“Racing Shadows” and Other Promptly Written Storiesby Narrative StyleChaptersRacing ShadowsTactical RetreatClydesdale's MarkChanging Your BabyRacing ShadowsAuthor's Note This Story is a: Adventure/Drama Description: Rainbow Dash sets out to find Spitfire after Wind Rider's confession, but finds more is at stake than she thought. An old enemy is there to meet her. Racing Shadows Get to the Crystal Mountains, get Spitfire, get back in time for the show. Easy, right? It's never that easy. Rainbow Dash looped around the castle and headed north, lining up with the snow-capped peaks, too far distant yet to see. Her wings beat four times for each breath she took, in-in-out-out, in-in-out-out. Her ears strained to listen for signs of life beyond the wind. She didn't hear anything yet, but she knew she wasn't alone in the sky. They would be there. Sure enough, two dark shapes dropped out of a cloud up ahead, moving to cut her off. Pegasi in jumpsuits of dark purple and black. Shadowbolts. Dash slowed to a hover a few meters away, eyeing her opponents. Their manes were blue, their wings grey. She recognized them, though she only knew the name of one. “Belladonna! I knew you were behind this!” Dash shouted, pointing her hoof. The Shadowbolt mare slid her goggles up to her forehead in order to match the rainbow pony's glare. “Did you, now? No matter, it's too late. You're never going to be a Wonderbolt!” Dash paused, then smirked. “Hah, my name's already been cleared. Now wing aside so I can get Spitfire.” But instead of retreating, Belladonna crossed her forehooves and grinned back. “Maybe for now, but what happens when they find Spitfire's body with your own hoofprints on it?” As the words sank in, Rainbow's eyes widened, before narrowing to slits. She tensed her body in preparation to dive. “I was wondering where your other henchpony was. But if I know you, it's not too late. You wouldn't be trying to delay me if the deed were already done!” With that, she dropped thirty feet, sweeping under the Shadowbolts before regaining altitude on the other side. They turned to follow her rainbow trail, racing her to the mountains. The young Pegasus pushed her limits, knowing Spitfire had only minutes. She glanced back to see that the Shadowbolts were no match for her speed; they were steadily falling behind. But she wasn't out of the woods yet. The nameless stallion reached behind him and pulled out a portable lightning canister, emblazoned with the Shadowbolts' winged-skull insignia. ‘Not this time!’ Dash thought, before curving around a cloud and kicking it towards her pursuer. The fiend barreled through it easily, but by then Rainbow Dash had made a U-turn and was right in front of him. She planted her hind hooves firmly against his shoulders, launching herself backwards at the distant mountains with the force of a sonic boom. The stallion was sent flying back toward Canterlot, not under his own power. He dropped the canister during his futile struggle to regain control, and it fell out of sight. His boss wasn't so easily taken, however. As Dash flew, the world around her darkened, as if the afternoon sunlight was being wrung right out of the air. The effect was strongest around the remaining Shadowbolt, cloaking her in a darkness that was almost tangible. Rainbow Dash was caught off-guard; she'd never seen a Shadowbolt summon their Nightmare Powers in broad daylight before. Thinking fast, she drew upon her exceptional knowledge of flight tricks, crossing her hooves that it would work. The dark cloud surrounding Belladonna began to twist around in a corkscrew, pushing a stream of shadow energy out behind like a rocket as she gained speed. It was now or never. Rainbow Dash veered off and went into a tight spin, nearly catching her own tail with her snout. She felt the static on her fur as she spent her precious seconds of lead building up to one of her finale-class maneuvers. Just as her pursuer caught up, she let it fly, sending bolts of lightning arcing through the sky in a brilliant flash. The Buccaneer Blaze. As soon as her vision cleared, she pushed her wings for all they had left, speeding after the Shadowbolt. It had worked; the wreath of shadow around the purple-suited mare had been blown away by the light of the amazing move. Dash passed her in moments, this time leaving Belladonna far behind as she fought to recover from the unexpected counter. The mountains now loomed large on the horizon, and it was only a short time before Dash reached them. Her keen eyesight spotted Spitfire's signature orange mane on the southwest slopes. But as she approached, a second shape caught her eye: A dark-clad figure was sneaking up behind the older mare. Rainbow Dash shouted a warning, but she was too far away. Locking her jaw, she pressed her wings to her sides and dove. She made it just in time, colliding with the Shadowbolt moments before he could pounce. The sharp crack of the impact caused Spitfire to turn around just in time to see both her attacker and her savior drop out of sight down the cliff-face, leaving plumes of dust in their wake. They tumbled down the mountainside, taking turns against the rocky slope, grappling for the upper hoof. Neither dared open their wings and risk exposing the delicate appendages to the harsh stone. They both knew that the one on top when they reached the bottom might well be the only one to get back up. Mere seconds from that crushing stop, however, something grabbed Rainbow's hind leg and pulled. Yanked free of the tumble and of her opponent, Dash momentarily hung astonished in Spitfire's grip before she remembered to flap. Righting herself, she nodded to Spitfire before scanning down the mountain for the Shadowbolt. A trail of dust and broken rock led to a dark splotch on an outcropping near the base of the cliff. It didn't move. Turning back to Spitfire, Rainbow Dash saluted. “Spitfire, Ma'am! Good news: Your mom's not sick.” The Wonderbolt reached up and removed her flight goggles. “What's going on here, Rainbow Dash?” She paused as Dash's words reached her brain. “What do you mean, she's not sick?” “Well, the