Rainbow and Dash Off
Friends, Forgiveness, and Magic
Rainbow and Dash Off
“Right here? Okay, you’re the expert.” Nightmare Moon turned around and gave a good kick to the cavern walls, knocking down a few crystals. She caught them in her magic and levitated them over to one of the baskets.
“Okay, that’s enough for today,” Sunset Shimmer said. “Thanks again for helping me out Nightmare.”
“Happy to help Sunny, even if I had to wake up early. If you don’t mind me asking though, why did you need help today?”
“Well, you know my friend Big Mac? His farm is getting ready for harvest season or something. I dunno, since I farm crystals I never have to worry about seasons. Anyway, it’s a big job for just one stallion so I’m planning to help him out now that you’ve helped me get most of my work done faster.”
“Well, that’s nice of you,” Smog said as he sat on Nightmare’s back, chewing on a gem.
Nightmare frowned. “But I thought you were business rivals? It’s nice, but is it wise to help him?”
Sunset smirked. “Just between us, I’m mostly helping him out so that he can owe me one. The Apple family is one of the friendliest and richest families in Peaceville, so they know how to pull some strings if I need something. Um, that and because it’s what friendly neighbours do, of course,” she sheepishly added as Nightmare gave her a look.
“Okay then,” Nightmare said. “Well now that we’re done, I was hoping to ask about the crystals you farm, for my studies.” She smiled eagerly as Smog took out a pen and paper to begin taking notes for her.
Sunset shrugged. “Sure, but most stuff you could read in any guidebook. I mostly farm basic gemstones and common crystals.” She levitated a blue crystal out from basket. “For example, this crystal can enhance pegasus magic.” She levitated a purple one. “This one can enhance unicorn magic.” She levitated more crystals out. “Yellow is for earth ponies, green is for changelings, that one is for zebras. Red is for dragons, I think. Although it’s possible to absorb energy from crystals that are less attuned to you. Just by kicking a yellow crystal or two every morning, I’ve got decent earth pony strength, for a unicorn at least. You wanna try?”
Nightmare happily accepted a few crystals. She stomped on three at once, and each of the crystals released a burst of magic into her. “Oh wow! It feels kinda tingly.” She flexed her wings and her muscles. “I feel a lot stronger! What happens if I use more?” She eyed one of the other baskets.
“Careful there,” Sunset warned as she pulled the basket away from her. “Too much power all at once can overwhelm you if you’re not careful. The magic boosts can be unstable and crystal addiction isn’t unheard of.”
Nightmare frowned. “What? But you live in a crystal farm and you seem fine!”
“You need to actually touch the crystals to absorb their energy. If I did go around kicking crystals all day, my whole body would be twitching like mad and my mind would be a jumbled mess."
“Oh.” Nightmare reluctantly backed away from the crystals.
“Maybe some other time Nightie,” Smog said to her. “Red for dragons, huh?” He chewed on a red crystal and magic flowed into him. “Wow, I can feel what you mean. It’s really-”
He cut off his sentence as his mouth bulged and he spat out a letter. “A letter from King Sombra? Wait, I got it.” He unfurled the scroll and read through it. “Oh, it’s actually from Princess Twilight Sparkle…looks like it’s basically an invitation to the Grand Galloping Gala.”
“The Grand Galloping Gala?” Sunset’s eyes widened. “I’ve never been to the gala before.”
“We have,” Smog snorted. “Trust me, you’re not missing much. The gala is one of the worst events ever!”
“Don’t be rude Smog. I had fun at the last gala,” Nightmare said.
“You got to hang out with your mom all night. She could make watching paint dry fun! I was stuck helping King Sombra and even he hates the gala. Only reason he does it is ‘cause of tradition.”
“Ignore him, Nightmare. The gala is really more for us girls,” Sunset said as she smiled and winked at her. “I’d be happy to go with you.”
“Um…there are only two tickets. Nightmare Moon plus one guest.”
“What?” The two mares took the letter and the tickets. “That can’t be right,” Nightmare muttered.
“I don’t mean to brag,” Sunset said. “But we’re the bearers of the Elements, aren’t we? Add to that we helped the princess and I’d say that makes all six of us ideal gala guests!”
“Six? What about me?” Smog complained.
Nightmare frowned. “You don’t want to go, remember? Anyway, I’m sure the princess just made a mistake.”
Sunset snorted. “She’d better. Smog, write her back and remind her that she owes us! Um, but be polite,” Sunset added.
Smog nodded and sent another letter to Princess Twilight via dragon fire. It wasn’t long before a reply came back, this time containing seven tickets.
“Well there we go. Problem solved!” Smog smiled. He paused and glanced back at the letter. “That’s odd. Listen to this: ‘I am pleasantly surprised that you were able to understand this lesson in friendship so quickly. I look forward to seeing you and the other Elements at the gala, my faithful student. Sincerely, Princess Twilight Sparkle.'"
Nightmare frowned. “A friendship lesson? What lesson is she talking about?”
“Eh, don’t worry about it.” Sunset wrapped a hoof around Nightmare’s wing. “I know the rest of the girls would hate to miss out on this. As for Discord, well…”
“Oh ho! Is someone talking about me?” Discord called to them and he floated down on a parachute.
Sunset raised an eyebrow. “How’d you guess? Or get here that fast?"
“My ears were burning,” Discord proudly announced as his ears caught fire. He grabbed the parachute, stuck it in his mouth until it was soaked in spit, then used it to wipe his ears clean of flame.
