Dash and Burn

by TheMessenger


Chapter 1

The miniature party cannon that greeted her at her front door was the first surprise Rainbow Dash discovered after returning to Ponyville. An empty refrigerator and pantry was the second; there was plenty of feed for her tortoise, but Rainbow wasn't that hungry. By the time she had finished unpacking, however, Rainbow's stomach began to growl, and she decided to pay Sugar Cube Corner a visit, where a third surprise was waiting.

She had laughed when her friends jumped out screaming when she stepped into the suspiciously dark bakery, mostly at herself. Of course Pinkie Pie had prepared a welcome home party for her, complete with rainbow frosted cupcakes and cookies. Rainbow should have seen it coming a mile before she had arrived in town.

As she settled into her seat besides her best friends, Rainbow Dash smiled. Nothing had changed while she had been gone. Twilight Sparkle was the same old lovable egghead, Rarity's dramatic tendencies hadn't changed, and Pinkie Pie was still, well, Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy still lived up to her name and Applejack--

"Well, as promised!" the orange earth pony declared, dropping a large barrel onto the table. Rarity shrieked and glared at Applejack as the cupcakes bounced and nearly escaped their plates. "All the cider ya'll can drink. First cup goes to the mare in honor."

Everypony cheered and hoisted their glasses and mugs as Applejack slid a large cup toward Rainbow. When the pegasus caught it, her smile grew into the biggest grin possible, and she cheered with the rest of her friends, banging the cup in rhythm as the whole bakery began to chant:

"Cider! Cider! Cider! Cider!"

And Applejack was best pony, Rainbow thought as the night blurred around her. The room began to spin, and suddenly she felt queasy. She shut her eyes and waited for the dizziness to subside. When it did, the feeling was replaced by a sense of unparalleled exhaustion, and she groaned as she forced her eyes opened, hissing when light blinded her.

When Rainbow had adjusted to the lighting and lifted her heavy head, she realized that she was no longer at Sugar Cube Corner. The bed she was in wasn't hers. Panic slowly replaced lethargy as she considered the worst possible scenarios. Rainbow quickly scanned the room, hoping to find something to jolt her memory or at least help figure out her location.

"Come, think," Rainbow muttered to herself. "What place in Ponyville has crystal walls..." The pegasus looked over the side of the bed. "...and a crystal floor..." She stared up. "...and a crystal ceiling." Rainbow Dash sighed. "Well, either I somehow ended up in the Crystal Empire, or this is Twilight's castle."

With a yawn, Rainbow stretched toward the shiny ceiling above, then rolled out of bed, dragging the comforter with her. "Where's the filly's room?" Rainbow grumbled, looking around and staring at the dozen doors around her leading to who knew where. She approached one of the doors at random, and when she drew close she noticed the gold placard that read GUEST ROOM 6.

Rainbow Dash chuckled. "Heh, Twilight would label all her rooms," she said as she walked down the hall, reading each label until she found the room she was looking for. She pushed open the door and was greeted by the sight of a large sink under a mirror, a bathtub decked with various shampoos and soaps, and, to her bladder's sudden relief, a different sort of crystal throne. When she had finished relieving herself, Rainbow went to the sink and gaped at her reflection.

"Geez, how much did I drink last night?" Rainbow muttered as she stared at the mare in the mirror. Her polychromatic mane, which was normally messy and rough, looked as though she had been tossed into a hurricane before running into a tornado. Dark rings circled around her eyes, which were a red color unlike her natural cerise hue. Rainbow turned the tap, and cold bitingly cold water gushed out from the faucet.

A few splashes weren't going to be enough to fix her appearance, but the act did make her feel more awake. Rainbow turned to the tub behind her, then shook her head. Twilight probably wouldn't mind terribly if she borrowed some soap and took a bath without asking, but Rainbow Dash decided against it. She'd clean up when she got back home, after she figured out what happened the previous night. She was more comfortable with cloud showers anyways.

Rainbow Dash soon discovered, however, as she made her way through the castle, that finding clues to piece together last night's events was a mystery in itself. The entire castle was deserted, void of ponies. No servants or guards, Rainbow noted, but Twilight never have any to begin with, unless she had changed her mind about the whole staffing issue while Rainbow had been gone.

But where was Twilight? The princess's bedroom was empty, as were the library, the throne room, and the half dozen studies Rainbow bothered checking. "Why does it feel like I'm forgetting something?" she thought aloud as she stared at the pair of plates and glasses in the kitchen sink. "Like a secret room or something."

