Singularity

Rainbow Dash caressed her throbbing skull.

“Oh my head.” Rainbow Dash grumbled.

Rainbow opened her crusty and droopy eyes to find herself lying on a couch in Fluttershy’s living room.

“Ugh…What am I doing here?” Rainbow pondered. “Last thing I remember was fighting…”

The gears in Rainbow Dash’s head started to turn again.

“THE MONSTER!” She yelled.

Rainbow Dash tried to zip off the couch to find the monster but found her fore-hooves constricted by a rope that was tied to the front leg of the couch.

“What in Tartarus?!” Rainbow Screeched at the sudden feeling of being pulled back down to the couch.

“Grrrr.” Rainbow grumbled.

Erin came walking into the room. Rainbow turned her head sharply towards Erin with a look of anger on her face.

“What have you done with Fluttershy and the girls?!” Demanded Rainbow.

“Whoa, don’t make accusations when you’re not sure…”

“I am absolutely sure that you’ve done something to them.” Rainbow continued.

“Well, if I had hurt your friends, then wouldn’t you think I would be holding a knife or be covered in blood or something?” Backlashed Erin.

“Yea but you could have washed it off.” Accused Rainbow Dash.

“Fuck’s sake.” Sighed Erin.

“Still not buying it.” Rainbow Dash huffed.

Erin was getting angrier and angrier with each passing second.

“What the hell is going on down there?!” Riley yelled while descending the stairs.

“What have you done with my best friend?!” Rainbow demanded.

“I haven’t done anything to her, she’s upstairs.”

“Grrr, let me GO!” Rainbow yelled.

Riley pulled a chair up next to the couch and sat down.

“Are you okay?” Riley asked calmly.

“What?” Rainbow lashed.

“I’m trying to be nice and ask if you’re all right, so are you all right?” Riley asked again, keeping his calm composure.

“Um…I’m fine…What’s the catch?”

“Well, we both were hit by those cyclo…tornadoes pretty hard.”

“According to my knowledge.” Rainbow hypothesized. “Either it was a loose storm by the weather team, which would’ve totally not happened if I was there to help, or it was you.”

“Does this look like wind to you.” Riley said.

He put his hand up, letting some fire swirl around it.

“Well it could have been her.” Rainbow accused, pointing a hoof at Erin.

Erin let some lightning shoot out of her hand.

“Not me.” Erin replied sarcastically.

“It was me.” Another voice from the stairs called out.

The Riley, Erin and Rainbow Dash turned their heads towards the stairs to find Fluttershy descending down them.

“Fluttershy, thank Celestia you’re alright.” Rainbow Dash sighed out of relief. “Where are the CMC’s?”

“At the hospital.” Erin replied. “The orange one…”

“Scootaloo.” Corrected Riley.

“Right Scootaloo, whatever. Might’ve broken her leg.”

“WHAT, how?!” Rainbow Dash yelled.

“See, this is where you need ears.” Riley said sarcastically.

“I have some right here pal.”

Rainbow Dash pointed at the blue, pointy ears protruding out of her head.

“Yes I know that dumbass.” Riley sighed. “Figment of speech. What I meant is that I’ve told you that a million times and then you go bat-shit on me and send me flying out a fucking door.”

“Yea, well you attacked first.” Rainbow remarked.

“Bull, I watched you charge my brother head on.” Erin said firmly.

“Still, those tornadoes didn’t from by themselves.”

“Because that was me.” Fluttershy spoke softly.

“And another thi…Wait, what?” Rainbow said, confused.

“They were mine.” Fluttershy said solemnly. “Are you hurt, is anything broken?”

“Nah, I’ve had worse. Besides, I’m Rainbow Dash, the fastest flyer in all of Equestria.” Rainbow boasted.

“My god.” Riley thought. “Her ego, it’s massive.”

“Rainbow Dash.” Fluttershy spoke seriously. “I need you to trust these two, they aren’t a threat at all and wouldn’t hurt anypony for no reason.”

Rainbow Dash just sat there in stunned silence. Not only was Fluttershy standing up for somepony, but it was for two strange creatures that pony-kind had never laid their eyes on before. Rainbow debated in her head about what to do for a split second.

“Okay. I’ll trust them.” Agreed Rainbow Dash. “Can you untie the rope?”

“Yep.” Riley said as he untied the rope, freeing Rainbow from the couch.

Rainbow got up, stretched her wings and took a seat.

“So, my name’s Riley.” Riley said as he held out his hand.

“Rainbow Dash.” Rainbow responded as she accepted his hand/hoof shake. “Fastest flyer in all of Equestria.”

“Oh really.” Erin sneered.

“Yea really.” Rainbow sneered back. “Especially when I do a sonic rainboom.”

“I doubt you’d be able to outrun Erin.” Riley proclaimed. “Bloody fast she is.”

“Pfft, yea right. I can probably fly around Equestria in ten seconds flat, can she beat that?”

“I bet I could.” Erin gloated. “How about a race?”

“Hmmm, very tempting how about to my friends castle and back.”

“Oh, you’re on. But you’ve got to tell me where your friend’s castle is.”

