Nightmare Savior

Chapter 1: Nightmare Savior

Fluttershy's breath came in heaving gasps as the canary-yellow pegasus rushed pell-mell through the dense undergrowth of the Everfree Forest. The path had been abandoned long ago in her frantic desire to escape. Fear kept her wings tucked in tightly against her sides, a habit that had been ingrained in her since her days in Flight School. It was a habit that made her a favorite target of bullies, but now was endangering her very life.

As her not-flight continued, a single word forced itself into Fluttershy's head over and over again. Stupid...stupid stupid stupidstupidstupidstupidstupid! Going into the Everfree Forest was a risky venture at even the best of times, although the path leading to the home of her zebra-friend, Zecora was usually as safe as anyplace could be in the forest. Still, Fluttershy felt she should have known better than to go into the forest during Zap Apple Season. The timberwolves, whose howls signaled the beginning of the season, were always closer to the edge of the forest at this time of year, making even the most well-used trails more dangerous than usual.

A trio of the monstrous wolves formed from animated wood were in hot pursuit of her now. Even though she couldn't spare the concentration to look back, Fluttershy knew they were there, literally dogging her hoofsteps. She could even hear their grunting pants as the eager predators gave chase.

Her ears managed to warn her that one of the creatures was flanking her from the right. Veering left, Fluttershy adjusted the course to keep the timberwolves behind her. To her surprise, the tangle of undergrowth that filled the spaces between the trees gave way to an open clearing. Fluttershy's eyes widened as the oppressive darkness of the forest gave way to pure daylight as the sun, no longer filtered by the forest canopy, blazed overhead, the promise of open skies inciting hope within Fluttershy's natural pegasus instincts even though her fear still kept her wings closely tucked into her sides.

That feeling of hope was snuffed out as quickly as it arrived. From the edge on the other side of the clearing, Fluttershy spotted a pair of yellow eyes, practically identical to the ones that followed close behind her. With a shriek, she dove to the side as a fourth timber wolf lunged out of the cover in front of her, its teeth only just barely missing her tail.

Fluttershy's dodge carried her towards the wide trunk of an exceptionally large tree that dominated one side of the clearing. Before she could attempt to go around it, yet another timber wolf lunged out of hiding from behind the tree, forcing Fluttershy try and dodge around the trunk in the opposite direction, only to find that that path of escape had been closed off by the trio that had been pursuing her.

The realization dawned on Fluttershy that this had not happened by coincidence. She had been herded into a cunning trap by the clever hunters. Five timberwolves now surrounded her, with the tree at her back cutting off any hope of escape. Even if Fluttershy had been able to use her wings, the yellow pegasus would not have been able to escape upwards in time now that she was so closely hemmed in. All hope seemed to be lost.

Tears streamed down Fluttershy's face as she came upon her next realization. I'm going to die here. In what she assumed to be her last moments, she idly pondered what the result of her death would be, besides five well-fed timber wolves. Would anypony from Ponyville ever figure out what had happened to her? She knew better than to wonder if she would be missed. Fluttershy knew that her friends would be severely saddened and would mourn her passing. But what would happen to all her precious animals? Oh dear. I hope there's somepony that can look after them.

As the five wolves edged closer, Fluttershy let her eyelids drift shut. Just because her end was inevitable didn't mean she wanted to see it come. Besides, it promised to be messy. With a soft, barely audible whimper, the poor pegasus settled back and prepared for the end.

Her ears picked up the barest sound of something landing on the ground in front of her before they were filled with the dull roar of rushing wind. Opening her eyes, Fluttershy watched in shock as the wolf in the center of the group encircling her was knocked back like it had been hit by a charging buffalo. For the briefest of instants, the savage beast experienced the miracle of flight before it hit the ground with a loud yelp, bouncing all the way over to the other side of the clearing and slamming into the trunk of another tree.

The remaining wolves snarled and snapped, but advanced no further as though there was a tangible barrier between them and Fluttershy, who finally found her attention drawn to what had stopped the predators' ruthless advance. A young pegasus colt had touched down in front of her, positioning himself between Fluttershy and the advancing wolves. His coat was a deep black color, darker than Luna's night, supplemented by a silver mane. The colt's front legs were bent, lowering his head towards the ground while his wings spread out from his back. The angle at which he held the appendages caused the feathers to splay upwards and outwards, giving the impression that the colt was considerably larger than he actually was, the feathers on his wings spreading to resemble a shield that he kept between Fluttershy and the wolves.

Being Ponyville's resident animal expert, Fluttershy was more than a little familiar with the habits of wild animals, even those from strange and eerie places like the Everfree. She could recognize a threat display when she saw one. What shocked her was to see a pony putting on such a display, as though he were no different from a wild animal himself.

Fluttershy's ears twitched as she picked up a faint buzzing noise coming from the colt. It reminded her of the sounds some snakes made when they felt they were being threatened, particularly poisonous rattlers. Looking more closely, spotted a slight blurring of the young pegasus' feathers as they vibrated in place. He was creating the buzzing noise with his wings.

If anything, this seemed to upset the ravenous wolves even more. Two of them began to shuffle back, seemingly intimidated by the strange pony between them and their meal. The one furthest to Fluttershy's left stepped forward in preparation for a lunge. But the colt whirled to face it, checking it's rush as the cowed wolf retreated back. Before the others could try to take advantage of the distraction, the colt spun about to face straight ahead again, keeping all the remaining wolves in sight.

With a final round of snarls, the four wolves turned tail and ran, followed by their companion that had been knocked for a loop earlier. The pack of five slunk into the underbrush and vanished into the depths of the forest. As they disappeared, Fluttershy's quivering legs finally gave out and she slumped into a sitting position.

The colt's wings went silent as he folded them into his sides. Without making the slightest move to acknowledge the mare behind him, he began to move forward, as though he had simply been out for a morning stroll.

"Um, excuse me." Fluttershy's voice was barely more than a whisper, but it made the colt freeze in place, his entire body going rigid. "Please don't go," she begged.

Slowly, the colt turned around to face her. Fluttershy's eyes widened as they met the colt's own. His eyes were a beautiful turquoise color rarely seen in ponies. Even more distinctive were the vertical slit pupils framed by those irises. Fluttershy had seen only one other pony with eyes like those. A gasp of surprise escaped her lips before she could stop herself. Quickly, Fluttershy clamped her hooves over her mouth, but she knew that the colt had already heard enough.

He merely stared at her, his expression blank. Even though his face showed no reaction to Fluttershy's startled exclamation, his eyes betrayed a hint of some emotion. At first, the yellow mare was afraid that she had angered him. But she ultimately recognized his gaze as one of resignation. This colt was clearly used to other ponies taking exception to his eyes.

In spite of what logic told her, Fluttershy felt no fear from the colt's gaze. Perhaps it was because she had once seen the eyes of the true Nightmare Moon and the madness they contained. But she saw nothing of that malice and anger in the colt's gaze, only a placid acceptance of what he clearly considered to be inevitable. Willing her tired legs into motion, Fluttershy forced herself onto her feet and stretched a hoof out towards the colt. As the hoof came towards him, he reacted with breathtaking speed.

Pushing off the ground and spreading his wings, the colt leapt back skipping several pony-lengths back from Fluttershy with such speed that he briefly seemed to be in two places at once. Fluttershy couldn't believe that a pony could be so fast. "Oh!" she squeaked in surprise, "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to startle you like that. Please don't worry. I won't try to hurt you." It had already occurred to Fluttershy that he couldn't hurt this colt if she wanted to (not that she would ever want to).

This seemed to placate the strange pony somewhat, but he remained wary and moved no closer. Lowering her hoof, Fluttershy continued to speak. "Um, can you talk?"

The colt's throat twitched as he hummed and coughed for a few seconds. Finally, he opened his mouth. "Yes." His voice was as soft as Fluttershy's own. It was deeper than she had expected, with a surprisingly resonant clarity that made him easy to understand even as quiet as he was. It also carried a hoarseness that suggested that the mechanisms that facilitated its usage had not been exercised for quite some time.

Before speaking further, Fluttershy took a moment to look at the colt before her more closely. His fur was thick and matted, while his mane and tail were tangled and ragged, indicating that he hadn't been groomed in a long time. Furthermore, his physique was surprisingly muscular, but lean. While the colt clearly wasn't starving, it was obvious to Fluttershy that he was no stranger to missed meals. His weathered hooves lacked shoes of any kind and were dotted with old cracks, while the skin visible through his fur was crossed with healed scratches and other old scars. The only parts of him that were even remotely clean were his wings, which he clearly preened on a regular basis. His feathers were straight and even, devoid of ragged edges that might indicate a lack of care. At least there were two parts of his body that this little pegasus took good care of.

"Can you tell me your name?" asked Fluttershy gently.

"My name is Dawn Lightwing," replied the colt, his voice still a match for Fluttershy's in volume.

A gentle smile spread across Fluttershy's face. "Thank you for saving me, Dawn Lightwing. Without you, I would be..." Fluttershy trailed off, barely able to finish the sentence as she grappled with the reality of what nearly happened to her. To help get her thoughts back in order, she decided to focus on Dawn.

"Why are you here in the forest, all by yourself?" she asked in her most placating voice, before hesitating, "Um, if you don't mind telling me..."

Dawn blinked. Then, to Fluttershy's shock, he averted his gaze, something like shame spreading across his eyes. "Ponies don't like my eyes."

Fluttershy had to fight to keep tears from springing out of her own eyes. Dawn's voice had barely any inflection at all. Perhaps the look in those strange eyes of his was an indicator of a different emotion. Dawn's voice didn't betray an ounce of shame. His tone was flat, as though he were doing nothing more than stating the facts of his existence.

"Um...I don't mind your eyes at all," she said tentatively.

The colt turned his gaze up to meet hers, an unreadable expression in those draconic orbs of his. Fluttershy got the sense that he didn't quite believe her.

"I...uh...I mean I was...surprised when I first saw them. But your eyes aren't all that scary; just...different."

"I know you're not a bad pony, Dawn. You saved my life." Deciding to take a chance, Fluttershy began to move toward him, taking slow, deliberate steps, making sure that he was able to see her every motion. "You don't have to worry about me. I won't try to hurt you."

With each step she took Fluttershy could see the colt's body tensing, as though he were fighting a war against himself. Having seen how quickly he had retreated when she had tried to touch him earlier, Fluttershy reasoned that Dawn's natural instinct was to escape when faced with another pony. But at her urging, he was trying to suppress his natural tendencies, an indicator that her words were having some effect.

"Why don't you come with me?" asked Fluttershy, surprising herself with her own forwardness, "I live outside the forest, in a town called Ponyville. I actually live a little ways outside the town, so you don't have to worry about other ponies too much until you're ready to meet them."

Dawn blinked, betraying something like surprise. "You say that like they won't reject me."

Fluttershy gave him her most encouraging smile. "Even if they try to, I won't let them."

Slowly, she reached out her hoof again. This time, the colt did not shy away. Ever so gently, she brushed her hoof against his cheek, looking deep into his blue-green eyes as she did so. Fluttershy didn't know what she had been expecting to see there; hope perhaps, possibly anxiety or fear. Instead, she saw nothing. It was as though she was gazing into a vast, empty void.

"Please?" she whispered.

Dawn's eyes slowly closed. "No."

Then he was gone, vanishing as though he had never been there in the first place. The tears Fluttershy had been fighting to keep back began to spill out of her eyes. There had been no anger in his rejection, only the same emptiness she had seen in his eyes. It was as though the colt had moved beyond fear or hope, apparently no longer having any reason to put stock into either emotion. As she wept, Fluttershy found herself wondering just how often Dawn had been faced with that rejection he had talked about to reach the point where the thought of it evoked no emotional response from him at all.

It had taken a few moments, but Fluttershy found her way back to the path and then to Ponyville. She had had to fly up past the forest canopy a couple of times to get her bearings, but otherwise had little difficulty in finding her way. It had occurred to the pink-maned pegasus that she could have flown back to her home, but she preferred to walk. And for some reason, she no longer felt concerned about running into any more predators.

She could feel the eyes of another pony on her, following her as she made her way through the forest. When she reached the edge and trotted out into the open space between the Everfree and her home, she turned her eyes back to look where she had come from. She caught the briefest flash of turquoise eyes before they vanished into the darkness of the dense underbrush.

Her lips curling up into a smile, Fluttershy let out a slight giggle. It seemed that while Dawn was wary and watchful of others, at the very least, he was a true gentlecolt. "Thank you for walking me home."

Fluttershy hummed a jaunty tune as she followed the road into Ponyville proper. In spite of her harrowing experience the previous day, she was feeling quite relaxed. She had felt Dawn's eyes following her when she stepped out of the house to take care of her chores and attend to her chickens. It seemed that, for all his trepidation, Dawn was at least committed to remaining in her vicinity for a little while longer. He never approached and whenever Fluttershy turned her eyes in the direction of the forest's edge, she caught sight of brief tremors in the vegetation that suggested that the colt had ducked down to avoid being seen.

"Good morning, Miss Fluttershy. You seem awfully happy today." A startled squeak erupted from the yellow pegasus. She had been so caught up in her own thoughts that she hadn't seen the tan stallion approach her. Seeing her jump like that, he packed away. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to startle you."

Regaining her composure, Fluttershy turned to face him. "It's alright Caramel. I was distracted and you just startled me a little."

Caramel was one of the few ponies and even fewer stallions outside of Fluttershy's close circle of friends that she felt at ease with. While he could be clumsy and easily confused, he was gentle, polite and reliable when it counted. He was, in fact, a distant relative of Applejack's, although the tenuous ties that could be called upon to justify family relation for the Apples were hard to follow. Fluttershy had asked once, but had lost track somewhere around "father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate..."

Caramel fell into step beside her as they made their way into the market. "How are things at the shop?" Fluttershy asked.

"Going well," answered the stallion, "Bon Bon's been a little on edge lately. She doesn't talk about it much, but I think it has something to do with one of Lyra's concerts conflicting with their upcoming anniversary."

"Oh dear," exclaimed Fluttershy (or at least it was as close to an exclamation as she ever got), "They aren't fighting are they?"

The stallion shook his head, relieving her worries a little. Caramel worked for Bon Bon at her sweet shop, although the two of them were closer to business partners than employer and employee, where he showed the hint of his Apple lineage, however tenuous, with his confections; caramel apples; chocolate-covered strawberries, cherries, blueberries; and a host of other candy and fruit combinations.

"Oh, I'm glad," said Fluttershy.

The two ponies moved among the market stalls, scrutinizing produce and making their purchases. Caramel engaged in idle banter with several stallholders while Fluttershy perused their offerings. Caramel made no remark on it, but he noticed that Fluttershy was buying a fair bit more than she needed to feed herself and her animals.

Of particular note that day was the absence of the Apple family's celebrated apple stall. With Zap Apple season in full swing, the entire family was swept up in preparations for the brief window afforded to harvest the magical fruits and cook them into jam afterwards. And speaking of those preparations...

Caramel and Fluttershy made their way towards the beekeeper, Caramel needing honey for some of his confections. As they approached, they noticed that the bees were unusually active and clustered around a small filly, who was cheerfully talking to the hundreds of buzzing insects that hung from her chin like a bizarre parody of a beard.

"Good morning, Apple Bloom," said Fluttershy as she and Caramel approached, "Are you getting honey for the zap apple jam?"

The filly grinned a she turned to regard the two older ponies. "Ah sure am, Miss Fluttershy. Granny told me that Ah need to start learnin' to do this stuff for mahself. Someday, Ah'll be able to make that jam without any help."

"That's too bad," came the smug and arrogant voice of another filly, "Then I guess you'll grow up to be just as much of a kooky embarrassment as your granny."

Apple Bloom, Fluttershy and Caramel looked over to see a pink earth pony filly wearing a glittering tiara smiling condescendingly at Apple Bloom. Applejack's little sister narrowed her eyes as she glared right back.

"Ah guess ya didn't learn yer lesson last year," she said, her glare turning into a smirk that promised mischief, "Don't ferget, that precious fortune 'o yers only exists because of mah family; or do ya need another round of singin' to the waterin' cans to jog yer memory?"

Diamond Tiara's cheeks flushed bright red before she turned her nose up and away from Apple Bloom. "Hmph. At least my family has some class. Nothing changes the fact that all your little zap apple rituals are a load of rubbish that is absolutely beneath civilized ponies."

Fluttershy opened her mouth, intending to give the arrogant filly a thorough scolding, but was stopped by an outstretched hoof from Apple Bloom, who merely grinned. "It's okay Miss Fluttershy. Granny Smith taught me a little trick for dealin' with neighsayers like her." her eyes dropped down to the mass of bees still clinging to her chin. "Go get her girls."

A cloud of bees lifted off from the yellow filly and rushed towards Diamond Tiara, who let out a scream and tore off as fast as her legs could carry her, the swarm hot on her tail.

"Apple Bloom, I know what she said wasn't nice, but that was uncalled for," admonished Fluttershy, "That poor filly could get badly hurt."

"Don't worry, Miss Fluttershy," answered Apple Boom with a cheeky grin, "They won't sting her. They're just gonna buzz around her a bit."

"That's one way to get an obnoxious pony to buzz off," observed Caramel. A few seconds later, he shrank back as Fluttershy and Apple Bloom turned to stare at him, their gazes conveying a stern reprimand. "Sorry."

After getting what he had come for, Caramel and Fluttershy bid a happy farewell to Apple Bloom and continued on their way. Being the gentlecolt that he was, Caramel offered to carry Fluttershy's bags for her as they made their way towards her cottage. Fluttershy appreciated the gesture, knowing just how far out of his way Caramel was going for her sake.

As they left the marketplace behind, the number of ponies out on the street began to thin out. By the time they were halfway, they were the only two ponies in the immediate area, or so they thought.

Fluttershy was giggling at one of Caramel's funnier anecdotes, one involving the Cutie Mark Crusaders, a pound of sugar and a load of tree sap, when a voice calling out from above made her cringe and duck.

"Hey baby, what're you doing with that ground pounder when you could be spending time with a real pony?"

A neon green pegasus with an eye-smartingly bright yellow mane swooped down from above to land on the road in front of them. His ice blue eyes barely acknowledged Caramel's presence before he returned to giving the yellow mare a downright lascivious stare along with a grin that was almost predatory.

A frightened squeak escaped Fluttershy and she sank back to duck behind Caramel slightly. The tan earth pony glared daggers at the intruder. "What do you want, Flash Spark?"

"I wasn't talking to you, dirt-eater," snarked Flash, giving Caramel a condescending look that put Diamond Tiara's earlier display to shame, "I know you like to pretend that you're worth something. But do us a favor and scram. Fluttershy doesn't need you now that she has a real stallion to walk her home."

"Um...but..." Fluttershy squeaked from behind Caramel, "I'd really rather...um...that is to say...I'd like to stay with Caramel right now...if you don't mind to much."

Flash Spark licked his lips and grinned as he began advancing in smooth strides towards the mare, completely ignoring Caramel's presence. "But I'm afraid I do mind...very much. So let me get rid of the pack mule and you can enjoy some extra time with yours truly."

"That's time you don't have, Spark," snapped a new voice from above. All three ponies looked up to see a sky-blue pegasus mare hovering over them, her rose-colored eyes directing an angry glare down at Flash Spark, who had the sense to look a little nervous at her arrival. "If I recall, you have some clouds to bust up over the reservoir. Seeing as I still spy some clouds over there, I'm guessing that you haven't finished the job yet. You'd better get on that or I'm gonna have to dock your pay."

Flash Spark rolled his eyes, muttering, "I'm surprised you woke up long enough to notice."

"Got something to say Spark?" snapped Rainbow Dash brushing a few strands of her namesake mane out of her eyes, "'Cause you'd better speak up if that's the case."

"Nothing," replied Flash Spark with gratifying speed, Rainbow's arrival having clearly punched a sizable hole in his ego. Deflated and defeated, he lifted off and began flying in the direction of his work area, giving Caramel and Fluttershy one last look before clearing off completely.

Rainbow glared at Flash Spark for a few extra seconds before turning around and descending to the ground. "You okay?" she asked Fluttershy as the quiet pegasus stepped out from behind Caramel.

Fluttershy slowly nodded. "Thank you so much, Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow smiled gently and patted her oldest friend on her head. "Don't worry about it. I'm gonna have a talk with that jerk and set him straight. This is the last time he gets away with harassing you like that."

"Oh please don't," protested Fluttershy, "I don't want to cause any trouble."

"You aren't the cause," Caramel pointed out in an angry tone.

Rainbow Dash favored the stallion with a nod. "He's right. Even if it wasn't you, I'd bet my wings that Flash Spark would be causing this trouble for some other mare. I'm gonna put a stop to it." She turned her head to meet Caramel's eyes. "Get her home safe, okay."

The tan stallion said nothing, but nodded resolutely at her words. Rainbow Dash gave him one last smile before shooting into the air and turning to follow Flash Spark, leaving a shimmering, rainbow contrail in her wake. Once she was gone, Fluttershy let out a breath and sagged against Caramel's side, causing the stallion to blush.

"Come on, Miss Fluttershy, let's get you home." The two of them continued their trip, Fluttershy still leaning against Caramel for support while the stallion fought to keep an ecstatic grin from spreading across his face.

Flash Spark let out an angry growl as he bucked a cloud hanging over Ponyville's reservoir, imagining that it was Rainbow Dash's face. He despised the mare with a passion, and not merely because he worked for her. Back when he had first signed on with the Ponyville Weather Bureau, Flash had been excited to find out that his boss was a mare and a real looker at that. Rainbow Dash was attractive, talented, boisterous and tough as nails. But Flash Spark had been certain that under that tough exterior was a fragile mare, just waiting for the right stallion to break her in. Flash Spark had aimed to be that stallion.

Oh she puts up a tough front, he had thought, But I bet I can have her on her back, screaming my name in ten seconds flat.

And so Flash Spark had tried his luck, cornering her alone one dark night. He was ready to give her a taste of a real stallion, having been prepping his inner timer to see how long it was before she broke down.

He hadn't even gotten to one. Before he could even blink, Flash Spark had found himself lying on his stomach, pinned, while Rainbow Dash stood on top of him, bending his wings to the point where a few more degrees of shift would pop them right out of their sockets, making tears stream down his face.

"Remember this, pal," she had whispered into his ear, "You ever try that with me again and I will rip your wings clean off. You got that?" she hadn't waited for his answer before disappearing faster than he could see.

From that moment onward, Rainbow Dash had made sure that Flash Spark's life was hell. She gave him heavy jobs and forced him to do degrading work. The stallion didn't dare argue, knowing full well that if he tried, she would take him apart.

Flash Spark was so distracted by his reverie that he didn't notice the scream of a pegasus approaching at near super-sonic speeds. He was caught completely off guard when Rainbow Dash's hooves slammed into his side and sent him flying through several of the clouds he was supposed to be bucking out the sky, the resulting impact utterly obliterating them. Scrambling, Flash flapped his wings in a desperate attempt to regain some control, managing to right himself and avoid slamming into the ground on the reservoir's shore. Touching down, Flash looked around, trying to spy the pegasus that had nearly killed him, only to come face to face with a furious Rainbow Dash as she glared at him. Behind her, the entirety of the clouds that had been floating over the artificial lake had been blasted into wisps by the shockwave of her passing.

In a single instant, Rainbow Dash had done what would have taken Flash Spark the rest of the afternoon. It was an impressive display, one that severely cowed the normally misogynistic pegasus without a word.

"Listen carefully pal," she said, her words seething with raw fury, "Don't you even think about laying a hoof on Fluttershy from now on. If you ever try anything with her, I will geld you. Got that?"

The terrified stallion could only nod rapidly, shaking at the thought of losing the only things that mattered more than his wings.

His fear only seemed to increase her contempt for him. "You're a creep, Spark. If it weren't for the fact that you can actually do your job, I would have bounced you out of the team and out of the town. You'd better not forget that. But if you try that manure with Fluttershy, or any other mare for that matter, I will forget that you're actually useful."

With that, she blasted back into the air, the shockwave of her departure knocking Flash Spark head over hooves and leaving him lying their on the shore, dispirited and defeated.

Having finished her dinner and feeding her animals, Fluttershy trotted out of her cottage and straight over to the edge of the forest. She didn't know for sure that the colt was still there, but though she could feel his eyes watching her. In her mouth, she carried a basket of mixed berries, which she set down right at the forest's edge. With a smile, she turned to her closest companion, Angel Bunny.

"Now Angel, these berries are gifts for a friend. He lives in the forest, so he doesn't get to eat food like this very often. I want you to look after the food and make sure that none of the other animals try to take it. I've saved one of Carrot Top's carrots for you. Will you do that?"

The rabbit saluted eagerly before positioning himself in front of the basket, wary eyes scanning the area for any attempt to steal its contents. Fluttershy giggled at her pet's devotion and turned back to the house to get ready for the evening. When she returned a few minutes later, she found Angel standing with the basket, now empty.

"Did he come, Angel?"

The rabbit nodded. "Thank you. Now let's go inside and get to bed."

Fluttershy turned around and led her pet back into their home, conscious of the turquoise eyes that continued to follow her.

Furious Wings

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Chapter 2: Furious Wings

It had been like this for three days now. Fluttershy would leave baskets of varying kinds of fruit and whatever other treats her friend might appreciate at the edge of the forest, asking one of her animals to stand guard until he took them. The colt would still not leave the forest edge while she was watching. And when Dawn came to take the food, he finished and was gone so quickly that Fluttershy never got a chance to speak with him. She was beginning to wonder if she could ever coax him out of his seclusion.

She realized that in a sense, her role had been reversed from what it had been before. Around the ponies of Ponyville, Fluttershy had always been known, and was still known in fact, as a reclusively shy pony, terrified of even minor surprises. Her friends were constantly working with her in attempts to coax her out of her shell and to get Fluttershy to experience things outside of her comfort-zone. And now, here she was, trying her hardest to convince a young colt that there was no harm in coming to spend time with other ponies.

Of course, she suspected that their respective reasons for their shyness lay at opposite extremes. Fluttershy was frightened at the prospect of the unknown and the unfamiliar. She dreaded things that she didn't have any experience with, including ponies she hadn't met yet. But suspected that the colt had the opposite problem. Given their ever-so-brief conversation in the Everfree, Fluttershy suspected that he had experienced a little too much of the outside world and was determined to keep himself away from those things. It was fairly clear that he saw Fluttershy's kindness as setting himself up for some kind of grand disappointment.

And yet, he stayed. Even when she couldn't see him, Fluttershy could feel Dawn's eyes following her from their place of concealment. Any other pony might have felt a bit nervous at the prospect of being watched like that, but Fluttershy held out hope that if he continued to watch her, Dawn might one day take the chance to come out of his hiding place. In fact, she now spent her time dreading the idea that his watchful gaze might slip away and leave her alone.

"Hey Fluttershy!"

The timid, yellow pegasus let out a startled squeak as Rainbow Dash's voice sounded out from above. Looking up, she spied her friend standing on top of an unusually large cloud. Given that a clear day had been scheduled, she expected that all the small clouds that drifted in from the Everfree, as well as the leftovers from their most recent rainstorm, would have been dispersed by now. But instead, her friend had apparently gathered up all the clouds in an area and hoarded them together. This wasn't how Rainbow Dash usually cleared the skies.

"Oh hello, Rainbow. That's a big cloud you have. Are you planning some kind of prank?"

The blue pegasus shook her head. "Nope. There've been some...problems at the Weather Factory at Cloudsdale. I just got told that our next shipment of storm clouds is gonna be behind schedule. It's no big deal, but to be on the safe side I've started up some water-conservation measures. I'm having everypony on the weather team gather up their clouds instead of breaking them up and bring them to a holding area. We need to be ready in case of a drought."

"Oh dear, that would be terrible," agreed Fluttershy as she looked around. She could indeed spy several other pegasi at work throughout Ponyville's skies, rolling clouds together and pushing them towards a single point. "I hope that everything works out okay."

Rainbow let out a small sigh. "Yeah, it's no big deal, I'm sure. But I'd like to play it safe."

That made Fluttershy blink. That was uncharacteristically cautious of her rainbow-maned friend, even where Rainbow's job as Weather Manager was concerned. Oh well, I'm sure it's nothing.

"Anyway, I've been meaning to ask you about something," continued Rainbow Dash, "You've been buying a lot more stuff at the market than you usually do. Is everything okay?"

Fluttershy nodded, trying her hardest to keep a blush from rising to her cheeks. She didn't want to find out what kind of assumptions that Rainbow Dash might make if she found out what Fluttershy had really been up to. "Oh yes, everything is going swimmingly."

"You sure?" Rainbow sounded suitably skeptical. "Angel isn't bullying you again, is he?"

Fluttershy shook her head vigorously. "Oh no! Everything is fine, really. And Angel's been, well...an angel."

"Well okay then," said Rainbow Dash, still looking a little dubious, "By the way, has Flash Spark been giving you any more trouble."

Again, Fluttershy shook her head, relaxing a little now that she could give a full truth at some point in this conversation. "No, he hasn't. In fact, I haven't even seen him since the other day."

"Well that's good," muttered Rainbow darkly, "If he tries anything, you come to me as fast as you can, got it?"

Fluttershy gave her friend an agreeable nod and proceeded on her way.

Flash Spark let out an angry growl as he strained against the mass of clouds he was pushing towards the gathering point. He was more than a little angry at this unusual assignment. Gathering clouds together and then herding them around was a lot more work than simply bucking them out of existence. He couldn't understand what had gotten Rainbow Dash so concerned that she felt the need to save all the clouds they could find, rather than simply get rid of them. So the next storm was a little late, it wasn't like they couldn't make up by making it extra big like they had done before.

Herding clouds like this was the worst job. Pushing them together meant condensing all that moisture, which meant one wrong move could trigger a rainstorm, which was not what Rainbow wanted since the whole point of the exercise was to conserve water. Because of that, they couldn't be merged together too completely. But that meant that if you pushed too hard, a few clouds might break off from the mass, or worse, the entire thing might fall apart. Most pegasi, even Rainbow Dash herself, compensated by not trying to push too many clouds together at once and making multiple trips to their areas. However, Flash Spark wanted to get this irritating job over with. So he had found every cloud in his zone and grouped them all together before pushing them towards the holding area.

Unfortunately, this meant that it was slow going. If Flash tried to push too hard, the entire mass could come apart, or he might accidentally cause it to rain, which would make a number of ponies unhappy with him. At this concentration, there was even a chance that he might accidentally knock out a lightning bolt with an ill-placed hoof.

Pausing for a moment, Flash Sparked stopped his push in order to take a breather. Looking around, he spotted Rainbow Dash on one of her clouds, chatting with a friend down bellow. Typical, she works me like a mule, but she can drop whatever she's doing for some chitchat. A low growl escaped the stallion as he watched. He was too far away to hear any of their conversation, but he could see that the pony Rainbow was talking to was that fine piece of flank he had been trying to hook up with the other day.

Originally, Flash Spark hadn't been very interested in the shy, pink-maned pegasus, too preoccupied to spare a thought for a pony too shy to do anything but quiver behind her mane. But then there was that modeling business with Photo Finish. Fluttershy had become a household name throughout Ponyville. And once she had been coaxed out of her shell, Flash Spark had to admit that she was gorgeous. But then, Fluttershy had quit almost as quickly as she started, crawling back into her shell like nothing had happened. Ponyville had quickly forgotten their all-too-brief star and resumed their regular lives.

Flash Spark, however, was still interested. Getting a model, even a former one, as his mare would be a pretty big gain for him. It would also make up for Rainbow Dash's rough rejection of his advances. Flash had planned to try his usual trick (meaning the trick that he had tried exactly once before), but cornering the shy recluse alone was proving more difficult than he had anticipated. When Fluttershy was out and about, it was usually with her friends, or in open spaces, surrounded by witnesses. And when she wasn't with her friends, or within sight of some other pony for that matter, she was locked inside that cottage by the Everfree Forest, which would have made it perfect for Flash's purposes, excepting that it was infested with animals.

To make matters worse, just when Flash Spark had been sure that his time had finally come, he had been found out by none other than Rainbow Dash. It had been the perfect opportunity. An area of town light on witnesses, Fluttershy, trotting along with an earth pony known for being a total loser; it was simply too good an opportunity to pass up. Nopony who mattered would have been there...except for Rainbow Dash, as it turned out. And now that she knew that Flash Spark had been aiming for Fluttershy, she was watching him even more closely. And her threat the other day made it perfectly clear that she wasn't fooling around either.

She was even angrier that I was going after Fluttershy than when I was going after her... Flash Spark's mental voice crawled to a halt as the realization hit him. So if I get Fluttershy, I'll have her and give Rainbow Dash some long-overdue payback at the same time. It's taking out two clouds with one buck!

A malicious grin on his face, Flash Spark got back to the task at hoof. It wouldn't do for Rainbow to realize that something was up after all. Now he wanted to get this job over with even faster. He had plans to make.

"Hey, come on in Fluttershy," said Spike as he opened the door to the Ponyville library and ushered her in, "What brings you here today?"

"Oh, um...I was wondering if...that is...if it's alright with you...if I could ask Twilight Sparkle about something, um...if you don't mind too much."

The little purple dragon listened patiently as Fluttershy stammered out her request. When she finished, Spike grinned at her. "Sure thing." To the stairs leading up to the room he shared with his caretaker, he shouted, "Twilight! Fluttershy has something she needs to ask you about."

The two heard a muffled exclamation from above, followed by the sound of somepony tripping. Several crashes came next, like stacks of books falling. For a moment, there was silence and then a groan as Twilight finally hauled herself over to the edge of the balcony overlooking the rest of the library. She directed a sullen glare down at Spike, who was looking just a little too pleased with his handiwork.

"How many times have I told you not to startle me like that," she growled.

"Heh, sorry Twilight," replied Spike, using a clawed hand to stifle a snicker before it came out of his mouth. Moments like this were his little bit of revenge. Twilight took down entire piles of books at once when she was in one of her study moods. Sometimes, she didn't even end up using all of them. But when she was done, she let them lay there and clearly expected her Number One Assistant to pick them up for her. And she often got angry when she found that he hadn't. And when Spike did, it was usually just in time for Twilight Sparkle to come storming in for another session, ripping a new pile of books off the shelves, sometimes the very ones Spike had just replaced.

"Oh, I'm really sorry about that," said Fluttershy, looking down demurely, completely unaware of the dynamic between the unicorn and her assistant, "I just had something to ask you about."

"Um sure," said Twilight, her previous frustration forgotten as she made her way down the stairs to meet her friend, "What's the problem, Fluttershy? Has one of your animals come down with a strange illness again?"

"Um, no," answered Fluttershy, scuffing a hoof on the floor, "Actually, I wanted to ask something about...Nightmare Moon."

Both the librarian and her assistant paused and stared at their friend. "Nightmare Moon...um, do you mean Princess Luna?"

Fluttershy shook her head. "No! I mean Nightmare Moon!...Well, that is to say...um...Princess Luna when she was Nightmare Moon."

"Ooooookay." Twilight drew the word out. "What do you want to know?"

"Um, I was wondering if you had any idea about, when Princess Luna was Nightmare Moon, why her eyes were the way they were?"

Twilight Sparkle blinked in surprise. Of all the tangents she had expected, this was the most unusual. "You mean, how they were kind of blueish-colored and looked a little like Spike's?" she asked, indicating the little dragon, whose own emerald-green eyes sported vertical slit-pupils.

With a squeak, Fluttershy nodded.

Forgetting completely about the oddity of the question and the pony asking it, Twilight Sparkle settled onto her haunches and began thinking. "Well, let's see... A lot of stories assume that Luna's transformation into Nightmare Moon, not just her eyes mind you, but the whole change in her form, was the result of her meddling in forbidden magic in order to bring about eternal night. Some historians even think that the change in her eyes might have been an indication of some kind of possession by an unknown force. There wasn't a lot of substance behind those theories until after we used the Elements of Harmony to purify her, which did indeed seem to indicate that Luna was not herself when she was acting as Nightmare Moon. As for the specific changes to the physical characteristics of her eyes, Aristrotle speculated..."

Both Fluttershy and Spike completely lost track of the lavender unicorn's discourse as she listed off theories, the reasoning behind the experts who proposed those theories and the experts who disagreed with those theories, what books the discussions were listed in and annotations to the works used to support those works and so on.

By the time Twilight finished, the day had advanced considerably. Spike was nodding off where he stood while Fluttershy was dizzy from the bombardment of information.

"... And that's it in a nutshell," finished Twilight, "I had to condense and generalize a little, but that's the basic gist of the answer. There have been a lot of theories about what happened and nopony knows for sure what the answer is. Princess Luna herself might know, but nopony has ever thought of asking her."

Oh I bet they have, thought Fluttershy wryly. "Actually, I was getting at a different question," she said, "I was wondering, have you ever heard of anypony who had eyes like Nightmare Moon, but wasn't...you know, Nightmare Moon?"

Twilight Sparkle blinked and stared at her friend. "The Eyes of Nightmare? Why would you want to know about that old-mare's tale?"

"The Eyes...of Nightmare?"

Twilight nodded vigorously in answer. Turning around, she began casting her gaze over the bookshelves, apparently looking for some specific tome while she talked. "Since you were talking about ordinary ponies having eyes like Nightmare Moon, that's what I thought you were talking about." She turned around and gave the yellow pegasus a dubious look. "That is what you were talking about, right?"

"Oh um...sure, I guess. Is that what they are?"

Twilight Sparkle stared for a moment, evidently confused. "Wait, so you've never heard of the Eyes of Nightmare before now?"

Fluttershy slowly shook her head. "Oh, um...I don't think so."

"Ooookay." Again she drew the word out as she resumed her search. After a moment, Twilight let out an excited "Aha!" and pulled a heavy old volume from the shelf, levitating it towards the table in the center of the space. The book landed on the table with a booming thud, startling Spike out of his dazed slumber.

"Huh whazzat!" he slurred.

Ignoring her assistant, Twilight flipped the book open, her magic turning through the pages at blinding speed. "Here it is!" she shouted, jabbing a hoof at the page before her.

Fluttershy came to look for herself. Hovering over the beginning to fine text was an illustration of two slit-pupil eyes glaring out from the page and straight at her. Forgetting briefly that it was just a picture, Fluttershy let out a frightened squeal and fell back.

Ignoring her friend's outburst, Twilight had already started reading. "According to legend, the Eyes of Nightmare are a symptom of demonic possession by evil spirits in the service of Nightmare Moon. It's said that the spirits inhabit the bodies of stillborn foals at the moment of their birth to make it look like they were born alive. These foals are then raised as regular ponies, completely indistinguishable from normal ponies until they reveal their true nature in order to do Nightmare Moon's wicked work."

Fluttershy said nothing for a moment. "So they look like normal ponies most of the time?"

"That's right. According to this, a possessed pony's eyes look completely normal until he or she has to perform some specific deed for the sake of Nightmare Moon. Then he or she will show their true nature and their eyes will transform into the same kind that Nightmare Moon had. After the deed is done, their eyes are supposed to revert back to normal so they can stay in hiding."

"Hmm..." Something was off about that explanation in Fluttershy's mind. Something sounded distinctly off about that explanation. Then she realized that, from the moment she had met him, she had never seen Dawn's eyes as anything but greenish-blue with those pupils. Even those flashes she had seen whenever she looked for him had been the same color and shape.

Ignoring the yellow pegasus's reverie, Twilight Sparkle was reading ahead feverishly. "The author goes on this tract about their habits and abilities. He's even written out a full classification system for the kind of demon responsible for the possession based on certain cosmetic traits and features. It's a whole load of horseapples if you ask me."

Her eyes wide, Fluttershy slapped a hoof over her mouth, shocked by Twilight's use of a casual swear. "Is it really that bad?"

Twilight turned to look up at her and nodded. "Yeah. This whole thing is rooted in superstitious speculation. A lot of it is the product of the Cult Solar and other related groups. They advised killing anypony that might even be suspected to have been possessed, even if there was no solid evidence, which there never would be, because the Eyes never existed to begin with."

"Um...how can you be sure?" asked Fluttershy, beginning to feel a little nervous.

"Well, Princess Celestia herself put a stop to the Cult Solar and confiscated most of their works. This volume isn't one of theirs, but it does reference their writings. I only have this because I have express permission as the Princess's personal student. I've heard that some branches of the cult remain active in rural communities and in secret enclaves in more urban areas. But they should be widely discredited."

"Oh." Fluttershy wished she knew all the things Twilight Sparkle had been referring to, but didn't want to ask, afraid of getting yet another long-winded lecture.

"Anyway, was there anything else you wanted to know?"

"Well..." Fluttershy looked around nervously, "No, not really."

The lavender unicorn raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

"I think I do have something I'm not sure about," said Fluttershy, "But I'm not quite sure what it is yet."

"Well, feel free to come back whenever you figure out what that question is," said Twilight amicably. Closing the book, she turned around and trotted towards the stairs to resume her studies in her room. Grumbling, Spike went over to pick up the book Twilight had left sitting on the library table.

He turned to look at Fluttershy, a concerned look on his face. "Is everything okay, Fluttershy?"

The shy mare gave him an encouraging smile. "Yes, everything's fine." Turning around, Fluttershy left the library a little more quickly than she came in.

Shrugging to himself, Spike turned around to look for a ladder.

Flash Spark smacked the glass down on the bar. He was enjoying a nice buzz after a hard day's work, which would hopefully be the prelude to a hot night's activities. Most ponies would assert that a state of inebriation would not be an effective time to plan. But Flash Spark didn't listen to most ponies.

He had seen Fluttershy head into the library a while ago. Having observed her often enough, Flash knew that it could be several hours before she came back out. If he was lucky, night would be falling and it would be even easier to get her alone and make her his.

In a more sober state, Flash might have been worried about being discovered anyway, but he wasn't overly worried. Even if Fluttershy proved to be a screamer, he was willing to bet nopony would be able to hear it anyway.

Chuckling, the green stallion tossed a hooffull of bits onto the bar and headed out the door.

Fluttershy found herself with more questions than answers as she made her way home. On one hoof, she now knew what Dawn had been talking about when he mentioned ponies not liking his eyes. But on the other, she couldn't imagine him as some kind of demon. The little colt had saved her life after all. She wondered if there was some other explanation behind the Eyes of Nightmare that was responsible for his eyes looking the way they did.

"Hello Miss Fluttershy, heading home?" Caramel's unexpected voice once again startled Fluttershy and he had to spend a few seconds calming her down after talking to her while she was distracted.

"Oh, yes," she replied, blushing that she had been surprised by him again.

"Do you mind if I join you?" asked Caramel, a note of concern in his voice.

Fluttershy mentally noted that she had been seeing more of him after their close call with Flash Spark. He frequently appeared while she was wandering the market and had walked her home every night since then, even though it was substantially far out of his way. Fluttershy had to admit that she was growing quite fond of the tan stallion's company.

"Are you alright, Miss Fluttershy?" he asked tentatively, "You seem to be distracted a lot lately."

Blushing, Fluttershy looked down. "Oh, I'm fine. It's nothing important."

"Are you sure?" he asked gently.

"it's not that anything's wrong," explained Fluttershy softly as she struggled the right words to describe her situation without giving too much of the actual problem away, "It's just that...I've met somepony."

"Oh." Caramel's head drooped a little. He dreaded what the answer might be, but found himself asking anyway. "Is he somepony special?"

"Oh no!" replied Fluttershy quickly, "He's much too young for that. He's actually a colt."

Caramel blinked and tilted his head. "A colt?"

"Yes. He's been living by himself for a long time. So I've been trying to convince him to stay with me. But he's had some difficulties with trusting other ponies."

"I...see..." said Caramel, a little confused by the vague answer. But still, it was more than he had been expecting.

"I'm sorry I can't tell you more," said Fluttershy, "It's just that I don't know his situation very well and I don't want to break his trust or violate his privacy. So for now, I've been trying to help him get used to being around me more."

"Oh, is that how you felt babe? I knew you were playing hard to get."

Both ponies jumped at the familiar voice. Before they could react in any other fashion, something impacted with the back of Caramel's head with a crack. The tan earth pony toppled to the ground while a familiar neon-green pegasus landed in front of Fluttershy.

"I've been looking for a chance to get you all to myself," he sneered, the look in his eyes reminding Fluttershy of the timberwolves that had nearly killed her the other day. "I've been looking at you for a while and I have to say that you look good enough to eat."

"Please don't," whispered Fluttershy, backing away from him frantically, "I'm sorry, but I don't feel that way towards you."

"Aww, that's what they all say," growled Flash Spark, "But they start saying different things before I'm done with them. You will too, I promise. Why don't you just sit back and enjoy it. I promise I'll make you feel good."

Fluttershy continued to retreat from the pegasus stallion as he advanced. Unfortunately, she misstepped and stepped on her own tail, taking out her balance and causing her to topple over backwards with a barely audible shriek.

Before she could recover, Flash Spark was on top of her, his hooves pinning her forelegs to the ground. Slowly, deliberately, the stallion lowered his head towards her, grinning evilly. Fluttershy shivered and grimaced as his hot breath, stinking of cheap booze, washed over her face. "Let's get started."

A tan blur slammed into Flash's side, knocking him off of Fluttershy. Panting Caramel stood over the prone green pegasus. "Fluttershy! Run!"

Not needing any further encouragement, Fluttershy picked herself up off the ground and galloped as fast as she could in the direction of her house.

Caramel turned to look back at his opponent, only to find that Flash Spark was no longer there. Looking around frantically, he spied a green blur just as the pegasus stallion slammed his front hooves into Caramel's barrel. Biting back a yelp of pain, Caramel spun about in an attempt to try and intercept Flash Spark's next attack, but he was already gone. Then Flash's rear hooves came down on top of Caramel's skull, driving his chin straight into the ground. Flash Spark touched down lightly in front of Caramel, grinning savagely.

"You should learn your place. This is where you belong, eating dirt with the rest of your kind. Now, if you don't mind, I'll be going to help myself to some sweet pegasus flank."

Still grinning, Flash Spark turned and took a few steps in preparation for getting airborne. However, he stopped with a yelp as something yanked on his tail, holding him in place. Turning around, Flash's eyes widened in shock when he saw Caramel laying there, holding Flash's tail clenched in his teeth.

"You little piece of manure!" snapped Flash Spark, enraged. He pushed off the ground with his back legs, heedless of the pain this caused him as Caramel's head was dragged off the ground and into the air. Flash snapped his back legs out, his hooves colliding with Caramel's head. Blood splattered around, but still Caramel clung grimly to his prize.

I need to hold on. Even if it's only for one second more, it's another second Fluttershy has to get away.

Snarling, Flash Spark repeated the process. "Get...off...you...little...mule!" he snarled, punctuating each word with a kick. Finally, Caramel went limp, his jaws releasing Flash's tail. The earth pony sank bonelessly to the ground, out cold.

"Finally," snapped Flash, turning around to give Caramel a kick in the ribs for good measure. He spat on Caramel before taking to the air in pursuit of Fluttershy.

Fluttershy's breath came in gasps as she rushed along the road. Once again, her wings were too cramped with fear to aid in her flight. Instead, she merely ran as fast as her legs could carry her, fighting hard against the feeling that she had done this before all too recently. In some ways, it was worse than last time. Timberwolves weren't evil, they were merely hungry predators that ate other animals for food. Fluttershy had learned that there was nothing inherently evil in that a long time ago. But for another pony to send her running like this...

Fluttershy lost her train of thought as she came over a hill and saw her cottage a short distance away. Just a little farther and I'll be safe, she thought. Unfortunately, that was when she was tackled from behind, the force of the impact throwing her off the path and onto the grass. Once again, her hooves were pinned to the ground, this time from behind as the stallion on top of her pressed his entire weight down on her.

"Now then," he hissed straight into her ear, making a shiver run through Fluttershy's body, "Let's have some fun."

A Little Bird's Nest

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Chapter 3: A Little Bird's Nest

Caramel's head was pounding. He hurt everywhere, but his head especially. For a little bit, he was sure that Flash Spark had broken his jaw, or cracked his skull open. Even as he slowly regained consciousness, he wasn't all that certain that something somewhere wasn't broken. But even more than the pain that throbbed through his skull, he felt fear. How long had he been out? Had Fluttershy gotten away? He needed to do something.

Come on, he thought, willing strength into his legs, Get up! Slowly, he managed to get his hooves underneath him. Little by little, Caramel forced himself into a standing position. His vision was blurred and every sway from his unsteady posture left him ready to topple right back over. There's nothing I can do like this, he realized grimly, I can't save Fluttershy myself. What I need to do is get...

His unsteady gaze came to rest on a cloud house that, while not terribly far away, was practically miles in his current condition. He couldn't afford to take his time either. ...help.

"Ohmygoshomygoshomygoshohmygosh!" Rainbow Dash repeated the mantra over and over again. Normally, it was her way of coping with excitement too intense for words. Well, that did describe this situation in a sense. But the primary reason Rainbow hadn't stopped repeating the phrase was that if she did, then the reality of what had almost happened to her might send her crashing out of the sky.

She didn't stop until she reached her cloud home, hovering over Ponyville in all its columned, rainbow-clad glory. She slammed the door shut and locked it tight before rushing up the stairs inside to her room, shutting and latching that door as well. Only then, when she was absolutely certain of her isolation, did Rainbow Dash sink to the floor, shaking like a leaf.

That...that creep...that filthy mule...he actually tried to... Rainbow's mind nearly shut down at the mere thought of it. Of course, when Flash Spark had actually tried to make his move, her training had kicked in. The arrogant stallion had proved to be a total pushover whom she had demolished in less than a second.

But that didn't make the near miss any less frightening. Rainbow Dash shuddered to think what might have happened had she not been a black-belt in Steel-Hoof style martial arts. Even if she had technically mastered the style to a sufficient degree to be granted her rank, this had marked the first time she had actually applied it to a real-world situation.

A choked sob escaped the mare. She had to be strong. There was no way she could allow anypony else, Flash Spark least of all, to see how frightened she was at what had almost happened. Even the idea of going to the town guard was more than she could handle. It would be like admitting that Flash Spark had gotten to her.

No, she wouldn't get him arrested. She wouldn't even fire him. Rainbow Dash would let Flash Spark keep his job, and in doing so, let him know exactly how completely his life was held in her hooves. And she would watch him constantly. There was no way she would let that monster of a pony out of her sight, where he could try the same thing on a mare that couldn't defend herself.

Rainbow Dash closed the latest Daring Do novel and set it on her nightstand with a yawn. She made a mental note to thank Twilight Sparkle for putting the book on hold for her the moment it had come out. Reaching over, Rainbow turned out the lamp by her bed and settled down to sleep glad to put her worries about the problems of Cloudsdale out of her mind for the time being.

"...bow Dash!"

Rainbow's eyes opened. She could have sworn she heard somepony calling her name. Naw, that's crazy. Who would be looking for me at this time of night?

"Rainbow Dash!"

She hadn't been imagining it. Somepony really was interrupting her sleep. Grumbling angrily, she climbed out of bed and stomped over to the window. Throwing it open, she pushed her head out and looked down, getting ready to give whoever it was that was disturbing her rest a piece of her mind. But when she saw who it was, her eyes nearly fell out of her head.

"Caramel!" Not bothering with the door, Rainbow shot out of her window and dropped to the ground right in front of the stallion, not willing to fully believe what she was seeing. The tan earth pony was barely standing, swaying heavily on his feet. He was bleeding from his head and mouth and looked ready to keel over at any moment. "What in Celestia's name happened to you."

Caramel gasped, sinking to his knees. "Flash Spark...Fluttershy...hurry!" He passed out after that.

Forcing down her panic at Caramel's condition, Rainbow Dash began to piece together his message. "Flash Spark...Fluttershy...oh no!"

Rainbow Dash wheeled about in the direction of Fluttershy's cottage, pausing only to cast one last glance back over her shoulder at the unconscious earth pony on the ground behind her. "Hang in there, Caramel, I'll get help for you after I make sure Fluttershy is okay." With that, she launched herself into the air, hurtling at top speed towards Fluttershy's cottage, praying to the Princesses that she wasn't too late.

Fluttershy trembled and whimpered as Flash Spark pressed down on her. He was taking his time, clearly savoring his position of superiority before he had his way with the mare beneath him. Already, Fluttershy could feel his body reacting to his desire as he pressed in closer to her. It was a disgusting feeling.

"Here we are, the open skies and just the two of us," he whispered into her ear, "You can go ahead and scream as loud as you want. Come on, do it!"

Her voice completely silenced by her fear, Fluttershy could only continue to whimper. Please let this end soon. Please, somepony, help me! Tears streamed down her face as she waited for the stallion to take what he wanted from her.

"Not gonna scream, huh?" Flash Spark sounded vaguely disappointed, "Oh well. Might as well get to the main event then."

Fluttershy shivered as the stallion positioned himself behind her. Her own whimpers were drowned out by a low roar. Then...nothing.

Flash Spark's weight disappeared from her back. Opening her eyes, Fluttershy realized that he was no longer on top of her. Had she blacked out? Had he simply taken what he wanted and left? Fluttershy blinked in confusion. Even if she had passed out from her fear, she would have expected some physical sensation to remain after the deed had been done. But she felt whole and untouched. Getting up, Fluttershy gasped as she saw the stallion sprawled out on the ground, groaning. There, standing between her and her attacker, was a familiar looking colt.

"It's you," she whispered, nearly fainting again, this time from relief.

Dawn Lightwing did not acknowledge her words, but instead kept his eyes trained on Flash Spark, who was slowly coming around. "What the hay happened to me?" he groaned. Looking up, Flash spotted dawn and growled. "Who the hay are you, brat? And what's up with your eyes? This is adult time. So scram!"

Dawn said nothing, but merely extended his wings halfway, keeping them perfectly parallel to the ground. Seeing that the colt wasn't about to budge, Flash Spark got up and glared at Dawn.

"Freak, I'm gonna warn you one more time and then I'm gonna make you move. Get. Out. Of. My. Way."

Dawn still offered no response, remaining resolutely between Flash Spark and his intended prize. The stallion snarled and pawed the ground. "I warned you, freak. When you end up in the hospital, eating through a straw, you'll have no one to blame but yourself. I'll even put those eyes out for you and save you the trouble."

Flash Spark charged, taking flight and zooming in at ground level. Even as he closed in, Dawn Lightwing remained unmoving. He stood his ground as Flash closed in. Fluttershy couldn't tear her eyes away from the spectacle. Flash Spark was only a few hooves away from Dawn when he finally moved. Dawn's body blurred into motion and it briefly looked like he was in two places at once.

Flash Spark was knocked away, spinning through the air. Fluttershy distinctly heard at least three different cracks as the stallion's bones succumbed to what must have been severe impacts. Dawn seemed to materialize only a few paces from where he had started, his hooves treading lightly on the ground while his wings finished their upstroke, as though he had just finished a running landing. As he came to a stop, Dawn sedately folded his wings back against his sides just in time for Flash Spark to slam into the ground several pony-lengths away from him and Fluttershy.

The entire exchange had been less than a second. But from the look of things, Fluttershy could tell that Flash Spark was not getting up again anytime soon. A low groan escaped the stallion. "What the hay did you do to me you little freak?"

Once again, the stallion's words were ignored by Dawn as the colt turned back to Futtershy, who sighed and sat down. "You saved me again," she observed softly.

"I do seem to be making a habit of it," observed the colt wryly. His voice and expression displayed real emotion for what seemed like the first time. He was clearly amused by the whole situation.

"Thank you so much," whispered Fluttershy. She lowered her head to get closer to Dawn, but he backed away to maintain his distance. Fluttershy tried not to look too disappointed that the colt wouldn't let her get any closer to him.

