Shining Dash

by Ianpiersonjdavis

Consolation

“Aw, look at the two of them…” Twilight Velvet cooed to her husband, watching her son speaking with Rainbow Dash in a hushed tone.

“It’s good to see that the break up hasn’t shaken him up too bad.” Night Light agreed. “Then again, he could just be hiding it to look strong for us and those under his command until this whole ordeal is over. Still, I understand why Cadance might have thought breaking up with him would absolve her of feeling guilty if he got hurt protecting her again, but if she was just trying to protect him-doesn’t she realize that won’t stop him performing his duties?”

“Well, they’re barely out of their teens, remember how crazy and chaotic our lives were at that time?” Velvet reminded him. “Of course, just because I enjoy a bit of romance, don’t necessarily mean I understand it to the point I could write about it competently.”

“I thought part of the reason was because if Daring ever settled down, the series would more or less be over because she would feel compelled to retire to protect her significant other from danger?” Night Light replied, cheekily.

“Shh!” She hushed him, gesturing to Rainbow Dash as a reminder of the ‘no discussing the series around fans’ rule. “I can’t believe you nearly told her…”

“I left the specific details of your genre intentionally vague.” He replied, defensively before lowering his voice. “Besides, if her relationship with Shining does become romantic, she’s going to find out eventually.”

Velvet merely sighed at the thought of the headaches she would have to deal with when that time came. Rainbow Dash had already proven herself to be one of those fans-the entitled readers, who believed that instead of taking break between every few novels to retain her sanity, she was obligated to spend her every waking moment writing Daring Do. Then again, Rainbow was already good friends with Twilight and Shining Armor-maybe they could teach her the virtue of patience-Twilight had already gotten her into reading, after all.

On the road up ahead of them were Sunset and Flash, appearing to also be returning to the castle.

“Did you get everyone evacuated?” Shining asked, as the group approached them.

“Uh, mostly…” Flash replied awkwardly, massaging the back of his neck.

“’Mostly?’” He repeated. “What was the problem?”

“My stupid parents.” Sunset growled. “They’re too stubborn to leave, due to their pride-apparently they aren’t worried about leaving behind a legacy of ‘those two idiots who got killed because they were too stupid to get out of a warzone’. But, really-that’s just poetic justice if you ask me. My issue is that Changelings can only feed on love and their love for themselves is a legendary form of narcissism.”

Shining Armor looked to Flash, quizzically.

“It’s…a long story.” He sighed.

“Well, we still aren’t one hundred percent sure that this will end in conflict, Celestia could still reason with the Queen.” Shining continued, trying to keep up morale.

“Don’t hold your breath.” Sunset replied, pessimistically.

“Well, she’s capable of some pretty incredible things and when I was just starting out in the guard, I saw how she was able to calm everyone down in some pretty heated arguments that had each party at the other’s throat.”

“Speaking of which, we were just on our way to report back-were you able to evacuate everyone on your end, sir?” Flash asked.

“Yeah, Dash helped me out with that.” He replied, causing her to grin slightly at the recognition. “Oh, and I forgot to mention-I went to pick up my parents once I informed the residents of the evacuation. These are my parents; Night Light and Twilight Velvet.”

“It’s nice to meet you both.” Flash greeted. “My name is Flash Sentry-you’re son appointed me to be in command of the guard after the initial Changeling attack-so I’d been trying to keep things together while he was in Ponyville recovering.”

“Trying being the operative word when it comes to dealing with a race of shapeshifting infiltrators.” Sunset added.

“This is Sunset Shimmer,” Flash introduced her. “She was Celestia’s pupil before your daughter-she returned to Canterlot to help fight against the Changelings-she also knows more about them than any of us.”

“Sounds like an invaluable asset in dealing with them then, if she’s also magically gifted.” Velvet commented.

“We should head back to the castle, others may get worried if we take too long.” Shining cut in. “They might think something’s up and assume one or more of us have been captured, killed, or replaced by Changelings.”

As they continued on the road back to the castle Sunset looked back at Velvet.

“So, when Twilight got accepted into Celestia’s school, did you ever wonder what happened to her last pupil?”

