Ze Magics Have Consequences
Standing alone against all odds to defend Fluttershy’s honor! What else would a potential Wonderbolt do? Bullies in Cloudsdale? Not on my watch.
Okay, Rainbow Dash. You can do it. Wind in my mane? Check. Adrenaline pumping? Oh, check! Clouds packed with spectators? Oh ho ho! Chee-yeck. There’s the flag! Let’s dash! Heh heh! The Dash. I’m awesome. We’re off!
Did I bump into something…? Ugh. It was probably that jerk! I-I won’t let him beat me! Just a little faster. I’ve never flown like this before. I like it! These colts are nothing but a canter to The Das--
Oof! You’ve messed with the wrong Pegasus. Not gonna lose. Not gonna lose! Just… a little… bit faster. I can win! I have to win. I NEED TO WIN.
R-Rainbow Dash?
THE LEGENDS ARE TRUE! Ohmigoshomigoshohmigosh! Totally Awesome Rainbow Dash saved the day for Bzzterbuzz and Clouds… dale goes… wild?
Mmferhmf?
Why can’t I remember that pony’s name? Where’d she even go? I’m out here defending her and she’s not even at the finish line? Geeze, you’d think a Pegasus who can’t fly would stick to the clouds. STICK TO THE CLOUDS?! Did I knock her down? Ohnonono. I can’t even see the surface from up here! All I see is…
Rainbow Dash.
The Rainy Season Tornado…? In the middle of my race? Where’d everypony go? Did she get sucked up into it? That filly was my friend… I-I have to save her! Gulp. But it is a big tornado.
S-stop crying Rainbow Dash and help her! Help *Bzzzzt*.
*Bzzzzt*
Rainbow Dash!
“FLUTTERSHY!”
Sweat beaded on normally light blue fur, rendered a ghastly pale hue in the dim room barely bathed in the morning light. Matted multihued mane a victim of chronic Bed Head, tussled even more so than usual. Labored breaths continued to break the silence long after the shrill cry of fear shattered it. A cool hoof pressed against a puffy cheek that had been slept on at all the wrong angles only to find it moist with neither sweat nor drool.
“Worst. Dream. Ever. Some Element of Loyalty I am.” The weary Rainbow Dash mumbled as her hind legs kicked away the blankets into a pile at the bottom of her bed. At least now the nightmare was over, Dash had thought to herself as she indulged in a moment of private weakness.
What? Even would-be Wonderbolts aren’t allowed to cry from time to time? The Pegasus mumbled in her own thoughts at some invisible, judging pony.
“You okay, Rainbow Dash?”
Cerise saucers. The young mare bolted from her bed, wings unfurled and ready to pounce at the intruder disguised as a talking mound of blankets! It even started moving! Shifting and shuffling in such an unponylike manner until a bit of fuchsia atop a pair of innocent eyes peeked out at an idol at her most vulnerable.
“Squirt? What the hay are you doing in my bed?”
The sudden shock melted into crisp deadpan, eyes narrowing shiftily as Rainbow Dash fully recognized that featherlike mane. Normally, she’d be a little more stern with the rambunctious Crusader but there was something off and she couldn’t place her hoof on it. The pint size Pegasus seemed a bit on the thin side of winged ponies lately. That, and she was also blushing furiously at possibly being overheard and trying to hide it, of course.
Scootaloo started to wiggled her way out of the pile. “Well I-”
“Waitwaitwait. How in Equestria did you even get up here?” Ponyville’s best flier had wagged a hoof in front of her as if to shield herself from what would likely be an insane story. It was a minor feat in and of itself. Not much of a secret that the tenacious tangerine troublemaker is temporarily terrestrial and the older Pegasus can’t seem to recall bringing the runt home.
Spindly filly legs kicked their way out from that entangled mess once called a bed, trying to squeak out a reply. Despite being a motor mouth outside her idol’s presence, Scootaloo could barely contain her fillylike glee. Sliding down from the bed onto all four feet, she bowed her head down to scoop up a purple helmet bearing white racing stripes, marked and scarred with obvious use onto that feathery mop top.
“My scooter! It was a daring trick, of course! Though not without a few… complications.”