They both looked up as a sonic scream signified the arrival of Rainbow Dash. The sky-blue pegasus barely remembered to flare her wings to kill her speed before screeching to a halt in front of Fluttershy and Dawn, who had responded to her arrival by skipping across half the ground between him and the edge of the Everfree in what seemed to be a single step.

"Fluttershy! Are you okay? Where is that mule? I swear if he's done anything to you!" The fury in Rainbow's voice was palpable as she shouted. Seeing a slightly bemused Fluttershy right in front of her brought Rainbow's tirade to an abrupt halt as she looked around in confusion.

"Um, Fluttershy...you're okay, right?"

Fluttershy nodded slowly.

"Okay, um...Flash Spark didn't do anything to you, did he?"

This time, Fluttershy shook her head.

"So, where is he?"

Wordlessly, Fluttershy pointed to the moaning lump of the stallion. Flash Spark hadn't said another word and was much quieter upon Rainbow Dash's arrival. However, Rainbow's anger had dissipated, and was now replaced by total confusion. From the state Caramel had been in, she had been certain that things were bad. Only now, she arrived here to find Fluttershy unharmed and Flash Spark thrashed within an inch of his worthless life.

"So can anypony tell me what happened here?" demanded Rainbow, a hint of irritation creeping into her tone, "Or am I supposed to just guess?"

"Oh, well..." began Fluttershy nervously. She cast a glance over her shoulder to see that Dawn, while still keeping his distance, had not fled any farther. "I was running when Flash Spark caught me. He was about to..." she couldn't bring herself to finish that statement, prompting an angry growl from Rainbow as she glared at Flash, who whimpered in fear. "But then, Dawn saved me and did that" she pointed to the pile of pulverized pegasus, "to him."

Rainbow Dash remained silent for a moment. She looked over at the black colt, who watched her warily. For the first time, Rainbow Dash saw his eyes. She blinked in surprise. Those eyes look like... However, she shrugged the thought off. Weird eyes or not, this colt had saved Fluttershy's life. It wasn't the sort of thing that Rainbow was going to forget just because his eyes seemed a little strange.

Rainbow scratched her head as she tried to figure out what to do about the situation. She blinked as she realized something. "Oh ponyfeathers! Caramel! He was in awful shape when he found me. I need to go back and make sure he gets to the hospital."

However, rather than turning back to town right away, Rainbow trotted past Fluttershy and towards Dawn. Seeing the colt tense at her approach, she stopped a respectable distance away from him. "Listen," she said, "I can't thank you enough for saving Fluttershy. She's my best friend and I wouldn't be able to live with myself if anything happened to her. That's why I need you here. I need to go take care of some things before I can get the town guard out to take care of that guy." She jerked her head contemptuously in Flash Spark's direction. "And you're the only one I can ask to do this now. Can you stay here and keep an eye on things for me? Make sure nothing happens to Fluttershy."

Dawn Lightwing nodded solemnly. Without another word, Rainbow Dash turned around and shot off into the sky like a bullet, hurtling back towards where she had left the battered earth pony stallion. Dawn watched her go. He had seen Rainbow's reaction when she had noticed his eyes and had been surprised to see that she hadn't immediately rejected him. He had moved past the point where he was able to feel fear or anxiety. Even the concept of betrayal carried no emotional weight with him. But now he was beginning to feel confused. Here was the second pony he had encountered recently not to completely reject him based on his appearance. He was confused, as though the world was changing around him in ways he couldn't fathom.

"Dawn," whispered Fluttershy softly as she approached. Dawn turned to stare at her, his confusion becoming more evident in his gaze. "I know that you might not be sure about this but, please stay."

Dawn blinked, not understanding. "Why?"

Fluttershy found herself smiling fondly at the young colt. "Because you looked so sad and lonely."

Dawn Lightwing was speechless. Sad? Lonely? He had thought those emotions no longer held any meaning to him. He had gotten so used to being on his own and so accustomed to being turned away by other ponies that his heart had grown numb and empty.

Seeing his indecision, Fluttershy continued. "I know that you're very strong. I know that you've been able to live by yourself for quite a while. But...when I see you watching me, I can see how alone you feel, like a little bird without a nest."

Dawn raised an eyebrow. "A bird?"

"Oh yes," replied the shy pegasus, settling down onto the grass in front of him, "You see, no matter how well a bird can fly, a bird can't fly forever. That's why a bird needs a nest to come back to. It's the same with ponies. You need a nest, a home. If you try too hard to go without one, you'll just break. That's why I'm asking you Dawn; would you come back and share my home with me? Stay with me and you can fly as high and far as you like and you will always have somewhere to come back to."

For a long time, Dawn was silent. His expression was now completely unreadable. Fluttershy watched him intently, dreading what she feared was the inevitable rejection. She had seen it in his gaze just then. Dawn's confusion didn't come from fear or anxiety. He no longer felt those emotions. Not because he had risen above them, but rather because he had dealt with them for so long his heart had become numb to the point where he could no longer feel them. He was beyond the point of fearing rejection over his unique appearance, but had instead come to regard it as an inevitable aspect of his very existence. Accepting her meant breaking through the emptiness in his heart. But while that meant he would be able to feel the warmth of her feelings, it also meant that he would be reopening himself to the pain he had been able to ignore for so long.

Slowly, Fluttershy got back to her feet and began pacing towards Dawn. He remained motionless, his mind clearly turning over the things she had said. As she closed to the point where she could reach out and touch him, Dawn finally spoke.

"Your words..." he said softly, "I've heard something like them before."

"From who?" she asked, worried. What if the words had come from a pony who had betrayed his trust.

"I heard them from the only pony who never turned his back on me," answered Dawn, "The one who stayed with me to the very end."

"And I will never turn my back on you," said Fluttershy softly, now reaching out to the colt, "And I will stay with you for as long as you stay with me."

Dawn didn't flinch when her hoof made contact with his cheek. Nor did he lean into the touch. Instead, he stared into Fluttershy's eyes, seemingly searching for some sign that would allow him to make his decision. The yellow pegasus favored him with her best smile. She wasn't certain if Dawn saw what he was looking for, but his eyes slowly closed.

"Alright," he said, finally, "I'll try."

Fluttershy had to stop herself from bursting out into a joyous squeal. Instead, she reached out with her forelegs and pulled Dawn to her gently. He submitted, reluctantly at first, as she drew him close and wrapped her forelegs around him in a soft embrace. Fluttershy also extended her wings and wrapped them round the colt, enclosing him in a soft, feathery cocoon.

"Dawn," she whispered softly.

"Yes?"

"Welcome home."

It was close to an hour before the town guard came to collect Flash Spark. They ended up taking him to the hospital to be treated for his injuries. Dawn had broken both his wings as well as one of his legs. While the doctors were optimistic that Flash would regain his ability to walk, the damage to his wings was much more severe, having completely demolished the same critical joint in each. Flash Spark would never fly again.

Thanks to Rainbow Dash, Caramel had also been admitted to the hospital. His injuries, while more extensive, appeared to be less severe overall. The doctors did plan on keeping him for observation for at least three weeks to ensure that the head trauma he had received from Flash Spark would leave no lasting affects.

Fluttershy, accompanied by Rainbow, went to the hospital to see Caramel while Dawn waited back at her cottage. Caramel was unconscious at the time, meaning Fluttershy didn't get a chance to talk with him. Instead, she sat quietly by his bedside for a while.

He got hurt like this because he was trying so hard to save me, she thought forlornly, And even when he was at the point where he shouldn't have tried to do any more, he still went to get Rainbow Dash. It felt odd to her. In a way, Caramel's efforts had proved superfluous. His heroic actions had been somewhat overshadowed by Dawn's effortless disposal of Flash Spark. But then again, Dawn might not have been in a position to help if Caramel hadn't given Fluttershy the time to get closer to her house that he had. And even if Dawn hadn't been there, Caramel's work had seen that Rainbow Dash would arrive before long.

Realizing that visiting hours were nearing their end, Fluttershy decided to go home to her new guest. Before she left, she lowered her mouth to Caramel's ear and whispered, "Thank you," before giving him a gentle peck on the cheek.

That felt right, she thought, blushing as she headed out the door, But I still want to tell him while he's awake.

Rainbow Dash was waiting for her in the lobby. "How are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm doing alright," replied Fluttershy, "It was scary, but I'm really grateful that Caramel and Dawn were there for me."

Rainbow Dash nodded and walked alongside Fluttershy on the path to her cottage. "Hey Fluttershy?"

"Yes?"

"I'm glad that kid was there to save you but...be careful around him."

Fluttershy gave her oldest friend a hard glance. "What do you mean Rainbow Dash?"

Rainbow came to a halt and stared at the ground. "I don't know how to put it into words. I mean, his eyes are a little creepy, but that doesn't count for anything. Actually, I'd say they're kind of cool. But, he gives me this weird vibe. He felt...really cold."

Fluttershy smiled. "It's okay. He's like that because he feels that the only thing he can expect from other ponies is rejection because of the way his eyes look."

"I can understand that. But I'm a little more worried about how he dealt with Flash Spark. Those breaks on Flash Spark's wings were identical. I think the kid crippled him on purpose. It's not that the mule didn't have it coming to him, but I can't help but be worried about a pony who would completely take away some other pony's future like that."

Fluttershy frowned. She had to admit that Rainbow Dash made a good point. Her daredevil friend continued. "That's a scary place for a pony to be. It says to me that if he can justify it, he won't hesitate to hurt another pony in even worse ways if he thinks they deserve it."

"You're right," Fluttershy whispered, "But I think that I can help him to see that he doesn't have to hurt others in order to do what's right."

"I hope so," replied Rainbow, smiling hopefully a Fluttershy. Deciding to get on a lighter topic, she said, "But you realize we're going to have to tell the other girls what happened tonight. Rarity's gonna freak."

Rainbow Dash launched into her best imitation Rarity voice. "Oh dear Fluttershy! You poor thing! To have gone through such an ordeal; this calls for a full day in the spa! I absolutely insist! And then I will have to make a round dozen of my best dresses for you! Anything to to help you get over this my dear!"

Fluttershy laughed at Rainbow's mimicry, which, while overdramatic, was correct in its essentials. Insisting on a round of pampering was usually Rarity's way of dealing with trauma and how she felt others should deal with it as well. Fluttershy was certain that her other friends would insist on contributing in their own ways.

"Um, when we do tell them," said Futtershy, "Could you not mention Dawn's eyes?"

Rainbow Dash blinked, bemused by her friend's request. "Um, sure."

"Actually, could we not mention Dawn at all?"

"Huh?" Rainbow stopped again, "I can understand you not wanting to bring up his eyes just yet. But why would you want to keep the kid a secret from everyone else."

Fluttershy scraped at the dirt. "Well...Dawn is cautious. It took him a lot of convincing to simply stay with me and my house is a fair distance on the outskirts of Ponyville. And he's expressed some worries about how other ponies will react to him..."

"Yeah, that's why we agreed to not talk about his eyes," Rainbow pointed out, not sure what Fluttershy was getting at.

"But if we tell the other ponies, they'll want to meet Dawn right away, especially Pinkie Pie."

"You have a point there. Pinkie would probably try to throw him a party on the spot, not to mention her whole 'new pony' spiel."

"Yes. Pinkie Pie can be...overwhelming at the best of times. But for somepony like Dawn, she might scare him off. And even if that weren't the case, the other girls, and the rest of the town, once word gets around, would insist on treating him as a hero. But all that would be too much for Dawn at this stage."

Rainbow tapped her chin. "Yeah, you have a point there. But then that brings up the question; what do we tell them? I mean, they aren't going to believe that Flash Spark somehow tripped, broke his leg and both his wings."

"Um well..." Fluttershy hesitated, knowing her friend wasn't going to like this suggestion, "We could just say that you stopped him."

"What?" shouted Rainbow Dash, horrified, "That's crazy. Yeah, I may let my attitude get the better of me sometimes, but I would never ever take credit for something I didn't do! No! Just no."

"Oh I'm sorry!" exclaimed Fluttershy, mortified at her own insensitivity, "But I couldn't think of any other way..."

Rainbow let out a long breath. "I'm sorry I yelled at you like that Fluttershy. I didn't mean to blow up. It's just that this sort of thing is a big deal to me. You remember what it was like, all those ponies calling me a liar because they thought I never pulled off the Sonic Rainboom. If I ever tried to take credit for something I didn't actually do, I would lose the last shreds of self-respect I have left. Besides, that's the kind of lie that Applejack would see through right away.

"Look, we'll figure out something tomorrow. Let's just get some sleep. We'll figure out how to keep the girls from crowding your new friend right away. Besides, if we tell them about how Dawn isn't ready to meet other ponies yet, they'll probably understand and the only pony we'll really have to worry about is Pinkie Pie. Fortunately, I have an idea of how to deal with her."

"Alright," agreed Fluttershy somewhat reluctantly. Her cottage was in sight now. The windows were dark, but she held out hope that Dawn was inside. She said goodbye to Rainbow Dash at the door and entered. Turning on the light, Fluttershy saw Dawn resting on the couch, his closed. When she approached, his eyes opened and he looked at her, making her wonder if he had been awake the entire time.

"I'm sorry," she said, "I didn't mean to disturb you."

"You didn't," answered Dawn in a toneless voice, "When I lived in the Everfree Forest, I learned to sleep lightly so that the monsters couldn't sneak up on me while I was asleep. I don't actually sleep anymore. It's more like a trance, I suppose."

"Oh dear. I'm not sure that's healthy," mused Fluttershy.

"I've been like this for the better part of a year with no ill effects so far," Dawn pointed out.

"Um, well, if you're sure..." Fluttershy decided to change the subject for the time being. "Are you comfortable on the couch? I don't have a guest room, but I do have a storage room that could be made into one when I clear everything out."

"I'm fine with the couch," answered Dawn, lowering his head and closing his eyes, signaling an end to the conversation.

Biting back the urge to sigh, Fluttershy turned out the lights and made her own preparations for bed.

The morning dawned bright and clear, mostly to the continued efforts of Rainbow and her team continuing to collect the scattered clouds. Looking out the window, Fluttershy found herself wondering if her perpetually procrastinating friend had gotten up early to see the job done.

Coming down the stairs, the yellow pegasus fell into the habits that had been ingrained in her for years so naturally that she briefly forgot about her guest. Or rather, she failed to notice his absence. The couch, on which Dawn had settled for the night, was empty and there was no sign of any other pony in the house. For a moment, Fluttershy felt a brief rise of panic as she wondered where Dawn had gone and if something had happened to him (conveniently forgetting how capable Dawn was of looking after himself). However, her fear abated when she noticed Angel beckoning her from the front door.

The little rabbit pointed enthusiastically at the couch before pointing at the door, confirming Fluttershy's suspicions that Dawn had indeed left. Pushing open the door, she fully expected to see nothing more than her front yard and the ground leading up to the Everfree, with Dawn's conspicuous absence. But instead, she saw him.

Dawn was standing in the open ground, his wings held half-folded and level with the ground. His eyes were closed and he stood deathly still. Fluttershy began to wonder if something was wrong with him before he began to move. Dawn took a crossover sidestep to his left, ending the step by unfolding his left wing into a full sweep that extended in the same direction as a natural continuation of his body's movement. The wing folded back in and in the same motion, Dawn performed the same movements to his right. Then, rearing up, he lunged forward, backwinging as he came back down and extending both wings until the tips of his primaries extended well past his head, pointing directly in front of him. Pushing off and back with his front legs, he launched himself into a buck directly behind him, sweeping his wings in the same direction.

On the routine went, going into even stranger motions as Dawn's wings went through sweeps, thrusts and strokes. While she was no credible judge, Fluttershy thought that Dawn's wing movements were akin to strikes or attacks of some kind. The entire affair was like some kind of dance and the one thing that Fluttershy could tell for certain was that, whatever purpose the sequence of motions served, Dawn had clearly practiced it extensively until its component parts were a second nature to him. When, at last, Dawn finished his routine, he settled right back into his starting position and exhaled slowly and steadily before opening his eyes.

Looking up, Dawn found his caretaker staring at him with wide eyes. He said nothing, clearly waiting for Fluttershy to speak first.

"Oh, that was ever so impressive," she said sincerely, "What was that exactly? If you don't mind me asking."

Dawn slowly folded his wings and began to walk towards her. "That was the First Form," he said, as though that explained everything perfectly.

"And what is it for?" Fluttershy probed.

"It is the practice of techniques in sequence to familiarize oneself with the movements and stances and how to flow from one strike to another," replied Dawn.

"So...it's for fighting then?"

"Yes."

Fluttershy paled. She knew next to nothing about martial arts. She had no means to figure out anything about the particular style or techniques that Dawn employed. But the thought that it was something he practiced so thoroughly was intimidating, even if they were the skills he had used to save her the previous evening.

Deciding not to push things any further, Fluttershy instead opted to return to preparing breakfast for her and her guest. In a few minutes, she had a pleasant fruit-salad prepared for them to enjoy. Dawn ate at a surprisingly sedate pace for a pony who was probably used to periods of privation.

"I'm going into town today," she said softly. Dawn lifted his head up to look at her, clearly expecting her to say more. "I have to tell my friends what happened last night. They'll want to know."

An arched eyebrow was the only reaction she received. Fluttershy resisted the urge to shy away from the daunting enigma that was Dawn's expression. She opted to continue her explanation. "I have some food in the refrigerator that you can use for lunch and I promise to be back in time to make dinner."

"You are not taking me with you?" Dawn's tone was even, suggesting nothing.

Fluttershy gave him her best smile. "I understand that you're not ready to be around other ponies just yet. I won't force anything on you that you don't want. I'm going to have to tell my friends about you, but I won't tell them about your eyes until you're ready for them to learn. And I promise to make sure they don't bother you before you're ready to meet them."

"I see."

Fluttershy bit back the urge to sigh again. Dawn's response was as bland as always. She knew she should have known better than to expect more than that just yet. But she had hoped for some acknowledgement that he realized that she was trying to help him.

Oh well, she thought, We'll keep going on, little by little. Breakfast more or less completed, she reviewed the colt in front of her and noticed his still disheveled state. "Now then," Fluttershy suggested mildly, "Before I leave, how about we get you cleaned up?"

Meanwhile, in a different part of Ponyville, the rising sun streamed through the strategically placed curtains of a certain filly's room. The room's occupant groaned and turned away from the fiery onslaught as she desperately sought reprieve from the searing rays of Celestia's light in the sanctuary of sleep. It was ironic that, while many ponies had and indeed still did fear Luna's night, when morning came, many of those same ponies found themselves wishing that the night lasted just a little bit longer.

Unfortunately, that was not to happen this morning, or any other for that matter. In any case, the filly's efforts were further stymied by the harsh pounding on her bedroom door. "Get up!" shouted a gruff voice from the other side, "You have school in an hour and if you want breakfast you need to get down to the table right now!"

With another low groan, the sheets rolled back to reveal a tousled fuchsia mane. A low buzz sounded and the sheets rose away to reveal an orange coat and wings. Slowly, but surely, her light-purple eyes crawled open as the little pegasus filly reluctantly roused herself to face another day.

Author's Notes:

I know some of you were hoping for more extensive punishment of the part of Flash Spark for what he was about to do. However, he basically got what he deserved in that, he's a complete and total pushover, which is why he fixated of Fluttershy (aside from the whole modeling deal) since he saw her as the type of pony he wasn't going to get any fight from. To have him basically be brushed off like a fly by Dawn and then get swatted like one is about the most appropriate punishment I could envision for him.

Next chapter: We finally learn why there's a Scootaloo tag on this story.

On a completely unrelated note, if you're looking for a shipping story that has a rather unique pairing, you should give Overture by Exilo a try. It's a well written one-shot that I enjoyed for being something novel in a fandom that can sometimes get too bogged down in the same old OTPs. While it's not perfect (and let's face it, nothing ever is, least of all my stuff), it's an entertaining story with a novel take on the characters within it and the author could use some more attention and more positive feedback. It's a good story that deserves more attention than it's been getting. So if you've got the time, go and give it a gander.

Unexpected Encounter

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Chapter 4: Unexpected Encounter

Scootaloo made her way down the stairs and into the kitchen of her home. It was the scene she found practically every morning. Her mother was working at the stove, preparing a cheese and asparagus omelet for her daughter, while Scootaloo's father sat at the table, newspaper open before him. Stifling another yawn, Scootaloo got into one of the chairs and waited for breakfast to be served.

"Is your homework done?" asked her father, not even bothering to look up. His was the gruff voice that supplied her with an ungraceful awakening every morning.

"Yeah," replied Scootaloo automatically.

"I heard you have a quiz today. Are you prepared for it?"

"Yes," answered Scootaloo mechanically.

Her father lowered the paper to stare at her. "Are you really prepared?"

Hesitantly, Scootaloo turned to look into her father's dark-gray eyes. His ice-blue mane and tail contrasted harshly with his rust-red coat, which served as the backdrop to his cutie mark, an ordinary compass. Her father's sense of direction and location were second to none, making him one of the most prized assets of Ponyville's post office. Of all the delivery-ponies who worked there, his record was only overshadowed by Ditzy Doo, who had the advantage of several years additional experience. Scootaloo didn't hate him, but she often dreaded talking to him. Every conversation she had with him seemed to inevitably slip into an interrogation, like this one was now.

"Yes," she replied, fighting her instinctive urge to quail beneath his hard gaze.

"I hope so. I've been checking with your teacher and I am quite disappointed with your grades so far. They aren't the sole factor, but your grades will help to determine whether or not you can make it into Cloudsdale Flight School. It may even mean the difference between a scholarship or me having to pay for the whole thing out of my pocket."

Scootaloo said nothing, knowing that if she tried to protest that she was ready, Cirrus Stratus would simply scold her for back-talking. She was grateful when her mother, Melon Cream, put a stop to any further probes by arriving with Scootaloo's breakfast. Eager for an excuse to not have to talk to Cirrus anymore, she dug into her omelet with a gusto.

Melon Cream smiled as she watched her daughter eat. With her vivid orange coat and fuchsia mane, it was easy to see where Scootaloo's looks came from. Although, as a pegasus, Scootaloo took after her father, rather than her earth pony mother. "Don't rush dear," she said lightly, a twinkle in her eye, "I don't want you to choke."

Scootaloo didn't answer, instead polishing off her omelet before chugging down the glass of milk her mother had gotten her. "Thanks mom," she said quickly, jumping out of her seat and over to the hallway, where she grabbed her saddlebags and rushed out the door.

"Be careful on your way to school and have a nice day," shouted Melon before the door slammed shut. With a sigh, she turned to her husband. "Really dear, must you be so harsh with her?"

Cirrus had picked up his paper again and didn't look up as he answered. "We can't afford to coddle her. If Scootaloo doesn't get her act together, she'll end up in some dead-end job somewhere. It doesn't help that she idolizes that one mare, Rainbow...Splash."

"Rainbow Dash, dear," corrected "You should at least have her name right, given how much Scootaloo talks about her. It would at least show that you listen to what she has to say as much as you want her to listen to what you have to say."

"I have no interest in hearing about the escapades of a two-bit weather mare with delusions of grandeur."

Melon had to fight the urge to roll her eyes. "I don't see what you dislike so much. It's true that Rainbow Dash is a little too reckless for my tastes, but even an earth pony like me can tell she has obvious skill and dedication to her work and ambitions."

"Work? Ambitions? Ha! She's a dropout who somehow thinks she can get into the Wonderbolts. With her record? There's no way the Wonderbolts would take a pony who couldn't handle Flight School."

Once again, Melon had to fight the urge to roll her eyes. It always seemed to come back to that. Part of her thought that the reason Cirrus was so fixated on getting Scootaloo into Flight School was because he hadn't been able to go himself. While she believed that he was genuinely concerned about their daughter's future, she couldn't help but feel that his definition of what made a pony successful was a little narrow.

And it also troubled her that, as often as the topic came up, that whenever Cirrus mentioned Flight School, Scootaloo never acknowledged that it was where she wanted to go.

"Oh dear Celestia," gasped Rarity as she and the others listened while Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy recounted the previous night's events, "What a dreadful experience! Oh my dear Fluttershy, you must have been simply beside yourself. Oh this calls for a day at the spa to help you get over this whole horrid affair."

Fluttershy tittered at Rarity's outburst, remembering Rainbow Dash's impersonation from the night before. "Oh I'm alright. Flash Spark was stopped before he was able to do anything."

The six friends were seated around the table of a quiet café, enjoying a leisurely brunch as Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash caught them up.

"For which we should be thanking this Dawn colt you told us about," commented Twilight Sparkle, who had been listening intently.

"Yeah!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, grinning widely and bouncing at her own seat. Had Rainbow Dash not had the foresight to extract a Pinkie Promise that she would stay put until she and Fluttershy were done explaining, there was little doubt that Pinkie would have rocketed off to Fluttershy's home at the first opportunity to meet Dawn and start planning his welcoming party after the colt had been suitably traumatized. "When do we get to meet him? I've got to go plan his welcoming party! I just finished my newest party cannon and I can't wait to try it out."

"About that," said Rainbow, being the more assertive of the two pegasi in this discussion, "We kinda want you to hold off on the party, Pinkie. Dawn's kinda sensitive about meeting other ponies and we don't want to spook him."

"And just where did that there colt come from?" interjected Applejack, having sat quietly through the first part of the story. There was a degree of confusion in her expression. "Ah find it a little hard to believe that this Dawn fellow just came outta nowhere."

"Oh, he was living in the Everfree Forest," explained Fluttershy softly. Her statement elicited a gasp from her audience. "I don't know how long he's been living there, but it must have been quite some time."

"So this colt just came outta the forest and saved ya from that jerk?" asked Applejack in a skeptical tone.

Fluttershy shook her head. "No. I knew he was close by and I saw him watching me from the forest edge a few times."

Rainbow Dash blinked. She hadn't been told this part of the story. "Wait, isn't that kind of creepy?"

"It might have been, but I knew Dawn wouldn't hurt me or do anything bad. He saved my life after all."

"But this was before he saved you," Twilight pointed out.

Blinking, Fluttershy realized she hadn't told anypony about her first meeting with Dawn. "Actually, we met before that." She then proceeded to tell everypony about her encounter with the timberwolves in the forest.

When she finished, she saw the rest of her friends staring in stunned awe at her. It was Applejack who spoke first. "Dangnabit Fluttershy! Ah've told ya that ya can't go into the Everfree Forest during Zap Apple Season! The timberwolves come right up to the edge. Even goin' to Zecora's house is too dangerous this time of year."

"So this colt actually came barreling out of nowhere to save you from timberwolves," Twilight observed wryly.

Fluttershy didn't have a chance to respond before Rarity swept her up into an embrace that actually made the canary-colored pegasus's ribs creak. "Fluttershy! Why in Equestria didn't you tell us you had been though such an ordeal?"

"Well," answered Fluttershy bashfully, "I was a little distracted. After he saved me, I asked Dawn if he wanted to stay with me, but he said no. But I noticed that he followed me to the edge of the forest, so I started to try and come up with ways to coax him out."

"Hmm, Spike told me he'd seen you in the market more than usual," mused Twilight Sparkle, rubbing her chin.

"Who cares!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, practically vibrating to the point that she seemed like a two-toned pink blur, "All that matters is that there's a new pony in town and he saved Fluttershy's life too! He saved her twice even! You know what that means, I get to throw a 'Welcome to Ponyville and Thank You for Saving Fluttershy Twice Party!' That's three parties in one! Oh this is so great, Fluttershy! Come on, hurry up and finish! I wanna meet him I wanna meet him IwannameethimIwannameethimIwannameethim...!"

Pinkie's verbal fusillade was cut off by the firm application of Rainbow Dash's hoof. "No," she declared, staring into Pinkie's eyes, "Like we said, Dawn isn't ready for that yet. He needs to get more accustomed to being around other ponies before you start shoving sweets down his throat and trying to scare the feathers off of him."

Pinkie sagged down in her seat. "But why not? My parties are supposed to make ponies feel happy."

Fluttershy reached over and patted her energetic friend on the head. "Remember what happened with Cranky?" she pointed out, "Some ponies just aren't used to the ways you like to have fun, Pinkie. Dawn is one of them. I promise that after we get him used to being around other ponies, we'll let you have your party for him."

That seemed to reassure Pinkie, who brightened up with a happy, "Okie dokie lokie." However, she remained somewhat subdued.

"Do you have any idea what he was doing living in the Everfree in the first place?" asked Twilight.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy shared a nervous glance. This was the next hurdle in their plans. "Apparently, he wasn't treated very well by other ponies," Fluttershy explained.

"Oh good heavens!" exclaimed Rarity, "What in Celestia's name could drive a pony to live alone in the Everfree of all places?"

"I don't know," replied Fluttershy in all honesty, "Dawn hasn't said a whole lot about it yet."

"Ah'll bet he hasn't," muttered Applejack inaudibly. Her eyes now glanced out in the general direction of Fluttershy's home, glaring suspiciously.

Twilight Sparkle was in full on investigation mode, already pondering avenues of inquiry she could pursue to get the answers to her questions. "Hmm. Maybe if I did some research on the records of the towns that border the Everfree, I can find out what happened."

"Indeed," agreed Rarity, "And what about the poor boy's parents?"

"Oh um..." squeaked Fluttershy as she grinned sheepishly, "I haven't asked about them yet?"

"You probably should," said Twilight, deliberately forestalling an indignant tirade from Rarity. "But if he doesn't feel like talking about it, you shouldn't press him too hard.

"And if you give me a description to go by, I can try to dig up some information about other places he's been," she added.

"Um, I'm not sure I should," said Fluttershy, "I think that might be a little too invasive."

"It's not just about satisfying my curiosity," declared Twilight, to a somewhat dubious reception, "Figuring out just what happened to him in the past could be critical to helping him getting over his trauma. And can also help us avoid any problems in the future."

Twilight opened her saddlebag and pulled out a sheet of paper an parchment. "So, what does he look like?"

"Um, well...he's black with a silver mane and tail. He doesn't have a cutie mark yet, I'm afraid. He looks to be about the same age as Apple Bloom and the others."

"Uh huh," murmured Twilight, nodding sagely, "And his eye-color?"

Again, the two pegasi shared a nervous glance. "Blue."

"Okay," said Twilight, calmly checking off her list. "I'm gonna start sending out inquiries. With Spike, I can get my letters sent to other towns quickly, but the replies will have to come by normal post."

Rainbow Dash stretched her wings until they popped. "I've got a few more things to sort out with the weather, so I'll see you girls later." Without further preamble, she shot straight out of her seat and into the sky.

"Oh well," sighed Rarity, "We have an appointment to make. Come, Fluttershy dear, to the spa."

The white unicorn stood up and began to trot towards the cafė's exit, followed by her pegasus friend. Pausing, she turned to look back at the orange earth pony, still sitting and frowning at the table. "Would you like to come with us Applejack."

Applejack shook her had and donned her trademark stetson. "Ah've got to get back to the farm. The zap apples are startin' to ripen, so we're gonna have to work darn hard to make sure we can harvest 'em all before they up and vanish."

Rarity nodded sagley. "Of course dear. Perhaps you can join us another time once this hectic season is over. What about you, Pinkie?"

"Actually I have to get back to the Sugarcube Corner," replied Pinkie, smiling tightly, "The Cakes have an event later today and they need me to watch the twins again."

"Alright dear," replied Rarity, "We shall see you later."

Pinkie nodded vigorously, "Okie dokie lokie." Then she was off.

Applejack shook her head. "That mare sometimes..." Then she too set off towards her own destination.

Scootaloo sighed and covered her head with her hooves. "I just know that I blew that quiz today," she groaned. Her father was going to be furious.

"Aw don't worry too much about it Scootaloo," consoled the yellow earth pony on one side of her, "Ah don't think Ah did much better."

"Yeah, me neither," agreed the white unicorn on her other side, "And Rarity will scold me for not taking my education seriously again."

"That's what dad's going to do," agreed Scootaloo, "He'll get angry and tell me how disappointed he is. Then he'll rant for a while about how I'll never get into Flight School at this rate."

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom shared a dubious look with one another. "But Scootaloo, don't ya want to go to Flight School?"

"Yeah," agreed Sweetie Belle, "I thought that Flight School was a big deal for pegasuses."

"Maybe in Cloudsdale," muttered Scootaloo petulantly, "But I don't want to leave Ponyville just yet and leave my friends behind." She hoped that would get the other two fillies off her back. The last thing Scootaloo wanted right now was to go over her real reasons for not wanting to go to Flight School. She couldn't work up the courage to confront her father over the matter, as insistent as he had been. But she knew the moment her father paid the tuition, her hopes of getting away would be shot.

At a loss for any way to address the problem, she instead opted to change the subject. "So, what are we gonna try to get our cutie marks today?" she asked.

Now it was Apple Bloom's turn to look dejected. "Ah'm sorry Scootaloo, but with the zap apples comin' in, mah family needs me to come right home and help with the harvest.

Scootaloo blinked before turning to look to Sweetie Belle. "What about you?"

To the surprise of both of her friends, Sweetie Belle looked away and blushed slightly. "Actually, I can't come either. I have...um...an appointment...yeah that's it!"

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom shared a suspicious glance, not missing their friend's unusual behavior. "What sort of appointment, Sweetie Belle?"

"Yeah, what are ya bein' so shifty about?"

Sweetie Belle blushed harder and did her best Fluttershy imitation as she leaned away from the inquisitive stares of her friends. She tried to come up with some sort of response, but all she could get to come out was an inarticulate squeak.

Scootaloo shared a sidelong look with Apple Bloom. Their eyes sparkled with mischief. "This appointment wouldn't happen to be with some colt would it?"

The increased intensity of Sweetie's blush was all the answer they needed.

"And this colt wouldn't happen to be Featherweight would it?" asked Apple Bloom with an amused smirk.

By now, Sweetie Belle's blush had exceeded the limits of her cheeks and was on the verge of turning her entire face a brilliant shade of cherry-red. Scootaloo was fairly certain that she could hear the whistling of steam coming from the unicorn's ears.

The look of mischief vanished in an instant. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo bombarded Sweetie Belle with questions regarding her relationship and plans with Featherweight. After only a few minutes, Sweetie had been reduced to a pile of quivering embarrassment while her friends turned their thoughts to other areas.

Having gotten her fill of mirth at Sweetie Belle's expense, Scootaloo turned her attention back to what she would do now. Since both of her friends were unable to come with her after school, it was up to the bright-orange filly to find her own entertainment. I guess I'll just scoot around then.

Twilight had only just closed the door behind her when she heard a low pounding resonate from the other side. Growling in vexation, the unicorn turned around and opened up the door to see her farmer friend standing there, looking rather irritated herself. "Twilight, Ah gotta talk to ya about this Dawn fellow."

Her frustration leaving her, Twilight blinked in confusion. "What's the matter Applejack?"

Applejack looked away. "Ah know we promised Fluttershy not to bother him, but Ah'm worried. Ah feel we really need to know more about this colt and Ah have to say that Ah don't rightly trust him."

"How can you say that?" asked Twilight, "You've never even met him."

"But that's the whole point!" snapped Applejack, "None of us, exceptin' fer Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash have even seen this here colt. Ah don't like it, especially hearing about what he's done."

This only confused Twilight more. "You mean you don't like it that he saved Fluttershy from being eaten and then again from being raped."

"No! Ah don't like it that he's a colt around Bloom's age who's shown that he can put a full-grown stallion in the hospital without breakin' a sweat and can scare off a whole pack of vicious timberwolves! No matter how ya look at it, that ain't normal!" Applejack directed a vicious glare in the general direction of Fluttershy's home. "Ah don't like the idea of somepony like that hangin' around Fluttershy."

Twilight Sparkle was initially inclined to dismiss her friend's suspicions out of hoof. But the more she thought about it, the more she realized that Applejack had a point. It made even more sense when she wondered about the kind of skills it took to survive in the Everfree Forest for any period of time. Zecora managed it, but she also had to make periodic forays into Ponyville to buy needed supplies, something Twilight doubted that this colt was doing.

"You may have a point," she conceded, "But I still think we should trust Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash on this. Let's wait and see what my research turns up before doing anything."

Applejack sagged. "Ah don't know if Ah can wait that long Twi. Until Ah know fer sure that colt ain't gonna do anythin’ to Fluttershy, Ah'm gonna be as anxious as a long-tailed cat in a room full'a rockin' chairs."

"Please just don't do anything rash," plead the lavender unicorn, "We promised to wait until Fluttershy told us he was ready and I really don't want to break her trust."

"Okay, but try to find somethin' out soon." A dejected Applejack made her exit, leaving Twilight alone as she tried to sort out the storm of confusion that raged through her mind.

"Oh that poor stallion," gasped Rarity as she and Fluttershy shared a relaxing bath at the end of their spa treatment, "To be reduced to such a state. I hope he's feeling alright."

Fluttershy looked down and watched her own wings gently swirl the water around her. "He wasn't awake when I went to see him last night. Flash Spark really hurt him badly. And even after that, he still managed to get up to go get Rainbow."

"My word!" Rarity settled a demure hoof on her mouth. "Fluttershy darling, if you do not take that stallion out to dinner immediately after he gets out of the hospital I will have to severely reprimand you."

Fluttershy sank down into the water to hide her reddened cheeks. Rarity continued on. "You must be very important to him for him to go through so much effort on your behalf. I daresay he may have taken more than a small fancy to you."

"Do you really think so?" asked Fluttershy, raising her head slightly out of the water to ask.

"It seems fairly obvious to me. And what about you dear? How do you feel about him?"

"Um well..." Fluttershy looked away to ponder for a moment, "...He's always very nice and polite. And he doesn't scare me like most stallions do. I really enjoy spending time with him when I think about it."

"That settles it then," said Rarity, "You owe that wonderful stallion of yours a night out. And I, of course, will have to make sure that you are suitably attired for such an evening."

"Oh you don't really have to," protested Fluttershy.

"Of course I do! I insist!"

"Alright then," answered Fluttershy, submitting to the inevitable.

Scootaloo's wings buzzed, propelling her down the path in a blur of orange and purple. The noise they made was usually enough of a warning for ponies to know that she was coming and get out of the way. Some had expressed irritation that the filly continue to engage in such antics when she should have been able to fly already. Scootaloo didn't have the confidence to tell them that she couldn't fly yet.

She was a late bloomer. Apparently some defect or another had slowed the maturation of her wings to the point that, by the time they were large and strong enough to keep her aloft, she would be closer to a young adult. That was part of the reason that her father was so insistent about sending her to Flight School. He seemed to think that a sufficiently rigorous curriculum would somehow make up for the years she had lost not being able to fly.

It would also get her away from Rainbow Dash, another pro in his eyes.

She forced the thoughts down to concentrate on her scooting. The path had gotten rougher, a sign that she was reaching Ponyville's outskirts. The trade off was that, out here, there was less of a chance of running into somepony, which cut the potential for accidents dramatically.

She accelerated up the side of a hill, lifting off the ground as she hit the crest, going into an impressive jump. She kicked off the scooter with her back legs, leaving them hanging in the air as she clung to the scooter with a single hoof. Her wings spread to guide the vehicle's trajectory on the way back down. Her back hooves came to a rest on the scooter just as the wheels touched the ground. Scootaloo smirked in satisfaction at the trick. It wasn't her best, but it was fun all the same.

Her eyes spotted a familiar-looking cottage silhouetted against the backdrop of the Everfree Forest. I'm at Fluttershy's house already? I must've gone farther than at thought. I need to head back soon or dad will be angry with me for being late again.

She was drawn from her musings by the sight of a black-colored pegasus colt she had never seen before. He was standing out in Fluttershy's front yard, his eyes closed and his body perfectly still. At the sound of Scootaloo's approach, his eyes opened, revealing them to be a shimmering turquoise color. More noticeable were the almost reptilian pupils they sported, sending a shiver down the orange filly's spine. Scootaloo was so transfixed by his gaze, she forgot to steer. Thus, it was completely unexpected when her scooter kicked out beneath her and she found herself suddenly and unwillingly airborne, on a course for a straight collision with the strange and intimidating colt.

The colt's body blurred into motion, turning sideways while the wing facing Scootaloo extended out, working in an exaggerated circular motion. Scootaloo thought she heard a muffled boom. The space in front of her seemed to ripple slightly as though an invisible bubble were heading towards her.

Scootaloo felt as though she had hit something akin to a pillow. But the sensation was hard to describe. It was as though the air resistance had abruptly multiplied, making her feel as though she had fallen into and then through the softest pillow she had ever felt. Her forward momentum disappeared, while just enough of an updraft caught her wings to keep her from slamming straight into the ground. All four of her hooves touched down as easily and naturally as though she had planned this landing from the very beginning.

The orange filly was stunned. For a moment, she could only stand there in awe and wonder what happened. She barely noticed that the colt was still in front of her and watching her warily, waiting for some kind of reaction. When Scootaloo recovered enough of her wits to notice him, she began to look at the colt very closely, noting his features and his eyes in particular.

For a moment, her expression became unreadable and she began to shake. The colt slowly stepped back, preparing to flee from the inevitable scream that was sure to erupt from the mouth of what he was certain was a thoroughly terrified filly. When the explosion came, it was the last thing he had been expecting.

"That was AWESOME!" Scootaloo exclaimed at the top of her lungs. The colt, clearly shocked by her behavior, was caught off guard as she pushed right up to his face.

"How'd you do that, huh? Can you tell me? Is its a secret? Is it your special talent?"

The colt was speechless and couldn't get a word in edgewise, so he opted to wait as the orange pegasus finally finished her deluge of inquiries. Once Scootaloo's excitement wound down, she realized that she'd forgotten the most important question of all. She also noticed the colt staring at her as though she had grown a second head.

Suddenly conscious of how rude she had been, Scootaloo flushed and stepped back a little, grinning sheepishly. "Sorry," she said, "I got carried away."

"You did?" It seemed the colt had a very different definition of the concept.

"Uh yeah." Scootaloo scratched the back of her head as she looked away. "Can we start over? My name's Scootaloo. What's yours?"

The colt blinked, surprised to be receiving such an ordinary greeting. "I'm Dawn Lightwing. Nice to...meet you."

"Um, if you don't mind me asking, what's up with your eyes?" Realizing it might be a sensitive topic, the bright-orange filly had the grace to look abashed. "Sorry. You probably don't want to talk about it."

"It's alright. It's just that I have no idea of the answer. My eyes simply are the way they are."

"Huh? That's cool, I guess." Shrugging the whole thing off, she instead opted to get to the topic that really interested her. "What was that thing you did to stop me from crashing into you? Does it have something to do with your special talent?"

Dawn blinked and turned sideways, giving a Scootaloo a clear view of his utterly blank flank. "That was no talent. It was a skill I was taught."

Scootaloo stared at the colt with wide eyes. "Really? Does that mean that somepony like me could learn how to do it?"

"Yes."

"Scootaloo leaned in and gave Dawn her most pleading look. "Can you teach me how to do that, pleeeeeeeeaaaaaaaassssssseee?"

Dawn found himself flinching away from her sheer enthusiasm. He was nervous, but the fact that she had utterly disregarded the one thing about him at most ponies fixated on like dogs with a bone had thrown him off balance. For once, his instinctual aversion to other ponies and his natural expectations of their behavior had been shelved by the filly's interest in what he had to offer to help her. A confusingly warm feeling emerged in his chest, familiar and foreign at the same time. He suspected that it was something he had not felt in a long time.

"I...suppose I could."

"YES!!!"

Fluttershy had to admit that she felt much better after getting out of the spa. She was too happy to even be startled as Rainbow Dash swooped down from the sky to walk along with her. For a while, the two of them talked about how their day had gone. When Rainbow Dash inquired about Dawn, Fluttershy related what she had seen earlier that morning.

Rainbow listened with wide eyes. "No offense, Fluttershy, but that colt is crazy."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I learned martial arts when I was a filly," explained Rainbow, "And I'm pretty good at it too. I learned the Steel-Hoof Style, which is pretty popular among pegasi. There are a few other kinds of pegasi martial arts around. And do you know the one thing they all have in common?"

"What is it?"

"When you're fighting, you don't fight with these," answered the blue pegasus, extending her wings for the benefit of her friend, "That's rule number one of pegasus fighting tactics, never use your wings. If you do, you run the risk of damaging them, either because you hurt them yourself when you're trying to hit something, or because you went and made targets out of 'em. Either way, if you get your wings damaged, you're pretty much sunk in a fight."

"That's strange," mused Fluttershy, "I can't be sure, because it was so fast, but I think Dawn may have used his wings to beat Flash Spark last night. Maybe I should ask him for more information."

"If you're gonna do that, I wanna be there too," said Rainbow, "If he does practice a pegasus martial art that uses wings, it would basically take everything I know about fighting and throw it out the window."

Author's Notes:

Um...wow. No really...wow! When I first posted this story, the last thing I expected was for it to net over a hundred favorites and over eighty likes in the space of three days. It's not up there with the heavy-hitters on this site, but for me, this is pretty much a runaway success, to say nothing of the fact that we're just getting started here. It's nice to know that I didn't spend a round eleven months giving Fate/Twilight the shaft for nothing. I really hope I can live up to all your expectations with future chapters.

Moving onto the chapter itself, I hope you like Scootaloo's family life. Rather going with something like one or both of her parents being outright abusive (which is cliché as all get out), I opted to make her father into an Education Mama (God I love TV Tropes) of the worst sort. Clearly, he has issues that we'll be getting into later on.

In the next chapter, we begin to learn some of the secrets behind how Dawn does that thing he does.

I also have another recommendation for all my readers. This one is called Nightmare's Dream by Tinyweasels. This story examines Nightmare Moon's nature as she lives out her punishment from Celestia, which is living life as an ordinary earth pony. Along the way, she makes a certain Great and Powerful friend. On top of being a good Nightmare Moon story, this also has the added bonus of being a really good Trixie fic too, if only because Trixie gets to be pretty cool over the course of the story. I suggest you give it a read.

The Element of Flight

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Chapter 5: The Element of Flight

"So...how do we start?" Scootaloo was still bobbing up and down in excitement.

"First off, we need to determine where you are," answered Dawn, "Are you able to fly yet?"

Scootaloo flushed and looked away. She briefly considered trying to lie. But she had the feeling that she wouldn't do very well. In the end, she opted for the truth. "No."

"Good," answered Dawn instantly, as though that was exactly the answer he had been hoping for. The complete lack of inflection meant that his tone was neither mocking, nor conciliatory, which were the two responses Scootaloo was used to getting for her admission.

"Wait, why is that good?"

"Because the best place to start is at the beginning," said Dawn, as though that should answer everything.

"Huh?"

"Because the beginning for all pegasus skills is flight," he answered, "Before you can learn anything else, you must learn how to fly. However, if you learned to fly like most pegasi do, we would have to take the time to make sure you 'unlearn' certain habits."

"So the way most pegasi learn to fly is wrong?" Scootaloo raised a confused eyebrow.

Dawn shook his head slowly. "Not wrong so much as it would interfere with what you want to learn here, which requires certain skills that most pegasi don't acquire when they learn to fly and are even more difficult to acquire because of that. I could go into more detail, but it's unnecessary and you don't seem like the type for long-winded explanations."

"Nope," admitted Scootaloo, grinning sheepishly.

"Then we shall begin," said Dawn, "For this first step, you need to follow my instructions. There will be no questions until afterwards. I need you to listen to what I say."

"Um, okay," replied Scootaloo a bit hesitantly.

"First, close your eyes."

Doing as she was bid, Scootaloo allowed her eyes to drift shut.

"Now, take a deep breath, hold it, then release it." Dawn watched as she followed his instructions. "With each breath, let your thoughts drift out of your mind. Thinking is unnecessary for this exercise and will only get in your way. Keep breathing deeply." Dawn's voice came in an even rhythm, its tones smooth and unwavering, something that made following his instructions easier than Scootaloo would normally have found.

She didn't know how long she had been standing there, simply breathing. She had ceased being able to keep track of time and, strangely enough, she no longer had the impulse to care. It was as though Scootaloo's normal impatience had flowed out along with her thoughts.

Dawn moved on to the next step. "Keeping them level, unfold your wings just a little bit." When Scootaloo had done as he had bid, he moved to the next step. "As you exhale, send your breath to your wings. Feel your breath flow through your wings, softly, gently, slowly stirring them awake."

Once again, there was a silent pause as Scootaloo did as she was told. Normally, she would have had a devil of a time simply trying to understand what Dawn's instructions even meant. But now she followed them without thinking. She could feel her breath moving through her wings with each exhalation. It was as though she was drawing in some kind of energy when she inhaled, an energy she sent to her wings when she exhaled. It was faint at first, but she began to feel a tingle in her wings. The feeling grew into a familiar itchy tingle that one gets when a limb that has fallen asleep is reawakened by restored blood flow.

As the feeling built, she heard Dawn's voice, which now sounded very far away. "With each breath, extend your wings little by little until you can extend them no further. Even then, reach out with them. With every breath you take, reach...reach...reach..."

Scootaloo had never felt her wings so keenly before. Nor had those limbs felt so genuinely awake. She felt the light breeze flowing over the leading edge, swirling through her coverts before washing out past the tips of her primaries. But the sensation did not end with her wings. She vaguely and faintly felt something more, beyond the reach of her physical body. Scootaloo had no method for understanding what it was that she felt, but it felt like an impression of the world beyond her, as though she could see things without her eyes but didn't yet know how to discern the forms of what she saw.

Before she could get distracted, Dawn moved on with the next set of instructions. "Take that feeling in your wings and direct it downwards."

Scootaloo did so. She hadn't reached very far before she felt some sort of resistance. As if he were reading her mind, Dawn continued. "Now act against that resistance you feel and push."

Scootaloo did as she was told. For a moment, nothing happened. Then she instinctively willed more effort into the act. Slowly but surely, she felt the source of the resistance moving farther away. It wasn't that she was pushing the resistance away, but rather that she was pushing herself away from it. It wasn't long before the strain began to tell. The muscles in her wings tightened. She found it harder to keep her breathing even. The orange filly grit her teeth as sweat beaded on her brow. The strain was increasing, becoming almost too much to stand.

Just before she reached the breaking point, Dawn spoke. "Open your eyes."

Scootaloo's eyes snapped open. For a moment, she was certain that nothing had happened until she realized that she could no longer see Dawn. Then she looked down. Letting out a startled yelp Scootaloo realized that she had somehow risen up above the ground to her own height, her hooves dangling at the level her head would have normally been. As the realization flooded into her, Dawn's instructions were forced out and the force holding her aloft vanished. The startled filly dropped down onto her hooves.

For a moment, she simply sat there, gasping as the tension she had been feeling flowed out of her. It left her feeling tiered, like she had just finished a strenuous workout. The filly's breath came in ragged gasps.

"That was..." she said, forcing words out between breaths, "I was..."

"Flying? Not quite." Dawn's words drained the excitement out of her. "But that is the first step. Our first lesson is over."

Scootaloo blinked and sat down, hard. "That's it?"

The colt nodded. "I want you to try a few more times before you leave, just to ensure that you can manage it on your own. Once you can, you will go home. For the next week, you need to practice this exercise to the fullest extent of your abilities. After a week, I will decide whether or not you are ready to move on to the next step."

"But that's lame," she complained, glaring at him, "I thought you were gonna teach me how to fly!"

"I am teaching you," answered Dawn, his tone not changing in the slightest, "But you cannot fly until your wings are ready. And right now, they are not ready. And neither are you."

"What!?" exclaimed Scootaloo, her wings flaring with irritation, "Just what do you mean by that?"

"This." Dawn's wings moved with such speed that Scootaloo had hardly even seen them leave his sides before they returned. She was hardly in a position to notice in any case as, by this point, she had taken flight. Her body was caught in a powerful updraft that sent her rocketing into the sky like a cork out of a bottle.

Reaching the apex of her ascent, Scootaloo managed to orient herself to look down and immediately wish that she hadn't. The ground was now over twenty, maybe even thirty pony-lengths below her. Falling from this height could cause serious damage, if not kill her outright. On reflex, Scootaloo's wings went into overdrive, buzzing like a hummingbird, she found that they did little to slow her as she began to plummet. With a shriek, the filly began to fall towards what would be a very unhappy landing.

Scootaloo's eyes slammed shut as she prepared for the pain to come. Instead, she received a very familiar sensation of falling into and then through the world’s softest pillow. Her eyes opened just in time to see herself deposited back on the ground as gently as a wind-blown feather.

Gasping and shaking, Scootaloo stared up at Dawn, who returned her gaze impassively. He didn't seem troubled in the slightest that he had nearly severely injured her.

"What the hay was that for?" she demanded.

"That skill I just taught you would have been able to slow or even stop your fall," said Dawn, "So tell me, why didn't you use it?"

"Geez, maybe because you just taught it to me," she snapped sarcastically, "It took all my concentration just to do it before. How could you expect me to pull something off like that on the fly right now?"

"Exactly," said Dawn, bringing Scootaloo's mind to a screeching halt as she fought to process what had just happened. It took her a moment, but she saw the trap that Dawn had led her into.

"That technique I taught you is about more than simply learning the basic principles of flight," explained Dawn, "It is also the first and most important flight skill you will learn; how to keep yourself from crashing. With that technique, you can stop any falls you might have and avoid injury. Make no mistake, you will fall many times before you truly learn to fly, so learning how to fall is critical to your success and survival.

"That skill takes all your effort now, but the more you practice with it, the easier it will be for you to use it. Eventually, it will get to the point where you could do it without thinking about it. Flying is similar to walking in that respect. It can be terribly complicated to learn at first, but once you do, it will become as natural as breathing."

Dumbfounded, Scootaloo could only nod. "Then why did you shoot me into the air like that?"

"I scared you, didn't I?" asked Dawn, moving slightly closer.

Recalling the feeling of falling while feeling like she might die, Scootaloo sniffed and nodded. A shiver ran through her body. Dawn had made her feel weak and helpless and she resented him for it.

"I did that to press the point home," said the colt in his normal, flat tone, "I could have simply given you that lecture and saved you the trouble, but you might not have taken that explanation to heart and followed my instructions if I simply used words. Worse, you might have tried something reckless and hurt yourself in the process. To avoid those problems, I sought to impress the need for you to follow my instructions in the strongest possible manner."

Chastised, the orange filly looked down. Now that she thought about it, she really would have had a difficult time just swallowing Dawn's words. Even more importantly, she was fairly certain she might have simply blown off what she thought were lame instructions and tried to do something that appealed to her. Dawn's demonstration had made the potential results all too clear.

"I also had another reason."

Dawn's words made her look up at him in confusion.

"I did that to show you that as long as you are training with me, I shall always catch you when you fall. When you are practicing on your own, you will need to take care with what you do so that you do not exceed your limits and hurt yourself. But when you are with me, I promise that you will always be safe, no matter what we try."

His voice, normally flat and almost mechanical at times, had taken on an earnest tone that Scootaloo had never heard from him before in the time they had spent together that day. She found herself smiling at the thought. "Thank you," she whispered.

"So, now that we are done..." Dawn stopped talking and looked sharply back at Ponyville. Wondering what had distracted him, Scootaloo did the same. She suddenly saw a prismatic streak fill her vision before she was nearly bowled over by the arrival of a frantic Rainbow Dash. As the filly spun in place, she caught flashes of yellow and pink, indicating that Fluttershy had arrived as well.

"Scootaloo! You okay, squirt!?" asked Rainbow as she grasped the little filly's orange shoulders, "I heard ya scream a little ways off!"

Shaking her head to get rid of her disorientation Scootaloo tried to figure out what was happening. Over Rainbow's shoulder, she saw Fluttershy talking frantically, yet quietly, with Dawn.

