Late Again!?

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The atmosphere in the city was dark and cloudy. The thunder boomed as lightning zipped from one cloud to another. The winds were howling as debris flew around violently in the air. There were usually the signs of a terrible storm that was caused by nature.

But this particular storm was much more unnatural than usual.

A lone figure was hovering over the city, staring down with a sadistic glee on the pony’s face. She wore a green jumpsuit with black lighting pattern on her chest and hooves. She had a dark green helmet with yellow visor goggles as eyes with black lighting across the top. Her mane was the only thing that was not covered by her helmet since it was sticking out. She even had a long dark green cape, flowing with the wind behind her.

Her attention was towards the five figures that were battered and bruised with chains wrapped around them. The first one was the pink mare dressed in white and purple tights. She was annoying at first because she couldn’t even touch her due to that mare’s speed. But thanks to her stormy winds, she was able to lift that mare off the ground, making that mare’s powers useless and then quickly took her out.

The next one was the mare with purple mane with blue and green tights. Her radiance powers had her on the ropes, but her minions were able to overwhelm her.

The lasso-wielding mare and the purple alicorn leader were on her toes but the lighting she summoned was able hit that lasso pony and knocked her out. This caused the leader to check on her partner, which was enough distraction to take the leader out with her gust attack to the back of the leader’s head. It was a cheap shot, but she doesn’t fight fair.

The most difficult opponent was the yellow mare in a green jumpsuit. That mare wasn’t a big threat to her at first, but after she took out that mare’s teammates, that mare got angry and become a giant monster. Every attack she threw had no affect on the giant mare, brushing it off like it was nothing. She resorted to use her wind to lift a huge steel beam and then knocked the giant mare out by hitting the back of the giant’s head.

The green costumed mare laughed mechanically. “At last! With the Power Ponies out of the way, I shall destroy this pathetic city with my stormy powers and then I will build my empire in its place. No one can stop me now!”

“Not so fast, Shadow Hurricane!”

Shadow immediately stopped laughing and then she turned and glared at another costumed pegasus mare across from her. She wore a dark blue costume with white hooves with yellow lighting streaks. She also wore a white and blue helmet with her rainbow mane sticking out. She even wore her lighting bolt necklace that was around her neck. This mare is another member of the Power Ponies. And on top of that, she is also Shadow Hurricane nemesis, who is always a thorn on her side.

“Zapp!” Shadow spat with contempt. “Impossible! I thought I had you trapped within my stormy vortex with my machine from my lair!”

Zapp smirked. “I would have, if not for this guy!”

A tiny dragon emerged from the roof of a building. “Yeah! It’s a good thing I know something was up so I came rescue her!”

Zapp frowned at the costumed dragon. “Hum Drum… you happened to be there while you were grocery shopping.” Zapp said bluntly.

Hum Drum quickly shushed Zapp. “She doesn’t have to know that!”

Shadow growled. “Curses! I knew I should’ve take out that useless hero!”

“HEY! I’m not useless!” Hum Drum snapped.

“Well that’ll be your downfall!” Zapp declared as she held up her necklace to make it glow. “It’s Zappin’ Time!”

Shadow Hurricane let out her battle cry as she flew straight towards Zapp to tackle her. Unfortunately for her, she was hit by Zapp’s lighting bolt, stunning her. Shadow tried to recover but Zapp tackled her at high speed and they went through a tall building like paper and then they crashed to a ground.

Both of the costumed mares immediately stood up and then they exchanged blows after blows with their forehooves. Shadow Hurricane tried to knock Zapp back with her uppercut, but Zapp dodged it by a hair and then Zapp counterattack shadow with her roundhouse kick, sending shadow to the ground. Just when Zapp was about to land the final blow, Zapp was suddenly been tackled and held in place by Shadow’s minions. They all wore the same jumpsuit as Shadow Hurricane, except their main color scheme is black and purple instead of green and they don’t have capes.

Zapp struggled in frustration as Shadow stood up with a smirk.

“Hey! That’s cheating!” Zapp accused angrily.

Shadow chuckled darkly as she slowly walked towards a captured hero. ““Foolish Zapp! You should’ve know that in a battlefield…” Shadow summoned an electric shadow ball from her forehoof. “It’s a free-for-all!”

Before Shadow could slam the ball to Zapp’s chest, she was suddenly tackled to the ground by a white and pink blur. While that was going on, each of Shadow’s minions was pulled away from Zapp. One was pulled away by a lasso, one was snatched by a giant purple hand, one was blasted away from an icy beam, and the last one was sent flying after he was punched in the face by a giant yellow hoof.

Shadow gritted her teeth in pain after she was tackled and then her eyes widened when she spotted every member of the Power Ponies stood by Zapp.

“How did you all escape!?” Shadow demanded.

Just then, Hum Drum walked by while carrying a giant red tool with blades. “Chain cutters!” Hum Drum responded with his taunting smile.

Shadow growled furiously. “Curses! Shadowbolts, ATTACK!”

More of Shadow’s minions appeared from out of nowhere and then rushed in towards the heroes to assault them.

“Everyone! Take care of these pests!” Zapp cried as she watched Shadow trying to flee the scene. “I’ll take care of Shadow!” With that, she flew past Shadow’s army and chased after Shadow Hurricane.

Shadow cursed as she quickly fly around various buildings to get away from that meddling hero. Zapp was getting on her fast, but Shadow had a plan. The chase goes on for some time until Shadow reached the top of the tallest building in the city. Zapp cuts her off before Shadow could fly any further.

“It’s over Shadow! You have no where to run!”

“Aw, what a shame,” Shadow mocked. “Because somepony else wanted to join in on our fun!”

Right on cue, one of the Shadowbolts slowly appeared from behind the building. In his hooves was a small pink pegasus filly with light blue mane, struggling from the Shadowbolt’s grasp.

“Zapp! HELP!”

Zapp scowled. “You fiend! Let the kid go!”

Shadow smirked. “Poor choice of words.”

With a nod to her minion, the Shadowbolt let go of the kid and letting her drop. The kid screamed as she was falling to the streets below.

“Kid!” Zapp screamed before she bolted straight down after the kid.

The kid was descending faster and faster to the ground, but Zapp was determined to catch her with all of her speed she could use. Zapp reached out towards the filly with her hooves as they were halfway down. Just before the kid was about to become a pony pancake, Zapp swooped over her and caught her just at the nick of time.

“Gotcha kid!”

The filly squealed and hugged Zapp around her neck. “Thanks Zapp! I knew you would save me!”

As they landed safely on the ground, Zapp looked up as they heard her nemesis shouting from above her.

“Curse you Zapp! Next time, I will have my revenge!”

And with that, Shadow Hurricane released her storm clouds around her, obscuring Zapp’s vision. By the time the clouds dispersed, Shadow Hurricane had disappeared.

Shortly after that, Zapp’s teammates rushed to her side and then a pegasus stallion with a suit and tie as well as a pegasus mare in her red dress rush up towards Zapp.

Zapp gently placed the filly down to the ground. “Your kid is safe Mr. Mayor.”

“Mommy, Daddy!” the filly cried as her relieved parents enveloped her into a hug. As the mare continued to hug the filly, the Mayor looked up to Zapp with a gratitude smile.

“Thank you! All of you, for saving our city and my daughter!”

"No need to thank us Mayor!" Zapp smiled and then saluted the Mayor. “You can always count on the Power Ponies!”

Everypony within a movie theater applaud at the hero from the big screen in front of them for overcoming her enemy and save the day. The theater itself was a stadium like structure, filled with many leather reclining chairs with swiveling tables for their meals. Many different ponies (and dragon), young and old were on their seats, watching the latest superhero movie: Power Ponies: Zapp’s Legacy, including six young fillies (and dragon) from the middle row seats.

One was a purple dragon with green eyes, belly and spikes. Normally, he stayed at the crystal castle to help the Princess of Friendship for royal duties. But today, he joined the fillies at the theater to keep an eye on them so they don’t get into trouble.

That, and it was also an excuse for him to watch the newest Power Ponies film since he’s a big fan of the comic series.

The next one was a pink filly with a tiara on her head. She is the main funder of today’s movie going to this fancy theater room, but it wasn’t a problem for her because she is very wealthy. She invited all of her friends including the filly next to her. That filly that sat next to her was a gray filly with light gray mane wearing pearl necklace and blue glasses. She is this pink filly’s best friend and they’ve been together since they were babies.

The next three fillies were well known around Ponyville who helped other ponies’ cutie mark problems. The first one was a yellow earth pony with orange eyes and long red mane with a pink bow. The other one was a white unicorn with purple and pink mane with green eyes. And finally, an orange pegasus with purple mane who was currently jumping up and down her seat in excitement after seeing her hero saving the day.

“YEAH! GO ZAPP!” she cheered loudly, spelling her popcorn in the process.

Everypony in the entire theater turned and shushed the young pegasus, making Scootaloo stop jumping and gave the crowd her apologetic smile.

“Scoots!” Apple Bloom snapped in her hush voice. “Ah know yer excited, but be quiet! If you keep this up, you’ll get us all kicked out”

“Yeah! Even with my influence won’t save us when that happens!” Diamond Tiara warned in her whisper tone.

Scootaloo rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. “Uh he he he… sorry.”

It was early evening outside of Ponyville’s Movie Theater. Snowflakes was falling, the decorations were up around town and everything was covered in a blanket of snow. The five fillies and dragon walked out of the theater wearing their hats, scarfs and snowshoes and continued down the snowy road. One particular filly couldn’t stop fangirling over the film they just watched.

“That. Was. AWESOME!” Scootaloo cheered with her wings flapping in excitement. “That is now officially my favorite movie of all time!”

“A little too excited if you ask me.” Said the gray filly known as Silver Spoon with her deadpanned voice. “Your antics nearly got us all in trouble five times throughout the movie!”

Scootaloo let out her exasperated sigh. “I said I was sorry! Besides, we didn’t get thrown out, so we’re fine!”

“That may be, but you were kinda distracting when you cheered loud and hopped up and down whenever Zapp appeared on screen,” the young white unicorn known as Sweetie Belle pointed out.

“I wasn’t that distracting!” Scootaloo argued.

“Now, now everypony!” Spike spoke up in his smoothing tone. “Scoots was just excited about the film. As a fellow Power Ponies fan, I can relate. To be far, everypony else were excited when there were some epic fight scenes. So it’s save to say that we got off easy.”

Scootaloo smirked. “See! At least somepo- er… somedragon agreed with me!”

Silver Spoon frowned. “He was just defending you because he is your brother.”

“My stepbrother,” Scootaloo corrected.

During the three fillies and a dragon conversation, Apple Bloom started a conversation on her own with Diamond Tiara.

“Well Dee, despite Scoot’s behavior, we just wanted to thank you again for inviting us to the movie!”

Diamond flashed her farmer friend her genuine smile. “No thanks necessary Apple Bloom. You’re all my friends and I’m more than happy to spent time with all of you.” Diamond then leaned over and whispered into Apple Bloom’s ear. “Between you and me, despite Scootaloo’s… overenthusiasm, I’ll take dealing with that then to spend another one of my mother’s boring trip to high class social event any day!”

Apple Bloom giggled in response.

“Zapp is my all time favorite super hero!” Scootaloo suddenly proclaimed. “She’s cool, she’s tough, and her powers are awesome, especially the way she flies!”

Sweetie Belle had a sly smile on her face. “Kinda reminds you of a certain rainbow-mane mother of yours?”

Scootaloo paused with a blush on her cheeks. “Well… yeah… but Zapp is a different type of cool!”

Almost a year ago, Scootaloo had a family like everypony else. Both of her parents were never around because they both had demanding jobs, leaving her alone most of the time. She knew that they love her, but she wished they could’ve been around more, including the holidays. Unfortunately, her parents were ‘not around’ anymore and she was alone without a family.

Until Rainbow Dash and her newly wedded wife, Twilight adopted her into their family and they’ve been together since.

Despite going through her tough time, she is really happy that she have a family to go to, including to her newly adopted mother, Rainbow Dash; which she still couldn’t get used to the idea of that. She still acted like the same Rainbow Dash she knew all those years ago, except there were times that she did act like… well, her mom. Sure, it was a little annoying when they told her to clean her room, do her homework or not to stay up late, but they also took care of her and they did a lot of fun activities too. So Scootaloo wouldn’t trade it for anything.

The only issue was Rainbow Dash has been busy with her job as the member of the Wonderbolts for both the performances and training recruits. Scootaloo is proud and admired Rainbow Dash for performing with the elite fliers in Equestria. But because of that, Rainbow didn’t get to spend much time with her than she used to. And even if Rainbow did have the time, she would be late for every one of Scootaloo’s performances, including all of her scooter competitions. Today, she was going to the final round of the Junior Pro Scooter Competition and hoped that Rainbow Dash will make it to see her perform this time.

“Spike! Scootaloo! Over here!”

The girls and dragon turned to see their Alicorn Princess, Twilight Sparkle, standing by the town’s frozen fountain, waving at them.

“There’s Twilight!” said Spike. “We gotta go Scoots!”

“You girls still coming to see me at the Junior Pro Scooter Competition tonight?” Scootaloo asked with her hopeful tone.

“You bet Scoots!” Apple Bloom answered with a smile.

“We wouldn’t miss it for the world!” said Sweetie Belle with a squeak.

“We’ll be there!” Silver Spoon replied.

“Yeah, we’re looking forward to see you… shred!” Diamond Tiara answered awkwardly.

Everyone stared at Diamond oddly, which she took notice.

“What!? I had Randolph looked up the phrases these ponies said at those events!”

Scootaloo shook her head amusingly before she took off. “Thanks girls. See you later!”

Spike waved goodbye to the fillies before he followed after his stepsister. They both ran across the town until they were close to Twilight.

“Hey you two,” Twilight greeted warmly. “How’s the movie?”

“It was awesome!” Scootaloo answered with her huge grin.

“Zapp kicked Shadow Hurricane’s flank!” Spike added who was also geeking out.

Twilight chuckled. “I bet she did. So Scoots, are you ready for the scooter competition?”

“I was born ready!” said Scootaloo, feeling confident.

Twilight smiled. “Alright, let’s go home to get you prepare and then we’ll go to the event.”

As the three of them were heading to the castle, Scootaloo spoke up.

“Um… is Rainbow Dash home yet?” Scootaloo said meekly.

Twilight frowned but kept walking. “No, she’s not home yet, but she should be finishing up work soon.”

Scootaloo huffed in frustration. “Oh come on! She better not miss this again! This is the most important part of the competition! She said that she’ll be there but she’s always miss it!”

Twilight inwardly cringed. She hates seeing Scootaloo very upset, especially if it involves her wife. As much as she loves Rainbow Dash, Rainbow can be forgetful at times, which was bothersome. She secretly hoped that her scatterbrain wife won’t forget to show up this time.

“Don’t you worry Scoots,” Twilight reassured, more to herself than her adopted daughter. “I know Rainbow doesn’t have a great sense of time, but she will be there! I bet she’s working very hard so she can spend more time with you.”

“Let’s get this party started!” Fleetfoot cried as she popped open a bottle of champagne.

Every member of the Wonderbolts cheered as they begin to celebrate their Hearth’s Warming Party within the Wonderbolts Headquarters. The decorations were hung up, the food was on the table and the holiday music was playing in the background. Everypony was dancing, eating and laugh merrily as they were having fun with the party.

All except for one.

In one of the offices of the Wonderbolts Headquarters, was a cyan rainbow-maned mare with a cutie mark of a cloud with a slightly curved three-colored lightning bolt. Her name was Rainbow Dash. She was sitting by the desk, working on one of many paperwork she been filling out since early this morning. Normally, she is more of a stunt mare and preferred to take action like performing their stunt shows or help out any crisis to protect other ponies. But ever since she got married, she decided to help out at the Wonderbolts Academy to teach new recruits and show them the ropes. While it was fun to act like a drill sergeant, especially towards newbies, but she was doing this to help other ponies succeed and put them on the right track. When they did, she felt very proud of all of her students. Of course, just because she’s a high-ranking Wonderbolt, that doesn’t mean she can escape from paperwork. It’s her least favorite thing as a Wonderbolt, but hey, it comes with a job.

She took a brief glance at a small picture frame that was sitting on her desk. The picture frame itself, contained a photo of herself along with her wife, Twilight Sparkle, Spike the Dragon, Starlight Glimmer and her adopted daughter, Scootaloo; smiling at the camera with their castle home in the background. Rainbow Dash smiled at the memory. This was the day she married to Twilight and adopted her Scootaloo on the same day almost a year ago. She never imagined she would settle down with somepony and start a family, especially to an egghead. She dedicated herself to train herself to join the elite fliers, which are the Wonderbolts and be the best flier in Equestria. She intended to not let anypony slow her down towards her dreams.

That is, until she met Twilight.

Years ago, they first met when Twilight visited Ponyville to supervise the preparation for Summer Sun Celebration. They were acquainted for the event and then they became best friends along with the others after they saved the world from Nightmare Moon. As years gone by, the two of them grown closer. Twilight introduced Rainbow Dash to reading with the Daring Do series (Rainbow’s favorite) and helped her pass the Wonderbolts entrance exam by using Rainbow’s monitoring ability. Rainbow Dash in turn taught Twilight how to fly when Twilight first got her wings. Even when Twilight had her doubts about being a princess, Rainbow Dash came by her side and told her how awesome she is as a princess and as a pony.

Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure when that happened, but at some point, she had fallen in love with the egghead. She wasn’t sure what to do at the time, but she figured the best course of action was to put some sly moves on her and act cool as always. So one night, she visited Twilight’s tree house (before Tirek destroyed it) while Twilight was reading by the fireplace. Rainbow did as she planned until she kissed Twilight on the lips in the heat of a moment. She thought Twilight rejected her and tried to leave, only Twilight caught Rainbow with her magic. Rainbow felt ashamed for her actions and confessed Twilight her feelings. To Rainbow’s surprise and delight, Twilight kissed Rainbow back and said she felt the same way. The rest they say, was history.

As she was finishing up her report on another one of her students ranking performance when she heard her office door opened. She looked up just in time to see her boss and friend, standing in front of her desk. She is a yellow-coated mare with a flamy style mane in several shades of orange. Her cutie mark is an image of three licks of flame, resembling an abstraction of a phoenix. She was also wearing a Santa Hooves’ hat on her head.

“Hey Rainbow Dash,” said the yellow mare. “What are you still doing in here? We’re having our Hearth’s Warming party outside. You should come out and join us!”

Rainbow Dash shook her head before she went back to writing her papers with her mouth. “I can’t Spitfire, I need to get all this paperwork done and over with before I have time to join the party.”

“As much as I like to get the job done as quick as the next pony but why would you rather spend all day working in the office during the party and not wait until after Hearts Warming? It’s not like those papers are going anywhere before you get back.”

“I wanted to get these papers done and out of the way so I can spend more time with my family, especially Scootaloo. That way, I won’t have to miss her Junior Pro Scooter Competetion on the twenty third of this month.”

Spitfire raised her eyebrow. “Um… Dash… today is the twenty third.”

“What!?” Rainbow screeched.

Rainbow looked at the calendar on the wall with all the days marked with an ‘X’ except for the twenty-third with a red circle around it that said: “Scootaloo’s Junior Pro Scooter Competion,” and “DON’T BE LATE” in bold words. Rainbow then looked up at the clock above her office door. To her horror, she saw the big hand on a clock was on the number nine, while the little hand was in between a seven and an eight. She only has fifteen minutes before the Scootaloo’s competition began.

“OH CRUD! I’m gonna be late!” Rainbow shouted, as she put her quill down and then she quickly flew over to her coat hanger and took her red scarf with orange and yellow stripes on each ends. “I’m sorry Spitfire, I gotta go! I don’t wanna miss Scoots performance!”

“It’s fine Dash, I understand,” said Spitfire. “In fact, take two weeks off starting tomorrow. You earned it!”

Dash smiled as she wrapped her scarf around her neck. “Thanks Spitfire! Happy Hearth’s Warming!”

Spitfire smiled back. “Happy Hearth’s Warming to you too!”

With that, Rainbow Dash quickly flew out of her office, nearly knocked over a startled blue stallion with dark blue mane in the process. Once Rainbow disappeared down the hall, Soarin entered Rainbow’s office with a raised eyebrow.

“So Spitfire… do you think she’s going to make it this time?”

Spitfire shook her head. “Nope.”

Due to the snowy weather, the Junior Pro Scooter Competition took place within Ponyville’s Town Hall. Normally, the Town Hall was for town meetings or any political discussion took place, but Mayor Mare was kind enough to allow them to use her Town Hall for the occasion. In return, she wanted to be the host for the final round of the Scooter Competition. Why she wanted to was anypony’s guess. Then again, after you spent many days in the office for so long, anypony would do anything to join in on the action.

The room inside of the Town Hall was huge, with many ramps and other obstacles scattered around the area. Many ponies from all over Equestria were sitting on the bleachers to see the show, including many friends and family of Scootaloo, sat up from the top row! From the very top there was Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie (who was holding popcorn and a foam hand with the number one on it), Fluttershy, Twilight, and Starlight. From the row beneath them, most of Scootaloo’s classmates were there, including Scootaloo’s best friends; Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Spike, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.

Many waited anxiously for the event to start. After about a half hour of waiting, Mayor Mare trotted up on the field and spoke into her microphone.

“Ladies and gentlecolts!” Mayor Mare announced. “Welcome to Our Fifteenth Annual Junior Pro Scooter Competition!”

The whole crowd was cheering and stomping on their hooves in applause.

“It was with great pleasure to see many young fillies and colts from all over Equestria to come here in our town to perform and wow us with their amazing tricks on their scooters. If it were up to me, all of our young contestants are already winners for making this far.”

The whole crowd cheered and applauded again in agreement.

“And now, with great honor, please put your hooves together for our final contestants!”

One by one, each colt and filly came out and skated towards the center of the field with their scooters. Many ponies cheered and applauded for each contestant that showed up. The one who showed up last was Scootaloo and all of her best friends cheered loudly for her in support.

“You can do it Scoots!”

“We believe in you!”

“You got this Sis!”

“Kick their flanks Scoots!”

“Go get ‘em Scoots!”

Pinkie Pie, now dressed in her cheerleader’s outfit… somehow, stood on her rear hooves and waving her pompoms around.

“WHOO HOO! GOOOOOOO SCOOTALOO!”

As she watched the event unfold, Starlight Glimmer leaned in close to Twilight’s ear. “Hey Twilight,” she whispered. “Is Rainbow Dash coming? I thought she said she’s not going to miss this.”

Twilight bit her lip. “She’s… a bit late, but she should be coming.” I hope.

“Oh man, oh man, oh man, oh man!” Rainbow chanted in panic as she flew as fast as she can out of Cloudsdale and headed towards Ponyville. “How did I forget again?”

She knew that she had already missed the opening ceremony. The good news is, that Scootaloo will perform last before the rest of the contestants. If she could reach the Town Hall before Scootaloo is up, then she would need every once of her speed without stopping if she were going to make it. But even at her top speed, it was still not fast enough to reach her destination in time.

At this rate, I’m not gonna make it! Rainbow thought in frustration.

Then, an idea came to her. She was thinking about using her most famous and signature move, her Sonic Rainboom.

On one hoof, by using the Sonic Rainboom, she will get double the amount of her speed and by the time she arrives to the Town Hall, the competition will be half finished. On the other hoof, by using that awesome speed boost, it will only cost her ability to steer, which will be hard to control.

Despite the huge cost, Rainbow Dash already made up her mind.

It’s a long shot, but I’m willing to take that risk!

So Rainbow Dash pushed herself forward while sticking both her forehooves out. She already felt the air barrier pushing back against her, but Rainbow Dash refused to falter.

Sonic Rainboom, don’t fail me now!

Rainbow continued to push herself against the barrier, which was now getting smaller and rainbow lights streaked around her. Rainbow kept pushing and pushing until the barrier finally breaks and a loud explosion. She shot forward mush faster than before with a huge trail of rainbows behind her.

Rainbow Dash let out her huge cheer. “AW, YEAH! Scootaloo here I come!”

Rainbow Dash continued to shot forward, heading towards her destination. Within minutes she arrived at a small town just before Ponyville. Rainbow mentally calculated that she’ll arrive at Ponyville’s Town Hall in less than ten minutes. Rainbow felt confident that she’ll definitely going make it. Rainbow can already see Scootaloo’s eyes lit up in happiness when Rainbow finally made it to Scoot’s performance for the first time in a long while.

Suddenly, Rainbow heard a shout, which snapped out of her thoughts and her eyes widened when she realized that she was getting dangerously close to the Town’s Hearth’s Warming tree with a few ponies screaming at her to watch out.

“UH OH!” Rainbow cried.

Rainbow tried to make a turn to go around the tree, but she could barley move an inch. Realizing that it was already too late for her and she shut her eyes right before she crashed right into a tree.

The entire tree tipped over and was falling towards the market area of the town. Many ponies screamed and galloped out of the way to avoid getting crushed. By the time everypony left the area, the tree crashed into the ground, destroying a few market carts and an outdoor patio of the town’s restaurant in the process.

In the wake of the destruction, Rainbow peaked out of the tree and held her head with a groan. “Owwww, my head.”

After she got her bearings, her face went pale from all the damages around the area that she caused. While the ponies were not hurt, many were still running, screaming and crying in confusion. Everything that was underneath the tree was destroyed, including their town sign that was in its way. This whole scene was so chaotic; the things Discord had done before he reformed were harmless in comparison.

“…Oops,” Rainbow muttered.

She stealthily got out of the tree and then she slowly turn around so she can sneak away from the area. She would’ve succeeded with her escape if she hasn’t bumped into somepony. Rainbow looked up to see a dark grey pegasus stallion with black and grey mane, wearing a blue police uniform shirt, black tie and a badge on his left breast. His cutie mark on his flank is a golden police badge. By the looks of his uniform and his age, he may be on the force for years.

As the police officer stared at her with his deep frown, Rainbow gulped and chuckled nervously.

“Uh… he he he…. hello officer.”

At that point, half of the contestants had already performed their tricks in the competition. As the young colt from Manehattan took his turn to compete, Scootaloo took glimpses towards the bleachers and then the entrance doors. While Scootaloo was happy that her friends and family came here to support her, but the one pony that mattered to her haven’t arrived yet.

She sighed both in frustration and anxiety. Rainbow Dash, where are you!? You better not miss this again!

Shortly after the police officer caught her in the act, he interrogated her about her actions for the past fifteen minutes, including asking for her information. This of course, annoyed her, but she knew it wouldn’t be any good to make the officer angry and throw her to the slammer. So Rainbow Dash kept herself calm and answered his questions to the best of her ability. The quicker she’ll help resolve these issues, the sooner she can leave. After going through the cop’s questions, the only penance she’ll get was a ticket with a fine. It wasn’t too bad of a punishment, considering that she only caused minimal damage and no pony was hurt. Rainbow Dash was willing to accept it, but there was just one problem, which caused Rainbow Dash to argue with the stallion in blue now.

“I’m telling you officer, I am not drunk!” Rainbow persisted, keeping her anger in check. “I was out of control because of my Sonic Rainboom!”

The police stallion stared back with his stern look. “Look lady, I don’t care what you call that stunt, I demand that you do what I say and follow all the field sobriety tests I gave you. If it turns out you’re not drunk, you’re only going to get a ticket and let off with a warning.”

“Can’t you just give me a ticket and leave it at that?” Rainbow pleaded.

The officer shook his head. “Rules are rules ma’am.”

Rainbow huffed with impatience. “Look, I’m sorry officer, but I’m in a hurry! I need to be at my daughter’s scooter competition!”

For the first time they met, the cop changed his expression to a mock-like concern. “Oh gee, I am so sorry that I took up all of your sweet time just to make you follow a few simple procedures,” he said sarcastically. “It’s not like I’m doing this to make sure you are not a danger to our society instead of doing this for the sake of my performance of duty! How thoughtless of me!”

Rainbow bit back her retort. “Look officer, I-“

“That’s Officer Warrant to you!” he interjected with a glare.

Rainbow sighed in annoyance. “Look Officer Warrant, I need to be somewhere important and I don’t have time to do you’re stupid tests!” Rainbow turned her back towards the cop and began to flap her wings. “Now if you excuse me-”

“Very well,” Officer Warrant spoke up as he took out his notebook from his uniform pocket. “If that’s you’re choice, then it looks like I’ll have to warrant your arrest for disobeying an officer and for putting other ponies in danger due to your reckless performance.”

“WHAT!” Rainbow screeched, turning back towards the officer. “You can’t do that!”

Officer Warrant looked up and gave Rainbow his challenging look. “Well it’s either you do my tests and you’ll only get a ticket afterwards or you spent the whole night in jail. Your choice!”

Rainbow glowered at the cop.

I hate this guy!

“And now, our final contestant of the evening is a young pegasus filly from our own town in Ponyville.” announced Mayor Mare with her mick in excitement. “Please put your hooves together for Scootaloo Sparkle!”

All of the Ponyville’s residence, including Scootaloo’s family and friends, cheered loudly from their bleachers.

With her name called, Scootaloo slowly ride up to the edge of a ramp with her on the scooter. She took a glimpse at the bleachers and then the entrance doors at the far end of the room in hopes that Rainbow Dash will arrive and see her perform. When Rainbow Dash was nowhere in sight, Scootaloo sighed in disappointment before she looked down with her game face on and then she started to skate down the ramp.

Rainbow Dash had never felt so humiliating in her entire life.

For the next half hour, she did all the field sobriety tests as Officer Warrant instructed. It started out with something simple like an eye test, which was following the cop’s wing with her eyeballs without moving her head and a balance test, which she has to lift two hooves of the ground from one side about six inches and hold for thirty seconds and then do the same with the other side. But then it gets ridiculous when he made her close her eyes and touch her muzzle with her hooves and then her wings, count all of her feathers on her wings, name all of the princesses in Equestria, and solve a simple math problem like one plus one. Now, Officer Warrant made her do the “Trot-and-Turn” test by trotting nine steps on a straight white line, that he drew on a ground with a chalk, and then trot back.

Once Rainbow Dash walked back with a perfect balance, Rainbow turned back towards Officer Warrant with an irritated look.

“Okay, I did all of your stupid tests!” Rainbow said angrily. “Can I go now?”

Officer Warrant shook his head. “Not quite. Now I want you to recite the alphabet.”

Rainbow let out her long sigh. “Fine! A. B. C—”

“Backwards.”

Rainbow glared daggers at the cop.

I really hate this guy!

“Let’s give these young ponies another round of applause!” Mayor Mare requested.

The whole crowd complied while some hooting during the applause.

Every young pony that just performed during the competition was standing on stage facing the crowd, waiting for the final verdict. Mayor Mare took the center of the stage by her microphone stand while holding a white envelope.

“It was a very close competition folks, and after a long debate, the judges finally made their decision.”

Mayor Mare slowly opened the envelope while everypony in the building were waiting at the edge of their seats. Pinkie Pie in particular was biting her hooves out of nervousness while everypony else were bending towards the Mayor in anticipation. Even Spike the Dragon was crossing his fingers as he anxiously awaited for the final result.

Mayor Mare finally took out a piece of paper from the envelope and then began to read the final results with her microphone.

“The winner of the Junior Pro Skater Competition is…”

Everypony held their breath as Mayor Mare playfully paused for dramatic effect.

“SCOOTALOO SPARKLE!”

The ponies that represented Ponyville cheered loudly for Scootaloo, including all of her friends and family. Pinkie jumped up into the air and cheered the loudest.

“YAY SCOOTALOOOOOOOOOOO!”

Scootaloo nearly choked in emotion as Mayor Mare proudly presented Scootaloo with a huge golden trophy with a miniature pony riding on a scooter on top. Scootaloo looked up towards the bleachers and waved at her friends and family in happiness as they in turned waved and cheered back.

Scootaloo stopped waving and took a glimpse at the entrance doors again, only to see nopony there. Scootaloo looked down and sighed in sadness.

Note to self: send my complain letter to the police department about this guy after the holidays! Rainbow thought angrily as she landed in front of Town Hall in the snow.

At that point, the sun was already down and the moon is up in its place. The colors in the night sky had a mixture of purple and blues with stars dancing over the horizon. While there were barley any clouds, flurries were still falling down, landing on an already snow covered ground.

Rainbow rushed into the building and galloped down the hall in hope to see Scootaloo in the scooter competition in time.

Please I didn’t miss it! Please I didn’t miss it!

Rainbow finally made it to the hall doors that lead to the main event and opened it. But when she entered the huge room, everything inside was empty and semi-dark. There was nopony around except for the janitor, who was busy cleaning everything up from the background.

I… I miss it.

Rainbow Dash slumped forward and let out a single tear from the corner of her eye.

“I’m… so sorry Scoots.”

Author's Notes:

Hello my fellow readers! I hope you all enjoy this so far, because I already written the entire story for this very occasion. I spent months writing this and I hope it is worth the wait. New chapter will be posted everyday, so be sure to keep track of it!

If there are any mistakes or critics you wanted to point out, don't be afraid and let me know in the comments below. When you do, please try to point out as polity and clear as possible.

Rainbow's memories when she first kissed Twilight was based on this very heartwarming video by Argodaemon. Check it out to those who are into TwiDash!

Fun Fact: The Officer that gave Rainbow a ticket was originally named, Officer Stern. But over time, it doesn't actually sound like anything that has to do with his occupation. So I later renamed him Officer Warrant instead.

Stay tuned to the next chapter shortly!

Hearth's Warming Promise!

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After her slow and somber flight in the night sky, Rainbow finally made it home to the Castle of Friendship. The castle itself was very big and impressive looking. It looked like an actual tree but made of crystals instead of wood. There was a flagpole on the castle’s side, a few windows and there were even a balcony and an upper deck for sightseeing or as an alternate entrance for those with wings. As tempting as it was to land on the upper deck, something within Rainbow told her that she should just enter her home the normal way tonight.

She softly landed on a snow-covered porch near the front entrance and let out a long sigh, letting out a small fog from her breath in the process. No doubt that her family will be upset with her again, especially from Scootaloo. She was usually late for almost every Scootaloo’s scooter competition with Rainbow’s promise to try to make it on time on Scootaloo’s next event. But this time, Rainbow Dash actually missed Scootaloo’s entire competition, and it was the most important competition nonetheless. She had no excuse this time, except maybe being held up by that stupid police pony. But still, she screwed up and she’s going to have to make up to Scootaloo somehow and hoped that her daughter will forgive her.

Knowing that she couldn’t delay the inevitable, Rainbow gently opened the front door and entered the castle. The inside of the castle itself have stonewalls, marble floor and crystals columns. A big long purple rug stretched from the front door to down to the end of the hallway. There are many windows as well as open doorway that leads to different halls and rooms. There was even balcony above her with many different stairways.

Hearth’s Warming decorations were already set up around the castle; such as purple ribbons wrapped around the columns, and mix of red and yellow drapes hung over the balconies or above the doorways and windows with rid ribbons or bells placed in between. As a center point of the drapes, there were many fully green Hearth’s Warming wreaths with a red bow at the bottom of the wreath. There were even a magic powered holiday lights with various different colors, hung around the walls.

Despite the warm and welcoming atmosphere, Rainbow felt that the environment was much more gloomy then it should have been. Before she could go any further, she heard somepony clearing their throat. Rainbow sighed and slowly turned around to see Starlight Glimmer standing by the door with a hard look on her face.

Starlight Glimmer is a unicorn mare with a very strong magic that almost rivaled Twilight’s. When they first met, Starlight used to own a town that dedicated to make everypony equal and influence others that cutie marks are actually a bad thing. After Twilight and the gang turned the whole town against Starlight, Starlight sworn revenge on Twilight and her friends. Rainbow didn’t see her again until months later, supposedly after Starlight attempted to change history of Rainbow Dash’s first Sonic Rainboom. When Twilight offered to teach Starlight about friendship as her teacher, Rainbow Dash didn’t know what to think. At first, she wasn’t comfortable in letting a former villain live with Twilight and helping her after everything Starlight done, but overtime, Rainbow slowly accepted her as her new friend. Even after Starlight completed all of Twilight’s lessons, Starlight remained living in the castle, even after Twilight and Rainbow married. Twilight considered Starlight to be her long lost sister she never had, even made Starlight to be as her best mare.

Starlight took the role of being an overprotective sister very well, especially when she looked ready to tear Rainbow a new one for hurting her niece.

“Hello Rainbow Dash,” she said slowly. “How nice of you to finally join us after you missed your daughter’s scooter competition.”

Rainbow groaned. “Back off Starlight, I really tried to be there this time! Honest!”

“Then explain to me how you never showed up!”

Rainbow winced and slowly turned back towards the hallway to see her wife, Twilight Sparkle, standing in front of her with an unreadable expression. Spike the Dragon, Twilight’s number one assistant and son, was standing next to her with an uncomfortable expression. It doesn’t take a genius to know that Twilight was peeved and Rainbow Dash was in deep trouble.

Rainbow gulped. “Okay look, before you say anything to me, hear me out!” When nopony said a word, Rainbow continued. “I was finishing up writing my reports of every one of our newly cadets of this year that it almost slipped my mind! I left as soon as possible and I even used my Sonic Rainboom! But then a may have caused an accident at some small town before Ponyville.” From the panicked look on Twilight’s face, Rainbow quickly added, “Nothing serious and nopony is hurt! But because of the damages, the cop gave me a ticket and… that same stupid cop made me do all that ridiculous field somber tests before I can go and…” Rainbow looked down. “Because of that, I missed it.”

Rainbow looked back up to her wife again. “I really tried to make it this time! I really did! I would never purposely leave anypony hanging, especially to Scootaloo!”

No one said a word. An uncomfortable silence lingered for some time until Twilight finally responded.

“Well what you did, or at least tried to do to make it to Town Hall was very reckless! I’ll have to go visit the next town to repair the damages and pay for your fine!”

Rainbow looked down in shame, feeling guilty for nearly put everypony in danger due to her actions.

“As for the rest of your story, don’t explain this to me! You should explain this to Scootaloo!”

Rainbow sighed and slowly looked up. “Where is she?”

“She’s in her room,” Spike spoke up for the first time. “She’s been sulking in there since we returned home.”

Rainbow nodded to Spike in thanks before she slowly trot down the hall to her daughter’s room.

Scootaloo was lying on her bed, reading the latest Power Ponies comic that featured Zapp. She left her scooter gear at the corner of her room, including her trophy that she won from the competition earlier today. But she wasn’t in the mood to celebrate, nor she had the sense of pride of winning. When the one pony she wanted to come by and see her performing never showed up, it all felt meaningless to her.

She was just looking at the advertisement page of the Zapp action figure, when she heard her bedroom the door opened. Scootaloo looked up from her comic for a moment and when she saw who it was, she quickly went back to her comic again.

Rainbow was standing outside of Scootloo’s room with her pained look on her face. “Um… hey squirt.” Rainbow said quietly.

Scootaloo continued to read her comic, ignoring Rainbow.

Rainbow cleared her throat. “So… uh… can I come in?”

Again, Scootaloo ignored her. She never said yes, but she didn’t say no either. With that logic, Rainbow Dash cautiously entered Scootaloo’s room. Rainbow wasn’t sure how to approach and fix this. When it comes to racing, training younger recruits, and saving the world, Rainbow was able to do it head on without a second thought. But when it comes to talking to her kid who felt down, it was actually the most difficult thing for Rainbow. Rainbow eventually stood near Scootaloo at the side of Scootaloo’s bed and then tried to break the ice.

“So…” Rainbow began, trying to sound upbeat. “I heard you won the competition. Congrats squirt! I knew you could do it, but was there any doubt? I’m so proud of you!”

Scootaloo continued to ignore Rainbow as if Rainbow never entered her bedroom.

Rainbow sighed and took a glimpsed at the trophy sitting at the corner of the room.

“Oh, is that it?” Rainbow said in her happy attitude again. “Is that the trophy? That looks so awesome!” Rainbow flew over to the trophy and picked it up and then flew back to Scootaloo’s side. “This has to be the coolest trophy I ever seen! It’s cooler then all the medals I won! Heck, it’s way cooler then the golden headpiece I won at the ‘Best Young Flyer’ competition! You are a one cool filly Scoots!”

Scootaloo finally put down her comic and turned to Rainbow with an angry look. “Oh yeah, I’m a cool filly, but it’s too bad that you missed my competition and broke my promise that you be there!” Scootloo leapt off of her bed and went over to her bedroom window, looking at the stars in the night sky.

