Rainbow Dash cantered around whilst clad in silver armour, the admiration and cheer of the crowd swelling her ego till bursting point. A massive and pure white grin, that she flashed to every passer-by, was the most prominent of her features. Her posture overflowed with ever-growing pride as she flaunted her wings, each feather bountifully displayed in all of their glory.
The jousting had been a success. By showing off her amazing athletic skills and courage, she had proven that she was all around, completely awesome, with the added bonus of lifting the spirits of a ton of crystal ponies. Mentally, she added it to the ludicrously long list of 'Things That I'm the Best at in all of Equestria'. After all, she was the best of the best. If anything, how could she not be?
Suddenly, a gruff voice interrupted Rainbow's reverie. The holler of crowd drained away, and some ponies mumbled amongst themselves or dispersed. Her ears swivelled around, in search of the direction the sound had come from. Once she found it, her legs followed suit and her expression morphed into irritation—which instantly melted away when her vision locked onto a royal crystal guard. Her expression became one of shock, and the mouthful she was going give them died in her throat as her jaw clenched shut and her tongue refused to comply.
He stood in a way that Rainbow swore was unnatural. Perfectly still, eyes forward and shoulders squared. Expectedly, he looked identical to all of the other guards: dark indigo crystal coat; purple-cobalt blue eyes; slate, stone grey striped mane and tail, cut short and immaculately straightened. Opening a wing slightly, he pulled out what looked to be a piece of paper and, with a forehoof, brought it forward. "Letter for Lieutenant Dash," he announced.
Rainbow barely registered what the stallion said as the throng of ponies’ muttering grew louder. Along with everypony else, she stared at the object. Now it was closer, she could clearly see that it was a yellow scroll with a ruby-red ribbon wrapped in the centre, sealed with a silver coin that had the Crystal Empire's Royal Mark engraved in its surface. Who had he said it was for? Rainbow quickly questioned, her voice barely audible, "Pardon?"
"Letter for Lieutenant Dash," the stallion repeated, his face still blank with exact same emotionless monotone as before. Maybe she was hearing things? When she looked into his eyes, he was looking straight back at her with the scroll he still held, pointing towards her. Okay, it was definitely for her but she just had to be partly hearing things. Perhaps when he spoke, her enjoyment of the previous self-celebration was trying to take over again - she really did hate having her celebrations dispelled. Why it was doing something like that, she did not know, nor did she really care.
Hesitantly, Rainbow reached for the scroll. When in her grasp, she unfurled it and slowly read over the contents. It was filled to the brim with large and complicated words she either could not read or did not know. From what she could tell, it was requesting her presence somewhere. Over the top of the paper, she peered at the guard and he spoke.
"You presence has been requested," he clarified. "If you would follow me, please." Like clockwork, he pivoted and began to march towards the castle. Without thinking, Rainbow followed suit. She tried to her match pace with the guard's rhythmic trot, but fell out of step here and there.
Dumbfounded—that was how Rainbow felt at that moment. Her mind would not compute anything but walking properly and even then she would occasionally stumble due to misplacing a hoof or trying to move a leg that was not next in the cycle. One thought was continuously bouncing around her brain, powering a very strong urge. She needed to say something - anything. All that she had to do was convince her mouth, tongue and voice to co-operate. If only it was as easy as it sounded.
***
Rainbow stood in the front row of guards who were in formation: a ten pony by ten pony square with approximately three quarters of a metre in between from all sides. Silence rang around the room, save for the breath of each pony, until the double doors opened with a feeble groan and Shinning Armour stepped in.
Clearing his throat, the unicorn stallion announced, "Your presence has been requested due to the empire's need of additional protection." He strutted down the line of guards. "Each of you will be assigned to a squad. Orders will be given-" Shining stopped suddenly, his mouth continuing to move even when his voice did not. "Rainbow Dash? What are you doing here?" he managed to ask through great difficulty.
"Moles are mouldy mango!" Rainbow spluttered, incoherently.
Shinning bit his top lip, struggling to hold back violent laughter. "Excuse me?" He raised an eyebrow, trying to look serious even though he was still choking from his amusement.
Common sense rabidly pummelled at Rainbow's brain so hard it practically knocked her backwards. Disorientated, she mumbled. "Huh? Wha-where am I?" Realisation joined common sense and slapped her in the face. Very hot heat flushed across her whole face and she sank to the floor. "O-okay..." she stuttered, "Th-this is j-just a big misunder-"
A stallion guard burst into the room. "There's a pony impersonating Lieutenant Dash!"
From behind him a mare, who had a similar visage to Rainbow, strode into the room and towards Shining, irritation registrable on her features as glared at the stallion guard. "Permission to speak, sir," she requested.
Confusion written on all over his face, Shining said all that he could. "Permission granted."
"I apologise, sir, for the interruption." She glowered, again, at the stallion guard. "We shall leave, and I will return later. Again, I apologise, sir." She turned to leave, her wings twitching in way that Rainbow could tell was due to annoyance and embarrassment, but paused when Shinning called out.
"Lieutenant Crystal Dash and Rainbow Dash, please wait outside. I will be with you momentarily."
***
"So, let me get this straight." Crystal Dash reconciled. "Ms. Rainbow Dash here had finished a jousting competition, of all things. A guard mistook her for me because she was wearing my armour and has a similar appearance to me. When he gave her a letter, he only said our shared surname and she thought he was referring to her. Then he lead her here and things played out as they did?"
"As she claims, yes." Shining nodded his head while glancing between Crystal and Rainbow.
"You believe her, why?" Crystal questioned.
Shining opened his mouth to speak but Rainbow beat him to it. "Because I'm awesome!" she exclaimed, placing a hoof on her chest, flicking her mane and flaring her wings.
Rolling his eyes, Shining explained. "Rainbow is the Element of Loyalty, has been a saviour of Equestria three times now, was one of my bridesmaids and is one of the best friends of my little sister who is the personal protégé of Princess Celestia. There really is no need not to believe her, as I'm sure her intentions were benign."
"H-how..." Crystal's jaw dropped and her right eye twitched. "How can one pony, at such a young age, have accomplished so many massive things?"
"Because I'm awesome!" Rainbow repeated, a hint of exasperation in her tone. How could this mare not know? Rainbow was a pegasus mare who had it all. Her sleek body, flowing mane and spectacular hooves gave it away with just a simple glimpse. Why, of all ponies, how could a mare that looked to have similar appendages as her (much to her dismay), not know this? To every other pony she had met, it was a fact!
Crystal turned to Rainbow with a quizzical expression. "Pray tell, what does 'awesome' mean?"
***
Rainbow soared through the sky. The wind ruffled her mane, caterwauled in her ears and pushed against her as her wings rapidly beat against the air. She scanned the ground below, squinting because of the crystal’s luminescent shine. She was in search of something to distract her thoughts from trailing off into what had just happened. She shuddered - she really did not want to remember.
A purple dot, which Rainbow could only guess was Twilight, raced down a street. It was good enough. Slowing herself down, she dived into a speedy descent.
