• Published 22nd Nov 2013
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Shadow of the Sun - moguera



Dawn and Twilight must deal with their own respective troubles as dangerous forces marshal against them.

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The Mark

Chapter 16: The Mark

Finding out where Dawn had gone took some work. Though Scootaloo wanted to show him as soon as possible, both Soarin' and Rainbow insisted that she get some rest first so that she could recover her strength and show him properly. To that end, they had taken her to Sugarcube Corner, where they'd gotten her a celebratory cupcake from Pinkie Pie. While Scootaloo relaxed at the table with her treat, Rainbow and Soarin' took it upon themselves to locate Dawn.

Scootaloo had just finished downing her treat when the door to the bakery swung open. Looking up, the filly found her face breaking into a radiant grin as she saw her mother walk in.

"Rainbow Dash told me I'd find you here," said Melon, trotting up to hug her daughter, "She said you had something important to show everypony."

"Um...yeah," replied Scootaloo, thrown a bit off-balance. Looking away from her mother, she lost herself in thought for a moment. She'd been doing this primarily for Dawn. But she realized that her mother had every right to see what she had been working on as well. In fact, now that she realized it, there were some other ponies that should be there when she showed Dawn what she had done. This would be her chance to really drive home just how important the colt was to everypony.

"Hey mom," said the orange filly, turning her attention back to Melon, "Can you help me with something?"

"Of course," said Melon, smiling at her daughter, "What do you need?"

"I want to show something to Dawn," explained Scootaloo, "He's been depressed about what happened earlier this week." She began to explain Dawn's worries, about the things Berry Punch had shouted at him, how he felt like he'd done more harm than good. Melon listened silently, wishing nothing more at that moment than to track the colt down and give him a hug.

When Scootaloo finished her explanation, she laid out her request. "So now I'm gonna show Dawn what I've been working on," she said, "But I was thinking that there are other ponies who Dawn helped, who really like him and want him to stay. If we could all get together and tell Dawn how important he is to all of us, then maybe he won't be so hard on himself anymore."

"That sounds like a wonderful idea," Melon admitted, "Who should we invite."

An excited squeal rang out from behind Scootaloo, making her jump with a startled yelp before turning to find herself staring into a pair of blue eyes surrounded by a sea of pink as Pinkie Pie nearly pressed her face right up against Scootaloo, the energetic mare grinning from ear to ear.

"Ooh! Ooh! Can I help? I wanna help Dawn feel better too!" babbled Pinkie Pie as she pulled away from Scootalo and began bouncing up and down like all four of her limbs had been replaced by springs, "I hate the idea of somepony being all down in the dumpsies! We need to make him all better as soon as possible."

Mother and daughter shared shared a dubious, but resigned, look before turning back to Pinkie. "I suppose we could use some help," Melon admitted, "You are very good at making ponies feel good."

"Of course!" yelled Pinkie, freezing and drawing herself straight up, a cocky smile on her face, "I'm the best there is at what I do. But what I do best is really fun!" She froze for a second. "Wait, I don't think that's how it's supposed to go..." She sat down, lifted up her forehooves and began to inspect them, as though she was expecting something to happen.

"Then could you help us get some ponies together to meet us at the quarry?" asked Scootaloo, still feeling a little uncertain about bringing the party pony in on her plans, but feeling that it was inevitable in any case.

"Sure!" exclaimed Pinkie, "Who do you need invitations for?"

Scootaloo began to think the matter over before she started presenting her mother and Pinkie with a list. She planned on helping everypony get together, but her mother and Pinkie reassured her that she should stay and rest a little longer so that she could be at her best when the time came. Scootaloo reluctantly accepted their advice and settled back in her seat to relax while the two adults trotted (or bolted, in Pinkie's case), out the door on their errand. Scootaloo let out a bored sigh and turned to stare out the window, hoping that she was doing the right thing.


When it came to finding Dawn, Rainbow Dash didn't exactly have a large number of places she could think to look. While the colt had been spending time with the Crusaders, he didn't have areas where he regularly hung out or frequented. The only place she could say he could be found with some consistency when he wasn't out tagging along with the CMC was his home, with Fluttershy, or the quarry, where he usually trained with Scootaloo. Naturally, that made the small cottage outside of town the first place she checked. He obviously wasn't at the quarry, seeing as Rainbow, Scootaloo, and Soarin' had been there all day and would have probably noticed the colt's arrival while they were there.

Fluttershy had not been much help though. Dawn was not home and she had no idea where he might be. Having failed to find him in the most obvious place, Rainbow and Soarin' split up and flying over Ponyville hoping to catch sight of the colt somewhere. However, an extensive search of the town from overhead had yielded no sign of Dawn's jet-black coat.

Rainbow sighed as she hovered up above the marketplace, trying to think of where else she might look in the area. There was always the Whitetail Woods. But the canopy of overhanging tree branches would make an overhead search difficult and tedious. Of course, she could also head back to the quarry and see if Dawn had gone there in the time since she and Soarin' had brought Scootaloo back to town, but that seemed unlikely.

The cerulean mare was so lost in thought she almost didn't notice the voice hailing her from below. "Rainbow! Hey! Rainbow!"