Rainbow trotted over the front door of Fluttershy’s house.

“See that big chrystally thingy.” Rainbow said as hes pointed her hoof towards the castle. “That’s the castle.”

“No way in hell.” Riley butted in.
“Why not, are you scared that Erin’s not as fast as me and you were wrong.” Rainbow mocked.

“Yea c’mon Riley.” Erin insisted.

“I said no.” Riley spoke firmly.

“Fine then.” Erin spat. “Be a dick.”

Erin shoved Riley out of the way to reach the back door.

“You’re not my father!” Erin yelled as she slammed the back door closed.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy just stood there completely fazed by Erin’s sudden outburst. Riley, on the other hand, didn’t seem affected at all.

“What was that all about?” Rainbow asked.

“She and I have had some…Tough times.”

“Llllllllllike?” Persuaded Rainbow.

“I really don’t want to delve into it.”

“Oh c’mon…”

“No.”

“Fine, whatever.” Rainbow Dash sighed. “Going back to you Flutters. How in Tartarus did you do…Whatever you did?”

“It was an accident. Back when…”

“OHH OHH I know, you were bitten by a mutated spider and got superpowers.” Rainbow Hypothesized.

“How in the hell did you come up with that?” Riley asked.

“She reads too many comic books.” Fluttershy deadpanned.

“Ahem…Sorry, go on Flutters.” Rainbow said.

“Okay. So anyway, Riley may have accidentally given me a different version of his powers.” Fluttershy spoke.

“Yea…Go on.”

“And I may have developed some…Um…Elemental powers.”

“Whoa whoa, hold on a sec. Are you saying that you can do things that he can do.” Rainbow said, pointing a hoof at Riley.

“I think so.” Riley answered. “The only thing I’ve seen you do Flutters is the cyclone thing on me and Rainbow. Has anything else happened to you over the past few days?”

“Some um…weird shield thing happened to me while on my way to Twilight’s Castle.” Fluttershy said.

“And is that it?” Riley asked.

“No no, there was one more incident where I had some weird light engulf my body and um…wind and…stuff.”

“Uhhhh, I have never heard of something like that happening before.” Riley gawked. “But then again, I’ve never heard of someone becoming an elemental so I guess it makes sense, kinda.”

“Enough technical stuff.” Rainbow butted-in. “I wanna see what you can do.”

“Alright, but outside.” Declared Riley.

“Yea, whatever.” Rainbow replied.

They all proceeded towards the back door of Fluttershy’s house. They walked out to a spot in the middle of the backyard.

“Okay.” Riley started. “So I can basically control fire.”

Riley opened the palm of his hand to let a few flames jettison out of it.

“Whoa!” Rainbow yelled at the sudden sight of Riley producing a small, flickering flame from his hand.

“You think that’s cool, then check this out.” Riley bragged.

Riley held his right arm out. Rainbow Dash went wide-eyed when she saw metal start to form at Riley’s shoulder. Time seemed to slow down as Rainbow Dash gawked at the gleaming metal that was swarming his arm. The pieces of metal began to twist and expand at his shoulder. The metal continued to expand until it reached the halfway point of his arm. It began to contract and sharpen at the end leaving some sharp metal swirls on the outside bottom-end of the drill and a razor sharp tip.

“That is a snazzy knife.” Rainbow commented.

“That’s only half of it.” Riley said.

Rainbow Dash went wide-eyed as the knife began to spin as fast as a loose tornado. It also began to glow red hot and caught fire. The extravagant, swirling yellow and orange flames caressing it.

“That. Is. So. COOL!” Rainbow Dash squealed.

“Yep.” Riley replied. “And it’s not a knife, it’s a drill.”

“Drill?” Rainbow inquired.

“Just think of it as a spinning knife.” Riley said.

“Ohhhh. I get it. You were flying before as well and I don’t see any wings on your back.”

“You sure?” Riley coaxed.

“Yea I’m su…” *FWUMP*

Rainbow Dash was interrupted by the sound of two glowing, orange wings popping out of Riley’s back. Riley flapped them in the air a few times allowing him to hover off the ground.

“They’re made of fire?!” Questioned Rainbow. “That’s a bit dangerous.”

“Actually, it’s synthetic fire.” Riley said.

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash both gave Riley a confused look.

“Basically, it is fire but it can’t burn anyone.”

“So, it’s safe?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yea. Actually, I could teach you a bit about your powers now if you want?”

“Umm…”

“C’mon Flutters.” Rainbow coaxed. “It’ll be awesome if you could do what he does.”

“Okay…So what do I do first Riley?” Asked Fluttershy.

“Come here.”

Riley sat down and patted the grass next to him indicating to Fluttershy to sit down. Fluttershy trotted to him and sat on all fours.
“No.” Riley added. “On your hind legs with them crossed like mine.”

“Why can’t I sit like this?” Fluttershy asked.

“Cause you’ll need your front hooves to act like hands.” Riley replied.

“Okay.” Fluttershy answered.

Fluttershy sat on her rump and actually found it quite easy to sit like Riley was.

“Huh, that’s not actually that hard.” Commented Fluttershy.