“At any rate, don’t worry about that gala nonsense!” Discord waved it off. “The purple princess is most likely still a little crazy from the whole Eternal Twilight shtick. But now that you’re here, this presents the perfect opportunity to tell you a story, Nightie!” He wrapped an arm around a nervous Nightmare as Smog and Sunset shared a panicked look and escaped while they still could. “Now this tale begins with this changeling I found sleeping in a-”
Meanwhile, in another town not too far away from Peaceville, a blue-green pegasus with a yellow-orange mane sat behind a desk. She wore a purple Shadowbolts badge. “Hey Hoops, anyone else I’m seeing today?” she asked the only other pony in the office.
A light brown pegasus stallion with a darker brown mane nodded. “I think so Miss Dust. Rainbow Crash should be arriving any second now.”
“It’s Rainbow Dash, Hoops,” she sighed. “Okay Dash, you can come in!” She called out a little louder.
A cyan blue pegasus with a rainbow mane blew through the open window with incredible speed. She accidently crashed into the wall but quickly recovered and smiled wide. “Hey Lightning! You’re looking great!”
Hoops chuckled. “How’s it going Rainbow Crash?”
Rainbow Dash frowned at him but chuckled good-naturedly. “Heh, Hoops. You haven’t changed. At all.” She took off her saddlebags and set them aside. She then cleared her throat and said, “Could you excuse us Hoops? This is kinda between Lightning and me.
As Hoops walked out the office, Rainbow eagerly took a seat while Lightning Dust pulled out her file and read through it. “Well Rainbow, I can tell you’re a big fan of the Shadowbolts.”
“I sure am ma’am!” Rainbow boasted. “You don’t have to check my records, I already know I’m perfect Shadowbolt material!”
“I wouldn’t say perfect,” Lightning said. “Listen closely Rainbow. As the pony in charge of deciding if a pegasus is accepted into Shadowbolt Academy or not, my job is tougher than you might think. Now you’ve been a good friend to me lately but part of me thinks you’re just using that friendship so that I’ll get you into the academy.”
“What? No way, our friendship is the real deal. You’re the nicest and most awesome pegasus (besides me) that I know! I’d never leave you hanging!” Rainbow smiled wide.
Lightning looked back at Rainbow’s file. “I’ve been going over your file and I’ve got to say, you remind me of well, me when I first started training to join the Shadowbolts.” She frowned. “But I was a bit of a brat when I was younger.
“True, your flying speed, skills, and midair maneuverability are all perfect. And that sonic rainboom trick of yours is incredible. Rainbow light isn’t exactly the Shadowbolt style, but I’d be willing to overlook that. No, what concerns me is your attitude.
“The Shadowbolts are a team, while you are more of a solo act. Shadowbolts are brave and strong-willed, but you are just reckless, careless, and stubborn. All you care about is winning and I’m worried that-”
“Now stop right there, ma’am!” Rainbow interrupted. “Yeah, I wanna push myself to my limits but I’m trying to push myself in the right direction. And I care about lots of ponies! I’ve been talking with the others and-”
“I’m sorry Rainbow,” Lightning interrupted. “But my answer is still no.” She smiled lightly. “But it won’t always be no. Train a little more, work on improving your attitude and come see me again.” She clapped a wing on Rainbow’s shoulder. “I want to see you in that uniform just as much as you do. Ya just need to earn it.”
Rainbow was silent for a few seconds before she sighed deeply and smiled. “Thanks LD. I won’t let you down.” She picked up her saddlebags, put them back on, and flew out the window.
After that meeting, Rainbow flew down to the marketplace. She lived in Clouds-Edge; a town built more for unicorn, zebra, and earth pony relatives to the pegasi of Cloudsdale. Since Cloudsdale was a city made of clouds and only pegasi could walk on clouds, it made sense to build such a village close by.
She flew to a stall with a sign that read ‘Golden Harvest’s Garden’. “Hey Golden," she said to the pony running the store. "New look?”
A yellow earth pony mare with a green mane and tail, smiled at Rainbow’s comment. “Yep. I dyed my hair green. Like it?”
Rainbow smiled and stated with brutal honesty, “It looks awful. Seriously, the orange hair was much better. Anyway, got anything on sale?” She looked through the various vegetables in the stall.
Golden frowned. “No. Honestly, with that kind of attitude I can see why you’re having trouble getting into that academy of yours," she muttered. She cleared her throat and said a little louder, "Anyway, Fancy Pants is looking for you.”
Rainbow groaned. “Oh not that guy! He sucks! He’s such a jerk! I…oh, hey Fancy!” She pasted a smile on her face as she saw another pony walk up from behind the stall.
A white unicorn stallion with a blue mane and mustache, frowned at Rainbow. “Good afternoon Miss Dash. Might I have a word with you?”
Rainbow weakly smiled and followed Fancy Pants until they were a little farther away from the market place. “So uh, what’s up Fancy?”
“I’ll tell you what’s not up,” he said to her. “Your income. Seeing as how you are not triumphantly shouting your own name to the heavens I can tell you did not get accepted into the Shadowbolt Academy. Which means you are not going to be a Shadowbolt anytime soon.”
Rainbow frowned and jabbed a hoof at Fancy. “I will too be a Shadowbolt!”
Fancy ignored her and continued, “And if you’re not a Shadowbolt that means you still do not have employment.”
Rainbow shrugged. “I don’t see how that’s my problem or yours.”
Fancy frowned at her continued lack of respect. “Let me remind you, since you have clearly forgotten, that your father asked me to keep an eye on you after you left home. And I say, the amount of trouble you have gotten yourself mixed with in the past is quite worrisome.”
“Ah, relax,” Rainbow waved off his complaints. “I’ll just become a weather pegasus until I get accepted into the academy.”
