“Didn’t your nose get itchy?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“Yeah, but I thought it was because of all that pepper,” replied Pinkie Pie.
“Pepper?”
“The lid fell off the shaker,” moaned Pinkie, fighting the temptation to rub her stings.
“OK, just hang tight. I’ll go to Zecora’s and get some ointment,” said Rainbow Dash before flying away towards the Everfree Forest.
At the Library, Spike was polishing the Elements of Harmony.
“Hey, Twilight,” he asked, “was Starswirl the Bearded ever made a member of the Royal Family?”
“Don’t you remember?” asked Twilight. “Princess Celestia knew that he never understood the magic of friendship despite his genius.”
Spike was embarrassed. “I can’t keep track of Equestrian history. I’ve tried reading up on it in my spare time, but there are too many big words.”
“I could read a few books to you if you like,” offered Twilight.
“Nah, the sound of you reading always makes me fall aslee-”
Twilight had such an angry look on her face, that when someone knocked on the door, Spike was there in just a few seconds.
Rainbow Dash walked in with a bottle tucked under each of her wings.
“Guess what, Twilight,” she said. “Zecora found something she wants you to take a look at. Here.”
Rainbow Dash placed one of the bottles on the table in the middle of the Library. There was no liquid in it, but rather a single seed. It was about the size and shape of a tiny seashell, and it was a bright lime green colour even under the shade of the bottle’s lid.
“What is it?” asked Twilight.
Rainbow Dash snorted a bit. “Zecora told me you would know!”
Twilight looked closer, and then it came to her.
“A Viana seed?!”
“Yeah,” smiled Rainbow Dash. “She found it in the pumpkin patch.”
“What’s a Viana?” asked Spike.
“It’s a plant that can gain intelligence by pollination,” answered Twilight.
Spike groaned. “More big words.”
“Funnily enough,” Twilight said to Rainbow Dash, “Spike and I were just talking about Starswirl the Bearded. He discovered the Viana, but couldn’t put any of the ones he grew to proper use.”
She looked at Rainbow Dash’s left wing.
“What’s that other thing you’ve got?” she asked.
“Oh, right!”
And Rainbow Dash left to give Pinkie Pie her bee sting ointment.
Twilight and Spike sent a letter to Princess Celestia to tell her about the Viana seed. While they waited for a reply, Twilight took a book down from one of the taller shelves and offered it to Spike.
“I’m pretty sure there aren’t many big words in there,” she told him as he turned to the page on Vianas.
“Viana plants grow in pumpkin patches in areas unin… unin…” Spike had already found one.
“Uninhabited,” Twilight said in annoyed manner.
“…Uninhabited by pony-kind,” Spike read on. “They grow during thunderstorms when their seeds are struck by lightning. One day after they grow, they bloom, release their pollen, and after three minutes, it takes all its pollen back in. If anypony is around when it pollinates, he or she will inhale and exhale the pollen, and that will allow the Viana to gain his or her knowledge. So when it blooms again the following day, it will be able to speak and it will know everything the pony knows. It is capable of extending its roots and using them like claws, which can be put to use by the pony it got its knowledge from.”
Spike, happy to have only found one word he couldn’t cope with, looked at the illustration on the top left corner of the page. The Viana looked something like an octopus in a flowerpot. Ten roots were sticking out of the soil, and in the middle of the pot was what looked exactly like a Venus fly trap. Spike was sure that was its head.
Suddenly, Spike had to throw the book aside to avoid setting it on fire. Princess Celestia’s reply had arrived.
“Would you mind reading it?” asked Spike. “I think I’ve had enough for today.”
Twilight rolled her eyes and magiced the scroll open.
“Wow!” she said after a few seconds. “Princess Celestia wants the Royal Taskforce to grow this Viana.”
“She does?”
“Yes. She thinks we could make better use of one than Starswirl the Bearded did if it knows everything the six of us know,” smiled Twilight.
“Could I give it my knowledge too?” asked Spike.
“Sorry, but if you keep reading, you’ll see that it won’t survive if it takes in pollen that was in a dragon’s lungs,” said Twilight. “It’ll burst into flames if you breathe in its pollen.”