Rainbow Dash was already moving on. "Listen Scoots, you don't have to be afraid of this colt. I mean he may look creepy, but..."

"I know, Rainbow Dash," interjected Scootaloo, giggling, "Dawn was teaching me how to fly."

"Wait!...What?" Rainbow's excuses and explanations petered out as she digested Scootaloo's words. The little filly was fairly certain she could see the gears in her idol's brain turning as she processed what Scootaloo had told her. Behind Rainbow, Fluttershy was apparently trying to reassure Dawn that Scootaloo wasn't a threat and was getting a similar response.

Silence descended on the four ponies as they tried to come to terms with the situation. Finally, Fluttershy decided to take the initiative. "Why don't we go inside and talk over some tea."

Some initiative.

It took a little while, but Scootaloo and Dawn were able to explain the circumstances of their meeting...well, Scootaloo mostly. Now that he was no longer in instructor mode, Dawn had gone nearly silent again, chiming in every so often to clarify something. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash got to tell Scootaloo the story of how they had met Dawn, including how he saved Fluttershy from Flash Spark.

"Which makes me curious, kiddo," said Dash, eyeing Dawn dubiously, "Fluttershy told me something about a martial art that uses your wings. That sounds kinda crazy to me."

"Perhaps," agreed Dawn, "But I do not actually use my wings, not directly."

"Ha!" barked Rainbow, "Told ya!" Her triumphant grin faded into an expression of befuddlement as the rest of Dawn's statement registered. "What do you mean, not directly?"

Dawn took a deep breath, slipping back into instructor mode. "My master taught me the Gale King style of pegasus martial arts. It is a style that does not use the body, so much as it uses the fullest extent of pegasus magic."

"What the hay does that mean?" demanded Rainbow.

Dawn's eyes drifted closed. "My master told me that it is easy to overlook the full extent of pegasus magic, even though it's what allows us to fly. He explained that the magic that allows us to soar through the skies and manipulate the weather itself is born of our magic. The Gale King takes that magic and develops it to its natural extreme."

"Well I know about pegasus magic," admitted Rainbow, "Our ability to move the clouds and buck lightning bolts out of clouds are products of that. Even the tornado we use to get water to Cloudsdale is like a collective spell. But what does our flight have to do with it?"

"Well, apparently our wings are too small to actually carry us, so we actually use magic to get off the ground," said Dawn by way of explanation, "There was a whole lot more about something my master called the meridians, but I had trouble following that part. The basic idea is that our wings are the primary tools we use for our magic, so the Gale King relies on the wings to direct that magic in attack and defense."

"So that's what you're teaching me?" asked Scootaloo.

Dawn shrugged. "More or less. I couldn't fly when my master started teaching me, which he thought was a good thing. Like I told you, the way most pegasi learn to fly isn't very compatible with the Gale King."

"Oh," said Fluttershy, "So...um...you can fly then, Dawn?"

The colt nodded. "Yes."

"I'm gonna have to think about this," muttered Rainbow Dash, "I'd really like to see what this fighting style of yours can do sometime. But it's getting late, so we should hold off on a demonstration until later."

"Late?" Scootaloo processed that for a moment before it clicked in her head. "OH HORSEAPPLES!!! I'M GONNA BE LATE!!!"

"Scootaloo!" admonished Fluttershy, "You're much too young to use words like that!"

"Never mind that!" exclaimed the filly, "I've gotta go! Oh Celestia! Mom's probably worried sick and dad's gonna ground me for a month! I just know it!"

"Hey chill kiddo," said Rainbow Dash with an amused smile as she rested a hoof on Scootaloo's shoulder, "I'll walk ya home. Don't worry, you'll be fine."

"You will?" Scootaloo's eyes sparkled as she was flooded with equal parts relief that she would have an adult to vouch for her whereabouts and excitement that her personal idol would be willing to walk her home. "That would be so awesome!"

Rainbow chuckled as she got up from her seat. "No prob kid. Let's get going. See you later Fluttershy, Dawn."

"Yeah, bye!" added Scootaloo as she made for the door.

"Remember to practice," urged Dawn as the little filly bolted out.

Once the two of them were gone, Fluttershy turned to look at Dawn. "That was very kind of you to help her with her flying."

For the first time since she had met him, Fluttershy got to see some real emotion from the colt as he looked away with red cheeks. "It was nothing. That was the first time I've been approached so eagerly about something other than my eyes."

"Um...about that," said Fluttershy softly, "Do you know why ponies don't like your eyes?"

"I know that they are supposed to look like Nightmare Moon's, but I can't see how that makes me a threat to them. I heard some ponies calling me a demon before..." Dawn trailed off as harsh memories came to the surface of his thoughts.

"Um, my friend actually showed me a book that gives one explanation for your eyes," said Fluttershy, looking away sadly, "It wasn't a very nice explanation."

"Does your friend believe that explanation?" asked Dawn.

"She said it was a bunch of...horseapples," answered Fluttershy, having to force the swear out of her mouth, "So she didn't believe it. But I don't know if that's because she doesn't believe that your eyes mean you're a demon or that she doesn't believe that ponies with your eyes even exist."

"What do you think would happen if she found out?"

Fluttershy tapped her chin as she thought for a moment. "Well, Twilight is always good about thinking things through before judging. We have a zebra friend named Zecora who actually lives in the Everfree Forest, like you did. We were all really scared of her, except for Twilight, who knew about zebras and realized that Zecora wasn't a bad pony. So if she met you, she'd probably want to find out more about you before she made any decision."

The yellow pegasus turned her attention back to her guest. "Would you like for me to tell Twilight about you?"

Dawn frowned and considered it for a moment. "I suppose it couldn't hurt."

Scootaloo's wings provided a droning buzz that hung in the background as she drove her scooter along. Rainbow Dash glided slightly off to one side, her hooves barely shy of skimming the ground as she kept pace with her young admirer. Given the late hour, the sun had begun to set, which made even the well-kept roads of Ponyville potentially perilous, forcing Scootaloo to rein in her speed, which suited her just fine. Normally she would have rushed home as fast as she could. But now, she had a legitimate excuse for being out so late. Even more importantly, she was free to spend time with her idol, something she wanted to draw out for as long as possible.

"So what was it like kiddo?" asked Rainbow, referring to the lessons Dawn had been giving.

"It was weird," admitted Scootaloo, "My wings never felt like that before. It was a tingly feeling, like the one you get when you lay down wrong and your leg falls asleep."

"Hmm," mused Dash, "Are you sure you want to learn how to fly that way?"

Scootaloo looked down, keeping her eyes on the road as much as possible and not trusting herself to look at Rainbow. "I don't know. But no matter what else I try, I can't get off the ground. But I was actually flying...well, hovering today. It makes me kinda want to keep trying."

"Heh, I guess I don't get to teach you after all."

"Sorry."

Rainbow reached over with a hoof and brushed it through Scootaloo's mane. "Don't be, kid. You're just learning to fly in a different way than I did. That doesn't make you better or worse, it simply makes you you. I'm just happy knowing that you'll get to fly. We'll have to do it together sometime and you can show me what you learned."

"Okay." Rainbow's words of encouragement brought a slight smile to the filly's face.

"Just one thing though," said Rainbow, "I know you'll probably want to tell your friends about this, and that's fine. But when you mention Dawn, don't talk about his eyes."

Scootaloo almost tripped and crashed, but managed to maintain her control before giving Rainbow a quick confused glance. "Why?"

"Well, it's a bit of a problem and why Dawn is staying at Fluttershy's and not going into Ponyville. I guess he's gotten some bad treatment from ponies because of the way his eyes are, so he's really wary of trying to hang around a lot of other ponies right now."

"But why? I mean his eyes are a little strange, but I think they're kind of awesome."

Rainbow snorted. "So do I kiddo. The problem is that they look a lot like Nightmare Moon's eyes. So we're worried ponies might think that Dawn has something to do with her."

"Oh," murmured the orange filly, briefly remembering the terror of that fateful Summer Sun Celebration. She'd had nightmares for weeks afterwards.

"So is that a promise?" asked Rainbow.

"Yeah," agreed Scootaloo. They had entered the town proper and were coming up on the street where Scootaloo's house was. Her body unconsciously tensed. She hated it because, while she loved her parents, she found herself wary of returning home each day. She wasn't exactly dreading it, but coming home was more like an irritating homework assignment she wanted to put off as long as possible before having to deal with it. Going home earlier meant spending more time with her father and his expectations.

"Kid?"

"Yeah, Rainbow Dash?"

"Have you talked to your dad about Flight School?"

Scootaloo gulped at the sudden change in topic. "Not yet," she admitted, "He's talked to me about it...talked at me about it is more like it."

"He's pretty dead set on sending you there, isn't he?"

"Yeah."

There was no time for further conversation as the pair arrived at the front door of Scootaloo's home. The little filly slowly trotted up to the door, while Rainbow settled on the front step next to her. The blue mare knocked gently, but assertively. Inside, Scootaloo could hear the faint sound of hooves as somepony approached. Please be mom. Please be mom.

The door opened to reveal an orange and vivd purple mare, who smiled happily at the sight of her daughter. "Scootaloo, you're late."

Scootaloo released the breath she wasn't even aware she had been holding. "Sorry abut that mom," said the filly in an earnest tone.

"That was my fault, Mrs. Cream," said Rainbow Dash, "Scootaloo's been learning to fly and her first lesson wrapped up kind of late."

"You've been teaching Scootaloo how to fly." There was a cautious edge to Melon's voice.

Rainbow Dash grinned sheepishly and blushed. "Actually, I'm not the one teaching her. It's somepony I know who can fit Scoots' needs."

"I...see," said Melon Cream, raising an eyebrow, "And do I know this pony?"

"No," replied Rainbow Dash, "He's a little bit shy and he just arrived here recently."

"He did?" Melon blinked in confusion. "But I didn't receive any party invitations."

Rainbow had to laugh at that. "Sorry about that. Pinkie hasn't gotten to throw her party for him yet. He's not used to being around other ponies, so we're trying to help him adjust before we give him the the full Ponyville treatment. Him teaching Scootaloo how to fly is part of that. So, in a way, she's helping him as much as he's helping her."

"And do you trust this pony?"

"I do. He's staying with Fluttershy now."

Melon visibly relaxed. "Well, if Miss Fluttershy trusts him enough to allow him to stay in her house, I don't see how we have anything to worry about."

"Thanks mom," said Scootaloo grinning.

"Just let us know the next time you plan on staying outside this late. Your father won't approve of you always going out on a school night." Melon Cream led her daughter through the door before giving a nod to Rainbow. "Good night, Miss Dash."

"Good night Mrs. Cream. Good night squirt." The door shut and Rainbow took to the skies, heading back to her own home.

"And just where have you been young lady?" demanded Cirrus as Scootaloo cowered in the doorway to the living room, "You've already missed dinner. I bet you haven't done your homework either. How many times have I told you that you'll never amount to anything if you spend your days fooling around with those two delinquents."

Scootaloo bristled and glared at her father, her fear of him overshadowed by indignation on behalf of her fellow crusaders. "Don't talk about Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom like that! They are not delinquents!"

"DON'T TALK BACK TO ME YOU BRAT!!!" roared Cirrus, rising up above his daughter. The fury in his voice hit Scootaloo like a slap to her face, "I have given the best years of my life to raising you! I give you a home! I put food on the table! I send you to school and plan for your future! So don't you dare take that tone with me you ungrateful foal! If you can't show proper respect to your father I'll have no choice but to send you elsewhere."

Scootaloo shrank away from her father's wrath. Before things could escalate any further, Melon stepped in, her presence bringing the entire situation to a standstill.

"That's enough dear," she said, sending her husband a disapproving frown, "You are being unreasonable. Besides, Miss Dash vouched for Scootaloo's time."

Oh here we go. Scootaloo cringed at Rainbow's name, remembering how irritated Cirrus Stratus sometimes got when she talked about her idol.

"And you think that makes it any better?" demanded Cirrus, "If anything, that makes it worse. I will not have a daughter of mine being influenced by a shiftless layabout dropout."

"She was learning how to fly," said Melon, standing firm against her husband's tirade, "And I have heard enough from you about this. You are going to calm down or you will sleep on the couch tonight. Do you understand?"

Cirrus opened his mouth to protest, but quailed under his wife's gaze. Sagging in defeat, he settled and nodded. Satisfied with his response, Melon turned back to their daughter. "Now then Scootaloo, come into the kitchen with me and I'll make you some dinner. In the meantime, you can tell me about your flying lesson."

Scootaloo did as she was told and half an hour and a daisy sandwich later found her explaining Dawn's instructions for her practice for a week.

"I get why he wants me to practice that skill," sighed the filly, "But why do I have to wait a whole week for my next lesson? Only practicing one thing is going to get boring really fast."

Melon smiled and ruffled her daughter's hair. "He's probably trying to get you to learn discipline."

Scootaloo grimaced. She hated that word. "Why would he want to do that?"

Melon could only chuckle at her daughter's petulance. "I don't know much about what it takes to learn how to fly, dear. But I can imagine that, like most skills, the more you practice at it, the better you get. You'll find this assignment quite difficult, I think. It requires you to focus and it demands your time. You may have to give up some of the time you spend with your Crusader friends if you want to master this skill and the others this colt will teach you. The more you learn, the more time your practice is going to demand from you."

Scootaloo had found a sudden interest in her empty plate. "So I have to give up my friends?"

"Of course not! But you might not be able to spend as much time with them as you used to. It was the same with me. I had friends when I was a filly. But as I grew up, I ended up with other things that required my time. Does that mean we were any less friends because of it?" Melon Cream gently nuzzled her daughter.

Scootaloo thought over her mother's words. The entire reason she had been out by Fluttershy's house, alone, had been because her own friends had things they needed to do in their lives rather than simply crusade all the time. Sure she had been lonely, but Scootaloo found she couldn't resent Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle for having those things. And now, it seemed that she had gained one of her own. Maybe that's a part of growing up, she mused, unaware of the smile that spread across her face as she remembered Dawn's mysterious, turquoise eyes, It doesn't seem that bad at all.

Scootaloo looked up at the sound of her mother's amused chuckle. Melon Cream was grinning mischievously down at her daughter, an expression that made Scootaloo cringe. Her cheeks began to turn red, although she didn't know why. "Wh-what's up with at creepy grin mom? Seriously, you're creeping me out."

Laughing, Melon nuzzled her daughter's fuchsia mane. "It's nothing you need to worry about just yet dear. Now it's time for bed."

Author's Notes:

And so, another chapter is up for your viewing pleasure. I don't really have a lot to say about this one. A lot of it is exposition, explaining what Dawn's skillset is and giving you an idea of what he can do. I also wanted to show more of the dynamic between Scootaloo and her parents.

And now for your next homework assignment my dear readers. A new, and rather well-written story has come down the pipe that I'd like to recommend. This one is called Riding the Storm by Lantheros that was first posted yesterday. It's a very interesting character-driven piece focused around Rainbow Dash and a young pegasus colt with a severe (and boy do I mean severe) disability. Its formatting leaves a little bit to desired, but it's really good otherwise and I highly recommend it.

Family and Flight

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Chapter 6: Family and Flight

"He wants to see me?" said Twilight, staring at Fluttershy.

The shy mare nodded slowly. "And I want you to see him," she added.

Twilight frowned. She wasn't opposed to the notion of finally getting to see the mysterious pegasus colt who had saved Fluttershy. To be perfectly honest, she had been worried. The past week had filled her with tension as curiosity, along with the anxiety that Applejack had imparted to her, had been wearing away at Twilight's resolve to keep her promise. She had no stomach for these kinds of things, as her experience serving as both Fluttershy and Rarity's secret-keeper during the former's short-lived stint as a superstar model had taught her. But at the same time, she had to wonder why Dawn had apparently decided that he suddenly wanted to meet her.

"Are any of the others coming?" she asked.

Fluttershy shook her head. "No. Dawn's not ready for that yet. Both he and I wanted you to see him first."

"Why?"

Slowly, the pink-maned pegasus looked away, refusing to meet Twilight's gaze. "Um...remember that time a while ago, when I came and asked you about Nightmare Moon's eyes?"

Twilight blinked. She remembered, of course. But she couldn't see any connection to that and the current topic. After all, all they had talked about was why Nightmare Moon's eyes looked the way the did and about rumored ponies with the same eyes...

All of a sudden, the pieces clicked together in her head. Now Twilight understood. "No way," she said softly, "That was just a silly superstition."

"I'm afraid it's true," admitted Fluttershy, her voice barely a whisper, "That's why we wanted you to see him first."

Twilight Sparkle was already off in her own world. "This can't be true. If the Eyes are real, then does that mean that demons and such are real as well? No! That can't be right. Princess Celestia herself put a stop to those rumors long ago." There was no doubt in her mind that the rantings of the Cult Solar were little more than superstitious drivel. But then again, many stories and legends, however fictional they may be, often had a kernel of truth laying at their core, something that served as a starting point before attracting invented details and wild speculation, burying that kernel beneath layers of falsehood until the truth was all but completely hidden beneath the strata of lies.

Her mind whirling, Twilight stared hard at Fluttershy. "When can I see him?"

"Um...he'd like you to come over tomorrow, if that's possible," said Fluttershy meekly.

"Alright," said Twilight without the slightest hesitation, "I'll come over tomorrow afternoon. Does that work?"

"Um...yes." Fluttershy bobbed her head ever so slightly.

"Okay then," declared Twilight Sparkle, "We're all set then."

"Thank you." As she turned to leave, Fluttershy looked back over her shoulder. "Um...Twilight..."

"Yes?"

"Please don't tell the others about this yet."

"You've got it." Without waiting, Twilight drew a cross over her chest before planting her hoof on her closed eye.

"Thank you again Twilight Sparkle," said Fluttershy as she stepped out the door.

Scootaloo sagged and slumped down onto the grass in front of the Cutie Mark Crusaders' clubhouse. For something that hardly made her move at all, Dawn's practice regimen left her completely drained at the end. She had yet to rise more than twice her own height above the earth, but the amount of time she was able to spend floating was increasing. Not only that, but she was finding it easier to get her wings to hold her aloft and that she was requiring less concentration to do so.

"Ah still don't get how ya can do that without flappin' yer wings," muttered Apple Bloom as Sweetie Belle took a small towel and wiped the sweat from the orange pegasus' forehead. Now that the zap apples had been harvested and the jam made, Apple Bloom had time for her friends once again. This year had been a record harvest for the zap apples and the jam that Apple Bloom had made almost entirely through her own labor (and some coaching from Granny Smith) had been declared a success. The old, green mare had been quite secure in the knowledge that the secrets of her jam-making had been successfully passed on.

"I think it's kind of cool," said Sweetie Belle, "It's like magic."

"Dawn said that it is magic," answered Scootaloo, barely raising her head, "He said that all pegasi use their magic to fly."

"Ah don't get it," said Apple Bloom, "Ah thought unicorns were the only ponies with magic."

"I don't get it either," Scootaloo admitted, "Maybe we should ask Twilight Sparkle." She flinched at the eager gleam in the eyes of her two best friends. "But not now," she hastily amended, "I'm too tired."

This wasn't the first time Scootaloo had practiced in front of her friends. Unlike some ponies, they were an encouraging audience. Practicing in front of them didn't give Scootaloo the same anxiety that she might have felt showing her new skill in front of other ponies, no matter how unique it was. She still remembered the first day after she had met Dawn. Her father had demanded that she show what she had learned. Scootaloo had obliged rather hesitantly and had done her practice in front of her parents.

Cirrus Stratus didn't say a word. Instead, he turned around and stalked inside, disappointment practically oozing from every pore. Melon Cream, on the other hoof, had been ecstatic, hugging her daughter and praising her for her progress. Scootaloo got the sense that Melon's praise had been given more out of motherly duty than anything else, but was no less sincere because of it.

Like her mother, Scootaloo's friends had no expectations of her. They were simply overjoyed to see her get off the ground. It was a sentiment that Scootaloo herself echoed. Her normal impatience had been replaced by anticipation of the future. Every little step towards that future was a reward in and of itself. So when Scootaloo reflected on her practice and realized how much easier it had been for her to enter the right state of mind, she couldn't help but smile.

"What are y'all goin' on about now," drawled Applejack as she trotted up, a bucket with three bottles of apple juice in it balanced expertly on her back.

"Scootaloo's been learnin' to fly from that new colt," explained Apple Bloom, "But the way she does it is really different from other pegasi."

Applejack tilted her head to the side. "Different...and what new colt?"

"That new colt staying with Fluttershy," answered Sweetie Belle.

"Oh right. Him." Applejack's tone cooled considerably, but none of the girls picked up on the change.

"He taught Scootaloo how to get off the ground without flapping her wings," Sweetie went on, grinning excitedly.

That took the mare aback. "Without flappin'? That ain't possible is it?"

"It sure is," replied Bloom, grinning, "Show her, Scootaloo."

With a groan, Scootaloo got to her hooves and stretched out her wings. As worn out as she was, she wasn't sure that she had enough strength to actually do it again. Still, she reached out with her wings. She felt lightheaded and only partially aware of her surroundings. Strangely enough, it felt even easier than before to move that power through her wings and out into the world. She focused all her strength downward.

Her hooves only made it a few scant inches off the ground. However, the mere act of doing so left Applejack completely flabbergasted. "Landsakes," she muttered, her eyes wide.

"See!" crowed Apple Bloom, "Ah told ya so. It sure does look weird, don't it?"

Applejack shook her head as Scootaloo collapsed back onto the ground, gasping for breath. "Ah ain't seen nothin' like it," she admitted. And Ah ain't so sure that's a good thing, she added in her own mind. She did not feel that it was right to trust a colt like this Dawn Lightwing to teach Scootaloo how to fly. And she was fairly certain that this was not how a pegasus was supposed to learn. But then again, as an earth pony, she was hardly in a position to tell a pegasus their business when it came to this sort of thing.

"So," she said, after a moment, "Ya've been seein' this colt, Dawn?"

"We haven't," said Bloom, pointing to Sweetie and herself, "Just Scootaloo."

"I've only seen him once," admitted the bright orange filly, "But I'm seeing him again tomorrow."

"You are?" asked Applejack, raising a curious eyebrow.

Scootaloo nodded slowly. There was something about Applejack's manner that put her off.

"And what's this colt like?"

Scootaloo shrugged. "He's kind of neat. He's really quiet a lot of the time. But when he's talking about something he knows, he can talk a lot. He's sort of like Miss Twilight that way. He doesn't have a cutie mark yet and he looks pretty average except for..." she clamped her hooves over her mouth when she realized she nearly spilled Dawn's secret.

"Except fer what?" asked Applejack, leaning in.

"It's nothing!" said Scootaloo quickly, "It's not important!"

"Yer lyin'," said Applejack, her eyes narrowing, "Now come on. Out with it."

Scootaloo shook her head fiercely. "I can't say," she said nervously, she didn't like the dark expression on Applejack's face, "I promised I wouldn't."

"Promised ya wouldn't what?"

"I promised that I wouldn't tell what you want me to tell!" yelled the filly in frustration, "So I'm not going to."

"Scootaloo, yah'd better come clean and tell me now," said Applejack, "Ah ain't askin'."

"I CAN'T!!!" With that, the pegasus filly rushed off like a shot.

"Scootaloo! Get back here!" demanded Applejack at the top of her lungs.

"What's goin' on sis?" Applejack's frustration vanished when she saw that Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were both staring at her like she had grown a second head. "Yer scarin' me!"

Applejack paused and took deep breaths to calm herself down. "Ah'm sorry, Bloom, Sweetie. Ah didn't mean to get all angry like that, but Ah'm a bit worried. There's something about this colt that doesn't sit right with me and Ah ain't even met him yet. Ah don't feel he can be trusted."

"Why's that?" asked Apple Bloom, staring at her sister plaintively.

"Never you mind," said Applejack, "It's somethin' ya don't need to know about yet." Setting down the bucket and bottles, she turned back towards the house. "Tell Scootaloo Ah'm sorry for talkin' to her like that when y'all see her again."

She trotted back towards the house, her mind a suspicious swirl. At least now Ah know that, whatever it is about him that makes him so secretive, it has somethin' to do with his looks. Could he be one 'o them ponies Pa warned me about? She was so lost in thought that she failed to notice the massive stallion watching her carefully from the crest of a nearby hill.

Rainbow Dash sighed and sank into her seat. Today had been grueling, even though the scheduled storm had failed to arrive. Learning about managing the weather in Ponyville had meant learning about how the rainstorms nourished the crops, including what kind of margins of error she had to work with. Rainbow planned on waiting as long as she possibly could for something from the Weather Factory before she tapped into the emergency supplies she and her team had amassed over the past few days. Fortunately, with the amount of clouds they had managed to gather, she figured that she had enough to make up for the missed storm if push came to shove.

She and the rest of her team had again spent the day amassing whatever stray clouds they could find into a single section of the sky. It was much more difficult than simply batting the clouds away and left the entire group exhausted. Their work completed, Rainbow settled down for a pleasant lunch outside her favorite café, deciding to enjoy the sunshine, however unscheduled it had been.

"Do you mind if I join you?" teased a gentle voice from in front of the pegasus, causing her to snap back to the present. Her attention was immediately caught by the orange and purple earth pony in front of her.

"Um sure, go ahead," said Rainbow, glad that the waiter hadn't taken her order yet. Haute Cuisine didn't like it when his table arrangements were upset and somepony arriving in the middle of a meal was one of his peeves. "How can I help you, Miss Cream?"

"Please call me Melon Cream," requested the other mare, "I'd really like to be more familiar with the pony my daughter idolizes so much."

Rainbow Dash chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of her head, blushing slightly. While she was used to the adoration she received, especially from the younger ponies, she did feel a little unnerved having it brought up directly like this, especially by the mother of her biggest fan.

"Alright then," she said, "How can I help you?"

Melon smiled cheerfully, "Like I said, I'd like to get to know you better."

"So what do you want to know?" asked Rainbow.

"I understand that you didn't finish Flight School," said Melon, prompting a flinch from the rainbow-maned pegasus in front of her, "Can you tell me why?"

"It's a personal issue," said Rainbow softly, "And I don't like to talk about it."

"Does it have anything to do with why you have been discouraging Scootaloo from going?"

Dash blinked and looked up at Melon. "Did Scootaloo tell you?"

Melon Cream shook her head. "No, she doesn't talk about it at all. Cirrus has brought up the topic many times, not that he's ever in the mood to solicit her input, but Scootaloo herself has never talked about Flight School even once."

"So how do you figure I have anything to do with that?" asked Rainbow.

"Scootaloo idolizes you. And when Cirrus isn't there or is in one of his better moods, she rarely talks about anything else aside from her time with her friends. She values your opinion and your thoughts immensely, which I can't help but think may have something to do with her reluctance to attend Flight School."

Rainbow frowned and looked down. "Okay, you caught me. I did tell the squirt that Flight School probably wasn't the best place for her to go."

"Why? Do you feel Scootaloo can't handle it? Is she not good enough?"

Rainbow looked back up and this time stared directly into Melon's eyes. "I would never say that about Scootaloo! I would never tell a pony that they aren't good enough for anything. Even if she were a better flier than I was, I wouldn't want her to go to Flight School."

"Then why?"

Rainbow Dash let out a sigh. "To be honest, it's because of a couple of things. And you're one of them."

Now it was Melon Cream's turn to be taken aback. "What do you mean?"

"Flight School isn't a very nice place. The ponies who go there mostly come from Cloudsdale itself. They usually aren't very nice to ponies who don't come from Cloudsdale. Outsiders are seen as intruders and inferiors and a lot of the Cloudsdale natives will bully them mercilessly. Even worse, a lot of these kids come from families that you might call old-school."

"How so?"

"They have old views on how relations should be between the pegasi and the other tribes. You should have seen the way they tweaked the Hearth's Warming pageant when I was there. It completely demonized the unicorns and earth ponies and made it look like the pegasi alone saved all three tribes. They're especially against mixed marriages. Anypony who comes from mixed parentage enters the school with a big target right between their wings."

Melon Cream was shocked. She hadn't expected this response at all. "And this is why you don't want Scootaloo to go to Flight School."

Rainbow Dash nodded. "If Scootaloo goes there, she'll be one of a tiny number of students who had somepony other than a pegasus for both her parents. There are a lot of ponies there who would love to make her life Tartarus for that."

"But don't the instructors do anything about it?"

"No," said Rainbow, shaking her head fiercely, "If anything, they make matters worse. You see, the school is managed by a Board of Trustees who wield a lot of power to decide who is hired for a given position. The members of that board are from some of Cloudsdale's oldest families and are some of the worst pegasus tribalists out there. They like to use their influence to make sure that anypony who gets hired as an instructor is likely to share their political views. Naturally, they don't state those things in public, but when it comes to enforcing discipline and cracking down on troublemakers, the instructors will always side with what those board members want."

"That's terrible," gasped Melon, covering her mouth, "Is that why you left."

Rainbow blinked and her eyes clouded with tears. "Actually, that wasn't quite it, but it's a similar topic. You know how pegasi used to be a really militaristic society? Well, that's the mindset that the instructors at the school have. They have this really narrow definition of what a real pegasus is supposed to be like and anypony who doesn't fit into their little pigeonhole is automatically a failure and unworthy of any effort on their part. To be a real pegasus, you have to be tough, hard as nails, fly fast and hard. You can't show any weakness ever."

Melon waited silently. She understood the difficulties of such a narrow mindset. But she couldn't understand how that mindset had made any problems for Rainbow Dash, who indeed seemed to fit the mold that her instructors had created.

Slowly, Rainbow went on. "And if a pony doesn't fit that ideal pegasus image, you're expected to shun them and do absolutely nothing to support them."

Was that it? wondered Melon Cream, Did she stand up for somepony that she was supposed to be shunning and bullying. But who would she...? It suddenly clicked inside her head. "Fluttershy."

Rainbow nodded solemnly. "You should have seen what it was like for Fluttershy. The students harassed her constantly and the only reason the instructors didn't straight up join in was because they had to keep up appearances at the very least. She was so traumatized by it that, when Tornado Day came around last year, she was barely able to even get off the ground at first because she was terrified of performing in public.

"I couldn't stand it. I was fine with the idea that pegasi had to be strong and tough. But the one thing I believed was that picking on someone weak was the last thing that made you strong. At first, I just stood up for her because it made me mad that some ponies were so pathetic that they had to resort to picking on somepony like her to feel better about themselves. Of course, when I started defending Fluttershy, most of the other ponies at the school turned on me too, even though I had some of the best scores in the school's history when it came to practical curriculum.

"Pretty soon, the only pony I could spend any amount of time with was Fluttershy. And after a while, we ended up becoming friends. I found I didn't mind that she was a weak flier or that she wasn't much of a fighter. She was just so...nice. I honestly couldn't understand how any of that could be a weakness. And after seeing some of the things Fluttershy can do when she puts her mind to it, I understand even less now."

A sigh escaped from the sky-blue mare. "Long story short, after Fluttershy left the school after finding her special talent, I ended up with the bulk of the scorn she had been getting. The instructors couldn't do anything directly, but they sure as hay looked the other way when the other students did everything they could to push my buttons. Finally, I snapped, got in a fight with the wrong pony and got kicked out."

"I'm so sorry," whispered Melon, staring aghast at Rainbow, "I had no idea it was like that."

"Don't worry," replied Rainbow airily, "It's not like it was your fault or anything."

"I'm grateful you could take the time to talk with me," said Melon Cream gently.

Their meal sat untouched through the conversation and the earth pony mare didn't think she could muster up the appetite to eat hers. In spite of recalling what must have been a traumatic phase of her foalhood, Rainbow dug in heartily.

"Do you mind if I could ask you a question now?" she asked between mouthfuls.

Nibbling daintily on a flower petal Melon nodded hesitantly, "Go ahead."

"Why does your husband hate me so much? I'm guessing that it might have something to do with the fact I dropped out of Flight School, but is that all there is to it?"

"Did Scootaloo tell you about that?"

Taking a sip from her drink, Rainbow nodded. "She's mentioned it a few times. But I also see the guy almost every day. He is flying through my skies after all. And every time we go through the same airspace, he's always shooting me these dirty looks when he thinks I'm not looking. So, seriously, what the hay is his problem?"

Melon exhaled long and and hard before sucking in a breath to steady herself. "It's a complicated situation. Cirrus has a difficult relationship with his parents. They had a substantial number of impressive accomplishments. When Cirrus was born, they expected him to surpass them in everything that he did. They expected him to start flying earlier than they had, find his cutie mark sooner, get better scores in school, obtain more honors, and so on. While it's good to have high expectations for your child..."

"Making them too high just puts them under more pressure than they can stand," suggested Rainbow, remembering how the sense of pressure she'd felt at the thought of performing in front of her friends and the Wonderbolts had nearly blown her chances at the Best Young Flier competition.

Melon nodded. "And when he couldn't measure up, they made their disappointment very clear. They refused to send him to Coudsdale Flight School unless he earned a full scholarship, which is what they did when they went. He could have gotten a partial scholarship with the level of skill and talent he displayed, but his parents refused to contribute one bit, so he ended up going to a public school instead."

"So that's it," muttered Rainbow, putting the pieces together.

Melon nodded. "I'm sorry he puts so much of his frustration on you. But I hope you can understand him a little better." Deciding that she couldn't eat any more, Melon opted to get her meal boxed so she could take it home. She placed some bits on the table and left, balancing the box between her saddlebags. "Thank you for taking the time to chat with me, Rainbow Dash. I hope we can talk again. And, in spite of my reservations about how reckless you are with your flying, I can't help but think of you as a good influence on my daughter. So please take care of her."

Rainbow nodded silently as she watched Scootaloo's mother canter away through the crowds, thinking about getting the opportunity to speak with her again. That actually sounds kinda nice, she thought.

The next day had arrived. All throughout school, it was all Scootaloo could do to stay planted in her seat. As it was, she spent the entire day fidgeting, much too distracted by the thought of her upcoming flying lesson to pay attention to Cheerilee, a problem that got her reprimanded no fewer than three times before school was over.

Her problems focusing had not been missed by the other fillies and colts in the class. Diamond Tiara had tittered behind her hoof every time Scootaloo had gotten in trouble and had even been the one to point out the orange filly's lapses to the teacher on two occasions. As it was, Scootaloo was too excited and nervous to hold a grudge. Both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle looked on with a fair amount of trepidation as their beloved friend grew more and more anxious by the hour.

When the bell finally rang, signaling the end of the day, Cheerilee had been going to tell Scootaloo to stay after class, but lost her opportunity. Before the ringing had even ended, Scootaloo was already gone, her desk vacant and a trail of dust leading out the door. Cheerilee merely sighed and asked the other two crusaders to relay her desire to speak to Scootaloo at the earliest opportunity.

It wouldn't have been the first time that Cheerilee had been forced to talk to the orange filly about her neglect for her schoolwork. Cheerilee preferred to work those matters out with Scootaloo alone, when she could, only bringing problems to her father's attention when the absolute letter of the law required it. During the first parent-teacher conference she had had with Cirrus, Cherilee had been relieved to find a parent who didn't try to push the blame for their foal's problems straight onto the teacher. However, that relief quickly faded into dismay when she realized the sheer degree of pressure the stallion was putting on his daughter. At times, she found that Cirrus's treatment of Scootaloo bordered on outright abusive when it came to pushing her. But she had quickly realized that any effort she made to intervene would likely only make things worse for Scootaloo. So Cheerilee compromised and did the best she could to make sure that most of any problems that emerged were taken care of just between her and the filly, only getting Cirrus involved when the laws and rules governing her position absolutely required it.

It had been a long time since she had seen Scootaloo that distracted, though. She wondered what the impetus could be and could only hope that, whatever the cause was, it would be a positive influence in the little filly's life.

Dawn was in much the same position he had been in when he first met Scootaloo, standing silently in Fluttershy's front yard, his eyes closed and his body still. It was so still, in fact, that a couple of birds had actually perched on him and were chirping away without the slightest reaction from the colt beneath them. The low buzz of Scootaloo's approach startled the birds into flight and prompted Dawn's eyes to open.

Fortunately, their meeting this time did not involve a crash of any kind. Scootaloo skidded her vehicle to a stop in front of the colt. Grinning widely, she dismounted and galloped up to him. "Okay! I'm here! What are we doing today!"

Dawn simply stared at her. "First, show me how much progress you made."

Her good mood instantly deflated, Scootaloo let out a groan and do as she told. She spread her wings halfheartedly, wishing to get it over with. To her surprise, she began feeling the flow of power through the appendages before she even closed her eyes. And with a single breath, she found herself drifting off the ground.

"Hmm," Dawn mused as he watched the other pegasus ascend upwards, "You made faster progress than I thought you would."

"Really!" exclaimed Scootaloo, immediately wishing she hadn't. Forgetting to maintain the flow of power to her wings, she plummeted. Then, before she could even think about it, her wings snapped back open and she slowed drastically before touching down lightly on the ground.

"Much faster," said Dawn decisively as he nodded with what could only be approval.

"Does this mean we get to move on to something new?" pleaded the filly.

"That's debatable," answered Dawn, his tone giving nothing away.

"What do you mean?"

"Fast progress is good, but not if it encourages you to take unnecessary risks before you're ready. I am tempted to simply call it a day here and order another week of the same practice because you are in dire need of some patience."

Any thoughts of protest were cut off by a single look at Dawn's unflinching, reptilian gaze. Instead, Scootaloo's ears flattened against her skull and she shrank back, her lips trembling.

"As you have noticed, while you can start lifting off quite easily now, you are still in a position where you can still loose your lift if you are sufficiently distracted. The next step makes things considerably riskier."

The young filly searched Dawn's face for any indicators of what she should do. But the colt remained as inscrutable as ever. Gathering her courage, she stepped forward again and tried to regain some of her composure. "I promise not to do anything dangerous with what you're going to teach me."

"And?" Dawn raised one eyebrow.

"...And I promise to follow your instructions to the letter and not try to find any fancy loopholes that could get me into trouble." Scootaloo blinked in surprise at her own words. It hadn't even initially occurred to her that she could take whatever instructions the colt gave her and try to find some creative way to subvert them to do what she wanted.

To her relief, Dawn nodded. "Very well. But how can I be sure that you will keep your promise."

"I'll keep it," asserted Scootaloo, "I'll even Pinkie Promise if I have to."

Dawn's expressionless visage gave way to one of confusion. "Pinkie Promise?"

Scootaloo nodded. "Uh huh. It's a really important promise to Ponyville ponies. You don't ever break a Pinkie Promise."

Tilting his head to the side, the colt inquired, "May I ask why?"

Wincing, Scootaloo gathered her courage. "Um...you might not be ready to hear that part yet."

"..."

"It has to do with the fact that you're not ready to meet other ponies quite yet."

Dawn blinked and stood silently for a moment. "I still don't understand."

Letting out a frustrated huff, the filly decided to throw caution to the wind. Alright! You asked for it. Closing her eyes, she blurted out, "Nopony ever breaks a Pinkie Promise because breaking a promise is the best way to lose your friends..."

"FOREVER!!!"

Dawn did something Scootaloo had never thought she would see him do, given his natural composure. The colt yelped and jumped into the air before rushing behind a nearby tree in a blur as Pinkie Pie erupted from beneath a rock she couldn't even begin to fit under, giving Scootaloo her most serious glare before sinking back under the rock and lowering it into place. A few seconds later, it was like she was never there.

Slowly, Dawn leaned out from behind a tree, his eyes wide with shock. Scootaloo had to work extra hard to avoid collapsing from laughter at the sight of the colt's bamboozled expression. As it was, her face scrunched up while the air echoed with barely restrained giggles.

"What..." asked Dawn as he slowly crept out from behind the tree, "...was that?"

"That was Pinkie Pie," explained Scootaloo, snorting between words, "She does that."

"How?"

Finally managing to regain some of her composure, Scootaloo shook her head vigorously. "Don't...just don't. Trust me, you'll be happier that way. And besides..." She took a deep breath. "That is why you don't break a Pinkie Promise."

"Really?"

The little filly's eyes glimmered with mischief as she grinned at Dawn. "You want another go?" She sucked in a dramatically deep breath. "Breaking promises is..."

"Stop!" exclaimed the colt, rearing back in preparation to flee again, "I get it!"

Unable to contain herself anymore, Scootaloo collapsed, completely overcome with mirth as she laughed until tears leaked out of her eyes. "You should see your face," she gasped out.

Dawn let out a long breath. After a moment, he smiled and a slight chuckle escaped him. "I have to admit, I haven't been surprised like that in a long time."

Regaining a little self-control, Scootaloo got back up and smiled at the colt. "So, will a Pinkie Promise be good enough."

Actually smiling, Dawn nodded. "I will accept it."

"Okay then," said Scootaloo, going through the motions as she recited the words, "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."

Dawn tilted his head curiously, but opted not to question anymore, given what his previous inquiries had led to. Instead, he coughed and tried his best to pull the remains of his dignity back together so that he could resume the lesson.

"Well then, all distractions aside, your next step will be what amounts to an actual takeoff," he explained, "This time, I will demonstrate how it will go."

He extended his wings. But instead of holding them level to the ground, he kept them in a slightly raised position. "You will do what you were doing before. Only instead of simply releasing the energy from your wings, you will hold it within your wings." He paused. "Does this make sense?"

Scootaloo nodded. "Yeah. Instead of reaching all the way out, you want me to build up that tingly feeling, right?"

"I suppose that's one way of putting it," decided the colt, "But you probably won't get that tingly feeling for much longer. Once you build it up, use your breath to guide the release and in the same motion, make a downward stroke of your wings. This should be the result."

Following his own instructions, Dawn took a breath, then released it. At the same time, he flapped downwards and rocketed up into the sky. Scootaloo's jaw dropped as she watched the colt soar upwards before his momentum petered out. Then, as he began to fall, his wings snapped back up into a horizontal position and his speed dropped, allowing him to slowly drift to the ground.

"That is the basic gist of the exercise. It is built on the practice of the two main aspects of pegasus flight." Dawn lifted his wing. Scootaloo saw a slight breeze bend the grass away from him. "Releasing your power to generate the initial force and..." He flapped the wing and the slight breeze became a gale that blew a cloud of dust and several small stones into the air, "...using the physical motion of your wings to guide the release to maximize the force exerted by your energy. In the original exercise, you generated lift with your magic alone. But now, you will use the act of flapping your wings to invoke a greater force, which will generate true flight."

"Um," ventured Scootaloo, "Do I really have to drift back to the ground like you did."

The black colt nodded solemnly. "That is an extension of the first exercise you learned. The very first position you learned is also your recovery position. When you feel yourself falling or losing control, assuming that position will allow you to arrest your fall and regain some control. It will help later when you begin practicing more advanced material and will keep you safe even when you practice outside my of my supervision.

"You are to follow the exercise as I told you. You will assume the position of the first exercise the exact moment you feel yourself begin to fall." Dawn narrowed his eyes, leaning close to the orange filly, "You will, under no circumstances, attempt any little daredevil tricks by withholding the position for any amount of time after you begin to fall. Do you understand?"

Gulping, Scootaloo nodded quickly. Dawn smiled ever so slightly. "Then begin."

Setting her stance, Scootaloo raised her wings and breathed in, closing her eyes by instinct, and feeling the magical energy beginning to gather in the feathery appendages. She smiled as she felt it build up. Finally, when she thought she had enough, she did as Dawn instructed, breathing out and releasing the magic as she flapped downward.

The energy rushed out of her wings with an alacrity Scootaloo had never felt before. The ground disappeared beneath her hooves in an instant and she rushed upwards with startling speed. She imagined that most pegasi didn't go through first takeoffs quite like these. As she felt her ascent begin to slow, Scootloo opened her eyes.

She immediately wished she hadn't. Her irises shrunk to pinpricks as the ground spanned beneath her. Her vision swam as panic gripped her. Scootaloo's wings went stiff and the filly let out a scream as she began to plummet.

I'm dead! I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die! The mantra repeated itself endlessly through her thoughts as she screwed her eyes shut, waiting for the end.

It never came as a sudden rush of air engulfed the orange filly, slowing her fall and causing her to come to a gentle rest on the ground. For a moment, she simply lay there, trembling.

"Scootaloo." Dawn's voice brought her back and she remembered what she had been doing and why she had been up in the sky in the first place. Opening her eyes, she looked up to see Dawn standing over her, his expression unreadable.

"I'm sorry," whimpered the filly.

The colt blinked in confusion. "Sorry? What for?"

"I screwed up!" Scootaloo exclaimed, covering her head and wishing she could disappear. Hot tears, from sorrow and embarrassment this time, trickled down her cheeks, "I froze up and dropped like a rock! I suck at this! Maybe I shouldn't fly at all?"

"That's all?"

Scootaloo froze and slowly pulled her head out from under her hooves. "What do you mean 'that's all?'"

Dawn shrugged. "So you fell. Simply try again."

"But what if I fail again?"

"Then try again. Try as many times as it takes until you get it right. That's all you need to do. That's all there is to do." Pausing, Dawn leaned in and whispered into Scootaloo's ear. "And no matter how many times it takes, I will catch you."

The slightest tint of pink spread across the filly's cheeks as she nodded. Wiping her tears away, Scootaloo got back onto her hooves and did as she was bid. Seconds later, she was hurtling upwards. This time, she tried not to panic. She managed to avoid embarrassing herself with another scream, but the initial fear caused her to freeze up again. She was already falling when she remembered to spread her wings, but the air pressure from her increasing speed made it difficult to open her wings to the right position. Sadly, she made little headway in slowing herself down, forcing Dawn to catch her again.

Dawn's expression was still unreadable. "Again."

The filly tried for the third time. This time, she flinched when she looked down and pitched over backwards. Unable to make the slightest effort to slow her fall, she dropped like a stone.

A fourth attempt was made, and then a fifth. By the end, Scootaloo was boiling over with frustration at her inability to master such a simple-looking exercise. Worse still, the exertion was beginning to take its toll and her breath was coming in heaving gasps as she desperately gathered strength for a sixth try.

Her effort didn't make even half the height of her previous attempt. The filly's wings went limp, unable to reach out any further. Scootaloo's vision swam, this time from fatigue. She couldn't even begin to make an effort to stop. So she fell, trusting Dawn to continue to catch her.

As it turned out, her trust was unnecessary as a field of glittering, violet magic enveloped the little pegasus and slowly lowered her gently. Scootaloo felt herself come to rest on a pair of gentle forelegs, which then wrapped around her, cradling her ever so softly. As her vision came back into focus, Scootaloo found herself staring into a pair of teal eyes.

"Oh dear! Are you alright Scootaloo?" asked Fluttershy as she hovered along the ground so she could continue to carry the exhausted filly, "That was quite the fall. You could have been badly hurt."

"Oh, you're back," observed Dawn flatly, "It's just as well. We're done for the day anyway."

"Wait! You were making Scootaloo do this?" The presence of another voice prompted Scotaloo to turn her head, where she saw Twilight Sparkle, her eyes wide with indignation. The lavender unicorn flinched as the colt turned his unnerving gaze on her.

All frustration faded, replaced with wonder as Twilight realized what she was looking at. There was no mistaking that glimmering color, or those dragon-like slits. The resemblance of Dawn's eyes to Nightmare Moon was uncanny; and it fascinated her. The possibilities boggled Twilight's mind as she considered what the existence of eyes like these might mean. "Amazing," she breathed.

Realizing how quickly Twilight Sparkle changed tunes, Dawn turned his glance towards Fluttershy and raised an eyebrow. The yellow pegasus could only grin sheepishly and offer a half-hearted shrug.

Letting out a slight sigh, Dawn resigned himself to the inevitable. "Perhaps we should go inside," he offered.

Author's Notes:

So in this chapter we have more flight lessons and my take on Rainbow Dash's departure from Flight School, as well as a little more background on why Scootaloo's dad is such a jerk, because a jerk with context is always better than a jerk who's just a jerk, even if he still is a jerk after all is said and done.

And now for my next recommendation. This little story if fairly new and is just starting out, but it made a pretty big impression on me and I'm really looking forward to where it goes, so it's best to increase awareness early on. Fallen From the Vine by omnom19 is the story of Sugar Grape, a pegasus born into a family of earth ponies in a mainly earth pony town, who wants to live an earth pony life, even though she's a pegasus. And that's about it so far. Only the first couple of chapters have been posted. But even though they were so short, they felt a lot longer to read, a testament to the author's skill at conveying a lot with few words. If you have the time, you should give it a read.

The Eyes of Nightmare

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Chapter 7: The Eyes of Nightmare

"Well?" Dawn stared at Twilight Sparkle as the lavender unicorn stood, transfixed by his eyes. The air around them was filled with the quiet sounds of animals moving among their many homes built into the structure of Fluttersy's cottage. Twilight lounged on the couch while Dawn sat across the living room table from her. Upstairs, the sounds of soft splashing emanated from Fluttershy's bathroom as the yellow pegasus gave a certain tired and sweaty orange filly a thorough bath after her afternoon workout. Scootaloo's protestations that she was perfectly capable of bathing herself had fallen on deaf ears, her drooping eyelids indicating that she might fall asleep in the tub if left to her own devices.

"It's amazing," replied Twilight, "I know several theories about why Nightmare Moon's eyes were the way they were and your existence by itself pretty much bucks half of them out the window."

"Really?" inquired the ebony colt, raising an eyebrow.

Twilight nodded excitedly. "Yeah: the effect being a hidden component of alicorn physiology, invoked dark magic, blood rites, etcetera etcetera..." She waved her hoof dismissively. "...all kaput thanks to you."

"No demonic possession or anything like that?"

"No way!" argued Twilight emphatically, "I've come up against no real proof of the existence of demons, at least in the sense that the Cult Solar talks about, so it hardly seems likely that demonic possession is a feasible theory for your situation."

"Couldn't these be construed as proof in and of themselves?" asked Dawn, pointing to his eyes.

"Hardly," scoffed the unicorn, "Your behavior doesn't even come close to matching what the Cult Solar's writings dictate. It could be argued that you might be concealing your natural tendencies to throw ponies off guard, but that doesn't seem plausible given that the most visible indicator of your supposed demonic nature remains in plain view."

"So what do you make of them then?"

Twilight tapped her chin lightly. "I couldn't say. In order to understand the nature of your eyes, I'd like to run some tests on you. While I could manage some of them here on the spot, I'd get better data in my laboratory back home with Spike, that's my assistant by the way, to help out. It would be even better if I had more ponies like you to study in order to get a more comprehensive data spread, but you're the only particular specimen that we have of this phenomenon."

"What tests could you run here?" asked Dawn.

"Actually, they are the first tests I wanted to run anyway. They're all basic vision tests." Twilight grinned. "I wanted to see if your eyes only look different or if they really are different in the physiological sense. So the first thing I want to test is where your vision falls within the range of typical pony eyesight. With these tests, I should be able to determine if your eyes function differently from other ponies or if their appearance is merely cosmetic."

"I see," murmured the colt, "Then you may proceed when you are ready."

"Alright," agreed Twilight, her horn lighting up with magical energy, "Let's get started. I need you to hold still..."

Fluttershy slowly trotted down the stairs. Scootaloo was draped across her back like a pair of bright-orange saddlebags, the little filly's eyes just barely managing to stay open. As she stepped into the living room, Fluttershy's eyes widened as she took in the sight of Dawn sitting across from Twilight, his head encased in a sphere matching the color of his coat, rimmed with glimmering purple magic.

On the couch, Twilight focused her attention on a sheet of paper, a quill scribbling furiously across it as she recorded the results of her experiments. "Alright," she said, "I'm going to test your acuity in low-light situations. Just focus on identifying the objects that appear in front of you." Her horn flickered for a moment as she waited.

Fluttershy listened expectantly, anticipating that Dawn would begin shouting out whatever it was that he saw as it appeared in front of him. Instead, the colt remained silent as Twilight sat, poised to continue writing. For a moment, Fluttershy wondered if Dawn was refusing to participate. But then, Twilight snapped into action, her quill once again hurrying to record the information she was apparently getting.

"Interesting," she murmured, "From the results, your eyes appear to have greater sensitivity to motion and light than regular pony eyes. You have very acute night vision and, for the most part, your eyesight is better than most ponies. It's not super-pony eyesight by any measure, but it does seem to prove that your eyes are actually functionally different from regular pony eyes. That shows that your condition is not simply a matter of appearance."

"Um, what does that mean, exactly?" asked Fluttershy as she gently deposited a barely awake Scootaloo on a nearby chair.

The light around Twilight's horn vanished, along with the sphere enclosing Dawn's skull. "I'm not entirely sure," she admitted, "The meridians around Dawn's eyes are more active than usual for most ponies. It suggests that the physiological change was brought about through some kind of internal magical stimulus."

"Um...what?" was all Fluttershy could manage.

"It basically means that the cause behind Dawn's condition is likely magical in nature. It's almost akin to a low-level transformation spell that magically changed the form of his eyes. Normally, that would be utterly unthinkable for a pony that isn't a unicorn, but..."

"But what?" asked Scootaloo sleepily.

"But sometimes, the meridians of non-unicorn ponies have qualities that can contribute to unique developments through their own magic. Fluttershy's ability to communicate with animals and her stare are an example of this, as well as...whatever it is that Pinkie Pie does...I think."

"So you're saying that it may have something to do with his special talent?" asked Scootaloo, her excitement making her briefly forget her fatigue.

Twilight slowly shook her head. "Not always. Sometimes the results are purely cosmetic, or sometimes an outright defect. In Dawn's case, the best I can determine is that the unique quality of the meridians around his eyes invoked some sort of transformation into a predetermined form that results in his current condition.

"There's only one discrepancy," she muttered, tapping her chin thoughtfully, "According to the folklore surrounding the Eyes of Nightmare, ponies with the condition are normally indistinguishable from other ponies and their eyes only transform under some kind of condition. But as you all have no doubt noticed, Dawn's eyes are constantly locked into their current form...I wonder what that means. Could that aspect of the folklore simply be wrong?" The lavender unicorn's voice trailed off as she tried to process the conundrum she found herself dealing with.

Dawn gave no indication what he thought of Twilight Sparkle's information. Instead, he merely waited patiently while the other ponies processed it all. He seemed surprisingly at ease, given the sensitive nature of the subject at hoof.

"Hey," said Scootaloo after a moment, "You keep talking about these meridian things? Dawn talked about them too. What are they?"

Hearing this question brought a grin to Twilight's face as she relished the opportunity to explain magical theory to a willing listener. "Meridians are the pathways magical energy uses to flow throughout our bodies. Basically, they're like veins and arteries, but instead of blood, they carry magic."

"Ah, that was it," said Dawn abruptly, "I couldn't remember what my master had been telling me about meridians, but I'm starting to remember. He said that pegasus wings have the highest concentration of outlets for the meridians in our bodies."

"What does that mean?" asked Scootaloo.

"When it comes to meridians, there are two main features that concern most ponies," continued Twilight, "Outlets, which channel our magical energy from within us into the outside world; and inlets, which allow ponies to draw the ambient magical energy of the world itself into their bodies, which is one of the two sources for our magical energy.

"The other one, which is the main source for most ponies, is the energy we generate ourselves, which we gain in the same way as we get our physical energy and basic vitality, through the consumption of food and rest."

Twilight's horn glimmered, conjuring a magical light in front of her. "Different ponies have a different distribution of outlets throughout their bodies, affected mainly by their breed, but also by their individuality. For example, unicorns, like me, have our highest concentration of outlets in our horns, which is what allows us to channel our magical energy out into the world in the form of spells.