Rainbow sighed somberly and gently placed the trophy on the floor. She slowly trotted over and sat right next to Scootaloo who was still not giving her stepmother any attention.

“All right Scoots, I get it,” Rainbow said softly. “I messed up. I almost forgot about the date and I was… held up, but that’s no excuse. I really wanted to be there and to see you perform! Believe me, I-”

“You supposed to come Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo nearly shouted as she turned to Rainbow with a scowl. “I wanted you to be there, but you didn’t! Everypony else did! Twilight, Spike, my best friends, your best friends, my teacher, my classmates—heck! Even my former bullies Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were there… cheering me on! But you don’t! The final round was really important to me! It’s one thing that you showed up late at all of the other rounds, but you missed the most important round! You really hurt me Rainbow and you broke my promise! How can I trust you if you didn’t keep your word?”

Once she said her piece, Scootaloo went back to star gazing through the window. She then started sniffing, but tried to keep herself from crying. Rainbow, for her part, looked down and lowered her ears in shame. She felt very guilty for making her daughter upset. She really wanted to fix this, but how can she do this after she practically broke Scootaloo’s heart, especially on Hearth’s Warming?

Rainbow sighed sadly. “You’re right Scoots… I let you down. What I did was… really lame and I’m really really sorry.”

Scootaloo ears perked up, but she still kept her eyes on the window.

Rainbow continued. “I may have missed your competition, but I really wanted to make it up to you. You just name it and I will do something very special just for you and only you! Not for the Wonderbolts, not for any of the Princesses, not even for Equestria itself… just you.”

“You… you mean that?” Scootaloo asked softly as she slowly turned to face Rainbow with her watery eyes.

Rainbow nodded with a gentle smile. “Of course I mean it Scoots! It can be about anything! Maybe something special you wanted for Hearth’s Warming?”

Scootaloo looked down, rubbing her leg in a timid manner. “I… I don’t know Rainbow Dash. You probably think it’s silly. Besides, Santa Hooves got it covered.”

“It’s nothing silly when it comes to you Scoots,” Rainbow gently coaxed. “And since this is the busiest holiday of the year, even Santa needs help from us ponies every now and then.” Rainbow leaned towards Scootaloo with a playful smirk. “So… what is it, hmm?”

Scootaloo just sat there, paused for a moment. Suddenly, she stood up and her wings were flapping as she started speaking excitedly to Rainbow Dash with a huge grin on her face.

“I want an action figure of my favorite superhero from the Power Ponies, Zapp! With moveable hooves and glows in the dark and her necklace shooter and her retractable wings and a realistic voice activator that says five different phrases, including…” Scootaloo then stood on her rear hooves and placed her fore hooves on her hips and said, "It's… ZAPPIN’ time!" Scootaloo stood on all four of her hooves again and quickly added, “Accessories sold separately. Batteries not included.”

Rainbow laughed. “Okay, as cheesy as that catchphrase, that does sound like an awesome toy!”

Scootaloo nodded eagerly. “Yeah! Zapp is like the greatest superhero of all time! All of my friends is getting one, including Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon (even though they won’t admit it).” Scootaloo then deflated. “Whoever doesn’t have it will be the lamest filly in Equestria.”

Rainbow Dash grinned and placed her hoof on Scootaloo’s shoulder. “Well squirt, that lame filly won’t definitely be you!”

Scootaloo smiled happily before she dived into Rainbow’s hooves and hugged her tightly. “Thanks Rainbow Dash! I love you so much!”

Rainbow smiled lovely and hugged her back. “I love you too Scoots!”

“Oh c’mon Twilight,” said Rainbow, as she explained to her wife about what had happened between her and Scootaloo. “Me and Scoots made up! You should’ve seen how happy she is when she talked about the toy. We practically bonded! Isn’t that a good thing?”

Twilight sighed as she picked up her brush with her magic and combed her mane with her dresser mirror in front of her. “I’m not saying it’s bad Rainbow Dash. While I’m glad you two patched things up, but you basically solved it by promising her a gift.”

“But it’s the holiday’s Twilight!” Rainbow argued. “It’s the time of the year of giving gifts to your kids!”

Twilight huffed and turned to face her wife. “That’s not the point Dash! What she really wanted from you is for you to spend more time with her! But your job is making this difficult for her!”

Rainbow sighed but gave her wife her reassuring grin. “Twi, I promise. I will spend a lot more time with her, starting with Hearth’s Warming day!”

Twilight rolled her eyes as she turned back to her mirror, brushing her mane. “Whatever you say Rainbow Dash.”

“I mean it!” Rainbow insisted before she smirked. “In fact, Spitfire happened to give me a-”

“Oh that reminds me!” Twilight spoke up, cutting Rainbow off. “You got the toy right?”

…

“…what?” Rainbow responded dumbly.

“The Zapp toy,” Twilight clarified, finishing up fixing her mane. “You know, the action figure of Scootaloo’s favorite superhero she’s been gushing about for months and I asked you to get it on your day off a few weeks ago?”

Rainbow tried to recall her memories based on her wife’s words, then suddenly her eyes widened in horror. Uh oh!

Not hearing her wife’s response, Twilight slowly turned towards Rainbow Dash with a worried and suspicious look. “You did get it, right?” Twilight then got up from her chair and then trotted up to Rainbow and looked in her wife’s eyes. “Please tell me that you did!”

It was right there and then, Rainbow had to come up with something fast. While she hated seeing Scootaloo very upset or angry because of her actions, doing the same to her wife, was even worse. When Twilight gets upset, she usually suffered from her anxiety attacks. It hurts Rainbow to see her wife in that state but at least she knew how to calm her down and make her wife feel better when Rainbow offered to help her out. When Twilight gets angry on the other hoof…

Let’s just say she would rather face the combine evil forces of Queen Chrysalis, Tirek, and King Sombra than facing the wrath of her alicorn wife.

“O-OH YEAH! RIGHT!” Rainbow lied, slapping herself on her forehead playfully. “That toy! Yes, I got it!”

“Rainbow Dash…” Twilight stated in her warning tone.

“Really Twilight, I got the Zapp doll!” Rainbow said quickly. “T-the one that glows in the dark and her retractable wings a-and her necklace shooter and a realistic voice box that says,” Rainbow stood up on her rear hooves and then she placed her fore hooves on her hips and said, "It's… ZAPPIN’ time!" Man that was cheesy! Rainbow stood on all four of her hooves again. “Chillax Twi, I got it!”

Twilight sighed in relief. “Oh good, and you actually knew all of it’s features! I’m impressed!”

Rainbow puffed out her chest. “Well, what can I say, I’m awesome!” And I was lucky that Scootaloo told me about its features earlier.

“I bet you are,” Twilight gibed playfully before she pecked Rainbow on the lips. “I’m sorry for doubting you. Now let’s go to bed.”

As they were getting into their bed, Rainbow was panicking in her head. Aw jeez, first I missed Scoots’ Junior Pro Scooter Competition and now this! I need to get this toy and fast!

Rainbow was trying to get herself comfortable in her bed as she was coming up with a plan. Then, a sudden realization came into her mind and she let out her huge grin.

Of course! They didn’t know that Spitfire gave me two weeks off starting tomorrow! I’ll just pretend I’m going to work as normal but I’ll actually be at Canterlot’s Toy Chest so I can get that toy! Then I’ll head back home, surprise everypony that I’m off for the holidays and Scoots with have her Zapp toy for Hearth’s Warming! This plan is foolproof!

Nodding to herself and felt confident for a well thought out plan, Rainbow was ready to close her eyes to get some sleep for her secret shopping trip tomorrow. She nearly went to dreamland when her wife spoke up.

“I really am glad that you got the toy,” said Twilight, as she was about to use her magic on their lamp. “Because at this point, they will be impossible to find.”

Rainbow nodded to her wife with a smile on her face, but as soon as the lights turned off, Rainbow laid back on her pillow with her eyes as wide as saucers.

Oh crud!

A Spoiled Morning!

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The next morning, almost everypony from the Sparkle household were eating breakfast by the table within the castle’s dinning room. The dinning room is like all the other rooms in the castle except it had a simple round table with a statue of a pony with a Santa Hooves hat on it’s head as a centerpiece and pink drapes all around the side of the table. The chairs were small but golden with pink velvet cushions. There was even a fancy golden chandelier on the celling with green holidays ropes wrapping around it.

Both Scootaloo and Spike were eating the Power Ponies cereal (with an image of Zapp on the front of the cereal box) with apple juice. The filly and the young drake were chattering about the favorite parts of Power Ponies movie they’ve watched yesterday while debating who is the strongest superhero for the fun of it. The adults meanwhile were eating pancakes with whipped cream, syrup and various different berries and a steaming cup of coffee. Starlight was chewing on her pancake as she was reading the ‘Equestria Daily’ newspaper, specifically the funnies section. She may be a grown mare, but she really enjoyed reading the daily comics, whether to make her laugh or admire the artwork that many cartoonists put their time into them. Besides, the actual news are too boring and depressing for her taste. Twilight only took a few nibbles of her pancake as she was using her magic to write down the parchment with her quill.

The four of them barley paid attention to their surroundings as Rainbow Dash zipping around the area. Rainbow Dash, who was now wearing her red scarf around her neck, was about to fly out of the dinning room with two pieces of burnt toast in her mouth.

“Hey where’re you going Rainbow Dash?” asked Twilight.

Rainbow froze and then faced towards everypony on the table. “Oh. I’m… heading for work.”

Twilight got up from her seat and trotted over to her wife. “You’re working on Hearth’s Warming Eve?”

“Y-yeah,” Rainbow answered, barely keeping herself from sweating. “There are a few more things back at the headquarters that must be done before the holidays.”

Twilight gave her wife a skeptical frown. “Really? I thought you got a lot of them done?”

Rainbow took a quick glimpse at the table, specifically at Scootaloo, before leaning into Twilight’s ear. “Well, I did, but I also left the you-know-what back at the headquarter.”

Twilight raised her eyebrow. “You-know-what?”

“The t-o-y,” Rainbow whispered.

Twilight eyes widen. “OH!” She then covered her mouth to keep herself quiet. “Oh right! Okay, but don’t be working for too long.”

Rainbow nodded before she kissed Twilight on a cheek.

“Will you be able to make it back before the parade?” Scootaloo asked.

Rainbow turned to Scootaloo with her confused expression. “Parade?”

Twilight rolled her eyes at her wife’s forgetfulness. “Yes Rainbow Dash, we’re having our Ponyville’s Annual Hearth’s Warming Parade that the town started since I first become an Alicorn Princess.” Twilight then levitated her parchment up with her magic. “I already wrote down the preparations as well as requests to set up for the event.”

Rainbow raised her eyebrows. “Requests?”

“Yeah, requests from the Town Hall,” Twilight responded. She paused before added with some hesitation. “Specifically… from Spoiled Rich.”

Rainbow groaned loudly. “Her again! What does she want now!? Something stupid and selfish?”

Twilight frowned. “Now Rainbow, I know that we had a… history with her, but you shouldn’t assumed the worse from her yet just because I mentioned her name.”

“Oh really?” Rainbow challenged. “What was her request?”

Twilight paused for a brief moment. “Well… she suggested that we should improve our parade…”

Rainbow gestured her wife to continue. “By?”

“…by replacing Santa Hooves… with her daughter.”

Rainbow threw her hooves up. “C’mon Twi! In the past, she was never nice to us and made our lives a living Tartarus! Why would you keep working with that—”

“Rainbow Dash!”

“What? I was gonna say witch!”

Scootaloo, Spike and even Starlight snickered from the background.

“Be that as may,” Twilight said calmly, which caused everypony to stop snickering. “Spoiled went through some very hard times and she apologized for her actions. I believe there’s some good in her so I decided to give her a second chance.” Twilight then rubbed the back of her neck. “Although, the way she… interacts with other ponies could still use some work.”

Rainbow scoffed as she crossed her hooves. “Well, I don’t trust her!” When Rainbow saw her wife with downcast look, she sighed. “But… I trust you. Just… don’t let her have her way okay?”

Twilight smirked. “Hey, you’re talking to the Princess of Friendship! I think I can handle dealing with one snobby mare.”

“Alright then,” Rainbow chuckled before giving Twilight another kiss on the cheek.

“You’ll still make it to the parade right Rainbow Dash?” asked Scootaloo. “Even before you adopted me, you were never there. And all the Power Ponies will be there, including Zapp!”

Rainbow gave Scootaloo her warm smiled. “Don’t worry Scoots, I pinkie promise I’ll be there!”

Scootaloo smiled back. If anypony can make a pinkie promise, then she knew that Rainbow Dash is serious.

“Alright then,” said Twilight, as she was making her way out of the dinning room. “If you all excuse me, I’ll be in the kitchen and start backing cookies for the event.”

Everypony paled at Twilight’s revelation. It’s no secret that Twilight is… not very good cook, let alone baking. The last time they had Twilight bake anything at the kitchen… let’s just say it was worse then Starlight’s burnt cake. They still had nightmares just thinking about it. There’s no way they’ll let anypony suffer from food poisoning due to Twilight’s cookies.

“Wait!” Spike exclaimed.

Twilight stopped and looked at Spike in confusion. “What is it Spike?”

Spike shifted his eyes nervously. “Um… why don’t you let Scootaloo come in and help you? She was looking forward to baking Hearth’s Warming cookies! Right Scoots?”

With a nudge from Spikle, Scootaloo got the message. “Oh uh… yeah! I would love to help!”

Twilight stared at the oddly before she shrugged. “Well alright then. Let’s head right into the kitchen Scoots.”

As Twilight was trotting out of the dinning room, Spike whispered into Scootaloo’s ear. “I’ll ask Pinkie Pie to help out right away! But for now, make sure whatever Twilight does in the kitchen, fix it immediately!”

With a determined nod, Scootaloo galloped out the room to follow Twilight.

Rainbow sighed. As much as she loves Twilight, but even she was not brave enough to eat anything Twilight cooks. She found that out the hard way when Twilight made her breakfast in bed from their honeymoon, which made her shudder from the memory. She could never look at eggs and hay-bacon the same way again.

Rainbow Dash was about to leave the room, until she caught Starlight Glimmer staring at her with her one eyebrow raised.

Rainbow blinked. “What?”

“You don’t have the toy, didn’t you?” Starlight asked bluntly.

“W-what are you talking about?” said Rainbow, trying to act dumb.

Starlight eyes narrowed. “I overheard you talking to Twilight that you got the Zapp action figure.”

“Hey! How the heck could you hear us all the way from the table?” Rainbow demanded.

Starlight pointed to her ears. “Hearing Enhancement spell.”

“…you know it’s rude to eavesdrop right?” Rainbow deadpanned.

“Don’t try to dodge the question Rainbow Dash! Did you get the toy or not?” Starlight pressed.

“O-of course I have the toy!” Rainbow lied.

“Dash, I may not be the element of honesty or any elements for that matter, but even I can tell that you’re lying,” Starlight stated flatly.

Spike stopped eating his cereal and looked up in shock. “Rainbow… is this true? I thought you got it weeks ago like Twilight asked you to.”

Rainbow looked down and pulled her scarf enviously. “I uh… kinda forgot to get it.”

Spike had a look of disbelief before he facepalmed. “Seriously!? You forgot to get Scootaloo her Zapp action figure!?”

Rainbow shushed nervously. She looked out the door to make sure both Twilight and Scootaloo weren’t around before she faced the young drake again.

“Okay, I’ll admit! I screwed up!”

“Big time,” Starlight commented.

Rainbow shot Starlight a brief glare before she continued. “But don’t worry, I’m already on it!”

Spike raised his eyebrow with a skeptic look. “What do you mean?”

Rainbow smirked as she closed her eyes and puffed out her chest proudly. “Well, Spitfire gave me two weeks off starting today. So I’m going to Canterlot’s Toy Chest in Canterlot, buy the toy and then I’ll come back before they noticed. Problem solved!”

Rainbow expected to hear a praise from them for coming up with a genius plain. But when she opened her eyes, she frowned when the two of her friend gave her blank looks. After a long period of pause, Starlight finally responded to Rainbow’s ‘brilliant’ plan.

“You can’t be serious! Rainbow… you do realize that today is Hearth’s Warming Eve, right?

Rainbow raised her eyebrow. “Yeah, so?”

“This is the last shopping day of the year!” Starlight stressed. “It’s the most craziest and dangerous time of the year to buy a gift! Heck, it’s even worse then Black Friday!”

“Not to mention,” Spike added. “That the toy itself will be very hard to find around this time, especially a toy of a member of the Power Ponies. Finding that toy is like finding a needle in a haystack!”

Rainbow scoffed. “You two are over-exaggerating! Canterlot’s Toy Chest is the biggest toy store in Equestria! I’m sure they have hundreds of them to give out.”

“And what would you do if they’re sold out from that store?” Starlight challenged.

Rainbow paused. Apparently she did not thought ahead about this possible scenario.

“I’ll… um… go to another store,” Rainbow responded. “There’s bound to be one store that still have the toy in stock, right?”

Starlight sighed loudly and rubbed her left temple. “Rainbow… of all your screw ups and then your lack of planning you’ve come up with, this takes the cake!”

Rainbow rolled her eyes and then turned her way out the door. “Look, it’ll be fine, all right? Just don’t tell anypony about this! Later!”

Rainbow flew out of the dinning room and disappeared down the hall.

Starlight and Spike looked down the hallway where Rainbow disappeared for a moment before they turned to each other with blanks looks.

Then they both slowly smirked.

“Thirty bits says she’ll go through some crazy mishaps and then come back home empty-hoofed.”

“You’re on!”

Rainbow Dash came out of the castle doors and landed on a snowy ground. She used her right hoof to block the sun from her eyes so she can see the clouds.

Hmm. It’s little cloudy in the sky, but they appeared to be flurry clouds.

Rainbow smirked.

Perfect! A good day to go shopping!

Rainbow was about to fly up to the sky, when the most unpleasant voice called out to her.

“Why hello there Mrs. Rainbow Dash-Sparkle. Fancy seeing you again on this fine morning!”

Rainbow bit back a groan. Oh great!

Rainbow slowly turned to find the last pony she would ever want to talk in her entire life.

“Well hello Miss Rich, what brings you here?” Rainbow greeted in her flat tone.

Spoiled, who was wearing a very expensive fur coat and cap, snorted with distaste. “Well how rude! You should know that I’m still married to my loving husband of mine. We did not get a divorce.”

“Weren’t you two separated a few months ago?” Rainbow questioned.

Spoiled held her head up. “We were simply taking a break due to our… disagreements.”

It’s the same thing! Rainbow thought flatly, rolling her eyes.

Spoiled Rich is easily described as the most unpleasant, despicable, snobbish pony Rainbow has ever met. Spoiled considered herself to be the high class pony around, just because she’s married to the richest pony in Equestria, Filthy Rich. She will go after any upper-class ponies that granted her better benefits to her life while looking down and stomp on others who she considered to be the lower rank. Spoiled believed that by showing off her wealth and criticized others, is basically telling others that she is superior to them. She passed that knowledge to her daughter, Diamond Tiara, in hopes to follow in her footsteps, maybe even using her own daughter to get herself up on the social ladder.

Until her own daughter decided to no longer wanted to follow in her mothers footsteps, thanks to the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

Ever since that day, Spoiled strongly resented those three young fillies for ‘brainwashing’ her daughter. Because she was once a member of school board in Ponyvillie Elementary School, she once tried to discriminate the three out of spite many times. She once prevented the crusaders to join in on any of the school activates, field trips, or even as far as passing a grade with such ridiculous requirements. When Cheerilee found out what Spoiled had done and reported to their families, they were outraged. Rainbow Dash herself would have fly over to the Rich’s Mansion to give Spoiled a piece of her mind, but Twilight prevented that and reported to the Mayor instead.

Needless to say, Spoiled got kicked out of the office.

But Spoiled doesn’t stop there. A few days after the marriage of Twilight and Rainbow and adopting Scootaloo, Spoiled rallied up all the protesters from out of town and then stood in front of their castle. They had loudly said such cruel things like declaring that their adopted daughter is not living in a proper environment and that Princess Twilight has shamed the entire nation for marrying a low-life mare instead of a high-class stallion.

Rainbow has never hated anypony in her entire life.

Fortunately, their best friends as well as Filthy Rich and Diamond Tiara put a stop to Spoiled’s madness. They were able to ban all the ponies that came to Ponyville to bother the Sparkle family out of harm, while Spoiled received some serious scolding from her furious husband. While Filthy did not divorce her wife right then and there (but pretty darn close), he did requested to be separated from her wife for the time being while having full custody of his daughter.

Spoiled did not take the news well.

She disappeared from Ponyville for only less than a week before she showed up again at their front door. What Spoiled did next, took them all by surprise.

She apologized to them and said that she wanted to start over as a better mare.

Twilight, while being cautious, accepted her apology and decided to give her a second chance by allowing her to work as a board member of the Town Hall. Rainbow on the other hoof, was very skeptical. She thought something was fishy about Spoiled sudden change of heart, especially that Spoiled’s ‘apology’ doesn’t sound quite sincere. Spoiled even had the nerve to come visit them almost every week. Spoiled said she was just helping out preparing for this year’s Hearth’s Warming parade, but Rainbow has been suspicious to her even to this very day.

Rainbow’s eyes narrowed. “Why are you really here Spoiled?”

Spoiled placed her hoof on her chest as if Rainbow’s words wounded her. “What reason do I ever need to visit our beloved Princess of Friendship? I just thought I'd show up and maybe help out preparing for the upcoming Ponyville’s Annual Hearth’s Warming Parade with the princess herself! I figured she could hear out my ideas for this year’s event?”

Rainbow crossed her forehooves. “You mean like excluding all the popular floats that meant for kids or any Hearth’s Warming themed stuff and replaced it with some of those fancy stupid stuff you stuck-ups like and maybe throw in a throne float for your daughter instead of Santa Hooves like you’ve suggested for weeks now?”

Spoiled had a slight twitch from her left eye before she raised her head slightly. “Hey now, no need to give me that attitude of yours! Why that Princess decided to marry a tomboy like you instead of any other royalties like Blueblood was beyond me!”

Rainbow Dash barley held back a sudden urge to sock that stuck-up mare right in that crocked nose of hers.

Spoiled then had a smiled smugly. “Besides, can’t you blame me that I only wanted what’s best for my dear little daughter of mine by showing everyone in town of her greatness?” Her eyes then narrowed. “She would’ve continued to be my perfect little angel if those three little hooligans like that flightless daughter of yours haven’t corrupted her!”

Rainbow stopped her hoof on the ground in anger. “Last I checked, after Scoots and her friends helped your daughter, she was much nicer pony than you’ll ever be! Not to mention, your daughter hated your guts!”

Spoiled gasped and then went right into Rainbow’s face. “How dare you say such insensitive things to my face?!”

“Says the mare who just criticized to both my marriage and my daughter to my face!” Rainbow retorted with her face against Spoiled’s “At least I care and love my daughter unconditionally instead of controlling her and make her act like a robot!”

Spoiled gritted her teeth. “What balderdash! Of course I think of my daughter! I already purchased so many gifts for her, including that dreadful looking Zapp doll, which is now under our tree!” She than took a step away from Rainbow. “If you must know, I was trying to be a changed mare and even offered my olive branch to you ponies many time so we can strengthen our bond. But instead, you refused my offer many times and then throw it back to my face!”

“Well maybe if you stop insulting my daughter and being a passive aggressive and controlling witch, I might consider it!” Rainbow responded.

When Spoiled didn’t respond, Rainbow decided to continue in her low menacing voice.

“Let me just come out and say it, I really, really don’t like you! You were nothing but a pain in our flanks since the day Twi and I got married. Heck, you were a pain before Scoots gotten her cutie mark by filling your daughter’s head with your messed up ideals! You were very clear that you hated our guts but after you had a falling out with your husband, you suddenly turned it around and acted like you were our best friend and been visiting us weekly… because you have the sudden goodness of your heart? I don’t believe that for a second! You may have fooled my wife, but you’re not fooling me! I don’t know what you’re up to, but you better not try anything funny, or else the only thing you’re getting in your stocking are a few bruises and a restraining order!”

Rainbow turned with her back facing the rich mare. “Now if you excuse me, I’m going shopping!”

After Rainbow said her piece, she flew up into the sky and disappeared over the horizon.

Spoiled looked up while narrowing her eyes. “You’ll regret the day you insulted me with those insufferable words… Rainbow Dash!”

Unfriendly Reunion

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Rainbow had been flying in the sky for about half-hour towards the direction to Canterlot. Her wings were starting to get tired but continued to push on. Sure, she could have used the Friendship Express to get to Canterlot without using her wings, but that would take her over an hour to get there. She wanted to get to the toy store as early as possible and before everypony else so she will have better change to get the Zapp action figure. She hoped that once she got what she came for, she’ll go back home to her family and be there with them at the parade.

Rainbow smiled when she finally reached Canterlot, the biggest and most important city in Equestria. The buildings themselves were big and fancy and even the streets below were clean from any snow or ice. Well-dressed ponies were trotting around the town, going through their day without a care in the world. At the very end of the town, stood a palace where the royal sisters, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna live. No doubt that they’re probably busy during the holiday season.

With no time to waste, Rainbow Dash zipped around the street corners, looking for her destination. When she made the final turn around the building, she was surprised from what she saw in front of her.

There stood Canterlot’s Toy Chest, the biggest toy store in Equestria. The building was pure white with mixtures of blues. It had a few windows to display the toys, a blue awning over the entrance doors and a sign on top of a building with an image of toys sticking out of a chest. It’s not surprising to see a toy store almost as big as a palace.

What was surprising was seeing a whole crowd of ponies, standing in front of the entrance doors. They were so many of them; they took up almost a whole block. Rainbow estimated there were at least about a hundred ponies, maybe even more than that.

Guess I’m not the only pony who shops at the last minute. Rainbow thought glumly.

Rainbow quickly landed on a street and then dashed towards the store’s entrance, ignoring any ponies who she shoved out of a way. When she spotted one of the store’s employees through the door winder, Rainbow knocked on the door to get her attention.

“Hey, excuse me? Can you let me in? I need a few minutes to pick up something!”

The employee’s only response was pointing at the hourly sign by the door that said, ‘Opening Hours: 9AM’ and then pointed to the clock behind her, which appeared to be eight fifty-five.

“Oh come on!” Rainbow pleaded. “Can’t you make this an exception? I really need to buy a toy for my daughter as soon as possible!”

“Hey! I was here for over an hour bub!” said an angry stallion with a green scarf next to Rainbow.

“Yeah! You want something, you’re going to have to wait like the rest of us!” the mare with a blue cap interjected behind Rainbow.

Many other ponies were ganging up on her until Rainbow was forced to push back away from the door and then stood in the center of the street.

Rainbow let out an annoyed snort. Well so much for being the first one in. Guess I’ll just have to rush in as soon as they opened the door. With my speed I can get the toy as easy as—

“Well, well. If it isn’t the traitor!”

Rainbow stood still. She recognized that voice and she haven’t heard her in years. Slowly she turned around and her eyes nearly widen in shook.

There stood was a light turquoise pegasus mare with yellow-orange eyes. She wore a brown uniform with a white shirt underneath. She also wore a brown hat with a logo of a mailing company on its center that barley covered her yellow-orange mane. She had a long tail with the same color as her mane and her cutie mark was a white lightning bolt with three stars (two orange and one yellow).

Rainbow met this mare years ago when she and her first enrolled as newly recruits at the Wonderbolts Academy. They were partners once, but after one ‘incident’ during their training exercise, she was removed from the academy. Rainbow never saw her again since that day, but seeing her now was a huge shock to her.

Rainbow Dash shook off her surprise and narrowed her eyes slightly.

“Lightning Dust!”

“Dash!” Lighting spat, narrowing her eyes as well.

They were glaring at each other for a moment before Rainbow Dash began to speak.

“So… you delivering mail now?”

Lightning scoffed. “Yeah… if this lame outfit I’m wearing isn’t obvious enough for you!” Lightning then spoke with a mock of pleasantry. “So how’s life at the Wonderbolts? I bet that feels good to be the best after you stole my position as the leader due to your jealousy!”

“That’s not what happened and you know it!” Rainbow spoke up angrily as she pointed at Lightning accusing. “You made me clipped my wing, you’ve sent half of our class to a serious of tailspins on an obstacle course and you unleashed a tornado that nearly killed my friends! You were a reckless, arrogant punk with disregard of the safety to our fellow teammates and everyone else around you! And for the record, while I did report you to Spitfire, I was actually going to quit. But Spitfire wouldn’t have it and kicked you off the academy instead. While I do feel bad that you were removed because of me, but at the same time, you got what you deserved!”

Lightning growled. “How dare you! You think you’re so innocent? You were also involved in our tornado plan as well as blowing ponies away at the obstacle course too! You should be just as guilty!”

“While I’ll concede that I was also in the wrong of those actions, but at least I admitted for my mistakes and make up for it!” Rainbow fired back. “You? You could never admit that you were in the wrong while not being remorseful for hurting other ponies for trying to be the best!”

“I am the best!” Lightning screamed, pressing her muzzle against Rainbow’s. “I could have had it all! Many ponies would’ve love me, shouting out to my name. I would have been marked in the history books! Instead, I’m stuck in some miserable low pay job, delivering mail while other ponies don’t care about my existence, as I’m just the face in a crowd. You ruined my life!”

“No,” Rainbow spoke in a firm yet menacing voice. “The one who really ruined your life… is yourself!”

“Hey! What’s going on here?”

They both took a side glimpse to see a security pony, hovering over them with a deep frown. Rainbow realized that their little ‘reunion’ caused quite a commotion. The last thing she wanted was to cause trouble before she had a chance to go to the store. The two mares then slowly took a step back away from each other while not taking their eyes off of each other.

“Nothing… we were just… talking,” Lightning Dust responded slowly.

“Yeah… talking,” Rainbow answered just as slowly.

The security pony continued to stare at them for a moment before he grunted and trotted away from them. After the security pony disappeared into the crowd, the two mares continued to glare at each other, neither said a word. After a full minute of their stand off, Rainbow spoke again.

“So… what are you doing here anyway?” she asked.

Lightning glare intensified. “What’s it to ya?”

Rainbow breathed in through her nose to keep herself calm. “Well, I know for a fact that mail carriers delivers mail twenty-four seven, including Hearth’s Warming Eve. But since you’re here by the store instead of delivering mail, it seems to me that you were trying to do some last minute Hearth’s Warming shopping.”

Lightning continued to glare at Rainbow for a moment before she turned and crossed her forehooves.

“If you must know, I was trying to get my niece a Zipper action figure from the Power Ponies.”

Rainbow Dash raised her eyebrow. “You mean Zapp? Yeah I’m trying to get one for my daughter too.”

Lightning quickly turned to face Rainbow with a shock look of her own. “You? Have a daughter?”

Rainbow’s eyes narrowed. “Yeah, I have a daughter! Got a problem with that?”

Lightning raised her hooves in a defending manner. “Oh no, no! Not at all! It’s just—” Lightning looked like she was about to say something more but she immediately changed her expression back to her aggressive stance. “Whatever! What do I care about your dumb life anyway? I’m here to get that toy, so you better stay out of my way!”

Rainbow scoffed. “Fine! As long as you stay out of mine!”

Meanwhile, from the inside of the store, the employee mare noticed that the clock itself states nine o’clock on the dot. It was time for her to unlock the doors and let the shoppers in. But as soon as she changed the sign from ‘CLOSED’ to ‘OPENED,’ ponies rushed right into the store, trampling the poor mare in the process.

Rainbow herself, zipped right into to store with Lightning in pursuit. Rainbow flew around and dodged each pony to get herself ahead of the crowd, while Lightning plowed over every single pony that stood in her way. Lightning even went around the aisles to try to get herself further, knocking them down in the process. Both Rainbow and Lightning were now neck to neck, each determined to get to the Power Ponies section first, but when they both finally arrived at the same time, they immediately halted with shocked expressions on their faces.

The entire section of the room they’re in contained many different toys from the Power Ponies francize. There were many different shelves filled with action figures with each character both heroes and villains taking their own entire shelf. Most of the shelves for each character were either a quarter or halfway full. The only shelf that was overstocked was the Hum Drum action figures. The one shelf for a certain character that they’re both looking for, was completely empty. The only thing that was there was a huge sign that said ‘SOLD OUT’ in bold red.

“Wha- What the hay!?” Rainbow exclaimed while looking around in panic. “Where are all the Zapp action figures?”

“I-I don’t know!” said Lightning, as she felt a surge of anxiety. “They’re not here!”

Rainbow zipped around from shelf to shelf, in hopes to find the Zapp doll hidden among the other toys. “B-b-but this is supposed to be the biggest toy store in Equestria! They must have keep in the back storage!”

Rainbow suddenly spotted an earth pony stallion, who was wearing the store uniform. Rainbow immediately flew over to the employer, starling him in the process.

“Excuse me sir!” Rainbow said loudly.

“Yes Miss?” said the employer after he got his bearings. “How may I help you?”

“I’m looking for a Zapp action figure from the Power Ponies. Do you have them in the back somewhere?” Rainbow asked.

“Yeah, I’m also looking for the toy too!” Lightning interjected. “Can you give it to me first?”

What happened next to these two mares, caught them both off guard.

The employer laughed. It was a small chuckle at first before he reached a full-blown laughter. Both of the mares were confused by this sudden turn of events.

“Wha- what’s so funny?” Rainbow asked, perturb from the stallion in front of her.

As another employer trotted by, a female earth pony this time, the stallion employer called her over.

“Hey, hey listen to this!” He turned to Rainbow Dash again. “What did you say you two were looking for again?”

Rainbow raised her eyebrow. “Um… we’re looking for a Zapp action figure from the Power Ponies.”

Just like the stallion, the mare started laughing at them too, but much more loudly than the other employer. The two mare were even more confused by this.

“Hey, what’s all the commotion?” said one of the costumers, who was a unicorn mare.

The female employer pointed at the two confused mares. “Those two were looking for a Power Pony Zapp action figure!”

Much to the annoyance of both Rainbow and Lightning, the customer began to laugh as well.

“Oh my Celestia!” she guffawed, as tears were leaking from her eyes. “This is the funniest thing I’ve ever heard!” She then turned and addressed to the entire crowd in the store. “Hey everypony, these two mares are looking for a Zapp action figure!”

Everypony in the entire store exploded in laughter. Many ponies were either holding on to their sides, pointing at the two dumbfounded mares or rolling around on the floor as they laughed out loud. After a minute of mocked laughter, Lightning Dust finally had enough.

“Okay, what’s going on here?” she loudly demanded over the laughing crowd. “Why is everypony laughing at us?”

“Yeah, we were just looking for the toy!” said Rainbow, who was also trying to get to the bottom of this.

The stallion employer laughed even harder. “Wow, these two are serious! That makes it even more funny!”

“Didn’t you know?” said the female employer, keeping her chuckles under control, but failed. “Those Zapp action figures are the hot selling toy of the market! They’ve been sold out for weeks!”

“You’re not going to find them here, but we do have plenty of these Hum Drum dolls!” said the stallion employer before he started laughing again.

Rainbow had finally lost her patience. In one full swoop, she grabbed the two employers by the front of their shirts, lifted them off into the air with her wings and then brought them up close to her muzzle. The whole crowd ceased their laugher from Rainbow’s actions and then they nervously carried on with their lives as if nothing had ever happened. Rainbow paid no attention to the ponies around her as her focus was only on the two cowering employers in front of her.

“All right you two,” she said in a very low menacing voice. “I’m going to put you both down now and then I’ll calmly ask again. And when I do, you both better not laugh at my face again or I’ll send you both to the moon with my Sonic Rainboom. Got it?”

The two employers nodded their heads rapidly.

Rainbow smiled in a disturbing manner. “Good.”

Rainbow then descended from the air and then immediately put them back down on the ground.

Lighting Dust trotted up next to Rainbow Dash while letting out her long whistle.

“Wow… I’m not sure if I should be impressed or concerned that you got these two to stop laughing,”

“Now then,” Rainbow began, ignoring Lightning Dust. “If you guys don’t have the toy we’re looking for, then where can I find them?”

“Um…W-well… we don’t know,” the female employer stammered. “Like we said, these toys are so popular, every store that sells them give them out like they’re hot cakes.”

“I’m sure that whatever store you go to, that toy you are looking for is sold out just like our store,” the male employer added nervously.

“Come on, there’s got to be another one of these things somewhere!” Rainbow insisted.

Both employers were sitting around nervously until they both lit up in realization.

“Hang on, there was this mare!” said the stallion employer. “She just picked up a Zapp doll from the pre-order counter.”

“Mare? What mare?” Rainbow asked with some urgency.

“S-she’s a light yellow pegasus mare with a magenta mane,” the female employer answered.

“And I believe she has three suns on her flank as her cutie mark,” her partner added.

Rainbow nodded. “Three suns cutie mark. Got it!”

Rainbow was about to take off to go after the mare, but Lightning Dust spoke up.

“I don’t think so!”

Lightning swung her mailbag and wacked Rainbow Dash in the face, sending Rainbow into one of the piles of Hum Drum toys.

“That toy is mine!” Lightning declared before said gave Rainbow her mocking smirk. “Later loser!”

Rainbow Dash got herself out of the pile just in time to see Lightning Dust took off.

Why that dirty little- If it’s war you want, than that is what you’re going to get! Rainbow thought angrily before she flew after Lightning.

The case was on as Rainbow trailing behind Lightning, bit each time she tried to get close, Lightning would try to buck her in the face. During her third attempt, Rainbow spotted a colt, playing with a small blue ball. Rainbow than noticed a huge pile of stuffed animals, which were stacked almost all the way to the ceiling by the door.

Then, an idea came to her head. With a smirk, Rainbow swooped in towards the colt.

“‘Cuse me! I need to borrow this!” said Rainbow as she took the ball from the colt.

Ignoring the kid’s angry remark, Rainbow flew behind Lightning again, but this time, a yard away from her. As she held the ball, Rainbow brought her hoof back a bit. She waited for a bit while making sure that her angle and the timing was just right before she threw the ball.

Here goes nothing!

When Lightning flew at a certain spot, Rainbow tossed the ball towards the tower of stuff animals and watched as the ball hit the side of the pile. All the stuffed animals were titled to one side and then were tumbling down. By the time Lighting noticed the raining stuffed animals, it was already too late for her as she was engulfed with many toys on top of her and then crashed to the floor.

“YES!” Rainbow cheered, as she pumped her right forehoof.

As Lighting Dust moaned from underneath all the various stuffed animals, Rainbow Dash stopped for a brief moment to look down at her rival.

“See ya next fall Dust!” Rainbow taunted before she quickly flew out the store’s entrance.

Once she was outside, she landed in the middle of the road and then looked around the area to seek out the mare based from the description from those two employers.

All right, where’s that mare with the three suns cutie mark?

Rainbow looked around some more, until she spotted the mare she was looking for. The mare was light-yellow Pegasus with magenta mane and tail and had a three suns cutie mark, exactly what the two ponies said. She was also wearing her green hat and a green scarf. What brought Rainbow’s attention was the bag the mare was carrying. The one item that stuck out of the bag was the Zapp action figure, inside of a light purple and blue box.

Rainbow immediately flew towards the mare and called her out.

“HEY, HEY YOU!”

The mare turned around and her eyes widen when a crazed rainbow-maned mare was flying straight towards her.

“Wait! I want that Zapp doll!” Rainbow shouted.

The mare screamed as she took off to try to get away from this crazy mare.

“Hey! Come back!” Rainbow called desperately, as she pursues the mare.

And so the two mares were flying around the city at a very high speed. One was trying to get away from the crazy mare while the other was determined to catch up no matter what. The light-yellow mare tried to maneuvered around the ponies, ducked in between the alleys, and even fly straight through an opened window to get inside of one’s home and then came out outside through another opened window. But no matter what she does, Rainbow was still on her tail.

“L-leave me alone!” the yellow mare called out desperately.

“No wait please!” Rainbow pleaded loudly. “I just want that toy! I’ll even pay you double whatever the price was for it!”

The yellow mare yelped in fright as she flew straight down the street with Rainbow Dash slowly gaining on her.

“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIT!” Rainbow screamed.

The yellow mare suddenly made a sharp right turn, which Rainbow failed to react. As a result, Rainbow Dash crashed into a cart filled with cultivated rounded vegetables, which were now piles of splinters and shriveled leaves.

