• Published 24th May 2015
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My Little Pony Bizarre Adventures - Part 1: Ponyville Central - LateBronyWriter



One Thousand years ago, the saints Celestia and Luna drew upon the power of the Red Stone of Aja to defeat the demon Discord. Now one thousand years later the Stone is destroyed, beginning the tale of six ponies and their quest to redeem the world.

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Chapter 10-Valkyrie-Take 2

Valkyrie-Take 2


“Ha ha Ha! Sweet.” Rainbow Dash catches her breath on a nearby cloud, resting her wings from the sudden exertion. Panting rapidly, the mare’s exhaustion quickly gives way to jubilation as she glances over her shoulder. “Nopony followed me! Wait till Twibright realizes that her little charade of pretending to be a good friend is over!”

The rainbow-maned mare opens the box containing the mythical artifacts as she savors her victory. “Meh. If I didn’t know any better I’d say these are normal rocks; they don’t look all magicky and stuff.” Dash slams the lid tight. “Oh well, if it gets Twilight out of my mane and exposes her for the fraud she is, it’s all the same in my book.”

Her eyes suddenly widen as she opens the box again. “And if they really grant wishes… this could be my chance to get into the Wonderbolts in style!”

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight yells behind the speedster, causing Dash to jerk in surprise. “You are currently in possession of Government property! Return the Stones that you have stolen and get on the ground!”

Rainbow throws up her arms in exasperation. “Oh for crying out loud!” she yells as she turns to face the ever persistent Twilight Sparkle below. “How did you find me? Almost nopony knows I hang out here! No pony except for Fluttershy and……”

“Hey, Dashie!”

“….and Pinkie Pie.” Rainbow Dash facehoofs.

“Hey, Dashie, great hiding place! You really do a great job of playing hide and seek!” Pinkie smiles while bouncing in place. “But you’ll have to hide better if you want to hide from meeeeeeee!”

Twilight nods to Pinkie. “Thank you, Pinkie, for leading me here; that was very kind of you, but if you could please leave the rest of the talking to me.” Twilight turns to face Dash again. “You realize this goes beyond a normal prank, Dash! I’ll ask again nicely, hand over the Stones.”

“Dream on, Twi-bright!” Dash blows a raspberry at her. “I don’t give a flying flip about any magic stones. But if they can expose you for who you really are and what you’re doing to my friends, then I’m bringing them to the Princess!”

“What?“ Twilight yells, “what are you talking about!?”

“Don’t play dumb with me! Even though you are really good at it……” Dash snickers at her own joke. “You’ve been using your creepy ghost thing to mess with my friends’ minds and turn them against me! You’ve been conspiring against me since day one, Twilight!”

Dash leaps to her hooves and flares her wings in anger. “Well I’ve got news for you! I’m not going to let you use my friends like they were your personal Hench-ponies in your crazy schemes.” Leaping from the cloud, Dash lands on the ground three pony lengths from Twilight and strikes a menacing pose. “So here’s an idea. Why don’t you give up and surrender to me? I promise that I’ll make your defeat as awesome as possible.”

Twilight stares with profound pity at the rainbow-colored mare before her, taking a cautious step backwards. “You really are delusional, Dash….” Suddenly Twilight takes a combat stance in front of the pegasus. “But I can see you aren’t leaving me much of a choice. I’m sorry, Dash, but if you are going to let your paranoia control you then I’m going to have to use force!”

Dash laughs at Twilight’s attempt at intimidation. “HA, you - a librarian - beat me? You’re not returning overdue books, Twi-bright! But please…” She rises in the air, hovering horizontally in front of the angry unicorn. “Make me surrender. That is, if you can.”

Twilight grinds her teeth. “Fine, we’ll do this the hard way. Pinkie!”

“Humh, yeah, Twilight, what is it?”

“Get out your Stand. We’re fusing.”

“Yeah! We’re going to make a Pinkie-and-Twilight Smoothie, yeah!” Pinkie cheers. “Actually no yeah, that sounds really wrong like you and me were going to……”

“Just get out your Stand, Pinkie!”

“Okie Dokie Lokie!”

Both Twilight and Pinkie’s Stands manifest in front of them as they face down Rainbow Dash. Twilight musters up her intense concentration as she breathes slowly in and out, and even Pinkie is staring ahead seriously. Gracefully, Twilight extends her hoof towards Pinkie’s white tattooed Stand, her hoof growing ever closer up till the moment of contact. All of a sudden the two Stands touch, only to be blown apart by the resulting force.

Twilight rubs her head as her Stand picks itself off of the ground. “Ughhhh how many headaches… how many headaches do I have to get before you’ve punished me enough?”

“Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! That was fun Twilight! Can we do it again?”

“What the…? Pinkie… your mind…..” Twilight tries to put into words just what she saw.

“Yeah, what about my mind? Wait don’t tell me! It’s filled with chocolate frosting! I knew it, Mr. Cake said that you couldn’t store things in your head but I was like ‘but there’s so much room in your imagination’ so I put a can of spray fronting in my ear and…..”

“No, Pinkie…. Your mind… it’s chaos itself!” Twilight groans as she rubs her horn. “Why can’t you control your thoughts?”

“I don’t know, Twilight? Why do you organize your mind like everything has to go in every place it is supposed to?” Pinkie criticizes. “Ponies just think differently from each other! It’s a beautiful fact of life!”

“Bwahhhaaahhhahahahahaa!” Rainbow Dash laughs at them from above, having settled herself on a passing cloud while the two were bickering. “Ha ha ha seriously egghead, you should just quit while you’re ahead and apologize for turning my friends against me while you still have a mouth of unbroken teeth.”

