A sense of peace and tranquility overwhelmed R.T. as he joyfully flew through the skies, at a pace so fast that even he, himself, couldn't believe it. His eyes were beginning to sting from the air, but none of that mattered.
He was ecstatic - the air rushing through his mane, the momentum forcing his cheeks to pull behind him, the wind beating against his skin, and a large smile on his face. As he began to soar through the air at speeds he thought impossible to accomplish, everything around him became a blur, and the noise of clouds bursting into vapour and rain was drowned out by the wind. Out of nowhere, a series of waves began to appear around him as he looked around.
"Could it be? Am I actually creating a SONIC BOOM?!?!" he screamed to himself, completely unable to hear anything but wind. He pushed himself further and further, realising that he was so close to being the second currently living pegasus to ever perform a sonic boom of any sort, next to Rainbow Dash.
But instead of the sonic boom he was expecting, he found himself falling while still moving at the same speed as before. What he didn't notice, though, from his glee-filled mind feeding him all sorts of fantasies, was that his wings were gone.
Not retracted, not hiding, but actually gone. He began to fall - so fast that he screamed out in horror, with an extremely terrified expression over his face. His life began to flash through his eyes. Equestria was getting closer and closer, and there wasn't anything he could do to stop himself.
Tears streamed out of his eyes as he knew that this was it; his life was over. He began to see tiny figures in the distance, as he realised he was heading straight for Ponyville. So now, not only would he die from the fall, but his friends could see his liquefied remains plastered across the street too. For a short second, he heard people scream out, presumably due to them noticing him, as he slammed straight into the street.
Ponyville, Earlier That Morning...
"GAAAAAAAAH!" R.T. yelled, as he jumped straight out of his bed, landing on a tabletop that, luckily, had nothing on it as he used it to rest his forehooves against while staring out the window.
His body was persperating so much, it turned him into a lighter shade, as he pulled himself off the table and towards his bed. He began to sob for a short period of time. Usually, R.T. wouldn't cry at the occasional nightmare - but this was a recurring one, and it felt so real. So real, in fact, that he was seriously considering getting help.
He sat there for a few minutes, as his face became more and more damp from the collection of tears welling up in his eyes, before deciding to go for a walk. As he left the comfort of his bedroom, he descended down the wooden flight of stairs leading to the living room, which only contained a table, an empty bookshelf and a chair, as he walked around to the front entrance.
He opened the door to be greeted with a light sprinkle of rain. "Ugh... rain." he mumbled, as he looked to his left and noticed his hoody sprawled across a desk. His face lit up slightly, as he lifted it off of the desk and pushed his forelegs into the openings, before rearing up on his hind legs to let it go down to his flank, covering his cutie mark.
He leaned against the wall and used both front hooves to wrap the hood over his head, as he left the house, closing the door behind him. After a couple of minutes of walking to wherever his hooves took him, he heard the sound of someone being attacked in an alleyway. Wondering what was going on, he quickly rushed into the alleyway to find a large thug attacking somepony. "Wait, is that..." he muttered to himself, before he realised that it was Sparky.
Ponyville, Present
The sky was, again, sunny and blue, devoid of clouds. The Weather Patrol always did a great job. Flame, Sparky, and R.T. were all sitting down at a table outside the café, as R.T. explained the events that transpired earlier that morning.
"...and so that's how I saved Sparky from getting pummelled by a thug, thanks to my awesome skills!" he boasted proudly.
Sparky grinned. "Yeah, sure, you're the king of the world R.T. But thanks for saving me." Sparky leaned over next to R.T. and hugged him tightly, as he began to blush.
"Sparky, you're embarrassing me!" he said childishly, as she released him. Flame chuckled, along with Sparky, before a look of curiosity dawned upon his face.
"So are you two... y'know..." He trailed off, before R.T. realised what he was talking about.
"Oh, no, not at all. We're just friends." he said. "Although, with that unicorn magic of yours..." he joked. This time, it was Sparky who blushed, her cheeks becoming a rosy red, as she giggled at the thought.
Flame looked at the position the sun was in - quite close to the middle of the sky, from his perspective.
"Hey, Darkly would be back by now... So I guess I'll leave you two to it. I, on the other hand, have an old friend to catch up with!" he said, as he ran off vigorously.
Sparky looked back at R.T. as she asked him if it was "that nightmare?". R.T. simply nodded, trying not to think about it.
Flame galloped through Ponyville, trying to remember his way to the park as he passed the market.
His first impressions of Ponyville were that it was a very friendly place - aside from that one thug that R.T. stopped, but he said that "he didn't look like he was from Ponyville at all, likely just stopping in at the inn here".
As the park entered his vision, he slowed his pace down to a trot. He walked up to Darkly Vision's house and was pleased to see that the note was gone, indicating that he must be home now. He began to walk up the stairs, but stopped when he thought about what he was going to say, and how much he's changed since he last saw him.