Strewn outside the home with the greatest view of Ponyville had been yards of fabric and a pair of sleeping, paint-covered fillies huddled together in the middle of it all. Towering over the mess was a ramp of epic proportions! Paired Pegasai eyes peered over the surprisingly stable structure. Rainbow Dash found herself slack jawed at the sheer size of the ramp and the fact she slept through it all. Supplying Cloudsdale with water must have left her more fatigued than she had realized.
Said ramp bore the markings of Appleboom’s handiwork. Pennants displaying the Cutie Mark Crusaders emblem showed signs of Sweetie Belle paying a little more attention to her sister. The charred remains of what was once a scooter rest in the side of one of Rainbow Dash’s clouds where it had mysteriously exploded moments after impact the previous night. Dash simply shook her head in bemusement, nudging the thought that the little squirt should of made the jump without a hitch to the back burner.
“Hey pipsqueak. You’ve been following me around an awful lot lately. Somethin’ up?” The elder Pegasus had taken a bit of a shining to the runt recently. Sure, having a devoted fan was nice, but the flightless filly started to tug at the radical heartstrings of the self-described Iron Pony. If only subconsciously. The building concern for Scootaloo’s wellbeing budded into Dash’s mind when she realized during the Centennial Meteor Shower when it became clear that she seemed to be Scoots’ de facto big sister. The fellow Crusaders spent the night perched on the backs of the older sisters they so loved to gush about, leaving Scootaloo to awkwardly hang by Rainbow’s side the entire celestial event.
This thought terrified Rainbow Dash to her core! She was not big sister material, nor did she want to be one. But as the Element of Loyalty, she pushed aside her own growing adult fears for the sake and safety of somepony who couldn’t care for herself.
“N-No, Rainbow Dash! Nothin’! Nope!”
Young eyes full of idealism suddenly grew large and full of shock, as if the jig were up. Shaking that fuchsia mane side to side, Scoots rustled through her saddlebag that had been under the window that the two of them had been peering out of, and that the pint-sized pony had found her in the night before. Retrieving a rolled up copy of the Foal Free Press, she had tried unfurling it to show off to her heroine but clumsily dropped it with a moderate look of shame plastered on her face as the paper dropped from her mouth.
Pages of the Foal Free Press rained down over Ponyville from an inexplicable and quite horizontal rainbow blur heading toward Fluttershy’s cabin. The sound of hooves stamping on once lush grass were drowned out by the gabber and gossip whinnying outside the moss covered home. It was normally meticulously well kept; bushes, flowers and trees grew in the most beautiful natural ways as if each one had been guided along by a nurturing mother.
“Um.. Could you please not--”
Pops and flashes from cameras rendered the normally quiet animal sanctuary devoid of critters and instead infested with several dozen pony paparazzi, up and coming stars and would-be suitors. Petunias pulverized. Marigolds mashed. Daffodils… daftly avoided.
“Watch out for the anim--“
A bird feeder lies in ruin! The horror! A timid gasp is followed by a sharp inhale, a signal that somepony had enough.
“WOULD EV--”
Rainbow streaked from the horizon into the partially open attic bedroom window that the pink-maned Pegasus had imagined was an impenetrable keep holding back a siege just to stay sane. It was an act performed a thousand times before by someone familiar with the quirky direction and destination that one window provided. Fluttershy always preferred to work quietly and simply in the midst of her animal friends, and through the days of Flight
“Eek! VisitorsnotwelcomeduringtheweekofHeartsandHooves! Please go away~!”
Fluttershy turned her head to the side, peaceful eyes shielded from her supposed terror by pale gold eyelids while bright blue nostrils flared as Rainbow Dash awkwardly straddled over the coweing pony in the corner of her own house. Heart beating, wondering what to say or do, Dash did the thing she was best at: Charging hoof first into things. Dropping the Foal Free Press from her mouth, the only page left was the front and that alone barely contained three things.
A color spread of the shyest pony Rainbow Dash knew.
Above an article by Photo Finish, with commentary by Spitfire.
Capped with a shocking headline: “Ponyville’s Most Eligible Star!”