Fancy raised an eyebrow. “After what happened last week? It was my belief that you were no longer allowed to work with weather in Clouds-Edge after that accident of yours.”
Rainbow winced. “I was just practicing!”
“Quite. You know, I hear Miss Harvest’s farm is hiring. Perhaps you could-”
“What? No! I can’t be a farmer!”
“Miss Dash, I can understand the reluctance to work in such an environment, but you simply have no other choice. You need a job.”
“No, I need a fun job, doing something I’d actually be good at! I need to fly, I can’t be stuck grounded!”
Fancy shook his head. “I simply don’t know what to do with you Miss Dash. Perhaps I shall speak with you another time, when you have removed your head from the clouds.”
As Fancy walked away, Rainbow flew off in the opposite direction. She fumed, muttering angrily to herself. First LD, then Golden, and now Fancy was trying to push her away from her dream. What else could go wrong?”
That’s when Hoops came by, flying next to her. “Hey Rainbow Crash! You up for another race? I’m leaving you in the dust this time!”
Rainbow stopped in midair. “Oh it’s on now,” she growled as she touched back down on the ground. Hoops stopped flying and touched down too to see what she was doing.
Rainbow opened up one of her saddlebags and pulled out a blue crystal with her teeth. She tossed it on the ground and stomped on it, absorbing the energy inside. Then she got a purple crystal for her bag and stomped on that one too. Then she pulled out another blue crystal, followed by another...and another...
“Um Rainbow, maybe you should stop,” Hoops said as Rainbow stomped on crystal after crystal. He cautiously watched her wings and back hooves start shaking. Her whole body was twitching violently and her eyes had a wild look to them.
After absorbing the energy from one last crystal, Rainbow blasted off into the air, flying much faster than before. So great was her takeoff, it left a crater in the ground. It wasn’t too long before she came back, but not without bringing something with her.
The ponies of Clouds-Edge gasped as a massive shadow fell over their town. The wind howled as Hoops finally saw what Rainbow had flown off to retrieve. It was the biggest, darkest, nastiest, and most terrifying storm cloud he had ever seen.
It seemed as if he was the only one to notice Rainbow’s departure, which meant that if anyone was gonna climb on top of the cloud and convince Rainbow to stop it would be him. But he never got the chance. On top of the cloud, Rainbow aimed and kicked the cloud, sending a lightning bolt flying towards the ground next to Hoops. He jumped back and quickly flew away before the next bolt could strike him.
The furious Rainbow fired off several lightning bolts. None of the bolts struck any of the citizens, but many of the bolts took huge chunks out of houses and completely obliterated several market stalls.
“NO!” Golden screamed as her stall was destroyed. “My vegetables! My carrots! MY CABBAGES!”
Once Rainbow’s frustration was properly vented, she calmed down. Her body stopped twitching from the extra crystal energy. She took a few deep breaths and looked down at the destruction she had caused.
“Oh no,” Rainbow gulped and shook her head. “I went too far. I…I need to get outta here.” She frantically flew to her house, packed up her few belongings and flew far away from Clouds-Edge.
“Ah dang, I messed up big time! How could I let myself do that? Argh!” Rainbow growled at herself as she flew. She was so angry with herself that she didn’t swerve to avoid a newspaper as it flew right in her face. She braked and ripped it off.
She hovered in midair and looked at the newspaper in her hooves. “‘Elements of Redemption Save Princess Sparkle’? What’s that about?” She looked at the front page’s picture and then did a double take. “Gilda? Well…I haven’t seen her in a while. Maybe...yeah that could work."
Her mind made up, Rainbow Dash flew to the location the newspaper’s main story mentioned…Peaceville.
“And that’s the story of how I saved Hearth’s Warming!”
Nightmare Moon looked up from her book as Discord kept talking. “What did any of that have to do with the previous story you were telling me? How did you get from changelings to parasprites?”
“Oh, did I switch stories? My apologies, my mind tends to wander. Oh, now that reminds me of the time I took a cart full of apple pies, a trumpet, a pair of needles, and…hey look, there’s Gilda!” Discord flew after the speeding griffon, leaving Nightmare alone.
“Thank the night. I thought he’d never shut up,” she muttered as she kept reading.
“Hey Gilda!” Discord called as teleported next to Gilda.
“Ugh, not now Discord. I’m busy,” Gilda grumbled. She put on a burst of speed and zoomed away, soaring higher into the sky.
“But Gilda!” Discord said as he saw Gilda flying towards a mountain, not paying attention to where she was going as she grumbled her annoyance at him.
Shrugging his shoulders, he snapped his fingers and covered the mountainside in a thick layer of marshmallows, which Gilda slammed into. Discord then got to work removing the marshmallow goo from his friend, and then eating it.
Once she was no longer covered in sugary fluff, Gilda took off like a rocket but braked in midair as Discord teleported in front of her.
“Now I enjoy a good chase scene as much as the next guy, but why don’t I save you a headache and stop you from flying off by saying I only need a teeny tiny favor. I guarantee you’ll enjoy what I propose,” Discord said with a sneaky grin.
“Fine,” she growled. “What do you want?” A minute later, Gilda was pushing a cloud to the right spot as Discord directed her. “Why do you need my help with this? Can’t you just snap your claws and poof the cloud where you want it?”
“Now where’s the fun in that?” Discord smiled at her. “Besides, this way you can join in on the mayhem. Ooh, he’s coming outside! Fire away!”
The two were waiting outside the library when Smog came out carrying a dozen scrolls in his claws. On Discord’s signal, Gilda kicked the cloud and a lightning bolt struck the ground near the dragon’s feet. The sudden noise and flash of light startled Smog into belching a burst of flame, which sent a scroll to King Sombra via magic smoke.