“MY CABBAGES!” cried an older stallion with a short white beard, green hat and yellow-green garbs.

Rainbow quickly got up and flew away from the cart.

“Sorry dude, I’ll pay back for those later!” Rainbow called back as she turned around the corner.

Once Rainbow entered another street, the met with a bigger crowd. Try as she might, Rainbow wasn’t able to locate the same mare with the Zapp action figure.

“No, no, no! Where did she go!?” Rainbow cried.

She flew around the area for a while until she gave up and sat in the middle of the road, huffing in frustration.

Just great! I lost the mare with the Zapp toy! Can this get any worse?

“There she is officer! That’s the mare who destroyed my cabbage cart!”

Rainbow quickly turned around and her face fell when she spotted the same stallion with cabbages from earlier, pointing at her with an angry expression. But he wasn’t alone. There stood next to him was none other than Officer Warrant, who had a deep frown on his face.

“Well… well… well,” Officer Warrant began, narrowing his eyes. “Getting yourself in trouble again, eh Dash?”

Rainbow let out a sigh in defeat.

Wonderful!

Twilight's Dilemma

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Pinkie Pie was happily skipping along the snowy road towards the Castle of Friendship while wearing her blue snow boots, blue scarf and blue winter cap. Just a while ago, Spike barged right into Sugarcube Corner and begged her to come to the castle to bake deserts for the parade or else Twilight will do it. To Spike’s surprise, Pinkie already understood before he could finished his sentence and then she was out the door, leaving the confused dragon behind.

Pinkie loves Hearth’s Warming, especially to spend the day with her friends. Baking cookies is her favorite thing to do for the holidays, but if her friends wanted her baking skills to help out for the parade, she more than happy to help. Sometimes preparing for a party is always more fun than the party itself.

Pinkie finally reached the castle doors and entered the castle. She left her winter gear by the door and then she skipped down the hall until she reached the end of the hallway, leading to the map room. As she approached the doors, she heard muffed arguments coming from the other side. Cautiously, Pinkie quietly opened the door to see Spoiled Rich and Twilight Sparkle in the room. Spoiled was in the middle of her rant like it’s the most important thing in Equestria, while Twilight was sitting on her throne, rubbing her temples in frustration.

“Oh come now Princess Twilight, be reasonable!” said Spoiled with her head up high. “I think that this year’s parade could use a bit more pizzazz! We should have floats like an ice sculpture of you, a nine mares dancing ballets, a musical orchestra, and a six feet throne made of silver and gold with me- I mean, you on it! Just to show those ponies that you are their ruler!”

Twilight sighed heavily as she looked up to Spoiled while she tried her best to keep herself calm. “Look Mrs. Rich, while I may consider adding at least a few of your ideas, but I will not remove or replace any of the other floats or mascots that are meant for children. This whole point of this event was to celebrate with our families for Hearth’s Warming. Nearly a three-quarter of the list of your ideas have nothing to do with the theme. And for the last time, I will not replace Santa Hooves for that ridicules throne idea! Besides, I would rather watch the parade with my family then to spend a few hours on a float.”

“But think of all the possibilities for future tourism and attention we’ll have for this town!” Spoiled insisted. Ponyville will finally be put on the map! We’ll soon be just as big and important as Canterlot, instead of being viewed as a poor hicktown which were run by insignificant low-lives.”

“Hey! Who you calling a low-life?” Pinkie asked indignantly as she appeared upside-down… somehow.

Spoiled shrieked in fright while Twilight blinked at Pinkie’s direction.

“Pinkie? What are you doing in here?” Twilight asked, surprised to see her friend showed up.

Pinkie let herself fall to the floor and than stood back up as if it was nothing. “Weeeeellllllll, I was just in the neighborhood when a little birdie told me that you need some help to prepare for the upcoming Hearth’s Warming parade, especially baking those delicious sweets for the town. So I decided to come over to help out because I love to help my friends and I love to bake and I love Hearth’s Warming and most of all, I absolutely-tootly love to help my friends by baking many treats for Hearth’s Warming!”

Spoiled blinked before she turned to Twilight while pointing at Pinkie with her hoof. “Is this mare on something?”

Twilight, while ignoring Spoiled, replied, “Oh… well… I guess there’s nothing wrong with having another pairs of hooves,” Twilight then smiled. “Especially from a friend.”

Before Pinkie could answer, Spoiled cut them off. “Yes well, as nice as it is to have extra help, but we would rather hire a real professional then some unreliable, childish, lunatic mare!” Spoiled turned her head as she waved uncaringly at Pinkie. “So why don’t you run along and—”

“Pinkie Pie is a friend of mine!” Twilight spoke up hotly, having enough of Spoiled’s attitude. “I don’t appreciate you calling her that! Anyway, you overstay you’re welcome, so I’ll kindly ask you to leave and keep the parade arrangement as is!”

Spoiled was flabbergasted. “But Princess—”

“LEAVE!”

An uncomfortable silence lingered for a moment within the map room, until Spoiled let out her indignant huff.

“Very well then, but I’ll be back later!”

Without looking back, Spoiled trotted out of the room with her head held high before she slammed the door behind her. Twilight had her anger expression towards the door for a minute longer before she sighed and her face changed to her sullen expression.

“I am so sorry about that Pinkie,” Twilight said softly before facing Pinkie. “I shouldn’t have let Mrs. Rich talk to you like that.”

Pinkie gave Twilight her gentle smile. “It’s okay Twilly, it’s not your fault. I was called much worse.”

Twilight shook her head. “That’s still no excuse, I was hopping that allowing her to work at the Town Hall will help her learn to be respectful and to be kind with other ponies. But instead, I’ve heard many complaints that Spoiled acted the opposite than I was hopping for. What’s worse was that I have to hear her say those awful things about another pony while I have mixed feelings of either wanting to scold her or…”

Twilight shuddered at the thought that she wouldn’t bring herself to do on anypony, not even Spoiled Rich. She quickly shook that thought away.

“I’m supposed to be the Princess of Friendship! One of my many duties is to teach everypony to make a friend and get along with others. I hoped that I could reform her like I did with Starlight. But how can I help a pony that refuses to make a friend or not wanting to be helped at all?”

Twilight sighed dejectedly and brought her head down. She felt like she had failed her duty when a pony like Spoiled won’t change her ways. She insured herself that Spoiled can be changed, as long as Twilight was being very patient and understanding. Now, with how Spoiled kept acting her ways and took advantage of Twilight’s kindness, Twilight wasn’t so sure if Spoiled could ever change.

Twilight was snapped out of her mulled thoughts while she felt a hoof on her shoulder. When Twilight looked up, she was surprised to see Pinkie with the most serious expression Twilight had ever seen from Pinkie’s face.

“Twilly… I may not know much about being the Princess of Friendship, but I do know a lot about partying!”

Twilight sighed. “Pinkie, how can you think about parties at a time like—”

“Just hear me out Twilight!” Pinkie said sternly. When Pinkie was sure Twilight was not speaking, Pinkie continued. “As a party planner, it’s my job to throw a lot of parties and to make everypony happy! But there were some ponies I met who, believe it or not, hated parties!”

“What?” Twilight exclaimed in disbelief.

“I know, right!” Pinkie exclaimed back. “I’m surprised there are ponies like that! I mean, how can anypony hate parties!? It’s like saying, you hate books, or you hate flying, or you hate presents, or you hate candy, or you hate chocolate rain, or you hate Hearth’s Warming, or you hate—”

“PINKIE!”

“Oh right, sorry Twilly!” Pinkie said sheepishly before she continued. “Well anywho, I remembered that I tried to invite those same ponies multiple times to another party, just to show how fun it is, but they refused each and every time. Some gave me good reasons why they don’t like to party, while others…” Pinkie sighed sadly, almost deflating her poofy mane. “Fully believed that partying was just a waste of time,” Pinkie mulled for a moment, before her expression changed to her happy expression again. “Anywho… I managed to convince a few ponies that partying is fun, but the rest… they wouldn’t budge. So after the twentieth—” Pinkie suddenly had a thoughtful look. “Or was it the twenty-first?” After thinking for a moment, Pinkie shrugged and continued. “I pretty much stopped inviting these ponies, but at least I’m happy that only a few of them changed their minds about parting.”

Twilight arched her eyebrow and then tilted her head slightly. “That was a very good story Pinkie, but… what does that have to do with my problem?”

Pinkie sighed. “Sometimes, there are a few ponies who are either too stubborn or just beyond help. If they keep on refusing to change or not willing to give you a chance, well… you tried and then you move on.”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “Are you saying I should… give up on her!?”

“Not right away!” Pinkie spoke quickly. “But you’ve been trying to help her for weeks with no improvements. I’m just saying you should at least give her one more chance for her to prove herself that your lessons does matter to her and that she’s willing to be a better pony. If she does, then that’s great! If she doesn’t… then I’m afraid she is not worth your time or stress.”

Twilight looked uncertain and then turned away. “I… I don’t know. It goes against everything that I stand for!”

Pinkie gently patted Twilight’s head, causing the latter to face Pinkie again. “Just think about what I said, alright Twi?” Pinkie then gave Twilight her toothy smile. “In fact, why don’t take a nice bath and let your Auntie Pinkie Pie take care of those cookies.”

“…you know I’m a bit older than you right?” Twilight deadpanned.

“Can’t talk, gotta bake some cookies!” said Pinkie as she hopped away towards the kitchen. “See ya Twilly!~”

Once Pinkie disappeared out of the room, Twilight shook her head in both confusion and in amusement.

“That Pinkie Pie, she can be so mature when she wanted to be, and yet she still acting so random.”

Rainbow Dash was having a bad day.

Not long after Officer Warrant gave Rainbow another ticket for causing disturbance on the streets of Canterlot (and paying the cabbage stallion two-hundred bits for the damages), Rainbow flew to many different toy stores from one town to the next in hope to find the Zapp doll. Unfortunately, her search is the same as follows: fly around for a half-hour to find a toy store, enter said toy store, asked the representatives for the Zapp doll, getting laughed at by the representatives, and then leave the store to go find the next one.

Rinse. Lather. Repeat.

She had been doing this for over three hours and she was already getting sick of this routine. She flew places like Cloudsdale, Vanhoover, Appleloosa, Rainbow Falls, Las Pegasus, even Rockville she wasn’t able to find the toy. Rainbow felt very tired and her wings were sore from all her flying, but she kept pushing on. She never thought that finding a specific toy would be this hard. She mentally kicked herself for not getting it weeks ago. Despite that things were not looking good for her, Rainbow refused to give up.

Rainbow finally stopped by near the Voice Crystal Booth¹ in Manehattan. As she was waiting in line behind many ponies, she couldn’t help but to think back to how her wife invented that awesome invention, which allowed ponies to communicate with each other by distance just by using this magic crystal to link with another one and then talk through it. It was originally used as a Friendship Hotline but now anypony can use it for any occasion. Some ponies owned these crystals at home, but most others used them from the booths, which actually comes to inform another pony while you’re traveling.

By the time some pony finished her long conversation about what to get from the supermarket, it was finally Rainbow’s turn to use the booth. Rainbow knew she was taking too long as she searched for the toy, so she was trying to get ahold of Twilight so that Twilight won’t be worried sick for Rainbow’s long period of absence. Rainbow grumbled as she inserted her bit into the slot so she can activate the crystal. Then she placed her hooves on the crystal to summon her link to the castle in hopes to talk to her wife. She waited for some time until finally she heard a voice speaking from the crystal.

“Hellooooooooo~ Sparkle resident!”

“Hey Twilight, I—”

Rainbow’s eyes widened. This wasn’t the sound of her wife. This voice belonged to somepony else. In fact, this voice sounded bubblier than her wife.

“Pinkie Pie?” Rainbow asked in disbelief.

“Hey Dashie’! How’s it going?” Pinkie chirped from the crystal.

Rainbow blinked. “I’m fine, but what are you doing on our voice crystal?”

Rainbow heard Pinkie giggling from the background. “Weeeeeeeeeellllll, Spike came to visit me this morning that Twilly was about to bake for the parade, so I came over to help out! Of course, I already knew about that with my Pinkie sense so I would’ve come over anyway and as much as I love Twilly, and I mean as a friend and not that way like you and Twilly! And we all know how bad her baking skills were when she once baked a cake for Scootaloo’s birthday party a few months ago! So now, I’m in control of baking and so far, I baked about two hundred gingerbreads, three hundred sugar cookies, and five hundred chocolate chip cookies and still going!”

“Um… I see,” Rainbow said uncertainly. “Well thanks for that, but I need to speak to Twilight. Can you—”

“Mmmm!~” Pinkie moaned loudly. “You should’ve tasted some of these cookies I baked. They’re so yummy when they’re fresh from the oven!”

“Pinkie… are you’re eating the cookies?” Rainbow exclaimed.

Pinkie giggled. “Of course silly! Mmmmmm!~ What do you think I was going to do with them?”

“But Pinkie, these are for the parade!” Rainbow argued.

“Oh don’t worry Dashie, we’re making more.” Pinkie insured before Rainbow heard Pinkie eating another cookie. “Mmmmmmmm!~ Besides, how can you not want to eat them?”

Rainbow sighed. “Okay whatever, now can you please get me Twi—”

“Mmmmmmmmmmm!~” Pinkie loudly moaned again, much to Rainbow’s annoyance. “These are sooooooo good! These could be my best cookies yet!”

“PINKIE! PUT THAT COOKIE DOWN AND GET ME MY WIFE!” Rainbow roared.

Rainbow eyes widened after she made that outburst. She even noticed that other ponies from their own booths giving her looks. Embarrassed, Rainbow turned to her crystal again just in time to hear her friend start speaking again.

“D-Dashie? Is everything okay?” Pinkie asked in a very quiet voice.

Rainbow sighed morosely. “I- I’m sorry Pinkie. I… I’m having a bad day.” Rainbow paused for a moment. “You see…”

“You made a promise to your daughter that you’re getting her the Zapp action figure from the Power Ponies for Hearth’s Warming to make up to her that you missed her Pro Junior Scooter Finals, which was an awesome show by the way, and then you realized it was the same action figure that you were supposed to get a few weeks ago and forgot about it, which that was a terrible thing of you Dashie! So to avoid making your daughter upset and hate you more, you decided to go out to Canterlot’s Toy Chest early this morning just so you can to buy the toy and come back home, only to find out that it was sold out and you met your ex-friend from Wonderbolts Academy, who also wanted the toy and you two were competing to get it by going to so many different toy stores but so far you found nothing and now you wanted to talk to Twilight to let her know that you are going to be a few minutes late, even though it may take a long time!” Pinkie somehow said all this in one breath. “Right?”

“Er… yeah. How did you know?” Rainbow asked, disturbed that her friend somehow knew exactly what had happened despite not being there.

“Just a hunch!” Pinkie responded simply.

“Pinkie… you scared me sometimes.”

“Anywho, Twilight is taking a bath right now after Spoiled Rich nearly stressed her out about the parade!” said Pinkie.

Rainbow eyes narrowed when Spoiled was brought up. “I see. Is that witch still there!”

“Witch? I don’t see any— OH! You mean Mrs. Rich?” Pinkie asked before she laughed with a snort. “Good one Dashie! No, she’s left but she said she’ll be back soon.”

“Listen Pinks, I need to ask two favors from you,” said Rainbow. “Will you please just tell her that I’ll be late and that I’m okay without mentioning the shopping part and also keep in eye on that Mrs. Rich? I just don’t trust her.”

There was a long pause for a moment, making Rainbow wondered if she lost connection before Pinkie eventually responded.

“Okey dokey lokey! I will do those two favors!” Pinkie chirped.

Rainbow sighed in relief. “Thanks Pinkie Pie! You’re a real life—”

“As long as you keep your pinkie promise that you’ll be at the parade!” Pinkie added in a very disturbing low voice, causing Rainbow’s eyes to widen and chills go up in her spine. “Because if you do brake a pinkie promise… then you will lose all of your trust from your friends and family… FOR-E-VER!”

DING!~

“Ooooooh!~ That must be the next batch!” Pinkie announced in her cheery voice again. “I’ll be sure to give Twilly the message! Talk to you soon Dashie!~”

After the voice crystal was disconnected, Rainbow warily stared at the crystal for a long time until she started muttering to herself.

“I take that back, she scares me all the time!”

Rainbow trotted out of the booth and then walked down the sidewalk. Rainbow’s wings were still tired so she figured she would travel on hoof for now. As she was walking, a certain light turquoise pegasus came out of her own booth and spotted Rainbow Dash.”

“Hey, hey Rainbow Dash!”

Rainbow stopped and glanced behind her for a moment to see Lightning Dust galloping towards her.

Oh great! she groaned internally before she continued walking down the sidewalk, but letting Lighting Dust catch up to her.

“Hey there Rainbow Dash, good ‘ol buddy of mine!” Lightning said in her up beat attitude, causing Rainbow to arch her eyebrow. “How’s it going?” When Rainbow never responded, Lightning asked, “Still hunting for the Zapp toy?”

“Yeah,” Rainbow asked, while glancing at Lightning suspiciously.

“Me too! Those things are hard to find, let me tell you!” Lightning said with a scoff. “I’ve flown to different parts of Equestria to find one and came up with nothing! I guess that’s what we get for shopping at the last minute; you know what I’m saying? It’s almost as if those corporate cats knew that these things are so popular, so they must of purposely sold only a few of these just for more profit! You know, supply and demand kind a thing? And it gets even worse during Heart’s Warming season too! I mean, forget Queen Chrysalis or Lord Tirek, these corporate guys are the real evil dictators!”

Finally had enough with Lightning’s tirade, Rainbow stopped walking and faced her rival. “Alright Lightning Dust, what do you want?”

“What?” Lightning asked. “Is it wrong to catch up and have a pleasant conversation with my old friend and former partner?”

Rainbow’s eyes narrowed. “Okay first of all, we were never friends!”

“…that hurts Dash!” said Lightning.

“Second,” Rainbow added. “Just a few hours ago, you clearly resent me when we met at Canterlot and then later you knocked me aside just so you could chase after a mare with the toy!”

Lightning rolled her eyes with a scoff. “Oh come on! You’re still mad about that? If I recall, you also caused an avalanche of stuffed animals before I was out the front door!”

“You still started it!” Rainbow accused. “And now, here you are, have the nerve to talk to me like we’re best pals? Just what is your game Dust?”

Lightning raised her hooves defensively. “Okay okay! Look, could you just please hear me out!”

Rainbow crossed her forehooves. “Fine, but make it quick!”

“Thank you!” said Lightning, lowering her hooves. “Now look, you remember our Academy days?”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Oh gee, how can I forget?”

Lightning pointed at Rainbow and then herself. “You and I were the best of the team. Better than every single one of these losers from our school!”

Rainbow’s glared intensely. “Dust, some of these losers you’ve insulted are friends of mine! If you keep insulting them to my face, I’ll walk away right now!”

“Okay okay, sorry!” Lightning said hastily before she continued. “What I’m trying to say was that we were the top of our class and together we can take on anypony! And earlier today when we pushed each other around at the store earlier, we still have those traits! I don’t mean to brag, but I’m considered to be the fastest mail carrier in Equestria! I still trained myself from time to time so my skills never slowed down over the years! And I’m pretty sure that you improved a lot over the years as a… Wonderbolt.”

Rainbow noticed that Lightning barely spat in anger when she said the word ‘Wonderbolts,’ but didn’t comment on that.

“Okay, and… where are you going with this?” Rainbow asked patiently while eyeing suspiciously at Lightning.

Lightning smirked. “I think you and I should work together as a team, just like the good ol’ days! Together, we’ll be unstoppable! We’ll both find these toys, take out anypony who gets in our way and then we’ll go home with the Zapp dolls right on time for Hearth’s Warming!”

Lighting then extended her hoof out towards Rainbow, expecting a hoofbump.

“So, what do ya say? Are ya in?”

Rainbow stared at Lightning and then at Lightning hoof. Then, Rainbow’s eyes narrowed and pushed Lightning’s hoof away.

“No,” Rainbow answered bluntly.

“NO!? What do ya mean, ‘no?’” Lightning yelled angrily. “Didn’t you hear what I just said?”

“Yes, I did,” said Rainbow with a frown. “But it’s still no!”

Lightning growled. “Why not?”

“Lot’s of reasons,” said Rainbow with a glare. “First of all, during our so-called, ‘good ‘ol days,’ I once followed your brilliant plans as a wing-pony, we all know how that turned out! So what makes you so sure that I would want to partner with you again? Second, the fact that part of your plan is to ‘take out anypony in our way’ and treating this whole thing like it’s some sort of game, tells me that even after all these years, you’re still that same reckless mare I know and that you will still disregard others without a second thought!”

“Hey, I’m not the bad guy here!” Lightning exclaimed. “Like you, I just wanted to get the toy before anypony else! If I have to stay ahead of the competition, I have to play dirty, even if I had to snatch the toy from some kid’s hooves!”

Rainbow glowered with a snort. “Seriously, you will go as far to steal a toy from some kid?”

“Hey, there are two types of ponies in this world: those who finish the race first and those who finish the race last! Guess which type I would rather be?”

“…you disgust me,” Rainbow said in a low voice before she turned and trotted away from Lightning.

“You’ll regret turning my offer down, Rainbow Dash!” Lightning shouted at Rainbow’s back. “When I find this toy, I will wave it right in your face! And then just for fun, I will also purchase one of those Hum Drum dolls and then shove it right up your—”

“Out of way! Out of my way!” A beige earth stallion with a brown hat shouted, as he ran past Lightning.

The stallion kept on running, nearly knocked Rainbow down in the process,

“Hey what gives?” Rainbow shouted at the stallion.

“There’s a late shipment of those Zapp action figures over at the Manehattan Mall!” The stallion shouted over his shoulder, as he kept on running.

The two mares eyes widen. Less than a spit second later, they both took off right up into the air. Rainbow was in the lead, trying to get to the mall as fast as she can. Unfortunately, her wings was still sore from all of her flight trips, she slowed down somewhat. This gives Lightning Dust the opportunity to catch up to Rainbow Dash.

As Lightning was getting closer to Rainbow, she spotted an outdoor restaurant up ahead. An idea formed into her mind as she smirked mischievously. With Rainbow distracted, Lightning rushed up to Rainbow’s side and rammed into her, causing Rainbow to fall and crashed into a bunch of tables and chairs at the restaurant.

Rainbow groaned in pain from the impact as something wet and warm substance drenched her entire mane. She surveyed around the area and winced as she noticed almost every outdoor tables and chairs are destroyed because of her. She then looked up when she heard a gasp. When she did, her face went pale that the pony in front of her was none other than Officer Warrant, sitting on his chair with a spoon barely made it to his mouth.

“Y-you just destroyed the table… and my squash soup!” He uttered in disbelief. His expression then changed to anger as he pulled out his notepad from his shirt pocket. “You’re going to get double the fine for this!”

As the officer was writing on his pad, Rainbow turned to the side just in time to see Lightning Dust, hovering in the air with a smug look on her face.

“Watch out for this one officer, she’s a real troublemaker!”

Lightning Dust laughed mockingly as she took off into the sky. Rainbow Dash glowered at her fleeing rival.

Wait ‘til I get my hooves on that mare!

Nightmare at the Manehattan Mall

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Rainbow grumbled as she was flying towards the direction towards the Manehattan Mall. She had to spend over ten minutes of listening to Officer Warrant berating her and then received yet another ticket. At this rate, she’ll end up spending more bits on her fines than an actual toy. Rainbow gulped at the thought of her angry alicorn wife if she ever found out about this, but she’ll cross that bridge when she gets to it.

Rainbow eventually reached her destination and landed in front of the entrance of the mall. The mall itself was huge, probably took up about several hundred acres. She then entered the mall and was immediately overwhelmed by the size of the interior. There where many different sections to each different stores and there were also stairs that lead to the upper floor of this building.

Rainbow quickly looked at the map of the building to find the toy store of this place. Once she located the correct store, Rainbow quickly galloped towards and up the stairs to another floor. After that, she ruched down the upper level until she located the toy store and entered it. To her surprise, there were hundreds of ponies waiting in the middle of the store, and Lightning Dust was one of those ponies. Their eyes met and they glared at each other for moment before they looked away towards the front.

Right in the middle of the store stood three representatives of the store, wearing yellow and red uniforms. The one on the far left was a green pegasus with blue mane and the far right was a white earth pony with a red mane. The one in the middle was not a pony, but a different creature. He was tall and muscular blue minotaur with big horns, short blue hair and goatee and pink snout. He also wore the same uniform as the other two ponies except he also wore a black tie, a silver ring on his nose and a golden badge that said ‘Manager’ on his left side of his chest. There was something about that minotaur that looked familiar to Rainbow, but before she could thought further, the minotaur started speaking.

“Alright, alright! Quiet!” The minotaur spoke up loudly. “Let Iron Will speak!”

Once every pony in the crowd quieted down, Iron Will cleared his throat.

“Now then, I’m sure you all heard the rumors that we just received new shipment of these Zapp dolls. Well, Iron Will can definitely say that those rumors… Are. TRUE!”

Eveypony cheered loudly from the announcement before Iron Will ushered them quiet down again.

“Now, now. Iron Will knows that you ponies wanted to get this doll more than anything. BUT… we only have a few Zapp dolls to give around. So here’s what Iron Will is going to do. You will all line up in a neat single file and then you each take one ball at a time from one of my employers.” He gestured his two employers on each side, who were each holding a bucketful of various colored balls. “Each ball contains a number, which will be used in a standard lottery fashion. Once we announced those numbers, the lucky ponies will get the Zapp doll! Those who doesn’t, there will be plenty of Power Ponies’ comic relief character, Hum Drum for you to buy instead!”

Many ponies booed from the suggestion of buying the least favorite character of the Power Ponies and demanded the minotaur to just hoof over the Zapp dolls to them now.

“Oh, and one more thing!” Iron Will added. “Due to the supply and demand of these Zapp dolls, Iron Will announced that the price of these dolls are now doubled!”

Many ponies screamed out in protest of the news, causing the big minotaur to back up nervously. The crowd was pushing and shoving their way to the front, instead of lining up as Iron Will suggested. The two employed ponies tried to hold off from the crazy shoppers, but unfortunately for them, they were knocked down and all the balls from the bucket went flying into the air.

Then all Tartarus broke loose.

Every pony, including Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust tried to jump up and grab one of balls only to get tackled down by another pony. They all piled on top of each other and wrestled to the ground to try to rip the ball out of another pony’s hooves or mouths. Even Iron Will wasn’t spared from the attack as multiple ponies knocked him down. Some ponies went as far to punch, bite, buck or even pulling on each other’s manes and tails to get the ball before the other.

Despite being buried by many ponies, Rainbow was able to fight back and eventually placed her hoof over the ball.

“Yes, I got it!” Rainbow cheered!

“Not for long!”

Before Rainbow could detect her, Lightning swung her mailbag and hit Rainbow Dash in the face, forcing Rainbow to let go of the ball. Lightning snatched the ball up and hovered up over the crowd.

“HA HA! The ball is mine!” Lightning crowed.

Rainbow finally recovered from the attack and growled at the Lightning. She needed to escape from other ponies grasp and take the ball back from her rival. Thinking quickly, she raised her hoof and pointed at Lightning.

“Hey! That mare is holding more than one ball!” Rainbow shouted, getting the other ponies attention.

“What? She can’t do that!” one of the ponies cried.

“Yeah, get the mail mare!” another one shouted.

Lightning eyes widened as all the ponies got off from Rainbow Dash and then came after her. “No wait stop! I only have one!”

Lightning tried to get away, but she was cut off by three other pegasuses and was tackled to the floor, dropping her ball in the process and bounced out of the store. As many ponies continued to dogpile on top of Lightning Dust, Rainbow chased after the ball during the confusion.

By the time Rainbow Dash exited the store, the ball already bounced down stairs. Rainbow tried to go after it, but many ponies were blocking the stairs. With no time to wait, Rainbow used her wings to fly down to the next level, ignoring many ponies protests. Rainbow spotted the ball just in time as it bounced from one wall to the next and then bounced down the hall. Rainbow chased after the ball with all her speed, but just when she was about to grab it, she was hit in the face by a door from an oblivious pony, who was walking out of a store. Rainbow sat on a floor in a daze for a moment and then she shook it off. She quickly spotted the ball at the main hall, as it rolled across the floor. Rainbow quickly got up and galloped towards the main hall where the ball was. Just as Rainbow was about to pick up the ball, a big brown border dog snatched up the ball with its mouth.

Rainbow just stood there as the dog turned and stared at her. She needed to get that ball away from that dog. She figured if she just coaxed it to give the ball back to her, then it’ll be smooth sailing.

“Hey there fella,” Rainbow said gently like she usually does with her pet tortoise, Tank. “Do you mind handed that ball over? It belongs to me.”

As she reached out towards the dog’s mouth, the dog loudly growled at her.

Rainbow quickly retracted her hoof. “Oh come on little guy. Don’t you know it’s wrong to keep things that don’t belong to you?”

Rainbow once again reached out for the ball, but the dog growled, but much more aggressively this time.

“Okay, I’m done being nice!” Rainbow shouted angrily. “Give me the ball now!”

Just as Rainbow Dash reached out for the ball again, the dog sucked the ball into his mouth completely.

“Oh no you don’t!” Rainbow screamed as she lunged herself towards the border.

Just as she was going to choke the dog, she felt somepony hitting her multiple times on her head.

“Leave Ripley alone you big bully!” said the small yellowish pegasus filly with long amber mane, black glasses and silver tiara and a three paw prints as her cutie mark. She kept hitting Rainbow over and over with her giant doggy bone, which was meant to be her pet’s treat.

“Ow ow ow! Stop it!” Rainbow cried. “I was trying to—”

“DADDY!”

Rainbow eyes widened when she noticed an angry white pegasus stallion stomping towards her. Rainbow swatted the bone away and then quickly flew away from them. She kept on flying until she hid behind the water fountain at the other side of the mall. Once she was sure no pony was chasing her, she let out a long sigh.

“That was too close!” She muttered as she slid down to the floor with a frustrated groan. “What am I going to do now? How can I find these Zapp dolls if they are so hard to find?”

Rainbow ear perked up when she heard somepony calling out to her.

“Psssst! Hey you! The rainbow mare!”

Rainbow looked around, trying to find the source of the voice.

“Over here, behind the fountain!”

Rainbow slowly got up and trotted around the fountain. Once she was at the other side her eyes widened and then let out a groan.

Oh you have got to be kidding me!

Right on the other side of the fountain was a stage, which had a painted backdrop of a snowy mountain and a cabin made of wood, white cotton all around the stage, which represented snow, and a big red sleigh. What really got her attention was not one, but two Santa Hooves, sitting on two huge red thrones. They are both yellow unicorn stallions with green eyes wearing red suits, fake white beards and red Santa hats. Despite that they both wore fake white beards, Rainbow could still see a red brushy mustache poking out from one of those two ponies.

Rainbow sighed and then leered at the two ‘Santa Hooves.’

“What do you want Flim and Flam?”

“Greetings my fellow mare from Ponyville!” Flam greeted, the one with a mustache. “Anything you want for Hearth’s Warming?”

“Perhaps you wanted something very special from the two most attractive stallions?” Flim, the one without a mustache suggested while wiggling his eyebrows.

Rainbow scoffed in disgust. “No way! I’m not sitting on any of your laps! Besides, I’m playing for the other team, if you know what I mean!”

“Well that is quite a shame,” Flim said with a shrug. “But we weren’t talking about that.”

“We were actually talking about giving you an ultimate present that you wanted to buy for your love ones… for a fee of course!” Flam added with a smirk.

Rainbow narrowed her eyes. Flim and Flam were known as the ‘traveling salesmen,’ but really, they are nothing more than a couple of con artists. They visited her town twice just to pull off their scams. On their first visit to Ponyville, they attempted to drive the Sweet Apple Acres Farm out of business by making many barrels of apple ciders with their ‘Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000.’ However, their methods of producing apple ciders made them tasted horrible and they ended up fleeing out of town. One their second visit, they tried to sell their so-called ‘Miracle Curative Tonic,’ which was supposedly help cure everything, including making you young again. They had almost everypony fooled, even Granny Smith. But once again, it all turned out to be a sham and Applejack stopped her grandmother before Granny Smith could perform a dangerous high diving stunt. Needless to say, the brothers were chased out of town. The last thing Rainbow heard from those two sleazeballs was when Applejack and Fluttershy met them at the resort in Las Pegasus during a friendship mission. Applejack didn’t say much to her about the mission, but to make a long story short, two of her best friends were forced to team up with those two con-ponies to take out an even bigger con-pony at the resort. After they took that pony down, the two brothers turned around and took over the resort.

Rainbow’s glare intensified and pointed accusingly at the two brothers.

“No way! You two were nothing but crooks! And besides, I thought Applejack said that you two are now running the luxury resort in Las Pegasus!”

The two brothers suddenly looked uncomfortable at the mention of the resort.

“Oh… well… we realized… that that the resort business is not for us!” Flim said with some hesitation.

“So we decided to leave it behind to pursue another career!” Flam added quickly as he gave Rainbow his convincing smile.

Rainbow crossed her forehooves and gave the brothers her smirk.

“The ponies caught on to your schemes and then you two were chased out of town, didn’t you?”

“Look, are you interested or not?” Flim snapped impatiently.

Rainbow scoffed at them and then she turned to walk away. “Forget it! I got more important things to do!”

“Is finding that Power Pony Zapp doll the important thing?” Flam asked.

Rainbow stopped in her tracks and faced the brothers again with her arched eyebrow.

Flam smirked. “We knew that would get your attention. We managed to get this doll from this morning.”

“Don’t believe us?” said Flim as he used his horn to levitated a small photograph towards Rainbow Dash. “Here’s a picture of us with the doll!”

Rainbow snatched the photo from the air and then inspected it closely. The photograph contained the two brothers wearing their own Santa Hooves costumes, giving the camera their huge smiles while they each performed their usual showmen poses, which made Rainbow Dash to roll her eyes a bit. What really got her attention was the one item they hold on both of their hooves, the Zapp action figure. It was out of the box, but all the features were there, including the same colors of the hero’s face and mane, dark blue costume, lightning necklace, wings popped out, and most importantly, it looked brand new. While it is the very same toy Rainbow was looking for, but at the same time, it is also too good to be true.

Rainbow looked up at the brothers again and her eyes narrowed. “How do I know that this one is real?”

“Oh it’s real alright!” Flim insisted.

“And it’ll be yours for a fair price!” Flam added.

“Where is this doll?” Rainbow asked in her serious voice.

“We kept the doll nice and safe in one of the town’s warehouse,” Flam answered.

Rainbow’s facial expression remained stoic. “I want to see this do—”

“Shhhhhh!” Flim loudly shushed.

The two brothers then quickly acted like two jolly Santa Hooves, waving and saying “Ho, Ho, Ho!” as the security pony walked by them. The security pony himself waved back with a smile before he continued to walk down the mall. Once the guard was out of sight, the two brothers went back to business.

“We’ll let you see the doll,” Flim said in his hushed tone. “But not here! You’ll have to come with us to our warehouse!”

“How do I know this isn’t another one of your scams?” Rainbow asked skeptically with a frown.

Flam leaned towards Rainbow as he spoke in a very low volume. “Look… you can either wait for a few minutes and then we’ll all go get your doll together or you walk away, knowing that you miss your chance and you wouldn’t get an opportunity like this again.”

Flim then smirked. “Well? What’s it gonna be?”

Rainbow placed her hoof on her chin in thought. She knew that these two goons are nothing but trouble and they are not very trustworthy. They would probably pull a fast one on her just to take her money and not actually fulfilling their promise. On the other hoof, they are the only lead she has to get the doll she was looking for since she spent all day searching almost every location in Equestria and came up with nothing. Even if she refused, then where will she go from here? How will she know that the next location she will go to, only to turn out to be another wild goose chase? The more she lost time, the less likely she’ll get a gift for Scootaloo. She couldn’t bear to face Scootaloo without the toy. The thought of Scootaloo giving Rainbow a look of disappointment and betrayal was a stab to Rainbow’s heart.

With a long reluctant sigh, Rainbow Dash made her decision.

A Shady Deal

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Downtown Manehattan was probably the less appealing and dangerous part of town. The main roads were run down and full of potholes, there were many cracks and ice all over the sidewalk and small houses were old and falling apart. Even though the daylight was still out despite some clouds, the neighborhood was still giving Rainbow the creeps. After the Flim Flam Brothers finished their shift, they all left the mall and then walked down the sidewalk on hoof with the brothers in the lead. The two stallions still wore their Santa Hooves costumes, but they assisted that it was because they wanted to keep themselves in disguise. Rainbow secretly believed that their ridiculous suits were the only outfits that keep them warm since they are too cheap to get their own winter outfits. She felt annoyed that they’ve been walking through town for a long time. She wanted the two brothers to just tell her the location so she can fly there herself, but they told her she can’t get in there without them.

“Alright, where is that warehouse?” Rainbow finally asked with an impatient tone. “I felt like we we’re walking for hours!”

“It’s only been twenty minutes my dear rainbow friend!” replied Flim.

“And we are almost there! That we promise you!” added Flam.

Rainbow sighed. She wanted nothing more then to just ditch these two clowns and be on her way, but she really needed that action figure. She decided to follow their terms for a while longer. The sooner she’ll get the toy, the quicker she can leave.

“We’re here!” Flim announced.

Rainbow snapped out of her thoughts and looked up with her eyes were as big a saucers.

Right in front of them was a huge warehouse. The building may be big, but it was old and run down. The windows were covered with boards, graffiti was written on the walls and a huge rusty metal door as the main entrance to the place.

“Sweet Celestia! It’s in there?” Rainbow exclaimed in disbelief.

Flam nodded. “Yep, this is where we make the magic happen!”

Doubt it! Rainbow thought with her eyes roll.

“Now, I’m going to get us in. Flam my dear brother of mine, will you please keep an eye on our ’guest’ for a moment?” said Flim as he made his way to the door.

Flam faced towards Rainbow Dash who had a look of displeasure on her face.

“Sorry, nothing personal. It’s part of the procedure,” said Flam.

Flim stood in front of the door and then he knocked it with his hoof. The waited for a while before a small panel opened, reveling to be some other pony’s eyes, who was peering directly at Flim.

“Password?” the mysterious pony behind the panel stated.

Flim leaned in closer to the door. “Jingle Bells… Celestia Smells.”

Rainbow had nearly facehoofed from that statement.

The pony’s eyes disappeared from the panel and then the metal door opened. The three ponies then trotted inside of the building before the door shut behind them. Inside of the building was a huge spacious room with a giant roof window above them. There were rows and rows of industrial shelves with many boxes of ‘stuff,’ possibly more rare toys they were trying to sell. There were many other ponies either dressed as Santa Hooves or Elves while they were doing their jobs. Some were standing by the tables, assembling many toys from big to small. Some were either using the forklift or just carrying boxes to store them in shelves. There were even a few ponies sitting around counting bits at their desks. As Rainbow took this all in, she felt a tap of her shoulder. She turned to see Flim, giving her his knowing smirk.

“Nice place, isn’t it?” said Flim.

“This place is so top of the line, it could even rival Santa’s Workshop!” bragged Flam.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. I bet an actual Santa’s Workshop is a whole lot better then this dump!

Just then, one of the costumed worker ponies, who has green fur and black mane, trotted up to them.

“Kevin, buddy!” Flam greeted. “Will you do us a favor and fetch us a Power Pony Zapp doll for this lovely mare?”

‘Kevin’ simply nodded at Flam before facing Rainbow. He was staring at her for a moment, making her feel uncomfortable, before he finally trotted away from her towards the back of the warehouse. As he was walking away, Rainbow could have sworn she heard a low ‘hiss’ coming from that creepy pony.

Rainbow eyed the entire warehouse with uncertainty. “I don’t know fellas… but there’s something about this place that doesn’t seem to be quite… legit.”

“Says the mare who almost choked some kid’s dog over a ball!” Flam shot back.

Flam then wrapped his one arm around Rainbow. “Listen there little lady, it may not look like much, but we’re on a mission.”

“A mission to help and bring joy to the kids!” said Flim.

“For the kids?” Rainbow asked with skepticism.

“Yes! For the kids!” Flam insisted. “Do you have any idea of how many children out there were disappointed when they woke up on Hearth’s Warming each year?”

