Deleted Scenes - Storm of Secrets

by Beware The Carpenter

Rating: everyone
Tags: Adventure, Alternate Universe, Dark, Romance
Length: 26386

Set one year after an alternate ending to season 2; Cadance and Shining Armor never got married.

Scenes and chapters I deleted from the final cut of Storm of Secrets after I gave it an intensive review that finished October 2015; 2 years after initial completion.

Actual story can be found here:

Storm of Secrets

This is Cadance; can anypony hear me? We're trapped in the Everfree Forest. All I see are trees in every direction, but there's something out there; and it's coming closer. Shining Armor is sick, I think he's dying. Please, if anypony finds this message, send help.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2015-10-25 23:45:14 UTC

Laugh at how bad I was - Save Derpy Hooves!

“Hey, Rainbow Dash.” It was Soarin', “Come on, there's something you gotta see.”

Rainbow sighed, “What's up Soarin'?”

“There's this unicorn magic show that just set up in the theater, they say she's one of the most powerful unicorns in all ever. Firestreak and Fleetfoot have seen her before and they say she's amazing. You coming?”

Most magical pony around? Twilight maybe? No, Twilight wouldn't do stage performances, she wasn't like that. “Sure thing,” Rainbow faked a smile, if visiting Rarity had been to forget about the Wonderbolts, maybe a good show would help her forget about Rarity. True, she would have to see it with the Wonderbolts, but at least they wouldn't be either complaining or boasting the whole way through.

“You are going to love her Dash, you hear all kinds of things about this pony’s famous exploits; she's a real hero!”

Rainbow and Soarin' made their way to Canterlot Theater without stopping to take note of waving fans or to give out autographs. Whatever was going on must be big; ponies were lined up for blocks waiting to get into the theater; it wasn't cheap either—forty bits a ticket on a Monday?—even the Wonderbolts only charged forty-five (at least when they opened the full stadium).

“Spitfire has already reserved a private box for the Wonderbolts. Let the ordinary ponies wait in line.”

“Awesome, tell her thanks for me. Do you reckon we could go see this unicorn before the show started?” Judging by the line they won't be starting for a while yet and it was still possible it was Twilight, right?)

“Well, probably not for normals but for ponies like us, it shouldn't be a problem.”

Rainbow and Soarin' passed through the VIP (Very Important Pony) entrance into a dimly lit hall slowly filling with eager spectators. Soarin' pointed out the Wonderbolts viewing box, (not that it wasn't obvious as it was the only one that had the ponies Rainbow saw every day in it) and left to get first pick from the snack bar while Rainbow poked her head around the stage curtain.

“Hello, anypony there?” Nopony responded and so Rainbow went backstage, still hoping the unreasonable hope she might find Twilight. Relying on memory from when she and her friends did the Hearth's Warming Eve pageant, Rainbow wove through a plywood maze that honeycombed the concrete exterior of the theater. Turning a bend and walking through an open door she saw the rump of a light blue unicorn with a white tail occupied fidgeting through some box of tricks, NOT TRIXIE! Rainbow hadn’t made a sound but the blue pony suddenly turned around casting a menacing glare at- ...hold on a second; that wasn't Trixie.

“What are you doing here!?” Whoever she was, she wasn't Trixie, but she was mad. “No ponies allowed backstage except performers and staff! Go back and wait in the theater, you impatient mule!”

Rainbow didn't know whether to retort, ask if she was maybe Trixie's sister or if she should just walk away when suddenly two pegasi landed behind her, both with identical pale blue coats and white manes; now things were going from weird to downright Freakyville.

“You think you could just sneak back and see how all the magic is done?” one pegasi accused, “Get out, or we'll drag you out and you won't even see the performance!”

Rainbow wasn't sure what was happening and she wasn't sure she wanted to know. She was about to leave, when a sweet yet arrogant laughter rang through the dressing room curtain and the accompanying voice drifted into the room. “Let her stay girls. That's right. Are you too dull to see that the leader of the mighty Wonderbolts has come so seek an audience with the Great and Powerful Trixie?” The curtain glowed and pulled itself back to reveal the real Trixie, holding herself up with an unbearably overbearing demeanor. The other blue and white ponies shrank away from her in submission. “Welcome Rainbow Dash. To what does Trixie owe the honor of this visit?”

Dash glowered at her blankly, “If I knew it was you performing, I wouldn't have come.”

Trixie seemed to take no notice of Rainbow's offense, apparently experienced in flattering ponies she thought she could use. “Well now that you're here is there anything Trixie can do for you?  Trixie is afraid it will have to be quick as she is on stage in ten minutes and couldn't stand to keep her adoring fans waiting, but if you come back after the show she will give you as much time as you desire.” Trixie kept smiling as though Rainbow was an old friend. Half of Rainbow wanted to believe her; the other wanted to wipe that smirk off her face with a hoof. She eventually opted for the middle ground and asked what was really on her mind.

“What's with all these other blue and white ponies? Usually, you don’t see two ponies together with the same colors, so why are there four of you in just one room?”

“There are six of them actually,” corrected Trixie. “Two unicorns and four pegasi. These are Trixie's support cast who have chosen to follow The Great and Powerful Trixie and assist in her performances, in exchange for the honor of being able to continually witness Trixie's miraculous powers and skills in showmareship. While they remain Trixie's disciples they take her colors as a sign of their loyalty. Perhaps similar to your Wonderbolt fliers.”

“Yeah, well I actually pay my Wonderbolts, and I train them, and I don't force them to dye their coats and manes so they look like little copies of myself.” The Trixie look-alikes exchanged glances but said nothing.

“Perhaps you’re just being a little bit soft on them.”

“Or maybe I'm just not a stuck up boaster who has more mouth than magic, and who doesn’t care who I have to hurt to get what I want!”

“Come now Rainbow Dash, you’re hurting Trixie's feelings. If you worked with Trixie it would be a huge help to both your careers. Perhaps you could do a joint show with Trixie someday. Trixie would like that wouldn't you?”

“No, I wouldn't.”

“Well then you and Trixie could support each other from a distance, little things you know; recommendations, advertising etc. Trixie could give you advice in showmareship if you wanted, she's been doing this a lot longer then you have. If you could just get Trixie one chance to perform in the palace, she could-”

“The Wonderbolts have been Canterlot's top entertainment for the last twelve years and since I've been captain our ratings have been at an all time high. I don’t need your help.”

“But Trixie could still help you with promotion. Look at the crowd out there, Trixie could put in a recommendation for my audience to see you perform if you would do the same for her. Trixie will advertise you at every one of my shows this week for just one recommendation, even in private if you like, to Princess Celestia.”

“There's nothing you could tell your audience about me that they wouldn't already know, and I'm not going to recommend ponies to see a show that's not worth watching; least of all the Princess.”

Trixie momentarily took her eyes off Rainbow and looked around at her assistant show mares. “The show will begin in eight minutes girls, get out there and make sure everything’s ready, if Trixie is not there in time, start the introductions without her. If she still has not arrived, go with routine five, Number Two can take Trixie's place”.

When they were alone Trixie shut the door and turned back to Dash who was suddenly feeling extremely nervous. “Really Rainbow Dash there's no reason's we can't be friends if you want to be. If you help Trixie, she's willing to help you in any way you like.” Her voice was softer now, almost compassionate and a spark from her horn pulled her cape a few inches down revealing more of her neck. “Trixie has heard about you and the Wonder-stallions, how you don't pay any attention to them. You don't have to be shy with Trixie; she helped Fancy Pants, and he got her this performance at the theater tonight.” Trixie took a few steps towards Rainbow, the main lights in the room dimmed and a row of candles mysteriously lit themselves. Trixie’s next words were slow and full of suggestion, as she spoke she wiggled her flank and fluttered her fake eyelashes. “A funny name for somepony who doesn’t wear any pants.”

Oh she had GOT TO BE JOKING!

“Trixie you're sick! As long as I am their leader the Wonderbolts will never perform with you, and I will never help you get your filthy hooves inside the palace! Get that in your head! I will not help you! Never, Ever!”

Trixie's seductive smile faded and turned to a sneer, and then the lights brightened again. “Well then Trixie will just have to get to the palace on her own. Watch out Rainbow Dash, pretty soon The Great and Powerful Trixie will be drawing larger crowds then the Wonderbolts. Trixie will see you humiliated and finished! But don't worry, when you’re out of work, perhaps Trixie will let you become one of her showmares and you can do your little tricks at her shows. You'll have to dye your mane and tail though.”

That was it! Dash braced herself and launched towards Trixie bringing her hind hoofs to bear. She had this brilliant idea about Trixie's head smashing into the concrete wall behind her in a colorful crescendo of white, blue and red; but before she could cross the room, Trixie's horn let off a powerful blast sending Dash flying backwards head over hoof into a table filled with little bits and pieces. Rainbow collided with the table with a loud thud and looked up to see an upside down Trixie leaving an upside down room to a chorus of applause. By the time she was on her hooves and seeing straight, Dash could already hear Trixie's voice ringing out over the hapless audience.

Dash just wanted to get out of there. She tried the back door but it was locked, the only other ways out were through the stage, or the side passages which led past the viewing boxes. She did the only feasible option, hoping that everypony would be too busy watching the performance to notice her sneak past, but there Rapidfire waiting for her in the hallway.

“Rainbow Dash! You're missing it! Did you meet Trixie? Wait, never mind! Tell me later; Trixie is amazing! Come and watch!”

Rainbow did the only thing she was able to; she sat down and watched, and the longer she watched, the more Trixie's arrogance became unbearable... for her at least. Everyone else, particularly the Wonderbolts, loved it. They cheered at the tricks, laughed at the jokes, stomped in time with the pegasi dancers, and didn’t seem to mind Trixie's boasting at all, if anything they encouraged it. What if Trixie did get popular and Rainbow had to see her on a regular basis? What if the other Wonderbolts suggested they do a show together with Trixie? How could she convince the Wonderbolts of Trixie's lameness? She had to do something.

“This stinks” it wasn't great but it was the best she could come up with at the time.

“Stinking awesome!” This time it was Lightning Streak but she was echoed by several of the other Wonderbolts.

“Seriously how can you guys fall for her lameness?”

“She's not lame, she's a hero” insisted Silver Lining, “I even heard that she once saved some town called Ponyville one time from a rampaging Ursa Major!”

Rainbow Dash flapped her wings in frustration and something fell to the ground.

“What's that?” asked Misty as the Wonderbolts momentarily took their attention off the performance to see what had fallen from Dash's wing. It was small, metal and had probably gotten lodged in her wing when Trixie threw her into the table. High Winds reached for it and as she nudged it the metal device suddenly started talking with Trixie's voice.

Blaize who had once been a showpony herself was the first to recognize it. “It’s a microphone, you know so she can talk quietly and give directions to her stagehoofs without the audience hearing. We can hear her much better with this. Now its like were listening from the front row but watching from the viewing box; awesome!” The Wonderbolts crowded around the infernal device. Wasn't it enough that there Trixie had to be in seven places on stage at once? Did she now have to be in the Wonderbolt's 'private' viewing box as well?

Trixie's voice rang clearly through the microphone as she told some bogus story about how the great dragon migration had really been a war gathering to plot the destruction of Equestria. Then how Trixie had found a magic bracelet, which turned her into a blue dragon, enabling her to infiltrate their secret meetings and prevent their maniacal plans from being carried out. Obviously the bracelet was lost forever at the end of the story so she couldn't demonstrate turning into a dragon, but the audience seemed to swallow it none the less.

“Incredible” gasped Fire Streak in a reverent voice, “She actually saved all of Equestria.”

“Come on, you can't actually believe that” Rainbow challenged, “She's making it up.”

Fire Streak looked at Rainbow as if she were stupid, “Look around you Dash. We're in the oldest and most prestigious theater in Canterlot. You don't think they'd let her come out here and say this stuff if they didn't check out all her stories to see if they were true or not, do you? I mean, how else do you think she got her performance here tonight?”

Rainbow's mind flashed backstage to Trixie and the row of candles, “Yeah, it’s a mystery.”

Trixie paced the stage, reveling in the applause, until the exceptional enthusiasm of Soarin' and Fleetfoot brought her attention to the Wonderbolt's viewing box. She watched for a moment as every Wonderbolt except Rainbow Dash cheered and then a cruel smile spread across her face. Turning around with her back to the audience she said quietly enough not to be heard by the crowd, but loudly enough to be heard by anyone with a microphone, “Prepare stunt X.” Then quieter, barely audible even on the microphone Dash partly heard, “Perhaps she was Trixie's fillyhood friend... tragic reunion... heart stricken remorse... obliged... perform … funeral.”

“Hold on what was that? All I heard was something about a fillyhood friend” this time it was Wave Chill

“I dunno” said Surprise, “The audience was cheering too loud for me to hear anything.”

“And now the Great and Powerful Trixie will invite a member from the audience to assist her in her next act.” Trixie had turned around and was speaking to the audience again, “Who will it be?” Half the audience and all of the Wonderbolts, (except Dash,) put their hooves high in the air. Trixie paced the stage several times to build suspense, then looked straight up at the tuft of rainbow colored mane sticking out from behind the railing. “You!”

Unfortunately for her, Trixie had forgotten to point to whoever she meant. The crowd went silent and everypony was left wondering who she was referring to; all except one little gray pegasus with a blond mane and slightly crossed eyes who fluttered up to the stage, thinking Trixie was talking to her. Trixie was so focused on the Wonderbolts box that she didn’t notice the pegasus until she was standing beside her. Trixie jolted, then swung around to face the innocently smiling pegasus.

“What!?...What is your name, friend of Trixie's?”

“Derpy” chirped the pegasus.

“Louder!”

“My name is Derpy Hooves!”

Dash's heart sunk as she saw Derpy climb the stage; she knew Derpy from Ponyville, that is to say she knew of her. They had never had a real conversation, but she knew Derpy was Ponyville's mail-mare. Derpy wasn't the kind of pony you wanted to hang around with. She was a bit slow mentally, would get mail mixed up sometimes, more than once Derpy had forgotten where she was going, and when she was the head weather pegasus Rainbow had learned it was easier to move the clouds herself then to clean up the aftermath of letting Derpy 'help'. Dash was at the top of the cool pyramid; and Derpy was sort of like a block that got lost on the way from the quarry and ended up falling in a ditch. Nevertheless, in her own pathetic way, Derpy was sort of generous and was always trying to be caring towards as many ponies as she could. She definitely didn't deserve whatever horrible thing Trixie was planning to do to her. Dash felt like her gut was filled with stones as she realized Derpy was only there because of her, and there was nothing she could do to save her.

Trixie nodded and waved her hoof dramatically, “Well then Derpy, prepare yourself to make magic history!” then much quieter Dash heard over the microphone, “Abort, abort go to stunt four, and hurry!”

“What did you say Trixie?” Derpy asked quizzically, loud enough to be heard by some of the audience.

“Trixie didn't say anything.”

“Did you?”

“Trixie just said she didn't!”

“Aren’t you Trixie.”

“Of course Trixie is Trixie.”

Derpy looked hopelessly confused, glancing between the various Trixie look a-likes, “Then… who are you?”

Trixie face hoofed and then spoke just loudly enough to be heard over the microphone, “I am Trixie. But I talk like this when I'm doing my performances.”

“Oh umm...OK” mumbled Derpy, still looking confused.

“Now Derpy” resumed Trixie in her usual stage voice, “Tell Trixie where you are from.”

“From Ponyville.”

