The Champion of Harmony

by Voxum

A Hooves Down Hurricane

A pair of mismatched eyes stared back at him, unfocused, unseeing. Blue and pink circles staring listlessly into the distance.

He blinked, and let his gaze drift away from it.

Emerald wasn't sure why he'd kept the doll that Sparky had enchanted. Didn't know why he hadn't returned it yet. He'd just left it sitting, innocently, right next to his family photo on his bedside desk over the past few days, hardly acknowledging it throughout the day, only stopping to stare at it before his new nightly routine.

His patrols were now largely unnecessary. That's not to say they were totally useless, but after spending so long in town, with so little happening at night, it was clear. Ponyville was almost completely safe at night, even without him.

Of course, he didn't just stop his patrols entirely. He always made sure to have a few quick rounds around town, before heading off to his training area, where he happily burned through the majority of his unspent energy, and where Sparky burned through all of hers, before heading home and getting some much needed rest.

Sleep was truly a gift, he felt.

Thanks to his now improved sleeping schedule, he was finding it much, much easier to stay awake during the day, and with it came some unexpected side effects.

He was... less rude than before, evidently.

He hadn't noticed it, of course, until Starlight had pointed it out, but apparently his abrasive nature was partly a side effect of not getting enough sleep.

Go figure.

He was still an ass, of course, but he did find himself more willing to go along with anything odd or silly happening around him, rather than roughly brush it aside.

Speaking of odd, he wasn't sure what he was going to do with the doll. It was just... strange. Part of him wanted to return it to Sparky-it was hers after all, and he was sure she missed the thing, if only a little-yet another part desired to keep it to himself. Only after using some of his newfound free time to do some self-reflection-which sucked, by the way-did he find out, at least what he thought was, the reason why.

The doll belonged to Sparky. It had been with Sparky her entire life-presumably-watching her grow from a small filly, to the mare she was today.

The doll sparked thoughts in his head every time he looked at it, thoughts of Sparky and the life she had lived.

And yet, whenever he did so, he felt nothing.

That was why, he believed, he kept it. Some twisted, possibly even masochistic, part of him hoped to restore his feelings for her by being constantly plagued by thoughts of her, thoughts generated by something she held dear to her.

The thoughts were foolish, obviously, and the chances of such a thing were slim, bordering impossibility, yet he still couldn't bring himself to return it.

A loud banging from downstairs tore him from his thoughts. He frowned, his ears twitching as he heard the front door open,

"Hey, is Emerald here?" a scratchy voice asked, one he recognized,

"Uh, yeah?" Starlight's voice responded, "He's upstairs... What do you need him for, Rainbow?"

"I gotta-" there was a slight grunt, "ah! I gotta throw these things around town. There's a mandatory meeting tonight at eight for all pegasi in Ponyville, over at the library," Rainbow said, the faint sound of magic preceding the crinkling of paper,

"Uh... Okay?" Starlight said, "So... why are you here for Emerald?"

"What are you-oh, yeah, he's not a pegasus..." Rainbow muttered, "Eh, whatever, I gotta go deliver these anyways, see ya!"

Emerald's head twisted to face his window, finding a streak of rainbow soaring back into town. He frowned,

A mandatory meeting for all pegasi in Ponyville? Well, whatever it was, it was obviously weather related, meaning he was virtually useless this time around.

He was a thestral, after all. He might be able to stand on a cloud, but that was the extent of that. Hay, he couldn't even bust a cloud apart! The things were held together by some pegasi magic, and only pegasi magic could bust them after that.

With that in mind, he promptly tossed those thoughts out of his mind, and turned back to the doll.

Now, what was he doing again?

Right, he was getting ready to head to the market.

---

He frowned slightly, taking note of the numerous number of ponies before him.

It wasn't how busy the market was that bothered him-it was usually like this, after all-rather, it was the fact that he wasn't used to walking around, undisguised, into a large group of ponies.

Sure, the town honestly didn't seem to mind his appearance-for the most part, at least, he could see some ponies shuffling away from him-but that didn't erase the over half decade he'd spent hiding his appearance from them all.

In a way, though, it was liberating. To finally be free of his self-imposed cage.

Then again, after he made friends with those girls, could it truly have been called a cage?

He shook his head. Now was not the time to get lost in his thoughts, no matter how often he found himself doing so lately. He slipped into the bustling sprawl of the market with practiced ease, eyes on the lookout for everything on his mental list.

Lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, some eggs, flour, and various other everyday items.

He mentally increased his list, reminding himself that there was a third individual living with him and Wisp.

Starlight was doing great, as expected. She fit in with the rest of the townsfolk almost flawlessly. Almost too perfectly, actually. Like she was meant to be here. Honestly, if she hadn't turned out to be so socially awkward, he'd have thought something was wrong!

Seeing her interact with various ponies around town actually reminded him a little of Sparky. There was just something about her that he found strikingly similar to the purple unicorn.

It was probably just their mutual, dorky awkwardness, now that he was thinking about it.

A sudden commotion broke him from his thoughts.

Well... it wasn't actually a commotion, but considering how quiet Fluttershy was, it might as well have been.

Near the asparagus stand he could see Fluttershy trying, and utterly failing, to so much as hold her place in line.

A pair of mares were the most recent to steal away her spot in line, and, thankfully, he wasn't the only one to notice.

"Fluttershy!" Rarity gasped, "Goodness, you can't just let those ponies walk all over you!" she implored,

"Yeah!" Pinkie added, "That's so not fair!"

"You should try being a tad more assertive," he decided to add. Fluttershy, who had been meekly crouched low to the ground, straightened, and regarded them all with an innocently confused look.

"What do you mean?" she asked, tilting her head. Rarity sighed,

"Fluttershy, dear, you have a problem," she said,

"A humongous problem!" Pinkie chipped in.

"What do you mean?" Fluttershy repeated, sounding only more confused. The three of them stared at her for a moment, before Emerald clicked his tongue, and shoved passed her-inadvertently knocking her to the ground-flipped a single bit onto the counter, and grabbed the last bundle of asparagus.

"Oh, that's okay," Fluttershy said, "Y-you first, Emerald," she added, staring up at him from her place on the ground.

"See, that's what we mean!" Pinkie shouted, pointing dramatically,

"You're a doormat, Fluttershy," Rarity added, only slightly more tactfully. Fluttershy blinked,

"A... doormat?" she asked. Emerald sighed, shoving the veggie bundle into Fluttershy's saddlebag,

"A pushover," he supplied, "You're letting everyone just walk all over you," he then clarified. Fluttershy blinked, but then shook her head,

"Oh, no! I'm not-"

"I just watched four ponies steal your spot in line when you were the only one there," Emerald deadpanned, cutting her off, "Don't even try to defend yourself."

Fluttershy frowned, and ducked her head down, looking embarrassed.

"You need to learn to stand up for yourself, darling," Rarity said, gently patting the mare on her back, before she perked, "Ah! I have an idea, now, what else were you in the market for, dear?" she asked.

"O-oh, I need tomatoes, some carrots" Fluttershy said, pulling out a rolled up bit of parchment from her bag, "a-and a few cherries."

"Easy enough," Rarity said, nodding firmly, "Alright then! Come along now you three, it's time for a little lesson in assertiveness for our dear friend, don't you think?"

"Yeah, sounds fun!"

"Might as well."

With the agreement made, the four of them weaved through the market, until the familiar sight of the tomato stand came into view.

"Alright everyone, we've arrived," Rarity announced, unnecessarily, "Now, Fluttershy, why don't you go first, so we can see if you're doing anything wrong, alright?" she asked. Fluttershy nodded, timidly,

"Um, okay..." she agreed.

She turned away from them and approached the mare behind the stand,

"Hey there, how can I help ya?" she asked, somewhat blandly,

"Oh, um, I-I'd like to buy five tomatoes... please?" Fluttershy asked, shrinking in on herself slightly. The mare didn't say anything, only lifting up a fairly small sack,

"Two bits," she said. Fluttershy blinked,

"Two?" she asked, "Oh, but it was one bit last week..." she pointed out, wilting slightly under the mare's impassive stare,

"Yeah, so?" she asked, "It was one bit last week, now it's two. My supplier's cart broke down, I don't got as many, so the price goes up," she added, "You payin' or not?"

"Oh dear," Rarity muttered, "Pinkie, why don't you go help her?" she asked. Pinkie nodded,

"Okie dokie lokie!" she chirped, and strode forward. Once Pinkie reached the stand, just as Fluttershy had set down the bits, she gently pushed the shy mare behind her, and leaned over the desk,

"Two bits?!" she asked, practically screeching, "That's waaaay too much!" she said, pulling one of the bits away, "One bit is the perfect price!" she insisted. The mare frowned,

"It's two bits, Pinkie," she said, brow raising.

"One bit!" Pinkie shouted.

"Two bits."

"One bit!"

"Two bits," the mare was getting aggravated.

"One bit!"

"Two bits!"

"One bit!"

"Two bits!"

"Two bits!" Pinkie exclaimed, causing Emerald's brow to rise,

"One bit!" the mare parroted, seemingly unaware of the change,

"Two bits, and that's my final offer!" Pinkie shouted,

"One bit! Take it or leave it!" the mare snarled. Pinkie stared at the mare, hard, before smiling,

"Okay, one bit it is!" she chirped, snatching away both the second bit and the bag of tomatoes, before turning right back to them.

The mare at the stand smirked, before her jaw fell. She then shook her head, muttered 'Pinkie' under her breath, and took the bit.

Pinkie returned to the three of them victoriously, only letting out a giggle at Emerald's slack-jaw when she put away Fluttershy's bit and the tomatoes into her saddlebag.

"Wow..." Fluttershy said, looking at Pinkie in awe,

"What the fuck?" Emerald said instead, staring at Pinkie in surprise. His response went ignored as Pinkie turned to Fluttershy,

"See?" she asked, "Being assertive can be fun!" she said happily, "You just gotta go for it!" Rarity nodded,

"Mhmm, Pinkie's right. Being assertive is not difficult, Fluttershy," she said. The yellow pegasus only nodded, looking thoughtful,

"I... don't think I could do that..." she muttered, looking up at them.

"There's more than one way to be assertive," Emerald said, shrugging, "You just have to try. It tends to be different for everyone."

"That's right!" Rarity agreed, "The three of us are here to help you, dear. Now, let's get those carrots of yours, and you can give it another go."

The carrot stand wasn't far from the tomato stand. Although, rather than the mare who'd served him last week, Golden Harvest, an unfamiliar stallion had taken her place, and was eagerly on the lookout for potential customers.

"Alrighty Fluttershy!" Pinkie chirped, giving the mare a gentle push, "You're up!"

Fluttershy stumbled forward slightly, but caught herself just in time to face the stallion behind the stand.

"Hey there! Here to buy some nice, juicy carrots?" he asked, smiling brightly,

"Um-er, yes," she said, "I-I'd like two bunches of carrots, please," she asked politely. The stallion nodded,

"Alright, that'll be eight bits!"

Fluttershy nodded, but went still and sent a glance back the three of them. Pinkie nodded furiously, while he and Rarity made a pair of 'go on' gestures.

Fluttershy took a deep breath, and turned back to the stallion,

"E-eight bits is a bit m-much," she said gently, causing the stallion to nod,

"Yeah, but that whole 'Discord' business mucked up some of mine and Golden's crop, so..." he explained,

"W-well, e-eight bits is-is outrageous!" Fluttershy said, "So I insist on paying, um... n-nine bits!"

