The Stallion in the Library

by leonidas701

Pride

Rainbow Dash was already tired, but now she was angry to boot. Every pegasus in town knew that this was her field. After all, she had earned it being the leader of the Ponyville weather patrol team, and the only one who really worked on her flying, not just doing it as exercise. She was the one who took care of it, filling in the holes she left after her practices and such. Normally she was fine letting others use it, even happy about it because it gave her someone to train with, but this bastard wasn’t using it as a training ground. He had made a cloud, and stuck it smack dab in the middle of the airspace.

Still, Rainbow Dash was a grown-up, and had a modicum of self-control. Rather than rushing straight towards him and demanding he left, she decided to make an attempt at diplomacy. Ponyville was a very small town, and as such everypony knew everypony else, by sight if not by name. As she got closer to the cloud, Rainbow Dash could tell that the pegasus was not from around these parts. His coat was completely black, and his mane was brown and curly.

When she got close enough to be sure that he could hear her, Rainbow Dash cleared her throat. “Excuse me,” she said. “Would you mind moving your cloud?”

“Why?” the stallion asked, his eyes closed.

“This is my training ground. You’re kinda in the middle of it, and taking up a lot of space.”

“Your training ground?”

“Yes.” Rainbow Dash was relieved that the pony understood.

“Okay then, I’d be happy to leave. Once you show me proof of your ownership, of course.”

“What?”

“Well, if this is your training ground, then you must have sort of land deed. Show me that, and I’ll leave. If this land is public property, then I’m not breaking any rules by putting a temporary cloud here.”

“What?!” Rainbow Dash was really annoyed. What he was saying was bad enough, but the stuck up pegasus was saying it all in such a condescending manner, and with the most annoying smirk, that it just pissed her off all the more. It wasn’t helped by the fact the his eyes were still closed, like she wasn’t even worth looking at. The time for diplomacy had passed.

“Listen you jerk, I don’t know who you think you are, but this is my training area! If you don’t fly off right now I’ll make you leave!” Rainbow Dash flew back a little bit and geared herself up to start breaking apart his cloud. Suddenly, the black pegasus chuckled.

He sat up and opened his eyes, revealing dark brown irises with thick black rims.

“Tell you what, let’s make this interesting,” he said as he flew over to where Rainbow Dash was. “I’ll race you, across the field and back, and if you win I’ll leave. But if I win, I ain’t going anywhere. Deal?” he extended a hoof to Rainbow Dash.

“Deal.” Rainbow Dash shook his hoof. Oh, this is going to fun! I can’t wait to wipe that smirk off of his face! He has no idea what he’s getting into, she thought as she went to the side of the field.

Once they got there, the pegasus spoke again.

“My name is Shade.”

“Why do you think I care?”

“I believe you should always give your name to those you triumph over. Why don’t you give the cadence?”

Rainbow Dash growled out the “One, two, three, go!” and then rocketed off to the other side of the field. When she made it to the other side and started turning, she hadn’t seen hide nor hair of her opponent she since had left the starting line. She was so ready to see his face when he finally made it back, seeing her victorious and relaxing in tree. Her head was so full of her these fantasies and the single idea of going as fast as she could back to the other side, that she almost fell out of the sky when she was halfway across the field and heard a,

“Done.”

“What!” Rainbow Dash whipped her head, left and right, left and right, she couldn’t see him anywhere. Then she looked down and there he was, standing on the ground at the edge of the field. She flew over to him, her face a mixture of disbelief and anger.

“How did you do that?” she asked.

“I don’t have to explain myself to you,” Shade said, his smirk now bigger than ever.

“That’s impossible, you can’t have beaten me!”

Shade disregarded her as he got ready to take off back to his cloud.

“You must have cheated!”

Shade stopped dead in his tracks. His smirk disappeared as his lips rearranged themselves into a thin line. “Cheated?” he said.

“Well how else could you have beaten me?!”

Shade glared at her, and looked about ready to attack her, before his eyes briefly unfocused. After they refocused he shook his head. “Look, believe whatever you like. The fact remains that I won, so I’m going back to my cloud.”

“Oh no! We’re doing that again, and this time I’ll beat you!”

Shade rolled his eyes, and flew back to his cloud. Rainbow Dash glared at him for a while, but she eventually realized that it wasn’t doing anything. So she resolved to ignore him.

She used the rest of the field, practicing and practicing, paying special attention to how quickly she could lap the field. But it wasn’t easy, because every time she looked into the center of the field, she saw that cloud and was reminded of her humiliating loss. Eventually, it became too much for her, and her anger was making her sloppy. She was about to cut her session short, when she noticed that Shade was leaving.

She flew over to his cloud and planted herself firmly in front of him.

“Oh, what now?” he asked.

“My name is Rainbow Dash. Remember that, because next time we meet, you’ll be the one begging for a rematch.”

“Yeah, sure,” Shade said, rolling his eyes. “Now would you mind getting out of my way? I have things to do.”

Rainbow Dash silently took off and headed home. In her mind, she was already making plans on how she could show up that bastard the next time she saw him.

So not quite what you expected, huh boss?

Shut up, Morrogar. Still, at least she gave me a pleasant view. Where did you say Silver and Guile were?

Guile just went off somewhere, but Silver’s heading off to some fashion boutique.

Really? Why?

Him and Ami were so busy ‘saying goodbye’ that he forgot his winter clothes.

Heh. And with that, Morragar flew over and landed flat on his master’s back. Shade picked up his black cloak, the exact same color as him, and covered both himself and his familiar. So, where is this boutique anyways? he thought as he took off, dispersing the cloud in his wake.

-----Next Time-----

Applejack was busy bucking the apple trees, shaking free the last fruits of the year from their branches. Her body was on autopilot, buck, move over a little bit, buck again, move again, &c &c. Her thoughts, however were filled with thoughts of Brick. Now that the initial euphoria of seeing him again after all those years had passed had worn off, she started wondering why exactly he chose to come back now.

She was snapped out of her ruminations by a jingling noise that was slowly getting louder. Suddenly, it stopped right behind her. She got tapped on the shoulder and turned around.

“Can Ah help ya?” she asked, seeing a forest green earth pony, about her height, standing there. There was a long gold chain wrapped around his front left hoof. She assumed that that was making the jingling noise she was hearing.

The stallion was dumbstruck as he looked at Applejack. “Dear giants, you’re gorgeous,” he said, his eyes wide.

Applejack was taken aback by the sudden compliment, but before she could respond, the stallion shook himself out of his stupor and spoke again.

“My name is Audacity. I’m looking for a friend of mine who he said he’d be here. His name’s Brick Bones.”

Author's Note:

A/N: Don’t worry, Rainbow Dash lost for reasons other than speed. Other then that, I liked this chapter. It was fun working with Rainbow Dash and not making her the antagonist.

Please, let me know what you thought of this chapter and thank you for reading.

Song for next time: Whip it! by Devo.

Comments

[Sky Hooves]

Looks like there will come some more "crazy" ponies to Ponyville.

[Ephedianroyalty]

OOO, OOO, they’re the other six elements from card’s dream!! I just got that!!

[Ziper Ace]

Does Card at least have non pony friends?