“Actually, we didn’t know she had any before Twilight…except maybe Starswirl? Or maybe he was Celestia’s teacher? I don’t know-I’d have to ask Twilight, she’d know-she’s a huge fanatic of his.” Velvet replied. “I know a lot of history, but the versions in the books I was are either slightly altered for the sake of the plot-and I never really knew enough Starswirl to touch on anything related to him.”

“What do you write about that requires historical knowledge? Period pieces?” Sunset prompted.

“Not exactly…they all take place in the present.”

“She writes adventure books,” Dash cut in. “I’ll have to check them out sometime…”

“You can read?” Sunset replied, feigning shock.

“Of course I can!” She snapped. “I’m not stupid!”

“But, I thought you were an athlete?” Sunset pressed, suppressing a grin. “I thought the mentality of your kind is that reading is only for losers and nerds?”

“Well, maybe I used to think that, but…I read something really cool and it kind of…changed my mind-I was wrong before.” Dash awkwardly admitted. “Besides, not all athletes are like that-Applejack was Ponyville’s undisputed best athlete until I moved to town and she was also trying to get me to read.”

“Oh yeah? What was it?” Sunset pressed. “I hope you didn’t strain yourself too hard trying to figure out what the words meant.”

The rest of the group looked between the two uneasily. Sunset was enjoying antagonizing Rainbow Dash, just as she had predicted, the jock had a hair-trigger temper and this verbal conflict was helping to kill her boredom until the Changeling Queen showed up. Sooner or later, the boredom from not being able to interact with anyone she actually liked would get to her. Celestia and Flash would be too busy with their duties preparing for the Changelings’ arrival to socialize and it wouldn’t be worth the time or energy to try getting invested with those who had greatness handed to them solely through their destinies.

“I was reading ‘Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire’s Stone’ and I happened to relate to her character because she’s an adventurous Pegasus and like me at the time, she also had a broken wing.” Dash informed her. “And I did understand everything that happened in the book.”

“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised….” Sunset conceded. “That series is targeted towards children.”

Seeing how this was beginning to stress everyone out, Flash tried defusing the situation.

“Sunset maybe you shouldn’t antagonize-“

“Shut up, Sentry.” She snapped, irritably.

It was bad enough that all they could do was wait around until the Changelings revealed themselves, but at least Flash had his own mundane duties to occupy his time until then. Meanwhile, she’d be stuck alone with a bunch of idiots she couldn’t care less about who had achieved ten times what she had with none of the effort. And now he was trying to cut down the only bit of entertainment she did have for one of said idiots?

“Are you calling me a kid?” Dash challenged.

“No, I implied that you were an idiot-which you are.”

“Enough, you two.” Shining commanded. “We have enough problems to deal with without fighting amongst ourselves.”

“But, she-” Dash protested.

“I know and it doesn’t matter because I’m ending this.” He replied before turning to Sunset. “I don’t know what your deal is, but whatever issues you have can wait until the Changelings have been dealt with.”

Sunset merely glared at him as they reached the castle, above them the sun hanging low in the sky to coincide with the time. It appeared that all of this turmoil hadn’t interfered with Celestia’s schedule too much. Then again, if the sun stayed up longer than it was supposed to the citizens of Equestria would realize something was wrong and might start panicking.

The other guards assigned with the task of evacuating Canterlot’s citizens in other parts of the city appeared to be returning as well. Two of the guards that had remained at the castle, magically pulled the doors open for the group as Dash and Sunset shot each other dirty looks. Sunset didn’t care if her behavior was considered immature, even if she did have a prominent role in helping defeat the Changelings, it was unlikely that she would receive recognition for it and she would be damned if she was just going to lie down and take such a gross injustice.

Once back inside, Twilight and her friends appeared to be waiting to greet everyone else. There was a pink mare with an extremely curly mane bouncing around as if she had drank too much caffeine-Sunset already hated her. Someone like that was sure to be insufferably obnoxious. There was also a white mare with a very well groomed violet mane-she seemed like the same snobs Sunset’s parents were always dealing with. Hanging back in the shadows was a butterscotch mare with a long curtain of a bubblegum pink mane obscuring over half of her face, which Sunset found suspicious.