note you got was planted by Wind Rider to lure you away and blame it on me so that I would be banned from the Wonderbolts and never be able to beat his flying record, but it was actually a plot by the Shadowbolts to lure you out here to kill you so that they could pin that on me and take both of us out at once.” “…Huh.” Spitfire flew off to the side as she thought that over. After a moment, she looked back over her shoulder at Dash. “Thanks for the save. Should we head back?” Dash laughed. “It was nothing. Besides, you saved me back.” Her smile fell away as she saw something behind Spitfire. “But I don't think we're done, yet. Here come the other two.” Sure enough, Belladonna and her first goon were closing in. Spitfire snapped her goggles back on. “You ready?” Rainbow Dash popped her joints before taking position next to her superior. “Always. I'll take the mare.” Spitfire smirked. “I'll come help when I'm done with the stallion, then.” Dash gave a single ‘Ha!’, and then they raced forward to meet the enemy. -Excerpt from Rainbow D. Dash's award-winning autobiography Awesome As I Wanna Be, soon to be a major motion picture. Tactical RetreatAuthor's Note This Story is a: Adventure Description: Starlight Glimmer reflects upon her recent defeat. (I like to think of Starlight Glimmer as the Morgana to Star Swirl's Merlin. Their names even match!) Tactical Retreat Starlight Glimmer, the most powerful mage that she herself knew, had just been forced into retreat. That was all it was, she assured herself. “That Princess and her ‘friends’… Argh! If they hadn’t shown up… I was so close!” She kicked a stray stone with a forehoof, sending it flying into the darkness to dash against a cave wall. The impact echoed through the tunnel, but she wasn’t concerned about being heard. She had left magical tripwires that would have gone off if any of those ponies had pursued her into the labyrinth. The sound did give pause to her step, however. “But Starlight, it was you who tried to take their cutie marks. If you had just hurried them out of our town, they couldn’t have caused any trouble.” The Unicorn began walking again, lighting her path with a blue glow from her horn. She knew exactly where this tunnel led and what turns to take (it wouldn’t do to have an escape route that you couldn’t use) so she was free to reflect as her legs moved her forward. “But that might have made them suspicious. And six marks: How could I have turned that down when I only needed a few more!” She stopped again. “Exactly because you only needed a few more. Playing it safe would have been the best choice.” She turned to a wall and summoned a sheen of magic to use as a mirror. When she was arguing, she liked to look her opponent in the eye. Even if her opponent was herself. Starlight scowled at her reflection. “ ‘Playing it safe’ is exactly why it took so long to put this plan into action. If I had hurried it along, maybe I could have completed it before a princess of all ponies stumbled into town!” “And drawn the attention of Celestia? Rushing things would have been simply foalish, as it always is. You are too impatient for your own good, Starlight.” Not knowing how to respond to that, the mare broke eye contact with herself, looking off through the shadowed path, back toward the town she had ruled for years. She’d been so close- -A tickle went up her spine, a tripwire had been set off. But it wasn’t one of the ones back up the tunnel. No, this was much more serious. She felt almost giddy at the thought of what it meant. “I know you’re there. Come on out, now.” Starlight turned back to the mirror, unsurprised to see a face begin to fade into view; one that was not her own. It was a stallion, old and gray, wearing a long, pointy-blue hat adorned with ridiculous bells. It had eyes of piercing intellect and a long beard white as an elder pony’s mane. The vision spoke. “It seems you’ve been defeated again, Ms. Glimmer. Perhaps you’ve learned your lesson this time?” Starlight smirked at the stallion in the mirror. “Hello again, Star Swirl. The incident in question was no more than a setback. I’m sure I can salvage the situation.” The wizard offered a knowing smile. “Just as sure as you were last time, I presume?” The smirk faded for a moment, before a chuckle escaped Starlight’s lips. “Yes, just as sure. Have you just called to chat? Perhaps you were hoping to get a fix on when I am? I’m sorry, but caves don’t tend to have much variety.” The stallion’s smile widened. “Actually, I traced your temporal signature this morning. This is a courtesy call before I head out. We should be seeing each other within the next few weeks, your time. Think you can stay out of trouble until then?” Starlight rolled her eyes. “Think you can stop asking ridiculous questions?” Starswirl the Bearded lost his smile, his visage turning deadly serious. “I thought not. You aren’t getting away this time, Ms. Glimmer.” Another smirk crossed Starlight’s face. “Are you just as sure about that as you were last time?” Star Swirl’s eyes narrowed, but he said nothing. After a moment, his image vanished, leaving Starlight’s triumphant grin to reflect upon itself. “It seems I have a time limit; which means ‘playing it safe’ is off the table.” She giggled to herself, as she let the magic mirror disintegrate and continued down the tunnel. “Let’s see what you can do in a few weeks, Starlight. Who needs cutie marks, anyway?” Clydesdale's MarkAuthor's Note This Short is a: Sad/Drama Description: When ‘Troubleshoes’ Clydesdale tried out for the Rope-n-Rodeo rodeo school, he didn't expect to get his cutie mark. But when he did get it, he really wished he hadn't. His friend tries to comfort him in his darkest hour. Clydesdale's Mark It was fantastic. Magnificent. Incredible. For the first time, the lanky young colt felt like he truly fit in; traveling from rodeo to rodeo, competing with the best. That feeling lasted for all of three seconds before it all went wrong. It started with his cutie mark; he saw it out of the corner of his eye while he whipped around his lasso. Of course it drew his attention; he