“That’s just an excuse isn’t it?” muttered Spike. “You just don’t think I have enough intelligence to offer.”
Twilight knew by Spike’s grin that he was just joking around.
Twilight gathered her friends at Sweet Apple Acres and told them about the Viana seed.
“I thought maybe we could grow it here,” said Twilight to Applejack. “You’ve got the best topsoil in Ponyville and you’re the best at roping.”
“What needs ropin’?” asked Applejack.
“The storm clouds,” answered Twilight. “Rainbow Dash, I’ll need you to gather about six or seven of them, bring them here, and get them to hit the Viana seed with lightning.”
“Aye, aye,” Rainbow Dash saluted and began to take off.
“Not now, not now!” Twilight shouted before Rainbow Dash got too far away. “We gotta do it after the sun goes down. It can’t be exposed to any sunlight or it’ll get cooked by the lightning.”
So Applejack told her family to stay in the barn for the evening and collected her strongest ropes for Twilight to put a spell on so they would hold the storm clouds when Rainbow brought them.
“Yikes, Rainbow. We only need seven,” said Twilight when she saw how many storm clouds they had. “You’ve got like twelve!”
“It’s not like anypony else needs them,” Rainbow Dash replied.
“Alright, let’s get ropin’,” said Applejack, whipping a lasso around.
When she grabbed the clouds and tied them together, two of them almost zapped her when they got squeezed.
“Whoa! Twilight’s right, Rainbow Dash! You got too many of ‘em! Take some back!”
“Oh, fine,” sighed Rainbow Dash.
But the storm clouds released more streams of lightning when Rainbow Dash grasped them. Both her front hooves got zapped and one bolt narrowly missed the pot the Viana seed was planted in.
“Don’t touch them!” cried Twilight. “The sun’s not down yet!”
“You OK, Rainbow Dash?!” asked Applejack.
“I’ll live,” replied Rainbow Dash, rubbing her hooves.
For a pegasus, lightning strikes are like bee stings. One or two aren’t too bad, but a lot would be trouble.
“What’s all the hullaballoo out there?!” came a voice from the barn. “Is it zap apple season again?!”
“Get back in the barn, Granny Smith!” shouted Applejack.
Twilight was getting impatient waiting for night to fall. Their dozen storm clouds kept flashing and crackling as if they couldn’t hold their combined lightning in for much longer.
“Be careful when you hit them Rainbow Dash! You don’t want to get more shocks!” warned Twilight.
“Hey, if you want to hit them and save me the trouble…!”
“Don’t talk back to me, Rainbow!” Twilight snapped. “You’re the best pony for this job, and I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”
Rainbow Dash didn’t say anything else for a while. She ate up compliments like root veggies.
At last, nightfall came.
“Stand by,” said Twilight as Rainbow Dash hovered over the quaking storm clouds. “3, 2, 1, go!”
Rainbow Dash charged fiercely.
“Not that fast!” cried Applejack.
No sooner had she spoken when the black clouds glowed white, there was a deafening bang, and Rainbow Dash yelled in pain. The rope broke in three places and as the freed storm clouds parted, Twilight and Applejack could see that Rainbow Dash was a black and charred mess.
“Them storm clouds are headin’ towards the barn!” shouted Applejack.
Rainbow Dash could hardly stay in the air.
“I’ll stop them!” called Twilight.
But as she took flight, her horn acted like a lightning rod and attracted the volatile cloud’s electricity. While Applejack went to see if Twilight was alright, the clouds began striking nearby apple trees and knocking them down. Rainbow Dash gave her head a shake, summoned all her remaining strength and flew to stop the clouds from wrecking the farm.
“Easy, Rainbow!” Applejack yelled over the thunderclaps.
Twilight wasn’t too badly injured, but it hurt her head to try and magic the clouds away. Rainbow Dash worked as fast as she could to move the clouds back into the sky. She got several more shocks, but she carried on until all twelve of them were well away from Sweet Apple Acres.
Twilight managed to shake off the pain in her head.
“Look what happened to those trees!” complained Applejack. “As soon as Rainbow Dash gets back…!”
