Half Hour Horses: Legacy Prompts

by HoofAndQuill

LP25: Captain Dash [Sad?]

(The Prompt: Power Corrupts.)

(Wow, what's up with the low number of replies this week? I thought it was a decent enough prompt. Anyway here we go. The story didn't turn out quite as I'd expected, but I guess it sorta works.)

Captain Rainbow Dash flew silently over the darkened fields around Ponyville. Another normal patrol: boring, but orders were orders. It was getting easier lately anyway. The new Shadowbolt uniforms were form-fitting and sleek. With her new eyes, she could see much better in the dark, and since, well... all of her patrols were in the dark, it worked out pretty well.

It was pretty cold out tonight though. It had been getting colder and colder lately, and the whole squad was on wendigo alert. None had been found yet. The Queen had given her assurance that the cause would be found, and nopony could gainsay the Queen. Rainbow Dash frowned. A lot of ponies seemed to try to lately, though. Especially that pony she saw far below, pulling a cart toward the Everfree Gates. A cart that was late, and Rainbow could tell from here was also too empty.

Rainbow swooped quickly down, silent right up until she landed with a thud on the ground. The earth pony jumped a little at her sudden appearance, but then her face settled into a scowl that Rainbow couldn't help but grin at. "Hey, Applejack."

Applejack's eyes did that thing, that sudden widening when she saw Rainbow's new eyes. Normally Rainbow Dash liked that. It helped with her job, having slitted, cat-like eyes. Made it easier to see, and the fact that it unnerved other ponies made them more likely to listen to her. She was even thinking about getting the bat wings too. But for some reason she didn't really like seeing Applejack look at her the way she was. After a second though, Applejack just shook her head and spoke to her. "Hey, RD. What're you doin' out here at this hour?"

"It's 'Captain Dash'. And I'm out on patrol. You know how it is, gotta keep an eye out for traitors or whatever. Speaking of which..." Rainbow Dash grinned and tilted her head toward Applejack's cart.

Applejack frowned and shook her head again. "'Fraid not this time. Rainbow. There ain't any cider."

"WHAT?!" Rainbow Dash leaped up into the air to glare down at the earth pony, but was only met with the same steely look Applejack always seemed to wear lately. Rainbow threw her forelegs out to the sides in exasperation. "How can you not have any cider? It's part of your tithes! I already have to report you for not enough apples, and now you're holding back on cider?"

"I ain't 'holdin back'. There isn't gonna be any cider this year. Prob'ly never again. And my tithe's ten percent, same as anypony. This is a tenth of th' apples this year."

Rainbow's mouth hung open in shock a moment before she landed, glaring at Applejack again. "No cider? Why? And what do you mean this is all the apples? You used to give ten times this much!"

For some reason this was the statement that finally cracked Applejack's resolve. Rainbow almost flinched at the change in Applejack's expression as she looked back at her cart and the few bushels of apples. Applejack didn't speak immediately, choosing instead to look around them. Rainbow Dash couldn't help but follow her eyes, and noticed for the first time that the orchard's trees didn't look too great. It was early autumn, she was pretty sure, but they looked all dry and scraggy like it was the middle of winter. Finally, Applejack spoke again. "Yeah. Yeah, we used to."

After a second with nothing more, Rainbow rolled her eyes and asked for the obvious continuation. "But..."

Applejack whipped her head back around to glare at Rainbow Dash, and Dash took a step back. "Y' know darn well but what! Th' dern Queen took over, and now ya'll are expectin' us to grow food with no light! Half th' town's going to be a lot thinner come winter wrap-up, Rainbow!"

"Hey! You know the law! You're not supposed to talk about daylight! The Nightmare Queen says that the moon is enough light, and that's that!"

Applejack stamped her hoof on the ground, with a familiar stubborn look in her eye. "Yeah, you're all about th' Queen now, ain't ya? Even got them messed up eyes an' everything."

Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and took to the air again, hovering a few feet above (and a few feet further back from) the earth pony mare below. "I'm a guard! Captain of the Shadowbolts! I have to be able to see at night, AJ! Besides, you saw what she did to Canterlot! You can't see the ruins from here, but I've been up there! Ponyville would be the same way if it wasn't for us guards!"

"I know what happened t' Canterlot! Same thing that happened to half of Manehatten an' Baltimare! You were there with us when she up an' started with that poor filly and her baby dragon, when she first got here! But don't you go tellin' me that you're just doin' this to save Ponyville."

"What in the hay is that supposed to mean?"

Applejack stood her ground and scowled up at Rainbow. "You fly around an' spy for the Queen, you let 'em clip the feathers of all th' other pegasus ponies, an' you come down here an' steal my cider!"

Rainbow Dash tried to hide her expression at the mention of the other pegasus ponies. "Look, it's harder to keep track of ponies when they can fly. She said it was just temporary, you know? Once we know who we can trust, we'll let 'em fly again. Fluttershy didn't even like flying anyway. And I'm not STEALING your cider, I'm testing it! What if it's poisoned?"

"Yeah, well you an' your guard buddies are just about t' test me right out of business. This is all th' apples the Queen is gettin' this year, and there ain't no cider. You don't like it, then that's just tough for you."

Later, Rainbow Dash couldn't say what had made her do it. It was an instinct, something that her body just did to reassure herself, and to remind Applejack, of how things were. If she'd had time to think about it, or if Applejack wasn't being so hotheaded and stubborn, it might not have happened. But one moment Applejack was shouting at her, and the next thing she knew, her hoof hurt and Applejack was bringing her own hoof up to her stinging muzzle.

A moment passed.

Then, Applejack's eyes blazed with an anger that made Rainbow Dash take to the air and fly backward a few feet. Applejack glared hard at her, but then just turned her back, walking toward the Everfree Gates again, her old cart creaking behind her. Rainbow Dash looked down at her hooves, and then flew after Applejack, hovering just behind her. "Hey. Hey, come on, I didn't mean to-"

"You'll get yer cider tomorrow, 'Captain.'"

Applejack's voice didn't invite any kind of conversation, or allow for any kind of apology. Rainbow dropped to the ground, and watched as Applejack walked away. She stood there until the creaking of Applejack's cart faded from her ears. She wasn't stealing cider. She wasn't the problem, she didn't clip Fluttershy's wings, or White Lightning's, or any of the other pegasus ponies. She didn't stop the moon from rising. She wasn't the one who had... who had stopped that unicorn and her dragon. She was just doing this to keep Ponyville from ending up a ruin like Canterlot. She was the good pony here, it was ponies like AJ that were the problem.

So why did she suddenly feel like she was losing something more important than Ponyville, and something she'd never get back?