could finally find out his destiny. But as he turned to see what it was, he lost track of his rope. It caught on a barrel nearby, and the next thing he knew, he was sticking out of the barrel’s smashed remains. All of the judges he was performing for laughed. He left without a word, his dream crushed as quickly as it had flourished. Walking back toward the train station, toward home, he noticed somepony walking beside him. He didn’t particularly care for company right then. He didn’t even bother to turn his head and see who it was. But the other pony wouldn’t leave him be. “Howdy, Clyde. Hay, Clyde. Clyde, hi. How’d it go? Did they let ya in? Did they… your mark! You got yer cutie mark! Clyde, ya got your cutie mark! What’s it fer? What’s it fer?” It was a filly, of tan fur and tiny for her age. Anypony who knew her would say most of her energy was spent through her mouth. Through his attempts to get into the rodeos, including his just-now failure to enter the Rope-n-Rodeo School, she was the only one who ever encouraged him. It was only because of her that Clydesdale had scraped up the guts to try out at all. He didn’t acknowledge her for a while, although she kept yammering away, speculating about what his cutie mark meant. But he already knew what it meant; and he finally just had to say it. “Bonnie, do you know what an upside-down horseshoe means?” Clyde kept his eyes on the road in front of him. ‘Bonnie’ Bonanza was quick to reply, and keep replying. “I’ve no idea, that’s what I’ve been trying to figure. Is it horseshoe-throwing? Is that a rodeo event? I’m not sure, but it would be great if it were, Ah can do that one. Or maybe-” Clyde cut her off. “An upside-down horseshoe means bad luck!” He hadn’t meant to shout, but that’s what he did. He stopped walking, partially in surprise at his own volume, partially because he had lost the will to move. “So you’re “bad luck” for yer competitors, then? That’s a-” Again, he cut her off. “No! It’s bad luck!” He fell on his rump, barely resisting the urge to bury his face in the dirt in front of him. After a pause, he spoke again, much softer, trying desperately to get his meaning across. “My talent is bad luck… I’m bad luck…” Bonnie finally seemed to catch on to the situation. She sat down beside the larger colt, looking into the side of his eye even though he refused to look back. “Now that’s just silly. Why would yer talent be bad luck? How could ya even be good at somethin’ like that?” Clyde shook his head. He didn’t know the how or why, but he knew it was true. “I failed the entrance test. I blew it. This… mark, appeared, and I blew it higher than a tumble weed in a storm. My talent is bad luck; that was the only thing I discovered, so it must be what it means.” The filly wasn’t so easily convinced, though. “If it’s yer talent, then you should be able to show it to me, right? Can ya show me some bad luck?” Clyde looked up from the dust of the ground to meet Bonnie’s eyes. “Right now?” “Yes!” A firm nod accompanied the exclamation, but more than anything it was the shortness of the statement that told him how much she meant it. She never used one-word-sentences when she could get away with it. He looked at the ground again, puzzling out how he could activate the bad luck. He grimaced at the thought of trying to get bad luck, but he had to prove that it was his talent. He turned his gaze to the small town around them, and spotted a rain barrel at the side of a building. He walked over to it; slowly, cautiously, ready to turn tail and run from whatever horrible thing he was about to provoke. He reached the barrel. He kicked it hesitantly with a forehoof. Nothing happened. Clyde frowned harder, and kicked the barrel again, this time putting strength into the motion. The barrel wobbled a little, then settled back into position. Clyde turned to look at Bonnie, who was standing next to him, examining the barrel intently. After a moment, she turned back to Clyde, her head tilted in an exaggerated question. The brown colt looked at Bonnie, then at the barrel. He sighed. “I can’t even show it to ya. Just mah luck…” Bonnie’s expression shifted then, passing neutral for the first time and turning to an angry glare. “Now that’s jus’ not right! What I saw was that you don’t have no bad luck! It’s not your talent, so stop saying it is!” Clyde sat down again, this time staring into the depths of the wooden grain of the barrel. “Tell that to the judges who laughed me out of the school.” Sitting down as well, Bonnie lost her glare, shifting to a calm thoughtfulness. “Laughing? Did ya do somethin’ funny?” A scowl at the barrel. “If by ‘funny’, ya mean ‘made a fool of mahself’, then yes.” Bonnie didn’t say anything for a minute. Her uncommon silence made Clyde nervous, but he dared not look at her. If he had, he would have seen a face twisted in concentration, fishing for a thought that was just out of reach. Finally, she found it. Her face brightened as if a lantern had been lit over her head. “You made a fool of yerself, ya say?” “That’s what Ah said.” “So maybe you’re meant to be a rodeo clown!” Clyde looked up from the barrel, meeting Bonnie’s sincere smile with an uncertain frown. “I don’t know…” Bonnie stood up, hoping to urge her friend into the same motion. “You can try, at least!” Clyde made no move to get up himself. “Ah… Ah’m not…” Reaching down, Bonnie dragged the much larger pony to his feet. “Yes you are! Come on! Yah love rodeos, ah know you do. You can do this!” She started to lead him back toward the school. But just as he began to follow, a group of older colts appeared from around a corner. One of them spotted his new cutie mark. “Hah, look boys, a cutie mark for bad luck!” He pointed with a hoof, and the rest of the group laughed as they moved past. Clyde pulled his leg out of Bonnie’s grip. Turning, he ran for the train station, tears forming in his eyes. He wanted to be home. He wanted to run away from the place that gave him this curse. Bonnie stood there, hoof still outstretched, watching him flee. She didn’t know what to do. Clydesdale had never been easy to motivate, but