Finally realizing that somepony was yelling at her from below, Rainbow looked down to see a familiar orange mare staring up at her from underneath her stetson. Tucking her wings slightly, Rainbow swooped down to land in front of Applejack. "Hey there AJ."

"What's goin' on sugarcube?" asked Applejack, grabbing an apple off her stand and hoofing it over to Rainbow without a second's thought. The blue mare caught the fruit and bit into it, suddenly realizing how hungry she felt. "Ah saw ya and yer coltfriend flyin' around like ya were lookin' fer somethin'."

"We are," said Rainbow, "We're trying to find Dawn. Scootaloo wants to show him something and we need to bring him to the old quarry outside of town."

"Well shoot," said Applejack, a relieved smile lighting up her face, "Ah was worried there fer a minute. Dawn's over at Sweet Apple Acres. He and Red are doin' some kinda trainin'."

"Training?"

"Yep. Why do ya think Ah'm the one mindin' the stall today?" asked Applejack, "Those two are out in the southwest fields. Ah can't say rightly what they're workin' on, but they've been goin' at it all mornin'."

Rainbow let out a relaxed breath. "Whew, thanks Applejack. That makes things a lot easier."

"No problem Rainbow," said Applejack, grinning at her friend.

"I'll talk to you later," said the rainbow-maned mare as she shot off into the sky and in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres.

"Ah wonder what all the hubub is about," mused Applejack as she turned back to her stall, only to shout in surprise as Pinkie Pie's head erupted out from beneath a basketful of apples on her cart, even though there was no possible way the mare could have physically contorted her body sufficiently to fit the whole thing in the basket.

"Hi Applejack!" exclaimed Pinkie, "You're one of the ponies on my list. Can you come out to the old quarry in a couple hours?"

"Uh...sure," said Applejack, at a loss to say anything else. Having spent a major portion of her life as friends with the bubbly, pink mare had given Applejack a certain immunity to Pinkie's antics, but that inoculation only went so far.

"Great!" exclaimed Pinkie, "Thanks a lot Applejack. See you later." Without further preamble, Pinkie ducked her head back beneath the apples. As strange as it was, Applejack knew better than to check and see if Pinkie was still in the basket, as there was no question that she would be long gone by now.

Shaking her head in a futile effort to clear it, Applejack tried her best to turn back to her regular job. But before that, she pressed a hoof to her chest briefly. Assured that her heart was beating properly, Applejack let out a relieved sigh. “Ah swear, that mare is gonna be the death ‘o me someday.”


Now that she knew where she needed to go, it was only a matter of minutes before Rainbow found Dawn. However, she heard the colt long before she saw him. As she approached Sweet Apple Acres, Rainbow’s ears twitched as they picked up the sound of distant cracks and strikes, as well as a rushing noise that most assuredly wasn’t the sound of the air flowing across her ears.

Turning, she saw the brown expanse of the southwest fields, which Applejack and her family were letting lie fallow for the season. As she came closer, Rainbow’s keen eyes were able to pick out a pair of ponies moving across the ground at substantial speed, their motions kicking up dirt and throwing it about.

Dawn Lightwing and Red River were in the middle of an intense exchange of blows. The stallion had drawn his spear and was throwing a rapid series of thrusts at Dawn. The ebony colt’s body appeared to be in multiple places at once as he slipped from side to side to escape the relentless advance of the weapon.

Given that she was used to tracking objects and obstacles while moving at high speed, Rainbow didn’t find it all that difficult to transition to watching other objects moving at high speed. Her eyes flicked back and forth as she watched the ongoing battle.

As she watched, she saw Dawn’s body stop for an instant. Her eyes actually caught the motion as the colt began to lean forward in preparation to step in for a close attack. However, before he could do so, Red’s spear was already approaching his throat. Dawn immediately backed off, appearing to vanish and reappearing a few lengths behind his previous position. However, Red responded so quickly that it almost seemed as though both ponies had moved in unison. As soon as Dawn had stopped Red was already back in front of him, thrusting with his spear again.

“If you want to get better at infighting, you need to stop trying to back off,” said Red, shouting as he continued his relentless attack on Dawn, “You’re getting too cocky because you think you can avoid me just by going side to side.”

As though to prove his point, when Dawn dodged to the side once again to avoid the thrust, the colt came out of his dodge to find that the tip of the spear had already somehow ended up right in front of him again. The colt froze with the point of the spear tickling his throat.

“You’re hesitating too much on the approach,” said Red, “You focus too much on simply avoiding my attacks you can’t even try to make any of your own.”

“It would be a simpler matter if you let me parry,” said Dawn sourly.

“That will come later,” said Red dismissively, “It’s ironic, but your own advanced skills are actually hampering your mastery of the basics. If you want to fight close in, the most important aspect of that is reaching your opponent without getting killed. Yes, parrying and defending is part of that, but there is an even more essential element. You need courage.”

“I still don’t understand what you mean by that,” muttered Dawn.

Red grinned. “Try dodging me again.” Hefting the spear, he once again thrust at Dawn. The colt shifted sideways so fast that, once again, he appeared to be in two places at once. However, just like before, the spear was waiting for him, right at his throat.