“Ha, ha!” Discord laughed. “A fine start! Do it again!” Another stomp from Gilda created a larger lightning bolt and startled Smog further into belching fire on all the scrolls.
Discord laughed again. “Priceless! Smog’s got the hiccups and our dear king is being buried under a pile of paperwork! Two stones with one bird!” He then summoned a small bird statue and threw it at some rocks on the ground. The rocks then sprouted wings and flew off, meowing like cats.
“Heh, good one - hic! - Discord –hic!” Smog said.
“A prank? That’s what you wanted?” Gilda asked.
“Oh, come now dear Gilda,” Discord said as he slithered up into the air with her, placing a paw on her wing. “You’re not mad, are you? Look at what we accomplished!” He snapped his fingers and a window appeared, showing King Sombra getting rained on by scrolls and smoke.
Gilda chuckled a little. “That’s kinda funny. Eh, you know what, I’m down with a prank or two.”
“Are you now?” Discord grinned mischievously. “Want to go terrorize the town with some even cooler pranks?”
Gilda grinned back at him. “What did ya have in mind?” As the two began to whisper and chuckle maliciously, Smog hurried back inside to hide from the incoming prank storm about to be unleashed.
A few minutes later, Gilda and Discord had gathered everything they needed. The first stop was Trixie’s magic shop that Trixie ran whenever she wasn’t performing. They placed a basket filled with blue flowers at the front door and rang the bell, before ducking around the corner. A few seconds later, Trixie opened the door and picked up the fake fan letter they had wrote her. She picked up a flower in her magic and sniffed it happily. A tingling sensation ran through Trixie’s body as every part of her, except her head turned invisible.
Trixie turned around to see (or not see) the effects of the plant. “WHAT SORCERCY IS THIS? GAH!” She gasped, as her voice was unexpectedly much louder than normal.
Gilda and Discord laughed at the result of their prank. “Poison joke!” Discord chuckled. “It never gets old!”
Trixie glared at the two and shouted “You two! How dare…why am I whispering?”
“Well, what you see here is my personal home-grown poison joke,” Discord explained. “I could sit here and explain how this version is different from the regular kind…but I don’t want to! Arrivederci!” Discord sang as he and Gilda flew off.
"Oh well." Trixie shrugged her shoulders as her head turned invisible too. "Trixie needed to use up a sick day anyway."
The two continued pranking the people of Peaceville. Nightmare Moon got a taste of poison joke that turned her coat white and her mane and tail pink. Discord took a photo of that to go with the first photo he took of her the day she arrived in Peaceville.
After Nightmare sent a few magical blasts at the two, she calmed down and admitted it was a little funny, and it wasn’t like she was going anywhere important that day. At Clear Crystal Caverns, Discord snapped his fingers and all the crystals that Sunset Shimmer had gathered that day turned into candy canes. After they had a good laugh at that, he changed them back. Sadly, they couldn’t find Chrysalis that day. Most likely Angle or one of the other changelings had told her what was happening and she had disguised herself.
They were about to call it a day when Discord spotted a familiar mint green unicorn. “Why hello, Lyra!” he waved.
“Hi Discord! Hi Gilda!” Lyra grinned. “Want to see what I’m working on?”
“Gladly!” Discord flew down next to her. “Write a new song?”
“No, my next performance isn’t for a while and I’ve already practiced lots. I’m doing research on a hobby of mine.” She showed him the notebook she was writing a spell in.
“Hmm. I see. Have you tried any of this?” Discord asked as he summoned a pen into his paw and added a few lines to the spell.
“Hey! Don’t mess with…” Lyra trailed off as she looked at the revised spell. “This…oh my gosh! This…this could be it! I-I gotta show this to someone. Nightmare Moon! I bet she’d love this. Thanks Discord! Thank you thank you thank you!” Lyra squealed as she grabbed the notebook in her magic and ran towards the library.
Discord chuckled. “Wonder what’ll happen we she sees our new white and pink librarian.” Gilda and Discord flew off to see the reaction. But Nightmare and Lyra weren’t bothered and the two of them talked about Lyra’s discovery for over half an hour. Afterwards Discord grew bored and went home, with Gilda calling it a night too.
As she flew back home, Gilda’s tail suddenly twitched. Gilda knew enough about her instincts to know what it meant when a griffon’s tail twitched. She quickly dodged to the side as a rainbow trail almost ran into her. A very familiar rainbow trail. “Rainbow Dash?”
Rainbow did a U-turn and flew back to her. “Gilda! I finally found you! Oh man, I haven’t seen you since flight camp!” She eagerly hugged Gilda.
“Whoa, personal space Dash,” Gilda shrugged her off. “It’s great to see you Dash…if that is who you really are.”
Rainbow blinked in surprise. “What do you mean?”
“Listen. Not too long ago, someone disguised herself as you and tried to trick me into abandoning my friends. How do I know that you’re the real Rainbow Dash?” Gilda eyed her suspiciously.
“Ha! As if any second rate faker could hope to capture my awesomeness!” Rainbow gave a shout and flew around the air, doing a few stunts around the clouds before racing back to her.
“You sure do act like the Dash I know but there’s only one way to be certain,” Gilda sighed. “As much as I hate to do this…remember the chant?”
Rainbow grinned widely and cheered, “Junior Speedsters are our lives! Sky-bound soars and daring dives! Junior Speedsters, it's our quest, to some day be the very best!”
Gilda smiled. “Yeah, only you would be happy to recite that lame thing. Heh, I knew it was you all along!” The two old friends grinned and gave each other a claw-to-hoof high-five.
“So G, been up to anything cool lately?”
