Rainbow Samurai

Provocation and Culmination…

Rainbow Dash had begun her day as per usual; showering, getting dressed, making sure Daring Do took her medication, and eating her breakfast before going to endure a dreadfully boring day at flight school.

“I’m going to school, mom. I’ll be back with groceries,” the blue Pegasus filly informed the golden yellow mare.

“O-o-okay, Rainbow, h-honey…” the mare timidly responded as she lay in bed.

“Mom…?” Rainbow called as she approached.

“Y-yes dear?” Rainbow decided she’d try her luck one more time in finding out the reasons behind Daring Do’s condition.

“Why…?”

“Why what, Dashie…?”

“Why won’t you tell me what happened to make you like this?”

“You… you are too innocent… innocent ponies don’t deserve this… I… I’m not innocent…”

“What do you mean? You say that all the time, but I don’t know what you mean… What did you do to make yourself not innocent?”

“M-maybe you’ll understand when you’re o-older… It’s time for flight school now… Go along.”

“But mom!” Rainbow defiantly began. “You NEVER used to be like this! You used to always love going out and finding stuff to bring home! Now, you won’t even leave the house anymore! And all you do now is sit in a corner and mumble to yourself all day!” the filly began tearing up.

“P-please, honey… it is… time for school… go to school…”

“No! Not until I—!”

“I SAID GO TO SCHOOL!!” Daring suddenly shouted, startling the filly and herself. A tense moment of silence washed over the two as they stared each other down. Soon, Rainbow Dash turned towards the door and slowly began walking out. She froze in the middle of the doorframe.

“I want my mommy back…” she muttered and sniffled as she gently shut the door. If she was still within earshot, the filly would’ve heard Daring beginning to break down and sob.

“Oh, Dashie… If only you could understand…” she mumbled between sobs.

Rainbow Dash had been breezing her way through flight school. She already knew all the basic maneuvers and techniques, having been able to teach herself how to fly before she’d been adopted by Daring Do. She’d also learned a few tricks from Daring. She breezed through her lessons with ease. Most other students were jealous of Rainbow’s skills, which made them refrain from talking to her. She’d only exacerbated her isolation with the frequent bragging she’d do during each class period. Rainbow Dash didn’t make many friends; in fact, she’d only made one.

The single friend she’d made was not another Pegasus, but a griffin; a creature with the head of an eagle and the body of a lion that went by the name of Gilda. The two shared the same brash, carefree disposition and flying skills, despite being of different species. The two were okay with being isolated, for they found comfort in one another. Together, they challenged one another to strive to be the best fliers they could be, usually spending their recess times racing one another around the play area. On this particular day, however, things would go differently…

“Okay, first one to the flagpole wins!” said Gilda, rearing up and flaring her wings.

“Fine, but loser buys lunch for both of us!” replied Rainbow Dash, mimicking her rival’s motions.

“Hope you brought enough money to treat me, then!” Gilda pompously joked with a smirk.

“Oh, we’ll s—!” Rainbow was interrupted by a cry of pain, followed by a bout of laughter from more than one voice coming from another area of the fluffy white playground. As if something were calling her, she instantly felt like investigating the situation. “Hang on a sec…” she said, looking to her right to see three Pegasus colts laughing and standing over top of a small yellow-and-pink blob. “Let’s see what’s going on over there.”

“Why? It’s just that wimpy little Shutterfly or whatever her name is getting what’s coming to her for being so weak. Let the guys toughen her up a bit.” As Gilda finished her insult, a thumping sound was made coming from the area in question, followed by another despaired cry.

“That doesn’t sound like ‘toughening up’ to me. I’m going over there. Are you coming or not?”

“*sigh* Fine… We’re just wasting our time, though…” Gilda remarked as the two trotted over to the scene. What the blue Pegasus saw appalled her. There were three Pegasus colts, one with a brown coat, the second with a black coat, and the third with an orange coat, standing over another Pegasus, this one a filly with a yellow coat and a frazzled pink mane and tail who was whimpering and cowering in fear.

“What’s going on here?” Rainbow asked with an air of anger.

“None of your business, Rainbow Crash!” snipped the brown-coated colt.

“Well it’s my business now!” she shot back. “What are you doing!?”

“If you MUST know, Fluttercry here is too weak to fly,” said the black-coated colt. “We’re… teaching her what happens to Pegasus ponies who can’t fly so good.”

“Yeah,” began the orange-coated colt. “Like this!” he added as he raised a hoof and slammed it on the cowering yellow Pegasus’s side, eliciting another shout of agony.