“Jumping side to side like that may seem like a good way to dodge,” said Red calmly, “But no matter how fast you are when you move, when you switch directions to dodge the other way, what happens?”

Dawn frowned and looked down at the spear’s tip once again.

“When moving from side to side, whenever you switch directions, you have to stop so that you can change direction. In other words, no matter how fast you were moving before, at that moment you change the direction of your movement, your speed is zero and…” Red brought the tip of the spear a tiny bit closer to Dawn’s neck. “…you’re dead.”

“But how does courage play into it?” asked Dawn, frowning contemplatively as he stepped back from Red’s spear.

“The entire goal of this exercise isn’t to dodge my spear, is it?” asked Red.

Dawn shook his head.

“That’s right. You wanted more experience and instruction at fighting close in. The critical part of that is getting close first. You’re afraid to really try and move in because you're afraid of impaling yourself on my spear. But, at your level, I can tell you that you have the skill to close in without getting yourself killed.” Red smiled and lifted his spear up and away from Dawn. “The only thing you’re missing right now is the courage to actually move in. When facing an opponent close to or above your skill-level, you’re used to backing off so that you have the space and time to bring the full power of your magic into play. You need to overcome that reflex to back off first.

“It’s not as hard as you think it is,” continued the azure stallion, “Besides, you’ve already pulled this sort of thing off once before.”

“Against Willow, you mean?” asked Dawn.

Red nodded. “To get to me, you’re going to have to step into my range, that means passing through the space where I’m strongest. What you did with Willow seems different because it all took place in a single moment. But a battle is just a series of those moments. You have the capability to get in close to me, you just have to remember how.”

Dawn stood silent for a moment, mulling over what he’d been told. Red gave him an encouraging smile. “Ready to try again?”

Dawn nodded. The two of them took up ready positions again. Dawn stood with his legs partially bent, his wings half-extended. Meanwhile, Red River whipped his spear through a few swings before settling with it extended diagonally off to one side and slightly down as he too fell into a crouch. The two fighters eyed each other as they prepared themselves for the next exchange. Dawn closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out. When he opened them again, his gaze seemed distant and unfocused, as though he was no longer aware of what was directly in front of him. In spite of that, Red smiled. “That’s it…”

Rainbow Dash swallowed, but her mouth was dry. She’d gotten so caught up in what she was watching, she’d completely forgotten her original reason for being there. Besides, interrupting Dawn and Red was the last thing she wanted to do at the moment. Whatever they were working on seemed important and disrupting their training was the last thing the cerulean pegasus wanted to do, she herself being all too familiar with how frustrating it was to have her own training be interrupted.

The two ponies blurred into motion simultaneously. Red River thrust straight for Dawn. Rainbow watched intently, expecting the colt to dodge sharply to the side once again. However, instead of the jerky, abrupt movement of his usual dodge, Dawn merely shifted the angle of his approach slightly, shifting to the side of the thrust while still moving forward.

The thrust changed to a swing as Red attempted to batter the colt aside with the shaft of his weapon. However, Dawn continued to press forward and, in the same smooth movement, dipped below the angle of Red’s swing and penetrated all the way into the azure stallion’s space. Rainbow’s eyes caught the blur of Dawn’s wing as it extended and lashed forward. There was a loud bang as the mass of compressed air moved by the colt’s wing exploded out in the space between it and Red’s chest, the force of the explosion launching Red backwards.

Red River’s body went limp and he allowed himself to be carried backwards, easily managing to land upright, digging his hooves into the soft ground to come to a stop as he looked back at Dawn and grinned. “You see, you can do it.”

Dawn blinked furiously, as though he had just come out of a daze. “That was…” he mused, “…simpler than I thought it would be.”

“It usually is,” commented Red, “Fighting’s like that a lot of the time. Whether it’s ponies, griffons, or pachyderms, people always think that the important things are fancy and flashy techniques. They end up making it way more complex than it needs to be and foul things up. But if you continue to work on and polish the basics, you’ll be much more effective than if you learned a million fancy techniques.” Red chuckled. “That’s the nice thing about your style in general. Everything you’ve learned is a natural extension of the first thing that you learned. Once you realize that, mastering it will be much easier.”

Dawn hummed as he thought it over.

“One of the ponies I once challenged back in the early days of my wandering told me something after she hooved my rump to me,” said Red, “She told me that she didn’t fear the pony that practiced ten-thousand strikes once. Rather, she feared the pony that practiced one strike ten-thousand times.”

Red River collapsed the shaft of his spear back into its compact form and re-sheathed it on his sash. Walking up, he rested a hoof on Dawn's shoulder. "But the most important thing you need to learn is how to fight."

"I don't quite follow..."

"To put it simply," said Red, his smile fading, "When you fight, you're fighting to survive or, to put it another way, to not lose. In order to take the next step, you have to take to heart what you did today and what you did when you fought Willow. You need to fight to win.

"When you fought me and Storm, you were fighting to survive. Your focus was more on escaping our attacks and moving into a position where you could strike without having to worry about being struck in return. I'm guessing that you did something similar with Perlin. On both occasions, you moved to reduce the risk to yourself, only fighting in close when you found you couldn't avoid it or when you felt that the opponent you were closing with was no threat against you, like that time with Scootaloo's father.