Emerald's jaw dropped, once more.

She wasn't serious, right?

"Nine?" the stallion asked, looking confused,

"Er-I mean-ten bits!"

"T-ten? Wait-"

"Eleven bits!"

Rarity's hoof had covered her mouth by this point, and Pinkie was busy trying, and failing, to bury her head in the ground,

"Fluttershy, are you confused?"

"Twel-!"

Emerald had finally had enough, and finally grabbed Fluttershy's tail, and pulled her back before she could bankrupt herself.

"Four bits," he stated, sparing a half-glance at his cousin, who'd fallen to her flank and was now watching him curiously. The stallion at the stand blinked at the sudden change, though whether he focused on the price change or the individual giving it, he wasn't entirely sure,

"Uh... it's eight b-"

"Do you really think you're going to sell a lot if you're demanding four bits a bunch?" Emerald asked, "I mean, look at how many carrots you still have in stock," he said, gesturing to the nearly full bins beside the stallion, "Isn't it a little telling how you're still on your first crate despite it being, what? Five hours into the day?" he asked, "Aren't you usually onto your second by the third?"

The stallion blinked,

"W-well, like I said, we've been having some issues with our crop, and we need some more money to fix-"

"Money you aren't getting 'cause no one's going to buy carrots at double the price," he snapped, "Five bits."

The stallion bit his lip at Emerald's latest offer,

"Seven bits."

"Four bits."

"You went down," the stallion pointed out,

"Three bits," Emerald said, uninterested, "You wanna make a sale, don't you?" he asked imploringly,

"W-well, now, that's not-"

"Oh, imagine what Golden will say if you can't even make one sale."

"B-but-!"

"Do we have a deal?"

"Okay!" the stallion said, throwing his hooves wide, "Okay! Three bits for two bunches!" he said,

"Glad you see it my way," Emerald said, smirking wickedly, "I'll take four then."

He returned to the three mares with the purchases in hoof, placing half into Fluttershy's bag, and the other into his,

"Wow..." Fluttershy breathed, looking at him in awe,

"That was impressive work, Emerald," Rarity praised,

"Yeah! You got him to go even lower than the normal price!" Pinkie added. Emerald shrugged,

"I just pressured him, is all," he said, "Reminded him that he needed to make a sale, and brought up Golden to remind him that there was more things against him than there were me. If it meant getting her off his back, he was willing to sell me his produce for dirt cheap," he said, then tilted his head, "It doesn't work too often, since I don't really go out of my way to know anything about anyone I buy from, but that's only me. I'm sure Pinkie could really pull it off, since she knows damn near everything about everyone in Ponyville."

Pinkie nodded vigorously,

"Yep!"

"Now then, that's tomatoes and carrots," Rarity said, "You still need cherries, is that right?" she asked, prompting Fluttershy to nod, "Cherries have a tendency to sell fairly quickly, so we'll have to make haste," she pointed out, "Let's be off!"

Emerald didn't often buy cherries. Wisp didn't like them and he didn't particularly enjoy them either, so he'd never had much of a reason to buy the things. So it was a tad surprising to see a large crowd gathering around the cherry stand.

Thankfully, they all dispersed not long after, with everyone in line trotting off with a bag of cherries in hoof, though it left the cherry stand nearly completely empty.

Actually... looking a bit closer, it was empty!

There was only one, single cherry left sitting on the stand. It was next to worthless, in that sense. One bit was enough to buy almost twenty of the things, since they had to be brought all the way here from Cherry Hill Ranch over in Dodge Junction.

He frowned, and turned to inform Fluttershy of the unfortunate news, only for said mare to blast right by him and the others, stopping rapidly at the counter.

"Oh thank goodness you have one left!" she breathed, smiling brightly, "I have to make a special recipe for my bunny Angel, and he's a very picky eater!" she explained gently, taking out one bit and setting it beside the cherry. Before she could take the cherry she had way overpaid for, the stallion behind the counter spoke up.

"So... you really need this cherry?" he asked. Fluttershy, in a surprising show of courage, had no issues answering a question from a total stranger,

"Oh yes!" she said, "I'm desperate!"

Emerald's hoof quickly connected with his face.

The one thing you should never tell a shop-keeper, was the first thing she was willing to answer without any sort of confidence issue.

"In that case, ten bits for the cherry!" he exclaimed.

Emerald let a growl slip through his lips.

This bastard! One bit for one cherry was already twenty times the price, and now he wants her to pay ten times that?!

Thankfully Rarity took a step forward before he could.

"Oh dear, surely you could lower the price for my dear friend?" she asked, sauntering her way up to the cherry stand operator, putting a little too much sway into her hips for Emerald's liking. She hopped up, leaning her fore-hooves against the top of the counter, "Surely a big, handsome stallion such as yourself could give my friend a little discount?" she asked, fluttering her eyelashes.

Emerald rolled his eyes, and almost scoffed at the blatancy of her flirting, but stopped when he noticed how deeply red the stallion's face had gotten.

This... wasn't happening, surely?

"W-well, I mean-"

Rarity straightened her hooves abruptly, bringing her closer to eye level with the stallion. She tilted her head slightly, so that she was looking up at him a little despite their now equal height, and reached a hoof up to gently brush against the stallion's brown coat,

"Surely ten bits is a tad much for a mare as sweet as my friend, yes?" she asked. The stallion swallowed, his face darkening,

"Y-yeah!" he agreed, shakily, "Er-uh, i-the cherry's all yours, miss!" he said, swallowing once more, though with more difficulty.

Rarity gave the older stallion a smile, her horn lighting up as her magic gently plucked the cherry and bit off the counter and deposited them into Fluttershy's bag,

"Why thank you, my good sir. I do hope you have a lovely day," she said, backing away from the clearly hot and bothered stallion, who darted into the back room as soon as she turned away.

She walked back over to them with her usual gait, looking not at all uncomfortable with what she just did.

Emerald stared at her for a moment, before turning to Fluttershy,

"You are not allowed to do that. Ever."

---

He had spoken with the girls for a while after that, though most of it was Pinkie and Rarity trying to give Fluttershy advice on being more assertive. He tried chipping in more than once, but often thought better of it. It wasn't because he didn't want to help her, rather, it was because he and Fluttershy were simply too different for any of his advice to hold.

The only piece of advice he could think of giving her was that assertiveness was not the same as aggressiveness-he only thought of saying it since Fluttershy seemed under that impression-but Fluttershy would never be aggressive in the first place, so he'd refrained from saying anything.

Regardless, they'd gone their separate ways when Fluttershy needed to head home and put her groceries away, and he needed to finish his shopping.

But, after another hour, he'd finished and managed to put everything away back home, when there was a loud banging on his door.

He scowled at the banging, but it quickly turned into a confused frown when his ears twitched.

Whoever was at his door was no pony. From what he could tell, they were bipedal, with a broad upper body, and a rather thin lower one.

A memory replayed itself in his head, and he smirked.

He walked over to the door and wrenched it open, finding exactly who he'd expected on the other side,

"Well well, if it isn't Iron Will himself," Emerald stated, staring up at the large minotaur. Iron Will jumped at the sudden opening of the door, the basket he was carrying in his left arm nearly dropping, and laughed down at Emerald,

"Well now! I wasn't expectin' to find you livin' here!" he said, then narrowed his eyes at him, "Huh, that does explain the smirk on your face when I told ya," he added. Emerald nodded,

"Guilty as charged," he admitted, then cocked his head, "So, what brings you here? Setting up your little seminar?" Will nodded,

"That's right!" he said, placing his large hands on his hips, "Talked to the Mayor already, an' she said I could hold my first seminar in about a week, over at the center of the maze here in Ponyville!" he boomed, then plucked what looked to be a pamphlet out of the basket in his left hand, "Here, me an' my crew are goin' around town giving these out," he explained.

Emerald took the pamphlet, raising an eyebrow at the red bull head on the front,

"The details are on the back, but it's got some more info inside of it," Will said.

He wasn't lying. There was the location, the time, as well as a minor explanation about what it was. The explanation was short and to the point, but it did stroke his curiosity a tad.

"Looks good," he praised, causing Will to nod and smirk,

"Course it does! My crew are some of the best I've ever met!" he said, a softer smile lighting his features, "It almost makes me feel guilty 'bout leavin' 'em one day," he said, then smirked, "Almost."

Emerald chuckled, and returned the pamphlet,

"I suppose you'd want me, Wisp, and Glim to be there?" he asked,

"Glim?" he asked, "Starlight's here?" He nodded,

"Forced her to live here myself," he said, almost proudly, "As if I'd let her go back and live on the streets," he added, scowling and looking away. Will only nodded,

"You made a good choice, then," he said, then nodded, "Anyways, yeah, I'd love it if you three would come! Not that you need any of my help to be more assertive," he joked, then brightened, "Hey, maybe you could all volunteer to help the first time?" he suggested, "You mind?"

"Not at all, but Wisp has school then." Will just waved that off,

"Funny thing. While I talked to the Mayor about the show, another mare, Cheery or something-"

"Cheerilee?"

"Probably. Anyways, she thought it would be a good idea to bring the foals from the school to see each seminar!"

"Why the fuck would that be a good idea?" Emerald asked, frowning. Iron Will just shrugged,

"No idea, something about standing up to bullies, I'd guess."

"Likely."

"So, you willing to help?"

"Yeah, sure. Glim and I will be there to help set the thing up."

"You mind coming up on stage sometimes to help demonstrate?"

"No."

"Great!" he said, giving him a thumbs up, "I'll see ya then! Now, if you don't mind me, I gotta go deliver the rest'o these!"

Emerald waved the minotaur goodbye after that, before retreating back into the house.

He chuckled.

Looks like a lot of stuff's happening at once. First the meeting tonight, then this? he chuckled again, Things are getting interesting. Though, they'll probably be even more interesting once I find out what that meeting is for.

---

By now, Ponyville at night was as familiar to him as his own wings were.

So it was with no surprise that he found that he was able to sneak his way around the rooftops, completely unseen, as he slunk towards the library.

This meeting was big enough to warrant the attendance of all pegasi in town, yet small enough to not warrant a town-wide meeting. For this reason, Emerald knew that, whatever it was, it was weather related. He'd be utterly useless in that sense, being a thestral, but it was still something that warranted his attention nonetheless.

Weather did, after all, have a tendency to go awry with so many pegasi involved.

At the very least he'd be able to prepare for whatever fallout could happen, and evacuate the town should need arise.

The thought got him to pause in his tracks.

Did Ponyville have an evacuation plan? With it being so close to the Everfree-and was now the place where a primordial god of chaos made his playground-one would think they'd have an evacuation plan in place should anything go FUBAR.

He'd have to check with Mayor Mare.

He dived from the rooftops, keeping low to the ground as he shot forward, until he was successfully placed beneath one of the ground level windows.

This whole sneaking around thing was almost certainly unnecessary, but it didn't feel right to just walk around at night just yet. It was going to take a few weeks before he broke that habit.

His eyes scanned the room, while he positioned himself to be out of the light as best he could. The entire library was filled to the brim with pegasi, as expected, and he could see the hatchling and Sparky setting up a projector towards what would be the back of the crowd, not two feet away from the window he'd chosen.