When Rainbow Dash did get back, she feel rather than flew out of the sky. She landed with a thud on the roof of the barn and was now dangling from Applejack’s windowsill.
“A little help?!” she called.
Twilight flew up to the windowsill, opened the window and gently pulled Rainbow Dash into Applejack’s bedroom.
Applejack dropped her ugly mood. “Tell you what, Rainbow! You can sleep in my bed tonight! Just don't rip my sheets out!”
“Thanks, AJ!” came the reply from the window.
So Twilight tucked Rainbow Dash in and took out a bottle of shock ointment she’d brought along in case of a serious accident. Rainbow Dash had actually fallen asleep before Twilight was done.
“You’re a crazy pony, Rainbow,” said Twilight as she flew out of the room and shut the window.
“Hey Twilight, good news!” Applejack called. “The Viana seed got hit! Look!”
Twilight flew to the pot, which was smashed and its pieces were buried in soil. And there in the pile of dirt was a lime green sprout which seemed oddly bright despite the dark of the night.
“Oh, good,” sighed Twilight. “OK, let’s re-pot it and move it to the cellar.”
The following morning, Granny Smith and Big McIntosh had a few complaints.
“Sorry about your broken apple trees,” Twilight told them. “I promise we’ll clean everything up. But we want to wait until our Viana’s second blooming. Then we can test it on your trees.”
They appreciated this, but it had nothing to do with their complaints which were about Rainbow Dash’s snoring.
“I guess I’ll go wake her up,” said Applejack, who was a little stiff from sleeping on the kitchen table all night.
“And I’ll go get the others,” said Twilight. “The first bloom should be in about half an hour.”
Applejack made her way to her bedroom hoping that she wouldn’t find her bedcovers in a mess. She knocked on the door, waited a few seconds, and when she opened the door, she was relieved to see that her bed was in decent condition. Rainbow Dash on the other hand was not. She was still coated in burn marks which were slightly redder than they had been last night, and unless Applejack was hearing things, she was growling in her sleep. In fact, she looked really angry.
“Um, Rainbow Dash?”
Rainbow Dash’s eyebrow twitched a bit and she opened one eye. Her expression hadn’t changed. She was looking at Applejack like she hated her.
“You feelin’ OK?” asked Applejack.
“Yeah, I guess,” replied Rainbow Dash, her angry look fading one bit.
“Good. Um, the Viana’s gonna bloom in a bit,” said Applejack.
Rainbow Dash sat up a bit and looked at the bed sheets. “I didn’t mess these up, did I?”
“Nah, they’re fine,” answered Applejack.
Rainbow Dash lied back down and turned over. “I’ll be down soon,” she said.
Applejack left the room hoping Rainbow Dash wasn’t still in pain and was too stubborn to say so.
Pinkie Pie was perfectly cheery again after recovering from all her bee stings. In fact, she was laughing at the memory of the funny little hat one of the bees was wearing.
“Could you make me one like that, Rarity?” she asked.
“Oh, alright,” sighed Rarity, who didn’t like making things that contradict her own sense of taste.
“Um, Twilight,” said Fluttershy, “why do we have to be in this cellar?”
“So nopony else breathes in the pollen,” Twilight answered. “If the six of us are in an enclosed space, the Viana will only gain our intelligence.”
“If Rainbow Das doesn’t show up, it’ll only be the five of us,” said Applejack, watching the Viana which now had now grown a closed Venus fly trap head. “I think she’s still not feeling well. Should I go and…?”
“No, no. If not all of us can be here, it’s better if everyone who can be here is,” said Twilight.
The Viana’s head stirred.
“It’s coming,” said Twilight.
Then Pinkie Pie shouted. “My knee’s getting pinchy!”
“Uh, I forget what that means,” said Twilight.
“It means something scary is gonna happen,” said Applejack with a start.
They began to back away from the Viana as its head slowly began to open. As soon as its mouth was wide open, Rarity backed into something. She jumped and the five of them turned around. Pinkie’s senses weren’t lying. Rainbow Dash was right there and she had the scariest look any of them had ever seen. It was as if she couldn’t stand the sight of them and wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. For a while, none of them said a word.
Finally, Fluttershy spoke up. “Are you alright?”
