Continuity Disrupted

by Doug Graves

102 The Stormcaller, Part One

October 3rd, 1000 Domina Solaria

“Yay!” cheers Fluttershy in a quiet voice, barely able to be heard above the scratch of pencil on paper. Her eyes remain fixed on the cerulean pegasus climbing higher and higher into the sky. She leans forward in anticipation, eagerly awaiting the next spectacular trick in Rainbow Dash’s impressive arsenal.

Scootaloo huffs, looking up from her school assignment to cast a disapproving glare at the yellow pegasus. You’d think she’d be more excited about another awesome display of Rainbow’s talents! She shakes her head before she resumes brainstorming ideas for her report on her ‘Hero: Rainbow Dash!’ assignment. Miss Cheerilee told her she could only use the word ‘awesome’ ten times in the paper, so she has to find something else to fill the void.

Doug glances up from his notes, one hand letting go of Twilight’s mane to flip to the next page of requests before returning to leisurely scratching. Twilight coos appreciably, pausing the paging through her own textbook. The three join Fluttershy as Rainbow’s climb begins to slow.

Rainbow Dash reaches the apex of her ascent, a lazy turn before she plummets to the ground. Long seconds pass as she builds up more and more speed, a rainbow contrail following her vertical path.

Doug grimaces internally, his breath caught in his throat. If her magic fails, or she misgauges the turn, or any number of a hundred different things go wrong, it’ll be splat, no more pegasus. His hands hurriedly gather up his papers, white knuckles clenching them to his chest. Twilight closes her book, checking their surroundings for any loose items.

At the very last second Rainbow Dash pulls out of her dive, a near ninety degree turn that flips her over, back skimming across the ground scant inches from the grass. She flaps her wings exactly once before pulling them tight against her barrel, spiralling through the air, her eyes staying relatively motionless and fixed on her destination.

Rainbow Dash counts off the tenths of a second as she careens directly at the four. Faster than she’s ever flown this close to the ground, hurtling along and eating up a half a hoofball field with every second. At the very last moment her wings flare out, pouring on thaums to skid to a stop bare inches from Twilight.

A tenth of a second later a great gust of wind sweeps over the group, blowing dirt and grass shavings all over them. Their hair and manes and coats billow out and away, ending up knotted and tangled. The papers remain secure in their hands, though barely, as anything loose nearby launches into the air, even threatening to lift a certain filly.

“Well?” Rainbow Dash demands as the wind barely dies down, strutting back and forth in front of Twilight. “How was that one? Pretty impressive, am I right?”

Doug claps his hands while Scootaloo stomps her hooves, drowning out Fluttershy’s quiet cheers. Scootaloo reaches a hoof to bump her dam’s, bright smiles on both of them.

Twilight blinks at the pegasus who came this close to knocking her clear across the field. She sighs as she places her book on the ground, the wind whipping at the pages. “Nope,” she says with a shake of her head. “Still nothing.”

“Really?” Rainbow Dash exclaims, her confident smile falling. “Aww, I was sure that one would do it! Maybe I just need to stop closer to you?” The pegasus leans closer to Twilight, their noses touching and leaving a slightly sweaty smear. “Maybe this close?”

Twilight giggles as she lightly pushes Rainbow away from her. “No, silly.” At Rainbow’s pout she smirks, “Though maybe you can get that close tonight.” She winks at Rainbow, the pegasus pushing up against her hoof to try to get closer again.

“Why wait until tonight?” Rainbow asks sultrily, her nose again pressing against Twilight. “You know practicing always gets me raring to go.”

“Come on dam, I don’t want that kind of demonstration again,” moans Scootaloo. “And I don’t think Miss Cheerilee would appreciate me including that in my report.” Her frown turns to a hopeful smile, “So, can you get back to the flying? That trick was the coolest one yet!”

“Yes, Rainbow,” Twilight says, reluctantly pushing the pegasus away. Her tongue licks her lips as her eyes glance up towards her horn. She can feel that desire pressing against her better judgement, attempting to overwhelm her resolve to not drain the pegasus directly. Rainbow gets the message, taking a step backwards. “It might be safer if we don’t do anything that intimate when I’m trying to, well, you know. So, you got any more tricks in that bag of yours?”

“Speaking of bags of tricks,” Rainbow says as Trixie walks towards the group. “Sup.”

“Greetings,” greets Trixie, a nod to each of the mares. She plops down between Doug and Fluttershy, rubbing her head against him until he scratches her ear. “How goes the attempts?”

“Well, I’m doing awesome!” Rainbow says with a cocky grin. She motions with a hoof, “Twilight, though, just isn’t getting it.” Rainbow sighs as she backs off, thinking for a moment before shaking her head. “Ugh. But, yeah, to answer your question. I can’t think of any. You’d think after a week of my dazzling awesomeness something would have broken through. I’ve gone through all my old tricks, even making up new ones that nopony’s ever done before in the hopes that they’d work!”

“Well, there is one trick that you haven’t tried,” Fluttershy remarks.