“Too many to count!” Flim answered for Rainbow. “And the number of disappointing children just keeps growing every year!”

“How right you are there brother and it’s a very sad tell indeed!” Flam said grimly. “With each disappointing children, that means they lost their love of Hearth’s Warming and their fire of friendship gets dimmer and dimmer!”

“And at this rate, the whole future generation will no longer have any love for the holidays and the evil spirits of the Windigos will consume the world as we know it!” Flim added with urgency.

“All because their parents never give them the gift they were asking for!” both brothers said in union.

Flam then cleared his throat. “So that is why me and my brother, along with many of our volunteers, dedicated to find and create the toys for the children in need. Doing what the real Santa Hooves failed to do, making children happy!”

“And most importantly, teach the children to spread the Hearth’s Warming cheer and never stop the love of the holidays, keeping the fires of friendship alive and strong!” Flim finished dramatically.

Flam clapped his hooves with a smile. “Well said my brother!”

Flim also clapped with a smile. “It’s your words that inspired me so!”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. Oh brother!

Shortly after the brother’s explanation, ‘Kevin’ returned with a wrapped package on his back, assuming to be Zapp action figure. Rainbow was about to reach out for the present but Flim stopped her.

“Hold on!” Flim stated as he lifted the package with his magic. “That’ll be three hundred!”

“Bits?” Rainbow exclaimed in disbelief.

Flim rolled his eyes. “No candy canes; yes bits!”

Rainbow eyes narrowed. “Seriously? Whatever happens to ‘spreading Hearth’s Warming cheer’ and ‘making children happy?’”

“We are,” Flam said simply. “But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t get paid for our services.”

Rainbow scoffed before she took out a bag of bits from under her wing and flung it to the floor in front of the brothers.

“Here!”

Flam grinned as he used his magic to lift up the bag. “Pleasure doing business with you!” He then placed the bag on top of ‘Kevin’s’ hoof. “Alright Kevin, please put our earnings in our safe!”

While they were distracted, Rainbow yanked the present from Flim’s grasp and then hastily unwrapped the package.

“Hey you can’t do that!” Flim cried.

But Rainbow ignored him as she completely unwrapped the present, revealing to be Zapp action figure inside of the official Power Ponies package. Everything seemed to be in order, until Rainbow lightly shook the package.

“¡Es el tiempo de Zappin!”

Rainbow stared dumbfound at the toy after it spoke in another language and then she glared daggers at the sweating brothers.

“Uh… the doll you got there is a… Spanish edition!” Flim said nervously.

“Er… yeah. It’s special and one-of-a-kind!” Flam added with an unconvincing smile.

Not buying their claims, Rainbow opened the toy package and dumped the toy out of the box.

“Hey don’t—”

Before any of them protest, the toy came out of the box and fell apart before the pieces hit the ground. Rainbow noticed that the toy parts are not high quality or actual pieces at all. They were actually cheap pieces of plastic that looked similar to the toy parts. They were nothing more then a cheap knock-offs of the original toy, and the Flim Flam Brothers almost rip her off.

Rainbow slowly looked up to the two stallions, but this time, she gave both of them her death glare.

Flam laughed nervously. “Uh… hehehehe. That specific toy required… assembling?”

Rainbow nose flared. “Why you— I want my money back!”

“Ah, ah, ah! There are no refunds once the deal is closed,” Flim responded smugly but then lost his smile when Rainbow’s muzzle was pressed against his.

“No! You give me back my money right now you bunch of no good sleazy con artists!” Rainbow demanded angrily.

Everypony within the warehouse stopped what their doing and then angrily stared at Rainbow.

Flam narrowed his eyes. “Hey! We are not con artists!”

“Oh, I’m sorry! How thoughtless of me!” Rainbow said mockingly before she broke out into an angry rant. “Con artists were actually too polite of a word for it! No… you two, along with everypony else in here, are noting more then a bunch of scheming, low-life, no-good lousy criminals!”

As soon as Rainbow boldly said those words, the entire warehouse was in a heavy silence. Everypony stared blankly at Rainbow for a full minute before each and every one changed to a look of anger like they want her blood. The two brothers even had a look of furry as Flim said in a low spine-chilling voice.

“Oh now you’ve done it!”

The two brothers then stood on their hind hooves and they were now in their fighting stance.

“You’re going to regret saying these things in front of us!” Flim threatened.

“So put up your hooves, rainbow-girl!” Flam spat angrily.

Rainbow stared blankly at the two brothers before she let out a sullen sigh. “I could never bring myself to hurt two Santas.”

“Awww, feeling sentimental?” Flim taunted.

Flam then sneered. “Well that’s fine with—”

In one swift motion, Rainbow grabbed both of their fake beards and ripped it off of their faces, making them winced in pain. Their eyes then widened when Rainbow gave them both her sinister grin.

“But I’ll definitely bring myself to hurt a bunch of slimeballs!”

Before the two brothers could register her words, Rainbow quickly turned around and bucked them both in the face, sending them flying into the wall. The brothers then slid down to the floor as groaned in pain.

“Get her!” Flam uttered before he fell down completely to the floor.

Many worker ponies surrounded Rainbow as intending to give her the beating of her life. Unfazed from this, Rainbow was in her fighting stance.

“All right, bring it on! I can take you ponies on!” Rainbow taunted with a smirk.

‘Kevin,’ who stood in front of Rainbow, suddenly began to laugh and all the workers expressions changed to a vicious smirk, much to Rainbow’s confusion. Green flames appeared and covered ‘Kevin’ completely as well as each of the other ponies. When all the flames died down, all the worker ponies changed to a bunch of black pony-bug like creatures with big blue eyes, fangs, light blue wings and dark blue back. They even have holes on through their legs and tails. The only thing that ruined their intimidation somewhat was that their costumes that they were still wearing.

Rainbow eyes were wide in shock. “Changelings!?”

“Yes!” Flim answered. “There are still some changelings like them that are still royal to their queen. Ever since their queen disappeared, my brother and I made a deal with them that if they work for us, they can take as much love as desired from our unsuspecting clients.” Flim then smirked. “And you young lady, will be their next victim!”

The changelings slowly trotted up to Rainbow while giving her their threating hiss with their tongues.

“…Oh crud.” Rainbow uttered.

The changelings all jumped towards Rainbow Dash to pile on top of her, but Rainbow dodged them on time with her speed. One changelings attempted to punch her, but Rainbow ducked and then uppercut the changeling. Another one tried to tackle her but Rainbow spun around him and then bucked the changeling in the head and then went up into the air. Two more changelings flew towards her from each side, but Rainbow was fast enough to descend quickly, making the two changelings collided with each other.

Rainbow landed near one of the desks and spotted a giant candy cane on top of it. So Rainbow Dash picked it up and wacked one of the changelings in the head as one of them tried to sneak up on her. Four more changelings flew towards her, but Rainbow quickly responded by swinging her cane with all her might and knocked them away from her. Unfortunately, the giant candy cane broke in half, but she used it as a projectile by throwing the cane pieces at two changelings, making them drop down instantly.

More changelings jumped and flew towards her from multiple angles and Rainbow responded with either a punch or a buck. Unfortunately, it was getting harder for Rainbow to keep up with the changelings and as a result, they eventually overwhelmed her and tackled her to the ground.

“Get off of me!” she screamed, as more changelings continued to pile on top of her.

Just then, the front door was suddenly blasted open and many ponies dressed in blue rushed into the warehouse.

“FREEZE!” shouted one of the police ponies.

“It’s the Windigos!” Flam cried. “Run away!” Flam quickly got up and ran towards the back of the warehouse. “Every stallion to themselves!” Flam exclaimed, leaving his brother behind.

Flim quickly got up and chased after his brother. “Hey! Wait for me brother!”

Many changelings screamed and jumped off of Rainbow as they tried to escape the law. Some of the changelings managed to escape by using their own changing abilities to their advantage, but the rest of them weren’t so lucky as the police immediately captured them. As for Rainbow Dash, she slowly got up and leaned on the table so she could recover. Normally she hated to be rescued, but considering that she was almost done in by those rogue changelings, she’ll make an exception this time. Her only concern was that she’s going to get in major trouble for involving herself with those criminals.

Before she could sneak away, she heard somepony called out to her.

“Hey you there!” she shouted.

Rainbow stood stiff. Her only hope to escape was gone when the same pony grabbed her by the shoulder. Rainbow shut her eyes as she was forced to turn around.

“Hey, look at me when I’m talking to—”

There was silenced for a moment until Rainbow heard the same pony with a much more surprised tone.

“Rainbow Dash?”

Rainbow finally opened her eyes and then was surprised to see another familiar face in front of her.

“Meadow Flower?”

Meadow Flower is a light rose color pegasus with light blue eyes and various gold mane and has sunflower on her flank as her cutie mark. The only major thing that was different from her was that she wore a light blue shirt with a dark blue tie and blue cop hat on her head. She used to be one of Rainbow’s old classmates from the Wonderbolts Academy until they graduated. The last Rainbow heard of Meadow was that she traveled to Manehattan to pursue another career for her life.

“Oh my goodness! It’s good to see you again Rainbow! It’s been awhile!” Meadow Flower exclaimed with a smile.

“Uh… yes it has,” Rainbow said in awe. “I didn’t know you became a police officer!”

Meadow puffed her chest in pride. “Yep. After I graduated from the Academy, I decided to pursue my dream to be a cop, soooo here I am!”

Rainbow smiled. “Awesome, congratulations!”

“Thanks!” Meadow said cheerfully before she frowned. “As much am I excited to see you but… what are you doing here?”

Rainbow began to sweat. “Oh… um… you see…”

Meadow looked around the warehouse and then something clicked into her mind.

“Wait… don’t tell me…” Meadow said slowly, narrowing her eyes at Rainbow.

From within her mind, Rainbow began to panic. Oh no! Meadow is one of the smartest cadets I known! She’s going to find out what I’m doing here and then I’m going to jail for Heart’s Warming! And my family will find out what I done and then hate me forever! MY LIFE IS RUINED!

“…you’re here on a friendship mission, weren’t you?” Meadow concluded with a teasing smirk.

Rainbow nearly facefaulted to the ground but managed to keep her composure.

“Duh… YES! Yes I am!” Rainbow lied with a nervous laugh. “In fact… it was an undercover mission. I mean, I knew there was something big going on in this town, but I never imagined it could lead to this! It’s a good thing you showed up… not that I couldn’t handle it.” Rainbow then titled her head. “But how did you find me anyway?”

“We were informed by an anonymous caller,” Meadow explained. “She said that a mare was lured into this abandoned warehouse by two shady looking stallions dressed as Santa Hooves. I’m just glad that we made it in time.” Meadow then smiled. “But off the record, you’re amazing! You are a full time Wonderbolt performer and a trainer for the academy! On top of that, you are also one of our main heroes in Equestria! Is there anything you can’t do?”

Fulfilling a promise and make my daughter happy? Rainbow thought bitterly before she responded. “Well you know me Meadow, there’s nothing that Rainbow Dash can’t handle!”

Meadow chuckled. “I bet! I’m so going to introduce you to my boss now!”

Rainbow raised her eyebrow. “Oh okay, who?”

“Officer Warrant,” Meadow replied.

Rainbow’s face nearly went pale. Oh crud!

“He’s on his way over now,” Meadow added as she watched more changelings being led away by other officers. “Of course, we gotta take care of these punks first!”

Rainbow nearly started panicking again. Officer Warrant was probably the last pony she ever wanted the meet, especially in this place. He was peeve enough as it is because of all the other ‘run-ins’ she had with him. He won’t be so merciful if he found out the she is here. Rainbow has to get out of this warehouse fast before he could spot her.

“Um actually… I couldn’t stay long!” Rainbow said quickly. “I have… uh—important friendship duty to take care of! So we’ll catch up another time!”

“Oh, are you sure?” Meadow asked in her somewhat disappointed tone.

“Yep, just say ‘hi’ to your boss for me!” Rainbow responded before she took off, leaving a confused Meadow behind. “Later!”

Rainbow flew towards the front door and peaked outside. To her dismay, Officer Warrant was out there heading towards the entrance with a few officers by his side.

SHOOT! He’s outside! Rainbow inwardly exclaimed. He’ll spot me no matter where I fly out of here! I need to get past him somehow!

Rainbow quickly looked around the area, tried to find something she can use to sneak away. Then she spotted a clothing rack at the corner of the warehouse that held many different costumes, most likely disguises for the changelings. Most of these costumes were holiday theme of course, but there was one particular costumer Rainbow had eyes for. Rainbow then grinned as she formulated her plan.

“I don’t care how we catch them!” Officer boomed as he and his partners trotting towards the warehouse. “Have our officers surround the place and capture everypony within the area! And make sure nopony leaves, they could be our suspect or our witnesses!”

“Yes sir!” many officers responded.

Just as Officer Warrant was about to enter the door, another officer came out of the door at the same time with a police cap covering her eyes and accidently bumped into him.

“Uh, sorry chief!” said the officer with a raspy voice and kept on walking in a fast pace, while keeping a firm grasp on her hat.

Officer Warrant was about to retort back for bumping into her superior officer but then he paused. As he watched that officer trotting away from him, Warrant couldn’t help but to think that there was something… familiar about that mare. He tried to recall where he seen that mare before but he couldn’t quite put a hoof on it. He then faced his partner as they went inside of the warehouse.

“Who’s that officer?” Warrant questioned.

“Oh, she must be one of our newbies we’ve hired a few days again!” his partner responded. “You have to forgive her sir, she’s new on the force.”

Officer Warrant eyes narrowed. While it’s true that they hired new officers a few days back, but he actually paid attention to their background as well as their descriptions; such as race, coat color, mane color, and everything else. But he had no recollection of the mare he bumped into a few seconds ago. He would have continued on with his thoughts if he weren’t interrupted by somepony calling out to him.

“Officer Warrant!”

Warrant spotted officer Meadow Flower, quickly trolled up towards him.

“At ease Flower!” Warrant stated, causing Meadow to stop right in front of him. “What’s your report?”

Meadow saluted with a smile. “Well so far, we’ve apprehended at least eighty percent of the criminals in this warehouse. Most of them are rouge changelings sir!”

Warrant nodded. “Excellent! Good thing our anonymous caller let us know the location of these punks! We’ve been looking for them for years!”

Meadow nodded with enthusiasm. “Yes it is a good thing and it all thanks to Rainbow Dash who kept them busy for us to nab them!”

Warrant blinked in surprise, never expecting to hear from that troublemaking mare again. “Wait… did you say… Rainbow Dash?”

“Yes, I did,” Meadow responded. “Why? Have you met her?”

“…a few times,” he deadpanned. “Where is she?”

“Um… she went through the front door a while ago and then you came in shortly after,” Meadow answered with a confused expression. “Didn’t you see her?”

“No, I didn’t see—”

Suddenly his eyes were as wide as saucers when he finally realized about the strange ‘officer’ he bumped into earlier. While her face and eyes were hidden, he distinctly remembered that her raspy voice was identical as that troublemaking mare he met many times before. But the most critical detail that never registered to him until now was that while her mane was well hidden, her tail on the other hand was exposed. And the color of her tail was a rainbow.

“OH THAT SON OF A—” Warrant roared before he quickly turned and galloped out the warehouse.

Once he was outside, he spotted the police uniform costume, which was roughly discarded on the ground. He quickly looked up just in time to see a tiny cyan dot, which belonged to that fleeing rainbow-maned pegasus, flying away over the horizon at a high speed. Warrant cursed loudly and then threw his hat on the ground in rage. He looked back up at the sky and glared fiercely at the direction where Rainbow Dash had disappeared.

You can fly, but you can’t hide… Rainbow Dash! Cause the next time I see you, you’ll be spending Hearth’s Warming in a nice warm jail cell!

Diner Blues

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The Hearth’s Warming Parade in Ponyville was still underway, as many ponies were helping out around town. Twilight was the leading organizer, helped out ponies by offering them suggestions and assisting many assignments. Applejack and Big Mac were clearing the roads by dragging their snow plows behind them. Rarity and Fluttershy were decorating the street lamps with Hearth’s Warming wreaths and red ribbons. Pinkie Pie was setting up the food stand. And finally, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were assigned to put up flyers of the parade around town. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Silver Spoon were putting up flyers at one side of the town while Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara just put up the last flyer near the Castle of Friendship.

“Finally! We’re done!” Scootaloo exclaimed with her satisfied smile.

Diamond nodded while admiring their work. “Yep, and it looks like we’re ahead of the others!”

Scootaloo faced Diamond with her grateful smile. “Thank again for helping out with the flyers Diamond.”

Diamond smiled back. “You’re welcome Scoots. I had a lot of fun! My mother would never allow me to help out decorate the town.” Diamond then frowned and muttered, “Let alone let me play outside in the snow.”

Scoots frowned as they were both heading to the castle. “No offence, but your mother is pretty lame for not letting you do anything, even for Hearth’s Warming.”

“None taken,” said Diamond with a shrug. “Yes… I hated that my mother made me missed out for almost everything, but I’ll be lying if I say that my life is always so miserable.” She then sighed softly. “My daddy would try to make up for his absence by making my Hearth’s Warming the best every year. Whenever I told him what I wanted for Hearth’s Warming, he would send me all the gifts with our family’s blimp.”

“I see.” Scootaloo said with high interest. “So what did you tell your dad what you wanted for Hearth’s Warming this year Diamond?”

Diamond stopped walking, which in turn made Scootaloo stop walking as well. Diamond then fully turned to face Scootaloo and then looked Scootaloo square in the eyes.

“Nothing.”

Scootaloo blinked. “Nothing?”

“Nothing.”

Scootaloo blinked again. She wasn’t expecting this answer, especially from a rich filly who can easily owned everything in Equestria with an endless bank account.

“Why?” Scootaloo asked in confusion. “Every year you always asked for a lot of stuff and then show it off to our faces!” She then winced from her own words. “No offence.”

Diamond waved off Scootaloo’s concern. “Again, none taken. As for your question, I already got my gift.”

“Oh? Well what is it?” Scootaloo asked out of curiosity.

“Spending my time with my daddy on Hearth’s Warming!” Diamond answered with a smile. When Scottaloo’s had an unreadable expression on her face, Diamond explained. “He was always so busy with his company, he rarely came home from work, including on Hearth’s Warming. But this year, he’s actually coming home and we can spend the whole day together!” Diamond then sighed happily. “That’s the one gift I always wanted.”

“…Wow” Scootaloo uttered. “That’s awesome. I’m happy for you!” Scootaloo then cleared her throat. “If you don’t mind me asking, what made him finally decided to spend the day with you?”

With a frown, Diamond put her hoof to her chin in thought. “I… I guess my daddy finally understood that I missed him… and why I acted the way I was. So he wanted to change that and wanted to spend more time with me. I supposed it also helped… that my mother isn’t around much lately.”

Scootaloo couldn’t help but to remember all the times she had with Rainbow Dash. They used to spend a lot of time together like they were sisters. Rainbow Dash would have time to teach her how to fly, giving her advice on her scooter tricks, partnered with her on Sisterhoof Social and even celebrated her birthday. But after Rainbow became her mother, Rainbow doesn’t have the time to do anything with her anymore. Would Scootaloo be better off if Rainbow and Twilight never adopted her?

With a sudden somber expression, Scootaloo slowly trotted towards the castle.

“Scoots? Where’re you going?” Diamond asked with concern.

“I’m… going back to the castle to warm up a bit,” Scootaloo said glumly as she kept walking. “Tell Twilight that I’ll be back later.”

Somewhere from the distance, Twilight was having a headache as she tried to explain to Spoiled for the umpteenth time.

"How many times do I have to tell you Spoiled!" Twilight huffed. "We will not replace all of the costumes with tuxedos and dress!"

Spoiled humphed. "Really Twilight! These costumes are atrocious! They should wear much more formal!"

"But that wouldn't match the themes of their floats and their holiday spirit!" Twilight argued. "And besides, the costume decisions were already set in stone!"

"Unbelievable!" Spoiled scoffed. "Where this town coming to? I bet the ponies in Canterlot wore much better outfits than the ones we got! If I wa running this whole thing I—"

Twilight didn't paid any attention to Spoiled, as Twilight noticed Scootaloo trotting sadly towards their castle. Twilight frowned in concern for the filly and decided to go see what was wrong with her adopted daughter.

Twilight cleared her throat. "I'm terribly sorry Spoiled, but... something just came up that I have to attend to. Please excuse me!"

As Twilight trotted her way towards the castle, Spoiled stared at Twilight's back with a scowl on her face.

Scootaloo tossed her winter gear to the side as soon as she entered her home. She was walking down the hall, heading to her room when she heard a magical beeping sound coming from the map room. Scootaloo quickly ran into the room and noticed their voice crystal was flashing in bright purple color. Figured that somepony was calling them, Scootaloo touched the crystal to pick up the call.

“Hello?” said Scootaloo.

“Hey buddy!” said a very familiar raspy voice coming from the crystal.

“Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo exclaimed happily. “I knew you would call!”

“Of course I will Scoots,” Rainbow responded. “But I need to talk to Twilight! Is she around?”

“Rainbow, when are you coming home?” Scootaloo asked anxiously. “The parade is going to start soon!”

“Listen Scoots, I really need to speak to Twilight!” Rainbow said hastily.

“Will you be there?” Scootaloo added, ignoring Rainbow’s request.

Rainbow huffed. “Be where?”

“The parade!” Scootaloo answered.

“Yes! I will be there in ten seconds flat!” Rainbow answered quickly. “Now let me speak to—”

“You gotta be there!” Scootaloo stressed. “You pinkie promised to me this morning! You’ve been gone all day and I really want you to be there!

“Scoots, please!” Rainbow urged impatiently.

“Nopony should ever break a pinkie promise!” Scootaloo continued. “When you make a pinkie promise or any kind of promises, you have to keep it! Even Zapp once said, ‘In order to keep your friends, you must always keep your promises!’”

“I DON’T CARE WHAT YOUR DUMB HERO SAID!” Rainbow exploded. “I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF ZAPP! I DON’T WANT TO HEAR ANYMORE OF THAT ZAPP! THE LAST PONY I DO NOT WANT TO TAKE AN ADVICE RIGHT NOW IS FROM THAT LAME, GOOD-FOR-NOTHING, PAIN-IN-THE-FLANK ZAPP! NOW GET TWILIGHT OVER BY THE CRYSTAL NOW!”

Scootaloo flinched back sharply from Rainbow’s harsh words. Rainbow never yelled at her like that before, not even the time when Rainbow was mad at her and her friends when Scootaloo wrote an embarrassing article about Rainbow as Gabby Gums. Her little body was shaking and tears were leaking from her eyes, as she kept sniffing in sadness.

“S-scotts, I- I’m so sorry,” Rainbow said softly with guilt. “I-I didn’t mean any of—”

“You know what?” Scootaloo yelled, despite the tears still flowing down her cheeks. “You’re supposed to be the element of loyalty and yet, you were never there for me when I needed you! Sometimes I wish you never adopted me! At least you were there for me then, but now… you were never around! You always make promises to me but you never follow through any of them! So the only pony I know who truly is the lame one… IS YOU!”

Scootaloo angrily swatted the voice crystal away, deactivating the crystal in the process. She then turned and galloped away from the room and out to the hallway, while not paying attention to Twilight as she entered the map room with a look of shock. Twilight arrived at the door just in time to hear both parties yelling at each other with harsh words. While it had hurt her to hear her adopted daughter said about wishing she was never adopted, she was also very disappointed in her wife for yelling at Scootaloo like that.

“What have you done Rainbow?” Twilight whispered before she went out to the hallway, looking for her daughter to comfort her. Unknown to either of them, a certain snobby mare with a crooked nose was listening in from one of the hallways from within a shadow with a haughty smirk.

Rainbow stared at the now disconnected voice crystal in shock. Scootaloo’s harsh words still echoed in her brain over and over like an old beaten up record.

“So the only pony I know who truly is the lame one… IS YOU!”

After her escape from the warehouse, Rainbow spent over an hour flying all the way back to Canterlot so she can hide out in a small local diner. With permission from the owner of the diner, Rainbow used the voice crystal booth so she can call home. She met to make an attempt to talk to Twilight again to let her wife know that she’ll be late, but instead she talked to her adopted daughter.

At that point, Rainbow was stressed out after all her failure attempts to get the Zapp doll and a little jumpy after her run in with the rouge changelings. Scootaloo’s constant questions and not getting Twilight really didn’t help her mood. When her daughter mentioned that certain superhero’s name, Rainbow finally snapped. By the time Rainbow realized in horror from the words she said, it was already too late when she heard her own daughter cry. She felt sick in her stomach for letting her emotions get the best of her in the worse way. Even after Scootaloo said some bad thing to her, Rainbow felt like she deserved it. What mother, or anypony in a right mind would yell at a kid like that; especially to a good filly like Scootaloo after everything that happened to her?

Rainbow you idiot! Why did you do that!? Rainbow mentally scolded to herself.

Rainbow sighed heavily as she stepped out of the booth and then walked towards the diner counter to take a seat. As she sat morosely, a plump blue mare with a red mane and a mole on her left cheek placed a cup of hot chocolate in front of her. This mare is the owner of the diner. She wore a net hat and a net tail, an apron around her waist and her cutie mark depicted a burger on a serving tray.

“Here ya go hun, this will help make you nice and warm,” said the owner with a caring voice.

“…thanks,” Rainbow said with a sigh as she took a sip of her hot drink.

“I would like a drink like that too!”

Rainbow nearly did a spit-take when she heard that mare’s voice. She turned around and narrowed her eyes angrily when she spotted a certain pony, who was waving at her awkwardly with a sheepish smile.

“YOU!” Rainbow loudly exclaimed. “You got some nerve showing your face in front of me!”

Lightning Dust raised her hooves defensively. “Hey hey hey! I’m not here to start anything, okay? I’m just here to dine after my many failed attempts to get that toy.”

Rainbow kept on scowling at Lightning for a moment before Rainbow turned and get back to her drink, while trying to pretend Lightning didn’t exist.

“Um… I take that you didn’t get the toy either?” Lightning asked, trying to break the ice.

“…no,” Rainbow said bluntly.

“Me either,” said Lightning as she got up from the table and then trotted over to Rainbow. “Do you mind if I sit here?”

Rainbow continued to sip her drink, not looking at Lightning. “Do what you want! I’m not in the mood right now!”

So Lightning took the stool and sat right next to Rainbow. At that time, the diner owner placed a cup full of hot chocolate in front of Lightning. Lightning nodded the owner in thanks and then she took a sip of her drink. There was awkward silence between the two pegasus, one not knowing what to say while the other angrily looked the other way. Finally, Lightning spoke up.

“I heard you talking from that booth. Sounds to me like it wasn’t a pleasant conversation.”

“What do you care?” Rainbow said coolly while glaring at her drink. “My problem is none of your business!”

Unfazed by Rainbow’s cold response Lightning took another sip of her drink. “That was your daughter from the voice crystal, wasn’t it?”

Rainbow looked away from Lightning but nodded at the question.

Lightning placed her cup on the counter. “You know, I’m still surprised that you settled down and have a daughter! I bet you got a lot of attention to many stallions as a Wonderbolt!” Lightning smirked slyly. “So… who’s the lucky stallion?”

“…Twilight.”

Lightning lost her smirk and tilted her head in confusion. “Twilight? No offense to your spouse, but that’s a weird name for a guy!”

“Twilight… is actually a mare,” Rainbow clarified bluntly.

“Oh—OH!” Lightning exclaimed in realization. “I-I didn’t realize that you played with the other team.”

Rainbow faced her ex-partner with a hard look. “Do you have a problem with that?”

“Oh no! Not at all!” Lighting answered quickly. “I don’t have a problem with it! I have nothing against fillyfoolers!” Lightning then cleared her throat after that awkward exchange. “S-still, it’s awesome that somepony has eyes on you! Was she from the academy?”

“No, in fact, I’ve known her long before I became a Wonderbolt,” Rainbow responded before her eyes narrowed. “She is one of those ponies on the hot air balloon that you almost took out with your tornado!”

Lightning threw her hooves up. “Do you have to keep bringing that up?”

“Yes! What happened was your fault!” Rainbow retorted. “If I haven’t save her or any of my friends, I would never forgive you!” Rainbow sighed softly. “But… as messed up as it sound… I also wanted to thank you for creating that tornado.”

Lightning stared at Rainbow as if Rainbow had suddenly grown two heads. “What?”

“Don’t get me wrong, what you did was still wrong,” Rainbow said firmly. “But… when I saved my friends, especially my wife… It was that moment that I realized how much I really loved her.” Rainbow smiled fondly. “Of course, it took me awhile to tell her, even after she became a princess, I finally confessed my feelings to her and… the rest is history.”

Lightning was surprised that her supposed reckless action, which nearly killed everypony with her tornado, ended up helping her rival realized her feelings with her now married wife. Lightning wasn’t sure if she was flattered or annoyed that she single handily made Rainbow’s life better while she herself got nothing. But then, something clicked her brain when Rainbow also mentioned about her wife’s ‘occupation’.

“Wait… princess? What do you—” Lightning gasped when she finally put two and two together. “No! Don’t tell me the ‘Twilight’ you’re talking about…”

Rainbow nodded and smiled with pride. “Yep! My wife is Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship!”

Lightning gawked at her, eyes widening. “NO WAY! That’s crazy!”

Rainbow chuckled. “Believe me, I still couldn’t believe it myself, but I wouldn’t have it any other way!”

Lightning couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Not only her rival is married and have a daughter, but Rainbow married to the newest princess in Equestria. She felt the mixture of envy and jealousy towards Rainbow but decided to put that aside for the sake of answers.

“Okay, shocking news aside, how long were you married?” Lightning pried.

“Almost a year,” Rainbow responded before sipping on her drink.

“And your daughter’s… adopted?”

Rainbow nodded.

“Okay so… how did she come into play?” Lightning asked with curiosity. “Usually, most newly weds wait for a while before they considered having children.”

Rainbow sighed as she placed her cup on the counter. “Scoots… is an awesome filly! Like Twi, I’ve known Scoots for a long time, even before she got her cutie mark. When I first moved to Ponyville, she looked up to me as her hero and wanted to follow in my hoofsteps. So much so, I took her under my wing as my little sister I never had. She wasn’t able to fly, but she’s a tough little filly. She’s very loyal and ready to help out her friends like I do and she’s really amazing with her scooter!” Rainbow then beamed. “When she finally got her cutie mark to help other ponies figuring out their purpose, I was so very proud of her!”

“Was she an orphan than?”

Rainbow lost her smile instantly. “No… she used to have a family.”

“Used to?” Lightning quote.

Rainbow sighed heavily. “Her parents—bless their souls—were such good ponies. They both had demanding jobs, so they’re not home a lot, which is why she likes to hang out with me a lot. Even when they were both so busy, they loved her more than anything in Equestria.” Rainbow stared right at the liquid from her cup, specifically her reflection, which bore the same pained expression as her. “Then, one day… one of their colleagues from their work came to my door. Even before we sat down, I could tell something was wrong from the look on his face. Turns out… there was an accident at the factory where they work. One of their own weather machine malfunctioned, due to some stupid lazy pony, failed to paid attention to its performances. As a result, part of the facility was wiped out… including her parents.” Rainbow sighed sadly. “But the real kick in the teeth was that it happened the day after Scoots got her cutie mark.”

Lightning sat there in shook before she laid her face on her hoof. “Oh sweet Luna! That’s… awful!”

Rainbow nodded. “Yeah…. she didn’t have any other relatives, so she was alone.” Rainbow took another quick sip of her hot chocolate. “She went through so many hardships, there’s no way she deserved that! When I saw Scoots looked so distraught and broken at the funeral… I made a decision right then and there! So after a long discussion with Twilight, we decided to adopt Scootaloo as our daughter. So on the day of our wedding, I broke the news to her.” Rainbow smiled warmly from the memory. “She was trying so hard not to cry, but after seeing her huge smile on her face and then hugged me real tight… I was her true hero that day!” Rainbow looked down with her ears flattened and sighed sadly. “But now… the kid hates me. I broke many promises, failed to get her a gift, and now… I just yelled at her for no stupid reason. I may be one of the best Wonderbolts in Equestria… but I’m a terrible mother.”

Rainbow broke out of her funk when she heard somepony sniffing. She turned and was surprised to see Lightning, trying to rub her eyes with her hoof.

“Hey… are you crying?” Rainbow asked softly.

“N-no!” Lightning denied weakly with a sniff. “I’m not crying!”

“You totally are hun!” The owner commented from the sidelines.

Lightning shot her a glare before she faced Rainbow with her soft expression.

“I actually find that story very admirable,” she complemented. “It clearly showed that you care so much about her! You’re a great mother… and that’s coming from me!”

Rainbow scoffed. “Yeah… well, after I made so many mistakes, I doubt I’m worthy of that title.”

“Hey… we all messed up!” Lightning pointed out with a shrug. “There’s no such thing as a perfect parent… or a perfect role model for all I know. For all that’s worth, at least you were trying to show her that you cared.” Lighting looked to the side and frowned bitterly. “Unlike my mother!”

Rainbow blinked from this revelation. She opened her mouth to speak, but Lighting answered the question before she could ask.

“I’m considered the black sheep of my family. My older siblings were able to fly the first few months after birth. Me? I wasn’t able to get off the ground until I was three. I think my mother, as well as my siblings, believed that I’m the weakest because they were always so ahead of me.” Her expression hardened. “All my life, I was determined to prove them wrong. I am just as good—no, better then any of my so-called siblings combined! I thought I finally got myself a break for joining the Wonderbolts… but we both know how that turned out!”

There was a short pause of awkwardness between the two mares until Lighting continued.

“After that, I was outcast from my family more than ever and they all see me as a failure.” Lightning sighed softly. “Except for… Speedy Dust.”

Rainbow titled her head. “Your niece?”

Lightning nodded and then smiled warmly. “Yeah… she’s the only pony in my family who likes me and looked up to me. Even on the day I was kicked out, she still thinks I’m amazing for just getting into the academy! She’s the reason that my life is worth living!” Lightning took another sip of her drink and then let out a soft sigh. “Last night, my sister came to me and said that I’m invited to join the family’s Hearth’s Warming dinner! Normally, I was never invited, but Speedy, my sister’s daughter, begged her to let me join for this year! That filly loves me so much. I was so happy that night, so of course I accepted it!” Lightning then glowered. “But… there was a catch! My sister said that my niece wanted a Zapp action figure from the Power Ponies for Hearth’s Warming. She told me that if I go and get this toy, then they will allow me to join them for dinner. I thought that’ll be cakewalk! But ever since this morning, I now realized that my sister did this to me on purpose! They never really wanted me to come to their stupid dinner party and they knew that this toy is impossible to find! So they were counting on that I will give up and then they will convince her that I don’t really care about her so that she’ll hate me… just like them! Leaving me out of the family for good!”

Lightning then slammed her hoof hard on the counter in anger. The diner owner flinched, but Rainbow remained still with a look of sympathy on her face.

“Oh man… that’s awful!” Rainbow said, feeling bad for her rival. “I had no idea that your life was that bad!”

“Yeah… I’ve been known to caused trouble and that good things never come my way… story of my life,” Lightning sighed before she face Rainbow with a determined glare. “I’ll admit… I screwed up that day at the academy, but you’re wrong that I’ve never cared for anypony! My niece is the only pony I cared about in this world, so I’m doing this for her! So I’m going to get this toy no matter what and I won’t let anypony stand in my way!” Lightning then looked down with a sullen expression. “I always felt that no one in my family, especially my mother, never liked me from the beginning. I found that out when I asked for General Firefly action figure for Hearth’s Warming when I was a kid. But instead… it was just another day of disappointment.”

For a split second, Rainbow had a vision that instead of a light turquoise mare, she saw a sullen orange little filly, sitting on a stool in front of her, wearing a mail carrier uniform with a sullen look. Rainbow blinked and rubbed her eyes for a moment. When she looked up again, Lightning was back in vision again.

Rainbow then had a disturbing thought. Will it be possible that by not getting that toy as promised; Scootaloo will end up becoming an angry, miserable mare and resent Rainbow for the rest of her life?

Rainbow shook her head. “NO! I can’t let this happen!” she exclaimed as she slammed her hooves on the counter. “I’m not letting this stupid toy ruined my relationship with my daughter! But where in Equestria will I find that stupid hunk of plastic?”

“Are you looking everywhere in Equestria for a Zapp action figure of the Power Ponies?” asked some mare’s voice, which was coming from the diner’s radio.

“Y-yes,” Rainbow answered as if somepony heard her.

“And would you do anything to get our hooves on it?”

“Yes. YES!” Rainbow exclaimed which got Lightning’s attention as well.

“Well DJ PON-3 from Canterlot’s Radio Show have good news for you!” The voice announced. “If you are the first one to correctly answer the six original funders of Equestria, both leaders and their partners, me and Tavi will eventually give you a Zapp action figure as the winning prize! If anypony knows the answer, just direct your call to the Canterlot’s Radio Station with your voice crystal and submit your answer!”

Once the radio host finished her announcement, both mares had different reactions. For Lighting, she was stumped, as she was trying to come up with the right answer. Rainbow on the other hoof, lit up as the answer easily came to her.

Of course! It’s Chancellor Puddinghead, Smart Cookie, Princess Platinum, Clover the Clever, Commander Hurricane, and Private Pansy!

Rainbow smiled. Being married to an adorable egghead who talked about equestrian history all the time really has its benefits.

Thank you, Twilight!

Rainbow abruptly got up from her seat and makes her way to the voice crystal booth, but Lightning noticed her right away.

“Oh no you don’t!” Lightning shouted and she practically dove for the booth.

Fortunately for Rainbow, she moved much quicker than Lightning and slammed the booth door on Lightning’s forehooves, making her screamed out in agony.

“Nice try Dust!” Rainbow exclaimed as she quickly inserted her bit into the slot so she can activate the crystal. “Canterlot’s Radio Station,” she said quickly, while trying to keep Lightning from opening the booth’s door.

They continued to fight each other as the Rainbow desperately pleaded in her mind for somepony to pick up the call. Lighting kept sticking her hoof in the booth to grab the crystal and Rainbow responded with a punch or slamming the door harder on Lightning’s arm. After a couple of agonizing minutes, the call was finally picked up.

“Hey there dude! You reach Canterlot Radio Show! Do you have the answer?” said the same voice from the radio.

“Y-yes! Yes I do!” Rainbow spoke up, while still trying to fight off Lighting. “The original funder names are—”

Before Rainbow had the chance to answer, Lightning finally swatted the crystal off of Rainbow’s hooves and the crystal broke through the booth’s windows and then smashed against the wall. The crystal was destroyed beyond repair and many small pieces scattered across the floor and some of them were on the counter. Rainbow angrily faced Lightning who had a smug look on her face.

“Oops! My bad!”

“YOU IDIOT!” Rainbow roared as she lunged herself at Lightning, which caught the mail mare off guard.

Rainbow then pinned her down on one of the restaurant’s tables and shook her relentlessly. Lightning, for her part, tried to fight back but had difficultly due to Rainbow’s strong grasp. Just when thing were starting to get out of control, they heard a sharp whistle. The both stopped and turned to see the diner’s owner who was crossing her hooves angrily.

“HEY! You two realize that the radio station is just at the other side of town, right?”

The two stared at the mare and then at each other and then finally, they both let go off each other as they quickly made their way out the door. Rainbow was the first one to exit the dinner, but Lightning quickly pushed Rainbow towards the newspaper stands, causing Rainbow to crash on the ground.

“Sorry, when I said I won’t let anypony stand in my way, I’m also including you!” Lighting stated coldly. “So long sucker!”

Rainbow recovered just in time to see Lightning flew off into the air.

“Oh… you’re messing with the wrong mare!” Rainbow snarled before she took off after Lighting.

Trouble at the Radio Station!

View Online

Lightning Dust was flying through Canterlot as fast as her wings can go, while many ponies were trotting along the streets with non the wiser. As she flew halfway across the city, Lightning was confident that her rival was dealt with and that she’ll get to the radio station first to win her prize. While she was not good with word questions as much as Rainbow, it didn’t take a genius to know the answer to the question about the original founders of Equestria. Lightning smirked at the idea of finally getting that toy and then boasted in front of Rainbow Dash’s miserable face.

As she so deep into her daydream, she failed to notice a certain cyan and rainbow maned pegasus, slowly flew up next to her. By the time Lightning finally noticed, Rainbow was partly in front of her. Lightning tried to flap her wings harder to gain more speed, but it was all in vain as Rainbow was now in front of her easily.