Finally, there was a mare with an orange coat and blonde mane tied back in what appeared to be a ponytail from what Sunset could tell along with a Stetson. Her Cutie Mark was that of three apples-probably a farmer of some kind. Perhaps it was because of the resemblance to Peachy, but this mare was the only one of Twilight’s present group that Sunset didn’t instantly find something to dislike about.

“Mom! Dad!” Twilight exclaimed happily as rushed over to embrace them. “I’m so glad you two are alright!”

Sunset’s stomach lurched in a mixture of disgust and envy at the family’s sentimentality.

“I’m glad that you were able to get the others out of the city safely.” The orange mare with the Stetson commented. “Changing forms to attack others from the inside? Of all the low-down, no good, dirty….sorry, I should probably introduce myself first for the rest of ya-I’m Applejack.”

‘She even has the same accent….’ Sunset mused.

Perhaps it was due to the similarities to her old friend, but Sunset was beginning to take a liking to this Applejack despite herself. Peachy also prided herself on honesty and integrity. Maybe being stuck around waiting for a while longer wouldn’t be too bad, after all.

“The only exception I’m aware of is my parents, but in my opinion-if you’re that stupid and stubborn-you deserve to die.” Sunset replied, causing Applejack to wince.

“Well, I’m not sure about that-they are your family after all, aren’t they?”

“Only by blood.” Sunset stated, coldly.

Applejack grimaced.

“I need to report our progress to Princess Celestia.” Shining announced. “Flash, you ready?”

“Yeah…”

“Don’t worry, if you told them that they needed to evacuate and they didn’t listen, there’s nothing you could do. Celestia will understand.”

As they left to speak with Celestia, Applejack approached the group with Pinkie Pie bouncing alongside her.

“I’m guessing after all that, y’all are probably getting pretty hungry-Pinkie and I’ve agreed to help some of the castle chefs out to prepare dinner.”

“And dessert!” Pinkie chirped in.

“Are you farmer?” Sunset asked.

“I help my brother and Granny run Sweet Apple Acres.” Applejack replied, proudly.

“And I used to live on Rock Farm!” Pinkie cut in once again.

“I don’t care.”

“There’s no need to be so rude…” Rarity chastised.

They were already beginning to give her a headache.

“Whatever. I’m going to be in my room-let me know when dinner’s ready.”

Sunset left the others in awkward silence.

“Well, that was strange…” Applejack commented.

“Not really,” Dash replied. “She’s just a jerk-she was giving me problems on the way back, too.”

“What did she say?” Applejack pressed.

“She kept saying how lame Daring Do is and that I’m stupid or a kid for liking her books.”

“She WHAT!?” Twilight demanded, enraged that someone could such a heretical view of the series.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought-I was actually what we were arguing about on the way back.”

“So the two of you are getting all bent outta shape just because she doesn’t like something that the two of you do?” Applejack clarified.

“It’s not just that she doesn’t like the series-it’s that she insulted it and the Daring Do fans!” Twilight protested.

“So? Who cares? Just about everything I do Rarity calls uncouth.”

“And most of the things I’m passionate about Applejack sees as too ‘hoity-toity’ for her tastes, yet you don’t see us at each throats over such silly disagreements.” Rarity added, stepping forward.

“Yeah, right! You guys fight all the time!” Dash countered.

“Need I remind you girls of your infamous slumber party quarrel?” Twilight pressed.

“I…yeah, that wasn’t one of our proudest moments.” Applejack admitted.

“I’m inclined to agree-my behavior was quite…childish.” Rarity concurred.

“Maybe what we need is a party to turn her frown upside down?” Pinkie suggested, turning her head accordingly to help illustrate her point.

“That’s your solution for everything.” Applejack chastised. “Then again, it seems like she’s been having a hard day-maybe some good cooking will get her to lighten up?”

“Maybe,” Twilight agreed. “I know how frustrating it can be to deal with difficult situations on an empty stomach, what do you think Fluttershy?”

“Oh, I…I think if we’re really nice to her, she might not be so angry.”

“It sounds like they spent most of the day evacuating everyone.” Night Light reasoned. “It’s understandable that she’d be a little irritable.”

“It also doesn’t sound like she gets along with her parents very well, either.” Velvet agreed.

Dash however, looked skeptical.