Rainbow Dash released a breath of frustration. "Time for some exercise. I need to clear my head," she decided, heading to the front of the castle. As she approached the front gates, she stretched her wings, giving them an experimental flap. Rainbow frowned when she saw how crooked her flight feathers were; she must have slept funny. As she pushed through the castle doors, Rainbow reached back and pulled each feather back into place.

Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity, crowded around propped board, stared at her as she stepped out of the castle with a feather between her teeth. Fighting back a blush, Rainbow Dash quickly released the appendage and folded her wings against her sides.

"Hey guys," she greeted smoothly, as if she hadn't been caught in the middle of improvised preening. "What's up?"

"Spike and Twilight," Pinkie Pie answered, pointing upward. "Wow, you look horrible."

Rainbow smirked. "Yeah, I know."

"I mean, not just bad, but like you fell into a toilet and somepony flushed bad."

Rainbow Dash's smile disappeared. "I know."

"Going outside must have taken guts, if you hadn't puked them all out after seeing your reflection. I mean, if I woke up like that, I'd have stayed in bed all day. That or taken a bath first."

"I get it, Pinkie Pie," Rainbow said through gritted teeth. She tried to pull a loose lock of hair back behind her ear and ran a hoof over her mane to smooth it out.

"Just making sure," Pinkie Pie said happily as she pulled the pegasus toward the rest of the group. Applejack and Rarity moved to make room.

"You feelin' alright, sugar cube?" asked Applejack as Rainbow sat beside her. "I know I said you could have as much cider as you wanted, but you gotta know your limit."

"Pft, I have no limits."

"Yes, at least until you collapse," Rarity sniffed. "Dear, I'm taking you to the spa, and I won't take no for an answer."

Rainbow Dash fiddled with her mane with a thoughtful frown. "Can I get some breakfast first? And could somepony tell me what happened last night?"

"You drank too much cider and broke a table when you tried to wrestle Spike," Applejack explained. "No way we were lettin' you fly back home, so we left you at Twilight's."

"I tried to wrestle Spike?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, her eyes wide. "Weird, you think I'd remember something like that. Huh, I don't remember seeing Spike at all last night."

"Well, it has been awhile," Fluttershy said, "I don't think you recognized him when you, um, jumped him."

"It was hilarious!" Pinkie hooted. "You were all like, ah dragon, then pow! Broken table and Mr. Cake fainting."

"That's hardly something to laugh at, Ms. Pie," Rarity said sternly. "One of them could have been seriously hurt."

"Wait, back up," Rainbow Dash said, holding up a hoof. "What do you mean, I didn't recognize Spike? I know I'm not that stupid, even when drunk. Come on, how exactly could I've missed that little scaly guy?"

"Well, he's not exactly a little fella no more," Applejack said. "Spike went through quite the growth spurt this past month."

"He's been hoarding again?"

"No, not exactly," Fluttershy answered. "Twilight thinks it might have to do with Spike having his own room with his own things. She's been giving Spike an allowance for decorations. He's definitely growing slower than that one incident during his birthday anyways."

"Oh, and this time he has wings," Pinkie Pie chimed in.

Rainbow Dash blinked. "What?"

"Wings." Pinkie pointed up toward the clouds again, and this time Rainbow Dash's gaze followed. There, up in the sky, was a large purple dragon struggling to stay in the air as he slowly followed Twilight Sparkle. Rainbow Dash stared at the dragon's spread wings, long and covered with a leathery membrane. Slowly, she shut her mouth.

"Okay, why didn't anypony tell me about this?"

"You didn't tell her 'bout this in your letter?" Applejack asked Pinkie Pie. Pinkie shook her head.

"I thought Rarity was going to."

"Well I assumed Twilight would have," Rarity said when everypony turned to her. "She and Spike are the closest after all."

"Sorry we didn't tell you earlier, Rainbow," Fluttershy said, noticing Rainbow Dash's frown. "Um, you're not mad at us, are you?"

"Huh?" Rainbow shook her head and turned away from the purple flyers above her. "Oh, no, we're cool." She turned back to Spike, who's wings shook unsteadily as he tried to keep his balance. "Wow, he sucks."

"Now that's not very nice," Fluttershy scolded. "He's still learning."

"It's hardly fair to judge the dear by your standards," Rarity agreed. "Spike's improving, and that's what's important."

"Yeah, he only crashed twice this morning," added Pinkie Pie. She pulled Rainbow Dash toward the board next to them and pointed at a pair of white tally marks near the bottom left corner. "See? Two."