Rainbow Dash flinched, then said “I want to go!”
“Um, go?” repeated Twilight.
“Um, I think I should go somewhere to relax,” Rainbow Dash was talking rather quickly. “Just… like a therapeutic holiday or something. My burns are really hurting me.”
“Well, why don’t you check into the hospital?” asked Rarity.
Rainbow flinched again. “I just want to go to some other town and stay there… for a while.”
“Okey-dokey-lokey!” smiled Pinkie Pie. “Make sure you send us a postcard.”
Evidently, Pinkie’s approval was good enough for Rainbow Dash. She turned her tail and flew out of the cellar without a backwards glance.
The five remaining taskforce members were silent for a while, unable to understand what had gotten into Rainbow Dash. Then they heard a faint snapping noise. They looked back and saw that the Viana had closed again.
“Oh! It’s stopped pollinating,” said Twilight in surprise. “Has it really been three minutes?”
“Where’s Minuette when you need her?” asked Applejack.
“Well, I’m pretty sure Rainbow Dash was here long enough to breathe in its pollen,” said Twilight. “When it blooms again, we can ask it what was eating her.”
“So, what are we going to name it?” asked Fluttershy.
“Name it?” Twilight repeated. “Um, why don’t we name it after its discoverer?”
“Starswirl the Bearded?” asked Rarity.
“I was actually thinking Viana the Bearded,” said Twilight.
“Great!” Pinkie Pie bounced up to the Viana. “We can put this beard on it.”
She pulled a tiny fake beard out of nowhere and put it on the Viana. It got a good laugh from the others.
“Alright, it’s settled,” said Twilight. “Viana the Bearded it is.”
The taskforce went about their business for the rest of the day, but they could talk of nothing but Rainbow Dash’s odd desire to leave. Pinkie Pie kept running to and from her mailbox expecting a postcard. Rainbow couldn’t have been as sore as she told them she was. She could fly perfectly; otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to leave Ponyville. And why did she look at her friends as if they were piles of rancid garbage?
Applejack had a thought that evening and ran to tell Twilight. “When I went to wake Rainbow Dash up, she had a really nasty look on her face when she was sleeping. Do ya think she might’ve had a disturbin’ dream?”
“Hmm, maybe,” Twilight pondered. “I know! I’ll write to Princess Luna. Maybe she saw what Rainbow Dash was dreaming.”
“What if she didn’t?” asked Applejack. “Then we’ll never find out.”
“Well, we won’t know unless we ask,” said Twilight.
It was a good thing Applejack had this thought before night came. This was the perfect time to send a letter to Princess Luna. After Spike sent it off, he and Twilight stayed up for a few hours expecting a reply. It didn’t come and they both fell asleep in the middle of the Library.
Author's Note
Inspired by the Red Dwarf episode Fathers & Suns, and an odd thing that happened in my sleep once.
Early the following morning, Twilight woke up and saw a scroll lying next to Spike’s head. He’d burped it out during the night and it hadn’t woken him. Twilight ran outside in the early morning glow and flew around Ponyville calling Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Applejack to the Library. When they were all there and Spike had woken up, Twilight magiced the scroll open and began to read. Or she tried to, but there was nothing written on the scroll. Instead, there was a midnight blue drawing of a dream eater symbol.
“Oh, look,” said Twilight in amusement. “She’s sent us a dream manuscript.”
“A what?” Rarity asked.
“It can show us someone’s dream,” Twilight explained. “If somepony dreamed about somepony else, that pony can see what that dream was by touching the manuscript, closing their eyes, and saying their name.”
“So if we were in Rainbow Dash’s dream,” said Fluttershy, “we can see it through our dream versions’ eyes.”
“That’s right,” said Twilight. “This must mean that Rainbow Dash dreamt about one of us. Or more of us.”
“Or all of us,” Applejack suggested.
“So let’s all touch the manuscript,” said Twilight, setting the scroll down on the floor.
They formed a circle and each placed a hoof (claw in Spike’s case) on the scroll.
“OK, on the count of three, say your names,” said Twilight.
They all closed their eyes.
“1, 2, 3…”
They all called out their own names.