Realizing that they are still in the middle of a fight, the lavender mare takes a defensive stance again. “Puff….huff…. I’m not trying to turn anypony against any other pony. It’s you that’s being paranoid!”

Turning her head towards the pink mare, Twilight apologizes, “Sorry, Pinkie, but the time for conversations is over. I have to bring her down! Even if it means that I have to get a little rough in order to do so.”

“Beat me? Ha! Is your head messed up from all those musty books?” Dash waves her hoof at her. “I don’t want to sound negative, but that’s impossible! With your level of power you couldn’t even defeat this mare here!”

“Well, um, you couldn’t even um….” Twilight’s eyes flicker back and forth as she tries to think up a witty comeback. Suddenly comprehension dawns as she spies a flying bird. “AH! Well, Dash, you are so weak that you couldn’t even defeat a Columbidae!”

Dash rises to her hooves, looking down on the lavender mare. “I totally could I could beat a Columbiadia…. Um, what’s a Columbidae again?”

“Ha! I thought you wouldn’t know that! Point one for the eggheads! Haha!” Twilight hoof pumps at her clever insult.

Dash rolls her eyes. “Yeah whatever. What’s this Columbidae-something that I’m supposed to be weaker than?”

Twilight clears her throat. “A Columbidae is the class of flying avians that includes the common birds such as pigeons and doves.”

“…… So let me get this straight.” Dash cocks her head. “Your insult is that I couldn’t even beat a pigeon?”

“That’s right! How’s that for a comeback?”

“……”

“…… Well? How was it?”

Pinkie shakes her head in pity as she places her hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “Twilight, I’m still your friend and all. But PLEASE! Pretty pretty PLEASE! Leave the comebacks to me from now on?”

“What? What was the matter?” Twilight asks in genuine confusion, “Wasn’t it good? I thought that it was so clever and original! Maybe I should try it agai……”

“ENOUGH!” Dash shouts, “I’m sick of your nerdiness and lame comebacks, Twilight! If you thought that your lame ghost brainwashing my friends was cool, then keep your eyes open cause I’m about to show you something that’s really awesome!”

Jumping into the sky with enough force to flatten the cloud underneath her, Dash leaps into the air, her wings ripping through the sky with the force of a blade. Soaring higher and higher into the blue sky, the speedster reaches the zenith of her climb at a height so great that her rainbow mane can barely be seen from the ground. Arching down, she suddenly pulls a one-eighty, rushing towards the ground with a burst from her wings. Flapping with all of her wing power, Dash’s Rainbow Aura spreads across her body as she soars hoof-first towards the unforgiving ground like a living thunderbolt.

On impact, an immensely powerful shockwave of color explodes in a mushroom-shaped column of smoke over the clearing, a prismatic aurora trail expanding across the practice field’s sky. The mere force of the thunderous crash knocks the wind clean out of Twilight as she tumbles back from the force of the blow. Luckily she lands on a soft object with a thud, groaning in pain - alive but definitely not in perfect shape. Looking over to where Dash landed, Twilight is dumbfounded to see an enormous crater scaring the earth, Rainbow standing in the center of the blasted ground; a testament to the rainbow mare’s power.

Raising her head high, gloating all the while, Rainbow Dash rises into the air. “Ha! You see that! Was that cool or what?!” She raises her hooves to her face as familiar rainbow sheen covers them. “That was a Sonic Rainboom! The most legendary move in all of pegasus history and I just pulled it off.”

Landing on the ground Dash picks up a random stone. “Pretty awesome huh? All I have to do is think…..” The mare throws the stone in the air, smacking it with her hoof and causing a familiar rainbow shock wave to completely demolish it. “And BOOM! One Sonic Rainboom! I call this little power Valkyrie! And it’s way cooler than your little brainwashing power!”

Twilight snaps at this, unfazed by Rainbow Dash’s Stand power. “I’m not brainwashing anypony! Now give me back the Stones!”

Jumping into the air just out of range of the unicorn’s telekinesis, Rainbow hugs the bag closer to her sides. “Sorry Twi-Bright! But I think that I’m just going to hang on to these little babies.” Rainbow taps her chin. “In fact, I think that I’ll keep them! How do you like that?!”

Pinkie bounces up, grasping Twilight in a sideways hug. “See, Twilight? I knew that you could trust Dashie! She said she’s going to return your Stones to you as soon as…. Never?!”

The pink mare’s mane visibly deflates a small amount as she looks back at her all time favorite friend. “NEVER?! Dashie…. Why? That’s not very nice! Twilight and the rest of us looked really hard for those! It’s not nice to take something if you’re not going to return it! That’s…….” Pinkie leans back as she whispers, “……stealing!”

“Then I’m stealing them!” Dash exclaims. “Sorry, Pinks, but I need these babies to expose Twilight for the fraud that she really is! Once the Princess finds out that her precious student was keeping secrets from her, she’ll be booted out of town!”

Pinkie’s normally bouncy mane begins to deflate even more as she begins to tear up. “But….. But why would you want to get Twilight in trouble?? Why, Dashie? Twilight’s nice and she’s my friend and……”

Dash audibly groans. “Wake up, Pinkie! Twilight isn’t your friend! She never was! I’m your friend! And you ignored me and what I was saying all along! Twilight’s just using you!” Dash exclaims. “She’s the bad pony! I’m trying to save all of you from her brainwashing scheme! Like a snobby canterlot unicorn would want to be friends with you…...”