"But against an opponent with skills equalling or exceeding your own, you need something more than technique, however polished, to win. You could call it something like a gamble, or a risk. It's a matter of seeing the opportunity and putting everything on the line in order to win."

Red River stepped back and unsheathed his spear again, swinging the polearm in a wide arc so that its tip came within a hair's breadth of slicing Dawn's throat. "The space inscribed by the tip of my spear is like a barrier. In that space where the spear's tip reaches, I am at my most deadly. The same is true for any weapon or technique, they all have a range where they are meant to strike to their fullest effect. In order to reach me, you have to penetrate that barrier, pass through the zone of death and, in doing so, putting your own life at risk in order to claim victory."

Dawn's eyes locked onto the spear's blade as the colt quietly contemplated Red's words.

Red put his spear away again. "We'll work on it some more. Overcoming those reflexive tendencies of yours is going to take some work. It's not the sort of thing you can just do overnight. Today was a big step, but you need to keep taking those steps in order to succeed in what you're trying to do."

"Alright," said Dawn.

"But that's probably enough for today," said Red, chuckling, "We should put things on hold so we can see what our friend wants from us." He shifted his gaze to Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow gasped and jerked upright. She had been so drawn in by watching the two martial artists train, she had briefly forgotten the original reason she was there. "Oh...Um...Hey Dawn," she said hesitantly, feeling a bit bashful at having been caught watching, "Scootaloo asked me to track you down. She wants to show you something."

Dawn turned to regard Rainbow, his face an impassive mask. However, beneath that mask, she could detect the colt's curiosity. "Does she want me to come to the quarry?"

"At around three, yeah," agreed Rainbow, "You should go get yourself cleaned up."

Dawn and Red were both caked with dirt, thrown up by their continuous motions throughout the field, which clung to their coats and the skin beneath it as it soaked up their sweat. The two of them were beginning to less resemble ponies than they did animate dirt clods.

"Alright then," said Dawn.

"Great!" exclaimed Rainbow, grinning widely, "I'll go let Scootaloo know. Don't be late. I can tell you that what she's showing you is gonna be awesome!"

With a beat of her wings, Rainbow was airborne and zipping off back to Ponyville.

Dawn watched the cerulean mare rush off, wondering what exactly Scootaloo was going to be showing him. However, his attention was called back to Red River as the azure stallion trotted up and slapped Dawn's back. "Come on kid, let's head back to the house and wash up. We can use the water pump."


When Dawn arrived at the quarry at three, he was surprised to see that he wasn't the only one there. In fact, there seemed to be a small crowd of ponies. Circling above, he quickly picked out the faces of all those attending, realizing that he recognized them. Rainbow and Soarin' were there, of course. But so was Fluttershy, with Caramel sidled up next to her. On the other side of the yellow mare were Ditzy and Dinky, with Big Macintosh sitting on the other side of Dinky so that the little filly was snuggled tightly between the two adults. He also saw Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Rumble, as well as their respective elder siblings. Thunderlane had brought his fillyfriend, Cloud Chaser, who, in turn, had brought Flitter with her. Storm Front waited there as well, silently resting just close enough to Flitter that the tips of their primaries just barely brushed against each other. He also spotted Pinkie Pie, whom the colt suspected was the instrument behind this gathering, though not its instigator, as the pink mare couldn't resist the impulse to turn a gathering of more than a small hoofful of ponies into a full-on party. Even Spike was present, having been called away from the continuous line of chores that made him spend most of his day in the library. Finally, Melon Cream was waiting there as well, apparently eager to see what her daughter had been working so hard on.

As he moved to descend, he saw Red River approaching. The azure stallion settled next to Applejack, receiving an affectionate nuzzle as he did so. Nervously, Dawn banked around again, not sure that anypony had noticed his arrival yet and not liking the prospect of being the center of so much attention all at once. He was certain that this was Scootaloo's doing and that she had brought all these ponies together for his sake. At times like this, Dawn truly felt that he resembled his mother in his desire to watch from a more secluded distance.

"There you are!"

However, Scootaloo was not about to let him get away. The filly swooped down from above, her shout reaching Dawn just after he sensed her approach through the wind currents around him. The filly moved quickly and wrapped both her forelegs around one of his own. Scootaloo sharply tugged Dawn down towards the ground and the waiting ponies.

"You're not getting out of this," said Scootaloo, grinning fiercely at Dawn as she continued to pull him down, "I've got something to show you and I want you to have a front-row seat."

With a sigh, Dawn resigned himself to being led down. When they were close enough, Scootaloo finally let go of Dawn's leg and the colt settled himself next to his mother. Fluttershy gently nuzzled Dawn's cheek before wrapping a wing around him while Caramel leaned up against them from Dawn's other side.

Scootaloo landed right in front of him and stared right into Dawn's draconic eyes. "Dawn, I know you've been feeling like you've been hurting ponies just by being here, but that's not true." She let out an angry sigh. "I also know that, just because Miss Cheerilee talked to you doesn't mean you got over it right away."

