Chapter 22:
Allies?

“RAINBOW!” a chorus of ponies shouted as the pegasus was buried under a pile of her friends.

“We were so worried when news from Baltimare came in, darling!”
“My tail was making all sorts of twitches, definitely a doozy or three!”
“Good ta see yer flank's still in one piece.”
“You aren't hurt, are you?”
“I told you it was a bad idea!"

"Hey girls," Dash chuckled, pulling herself from the pile. “We had a few... Interesting days to say the least.”

“RAINBOW DASH!” Dash was bowled over again as Scootaloo flew into her.

“Whoa there Scoots, it's good to see you too,” Dash laughed, ruffling her mane. “Have you been keeping up with your exercises?” Scootaloo nodded furiously, flapping her wings quickly to get up to a hover. “Awesome!”

“That's some nice progress, Scoots,” I stated, getting hit by the ball of orange and purple energy too. Unlike Dash, my footing was a little firmer.

"Thanks Jack!" She squeed as I gave her mane an extra ruffle.

"Rainbow, darling, do you really have to wear those... dreadful clothes? No offense, Jack." Rarity complained as she scowled at the pony made camouflage. “That beret looks great on you though.”

Dash shrugged. “Either you wear the full uniform or none of it at all. And you already know it's supposed to be functional, not Look great.” Rarity mumbled something about seeing the fashion spread but didn't object further.

“Ooohh, it almost matches the one Jack has!” Pinkie squeed. “Are you two doing matching clothes now as a couple?!”

Dash snorted and shook her head. “Nah, I worked hard and had a whole bunch of sleepless nights to earn this bad boy.” she proudly puffed out her chest as she said so.

“Ya actually worked fer once?” Applejack teased, “Gosh Jack, couldn't ya have come earlier ta kick that pegasus into shape sooner.”

“Hey!” Dash whined at the verbal jab.

“If I were you, I'd worry more about your next Iron-pony competition,” I shot back at her with a smirk. “You might find her a very tough match.”

That got Rainbow to cheer up further as she, stepped up beside me. “Let's not hurt her pride that way, Jack, it wouldn't be all too fair," Rainbow smirked.

"Now hold on a mite! If yer that confident then Ah've got time Saturday ta settle this," Applejack protested, spitting in her hoof and holding it out. Dash mirrored the move and pressed it against the earthpony's.

"No pouting when you bite the dust!" She grinned.

Twilight cleared her throat. "Well, with that settled... Should I get the guest room ready again?"

I shook my head before glancing at Rainbow. "I was actually thinking about staying up at Rainbow's place."

"Ooohhh," Pinkie had somehow made her way between the two of us, her forelegs wrapped around both my and Rainbow's neck. "Rainbow and Jack, sitting in a tree, K-I-"

Dash pushed a hoof into the pink pony's mouth, her face taking on the same colour as the beret on her head. Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity, politely hid their face behind hooves as they chuckled, Fluttershy eeped and hid her face behind her mane, Scootaloo just pretended to gag.

"Alright, that's it," Dash stated. "Let's get up to my place, Jack. See you girls later!" She flew off at speed, leaving me with the girls standing on the station's platform.

"Well, I should follow the lady up to her house before she dies of embarrassment, I'll see you girls later... and Scoots, I'm sure we'll see each other at flight practice." Scootaloo nodded greedily and made a quick loop in the air. "Later all!"

I quickly shot up into the sky, following the rainbow trail to the cloud house and... stopping above the cloud surface.

This might be one of the craziest things... Standing on clouds?

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Dash asked as she was looking at me from her doorway. "Come on in!"

I took a deep breath and slowly lowered myself onto the fluffy white surface. It was surprisingly solid, nothing like the more bouncy or fluffy feeling I was expecting. "Yeah, I'm coming!" The inside of Dash's house was a bit of a mess, pretty much every room having at least some things strewn around. Dash had placed her large backpack near to the door and had placed her mark one at the centre of the living room's central table.

"Sorry about the mess, I haven't been here in a while," Dash said apologetically. "I'll go around and clean up."

"I'll give you a claw with that," I stated as I placed my gear next to Dash's and looked into her kitchen, piles of old dishes still standing there. They had at least been hosed off before so the smell wasn't too bad... "I'll start with this mess."

"Yeah..." Dash said guiltily. "I may have put it off a little too long..."