she’d always found a way. Now, though, she wasn’t sure she could do anything. So she stood, watching as her friend rushed aboard a train, letting it carry him away from his fears, and his dreams. Changing Your BabyThe mare watched out the window as the storm clouds were pushed back beyond the city's limits. With them went all of the snow that had accumulated on the buildings and streets. The crowd of Crystal Ponies could be heard celebrating in the courtyard far below. A stallion's head resting next to her own sighed. “That's a relief. I wasn't keen on being buried under a sheet of ice.” He flicked his ear briefly against hers, then turned to continue down the bright corridor. She smirked at him as she followed. “It seems you were right; staying wasn't a lose-lose.” She took a moment to observe the stallion as he snorted in answer. He was wearing a silver chest plate and bore a tame maroon coat and blondish mane, all sparkling like crystal. The last was a recent development, presumably the work of the Crystal Heart several floors below. The mare briefly held up her own blue hoof, observing that she could actually see the wall through her leg. It wasn't the first time, but it was certainly different. They walked silently for a few minutes, striding confidently past the other ponies of the castle as they made their way down two flights of stairs. As long as they didn't stray too close, a maid and a guard were nothing suspicious in the castle. At a stretch of hallway just to the rear of the throne room, the pair slowed, checking that nopony else was around. Then they both slipped into a closet, sliding the door shut behind them. The mare looked up at the stallion, squinting in the dark to make out his snout. “You ready?” she asked. Her forehooves found their way behind his neck and hung there. The guard reached around her with a foreleg, squeezing her briefly before letting go. “I am ready to serve the Queen.” She could hear a quaver in his voice, but chose not to point it out. She couldn't fault him for being nervous at what they were about to do. A green glow erupted along the stallion's back, flickering flames highlighting the cleaning supplies around them as his armor burned away. The fur underneath the fire lightened from maroon to a vibrant pink, and two great wings erupted from his back. The mare closed her eyes to concentrate, and a ripple of flame developed around her as well, revealing a short horn between her bangs before flowing across her legs onto her partner. With the extra magic coursing over him, the stallion began to shrink, his excess mass burning away. A horn spiraled out of his forehead, framed by a curly mane of purple and blue. The last of the flames coursed underneath, changing him to a her before dissipating. The mare opened her eyes as she sat back on her haunches, cradling the little foal in her arms. She gazed into the little one's eyes, and couldn't help but giggle at the adorable sight before her. The baby cooed once, put her hoof in her mouth, and winked at the mare. She giggled again and nuzzled the filly affectionately. Then she reached out to the shelf behind her, fishing behind a pile of sponges for the last touch. Finally she hissed in satisfaction and pulled out two padded cloths, white on one side, blue on the other. She carefully wrapped one of the diapers around her charge's hind legs and taped it tight, eliciting a whimper, then another coo, from the foal. She leaned in to kiss her on the forehead, getting a cute little giggle in return. “Just six months,” the mare whispered, “and I'll be back to check on you, okay?” “Yeth.” The baby smiled up at her, and she imagined the filly was proud to have spoken a word. Another kiss, another adorable giggle. Then the mare stood and, holding the baby carefully in the crook of her foreleg, nudged the closet door open slightly so they could see into the hallway. The next few minutes were filled with expectant silence and the occasional hug and nuzzle. Some voices could be heard from the throne room, but she couldn't make anything out. At last a set of hoofsteps approached; the mare grinned when her quarry came into view: a haggard white stallion was walking briskly down the hall, carrying a foal on his back identical to the one in her arm. She eyed it carefully, lit her horn, bit her tongue, and… with a brief flash that the stallion hopefully wouldn't notice, the two babies switched places. She held a hoof to the new baby's mouth, pacifying it as she listened to the stallion move away. She quickly took the second diaper and performed the all-important changing ritual that the stallion had been taking the baby to do, using a few flashes of magic to clean the foal's bottom and incinerate the remains she had removed. Then she let green flames wash over her again, removing her Unicorn horn and adding Pegasus wings. A second wave of magic hid the baby's wings and temporarily turned the foal blue to match her own coat. It was time to go. She very carefully opened the door and made her way up to the third floor, slipping into the occasional room to avoid direct contact with other ponies. The baby squirmed in her leg, but summoning a pacifier was a sufficient distraction for the time being. Reaching the window she'd watched the storm from, the maid took one final glance around, both inside and toward the streets below. It seemed the Crystal Ponies had already dispersed; the coast was clear. She opened the window and jumped, quickly leaving the castle behind. The baby squealed and giggled in her forelegs, innocently enjoying the ride. Once she reached altitude, the mare dropped her disguise completely, allowing the feathered wings to be replaced by her own sleek, membranous appendages. Her coat turned to black chitin, her eyes turned solid blue and finally worked properly again, her legs grew holes, and the little filly she carried giggled in delight at the strange event. The Changeling smiled grimly. She hoped both of the foals would still be smiling in a few months, but it wasn't something she could guarantee. Author's Note This Story is a: Dark/Drama Description: “The royal baby's diaper is changed. So is the rest of her.”