“With that said, it’s very nice to finally meet all of you-Twilight told us about you in some of her letters-honey, where’s Spike?”

“Oh, he’s still in my room-probably taking a nap or reading one of his comic books-these Changelings have him jumping at shadows-I’m sure he’ll be willing to come out for dinner, though.”

---

Shining Armor was returning from his debriefing with Celestia when he saw Rainbow Dash down the same hall in mid-air, as her wings flapped steadily as she slowly moved towards him with a look of boredom on her face.

“Hey, Dash.” Shining greeted, drawing her attention to him as she glided towards his position and seeming to pass him before turning sharply at the last second to drop down next to him, facing the same direction.

“Pretty impressive.” He complimented.

“Not really,” She replied apathetically. “I’ve been able to do that one since I was a filly.”

“Still, I don’t think any of the Pegasi here can do a maneuver like that with such speed and accuracy.” Shining pressed. “And they’re all trained to be at the peak of physical fitness.”

“Thanks, but it didn’t impress the Wonderbolts…” Dash replied with a mixture of gloom and bitterness in her voice.

“Yeah, well I don’t really know too much on the specifics of most flying techniques-but, I do know that the Sonic Rainboom was thought to be only a legend and that Equestrian scientists believed it to be a physical impossibility that would tear the body apart of anyone who even attempted to do it, but you were able to twice-the first time completely by accident from what Twiley’s told me. If that hasn’t impressed them enough to even consider you being a candidate to qualify as a member-then they’re idiots. Sure, you might not be perfect, but you’ve got more credibility than some athletes I’ve had to deal with on my hoofball team in high school.” Shining replied.

“Yeah, but….there’s just this thing that keeps bugging me-like maybe they’re right about me not being good enough? What if I’ll never be good enough?”

Shining Armor could tell this had been bothering her for quite some time and wanted to give her a hug to comfort the vulnerable mare. But, he worried that would be overstepping his bounds, so he simply placed a hoof on her back sympathetically, instead.

“I know what you mean and I think it’s kind of normal get a little discouraged like that when you can’t reach your life’s goal-even when you know have what it takes and were able to show it to the right people. Did you know that despite my gift for casting protective spells and proving to the Captain of the Guard back when I was a colt-he still wasn’t convinced that I had what it took to be qualified as a candidate for the guard. I had to work constantly to make myself stronger and educate myself on Equestria’s laws before he was actually will to consider that I had what it took.”

“And you’re the Captain of the Guard, now…”

“That’s right. And I didn’t just have doubts about myself then, either. Even with all that I had accomplished and escorting everywhere from day to day-I was still terrified of telling Cadance how I felt about her. I was worried about what would happen if she didn’t feel the same way and what she or Celestia would do to me if they thought I was just being some creep. I mean-they easily could have had me demoted or completely stripped from any position within the guard.”

“And she agreed to go out with you, instead?”

“Yeah, while I was terrified up until that moment-when I realized that she returned my feelings and that I wasn’t dreaming-it was easily one of the happiest moments of my life. I’m not saying that it will always pay off, but if you don’t take risks like that-they will never pay off. And while things didn’t work exactly the way you might have hoped-you performed a Sonic Rainboom, won the Best Young Flyers competition, and saved the lives of your friend and three unconscious Wonderbolts.”

“Yeah…”

“Maybe you can start your own branch of professional flyers and daredevils? Sure, you might not have the same reputation just yet, but your résumé certainly speaks for itself-you can train and recruit members to your own standards. It’s not like they can really question your loyalty.”

Dash looked up at him hopefully.

“You…you really think I can do that? And that other would want to join?”

“Of course you can, you’re Rainbow Dash-aren’t you?” He pressed, smirking slightly.

“Yeah….I mean, yeah! I’m awesome!” She exclaimed cockily. “Who wouldn’t want to join my team?”

“That’s the spirit! Now, what are doing wandering these halls all by yourself?” Shining asked, narrowing his gaze. “You aren’t stalking me, are you?”

“W-what? No, I-I just….” She fell to her haunches as her face began to heat up and her ambition was quickly draining away and being replaced with embarrassment, which was increasing with how uncool she was appearing to be while she was being flustered by his comment. If Twilight saw them alone speaking like this, she might get the wrong idea and get defensive, deciding that she didn’t want her to date Shining, after all.