“Ah yes, Trixie knows the town well, but Derpy, how many of Trixie can you see?”

Derpy looked confused, “There's only one of you Trixie.”

“Really? Because it looks to Trixie like you see two of her, or perhaps you think that Trixie has two heads?”

“I-I don't get it.”

“It’s just you’re looking in different directions so Trixie thought you might be looking at different things, or maybe you’re looking at an invisible friend.”

The crowd laughed, including the Wonderbolts. Derpy looked like she was about to laugh, but then she realized that everypony was laughing at her instead of with her. Trixie usually didn't interview her assistants because it took the focus off herself. Dash figured she was probably trying to buy time for her stagehoofs to change from 'stunt X' to 'stunt four', and was doing so by doing the first thing that come to her mind, (in this case making fun of a disability).

Dash was still trying to think of something she could do to make sure Derpy didn't get hurt, but all she could think of was hope that Trixie's stagehoofs had heard her, and were quick in changing between stunts. Dash couldn't live with herself if Derpy died because of her, and the last thing she ever heard was hundreds of ponies jeering her because of her mixed up eyes.

Feeling she had given enough time for the necessary preparations Trixie finally let up about the eyes “Derpy, are you ready to continue?”

“Yes, I am.” Said Derpy; seeming to have already forgotten that she had been made fun of.

“Very well then, if you would just stand over here... no, there- yes, that's it. Now if you’re ready, Trixie will disintegrate you into a flock of butterflies which she will then cause to fly to the other side of the stage and then reform them back into your old self. Unfortunately Trixie is afraid she can't do anything about your eye problem.”

“Oh, well umm... OK. Just make sure you put me back together right.”

“My dear Ms Derpy, you have Trixie's word, not a hair in your mane will be hurt.” It was amazing how convincingly Trixie could fake sincerity when she wanted to.

The crowed watched in eager anticipation, Dash stared in horror as Trixie's horn started glowing. Suddenly where Derpy had been standing was filled with a pillar of thousands of butterflies which seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. They flapped and fluttered and began moving to the other side of the stage, but when enough had gone to see some view of the stage (at least from the viewing box) Derpy's head and front hooves were still there, the rest of her had disappeared down some trap door. Music was playing too loudly for the audience to hear anything, but Dash could see behind the cloud enough to know Trixie saw what she did and was horrified.

Trixie's voice hissed Over the microphone, “What are you doing get down there!”

Derpy's voice responded weakly, like she was struggling, “I... can't, I'm stuck.”

“The audience will see you, get down now!”

“But I'm stuck.”

Trixie's places both forehooves on Derpy's forehead and shoved violently but Derpy didn't go down.

Dash couldn't take it anymore, Derpy needed help. She knew she couldn't take Trixie alone, but including her there were thirteen Wonderbolts and only seven Trixies, together they could do it, but she would need every one of her Wonderbolts to help. She turned to her crew, “Guys we need to do something, Derpy is in trouble!” Her call went unheeded so she tried again “Derpy really needs our help!”

“Relax Dash” Soarin' seemed unconcerned, “Trixie will get her down the hole, see she's helping her down right now. Still, it is a shame seeing how the trick was done.”

Trixie's voice came back over the microphone, “You’re going to ruin my magic show, now get down!”

Derpy’s voice responded like she was in pain, “I'm trying.”

One last time Trixie's voice yelled angrily, almost loud enough to be heard by the audience, “You get down the hole right now, or I will make you disappear forever!”

Dash waited for Derpy to respond again, hoping Trixie hadn't really carried out on her threat. When Derpy finally did answer her voice was shaking like she was crying“I-I'm sorry... I d-d-didn't mean to do a-a-anything w-wrong...I'm sorry.”

Now Dash was yelling at her Wonderbolts and didn't care who else heard her. She would make the Wonderbolts help her help Derpy. “Guys, we've got to save Derpy Hooves!”

Spitfire almost stood up, but glanced round at the rest of the team and sat back down again, “Settle down Dash, it'll be OK.”

“ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Dash turned to see an unknown unicorn stallion with a dark red coat and jet black mane had teleported onto the stage, scattering butterflies in every direction and was staring down Trixie as though he meant to drill a hole through her with his eyes. His strong voice echoed through the theater. “They say you end your shows with a challenge. ‘Anything anypony can do you can do better!' WELL I CHALLENGE YOU!”

Trixie left Derpy hanging and crossed the stage towards the stranger, maybe hoping that this unexpected interruption would distract the crowd from the head that was still sticking out of her floor. Drawing herself up and poising her cape and hat she confidently asked, “And what, oh rude one, do you think you can do to defeat The Great and Powerful Trixie.”

The red pony's horn glared and flames broke out on the stage, quickly surrounding him and Trixie; but they died as quickly as they began leaving a scorched circle encompassing the two unicorns. (Derpy was on the other side of the stage and the flames did not come near her). “First pony to leave the circle looses.” His voice seemed at once both calm and ready to explode with anger.

“Very well” agreed Trixie, “let us begin, Number Two, begin the countdown.”

One of the Trixie look-alikes stepped forwards with a haughty smirk she must have learned from her mistress, “three...two...one...GO!”

BOOM! Trixie was instantly thrown across the stage like a bale of hay.

“Cheater!” Yelled Trixie, struggling to regain her hoofs, “You cast the spell before m-Trixie's assistant said go! You only won because you cheated. The Great and Powerful Trixie never cheats. You're disqualified!”

“You lie to avoid admitting defeat!”

“But you did cheat” said the pony who had given the countdown, "You cast before I said go, we all saw you.” the other Trixie look-alikes nodded their heads in agreement.

“Then step back into the circle and try again!” The red stallion wasn't about to let Trixie go, and Dash hoped he really could do it again.

“With pleasure” smiled Trixie as she calmly walked back into the circle and gave a nod to 'Number Two'.

“Three... two... one... GO!”

Trixie shot a beam of blue energy at the red unicorn, but before it reached him, it shattered against an unseen force. A half second later he retaliated, sending Trixie flying again, further then the first time.

“One more time!” shrieked Trixie, “The light was in my eyes!” She clearly couldn't keep making such pathetic excuses and the fact that she was referring to herself in the first person showed just how stressed she was becoming. This time had to count. Once more Trixie's assistant counted down and once more Trixie was hurled from the scorched circle. The stranger stood unmoved, waiting to see if Trixie would try again, but this time, Trixie merely sat there, as the crowed watched on in silence. After waiting long enough to cement his victory, the red stallion left the circle and began crossing over to where Derpy still hung with half her body down a trap door and was extending his hoof to help pull her out, when Trixie fell upon her final resort. “Ingrate! You are an ungrateful oaf who has no appreciation for the art of a good show, or respect for greatness!”

Something changed in the red unicorn's face when she said that and he stopped; horn glowing brightly. “Ingrate to greatness?” he muttered calmly. Suddenly he spun around and shot a beam of fire that would have killed Trixie, if one of her unicorn assistants hadn't run forwards and pulled her mistress away a second before a flaming hole was blasted in the floor of the stage. Moments later the assistant came barreling across the stage towards the stranger, her horn lowered and glowing with blue fire. Meanwhile one of the blue pegasi charged him from behind. In fact as if an unseen signal had been given, Trixie’s entire cast descended on the stranger from the front, left, right, above, behind and everything in between.

The red stallion stood still till the last possible moment, and then shot back with his hind hoofs, shattering the jaw of an approaching pegasus. He then dropped like a stone, and when the charging unicorn was just a few feet away, flicked out one of his front hoofs, knocking one of her legs and then the other out from under her. Was he crazy? She'd fall right on him, but then he wasn't there anymore, he'd teleported above her and used his weight to bring down his hind hoofs onto her horn, cracking it as she fell heavily. He disappeared again, this time he was fifteen feet in the air, kicking one of the pegasi in the neck. He teleported again, now back to ground level with his back to a wall so they could only attack him from one direction. He looked on the remainder of Trixie's army and snorted in challenge.

Dash watched in awe as, without even looking, the stallion deflected a blast from Trixie's remaining unicorn assistant back at her; knocking her unconscious. The pegasi were fast, the unicorns were powerful and this guy was on the verge of having cleared the stage in; in ten seconds flat! This guy was unbeatable! At least... if he were only defending himself, he would have been. As the three remaining pegasi (the one he kicked in the air had been hurt but wasn't taken out) charged in a final effort to bring him down. The red unicorn used his magic to grab the leading pegasus, and crash her into the one right behind her making them both fall in a crumpled heap to the ground. The third pegasus swerved dangerously to avoid the collision and lost control, (apparently that kick had some damage after all). She was heading straight for Derpy!

The stallion saw it only at the last instant as he had been preoccupied with his own safety until then. But seeing the wounded pegasus plunge towards the defenseless, terrified mare he teleported one last time, making himself into a living shield to protect Derpy. The pegasus hit the stallion with a whack Dash could hear all the way from her viewing box. The pegasus collapsed to the ground, either dead or unconscious; the stallion's horn stopped glowing, his face twisted in agony, as he dropped to his knees, winded. That was the opportunity Trixie, who had stayed out of the actual battle before this point, needed.

Her horn shot a chaotic energy beam and this time it wasn't blocked, the stranger took the full hit. Trixie erupted into shrill laughter and prepared to fire again and might have killed him then and there if she wasn't at that moment tackled by Rainbow Dash, who seeing the turn of events was no longer content to merely spectate. The two mares rolled on the stage floor, biting and kicking. Dash was stronger, and had the element of surprise, but Trixie still had her magic. Dash felt herself gripped by Trixie's magic and lifted off of her rival. Trixie's horn glowed as she prepared to annihilate Rainbow Dash but... the blow never came. Moments before Trixie would have ended the fight, another blast came from the unknown unicorn, nailing Trixie with pinpoint accuracy. Trixie collapsed, her horn extinguished and Dash was released from her power.

Surveying the battle scene, Dash was surprised at how much the stage had changed in such a short time: the lights, curtains and floor were all wrecked, and several large holes had appeared in the walls. Trixie's minions lay strewn around the stage, some groaning in pain, most werew unconscious, but at least they were all breathing so far as Dash could tell. The crowed was still there, but had moved well to the back of the theater to avoid the destruction, and Derpy was still there, still half-sticking out of the floor, with her remarkable rescuer behind her with his horn aglow, helping her wriggle her way out. Rainbow went over to help, but by the time she got there Derpy already was out and the new pony was using his magic to brush soot and sawdust off her fur.

“Are you all right?” asked the stranger, looking away from her even as he spoke.

“I... think so” Derpy answered, looking around at the defeated Trixies scattered around the stage, as if not sure what to do now.

“You think, or you’re sure?”

“I'll be OK, but...” Derpy gestured to the lifeless figures around her, “Will they?”

“Broken bones, torn ligaments, medium burns, but no fatalities. They will recover, but they will be in pain for a long time.” The unicorn spoke casually, examining the bodies, as though their state mattered nothing to him, yet he had spared their lives when he could have easily killed them all.

“Oh, good!” Derpy sounded relived, “I wouldn't want them to be permanently hurt but maybe they'll learn a lesson from this, and won't hurt anypony else when they're better. Th-Thank you for rescuing me, whoever you are.”

“You’re welcome” whispered the stranger softly, still looking away from her.

“And thank you Rainbow Dash” said Derpy turning to face her, “I saw how you helped.”

“It's OK Derpy.” It felt good to help sompony who really needed help for a change.

Without warning Derpy threw her hooves around Rainbow Dash and the stranger who still hadn’t revealed his name. With one hoof around each of them, she faced the crowed of spectating ponies and shouted, “These two ponies are my best friends!”

OK. That was too far. Rainbow was fine protecting her, but Derpy was about the uncoolest pony Rainbow knew, and Rainbow hadn't completely given up on trying to keep a reputation. Rainbow twisted out of Derpy's arm as fast as she could, “Whoa, hold on one second, I was glad to help you but that doesn’t make me your friend.”

“But, but...” stammered Derpy confused at Rainbow's sudden rejection of her.

“I would be happy to be your friend” said the red unicorn, but seeming to think better of it he quickly added, “But only for today though, I can't stay in Canterlot for long.” Where did this guy have to go that he needed to be so bad? Or was it just an excuse to ditch Derpy? Rainbow understood if it was, this guy was way too cool to hang out with an uncoordinated pony like Derpy; he should be hanging out with sport stars and movie stars... sport stars especially. Derpy swung round and hugged the unicorn with both hooves; making him go tense. Who did she think she was that she could claim him all for herself just like that? A few moments later the doors at the back of the theater burst open and a dozen Canterlot Guards started making their way through the crowds.

Derpy released her champion and turned to face the approaching guards. “I think we should get out of here guys. Those ponies look mean.”

Leaving was a good idea, thought Dash, but preferably not with Derpy, she would slow them down too much. True; if they left her alone, Derpy would almost certainly be caught, but she hadn't broken any laws therefore wouldn't be charged, and while the guards were apprehending her, Dash could run away with the stallion. “OK” she agreed “But let’s split up, it will be harder for them to follow us that way.”

The red stallion nodded in agreement, “Fair enough,” his horn glowed and a saddlebag matching his coat flew to him from in from somewhere in the audience, “Goodbye.” His horn glowed once more and both he and Derpy vanished and then reappeared by a distant window, he looked out for a few seconds and then he and Derpy disappeared from sight leaving Dash alone on the stage, with the guards coming fast.

Laugh at how bad I was - Mysterious Stranger

Hold on; where had he gone? Dash didn't expect him to disappear just like that. But there was no time to think about it now; the guards were almost half way through the crowd and Dash still hadn't moved. She looked up at the Wonderbolts viewing box to find it empty. She could fly over the guards to the viewing box or even through a window and escape, but if they recognized her, (which was extremely likely given the sensation she had become), it wouldn't matter how far she ran, they would be waiting for her at the Wonderbolt Stables. Dash spun around and retreated through the burnt curtains; hoping nopony had recognized her yet. Backstage she raced to the back door only to remember it was locked, she turned around and was about to try running down a side passage but heard a guard shout too close to the door to risk it. She was trapped!

'Think Dash think,' Trixie was doing a magic show, there had to be a trap door she could disappear down or a potion that would make her invisible or something like that. Dash started kicking over boxes, and spilling the contents on the floor, but couldn't see anything useful. She kicked the lid of another box, which came flying off and collided with the base of a table still lit with a dozen burning candles from when Trixie had tried to seduce her. The table teetered, then fell, spilling the candles into a box filled with perfume and makeup which exploded on impact, lighting a rack of nearby costumes on fire. This was bad. Rainbow gripped down with her hooves and flapped her wings as hard as she could, but this only fed air to the flames and blew them onto the dry plywood walls which seemed only too eager to ignite. This was really, really bad!

Dash could feel the heat pounding on her face and tasted the air fill with smoke as the fire raced throughout wooden interior of the theater. She had to get out of there fast. Breaking open the remaining boxes Dash finally spotted some things she could use. Grabbing a small smoke machine between her hooves and throwing a cloak around her head to hide her mane, Dash launched and flew through a line Canterlot guards who had been blinded by the smoke and were themselves retreating. Dash glanced behind her relived to see a trail of thick green smoke following her rather than a rainbow. Her mane and tail was under the coat and so if nopony had seen her earlier, she might get away unrecognized. Breaking through an upper window she released the coat and smoke machine as she shot up into the cool afternoon air. Below her, Dash could see the theater going up in flames as the audience poured out into the street. An emergency exit opened and the stagehooves came scurrying out and after them came the Canterlot guards carrying Trixie's lifeless crew.

