• Published 20th Dec 2013
  • 30,082 Views, 2,382 Comments

Dash of Humanity 2: A New Dawn - Kaidan



I'm stuck in Equestria, which reminds me of the dark ages. Instead of internet and fast-food, I have Rainbow Dash. She's been asked to help me learn to fit in... I'd like a refund.

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9. Trip to Canterlot

“Dash, wait!” Soarin took off after her.

The blow from when Soarin had hit me left a throbbing pressure in my head. I tried to control my breathing and watched them fly away as I was led off towards the farmhouse by Applejack’s and Twilight. Lyra caught up with us on the way there.

“The hell is his problem!” I shouted to no one in particular. Part of me wanted to chase after Soarin and put him in the hospital.

Twilight began to scan me for injury. “He didn’t break any bones, Applejack.” Twilight’s horn stopped glowing and I noticed a tingling sensation leaving my body. “I’ve got to go sort things out with Dash and Soarin. Dash may want to drop out, and Soarin needs to be disqualified.”

“Shouldn’t Dawn go too? You could just explain his situation and history with Dash to Soarin,” Lyra said.

“I better not be in the same room with him right now. I’m likely to break a few bones.” I rubbed my jaw and sat down at a picnic table in front of Applejack’s house.

Twilight walked around Lyra, who was smiling at me. “You told her about your situation? We’re not supposed to risk panicking ponies.”

“Not ta mention how Soarin might react if he figures out he was dating you,” Applejack added.

As the three of them continued to chat, I felt a sense of annoyance building up. I needed some time alone to cool down and relax. Already the tips of my wings were twitching and I felt the urge to fly. The sky made me feel safe, and here on the ground I was being crowded by concerned ponies.

“I’ll visit Dash and see if I can get her and Soarin to come back down. We’ll—”

“Wait,” I said. “Look this silly contest isn’t worth all this fuss. I need some time to cool off, anyway.”

“Soarin just doesn’t realize what you’re going through, Dawn. I’ll tell him you’re already in a relationship with Lyra,” Twilight sat down across from me at the picnic table and began pouring some water that Applejack had fetched into glasses.

Lyra grabbed my hoof and I turned to face her.. “Yeah, but if you want to kick his flank later, I’ll hold him down.” She smiled and winked.

“Lyra!” Twilight sighed. “You shouldn’t joke like that.”

“And Soarin doesn’t deserve an amazing pony like Dash, not with that attitude. She deserves so much more.” I sighed, letting go of Lyra’s hoof. “Why can’t anything ever be simple?”

My heart was still pounding from all the adrenaline, so I stood up and took a few steps away. Twilight was the first who noticed. “Dawn, you could have a concussion you should take it easy.”

“Hah, everything seems to give concussions around here. I’ll be fine, I just need some fresh air. I’ll be back for the rest of the contest, maybe.”

I took off into the open skies, flying high above Ponyville towards the center of town. The adrenaline and anxiety seemed to melt away as I enjoyed the fresh air. The wind cut through my feathers and cooled me down, drying off the sweat.

Before long I found myself at home taking off my flight suit. I grabbed some bits and resolved to go do something, not yet knowing what I’d do with my day off.

I resumed my flight around town. There was a train coming into Ponyville and I decided to go see where it was headed. A part of me felt bad for avoiding the whole mess back at the competition, but sometimes I needed to distance myself from a bad situation.

A large schedule was posted beside the train, and I walked up to the ticket counter. “This train is to Canterlot right? I’d like one ticket.”

The tan Earth pony looked up at me, blissfully unaware their could be anything wrong in the world. From her vantage point, we were all just ponies looking to ride a train. “Round trip to Canterlot is twelve bits.”

I reached in my bags and scooped out the twelve bits and took my train ticket in my mouth. A conductor greeted me as I got on the train, taking the ticket and stamping it, and leaving me to find a seat.

The third car was still empty so I walked into it. Before I sat down, I made use of the train’s lavatory. This time I was able to do so without creating a huge mess.

When I finished taking my seat, I saw a unicorn had taken a seat in the same train car. I sat down just as the train started moving.

As the train left town, I could see a speck of cloud in the distance that was Dash’s house. A part of me still wanted to go over and check on her. Deep down I knew she’d be fine, but just knowing she was stuck there with Soarin made it worse. I couldn’t see what she saw in him. When I had been in Dash’s body, he’d been a perfect gentleman. It was amazing how big a difference perspective made. As soon as I became a potential rival for Dash’s affection, he’d done a complete one-eighty with his attitude. With any luck, they’d break up and Dash would find someone better.