“Relax, I’m just kidding….I guess this tension’s getting to everyone, but seriously-did something happen with you and the others?”

“No, Twilight’s just introducing everyone to your parents-it was pretty boring, so I decided to stretch my wings for a bit.”

“Because you’ve already met them.” Shining finished, understandingly.

“I’m still kinda irritated with that Sunset chick, though. I mean why did she have to lash out at me and Daring Do like that?”

“Who knows? Her history with Celestia and their relationship also seems pretty complicated-and then there’s her parents, who she seems to despise. And then there was her lashing out at everyone at breakfast, too.”

“Think she’s a Changeling?”

Shining Armor shook his head, causing the locks of his mane to shake with it, catching Dash’s attention. Once again, his family resemblance to Twilight shone through as it struck Rainbow Dash that his mane was like a lighter, longer more masculine version of Twilight’s. And once more, she found herself wishing that Twilight would come out with a decision already on if it was cool to date her brother or not.

“No, and if she was-she’d be a very bad one-there’s not much subtlety to her performance. The way she interacts with Celestia kind of reminds me of back when I was a teenager and I’d always be getting into arguments with my parents over some of the stupidest things....”

“So, you think she’s doing this to get back at Celestia for….something?” Dash asked.

“Nah, if she wanted to annoy Celestia, she would start a scene where she knew the Princess would be present and try to upset her there. I think it might just be because she’s getting bored staying around here waiting for the Changelings to reveal themselves. Aside from Flash, I don’t think she really has any friends to speak of.”

“You think she just started a fight over me because she was bored?” Dash pressed. “That seems kind of dumb. I mean, that’s like what Discord did.”

“Well, Discord might have been weird, but he was able to outsmart you guys for a while-and I think getting revenge on Celestia and Luna might also have been a factor in the some of the stuff he was doing. Or maybe it could be an elaborate ruse to try and weed out any more Changelings. Of course, she could also just not like people-it’s not that hard for me to see if her parents are as terrible as she claims.”

“Shouldn’t we keep an eye on her, though?”

“I trust Flash’s judgment on that.” Shining reasoned. “I think he might be able to help get her to realize that other people really aren’t so bad.”

---

An hour later, everyone was once again seated around the table at the guest dining hall. Fortunately, the table was large enough to accommodate the extra guests. The table was set with various fruits, vegetables, and desserts-courtesy of Applejack and Pinkie Pie aiding the chefs.

“I can’t believe we spent all that time together waiting and never knew that about each other!” Spike exclaimed, conversing with Flash from across the table.

“Which one’s your favorite?”

“Arachni-Colt” Flash replied, grinning. “I’ve been collecting the comics since I was a kid…”

Twilight Velvet and Night Light were speaking with Princess Celestia about Twilight’s progress as her student and Shining Armor’s leadership abilities.

“So, what? You think I should just talk to her?” Rainbow Dash asked Shining Armor in a hushed voice. “What do I say?”

“Just tell her that you think everyone was under a lot of stress earlier, and that there’s no hard feelings over anything she said.”

“So, lie to her?” Dash pressed.

“I’m not saying you should try to be her best friend, but with all of the Changelings we might have to deal with-it would be in our best interest to make sure that she’s on our side and we can count on her if things go bad.”

“You think they will?”

“I think that its best that we try to be prepared for every possible contingency, so far these Changelings have proven to be quite unpredictable-and experience has taught me that’s the most dangerous kind of enemy you can face in battle.”

Dash wanted to ask him what kind experience he was talking about, but decided to drop it for the time being.

Sunset was watching Applejack with intrigue as the others participated in their discussions. Given her attitude and the fact that she was Celestia’s student first, it now made sense that she wanted Twilight to send her friendship reports-even after the defeat of Nightmare Moon. She was probably worried about creating another Sunset Shimmer.

“So, Twilight-why don’t you introduce some of your friends?” Cadance suggested.

“Oh, right!” Twilight slapped a hoof to her forehead. “I’ve known you all for so long, that I keep forgetting that none of you have met.”

“Well, we’re all her now-so it’s as good a time as any.” Applejack chimed in.