He ducked into the bushes when Sparky turned around, and stayed when the last few pegasi started showing up. He spent almost five minutes hiding, until his ears picked up the sound of the projector's wheels.

Peeking back out, he stared into the room as the projector began playing a black and white cinematic.

He frowned as the little movie continued. It was just a standard issue documentary detailing Cloudsdale's place in providing Equestria with its rain clouds. It explained what it did, and how the floating city came into possession of the massive amounts of water it took to provide most of Equestria with rain clouds.

But why would they be showing this to the pegasi of Ponyville?

It was common knowledge, so there was no reason for it.

Unless-

The movie cut out suddenly as the projector started ejecting its tape, covering the hatchling in film. There was a sudden spike of chatter amongst the room, before Sparky flipped the lights back on, and Rainbow took center stage.

"Alright everyone, here's the scoop!" she shouted, drawing attention and quieting the chatter, "Cloudsdale has chosen our highland reservoir to supply its water for Equestria's clouds, and you all know what that means!" she said, "What it means-!" she began without input, "is that it's up to Ponyville's pegasi to get that water up to Cloudsdale!"

The chatter started up again, more excited this time.

"Not only that!" Rainbow interrupted, pulling down a poster over the projector's screen, revealing Spitfire in uniform, "But Spitfire, the Captain of the Wonderbolts, will be comin' down here to oversee the whole thing, and record our top tornado wind speed!" she said, before pulling down another poster, depicting a city and a bar graph, "So, last year Fillydelphia broke the record with nine-hundred-and-ten wing power, but I think we can get a top speed waaaay over that! I'm talking, a thousand!"

Wing power? What the fuck is wing power?

The crowd started chattering excitedly, but it was stopped when Rainbow darted just above them, and glared down at the lot, erasing his thoughts,

"If every single pegasus in town trains hard enough to get their wing power numbers up!" she said.

A sudden coughing interrupted her not-very-motivational speech, and she glared down at the source,

"That coughing better be from a popcorn kernel, Thunderlane!" she snapped, "Nobody's getting sick on my watch!" she huffed, and turned back to the ground, "Alright! Are we gonna train hard?" she asked,

""""YEAH!""""

"Are we gonna be strong?!"

""""YEAH!""""

"We gonna be fast?!"

""""YEAH!""""

"Record breaking fast?!"

""""YEAH!""""

The sound of the door opening amongst the cheering caught his attention. He glanced over, finding Fluttershy slinking out the door, timidly keeping herself low to the ground.

He frowned at the sight, but let it go.

He was outside and he had to flatten his ears to keep himself from getting hurt. She probably just couldn't handle the sound.

...

Oh, who was he kidding?

---

The next week arrived fairly quickly after that.

The meeting had ended right after Fluttershy's disappearance, prompting Emerald to head off before he could be seen. He'd made a few customary sweeps of the town to make sure everything was fine, before he'd turned in for the night.

So, after cooking breakfast in the morning, he'd headed out with Starlight.

They dropped Wisp off at school, and turned right back around, much to Starlight's confusion. Said confusion only worsened when they walked right by their house, and towards the nearby maze. Of course, he didn't explain why they were headed to the maze, as, evidently, she wasn't aware of Iron Will's visit.

He had been confused when he'd realized that, until he remembered that Iron Will had been delivering those pamphlets, and that he'd given the one he'd had back. Plus, Starlight had gone out just before he'd returned from shopping, and he hadn't seen her until much later and, by then, he figured she was aware and hadn't mentioned it.

Oh well, it just meant he'd get to see her reaction in person.

"I didn't know Ponyville had its own maze," she said when they'd passed the entrance. Emerald nodded,

"Yeah, they don't use it much. I thought about using it when I first got here, but..." he paused, then shrugged, "Huh, guess I forgot. Uh, yeah, they only really use the thing during Nightmare Night, as far as I know," he explained.

"Well, I guess a maze on Nightmare Night makes sense," she said, glancing around at the bare green hedges that surrounded them, "But... if they only use 'em on Nightmare Night, then what's going on now?" she asked. Emerald only smirked,

"You'll see."

"Am I gonna like it?"

"I have no idea."

"That's reassuring."

"Isn't it?" he asked sarcastically, turning to send a smirk at her, before it fell and he turned back around, "The event isn't actually starting yet. Since the whole hurricane business is going on with the town's pegasi, the first event is scheduled for an hour after their required training and tests, which isn't for another two hours."

"So... we're here early... why?"

"'Cuz I volunteered us to help out, of course!"

"Why?"

"Because."

"..."

"..."

"Really?"

"You'll find out why when we get there."

He and Starlight trekked the rest of the way through the maze fairly easily, until they finally arrived at the center, finding Iron Will and several goats wandering around, each wielding various tools and a few holding blueprints. They'd already started building, actually. The set of wooden flooring and scaffolding towards the other end of the clearing made that clear.

"Will?!" Starlight called, surprised. Iron Will started, and he turned to them. He smiled, and waved,

"Oh, hey you two!" he called, and waved them over, "Glad you got here so early! You ready to help?" he asked. Starlight blinked, and turned to Emerald,

"We're helping Will?" she asked. He nodded,

"Yeah. We'll help him build his stage, and act as volunteers for his seminar," he said. Iron Will, however, shook his head,

"That's fine," he said, "turns out my pals have got the whole stage thing well in hoof," he said, gesturing over to the goats, who had resumed building. They were actually startlingly quick about it, too. Hardly a few seconds had passed and they'd already laid several planks and nailed them in place.

"Okay," Emerald said, "So... what should we do for the next two hours?"

"Got somewhere to be?" Iron Will asked, curiously,

"Fluttershy will be joining the pegasi in their training and tests in two hours, and I figure she'll need some motivational support from family," he said.

"Family?" Iron Will asked, before he snapped his fingers-which caused Emerald to flinch, since it reminded him a little too much of Discord at the moment-"Right, that new cousin'o yours! Hey, if you're going, I don't mind showing up to cheer her on!" he offered,

"Uh, yeah! Same!" Starlight chirped. Emerald nodded,

"Cool, but let's get back to what we're doing here. Which is?"

"Rehearsal."

""Rehearsal?""

""Course! What, you think I just go on stage and make stuff up?"

"Yes."

"No."

Emerald glanced at Starlight, deadpan. She sighed,

"Yeah..."

Iron Will stared at the two of them,

"Hurtful," he whined, before shaking his head, "whatever, anyways!" he chirped, clapping his hands together, "Let's get started!"

---

The track that the pegasi were using was surprising. Not in its size or layout, but in the fact that it existed.

Emerald had been in Ponyville long enough to recognize nearly any building in town, and had spent enough time to almost completely memorize its layout and the buildings within. So one would think he'd have been fully aware of the track's existence.

Even Emerald had assumed so, until he recalled one glaring fact.

He might know damn near every nook and cranny in the town of Ponyville, but Ponyville was more than the town.

The land that made up Ponyville extended quite far in nearly every direction, covering nearly the entire Everfree Forest, the whole Ponyville Quarry, reaching Ghastly Gorge, and covering the entirety of the Whitetail Woods.

The fact that little things like this track, the highland reservoir he'd never visited, and several large ponds, lakes, and rivers that dotted the place completely escaped his notice, shouldn't have been surprising.

Ponyville was simply too big for him to memorize like he'd thought. Which was funny, considering how small the town was.

Well, the Apple Family were the only ones who'd wanted the land-due in part to the unusual phenomena that resulted in Zap Apples thanks to the Everfree-and thus they'd had no competition in buying the whole place.

He supposed their original intention was to cover the whole place in apple trees, before they settled on making the town.

He shook his head, and pushed those thoughts aside for another day.

Most of the town's pegasi had already shown up, with several pairs doing some leisurely laps around the track. The majority of those who had shown up, however, were all standing along the edge of the track, seemingly waiting for something.

"Woo! This town sure has a lot to it, doesn't it?" Will bellowed, looking around the area with a smile. His loud voice had startled some of the nearby pegasi, who threw him a few dirty looks, though they faded after a moment.

"I know what you mean," Starlight said, looking just as interested as she looked around, "I haven't been here all that long, but I already feel like I know the town like the back of my hoof, and then I see something like this, and..." she trailed off. Emerald nodded,

"Yeah, Ponyville does have this way of getting you to feel comfortable," he admitted, then smirked and sent then a half-glance, "Still, this little town has a lot more to it than meets the eye. I'm sure you'll get to see all the fun shit if you stay here long enough."

Will chuckled,

"I don't doubt that for a second!" he said, held a hand over his eyes, peering out over the selection of pegasi, "So, where's this little cousin'o ours?" he asked, "I ain't seein' too many yellow and pink pegasi from here."

Emerald frowned, and followed his gaze.

Fluttershy wasn't here.

He sighed,

"Oh great... she's probably hiding back in her cottage," he muttered, beginning to turn, "Wait here, I'll-"

"Oh!" the familiar voice of one Twilight 'Sparky' Sparkle gasped when his eyes unexpectedly met hers, "Emerald! What are you here for?" she asked, "You not a pegasus, so you aren't obligated to be here," she pointed out, trotting over to him with the hatchling in tow. Sparky was laden with a pair of saddlebags, containing an abacus and some paper, while Spike was stumbling slightly, carrying a strange propeller-like object with a gauge attached.

"Moral support for Fluttershy, mostly," he admitted, "Though, considering she isn't here right now, I might also need to be the one tying her down."

Sparky giggled at that, and shook her head,

"Don't worry!" she said, smiling, "I'm sure Rainbow's already gone off to get her," she said, then turned to Will, who was watching their interaction with interest, "You must be one of Emerald's-" she paused for a moment, "brothers?"

Iron Will nodded, smirking,

"That's right! Iron Will's the name!" he boomed, leaning down, his hand outstretched, "And you must be the famous Twilight Sparkle, right?" he asked when Sparky took his hand. The mare in question flushed slightly,

"I-I wouldn't say famous," she muttered meekly, looking away.

"Are ya kidding?!" Iron asked, incredulously, "'Course you're famous! I mean, ya got this one-" he thumped Emerald on the back, "-to start lightening up! If that doesn't make you famous, I don't know what will!"

Sparky only turned redder,

"I-I-I don't know about that..." she mumbled, looking away whilst rubbing her leg,

"Nonsense!" Will said, waving off her embarrassment, "Thorax told us all about it!"

Emerald's gaze immediately grew sharp, sending Will a glare that all but shouted 'Shut the fuck up!'.

Sparky, thankfully, didn't notice it,

"'Thorax'?" she asked, looking up at him curiously, "You mean... Peppermint?" Will stared at her for a moment, before he nodded,

"Right," he said, "I forgot that's what he calls himself," he said, thumping the side of his head, just beneath his horns.

His response only seemed to confuse her more, but before she could ask him the million and one questions she probably had, Spike spoke up,

"Hey, can we hurry up?" he asked, his head peeking out from behind the odd device, "My arms are getting tired."

"Oh, right!" Sparky said, looking at Spike with apologetic smile, "Spike and I need to set up the anemometer for the pegasi's tests!" she gushed, before gesturing for Spike to follow her.

The two of them headed over to the center of the track and set up the machine, already receiving more than one confused look in the process.

"An anemometer, huh?" Starlight mused, "Sounds like their trying to measure everyone's wing power."

