Adventures Are No Fun.

The bad wing still lived up to its name. It's floors did not creak. The the walls were painted a fresh coat of off white. The windows closed all the way. The clean walkable halls were still filled with troubled kids.

Screech sat a a table in the cafeteria in Luna's. Fillies and colts walked past her and sat at her table without screaming or crying. "Is it just me or are they not afraid of me anymore?"

Wild grinned. "They are not afraid of you. Why would they be? You stopped crying constantly. You don't hiss nearly as often. You stopped attacking ponies; ponies stopped talking about your mother. Dodge Junction changed you."

Screech shook her head. "Dodge Junction is where I realized I needed to change. The work I put into being better changed me."

Bobo looked around. "I am sad we finished fixing up this place. It brought every-pony together."

"After the rodeo we can start a new project," suggested Melodie. "We can do something for the community."

"'If you ponies want any chance of being adopted then you need to show the community you are useful'," said Wild in a mocking voice.

Scoops shook her head. "That will not work. The kids here only helped fix Luna's because it benefited them. How many of these ponies would volunteer if it was not mandatory?"

"What if we start a garden?" asked Melodie.

"It would be nice to eat something other than cold hay, warm oats and an apple," said Screech. "I do know a thing or two about growing berries."

"Where do we even start?" asked Ham.
"Guilded Lily," said Scoops.

Sweet Apple Acres set aside an entire field for helping ponies train for the rodeo. The big rustic farm had barrels in place for a barrel run. A long line of poles for pole bending. Rings of hurdles for steeple chases.

Screech dashed around pole after pole spun on her back hooves and dashed around the poles again.

"Twenty eight seconds even," said Apple Fritter. "Best time I have seen all day."

Screech beamed with pride. "I am sure the other fillies are holding back so they don't tire them selves before the rodeo." Her modesty did not show.

Apple Fritter looked at the other fillies who were training for the rodeo. Two of them were skipping rope with their lassos. One was using an inhaler. One was doing pushups. "That is... possible. Either way ponies from other towns will be competing. I am sure some-pony will be able to give you a run for your money."

Screech nodded. "Sugar Doug and Snowy Braid are coming from Canterlot. Stitch Runner if coming from Cloudsdale. It has only been two years, but it feels like a lifetime since I saw them."

Guilded Lily's office was small, so she knocked down two walls and made it the size of a basketball court. Everything was shoved into one corner of the room. A massage chair sat behind her dust covered desk. A wine fridge filled with cans of beer and soda sat beside a leather sofa. Boxes of uneaten chocolate covered truffles sat beside balled up Hayburger wrappers. Gold and jewels sat on the desk gathering dust.

Guilded Lily handed Wild a clipboard with nine forms on it.

Scoops smiled and bowed as if Guilded was a queen. "Thank you for helping us with our garden."

Guilded waved her hoof as if she was shooing a fly. "I am not helping you. You are cleaning the land and preparing the soil for planting on your own. Your failure to do so will reflect poorly on Luna's, but after seeing what you did to the... other wing, in one short month, I am cautiously optimistic you will not disappoint me."

Wild looked at the map on the clipboard. "Where is our garden? I don't know this part of Ponyville."

Guilded smiled. "Luna's new garden is on the south side of Ponyville. Thirty miles from this exact spot."

"Hazard does not live far from there," said Scoops.

"How are we supposed to get there every day?" asked Wild. "Two wings and I can fly. We can't ask Bobo to walk sixty miles and till fields."

"That is your problem," said Guilded. "Now if you will excuse me I have other work to attend."

Screech sat in an apple tree and hissed at the small berry shaped fruit bats who resided in its branches. They hissed back and Screech laughed.

"Can you talk to them," asked Melodie from the ground.

Screech chuckled. "No I can not."

Outside a big red barn all of rodeo trainees and their trainers gathered for lunch served on big tables.

Screech sat at a big oak table filled with holes from furniture beetles. She showed her fellow rodeo fillies and colts her lassoing technique. She lassoed a baked apple from the other end of the table.