"Yeah, I can count." Rainbow shook the earth pony off her and looked over at the chalkboard. She pointed to the number above the tally marks. "What's this number for?"

"Total times Spike's crashed since he started tryin' to fly," Applejack replied. "Well, at least since we start keepin' count anyways."

Rainbow Dash whistled. "Wow. Credit where it's due, Spike's pretty persistent. Uh, is he going to be alright?"

"Twilight was worried for awhile, but it turns out dragons are pretty sturdy. Some of the bad crashes didn't even faze Spike," Fluttershy said.

"And besides," Pinkie piped in, "you've crashed a bunch of times too, and your brain's a-okay."

"Yeah, maybe, but I know I didn't crash that many times," Rainbow scoffed. She pointed to the number on the right side with a box drawn around it. "What about this number?"

"Oh, that's how many times you've crashed," Pinkie blurted before anypony could stop her. "Uh, oops?"

"How many times I've--" Rainbow looked at the number on the left, then turned to the number on the right, then back to the left. "Oh come on, that can't be right. How in Equestria did you come up with that number anyways?"

"Your medical records," Pinkie Pie said.

"My what?"

"Your medical records," Pinkie repeated. "From all the way since you were a filly. They were all in this filing cabinet in the hospital out in the open."

"You did crash a lot when we were fillies," Fluttershy said. "Didn't some ponies call you Rainbow Cr--" The yellow pegasus gasped and covered her mouth. "S-sorry, I didn't mean--"

"Sugar cube, we didn' mean no offense. Spike was feelin' real discouraged after a rough start, so Fluttershy told him even you crashed a bunch when you were learnin'," Applejack explained. "Well, Spike wasn' convinced, so we had to get an exact number, then one thing led to another."

"Think of it in this light, darling," Rarity said, placing a hoof on the pegasus's shoulder. "Thanks to you, our dear Spikey was motivated and encouraged to persevere."

Rainbow gestured toward the chalkboard. "And this is somehow encouraging him?"

"He's made it into a bit of a contest, says he's gonna try and beat you," Applejack said.

"You're not mad, are you?" asked Fluttershy when Rainbow was silent. "We can tell him if you're not comfortable with this."

"So how do I win?" Rainbow suddenly said.

Applejack raised an eyebrow. "Uh, beg your pardon?"

"Do I want a higher number or a smaller one?"

"Well, a smaller number, I'd suppose," Rarity said. "I can't imagine Spike wanting to deliberately hurt himself just to--"

"Hey Spike!" Rainbow hollered. "Want a ruby?"

The dragon turned his head and collided into the cloud in front of him. He passed through it as if it were nothing but air, but the fluffy white cloud pieces blinded him, and in his panic, Spike's wings froze against his side. Everypony winced as the dragon fell to the ground like spear and created a small crater in the dirt with a loud sickening thud. Rainbow Dash rubbed the back on her head sheepishly as her friends, including the very displeased princess up in the sky, glared at her.

"I, probably shouldn't have done that." Clearing her throat, Rainbow leapt into the air and flew toward the dragon shaped hole. A scaly purple head peeked out and groaned, and Rainbow's breath was suddenly caught in her throat. Spike's appearance had changed. The rounded shape she had been familiar with for so long had been replaced with more sharp edges, giving his face a protrusion similar to a pony's muzzle. The flat green fins that ran from his head down his back had become jagged spikes.

Slowly, Spike crawled out of the hole, giving Rainbow Dash a more complete view of his new body. He was larger than she remembered, maybe a bit bigger than herself, but the change in his shape was the most dramatic difference. The Spike she remembered was short and stocky, but the dragon in front of her was slender and lanky. It wasn't entirely different from the creature he had became on his birthday, though not as ugly.

It was the wings, Rainbow decided, that's what had been missing before, what kept him from looking like a proper dragon. As Spike stretched his new appendages, making sure they weren't damaged, Rainbow Dash couldn't help but stare. His wingspan made hers seem tiny, and her own wings spread open as if provoked into a challenge.

Satisfied with the condition of his wings, Spike folded them and turned. Rainbow swallowed as Spike finally noticed her with those green slitted eyes. At least those hadn't changed. "Hey, Spike," she greeted, raising a hoof. "You alright?"

The dragon tilted his head slightly. "Did somepony mention rubies?" he said, his voice a little deeper than she remembered.

As everypony else made their way toward them, Rainbow began to laugh. Spike watched in bewilderment as the pegasus shook with mirth. Rainbow Dash suddenly threw her foreleg around his neck and dragged him toward her before striking his elbow.

"Heh, you really haven't changed, have you?"