My Little Equestroid: Stompin' is Magic

by ForeverChasingRainbows

Chapter 23 - Sky of Three Suns, Land of Precious Ore

**Rainbow Dash**

Rainbow Dash didn't want to open her eyes.

She'd been awake for what felt like hours, but she knew it had probably only been a minute or two in reality. She could still feel the sunlight on her body, and the dusty rock scraping against her coat as she shifted restlessly, but as long as she didn't see it again, it wasn't real.

She'd wanted to deny the dream, and continue ignoring all the other signs that had been mounting up; but when Rainbow had first awakened and briefly opened her eyes, the truth had been staring her right in the face.

Equestria did not have three suns.

With her prodigious flying abilities, Rainbow Dash had never been more than a few seconds from another pony, from dozens of other ponies. Now, it didn't matter how fast she was - there was no direction she could fly, no speed she could go, that would return her to her friends.

What if something happens to them? If I'm not there, and... it'll all be my fault. Almost buried beneath a crumbling veneer of bravado, another thought presented itself. What if I need them to be here for me?

Except somehow, they had been. At the end of the dream, Rainbow had sensed all of them. It had been a strange experience, being the target of the Elements, but Rainbow had known right away that was what was happening. It felt similar to using them in a way - and she had been doing that at the same time - but there had been something else to it that was making her uncomfortable. She'd felt the resistance, the sensation of something burning away beneath the magic, the way it had been with Nightmare Moon... and at the same time felt that part of herself being scoured by arcane fire. It was almost as if the Elements found something in her they didn't like, although Rainbow didn't feel like she was missing anything. In fact, she wasn't feeling all that bad, physically. They'd certainly gone some way to revitalising her battered body, which was a definite plus.

The Elements had also fixed up the holes in her memories, however - no matter how much Rainbow wished they hadn't. The blood on her hooves had vanished at some point during her journey between worlds, but she knew it was still there.

In a desperate bid to block out the thoughts and images that were bound to follow if she let herself drift down the road to the recent past, Rainbow Dash did what she always did when things got tough - find the nearest problem, and buck it in the face until it surrendered. All of a sudden, opening her eyes and facing this strange world didn't seem like such a bad idea after all.

Alright, that's it. Enough moping around.

Slowly testing out her limbs, Rainbow rose and stretched each in turn. A few careful rotations and experimental flaps shut down any niggling fears about losing the ability to fly again - the air was uniformly hot and dry, but it pushed and flowed around her wings the way it was supposed to.

So long as I keep hold of this thing, looks like I'm fine, she thought, transferring the red gem she had liberated from her foreleg to beneath her wing. Holding onto it is gonna be a pain. I'll have to keep swapping it from wing to leg and back every time I take off or land. She didn't want to risk burning her mouth on this one, although she hadn't noticed it getting hot like the first gem had before it broke.

I think that vapour last night... this morning, whatever, might have been the only water this air's seen in a long time. Rainbow scraped a sandpapery tongue around her mouth, grimacing at the taste. Either the local weather team sucks, or nopony lives around here. Wait, should it be nohorse? Nohorsey? Rainbow Dash blinked and stifled a giggle. Okay, now I get why the ones in Daring Do stuck with 'pony', those both sound silly. The giggle spread into a wide grin as another thought struck her; or rather, she saw another perspective on an existing one. She was stuck in a weird fantasy world with three suns, strange weather, and glowing crystal artefacts; full of horses and giant freaky aliens. A moment ago that had been frightening, highlighting how alone and isolated she was, but now Rainbow Dash could also see a whole world of adventure ahead of her.

This... is gonna be awesome. And if it's not, she stamped a hoof emphatically, I'm gonna make it awesome.

The top of the rock spire on which she now stood was relatively flat, if a little small. The smooth, hard, reddish stone looked like it had seen nothing but sunshine and wind for quite some time. Rainbow casually trotted the couple of steps to the edge and looked down at the ground.