Racing ShadowsAuthor's Note This Story is a: Adventure/Drama Description: Rainbow Dash sets out to find Spitfire after Wind Rider's confession, but finds more is at stake than she thought. An old enemy is there to meet her. Racing Shadows Get to the Crystal Mountains, get Spitfire, get back in time for the show. Easy, right? It's never that easy. Rainbow Dash looped around the castle and headed north, lining up with the snow-capped peaks, too far distant yet to see. Her wings beat four times for each breath she took, in-in-out-out, in-in-out-out. Her ears strained to listen for signs of life beyond the wind. She didn't hear anything yet, but she knew she wasn't alone in the sky. They would be there. Sure enough, two dark shapes dropped out of a cloud up ahead, moving to cut her off. Pegasi in jumpsuits of dark purple and black. Shadowbolts. Dash slowed to a hover a few meters away, eyeing her opponents. Their manes were blue, their wings grey. She recognized them, though she only knew the name of one. “Belladonna! I knew you were behind this!” Dash shouted, pointing her hoof. The Shadowbolt mare slid her goggles up to her forehead in order to match the rainbow pony's glare. “Did you, now? No matter, it's too late. You're never going to be a Wonderbolt!” Dash paused, then smirked. “Hah, my name's already been cleared. Now wing aside so I can get Spitfire.” But instead of retreating, Belladonna crossed her forehooves and grinned back. “Maybe for now, but what happens when they find Spitfire's body with your own hoofprints on it?” As the words sank in, Rainbow's eyes widened, before narrowing to slits. She tensed her body in preparation to dive. “I was wondering where your other henchpony was. But if I know you, it's not too late. You wouldn't be trying to delay me if the deed were already done!” With that, she dropped thirty feet, sweeping under the Shadowbolts before regaining altitude on the other side. They turned to follow her rainbow trail, racing her to the mountains. The young Pegasus pushed her limits, knowing Spitfire had only minutes. She glanced back to see that the Shadowbolts were no match for her speed; they were steadily falling behind. But she wasn't out of the woods yet. The nameless stallion reached behind him and pulled out a portable lightning canister, emblazoned with the Shadowbolts' winged-skull insignia. ‘Not this time!’ Dash thought, before curving around a cloud and kicking it towards her pursuer. The fiend barreled through it easily, but by then Rainbow Dash had made a U-turn and was right in front of him. She planted her hind hooves firmly against his shoulders, launching herself backwards at the distant mountains with the force of a sonic boom. The stallion was sent flying back toward Canterlot, not under his own power. He dropped the canister during his futile struggle to regain control, and it fell out of sight. His boss wasn't so easily taken, however. As Dash flew, the world around her darkened, as if the afternoon sunlight was being wrung right out of the air. The effect was strongest around the remaining Shadowbolt, cloaking her in a darkness that was almost tangible. Rainbow Dash was caught off-guard; she'd never seen a Shadowbolt summon their Nightmare Powers in broad daylight before. Thinking fast, she drew upon her exceptional knowledge of flight tricks, crossing her hooves that it would work. The dark cloud surrounding Belladonna began to twist around in a corkscrew, pushing a stream of shadow energy out behind like a rocket as she gained speed. It was now or never. Rainbow Dash veered off and went into a tight spin, nearly catching her own tail with her snout. She felt the static on her fur as she spent her precious seconds of lead building up to one of her finale-class maneuvers. Just as her pursuer caught up, she let it fly, sending bolts of lightning arcing through the sky in a brilliant flash. The Buccaneer Blaze. As soon as her vision cleared, she pushed her wings for all they had left, speeding after the Shadowbolt. It had worked; the wreath of shadow around the purple-suited mare had been blown away by the light of the amazing move. Dash passed her in moments, this time leaving Belladonna far behind as she fought to recover from the unexpected counter. The mountains now loomed large on the horizon, and it was only a short time before Dash reached them. Her keen eyesight spotted Spitfire's signature orange mane on the southwest slopes. But as she approached, a second shape caught her eye: A dark-clad figure was sneaking up behind the older mare. Rainbow Dash shouted a warning, but she was too far away. Locking her jaw, she pressed her wings to her sides and dove. She made it just in time, colliding with the Shadowbolt moments before he could pounce. The sharp crack of the impact caused Spitfire to turn around just in time to see both her attacker and her savior drop out of sight down the cliff-face, leaving plumes of dust in their wake. They tumbled down the mountainside, taking turns against the rocky slope, grappling for the upper hoof. Neither dared open their wings and risk exposing the delicate appendages to the harsh stone. They both knew that the one on top when they reached the bottom might well be the only one to get back up. Mere seconds from that crushing stop, however, something grabbed Rainbow's hind leg and pulled. Yanked free of the tumble and of her opponent, Dash momentarily hung astonished in Spitfire's grip before she remembered to flap. Righting herself, she nodded to Spitfire before scanning down the mountain for the Shadowbolt. A trail of dust and broken rock led to a dark splotch on an outcropping near the base of the cliff. It didn't move. Turning back to Spitfire, Rainbow Dash saluted. “Spitfire, Ma'am! Good news: Your mom's not sick.” The Wonderbolt reached up and removed her flight goggles. “What's going on here, Rainbow Dash?” She paused as Dash's words reached her brain. “What do you mean, she's not sick?” “Well, the note you got was planted by Wind Rider to lure you away and blame