"To my loyal student, --"
-------------------
----[ Library | 8am Next day
-----
Twilight quickly woke up from a good night's rest, the sound of a multi-color maned Pegasus hitting the window next to her bed was hard to sleep through. She opened the curtains and unlocked the window to let in her guest. Dash rubbed her head a little, "Wow, strong window."
Twilight stifled a yawn before she replied, "I had that window replaced with a reinforced one after that tree accident some months ago."
Dash flew in and landed next to the bed, "Wasn't that when both AJ and Rare spent the night?"
Twilight simply nodded, "So, what was she doing at Rarity's last night?"
"Showing off dresses for her."
The stifled yawn came back and Twilight let it out, "That doesn't sound too bad. I didn't really think Rarity had any dresses that large."
"Um, she doesn't. Elise can shrink herself."
Twilight looked at Dash like she was suddenly monochrome, "Could you repeat that? I think I had something funny in my ear."
"I'm not joking. She shrunk herself, then regrew to that bigger size once she was done helping Rarity."
The flash of the student's teleport spell faded away before Dash's eyes, "Uh... Twilight? Where'd you go?"
From the library's main room Twilight called to Dash, "Downstairs. Chalkboard!"
Dash shrugged her shoulders and flew down, "Adding that?"
With the first drawing board filled with notes and pictures Twilight had set up a mobile chalkboard next to it, she used her magic to move the chalk, "Of course!"
Spike woke up and yawned, then belched out a flame that formed a small packet, "Wow, mail already?"
Twilight stopped and looked over, "Something from the princess?"
Spike picked it up, "Looks like it."
Twilight magically levitated the packet over to her and opened it, "She usually doesn't send anything this early."
Dash walked over, "Must be important, right?"
Twilight levitated a letter and a small wrapped box out of the packet, "Well, let's find out."
-------------------
----[ Apple Family House
-----
Elise was curled up on the floor of the guest bedroom when the rooster crowed, she stirred and lifted her head off her front legs. With a mighty yawn she tried to move but felt something asleep on top of her, "Hm?"
She looked on her side and saw a lump of brown and white fur, she knew that if that was Scootaloo there would be some pink instead of white. With a gentle nuzzle she woke up Winona, who stretched her legs and after a happy bark ran off. Now that there wasn't a canine sleeping on her, she stood up and stretched out any built up snaps and crunches. She wandered downstairs and out the front door where the Apple family had gathered in front of the house. Big Mac was busy carving a new axle for the cart, Applejack was getting a thorough look-over from Granny Smith, and The Cutie Mark Crusaders were still wiping the sleepiness from their little eyes as they wandered away from their clubhouse.
Granny Smith finished looking over AJ, "Yer doin' better than las' night, that's fer sure. I'd say ya better off not buckin' apples fer a while, and especially not gettin' inta anymore fights."
AJ grinned, "Ah'll do my best."
"Do bettah than yer best, you know yer as bad at keepin' outta trouble as that Whooves feller."
Elise walked up to AJ, "Feeling better?"
She nodded, "Sure am, Granny Smith ain't lettin' me go an' buck in th' orchard for a few days, so that head start we got yesterday came at a great time."
Big Mac looked over at them, "Eeeeyup."
Apple Bloom walked up to Elise, "Is it true ya tried to take all them hits fer AJ?"
Elise nodded, "It's how I helped Lusce, whenever a Lion cornered him I'd provoke it into attacking me."
Scootaloo eyed her, "That doesn't sound very cool."
Elise smiled, "Once the lion left himself open, I would strike, returning everything he hit me with, with interest."
Scootaloo looked confused, "With interest?"
Sweetie Belle thought for a moment, "Does that mean you hit him harder than he hit you?"
Elise nodded, "Lusce was surprised to see a Leomn bounce though."
"Lion", Sweetie Belle corrected her.
Elise laughed, "Of course."