"Wing power?" Will asked. Starlight nodded,

"Uh, yeah. It's basically just a measurement of how strong their wings are. Everyday pegasi tend to have an average wing power of about four to five," she said, then tilted her head, "I think the world record is twenty-one-point-three wing power. Not sure who it belongs to, though," she admitted, shrugging.

"The world record for the highest wing power is Red Rocket!" a familiarly scratchy voice behind them shouted, just as Rainbow Dash rushed in front of Starlight, looking excited, though Emerald noticed Fluttershy slinking off towards the crowd from behind her, "He was the Captain of the Wonderbolts before Spitfire, and the Captain of the first Wonderbolt show I ever saw!" she gushed, "He was an awesome flier! Not as good as Spitfire, but he was one of the best!" she said, smiling like a maniac.

Starlight blinked at the mare's close proximity, and carefully stepped away,

"Uhh... yeah, that sounds about right," she said, hesitantly, "I'm surprised you know that, since it's so obscure."

"Like you're one to talk," Emerald snarked, "She wants to be a Wonderbolt, so it's not hard to figure out why she'd know that," he said, before his eyes narrowed, "Why do you know that, anyways?"

Starlight shrugged,

"Spitfire's the Captain, so I did some reading at the Canterlot Library," she said, then wilted, "They... kicked me out for my smell after, like, ten minutes..."

"Thunderlane!" Sparky suddenly shouted, "Coughing, again?" she asked, "You know this is supposed to be a germ free zone!"

"Wha-it wasn't me!" a somewhat familiar stallion shouted back, "It was Blossomforth!"

Rainbow scoffed and approached, with Emerald, Starlight, and Will following after,

"Relax Twilight," she said, scowling at the darker pegasus, as the other three took positions sitting around the anemometer, "Thunderlane's just cookin' up an excuse to spend Tornado Day in bed. How's about coming over here and being our first test flier?" she asked, pointing to the red line on the track.

Emerald smirked as the stallion scowled, and languidly glided over to the starting position, but frowned when he noticed one of the mares nearby stifling a cough.

Hmm....

Before Emerald could head over and confront the mare, Sparky shouted,

"Alright! Fly as fast as you can whenever you're ready!" she called.

Thunderlane, who'd already set up by the started line, stretched his wings outward, leaned low and back, before taking off. He shot forward with some fairly impressive speed, zipped by the anemometer, before coming to a slow stop at the white at the other end. He was panting lightly, but it faded soon enough.

Sparky looked at the gauge, wrote some things down on the notepad she'd brought, and called out,

"Nine-point-three wing power!"

Thunderlane was met with some hearty cheers from the rest of the group, who eagerly accepted him back with hoof shakes and pats on the back.

"Not bad," Rainbow said, taking a position at the starting line, "Not bad," she repeated, cracking various joints in her legs and wings, which produced a usually inaudible cracking that had Emerald wincing.

Even so, he couldn't help but groan lightly, catching Starlight and Iron's attention,

"Figures she'd use the chance to show off," he muttered, staring at the mare with light disdain.

She finished cracking her joints with one last twitch of the neck, before adopting a starting position similar to Thunderlane's and shot off. She moved fast enough to leave a trail of rainbow behind her, and the gust of wing she'd left in her wake nearly tore the notepad out of Sparky's unprepared magical grip.

Then again, he supposed he couldn't blame her for wanting to show off. Even he had to acknowledge one, simple thing. After all-

"Sixteen-point-five wing power!" Sparky called, sounding astonished.

She was above them. Simple as that. It was only natural for someone who was better than the rest to want to show off their skills every now and again.

It didn't mean he liked it, but he, at least, could understand.

Even he wanted a good fight every now and then.

Rainbow, of course, preened at the cheers that resounded after that call, but Emerald was momentarily distracted by a prodding at his side.

He turned, finding Starlight staring at him, eyes half-lidded. He blinked,

"What?"

"What's your wing power?" she asked, catching both the attentions of Will and Sparky. He shrugged,

"No clue," he said, confused. Starlight frowned,

"What's the average thestrali wing power?" she asked instead. Emerald blinked, and regarded her blankly,

"... I know I act like I know a lot of shit, believe me, I do, but the first time I heard about wing power was while I was spying on the meeting last week."

"You were spying on that?" Sparky asked, staring at him, obviously confused, "Why?" He fidgeted slightly, and looked away,

"I'm... not used to being able to just walk around at night. I'm more accustomed to sneaking around," he admitted, a tad sheepishly.

Sparky's stare continued, but it looked... sad for some reason.

At least it did, until Starlight's previous line of questioning seemed to catch up with her,

"Oh! Could you test out your wing power?" she asked, turning fully to face him, an excited smile on her face, "It would give us the first look into how thestrali wings compare to pegasi wings! There's been a lot of research about the differences between pegasi and griffons, but I've never heard about anything like this!" she gushed, her eyes practically sparkling. She lunged forward, suddenly clasping his hooves in hers, "Oh! I'd love to do all kinds of tests! Think of all the research we could do! We could compare the magical signatures of thestrals in comparison to all kinds of creatures! We could see how Equestrian magic interacts with yours, determine baseline parameters-!" she suddenly froze, her smile beginning to split her face, "Ooh! I know that thestrals can see in the dark and have better senses than ponies! We could do a full comparison and see how far it stretches, determine basic muscle and strength tests, maybe even some blood tests to compare their similarities..." she trailed off, letting go of his hooves, completely unaware of how still Emerald had gotten at 'blood tests'.

"There's still so much to learn!" she gushed lowly, scribbling away on her notebook, "Basic culture, language, history, social norms, governmental status, biological tests, even mati-" she suddenly flushed and cut herself off, coughing into a hoof, while also sending him furtive glances, "er... maybe save those for another day..."

Emerald barely had time to ponder anything she just said, as a loud roar erupted from the crowd,

"YEAH!"

Evidently, he'd missed Rainbow's speech and declaration right after that.

Thankfully, Spike had heard it. As it turned out, she wanted every pegasus in attendance to achieve at least a ten-point-zero wing power by the end of the week, where'd they would do some last second preparations before Spitfire showed up.

Now the rest of the pegasi were lining up to record their starting wing power and determine how much work they needed to achieve the desired minimum.

There was a lot of variation, but none of the gathered pegasi had anything less than a four-point-one which, to be fair, wasn't too bad. Most of the gathered pegasi had wing powers in the mid to high sixes, with some sevens and eights, which made sense since most of the town's pegasi had jobs relating to the weather. Other pegasi, who didn't, tended to get somewhere between four and five, with some sixes. There were a few high scores, some nines and tens, and even an eleven and twelve scattered in there.

All in all, it was much better than even he would've expected.

Of course, none of the ponies here, except Rainbow, regularly trained all that hard. Like Starlight said, everyday pegasi tended to average four to five wing power. And Rainbow Dash was not an everyday pegasus.

Idly, he began to wonder what his own wing power would be, and what the wing power of most thestrals would be.

It would be higher than a pegasus's wing power, he knew. Thestrals didn't have the same kind of magic in them that helped them fly like pegasi did. It was muscle more than it was magic, and more muscle meant more weight, which meant more muscle and so on. It would only be natural for a thestral to have a higher wing power. Griffons had the same issue, and they were reported as being stronger than pegasi on average. He imagined that it carried over into wing power as well.

But a Skies or a Tides? Oh, they were made to fight, and training was as much in their blood as fighting. No doubt, their wing powers would floor even the other thestrals.

Though... he shuddered to imagine what a dragon's wing power would be. With their size and weight, he wouldn't be surprised if it was in the hundreds, or, Faust forbid, the thousands.

Then again, his curiosity probably stemmed from the desire to get Starlight to stop fucking poking him in the side, just as much as it did from honest curiosity.

Eventually the number of pegasi that needed to be tested dwindled down until only one remained.

"Alright Fluttershy!" Rainbow called, "You're up!"

The mare in question flinched slightly at being called, and remained rooted to the spot. One of the pegasi nearby, however, ended up giving the timid pony a gentle push, startling her into jumping forward.

Fluttershy took in a deep breath, and tried to stand confidently in place. However her violently shaking legs made her nervousness as plain as day. She was looking around, eyes darting over each of the individuals in attendance, meeting nothing but excited grins and encouraging smiles that did absolutely nothing to ease her worries.

Her eyes eventually slid over onto him and her two friends. Rainbow, of course, only gave the scared mare a grin, while Sparky gave her an honest and encouraging smile. Emerald merely smirked, and jerked his head down the track she was meant to run.

She bit her lip and turned back to the track, her wings fluttering slightly.

She ended up taking a deep breath in, and took off.

She... wasn't very fast, but she wasn't exactly slow either. The nervousness on her face was easy to see, but the longer she continued flying, the more relaxed she became. She started picking up speed, actually, as a small smile appeared on her face.

Soon enough she was flying... not quite as fast as most of the other pegasi, but her speed wasn't too bad. Maybe a three or a four wing power.

A pair of shrill laughs pierced the air suddenly, and Fluttershy's eyes dilated. Her wings stuttered for an instant, and her speed dropped instantly. She passed right by the anemometer with barely enough speed to cause a draft.

Sparky frowned, staring at the machine, before turning to him and Rainbow,

"Uh... point-five," she muttered,

"She slowed down," Emerald pointed out, earning a nod from Rainbow,

"Yeah, she was going pretty good for a sec there," she agreed. Sparky nodded, then swallowed,

"So uh... who's telling her she has to go again?" she asked. Emerald and Rainbow both grimaced, but before either of them could say anything, Spike spoke,

"She got a point-five?" he called, a little too loudly, "Wait... isn't that, like, less than one?" he asked, only for Starlight to accidentally kick the hatchling while stretching, whistling an off-key tune while she did so, "Ow!"

Emerald frowned, and turned to Fluttershy, only to find the mare shaking in place. The shivers raced across her entire body, and her breathing was coming out fast and heavy. Her eyes darted to and fro, and her ears twitched erratically, as though she was hearing something that wasn't there.

Eventually, she turned to run, only to bonk her head against Iron Will's leg,

"Well hey there little missy!" he boomed cheerfully, startling the panicking pegasus into awareness. She blinked up at him, confused, before she turned her head,

"O-oh, I-I'm sorry..." she stammered, "I didn't m-mean to run into you, or anything..."

Something in Iron Will's expression twitched, but it was gone too fast for Emerald to recognize it.

"Ah, you ain't got nothing to be sorry for!" he said, waving her apology off without issue, and punctuated his statement by sticking out his hand for a shake, "Iron Will's the name! I heard from Emerald you're my new cousin, yeah?" he asked.

Fluttershy blinked, looking up at him, whatever thoughts going through her mind completely scattered,

"O-oh!" she gasped, "U-um, hello...?" she greeted softly, reaching out to grab his hand. Her hoof barely grazed his fingers, before she proceeded to give them one, minuscule shake, and retracted her hoof as though she was burned.

Iron Will was, of course, completely unfazed by her timidness,

"Last I recall, I heard something about you being an animal caretaker, yeah?" he asked, immediately causing Fluttershy to perk up, "I'm on the road pretty often, so I don't get to take a nice rest too often, ya know?" he said, straightening up and looking off into some random spot in the sky, "I plan to travel this whole wide world someday, and I bet there are plenty'o animals I don't know 'bout out there," he said, then turned back to her and winked, "Mind tellin' me 'bout some of 'em?"