Honey Ball imitated Screech as best she could. She also lassoed a baked apple. She squealed like a pig on hot coals. "That be a exciting bit O' good fun," she said in a voice that reeked of old money from a far away land.

Screech went rigid. Her heart raced. "I smell something," she declared.

"I hope my pies are not burning," said Apple Fritter.

A covered wagon pulled up to the barn. Out stepped two earth ponies, a griffon and a dragon.

Apple Fritter looked over at her new guests. "The rodeo judges," she explained.

Screech stared at the short grey dragon. She was so still she barely breathed.

Melodie placed her hoof on Screeche's. "It is okay," she assured.

Screech took a deep breath. "I am scared," she whispered. "Dragons kill bat ponies."

"No they don't," insisted Melodie. "They have not in thousands of years."

"Four-hundred eighty," corrected Screech. "We fought for for three thousand."

"Think about your friends. Scoops would make up some reason you should not be scared. Bobo would feel afraid with you. Wild would laugh at you. Ham would throw something at the dragon. Hazard would point out all of the real dangers around you. Dr. Red would would have good advice I can't think of. Carver would... write you a letter. I would hold you hoof and hope that was enough."

Screech did think about her friends. Slowly she lowered her gaze and focused on her baked apple.

Screech was flying back to Luna's. She didn't have her sunglasses on. It was late evening. Billows of dark smoke drifted through the sky. The long wide streets were quiet. Only wing beats could heard.

A lasso passed Screeche's eyes and pulled tight around her neck. A pegasus flew straight toward the ground pulling Screech with him. A second lasso, thrown by an earth pony, caught the bat pony's flesh wing.

Screech fell to the ground and had three of her legs tied together in seconds.

Three colts cheered and gave each other hoof bumps.

Screech bared her fangs. "Now what?" she asked sinisterly.

The earth pony tied Screeche's mouth shut. He smiled with perfect teeth and country charm. "Now we leave you here until morning."

The billows of dark smoke converged forming an umbum. Melodie's eyes glowed green. "She was asking me. Untie her mouth."

"What do you want to do?" asked Screech with a smile.

"I don't know. If I untie you the colts are dead. I have to untie you." Melodie paced back and forth never taking her hypnotic eyes off the colts. "The colts have to be punished for attacking you. Violence is never the answer. I can't hypnotize my friend. I can't- no. Could I? No. What if... that would not work. I could... but where would I find a bear on a unicycle at this hour?" She sighed. "Untie her."

Screech was free from her ropes as quickly as she was bound. She smiled at Melodie. "Thank you."

Melodie nodded. "Get on with it."

Screech grabbed the rope and tied the colts together.

"You are not going to hurt them?"

"No. I want to. I really really want to. But, no. They chose to attack me for no reason. You chose to save me against your better judgement. I can choose to ignore my instincts."

"Really?"

"Yes. I do have free will. That is just how I was born."

"We should head back to Luna's," said Melodie with a grin. "It is going to start raining soon."

Screech sat on her bed there was no where else to sit. She listened to rain drops tap against her window.

"We need to build a tool shed," said Wild. "We need tools. We need seeds. We need plant food. We need a way to get our volunteers thirty miles to and from Luna's everyday."

"We can get a cart," said Bobo.

"Who will pull the cart?" asked Scoops.
Bobo sank.

"I was bred to be a rodeo pony," declared Screech. "I can pull a cart a few miles."
Bobo smiled.

"Are we going to look at the land tomorrow?" asked Melodie.

"What is the difference between plot-A and plot-B?" asked Ham.

Wild shrugged. "The sooner the better I say."

"There is no difference," said Scoops. "They are the same piece of land."

"For sake of clarity, who is going to see the land tomorrow after we finish our volunteer work?" asked Screech.

Every creature raised a hoof (or paw).

"How did your rodeo practice go?" asked Bobo.

Screech smiled. "I am going to mail a few fist place ribbons to my momma." She continued. "The ponies there were nice. Apple Fritter was a knowledgeable coach. It was a really fun day. I realize now how much I took the rodeo for granted when I was younger, and how much I really like it."

