Cheerilee stared at the shuffling mare before stepping outside. “Yeah. Val is inside, resting. So, Rainbow, what happened?”
“I'm really, really, really sorry!” Rainbow said quickly, shaking her head. “I didn't mean to freak her out!”
The teacher smiled and nodded. “I know. Val is just... can you tell me exactly what happened?”
“Sure. So, I just got back from the retreat and I thought I'd come and check on my number one fan and-- oh, did you know about Claw? That's just... wow.”
“I am aware. You've missed quite a lot.”
“Well, anyway, I decided to come and check on her. Then I met Val and Silverbelle. Well, okay, actually just Val at first. Really, the other one is kinda... quiet. But then all of a sudden the little kid was laughing her tail off, couldn't figure out why.” She then snorted. “She was laughing at ME of all ponies. Because of my coat and mane. Can you believe that?”
Cheerilee looked her up and down. “Was it messy?”
“No, because of the colors!”
The teacher sighed. “Really? He was laughing about such a silly thing? Well... he is from another realm. But still, it's a little unique, but it's not that rare.”
“I know, right? Then he thought the Wonderbolts were painters.” She puffed out her chest. “So, I thought it would be a good idea to show her EXACTLY what we could do. I grabbed her and took her for a quick fly and dropped her on a cloud. And then she just freaked out!”
Cheerilee blinked and then gave a small nod. “Ohhhhh. I see.” She'd seen those little rides Rainbow had given. The fillies and colts usually ADORED them, she couldn't blame them. More than a few times she wished she had been smaller and could have gone on one. Rainbow had flying down to an art form. She was a little surprised Val hadn't been thrilled. But then, he wasn't quite like other colts. “I think I see the problem.”
“Scared of heights? But she's a pegasus!”
“No, he's a unicorn. That was a spell and...” Cheerilee sighed. “Also... he's... a bit intimidated by mares.”
Rainbow snorted. “Well, I am kind of awesome, it's hard not to be intimidated by me.”
“No, I mean his mother was an evil, psychotic nut job who would kill and torture anypony who got in her way. In many ways, she did it to him. I know she's killed him and I'm pretty sure she's tortured him. He now has trouble dealing with most mares. At least, the grown up ones.” She waved a hoof to the side. “I even had to change his doctor to deal with it.”
Rainbow blinked a few times. “Wait... really? But... err... he was with Scootaloo and the others...”
“He seems to be fine around the other fillies,” Cheerilee said with a small sigh before glancing back towards the house. “But... I'm sure eventually you'll win him over. Maybe once he sees some of your shows. But right now? He was really freaked out by you. He thinks you were going to hurt him.” She groaned, then glancing back towards Rainbow. She could see the guilt etched on the other mare's face. “Listen, I know you never meant to scare him. You're great with kids, they usually love you. Val's just... different.”
Rainbow nodded. “Can I... uhhh... talk to her? Let her know I'm sorry?”
“Yeah. But it's he.”
“So... the whole... being a pegasus mare thing?”
Cheerilee shook her head. “I have no idea. Frankly, his magic is all over the place and I'm just happy he's not turning ponies into frogs.” She turned and walked inside, though she heard Rainbow chuckling behind her. She walked over to Val and nudged him with a hoof. “Val? Honey?”
“Hmmm?” he asked softly, opening his eyes. He then shrieked and lunged behind her, hiding from Rainbow.
“That's... not usually the reaction I get,” Rainbow said with a cough, before putting on her grin. “So, Val. Nice to see you're a... unicorn now. I guess.”
“D-don't touch me!” Val shrieked, trembling.
“Hey, easy, I'm not going to. See?” Rainbow said, lifting a hoof and waving. “I just want to talk, okay? I'm not going to come any closer, I promise.”
Val gulped and nodded, though he kept Cheerilee between the two of them.
“Sooooo. I kinda... freaked you out like that, I'm sorry. I thought you'd be impressed and all 'That was awesome!' when I showed you some of my moves. Heck, most ponies are. But, well, I guess I kind of got carried away when you laughed at me. Sorry.”