AJ looked at her, "Yer in high spirits this mornin', I take it ya slept well?"
"I dreamt about my father, he reminded me that no matter where I am, I shape my own destiny."
"I'm sure he's proud of ya."
"If only he knew what I've done so far...", Elise stared off into space, Was that...?
AJ patted Elise on her shoulder, "I'm sure as sugar that he'd be proud of ya."
Elise smiled, "Of course he would."
Apple Bloom looked down the path, "Huh? Oh, hey. It's Twilight."
AJ looked at the rapidly approaching lavender unicorn, "Hm? What's she hurryin' for?"
Twilight came to a stop in front of Elise and AJ, "Applejack, you aren't going to believe this."
"Believe what, Twi?"
"Celestia sent me seven extra tickets to the Celestial Centennial Celebration!"
AJ's jaw dropped, "Seven?!"
"Each one is labeled for us and guests... I already had mine."
"So who all is goin' to this?"
"Well, me, you, Rarity, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Big Macintosh..."
Big Mac dropped the carving knife, "Eeeeexcuse me?", he picked the knife back up after a moment.
AJ counted, "You had one already... So that leaves one left..."
Twilight nodded, "A guest of our choosing."
AJ looked at Elise, then smiled, "I'd like ta vote for Elise."
Twilight raised a brow, "That makes you and Rarity so far."
Elise smiled, "It's good to know I've earned something from two of you."
Dash landed next to Twilight, "Hey Applejack, want some help gathering apples so you're ahead?"
AJ thought a moment, "We've already got a good start. Say, when's the Celestial Centennial Celebration happenin'?"
Twilight grinned, "In exactly four days."
"There's only enough apples ta get us through today an' tomorrow guaranteed, so we'll need all th' help we can get in gatherin' extra apples. Jus' remember, the most we can do as far as gettin' ahead is six days, no more or the apples start to lose that good taste."
Dash nodded, "Gotcha!"
"Though thing's might be goin' a little slow since Big Mac is carvin' a new axle for the' apple cart."
Big Mac looked over at them, "I'm 'bout half done with it, th' carvin' knife is the sharpest it's been in months."
Granny Smith hobbled over to him, "Ah can see that, lemme go get the band-aids.", she walked away as Big Mac looked down at the little cut on his leg.
He looked at AJ, "Whoops."
-------------------
----[ East Fields
-----
Elise, Dash, and AJ had worked their way to the eastern fields where some of the golden delicious apples were growing. Some cloud cover had drifted in since they left the farmhouse twenty minutes ago. AJ looked up at Dash who was hovering above Elise, "Now we've got about an hour 'r two to clear some a these trees before Big Mac gets done with that axle. If we can fill up th' buckets all we'll have ta do left is load 'em up."
Dash grinned, "No problem. We'll have all those apples down in no time."
Elise nodded, "I suppose since I'm not pulling the cart, I could get some of the apples down?"
AJ thought for a moment, "You don't have hooves ta buck with, ya got some other way-a gettin' apples down?"
Elise thought, "I've got my weight, or pieces of armor to work with..."
"Armor?"
Dash remembered Elise's armor and grinned, "You've got armor? Where're you hiding it?"
"I don't need it, just some way of...", Elise got an idea and grinned, "...getting up to speed."
Dash smiled, "Show me how fast you can go."
Elise started running and built up her speed, If I time this right, I should be able to...
With a leap she planted all four of her paws into a tree trunk, then used her reflexes to launch into another tree trunk, she worked on her timing and how she redirected her momentum until she started almost bouncing off of trees. It wasn't too long before she was moving fast enough that there was a delay between her impact and the apples falling. Dash smiled ecstatically, "Aw, Yeah! Let the games begin!"
Dash launched forward and started pinballing off of trees as AJ watched with a grin.