Scootaloo marched right up until her nose was barely an inch away from Dawn's own, her eyes still not breaking their gaze. "Do you have any idea how important you are? These are all ponies that love and care about you because of how much you've done for them. Don't you realize that you'd be hurting them...hurting me...even more if you tried to leave us than if you stayed? I know just talking to you isn't gonna help you get it, so I'm gonna show you instead."

Pulling back, Scootaloo turned and strode purposefully out into the open space of the quarry, well away from everypony so that no one would get hurt when she started. Turning around to face Dawn, she got into her starting stance, closed her eyes and waited.

Dawn felt his eyes widening as he observed. There was a certain looseness to her stance that hadn't been there before. She looked more relaxed, more at ease than he had ever seen her when watching her practice before, even during those times when she truly progressed towards letting go of her superfluous thoughts. It was beginning to sink in, considering the surprisingly short amount of time that had passed since Scootaloo had started learning the Gale King, just how far she had come.

And then, Scootaloo went into motion. Dawn's jaw dropped. Even with how graceful she had been before, this was on another level entirely. Scootaloo's body moved like it was liquid, flowing from one strike, one stance to another, not pausing to rest, but moving...no...dancing...to the next. It was smoother and more efficient than Dawn had ever seen, even during Scootaloo's best days. What was truly stunning, however, was how that grace translated into the way the air moved around her.

No longer was Scootaloo straining to keep the air in motion as she went through techniques of the form that now only vaguely resembled the one that Dawn had originally taught her. Much like her movements themselves, the air never seemed to lurch ahead in sharp gusts the way it had when she'd first started using the form with her magic. Instead, she maintained her control over it, drawing it back to her after pushing it away, making the air resemble something like a large droplet of water that had congealed around her body, behaving more like a liquid than it did a gas, making it bend and twist in ways that Dawn had originally thought impossible.

The display was awe-inspiring. Dawn could fully appreciate it because his keen eyes, honed by years of practice, were able to read the changes in the refraction of light caused by the shift in air density generated by Scootaloo's techniques. However, even though most of them couldn't perceive the full extent of Scootaloo's dance as completely as Dawn could, the beauty of her motions was not lost on the rest of the audience, who all watched in silent appreciation of her work.

As Scootaloo completed her form, she went into the ending stance with a final flourish that released the air under her control, sending it sweeping out in a circle around her, causing it to wash over her audience.

The orange filly waited, eyes closed, breathing even and measured. She had felt more than a little nervous when it finally sank in that she wasn't just performing in front of Dawn anymore. However, once she'd begun, the movements came to her just as naturally as they did the last time and Scootaloo realized that it didn't matter who was watching her. When she was moving, it was just her and the wind, a single leaf dancing through the sky.

Naturally, Pinkie Pie was the first pony to break into exuberant cheers, yelling and clopping her hooves. It only took a few seconds for the rest of Scootaloo's audience to join in. Opening her eyes, Scootaloo saw that Dawn hadn't joined in the general cacophony, but remained staring at her in stunned appreciation and admiration. The look in his eyes actually made the filly's heart flutter.

She smiled as she realized that she felt a connection to what she was doing, something about it speaking to her, suggesting that this was what truly drew out the best in her and put it out for everypony to see. This is what I want to do.

In that instant, the cheering came to an abrupt halt as a shocked silence fell across the assembled ponies. Thrown off by the sudden quiet, Scootaloo looked around frantically, trying to see if she'd done something to upset them. They were all staring at her, wide-eyed and, in the case of Melon and her friends, tearing up.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Scoots..." Rainbow's voice was almost a whisper. "Check your flank kiddo." Tears were beginning to well up in her eyes as well.

Scootaloo's muscles went rigid as she realized what Rainbow meant. She almost didn't want to turn around and look, afraid to find that the whole thing was some kind of wistful dream, or a cruel prank. But turn she did. When Scootaloo looked back, there, inscribed on her hip as naturally as though it had been there all the time, was the figure of a white bird, its neck drawn back in a graceful arch and its wings partially raised.

"My...cutie mark..." Scootaloo's voice began to choke as the significance of what she had done sank in. "I got my cutie mark..." Now she was starting to cry too.

Turning back, Scootaloo found her eyes locking in on Dawn's. He was still staring at her silently, as though he didn't know what to make of what he had just seen. More tears began to stream out of her eyes as she stared at Dawn. A second later, she beat her wings and rushed straight for the colt.

Both Fluttershy and Caramel jumped out of the way, leaving Dawn exposed. The ebony colt was too thunderstruck to respond to the sight of the orange filly barreling at him. Before he could react, he was knocked off his hooves as Scootaloo tackled him, hugging him tightly. She seems to like doing this to me, he thought somewhat wryly as the two of them tumbled across the ground before coming to a rest a few meters away from where Scootaloo had run into him. Looking up, Dawn was surprised to see her smiling down at him, in spite of the tears that continued to fall from her grayish-purple eyes.

"S-Scootaloo...?"

"Do you get it now?" demanded Scootaloo, her smile vanishing as she glared straight down at the colt, "It's thanks to you that I got my cutie mark."