Luna's new garden was berried under the over grown remains of an abandoned baseball field. Rusted and broken bleachers sat behind a bent and twisted chain-link fence. Parts of the ground were charred where more than one bonfire was built. Beer cans dating back forty years to yesterday covered the ground.

Hazard pointed at a small green shrub. "That is poison ivy. It is not native to Ponyville. Some-pony plated that to keep delinquents out." She pointed to a plie of beer cans. "I don't think it worked."

"Any-pony know how to start a controlled fire?" asked Ham.

Hazard and Melodie raised their hooves.

Scoops surrounded Luna's garden with a wall of ice. Wild and Screech gathered rain clouds.

Melodie turned her body to smoke and walked through the fence. She struck a match.

The rodeo was held in town square. The judges table was set up on the steps to city hall. Banners hung as high as roof tops. Cow-pony hats in every color and T-shirts in sizes from small dog to medium dragon hung in large wooden booths. Hay Burger's logo covered every inch of the event.

Banditos filled the streets and sold cholate covered deep fried corn bread and sugar coated popcorn at prices that could be considered robbery.

Screech wore ear plugs and earmuffs in addition to her sunglasses. She was nearly deaf, but without them the noise surrounding the event would be too much for her to handle.

Hazard looked around at the quickly constructed rodeo. She shook her head. "This place is a death trap." I can already see twenty-two ways to improve safety.

Ham patted Hazard on the back. "Relax. It is supposed to be dangerous. No pony would come to the rodeo if it was safe."

"Muffy!" yelled a small baby blue pegasus colt with a spiky black mane. His cutie mark of a patch work teddy bear was covered by a coiled lasso.

"Stitch Runner," yelled Screech. "How have you been?"

Stitch cocked his head. "You look different."

"You don't. Are you ever going to grow?"

"What happened to your wing?"

Screech sighed. "Nothing. I had an accident."

"Oh." Stitch poked the ground with his hoof. "I guess not. My folks are both small. How are your parents doing?"

Screech hissed. "Fine."

A big light green unicorn with a long green mane tackled Screech. Her double chin rested on the back of the bat pony's neck. "Screech, I thought I heard you hissing."

Screech hugged Snowy back. "You did. How have you been? Did you beat Pomp in Fillydelphia?"

"Ugh. No. She beat me in eve- What happened to your wing?"

"It was amputated," said Screech curtly. "I am sure you will beat Pomp next time. She has to have an off day eventually."

"Thank you for the vote of confidence. I forgot how supportive you are," joked Snowy. "Why was it amputated?"

"I was in an accident. Can we talk about something else?"

"Yeah," said Stitch. A stiff wind shook the hastily constructed booths making them creak. "Either of you entering the Hay Burger eating contest?"

Snowy laughed. The fat in her neck jiggled. "Of course I am. You think I am passing up a chance to eat all the hay burgers I can fit in my mouth in two minutes?"

Screech stuck her tongue out. "Not a changling's chance in-" She covered her mouth. "No. Mama worked at a Hay Burger when I was small. She told me they were overpriced garbage that would kill me before I was a mare."

"You have never eaten at Hay Burger!" asked Snowy. She was so shocked she nearly fainted.

"No. I did eat at Mushroom Grill once. It was after I took first place in every rodeo event in Laspegisus."

"Your mother only let you eat out if you won first place?" asked Stitch.

"Not exactly. I only got to go to Mushroom Grill because one of the prizes was a gift certificate."

"I thought your parents owned a music shop," said Snowy.

"They did. Momma bought it with money she earned in the rodeo before she got pregnant and had to retire. Nothing made her happier than seeing me do well in the rodeo."

"Oh. I didn't know your family was poor," said Snowy.

Screech shrugged. "That was not exactly something I wanted every pony to know."

"What happened to the money you won in the rodeo?" asked Stitch.

Screech looked at the sky. "Poppa always said he was investing it in bonds. Momma drank cheap wine, but she drank a lot. The store barely sold anything. Not nearly enough to pay rent."

"Is there any chance the money is in bonds?" asked Snowy.

Screech shook her head.