Three-hundred years of Equestrian history were going up in smoke beneath her. The financial loss would be massive, but she didn’t have to pay for it and since the fire had started in the back, everyone should be able to get out OK, so at least nopony would die for her mistake. Still, if she was recognized, it could mean the end of her career and or even jail; not that the former mattered anything to her anymore, but to be caged and unable to fly... Dash decided that the best way to avoid suspicion was to act natural and pretend nothing had happened.

Realizing she was due for her performance in an hour and hadn't eaten since breakfast, Rainbow turned and drifted towards the palace, stopping short at what had become her favorite restaurant. She couldn't eat much or it would slow her down in her performance but a small snack would help. That fact that it was an all you can eat buffet, or that it was expensive even for a full meal, didn't really matter. Since joining the Wonderbolts, Rainbow had more money then she knew what to do with and didn't mind overpaying for the good food and familiar atmosphere.

Rainbow was eating a couple oat cakes and selected fruits when she started noticing that more and more ponies were looking in the same direction. She followed their gaze to the make-your-own-sandwich bar where an enormous sandwich seemed to be assembling itself with the help of a pair of gray hooves that were sticking out from its sides. Rainbow stared for several moments in amusement and then shock as the hooves carefully took sides of the tray and scooted it along the bench to reveal the maker of the incredible sandwich to be none other than Derpy. For somepony who couldn't fly straight she definitely knew how to balance two feet of fruit and veggies on a single piece of bread, and the sandwich was getting even bigger.

Dash left her plate and went over to the sandwich bar; partly to get a closer look at that ridiculous sandwich, partly to ask where the red unicorn was and partly out of curiosity at how Derpy could afford to get in here on a mail-mare's salary, (though she had the sense not to ask the last question directly).

“Hi Rainbow Dash” said Derpy cheerfully as she carefully balanced a dozen dandelions to the top of her vertical salad. “Good to see you made it out OK, like the red pony said. Do you like my sandwich?” Derpy's voice didn't have any trace of resentment for rejecting her friendship earlier. Come to think of it she had been awfully quick to forgive Trixie for insulting her eyes and trying to push her down a hole earlier. That was like Derpy; she probably screwed up so much and got made fun of so much she was just use to it, or maybe she had already forgotten it had happened.

“Its great.” said Rainbow eying the enormous sandwich, “What do you mean the red pony said I got out OK?”

“Well he cast a teleport spell and he must have done it better then Trixie did it because I didn't get stuck down a trap door this time. The next thing I knew we were outside. He asked me once more if I was sure if I was alright and then, when the theater caught on fire, he teleported up to the roof of this really high building and watched until he was sure everypony was out. After that he came back down and asked me what I wanted to do. I was hungry and told him, so he took me here. He paid for me and now... I'm making a sandwich.” Derpy precariously stood on her hind hooves, using light flaps from her wings to steady herself, and gingerly placed several slices of apple onto her dinner.

Rainbow looked around the buffet but couldn't see the red unicorn, “Is the red unicorn still here?”

Derpy shook her head, almost knocking over her sandwich with her muzzle, “Nope. He paid for me and then he left, I don't think he was hungry.”

Something in Derpy's story seemed a bit incredible that somepony would do all this for a complete stranger, “Did he tell you who he was or where he was going?”

Derpy reached for a sliced pear and scattered it onto the latest layer of her sandwich, “Nope, he never told me his name. He just said he had to meet somepony in the palace and that I should enjoy my dinner. He's just a really nice guy.”

Rainbow eyed the towering sandwich; she wasn't sure, but she thought it had started to lean a little and she didn't want to be anywhere near Derpy if that thing came tumbling down. “OK well goodbye Derpy, enjoy your sandwich... speaking of which you might want to call it finished about now.”

“Soon,” said Derpy with a voice full of concentration as she looked back over the sandwich bar to see if there was anything she had missed, “It’s almost ready, and when it is it will be delicious. Do you want a bite?” When Rainbow Dash didn’t respond Derpy turned just in time to see the exit door close. She looked dejected for a moment and then smiled as she turned back to her masterpiece.

Derpy took her tray to the closest table, one step at the time, and then began wondering how in the world she was going to eat it; but by that time Rainbow was already in the street flying towards the palace gates. Rainbow wasn't sure why she felt such a strong impulse to see this stallion again, but he had probably saved her life and Derpy's as well. Rainbow felt that she should at least thank him for that, if nothing else. That was a good enough excuse to find him.

She finally spotted the red stallion a block away from the palace gates, and lighted down next to him; getting a good look at him for the first time. He was tall, and ripped with solid muscle from hoof to horn like Rainbow had only seen in the most conditioned of athletes; yet something about his demeanor made it difficult for her to imagine him playing any sport that she could name. There was a big, cool looking scar that ran along his chest, with several smaller scars scattered around it. Two more scars ran parallel to each other along his back, and one scar behind his ear, and another; OK there were a lot of scars. Most puzzling however was his cutiemark; after the display in the theater, Rainbow half expected that his cutie mark would be Trixie getting thrown across the stage onto her face, but instead it was of a hoof lifting off a patch of mud without leaving any hoof-print. What did that mean? “Hi.”

The red pony's horn glared as he swung around in a single movement but after seeing it was her, his horn died down and he gave a faint smile as recognition fluttered into his eyes, “You're the girl who helped in the battle.” What had happened to his voice? It was like in the last half hour he'd gained or lost a thick accent, maybe his voice changed whenever he got angry but right now it definitely seemed deeper and richer then it had been in the theater.

“That's me.” Rainbow nodded, beaming with pleasure that the stranger remembered her, though she wasn't sure why it should matter so much.

“Am I to take it you're responsible for the little fire they had?” He asked with a smirk; he seemed to have blamed her for the incident but didn't think it a bad thing.

“That was an accident. I even tried to put the flames out but I was too late.”

“Really? I could have teleported you out too if you had wanted, but it was your idea to split up. I thought maybe you wanted to go back and leave them a little going away present.”

“It was an accident I swear!” Rainbow put her hoof over her chest, “I was just trying to get out of the theater... and things got a little out of hoof.”

The stallion scrutinized her carefully as she proclaimed her innocence and seemed to believe her. “OK.” he shrugged, “I'm guessing you didn't find me to talk about what you didn't do, so why did you find me?”

“Well I... I just, I just wanted to thank you for saving me back at the theater... and for saving Derpy. ”

The red pony looked at her for a moment as if he were trying to make up his mind about her; “Silently defending the guests of ignorance” he seemed to mumble.

Rainbow smiled, “Derpy is definitely ignorant I'll give you that, but you didn't seem that silent too me.”

The stranger paused, “Tonight was an exception.”

“Still, you were radical with the way you stood up Trixie and her gang. Not a lot of ponies would have done that for a stranger.”

The stallion’s smile disappeared, “Neither would many ponies rescue somepony and then push them away like you did.”

Rainbow blushed, not because he had misunderstood her but because he understood correctly. She shouldn’t have been so cold towards Derpy, but she still didn't want to be publicly associated with her, “Sorry about that, Derpy just took me by surprise, that's all.”

“It’s not me you should apologize to, it should be De... what did she say her name was?”

Part of Rainbow was offended the red pony spoke so directly, the other part was thrilled that he spoke his mind, rather than covering up his objection with pleasant lies as so many others would have done. “Her name is Derpy, and you're right. I should say sorry and I will. But in the meantime I would like to thank you for saving us both, thank you.”

The stranger looked at her, maybe with kindness, or maybe he was just thinking about how to get rid of her. “You're welcome. Are we done?”

“Wait!” Rainbow still didn't know anything about him, even though they had saved each other's lives. “Can you at least tell me your name?”

The red pony thought for a moment as though giving away his name was a dangerous act, “Silent Storm,” he said finally, “And you are?”

Rainbow was taken back; she thought every pony in Canterlot knew her since she had become leader of the Wonderbolts. “You don't know?”

Storm ears perked forwards with curiosity, “Should I?”

He probably just couldn't see her that well. Maybe she had soot in her mane that was making it hard to recognize her. Or maybe he had been away from Canterlot for a while and didn't know the Wonderbolts had a new captain. “I'm Rainbow Dash,” she said proudly, “Leader of the Wonderbolts.”

“The wonder whats?”

This guy had never heard of the Wonderbolts? Was he serious? “The Wonder Bolts” said Rainbow as clearly as she could.

“Who are they?”

This was too much. Who living in Equestria had never heard of the Wonderbolts? “Well, the Wonderbolts are the personal stunt flying team of Princess Celestia, they're made up of the best pegasus fliers in Equestria and they've been Canterlot's top entertainment venue for the last twelve years.”

Storm hesitated. “Someponies told me that Trixie was best act in Canterlot. That's why I went there. To be honest if that was the pinnacle of what Canterlot has to offer, Canterlot must be a depressing place to live.”

“Trixie?!” Rainbow was floored at the understandable mistake “Whatever pony told you Trixie was the best in Canterlot is a liar! The Wonderbolts are Canterlot's top entertainment and if you've never seen them you should.”

Storm looked over his shoulder to the palace gates. “I'm sorry, but I need to report to the palace tonight. While I'd like to believe you that Trixie isn't the best in Canterlot I don't have time waiting around for the Wonderbolts next performance or finding where they perform. Goodbye.”

“The Wonderbolt stadium is attached to the palace and the next act starts in half an hour,” Rainbow said quickly, “You can stop to watch it and then you can go do whatever you need to do.” Rainbow Dash had been sure that everypony had seen the Wonderbolts perform at least once. She wasn't going to let somepony, let alone someone like Storm leave Canterlot with Trixie's act of horror as his only sample of Canterlot culture. But it was more than that, there was something about Silent Storm Rainbow couldn't name but it was there, powerful, gravitating her, tempting her to find out more. Maybe it was a result of how alone she had felt these last few months, but she wanted Storm there for her sake as well as for his.

Storm glanced up at the almost setting sun and then back to the palace. Weighing his need to do whatever it was he needed to do with the chance of seeing these Wonderbolts. “OK” he said hesitantly. “How much is a ticket?”

Rainbow smiled at him, “For you; free.”

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

The bouncers at the Wonderbolt stadium didn't object when Rainbow turned up with a guest for the exclusive party. The other Wonderbolts were already suiting up and Filthy Rich was getting impatient for the star of the show to arrive. Storm slipped past the guards who either didn't notice him or didn't care. Dash raced to wash, suit up, do a final check that the arena and her Wonderbolts were ready and then led them out in a brilliant display of music and light.

The Wonderbolts performance had begun!

Rainbow Dash had chosen the timing of the performance perfectly for the sun to paint the clouds in glistening shades of gold. But the sun wasn't enough, all the Wonderbolts, especially her, had to have perfect timing as they wove through the embroidered pattern of clouds, making the entire field come alive into a changing moving shape. Rainbow glanced up at the viewing platform where Filthy Rich and his guests sat spellbound by her speed and grace and reveled in the moment. Performing for an awestruck audience was the only time when being Wonderbolt captain seemed worthwhile; the Wonderbolts were the best fliers in Equestria, and she was the best of the Wonderbolts, she was the best of the best, and everyone knew it, (well… almost everyone.)

The clouds were torn through, broken and remade into new shapes until the field resembled a giant target of progressively larger circles spinning in alternate directions. The Wonderbolts kept the circles spinning, flying between the circles and through their perimeters, breaking and reforming the lines repeatedly; giving the sky the appearance of being rocked by an earthquake rippling out from the epicenter in the middle.

Teamwork was critical, and so was understanding the strengths of your teammates. Misty was the weakest flier so she spun the center cloud, and then spreading outwards, as the clouds got harder to spin came the stronger fliers. Dash took the widest circle at the edge, flying close to the audience themselves. Her wings beat powerfully, each beat bringing her faster and faster as she prepared to do her sonicrainboom. Three rows of empty boxes zoomed past and then the one containing her audience.

Her thoughts beamed with pride as she thought of her slower counterparts; none of them could make her cloud spin at the necessary speed, none of them could keep up with her in a race. She turned for another lap around the empty part of the circuit, but as she did a flash of red flew past her eye, and then another as she passed the far side of the arena. Slowing her speed enough to glance at the third row of 'empty' boxes she caught a glimpse of Silent Storm. Passing the occupied box Dash clearly saw him, right where he had been, she must have imagined him before, but as she came to the next row of boxes there he was again.

Every box she passed seemed to contain Storm's image. She thought she was hallucinating until as she slowed down at one bend she saw him disappear from the box she had just passed and reappear in the front row of box she was going to. He was teleporting! Teleporting fast enough to keep pace with her almost at full speed! Dash slowed down just enough to be sure her imagination wasn't playing tricks on her, but this time she was certain; waiting for her at the front row of an otherwise empty box was Storm leaning over the railing and staring at her. She flew towards him and for the space of one heart beat their eyes met – did he just wink at her? A tuft of cloud broke from the ring Dash was meant to be maintaining and hit her square in the face. Looking back, the other way, she saw her ring was starting to break up. This could ruin everything! Forcing Storm out of her mind, Dash roared back into action, quickly regaining control of her crumbling cloud circle and getting it spinning back in pace with the others. She glanced upwards at the gigantic mirrors set around the arena and knew the sun would vanish behind the hills within seconds, it was now or never.

Dash fell from her cloud circle and plummeted towards the earth. The ground raced towards her at breakneck speeds but Dash didn't flinch. She was now low enough she was passing trees and rooftops as she fell, but her course remained steady. Then, just as she started being able to identify individual flowers in the palace garden, she angled her dive into a swoop and began climbing. Her heart was racing and breathing hard as the last rays of the sun died and the sky went momentarily dark. This was it!

Breaking the sound barrier just as she tore through the center cloud, she knew without seeing that the cloud grid the Wonderbolts had assembled was being torn to shreds by the six colored rainbow blast which exploded from her mane and tail. Soaring high above the audience with the Wonderbolts, whose suits were now glowing brightly thanks to the arts of Rarity's special dyes, Dash began swerving around making tight loops leaving a shining trail of rainbow behind her, spelling a congratulatory letter for Diamond Tiara graduating junior school, clear against the dusk sky.

Dash and the other Wonderbolts hovered in the sky a few moments after their performance was done. Even at the great height and despite the small audience they could still hear clearly the wild applause from the audience beneath. Forming into simple ranks the Wonderbolts fell in unison to a stone platform in front of the seats and took a bow. Rainbow looked up at her wowed audience and tried to spot Storm, but he seemed to have disappeared. Finally after some of the crowd had dispersed she caught sight of him at the back of the crowd; Rainbow couldn't be certain but she thought he looked impressed; she'd find out. As the crowd began breaking up and moving towards the palace ballroom Storm once again found himself with Rainbow at his side, but this time he didn't seem to mind. “Bet you never saw that before.” she said confidently.

Storm's face glowed, “You were amazing.”

Rainbow beamed; finally a compliment! “The Wonderbolts and I have been practicing that act for weeks now to get the timing just right. We all worked really hard but it was fun practicing.” This wasn't strictly true, most of the Wonderbolts had complained nonstop about the early morning starts and long training hours until she threatened canceling holidays unless they got it right.

Storm shook his mane and reiterated his compliment. “No, not them, just you; you were amazing.”

Rainbow felt the blood rush to her face and looked away hoping that Storm wouldn't notice. When she did she realized that they were some of the last ponies in the viewing box, and the few that were left were moving towards the gates. Storm followed her gaze and realized the same thing. “Where’s everypony going?”