I watched the clouds vanish behind the trees as the train sped through a forest towards Canterlot mountain. There was no longer anything to stare at while thinking—it was all a blur at this speed—so I turned my attention back to the sole occupant of the car.

She was a white unicorn with a strawberry for a cutie mark. As one of the best fruits ever created, I could only imagine how awesome it must have been to get a strawberry cutie mark. Her mane and tail were blonde, blue, and violet. It was so unusual to see a pony with more than two natural colors, though many did dye in a third or fourth color to their hair. As a unicorn, she probably had a spell for that.

“Hi,” she said.

I blinked a few times, realizing she was talking to me. “Oh, hi.”

“You’ve been staring at me for a while now.”

“Sorry.” I turned my attention back out the window to the sea of green trees rushing past the train.

More time passed as I lost focus. We had moved into an open plain, and started a climb up towards Canterlot. A large tunnel blocked out the sun as the train entered it, leaving me without any distractions again.

Looking back at the unicorn, I noticed she was staring at me now. “You look like you’ve got something on your mind. I’m Holly,” she said.

I shrugged my shoulders. “Dawn, nice to meet you. I just needed some time alone.”

“Mare problems?”

“How’d you guess? Is it the fact everypony seems to be a mare?” I rolled my eyes, slouching back against the seat cushions.

“Well it’s pretty obvious you’re running from something, I figure an angry marefriend would do it.”

“Close, but more like a jealous stallion with a mean right hook.”

The train shot out of the tunnel, and I was blinded for a moment as my eyes adjusted back to the bright sunlight. We passed through the wall around Canterlot and the train slowed as it pulled into the station.

“Well, just remember this mare you two are bickering over is a pony too. While you’re off fuming, she probably needs a friend to talk to.”

I sighed. “Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.” Even the company of one stranger was enough to send me on a guilt trip, but I felt I deserved a day away from any obligations.

Once the train stopped, I exited and flew across the town. I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go, so I picked out a park in the distance and glided towards it. The parks in Canterlot were much larger than the ones in Ponyville. They also had more statues, fountains, and other expensive decorations.

The scents of bakeries were slowly replaced by the smell of pine and flowers. The park was vacant, perfect for my afternoon stroll. The cobblestone path wound its way through neatly trimmed bushes. Park benches were few and far between, and unlike in Ponyville, there were no signs instructing fillies not to eat the decorative flowers.

As I walked the lonely path, I came across the statue of a rather large unicorn. His features were sharp and chiseled, and the stone had a dark shine like obsidian. Light seemed to get absorbed by his black features, except the eyes which almost looked like rubies. Even his horn had a vicious looking curve to it.

The pedestal had a small plaque, naming the statue as “King Sombra”, ruler of the Crystal Empire almost a thousand years ago.

There were two paths to choose from so I went to the right, crossing by a statue I was able to recognize more quickly. Changelings had a characteristic chitin with holes in it to improve flexibility of the otherwise rigid external skeleton. I was told that the chitin could withstand swords and other weapons, though they did much less against magic.

This one was titled “Queen Chrysalis.” It was a bit odd to me that a garden would feature villains of Equestria. According to the plaque, this one nearly conquered all of Equestria during a single royal wedding.

Around the next set of shrubbery I saw a statue that made me freeze. It was a statue depicting Discord, the one responsible for destroying my life. It was only through the action of the ponies that I’d been saved and given a second chance.

His plaque had more information on it than the others. According to this, he had been turned to stone by Celestia and Luna, using the Elements of Harmony, for a thousand years. He had escaped and turned back to stone twice, the second time occurring when I tried to sacrifice myself to empower the Element of Loyalty.

I flew up and landed on his arm, looking at his face. If they’d put him back into stone again, he might be able to see or hear the things going on around him. I wasn’t sure which was worse: being turned to a statue and trapped in your mind, unable to see, or being able to see and hear everything around you only to have nopony ever visit.

“You in there?” I tapped a hoof against his skull, and was rewarded with a dull thud. From my vantage point perched on his arm, I could see several bird droppings down his backside. “Wow, looks like you’re fucked. I don’t think they’re letting you out ever again.”

I tried to look in his mouth, which was open as if he were screaming in pain. The shift in my weight caused the arm to snap. I grabbed his neck to stop from falling, unbalancing the statue. A moment later I was falling backward, using my wings to glide out from under the statue at the last second.

Discord’s statue shattered to pieces. My eyes went wide in panic and I quickly scrambled to my hooves, only to back away in fear. Breaking the statue might have set him free, but after a minute spent in panic, nothing had happened.