“This is Applejack-she helps run Sweet Apple Acres in Ponyville with her family; the Apples-as the name implies, it’s an apple orchard-but, she also takes care of a few animals on the farm, too.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Princess.” Applejack greeted humbly.

“Fluttershy is Ponyville’s resident animal expert and caregiver, if you can’t find a vet-she’s the next best thing.”

“H-hello…” Fluttershy greeted, timidly.

“Pinkie Pie works at Sugarcube Corner-a bakery and is always throwing parties to cheer someone up when they’re feeling down.”

“Yep! I just love making others smile!” Pinkie giggled.

Sunset merely regarded her with disgust.

“And finally, there’s Rarity-the best fashion designer in town, she owns Carousel Boutique and has actually managed to impress some very important clients, like Hoity Toity and Fancy Pants-even pop stars like Sapphire Shores!”

“And the most beautiful pony in all of Equestria…” Spike added dreamily, but quietly enough that not many heard him.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, princess.”

“Actually, it’s a pleasure to meet all of you-I actually used to be Twilight’s foalsitter, back when Shining and I were teenagers-it seems like only yesterday….”

“That’s actually where Smarty Pants came from.” Shining Armor added. “She was a gift from Cadance to Twilight.”

The other girls exchanged glances at the mention of the accursed doll that nearly flung Ponyville into chaos and ruin so quickly and easily, Discord would have been green with envy.

“It really is a shame that you’ve retired from sitting…” Velvet commented. “It’s hard to trust a lot of teenagers in this city to take care of children, but you were so kind, loving, and well-mannered.”

“Thank you…” Cadance replied, blushing slightly. “At first I started out to learn a bit more about responsibility as Princess Celestia suggested-and to earn a bit of money to become a little more self-dependent, but soon I realized that I really enjoyed working with kids.”

“That was also around the time I started out in the guard, so I couldn’t really take care of Twilight while Mom and Dad where away-so, I really appreciated that.” Shining added. “Actually, that’s part of what attracted me to her in the first place-growing up I was always told that as a big brother it was my responsibility to look after Twilight-so, I hated not being able to be there for her. I was worried that Mom and Dad would hire a sitter that seemed nice, but would be cruel to her behind everyone’s backs.”

“Everything seemed so much simpler back then…” Cadance sighed.

Even someone as inexperienced in romance as Rainbow Dash could tell that she wasn’t just talking about the Changelings, she seemed to regret how things ended between her and Shining Armor.

“So, Sunset….” Dash began awkwardly, massaging the back of her neck. “I feel kinda bad about our argument yesterday….it was kind of stupid to get so worked up about someone not liking a book series.”

Sunset was completely taken off guard by the apology and more than a little a confused by it.

“Well, that’s very big of you Dash-but, a little a unnecessary-to be honest, I only lashed out because I was tired and irritated-but, my behavior was childish and the insults were petty….so I’m sorry, too.”

Hopefully, that would put this matter to rest and end the awkwardness of this conversation. Rainbow Dash didn’t seem like the type to apologize without some kind of prompting, especially when it came to something that wasn’t necessarily her fault. Then again, her judgment as of late had been subpar at best, so who knew?

“I wasn’t even aware there had been an issue, but I am glad the two of you have been able to sort things out.” Celestia added, approvingly.

Somehow, this managed to lighten Sunset’s dark mood a bit. Perhaps, it was because it had been so long since her teacher had given her recognition for her efforts. Secretly, she had missed Celestia’s approval and was glad to have it for something-no matter how minor-once more, it almost made her feel happy again.

Author's Note:

Sorry, this took so long....

Anyway, since this is an Alternate Universe-Twilight's Mom is Daring Do's author because I see nothing but a legal and PR nightmare whenever I think of Daring Do and Ahuizotl actually existing and not only is Equestria non the wiser, but have also flown under Celestia and Luna's radar leading the public to question their leadership and competence if they can'ts stop such a minor threat.

Maybe good for another story, but too complicated and not what I want to do with this one-besides, I kind of liked the fanon idea.

Next chapter should deal with Twilight grappling with her friendship and her possessiveness of her brother.

Comments

[JediWaffles]

Aww... i wanted more flash and sunset..

[Sarged]

Geek-off between Spike and Flash please.