My Little Pony Heart of Friendship: Tales of a New Beginning

by ShadowDurza

Toxic Sentiment, Part 1

Under the midday sun, two colored streaks raced around an expanse of wilderness between towns within central Equestria. One, a horizontal arrangement of the colors of the rainbow. The other, solid white. They raced across the wide expanse at a pace any beast or machine could only envy, yet from another perspective they could be seen gingerly curving around a few landmarks, ever so slowly tracing a perfect circle.

Meanwhile, at what looked like the point where the streaks began, a small orange-coated pegasus with small wings and a pink-coated earth pony with a wild, curly mane bounced up and down, going wild as they cheered. Next to them, a bored-looking human in a black jumpsuit sat on the ground staring into space with an uninterested expression.

Scootaloo suddenly held her hoof over her eyes as she looked into the distance. Then, her eyes grew wide. “Here they come! Get ready Pinkie!”

“Okie, dokie!” Pinkie then bent down and got a polaroid camera readily attached to an extending harness. “Get ready to wave your flag, Alphonse!” At this, Alphonse huffed and held up the small flag he had.

Moments later, the camera flashed and the flag came down despite Pinkie, along with the rest of the spectators, being forced to lean under the pressure of the streaks’ tailwind. A distance later, the streaks disappeared as the figures within them slowed down after a ways. Then, while laughing and playfully pushing and bumping one-another, made their way to the spectators.

Rainbow Dash flipped her multi-colored mane, letting her sweat fly. “So… who won?”

Trace loudly snorted and spat a phlegm-filled glob of spit to the side. “Yeah, I’d like to finally put an end to this streak!”

The picture slowly slid out of the camera’s slot. “Just a minute!” Then, she proceeded to take it into her teeth and shake her head in a blur.

Then, she got dizzy and fell over, flinging the picture in the air. Scootaloo jumped up to catch it, her tiny wings buzzing, but missed as Alphonse used his fine-tuned warrior’s reflexes to catch it. He took a look and broke out into a wry smile and started snickering. “Well, I hope you two weren’t looking forward to your little rivalry ending anytime soon. It’s another tie!”

At this Scootaloo groaned and pulled at her face with her hooves. “Aw! A tie?”

Simultaneously, Pinkie Pie started hollering and bouncing around. “Yay! A tie!”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and frowned. “Another one? We’ve raced across fields, through forests, up mountains, and from one cloud to the other, and all we’ve got to show for it is like, fifty ties in a row!”

Trace nonchalantly checked his fingernails with a bored expression. “Actually, it’s fifty-three ties in a row, plus that break we took for that two-day rally, but who’s counting?”

Getting over her initial disappointment, Scootaloo trotted up to the racers with an excited look. “Well, I’m going to look at the bright side: Now I have two awesome races to look up to! Hey, maybe I should start a Trace Paragon fan club!”

At this, Trace just sighed and shook his head, his hands on his hips. “You can if you want, but you won’t get any endorsement from me. I just go fast for freedom, not for glory.”

At that, Scootaloo’s eyes grew wide and she held her hooves to her cheeks, breaking out in a big smile. “So… Cool…”

Rainbow Dash briefly got a jealous look at this display. Then she focused on Alphonse. “Well, now that that’s over, let’s have that picnic for lunch already!”

Alphonse gave her an arrogant look and pointed his finger at her with a snap. “Yo.” Then he held out his hand, creating a bright green bubble of light that expanded before disappearing and leaving behind a picnic basket. Then he opened it and started setting up. Once they were all sat down, he started digging into the food. “Who had the pasta and potato on sourdough?”

Rainbow Dash raised her hoof. “Right here!” Alphonse tossed her the paper-wrapped meal.

“Buttercups and maple syrup on pumpernickel?”

Scootaloo waved her hooves in the air. “Ooh! Ooh! Me! Me!” At that prompt, he handed the somewhat sticky paper-wrapped sandwich to the juvenile pegasus.

“Cotton candy and jellybeans on cinnamon swirl? As if I have to ask…” Pinkie Pie giggled as she took the wrapped sandwich directly in her teeth.