Flame drew in a sharp intake of breath, and exhaled loudly, before knocking on the door. As he waited nervously, he heard crashing noises and grunts from a... A mare? Last time Flame checked, Darkly was a stallion. The mare trotted to the door, before opening it.
"HelloooooOOAH! Flame, is that you?!?!" the mare exclaimed, before leaping into Flame, causing the both of them to tumble down the small set of stairs leading to the door. As Flame attempted to sit up, his body aching, the mare began to speak once more.
"Wow! I just went to Fillydelphia to see you, and you're already in Ponyville! Wow, this is so great- Wait, that must mean you MOVED HERE!??!? Your parents said you moved, but that they couldn't tell me where-"
She was cut off by Flame, who placed one of his forehooves to her mouth, shushing her as he began to get more and more annoyed by her.
"Okay, FIRST, where's Darkly Vision, and SECOND, who are YOU?" Flame inquired, before releasing the mare's mouth from his grip. She laughed.
"Oh, silly, I'M Darkly Vision! I just got zapped by some magic on the way back from Fillydelphia - which was my choice, by the way, since I got a thousand bits out of it - and now I'm a mare for a week! And you know what the surprising thing is? It actually feels REALLY NICE!" she exclaimed in a single breath.
Flame simply looked at her in astonishment - he could tell, now, that this mare was Darkly. She had the same features as Darkly - dark white fur, hazel eyes, and an unkempt long mane and tail... as well as the same old "Darkly Personality".
Flame noticed the colour of her mane - brown, something that Flame hadn't seen in a while, since he... well, she always made sure that her mane was a different colour every now and then, using magic.
"So, what's been going on since I last saw you, Flame? No, wait, don't tell me - just come inside because I want to sit down while I hear this!" she said, as she jumped almost ten feet in the air through an open window into her house. Flame was used to her doing that kind of stuff.
Flame walked inside the house, closing the door behind him. He sat down on a chair next to Darkly, her face in a very wide, enthusiastic grin as she was ecstatic to see her best friend, as he told her what's been happening over the last five months.
Darkly held Flame in a tight embrace. She was feeling awful about the stuff that Flame had to go through over the past five months, and just felt that she had to do something, no matter how small it may be.
As they sat there in each other's arms for a minute, Flame stifling back tears, Darkly tried to lighten the mood.
"Just remember that I'm not your marefriend, so don't try anything funny!" she joked. Flame giggled.
"Yeah, that would be really awkward in a week or so when you're back to being a stallion." he said, as they released themselves from each other.
"Oh, I should really show you your room!" Darkly said.
Flame's eyes widened. "Wait, so I'm actually living here?" he asked excitedly.
Darkly giggled. "Of course you are, silly, you're my best friend! I'd LOVE to have you here!" she said. Flame grinned, as he looked around to actually examine the room he was in.
There wasn't much at all, like Sparky's house - most of the things you'd find would be in Darkly's room. There was, though, three chairs, a table and a cabinet, along with a window.
"Well, are you gonna sit around there all day, or go see your room?" Darkly inquired, as Flame got up, following the energetic unicorn up the staircase infront of the main door. As they entered a hallway with four rooms, he felt confused as to what room was what.
"It's the last one on the left." Darkly said, as if she read his mind. Flame nodded, and headed to the last door on the left. As he opened it, he didn't quite see the normal kind of bedroom he was expecting, but instead, a bathroom.
"Uh... I'm sleeping... in a bath?" he said. Darkly began to burst out into tears, seemingly overreacting to Flame's assumption.
"N-No, that's just the bathroom!" she laughed. Flame's face flushed out of embarrassment, even though it was only him and Darkly there. As Darkly began to regain her composure, she stumbled backwards into a door.
"Oh, you live here in this room!" she said enthusiastically. Flame just looked at her, and began to chuckle. It was going to be fun hanging out with his best friend again, even if she might be a mare for a while.
Ponyville, Later That Night
R.T.'s vision slowly began to come to him. He attempted to look around, but couldn't distinguish anything... not with a blurred vision, anyway. He realised that he was lying down on the floor, but where exactly he was, he couldn't tell.
The white maned pegasus attempted to get up, before realising that he couldn't lift a hoof, likely due to being tied down. R.T. began to panic. He'd just woken up some place, with nopony in sight, and couldn't move.
As his vision began to correct itself, he examined the room. Everything was dark, except for light from a lamp illuminating the small area he was tied down to, and a wooden table.
He noticed a figure in the shadows. Watching him. R.T. tried to ask what the hay was going on, but as he tried to open his mouth, he felt nothing. Almost as if he... oh no.
R.T. quickly realised that somehow, he didn't have a mouth anymore. Muffled screams began to erupt from him, as the figure emerged from the shadows, revealing itself to be... Rainbow Dash?!?! Relief swept over R.T. - she must've been here to save him!
But those thoughts quickly faded, when an evil smile appeared on her face as she picked up a knife from a nearby wooden table. She slowly made her way towards him, teasing him with the knife even, as she began to rest her haunches on his stomach.
