"It's useless, we need to go and get the fruit and bring it here." Vinyl poked Octavia on the shoulder. Her lover had been arguing with Lyra and Sweetie, and getting nowhere. "They just aren't allowed to come with us and have the most delicious fruit ever."

"You can't tell us what to do!" Lyra trotted up and poked Vinyl in the chest. "We are going and getting some fruit and you can't stop us!"

"Yeah!" Sweetie turned and was already trotting for the station.

Octavia had to pick up her jaw and follow, since both the two cantankerous mares had taken off. "How did you… oh, you simply told them what they couldn't do. Good work Vinny." The earth pony gave her unicorn lover a kiss on the cheek before trotting along too.

Muffins beamed at the simple resolution and trotted along with them. She still wasn't completely used to acting in the open.

"Give us tickets!" Sweetie had both hooves on the sides of the ticket booth and was screaming at the pony inside. "Why won't you give us tickets?"

Serendipity was on their side, it seemed, as the train from Canterlot pulled in, but didn't stop. A bored-sounding conductor leaned out of the slowly moving locomotive. "Get on, or off, whatever. Damn I hate my job…"

Muffins' horn flared and she picked up her friends and put them on the train. Spreading her wings, she beat furiously to catch up and make it into the carriage where she had tossed the other mares.

"Ugh, I hate this train." Sweetie clopped her hoof on the floor in anger. "Why are we even bothering?"

"Don't ask me," Vinyl gestured to the Everfree forest they were quickly approaching, "I told you, you can't have any fruit."

"You can't stop us!" A new pony had jumped in on the argument, coming up behind Lyra and shaking a hoof. "If you say we can't have the fruit then show us where it is!"

Octavia gestured to the forest. "In there, we are getting off right about… Vinny?"

Vinyl had planned this just right, at least in her head. She plucked up Octavia, Lyra, Sweetie, Muffins, and as many ponies as seemed interested in 'stealing her fruit' and she stepped backwards out the open door of the train. She wasn't able to lift them all, but dragging was easier and with a loud splash she landed in the river just before the Everfree started.

There were many screams and squeals of protest, not the least of which from Octavia. "Vinny!" She paddled to the edge of the river and stomped over to the grinning unicorn. "I simply can't be angry at you." She surprised her mate by kissing her on the lips. "But warn me next time."

"If I warned you, you would have said no." Vinyl turned to face the dark forest, not that it looked dark to her. There was a feeling of rightness about it, it felt like home. "My fruit tree is in there!"

"There might be a problem." Octavia shook herself and then sighed when a certain white unicorn cast the simple spell that warms and dries fur. "What if she still isn't bearing fruit?"

"Why don't we ask? I think a song would be a good way." Vinyl reached to that inner core, what she knew was more plant than pony, she reached for it and began to play it.

Octavia felt the music, the scared start to it trembling in her mind. She wove around that with her own melody, furtive and begging.

As the small horde of ponies advanced on the forest, their song roamed ahead. The tree felt their predicament, but it had made a promise. A lone figure was standing at the base of the tree when the two divas arrived.

"Like, she finally gave in, but she demands that anypony who doesn't want to keep their seed be allowed to reject it and no mind-control songs. That cool?" Tree Hugger was leaning against the big tree, her eyes half closed.

"That's okay, we just need them to stop being angry until somepony can do something about whatever is causing it all." Muffins smiled at Tree.

"A righteous cause, princess of powers perilous. Mother, it is okay, nopony is here to abuse their energies, they need, like, help." Tree rubbed her hoof gently on the bark of the big tree, soon joined by Octavia and Vinyl. "Sisters."

Vinyl hadn't had a sister before, but it seemed right to be Tree's. Instead of speaking, however, she sang. The white unicorn had never really sung before, her voice wasn't trained for it, but she brought out notes that her critical ears could tell were pure.

Octavia's eyes widened at the wordless aria that her mate was singing and without thinking she opened her mouth and joined it. The song was already playing, Tree was singing into their heads, they just had to bring it out.

"This is boring, there's no fruit." Lyra felt put out by this and was about to get up and leave when something firm fell and hit her on the head. "Hay!" She looked up, then down, seeing what looked like a large peach.

Trees, apparently, had perfect aim. Each pony was delivered a fruit, each one immediately grabbing it up and eating it.

Vinyl and Octavia still sang; their eyes closed. The song was of thanks now and both leaned in and kissed the bark in thanks. Turning around together, they watched as nearly two dozen ponies rolled around on their backs, the seeds germinated inside them, integrated into their body.

"Why do I feel so… calm?" Lyra looked up, seeing Vinyl looking down at her. Lyra giggled.

"Because something was making everypony angry and the tree's gift makes it so it doesn't quite work right. You feel okay now, right?" Vinyl leaned down to help her friend up with a hoof.

Lyra got to her shaky legs and looked over to see Octavia helping up Sweetie. She turned, however, and faced the tree. The song was back, a nice song, a welcoming song. The first time this had happened had been a bad time, this was… nicer.

"Mother likes having more voices singing, but, like, we should get back and help more ponies." Tree Hugger gestured back towards Ponyville.

"I must demand, Prince Blueblood, that you lock these changelings up!"