“Oh, there's a dance party at the ballroom that starts in a few minutes. They're all going to get ready for it... you... wouldn't want to dance would you?”

Silent Storm looked back to where the tip of the moon was starting to rise and cast a quick glance towards the palace. Rainbow knew what he was going to say. He was going to say he had already wasted enough time watching the Wonderbolts perform and he had to get on with seeing whoever was waiting for him, “OK”.

Rainbow felt her heart skip a beat.

…........................................................................................................................................................

Rainbow Dash and Silent Storm moved gracefully across the palace dance floor, or at least Rainbow did. Silent Storm moved stiffly and thoughtfully, not that he was clumsy with the way he moved, but more like he was imagining the dance hall filled with invisible enemies which he was fighting in slow motion. OK, so he wasn't that much of a dancer, but that was what made it so special. Storm wouldn't have danced with just anypony, there probably wasn't another mare in Canterlot, who he would dance with. But he was dancing with her, and he was enjoying it as much as she was. (The fact that he left Derpy at the restaurant proved she was just a charity case to him.)

Rainbow excitedly kept her dancing slow so not to embarrass her partner, but then her heart stopped cold when she saw a pair of Royal Guards, an earth pony and a pegasus, enter the room with a picture of Storm, Derpy and herself. Somepony must have taken it when Derpy gave them each a hug, and now the guards were looking for whoever started the fire! Storm seemed too preoccupied studying the way the other stallions handled their mares to notice the guards. Maybe if she could dance Storm to the back of the hall without being seen they could sneak out the back door before –

“HALT!"

The Royal Guards stood transfixed in their gleaming Canterlot armor. Dash looked around for somewhere to run, but they knew where to find her at the Wonderbolt stables so the only thing she would be doing would be abandoning Storm to face the guards alone. Not that he couldn't handle them of course, but if he defeated these guards, more would come, and then more; Storm would have to flee Canterlot to escape. If she ran out on him now she might never see him again!

Storm turned away from Dash and regarded the guards with mild complacency, “Go away” he quipped and began turning back to Dash when the pegasus ran between them, rearing up on his hind legs.

“You two have been accused of the arson of the Canterlot Theater and the assault of seven showponies. You need to come with us for questioning immediately.”

Storm's expression turned dark with anger, but instead of blasting him unconscious he spoke in a low voice of authority, “Third table from the ice sculpture, next to the tree, red saddlebag, leaf insignia, steel clasps. Open it and read its contents, by the time you’re finished reading, I should be done here. READ SLOWLY.” The pegasus reared again and Dash resisted the urge to bite him from behind, but something about Storm somehow convinced both of them that starting a fight was a bad idea and miraculously, the two guards walked back to the table. Seeming to think better of his earlier advice Storms horn glowed faintly as his saddlebag opened and a scroll floated out and uncurled itself onto the table.

The music began playing again and Storm mimicked the dance pose of the stallion next to him, waiting for Rainbow Dash. This time, it was her turn to act as though she'd never danced before. The music and position of the other dancers dictated that she dance with her back to the guards. In her frequent glances over her shoulder another couple always blocked her vision except once when she saw one guard watching her and Storm in case they tried to make a break for it, while the other pondered the scroll.

Her chance finally came when Storm unexpectedly tossed her spinning into the air. The first time she faced them, both guards were now staring at the scroll and looking worried, second turn the pegasus who had run between her and Storm had his mouth hanging open, the third turn both of them had their mouths open. Fourth turn the pegasus looked like he was going to bolt from the room and would have if his partner hadn't pulled him back. Rainbow couldn't help but snicker then suddenly realized she hadn’t put her wings out to break her fall. She looked down to see that the floor was close and coming closer but before another thought passed her head she felt a strong, warm wave of telekinesis catch her and lower her gently to the ground in front of Silent Storm.

The music ended and all the dancers in the room took a bow, “Shall we go see what our friends have found out?” said Storm with a curious smirk. Rainbow threw her mane back nodding gleefully, and then trotted after Storm towards a table with a repacked saddlebag and two very unhappy looking guards who stood at attention as the dancers approached. Storm was the first to speak, “The conflict at the theater began with a second rate magician losing her temper at the silver colored pony named Derpy. I intervened to help her and the situation turned violent. Rainbow Dash intervened to save me. Both she and Derpy are completely innocent, neither are to have even the slightest repercussions for their actions tonight, I take full responsibility for the damages to the theater.”

“Yes Sir.” The guards replied in unison.

“But of course” Storm continued casually “I'm a bit too busy to spend the night in a cell over a charge of brawling or damage to public property.”

“Yes Sir” the guards responded again.

“So get the mess cleaned up, and put Trixie and her lackeys on the next train out of Canterlot! If they resist you are to chain them behind the carriage with magic resistant locks and drag them to the border of Equestria! I don't want to see or hear her in Canterlot ever again! If there is a problem, you are to take it directly to Shining Armor and ask him if Silent Storm has the authority to issue such and order! Am I clear!?”

At the mention of the Captain the Guards stares grew even wider. Rainbow didn't know much about the Royal Guard, but she did know that Shining Armor hadn't appeared in public for months and clearance to see him had become stricter and stricter until, except for The Princesses, it was doubtful anypony had the right meet with him directly. But Storm spoke as though he knew him well and had full confidence in knowing exactly what his response would be. Who was this guy?

“After that” Storm continued, “You can both pull latrine duty for the next three months for disobeying a direct order from a superior officer.” Looking at the earth-pony he let him go, “Dismissed,” but then turned gravely to the pegasus who had challenged him in from of Rainbow Dash. “You on the other hand owe the mare an apology for your rude behavior tonight.” The Pegasus lowered his head and murmured something inaudible. “What was that!?”

The pegasus stammered moment looking pitiful but finally eventually managed, “Please forgive me Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow looked down on the defeated guard and flicked her mane. She wasn't seriously thinking about asking Storm to punish him more; but she hadn’t felt this alive since before being made leader of the Wonderbolts and wasn't going to let the moment pass without savoring it. After a long wait she smiled, “Aww, it’s alright.”

The guard began scurrying away and had nearly escaped when Storm added, “And after you’re done with your duties tomorrow you can volunteer to scrub the barracks and polish all of your unit’s weapons until they shine.” The guard picked up to a gallop and got out of the hall before Storm had any other ideas about how he might be spending the next few months and Rainbow laughed for the first time in weeks.

The music started again and Storm led Rainbow back to the floor for a final dance before the party ended. If Storm had never danced before he was a very quick learner, or maybe he use to dance and it had just been a long time. Either way he was rapidly improving, enough that Rainbow felt he could dance and talk at the same time. “Soooo are you going to tell me what was in that scroll?” she asked finally after trying unsuccessfully to come up with a less subtle approach.

“It regards my presence here in Canterlot.” He had seemed to have sensed her question coming and planned his response; what he would say and more importantly what he wouldn't.

“Can you tell me what it says?”

Storm stumbled a moment. Maybe he wasn't that comfortable dancing yet and they shouldn't be talking; actually, it was just an excuse to pretend not to have heard her. “How did you join up with the Wonderbolts?”

Rainbow looked away in annoyance and disappointment, but answered his question anyways; “My parents brought me to one of their performances when I was just a tiny filly, and I fell in love with them. Wait! What I mean is, I really, really liked their act. I started practicing my flying and last year I finally got the chance to join them. After that it wasn't long until I became their leader.”

Storm nodded, “And now that you won your objective, is being a Wonderbolt as great as you imagined?”

Rainbow could have been knocked over with a feather. This was the first time anypony had asked her that question. Even her friends who she had known all her life had taken it for granted that she would be happy having fulfilled her life's dream. Could she admit that after pursuing the dream of fame and greatness all her life she had caught it and found it hollow? Why should she? Storm wasn't telling her the truth about him. She tried to look him in the eye but failed, “It’s a dream come true.”

When she finally looked back at Storm he was nodding slowly, “Good, I'm happy for you.” Rainbow thought she could detect a hint of sadness in his voice.

Shortly afterward the music of the last dance ended Storm's saddlebag levitated to his back, “I need to go now.”

“Wait.” said Rainbow, “Before you go, please tell me: who are you?”

“You already know my name.”

“I know but... who are you?”

Storm looked her dead in the eye with a firm gaze, “You should be afraid to ask that question.”

Couldn't he take any of her questions seriously? Fine, if he wanted to play games and not be serious then... fine. She'd play along. “Oh, would you have to kill me if I found out” she tried to portray a playful smirk to hide her frustration.

“No. But even if I did that would be no reason not to ask; death is not to be feared. But you should be afraid that if you ask me that question, I might tell you the truth.”

He was joking, right? Rainbow tried to think of a retort but before she could Storm turned and left the hall, leaving Rainbow Dash alone.

…........................................................................................................................................................

Silent Storm entered the security wing of the palace proceeded through several checkpoints, at each one he produced the same scroll the guards had seen and was admitted without further question. Refusing the offer of a guide and instead asking for directions to a certain tower, Storm proceeded alone up a long stone staircase, admitted himself into a dark room and immediately closed the door behind him.

In one corner, on a bed of soiled hay lay a shivering pony, his fur was coming out and was scattered across the floor, his muscles were wasted, his condition suggested somepony who hadn't eaten properly for weeks, his breathing was labored but steady, and the blood vessels in one eye had burst, leaving it red in stark contrast to its milky white counterpart. Storm did not recoil from the tortured pony as many other ponies might, but regarded him with a grim solace from the knowledge of what was about to happen and wished for one moment that he hadn't come. The pain would begin soon, and when it did there would be no stopping it until the task was done.

Finally he turned to the only other pony in the room, Princess Celestia, who stood silently over the suffering creature. “I'm ready” he said calmly, “Let's begin.”

Scenes Deleted from the middle

In the original draft I had Twilight introducing Shining Armor to Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie; mostly to give Shining Armor in a happy/ relaxed setting so his transformation later would be more radical. Overall these weren't really necessary, and  I'm pretty sure Shining Armor would have had a basic idea of the EoH. He would have known that Fluttershy wasn't a tree.

Shining Armor followed Twilight through the streets of Ponyville; as happy as he was to be spending time with her again, it was a bit unsettled at how much she seemed to have changed over the last few years. When he first arrived she was like the same old Twilight, predictable her responses down to the last detail, but when he told her he’d participated in a body swap, she didn’t instantly start bombarding him with questions about the schematics of the spell. Maybe she was actually starting to learn that classified meant classified… or maybe she had just gotten more subtle and she was going to try to lull him into a false sense of security while she concocted some situation where he would need to teach her the spell. Either way he was glad their first meeting hadn’t revolved around her pleading with him with her little puppy dog eyes to ‘give her her birthday present early’, ‘share his great wisdom’ or ‘stop shutting her out of his life’.

Twilight had changed, there was no doubt about that, and it probably had to do with these ‘friends’ she was so eager to show him. When she left Canterlot he had been worried that she might have trouble meeting new ponies. He knew that aside from Cadance, he had been her only real friend until she left for Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, and even there Shining Armor wasn't sure she’d established relationships except for those ponies who wanted her help with late projects, or with last minute studying for exams. Either way Shining Armor was glad to see what kind of friends Twilight had made in Ponyville.

Their first stop was along a row of houses between Ponyville and the Everfree Forest. Shining Armor followed Twilight along a country lane past an unusual number and variety of animals until eventually Twilight stopped at the base of a large tree and craned her neck up, “Fluttershy, I'd like you to meet my brother.”

There was no response, so Twilight tried again, “Fluttershy.”

Shining Armor was suddenly feeling very worried. He knew his sister had trouble making friends, but she hadn’t been the sort to form relationships with inanimate objects, “Fluttershy is a tree?” he asked slowly, dreading the answer.

“Shh,” whispered Twilight twitching her ears, “Listen carefully, can you hear her?”

“Twilight... are you alright?”

Maybe her moving to Ponyville hadn't been a good idea after all. Shining Armor was about to suggest they go back to the library when he thought he heard a small voice. “H-hello.”

“Com'on down Fluttershy, there's somepony I want you to meet” Twilight was still looking up the tree.

Relief flooded over Shining Armor as he saw a real cream colored pegasus pony with a pink mane, flutter down from somewhere in the upper branches and hide behind Twilight.

“Fluttershy, this is Shining Armor, Shining Armor this is Fluttershy” said Twilight proudly.

“Pleased to meet you” said Shining Armor extending a hoof in greeting.

The pale yellow pegasus cautiously crept forward to accept his hoof shake, but just as she got close a squirrel sneezed behind Shining Armor, making her jump and retreat behind Twilight again. “It's OK Fluttershy, this is my brother from Canterlot, he just looks different because he had a body swap with somepony else.”

The cream pegasus looked over Twilight's back and gave a weak smile, “Hello.” she whispered.

“She's just a little shy.” said Twilight. Just then the squirrel gave another sneeze and Fluttershy bolted into a nearby cottage. “She really can be quite brave when you get to know her.” insisted Twilight sounding embarrassed.

Shining Armor didn't know how to respond. He was thinking of asking if they should return later when suddenly Fluttershy came running back, this time holding a box of the smallest tissues he had ever seen. Momentarily ignoring both Twilight and Shining Armor, Fluttershy ran over to the squirrel who had sneezed and offered it the box “There you go Appleseed,” she said softly, “Remember, you should cover your mouth when you sneeze, otherwise all your little squirrel friends might get your cold, and then I would have to put you all in bed for a week.” Much to Shining Armor's suprise, the squirrel snatched a tissue from the box and blew its nose like it knew what tissues were for. Then it dropped the tissue and hugged Fluttershy around one of her legs. “You’re welcome Appleseed,” she laughed.

“Fluttershy, do you want to show my brother some of your animals?” asked Twilight with a slight tinge of impatience.

“Oh, of course Twilight, if he wants to I mean.”

“Sounds great,” said Shining Armor, still rather confused and amazed after the sight of a squirrel knowing how to use a tissue, “I don't see a lot of animals in Canterlot.”

“Don't see a lot of animals?” exclaimed Fluttershy compassionately, “You poor, poor pony! Oh, I have so much to show you. Let me get the bird choir for you; we’ve recently had a marvelous new addition—a Scarlet Tanager named Taliesin who has the most beautiful voice you ever heard. Come this way.”

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Same as before; I wanted to show Shining Armor relaxing and being playful; but for the joint head of military/ police/ CIA equivalent in Equestria to be willing to trash a restaurant in a spontaneous food fight??????? For a while I had justified it of it could happen in Equestria, but even that was a little bit of a stretch. I tried rewriting the food fight several times but eventually took the whole thing out.

Version 1

After the cupcake eating contest (which Pinkie won) the three ponies fell to chatting until Shining Armor mentioned how strange it was suddenly having red fur instead of white. Twilight obliged by dumping a sack of flour over him, he laughed, and responded by dumping two sacks over her. Pinkie joined in and soon all three were fighting with whatever baking goods they could find. “Open the oven, Pinkie” Shining Armor called, lifting his sister (who was squealing too much to resist), almost to the ceiling and smearing her neck and mane with strawberry jam “this cake needs to bake about twenty minutes on high heat before she'll be ready to eat.” When Mr. and Mrs. Cake got home they found three white ponies rolling on the ground, laughing and sneezing hysterically. They made each of the three friends pay for a cake, saying they had chosen to wear their cakes instead of eat them, and then they were made to clean up the mess; but they made a game of it so nopony minded.

