Chapter 2
Twilight had just finished with her, or usually Spike’s, chores. Spike had only been away at Canterlot for a day so far on royal business, but already she missed him. Or at least his assistance in the library. She wondered how Spike managed to do all of his chores so quickly and with so much energy left over. Just the reorganization of the books alone had taken up most of her day. She’d have to remember to get him some more rubies as a show of her appreciation.
Now though, she was ready to relax. Her horn lighting up, she levitated a cushion over in front of her table and brought with her a book on pony psychology. That was Twilight, all right. It didn’t matter how complicated the subject matter was. As long as it was her beloved printed word, she’d have fun reading it.
Just as she settled down on her cushion and was about to open her book, she heard a faint buzzing sound, growing louder with every passing second. She cocked her head and listened to the noise. It was getting louder and louder, and now that it was clearer-
Twilight’s eyes widened. She knew what that noise meant. It was an early warning sign of imminent danger. She had to protect her bookshelves from the potential damage. She didn’t want to recreate several hours of hard work. Throwing up a magical barrier in front of the bookshelves, Twilight braced herself.
“WATCH OUT!” Rainbow came crashing through the window and into the floor, bouncing across before finally slamming into a bookshelf. Or rather, the magical wall protecting it. Her book had flown across the room when she crashed and had almost hit Twilight before ending up in front of the fireplace. Rainbow collapsed onto the floor with her head hitting the ground and her back still propped up against the magical barrier. Rainbow groaned and saw purple colored stars floating around her head.
Twilight jumped up and galloped over to Rainbow. “Rainbow! Are you okay?” She quickly looked Rainbow over, trying to discern any injuries the pegasus might have sustained. The only thing she could see wrong though, was just Rainbow’s eyes spinning. She could have sworn she heard little birds chirping too.
“Wassat? Dyu say something Twi?” groaned Rainbow. Noticing she had blurry vision, she blinked hard a few times. Looking up, she saw Twilight’s face staring down at her in concern. She gave a goofy smile in return. “Oh yeah Twi, I’m awesome. I always am.”
Rainbow made an attempt to get back on her hooves but only managed to flail her legs around before her body keeled over and hit the floor. Twilight giggled at Rainbow and raised a hoof to try and hide her smirk.
Rainbow got up, her face tinged red with embarrassment. Putting on a false show of bravado, she puffed out her chest and declared, “I meant to do that.”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Of course Rainbow,” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Yup,” Rainbow beamed.
“So Rainbow, any particular reason for you to drop in?” asked Twilight, smiling at her little pun.
Rainbow blushed and rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. “Um, yeah actually. I wanted to see if that new Daring-Do arrived.”
“Oh. About that,” Twilight began, looking away with a worried expression.
“What? Was it mixed up in the mail or something?”
“No no, it arrived on time. It’s just that a little colt already came in and borrowed it. I was going to reserve it for you, but I just couldn’t say no to him. I don’t think it will be back until sometime next week,” Twilight bit her lip, hoping Rainbow wouldn’t take the news too badly.
Rainbow’s face fell. “Oh.” She was trying to hide how disappointed she was that her plan wouldn’t be carried out, and doing a rather poor job of it as well. “Well, I- uhh, guess I’ll just... head home then. See ya later Twi.” She began walking sadly to the door.
“Rainbow, wait.” Twilight couldn’t stand to see one of her best friends so downcast because of a book. She knew how it felt to want to read a book so badly but couldn’t. But maybe she did have something that would make up for it. Something almost as good as the book itself. “I have something else that might tide you over until the Daring book comes back.”
Rainbow visibly brightened. Maybe her plan wasn’t ruined. “Okay Twi. Whatcha got?”
Twilight gave a coy smile. “Oh, nothing much. Maybe just some Daring-Do comic books.”
Rainbow’s mouth was agape. “They make those? How come I never knew about this? I’m, like, Daring’s biggest fan!”
“That’s because I got these from Spike’s ‘secret’ stash,” replied Twilight, holding her hooves in the air and bending them like quotation marks at the word secret. “He thinks they’re in a safe place but I found it easily,” explained Twilight with a smug grin. “He hides them under my bed, practically right next to my-” Twilight cut herself off before she could accidentally make any false or awkward implications.
“Right next to your what?” prodded Rainbow with a raised eyebrow.
“Nothing!” Twilight replied a little too quickly and loudly, looking away with a faint blush on her cheeks. She couldn’t possibly tell Rainbow what it was. It was a very important and confidential document after all. Her eyes widened as a possibility occurred to her. She had let slip that it was under her bed! Rainbow just might head up there anyway to find out! She had to quickly move her private possession to a safer, more secure location.
