clearly it was more than obvious than everypony’s acts were hurting others, destroying property and things like that. Of course they couldn’t blame them since they were under Spike’s influence but still this was beyond tolerable: some ponies ran, some ponies chased, some ponies hided, some ponies acted as foals and such. Everywhere people were acting according to the new realities they were seeing. “So Twi, are you gonna cast that spell over and over again?” Asked Rainbow. “Is faster if we get the others and use the chest. Remember that all Equestria is under the same effect” Rainbow nodded. “I saw the girls on my way to your Palace. They’re playing under a tree and Applejack is on a branch from some reason” Twilight nodded and Rainbow began to move with the purple alicorn behind her, and soon they found the girls, and like Rainbow said they were around a tree with Applejack on a branch and the rest on the ground chasing each other or something like that. “Okay, we better hurry” mumbled Twilight preparing her horn. But suddenly, a cloud positioned over them and unleashed a rain made of… coffee. Twilight and Rainbow looked up, to see an already known black Pegasus with bright magenta eyes. “Hi there! This is special for those who haven’t had breakfast yet, since every grown-up likes coffee, enjoy!” “Dark! It’s time for me to show you who is the best flyer” said Rainbow extending her wings. ScootaDark jumped from her cloud also extending her wings; and after made a raspberry to Rainbow Dash, began to fly at full speed; with Rainbow chasing her. Dash grinned accelerating. “You said you’re as fast as me, let’s see if that’s true!” Back on the ground, Twilight tried to complain but they were too far from that point. “Rainbow Dash! COME ON WE HAVE TO STAY TOGETHER!” “So sad, right?” Asked a voice behind Twilight. “Yeah, so close but also so far” added another one. The alicorn turned, of course the voices belonged to Black and Shadow. “You! What are you doing? Are you here to stop me from free my friends?” “Eeyup, but that’s not necessary now. Rainbow is too busy chasing Dark, so what’s the point?” Shrugged Shadow. “Yeah, to use your Harmony Powers you have to act united and now with Rainbow trying to win Dark, I think you have a problem” giggled Black. Twilight grinded her teeth, those three were a real pain in the ass. Along with Spike, they were the perfect team to make the Bearers’ life impossible. But while Twilight were questioning her own existence, Rainbow Dash flew really fast, trying to pass Dark who effectively was as fast as her. Every time Rainbow accelerated and gained terrain, Dark accelerated as well making Rainbow lose that terrain again. This seemed like an endless circle. “You know Rainbow Dash? I’m gonna level up, catch me if you can” mocked Dark turning to her rival at some point. Said that, Dark passed from Match 2 to Match 5 and accelerated even more. Rainbow couldn’t believe it. If that kept going the result was going to be… And then it happened, not a Sonic Rainboom but a Sonic Dark Explosion; that was exactly like the Sonic Rainboom but in grayscale. And like the Sonic Rainboom did with Rainbow Dash, Dark’s speed dubbed instantaneously to Match 10 completely shattering the visible light spectra in the process. The force of the copy of Rainbow’s signature move almost destabilized the blue Pegasus, but that wasn’t going to stop her. After a quick recover, Rainbow Dash accelerated creating the Sonic Rainbooom to chase Dark. “IT’S USELESS RAINBOW DASH!!” Screamed Dark. “I’M AS FAST AS YOU AND I HAVE THE ADVANTAGE. ADMIT IT: I WON THIS MATCH” “NOPONY IS AS FAST AS ME, BRAT! I’LL ALWAYS BE NUMBER ONE!” They kept flying, almost arriving to AppleLoosa; where all the ponies (also buffalos) were still affected by Spike’s spell. For example, Braeburn thought the buffalos came for their tribute of apple pie and he couldn’t satisfy their demands, it was a desperate case. But back to the clouds, Dark was getting tired and had to think in something quickly, or Rainbow Dash would catch her. So she suddenly stopped. Not preventing this move, Rainbow Dash passed her without being able to control herself and almost crashing to a mountain. Chuckling, Dark landed and walked back home, she was too tired to fly, but she’ll recover quickly; only needed a little rest. Rainbow landed too, and also feeling tired, began to walk back to Ponyville. A blue bubblegum cloud appeared over her and began to release sports drink rain onto her. “What?” “I guess you’re tired as well” said Dark, who was sitting in a rock waiting for Rainbow Dash, also having a sports drink shower. “And we really need some hydration” Rainbow nodded annoyed, yeah, that race made her reach her limits. “I’ll beat you next time, little brat. Then I’ll make that dragon pay” “Come on, you’re that upset because a little girl have your same skills?” Mocked Dark. Rainbow didn’t say anything