Pinkie’s eyes grow wide as her mane completely deflates. Her eyes begin to fill with tears as she backs away from Dash with a hurt look on her face. From her expression Dash can immediately tell that she has gone too far, and desperately tries to make things right again. “Oh… come on, Pinkie, I didn’t mean it like that..…”

“I can‘t believe it…. Twilight was right!” Pinkie’s mane instantly bounces back to its normal puffiness, a fire burning in her eyes. “The Dashie I know wouldn’t act this crazy; she wouldn't accuse a pony of not being my friend!”

The pink mare takes an accusatory step forward. “And she would never, EVER take something that didn’t belong to her!” Pinkie Pie manifests her white pegasus Stand, preparing to attack. “Dashie…. I don’t know why you’re acting this way. And I really really care about you in more ways than a party pony can say. But you’re going to stop being super crazy right now! For starters, give those Stones back to Twilight! And apologize for being a meanie-pants!”

“No way!” Dash shouts as she leaps into the air. “I can’t believe you’re betraying me like this, Pinkie! This is only more proof that Twilight is messing with your head! She’s gotten you to think I‘m the bad guy!”

Pinkie closes her eyes gently before opening them again. “Dashie, from where I’m standing, you are the bad guy.” Pinkie’s Stand surges forward, grabbing the blue mare’s saddlebags and dragging Rainbow Dash to the ground. “Now give Twilight’s stuff back!”

Reflexively Dash bats away the attacking Stand with her charged hoof, blowing away Pinkie’s Surprise and causing her to fall to the ground. Breathing heavily, the cerulean speedster picks herself off the ground as Pinkie rises directly across from her, recovering from Dash’s blow with minimal damage. “Pinkie…. I don’t want to hurt you,” the blue mare begins, “but if that’s what it takes to get my friend back…” The rainbow aura covers her hooves as Dash growls in anger, “…. then I will!”

Rushing forward to attack with her hooves, Dash’s lightning fast jab is dodged by Pinkie as her Stand moves in to defend. The blue mare attacks again, punching in a combo at Pinkie Pie, each razor sharp jab missing her by mere centimeters as the pink mare stumbles backwards, pulling off an impressive triple somersault to get out of Dash’s range. Seeing her friend’s speed at dodging, Dash flies directly at her again, this time twisting her body at the last second and turning her double hoof punch into a sweeping kick. Dodging below the spinning kick, Pinkie flattens her body against the ground as Dash swings her forelegs down, shattering the earth in an explosion of light and sound. Pinkie rolls out of the way just in time, throwing a cylindrical object straight at Dash. Yet Dash’s superior speed allows her to shatter the incoming object with a single punch, causing an entire king-sized jar’s worth of raspberry jam to cover her coat in its sticky sweetness. Dash flails about as she tries vainly to peel off an jar of jam off of her coat, barely managing to clear the gunk out of her eyes. “Ugh.. Pinkie! Stop playing around with pranks and just give...” Dash’s eyes widen in surprise, just as she is hit dead on with an expertly-swung frying pan.

Soaring through the air the blue mare lands in the lake, treading water like an epileptic fish as Pinkie grins at her misfortune. “I guess you could say that Dash is….” The pink mare pulls out a pair of sunglasses, placing them on her face only to take them off a second later. “…. all washed up! Get it? ‘Cause she’s all wet! He He!”

Twilight sighs as she walks up towards her friend. “Yes, Pinkie, I get it. I’m glad that you were able to stop Dash without any trouble…..” Twilight looks at the bubbles coming out of the lake. “Are you sure she’ll be okay? She hasn’t come up yet.”

Pinkie waves her hoof. “Nah, Dashie’s really tough! Plus I held back. She’ll be fine! Why this one time….”

Pinkie’s reminiscing is cut off as the entire lake explodes, a cascading wave of water four ponies high rushing directly at the two mares. Twilight barely has time to scream as the wave of water crashes over them, covering the field around them in over a foot of water. As the water recedes back into the lake Twilight pulls herself from the mud; looking around her she manages to locate Pinkie staring perfectly straight at the lake where Dash flying.

“Ha! Now who’s all wet?” Hovering inches above the lake is the loudmouth herself, the jam and water blown clean off her coat in the resulting explosion. “Pretty cool hunh! It seems like I can’t make a Rainboom without hitting something solid. So I swam to the bottom of the lake and just pummeled it as hard as I could! And man was that awesome! Hey Pinkie? When you’re not brainwashed any more let’s wait till Rarity comes by and splash her! Are you in?”

Pinkie stands facing straight ahead, looking at Dash with a dumb grin.

Dash coughs. “Pinkie? Come on, even you’ve got to admit that was awesome! Come on!”

The mare remains motionless, staring straight at Dash.

“So….” The rainbow mare seethes, “you’re so caught up in being friends with Twilight that you can’t even give me a compliment anymore? Is that it?!”

Pinkie doesn’t respond, looking straight ahead.

“Well? Answer me!”

The pink mare stands, not even acknowledging her friend’s presence.

“Fine,” Rainbow scoffs, “I was getting tired of your pranks too, Pinkie. I just hoped that you of all ponies would…… Forget it, it doesn’t matter. Let’s end this.” Generating all the speed that she can muster, Dash rushes directly at Pinkie with such suddenness she doesn’t have time to dodge. In a single instant the blow connects and the explosion of horrible power rips through the party pony’s body, shattering it into pieces. Both Twilight and a Dash look on in terror as the fragments of Pinkie’s body fly all over the field.

