Harmony and curse

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

In the real world, Rainbow Dash was so alarmed that she shot up from her bed, her wings propelling her right through the cloud walls of her house.

Rainbow found herself hovering mid-air, shaking her head vigorously to snap back to reality. Once she refocused her vision, she realized she was now about twenty meters above her home.

Letting out a groan of exhaustion, she rubbed her eyes. "I knew it was just a nightmare."

She glanced around quickly in every direction, feeling embarrassed at the thought that someone might have seen her in such a humiliating scene. "Oh great, if anypony finds out I got scared by a silly dream, like some little filly," she rubbed her hooves together in shame. "What would they say about me?"

Rainbow comically furrowed her brow and slapped her cheeks with her hooves. "No! Come on, Rainbow, you can't lose your cool so easily. I'm the most awesome pegasus around! I have a reputation to keep up—I won't let a dream beat me ever again!" She raised her hoof as if to punch the air.

Rainbow stayed in that pose for a few seconds in an awkward silence.

"…and now I'm talking to myself. Wonderful."

With the resulting silence, she finally picked up on the sounds of commotion and raised voices coming from her left, in the direction of Cloudsdale. It seemed like something was going on.

Raising an eyebrow, she murmured, "What's happening?" She turned her head in the other direction, towards the town of Ponyville in the distance. To her surprise, she saw many lights on and could make out ponies moving around.

She scanned the horizon. It didn’t look like morning was anywhere near, so why were so many ponies up and about? "What did I miss?" She scratched her head.

The pegasus began to fly slowly towards Cloudsdale, determined to get some answers. As she entered the city, it looked almost like the place had been attacked, except everything seemed perfectly normal otherwise. Pegasi were flying around everywhere, and others were arguing with each other.

Getting closer to the crowd, she listened carefully to what they were saying—something about strange magic, monsters, attacks, and a bunch of other things that just seemed like nonsense to Rainbow.

A pegasus flew past her in a hurry. Fed up with not knowing what was happening, she grabbed him by the tail and turned him around to face her.

The pegasus winced in mild pain and gave her an annoyed look. "Hey, what's wrong with you? Why'd you do that?"

"What's going on with everyone?" Ignoring his complaints, she demanded information with a stern expression.

The stallion muttered a string of silent insults, looking her up and down with a spark of recognition. With a firm tone and a smug look, he replied, "You tell me. Aren't you one of the Elements of Harmony? You should be the first to know."

Rainbow groaned in frustration. "If I knew, I wouldn't be asking. Being an Element doesn’t make me a know-it-all," she said in a grumpy voice.

The stallion chuckled mockingly. "Of course. What else can I expect from a high-and-mighty pegasus with fame going to her head, I'm sure—"

Before he could continue with his taunts, Rainbow made a gesture as if rolling up her sleeves and moved towards him menacingly, her teeth grinding.

The stallion wisely stopped his jeers and raised his hooves in surrender. In a nervous and shaky voice, he replied, "Alright, alright, calm down, it was just a joke!" He backed up a few inches.

"Just answer already, don’t waste my time."

Not wanting to end up flattened by this mare, the stallion quickly complied with her request.

"About ten minutes ago, a wave of magic spread throughout the area. It seems like a massive amount, seeing as the town of Ponyville is also in the same state as us. Nopony knows anything else; some ponies went to the city center to wait for the president." He pointed above them, showing how many pegasi were flying in the same direction.

The stallion frowned. "As for me, I’m getting my stuff ready in case I need to make a quick getaway," he looked at the Element of Loyalty nervously. "That’s all I know, I swear! Can I go now?" he asked, pleading.

Rainbow felt annoyed; nothing he said answered her questions, but it wasn’t his fault. Sighing in defeat, she waved her hoof, signaling that he could leave.

With a relieved smile, the pegasus quickly flew off.

Rainbow was left alone again, full of questions. A thought crossed her mind: Well, if I can’t get answers here, I’ll go see Twilight. If anyone can figure out what’s happening, it’s that egghead. Just as she was about to make a decision, her ears perked up at the sound of a pony shouting at the top of their lungs.