R.T. began to sweat nervously, intense fear festering inside him, clearly visible to the pegasus on top of him.
Rainbow Dash only said one thing. "Wake up". She stared into his eyes, as she held the knife high up into the air.
R.T. began to emit more muffled screams, screams of panic, as she thrusted the knife deep into his cheeks. While he expected to be killed, surprisingly, he felt nothing more but a slight sting, as he looked back up and saw Rainbow Dash, not sitting but standing above him, and without any kind of sharp weapon, as he noticed a dark blue sky above her.
"Finally, you're awake." Rainbow Dash said. "Sorry about hitting you in the face - but nothing else was working."
R.T. sighed with relief - Rainbow just saved him from a horrible nightmare, and she didn't even know it.
"That's... alright." he said, still very shaken. He'd never had a nightmare that anyone else was a part of.
Rainbow sat back down next to him, as he was still lying down, before doing the same alongside him.
"Bad dream?" Rainbow said. R.T. simply nodded. Rainbow didn't prod any further - she knew that these nightmares came to him from time to time.
"So just what were you doing sleeping out here in the first place?" she asked. "I didn't picture you for the type to be sleeping on clouds, especially the larger ones."
R.T. looked at Rainbow, noticing that she was on a cloud. Obviously, this meant he was too.
"Not really any reason... I guess I was just relaxing. I must've passed out." he said. The two of them looked out into the night sky for a few minutes. Rainbow was the first to break the silence.
"Rave, I talked to one of your friends, Sparky... She said you had the same dream last ni-"
R.T. cut her off quickly. "No. What I just had was... It was way different." he said, as he gazed into the sky.
"How different?" Rainbow asked. R.T. took a deep breath, deciding not to tell Rainbow a certain thing.
"I woke up... in the middle of a room. It was completely dark, except for a lamp shining down on my face... I saw a figure of some sort. Leering at me. I tried to ask what was going on, but my mouth... it was gone. The figure then walked up to me, grabbing a knife on it's way, sat on me, and sliced me open... well, almost, but you woke me up right before that." he explained.
A look of distress dawned upon Rainbow Dash. She didn't like seeing R.T. this way.
"Rave... Look, if you want, you can stay at my place for the night, I guess." she offered. "It wouldn't be too hard to make one of the rooms a temporary guest room."
R.T. smiled. "Thanks... but I'll have to pass. I think right now, I just need to be alone for a while..." he said. Rainbow nodded.
"It's getting late... I was just heading over to mine before I noticed you." Rainbow said, as she sat up, and turned to R.T. as her wings shot out. "Be careful, Rave. Seriously. I'm getting worried about you, and I know I'm not the only one." she said with caution in her voice, as she set off to the skies.
R.T. simply wondered about his life, and the direction it was heading in... For all he knew, he might've been going insane.
Ponyville, The Next Morning
The sunlight shined dimly in Flame's room, with only a small opening through his curtains. He'd woken up half an hour ago, but he didn't feel like getting up. No, the warm embrace of the bed was too much for him to resist.
As he snuggled into his bed, Darkly quietly opened the door.
"Flame, are you awake?" she whispered. Flame gave her a lazy nod.
"Oh, good, because I made you some breakfast!" she said happily, as Flame looked at her. Darkly pulled a tray out of... well, it looks like she pulled it out of the thin air behind her.
As she bolted over to the bedside table and gently placed the tray there, she smiled at him. Flame sat up.
"Thanks for that... But, uh, why? I don't recall you being the 'caring' type." he asked.
"Oh, I don't know - I just had a strange urge to, that's all!" Darkly replied, before trotting out the door, humming a tune. Flame smiled. He got to laze around in bed all morning, AND get treated to a free breakfast.
"I can already tell life is going to be good here." he said to himself, before examining the tray's contents.
New Friends, New Troubles
Flame Tempest is a shy and timid Earth pony, with bright red fur that stands out, and a yellow short mane + large yellow tail, that's always found it hard to make friends. When he was but a small colt, his only friend - and one of the best friends a pony could have - was a Unicorn with dark white fur, hazel eyes, and an unkempt long mane and tail called "Darkly Vision" with a lust for adventure of any type.
They were the best of friends - they knew everything about each other, they had more or less the same interests, and they were hanging out with each other almost every day. Even when one of them was sick, they'd find some way to have fun.
However, when they became adults - at the ages of 15 and 11 months for Flame, 16 and 6 months for Darkly - they found that they both wanted to go off and do different things - Flame wanted to settle down in Fillydelphia, and Darkly wanted to move to Ponyville and explore. Out in a city, you can't really do much - but in a town, there's lots to explore outside the town.
Over the next five months, things were nice for Flame at first. But eventually, the city got to him. Flame was beginning to have nervous breakdowns, to the point where he would scrunch up in the corner crying, unable to cope with it.