"Pegasus ponies, like you three, have their highest concentration of outlets in their wings, which is what allows you to fly, even though basic physics indicate that that shouldn't even be possible for you. You also have a fair number in your hooves, which allow you to manipulate clouds and the weather."

"What about earth ponies?" interjected Scootaloo excitedly.

"I was getting to that," said Twilight in a slightly miffed tone, "Earth ponies have the most even distribution of outlets, with them being scattered more or less evenly throughout their entire bodies. The result is that earth pony magic is generally more diffuse and subtle than the magic of pegasi and unicorns. It can be harnessed to promote the healthy growth of vegetation and direct nourishment of the land around them, which is what makes earth ponies such effective farmers.

"The inlets are also affected by our tribes. Unicorns have hardly any inlets, which is why all the magic I cast comes from my own internal reserves. Unless a unicorn has some unique quality, like perhaps more inlets than normal, use of magic that utilizes any amount of external magical energy requires the application of complex procedures to harness that energy. It's very difficult to pull off and most unicorns, like myself, don't think that the results are generally worth the effort.

"Pegasus ponies have a larger number of inlets, which allows them to draw ambient energy from the sky and deepens their connection to the weather and such. Earth ponies have almost as many inlets as they do outlets, which enable them to draw a large quantity of energy from outside themselves. This typically manifests in earth ponies' superior strength and stamina in comparison to the other two breeds."

"Interesting," mused Dawn, actually looking fascinated by Twilight's lecture. Fluttershy and Scootaloo looked distinctly more disconnected. "My Master's explanation for how pegasus magic works makes more sense now."

"Your master?" asked Twilight.

"He was the pony who basically raised me. He taught me to fly and then taught me the Gale King."

Actually, that explains quite a bit, thought Twilight, remembering Applejack's misgivings from the other day. The discrepancies that had made the earth pony farmer so suspicious made more sense when she considered the idea that Dawn was a martial artist. Wait. Gale King? I remember hearing that name somewhere. Was it from one of my history books?

For the time being, she decided to shelve the inquiry. Fluttershy was already asking something else.

"So this master, was he your father?"

Dawn slowly shook his head. "No, although he was the closest I ever had to one. He taught me everything I know, including how to survive in places like the Everfree Forest."

"I guess that explains how you managed to live there so long," observed Twilight.

"What happened to him?" asked Scootaloo, getting reproving glares from the two mares at her blunt approach to a sensitive subject. "What?" she asked nervously, shrinking away from their disapproval.

"He died," replied Dawn without the slightest hitch in his tone, "He passed away...a little over a year ago...I think?"

"You think?" asked Twilight, giving him an incredulous stare.

The ebony colt merely shrugged. "Calendars are hard to come by in the Everfree."

The two mares shared an unsettled glance at the blithe manner with which the colt addressed the loss of a pony who had given him so much. Fluttershy found herself wondering if this was an additional symptom of the persecution Dawn had suffered, his soul having been so buried under forced indifference to pain that even the loss of his mentor was incapable of evoking an emotional response.

Twilight Sparkle was going to inquire further, but noticed how much time had passed since their session had begun. The sun had sunk beneath the horizon and the moon was now crawling across the sky in its place. "It's getting late. I'd better be heading home."

"Me too," added Scootaloo, finishing just in time to allow an enormous yawn to force its way out of her mouth. Her eyes drooped and she slumped weakly in her chair.

"Oh dear," said Fluttershy, quickly checking the filly over, "Um, I don't think she'll make it all the way back to her home at this rate."

Twilight hummed and got up from her seat to examine the filly. "That's strange," she observed, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say she was suffering from magical fatigue. I know that feeling pretty well. Of course!" Twilight whirled around to address Dawn. "That's what you were doing earlier today. You were teaching Scootaloo to fly by using her magic. That explains so much!"

Dawn nodded. "That would be correct."

Grinning widely, Twilight gathered her implements into her saddlebags. "This is so exciting. I would love for a chance to conduct an examination into the full capabilities of pegasus magic. Just imagine the benefit this kind of information would have to the scientific community?"

"If you like," Dawn offered, "You can observe our lessons when I teach her. I plan on her next lesson being in three days."

"Huh? That soon?" asked Scootaloo blearily, barely raising her head.

Dawn nodded. "You need to practice the liftoff exercise with some degree of frequency in order to successfully master it. But you cannot practice it if I am not there to keep you safe. So naturally, that our lessons will be more frequent because of that."

"Oh," she said, slumping, "Hey, how many tries did it take you to get the hang of it?"

Dawn scratched his chin. "I don't know," he admitted, "I didn't keep count. Or if I did, I forgot what it was."

Sulking, Scootaloo blew a strand of her unkempt mane away from her eyes as she settled back into her seat.

"Um, I think Scootaloo is going to have to stay here tonight," said Fluttershy softly. She leaned down and nuzzled the filly gently.

"Yeah," agreed Twilight, "If she's suffering from magical fatigue, then it's best to let her sleep. I can stop by her home and tell her parents where she is.

Fluttershy nodded. "Please do. And if it isn't too much trouble, tell them that I will make sure that Scootaloo gets to school tomorrow."

"Got it." Heading out the door, the lavender unicorn turned to address Dawn one more time. "Thank you for letting me come over to meet you today."

"Miss Sparkle," said the colt by way of farewell, bobbing his head politely.

Then Twilight was gone, the door swinging shut in her wake. Fluttershy turned back to Scootaloo and lifted the filly onto her back. "I'm going to take her up and tuck her in. Then we can have dinner."

Dawn nodded slowly. "Understood."

Scootaloo slowly opened her eyes and yawned sleepily as the morning sun seeped into the bedroom through the gaps in the drawn curtains. It took her a moment to realize that something felt off as she shifted in the bed, and felt her side come into contact with something soft, warm and very much not a pillow. It took her brain another few seconds to register something draped over her back that was not a blanket.

Looking over, the filly's eyes were treated to a swimming, yellow and pink blur that swam into focus as she came more awake. Then it hit her. She was in Fluttershy's house. And this was Fluttershy's bed. More importantly, it was Fluttershy that Scootaloo was snuggled up against and Fluttershy's wing that was draped over her back.

Once she got over her initial surprise at the revelation Scootaloo wondered at how comfortable she felt. Obviously, there had never been any doubt that Fluttershy would never do anything to harm her as Scootaloo and her Crusader friends had spent many a sleepover at Fluttershy's house. In fact, Scootaloo found something strangely comforting about the mare's presence. She had never experienced this feeling before. Her father had never let her sleep in bed with him and her mother, even when she'd had nightmares when she was younger. Melon Cream had sometimes climbed into bed with Scootaloo to comfort her on her worse nights. But being an earth pony, Melon couldn't offer something as intimately comforting as a wing to wrap around her daughter.

The sense of peace and safety made Scootaloo want to drop down and go back to sleep. But she was stopped by the sight of Fluttershy's teal eyes fluttering open. Apparently waking up much more quickly than Scootaloo had managed, Fluttershy lifted up her head and beamed down at the filly. "Good morning Scootaloo," she said in a cheery tone.

"Morning," answered the filly, finding that, now that she was awake, she was feeling much more well-rested than she had in ages. Perhaps it had been the state of exhaustion she had worked herself into the day before, the comforting presence of the mare next to her, or perhaps the simple peace she felt knowing that she wouldn't have to face her regular morning interrogation from her father when she went downstairs for breakfast, but for the first time in a long time, Scootaloo felt genuine eagerness to get out of her comfortable nest and tackle the day.

The two of them got up and made their way to the bathroom. There, the filly used a borrowed toothbrush to clean her teeth and then held still while Fluttershy brushed her mane and tail, smoothing out the normally unkempt strands of hair and giving the orange filly a much neater appearance.

Making their way downstairs, Scootaloo saw that the couch was empty. It was her understanding that the couch was where Dawn slept, but she saw no sign of the colt. "Where did Dawn go?"

"Oh, he's probably up already," answered Fluttershy cheerfully as she made her way tot he kitchen. She had already gotten used to the ebony colt's usual morning rituals. "He'll be out in the front yard, practicing."

"Practicing what?" wondered the filly aloud as she went to the front door and opened it. Indeed, there in the front yard, was Dawn Lightwing. As Scootaloo watched, the colt finished what looked like a series of carefully practiced moves before getting ready to start another set.

Dawn moved his wings in a way Scootaloo had never seen a Pegasus move them before. Acting as though the two appendages were joined by a straight rod that went through his shoulders, Dawn swung them in wheeling motions, a little like twirling a baton. Scootaloo settled in to watch the colt move and unconsciously began to tap her rear hoof. As Dawn progressed through the form, the filly became more aware of her tapping. She tapped her hoof in perfect sync with the black colt's movements, matching his every step, clicking against Fluttershy's doorstep like a perfectly matched metronome.

When Dawn finished, he looked over and spotted the filly and made his way to her. "Is that the Gale King style you were talking about?" asked Scootaloo eagerly.

Dawn nodded. "That was one of the forms my master taught me. There are five in all and they cover the fundamental aspects of combat."

"I don't know a lot about martial arts and stuff like that," said Scootaloo with an amused smile, "But the way you were moving out there, it was like a dance."

She half expected the colt to blush and protest that it was no such thing. That was what she would have done. Much like her idol, Scootaloo was the type of filly to shy away from things she typically considered girly or uncool. Most types of dancing fell into that category as far as she was concerned.

To her surprise, the colt merely shrugged. "That makes sense. My master once told me that the concepts of dance and the martial arts are closely linked."

Taken aback, Scootaloo stood tongue-tied for a moment. "That's weird!" she blurted out, "Dancing is all girly and boring. It's not cool at all."

"I have little understanding of what makes a thing 'cool' or not," retorted the colt, "But dance and martial arts share a similar set of core principles, such as the mastery of rhythm and moving with grace."

"Grace?" asked Scootaloo, grimacing. She despised that word, partly because she heard it quite frequently from a certain white unicorn who happened to be the older sister of one of the orange filly's best friends. It was the very epitome of mushy girlyness as far as she was concerned.

Not paying attention to the filly's distaste, Dawn continued. "Yes. Grace is all about eliminating unnecessary motions to conserve energy and fight more effectively. Because of that, dance and the martial arts are closely linked and there are many martial arts that are based on dances as well as the other way around."

Scootaloo stood silently for a moment. She had never thought of things in quite those terms before. It shocked her to think that something like dancing could actually be useful to her, or even, she shuddered to even think of it, cool.

Seemingly ignoring her state of confusion, Dawn brushed past Scootaloo and into the house. "If you're out here, then that probably means that Miss Fluttershy is currently making breakfast. We don't want you to be late for school."

"Ugh." Scootaloo winced. "Hey, how come you don't have to go to school?"

The colt turned around to stare at her before pointing a hoof very deliberately at his eyes. "Oh yeah," said the embarrassed filly, rubbing the back of her head, "Sorry."

Dawn turned around and proceeded into the house. Breakfast was a quiet, but comfortable affair. Scootaloo and Fluttershy enjoyed a stack of delicious pansy pancakes while Dawn quietly munched his way through a bowl of plain, unsweetened oatmeal. "Um, don't you like pancakes?" Scootaloo asked.

"He might," answered Fluttershy, shrinking away in embarrassment as she answered for the colt, "But right now, they probably wouldn't agree with him."

"How come?" asked Scootaloo, scarcely imagining a pony who couldn't eat something as delicious as Fluttershy's pancakes.

"About two days after Dawn started living with me," began the mare, "I accidentally gave him one of Pinkie's cupcakes."

Scootaloo could only stare as she listened to the yellow Pegasus describe the incident as though she had made a mistake feeding one of her animals rather than another pony.

"Dawn spent two hours in the bathroom, sick," Fluttershy continued, "Because he's lived in the Everfree Forest for so long, he's used to much simpler foods, so foods with a lot of processed ingredients, or just things he doesn't normally eat, don't digest as well right now. So we have to slowly get him used to changing his diet so he doesn't get sick."

"Oh."

Fluttershy smiled and tittered at Scootaloo's monosyllabic response. As the filly turned her attention back to the food, Fluttershy returned her gaze to Dawn. A week under her care had done wonders for the colt. His coat, once thick and ragged, was now clean with a faint shine. All the burs and tangles were gone from his mane and tail and the lean look was fading from his body as he began to put on more weight. There was no question that he looked much healthier now.

Noticing her gaze, Dawn looked up, a silent question in his turquoise gaze. Fluttershy merely chuckled and shook her head in answer before turning her attention back to her own breakfast.

As Scootaloo got her things together before heading out, Dawn explained her "homework" in greater detail. "You will resume practicing the first exercise. In this case, I am not so concerned about how long you can manage it for as I am how quickly and easily you can complete it. Focus on getting off the ground itself and pace your practice so that you don't wear yourself down in one go."

"So getting it done faster is more important," said Scootaloo as she draped her saddlebags over her back.

"Not speed, but ease," answered Dawn, "The easier time you have getting into the recovery position, the better you will be able to handle the second exercise. Ideally, you should be able to complete the first exercise as a matter of reflex, rather than thinking about it."

A few minutes later, they watched Scootaloo bound out the door and onto her scooter before shooting off towards school. As they watched her go, Fluttershy turned to her long-term house guest. "When you feel more comfortable, would you like to go to school Dawn?"

"We'll see," was all he said. He trotted inside. In spite of his answer, Fluttershy found herself smiling. At least it hadn't been a "no."

Spike woke with a groan to Twilight's insistent wake-up calls. Blinking his eyes open, he crawled out of bed and oozed towards the the balcony that looked out over the library itself. The little dragon heaved a sigh at the sight that presented itself. Once again, the library was a total disaster area. Twilight must have been busy, because he had been sure everything was neat and tidy before he went to bed. But now books were scattered over every horizontal surface, like something had exploded. Twilight was seated raptly in front of an open tome, with a small pile off to one side. She was so engrossed in what she was reading, she hadn't even bothered to look up even as she continued to lob salutations in Spike's general direction.

Spike covered his face. For all that Twilight talked about the importance of organization (especially when it came to making up lists and schedules and lists of schedules to the degree where Spike seriously considered staging an intervention at some point), when she was in one of her frenzies, she tended to completely forget that the library actually was organized and searched the shelves at random when she should have known exactly where the book she was looking for was as long as she knew the title and the author. They even had a catalogue for Celestia's sake.

Spike suppressed a groan as he continued to survey the damage and seriously considered oozing back into bed with a pair of ear plugs. The temptation was very real. Cleaning up this mess would be over half a day's work by itself. Twilight was clearly too enraptured with her reading to put any serious effort into getting him up for a while. And who knew, perhaps spending some time cleaning up her own mess would make Twilight think twice before creating another disaster zone.

They were all good reasons, but the little dragon decided not to in the end. His frustrations aside, Spike took his position as Twilight's Number One Assistant quite seriously and was very proud of the work that he did. As Twilight's studies in both magic and friendship had advanced, she had begun to depend more and more on her little dragon. While their close-knit circle of friends was a big help in the latter category, giving the lavender unicorn ample opportunities for lessons to write to Princess Celestia about, the big advantage was that as long as she was studying friendship, Twilight had five other mares watching out for her needs. But when she was working on the former subject, it fell to Spike more and more. Lately, Twilight Sparkle would forget to eat if her diminutive purple friend didn't drag her to the table three times a day.

So it was with resignation and strained enthusiasm that Spike made his way down the stairs and into the kitchen, where he set about preparing breakfast for the two of them. Before long, two plates were piled high with pancakes. One stack was studded with chocolate chips (for Twilight) while the other was sprinkled with a medley of gemstones (for Spike).

"Spike!" shouted Twilight, "I need a quill and a sheet of parchment. I need to send a letter to the Princess."

"That can come later," said Spike in his firmest tone, "Breakfast is right now. So come get it while it's hot."

"That can wait, Spike. I need to get this written so I don't forget it."

The little dragon huffed, sending twin jets of smoke spiraling out of his nostrils. "We both know you won't forget Twilight. Now come to breakfast or I'm eating your share too. And if you force me to do that, then the only letter Princess Celestia will be getting today will be a report on how you're forgetting to take care of yourself again."

Spike winced a little as the words left his mouth. He was a little ashamed at how easily he had threatened to write The Letter. After the infamous Smarty Pants incident and the time travel affair, Celestia had instructed Spike in no uncertain terms that if there was anything he saw as potentially harmful in Twilight's behavior, either to herself or others, he was to report it immediately. Fortunately, the mere thought that her beloved teacher might be upset with her (even if it was out of concern for her well-being) was enough to scare Twilight back into line every time. It helped that it was a threat that Spike was perfectly willing to follow through on if he had to. He didn't mess around where Twilight's health was concerned.

The threat had its intended effect and Twilight quickly took her seat at the table and was soon downing her pancakes with admirable gusto, having plainly forgotten that she was supposed to be upset about the interruption to her work.

"So how did it go at Fluttershy's last night?" asked the dragon as he slipped a slice of pancake into his own mouth. Not too long ago, he would have scarfed down his portion without the slightest concern for trivial things like table manners. But several months spending time with and admiring Rarity, who appreciated refinement like no one else, Spike had absorbed more than a little decorum.

"It was amazing," admitted the lavender unicorn, "Dawn's eyes are the real deal all right and I have a few ideas about the source.

"The big problem is that I don't have enough data. It's all but impossible to isolate the exact cause of the phenomenon known as the Eyes of Nightmare from working with a single affected pony. There are also a few discrepancies with what has been described in the Cult Solar's lore. I need to figure out whether certain qualities are an aspect of the Eyes themselves or unique to Dawn. And for that, I'll need to get more data. The best way to do that would be to get Princess Celestia's help in finding information on other ponies with the condition. If I could actually find more affected to examine, that would be even better."

"So that's what your letter is going to be about? Didn't Fluttershy ask you not to tell anypony about this yet?"

Twilight blushed slightly. "I know, but this is Princess Celestia we're talking about. I mean, it's perfectly reasonable for me to tell her about this, especially when I could use this information to make a real impact on the world."

She flinched back from his stare. It wasn't Fluttershy caliber, but, given the circumstances, was intimidating in its own right. "Not a chance Twilight."

"Oh come on Spike," begged the unicorn, "Please!"

The dragon folded his arms and gave her his sternest glare, which was kinda silly looking, all told. But it did the job.

"Look," said Spike, "You can write the letter. But I'm not sending it until you get permission from Fluttershy.

Twilight's shoulders sagged in defeat. "Fine."

"Right then," said the dragon, resuming his cheerful mood, "I'll clean up breakfast and then we'll get that letter written up."

After finishing with the dishes, Spike and Twilight adjourned to the library, the dragon holding parchment and quill in claw as he prepared to take the Unicorn's dictation.

"Ahem," coughed Twilight, "Here we go. Dear Princess Celestia, I have confirmed the presence of a pony in Ponyvville who has been affected by the phenomenon known as the Eyes of Nightmare. I have had the opportunity to do a preliminary examination of the subject and..."

Dangerous Discoveries

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Chapter 8: Dangerous Discovery

After finishing her dictation, Twilight Sparkle left the library visit the spa with the rest of her friends, once again leaving Spike to clean up the mess she had left behind. Pulling the ladder around, the little dragon began to pick up books and return them to their proper places on the shelves. Some were easier to put away than others. He had been at the task for a few hours, using up the better part of the day when the door to the library swung open.

"Back already?" asked Spike, "I thought you'd be out longer."

"Um Spike?" asked a familiar voice that was most definitely not Twilight's, "What are ya talkin' about?"

The dragon let out a startled shout and accidentally let go of the ladder he was standing on and dropped to the floor. For a moment, his vision swam before the yellow and red blur hanging above him swam into focus, resolving into the shape of the small earth pony filly who had startled him.

"Spike? Are ya alright?" asked Apple Bloom, her eyes wide with concern.

"Yeah," said Spike quickly, forcing himself to sit up. He took a moment to rub the sore spot on the back of his head. "Sorry about that. I heard you come in and thought Twilight was back. So anyway, what can I do for you Apple Bloom?"

"Ah was here wonderin' if ya had a book Ah could check out. It's fer mah homework."

"Homework?" asked Spike, getting to his feet, "What kind of homework?"

"Ah have to learn about somepony's job," explained Apple Bloom, "Then Ah need to write a report on it."

"Heh," snorted Spike, "I guess that's why you're here without the other Crusaders."

The yellow filly nodded gloomily. "Sweetie's doin' a report on her sister and Scootaloo wants to write about..."

"Rainbow Dash," Spike finished for her. The two of them shared a chuckle at their friends' predictability. However, a thought occurred to Spike. "Hang on," I would have thought that you'd like to write about your sister. Why are you here?"

"Well," the yellow filly scuffed her hoof nervously, "That was the first thing Ah thought about. But fer some reason, Ah don't like that idea so much."

"Is something wrong? Are you and AJ having another fight?"

"No! No!" protested the filly quickly, "It's just, Ah've been worried about a few things lately."

"Your cutie mark again?" asked Spike raising an eyebrow.

"Sort of," replied Apple Bloom nervously.

"How is that any different from what you've felt before?"

"Well," answered the filly, "Ah've been startin' to get an inklin' of what mah special talent might be."

Spike scratched his head for a moment. "Um, Apple Bloom...call me crazy, but isn't that supposed to be a good thing?"

"Well yeah," agreed Bloom, "But Ah'm worried mah sister might not be too happy about it."

"Why?"

"Well, everypony in mah family: Granny Smith, Big Macintosh, Applejack, they all have cutie marks about Apples. That's why we're the Apple family. One way or another, we have somethin' to do with apples, whether it be farmin', cookin', or sellin' Apples. We all have a callin' down on the farm. But mah special talent...Ah don't think it has anything to do with apples."

"But what about all those different things you tried out with your friends?" asked Spike, "Hardly any of them had anything to do with apples."

"It's a bit hard to explain," said Apple Bloom, "But all this stuff we've been tryin', Ah think it sunk in a long time ago that none of that was gonna get us our cutie marks. Maybe we thought it would at first. But lately, Ah've been gettin' what big sis and the others have been tellin' us about how we can't just force our marks to show up. Fer a while now, Ah think we've just been doin' our crusadin' 'cause it's fun."

"You've been terrorizing the whole town for fun," muttered the dragon under his breath. Opting not to let Bloom hear that part, he decided to encourage her a little instead. "Bloom, you're silly if you think AJ would get upset with you over this. Applejack would never turn her back on her little sister just because her cutie mark doesn't happen to be apple related. Even if it isn't, I suspect that it's still something you can use to help your family. AJ is going to inherit the farm anyway, so it's not like there's some desperate need for you to be another apple to the Apples."

The filly sniffed and adjusted her bow slightly. "Thanks Spike, Ah needed that."

Spike grinned and walked over to her. "Don't worry about it. Are you still going to do that report on somepony else?"

"Actually, now that Ah thought about it, Ah don't need that book anymore," said Apple Bloom, a slightly mischievous grin on her face, "But Ah still don't feel like Ah need to do it on mah sister either."

"Trying not to be predictable?" asked the dragon.

The filly chuckled. "Instead, Ah was thinkin', what might it be like to be the Number One Assistant to the most powerful unicorn in all'a Equestria." She smiled while looking at Spike through half-lidded eyes.

The purple dragon swayed a little on his clawed feet as his cheeks developed a pinkish tone. "That actually sounds like an awesome idea for a report," he said once he had recovered.

"What do ya say Spike? How about we have that interview over at the Sugarcube Corner?"

The little dragon nodded eagerly. "Sounds like a plan. Let's go!"

The two of them made their way out the door. A light breeze moved through the library as the door swung shut, only barely stirring the letter to Princess Celestia laid out where Spike had left it, forgotten.

"Thanks Fluttershy," said Twilight as they prepared to part ways after their little whole-group spa date, "I'm sure that Princess Celestia will probably have all kinds of useful information."

"I'm a little worried that Dawn might not like it," Fluttershy admitted.

"He has nothing to worry about," said Twilight proudly, "After all, Princess Celestia was the one who put a stop to the Cult Solar, so she knows better than anypony how ridiculous all that stuff about demons is."

"If you say so," said Fluttershy, "I'll let Dawn know."

The two went their separate ways. Twilight Sparkle opened the door and stepped into her library home to find it...empty. There was no one there. Looking around, she saw that some of the books were still scattered about from this morning. But Spike was nowhere to be seen. Frowning, Twilight stepped further into the library and looked around. Her letter was still where she left it this morning. There was nothing to suggest that anything bad had occurred. But she wasn't happy to see that, wherever he had gone, Spike hadn't bothered to finish cleaning up the mess from earlier that morning.

With a sigh, Twilight channeled her magic through her horn, levitating all the books still scattered about. A quick scan of their titles was all that she needed before she sent them floating back to their proper places. It was the work of one, maybe two minutes. Honestly, she thought in frustration, I'm not asking all that much of Spike. This shouldn't have taken him hardly any time at all. He better have a good reason for skipping out on this.

With that, an irate unicorn set out from the library, looking for her wayward assistant. Trying to think of where he might have gone, Twilight thought about going to Rarity's boutique. After all, that was one of Spike's favorite places to go when he had free time. But then again, he had known that Rarity would be out today, so Spike would have known better than to bother. She could think of one other place the little dragon liked to go to, where he could get a treat or a snack. Twilight Sparkle headed out for Sugarcube Corner.

She was in such a hurry, that she failed to notice an orange earth pony approaching from the other direction. Applejack also failed to spot Twilight leaving and instead went straight to the library door.

Applejack knocked gently on the door. "Twilight? Are ya here sugarcube?"

Not hearing any answer, Applejack pushed the door open and trotted into the clean interior of the library. Looking around, she saw no sign of Twilight Sparkle, or Spike for that matter. "Twi? Spike?"

Applejack sighed when she realized that she was alone. She had hoped to try and talk to Twilight some more about the situation with Fluttershy's houseguest. She knew that Twilight had been invited up to Fluttershy's house and had hoped that the unicorn could tell her more about this colt. She hadn't thought it proper to bring the subject up during their day at the spa, seeing how so much focus had been on the fact that Caramel was getting out of the hospital soon, which meant that Rarity was going on nonstop about her plans for Fluttershy's upcoming date with the stallion.

Applejack had ultimately decided to sit it out, rather than get drawn in to the whole affair. After they had left, Twilight and Fluttershy had headed out together, talking about something. Initially, Applejack had been planning on returning to the farm, but then realized that this might be the best chance for her to talk to Twilight. However, as she glanced around, Applejack could tell that neither Twilight nor Spike were in. Sighing, the farmer mare turned and prepared to head out, until she spotted a leaf of paper lying on the table in the middle of the library. Looking over, Applejack saw that it was clearly another of Twilight's letters to Princess Celestia.

That silly pony, she thought, grinning with mirth, She must be goin' off and learnin' friendship lessons without tellin' us. Well, it won't hurt to take peek.

Applejack walked up and began to read the letter. But she never made it past the first full sentence. The orange earth pony's jaw dropped and she leaned in closer to stare at the letter. It can't be...Oh dear sweet Celestia, it's true!

She stumbled back, her mind reeling at the revelation. Her father. He had warned her about this. He had told her what this meant. He had told her what she had to do. This ain't good. One 'o them is in town. And he's with... Applejack's jaw dropped as the realization struck her, Fluttershy!

The orange mare spun around and dashed straight through the door, knocking it open so hard that it slammed shut behind her. Not wasting another second, she rushed to Fluttershy's home at a full gallop.

"Wow," said Apple Bloom after spitting out her pencil. She winced and worked her jaw for a moment. Writing for any length of time tended to give her mouth cramps. "Ah had no idea that there was so much to bein' a library assistant."

"It's not a general issue," Spike explained, "It's just that Twilight can be...uh...high maintenance at times."

The little filly quirked an eyebrow, wondering what he was getting at. "How so?" He hadn't mentioned this during the interview.

Spike rubbed his forehead. "I couldn't let you put that in your report, Bloom. I wouldn't want to embarrass Twilight like that."

Apple Bloom felt a certain fondness for the little drake creeping into her voice. "Ya really are her Number One Assistant, ain't ya?"

Spike sighed. "I try. But she's been getting a little more difficult to handle recently."

"How so?"

Spike paused to take a bite out of his cupcake as he considered the best way to answer. "Well, when we started out, she was spending a lot of time with her friends. I was a little jealous at first because I was still staying at the library most of the time. But I was glad to see her get out and meet other ponies. And Twilight actually put her magical research on hold. Aside from a few practice sessions and the occasional all-nighter, she wasn't so completely absorbed in her magical studies anymore.

"I think part of it was that Twilight felt a little insecure with her friendships after first finding out about it. She was scared to lose the friends she had just made, so she put a lot of extra effort into trying to make those friendships work. And so, where it used to be just me and Princess Celestia looking after her, Twilight suddenly had five other ponies to be there and help her, because that's what friends do. That's part of the reason I was able to spend so much time mooning over Rarity."

Apple Bloom blinked at Spike's casual admission of his crush on the fashion pony. It hadn't been a secret by any stretch of the imagination. But for a long time, Spike had pretended that it had been, acting as though the slightest admission of his affection for Rarity would be emasculating in some way. To hear him talk about it like this was jarring to say the least.

"But after Twilight really got comfortable with all her friends, she started reverting back to her old ways." Spike saw the worried look and Apple Bloom's eyes and rushed to placate her. "Don't worry, she's a long way from being the shut-in she used to be. She's just gotten back to her usual habits when it comes to pushing her magical research forward. If she's not out with her friends, she's studying magic. And when she studies magic, she keeps forgetting to take care of herself. Half the time, I think she would forget to eat at all if I didn't drag her away from her work every so often the make sure that she gets a proper meal."

"Yer feeling under appreciated, ain't ya?"

"A little," Spike admitted hesitantly, "I mean, I don't do this because I want appreciation, but..." he trailed off, "I feel like it's the only thing I have right now."

Apple Bloom gave the dragon a questioning glance. Spike briefly considered telling her about the secret anxiety that had been hovering in his heart ever since the Great Dragon Migration. But for the time being, he decided to keep it to himself.

"Here you are."

Spike nearly leapt out of his seat at the sound of the declaration. Looking over, he saw Twilight Sparkle coming in the door, the sound of her voice easily carrying over the chiming of the bell that generally signaled the arrival of a new customer. Spike noted with some degree of concern that his big sister/boss/landlord looked a little agitated.

"Uh hey Twilight," said the dragon lamely, giving her a shy wave. He wasn't sure what he had to be shy about. Sure he hadn't finished cleaning up the library yet, but he didn't think it was that big a deal.

Twilight sighed, clearly not as angry as she initially looked. "Spike," she said in her sternest lecturer tone, "I know you need to get out every once in a while. But I would appreciate it if you finished your chores first. The library was still a mess when I found it."

"It was a good bit cleaner than when you left this morning," Spike pointed out, getting a little irritated himself, "I spent over half the day working non-stop just to get that far. Maybe you should stop forgetting your own filing system when you get all excited over one of your research projects. I swear, you haven't changed from when we were in Canterlot. You always start pulling books off the shelves all willy nilly without even bothering to think about where they come from. The only reason I still don't find the books you want before you do is that the Ponyville Library is smaller than Canterlot's."

Twilight was momentarily taken aback by his vehemence. "Spike," she said consolingly, "You know it's not that bad. Why it barely took me a few minutes to get the rest cleaned up."

"Maybe you should try it without your horn the next time," muttered Spike, before turning back to Apple Bloom, "You see what I have to live with," he said in a stage whisper while pointing back over his shoulder to Twilight.

Twilight Sparkle would have been angry at Spike's attitude. But she paused a moment to think about all that he said. It certainly had been easy for her to put all the books away when she was using her magic. But the more she thought about it, the more she realized that it would be difficult for a small dragon, like Spike, to carry heavy tomes around while climbing up a ladder to reach the high shelves. While Twilight Sparkle was the furthest thing from a stupid pony, in her enthusiasm, she occasionally forgot very obvious facts even when they were staring her in the face.

A sigh escaped her, "I'm sorry Spike. And you're right for the most part. I do tend to get carried away and when I do, I tend to forget how much of a workload I put on you. I sometimes forget some of the other things I depend on you for too."

Spike got out of his chair and pulled the unicorn into a hug. "I'm sorry too. I know the work you do is really important, but I brush it off sometimes and snap at you about it."

Twilight blushed a little. "Well, that's no excuse for forgetting my own filing system," she admitted sheepishly, "I'll try to be careful from now on."

"Ah think Ah learned somethin' else about yer job," interjected Apple Bloom with a sly tone.

Both Spike and Twilight flushed at that comment, but quickly laughed it off. "I'm going to head home," said the lavender unicorn, gently, "Don't stay out too late you two. I don't want Applejack to get all worked up because of your date."

Spike coughed, narrowly avoiding incinerating his cupcake with a jet of flame while Apple Bloom's face turned a brilliant crimson color. "I-it's not a date," stammered the dragon.

"It sure ain't," added the pale yellow filly.

"If you say soooooo," taunted Twilight in her best teasing tone as she trotted out the door.

Left to their own devices once again, Spike and Apple Bloom found themselves briefly at a loss. There was an uncomfortable silence as they both frantically attempted to restart the conversation Twilight Sparkle had so handily derailed.

"S-so...you...uh mentioned something about your special talent earlier," said Spike hesitantly.

"Yeah, Ah did didn't Ah?"

"Care to tell me more about it?"

Twilight was almost to the point of whistling cheerfully as she cantered back towards her library home. Having fixed things with Spike, she felt much better. She still needed to make sure he sent her letter when he got back, but aside from that, Twilight felt fairly comfortable, not able to think of any important errands that needed running. However, this wonderful train of thought was swiftly halted by the arrival of a concerned-looking pegasus with a familiar rainbow mane.

"Rainbow Dash? Is something the matter?"

The aforementioned pegasus looked down at Twilight with an expression approaching suspicion. "Twilight, did you tell Applejack anything about Dawn?"

"No," said Twilight, blinking with confusion, "What makes you say that?"

"Well, I was about to head home for the day, but I saw her coming out of your library and running in the direction of Fluttershy's house as like her tail was on fire." Rainbow looked over in that direction as she spoke. "I thought about trying to stop her, but I wasn't sure if you and Fluttershy had decided if it was okay to tell her anything or what."

"Well, I didn't even see her after we left the spa. I was just in the Sugarcube Corner, so she must have gone in the library while I wasn't there. But what would..." Twilight paused as horror washed over her. "The letter! She must have seen my letter to the Princess. I haven't gotten Spike to send it yet and I think we left it sitting out in the open."

Twilight Sparkle spun about and began to gallop in the direction of Fluttershy's cottage, Rainbow Dash following at a (for her) sedate pace. "What letter are you talking about?" she demanded.

"No time!" gasped Twilight, "We need to get to Fluttershy's before Applejack does something foolish."

Fluttershy wasn't exactly sure what to make of the sight that greeted her when she arrived home. Dawn stood out in the yard, his body completely still. The only sign that he hadn't been replaced with some incredibly lifelike statue was the gentle expansion and retraction of his chest, showing that he was still breathing at least. Otherwise, he didn't move a muscle. His eyes were closed and the colt looked to all the world like he had fallen asleep on his hooves.

His stillness was such that even Fluttershy's shyer animals had come out to him. Birds of all shapes and sizes had alighted on the leading edges of his wings, while a squirrel climbed about on Dawn's back. On top of his head sat Angel Bunny, contentedly munching on a carrot and enjoying the view from his perch.

Fluttershy couldn't help it. The sight was just too silly. A soft giggle escaped her as she walked slowly up to Dawn, who opened his eyes at her approach. "Miss Fluttershy," he said politely. In spite of him speaking, none of the animals made any effort to abandon their various perches, having obviously grown quite comfortable with the colt's company.

"Um, what are you doing?" asked Fluttershy. She had occasionally seen Dawn doing this before. But this was the first time she’d had a chance to speak with him about it.

"Meditation," the colt said, still not moving an inch, "Practicing stillness in the mind and body."

"Stillness?" Fluttershy didn't know what to make of that. Pegasi were all about motion when they weren't asleep. Fluttershy herself was one of the rare exceptions to this, mostly by virtue of her own special talent. She was surprised that a pegasus martial art would include any focus on a concept like that.

"For the most part, stillness is more integral to earth pony arts, but it can still be used to teach awareness of the mind and body to better refine one's physical technique," explained Dawn.

"Oh," said the yellow mare, not really understanding, but figuring that this was probably the best explanation she would get. She circled around the colt, seeing that a bluejay and a hummingbird had settled onto his left wing. She paused for a moment to speak with them and ask them about their day so far. As she did so, Dawn remained perfectly still and the other animals remained in their places, more joining them now that their primary caretaker had returned home.

Fluttershy was so enraptured by the conversations she was having with her animals that she failed to notice the rumble of approaching hooves. Dawn was not caught unaware, however. His right eye spotted the approach of an orange earth pony with a blonde mane and tail, wearing a Stetson hat. The look in her emerald green eyes was not a pleasant one as she charged headlong at the pair.

Fluttershy looked up to see Applejack slam her front hooves into the ground, spinning round and launching a mighty buck straight at Dawn's barrel. The birds settled along Dawn's right wing took to the sky with angry chirps and screeches at the disturbance. Fluttershy barely saw a flicker of motion as the colt's wing seemed to whirl in a tight circle before coming to a rest a short distance away from his side, between his ribs and Applejack's hooves.

Applejack was surprised to feel her hooves hit something that wasn't the body of a pony. Looking back, she got the barest glimpse of her rear hooves hovering scant centimeters away from the feathers of Dawn's wing, held at bay by some invisible force. In a sudden motion, Dawn's wing moved outwards and something exploded underneath the hooves of Applejack's failed buck. Her back hooves were launched over her head, sending the orange earth pony into a wild flip that knocked her onto her back. The impact would have knocked the wind out of a normal pony, but Applejack turned her momentum to her advantage, continuing the roll until she rolled right back onto her hooves, twisting around so that she came up facing straight at Dawn, pawing the ground angrily. Her trademark hat had been knocked off her head in the tumble and had come to a rest on the ground behind her.

Fluttershy stared, her eyes wide with horror as one of her most trusted friends tried to assault the colt she had taken under her roof. Her mane was barely stirred by the faint breeze coming up from Dawn's right wing, the motion of his defense and counter not even slightly disturbing the animals setting on his back and left wing.

Dawn turned his head ever so slowly to regard Applejack as she directed her most menacing glare at the colt. His expression and gaze were disinterested, regarding the orange mare like one might a random stone on the street. There was no anger at being attacked, no fear at the hostility Applejack was currently sending his way, only complete and utter detachment, as though none of this mattered in the slightest. The effect was ruined somewhat by the fact that Angel remained perched on top of the colt's head, now directing an agitated glare at Applejack in his place.

Fluttershy stood paralyzed with indecision. She had rarely ever seen Applejack this angry and never without good reason. "A-Applejack? What's the matter?"

"Get away from it Fluttershy," snarled Applejack, the rage in her voice making the butter-colored pegasus flinch, "Ya ain't safe anywhere near that thing."

Dawn idly turned his eyes back to Fluttershy. "I take it that by 'thing,' she means me," he said as casually as though he were merely making an observation about the weather.

"Yer damn right Ah'm talkin' about ya, vermin!" snapped Applejack, "Get yer tail outta this here town. Ponyville ain't any place fer demons like yerself. If ya don't go, Ah'll make sure ya leave mahself."

Dawn slowly turned his eyes back to Applejack. "You can't make me do anything of the sort. So please leave me alone."

"Not a chance demon. Ah ain't lettin' ya hang around mah friends and puttin' them in danger."

"Applejack, please stop," plead Fluttershy, "You're wrong. Dawn isn't a demon. He's a very nice colt who just happens to have strange eyes."

"Is that what he told ya?" demanded the orange mare, "Them's the words of a lyin' snake just waitin' for ya to let yer guard down so he can do Celestia knows what to ya."

"It was actually a very knowledgeable unicorn who dismissed the idea that I was a demon," answered Dawn, "I believe that she is a mutual acquaintance of yours. Besides, if you wished to protect Miss Fluttershy from me, haven't you already failed?"

"Howzat?" asked Applejack, taken aback by his question. Even Fluttershy looked confused by the colt's words.

Dawn actually lowered himself to the ground, lying down. "I have been here for over a week already. Miss Fluttershy is, more or less, the only pony around here regularly. In other words, she and I have spent a great deal of time together here; time that I could have used to do whatever I wanted to her, while you, with all your assertions about the threat to her safety, were nowhere to be found."

"Dawn!" admonished Fluttershy, seeing the taunt for what it was, even as she recognized the true meaning of his words, namely that he had never done anything to her in all that time, even though he had limitless opportunities to do so. Yet he had chosen to phrase the method in the most provocative manner possible in order to further agitate Applejack.

"Why you filthy varmint," hissed the earth pony. Her body tensed as she prepared to charge.

Dawn's eyes rolled upwards to regard Angel, who was still perched on the colt's head. "You might want to get off for this part."

The rabbit evidently took his warning at face value and chose to transfer his perch to Fluttershy's back, where he was joined by the other animals that had been stationed all over the colt's body. And not a moment too soon.

Applejack charged again, thundering towards Dawn with a rumble of hooves. This time, when she turned to buck, her hooves only encountered empty air, passing harmlessly through the space Dawn had been occupying and narrowly missing a collision with Fluttershy in his stead.

Applejack whirled around, looking frantically for the colt. She spotted him standing a few pony lengths away in the meadow that stretched out towards the edge of the Everfree Forest. Huffing with anger, she charged again, only to grind to a halt as Dawn vanished before she could even cover half the distance between them. Looking around, she saw Dawn again, this time standing in front of the trunk of a nearby tree. This time, he actually waited until Applejack bucked at him before disappearing again. Her hooves actually split the trunk of the tree with an almighty crack.

Applejack again cast her glance around, looking for any sign of her elusive target. A shadow on the ground alerted her to the fact that her quarry had taken to the air. Looking upwards, Applejack saw Dawn suspended, motionless, in the air, hovering almost directly over her head. With an angry snarl, she leapt upwards, actually trying to catch the colt with her teeth. But Dawn drifted further upwards with contemptuous ease, staying just out of her reach.

"Get down here and fight ya damn coward!"

"Why should I?"

"Ya might be a filthy demon, but at least ya wouldn't be a coward."

Dawn's expression remained disinterested. "And what makes you think that I care one wit about that. Your disapproval does not exactly fill me with overwhelming shame."

"What's that?"

"In other words, I don't care what you think and you aren't worth the effort it would actually take to give you a good thrashing."

The orange mare ground her teeth and glared up at him. She was unable to find a decent answer to his statements. There was practically nothing she could say or do that would draw the colt down out of the sky. But...

"Fine then. All Ah have to do is wait here for ya to come down. Ah ain't lettin' ya near Fluttershy, so clear out and never let me catch ya in Ponyville ever again. In fact, get outta Equestria while yer at it." To emphasize her point, Applejack sat down and stared stubbornly up at the colt, who showed no real concern.

"Applejack!" The orange mare swung her head around to stare at Fluttershy, who looked as irate as Applejack had ever seen her, barring that one time with the dragon. "That is enough. You will leave Dawn alone right now."

Their eyes met and Applejack had to force herself to keep upright beneath the full impact of the Stare. Her entire body shuddered as the full weight of Fluttershy's disapproval descended on her with the force of Luna's moon. For a moment, all Applejack wanted to do was collapse into a crying heap at Fluttershy's hooves and beg forgiveness.

No! Ah can't give in. She doesn't know what they're capable of. He may look like a colt, but he's a monster through and through. Ah won't let him hurt her, even if that means Ah have to hurt her feelings. "Ya can say what ya want Fluttershy, but Ah ain't backin' down on this. Mah pa would turn over in his grave if he knew Ah backed down and left one 'o mah friends to that monster. As long as Ah have the hat he gave me, Ah ain't lettin' that freak set one hoof in this here town, and that includes yer house."

"So, it was your father who told you about the Eyes?" asked Dawn softly.

"That's right," replied Applejack, "Ah know the rest 'o mah family never believed him but now that yer here, it's obvious that he was tellin' the truth, not that Ah ever doubted him."

"Of course you didn't," muttered the colt, "Because questioning him would require you to think for yourself. And it's clear that isn't happening anytime soon."

"Dawn?" Fluttershy was beginning to worry, for reasons other than the obvious ones. There was an edge to the colt's voice. Before he had been calm, relaxed even, regarding Applejack with a complete lack of concern. When Applejack had mentioned her father, there was a new tone, weariness, as though he had heard Applejack's arguments countless times before (which he probably had) and was sick of them. But now his tone carried an edge of anger, something Fluttershy had never heard in Dawn's voice before.

"And as long as you have the hat he left you, you're going to do as he said?" asked the colt.

"That's right," answered Applejack mulishly.

Fluttershy winced when she heard that. As naive as she was, even she realized that Applejack had left herself wide open with that statement. "Dawn, please don't..."

But the colt had already moved. Acting with that same incredible speed that made him appear to teleport, he appeared directly over Applejack's hat where it lay and slammed all four hooves down on top of it. "You mean this hat here?" His voice was a snarl now. Fluttershy could clearly hear years of pent up frustration held within his tone, an indication that Applejack had given him the ideal outlet.

A gasp escaped from Applejack as she whirled around to see what Dawn had done. "Mah hat!" she exclaimed. She leapt forward, bearing down on Dawn, her eyes streaming tears of rage as the colt calmly awaited her approach, most likely planning to flit away at the last possible second, once again.

Both ponies froze as an irate Fluttershy leapt between them. Without the slightest hesitation, she faced Applejack, who stiffened under full force of the yellow mare's Stare. "Stop right there," ordered Fluttershy. Applejack found herself completely unable to move a muscle.

"Dawn Lightwing!" The black colt was struck dumb by the firmness in his caretaker's voice. He had never heard such a stern voice from the mare in all his time with her. What was more, the tone of disapproval he heard in the utterance of his name filled him with a feeling that he hadn't experienced in a long time, shame. It wasn't the cheap shame that other ponies had tried to incite with their accusations and insults over his eyes, but genuine shame at betraying the trust and expectations of a pony, whose opinion he honestly respected. His ears flattened and he slowly stepped off of Applejack's hat.

"Go inside," ordered Fluttershy, without taking her eyes off Applejack and in a tone that brooked no argument, "Now."

Head lowered, Dawn trotted through the door of Fluttershy's cottage, closing it gently behind him. When she heard the door close, she turned the full force of her disapproval onto Applejack. "Just what did you think you were doing, attacking an innocent colt like that?"

"That ain't no colt," protested Applejack, still held in place by the force of The Stare, "That there creature's a monster wearin' a pony's skin. It ain't a thing fit to walk the face o' Equestria and..."

"That. Is. Enough." Against her will, Applejack's mouth snapped shut tighter than a steel trap. "Dawn has never given me any reason to distrust him and I have spent a great deal of time trying to help him get over the pains of his past. I am disappointed that you would believe such blatant lies. Go home and think about what you've done."

"Lies?" Anger welled up within Applejack, powerful anger. "Are ya callin' me a liar? Are ya callin' mah pappy a liar?"

Fluttershy's stern demeanor evaporated like the morning mist as Applejack threw off the effects of the Stare and directed a glare of her own. The angry earth pony pawed at the ground and snorted. "Ya can call me names if ya like, but nopony calls mah father a liar. Ah was bein' nice before, but Ah've lost mah patience, Fluttershy. If Ah have to go past ya the hard way and make sure that monster leaves Ponyville, Ah will. It's fer yer own good. Ah'm gonna get that colt and Ah'll go through ya if Ah have to."

Fluttershy reared back as Applejack began to charge. The orange mare only got two or three paces before a rope draped itself around her neck. On contact, a tug from the holder of the lasso drew it tight, bringing Applejack up short and tugging her over onto her back. Before she could recover, a massive red stallion moved in with lightning speed. Before either of the mares could blink, all four of Applejack's hooves had been tightly lashed together.

Standing up straight, the big red earth pony blew out a long stream of breath before turning to regard the yellow pegasus. "Miss Fluttershy," said Big Macintosh, tipping his head slightly, as though he were merely greeting a passerby at his apple cart, rather than stopping his younger sister from assaulting one of her best friends.

"Oh...um...hello Big Macintosh," replied Fluttershy, slipping back into her habitual shyness, ducking behind her mane. Despite his size, Fluttershy found Big Macintosh to be considerably less intimidating than most stallions (excepting Caramel). The two of them shared a shy and quiet nature that resulted in them developing a connection and strong friendship (though nothing more, to the disappointment of both Big Mac's sisters).

Several seconds of frantic wriggling allowed Applejack to direct a withering glare up at her older brother. "Big Mac, what in blazes are ya doin' tyin' me up like this?"

"Ah did it to stop ya from doin' somethin' ya'd regret," answered Big Macintosh in his usual stoic monotone.

"Untie me this instant ya great red lump!" yelled Applejack.

"What's going on here?" Three pairs of eyes turned to see the arrival of Rainbow Dash, with a panting Twilight Sparkle not far behind.

"Twilight!" exclaimed Applejack, her voice heavy with relief, "Ya've gotta back me up on this. Ah saw the letter ya were writin' to Princess Celestia. Ya've gotta tell them how dangerous that thing is."

Twilight sighed as all eyes turned to her. "Obviously you didn't read much of my letter or you would have read that I determined that the Eyes of Nightmare are most certainly not a sign of demonic possession and that the folklore surrounding them is a whole lot of phooey." Twilight Sparkle winced at her own decision to use a most certainly unacademic descriptor.

"You too?" Tears welled up in Applejack's eyes as she stared in shock at Twilight Sparkle. Her expression pleading, she looked up to where Rainbow Dash hovered, the sky-blue pegasus still dumb with shock at the heretofore unknown vitriol Applejack was capable of. "Ya've got mah back on this Rainbow. Ya wouldn't turn against me, would ya?"

"Applejack?" Rainbow simply stared in befuddlement, "What's wrong with you? The AJ I know isn't like this. You wouldn't just attack somepony like this. And the things you're saying...

"I won't turn my back on you. But Dawn saved Fluttershy. I've never had any reason to doubt him. He's even teaching Scootaloo to fly for Celestia's sake. There's no way somepony like that could be a demon like Nightmare Moon."

"Ah don't believe it," whispered Applejack, "It's that demon! He's turned all o' ya against me; mah friends and even mah own flesh and blood. Don't ya see? This is all his doin'! He's too cowardly to fight like a real pony, so he manipulates everyone and turns them against each other. We've gotta stop him!"

Big Macintosh sighed. "Sis, we've gotta talk. Ah'm takin' ya home." Ducking his head, he pressed it against Applejack's stomach and lifted her up, sliding the hogtied pony down around his neck, much like he yoke that was his constant companion. "Evenin' ladies." He trotted off, carrying a sullen Applejack away.

Author's Notes:

I feel sorry for Applejack. She's not my least favorite pony by any stretch of the imagination (in fact, I'm not entirely certain if I even have a least favorite pony). But I end up doing stuff like this to her more often than I would like. Maybe it's because I read so much Lunaverse stuff.

As for Twilight, well...our first impressions are always the strongest and one of my first impressions of her is the supposedly studious librarian with a literal obsession with organization couldn't figure out how to find a book that was sorted alphabetically, or how, in one of her first scenes, she's ripping random books off the shelves with her magic at incredible speed, but Spike manages to find the book she was looking for first, even after having to getting a ladder and climbing up it. So...yeah.

Consequences

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Chapter 9: Consequences

The other three mares watched as the large stallion carried his younger sister away. After Big Macintosh and Applejack had disappeared over the hill, they turned to look at each other. Almost immediately, Twilight gave the other two a forlorn look.

"I'm so sorry," said Twilight, tears dripping from her eyes, "This is because I was so careless. I left that letter out where anypony could see it."

Fluttershy shook her head gently and nuzzled her dear friend. "Oh no, it's not your fault. I understand that you weren't expecting Applejack to come in while you were out and read it."

"And I don't think any of us expected AJ to react like that," added Rainbow Dash, directing a befuddled stare in the direction the Apple siblings had headed off in.

"She said it was her father who taught her about the Eyes of Nightmare," said Fluttershy softly.

Rainbow blinked. "That says a lot actually."

Fluttershy and Twilight shared a confused glance before looking back to Rainbow. "It does?"

Rainbow nodded. "Yeah. She doesn't like to talk about it because her parents died when she was very young, right after Apple Bloom had been born and not long after AJ had gotten back from Manehatten with her brand new cutie mark. She thinks the world of both of them, but especially her father. That hat of hers is practically the only thing she has to remember him by."

"Oh dear," whispered Fluttershy, pressing a distraught hoof to her mouth, "And Dawn went and..." All three turned their eyes to look at where the battered Stetson lay forlornly on the ground.

"Yeah," muttered Rainbow, "That was a low blow. I wonder if I did the right thing sticking up for the kid like that. Seriously..."

"I'm sure that Dawn didn't know how much it would hurt Applejack's feelings..." Fluttershy protested.

"No." Twilight silenced her timid friend. "Dawn did know how much it would hurt Applejack to do it. This was clearly deliberate."

"Why that little..." hissed Rainbow, glaring daggers at the cottage.

"But," interjected Twilight, silencing her brash friend this time, "Dawn did it because that was the only way he could avoid hurting Applejack directly."

Both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash glanced at each other in confusion before turning to regard Twilight Sparkle as the lavender unicorn slowly put the pieces together in her mind.

"He's probably been having to deal with this kind of persecution for years. But if he fights back and hurts other ponies defending himself, he's only adding justification to their accusations that he's a monster in their minds. But after so many years of putting up with unjust slander, he probably has a mountain of anger that he needs to vent. So when he's confronted by Applejack, who's been hitting him with the same insults and accusations that he's had to deal with for his entire life, he learns about her hat and finally has something that he can safely vent on." Twilight sighed. "He wanted to hurt Applejack. He wanted to hurt her, but he never wanted to harm her. That's why he took out his anger on the hat."

For a long moment, silence hovered over the trio as they considered the events that had just occurred. After a moment, Rainbow Dash broke the silence.

"I guess I can understand why he did it. That doesn't make it right, but that colt has a mountain of issues to work through."

"At least," agreed Twilight with a sad smile.

Rainbow sighed and trotted over to Applejack's battered stetson. "I'm gonna take this over to Rarity's and see if she can patch it up. I don't know what to tell her though."

"Um, you might as well tell her the truth," said Futtershy softly.

Rainbow stared wide-eyed at her friend. "But what about our promise to Dawn?"

"No, she's right," agreed Twilight, "The secret's already out. There's no way Applejack's going to keep quiet about this. I'm more worried that she might try to do something foolish."

"Like..."

"Like trying to organize a mob to storm Fluttershy's cottage."

Both pegasi stared, dumbfounded, at their scholarly friend. How could she even suggest that Applejack would do such a thing, much less that the rest of Ponyville might go along with it?

"I don't want to think about it either," admitted Twilight, "But the Apple family carries a lot of clout in Ponyville and everyone respects Applejack personally. The best way to keep something like that from getting off the ground is to make sure everypony knows the truth before distortions start being spread around."

"Do you really think Applejack would go that far?" asked Rainbow, still aghast at what Twilight was suggesting.

"I would never have thought so," said Twilight, "But then, I never would have thought that Applejack would act the way she did today. I'll come with you, Rainbow. I need to get Spike to send my letter right away. If we can get the Princess's support in protecting Dawn, we might be able to stop things from getting out of hoof."

"Alright then," said Fluttershy, "I need to talk to Dawn, so good luck you two."

Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle set off on the road back to Ponyville. Fluttershy watched them on their way until she could no longer see them before turning back and disappearing into her cottage.

"Ah can't believe ya stopped me," hissed Applejack, tears streaming from her eyes as her brother carried her like a sack of potatoes towards their home.

