Xenophobia

by Symphony

The Catalyst

Author's Note:

Wowee.

Five years, huh? Who'd a thunkit that I'd come back to this here story? Anyway, this chapter covers what happened to start the events of this story in full. It's more like a flashback, really to begin with.

People who have read Bad Company might know what event I'm referring to. After this, they are divided universes. The aftermath of this event is what divided them into AUs.

Also let me know if I screwed the pooch on characterization, which I do blow at.

So... His name is Jay and he actually got a house of his own in Ponyville now. Fluttershy filled me on some details. Apparently he's around three years older than us and was even able to weasel out some bits from Twilight to go to Canterlot with Spike. Heck, I'm not sure why Twilight would let Spike go with him.

Anything could happen!

What if Spike would get hurt?! Or what if the human would try to eat him when they were alone?!

My ears perked when I heard some commotion on the ground. I rolled over on the cloud I was lying on and spotted him walk toward the library with Spike beside him. My eyes narrowed and I moved closer slowly.

“How did the meeting with Mayor Mare go, Jay?” Spike looked up at the human.

He shrugged. “It went alright, I guess...” He scratched the back of his head then put his hands in his pockets.

Why does he need to wear all those clothes? Is he hiding something?

“Turns out most of the damage I caused was superficial and an increase in ponies asking for more security... To be honest, it could have been way worse than what it was...” They entered the library and closed the doors behind them.

I frowned and looked away until my eyes settled on a stray stormcloud that had been missed during clearing. Smirking, I flew toward it and settled down to wait...

---

Doctor Hooves raised an eyebrow. “You... Fetched a stormcloud.” He stopped writing and chewed on his lower lip. “And as far as I know, he wears those clothes all the time because he doesn't have any fur to protect him from cold.”

Rainbow Dash crossed her forelegs and shot a glare to the doctor. “Hey, I was talking about it!” She sighed.

“I'm sorry, I had to interject to be sure that I had heard the right thing...” He resumed writing, rolling his eyes at the flippant attitude of the mare. “But for your information, Jay apparently doesn't eat meat that much, only to get some extra proteins and nutrients.”

“Whatever... As I was saying...

---

I carefully sat down on the stormcloud to not disturb it and get zapped. After a couple of minutes I heard the door open again and the human walked out with Spike in tow again. Jay sat down on the steps to the library and Spike mimicked him.

Jay brought out a small slip of paper and hoofed it over to Spike who's eyes widened significantly.

“A hundred thousand bits?!” Spike yelled.

“Yup...” Jay was resting his head on one of his talons and looking around the street.

“That is a lot of money, dude...” Spike rubbed his face.

I started moving closer on the cloud, making sure that it was ready to let out a bolt. I peeked through it and saw that Jay was staring up at me with his eyes narrowed slightly. They continued talking but I stopped listening as I was in position. I stuck out my tongue in concentration, then hit the cloud with both of my forelegs at the same time.

The usual bang and a flash of light appeared. I peeked over the edge and frowned. Jay had moved from where he was and was staring at the scorchmark in horror.

“GAH FUCK!”

So much for being a big scary human. I'll show you... I readied to let loose another bolt. There wasn't much juice left in the cloud but definitely enough for one more. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my eye and my head rocked back. A stone fell to the ground beneath me. I growled and let loose another shot.

Another bang and lightshow. I looked over the edge to see Jay standing perfectly still, staring up at me with wide eyes and his mouth open. He started rocking back and forth until his eyes rolled back and he fell flat on his back. I smelled something burning but didn't care as I had gotten him good! He got so scared he passed out! What a pansy... Or, you know. That's what I thought happened...

---

Doctor Hooves' eyes narrowed.

“You do realize that this counts as a felony, right?” He asked. “Unlawful use of lightning with the intent to hurt someone else.” Hooves shook his head. “You're lucky nopony pressed charges on you...”

“I know!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, turning to stare at him. “I didn't think it would knock him out like that but...” This time the look in her eyes changed to what could best be described as...

Fear.

---

I cleared what was left of the stormcloud and left the library, flying off to the park to relax for a while. A couple of hours of nothing later, I flew over to the market to pick up some groceries before they closed. I saw AJ's applestand at the usual spot and flew over. Applejack turned to me and her eyes widened when she saw my bruised eye.

“Geez, Rainbow! What happened to yer eye?!”

I smirked and flipped my mane so it was more visible. “Oh nothing big, AJ...” I ran a hoof through my mane to set it right. “I just got clocked in the eye by that stinkin' human!” I puffed out my chest. AJ's eyes flicked to something behind me for a split second.

“I got him good with a bolt of lightning though! You should have seen that pansy!” I snickered. “He got so scared that he fell over!”

I heard a crack behind me and Applejack's eyes widened further as I heard heavy hoofsteps behind me. Her jaw dropped. “Yeah!” I laughed. “He looked exactly like that!” I wiped my face with a foreleg. “Priceless...”

I heard a whistle from behind and I turned around and my heart dropped.

Jay stood there, looking like a corpse and glaring nothing but daggers at me. Before I could react, he reared back and hit me as hard as he could on my eye that wasn't bruised. I grunted in pain and reared back slightly, only to be pushed down on my back.

My wings flared out on instinct. I looked over to my left wing and saw him step down on it, ground it and shift his weight to that leg before crouching down.