After a few minutes Elise and Dash managed to get most of the way through the field, this little challenge became trickier as trees were planted further apart from each other. Elise started having trouble making the distance and getting the impacts she needed to loose apples and launch for the next tree. She focused and built up her magic as she barreled towards a tree, she landed against it and kicked off as she formed her crystaline wings in a brilliant flash of light. There was no longer any question in whether or not she could make it to the next tree as the field continued to become sparser and sparser.
Intentional or not, she and Dash had now entered a competition to see who could get the most apples off of the trees. Feeling the competitive spark Elise launched over Dash's path and started on a new row of trees, AJ watching in amazement as the competition was harvesting apples quicker than she and her brother going it alone.
Within another minute the two competitors approached the fence that marked the edge of the East Fields, and the desire to be the first to the imaginary finish line was driving Dash to fly faster and faster. Elise was having fun and decided, Give her a run for her money.
The two built up their speed, Elise kicked off of trees for her boosts, while Dash just put forth a large amount of effort out of sheer force of will. The two approached the fence, a trail of rainbow colors, and a trail of distortion. Dash crossed the fence, followed by Elise a second later.
Dash and Elise both came to a stop just within hollering distance of the fence, where Applejack stopped, and watched the grass. Dash was surprised to see that this big half-breed barely kept up with her, "How... Where'd you get those wings?"
Elise looked at her wings, "A spell reacting to my dragon side."
Dash moved closer, "Those are made of crystal? I gotta admit, that's pretty cool! Hey, when did you get those?"
"They repaired themselves yesterday, I just don't let them be seen."
"You can hide them?"
Elise made the wings vanish and landed on the ground, "I create them whenever I desire."
Dash looked at something, "You might wanna get out of that grass, maybe now!"
Elise jumped up and recreated her wings, looking down she noticed the grass was shifting as though something was crawling through it, something very large.
In the distance AJ's voice sounded clear and true, "GET OVER HERE, NOW!!!"
A long blue serpentine creature jumped over the two, Elise didn't know what it was at first but could sense how strong it was, "Don't have to tell me twice!"
Dash and Elise put forth as much energy they had left to try and get back to the fence while they dodged the jumps of this lurking predator. They crossed the fence and the beast made one last lunge for them, hitting a magical barrier with a resounding thud. It sank back into the grass and slithered away.
AJ walked to the two fliers as they landed and caught their breath, "For a second there, I was 'fraid that I lost a coupla friends."
Dash looked at AJ, "Thanks for the vote of confidence."
Elise looked at AJ too, "What is a Leviathan doing out there? Is that what roared yesterday?"
AJ looked at Elise questioningly, "Leviathan? Izzat what that thing is? But yeah, that's what ya heard."
Dash looked at Elise, "How do you know what that thing is?"
Elise hid her wings, "I encountered one in a wasteland when I was traveling with Dracire and my father... They tend to be strong enough to make survival there next to impossible, but... I wish Dracire was at least here."
"Why? Does he know how to send one of those things somewhere else."
"If by somewhere else, you mean the afterlife. Then yes."
AJ and Dash both looked at Elise with shocked expressions.
Dash lifted up into the air, "How?!"
AJ backed up a little and pointed up at the sky, "I've seen airships ponied by Canterlotian milit'ry fail to stop that one, how did this Dracire slay one?!"
"He has a stance he uses when he has long swords equipped, Fatalis. He resigns to the fate of his target, and with one or two slashes, ends them."
"That can't be possible, wait... What is he?"
"Dark Dragon."
AJ and Dash looked at each other.
"Because I'm a half-breed my father has taught me how to work with other dragons. Even earn their respect."
Dash thought for a moment, "Maybe we could call on you next time we have a dragon problem."
"Maybe."
AJ shook her head, "Either way, th' two of ya are safe."
A muffin landed on AJ's head, and from above somepony said, "Oops!"
Dash looked up, "Derps?"
Ditzy Do fluttered down, "Bad muffin, trying to get away."
AJ reached up and handed the muffin to her, "Here ya go."