His head was the closest chunk of rock to me, so I walked up and kicked it. Apparently shattering him to a hundred pieces hadn’t freed him, though I’d have to admit to someone what I had done. It looked like this was just an ordinary statue, but on the off-chance it was the real Discord, I didn’t want somepony to find the pieces and put him back together, somehow freeing him.

Or I could just leave. Nopony saw what I did. This was an empty park, after all, and nopony knows I went to Canterlot. For all I knew, I’d broken a priceless piece of art and I didn’t exactly have a job yet.

“Hello, Dawn.”

I spun around so fast that I lost my footing, startled by the voice that sounded mere feet away. When I landed on my rump, I looked up to see Celestia’s mane flapping in the breeze. She was smiling and looking at me like a parent might look at a naughty child.

“Hey, Celestia. I, uh, found it like this?” I blushed, looking away from her. This was stupid. “Actually, I broke it and for a second there I thought Discord was going to pop out and take over Equestria again.”

Celestia began to levitate the pieces back onto the pedestal, her magic fusing them back together. “There’s no need to worry. This is a temporary carving until my sculptor finishes a more permanent one.”

I stood up, brushing the dirt off my sides. “Oh, then where’s the real Discord statue?”

“Somewhere safe.” She put the final piece on the statue and fused it into place.

“The plaque says you’ve turned him to stone three times. Why not just turn him back to flesh and find out how he pulled me here from Earth? You probably could have learned lots from him, even sent me back.”

Celestia walked to a nearby bench and sat down. She gestured to the bench across the path from her, and I hurried over to sit down. “Are you not enjoying your life here, Dawn?”

“It’s not that, I just often wonder what I could have done different to get back to Earth, or if I missed some opportunity… and knowing Discord is still out there, with the power to apparently send me back or assume his own body on Earth… I can’t really get closure.”

“Well, Discord won’t be able to cast magic or do anything else of the sort ever again. Hopefully that gives you a little closure. Aside from that, tell me about the bruise on the side of your head.”

I waved a hoof, dismissing her concern. “It’s nothing. Soarin overreacted when I tripped and fell on Dash during the Iron Pony. So, what’d you do to Discord then? Lock his statue in a prison in a dark, distant dungeon? Did you ever figure out what he was doing messing around on Earth in the first place?”

Celestia lit up her horn, lowering the sun a bit. Apparently it was near sunset, and she had angled the sun just right to cast a vibrant orange glow across the garden. “I’ve made sure he’ll never threaten Equestria or my ponies again.”

There was something in the way she said it that stuck out to me. “You executed him?”

She frowned slightly before straightening out her lips. “I banished him.”

“To the moon?” I asked skeptically.

“The sun.” Celestia moved a lock of hair out of her way so she could see me with both eyes. “And I must insist you not tell anypony this. You are one of the few who would understand the need for the death penalty.”

I chuckled, a bit worried at her tone of voice. “The ruler of a nation is secretly executing threats to national security? Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’m taking that secret to the grave. Now, if you’ll excuse me I, uh… left my oven on.”

Celestia stood up as I did, looking down at me. “Very well. I hope you heed the lessons well of the statues in this garden. They were the lucky ones.”

To be polite I offered her a smile and slight bow, before walking around the corner of the nearby bushes. I picked up my pace significantly, eager to get out of this park. Just imagining that each statue represented some criminal or villain that threatened Equestria was disturbing. To imagine some of them had been exiled to a flaming ball of nuclear fusion in outer space was downright horrifying.

Just as I was about to take off I ran into somepony, and fell back to the ground. This time they seemed to be the one who was startled. “Dawn? What are you doing here?”

I looked up to find Luna staring back down at me. Unlike Celestia, she was closer to my size so I didn’t have to bend my neck back as far to look at her eyes. “Luna, nice to run into you.”

“How are you doing?”

“Aside from stumbling into the Equestrian penitentiary to find it full of flowers and rose bushes, and there being a toasty one million kelvin oven at the end of the green mile? Good.”

Luna chuckled, turning and gesturing for me to walk with her. “You have no idea how refreshing your lack of subtly is. Before I was banished to the moon, ponies knew exactly what would happen if they threatened the state. Now ‘Tia hides the worst of it from them with stories of turning villains to stone and banishing criminals to far away lands. I do miss the look of fear in a criminal’s eyes before we passed judgement...”

I tilted my head to look up at her as we walked. “I’m gonna ignore that last part, because it’s creepy as hell. As for hiding all this from the public, you’re okay with that? I mean, if you’re for capital punishment then by all means do it, but hiding it from the public?”