"HEY, LOOK OVER THERE!" the pony shouted, pointing to the horizon in the direction of Canterlot.

All the nearby pegasi who heard the shout turned to look in the same direction—Rainbow included. When she looked, her eyes went wide as she immediately recognized what was approaching.

High above the city, a gust of wind at high speed was headed toward Cloudsdale in a V formation, the whistling of the air growing louder as it drew closer.

A pony spoke up in disbelief, "Is that…?"

"The Wonderbolts!" Rainbow confirmed what everyone was thinking, shouting in amazement.

Even though she’d recently been accepted as a Wonderbolt cadet and spent a little time with them, she still couldn’t help but be impressed every time she saw them fly.

"I think Princess Celestia sent them," said a delighted mare.

"Finally, we’ll find out what’s going on," said another.

"Awesome!"

The pegasi started cheering and waited eagerly for the arrival of the elite fliers, but the more realistic—and pessimistic—ponies weren’t too happy and made themselves heard.

"This isn’t awesome at all! If they came this fast, it means there’s real trouble."

"Oh, for Celestia’s sake, does that mean the ones saying it was a monster attack were right?!"

Rainbow Dash could see that ponies were starting to panic again, so she tried to calm them down.

"Guys, calm down, the Wonderbolts are going to—"

"I’m not sticking around to find out!"

"We have to wait for the Wonderbolts!"

"Heeey, if you guys could just let me talk," Rainbow said soothingly.

The ponies ignored her words, and the argument grew louder.

"I don’t care!"

"Then you’re an idiot; this doesn’t help calm things down at all!"

The group started bickering uselessly, and Rainbow’s eyebrows furrowed and trembled in anger as she continued trying to get them to listen.

"Listen," she said in a neutral tone, but her face was growing angrier and her eyebrows kept lowering more and more.

"Did you just call me an idiot?! This whole argument is dumb; it doesn’t help anything."

"I’m on this pony’s side; I’m not staying here!"

"They’re the Wonderbolts!" another emphasized. "Where could be safer than here right now? Stop acting like a bunch of foals!"

"You stay out of this; nopony asked you!"

"You’re all stubborn; stop causing trouble," another pony joined in the argument.

And so more and more ponies started arguing, and some even began pushing and shoving. In the middle of it all was Rainbow, clenching her teeth so hard that her fur started to turn red from the rage building up. Her cheeks puffed up with air, and with a burst of wind, she propelled herself above everypony and let out a powerful shout.

"LISTEN TO ME FOR ONE DAMN SECOND!" Her shout was so loud and sharp that it even generated an echo, intensified by the following silence.

All the nearby ponies stopped abruptly and stared at the mare in shock. Even some pegasi who were much farther away flew over to see what was happening in this area, which embarrassed the Element of Loyalty a bit. Rainbow took a deep breath to calm herself and resumed speaking.

"Listen up, everypony, I’m Rainbow Dash, the fastest pony there is—you probably know me," she said smugly, crossing her hooves. "I can assure you everything will be fine."

"Who?" a pony said from the crowd.

Rainbow's eyelid started twitching involuntarily, showing her rising irritation as she glared at the pony who asked that.

Another pegasus next to him smacked him on the back of the head. "Idiot, she’s an Element of Harmony! Everyone knows her. Do you live under a rock?"

The pony rubbed his head in pain. "I was just trying to lighten the mood, geez," he muttered in irritation.

Rainbow hovered there in silence, dumbfounded for a few seconds before shaking her head to refocus. "Like I was saying, the best choice is to stay here in Cloudsdale and hear what the Wonderbolts have to say."

"But—" another pony started to argue, but Rainbow cut him off immediately.

"You’re staying here and that’s final!" she lifted her hoof and waved it threateningly. "Unless you want a little lesson from Miss Right Hoof here—and I assure you, it’s not going to be about math, but it will involve this girl pushing you down in the mud!"