“Really?” Rainbow Dash asks. “I’ve done my Filly Flash, my best attempt at the Buccaneer Blaze, and even the Plummeting Peregrine! Just about the only thing I haven’t done is banged Doug in free-fall.”

“That’s a thing?” Doug asks, unsure if he is more worried or excited at the prospect.

Rainbow Dash rolls her eyes before she walks over and slugs Doug in the shoulder. She turns to Fluttershy as Doug winces, “What am I missing?”

“Well, the Sonic Rainboom, of course!” Fluttershy grins, though her smile fades at Rainbow’s grimace. She tentatively asks, “Oh. Um, is something wrong?”

Rainbow looks at the ground, shuffling her hooves. “Well, um, I haven’t tried getting that fast. I’ve been worried about, well, rupturing something.” Her excitement returns, slightly forced, “But that doesn’t mean I can’t do it! Rainbow Dash can do anything!”

“Yey!” Fluttershy cheers, barely audible above the rustle of the wind still whipping around them.

“Seriously?” Scootaloo complains. “You’re going to need to cheer a lot louder than that! If Rainbow is going to perform only the most awesome feat ever awesomed into awesomeness then she’s going to need an awesome cheering section as awesome as she is!”

“Right. Um. Got it.” Fluttershy sheepishly looks at the ground.

Rainbow Dash smiles at Scootaloo's praise, though her smile drops as she sees Scootaloo’s report. “Hey! What did Miss Cheerilee tell you about your wording?”

Scootaloo sheepishly looks down. “Um, that I need to work on my variety?”

“Exactly.” Rainbow Dash lays down next to Scootaloo, her hoof tapping on a few instances of the word ‘awesome’. Which, given that her hoof isn’t an exact pointer, means she doesn’t actually have to move her hoof on the page to get to four of them. “Now, somepony like Twilight might whine about how ‘radicalness’ and ‘awesomeness’ and ‘coolness’ are all the same thing.”

“Hey!” Twilight exclaims, glaring at Rainbow. “I do not whine like that! And they are the same thing!”

“And I didn’t say that you, Twilight, whined like that, I said that somepony like Twilight might whine like that.” Rainbow Dash turns back to Scootaloo, ignoring Twilight’s intensifying glare. “Now, the important part is avoiding repetition. And that’s also true when you’re designing an awesome routine like I am! One loop is awesome, the second one is cool, the third one starts to get boring. Unless you’re trying to do as many of them in a row as you can, but that’s a whole other issue.”

“Okay,” Scootaloo says, looking down at her rough draft. “So, how do I do that?”

Rainbow slowly nods, her eyes staring off as she tries to remember. “Um. Right! Repetition. So, you want to avoid that.” She reads through a few lines of the paper. “Okay, here for example. You describe me as ‘awesome’. Which is cool, because it’s totally true. But, the next time, you don’t need to use ‘awesome’ again. Miss Cheerilee, or whoever reads this, they already know I’m awesome, right? You told them before! So, either pick a different word, like ‘radical’, or drop it entirely.”

“Okay!” Scootaloo says. She grips her pencil in her teeth, reading through the report and crossing out various words, replacing them with others.

Rainbow Dash grins as she watches Scootaloo at work for a few seconds. The filly has the task well in hoof, so she gets up to nuzzle Doug. “Thanks,” she whispers in his ear.

“Thank Twilight too,” Doug whispers back, a short peck on Rainbow’s cheek as he scratches her ear.

Rainbow rolls her twinkling eyes, a broad smile on her face. She turns to her herdmate, nuzzling Twilight. “Thanks. You know I think you’re awesome, right?”

“High praise,” returns Twilight with a faint smile. A glimmer of hope shines through her slightly downcast expression, “So, you think the Sonic Rainboom will work?”

“If anypony can do it, it’s me!” proclaims Rainbow. She pauses as she sees Twilight’s worried, hungry look. “Oh, um, you mean like that.” She briefly smiles, “I guess we can hope so?” She takes a step back, looking up at the sky. “I guess I better get working on that.” She squints, peering off into the distance. “Hey!” she exclaims. “You can see Cloudsdale from the ground now!”

“Really?” Twilight says, following Rainbow’s hoof. “You can! I’ve just been watching them with my telescope, when the sky was clear enough! That means they’ll be here soon, right?”

“Yeah! And along with them, the Best Young Flier competition!” Rainbow’s face lights up, “Hey! I could perform my Sonic Rainboom there! That’d be sure to win me the gold!”

“Yey!” Fluttershy cheers, approximately twice as loud as before.

“Ugh,” Rainbow says, planting a hoof on her forehead. “Not with a cheering section like that! Come on, Scoots, show her how it’s done!”

“WOOHOOO!!” Scootaloo shouts as she leaps into the air, wings ablaze. She glances back, her eyes growing wide at the actual fire on her wings. “AAaaahh!”

“Sorry, force of habit,” Trixie says without a hint of actual apology, the light on her horn fading. She looks at Rainbow and Scootaloo, both glaring at her. “What?”

“I thought my wings were on fire!” Scootaloo spits out. Her angry glare fades as her eyes go wide. “Wait, you made it look like my wings were on fire! That’s so cool!”