There was always noise, no matter what - the ponies there in Fillydelphia weren't exactly the nicest bunch, either. Eventually, he got the idea in his head to move from Fillydelphia, a place where he is all alone, slowly losing his mind, constantly depressed and overall extremely unhappy, to Ponyville, a place where he can start anew. He didn't have anything he wanted to take with him, besides a couple of old photos that were extremely valuable to him, and a large quantity of bits which he'd use to get himself a nice place.
A couple of days later, he found himself sleeping on a train to Ponyville, unsure of what he might find there, and definitely unknowing of the role he'd play in a series of events that could destroy Equestria as everypony knows it... about to be woken up by a unicorn he'd soon come to know as one of his best friends.
"Hey, wake up, buddy." An unknown pony said to Flame, however the voice was so faint that he could barely make it out.
"Hey, wake up!" the pony said again, this time Flame hearing the pony clearly and working out that it was a mare from the sound of her, as she nudged him.
"I'm awake, already." he grunted, as he sat up from lying down on the seat of the train. As he looked up, he saw a Unicorn with light blue fur, pink eyes, and a long yellow mane + tail, similar to his. The thing that captivated Flame the most about her is, instead of his usual shy self, this pony just had a certain... 'aura' about her that made Flame feel more comfortable about talking to her. Whatever it was, he couldn't say at the time.
"We're already at Ponyville? I've only been lying down for a few minutes..." he said, with a look of curiosity on his face.
"Actually, you fell asleep on the train for about an hour." she chuckled, amused by what Flame thought of as a three-minute nap.
Flame sheepishly grinned. "Oh." he said, as he lifted himself off from the seat. As the other pony left the train, Flame grabbed a small bag out from under the seat, and wrapped it around himself, close to his flank. Upon exiting the train, he noticed the Unicorn from the train slowing her pace, and looking at him.
"Hey... I didn't get your name." the unicorn said as Flame walked by her. He turned to her and simply looked at her for a few seconds, not used to people being friendly to him.
"...Tempest- FLAME Tempest, I mean." he stuttered.
The unicorn giggled. "Well, 'Tempest Flame Tempest,'" she said in a joking voice, "I'm Sparky Bloom!" she exclaimed with joy as she began to shake Flame's hand vigorously. "You're new to Ponyville... aren't you?" she asked, in a curious manner.
Flame began to explain why he was there, while he tried to battle the nervousness festering inside him. He was horrible with talking to people, but he didn't want to seem like the "new weird pony" in Ponyville. After all, moving to here was a fresh start, where nobody knew a thing about him - he didn't want to waste this opportunity.
"Uh... Yeah, I guess. Problem is, I lost my money when I was in the station. I know an old friend who lives here in Ponyville, though, so he should be able to help me out with that." Flame said, with concern in his voice.
"Uhuh... And do you know where he lives, or can you tell me his name? I can't just let you walk around here lost, and I might know him." Sparky said, with curiosity in her voice as to if Flame may be a long-time friend of someone she knows.
"His name's 'Darkly Vision'. In an old letter, from ages ago, around the time we stopped talking to each other, he told me that if I was ever lost in Ponyville for any reason at all, to come drop by his house near the Park... So I guess I'll be heading...?" Flame asked, with a smile.
"I guess you'll be heading to where I'll be leading you. Come on, the park's not too far away from here!" she said excitedly. Flame smiled again. He was happy that he had somepony to lead him to the park. So without hesitation, he followed her side-by-side.
It was a sunny, beautiful day, one that really brought out the bright colours and joy of Ponyville - something that Flame welcomed into his heart. As they walked by many smiling faces, something about Flame's flank caught the attention of Sparky. She looked over at his flank, and was shocked to find that there's no cutie mark there.
"Hey, Flame, what's up with your flank? There's no cutie mark! Is it, like, invisible or hard to find?" she asked, confused.
Flame's voice dropped, as his mind flipped back towards all the bullying and teasing he received for never getting his cutie mark. "Uh... Nothing like that... I just, ah..." He drifted off as his expression turned to one of a sad pony, and looked away at the ground.
Sparky realised that he didn't have one yet - she'd heard a few pony tales about this, but she'd never seen anything like this in real life! The feeling of confusion, yet excitement at seeing something pretty rare was also mixed with a feeling of sorrow. Not having his cutie mark yet must really have an impact on him, and being asked about it must've made him sad. She thought of something else to ask, to get his mind off of it.
"...So, uhh, why'd you move here?", she asked. But this only made Flame seem even more unhappy. Sparky felt even worse - she was just trying to be friendly and nice. She decided to just keep quiet and lead him to the park.
After a few minutes of walking, they arrived at the park through a road with houses on either side of it leading into the park. The only problem was, that there were a lot of houses. Darkly's house could've been any one of them.
"Woah. I didn't expect this many houses around here..." Flame said, startled by the amount of abodes that were in proximity of the park.
Sparky looked around, and asked a unicorn walking by "Hey, do you know where the house of 'Darkly Vision' is?", she inquired.