“Now.” Continued Riley. “Stick your han…hooves in the air like this.”

Riley stuck his open hands in the air and Fluttershy copied him.

“Good.” Congratulated Riley. “Now close your eyes and imagine the wind swirling in your hooves, feel its power and imagine it being padlocked to your very soul.”

Fluttershy closed her eyes and emptied her mind. She could feel it, she could feel the power surging inside her body. The ends of her hooves began to pulsate, small swirls of wind ran around her hooves at a thousand miles a second.

“Whoa, you’re doing it Flutters!” Exclaimed Rainbow.

“Now concentrate as hard as you can and imagine that padlock and chain down the power.”

Fluttershy concentrated as hard as she could. With each passing moment allowing the wind on her hooves to spread up her forearms and grow more intense.

“C’mon Flutters. CHAIN IT DOWN!” Riley yelled.

Fluttershy released an almighty burst of energy. So strong, it blasted Riley and Rainbow Dash backwards. Fluttershy opened her eyes to find Riley and Rainbow lying backwards from her force for the second time that day.

“Oh my Celestia!” Fluttershy screeched.

They both got up unscathed.

“Second time a day, you seem too live blowing us away Flutters.” Rainbow joked.

“I’m sorr…” Fluttershy apologized.

“Don’t be.” Riley interrupted. “You just harnessed your powers.”

“Meaning…?” Rainbow dribbled.

“She can use her element to her advantage now!” Riley announced.

“Couldn’t I do that before?” Asked Fluttershy.

“Not really, remember how I said an element is power, not magic.”

“Yes.” Fluttershy said.

“Well the power was in you, you just couldn’t control it because it hadn’t bonded to you.”

“So you’re basically saying that Fluttershy can use her powers to their fullest now!” Rainbow squealed.

“Not until she earns her weapon and her wings, how old are you Flutters?” Riley asked.

“Nineteen.” Fluttershy replied.

“Most elementals get their element wings at about Erin’s age. You’ll probably get them in a few days.” Riley stated.

“That’s good.” Fluttershy sighed.

The last ray of light began to fade from in between the clouds, leaving a dark, foreboding sky in its wake.

“The storm will be starting soon.” Rainbow hypothesized.

“You two should get inside.” Riley suggested. “I need to go find Erin.”

“Good idea.” Agreed Rainbow Dash.

“What about you Riley?” Fluttershy said.

“I won’t be long.”

With that, Riley took off into the woods behind Fluttershy’s cottage and Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy both went inside.

“I’d better get home.” Rainbow commented. “But I can’t wait to tell my friends about Riley and Erin.”

“Wait, What!” Fluttershy hollered. “NO!”

“Whoa, why not.” Rainbow insisted.

“Remember those so called `monsters’ that you guys and the princesses were looking for.”

“Yea.” Rainbow Dash gloated. “I sure would love to…”

“That was Riley and Erin.” Interrupted Fluttershy.

“Oh. That’s not good.”

“Yes, Celestia might react in the wrong way. You and I both know she has that scientist working to find them.”

“Yeaaa.”

“So you must promise, no Pinkie Promise that you won’t tell anypony about them.” Fluttershy drilled.

“Fine, Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Rainbow recited. “I really should get going now. See ya tomorrow Flutters.”
“Bye Rainbow.” Fluttershy said.

Rainbow Dash flew towards the door and Fluttershy want back into her lounge room.

“Hmmm, very interesting.” Bio said as Miss Combe showed him the surveillance from the drone they planted at Fluttershy’s house.

“What should we do sir?” Miss Combe asked.

“Nothing.”

“I’m sorry sir, but didn’t you want to interact with these creatures immediately.”

“Yes, but we can’t just storm into one of the element’s houses, plus you saw what those things can do, and now they seem to have transformed Fluttershy into one of them!” Exclaimed Bio.

“How about a diplomatic discovery?” Miss Combe suggested.

“A what?” Bio asked.

“Well eventually they’re going to be discovered one way or another and with Fluttershy now retaining some of their abilities according to our knowledge, we just have to sit back and wait. If the princesses reject them, then we can take them in but if they accept them as citizens, then we can interview them. Either way it’s a win-win.”

Bio pondered for a moment.

“What do you think sir? Miss Combe asked.

“I think you need a pay rise and a better office, you’re a genius!”

Miss Combe blushed furiously. “That’s extremely generous sir.”

“Well, if you treat the employee with respect, it equals better performance.” Bio stated.

“Shall we bring the drone in?” Miss Combe asked.

“We have all the information we need for now, be my guest.”

Miss Combe tapped a few buttons on her pad to bring the drone back home.

“It should arrive back at the labs in an hour.”

“Perfect.” Bio congratulated. “How about you head home a bit early Miss Combe, before the storm hits.”

“Thank you sir.” Miss Combe thanked.

Miss Combe trotted out the room to leave for her home. Bio walked back to his desk and pulled out of the bottom draw a small brandy glass and a bottle of aged, vintage apple cider. He poured himself a drink and made a small toast to himself.

“For me and my genius.” He said wickedly before taking a sip.