"But you-"

"I worked on it!" snapped Scootaloo, "I worked until my hooves and wings ached and until I didn't want to do anything but lay down and sleep. But I kept pushing myself. But where I started, knowing how important it was to keep at it, to keep practicing until I knew it was right...those are all what you taught me Dawn. You're the one who helped me find the things that matter most to me! You're the one who taught me to fly! You're the one who taught me to do this! All of that is thanks to you!" She leaned down pressing her muzzle against his. "Do you get it now? Is it finally getting through that thick head of yours just how much you've done? After all of that, don't you never...EVER even think of leaving us EVER again." Her voice dropped down to a whisper for her next words. "Don't ever think of trying to leave me again. Got that?"

Dawn's throat bobbed and his mouth opened and closed as he fought for words. The colt could feel the spreading dampness of the tears building in his own eyes. A small part in the very back of his mind marveled at the unexpected reversal. After so many instances where he had been rejected, driven off, forced away, threatened until he left, here...in this place, he was surrounded by ponies who clung to him so tightly that it was as though their lives depended on it. He was wanted. They wanted him more than they feared the ponies who might threaten them because of his presence. They loved him...

Finally, Dawn felt the words rising in his throat and he knew what to say. "I won't," he said so softly that only Scootaloo could hear him, "I'm not going anywhere."

With a sniff, the filly's face broke out in a relieved smile. "That's all I wanted to hear." With that, Scootaloo lowered herself and embraced Dawn fully, resting the side of her head against his own as he wrapped his arms around her in turn and hugged her back.

While this had been going on, everypony else was looking excitedly at Scootaloo. They had all been moved by the tender moment between her and Dawn, so much so that neither Apple Bloom nor Sweetie Belle could find it in their hearts to tease the orange filly for her present mushiness. However, they were excited by an entirely different revelation.

"Scootaloo got her cutie mark," whispered Apple Bloom, grinning at Sweetie Belle, who gave the yellow filly an equally eager grin back.

"You know what this means," said the white filly.

As Scootaloo finally let go of Dawn and stepped away to let him up, she sensed movement from behind her and barely managed to turn around before she was tackled by her two best friends.

"A CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS CUTECEÑERA!!!" both Sweetie and Bloomed screamed as they wrapped Scootaloo in a bone-creaking hug.

On cue, Pinkie Pie let out a dramatic gasp. "Oh my gosh! That means it's time for a PARTY!" She began to jump up and down, squealing excitedly, not unlike the fillies themselves.

Applejack and Rarity shared a wary glance. "Well that's one down, Ah suppose," said Applejack, her tone a little morose, in spite of the situation.

"You do realize that this means that our sisters are likely to be even more reckless in their pursuits now that Scootaloo has gotten her cutie mark," commented Rarity. The two of them slumped slightly as they thought about all the Cutie Mark Crusader catastrophes they were going to end up putting up with before long.

They couldn't hold the sour facade for long. Applejack stifled a chuckle. "But we wouldn't trade them for anypony else in the world," said Applejack, smirking over at her friend.

"Quite so," agreed Rarity, flashing the farmpony an evermore ladylike smirk in return. That was all that it took for the dam to break and the two of them began to laugh lightly as they envisioned the upcoming shenanigans that were likely to ensue.

Meanwhile, Scootaloo had only just managed to extricate herself from her friends before she was swept up in yet another hug. This time, she couldn't conceal her excitement and pleasure as she recognized the cerulean coat of the mare who now wrapped her in a tight embrace.

"Squirt! That's got to be one of the most awesome things I've ever seen!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash as she hugged the filly tightly. Tears streamed from her cerise eyes as she wept unashamedly out of happiness for the success of her little sister. As it was, she didn't even react when Soarin' draped a wing across her shoulders and leaned in to nuzzle Rainbow's cheek.

"Congrats kid," he said, chuckling as the filly blushed at the Wonderbolt's praise, "You were incredible out there." He gently nuzzled Rainbow again. "You've got to let her go sometime," he said softly, "Let her mother get a word in edgewise."

Rainbow blushed furiously as she looked over and saw that Melon Cream was still waiting patiently for her chance to spend a moment with her daughter. Almost reluctantly, Rainbow let go of Scootaloo and set her back down so that the filly was facing her mother directly.

Scootaloo was blushing herself as she realized that her mother had been there the entire time and that she'd never given it a moment's thought. She briefly wondered if her mom was upset that she'd been left 'til last. However, one look at the blissful smile on Melon's face was enough to completely dispel Scootaloo's worries. Still, the filly took slow steps towards her mother. As she did, she saw the tears begin to run from Melon's eyes. A few seconds later, Scootaloo's own eyes were following suit.

"Mom," said Scootaloo softly, "I did it. I got my cutie mark."

"I know," was all that Melon said.

Scootaloo let out a sound halfway between a sob and a laugh as she tensed up and then launched herself straight into her mother's arms. Melon rocked back to cushion the impact of her daughter's leap and wrapped Scootaloo into a tight hug. "I'm so...so proud of you," whispered Melon fiercely into Scootaloo's ear as she gently rocked them back and forth.

"Thanks mom," said Scootaloo with a quiet sniff before she completely relaxed in her mother's embrace. The two of them stayed like that for a few minutes before Melon finally released her daughter so that Scootaloo could accept the accolades from the rest of the ponies present.