Twilight kicked the door to Applejack’s bedroom open with a violent bump. Rainbow Dash jumped out of her slumber. It was still dark out.
“Are you stupid or are you just plain careless?!” Twilight bellowed at the top of her voice.
“What-?” Rainbow Dash was still dazed.
Behind Twilight came Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Fluttershy, who were all looking as angry as Twilight was.
Pinkie Pie started laughing, but in a mean-spirited way. “I had to see it to believe it! You look so funny covered in lightning burns! I wish I could’ve been there to see you get hit! Hahahaha!”
“I would never have been so foolish, Dash,” said Fluttershy with a scowl. “You make me embarrassed to be a pegasus.”
Rainbow Dash looked very offended.
“Do you have any idea how much damage you did to my farm?!” Applejack was rounding on Rainbow Dash now. “I thought you were my friend! Why would you do this to me?!”
Rainbow Dash was quivering. “I… I d- didn’t mean to do it…”
“Well, ya, boo, snubs to you!” snapped Rarity. “You’re an utter disgrace. There’s no getting around it!”
Rainbow Dash lied back down on the bed, her lip twitching at bit.
“Come on, girls,” said Twilight sourly. “I don’t want to see her again until the Viana blooms.”
“We’ll let you know when that happens,” Applejack said to Rainbow Dash with a cynical look. “And you better fix up my bed sheets when I do!”
Rainbow Dash looked at the covers and found they were all twisted and crumpled. Once the other taskforce members had left Applejack’s room, Twilight magiced the door closed with an eardrum shattering slam. The last she saw of Rainbow Dash was her burying her face in her hooves.
Spike looked around at the ponies as they began to come around.
“I didn’t see anything,” he said. “Were you all in the dream?”
Fluttershy burst into tears.
“What- what happened?” asked Spike with concern.
Twilight’s breath got stuck in her throat for a second. “Rainbow Dash dreamed that the five of us burst in on her when she was sleeping and yelled at her for what happened with the Viana planting.”
“We were absolute monsters!” burst out Rarity. “I can’t believe I heard those words in my own voice! Ya, boo, snubs to you?! When have I ever said anything like that?!”
Applejack had a very pained look on her face. “She was in my bed in that dream. It was night-time. She must’ve woken up and thought that dream really happened.”
“You mean…” Pinkie Pie said, “You mean she gave us all that nasty look… and she wanted to leave… because she thought we actually treated her horribly like that?”
“I suppose so,” Twilight sighed, barely audible over Fluttershy’s sobbing. “We have to find her and tell her it was just a dream.”
“Yeah! We’ll ask Viana the Bearded when it blooms,” said Applejack, smiling a bit at the thought of resolving this problem. “It can tell us where Rainbow Dash was thinking of going.”
“It’s a shame,” sighed Rarity. “I was going to suggest that we all wear our Elements of Harmony to Viana the Bearded’s second blooming. You know, as a sign of welcome. But it wouldn’t be appropriate without Rainbow Dash.”
“I suppose we could still do it,” said Twilight. “It couldn’t hurt. Then when we find out where Rainbow Dash went, we can bring her the Element of Loyalty. Spike, would you mind taking her element to Applejack’s?”
“How do I always end up with Rainbow Dash’s element?” asked Spike.
When they arrived at Sweet Apple Acres and went down into the cellar, Viana the Bearded was still closed. But its mouth was stirring, which meant they were right on time.
“Elements on, everypony,” ordered Twilight.
Once they were all wearing their elements of harmony, they waited as Viana the Bearded’s mouth opened slowly. Then, it gave a cough, and its head jerked left and right.
“Ah. The royal taskforce,” it said in a deadpan voice.
“Good morning and welcome to Ponyville,” smile Twilight.
“Hello, Princess Twilight Sparkle,” said Viana the Bearded. “And hello to you, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy.”
“Hello,” they all said.
“And you’re Spike, right?” asked Viana the Bearded.
“Yeah,” replied Spike, “I’m here because Rainbow Dash couldn’t make it.”
“Oh, yes. She’s rather depressed, isn’t she?” asked Viana the Bearded.