Cleaning up the hard wooden benches and floors of Sugar Cube Corner was fairly easy. Cleaning up three ponies covered in flour, jam, peanut butter, chocolate, custard, and sprinkles, on the other hoof; that was more difficult. Pinkie was somehow able to clean herself up in a few seconds with her tongue, and offered to clean Twilight and Shining Armor the same way... they refused. Instead the unicorn siblings opted for washing up in the river, which was harder than it sounded. The moving water was useful for wiping off loose bits of food, but it turned the flour to dough which got stuck deep in their manes and coats, making it more difficult to get off. Rolling in the long grass helped loosen the sticky bits, but only the top layer became loose enough to wash off, meaning both ponies had to complete four or five cycles of swimming in the river and rolling in the tall grass before they were clean.

Version 2

After the cupcake eating contest (which Pinkie won) the three ponies fell to casual talk until Shining Armor mentioned how he missed having white fur. Pinkie obliged by dumping a sack of flour over him. Having somehow concluded that a spontaneous food fight had begun, Pinkie bounced over to a cabinet for more supplies and began flinging them onto the table, back flipped back to the table, hoisted a jar of jam and flung its contents at Twilight only to have the jam caught in midair by Shining Armor’s telekinesis who was looking thoroughly confused. That’s when it hit Twilight; Shining Armor was here to relax from keeping the shield up, he was here to wind down, that meant he needed to do something fun.

Twilight picked the empty jar out of Pinkie’s hoof and held it under the jam, then gently took the jam out of Shining Armor’s grip, but instead of putting it back in the jar she proceeded to splatter it over his coat. Shining Armor looked at her like she’d gone mad, but by this time Pinkie was already coming at him with a carton of custard, singing something that sounded like a mixture between a war chant, a nursery rhyme and a goose beat boxing. It took them a few minutes, but eventually, something in Shining Armor snapped.

When Mr. and Mrs. Cake got home that day the store was… a mess, to say nothing of the three ponies who by now had learned that if most surfaces were covered in some sort of baking good, and if they were covered in the same, it was fairly easy to blend in to your surroundings in improvised urban camouflage. Then came the part where they told Shining Armor that Pinkie Pie didn’t actually own the store but just worked there, then came the task of cleaning the store up and paying for wasted product.

Version 3

After an extended farewell to Fluttershy and her collection of animals, Twilight took Shining Armor back to Ponyville to Sugar Cube Corner for lunch. Pinkie squealed with delight at finally meeting Twilight's brother and asked a seemingly unending barrage of questions about what it felt like to be in somepony else's body, which Shining Armor answered as best he could; (Though some of the questions about the possibility of swapping bodies with pine-cones or baby crocodiles left him a bit speechless.) After that, Pinkie danced on the table and sang a song that began as a welcome for Shining Armor, then turned into some sort of idea for a party where everypony swapped bodies with each other, then into something that neither Twilight nor Shining Armor quite understood, but had something to do with everypony in the world swapping bodies all the time and never having the same body for more than one day. It was weird. When Pinkie was finally done, she ordered a cupcake eating contest in honor of Shining Armor and the new body swapping utopia his coming heralded. Twilight and Shining Armor were glad for the cupcakes, at least they got Pinkie's mind off body changing.

Twilight was disappointed with how agitated Shining armor seemed around Pinkie and with how quickly he suggested leaving after the cup cakes. This was meant to be a holiday for Shining Armor; she had hoped that the Element of Laughter would be able to help in his recovery, as laughter was one of the best remedies for stress there was, but instead Pinkie had just made him more agitated. Twilight knew she needed to do something to loosen him up; especially if he was going to one of Pinkie’s parties in a few days. (Pinkie had wanted to hold a welcome party for him that evening, but Shining Armor convinced her to wait for a few days, and only by agreeing to the reluctant compromise that she could introduce him as being Twilight’s circus performing, bull fighting, third cousin from Haywaii.)

Outside Sugarcube Corner, Twilight noticed that Shining Armor had stopped and was eyeing some distant trees suspiciously, like he thought they were about to attack him. He checked the position of the sun and looked back to the clock tower and then back to the trees. “I thought the Everfree Forest was only on the south side of Ponyville.”

“That's Whitetail Wood, it’s perfectly safe, the plants are controlled by the earth ponies and the weather is controlled by pegasi, like normal.” A wave of nostalgia passed through Twilight’s gut at the same moment an idea flew into her brain, “Hey B.B., do you remember how we used to play hide and seek in Canterlot gardens when we were kids?”

“Yeah.”

“Well,” Twilight suddenly levitated a bulb of cold water from a nearby fountain and splashed it over Shining Armor, “You’re it!”

Shining Armor blinked the water out of his eyes and opened them just in time to see his sister disappear into the dense foliage. He smiled, picked up some loose leaves and bits of dirt to pay her back with, and then gave her a twenty second head start.

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I wrote this one night, completely on spur of the moment and thought it was hilarious at the time. Since then I've decided it doesn’t fit with how I wanted to develop RD in the lead up to her quitting the Wonderbolts. This was meant to come in chapter 7, right after Firestreak asked if Apple Bloom had 300,000 bits.

How could they have done this to her!? How could they have let Dash spend her entire life dreaming about becoming one of them and then turn out to be so bitter in real life. The most merciful thing they could have done would have been to kill her the day after she joined, that way at least she could have died happy. But the monsters had let her live, they had made her one of them and now she had become a part of their lie!

With a scream of frustration Dash lunged at Fire Streak, wrapping her hooves around his throat and squeezing the life out of him as she bashed his skull repeatedly against a rock, each blow drawing more blood as it poured down his face past his bulging, fish-like eyes. The other Wonderbolts tried to drag her off him, but she turned on them, tearing their wings off with her bare hooves and throwing them head first into trees where they made a satisfying “crack!” before falling limp and lifeless to the ground. A few of them did the smartest thing they had done since they met her and tried to run, flying away as fast as their wings would carry them, but Dash went after them, ripping a ten foot branch off one of the trees and using it as a club to bat each of them out of the sky with flawless precision, to the delighted cheers of Apple Bloom.

She no longer had a flight team but that wouldn't matter soon. She would hire Twilight to build her a new flight team, of robots! Android pegasi who would always put the fans first, would wouldn't be afraid to try new routines, wouldn't waste their money buying truckloads of their own merchandise,  and best of all, she'd have Twilight make her a remote control for them with a mute button on it! She could fold them all up at night and put them in a box under her bed where they'd be out of the way for her and Storm.

Ever so slowly, Dash opened her eyes; and the grin she had been wearing the last thirty seconds vanished, when she saw that all the Wonderbolts were still there, in a line looking back at her with their typical stupid expressions.

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One random quip that was meant for chapter 14 after Shining Armor’s two hundred word sentence rant against Twilight.

"You're brother has an amazing lung capacity!" grinned Rainbow after Twilight had fallen back from Shining Armor's side.

"Well I suppose it's really Storm's lung capacity with the body swap and all."

Rainbow missed a step as a slight glint entered her eyes, "Even better."

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This was another part of Storm and Silver telling Straight hack about their past; I wanted to convey that they weren’t just victims but did do some horrid things, even if they were in understandable circumstances, and make the idea that Silver wasn’t just getting saved by Storm over and over again, but had some initiative of her own. The chapter was getting a bit long and I think I already conveyed that Storm and Silver had a rotten life. I’m considering a short side story a few years in the future where Storm is struggling adjusting to civilian life and this story might come up then.

They told Straight Hack… almost everything. Storm kept telling himself that one day he would tell him everything, but of the five ponies and one griffon that they had killed in their two years living off the street, one of them had been innocent. They trusted Straight Hack not to tell anyone what they’d done, but didn’t want to incriminate him as a silent accomplice if anyone found out what they had done, found them living with Straight Hack.

The winter before Straight Hack; the train lines had frozen, leaving them stranded for over a week in Port Mane. After exhausting the town’s dumpsters on the second night, they resorted to begging; but this proved equally fruitless. There’d been a bakery there, run by an older earth pony stallion who had seemed nice and smiled at them when they came in, but when he learned they didn’t have any money only gave them one hot cross bun to share.

That the heating in the shop had been on minimum, suggested that the stallion wasn’t rich and didn’t have much to spare; but he had so much more than they did, and after looking around Storm believed stealing from that shop had the lowest likelihood of getting caught. Storm broke in through the window around midnight and began filling his improvised saddlebags bags with as much food as he could carry. He was almost finished when the lights went on and the baker stallion was coming for him. Storm jumped out the window he had come in and began running. The stallion came after him, calling for him to stop, but Storm knew better; he wouldn’t go through being beaten for stealing again.

With the snow making everything white it was hard to find a place to hide, but Storm was quick and had almost outran him, when Silver came out of nowhere and used her magic to pelt a jagged rock at the stallion’s head. The stallion went down and began flailing; they should have run, but Storm knew the baker had seen both their faces and if they couldn’t get out of the city that night, police might come looking for them the next day, and they weren’t the sort of ponies that the world would let get away with stealing.

They just wanted to live.

Thinking and acting in the same moment; Storm turned on the stallion, drew his knife and began stabbing him with untrained blows, trying to find his heart in that giant earthpony chest. It couldn’t have lasted for more than a minute; but the stallion put up a fight that made it feel like a war. Silver held him down and tried to keep him quiet; when a few kicks to the head didn’t stop his cursing, she tried stuffing his mouth with snow, then smothering him with her belly and eventually stuffing her hoof down his throat right up to her shoulder; that worked.

When the stallion stopped kicking the orphans looked at each other; realizing what they had done. They stripped the stallion the jacket he no longer needed, disappointed to find only four bits in the pocket, than set to getting rid of the body. He was too heavy for them carry, but the ice was slippery and so they dragged him to the river where they combined their magic’s to melt a hole in the ice large enough to slide the body through. Three days later, when the trains were running and they were about to leave; they found a newspaper saying a local baker had gone missing, leaving behind a wife and three children.

They ate the newspaper.

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This version of the speculation on Zecora at Uthraig went just a bit extreme. I like it, and consider it cannon, but for setting up the end of the chapter I wanted Zecora to be more mysterious/ wise/ epic and this made her more mysterious/ crazy/ nightmarish.

I got this idea from one repeated guess in the comments that Shining Armor and Zecora had been having an affair; not that this would be anything close to realistic to how that would turn out, but maybe how Shining Armor would have seen it when he was being trained by Zecora, (keep in mind, at that stage he believed that Storm had been raised by wolves.) Shining Armor is loyal to Cadance, (At least in this manner of speaking), and Zecora… has her reasons.

A lot of strange stuff was said about Zecora, and about what she did in her spare time. One subject of interest is that despite having been in the forest for decades, (no one was quite sure how many) she had never been in any romantic relationship that anyone knew of… at least… no one had ever been in a relationship with her and lived to tell the tale. One story Twilight heard twice was that Zecora was part spider, and after mating, cooked stallions into stews and ate them. Another issue was that apparently, making potions was just one of many jobs Zecora did to help the Rangers, for which she was paid a fortune by the royal crown. Estimates of her exact salary varied wildly, from six digits to eight, while speculation on what she did with her money was even wilder.

Theories ranged from the mundane such as saving it or sending it to her family, (whoever they were), to bizarre legends of feeding it to her dragon lover(s) and/or their half-breed child(ren); possibly, to fatten them up before she ate them too. (Some theories were even weirder.) The only consistent rumor was that she employed selected elite Rangers, sworn to secrecy, to run personal 'errands' for her in between tours, but even this couldn't be verified by any real evidence.

Scenes that I planned; but cut out before they were ever posted

This scene was meant to happen shortly after the search party was in the forest; they met another band of Rangers who had finished their tour and was on their way back to Equestria; Shining Armor says-

“I’m not Silent Storm. "

The stallion stared at Shining Armor in confusion for several moments his eyes opened wide and a huge grin shot across his face "I won" he murmured. Before Rainbow could get an explanation the Stallion had began jumping around the group in wide circles, similar to Twilight's happy dance and cheering in a sing-song voice "I WON! I WON! I won; I won; I won; I won; I WON!"

"No need to gloat Wind Whacker" grumbled one of his companions sulkily.

"I don't get it" complained Rainbow, "What did you win?"

Wind Whacker spun around to face her, sporting a smile so big it looked like his face would break. "Why, Storm's money of course."

"What!?"

"Most Rangers who get lost alone in the deep forest die or go crazy within a month. Silent Storm's been living at the front lines of the war by himself for who knows how long and so everybody knows it's only a matter of time before one or the other happens to him; but noone knows when it will happen and so we all make bets! My wager was yesterday, that puts me the closest meaning I win! I'M RICH!"

"That's insane."

Wind Whacker pointed towards Shining Armor, "He thinks he's somepony else, and I just won ninety-three thousand bits. Who are you calling crazy?"

"Does Storm know the Rangers do this?"

"Duh, who do you think we all bet against? Storm has a diamond dog bookie in Uthraig who manages all the bets. At the start of each year any Ranger who want to play, picks a day for two hundred bits and then Storm matches the total with his own money. Whoever gets the closest to when he 'looses it' gets the money; but if Storm makes it through the year then he keeps it. He's been fleecing us for years because he's never gone crazy; until now that is!"

"So... how much money does Storm have?" asked Rainbow curiously.

Wind Whacker did some quick calculations in his head "Well, Storm's been serving at the front line, earning maximum pay non-stop since; forever.  He only spends money when he goes to civilization which is; never; and for the last few years he's been making heaps of bits by betting that he won't go crazy; so I'd say he has about... a zillion bits! Time to celebrate baby!" Wind Whacker stopped briefly and looked Rainbow up and down, "You look OK. Wanna come with me to Uthraig while I collect my prize and then go party?"

"No thanks."

The stallion's face fell slightly, but then a glint re-entered his eyes when he caught sight of Twilight, "What about you?" he offered sliding up until their noses almost touched, "Do you need a big, strong, rich stallion to show you around in this big, bad forest?"

Twilight began turning bright pink and took one hesitant step backwards, "Um, well.... that's very kind of you but... but..."

"Buttttt?" asked Wind Whacker, seeming to take great delight in the word.

"I think, what the mare is trying to tell you," said Shining Armor firmly, as he stepped into the narrow gap between Twilight and Wind Whacker, "Is that she does not intend to attend your 'party' and that goes doubly so because there's not going to be one. I really am Shining Armor, on Monday Storm and I preformed a body swap."

"That's just what you would say if you had gone crazy!"

"He's telling the truth" confirmed Twilight, still pink around the ears "I have a letter from Princess Celestia herself which proves it." Twilight retrieved the second letter the Princess had sent to her,  and presenting to Wind Whacker whose face fell as he read it over for the second time.

Given issues of; what happened next and a soldier acting so immature and I’m not sure how cannon I can take this, but the lottery is definitely real. Since Storm did think he was Shining Armor for a while, he did technically go crazy and lost the lottery, but he hadn’t bet all his money on it. By the end I’m thinking he roughly broke even for however much he won in previous lotteries, (but since he didn’t think he was Shining Armor for a couple days after this, it wasn’t Wind Whacker who won it, it someone sensible.)

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This scene was something I had planned in the very early stages of SOS; discarded before I even got to the stage where the scene would fit, but still wrote because I found it amusing. Shining Armor and his party were going to have met Reaper and his Rangers, (though I hadn’t invented Reaper yet) earlier and traveled with them for some time. Also the flares were going to work more like fireworks/rockets once lit until I wondered if you needed magic to light them, why make them fly in one direction when you can use telekinesis to move them wherever you want? When they were camping; Twilight and another Ranger Sure Shot were on watch, heard strange noises and went to investigate. They crawl behind a log and then Sure Shot peaks over-

“What in the world?“ Sure Shot pulled out his cross bow and cocked it; Twilight looked over the log to see Pinkie Pie, using her party cannon to shoot all the trees around her, humming merrily to herself.