"Well, no more putting it off while I'm here," I said as I went to the sink and tried figuring out how to get warm water. Dash took a second to explain how to operate the tap made out of clouds. As soon as I got the hot water set up I started on the pile of dishes while Dash went around the house to clean up the rest of the mess in other rooms. We worked for at least two hours cleaning the house thoroughly, a happy quirk of cloud houses was that dust couldn't settle on the cloud parts of the structure so dusting things off was extremely easy.

"I don't think this place has been this clean since the moment I built it," Dash stated as we sank into her couch.

"You created this place yourself?" I said rather surprised.

"Weather control and cloud construction are very closely related fields, plus the cloud construction course was one of the practical courses that didn't involve me sitting in a classroom all that often," Dash explained, letting out a yawn.

"That's really cool," I said as I took in the house with new appreciation, the small little pieces of information I learned every day never ceased to amaze me.

Dash blushed. "Thanks... so, anything you want to do?"

I shrugged. "No idea. I want to visit Zecora at some point in the next few days but other than that... yeah, not a clue."

"We could hit Cherry's bar?" Dash suggested.

"Drunk this early in the day? Yeah, that'll be appreciated by the rest of the town," I said sarcastically. Rainbow snorted as the thought of both of us being blasted crossed through our minds. "I've actually got something I wanted to do but didn't get the time to but I'll have to scout the outskirts of the town."

"I mean-" Dash was cut off by a few knocks on the door, drawing the attention of the two of us.

"Expecting any visitors?"

"Right after I returned to Ponyville? Yeah no, not really," Dash answered as she got off the couch to see who was at the front door. I shadowed her as I too was interested to see who was knocking. Both my and Dash's eyes widened as we recognized the creature standing there.

"Gilda?! Gabby?"

Apparently, Gilda, Gabby, and Gallus had been moved to Ponyville by the princesses so they were close enough to Canterlot but mostly out of the public eye. It had apparently taken the residents of Ponyville some time to get used to Gilda as they had some... prior experiences with the griffin.

"But the ponies here are really nice now!" Gabby squeed happily, "The pony from the post office especially, I help her deliver the more fragile packages now!"

"That's good to hear." I chuckled, Gilda and Dash having gone off to her bedroom to discuss some things in private so I was left to entertain Gabby. "Made any new friends around here too?"

"Oh yes! Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo! I was really surprised when I heard Scoots already knew you, she's really amazed by, well,everything. She thinks you're almost as cool as Rainbow and then there's you being her coltfriend too!" She exclaimed and immediately clamped her beak shut.

"Weren't supposed to say that?" I smirked and Gabby shook her head. "My beak's sealed."

"Thanks..." I noticed her looking away briefly, gazing at her paws.

"You like her, don't you?" I couldn't help but ask. Gabby reared back, eyes widening.

"N-No!" I raised a single eyebrow and smirked. "M-Maybe... Fine. Yes, she's great," Gabby eventually grumbled. "Please don't tell her! She'd think I was being soo mushy!"

"My beak's once again sealed," I chuckled to her relief.

"It's just... She's really unlike other ponies I've met. I mean, all the crusaders are a little more rough-and-tumble than most but Scoots is almost griffish in her nature," She explained, nervously wringing her hands. I sympathetically patted a claw on her back.

"Just keep at it, If Rainbow can manage to get mushy then I'm sure Scoots can too," I comforted her, hearing noise from the stairs as Rainbow and Gilda came down it.

"...Yeah, see you around Gil'," Rainbow said as she let the female griffin pass her.

Gilda turned to Gabby, "Come on you, we should be getting home."

"Alright, see you around mister Jack! miss Rainbow!" Gabby squeed with a cheery tone of voice. The two of them waving goodbye and leaving the house again.

"So, anything you and Gilda discuss anything interesting?" I asked as we were alone again.

"Just getting some personal things straight that we really didn't get the time to say when we saw each other again in Griffinstone," Dash explained.

I nodded, "Alright, I won't pry. I'm going to head into town to get a thing or two. I need some building materials for a training I have in mind."

"Sounds like fun," Dash smirked. "I'm going to check up on the weather crew, technically I'm still the captain of that after all, and the number of vacation days I'd saved up aren't as many as they used to be," she then sheepishly added.

"Go on then, I'll see you later tonight," I chuckled as she made for the door only to be stopped by me. "Just... keep this on you." Passing one of the mark one's over to her, she gave me a questioning look. "Call it paranoia, I'd give you the pistol but that one I'm taking."