“Yes, she had a dream about us being rude to her and she thinks it really happened,” Twilight said.
“Please, could you tell us where she decided to go?” asked Fluttershy.
“I’m afraid she had no plan,” Viana the Bearded told them. “All she knew was that she wanted to get away from you all and not come back.”
Fluttershy’s face fell. “Not come back?”
“Are you sure she didn’t have a place in mind?” urged Twilight.
“Yes, I’m sure. She just wanted to get as far away from you all as possible,” answered Viana the Bearded.
Then a long root popped up from the ground holding a handkerchief and held it out to Fluttershy, who took it and dabbed her eyes.
“I see you all brought the elements of harmony,” it went on. “Good. I suppose I’ll just take them and dispose of them.”
More roots came out of the ground and stretched towards the taskforce members.
“What?! Hey, wait a minute!” exclaimed Twilight, swatting the roots away. “Why would you dispose of the elements of harmony?! These are important!”
“They won’t work anymore,” said Viana the Bearded. “Rainbow Dash’s element is Loyalty and she left you all forever. The elements won’t work now.”
“But we can find her,” insisted Applejack.
“You could, but if you knew what Rainbow Dash was going through, you’d know it’d be fruitless to try and make her come back,” Viana the Bearded said. “It would be a better use of time and energy to get rid of the elements.”
And it made another grab for the elements of harmony. Spike and the ponies backed away.
“No, keep your roots to yourself!” ordered Twilight. “Come on, everyone. Let’s go and find Rainbow Dash.”
But before they had even turned around, they found their way blocked by a wall of roots, which extended from one side of the cellar to another.
“What are y’all doing?!” demanded Applejack. “Let us out!”
“You grew me to make things more convenient for you,” said Viana the Bearded. “So I’m making it easier for you to dispose of your elements.”
“You’re not conveniencing us at all!” shouted Rarity.
“Of course I am. You all think there’s a hope of getting Rainbow Dash back,” the Viana persisted. “I know better. So if you could just…”
Twilight’s horn lit up, there was a flash of purple light, and Viana the Bearded was alone in the cellar.
Twilight had teleported them to the door outside the cellar.
“Come on!” Twilight shouted. “Let’s get away from…!”
At that moment, she noticed that there were roots sticking out of the ground and stretched out far away from Sweet Apple Acres. And they seemed to be moving back into the ground. As soon as the taskforce looked to see where the roots were going, something large and blue zoomed up to them. In seconds, Twilight, Spike, Fluttershy and Rarity were buried in flowers.
“Poison joke!” cried Rarity.
The three of them scrambled out of the pile of blue leaves as quickly as they could, but the effect of the large quantity of poison joke kicked in almost instantly. Twilight’s horn turned red and white and curved at the top, and her wings turned into sheets of cardboard. Rarity’s horn had a bottle cap on it. It popped off and cherry soda trickled down her face. Spike had gotten a mouthful of poison joke, and when he tried to breathe fire, he ended up spitting silly-sting out instead. Fluttershy’s wings didn’t appear to have been effected, but when Twilight told her to try flapping them, dozens of yellow feathers fell out of them with each beat. Then, more roots sprang from the ground and formed a circular wall around them.
“Viana the Bearded, you stop this right now!” shouted Twilight at the door.
“Don’t worry,” came a deadpan voice behind her.
She wheeled around and saw Viana the Bearded’s head poking out from the ground inside the wall of vines and roots.
“After I remove your elements of harmony, I’ll fix you all a PJ remedy bath,” it continued.
More roots came out of the ground and made a grab for the elements.
“Hold onto them, everyone!” Twilight shouted. “Don’t let it take them!”
“Is this some sort of test?” asked the Viana as Spike and the ponies shielded their elements of harmony from its grasping vines. “You’re not making it easy for me to make things easy for you.”
“You ain’t helping us at all!” snapped Applejack, fighting to keep Viana the Bearded’s roots from prying her hooves off the Element of Honesty.
“These elements are too valuable to just throw away!” insisted Rarity, ignoring Pinkie Pie’s giggling at her cherry soda covered face.
“They’re defunct,” persisted Viana the Bearded. “They’re of no use to you! Let me…”
“Never!” they all shouted, tightening their grip.
