Can You See Me Now

by Marezinger Z

Chapter 2

Pinkie Pie worked diligently over her station at Sugar Cube Corner. Humming as she combined ingredients, her ears detected the ringing of the bell atop the front door.

"Just a minute!" She called out to the main floor, dusting the flour from her hooves and licking the errant frosting from her lips. As she trotted out to the front her eyes widened in delight at the sight of her sister. "Limestone!?"

"Hey, Pin..." Limestone choked as Pinkie rushed over and hugged her fiercely. "Hey!"

"Wow, what a great surprise!" Pinkie shook her back and forth. "You never come to visit me." She paused mid swing, her face twisted in thought. "Come to think of it, you never come to visit any pony."

"Let me go already!" Limestone wrenched herself free. "This is important."

"What's up?"

"It's Marble, have you seen her?" She asked.

"Marble?" Pinkie sat back. "No, she never comes to visit either."

"Well she didn't come back home the other night and we can't find her." Limestone informed, her rough voice laced with worry. "She never just disappears and I think something might have happened to her."

"Oh no." Pinkie washed over with concern. "Did you check with Maud?"

"No, not yet."

"Well, let's head over and see if she's there." Pinkie ran into the back, calling to the upstairs apartment where the Cakes resided. "Mrs. Cake! I have to run out, it's an emergency!"

"Okay dear, I'll head down and cover things!" Mrs. Cake's voice called back. "Be careful!"

"Will do." Pinkie rushed back and grabbed her sister's leg. "Come on, let's get moving."

"Wait a sec!" Limestone yelped as she was dragged out the door.

Pinkie led her to Maud's cavern home. The stoic sibling heard them galloping through the tunnels and went to meet her visitors at the mouth of the cave.

"Pinkie, Limestone?" She saw the harried look in their eyes. "What's going on?"

"Is Marble here?" Pinkie asked through a tired breath.

"No, is she missing?" Maud asked in return.

"Yeah." Limestone nodded. "She just vanished off the farm and I have no idea what happened to her. She was upset at me about not being able to go to some party so I thought she might have run off to see you two." Her eyes grew heavy as more disconcerting thoughts began to run through her mind. "If she isn't with you two, then she must be in trouble."

"Don't panic." Maud set her hoof to Limestone's shoulder. "We don't know that for certain. I'll help you find her."

"Thanks, Maud." Pinkie smiled.

---

Up in the clouds at the Wonderbolt Compound, Rainbow Dash trained with the rest of the team on their latest routines. With expert speed and precision, the group sailed around the training field under the instruction of Spitfire.

"Alright Wonderbolts!" Spitfire shouted up into the sky. "Pattern 7, and make sure the formation is tight this time!"

"You got it!" Rainbow Dash called back, rallying the others behind her. The team held a close knit formation and began to accelerate; as they readied to move into the next part of the routine a formless blur sped right through them and scattered them in the sky.

"What in the world." Spitfire flew up as her team tumbled from the air, barely recovering before they hit the ground. "What happened!"

"I don't know." Soarin looked around the field. "Something hit us."

"Hit you?" Spitfire repeated.

"Yoo hoo!" A voice hailed from above.

Rainbow Dash looked up, her mouth agape at what she saw. "Zephyr!?"

"That's right my little sky flower." He bowed. "Not to shabby, huh?"

"Who the heck is that?" Spitfire demanded.

"Fluttershy's brother." Rainbow Dash answered. "But... he's never been fast, like ever."

"All part of the brand new me." Zephyr patted his chest proudly. "You likey?"

"I don't care who he is!" Spitfire pointed her hoof at him. "Civilians are not permitted on the premises without clearance. You need to leave, now!"

"Well I don't care who you are." Zephyr's eyes began to shine blue. "I only came here to chase the Rainbow... or maybe it'll be the other way around this time."

Rainbow Dash saw his eyes and realized something was amiss. "Zephyr." She ascended to his level. "What happened to you? What did you do?"

"Tell you what, RD." He grinned. "If you catch me, I'll tell you everything." He took off with amazing speed and Rainbow Dash instinctively began to chase after him. The pair flew from the compound and began blazing trails in the sky over Cloudsdale. Try as she might, Rainbow Dash was unable to fully catch up to him and her confusion at the situation wasn't helping her any. "Ha ha!" Zephyr looked back. "She was totally right! First day out and I've already got you hot on my tail!"

"She!?" Rainbow Dash huffed. "Who are you talking about!?"

"Ah ah ahhh!" He returned his eyes to the front. "You know the deal, RD!" He amazingly began to speed up even more.

"No way!" Rainbow Dash grit her teeth and pushed her body to its limit. Zephyr rounded the city and returned to the compound where his pursuer finally gave out. He watched as she hung in the air, completely out of breath and dripping with sweat.