Emerald smirked at the way Fluttershy smiled.

Figures Will would be the one to step in. He startled her out of her thoughts, confused her, established a connection, then brought up a topic she was familiar and comfortable with, effectively stopping the panic attack before it even started.

Clever bull. He always was better at that kind of thing.

While Fluttershy was busy talking Iron Will's ears off, Emerald turned to Sparky and Rainbow,

"Why don't we finish up for now?" he suggested. Sparky blinked,

"B-but we need her wing power..." she murmured, though he doubted she actually meant it. He only shrugged,

"Just put her down as point-five. Fluttershy obviously isn't comfortable with this, and I doubt one pony would make much of a difference in wing power, in the end," he remarked, glancing at Rainbow with that last part.

Rainbow Dash looked put out at his words, but nodded.

"Yeah... I guess we'll be fine..."

---

Emerald watched from above, more than a tad amused, as the vaguely familiar form of Cheerilee led the foals through the maze. He hadn't interacted with the mare beyond their initial meeting, and even less after he'd had Wisp registered for the school here in Ponyville, but he knew, mostly from second-hoof experience, that she was a good pony.

She bore a two-tone pink and white-ish mane and tail, both styled into curls, a deep magenta coat, and friendly green eyes. Wisp had nothing but nice things to say about the teacher, though she did have a few complaints regarding the mare's seeming willingness to let a pair of fillies, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon if he recalled, torment the other foals.

He assumed it was less letting them go and more that there wasn't any proof. He had a feeling that most of the foals refused to indicate either of them in whatever issues cropped up. He doubted the words of the Crusaders alone were enough to get them in trouble.

Wisp had noted, however, that the two of them had stopped trying anything against her not long ago. Their attempts at riling her up usually failed, but now they had stopped completely, and she wasn't sure why.

Given the timing, he was fairly certain it had to do with his reveal as the Champion. He was actually a tad surprised that Wisp hadn't figured it out herself.

Then again, the knowledge wasn't new to her, so she probably just overlooked it.

He shook his head, scattering his errant thoughts.

Iron Will's seminar was set to begin within fifteen minutes, and a surprisingly large portion of the town had actually decided to show up. Ponies both familiar and unfamiliar seemed to flock to the maze, with one of the most surprising, yet somehow most expected, attendee being Fluttershy herself.

At some point during their talk, Iron Will had mentioned needing to head off for his seminar, and Fluttershy had shown a surprising interest in it. Though considering that he'd seen Rarity and Pinkie talking to her for the past week, he had a feeling he knew what had prompted the interest.

He smirked when he spotted Wisp talking to two other fillies, a puffy-red-maned one with glasses and braces and the familiar form of Ditzy's foal, Dinky.

His eyes narrowed slightly.

When had Wisp befriended those two?

In fact... when was the last time Wisp had talked to him about something from school?

For a moment, he lost himself in his worries.

Were they growing apart? Was she going through puberty? Was she going through a phase?

Please don't be a phase... he whined to himself, I don't think I can handle the angst... Ironically enough...

He shook his head once more, and resolved to try and be more involved with Wisp's life in the future. Until then, however, he needed to head back to the stage.

-----

"-it exshploded!" Twist gushed,

"Wow!" Dinky breathed, "How'd that even happen?"

"I dunno! I think I added too mucsh shugar," Twist moaned.

"I don't think that's how that works..."

Whisper smirked at their interaction. How could she not? The two of them made such good friends that it was a wonder they hadn't been interacting until just a few weeks ago!

She supposed that was her fault, though. Up until that point, she'd been a fairly isolated filly. She did well in class-she was the top student, of course-and she supposed that ended up putting her on some sort of pedestal. Aside from the Crusaders, and Diamond and Silver, no one in the class really interacted with her at the time.

It was one of the reasons she'd be willing to spend time with the Crusaders, despite not really liking them all too much.

There was nothing wrong with them! It was just... they did some really stupid stuff sometimes because of how weirdly obsessed with their marks they were. She couldn't blame them, though, since everyone wanted their cutie marks when they were their age.

"I shtill managed to make shome, though!" Twist said, pulling out a small box from her saddlebag, "Do you girlsh want shome?" she asked.

"Sure!" Dinky said, nodding eagerly. Wisp shook her head,

"No thanks," she said.

"Aw come on, Wishp!" Twist implored, opening up the box of peppermint sticks and letting Dinky levitate one away, "You never want any candy!"

"Hmm! Mmph hmm?" Dinky said through the peppermint stick in her mouth.

Whisper stared at Dinky for a second, prompting the filly to stop sucking on the candy,

"Sorry," she said, "Yeah! What gives?" she repeated in a language Whisper could actually understand. Whisper sighed,

"I just don't eat a lot of candy," she said, shrugging, "It's not a big deal..."

"Courshe it ish!" Twist disagreed, holding out the box to her, silently demanding she take one, "Everypony likes candy!"

"Yeah! A filly that doesn't eat candy is like a rabbit that doesn't like carrots!" Dinky added, pouting at her. Whisper only sighed, and took one of the sticks in her magic, almost petulantly.

"Fine," she muttered, idly beginning to nibble on the end while fighting a smile.

Dinky and Peppermint Twist were a pair of interesting fillies to have as friends. Dinky was a fairly smart little unicorn, but seemed to have inherited a bit of her mother's infamous clumsiness which, surprisingly, had very little to do with her eyesight. Twist was a nerdy looking earth pony with glasses, braces, and a severely poofy mane and tail, who also had a love, and talent, for making candy, specifically peppermint candy.

Dinky's clumsiness and Twist's nerdy appearance made the two, not unpopular, but they were often pushed out of mind. Unlike the rest of the class, the two of them didn't really stand out all that much. They were rather easy to miss, and even Whisper would've ignored the two of them if Emerald hadn't mentioned Dinky as a possible friend. Twist only joined the group a month or two ago out of loneliness, but she hardly minded.

In fact, Dinky and Twist got along so well that it almost felt like Whisper was the newcomer to the group, rather than the earth filly.

Not that she minded. She really didn't have much in common with any of the other foals in class.

She blamed Emerald for that.

"Alright my little ponies!" Miss Cheerilee called, "Everypony form into four horizontal lines!" she gently ordered, leading them to the front of the large crowd in front of Big Bro Iron's stage.

Whisper followed the group, and ended up in the front-most row between Twist and Silver Spoon and right in front of the Crusaders, much to her minor discomfort.

Silver Spoon didn't pay much attention to her, but that didn't mean that Whisper wasn't a tad on edge. Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara were the class bullies, and everyone knew that. They... weren't the best at it, mostly sticking to name-calling and the occasional shove.

They mostly targeted the Cutie Mark Crusaders for the lack of their namesake, strangely leaving Dinky alone, but they'd been trying, and mostly failing, to target Whisper since her arrival.

They mostly focused on her glasses and good grades, calling her 'four-eyes' or 'sweaty nerd'-or anything similar, really-but Whisper hardly ever paid much attention to them. Their words simply never bothered her, and why should they?

It sounded stupid to say, even in the privacy of her own head, but she'd been through a lot worse than some name-calling, and she got off a lot lighter than most of the rest of her family.

Her tongue had been cut out, yes, but at least she was alive. And only... slightly traumatized.

But they'd stopped almost abruptly the day after Emerald was announced as the Champion. It was weird, because the pair never stopped bullying the Crusaders despite their role model/sisters being the Elements of Harmony.

Before she could ponder further on the matter, a spotlight suddenly flashed, illuminating the center of the tall, red curtain on the stage, effectively silencing the crowd.

With a flourish, the curtains were flung out, revealing the tall, broad form of Iron Will with his arms out to the side,

"Welcome everyone!" his voice boomed over the crowd, amplified over the speakers by the mic he was wearing, "My name is Iron Will, and I'm here today to help all of you stop being a doormat!" he said, then held one of his hands to his ear, "But first, I gotta know if you're all willing to go through this! I wanna hear everyone! Stomp your hooves if you are done being a pushover!"

The crowd burst into cheers, stomping their hooves as demanded.

Iron Will smiled, and pointed over the crowd dramatically,

"Scream if you're done being a doormat!"

The cheers erupted into cries, and even she found herself yelling along with them.

"Shout if you want to pay nothing for this seminar!"

The cheers continued, until they abruptly fell silent. Even Whisper was confused for a second. Everyone here had already paid, after all. In order to attend the seminar, each adult had to pay forty bits-ten for foals-for a special little hoof band that would allow them to attend every seminar for the next week, so how could they pay nothing?

Eventually, it seemed the crowd understood, and laughter started erupting, only to be harshly silence when Iron Will stomped on the stage, the loud sound cutting out any other.

"This is no joke, friends," he said, smiling confidently, "My techniques are meant to help you all in your daily lives. Be it professionally or socially. That is why this seminar has a. One-hundred! Percent. Satisfaction guarantee! If you are not satisfied, return your hoof band, and you will receive a full refund!" he announced, spreading his arms wide, "Though I pity the poor pony my techniques do not help, that is why that your satisfaction is my number. One. Priority!"

The crowd murmured for a bit, before someone started stomping, which soon cascaded over the rest of the crowd.

"Good!" Iron Will boomed, smiling with his hands on his hips, "Now, to show you all how my techniques work, I need volunteers," he said, then laughed when nearly every hoof in the crowd shot up, "Haha! It's good to see everyone's interested! But we've already got some volunteers from before we started. Come out you two!" he said, gesturing to the curtain.

With a lackluster amount of flourish compared to Iron Will's entrance, Whisper gasped happily at the two individuals who'd walked through the curtain, though she noticed that Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara next to her were doing the same.

"I'm sure you all know them, but please, give us a round of applause for our generous volunteers, Starlight Glimmer and Emerald Skies!"

Starlight gave the crowd a slightly uncomfortable wave, while Emerald gave them a lazy salute. Both actions speaking quite a bit about how the two felt about being on stage.

"Now, before we begin, I want to make sure everyone knows the number one rule about being assertive!" Iron Will intoned heavily, holding up one hand with his index finger extended towards the crowd, "Allow us to demonstrate."

His words washed over the crowd, causing a lot of ponies to stare in confusion.

"Now-" he turned to Emerald and Starlight, "no offense to you, but you are a lot more intimidating than her-" he said to Emerald, who nodded, "so, we'll have you be the instigator, and Starlight will be our solver, alright?"

The two of them nodded,

"Good! Let's go with something simple. Say you're going shopping, and someone cuts in front of you. Let's begin!"

Emerald backed off a bit, and Starlight made her way over to the stairs, before turning back around. She then proceeded to approach Iron Will, only for Emerald to step out right in front of her, his back to her.

"See how he just cut in front of her?" Iron Will asked from off to the side, "His back is to her, so maybe he just didn't see her. Maybe if she asks him politely to move?"

"Uh, hey, could you move? You just cut in front of me," Starlight said, though Emerald didn't look at her.

"Sounds like he didn't hear her. There's no need to worry, maybe if she asks again?"

"Uh, hey!" he turned his head and glanced at her, "Uh, you cut in front of me, so could you move it?" she asked. Emerald huffed, and turned back around, completely ignoring.

"Well, looks like being polite didn't work. What'll happen next?"