“Well, illusions are just one of the Great and Powerful Trixie’s great and powerful tricks.” Trixie brushes off an imaginary speck of dust off her coat. She looks over at Twilight, the purple unicorn staring at her. “Yes?”

Twilight starts off hesitant, slowly growing bolder. “Um, Trixie, if you don’t mind. Can I try something with you?”

Trixie raises an eyebrow. “Really? She thought you’d never ask.” Her eyes turn to Scootaloo before she shrugs, rolling onto her back and spreading her legs.

Twilight facehooves, her cheeks a bright red. “I swear, I’m not as bad as Doug! That’s not what I meant!”

“Hey!” Doug exclaims.

Twilight huffs. “I wanted to try with you what I tried with the other mares. To see if I can get a taste of your Friendship magic.”

“Oh.” Trixie lays with her legs spread as she considers. After a few seconds she rolls over, turning so her horn is pointed at Twilight’s mouth. “How does this work?”

“Imagine you are casting your spell that summons a cloud. That and other creation magic are nearly pure Friendship.” Twilight leans over, her mouth inches from Trixie’s horn.

Trixie glances up at Twilight, the slight worry in her eyes slowly overcome by determination. “And I hold it, without casting?” Without waiting for confirmation Trixie’s eyes close, the azure horn glowing magenta.

“Exactly.” Everypony watches, transfixed, as Twilight’s mouth slowly closes around Trixie’s horn. She waits for several seconds, a frown slowly growing on her muzzle.

“Anything?” Trixie asks, a few beads of sweat dripping down her face as she concentrates.

“Nothing.” Twilight sighs as she pulls away. She looks back at her cutie mark. Still four white stars softly glowing. Is the large pink star any different? Not that she can tell. She glances at Rainbow Dash, immediately feeling that deep pang of hunger. She gulps as she suppresses it, driving it back down. Not today. Not when she needs to be in control.

The light fades from Trixie’s horn as she gets up. “Trixie is sorry she cannot be of more assistance.” Her hoof taps a few times against the ground as she stares at Twilight, a pensive look in her eye.

Rainbow Dash frowns, moving over to nuzzle Twilight. “We’ll keep working on it. But, I’ll need to do some speed exercises if I’m going to even attempt the Sonic Rainboom. I’ve been focusing a lot on control, with ‘Shy’s help.” Fluttershy beams at the praise, taking wing and getting ready to follow Rainbow.

"Yeah, it's too bad the rest of us won't be there," Doug says with a sigh, though he doesn't look too terribly disappointed. "We'd all be able to see you compete!"

"Actually," Twilight remarks slowly, "there might be a solution to that."

"Really?" Doug says with a bit of trepidation.

"Yeah! A spell that gives a pony wings!" She glances over at Doug, a cautious smile. "And I'm sure we can find something that works on you, too!"

"That'll be awesome!" Rainbow Dash exclaims, beaming at Twilight. "Maybe the whole herd can come!" Rainbow looks around, "Anyway, I better get started. Don't disappoint me, Twilight!" She flies up, waving as she leaves, Fluttershy following close behind.

Doug adds with a glance to Trixie, “And, I guess if you’re here, that means dinner is about ready. And by that I mean, you want me to start preparing dinner.”

Trixie grins at that, nodding.

Doug grunts as he gets up, gathering his papers. “Alright, then. Come on, Scoots. Back home.” He leans down, taking the papers from his filly, “I'll get these for you.”

“Thanks!” Scootaloo says, hopping onto her scooter and racing off towards the Carrot House, Doug jogging after her.

Trixie coughs as Twilight gets up to leave, the purple unicorn turning to look at her. “Trixie may have an idea.”

“Really?” Twilight implores, jumping to her hooves. “What is it?”

Trixie glances towards Canterlot, “In Trixie’s travels, she has heard of a shop that sells magical items of a certain nature.” Her gaze turns to Twilight. “She has not gone herself, but perhaps there is something there that might help with your plight. If getting Loyalty magic is all you need.”

“Hmm.” Twilight considers this for a few long seconds. “That sounds intriguing. But I’m hoping that this Sonic Rainboom works out, and we can put this whole thing behind us.”

Trixie shrugs. “Suit yourself. Just a passing thought.” She turns towards the Carrot House, Twilight soon following after. And looking forward to tonight, with perhaps a little more trepidation than normal. She’ll keep herself under control. She has to.

Comments

[badninja]

So Trixie has knowledge of where the alicorn amulet is. I whole if she does get it in this timeline she shows it to Twilight before she puts it on. I doubt after all of her growth Trixie would forgive herself if she hurt anypony.

[AuthorGenesis]

9502980
I'm more interested in how she came across knowledge of a forbidden dangerous magical artifact that was supposed to not be for sale under any circumstances. But a traveling magician not only happens to learn about it, but likely what it looks like and its likely current location.

[chibilink]

Miss Cheerilee told her she could only use the word ‘awesome’ ten times in the paper, so so has to find something else to fill the void.

Scoot needs to be introduced to the wonders of the thesaurus.

[Jaro45]

10113248
Sweetie's her sister.