The pony replied with a smile. "It's right next to you on your left."
"Thank you very much." Stormy said, returning the smile as the unicorn went her way.
As they approached the house, Sparky heard Flame mutter to himself about what's new since they last met. Upon reaching the elegant, polished wooden door, however, they were met with a note taped to the door.
"To whoever pony it may concern,
I've gone to visit an old friend of mine who lives in Fillydelphia. We go waaaaay back - hay, way before I even got my cutie mark!
Won't be back for about a week or so. I'm sure y'all can live without me 'til then!
Flame was surprised - he'd moved to Ponyville at the same time that Darkly had gone to visit him in Fillydelphia!
Sparky looked depressed, however. "Guess this means you have nowhere to stay until- Hey, wait a minute!" Sparky's face lit up like a light-bulb. "What if YOU come crash at MINE for a couple of days or so until he gets back?"
Flame was conflicted. On one hand, the sensible side of him said to take the offer - he has nowhere else to go, and no money to get a room in an inn. On the other hand, his more cautious side said to him "You don't even know who this person is - and the fact that she's so nice is definitely suspicious." Flame pondered this to himself for a few seconds, before Sparky interrupted with a frown on her face.
"Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease?" she said. Flame didn't know her, and usually he wouldn't do it, but she'd put on her best face, and her best charms.
He decided to "crash at hers" as she'd put it. "Guess I don't have anywhere else to go... Thanks."
"Oh, you don't need to thank me! I'm sure any other pony'd do the same for me!" she asserted, as Flame laughed doubtfully. "Hey, why don't I show you around Ponyville, too?"
Flame thought about it for a second, before he decided that getting to know the new town he'd be living in was a good idea. "Yeah, sure, why not?" he said.
After an hour of being "toured around Ponyville", which included a cupcake-eating contest and a lot of shopping that resulted in nothing, Flame arrived at Sparky's house.
"Weeelcome to my humble abode!" Sparky beamed. There were a few seats around the middle of the room, along with some bookshelves to the side and a staircase leading up. The wooden floor didn't look new, but it didn't look too old either, and the walls didn't have too many marks, signifying that she wasn't new like him, but hadn't lived here for a long time either.
"Do you like the place?" Sparky inquired.
Flame gave her an uncertain look. "It's not really special, but I guess I like it." he said.
Sparky didn't mind. She never wanted to have a special place that stands out, just a normal, comfortable house.
"Well, I have to-" A sharp knock on the door interrupted her speech, as both ponies attention was affixed to the door. "Coming!" Sparky exclaimed. As she opened the door, she gasped - both in joy, and in worry.
Flame walked towards the door as well, and saw a black pegasus, with light blue eyes and a white short mane that was ruffled, along with an equally ruffled tail, with a loooooot of red in his fur, and with a multitude of cuts on him. Some were still bleeding, even.
"R.T.! What the bucking hay happened to you?!?!?! For Celestia's sake, almost every time you come here, you've got your own blood mixed up in your fur!" she yelled.
"R.T." simply grinned at her. "Oh, how many times have I heard you yell at me about this in the past week, eh?" he said calmly.
As Sparky let him in, he looked at Flame with a look that sent chills down his spine as Flame tucked his neck in and began to back into a nearby corner, with a frightened expression on his face.
Flame simply watched as "R.T." asked Sparky who he was, and listened as she told a summary of how he's living here for a day or two. "Well, you don't have to be scared of me. I haven't beaten up anypony or anything like that, that's for sure!" R.T. said, but Flame didn't listen.
Sparky rolled her eyes and sighed, still annoyed by the state that R.T. was in. "It's okay, Flame, he's cool. I've known him for a loooong time, and he's a pretty alright guy." she said.
Flame decided that if he was cool by her, then there'd be no harm in meeting him. He nervously edged his way towards R.T., and was barely able to outstretch his hoof before R.T. almost sent him into the roof with a surprisingly strong hoofshake which made Flame feel like throwing up afterwards.
"Welcome to Ponyville then, I guess- Wait a minute..." R.T. examined Flame's blank flank, and questioned as to why he can't see his cutie mark.
Flame began to get very nervous. "I- Uh, um- ah, well you, uh- I mean, you see-" He was cut off by Sparky, almost before he just sat there and sobbed to himself quietly from the horrible recollections of his past, who explained that he simply doesn't have his cutie mark yet.
R.T. found it quite funny, much to the dismay of Flame, granting him a hoof to the head from Sparky.
"It's not funny, RT! And if you laugh at it again, so help me I will BUCKING DUMP YOUR SORRY FLANK OUT ONTO THE STREET! You got that?!?!" Sparky said with anger in her voice. R.T. just nodded slowly, before backing away.
"You can stop yourself from bleeding - I have to be somewhere! Flame, go read a book or make some friends or whatever!" she yelled with authority as she walked out, slamming the door violently on her way out.