"Yay, muffin! Oh!", she turned to Dash and reached into her mail bag and pulled out a letter, "I brought you a letter!"
Dash took it, "Thanks."
Ditzy smiled, "Another satisfied customer!", then flew away to deliver more mail.
Elise watched her as she slowly drifted to her left, "Hm."
Dash waved and looked at the letter, "Urgent?"
AJ adjusted her hat, "Somethin' goin' on?"
In a flash the letter was opened and she was reading it, "All available Pegasi need to be on the look out for excess cloud cover, reason to believe that a deep blue Pegasus has sabotaged the cloud factory into producing a constant output. That's not good, and that explains the weather today."
"Thought so, last I heard we were gettin' sunshine from dawn 'til dusk."
Dash kept reading, "Any available Pegasi need to report for cloud breaking to help prevent the early occurrence of the planned storm.", She sighed with disappointment, "So much for doing nothing today..."
AJ looked up at the gray skies, "I suppose if it starts rainin' we need ta be ready..."
Dash looked at Elise, "Say you're a pretty good flier, think you can be a spotter?"
Elise looked at her, "Spotter?"
"Yeah, make sure we don't miss anything."
AJ nudged Elise, "Go on ahead, we've already got most everythin' tied down."
Elise nodded, "Alright, let's go."
They took off flying as Twilight walked up next to AJ, "Looks like Rainbow Dash has made a new friend."
AJ smiled, "Either that or a new racin' buddy."
Twilight laughed, "Of course."
"Say, Twi?"
"Yes, Applejack?"
"Thanks for talkin' Luna inta makin' this barrier."
"You're welcome."
Somepony landed behind them, "I'm happy to help my subjects."
Twilight turned around, "Princess Luna?"
-------------------
----[ Cloudsdale
-----
Both Dash and Elise were flying for Cloudsdale, maintaining their speed as the floating city came into view. There were dark clouds drifting away from a section of the city, which were being destroyed by numerous Pegasi. Dash smiled upon seeing the light blue and yellow uniforms of some of the Pegasi, while Elise kept her eyes forward.
An orange mare in one of the uniforms flew up to them, "Rainbow Dash, glad you made it."
Dash grinned, "Hey Spitfire, need some help?"
"As much as we can get, the cloud factory keeps getting faster."
Dash saluted, "I'm on it!"
Spitfire shook her head after Dash dashed off, "Always in a hurry, perfect."
Elise flew up to Spitfire, "How fast is it going?"
"Fast enough that they called us in to help."
Elise paused, "Ok. Is there anything I can do to help?"
Spitfire examined her for a moment, "Depends, can you break clouds?"
"I don't know."
A cloud drifted by, "Try that one."
Elise rushed at it and slashed it with the crystals of her wings, the cloud didn't do anything but take the shape of a partly sliced loaf of bread, "Erm, I guess not."
"Didn't think you could, wanted to make sure."
"Is there anything else I can do?"
Spitfire looked her over again, "You look kinda strong, see if you can break open the door to the cloud factory."
Elise nodded, "Alright."
"Make it quick.", Spitfire took off and started just destroying clouds with no effort as Elise made her way to the source of the clouds.
Every time Elise flew to Cloudsdale she always wondered how anything mortal could be able to make an air-weight solid substance out of clouds. She landed on the cloudy road and thought for a moment, I suppose If I can land on them maybe I would have to use my body not my crystals to destroy them.
She prepared for the task at hand, Draconic strength ready to -- open the door that a very muscular white Pegasus just pried open on his own. Completely baffled by what she just saw, she watched with a dumbfounded expression on her face as the Pegasus snorted and flexed while shouting, "YEEEEEAAAAHH!"
A stallion in a uniform similar to Spitfire's looked inside the factory, "Alright! Good work!"
Spitfire landed next to him, "Hey, thanks. We'll take it from here."
The Big Pegasus took to the air quickly and started clearing excess clouds.