"Is that really you?" asked a tall thin unicorn. Her yellow and white marble coat made her look like over stretched taffy. "It is so good to see you Miss Stormchaser."

"Don't ask about her wing," said Snowy in an effort to be helpful.

"You didn't hear about her mother?" asked Sugar Dough.

"What about her mother?" asked Stitch.

"Nothing."

"Where is your mother?" asked Snowy.

"Canterlot." Screech didn't lie. Her mother was in Canterlot Prison. "She needed some time to herself."

"You are here with your dad?" Asked Stitch as if the possibility she was in Ponyville alone was more likely.

"No," said Screech as she gave a confused look. "My papa is dead."

"I am sorry," said Snowy.

"Are you alright?" asked Stitch.

"Yeah. I have come to terms with it. I accept it was not my fault. How have you been Miss Dough?"

Sugar Dough didn't respond for a moment. "I have been fine. I was hoping to get first in the hay pull."

Screech smiled. "You could."

Stitch laughed. No pony seemed to think Sugar could out run Screech.

Sugar shot Stitch a harsh glare. "I suppose you think you could beat Screech in the hay launch?"

"Not a chance," Stitch put a hoof on Sreeche's shoulder. "Four rodeos are named after her family for a reason."

Screech blushed. "You brag about that more than I do."

Snowy scoffed. "No he doesn't. 'I was bred to kill dragons and alicorns'," she mocked.

"'I could tie down a greased pig before you could walk'," chided Sugar.

Screech laughed. "In my defense I could. Listen I am sorry for always bragging. I have done a lot of growing up recently."

"Not too much I hope," said Snowy seriously. "I liked you the way you were.

Screech frowned. "I didn't. I was a monster."

Stitch waved his hoof dismissively. "You were a little boastful. I would have been too if I was as talented as you."

"Yeah," said Screech.

"Want to be my partners for the six legged race?" asked Sugar.

"No," said Snowy.

"Sure," said Screech.

"Is there any pony here you want to be tied to?" asked Sugar.

Screech saw Melodie's glowing green eyes from a distance. A florist was handing her a bouquet of roses. "I smelled Simple around here a few minutes ago."

Stitch blushed bright red. "You can't have him!"

"Neither can you," reminded Snowy. "Not as long as you live in Cloudsdale."

Melodie gave the dragon judge a bouquet of roses. It was the only way she could think to mask his scent. It didn't seem to be bothering Screech in the sea of other smells, but she wanted to make sure her friend did as well as she could.

Wild smiled at Melodie.

"What?"

Wild shrugged and bit his hotdog (a carrot on a bun).

"Why are you smiling at me like that?"

"I just think it is nice," said Wild.

"Think what is nice?" demanded Melodie.

"That you have a crush."

Melodie's spirals, her entire body, blushed. "Clearly your eyes are working just fine. You are seeing things."

Wild nodded. "Quite clearly." He bit his hotdog. "I am excited to see what two wings can do. If the stories I have heard about her, from her, are half as amazing as she said we have quite the show ahead of us."

The second event in the rodeo was the fillies five hundred meter hay pull. The first event was the colts thousand meter hay pull.

As creatures gathered at the starting line Booming Voice announced, "The hay in these bails is thicker and heavier than your average hay. It is the same kind of hay put in every burger at Hay Burger. It is being weighed down by vitamins, minerals and flavor. Just seeing it is making my mouth water. Mmmmh Hay Burger."

The griffon beside Screech rolled her eyes.

"Hay Burger is giving out the prize money," reminded Screech. "Make them pay."

The griffon laughed.

Sail was at the far side of the track. She looked to her little sister who stood at the front of the audience five hundred meters ahead.

"Don't help your sister cheat," pleaded Shovel.

Glass sighed. "I have to. We all know Sail is not fast enough to win on her own."

"Even if she does win Pillow fight has a new mare friend," said Shovel. "He is not going go leave her because Sail pulled some hay well."

"I know that." The young filly rolled her eyes. "She is going to use the prize money to buy a ping pong table." Glasse's horn did not glow with magic. The low hurdles she erected at the strarting line were invisible.