"Well... I've got plans for now as well, soooo I guess I'll just be leaving for now after I fix these cuts up..." R.T. announced to Flame, as he ascended the staircase.
"Good to meet ya, Flame, and I hope I'll be seeing ya around. And sorry about laughing at you, I guess..." he said. Flame nodded.
"It's alright, I guess... After all, it is pretty rare to see a 16 year old pony without a cutie mark." he said, now calmer from the peace that had followed after Sparky's outburst.
A cyan pegasus sporting a rainbow mane and tail, with purplish-pinkish eyes and a cloud with a rainbow lightning bolt for a cutie mark sat against a bench near the library - a friend of hers was supposed to be here already, and yet there was no sign of him at all. "Oh, come ON, R.T., where ARE you?" she thought out loud.
Rainbow Dash, sometimes called "RD" by a few of her friends, was not so much a patient or impatient pegasus, despite being the fastest pony in Equestria, but more so the "anxious to get it done" type. A pony called from inside the library, and Dash found herself looking at a lavender unicorn.
"Oh hey, Twilight!" she called. Twilight looked behind her into the library, and turned her head back to RD telling her to stay there. "What else does it look like I'm doing?" she quipped.
Twilight walked up to her, with a question in her mind. "Hey Rainbow Dash, why are you just sitting here? I'd expect you to be out in the clouds than standing by idly." she asked.
Dash sighed. "I'm meeting a friend here, and he's ten minutes late. I said "one o'clock-ish" but I didn't expect ten minutes. of having to sit here." she said.
Twilight suspected that this "friend" wasn't going to show up. "Maybe he got caught up in the middle of something. Hey, why don't you come inside so you can sit down on something more comfortable?" she asked.
Dash considered her options. "...Yeeeah, I guess so. I don't really feel like waiting around here, anyway, and I can see him from inside when he's here."
As the two left, a black pegasus landed softly on the ground from the air with ease. "Bailing so soon?" he said enthusiastically.
Rainbow's face lit up, and she turned around in unison with Twilight, before her face scrunched up. Twilight put one of her front hooves over her mouth and held it closed, muffling the words "You two have fun then, I guess!" as she ran inside.
"WOAH. THAT is just... UGH!" Rainbow Dash shuddered at the sight of R.T. - she wasn't used to looking at blood, most ponies aren't, but she could handle that. However, a few grazes and cuts didn't compare to the marks and scars on R.T.'s face, not to mention there were still some gashes of blood showing in his fur.
R.T. laughed a little. He rarely had to fix himself up this much. It wasn't as if he went looking for trouble, it just found him in all shapes and forms.
"...Yeeeah, I think we should get you to Fluttershy. I really don't want you losing too much blood and passing out, and the hospitals just take way too long." Rainbow Dash suggested. "And I reeeeally don't want to have to look at that for too long."
R.T. had an idea. "Fine by me. I'm not the best at- RACE YOU THERE!" he burst out, bolting ahead of the cyan pegasus as she quickly took off to race him.
"...and then they lived happily ever after."A yellow pegasus with blue eyes, a long pink mane and tail, and three butterflies for her cutie mark that goes by the name Fluttershy had been taking care of a very sick bird, and it needed it's rest. So Fluttershy told it a nice story related to a golden-fur pony, porridge and three bears. She smiled as she saw the sleeping bird, so peaceful and tranquil, in a house covered by so much love you could feel it when you entered.
Fluttershy heard a rap on the door, and trotted down to the door wondering who it could be. She opened it, surprised to see Rainbow Dash.
"Oh, hi Rainbow! I'm surprised you've come to see me... And I see you've brought a frie- Oh, my!" she said, visibly stunned by the many injuries across R.T.'s face. She was usually very shy around ponies she didn't know, but she had seen R.T. a few times, and even had a conversation with him once.
"Yeah... That's kinda why we came to you." Rainbow Dash said. "I know you're no hospital, but you're good with animals, and I don't want to have to sit in a waiting room for a few hours. Besides, you can fix that pretty face fast, I'll bet!" she flattered.
R.T. blushed slightly, chuckling to himself as Fluttershy grabbed his hoof, telling the both of them to come with her.
Upstairs, R.T. sat down on a bed. He began to notice the many animals staring at him, with confused looks in their eyes, yet curious to know what was going on.
Rainbow Dash stood up on her hind legs, and leaned against the wall near the door, with a smirk on her face as Fluttershy suddenly dabbed a small cotton bud with disinfectant all over R.T.'s face.
"Ow, that hurts! Couldn't you at least warn me when you're about to do that?" he groaned.
"Sorry, but I have to make sure that your cuts won't get infected." Fluttershy said bashfully.
As R.T. attempted to put up with the stinging, Rainbow Dash was intrigued as to how R.T. got those cuts in the first place.
Rainbow Dash looked away for a moment, with a cautious look on her face. She wasn't exactly sure if she wanted to know how he got those cuts, even though they'd been friends since they were but colts and fillies.