“Turkey and tomato with mustard on wheat? I assume this one’s going to the only other omnivore here.” Trace scoffed as he took his old standby in hand.

Alphonse started digging deeper into the basket, almost smiling. “And now for the main event, my… Wait… What…? Where’s my liverwurst and mango chutney on rye?”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Oh calm down, you probably just forgot…”

“And the drinks are gone too!”

At this, Rainbow Dash cringed and flew up. “What? But I got and packed the cider myself!”

Amid Rainbow Dash’s exclamations, Alphonse started investigating the basket and the area surrounding it. He soon found a clue: a trail of disturbed soil leading away from the picnic site and over and past a nearby hill. He gestured to the others to get close and soon held out his hands to create a bright green bubble of energy that soon expanded to enclose all of them and seemingly disappear. “There, now as long as you all stay near me, nobody else will be able to notice our presence.”

Scootaloo whooped. “It’s just like what Pinkie said you did back at Core Metro! This is pretty awesome!”

Pinkie Pie giggled. “Neat, huh? I’ll stay behind and guard the picnic, no need for all of it to go to waste, right?”

Despite Rainbow Dash’s clearly upset expression, she carefully followed along with the group as Alphonse followed the trail of dirt past a few more hills and eventually to a patch of forest, where the perpetrator was sorting his ill-gotten gains.

He was rather short and dressed in black and white striped clothes with a bandit’s mask and black beanie. At this, Alphonse groaned. “Oh, joy! It’s Chet Tiller! Up to his old tricks I see!”

Scootaloo raised an eyebrow at that. “Who’s Chet Tiller? Is he a friend of yours?”

Trace made a sarcastic laugh. “Hardly! He’s a black earth elemental and a notorious petty thief. He’s not too powerful, but he’s a lot craftier than he looks and excels at hit-and-run tactics. Confronting him is bound to be troublesome. I’m just a little ashamed to admit that he was considered my biggest rival back during my thieving days…”

Alphonse just scoffed and materialized his curled-up whip. “Lucky for us, I’m pretty powerful, and I’m good at tricky fighting too!”

He swung his whip overhead and snapped it at the absentminded Chet, entangling him and dragging him back to face him. “Alright, Mr. Tiller, I’ll give you one chance: Surrender and relinquish what you’ve stolen or prepare for great pain.”

Somehow, this statement got a sinister look out of Chet and his body ended up disintegrating into a pile of moist black dirt. This unsettled both Alphonse and Trace and got horrified looks out of Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo. Then, Alphonse got a severely displeased expression. “Well, that was a clone and I just broke my own stealth spell for nothing.” He then turned to Rainbow Dash. “You, big pegasus, get the tiny pegasus to safety. Chet Tiller’s not above taking hostages.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes as she flew over to and scooped up Scootaloo. “We have names you know…”

Meanwhile, Trace had summoned his bo staff. “So if you’re the self-proclaimed master of tricky fighting, what’s he going to do next?” Suddenly, Chet burst from the ground behind him and whacked him on the head with a club made of solid black dirt. However, on contact, the illusion of Trace was dispelled in a puff of bright green smoke and the real one came zooming in from the side and sent Chet toppling to the ground with a sweeping strike.

As Chet layed on the ground, Alphonse materialized a construct of shackles and a chain and with a thrust of his free hand sent them flying at the downed rogue. However, slamming his hand on the ground, Chet disappeared in a cloud of black debris that the construct passed through before disappearing. Then, six trails of disturbed soil scattered outward. Erupting to surround the duo of top-class warriors were six exact duplicates of the black earth elemental rogue.

Strangely, the group started juggling three round clods of black dirt each. Then, they threw them at their opponents’ feet, suddenly emitting sparks. Recognizing the danger, Trace took his ally’s hand and enveloped them both in a white aura before they raced off, leaving behind the concussive explosions.

The clones, having lost sight of their opponents, appeared confused and disoriented. Meanwhile, the duo reappeared a ways away after decelerating and looked each other in the eyes. Alphonse held out his curled up whip and Trace whirled around his staff, leaving behind a spiraling trail of white glyphs which curled around the length of Alphonse’s whip after touching the handle with the end of it. With a flourish, Alphonse extended his weapon and let it fly, thrashing apart each of the clones at windstorm-like speeds and reducing them back to the black dirt, eventually hitting the real one among them hard enough to leave them dazed on the ground.

