Chapter 5-Valkyrie

Valkyrie:

I am a winner.

It’s never easy being awesome, but it’s totally worth every second.

Even on my worst of days I take pride in the fact that I can personally take down anything that comes my way.

I can face anything that comes my way because I know that I am a winner.

And the secret to being a winner? It’s real easy, but only the most awesome could ever think of pulling it off. And that means of course I know it.

So do you guys really want to know want makes me such an awesome, extreme, unstoppable winner!?  It’s simple. The key to being an awesome winner is to never let anything stand in the way of your dreams.

Like I said real simple, but it’s a belief that I’ve held to for almost my entire life. And I don’t allow any pony, not bullies not condescending teachers, not my parents, No Pony keep me down.

I’m a winner and no pony can tell me otherwise. And I can do anything I set my mind to and I can conquer any foe. This is what I’ve told myself, over and over, day after day until I turned blue in the face.

…………Well I was already blue, But you get the idea!

And that is what makes me a winner.

I never back down, I never abandon my beliefs, and I’m always the first one to fight for the ponies that need me the most.

And that’s all I need to know

……………………..

A blazing rainbow trail streaks through the perfect blue sky looping through the air almost effortlessly as the blue skies before touching down by a pristine lake. Rainbow dash, stunts mare extraordinaire, stops by the pond lapping up a mouthful of water before wiping her mouth “AHH nothing like water straight from the source! Well that’s it for another awesome morning routine. One hundred wing ups, three laps around ponyville and a few ab crunches just for the heck of it!”

The confident mare looks to the sky reflecting on the rest of the day and looking at her exposed flank now free of injury. “Finally after that wound I‘m back up to one hundred percent. I was actually pretty worried that I would have to go to….” The mare shivers “….the hospital, for stitches. But there’s nothing the great Dash can’t bounce back from! Take that doctors everywhere! Who needs em?”

Looking at her flank Dash smiles at the fact that there is barely a visible scar where her wound used to be. Snuggling back into the green grass beneath her Rainbow Dash watches the clouds above with a free heart. “Besides if I had to go to the hospital I might have run into TWILIGHT, and her brainy…. Brain.”

Dash’s mood immediately sours as she thinks about the purple mare “ever since she’s arrived, strange happenings have been happening around town. And as if it couldn’t get any worse she’s brainwashed all my friends into some secret club! And they’re all ignoring me! What’s up with that?!?”

The rainbow mare lies on her back as she goes over her options mentally “I could just go ask Applejack what’s up, but despite her whole honesty thing, she is really good at keeping secrets. Besides groveling for answers isn’t my style anyways, I’m more of a secret agent kind of pony!”

Rainbow dash jumps to her hooves jabbing at the air as if she were punching out ninjas and sneaking low to the ground as if she were main character of an action adventure novel. “Finding out all the clues, jumping out of explosions, punching the villain in the face and getting the hot mare in the end. STALLION! Getting the hot STALLION in the end. URRRRRRRRRRR.’

Dash slaps herself “All right that’s it! Twilight’s up to something and I’m going to find out what it is if it’s the last thing I do!”

Snapped out of her reprieve by a familiar humming, the mare looks up to see a light green mare with a two tone silvery green mane. The figure who she recognizes immediately as her friend Lyra (she never did get that soda out of her mane from that one time) appears to be walking through the park looking around for something while humming the government mandated winter wrap up song. Ever since Celestia had made it a government requirement to be able to sing while working (or at least carry a tune) Songs had been a crucial part of the Equestrian workforce motivating (or punishing) workers (captive audiences) to work harder (wear earplugs).

“Lyra, Perfect!” Rainbow says to herself as she rubs her hooves greedily “Lyra’s always knows about what’s going on in Ponyville. She’s sure to know something incriminating about Twibright Sparkle! And as Indiana Colt explains in his novel ‘the Temple of Floom’ the first step in being any kind of detective is interrogating witnesses.” The mare, tip hooves towards Lyra from her blind spot; her full intent focused on keeping her element of surprise.

And Lyra, completely oblivious to the oncoming threat is looking around the park with a cheerful look on her face when she stops to literally smell the roses from the town’s rose bushes. All of a sudden her peaceful walk is completely ruined as a rainbow maned pony jumps out of the bushes in front of her and tackles her to the ground “All right Lyra! Spill the beans! What’s up with Twilight? Why is she running around town with all of my friends? Am I pulling off the intimidating detective stick well cause I really want to know if I have it down. Talk!”

Lyra blinks only for a moment before answering, as if what Dash is doing is perfectly normal “Oh, well Twilight is just here looking for the miracle stones around town, and she’s recruited Applejack, Pinkie pie, Rarity and Fluttershy to help her out with that. And yes if it were any pony that isn’t used to the level of craziness that I do every day, your intimidating detective stick would work really well! At least that’s what I think!”

“Don’t try to play dumb with me! I… wait what?” the brash young mare asks “you’re trying to help me? Just like that?”

“Well of course!” Lyra states happily “Why wouldn’t I want to help you?”

Dash shrugs while still sitting on Lyra’s chest “well… um I just didn’t expect things to be so easy. I kind of thought that I’d have to go deep undercover to get answers to what Twilight was up to and everything. I even had a super cool theme song raring to go in my head the moment that I got into danger!”

“Well….” Lyra looks up as she cranes her eyes “To tell you the truth I was acting pretty crazy when I first found out there were stones that granted ponies wishes scattered across ponyville. But Twilight set me straight and now we’re rivals, in fact……” Lyra muses “…. I was thinking of putting together my own team to look for the stones! It’s like a giant Easter egg hunt, I’m sure that I could get ponies on board with it! OH! Just don’t tell Bon Bon, she thinks I’m doing a community service.”

“Wait you’re on Twilight’s side? criminy not you too Lyra! I thought you had more sense than…..Wait back up.” Dash asks cocking her eyebrow “you lost me there, just what the hay are these ‘miracle stones’ that Twilight is after?”

“Oh that’s easy!” Lyra waves her hoof “Twilight’s after these magical stones that grant ponies magical powers and grant wishes. They fell out of the sky on the day of the summer sun celebration! I really don’t understand but when I touched one of the miracle stones it told me it could grant my deepest desire so that’s why I’m hunting for them. Do you want to help?”

“Maybe later.” Dash blows her off as she flies off of the Lyra’s body “I don’t FEEL like gathering ‘magic’ stones. What I FEEL like is exposing Twilight’s nefarious deeds. Not go searching for something that doesn’t exist.”

Lyra snaps to her hooves a serious look suddenly on her face “now hold on Dash. It may just be me but it sounds that you’re jealous of Twilight and the fact that your friends are hanging out with her.”

“I am NOT!” the Rainbow mare denies “Who’s jealous? I’m NOT jealous! I just seem to be the only pony who sees that she’s up to no good!”

Lyra’s hard face gives way to a gentle smile “Dash I know that you can get carried away sometimes and your paranoia can get the best of you but I’m your friend. And believe me Twilight is a good pony at heart.” Lyra lowers her head slightly reminiscing about their first encounter “she’s the pony that taught me that it’s easy to be so swept up in what you believe that it can cause you to do pretty stupid things. But Twilight showed me that even when you think that you are lost, good friends can shine a light when you are going astray.”

Dash grumbles as she looks off to the side unable to face the option that her suspicions might just be that suspicions. Lyra seizing the moment walks up to the rainbow maned mare grabbing her hoof in two of her own as she looks into her eyes. “So Dash? What do you say?”

“Hunh…. Wellllll……. I….”

‘Is Lyra right?’ rainbow asks herself  ‘is all this just in my head? Is Twilight really a good pony? Is it….. Is it just me that’s messed up?’

Lyra stares in her eyes with a sudden look of enthusiasm that would terrify any normal pony “Great! Then you’ll join MY miracle stone looking  team!”

“What?” the rainbow mare tries to break out of Lyra’s grasp but fails as the mare hugs her shoulder in a vice.

“I knew you’d join me! Welcome to team LYRA!” Lyra hugs the mare beside her so tight that Dash begins to fear for her ability to breathe. “It’s going to be great! We’ll go on adventures and have our own theme song and fight evil villains and eat pizza together and have fun and do all sorts of extracurricular activities together. And soon we won’t be just friends, we’ll be comrades. And in the heat of battle when our lives are on the line some of us might come terms with the billowing romance in our hearts that we have for each other. Then in the peace of the night we’ll pull in our soulmate for our first-time, muzzle to muzzle, in an earth shattering kiss. And then in the heat of the moment two bodies will………..”

‘NONONONONONONONO!’ Dash mentally screams as she struggles against the grip of the psychotic green mare. Finally after what seems like hours of listening to Lyra’s ‘plans’ Rainbow dash manages to pry herself from the green mare’s grasp and take to the air. “Sorry Lyra that sounds great but I already have a lot on my plate now so I’m going to have to say no.”

Rainbow Dash’s gaze shifts around as she tries to think up a lie to get her out of her situation “Besides I have to….. Uh……. Go visit Twilight! Yeah that she’s new in town so I have to go pay her a little visit. Later Lyra”

Dash blots off into the wild blue yonder “Yeah right, witching stones, if witching stones are real then I’m an earth pony. What was I thinking? Listening to Lyra like that?”

Watching at the retreating Rainbow mare vanishes from sight Lyra shrugs in disappointment “Heh, her loss.” And with that Lyra the brave continues to search for more party members in her righteous quest.

……………………..

Soaring through the air with the speed of an eagle it doesn’t take Dash long for her to reach her destination Golden Oaks library. As not to draw any undue attention to herself Dash slows down her speed as to not leave a signature rainbow contrail behind and hits the ground rolling. Then with a sudden dash the mare jumps into the row of bushes that line the house.

“Danger Dash, Duu duu duu duu dudt, She’s a super mare! Duu duu duu duu dudt, solving the crime with her superior mind Duu duu duu duu dudt, defeating the evil Twiiiiiillllllliiiight! Duu duu duu duu dudt!” the mare ‘sings’ to herself as she silently spies through the window to the library. With narrowed eyes ‘Danger Dash’ sees the accursed mare herself, Twilight Sparkle, through the window along with her ex-friends Pinkie and Applejack.

