“How fast do you think you can fly now?”
Fluttershy paused in step for a moment and looked at Rainbow Dash. “I’m sorry?” she asked, the question having caught her off guard. Realizing she had stopped she continued walking with her friends towards the mountain.
“Well…” Rainbow fidgeted for a moment, looking uncertain. Fluttershy wondered if something was wrong. “You said you’re basically the best thing a Pegasus can hope to physically achieve. So… how fast are you?” Rainbow Dash asked.
Fluttershy hummed in thought. “I… don’t know? I mean, the top speed Steve Rogers ever reached was roughly thirty miles an hour in a dead sprint, but humans weren’t built for speed, nor could they fly under their own power.” She shrugged. “I don’t know how fast I can go, not without trying first. Why?”
Rainbow Dash opened her mouth, but paused. She seemed unsure about something, before shaking her head. “It’s nothing, Flutters. Just curious.”
She jumped and flew up ahead towards Twilight. Fluttershy watched after her with a feeling that she was missing something important.
---
“Hey, how much further is it, Twi?” Rainbow asked, flying up next to Twilight, who was walking like the others.
“At the rate we’re going, we’ll get there maybe an hour before nightfall. We may have to set up camp at the base of the mountain and continue in the morning,” Twilight said after a moment of consideration.
“What?!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “You mean we’ll be doing nothing but boring walking all day?”
“Gee, I didn’t think you hated us that much,” Applejack said sarcastically from behind. Rainbow Dash winced, realizing how that sounded.
“Darling, none of us are happy about this journey,” Rarity commented. “My mane is going to be matted with sweat and grime before long, and I have a backorder of outfits that need to be finished before Monday.”
“And ah got work on the farm that needs to get done. We fall behind, and our income suffers fer it,” Applejack reminded her friend.
Pinkie bounced by. “I’m happy! We’re gonna make a new friend! The Cakes can run Sugarcube Corner without me for a day,” she exclaimed happily.
“I’ve got research to do at home,” Twilight explained. “I’m studying for the Archmage test. If I pass, I become a registered Archmage, with access to the highest tier of spells in the Archives!” She looked giddy at the idea.
“I’m normally gearing up for a sweep around the edge of the Everfree for wild weather… or maybe a nap,” Rainbow grumbled.
After a moment, everyone looked at Fluttershy. Said Pegasus was looking at the ground, obviously lost in thought. She looked up and blinked at the fact that everyone was staring at her expectantly. “Oh! I’m sorry, what did I miss?”
“We were talking about what we do at home for work,” Twilight explained.
“Oh,” Fluttershy said. “Well, I take care of the animals of the forest if they come to me, as well as the pets of the townspeople, and… ” she trailed off and looked down again.
“Are you okay, dear? You seem awfully distracted lately.” Rarity asked.
“What?” Fluttershy asked, looking up. “Oh! I’m sorry, I just… well…”
“Fluttershy? Are you okay?” Rainbow Dash asked, flying to her friend.
Fluttershy nodded. “I’m fine!” she said, smiling. “Just… had a nightmare last night, that’s all.”
“Are you sure?” Rainbow asked in concern.
“I’m sure,” she reassured her friend.
Rainbow Dash didn’t look convinced, but let the matter drop. “If you say so,” she said.
---
The group, as Twilight predicted, reached the base of the mountain shortly before sunfall. As they were unpacking their camping gear, Rainbow Dash thought of something. “Hey, Twi!” she called.
Twilight pulled her head out of her pack, pulling a… stack of books with her? “Yes Rainbow?” she asked.
Rainbow stared for a moment, before remembering herself. “First, how did you fit that many books in your saddle bags?” she asked, unable to hold in her curiosity.
Twilight blinked, looking at the books and her bag, before realizing what she meant. “Oh! There’s a rune for space expansion stitched into both of the packs, as well as a rune that links them. I did it a few years ago when I got worried about the muscles I was developing from carrying so many books everywhere I went.” She shrugged. “I would have just made a Master Book, but I don’t have the fine control necessary to weave the spells together correctly, and pre-made ones are expensive.” She frowned. “Really expensive.”
Rainbow Dash sweat-dropped as Twilight started to run off into a mumbled tangent about ridiculous prices, greedy store owners, and ponies that corner the market in enchantments. After it became clear she had lost Twilight’s attention, she cleared her throat.
“What?” She looked up. “Oh! I’m sorry Rainbow Dash. What was the other thing?” she asked in mild embarrassment.
“Why don’t you and I just fly up to the top real quick and see what the situation is? Between your strength and my speed, we could kick any dragon’s butt with ease,” Rainbow asked.
“Ah, that.” Twilight pushed her saddle bags aside so she could focus on Rainbow Dash. “Well, on paper it’s a good idea. After all, we’re not entirely sure what’s going on, other than the fact that there’s a sleeping dragon up there. Once that was confirmed, Celestia ordered the Guard to withdraw.”
“So… why don’t we?”
Twilight glanced at the mountaintop, where an eagle-eyed pony, or a Unicorn with telescopic vision, could spot a cave with black smoke billowing from it. “Because politics suck.”
“Eh?” Rainbow Dash said in confusion.
“The Skyland Concord forbids a pony from trying to force a non-aggressive dragon to do anything. You could be imprisoned for up to twenty years for trying. If we fly up there as fast as we could and start demanding answers, the dragon would be well within his rights to have the Royal Guard detain us for being unnecessarily aggressive,” she said the last bit sarcastically.