“I guess you didn’t trained as much as you thought!” Rainbow taunted with a smirk. “Unlike you, I trained everyday! As a Wonderbolt, I have to keep in shape!”

Lighting growled angrily as Rainbow sped off with a laugh. She wasn’t going to let the dream stealer win like that, so she decided to play dirty. With an ounce of her strength, Lighting pushed herself forward until she was right next to Rainbow. Just as Lighting was about to ram her to the side, Rainbow stopped at the last minute and Lighting missed her completely.

“Not this time!”

With Lighting a bit disorientated from her failed sneak attack, gave Rainbow the chance to strike back by round kicking Lighting to the side, which launched Lighting towards the ground. Lighting was shot down like a bullet, unable to stop herself until she crashed into a food cart belonged to a certain vendor who was now screaming out in despair.

“MY CABBAGES!”

Lighting slowly lifted her head through a pile of ruined green veggies with a groan before she passed out face first into one of the cabbages.

“That’s for what you did to me at restaurant you slime!” Rainbow shouted.

With that, she flew away from the scene and zoomed towards her destination. A few minutes later, she spotted a tall white building with a huge antenna tower on top. There was also a sign on the front of the building that said ‘Canterlot Radio Station’ in red letters. With a smirk, Rainbow quickly entered the building, past the front desk and then went up the stairs to locate the recording room.

The recording room was a typical small room filled with various different records, small cassette tapes and CDs, which were stored on the shelves either used for the show or collecting dust. There were also a few microphones with condensers over them and a control booth that runs the whole system. There was even a electronic sign with red letters glowing that said “ON AIR.”

There were currently two ponies using the studio room. The first was a gray earth pony mare with a very long dark gray mane and tail, violet eyes, white collar with a pink bow tie and a violet treble clef as her cutie mark. Octavia was sitting by the controls next to her partner and marefriend with a semi-worried look on her face. Lately, they didn’t get a lot of listeners for their radio show and they were pretty close to cancellation, until her partner decided to use the latest scheme to attract more listeners. What worried the gray mare wasn’t the threat of their show cancellation, it was her marefriend’s idea itself is what worried her.

Speaking of her marefriend, the second mare was a white unicorn with neon-blue mane and tail, purple shades over her eyes and a mirrored two bridged eighth notes as her cutie mark. She is the main host of their radio show and she usually tried to entertain their listeners before switching to the next song. Usually, she would invite many different famous celebrities for interviews to get more ponies to tune in to their station, however many decline because they did not want to waste their time with some small studio. So Vinyl Scratch, also known as DJ Pon-3, decided to try to do a Hearth’s Warming contest with a certain action figure as the winning prize in hopes to get more listeners.

So far, it worked.

Vinyl was currently speaking to the fifty-third pony, who contacted her with the voice crystal.

“Hey there caller, you’re on the air!” said Vinyl with a grin. “Do you have the answer?”

The pony from the crystal replied with a nervous trembling voice.

“Um… is it… Tara, Ashleigh, Andrea… Tabitha?”

Vinyl pressed the button, which activated a loud buzzer effect. “Oooooooooh! Way off dude! Sorry! But cheer up, maybe our next Hearth’s Warming song will bring your mood back up again.”

Vinyl pressed another button, which turned on this pleasant holiday tune. Once the ‘ON AIR’ light was turned off, Octavia sighed as Vinyl removed her headphones.

“Vinyl, are you sure that this ‘contest’ is such a good idea?” said Octavia with a frown.

“Absolutely Tavi!” Vinyl assured with a huge grin. “Thanks to that, more ponies are tuning in to our station, and the number of listeners are still going up! This is the break we needed!”

While Octavia admired her marefriend being so positive, it still did not ease any of her worries in the slightest.

“While I’m glad that we’re finally getting attention, but I couldn’t help but think that something is about to go terribly wrong, especially with that certain ’prize’ that you’ve promised to give away.”

Vinyl waved her marefriend’s worries away with her hoof. “Ah, don’t be a worrywart Tavi! Not many ponies remembered the names quite easily these days. Even if they did figure it out, I already got a back-up plan. Nothing can go wrong!”

Suddenly, a blue blur flew up from the door, which led to the stairs and then stopped right in front of their studio door window. Rainbow Dash pressed her face against the window as she started repeatedly knocking it with her hoof.

“HEY, YOU THERE!” Rainbow shouted.

Both ponies within the studio jumped. “What in the—”

“LET ME IN!” Rainbow screamed, as she knocked harder. “I KNOW THE ANSWER! I GOT THE ANSWER! OPEN UP!”

Rainbow continued to knock their glass window relentlessly, scaring the two ponies. Octavia quickly ducked underneath the desk from the mad mare and then pressed the small red button, whimpering the whole way.

“Vinyl, do something!” Octavia cried hysterically, as her body shook in fright.

Vinyl, for her part, tried to remain calm as she tried to talk with their crazy intruder.

“Hey hey hey! Calm down! Listen, I know you’re probably excited to meet awesome ponies like us, but you are not suppose to be in—”

Rainbow never listened to her as she flew away from their studio to the other side of the hallway. She then quickly turned around and dashed towards them at high speed, breaking through their glass door in the process.

Octavia screamed and began to sob while Vinyl backed away as far as she can to the wall. That was all in vain as Rainbow flew up to Vinyl’s and grabbed the DJ by the shoulders.

“ChancellorPuddingheadSmartCookiePrincessPlatinumClovertheCleverCommandeHurricaneandPrivatePansy!” Rainbow said quickly all in one breath.

“W-w-what?” Vinyl stammered.

“I said Chancellor Puddinghead, Smart Cookie, Princess Platinum, Clover the Clever, Commander Hurricane, and Private Pansy!” Rainbow repeated slowly that time before flashing her excited grin. “Did I win?”

“Well I—”

“YES!” Rainbow cheered loudly. “I got it! I GOT IT!” Rainbow then proceed to do her victory dance while hovering in the air. “I’m awesome! I’m so awesome! Yeah, yeah!”

Just then, Lightning Dust barged right into their studio with a few cabbage leaves hanging off her hat and mane. Rainbow noticed Lighting and she pointed at her rival with her triumphant smirk.

“HA! You’re too slow Dust!” Rainbow gloated. “I already told them the answer and I won!”

Lightning’s eyes narrowed. “Not unless I do… this!”

Lightning suddenly whipped out a wrapped red package in a shape of a square from her mailbag and thrust it in front of Rainbow.

Rainbow stared at the package strangely. “Um… what the heck is that supposed to be?”

“That… my friend… is a magical surge exploding device!” said Lightning in a very low voice.

Rainbow eyes widened. “Wait! You don’t mean—”

“Yes Rainbow Dash!” Lightning seethed. “This… is a bomb!”

“Oh sweet Celestia, no!” Octavia wailed.

“Now everypony on the floor, now!” Lightning roared.

Vinyl did as she was told and sat with Octavia, wrapping her hooves around her marefriend in a comforting hug. Rainbow on the other hoof, remained standing with a look of disbelief.

“You actually built a bomb?!” Rainbow screeched.

“No, of course I didn’t!” Lightning spat.

“Then how?” Rainbow demanded.

Lightning scoffed. “Haven’t you heard? It’s all over the news! Don’t you know how many of these things were sent to our post office everyday?... Hundreds! Normally, we checked and defused them, but I kept it on me just in case if things don’t go my way!”

“Dust, are you insane!?” Rainbow exclaimed. “Don’t do this!”

“No! I told you Dash! I will get this doll no matter what, even if I had to use this! Now hand that toy over to me right now or else I’ll blow this place up to kingdom come!”

“Lightning… please!” Rainbow pleaded. “Let’s talk about this!”

“Oh so now you want to talk!” Lightning shot back angrily. “After I tried to make an offer to work with me! Well forget it! You are my enemy and always will be! It’s your fault that my life went downhill! Delivering mail while dealing with ponies who mocked me, dealing with all sorts of crappy weather, and dealing with untrained dogs who kept biting my legs and my wings like a giant chew toy!”

Vinyl quietly snickered from the background, which unfortunately caught Lightning’s attention.

“HEY! Are you laughing at me?” Lightning yelled accusingly at the DJ.

Realizing her mistake, Vinyl rapidly shook her head. “Oh no no! I’m not laughing! I—I sneezed! I have a slight cold!”

Lighting glared at the unicorn for a moment before she set her eyes on the gray earth pony.

“And what about you little Miss Stuck-Up pony! I bet you’re one of those ponies who allowed your dogs to chase after me to my expense!”

Octavia quivered in fear. “N-NO! I would never! I’m a cat pony, I swear!”

“Yeah I can attest to that!”

“SHUT UP VINYL!”

Lightning’s hardened her glare. “Oooooh so you rather sent a cat after me, is that it?”

“No! That’s not what I meant!” Octavia cried, now acting much more hysterical.

“Yeah right!” Lightning sneered. “You ponies are all the same! Now unless you want to remain intact, I suggest you—”

While Lightning set her eyes on the two musicians, Rainbow used this opportunity to tackle Lightning to the ground. Unfortunately, the package flew out of Lightning’s hooves and was spinning in the air.

“TAKE COVER!” Vinyl screamed.

As the package was halfway down, everypony but Rainbow were on the ground and then covered their heads.

Time seemed to slow down for Rainbow as she watched the package getting closer and closer to the ground. Her life flashed across her eyes from the day she was born until this very moment. The biggest highlight of her flashes was her time with her parents, her best friends and her beloved wife and her daughter. She briefly wondered what will happen if she was gone. How would this affect her friends? What will become of her family? Would Twilight be heartbroken forever after she was gone? Would Scootaloo blame herself and never smile again for good when her second mother departed from this world? Is this truly the end?

Rainbow shook her head. NO! I WILL NOT END LIKE THIS!

Within a fracture of a second, Rainbow leaped towards the package in attempt to catch it. The package was almost on the floor as Rainbow hoof was within reach. Her heartbeat quickened as the package barley touched the floor. Her eyes shut tight as she realized she would not catch the package in time, despite her super speed.

Twilight… Scoots… forgive me.

And the box landed.

Rainbow tensed up as she landed on the floor, expected to be blown to bits, but instead she heard this very soft music. Everypony looked up in relief and confusion while Lightning gulped nervously.

Rainbow slowly opened her eyes and cautiously checked out the box. The music was coming from that package. Rainbow gently brought the box over to her and then carefully ripped off the wrapping paper. Once the paper was removed, it revealed to be a small wooden box. She open that box and it turned out to be a music box. Rainbow looked up to Lightning Dust with a nasty glare once she realized that she was duped.

Lightning laughed uneasily. “Uh… hehehehe. Listen… I was having an emotional moment and—”

Rainbow screamed out in anger and rushed flew up to Lightning, shoving the mail mare against the wall. Rainbow pressed her muzzle against Lightning’s with a snarl.

“YOU… do you have any idea what went through my mind because of your stunt?”

“I—I just wanted that toy!” Lightning squeaked.

“YOU THINK THIS IS A GAME TO YOU!?” Rainbow spatted. “I’LL DESTROY YOU!”

“PLEASE! Give me mercy!” Lightning pleaded as Rainbow brought her hoof back.

“That’s coming from a mare who just threaten to—”

“STOP!”

Both pegasus mares turned to Octavia who was giving them her look of disbelief and anger.

“Is this what this is all about?” she exclaimed. “You two barged into our studio… all for some stupid Zapp doll?”

“Action figure.”

“NOT NOW VINYL!”

“Yeah, your partner said whoever answered the question correctly, will win the Zapp doll!” Rainbow explained.

“Yeah, we both heard it!” Lightning added.

“Oh no no no! That is not what I said!” Vinyl spoke up as she stood on her hooves and trotted over to the two pegasus mares. “I said whoever answered the question correctly will get the doll eventually!” Vinyl then coughed and rubbed her neck in a sheepishly. “We uh… don’t even have the doll.”

“WHAT!?” Both Rainbow and Lightning exclaimed angrily.

“What do you mean you, ‘don’t have the doll!’” Rainbow demanded.

“I mean, We. Don’t. Have. It!” said Vinyl. “All we have is a gift certificate.”

“A gift certificate?” Lightning cried in anger. “You mean all we’re getting is that stupid gift certificate!? What good does that do?”

Rainbow’s eye narrowed. “Yeah, when will we get the toy with that piece of paper?”

Vinyl gulped and sweated nervously as the two mares glared daggers at her. “Um… as soon as it’s… available?”

Both the pegasus mares growled angrily as they advanced towards the trembling DJ.

“W-wait! H-how about free tickets to see an ice show at Vanhoover? Would that be a better prize?” Vinyl suggested desperately as the two pegasus mares were ready to pounce her.

Suddenly, they heard loud sirens coming from outside. The two realized that somepony alerted them to the police without their knowing. Lightning set her eyes at Octavia near the desk and she finally noticed the red button that was hidden under the desk.

“You! You called the cops!” Lighting shouted in rage.

“Please don’t hurt me!” Octavia begged as she hid under the desk again.

Lightning was about to go after the gray mare but Rainbow stopped her by grabbing her shoulder.

“Forget her Dust, let’s just get out of here!” she cried.

“…okay!” Lightning said with a nod. As Rainbow turned towards the door, Lightning cried, “BUT I’M GOING FIRST!”

Lightning swung her mailbag and contacted Rainbow’s head, which knocked her to the shelf filled with cassette tapes.

“Hey! That’s my tapes!” Vinyl exclaimed.

As Octavia went over to her marefriend, Rainbow quickly got up and flew out the studio, just in time to see Lightning by door, which lead to the stairs.

“So long sucker!” Lightning taunted as she opened the door. However, she never made it far when the door revealed one of the police ponies that held up a stun gun in front of her.

“FREEZE!” he shouted.

Lightning gasped and tried to back away, but only met with another police pony that came out from another door with his stun gun. Then the evaluator doors opened and more police ponies arrived with their guns pointing at her. Realizing that she was trapped, Lightning raised her hooves up in the air.

During the commotion, Rainbow flew away from the scene and went down the hallway until she found another door to the stairs.

“Hehe. Look’s like I got the last laugh!” Rainbow laughed with a cocky smile. She then opened the door and her smile was immediately wiped away when she saw the last pony she wanted to meet with a gun in his hooves.

“Going somewhere?” Officer Warrant asked bluntly.

Aw… crud! She groaned in her mind.

“Now… I want you to slowly back away and keep going until we meet up with my team,” he ordered with his weapon aimed at her. “Move it!”

Rainbow obeyed as she walked backwards to where she came. They eventually made it back to the main hallway as Lightning tried to ease the tension with the other officers.

“Alright now easy folks!” she said gently as she slowly dug her hoof into her bag. “Let’s not get so hasty! It’s supposed to be the season of love and friendship! All I was doing is delivering this lovely… holiday… PACKAGE!”

Lightning whipped up another wrapped package. This time, it was in pink wrapping paper with blue and yellow balloons all over it. Many police ponies were now thrusting their pistols closer to her.

“Stay back! All of you!” she threatened. “What I have here is a homemade magical explosive device!” This made some of the officers more on edge while others including Officer Warrant were skeptical from her threat. “I’m not kidding! I will blow this up because I’ve been working for the delivery system for years and now I’m all messed up the head!”

She then turned her head towards Rainbow. “Tell ‘em Dash!”

Rainbow was in a tight spot as everypony was staring at her. She knew that Lighting was bluffing again and probably wanted her help to make her threat more believable. But if she goes along with this, then she’ll get even more trouble then she ever was in the long run. On the other hoof, if she told them that Lighting was full of hot air, she will end up going to jail for disrupting the radio station and the warehouse incident from earlier. And if that happens, she won’t get to spend her Hearth’s Warming with her family.

With a reluctant sigh, Rainbow made her choice.

“That mare… is a complete psychopath.”

Lighting pointed at Rainbow with her other hoof. “See! See! She knows what I’m capable of! Now put all your weapons down! NOW!”

Seeing that they don’t have much choice, all the officers placed their weapons down on the floor except for Warrant, who kept his gun on Rainbow.

Lightning narrowed her eyes at Officer Warrant. “You too tough guy!”

Officer Warrant glared at Lightning for a moment and then he placed his own weapon down with a frustrated grunt.

Seeing this chance, Rainbow flew away down the hall at high speed before she disappeared through the door and down the stairs. Lightning meanwhile placed the package down and she slowly backed away towards the stairs behind her.

“Now if you all excuse me, I’m taking my exit. Smell ya later!” After she gave them her ‘I’m watching you’ gesture with her hoof, she quickly went into the stair room and slammed the door behind her.

Once the two mares disappeared, Officer Warrant trotted forward towards the package that Lighting left behind.

“Chief, I wouldn’t touch that!” one of the officers said nervously.

Officer Warrant scoffed. “Relax Rookie, I used to be in a bomb squad before I became the chief of police!”

Officer Warrant picked up the package and gently shook the box. When he didn’t hear anything suspicious, Offer Warrant then unwrapped the package and then opened the box. There was no bomb or anything threating from within the box. Instead, there was a small round pink cake with one yellow and two blue balloons at the center of the surface the cake. There was even a line of think fluffy white whipped cream surrounding the outer circle of the cake.

Warrant sighed as he looked up towards the other officers with a semi-amused look. “It’s alright everypony, it’s a fake!” he assured as he lightly shook the box. “They deceived us!”

They all sighed in relief.

Officer Warrant looked into the box again as he eyed the pink cake hungrily. “Mmmmm. The cake looks good though.”

Figuring that it wouldn’t hurt, Officer Warrant decided to touch the icing so he can taste the sample.

Oh man, that was CLOSE! Rainbow thought as she flew out of the back door of the radio station. Now I gotta get out of Canterlot before they—

All the sudden, she heard a loud explosion and the sound of many broken glass.

Rainbow stopped cold in her tracks and felt her fur stick up from her neck. She thought for sure that second package Lighting used was also a fake. Was that turned out to be a real bomb? Fearing for the worse, Rainbow slowly turned around towards the radio station and her eyes widen in disbelief. All the windows on the top floor were all destroyed. But what really caught her attention was all the substance that was leaking out of the windows.

It was a mixture of a giant pink cake icing and chocolate filling.

It was on the sides of the building and some were on the ground. The whole block now smelled like something that was baked from a bakery, despite that there wasn’t a bakery in site from this part of town. Many nearby ponies were now gathering around the studio to see an unusual site. As she continued to stare at the cake infested building, Rainbow only uttered three words.

“…what the hay?”

Meanwhile, from the front entrance of the radio station, Lightning got out just in time to see the building exploded with cake fillings and icing.

She blinked. “That was… an actual bomb… made of cake?”

She stood there in stupor for a moment before she slowly turned away and quickly flew down the street.

“Okay… I’ve seen weird things in my life, but this one really takes the cake!”

The top floor of the radio station was now completely covered in pink and brown. The whole entire floor smelled like chocolate and berries. The officers were covered in frosting and fillings (which they admitted that it tasted pretty good) and felt a little sticky due to the chocolate. But the one who was most affected by all of this was Officer Warrant was completely covered in thick amount of chocolate and pink frosting. Warrant’s eyes were the only thing that was visible through all the cake batter. With those eyes, anypony would think that he is some sort of cake monster from a B-rated horror movie.

One of the officers trotted up to Warrant and cleared his throat awkwardly.

“Um… have you ever had to deal with a bomb that involves cake?”

Officer Warrant simply glared at him.

No, no, no, no. Ugh, who’s bright idea to use that decoration?

Spoiled was trotting around the hallway as she was silently taking notes of all the decorations all around her from within the hallway. After she ‘politely’ asked Princess Twilight for the tenth time if she could help out by straighten up the castle for their upcoming Hearth’s Warming party for the town, the princess finally agreed with much of her reluctance to let Spoiled be in charge of the job. Of course, in Spoiled’s mind, straightening was her fancy word for remodeling the castle completely with by taking down all the unsuited decorations and then replace them with much more suitable décor for the party.

She was sure that the princess will thank her later.

As she continued to walk down further, she suddenly heard voices coming from the other side of hallway, and they were coming to her direction. Not wanting anypony to foil her plans, she quickly opened one of many doors from the hallway and then stepped inside it. Once she closed the doors behind her, she realized she was inside of a closet, judging with the amount of household supplies all around her including a mop which covering her head. She muttered her rotten luck that she was in this predicament but she had no choice but to endure it until these ponies past by.

The voices were getting closer now and Spoiled firmly shut her mouth and covered her nose to keep herself silent. As they were closer, Spolied instantly recognized these voices, which belonged to the Princess’s former student and that pet lizard thing. She listened as they were having their own conversation.

“I’m worried for her Spike,” said the feminine voice, which belong Starlight Glimmer. “I get that her Princess duties are really tough, especially on Hearth’s Warming, but Spoiled is obviously taking advantage of her. She’s just too nice to give that rich snob the boot!”

Spoiled nearly growled from the insult.

“Not to mention, Rainbow Dash went behind her back just to find that Zapp doll on Hearth’s Warming Eve.”

“Action figure,” A young male voice corrected.

“That’s not the point Spike!” Starlight countered loudy before she spoke again in her hushed voice. “If Twilight finds out that Rainbow forgot to get Scootaloo that Zapp ‘action figure’ because she was too busy with her job, then things are going to get worse for the both of them!”

As Spoiled’s eyebrows rose with interest, she heard that lizard thing spoke up with his assuring voice.

“Listen Starlight, while Rainbow Dash isn’t perfect, but at least she was trying to go out of her way to get that toy. She would never let anypony down.”

Spoiled heard Starlight sighed softly as they unknowingly trotted past Spoiled at this point. “Well even so… Rainbow still screwed up. And we should try not to let Twilight or Scootaloo know about this for the time being… for her sake.”

They continued to talk some more until their voices faded away from out of hearing range. However, Spoiled’s mind was elsewhere after she got the latest dirt from that loudmouth rainbow-maned pegasus. Rainbow Dash has been a thorn on Spoiled side, with Rainbow’s constant speech about being loyal to her friends and family. To think that not only this brash mare lied to her wife, but she also didn’t get her so-call ‘daughter’ a Hearth’s Warming present. Spoiled smirked deviously as she was coming up with a scheme to not only finally put that mare to her place, but to also get herself further for her long-awaited goal.

It seems that I’ll get my Hearth’s Warming ‘present’ early this year! She chuckled darkly.

After she witnessed the cake explosion at the Canterlot Radio Station, Rainbow Dash fled out of town and flew all the way back to Ponyville. At this point, there was no way she could get the toy now and her family is going to be really upset with her when they found out she didn’t have it. She spent her whole flight trying to come up with a way to tell her wife the truth that she lied to her. By the time she arrived and landed right at Town Square, she wasn’t able to come up with anything. Many ponies waved at her and said their holiday greetings but Rainbow paid them no mind as she slowly trotted along the road with her gloomy expression.

“Hey Twilight,” she mumbled to herself. “You remember that I said that I got the toy? Well… I lied.” She shook her head. “No, that won’t do.”

Rainbow began to rehearse again, but decided to act enthusiasm to her performance. “Twilight… babe! Listen… that toy you told me to get? Turns out… I didn’t get it.” Rainbow frowned and shook her head again. “No! That sounded way worse!”

Rainbow tried again, but decided to be more blunt. “Hey Twilight… I lied.”

Rainbow growled out in frustration and smacked her face with her hoof. “UGH! How am I going to tell my wife that I didn’t get the toy for Scootaloo for Hearth’s Warming?”

“Well, you can start by sitting her down and say that you’re sorry.”

“Yeah, I guess that’ll be a good star—”

Rainbow yelped and quickly looked behind her to see Pinkie Pie, who was standing there with a giggle.

“PINKIE? Where did you come from?” Rainbow exclaimed.

Pinkie grinned. “Weeeeellllll, if you really wanted to know. On the night of National Rock Day, my mommy and daddy really love each other a lot at that time! So they started making out on top of their bed and then they—”

“NOT THAT!” Rainbow screamed, mentally trying to block out any images of Pinkie’s parents physical activities. “I meant how did you get behind me?”

“Oh, why didn’t you say so?” Pinkie said with a giggle. “I was walking by to pick up another batch of cookies to drop off for the parade and then I saw you muttering to yourself. So here I am!”

Rainbow sighed heavily for making herself look like a fool again. Then, something Pinkie said made her realize something very important.

“Wait, where’s Twilight?” Rainbow asked.

“Oh she’s… probably inside the castle… talking to Spoiled,” Pinkie replied with some hesitation.

Rainbow groaned. “Pinkie! I asked you to keep her away from my wife!”

Pinkie frowned. “I’m sorry Dashie, but she kept on coming back and stuck with Twilight like a chocolate stain you can’t get rid of… not that I have a problem with chocolate stains. Besides, I was too distracted by many things I have to do today! Baking desserts, preparing for the parade, wrapping presents, write Hearth’s Warming cards and sending my complaint letter to the delivery service.”

Rainbow blinked. “Wait… you wrote a complaint letter? What in Equestria were you complaining about to the delivery service?”

Pinkie huffed with irritation. “Well I ordered this special package so I can then send it to Cheese Sandwich for our three year anniversary of us being best friends as a fun prank! The package is supposed to arrive today, but it never came! Can you believe it?”

Rainbow felt a chill go down in her spine. “Does… this particular package happen to be some kind of a delicious looking cake, but really it’s a harmless cake bomb that explodes frosting and fillings?”

“Yeah, how’d you know?”

“…lucky guess.”

Rainbow quickly changed the subject. “So what about Scootaloo? How is she?”

Pinkie answered with her somber voice. “Well… Scoots spent the last few hours in her room acting all mopey-wopey. I don’t what’s up, but I think something must have make her very upset.”

“…I see.”

Rainbow sighed out of regret as she mentally kicked herself for upsetting Scootaloo from earlier today. Knowing that Scootaloo was in the dumps for so long made her feel even worse than she was before. She really needs to go talk to her daughter and fix this mess with or without that toy.

“I should probably go in and check up on my family. I’ll see you later Pinks.”

As Rainbow was heading back to the castle, Pinkie mood became perky again and waved after her friend.

“Okay, see you at the parade Dashie!”

Rainbow had a strong sense of déjà vu as she stood in front of the castle entrance again with dread. Rainbow knew that her daughter is still most likely upset and angry at her and probably don’t even want to speak to her, but Rainbow will have to try. She doubted that any promises she’ll make or a Hearth’s Warming present offer won’t help her this time. Not to mention, she will have to fess up to Twilight about the lie she told her the night before.

With a sullen sigh, Rainbow quietly opened the door. When she did, her eyes widened at the state of her home.

“W-what the—”

All of their Hearth’s Warming decorations and furnitures in the main foyer of the castle were gone. Instead, they were all replaced with much more fancier decor. The purple rugs were replaced with gold rugs as well as golden wreath garlands around the columns. All the silver Hearth’s Warming wreaths were in place of the original green ones, the lights were just plain yellows instead of multi colors, and bells were replace with clear crystals. But the most devastating change was all the family photos and holiday arts and ornaments that were made by Scootaloo were gone. Instead, many photos of the princesses and royal celebrities and mini glass princess models were in place.

Rainbow spotted one of many ponies in a maid outfit that was in a process of replacing the decorations near the hallway.

“Hey!” Rainbow shouted angrily which caused the maid and everypony else to jump in freight. “What are you all doing to our castle?”

“W-we were ordered to redecorate the castle to make the castle more presentable for the Hearth’s Warming party tonight,” one of the maids explained in a shaky tone.

Rainbow’s eyes narrowed. “And who made that order?”

“I-it was M-Mrs. Spoiled Rich!” the maid answered.

Rainbow growled at the mention of that insufferable mare. Somehow, she wasn’t surprised that her house remodeling was Spoiled’s doing. The fact that she had the gall to waltz right into their home and took their holiday decorations down and the replaced them with her own like she owns the place.

“Where is she?” Rainbow snarled.

“S-she down the hall!” replied the terrified maid.

Rainbow glared at the maid for a moment until she turned away from the maid.

“I want all of you to stop doing what your doing and put our original decorations back up!” Rainbow ordered as she was heading down the hall. “I’m going to talk to your boss!”

Rainbow hurried down the hallway of the castle, until she arrived at the second foyer; just in time to see Spoiled barking ordered to one of the pegasus maids. What she saw then, nearly made her see red.

“Hurry up!” Spoiled ordered. “Put that star on top of that tree!”

Rainbow growled much more ferociously. Not only did they replace all their ornaments on their tree with Spoiled’s golden and silver balls and garments ornaments, but she was also about to have her servants place the star on top of the tree. Placing the star on top of the tree was Rainbow’s tradition to place it on Hearth’s Warming Eve. Not only that, that star is Rainbow’s heirloom. Letting somepony else like that witch Spoiled to touch her precious star besides her family was purely insulting.

Rainbow finally had enough.

“HEY!” Rainbow screamed, getting the attention from everypony from within the room. “PUT THAT STAR DOWN NOW OR ELSE!”

While the maids frozen in fear, Spoiled smirked smugly. “Oh Rainbow Dash, how nice to see you again!”

“Don’t give me that you snake!” Rainbow snarled. “How dare you redecorate our home with your crappy decorations without our consent?”

Spoiled frowned at the pegasus and then addressed the group. “Leave us ladies and take five.”

The maids looked very uncomfortable but they obeyed. Once every one of Spoiled’s maids were gone, Spoiled trotted over to Rainbow with narrowed eyes.

“Now, if you must know, I already have permission from Princess Twilight herself to remodeled this castle.”

Rainbow scoffed. “Oh yeah? By ‘permission,’ you mean you ask her what you’re going to do but leave out a very big part about your actual intentions?”

Spoiled raised her head high. “I can assure you, the decorations I put up is much more appealing then those dreadful things you common ponies put up. We wanted to make this castle look best for the whole town!”

“But it’s fine just the way it is!” Rainbow argued with rage. “I demand that you and your crew to take your stupid decorations down at once and put our original ones back up now!”

Spoiled had a wicked grin at her face and began to slowly trot around pegasus. “Oh Rainbow, Rainbow, Rainbow… always acting like a hotheaded child. It’s a wonder why Princess Twilight would want to stick around with some mare like you who constantly made many mistakes. Heck, I wonder if your daughter would want to be seen with you, especially after the way you treated her over the voice crystal.”

Just like that, all of Rainbow’s anger was gone and her poser wilted in shame. Spoiled smirked when she got the tompony by the reins.

“I may be… strict with my daughter, but at least I can be patient like an adult, instead of acting like some immature mare who would lit my emotions run wild and make my daughter cry. I doubt you’ll get the reward for being the mother of the year… or any years at all!”

Once she saw Rainbow looked down in shame and not fighting back, Spoiled smiled smugly. “I guess we shall resume the decorations later, but we’ll be sure to leave that star alone so you and you’re family can put it on the tree together later. That is… if your family would ever want to do anything with you again. Now if you excuse me, I’m going to double check the list of many presents I already purchased for my lovely diamond.”

Spoiled trotted out of her room with a head held high and her victorious grin. Once Spoiled out of sight, Rainbow picked up one of Spoiled’s ball ornament and tossed it at the ice goose sculpture in anger. The ball landed squarely between the ice goose’s eyes and the head exploded, leaving it headless.

Rainbow calmed down somewhat but her pride still stung from Spoiled’s words. How that witch knew about the spat between her and Scootaloo were beyond her, but that was beyond uncalled for. She sighed as she stared at the window, watching the flurries go down from the sky. Not even the winter scenery will lift her spirits back up. She wanted to get back at that rich pony tenfold and wipe that smirk off of that ugly face.

Rainbow glanced at the left of Ponyville from the window and her eyes set on that big manor from the distance. The manor was obscured from the clouds but it was still easily recognizable as the Rich’s mansion. Her mind then went back what Spoiled’s had said to her from this morning before Rainbow made her first trip to Canterlot.

“I already purchased so many gifts for her, including that dreadful looking Zapp doll, which is now under our tree!”

“Under our tree!”

Rainbow had an idea.

An awful idea.

Rainbow Dash got a wonderful, awful idea.

She knows how she’ll finally get Scootaloo a Zapp action figure and get back at Spoiled at the same time. Rainbow had a wicked grin on her face and rubbed both of her forehooves together.

“So… she thinks she’s better than me huh? Well I’ll teach that spoiled stuck-up mare to not mess with me!”

A Holiday Break-In

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Rainbow Dash slowly poked herself out of a snow-covered bush and stared at the walls and gate that lead to the home of the Riches in front of her. Shortly after she had an unfriendly run in with Spoiled, Rainbow came up with a plan to finally get the toy for Scootaloo and put that rich mare in her place. Her plan is to sneak into the Riches mansion and steal the Zapp action figure from their tree and sneak out without getting detected. Rainbow already wore her black hoodie jumpsuit for the occasion, which was the same outfit she wore one time when she snuck into the hospital for the Daring Doo book so she doesn’t want anypony to know that she loves to read. In hindsight, it was both silly and stupid reason to break into the building, but Rainbow felt that this time is much more different.

Rainbow slow tiptoed out of the bush and sneaked by the golden front gates. She peaked through the gate to Rich’s property and looked around the yard. The Rich’s house was a huge seventieth century style mansion. The walls itself was purely white marble with many full springline windows and the roof was made out of a very high quality hay with two stone chimneys. There were even a few bushes, which were cut into a life-size plant model of Spoiled with a smug look as if she was mocking Rainbow further of her presence.

Rainbow scoffed at the sight. And Spoiled complained that our home is bigger than hers!

The gate shouldn’t be a problem since she can simple fly over it without a sweat, but she was concerned about the security beyond the house. She knew that the Riches have security installed everywhere around the yard, including the doors and the windows. No matter where she landed, she ended up alerting the security from the manor. Rainbow then looked up to the top of the house and she spotted one of the two chimneys. One had smoke coming out of it, obviously it was in use, while the other chimney had no smoke coming out of it at all.

Rainbow smirked. Looks like I’m gonna have to play Santa.

“Be careful with those drapes!” Spoiled barked to one of her maids. “You better not pull a single thread from that!”

Shortly after their break, Spoiled put her servants to work again of remolding the castle for the upcoming Hearth’s Warming party. With that annoying rainbow-mane pegasus out of her way, she can freely transform this castle to however she sees fit. Just another half hour of ‘delicate touches’ and the castle will finally be property decorated that was meant for higher ups and royalty.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a loud bang from the door behind her. Spoiled turned around and her pulpal shrink when she saw a very miffed purple princess standing by the door with narrowed eyes.

“Spoiled! What are you doing?” Twilight demanded angrily.

“O-oh! Princess Twilight!” said Spoiled with a fake pleasant voice while keeping herself from sweating. “I-I thought your meeting with the mayor is for another hour.”

“We adjourned early!” Twilight explained.

As she said that, Starlight and Spike entered the room beside Twilight with their irritated looks. Spoiled frowned when she realized that unicorn and the lizard thing had ratted her out. Her thoughts were interrupted when Twilight spoke again.

“I thought you said you’re tiding up our castle, not re-modeling it!”

“But this is necessarily Princess!” Spoiled huffed with an eye roll. “This you’re hosting the party in this castle to these… commoners, I’ve decided to take it upon myself to give the castle it’s proper look by getting rid of any insufficient things and replace them with state of the art décor. You should thank me Princess! Those photos of your ‘family’ were just dreadful to look at. And that ugly pinecone thing that was on the table looked like it should belong in the garbage! Thankfully, I have my maids to get rid of them and—”

“SPOILED RICH!” Twilight boomed as she slammed her hoof down and her wings flared out. “I’m appalled to this! You were never allowed to go through my things and make my castle looked like it was yours! Your job is to supervise the development of the parade and make sure it ran smoothly, not changing everything that was already decided by the town to your liking, especially my house! Those dreadful photos that you’ve insulted were very precious to me! I bet you wouldn’t like it if I throw away your family pictures now would you! And that pinecone you called ‘trash’ was made by my daughter as a centerpiece for our dinner table!”

Twilight turned her gaze to one of the maids and pointed at her. “You there! Where is our original stuff?”

“W-we have them stored in one of your rooms Princess!” the maid stammered nervously. “Despite what Spoiled said, we figured you don’t want us to throw them away.”

Twilight nodded approvingly. “Thank you, at least somepony is respectful to our belongings! Now, I kindly ask you all to take down Spoiled’s decorations and put all of our original decorations back up again where they belong. You understand?”

“R-right away Princess!” the maid replied before she and her team rushed out the room to retrieve the princess’s things.

Twilight faced Spoiled again with narrowed eyes while the Spoiled gulped nervously.

“As for you Spoiled… you’re fired!”

“No wait! Please, don’t be so rash Princess!” Spoiled pleaded as she placed her two forehooves together. “I-I’m letting my bad habits get the best of me again. Please give me another chance and I promise I won’t do anything without your permission and I won’t insult you and those… other ponies again!”

Twilight’s face remained impassive. Spoiled was nothing but a pain in her flank for the past few weeks and Twilight did her best to be diplomatic with her despite Spoiled’s attitude. But today, Spoiled was really testing with Twilight’s patience more than usual and what Spoiled did to her house really took it too far. She wanted to dismiss Spoiled’s pleas and tell her to buzz off, but she didn’t. As much as Twilight did not appreciate Spoiled’s actions, kicking he rout in the snow on Hearth’s Warming Eve would be cruel.

Twilight sighed but kept her stern expression. “Alright Spoiled, if you’re really serious about this, I’ll give you one more chance. And I mean one chance! If you failed to keep your word, I want you out of my sight! No ‘ifs’, ‘ands’ or ‘buts’! Am I clear?”

Spoiled nodded briskly. “Crystal clear your highness!”

Twilight nodded. “Good. Now go help out your maids with your mess!”

Before Spoiled could utter a protest, Twilight then added in her loud voice.

“NOW!”

Spoiled gulped. “Y-yes… Princess. Right away!”

In her post haste, Spoiled quickly walked out of the room away from Twilight’s wrath.

Once Spoiled was gone, Twilight wings and the rest of her body drooped and let out a long tired sigh. Spike scoffed at the direction where Spoiled fled and then faced Twilight with a look of disapproval.

“Seriously Twi!? You’re giving that witch another chance?” Spike exclaimed in disbelief. “C’mon! She not gonna keep her word! Heck, even Discord is more trustworthy than her!”

“I have to agree with Spike,” said Starlight. “What she did was inexcusable! If it were up to me, I would probably punch her in the nose, fire her flank and then punch her nose again!”

Spike raised his eyebrow. “You mean fire her from her job or actually burn her with fire?”

“Both.”

Twilight sighed as she rubbed her temple. “Guys, look… I know what she did was… bad. Quite frankly, I was pretty close to kicking her out right there and then. But… I can’t do that to her, especially on Hearth’s Warming Eve! That’s why I’m giving her another chance.”

Starlight scoffed. “That’s why my flank! You don’t want to do it because you don’t have the guts to do it! Just admit it! She will never change to be a good pony and she never will be! If Rainbow Dash was here she’ll—”

“Enough Starlight!” Twilight exploded in anger. “I’m having the most stressful day! We nearly had a delay for the event, I have to put up with Spoiled all day to listen to her unrealistic ideas and insults, dealing with another town to settle Rainbow’s damages from last night, and on top of that, my family is a total mess with Rainbow disappeared all day and then she upset our daughter over the voice crystal, leaving me to comfort Scootaloo with little to no progress! So forgive me for not making the ‘right’ decision for giving that mare another chance from the goodness of my heart!”

There was a strong and uncomfortable silence between a seething alicorn and a bewildered unicorn and baby dragon, with the latter group not believing that their friend was capable with so much anger. Twilight finally registered what she had said and the hurt looks from her friends immediately made her feel so guilty. Twilight sighed sadly as she turned away from them.

“I-I’m so sorry guys. I… I wanted to be alone right now.”

With that said, with her head hung low, Twilight trotted out of the room and closed the door behind her.

Both Starlight and Spike looked at each other with concerned expressions on their faces.

Rainbow grunted as she finally reached the bottom of the chimney and stuck her head out of the empty fireplace, which were made out of bricks.

Sheesh, how can Santa Hooves go down through these chimneys so easily? Rainbow thought as she tried to squeeze out of the fireplace. Especially if one is so tight and narrow like this!