“Heh look at them, lounging about, conspiring their little…. Conspiracies.”  Staring through the window Dash looks upon her friends with envy “look at them fawning over her like she’s the best thing in ponyville when they should be fawning over me! I’m a way better friends than that bookworm!” Dash snuggles into a comfortable position as she looks upon the scene inside the library “well might as well get comfortable here and wait for something interesting to happen.”

Quite coincidently Dash does not have to wait long before something interesting does happen as Twilight manifests a ghostly figure out of her own body. Dash barely has time to put her hooves over her mouth to suppress a fillyish scream as she sees a ghostly figure manifest. ‘Holly…..’ dash thinks to herself ‘I knew something was up with that mare! She’s possessed by a ghost! Though it wasn’t like any ghost I’ve seen…’ the mare shakes her head ‘no it seems like the ghost is doing something…’ dash looks on in horror as the evil ghost… picks up a cup of water and brings it to Twilight’s lips ‘what the… the ghost is obeying her? Did she bind a demon to her will like in Indiana colt number seven? How is she…..’

Suddenly Lyra’s words spring to mind of magic stones granting magical powers “So that’s it!” Dash slams her hoof down into her other hoof as she reaches her irrefutable conclusion “those stones gave Twilight freaky powers and she’s using them to brainwash my friends! That explains everything!”

Dash smiles as she has apparently discovered the truth behind Twilight’s plot “well she’s not getting away with it! Now all I need to do now is exactly what Indiana colt would do! And that’s waiting for the villain to slip up and reveal a crucial element of their master plan! Then I just bust in and save the day!”

Dash crouches by the window a look of determination on her face as she waits for the right moment to strike “all right now all I have to do is wait…….any second now she’ll be spelling out her evil plan…… any second now……..”

Rainbow Daring Dash is many things, athletic, brave, and loyal to a fault but if there is one thing that she is not it is patient. Not thirty seconds later of listening to Twilight Dash is ready to bash her own head into the window frame from sheer boredom as she stifles a loud groan.

“Uggggghhhhhhh this is so lame!” Dahs complains “I thought detective work would be all busting down door and taking in villains, but I’m just listening to twilight’s neediness! This isn’t cool at all! Well aside from those creepy evil spirits coming out of her body! But I can’t arrest her for that!”

The mare looks inside towards her two friends “and it’s not like I could jump in there and beat her up. From what I can tell Twilight has my friends under her evil control! If I bust in there and start kicking flank I’ll just get arrested! Guragh! Why is real life so hard?”

The disgruntled mare leans against the underside of the window as she thinks over her plight “come to think of it I can’t really arrest Twilight without some hard proof, cause she’s a fancy pants princess but kisser. It’s not like I could go to the police and tell them that she’s using some creepy power to force my friends to listen to her.” Dash crosses her hooves in a fierce pout “And it’s not like I would be able to bust her for something like being a jerk, or gathering some pfft, magic stones that fell from the sky.”

The mare sighs to herself in disappointment just as she hears a snippet of conversation come in from the library. “NO! I mean there’s no need to tell the Princess about it……”

“Hunh” the rainbow mare’s ears perk up “that sounded like Twilight!’ the mare puts her ear to the glass.

“Don’t you see? The princess didn’t know about these Strange stones! She didn’t tell me to look for them which means that if I don’t discover what they are before I tell her I’ll be a disgrace! What kind of student reports something without telling her teaches what she is reporting!? The kind that gets sent back to magic kindergarten! That’s who!”

Dash grins at Twilight’s mini freak-out “Hellooooo. It seems miss snooty is not as calm and collected as ponies would like her to believe. And it sounds like she’s hiding something…….”

 “….regardless, I’ve stored the remainder of the strange stones that I’ve gathered so far in a hidden location in the basement. No pony is going to abuse them or report this to the princess until I know exactly what we are dealing with….”

Rainbow Dash hoof pumps in midair with a loud “YES!” before putting both her hooves over her muzzle and getting out of sight. Realizing that she might have given herself away the mare waits in silence for a few seconds before content that she has not been discovered “Score. It sounds like little miss book worm does have something that the princess would rather not know and that’s just what I need to send egghead packing!”

Dash envisions the picture in her mind “I can see it now……”

………………………..

“Bwa Ha Ha Ha Ha! No pony can stop me now!” an evil version of Twilight Sparkle (complete with mustache, top hat, and black cape) says while she sits on top of her doomsday machine.

“Eeeeekkkkkkk save us Dashie” a bound Fluttershy says as she is hoisted on top of the machine.

“Ah’m sorry for being so pig headed fer all those years an failing to recognize yer greatness. Now please save us…. Ya sexy sexy mare!” Applejack says while scantily clad in an old timey bar maid outfit.

“Yes save us. You sexy sexy mare!” Pinkie pie says as she is bound by her legs to the top of the machine. She too is clad in a skimpy bar maid’s outfit.

“Ha Ha Ha you are too late! Not even the great Dash can save you!” Twilight cackles as she strokes her evil mustache “my evil-o-matic is fully operational! All I need is my evil power source and all Equestria shall be mine! Bwa Ha Ha Ha!” the mare laughs as lighting strikes in the background.

Suddenly a heroic figure swoops in on a rainbow, her face a mask of determination and rugged beauty “looking for these Twibright?” the mare holds up a collection of valuable gems in her ruggedly strong hooves.

Twilight gasps “My gems of power! How did you….”

“Please when you are awesome as I am, it takes more than that to stop me! One thousand zombie ninja warriors are nothing to the great Dash!”

The captive mares cheer as twilight’s machine sputters and falls to pieces without any explicable cause. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Without my source of power my machine can’t function! Curse you Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaassssshhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

Rescuing her friends with her awesome speed the mare of justice undoes the ropes with her awesome heat vision, saving her friends from the wrath of Twilight Sparkle.

“Dashie! I knew that you’d save me!” Pinkie jumps up and hugs her savior giving her a light smooch on the cheek “My hero!”

Removing her skimpy maid hat Applejack bows down to the dirt “ah could never have done what yawl just done Dash. I finally admit how much better you are than me…...”

“I just hope that you can forgive us!” a distraught Fluttershy says “we ignored you and sided with the evil Twilight! Can you ever forgive us for being so dumb?”

“Of course I forgive you!” Dash flexes her mighty muscles “What are friends for! After all I’m the best at being humble AND forgiving those that have wronged me!”

“I just can’t believe you defeated Twilight so easy!” pinkie bounces up and down “tell us Dashie! How did you do it?”

Dash chuckles “what can I say….. I guess Twi-bright wasn’t very bright!”

Everyone laughs as the curtain falls on another adventure of the great and undefeatable Rainbow Dash!

…………………..

“Yeah…… It’ll happen just like that!” Her delusion having been completed Dash rubs her hooves as she prepares to move into the most fun part of the investigation, breaking and entering. “Now to find a way into that basement.”

Luckily for dash Twilight in order to air out the library had happened to leave a window to the basement open. Unluckily for her this window was just a few feet from where Dash was sitting and with a little squeeze the rainbow mare found herself in Twilight’s basement with no trouble. The entire room is exactly as one would picture a scientist’s lab to look: beakers line the table tops, papers are lined up methodically on the tables and results of experiment are tacked to the walls in the most haphazard ways possible.

“Now.” Dash places her hoof on her chin “if I were a lame nerd, which I’m totally not, where would I hide something that I didn’t want anyone to find?” Looking around the room for any signs of a safe dash spies a single lone bookshelf sitting up against the wall. “Pffttt. Nah. Not even Twilight is stupid enough to hide something behind a bookcase that’s like the oldest hiding place in the book!”

Walking up to the shelf Dash tugs on it “there’s no way…” Suddenly the bookcase opens up. The secret door sliding silently to the side as the door opens to reveal a single well-fortified safe. “No way.”

Searching for any traps and skeptical that it could really be that easy Dash stares at the safe with apprehension. Finally the mare grows tired of waiting as she drags the heavy safe out of the secret compartment into the center of the basement floor as quietly as possible. “Wow. I just can’t believe that Twilight was that dumb. I mean come on that’s like most cliché hiding place ever. Now how do I open this thing.”

Tapping on what appears to be a data pad of some sort a voice emanates from the safe “welcome!” the rainbow mare falls backwards in surprise “Please say the password aloud for easy access to the contents of this storage device!”

“Uhhhhhhhhhhhh…..”

“Password not accepted please try again!”

“Wait.” Dash gets back up on her hooves “that wasn’t a try!”

“Password not accepted please try again!”

Turning away so that the safe can’t hear her Dash groans loudly “Ugh, come on brain think what would Twilight use as a password…… I’ve got it!”

Clearing her throat the mare turns towards the safe “the password is ‘password’”

“Password not accepted please try again!”

“Wow I guess Twilight isn’t that stupid… uhhhhhh books?

“Password not accepted please try again!”

“Lots of books?”

“Password not accepted please try again!”

“Ummmmmm I’m a stupid egghead?”

“Password not accepted please try again!”

“I’m a really stupid egghead??”

“Password not accepted please try again!”

“I’m a really stupid egghead that’s brainwashing Rainbow Dash’s friends?”

“Password……….”

Rainbow dash holds her breath.

“……….not accepted please try again!”

“Urgh!” Dash screams as she hits the safe “Come on this isn’t funny open up!”

Dash’s rant is cut off suddenly a voice seems to originate from upstairs. Dash freezes in terror as the door down the basement opens sending a large beam of light just short of where dash is sitting with the safe “….. Alright Applejack you gave it a shot but it seems that….. WHAT IN THE NAME OF TARTARUS!” Dash nearly panics as an even greater light begins to stream down the stairs illuminating the entire basement.