it on me so that I would be banned from the Wonderbolts and never be able to beat his flying record, but it was actually a plot by the Shadowbolts to lure you out here to kill you so that they could pin that on me and take both of us out at once.” “…Huh.” Spitfire flew off to the side as she thought that over. After a moment, she looked back over her shoulder at Dash. “Thanks for the save. Should we head back?” Dash laughed. “It was nothing. Besides, you saved me back.” Her smile fell away as she saw something behind Spitfire. “But I don't think we're done, yet. Here come the other two.” Sure enough, Belladonna and her first goon were closing in. Spitfire snapped her goggles back on. “You ready?” Rainbow Dash popped her joints before taking position next to her superior. “Always. I'll take the mare.” Spitfire smirked. “I'll come help when I'm done with the stallion, then.” Dash gave a single ‘Ha!’, and then they raced forward to meet the enemy. -Excerpt from Rainbow D. Dash's award-winning autobiography Awesome As I Wanna Be, soon to be a major motion picture.
Tactical RetreatAuthor's Note This Story is a: Adventure Description: Starlight Glimmer reflects upon her recent defeat. (I like to think of Starlight Glimmer as the Morgana to Star Swirl's Merlin. Their names even match!) Tactical Retreat Starlight Glimmer, the most powerful mage that she herself knew, had just been forced into retreat. That was all it was, she assured herself. “That Princess and her ‘friends’… Argh! If they hadn’t shown up… I was so close!” She kicked a stray stone with a forehoof, sending it flying into the darkness to dash against a cave wall. The impact echoed through the tunnel, but she wasn’t concerned about being heard. She had left magical tripwires that would have gone off if any of those ponies had pursued her into the labyrinth. The sound did give pause to her step, however. “But Starlight, it was you who tried to take their cutie marks. If you had just hurried them out of our town, they couldn’t have caused any trouble.” The Unicorn began walking again, lighting her path with a blue glow from her horn. She knew exactly where this tunnel led and what turns to take (it wouldn’t do to have an escape route that you couldn’t use) so she was free to reflect as her legs moved her forward. “But that might have made them suspicious. And six marks: How could I have turned that down when I only needed a few more!” She stopped again. “Exactly because you only needed a few more. Playing it safe would have been the best choice.” She turned to a wall and summoned a sheen of magic to use as a mirror. When she was arguing, she liked to look her opponent in the eye. Even if her opponent was herself. Starlight scowled at her reflection. “ ‘Playing it safe’ is exactly why it took so long to put this plan into action. If I had hurried it along, maybe I could have completed it before a princess of all ponies stumbled into town!” “And drawn the attention of Celestia? Rushing things would have been simply foalish, as it always is. You are too impatient for your own good, Starlight.” Not knowing how to respond to that, the mare broke eye contact with herself, looking off through the shadowed path, back toward the town she had ruled for years. She’d been so close- -A tickle went up her spine, a tripwire had been set off. But it wasn’t one of the ones back up the tunnel. No, this was much more serious. She felt almost giddy at the thought of what it meant. “I know you’re there. Come on out, now.” Starlight turned back to the mirror, unsurprised to see a face begin to fade into view; one that was not her own. It was a stallion, old and gray, wearing a long, pointy-blue hat adorned with ridiculous bells. It had eyes of piercing intellect and a long beard white as an elder pony’s mane. The vision spoke. “It seems you’ve been defeated again, Ms. Glimmer. Perhaps you’ve learned your lesson this time?” Starlight smirked at the stallion in the mirror. “Hello again, Star Swirl. The incident in question was no more than a setback. I’m sure I can salvage the situation.” The wizard offered a knowing smile. “Just as sure as you were last time, I presume?” The smirk faded for a moment, before a chuckle escaped Starlight’s lips. “Yes, just as sure. Have you just called to chat? Perhaps you were hoping to get a fix on when I am? I’m sorry, but caves don’t tend to have much variety.” The stallion’s smile widened. “Actually, I traced your temporal signature this morning. This is a courtesy call before I head out. We should be seeing each other within the next few weeks, your time. Think you can stay out of trouble until then?” Starlight rolled her eyes. “Think you can stop asking ridiculous questions?” Starswirl the Bearded lost his smile, his visage turning deadly serious. “I thought not. You aren’t getting away this time, Ms. Glimmer.” Another smirk crossed Starlight’s face. “Are you just as sure about that as you were last time?” Star Swirl’s eyes narrowed, but he said nothing. After a moment, his image vanished, leaving Starlight’s triumphant grin to reflect upon itself. “It seems I have a time limit; which means ‘playing it safe’ is off the table.” She giggled to herself, as she let the magic mirror disintegrate and continued down the tunnel. “Let’s see what you can do in a few weeks, Starlight. Who needs cutie marks, anyway?”