Starlight frowned, and forcefully shoved passed him, almost knocking him down,

"Hey!" he snapped, only for Starlight to glare at him,

"Don't 'Hey!' me," she snapped back, "I asked you to move, so next time don't get in my way."

The two continued glaring at each other for a moment, before they both relaxed and moved aside.

"You see how she handled that everyone?" Iron Will asked, looking around, "Can any of you tell me what she did right, and what she did wrong?" he asked, then turned to her class in the front, "How about you little ponies? Can you tell us what she did?" he asked nicely.

She spared a glance around, finding only a few of the other foals raising their hooves.

Iron Will pointed at Featherweight,

"What do you think?"

"Uh," Featherweight squeaked, "well, she pushed right passed him," he pointed out, his voice carrying fairly well in the silence that washed over the crowd, "That was being assertive, right?"

Iron Will nodded,

"You're on the right track little buddy, but that's not quite right. Anyone else wanna take a guess?" he asked, looking around, "No? Alright then, I'll tell ya," he spun around, and pointed at Emerald and Starlight, "She was perfectly in the right to tell him that he cut right in front of her, and to tell him to move. She was wrong however, to shove him like that. This is our first lesson! There's a fine line between being assertive, and being aggressive! Making your voice heard and your opinion clear is being assertive, but shoving someone around is just being plain aggressive. So remember, 'Don't push over, just because you don't want to be a pushover!'"

He began to pace around the stage, arms folded behind his back,

"With that being said, there is a definite overlap. To be assertive is to be a little aggressive. However, aggression itself is not assertiveness. To make herself known, she had to raise her voice, and force him to listen to her. She needed to be a little angry to get him to listen. But she did not shout, nor did she get violent. Keep yourself in check," he said, and gestured towards Starlight and Emerald, who got back into their previous position.

"Hey! You cut in front of me!" Starlight snapped. Like before, Emerald only gave her a cursory glance, then looked away, completely ignoring her.

Unlike last time, where she shoved him aside, she merely walked a bit around him, and stood in front of him.

"Hey!" Emerald snapped, causing Starlight to turn to him, before huffing and turning back around. He tried to do the same thing to her, passing around, but she blocked him,

"This is my spot!" she growled, glaring heavily at him, "Either stay in your place or get to the back of the line!"

Emerald huffed, but backed away. They stayed like this, until they both relaxed.

"See how she handled things this time?" Iron Will asked, smiling, "She made sure the pony cutting in front was aware of what he did, and when he didn't apologize and disregarded her, she forced him to without resorting to violence, and made sure he knew she wasn't to be messed with! The second lesson! 'If someone treats you like a pushover, give 'em the once over!'"

-

---

-

Iron Will's first seminar did astonishingly well, according to him. Apparently, ponies usually don't show up in such large numbers until the second or third to last show. For him to receive such a large audience on the first show boded well for him and the goats he traveled with.

Though, he also admitted it made him a little sad. For so many ponies in town to come by meant that there were, at least, that many who had difficulty controlling their lives. And being in control of your own life was something that he, along with Emerald and everyone else in their family, valued greatly.

Still, like Iron Will said the week prior, Emerald had practically nothing to gain from attending and likely wouldn't continue to do so-unless he had nothing else to do, which was looking to be the case-a fact that Iron didn't hold against him. Wisp and Starlight, on the other hoof...

Well, Wisp didn't really have a choice, since Cheerilee decided it would be a daily, week long field trip for the class, and Starlight wasn't exactly the most confident mare in the world. He was sure she'd turn out fine once she got the whole 'living on the street for six years' thing out of her system, but attending Iron Will's seminars could help hasten that process.

He realized something however, something... horrific.

He had absolutely nothing else to do. He still worked at Sugarcube Corner-it had nothing to do with missing them, of course, he was just worried Pinkie would hound him about it is all-so he wouldn't be completely out of something to do.

So it was with a large amount of relief-hidden of course-that he greeted Pinkie and Rarity the following afternoon when they walked into the bakery.

"Well, you two seem to have gotten pretty chummy over the past week," he noted, "Any reason?"

"Nope!" was Pinkie's cheerful response.

"Pinkie has been requesting my assistance with a party," was Rarity's.

His brow rose immediately, though it fell when Pinkie whined,

"Rarity, that was gonna be a surprise party!" she huffed to the slightly older mare. Rarity only smiled,

"Now Pinkie, you've been holding that same party on the same day for the past three years. I hardly think it's a secret," she pointed out,

"It was to Emerald and Twilight!" Pinkie retorted, puffing her cheeks up. Rarity stilled at that, sending a half-scared-half-worried glance at Emerald,

"Ah... yes, of course. A-although I'm afraid there's been a slight issue regarding that..." she murmured, biting her lip nervously.

Having had enough of their conversation, Emerald spoke up,

"I am both here and completely out of the loop, so someone better tell me what's going on or they're getting a cupcake to the face," Pinkie's mouth opened, "... or no cupcake to the face."

It snapped shut.

Rarity sighed,

"My apologies, Emerald. You see, Pinkie has been requesting my assistance with planning her yearly Hearts and Hooves Day party next month," she explained, looking a tad exhausted, "She has also been... kind enough to request my assistance with planning the refreshments," she added, looking nauseous.

"Yeah!" Pinkie chirped, darting into the kitchen, before coming back out with a bowl filled with a pink liquid, "We just finished the punch yesterday!" she said, then set it on the counter, producing a cup and ladle from... somewhere, "Want some?"

"No."

"I merely came by to ask if you'd seen Fluttershy," Rarity asked abruptly, "Today is our spa day, but I haven't seen her at all! She wasn't back at her cottage, and she's nowhere to be found in the market," she added. Before Emerald could answer, the shop door burst open, revealing an aggravated looking Rainbow Dash,

"Hey Emerald, you seen Fluttershy anywhere?" she asked bluntly, "I can't find her at her usual haunts."

"Well, it would seem we have the same issue," Rarity noted, "I'm looking for her as well. It's our spa day, you see," she provided, only for Rainbow to scoff,

"Yeah, well, we've got mandatory pegasus training in an hour," she said, frowning, "I know she's not a strong flier, but she has to at least try!" she added.

Emerald frowned, for all of a second until he spotted the clock.

It was one-thirty.

"Have you checked Will's seminar today?" he asked the mares, earning a pair of confused looks, "You know... the one run by my brother, the minotaur?" he clarified.

Rarity shook her head while Rainbow scoffed again,

"I'm afraid I've never heard of these seminars," she said,

"Like I need help being assertive," Rainbow said, "You think Fluttershy's there?"

"She was at the first one yesterday."

"Damn..." Rainbow muttered, rubbing the back of her neck, "I can't believe she's actually going to those things. I didn't think she had it in her," she admitted. Emerald shrugged,

"Probably helped that these two-" he pointed and Pinkie and Rarity, "and myself told her she needed to learn how a week ago." Rainbow huffed,

"Yeah, that'd do it. Shy always had a hard time saying 'No' to stuff," she pointed out, then shook her head and shrugged, "Whatever. Listen, Emerald, I kinda need your help for somethin'," she said. His brow rose,

"Oh? You're asking me for help?" he asked, then frowned, "Must be something pretty important, then." Rainbow nodded,

"Yeah. I need ya to help Fluttershy train," she said, causing Pinkie's jaw to drop, "I'd do it, but I'm stuck with the rest of the pegasi in town, and, frankly, I'm not dumb enough to try and make her train in front of everyone," she said.

"I thought we agreed that Fluttershy participating wasn't exactly mandatory?"

"Well, yeah, but it kinda is," she snapped, scowling, "I mean, I don't wanna make her do it, but I don't got a choice. Yeah, one pony's not gonna make much of a difference, and I'm not... hung up about the stupid record enough to force her into this," she said, fidgeting slightly, "this is..." she paused, and sighed, "Listen, you probably figured this out a long time ago, but Fluttershy isn't a strong flier. She's a pretty weak one, honestly. Yeah her wing power might be good, but that's only for short bursts and shit. I've seen the way she dives for animals, and I've seen just how fucking exhausted that makes her."

"Get to the point." Rainbow growled,

"I think it'll be good for her confidence, okay?!" she snapped, " She got made fun of a ton when we were at Flight Camp cuz she couldn't fly very well. That's why she slowed down there. Cloudchaser and her sister laughing must've brought back some harsh memories or something. I figure if she gets her wing power, or at least her stamina, up then she'll feel more confident during the hurricane, and, well..." she trailed off, before sighing and rubbing the back of her head, "I just get worried sometimes, okay? I know I act like an asshole, but I really do care about Shy. She's like my sister, for Faust's sake! I just get so caught up in tryin' to help her, that I kinda push a little too hard. Even if I didn't have everybody else to worry about, I'd probably ruin her confidence trying to help her myself. I'm not exactly a teacher, or a good trainer," she said, then muttered under her breath, "Tryin' to help Twilight kinda proved that."

"Alright."

"Listen, I really think-" she froze, then narrowed her eyes at him, "... You're agreeing?" she asked. Emerald smirked,

"I agreed when you asked. I didn't need the backstory," he said, brow raising, "You did that on your own."

Rainbow's eyes narrowed,

"Fuck you."

Emerald only chuckled,

"I'll find her after the bakery closes," he said, "If it's her stamina we want up, then I'm sure she and Sparky won't mind sharing my course."

"Your course?"

"I'm a guard in a town where nothing happens. I needed something to keep active."

"Fair."

Rainbow left after that, with Rarity heading out not long after-not without purchasing a few scones though-leaving just Emerald and Pinkie.

Now if only Pinkie would stop staring at him like that.

"What?"

"We told you what we were planning."

"Yeah, and?"

"...."

Emerald stared for a moment, wondering where she was going with this. A moment passed, where he recalled his threat, and sighed.

He then threw a cupcake at her face.

She was happy after that.

---

"Twenty minutes, thirty-six seconds," he read off the watch, then glanced down at the near-unconscious forms at his hooves, "Not bad, Shy. Considering how little you exercise, at least. Sparky, you ended up with nineteen minutes, forty-two seconds. A twenty-two second improvement. Good job," he praised.

It really was good work for these two, considering their general lifestyles and level of activity.

Plus, seeing Sparky flopping on the ground, sweaty and out of breath was always hilarious. Fluttershy doing the exact same thing only made it funnier.

"Woo.... hoo..." Fluttershy weakly cheered,

"Yeah... woo... hoo..."

Emerald snickered.

This was fun.

"I hope you enjoyed today, you two. You'll be here bright and early tomorrow, right?"

""Y-yeah...""

"Good. Next time, I'll add in some weights for you two, okay?"

""What?!""

This was really fun.

---

Emerald grunted slightly.

Today was the day before the hurricane, and most, if not all, of the pegasi had managed to get their wing powers up a good bit. The number of tens was probably a lot lower than Rainbow had initially hoped for, but she'd really only given the town a two weeks notice at best.

Honestly, the fact that most of the attendees were in the eight-to-nine range was impressive enough, especially since the majority had only been in the sixes.

They had returned to the track where they'd done their initial testing for one, final test before everyone would head out and prepare for tomorrow.

Rainbow Dash was beaming at everyone, seemingly quite happy despite not getting to the initial goal of having everyone with a ten-point-zero minimum. She'd either never wanted it in the first place-unlikely-or had come to a similar conclusion as him.

Just like before, only one pony remained untested.