Blueblood smiled. It was one of the happiest smiles he had ever given and it confused the pony, who had considered him a 'friend', so far as a friend is somepony you took advantage of often. "Short answer? No." Blueblood walked over to look down on the stallion. "Foppish, I have known you a long time, so I am going to give you the long answer, too."

Foppish looked surprised, he had expected the prince to just do what he said, like he had done since he met the weak-willed stallion. "And just what is the long answer?"

"Nooooooooooo…" Prince Blueblood drew out the word. "They are protecting ponies, at my command, it is all part of the laws that were brought forth for them to follow. Every single one using their power in this way is licensed and working within the law."

"But they could be giving us any sort of command and we couldn't resist it!" Foppish clopped a hoof on the floor. "I won't stand for this and I think they have already gotten to you!"

Blueblood recognized the accusation as dangerous. While it wasn't technically true, it was in a way. He gave a sigh. "Auntie is so much better at this than I am. I thought I was ready but she would have seen this coming. Foppish, I am not being mind controlled, I haven't had a single one of them use their power on me."

"Then why do we need to suffer the indignity of this?"

"You, don't." The prince charged his magic and cast a dispell, tightly focused. The other unicorn immediately looked furious as they were once more affected. "Guards, please secure Foppish somewhere he cannot hurt anypony."

The royal guards were efficient, they had the stallion levitated, locked down, and fitted with a suppression ring.

"Nicely handled." Steady Shield stepped up beside the throne. "You are right though, Princess Celestia would have seen that coming, guess you learn a lot of tricks over a few thousand years."

It hit Blueblood then just how behind the eight-ball he was in that department. "You're right, ugh but it feels good to be able to finally tell these insufferable ponies where to put their upper-class attitudes."

"The princess will be upset." Steady decided he liked this prince much better than the Blueblood he had met previously. "A message has been sent, of course."

"Of course. I should have sent one myself." Blueblood was passed a scroll and gave a sigh. "More are coming."

Steady barked a laugh at the resignation in the other stallion's voice. "They are only doing this because they think it might work. The princess had cultured a very fine degree of appearing to care about their petty problems but not enough for them to keep bringing them to her… ness. No rest for the wing-ed." The guard Under-Captain strode back to his spot at side of the audience room. "Just give the word and we beat them up and send them packing."

Rainbow Dash was in better condition than she had ever been in her life, but she was starting to tire. Every time she gained altitude to get a steep dive and rainboom the monster, it cost her.

The fight dragged on and on and Rainbow's wings started to ache; there was a huge difference between just flying and what she was doing now. Every time the monster did something she got angry. But the anger was channeled, she used it to throw off how sore her wing muscles were, she used it to ignore the odd feather that was lost when a lightning bolt grazed her.

Below, unicorns and alicorns worked together, their magic focused on different spells but the effect was cumulative. Power flared, the power of friendship born into love.

Rainbow Dash gasped as a beam of rainbow light burst up, focusing into the heart of the storm, where she was. The pegasus' wings flared wide and she stopped flying. Nothing held her in place except the most powerful of magic in Equestria. Friendship.

Their storm scattered, the windigo looked first to themselves, finding their body oddly changed, reflecting facets of light as the sun shone through them. Then they spotted the blue pegasus, their eyes open wide and glowing white with power.

Energy burning in her, Rainbow Dash floated over to the beast. "This is normally the part where you run away."

"I… I'm sorry…" The windigo wasn't even sure how it was speaking. The power flowing out from the mare before it was terrifying in its intensity, but also compelling. "I didn't realize what… what it meant to…"

Rainbow Dash was given the other kind of bad guy, she suddenly realized. Twilight would be angry if she kicked its plot despite its surrender. "Have friends?"

"What's a friend?"

"Well, want to find out?" Rainbow Dash felt cocky. All her stamina was restored with the burst of magic, she had helped defeat the bad guy and for the first time she was going to be the one who had the final victory.

The windigo blinked at the offer and smiled. The pegasus didn't see it coming. It flew forward with a burst of speed and slammed into Rainbow Dash, knocking the pegasus from the sky. Spreading her wings, angry at the sucker-punch, the blue mare looked around for the monster. There was a tremble inside her, a sense of delight. "Anger? Is that what it is like to feel it directly?"

"Who… what… where are you?" Rainbow Dash looked in all directions, used to the problem of encounters in the air. When she felt a tingle run through her, starting with her tail and flowing up through her head, she gasped. "No, no no no! Get out!"

"Can't. Bonded now. Here until the end of time." The windigo hadn't had a name, it hadn't even had a full sense of self before. But now it had a pony who had both in full measure. "Rainbow Dash, thank you… is this what friendship is?"

To have her body invaded, to be hearing the voice of the wind itself in her head, so shocked the pegasus enough she followed her instincts, spiraling down to the ground.

"A windigo!" Celestia strode up and confronted Rainbow Dash the moment the pegasus was on the ground. "Be gone!"

Fear gripped the other thing inside her. Rainbow Dash felt the fear as easily as she would feel her own and without thinking, flew up and pressed her hoof to the alicorn's horn, disrupting the spell with the physical touch. "Please, she… she is scared." The words surprised Dash, surprised her because although she hadn't wanted this, she liked to think she defended the scared and weak. The windigo was both right now.

Author's Note

Oh Dash, you really did try so hard. Here, have a present!

Also, yay, Blueblood got out of his 'deal' with Celestia thanks to a typo! All glory to the typo!

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