Val nodded. “You suck, rainbow butt.”
Rainbow blinked and then face hoofed. “At least it's better than crash...” She then smiled. “So, how about we start over. My name is Rainbow. I'm one of the greatest fliers you'll ever meet. A member of the Wonderbolts, the greatest fliers in Equestria. Got it?”
Val nodded.
“Cool. Now, you wanna see some of the things I can do?”
“No...”
“Come on, it'll be fun,” Rainbow said with a smirk. “I can even give you some flying les... oh. No wings. Right.”
Val shook his head, but Cheerilee put a hoof over his back. “Come on, Val. How about we just see a little, okay?”
Val grumbled a little, but slowly nodded. “Okay...” He didn't come out from behind her though.
Rainbow smirked. “Cool, come on.” She dashed out the door and the two followed behind her. She stretched out a bit, her wings going to full extent. “Okay, how about this. I bet you I can clear the sky in... ohhhh... eight seconds now.”
Val blinked and looked up at the cloud filled sky. There were at least a dozen of them. He rolled his eyes. “That's impossible.”
“Not for me,” Rainbow said with a smirk. “So, what do you say?”
He snorted. “You're a liar and a--” Suddenly, the blue pony took to the sky and his mouth fell open. He stared with wide eyed wonder as she streaked across it like a lightning bolt. Even more impressive was how quick she turned. After eight seconds, she landed on the ground, stretching again.
“There. Eight seconds, easy. Still think I'm a liar?”
Val just stared. Then shrieked. “How? How did you do that? Is it magic? Do you have special time stopping magic?”
Rainbow smirked and shook her head. “Nah. I'm just that awesome. Pure, distilled awesome,” she said with a cocky grin before holding out her hoof. Val cringed back from it. “What? Hey, I thought we were cool now!”
“I still don't like you,” Val muttered.
Cheerilee sighed. “Come on, Val. She didn't mean to scare you.”
“I'm not scared of her!” Val lied. “I just don't like her. She sucks.”
Rainbow sighed and shook her head. “Sorry, kid. I didn't mean to upset you like that. Really. I'm really sorry I did it. Hope sometime later we can be friends.”
“Wouldn't count on it...”
Rainbow sighed and gave Cheerilee a weak smile. The other mare just nodded. “Don't worry, he'll warm up to you, eventually. Just... a little space for now, okay?”
The pegasus nodded. “Fine, okay. See you around, Val. Welcome to Ponyville and all that.” She said before taking off.
Cheerilee sighed and glanced back to Val. “So, dear. Did you find out the great secrets of filly kind?”
Val blinked, then face hoofed. “Dang it! She ruined everything! Do you think the girls will still believe Valeria is a different pony?”
“... Valeria? Really? THAT'S the name you went with?”
“I panicked!”
The teacher sighed and face hoofed. “Maybe. I find it hard to believe they believed you from the get go, though.”
“Nonsense! I'll find them and then find out all their secrets! I bet they're at the tree house!” He galloped off.
Cheerilee blinked and then face hoofed. “I think even Sweetie could see through your little disguise... Oh Val.”
------
Chad yiped as he ran for his life, tears in his eyes. He ducked under poisoned darts and then leaped over a pit of fire before swinging across vines that turned out to be snakes, before finally flipping the switch that disabled the traps.
He then promptly fell over and panted from exhaustion, shaking his head. How in the buck did he get involved in any of this? He wanted to go hoooooooome.
He then thought about what waited him back home and paled. Perhaps this wasn't SO bad.
“Very good, Chad,” Caballeron said as he trotted forward, giving a low chuckle. “You've got quite the talent.” He then walked forward and took out a small metal mask. “Now, for the final part.” He walked up to the wall in front of him and slowly put the mask into a crevice. He grinned when it began to recede, revealing a large headdress made of golden feathers. He let out a sigh. “Finally. The Headdress of the Golden Pheonix.” He gave a soft chuckle. “One of a kind, you know. Worth a fortune.” He turned to Chad. His other men began to surround the panting pony. “But then... you already knew that, didn't you Daring Do?”