Some pegasi gulped and flattened their ears against their heads, clearly intimidated.

Rainbow nodded in satisfaction, seeing no one else wanted to object. “That's better. Now, we need to—”

“I sure hope I’m not hearing you threatening this crowd, Rainbow Dash!” a voice called out from not too far away.

Rainbow froze, her face showing sheer panic at the sound of that voice. Slowly, she turned her head over her shoulder with a guilty expression, looking towards the owner of the voice.

About five meters above her hovered a pegasus with a mane of fiery orange and yellow, standing straight up like flames, and clad in the iconic Wonderbolts uniform. Her hooves were crossed, and her brows were furrowed as she shot Rainbow a judging look.

“Because if you are, you’ll have a lot of trouble graduating as a Wonderbolts cadet.” She slowly began approaching the multicolored pegasus.

“Captain Spitfire…” Rainbow squeaked with a nervous, sheepish smile.

Captain Spitfire, the current leader of the elite flight squadron known for their speed and acrobatics, the Wonderbolts, was now hovering intimidatingly in front of Rainbow. The multicolored pegasus was sweating buckets, swallowing hard as she frantically tried to find a way out of the situation. All she managed was a nervous smile.

“I want an explanation, now,” Spitfire demanded in a neutral tone. This wasn’t a request; it was an order.

Rainbow chuckled nervously. “Captain Spitfire, I know this looks bad, but….” Her eyes darted around, looking for anything to distract from the topic. A few seconds later, she widened her eyes as an idea hit her. “C-Captain, what happened to the squad? We all saw you arrive from Canterlot,” she raised her head over Spitfire’s shoulder to glance behind her, “but I don’t see them anywhere.”

Spitfire didn’t budge from her stern expression. “They went to the city center to explain the situation to the Cloudsdale mayor.” She leaned in closer to Rainbow’s face, narrowing her eyes. “Now, answer my question.”

Rainbow groaned in defeat. “Alright, alright, fine. I may have threatened them… just a little bit.” She brought her hooves together to emphasize her point.

“That’s not true!” a pony in the crowd shouted indignantly. “She said she’d slam us into the ground if we didn’t listen to her!”

“SHUT UP!” Rainbow snapped.

Spitfire’s brow twitched, her eyes narrowing to the point where it almost looked like she was trying to shoot lasers out of them. In fact, Rainbow felt a slight itch on her forehead as if it was actually working.

“FINE, IT WAS A FULL-ON THREAT!” she admitted. “But I had to do it! All these silly ponies were panicking and wouldn’t listen to anyone,” she said, clapping her hooves together firmly. “Somepony had to restore order!”

“That’s no way to treat civilians!!” the crowd yelled.

“BE QUIET!”

Spitfire rolled her eyes and let out a long, resigned sigh before allowing the faintest of smiles. “Rainbow, I appreciate you taking the initiative and trying to keep things under control,” she returned to her serious expression, “but this isn’t the best way to do it. Threats don’t honor our squadron. As Wonderbolts, we have to act professionally, providing protection and reassurance.” She thumped Rainbow’s chest with a hoof. “You’ll be the face of the Wonderbolts too. And even more importantly, you’re an Element of Harmony. Let me tell you, that approach was anything but harmonious.” She finished her lecture by pressing her hoof down on the multicolored pegasus’s head.

Rainbow lowered her ears in embarrassment. “I understand, ma’am. I’m sorry.” She looked at her captain with determination. “It won’t happen again. Next time, I’ll find a better way to handle things,” she said with a resolute smile.

Spitfire smiled back. “That’s what I hope to see, rookie.”

Rainbow grinned, closed her eyes, and puffed out her chest. She’d managed to get out of this without punishment. She felt an imaginary weight lift from her shoulders, though her worry remained. Everything Spitfire had said was true; if she became a Wonderbolt someday, she couldn’t represent the squad poorly. And as an Element of Harmony, she had to set an example of what it meant to be “harmonious.”