Her eyes widen and her pupils turn to pin pricks ‘I’ve been discovered! They know I’m here! ’ seconds away from getting caught Dash doubles her efforts on the safe as she begins to frantically pound the metal box with her hoof “Come. On. You. Stupid. Safe. Open. Up!” punching the box with every word the mare tries vainly to get the box to open.

Dash lays her head against the box “come on! It’s right in here! All I have to do is get what’s in this box and I can save them! Why won’t it open? URRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!” The rainbow mare begins pounding on the box again but this time it is obvious she is far more desperate this time. Yet the mare herself is so busy in her struggles that she fails to see as a rainbow colored aura, like the kind of liquid rainbows that you find at a weather factory begin to manifest around her hooves.

“Just……” a rainbow sheen spreads over her hoof

“Open….” The aura covers her hoof completely its’ aura shimmering in the light

“UP!” the hoof connects with the box and suddenly the entire world around Rainbow Dash explodes in color as a shock wave and pure force. Closing her eyes from the force of the blast Rainbow flails her hooves about as the shock wave blows thought the room leaving her completely unharmed. As the dust settles over the Rainbow mare Rainbow Dash Hacks the dust out of her lungs as she opens her eyes. The sight that greets her is the sight she wanted to see, a sight she almost pictured in her mind’s eye. Sitting just before her is the open safe with door blown clean off its hinges, embedded in the ground beneath her.

Dumbstruck the mare looks down at her hooves the rainbow aura surrounding her hooves flowing and mixing together. “Wow…. Did…. Did I do that?’ suddenly as if with a thought the aura fades away leaving the mare alone in the basement again “The Sonic Rainboom!” the mare cheers “It wasn’t a fluke! I did it again! Ha take that everypony at flight camp take that dad, take that…..”

“Who’s down there?!”

Dash’s internal celebration is cut off as she remembers that she is technically trespassing. Remembering what she came here for the mare quickly grabs the box with the stones from the now open safe and makes a mad dash for the window pushing herself through it as the sound of her adversary reaches her ears.

“What the! What happened….. RAINBOW DASH is that you? What are you…. When I get my hooves on you……”

But it is too late for the lavender mare, just before the unicorn can get her hooves on the speedster the mare slips through the window leaving Twilight eating her dust as Dash flies to safety far from where the unicorn could ever hope to catch her.

…………………Five minutes Ago……………………..

“Check it out!” manifesting her stand Twilight manages to easily pick up a glass of water from the library’s table and lift it to her muzzle taking several deep gulps before putting it back.

Applejack stares at twilight “well that…. Was……. Impressive?”

“Yeah Twilight picked up a glass of water! That was impressive!” Pinkie claps her hooves.

“What?” Twilight looks at her orange friend “no picking up the glass wasn’t what I wanted to show you when I called you here today. I just wanted to show you how much better I’ve gotten at understanding my stand. Great hunh?”

Applejack raises her eyebrow “…..And yawl can pick up a glass of water. Good fer you.”

Twilight face hoofs “no Applejack that isn’t it. Remember when I fought against Lyra a few days ago and my stand didn’t do any physical damage?”

Pinkie laughs “how could I forget that was so funny when you hit her face and she was going AAAAAAAAA like that and it didn’t do anything! That was a great prank!”

Twilight stares at Pinkie “but you weren’t…. never mind the point is I thought my stand didn’t have any physical strength since it didn’t inflict any damage but after testing I sure proved myself wrong!”

Applejack raises her other eyebrow completing the expression of surprise “so your stand isn’t as weak as a pig with a fever?”

“No actually my stand has about as much strength as I do, and from rigorous testing I’ve determined my stand is about 2.37 to 3.89 times more durable than I am…..”

“Gee Twilight how did you figure..…”

“Don’t interrupt Pinkie, I’m on a roll. It turns out my stand not inflicting any physical damage is a result of the mind link I talked about before. My stand naturally prevents it from damaging any living creature even though it can still break and move inanimate objects.”

Applejack lowers her eyebrow again completing her trademark skeptical look “….and that’s what yawl dragged us out here for? To show off?”

Twilight flinches at Applejack’s tone of voice “…….Noooooooo. I just wanted tell you all in light of the existence of the ‘strange stones’ I’ve taken more secure methods of storing them that I think that you should know of.” Twilight cranes her neck looking at her orange friend “but for now I’m more concerned about you Applejack. Are you all right? Was it something that I said?”

“Yeah!” Pinkie chimes in “you look like big mac on a bad day! Most ponies say they can’t tell when he’s having a bad day since he seems to barely move his face. But I have a pinkie sense that can tell when a pony is frowning mentally! And girl you are frowning up a storm!”

The hurt look in Twilight’s eyes brings Applejack out of her stupor “sorry Twi I didn’t mean to snap at ya like that. It’s just I was on my way to visit bloom, that’s all.”

Twilight puts her hoof on her friend as a comforting gesture “I’m sorry Applejack I didn’t want to get in the way of your visit so I’ll make this quick. With the stone that Fluttershy found in a bird nest yesterday I decided to move the Strange stones to a more secure location until further notice seeing as how every pony seems to be after them.”

“So you moved them to canterlot?” Pinkie asks

“No not really…” Twilight admits “actually the princess…. That is she doesn’t …… exactly know that I found them.”

Pinkie’s eyes brighten “So you didn’t tell her yet? That’s great I’m really good at composing letters!” Pinkie pulls out a piece of paper covered in frosting and a fuzzy glitter pen “just say the word and I’ll get it to her…..”

 “NO!” Twilight blurts out “I mean there’s no need to tell the Princess about it……”

Pinkie blinks twice before she puts the letter and pen away “hunh, but why? I thought you were her super special eyes and ears here in ponyville. And if eyes and ears don’t see and hear then they really aren’t eyes and ears, they’re…. well I don’t know what they are but whatever they are it’s not good if ears can’t see and eyes can’t hear. So why wouldn’t you tell The Princess?”

 A single hair comes out of place on Twilights’ mane as she rushes up to pinkie getting right in her face “Don’t you see? The princess didn’t know about these Strange stones! She didn’t tell me to look for them which means that if I don’t discover what they are before I tell her I’ll be a disgrace! What kind of student reports something without telling her teaches what she is reporting!? The kind that gets sent back to magic kindergarten! That’s who!”

“Um…. Twilight.” Applejack says.

“WHAT!” Twilight says as she turns towards the sound of the offending voice.

Applejack points at the several stray hairs popping out of Twilight’s mane “yawl are freaking out again.”

“Oh…” the lavender mare says. Materializing a mane brush Twilight quickly straightens out her mane “thank you Applejack regardless, I’ve stored the remainder of the strange stones that I’ve gathered so far in a hidden location in the basement. No pony is going to abuse them or report this to the princess until I know exactly what we are dealing with. Just please please promise not to tell the princess till I know what these stones do. Please?”

Both pinkie and Applejack look at each other with worry in their eyes before looking back at Twilight “well….. if yawl think that it's’ a good idea, then I’ll support ya in it Twi.”

“Yeah Pinkie Promise!”

“YES!”

Twilight breathes a sigh of relief at this “thanks Guys I already talked to Rarity and Fluttershy about this and they think that it’s for the best as well. We have no idea what these stones do, I don’t want to worry the Princess before I’ve done some more testing with them.”

Applejack scratches her head slightly moving her hat “I thought that they granted wishes, that’s what Lyra said.”

“Yeah” pinkie says “Don’t they grant wishes?”

Twilight groans as she looks at the ponies in front of her “Applejack I’d expect Pinkie to believe in that nonsense. But I would have expected a pony with her hooves firmly on the ground like you would have better sense than that!”

“Hunh?”

Twilight rolls her eyes “I mean come on! Granting wishes? What a load of horse apples!”

“Hey!” Applejack says “don’t use mah cousin’s name as a curse. And fer yer information ah believe Lyra.”

“Seriously Applejack?” the lavender mare asks “all right if you think that the stones can grant wishes then let’s hear your logic.”

Applejack straightens her hat “simple when ah was first walking out home that night we first met I heard a voice that told me to go into the forest ta look for the medicine that saved bloom. And that time ya fought Lyra the stone lit up all shiny and ya got yer stand just like ya wanted. Those stones have some kind of mystic power ah’m sure of it!”

Twilight rolls her eyes “That night you were sick with worry and I had been working to manifest my stand for years.” Twilight retorts gently “I don’t believe in coincidences Applejack, I believe in science and facts not crazy wish granting stones.”

“But Twilight!” Pinkie states from the roof as she walks on the ceiling with plunger hooves “we see crazy stuff all the time, I mean look at me! I’m illogical and you believe in me right?” Pinkie hangs from the ceiling by her back hooves gripping Twilight with a desperate grab “You do believe in me don’t you Twilight? Oh please believe in me! I don’t what to cease to exist like in that movie!”

Twilight rolls her eyes “Pinkie of course I believe in you…”

“Whew…..”

“….what I don’t believe in is something that goes against the laws of probability and physics. Stand is a logical power manifested by the soul not science fiction.”

“Ah don’t know Twi.” Applejack says “it may just be a farmer’s wisdom talkin, but some things in the world can’t be explained….. And those stones just seem to defy explanation.”

Twilight sputters at this as if someone had just told her that the sun was made of hydrogen and helium and not concentrated magical like everypony knew. Finally Twilight stops as a grin crosses her face “fine you think rocks can grant wishes, then let’s put it to the test!” Walking over to the wall of the library where her saddle bags are stored, Twilight pulls out a strange black stone by hoof before walking back towards Applejack and setting it on a table.

“There! I just so happened to find this stone earlier today while cleaning out the upper branches of the library. So let’s put your little theory to a real scientific test!” Twilight points to the fragment of stone as the two other mares look at it with awe “if your little rock can grant wishes than make a wish! Maybe if you wish hard enough it might come true!”

Unfazed by twilight’s mocking Applejack nears the stone its gentle unknown majesty seemingly reaching into her very soul. However before she can even touch it the stone is snatched off the table by Pinkie Pie.