and resumed her way back home, followed by Dark. Back at Ponyville, Twilight already freed her friends from the Spike’s Crazy Glasses making them realize what was going on. “So the apples never wanted me to cover me with fudge and put me on a stick” mumbled Applejack. “I only want to know what happened with my giant candies!” Cried Pinkie. “And the helpless little animals I was trying to help?” Asked Fluttershy. Twilight shook her head. “Childish prank. Very childish but also effective, we weren’t expecting something that simple; that’s why it worked so well with us. For example: I only saw that everypony changed their colors to red and black, that’s why I didn’t hurry when it affected us, but Rainbow alarmed from what she was seeing and quickly came to me” Applejack nodded understanding and smiled. “Ey, that was very smart for Spike, he clearly did that to delay us; making you believe that his prank wasn’t worthy… and making us see things so scary so we weren’t able to act properly” Twilight nodded. “Now we only have to wait for Rainbow Dash” “Where’s she, darling, since you said she was the first one to came to you?” Asked Rarity. Twilight sighed and was about to answer but Shadow, who was sunbathing since there was no need to fight this time, interrupted her happily: “She’s too busy racing Dark” giggled the agent of chaos making appear one of her black apples. “Shadow stop!” Said Black. “Look around you: everypony is under the effect of the Crazy Glasses, if you use your apples you could probably hurt somepony for real” Shadow nodded. “Calm down Black. A’ was about to try it, not throw it. After all, even if they have all the power of chaos they’re still apples” So she tried her own apple of chaos. “And?” Asked Black. “That’s odd, tastes like pineapple” “Let me try it” asked Black. Shadow created a new apple of chaos and gave it to Black. “Ew, bleach!” Shadow raised an eyebrow and made a third apple of chaos and tried it as well. “Peanut butter! How interesting!” The adults sighed but also smiled seeing the agents. Things like that showed them than even if they were powerful agents of chaos, in the inside they were still children. Unfortunately for them, one of their friends were acting like a foal as well unnecessarily racing her dark counterpart only to prove nopony could beat her, and the result of her actions, now they were unable to move a hoof until she came back. At least the agents of chaos had Shadow’s apples of chaos to kill time. But finally, after two hours of waiting, Rainbow Dash came back along with Dark who proudly flew to her friends. “Dark! How was it?” Asked Black. “I won” announced the black Pegasus. Rainbow grumped but nodded. “Let’s finish this now okay? I have some hard training to do to beat this brat next time” The rest of the Mane 6 nodded and ran for the chest. The agents of chaos saw them moving and ran to their clubhouse to hide before the wave of pure harmony made them get back to normal. Spike already warned them that the Rainbow Powers would block their powers for three hours. “So what time is it?” Asked Sweetie Belle when they finally arrived to the house. “Like ten o’clock” said Apple Bloom. Scootaloo winked an eye happily. “Okay girls, that’s official: today Miss Cherrylee won’t open the school. Good because I forget to do homework” The wave of Harmony filled all the world making the ones affected by Spike’s powers get free from their Crazy Glasses. Everything was back to normal… for some ponies… Celestia was sitting on her throne without daring to move. Ponies everywhere were offering her candies; candies and pastries and cakes and all kind of sweet treats. She was tired, since she unwillingly tried the candy of all candies none of the sweets were good enough anymore. But that wasn’t the worst part, the worst part was when she realized than the ponies offering her candy were really colonies of candies taking the form of ponies trying to force the Princess to eat them. It was a true nightmare. Luckily the Harmony explosion came just in time and when she got free, she saw the glasses smiling. “Okay, a good one Spike. A good one” Luna shook her head. “Glad it was only an illusion! For a moment I thought I was back on the moon, completely alone. That was cruel, Spike will pay for this!” Luna’s captain of the night air force, a dark blue Pegasus in a black coat called the Black Swordsman just shrugged. “Aw, for a moment I thought I was back in Aincrad having adventures in solo. So shame” Rolling her eyes, Celestia chuckled: “But if you think about it, Spike is a lord of chaos more moderate than Discord. His actions are children games at great proportions. His two pranks only last a little” Luna nodded. “I beg that’s enough for Mr. Boss. If not, he’ll have to become more like Discord” “It will be enough” said Celesita. “For now, his pranks are okay. And he’s a pure soul, he will never become truly evil like Discord”