"Oops, looks like you lose." Zephyr mocked. "But, I've got a consolation prize for you."

"Hey!" Soarin shouted as he and the other bolts rose to her side. "That's enough, what are you trying to prove?"

"Not trying to prove anything." Zephyr folded his forelegs. "Just wanted to show-off the new and improved Zephyr Breeze to Rainbow Dash."

"Well if you're trying to show off what a jerk you are then mission accomplished." Soarin said sourly.

"What's the matter?" Zephyr asked. "Mad because your little club isn't the fastest anymore?"

"If you think speed is all we're about then you're denser than you look." Spitfire came in. "The Wonderbolts represent the best the best; in speed, character, discipline, honor and respect. You may be fast, but if that's all you have to claim then I'm not impressed."

"Yeah." Soarin nodded. "And showing off just to impress doesn't make you a winner; only desperate losers stoop to that kind of thing."

"L...loser?" Zephyr's eyes began to glow with more intensity and his body started to radiate energy. "You know..." He shot forward and plucked Soarin from the sky; in the blink of an eye he was pinned against the wall of the compound with Zephyr's hoof tight against his neck. "I'm getting real tired of ponies calling me that."

"Zephyr!" Rainbow Dash regained her strength and flew down to him, yanking on his shoulder to get him to let go. "What the hay has gotten into you!?"

Zephyr's glow subsided and he released Soarin, turning back to her with a recovering smile. "Oh... sorry about that." He laughed casually.

"Zephyr, you need to tell me what's going on with you." Rainbow Dash insisted. "This isn't like you."

"That's the point." He eyed her harshly. "I'm better now, better than I've ever been."
Zephyr leapt into the air and looked down at her. "But I'm just giving you a taste for right now; still getting used to being this cool, after all." He winked. "I'll be seeing you real soon, Rainbow." With that, he flew off into the clouds and vanished.

"Soarin." Rainbow Dash helped him up as he choked. "You alright?"

"Y...yeah." He nodded, his voice rough.

"Rainbow Dash." Spitfire descended to their side. "What is going on?"

"I don't know." She admitted. "But I'm going to find out... I need to get to Twilight, something weird is happeing with Zephyr and I have a feeling it's magic based." She headed up into the air. "I'll be back later!" She called back as she made course for Ponyville.

---

Sugar Belle baked away as she always did; using the fresh apples brought to her by Big Mac. Her mind drifted to him as she peeled them, giggling to herself in excitement in thought of the time she would see him again. Once finished, she stepped out onto the street to check her display racks and found a familiar face sitting before her shop.

"Oh." Sugar Belle held her hoof to her chest, a tad startled. "Marble? Well, this is a surprise. I haven't seen you since the holidays." She smiled but Marble merely stared at her with unblinking intensity. "What... brings you by? Is everything alright?"

"No." Marble finally spoke.

"Is there... something I can do?" Sugar Belle asked, starting to feel a bit unnerved.

"Yes." Marble nodded. "You can break up with Big Mac."

"What?" Her eyes widened.

"I know you can hear me this time." Marble stepped forward. "I want you to break up with him."

"Marble, what's going on?" Sugar Belle backed away. "Why would I do that?"

"Because he was supposed to be with ME!" Her final syllable thundered at an intense volume, the windows of Sugar Belle's shop blowing out. Every Pony in the area halted and turned towards the scene in fright, their worried mutterings filling the street.

"Marble!" Sugar Belle laid her hoof to her ringing ear. "What are you talking about?"

"I liked Big Mac first!" Marble shouted. "Then you came along and STOLE HIM FROM ME!" Her scream knocked Sugar Belle to the ground as she clutched her ears, the walls of the nearby structures rattling and cracking. By now, the panicked crowd began to flee and Sugar Belle could hardly stand. She managed to look up, seeing Marble coming closer with burning blue eyes.

"Marble... please." She begged. "I... didn't even know you had feelings for him. Big Mac never said anything about it to me."

"What?" Marble paused. "He... he knew I liked him... he..." She grew angry inside.

"Marble, what's happened to you?" Sugar Belle struggled to her hooves. "Your eyes... they're glowing."

"Miss?" A stallion's voice came from behind. "Please, you need to calm down." Marble turned to see the town's sheriff behind her. "I don't know what's going on, but you're causing a disturbance and distressing every pony."

"THEY'RE DISTRRESSED!?" Marble boomed, the shockwave from her voice sending him flying. "What about ME!" She stamped her hoof. "It's MY turn to talk!" Her chest heaved as she breathed, body beginning to glow with magical energy. "I need to see Big Mac." She looked back at Sugar Belle bitterly but just continued on her way without another word.