As she began to get lost in her train of thought, R.T. noticed her completely distant look, as Fluttershy began to scavenge through a large cupboard for bandages. "Something wrong, Dash?" he asked.
Rainbow's attention snapped back towards the black pegasus, still wincing from the disinfectant Fluttershy used which, he will admit, stinged a lot more than anything he recalls having to use.
"I was just wondering where you got those bruises from in the first place, I guess. After all, you owe me from losing that race." she said.
R.T. laughed a little, before explaining to Rainbow Dash, and the-now-listening Fluttershy. "Really nothing spectacular... I was out on a walk, and I fell down a pretty big hill by accident. Smacked my face into a few bushes, but my body was pretty much unscathed."
Rainbow smiled. While this was a much shorter and casual explanation than she expected, well... At least he didn't get mugged by three guys in, say, Fillydelphia, or Manehattan for example.
14 HOURS LATER...
The party lasted quite long. It was a farewell party to one of Sparky's friends who was leaving Ponyville to start anew "wherever life took him" which left the pair of party ponies quite disoriented - a light grey Pegasus Mare, with green eyes and a yellow, long mane and tail walked down the moonlit street with a friend of hers, Sparky.
She wasn't your typical pegasus, either. She was much faster than most pegasi, as she was a speed demon of sorts since birth. Races were what she loved - even her cutie mark was of a finish line. When she heard about Rainbow Dash, she began to harbor a very deep respect and admiration for her due to her title of the "fastest pony in all of Equestria" which made her think of herself, causing Rainbow Dash to become her role-model.
"...and then he just sweeps her off onto the ground onto his back, tells us that he's got "some making up to do" and just runs off." Sparky told the other pony. She smiled.
"So I guess everything's fine between them now? Wasn't his fault that I tripped over onto him by accident, and it was just a matter of coincidence that he ended up on top of me right when she walked in." The pegasus explained. Sparky nodded, before passing a joke along to her new friend.
"Well, who knows, maybe you were secretly wishing for a bit of "alone time" with him, eh?" The two mares shared a short-lived laugh, before they continued down the street. "Hey, uh, what was your name again? I forgot it back at the party." Sparky asked.
"Stormy Haste." she replied. Stormy had just moved to Ponyville, and it sure bedazzled her. The locals were nice, the colours of the town brought joy into her heart, and everypony there seemed to have no problem with helping her with whatever she needed.
They continued to walk down the dark road, illuminated by street lights and lights from houses. As they chatted about the events of the party, their favourite interests, and other topics, Stormy brought the pair to a halt, as she explained that her house was here. Sparky wished her well, as she went off in an opposite direction.
After a minute, it began to rain. "Just my luck." she grumbled, as cold raindrops from the sky splashed against her blue fur and yellow mane, causing her fur to become dark blue, and her mane to become stuck to her face. She considered going back to Stormy's house. It was closer than hers, but the decided to go to her own, out of homophobia.
She had a fear of lesbians due to one time a couple of years ago, back when she was 15, where she was almost sexually violated by a formerly good friend of hers - that was a mare, no less, when they were alone. Seeing as she didn't know that much about Stormy, she decided it best to just continue on to her house.
Walking down the street from Stormy's house, it began to pour down, enraging Sparky. As she looked to her right, she noticed a covered alleyway she could use as a shortcut, judging by her understanding of Ponyville.
A grin swept across her face. She could get out of the rain for a little bit, at least, and get home quicker than usual. As she jogged down the alley, eager to get home, a tall pony blocked her path.
"Where do you think you're going, mare?" he said menacingly. The figure must've been five and a half feet tall - as intimidating to a pony as someone who's 7 feet tall is to humans.
She looked straight at him, unfazed. "Why is it of any matter to you?" she asked calmly. The unknown pony laughed at her, before he suddenly turned around 180 degrees and bucked her in the face with a substantial amount of force, much to her surprise.
Her back thudded hard against the concrete, causing her to give out a short yell of pain, as her head spun from the attack. As she tried to muster up the strength in her aching body get up, she was forced back down to the ground by the large pony's front hooves.
"You've got two choices. One, give me all the money you've got, or TWO, I beat the buckin' hay out of you, and then take it from your sorry flank." Sparky didn't respond - she felt very bad. The blow to her head had way more force and power than anything she's felt in a long time. This pony obviously worked out. A lot.
The stallion took her lack of a response as the second option, and snarled at her as he raised his hoof, but not before an angry voice from behind warned him to "get the buck off of her now, or I'll shove your hoof so far up your eye socket you can literally pull your brain out of you."
The stallion was surprised by the strong language being directed to him, and looked behind him, seeing nothing there but a black pegasus in a hoody. "And just who do you think you are, 'kid'?" the stallion laughed, with a sheer display of power booming from his incredibly deep voice.
"I'm the guy that's gonna mess you the hay up and leave you hanging from a street pole if you don't get off of her NOW." the pegasus commanded, his wings shooting out from his sides violently to signify that he was serious.