Spitfire looked at the other uniformed stallion, "You ready Soarin?"
He nodded and spread his wings, "I'm always ready."
"Good, we've got a deep blue Pegasus to stop."
Elise snapped out of her daze, "Wait! Deep blue? Green eyes?"
Spitfire looked at her, "Yeah, you met him before?"
"He caused trouble near Ponyville yesterday, by trying to make the Diamond Dogs in the nearby mountains willing to hurt ponies."
"What? Ergh, I'll ask later. We're on a time limit.", she looked back at Soarin, "Let's go!"
Soarin hesitated then acknowledged her, "Right!"
Elise watched as the two flew in, "I can't let him do anything to anyone else!"
From above her Dash called out, "Hey, you got it open?"
"Somepony else did... Soarin and Spitfire are in there now."
Dash landed next to her, "So this'll all be fixed in no time."
"Not if who I think is in there, is in there."
"Who do you think's in there?"
"Fate."
Dash raised a brow, "Him? He's an Earth pony right?"
"He can be anything he pleases."
"Really?"
"Yes... Dash, if that is Fate in there, Soarin and Spitfire may have just entered a deathtrap. We've got to follow them and protect them."
"Deathtrap? Uhm..."
"It might get them more trusting of you if it is."
Dash grinned, "Why didn't you say so! Here. we. GO!"
Both ran inside of the factory.
--------------------
----[ Sweet Apple Acres | East Fields
-----
Thirty minutes had passed since Elise and Dash flew off to Cloudsdale, and Big Macintosh had managed to carve a new axle for the cart. He and Applejack were loading the cart with apples with some help from Twilight and Luna's magic. Twilight had her suspicions to why the Lunar Princess had come out this far, and she knew it didn't involve the apple bucking game that Dash and Elise had finished earlier. Big Mac had just taken the cart away with Applejack following, which gave Twilight the opportunity to approach Luna, "Princess Luna? What are you really doing here?"
Luna was looking out over the tall grass, "To be certain my barrier was holding steady."
"I don't think that's why you're here."
Luna gazed at her, "Why would you say that, filly?"
"Because when I asked you why you're here, you start talking in the old Equestrian dialect by just a little."
"I have my reasons, Twilight Sparkle."
"Is there something going on in Equestria?"
"No."
"With Ponyville?"
"No."
"With Celestia?"
"No..."
"Is something happening?"
"Erm...no. 'Tis nothing happening."
"Princess Luna, if something is happening to Celestia, I need to know because I'm her faithful student."
"There certainly is not a thing happening to my sister. She's far too preoccupied by the courts."
"Then shouldn't you be helping her?"
Luna sighed, "Nopony will let me handle anything important."
Twilight got an idea, "Then I could help her!"
Luna looked at her with wide eyes, "Pardon?"
"I'll just write up a letter and see if she'll let me help her."
"Oh! NOnononono. She told us she would manage!"
Twilight hid a smirk, "Alright, I guess I could help you with your barrier?"
Luna shook her head, "Well...fine. We came to speak with thee about thy friends..."
"Really?"
"Yes, Tia sent out more invitations to the upcoming event, correct?"
Twilight nodded, "Yes, she sent seven additional tickets. One each for Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Big Macintosh."
"That only accounts for six of the additional tickets."
"There was one meant for an additional friend, we agreed to vote on somepony to take along."
"Has this vote occurred?"
"Partly, there are two votes for this wanderer who came to Ponyville lately."
Luna raised a brow, "Wanderer?"
"Elise. She's this half-fox half-dragon being, who's got to be hiding things from all of us."
"She is tame we would hope."
"She's civilized, like somepony raised her."
"We--erm--I would like to meet with this Elise."
Twilight laughed nervously, "When you got here, she had just left with Rainbow Dash to go to Cloudsdale."
"Then I will wait for her return."