At that moment, roots came out of the ground and held them down. Then a whirring noise came from the open cellar. It got windy all of a sudden. Then the taskforce realized that Viana the Bearded had turned the cellar into a vacuum. It began sucking up the poison joke and some leaves and pebbles.
“Don’t let go!” called Twilight as the suction from the open door picked up.
But Viana the Bearded kept detaching the elements from their necks and they could barely keep hold of them.
“I’m gonna lose it!” cried Spike.
“Hold on, Spike!” shouted Twilight and Rarity together.
But Spike couldn’t hold Rainbow Dash’s element any longer. It flew out of his grasp and zoomed into the cellar. It wasn’t long before the ponies started to lose their grip too.
“I know!” shouted Pinkie Pie.
She took one of her hooves off her element, reached out to Viana the Bearded, and ripped the fake beard off its head.
“There!” she said. “It doesn’t have its source of power anymore!”
As soon as the Element of Laughter flew away and disappeared into the cellar, Pinkie Pie knew she’d been wrong.
“Stop, Viana!” shouted Twilight as Fluttershy’s element whizzed past her face and into the cellar. “We need these!”
“Trust me, Twilight. There’s nothing you can do with them now,” said Viana the Bearded. “Rainbow Dash has wrecked her own element.”
“She’ll come back!” insisted Rarity, before losing her hold on her element.
“We know she will!” cried Fluttershy.
Viana the Bearded shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I very much doubt that.”
Twilight and Applejack lost their elements at the same time, and as they watched them disappear, they saw a red light coming from within the cellar.
“Look!” exclaimed Applejack. “Can it be…?!”
The red light increased in brightness, and then, to their surprise and delight, Rainbow Dash rocketed out of the cellar fighting against the force of Viana the Bearded’s vacuum suction with ease. She had the Element of Loyalty around her neck, which was as bright as a strobe light.
“Oh,” said Viana the Bearded.
And before it could say anything else, Rainbow Dash’s element projected a light so bright, all her friends could see was red. They shut their eyes. They could each feel the wind stop tugging and the roots and vines release them. Then they felt the wind start up again, but it wasn’t as strong and it had changed direction. Finally, just before the light disappeared, all of them, accept for Spike, felt something lightly hit their front and heard something land in front of them. When the redness faded away, the other elements of harmony were lying in front of their owners. The wall of vines was gone, and Viana the Bearded was sitting perfectly still in the ground. It was surrounded by little spores floating in the air. It was the Viana’s pollen. Viana the Bearded was now as ordinary a plant as seaweed.
Everyone looked at Rainbow Dash, and Rainbow Dash looked around at all of them. She didn’t have that livid look on her face anymore, and her lightning burns had healed up nicely.
Finally, Applejack spoke. “Were you in that there cellar this whole time?”
“No,” replied Rainbow Dash. “I rented a cottage in Port Flanks yesterday. This morning, I was feeling better so I headed back to Ponyville. But before I made it, everything went red and blurry, and then I somehow ended up in that cellar. It was really drafty, there was poison joke all over the place, and my element of harmony was floating in front of me. I heard you all yelling and knew you were in trouble, so I put my element on and… well, you were there.”
“Rainbow Dash,” said Fluttershy, “we never said all those mean things to you. It was only a dream. Princess Luna showed us…”
“I know!” Rainbow Dash interrupted.
“You knew?!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie.
“Of course! Come on! Rarity never says ya, boo, snubs to you!” said Rainbow Dash. “But I was still angry. I never got to tell those dream ponies what I thought of them. And I didn’t want to take my anger out on any of you. That’s why I left. I didn’t want to end up saying something I’d regret.”
She looked around at their glowing faces.
“You’re as loyal as ever, Dashie,” beamed Twilight.
Rainbow Dash found herself in a tight group hug.
“Um, I’m not completely over it, you know,” she said uncomfortably.
“Well, ya, boo, snubs to you,” chuckled Rarity, slopping cherry soda on Rainbow’s face.
Rainbow Dash couldn’t help it. She had to smile and hug back.
Author's Note
It was at this point when I realized I was out of control.