There's gotta be more of those horses around here somewhere. Turning her head back up from the drab, dusty surface below, Rainbow had to narrow her eyes against the glare from the trinary suns. Do they have three Celestias, or does their Princess just do all three? she wondered idly. One red, one blue and one yellow. Weird. Why do they even need three anyway?

A voice calling out from below and behind her startled Rainbow Dash back into motion. She dove back into the middle of her rocky perch, then shuffled to the opposite edge on her belly and poked her head over the side. It seemed the creatures from her prison had followed her.

Or at least one of them has. Heh, it's wearing a hat like AJ's. Looks kinda silly on... whatever it is.

It was a little worrying that the thing had managed to find her, but it wasn't like it had wings. Rainbow Dash was quite confident that her high perch would be more than enough to keep her out of its reach, and even if that failed she could just fly off. She decided this would be a good opportunity to get a better look at the thing following her.

The tall creature seemed similar to the bipedal pig-thing, and was presumably the third being she had avoided in the dark room in which she had found the crystal. Rainbow unconsciously clutched the gem a little tighter beneath her wing, determined not to lose it. This biped was mostly yellow, except for a blue bit in the middle of its chest, and wore a white hat and white boots on all four of its limbs.

No, wait, they aren't called boots when you put them on claws... socks? No, that's not it. Gah, never mind, I'll have to ask Rarity later. She tried to ignore the niggling voice that added If I ever see her again, to the end of that thought. No, they'll find me, she reassured herself, before her competitive streak chimed in to add, unless I find my way back to them first.

All of the coloured parts of the creature seemed to be clothing though; only on its flat muzzle-less face was a small amount of its apparently hairless light brown hide visible. It was waving at her, maybe beckoning, but Rainbow found it difficult to tell what it was trying to say. How am I supposed to tell what you want? Can't understand a freaking thing you're saying, and your body language is even worse. No tail, no wings, tiny little eyes... and whatever those crazy side-ear things are meant to be, I don't even know what to make of those. They don't even move, I mean, seriously.

"What the hay do you want?" she shouted down at the thing, confusion turning to anger. Somehow, they'd taken her away from her friends. Even taken her from Equestria to wherever this crazy place was. They'd even done something to her wings, her ability to fly. That thought brought back some of her apprehension, and Rainbow took to the air hurriedly, gem cradled in one leg, to get a little further away from her pursuer. "What did you do to me, and how do I get home?"

**BraveStarr**

Uh-oh, that ain't good, the Marshal thought, mind jumping through options one after another as the tiny flying creature shouted something unintelligible, but obviously angry, at him. If we can't understand each other, how am I gonna convince it I'm friendly, and get it away from here before Stampede grabs it?

Nothing immediately sprang to mind, but then again he wasn't exactly firing on all cylinders at the moment - a part of him was too intent on just studying the brightly-coloured creature, trying to process exactly what it was. Superficially it resembled a small pony, although it was only a little bigger than your average dog. Beyond the basics of overall body shape, however, the equine comparison didn't quite work.

For a start, I'm pretty sure horses don't have wings. And even if they did, they ain't light enough to fly - especially with wings that small. The head looks a little wrong too, and I ain't even gonna start on the colours. If you grant the whole flying thing then I could maybe understand the coat as some kinda sky camouflage, but there's no hidin' that mane. After a moment, something else strange occurred to him. It ain't even bobbin' up and down as it moves its wings, it's just hangin' there. Like the flapping is just an afterthought.

Glancing down, brow furrowed in thought, BraveStarr tried to come up with some sort of plan. Even if it's weaker than the initial burst, I can still feel the magic comin' off the thing from a mile away. Anyone with a lick of talent's gonna be able to track it down, I've got to get it someplace safe where I can protect it. Tipping his hat forward briefly to scratch his head, BraveStarr grimaced as the spirit creature became increasingly agitated. Gallopin' galaxies it's gettin' mad. What am I supposed to do now?