“Me first! ME first!” the pink mare cries out “all right magical wishing stone I wish for a whole tub of ice cream!”

The entire room is racked by silence as all three mares wait in for anything to happen. A full minute passed and yet all that seems to fill the room is the level of silence and peace only a library could poses.

Finally Twilight pipes up “see nothing! I knew it, wish granting stones don’t exist!”

“What are you talking about Twilight?” Pinkie asks as she pulls out a tub of ice cream from behind her back flinging the black stone back on the table “I got my wish, see a tub of ice cream!”

“……..Pinkie did you pull that off of your stand?”

“Maybbbbbbbeeeeeeeeeee! But I still got my wish!” the pink mare takes a bite of the ice cream with a spoon she just found. “Yech, prune flavor! I guess I should have wished for a better flavor of ice cream!”

“Pinkie! That isn’t science that’s…..”

“I know what I would wish for..….”

All eyes turn towards the orange mare holding the black stone in her hooves as if it is the most precious thing in the world. The somberness of her voice and the shaking of her hooves a testament to her emotional state “All I want….. All I really want….. Is mah sister back. I just want little Bloom back…. I want her to wake up again and play around like a filly should. Ah…. I don’t want to see her in that bed….”

The orange mare sheds a single tear over the black rock as her own insecurities and fears about her sister come crashing down upon her. “Ah already lost ma…. And pa…… we’ve lost so much already…. I just want…. I just want us to be a family again.”

Her emotional dams breaking Applejack cries out “please….. Please…. If ya can really give her back. I know that it’s silly wishin on stars or stones like this….. But if there’s….. If there’s any chance… then please….. Please give me mah sister back……”

The two ponies sit there watching the mare cry to herself for what seems like hours. Even pinkie doesn’t try and crack a joke as they watch over their friend. Finally Twilight musters up the courage to move up to her and put her hoof on her friend’s shoulder “I’m sorry Applejack, I really am but just wishing for something won’t make it come true. No matter how much you want it…..”

“It just… it just aint fair…”

“I know Applejack. I know….” Walking over to the door of the basement Twilight flings it open as she turns around to her friend “we might as well put the stone in my safe in the basement now.”

The orange mare doesn’t move “….. Alright Applejack you gave it a shot but it seems that….. WHAT IN THE NAME OF TARTARUS!”

The entire room in consumed in a holocaust of light that floods the senses of any pony that would be fool enough to glance at it. As the light consumes the room a gentle forgiving voice seems to emanate from all around them with the gentle strength of rolling thunder.

So shall it be…..

Then as suddenly as it appeared, the light ceases as the world returns to its normal hues and colors.

Twilight rubs her head “uggghhhh not again, I’ve got to start carrying around a pair of sunglasses. Applejack are you okay?”

Pulling herself off the floor Applejack begins to rub her head. “Ah think so….. What happened?”

“Yeah!” pinkie says as she removes a pair of sunglasses from her face “that was Sooooooooo weird first you were just sitting there crying which wasn’t very cool and then you made a wish on that shiny stone and boy did things get bright!”

Applejack recollects “Yeah, I was just sittin there hopin, wishin that Applebloom would be able to wake up and then….” Applejack’s eyes suddenly grow wide “……Applebloom. Can it be?” with all the quickness her body can muster Applejack grabs her Stetson and bolts out the door.

Twilight barely has time to teleport over to the door frame as Applejack rapidly disappears out of sight “APPLEJACK?! Where are you going?”

Unwilling to stop applejack turns her head and shouts behind her “To the hospital! Mah sister’s gonna wake up!”

Twilight yells for applejack to try and see reason, that wish granting stones don’t exist but before she can even pose a logical argument the orange mare is gone. Twilight groans “great now Applejack is going to be even more upset when the magic wish granting stone doesn’t heal her sister. Could anything else go wrong today?!”

BOOM! A giant explosion of light and rainbow color rocks the library. “That wasn’t an invitation!!”

Stumbling inside from the after effects of the explosion Twilight catches her breath. “What was that? Was that an explosion? Pinkie you wouldn’t have happened to wish for an explosion on the strange stone would you?”

Pinkie shakes her head “don’t look at me Twilight, if I were you I’d ask Dashie! She’s in the basement right now.”

“Dashie…. As in Rainbow Dash?!” the mare exclaims “she’s here?”

“Yepers! I saw her watching us from outside! After you went on about how you were so afraid that the princess would find out that you were hiding things from her she decided to go in through the basement! Which is a really great way to get into anywhere!”

Twilight face hoofs “And you didn’t bother to tell me?!”

“Well yeah twilight! I mean this is a library. Ponies come in here all the time to borrow things so of course I wouldn’t question Dash coming in to borrow things.” Pinkie puts her hoof to her chin “although she didn’t show me her library card…… oh well I’m sure that Dashie of all ponies is good for it! Hope there wasn’t anything valuable in that basement of yours, that explosion sounded like a doozie!”

Twilight’s eyes narrow as she suddenly darts into the basement “Who’s down there?!” The purple mare cries out as she illuminates her horn to blast any errant trespassers.

The scene that greets her eyes below is one of utter chaos, all her scientific glass equipment is in shattered pieces, her papers line the floor in disarray and most impressively someone found the magical safe she had hidden behind the bookshelf and nearly blown it into two pieces in the middle of the floor.

“What the! What happened….. “ Suddenly her keen eyes spy the culprit responsible, a rainbow mare who is currently squeezing her way through the basement window like a rat caught in a trap

“……..RAINBOW DASH is that you? What are you…. When I get my hooves on you……” but it is far too late; just as Twilight is able to charge up her patented binding spell the mare succeeds in wiggling through the window escaping into the wild blue yonder. Twilight looks out the window as she sees the Rainbow disappear from sight, with her prize in tow. Dejected and defeated the lavender mare lowers her head and begins to trot back up to the library proper where an energetic Pinkie Pie is waiting for her.

“Sooooooooooooo?” the pink mare asks “How was it? Are you and Dash friends now?”

 Twilight throws up her hooves in exasperation “Great Pinkie! Just great!” twilight slumps down to the floor “now Rainbow Dash of all ponies has stolen the Strange stones! She could be anywhere by now! Thanks a lot pinkie.”

“You’re welcome!” the chipper pink mare comments “But don’t you worry Dashie will be sure to return those nifty stones of yours before you even know they are gone! Cause if there’s one thing that dash is good at its returning things, why this one time when I lent her the entire series of Indiana Colt….…”

“Don’t you get it pinkie?” the lavender mare says while practically yelling  “Dash isn’t going to return them! She’s…. she’s…… well I don’t know what she’s going to do with them but it’s probably not good.” The lavender mare begins pacing the floor muttering to herself.

“But…..” Pinkie stutters “but that doesn’t sound like Dash! Dash would never keep something that didn’t belong to her……”

Pinkie is ignored as Twilight walks back an forth debating her course of action “she could be practically anywhere in ponyville now! I could contact the weather team to find her but that could take hours! By then she could have already hidden the stones! And since I didn’t tell Celestia I had them then…. then…...”

“The practice field…” Pinkie says

Twilight turns towards her pink friend “I’m sorry Pinkie, what?”

“The practice field! That’s where Dashie is right now!” Pinkie beams “it’s her own little field right near the Everfree Forest, five minutes north of the park’s jogging trail. It’s where she practices all her best stunts away from prying eyes! She always goes there whenever she pulls of something big.”

Twilight blinks “well that would be a great place to hide I admit…. But she knows that you know so there’s a high chance that she….”

“Oh she’s there right now!”

“….and you kno…..”

“Pinkie Sense” the pink mare says as if it is the simplest thing in the world.

Twilight stares at the beaming mare in front of her again at a loss for words. Suddenly she picks up a piece of paper with her magic scribbles a few lines with it and then incinerates it with green fire “there I just sent a letter to Rarity and Fluttershy to meet us there. Hopefully Fluttershy can talk some sense into Dash since you told me they were childhood friends. Now hold Tight!” Grabbing the pink mare with her hoof she presses her closer to her side.

“Um twilight I know we’re friends and all but if you wanted a hug you should ask! Its common courtesy and I’d offer you one any..…”

“No Pinkie I already know where the park is so I’m teleporting us there so try and cut dash off. You said that it was a five minute trot from there so I’m counting on you to lead from the park to Dash’s Practice field.”

Pinkie salutes as Twilight’s magic grows stronger around her “Yes mam!”

Twilight glares “And don’t think that this conversation is over! I want to hear what this pinkie sense is for myself after this is all over!”

Without giving the pink mare time to pout they both disappear in a flash of light as they are pulled into the space between spaces that all ponies know instinctually.

……………….

“Ha ha Ha! Sweet.” The rainbow colored mare catches her breath in the safety of the park as she looks over her shoulder. “No pony followed me! Wait till Twibright realizes that her little charade of pretending to be a good friend is over!”

The rainbow maned mare opens the box containing the mythical artifacts as she savors her victory. “Meh. If I didn’t know any better I’d say these are normal rocks, they don’t look all magicky and stuff. Oh well if it gets Twilight out of my mane and exposes her for the fraud she is, it’s all good in my book.”

Her eyes suddenly widen as she look again at the stones “and if they really grant wishes… this could be my chance to get into the wonderbolts in style!”

“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight yells behind her causing Dash to jerk in surprise “you are currently in possession of Government property! Return the stones that you have stolen and get on the ground!”

Rainbow throws up her arms in exasperation “oh for crying out loud!” the rainbow mare yells as she turns to face the purple mare “how did you find me? Almost no pony knows I hang out here! No pony except for Fluttershy and….…”

“Hey Dashie!”

“….and Pinkie Pie……” Rainbow Dash face hooves.

“Hey Dashie Great hiding place! You really do a great job of playing hide and seek!” Pinkie smiles while bouncing in place “But you’ll have to hide better if you want to hide from meeeeeeee!”

Twilight nods to Pinkie “thank you Pinkie for leading me here that was very kind of you, but if you please leave the rest of the talking to me.” Twilight turns to face dash again “You realize this goes beyond a normal prank Dash! I’ll ask again nicely, hand over the stones.”