"I'll be alright, Jack, this is Ponyville... Now I say that, some ponies might take that as justification enough." I snorted as Dash secured the rifle onto her back between her wings. Putting on her beret she hovered towards the door, looking back one last time before leaving. "See you tonight!"

Wood... check. Some black paint... check. A bunch of empty sandbags... check. A shovel... check. A massive pile of sand... check as well.

I'd flown around town the previous day, taking in the terrain and eventually picking a good site that was well out of the way and hidden by a small patch of trees. Then I'd gone over to town hall to clear my plans with the mayor before a few local stores to get various materials and pieces of equipment to set up my small range.

And that meant I had my work cut out for me.

Filling sandbags, nailing posts into the ground, putting up warning signs, etcetera. It wasn't going to be that extensive of a facility but it'd be better than just picking a random field. I'd taken enough water and food to last me the day so I could work uninterrupted. A few ponies came by to look at me from a distance but none really approached me. I think I spotted Rainbow snooping down from a cloud, but she didn't approach me while I was busy. By the late afternoon, I'd set up everything I wanted, various targets that could easily be replaced and various emplacements from where to shoot.

That'll be good enough... now to set up a perimeter...

"Hey, Jack! What are you doing?" I heard from behind as I got the wooden poles and rope to create the barrier. It wasn't exactly going to be heavy fencing but it'd mark a border that would stop ponies from wandering straight towards the loud sounds. I looked over to where Scootaloo had called out from, the little filly joined by Gabby and Apple Bloom.

"Hi, Scoots! Just setting up a safe place for me and Rainbow to practice," I called back as I got the first of the poles and carried them over. "Want to help put up some fences?"

Apple Bloom scowled but Scootaloo and Gabby looked to be very eager. "Oh yeah! For sure!"

I smiled. "Awesome! Can you take a few of those poles with you?" Scootaloo and Gabby immediately got one each and after a deep sigh, Apple Bloom too stacked three poles onto her back, somehow managing to balance them as she too followed me.

"So what kind of practice are you talking about?" Scootaloo asked as I used a special tool I'd gotten to create a small hole in the ground which to place the poles in before hammering them into the ground.

"Well, you know, all kinds of stuff. Mostly I just want a place a good way away from Ponyville to have some privacy," I answered deliberately vaguely, rumours would inevitably start spreading once we started shooting anyhow. "So where's Sweetie Belle?"

"She had ta do somethin' with her parents, was kinda vague about it," Apple bloom replied as she dug up a hole and placed a pole into it, she probably had experience with it at the farm. "And when Scoots and Gabby saw ya flying out here they wanted ta check out what ya were doing."

I glanced over to the two who were giving their most innocent smiles. "Were they now?" I smirked as we moved on to the next pole. "Well, I won't complain about the extra hooves and claws. Gabby, Scoots, can you start tying the rope through the holes in the posts?"

With the extra help, the process of putting up the fencing went far quicker than I'd have been able to on my own. Apple Bloom helped out with making the holes, I would hammer them in, Gabby would bring new ones as we moved up, and Scootaloo tied the ropes to the poles.

"Phew, that went pretty smooth if Ah say so mahself," Bloom stated as she wiped the sweat off her brow. "And it wasn't as bad as most chores."

"Just because it's work doesn't mean it can't be fun when around the right people," I stated with a chuckle as I gathered up all the tools and tied them into a bundle. They would have to be returned to their owner at the hardware store from which I'd hired most of them.

"Amen ta that," Bloom chuckled.

I did a quick check of the sun and guessed it wasn't too late yet. "So, do you girls have time to head over to Sugarcube corner for something nice? Milkshakes?" The three of them all quickly nodded. "Alright, let's go then!"

"So what have you cooked up now?" Rainbow asked as I led her in the direction of the makeshift range I'd set up. Of course, I suspected that she'd already snooped around to see what I was up to the previous day but that hardly mattered.

"A bit of training a lot of armies in my world have officially mostly dropped. Something I think it's a man shame," I explained as I decreased my altitude and circled the clearing which had the range in it. The two of us landed and placed our backpacks to the side, both of us pulling out the two mark one's and additionally I pulled out some protective padding and two pugil sticks—a stick with padding on either side.

"What's that for?" Dash asked as she studied the thing after picking one of them up, giving it an experimental swing.