Dash is understandably horrified. “NOOOOO! Pinkie!” Looking down at her friend’s bloodless remains the mare begins to cry. “I’m… I didn’t mean to….” Flailing about, she picks up the pieces of her shattered friend. “I’m sorry, Pinkie! And don’t you worry, I’ll put you back together again. Those Stones grant wishes, right!? Don’t worry, I’ll gather all your wooden pieces and…” Rainbow stops in mid syllable, looking at the pink painted pieces of wood that she is gathering.

“You Hoo! Dashie! Look behind yoooou!”

Turning her head behind her Dash comes muzzle to muzzle with two things she would rather not see. One is a crazy pink mare her maniacal grin who is legitimately scaring her with her twisted smile. The second is a three hundred and fifty pound Party Cannon Mark 1.1.

Pinkie laughs at Dash’s apparent terror that she is staring down the barrel of the cannon. “Boy those wooden cut outs are sure realistic, now aren’t they, Dashie! It’s a shame you had to break it, but it did its duty admirably. Like getting a certain pony in just the right place for her surprise! I hope you like cotton threaded streamers cause you‘re getting one hundred of them per square inch.”

Dash stares in abject horror down the barrel of an armed Party Cannon, too shocked to even move. “Buc….”

Pinkie pulls the string, and in an instant Dash is hit with a thousand Newtons of force as several hundred streamers wrap around her like a cocoon. Ricocheting off the ground Dash takes in several deep gulps of air, struggling to breathe against the oppressive cloth bandages.

Satisfied with her work, Pinkie nods in appreciation at the prone Dash before bouncing over to Twilight. “Alright, smarty pants! Now’s your chance! Do your stuff!”

Twilight flinches as Pinkie puts her hoof on her shoulder. “Hunh? What do you mean? You’ve beaten Dash! Just what am I supposed to do?”

Pinkie giggles. “Twilight! I may have stopped Dash but now you need to make friends with her!” The pink mare taps her hoof over Twilight’s heart. “You need to show her that she’s just being silly by showing her what is really in here! And I think that you know exactly how to do that.”

Twilight looks from the struggling Rainbow Dash, who is flailing against her restraints, and back to her friend Pinkie. Suddenly a look of comprehension dawns across her face as she looks deep in Pinkie’s eyes. “Pinkie… You’re right! Dash isn’t a bad pony at heart and neither am I! I just have to show her that and everything will be all right.” Walking past Pinkie, the lavender mare trots cautiously to Dash, who is flailing against her restraints.

The rainbow mare snorts and stares at the unicorn as she approaches. “Well? Come to gloat? Or have you come to brainwash me like you have all my other friends?! Well I won’t give into your little tricks so easily! So come on, Do your worst! ‘Cause you’re not going to get me!”

“Dash… I’m not trying to hurt you… I just want to show you….”

Dash spits in her face, causing Twilight to flinch. “Liar! You’re against me! You’re all against me! You’ve turned everypony in this Celestia-forsaken town against me! Now let me out!”

“Dash….” Twilight points her hoof. “Your next line is going to be ‘let me go! I don’t need you guys! Leave me alone!’”

Struggling against the binding streamers Dash thrashes back and forth. “Let me go! I don’t need you guys! Leave me alone!” She suddenly stops thrashing. “What….. What am I…”

Twilight looks at the mare with sadness in her eyes. “Dash… Look at yourself…. You’ve become so wrapped up in your suspicion of me that you’ve pushed your best friends away! You stole something out of spite and you tried to hurt your friend Pinkie Pie! I may not know you very well, Rainbow Dash, but I do know that you never want to be alone.”

Twilight ignites her horn as she manifests her Stand inches in front of Rainbow Dash. “I have nothing to hide, Dash, and I’m about to prove it…” Lowering her horn to Rainbow’s head Twilight activates her Friends’ power, her eyes illuminating with a bright white light. Instantly, Twilight makes mental contact with Dash as their minds come together in a flash of color. Twilight’s mental-self fumbles about in a storm of thought and feeling, foreign ideas and images flashing into existence around her as she tries to retain her sanity. ‘Stop,’ the lavender mare thinks to herself. ‘STOP!’ Images swim before the eye of Twilight’s mind, racing and flowing through her very core.

‘STOOOOPPPP!!’ All of a sudden everything stops. The images come together and out of chaos comes order, forming into a single memory.

Twilight finds herself on a simple airstrip surrounded by clouds, the airstrip itself on a plateau hundreds of feet off the ground, as various pegasus ponies fly about through colored rings collecting yellow flags. The lavender mare shakes herself off as her mental avatar comes together. “This is the Wonderbolts training field… but why would Dash…?”

“So you’re going to do it!?” Twilight turns her head to see a very familiar filly in front of her. Her coat is light blue, her mane still prismatic, the filly bounces like a top around the legs of an older mare wearing a Wonderbolts uniform. “You’re really going to do it?”

“Well...” The older mare thinks while tapping her hoof to her chin. Her pink coat and blue mane fitting snugly within her Wonderbolts uniform. “Nopony was ever recorded to have done the Sonic Rainboom before. Even I might not be able to pull it off…”

“Aww but mom! You’re the best flier in Equestria!” The rainbow filly pouts. “And if you don’t pull it off, then all these ponies who came out to watch you try it would be really disappointed!” The filly gives her mother the most adorable and cute look a little filly can muster. Her eyes expand to the size of small dinner plates as her mother chuckles.

“Well, I suppose that I can’t disappoint my fans, now can I?” The Wonderbolt pats the filly, rustling her mane. “Especially my number one fan!”

The filly beams. “You mean….?”

The adult nods. “I’ll give it my all! But only on one condition, my little Dashie.” The mare puts her hoof on her daughter’s chest. “I’ll try my best, I won’t quit, only if you don’t. So when I’m out there today I want you to give me your biggest cheer!” The mare leans in close. “Is that a promise?”