“Wait!"

“There's no way that this is real,” said Sure Shot, “It’s one of the most basic tricks there is. Cute mare, lost and confused in the woods, you go up and try to help her and things turn ugly.” Sure Shot aimed to fire; but Twilight quickly stood up and fired one of her flares towards what looked like Pinkie

“OOOOO;" squealed Pinkie with delight; “Fire works!" Pinkie Pie bounced in-place, open mouthed, until the flare shot into her mouth, causing her to double back, gagging and eventually sneezing twin jets of fire out her nostrils. “Yuck!” protested Pinkie, spitting out an empty husk.

“Pinkie?”

“Twilight!” yelled Pinkie angrily, bounding over as if to attack her, face red, “Twilight how could you!?”

“How did you get out here?”

“How could you betray me like this? I have always invited you to my parties. Always! Why didn’t you invite me to your party? Do you not want to be friends anymore?”

“What are you doing?”

“Just now?”  asked Pinkie; “I was setting up decorations for your party, the one you didn’t invite me to.“

“What party?”

“The search party!”

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I had a LOT of trouble writing the Shining Armor/ Twilight fight scene in chapter 18; not knowing what was meant to happen, sometimes I just started writing and saw where it went. This was going to happen right after Shining Armor picked up the sword, I never really liked because even being exhausted, Shining Armor wouldn't be this stupid, but it still made an interesting read .

Shining Armor dropped and barrel rolled to the side, bringing one of the swords down on his abandoned position, slicing clean through a timber wolf which vanished upon impact. Shining Armor regained his hooves and began scanning the glade; looking not just for what he could see but what he couldn't. If the terrormongers were amateurs there may be a section of the forest that he'd have trouble focusing on, and their own shrouds would have given away their locations. They weren’t amateurs.

There was a hiss. Shining Armor saw too late the cobra about to strike. He lifted his hoof as fast as possible, but the cobra shot out like lightning, bit his hoof and vanished into thin air. The flapping of scaled wings aimed for the back of his head caused him to buckle, rolling onto his back as he brought both swords to slice through a cockatrice, bit it too vanished on the impact.

Several minutes of this had Shining Armor nervous; the terrormongers weren’t trying to hurt him. Terrormongers almost never killed their prey outright, but fed on them as long as possible, sometimes days, but they always started by hurting a prey just enough that they were no longer considered a threat. They were treating him as someone they didn't think was dangerous meaning he was either against some very powerful necromancers, or they were trying to scare him with false confidence.

It didn’t matter; the fact that they intended to take their time on him gave Shining Armor hope. It meant they didn't know that within striking distance was a Canterlot princess and a body which would soon have monolithic strength, who were momentarily defenseless. There was a pause of a few seconds, and then, everything changed as a hurricane seemed to explode from within the glade, and dozens of forest creeps rushed him from all sides.

What had he done!?

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I had planned the last meeting between Rainbow Dash and Rarity (check the extended ending) long before I wrote it, but when I first tried to write it I got carried away and ended up writing this instead. The next day I looked it over, knew I‘d gone too far and decided to write the version I‘d planned. This cuts off when Rarity is trying to get Rainbow Dash to feel her cats

“Pet him Dash, feel how soft he is.”

Rainbow reached forth and stroked him twice. “Nice.”

“Oh, that wasn’t enough Rainbow Dash! You need to really feel him.” Rarity lifted Frazzles in her telekinesis and began rubbing him up and down Rainbow’s neck and wing.

“Very nice.” Complimented Rainbow slowly, more than a little uncomfortable with the weirdness of the situation.

“But how can you say that when you haven’t felt any of the others!?” Protested Rarity vehemently, “We define our quality by comparing ourselves to others, and cat’s must be no different!” Rarity immediately grabbed the cats Rainbow assumed to be Turquoise and Sapphire and began rubbing one of them on her neck and wing opposite to Frazzles, and the other she rubbed up and down her belly, tickling her mercilessly, as the three cats meowed incessantly. “See how Sapphire’s coat is grainy and stringy, while Turquoises fur sticks together like it hasn’t been washed? Now feel Frazzles perfect hide. Fit for a princess!” Rarity levitated Frazzles in front of her face, rubbing his belly with her hoof as she continues to abrade Dash with her other tom cats who seemed as uncomfortable as Dash was feeling. “Why you have such a nice coat Mr. Frazzles; why, I could just rip it right off of you and make you into a coat. Yes I could. Yes I could.”

Frazzles lashed out with a claw against Rarity’s forehoof causing her to draw back in horror. “Mr. Frazzles! How dare you!” Rarity dropped him onto the floor but didn’t let him go from her telekinesis, “After all the kindness I’ve shown you- you… you deserve to be punished!” The cat looked up at her and hissed, “OK fine, you can run an errand for me instead.” Rarity levitated over a blank piece of paper and put in on the ground in front of Frazzles, “Take this message to the palace and deliver it personally to Princess Celestia, just tell the guards at the gates that you’re from me and they’ll let you in. Oh and if you see Valor Hunk there, scratch him for me! He hasn’t been returning my love letters.” Frazzles looked at her and cocked his head, “Alright, Alright, you win. You can deliver the message after your music lesson.”

Rarity released Frazzles who walked to a corner of the room and began licking himself. Rainbow Dash crept a little bit closer to the fasionista, “Rarity, how about you sit down and have a drink of water.”

“Oh there’s no time for that Rainbow Dash! No time at all! I’ve just received word that somepony has been spreading the insidious rumor that you’re resigning from the Wonderbolts! Can you imagine! Now I suspect Spitfire is behind this attempted coup since she has the most to benefit from you gone, but I’ll bet we can trap the little fem fatal in her plot and get rid of her for once and for all! I, my ponies and my cats are at your command. Just say the word and we’ll-”

            “Rarity.” Interrupted Dash, hoping to derail the freight train of verbiage before it went too far, “It’s true. I am resigning.”

            “Oh.” Said Rarity quietly, “I’m sorry, I must have overreacted. It seems so obvious now that-” Rarity grabbed a water jug that was on the bench and hurled its contents at Dash, “Take that changeling!” she yelled; picking up another cat in her telekinesis, and hoisting it high above her head like she was about to hurl the cat at her as a weapon, but then stopped short; “You… you didn’t melt. That means… you really are Rainbow Dash! Oh Darling can you ever forgive me for accusing you of being a changeling.”

            Dash decided not to tell Rarity that water didn’t make changelings melt; “It’s... alright.”

            “No! No! It’s not alright!” yelled Rarity vehemently, “I’ve accused you, and here in Canterlot, even if we can prove the claim is false the accusation alone can be enough to ruin your reputation! I’ve ruined you!”

            “Settle down Rarity, We’ll figure something out.”

            “Yes, we will!” agreed Rarity as she fell to the ground hyperventilating. “She did it!” Screamed Rarity hysterically pointing as accusing hoof at Topaz who seemed unfazed, “She’s the one who sought to slander your reputation; she’s working for Spitfire! Traitor!”

            “Rarity-”

            “We can’t take back her words now that they’ve been spoken, but was can sue her; sue her for everything she’s worth! We can make sure that the case goes to a judge is a nice, elderly, lonely stallion, who we can seduce to make sure that he rules in our favor! Then we can overthrow the Princesses, and live happily ever after!”

            “Rarity; we can’t file a law suit against your cat!”

            Rarity looked at her and blinked; “Traitor!” she screamed, “You can’t pull out now Rainbow Dash, not on the eve of our final victory! You have to stick with me on this!”

            “OK, OK fine! The cat did it!”

            Rarity visibly relaxed and slumped back, resting her head against one of her mannequins, breathing deeply, “Thank you, Rainbow Dash.”

            “You stay here,” Ordered Dash, “I’ll go to Hoofington and start using my mind control powers to gather an army of followers to overthrow the Princesses.”

            “Alright,” breathed Rarity dreamily, “That sounds like a good plan, oh I know that we will make such good Princesses. Tata for now.”

............................................................................................................................................

So if Zecora knows the Everfree Forest is so dangerous; why would she volunteer to lead a bunch of foals into it on Nightmare Night and then intentionally scare them?

Silent Storm squatted in a narrow, freshly dug trench with five Rangers on either side of him, hidden under a camouflaged tarp that blotted out the full moon. It was two years since Silver had died; Storm had barely spoken a word to another Ranger since then, and not once had he left the forest. However, on his last stop at Uthraig to collect supplies, he had been approached by several officers asking for his help.

After a series of defeats, a terrormonger force of unidentified size was coming dangerously close to the edge of the forest and was encroaching on the outskirts of a hamlet named Ponyville. Unless they were stopped, the terrormongers would massacre the town, and after that, keeping the secret would be nearly impossible; and could cause a tsunami of supercharged terrormongers that destroyed Equestria.

They had to be stopped.

Storm and the other Ranger captains had the numbers to do it, but currently the location of the terrormonger force was unknown. To make things more... interesting, tonight was Nightmare Night, a festival to Princess Luna, a night dedicated to scaring ponies, if left to themselves the civilians in Ponyville would draw the terrormongers to their town before the night was through... unless; there was another well of fear to attract the terrormongers, already inside the forest.

Storm crouched down a little further as he heard the approaching voice of Zecora and a hundred hooves behind him, on their way to Luna’s statue, right on schedule. Holding his polished blade in front of him, Storm could see them in the distance. Zecora’s mohawk had been replaced by a flat cascade of mane, studded with spiders; (Storm wondered briefly if they were rubber or if she had petrified real spiders into her mane) but her gold jewelry was completely unchanged, as always.

"This is the worst plan ever." Whispered a young Ranger beside him, slightly too loudly, as he twisted his stupid head around to look at the civilians rather than keep his eyes where they should be, "Some of those kids can't be more than seven years old, and we're using them as bait!"

Storm resisted the urge to kick the air out of the new recruit and leaned over in an appropriately whispered growl, "Zecora's with them."

"There's at least two dozen civilians out there;" continued the new recruit, "If just one terrormonger gets past us, it would be a massacre!"

Why did Storm have to get a recruit who was deaf as well as stupid? Storm leaned over again and whispered a second time, slightly louder; "Zecora's with them."

Thankfully the recruit shut up after that and got back to watching and listening. A little over a minute into Zecora's presentation, a tree fell with a crack about fifty meters to the north, meaning one of the other strike teams had spotted the enemy. Storm drew his blades and has one hoof out of the trench when a bright light issued from somewhere above the tree line; Storm looked up just in time to see a hooded figure in a chariot drawn by two thestrals.

What the hay!?

Extended Ending - Wrap Ups

Speed. Soarin had lived a large part of his life for speed; and only four or five times before had he had wanted it more than he did today. Today of all days it was important to impress the Team Captain Rainbow Dash. He zigzagged through an obstacle course, holding a cloud ball in his hooves, as he sprinted towards the finish line; just a few more seconds and- WHACK! Soaring went spinning off course as Fire Streak slammed into him from the side.

“You’re out Soarin.” Called Rainbow Dash from above him.

“It’s not my fault.” He protested, “Fleet Foot came out of my blind spot.”

“That's not a blind spot Soarin! THAT’S WEST!”

Soarin couldn’t think of anything smart to say, and after six months with Dash as the team captain he was starting to realize that at times like this, it was better not to say anything. Fortunately before he had to do any more thinking; the bell rang signaling training was over. Soarin took off in the direction of the showers but he didn’t get very far before Rainbow Dash stopped him; “Do another hundred laps of the course.” She ordered. Soarin paused and thought for a moment with a wide grin on his face; he knew what was happening.

From the first day Rainbow Dash had been in the Wonderbolts, Soarin had known that she had a HUGE crush on him. At first he had thought it was going to be as easy as pie to get her to pay out, but then she started playing this confusing game of hard-to-get that the two of them had been dancing around ever since, each waiting for the other to make the first move. He’d watched in interest as she planted those rumors she was rocking out with Spitfire to make him jealous, and as the bottled up emotions for him grew visibly as the months flew by.

He always knew it was only a matter of time before she made her move but hadn’t been sure what her play was going to be until last month when she arranged that whole escapade in the Everfree Forest. Setting up all those hologram monsters and hiring that hot actress mare to pretend she was hurt had all seemed a bit extreme, (Soarin had gone along with it and pretended he was scared), and Soarin had never known that Dash was such a great actress, but he got what it all meant.

It was all about him.

Dash had set it all up so she could fake her resignation; thinking that when she did, he would come after her, and then take her for the ride of her life. He almost had, but still wasn’t going to be the one to move, even though it was obvious how crazy she was about him. He had waited, like an expert hunter, and just as he expected, she could only keep herself away from him for a few weeks before coming back.

Now, obviously, she said she was just staying for a week to get her stuff packed up and resign officially, but he saw right through that. All week she’d been teasing him and pretending she wasn’t interested in him, and likewise, he pretended he wasn’t interested in her. Today was her last chance to get him without making another fake resignation attempt and he knew this was going to be the day. She just told him to do a hundred extra laps, meaning she wanted to keep him out of his room for an extra hour or so; so when he did get to his room she’d be there waiting for him with socks; and pie! Lots and lots of pie!

…But why did she want him to do a hundred laps first? Did she want him to begin out tired? Maybe she just hadn’t thought of that, (after all, Soarin couldn’t expect everyone to be as smart as he was). Soarin thought for a few moments on how he could get Dash pie without doing the hundred laps. OK fine; he’d do something to be the initiator; otherwise she might lose her nerve and not think he was interested in her at all. Soaring floated all dreamy like up to Dash; “You know I could do a hundred laps or-”

“Two hundred laps.”

So that was the way it was; still playing hard to get. If he did eighty laps, she’d think he was really fast and get even more excited. Soarin set off to do his eighty laps, giving Dash a flirtatious wave with his flank.

That pie had better be worth it.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Rainbow Dash watched Soarin fly away from him, averting her eyes in time to miss his usual bouncing his rump he always did that made him look constipated, and then realized what had just happened.

She’d finished!

This had been her last day as a Wonderbolt, after today they were Spitfire’s problem again and, looking back, this last week really hadn’t been that bad. After she knew that she wasn’t going to be shackled to the Wonderbolts for the rest of her life, they almost seemed comical and her annoyance had been more from habit then real irritation. She was glad she’d decided to come back to wrap things up properly; and do one final show, knowing that it would be her last.

Back in her rooms; Dash wove her way through a labyrinth of packed boxes. A few dozen of them were labeled to be delivered to her cloud house in Ponyville which she still owned; with most of the rest listed for various charity actuations, except for a few items which she figured would appreciate in value fast enough it was worth putting into storage for a few years, (Twilight’s idea).

Rainbow unsuited; placing the uniform in the bottom of a box destined for auction; took an empty box and began rummaging through the remaining unpacked tidbits to determine their fates. A small statue of herself, holding a lightning bolt like a spear; sell. A rainbow colored scarf that one of her fans had made for her; keep. A stack of vinyl records with Wonderbolt theme music on them; sell. A huge box of fireworks… save them for Scootaloo’s birthday next month. The picture of her defeating Spitfire to become captain of the Wonderbolts; sell. A stack of choose-your-own-adventure novels… sell; she didn’t need the fantasies anymore.