"Patience, you'll know in a minute. Now put on that protective gear." Quickly strapping on the padding Dash took position opposite of me, the two of us standing balanced on our hind legs with the pugil stick held in front of us, Rainbow playfully twirling her stick in her hooves.

"So what is up with these silly things?" Dash asked with a smirk, only for me to charge ahead and smack the side of her head and almost sending her sprawling.

"They're only silly if you make them so," I stated as I gave her some time to get up. "My goal here is to make sure your stance is solid. The basis for any hand to hand fighting, or hoof to claw in this case." Rainbow immediately became a lot more serious, still somewhat playful but at least getting in the right frame of mind. Dash then suddenly used her wings to charge forward, the move being one of the ones I was expecting her to use. Bracing myself and putting a shoulder forward, Dash smacked into it as if I were a brick wall. A wack on the back of her head sending her to the ground again. "Being nimble isn't going to help you here, you're going to have to root yourself like a tree and push me over from there!"

Dash growled as she spit out some grass, and once again got back up. We repeated the dance time and time again, Dash eventually slowly but surely getting in close to what I wanted her to do. We were both working quite a sweat as Dash finally got the better of me. Pushing into me and getting me slightly off-balance, she capitalized by using that little moment of weakness to ram the pugil stick into me and knocking me onto my butt.

"HA! I... Finally... Got you!" she panted with a victorious smirk.

"That you did," I chuckled. "Take off that padding and go get a drink." Rainbow did both of those things all too thankfully while I got the targets ready and prepared the mark ones.

"So what's next?" She asked as I passed her her rifle.

"The fun part," I smirked as I drew the combat knife attached to my vest. "Fix bayonets!" The knife slid in place and gave a satisfying click as it locked in place, Rainbow pulling her own knife and putting it on the barrel of her rifle. "As you can see there are five targets, your task is to charge the first three and stick them with the bayonet before taking a position at the sandbags halfway and shooting the last two targets," I explained, passing a magazine with two rounds to Dash.

"Sounds easy enough," she shrugged as she loaded the box and cycled the rifle.

"That's not all," I stopped her as we got up to the start line marked with a few more sandbags. "I want you to find every bit of aggression you have inside of you and focus it on those targets."

"Alright..?" Dash questioned but turned back to the dummies, I'd give her a demonstration of what I meant after her first try anyhow. "I'm ready!"

"Are you? Three, two, one... GO!" Dash shot forward, racing the first target in a flash and ramming the bayonet into it, swiftly moving on to the next and then the third before laying down at the sandbags and loosing two shots into the fourth and fifth target. She returned with a victorious smirk which faltered as she met my stone cold gaze. "You call that aggression?!" I thundered. "The great Rainbow Dash quietly running at her enemy and stabbing them? What? Are the griffins on the other side supposed to be scared of you like that?!"

I loaded another magazine into my own rifle and took position on the start line. "Watch and learn." Letting out a piercing shriek I charged forward, ramming the bayonet into the first target twice in a split second before I was off to the next. The shriek morphed into more of a roar as I similarly stabbed the second and third. I then merely took a sitting position at the sandbags and fired off the two shots in rapid succession, adding two holes next to the ones Dash had already put there. I took two seconds to catch my breath and have my blood cool down somewhat before turning and trotting back.

"That's how you show aggression."

Rainbow was a little paler and her ears had fallen flat against her skull as she swallowed the lump in her throat. "R-Right."

"Now think about something that will get you angry... See those targets? They're here to capture or kill your friends, to kill Scootaloo!"

"Wha- Oh.. yeah," I could see Dash making the connection and turn her gaze back to the targets, certainty returning to her features along with a little anger as she imagined the targets to be real enemies.

I placed a single claw on her shoulder as I passed a new magazine with the other. "Are you going to let them?!"

"No!" Dash shouted in reply.

"Really?"

"NO!" She repeated though I could feel the shouts now tapped into something primal...

Perfect... she's getting into the right mindset.

"Then go! Get them!" Dash shot forward, letting out a loud roar as she went through the targets again, each stab having much more aggression behind them and the shots much more rapidly placed after each other. As Dash returned she was panting much more than the exertion had any right to have caused, a mix of emotions crossing her face as I gave her a good pat on the back.

"That was much better... Again."

Author's Note

The peace and quiet from staying at my sister's really helps with focussing on just writing.

Remember that comments are like authors' food, we gain energy from them. Constructive criticism is welcome.