The filly salutes with pride in her eyes. “Yes Ma’am! I won’t let you down!”

The mare tickles the filly’s belly. “That’s my little girl. Now go on back to your father and let your old mare warm up before her big show!”

The filly nods to her mother and rushes over towards her father, taking only a single look back before rushing up towards a rainbow-maned stallion with a darker blue coat.

“So?” the stallion asks the filly, “did you give your mother the encouragement that she needed?” The filly nods. “Good! ‘Cause that’s what she needs right now.”

The filly waves her hoof. “Psht! Mom doesn’t need encouragement; she’s the Blue Valkyrie of the Wonderbolts! She’ll pull of the Sonic Rainboom in ten seconds flat! You’ll see!”

The stallion nods at his filly, however his eyes locked staring at his wife betray his nervousness. “I hope so, Squirt….. Your mom is the best flier in Equestria, no doubt. But sometimes I wish that she would calm down with her routines and think about how dangerous they are. Sometimes I wonder why she has to pull off such dangerous tricks like this.”

The filly rubs her face against her father’s hoof. “That’s cause lots of ponies are depending on her, dad! She can’t afford to mess up!”

The father looks down at his daughter and smiles. “You’re right, Dashie. Your mother always was the kind of pony who others could depend on, and she’s always the first one to waltz into danger with a smile on her face. That’s what I love about her.” The stallion gently takes his daughter’s hoof. “Now come on, the show’s about to start. Let’s get to our seats.”

The bright sunny scene fades away instantly before Twilight’s eyes, the bright hues of the sky fading away into the chaos of the void. The purple mare flails around. “Wait! What was that? That was… Dash’s Father, and her Mother… was a Wonderbolt! And she was the Blue Valkyrie no less! No wonder she wants to be one so much,” the mare thinks aloud, “but what happened next? From what I could tell everything was fine…. Just what happened?”

Twilight turns away from the scene in front of her as if to quash her own curiosity. “You know what, forget it. This is obviously private so I should just find my way…”

Her peddling through empty space gives way as another scene forms around her. However, whereas the previous scene was bright and sunny, this one is as dark and gloomy as a funeral procession. The young filly from before stands at the entryway to a small ramshackle house, standing much taller and stronger after years of growth. Though obviously still a filly, she stands with the disposition and maturity of a mare many times her age. Upon her flank is a cutie mark of a cloud shooting a bolt of rainbow-colored lightning.

“…. I can’t believe it….” Twilight turns her head towards the side to see a stallion, his coat and mane the colors of Rainbow’s father. However, from his disheveled appearance and bloodshot eyes it is obvious this is not the stallion that she saw before. “I just can’t believe you would be that stupid!” the stallion slurs. “You raced with my boss’s son after he I explicitly told you to leave him alone, and you embarrassed him and his friend by cheating him in a race? What were you thinking! Do you want me to lose my job!?!”

“I didn’t cheat!” the rainbow mare yells at the stallion as she takes a step forward. “And for your information, it’s kind of hard to ignore a stallion that’s relentlessly bullying me and my friends!”

The stallion laughs as he picks up a bottle, taking a large draught from it before speaking again. “Friends? You mean that shy filly that won’t speak to anypony else? She can barely fly let alone make friends with a ruffian that would rather pick fights with the boss’s son.”

“That boss’s son was going to shave off her mane! What was I supposed to do, WATCH?!”

“…… At least she’s mature enough not to go leaping into trouble……” the stallion says as he takes another swig.

“I didn’t go looking for trouble! Trouble came looking for me!” The mare turns her flank to give her father a visible display of her cutie mark. “Besides, you were so caught up in yourself that you missed the most important part! I got my cutie mark! And I got it for being a speedster! Take a look!”

The stallion stops mid rant, putting his bottle on the cluttered coffee table before taking a step closer to his daughter. Squinting his eyes he takes a look at the cutie mark his daughter is presenting in front of his face, only to break out into cruel laughter. “Cutie mark for being a speedster my flank! Like any daughter of mine is going to waste their lives being a ‘daredevil’. HA!” The stallion walks over to the couch and slumps down, picking up his bottle again. “That cutie mark stands for weather control, just like mine. It’s nothing special…”

“It is so!” the mare yells, taking a step forward. “It stands for being a speedster just like mom’s. It stands for being daring and standing up for something! Unlike what you do! Sitting around drunk all day!”

The stallion growls, “Don’t you dare speak of your mother that way. She was five times the mare you would ever be……” as he once again turns to his drink. “You know, I’ve decided. This ‘flight camp’ is filling your head with all these ridiculous thoughts. I’ll work on switching you over to the weather factory training camp tomorrow.”

“No!” the filly yells, “I did get it for being a speedster! I got if for being fast just like mom! And I did it! I did it Dad! I pulled off the Sonic Rainboom! I did it just…” A thrown bottle hits the rainbow mare in the face, sending her falling to the ground. Blood drips from her muzzle as the stallion stands to his hooves, breathing heavily.

“LIAR!! Like you, the most clumsy flier in her class, could beat a pair so stallions two years older than her!” The stallion sneers. “And a Sonic Rainboom! That’s the biggest load that I’ve ever heard! You know that you fly like a ditz! Why do you insist on lying to yourself like this all the time; you’re not some ‘super athlete’ so why do you insist on believing these lies?”

“Because I can!” the filly cries, “I did do it! I did the Sonic…..”