“Hey!” Rainbow shouted, clearly unhappy with the colts’ method of education. “Why don’t you try picking on somepony who can actually defend herself!?”

“Ohh, you mean like your mom?” quipped the brown-coated colt. The other two colts let out a unified “Ooooooh…!” “Oh, wait— your mom’s a scaredy-pony now, too! I heard she’s too scared to even set hoof outside her own house because somepony sent her a note!” he followed his rude joke with a triumphant guffaw, which the other two colts joined him in.

“You take that back!!” Rainbow screamed, now furious to the point of tearing up with frustration. Despite this, Rainbow did finally have a sort of clue to follow in digging up her mother’s secret.

“Yeah,” added Gilda. “Dash is way tougher than you dweebs anyway!”

“Ha, that’s a laugh!” remarked the black colt.

“And what if I don’t take it back, Rainbow Crash? You and your weak little friend over here gonna stop us?” taunted the brown colt, gesturing a hoof towards the cowering, shuddering yellow filly.

“Not to mention this freak of nature here!” added the orange colt, gesturing a hoof towards Gilda.

“Freak!? Who are you callin’ a freak, you loser!?” Gilda asked, her temper almost completely lost as she got up in the face of the orange Pegasus. She'd only become angry for the reason that she was the only griffin currently enrolled in an otherwise all-pony flight school.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” the colt falsely apologized, stepping back. “I forgot that you’re not alone in being a freak. You have the weakling here who can’t even…!” he paused as he smacked Fluttershy over the head as she was lifting her head up, only to be swatted back down with a new wave of tears and a new reason for them. “…fly! Then you got this one over here…” He pointed a hoof at Rainbow Dash. “The one who has a mom that’s such a big baby that she’d probably pee herself if she even set hoof outside, and has her pwecious wittle daughter do all th—!"

*WHACK*

"OWW!!” Rainbow Dash had seen and heard far more than enough and socked the colt dead in his snout. He stumbled back with a hoof covering his face. As soon as he recovered from the surprise attack, he removed his hoof to see that it was covered in blood.

“Doesn’t feel so good, does it!?” taunted Rainbow, seemingly proud of her violent outburst. The colts didn’t respond; the other two looked in shock at their friend, who had now been crying because of his nosebleed.

“You are SO gonna pay for that, Rainbow Crash!” threatened the black colt as he lifted a hoof to attack her. He instantly found himself blindsided by a force that swept across his face and knocked him down. He looked up to see Gilda shaking her paw and smirking at him.

“That’s what you get for messin’ with us!” Gilda proudly informed.

“Oh, that tears it!” shouted the brown colt as he lunged at Rainbow and pinned her to the ground. He lifted a hoof to strike her across the face, but as if on adrenaline-fueled instinct, Rainbow managed to free a fore hoof and hit him across the face, stunning him long enough for her to free her hind hooves and plant them into his chest, knocking him off of her. As soon as she got back to her hooves, the colt charged again, this time swinging his hooves wildly at her. Rainbow found it surprisingly easy to dodge the majority of his strikes, only being hit once or twice, but brushing them off as she countered with her own erratic hoof swings as the two took flight. She’d actually been landing hits on him far more often than he was doing so to her. Eventually, the colt decided to grab her by her mane to hold her in place. She flapped her wings vehemently as she fought to get free, but could not as the colt had driven a fore hoof into her stomach. He let go of her after landing his hit to have the Pegasus clutching her abdomen in pain with one fore hoof as she landed on her haunches.

“Take THAT!” the colt bragged as he descended. His moment of triumph was cut short by quiet laughter coming from his opponent. Rainbow climbed up to her hooves, seemingly unharmed by the blow to the stomach she’d received.

“For a colt, you sure do hit like a filly…” she teased. “I’ve had tummy aches that hurt more than that!” she added as she readied herself to charge at the colt, only to be stopped by a yellow Pegasus.

“STOP!” shouted the filly as she stood on her hind hooves in front of Rainbow with her fore legs spread out. Her eye, though wrought with tears, was a rich turquoise. The filly’s mane hung down over one of her other eye, obscuring it from view. She was also a bit thinner than any other Pegasus foal. She’d still been weeping, but she wasn’t cowering on the clouds anymore.

“What?? What do you mean, ‘stop’? I’m on YOUR side!” argued Rainbow.

“I… I don’t want you to fight…” she quietly said.

“Well, why not?” asked Gilda. “Don’t you WANT us to help you?”

“No… I mean yes! But I don’t want anypony fighting… especially not over somepony as weak and helpless as me…” she sadly answered.

“Well, we tried talking, but that didn’t work, as you could see,” Rainbow cynically remarked.