“Dream on Twi-bright” Dash blows a raspberry at her “I don’t give a flying flip about any magic stones. But if they can expose you for who you really are and what you’re doing to my friends then I’m bringing them to the princess!”

“What? “ Twilight yells “what are you talking about!”

“Don’t play dumb with me! Even though you are really good at it…….” the rainbow colored mare snickers at her own joke “you’ve been using your creepy ghost thing to mess with my friends minds and turn them against me! You’ve been conspiring against me since day one Twilight! But I’m not going to let you use my friends like they were your personal Hench-ponies.”

Dash lands on the ground in front of Twilight as she strikes a menacing pose. “So here’s an idea. Why don’t you give up and surrender to me?  I promise that I’ll make your defeat as awesome as possible.”

Twilight stars with profound pity at the Rainbow colored mare before her “you really are delusional Dash….” Suddenly the mare takes a combat stance in front of the Pegasus “but I can see you aren’t leaving me much of a choice. I’m sorry Dash but if you are going to let your paranoia control you then I’m going to have to use force!”

Dash laughs at the mare before her “HA you a librarian beat me? You’re not returning overdue books Twi-bright! But please…” the mare rises in the air hovering horizontally in front of the lavender mare completely exposed “Make me surrender. That is if you can.”

Twilight grinds her teeth “fine we’ll do this the hard way. Pinkie!”

“Humh, yeah Twilight what is it?”

“Get out your stand. We’re fusing.”

“Yeah! We’re going to make a Pinkie and Twilight Smoothie Yeah!” Pinkie cheers “actually no yeah, that sounds really wrong like you and me were going to…….”

“Just get out your stand Pinkie!”

“Okie Dokie!”

Both Twilight and Pinkie’s stands manifest in front of each other as they face down Rainbow dash. Twilight musters up her intense concentration as she breathes slowly in and out even pinkie is staring ahead seriously. Gracefully Twilight extends her hoof towards pinkie’s white tattooed stand, her hoof growing ever closer up till the moment of contact. All of a sudden the two stands touch only to be blown apart by the resulting force.

Twilight rubs her head as her stand picks itself off of the ground “Ughhhh how many headaches… how many headaches do I have to get before you’ve punished me enough?”

“Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! That was fun Twilight! Can we do it again?”

“What the… pinkie… your mind…..” Twilight tries to put into words just what she saw.

“Yeah what about my mind? Wait don’t tell me! It’s filled with chocolate frosting! I knew it, Mr. Cake said that you couldn’t store things in your head but I was like ‘but there’s so much room in your imagination’ so I put a can of spray fronting in my ear and…..”

“No Pinkie…. Your mind… it’s chaos itself!” Twilight groans as she rubs her horn “Why can’t you control your thoughts?”

“I don’t know Twilight? Why do you organize your mind like everything has to go in every place it is supposed to?” Pinkie criticizes “Ponies just think differently from each other! It’s a beautiful fact of life!”

“Bwahhhaaahhhahahahahaa!” Rainbow Dash laughs at them from above having settled herself on a passing cloud while the two were bickering. “Ha ha ha seriously egghead you should just quit while you’re ahead and apologies for turning my friends against me while I you have the chance.”

Realizing that they are still in the middle of a fight the lavender mare takes a defensive stance again “puff….huff…. I’m not trying to turn any pony against any other pony. It’s you that’s being paranoid!”

Turning her head towards the pink mare twilight apologizes “Sorry Pinkie but the time for conversations is over. I have to bring her down! Even if it means that I have to get a little rough in order to do so.”

“Beat me Ha! Is your head messed up from all those musty books?” Dash waves her hoof at her “I don’t want to sound negative but that’s impossible! With your level of power you couldn’t even defeat this mare here!”

“Well um you couldn’t even um…. “Twilight’s eyes flicker back and forth as she tries to think up a witty comeback. Suddenly comprehension dawns as she spies a flying bird “AH! Well dash you are so weak that you couldn’t even defeat a Columbidae!”

Dash rises to her hooves on the cloud looking down on the lavender mare “I totally could I could beat a Columbiadia…. Um what’s a Columbidae again?”

“Ha! I thought you wouldn’t know that! Point one for the eggheads! Haha!” Twilight hoof pumps at her clever insult.

Dash rolls her eyes “Yeah whatever. What’s this Columbidae something that I’m supposed to be weaker than?”

Twilight clears her throat “A Columbidae is the class of flying avians that includes the common birds such as pigeons and doves.”

“…….so let me get this straight.” Dash cocks her head “your insult is that I couldn’t even beat a pigeon?”

“That’s right! How’s that for a comeback?”

“……………”

“………....Well? How was it?”

Pinkie shakes her head in pity as she places her hoof on Twilight’s shoulder “Twilight I’m still your friend and all. But PLEASE! Pretty pretty PLEASE! Leave the comebacks to me from now on.”

“What? What was the matter?” Twilight asks in genuine confusion “wasn’t it perfect? I thought that it was so clever and original! Maybe I should try it agai……”

“ENOUGH!” Dash shouts “I’m sick of your neediness and lame comebacks Twilight! If you thought that your lame ghost brainwashing my friends was cool, then keep your eyes open cause I’m about to show you something that’s really awesome!”

Jumping into the sky with enough force to flatten the grass underneath her, Dash leaps into the air. Her wings rip through the sky with the force of a blade, as the mare soars higher and higher into the blue sky. Finally the speedster reaches the zenith if her climb at a height so great that her rainbow mane can barely be seen from the ground below. Arching down the mare suddenly pulls a one eighty rushing towards the ground with a solid thrust from her wings. Flapping with all of her wing power, Rainbow Dash’s Rainbow Aura spreads across her body as she soars hoof first towards the unforgiving ground like a living thunderbolt. However mere instants before she collides with the most unmovable object known to ponykind, she quickly flips her center of balance extending her hooves for landing as she smashes the ground.

What happens next is an immensely powerful shockwave of color explodes in a mushroom shaped column of smoke as a prismatic aurora trail expands across the practice field’s sky. The mere force of the thunderous crash knocks the wind clean out of Twilight as she tumbles back from the force of the blow. Luckily the lavender filly lands on a soft object with a thud as she groans in pain alive but definitely not in perfect shape. Looking over to where Dash landed twilight is dumbfounded to see an enormous crater scaring the earth where Dash is standing the blasted ground a testament to the rainbow mare’s power.

Raining her head high as she gloats the mare rises into the air “Ha! You see that! Was that cool or what?!” The mare raises her hooves to her face as familiar rainbow sheen covers them. “That was a sonic Rainboom! The most legendary move in all of Pegisi history and I just pulled it off.” Landing on the ground the mare picks up a stone “Pretty awesome huh, All I have to do is think…..” the mare throws the stone in the air, smacking it with her hoof causing a familiar shock wave to demolish it. “And BOOM! One sonic Rainboom! I call this little power Valkyrie! And it’s way cooler than your little brainwashing power!”

Twilight snaps at this “I’m not brainwashing any pony! Now give me back the stones!”

Jumping into the air just out of range of the unicorn’s telekinesis the rainbow mare hugs the bag closer to her sides. “Sorry Twi-Bright! But I think that I’m just going to hang on to these little babies.” Rainbow taps her chin “in fact I think that I’ll keep them! How do you like that!?”

Pinkie bounces up grasping Twilight in a sideways hug “See Twilight! I knew that you could trust Dashie! She said she’s going to return your stones to you as soon as…. Never?”

The pink mare’s mane visibly deflates a small amount, as she looks back at her friend “NEVER? Dashie…. Why? That’s not very nice! Twilight and the rest of us looked really hard for those! It’s not nice to take something if you’re not going to return it! That’s…….” The pink mare leans back as she whispers “……stealing!”

“Then I’m stealing them!” Dash exclaims “sorry pinks but I need these babies to expose Twilight for the fraud that she really is! Once the princess finds out that her precious student was keeping secrets from her she’ll be booted out of town!”

Pinkie’s normally bouncy mane begins to deflate even more as she begins to tear up “but….. But why would you want to get Twilight in trouble?? Why Dashie? Twilight’s nice and she’s my friend and…….”

Dash audibly groans “wake up pinkie! Twilight isn’t your friend! She never was! I’m your friend! And you ignored me and ignored what I was saying all along! Twilight’s just using you! She’s the bad pony! I’m trying to save all of you from her brainwashing scheme! Like a snobby canterlot unicorn would want to be friends with you…...”

Pinkie’s eyes grow wide as her mane completely deflates. Her eyes begin to fill with tears as she backs away from Dash with a hurt look on her face. From her expression Dash can immediately tell that she has gone too far and desperately tries to make things right again “oh… come on Pinkie I didn’t mean it like that..…”

“I can‘t believe it…. Twilight was right!” Pinkie’s mane instantly bounces back to its normal puffiness a fire burning in her eyes “the Dashie I know wouldn’t act this crazy, she wouldn't doubt her friend’s words!”

The pink mare takes an accusatory step forward “and she would never, EVER take something that didn’t belong to her!” The pink mare manifests her stand preparing to attack “Dashie…. I don’t know why you’re acting this way. And I really really care about you in more ways than a party pony can say. But you’re going to stop being super crazy right now! For starters give those stones back to Twilight! And apologize for being a meanie pants!”

“No way!” Dash shouts as she leaps into the air “I can’t believe you’re betraying me like this Pinkie! This is only more proof that Twilight is messing with your head! She’s gotten you to think I‘m the bad guy!”

Pinkie closes her eyes gently before opening them again “Dashie, from where I’m standing, you are the bad guy” Pinkie’s stand surges forward grabbing the blue mare’s saddlebags dragging Rainbow Dash to the ground. “Now give Twilight’s stuff back!”