The griffon placed her talons on the invisible hurdle. She scanned the audience. Her harsh glare stopped on Glass. The hurdle disappeared. "Watch your step." She warned Screech.

The starting horn blared.

Screech took an early lead. The griffon was a close second. Sail was in fourth despite most of the racers falling at the starting line.

Glass erected an magic wall at the end of the race track. Her wall was not quite invisible. Any pony on the track would be able to see it. Unless that pony was wearing I don't know sunglasses.

Most of the audience was too focused on the race to notice the giant magic wall.

"Dissipate your wall," pleaded Shovel.

"I can't," said Glass. "Sail has to win."

"The bat pony is half a track ahead of her. If she hits the wall at that speed it will give her a concussion and be super obvious you are cheating."

"Shut up! I need a second to think!"

"You don't have a second!"

Screeche's sunglasses shattered as she barreled through the magic wall without even noticing it. Blood dripped off her muzzle. Shards of plastic cut all around her eyes.

Melodie turned into a cloud of smoke and flew to Screech. She pressed her new yellow Hay Burger shirt to the bat pony's bloody muzzle. "Blow your nose."

Screech blew her nose ruining the shirt but clearing her air ways.

"Where are the medics!" yelled Hazard. "This place is a death trap!"

Just outside the race track nurse Distemper looked at Screeche's eyes which were too far from her fangs for her to heal magically. Her left eye was not injured. Her right eye was covered with a cotton patch.
"Wear the patch for two days," grumbled Distemper. "Your eyes will be fine."

While Hazard and Bobo were testing Screeche's vision a blue pegasus flew down from a cloud and gave the bat pony her sunglasses unprompted. She flew back to the cloud, to her plutonic friend, after a few encouraging words.

Scoops and Melodie stood a respectful distance from Srcreech. They both watched their friends fawn over her.

"I don't mind the fact you like her," said Scoops.

"What?" asked Melodie.

"Screech. I broke up with her. I would not get mad if you started dating her."

"I- I don't!" stammered Melodie.

"Don't what?"

Melodie blushed.

Wild sauntered up to the girls. "Leave Melodie alone Scoops," he said despite not knowing what they were talking about.

Two earth ponies with animal talents got times in the seconds in the bunny hearding event.

Screech crouched on the plastic grass and tried to coax the bunnies out of their pen. She kissed at them and offered them food pellets.

The bunnies were all so afraid of the filly they ran back to their pen before the event had a chance to start.

Screech got zero point zero seconds in the event.

Hay launching was a pegasis only event. The griffon from the hay pull was in first place by less than a hoof when Screech took her turn.

Screech stood under a red pole which was lying on top of two vertical poles. She had to fly between the two poles but not past the red pole.

The official (a pink pegasus with a curly white mane) stared at Screech. "This is a serious competition for serious ponies. You and your fake wing should go play with the other 'special' ponies in performative games made to make others think you are useful."

Screech nodded and turned to walk away. "Sorry."

"Go Screech," howled Bobo.

"Show every pony what fillies can do," yelled Stitch.

"Be careful," yelled Hazard.

"You are the best," yelled Melodie.

Screech stared daggers at the official. "I want to compete."

A small hay bail was tied to a rope that was tied around the bat pony's waist.

Screech launched into the air. She beat her wings as quickly as she could. Her flesh wing beat more quickly than her prosthetic wing. Her prosthetic wing was not made for high speed flying. She hissed at her own wing as she nearly spun out of control. She had to stop climbing to regain her balance. The hay bail flew above her forcing her to untie the rope early. Her hay bail flew one hundred thirty-eight hooves high. Her last hay launch she launched her hay bail three hundred hooves even.

Nine fillies signed up for the timber wolf roping. Five of them backed out after they were told they were not allowed to fly.

Hazard was shouting at ponies who had nothing to do with the rodeo because she didn't know who else to yell at.

Screech stood in a circular pen. A timber wolf with an iron muzzle and big fluffy mittens stood three ponies from her. She stared into his glowing green eyes. His body of cursed wood towered over her even when she was not crouching.

The wolf charged toward the bat pony.