Rainbow Dash couldn’t quite stop the disbelief from showing on her face. “Unnecessarily… He’s blotting out the Stars-be-damned Sun!!!” she exclaimed. “How is that not an aggressive action on his part?!”
Twilight sighed. “Because we have no proof that he’s doing it on purpose. For all we know he could be injured and unable to move, and expelling smoke because he’s trying to burn something from his body and failing. The possibilities go on, but the point remains the same. If we move aggressively now, we get fingered as impatient, uncooperative, and generally the bad guys on the national stage. It doesn’t matter if we had good reason to be suspicious. We need proof. That’s why I said politics suck.”
She looked away. “Besides… there’s another possibility the Princesses shared with me, one that’s kind of worrying.”
“More so than the potential century-long Night?” Rarity asked, having overheard the conversation.
Twilight nodded. “What if the dragons are doing this one purpose? What if they’re hoping this will provoke an aggressive reaction?” Her eyes narrowed.
“What if they’re trying to drag Equestria’s name through the mud?”
RD... The answer to your question to the Flutter Cap is easy: take your current top speed, multiply it by the 20% cooler factor, and add a +450% on account of she being the Flutter Cap... Your answer is that number multiplied by 1'000,000,000
8359314
450%? Hax! I call hax!
FlutterCap deserves a 1000% easily.
Well, with miss impulsive spectrum racer ... it almost work.
8359375
What?! That is absurd. You, my good sir, must be mistaken if you think I'll believe that 1000% increases Fluttershy's speed to past Rainboom Speeds. She can naturally increase her speed by 10000% Rainboom Speeds and shatter the spectrum barrier in three seconds from a standing start.
So does this mean that Garble and his goons are not going to be appearing?
Also I do believe that Fluttershy hasn't fully merged with Cap yet as she is possibly terrified of him and what it could mean. I see Cap being suddenly thrown in control when she locks up in fear when it gets dangerous. Luna needs to have seen her by now.
If he is, then he be crazy.
Dis is getting good. I’m happy this is updating.
Sooo... Canon Rainbow's kicking the dragon in the nose is presumably not going to happen, given she would then have assaulted what is essentially a foreign diplomat with immunity, be thrown in jail, as well as possibly incite a war/huge diplomatic incident with the spacefaring fire lizards.
Name: Xyangul
Appearance: He appears as dragon. He had yellow scales all over his body with purple spines and Blue eyes like a serpents. He stood roughly 10 feet tell and sported a well toned frame. His tail which is long enough to touch the ground poked out of the hole in the back of his pants. Ended near the tip of tail which ended with an with spade at the end of it. His muzzle was a bit pointy at the tip, slightly curving in a diagonal way. He has yellow scaled snout with two nostrils on the end of it, with razor sharp fangs. His muzzle was several inches longer and sharp claws tipped his hands and feet. He wore a dark purple t-shirt with white pants that stopped right it his ankle
Age: 25
Species: Dragon
Gender: Male
Hero Soul: Saitama
Personality: He is cocky, arrogant, but overall but overall a nice guy once you get to know him. He doesn't take anything seriously initially, and has a tendency to hold back to possibly prolong a fight.
Powers and Abilities:
Genetic Traits
Alpha Physiology:
Matter Ingestion:
Elemental Breath:
Enhanced Lung Capacity.
Fire Breath:
Power Fists:
Ultimate Fighter
Western Dragon Physiology:
Limitation Transcendence
Self Transcendence
Indomitable Will
Pain Suppression
Dermal Armor:
Contaminant Immunity:
Energy Resistance
Magic Immunity:
Thermal Resistance:
Fire Immunity
Lava Immunity
Cold Immunity
Electrical Immunity
Telekinesis Immunity
Pressure Resistance:
Decelerated Aging:
Dermal Armor:
Razor Foot:
Razor Hand:
Megaton Punch
Concussive Force
Tranquil Fury
Intangibility Cancellation:
Supernatural Condition:
Supernatural Dexterity
Supernatural Athleticism
Supernatural Accuracy
Auto-Reflexes
Supernatural Senses
Supernatural Endurance
Supernatural Stamina:
Supernatural Leap
Supernatural Strength
Supernatural Speed:
Invulnerability:
Training Regimen:
Accelerated Body Development
Enhanced Potential
Limiter Removal
One-Man Army
8360093
... And what does this have to do with comments on the story?
8359542
More likely, she's having nightmares of World War II.
8360093
I'm assuming this is your attempt to get an OC into the story?
Once again, superb work on this latest chapter. It took a while, but was well worth the wait. Yeah, I LOVED the chats (particularly the one between Twilight and Rainbow to explain WHY they don't just barging in despite the stakes as well as the earlier one with Rainbow and Fluttershy with the former being curious as to the latter's new abilities).
At any rate, I seriously doubt that it's going to be the worst-case scenario because, as you said, that would run the risk of painting the dragons in too much of a negative light.
On the other hand, it's probably not going to be the BEST case scenario either, since I doubt their luck is THAT good. And, if it DOES turn out that the dragon is legitimately in trouble and needs a lot of help, it's going to be something so big it will require ALL of them (including the dragon himself) to handle.
Odds are, it's going to be a middle-ground scenario (i.e. good enough to NOT paint dragons in general in a negative light, but bad enough to make things rougher for the heroes)
And, yeah, you have a good point about the magic sword. I missed that myself, to be completely honest.
At any rate, I'll very definitely be looking forward to more of this. However, I also completely understand that real world concerns have to come first and inspiration is not always easy to come by. Thus, I will be more than willing to be patient.
This is a great read! It's in my favorites folder now! Can't wait to see what else you have in mind for this tale!