"Ah'm sorry AJ. Ah know ya don't like to talk about it, but this time ya've gone too far." Big Macintosh didn't flinch at his sister's accusations. It hurt, but he knew it was for the best.

"But pa said..."

"That don't mean he was right!" snapped Big Mac irritably before sighing and resuming his stoic mask, "Look sis. Ah ain't sayin' that pa didn't do right by us when he was raisin' us. But that don't mean that every word that came out of his mouth was the Celestia-given truth."

"You too," gasped Applejack, "Callin' him a liar."

"Just because it's wrong don't mean it's a lie too," retorted Bog Macintosh, "He probably believed it with his heart and soul. But he was just wrong about it."

"Ya can't be sure 'o that!" snapped Applejack, "And we can't take chances, not with that thing hangin' around mah friends. It's probably just bidin' its time and waitin' fer the moment to strike."

"Ya can't be any more sure 'o that than Ah am," replied Macintosh sternly, "Yer friends weren't born yesterday. Miss Twilight is supposed to be one 'o the smartest ponies this side 'o Canterlot. Ah'd think ya could learn to trust their judgment a little better than that."

Applejack went silent, not having a response to it. When she finally spoke, her tone was resigned. "Twilight was writin' to Princess Celestia about it. Ah'll wait to hear what she has to say about this."

"That sound's like a decent plan sis. And Ah want ya to stick to it."

Applejack's eyes narrowed. "Of course Ah will. And when the Princess gets here, she'll tell 'em. We'll get the truth fer sure."

Fluttershy turned her eyes to the couch as she gently shut the door behind her. Dawn was settled there, his face once again schooled to its usual blankness. There was no trace of the simmering anger that he had displayed when facing Applejack, nor the dejection he had demonstrated after hearing his caretaker's scolding. Fluttershy sighed and slowly walked over to the couch and settled on it, the colt scooting over to make room for her.

"Dawn," she said.

"Yes?"

"You understand what you did was wrong, don't you?"

"Yes."

"Are you sorry?"

"..." The silence stretched for an uncomfortably long span of seconds. "No." There was steel in Dawn's tone.

"Why?" Her voice was almost too soft to be heard.

"Because I don't care. Because it felt good to finally give somepony a taste of the pain they've given me all these years. It made me feel better."

Fluttershy didn't know what to say. But Dawn continued speaking.

"After he found me, my Master and I moved into a small town, not all that different from this one. There weren't any who knew about the Eyes at all, except for one pony. The others all thought it was some strange quirk. We tried to live in peace in that town, but that single pony kept agitating against us. If there was an accident, a freak occurrence of some kind, it was my fault. When somepony started stealing things from the others, I was the first he blamed. When my Master and I helped catch the real culprit, he blamed me for leading the thief astray.

"At first he was mostly ignored. But every time something happened, he didn't hesitate to blame me. Accidents happen every day, but when you have a scapegoat, they suddenly seem to be happening too frequently to be normal. It was a lie. But he told the same lie over and over again. Eventually, the other townsponies began to consider it a possibility. Then they began to believe in it. Finally, we had to leave because they were certain that I was the one behind every single misfortune in their lives.

"When I first met you, I thought it would be the same as before. You weren't the first pony to offer me kindness. But once others found out, I was usually called a burden and thrown out. I've tried being nice, polite and good. I've never inflicted harm on anypony, no matter how hard they tried to hurt me. I always tried to stay above it all and be better than what they tried to make me out to be...

"...And in the end, none of it mattered. Whether it was a slip-up, some display of temper on my part, or even some stupid coincidence, like somepony getting hurt when I happened to be nearby, they would always blame me for it and call me a demon or a monster."

Tears began to seep from Fluttershy's eyes as she listened. Dawn's tone had gone flat, emotionless, and robotic.

"I was surprised when the first ponies I met after you didn't treat me like I was some kind of monster. I actually started to hope that maybe something would be different. That you might actually be right and that I could have a home...here."

Fluttershy's sharp ears caught the tiny hitch in Dawn's voice as he spoke. In it, she could feel the soul-crushing disappointment that came from experiencing hope only to have it ripped away from you.

"But then that mare showed up," Dawn continued, talking about Applejack, "And I understood yet again that this had been too good to be true. I saw it in her eyes. She will never change what she thinks about me, no matter what I do. Even if I never do anything even remotely wrong, she'll simply chalk it up to how good I am at hiding my true nature. I will need to spend every hour of every day of my life proving her wrong while she will only need to be proven right once."

Unable to bear it anymore, Fluttershy gathered the colt in her forelegs and pulled him tight against her. "Dawn," she whispered desperately, "Please don't give up. It won't be like that, I promise."

"Yes it will," answered the colt, "If a lie is told often enough, ponies will start believing in it, no matter how stupid it seems. That mare has already told herself that lie often enough that she won't believe a word if it's against what she thinks is right. She'll hound me constantly, blame me for everything that goes wrong. And eventually, other ponies will start to blame me too." He looked down and stared at the floor. "And it will eventually be too much for you to keep taking care of me and I will have to leave again."

"No." Dawn blinked in surprise and looked up to see unwavering determination in Flutershy's eyes as she stared down at him. "I won't let it be like that. No matter what happens, I will never abandon you. Even if all of Ponyville, no, all of Equestria turns against you, I won't."

She paused to gently nuzzle Dawn's mane. "And if it ends up that you really do have to leave...I'll go with you. I won't let you be alone anymore."

"Why?" asked Dawn, eyes wide.

"Because," said Fluttershy as though it was the simplest thing in the world, "I love you."

For a moment, the ebony colt was too stunned to speak. "Why?"

"Because the moment you agreed to live here, you joined my family, just like Angel and the others. And that means I love you just like I love them."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that," answered Fluttershy as she nodded gently.

Dawn went silent again and stared at the floor in stunned awe. His mind frantically searched for some response he could give to the yellow mare holding him tightly and now nuzzling his mane. "I..." He couldn't think of anything.

"Hush now," whispered Fluttershy, wrapping her charge in the sheltering cocoon of her wings, "We've both had a long day. Let's get some rest. I'll stay down here with you."

Dawn wanted to protest, but couldn't muster up the strength to do so. Instead, he listened as Fluttershy began her lullaby, her soft voice gently singing him into sleep. Dawn slumped down and fell into slumber, safe in the embrace of the mare who had saved him from his solitary existence.

"So how did your latest flying lesson go?" asked Melon as she set the table for her family.

"It wasn't that good," muttered Scootaloo, "Dawn gave me a new exercise to try, but I couldn't get it right, no matter how many times I tried. He told me to keep practicing the first exercise until I see him again in a couple days."

"And this new exercise, how does it work?" asked Cirrus Stratus, staring intently at his daughter.

Scootaloo shifted nervously. "I'm supposed to launch myself into the air and then use the position from the first exercise to catch myself. It's pretty hard, 'cause I keep freaking out from being so high up and can't catch myself in time. Dawn says I have to get more used to doing the first exercise first so that I can do it without thinking."

"It does sound as though you're making progress," commented Melon as she brought out the salad, followed by a daisy casserole.

"I would like to see this second exercise you've been taught," said Cirrus, "You can show us after dinner."

"I can't," replied Scootaloo.

"As your father, I have the right to see the fruits of your training. I need to know whether or not these flight lessons are a wise investment of your time." Cirrus's tone dripped with faint scorn at those two words clearly indicated his doubt. "What you have shown so far has been disappointing to say the least."

"Dear, she just started," Melon pointed out, "You can't expect her to be an expert after just one or two lessons."

"She is already behind as it is," snapped Cirrus, "Scootaloo needs to make more progress if she's going into Flight School." he failed to see his wife and daughter wince.

"I can't show you because Dawn told me I couldn't do this exercise unless he was around," said Scootaloo, trying to return the topic to its original course, "I promised him that I wouldn't try it outside of lessons."

"Ridiculous! What kind of instructor would curtail a student's practice like that?" Cirrus was livid.

"Perhaps one who thinks very seriously about the safety of his student," commented Melon, "He just doesn't want Scootaloo to get hurt because she tried it without proper supervision."

"I am her father, what better supervision could there be?" Cirrus turned away from his wife and regarded Scootaloo critically. "You will show me this exercise of yours after we are done here. If you don't, then your lessons are done."

Scootaloo gulped. She knew that tone of voice, her father wasn't going to budge on this. But she had no intention of breaking her promise to Dawn, a Pinkie Promise no less. This is it, she realized, I need to stand up to him now. If I don't, then I'll never have any say in my life so long as he thinks he can decide everything for me.

"I'm not doing it dad," she said in her firmest tone, "And I'm not giving up my lessons either. I won't break a promise to a friend and teacher."

"YOU DARE TO DEFY ME!" roared Cirrus, slamming his hooves onto the table and sending plates, many still partially laden with food, tumbling to the floor, "AFTER ALL I'VE DONE FOR YOU!"

"Cirrus! Stop!" Melon tried to get her husband's attention, but was ignored as he continued to glare with single-minded intensity at their daughter.

Scootaloo quivered beneath the full force of her father's fury. Her first instinct was to break down, apologize for her misbehavior and try to make amends. No! I can't give up. I have to start standing up for myself. I can't keep hiding behind mom forever.

Steeling herself, Scootaloo took a deep breath and looked her father in the eye. "I won't break a promise I made to a friend just because you told me to. I'm not going to give up seeing him for lessons either."

"We'll see about that!" snarled Cirrus, "Go to your room, right now! And start packing!"

Scootaloo froze. Melon blinked and stared at her husband, her jaw hanging. "What are you doing?" she demanded.

"What I should have done a long time ago," declared Cirrus, "I'm going to make arrangements to send Scootaloo to Cloudsdale and attend a preparatory school there. I have to ensure that, in spite of her efforts to become a failure, Scootaloo will get into Flight School."

"But..." Melon couldn't come up with a response. She was flabbergasted that her husband would do this without consulting her.

"I'm not going." Silence, absolute and stifling descended on the house at Scootaloo's words.

Cirrus turned his gaze back to his daughter, rage seeping from every pore of his body. When he spoke, his words were a hissing whisper, annunciation each word with extreme care. "What...did...you...say?"

"I'm not going to Cloudsdale," answered Scootaloo as confidently as she could manage. "I'm not leaving Ponyville. And I'm not going to Flight School either."

For a moment, Cirrus was at a loss for words. He was too furious to even speak. He pressed his hooves down so hard that the wood of the table was beginning to creak. When he finally spoke again, his voice was at a normal volume, but still resonated with his anger. "Get out."

Scootaloo blinked. "What?"

"Get out," repeated Cirrus, "If you think that you can talk to me like that, defy my orders and decide your life for yourself, then you can see yourself out of this house. You've spent your life living under the roof that I have provided for you, eating food that I put on the table with my work, going to a school that is paid for by my taxes, and yet you think you can just talk back to me. I'm trying to save you from running your life into the ground and becoming a disappointment and a failure. But you've spent too much time hanging around that idol of yours. Since you've clearly decided that you want to be a failure and an embarrassment to my name, you can see yourself out and live on the fruit of your own labors. We'll see how independent and successful you are then. Now, GET OUT!!!"

Scootaloo bolted, heading straight for the kitchen door and dashing out into the darkening night. Cirrus Stratus watched as her form disappeared into the gloom before turning to look at his wife...

...And receiving a hoof to the side of his face snapping his head around.

"How could you do that?" demanded Melon, trembling with fury, "You threw our own daughter out into the streets, just because she disagrees with you!"

"She needs to understand how things are done in this household," snapped Cirrus, "I am her father. I know what is best. If she thinks she actually knows better than me, she can try living on her own for a while. Don't worry, she'll think better of it once she starts getting hungry and has to sleep somewhere other than her own bed. She won't be gone for a full day before she's back with an apology."

"For what? For trying to have a say in her own life? For exercising her right to decide what she wants to do with her future? You've been trying to control everything about Scootaloo since she was old enough to talk. You've forced your expectations on her and never let her decide anything for herself." Melon Cream was outraged. "And when she finally finds the courage to take charge of herself, you respond by casting her out of our house?"

Cirrus glared back at his wife. "Scootaloo has shown time and again that she can't be trusted to make her own decisions. Her choice of friends are a pair of crazed foals who spend their free time terrorizing the town for the fun of it. Her idol is a failure and a drop-out. Her so-called flight lessons haven't gotten her more than a few feet of the ground after all this time. She can't be trusted with her own life. If I leave her in her own devices, she'll end up as a failure, trapped in a dead-in job in some no-name town, living with nothing but broken dreams."

Melon's gaze softened slightly as she watched her husband's face fall. "Is that how you view your life? You have a job that lets you keep a fine home in a nice town, filled with wonderful ponies, with a wife and daughter who love you very much; and you think that you're a failure, just because you didn't do what your parents wanted."

"My parents were great ponies!" snapped Cirrus, "They deserve better than that. After all they did for me, I repay them by getting trapped in his life."

"That was their fault, not yours," said Melon, "The best expectation you can have for our daughter is that she finds a place in this world where she can be happy, where she can be herself. Trapping you and forcing their expectations onto you is what brought you grief. Your parents are the ones who failed because they tried to force you to live life on their terms, not yours."

Cirrus was silent and, for a moment, Melon thought she had gotten through to him. Then, as she watched, his eyes hardened. He seemed to lose awareness of the world around him, including the fact that his wife was still there, as he began to speak.

"No," he said, "My parents did great things and I'll never measure up to that. I had my chance and lost it. But Scootaloo still has hers. I'll be damned before I let her waste it. One way or another, she's going to Flight School. And she'll succeed. I won't let that Rainbow Dash fool her into thinking she isn't good enough just because she's an impure."

"What?" gasped Melon, shocked to hear those words coming from her husband.

Cirrus continued to mutter on, a manic energy filling his voice. "If Scootaloo can succeed in Flight School, she'll show that she can overcome the limitations of her parentage. If my daughter can succeed where I failed she'll be able to redeem my parents and I can finally show them something to proud of."

"Limitations? Impure? What are you talking about?" Melon Cream was stunned. Her mind flashed back to her recent conversation with Rainbow Dash and what she had been saying about Flight School. "Are you suggesting that Scootaloo's inferior because I'm her mother."

"Of course not," protested Cirrus, seeming to suddenly remember that his wife was in the room, "She simply has a greater challenge to overcome. And when she does overcome it, it'll prove to my parents that I can still do something worthwhile, even with somepony like you as her mother."

His jaw snapped shut as he realized what he had blurted out. It was too late though. Melon was staring at her husband in absolute horror, tears streaming from her eyes.

"Is that what you think?" she asked, "That my blood is some kind of taint to your lineage? That the fact that I'm her mother is something Scootaloo has to overcome, like it's some kind of shackle. You're saying that I'm unworthy to be her mother or your wife?"

"No!" answered the stallion, trying to find the right words, "You're not the unworthy one! I am! You're the pony I deserved as a wife!"

"What do you mean that I'm the pony that you 'deserved' as a wife?" inquired Melon. It suddenly clicked in her mind what he meant. The mare nearly turned white from shock. "It can't be...

"All this time, I thought you had married me because you loved me, even though your parents disapproved of us. But now I understand. You married me because I was beneath your parents' expectations. You were punishing yourself. You felt you didn't deserve to marry somepony who met their standards, so you went with a common earth pony instead. You married me because you believed that you didn't deserve better."

"Of course not!" exclaimed Cirrus, "I had no right to marry a proper pegasus, like my parents wanted. You're all I'm worth!"

Melon choked out a sound that was halfway between a sigh and a sob. "Thank you, Cirrus. Now I know what I really meant to you." She pushed away from the table and walked out of the kitchen, not even bothering to clear the table away.

A few minutes later, she came down the stairs, carrying a small bag. Cirrus intercepted her on her way to the front door. "Where are you going?" he demanded.

"I'm leaving," declared Melon, "I'm going to stay over at Ditzy's tonight. And tomorrow, I'm going to find out where my daughter has gone and I will get a new home for her and me." She met her husband's eyes solemnly. "We're done. I am not going to be your wife any longer. Now you can have the life your truly deserve."

"No," said Cirrus, getting between his wife and the door, "Scootaloo's already left, I'm not letting you go too."

"Scootaloo didn't leave, you threw her out. You've forced me out too." Melon lowered her head and shook it sadly. "I still love you, but I can't live with you anymore. I can't bring myself to hate you. I can only pity you. I need to provide a safe place for my daughter growing up, and this isn't it."

"I won't let you leave," snarled Cirrus, spreading his wings.

Melon sighed. "Don't do this. Let me leave."

"You're not going anywhere," growled the stallion, as he advanced.

Melon sighed again and gave her husband one last defeated look. Then she turned and bucked him. Cirrus was launched back and slammed into the wall next to the door, slumping down senselessly. Melon walked up, opened the door, walked out past the stunned form of her husband and shut the portal behind her.

Scootaloo was heedless of her surroundings as she rushed through the dark streets of Ponyville. Her father's rage was so terrifying, she had forgotten her trademark scooter in her panic, leaving her galloping on her own four hooves.

Finally out of breath, Scootaloo paused, gasping for air as she took stock of her surroundings. She had run all the way through town. The streets were almost deserted, save the few ponies still braving the darkness to go about their business or enjoy a night out as the moon climbed higher in the sky.

Where should I go? wondered the filly as she glanced around. Now that her father had cast her out, her first priority needed to be finding some place to spend the night. She wasn't lacking for options in that respect. Her first thought was to see if she could spend the night with Sweetie Belle. However, Sweetie's parents were out of town on another of their trips while Sweetie stayed at Rarity's. While Rarity would be more than happy to take her in, given the circumstances, Scootaloo was worried that Rarity might insist on confronting Cirrus about what he had done, which was something Scootaloo didn't want to go through yet.

Going over to Apple Bloom's presented a similar issue, though Bloom's sister and brother were more likely to wait until the morning before going to see Cirrus. There was also the problem that Sweet Apple Acres was a fair distance from her current location. Without her scooter, Scootaloo was in for a very long walk.

Scootaloo's thoughts turned to Rainbow Dash, whose cloud house floated in the near distance. It seemed a logical choice. But not being able to fly, Scootaloo's only hope would be to try and shout and hope that her idol heard her from up in the clouds, which wasn't guaranteed.

Taking another moment to orient herself, Scootaloo realized where she had run. This is the way to Fluttershy's house. She hadn't even initially considered the possibility. After all, Fluttershy's cottage was a ways from the rest of Ponyville. But it wasn't quite as distant as Apple Bloom's house (not being in the middle of acres upon acres of apple orchards). It would take a while to get there without her scooter, but at that moment, Fluttershy's home seemed the most inviting place the filly could imagine. She remembered how warm and comforting it had been to wake up next to the shy mare that morning. Also, Dawn was there. Ever since her lessons had started, Scootaloo was beginning to realize just how safe she felt being around him.

Her mind set, the orange filly began her trek towards the distant cottage.

Fluttershy and Dawn slept on the couch, the mare's wing gently wrapped around her young charge and holding him gently against her side. They would have remained that way until morning, had somepony not started lightly tapping on the door.

Dawn, light sleeper that he was, was the first to rouse. Opening his eyes, he came to his senses quickly and zeroed in on the door. Getting up, he shrugged off Fluttershy's wing and gently nudged her pink mane. With a weary yawn, she woke up and gazed at Dawn, who tilted his head towards the door. "We have a visitor."

Fluttershy blinked in confusion before becoming conscious of the knocking. Getting up, she trotted over to the door and opened it uncertainly. Slowly, she leaned out to see who was calling at this late hour, only to find a tired and dejected orange and purple pegasus filly sitting on her doorstep.

"Scootaloo!" she exclaimed throwing the door open wide, "Come in, quickly!"

Sniffing, the filly did as she was bid and trotted into the room. Looking around, she spotted Dawn, still reclining on the couch, observing the situation with his usual, neutral expression.

"What happened Scootaloo? Why are you out here so late?" Fluttershy rested a gentle hoof on the filly's shoulder.

Scootaloo opened her mouth to speak and shuddered. Now that she was safe in Fluttershy's home, the toughness that had been holding her feelings of hurt and abandonment at bay evaporated. Before she could manage to say anything, she broke down crying in the cottage's living room. Even as sobs wracked her body, Scootaloo felt Fluttershy's forelegs and wings envelop her.

"There there," cooed Fluttershy, gently rocking the filly in her embrace, "It's alright. Just let it all out. You're safe here."

After a few minutes, Scootaloo's sobs ebbed away and she stepped slowly and carefully away from the yellow pegasus' embrace. Looking up, she saw Fluttershy looking down at her with a gentle, concerned look.

"What happened?" she asked softly.

"My dad," whispered Scootaloo, shaking slightly, "He wanted me to show him what Dawn taught me. When I told him that I couldn't, because I promised Dawn, he got mad. I decided to tell him that I wasn't going to Flight School like he wanted either. Then he threw me out."

Fluttershy covered her mouth as she gasped. "Oh Scootaloo, that's horrible. How could your father do such a thing?"

The filly looked forlornly at the floor. "He's always angry with me lately. He keeps saying how I need to work hard or I'll be a failure. And he's always talking about how Rainbow Dash is a bad influence on me. If I try to argue, he just yells at me that since he's taking care of me, I don't have the right to tell him anything."

The sound of smaller hooffalls made Scootaloo look up as Dawn got off the couch and trotted over to stand off to her side. "It's my fault," he said simply, "I shouldn't have made you promise like that."

"It's alright," replied Scootaloo as she met her friend's eyes, "I didn't know dad would be like that. So it's not your fault."

"It doesn't matter," interjected Fluttershy as she stepped between them and draped her wings over the two young ponies, "What matters is that you're safe here. Scootaloo, I would be happy to let you spend the night with us. We can worry about settling things with your family later. For now, let's just get you settled."

A small growl emerged from the filly's stomach. Blushing, she found the strength to give Fluttershy a small grin. "Sorry, I left before I could finish eating dinner."

Before Fluttershy could respond, a slightly deeper grumbled echoed out of her belly, soon followed by another small growl from Dawn's. "Well, Dawn and I dozed off earlier without eating dinner. So maybe I should go make some." Getting up, she trotted into the kitchen and got to work.

Dawn and Scootaloo sat for a moment in awkward silence, neither meeting the other's eyes. After a few moments, Dawn trotted up to the couch and laid down on it. Deciding to follow his example, Scootaloo also climbed up and laid down next to him. After a long moment, she began to slowly lean against him.

Dawn went rigid, his eyes going wide with shock at the unexpected contact. But as Scootaloo continued to rest her weight against his side, he slowly began to get accustomed to it and relaxed as she drew comfort from his strength and warmth, a warmth that was slowly rising to color his cheeks as Dawn remained uncomfortably aware of Scootaloo's presence by his side.

Author's Notes:

And so, the manure hits the fan...twice... How about Scootaloo's dad huh? It's amazing the things you can discover about a person (or pony, I suppose) even if you've been living with them for a long time. I would like to stress that I do not speak with the weight of personal experience on this matter, so if it seems unrealistic, well...sorry. I had to kick-start the conflict somehow.

As for Applejack, she's currently acting as the vehicle for one of my absolute biggest pet peeves with what happens in the real world, particularly in politics and other arenas of public discourse. We'll get into that in more detail in later chapters. I will say that, unlike many depictions, in this variant of the MLP:FiM setting, the Elements of Harmony do not grant their bearers any particular special abilities. So Applejack having the Element of Honesty does not automatically make her a living lie detector, as has been in a lot of fandom depictions of her. If anything, the show has demonstrated that she can have the wool pulled over her eyes and is actually pretty good at pulling the wool over her own eyes when she finds the truth to be too inconvenient for her.

And, if you haven't gleaned it from the WAFF scenes in the story so far, it is my personal belief that a healthy parent-child relationship is best fostered with the liberal application of snuggle-time. Besides, Fluttershy has always struck me as being extra cuddly. ALL HAIL TO SNUGGLES!

Rough Morning

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Chapter 10: Rough Morning

It was not the shrill buzzing of Twilight Sparkle's alarm clock that woke her up this morning. Nor was it the light of the rising sun just beginning to stream in through her windows. It was much too early for either. Her alarm wasn't set to wake her up this early in the day and the sky only showed the faintest pinkish tint to the east, suggesting the coming morning. Instead, what awoke her was a loud belch and a green flash, followed by the scent of singed bedding as Spike vomited out a burst of emerald flame that condensed into a scroll at the foot of Twilight's bed, slightly burning the poor dragon's blankets in the process.

Twilight found being awakened so rudely a trying experience, but she easily imagined that Spike must have found it worse. The poor drake was quite used to the experience of belching out scrolls sent through his flame at Celestia's behest. But he found it easiest when he was awake and upright. Being woken up in such a manner could not have been a pleasant experience in the least.

"Are you alright Spike?" asked Twilight as she crawled out from under her blankets. Her conversation the previous day had made her quite aware of her recent oversights in how she treated her Number One Assistant, so she wanted to be doubly sure.

"Ugh, yeah," groaned Spike as he rubbed his eyelids before coughing. After finally getting his eyes to focus, he zeroed in on the scroll. "Want me to read it to you?" he asked.

Twilight smiled and shook her head, using her magic to retrieve it as she did so. "No. I'll take this downstairs and read it. Why don't you go back to sleep for a while. You could probably use the extra rest."

Spike smiled at her concern and yawned. "Thanks Twilight." he laid back down and shut his eyes.

Twilight smiled at the peaceful sight of the slumbering dragon and took the scroll downstairs. She was anxious to peruse its contents. The previous day, she had sent the letter regarding Dawn to Princess Celestia, along with some additions regarding the events that had occurred with Applejack. She had waited anxiously for a reply, prepared to stay up into the wee hours of the morning, until Spike insisted that she get some rest. Twilight had obliged, mostly because it wasn't fair for her to make Spike stay up as well.

Reaching the ground floor, Twilight gulped nervously and unrolled the scroll. Even though she was confident in the conclusions she had drawn about the Eyes of Nightmare, she still found herself wondering if she had been mistaken. It took a lot for Applejack to get worked up like she had, which had given the lavender mare more than a few doubts. Carefully, she let her eyes traverse the writing in front of her.

My faithful student;
I am grateful that you have chosen to contact me about this affair. In doing so, I believe you have averted a great injustice, one that has persisted for centuries since before I was forced to banish my sister to the moon. I have done my best to try and prevent these events from occurring, but am limited in the actions I can take. I cannot be everywhere after all. At the very least, you have prevented this injustice from claiming another victim.
You are correct in your assessment that the so-called Eyes of Nightmare are not a symptom of demonic possession. I have very definitive proof of that, at least. Please convey my gratitude to Fluttershy for providing that colt with a place of safety. I must admit that I am deeply troubled by the fact that Applejack, of all ponies, has been taken in by the Cult Solar's slander. I hope that this letter is sufficient in allaying her fears.
I would like to come and meet this colt personally and help do what I can to repair his situation. However, that is not possible currently. I have been detained in Canterlot lately by affairs of state, but shall come down to Ponyville myself when my schedule permits.
I know this letter alone may not be enough to stop some ponies from doing something rash. To that end, I have asked your brother to select some trustworthy and discreet members of the Royal Guard to be stationed in Ponyville should matters get out of hoof. I will ask that you see to their disposition and make arrangements with the local authorities for their presence.
Furthermore, per your request for additional information, I have asked the staff of the Royal Archives to compile all information related to the Eyes and have it shipped down to you. I have also had the staff at the library collect all books and documents produced by the Cult Solar from the restricted section to be delivered to you. You should receive all of this within two weeks.
I commend you on your desire to learn about the Eyes of Nightmare, as few ponies have bothered to try. Even without the Cult Solar, thanks to the situation with my sister, there has long been a social stigma attached to them that prevented anypony from investigating the phenomenon seriously. It is my hope that your work can bring the nature of this condition to light and help end any further persecution of ponies like your friend, Dawn.
Good luck, my faithful student.
Sincerely: Princess Celestia

Twilight smiled as she read the letter, a smile that widened as she worked through it further. She had been right after all. More importantly, here in front of her was definitive proof that Applejack's fears were unfounded. Once she delivered this to Applejack, then the problem would be solved.

Unfortunately, as things would turn out, the morning had other things planned.

Cirrus Stratus blinked and groaned as he slowly regained consciousness. He had recovered a few moments after his wife had bucked him. In his pain and sorrow, he hadn't bothered to go after her. Instead he had turned to a bottle of whiskey he kept in the cupboard to drown his sorrows, before climbing into his bed thoroughly soused.

In the morning, his agony was compounded by the monstrous hangover that assaulted him. His head pounded and every little noise slammed into his ears, only making his pain worse. Cirrus moaned in agony, only to find that even that noise was too much for him. Forcing himself up, the tottered out of his bedroom and down the stairs to the kitchen. The remains of last night's dinner were still sitting on the table and scattered across the floor where Cirrus had left them. Even though it had been sitting out all night, Cirrus sat down and ate ravenously. He also managed to pour himself a glass of water, but making coffee was a little too much for him this morning.

His stomach full and his thirst sated, Cirrus simply sat at the table for a few moments. By all rights, he should have been on his way to work, but none of that seemed to matter. His daughter was gone, his wife had left. He couldn't bring up the motivation to go out and greet the day. Slowly, the stallion sauntered into the living room, where he looked over at the pictures on the hearth. There were pictures of Scootaloo and Melon Cream, laughing and smiling together. But Cirrus was not in any of them. He had deemed such pictures to be frivolous and wasteful and only allowed them as an indulgence for his wife. The only pictures with Cirrus in them were a family photo, where he posed with his wife and daughter, his usual stern expression in place, and another picture with another pair of pegasi, both staring at the camera with complete solemnity.

The two pegasi seemed glare out of the picture, judging their son, who had managed to lose his hold over the one thing that might have restored some shred of his dignity. In spite of all the effort he had given, all of the work he had put in and all the dedication he had fostered, Scootaloo was all but lost to him. She would never achieve anything of worth. She would become just another smear on his name, another sign of his failure to accomplish anything.

No. Searing rage poured through Cirrus's veins as he looked at the picture of his parents, meeting their glare with a look of determination. I won't let it end like this. I won't allow Scootaloo to become a failure. She will succeed, no matter how hard I have to push her.

Fighting down the last remnants of his hangover, Cirrus Stratus headed out the door of his home, determined to bring his daughter back.

The morning light played across Fluttershy's face as she lifted her head up off the couch cushions. She was slightly confused, not used to waking up on something other than her bed. As she did so, she became conscious of the two bundles of warmth tucked underneath her wing. With a gentle smile, Fluttershy lifted up her wing and was reminded of exactly why she had spent the night on the couch.

Dawn and Scootaloo slept soundly, curled up next to each other. After dinner the previous evening, Fluttershy and her two charges had laid down on the couch to sleep in each other's presence. It had been a difficult day for all of them. But now, with the sun shining in through the windows, a new day had started, one that was full of promise.

Dawn was already beginning to wake in response to her movements. As the colt stirred, Fluttershy nuzzled his mane gently. Dawn looked back up to her, his turquoise draconic eyes already fully alert. The canary-colored pegasus envied the colt and his ability to wake up almost instantly. Dawn pushed off the couch, sailing over the table in front of it to the center of the living room. The movement had been so fluid that his departure hadn't disturbed Scootaloo in the slightest.

As Dawn headed out the door to begin his morning routine, Fluttershy slowly slid off the couch to go through her own morning rituals. She reminded herself to get a toothbrush and paste for Dawn, who was generally content to use water to wash his mouth out. It wouldn't hurt for him to start taking better care of his teeth now that he was getting used to more substantial and civilized fare.

Before she headed up to her bathroom, Fluttershy made sure to fetch a blanket and lay it over Scootaloo. After what she had been through the previous evening, Fluttershy felt that the filly deserved to sleep in, if only for a little while longer. Given the circumstances, she probably wouldn't be going to school either. Fluttershy's first order of business was to find out about Scootaloo's family situation in more detail. Once she understood just where the orange filly stood, Fluttershy could decide what to do from there.

After finishing in the bathroom, Fluttershy came down the stairs and went into the kitchen. Dawn was still in the yard, going through his morning exercises as persistently and methodically as ever. As she prepared breakfast in the kitchen, Fluttershy watched Dawn go through his forms again, moving through each technique with grace and ease. By the time she had finished preparing breakfast, three bowls of porridge lightly sweetened with honey (especially lightly sweetened in Dawn's case) and garnished with lavender, Dawn was finished and coming in, having adapted to the morning routine in the days since his arrival.

Fluttershy looked up from setting the table as Dawn trotted into the kitchen, followed shortly afterwards by a bleary-eyed Scootaloo, still yawning and rubbing her face as she fought off the dogged weariness that accompanied most ponies upon awakening.

The three ponies ate in silence. Fluttershy wanted to make sure that Scootaloo was fully awake before she started pressing for information. After they had eaten, Dawn volunteered to do the dishes, having learned how over the previous week, while Scootaloo helped Fluttershy tend to her animals.

As they set out bowls of feed, Fluttershy turned to look at the filly. "Scootaloo, do you have any idea about what you're going to do now?"

Scootaloo froze in the middle of pouring out birdseed into a bowl. She barely recovered in time to stop from letting it completely spill out onto the floor. "I don't know." She shied away from Fluttershy. "I don't have to leave, do I?"

"Oh dear, of course not," answered Fluttershy quickly, "Not if you don't want to, that is. I just wanted to know. You said your father threw you out. What about your mother?"

Scootaloo looked forlornly at the floor. "I don't know. I ran out before she could say anything. Mom's always tried to keep dad from being too strict with me. But he only really listens to her if she threatens him with sleeping on the couch or something like that."

"Then maybe I should talk with your mother," suggested Fluttershy, "We might be able to work something out. It might be best for you to keep staying with Dawn and I. Perhaps all you and your father need is a little time away from each other."

"You think so?" asked the filly hopefully.

"Oh yes," agreed Fluttershy, "It doesn't sound like you actually did anything wrong. But at the very least, your father needs some time to think about how he's been treating you."

"So, we're going to see mom then?"

Fluttershy shook her head. "Not right away. I'll go into town and talk to your mother right now. You would probably be better off staying here with Dawn for now. You didn't bring any of your school things with you this time, so it might be best for you stay here. Besides, you look like you could use some rest."

"But what about my friends?" protested Scootaloo feebly.

"It's just for one day," said Fluttershy soothingly as she gave the filly a quick hug before heading out the door.

Scootaloo ran to the window and watched sadly as Fluttershy cantered down the road leading into town. She continued to stare out long after Fluttershy had vanished from sight.

"Are you done moping?"

A shriek burst from Scootaloo's mouth as she inadvertently activated her magic and leapt up, her wings giving her just enough lift to slam her head into the ceiling quite painfully. Scootaloo dropped back to the floor, groaning and clutching her head as her skull throbbed from the impact. She barely managed to open one eye and glare at the ebony colt that had come up behind her.

"Not bad," he commented, "But you probably shouldn't be trying the second exercise indoors."

"Ha ha," retorted Scootaloo as she continued to massage her scalp, "Ow!"

Dawn retreated to the kitchen for a few moments before returning with a bag of ice, which he positioned on the lump swelling up through Scootaloo's fuchsia mane. "I'm sorry," he said earnestly, "I didn't mean to scare you like that and I hadn't realized you had been hurt so badly."

"'s okay," hissed Scootaloo as she sank to the floor, the cold ice bringing welcome relief to the pain. Dawn continued to use his hoof to steady the ice pack's position, in spite of the fact he was beginning to lose feeling in the appendage.

"However, that was a good sign in a way," he commented.

"Really?"

"It means that you are beginning to draw out your magic instinctively, without thinking about it. Once you feel better, we should go outside and have you practice for a little while. You may not be that far away from getting the second exercise."

"How long did it take you to get it?" asked Scootaloo as she looked up at Dawn.

"I won't say."

For a moment, Scootaloo stared at him, her expression baffled. "Huh! Why not?"

"Because if I told you, you would see it as some sort of invisible line that you couldn't cross, no matter what," explained Dawn, "You would put undo pressure on yourself to avoid going over that limit, which would undermine your focus. It is not a question of whether you take more or less time than I did. It does not make you inferior or superior. You will simply get it when you get it. It is best not to dwell on how long it takes, but finishing the task itself."

The filly let out an indignant sigh. "Fine."

"For now, just rest. We'll start your practice sessions when your head feels better." The two of them continued to go through their day, unaware that, in Ponyville, somepony else was in for a much ruder awakening.

Rainbow Dash groaned and forced her eyes open at the sound of someone pounding at her door. The first thing she did was pull some clouds from her bed and pile them around her ears to block out the sound and hope that the one behind the obscene racket would get fed up and leave. It had been a fitful night for her. Her anxiety over the situation in Cloudsdale was beginning to take its toll. Rainbow had been nervous about sharing the information with her friends. It was troubling enough to deal with on its own.

The situation wasn't helped by the fact that there hadn't been any clouds delivered from the weather factory either. They were nearing the end of what little grace period they had before Rainbow and her team had to tap their reserve supply of water to make up for the lost storm. Some of the more fragile crops wouldn't last another two days. Even the mayor was beginning to express her concerns with the situation.

And all that had been before Applejack had completely flipped her lid the previous day. The sheer stress of all these problems had kept Rainbow Dash up, tossing and turning through the night. Just when it seemed that she would finally be able to get some sleep, somepony had decided she needed to be woken up with an impromptu percussion session.

Even with her hearing muffled by the clouds, Rainbow could still hear the distant pounding. She could even make out the sound of someone's voice, but it was too indistinct to make out, much less identify.

Having had enough, Rainbow batted away the clouds stuffed into her ears and got up. Storming down the stairs, she mentally prepared herself to give the jerk on the other side of her door a piece of her mind. However, she found herself pausing as the voice of the other pony became clear.

"RAINBOW DASH! OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW!"

Hearing the pounding and the shouting from her bedroom had left Rainbow without an impression of the sheer fury being unleashed upon her threshold. With each impact, her cloud door shuddered in its frame. And the voice of the stallion responsible was filled to the brim with righteous fury.

"I KNOW SCOOTALOO IS IN THERE! STOP HIDING HER AND SEND HER OUT THIS INSTANT!"

What? Rainbow blinked in confusion as she eyed the door. Now she recognized the voice. She'd heard it only rarely as the pony it belonged to refused to speak to her. But she had heard it on occasion before. Cirrus Stratus was on the other side of the door, pounding away with all his might and rage. But Rainbow as confused. What made him think that Scootaloo was here? Checking the clock, she determined that Scootaloo would most likely be at school, rather than at home. Had the orange filly gone missing? Had she finally run away from her father and his expectations?

Apparently, whatever happened, Cirrus seemed dead certain that Dash's home was the first place the wayward filly would run to. Not that it seemed so cut and dried to Rainbow's mindset. Right off the top of her head, she could think of at least two other places where Scootaloo might run if she was trying to get away from her home.

While Rainbow contemplated this, Cirrus continued to howl and hammer her door like a stallion possessed. Rainbow briefly considered sneaking out through her window and leaving the raging pegasus harassing an empty house. But the thought struck her that if he got desperate, he might try to force an entry.

With a sigh, Rainbow mentally gathered herself and opened the door in between rounds of pounding, trying her best to time it so that she didn't open it just to take a hoof to her face. It was close. Cirrus had been drawing back his foreleg to launch another fusillade of blows at her door. Seeing that she had finally answered, Cirrus lowered his leg and glared at her with bloodshot eyes.

Rainbow took a moment to take in Cirrus's appearance. His coat was matted and ragged. His mane and tail were knotted and unkempt. The sky-blue pegasus had to brace herself to avoid reeling as she was blasted by the stallion's breath. Clearly, he hadn't bothered brushing recently. His wings were flared and tense. It was clear that Cirrus had come looking for a fight.

"What do you think you're doing?" snapped Rainbow as she returned his glare, "Pounding on my door like that? I outta report you to the Guard for disturbing the peace."

"Shut up!" snapped Cirrus, "Bring my daughter out here this instant."

"What are you talking about?" asked Rainbow, "Scootaloo isn't here. Shouldn't she be at home?"

"Don't lie to me you dropout," snarled Cirrus, "She has to be here. That brat of mine worships the ground you fly over. It's obvious that this is the first place she would go."

Now Rainbow was simply confused. "What do you mean go? Why would Scootaloo not be at home or school?"

"You know exactly why!" yelled Cirrus, pushing forward, although Rainbow refused to budge from the doorway, "You're the one who kept filling her head with those damn ideas of yours! You're trying to make my daughter into a failure like yourself!"

"I still don't have any idea what you're talking about, but you'd better watch yourself pal," said Rainbow, tensing slightly. Cirrus looked like he was on the verge of attacking.

Ignoring her warning, Cirrus tried to push himself past her. "SCOOTALOO! GET OUT HERE NOW!"

Rainbow blocked Cirrus from entering. "She's not here you jerk. And don't even think of trying to force your way into my home. Now get out of here before I make you leave."

"Don't tell me what I can and can't do you dropout. Now get out of my way. I know my daughter is in there."

"Well you're wrong. If you try to force yourself through my door again, I'm gonna stop you." Rainbow grit her teeth as she readied herself. "And even if Scootaloo was here, the last thing I'd do is hoof her over to a nut-job like you. You need to calm down and then figure out where your daughter is."

"Enough!" shouted Cirrus as he surged forward.

He didn't get far. Flaring her wings, Rainbow reared up and punched out with her forelegs in a swift one-two set of jabs that Cirrus's charge to a halt. Not letting him regain his balance or come out of his daze, Rainbow spun around, bucking with her hind legs in a single smooth motion, the force launching Cirrus out and away from her door and into the open air. He would have plummeted to the ground, but he managed to catch himself before he began falling, spreading his wings and righting himself. Cirrus hovered in the space in front of Rainbow's home, glaring.

"You filthy piece of manure!" he screamed, "I'll have you arrested for assault!"

"Just try it jerk!" Rainbow shouted back, "You were trying to force your way into my home, bellowing some random manure about your daughter without any proof. I have the right to protect myself on my property. You'll only get yourself thrown in prison."

Cirrus opened his mouth to shout back a retort or random insult. But he froze. After a moment, he began to look around, as did Rainbow. The two of them realized that they had attracted quite an audience. On the ground below, unicorns and earth ponies looked upwards in stunned silence, while the few tufts of cloud still hanging around Rainbow's home had become weighed down by pegasi drawn to the shouting match.

Rainbow Dash didn't acknowledge their audience and held her ground, glaring at Cirrus. The stallion looked for a moment like he wanted to continue their argument in spite of all they eyes on them, but appeared to think better of it. With a final glare, he sped off in the direction of his house.

Rainbow let out a long breath and sagged down tiredly on her doorstep.

"What the hay was that all about?"

Rainbow looked up to see a dark gray pegasus with a silver mane styled up in a mohawk drop down in front of her on her yard.

"I wish I knew Thunderlane," groaned Rainbow as she stared in the direction Cirrus had gone, "I wake up to that jerk trying to break my door down and shouting about his daughter being here. I tried to talk him down, but he sounds like he's gone completely around the bend."

"Sounded that way to me too," agreed Thunderlane, "You wanna take the day off boss? That's a heckuva wakeup call."

With a groan, Rainbow hauled herself back up onto her hooves. "No, I need to talk with the mayor. We're gonna take the clouds we have and set up that storm tomorrow. Everypony on the team needs to take all the clouds they can find to the holding zone."

"You've got it boss," replied Thunderlane with a cheeky grin before taking off to give her orders to the others.

Rainbow watched him go for a moment, contemplating her own plan of action. There was no need to see the mayor right away. The first thing she needed to do was find out what was going on with Scootaloo. Rainbow needed to know for sure that her fanfilly was alright. I need to talk to Melon Cream.

Rainbow spread her wings and took to the air, trying to find Scootaloo's mother.

Applejack slammed her hooves into the tree trunk with more force than she'd intended. The rain of apples still came down, but the impact had left clear indents in the trunk. Big Macintosh wouldn't be happy about that. But it was the only way that Applejack could deal with her frustration. Like Rainbow Dash, Applejack was a mare of action. She did her best work when she could just go out and do something. The notion of waiting around for Princess Celestia to come solve their problems never sat well with her, especially with the thought of that colt still living in Fluttershy's home.

But she was stuck. Macintosh had taken the apples into town to sell, forcing Applejack to stay and mind the orchards. The mare grumbled as she took her frustrations out on another tree. She had wanted to spread the word and maybe get the townsponies ready to take action. But her brother had put a stop to that. Every hour we put this off is an hour that scum has to corrupt us, she thought angrily. Her father wouldn't have allowed things to drag on this long. He would have been ashamed. Her town was in danger and none of her friends would allow her to protect it. They all thought she was crazy. No doubt that was his doing as well.

"Big sis! Big sis!"

Applejack's head snapped up at the voice. Looking over in the direction of Ponyville, she saw her little sister galloping through the orchard, a look of frantic distress on her face.

"Apple Bloom!" shouted Applejack, "Yer supposed to be at school. What's goin' on?"

"Scootaloo's missin' and nopony knows where she is!" exclaimed Apple Bloom as she ground to a halt in front of her sister, "Rainbow Dash just had a big fight with Scootaloo's dad over it. Ya've gotta help sis!"

"Scootaloo?" Applejack thought about Apple Bloom's bright orange pegasus friend. The one thing that stood out in Applejack's mind was that Scootaloo had been getting flying lessons from Dawn Lightwing.

"It can't be!" she whispered. Without another word, she broke into a gallop, taking the straightest course she knew to Fluttershy's cottage. Ah was a fool fer goin' along with mah brother about this. Ah shoulda done what Ah knew was right from the get-go. If anythin's happened to little Scootaloo, it'll be because we didn't act soon enough. Ah don't know if Ah'll be able accept mah friends' apologies fer this. She poured on the speed, running even faster, unaware that her younger sister was still behind her and desperately trying to keep pace.

"Rainbow Dash!"

Only years of experience allowed Rainbow to hear the yell that was barely more than a whisper. Having grown up together, she was intimately familiar with Fluttershy's yelling voice, which barely qualified (if it qualified at all) as louder than most ponies' normal speaking voice.

"What is it?" she asked, swooping down to meet her friend, "Can it wait? I need to find Scootaloo."

"Oh, that's perfect," said Fluttershy, her troubled expression breaking into a happy one, "She's staying with Dawn at my house right now. She spent the night there."

"Why?" asked Rainbow.

"Didn't you know?" asked Fluttershy, puzzled, "Since you were looking for her, I thought you knew already."

"Knew what? All I know is that her dad showed up at my door this morning practically foaming at the mouth and with a massive chip on his shoulder. He straight up accused me of hiding her there and tried to force his way in."

"Oh dear," said Fluttershy, "Scootaloo showed up at my door last night. The poor dear told us that her father had thrown her out."

"What?" exclaimed Rainbow, her surprise lifting her off the ground, "That jerk! I shoulda broke every bone in his body!"

"Um, do you know what's happening?" Fluttershy asked gently, "What should we do?"

"We need to talk to Scootaloo's mom. We can get the full story on what happened." Rainbow lifted up and oriented in the direction of the market. And if what the squirt said is true, Melon owes me an explanation for why she'd let her husband get away with that.

Rainbow knew that Melon Cream worked for the mayor. She oversaw the Ponyville market, handling the layout of the stalls and managing the permits that allowed the vendors to sell there. While she had her own office at town hall, Melon spent most of her time at the market itself, overseeing the start and end of it every day, as well as dealing with any disputes that popped up.

Rainbow almost missed her as she flew. Melon wasn't at the market, she was actually cantering down one of Ponyville's streets, looking around frantically.

"Scootaloo! Scootaloo! Where are you?"

Rainbow flipped a quick turn and descended towards the other mare. "Melon!" she shouted.

Melon looked up and an expression of relief spread across her face. "Rainbow Dash! Thank Celestia you're here. I can't find my daughter. Could you help me look for her?"

"No need," said Rainbow as she set down in front of the earth pony. A light breeze told her that Fluttershy had settled onto the ground behind her as well. "Scoot's at Fluttershy's place."

"Oh thank goodness," said Melon, sagging with relief. I've been looking for her since this morning."

"What's going on?" asked Rainbow, "Fluttershy told me that Scootaloo's dad threw her out."

"He did," sighed Melon, "And before you ask, she was gone before I could say anything. I was too shocked by my husband's behavior to stop him before it was done. I left after that. I can't believe I was with him all this time and I didn't realize what he really was."

"What do you mean?" asked Rainbow.

Before Melon could explain, she was cut off by a shout.

"Oh there you are!" The three mares turned to see Pinkie Pie, followed by Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, and Sweetie Belle, galloping towards them.

"Thank heavens we found you!" Rarity added as the group came to a halt.

"What's going on?" asked Fluttershy, "Is this about Scootaloo?"

"Well, yes," replied Rarity, "Twilight here was just telling me and Pinkie about your charming tenant when Sweetie Belle burst in on us and told us about Scootaloo missing and how you had a fight with her father Rainbow."

"Then everything's okay," said Rainbow, smiling smugly, "Scoots stayed at Fluttershy's house and she's there now. So we don't need to worry about her right now."

"That wasn't the only problem," said Twilight, hopping from her right hooves to her left in a nervous imitation of Pinkie's usual inability to stay still. "Sweetie wasn't the only one to hear your fight with Scootaloo's father and find out that Scootaloo was missing."

"So?"

"Oh no," whispered Fluttershy, covering her mouth with her hooves, "It was Apple Bloom, wasn't it?"

Twilight and Rarity nodded gravely.

"I don't get it," said Rainbow, "So Apple Bloom's worried too. Don't we just have to find her and explain what's going on?"

Twilight rolled her eyes with a look that just screamed "Celestia give me patience" before explaining. "When Apple Bloom finds out about a serious problem, who is the first pony she's going to run to?"

"Well that's obvious," said Rainbow, rolling her eyes in turn, "She'd run to AJ and..." She trailed off as she finally put two and two together.

"You see," said Twilight, "Applejack knows that Scootaloo was getting flying lessons from Dawn. Given her perception of him, Applejack's first thought is going to be to go after him."

"Um," interjected Melon, feeling extremely left out, "Is there something I'm missing here?"

"It's a bit of a long story, so..." Twilight began. She was cut off as the entire group was enveloped by a cloud of dust resulting from Fluttershy's rapid takeoff. Rainbow quickly beat her wings to clear it away. In the few seconds it took, Fluttershy had turned into a yellow speck in the distance. The rainbow-maned pegasus mare had to suppress the urge to whistle. To say that Fluttershy wasn't much of a flier was an understatement. The fact that she walked nearly everywhere was a testament to that fact and she was especially notorious for her weakness in the air. Even Rainbow Dash would go as far to say that her oldest friend would probably have been happier as an earth pony. But then, as moments like this showed, when she wanted to, Fluttershy could fly with a speed that left even Equestria's fastest flier gaping.

"What was that about?" coughed Melon as she looked up, trying to follow Fluttershy's flight.

"She must have gone to try and stop Applejack from doing anything rash," observed Twilight, "I should go too. I just got a letter from the Princess that should get Applejack to back down. I'm gonna go on ahead. You girls catch up as soon as you can."

Twilight's horn blazed to life and she teleported in a flash of violet light. The remaining ponies blinked to clear their eyes.

"Could somepony please tell me what this is all about?" asked Melon, quite distraught that the whole situation was getting so complicated.

"I'm terribly sorry dear," said Rarity in a consoling tone, "But explanations will have to come later. We should head for Fluttershy's as fast as we can right now."

"Way ahead of you!" By the time Rainbow's voice reached their ears, she was already gone.

The others looked at each other. "Come on then, we have no time to waste," said Rarity. They took off running for Fluttershy's home as fast as their hooves could carry them.

Scootaloo sighed as her hooves gently touched down, the wind from Dawn's catch dissipating. She was already on her fourth try to get the second exercise. This last time, she had managed to to get her wings out and had actually managed to slow her descent slightly before Dawn was forced to arrest her fall. She supposed that some progress was better than no progress. She found herself wondering at the difference in difficulty. She had hardly any trouble doing the first exercise, using her magic to lift herself off the ground without flapping. But trying to do that up in the sky, with the threat of falling hanging over her head, it suddenly seemed so much more difficult than before.

Scootaloo let out a scream of frustration, stomping her hooves on the ground. "I don't get it! What am I missing?"

"Hmm," Dawn mused "You were going through the first exercise easily enough. I think I have an idea of what the problem is."

"You do?"

"Yes. I encountered a similar wall in my training. At that time, my Master asked me a very simple question."

The orange filly blinked. "What was it?"

A rare smile spread across Dawn's face. "Where does the sky begin?"

"Huh? What's the point of that?" asked Scootaloo.

"It's everything. After all, we pegasi are ponies of the sky. We should know where our domain begins and ends. It's an essential question."

Scootaloo sat and thought about it for a moment. "I don't know. I've never thought about it like that."

"The answer is actually quite simple when you think about it," added Dawn, "After all, the sky is simply air."

"Simply air..." Scootaloo jumped up, "But wouldn't that mean...?"

"Yes," agreed Dawn, "If the sky is just air, then that means we are in the sky right now. You see..." He waved his hoof a few inches above the ground. "...Everything above the ground is the sky. It makes no difference whether you are a single inch or a whole mile up. In the end, it's all the same sky."

"But how does that help exactly?" asked the filly.

"That resistance that you felt when you pushed down with your magic was not the ground, but rather the air itself," explained Dawn, "Our magic melds with the air, the essence of the sky. The key to flight is to use your magic to grasp the air around you."

"Grasp the air..."

"You feel it when you activate your magic, don't you? You feel your reach extending beyond yourself. That is you reaching through the air. Now you need simply bend it to your will and you will be able to complete this exercise." Dawn nodded at her. "Now, try again."

Scootaloo glared at him and resisted the urge to growl in frustration. She took a few seconds to mull over their exchange. It was then that she realized how tense she was. Her frustration and anger were drawing her muscles taught. She even felt it affecting her magic, agitating it as it flowed through her wings.

Scootaloo took a deep breath and relaxed her posture. In her mind, she imagined all her negative feelings escaping like steam as she exhaled, relaxing even further. From where he was watching, Dawn's smile slowly widened. She's beginning to understand.

Scootaloo raised her wings and flapped them down, releasing her magic as she do so. Once again, she felt the rush as she rocketed upward into the air. This time, she didn't bother opening her eyes. Instead, she allowed her momentum to lift her wings up as she reached the apex of her ascent, spreading them out. This time, she released her magic from them while they spread, feeling the air around her. Following Dawn's advice, she reached out as though the air was an extension of her self and gently pushed down.

The feeling that accompanied falling never came. Opening her eyes, Scootaloo saw that she was now slowly drifting down. Concentrating on what she felt with her wings, she realized that, if she wanted to, she could arrest her fall completely and hover up there in the clear blue skies for as long as she wanted. This feels...AMAZING!

Looking down, she saw that Dawn was now positively beaming at her success. A few seconds later, Scootaloo finally touched down. The colt opened his mouth to congratulate her, but was stopped by the filly as she tackled him in an excited hug.

"I DID IT!" she screamed, "That was so awesome! I can't wait to show Rainbow Dash what I can do now!"

Dawn went completely rigid at the unexpected physical contact. After the euphoria of accomplishment wore off, Scootaloo realized that she and the colt had come to a rest, laying on the ground, the filly laying on top of Dawn, her muzzle mere inches from his own.

Scootaloo's normally orange face flushed bright red and she jumped abruptly jumped away from Dawn and stood off a few yards away, scratching the back of her head sheepishly as she struggled to look anywhere but the colt's unique eyes.