“Bull,” the stallion repeats himself. “If your mother, the greatest flier in Equestrian history, couldn’t pull off something she spent her whole life preparing for, what makes you think a little deluded filly who is the clumsiest flier I’ve ever seen could ever pull it off?”

The filly gives the stallion a glare of righteous anger that immediately cuts him off; the look in her eyes not one of hatred but a look of pure determination and resolve. “Because I’m my mother’s daughter. That’s why.”

The stallion stops his rant immediately at this, his mouth hanging open as if struggling with what to say. Finally the stallion grunts and lounges back on the couch, reaching for another round of his ambrosia. “Fine….. You want to fail? You want to be some ‘hero’? You want to believe that you’re any good? Fine, be my guest! I won’t stop you!” The stallion drinks deep of his liquid as his voice turns deadly cold. “Just walk out that door.”

The little filly turns towards the door, her eyes suddenly widening as she pictures life outside; and suddenly Rainbow Dash is not so brave. “Out… Outside?”

The stallion grins. “I won’t stop you from chasing a pipe dream, SQUIRT! But if you want to chase it you’ll have do so alone.” The stallion takes another drink. “That means no money for flight school, no roof over your head, no dinner at night, nothing. You’ll get nothing and you’ll get nowhere without me to provide for you. I may be a drunk but I make more money in one day of supervising the weather patrol than a talentless filly like you could in a month.”

The filly rises to her hooves, turning her head towards her father. ”……. You would really do that…. You would really do that… to me?”

The stallion takes a look at his drink. “I already lost my wife…… I lost her because she was stupid and impulsive, just like how you are acting. As far as I’m concerned, if you are so dead set on living this delusion that you’re some kind of ‘speedster’,” The stallion laughs darkly as he takes another swig of his drink. “Then you’re just as dead to me.”

The filly takes a looks at the stallion behind her, then she takes a look at the door, and all of a sudden her mind is made up. “Then I guess that I’m dead to you.”

The mare walks over to the door, no longer a scared little filly, and opens it looking into the dark night outside. Turning her head to look at the stallion behind her, Dash hopes beyond hope that he has changed his mind, that he was bluffing all along. Yet the mare is heartbroken to see that the stallion isn’t even looking at her anymore. “Good bye…. Spectrum.” The mare walks out and slams the door, causing the entire world to shatter around Twilight.

Suddenly she falls backwards on her flank, landing on the green grass beneath her. Looking before her, she sees the rainbow mare in front of her, crying tears of pain. Realizing that she has returned to the real world Twilight gets back up on her hooves. “Dash…. Dash are you okay? I’m sorry for peeking in your mind, I’m sorry, it just happened and…..”

“… How dare you….” Dash mutters to herself. “HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO ME!” she yells at the top of her lungs. In her anger she tears through the ribbons holding her to the ground, ripping them to pieces with her overwhelming rage at her memories being defiled. In an instant the rainbow mare is on top of Twilight, her fists raised to attack as the crying librarian lies beneath her. “…… A dirty loser Like YOU!” Twilight is unable to close her eyes as the terror overtakes her, Dash’s hoof moving in slow motion as she prepares to strike a lethal blow against the prone mare.

“RAINBOW DARING DASH, YOU STOP THIS INSTANT!” Just as the blow is about to fall upon Twilight’s brow, it stops dead in its tracks. Twilight turns her head to see the angered face of Fluttershy, staring Dash down with a look that could burn wood, with a panting and out-of-breath Rarity beside her. “How dare you… HOW DARE YOU!”

The rainbow mare backs up off of Twilight as Fluttershy advances. “NOW LISTEN HERE MISS! JUST BECAUSE YOU’RE UPSET THAT WE’RE NOT SPENDING TIME WITH YOU DOESN'T MEAN THAT YOU GET TO BE A BULLY!”

Rainbow Dash, the most athletic pony in Ponyville, trips over her own hooves falling, flat on her flank. “YOU MAY BE STRONGER THAN ME! FASTER THAN ME! AND OVERALL BRAVER THAN ME! BUT YOU DO NOT! I REPEAT!”

Once again Dash backpedals trying in vain to put as much distance between herself and the yelling yellow pegasus. “YOU DO NOT HURT MY FRIENDS!”

Rainbow Dash now stares into the depths of Fluttershy’s eyes, looking for some hint of mercy, only to find an empty and merciless void of endless darkness. “You got that? WELL?!”

Rainbow Dash sputters on the ground, trying to come up with a vain justification for her actions. “But…. But Twilight and brainwashing… and all you guys….”

“And I am very sorry that you felt left out,” Fluttershy apologies. “But I think that Twilight is right.” Waving her hoof around her, she draws Rainbow’s eyes to the devastation around her, caused by her and Pinkie’s fight. “You’re stronger than she is, but surely you can see that all this is doing is hurting the ponies that care about you! You’re hurting me and Pinkie and even Applejack with this. We’re not trying to exclude you from anything, and we don’t think any less of you.”

Fluttershy shakes her head. “And I certainly know that it was wrong to keep secrets from you like that. But can you see just exactly what you have done by not talking about it?”

Dash looks around her to see the faces of her friends, Fluttershy, Pinkie and... and even Twilight Sparkle. Yes, even her; Dash realized that, while in her mind, Twilight never had any intention of separating her from her friends. ‘It was me…’ Dash thinks to herself, ‘it was me all along…’

“Well, Dash?” Fluttershy asks, “what do you think?”