Once Rainbow got out of the fireplace, she was partly covered in soot, but that doesn’t concern her because she was already dressed in black. Her eyes then focused at the family room across from her, specifically the Rich’s Hearth’s Warming tree. The tree itself had the same crappy decorations Spoiled used on Rainbow’s tree from earlier: golden and silver balls ornaments and a mixture of gold and silver garments. It also had a very fancy crystal star that was sitting on top of their tree, which Rainbow could almost see her own reflection from where she was standing. What really got her attention was a huge pile of wrapped gifts that were under the tree, including this one rectangular box, which was wrapped with images of all the Power Ponies characters.

Rainbow squeed at the sight of that box. Too easy!

As Rainbow make her way towards the tree, she failed to notice that her tail accidently snagged a knob from the fireplace and turned it, which caused the pipes to slowly leak out the gas.

An older pony was currently taking a nap by the desk with a monitor in front of him while tipping back on his chair back with his hindhooves on the desk. Normally, the security guards were supposed to keep watch on the Rich’s property with their video cameras, but the guards along with almost the rest of the servants took a holiday vacation to be with their families by Filthy Rich. The only ones who were still around working for the Riches were himself and six of Spoiled’s maids. He took it upon himself to watch the house along with many house duties while everypony was away to do their errands.

After many hours of hard labor, he then watched the security footage of the Rich’s household. But after about an hour of watching the monitors, he quickly grew bored and ended up falling asleep due to lack of action around the property.

Suddenly, an alarm goes off and woke the butler up immediately.

“W-what?” Randolph muttered, as he slowly waking up. “What’s going—”

His eyes were wide as plates when he noticed a pony dressed in dark clothing from the monitor, standing near the tree.

“I-Intruder? On Hearth’s Warming Eve?” He exclaimed in disbelief.

His eyes narrowed as he watched as the mysterious pony reached towards one of the presents and picked it up. He didn’t know how this pony got in to the manor, but he won’t let that fiend steal anything from the Riches and get away with it.

And that pony picked the wrong day to make this butler angry.

Rainbow slowly picked up the wrapped rectangular present from the tree and brought it closer to her. She paused as she inspected the gift at every angle. It seemed likely that this package contained the Zapp action figure, but is it really the right one? Rainbow placed her ear on the gift and gently shook the box.

“It’s… ZAPPIN’ TIME!”

Rainbow smirked. Bingo! Now to get out of here!

Rainbow stuffed the present under her left wing and then she quietly trotted towards the hallway leading to the front door. But before she could enter the hall, she spotted one of the maids, dusting on one of the paintings on the wall. She silently cursed her luck and then she quietly went to the other direction at the other side of the family room. She then spotted two glass doors, which leads out to the backyard on the patio.

Rainbow grinned. Perfect! I’ll just fly outta here before anypony realized that I’m here!

Not wanting to alert the maid, Rainbow crept her way towards the doors and she quietly opened them. Once she managed to get the doors opened without making a sound, she then stepped outside into the snow-covered patio. Rainbow wiped one of her forehooves against her jumpsuit to dry it before fetching the package from under her left wing. As she spread out her wings to get ready to fly, Rainbow Dash examined the gift one more time.

The gift was still in perfect condition with the Power Ponies themed wrapping paper with no wear or tear. Rainbow grinned eagerly, as the image of her daughter opening this gift on Hearth’s Warming morning came into her mind. Scootaloo will finally have the toy and Scootaloo won’t hate her anymore. But when Rainbow her eyes landed on the tag, Rainbow’s smile melted away as she read the words that were clearly written from Filthy Rich himself.

Happy Hearth’s Warming!
To Diamond Tiara!
Love,
Daddy and Mother

Rainbow eyes suddenly went wide in horror when she realized what she nearly had done.

“What am I doing?” she whispered as she lowered her head and her ears drooped in shame.

While Spoiled Rich is the worse pony she ever met, but Diamond Tiara is nothing like her mother and she doesn’t deserved to suffer from this. To make matters worse, Rainbow nearly stole a gift from a kid, which is something what Lightning Dust said she would’ve done. The thought of that made her sick to her stomach with guilt.

Rainbow sighed before she gave the present her determined glare. “Alright… I’m putting you back right where you belong!”

Rainbow re-tucked the present under her left wing and then she slowly opened the back door and walked back inside. Once she was in the family room, Rainbow made her way towards the tree again to return the gift. Just as she was a hoof length away from the tree, she noticed a feather duster was flying towards her and stopped at the last second, as it missed her head and crashed into the wall.

“Whoa! What the—”

“Stay right where you are thief!” an old angry voice bellowed.

Rainbow turned to the source of the voice and spotted an elder pony, standing across the room with an intense glare.

That pony was Randolph. He is the Rich’s family butler who served them for many years. He is a light indigo earth pony with only some gray mane on his head, brushy gray eyebrows and a small puffy gray tail. He was wearing a white shirt with a black vest over it and a double blue bow tie on his neck. On his flank is an image of a feather duster as his cutie mark.

“How dare you brake into the Rich’s manor and steal their things!” Randolph accused.

Rainbow shook her head. “No wait! I didn’t stealing anything… well okay I did, but I’m trying to return it!”

Randolph eyes narrowed. “You can’t fool me! No one will ever dare to steal from the Rich’s household and gets away with it!”

Before Rainbow could react, Randolph rushed forward and punched Rainbow right on her left cheek, sending her flying in the process. She crashed right into a wall, leaving a dent and knocking off one of the paintings in the process and then slid down to the floor.

“OW! That hurts!” Rainbow exclaimed as she rubbed her now sore left jaw. She looked back up at Randolph with bewilderment and in fear. “H-h-how!”

Randolph glared as he cracked his neck. “I may be old, but I still got some skills left in me! Before I became a butler, I was a proud soldier during the Great Griffon War! I was so tough, that one time I was able to take out fifty griffons all at once that were twice my size with only one broken leg! I can still easily break a pony in half like a twig… especially you!”

Rainbow grew more nervously as Randolph was slowly marching up to her. “W-w-wait! C-c-can we t-t-talk about this?”

But Randolph disregarded Rainbow’s words as he pulled back his hoof, getting ready to strike her again. Rainbow yelped as she dodged Randolph’s second punch, making Randolph punched through a wall in the process. Rainbow ran across the family room to get away while Randolph chased after her.

“We almost got all the wreaths back where they belong Princess Twilight!” said one of Spoiled’s maids as she placed the wreath back up on the wall.

Twilight nodded. “Very good! Now keep up the good work everypon—Wait! No no no no! That wreath should be fifteen millimeters more to the right and then rotate twenty degrees more counterclockwise!”

Everypony, including Spoiled (much to her chagrin) have been working for a half hour taking down Spoiled’s decorations and then put the original ones back up. Twilight helped out the maids by directing them to place certain decorations to specific spots. The maids were glad that Twilight was much more patient with them than Spoiled, however, that does not mean that they were safe when it comes to Twilight’s over obsession on where certain decorations should be placed and how they should be placed. Even if they were a tad off, Twilight would spend minutes having them move the same decoration around around until Twilight was satisfied.

The maids were starting to have second thoughts on which pony they would rather work for.

As Twilight instructed another maid where to specifically place a different wreath, Both Starlight and Spike watched their friend from the background with a look of uncertainty. Starlight slowly leaned into Spike’s ear and placed her hoof over her mouth.

“Sheesh, I wanted to get our castle back to it’s formal glory as much as the next mare, but I think Twilight’s a bit over excessive to make it exactly as it looked,” Starlight whispered.

“If you think this is bad, you should’ve seen how she acted when she once feared that she’s late to send a friendship report to Princess Celestia years back,” Spike responded in his hushed tone.

Starlight raised her eyebrow in surprise. “Really? How bad?”

Spike sighed. “Let’s just say…. she was desperate to make a friendship problem by using a spell and a doll.”

“…I… should ask her about that later!” Starlight said in her low voice before observing Twilight again. “Well at least Twilight is feeling a little better now and not having any more stress.”

“Princess Twilight!”

“…spoke too soon,” Spike deadpanned.

Twilight let out a huff and then turned to face Spoiled with a look of irritation. “What is it now Spoiled!”

Oblivious to Twilight’s attitude, Spoiled spoke casually with a smug smile. “I realized now that I shouldn’t have mess around in your castle, but maybe we should just keep some of my things up since this is a special occasion for Hearth’s Warming?”

Twilight barely held back a groan. “Look Spoiled, for the last time, everything we put up before your ‘rearrangement’ was fine just the way it—”

“MRS. RICH!”

They all stopped what they were doing and turned as yet another one of Spoiled’s maids, galloping into the room with a frantic look.

“Hey! What are you doing here?” Spoiled scolded at her employer. “You were supposed to be back at the manor cleaning up the entire—”

“There’s a burglar at the manor!” The maid screeched with urgency as she pointed behind her. “Randolph is fighting with the thief right now!”

Everypony widened their eyes in shock. Who would ever be cruel enough to go around robbing other ponies’ homes, especially on Hearth’s Warming Eve? As for Spoiled, for the first time today, Spoiled’s face went pale and her eye widened in horror.

“WHAT? A burglar!? Somepony was trying to rob me!”

Before Twilight could say a single sound, Spoiled quickly ran out the room and into the hallway, screaming and crying the whole way. Not wanting the rich mare be in danger, Twilight quickly chased after her.

“Wait, Spoiled!” Twilight yelled as she galloped out of the room. “You can’t go there by yourself! The thief could be dangerous!”

“Wait! I’m coming too!” Starlight hollered as she galloped after her friends.

“HEY! Wait for me!” Spike called out as he ran out the room as well.

All the maids were standing around, not sure what to do until one of them addressed the group.

“So… should we take an eggnog break?”

Rainbow screamed as she flew around the house, trying to get away from that crazy butler. The whole house was in a state of disarray with many broken furnitures lying around and holes on the wall as if a tornado had passed by. She didn’t know how, but this old coot was just as fast as her, despite his age and lack of wings. Every time she was close to the window or a door, hoping to escape, Randolph was there to intercept her.

“You can’t run forever thief!” Randolph bellowed.

Rainbow quickly dashed into the family room again where the tree was standing. She took a glimpse at the tree and the she had an idea. She quickly dove right into the tree and then she stood still, keeping herself as quiet as possible. It was at that point when Randolph entered the room, surveying the area for the fleeing thief.

“You can run, but you can’t hide,” he said in a low voice. “When I find you…” Randolph slowly took out a short black device with some kind of tin metal wires sticking out from his coat pocket. “You’re going to get a shock of a lifetime!”

Rainbow kept herself from gulping at the sight of the butler’s stun gun. If she could somehow take him out before he does, she’ll leave the present behind and escape as soon as possible. She didn’t want to hurt the guy, but at the same time, she didn’t want to get shock either. She silently waited as Randolph slowly trotted over to where she was by the tree. Once Randolph had his back towards her, she decided now it was the good time to strike.

As fast as lightning, Rainbow jumped out of the tree and then tackled the butler from behind. Randolph was send flying away from her and then crashed against the fireplace. He was then bounced back from the fireplace and then landed on the floor on his back with a painful thud.

“Ha! Take that Alfred!” Rainbow crowed loudly as she hoof pump. Her victory was short lived when she suddenly smelled this strange scent that she can’t quite put her hoof on it. “Wait… why did I smell gas?”

Rainbow slowly turned toward the fireplace to locate the smell and that’s when she finally noticed the gas noise coming from the pipes of the fireplace. She then heard a moan from beside her and she set her gaze on Randolph, trying to get up from the floor. Just as he was halfway up, he collapsed to the floor again and he dropped his stun gun in the process.

Rainbow’s eyes were as wide as dinner plates, as she watched the stun gun with the button facing towards the floor, was about to touch the ground.

“…uh oh.”

Twilight, Starlight and Spike were trying to keep up with Spoiled as they ran across the town over the snow. They all eventually made it to the Rich’s front gates and Spoiled practically pushed them opened with a second of hesitation. Just as they entered the Rich’s property with the manor in view, the front part of the building exploded.

Everypony stood in shook as huge chunks of the manor was destroyed, leaving a huge hole on the wall and flames barley burning the now ruined curtains, which were on top of the snow covered ground.

“MY HOUSE!” Spoiled wailed in despair and she fell on her rump.

“Oh man… what just happened?” Spike cried.

“I’m not sure Spike,” Starlight responded with her stunned look. “But I hope Randolph is okay!”

Twilight was horrified from what she saw. While Spoiled was… difficult at times, but even she and her family don’t deserved this tragedy. While it was bad enough that some criminal tried to rob them, but to partly destroyed their house? That’s gone too far! She swore to herself that after she’ll determined if anypony came out okay, she’ll bring this perpetrator to justice.

With no time to waste, Twilight rushed into the house and then entered the family room. As the others were catching up with her, Twilight tried to see through a thick layer of dust that was fogging up the entire room. As the dust settled, she noticed two figures inside of the building. One pony was lying on the ground, which turned out to be Randolph. She hoped that the poor old stallion was okay. The other pony was standing right next to him, which she believed to be the thief. At first, all she could see through the dust was the jumpsuit leggings of the thief, but as more dust gets clearer, that pony was starting to look… familiar. But after Twilight got the clear view of that pony’s face, her heart stopped and her expression morphed to a shock.

As the dust was settling all around her, Rainbow was hacking like crazy, as if she caught something in her throat. Her hood was destroyed, reveling her messy rainbow mane and there were a lot of holes and soot all over her jumpsuit. Once she got her coughing under control, she took a good look around and winced at the damage all around her. The entire family room was a huge mess with cracked walls, burnt carpets, all furntures reduced to a crip, and there was even some black soot partly on the tree. Thankfully, most of the presents remained in tack, except for that glass statue of Spoiled’s face. She then turned to her side to see if Randolph is okay. To her relief, the butler was still alive as he was still on the ground, moaning in pain.

Oh man… what have I done? Rainbow groaned inwardly with guilt. I never meant for this to happen! I let my stupid pride led me here, I almost stole a present from a filly, injured a pony and now I just blew up this room! Can this get any worse?

“Rainbow Dash?”

Rainbow felt a very cold chill go down her spine when she heard a voice that she knew all too well. She slowly turned around and then her eyes widen when she spotted shocked faces of her friends, that rich snob and most importantly, her alicorn wife. She had no idea when and how long they’ve been standing in the room, but one thing she knows for sure, her cover has been blown.

With a gulp, Rainbow waved back with a sheepish smile.

“Uh… hehehehe… hi Twi.”

Before Twilight could utter a single word, Starlight spoke up. “Rainbow… what are you doing here?”

Rainbow shifted her eyes nervously. “Oh… well I—”

As Rainbow was trying to come up with her explanation, Spike noticed something that was sticking out from under Rainbow’s wing. “Hey, what are you holding?”

“Uh—nothing!” Rainbow answered quickly as she tried to conceal the gift from them.

With narrowed eyes, Starlight used her horn to activate her magic to levitate the item away from Rainbow and brought it over to her, much to Rainbow’s protests. Once she got it in front of her, Starlight raised her eyebrow when she realized the item Rainbow was hiding was some kind of present. Wanting to examine it further, Starlight decided to shake the box. What happened next, shocked everypony (and dragon) to the core when they all heard something from the wrapped gift.

“Time for some SHOCKING action!”

It was the sound of a recorded heroine’s voice that comes from a toy. But not just any toy, it was a toy of a certain member of the Power Ponies. Not only that, it was a toy that was already wrapped for another filly.

“Hey! That’s my daughter’s gift!” Spoiled exclaimed, appalled from Rainbow’s actions.

“WHAT!?” Everypony cried out in shock.

Rainbow felt her heart was beating fast when she realized that she was caught. With a shake of her head, she faced her wife with a look of desperation.

“Twilight… this isn’t what it looks like!” she exclaimed.

“Rainbow…” Twilight uttered in a shocking tone before her expression changed to anger. “Why? Why are you stealing Diamond’s Zapp action figure? I thought you said you already got it weeks ago for Scootaloo!”

While under Twilight’s angry expression, Rainbow was having a hard time to speak. “W-well Twi… you see—”

“I’ll tell you what happened!” Spoiled interjected with a smirk. “I happened to overhear a conversation from your so-called former student and your pet lizard—”

“HEY!”

“That your lovely wife forgot to get your ‘daughter’ that Zapp toy due to her own half-brain negligence and she’s been shopping for it behind your back!”

Both Starlight and Spike winced at Spoiled words. Not only that they unintentionally leaked Rainbow’s plan to Spoiled, but they also made Rainbow Dash even more in trouble now. As for Twilight, her eyes widen in shock from the info and then she turned and directly looked into Rainbow’s eyes.

“Rainbow Dash… is this true?” Twilight whispered, feeling anger and hurt.

Not wanting to face Twilight out of shame, Rainbow slightly turned away not saying a word.

“I-I can’t believe you!” said Twilight with watery eyes. “You lied to me! You’ve kept making excuses of your tardiness, making Scootaloo cry from the voice crystal and now this? Do you ever care about Scootaloo? Or our FAMILY?”

Rainbow faced her wife again. “Twilight, listen I—”

“NO! I don’t wanna hear your reasons anymore!” Twilight shouted. “All I want to do right now is to go to the parade with my daughter and our friends and savage whatever is left of Hearth’s Warming Eve… without you!”

Rainbow felt daggers stabbing her heart as she watched Twilight turned to leave the room. Rainbow tried calling out to her again while keeping herself from crying.

“Twilight… please—”

With her back facing Rainbow, Twilight spoke to Spoiled in a low hoarse voice. “I’m very sorry Mrs. Rich, but will you please give me, Starlight and the kids a ride with your carriage?”

Spoiled nodded. “But of course Princess Twilight. I’ll have my servants take us there right away!”

Twilight nodded and she walked through the door without saying another word. Rainbow turned to her friends for support, only to find Spike with a disappointed expression and Starlight’s angry glare. Without saying a word, they too turned and walked after Twilight. Just before Spoiled was trailing behind them, until she stopped by the door and turned to face Rainbow with a cruel smirk.

“Well… it looks like the only gifts you’ll be receiving in your stocking, are my claims to court and piles of divorce papers for you to sign! Happy holidays!~”

With her head held up, Spoiled turned and exited the room, leaving a heart broken pegasus alone with a barely conscious butler.

Making Things Right

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After their ‘pleasant’ meeting with Rainbow, Twilight and Starlight returned to the castle to round up the kids from the castle. Spike already went ahead to Ponyville so he won’t be late to officially start the parade as an announcer. Most of the fillies noticed the downcast expression from Twilight a crossed look from Starlight. Every time they asked what was wrong, their only response was, “It was nothing. Don’t worry about it.” The fillies knew it was more than nothing, but decided not to push further, while Scootaloo doesn’t care because she was still feeling in the dumps.

They all eventually stood outside of the castle, waiting for Spoiled’s carriage to arrive. After about fifteen minutes of waiting, a big fancy golden carriage arrived with two maids pulling it. Once the carriage made a full stop, the door opened revealing Spoiled with a very stern expression.

“Alright you bra—kids, get in the carriage,” Spoiled ordered. “Make sure you wipe your hooves before you jump in.”

As Sweetie Belle and Silver Spoon grumbled as they entered the carriage, Apple Bloom whispered into Diamond’s ear when Spoiled wasn’t looking.

“Sheesh, your mother is so unbearable… no offense Diamond.”

“None taken,” Diamond sighed as she and Apple Bloom entered the carriage.

Scootaloo, who was still feeling down, slowly followed after he friends. Before she entered the carriage, Scootaloo turned to face Twilight.

“Twilight…. is Rainbow Dash coming?” she asked.

Twilight let out a long sigh and slightly turned away from Scootaloo. “I don’t think so Scootaloo.”

With a sad expression, Scootaloo slowly stepped into the carriage.

“Another round of Apple Cider Mistress Dash?” Randolph offered to a downcast mare from across from him.

Rainbow sighed and pushed her mug forward to him. “Yeah, keep ‘em coming… and please stop calling me ‘Mistress’.”

“Very well ma’am!” Randolph replied, much to Rainbow’s annoyance.

After Twilight and the others left her behind in the cold, Randolph recovered from Rainbow’s attack. To her surprise, instead of attacking her or pressing her, he offered to heal her wounds and then take her downstairs to Filthy’s secret bar and have a drink. She was not wearing her jumpsuit anymore, but she now had a small rectangle bandage on her cheek from where Randolph had punched her. Most of the selections they have downstairs were different variety of Apple Ciders from Applejack’s Family Great Apple Acres. While it was no surprise to her since the Rich's are partners with the Apples, but what really surprised her was that all the bottles actually belong to the butler himself.

Speaking of Randolph, he already changed his butler uniform with a new one. It was the same outfit as the one form earlier, except it was clean and free from tears and scratches. The only thing he added was a small bandage on his head and on one of his forelegs. While the old stallion was still sore, but that doesn’t stop him to continue his butler duties.

As Randolph poured some more cider into Rainbow’s mug with his mouth, Rainbow watched him with her arched eyebrow.

“You know… for a butler from a very wealthy family, I didn’t expect you to have your very own stash of Sweet Apples Apple Cider.”

Randolph stopped pouring and gently placed the bottle on the counter. “Well… if you’re working for a mare like Spoiled, you got to have something to help you make it through the day,” Randolph said simply before he gives Rainbow her drink and then took a quick swig of his own drink.

Rainbow took a quick sip and then sighed somberly. “Listen… I’m really sorry about everything. You know, almost stealing the present, knocking you down and uh… blowing up part of this house.”

“While I can’t speak for Mr. Rich, but I do appreciate your apology,” said Randolph. “And I also apologize for punching you in the face.”

“It’s fine, I had worse injuries so this is nothing,” Rainbow said with a shrug before she stared at her drink with a depressing frown. “My heart though… is another story.”

Rainbow truly felt she let everypony down this time. She missed Scootaloo’s scooter competition, she didn’t get the toy, she unintentionally yelled at her out of frustration, and now she upset her own wife for not only lying about the toy, but also nearly committed petty theft of some other filly’s gift.

Some wife and mother she turned out to be.

She would have continued to wallow in her sorrows, but a loud noise from Randolph’s throat got her attention.

“While I don’t appreciate you nearly stole Mistress Diamond’s gift, I do however understand your predicament,” Randolph took another sip of his drink before he continued. “Being a parent… or in my case, parental figure is never an easy task. I recalled countless times when Master Rich couldn’t make it to any of Mistress Diamond functions… I have to be there in his place. While Diamond… nowadays enjoyed my company, I can tell that deep down, it wasn’t the same… not that I blame her. There was one incident that Master Rich arranged an important meeting for Barnyard Bargains, not realizing that Diamond’s sixth birthday party happened to take place on the same day. He wasn’t able to cancel his meeting and he promised his daughter that he’ll be there for her birthday, so he tried to host a party and have a meeting at the manor at the same time.”

“Did that ever go well?” Rainbow asked out of curiosity.

“Oh goodness no, it was a complete disaster!” Randolph stressed as he took another sip of his drink. “Chefs keep coming in demanding what dish to cook, the party guests and business pony were mixed up, Diamond demanded for attention little kids were out of control and worse of all, there was a food fight that took place in the middle of the meeting room!” Randolph then shuddered. “I’ve spent weeks cleaning that room up!”

“Sound’s like it was one heck of a party!” Rainbow commented.

Randolph nodded and then he continued. “Anyway, Mistress Diamond was very upset that day and Master Rich felt terrible for letting work get in the way of his daughter’s important day. So for the first time and only time in a long while, he took the day off and spent his entire day with just his daughter alone. Of course, the executives were not happy with his sudden change of plans, but to Master Rich, it was worth it. He told me at the end of the day, Diamond’s smile was so wide, it nearly split her face in half. He never had another day off since, but Diamond now knew that his father love her more than anything in the world.”

Rainbow raised her eyebrow. “Well that’s good for Rich and all, but what’s your point?”

“My point is Mistress Dash, that no parent is perfect,” Randolph summed up simply. “You may messed up badly and couldn’t fulfill a lot promises you can’t keep, but if you can actually start fulfilling a promise you can keep, make some sacrifices and put an effort to it, then you’ll show your daughter and your wife that you do care about their feelings. With or without that toy.”

Rainbow stared at the butler in awe. She knew Randolph spends a lot of time with Diamond whenever she needs his service or as a stand in for family events when neither of her parents was around like Derby Racers from last year. But she never thought that he is like a parental guardian or maybe a second father to Diamond. While Randolph is not her real father, but she can tell that he loves that filly like it was his own.

After a long period of silence, Rainbow finally spoke. “Since when do you know so much about parenting?”

Randolph smiled. “It was all from learning experience.”

This made her think of Scootaloo again. While they were not really blood related, but she really loves that tomboyish filly like her own daughter. She frowned from all the times she had to work late lately and she felt she owed it to Scoots for leaving her hanging. She knew what she had to do.

“Still… you’re right. I gonna make it up to my family, especially to Scootaloo! I should start actually fulfilling promises!” Rainbow grinned as she proclaimed, but than she frowned afterword. “But how?”

“You can start by going to the parade.”

Both ponies yelp from the sudden voice and they turned to see Pinkie Pie, who was sitting next to Rainbow, drinking her own apple cider from out of nowhere.

“Pinkie, what are you doing here?” Rainbow exclaimed.

Pinkie placed her mug down and than faced her friend. “Weeeeeell, I noticed that Twilight looked very upset and everypony went to the parade except for you since you pinkie promised you’ll be there so I was looking all over for you and then I finally find you here!” Her face suddenly changed from her cherry attitude to a displeased scowl and her eyes narrowed. “Nopony should ever break a pinkie promise!”

Rainbow began to sweat and gulped with difficulty. “Listen Pinkie, I screwed up badly today and I know I broke her promise, but I’m gonna make this right, so… please don’t hurt me!”

Pinkie’s expression changed to a look of confusion. “Hurt you? Dashie, I would never hurt you or any of my friends! I’ll be disappointed sure, but I would never resort to that!”

Rainbow blinked in surprise. “But what about the time with—”

“Applejack?” Pinkie interjected with her amused snort. “Oh I chased after her because I have a bone to pick with her, not hurting her.” She shook her head and her face changed to her semi-serious expression. “But that’s not important! You technically didn’t break Scootaloo’s promise yet! You promised you’ll ‘be at the parade’ right? Well the parade barley started, so get your flank out there and be with your family!”

Rainbow stared at Pinkie for a moment before she slowly nodded with a smile. “You’re right! I’ll do it! Thanks Pinkie Pie!”

Pinkie smiled back. “Anything to help a friend Dashie!”

Rainbow then turned to face Randolph. “Thanks for the drinks Randolph and for your advice.”

Randolph simply bowed. “Happy to be of service Mistress Dash. Good luck!”

With a determined nod, Rainbow got up from her stool and flew up the stairs as fast as possible. Once Rainbow was out of sight, Randolph turned to Pinkie with his confused expression as Pinkie took Rainbow’s mug and drank from it.

“Um… Miss Pinkamena, our manor is very heavily secured. We should’ve detected you as soon as you set foot in our property. So I ask you, just how did you get in here so easily?”

Once Pinkie finished drinking the entire mug, she turned towards Randolph and gave him her innocent smile.

“Plot convenience!”

The Ponyvillie’s Hearth Warming parade already started as various floats and dancers heading down the road. Many residents were already filling out almost every block on the sidewalks, talking excitably to one another while trying to get a good view. Some of these ponies were waiting on lines to different vendors for food or merchandise. For the first half hour, lots of floats and performers already passed through the main streets of Ponyville; such as a gingerbread house float with ponies dressed as gingerbread men, a giant ursa minor balloon with a Santa hat, a toy box float with ponies dressed as toys, a marching band dressed as Santa Hooves playing the drums, a holiday themed Daring Do float with all the characters waving from the float, and many more.

From the very center of the town, stood a stand with only a small dragon with his winter cap occupying it. Spike and Pinkie Pie have been assigned as official announcers for all Ponyvillie’s events ever since the very first Running of the Leaves Race. But because Pinkie has yet to arrive, Spike decided to do his job solo for the time being.

“Is everypony having a good time!” Spike announced into his microphone with a grin.

Many ponies responded with their cheers and stomping their hooves with excitement before Spike continued.

“Well I’m glad you all do, our third annual Ponyville’s Hearth’s Warming Parade has been a blast! And I have a very good feeling that we’re only getting started!”

“You got that right Spike!”

Spike yelped in fright and then turned to see Pinkie Pie, who was wearing her blue winter hat and scarf, sitting next to him from thin air.

“P-Pinkie!? Where did you come from?” Spike exclaimed.

“Oh, I just got here a few seconds ago!” Pinkie chirped.

“How?”

“I walked here!”

“You walked!? But the Rich’s manor is several miles from here on—” Spike stopped in his midsentence then sighed in submission. “You know what? I’m not going to question it! Aaaaaanyway, the floats we saw that were passing by are amazing! You can tell they put a lot of effort into this!”

Pinkie nodded with so much enthusiasm. “They totally did, and we’ll see even more floats very soon, including our very special float near the end of the parade!

“You mean Santa Hooves?” Spike guessed.

“…okay second best float before that! I’m talking about very certain ‘heroes’ who saved our world many times before… besides us of course!”

Spike grinned. “Oh I know who you were referring to and I can hardly wait! And I’m sure everypony else is excited for them too! For now, here comes Cheese Sandwich’s float!” Spike blinked at the sight of Cheese’s float. “…which were actually made of cheese… huh.”

“Oooooooooh! I bet his float tasted delicious!~” Pinkie gushed.

While that was happening, the Spoiled’s golden carriage pulled up at the least populated part of the town and parked on the street. The servants unstrapped themselves from their straps and then trotted to one side of the carriage. They each grabbed a handle from each side and they opened both of the carriage doors, revealing all the passengers inside of the carriage.

“Welp, we’re here everypony!” Starlight announced as she carfully stepped out of the carriage.

“Sweet!” Apple Bloom cheered. “C’mon girls, let’s go get ourselves some hot cocoa before the parade starts!”

“Yeah! I hope they have white hot cocoa!” Sweetle Belle chirped.

Twilight sighed as she watched the young fillies getting out of the carriage. Just as she was about to get up, she felt somepony touched her shoulder.

“Hold on Princess Twilight, do you mind if we talk for a moment?” said Spoiled with a frown.

Twilight kept herself from groaning and rolled her eyes. She was not in the mood to talk to anypony, especially to Spoiled after what happened with Rainbow. But she knew that if she turned that request down now, Spoiled will just keep bothering her again thought-out the event. She figured she might as well get this ‘conversation’ over with.

Twilight faced Starlight with her apologetic look. “I’m sorry Starlight, but will you watch the kids for a while?”

“Sure thing, just don’t take too long,” Starlight said before adding in her whispered tone. “And don’t let her push you around further!”

Twilight nodded. “Thank you. Just save us the spot.”

With a hesitant nod from her formal student, Starlight and the fillies left them behind and disappeared into the crowd. After they were gone, Spoiled addressed to her servants.

“You two may close the doors now and then take a long walk around the town. We’ll be fine from here!” she commanded.

Her servants obeyed as they shut the doors on them and then they too walked away from them. Only Twilight and Spoiled remained in the carriage alone with no one else around. As for Twilight, something doesn’t feel quite right. Twilight spoke to Spoiled alone many times before, but the way they were alone now in this carriage made her feel very uncomfortable. Even with the way Spoiled was starring at her, it made Twilight fidget in her seat a bit. Deciding to get this conversation going as quick as possible, Twilight began to speak.

“Listen Spoiled, if it’s about your house, I’m very sorry for what happened, but now is not the right time to talk about it!” said Twilight.

Suddenly, Spoiled did a one-eighty to her expression changed to a calm and gentle smile. “Oh you got it all wrong Princess,” she said sweetly. “I’m just wanted to simply checking up on you! From one married mare to another, I feel your pain.”

Twilight blinked in surprise to Spoiled’s sudden attitude. “You do?”

“Oh of course,” said Spoiled as she moved from her seat and then sat next to Twilight. “I went through all those hard times myself. I thought I knew my husband well enough and that he will always have my back when I needed him. But due to some unfortunate circumstances, I realized he’s not the same stallion who I married with. Granted, he never stole a present from a filly, but our marriage is in shambles, all because we have our… disagreements.”

Twilight arched her eyebrow with a frown. “Wasn’t it because you tried to keep the crusaders from graduating and led a protest against my marriage with Rainbow Dash?”

“Details, details,” Spoiled responded, waving her hoof dismissingly. “My point is you deserved better Twilly!”

“Twilly?” Twilight exclaimed with her perturbed expression.

“You deserve somepony who you’ll truly relied on,” Spoiled purred as she moved closer to Twilight. “Somepony that let you cry on to their shoulder, somepony who can help you guide to your true path. Somepony with better… privileges.”

Twilight slightly scooted herself back from Spoiled and gulped nervously. “Spoiled… are you coming on to me?”

“Okay girls, who wants some hot chocolate?” Starlight asked.

After Starlight and the fillies found a good viewing spot for the parade, Starlight decided to treat them all with hot chocolate since the vendor’s cart was close by. Naturally, almost every filly in her group raised their hooves eagerly and let out a loud cheer. The only one who did not joined in was Scootaloo, who was in deep thought with her somber expression.

“What about you Scootaloo? Do you want one?” Starlight asked in her gentle tone.

Scootaloo sighed. “No thanks Starlight… I’m not very thirsty.”

Starlight frowned. “Are you sure?”

“…yeah.”

Scootaloo turned away from Starlight towards the parade. “I’ll just wait here to reserve our spot.”

It pained Starlight to see Scootaloo acted so miserable, especially around the holidays. She wanted to help her someway to lift her spirits up, but she doesn’t know how. Seeing that the filly won’t change her mind or open up further, Starlight reluctantly turned and head to the cart.

“Alright Scootaloo. We’ll be right back.”

The two Crusaders and Silver Spoon stared at Scootaloo’s back with their worried looks. They’ve tried to talk to her and asked what’s wrong ever since they left the castle, but Scootaloo would either responded to them by saying she’s “fine” in her sad tone, or just clammed up altogether. Like Starlight, they don’t know how to get through with her either. One by one, they reluctantly followed Starlight to the hot chocolate stand.

Just before Silver Spoon took off with the others, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to see her best friend leaned over to her ear.

“Silver, tell Starlight and the others to get one more hot chocolate for Scootaloo,” Diamond whispered. “I’ll stay here and talk to her.”

“Well… okay,” Silver Spoon responded with her unsure expression. “But how are you going to make her talk? The crusaders had been trying to talk to her for hours and even they couldn’t get through to her!”

Diamond grinned. “You just leave that to me! This is something I need to speak to her alone. Now go with the others!”

Silver nodded before she galloped after the group.

Now alone, except with other ponies watching the parade, Diamond trotted over to Scootaloo and stood next to her. Despite their rocky history in the past, Diamond has been a good friends with the crusaders ever since they helped her see the light and then she stood up to her mother for the first time. Her life has been better since and she owe it all to them. However, she was still new to this whole friendship thing as she was still learning to be nice instead of teasing others. But despite that, she was still willing to help out a friend in need.

She had a hunch of what Scootaloo’s problem was due to some visual clues she picked up from her friend. She decided to go straight to the problem, but at the same time she will try to tread lightly since this may be a sensitive topic to her pegasus friend. After a couple of minutes of casually watching the parade, Diamond decided to break the ice.

“Um… hey Scootaloo,” Diamond began awkwardly. “How are you feeling?”

Scootaloo scoffed without taking her eyes off of the parade. “I’m fine Diamond! Nothing’s wrong with me!”

Diamond huffed. “That’s a lie and you know it! You’ve been acting mopey long before we came down here! It’s obvious that you’re not fine!”

Scootaloo looked away. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“It’s about Rainbow Dash, wasn’t it?” Diamond said in her soft tone.

Scootaloo finally turned to face Diamond with her blank expression. Diamond decided to press further.

“Are you still upset with her about missing you’re scooter performance or is there more to it?”

They were staring at each other for a while until Scootaloo looked down with her sad expression.

“I… I just want Rainbow Dash to came to this parade with us,” she said softly. “She promised she’ll be here, but she didn’t come home! And it’s not just the scooter competition or the parade; it was almost every event I asked her come! She would either be late or missed the day entirely! It’s been like that ever since she adopted me! And just this morning, me and Rainbow Dash had an argument over the voice crystal and I said all those terrible things I said to her. But the worse part is… I didn’t mean any of those things I said and… I felt guilty. And because of that… I think Rainbow Dash hates me now and decided not to come,” Scootaloo let out her stray tear. “I’m a horrible daughter.”

As Scootaloo wiped her tear away, Diamond wrapped her arm around one side of Scootaloo’s shoulder.

“Scoots… you are not a terrible daughter.” Diamond said gently. “You were just upset that your mom didn’t show up like those other times and you couldn’t tolerate them anymore. What you said may be harsh, but I doubt she’ll hate you for now. She loves you too much for that.” She then set her sights on the ongoing parade and sighed somberly. “Listen… you remember what I said that I wanted my daddy to spend the day with me on Hearth’s Warming day?” After receiving a nod from her friend, she continued. “Well… it’s because… he rarely took a day off from work… ever.”

Scootaloo eyes widened. “What?”

Diamond faced her friend with a sad smile on her face. “All my life, I hardly see my daddy. It was always work for him. He never showed up on my birthdays, my cute-ceañera, holidays. Heck, he never returns home to the point that he sleeps in his own office! I remembered that he tried to host my sixth birthday party and run a meeting at the same time in our home. It was… not very pleasant. After that, I yelled at him that he always chooses work over me. I think I made him felt bad about it, so on the next day, he decided to take a day off so he can spend the whole day with me. It was without a doubt, the best day of my entire life! That was the only time he ever took a day off from work. Since then, I asked him many times if we can do it again, but he never has the time.” She sighed and set her downcast eyes towards the ground. “He told me that this year he will take a day off for Hearth’s Warming, but I couldn’t help but to feel… that it may never happen.”

Now it was Scootaloo’s turn to feel bad about her friend. She had forgotten that Diamond’s family life was… not perfect, to put it mildly. Diamond’s father, Filthy Rich may be one of the nicest stallion in Ponyvillie, but he was also one of the busiest business man in Equestria. No doubt that Diamond’s loneliness and her mother’s ‘influence’ is what made her into bully for a while in the first place. Speaking of Diamond’s mother, a thought entered Scootaloo’s mind.

“What about your mother?” Scootaloo asked.

Diamond scoffed. “She rather spent Hearth’s Warming at some high society club than with me!”

Before Scootaloo could say anything further, Diamond faced her again.

"You may not realize it Scoots, but you are actually very lucky!”

Scootaloo had a look of disbelief. “Lucky?”

“Even though Rainbow is late to most of your events… but at least you still get to see her at home after work or on the weekends,” said Diamond before she looked away with a sad sigh. “It’s one of many things I wish I have.”

As much as Scootaloo hated to admit it, but she knew Diamond was right. Even though Rainbow Dash was late for everything and missed Scootaloo’s scooter competition yesterday, but at least Rainbow did try her best to see her. While it is true that Rainbow Dash spent time with Scootaloo after work and on weekends, but Rainbow usually gets home late at night and spends partial days at the Wonderbolts headquarters on weekends. Despite that, Rainbow would still find a way to spend time with her, like reading Scootaloo a bedtime story on weeknights and go to the park in the afternoon on the weekends. Scootaloo appreciated Rainbow’s dedication to the best of her abilities, but Scootaloo wished Rainbow could find a way to spend time with her longer. But yelling at Rainbow Dash about these problems was wrong, even if it was justified. Right now, Scootaloo doesn’t care if Rainbow showed up on time or not, she wanted to apologize and then talk about what she really wanted the next she sees Rainbow Dash.

“Diamond.”

When she saw Diamond turned her head back towards her, Scootaloo gave Diamond her appreciative smile.

“…Thanks.”

Diamond smiled back. “Hey… don’t mention it.”

Scootaloo then adverted her eyes and rubbed the back of her neck. “You know… in case if your father comes or not, you can come over to our castle and spend Hearth’s Warming with us. We would like to have you over.”

Diamond blinked in surprise with Scootaloo’s sudden offer. After a moment of staring, Diamond responded with her beaming smile.

“Yeah… I would like that.”

Scootaloo then gave Diamond her sly grin. “Just for heads up, stay away from anything that was cooked by Twilight!”

“Let’s not kid ourselves around further Twilly,” Spoiled insisted with her flirtatious smile. “We’ve practically bonded more with each other than we did with our own spouses. And since both our marriages is irreparable, we should just completely divorce from our partners and then we’ll wed to each other… as the new royal princess couple!”