“Would telling them really be better? To know that Discord was summarily executed without trial? He had acquired dangerous artifacts from many different realities using the mirror. Half of them could have wiped out Equestria if he weren’t so obsessed with showmanship and random chance.”

“Wait, back up. What mirror?” I asked.

Luna seemed to be chewing on her lip for a minute. “Hmm, oh it’s nothing. Just one of many artifacts he possessed.”

“That let him travel to other realities, like Earth?! Why wouldn’t you two have told me that the instant I came back?”

“Dawn, please calm down. Even if we knew where Discord’s lair was, it’d most certainly be booby-trapped. Given the amount of dangerous things he could have acquired, we would gladly have found and destroyed it if we could. The mirror… is an ancient relic that has caused nothing but suffering when used. Celestia has lost pupils, evil beings have entered Equestria through it—if it still exists at all, don’t go looking for it.”

I huffed and shook my head. It would have been better to leave here thinking Discord was dead and that there was no way back to Earth. Now that I knew there's a possibility to get home, it gave my mind the liberty to concoct wild scenarios where I could go back. Even though I know it’s not feasible, I would probably lose more sleep worrying about that damn mirror.

“Look, I won’t treat you like you are naive. What we choose to tell and not tell our subjects is carefully weighed. I am more than happy to talk about it or visit you in your dreams, should you need my help.” She stopped walking as we had reached the edge of the park. “You should get back to Ponyville. I have a feeling you’ll be needed there after what happened with Soarin.”

“Thanks. So you heard about the Iron Pony contest? That’s a record for gossip on a planet with no telephones. For now, I guess I’ve got to find the next train back to Ponyville.”

She laughed loudly, her mane starting to hover as if there was a wind blowing. That’s when I noticed her horn glowing. “Oh, I should have been clearer. I’m more than happy to send you to Ponyville.”

I nodded, not really knowing what to expect. Her magic wrapped around me, numbing my body until I seemed to have lost all feeling and sense of time. A gentle but firm pressure pushed me, and the images of Canterlot dissolved into images of the road leading into Ponyville.


There was a loud snapping sound and all my senses returned. In an instant, I felt my body snap from Canterlot to Ponyville. I smelled sulfur and tasted blood as I gasped for air. My body stumbled forward a few steps and I shook my head to clear it.

The sun was just beyond the horizon and the moon had risen. It was a full moon tonight and the silver glow gave plenty of light to see by at night. Pegasi might even have improved night vision, I should ask sometime.

That teleport was convenient. Now that I’m back in Ponyville, I wonder what she meant about being needed. I haven’t checked on Dash yet, and by now the competition is over. Maybe I should stop by her house and make sure Soarin isn’t bothering her.

I smiled at the thought of breaking Soarin’s wings and tossing him off the cloud house. It was something I’d never do, but it was no less satisfying to think about.

As I turned to fly to Dash’s house, I bumped into Fluttershy. “Gah, this is getting old.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Dawn. It’s my fault,” she replied.

I shook my head and gave her a quick hug. “No, it’s not you. I seem to literally be running into everypony today. And I assume you caught the part with Soarin at the contest?”

Fluttershy reached up and rubbed the bruise on the side of my head, causing it to sting. “Oh, it looks much better now. Say, have you seen Angel or any other rabbits?”

“No, sure haven’t. Why?” I looked around and saw that her house was in the distance, and the vast fields between where I stood and Fluttershy’s cottage were empty. The birds and other animals that were always present were gone.

“Something scared them off earlier today, I’m thinking a manticore or Timberwolf. However, they haven’t ventured near my house in so long, my friend the bear makes sure of that. Most of the animals are hiding and I think maybe Angel went looking for some that went missing.”

“That makes sense. So you’re headed into town?”

“The Everfree. I have to find out what happened to them.”

I frowned. “You can’t go out there alone, it’s full of predators.”

She smiled and puffed her chest out. “I’ll be fine, the animals won’t hurt me.”

“No, I’ll go with you.”

Fluttershy glanced back at her house one last time. She began to walk towards the forest. “Okay, Dawn, let’s go find my animals.”

I followed her into the forest, slowing down a bit to let her take the lead. From back here, I couldn’t help but admire her curved flanks. Despite her timid nature, she seemed at home in the forest near her house. Fluttershy would still jump when a twig snapped, or be timid when a bush rustled; however she remained confident of her abilities despite her fears.

“You’re inspiring, you know that? Despite your shyness, you’re braving this forest to help your animals,” I stated.

“It’s the least I could do. They need somepony to look after them.” She stopped near a tree and looked around. After a moment I heard an owl and saw Fluttershy approach it and initiate a conversation. Once she was done, she headed back the way we came and turned right. “He said he saw Angel headed this way.”