And with those few words, the dammed-up emotions come crashing down. All her fear of abandonment, all her hatred of Twilight, all her disappointment in herself, all the bitterness she has been bottling up inside of her ever since her mother passed away comes pouring out. In the blink of an eye, Fluttershy finds herself grasped in the tightest, most desperate hug Rainbow Dash can muster as she bawls like a baby into her coat. Dash cries into her best friend’s arms, sobbing as the weight of what she has done comes crashing down on her head; the guilt at her actions and the ways in which she had hurt her friends becoming as crystal-clear to the mare as the sky above.

Abandoning her selfish pride, Dash begins to cry out in nonsensical syllables how sorry she is, how much of an idiot she was, and most importantly how much her friends really mean to her.

She does this as she comes to grips with her own worst enemy; not Twilight and her ‘scheming’, but her own fears of being abandoned by the ponies she cares so much about.

And with that, Rainbow Dash continues to cry as she finds herself surrounded and embraced by friends both new and old.

…………………Later in the Golden Oaks Library…………………

“….. Well,” Fluttershy says to the group sitting around the table, consisting of her, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight Sparkle. By now Dash has visibly calmed down, her cool demeanor and posture having returned; however, her face is still creased with a look of shame that is mirrored by Twilight. “Now that we’ve all calmed down, is there anything that we have to say?”

Rainbow Dash turns her head towards the lavender mare. “Sorry for destroying your library and attacking you, Twilight. It was very wrong of me to let my suspicions get the better of me and for that I am really sorry.”

“And I’m sorry too,” Twilight says, “for insulting you behind your back while keeping secrets from you. And I am very sorry that I looked into your mind like that; I know that what I saw was…. private.”

Dash waves her hoof. “That’s okay, Twilight. I know that you don’t have the best control over your Stand yet.”

Twilight suddenly grows serious. “Dash….. How did you know that? About my Stand and….”

Rainbow Dash taps her head. “Mental link, remember? While you were digging around in my head I was taking a look in yours. I know all about Stands and the Strange Stones; that’s why I knew you weren’t a bad pony and it’s how I know that you won’t tell anypony what you saw.”

Rainbow Dash grins like a devil. “Besides, I had the opportunity to look into your mind as well! And I just so happened to take a look at something really private of yours!” Rainbow Dash gets back up in Twilight’s face. “So if you ever think of telling anypony what you saw, then the next morning everypony in town will know who your first crush was!”

Twilight gulps in fear as she remembers something she had rather forgotten. The chocolates, the awkward blushing, and all those hoof written cards. Twilight fearfully crosses her heart with a Pinkie Promise. “You have my word, Dash, nopony will ever know what I saw in your mind.”

Dash stares into her eyes for a moment as if judging her truthfulness, before nodding in confirmation. “Good. Now, next order of business: I want in!”

“Dash….” Twilight puts her hoof on her shoulder.

“Look you guys, I know that what I did was lousy and hurtful to all of you, but just hear me out!” Dash takes a deep breath in and lets it out. “I guess, I guess that I was just so convinced you were up to something, that you were trying to steal what friends I had, and turn them against me, that I sort of lost my better judgment. That was seriously uncool of me.” Dash looks up. “That’s why I have to help out; I have to make up for……”

Twilight places her hoof over Dash’s mouth, cutting off the weather pony. “Dash… I was going to say ‘welcome aboard.’”

As the lavender mare takes her hoof off of her lips, Rainbow Dash’s surprise is evident. “A what?! But I attacked Pinkie! I tried to attack you!”

Pinkie laughs at this. “Silly Dashie! We’ve already all forgiven you. Besides, that was a pretty fun scrap we got into and nobody got really hurt so it’s all okie dokie lokie! And even if it wasn’t okie, dokie or lokie I would still really really REALLY like you anyways!”

Rarity walks up, placing her hoof on Dash’s shoulder. “We’ve all forgiven you, darling. I must admit that, though I wasn't there for most of it, it seems to me that you did what you did because you thought your friends were in danger, and I can understand why you would seek to protect them like that.”

Fluttershy moves up, placing her hoof on Dash. “It’s all right, Dashie. I know that getting a strange power can be really upsetting and you can easily be tempted to abuse it. But the Dash that I know would never fight somepony unless she thought she was protecting her friends. That’s just the kind of pony you are.”

They all pull the blue speedster into a tight hug, letting her know that all her crimes and suspicions are undoubtably forgiven. And it is this wonderful, heartfelt moment that is ruined by Twilight’s mind catching up to what her pegasus friend just said. “Wait a minute!” the lavender mare explodes. Suddenly all of the ponies in the room are looking at her. “Fluttershy! You used some kind of power to stop Dash. How did you do that?”

Fluttershy immediately backs away. “Oh… well…. Ummm you see…”

Now Dash is curious. “Yeah, Fluttershy. I’ve never seen you do that before. I mean, it was scary as Tartarus and all when you caught me in that stare of yours, but mare was that cool! How did you do it? Did you learn it before or after flight camp? ‘Cause if you did, why didn’t you use it before when you were bullied? I mean, I didn’t mind standing up for you and all…”

The butter-yellow mare’s rear hits the wall as she tries to think her way out of her present situation. “Um… well… that was….. Um. Nothing special! Yes, that’s right, I mean it was just a very important lecture from a friend that stopped Dash! It certainly wasn’t anything that I did! That is…. Um…”

Twilight looks at Fluttershy with an ‘are you kidding me’ expression that lets her know that she is not so easily fooled. Suddenly, the lavender mare manifests her Stand, throwing a fast punch inches from the yellow mare’s face.

“EEEPPPPP!” Fluttershy falls to her hooves in terror.

“Well would you look at that. Fluttershy can see my Stand.” Twilight smiles as she looks at the cowering yellow pegasus. “That must mean she has a Stand power. Could you imagine that?”