Alarm bells started ringing in Twilight’s mind. Not only Spoiled turned out had a thing with Twilight, but she’s was assuming that Spoiled is having a chance with Twilight after Rainbow Dash’s blunder. Twilight didn’t understand where that was coming from, but she felt she should address this misunderstanding as soon as possible. She stuck her hoof out towards Spoiled, forcing Spoiled to stop in her tracks.

“Wait! Hold on!” Twilight said quickly. “First off… where did that come from? Second, who said that me and Rainbow are having a divorce? What she did was bad… but then again, I never give her a chance to explain herself, but despite that, I’m not leaving her or Scootaloo! And third, what about your own family? How would they feel when you decided to ditch them and married to somepony else?”

Unfazed by Twilight’s body language, Spoiled moved closer with her crazed smile. “Come now Twilly, don’t deny it! It’s practically our destinies to be together and rule over these common ponies! Who cares about my ‘family,’ they are practically useless! Filthy would rather use his resources to ‘help’ these ponies and Diamond is too corrupted by those crusader brats to follow my hoofsteps now! We should just ditch them together!”

Twilight started to shake. “Y-your insane! I’ll will never do that to my family!”

Spoiled frowned angrily. “Why do you keep sticking up for that Rainbow freak? You should just leave her! I didn’t make that loudmouth pegasus tomboy steal that toy for nothing!”

Twilight’s felt her heart stop and her pupils shrunk to a size of a pin needles. “W-what?!”

After she grabbed her red scarf and left the Rich’s manor, Rainbow flew towards the Ponyville as fast as possible. She wanted to be with her family. She wanted to apologize to Twilight for lying to her, and most importantly, she wanted to make it up to Scootaloo for not spending enough time with her and actually going to fulfill her promises.

And being there with Scootaloo at the Heath’s Warming Parade will be a start.

When she finally reached Ponyville, Rainbow flew around the town until she found he least populated area for her to land. She used her wings to slowly descend herself until she touched the ground. Once she was safely landed, she folded her wings to her side and let out a sigh.

“Okay, I made it! Now to find my family and hopefully they’ll accept my apology.”

With her plan in set, Rainbow began to trot towards the crowd to look for her friends and family. As she was trotting, she noticed a golden carriage that was just sitting in the middle of the road with two figures that was close together through the window. At first, Rainbow thought it was some random couple acting all romantic, so she paid them no mind. But then she stopped dead in her tracks when she got a better view of the window, specifically a pony with a recognizable violent with a single striped pink mane and a crooked nose shape of another pony.

Rainbow’s eyes widened. “Twilight… and Spoiled? What are they—”

She watched further as Twilight tried to move back further away from Spoiled while Spoiled continue to come closer to Twilight. Rainbow frowned in concern when she noticed her wife had an uncomfortable look on her face. Rainbow frowned further when she also noticed Spoiled had a certain expression on her face that Rainbow did not like. Suddenly, everything clicked when Rainbow realized what Spoiled’s true attentions were and it made Rainbow seething with rage.

That… WITCH! No wonder she kept hanging around with my wife! I’m gonna pulverize her!

With an angry snort, Rainbow dashed towards the carriage to give that rich snob a piece of her mind. But in doing so, she failed to notice another pony that was walking in front of her. As a result, the two ponies collided, sending one pony’s tray full of hot chocolates in the air. Rainbow Dash quickly recovered from the crash, but not quickly enough to catch any of the hot chocolates to land on the pony. Rainbow Dash grimaced as the sound of a pony’s loud painful scream from the hot beverage.

“OH MY GOSH!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed in panic as she rushed towards the injured pony. “Are you okay? I am so terribly sor—”

Her voice died in her throat when she got a good look of that pony. She realized that the pony she just bumped into and accidentally burned was none other than Officer Warrant, who also had a look of disbelief and anger when he saw Rainbow Dash.

Oh you’ve gotta be bucking kidding me! Rainbow screamed inwardly.

“YOU!” Warrant screamed. “Just for that and everything else you did all day, I’m placing you under arrest!”

With a yelp, Rainbow Dash dodged from Warrant’s grasp and then she quickly flew away from him and rushed towards the crowd.

“HEY!” Warrant shouted angrily as he gave chase. “Come back here or I’ll have you spend twenty Hearth’s Warmings in jail!”

“You… you purposely led Rainbow Dash to steal that toy?” Twilight exclaimed, both in disbelief and appalled by Spoiled’s actions.

“I was merely exposing her intensions, to prove to you that she’s not the kind of pony you should relied on as your royal partner,” Spoiled said with a smirk before she frowned. “Although, I never expected her to blow up my manor! In any case, she’s not worthy to be married to anypony! With her useless brain and talent, she’ll bring the entire status of this town to the ground. But with me, I’m the mare to help you bring our lives forward!”

Twilight shook her head. “NO! I’m not marrying you Spoiled! I will not abandon my family!”

“You will!” Spoiled insisted with her crazed grin. “Once we’re married, we’ll throw that rainbow freak down to our dungeon to rot! And then we’ll send that pegasus filly away to a different family, or better yet, an orphanage since no family would ever wanted some useless filly who can’t fly! And then we’ll make our own family, and I will teach our children to be the perfect highly respected social ponies, better than my so-call former daughter! We’ll be the most powerful royal couple in all of Equestria, maybe even more than Princess Celestia herself!”

Spoiled leaned very close to Twilight’s face, who had an emotionless expression on her face, and cupped both of Twilight’s cheeks.

“So what do you say Twilly?” Spoiled purred. “Shall we ditch our useless former families and start over as the new royal couple?”

Without waiting for Twilight’s permission, Spoiled leaned forward to kiss the princess’ lips.

SLAP

Spoiled was reeled back to the far end of the seat with her head facing to the right. Once she regained her senses, she felt a throbbing in pain on her left jaw. She slowly turned to face Twilight again, revealing a huge red hoofprint on her left cheek with a shocked expression on her face.

Twilight just sat there with her hoof still outstretched while her face had a look of pure fury. Twilight was normally a calm and peaceful mare who would never resort to any violence unless if it was necessary for self defense, including Equestria’s greatest enemies. However, Spoiled managed to succeed in which most others failed; Twilight finally lost her temper. She never felt so much hatred to anypony since Tirek destroyed her treehouse. With her eyes still set on Spoiled, Twilight slowly brought her hoof back.

“How dare you!” Twilight seethed in her low tone before she started screaming in anger. “Rainbow may have made a lot of mistakes, but she’s the best and most loyal wife and mother I’ve ever known! Not only that, she is an inspired Wonderbolt, helping out children including our daughter and helped me saved the world too many times to count! She is more worthy to be my wife than you will ever be! I have to put up with your verbal garbage for so long because I thought you wanted to change. But the things you said about my wife and my daughter really crossed the line! And the fact that you were trying to rebound your marriage to me and make Rainbow fall, all so you can get royal status really makes me sick! You are no longer my student!”

Twilight opened the carriage with her magic and quickly stepped out. Once she was outside, she half-turned to face Spoiled.

“Rainbow was right… you really are a witch!”

Twilight slammed the door to Spoiled’s shocked face and than she quickly walked away towards the crowd as fast as her legs can carry. Even though she easily put that crazy rich snob to her place, she still felt very unsafe from where she is and wanted to get to her friends as soon as possible. Twilight made a mental note to talk and apologize to Rainbow as soon as the parade is over.

But first, she had to make an urgent call to a certain pony when she finds the nearest voice crystal booth.

Rainbow rushed through the crowd as her life depends on it while officer Warrant continued to chase after her. She came this far just to be with her family and friends in order to fix her mistake; she couldn’t afford to let that officer arrest her on the spot. She needed to get away from him as quick as possible. She tried to go through a group of ponies, go around the vender’s carts as a fake out or even as far to knock over a few trash cans or crates in attempt to slow Warrant down. But no matter what she does, Warrant was still remain on her tail.

Just as Warrant was finally catching up to her, Rainbow spotted an alleyway about a few feet away from her. Thinking quickly, Rainbow used a burst of her speed and quickly did a sharp turn to an alley. Not allowing this perpetrator to get away from him, Warrant pushed forward and pulled the exact same moves to follow Rainbow.

Only to crashed into a dumpster that was suddenly blocked the alleyway.

Warrant fell to the ground, leaving a huge dent on the dumpster and moaned in pain. As Warrant was barely conscious, Rainbow took her opportunity from the other side of the dumpster and flew away further down the alleyway. She eventually reached the dead-end of the alley except for a brown door that said ‘STAFF ONLY’ on it. Rainbow cursed her luck for going down the wrong path. Her anxiety grew when she heard somepony flying down behind her, assuming it was Warrant. Since she can’t go back and going up in the air would only make Warrent spot her quicker, Rainbow had no choice but to quickly entered the door in hopes to hide herself away from the angry cop.

As the door was shut behind Rainbow, Warrant arrived at the scene with a scowl on his face. He looked around for the Rainbow menace, only to find an empty area. His eyes then landed on the door that leads to the staffing area. Thinking she may be hiding in here, Warrant quickly flew by the door and opened it.

Inside of the building was just an studio-like area, with various floats and balloons that has yet to appear on the streets of Ponyville and various different ponies roaming around the area. Some ponies were in costume, to take part of the parade, while the rest of them were crew to help set up the event. Warrant slowly observed around his surroundings, looking at each pony carefully to find a match for that certain troublemaker that he was after. After a minute of searching, not a trace of a rainbowed maned pegasus was found. Not wanting to waste his time further, Warrant rushed out the door to continue to find that pony from the outside.

As soon as the door was shut, a lid of a wooden create from the corner of the room slowly lifted up, revealing eyes which belonged to a pony. The eyes roamed around the room to see if the coast is clear before the head of a pony finally poked out of the create, revealing to be Rainbow Dash. She got out of the wooden create and replaced the lid back on the create, letting out a sigh of relief.

Whew! That was close! Rainbow thought. Now I need to get out of here and find my family before that cop found me!

Just before Rainbow could move an inch, a male voice called out to her.

“Hey you!”

Rainbow quickly turned to see a light violet stallion with blue mane and tail and an image of a clipboard on his flank as his cutie mark, walking towards her. Rainbow assumed that this guy is one of those production assistants for the parade since he was wearing an Id lanyard around his neck and a one-piece headphone on one side of his head. He was about to scold her for intruding the building, until he took a good look at Rainbow and his eyes widened.

“Hey, are you our action mare?” he asked.

Rainbow blinked, not expecting that question. “Huh?”

“Oh thank Celestia!” he cried in relief before grabbing Rainbow. “Please come with me, we’re gonna suit you up real quick!” As he pulled her along towards a different section of the studio, he called out to his crew. “Hey everypony, she’s here!”

Rainbow struggled as she tried to clear up this misunderstanding. “Hey wait a minute! I’m not—”

“Thank you so much for coming in at the last second!” said the P.A. as they reached the next room with all the staff waiting for them. “I know it’s sudden, but when White Lightning injured her wing due to our rehearsal earlier today, we don’t know what to do!”

As Rainbow processed this, one of the staff yanked her scarf away from her.

“Hey what are you—”

Her protests were cut off as was forced to put on a costume from everypony who were present while the head P.A. continued to explain their parade plans with his clipboard.

“Anyway, I know you’ve read our rehearsal booklet, but we’ve made three different chances so I’ll go over with you quick!”

Rainbow grunted as somepony zipped up a tight costume on her body.

“Now instead of doing the mega-triple twists, you’re going to do a simple double loop since that’s what got her injured in the first place.”

Rainbow barely had time to complain as another pony was pulling and trimming her mane with their scissors and then added a lot of mane gel.

“For your ‘zapp attack’ we reduced our magic-made lightning power down to thirty percent so it’ll be enough to only lightly stun other actors, but don’t worry, the suits everpony is wearing including yours is a special heavy duty rubber, so you should be safe… somewhat.”

Rainbow was about to comment about his statement, only to get interrupted when somepony shoved a helmet on her head, obscuring her vision.

“And lastly, we made some adjustments to your microphone from within your helmet to give your voice the proper tonality for the character. Now any questions?”

Rainbow managed to adjust her helmet so she can see the stallion properly.

“Yes I—”

“Great!” The P.A. cheered. “Again, on behalf of everypony here, we want to thank you again for doing this! So break a leg! …er I met metaphorically and not literally of course. Hehehe.”

Before Rainbow could utter a single word, she was lightly shoved to the next room where one of the floats for the parade took place. The room was slightly dark, so she couldn’t see anything or anypony was there. The only thing she could see was somepony wearing some kind of bulky costume with his actual head exposed under the headlight on top of the float.

“Took you long enough!” said the half costumed pony with a grunt. “A few minutes longer and I would’ve done in by a heat stroke! Whatever, its show time!”

He picked up a costumed head from next to him and put it over his head. As he was adjusting the head, Rainbow stared at him for a moment, trying to recall where she saw that ‘character’ from somewhere. When he finally finished and turned fully towards Rainbow, her eyes widen with recognition.

“Hey wait a minute! You’re Hun Drum, aren’t you?” Rainbow asked in awe.

There was an awkward pause as the costumed Hundrum stared at Rainbow for almost a full minute.

“Did ya hit your head on your way over here? Of course I’m Hum Drum! Who do you think you are, the Termineightor?”

Before Rainbow could respond, one of the staff walked in. “Places everypony!”

Rainbow was once again felt somepony pushing her along and into the bottom section of the float. She managed to glimpse the five other ponies going into the float too but she couldn’t make out their features due to lack of light. After she fully entered the float, she turned just in time to see the staff pony closed the door on her, leaving her alone in the dark.

Starlight and the fillies continued to watch the parade as many floats and balloons passed by. Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy and even Trixie showed up a while ago to watch the parade with them. When they asked where Twilight and Rainbow Dash was, Starlight said they are running late. She couldn’t bring herself to tell them what had happened at the Rich’s manor or that Twilight is alone with Spoiled, but she was getting worried for her mentor and friend.

Suddenly, she felt somepony stood close to her body. She turned to the side and then felt relieved when she realized that it was Twilight. Starlight frowned when she noticed the distressed look from her friend as if something was bothering her.

“Hey Twilight, you okay? You looked spooked!” said Starlight before frowning with narrowed eyes. “Did Spoiled did something to you?”

“Yes… and no,” Twilight responded with a slight hesitation. “But don’t worry, I already took care of it!” Twilight then leaned towards Starlight with her hoof barely covered her mouth. “How’s Scootaloo?” she whispered.

Starlight smiled. “She’s in high spirits again! All thanks to Diamond!”

“Good!” Twilight replied with a smile before she frowned in thought. Oh Rainbow, I swear when this is over, we’re going to have to talk… rationally this time!”

“And now everypony, what you all been waiting for!” Pinkie announced excitedly from the speakers.

“Put your hooves together for the greatest superhero team of all time,” Spike said with an eager grin. He paused for an effect for a brief moment before he finally spoke.

“THE POWER PONIES!”

“Look Twilight, it’s the Power Ponies! They’re here!” Scootaloo shrieked in excitement.

Twilight chuckled. “Yes I can see that!”

One by one, each of the costumed ‘heroes’ emerged by rising out of the floor of their float with smoke spraying out, obscuring them from the crowd. Then, one at a time, as each Power Pony was revealed from the smoke, Spike announced their names, which the crowd responded with their high-pitched cheers.

The first one revealed to be a purple costumed pony with yellow goggles, gray boots, and light blue horn and top armor on her chest.

“Masked Matter-Horn!”

Then the second revealed to be a white consumed pony with purple arrows and line all over her body while continuously jogging in place.

“Fili-Second!”

The third pony emerged as a dark blue costumed pony with dark blue mask with yellow chest piece with purple diamond in the center and various diamonds spread all over her body.

“Radiance!”

Then they revealed the forth pony, who was wearing a red and green costume with black wrappings around her hooves, black mask, and a black utility belt around her waist with a golden rope strapped on her side.

“Mistress Mare-velous!”

The fifth pony who appeared next was a teal green costumed pony with purple scarf around her neck with a flower on it and butterfly beads around both of her forehooves. She was also wearing a purple mask over her eyes.

“Saddle Rager!”

And then, another costumed hero appeared from the smoke with a red cape and blue belt and gloves. This hero also had a huge head of that character with a black mask around the eyes.

“Hum Drum!”

As soon as Spike announced his name, many ponies stopped cheering. They instead gave him their blank stares. Even the music stopped playing when ‘Hum Drum’ appeared on the float. For almost a whole minute, there was nothing but awkward silent until they heard Pinkie Pie talking again.

“And finally, the mare of honor…”

“And the main character from their recent new Power Ponies movie,” Spike added.

The music started playing again and the crowds were now eager to see the final member of the Power Ponies. As that was happening, a figure emerges from the floor and the smoke kept that pony hidden from everypony present.

Spike brought his microphone close to his mouth. “Put your hooves together for the one the only…”

During a brief pause, drumrolls were playing from the background. After an agonizing minute of anticipation, both Spike and Pinkie finally revealed with their booming voices.

“ZAPP!”

The smoke was blown away and magical lights beamed on the figure, reveling the final member of the Power Ponies, Zapp. She wore a dark blue costume with white hooves with yellow lighting streaks. She also wore a white and blue helmet with her rainbow mane sticking out. She even wore her lighting bolt necklace that was around her neck.

As everypony erupted into a loud happy cheer, ‘Zapp’ stared out into the crowd with her stunned and awe expression. Right at that moment, only one thought went through her mind.

Oh… boy.

The Parade (Part 1)

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Rainbow Dash couldn’t believe how she got herself into this position. One minute she was in the warehouse, hiding from Officer Warrant and then the next minute she was dressed as Scootaloo’s favorite superhero and then dragged into a parade by the P.A., mistaking her as a stunt pony. She stood there in front of a cheering crowd with her blank and stunned expression, not sure what she should do.

“Hey! Don’t stand there like a dummy, wave!” The costumed Hum Drum snapped who stood next to her.

“W-wave?” she said dumbly as she slowly brought one of her forehoof up and started waving at the crowd.

Her wave started out slow and awkward, but as she was waving, the crowd’s cheering grew louder. Encouraged by this, Rainbow waved much more naturally and a smile grew from her muzzle. She even started doing some various poses that she memorized from Scoot’s comics to please the crowd more.

“O-okay, I’ll admit, this is awesome!” said Rainbow as she continued to ‘perform’ for the crowd.

While this isn’t the first time she performed for the crowd since she joined the Wonderbolts for quite a while, and she always enjoyed the attention. But acting like their beloved superhero to make everypony happy, especially the kids felt very… special, even if this is all a misunderstanding. If only her friends and family, especially Scootaloo knew where she was now.

From the distance, Scootaloo felt this was a dream come true as she watched her hero from afar for the first time. Zapp looked a hundred times better in the flesh then how she looked in the comics or even from the film. There was also something else that was awesome about Zapp but she couldn’t put her hoof on it. Her thoughts were interrupted when Zapp appeared to be saluting towards her direction. Feeling giddy, Scootaloo quickly did a salute of her own towards her hero.

“Now that the Power Ponies have finally arrived, Zapp will do something very special for the kids! Am I right Spikey-wikey?” said Pinkie from her stand.

“You bet Pinks!” Spike replied. “In just mere moments, Zapp will select the lucky colt or filly to come up to the stage to pick up the hot new toy, her Zapp action figure! …man I wish I was there!”

As they announced it, a small panel opened from the floor of the float and the toy slowly rises up from the sage in all of its glory. Rainbow had not noticed it, until ‘Hum Drum’ got her attention.

“Hey! Pick it up! Pick up the toy!” ‘Hum Drum’ hissed.

Rainbow blinked. “The… toy?”

She looked down and her eyes widened when see saw a Zapp action figure, the very same toy that she spent the whole day hunting down with everything she had gone through, was right there in front of her at hooves length. She picked up the toy with her hooves and examined it delicately. It was not a fake one like the one that Flim Flam Brothers almost gave her from Manehattan or was she dreaming, what she was holding now was the real deal.

“…yes,” she whispered, barely held back her tears of joy. She laughed happily before she raised the toy up in the air in her victor pose.

“YEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSS!!!!”

Elsewhere from the roof of one of the buildings in Ponyville, a pegasus mare while wearing her costume was waiting for her cue to ‘reveal herself’ during the main event of the parade. Her job was simple: she is going to invade the Power Ponies float and they’ll exchange a few lines with each other. Then they will perform their fight choreography for a few minutes before they’ll let whatever kid they picked to do something to ‘save the day’ and then she’ll disappear with the lines of, “I’ll have my revenge.” It sounded corny, but straightforward. She was not looking forward to the part when she gets ‘zapped’ by the main hero, but hey, it’s a living.

Suddenly, she felt somepony grabbed her from behind and covered her muzzle, preventing her from fleeting or call for help. As she struggled, she heard her captor spoke.

“I like your outfit, so I’m just gonna have to borrow it! Nighty-night!”

Before she could comprehend that pony’s words, she felt a sharp pain from the side of her head and her vision went black.

At last, Rainbow Dash finally got the toy that Scootaloo wanted! Even if it was not in a box, the toy looks great without it. She can take it home after the parade and give it to Scootaloo just in time for Hearth’s Warming. Nothing can possibly ruin her moment now.

“What are you doing? Pick a child!” ‘Hum Drum’ exclaimed.

Rainbow’s smile was intently wiped away. “W-what?”

“Pick a child! Whatever child you pick will come up and get that toy!” he explained.

Rainbow looked around the crowd as she saw many young colts and fillies begging her to choose one of them. Rainbow’s heart sunk. She finally got the toy Scootaloo wanted in her hooves, only to be forced to give it away to another kid. She was tempting to flee from this float so she can get away with this toy, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. If she were to do that, not only this will be a thousand times worse than what she almost did at the Rich’s manor, but she’ll end up ruining an image of a superhero that many colts and fillies looked up to. She won’t bring herself to make a run for it, but she still doesn’t know what to do in this situation.

Then, luck was finally on her side when she finally spotted a certain group of ponies she was looking for since she arrived to the parade. All of her friends and family were there, standing on the sidelines in the front of the crowd by her left side. Rainbow was relieved that her wife looked okay and that Spoiled was nowhere to be seen. But the pony Rainbow was happy to see the most, was her beloved daughter, Scootaloo, looking up at her with her awestruck smile.

Rainbow opportunity was perfect. Not only her daughter will get her present on the spot, but Scootaloo also about to received her gift from her favorite superhero too. How awesome would that be as her Hearth’s Warming memory!

Without a moment of hesitation, Rainbow lifted her hoof and pointed towards Scootaloo’s direction. She nearly chuckled in amusement when she saw her daughter’s eyes light up in delight.

“OH MY GOSH! SHE PICKED ME!” Scootaloo screamed in happiness, as her wings were flapping up in down in excitement.

Rainbow’s smile widened. That’s right Scoots! This toy is—

“No way Scoots! She’s pickin’ me!” Apple Bloom cried.

Rainbow intently frowned. Oh boy.

“No, she’s actually picking me!” Sweetie Belle argued with a squeak.

No! I’m picking Scootaloo! Rainbow inwardly cried in frustration.

“Please! The pony she picked was me!” Silver Spoon exclaimed with a scoff.

Definitely not you! Rainbow thought with distain.

“You’re all wrong! The pony she picked is obviously me!” said Diamond with her sassy attitude.

Rainbow kept herself from scowling at that filly. OH HAY NO! You already got your action figure!

Rainbow grew more nervous as Scootaloo and her friends were arguing who ‘Zapp’ actually picked. If this keeps up, either one of Scootaloo’s friends would end up mistakenly get the prize or Rainbow will be forced to pick another child. Not wanting either of those scenarios happen, Rainbow Dash decided to take a risk. Rainbow took a deep breath and then announced with her strong, clear voice.

“SCOOTALOO!”

The argument between the fillies stopped and then they looked up at her with their stunned, awe faces. Scootaloo in particular, widened her eyes in shock.

“She… she knows my name!” she uttered loudly in wonder.

“Well how about that, Zapp has chosen a child… and apparently it was Scootaloo!” Spike announced through the speakers with some surprise from his voice.

“What a coincidence! We knew another filly who was named Scootaloo too!” Pinkie chirped.

“Uh… Pinkie. That IS the same Scootaloo we kno—

“Anyway, will our lucky little filly please get up to the stage and get your prize!”

With some encouragement from Twilight and all of her friends, Scootaloo wasted no time to gallop on the streets and made her way to the float. Once she climbed up, she couldn’t believe that all of the members of the Power Ponies were here, waving and smiling at her. Where she has her eyes on the most was her all time favorite Power Pony, Zapp, who was standing there with a smile while holding an action figure of herself. Scootaloo always dreamed about meeting her hero up and close, but she never would have imagined that her dream would someday be a reality.

Scootaloo heart was pounding both from eagerness and nervousness as she slowly walked up to her hero. She eventually reached ‘Zapp’ about a hoof’s length away from her and the young filly looked up her in awe. ‘Zapp’ gave Scootaloo her beaming smile and softly placed the toy in Scootaloo’s hooves.

“Happy Hearth’s Warming Scootaloo!” ‘Zapp’ said warmly.

The crowd cheered from this display as Scootaloo checked out the toy in her stunned silence. Twilight and the gang were very happy for the little pegasus as she deserved some happiness after all she went through earlier this year. Even ‘Hum Drum’ was wiping away his invisible tear from his eye from the display. Whether the guy underneath the suit was actually emotional or not was anypony’s guess.

After a minute of processing that this was not a dream, Scootaloo looked up to ‘Zapp’ with her genuine smile.

“Wow! T-thank you so much Zapp!” she said softly before her epression changed to a look of confusion. “But… how do you know my name?”

‘Zapp’ chuckled. “Well Scoots, the truth is… I’m—”

“THAT TOY IS MINE!”

Both Scootaloo and ‘Zapp’ looked up to see a costumed mare flying towards them. She was dressed in a green jumpsuit with black lighting pattern on her chest and hooves and a long dark green cape. She also wore a dark green helmet with part of her mane sticking out and a yellow visor goggles as her eyes with black lighting across the top.

“Uh oh everypony! Here comes one of the Power Ponies and Zapp’s mortal enemy, Shadow Hurricane!” Spike announced.

The crowd booed as ‘Shadow Hurricane’ landed on the float. She paid them no mind as she looked up to her targets with her manic grin on her face. ‘Zapp’ eyes widened in shock and horror when she realized who that pony underneath the suit was.

“Lightning Dust?”

Lightning snickered. “In the flesh!”

Then almost all of the costumed Power Ponies rushed up and stood in front of Lightning in a form of a shield.

“Hold it Shadow Hurricane!” said ‘Masked Matter-Horn’. “We won’t let your evil reign on our special par—”

“Oh, shut up!” Lightning snarled as she lifted up her forehooves at them and activated the ‘shadow blast’ from her suit.

Normally, it was set up in a way that should be harmless to other performers as long as it set to the right level. However, shortly after Lightning knocked out the real actress, she turned up the settings to the max, as a result, her shadow blaster knocked the heroes off of the float and they were sent flying towards the side of the building. They all landed on the ground into a pile and each of the Power Ponies members were knocked out cold as a result.

Lightning chuckled darkly as she examined her suit. “Ooooooh! I could get use to this!”

From their announcer chairs, Spike turned to Pinkie with his confused and nervous look. “Uh… Pinks? Was this from the script?”

Pinkie shrugged. “Beats me! But this is good entertainment!” She took out a container filed with popcorn from her mane, much to Spike’s confusion, and then starting eating them while watching the ‘show’.

As Lightning Dust slowly walked towards the only ponies standing on the float, ‘Rainbow’ beckoned Scootaloo over to her.

“Stay behind me squirt!” Rainbow exclaimed, as she stood in front of her.

Lighting Dust had clearly lost her mind. She knew that Lighting was going to get Scoot’s toy by any means necessary. Rainbow was determined to never allow that mare to lay a hoof on her daughter, not while she was around.

Lightning Dust eventfully stood in front of Rainbow Dash and sneered at her.

“Hey there hero, like my costume?”

“Lightning Dust… don’t do this!” she begged softly. “You’re crossing the line!”

Lightning scoffed. “Hey! I told you once, and I’m telling you again, I will do anything to get that toy! And I’m not gonna let you or anypony else stand in my way!”

Suddenly, ‘Hum Drum’ ran up to Lighting Dust and then wacked her arm.

“Hey pal! This isn’t how we rehearsed it!” he shouted angrily.

Lightning turned to face Hum Drum with a look of disgust. “Shut it Hum Drum! In fact, nopony likes you!”

Before anypony could react, Lightning used her shadow blaster and shot ‘Hum Drum’ off the float and landed on the road. As he was lying there, moaning in pain, many colts and fillies ran up to him and started punching and kicking him.

While Lightning eyes were on that pitiful sidekick, Scootaloo quickly ran past Lightning before Rainbow could stop her. Unfortunately Lightning noticed her right away.

“Hey get back here kid!” Lightning shouted and was about to give chase.

“Hey leave her alone!” Rainbow yelled, running after Lighting.

However, Lightning used her shadow blaster on Rainbow and was knocked down to the ground.

“Ooooh this isn’t good Pinks! Shadow is beating Zapp!” Spike cried.

“I know Spike!” said Pinkie, acting like she was panicking. “This would mean the end of Equestria and all the love and friendship as we know it!”

With a grunt, Rainbow got back on her hooves just in time to see Lightning captured her daughter.

“Zapp! Use your lightning attack!” Scootaloo cried as she struggled from Lightning’s grasp.

“What?”

“Your necklace! Shoot lightning from your necklace!” Scootaloo quickly clarified.

Rainbow quickly inspected her lightning bolt necklace she received from earlier. She then remembered that the P.A. said that she could shoot magical lightning beams that from it. Thinking quickly, Rainbow turned the switch on the necklace power up to the point to only stun Lightning and then she aimed her necklace at her rival.

“Yo Dust!” Rainbow cried.

When Lightning caught her attention, Rainbow smirked.

“Eat lightning!”

Rainbow shot a single ‘lightning bolt’ at Lightning’s head and stunned the turquoise pegasus. This was enough to get Scootaloo free and ran up to Rainbow for safety. Once Scootaloo was in safe range, Rainbow shot one bolt after another at Lightning. Lightning grunted in pain with each hit until one final bolt shot her on her chest and she fell backward on the ground.

“YEAH!” Rainbow cheered as everypony in the crowd cheered.

“Wowie Zowie! Zapp just defeated Shadow! We’re saved!” Pinkie squealed happily through her mic.

“That was awesome!” Scootaloo cheered.

Rainbow smirked. “Yes it was! Now let me take you back to your—”

Suddenly, smoke came out from the floor of the stage, and many pegasi in dark jumpsuits leaped out from the holes and tacked Rainbow Dash.

“Uh oh! It’s the Shadow Bolts! Shadow Hurricane’s evil henchponies!” Spike cried with a fake of distress.

Rainbow struggled as the four ‘Shadow Bolts’ kept piling on top of her.

“Hey let me go! I need to get to my daughter!” Rainbow cried which fell to death ears.

Scootaloo meanwhile was terrified that her hero was in trouble. She wanted to go in there to help her. Just before she could run over to ‘Zapp’, she felt somepony yanked her up from the floor and lifted into the air. Her eyes widened in fear as she was once again captured by ‘Shadow Hurricane.’

“HA! End of the line kid!” she said with a cocky smirk.

Scootaloo tried to struggle, but ‘Shadow’s’ grip was too strong. She quickly look around, desperately trying to find another means to escape. She noticed that her one of her hoof was loose and ‘Shadow’s’ right wing was very close to her. In one swift moment, Scootaloo grabbed ‘Shadow’s’ right wing and took a huge bite on the base of the wing.

“YEOW!” Lightning roared in pain.

Both her and Scootaloo fell to the ground with Lightning took the blunt of the fall. As Lightning whimpered in pain and rubbing her wing, Scootaloo took her chance to jump off of the float and then ran down the road and into the crowd, not paying attention to Twilight or any of her friends calling out to her. Lightning finally noticed the young pegasus escaping and let out her angry snarl.

“Y-you BRAT! I’ll get you for this!”

Lightning was about to fly after her, but the pain on her right wing where Scootaloo had bitten, prevented her to lift herself off from the ground. Seeing that there was no other option, Lightning leaped off of the stage and ran after the orange filly.

It was expected that Scootaloo was picked to meet up and received a toy from Zapp. But Twilight was happy for her stepdaughter that she meets her hero, even though it was just a mare in her superhero suit. She titled her head when she got a good look at Zapp as Scootaloo walked closer to her. There was something about that mare that looked… familiar to her, but couldn’t put her hoof on it.

“Hey Twilight,” Starlight mumbled worriedly. “Was this part of the show?”

Her thoughts were interrupted when Shadow Hurricane appeared in front of them. It looked like a harmless performance at first, but the moment when Shadow blasted the other Power Ponies away, Twilight knew that something was wrong. She met with many ponies from their own floats and knew about their performance inside out, including the Power Ponies float. She clearly remembered that this wasn’t part of the act. It could be that they changed it at the last minute and never notified her, or…

Her eyes widened when she thought of another possibility that this was not an act at all. Her fears were confirmed when that Shadow pony captured her daughter, only to let her go after Scootaloo bit her wing. Her fears grew when she saw Scootaloo running away toward the other side of the road as the costumed villain was chasing after her.

“Scootaloo!” Twilight cried.

When Scootaloo failed to hear her, Twilight ran out of the street to get to her daughter, only to be stopped by a police officer.

“Easy Princess!” she said soothingly “It’s all part of the show, now get back to the sidewalk!”

At that point, Starlight caught up with them. “Twilight, what’s going on?”

“Are you blind!?” Twilight exclaimed, ignoring Starlight. “My daughter’s is being chased by that mad mare!”

The cop turned briefly and then faced Twilight again with a grin. “Oh cool! She’s wonderful!”

“NO!” Twilight screamed. “I personally approved of this show but she is definitely not part of the show! Not out of my way!”

Before either mares could say anything, Twilight ran past them and gives chase to her daughter in hopes of saving her.

Rainbow kept pushing and knocking the Shadow Bolts off of her, only for them to keep coming back to slow her down.

“I don’t have time for this!” Rainbow shouted and she bucked a few minions away from her. Just when she thought she got rid of them all, more ‘Shadow Bolts’ appeared on stage, ready to tackle her. Rainbow grunted in annoyance.

“Jeez! How many of these ‘henchponies’ did they hire?” Rainbow muttered.

“Move it! Move it! Move it!”

Lightning kept pushing and shoving many ponies out of her way to reached the pegasus kid. But each time she was getting closer, some random ponies would ended up blocking her on purpose so they can help the filly out. Weather they thought they were part of a show or actually tried to help the filly, Lightning wasn’t certain. She growled in annoyance as she made a mental note to never go to any parades for as long as she lived.

Meanwhile, Scootaloo ran as her life depends on it. She contently waved around the crowd to get more running distance from the evil villain. She was thankful that the ponies she ran by along the way, helped her slowed ‘Shadow’ down, but it was only a matter of time before her luck ran out. She eventually spotted a ladder, which was leaning on the side of the City Hall. With nowhere else to go, Scootaloo ran towards the ladder and began to climb.

As Scootaloo started climbing, Lightning Dust caught up to her. She would have snatched the filly off the ladder if not for those meddling ponies who blocked her way. By the time she reached the ladder, Scootaloo was too far for her to grab. Her wing was still too sore from the bite, so Lightning ended up climbing the ladder after the filly.

“When I get my hooves on you, I will personally teach you not to mess with ponies like me!” Lightning snarled.

Rainbow grunted as she threw another one of the minions over her shoulder. Once the pony landed on the ground, Rainbow sighed in relief. However, four more ‘Shadow Bolts’ appeared from the stage’s trap door and then advancing towards her.

“Let’s get her!” one of them cried.

Rainbow shouted out in frustration. “Alright! I had enough of this!”

Rainbow quickly picked up one of the Shadow Bolts that she already defeated and lifted him over her head.

“Hey! What are you doing?” he shouted nervously.

“Sorry about this!” said Rainbow as she tossed him over her head.

Neither of the Shadow Bolts had time to dodge when their screaming teammate was launched towards them. After he crashed into them, they were all knocked down to the ground like bowling pins. Once she was sure that no other ‘minions’ were after her, she looked up towards the City Hall where her daughter was climbing away from Lightning Dust.

“Hang on Scoots!” said Rainbow with her determined look.

She wasn’t sure where it comes from, but she felt it was appropriate for her to say that certain line as she was flying away towards City Hall.

“IT’S… ZAPPIN’ TIME!”

The Parade (Part 2)

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Scootaloo finally reached the top of the third balcony near the roof. She quickly climbed up and tried to open one of the windows, but it wouldn’t budge. At that moment, Lightning Dust caught up to her as Lightning climbed onto the balcony.

“End of the line shrimp!” Lightning growled. “Now hoof over that doll!”

“NEVER!” Scootaloo cried as she started to climb on the side of the roof.

Lightning threw her hooves up. “Oh for crying out—”

Suddenly, Lightning heard a loud thud from behind her. She slowly turned around and was surprised to see that the pony was behind her was the Princess of Friendship herself.

“Twilight!” Scootaloo cried in joy from the side of the roof.

“Are you okay Scoots?” said Twilight, not taking her eyes off of Lightning.

Scootaloo nodded. “A-huh!”

“Good! You just keep climbing, I’ll take care of this!”

With no need to be told twice, Scootaloo continued to climb to the very top of the balcony.

Twilight stood across from Lightning with narrowed eyes. “I don’t know who you are, but as the Princess of Friendship, I order you to stop what you’re doing or I’ll place you under arrest!”

Lightning smirked. “I don’t think so Princess!”

Before Twilight could use her magic attacks, Lightning quickly shot her with her shadow blast and knocked Twilight off the balcony.

“MOM!” Scootaloo screamed in distress.

Twilight was barely conscious as she was falling from the building. She couldn’t use her wings because she was still the shadow blast attack affected her a lot, since she wasn’t wearing a special suit. Just as she was halfway down towards the ground, she felt somepony caught her. She looked up partway to see that it was Zapp who caught her.

“You’re okay,” she said softly both reassuring and… relief? “You’re going to be okay!”

Rainbow descended herself towards the ground where Starlight and the rest of the gang waiting anxiously. Before anypony could say anything, Rainbow gently placed Twilight over to Starlight’s forehooves.

“Please take good care of her,” said Rainbow. “I’ll go and save Scootaloo!”

Without another word, Rainbow lunched herself off of the ground and heading towards the roof with her determined and angry expression.

You’re going to get it now Dust!

Scootaloo reached the very top of the roof and she couldn’t climb any further. Not that she had any heart to keep climbing after witnessing her mother fall to her demise. Tears were leaking from her eyes both in fright and despair. Just when things couldn’t get any worse, Lightning appeared right in front of her with her terrifying grin.

“Now… little filly.” She cooed. “Unless you don’t want to end up like your mother, you should give me that—”

Her words were cut off when she felt somepony punched her on her right cheek and then fell back down on the third balcony.

Scootaloo was stunned for a moment before her expression turned to delight when a certain hero appeared right in front of her.

“ZAPP!” Scootaloo cried. She then had a worried frown. “Is my mom…”

“Don’t worry, your mother is safe!” Rainbow assured, making the filly sighed in relief.

They both looked down below at the third balcony when they heard a groan from Lightning, as she was in the process of standing back up.

Rainbow growled, not leaving her eyes off of that despicable pony. “Stay there, I’m going to take out the trash!”

As Rainbow flew down after Lightning, Scootaloo uttered a single sound.

“…awesome!”

Lightning groan after she fully stood up. Her brain tried to recalled what knocked her down here when she got that kid cornered. Her question was quickly answered when Rainbow landed a few feet away from her. Lighting was about to make a remark when she saw something disturbing from Rainbow Dash that sent chills down her spine.

Rainbow Dash had a look of death on her face. That look alone made Lighting Dust realized that Rainbow means business this time and shouldn’t be messed with. Lighting gulped in fear.

“Uh…hehehe… hey there Dash,” Lightning chuckled nervously. “You’re not gonna hurt me for knocking your wife off of the roof, aren’t you?”

“No… I’m not gonna hurt you.” Rainbow stated in her low voice as she was cracking her shoulder. “I’m gonna destroy you!”

Without giving Lightning any response, Rainbow rushed up to her and punched her across the face.