Seeing his opportunity, Alphonse redid his restraining spell and this time caught the perpetrator in its bindings. As the pair of warriors walked up to their defeated foe in a self-satisfied manner, Chet looked right at them and gave a sinister grin before disintegrating into a pile of black soil just like the others.

Alphonse recoiled in shock. “If that was just a sturdier clone, then where’s-” However, before either of them could react, the real Chet erupted from the ground, hefting a giant mallet of solid black soil to smash the both of them. Right before he could swing it, however, he was suddenly sent spasming as bright sparks enveloped his body. His conjured weapon disintegrated as he collapsed on the ground, twitching and smoking.

Trace and Alphonse looked confused at this development at first, but then they looked up after hearing an arrogant snickering overhead. Standing on a low-flying cloud was Rainbow Dash blowing off some soot from her hoof as the cloud’s sparks diminished. “You two boys were looking like you could use some help, so I just figured I could dish out some air support!”

Trace gave a sleazy laugh and shook his head. “For the best, I guess. The only reason he fought so hard is because he mostly steals for thrills.”

Alphonse huffed and walked over to their defeated foe, raising a glowing hand to entrap him in bright green ethereal rope-like bindings. “Well, if you’re looking for a good time from here, I’d suggest you take Pinkie and the filly back to Ponyville. Because we’re going to have to take this little scumbag to Tartarus where he belongs.”

***

The dark gates opened, and from behind them appeared a familiar face, who smiled at the group. Trace and Alphonse put greater effort into their poise. “Master Noxus,”

Boros laughed and shook his head. “C’mon boys, you’re both top-class warriors too now! No need to be so formal.” He then stepped aside to let the group through, Trace first, then Alphonse carrying Chet, and Rainbow Dash bringing up the back.

Boros whistled as he began following the group deeper into the cave, summoning two underworlder grunts to take the perp in hand and take him deeper in themselves. Rainbow Dash whistled in mild amazement. “So life must be pretty good for you guys since Celestia generously put the underworlders in charge of Tartarus.”

Boros just smiled and scoffed at this. “Even though it was a pretty nice act of political goodwill on her part, it does have some logistical merit to it. Firstly, it takes a criminal mind to catch and keep other criminals. Secondly, you guys’ magic isn’t as developed as ours when it comes to suppressing and dispelling other magic, just the price you pay for living such peaceful and idyllic lives.

“Anyway, even though we all haven’t been up here for long, this guy’s already built up a sizable bounty as he’s made his way across the land. It’ll take a minute, but I’ll get you the price for his head while you’re here.”

Trace frowned and made a dismissive gesture with his hand. “No thanks, just make out my share to the children’s fund.”

Alphonse sighed and rolled his shoulders. “Same, this place is too gloomy even for me. I don’t want to stay here any more than I have to!”

Boros just smirked at them. “That’s too bad, because either way, you’re going to have to sign a couple invoices for the transaction.” Looking a little displeased, the pair were led off by another grunt.

Rainbow Dash was about to remind them about her part in Chet’s capture, but recoiled as an arm reached out from the bars of a cage to the side. “Please, Boros! You’ve got to let me out of here already! We’re both brothers in crime! Think about all the good times!”

Boros made his way over to the cage and wiggled his eyebrows at the prisoner. “Maybe you should have thought about respecting the property and safety of our pony brethren beforehand!”

The criminal groaned and sat back down on the floor of the cage. “But I don’t want to!”

At this, Boros just laughed it off and encouraged Rainbow Dash to keep going in. “Don’t judge us all based on the likes of him. I won’t deny that a lot of times, a lot of us have to learn our lessons the hard way. But we tend to be a lot more receptive than that.

“Speaking of, I’ve been wanting to talk to you specifically about one of my Administrators.”

Rainbow Dash just rolled her eyes and crossed her hooves at this. “I don’t see what the problem is. If you can keep a tight leash on them, they shouldn’t be too much of a problem.”