“H-huh?” Chad asked. He then let out a yelp when the other ponies jumped him.
“You thought you were so smart, taking on this moniker of Chad, didn't you? The sombrero, the cloak. All so you could get the key to the headdress. But I was a little too smart for you this time.” He laughed once the sombrero was tossed off.
The laugh died in his throat when he saw the mustached pony beneath. “You're... not Daring Do.”
“Who is Daring Do?” Brad asked as he struggled to fight off the three henchponies, but was too tired from the trials and was soon pinned.
Caballeron frowned before he slowly lifted up the headdress. “Nopony important.” He gave a sigh. “But, I suppose I don't need you anymore. The headdress is mine. Tie him up and drop him into the fire pit. The headdress is mine.”
Caballeron let out a pained yelp when a pony landed on his back, sending the headdress into the air. The gray pegasus caught it in her mouth before flinging it onto her back.
“Now, Caballeron, aren't you a little old to be playing dress up?” Daring asked with a chuckle before jumping back. “Besides, gold feathers are just so tacky.”
Caballeron groaned and slowly got to his hooves. “Ignore him! Get her!” he yelled.
Chad blinked a few times as the three ponies pinning him leaped off and raced at the pegasus, who stood there with a smirk on her face. He frowned and grabbed the tail of the third henchpony and, with a mighty heave, slammed him into the wall. He then reached out and grabbed his sombrero.
Caballeron's mouth fell open as he stared at the downed henchpony, his two remaining henchponies, then Daring and Chad. The former smirking and energetic, the latter tired, but annoyed. “... Oops.”
------
Val grinned wide as she made her way up the steps of the tree house. She could hear the girls inside. Perfect. “Hey!” she called before she opened the door, then instantly slammed it until she heard the thunk of Claw running into it, before opening it once again. “Hello again,” she said with a grin.
“Ah, Valeria. Feeling better?” Scootaloo asked. “Err... Claw, you okay?”
“N-never... better,” Claw said softly from the ground, his eyes little swirls.
“Diamond and Silver Spoon were busy, so they won't be joining us today,” Sweetie said before glancing to her cousin. She then sighed as the filly nodded. “Buuuuut... we talked about it and decided... even though you're new, we'll let you into our super secret filly club.”
Val's eyes lit up. “Really? You will?”
“Yeah,” Applebloom said with a nod. “After all, yah are one of us now. Might as well.”
“What about him?” Val asked, pointing towards Claw. “Is he allowed to know?” she whispered.
“... We'll make Claw an honorary member,” Sweetie said with a sigh.
“Yeah! Wooo!” Claw said in a daze.
Val sighed, before nodding and rubbing her hooves together. “Excellent! So, what's first?”
“Uhhhh...” Scootaloo said before looking to Silverbelle.
“The... filly oath?” she offered. The four fillies shared looks then gave nods.
“So, uhhh... Sweetie, how about you start us off?” Applebloom said.
“What? Me? No no, I think Scootaloo should,” Sweetie said quickly.
“No no no. This was Silverbelle's idea, she should do it,” Scootaloo added.
Silverbelle gave a sigh. “Okay, errr, step one. We put our hooves over our chests and repeat the oath.” She cleared her throat. “I solemnly agree that I am a filly.”
The others repeated after her.
“I... errrr... agree to be a good filly and try my best not to cause problems.”
They slowly repeated it, mumbling as they went.
“And, ummmm, I'll be nice and eventually grow up into a good mare who helps ponies.”
Once again they repeated it, the crusaders sharing confused looks.
“And that's it. So, Valeria, you're now one of us.”
“Eeeeee! So what do we do now?” she asked, a wide grin on her face.
“Errrrr...” Silverbelle said, giving the others pleading looks.