Too late.
Rainbow’s eyes narrowed and an evil grin grew on her face. “Well, then. Since it’s nothing I’m sure you won’t mind if I just take a quick look under your bed. Maybe you missed a few comic books.” She began to walk over to the stairs leading up to Twilight’s two floor bedroom.
Twilight was starting to feel a bit of panic. She quickly trotted over in front of Rainbow and put on a reassuring smile in an effort to placate the impertinent pegasus. “No, no, I’ll go up and look. You can just go ahead and read those comics books. I left them on the table.” Twilight raised her hoof and pointed behind Rainbow, all the while maintaining her nervous smile, her eyes darting between Rainbow’s.
“Nah, it’s no problem Twi. I’d love to help you out. I can even do it in less than ten seconds. Just watch,” replied Rainbow with a cocky look as she unfurled her wings. Twilight’s eyes widened and she jumped out of the way right before Rainbow rocketed up the staircase and into her bedroom. Twilight quickly rushed up her stairs but froze once she got past the doorway, her heart skipping a beat as she saw Rainbow lounging on her bed with a lavender colored book with a familiar six pointed star emblazoned on the cover. Rainbow saw Twilight burst into the room and with a wide smile and a flourish she opened the book to its first page.
“Dear Diar-”
That was as far as she got before a glowing purple hue surrounded the diary and yanked it out of Rainbow’s hooves. Before she could properly react other than with a start, the book quickly turned and dropped down on top of her head. Hard.
“OW! Geez, Twi, I wasn’t really- OW!” Rainbow was cut off as the book came down again and she covered her head with her forelegs in an effort to protect herself from the magical wrath of the angry unicorn. She jumped off the bed and darted past Twilight, who wore a self-satisfied smirk on her face, and flew downstairs. Rubbing her head and grumbling to herself, she grabbed a stack of comic books in her hooves and set herself down on the staircase. She soon forgot her troubles as she became immersed in the colorful artwork of Daring-Do.
A few minutes later Twilight came down the steps wearing an irritated look. Hearing the clip-clop of her hooves, Rainbow looked up and saw Twilight’s face. ‘Oh no, please don’t let me have ruined things. Please, please, please,’ she prayed to Celestia. Rainbow cleared her throat and sat up straight. “Hey Twilight, I’m sorry I swiped your diary. It was just a joke, I really wasn’t going to read it.” Rainbow thought for a second. “Well, maybe a little. Just a page... or two...” She faltered under the heated glare she was getting from Twilight. “Look, I really mean it when I say I’m sorry.” Rainbow hesitated. “You’re not... mad at me are you?”
Twilight sighed and gave a small smile to Rainbow. “No, I’m not mad, just a little... perturbed is all.”
Rainbow rubbed the back of her head. “Well, I really am sorry. I don’t mean to be an annoyance.” Her face lit up with a smile and a slightly hopeful look. “Hey, you wanna read these comics together? I haven’t read much yet, but they’re awesome.”
“As much as I’d love to, I really have some studying to get done,” said Twilight with a gesture towards the thick book sitting atop her table. She nodded towards the comic books in Dash’s possession with a smile. “You enjoy those comics though. Who knows, I might just take you up on that offer.” Twilight turned and started walking towards her table.
“Okay then Twi,” responded Dash with a smile and a nod of her own before settling back down to read. Internally, she was going over what just happened. ‘Well, so much for the plan. Hmm, I could always just switch things up a bit. At least she’s not mad at me, just a little annoyed. Nothing I can’t handle. Okay, time to read these Daring-Do comic books. Awesome!’
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Twilight had been reading her book for a couple of hours now and was currently studying the parts of the brain that generated the “fight-or-flight” response in ponies. It was fascinating. Any kind of stress shock evoked a response in a pony’s body, with varying degrees. A pony’s body can release a huge amount of adrenaline, endorphins, and other accelerant hormones while the entire brain focuses its efforts in making the body’s muscles move. By the same token, pain could be easily ignored by the brain, or it could be made worse. Since the brain doesn’t immediately recognize danger when high on adrenaline and endorphins, damage to one’s body could be exponentiated.
She just had to experiment with this. She didn’t want to hurt anypony, of course, but the academic in her was enthralled by the thrill of experimentation and discovery. She’d need a research assistant, but with Spike out of town, she’d just have to find someone else. Unconsciously, her eyes drifted to Rainbow Dash. Well, she would be a perfect subject. She was an athlete so she had a well developed musculature and her bone structure was strong. She was also a pegasus so she had substantially increased reflex speed and reaction times. Another thought struck Twilight as she considered another aspect of Rainbow’s capabilities as a test subject. She loved pulling pranks on ponies, so she loved having a good laugh. This was just too perfect. The previous chapter had been dedicated to the section of the brain which generated a pony’s sense of humor. So she could experiment on both subjects at the same time! She could kill two birds with one stone!
