Welcome to the Green Lantern Corps
My Little Pony: Heroes and Magic
Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, DC Comics, or any characters associated with either. I own all of my original characters and my storyline. Although the origins of the DC heroes belong to them, my tweaks belong to me. Et cetera, et cetera.
Also, Dash’s outfit is based off of a piece of fanart by BB-Shockwave.
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It began with the Ring. One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them…
Oh, sorry, that was the wrong ring. That Ring was golden and had some inscription in Middle-Earth-ese on it. This one was green, with a simple inscription of a lantern.
Oh, and this ring flew. Not like the other Ring at all.
At the time of this narrative, this green ring was flying through Sector 0672, seeking a new wielder. Someone capable and skilled. Someone who would fight to protect innocents. Someone who could deal with fear.
Or should I say somepony?
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She was flying at the moment, reveling in the adrenaline rush that always came when flying at high speeds. On she zoomed, scattering many poor clouds that happened to be in her way. Somepony really needs to get those clouds a union; pegasi treat them with no respect at all. Heck, they can’t even move on their own outside of the Everfree Forest! Won’t someone think of the cloud children?
As fascinating as cloud rights are, though, we should probably move on.
The pegasus kept flying, performing a few loops and spins; nothing too complicated just then, just something to add to the thrill of the flight.
It’s hard to say why she didn’t see the ring that was flying towards her and glowing bright green. There could be any number of reasons, none of which I’m privy to. No matter how it happened, she didn’t see the ring, causing her to accidentally bop herself on the forehead by flying right into it.
“Ow! Hay, what gives?!” she demanded, maneuvering herself to see the offending object while rubbing her forehead with one hand. It had actually hurt pretty badly; considering the respective speeds of both objects, it was a wonder she still had an intact skull.
“Rainbow Dash of Sector 0672. You have the ability to overcome great fear.”
“Yeah? So?” she growled, forgoing any surprise that a ring was speaking in favor of irritation at said ring.
“Welcome to the Green Lantern Corps.” With that, the ring zoomed towards her front right foreleg.
Dash would have none of it, though, yanking her limb out of the way. “I don’t know or care what you or this Corps is, but I refuse to talk to such a careless flyer!” she exclaimed angrily. “Leave me alone and watch where you’re going next time!” And with that, she flew off in a random direction, muttering irately under her breath.
After a minute, she glanced behind her and saw that same ring accelerating towards her, leaving a trail of green energy behind it.
“So that's how you wanna play it?” She smirked. This had suddenly turned into a race. One that she’d win, of course. She was Rainbow Dash, and she never lost a race.
She flew, easily not as fast as she could have gone, but fast enough to outpace almost anything Equestria could throw at her.
But when she glanced behind her, the ring had almost caught up.
“Quick little thing for such a small ring, aren’t ya?” Dash laughed, excitement at an actual challenge replacing any remaining irritation. “You asked for it!”
And with that, she accelerated once more, abandoning any restraint in favor of pure, undiluted speed. Something started to stretch in front of her, something Twilight had called the sound barrier but that Dash only saw as an obstacle. Gritting her teeth, she gave herself that extra push that allowed her to break the barrier.
The barrier shattered, releasing a sonic boom emphasized by a rainbow. And as for Dash, she flew faster than ever, unhindered by the sound barrier and leaving a rainbow trail behind her. Not even bothering to look for the ring now, she just kept flying until she felt the burning in her muscles telling her to stop.
It took a moment to work off the extra momentum, but she was finally just hovering, panting slightly at the effort she had expended.
And right after she stopped, the ring appeared. “Rainbow Dash of Sector 0672, welcome to the Green Lantern Corps.” And before Dash could dodge or express her astonishment that the ring had actually caught up so quickly, it slipped onto her hoof, expanding enough to fit.
Energy flowed through her, reenergizing her aching muscles. She saw green, a wall of green that showed nothing of the sky in front of her. She felt clothes, form-fitting and comfortable, spontaneously form on her body.
And then it was over and she could see again.
The outfit, she had to admit, looked good. Very similar to the uniform of the Wonderbolts, but with a black and green color scheme, and with a symbol. A green lantern.
That reminded her. The ring said something about her joining the Green Lantern Corps. What was that?
“Okay, ring, so what’s this Green Lantern Corps you keep mentioning?”
“A group over 7200 strong that polices the universe and protects the innocent. Each member has a ring that makes whatever the user imagines real through focused willpower made solid.”
“Whatever I imagine, huh?” A thought, and the ring responded, creating a somewhat crude but somewhat accurate replica of Cloudsdale made out of green energy. Another thought, and green pegasi flew in and out of it. Then she stopped thinking about maintaining it to admire her handiwork, whereupon it vanished.
“Only works when I concentrate, I guess.” Dash stared at the ring a moment. “So, um, what’m I supposed to do now?”
“Report to planet Oa for training,” the ring replied promptly.