Dawn waited off to one side, a little relieved that he'd been forgotten in the excitement sweeping over the group at Scootaloo's accomplishment. It embarrassed him slightly that his own weakness had been the reason that Scootaloo had felt that she'd needed to stage this entire production with so many ponies. However, it also caused a warm feeling to rise in his chest as he realized just how much she had done for him. This had been her achievement, her accomplishment. And yet, without any hesitation on her part, she had given it all to him. The colt's heart jumped in his chest at the revelation and he found that he couldn't keep the color from his cheeks as he continued to watch the orange filly listen to the congratulations of the ponies around her.

"Do you feel better Dawn?" asked Fluttershy, gently nuzzling the colt.

Dawn leaned against her. "Yes," he answered.

Caramel came up on Dawn's other side, chuckling. "I gotta say, it's pretty incredible to think that Scootaloo went through all that work for you." He gave Dawn a mischievous smirk. "She must like you a lot to go through all that trouble."

Dawn hid his face as the red coloring on his cheeks spread out to almost completely encompass it, though he wasn't exactly sure of the reason why. Caramel chuckled a bit before he was stopped by a light smack across the back of his head by Fluttershy's wing.

"Behave," she admonished him, though she gave him a playful smile before turning to nuzzle her son out of his sudden bout of shyness.

When Dawn finally regained his control, he looked up to see that Scootaloo was now talking with Pinkie Pie. Though "talking" was a bit of a stretch to describe the exchange. The bright-orange filly was leaning away from the manically grinning pink mare, Scootaloo's face straining under the weight of her nervous grin as Pinkie pelted her with a series of questions so rapidly that Dawn failed to extricate any of her inquiries from the general barrage. The colt chuckled when he realized that Pinkie was battering Scootaloo with a slew of questions regarding her preferences so that the mare could make preparations for the upcoming cuteceñera.

Finally, after a few more minutes, Pinkie finally seemed to be satisfied that she had all the information she needed. She quickly turned and bounced away. Now that Pinkie Pie was no longer occupying her personal space the same way a foreign army occupied a conquered nation, Scootaloo let out a sound halfway between a sigh and a groan and slumped down, her conversation with Pinkie tiring her out more than sum total of all the exercise she'd done that day.

Even Dawn couldn't hide a slight snicker at Scootaloo's condition, the sound prompting her to look up at him and glare. "Yeah laugh it up," she snapped, "You'll get yours when it's your turn."

Dawn couldn't stop snickering and stepped away from Fluttershy. Walking over to Scootaloo, he offered her a hoof, which she took, and pulled her up into a standing position. "I'm sure I will," he admitted readily before leaning forward to gently rest his neck against hers. Scootaloo's eyes widened at the unexpected contact from the colt. But her surprised expression faded into a blissful one as she turned her head slightly to rest it over Dawn's shoulders with a happy sigh.

"Thank you," whispered Dawn, gently, so only she could hear.

"You're welcome." Scootaloo couldn't think of anything else to say. She was so lost in the moment, she didn't even care that there were plenty of ponies still around to see her lapse of sentimentality. Dawn was here, and he wasn't going anywhere. That fact alone counted for a lot more than her pride.


The afternoon was waning as the gathering at the quarry finally disbanded with ponies heading back to their homes. Dawn trotted between Fluttershy and Caramel, basking in the absence of that nagging feeling that had been dogging him for the past few days. He was a bit confused when Caramel offered Spike a ride, which the dragon had accepted. Spike was now perched comfortably on the tan stallion's hindquarters, surveying the road behind them in a relaxed manner as they headed back towards Ponyville.

To Dawn's surprise, when they arrived at the library, they didn't simply drop the dragon off, but followed Spike inside. The ebony colt was a bit confused, wondering what Fluttershy and Caramel wanted at the library. Spike seemed confused as well, until Caramel bent down to whisper something into the dragon's ear. Suddenly, Spike's expression brightened and, grinning eagerly, he rushed upstairs into the bedroom he shared with Twilight. As they listened to the sound of Spike's claws rummaging around for something, Dawn turned to look at his mother and Caramel.

"Why are we here?" he asked.

Fluttershy and Caramel exchanged a glance before answering. "We just thought that you might like to try something," said Caramel.

"You see, it's been a bit of a tradition for me and my friends," said Fluttershy, "That whenever we learned something important about friendship, we'd write a letter to Princess Celestia to tell her about the things that we learned. We thought you might like to give it a try."

Dawn mulled it over for a moment. He wasn't certain he felt comfortable with sharing his innermost thoughts about his experiences with his insecurities with Equestria's sovereign ruler. However, reflecting on the conversation he'd shared with her before, he realized that it didn't seem like such a bad idea. "I'll do it."

"Great!" They turned to see that Spike had returned and was now bearing a quill, ink and parchment. "Tell me what you want me to write. When you're done, I'll send it straight to the Princess."

Dawn turned and looked one last time at Fluttershy and Caramel. The two of them gave him an encouraging smile. Turning back to Spike, Dawn took a deep breath and gathered his thoughts. "Here goes...Dear Princess Celestia..."