Twilight shuddered at the awful metaphor. What kind of twisted pony would come up with something like that? It was just wrong! Shaking her head to dispel the nasty thoughts, she quickly summoned a quill and some sheets of parchment. She filled out on two sheets of parchment her experiments. On the first sheet of parchment:
Study of 'Fight-or-Flight' Psychological Reactions of Ponies
Test subject: Rainbow Dash
Procedure: Introduce a simulated threat to the subject in order to provoke either a ‘fight’ stress response or a ‘flight’ stress response.
Hypothesis: Based on psychological, physical, and personality traits, subject most likely to display a ‘flight’ stress response in the event of a sudden and unexpected introduction to a potential threat.
Results:
And on the second sheet:
Study of the Equus Cerebrum: Humor
Test subject: Twilight Sparkle
Procedure: Subject will introduce the simulated threat to the subject of the ‘F-o-F’ experiment and will react in a manner befitting humor.
Hypothesis: As a result of a ‘prank,’ subject will be stimulated to release laughter. Degree shall vary depending on reaction of subject ‘Rainbow Dash.’
Results:
Twilight finished off the last bullet point with a flourish. Perfect! Her notes were ready. Now she just needed a way to both prank and scare Rainbow. Twilight put a hoof to her chin and looked towards the ceiling in thought. Her eyes lit up as her brain formulated a solution. Owloysius had several chew toys that act much like a cat’s scratching post for his beak. One of them was a stuffed spider the size of a dinner plate. Even Twilight got creeped out whenever she saw Owloysius chewing on it. Her horn lit up and the fake spider was soon sitting on top of the table. Twilight looked it over. A dark brown two-sectioned main body with eight long legs all covered with ‘hair,’ along with eight beady red eyes that seemed to stare into a pony’s soul. Twilight shuddered and looked towards Rainbow Dash. Her face took on an uncharacteristically evil look. Her eyes narrowed and the corners of her mouth turned up to create a wide, toothy grin. Despite telling Rainbow that she wasn’t mad at her for invading her privacy, that by no means meant she had forgiven her. Yet.
Scratch her earlier thought. This would kill three birds with one stone.
It was time for some payback.
yeahhh moarr!
Ha, this is gonna be interesting...
I think Dash would have a fight response just because she wants to defend Twilight.
786457 Oohh, Dash is in for a hell of a surprise.
Man, I love it when I read a story and then it updates 20 minutes later. Liked the little aside regarding the aphorism. Keep up the good work!
Hehe, sounds good! Can't wait for the next chapter!
All right I am glad I gave this a chance. I feel you really have the characters down so far and I am eagerly awaiting the next chapter.
likely to display a ‘flight’ stress response in the event of an introduction to a potential threat.
If this is meant literally, as in "Dash will likely start flying in the event of a sudden threat," then I agree completely. If it's meant more as "in the event of a sudden threat, Dash will immediately run away," then I have to ask exactly what alternate universe we're in, cause that's not Dash at all. Dash would almost always charge at the threat head-on; that's just who she is. It's likely running away wouldn't even enter into her mental process.
I mean, she kicked a Dragon in the face! Kicked a Dragon. In the face. RD will ALWAYS go for the throat when seriously threatened.
787869 That was when she was well aware of the threats she was facing. This experiment is meant to suddenly scare the holy bejeezus out of Rainbow Dash in an effort to get a reaction from her more baser animalistic instincts for survival. Dash's aggressiveness is her personality, not her inborn instincts. But I'll add the word 'sudden' to avoid further confusion.
787869
Couldn't have said that better myself!
788043
Actually, I think that distinction isn't really relevant here. If you'll notice, I actually did cite the particular threat as being a "sudden" one, and I still think she'd go for the throat in such a situation. You say that aggressiveness isn't in her instincts, and that makes me wonder if we're actually talking about the same pegasus, here...
To help me make my point, let me move this away from RD for a second and make a parallel situation involving Applejack.
Introduce a completely sudden threat into AJ's vicinity and she'll dig her hooves in, absolutely no question about it. Stubbornness is rooted in her down to the very core of her being, and she'd react instinctively with that very same response in pretty much any situation. Because of this natural instinct to stand her ground, it would actually require some consideration on her part for Applejack to even begin thinking about making a retreat. AJ would be quite firmly situated on the fight side of the 'fight or flight' response.