“It’s on another planet, huh?” Dash stared at the sky for a moment. She wasn’t much given to introspection, but on the rare occasions when she found herself thinking about more than fond memories or what was happening today, she often thought about what lay beyond the sun and the moon. Whether there were other life forms out there and what they were like.
She was curious, she had to admit. But…
“…I can’t accept,” Dash told the ring.
“Why?”
“I have friends here. I can’t just leave them. And I have responsibilities, too. Weather to manage. I can’t just leave them behind.” She ignored the part of her that pointed out how little she tended to her responsibilities anyway.
The ring was silent for a moment. Then: “Authorization for one Equestrian week to settle affairs granted. Authorization for using Equestria as home base after training granted.”
“…I’ll have to see what my friends have to say about that,” Dash finally said, more serious than usual. "But if they're okay with it... I'd be honored to accept."
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“Of COURSE you should go! That way we can hold both a going-away AND a coming-back party for you!”
The blue pegasus groaned. She probably should have seen that coming from Pinkie Pie. Somehow she hadn’t, though. How strange.
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“What in Equestria is this outfit made of?” Rarity exclaimed, examining it closely while Dash sat still, bored out of her mind. “So comfortable, and so stylish! Dash, you simply must let me get a sample of this sometime!”
“Rarity, that’s not what I came here for!”
“Oh, of course you should go, Dash. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime! I just wish I could go too. Imagine what sort of fashions they’d have! Imagine what a stir I’d create, emulating extraterrestrial fashions!”
“Urrrgh,” Dash groaned. Again. She really should have expected that, too.
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“Ah don’t want ya ta go, sugarcube,” Applejack told Dash seriously over a glass of apple cider. “But you’ve got an opportunity ta save lives. Ta save worlds. That’s more important than we are right now. Ah’ll miss ya, but you’ve got a responsibility to them folks that gave ya the ring.”
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“We can survive without you for a couple of weeks, Dash,” Twilight told the pegasus. “There’s a greater good at stake here. Entire worlds that need you.”
“You’re sure?”
“Of course I’m sure!” the unicorn assured her friend, grinning. “Just make sure you record everything! When you get back, the knowledge of alien cultures will be invaluable!”
“What, like an egghead? No thanks!” Dash quipped, prompting a somewhat embarrassed laugh from Twilight.
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“…I’m never going to say no to somepony helping those in need… but I’ll miss you a lot,” Fluttershy confessed.
“Don’t worry! I’ll be back before you know it!” Dash told her, masking her own uncertainty with bravado. “Just make sure your cheering is up to snuff for when I get back!”
The two Pegasi smiled at the continuation of an old joke, Dash’s wide grin and Fluttershy’s small but inexpressibly cute smile.
“Don’t worry,” repeated Dash. “Nothing can stop me from coming back here.”
But was she reassuring Fluttershy, or herself?
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The week went by very quickly.
Raindrops agreed to take over as head of the weather team. Obviously Dash was more spectacular, but Raindrops was a good steady worker. Ponyville would just have to go without pizazz for a while.
Princess Celestia was informed of Dash’s unexpected trip. She took it in good stride, honestly, moreso than one would expect when the Bearer of the Element of Loyalty informs you she’s going to be off-planet for who knows how long. Naturally, Princess Luna was excited to hear the news; after all, she brought the stars into view every night, of course she’d welcome any new information about what lay beyond them.
And Scootaloo, after seeing Dash show off her new outfit and ring, talked Sweetie Belle into making a (surprisingly accurate) replica of the outfit for her to wear. Dash didn’t mind, although she did once have to prevent the small Pegasus from trying to fly off a cliff with a cardboard replica of the ring.
At some point the ring forcibly stopped Dash from using its power anymore, citing the entirely too reasonable excuse that it needed to have energy to get to Oa. Dash, though disappointed, had to admit that the ring had a point, especially when the ring pointed out the consequences of traveling in space without sufficient oxygen. She did wonder how anyone used the ring if it only had enough power for a bunch of tricks and the trip to this Oa place. Some magical probing from Twilight revealed that there was a way to recharge the ring with some other object, but she couldn’t figure out what it was. Oh well, no doubt the other Lanterns had some idea how to recharge the things.
The time came for her to leave. After the going-away party from Pinkie, of course. Pinkie tried to get Dash to stay for an after-going-away party, but Dash really had to get going.
Dash kept the goodbyes brief on purpose. That way they’d be a little less emotional. She was actually surprised how sad she was to be leaving.
Oh, and she wasn’t crying, she had something in her eye. If you say anything to the contrary, she’ll find you and do… something. Not sure what. But it’ll be dreadful, I’m sure.
But anyway, after brief goodbyes in which tears were assuredly not shed by Rainbow Dash, she was off, triggering the ring when she got high enough to start to need extra oxygen.
As sad as she was to be going, she had to admit that she was eager to find out just how fast she could go with the ring on her hoof.