“Fluttershy! How did this happen? I mean, you’re not exactly model material.” It took a moment for Rainbow Dash to realize what she had said about her PFF, to which the creamy yellow Pegasus opened an eye to the familiar and comforting voice. “I mean you’re a wallflower! Not that you’re not pretty or anything…” Something had been welling up inside Dash since the tornado incident, leaving her filled with self-doubt about her element. Just being there for her oldest friend didn’t seem like it was enough for the brash soul. Perhaps it was the pang left in Dash’s heart from Fluttershy’s insecurities getting the best of her. Maybe because she pushed her wistful nature aside for a moment to not just be there for Ponyville, but because Rainbow Dash just wanted to fly with her best friend.
Lithe legs shot a slender body up from the floor to embrace a close friend, eyes as blue as the sky Dash loved so much to fly in welled up with tears. Despite the downpour, Fluttershy’s voice remained as beautifully soft as it always had been as she spilled her worries out in a manner that nopony but the blue streak ever had the privilege of hearing. Not that Rainbow Dash knew. Flight school was such a terrible experience, and due to the events at the race: some then-nameless pony sticking up for the socially awkward filly, Fluttershy felt like she finally had one pony she could confide in.
“Oh Rainbow. Look at my cottage… it is ruined! There’s reporters and famous ponies and not so famous ponies and soooo much I need to tell you.”
“I can tell that much! But uh. Start with the good news first?” Rainbow Dash did her best to adjust to being so close to another pony, having never particularly enjoyed physical contact. Especially one getting bodily fluids soaked into her mane. But this time, she’d stick around until the waterworks were fixed.
“Well… Um… there isn’t any good news. Only bad news. …And weird news.”
“W-what?”
Fluttershy had leaned her head back, letting the soft mane that smelled just as rosy as it had been hued cascade against Rainbow Dash’s face, whose eyes grew wide and cheeks burned to pull a feather from her wing! Not a luxuriously soft golden feather, but a short orange Pegasus remix broken and soiled. With it in her mouth, Fluttershy turns around to balance the feather on Dash’s nose gently, trying to find the words to spell out what she thinks. A feat she seems much more adept at when Dash is around.
“I found it in the chicken coop. I think, maybe, that one of the girls might be um…”
Rainbow Dash’s heart had been racing since she plowed through the bedroom window like she had countless times before. The pace picked up the moment she and Fluttershy started to converse. It came to a dead stop when the all too familiar feather rest on her snout. Deep down, she knew, but desperately wanted to chalk it up to those Cutie Mark Creampuffs having their tails in places they don’t belong on a regular basis. Still, she found herself being painfully direct.
“One of those squirts might be what, exactly? Spit it out, Fluttershy!”
“Eep! I think one of the girls is sleeping in the chicken coop and eating all my bird seed!” It suddenly made sense to Rainbow Dash why Scootaloo seemed so emaciated. The pit of her stomach sank as her mind swirled with the thoughts that the reason the pipsqueak was too weak to fly was due to malnourishment. Anger and bile threatened to spew forth from her mouth.
“What about her parents?! I’ll kick them out of Cloudsdale myself!”
“I-I don’t think she has any…”
The eager to jump the gun Pegasus found herself hovering mere feet from the bedroom floor, eyes filled with the same grief and shame as her past self, unable to tolerate her inability to handle things for those she cares about. But this time, something has to be done. With all four hooves back on something solid, Dash came to a sudden decision.
“Then Scoots is just going to stay with me.”
“But she can’t fly yet! How will she get back and forth without you around?”
“…I don’t know.
“You don’t make a lot of money on Weather Patrol…Can you handle her?”
“I don’t know!” Tense legs rest up on the sill of the window Rainbow Dash made her entrance in, peering over the amorphous crowd still begging to get the scoop on Ze Flootershy and her mysterious guest. “Just… Tell me about the weird news. I need to clear my mind.”
Fluttershy, flapping her wings to give her the needed boost to stand up, gently placing herself down without so much as a clop found herself idly kicking at a knot in the floorboard, almost trying to avoid having to answer it. Her soft, golden cheeks turned brassy as her voice squeaked out.
“Well, you see… Because of all this attention I’ve been getting… Soarin’ of the Wonderbolrs has asked me to be his special somepony for Hearts and Hooves Day. But I--”
“Gotta go check on the pipsqueak.”