Lightning staggered back, feeling disoriented from the punch. Before she could recover, Rainbow tackled her and pinned her to the ground. Lightning growled and used her shadow blast attack to knock Rainbow off of her. Rainbow fumbled for a bit before she used her necklace to blast her lightning bolt at Lightning. Lightning rolled away from the attack and then attempted to counterstrike Rainbow with an uppercut. Rainbow seen the attack from a mile away and used her wings to hover away before Lightning could hit her. Then, Rainbow dived down and bashed against Lightning’s left side of her body. Lightning staggered back and broke through the railings because of Rainbow’s strong force and then fell off of the balcony.

Rainbow frowned in concerned. She wanted to teach Lightning a lesson for messing with her family, she did not want to make her fall to her demise. Rainbow quickly dashed towards the railing to go save her rival…

…only to get knocked back by an unforeseen force.

Rainbow shook away the dizziness from the ground and then looked up with her shocked expression. Lightning Dust was hovering into the air without using her wings. Rainbow’s eyes trailed down to Lightning’s boots and saw some kind of magical shadow force coming out from it. Rainbow deduced that it was part of the features for Lightning’s suit to help her fly in case in anypony doesn’t have wings. Lightning must of accidently discovered it and saved herself at the last minute. Before Rainbow could think further, Lightning chuckled.

“Well… this is interesting!” She commented. “If I have known that this suit have this awesome feature, I could’ve caught that runt earlier! But I suppose it’s better late than never.” Lighting then grinned wickedly. “Now… let’s begin round two!”

Lightning immediately raised her hoof and used her shadow blast attack towards Rainbow. Rainbow quickly moved out of the way to dodge the attack and then she took flight with both of her hooves in front of her. Rainbow was about to ram her rival but Lightning effortlessly dodged her and kicked her to the side. Before Rainbow could recover, she was strike on the back with Lightning’s shadow blast. Lightning than dashed towards Rainbow and barrage her with punches and kicks. Rainbow could barely keep up with Lightning’s attack due to the injuries she received from earlier. Eventually, Lightning kicked Rainbow on her belly and launched her towards the roof.

Rainbow crashed to the side of the roof, groaning out in pain. She hardly paid attention to Lightning as she hovered over her with her haughtily smirk. Getting the upperhoof, Lightning raised her forehoof towards Rainbow and began to charge up her attack, intending to finish her off. Just before Lightning was ready to launch her attack, she was suddenly interrupted when a snowball hit her in the face. As Lightning was wiping the snow off of her face in confusion, a barrage of snowballs coming from above hit her all over her body. She looked up and was intently annoyed that it came from a certain orange filly who currently had the toy.

“Leave Zapp alone you big bully!” Scootaloo screamed as she continued to toss snowballs at Lightning. “Eat snow!”

Lightning growled in anger and began to charge her attack again. “I had just about enough of you, you annoying little—”

Lightning words were cut off when she was suddenly tackled by Rainbow Dash, but Lightning’s attack was launched in the process. Luckily, the blast missed her target, but it ended up hit the base of the balcony, causing the top part of the building to tip over a bit. Scootaloo screamed as she slid downwards, but she managed to grab onto the broken part of the railings and hung on to her dear life.

The two costumed mares crashed to the third floor again with Lightning took most of the fall. Lightning didn’t have time to recover as Rainbow grabbed her by the front part of her suit and was forced to stare at Rainbow’s enraged eyes.

“Leave. MY. DAUGHTER. ALONE!”

With great speed Rainbow head-butted Lightning in the face and then tossed her to the air. Rainbow immediately flew after her and landed a single punch as she passed by her. Then Rainbow immediately turned around and delivered another pass punch at Lightning. She repeated her actions six more times while tossing Lighting around like a rag doll. Finally, Rainbow bucked Lightning up towards the sky with all her might and then Rainbow flew past Lightning up to the sky until she spotted a single black cloud. As Rainbow stood on the cloud with Lightning helplessly flying up beneath her, Rainbow turned up her lightning necklace to a high volume and then pierced it threw the cloud. She waited just for the right moment and when Lightning was close enough, Rainbow activated her necklace at full power. The lightning that traveled through the cloud doubled the lightning’s power. Once the cloud couldn’t hold the lightning anymore, it released the most powerful lightning that anypony ever witnessed, and then it stuck Lighting Dust.

Lightning Dust screamed in agony as the lightning struck right through her body. After only a few brief seconds, the giant lightning was gone, with nothing behind except for a barely conscious mare with some black burnt marks. Lighting moaned lifelessly as she slowly fell towards the ground. Her body could not move due to the amount of pain from that lightning attack. Just before she landed on the third balcony of City Hall again, Rainbow caught her at the last minute, with her head only a few inches away from the ground.

Rainbow stared Lightning down with only her expressionless look as she brought Lightning’s muzzle close to hers. Lightning has been a thorn on Rainbow’s side since she met her this morning. Lightning had been playing dirty so she could get the toy before Rainbow, but threating and nearly harm Rainbow’s family was a step too far. Rainbow wanted to stop this threat before Lightning could harm her family any further. While Rainbow held Lightning by her suit, she slowly raised her other forehoof, getting ready to land the final blow.

“P-please! Don’t hurt me!” Lightning begged with her weak voice.

Rainbow growled angrily at her pitiful rival. “Really? You’re begging now? After you knocked and injured those Power Ponies? After you shot my wife off of the roof? After you chased my daughter around town and then nearly shot her with your blaster? And now you’re begging for mercy!?”

“I-I just wanted that toy for my niece!” Lightning quivered. “I didn’t mean any harm! I-I’m sorry!” Lightning than began to sob. “I’M SORRY!”

As Lightning continued to weep, Rainbow’s expression slowly changed from a look of hatred to pity and remorse. Rainbow nearly had forgotten that Lightning’s actions to get the toy were the same reasons as her own: to get a Hearth’s Warming gift for the filly that they loved. What Lightning did was nearly inexcusable, but she did out of desperation so she wouldn’t let her niece down. Of course, Rainbow was just as guilty for nearly attempted to steal a toy from another filly. As a mother, she understood the things they all do for their child. Plus, wiping out an enemy while they were down would not be a good example to Scootaloo or any of the children who were probably watching them from afar now.

With a sigh, Rainbow gently placed the sobbing mare down to the floor of the third balcony. Lightning stopped crying and looked up at her rival with a surprised look on her face. Rainbow lowered herself until their noses almost touched with narrowed eyes.

“You’re lucky that I learned to be the bigger mare since I was married! Consider this my Hearth’s Warming gift… don’t waste it!”

Before Lightning could respond she and Rainbow heard a loud snap. They both turned towards the source and then their eyes widened when they saw the top portion of the building was collapsing towards them. They both dodged just at the nick of time before any of the huge chucks of the debris crushed them. But their relief was short lived when they heard a distress call from a pegasus filly, who was falling off the building.

“ZAAAAAAAAPPPPP!”

“SCOOTALOO!” Rainbow screamed out before she tried to take off after her.

However, something was holding her back. Rainbow turned and was horrified when she discovered that part of her wing was stuck underneath one of the big chucks of the debris.

“NO NO NO NO!” Rainbow screamed out in distress as she struggled. “Don’t do this to me!”

As she continued to try to get herself unstuck, she heard somepony galloped past her. She turned just in time to see a glimpse of her rival jumped off of the building after Scootaloo.

“…Lightning?” Rainbow whispered.

From below, the ponies were talking in panic during the events that was happening on the roof above them. The way that these two ponies fight each other looked like it was something that was from a superhero movie, only it was real life. All this commotion was enough for Twilight to finally come to from her unconscious slumber.

“W-what happened?” Twilight mumbled.

Her eyes then widened in fear as events from the rooftop came back into her mind.

“Scootaloo!” she screamed and tried to fly up, but felt a sharp pain from the side of her head.

“Easy Twilight, you’re still recovering!” Starlight soothe. “Don’t worry about Scootaloo. Zapp was up there, taking care of that crazy mare. She’ll be okay!”

No sooner Starlight said those words, they heard a loud crash from above. They looked up and were alarmed when the top part of the building collapsed. Then they were horrified when they spotted their beloved pegasus filly, falling off of the building towards them.

“SCOOTALOO!” Twilight screamed.

Scootaloo screamed as she was falling towards her doom. The young pegasus filly was starting to see flashes of her life through her eyes. She had some good years, including meeting Rainbow Dash, first become friends with the Crusaders and eventually her former bullies. Then she saw her sad times when her family was gone and she was alone before her life was bright again when she was adopted by Rainbow and Twilight. Finally it was some hard times when Rainbow hardly spends time with her and then regretful when Scootaloo yelled at her. If there was one regret the little filly have before she was about to be perished was that she never had the chance to say sorry and see her adopted mother, Rainbow Dash again.

Her thoughts were interrupted when somepony snatched her from her fall and then felt she was heading back up. Scootaloo opened her eyes and then they widened in shock that the pony who rescued her was not Zapp, but Zapp’s arch enemy.

“S-shadow Hurricane?” Scootaloo cried.

Lightning smiled. “Don’t worry kid, you’re safe with me now!”

Unfortunately, she spoke too soon when her boot were suddenly began to malfunction. They sputtered for a few moments until they stopped completely, leaving them suspended in the air.

Lightning face went pale. “Oh… crud.”

Both ponies screamed as they started falling again.

Rainbow barely budged as she desperately pulled her wings. It’s like getting trapped at the bottom of Ghastly Gorge during a pet race all over again, only much more worse! Tears of frustration formed in her eyes. Her beloved daughter was about to become a pony pancake all because of her actions. She would never see Scootaloo’s happy smile again. She had failed her.

Then, all the memories she had with Scootaloo came to her at once. From the time that they met, showing off her tricks, went camping with her, become her honorary sister, entered Sisterhooves Social together, spending time together on holiday’s, birthdays and every scooter completion that Scootaloo entered. Then she remembered when she adopted her for the first time, then taking her in as her stepmother, celebrated together and read bedtime stories to her. Those were the happiest memories Rainbow had with Scootaloo… and they are all going to end.

Rainbow eyes opened with a look of determination.

NO! I will not let it end this way! I will save her!

With every ounce of her strength, Rainbow pulled her wings as hard as she could until her wings were finally out from the debris with a pop. Freed at last, Rainbow ran towards the end of the ledge, just in time to see Scootaloo and Lightning falling down again. Despite that she felt her heart through her costume, Rainbow had a plan in motion. With no time to waste, Rainbow Dash leaped off of the baloney.

I hope this works!

Both ponies were falling down fast as rocks. Lightning still couldn’t use her wings due to all the injuries she received from earlier, as she flapped helplessly from the air. Lightning noticed Rainbow Dash leaped off of the roof and flying after them, but even with her speed, it wouldn’t be enough to save them. Lightning looked down and she calculated that they were about a quarter of a way from the ground. After a few seconds of thought, she made a decision.

Lightning held the kid tight as she halfway turned towards the ground.

“Hang on kid, I’m giving you a boost!” Lightning cried.

Before the filly could ask what she meant, Lightning used her wings to spin themselves around like a sideway tornado. Then with the last of her strength, Lightning tossed the screaming filly up high into the sky, giving her more distance between herself and the filly. It was up to Rainbow Dash now to save the kid.

With her good deed done, Lightning closed her eyes, accepting her fate. But then, unexpectedly, a balloon from the parade floated by under her, letting Lightning landed on top of it, cushioning her fall. Once the now flattened balloon and mare were on the ground, Lightning opened her eyes and was surprised that she was still all in one piece.

“I’m… I’m alive?” she cried out in shock.

Before she could think further, she felt a painful blow on her head as something landed on top of it. She rubbed her head to soothe the pain, but then she noticed something from the corner of her eye. She was both surprised and to her delight that the item that fell on her head was none other than the Zapp action figure. Lightning began to chuckle before letting out her full blown laughter.

“YES!” she cheered loudly as she picked up the toy. “At last, the toy is finally mine!”

She closed her eyes and continued to laugh out in victory, until she felt something poking right on her nose. She opened her eyes and then widened when she finally noticed a mixture of cops and royal guards pointing at her with spears and stun pistols. She looked up and noticed that there were many guards and police pegasi pointing their weapons at her too, including Officer Warrant himself.

“...oh ponyfeathers!”

Rainbow flew down towards the falling ponies with every ounce of speed she got. Her hope continued to diminished as they were getting closer to the ground. Just when Rainbow was about to give up hope all together, her eyes widened in surprise when she witnessed Lightning Dust tossed her daughter up towards her. Rainbow now had a chance to catch her, but she only have one shot to make her move count.

“HANG ON SCOOTS! I’M COMING!” Rainbow screamed.

As she felt the air barrier starting to break around her hooves, Scootaloo reached the limit of her height and then starting to fall again. Her daughter screams made Rainbow pushed harder than she had before in her life.

“C’mon… c’mon…” she begged silently.

Then, the air barrier around her hooves was now getting smaller with rainbow lights streaked around her. Then, a miracle happened, as the barrier finally breaks, followed by a loud explosion. She shot forward mush faster than before with a trail of rainbow behind her. She was closer and closer until she finally reached her daughter and snatched her up right before Scootaloo hit the ground.

“GOTCHA!” she cried.

The crowd from below cheered for her successful rescue, including all of Rainbow’s and Scootaloo’s friends who were now relived of Scootaloo’s safety.

Scootaloo slowly opened her eyes to see if she survived. Her expression then changed to delight when she saw her hero, carrying her up and flying into the air.

“T-thank you Zapp! I knew you’d save me!” Scootaloo cried as she hugged her.

Rainbow smiled warmily. “Always’s Scoots! Always!”

“SHE DID IT! ZAPP SAVED SCOOTALOO!” Pinkie screamed in ecstatic through her speakers.

“Oh thank Celestia!” Spike sighed in relief. “I don’t know how much more of my heart can take it!”

Rainbow slowly descended towards the ground where all of her anxious family and friend were waiting. As soon as Rainbow reached the ground, she gently placed Scootaloo down so she can run up to her wife’s awaiting hooves.

“MOM!” Scootaloo cried.

“Scootaloo!” Twilight cried back as she hugged the filly up tightly with tears in her eyes. After checking if there were any injuries on Scootloo, Twilight looked up to Zapp with her appreciated smile. “Oh thank you, thank you so much for saving my daughter! You don’t know how much she means to me!”

Rainbow chuckled. “Oh I think I have a pretty good idea.”

“It was a brave thing you did to save our dear Scootaloo!” said Rarity.

“And we are grateful that you did!” Fluttershy added.

“Darn tootin’! You have our thanks!” said Applejack added.

“You our hero!” Starlight praised.

Rainbow smirked, amused that her friend had no idea who she really is.

“You alright there Scoots?” Apple Bloom asked as she and the rest of the Crusaders gathered all around her.

“Of course I’m alright!” she said with a grin “I knew Zapp would save me! Did you guys see me on the roof that I threw snowballs up there stopping the bad guy and then I flew with Zapp! It was awesome!”

“We’re happy for you Scoots!” said Silver Spoon. “You deserved that after what happened with Rainbow Dash.”

Suddenly Sootaloo’s smile was wiped away and she looked down in sadness.

“SILVER!” Diamond hissed as she roughly nudged her friend while Silver felt guilty of bringing it up.

Rainbow frowned in concerned from her daughter’s sudden mood change. “Hey… what’s the matter squirt?”

Scootaloo sighed and looked up to ‘Zapp’ with her sad eyes. “It’s my other mother… Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo said with a wavering voice. “I wanted her to be here, seeing me with you. We had a fight earlier and then I yelled at her, saying all those terrible things to her that I didn’t even mean. Not only did I hurt her… but now I made her hate me. I wish I could take it back.”

Rainbow’s felt her heart break as she watched her daughter began to water and her wife folded her wing over her for comfort. She felt bad that she made Scootaloo feel this way and that Scootaloo shouldn’t blame herself for it. Rainbow decided to fix this problem once and for all.

“Oh Scoots, your mother doesn’t hate you,” ‘Zapp’ said softly. “She will never hate you. You are her most awesome filly in Equestria. She loves you with all of her heart, no matter what.”

Twilight nodded in agreement. She doesn’t know who this mare is, but it was nice that there’s somepony who have experience with kids. Scootaloo meanwhile cheered up from her hero’s words, but then got confused that she knew all about her despite that this was the first time they met.

“How’d you know that?” Scootaloo asked.

Rainbow grinned. “Well, who would know better…” Rainbow removed her helmet off of her head, letting down her mane, and finally revealed her true face. “…than me?”

Scootaloo gasped with delight. “RAINBOW DASH!”

Scootaloo ran up to Rainbow Dash and tackled her into a hug, causing Rainbow to laugh heartily.

“Rainbow!?” Everyone of Dash’s friend chorused in shock.

“Rainbow!?” Twilight exclaimed, surprised and happy to see her.

“Hey Twi!” Rainbow greeted with a smile.

Twilight suddenly blushed as her eyes scanned Rainbow’s outfit, which hugged every part of her body. She then formed her sultry smile.

“Rainbow~”

Rainbow chuckled nervously.

From the stands, Spike stared at the display with a look of shock.

“Whoa! Didn’t see that coming!”

“I have! I actually read this story ahead of time!” Pinkie chirped.

Spike turned to Pinkie with his confused look. “Story? What are you—” Spike then groaned and rested his head on his claw. “You know what, nevermind!”

Rainbow picked up her daughter into her half hug with her one arm and then she stood next to her wife and wrapped her with her other arm. Starlight trotted up behind them with a warm expression of her own. Rainbow Dash was beginning to feel all sappy, but she decided to allow it just this once.

“Twilight, Scootaloo… I know I didn’t say this often, but you two are my entire world!” said Rainbow, with tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry I’ve been away from you guys a lot and… constantly forgetful, but that’s going to change! I love you all so much! I love you!”

As Rainbow hugged them both in her tight embrace, she felt her wife kissing her on her cheek.

“Me too Dash,” Twilight said softly. “Me too!”

“Don’t forget me!” Scootaloo added with a giggle.

“And you’re stuck with me too pal!” Starlight added with a smirk.

Everypony smiled warmly at the display of the reunion as they as well as the rest of the crowd all hugged their loved ones of their own.

Somewhere from the other side of the road, Spoiled Rich scowled at the Sparkle family reunion with contempt. Her left cheek was all red and swollen from Twilight slap and her mane was unkempt due to stress and anger. She scowled as they all hugged each other with so much love, making her sick with hate.

I can’t believe that loud mouth pegasus turned out to be that foalish loser in her underwear and everypony love her for it! And I still can’t believe that so-called Princess chose her over me! ME! They think they can be happy? Hanging around with some common ponies and not using their status to their advantage? Well, they can enjoy their happiness while they can, because I’m going to destroy them! I’ll first sue them for destroying my home! Then, I’ll soil their names through this town’s—

“Spoiled!”

Spoiled felt a chill go down her spine from a sound of a very male’s voice. She slowly turned around to see her husband, Filthy Rich with a stern look. By the looks of it, it would seem that Filthy had a bone to pick for his wife.

“Oh… h-hello my dear,” Spoiled began nervously. “W-what brings you here? I t-thought you are having a meeting today.”

“…I cancelled it!” Filthy replied bluntly.

“O-oh, I-I see!” she stammered as she slowly backpedaled away from him. “D-did you see our house by any chance? I-It’s that good-for-nothing Rainbow Dash! She destroyed part of our manor after she broke into our home to—”

“Don’t even try Spoiled!” Filthy barked. “Princess Twilight told me all about your plot to purposely led Rainbow Dash to our manor and then tried to make moves on her for your own selfish reason!”

Spoiled winced from her husband's cold tone as he continued.

“I can’t believe you! First you abused your job and falsely bad marked those fillies on their records, the very same fillies who helped our daughter, which no thanks to you by the way, then you gathered up ponies from Celestia knows where and harassed the Sparkle family over their marriage and adopting one of those fillies…now this? How can you do this? I thought you were actually willing to fix our marriage and wanted to change with the help from the Princess… but it seems I was wrong.”

Spoiled continued to backtrack away from her husband until her flank bumped into somepony behind her. She turned to face this pony, only to realize that it was Randolph who blocked her way. Spoiled tried to find another means to exit, but to her dismay, she was surround by her own maids and a few butlers, who finally could not stand Spoiled, preventing her from escaping. Spoiled slowly faced her husband again with a look of terror as Filthy stared back at her with his cold expression.

“Come Spoiled, I believe it’s finally time we settled this and get this over with… for our divorcé.”

Rainbow felt like she was on top of the world. She reunited with her ponies that she loves, fixed things up with her family and Scootaloo doesn’t hate her at all! Life was good.

“Kid,” Rainbow jolted up in terror as Officer Warrant arrived at the scene. Luckily her back was turned towards him and Warrant was busy hoofing over Scootaloo’s stolen toy. “I believe this belongs to you!”

Scootaloo received her toy back from the officer and gave him her appreacative smile. “Thank you so much!”

“You’re welcome kid!” He said warmly before he turned towards Rainbow “And as for you Zapp,” he said as he gave her his salute. “We could use a mare like you on our tea—”

His words intently died in his throat as Rainbow slowly turned to face him. As he stared at her in shock, Rainbow chuckled nervously as she salute back.

“Uh…hehe… thanks for the offer, but I’ll just stick with my family.” When she received no response from him, Rainbow continued while feeling very awkward about their situation. “Oh and um… I’m very sorry about the town square from yesterday… and the hot chocolate… and the dumpster… and the restaurant… and the warehouse… and the cabbage cart… and the…cake… bomb.”

“Cake bomb?” Twilight exclaimed with her perplexed expression.

Rainbow sighed. “I’ll explain later Twi.”

Before Officer Warrant could utter a response, a bunch of officers trotted past them while leading Lightning Dust, who was now wearing chains.

“Alright, move it missy!” one officer pony ordered.

“I was so close!” Lightning complained loudly. “I had it in my hooves! How can I face my niece on the morning of Hearth’s Warming without that toy? Now she’s gonna hate me!” She then sighed sadly. “…just like the rest of my family.”

Scootaloo was feeling sorry for that pegasus mare. While she did chased her down and almost harmed her and Twilight, she did save her life and she overheard parts of her confession that she’s doing this for her niece. She looked at her toy that was in her hooves and then back at the sad pony who was about to go into the police carriage. She knew what she had to do.

With her determined expression, she galloped after Lighting Dust, which were noticed by Rainbow.

“Scoots?”

“Wait!” Scootaloo shouted.

The ponies stopped in their tracks and let Scootaloo catch up to them. When she finally reached them, Lightning turned slightly towards Scootaloo with her depressed expression.

“What do you want kid?” Lightning said in her defeated tone.

To her surprise, Scootaloo smiled and presented her toy towards her.

“Happy Hearth’s Warming!” said Scootaloo.

“WHAT!?” Everypony exclaimed in shock.

This mare nearly ruined the parade, chased and almost ponynapped Scootaloo, assaulted a Princess and fought Rainbow over that toy. And yet, Scootaloo was willingly to give her toy away to that very same mare that caused all that trouble. Even Lightning Dust was confused with Scootaloo’s behavior.

“W-what… w-why?” she asked in her shocked state.

Scootaloo smiled warmly. “I want you to take it… for your niece, so she can receive a gift from her favorite aunt and let her know that you care.”

“You… mean it?” she whispered in awe. “Even after I tried to steal it from you?”

Scootaloo nodded. “Totally!”

Lightning couldn’t believe her ears. She never met a kid who was so selfless in her life. She was willing to help her even if she had to give up her own gift. With tender care, Lightning gently took the toy away from Scootaloo and her eyes welled up in tears.

“I… thank you,” she said with a sniff. “T-this is the nicest thing that anypony has ever done for me. This will make my niece very happy!” Her expression changed to guilt. “And I’m sorry for what I did up on that roof from earlier.”

Scootaloo waved her hoof away in her playful manner. “Hey, no sweat! Water under the bridge.”

Lightning gave Scootaloo her small grin before facing Rainbow with a look of guilt.

“Dash… I’m sorry… for everything. I guess I still have a lot to learn about my attitude and actually regarding others.” She took a quick glimpse at Scootaloo again before facing Rainbow with her warm smile. “You were right… your kid is an awesome filly!”

Once of the officers cleared his throat, signing them that their time was up. With a sigh, Lightning tucked the toy underneath her wing before she was lead into the carriage. Before they closed the door on her, Lightning Dust said her final words to Rainbow with her friendly smile.

“I guess I’ll see ya around… Rainbow Dash.”

With that, they shut the carriage door and the vehicle moved away down the road towards Ponyville’s Police Station.

Rainbow couldn’t help but to feel sorry for Lightning. While Rainbow doesn’t agree with Lightning’s tactics and had a bigger ego, but deep down Rainbow knew that Lightning can be a good pony, but she made so many bad decisions because she was all alone in her life. No one was there to help or guide her to the right path or learn a thing about friendship. Right then and there, Rainbow decided to do something about it.

But that can wait.

Once they were out of sight, Rainbow knelt down and touched Scootaloo’s shoulder to get her attention.

“Um… Scoots?”

Scootaloo turned to face Rainbow. “Yes Rainbow Dash?”

“What you did was very generous of you, but why? I thought you always wanted that toy?” Rainbow asked with confusion.

Scootaloo scoffed with a smirk as if the answer was obvious. “I don’t need some dumb toy of some hero when I have the most awesome and a real hero at home!”

Touched by her daughter’s words, Rainbow wrapped her arms around her and pulled Scootaloo into a loving hug. They paid no attention to the ‘awwws’ coming from their family and friends or the sound of cheering from other ponies who watched them, the only thing that was important right now, was each other.

Epilogue

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Ponyville was usually a crime free town. Rarely anypony spend a night in a jail cell within Ponyville’s police station. But when they did, it was a miserable experience for anypony, including Lightning Dust, who was lying on her bed, contemplating her thoughts.

Despite that Rainbow Dash and her whole family were not pressing charges against her, Lightning still broke the law and have to spend a couple nights in jail or paid a large sum of her bail. This disheartened the mare because that means she will miss Hearth’s Warming and lose her chance of ever connecting with her niece. While the cops were ‘kind’ enough to let her hold on to that toy that Scootaloo gave her from earlier, it doesn’t make a difference. While she did not blame Rainbow or any of the Sparkle family that she was stuck here, but Lightning wondered if this outcome would have made any difference if she haven’t saved Rainbow’s life from those changelings.

Lightning remembered from earlier today at the mall in Manehattan. After she escaped from being under a pile of crazy ponies, she left from the toy department and into the mall to chase after Rainbow for the ball. She managed to spot her and those strange stallions in Santa Hooves costumes as they all walked out of the store. Thinking that they’ll lead her to the Zapp doll; she decided to keep her distance and follow them until they’ve reached the warehouse. She then quietly flew up to the top of the roof and peered into one of the ceiling windows to have a better look.

As she spied on Rainbow talking to one of the costumed stallions, she was hoping that as soon as Rainbow received the toy, the sooner she’ll swoop in and take it out of Rainbow’s hooves. She waited until a short pony in his own Santa Hooves suit arrived with the toy. Just before Lightning was going to open the window, she saw Rainbow dumped the toy out of the box. To her shock, it only comes out in pieces. Lightning couldn’t help but to feel angry at these weasels for nearly pulled a fast one on her, even though she wasn’t really with them. Her anger turned to curiosity as she watched Rainbow Dash arguing with the two stallions, until Rainbow turned around and bucked them into their faces and sending them the wall.

She hated to admit it, but what Rainbow did to these stallions was awesome.

Her expression changed to concern as every costumed ponies suddenly surrounding Rainbow Dash at every angle. She was then horrified when they all the ‘ponies’ suddenly transformed into changelings except for the two stallions that led Rainbow here. There was no way Lightning could take them all on, so she decided to bail before one of these things spotted her.

She didn’t even make it a yard away from the warehouse before her conscious told her that she shouldn’t leave Rainbow behind to these monsters. While it was Lightning’s own fault that she was kicked out of academy, but she still blamed Rainbow for ratting her out to Spitfire. She would’ve convinced herself further to just leave Rainbow there… until she remembered that Rainbow said she had a daughter. Rainbow only briefly mentioned about her daughter at the time, but Lightning can tell she means the world to Rainbow, just like the relationship between herself and her niece. If there’s one thing she had in common with Rainbow Dash, is that they’ll do anything for the ponies that they love. Lightning would never forgive myself if that kid lost her mother because of her. In the end, she quickly found a nearby voice crystal booth and left her anonymous message to the authorities about the warehouse. While that made her life harder to get the toy afterwards, but at least she made a right decision.

Her thoughts were interrupted by one of the security officers, knocking on her cell door for her attention.

“What is it?” Lightning said in her dull tone, not bothering to turn and face them.

“We have a letter for you,” the officer said in her gruff voice.

“Whose it from?”

“They wished to keep it anonymous until you read it.”

“…whatever! It’s not like I have anything else to do today.”

She heard the officer sighed and placed some kind of paper through the door’s panel. She waited for the guard to walk away and when his hoofsteps faded away from her, she got up from her bed and makes her way towards the envelope by the cell door. She picked up the envelope and inspected it for a bit. There was no name of the sender or returning address on the envelope. The only thing that was written on the envelope was her name. With a reluctant sigh, Lightning opened the envelope and took out the letter. As she began to read the letter, her eyes widen in shock when she found out not only who the sender was, but the message that was laid out for her.

Hey Lightning,
This has been one crazy day, wasn’t it? We were both after the same thing for our kids for Hearth’s Warming and we make a competition out of it. But in the process, I’ve forgotten what truly matters for this holiday and any other day at all. It’s not getting your kid the best present to earn their love, it’s spending time with them and being there for them when they really need you.
That… and trying not to be so forgetful for the next event. LOL!
Anyway, we have our differences and you’re doing it the same reason as I do, and I respect that, but once again you’re doing this the wrong way. I know your life is hard and you didn’t get along with most of your family, so that’s why I decided to give you three of my gifts.
My first gift is my offer of friendship. Surprised huh? Well you probably never have a friend to help guide you to the right path. If you let me and are willing to start over, I will help you every step of the way.
Which leads to my second gift. I already sent a letter to Spitfire to give you the good word. If she approves, I’ll personally train you to not only be the top Wondercolt, but I will also teach you the value of teamwork. Don’t expect me to hold back. But again, it all depends on Spitfires’s word so don’t hold your breath just yet.
My third and final gift is I’m paying your bail so you can be out early. Don’t worry about owing us for the bill, Twilight and I got it covered. When you’re married to a princess, these bills were nothing but chump change. What you can do is use this opportunity to spend time with your niece. And if your family is still giving you a hard time, you and your niece are free to come visit us for our holiday dinner. No one deserves to spend Hearth’s Warming alone.
Hopefully, this will be a start of our friendship with a clean slate. If not after holidays, then we can at least take one day at a time. As for the whole thing we went through at the parade from earlier today, I forgive you. Until then, have a Happy Hearth’s Warming!

Your friend (hopefully),
Rainbow Dash

By the time Lighting finished reading her letter, her cheeks were soaked from her tears. Just then, she heard a metal creak from behind her. She slowly turned around to see the same officer, who gave her that letter a minute ago, opened up her cell door.

“Whelp, it looks like you got your early Hearth’s Warming present. You are free to go!” the officer said with a grunt before walking away. “Follow me please.”

As she followed the officer towards the main station, her mind replayed from the letter she read again and again. She couldn’t believe that the same mare she met at the academy was giving her another chance. On top of that, Rainbow was willing to wipe their slates clean and become her friend with no strings attached.

A second chance and a friendship offer huh? Lightning thought before she formed her genuine smile.

I like that.

At the Castle of Friendship, everypony from the entire town came over to not only celebrate for the upcoming Hearth’s Warming, but also to congratulate Rainbow for her heroic deed. Rainbow only interacted with them briefly in thanks before she goes back to spend time with her family. She and Scootaloo spent a few hours helping Twilight redecorating the castle back to its formal glory, including their tree.

As they redecorate, many party guests were hanging around talking, laughing, dancing and eating merrily with each other. Fluttershy and Rarity were having a conversation about what happened at the parade from earlier while drinking their punch. Pinkie was sharing her Hearth’s Warming story from her rock farm days with Applejack as the farmer herself listened with a smile on her face. Even Officer Warrent was trying to enjoy himeself at the party despite that awkward encounter with Rainbow after the parade.

He couldn't bring himself to arrest Rainbow after she saved her kid and became a hero at the parade (not to mention, an evil glare from Princess Twilight's sent chills down his spine). In the end, after their private discussion, Rainbow Dash was only sentenced to do community service sometime after the holidays. Despite that, there were no more hard feelings between Rainbow and Officer Warrant... for now.

In the center of the room, many guests watched on as the light purple unicorn and Spike were having an argument that has been going on since they first returned home from the parade.

“Pay up Starlight! I won the bet!” Spike argued loudly.

“No way! If anything, I won the bet!” Starlight countered just as loudly.

“Are you kidding? He got the toy from the parade!”

“But then Scootaloo gave that away!”

“That doesn’t count!”

“Yes it is!”

“No it isn’t!”

“Yes it is!”

Perplexed from the scene in front of him, the brown stallion with dark brown mane turned towards his lady companion.

“Should we do something about this?” he asked.

The gray mare with blonde mane and yellow crossed eyes shrugged before she happily ate her muffin, much to the stallion’s confusion.

Meanwhile, the four fillies were standing by the hallway while having a conversation of their own.

“What a crazy day! We help set up a parade and then we watched a parade, only some crazy mare takes over to steal Scootaloo’s toy, only to be saved by Zapp, which turned out to be Rainbow Dash!” said Sweetie Belle before she hopped up in down in excitement with little tiny sparks came out from her horn. “This is the best Hearth’s Warming Eve EVER!”

Silver Spoon stared at her friend strangely before she addressed the whole group. “Questioning your enthusiasm about that incident aside… I’m just glad that Scootaloo and everypony else were not hurt. This will be the most memorable parade event in Ponyville history, that’s for sure!”

Everypony nodded n agreement before Apple Bloom turned towards Diamond.

“Ah’m glad you came to our party Diamond,” said Apple Bloom. “Is your father coming?”

“He should be coming soon… after the divorcing process with my mother is finished,” Diamond said with a sigh.

Apple Bloom frowned, feeling sorry for her friend. “Shucks… Ah’m so sorry that happened to ya Diamond.”

Diamond gave Apple Bloom her reassuring smile. “Don’t be. She had it coming for years! She stopped acting like my mother even before I got my cutie mark. With luck, she’ll be sent back to Fillydelphia where she’s from and never come back!”

Apple Bloom smiled back. “Well at least she’ll stop botherin’ us and Scoot’s family and not causing trouble anymore. Ah’m surprised that your dad didn’t press any charges against Rainbow about blowin’ up part of yer house! He didn’t even take up Twilight’s offer to pay for the damages!”

“Well after Twilight told him the story, he understood from a perspective of a parent and he forgave her,” Diamond explained before she placed her hoof at the back of her neck. “That… and he was planning to remodel that room after the holidays anyway.”

Sweetie Belle blinked. “Wow… who knew?”

On the other side of the main room, Scootaloo helped Rainbow Dash put on some finishing touches by placing the star on top of the tree, while she was held up by Rainbow. Once Scootaloo placed the star on top, she and Rainbow cheered and they wrapped each other into a hug as Rainbow slowly descending to the floor.

“Great job Scoot! I knew you could do it!” Rainbow praised.

“Thanks Rainbow Dash! We make a good team!” said Scootaloo. Once Rainbow landed safely to the floor, Scootaloo spoke up as soon as she stood on the ground. “Rainbow… can I talk to you about something?”

Rainbow nodded. “Sure, what’s up Scoots?”

Scootaloo stared at Rainbow with hesitation, not sure what to until she finally sighed. “Um… remember last night when you asked me what I want for Hearth’s Warming?” she asked softly. After Rainbow nodded at her question, she looked away in shame. “Well… the thing is… I lied… sorta.”

Rainbow raised her eyebrow in surprise. “What do you mean?”

With some struggle, Scootaloo faced towards Rainbow again, and spoke directly towards Rainbow eyes. “Well… I did want a Zapp action figure, but it was actually the second thing I wanted.”

Rainbow titled her head in confusion. “Then… what is your first?”

“Spending more time… with you,” Scootaloo answered. Not wanting to see Rainbow’s reaction, she looked away again. “I didn’t say it because I thought you might think it’s dumb or I acted selfish, especially that you’re already working hard as it is. While it’s nice seeing you at night or on some weekends, but I only wish I could see more of you… just as I wish I could see more of my—”

Scootaloo stopped and felt her throat tighten and eyes tearing up from remembering her parents. She hated that she showed her weakness to everypony, including towards Rainbow Dash. She doesn’t want to make Rainbow think she was weak and pathetic when she gets so sappy. Before she could scold herself, she felt a wing wrapping her up and pushed her towards warmth. She looked up in surprised to see Rainbow Dash, giving her her rare motherly look.

“Scoots… you’re not selfish and don’t think any of your requests are dumb,” she said softly. “There’s nothing wrong with wanting to spend more time with me. In hindsight, I should’ve realized how much I missed out sooner. But you’re going to get your Hearth’s Warming wish buddy!”

“W-what?” Scootaloo uttered with her widen eyes.

“I’ve already sent my letter to Spitfire about my dates and hours change. Let’s just say… you’re going to seeing more of me for now on buddy!” Rainbow said with her confident smirk.

Scootaloo face lit up when she understood the meaning of Rainbow’s words. Almost immediately after, Scootaloo wrapped Rainbow up into a hug with Rainbow happily returned it. They stayed that way for what seemed like minutes until they heard Apple Bloom called out to them.

“Hey Scoots! We’re about to play hide and seek! Are you goin’ to join us?”

She really didn’t want to leave Rainbow’s embrace and rather wanted to stay with her. She was about to call back to turn Apple Bloom down, but Rainbow interrupted.

“Go on Scoots! I’ll be here when you’re done,” Rainbow reassured softly. “And we can still spend more time all day tomorrow on Hearth’s Warming! Okay… my daughter?”

Scootaloo smiled back. “You got it… mom.”

Rainbow felt her heart fluttered and prevented herself from tearing up at Scootaloo’s words. They hugged each other for the last time before Scootaloo happily skipping away towards her friends. Rainbow stared at her retreating daughter’s back with a sense of pride and accomplishment. While this was indeed a start, but she was very happy that her relationship with her stepdaughter—no, her daughter was better than ever.

“I gotta say Rainbow, you really are amazing.”

Rainbow smirked and turned towards her wife, who had a beaming smile on her face. “Hey what can I say? I’m an awesome mom!”

Twilight smile then changed into a look of guilt. “Listen… I’m sorry for what I said too, back when we’re at the manor. I was so stressed from the parade and Spoiled that I—”

“Don’t!” Rainbow interjected. “There’s no need for you to apologize. I’ll admit, it hurts yeah, but I deserved it. Heck, I’m still kicking myself for almost stealing that toy… all because of my stupidity. But like I said, I’m gonna change all that! I already talked to Spitfire and she agreed to give me a schedule change so I can spend time with all of you. And I won’t miss another event again. Count on it!”

Twilight smiled sweetly. “Oh Rainbow… that’s what I always love about you, your loyalty and that big heart of yours! And the fact that you went through so many crazy things you have to go through today, really showed me how much you love Scootaloo.”

“Of course I love her Twi,” said Rainbow with a smile of her own. “Even if I woke up the next day, only to find out that this day is somehow reset, I would do it all over again!”

Twilight smirked. “Well if it is, hopefully you won’t try to steal or fight changelings again!”

They both chuckled at Twilight’s humor. Soon they stared deeply into each other’s eyes for a moment before they slowly leaned into each other to the point that their foreheads were touching each other and they shared their loving kiss. They stayed in that position for a while until Twilight spoke up.

“Speaking of which, in light of everything you did for a toy… well… I just wanted to ask you something.”

Rainbow Dash raised her eyebrow. “Oh? What that?”

Twilight looked up to Rainbow’s face and smiled slyly. “What did you get me?~”

…

…oh crud!

Dashin' All The Way!

by sonicfan05

Late Again!?

Hearth's Warming Promise!

A Spoiled Morning!

Unfriendly Reunion

Twilight's Dilemma

Nightmare at the Manehattan Mall

A Shady Deal

Diner Blues

Trouble at the Radio Station!

A Holiday Break-In

Making Things Right

The Parade (Part 1)

The Parade (Part 2)

Epilogue