“I know…” the Pegasus turned to the brown colt, who was out of breath, but staring at her in confusion. “I’m… I’m sorry… for what my friends did to you. And I’m sorry that I’m not a good flyer… I promise I’ll get better… if that’s okay with you, I mean.” There was an air of collective shock at the yellow Pegasus. She was… apologizing. For things she hadn’t been responsible for, but felt the need to take the blame for. “But could you please not hurt me or my friends anymore? Fighting isn’t very nice…”

“Um… I… guess I’m sorry, too, Fluttershy…” apologized the colt with a guilty frown, seeming to realize his misdeed. “I… WE… won’t mess with you anymore.”

“Y-yeah…” agreed the two other colts in unison as they walked toward their de facto leader, the orange one still holding a hoof to his bleeding nose while the black one was holding a hoof to a purple bruise on his cheek. The three colts proceeded to walk away from the area. The Pegasus known as “Fluttershy” turned back to Rainbow and Gilda.

“Um… Why did YOU apologize to THEM!?” Rainbow asked in outrage. “THEY were bullying YOU!”

“Yeah, what gives??” added the griffin.

“I don’t like fighting,” Fluttershy began. “I know those guys were being mean to me, but I’m sure they were only doing it to help me.”

“Help you?” Rainbow asked with a raised eyebrow. “Look at you! You’re all messy and bruised up because those jerks were ‘helping you!’”

“I… I know. I was going to start practicing flying more often… but I get so scared when I’m flying… I think of all the other foals laughing at me like they usually do, and it makes me scared…”

“…How ‘bout Gilda and I teach you how to fly?” Rainbow kindly offered after hearing Fluttershy’s strife. Gilda looked at Dash in disbelief.

“Dash, you CAN’T be serious!” Gilda protested. “There’s no way tha—!”

“We have to!” the blue Pegasus interrupted. “If we don’t, those guys are probably gonna start beating up on her again.”

“Oh, thank you,” said Fluttershy. “But you don’t have to. I’m not worth the trouble…”

“The hay you are! I’m going to help you because I want to. Learning from the best in the business, you’ll be flying circles around those jerks and anypony else here in no time! What do you say, Gilda??”

“*sigh* Sure, why not,” the griffin reluctantly agreed.

“LUNCH TIME!!” called a grown stallion poking his head out from a doorway that lead into the school building.

“Come eat with us,” Rainbow offered. “The name’s Rainbow Dash, by the way. And this is Gilda.” Gilda halfheartedly waved at Fluttershy, keeping a cool and distant attitude towards her.

“I’m… Fluttershy. It’s… nice to meet you,” said the slender yellow Pegasus filly as the trio walked towards the school building.

“Y’know, you sure are shy. But I guess your name kinda says that.” Rainbow smiled at her new friend and placed a hoof around her neck as they proceeded into the mess hall…

Daring had finished her fit of crying and gathered up the strength to pull herself out of bed. Dash’s last words to her before leaving for school were still fresh in her mind. They replayed again and again like a broken record.

“I want my mommy back…”

“I want my mommy back…”

“I want my mommy back…”

She trotted into the bathroom to clean her face. However, she froze as she looked at her reflection in the mirror just above the sink. She’d hardly recognized herself; her mane was frazzled and even more unruly than by any normal standards, she had bags under her reddened eyes from frequent bouts of sobbing and sleepless nights, and she wore a facial expression that showed perpetual misery. The medications she was prescribed had shown no progress in helping her recover.

“Oh, Daring…” she mumbled. “What DID happen to you? Danger never got the best of you… especially not like this…”

“But the danger is much greater than ever!” argued a voice in her head.

“Y-yeah, but I used to face danger all the time.”

“You didn’t have to face it in the comfort of your own home before, did you?”

“No… but this no different. I’m an adventurer… this kind of thing should be expected…”

“This is VERY different! Nopony has ever tried to kill you in your own home before!”

“There’s… a first time for everything. I should’ve expected this. But this kind of thing is a sacrifice I have to make for my passion… Even with as scary as it is… I can’t let this fear control me like this anymore…”

“It isn’t fear! It’s caution. It is not controlling you; it is PROTECTING you! You AND Rainbow Dash!” a bell rang in the golden Pegasus’s head.

“R-Rainbow…”

“Yes, she doesn’t even know about the assassins! And she shouldn’t! She’s just a filly!”

“She IS a filly right now… but she’s special. I can tell. Through all of this, she’s been standing strong when I couldn’t, even though she doesn’t know the reason her mommy’s been so weak and weary. Maybe I should tell her what’s going on. At this point, she deserves to know…”

“But you’re putting her life at ri—!”