A collective gasp hissed out as the mob that had swarmed Fluttershy’s cottage had gazed up to see a Pegasus buck off a window sill. For a moment, everypony was silent. One could hear the trickling sounds of the small creek in the back garden. But it was not meant to last. Everypony standing felt the sudden need to hug the ground due to a deafening explosion. The cottage shook. Camera lenses shattered. Grass and flowers flattened.
The full visible spectrum of colors washed over the area.
Several slightly warm, crystal clear droplets of the purest rain water found their way to Fluttershy’s cheek.
“--knew you were a better match…”
Earthbound With Soaring Hearts
To say the previous Hearts and Hooves Day had been an ordeal for Big Macintosh and Cheerilee is a bit of an understatement. This year, however, the two previously poisoned ponies shared a outdoor table at Sugar Cube Corner in the warmth of the sun, cheerfully chatting away about the mundane on what may or may not be a date.
The residents of Ponyville do indeed love to get into the sprit of celebration; they had left the town in an assortment of reds and whites, stickers and streamers. Ponies left and right were softly swooning over one another in the streets and shops, leaving the town air thick with love and friendship. A mysterious-looking figure, however, cut through the sweet fog as if the joyous occasion had simply been Tuesday.
Hidden in an alleyway behind dark sunglasses and a wide brimmed straw hat most likely pulled from one of Applejack’s scarecrows fluttered a dainty Pegasus. Peeking side to side, obviously worked into anxiety due to the number of people packing the streets for the holiday, she’d set foot out only to find herself in the path of an oncoming pony.
Trotting away, lost in inspiration, unicorn with the pristine white coat and luxurious lavender mane barely managed to buckle to a stop before running into her spa friend forever. Rarity was initially irritated at the carelessness of somepony’s negligence; after all, a lady was walking here! But irritation soon turned to warmth upon recognizing her friend through her paper thin disguise.
“Fluttershy, darling! What ever are you doing hiding out here in that… um, delightful little hat? Everypony who is anypony is looking for you.”
Snowy Unicorn put on the best smile she could as not to offend the tastes of one of her closest friends. Pegasus yelped, audible to everyone in a five foot radius, upon being confronted. A sigh of relief soon followed.
“Oh Rarity! I’m sorry. I didn’t see you there.” The subtle trademark hum of Unicorn magic in the works filled the narrow alley as strips of green ribbon flicked about, entwining itself in the loose weave of Flutershy’s borrowed hat, dainty Pegasus oblivious to the impromptu makeover. “I know! I’ve been trying to hide all morning. My cottage has been swamped by reporters and ponies who want me to spend the day with them.”
“We ladies in fashion can be a bit stubborn, but I think that Photo Finish may be singling you out, dear. Not much we can do about it now, I’m afraid. Hm… Gems or flowers?”
“I’ve been getting both.” Fluttershy mistook her friend’s musing.
“Darling, that’s fantastic! Gems and flowers from adoring fans? I’m jealous!” The plethora of notions and niceties floating about Fluttershy’s head came to a pause, Rarity giving her best smile. “…But not too jealous, of course.”
Assurances aside, while the two pony friends chatted away, one of the clouds hovering above Ponyville had been drifting about as if it had a will of its own. Unlike the sparse few other clouds in the sky, which proudly billowed out in pristine white puffiness, this lone nimbus puttered around in a state of gray melancholia.
Rainbow Dash lounged back against the floating pillow, eyes peering off into the infinite expanse of impossibly blue sky, the Pegasus completely lost on what to do. She thought she had this all down pat.
Wake up, manage the weather, do what I want. Easy peasy? Rainbow mused silently, trying to rationalize the worries and responsibilities nipping at her flank. While drifting in her thoughts, the makeshift couch Rainbow Dash had been resting on grew into a miniature storm cloud, much to the chagrin of Applejack, who certainly did not approve of an unscheduled rain in the middle of gathering flowers in the east field. Even she could agree that selling bouquets during the love-filled holiday to help Sweet Apple Acres through the early parts of the apple growing season was another one of Big Macintosh’s good ideas. In fact, that awfully quiet stallion seemed to have those all the time. Despite this, never in a million years would she learn the story that lead to the inspiration. Shaking her head, Applejack kicked up a bit of dust as she looked up at the gray blob that marred an otherwise clear spring sky.
“What in tarnation? What’s that weather patrol doin’? I’ll bet Rainbow Dash’s nappin’ on the job. Well, I don‘t need no gloomy ol‘ cloud rainin‘ on this here parade!”