"Um...sorry."

"Don't...don't worry about it," replied Dawn as he slowly got back on his hooves, "In any case, you've shown you can do that once. Now I want you to show me that you can do that every time you go up. Once you manage that, we can move on to the next step."

"Roger!" replied Scootaloo, her sheepish grin becoming eager as she tossed her instructor a mock salute. Bending down, she lifted up her wings and prepared to take to the air again.

"There ya are!" The two looked up to see a very angry Applejack bearing down on them, "Ah've gotcha dead to rights now ya varmint! This time ya ain't gettin' any mercy from me."

Decisive Blow

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Chapter 11: Decisive Blow

"Ah, you're back." Dawn's previous good mood vanished as he was once again confronted by Applejack's anger.

"That's right ya monster," said Applejack, "And this time Ah ain't stoppin' till yer gone, one way or another."

"I see." Dawn glanced behind him where Scootaloo looked on with a mix of confusion and fear. "Scootaloo, please go inside and wait for Fluttershy to come home."

"What...what's going on?" stammered the orange pegasus filly as she tried to process what she was seeing.

"Yer pa was lookin' hard for ya," said Applejack, "Ah just knew this here beast was tryin' to steal ya away."

Scootaloo shifted nervously. "My dad..." Applejack's words, meant to inspire encouragement, only served to make Scootaloo anxious. Her father was looking for her? After throwing her out...

"Get on back to town and yer dad, where it's safe," continued Applejack, "Ah'll make sure this colt don't try anythin' funny."

Dawn rolled his eyes before continuing to regard Applejack. "Go inside the cottage," he told the filly behind him, "I suspect Fluttershy will be here soon to help sort things out."

"Don't listen to him!" commanded Applejack, "He's a damn monster tryin' to steal yer soul. Ah tried to warn mah friends about him, but they didn't listen. Don't let him put ya under his spell. Go back to yer pa quick!"

"I don't want to," replied Scootaloo, cowering behind Dawn. The vehemence in Applejack's voice terrified her. "My dad threw me out last night. I'm not going back to that place."

"That ain't true!" snapped Applejack.

"Yes it is!"

"It's not!" The blonde mare pawed fiercely at the ground, "That monster's bewitched ya. Don't ya see what he's doin'? He's tryin' to force ya way from yer family so he can do all sorts of terrible things to ya."

Dawn let out a sigh. "Let's compromise. Scootaloo, go inside and lock the door. Don't open it, even to let me in. I will wait out here. We can wait for Fluttershy to come home and help us settle the matter peacefully. There's no need to resort to violence."

With Scootaloo standing behind him, Dawn didn't feel like trying to provoke Applejack the way he had last time. He had been deeply troubled that he had allowed his anger to get the better of him during their last encounter and still struggled with the memory of Fluttershy's disappointment at his behavior. The last thing he wanted was for Scootaloo to see him lose his temper.

"Ah ain't compromisin' with the likes of you!" snapped Applejack, "Ah'm gettin' that filly away from ya before ya do any more damage than ya already have."

Dawn flicked his gaze over his shoulder, his reptilian eyes meeting with Scootaloo's. He gave her the slightest of nods. The pegasus filly hemmed and hawed for a moment before trotting reluctantly towards Fluttershy's cottage.

Dawn turned his gaze forward again, just in time to see Applejack rushing towards him. Spinning sideways, he lashed out with his wing. Applejack's charge came up short, looking like she had just slammed into an invisible wall before she was knocked backwards. The orange mare rolled across the ground before coming to a halt. Applejack groaned as she got back to her hooves. Blood trickled from her nostrils and leaked from the corner of her mouth. She took a moment to cough before spitting out a gob of red fluid onto the ground in front of her.

"Finally showin' yer true colors, eh?" she asked grinning triumphantly.

Dawn sighed and rolled his eyes again. "You would say that wouldn't you? You're so desperate for some sort of justification that you'd seize upon any excuse, no matter how flimsy. Singular unfortunate events that normally would have been overlooked suddenly become the result of my presence. And my defending myself from an unprovoked assault suddenly becomes a revelation of true evil.

"You're so desperate and deluded. You'll do anything you can to prop me up as the villain of your little story, just so you can justify the moronic, bigoted ramblings of your father. Asking you to do something as simple as thinking for yourself is clearly asking too much of you. I am beyond tired of this little song and dance routine."

Applejack was fuming. "How dare ya talk about my pa like that."

"I'll talk however I please about him," replied Dawn hotly, "Since he seemed inclined to take issue with my very existence without bothering to get to know me, all because my eyes are different from other ponies'. Would you mind telling me where his grave is so that I can go spit on it? In fact, I might leave a couple of other presents as well, just so I can show you and your father what I think of his manure-stained legacy."

Applejack was beyond the ability to even articulate words anymore. With a scream, she rushed straight towards Dawn, turning to buck as the colt contemptuously raised a wing, as though he were going to swat her across the face. The space between the two ponies visibly bent as his magic seized the air around him and prepared to send the surrounding atmosphere barreling straight towards Applejack as she turned around to try and buck him.

Then an orange and purple blur rushed between the two ponies.

"STOP!" screamed Scootaloo as loudly as she could, thrusting herself into the middle of the fight and trying to stop it before somepony got hurt. Dawn began to release his power, letting the air disperse, until he realized that, with her back to them, Applejack hadn't been able to see Scootaloo butt in. She was looking over her shoulder to aim her kick, but at the wrong angle to see the filly's approach. And she clearly had no intention of arresting her attack just on Scootaloo's words alone.

Dawn decided to change tactics. Changing the angle of his flap, he sent it across the space between him and Applejack, also exercising his magic much more gently. The resulting gust of wind threw Scootaloo out of the way of Applejack's buck. But now, Dawn was in a poor position to counter. He had swept his wing forward and it would cost him precious time to gather his magic and use it to move the air in his defense. He tried to do that anyway, sweeping his wing back towards its original position as it did so. His magic sent a rush of air that slowed Applejack's hooves slightly...but not enough.

The earth pony's rear hooves impacted Dawn's wing in an unpleasantly awkward position. Pain shot through him as a snapping sound echoed in his ears. But Applejack wasn't finished yet. Her hooves pressed past the colt's now broken wing and hit him full on in the barrel. Dawn's vision blurred as he felt his ribs crack under the force. Doing what he could, he relaxed his body and allowed it to move with the force of Applejack's kick. It was too late to avoid the damage he had already taken, but it prevented his injuries from getting any worse.

The colt skidded along the ground for several meters before coming to a stop. Realizing that Applejack wouldn't stop with just one strike, Dawn tried to get back on his hooves. But his injured side protested and his legs buckled, dropping him back to the ground.

This kind of pain was almost a foreign sensation to Dawn. The Gale King style emphasized avoiding or deflecting attacks without allowing them to make contact. He had received some training on how to deal with pain, but those lessons were rusty and he had little chance to practice. After his Master had died, Dawn had been unable to afford allowing himself to be severely injured. With hostile ponies seemingly all around him, any vulnerability would only serve as an invitation to further hostility. This was even more true when he had moved into the Everfree, where any infirmity would only result in him becoming prey for the beasts that roamed within. He'd handled minor injuries before, scratches and lacerations mostly. But broken bones were an entirely different matter.

Gritting his teeth, Dawn tried to fight off the pain and regain his footing. However, a shadow fell over him and he saw Applejack standing above him, her eyes glaring down at her victim. There was no mercy to be found in those emerald orbs.

"Now Ah've gotcha," she hissed, raising her front hoof, ready to bring it down towards his head. Realizing that he wouldn't be able to get up in time, Dawn prepared to roll out of the way, gathering magic in his uninjured wing to aid in the movement. In an instant, he would roll away from Applejack and, in the process, send a dense cloud of dust rushing up into her face, buying him precious time.

He never got the chance. Before either of them could move, Scootaloo intervened again. This time, she threw herself over Dawn, covering his body with her own. A strangled grunt escaped the colt. Scootaloo's weight pressed directly down on his broken wing. To make matters worse, she was also pressing down on his cracked ribs. Dawn's vision swam as he fought against the urge to just let his consciousness fade and pass out. At least that would mean that he wouldn't have to deal with the pain any longer.

"STOP!" Scootaloo screamed again, keeping herself between Applejack and her friend.

Thrown off by the filly's sudden intervention, Applejack stepped back a pace. "Scootaloo, what in tarnation are ya thinkin'? Ya could've gotten hurt doin' that!"

"Don't fight anymore," cried the orange filly as tears streamed from her eyes. Beneath her, Dawn was fighting back tears of his own as her weight continued to aggravate his injuries.

"Get outta mah way!" shouted Applejack, "This is somethin' Ah've got to do and Ah ain't lettin' ya stop me!"

"Big sis?"

Applejack froze. Ever so slowly, her head rotated around to look behind her. Standing behind the mare, a horrified expression marring her features, was Apple Bloom. Her watery gaze seemed to pierce straight through Applejack's heart.

"Ah...Ah..." Applejack struggled for the words to explain herself. To somepony as innocent as her younger sister, she could easily see what this looked like. It looked as though she had just assaulted an innocent colt for no good reason. Applejack had wanted to tell Apple Bloom about the things their father had shared with her, but neither Big Macintosh nor Granny Smith had allowed it.

"Why are ya tryin' to hurt that colt?" asked Apple Bloom, "Did he do somethin' wrong?"

"He didn't!" shouted Scootaloo, still clinging to Dawn's injured side, making him fight to stay conscious, "He was teaching me how to fly when she barged in here and started shouting all kinds of weird stuff about him before trying to kill him!"

"That can't be right," insisted Apple Bloom, turning her gaze back to Applejack, "Right sis?"

Applejack swallowed, knowing there was no turning back now. "Yer darn tootin' that isn't right. Yer friend ain't thinkin' straight now because o' the hold that thing has over her. That monster may look like a pony, but it's actually a demon that's come to wreak all kinds o' evil."

Dawn lifted his head slightly to look over at the sisters. Apple Bloom gasped when his eyes met hers. Dawn blinked slowly. "Long...story...short, she thinks I'm...some kind of...evil...monster...because I was born...with funny-looking eyes." His voice came out in gasps as he struggled to speak through the pain.

"Shut up!" snapped Applejack, throwing an angry glance back at him.

"You okay?" asked Scootaloo as she looked down at Dawn.

"No. Get off."

Scootaloo shook her head vigorously. "I'm not gonna let you fight her. And I'm not gonna let her touch you either."

"Not...what I...ack...meant. Get...off...pain." Dawn was dangerously close to passing out now.

Scootaloo looked down and realized that she had been lying on top of Dawn's wing, which was resting at an unnatural angle with an extra joint that it wasn't supposed to have. With a startled shout she jumped away. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!"

"It's...alright," wheezed Dawn, finding it extremely hard to try and get back on his hooves. He chose to remain on the ground for now.

"He doesn't seem all that bad," Apple Bloom observed, before sending a skeptical glance at her sister, "He sure doesn't act like some kinda evil monster."

"That's the point!" exclaimed Applejack, "He's a deceiver! He comes in actin' all nice and polite, makin' everypony think he's a regular pony. But he's just tryin' to get 'em to lower their guards. He's already got mah friends thinkin' Ah'm crazy."

"If it looks like a duck..." Dawn started.

"That does it!" snapped Applejack, spinning around, only to find that Scootaloo still had herself firmly planted between the orange mare and her target.

"Get outta mah way!" shouted Applejack, rearing up and flailing her hooves angrily in Scootaloo's direction, trying to get the filly to back down."

"No!" cried Scootaloo, "I'm not letting you hurt him anymore."

"Scootaloo...don't..." Dawn hissed.

"Ah'm sorry about this then," said Applejack tensing, "But this is fer yer own good!"

She was brought up short as a blaze of violet light erupted in the space between them, dissipating to reveal Twilight Sparkle, who immediately lowered her horn at Applejack. Before Applejack could react, a bolt of eldritch power slammed into her, knocking her off her hooves. The bolt expanded, forming a purple sphere that encased her completely.

The sphere kept Applejack from hitting the ground, but it also kept her from moving anywhere. "Twilight! Let me outta here right now!"

"That's enough Applejack," said Twilight, glaring at the orange farmer with all the stern anger she could muster. "You've done quite enough for one day. Wait quietly and we'll deal with you later."

"But..."

"Not. Another. Word." Righteous fury seethed through every syllable. Applejack wisely clamped her mouth shut before Twilight used her magic to fix that problem as well.

Twilight turned around to see that Scootaloo was still standing protectively in front of Dawn. Her anger dissolving, Twilight smiled gently. "It's okay Scootaloo, I'm not here to hurt him. You can move aside so I can help."

The orange filly was near tears. "Everything was just so crazy. Dawn's hurt really bad."

Twilight gently ran a hoof through Scootaloo's fuchsia mane. "It's alright. Let me take a look at him."

Scootaloo reluctantly stepped aside to allow the lavender unicorn access to the prone colt. Twilight's horn flared and projected a plane of light that swept over Dawn's body. "Okay, his right wing is broken and it looks like three of his ribs on that side have been cracked." The aura of her magic settled over Dawn's wing. "I need to set the bone and then I'm going to conjure a temporary splint over it. I can also conjure some bandages for your ribs. Those'll hold until we get you to the hospital."

"The...hospital..." A nervous tone crept into Dawn's voice.

"We'll talk about that later. Now I need you to relax your wing so I can set the bone." Dawn did as instructed. "Good. This is going to hurt, but I'll warn you when it's coming. Now, on the count of one!" Twilight's magic tugged at the wing, setting the bone back into place. The only indication that Dawn felt any pain at all was a slight twitch of his eyelids and a weak grunt.

The aura surrounding his wing solidified into a sheath of light that completely immobilized the limb. The ebony colt's eyebrows went up as he admired Twilight's work. Streams of magic flowed out of her horn, forming glowing bandages that wrapped themselves securely around his barrel.

The unicorn sighed in relief. "Now that that's taken care of, we just need to wait for the others..."

Rainbow Dash chose that moment to come streaking in, skidding to a stop a few yards away from them. Fluttershy wasn't far behind her, immediately flying to Dawn's side. Although her first instinct was to wrap her forelegs protectively around the colt, Fluttershy's experience treating her injured animals held her back as she saw the magical wrappings over the colt's injuries.

"Oh Dawn," she whispered, settling on gently nuzzling the top of his head. "Are you alright?"

"I've been better," the colt admitted, feeling a bit more lucid now that he had received some initial treatment.

Twilight and Rainbow turned away from the touching scene to look back at Applejack, who was glaring at the colt with all the wrath she could conjure.

"What in the hay has gotten into you?" demanded Rainbow, walking right up to the edge of Applejack's prison.

"Ah don't have to explain mahself to ya," snapped Applejack, "Ah've been tryin' to protect our town and our friends from that monster. But none of y'all are listenin'. If Ah hadn't come out here, that monster might've taken Scootaloo away and done who knows what to her."

"For the last time Applejack," groaned Twilight, "The Eyes of Nightmare aren't a sign of demonic possession. Dawn is not some kind of demon tartarus-bent on destroying ponykind."

"How can ya say that after what happened?" demanded Applejack, "Ah heard it mahself. That filly's father is goin' plum out of his mind worryin' about her 'cause she didn't come home. And here she is with that thing."

"You got the going out of his mind part right at least," muttered Rainbow, "Scootaloo's dad kicked her out of their home last night. She spent the night here with Fluttershy. Apparently that jerk changed his mind and decided that he wanted her back, so he showed up at my place because he was dead certain Scootaloo would go there."

"Scootaloo! Is that true?" Apple Bloom stared at her friend with wide eyes. Scootaloo couldn't meet her fellow Crusader's gaze and averted her own.

"Yeah," she admitted, "Dad wanted me to show him what I'd been practicing with Dawn, but I had promised not to do it if Dawn wasn't there. Dad didn't like that. We got into an argument and I decided to tell him about not wanting to go to Flight School. After that, he flipped out and yelled at me to leave."

"Oh no!" gasped Rainbow, "I'm so sorry. I never thought he'd actually do something like that."

"Are y'all crazy!" screamed Applejack, "This here's proof! That monster set things up so that Scootaloo would get kicked out! Don't ya see, he's behind everythin'."

Dawn discreetly gave Fluttershy a look that practically screamed "I told you so." The yellow pegasus, reflecting back to their conversation the previous evening blushed and lowered her head slightly.

"Jeez, you're starting to sound crazier than Scootaloo's dad," said Rainbow, rolling her eyes in exasperation, "I was the one telling Scootaloo that she needed to let her father know she didn't want to go to Flight School. From the sound of things, that's what really made him snap."

"None of this would be definitive proof in any case," added Twilight, "Besides, I have this!" Her magic opened her saddlebag and withdrew a single scroll floating it over to where Applejack could see it before snapping it open. "Princess Celestia sent me a reply to my letter earlier this morning confirming exactly what I said. The Eyes of Nightmare have absolutely nothing to do with demonic possession. That was just a load of superstition cooked up by the Cult Solar."

Applejack's eyes slowly scanned the letter, horror dawning on her face as she advanced through it line by line.

Finally, thought Twilight, quite pleased with herself, With this, Applejack will finally realize how silly this is.

"Ah don't believe it," said Applejack, her voice nearly a whisper.

"I know you feel guilty about what you did," began Twilight, "But the most important thing is to..."

"No!" snapped Applejack, cutting her off, "Ah really don't believe it! That demon has y'all eatin' outta his hooves. He's even got ya believin' fake letters. The Princess wouldn't ever write anythin' like this!"

"What are you saying Applejack," asked Twilight, genuinely perplexed by her friend's refusal to acknowledge the reality of the situation, "I've been Princess Celestia's personal student since I was a little filly. I've been exchanging letters with her ever since I've come to Ponyville. I know everything, from her diction to her horn writing. I can tell you that that letter definitely came from Princess Celestia."

"That ain't true! There's no way that can be true! That has to be a lie!" Tears were streaming down Applejack's face. Even as she shouted and raged, her gaze remained fixed on Dawn, who returned her glare with an unflinching, almost bored gaze.

"If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's definitely a duck," he muttered.

They were briefly distracted by the sound of hooves pounding along the path to Fluttershy's home. Looking over, they observed the arrival of Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Sweetie Belle, and Melon Cream.

The new arrivals screeched to a stop to take in the situation. Twilight, Rainbow, and Fluttershy looked on anxiously, wondering how they would react to Dawn. Applejack looked on smugly, anticipating that Pinkie Pie and Rarity would see the truth of the situation.

Melon completely ignored the situation when her eyes found Scootaloo. She simply rushed over and practically tackled her daughter, the two of them rolling away with Melon clutching the filly close and whispering, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..." Initially shocked by the show of affection, Scootaloo soon gave way and quietly shed tears as she pressed herself into her mother's embrace.

"That's so awesome," gushed Rainbow, rubbing a tear from her eyes. Seeing her friends, even Applejack, staring at her aghast, she quickly rubbed the tears away and adopted a rather forced expression of disgust. "Uh...I mean...uh...Ew, mushy stuff."

Regaining her composure, Rarity surveyed the situation and gasped. "My word! What happened here?"

"Yeah! Why do you have Applejack locked in that magic ball thingy?" asked Pinkie Pie, "Is that some kind of new game? Are we gonna roll her around? Ooh can we? Can I have a turn? Quick! Put me in the magic ball Twilight! I wanna try too!"

Dawn had instinctively averted his eyes at the group's arrival. But now, he stared in stunned disbelief at Pinkie Pie. Is she for real?

Pinkie and Rarity noticed the colt simultaneously. Rarity's jaw dropped as she saw his eyes. Nothing Twilight had told her could have prepared her for them. "Oh. My. Word."

A thin smile spread across Applejack's face.

Pinkie, upon realizing who she was looking at, let out a massive gasp and dived behind Fluttershy's mailbox, somehow squeezing the entirety of her body behind it and disappearing from sight.

Applejack's smile grew a little more. Now that Rarity and Pinkie had seen the Eyes, she was certain that they would understand the threat this colt represented and help her convince the others. Even now, Rarity seemed to have trouble finding your voice.

"Your eyes...they...they are..."

Applejack leaned forward in anticipation while everypony else watching the exchange tensed against the coming explosion.

"They are simply magnificent!" Rarity exclaimed, her own eyes shining as she positively beamed at the young colt, whose own expression now reflected total shock.

"That color is simply divine. It balances out the contrast between your mane and coat so well. And the shape, so exotic... Oh darling, if only you were a filly I could design the most fabulous dress to highlight those eyes."

Dawn blinked once...twice... "That has to be the most roundabout way of complimenting my appearance that I have ever heard."

"Oh I'm terribly sorry if I offended you dear. I got a little carried away. You're a perfectly handsome colt. In fact, I would by happy to design a suit for you. I could make you look spectacular."

Dawn blinked again, unsure of what to say. "Thank you. But maybe another time."

"Oh very well, if you must," said Rarity, her voice dripping with disappointment, "But try not to keep me waiting too long. Inspiration has a very short shelf-life."

Grinning mischievously, Rainbow Dash trotted over and gently prodded Dawn's uninjured side. "You can always re-inspire her later," she jibed.

Twilight glanced over towards the mailbox. "Pinkie, what are you doing?"

Dawn expected her to stick her head out from behind the box, although he hadn't managed to work out how she was able to disappear behind it so completely. His eyes nearly leapt out of his skull when the box door opened and Pinkie's head swelled out like a pink ballon.

"I'm not here! I can't meet him yet! I Pinkie Promised I wouldn't meet him until Fluttershy said it was okay!" Not waiting for a response, she pulled her head back in and closed the door behind her.

Twilight rapped her hoof against her forehead. "Honestly Pinkie, you are so random."

Dawn looked questioningly at Fluttershy. She smiled down at him. "Pinkie Pie takes Pinkie Promises very seriously," she said by way of explanation.

Never mind that, thought Dawn, his brain flipping over on itself, How in the hay did she get in the mailbox?

"Um Pinkie, it's okay for you to come out and meet Dawn now.

"That is if that's okay with you," she added, looking at Dawn.

"Um," said the colt, language failing him at the moment, "Sure."

"Really!" emerged a squeal from the mailbox. The door opened and Pinkie launched out like a bright pink rocket, coming to a rest right in front of Dawn, dancing on her hooves and grinning widely. Light gleamed off her teeth and nearly blinded Dawn, leaving him dazzled, disoriented and more than a little disturbed.

"Oh boy! It's so great to finally meet you. My name's Pinkie Pie and I know everypony in Ponyville. But I don't know you, which means you're a new pony. And a new pony means only one thing." Pinkie paused and drew in a massive breath while her friends covered their ears, their expressions indicating years of experience with what came next. "A PARTY!!!"

Dawn's head rattled with the force of her voice. Managing to collect himself, he got up the nerve to speak to the pink blob of pure energy before him. "Um, didn't we meet already?"

Pinkie froze and shot him a confused expression before sitting down, tapping her chin with a hoof as her previously ecstatic expression dissolved into one of serious contemplation. "Really? I don't remember meeting you before."

"Well, it was brief," Dawn admitted, "Scootaloo was telling me about your...Pinkie...Promise, when you popped out right over there." He pointed out the rock.

"Oh," said Pinkie, "I wasn't supposed to meet you yet, so I forgot about it, 'cause if I don't remember meeting you, then it's like I didn't meet you before I was supposed to so I could still keep my Pinkie Promise."

Dawn's eyes rolled in their sockets before he collected himself. "You know what, I'm just going to stop before I hurt myself."

Twilight and the others chuckled while Applejack stared in stunned disbelief. "What's gotten into y'all? Ah can't believe yer takin' that thing's side in all'o this!"

Twilight let out a long-suffering sigh as she turned to regard her imprisoned companion. "Honestly Applejack. I'm not sure what else we can do. I showed you a letter from Princess Celestia herself and you pretend it's some kind of fake or hoax. You talk about how Dawn's the threat, but when I get here, he's the one on the ground with broken bones."

"Yeah!" exclaimed Scootaloo, rejoining the conversation, "And he got those bones broken because he was keeping you from bucking me instead!"

"What?" exclaimed Melon, giving Applejack a positively murderous look.

"To be fair," interjected Dawn, drawing Melon's attention, "She had been aiming for me when she attacked. Your daughter simply displayed a stunning lack of judgment by jumping into the path of her kick."

"Scootaloo!" scolded Melon, directing a glare at her daughter, who shrank back, grinning apologetically.

"Ah couldn't sit by and let him do what he wanted with Scootaloo!" declared Applejack, bringing everypony's attention back to her, "Not after he broke up her family so he could make her vulnerable."

"What are you talking about?" asked Melon.

"Ah heard all about it. He set it up so that yer husband would kick Scootaloo out and she would come runnin' here, where he could get his claws on her."

"I have claws?" muttered Dawn.

"Don't ya see? Yer husband got angry because she wouldn't show him that trick she learned from the colt. He set it up deliberately."

"I do admit my indirect fault on that count," said Dawn.

Melon sighed, turning to regard the colt seriously and meeting his gaze without the slightest twitch. "If that is the case, then I have no choice but to thank you from the bottom of my heart."

Silence descended on the scene as everypony stared aghast at Melon.

"Mom?" asked Scootaloo, staring up at her in disbelief, "What are you saying?"

Melon leaned down and nuzzled her daughter. "We're not going back to your father dear, ever. I've left him. We'll just have to get our own home and make our own life. But I cannot stay with him any longer, not after what happened."

"Hold on a second!" demanded Applejack, "That colt wrecked yer marriage and her thankin' him for it?"

"What this colt did was help my husband show his true nature. I have been living under a number of misconceptions ever since we were married. One of the worst was that, as a pegasus, my husband knew better about how to raise Scootaloo than I did. The truth of the matter was that Scootaloo was only a proxy to allow him make up for his perceived failures. He desperately tried to control Scootaloo's path through life, not because he thought it would be best for her, but because he wanted her to live out the life he wanted to, but couldn't. So he pushed all his expectations onto her and threw her away the moment she suggested she didn't want to live according to them."

Applejack opened her mouth to object. But Twilight was faster. Her horn flared, making the cage containing the orange mare flare as well. An instant later, Applejack's mouth was moving, but no sound was leaving the cage. Twilight let out a sigh. "I'm sorry about this Applejack, but you've been talking in circles. We've brought you irrefutable proof that your beliefs about Dawn are nothing but silly superstitions and you just ignore them As a friend, I really can't let you dig yourself any deeper than you already have."

She turned to Rainbow Dash. "Can you go get Big Macintosh? Somepony is going to have to take Applejack back to her farm and keep her there. Princess Celestia is going to be coming down to see Dawn in a short while and she will clear everything up."

"I'm on it," declared Rainbow before streaking away.

"Miss Twilight?" Twilight looked down to see Apple Bloom staring up at her in confusion. "Why is mah sister not listenin' to what yer sayin'? Ah don't get everythin' ya've been tellin' her, but Ah understand that she doesn't have a good reason to. So why?"

"Because..." It wasn't Twilight who answered, but Dawn. "...Because some ponies will cling to what they believe, even in overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Princess Celestia could shout the truth from the rooftops and they would ignore her because they don't want to endure the inconvenience of having to embrace the truth."

"Dawn's assessment of the issue, while bleak, is mostly accurate," admitted Twilight, with a pitying look at Applejack, who was glaring at her from the cage.

Apple Bloom looked nervously at her sister, who gave her a reproachful look before turning to regard Dawn, who merely eyed her warily. Slowly but surely, the yellow filly trotted over to the colt and slowly extended her hoof to him. "Hi. Ah'm Apple Bloom. Ah'm one o' Scootaloo's friends."

"One of my best friends," interjected Scootaloo from the sidelines.

Dawn slowly reached out his hoof and touched it to Apple Bloom's. "It's nice to meet you." The colt stole a glance at Applejack and felt a brief tremor of satisfaction surge through him as he saw the look of absolute rage on her face.

"Sweetie," whispered Rarity, "It's your turn to greet this nice gentlecolt."

Sweetie Belle trotted up a good bit more eagerly than Apple Bloom had and smiled widely at Dawn. "Hello. I'm Sweetie Belle. I'm a friend of Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. It's really nice to finally meet you after all that Scootaloo's been saying."

"A pleasure," answered Dawn, nodding slightly.

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom stepped back, grinning as Scootaloo leapt between them. Dawn abruptly noticed all the adults in the vicinity covering their ears and briefly wondered why.

"Together, the three of us are..." proclaimed Scootaloo, grinning from ear to ear.

"THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS YAY!!!"

Dawn's eyes were spinning wildly in their sockets as he recovered from the painful, nearly deafening experience. "The Cutie Mark...Crusaders?" He asked looking from one filly to the other.

"That's right," said Apple Bloom eagerly, "The three of us got together when we realized we were all blank-flanks. So we decided to form a group and find our cutie marks together."

"Oh." Dawn was nonplussed by the whole situation.

"Since you don't have your cutie mark either, you should totally join us!" shouted Scootaloo eagerly.

"Yeah!" agreed the other two simultaneously.

"Hold on," interjected Twilight, "Dawn isn't going to be doing anything like that for a while. It's long past time we got him to the hospital so that his injuries can be treated properly."

"Um," murmured the colt uncertainly, "Do we really have to go there?"

Fluttershy gently nuzzled his mane. "It's alright Dawn," she said Softly, "You don't have to be afraid. I know that you'll be meeting a lot of other ponies, but I promise to stay with you the whole time. It'll be okay, you'll see."

Dawn swallowed and looked from Fluttershy to Applejack, who simply glared daggers at him, and back again. "I hope so."

Author's Notes:

And so we come to Dawn versus Applejack. I'm guessing that some of you might be a little disappointed that he didn't absolutely beat the stuffing out of her. However, I have other plans. In the future, you'll get the chance to see Dawn really cut loose against somepony, but that's gonna be a while yet. Oh Scootaloo, what a fantastic Spanner in the Works you make.

Also, apparently being a skilled martial artist and living in the Everfree Forest for about a year is not enough to help one deal with the enigma that is Pinkie Pie. I absolutely love a good Pinkie Pie First Impression.

Next chapter, we finally find out what's really behind the persecution that Dawn's experienced, as well as what drives Applejack beyond the bounds of logic when it comes to her beliefs. In other words, EXPOSITORY INFODUMP! YAY! Okay, so it's not a huge infodump, but a fair bit of the next chapter is going to be based around building up the circumstances surrounding the Eyes of Nightmare. And we finally find out a bit about this Cult Solar that Twilight keeps mentioning.

Recovery

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Chapter 12: Recovery

Twilight Sparkle's teleportation spell dropped them at the entrance of the hospital. Dawn felt a bit woozy, but none the worse for wear. Fortunately, the magical constructs that held his injuries were unaffected by the spell. All told, he was feeling surprisingly comfortable on Fluttershy's back as she carried him in through the doors.

It had been decided that Twilight and Fluttershy would take Dawn to the hospital by way of teleportation. Rarity and Pinkie Pie would remain to keep an eye on Applejack until her brother arrived to collect her. Scootaloo had insisted on coming with them, which she did, with permission from her mother, who decided she would follow on hoof.

The check-in was handled promptly and it was only moments before Dawn was on a bed awaiting treatment. He had been rather calm initially, but had been growing anxious. The hospital room was relatively small, giving it a claustrophobic feel. While Dawn was no stranger to closed spaces, the cold, white walls and sterile smell, accompanied by the sight of numerous instruments of unknown purpose made the room's feel a far cry from the comfortable closeness of Fluttershy's cottage. The fact that, any minute now, there would be unfamiliar ponies coming through that door to carefully examine every inch of him only served to make his nervousness worse.

Fluttershy was quick to pick up on this and gently ran her hoof through Dawn's mane, murmuring soothing words to him as she did. Due to space concerns, Twilight and Scootaloo were waiting in the lobby, with only Fluttershy to comfort the jittery colt as his eyes swiftly traversed the room, on the look-out for any threats. It was a little disconcerting. Fluttershy was used to Dawn's general bland acceptance of strange circumstances and events. Sure, he could be startled or surprised, but he was always quick to accept it and move on. But she had never seen him so anxious, afraid even. She understood though. Dawn was, for all intents and purposes, helpless. One of his wings had been broken and his ribs had been damaged as well. Any physical exertion on his part was bound to be painful. If he were attacked in this state, he could only defend himself halfheartedly at best. It was a terrifying proposition for a colt who had been so used to being constantly under the threat of attack.

Dawn's body went rigid as the door opened and a brown unicorn stallion with a dark brown mane stepped through. A white coat hung over his shoulders and back while a pair of spectacles perched on his snout. For the moment, he paid little actual attention to the other occupants of the room. Instead, his attention was focused on the clipboard suspended in the light blue aura of his magic.

"Hmm, Dawn Lightwing. Is that you?" he asked, peering around the clipboard to look at the colt, who nodded wordlessly. With a grunt of acknowledgement, the doctor turned his attention back to the clipboard.

"Let's see...a broken wing...and it looks like three cracked ribs. You managed to get yourself pretty banged up young man." The doctor set the clipboard down and examined Dawn in detail for the first time. His eyes widened slightly as he appeared to finally notice the unique condition of the colt's eyes, but that was the only sign he gave.

A beam of magic pierced out from his horn and swept over Dawn's wing, then his barrel. Opening a drawer, the doctor pulled out a rectangular black plate rimmed with metal and projected the same beam onto the plate. He then held the plate up to the light. An image of Dawn's wing bones and ribs appeared on the plate.

"Hmm, it's a simple fracture in the wing. The ribs are cracked, but not broken. Also, the wing was set and immobilized properly. That magical construct is clearly Miss Sparkle's work. I'll have to compliment her. That was very competently done. I couldn't expect better from an actual professional."

"Will it heal alright?" asked Fluttershy softly.

The doctor regarded her with a severe gaze for a moment, but then smiled. "There won't be any problems whatsoever. This colt will have a full recovery. Because he received such excellent initial treatment, I project that he should make a full recovery in about a week with further treatments."

"That's wonderful," said the yellow mare as she rested a gentle hoof on top of Dawn's own.

The doctor smiled encouragingly at them. "I just need to replace the magical constructs with an actual cast and bandages. Then we'll give him his first healing spell." He transferred his attention to Dawn directly. "You'll be staying here overnight for observation, just to be sure that no complications arise."

Dawn tensed and swallowed. The doctor was quick to pick up on this and turned to Futtershy. "Does he have a problem with hospitals?"

She shook her head. "No. It's not hospitals. He's just anxious around ponies he doesn't know. Um...it's a bit of a long story."

The doctor frowned in confusion, but asked no further questions. "He has absolutely nothing to worry about. He is perfectly safe here. Nurse!"

A white earth pony with a red mane came trotting into the room, pushing a wheeled tray holding plaster and rolls of bandages. Looking up, Nurse Redheart gave Dawn and Fluttershy an encouraging smile as she got everything ready.

"Now then, we'll start by removing Miss Sparkle's constructs..."

Melon Cream lay on a cushion, gently brushing her daughter's mane as the little filly rested against her side. In spite of the fact that it was only early afternoon, the strain of the morning's excitement had already worn the orange filly out. So she decided to take a nap while they waited to hear from the doctor or Fluttershy. Looking up, Melon saw Twilight perusing a book she had seemingly pulled out of thin air as she sprawled out across a bench.

It was an hour before Nurse Redheart came trotting into the lobby. "We're all done," she declared cheerfully.

"How did it go?" asked Twilight, closing her book, which then vanished in a flash of magic.

"Perfectly fine," declared Redheart, "The doctor asked me to relay his compliments to you on your fine spellwork by the way. You made his job much easier."

Twilight blushed slightly at the praise. "Can we go visit him then?"

"Of course," answered Redheart as Melon roused her daughter. "We decided to wait until later today to give him his first healing spell. Since we're keeping him overnight, he'll be able to sleep so the spell can take effect. He's been a bit anxious about the whole affair."

"I can imagine," said Twilight ruefully as she recalled the colt's reluctance.

"He seems like such a nice boy," said Redheart softly, "It's hard to imagine he could have so much difficulty just because of the way his eyes look."

Twilight's body went rigid. Both Scootaloo and Melon looked at her with alarm, wondering if she was alright or if Redheart's offhoof remark had frightened her in some obscure fashion.

"You're right," muttered Twilight, her voice barely audible, "It is hard to imagine..."

"Um, what's wrong?" asked Scootaloo, looking up at the lavender unicorn in concern.

"Oh...uh...nothing big," said Twilight quickly, shutting her contemplative expression behind a suspicious-looking grin. Scootaloo and her mother shared a dubious look before turning to look back at Twilight, who was trotting off down the hall like she hadn't said anything odd.

"Are you feeling any better?" asked Scootaloo, rearing up and resting her forehooves on the edge of the bed so she could peer at its occupant.

"Much," answered Dawn calmly.

"I'm really sorry," said the orange filly softly, bowing her head in shame, "It's all my fault."

Dawn stared at her, nonplussed. "Then perhaps I hit my head fairly hard too, because I don't remember you being the one who bucked me."

Scootaloo jolted upwards. "That's not what I meant! I mean, if I hadn't jumped between you and Applejack like that, you wouldn't have gotten hurt like that."

"No, perhaps not," the colt conceded, "But looking back, I realize that I am lacking as well. I could have moved you out of the way and still evaded that strike. It was well within my skills to have saved you and avoided injury. I was careless and got too fixated on what was going on immediately in front of me to remember the larger situation." He chuckled bitterly. "Still a novice after all."

Scootaloo slowly lifted a hoof off the bed and pressed it to Dawn's. "Hey. Don't be like that. You're an amazing pony. You've even taught me how to fly. You don't need to scold yourself like that."

"You're not flying yet," said Dawn, returning his gaze to the orange filly, "And on that subject..."

"Oh no," sputtered Scootaloo, "Please don't tell me..."

"I'm afraid so," replied Dawn, "Our lessons are suspended until my recovery. In the meantime, you can continue to practice the first exercise every day until I am ready to resume."

Scootaloo groaned and lowered her head between her hooves. The three mares standing behind her giggled at her frustration. "And I was just getting the hang of the second exercise," she muttered petulantly.

"It may seem like a waste of time, but the more comfortable you are with drawing out your magic and using it to generate lift, the more easily all the other aspects of flight will come to you. This sort of thing just can't be rushed."

Scootaloo sighed. But then a smile broke up on her face. "Okay then, but you can't rush either."

"Huh?"

"You can't be so hard on yourself for getting hurt like this. You've already taught me so much, so there's no need to be down about yourself just because you made a mistake." Scootaloo flashed her friend a cheerful grin.

The colt stared pensively at the ceiling for a moment. "I suppose you're right." Lowering his gaze, he looked back at Scootaloo and smiled. It was understated and small. But it was certainly genuine. The sight of it made Fluttershy shudder as she fought back the urge to squeal in joy.

The tender moment was interrupted by a polite knock on the door. Twilight opened it with her magic to reveal a wrinkled, green mare standing on the other side of the threshold.

"Granny Smith?" Twilight and Fluttershy tensed as the Apple Family matriarch sauntered into the room at her usual glacial pace. Twilight found herself wondering just how long it had taken her to get to the hospital from all the way out in Sweet Apple Acres.

"Howdy there young'uns," greeted the elderly mare with a little chortle. Having finally made it far enough into the room, she fixed to look upon Dawn, who was watching her from his bed, his neutral expression fixed back into place. "Ah've been wantin' to meet the colt who's got everypony in such a tizzy lately."

"Um, hello," greeted Dawn in a lame tone, not quite sure where he stood with this unfamiliar pony.

"Uh Dawn," said Fluttershy, "This is Granny Smith. She's Applejack's grandmother."

The colt's eyes narrowed a fraction as he analyzed his new visitor more carefully. He didn't sense any kind of hostility from her, but regarded her warily nonetheless.

Granny Smith sighed sadly. "Ya mind if Ah sit fer a moment and take a load off these here old bones?" She settled onto the floor before anypony could answer her query.

"Now then," she said, looking up, "Ah understand mah granddaughter has gotten herself into a heap of trouble over ya."

"Yes," answered Dawn simply.

"Ah'd like to apologize fer that," she said, her reassurance making everypony in the room relax now that they knew she wasn't here to start any trouble. "Ah'd also like to do some explainin'. Applejack ain't been herself lately and Ah know why."

"It was her father, wasn't it?" asked Dawn.

"So ya figured that out."

The colt shrugged. "The topic came up...frequently during our recent conflict."

"She takes after him fer sure she does," mused Granny Smith, "When he was fired up, there weren't nopony around that could get through to Valencia."

"Valencia?" asked Twilight.

"Eeyup. Valencia Orange. That was his name. He's how we're related to them high-falutin' ponies over in Manehatten. He was somethin' of a wild one when he was a young'un. That's how he ended up out here in Ponyville. His folks sent him out, figurin' a little hard work on the farm would help settle 'im some. Our families had always been close, in spite 'o our differences. Ah guess it went better than they thought it would 'cause he took to the farm like a duck to water.

"'Course, that's when he met mah little Ambrosia. She was just about the sweetest little thing ya ever did see. Still had a pair 'o legs that could snap a tree in two if she weren't careful though. They hit it off from the very beginnin'. They were just about inseparable them two." Granny smiled wistfully at the fond memories of her of the two young lovers. "There ain't nopony that was surprised when they decided to marry, though Ah reckon Valencia's folks were a bit sore that he decided to stay on the farm rather than move back to the city."

Twilight, Fluttershy and Melon listened raptly as the old mare went on. Both Fluttershy and Twilight were enthralled by the prospect of learning more about the hidden history of one of their closest friends. And all three mares loved a good romance. Meanwhile, Scootaloo was on the verge of falling asleep, finding the story as boring as hay. It didn't help that the entire thing revolved around "mushy stuff." Dawn was attentive, but unmoved, still wondering if there was a point that the old mare was getting to.

"It didn't take long before mah Ambrosia had a little one on the way. Mac was born first. Then, a couple 'o years later, Applejack was born too. It was a longer spell before Apple Bloom came to us, but that's neither here nor there.

"Big Macintosh took after his mother. He was quiet and thoughtful. He's also a sweet stallion once ya get 'im to open up. Applejack took after her pa. Ya shoulda seen 'em; just like peas in a pod they were. Those two absolutely adored one another. Valencia was a good stallion, but still..."

"What happened?" asked Twilight, leaning forward eagerly.

"He fell in with them. During one 'o our family reunions, cousin Blenheim got 'im involved in the Order of Celestial Light."

"The Cult Solar," whispered Twilight in shocked realization.

"At the time, it weren't a big deal," continued Granny Smith as though the lavender unicorn hadn't said a word, "Every couple 'o weeks, Valencia would take a train out to some place or another fer a meetin' 'o some kind and would come back like nothin' happened.

"The things he started to say didn't seem all that bad at first either. He kept talkin' 'bout how we had to respect the Princess and love the day and all that. But then he started with all them weird rituals and other superstitious nonsense. Then he started talkin' 'bout demons and how they were hidin' everywhere and that even our friends couldn't be trusted.

"By then, little Apple Bloom was on the way and Valencia was goin' on about them demons, like the one yer supposed to be." Dawn leaned back in surprise as Granny pointed a shaky hoof in his direction. There was no accusation of tone, merely the laconic recall of events long past.

"We were gettin' a little worried. What if Valencia got it into his head that our little Bloom was one 'o those demons he was talkin' about? Nothin' he'd ever warned us about came to pass and none 'o our friends ever gave us reason to doubt them. We came to the conclusion that all this Celestial Light stuff was just a bunch 'o hooey. Ah certainly don't remember the Princess ever agreein' with what they said. So we tried to talk 'im outta followin' 'em. But he was mighty stubborn and didn't listen to a thing me, Ambrosia or Mac ever said.

"To make matters worse, Applejack was hangin' onto every word that came outta his mouth. To this day, she still does that 'Ward 'o Protection' thing Valencia taught her when she goes out at night.

"In any case, after Apple Bloom was born, Ambrosia and Valencia went on a trip to see Valencia's family in the city and...they didn't come back." Granny Smith let the ominous pronouncement hang in the air for a moment. "We moved on. We didn't really talk about all the stuff Valencia used to bring up. If Applejack ever talked about it, we tried to discourage her. Ah guess that just made her clam up and keep it to herself.

"Ah guess that's what set her off when ya came to town," said Granny Smith, looking pointedly at Dawn, "She spent all those years waitin', hopin' fer somethin' to come along and vindicate everything her pa was talkin' about. She looked up to 'im so much...Ah guess she just wanted 'im to be right so she didn't have to think anythin' bad about 'im."

The mare let out a creaky sigh, sagging slightly as her story came to a close. "Anyway, Ah ain't tryin' to make excuses here. This don't excuse anythin' Applejack's done. Ah just wanted ya to know where she's comin' from. Now, if y'all'll excuse me, Ah'll be on mah way." Granny Smith got shakily up onto her hooves and slowly made her way out of the room.

For a moment, silence reigned. Finally, it was Dawn who spoke. "Well...that was perfectly useless."

"Dawn!" admonished Fluttershy and Twilight.

"I don't see the point of it," he said simply shrugging. "It doesn't change the fact that your friend is completely happy to ignore anything that proves her beliefs wrong and would rather cling to a delusion than face reality. We simply know why now. Not a piece of this will stop her from hounding me day and night."

"Yes, but still..." pressed Fluttershy, "It's a very long trip to get here from Sweet Apple Acres, especially for somepony as old as Granny Smith. You should at least show some gratitude that she was willing to come all the way out here to talk."

Dawn pursed his lips and let out a long breath, but held his tongue.

"That was actually a good bit more useful than you think," added Twilight, "I need to go home and check on some things. I also need to let the Princess know what happened and figure out what to do about Applejack. I'll talk to you later."

Twilight headed out the door, leaving only Melon, Scootaloo and Fluttershy in the room.

"We should be going too," added Melon, pulling her daughter away from the bed, "I need to get to work on making new living arrangements for the two of us. I don't want to impose on the Doo family any more than we have to."

"But mom," protested Scootaloo as she was being led out the door, "Can't I stay for a little longer."

"Now now dear, I'm sure Dawn could use some peace and quiet." Shooing her daughter out the door, Melon turned to regard the colt one last time before heading out herself. "Thank you for everything you've done for her...and us. Once we get a new one, you will always be welcome in our home."

Now Fluttershy and Dawn were left alone in the room. "You see," said Fluttershy, tenderly stroking Dawn's mane, "You've made such a good friend already. Don't give up."

Looking at the clock, Fluttershy saw that the day was still a long ways from over. "Um, your healing spell isn't for another few hours yet," she commented, "What would you like to do while we wait?"

"I'm not certain," admitted Dawn, "I've never been in this situation before."

"Would you like to read?" asked Fluttershy, remembering the last time Rainbow Dash had been here. She paused, briefly remembering that she Had never seen her charge with a book during their time together. "Um...do you know how?"

"Yes, my Master taught me."

"If you like, I could try and pick out a book for you," suggested Fluttershy, "I know that the hospital keeps some here for the patients."

"I suppose so," said Dawn.

"Uh...well...what kind of books do you like?"

Dawn scratched his head. "I have no idea. I can read, but I never got to read very much. Books take up a lot of space when you're traveling light."

"Hmm," mused Fluttershy, tapping her chin thoughtfully, "Let me go see what there is and try to find something that you might enjoy...if that's okay with you."

Dawn seemed hesitant to accept her proposal. It didn't take long for the yellow pegasus to figure out why. "It'll be alright," she whispered, patting his hoof with hers, "You're safe here and nothing bad is going to happen to you."

The colt looked down at the sheets over his body. "Alright then."

With a smile, Fluttershy trotted to the door. "I'll be back soon."

The yellow mare trotted down the hall, heading towards the hospital library. As she made her way, a thought pressed it's way into her head. Caramel is still here. I should stop by and say hello.

"And then Big Mac showed up to take Applejack home, but she was all like 'Grr!' and then Macky had to tie her up so she didn't hurt herself and then he was all like 'Eeyup,' and then..."

"Yes thank you Pinkie, I get the idea," said Twilight, cutting her vibrant friend off before her ramblings could get any more disjointed. Originally, it had been Rarity telling the story in an appreciably concise manner before Pinkie Pie, apparently having decided that the telling needed more oomph, butted in with her overexcited recount of events.

"Anyway," picked up Rarity, suppressing the urge to let out a very unladylike harrumph at the rude behavior of her conversation partners, "Big Macintosh took Applejack home and promised not to let her off the farm until we found a way to talk her out of her rage or until that colt can stand up for himself again."

"That's good to hear," said Twilight, turning her attention to Spike' "Do you have all the particulars down?"

"Yep," replied the purple dragon, reviewing his writing, "Everything about what happened at Fluttershy's house and Granny Smith's story. Should I send it."

Twilight smiled and nodded. "Yes, thank you Spike."

Rolling up the scroll, the dragon in inhaled and immolated it in a burst of flame.

Twilight let out a a relaxed breath. "Thank goodness that's over for now. We just need to figure out how to make Applejack understand that her father was wrong about ponies like Dawn."

"That's a rather tall order dear," said Rarity, "I know quite well how much she looks up to her father. It sounds as though she's already convinced herself that he was right and that nothing we can say or do can change her mind."

"I know," muttered Twilight, sinking to the library floor, "I just can't believe that Applejack's family had connections to the Cult Solar."

"Um, darling, just what is this Cult Solar you're talking about? I've heard you mention it before when you were telling us about Dawn yesterday."

Twilight looked up at her two friends, staring at her with curiosity stamped all over their faces. Looking around, she tried to locate the book that held the information she needed to share. Her first impulse was to reach out with and magic and yank every tome that looked vaguely familiar off the shelves until she found it. However, flashing back to her conversation with Spike the previous day made her change her mind. She instead looked carefully, examining the titles until she came across the one she was looking for.

Grabbing it, Twilight brought the thick tome drifting down to the library table. Her next spell opened the tome to a specific page decorated by a stylized symbol of the sun, similar to Princess Celestia's cutie mark.

"It was sometime around eleven-hundred years ago that the Order of Celestial Light was founded," Twilight began.

"Wait, what does this have to do with the Cult Solar?" asked Rarity, staring at the image blankly.

"The Cult Solar is the name Princess Celestia started calling them. When they were first founded, they called themselves the Order of Celestial Light. And if Granny Smith is to be believed, they still call themselves that to this day. Anyway, their order was founded around the worship of Princess Celestia. They wanted to elevate her above the level of a Princess to the point of an actual deity."

"Wait? You mean the Princess isn't actually a goddess?" asked Pinkie, tilting her head sideways.

Twilight sighed and shook her head. "No Pinkie. Neither Celestia nor Luna are goddesses. As Alicorns, they have immense longevity. They can still be injured or killed, like what happened when Princess Celestia fought Queen Chrysalis at the royal wedding. They can raise the sun and the moon, but they aren't omniscient or omnipotent. All told, they aren't all that different from regular ponies, just ones that have the attributes of all three types."

"They certainly seem quite above the norm in terms of power to me," said Rarity dubiously.

Twilight gave her friend a cheeky grin. "You would too if you had thousands of years to develop your magical potential and could fuel it with an earth pony's stamina. The main advantages the Princesses have over regular ponies is time. Princess Celestia once confessed to me that when she first started learning magic, she was no better than an average unicorn. A few millennia of practice really goes a long way.

"Anyways, the point is, while Princess Celestia wasn't a goddess, the ponies of the Cult Solar wanted to make her one. They ordered that their followers revere the day and respect the Princess above all else. Apparently, they stopped just shy of ordering sacrifices to her."

"But what about Princess Luna?" asked Pinkie Pie, "Doesn't she get any neat worshipers too?"

Twilight let out a long sigh and turned a page in the tome. The illustration, setting across from the wall of text on the other page, was a picture of a pair of alicorns, their horns crossed with sparks flying away from the point of contact. It was clear that they were in conflict. Above them hovered the images of the sun and the moon. While the alicorn beneath the symbol of the sun could be said to be a reasonably accurate (though stylized) depiction of Celestia, the alicorn with the moon hovering over her image was portrayed differently from her counterpart. Fangs protruded from her lips and the lines making up her form were more angled, sharper, as though she were closer to a weapon than a pony.

"That was the real problem," said Twilight, "It wasn't so bad at first. Initially the Cult simply ordained the reverence of Celestia. Princess Luna was left out completely. I think that may have been when she started feeling alienated from her ponies. But after the first few decades, the leadership of the cult began changing its tune and Luna was added to their lexicon...but not in a good way.

"For some reason, they decided that Princess Celestia needed an adversary, some kind of evil opposite to oppose her. They decided that Luna was that adversary. In their dogma, they started playing the sun against the moon, day against night. They declared that Princess Luna represented everything evil in this world and that she was a demon seeking to undermine her sister's rule. They also began predicting that one day, Princess Luna would reveal her true nature and wage war against her sister, only to be defeated, leading to a perfect world of eternal day."

"That sounds awful!" gasped Rarity.

"Yeah! Why would they be so mean to Princess Luna?" demanded Pinkie, glaring at the book as though it were on of the cultists they were talking about.

"It's a little difficult to explain," said Twilight, "When bad things happen to good ponies, ponies want to have a reason why. Sometimes they can't accept that that there is no reason and that bad things just do happen. These ponies would rather have a scapegoat, something or someone they can pin the blame for all their problems on. For some, that just makes coping with their lives easier. For others, it's simply an excuse for why things don't go their way all the time.

"For the Cult Solar, Princess Luna was that scapegoat. As for Luna herself, well...all that alienation that had been building just because she had been left out was compounded by the dogma of hatred that the Cult was spewing her way."

"Didn't Princess Celestia do something about that? I'm certain that she wouldn't stand for anypony to slander her sister like that."

"Princess Celestia issued proclamations that the Cult Solar was wrong in their accusations. They simply said the demon was trying to fool her by pretending to be her sister. Had she known what was going to happen, Princess Celestia might have taken more overt actions, but she didn't. Instead, she simply tried to refute the Cult Solar's dogma, but it was spreading throughout Equestria and her words just couldn't be heard over the voices of all the ponies denouncing Luna. And then..."

"And then...?" prodded Rarity as she and Pinkie leaned forward, the pink party pony over-balancing and planting her head straight into the pages of Twilight's book.

Twilight telekinetically pushed Pinkie away from the book and turned the page to an illustration the girls knew all too well.

"And then, Nightmare Moon happened. I don't know what happened exactly. Scholars still debate the exact cause. Our best guess is that the strain of dealing with the slander against her caused Luna to snap. It's not hard to believe."

"What do you mean by snap?" asked Pinkie.

"Something similar happened to Dawn yesterday," explained Twilight, "The first time Applejack confronted him, he got really frustrated at all her accusations and took it out on her hat. He was venting to avoid hurting her directly. But I can imagine it was a near thing.

"Imagine ponies shouting hateful things at you for no real reason. Imagine them blaming you for things that couldn't possibly be your fault, and sometimes were actually their fault. You know that getting angry and lashing out would only vindicate their accusations as far as they were concerned, so you try to take the high road and be better than the pony they make you out to be. But they don't change their tune. If anything, they get worse."

Rarity trembled, biting her hooves while Pinkie's mane and tail began to lose some of their usual curliness.

"Eventually, it gets to the point where you get fed up with ponies hating and fearing you for no reason and, if you can't get them to stop, you at least want to give them a reason. Most scholars think that's what happened to Luna when she became Nightmare Moon."

"How could Princess Celestia allow such a thing to happen?" demanded Rarity, scandalized.

Twilight let out a low sigh. "Because she isn't a goddess. She's a pony. She may be a pony with immense power and millennia of wisdom and experience, but she isn't infallible. She made a mistake. She failed to see how much Luna was suffering and didn't go far enough to stop the source of her pain. The Princess herself admitted that much to me when we talked about it after the royal wedding. If you remember, she was just as completely fooled by Chrysalis's disguise as everyone else."