"Alright! Fluttershy, you're up!" Sparky called, looking quite confident.

And why wouldn't she? She and Fluttershy had both suffered the same, week-long torture that he called training. Both had run that course more times than they could count, each wearing a rather nice fifteen pound vest. It wasn't all that heavy, but, all things considered, it was impressive that they managed it.

Even Fluttershy had managed to achieve an extra five pounds, for a total of twenty, on the day prior.

Plus, despite not achieving lower times on their records-there were several records that he kept track of, ones with weight, and one without-the two of them managed to run for longer periods without having to take breaks.

Fluttershy walked up to the starting line, of her own volition this time, though her movements were noticeably stiff, still sore from the workout the previous day.

Even so, she had little issue getting into a starting position, and taking off.

As expected, her speed was quite nice, and even seemed to have increased a bit during the week.

Not that she'd be winning any records with-

"Five-point-six wing power!"

-but for Fluttershy, it was astounding all the same. However-

"Five-point-six?!" she gasped, "That's it?!"

"Fluttershy, that's amazing!" Sparky gushed,

"Yeah!" Rainbow agreed, "You had a point-five before, so that's like, more than ten times better!"

"Well, we didn't really know what her first time was-and I'll stop talking now," Emerald said, only to change when Starlight threw him a glare.

"It's not better, Rainbow Dash!" she argued, in an astonishingly firm tone, "It's awful! There's no way I'll be able to fly with ten-point-oh wing power tomorrow!"

"Is that s'pposed to matter?" Iron Will suddenly asked. Fluttershy immediately straightened, giving the minotaur her full attention.

Emerald had to stifle a laugh at the sight. Will had really made an impression on her, it seemed.

"Yes sir! It does matter!" she said, looking him straight in the eye,

"Tell me why."

"Because I'll be the only one flying with less than ten-point-oh wing power! It would be mortifying, sir!" Iron Will only raised a brow, then held a hand out towards Sparky,

"Would it be alright if I borrow that notepad of yours for a moment?" he asked. Sparky blinked,

"Huh? O-oh, sure," she said, levitating it over to him. He nodded,

"Thank you," he said, then proceeded to clear his throat, "Silver Streak, nine-point-two. Blossomforth, eight-point-three. Bulky Biceps, seven-point-eight. Ditzy Doo, six-point-nine..." he trailed off, and stared at Fluttershy, who flushed.

"O-okay, so I wouldn't be the only one, but I would still have the lowest wing power in town," she said. Iron Will nodded, glancing over the list once more, before handing it back to Sparky,

"That might be true, but is that any less reason to try?" he asked, then smirked, "'If something stands in your way-'"

"'-show them that you're here to stay,'" Fluttershy finished.

Rainbow Dash locked eyes with Emerald,

"... What the hay is going on?"

"If only I knew."

Their attention was brought back to Fluttershy, who now stood in front of Rainbow Dash, a determined look on her face,

"Okay, I'll do it!"

Rainbow stared at her for a moment, before smiling and nodding,

"That's awesome, Shy!" she said, her eyes firming. Her wings spread wide and she launched herself into the air, "Alright everybody! Tomorrow's the day we send the water up to the Cloudsdale! Are you all ready?!"

"""YEAH!!"""

"Are we gonna get that water up to Cloudsdale?!"

"""YEAH!!"""

"Are we gonna break that record?!"

"""YEAH!!!"""

"Alright! Everyone head home for some rest, cause tomorrow's the day!"

Emerald smirked.

She certainly knew how to get a crowd going. Even Fluttershy was cheering.

"You think they'll be able to do it?" Sparky asked from beside him, idly leafing through the list of ponies, "Break the record, that is," she added. Emerald shrugged,

"Who knows?" he replied, smirking as he turned to her, "I suppose we'll just have to see for ourselves."

---

Emerald's gaze locked onto the door seconds before it burst open, and the all too familiar form of Spitfire strut on through,

"There you are!" she said, pointing a hoof at him, "Will told me you'd be here, I honestly wasn't sure if he was kidding or not," she added, walking up to him, slipping her goggles onto her forehead, "A cashier, huh?"

Emerald only scoffed,

"Funny, Spits. A real crowd-pleaser, that one." Spitfire only shrugged, smirking all the while,

"What can I say? I was made to entertain," she boasted, "So, you gonna stop by for the hurricane?" she asked, leaning against the counter. He nodded,

"Yeah. Will, Wisp, Glim, and I are all gonna be there, mostly to support Fluttershy, since I can't do shit."

"Glim? Starlight's here?"

"Forced her here myself."

"Good. I was wondering where she'd gone."

"You wanna order anything before we leave?" he asked, gesturing to the menu. Spitfire shook her head,

"Nah. Can't eat on duty. And even if I could, I can't fly right after eating. Makes me sick."

"I didn't know that."

"I didn't either, until a couple months ago."

"What happened?"

"You don't wanna know."

"No, I do. Spill it."

"I threw up on Soarin during practice."

"Sounds fun."

"He deserved it anyways. He snuck a pie in. Again."

Emerald chuckled, and shook his head,

"You ever think of assigning him an escort to make sure that doesn't happen?"

"I tried that once. They helped him sneak it in."

"Funny."

"Whatever, let's get going," she said, hopping off of the counter, "I don't want to be late for this thing." Emerald nodded,

"Yeah, yeah, just let me tell the Cakes. We can go get the others and head off then."

-----

"Woo, that's a good number of pegasi," Spitfire said as they approached, "And here I thought Ponyville was too small for this," she added.

Emerald hummed slightly. He supposed she was right. There was a good seventy to eighty or so pegasi in town. A fair number, but still pretty small when compared to Ponyville's size and total population, which was, obviously, mostly earth ponies.

"They should do just fine," Spitfire continued, smirking, "Assuming everyone's here, of course."

The five of them, Spitfire, himself, Starlight, Wisp, and Iron Will, finally made it into view of the large reservoir, where the entirety of Ponyville's pegasus population were gathered.

He eyed the massive anemometer for a moment, before spotting the purple unicorn beneath it, fiddling with an abacus, and scoffed.

Of course Sparky volunteered to be here as well, he thought, amused.

"Wow, that thing is huge!" Wisp noted, staring up at the towering machine,

"I'll say!" Will agreed, having to crane his neck.

Emerald frowned slightly as the nearby pegasi began to point at them and whisper, but it softened when he realized they were just talking about Spitfire.

"Spitfire!" the scratchy voice of Rainbow called as she trotted up to them, "Wow, it's grea-"

"What did you just call me, rookie?" Spitfire asked, glaring at the slightly younger pegasus. Rainbow froze under the glare,

"U-uh... I called you Captain, Captain!" she said, snapping to a salute several seconds later. Spitfire hummed,

"That's what I thought," she said, then smirked and looked over the line, "So, this everyone?" she asked. Rainbow nodded,

"Yeah, this is-" she was cut off by the hatchling jogging over to them,

"Uh, we've got a problem!" he said, thrusting Sparky's notepad into her face. Her eyes glanced over it, before she scowled,

"Dammit Thunderlane!" she snapped, "He's been tryin' get out of tornado duty this whole fucking time!" she growled, before turning to the line, "Flitter, Cloudchaser, where the fuck is Thunderlane?!" she snarled.

"Flitter and Cloudchaser came down with the featherflu," another pony said, one he recognized faintly as Silver Streak, "Same with Thunderlane and Blossomforth. They're all down at the hospital," she said.

"They aren't the only ones," Spike said, flipping through the pad. Emerald glanced over his shoulder, finding an entire page and a half covered in red X's.

"What?!" Rainbow screeched, ripping the notepad away from Spike, "No way!" she said, before bolting over to Sparky, "Twilight, please, please, please tell me we'll still be able to break the wind speed record!" she said. Sparky looked up at Rainbow,

"No, that's not the issue," she said, causing Rainbow to sigh in relief, "You might not have enough wing power to reach the eight-hundred minimum in the first place, let alone break the record!" she said.

Spitfire frowned,

"Hmm, that's not good," she muttered, "I'm just here to record the whole thing in case they do break the record," she said, glancing at Emerald, "If they're having trouble just hitting the minimum, I'll probably have to jump in to help."

"Are you allowed to do that?" Starlight asked, causing Spitfire to shrug,

"Don't know, but probably," she said, "Getting the water up there is pretty important, so I don't know why I wouldn't be," she added, then shrugged, "But, who knows? They might not need my help."

"How sure about that are you?"

"Not very."

"Alright everybody, let's give it our best shot!" Rainbow shouted,

"""YEAH!"""

"Once that horn over there is blown, that's when we start!" she announced, pointing over to a large brown horn he hadn't seen, "Everybody ready?!"

"""YEAH!"""

"Alright! Let's go!" she shouted.

After a few last minute checks, Spike took in a deep breath, and blew the horn.

*BWARRRRGH*

And like that, they were off.

It was slow at first, but the sight of so many pegasi in one spot was certainly new to him. Slowly, they all began to circle a single point above the reservoir. Their bodies began blurring together, and the wind picked up.

It started as a small breeze, but quickly picked up strength as the tornado formed. A massive pillar of blurred colours, twisting and churning, formed above the water. The wind slammed into him, forcing him back a few inches, before he dug his hooves into the ground.

"One-hundred wing power!" Sparky shouted over the gale.

Just one hundred? Emerald frowned, and his hoof shot out to catch Wisp, who'd suddenly been lifted by the wind.

"Woah!"

"Two-hundred wing power!"

The wind was steadily rising in strength. Rocks had started lifting from the ground, swirling through the air alongside dust, leaves, and anything else that had been ripped from the earth.

"Four-hundred!"

He grit his teeth, and lowered his body to the ground. He was forced to squint against the raging wind, feeling and hearing it tear by.

"Six-hundred!"

"Damn, they're actually gonna do it!" Spitfire cheered, holding a hoof against her mane, clearly more used to the high speed winds the pegasi were generating. Even Iron Will, despite his massive size and weight, was forced to brace himself against the wind.

A moment passed, before a pillar of glowing blue light erupted behind him, striking the sky a few feet above them. It spread out instantly, creating a dome around them.

Just like that, the wind died.

The suddenness of the event was abrupt enough that he ended up dropping Wisp to the ground.

"Oof!"

"Sorry," he said, turning around, finding Starlight's horn glowing a faint blue, "Neat spell," he said. She smiled, a bit sheepishly,

"Thanks," she said, glancing over at the tornado, "I did a bit of looking when the tornado announcement was made. This spell is pretty good against storms, though I wasn't sure how it was going to go against a tornado," she admitted.

The sound of something tinking against glass brought their attention to the dome, where rocks, twigs, and various other torn up things crashed harmlessly against the dome.

"Yeah, that's why."

"Seven-hundred-fifty wing power!" Sparky suddenly screamed, "But it's not going any further!"

Emerald's gaze immediately returned to the tornado. She wasn't wrong. They were definitely maintaining their speed, but it had stagnated. Drops of the reservoir had begun to slowly climb into the air, and a visible bump in the center began to form. They were just too weak to really get it moving.

At this rate, they'd collapse from exhaustion before getting the water to Cloudsdale.

As if reading his thoughts, the tornado suddenly began to wobble, and he could see individual ponies beginning to slow down. Right before his eyes, the tornado suddenly destabilized, flinging ponies straight out of its embrace and right into the dirt, gouging small trenches leading away from the site.