*BANG BANG BANG BANG* a loud, aggressive knock came at her door, interrupting her argument with herself. She knew it couldn’t have been Rainbow Dash. She was at flight school. And she wasn’t expecting any visitors. She hadn’t had any visitors in months. Cautiously, she trotted out of the bathroom and into her living room. She very slowly made her way to the door.

“Who is it?” she asked. There was no reply. “I said ‘who is it’!?” she demanded. Still no reply. “I know you can hear me!” she barked, now fed up with the lack of response. “Who is this!?” she still did not receive an answer. Giving in, she unlocked the door and opened it to reveal three mysterious Pegasi dressed in jet black spandex suits and masks with red goggles. One was a bit larger than the others.

“We are here for the Element,” The larger Pegasus addressed in a sinister deep voice.

“Give us the Element,” demanded one of the smaller Pegasi, this one sounding feminine.

“That is, if you value your life,” chimed the third Pegasus, sounding masculine.

“…You… you’re part of that cult that’s been trying to assassinate me, aren’t you?” Daring warily asked. “The—!”

“Dark Hoof Seven Tribe, yes,” finished the large Pegasus stallion. “We are a covert operative group that participates in various activities for the protection of everypony, whether they like it or not. We take pride in eliminating all threats to the safety of not only Equestria, but the entire world. We have bases of operations all over the globe.”

“You see,” began the mare. “We know all too well about the legend of the Elements of Harmony. They are the reason that the other countries in this world are in such desolate states. We’d been searching far and wide for them for quite a while now…”

“…and our searches have proven inconclusive… that is, until now…” finished the smaller stallion. Daring could hardly make sense of the information she was given. Here, this so-called “secret organization” was claiming to protect the safety of everypony. Yet, they’d spent the last year or so trying to kill her for that necklace.

“If you’re so bent on protecting everypony, then why is it that nopony knows about you? More importantly, why have you been trying to kill me!?” Daring angrily asked.

“It is imperative that no one finds out about us,” began the larger stallion. “We live to serve and protect at all costs. Our search for the Elements of Harmony is the reason for the foundation of this organization. We want to bring about eternal peace to the world.”

“By sneaking around in the shadows and disregarding the laws of the very lands you walk on, and endangering innocent ponies? Hardly seems ‘peaceful’ to me,” Daring spat. “You’re neglecting the fact that you’ve spent over a year trying to KILL me! You’ve all been ruining my life!”

“You must understand that our initial plan was not to complicate or end your life, Daring Do,” the mare started. “If your memory serves to recall, we’ve offered you large sums of money in exchange for the Element of Harmony you found. However, you declined each and every one of them, which forced us to view you as a threat for being so noncompliant. You brought this on yourself.”

“How dare you say that? I wasn’t the one who decided I WANTED to be killed over that necklace! I simply found it, and I saw it as priceless. I’m not keeping it just to say ‘I have it!’ I’m keeping it to do research on it and find out how to unlock its potential!”

“And look where that’s gotten you,” the small stallion shot back. “You haven’t come any closer to unlocking the Element’s potential than you had when you found it, and you’ve put yourself and your daughter in terrible danger for not complying with us. Yet, you still refuse to hand it over to us. We are many; you are but one. If you hand the Element to us, we will prove to be much quicker and more efficient in finding out its secrets, you can go back to digging up old, useless junk from caves and abandoned dungeons, and your daughter will not have to be caught in this crossfire. She won’t even have to know about it.” The stallion’s ultimatum angered Daring greatly. Not because he was trying to extort the Element from her, or because he’d insulted her profession; she was angered because he implied that Rainbow Dash would be harmed.

“You BASTARD!” Daring exploded. “You come into MY house, demand something that belongs to ME, and threaten the safety of MY daughter?? Not to mention you think all the psychological damage you ruthless monsters have caused me in the last year will just wash away??” she turned her around to see a sheathed katana sword lying on her coffee table. She walked over to it, took the sheath off and cast it aside, and turned back to her foes in a readied fighting stance. “You’d better be ready, because you’ll get that Element over my dead body!”

“That CAN be arranged, foalish one…” warned the large stallion as he lifted up a hoof to reveal a hidden blade. The mare and stallion behind him had revealed hidden blades from a seemingly invisible compartment in their hooves as well.

“Let this be a message to your scumbag boss…!” Daring hissed as she charged at the Dark Hoof agents, the handle of her sword her in mouth, that old, fiery determination she seemed to have lost so long ago restored in her eyes as they focused on her targets…