--------------------
----[ Cloud Factory
-----
The Cloud Factory had seen far better days, machines that regulated the clouds were in shambles and barely managed to limit output of even a tiny bit of vapor. The cloud marble wasn't looking any better than the machines, especially with that enormous hole in the wall nopony outside could see. There were even support pillars that had crumbled and lay on the ground.
Dash was looking around the factory completely baffled, "This entire place is nothing but ruin! How's it still cranking out clouds?! The fail-safes shoulda shut everything down!"
Elise looked around for Soarin and Spitfire but couldn't see them, "I've seen this before, there were old buildings in the Roads Between that still worked."
Dash crossed her hooves, hovering there, "Roads between? Roads between where?"
"I'll explain later, we've got something more important to do."
Dash placed her front hooves on her hips, "Yeah, we've got some flank kicking to do!"
Elise nodded then called out, "Spitfire! Soarin! Are you two alright?"
From the back of the factory Spitfire called out, "We're... we're fine!"
Soarin called out after Spitfire, "We need some help."
Elise noticed the lack of enthusiasm in Soarin's voice, "We're coming!"
Dash flew her way through the mess of a factory as Elise followed her on the floor. They made it to the back of the factory and both were focused on different things. Elise noticed how the main cloud machine was still going through the processes of making large clouds, despite the fact it was torn to pieces and severely damaged.
Dash landed and moved towards Spitfire, "Soarin, Spitfire, what's wrong?"
Spitfire looked like she was fighting to move, "Get away..."
"Huh?"
"Run!"
Elise looked up at something else, "Hm? Dash!"
Dash looked up, "Whoa!", she jumped back as Soarin swooped down at her, "What was that for?!"
Spitfire took a step forward, "We aren't in control, h-he is!"
Fate appeared as a Pegasus stallion, "I admire how much you've been able to resist."
Elise didn't snarl this time, "Don't you have anything better to do."
"Of course not, I need a cornerstone for Omnes Ruinam and what better a dimension to use as such, a harmonic one at that."
Spitfire launched at Dash, "Move!"
Dash jumped over her, "Spitfire! Snap out of it!"
Fate grinned, "To free them from the binds I placed, you'd best be ready to fight your own heroes."
"No way! I want to join the Wonderbolts, not beat 'em to a pulp!"
"You have no choice.", he vanished.
Soarin spread his wings, "Watch out!"
Elise kept her sights on Soarin, "Dash, I understand they are your heroes, but as long as Fate is making them act against their will they are enemies to everypony."
Dash hesitated as Spitfire rammed her, "ACK!", she regained her balance, "I don't want to hurt them!"
Elise thought for a moment, "Then distract them, I'll knock them out."
"What?!"
"I won't leave them for dead, I promise they won't even get that hurt."
Dash looked between Spitfire, Soarin, and Elise, "But..."
"I'll take all the blame.", Elise rushed at Soarin and swiped at him with her claws sheathed. He leapt back avoiding the blow.
"But..."
Spitfire fought against Fate's control, "Rainbow Dash, do what she said. Th-that's an order!"
Dash closed her eyes and swallowed her pride, "You got it."
Elise changed her stance, "Ready when you are."
Dash shouted at Soarin, "Come and get me!"
Soarin quickly took off and created a cloud ring that released small lightning bolts. These bolts struck down at both Dash and Elise.
Dash twitched, "Yaaah!"
Elise stayed in her stance, "Don't give up."
"No more nice Dash, try and hit me!"
Spitfire flew up and dove at Dash who dodged. She a grip on the ground she tried to follow through a kick.
Dash evaded the follow-up, "Try again."
Elise went after Soarin, blindsiding him, "My turn!", she held her attack as he dodged then moved with him to strike.