Piling things into one box or another, she eventually made her way into her bedroom, where she stopped at a pile of small plush toys that rested on one side of the bed. Thirty one little Wonderbolt plush toys, one for each team member past to present, she had collected when she was a filly and had slept with ever since. Even after she came to loathe the Wonderbolts she still slept with their effigies, hugging them tightly every night, around their throats, imagining the blue masks weren’t masks, and were getting gradually darker shades of blue as she strangled the life out of them. Rainbow shook the outdated fantasy out of her head and dumped them in the auction box. Pretty soon; she expected to have something much nicer to cuddle up to at night time.

When Rainbow had finished sealing the fates of her possessions, she decided to say one last goodbye to Spitfire and wasn’t surprised to see her waiting for her outside her doorway. “You’re really leaving then?” asked Spitfire after looking past her at the stacks of sealed boxes.

“Yup.”

“Still not saying where you’re going?”

“Nope.”

“Alright then,” smiled Spitfire weakly, “Take care Rainbow Dash.”

“You don’t seem as happy as I thought you might be, seeing as how I’m giving you control of the team back.”

Spitfire shrugged, “Sometimes it’s nice not to have everything resting on you.”

“You going to be OK?”

“I’ll be fine, I dealt with them for four years before you came along, I can deal with them again; but I was thinking of bringing in some help.”

“Oh, yea?”

“Two unicorn stallions who call themselves the Flim Flam brothers; when they heard you were retiring they offered to help out with management of the team for a percentage of the profits. Have you ever heard of them?”

“Actually I’ve met them, I think they’re-”

“Oh by the way; if you’re planning to disappear, and aren’t coming back, would it be alright with you if we tell everypony that you eloped with a half dragon Saddle Arabian Princess, who then ate you in a fit of passion? The Flim Flam brothers think it would make a huge spike in our merchandising sales and they know some gypsies who would be willing to pretend to summon your spirit between performances at our shows.”

“…No.”

“Hear me out;” pleaded Spitfire, “They also have this idea for a movie. They’re still working out the details of the plot but so far it’s that the half dragon princess only ate about half of you, and out of remorse, she keeps the rest of you frozen on ice. Then, two hundred years in the future, she replaces the parts she ate with machines, revives you as a cyborg and then the two of you go to the North Pole save the world from an alicorn necromancer and his army of undead minions. They reckon the movie could clear fifty million bits with the right advertizing, and there’d be a cut for you if you ever came to collect it… you’d have to come in disguise though.”

“Just say that I sold my stuff, ran away, and that I’m not leaving any way for anyone to contact me.”

Spitfire’s shoulders slumped a bit, “...Alright." she sighed, "Sorry for interrupting you, what were you saying about the Flim Flam brothers?”

“I think they’d be perfect for the job.” smiled Rainbow.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Dash made several slow steady laps around Canterlot; visited her favorite buffet and then, after several minutes of internal debate, decided to stop by at Rarity’s before heading to Ponyville. Opting to forego the fiasco of trying to climb up through the workshops again, Rainbow landed on the balcony, pushed her way through the double open doors, and stepped over Opal to see Rarity’s back as she worked furiously on several mannequins who stood in silent subjection to Rarity’s markers, threads and needles.

Rainbow watched in unnoticed silence; ignoring Opal as she rubbed against her legs as Rarity talked endlessly to herself as she stabbed needle after needle into her mannequin victims; “Ruby, we need Ruby slippers to go with the emerald and pearl necklaces, but if we do that then we’ll have to change the dress color from black to white, and you know how I feel about white these days, it’s just so dull. What about aqua? I love aqua! But then I’d have to make this dress a short-medium-short and it was meant to be medium-short-short. Oh whatever will we do? I know! We can take the lace from the neck braids and-no no; that wouldn’t work. What about-”

“Rarity?”

Rarity dropped her needles and thread, catching them a moment later to stab them into her mannequins as she turned; “Rainbow Dash! You’re back!”

“Were you just talking to yourself?”

“What? Oh no-no. I was talking to Opal, she’s helping me design some new dresses.” Rarity pointed to Opal, sitting on a bean bag licking herself, without showing the slightest interest in the dress Rarity was making. Rainbow Dash suddenly felt a lot less comfortable with whatever was rubbing against her legs, she looked down and saw a yellow cat weaving between her legs and behind that one was the white cat she had stepped over to get in here.

“Umm… you got two new cats.”

“Four new cats;” Corrected Rarity beaming, “I finally found out why Opal has always acted so crabby, she was lonely, so I got her Ruby to keep her company. They were happy together for about a week, but then I realized how horribly inconsiderate I was being. I don’t limit myself to only one male and so why should she? I got her Turquoise but realized my mistake almost instantly; if Opal and Turquoise were together, Ruby would see them and get jealous, so I got him Topaz so he could spend time with her when Opal and Ruby were together. Then I realized what a horrible betrayal I had done to my dear little Opal, practically inviting Ruby to be unfaithful to her, so I got rid of that perfidious Ruby and replaced him with two new toms, naming them Sapphire and Frazzles!”

“…That makes sense.” Not.

“Of course it does dear, what else would you expect? Now you simply have to feel Frazzle’s coat, it is the softest of any cat ever. Oh Frazzles!” Rarity looked around with a dark smile on her face for several moments then spotted a sand colored cat sitting on the back of a nearby couch. When Frazzles saw she was after him, he tried to run, but Rarity was too quick, galloping over, lifting him up in her telekinesis and bringing him over to Rainbow Dash, despite his protests. “Pet him Dash, feel how soft he is.”

Rainbow reached forth and stroked him twice. “Nice.”

“Oh, that wasn’t enough Rainbow Dash! You need to really feel him.” Rarity lifted Frazzles in her telekinesis and began rubbing him up and down Rainbow’s neck and wing.

“Very nice.” Complimented Rainbow slowly, more than a little uncomfortable with the weirdness of the situation.

“But how can you say that when you haven’t felt any of the others!?” Protested Rarity vehemently, “We define our quality by comparing ourselves to others, and cat’s must be no different!” Rarity immediately grabbed the cats Rainbow assumed to be Turquoise and Sapphire and began rubbing one of them on her neck and wing opposite to Frazzles, and the other she rubbed up and down her belly, tickling her mercilessly, as the three cats meowed incessantly. “See how Sapphire’s coat is grainy and stringy, while Turquoises fur sticks together like it hasn’t been washed? NOW feel Frazzles perfect hide. Fit for a princess!”

They each felt equally disturbing. “Actually Rarity I was hoping to talk to you about something.”

Rarity dropped the cats, who ran back to their original positions, “Oh yes; you simply must forgive me for getting so caught up with my cats, no matter how delightful they are. I’m sure that by now you’ve heard the vicious rumors circulating Canterlot that you’re resigning. Can you imagine!? Now, I assume Spitfire is behind this attempted coup since she has the most to gain from you gone, but if we work together, I’m sure that we can show that little fem-fatal for the liar that she is and-”

“Rarity, they’re not rumors, it’s true.”

Rarity looked shocked, “What? Whatever do you mean?”

“I’m quitting the Wonderbolts. All the paperwork has been signed, and this was my last day. I’m leaving.”

“But… you’ve wanted to be a Wonderbolt for as long as I’ve known you; and-”

“And now I want to do something else.”

“Really Rainbow Dash I must protest, think this over before making such a rash decision… I’ve only just finished making your new range of uniforms, they’re perfect!”

Rainbow sighed and spent the next fifteen minutes looking over the new uniforms; to be honest, they looked a lot like the current ones, with a few changes that made them look like last year’s uniforms and with a few extra lightning bolts sewn on. Really, some of the pictures of future Wonderbolt uniforms Rainbow had seen in the fan fiction comic books looked way cooler. “Send them to Spitfire;” said Rainbow after spending the minimum amount of time necessary to avoid hurting Rarity’s feelings, “She’s got your payment ready and I’m sure she’d be more than willing to commission you for next year’s uniforms.”

“But… you’re quitting the team of your dreams?”

“Actually; I was thinking of joining a new team soon, and that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.” Rarity looked on in interest, “You always said that you could make an outfit for anything, right.

“Oh, of course! Anything you can name I can make.”

“Yea well when I took my last holiday I was doing a private show on this country resort near a thicket, and… well I crashed into one of the trees.”

“Oh how terrible! That must have ruined the whole show.”

“Well I could have saved it, except when I crashed my uniform was torn, and I got a bunch of sap all over the uniform and it stuck out as clear as day, and as if that wasn’t bad enough, I got a bunch of thorns stuck into me when I crashed and they really hurt.”

“Oh dear; Rainbow Dash I understand that after such a terrible fiasco you might be afraid to perform again, but if you retire now then it will appear that you’re simply running away.”

“Did I say this was my last holiday, I’m sorry I meant it was on my first holiday after I joined, old news now. Anyway, after that I got to thinking about what if I had a uniform that was a bit more durable you know? Something that if I crashed head on into a thorn tree, it wouldn’t hurt and I could keep going on with the performance.”

“You mean have some extra padding in the front?”

“More like all around, you know in case I slam into a tree on the side or if I try out my idea of flying backwards and I hit something?”

“…You can fly backwards?”

“Well sort of; I’ve been hoping to try and teach myself how to fly backwards and sideways through a giant obstacle course, really fast, so I’d need a lot of protective coverings like, all around.”

Rarity pursed her lips and thought; “Well, I could go heavy on extra thick cotton pads… but it would make you look fat… or pregnant! Can you imagine the scandal!? I really can’t recommend it.”

“Maybe you could use something a bit tougher then cotton then?”

“Tougher? You mean like flannel?”

“I was thinking maybe some sort of metal; something really hard but without much weight. Titanium maybe?”

“Metal!?” Gasped Rarity in horror, “I couldn’t, I mean I don’t,” she thought, “Maybe I could squeeze a forge in on the second floor, but then it would be giving off soot and smoke all day long and, with such a low roof, it would get all over the dresses as they were being made and ruin them.”

“…You could outsource the metal plates and make them somewhere other than your tower.”

Rarity’s face lit up, “Oh yes you’re right, I could; silly me. So, we need a metal dress… I think I could paint it in such a way that it still looked elegant; with the right amount of polish and pinks and blues and golds I could-”

“I was hoping for something that if I crashed into a tree and got covered in sap and mud, anyone watching me would hardly notice, so I was thinking more like black with dark greens and browns…”

Rarity looked even more confused, “You want to wear dark colors; in this season? Why have you even looked at the latest magazines? Dark is out, out of the question.”

“Maybe I could start a new trend?”

“Well… yes I suppose you could, but if you’re insistent on going for ‘dark’ and ‘metal’ it might be salvaged with the proper design.”

“I was thinking alternating the colors in a design something like a tiger or a leopard. Leopards are cool.”

Rarity’s eyes widened in abject horror, “Y-you want to wear a dress with spots? To go with your striped mane!? Rainbow darling you’re not even making sense! Are you feeling OK, because you sound like you’re losing your mind!”

“OK, tiger then.” backtracked Rainbow.

“…Maybe. I could make you a cape that would reflect the tiger pattern and with some streamers to fly behind you it I might be able to make it work.”

Rainbow dash shook her head again; “Those things would get caught whenever I crashed, plus they wouldn’t be aerodynamic and I really want to be able to still do my sonicrainboom. I need something that’s lightweight, covers my whole body, is extremely resilient, made of dark colors in the design of a tiger and is aerodynamic. Can you make it?”

Rarity stopped and thought for a long minute, looking from one of her mannequins to another with varying degrees of displeasure. “No.” she said at last; “I can’t even envision the sort of dress you’re asking for, but I’m sure it would look horrible. I-I’m sorry, but I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”

“It’s alright Rarity; just… take care of yourself OK? Maybe take it easy on the cats.”

“Oh but Rainbow Dash; clearly you don’t understand the fine loyalty of cats. They’re ten times better companions then those stallions that I use to date. They don’t pee all over the carpets, they don’t shed on the furniture, they never disagree with me; why, when I add the next nine floors to my tower, four of them are going to be for my new best friends here.”

“…Goodbye Rarity.” Rainbow flew a few feet into the air, hovered for a moment; gave Rarity a brief pat on the back and then flew out the window. Rainbow Dash only saw Rarity a few times after this, and perhaps it was for the best. Over the coming months the conditions on the second and third floors continued to deteriorate, visits from the Canterlot stallions became less frequent, and Rarity's collection of cats multiplied as her sanity collapsed.

Soon five cats became fifty, and fifty became five hundred. Construction began on a thirteen story expansion to Rarity's tower, funded by her booming fashion empire which prospered until the winds of Canterlot desires shifted in the direction of a new, up and coming prodigy, bringing an abrupt end to the once seemingly endless supply of revenue from Rarity's trade. As her sales plummeted, Rarity fumed with what she saw as betrayal by what had been her loyal consumers and came to despise pony company altogether, preferring the companionship of her cats instead, who continued to increase as her wealth diminished. One year after the mysterious disappearance of Wonderbolt legend Rainbow Dash; Rarity's business closed with an all store sale. Using the last of her money, Rarity drained the mud baths from her subterranean spas, and filled them with a rumored one hundred year supply of cat food, for one hundred cats, and then sealed the doors shut from the inside.

The looming, half finished, tower earned the name ‘the corpse’ from the residents of Canterlot, firstly as a metaphor for the state of Rarity’s business, secondly because the decaying scaffolding made it look like one, and thirdly because it smelled like one. Then, three years after the tower was sealed, scores of cats began a mass exodus of the tower, many with sewing needles stuck into their fur. To the relief of the citizens of Canterlot, the doors of the tower were blasted open, and a team was sent inside to investigate. The team passed through eight floors, made barely accessible by layer upon layer of cat droppings, until they reached the ninth floor to discover a scandal that shook the fashion and social world of Canterlot for years to come. Rarity had begun working again, and was planning to re-kick-start her business with a new range of coats… fur coats.

After a vicious struggle, Rarity was restrained and taken to a mental asylum where she lived out the rest of her days. Her first spring at the asylum she crafted a wedding dress from several rolls of toilet paper and married a tree which she named, ‘Prince Handsome-Rich-Charming-Smart-Strong-Famous'. By her own account it was because he gave her flowers and was a very good listener, by the accounts of her nurses, it was because the tree was the only living thing in the asylum which she could catch long enough to conduct a wedding ceremony. She was visited, in gradually declining frequently, by those who had known her in Ponyville, none more often or more loyally than Sweetie Bell whose songs never failed to calm Rarity, sometimes even enough for her to recognize her younger sister.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

The flight to Ponyville was peacefully uneventful, and Rainbow covered the distance in a fraction of the time the train ride would have taken. She did a pass over Sweet Apple Acres; peeking through the window of Applejack’s bedroom she saw AJ asleep and Fluttershy dozing on the couch and decided not to wake them, but was glad to see Caramel helping Big Macintosh in the orchard. She stopped by at Twilight’s for a few minutes, planning to just say hi and up some notes on the cloud walking spell, and ended up spending the next twenty minutes hearing another one of Twilight’s apologetic rants, and collecting a fourth letter of apology which she had written to Storm. Rainbow managed to slip out the window when Twilight wasn’t looking, hoping she wouldn’t be too late for her next appointment.

Rainbow landed on the roof of Sugar Cube Corner at one minute to four, but her contact wasn’t there. She waited impatiently for about half an hour, then took off, doing slow watchful laps around Ponyville until she spotted Scootaloo, with the other Cutie Mark Crusaders by the river trying to fashion together some kind of boat out of some loose timber, an old wheelbarrow, a surfboard and… something pink.