Reflexively dash bats away the attacking stand with her charged hoof blowing away the stand and causing Pinkie Pie to fall to the ground. Breathing heavily the blue mare picks herself off the ground as the pink mare rises directly across from her, recovering from dash’s blow. “Pinkie…. I don’t want to hurt you.” The blue mare begins “but if that’s what it takes to get my friend back…” The rainbow aura covers her hooves as the rainbow mare growls in anger “….then I will!”

Rushing forward to attack with her hooves dash’s lightning fast jab is dodged by Pinkie as her stand moves in to defend. The blue mare counters again as she punches in a combo at Pinkie Pie, each razor sharp jab missing pinkie by mere centimeters as the pink mare stumbles backwards pulling off an impressive triple somersault to get out of Dash’s range. Seeing her friend’s speed at dodging dash flies directly at her opponent again, this time turning her body at the last second turning her double hoof punch into a sweeping kick. Donging below the spinning kick pinkie flattens her body against the ground as Dash swings her foregoing down shattering the earth in an explosion of light and sound. Pinkie rolls out of the way just in time as she throws a cylindrical object straight at Dash. Shattering the object in a single blow an entire king sized jar’s worth of raspberry jam covers Dash’s entire coat in its stick sweet residue. Dash flails about as she tries vainly to peel off an entire coat of jam off of her coat as she cleans the gunk out of her eyes. “Ugh.. Pinkie! Stop playing around with pranks and just give….” Dash’s eyes widen as she is hit dead on with an expertly swung frying pan.

Soaring through the air the blue mare lands in the lake treading water like an epileptic fish as Pinkie grins at her. “I guess you could say that dash is….” The pink mare pulls out a pair of sunglasses placing them on her face, only to take them off a second later “….all washed up! Get it? Cause she’s all wet! He he!”

Twilight sighs as she walks up towards her friend “Yes Pinkie. I get it. I’m glad that you were able to stop Dash without any trouble…..” Twilight looks at the bubbles coming out of the lake “Are you sure she’ll be okay? She hasn’t come up yet.”

Pinkie waves her hoof “nah, Dashie’s really tough! Plus I held back. She’ll be fine! Why this one time….”

Pinkie’s reminiscing is cut off as the entire lake explodes a cascading wave of water four ponies high directly at the two mares. Twilight barely has time to scream as the wave of water crashes over her and Pinkie covering the field around them in over a foot of water. As the water recedes back into the lake Twilight pulls herself from the mud looking around her she sees Pinkie staring perfectly straight at the lake.

“Ha! Now who’s all wet?” Hovering inches above the lake is the loudmouth herself the jam and water blown clean off her coat in the resulting explosion “pretty cool hunh! It seems like I can’t make a Rainboom without hitting something solid. So I swam to the bottom of the lake and hit it as hard as I could! And man was that awesome! Hey Pinkie? When you’re not brainwashed any more let’s wait till Rarity comes by and splash her! Are you in?”

The pink mare stands straight ahead looking at Dash with a dumb grin.

Dash coughs “Pinkie? Come on even you’ve got to admit that was awesome! Come on!”

The mare remains emotionless, staring straight at dash.

“So….” The rainbow mare seethes “you’re so caught up in being friends with Twilight that you can’t even give me a compliment anymore? Is that it?!”

Pinkie doesn’t respond looking straight ahead.

“Well? Answer me!”

The pink mare stands not even acknowledging her friend’s presence.

“Fine.” Rainbow scoffs “I was getting tired of your pranks too Pinkie. I just hoped that you of all ponies would…….. Forget it, it doesn’t matter. Let’s end this.” Generating all the speed that she can muster dash rushes directly at Pinkie with such suddenness she doesn’t have time to dodge. In a single instant the blow connects and the explosion of horrible power it rips through the party pony’s body shattering it into pieces. Both twilight and a Dash look on in terror as the fragments of Pinkie’s body fly all over the field.

Dash understandingly is horrified “NOOOOO! Pinkie!” Looking down at her friend’s bloodless remains the mare begins to cry “I’m… I didn’t mean to….” Flailing about the mare picks up the pieces of her shattered friend. “I’m sorry Pinkie! And don’t you worry I’ll put you back together again. Those stones grant wishes right!? Don’t worry I’ll gather all your wooden pieces and…” Rainbow stops looking at the pink painted pieces of wood that she is gathering.

“You Hoo! Dashie! Look behind yoooou!”

Turning her head behind her Dash comes muzzle to muzzle with two things she would rather not see. One is a crazy pink mare her maniacal grin and boning mane who is legitimately scaring her with her twisted smile. The second is a three hundred and fifty pound party cannon mark 1.1.

Pinkie laughs at the blue mare’s apparent terror that she is staring down the barrel of cannon. “Boy those cut outs are sure realistic now aren’t they Dashie! It’s a shame you had to break it, but it did its duty admirably. Like getting a certain pony in just the right place for her surprise! I hope you like cotton threaded streamers cause you‘re getting one hundred of them per square inch.”

Dash stares abjectly down the barrel of an armed party cannon as she is too shocked to even move. “Buc….” Pinkie pulls the string and in an instant Dash is hit with a thousand newtons of force as several hundred streamers wrap around her like a cocoon. Ricocheting off the ground Dash takes in several deep gulps of air as she struggles to breathe against the oppressive cloth bandages.

Satisfied with her work pinkie nods in appreciation at the prone dash before bouncing over to twilight “alright smarty pants! Now it’s your chance! Do your stuff!”

Twilight flinches as pinkie puts her hoof on her shoulder “hunh? What do you mean? You’ve beaten Dash? Just what am I supposed to do?”

Pinkie giggles “Twilight! I may have stopped Dash but now you need to make friends with her!” the pink mare taps her hoof to twilight’s heart “you need to show her that she’s just being silly by showing her what is really in here! And I think that you know exactly how to do that.”

Twilight looks from the struggling Rainbow Dash who is flailing against her restraints and back to her friend Pinkie. Suddenly a look of comprehension dawns across her face as she looks deep in pinkie’s eyes. “Pinkie… You’re right! Dash isn’t a bad pony at heart and neither am I! I just have to show her that and everything will be all right.” Walking past Pinkie the Lavender mare trots cautiously to the rainbow mare who is flailing against her restraints.

The rainbow mare snorts and stares at the lavender unicorn as she approaches “Well? Come to gloat? Or have you come to brainwash me like you have all my other friends!? Well I won’t give into your little tricks so easily! So come on, Do your worst! Cause you’re not going to get me!”

“Dash… I’m not trying to hurt you… I just want to show you….”

The Rainbow mare spits in her face causing Twilight to flinch “Liar! You’re against me! You’re all against me! You’ve turned everypony in this Celestia forsaken town against me! Now let me out!”

“Dash….” Twilight points her hoof “your next line is going to be ‘let me go! I don’t need you guys! Leave me alone!’”

Struggling against the binding streamers Dash thrashes back and forth “‘let me go! I don’t need you guys! Leave me alone!” the mare suddenly stops thrashing “what….. What am I…”

Twilight looks at the mare with a look of sadness in her eyes “Dash… Look at yourself…. You’ve become so wrapped up in your suspicion of me that you’ve pushed your best friends away! You stole something out of spite and you tried to hurt your friend Pinkie Pie! I may not know you very well Rainbow Dash, but I do know that you never want to be alone.”

Twilight ignites her horn as she manifests her stand inches in front of the Rainbow colored mare “I have nothing to hide Dash and I’m about to prove it…” Lowering her horn to Rainbow’s head Twilight activates her Friends power her eyes illuminating with a bright white light. Instantly Twilight makes mental contact with Dash as their minds come together in a flash of color. Twilight’s metal self fumbles about in a storm of thought and feeling,  foreign ideas and images flashing onto existence around her as she tries to retain her sanity. ‘Stop’ the lavender mare thinks to herself ‘STOP!’. Images swim before the eye of Twilight’s mind, racing and flowing through her very core.

‘STOOOOPPPP!!’ All of a sudden everything stops. The images come together and cease their chaotic bickering forming into a single memory.

Twilight finds herself on a simple air strip surrounded by clouds, the air strip itself is on a plateau hundreds of feet off the ground as various pegasi ponies fly about through colored rings collecting yellow flags. The lavender mare shakes herself off as her mental avatar comes together “this is the wonderbolts training field… but why would Dash…”

“So you’re going to do it!?” Twilight turns her head to see a very familiar filly in front of her. Her coat is light blue her mane still prismatic the filly bounces like a top around the legs of an older mare wearing a wonderbolts uniform. “You’re really going to do it?”

“Well…..” the older mare thinks while tapping her hoof to her chin. Her pink coat and blue mane fitting snugly within her wonderbolts uniform “No pony was ever recorded to have done the Sonic Rainboom before. Even I might not be able to pull it off…”

“Aww but mom! You’re the best flier in Equestria!” The rainbow filly pouts “and if you don’t pull it off, then all these ponies who came out to watch you try it would be really disappointed!” the filly gives her mother the most adorable and cute look a little filly can muster. Her eyes expanding to the size of small dinner plates as her mother chuckles.

“Well I suppose that I can’t disappoint my fans now can I?” the wonderbolt pats the filly rustling her hair “especially my number one fan!”

The filly beams “you mean….”

The adult nods “I’ll give it my all! But only on one condition my little Dashie.” The mare puts her hoof on her daughter’s chest “I’ll try my best, I won’t quit only if you don’t. So when I’m out there today I want you to give me your biggest cheer!” the mare leans in “Is that a promise?”

The filly salutes with pride in her eyes “Yes Mam! I won’t let you down!”

The mare tickles the filly’s belly “that’s my little girl. Now go on back to your father and let your old mare warm up before her big show!”

The fully nods to her mother and rushes over towards her father taking only a single look back before rushing up towards a rainbow maned stallion with a darker blue coat.

“So?” the stallion asks the filly “did you give your mother the encouragement that she needed?” the filly nods “Good! Cause that’s what she needs right now.”

The filly waves her hoof “psht! Mom doesn’t need encouragement she’s the Blue Valkyrie of the wonderbolts! She’ll pull of the sonic Rainboom in ten seconds flat! You’ll see!”