I gasped out in pain. My right wing flapped slowly to get some leverage but stopped when he leaned over me with a glare.

“Matching pairs now, shithead...” He growled out. He glanced behind for a second then turned back to me, staring absolute death down at me.

The eyes... It's like there wasn't any color in them. Only hatred. His skin was much paler than what it was before and he had dark rings underneath his eyes. He was gritting his teeth so I could see his canine teeth.

“Nice to see that you're already out bragging about nearly killing me back there...” He spat.

What... How?

“Killing..?” I croaked. I didn't mean for that to happen. His eyes narrowed and he rolled his shoulder, looking as if he was ready to slug myself again.

“Thaaaat's right.” He grinned. “Cardiac arrest, half the skin on my left arm burned off. If Twilight didn't know how to do CPR I would be dead right now.”

No. Nonono. I didn't mean to do that. My wings seized up.

He was dragged off me by Twilight who was staring down at me with an expression I couldn't make out. Was it... Disappointment? Anger? Hay if I know...

“Isn't that right, Twilight? Let little miss murder know the truth...”

Twilight's eyes darted between Jay and I, then to Applejack who was glaring at me as I struggled to get on my hooves taking this in. Twilight sighed. “It's true... Human bodies can't handle electricity as good as ponies. His heart stopped after the shock...”

My eyes flicked madly back and forth to Twilight, then to Jay and even to Fluttershy who was shaking her head at me and looking away. I heard a buzzing in my ears that got louder by the second.

“If it wasn't for me and Fluttershy, he would be dead right now.”

It was as if my head had just been dunked in ice cold water. I stared up at Jay only to see him smirking at me as I was taking all of this in.

Then the whispering started.

“Did Rainbow really do that?”

“Can't believe it... But look at his arm...”

“I know she's not the most rational pony around but attempting to kill somepony..?”

My wings started twitching more by each second. I couldn't take it anymore and flew off, leaving everypony in the dust. My left wing hurt but it wasn't anything new. I flew home and just slumped down on the couch, nursing my wing and thinking about what happened.

---

“Huh... So that's what happened to his arm...” Doctor Hooves mumbled, then cleared his throat. “And this is where your fear from him came?”

Rainbow nodded with her forelegs covering her face, staying quiet.

“I see...” He wrote down a few things then turned back to her. “What would you say set off your fear like this?”

It was perfectly quiet for a few seconds until she sighed. “The way he stared me down. He didn't flinch when he was beating me. He even gloated and smirked at me, for Celestia's sake!” She exclaimed, throwing her hooves up. “But also...” Her ears lowered. “My friends... They were just staring at it happening and didn't do anything. Twilight did something eventually but...”

“There wasn't much loyalty, and you represent that element...” He tapped his pen to his chin.

“Yeah... And that got me thinking, is he driving them apart from me..? Is it all on me?” She started shaking. “Did I fail..? I know I messed up big but Fluttershy will barely talk to me now and she's my oldest friend since we were kids...”

“A fear of failure...” Hooves said, looking up at the clock. “I'm sorry, looks like our time is up for today. I can give you some extra time later after my next appointment?” Rainbow shook her head and stood up from the couch, spreading her wings. “Well then, I'll see you next week?”

“Sure...” Rainbow sighed and turned to the door.

“Miss Dash?” She turned to him with a raised eyebrow. “Try doing something you normally wouldn't do to handle stress or fear as both are linked in a manner. Take your time and repeat those steps and talk to your friends about it and how you feel.”

“Sure, doc...” Rainbow offered him a weak smile and left the room. “See you next week...”

Comments

[Phantom Night]

My body was not prepared for this update

[Symphony]

8921434
STRAP IN IT'S BIG BOY TIME FOR THIS STORY

(which means I have brainstormed new ideas for this story and can actually write them out)

[HIEfan]

Oh Rainbow, you messed up on such a epic level it can hardly be decribed in words.

[Zaten the Changeling]

How did i get so lucky as to start this story on the very day it was revived?

[Viper Pit]

so rainbow has more issues then I thought

[Symphony]

8921672
Mmmmmagic.

[D48]

That was a very good chapter, although I'm a little sad to see it cut off there because it looked like it was getting ready to do an interesting deep dive into her situation before they ran out of time and everything you wrote about was already covered in the other story. Still, you did need to get back into the swing of things, so this was a good way to do it.

Also, you may want to do another editing pass at some point because there seemed to be a fair number of mechanical issues in this like the one below.

stormcloud that had problem been missed during clearing

8921661
Apparently not.

[Symphony]

8922569
I'm am very good at english word writing...

[D48]

8922628
...And editing you're own work not work good.

[Symphony]

8923434
At least an attempt was made, not too easy when english isn't my first language

[D48]

8924200
Yeah, but it never really works. A while back I was re-reading a document I had put down for about a year after editing the hell out of it (like 5 or 6 in-depth passes), and lo and behold, when I looked at it with truly fresh eyes I found typo after typo.

Also, I had no idea English wasn't your first language. It really doesn't show, so congrats on that.

[lunarstallion]

Holy shit I legitimately forgot this even existed. This gonna start getting updates again?

[Symphony]

8930554
Yup, I came back and got back into writing. Next chapter is being written.

[lunarstallion]

8930626
Awesome, lookin forward to them.