"Poor Luna," whimpered Pinkie, tears streaming from her eyes.

"If this Cult Solar was responsible for Princess Luna's transformation, then why haven't we ever heard of them before?"

"Because, once Princess Celestia realized what had caused Luna to snap, she decided to put an end to it. She never took any official action, but she loudly and clearly condemned the Cult Solar, inventing that name in the process. She declared their leaders and adamant followers to be the worst kind of ponies imaginable and denounced them. Following her example, the nobility completely shunned anypony with ties to the Cult Solar. Ponies refused to do business with anyone connected to the group. Princess Celestia's condemnation basically strangled any support the Cult had managed to garner and they faded into obscurity. The written works they produced were either confined or destroyed and it eventually came to the point where both the Cult Solar and the true origins of Nightmare Moon were forgotten by all but the most dedicated scholars and the Princess herself."

"Wow," gasped Pinkie, her eyes wide.

"As far as I or anyone else knows, the Cult Solar was all but wiped out. When I was researching them not too long ago, I came across some rumors that there were still pockets of holdouts in certain rural communities and possibly some of the more 'unrefined' cities like Manehatten and Las Pegasus. But I thought they were just rumors, and even if they were true, the Cult didn't hold enough sway to be a meaningful threat."

Rarity tapped her chin thoughtfully. "You don't seem all that convinced of that conclusion anymore," she pointed out.

Twilight nodded solemnly. "I just realized it earlier today when Nurse Redheart made a comment about Dawn. She mentioned how hard it was to imagine ponies having such hostility towards him just because of his eyes."

"She's quite right," said Rarity.

"She is," agreed Twilight, "And that's what bothers me. Dawn was persecuted so severely that he considered the Everfree Forest a preferable home to any civilized communities. And when he meets Fluttershy, it takes several days for her to convince him to come out of the forest...I mean, it's Fluttershy, I can't imagine a pony more gentle and encouraging than her and even she had a hard time."

The other two mares' eyes widened at the realization. Twilight continued. "And then there's the way we (barring Applejack) reacted. There might have been some surprise and suspicion, and I did inform you about the situation beforehoof, but even with that, our reactions were exactly the kind I would expect from any rational pony...and Pinkie. Sure there might have been the odd one who considered Dawn's eyes to be freakish or unnatural, but, in any place but the most backwards of communities, those ponies would be sure to be among the minority."

"I wouldn't be so sure dear," admitted Rarity, a disappointed tone in her voice, "Ponyville is certainly a welcoming community, but we've had our lapses. Remember Zecora?" She shuddered at the memory. "We treated her absolutely horridly before you came along and even then, when you outlined such perfectly logical reasons for us not to be afraid of her we persisted until she definitively proved her innocence of anything malicious. I'm not so certain that other communities would be so welcoming unless they have had an experience like ours did."

"Which is the major hole in my theory," admitted Twilight, "And the only explanation I can think of is that the Eyes are considerably less drastic than a creature of an entirely different species wandering into your town. Setting that aside for a moment, there are only two other explanations I can think of.

"The first possibility is that Dawn is lying or exaggerating the persecution he's suffered, which seems very unlikely to me. The volumes of psychology I've read indicate that many of his behaviors are the kind that result from such severe treatment. So either he's an obscenely good actor, or he's genuine. Barring that and the possibility you've mentioned Rarity, the only other source of such persecution I can think of would come from the only group we know for certain is actively hostile towards ponies with Dawn's condition."

"The Cult Solar," whispered Rarity.

"Which should be unlikely given how little influence they should be able to exert," continued Twilight, "Which leads me to believe that they might be more numerous and influential than I thought."

"But what about Applejack? How does she fit into all this?" asked Rarity, her eyes wide with horror at the prospect.

"It actually makes sense in a way," answered Twilight, "The Apple family is huge, with members spread all across Equestria. Even if the Cult Solar doesn't have as wide a sphere of influence as I fear, it's still within the realm of possibility that a family with that many ponies spread throughout so many places to have gotten involved with them."

"Okay," said Pinkie, "But what do we do about these meanie cultist guys? I mean, even though Dawn is here in Ponyville and we're all friends, how do we stop them from coming in and hurting him again?"

"I have a couple of ideas," remarked Twilight, "The first one would be for me to continue to gather information on the Eyes of Nightmare so that we can definitively refute the Cult Solar's insinuations. But, as we've seen with Applejack, that isn't guaranteed to work. The only other one, and the one that seems most likely to work probably wouldn't go over very well."

"Why not?" asked Rarity, "If it's something that would help ensure that charming colt's safety, then it certainly doesn't seem like the sort of thing we'd object to."

"Well, it's not feasible with Dawn in his current state," replied Twilight, "And I'd like to think about it as more of a last resort."

"Why?" wondered Pinkie.

"Because I'd be using Dawn as bait..."

Author's Notes:

And with that, we now know a good bit more about the circumstances behind Applejack's behavior and Dawn's persecution. For those who believe that I'm pushing Applejack's character too far to the degree of outright denial in the face of reality, I can understand if what came to light in this chapter doesn't really satisfy you. I do admit to stretching her character pretty far. Of course, her beliefs do have some degree of plausibility in her mind as, shortly after Dawn takes Scootaloo as his student, her family situation suddenly implodes and the filly in question ends up spending extended time in Dawn's company, a rather compelling piece of evidence in Applejack's mind.

Part of the idea behind her beef with Dawn comes with the Cult Solar being at least somewhat based on real-world belief systems that foster what might be termed a "Magical Worldview," (which has nothing to do with the fact that Equestria already is magical). The idea being that it's a system of thought formed upon the belief that some sort of evil conspiracy is afoot, with seemingly ordinary people secretly being satanic worshipers or the like, with the lack of evidence supporting their claims instead being construed as evidence of how effective said conspiracy is at hiding its existence. One of the best real world examples of this is Patricia Pulling, the woman who gave the moral panic over RPGs much of its momentum. For a more in-depth analysis of that, I recommend you read Michael A. Stackpole's The Pulling Report.

On a different topic, I suggest you not think too hard about the whole "weird rituals" mentioned in Granny Smith's description of the Cult Solar. They were something I came up with on the fly (as I still haven't yet finalized what said rituals are or will be like) as what I'd originally came up with had sounded damn stupid in retrospect. Originally, I'd written that Applejack's father had taught her that she shouldn't go out at night (essentially because the night is "evil") until I realized that that pretty much flew in the face of canon like nothing else I've written so far, given that Applejack was obviously out partying it up with everypony else before the Summer Sun Celebration. Sigh. Inventing a coherent set of specific rules for a religious sect is a lot harder than I thought it would be.

In the next chapter, things slow down quite a bit. Those with weak hearts are recommended to proceed with caution as the following chapter will contain substantial quantities of D'AAAAAAW and HNNNNNNG. See you soon.

Family

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Chapter 13: Family

"Hey everypony! Sorry I'm late, I had things to take care of before I got here." Rainbow Dash threw open the door to Dawn's hospital room and strode in proudly, grinning from ear to ear. Given the situation, she might have been more been more downbeat had she not been riding the wave of euphoria that comes with a job well done.

She halted as she took in the room and realized that it was completely deserted. There was no sign of Fluttershy, who had been confirmed by the hospital staff to have been staying with the colt. She knew that Twilight and Dawn's other visitors had left, but what truly baffled Rainbow was the fact that the colt himself was missing from the bed he was supposed to be occupying.

Before panic could set in and her mind could start conjuring up countless horrific possibilities regarding the fate of the missing colt, Rainbow was startled as something white fluttered down in front of her face. She backed away frantically until she hit the wall of the room. She came to her senses just in time to see the sheets of the hospital bed slowly flutter down back onto the mattress.

"What the?" Rainbow Dash tried to process what she had just seen. Then her attention was caught by a low wheezing sound. Looking around, she finally managed to pinpoint the source, which was directly underneath the bed.

"Hello?" Rainbow Dash lowered her head to look underneath and realized what the source was. Dawn Lightwing lay crouched under the bed, his body tense, his one good wing held out and ready for attack or defense. A sigh of relief gushed out of the sky-blue mare's mouth like steam escaping from a kettle.

"Thank goodness," Rainbow breathed, "I nearly had a heart attack when I didn't see you in your bed kiddo. I didn't want to be the one to tell Fluttershy that something had happened to you."

Dawn looked like he wanted to answer, but caught himself with a soft grunt. A closer look showed his teeth gritted tightly behind his lips while his legs struggled to hold him up. He was in pain and Rainbow understood why. Guilt made her sick to her stomach. Her boisterous entry into the room had clearly startled the colt, who responded by escaping from his bed and hiding under it. Naturally, the abrupt movement had aggravated the injuries to his ribs.

Rainbow paused to blow a wisp of red hair out of her eyes before she crept closer to Dawn. "Let's get you outta there and back into bed kiddo. You okay with me pulling you out?"

Dawn hesitated, but slowly nodded. Rainbow reached under the bed with her hoof and carefully slid the colt across the smooth floor until he was free and clear. Spreading her wings, Rainbow took to the air, what little of it there was in the confines of the hospital room and scooped Dawn up in her forelegs. She paused a moment to marvel at how the colt felt considerably heavier than she had expected him to be, given his size. He wasn't much larger than Scootaloo, who Rainbow had carried for short flights before, but was a good bit heavier. More interestingly, she could feel taut, well-developed muscles underneath the bandages and coat.

As gently as she could, Rainbow deposited Dawn on the bed and pulled the sheets back over him. "Sorry," she said, giving him a smile to accompany her apology, "Didn't mean to scare you like that."

"It's...okay," Dawn ground out, the last word trailing away into a barely concealed whimper. He was still in pain.

Rainbow's smile faded as a concerned frown took its place. "I should call a doctor," she said, "We need to make sure you didn't hurt yourself any worse than you already are."

"Thanks for visiting Fluttershy," said Caramel, smiling at the beautiful yellow mare sitting by his bed, "Things have been pretty slow lately."

Fluttershy felt her cheeks heating up as she averted her gaze from Caramel. "Oh um...it was nothing." Guilt slowly built up in her mind. She had meant to visit Caramel more frequently, especially since she was partially responsible for him being in this situation to begin with. However, she had grown preoccupied with Dawn and had not been able to make the time she needed to come see her friend.

"Is everything alright?" asked Caramel, easily seeing Fluttershy's distress.

"I'm so sorry," said Fluttershy, unable to bear making eye contact with the stallion, "It's my fault you're in here and..." She paused, feeling the touch of a gentle hoof on her muzzle.

"Fluttershy, look at me." She obeyed automatically, having never heard such a firm tone from the normally reserved stallion in front of her. Doing as she was told, Fouttershy found her teal eyes making steady contact with Caramel's cerulean ones.

"You didn't do anything wrong. Flash Spark is the one who beat me up like this. If anything, I'm the one who needs to apologize to you. Even after all I did, I wasn't really able to help you at all."

"That's not true," protested Fluttershy, "You gave me time to get away from him. I just wasn't fast enough."

Caramel let out a sigh, seeing that he wasn't going to win this one. "Oh well, you're safe and that's what matters."

Fluttershy let out a soft giggle and bent down to gently nuzzle Caramel's cheek, which made his normal tan complexion flush quite red. "Thank you for being so sweet," she whispered, leaning back and blushing a little herself. “By the way,” she asked somewhat bashfully, “Are you getting out soon?”

“Uh, it’s gonna take a little longer than they thought,” replied Caramel sheepishly.

“Why?”

He turned to glance out the window into his room. “There’ve been some...complications in my treatment.” Turning back, he saw the frightened look on her face. “Oh it’s not like that! It’s just that my recovery is going to take a while longer. I’m not in any danger or anything.”

Fluttershy let out a soft breath of relief. “Oh thank goodness. I was afraid that you were hurt worse than I thought.” She smiled. However, she also remembered the other reason she had come here. She looked away, blushing again and scuffing her hoof against the floor.

"Um...Caramel...uh..."

"Yes?"

The red color of Fluttershy's cheeks intensified. "Uh...after you get out...well...would you like to...w-would you l-like to...?"

"Yes?" Caramel's cheeks were also turning red as he realized what Fluttershy was trying to do.

"Would you like t-to go...go out to dinner w-with me?" Fluttershy's voice was so soft that it was barely a whisper. Only a good deal of experience on Caramel's part kept him from missing Fluttershy's request entirely.

"Yes! I'd really like that!" exclaimed Caramel, looking as though he could die happy.

"Oh! I'm so glad." Fluttershy leaned over and gave the tan stallion a light peck on the cheek. Surprised at her own boldness, she leaned back, her face having turned completely crimson.

"Ihavetogobye!" She became a yellow blur, rushing out of the room, the door slamming shut in her wake. Caramel hardly noticed, as busy as he was staring up at the ceiling, a look of utter bliss spread across his face.

"Well now, that was quite fortunate," remarked the doctor as he finished giving Dawn a thorough examination, "You haven't managed to make your injuries any worse. But in the future, please do not actively try to aggravate them like that."

Rainbow Dash let out a sigh of relief. The last thing she wanted to find out was that she had inadvertently made Dawn's condition more severe. Her relief was depressingly short-lived as the doctor rounded on her next, fixing her in place with a severe glare.

"Miss Dash, you were right to inform us. However, next time, please do so before you try something as ill-advised as moving the patient on your own. We are extremely lucky that you didn't make Mister Lightwing's condition any worse than it already was."

"Sorry," squeaked Rainbow, ducking her head.

The doctor huffed before turning towards the door. "Please try to refrain from any more disturbances this afternoon. The first healing spell is scheduled soon. I do not want to postpone it." In spite of his anger, he shut the door quietly, leaving Rainbow alone with the colt in an awkward silence.

"Uh, sorry about that," she said, rubbing her head, "I didn't mean to freak you out like that."

"It's alright," replied Dawn, "This is an unusual situation for me and a rather troubling one at that."

"Where's Fluttershy?" asked Rainbow after another drawn out moment of silence, "I thought she'd be here with you."

"She stepped out to find a book for me," replied the colt, "Although she has been gone for a while now."

"You can read?"

"I can," replied Dawn, "I was taught how. Although, I have had little opportunity to practice, so I wonder how well I can manage."

"You need to practice?"

"My Master told me that reading is a skill like any other. Once you learn it, it is difficult to unlearn, but if you don't use it frequently, it is much more difficult to use properly."

"That makes sense, I guess," admitted Rainbow, "I wonder what's taking her so long."

Dawn shrugged and looked over at the door. Rainbow could see that he was still tense and alert, on the lookout for the slightest threat. "You've really had a rough time of it, haven't you?"

Dawn's gaze flickered in her direction. "Perhaps. But I have managed to cope."

Rainbow looked at him sadly. "Nopony should have to go through what you went through. I still can't believe Applejack went after you like that."

"At least the rest of her family doesn't seem to share her views on the matter," replied Dawn, "I simply hope that I do not have to deal with her again until after I have healed."

It had been a long time since Rainbow had wanted to shed tears for another pony like this. Dawn was a young colt about the same age as her Number-One Fan. He should have been restlessly bored, eagerly awaiting his chance to get out of this crummy hospital and get into trouble playing with friends. Instead, he was anxiously anticipating and preparing himself for his next battle, not because he enjoyed fighting, but because ponies sought him out with the intent to fight. It was a wretched existence.

"Hey kiddo..."

"Yes?"

"When you get out of here, you should talk to Fluttershy about going to school."

Dawn raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"Hey? You really think that's so crazy?"

"Not really," admitted Dawn, "But you struck me as the last pony that would suggest going to school."

"Hey!" cried Rainbow indignantly.

"All joking aside, why?"

Rainbow took a deep breath. "I hate the thought of the kind of life you've had to live. You should be safe in Ponyville. So far, Applejack is the only pony who's bothered you over your eyes. Nopony else probably has any idea what the Eyes of Nightmare are, so as long as we keep AJ muzzled, we don't have to worry about trouble stirring up.

"The important thing is that you need to spend time around ponies your own age. Scootaloo is a good start, but you're going to need more. You need friends Dawn. And for most ponies, school is one of the best places to make them."

Dawn suddenly seemed to find the ceiling of the room very interesting. "Friends? Are they really that important?"

Rainbow snorted. "Trust me, friendship is everything. Just ask Twilight."

Dawn opened his mouth to ask what Rainbow meant when the door to the room slowly opened and Fluttershy crept in. "I'm sorry I was gone so long," she said as she came up to Dawn's bed, "I found some different books, but I didn't know what you would like, so I brought some different kinds."

Rainbow fluttered over to look through the books Fluttershy brought. "Oh, Daring Do and the Sapphire Stone! You'll like this one!"

"Um, I also brought a couple of romance stories if you're interested."

"Blegh, how can you read that mushy stuff? Don't go forcing it on Dawn. He's a colt for Celestia's sake!"

Dawn listened as the two went through the titles Fluttershy collected, with Rainbow Dash frequently making gagging noises and rejecting certain books for being too mushy. She was rather insistent on Daring Do, though Dawn suspected that was because it was her preference as opposed to where she thought he might like. To be honest, it did sound interesting. However another title caught his attention.

"How Weather Works: A Beginner's Guide to Weather Creation and Manipulation. Are you kidding me Fluttershy! This isn't a book, it's a textbook. We read this one in prep-school."

"Um, well...Twilight would still say it's a book..."

"That's because Twilight is an egghead."

"...And I thought Dawn like might non-fiction as well."

"Boring! Am I right kiddo?"

"Actually," interjected Dawn, "That one sounds interesting. I'd like to try it."

Rainbow stared incredulously at the ebony colt. "You're kidding right?"

Dawn shook his head. With a happy, and some would daresay triumphant, smile, Fluttershy brought the book over to Dawn and watched as he flipped it open and perused the table of contents. Both Rainbow and Fluttershy peeked over his shoulder as Dawn flipped deliberately to a specific section and began to read.

"How Lightning is Made?" Rainbow blinked as she read the chapter heading. "Why would you want to know about that?"

She at least partially knew the answer. Pegasi had long had a fascination with lightning and its creation. Back when relationships between the three tribes had been at their worst, they even strove to weaponize it in order to give them something that could compete with unicorn battle magic and overwhelm earth pony durability. While pegasi could produce and control clouds, rain, and virtually every other form of precipitation and weather phenomena, mastery of lightning had eluded them. Rainbow could buck it out of a cloud if it was of the appropriate consistency, a trick she had frequently used in her pranks. But that was the extent of what pegasi could do.

"My Master taught me that I would one day learn how to wield lightning as part of the Gale King style," said Dawn.

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash shared a disbelieving look. "That's crazy," declared Rainbow, "Pegasi have been studying and working with weather for years. Nopony has ever found a way to control lightning."

"My Master did," said Dawn, not lifting his nose from the book, "He even showed me once when he was explaining the basic principles."

Rainbow stared at him, slack jawed. "But that's impossible! If that were true, this would be bigger than when we learned to make rainbows. Pegasi have been looking for a way to harness lightning for thousands of years. The most we can do is buck it out of clouds."

"Only masters of the Gale King are able to control lightning. My Master said that it would be beyond the capacity of most pegasi. He said that the very reason pegasi wanted lightning was also the reason they couldn't wield it."

"That doesn't make the slightest sense," muttered Rainbow, "If that's the case, why are you reading that weather book? It wouldn't be able to tell you any more about lightning than what we regular pegasi already know."

"My Master died before he could reach me how to wield lightning. However, he was able to tell me that it was created in a way that emulates how lightning is normally created. I figured that I might be able to understand if I spent some time reading about it."

Another incredulous look passed between the two pegasus mares before they turned their attention back to Dawn, who was now completely immersing himself in his book. Rainbow shrugged and settled down to reread the Daring Do book that had originally hooked her in the first place. Fluttershy simply settled down, content to watch her best friend and her young ward enjoy themselves in such a quiet manner.

The day had advanced considerably before the doctor had returned. Having garnered what he had wanted from the weather textbook, Dawn had turned his attention to some of Fluttersny's other offerings. He found himself intrigued by the Fetlock Holmes novel that Fluttershy had picked out for him, finding the mystery engaging and exciting. Fluttershy found herself suspecting that Dawn would need a library card before long and that he would soon be a frequent visitor to Twiight's once he got used to being in the town proper.

The door opened and Nurse Redheart came in, bearing a covered tray. "Dinnertime," she announced cheerily.

"Huh?" Rainbow Dash looked up from her book, shocked by how much time had passed. Even Dawn seemed bemused by how thoroughly enthralled he had been by his chosen story.

Fluttershy moved to gently help Dawn into a seated position so that he could eat his meal. When Redheart lifted the cover, the scent of food wafted over to the three pegasi in the room, making their stomachs growl. A platter of roasted hay dominated the the tray, with a small dish heaped with mashed potatoes off to one side. A fresh salad, mixed with liberal quantities of vegetables sat on the other, with a small bowl of fruit resting above it. A large glass of milk rounded out the meal. It was accompanied by a tiny bowl that held a number of pills of varying shapes and sizes.

"The healing spell you're getting enhances the body's natural recovery ability," explained Redheart, "It will be drawing on your energy in order to accelerate the process. So loading up on carbohydrates will be necessary. The pills contain vitamins and minerals your body will need to help support the healing process. Everything has been prepared while taking your dietary needs into consideration so you don't need to worry about any digestive issues."

Redheart slowly reached out and ran her hoof through Dawn's mane in an encouraging gesture. The colt flinched at the contact from an unfamiliar pony, but stilled when he felt Fluttershy's hoof rest on his shoulder, putting him more at ease.

"This may seem like a lot of food for one pony," the nurse continued, "But you should try to eat it all anyway, even if it feels like more than you can handle. We need to make sure that your body has everything it needs to heal. Trust me, you'll be positively ravenous by the time morning comes around."

A low growl emerged from Rainbow's belly and she glanced down sheepishly. "I guess we shouldn't miss out on dinner either. I'm gonna go grab some grub. You want me to pick some up for you Fluttershy?"

"Oh, um, yes please," answered Fluttershy. The topic of food got her to thinking and she sat bolt upright as a panicked realization shot through her. "Oh no! My animals, I forgot all about them. I haven't gone home to take care of them yet!"

"Relax," said Rainbow, catching the yellow mare before she could vanish out the door, "I've got it taken care of. I stopped by Ditzy's on the way over and asked her if she could take care of that. She agreed. You don't have to worry about it."

"Oh thank goodness," whispered Fluttershy as she settled back down.

"By the way, I saw Scoots and her mom while I was there," added Rainbow, throwing Dawn a mischievous grin, "Melon Cream said she'd love of have you visit them when you get out. She's gonna try to find a new house for her and the squirt tomorrow and get moved in. Apparently she's already gotten some leads on a good one."

She was gone before Dawn could come up with any kind of reply. Redheart left soon after, but not before reminding Dawn of the importance of eating all his food. He stared at the tray for a moment.

"Um, shouldn't you go ahead and eat some?" suggested Fluttershy gently.

"It would be rude, wouldn't it?" asked Dawn, looking up, "To eat while you have nothing."

Fluttershy giggled, knowing Rarity would have gushed about what a considerate gentlecolt Dawn was being by not wanting to eat in front of Fluttershy when she didn't have her own food. "Don't worry. Rainbow will bring my dinner in a little bit. You need to eat it before it goes cold."

Dawn gave her a solemn nod before tucking in.

"Now then, before we begin, I will explain the procedure," said the doctor as Fluttershy and Dawn looked on. Shortly after the colt had finished his meal, Rainbow Dash had come and gone, leaving Fluttershy with her own. Her food, not completely finished, sat on a table off to one side while she and Dawn listened to the doctor.

"You will need to relax and sit back. The procedure is painless. Because it takes such a heavy toll on your body's energy reserves, you will probably begin to feel drowsy within the first two minutes or so. Don't fight this feeling. Go ahead and fall asleep and let the spell run its course. You will fall into a very deep sleep that will last until morning. I will give you another examination to ensure that your wing and ribs are recovering properly and we will send you on your way. Simple no?"

In spite of the doctor's assurances, Dawn didn't feel very relieved. He glanced nervously over to Futtershy, who favored him with an encouraging smile. Hesitantly, he turned back to the doctor and nodded. "Alright."

The doctor lit his horn, its light falling on the injured colt and suffusing his body with a gentle warmth. The effect was immediate. Dawn felt his eyelids become heavy. His thoughts melted away into a muddled fog that reduced everything around him into indistinct blurs. The world began to slowly fade away...

He was in the forest. The branches of the trees interwove to form a canopy that closed off the sky above, surrounding him with menacing darkness filled with the sound of things moving. Eyes, ears, noses, sensory organs of all kinds turned towards him, alert and watchful, simply waiting for him to fade away to lose his guard. Once that happened, his next feeling would be their claws and teeth piercing his flesh...

He lay in an alley, concealed among piles of refuse. Outside, angry shouts still resounded through the village. The lights of torches and flashlights danced past the end. He was hidden, for now, but it was only a matter of time before they found him again. If he lost himself to exhaustion, that time would slip away and their screams of hatred would be the next thing he heard as they gleefully pounded him into a pulp...

He laid on the ground in front of Fluttershy's cottage, his strength slowly ebbing away as his injuries took their toll. His eyes could only just barely make out the shape of the orange earth pony looming over him, her emerald eyes shimmering with unrestrained rage, one hoof lifting itself menacingly over his head. "Ah've gotcha now, varmint..."

"What in Celestia's name?" The doctor could scarcely conceal his surprise as he stared at the colt. Dawn's body lay perfectly still, but his eyes refused to close. They were glazed over and twitching wildly, seeing things that Dawn alone could understand. His chest bounced erratically as he took sharp, uneven breaths. He might not have been thrashing, but his limbs twitched wildly like he had been hooked up to a couple of thunderclouds and was being jolted on a regular basis.

"What's wrong doctor?" asked Fluttershy as she switched her gaze between the two, trying to decide who to look at.

"He's fighting the spell. It's taken effect, but his mind refuses to go to sleep. If I had to guess, I think I would say he's afraid to fall asleep."

"Oh no!" whispered Fluttershy, beginning to understand what was going on. Dawn's mind simply couldn't cope with his vulnerable state and wasn’t able to shut down properly. It was reacting violently to anything that might render him more vulnerable than he already was. "What's going to happen if he can't fall asleep?"

"The spell was designed to make him rest so that his body could utilize its energy reserves to accelerate the healing process. At this rate, it will continue to draw energy away from him, but because he's also using those reserves to fight to stay awake, it's taking much more energy than he can sustain. If this goes on for much longer, his reserves will completely burn out and his body will shut down."

"Shut down?" Fluttershy's eyes widened with horror as she stared at the doctor.

"In other words, he will enter a coma. At that point, it will be anypony's guess as to when or even if he will wake up again."

"No!" The words tore their way out of Fluttershy's throat with the force of a full scream, tears streaming out of her eyes. "We have to save him doctor! Stop the spell, please!"

"I can't," protested the stallion, "The spell has already been cast and nothing like this has ever happened before. It's completely outside of my experience. Once the spell is in motion, it won't be able to stop until it has run its course."

"You mean...?"

"I'm afraid there's nothing we can do. Our only hope is that Dawn Lightwing will stop trying to fight it and allow himself to fall asleep."

Fluttershy leaned in close to the colt and wrapped his hoof in both of hers. Tears continued to flow out of her eyes, wetting Dawn's mane as she gently nuzzled against him. She gasped softly as she felt the twitching in his limbs begin to subside at the physical contact. Dawn was calming down. No...she was calming him down. In spite of everything, in spite of the fear and caution that had been burned into his bones, he was letting it all go because of the pony beside him, because of the mare he had completely given his trust to.

Fluttershy's lips quivered, then twitched into the tiniest of smiles. She knew what she had to do now. A gentle melody filled the room as she began to hum, then began to sing.

"Hush now, quiet now, time to lay your sleepy head.

Hush now quiet now, it''s time to go to bed..."

With each successive line, Dawn's body continued to relax, the twitching motions finally fading away into complete stillness, the uneven gasps slowly coming back into a steady rhythm, his lids finally falling to cover his glazed eyes.

The doctor watched, eyes wide with astonishment. When he realized that the colt had finally, truly fallen asleep, he let out a soft sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. You probably saved his life miss. I'm not sure what magic you worked, but you completely exceeded what I'm capable of."

Fluttershy smiled and lifted her head away from Dawn's, although she didn't release his hoof from her grip. "It was nothing," she said, beaming, "He just needed to know that he was safe and that nopony was going to hurt him."

The doctor pondered this for a moment before making a note on his medical charts. "Normally I would say that you need to leave after visiting hours if you're not family. However, I believe that, in this case, we should make an exception, just in case the patient has a relapse. I believe you know what he needs, but try to be as gentle as you can with him."

The doctor left, while Fluttershy remained. She briefly considered letting go of Dawn's hoof, but decided against it for now. It was clear that physical contact with her would help him continue to sleep. An idea occurred to her. The doctor might frown on it, but he had told her to do what she thought best.

Moving carefully, Fluttershy climbed into bed with Dawn. Trying her hardest to avoid jostling his injured wing, she wrapped her forelegs gently around him, making sure she didn't hug him too hard, before wrapping her wings around him completely. Her last act was to tuck the colt's head up against her chin, giving him a brief nuzzle before Fluttershy allowed herself to join him in the land of dreams.

For the second day in a row, it was a belch of flame from Spike that brought Twilight Sparkle awake this morning. At least this time, it seemed the Princess had been willing to wait until a more decent hour to send her message rather than around the same time that she raised the sun.

Still half-asleep, Twilight reeled the scroll over to her with a line of magic before opening it and beginning to read. She grumbled out the letter's contents aloud to herself, barely comprehending. When she finished, she paused to mull over what she had read and process it. It took a good bit longer than it usually did, given the lack of caffeine running through her system at the time. It seemed strange that she had been more awake yesterday, when she had been woken up even earlier.

Twilight's eyes closed and then shot wide open, all traces of sleep completely gone, as the message's meaning finally hit her full force. The echoes of her shout carried were carried halfway across Ponyville.

"WHAT!!!"

As the darkness slipped away from his mind, Dawn became conscious of the warmth that enveloped him. Not quite conscious, he was nonetheless aware that somepony's forelegs were wrapped around him. On an instinctual level, one engrained through years of hard experience and practice, he shied away from the unexpected contact. His conscious mind would have quickly recognized the presence of the pony embracing him as Fluttershy's and overridden his instinctual caution. However, both instinct and reason were overridden by a desire buried so deep in the colt's subconscious that Dawn had believed it to have been snuffed out entirely; the desire of a foal to be embraced by his mother.

The pure and gentle affection suffusing Fluttershy's embrace washed through Dawn's barriers and triggered instincts long held dormant and thought lost. Unconsciously, Dawn pressed closer to her and nuzzled against the mare, seeking to lose himself in the warmth of her kindness.

Thus it was that Fluttershy awoke to an unusual sensation as she felt the colt press himself against her. For a moment, she was confused. Then her heart leapt as she realized what Dawn was doing. A smile, threatening to become a grin spread across her face as she nuzzled the sleeping colt's mane. Part of her, however, was steeling against what she felt was the inevitable disappointment that would come when Dawn finally regained his senses. Once again, he would keep himself at a distance, not allowing himself to lower his guard or let go of his wariness. Fluttershy sighed softly and simply decided to enjoy this tender moment for as long as it could last.

Eventually, the inevitable occurred. Dawn regained awareness and his eyes slowly opened. Coming awake, her realized he was pressed up against Fluttershy. He flinched away, but forced himself to stop. The motion was barely perceptible as a tremor, but Fluttershy felt it all the same. She loosened her embrace, forced a smile over her disappointment, and looked down into Dawn's eyes.

"Good morning," she whispered.

Dawn said nothing, neither returning her salutation nor denying it. He simply stared back up at her, completely uncertain about how to proceed. He was already beginning to piece together what happened after the healing spell had been cast on him.

"You-?"

"Shh," said Fluttershy, putting a gentle hoof to his lips, "You can sleep some more if you want. You can't practice with your wing like that, so why don't you rest."

Dawn blinked and looked down away from her gentle, yet penetrating gaze. He didn't feel like sleeping anymore. When he was awake, he was awake. Sleep would have to wait for another time. And yet, feeling Fluttershy's forelegs and wings around him, he felt more comfortable and relaxed than he ever had in his life. He reflected for a moment on the mare who cradled him in her embrace. Again, he felt that longing stir inside him, the need to be held, to be comforted. It erupted from the empty void he felt at the center of his soul.

Dawn's reservations held him fast. To seek comfort from another would open him up to the pain once again. Someday, he would be forced to leave her. He would be betrayed in one way or another, left alone to fend for himself in the cold world. His instincts and experience told him constantly that Fluttershy would abandon him like all the rest.

Except that she hadn't. She had barely hesitated that sight of his eyes. She had stayed with him after she had seen some of the worst aspects of his personality. She had stood up to one of her oldest friends for his sake. She had introduced him to ponies that, beyond merely accepting him, moved actively to help him deal with his situation. He had never felt so safe and so loved. The previous night, his instincts had been screaming at him to keep sleep at bay, knowing that once he lost consciousness, all the threats of the world would descend on him like locusts.

But when Dawn had felt her holding his hoof, had heard her sing, his instincts had stilled, the fear and anxiety being replaced with a sense of safety and peace. It felt as though, with Fluttershy there, he had nothing to be afraid of. Dawn was obviously not a weak colt. He had evaded and subdued his pursuers, made even the beasts of the Everfree Forest wary of his presence. His current condition notwithstanding, he was not a pony who needed protection...for his body at least.

But his heart was another matter. It had endured injury after injury. It was raw, vulnerable. Even after he thought he had come to terms with the way he was living his life, Dawn still freshly felt the sting of fear, disappointment and anger when Applejack had leveled her accusations at him without the slightest provocation.

But when all had been said and done, it was Fluttershy who had soothed those wounds, who had comforted him, who had accepted him, in spite of his displays of anger and selfishness. Dawn had saved her twice, once from the monsters of the forest and once from a monster of a pony. But in the days since then, it had been Fluttershy who had saved him countless more times. She had saved him from his pain, from the loneliness that he didn't even know he was haunted by, from the fear of rejection. She had taken the empty void of his life and filled it with something meaningful.

And so, with a final act of will, Dawn let go of his reservations, his fears and insecurities. He let go of his caution and embraced the long-forgotten longing that spilled out of him. As Fluttershy's legs and wings drew him close, he pressed himself closer, nuzzling up under her chin, reaching out with his own forelegs and returning her embrace.

For the briefest of instants, Fluttershy's eyes widened with astonishment. Dawn had learned to accept her physical gestures of affection. But he merely tolerated them. He had held himself in check to keep himself from fighting her off. But now, finally, for the first time, Dawn met Fluttershy's embrace with one of his own. He wasn't merely accepting and tolerating her affection, now he was reciprocating.

Happiness surged through the canary-yellow pegasus. She wanted to leap up and shout louder than she had when Rainbow Dash had asked for a pet. She wanted everypony in Ponyville to know how happy she felt. But all of that was weighed down by her desire to simply let the moment continue. So a happy sigh was all Fluttershy allowed herself as she settled down. I wonder if this is what it feels like to be a mother. If so, she could certainly live with that. Fluttershy allowed herself to be entertained by the happy fantasy that she and Dawn were mother and son. She lost herself in the perfect moment shared between them...

...A moment that was soon interrupted by a loud growl erupting from the depths of Dawn's stomach. He backed away slightly to look up at her. Fluttershy couldn't help but laugh and smile at him, finally relinquishing her hold on the colt and beginning to climb out of bed.

"You wait here," she instructed, "I'll get breakfast for us."

In only a couple of hours, Dawn was successfully checked out of the hospital with the promise that he would return in three-days time for another healing spell. Already, his ribs felt much better and he was quite able to walk on his own, although the doctor had forbidden any heavy-lifting for at least another full day. His wing would have to remain immobilized.

Without Twilight to provide teleportation, Dawn and Fluttershy would have to walk through at least part of Ponyville to get to Fluttershy's cottage. This would be Dawn's first time traveling through town and encountering its inhabitants, aside from the few he had already been introduced to.

Still jittery with nerves, the colt looked around constantly, his eyes and ears on the search for any kind of threat. He only calmed slightly when Fluttershy extended a gentle wing and drew him close to her body. Luckily, the hour was still early and the two of them encountered very few ponies on their way home. It was fortunate that they were traveling through the more lightly-populated neighborhoods, limiting Dawn's exposure to unfamiliar ponies.

As they walked, they noticed shadows swooping past above. Looking up, Dawn and Fluttershy saw teams of pegasi flitting about, carrying dark tufts of clouds and assembling them over certain parts of the town and surrounding countryside. It seemed that Rainbow Dash's storm was finally being set into motion.

The two reached the cottage without any problems. Fluttershy fished out her key and unlocked the door. As she put it away, she paused to consult Dawn.

"You're probably tired from that long walk. Why don't you rest on the couch until it's time for lunch."

"That sounds like a wonderful idea my little ponies. Do you mind if I join you?"

Admonishment

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Chapter 14: Admonishment

The two pegasi froze at the sound of the new voice. Dawn's body tensed, his one good wing snapping out into a partially extended position, ready to attack or defend as necessary. In contrast, Fluttershy, who recognized the voice and knew its owner surprisingly well, had gone completely rigid with momentary surprise.

Ever so slowly, they turned their heads to look upon the new arrival. Dawn's formidable self-control over his expressions kept him from doing little more than widening his eyes in shock and surprise at the sight of the pony standing behind them and looming over them, her pure-white form almost seeming to blot out her own sun. Fluttershy's response, on the other hoof, was decidedly less understated.

"Princess Celestia!"

The Ruler of Equestria, Bringer of Day, Lady of the Solar Court, Stewardess of the Heavens, Vanquisher of Nightmare Moon, and how many other dozens of titles smiled politely and nodded in greeting. "Given the events of the past two or so days, I thought I would pay a visit and see how things are going."

Dawn raised an eyebrow. "So the ruler of Equestria drops in to visit a common pony like she was popping over to a neighbor's house to borrow a cup of sugar?"

Fluttershy's jaw dropped as she turned to stare at Dawn in shock. Then, to her even greater shock, Celestia tittered in response to his wry comment.

"I see your mentor rubbed off on you. He was certainly no stranger to snarking at authority," she observed.

"You knew my Master then?"

Celestia nodded, eyes rolling upwards as she drew out the memories. "Quite well. I enjoyed his company whenever we happened to meet. He was always pleasantly frank with me. In his latter years, he kept his distance and never visited." Celestia turned her gaze back down to the colt, her expression grave. "I suppose now, I know why, although I don't quite understand."

Dawn cocked his head curiously. "Understand what?"

"Why he might have thought he needed to hide you from me. I thought he knew me better than that." She pondered it for a moment. "Perhaps it was something else that just happened to coincide with him taking you under his wing. Perhaps we'll never know."

"Perhaps not," Dawn agreed.

Poor Fluttershy just wasn't sure what to make of the situation. A visit from Princess Celestia was often enough to send a community into a total panic from the mere announcement of her coming, to say nothing of what happened when she dropped in unannounced. Even her personal student went frantic with worry on such occasions, rushing around trying to make sure everything was perfect. When Celestia was actually present, ponies were often terrified to talk with her, much less be as casual in their dialogue as Dawn was. Fluttershy was amazed that he could adjust so quickly to being given an impromptu audience with such an important pony. Speaking of which...

Fluttershy took a moment to look around. There were currently no other ponies in sight, no guards, no pegasus-drawn chariot, none of the fanfare and spectacle that usually accompanied the Princess when she left her home in Canterlot. It seemed that Princess Celestia had simply dropped in out of the blue.

"Um...maybe we should go inside," Fluttershy finally suggested lamely.

"Thank you for your invitation," replied Celestia as the yellow pegasus opened the door and ushered her charge and her sovereign into her home. Inside, Angel was overseeing several other small animals employing various implements as they tidied up the cottage's interior. It always warmed Fluttershy's heart to see her bunny take up her chores in her absence and she promised herself to fix him his favorite salad later as thanks.

Looking up, the animals realized that their caretaker had come home, along with a very unusual guest. They quickly rushed into their burrows at the sight of Princess Celestia, who laughed as Angel gave her a surly glare before hopping into one of the burrows himself.

"Uh...maybe I should make some tea...that is if you don't mind..." Fluttershy averted her eyes, trying to figure out what a pony was supposed to do in this strange situation.

Celestia chuckled. "Actually, why don't I provide the refreshments?" Her horn blazed, with a similar light flaring out of the table in the center of the living room. When it faded, a tea set sat there, complete with cups, saucers, cream, sugar, and a large pot of tea, steam seeping gently from it on the table. Another spell produced a three-tiered set of serving trays loaded with scones, small sandwiches and sweet cakes.

"I took the liberty of asking my chefs at the palace to prepare some tea and snacks before I left," explained Celestia as she levitated the pot and filled all three cups.

Dawn looked down at his cup and arched his eyebrows. Instead of the amber color he was used to in the tea made by Fluttershy, he was instead greeted by a pale-green color. Leaning down, he took a cautious sniff and was surprised by a floral scent rising from the cup.

"Jasmine tea," Celestia supplied, "It's green tea mixed with blossoms from the jasmine flower. It's one of my favorites."

Dawn took a cautious sip from the cup. His eyes widened. This tea would probably be one of his favorites as well. It was a good bit more mild, lacking the bitterness usually found in tea and slightly sweet on its own. He quickly took a longer sip, ignoring the sugar and cream altogether. Fluttershy did the same, clearly liking the beverage as well.

A brief silence presided as the three ponies took the opportunity to help themselves to the delicacies provided by the Princess. Dawn and Celestia went along as though this was perfectly natural, but Futtershy couldn't help but fidget awkwardly as the silence persisted, wondering what was going to happen next.

As it turned out, it was Princess Celestia who broke the ice. "How are your injuries by the way?"

Dawn flicked his eyes to the cast over his wing and the bandages around his midsection. "Doing quite well. I feel much better after that spell."

A relieved smile passed over Celestia's face like a drifting cloud before it was replaced with a much more solemn look. "I have to apologize. In a way, I feel partially responsible for what has happened to you."

"Oh...Princess!" blurted Fluttershy, "You didn't have anything to do with this! It's not your fault at all!"

"How so?" interjected Dawn, tilting his head slightly. Fluttershy's outburst was ignored.

Celestia let out a sigh. As they drank their tea and helped themselves to the snacks, she explained the history of the Cult Solar and its twisted legacy. By the time she finished, Fluttershy was sitting, stunned while Dawn stared down at a half-eaten sandwich pensively.

"How could they?" gasped the butter-yellow pegasus after a moment, "To do that to your sister. It's so awful. Why would anypony accuse Princess Luna of such a thing?"

Celestia lowered her head sadly. "I honestly am not sure why the Order of Celestial Light desired me to be a goddess so badly. I am far from infallible, as you have experienced Fluttershy.

"As for why they made Luna out to be evil, or why they felt they needed a villain in their cosmology at all, that is a bit simpler to understand."

"A scapegoat," said Dawn simply.

Celestia nodded. "It wouldn't be the first time either. After all, ponies' desire for someone or something to blame had already brought into being something much worse than Nightmare Moon."

"Do you mean Discord?" asked Fluttershy.

Again, Celestia nodded sadly. "My little ponies frequently underestimate what they are capable of when they put their minds to it, both for good and for ill. They are especially unaware of the scope on which their magic can influence the world. Their collective desire for someone to blame for their troubles and tribulations is what caused Discord to come into the world to begin with.

"When good fortune comes your way, it's easy to overlook it and take it in stride. But that is much more difficult to do with bad fortune. Ponies will lament their ill fortune, they try to find some reasoning behind it, because otherwise, their suffering seems meaningless. They look for some kind of plan or scheme or reason as to why their problems exist. If there is none, then they simply create one."

Fluttershy struggled with this notion. "So then...Discord exists because...ponies wanted him to...?"

"Yes," agreed Celestia, "And that is also why he was evil. If you think about it, there is no reason for a being such as Discord, who is a manifestation of chaos, to be evil. By its very definition, chaos is neither good nor evil. It is simply random. And yet Discord was malicious, sadistic and vile in every sense. Ironically enough, that is because that is what ponies wished him to be."

"Oh dear," whispered Fluttershy, shrinking back behind her mane, "So he was only such a meanie because everypony wanted him to be. That's so sad."

"True. Initially, Discord was purely a conceptual creature, invented as a figment for ponies to blame for their troubles and strife. As awareness spread, ponies throughout Equestria began to see Discord as the source of their problems and reviled him accordingly. Ultimately, their collective belief in his existence mixed with their magic at a fundamental level and essentially willed him into existence. At least, that's what happened as far as I can tell."

Dawn raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "You're not certain."

"I have always had something of a doubt about it. Perhaps it is simply too terrifying to believe that my little ponies could bring something so horrible into existence, and even more terrifying to think that they are capable of doing it again. However, I believe that there may have been other powers at work as Luna and I were born shortly before Discord's creation. We were young, barely mares at the time, but Discord came into being as he has always been and in his full power. Those were difficult times for us." Celestia shuddered at the memory.

"Cosmological speculation aside," she said, getting back on track, "This doesn't change the basic issue that you have suffered greatly because of something that I was partially responsible for.

"I do not hold you responsible for that Princess," replied Dawn, "You cannot be held accountable for what ponies do, especially when, in doing so, they ignore your words and wishes. It does do a great deal to explain what I have suffered. It also explains some things about Miss Applejack and her behavior towards me."

"Which is something I will have to address," said Celestia, pouring herself another cup of tea, "I intend to pay a visit to Applejack after this. It troubles me that one of the Elements was corrupted by the Cult Solar's teachings."

"Elements?" Dawn cocked his head.

Celestia leaned back, blinking in surprise, before directing a confused look at Fluttershy. "You mean you haven't told him?"

The yellow pegasus blushed furiously and shrank back from the other two ponies. "Um...uh...it just...oh dear...it just didn't come up."

"What didn't?" asked Dawn, switching his gaze back and forth between his caretaker and the Princess.

Celestia had to cover her mouth as she chortled. "Oh, you'll find out. It's quite the impressive story."

Dawn's gaze settled back on Fluttershy, who blushed even harder and hid behind her mane. "We uh...we happened to...that is we...we just happened to save Equestria...twice, maybe three times."

Now it was Dawn's turn to lean back. "Now this I have to hear."

Celestia had a hearty laugh at Fluttershy's expense as the yellow pegasus tried to sink into the floor. Looking at the table, Celestia noticed that they had nearly finished their tea and snacks. "Perhaps we should leave it here then. I need to pay a visit to Sweet Apple Acres and have a little chat with Applejack."

With a flick of her horn, the tea set and all its accessories vanished from the table, leaving only the faint, lingering smell of jasmine as any indicator that tea had been there at all. Still chuckling Celestia made for the door. "Have a nice day you two."

"Goodbye," replied Fluttershy meekly while Dawn merely nodded in acknowledgement.

Celestia paused, one hood out the door. "Dawn Lightwing," she said, her tone suddenly strangely formal.

"Yes?"

"I understand that you study the Gale King style. I have one piece of advice for you. As you are now, you are not ready to try and wield lightning. That is a skill you will not be able to master until you first master yourself. For your own safety, until that time has come, and you will know when that is, do not try to create or manipulate lightning. The consequences could be dire."

Dawn bobbed his head in acknowledgement. "Thank you for your wise advice. I will take it into consideration."

Celestia nodded and made her departure.

When the door closed behind the Princess, Dawn turned his gaze to Fluttershy. "I believe you have a story to share."

Fluttershy gulped and shrank back even further. "Oh dear."

Princess Celestia had barely taken a few steps away from Fluttershy's door when Twilight materialized in a blaze of violet light.

"Princess!" The lavender-coated unicorn froze and went silent when Celestia held a hoof to her mouth.

"Those two are enjoying a moment of peace," she said, gesturing back to the cottage with her horn, "Let's not disturb that right now."

Twilight Sparkle nodded uncertainly. Celestia started walking again and her student fell into step beside her. "So, is everything alright?"

The princess let out a soft, tinkling laugh. "Oh yes. We had a wonderful conversation over tea. I rather like your newest friend. He's like a breath of fresh air."

"Are you implying that the others and I are getting stale?" Twilight asked, raising a mischievous eyebrow. She went rigid when she realized what she said.

Oh no! I can't believe I just ribbed the Princess! thought the unicorn in a blind panic, She'll be furious! I have to apologize right away... Before she could begin, Twilight was stopped by an outburst of laughter from Celestia, who was trying her hardest to remain on her hooves as she guffawed gleefully.

"Oh Twilight," said Celestia, once she regained her control, "You have no idea how long I've wanted you to be relaxed enough to joke with me like that. There's no need for you to be so afraid of my disapproval."

Twilight sagged, her ears going back. "I just don't want you to be disappointed with me," she said softly, averting her eyes.

Celestia sighed and draped a wing over her young student. "Twilight Sparkle. You are the best and brightest student I have ever had the pleasure of teaching. You have accomplished more in these recent years than most ponies will do in their entire lifetimes. You know, better than anypony perhaps, that I am perfectly capable of making mistakes of my own." Their minds simultaneously flashed back to the Royal Wedding. "You don't have to be afraid of making mistakes, even with me. What's important is that we learn from our mistakes and overcome them. Your mistakes may disappoint me from time to time. But none of that will ever change just how proud of you I am."

Twilight sniffed and leaned against Celestia, rubbing up against her. Celestia lowered her head and gently rested her neck against Twilight's. The two of them stayed like that for a few moments before drawing back.

"So Princess," asked Twilight as they resumed walking, "I understand why you're in Ponyville, but I don't understand how you can be here. Didn't you have affairs of state keeping you busy?"

Celestia smirked. "I took a day off."

"You what?"

"I took a day off. After several centuries of serving this country's interests almost nonstop, you tend to accrue quite a substantial supply of vacation time. Besides, those affairs I wrote about were mostly just a bunch of bureaucratic nonsense cooked up by the Noble Court as make-work. I suspect that the Court is trying to keep me distracted so they can do something or other behind my back. I've decided to go along with their plans until I find out what that something is. For now though, Luna is running things back in Canterlot. I wonder how she's doing by the way..."

"JUST WHAT IS THIS DRIVEL THOU DAREST CALL A PROPOSAL?"

Duke Regal cringed, his ears going flat as the thundering power of the Canterlot Royal Voice washed over him.

"THOU CALL THIS A BILL? TIS NAUGHT BUT UTTER GIBBERISH DRESSED IN THE FINEST OF LEGALESE! A THOUSAND YEARS AGO, SUCH SHODDY WORK WOULD WARRANT A TRIP TO THE ROYAL GLUE-MAKERS! THOU CANST COUNT THYSELF LUCKY OUR SISTER HATH BECOME SO GENEROUS AND FORGIVING. WHY IN OUR DAY..."

The monologue would have been bearable, at least, had Luna not opted to deliver it at full window-shaking bellow, at a volume that could probably be heard all the way beyond the palace grounds and the city below. The snobbish unicorn sighed and did his best to endure. It was going to be a long day.

"So now what?" asked Twilight.

"Now it's time for me to pay a visit to Applejack," said Celestia, spreading her wings, "We have some matters to discuss." Before taking off, she gave Twilight one last look. "If things don't take long, I would be happy to drop by the library later so that we can enjoy some time together."

"That sounds wonderful," squealed Twilight, practically jumping with excitement, "I'll go and get ready."

"Remember, don't get too worked up about minor things," said Celestia fondly, "What's important is that we get to spend some time together."

"Yes Princess."

"Then I should be by in time for dinner," announced Celestia as she took to the skies.

Applejack snorted in frustration as she stared out the window. Big Macintosh had seen Apple Bloom off to school, taken the cart into town to peddle the family wares and would come back in the afternoon to get to work bucking the next section of the orchard. Applejack had been left on her own in the empty farmhouse with only the soft snoring of Granny Smith snoozing in the corner opposite her in the living room to keep her company. Today, Applejack wasn't even allowed to leave the house, on pain of being tied up and left in her room if she didn't comply.

Thus, the mare was left to fume as she tried to figure out a way to deal with her situation. She was horrified at the reach that the demon had been able to exert. Her friends, her brother, even her adoring younger sister had all turned against her. Applejack felt the pain of mistrust keenly as she realized that none of them believed what she had to say. They simply waved more of the demon's deceptions in her face and called it proof. Is this how Twilight felt when we wouldn't believe her about that fake Princess Cadance?

Applejack was shaken from her reverie by the approaching sound of flapping wings. Lifting her head up, Applejack looked out the window, wondering if it was Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash coming to visit her. Whoever it was was probably planning on berating her further, trying to get her to lower her guard and allow that monstrous colt to sink his hooks into her as well.

Applejack could only stare as the visiting pony landed with a thud that no pegasus could hope to accomplish short of ramming straight into the ground. Her jaw dropped as her eyes took in the pristine white coat, the long spreading wings, that peerless horn, and the varicolored mane and tail of her visitor.

"Princess Celestia!" shouted Applejack, bolting to the door from her seat. Her shout roused her grandmother from her rest.

"Huh! Whazzat? AJ, what's all the hollerin' about?"

"Good afternoon Miss Smith," greeted Celestia with a fond smile as she looked in through the window, "The years certainly have been kind to you. I remember when you first came to Canterlot.

"Eh, so do Ah, Princess," answered Granny Smith with a hearty chuckle as she settled back into her chair, "Have ya come fer another 'o mah trademark apple cakes?"

Applejack, who had just stepped out on the veranda stopped short when she heard a low gurgle from Celestia's stomach, accompanied by...was that drool?

Realizing her lapse, Celestia recovered admirably and managed to keep her composure, although a small blush showed her embarrassment. "Not right now. May I borrow your...granddaughter for a time?"

"Sure as shootin' ya can," replied Granny Smith, waving a dismissive hoof, "Just be sure to have 'er back in time fer dinner."

"Of course," replied Celestia before coughing, "And later...perhaps...we might discuss an order to-go."

A dry cackle escaped the elderly mare as a wry, knowing grin creeped across her face. "Ah best get to mah bakin' then."

Again Celestia coughed self-consciously before turning to Applejack. "It seems we have much to discuss," she said, her pleasantly neutral expression slipping back into place, "Walk with me."

Nodding silently, Applejack fell into step next to the Princess as she strolled into the orchard, the two of them basking in the afternoon sunshine that filtered down between the apple leaves.

"Ah didn't realize ya were so friendly with mah granny," commented Applejack as they walked.

Celestia smiled nostalgically at old memories. "I have always been fond of your grandmother, ever since we first met all those years ago. She was one of the few ponies who ever made an active effort to get to know me as Celestia, not just the Princess. It certainly helped that her apple cakes are the best I've ever had. And speaking for a pony of my experience, that's saying something."

Applejack nodded knowingly. Granny Smith's apple cakes were the stuff of legend among the Apple family. If they had tried to sell them, it was likely that those cakes alone would put the Sugarcube Corner out of business, or so the Apple Family lore went. Only the fact that the cake's creation was as laden with as many quirks and strange rituals as Granny's Zap Apple Jam kept the family from going commercial with them.

"I must admit that the cake you made for Cadance's wedding was getting close. But you still have a ways to go before you catch up to your grandmother," commented Celestia with a smile.

Applejack forced a chuckle. But she was beginning to get frustrated. She couldn't, for the life of her, figure out why the Princess was dancing around the real reason she was here. The orange mare was so preoccupied with her thoughts, she nearly stumbled over one of the baskets Big Macintosh had laid out earlier in preparation for his apple bucking to come later in the afternoon.