Fluttershy, realizing that the jig is up, slowly pulls herself off the floor as her friend Rarity walks to her side. “Fluttershy darling, is that true?” the fashionista asks.

Shyly, the yellow pegasus nods. “Um… I didn’t want to scare any of you….. but yes. I kind of got it when we found that first Miracle St..…”

“Strange Stone!” Twilight barks out.

“…. Strange Stone and I kept it secret so that I wouldn’t frighten any of you.”

Rarity nearly swoons. “But daaaarrrrrrlllliiinnnggggg? Why in Equestria would you want to hide such a fabulous and magnificent ability from us? Why would you think that we would be scared of your Stand power?”

“Well….” The Fluttershy shuffles her hooves. “When I first found out that I had this power I… kind of used it to….. threaten Carrot Top…..”

“What?!” the group shouts.

“It was an accident!” Fluttershy blurts out as she begins to panic. “I just wanted her to share some of her carrots with the hungry rabbits but she was so rude telling them to take a hike like that. So I tried to tell her nicely that sharing was important and she emptied her entire cart to them and the bunnies swarmed her and she lost her entire day’s produce and…… and the screams…. Oh the horrible horrible….” Fluttershy looks around to see the gaping mouths of the group. “Well, um…….. she recovered, but I just didn’t want to scare you like that. Besides, making ponies do something that they don’t want to is….. Mean……”

Walking up to the timid mare, Twilight puts her hoof around her shoulder, pulling her into a comforting hug. “Well I understand that you aren’t entirely comfortable with your Stand, and if you don’t want to use it I won’t force you to. It’s your power, and you are the one that decides how and when to use it.”

Fluttershy perks up at this. “Wait… you’re…. you’re not going to force me to do something that I’m uncomfortable with? But my power….. I mean it can do so much! You all would really be fine…. If I didn’t want to use it?”

“Yeah!” Dash blurts out. “You don’t have to do all the heavy lifting when you have an awesome pony like me to pick up the slack! Between me and Applejack we could find all these ‘Stone’ thingies in less than ten seconds flat!”

Fluttershy looks very comforted by these words. “You guys… thank you….. I just don’t know what to say.” The mare straightens up. “No, I do know what to say! I want to help you to! And if you really need me to, I’ll fight too..….” Suddenly the mare’s confidence and enthusiasm die completely. “That is, within reasonable limits….” Fluttershy shuffles her hooves. “That is to say, if you don’t mind……” Finally, Fluttershy begins to blush and mumble. “That is to say….. Um…… never mind……”

Reaching a sudden realization, Dash looks around the room as if searching for something. “Hey? I don’t mean to spoil the moment like this, I mean you are all my friends….” the rainbow mare states as she looks around, “but where‘s Applejack? What, was she too busy to help out or what? I don‘t mean to say we’re joined at the hip or something but I would expect my greatest rival to show up and stop me when I went on a rampage. Where the hay is she?”

Rarity looks around. “Not to be so brash, darlings, but I mirror Dash’s sentiments. Where is Applejack? I would expect that she would be the first to help in a situation like this.”

Twilight puts her hoof on her chin, remembering just when she saw Applejack last. Suddenly interrupting her train of thought, the door bursts open, a familiar orange mare in the doorway. “Ah’m right here, yawl!” The group turns to see nopony else but Applejack, beaming like the winner of the ‘Best Apple Products in Equestria’ award.

“Applejack!” Rainbow Dash shouts, “‘bout time you decided to show up! What kept you?”

Applejack tips her hat. “Sorry, yawl, Ah had other business to attend ta. But enough a that. Ah have great news!” Walking towards the table, she stares Twilight in the eyes with a smug grin. “Heh, Twi, yawl said Ah was crazy. Yawl said ‘magic stones granting wishes were illogical’. Well let’s see yer evidence refute this!” Turning towards the door, the orange mare let out a loud holler, “Applebloom, come in here an meet mah friends!”

Entering the doorway is a small filly whose very presence dumbfounds the ever-punctual and always-factual Twilight Sparkle. A normal earth pony filly of around ten to thirteen years of age, possessing a yellow coat slightly darker than Fluttershy’s and a blazing red head of mane, is none other than the youngest of the apple Family, Applebloom. Sporting a smart pink ribbon that contrasts with her bright red mane is the filly that Twilight had to resort to putting in a coma in order to save her life. The same filly that for all logical reasons should still be in said coma. Twilight’s eyes widen as she recalls Applebloom’s supposed condition and how it so blatantly contrasts with the fact she is walking across the floor towards the table. Twilight’s mouth gapes as she tries to process what she is seeing. “….. Do you know what this calls for, everypony?”

Pinkie jumps up out of nowhere, throwing up a cloud of confetti. “An ‘I‘m glad that you’re not in a coma anymore’ party?”

“No. But definitely later,” Twilight comforts the disappointed Pinkie. “No, this degree of chaos and disorganization calls for something only I can deliver.”

Everypony leans in as Twilight take in a deep breath. “This, my friends, calls for a Group Meeting.”

Author's Note:

Chapter END: Status:
Area Discovered: Practice Field
Party Status: Rainbow Dash Joined your Party!
Party Status: Rainbow Dash Gained a Stand!
Stand: Valkyrie
Party Status: Fluttershy revealed her Stand
Stand: Thousand Yard Stare
Enemies: Rainbow Dash (Reformed)
Allies: Applebloom Recovered!
Items: Strange Stones X 4 (Recovered!)
Sack of recovered Red Stones Delivered to Canterlot
MOVE TO NEXT STAGE!→

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