He looked back up at the winged pony-creature to find it glaring down at him through narrowed eyes, voice angry and accusative. One foreleg still clutched the X-Kerium chunk it had taken from the generator, pinning the faintly-glowing crystal to its chest, but the other was pointed off at something behind him. Almost immediately he caught the distinctive whine of jetbike engines in the distance.

Damnit, too late. That's gotta be Tex and the gang. Then, the accusative tone triggered a connection in the Marshal's head. It thinks I'm with them? That I was distracting it while they caught up?

Before BraveStarr had time to think of a way to communicate his benign intentions, the spirit wheeled about in the air and shot off - a rapidly-fading rainbow contrail in its wake. The Marshal sighed, before moving off in pursuit. At least you're runnin' away from them, even if you're runnin' from me too, he thought as he accelerated, calling upon his guardian spirits for speed once more. Guess I just gotta stick with you until we can figure somethin' out.

Only a few short seconds later, BraveStarr realised that he was rapidly being outpaced by the tiny spirit, even though he was currently running about as fast as the pursuing jet-powered Turbo-Mules could fly at full throttle. With an effort he pushed his speed higher, hoping to catch the fleeing creature and try to reason with it. As soon as he started gaining on the spirit, however, it accelerated again - and each time he put on another burst of speed, it matched him. Several times he closed the distance a little to see the small pony shouting something over its shoulder at him, seemingly taunting him. The third time he almost caught up with it - or, he was beginning to suspect, was allowed to catch up with it - it was even flying backwards. It had the X-Kerium crystal hooked in its back legs as it flew in reverse, leaning back with its forelegs folded behind its head. BraveStarr couldn't help but find the cocky grin on its small blue muzzle absolutely infuriating.

"Slow down dangit, I'm tryin' to help you!" he shouted, exasperated. "Ya can't even see where you're goin'!"

The pony's only response was a loud raspberry and several silly, contorted facial expressions, which only served to annoy BraveStarr further. The small pony's mirth was short-lived, however, as the rather inevitable consequences of flying backwards at high speed through a land covered in canyons and rock mesas caught up with it. BraveStarr had to slam on the brakes to turn round when the object of his pursuit impacted against a tall, thin rock spire with an ear-splitting crack.

Oh no...

Turning, BraveStarr quickly dashed back towards the site of the crash as the top twenty feet of the spire in question let out a grinding, splintering protest. Fractured by the impact, a segment of the stone pillar collapsed on itself - the huge piece above settling downward before twisting and ponderously falling sideways. The ground shook as tons of rock slammed to earth with a titanic boom, throwing up a cloud of choking sand and dust.

BraveStarr could barely believe his ears as he approached the wreckage, but he could distinctly hear choking and spluttering - along with several other things that were either simple vocalisations of pain, or whatever passed for swearing in the little spirit's language - inside the concealing cloud.

"Hello?" he called out, trying to pick out the brightly-coloured spirit in amongst the slowly clearing dust. "I can't believe I'm asking this after a crash like that, but... are you okay?"

The only response was a slight intensification in the pained, angry vocalisations - which, BraveStarr now decided, was almost certainly cursing. As he advanced carefully into the debris cloud, a handkerchief held over his mouth and nose, BraveStarr felt something bounce off his boot; something which rolled away across the dusty floor with a glassy clinking sound. Kneeling down and feeling around with his hands, he soon caught hold of the object and brought it close enough to his face to see. A small smile crossed his features when he saw he held the X-Kerium nugget the spirit had been carrying.

Jackpot, he thought. You seem to be pretty attached to this thing. Let's see if giving it back will earn me a bit of trust.

As he straightened back up, the last of the obscuring dust began to clear - revealing the small winged equine sitting on the desert ground, both forehooves wrapped around its head. It was scanning the area through one half-opened eye, and the ears atop its head were darting back and forth rapidly. No sooner had he spotted it than it noticed him in return, ears tracking round to face him as both its eyes snapped wide open. It made to stand, but its wings and legs tangled in an uncoordinated mess as it staggered and fell sideways. It quickly righted itself again and stood, but it couldn't seem to prevent itself from swaying slightly. After rearing up unsteadily and kicking its forehooves out at him a few times, it seemed to grow tired of whatever it was saying and dropped back to all fours.