Screech ran away. She would have screamed if she was not too scared to think of it. She was quickly corned in the circle.

The wolf bore down on Screech. His head dropped to the ground.

Screeche's wing shattered all of the thick branches in the wolf's neck. She quickly tied the sticks together before they had a chance to reform into a wolf. She was panting hard. The dried blood in her nose didn't help her breathing.

The timber wolf struggled against the ropes. He failed to reform.

Screech was so relived she cried. She ran to Bobo and hugged him. Her bloody snot and tears wet his fur. His big fluffy arms and warm fur helped calm her.

Screech was the only contestant who successfully tied the wolf.

Sugar and Melodie's legs were tied to Screeche's legs. Melodie and Screech both blushed.

"Are you excited for the six legged race?" asked Sugar.

"Huh? Yeah," said Melodie. "How do we do this?"

"If we try to run we will fall," said Screech. "We could try to do front legs then back legs, but that only work if our legs are the same length. We have to hop. Move all four legs at once."

The three fillies stood in a line of fillies and colts who were also tied in teams of three.

The starting horn went off. Most of the ponies fell flat on their faces. Screech and her friends were not an exception. The tree of them laughed together.

Event placements.

Barrel racing. 1'st. Screech Stormchaser.
Pole bending. 1'st. Screech Stormchaser.
Hay pulling. 1'st. Screech Stormchaser.
Bunny hearding. 1'st. Screech Stormchaser.
Hay launching 3rd. Screech Stormchaser.
Hay stacking 2'nd. Screech Stormchaser.
Steeple chase 1'st. Screech Stormchaser.
Timber wolf roping 1'st. Screech Stormchaser.
Lasso spinning 3rd. Screech Stormchaser.
Six legged race 2'nd. Screech Stormchaser, Bright Melodie, Sugar Dough.
Hay burger eating contest 1'st. Bobo.

Any pony who competed in an event won a certificate for a free hay burger regardless of where they placed.

Screech and her friends pushed two picnic tables together so they could sit with each other. Each one of them had a hay burger except Bobo who ate thirty one of them in two minuets despite not being able to digest hay. He had water.

Scoops flirted with Stitch, Sugar and the griffon.

Melodie congratulated Screech on not attacking the dragon judge during the ribbon ceremony.

Screech admitted that between her blurry vison and her bloody nose she didn't notice the dragon. "Most of the ceremony I could only smell roses," she said.

"Do you know what bothers me?" asked Ham. "It has been months and we never found out who killed Hazard's kitten or why. We are never going to get closure."

Hazard stopped eating. Bobo hugged her.

Wild was quiet most of the time. He shared his burger with ants and mice.

Screech sat on her bed. She had a fun day. She had the garden to look forward to. She was happy. She was mad at herself for being happy. She was a monster. She didn't deserve to be happy.

Melodie sat beside Screech. "You looked like you were having fun out there."

Screech nodded.

"Will you be going to the rodeo in Fillydelphia? You can buy a bus ticket with your prize money."

Screech shrugged.

"Why are you sad?"

Screech shrugged.

"There was a bird," said Melodie in her most scholarly voice. "Before the rise of King Sombra. Before the Crystal Empire. Before most everything. There was a bird. This bird could fly. He raced all the other animals and he beat all of them. One cat captured the bird at the finish line. He pinned down the bird and threatened to eat him. The bird asked why. The cat told the bird it was because he always lost when they raced. The bird replied, 'You are not losing. You get to enjoy the race longer than I do. I wish I could enjoy the race as long as you do. You are wining in Last Place.' The story is about perspective. If you enjoy racing then coming in last is the best possible outcome."

"Did the cat eat the bird?" asked Screech.

Melodie shook her head. "No. The cat let the bird go. Your life is wonderful right now. How need to see that."

Screech was reminded of Dr. Red. She took a deep breath, closed her eye and tried looking at her life from another perspective. From the perspective of the Berry family. The ponies she hurt the most.

Screech opened her eye. She grabbed a piece of paper and her crayons. She wrote. "I am doing well. Much better than I was in Dodge.
"I am sorry.
-Screech."