Gilda grinned and settled down on a cloud, prepared to spend the whole night catching up with her friend. “Well…”
The next morning, Discord happily hummed a song as he calmly walked to Gilda’s home. He had a pack of various…things…needed for some more extreme pranks he was thinking about. He stopped as he heard snoring coming from a cloud. “Oh Gilda! Guess who?” he sang as he popped his head through the cloud.
But it wasn’t Gilda that he had woken up. Not unless she had turned into a blue pegasus recently. Maybe she accidently touched the poison joke from yesterday?
“What the heck are you supposed to be?” The pegasus asked as she eyed Discord suspiciously.
“Hey, don’t worry Dash, he’s cool,” Gilda said as she sat up on the other side of the cloud the two girls had been resting on. “Rainbow Dash met Discord. He’s…I dunno what he is but he’s cool. Discord, this is Rainbow Dash. She’s my best friend from Junior Speedsters flight camp. She’s just like me. All awesome!”
“You know it! Hey, wanna do the chant for him?” Rainbow Dash said.
“Ugh, do we have to Dash? I still can’t get that lame thing out of my head from last night!” Gilda groaned.
“Oh come on G!” Rainbow grinned. Gilda rolled her eyes and gave in to the request. The two recited an overly enthusiastic cheer.
Discord politely clapped his hands as they finished. “Oh bravo! Such a cheerful little number. Now then, my dear little Dashie, how would you like to join us on our ongoing prank war on Peaceville?”
Rainbow still eyed Discord suspiciously. “Well I love pranks, but Gilda promised me a flying session, so we’ll catch you later. Race ya!” She eagerly leapt into the sky, a rainbow trail flowing behind her as she flew.
“Oh no way you’re beating me Dash!” Gilda declared. “Prank with ya some other day Discord!” She launched herself into the sky and raced after Rainbow, leaving Discord in the dust.
The two fliers raced over Peaceville. Eventually the two rolled onto another cloud.
“So G,” Rainbow said. “You never finished telling me that story. How'd you beat that fake me again?”
Gilda chuckled. "Before we totally sent Eternal Twilight crashing and saved the princess, she made herself look like you. Said she wanted me to join the Wonderbolts or something.”
Rainbow raised an eyebrow. “The Wonderbolts? Never heard of them. And no way would I abandon my team like that! Shadowbolts rule!”
“Shadowbolts rule!” Gilda roared with her friend.
Rainbow lowered her hoof and said, “Still, Wonderbolts does sound like a cool name. Maybe when you and I get into Shadowbolt Academy we can ask about making a separate branch or whatever. And don’t worry, no way am I gonna ask ya to abandon your friends like that.”
“Thanks Dash,” Gilda laid her wing on Rainbow’s wing. “Real you is ten times cooler than fake you.”
“Hey, when they made me they broke the mold!” Rainbow grinned. “You and me G. The best pegasus and griffon team in all of Everfree!”
“GUESS WHO?” Discord sang as he appeared next to them on the cloud. Rainbow jumped a few feet in the air in surprise before glaring at him.
“Uh, excuse me Discord,” Rainbow said. “Me and G are still catching up. You can go home and do whatever it is you do. Hey G, race ya to that cloud!” In a burst of speed, both girls had flown off to another cloud.
“Ha! Totally beat ya!” Rainbow said.
“No way Dash! I won that race!” Gilda shot back.
“It looked like a tie to me,” Discord said as he floated next to them. Discord had turned himself into a balloon with a grinning face that Rainbow found really creepy.
“Heh...okay then G. Last one to that cloud buys the winner ice cream!” Rainbow Dash declared. Gilda launched herself higher into the air once again, but Rainbow stayed behind.
“I think your head is a little overinflated!” She growled at Discord as she took a bite out of the balloon. A rip formed on Discord and some kind of gas poured out of him as he drifted away. With a burst of speed Rainbow raced after Gilda and managed to catch up to her, ending the race in a tie again.
Discord teleported next to the two again, in his default form now but with a hole in his chest. “Gilda, Dashie poked me! I need care!” he whined.
Gilda rolled her eyes as Rainbow stared at Discord. “You’re fine Discord, you probably just got too close to Dash as she kicked off. Don’t worry about him Dash. He can be a bit dramatic at times, but he’s cool. The only time he’s ever been hurt is by old Eternal Twilight.”
“So he’s made of tougher stuff, huh?” Rainbow gave Discord a look. “Hey G, wanna see this totally awesome move I’ve been perfecting?”
“New move? Bring it on!”
“Cool, you move over to that cloud over there, best seat in the house for what I’m about to do.” Rainbow pointed to a cloud, far away from where they were. As Gilda flew to the cloud, she glared at Discord. “Okay listen weirdo. Normally, I’m a nice gal but I’ve had a few rotten days lately. Gilda’s helping me out and you’re not.”
Discord put a finger to his chin in thought. “So what you’re saying is…?”
Rainbow growled, “Can’t you take a hint? Get lost! G doesn’t need to hang with a dweeb like you now that I’m here! This is your last warning before I show you why they call me Rainbow Crash!”
“Rainbow Crash?” Discord lifted an eyebrow. “How did you earn an embarrassing nickname like that?”
“You asked,” Rainbow said as she launched herself high into the air. She poured on the speed as she flew back down, faster and faster. A Mach cone formed around Rainbow as she began to fly much faster than normal. She zoomed straight at Discord with incredible speed.
Just as Rainbow was getting close to Discord she zipped past him as an explosion of sound and rainbow colours formed behind her. The explosion was tremendous from where Discord was floating and it caught him in its blast. But what was most surprising was that it actually hurt Discord, even if the damage was small. He ended up falling out of the sky and crashing onto the ground below.