Clydesdale's MarkAuthor's Note This Short is a: Sad/Drama Description: When ‘Troubleshoes’ Clydesdale tried out for the Rope-n-Rodeo rodeo school, he didn't expect to get his cutie mark. But when he did get it, he really wished he hadn't. His friend tries to comfort him in his darkest hour. Clydesdale's Mark It was fantastic. Magnificent. Incredible. For the first time, the lanky young colt felt like he truly fit in; traveling from rodeo to rodeo, competing with the best. That feeling lasted for all of three seconds before it all went wrong. It started with his cutie mark; he saw it out of the corner of his eye while he whipped around his lasso. Of course it drew his attention; he could finally find out his destiny. But as he turned to see what it was, he lost track of his rope. It caught on a barrel nearby, and the next thing he knew, he was sticking out of the barrel’s smashed remains. All of the judges he was performing for laughed. He left without a word, his dream crushed as quickly as it had flourished. Walking back toward the train station, toward home, he noticed somepony walking beside him. He didn’t particularly care for company right then. He didn’t even bother to turn his head and see who it was. But the other pony wouldn’t leave him be. “Howdy, Clyde. Hay, Clyde. Clyde, hi. How’d it go? Did they let ya in? Did they… your mark! You got yer cutie mark! Clyde, ya got your cutie mark! What’s it fer? What’s it fer?” It was a filly, of tan fur and tiny for her age. Anypony who knew her would say most of her energy was spent through her mouth. Through his attempts to get into the rodeos, including his just-now failure to enter the Rope-n-Rodeo School, she was the only one who ever encouraged him. It was only because of her that Clydesdale had scraped up the guts to try out at all. He didn’t acknowledge her for a while, although she kept yammering away, speculating about what his cutie mark meant. But he already knew what it meant; and he finally just had to say it. “Bonnie, do you know what an upside-down horseshoe means?” Clyde kept his eyes on the road in front of him. ‘Bonnie’ Bonanza was quick to reply, and keep replying. “I’ve no idea, that’s what I’ve been trying to figure. Is it horseshoe-throwing? Is that a rodeo event? I’m not sure, but it would be great if it were, Ah can do that one. Or maybe-” Clyde cut her off. “An upside-down horseshoe means bad luck!” He hadn’t meant to shout, but that’s what he did. He stopped walking, partially in surprise at his own volume, partially because he had lost the will to move. “So you’re “bad luck” for yer competitors, then? That’s a-” Again, he cut her off. “No! It’s bad luck!” He fell on his rump, barely resisting the urge to bury his face in the dirt in front of him. After a pause, he spoke again, much softer, trying desperately to get his meaning across. “My talent is bad luck… I’m bad luck…” Bonnie finally seemed to catch on to the situation. She sat down beside the larger colt, looking into the side of his eye even though he refused to look back. “Now that’s just silly. Why would yer talent be bad luck? How could ya even be good at somethin’ like that?” Clyde shook his head. He didn’t know the how or why, but he knew it was true. “I failed the entrance test. I blew it. This… mark, appeared, and I blew it higher than a tumble weed in a storm. My talent is bad luck; that was the only thing I discovered, so it must be what it means.” The filly wasn’t so easily convinced, though. “If it’s yer talent, then you should be able to show it to me, right? Can ya show me some bad luck?” Clyde looked up from the dust of the ground to meet Bonnie’s eyes. “Right now?” “Yes!” A firm nod accompanied the exclamation, but more than anything it was the shortness of the statement that told him how much she meant it. She never used one-word-sentences when she could get away with it. He looked at the ground again, puzzling out how he could activate the bad luck. He grimaced at the thought of trying to get bad luck, but he had to prove that it was his talent. He turned his gaze to the small town around them, and spotted a rain barrel at the side of a building. He walked over to it; slowly, cautiously, ready to turn tail and run from whatever horrible thing he was about to provoke. He reached the barrel. He kicked it hesitantly with a forehoof. Nothing happened. Clyde frowned harder, and kicked the barrel again, this time putting strength into the motion. The barrel wobbled a little, then settled back into position. Clyde turned to look at Bonnie, who was standing next to him, examining the barrel intently. After a moment, she turned back to Clyde, her head tilted in an exaggerated question. The brown colt looked at Bonnie, then at the barrel. He sighed. “I can’t even show it to ya. Just mah luck…” Bonnie’s expression shifted then, passing neutral for the first time and turning to an angry glare. “Now that’s jus’ not right! What I saw was that you don’t have no bad luck! It’s not your talent, so stop saying it is!” Clyde sat down again, this time staring into the depths of the wooden grain of the barrel. “Tell that to the judges who laughed me out of the school.” Sitting down as well, Bonnie lost her glare, shifting to a calm thoughtfulness. “Laughing? Did ya do somethin’ funny?” A scowl at the barrel. “If by ‘funny’, ya mean ‘made a fool of mahself’, then yes.” Bonnie didn’t say anything for a minute. Her uncommon silence made Clyde nervous, but he dared not look at her. If he had, he would have seen a face twisted in concentration, fishing for a thought that was just out of reach. Finally, she found it. Her face brightened as if a lantern had been lit over her head. “You made a fool of yerself, ya say?” “That’s what Ah said.” “So maybe you’re meant to be a rodeo clown!” Clyde looked up from the barrel, meeting Bonnie’s sincere smile with an uncertain frown. “I don’t know…” Bonnie stood up, hoping to urge her friend into the same motion. “You can try, at least!” Clyde made no move to get up himself. “Ah… Ah’m not…” Reaching down, Bonnie dragged the much larger pony to his feet. “Yes you are! Come on! Yah love rodeos, ah know you do. You can do this!” She started to lead him back toward the school. But just as he began to follow, a group of older colts appeared from around a corner. One of them spotted his new cutie mark. “Hah, look boys, a cutie mark for bad luck!” He pointed with a hoof, and the rest of the group laughed as they moved past. Clyde pulled his leg out of Bonnie’s grip. Turning, he ran for the train station, tears forming in his eyes. He wanted to be home. He wanted to run away from the place that gave him this curse. Bonnie stood there, hoof still outstretched, watching him flee. She didn’t know what to do. Clydesdale had never been easy to motivate, but she’d always found a way. Now, though, she wasn’t sure she could do anything. So she stood, watching as her friend rushed aboard a train, letting it carry him away from his fears, and his dreams.