Celestia, sensing her companion's frustration, stopped and looked down. "I know that you know the real reason I came out here," she said, her tone much cooler than before.

"Princess, Ah don't know how much ya've heard about the situation, but there's a colt stayin' with Fluttershy that we need to do somethin' about."

Celestia gave Applejack a cheerful smile. "Oh, you don't have to worry about that. I have already dealt with the situation. I went to see to this colt myself before coming here."

"Ya did?" Reaching up, Applejack pushed her newly restored hat (recently delivered by Rarity) back so she could wipe the nervous sweat she had accumulated off her brow. "That's great. Ah can rest easy knowin' that some demon isn't tryin' to steal mah friends and corrupt their souls."

"Indeed you can," replied Celestia with an amused chuckle, "After all, no such things exist in this world."

"What?" exclaimed Applejack, directing a startled look up at the Princess, "But Ah thought ya said ya'd seen to that there colt?"

"And so I did," said Celestia loftily as she drew herself up, "We enjoyed a lovely conversation over tea. I found him to be quite the amusing young fellow."

Applejack's eyes spun about as her jaw worked silently. She finally managed to work up enough self control to force the words out. "Y-ya...ya had tea with 'im? Ya talked with 'im...with that monster? And ya didn't do anythin' to 'im?"

"Applejack. You must understand that your fears are completely unfounded. The myths that have been perpetuated against ponies like Dawn are..."

"Ya ain't Princess Celestia!" yelled Applejack, "Yer a mirage...a figment, some kinda vision sent by that demon to test mah resolve! Yer an imposter, some kinda changelin' like that evil queen 'o theirs..."

"DAME APPLEJACK: ELEMENT OF HONESTY!" Few ponies had the privilege of beholding Princess Celestia in the full spectacle of her unveiled power. Blazing light streamed from every pore of the regal alicorn's body as she reared up, spreading her wings wide. As she did so, she had cut loose with the full force of the Canterlot Royal Voice, its power shaking the trees around them and making the ground itself quiver.

Applejack reeled back, blinded and deafened by the display. However, the assault on her physical senses was nothing compared to the assault of the Princess's sheer presence. The air around Applejack suddenly felt as though it weighed ten tons. It buzzed with an energy that made every hair of her coat, mane, and tail stand on end. She wanted to flee, she wanted to hide, but more than anything, she wanted to throw herself down before this awesome creature and beg its forgiveness. At this moment, Princess Celestia did not seem a pony, but like a separate existence in a completely different class.

Celestia finished her display by slamming her hooves into the ground, the force of impact making the earth jump beneath Applejack's hooves. The shockwave rattled the trees around them. The thunderous tones of Celestia's voice were followed by the countless thuds as all the apples in the area were knocked loose by the impact and dropped into the carefully placed baskets.

Applejack shook her head to clear her senses. It took a moment for the ringing in her ears to die down and motes of light to stop dancing before her vision. Looking around, the orange mare's eyes widened as she saw that all the apple trees in the south fields had been divested of their fruit. In her impressive display, Princess Celestia had done Big Macintosh's job for him and completed a full day's work in a single instant.

"Look at me."

Applejack's body obeyed automatically, her mind not even giving a single peep of resistance as her head turned to heed Celestia's command. Looking up, Applejack's ears went back and she cringed in fear at the sight before her. Gone was Princess Celestia's smile. There was no trace of amusement in her expression, no twinkle of mischief in those fathomless eyes. What remained was a mask of cool composure, of forged steel that stared down at the cowering pony with dispassion. This was not the face of Princess Celestia, the Loving Teacher or the Kind and Wise Princess. This was the face of Princess Celestia, who had vanquished Discord, who had banished Nightmare Moon, who had taken all of Equestria under her wing and had guided it through countless cataclysms. It was not something that could be imagined or faked. The implications were quite clear.

"Do you still doubt my identity?" asked Celestia sternly, staring down.

"N-no Princess," stammered Applejack, shying away and squeezing her eyes shut until tears leaked out, "Ah'm so sorry! An didn't mean to..."

Celestia let out a tired sigh and dropped her steel mask. Striding forward, she wrapped her forelegs around Applejack and drew the earth pony into a motherly hug. "There there," she said, as though she were consoling a crying foal, "I didn't want to have to frighten you like that, but you left me with no other option. Come now, dry your tears. We still have much to talk about."

Sniffling slightly, Applejack took a moment to wipe her eyes clear. "Ah don't understand Princess. How can ya say demons ain't real, especially with what happened to yer sister?"

"You forget that the same ponies who accuse ponies like Dawn of being a demon also accused my sister of the same," Celestia pointed out in an icy tone.

Applejack shrank back again. "A-Ah just assumed that maybe they had it wrong, that Luna was just a victim 'o somethin' or other."

"And yet it never occurred to you that they might be wrong about something...about anything else?"

Applejack could only stare silently at the ground. In her heart, she felt something breaking. Her father had been the cornerstone, around which she had built her entire life, born from the desire to emulate him as much as possible, she had hung onto his every word, absorbed his every teaching. But there had been some things about what he had said and done that troubled her, not because she doubted him, but because she saw the way her family reacted when Valencia started on certain topics. They had tried to dissuade him, to convince him the demons and monsters he had preached against weren’t real. But he stood firm. Applejack had always admired the fact that her father stood firm.

Celestia sighed and looked out over the rolling hills of the orchard around them. "The Cult Solar built their entire narrative around venerating and revering me and then saddling my beloved sister with every indignity imaginable. She suffered for decades because of their slander before she could finally take no more. I often wonder if I should have done more to stop them before things went so far..."

"If they were so wrong? Then why didn't ya stop 'em."

"Because I was afraid of going too far. I have been a Princess and ruled Equestria for millennia. I have always desired, more than anything else, that my ponies not fear me, that they could have the freedom to express themselves and share their true thoughts with me and their fellows. I had feared that, in taking direct action against the Cult Solar, I would have crossed the line into outright tyranny. So I fought against them in the only way I thought I could. I tried to counter their arguments, to dispel their dogma with the voice of reason. But sadly, it wasn't enough. Even my voice can be drowned out if enough ponies shout loudly enough. And Luna suffered for my inaction."

Celestia turned and stared at Applejack, her eyes seeming to pierce the mare's soul. "You have to understand that being the Element of Honesty does not make you immune to lies. It does not allow you to instantly divine the difference between truth and fiction. And no lies are as endearing and enduring as those we tell ourselves.

"You wanted to badly to believe that Dawn Lightwing was a demon, a monster, that you were willing to ignore anything that proved otherwise. You even went so far as to accuse me of being an imposter."

"Ah'm sorry Princess," said Applejack, slumping, "But Ah just don't want to believe mah pappy lied to me about somethin' like this."

"Your father was probably a good pony who believed what he was telling you was the truth. But just as your accusations today were based on the lies you told yourself, so too were the things that he told you. That, Applejack is the true demon of this story."

"True demon?" Applejack looked up, staring in shock at Celestia. "But Ah thought ya just said..."

Slowly, the regal alicorn shook her head, her smile making a sad term, "I may have misspoke earlier. Demons do exist, just not in the way you think they do.

"Demons originated as a concept, invented by a philosopher so ancient that even I do not know his name...or was it a her? The philosopher in question was seeking to articulate and explain the why some ponies do terrible things, what drives them to do this. Demons originated as a term for articulating and describing the darker aspects of pony nature that drive us to hurt one another as well as ourselves. He hoped that, in identifying these factors, these aspects of ourselves, these demons, that we could learn to overcome our own darkness and become better ponies because of it.

"So this mysterious philosopher came up with demons as a way of describing these tendencies in a way that regular ponies could understand. They were a metaphor, a symbol."

"What happened?" asked Applejack, looking to all the world like a small foal asking her mother a question she wasn't ready to hear the answer to.

"What frequently happens," answered Celestia, "Some ponies took this philosopher's metaphors literally. They established the belief that demons existed, not within their own hearts and minds, but in the outside world, where they were an active and actual force seeking to corrupt and ruin. In the end, it all comes down to blame. These ponies didn't want to face up to the darkness within themselves, so they tried to externalize it, to turn it into something that they could blame for their problems instead of their own foibles."

Applejack pawed at the ground, her gaze hollow. "So that's what Ah was doin'."

Celestia nodded. "You blamed Dawn for turning your friends and family against you when, in reality, you were the one driving everypony away. This is terrible, but even that pales in comparison to the worst thing that you did."

Applejack lifted her head to meet the Princess's gaze, her eyes wide with horror in anticipation to the truth that Celestia was about to speak; a truth that was the last thing Applejack wanted to acknowledge. The thought of what Princess Celestia was about to say chilled her to the bone.

"You attacked an innocent colt, one about the same age as your younger sister. Not only that, but you severely injured him as well. You tried to kill a foal on the basis of an outdated superstition."

A choked sob was all that Applejack could muster. Tears were once again streaming from her eyes, this time out of shame and guilt. Inside her, she felt something, not break, but shatter as she realized that something that she had clung to with every ounce of her emotional strength had proven to be hollow and empty. But perhaps that was something she had known since the beginning, the possibility that her father was wrong. Every time Granny Smith or Big Macintosh had asked her to stop following her father’s teachings of the Sun and Night, she’d only clamped down all the harder on them, never wanting to admit that any time she had spent listening her father, who had taught her so much, could have ever been wasted.

It was ironic, in the face of all that, that Dawn’s arrival had almost seemed to have been ordained by Celestia herself (of course, said diarch’s current displeasure with her said otherwise). Here was living, breathing proof that her father hadn’t been wasting his days with Order of Celestial Light. After all the denial and dismissal her family had offered, here was something real. And Applejack latched onto it, clutched it with every fiber of her being. Valencia had been right, any proof to the contrary were simply efforts by the demon to veil his true nature.

But now, with Celestia herself standing before Applejack, the illusion shattered completely. Applejack knew what she had done. She felt hollow on the inside, with nothing holding her up. The world itself seemed to fall away from her and there was nothing Applejack could do about it. In its place flooded the realization of what she had truly done, a terrible burning agony that wracked her soul.

Celestia stared down at the penitent pony, her gaze laden with pity. "I could simply have the Guard arrest you for assaulting a minor. You would spend time in prison and have a record that would follow you for the rest of your life. However, I think that what I'm going to do instead will be even more difficult and painful."

"Don't say it," whispered Applejack, "Please don't make me do this."

But there was no mercy to be had. "You must go to Dawn Lightwing and look him in the eye. You must apologize for every act of violence, every harsh word, every malicious thought. It will be up to him whether or not to forgive you."

Applejack would have rather gone to prison than have to face that. But Princess Celestia's word was law. The Princess reached out and rested a reassuring hoof on Applejack's shoulders. "I know that this will be difficult for you. Take your time and figure out how to do it properly."

"A-Ah will," said Applejack softly.

A shadow flitted across the sky above them. Celestia and Applejack looked up to see a pegasus drawing a storm cloud into place. The gray stallion didn't seem to notice the two ponies in the orchard below him and instead flitted off to collect another cloud. He was followed by a pair of mares, each carrying a cloud of their own. Several other pegasi followed suit, dragging clouds into place and merging them together.

It wasn't long before Applejack spied a familiar cyan blur slipping between the other pegasi, bringing clouds of her own.

Rainbow Dash did notice the two mares down in the orchard and swooped down to greet them. "Princess? What are you doing here?"

Celestia gave the athletic pegasus mare a serene smile. "I was simply having a brief conversation with Applejack here. We have had a few important things to talk about."

Rainbow turned her gaze to Applejack and noted that the fur under her eyes was suspiciously damp, given that the storm hadn't even started yet. "Is everything alright AJ?"

Applejack wiped her eyes and sniffed. "Ah think so Rainbow. Ah haven't been mahself lately and Ah was bein' right mulish with ya and the other girls. It took Princess Celestia here to get through to mah noggin what an ass Ah was makin' 'o mahself."

Rainbow smiled. "I'm glad to hear that. I don't want to stay mad at you."

The lithe pegasus turned and began climbing back up into the clouds.

"Rainbow!"

Rainbow Dash paused as Applejack shouted her name.

"Ah'm sorry. Can ya ever forgive me?"

The words had barely left the orange earth pony's mouth before Rainbow pulled an inverted loop and swooped down to tackle her with a fierce hug that left the two of them sprawled across the ground. They simply lay there for a moment, Rainbow Dash holding Applejack tightly.

"Of course I can forgive you, you idiot," teased Rainbow as she gently nuzzled her friend, "Just try not to be such an idiot in the future."

Finally letting go, Rainbow lifted off into the air. "I've gotta go kick this storm into gear. So I'll see you later." And then she was gone in a prismatic streak as the day gradually grew darker.

"How come none 'o the other ponies up there seem to notice yer down here?" asked Applejack, raising an eyebrow at Celestia, who responded with an expression that, on a lesser pony, might have been called a smirk.

"I simply cast a spell so that only you and a select few other ponies will notice my presence," answered the Princess honestly, "It's practically the only reason I was able to get out of Canterlot without dragging a battalion of the Royal Guard in my wake."

Celestia spread her wings in preparation for takeoff. "I promised my student that I would visit her at the library before I returned to Canterlot. I'll leave you here Applejack. Remember to think carefully about what you will say to Dawn when you apologize to him."

Applejack nodded solemnly as the Princess rose through the oblivious cloud of pegasi and disappeared above the clouds. Alone for the time being, the orange mare slowly threaded her way among the trees of the orchard as the first drops of rain began to fall.

Spike looked out the library window at the line of clouds hovering in the distance. The promised storm was less...stormy than what he had grown used to in Ponyville. Normally, clouds would blot out the sky and rain would pour down over the entire town. Spike liked storms. There was a comforting enjoyment in making a cup of hot cocoa and sipping it down as you watched the rain and thunder out your window. It helped him to truly appreciate the comfort and warmth of the tree he called home.

Unfortunately, there hadn't been enough clouds to cover the whole of Ponyville. The storm was made from the reserves Rainbow Dash and her team had managed to scrape together from several days worth of stray clouds. There was only enough to cover the farmsteads in the outlying sections of the town to ensure that the crops that fed Ponyville and also served as the town's primary export got enough water to support their needs. The park and small gardens of individual ponies would have to wait. There was still no word of any new deliveries from the Cloudsdale weather factory, which had been making Rainbow anxious.

Spike's attention was drawn by a light tapping on the library door. Looking down from the balcony leading to his and Twilight's bedroom, Spike smiled happily at the familiar pony who trotted in through the door.

"Hey Apple Bloom, I wasn't expecting to see you today."

"Ah'm here to drop off that book Ah borrowed," answered the yellow filly as she set her saddlebags down. Spike made his way down the stairs and got the book from her and found its proper place on the shelf.

"Ya mind if Ah hang out here fer a little while. We ain't got any crusadin' planned today on account 'o Scootaloo and her mom havin' to find a new house. Ah don't want to go home just yet 'cause 'o the storm and mah sister bein' a right pain in the flank over this whole business with Dawn."

Spike nodded sagely. "Yeah, I heard she got a bit...crazy about the whole thing."

Apple Bloom shook her head. "Crazy don't quite cut it. Ah ain't ever seen mah sister go off on another pony like that. To make matters worse, she was shoutin' all kinds 'o things at her friends and wouldn't listen to a word they said. Then, when we go home, she tried to tell me that Ah wasn't allowed to hang out with Dawn, or Scootaloo if she was gonna keep hangin' around him. Big Macintosh put a stop to that right quick, but it was the most disturbin' thing Ah'd seen in a long time."

The filly directed a dejected look at the floor. Spike came up to her and sat next to her, gently ruffling her mane with his claw. "Don't worry too much about it Apple Bloom. This can't go on forever. I'm sure Applejack will eventually work things out and we can get on without any worries."

"Ah hope yer right," said Apple Bloom. She gave the dragon a relieved smile and leaned to rest her head on his shoulder. Spike froze, but relaxed after a moment, a brief smear of red spreading across his cheeks before he was able to enjoy the moment.

"Spike! We're having company for dinner!" announced Twilight as she slammed the library door open and came striding in, "I want you to get out our best china!"

The young dragon and yellow filly bounced away from one another in surprised self-consciousness at the sudden invasion by Twilight Sparkle. Twilight observed their reaction with an amused grin.

"Wh-what are you talking about Twilight?" asked Spike, getting to his feet, "Who's coming over?"

Twilight's grin widened. "It's a surprise." As though suddenly noticing her, Twilight turned to Apple Bloom. "Hi there Apple Bloom. Maybe you should head home soon. Your family might be getting worried."

"It's okay!" announced Spike before the discouraged filly could say anything, "Actually, I was wondering if Apple Bloom could stay for dinner too."

Twilight opened her mouth to deliver an emphatic negative, not wanting to bother her beloved mentor with the presence of a foal, but paused. She remembered how Celestia had admonished her for trying too hard to make things perfect. More importantly, she could also tell that Spike wasn't asking solely for his own enjoyment. The way his eyes shifted to Apple Bloom every few seconds, a concerned look on his face, indicated that there was more to this simple request than there had seemed to be at first.

"Okay," she said after a moment, "But I hope Apple Bloom's family is okay with it."

"They will be!" said Apple Bloom a little more loudly than she had intended.

Twilight directed a questioning look at Spike, who nodded. She let out a soft sigh. "Alright then, lets get ready. Apple Bloom, do you think you could get started setting the table?" Twilight gestured to the large table that dominated mine center of the library "There's a tablecloth in the back closet. Try and get it on evenly."

Apple Bloom nodded eagerly and sped off to the closet to do as she was bid. In the meantime, Twilight and Spike made their way to the kitchen, where they could get started on the other preparations for the meal. Also, Twilight had a question for Spike.

"Alright," she said when she was sure that Apple Bloom wasn't in earshot, "What's going on?"

Spike once again directed a concerned look in the direction he knew Apple Bloom was in. "She doesn't feel up to going home just yet. Apparently Applejack has been acting a little crazy."

Twilight tapped her chin thoughtfully. She knew that Celestia had gone to talk to Applejack, but wouldn't be able to find out how it went until the Princess arrived in a short time. If Apple Bloom was anxious about returning home, then perhaps it would be best to simply let her stay for dinner to keep her calm until they knew what had happened at the farm. It also meant that Apple Bloom wouldn't have to trot through the rainstorm Rainbow Dash and her team had set up.

"Alright then, dinner for four it is."

The lavender mare returned to the main room of the library to see Apple Boom settling a clean white tablecloth over the table with impressive skill.

Noticing the unicorn's arrival, Apple Bloom turned and regarded Twilight curiously.

"Miss Twilight, who's coming over fer dinner?"

Twilight couldn't suppress the mischievous grin that spread across her face. "A very important friend of mine. Actually, I think you'll recognize her pretty easily."

Author's Notes:

I told you a lot of apples would be bucked.

Obviously, the scene with Celestia and Applejack was going to be one of the more difficult ones to write (with an even more difficult scene coming up next chapter). After spending so many chapters building up Applejack's obsession with making Dawn out to be a demon, to a degree that really starts to get worrying with how stubborn she can be on the topic, to have her knocked out of that belief in the course of a single scene is something I can understand not being easy to swallow. I like to hope that the invocation of Celestia Ex Machina helped with that. It's pretty hard to articulate having one of the central figures in Applejack's life, whom she'd been taught to respect and revere, basically tear down a massive portion of her worldview and confront her with the harsh reality of what she's actually done.

As for what Applejack has to do, I can understand that it might not sit well with some people that she could get off with just an apology. But I really do think that this is the more difficult thing to ask of her, as simply letting her take the usual punishment would be letting her off easy since she doesn't necessarily have to confront Dawn himself with what she did. If you're feeling truly guilty about something, it can be easy to simply let the System take over and go along with it. As long as you do your time and pay your debt to society, your sins are forgiven, so to speak. Obviously, it's not that simple, but for a pony like Applejack, accepting imprisonment would essentially be taking the easy way out.

I brought up Discord in this chapter primarily to articulate certain philosophies I'm working out in this story. It's not really meant to be a hint for anything later on. This portion of the story was written well-before Season 3 came out, especially a certain pair of episodes revolving around a reforming draconequess and Twilight becoming an alicorn princess. However, while I don't include those episodes in the setting of this story, I did like some other aspects of Season 3 episodes that I chose to incorporate in later chapters. So, for the most part, assume this story takes place post Season 3, only Keep Calm and Flutter On and Magical Mystery Cure haven't happened...yet.

One more chapter left.

Next Chapter: The finale...sort of...

Amends

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Chapter 15: Amends

Apple Bloom took the arrival of Princess Celestia about as well as any sensible filly her age would. That is to say, she froze in shock for a grand total of thirty seconds while her brain processed that Equestria's sovereign ruler had just dropped by her friend's house for dinner. After the thirty-second mark had passed, the yellow filly sprang into motion, squealing in giddy excitement and bouncing around the library with a level of energy that would have had Pinkie Pie staring slack-jawed before coming to a halt and immediately bombarding Celestia with questions and queries on just about any topic imaginable to the fanciful filly. Needless to say, this barrage of curiousity came at such a rapid pace that Celestia had absolutely no time to provide Apple Bloom with any answers in between them. Instead, she weathered the storm of words with an amused smile, waiting patiently for Apple Bloom to finally wind down.

Twilight Sparkle, needless to say, was positively mortified. It had been one thing for her to try and follow Celestia's advice and relax herself more around the alicorn. It was another matter entirely to stand aside and watch as a pony she had allowed to join them act so rudely toward their princess.

Spike, on the other hoof, was trying his hardest to stifle a series of cackles, stuffing his claws in his mouth in a desperate, though futile attempt to keep any noise from leaking out, his entire body quaking with the urge to give in to his suppressed mirth. He was happy to see Apple Bloom being so upbeat, but at the same time, couldn't help but want to savor Twilight's consternation.

"Apple Bloom!" shouted Twilight, igniting her horn and bringing the yellow blur of a filly to a stop, "I can't believe you'd be so rude to the Princess!" Any further admonishment on her part died on her lips as Celestia broke down laughing until tears streamed from her eyes.

Twilight sat there in stunned confusion as Celestia fought to regain control of herself. Apple Bloom, having forgotten her initial excitement stared at the Princess with an expression of adorable bamboozlement.

"You are hardly in a position to scold this filly," said Celestia, calming down a bit, a mischievous smirk spreading across her face, "After all, I seem to remember you doing much the same when you showed up for our first lesson together. I even remember some of your more interesting questions."

"Eep!" Twilight's face did its best impression of a tomato as she ducked slightly.

"Ooh, Ah bet ya have all kinds 'o stories about Miss Twilight!" exclaimed Apple Bloom.

"Indeed I do," agreed Celestia mercilessly, "Perhaps we can share a few of them over dinner."

"Oh please! Anything but that!" Twilight threw herself at Celestia's hooves in supplication. Princess Celestia knew more embarrassing stories about her favorite student than her own mother did. As one of the principle figures in raising Twilight from filly to mare, Celestia felt something of a matronly duty to embarrass the unfortunate unicorn with a candid tale to her friends every so often.

However, that would have to wait for another night. This once, Celestia decided to cave to Twilight's request and not embarrass her in front of the younger sister of one of her best friends. So instead, the four settled around the dinner table, with Celestia relating the events of the day in greater detail.

Twilight and Apple Bloom were shocked to learn of Applejack's initial reaction and the following accusations. "Ah can't believe mah sister would say somethin' like that," said the filly in shock as she looked down at her plate.

"Denial is a dangerous thing," said Celestia, "Sometimes, the truth is simply something a pony would rather not bear, so they choose to ignore it rather than acknowledge it."

The conversation began to cover familiar ground, from the history of the Cult Solar to the reasoning behind their accusations. Twilight hadn't yet gotten to share her suspicions regarding the cult's true reach with the Princess. As a result, she ended up explaining the conversation she had with Rarity and Pinkie Pie the previous day.

"That is a troubling notion," admitted Celestia when Twilight had finished, "It worries me a great deal. It could mean that Dawn might not be safe, even here in Ponyville."

"Well, Applejack's family is the only one we know of so far that has connections to the Cult Solar," remarked Twilight, levitating the plates into a stack now that everyone had finished eating, "But Dawn's presence isn't known to the town at large yet. So far, only the six of us and some of our family members know about him. As far as the rest of Ponyville is concerned, Dawn is just some colt who's been living at Fluttershy's place after saving her life. They don't know about his Eyes yet, so it's difficult to gauge what their reaction might be."

Twilight sighed and slumped down, resting her chin on the table as Spike and Apple Bloom took the dishes into the kitchen to clean up. "If only there was some way we could find out if any of the other ponies in Ponyville are connected. Then we might be able to do something."

"What might you do?" asked Celestia.

"I don't know, arrest them maybe."

Celestia shook her head. "You can't do that Twilight, even if you find definitive proof that somepony is a member of the Cult Solar. Being a member has never been illegal. I have made every effort to ensure that the Cult Solar and anypony affiliated with it are shunned and disapproved of to the maximum degree. But I have never outlawed the Cult so long as they take no overt action to harm other ponies."

"Why not?" inquired Twilight, "After what they put Luna through, I would have thought you'd want to lock the lot of them in the deepest dungeon you could find."

Celestia gave her student a sad smile. "Oh I wanted to alright. In truth, I wanted to hunt them down. I wanted to find them. I wanted to burn them. I wanted to scour the very names of those ponies from the history of Equestria so that they might only be remembered as a curse and a blight. But I cannot do that.

"Following that road means stepping onto the slope to tyranny. What would happen the next time something somepony said caused me or my sister distress? I might be tempted to take action sooner or for less serious reasons out of fear that Luna or I could be hurt like before. I might even eventually be tempted to be more preemptive in the measures I took to censor ponies' views and opinions. That is something I never wanted and a risk I do not wish to take."

"But didn't you confiscate all their written works?"

Celestia shook her heads. "Only the ones that advocated directly harming anypony. I keep an eye out to ensure that there are no further publications of that sort anymore. If the Cult is still producing such material, then it is in private circulation and I cannot search for or confiscate it without evidence of its existence."

Twilight was silent for a moment. "What if we could get evidence that the Cult is still active and poses a real threat to innocent ponies."

"Then I would be free to descend upon them with the full weight of the law behind me. But that seems to be unlikely."

The lavender unicorn hesitated before deciding to speak a little more. "Right now, I think the best approach would be to try and amass knowledge about the Eyes of Nightmare and isolate their true cause. If we can do that, then we can undermine the Cult Solar’s dogma against ponies like Dawn, which would erode their influence. However, I also have another idea we might try if that doesn’t work."

Celestia leaned forward. "Then, by all means, tell me."

The Princess listened as Twilight outlined her plan and nodded. "That does sound like an excellent way to lure out the Cult Solar, if they really are as widespread as you believe. However, it's obvious that this is not a course of action you can take without Dawn's consent. Not only that, but I highly suspect that Fluttershy might very well disapprove of you putting him at risk."

Twilight nodded. "I'm aware of that. I’m leaving it as a last resort for now. I don’t think we’ll actually go through with it unless the Cult Solar does something drastic in the near future."

"That is probably for the best," agreed Celestia.

"I have one other thing I'd like to ask," said Twilight as Apple Bloom and Spike came out of the kitchen, having finished with the cleanup.

"And what is that?"

"Do you know about the martial arts style Dawn uses, the Gale King?"

Celestia nodded slowly. "I do indeed. After all, the Gale King was one of the Three Pillars of the pony tribes."

"Pillars?"

"There are three martial arts styles, one for each of the three tribes. Each of these styles emphasized the natural magic of that particular tribe and exercised it to its limit. The Gale King of the pegasi, the Mountain Root of the earth ponies, and the Still Way of the unicorns. These individual styles were practiced by select few from each tribe, well before my little ponies came here and founded Equestria."

"Amazing!" gasped Twilight, having pulled out paper and quill, as she furiously scribbled down notes.

Celestia chuckled at her student's enthusiasm. Spike and Apple Bloom seemed quite enthralled as well. "There are numerous styles of martial arts that have been practiced by ponies. Some were invented by their creators. Others were borrowed and modified from the techniques practiced by some of our neighbors, such as the griffons and zebras. But these three were unique. Even I can't say for certain who created them or how they were invented. But their power is unrivaled in all the known world. It was that power that has actually kept us free from war and invasion since the beginning of this nation. Before that, the practitioners of the Three Pillars were the keepers of the peace amongst the three tribes. During the Pre-Equestrian Era, they were the ones who worked to keep the tensions between the three tribes from escalating into open conflict."

"How did they do that?" asked Spike, leaning forward.

"To put it simply," said Celestia, "They acted as deterrents. None of you have seen what Dawn is capable of. To be perfectly honest, there was no need for him to run away from his tormentors. Even if an entire town were mustered, they would not be able to harm him if he did not wish it. More importantly, if he wanted to, he could crush just about anypony who threatened him, no matter how many there might be. And he is still only midway along the path to mastering the Gale King.

"A full master of that style, or any of the other Pillars for that matter, would seem like an almost completely different order of being. They can make the earth shake, the skies howl and mountains crumble. The sheer force of such power unleashed would have severe repercussions, to say nothing of what might happen if practitioners faced off against one another. Open conflict between masters of any of the Three Pillars could very well have resulted in a disaster approaching that of what the windigos unleashed. The various masters of those three styles, used this truth as a way to keep conflict from breaking out between the pony tribes. However, their greatest contribution came later...

Scarcely a year had passed since Princess Celestia had banished Nightmare Moon. In spite of the fact that Night Eternal had been averted, nopony was celebrating. For the glorious success of their ruler had come a terrible price. Celestia had withdrawn to her room, refusing to speak or listen to anypony. She barely acknowledged the food and drink set before her chamber three times a day. An alicorn's physiology did not simply mean that she had the power of all three tribes, but she had the needs of all three tribes as well. Her body actually required even more sustenance than the average pony. It seemed unlikely that she would starve to death, but without food, her strength waned rapidly.

To make matters worse, Celestia had been forced to take over the duties of her lost sister and move the moon as well as the sun. She could take a small amount of satisfaction that this irked the members of the Cult Solar, who clearly expected her to bring about an era of eternal day. But it was scant consolation for the loss of her sister and the new burdens thrust upon her. As kind and benevolent as she was, Princess Celestia couldn't bring herself to forgive her little ponies for scorning her sister just yet.

And so, she remained locked away in her tower. Without her presence, there was little reason for the nobles to hold court, so they busied themselves among their own estates and territories. Without the nobles present, there seemed little for the palace staff to do. The Royal Palace had become as still and silent as the grave.

Princess Luna's banishment and Celestia's seclusion had not gone unnoticed by the world outside Equestria. In some places, few were concerned. So long as the sun and moon rose and set, they saw little reason to interfere with the devices that kept their world alive. Others felt sympathy for the lost princess and her grieving sister. Others saw opportunity.

King Ironclaw, ruler of the Griffon Kingdom, was one such opportunist. Equestria was short a Princess and the remaining one was incapacitated. Between their ability to control the day and night, along with their other titanic powers, the Sister Princesses had been able to discourage anything that sought to threaten Equestria. As a result, their own Royal Guard was little more than a minor force, used primarily for domestic peacekeeping. They were not an army prepared for the outbreak of war. Equestria was now a vulnerable nation, filled to the brim with rich, fertile lands and hard-working, not to mention tasty, ponies.

And so, Ironclaw marshaled his armies, raising a force of some twenty-thousand griffons. Along with his soldiers, he brought siege engines and other weapons of destruction. Equestria's fields would be his. They would be worked by the ponies to fill griffon bellies from now on. And anypony who wasn't useful would also go to fill griffon bellies themselves.

The army advanced on Equestria with little warning, sweeping towards the nation like a flood of feathered death. The Royal Guard had no time to muster their strength. And even if they had, with barely a few hundred to their name, they would have been swallowed by the tide of griffon warriors.

So it was, when Ironclaw arrived at the border of Equestria with his army, only three ponies awaited him; one from each of the three tribes. Ironclaw laughed at the pitiful resistance to his might. Three ponies against an army of twenty-thousand griffons was a laughable effort. It was obvious from the very beginning that this battle would be a one-sided slaughter.

And it was. The battle barely lasted half a day. When it ended, over half the griffon force had been annihilated. Ironclaw, unable to fly on his own, had to be borne away by his attendants. The valleys and hills of the battlefield were covered by dead and dying griffons. Their siege engines lay shattered. The three ponies had wrought so much death that, at times, it seemed as though the sky were raining blood.

Word of King Ironclaw's army being routed by a mere three ponies spread across the world like wildfire. And the other nations that might have tried to act on their envy for Equestria's prosperity or to take advantage of a perceived weakness quickly curtailed their plans, realizing that, in spite of the ponies' peaceful nature, they were not a force to be trifled with. Because of this, Equestria has known peace and safety for many centuries since.

...and that's how Equestria was made!" declared Princess Celestia triumphantly.

"Wait! What?" exclaimed Twilight.

Celestia stifled a laugh with her hoof. "I'm sorry. I couldn't resist."

"So what happened to the three ponies who saved Equestria?" asked Apple Bloom.

"They returned to their regular lives as though nothing had happened. It actually took a few days for anypony to realize what had happened. The three saviors were content to remain anonymous and pass on the secrets of their styles to their successors. Even I never had the chance to speak with them after I learned of what they had done."

"Awesome," breathed Spike.

"It's kind of scary to think that regular ponies could hold that kind of power," muttered Twilight, setting down her writing implements.

"The implications can be frightening," admitted Celestia, "Which is why I was a little worried at first when I learned about Dawn. That young colt holds a frightening amount of power, thanks to his training. If, at any time, he allowed himself to give in to the anger he must feel towards the ponies who tormented him, he would be a nigh unstoppable force. And he is still learning the Gale King Style. Once he masters it, only myself, my sister, or my Knights, could hope to stop him if he acted on his anger."

"Are you still worried?" asked Twilight, shifting nervously.

Celestia shook her head. "After meeting Dawn, I can say that I am not overly concerned. Not only does he have a good heart more than capable of overcoming his hardships, but he also has the love and support of a truly wonderful pony. Instead of becoming something to fear, I suspect that Dawn Lightwing will go on to do great things in his life."

"That's so great," said Apple Bloom, her exclamation interrupted by a drawn out yawn, "Ah didn't want him to be in trouble right after we became friends." Realizing how tired she felt, Apple Bloom looked out the window and noticed that night had fallen. "Ah'd better get home. Ah bet everyone's wonderin' where Ah am."

"I'll walk you home," volunteered Spike, "We don't want anything to happen to you."

Apple Bloom had to turn her head to hide her blush.

"Um actually..." Everyone turned to regard Princess Celestia, who favored them with a blush and a sheepish grin. "I would like to join you two as well. I have an...item to pick up at Sweet Apple Acres."

"Granny Smith's apple cake, right?" asked Apple Bloom, "Granny was always sayin' how ya couldn't resist it."

Twilight Sparkle's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets as she was treated to the sight of her beloved mentor turning a shade of scarlet that would have put a tomato to shame.

Dawn stared silently at Fluttershy as she finished her tale. "I seem to have taken up residence with some very interesting ponies."

"Ah well, we're normal ponies most of the time," replied Fluttershy softly. Her story had taken the two of them through the afternoon and into the evening as well as all the way through dinner. At this point, the two of them were curled up on the couch together, Fluttershy's wing gently holding Dawn against her side. The colt seemed to have lowered his guard and was even leaning into the embrace. Fluttershy's heart fluttered and a feeling of warmth surged through her. For a moment, she wrestled with whether or not she should ask what she wanted to. But the warm feeling of the young colt pressed up against her gave her the courage to ask.

"Um, Dawn?"

"Yes?"

"I've been wondering...since you're going to be staying here in Ponyville, if you would be willing to...that is...w-would you let me..." Her voice trailed off as her nervousness once again asserted herself. It had only been a little more than a week since Dawn had entered into her home. His newfound sense of ease in her presence notwithstanding, Fluttershy found it easy to anticipate that Dawn might have serious reservations about entering into such a long-term relationship. Would he really give her offer any serious consideration?

The colt showed no indication as to whether or not he had divined the purpose of Fluttershy's stammering. He did not prod her onwards, but waited, patiently as always, while the mare tried to collect herself.

Clenching her teeth, Futtershy decided that she had to move forward. There was no more time for hesitation. If there was a time for her to apply the assertiveness lessons she had learned from Iron Will, this was it. "Dawn. Would you let me adopt you?"

Silence reigned. The lack of a response of any kind drove Fluttershy to force her eyes shut and turn her head away. Her memory flashed back to that day in the forest when she had first asked Dawn if he would stay with her. Her heart beat faster with each passing second as she waited for Dawn to break the silence with a resounding negative. He might even pull away from her or try to leave. Fluttershy trembled at the thought of losing the colt.

And yet, the silence stretched on. Rather than pulling away, Dawn remained completely motionless. Opening her eyes, the yellow mare turned to look down at her charge. Dawn was not looking back. Instead, he stared straight ahead, his expression blank. It was not the relaxed non-reaction he used when he had been dealing with Applejack, but rather the kind of blankness that results when one's mind cannot keep up with one's own thoughts. Dawn had been shocked into a stupor by her question.

Leaning over, Futtershy gently prodded him with her muzzle. "Dawn?"

For a second, there was no reaction. But then, slowly, Dawn turned to look into her eyes. "You would have me?" he asked softly, "Is this what you really want?"

"Yes," answered the mare as she swept him up in her forelegs, "Yes! More than anything. I told you before, that when you agreed to live here, you joined my family. That's never going to change. I just wanted to make it official if I could. I love you Dawn."

Dawn turned away from her, his eyes staring off into the distance. "The promise of a new day..."

"What's that?" asked Fluttershy, tilting her head at the strange, seeming non sequitur.

"It is what my Master told me when he gave me my name," answered Dawn softly, his mind clearly elsewhere, "It was right after he found me and took me under his wing. I was at the lowest point in my life..." Dawn's voice trailed off, the colt clearly still uncomfortable with relating the circumstances of his earlier life.

"Dawn brings with it the promise of a new day. Though the day before may have been wretched beyond imagination, at the beginning of each day, the slate is wiped clear and you are free to begin anew, with the hope that a day better than the one before it will come if you have the strength to make it so. He gave me my name to remind me of this, so that, no matter what happens to me in the now, the promise of a new day awaits at the next dawn. I'd always thought it a foolish sentiment."

Dawn paused in his monologue and turned his eyes back to Fluttershy. "But I know what he meant now."

She felt the colt's forelegs slowly press themselves against her. To her amazement, Dawn pulled himself towards her, returning her embrace. Tears spilled from the yellow pegasus's eyes as she held him even tighter, weeping for joy.

"Yes."

A wellspring of pure happiness erupted in Fluttershy's heart, rushing through her with incredible force. She briefly wondered if this was how Pinkie Pie felt most of the time, so overflowing with joy that all she could do was open her mouth. "Yay!"

Applejack stared forlornly out the window of the Apple Family farmhouse. She hadn't said a word since she had returned from her conversation with Princess Celestia. When dinner had come around, she had eaten silently and mechanically, hardly seeming to notice the delicious spread her grandmother had set out. Granny Smith and Big Macintosh looked on, their expressions colored with trepidation.

Later in the evening, Apple Bloom returned home in the company of Spike and Celestia, the latter of which detoured into the kitchen with Granny Smith to pick up a very unassuming box. She then left, saying nothing to Applejack. Likewise, Spike went on his way after saying goodbye to Apple Bloom. The yellow filly quickly retreated to her room for the night, once again leaving Applejack to stew in silence.

The orange mare was at a total loss about what to do. Her conversation with Princess Celestia had shattered her view of the world. The weight of her crimes pressed down on her mercilessly. Even more difficult to bear, however, was the confusion she felt over what she would say to Dawn when she saw him again. Her original plan was to go and explain herself, talk about her father and how important he had been to her. But Granny Smith had already beaten her to the punch on that one. Besides, from what she had seen and heard from Dawn, her efforts to explain herself would only make him angry. She guessed that her insults, slurs, and even abuse weren't what had made him angry. He had been dealing with that from ponies his entire life. Applejack's words and actions were tiny drops in a vast bucket. What had really made him angry was the way she’d accepted her father’s teachings without question, without the slightest attempt to work things out for herself. She hadn’t tried to know Dawn, to meet him as a pony, to see for herself what he was. Instead, from the moment she’d laid eyes on him, she’d already come to her conclusion. That left her at a loss. How could she apologize to the colt in a way that was truly meaningful?

"Yer lookin' like a mare that's goin' to her own funeral," commented Granny Smith, tottering over to sit next to her granddaughter.

"Ah kinda feel that way," Applejack admitted, "How in the world am Ah supposed to apologize to that colt fer what Ah did? Everythin' Ah try to come up with just sounds damn pathetic."

"Maybe that's 'cause yer thinkin' too much," answered Granny Smith, "That colt won't want explanations or excuses. What he needs is fer ya to show him ya know how much ya've wronged him. Ya need to go there and bare yer heart and let him know how ya feel, not how ya think."

She gently reached up and patted Applejack's shoulder. "Go on and get to bed ya silly filly. And once ya get up, march yer rump straight over to that boy. When ya see him, let yer heart do the talkin'. Ah think ya'll have no problem figurin' out what to say."

Applejack bowed her head to her grandmother's wisdom and did as she was bid. Once she was gone, Big Macintosh looked up from the book he had been reading. "Do ya think she'll be okay?"

Granny Smith nodded sagely. "That's the funny thing about the truth. Sometimes ya can mess it all up by thinkin' too hard about it. Sometimes ya need to just open yer mouth and let it out."

The first light of morning stole swiftly and silently across the sleepy valley where Ponyville lay. The sun's rays swept over the homes and pierced through windows, oftentimes illuminating eye inhabitants within. As the day advanced, the sun's light washed gently over one home in particular, that of an especially shy pegasus, her young charge, and her menagerie of animals.

Fluttershy yawned and opened her eyes, reveling in the warmth of the dawning sun. As consciousness returned, she realized that she had fallen asleep on the couch. Looking down, she couldn't help but smile at the sight of Dawn Lightwing, wrapped securely in her forelegs, his head nestled up against her. Fluttershy leaned down and planted a soft kiss on his forehead. Very soon, she realized, He will be my son. The thought sent a thrill of excitement through her limbs. If any other pony had considered such a course of action, she would probably have been considered very reckless. However, Fluttershy was a pony who thought very carefully before acting. There was no doubt she had reached her decision after careful consideration and forethought. I want us to be a real family.

Dawn's body gave only the faintest hint of stirring before his eyes snapped open and he looked up at her, already fully awake in spite of having been asleep mere seconds ago. It was a trait Fluttershy envied.

"Good morning," she whispered, smiling down at the young colt.

Dawn said nothing. Instead, he closed his eyes again and tucked his head back against her. It appeared he decided to go back to sleep. Fluttershy found herself marveling at how relaxed Dawn was in her presence now. She was perfectly happy to let him go back to sleep. Celestia knew the colt needed his rest after the ordeal he had been through. Futtershy wished for a brief moment that she could join him. Unfortunately, she had responsibilities of her own to tend to. Her animals needed to be looked after.

Slowly, carefully, Fluttershy extricated herself from the embrace. Making sure Dawn was resting comfortably on the couch, she retrieved a blanket from the closet and covered him with it. His comfort seen to, Fluttershy turned her attention to her animals.

An hour or so of work saw Fluttershy nearly finished. She figured that she had best get started on breakfast so that it would be ready when Dawn woke back up. However, she was disappointed to see that he had already woken back up and was now watching her silently from his place on the couch.

"Good morning," she said again, "Are you ready to get up? You can sleep some more if you want."

"I'm awake," said Dawn softly before yawning, "I don't think this sleeping in thing is for me though. I'm too used to just getting up."

"That's alright, so long as you don't force yourself," answered Fluttershy, "What's important is that you get all the rest you need."

To her surprise, a wry, but genuine smile graced the colt's face. "I actually feel that I'm getting an excess of rest actually. It must have something to do with the pony who keeps singing those lullabies."

Fluttershy couldn't help but giggle at his response. "I'll get breakfast ready for us. Then we can go into town and get started with the adoption process."

"Hmm." Dawn adopted a pensive expression and turned to look at his immobilized wing. "I don't know if I should go into town yet. I can't do anything to defend myself like this."

Fluttershy let out a soft sigh before walking over and gently running a hoof through Dawn's mane. "You have nothing to worry about, I promise. But if you really don't feel like it, we can wait until you're fully healed."

The colt directed another hesitant look at his injured wing before meeting Fluttershy's gaze. "Will it really be alright?"

The mare gave him a bright smile and nodded decisively.

"Very well then."

"Wonderful!" exclaimed Fluttershy at a volume that wouldn't have startled a sleeping mouse, "Oh it's going to be a beautiful day. I can take you to all the great places in town. Oh! We should stop by the library and find some books for you to read while you're recovering. I should also talk with Miss Cheerilee about enrolling you in school. Oh, and if Pinkie has to hold out on her party any longer, I'm afraid she might explode...twice."

Fluttershy came to a halt as Dawn held up a hoof. "Let's not take on too much at once," he said gently. The yellow mare sank down a little and gave him an embarrassed smile.

"Sorry," she whispered, before skittering off to get started on the morning meal.

Dawn took a deep breath and closed his eyes, savoring the peace of the morning. The sounds that filled the small cottage seemed so natural a part of the setting that it might have been silent as far as he was concerned; the chirping of birds as they went about their business, the low shuffling as small rodents moved around their burrows, the sound of Angel gnawing on one of his carrots, clattering of cooking implements as Fluttershy worked on breakfast, the soft knocking at the door...

Dawn's eyes shot open as the last one registered to him. Somepony was indeed knocking at the door. The sound was so soft, so light, that he thought it more akin to the way Futtershy would knock. He briefly considered calling his caretaker over from the kitchen, but thought better of it, seeing as she was already working on their breakfast. Instead, Dawn got down off the couch and walked over to the door. Reaching up, he turned the knob and slowly pushed it open.

Applejack was standing on the doorstep. Dawn's initial reflex was to slam the door shut, but he stopped himself when he saw the forlorn expression on her face. There was a little bit of surprise as well, indicating that she clearly hadn't been expecting the colt to be the one to answer. Upon seeing Dawn, Applejack quickly averted her eyes, looking at the ground between them, the sides of the house, the blue sky, anything to avoid meeting Dawn's intense gaze.

Dawn briefly wondered if this was a completely different mare from Applejack; a mare who just happened to have the same coat, mane and tail color; the same cutie mark; and who happened to wear the same hat. The Applejack Dawn had met had been full of anger and spite towards him and everything she thought he represented. This other mare looked as though she could barely stand on her own hooves, her entire body sagging under an immense burden of shame and guilt.

An uncomfortable silence stretched between them as Applejack slowly scuffed the ground. "Uh...hi."

"Hello?" answered Dawn, his tone neutral.

Applejack shivered slightly. It was the same tone he had used when talking to her before. There was nothing, not anger, not fear, nor anything resembling concern or confusion in his voice. It gave nothing away.

Rubbing the back of her head, Applejack heaved a heavy sigh. "Ah suppose it's just as well that yer the one that opened the door." For the first time, she brought her eyes to bear on Dawn and met his own eyes squarely. "Ah've got something to say to ya. Could ya step outside fer a moment?"

Dawn's response was slow to come as he turned over her words in his mind. Applejack's tone was completely different from the other day. It was laden with a sense of fear and resignation. No trace of hostility was to be found.

Without answering, he stepped out and shut the door behind him. Turning around, Applejack led the colt out into the front yard before turning back to face him. The two of them stood in silence as Dawn waited to hear what the orange mare had to say.

"Shucks," muttered Applejack as she wiped sweat from her brow, "And Granny made it sound like this would be so easy."

Dawn waited patiently as the mare wrestled with what she was going to say.

"Ah...Ah just wanna say...Ah just wanted to tell ya...oh the hay with it!" Applejack's voice snapped with her frustration. "Ah'm sorry Dawn!"

Dawn's eyes widened as he took an involuntary step backwards at Applejack's exclamation. More shocking than the word "sorry" was hearing his name emerge from the country mare's lips. She had called him many things in their brief, tempestuous acquaintance, but his own name was not one of them. He understood the logic of that perfectly, of course. Calling him by name would mean acknowledging him as a pony, which would undermine the image she had in her mind of him as some sort of demonic monstrosity. Such an abrupt turnaround was unsettling to say the least. But Applejack wasn't finished yet...

"Ya were right about everythin'. Ah was too plain wrapped up in what Ah'd been told, what Ah'd been tellin' mahself fer so long that Ah forgot how to think fer mahself. Ah wanted ya to be a monster 'cause it was easier than admittin' mah pappy was wrong about somethin', or worse, that he plain lied to me. Ah just stood there on mah high horse, ignorin' everythin' ya were sayin' and everythin' mah friends were sayin' just so Ah could justify mah own foolishness." She dropped her head, lowering her snout almost all the way to the ground. "And worst of all, it took a visit from the Princess herself to finally get me to see reason. By all rights, Ah should be in prison fer what Ah did to ya. But here Ah am, actin' as though sayin' sorry makes it all better.

"Ah can't make what Ah did go away! Ah can't take back what Ah said! Ah can't even ask ya to forgive me, 'cause Ah don't deserve it." Tears streamed from Applejack's eyes. She was weeping openly now. "Ah'm sorry! Ah'm sorry! Ah'm so sorry."

She sank all the way to the ground, repeating the phrase over and over again, unable to bear the thought of looking up at Dawn. In her mind's eye, Applejack could see the rage building on his face at every word she said. All she could do was lay and wait for the harsh words that were sure to come. And she would deserve every syllable. Fluttershy would probably object to Dawn's anger. But Applejack couldn't fault him.

"Why?"

Okay...that was not the response she had been expecting. Curtailing her weeping and regaining some control, although still snuffling a little, Applejack chanced to look out from under her Stetson, which had fallen over her face as she wept.

Dawn was staring at her. His face showed no trace of that studied, patient neutrality. But Applejack couldn't rightly describe what expression had taken its place.

"Why?" he asked again, leaning forward. His tone seemed to carry a hint of everything; sadness, pain, anger, confusion. "Why are you so earnest?

"You're supposed to make excuses! You're trying to justify yourself! Why aren't you patting yourself on the back, congratulating yourself for having seen the light?" The volume and pitch of the colt's voice were rising rapidly. Applejack's eyes widened in shock as she saw tears beginning to gather in his eyes. But Dawn wasn't finished.

"Give me something!" he demanded, his voice quavering with...something, "Some hint of insincerity, some note of hypocrisy, something that I...that I can hold on to." With that hitch in his words, the tears began to fall, like the first leaks from a breaking dam. "Please! Give me some reason to stay angry! If you're like this, how am I supposed to keep hating you?"

Now Dawn was the one crying openly. To have a pony apologize to him, to not hide behind flimsy explanations or justifications, to bare her heart in the way Applejack had, was an utterly new experience for the colt. He had been able to ignore the jibes, the insults, the accusations, the attacks, by writing off the ponies behind them as nonentities. They were all the same. They didn't matter. Nothing would ever change with them, no matter how hard he tried. As far as Dawn was concerned, they didn't even register as ponies anymore. It was better that way. They couldn't hurt him that way. But Applejack's honest apology had changed that. Dawn couldn't ignore her anymore. Now her barbs from the previous days actually hurt when he remembered them, because now, he couldn't help but see her as a real pony. And it hurt to think that anypony could hate him for something he could do nothing about.

As it was, Dawn was barely conscious of the impact as Fluttershy barreled into him, sweeping the colt up into a tight embrace, tears streaming from her eyes and splashing down to mingle with his own. She had seen Dawn and Applejack from the kitchen and had come out the front door in time to hear the tail-end of Applejack's apology. And, for the first time since she had met him, Fluttershy had seen Dawn cry. Over the past days, she had been wearing down the barriers he had put around himself to protect his feelings from other ponies, trying to fill the void where his heart was meant to be. She had made progress, but had been afraid that Dawn couldn't cry because his tears had dried up utterly.

Even as he continued to cry, Dawn found himself basking in Fluttershy's affection, lowering his guard further still. He remembered little from the early years of his life, of the time he had spent in the home of his biological parents. What little he could remember had dissolved into a blur of cold looks and harsh words. Only one wretched recollection in particular stood out. It left him feeling an emptiness even greater than that caused by the harsh words and actions he had been on the receiving end of throughout his life. But here, in Fluttershy's gentle embrace, Dawn felt content. Here, he could cry as much as he wanted and she would never chase him away.

"Mom?" His voice was barely a whisper, suggesting what he was both desperate and terrified to acknowledge.

"It's alright," whispered Fluttershy as she rocked him back and forth, "I'm here Dawn. I won't let you go."

It was enough. The final bonds of restraint holding the colt back shattered completely. Fluttershy did the only thing she could and held Dawn tight as he clung to her and sobbed into her chest.

He was home.

Story One: Fin
The story continues in The Promise of a New Day.

Author's Notes:

And thus the first story in the Savage Skies series comes to a close. Dawn Lightwing and company will return...as soon as I can come up with a title for the sequel. Okay, I might take a few days to try and get a little further ahead in writing this beast, but I promise the sequel will be up...soon.

So...the apology scene...This has to be one of the most difficult scenes I've written so far in this story (and this is speaking from having written some thirty additional chapters already), primarily because it's difficult to convey the weight of the experience with a few words. We've already been up and down and all around Applejack's motivations and reasons for what she did and Dawn pretty much knows them back to front, so the apology itself has no reason to retread old ground. So I went for something that was simply as earnest as I could make it.

Forgiveness is also another issue where things get tricky. After all that AJ's done, it's easy to contend that she probably doesn't deserve forgiveness, at least inasmuch as no one ever really deserves forgiveness. The point is that forgiveness is given anyway. I was raised Catholic and (nominally at least) still am. And while I have certain issues with the church's teachings on certain other topics that I won't bring up here, the concept of forgiveness and turning the other cheek is one I firmly believe in.

Now for the martial arts thing. This is where I might start to lose people as it sounds as though I'm starting to approach Dragonball Z-scale stuff. Celestia might be exaggerating slightly how powerful the Three Pillars are, but they do represent my favorite type of characters from anime and manga, namely the type who are strong enough that numbers become meaningless to them. Dawn's not at that stage quite yet. I've been working to keep the reveals gradual, as far as what he's capable of, so we've only seen a very tiny bit of what he can really do. In the next installment, you'll be able to see what Dawn can do against somepony who's an actual threat against him (as opposed to someone like Applejack, who got in a lucky shot). It's going to be fun.

And yes, before you ask; I did borrow the name, Still Way from Xenophillia. I couldn't really come up with a name for a unicorn martial art that didn't sound at least a little silly. My version is going to be fairly different on a conceptual level, of course, but I just really liked the name for it.

In story two of the series, Dawn prepares to settle down into life as Fluttershy's adopted son. He's all set to go to school, make friends, deal with bullies, and experience life as a normal foal (mostly). However, he quickly learns that it's not very easy, as his previous experiences have left him with emotional scars and tendencies that even he didn't realize he had, things that might make him a threat even to ponies he considers to be his friends, although, if a pair of new arrivals in town have anything to say about it, Dawn will be dead before that risk can become a reality.

Foal of the Forest

by moguera

Nightmare Savior

Furious Wings

A Little Bird's Nest

Unexpected Encounter

The Element of Flight

Family and Flight

The Eyes of Nightmare

Dangerous Discoveries

Consequences

Rough Morning

Decisive Blow

Recovery

Family

Admonishment

Amends