Well, that word was a bit vague. What did it mean to be harmonious? She didn’t really understand what it meant to be an Element of Harmony. Was she supposed to act differently? But if that were the case, why was she chosen as an Element in the first place? There wasn’t exactly a manual when she was selected. Maybe it was best not to overthink it—unless she wanted to fry the little hamster in her head.

“Ugh,” she groaned as she felt an elbow jab her side.

Spitfire had moved up beside her, nudging her ribs to snap her back to reality. “Remember, you’re still on probation, so don’t screw this up again. I might like you, but I have limits, you know?” she said with a slight laugh.

Rainbow laughed nervously, scratching the back of her neck. “O-of course, ma’am.”

“You’re kidding! You’re not even going to punish her? Captain, you should—!” a pony in the crowd started to shout.

“QUIET!”

“QUIET!”

Both were surprised to have yelled the same thing at the same time, glancing at each other for a moment before bursting into laughter.

Spitfire sighed, this time more calmly. “Alright, since I’m here, let me tell you what’s going on. So listen up because I’m not repeating myself!”

Rainbow focused closely. “So you do know what’s happening?”

“Not entirely,” Spitfire murmured so that only Rainbow could hear.

Spitfire took a breath and then spoke loudly and clearly, “We are on high alert!”

The simple phrase made everyone tense up again, even more than before, confirming that a big threat was looming. The murmurs and agitated conversations among the pegasi resumed.

Spitfire continued, raising her voice to quiet the ponies, “The princesses have deployed a large number of soldiers to this area and beyond. They’ll be arriving soon.”

“But why? We haven’t seen anything around here. If this is a high alert, shouldn’t something have already happened?” Rainbow asked, confused.

Spitfire held up a hoof, signaling for her to let her continue. “We were informed that deep within the Everfree Forest, some unknown individuals have kidnapped ponies for some sort of strange ritual. That ritual is the cause of the energy that spread everywhere.”

“Oh, dear Celestia, those poor ponies…”

Some pegasi covered their mouths, visibly worried.

“The princesses gave a simple order: no pony is to enter the Everfree Forest under any circumstances. The guards will set up perimeters around the forest to enforce this, and the recon teams will be tasked with rescuing the captives. My team will stay in Cloudsdale in case a situation arises that requires speed.”

“What about us? We’re not in danger, are we?!” the ponies shouted.

Spitfire descended slowly onto the cloud ground, followed by Rainbow Dash. “You all can rest easy; as long as you stay away from the forest, there won’t be any trouble. I know this is a stressful situation, but the only advice I can give is to head back to your homes and carry on as if nothing is happening.”

With that, the majority of the pegasi grudgingly returned to their homes, seeking ways to relax and trying to ignore the obvious danger lurking out there. However, some decided to ignore the captain’s advice and left the city.

Rainbow watched as several pegasi flew away. “Do you think they’ll be alright? Shouldn’t we stop them?” she asked, uncertain.

“No, let them do what they want. As I said, the only thing they need to avoid is the forest.” She gave Rainbow a playful smile. “Besides, you should take care of that voice of yours; I’m sure that scream from earlier took a toll,” she chuckled.

Rainbow blushed furiously. Of course, Spitfire had heard her yell (oh Celestia, let the ground swallow me up), and now she wouldn’t let her live it down for weeks (what a great way to keep your image, Rainbow).

The mare nervously rubbed her hooves together, trying to steer the conversation away from her current embarrassment. “W-well, if you say so…”

Spitfire closed her eyes, relaxed. “Nah, don’t worry. They’re a bunch of scared foals; they won’t go near that forest,” she said confidently.

Foals.

Rainbow Dash froze for a moment, staring into space. She didn’t know why, but she felt uncomfortable when Spitfire said that word. Why did it throw her off so much? It was… important, urgent even, but what was it?

Think, think, think.

Rainbow’s eyes widened, and she gasped in shock as a memory came flooding back.