Rainbow flew back to where Gilda could see and landed on the cloud next to her. “Beat that!”
Gilda’s beak had dropped. “Hey that was a sonic rainboom, wasn’t it?”
“Yep! It took a full week of training but now I can do a sonic rain boom whenever I want!” Rainbow declared. “And you should see the damage it can do! I’ve never hurt anypony with it, but now I can smash right through boulders, trees, anything!”
“Awesome! But uh…I think ya knocked Discord out of the sky.”
“Oops. Sorry, it’s a little hard to steer when I’m doing that. I wasn’t trying to hit him,” Rainbow easily lied. “But hey, you said he was made of tougher stuff. I’m sure he’s fine. Hey wanna see the mountains I trained in?”
“Alright!” Gilda grinned but stopped herself from taking off as she noticed something. “Hey Dash, you alright? You’re kinda twitching a little.”
Rainbow fidgeted but then pasted a smile on her face. “That? That’s nothing. Last one to the mountains buys lunch!”
Meanwhile Discord picked himself off the ground and glared at the sky. He almost snapped his fingers and teleported to where they were going when he realized where that was.
“And so I couldn’t follow them as I’m not legally allowed in that area due to a misunderstanding involving a tank full of hot fudge. But that Rainbow Dash is so obviously a bad guy! Just like Eternal Twilight was but worse!” Discord complained to Nightmare Moon and Smog. He had teleported into the library and had just told them his story. “Now where are those Elements? It’s time for us to give Dashie a taste of her own rainbow medicine! Or rather our particular brand of the same medicine! I only crashed that tank into one house!”
Nightmare sighed. “Discord, this Rainbow Dash isn’t a threat to us. She probably got mad that you were interrupting her reunion with Gilda. Maybe she was a little rude about it but it’s sort of logical.”
“I hate logic!” Discord snapped. “And she was the one who wouldn’t let the three of us have fun! Three heads are better than two! Have you ever seen a hydra with less than three heads? I have, and they’re no fun unless you chop them off and let them regrow new heads until they’re more fun!”
“…It must be Tartarus inside your head, ” Smog said in response to that.
“…Well that’s…well understand that while we appreciate your friendship, other people might find you a little, um…” Nightmare stopped and turned back to her book.
“Are you calling me annoying?” Discord crossed his arms. “I don’t need to hear this! Instead allow me to show you this audiotape on some of the most annoying sounds in the history of Everfree!”
Nightmare knew where this was going and grabbed Smog before teleporting out of the library.
“That was rude,” Discord grumbled. “Well now, she can have this back after I get an apology.” He grabbed the book she had been reading and swallowed it whole. “Ick, dry...I’m thirsty now.”
Later that day, Discord was sitting at an outdoor café and drinking a milkshake. The milkshake contained chocolate milk, strawberries, carrots, pickles, peanuts, grape jelly, seven bananas, and something that was blue and glowing. He stopped drinking and turned himself into an umbrella as Rainbow Dash and Gilda flew overhead him and landed down.
“That was awesome Dash! Listen, I got to finish off some weather jobs. Shouldn’t take long. Just hang around town and I’ll catch up to ya.”
“You sure G? I’d be more happy to help you out,” Rainbow offered.
“Aw, thanks Dash. But you’re a guest, you shouldn’t have to worry about something lame like weather management.”
“G, it’s cool. I did weather management too before I got fired. Nothing major!” Rainbow Dash added as she saw Gilda wince. “Just a sonic rainboom that knocked over a house, nobody got hurt. I was on break and wanted to practice and…yeah.”
“Thanks Dash, but it’s cool, I can finish up the weather like that.” Gilda snapped her talons.
“If you say so G. I’m just gonna look around, maybe catch a nap. Hey, you mentioned one of your friends runs a crystal farm, right?”
“Sure.” Gilda pointed a wing in the general direction of Clear Crystal Caverns. “Just go down that way and you should find Sunset’s farm.”
“Cool. Catch you later.”
As Gilda flew off, Discord secretly watched Rainbow walk through the marketplace. Rainbow bought some apples from Big McIntosh and began munching. One of Discord’s eyeballs popped out of its socket and floating over to where Rainbow had left the money. Counting it, the eyeball returned to its socket. “Well at least she paid the right amount. Not a coin out of place.” He sighed. “Maybe she only acts crabby to me.”
Discord looked around and saw a blue earth pony leading a trail of ducks down the road. Judging by the formation and the green eyes, he could tell that it was really Chrysalis and a few changelings. Not watching where she was going, Rainbow bumped into them and the earth pony disguise fell apart.
“Oh my gosh, I’m sorry! I wasn’t looking where I was g-GAH! What the heck are you supposed to be?” Rainbow Dash backed away from Chrysalis.
Chrysalis, who hadn’t been watching where she was walking either, tried to look away from Rainbow. The changelings behind her still had their duck disguises so they backed up a little and glared at Rainbow.
“Oh, I’m sorry I um…” Chrysalis glanced around nervously.
“Ugh, first the weird dragon thing and now a weird bug pony,” Rainbow grumbled. “I’m outta here!” As she flew off and the changelings went to comfort the nervous Chrysalis, Discord made plans.
“Looks like someone could use an attitude adjustment. I can’t use the Elements. And I can’t cause any large-scale chaos without Princess-neat-freak-Sparkle chasing after me. This shall require a more subtle approach.” Discord chuckled as he thought of a perfect way to deal with Rainbow Dash…a party!