“You think a bunny would be okay out here?” Beneath my hoove was a thick layer of leaves and bushes. There were also plenty of holes, however most of them seemed to have eyes staring back out at me.

“Yes, normally predators won’t come within a mile or so of town. This small section near my cottage is about as safe as the Everfree can be. Unfortunately, my animal friends can’t be out here all the time to warn me if anything gets too close to Ponyville.”

There was a small clearing, and as we entered it, a large shadow moved out from the bushes. I froze next to Fluttershy, staring at the manticore directly in front of us. A bit of venom and blood dripped from the stinger on its tail, and the mane of hair around his head had a dozen snapped twigs in it.

“Uh, Fluttershy,” I whispered. “This is the reason I didn’t want you to come out here. Now, you run and I’ll distract—”

“What do you think you’re doing?” Fluttershy took a few steps towards the manticore. “You know better than to come near Ponyville.”

The manticore roared at her, causing her hair to flap back as spittle flew out of the manticore’s mouth. I saw his tail twitch, ready to strike, so I jumped into the air and flew straight at him. Before he could strike Fluttershy, I slammed into his face with both forelegs.

There was a sharp pain as the manticore lifted a paw and batted me off of his head. I landed in the dirt and rolled into the bushes. A second later there was an angry manticore standing over me. I grabbed the nearest stick I could find and snapped it in two to make a crude spear.

Before the manticore could kill me, Fluttershy landed in between us. “I was talking to you, mister!” she shouted. “I said, you should know better than come near Ponyville!”

I wanted to get back up and attack him again so she could run, but the manticore began to back away from Fluttershy. My mouth fell open as I stared in amazement.

“You have the entire Everfree forest! Why, I even remember pulling a thorn out of your paw. I help all animals, including you, and you would try to hurt my friends?”

The manticore made some whining noises, like an injured animal. His wings folded up and his tail began to sag to the ground. Fluttershy seemed to listen to him until he was done explaining his side of things.

While she spoke with my attacker, I got up and examined myself for injuries. There was a scratch on my side, but considering the size of his claws, this was nothing. They must have just grazed the skin. My head was still sore from earlier, but I was otherwise uninjured.

That’s when I looked at the bush I had landed in, and found a familiar looking blue flower growing around it. “Fuck.”

Fluttershy looked at me and the manticore made a whimpering sound. “He’s right, Dawn. That language is hardly appropriate.”

I dropped my face down into my hooves. “He just tried to eat me!”

“But he didn’t, and he says he’s sorry. Apparently something in the forest is agitating all the animals. He said he’ll lead me to it in exchange for letting him stay at my cottage tonight. He can’t get near it without getting so angry and hungry that he attacks anything in sight.”

“You’re going to let a manticore in your cottage?!” I glanced between the two of them and rubbed my eyes.

“Yes. Also, Dawn, isn’t that poison joke you’re standing in?”

I nodded and glanced down. “Yeah, I better get to the day spa and get it fixed.”

“They’re closed by now. You can stay at my house and I’ll mix you the antidote in the morning. It has to be applied after the change occurs,” she explained.

“Well, at least I can keep an eye on him, then.” I glared at the manticore. Fluttershy might be his buddy, but I knew carnivores only eat one thing: other animals. All the kindness in the world won’t change his dietary needs.

The manticore raised a paw to his chest and gave me an innocent, wide-eyed look as he started to purr. Fluttershy saw this, and turned back to me. “See? He’s a teddy-bear. Angel, you can come out now!”

I turned to the area she was facing and saw a small burrow under a tree. Angel and a dozen small critters crawled out. They must have been cornered by the manticore moments before we arrived.

Fluttershy went over to check on Angel, returning to the manticore and me when she was sure her pet was okay. “Alright, Dawn. We’ll go back to my house and you can spend the night. In the morning I’ll get you fixed up and ready to compete in day two of the contest.”

“Sure thing. Just promise when your friend here leads you out to find this magical disturbance making all the predators more violent, you’ll bring me and a few dozen members of the guard?”

She chuckled and shook her head. “You worry too much, I’m sure just my friends and I can handle it.”

“Alright, I trust you. Let’s go get some rest then, I don’t want anypony to see me running around as a mare in the middle of the night trying to find the antidote. Assuming it does the same thing to me.”

I followed her back to her cottage, this time keeping the manticore instead of Fluttershy’s backside in sight. At least this time I knew what to expect, and surely nothing would go wrong when I turned into a mare.


Author's Note:

I update more than once a month now. Updating more than once a month is cool.