Spitfire stepped back a little, looking at Dash with some worry as her eyes turned solid white. She drew forth energy that distorted the air with heat, Dash prepared herself, nervous about what was coming. A ring of light formed around Dash and Elise and started to burn before it erupted upwards in a cyclone of fire. Dash pulled out of the storm quickly with only a few singed feathers, Elise was picked up into it and hit the floor once it cleared. The pieces of the cloud machine fell to the floor surrounding the fight.
Elise rolled onto her feet as Dash landed looking tired, "This isn't right. You shouldn't be attacking us. Snap out of it!"
Soarin forced himself not to attack, "We're trying!"
Spitfire looked at Dash, "Don't give up!"
Dash grimaced, "J-just keep trying to hit me."
Elise focused and let a small glowing orb stream into Dash, "The only good thing I've gotten from you, Fate."
Dash seemed to get some of her vigor back, "Huh? Thanks!"
Spitfire shuddered, "You've got to stop us!", she held herself back, "Hit me!"
Soarin slouched down and tried to force his wings to fold up, "You've gotta!"
Dash rushed forward, "Sorrysorrysorrysorrysorry!"
Elise ran towards Soarin as Dash spiraled into him with a kick, the half-breed's follow up knocking him off balance, finally Dash's second kick knocking him over. Spitfire continued to fight against Fate's control as Soarin jumped onto his hooves. He worked as hard as he could to keep from attacking, Elise backed away from him. Dash tried not to hit herself for hitting one of the Wonderbolts, "Don't... don't overdo it."
Spitfire lifted into the air unbalanced, "Soarin, keep fighting against his control."
"Watch out!", Soarin lifted up and quickly rammed and kicked at Dash, she managed to pull back and block both attacks with her front hooves. Elise blindsided Soarin with two more attacks, he fell to the floor and pushed up, "Huh?", he moved his body freely, "I'm free?!"
A trail of black smoke weaved between Soarin, Dash, and Elise. Then released a spread of fire that hit all three, knocking them into the air. Spitfire landed behind them and they turned to face her after landing on the floor.
She struggled to stop herself, "Stop! Me!"
Dash flew forward as the ring of fire started to form once more, Soarin following close in formation. Elise ran forward and leapt into the air.
This moment lasted almost an eternity to Dash, she stared into the glowing white eyes of her idol, the forced look of aggression mixed with her panic as she forced the creation of the technique that she hoped never to use against one of her own kind. Soarin's expression was almost no better than Dash's, but Elise's face showed only regret as she came closer to the commanding Wonderbolt.
The flaming cyclone never formed as Spitfire hit the floor, Dash moved to be next to her, "Spitfire!"
Spitfire pushed up onto her hooves, "Remind me never to do that again."
Soarin smiled, "Will do."
A voice came from the direction of the factory entrance, "There's a different way to remind you never to do that again."
Spitfire and Soarin both froze up and gazed towards the entrance. Elise looked in the direction of the voice, noticing as an aqua colored Pegasus Stallion landed, he was wearing a variant of the Wonderbolt uniform that had markings underneath the cutie mark area, I saw you the other day..., she thought to herself.
His green eyes examined the mess and the scorched area, then locked onto the group in front of him, "You stopped the machine, to say the least. However, the pony you were supposed to catch escaped unscathed, care to explain why?"
Spitfire straightened herself, "Lieutenant Windholm, the pony calling himself Fate was able to use some magic to seize control of us."
Soarin nodded, "He used us as bait to lure in Rainbow Dash and a friend of hers."
Dash was trying to keep a bold look on her face but the cold gaze of the commanding Wonderbolt made it hard. Windholm sighed, "Listen up! I don't believe for one second that two of my top Wonderbolts were taken control of and used as bait!"
Elise spoke up, "It's true! We fought to break the control over them."
"You must be the troublemaker from Ponyville, there have been some reports about you taking a farmer and a fashion designer into hostile territory."
"They volunteered."
"And my tail is curled. That aside, we've got somepony who witnessed everything from that control box up there. Ms. Heather Vane?"