That established, let's go back to RD--it's rather obvious that aggressiveness is to RD what stubbornness is to AJ. Calling Dash 'competitive' is actually a little like calling water 'wet'; RD loves to win and absolutely hates losing (it should be noted that Dash seemingly hates losing even more than she loves winning, which can be a rather tell-tale sign in determining how she would react in a given situation). I don't really think it can be debated that someone of Rainbow Dash's mentality would most definitely consider any form of fleeing as a resounding defeat.
I suppose this is where we begin to differ: I am of the belief that this inclination towards aggression is as deeply rooted in Dash's subconscious as stubbornness is in Applejack's. I find it very difficult to believe that even a split-second knee-jerk response from Dash would be anything other than her going straight for the throat, and I find it even harder to believe that this other response could in any way involve her retreating.
788284 Yes, I won't argue that RD is brave. I admire her for that. But she's not invincible. Yes, she bucked a dragon in the face. But what did she do after bucking said dragon in the face? Cowered with her friends. Why? Because she was afraid. Heck, at the end of the episode Pinkie Pie scares her when she imitated the dragon. When the Ursa Minor showed up in town, did she fly right up and buck it in the face? No, she didn't. In fact, when you see her, she has an unmistakable look of fear on her face. She was even initially afraid of Zecora AND she's also afraid of the Everfree forest. Or as least the fact that it acts, in their view, unnatural. And in the episode of the Great Dragon Migration, did she immediately fight those three dragons? No, she ran with her friends. I agree with you, RD is indeed brave and stands up for herself and her friends, but that does not mean she's completely fearless.
799249
If you'll notice, I never actually mention her braveness. Fear is completely irrelevant in this, actually, excepting that fear tends to cause great stress.
So far we've been speaking of the fight-or-flight response as something that kicks in only when one is in serious danger. However, this is not the case. In fact, one can gauge an individual's likely response to such a situation through a number of less stressful ones.
The fight-or-flight response is a name given to the phenomena wherein a creature reacts to a stressful situation with the intent of relieving that stress. The name is taken from the two most often exhibited methods of releasing said stress, that being retaliation (aggressive) or retreat (passive). Understanding this, one can gauge the likely response of a creature under extreme stress by judging its reaction in situations that invoke stress of a lesser degree.
How does Rainbow Dash react in conversation? Is she argumentative or passive and accepting? When Rainbow gets into an argument with somepony, is she calm and accepting or loud and defensive? If Rainbow Dash feels she has been wronged, how does she react? Does she withdraw completely in acceptance, or does she assert herself and make certain that her opinion is known?
The answers to these questions are simple, obviously. By judging the ways in which RD reacts in everyday situations that invoke stress, you can accurately gauge how she would react in situations that invoke even more stress. By saying that RD would fall on the "flight" side of things, you are asserting that Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy would react similarly in a situation that invoked a great deal of stress.
--
Now, RD would react with aggressive retaliation in a true situation that invoked her baser instincts of fight-or-flight, but that doesn't mean the story has to change. It would be rather simple to come up with something for RD to run away from for comedic effect, really, and I'm not arguing that she wouldn't run away in certain situations. The only thing I questioned was your assertion that her knee-jerk response to great stress would be to run away. That's practically the exact opposite of everything she represents.
799435 Well, not to disagree with you, but they are more variables involved to a reaction. For instance, if RD turned around to see a lion about to pounce, it would still scare her. If Pinkie screamed "BOO" right behind RD that would scare her as well. She'd fly away from the first, but her brain would recognize Pinkie as being a non-threat, leading to her relaxation. That's kind of the problem with the 'Flight-or-Fight' theory. It's too general.
799608
But again, fear isn't even related except in that it's an emotion that causes stress. Fight or flight has literally nothing to do with fear.
I'm not saying there aren't situation in which she'd run away. I'm saying that the way you described it in the story is questionable at best. I agree, Fight or flight IS limited, but those were the words you used in the story. I wouldn't even have brought it up if you'd used a different term.
799704 If fear leads to stress, and stress response leads to the FoF, how is it unrelated to it?
static.fjcdn.com/comments/My+favorite+is+thinking+dinosaur.+I+think+he+is+a+_92d6001cf5c1b282723217c2cba90820.jpg
Only Twilight would write up notes for a prank.
802125 I know, isn't she wonderful?
reading the comments I realize that there is a theory FoF, I google and I discovered that it is really interesting
ahhh, the things we learn every day, thanks the author