The party was hosted at the Chaos Corner that afternoon. The store was originally known as Sugarcube Corner before Discord bought it. Chaos Corner was his place of business, where he lived, worked, and was free to…express himself. The store contained many items that Discord had used his powers on. As ponies walked into the store they had to be careful not to step on anything that looked even slightly alive. The party was set up in the main hall and many people were already there.
“So who is this Rainbow Dash?” Sunset Shimmer asked.
“No idea,” Trixie said as they set up on stage. “But Discord has asked Trixie to perform here and so the Great and Powerful Trixie shall dazzle the crowd! After she gets some cupcakes.” A plate of desserts with wings floated over to them and both unicorns grabbed a treat. “Mm. This pleases Trixie,” she said, chewing the oddly coloured cupcake. “Another!”
As more treats flew to other guests, Nightmare asked Chrysalis, “You’ve met Rainbow Dash, right? What’s she like?”
“From what everyling who saw her told me she’s an arrogant showoff,” Chrysalis muttered.
“Trixie heard that!”
“We weren’t taking about you Trixie!” Nightmare turned back to Chrysalis. “So what’s Rainbow like again?”
“Well she’s a great flier but Angle thinks she’s a little rude.”
“You’re not talking about me, are ya?” Gilda asked as she walked through the door. Literally, she stopped to take a bite of green jelly, as that was what the door was made of.
“No, you’re not rude Gilda,” Nightmare assured her. “A little grumpy when you wake up from a nap but-”
Gilda shrugged. “Hey don’t feel bad, I’ve been called worse. Hey, Dash you ready to party?” she said as Rainbow struggled to get through the jelly door.
“Sure I am G! Just as soon as I get through this.” She was soon pulled through the door by Discord.
“Welcome my dear Dashie! I hope you find the party to your liking.” But Rainbow didn’t answer him as she was being electrocuted. “I’m sure you’ll have a shocking good time!” He suddenly let go of her and slapped himself. “Shocking good time? Come on Discord, you’re better than that!”
Rainbow growled at Discord’s magic joy buzzer trick but smiled once she saw Gilda walking up to them. “Hey, save some of the fun for the rest of the party, man! Come on Dash, I’ll introduce you to some of my other friends.”
“Right behind ya G!” Rainbow replied. As Gilda went searching for the other Element bearers, Rainbow glared at Discord. “I know what you’re planning.”
“Oh goodie!” Discord clapped his hands. “I hoped somebody would. Could you tell me? ‘Cause I don’t know.”
Rainbow stared at the lunatic before growling, “I mean, I’ve got my eye on you.”
Discord blinked. “And I appear to have my eye on you.” Rainbow blinked as she noticed that one of Discord’s yellow-red eyes had turned a more normal white and pink. She jumped back in horror as Discord popped out the normal eye and switched it with her own right eye, which had somehow turned yellow-red. When all their eyeballs were in the right place, Discord smiled. “So sorry for the mix up.”
Rainbow shuddered as she ran after Gilda and away from the freak of nature. Gilda introduced Rainbow to some of her saner friends. They were talking to Trixie when Rainbow decided to sample some of the snacks. Seconds later, she was trying to spit the flames out of her mouth; somebody had stuffed hot peppers into the food. Even after a glass of water, she was still seeing red.
“Uh, you okay Dash?” Gilda watched her friend with concern. “You’re twitching a little bit.”
Rainbow gave her a rather strained smile. “Heh, just peachy G.”
The party continued that way, as Rainbow seemed to crash into one bad prank after another. But when the final prank sent her crashing into a wall she just couldn’t take it anymore.
“Oh that is IT!” Rainbow screamed. “I have HAD it! With all these weird dragons, and bug things, and everything else trying to WRECK my day! Everybody trying to get between Gilda and me! IT WON’T WORK!” She wrapped a wing around the startled griffon. “Gilda and I have got ten times as much awesome as you jerks! No, a hundred times! Come on G, we’re outta here!”
Rainbow was prepared to storm out of the Chaos Corner and maybe even drop a storm cloud on top the store. But she stopped when she saw Gilda glaring at her. "G?"
“Ya know Dash, it was just bad luck that you set off all those pranks. And maybe Discord is a little annoying but how does that justify this?”
“I simply planned this party to improve your attitude Miss Dash. I am an innocent victim here,” Discord said as he held Smog by the ankle and hung him over an electric shark tank. Nightmare snatched Smog out of Discord’s grip with her magic. She and Smog glared at Discord’s smile and angel halo.
Gilda was still angry at Rainbow. “This wasn’t how I expected my old friend to treat my new friends. I think maybe…you should leave. ‘Cause I can’t be friends with you right now.”
Rainbow flinched. “Come on Gilda, you don’t mean that.”
“Yeah I do,” Gilda growled. “Face it Rainbow Dash. The only jerk here is you.”
“Yeah, well I…I…I don’t need this!” Rainbow snapped. “I’m the only pony who can do a sonic rainboom! I deserve to be treated better! When you change your mind, give me a call!” She angrily smashed through one of the windows, which was made of bubble wrap.
Gilda sighed and slumped down. Chrysalis noticed this and nudged her with a hoof. “Are you okay?”
Gilda shook her head. “My old best friend hates my new friends. How do you think I feel?” She turned to watch Rainbow leave, waiting for the sonic rainboom that would mean never seeing her again.
As the partygoers stood there waiting for Rainbow Dash to fly away…she didn’t. She just stood on the grass ready to launch herself in the air, but she didn’t. Curious, Gilda stepped through the broken window to see what was happening. She stumbled a little as something poked her in the legs. Discord really needed to do some gardening; there were vine-like roots poking out of the ground and into the front yard.