A copper colored mare with a blonde mane and yellow eyes walked out from behind Windholm and looked at the mess with horror, "Oh my! The cloud machine! You call yourselves Wonderbolts!"
Windholm snorted, "Not anymore they don't."
Dash, Spitfire, and Soarin all twitched, "WHAT?!"
"From this moment forward both Spitfire and Soarin are dishonorably discharged from the Wonderbolts. You are to return to the Cloudsdale Barracks immediately to retrieve your belongings and never set hoof or spread wings in any Equestrian Military Zone again. Understood?"
Dash moved forward, "But?!"
A strong gust of wind roared forward as Windholm shouted, "UNDERSTOOD?!"
Dash's mane was straight back for a moment as she tried to figure something out, but a hoof resting on her shoulder stopped her. Spitfire looked her in the eyes, "It's alright."
Soarin flew by and Spitfire followed shortly after, Dash watching with with a look of horror on her face. Elise moved close to her, "Dash..."
Almost as quiet as Fluttershy, Dash squeaked, "It's your fault..."
"I wish it were. Fate set this up and both of...no, all four of us flew right in. He knew this was going to happen."
Dash looked up at Heather Vane and Lieutenant Windholm, "Don't do this!"
Windholm simply turned around and started to walk away, "You have two minutes to leave this factory, or it's off to stockade with you."
Dash jumped, "Wait!", and flew off leaving her rainbow trail.
Elise looked at the mare who witnessed the fight, "Must be great to take other forms, just make sure your eyes don't turn brown."
Elise walked out and Ms. Vane shrouded herself in green magic before reverting to her black form. Chrysalis smiled, "That's one."
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----[ Cloudsdale | Wonderbolts Station
-----
Both Soarin and Spitfire walked out of the front gate with their saddlebags. The only things they were allowed to keep from their uniforms were the goggles that Windholm cracked as the reminder of their discharge. Dash was there waiting for them, and immediately ran up to them, "I'm sooooo sorry!"
Spitfire looked at her, "It wasn't your fault, Rainbow Dash."
Soarin was looking at the broken goggles hanging from his neck, "It would've been bad for us either way."
Dash shook her head, "No, if we hadn't gone into the factory--"
"He would've made us attack innocent ponies!" Spitfire interrupted.
"But..."
"If we started doing that, the rest of the Wonderbolts would've had to arrest us...at best."
"At best? What about at worst?"
"Considering how Windholm has been acting since those dragons tried to burn Canterlot down...you don't wanna know."
Elise walked up, I don't remember anything about that...
Dash glared at Elise, "Oh, it's you."
Spitfire looked at Elise, "Hey, thanks."
Elise bowed, "I'm sorry about your discharge."
"Don't be. If you and Dash here didn't stop us, we might've..."
"I understand."
Soarin looked at Dash, "We owe both of you our lives."
Dash's eyes opened wide, "Wha? But you..."
Spitfire elbowed Dash, "Looks like we might have the free time to show you some new tricks."
Her jaw fell open.
"Tell you what, we can start after the Celestial Centennial Celebration. Sound good?"
Dash smiled wide and fell over.
Spitfire snickered, "I'll take that as a yes."
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----[ From the desk of Twilight Sparkle
-----
Dear Princess Celestia,
I've been keeping a close eye on everything that has been appearing near Ponyville the last four months, and I'm beginning to think that there is something going on that you aren't telling me about. I can't make any further advances in my attempts to determine exactly how these new and dangerous creatures are appearing, which makes it hard for me to properly prepare Ponyville for attacks. If I can't do that then I might want to request that you talk with my brother about sending some members of the royal guard to help protect Ponyville. As for the tickets you sent me, I gave them to my friends like you asked, but I'm afraid to actually give the remaining ticket to this half-breed named Elise, she seems nice enough but I'm afraid that if she joins us in Canterlot, that the troubles here may follow her over. Should I let her join us?
Your faithful and concerned student,
Twilight Sparkle