As it did, BraveStarr noticed the colour seemed to be bleeding out of the tiny creature. Its coat faded to an almost flat grey, with barely a trace of the pale blue remaining, and its prismatic mane grew steadily more desaturated. It flapped its tiny wings a few times, then paused as it stayed firmly rooted to the ground. BraveStarr stood still as the winged pony stared at him, its pupils constricting in obvious terror as it hesitantly stepped backward, still fruitlessly flapping its wings. After a second it tore its eyes from him and began frantically scanning the ground nearby, searching for something and on the verge of panic. Seeing its obvious distress and wanting to help, BraveStarr took a step towards the spirit creature. As soon as he moved closer, the creature jumped back with a yelp and scrambled away from him, backing up to sit on its haunches against the base of the shattered pillar. He felt an immediate pang of guilt for scaring it and stopped, resisting the urge to move closer.

Why is its colour fading like that, BraveStar thought, and why can't it fly? Then he realised that something else was different about the small equine - he couldn't feel the magic coming off it any more. And Kerium is a magical amplifier as well as a fuel source... then this situation might be worse than Shaman feared. It looks like there isn't enough magic in our world to sustain a spirit like this. We're lucky we have this piece of X-Kerium here, otherwise I don't know what might have happened to it.

Crouching down, he held out the chunk of X-Kerium the spirit had been carrying. "Is this what you're looking for?" he said, trying to keep his voice non-threatening. The pony's large eyes focused on the crystal in his hand immediately, and its ears dropped as its shoulders slumped in defeat. The expression of pain and fear held on its features as it turned its eyes up to him was almost too much to bear, but the way it slowly transformed when BraveStarr gently tossed the X-Kerium onto the ground between them made up for it. Confusion mingled with fear as it looked from him to the crystal on the ground, to be slowly replaced by more positive things; hope, as the spirit creature tentatively approached the red crystal, never taking its eyes off him; then happiness and incredulous gratitude as it scooped up the Kerium and retreated back to its starting position. As soon as it took the fist-sized gem in its mouth, the colour returned to its body - and BraveStarr could once more feel the warm, prickling heat-like sensation of raw magic boiling off it.

Dropping from his crouch into a seated position with his legs crossed, BraveStarr watched as the spirit creature effortlessly took to the air once more - even if it did wobble a few times - and quickly returned to the ground to nurse its abused head. BraveStarr considered what looked like a mild concussion to be getting off lightly, considering it had only a minute before ploughed into a piece of solid rock head-first at over a hundred miles per hour.

I guess packing that much magic all the time has got to be good for something. I would try an' get it to a hospital but there ain't exactly anything close by. Plus I'm not sure if I should be takin' it to a doctor or a vet.

The little pony was trying to put a brave face on it, but it was obviously hurt. He had to figure out how to get it to follow him back to town before Stampede's goons caught up to them.

**Rainbow Dash**

Rainbow Dash was trying very hard not to be sick. She still wasn't too sure what to make of the strange creature that had been following her, even if it did just give her the gem back, but throwing up on it was probably not going to make it friendlier. At least she didn't think so, it had suddenly become quite difficult to concentrate on stuff as the pain in her head got worse. The whole not-vomiting thing would have been easier if her vision didn't keep drifting slightly out of focus, and if her inner ears didn't keep insisting she was slowly rolling to the left. Her left wing was refusing to fold up against her side properly, leaving it draped limply across the dusty ground.

The earth pony repeatedly bucking her in the brain was also a total jerk. She should stop doing that, it hurt.

A mental image of a tiny Applejack stood between her wings, kicking her in the back of the head like she was some kind of pony-shaped apple tree, forced Rainbow to suppress a giggle that rapidly threatened to turn into something gastrically unpleasant. At the thought of her earth pony friend, something about the creature in front of her caught her attention.

Heh, this thing has a hat like AJ's.