Sugar Belle watched her off, her heart racing from the encounter. She looked around at the damage but knew that it needed to wait. "I've got to get to Big Mac and Pinkie Pie, they need to know what's going on." She abandoned her store and hurried off towards Ponyville, taking an alternate and shorter route than the one Marble had embarked on.

---

The Buckball stadium was as lively as ever. The next game scheduled for tomorrow, the grounds were abuzz with teams of workers and employees getting the place ready for the game. The CMC were in attendance as well, Scootaloo having volunteered them to help out with their reward being free tickets.

"I'm looking forward to seeing the game." Applebloom noted as she pulled along a cart of ice cream. "But would y'all mind asking before signing us up for stuff?"

"I was on the spot." Scootaloo defended. "And I couldn't do all this by myself."

"It's fine." Sweetie Belle smiled. "It'll be worth it when we're sitting field side."

"Speaking of which..." Scootaloo began, halting at the sound of a massive explosion from the opposite end of the stadium.

"Sweet Celestia!" Applebloom yelled. "What was that!?"

Sweetie Belle could hear the panicked screams of the other workers. "Something big, let's go!"

The three fearless fillies left their work and galloped around the interior of the stadium. They exited one of the main throughways and onto the field, discovering a gigantic hole in the stadium wall. Ponies scattered as the dust continued to settle, a small but familiar form stepping from the debris.

"Attention every pony!" Snips announced. "The game has been cancelled!"

"Snips!" Applebloom staggered in shock.

"He did that?" Scootaloo asked.

"His magic is even weaker than mine." Sweetie Belle added. "That's impossible."

Snips observed the fleeing workers with a proud smile; he strolled out onto the field and set his eyes on the scoreboard. "Better change the score." He began, his eyes aglow. "Snips one, Buckball zero!"

"Hey!" Applebloom's voice echoed around the empty stadium.

Snips looked back to see the three girls headed for him. "Ugh, you're here again?" He turned to face them.

"What are you doing?" Applejack asked. "More importantly, how?"

"I guess I'm taking your advice." He retorted. "I'm not going to be selling merchandise anymore, I won't need to after I get rid of this stupid field."

"What's gotten into you?" Sweetie Belle noticed the ominous energy coming off of him. "Why would you want to destroy the stadium?"

Snips' eyes narrowed in frustrated anger. "I didn't have much, but I had my best friend." He looked around. "Until Buckball came around."

"Snails?" Scootaloo clarified. "Is that what this is about?"

"This is about a lot of things." Snips laid his hoof to his chest. "Buckball was just the last straw. I'm going to make sure no pony plays this lame game again and get my friend back!" His horn flared and he began to grow in size.

"No way!" Applebloom gasped as they watched him enlarge.

"Ha ha!" Snips laughed gleefully. "Not looking down on me now, are you Ms. perfect!" He glared down at them. "You'd better run now, unless you want to be flattened like haycakes!" He turned and galloped towards the scoreboard, his massive body shattering it like glass as he made contact.

"Something is wrong with him." Sweetie Belle grabbed her friends' shoulders. "Can you see that weird blue aura?"

"Yeah." Applebloom nodded. "He's got some kind of magical whammy on him."

"We need to get Twilight and the others." Scootaloo noted. "This is way out of our league." The three of them fled the scene and headed for Ponyville as Snips carried on his rampage unopposed.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Zephyr Breeze I can understand, but how are Marble Pie and Snips "all ponies whose lives are far from what they wished they were?"

[Marezinger Z]

10015745
Without going too far into future dialogue, my reasoning is based on possible subtext in each of their characters. Even in the show, these are very passive characters who are portrayed as one note for the most part and looking at everything around them I can see where seeds of resentment and anger would grow. Looking at the Pie family, Marble is the only one with no clear aim in life. Pinkie left early to follow her dream and then became a hero to Equestria, Maud left to finish her education and even found Mudbriar, Limestone is clearly the one to take over the farm when their parents pass which leaves Marble with nothing. She seems to follow Limestone's order as she has no real voice or drive of her own which stems from being so quiet and reserved alongside such strong willed sisters. To be honest, we have no idea what Marble wants because the show never tells us so I am attempting to portray my version. Snips, I'll admit, is the lesser of the three in terms of problematic volume; I see the majority of his issues stemming from social problems that the show doesn't discuss and becoming exacerbated now that he is more on his own without his best friend to share those social burdens with. Again, it does get detailed later so I don't want to say too much, but I hope that clarifies my reasoning. 👍

[MLPFollower]

Something tells me Renaissance is up to something dark and apocalyptic.

[The Great Derpsby]

"Yeah." Soarin nodded. "And showing off just to impress doesn't make you a winner; only desperate losers stoop to that kind of thing."

The irony of this coming from a stunt flyer is apparently lost on Soarin'.