The stallion nods at his filly however his locked eyes staring at his wife betray his nervousness “I hope so Squirt….. Your mom is the best flier in Equestria no doubt. But sometimes I wish that she would calm down with her routines and think about how dangerous they are. Sometimes I wonder why she has to pull off such dangerous tricks like this?”

The filly rubs her face against her father’s hoof “That’s cause lots of ponies are depending on her dad! She can’t afford to mess up!”

The father looks down at his daughter and smiles “you’re right Dashie. Your mother always was the kind of pony who others could depend on and she’s always the first one to waltz into danger a smile on her face. That’s what I love about her.” The stallion gently takes his daughter’s hand “now come on the show’s about to start. Let’s get to our seats.”

The bright sunny scene fades away instantly right before twilight’s eyes the bright hues of the sky fading away into the chaos of the void. The purple mare flails around “wait! What was that? That was… Dash’s Father and her Mother… was a wonderbolt! And she was the Blue Valkyrie no less! No wonder she wants to be one so much.” The mare thinks aloud “but what happened next, from what I was in her mind everything was fine…. Just what happened?”

Twilight turns away from the scene in front of her as if squash her own curiosity. “You know what, forget it. This is obviously private so I should just find my way…”

The purple mare’s peddling through empty space gives way as another scene forms around her. However were as the previous scene was bright and sunny this one is as dark and gloomy as a funeral procession. The young filly from before stands at the entryway to a small ramshackle house standing much taller and stronger after years of growth. Though obviously still a filly the Rainbow mare stands with the disposition and maturity of a mare many times her age. Upon her flank is a cutie mark of a cloud shooting a bolt of rainbow colored lightning.

“…. I can’t believe it….” Twilight turns her head towards the side to see a stallion his coat and mane the same color of Rainbow’s father. However from his disheveled appearance and bloodshot eyes it is obvious this is not the stallion that she saw before. “I just can’t believe you would be that stupid!” The stallion slurs “You raced with my boss’s son after he I explicitly told you to leave him alone, and you embarrassed him and his friend by cheating him in a race? What were you thinking! Do you want me to lose my job!?!”

“I didn’t cheat!” the rainbow mare yells at the stallion as step takes a step forward “and for your information it’s kind of hard to ignore a stallion that’s relentlessly bullying me and my friends!”

The stallion laughs as he picks up a bottle, taking a large draught from it before speaking again “Friends? You mean that shy filly that won’t speak to anypony else? She can barely fly let alone make friends with a ruffian that would rather pick fights with the boss’s son.”

“That Boss’s son was going to shave off her mane! What was I supposed to do WATCH?!”

“……..At least she’s mature enough not to go leaping into trouble ……” the stallion says as he takes another swig.

“I didn’t go looking for trouble! Trouble came looking for me!” the mare turns her flank to give her father a visible display of her cutie mark “besides you were so caught up in yourself that you missed the most important part! I got my cutie mark! And I got it for being a speedster! Take a look!”

The stallion stops mid rant putting his bottle on the cluttered coffee table before taking a step closer to his daughter. Squinting his eyes he takes a look at the cutie mark his daughter is presenting in front of his face only to break out into cruel laughter. “Cutie mark for being a speedster my flank! Like any daughter of mine is going to waste their lives being a ‘daredevil’ HA!” the stallion walks over to the couch and slumps down picking up his bottle again “that cutie mark stands for weather control, just like mine. It’s nothing special…”

“It is so!” the mare yells taking a step forward “it stands for being a speedster Just like mom’s. It stands for being daring and standing for something! Unlike what you do! Sitting around Drunk all Day!”

The stallion growls “Don’t you dare speak of your mother that way. She was five times the mare you would ever be……” as he once again turns to his drink. “You know I’ve decided. This ‘flight camp’ is filling your head with all these ridiculous thoughts. I’ll work on switching you over to the weather factory training camp tomorrow.”

“No!” the filly yells “I did get it for being a speedster! I got if for being fast just like mom! And I did it! I did it Dad! I pulled off the Sonic Rainboom! I did it just…” A thrown bottle hits the rainbow mare in the face sending her falling to the ground. Blood drips from her muzzle as the stallion stands to his hooves breathing heavily.

“LIAR!! Like you the most clumsy flier in her class could beat a pair so stallions two years older than her!” the stallion sneers “And a Sonic Rainboom! That’s the biggest load that I’ve ever heard! You know that you fly like a ditz! Why do you insist on lying to yourself like this all the time, you’re not some ‘super athlete’ so why do you insist on believing these lies?”

“Because I can!” the filly cries “I did do it! I did the sonic…..”

“Bull.” The stallion repeats himself “if your mother, the greatest flier in Equestria history, couldn’t pull of something she spent her whole life preparing for, what makes you think a little deluded filly who is the clumsiest flier I’ve ever seen could ever pull it off?”

The Filly gives the stallion a glare of righteous anger that immediately cuts him off; the look in her eyes not one of hatred but a look of pure determination and resolve “Because I’m my mother’s Daughter. That’s why.”

The stallion stops his rant immediately at this his mouth hanging open as if struggling what to say. Finally the stallion grunts and lounges back on the couch reaching for another round of his ambrosia. “Fine….. You want to fail? You want to be some ‘hero’? You want to believe that you’re any good? Fine be my guest! I won’t stop you!” the stallion drinks deep of his liquid as his voice turns deadly cold “Just walk out that door.”

The little filly turns towards the door her eyes suddenly widening as she pictures life outside and suddenly Rainbow Dash is not so brave. “Out… Outside?”

The Stallion grins “I won’t stop you from chasing a pipe dream, SQUIRT! But if you want to chase it you’ll have do so alone.” The stallion takes another drink “that means no money for flight school, no roof over your head, no dinner at night, nothing. You’ll get nothing and you’ll get nowhere without me to provide for you. I may be a drunk but I make more money in one day of supervising the weather patrol that you could in a month.”

The filly rises to her hooves turning her head towards her father ”…….you would really do that…. You would really do that… to me?”

The stallion takes a look at his drink “I already lost my wife…… I lost her because she was stupid and impulsive, just like how you are acting. As far as I’m concerned if you are so dead set on living this delusion that you’re some kind of ‘speedster’” the stallion laughs darkly as he takes another swig of his ambrosia “then you’re just as dead to me.”

The filly takes a looks at the stallion behind her then she takes a look at the door, and all of a sudden her mind is made up. “Then I guess that I’m dead then.”

The mare walks over to the door, no longer a scared little filly, and opens it looking into the dark night outside. Turning her head to look at the stallion behind her, Dash hopes beyond hope that he has changed his mind, that he was bluffing all along. Yet the mare is heartbroken to see that the stallion isn’t even looking at her anymore. “Good bye…. Spectrum.” The mare walks out and slams the door causing the entire world to shatter around the lavender mare.

Suddenly the mare falls backwards on her flank landing on the green grass beneath her. Looking before her she sees the rainbow mare in front of her crying tears of pain. Realizing that she has returned to the real world Twilight gets back up on her hooves “Dash…. Dash are you okay? I’m sorry for peeking in your mind I’m sorry it just happened and…..”

“… How dare you….” The rainbow mare mutters to herself “HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO ME!” she yells at the top of her lungs in her anger she tears through the ribbons holding her to the ground ripping them to pieces with her overwhelming rage. In an instant the rainbow mare is on top of Twilight her fists raised to attack as the mare lies beneath her. “…… A dirty loser Like YOU!” Twilight is unable to close her eyes as the terror overtakes her Dash’s hoof moving in slow motion as she prepares to strike a lethal blow against the prone mare.

“RAINBOW DARING DASH YOU STOP THIS INSTANT!”  Just as the blow is about to fall upon her it stops dead in its tracks. Twilight turns her head to see the angered face of Fluttershy staring her friend down with a panting and out of breath Rarity beside her “How dare you… HOW DARE YOU!”

The rainbow mare backs up off of Twilight “NOW LISTEN HERE MISSES! JUST BECAUSE YOU’RE UPSET THAT WE’RE NOT SPENDING TIME WITH YOU DOESN'T MEAN THAT YOU GET TO BE A BULLY!”

The rainbow mare trips over her own hooves falling on her flank “YOU MAY BE STRONGER THAN ME! FASTER THAN ME! AND OVERALL BRAVER THAN ME! BUT YOU DO NOT! I REPEAT!”

The rainbow mare backpedals on her back trying in vain to put as much distance between herself and the yelling yellow Pegasus “YOU DO NOT HURT MY FRIENDS!”

The rainbow mare now stares into the depths of Fluttershy’s eyes looking for some hint of mercy only to find an empty and merciless void of endless darkness. “You got that? WELL?!”

Rainbow Dash sputters on the ground trying to come up with a vain defense for her actions “but…. But Twilight and Brainwashing… and all you guys….”

“And I am very sorry that you felt left out.” Fluttershy apologies “But I think that Twilight is right.” Waving her hoof around her Rainbow’s eyes finally uphold the devastation around her caused by her and pinkie’s fight “you’re stronger than she is but surely you can see that all this is doing is hurting the ponies that care about you! You’re hurting me and Pinkie and even Applejack with this. We’re not trying to exclude you from anything and we don’t think any less of you.”

Fluttershy shakes her head “And I certainly know that it was wrong to keep secrets from you like that. But can you see just exactly you have done by not talking about it?”

Dash looks around her to see the faces of her friends, Fluttershy, Pinkie and.. And even Twilight Sparkle. Yes even her, dash realized that while in her mind that Twilight never had any intention of separating her from her friends. ‘It was me…’ the rainbow mare thinks ‘it was me all along…’

“Well Dash?” Fluttershy asks “what do you think?”

And with that the dams come crashing down around Dash. All her fear of abandonment all her hatred of Twilight, all her disappointment in herself, all the bitterness she has been bottling up inside of her ever since her mother passed away comes pouring out. In the blink of an eye Fluttershy finds herself grasped in the tightest most desperate hug Rainbow Dash can muster as she bawls like a baby into her coat. Dash begins to cry into her best friend’s arms sobbing as the weight of what she has done comes crashing down on her head; the guilt at her actions and the ways in which she had hurt her friends becoming crystal clear to the mare.