Dash hovered behind a tree and then, when the crusader’s backs were turned, ran into a nearby clump of bushes. She waited for the right moment and then pounced, sweeping up Scootaloo in one hoof and tickling her from behind.

“Rainbow Dash!” managed the orange filly between gasps, “What are you doing here?”

“I was going to ask you the same thing; I was waiting for you at Sugar Cube Corner.”

“You were?”

“You got the letter I sent you… right?”

The look on Scootaloo’s face showed she had no idea what she was talking about; but from the look on Sweetie Bell’s face, Dash would have thought she’d accidentally just killed somepony; “I’m sorry” she begged, “I got your mail this morning and I was going to give it to you at school, but you were late and I forgo… please don’t be angry.”

“Settle down Sweetie Bell,” cautioned Rainbow, “It’s OK.”

Sweetie Bell cringed, “But I kept Scootaloo’s mail! I might as well have stolen it, I’m sorry.”

“Relax Sweetie Bell” offered Scootaloo, “If anything it’s that dumb mail mare’s fault.”

“What?” Dash asked.

“Derpy, the retarded mail mare;” clarified Scootaloo, “I don’t even see how she keeps her job, half the time she’s late, and the other half she gets the mail mixed up like she did with giving my mail to Sweetie Bell.”

Rainbow glared at Scootaloo disapprovingly; “Don’t ever let me hear you talk about Derpy that way again.”

“But… she is a retard. No one really likes her and her daughter is crazy; she keeps on interrupting Mrs. Cheerilee whenever she tries to teach history, yelling out that virtually everything in our history book is wrong.”

“I said; don’t ever talk about her that way again!”

Scootaloo looked at her confused; “But… you use to make fun of her all the time.”

That was… true. Horse Apples; why did that have to be true? Dash stood there, reminded of everything she had ever said about Derpy, her discoordination, her unpopularity; the things she had said about Derpy behind her back… and to her face. She tried to think about even one kind thing she had ever said to Derpy, but there wasn’t anything. The last time she had met her came out in crystal clarity, venting the frustration she had been feeling for the Wonderbolts on Derpy.

“Rainbow Dash?” Dash looked down to see Scootaloo nudging her, looking worried, “You OK?”

“Umm… yea, sure.” Dash shook her head, trying to get rid of the guilt that was clawing at her; “Let’s say I take you to Sugar Cube Corner next week, alright?”

Scootaloo exclaimed some sort of happy affirmative, that Rainbow Dash didn’t hear. She wanted to stay and yell at her for making fun of Derpy, but what Scootaloo was right; what she had just said was paltry compared to some of the things Dash had said over the years. Dash was aware of her hoof ruffling Scootaloo’s mane and then the air under her wings as she began circling into the air. She hadn’t told her wings to fly, but she knew what they were doing, against her own will, they were taking her to find Derpy.

Of all the things Scootaloo had said, none of them were false; Derpy was clumsy and retarded, but she only got that way sacrificing herself to try and help others. Now she probably was the lamest mare in Equestria, but she deserved respect for all the things she had done in the past; even if she couldn’t remember them. Dash knew it was against the rules; now that she knew about Derpy’s past, she was forbidden from talking to her, as any slip of the tongue could bring back memories that could kill her, but Dash’s wings were giving her no choice, she couldn’t let the tirade at the Wonderbolt training court be the last thing she ever said to Derpy.

Extended Ending - Derpy

“CRASH!” the sound of a thunder, and yelling pegasi caught her attention. Dash pivoted towards the sound and saw the new lead weather pony Thunderlane along with several other members of the weather patrol surrounding a botched storm cloud and an apologetic looking gray mare.

“What’s going on here?” Dash asked, pushing her way through the circle of pegasi who were shocked to see their old captain; “I said-”

Thunderlane was the first to shake off his confusion, “We were preparing for a class C storm for tomorrow night. We were a short on hooves and so we hired Derpy on as an extra. All she needed to do was bring these storm clouds across town and help lay them out in the grid, but now;” Thunderlane gestured to twisted clouds beneath them, morphing together into one giant storm cloud that would be difficult to break apart without getting electrocuted. For safety reasons the entire blob would need to be towed away from the town, (slowly or else it would discharge lightning), then pegasi with special safety gear would need to pry it apart into smaller clouds. If they tried to use it as it was; one or two streets would be flooded while the rest of the town would go dry.

“I’ll help.” Volunteered Rainbow Dash.

“Thanks.” Thunderlane’s face lit up, still confused at his old captain’s presence; he turned back to Derpy, “Go on, get out of here.” Derpy’s ears drooped again and she began slowly gliding away.

“If, Derpy helps me.” Added Rainbow.

Derpy’s ears perked up

……………………………………………………………………………………………………

Moving the cloud mass over the reservoir, (so any leakage wouldn’t go to waste,) had been surprisingly easy; enough that Rainbow almost thought Derpy might be pulling her share of the weight. Bit by bit, the cloud was unraveled and separated by the two mares; pushing off workable chunks of cloud for tomorrow’s storm. The entire time; Dash worked in silence, trying to think of one kind thing she could say, and plan some kind of an apology, while Derpy hummed some idiotic yet captivating tune that sounded like it had come from a different planet.

“Did you get your mail?” asked Derpy finally after they had almost finished unraveling the rain cloud.

“Yea.”

“Was it too late by the time you got it?”

“…It turned out fine.”

“I’m really sorry about that; I really didn't mean to drop your mail and if I hadn't gotten lost I would have been there a lot sooner, it was just so hard to find you."

“It’s alright.” They returned to their work in silence and then just as Dash was pulling apart the last cloud, an idea began scratching at her mind that some numbers weren’t adding up. Cadance hadn’t come to see Storm until late in the morning and Derpy… Rainbow tried to bat the idea away for its sheer audacity, but it escaped out her mouth anyway, "After you got the letter from Celestia… how long did it take you to find us?"

Derpy thought for a moment and then shrugged, "About two hours I guess, maybe two and a half."

Dash wanted to laugh, cry and scream in frustration all in the same instant; it was a ten hour train ride from Canterlot to Ponyville, it took the Wonderbolts four hours to reach Ponyville from Canterlot, and it took Rainbow Dash at least three... if she knew exactly where she was going. "That's… pretty fast."

"It is?"

"Yeah; do you always fly that fast?"

"No, but when something’s really important I can go a lot faster then I usually do and if something’s really, really important I can do a Sparky-Sparky-Boom-Boom."

"A what?"

"A Sparky-Sparky-Boom-Boom, it's something that happens when I go really fast, my mane and tail will start leaving behind all this light, but then I'll look back to see it but then I can't see where I'm going and I crash into a cloud and then I hear this really loud sound like thunder that hurts my ears."

"... Have you ever shown anyone your Sparky-Sparky-Boom-Boom."

"Yes, well no, I mean, I've tried! I need all my concentration to do it and when people watch me I think about them and so then I can't do it and then they all call me a liar. I tried it at the best young fliers competition one year, and I was really excited cause I could do it whenever I was practicing and thought I was ready, but then I forgot what number I was and when I got called up I got scared cause I wasn't ready and then failed again. I thought I was number fifteen, when I was really number six!"

A faint memory started kicking Rainbow at the back of the head. She knew it was there but wasn’t sure what it was; she turned around to try and find it but another question distracted her; “Why were you trying to win the best fliers competition?”

Derpy put her head down; “You’d think it was silly.”

“Try me.”

“I-I wanted to join the Wonderbolts.” Said Derpy turning pink around the ears.

“I… don’t think that would have been a good idea.”

“Because I’m too clumsy?”

Because the Wonderbolts aren’t worthy of you! Because even after having sustained injuries none of them could imagine, you’re still the fastest friggen pegasus in Equestria! And you don’t even know it! *You’re faster than me; and you don’t know it!*** “… I don’t think you would have liked it there; they’re not really that great.”

“Is that why you left?”

“Yup.”

Derpy nodded understandingly; “I thought so, I saw you the few times that you came back to Ponyville after your became a Wonderbolt; you never seemed happy just… angry.”

Dash remembered their last meeting, letting her anger at the rest of the Wonderbolts out on Derpy; “I’m sorry I yelled at you when you lost the letter from The Princess… I’m sorry for all of it… everything mean I’ve ever said about you.”

Derpy didn’t say anything for a while; for a moment Dash felt strangely worried that Derpy wouldn’t accept her apology, but when she looked over Derpy was looking away from her, with one salty tear dripped down Derpy’s face, telling Rainbow everything she needed to know about the insults she’d given had hurt her over the years. “I forgive you.” she whispered.

Dash savored the moment, but it got awkward really fast and she tried to think of something else to say, pouncing on the first thing that came into her mind; “How long have you been able to do your Sparky-Sparky-Boom-Boom?”

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

“I don’t… I don’t remember the first half of my life, OK!” From the way Derpy said that, Dash felt she must have touched on a nerve and had just led the conversation into being dangerous; Dash wouldn’t have said anymore but Derpy kept going. “In my earliest memories I was already grown up, living in Cloudsdale in some kind of retirement village; but someone was teaching me about how to fly and giving me an education. For a while I tried going to school, even though I would be going with foals; but I got teased a lot. There were a lot of ponies who made fun of me because of my eyes, or my voice, or because I was clumsy who told me that I should go away and never come back, and sometimes I almost felt like doing it but… there were always the letters.”

“Letters?”

Derpy nodded furiously, “Yea, the letters. I kept on getting hundreds and hundreds of letters from all over Equestria, of people telling me they liked me and that I was cool. Some of the letters even came with presents attached, but they never said who was sending them or where they were from. For a while I thought that everyone did that so I started doing it too, writing encouraging messages and sending those to random addresses, or saving my money and sending them to people I had never met, hoping they enjoyed surprise gifts as much as I did.”

“Wow, that’s… generous.”

"When I graduated school I knew that I wanted to be a mail mare. I thought the post office was this wonderful, magical place where everyone acted so much nicer to each other then they do face to face; and because I knew how much joy these surprise gifts gave me and I wanted to be a part of giving that joy to everyone else.

So I followed my dream and became a mail-mare, but guess what I found? Most people weren’t even willing to help the people they did know, let alone the ones they didn’t. But this didn’t stop me. If anything it made me more eager to encourage people because I realized that no one else would; but it did make me curious about who was sending me all these packages. Several times I’ve tried to use my contacts at the post office to track down these friends I never met so I could thank them, but the stamps only said the post office and city they were from, Manehatten, Fillydelphia, Trottingham, Canterlot, Cloudsdale and some places that aren’t even in Equestria, but never a name or an address that I could track it to.

It's weird, it’s like there's an entire Derpy Hooves fan club out there with people from all over the world who are spying on me, all the time; but I have NO idea who they are or where they come from! There’s probably one of them listening to us right now!” Derpy swiveled and broke open a cloud floating by, as if she expected to see a masked conspirator hiding in it with a microphone or notepad. When nothing came out but a few tufts of cloud Derpy sneezed, checked under her cloud, in case the enigmatic spy had shifted, and then settled back onto her cloud with a huff. “There’s one of them somewhere around here, I just know it.” Derpy turned and eyed Rainbow Dash suspiciously for a moment then shook her head as her wary scowl reverted to its trademark smile.

Dash was doing her best to hide the smirk that was burrowing into the sides of her mouth; “Let’s say you did find whoever it was that had been spying on you, what would you say to them?”

“I’d tell them to stop following me!”

Dash was taken back; “You really don’t like being followed that much?”

“No.” said Derpy shaking her head, “It’s not that. I’m sure that whoever has been watching me has a good reason. It would be pretty weird for them to spy on me for this long if they were just bored; and if they were planning on hurting me or kidnapping me or harvesting me for organs, I’m sure that they would have done it a long time ago.”

“…So do you just not like them following you because it makes you uncomfortable?”

“No, it’s not that either. I owe my whole life to them. If it wasn’t for them I would have never become a mail mare or started making muffins; and if I never done that, I would have never gotten lost and met the Doctor and if it wasn’t for him I would never have had Dinky. I wouldn’t even have my name! Whoever they are, they’ve given me a job, a home, a family, and I’ll always be grateful to them for that.”

“Then why don’t you want these people following you around anymore if they’re helping you so much?”

“Because I don’t need their help anymore!” Asserted Derpy firmly, “I used to, there was a time when if it wasn’t for them I probably would have just disappeared forever, but I’m safe now and I don’t need them; but there are lots of other people who do. I travel a lot, and in every pl-city I visit I see people who need help. I do what I can, but I’m just one pony. I don’t understand why people from all over the world seem more interested in giving me things, a lot of which I can’t even use, instead of helping the people who really do need it. It makes me feel guilty.”

Rainbow sat for a long minute in silence; startled at Derpy’s revelation. When Derpy had first started talking about secret followers, all Rainbow had been thinking about was how awesome it would be getting all those presents, and about how she’d revel in the attention, milking it for all it was worth… like how when Scootaloo had made a fan club for her… a filly she taught to be dismissive and rejective towards Derpy. Derpy had been better than she was; even now, Derpy’s only thought was how she could use what she had to help others. Slowly; as the sun began to set, something else began dawning on Rainbow Dash.

Derpy had never changed.

Derpy could never turn back into Denorious; that was impossible because Derpy had never stopped being Denorious, not even for an instant. The reason why Denorious was so special, why all the Rangers had loved her was not because she was fast or smart or strong; the thing that made Denorious who she was was that she always thought of every other pony before she thought of herself. That was what made her Denorious and that part of her was still there. The only thing that had changed; the only difference her injuries had made, was that in the forest the Rangers had realized how special she was, had given her the respect she deserved and had followed her; now, in Ponyville, she was ridiculed and rejected for things that weren’t even her fault.

Dash began feeling waves of guilt come over her about all the years she had wasted dreaming about joining the Wonderbolts, when she could have been being friends with Derpy. It occurred to her that after having lived in the same town as Derpy for nearly ten years; this was the first time she had ever listened to her for more than a few sentences… and now this may have to be her last time. Tomorrow, she was officially a Ranger, and to contact Denorious would be strictly forbidden; but Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but wonder how much better she might be now if she had spent more time with Derpy.

As Rainbow Dash finally took leave around sunset, she took one final look over her shoulder which revealed a noble pegasus pony, glimmering silver and gold in the last rays of the setting sun.

Extended Ending - Epilogue

Epilogue

Celestia returned from Gryffindor a few weeks after the day of the thunderstorm: the murderer of the griffoness found, and the conspiracy behind it uncovered, not by Celestia’s Royal Guards, nor by the griffons led by the murdered griffoness’ vengeful husband, but by a small band of heroic vagrants, who wished to remain anonymous.

Shining Armor was called to account for his defying of direct orders and reckless endangerment of civilian lives. Yet considering his service past and discrepant state of mind when he made his decisions, Celestia was lenient, placing him under suspension for six months, during which he was required to report to an officer of the crown on a daily basis. Princess Cadance was more than happy to be chosen for the position.

Shining Armor and Cadance realized that there was a rift between them that needed to be sealed or else their relationship was already lost. It was not easy, and for a time, both of them were afraid that their love had died and was buried under the thick winter snows; but neither of them gave up and as spring brought new life and growth to the vegetation, so too did their rekindled affection. The following summer they began preparing for a third wedding, and this time, nothing got in their way.

And that wasn’t the only wedding that Twilight attended that summer…