Boros got a dissatisfied look at that. “Well, I don’t typically have to. They’ve mostly cleaned up their acts and right now are spending most of their free time trying to find their own lives outside of the underworlders. But as for Mort… well… he was always the least independent out of them. But lately he’s just been super moody and abrasive, and you ponies are just way better at resolving those kinds of feelings in a healthy way, right?”

Suddenly, out of the shadows appeared Durza. “It would probably help if she knew the circumstances for Mort’s state of mind, Boss.”

Rainbow Dash recoiled in shock, even moreso after Boros manifested his ax and made a swipe at his chief henchman, who melded back into shadows and reappeared at his boss’s other side. Once Boros realized what was going on, he sighed and dematerialized his weapon. “How many times have I told you not to do that! One of these days, I might get lucky and get you in the neck!”

Durza remained stoic, but beget his awkwardness as he slightly looked away. “Yes, well, I just figured it would be prudent to resolve this situation to remind you of the time of year it is.”

Boros thought for a moment, then realization dawned on his face. “Oh, yeah! It’s almost the anniversary of when Nanny Nightshade left us. Poor Mort, no wonder…”

Rainbow Dash arched an eyebrow at this. “Can anypony let me in on who Nanny Nightshade is supposed to be?”

Boros held his hand out to the curious pegasus. “Nanny Nightshade was one of the notorious hags of the Lost District. Liked to collect the children that fell through the cracks of Core Metro’s society and violently chase off anyone that came near.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened at that. “That doesn’t sound very cool, what does Mort’s funk have to do with it?”

Boros closed his eyes and scoffed. “For the most part, I was just messing with you, telling you what we usually put on the tourist pamphlets. The truth is that the hags were just a group of crusty but kind-hearted women who took it upon themselves to care for large groups of orphans and protect them from those that would exploit them. And few were more effective at the latter than Nanny Nightshade thanks in no small part to her poison plant element.

“He always talks a big game, but Mort’s always been super insecure about his poison element. However, Nanny Nighshade’s personal brand of kindness made him feel a whole lot better about it. She might have had a bunch of kids in her charge, but nobody could deny that the bond between her and Mort was special.”

Rainbow Dash smirked and started nodding her head. “I’ve always liked the kind of style only tough old ladies have. So what happened to make Mort so upset?”

Boros sighed. “Well, like you said, she was an old lady. And as Mort grew, she just kept getting older. When she sensed her time coming, she personally came to me and asked that I use my strength to keep the innocents of the Lost District safe. I was impressed, and that was one of the reasons I formed the underworlders and took a special interest in Mort. But when she eventually passed, Mort became a lot more distant and sarcastic.”

At this, Rainbow Dash started sulking. “Gee… I really had no clue… But still, what can I do about that?”

Boros held up a finger. “He might be super insincere and a total kiss up, but a warrior is a warrior. You were the first person to ever lay him out flat in a real fight, that forges a bond. I figure if you can do something super nice for him, it might turn his attitude around for the better.”

Rainbow Dash sniffed and perked up. “All right, what kind of things does he like? Parties? Books? Snacks?”

Boros just held up his hands and shrugged. “It’s really hard to say. Like all of the underworlders, he couldn’t afford to have a taste for the finer things in life.”

Durza, reminding everyone that he was still present, pointed at his boss. “In the first couple years he was part of the gang, didn’t Nanny Nightshade send him a gift for his birthday before passing?”

“Oh yeah. She sent him those cakes a couple times. The ones that made us have to air out the base for a few days after, the special iced arsenic cakes!”

Rainbow Dash went rigid. “Arsenic? Isn’t that stuff like, super deadly?”

Boros smirked at that. “Maybe to the average creature, but to human poison elementals like Mort, it’s sweet like honey! I’m pretty sure you can find it in an old cookbook that doubles as a guide to assassination called Pestilential Pastries.”

Rainbow Dash held her hoof to her chin. “I guess I’ll have to ask Kris about the cookbook. Then I suppose I’ll have Pinkie help me bake it, and give the Cakes a heads-up to vacate the premises.”