“We... plot?” Sweetie offered. “On... how to get the three of you your cutie marks!”
Val blinked. “What? But that's so boring! Shouldn't you scheme on like... how to rule the world?”
“What? Why?” Scootaloo asked. “The princesses already rule our country, they seem to be doing a pretty good job of it.”
“Well, yeah, but--” Val gasped. “Of course! The mares already rule the world, so they've entered a state of relaxation. This is perfect, if I strike now, I could take over by dinner time. I'd better be quick, though, otherwise mom'll get mad. But I need to refresh my spells before that, so I have to wait until tomorrow. But I have school tomorrow and mom will definitely get mad if I miss that. Maybe after school?”
“... Val... does know we can hear him, right?” Scootaloo asked softly.
“Ah, let 'im have his fun. He had a rough day with the whole... Rainbow thing. Yah seen 'er since?” Applebloom asked.
“No, but I really hope I can get one of those rides while she's in town!” Scootaloo said excitedly. “She's just sooooo awesome! I don't know why Val freaked out so bad.”
Applebloom nodded. “Well, Val is a unicorn. Soooo... yah think he realized he's jus' a girl unicorn now, he forgot tah be a pegasus?”
The four shared looks, before shaking their heads and giving soft sighs.
------
“So, don't expect me to say thank you,” Daring said as she trotted out of the ruins, the headdress over her back. “I saw you working for Caballeron, you only got what you deserved.” She then snickered. “But, really? You thought Caballeron was going to give it to a museum?”
“Si, senorita. What else would he do with such a thing?”
“Sell it, obviously. It's worth a fortune.”
Chad frowned. “But it is history, this lands history. It belongs to the ponies, not one. What do you intend to do with it?”
She grinned. “Isn't it obvious? Send it back to Canterlot, make sure it doesn't have any bad voodoo on it, then have it brought back here to be put in a museum. Then write a book about it.”
Chad chuckled. “A book? Sounds interesting, maybe I'll read it sometime. What'd it be called?”
“Daring Do and the... Golden Phoenix Headdress. You uhhh... don't read very much, do you?”
“Not recently. Lots of work, just became a--” He paused. Then shook his head. “No, senorita.”
She cocked an eye. “You running from something?”
“Aye. The demon that walks on four tiny hooves.”
------
Cheerilee sighed when she heard the door open. She glanced back and smiled. “Hello, 'Valeria'. Did you have fun?”
“Yes! I have successfully infiltrated the filly cult! Look!” She held up a hoof to reveal a little butterfly sticker. “I even got a very special marking to signify my acceptance. Gaze upon it!”
“Awww, that's cute. Now, go wash up for dinner.”
“Okay!” Val said before she trotted off to the bathroom. Cheerlee watched her for a second, before shaking her head.
“Sometimes I wonder if I let him get away with just a little too much,” she muttered. After a few moments she heard the water going. Followed by a shriek of despair.
“No no no!”
Cheerilee galloped down the hall, shoving the door open. “Val? What's wrong?”
Val held up her hooves and sniffled. “I-I washed m-my token down the sink! Now I can't be a member of the club anymore!”
Cheerilee stared for a few moments, before sighing again. She then trotted over and pat her on the head. “Fine. I'll get you another one later, okay? Just... promise tomorrow you'll be Val. Not Valeria?”
Val's eyes lit up. “Okay! And don't worry, I don't wanna keep using this form anyway. Being a filly is weird.”
“Okay.”
“I think tomorrow I wanna try being a timber wolf!”
Cheerilee paled. “On the other hoof, how about you keep going as Valeria. I think we all like Valeria. Just keep to shifting to that, okay?”
Val blinked. “Really?”
“Yes. Pony forms, dear. Pony forms. No timber wolves.”
“Awwwww...”
Cheerilee sighed and trotted back towards the kitchen. She made a mental note to talk to Twilight later about these extra 'spells' Val seemed to be developing. Who know what weird magic he'd develop next?