As the tall, muscular stallion looked back at Sparky, he saw that she wasn't going anywhere - she was still trying to figure out what just hit her.
Satisfied with thinking that he'd be able to take two ponies wallets, he charged towards the hooded pony, covering the ground between them in two seconds - the alleyway was big, but this pony ran fast.
Luckily, the pegasus was able to fly up just in time as the other pony went barrelling into the brick wall at full speed. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the pegasus flew down with one of his hind hooves facing the thug, and delivered a bone-shattering kick straight to the stallion's jaw, as he quickly landed his hind hoof on the ground simultaneously along with his other hind hoof, before both of his fore legs smashed the concrete ground, delivering a stinging sensation across those regions.
As he looked behind him, the stallion was already right in his face. The pegasus grunted as he was slammed into the nearby wall behind him, and fell to the ground, groaning as his back began to literally shriek out to his brain, a stinging feeling dominating his thoughts.
He quickly snapped himself back in reality for him to roll out of the way of what would've been a devastating curb stomp from the stallion, and used the wall to jump upwards, off the wall, and throw himself into the stallion's face. As his plan worked, they both toppled against the floor, wrestling for a dominant position in what now became a "ground game" as Sparky slowly began to lift herself from the ground.
Near the alley, a passing-by mare began to hear the events in the alleyway. She trotted to the alley, cautious of what she might see there, and peeked around the corner to see a hooded, black pegasus in a brawl with a much larger foe.
As the pegasus jumped back to avoid an attack, his hood flipped off of his head, revealing a white short mane. Now the mare was sure she'd seen this pony somewhere around town, by the name of "R.T." as she observed what was happening, careful to not get involved.
As R.T. struggled to keep up in the fight, the taller stallion began to run out of energy, evident by his groggy "attacks" which were just him swinging his hooves around, and constant panting.
R.T. used the situation to his advantage, drew a quick breath, and charged towards the stallion before delivering a devastating uppercut with his right hoof, breaking the stallion's jaw as he attempted to yell in pain before discovering he didn't even have enough energy to project his voice loud enough to achieve that.
R.T. moved other to the other side of him, ducked down near his head, and began to beat it in before he realised that he was significantly wounding the pony. As he stepped back groggily, weary and exhausted from the battle, a fearful voice thanked him from his right.
As he turned his head to face the source of the voice, he found Sparky almost unable to stand. "Sparky!" R.T. said with concern as she fell to her side.
R.T. quickly placed his fore hooves under her head to soften the impact - after all, her brain was jolted enough at it was. He then began to pull her right hoof around his shoulder as he was positioned to her left, as he tucked his right fore hoof under her right hoof and used his remaining fore hoof to support the weight of both him and Sparky, acting as a support for her as she barely walked alongside him.
The mare thought to herself, and decided that she had to do something. As R.T. and Sparky walked out of the alleyway, she called out nervously, unafraid of the reception she may get from R.T. But all she got was a hasty pegasus rushing out words from his mouth.
"Idon'tknowwhatyouheardbackthere, but whatever itwas, canyouhelpme get this mare back to her home? I'm about to pass out from exhaustion and pain, and I'd appreciateitifalltheextrastresswasn'tONME." he exclaimed hastily. The mare tried to comprehend what R.T. just said, but she decided to leave it and assist the pegasus in helping the mare back to her home.
As she walked to Sparky's right, she put Sparky's right hoof around her neck, and wrapped her arm around Sparky's left shoulder, similar to the way Sparky was going, and placed her right hoof on the ground.
"Where to?" she asked, as R.T. simply pointed up a hill to a small house next to the edge of the hill. She nodded and began to trot to the top of the hill following a small road. While she was only helping Sparky, it felt like she had the weight of both Sparky and R.T. on her hands, as he was very tired and exhausted. likely from that battle.
They moved up the hill, accompanied by grunts from R.T. and the unknown mare. Before they knew it, they were right out the front of Sparky's doorstep.
"Just wait here," R.T. groaned as he opened the surprisingly unlocked door and carried Sparky in on his back, walking upstairs while attempting to keep quiet as Flame was sleeping in the living room, which was simply the first room you go into when you enter the house.
As she sat out there for a minute, the mare wondered why exactly she was helping this pegasus. After all, she isn't usually a helpful kind of person. But she didn't get much time to think before R.T. walked out and closed the door.
"Thanks for the help, uh... can I ask you what your name is?" R.T. asked. The unknown pony was startled by the question.
"Um, yeah, sure. It's Diamond Flourish." she said.
Upon hearing this, R.T. examined her cutie mark, which was a pile of wood, before Diamond jokingly said "You're gonna have to buy me dinner first before I get into bed with you." R.T. laughed a little before groaning in pain.
"I guess I'll see ya around, Diamond, because my guts are killing me..." As he left, Diamond looked at his cutie mark, and saw a punching bag. "I guess that explains how he handled himself so well back there, then..." She drifted off, as she walked in the opposite direction.