She got through the plants and walked in front of Rainbow. As she looked into her old friend’s eyes she was shocked to see tears falling down Rainbow’s face.
Once she saw Gilda, Rainbow desperately tried to fly away but Gilda’s beak snapped and caught Rainbow’s tail, stopping her from flying off. Gilda looked back at the party and told Rainbow to follow her. They flew to a cloud far away from the Chaos Corner and sat down for a talk.
“Okay Dash,” Gilda looked her right in the eye. “Start talking.”
And boy, did Rainbow have a lot to say. She told Gilda about her failed attempt to get into the academy, about Fancy bugging her to get a job, how she lost control at Clouds-Edge and had flown to Peaceville so that Gilda could cheer her up. She talked about how Discord irritated her and how Chrysalis creeped her out and how the pranks and bad luck seemed to pile on her. By the end of it, Rainbow was trying to wipe away angry tears yet again.
Gilda sighed and cleared her throat. “Look, I’m not good with speaking, neither of us are. Sorry if this ends up coming out lame but…I like you Dash. And it sounds like you just had a couple of bad days and I get that. I really do. Dash, you’re my oldest friend. When we were little, you were my only friend. We said we’d be there for each other back in flight camp. And you said that you’d never leave your friends hanging. Did you mean that?”
Rainbow seemed shocked that Gilda would even ask that. “Of course I do G.”
“I think we’ve both changed a little,” Gilda said. “You mastered the sonic rainboom and I got crowned an Element of Forgiveness.” One of the many reasons that Gilda felt what she was doing now was right. “If I was there instead of you, I’d have probably lost my cool too. But you can’t blow up at my friends, because let’s face it; they’re not the real problem here. Dash...don’t be like that fake that Eternal Twilight made. I can’t...”
“I...I could never hurt you like that Gilda,” Rainbow said as her eyes watered again.
“Look, I get why you’d be upset with Discord,” Gilda said. “I’d be upset too if I thought anything tried to get between us. So…sorry about that, I guess.”
It was too much for Rainbow. “Gilda I’m…I’m so sorry.”
Gilda breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s all I needed to hear right now. I forgive you.” The two friends hugged each other and tried to hide their tears.
They flew back to the party. Discord opened the door for them to see that Rainbow was in a much better mood. “Are we all friends now?” he asked hopefully. Rainbow nodded and humbly apologized to the partygoers and to Gilda’s friends. She even managed to say sorry to Discord, even if she looked like she’d rather smash her own head into a mountain.
After she had finished saying sorry, she asked Gilda, “Um G, about that sonic rainboom that got me fired and the storm I made before…as you can imagine, I can’t really go back to Clouds-Edge for a while. And I’m running short on cash. Do ya know if anyone is hiring for the weather team around here?”
Gilda wrapped a wing around Rainbow. “You know I bet I could ask my manager if we need anybody else for weather team. And I bet you and I could make an awesome cloud house for you. In the meantime, you can crash with me, as long as you don’t trash the place. And we can work on each others attitude problems, or whatever.”
“And in exchange for being nicer to us…” Discord clapped Nightmare on the back. She raised an eyebrow at him.
“You don’t know? Ugh, must I do everything around here?” Discord rolled his eyes. “Nightie here is pals with King crystal-obsessed and Princess purple. If she pulls a few strings, she could get you two tickets to see the Shadowbolts, if you’re nice. I’m simply suggesting.”
As Nightmare tried to explain that she didn’t know if that would work, Rainbow smiled at everybody around her. “Thanks guys. Thanks for…everything. Um, I’m just gonna grab my stuff and maybe meet you at your place. That okay G?”
Gilda smiled. “For now, it’s our place Dash.” Rainbow smiled and flew away from the party.
Yeah, Rainbow Dash had some pretty cool friends. And she wasn’t gonna let them down ever again.
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Good episode, however when you do a scene change such as
Put some kind of line break. You can make your own, or use fimfic's horizontal ruler. Just type [1hr][1/hr] without the ones, so it looks like this.
[/hr] Next, your races were way too quick between Rainbow and Gilda. It felt like they were just teleporting from place to place. Some more description would be nice.
Eager to see more.
The cabbage gag never gets old.
4432041
You make a good point. During the first few chapters, the characters kinda journeyed through the scenes so there was no need for a scene change before. I added a few line breaks so maybe the chapter will flow a bit better.
As for the races, flying can be difficult to properly describe without repeating words like soar, rocket, race, and so on. In the original episode, Rainbow and Gilda raced pretty fast too. Still, I'll work on improving the flying scenes too. Thanks.
4369890
I went and added this story to your group, but I couldn't get it to add it to the 'more than one' folder, so I just put it in Other. Anyway, I hope you're still enjoying the story.
I'll adimit I've read a few AU stories, but this one I like the most because of how much you use logic. Really good. Can't wait forsomething to happen to Trixie again.
...I can't stop reading this. The awesomeness is too powerful!
And that's how molestia was made!
So... in this world, Rainbow is a crystal junkie athlete... don't know how I feel about that.
Good that Gilda's element came into play, looked it up, enthusiastic attention or obsession of something, of course a little toned down, maybe, she obviously is branching out her likes, maybe her attention to friends and love of them made her makeup with Dash, I'm also happy that she didn't just chuck her out of... Peaceville... she really could be Loyalty if it existed as an element.
Now, looking forward to future old Mane 6 appearing, two down... well, three if we count Chrysalis's Fluttershy disguise, another four/three to go!
I'm really liking this so far; it's well-done, unique, and I don't see much (if any) OOCness.
Hoops: Hey, Rainbow, lets have a race!
Rainbow: Sure! (proceeds to OD on performance enhancing drugs)