The middle child of Sweet Apple Acres trotted over to the small pile of supplies kept handy for work in the fields and quickly had her trusty lasso spinning about as naturally as shaking out her mane. Taking matters into her own hooves, Applejack hurled that heavy rope into the sky and looped around the middle of that saturated puffball, leaving the Earth pony to slowly haul it toward the ground. If she can’t get alter the weather like her Pegasus friends, at least she can move it.
As the small cloud came down to eye level, Applejack wondering what to do with it, a semi-proud smile was plastered over an otherwise sheepish blue face. Caught in that little lariat act was the perpetrator of precipitation.
“Eh heh. Heya AJ.”
“Rainbow Dash! What are you doing bringing rain clouds over mah farm? I’m awfully busy and can’t be fool to any of yer pranks today.”
Puzzled, Rainbow squirmed around to bear witness to exactly what Applejack had been fuming about, actually not meaning to cause trouble for once, leaving her wide eyed. The cloud had been white when she rest on it after suddenly leaving Fluttershy’s cottage, but it must have absorbed moisture somewhere along the way while Dash moped about.
“Hey! I dunno what happened! It must have soaked up some water from the other clouds when I wasn’t paying attention. Uhm… New trick?”
Two pairs of eyes graced the skies, one skeptical and the other slightly embarrassed. There weren’t that many other clouds in the sky and Applejack smelled a bad egg. Loosening the rope to let her friend free to fix this situation, the rancher adjusted her well worn hat and turned in the direction of work.
“Well, whatever it is yer doin’, could you please do it somewhere else, sugarcube? At least clear up that gloomy looking cloud. Such a dark thing. Givin’ me the willies!”
Rainbow Dash stretched out her wings and rolled off the cloud to hover gently in front of her freckled friend, indicating that the request was out of her league.
“Oh. I can’t do that. It’s a rain cloud.”
“Cantcha just make it poof like you always do?”
“Nonono. You’re thinking of the cumulus clouds! These are nimbus clouds. They have to get rid of all their rainwater first.”
Ears flopped down in confusion on all the rules that Pegasi had when it comes to controlling weather, and that left Applejack with a sigh. The weather was scheduled for a reason, and Sweet Apple Acres couldn’t handle a freak patch of rain, but AJ could be just as clever as her older brother.
Rainbow Dash hopped up and down on the now charcoal-colored cloud, stamping her hooves against its wispy surface, causing the water stored in its plush form to gush downward into the open top of the farm’s once empty water tower. As the droplets came down in a torrent, the cloud grew lighter and lighter until it all but disappeared in a fine mist, leaving Applejack’s water supply solid for the season.
“So anyway, Rainbow. Magic clouds aside, what brings you around here? I figured you‘d be back in the heart of Ponyville trying to schmooze the them Wonderbolts.” Heavy valve twist shut with the help of Bucky McGillicuddy and Kicks McGee with a loud clang, Applejack noticeably less tense and growing warmer in the presence of her friend as a nice change of pace to the absurd amounts of work she made a habit of piling onto herself.
“Well, I was just at Fluttershy’s…” Rainbow Dash trailed off for a moment before catching herself getting stuck in a moment of weakness. “But now I gotta find those Cuite Mark Pipsqueaks. Me and Scootaloo need to have a wing-to-wing talk. Pegasus stuff. Real hush hush.” Perhaps it was best not to get into detail about the filly’s situation, let alone Dash’s own emotional attachment to the runt.
“Oh! You mean Apple Bloom’s little Crusader friends? Well, AB left with Rarity’s little sister, but not the one with the scooter. Maybe yeh can try the clubhouse? But for me, I gotta get back to work, Rainbow. It was good seein’ ya.”
The gurgle of a grumbling tummy and shuffling hooves filled the otherwise empty clubhouse. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had spent the day at Carousel Boutique, throwing a filly fashion show to help Rarity with her newest line of foalwear. Scootaloo notably excused herself from such girly activities on a regular basis, preferring to work on her stunts just like her idol. What fan club president would she be otherwise? Still, though, the tangerine pony still hoped they’d at least bring snacks back this time. Stomach growled once more as the miniature Pegasus sat on the middle of the clubhouse floor, trying to piece together her scooter from a pile of broken, mangled an otherwise exploded parts.