Something about that thought struck her as familiar, but it drifted off before she could worry about it too much. Rainbow wrapped her hooves over her head in a vain effort to make the throbbing stop, letting out another pained groan.

"Li'l AJ, you're bein' a, a, a thing. Jerk," she slurred at the imaginary pony on her back. "Stoppit. 'S not funny, m'head hurts."

An annoying prickly sensation spread up her left wing, and she glanced down at it in irritation. Once the fuzzy pair of overlapping wings stopped being silly and merged into one, feathers full of sandy grit, Rainbow Dash realised she probably shouldn't be taking a dust bath right now. Especially not with just one wing, that was stupid. She didn't have time to mess around. After a moment of staring at the wing, she remembered how to fold it back up.

"Okay," Rainbow declared loudly, as she confidently sprang to her hooves. She didn't even wobble or fall down once, and was very impressed with herself. Those first two attempts were practices, they didn't count. "I gotta, gotta do a... a thing. At the place. 'S real important." she told the large, oddly-shaped and strangely blurry pony in front of her.

No, wait... 's not a pony, izza... thing. Alien. She managed to focus her eyes on it again, forcing it to stop wobbling around and going all fuzzy. Why was it doing that? It was really distracting. Heh, it's got a hat on. Cute.

She was meant to be doing something. Going somewhere, that wasn't here. Rainbow decided to make a start, put her best hoof forward, tripped over it thanks to the gem clutched in her other leg and fell flat on her face. The pain didn't really register against the pounding already going on inside her skull.

"Hey, who put this ground here?" she blearily asked the floor. "Stupid ground. Never liked you anyway."

'Kay, 'm on the ground and my head hurts. Did I crash again? Rainbow tried to force more of her thoughts to link together. Had the crystal thing, and flew away, and... oh. Probably shouldn'a done that backstroke thing. But I, I've crashed worse than that before and... An older memory, of another pony - or horse - crashing into something and injuring itself bubbled up to the surface. Wait, is this the pegasus magic thing Flutters was going on about? I had the gem when I crashed but then I lost it, is that why my head's gone so weird? I got it back now so that should make it okay again, right?

Slowly, Rainbow pulled herself upright again, still holding her pilfered gem in one leg. Everything stopped spinning, and although her head still hurt, it didn't seem to be as fuzzy as it had been a moment ago. She cleared her throat, trying to breathe through her nose to avoid tasting the last of the choking dust still hanging in the air.

She glanced at the shattered pillar behind her. Wow. Kinda made a mess of that rock. Good thing it didn't land on me or anything.

The big alien was trying to talk to her again, but it still wasn't making any sense. "Hey. Hey, tall stuff," she interrupted, waving a hoof to get its attention. "Still not understanding you." Just then, Rainbow Dash noticed a high-pitched whining noise. It grew slowly louder for a second or two before the big alien seemed to notice it as well. Whatever it was seemed to agitate it, if she was reading its odd face properly. She was still finding that difficult, even up close. It seemed to be trying to get her to follow it somewhere.

"Ugh, fine," Rainbow sighed, taking off. "Whatever. Anywhere's better than here I guess." The big creature trotted slowly for a short way as she drifted alongside it, seemingly making sure she was following it. Gradually it started to speed up, leaning forward a little into a strange two-legged run. It fixed her with a stern glare, before pointing at her, then its own eyes, then the terrain ahead of them. Rainbow bristled a little at that, but it kinda had a point. "Yeah, yeah, okay," she said, waving a hoof down at it dismissively, "Watch where I'm going, I got it." Flying ahead before looping back to turn a quick circle around the alien as it ran, she asked, "Can we go faster already?"

Comments

[Starcat5]

It's starting to look like we're on a monthly update schedule now. I won't complain, as it is better than some of the fics I follow.

[Booster Spice]

Would Tex gang be more careful if they saw Dashs impact and recovery, as they also have cartoon physics on their side?

Hope Dash magic heals her up before she loses that crystal or it wears out again. That non magical concusion was terminal.