Rainbow Dash was one of the unlucky ones, being flung straight into the bark of a tree, cracking the bark and causing more than one leaf to be knocked loose. Fluttershy suffered the opposite, and landed relatively safely in the branches of a different tree.

Starlight's barrier faded, and, though a faint breeze remained, the mostly still air was a far cry from what it had just been.

"Rainbow Dash! Fluttershy!" Sparky called, running up to the nearer of the two, which was Rainbow, "Are you girls alright?!"

Rainbow Dash growled, and gently pushed Sparky away,

"I'm fine!" she snapped, glaring at the reservoir,

"I'm so sorry, Rainbow!" Sparky whined, looking close to tears, "You were just barely below the eight-hundred minimum!" she informed. Rainbow growled,

"Dammit!" she snapped, stomping her hoof, "We gotta keep going!" she said, preparing to take off. A purple aura stopped her however,

"You can't!" Sparky denied, "Everyone's already been pushed to their limit, if you keep going and break apart again, someone mind end up getting really hurt!" she pleaded, gesturing towards the many pegasi picking themselves up from the ground.

Emerald followed her gaze, and inwardly agreed with her.

Pegasi had been flung far and hard by the tornado, and not all of them were getting up easily. From the looks of it, no one had suffered any broken bones-pegasi were notoriously sturdy, after all-but there was definitely some major bruising and possibly even a sprain or two.

Yet... they were all still trying to stand. Even despite their injuries, they were getting to their hooves and helping anyone nearby do the same.

He couldn't help the smirk forming on his face at the sight, and, judging by the way she was beginning to chuckle, Spitfire seemed to have the same idea.

"It doesn't look like that bothers them!" Spitfire announced, stepping forward with a glint in her eye, "If anything, it looks like they just want to go again! Is that right everyone?!" she yelled. Emerald couldn't stop the full blown smirk as the crowd replied with the all too familiar cry,

"""YEAH!"""

Spitfire laughed,

"I love this town!" she cheered, spreading her wings as she turned to Rainbow Dash, "Alright rookie! This is your team, so give 'em the order!" she demanded, "I'll be joining in this time around!"

"Woah, really?!" Rainbow asked, her eyes twinkling. Spitfire smirked,

"You bet!"

"Will you be enough?" Sparky couldn't help but asked, "We're missing a total of fifty wing power, and no one has ever had that much before," she pointed out. Spitfire smirked,

"It might not be fifty, but I've got a wing power of twenty-point-three-" there were multiple gasps, "Besides, wing power fluctuates all the time! If everyone here gives it their all, and keeps giving it, even if they only push themselves up one wing power, then the tornado isn't gonna break apart," she said, pumping a hoof, "Just keep flying, and don't let yourselves fall behind, no matter what! You get me?" she asked.

Rainbow nodded,

"Totally!" she said, then flew up a bit, "Alright, let's give it one more shot! Everybody with me?!"

"""YEAH!!!"""

*BWARRRRGH*

Just like before, the pegasi started out slowly, but they got into position a lot more smoothly than they did the first time.

In hardly a minute, the wind had picked up, and everyone started moving at a blur.

"Two-hundred wing power!"

Starlight's spell came into existence once again.

"Four-hundred!"

The tornado was still going strong, though his eyes could still pick out a streak of vibrant orange within it.

"Six-hundred!"

"C'MON YOU LOT! I WANNA SEE YOU FLYING LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!" he could hear Spitfire scream,

"THE WATERS BEGINNING TO RISE! COME ON EVERYONE, KEEP GOING!" Rainbow added.

"Seven-hundered-fifty!" Sparky announced, looking nervous,

"That's where they fell apart," Starlight added, looking equally as nervous.

"They'll definitely do it this time!" Wisp said, "Big Sis Spitfire's helping them!"

"C'mon Fluttershy! You best be giving it everything ya got!" Iron Will shouted, hands cupped around his mouth.

"We trained for a week for this. You better not disappoint, Shy," Emerald muttered to himself.

"Seven-hundred-seventy! They're doing it!"

"DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT SLOWING DOWN" Spitfire screamed, "IF I SEE ANYONE SLACKING, THEY'RE GETTING A HUNDRED LAPS AROUND TOWN!"

Emerald couldn't help but snicker at that.

Even so, the Wonderbolt Captain's threat seemed to do something, since-

"Seven-hundred-ninety-five! They're almost there!"

Emerald bit his lip, feeling a tug in his chest. He really didn't like not being able to do anything.

Suddenly, water erupted from the tornado like it was shot from a cannon. He barely registered its meaning over the cheers from Iron, Wisp, Spike, and Sparky. Eventually, he did, and started laughing as well, while Starlight only sighed in relief from beside him, her barrier dying out once more.

The wind fell once more, the pegasi beginning to slow down as they cheered their success.

"THEY DID IT! THEY DID IT!"

"WOOHOOO!"

"YEAH!!!"

"ALRIGHT!"

"THAT WAS AMAZING!"

The pegasi all began fluttering to the ground, some of whom immediately collapsed from exhaustion. Their cheering didn't stop, of course, but Emerald focused on one particular pile of jelly limbs.

"Nice job, Fluttershy," he congratulated the panting mare, "Guess you didn't need that ten-point-oh after all, huh?" he asked.

Her panting didn't ease up even one bit, but she still managed to smile.

She did it.

They did it.

-

---

-

"You're leaving already?" Emerald asked. Iron Will turned back around, finding not only Emerald standing there, but Wisp, Starlight, Spitfire, and even Fluttershy.

He chuckled, and rubbed the back of his head,

"'Fraid so," he said, pointing back at his crew, who had just about finished taking down the stage, "Only ever stay in one town for a bit before we move along. There's lots of ponies out there who need our help, so we can't just stick 'round in one spot for long," he explained, smiling sadly, "Even if I'd like to."

Emerald stared at him for a moment, but nodded,

"Fair enough. Feel free to visit anytime, though." Iron Will smiled, and threw his head back with a laugh,

"Definitely!"

While he was laughing, Wisp ran up and hugged one of his legs,

"It was great seeing you again, Big Bro Iron!" she chirped, smiling up at him. He smiled back, and gently pat the filly on hte head,

"Same to you, little missy," he said, then winked, "Hope my seminars help ya deal with those bullies I've heard about," he whispered, then sent her back to him, making sure to ruffle her mane in the process.

"Shame I didn't get to see any of those," Spitfire said, smirking, "They certainly sounded helpful. Assuming I can trust Fluttershy's word, of course," she added cheekily, elbowing the not-quite-as-timid-as-before mare.

"We're heading up to Dodge Junction, then over to Las Pegasus in a few months," Iron said, "Maybe you can come then?" he offered. Spitfire shrugged,

"I'll see what I can do."

The group lapsed into silence for a moment, before the butter-yellow pegasus was pushed forward by a blue light.

She yelped, and turned to Starlight, pouting slightly, only to find the mare seemingly focused on something in the sky.

Seeing this, she turned back to Iron Will, who was now regarding her with something approaching seriousness.

"Umm... I just wanted to say thank you," she said, looking at the ground, before forcing herself to look him in the eye, an act that brought a smile to Will's face, "Your seminars were really helpful to me, and... well, I'm not the most confident pony..." she trailed off, then shook her head, "Um, I mean...-" she was cut off when Iron Will placed a hand on her head.

"You don't need to thank me," he said, smiling softly, "Helpin' anyone who asks is just something I like to do. Besides, you're family," he said, practically waving off her thanks, "And in our family, askin' ain't even something you need to do, right Em?" he asked, somewhat cheekily as he eyed Starlight.

Emerald chuckled,

"Of course. Family help family, even when they don't want help," he said, wrapping a leg around Starlight, "Right, Glim?"

She scoffed, but kept smiling,

"You're such a jerk," she chuckled, elbowing him in the stomach, not that it did anything.

"S-still," Fluttershy said, gently brushing his hand away, "It really helped me. I... well, my friends can get into trouble sometimes, but I'm such a coward, so I can't really help all too much, but... thanks to you, I think I might be able to help a lot more now!" she said firmly, the spark of determination causing her eyes to shine.

Iron Will only laughed, and nodded,

"Well then, I'm glad to hear it!" he said, then glanced up into the sky, painted red and orange by the setting sun, "Welp, looks like it's time for us to ship out," he added, and turned to his crew, "You hear that, you lot?! We're headin' out!"

His goats bleated at him a bit, but he see them smiling. Looks like visiting this town made more than him happy. It was nice, seeing his crew all cheerful like this. They had this funny tendency to be so serious all the time.

He and his crew, as well as his family, trudged back through the maze, until they ended up on the path leading into/away from Ponyville.

He glanced around at the nearly empty clearing, only just able to see Emerald's house in the forest, followed quickly by the rest of the town just beyond it.

This really was a nice place. Emerald had certainly picked a good spot to settle down in. Assuming the little workaholic and that cute purple unicorn ever got together. They'd make a decent couple, he felt, and Emerald could definitely use someone other than family to keep him company.

He nodded,

"Guess this is 'see you next time', huh?" he asked, smirking down at them. Emerald returned the smirk, his fangs glinting in the fading light

"Course it is. Don't you know that goodbyes last forever?" he asked.

"That's why we say-" Wisp added,

""'See you next time!'"" Starlight and Spitfire chorused.

Author's Note:

'Yeah' is no longer a word to me.

Also, the seminar segment kinda ticks me off, just because it's all in such large letters. I know I could reduce the size a tad, or a lot, but then it looks kinda off to me.

Looks like Fluttershy's got a little confidence boost this chapter! Let's hope this one sticks around for a while. Plus, she got a little workout in with Emerald and Twilight. Wonder if that'll become a regular thing?

Most likely not. She's just not that kinda pony, you know?

Oh yeah, hope you like Iron Will's appearance in this chapter! I love doing things a little different than what happened in canon. Hope you lot enjoyed that!

Oh, and what a sweet little ending we had! I couldn't keep the smile off my face while writing it, and I certainly hope it brought one to yours!

Hope you enjoyed. Constructive criticism appreciated. See you next time!

Comments

[Karmada]

it was a good idea to mix up the canon!
At some point you will completely diverge, but that should be fine.
Only retelling the story with an extra character or two could get boring.

[Starlight Nova]

How many chapters long will this story be?

[Zapper Frost]

We never did get to see Emerald's wing power...

[Voxum]

9949030
Couldn't tell ya, cause I have no idea!

Exciting, isn't it? The thought of the many chapters to come fill me with excitement. I honestly can't wait!

[Booster Spice]

Torchs wingpower.

[Kichi]

In the end the meeting with the mayor and measuring the wing power was forgotten by Emerald... Good chapter, and too bad for Twilight that I guess she could not do the test she wanted or ask Iron Will

[Zapper Frost]

9968098

[sapphireStarzzzz]

It's kinda sad that Emerald lost his feelings for Twilight. I was really hoping for a kiss.

[DemonWolf23]

Man that’s sucks if Twilight still has feelings for emerald her heart is going to be broken but fuck hate that they aren’t getting together oh well lmao 🤣

[Hawkx1]

This was the Iron Will we needed though maybe not the one we deserved

[f0st3r21]

I hope Emerald’s love recovers from the drain Thorax mentioned. I really liked the romance that was developing.