Abandoning her selfish pride the mare begins to cry out in nonsensical syllables how sorry she is how much of an idiot she was, and most importantly how much her friends really mean to her.

She does this as she comes to grips with her own worst enemy, not Twilight and her ‘scheming’ but her own fears of being abandoned by the ponies she cares so much about.

And with that the mare continues to cry and cry out to the setting sun as Rainbow Dash is surrounded and embraced by new friends and old.

…………………Later in the golden oaks library…………………

“…..well.” Fluttershy says to the group sitting around the table consisting of her Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow and Twilight Sparkle. By now Dash has visibly calmed down her cool demeanor and posture having returned however her face is still creased with a look of shame that is mirrored by Twilight. “Now that we’ve all calmed down, is there anything that we have to say.”

Rainbow Dash turns her head towards the lavender mare “Sorry for destroying your library and attacking you Twilight. It was very wrong of me to let my suspicions get the better of me and for that I am genuinely sorry.”

“And I’m sorry too.” Twilight claims “for insulting you behind your back while keeping secrets from you. And I am very sorry that I looked into your mind like that, I know that it was…. Private.”

Dash waves her hoof “that’s okay Twilight. I know that you don’t have the best control over your stand yet.”

Twilight suddenly grows serious “Dash….. How did you know that? About my stand and….”

Rainbow Dash taps her head “mental link remember? While you were digging around in my head I was taking a look in yours. I know all about stands and the strange stones, that’s why I knew you weren’t a bad pony and it’s how I know that I won’t tell anypony what you saw.”

Rainbow Dash grins like a devil “besides I had the opportunity to look into your mind as well! And I just so happened to take a look at something really private of yours!” Rainbow dash gets back up in her face “So if you ever think of telling anypony what you saw, then the next morning everypony in town will know who your first crush was!”

Twilight gulps in fear as she remembers something she had rather forgotten. The chocolates the awkward blushing and all those hoof written cards. Twilight fearfully crosses her heart with a pinkie promise “you have my word Dash, No pony will ever know what I was in your mind.”

Dash stares into her eyes for a moment as if judging her truthfulness before nodding in confirmation “Good now next order of business I want in!”

“Dash….” Twilight puts her hoof on her shoulder.

“Look you guys I know that what I did was lousy and hurtful to all of you, but just hear me out!” Dash takes a deep breath in and lets it out “I guess, I guess that I was just so convinced you were up to something, that you were trying to steal what friends I had, and turn them against me, that I sort of lost my better judgment. That was seriously uncool of me.” Dash looks up “that’s why I have to help out I have to make up for……”

Twilight places her hoof over her mouth cutting off the weather pony “Dash… I was going to say welcome aboard.”

As the lavender mare takes her hoof off of the mare’s lips Rainbow Dash’s surprise is evident “a what?! But I attacked pinkie! I tried to attack you!”

Pinkie laughs at this “Silly Dashie! We’ve already all forgiven you. Besides that was a pretty fun scrap we got into and nobody got really hurt so it’s all okie dokie lokie! And even if it wasn’t okie dokie or lokie I would still really really REALLY like you anyways!”

Rarity walks up placing her hoof on her shoulder. “We’ve all forgiven you darling. I must admit that though I wasn't there for most of it, it seems to me that you did what you did because you thought your friends were in danger and I can understand why you would seek to protect them like that.”

Fluttershy moves up placing her hoof on Dash “it’s all right Dashie. I know that getting a strange power can be really upsetting and you can easily be tempted to abuse it. But the Dash that I know would never fight somepony unless she thought she was protecting her friends. That’s just the kind of pony you are.”

 They all pull the Blue mare into a tight hug letting her know that all her crimes and suspicions are undoubtable forgiven. And it is this wonderful, heartfelt moment that is ruined by Twilight’s mind catching up to what her friend just said “Wait a minute!” the lavender mare explodes. Suddenly all of the ponies in the room are looking at her. “Fluttershy! You used some kind of power to stop Dash. How did you do that?”

The butter yellow mare immediately backs away “Oh… well…. Ummm you see…”

Now Dash is curious “Yeah Fluttershy. I’ve never seen you do that before. I mean it was scary as Tartarus and all when you caught me in that stare of yours, but mare was that cool! How did you do it? Did you learn it before or after flight camp? Cause if you did, why didn’t you use it before when you were bullied? I mean I didn’t mind standing up for you and all…”

The butter yellow mare’s rear hits the wall as she tries to think her way out of her present situation. “Um… well… that was….. Um. Nothing special! Yes that’s right I mean it was just a very important lecture from a friend that stopped Dash! It certainly wasn’t anything that I did! That is…. Um…”

Twilight looks at the mare with an ‘are you kidding me’ expression that lets her know that she is not so easily fooled. Suddenly the lavender mare manifests her stand throwing a fast punch inches from the yellow mare’s face.

“EEEPPPPP!” the yellow mare falls to her hooves in terror.

“Well would you look at that. Fluttershy can see my stand.” Twilight smiles as she looks at the cowering yellow Pegasus “that must mean she has a stand power. Could you imagine that?”

The yellow mare knowing the jig is up slowly pulls herself off the floor as her friend Rarity walks to her side “Fluttershy Darling is that true?”

Shyly the yellow Pegasus nods “um… I didn’t want to scare any of you….. But yes.. I kind of got it when we found that first miracle St..…”

“Strange Stone!” Twilight barks out

“…. Strange stone and I kept it It secret so that I wouldn’t frighten any of you.”

Rarity nearly swoons “But Daaaarrrrrrlllliiinnnggggg? Why in Equestria would you want to hide such a fabulous and magnificent ability from us? Why would you think that we would be scared of your stand power?”

“Well….” The Fluttershy shuffles her hooves “when I first found out that I had this power I… kind of used it to….. Threaten Carrot Top…..”

“What?!” the group shouts.

“It was an accident!” the yellow Pegasus blurts out as she begins to panic “I just wanted her to share some of her carrots with the hungry rabbits but she was so rude telling them to take a hike like that. So I tried to tell her nicely that sharing was important and she emptied her entire cart to them and the bunnies swarmed her and she lost her entire day’s produce and…… and the screams…. Oh the horrible horrible….” Fluttershy looks around to see the gaping gazes of the group “well um…….. she recovered but I just didn’t want to scare you like that. Besides, making ponies do something that they don’t want to is….. Mean……”

Walking up to the yellow mare Twilight puts her hoof around her shoulder pulling her into a comforting hug “well I understand that you aren’t entirely comfortable with your stand and if you don’t want to use it I won’t force you to. It’s your power and you are the one that decides how and when to use it.”

Fluttershy perks up at this “wait… you’re…. you’re not going to force me to do something that I’m uncomfortable with? But my power….. I mean it can do so much! You all would really be fine…. If I didn’t want to use it?”

“Yeah!” Dash blurts out “you don’t have to do all the heavy lifting when you have an awesome pony like me to pick up the slack! Between me and Applejack we could find all these ‘stone thingies’ in less than ten seconds flat!”

The yellow mare looks very comforted by these words “you guys… thank you….. I just don’t know what to say.” The mare straightens up “no I do know what to say! I want to help you to! And if you really need me to, I’ll fight too..….” Suddenly the mare’s confidence and enthusiasm dies completely “That is within reasonable limits….” Fluttershy shuffles her hooves “That is to say if you don’t mind……” Finally Fluttershy begins to blush and mumble “That is to say….. Um…… never mind……”

Suddenly realizing something Dash looks around the room as if searching for something.  “Hey? I don’t mean to spoil the moment like this I mean you are all my friends….” The rainbow mare states as she looks around “but where ‘s Applejack? What was she too busy to help out or what? I mean I don‘t mean to say we’re joined at the hip or something but I would expect my greatest rival to show up and stop me when I went on a rampage. Where the hay is she?”

Rarity looks around “not to be so brash darlings but I mirror Dash’s sentiments. Where is Applejack I would expect that she would be the first to help in a situation like this.”

Twilight puts her hoof on her chin remembering just when she saw Applejack last. Suddenly interrupting her train of thought the door bursts open a familiar orange mare in the door frame “ah’m right here yawl!” The group turns to see the orange farmer standing in the doorframe beaming like the winner of the ‘Best Apple Products in Equestria’.

“Applejack!” Rainbow dash shouts “bout time you decided to show up! What kept you?”

Applejack tips her hat “sorry yawl I had other business to attend ta. But enough I that. I have great news!” Walking towards the table she stares Twilight in the eyes with a smug grin “heh Twi, yawl said I was crazy. Yawl said ‘magic stones granting wishes were illogical’. Well let’s see yer evidence refute this.” Turning towards the door the orange mare let out a loud holler “Applebloom come in here an meet mah friends!”

Entering the door frame is a small filly whose very presence dumbfounds the ever punctual and always factual Twilight Sparkle. A normal earth pony filly of around ten to thirteen years of age, possessing a yellow coat slightly darker than Fluttershy’s and a blazing red head of mane is none other than the youngest of the apple Family, the young Applebloom. Sporting a smart pink ribbon that contrasts with her bright red name is the filly that Twilight had to resort to putting in a coma in order to save her life. The same filly that for all logical purposes should still be in said coma. Twilight’s eyes widen as she recalls Applebloom’s supposed condition and how it so blatantly contrasts with the fact she is walking across the floor towards the table. Twilight’s mouth gapes as she tries to process what she is seeing “….. Do you know what this calls for everypony?”

Pinkie jumps up out of nowhere throwing up a cloud of confetti “An ‘I‘m glad that you’re not in a coma anymore party’?”

“No. But definitely later.” Twilight comforts the disappointed pinkie “no this degree of chaos and disorganization calls for something only I can deliver.”

Everypony leans in as Twilight take in a deep breath. “This my friends calls for a Group Meeting.”