Princess Celestia stared out at the sun as her magic began to lower it towards the horizon, setting the sky ablaze with a wash of colors. Already, the eastern horizon was fading into darkness, illuminated by a soft silver as the moon began to creep up to take its place. Celestia let out a forlorn sigh and turned her gaze to regard the city of Canterlot, particularly the noble quarter, where her most troublesome subjects sequestered themselves to play meaningless power struggles amongst their own number. She'd heard about the fuss raised by Twilight Sparkle and Arkenstone. Worse, she'd heard that the relationship between Twilight and her old friend and crush had become strained as a result. Celestia idly wondered if she should have made more of an effort on her part to help Arkenstone through his own issues before letting him go to Twilight.

Right now, she wanted nothing more than to swoop down and make Twilight's problems go away. But she couldn't do that this time. If she did, it would create a scandal amongst the Noble Court, which could lead to a rebellion on their part. It might even end up undoing the centuries of work she had spent on carefully stripping the noble families of their authority and influence to help build the strength of the common pony.

Twilight had come to Canterlot of her own volition, undertaking the journey even though she knew the risks of coming without a direct summons from Celestia herself. Celestia had to maintain her faith in Twilight and Twilight's friends and hope that, together, they could overcome the obstacles that were before them.

That didn't make her forced inaction any more bearable though.

A glittering flash of green caught Celestia's eye. Looking up, she saw a sparkling cloud of emerald flame winding its way through the air to her window. The cloud congealed into a burst of fire that blazed away to reveal a scroll, which dropped down in front of her. Looking down, Celestia smiled as she realized what she was seeing. Here was the perfect thing to raise her spirits.

Celestia unrolled the scroll and began to scan its contents, her eyes slowly widening as she realized who was writing and why. Her smile grew as she continued to read.

Dear Princess Celestia;

Forgive me if I have trouble organizing my thoughts. This is the first time I've ever tried to write...well...Spike's the one writing actually...one of these "Friendship Reports" that I've heard mom talk about. Nonetheless, I will try to speak my thoughts to the best of my ability.

Doubtlessly, you have heard about what happened a few days ago, when the assassin, Willow, came to Ponyville in order to claim my life. Though I won, I came to realize that ponies had been hurt, in more ways than one, as a result of Willow's actions, which, in turn, were the result of my presence in Ponyville. This wasn’t like last time. This wasn’t the result of something that I had done or something that I had the potential to do, something that I could rectify by learning to change myself for the better. This was a threat that came from me simply being here, in Ponyville. I realized that, if I remained, then others would most likely come and the ponies who have taken me in, my family, my friends, would be in danger…simply because I was there.

I was depressed for a while. For the second time since I came to Ponyville, I started to believe that I was nothing but a danger to the ponies around me, that my presence did more harm than good, that I would have to leave before anypony I cared about could get hurt.

However, my friends have showed me that, even with the risk my presence presents, that I am still loved and wanted, that they would rather weather these difficulties with me than let me be alone again. I owe them a great deal, one filly in particular, who now has earned her cutie mark as a result of what she did for me.

Today I learned something about friendship. I learned that friendship is not something that can be measured. It can’t be reduced to the simple math of pros and cons. True friendship is a bond that goes much deeper than that and true friends are more than willing to endure the hardships of being your friend, not because it benefits them more than it harms them, but because the friendship itself has a value that cannot be put into words or measured in terms of worldly wealth. I learned that my friends would stand beside me, even during the darkest of times, that they want to endure those difficulties with me.

Most importantly, I have learned that I need to stay where I am, in Ponyville, and be with my friends. It may mean that difficult times are ahead for all of us. But I realize now that it will be much easier to endure those times because they are at my side. It gives me hope.

Your loyal subject;
Dawn Lightwing

Celestia slowly raised a hoof and brushed a tear from her eye. She turned and looked out over the balcony, where she could barely see the thatched roofs of Ponyville in the distance, wishing nothing more than to fly out and give a certain colt a warm hug. But then again, he was probably getting plenty of those from his mother. “I’m proud of you, my little pony.”

Author's Note:

And after more than three whole stories...we finally get a letter to Celestia. I'd almost completely forgotten about those. But, then again, the show itself seemed to be forgetting about them fairly often up through Season 3.

In all honesty...I wasn't sure when Scootaloo was going to get her cutie mark. However, as I started working up to this scene, I realized that this was the perfect opportunity. I was also a little hazy on what exactly I wanted her cutie mark to be. However, I ultimately settled on this one, which probably makes it one of the few times a cutie mark has been inspired by something the author read in a Cracked article. If you have any confusion as to what Scootaloo's cutie mark looks like, it's basically a simplified illustration of this:

Also, for the record, thanks to Cupcakes the image of Pinkie Pie popping out of an improbable place while grinning and saying "You're on my list!" is probably one of the most terrifying images to anyone in this fandom.

"Some people say that she has springs for legs...and that her insides are actually composed of soft taffy. All that we know is...she's called Pinkie Pie!" (Just for you, Grahf)
Just for fun, I invite my fellow Top Gear fans to come up with their own versions.

Next chapter: A wild antagonist appears...