“Why couldn’t Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom have gone to Sugar Cube Corner? I can’t think on an empty stomach!” Scootaloo slumped over the deck of her means of transportation, as dejected as she was famished. “I just hope there isn’t a cutie mark for eating chicken feed…”
She hated being called a chicken! She was as brave as any pony, and fearlessly challenged the skies that seemed unwelcome to her. Being the oldest non-flying Pegasus she knew, the insult cut like a knife and here she had to stoop to the level of subsiding as one.
It started as a sniffle or two, but when the first teardrop hit the pastel painted floor the sobbing began. Ears flopped down and stubby wings hugged tightly against a lithe body for the warmth and protection that such a life sorely lacked until it was only the charred scooter that held the filly high enough from the floor that she didn’t rest in a pool of her own tears.
Rainbow Dash had witnessed Scootaloo’s pitiful breakdown, chewing on her own bottom lip the entire time. How could she possibly go in there and console such a broken bird? But she very well couldn’t just leave her go! Rainbow hated being alone more than anything. Hated. A feeling used for nothing else in the Pegasus’ life but loneliness. That icy grip still plagued her soul to this very day from a past carefully buried beneath the warmth of friendship provided by her five true companions.
“Help! I need the help of none other than THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!”
A scratchy, high pitched voice called out dripping with comic book drama. Sounds serious.
Filly ears perked up, as Scootaloo rose to her feet to clear the mess from her face to address the call. It couldn’t possibly be who she thought it was. That somepony was just way too cool to need the help from such a prolific secret society of three school-aged fillies. Mane all tussled, coat matted up and eyes bearing the fruits of a hard session of bawling, Scootaloo peeked out the window.
“Rainbow Dash! Its just me up here today. The other Crusaders are at the boutique so I don’t know how much use I can be to you…” The young pony kicked her legs just enough to push her way out of the window onto the deck of the Crusader’s Headquarters. The elder Pegasus flew up beside the runt, continuing the dramatic performance to mask her own insecurity.
“I have a mission of the utmost importance. All of Ponyville hangs in the balance! And only us Pegasi can pull this off. Are you in, squirt?” This caused the slightly bloodshot purple eyes to dilate and tiny mouth to hang open, leaving Scootaloo to nod slack jawed. She may have been tired and hungry, but whenever Rainbow Dash was around, she lit up like Hearth’s Warming Eve.
“Do I?! What is the mission, boss?”
Rainbow Dash paced back and forth partially for effect but mostly to hide the fact she had been shaking the whole time, still wondering if she really had the guts to go through with even half of what she had planned. Inhaling sharply, she’d lay down the mission specs, having dug herself into actually going through with searching out for a certain somepony thanks to this charade.
“As of right now, Crusader, one of our own is under siege in Ponyville by--”
“Siege?”
“ Um. Like she’s under attack.”
“Under attack?! We haveta saver her, Rainbow Dash!”
The bright blue Pegasus could barely contain a chuckle building up, despite how stressful it has been for a time. She still wasn’t sure if she could be anything resembling a caregiver, or even a big sister, but by Celestia… if the pipsqueak wasn’t growing on her!
“Uh. Yes. I know. That’s the mission, squirt. There’s a whole bunch of people that are bugging the hay out of her. Again. And we have to protect her from them. …Again.”
Leaning down to take Scootaloo’s mane in her mouth, Rainbow Dash lifts the filly up and onto her back, letting her cling tightly around the elder’s neck and multihued mane. Finally riding on somepony’s back! Just like her friends. Just how she always wanted to do, but never had anypony.
“I don’t have siblings I can rely on in times like this like Rarity or Applejack. Think you can fill the gap, Scoots?”
Rainbow simply just looked ahead, painfully aware how cheesy she must have sounded trying to come up with the coolest and least embarrassing things to say. Scootaloo let the tough older filly mask fall away as she clung tightly into Rainbow Dash’s mane, her squeaky voice muffled against the soft blue coat between sniffles.
“So who are we saving… big sis?”
Dash didn’t correct the tangerine troublemaker as those strong wings beat downward with enough force to lie the two of them from the clubhouse and send the flags and streamers onto their ends.
“Just a very special somepony.”