Changing Your BabyThe mare watched out the window as the storm clouds were pushed back beyond the city's limits. With them went all of the snow that had accumulated on the buildings and streets. The crowd of Crystal Ponies could be heard celebrating in the courtyard far below. A stallion's head resting next to her own sighed. “That's a relief. I wasn't keen on being buried under a sheet of ice.” He flicked his ear briefly against hers, then turned to continue down the bright corridor. She smirked at him as she followed. “It seems you were right; staying wasn't a lose-lose.” She took a moment to observe the stallion as he snorted in answer. He was wearing a silver chest plate and bore a tame maroon coat and blondish mane, all sparkling like crystal. The last was a recent development, presumably the work of the Crystal Heart several floors below. The mare briefly held up her own blue hoof, observing that she could actually see the wall through her leg. It wasn't the first time, but it was certainly different. They walked silently for a few minutes, striding confidently past the other ponies of the castle as they made their way down two flights of stairs. As long as they didn't stray too close, a maid and a guard were nothing suspicious in the castle. At a stretch of hallway just to the rear of the throne room, the pair slowed, checking that nopony else was around. Then they both slipped into a closet, sliding the door shut behind them. The mare looked up at the stallion, squinting in the dark to make out his snout. “You ready?” she asked. Her forehooves found their way behind his neck and hung there. The guard reached around her with a foreleg, squeezing her briefly before letting go. “I am ready to serve the Queen.” She could hear a quaver in his voice, but chose not to point it out. She couldn't fault him for being nervous at what they were about to do. A green glow erupted along the stallion's back, flickering flames highlighting the cleaning supplies around them as his armor burned away. The fur underneath the fire lightened from maroon to a vibrant pink, and two great wings erupted from his back. The mare closed her eyes to concentrate, and a ripple of flame developed around her as well, revealing a short horn between her bangs before flowing across her legs onto her partner. With the extra magic coursing over him, the stallion began to shrink, his excess mass burning away. A horn spiraled out of his forehead, framed by a curly mane of purple and blue. The last of the flames coursed underneath, changing him to a her before dissipating. The mare opened her eyes as she sat back on her haunches, cradling the little foal in her arms. She gazed into the little one's eyes, and couldn't help but giggle at the adorable sight before her. The baby cooed once, put her hoof in her mouth, and winked at the mare. She giggled again and nuzzled the filly affectionately. Then she reached out to the shelf behind her, fishing behind a pile of sponges for the last touch. Finally she hissed in satisfaction and pulled out two padded cloths, white on one side, blue on the other. She carefully wrapped one of the diapers around her charge's hind legs and taped it tight, eliciting a whimper, then another coo, from the foal. She leaned in to kiss her on the forehead, getting a cute little giggle in return. “Just six months,” the mare whispered, “and I'll be back to check on you, okay?” “Yeth.” The baby smiled up at her, and she imagined the filly was proud to have spoken a word. Another kiss, another adorable giggle. Then the mare stood and, holding the baby carefully in the crook of her foreleg, nudged the closet door open slightly so they could see into the hallway. The next few minutes were filled with expectant silence and the occasional hug and nuzzle. Some voices could be heard from the throne room, but she couldn't make anything out. At last a set of hoofsteps approached; the mare grinned when her quarry came into view: a haggard white stallion was walking briskly down the hall, carrying a foal on his back identical to the one in her arm. She eyed it carefully, lit her horn, bit her tongue, and… with a brief flash that the stallion hopefully wouldn't notice, the two babies switched places. She held a hoof to the new baby's mouth, pacifying it as she listened to the stallion move away. She quickly took the second diaper and performed the all-important changing ritual that the stallion had been taking the baby to do, using a few flashes of magic to clean the foal's bottom and incinerate the remains she had removed. Then she let green flames wash over her again, removing her Unicorn horn and adding Pegasus wings. A second wave of magic hid the baby's wings and temporarily turned the foal blue to match her own coat. It was time to go. She very carefully opened the door and made her way up to the third floor, slipping into the occasional room to avoid direct contact with other ponies. The baby squirmed in her leg, but summoning a pacifier was a sufficient distraction for the time being. Reaching the window she'd watched the storm from, the maid took one final glance around, both inside and toward the streets below. It seemed the Crystal Ponies had already dispersed; the coast was clear. She opened the window and jumped, quickly leaving the castle behind. The baby squealed and giggled in her forelegs, innocently enjoying the ride. Once she reached altitude, the mare dropped her disguise completely, allowing the feathered wings to be replaced by her own sleek, membranous appendages. Her coat turned to black chitin, her eyes turned solid blue and finally worked properly again, her legs grew holes, and the little filly she carried giggled in delight at the strange event. The Changeling smiled grimly. She hoped both of the foals would still be smiling in a few months, but it wasn't something she could guarantee. Author's Note This Story is a: Dark/Drama Description: “The royal baby's diaper is changed. So is the rest of her.”
