C1- Catching Up

CLOUDSDALE

SUMMER , MID-DAY

"AND YET ANOTHER AMAZING PERFORMANCE BY THE TRIO OF SPITFIRE, FLEETFOOT, AND SOARIN'!", yells an announcer over a microphone as the three members of the Wonderbolts land on a platform in the Cloudsdale Arena. The crowd of pegasi cheer wildly for the team of Equestria's best flyers. The three wave at their adoring fans, and take a bow. As they begin to walk out of the center of the arena, Soarin' leans in a little to Spitfire and says, "Ya think she's nervous?"

She sighs and responds, "It's her first performance, so of course. But she'll be fine. Otherwise we wouldn't have allowed her on the team."

High above the arena, sitting on a cloud and adjusting her costume, was the newest addition to the team of amazing flyers. "This is it.... my first live performance as a Wonderbolt! Okay.... need to run over my trick list again before they announce me....", she thinks to herself.

The announcer below coughs one time to clear his throat. "AAAAAAND NOW! IT'S TIME FOR A SOLO PERFORMANCE BY THE NEWEST MEMBER OF THE WONDERBOLTS! CHEER YOUR HEARTS OUT FOR THE MASTER OF THE SONIC RAINBOOM, RAINBOOOOOOW DAAAAAAAAAASH!", he loudly yells into the mic.

Dash pulls her goggles over her eyes. "That's my cue.", she says in her mind as she rolls off the cloud and barrels down towards the arena. "Control speed.... can't hit it too early." Dash slows herself, and judges her distance from the arena. "Just a little more... a little more.... THERE!", she yells in her mind as she focuses her energy, and surrounds herself in a blue ki aura! She quickly accelerates to her top speed; easily breaking the sound barrier. Just as she reaches the top of the arena, her speed doubles as she hits her signature sonic rainboom! She passes through the bottom of the arena with a rainbow trail following her. She pulls a quick one hundred and eighty degree turn, and flies straight up while spinning at a speed far beyond what the average pony can keep up with.

The rainbow trail behind her follows suit with her movements, and twists with her. She breaks off from her straight flight, but continues spinning as she begins flying in a tight circle. The rainbow trail forms into a tight ball around her, and she begins focusing the energy within her as she tightens the circle even more. Once the rainbow ball has completely shrouded her from sight, she stops, and sends a burst of ki all around her! The rainbow sphere explodes, and lights up the entire arena with a bright burst of multicolored light! Rainbow Dash hovers in the air after finishing her trick; her ki aura still shining brightly.

The crowd remains silent for a moment; trying to comprehend what they had just witnessed. After a few moments of silence, the crowd erupts in roaring applause! Dash waves and bows as she soaks in all the attention she's getting. After several minutes, she flies towards the exit, and to her team's dressing room.

"THANK YOU, EVERYPONY, FOR ATTENDING ANOTHER SPECTACULAR PERFORMANCE BY THE WONDERBOLTS! THEY'LL BE PERFORMING IN CANTERLOT NEXT WEEK! BE SURE NOT TO MISS IT!", the announcer yells as they prepare to close out the show, and usher the audience out of the stadium.

Almost an hour later, Rainbow Dash and Spitfire walk out of the team's personal dressing room; now no longer wearing their uniforms. "Good job today, Rainbow Dash.", Spitfire congratulates. "It's great to have somepony on our team with your kind of abilities."

"Thanks, Spitfire.", Dash responds. "It's been my life's dream to be on this team. When I started training a year ago, I didn't think the power I would gain would lead to this. But finally, here I am. It still feels like a dream.", Dash says as she closes her eyes, and a big smile stretches across her face.

"Haha.", Spitfire laughs. "If this is a dream, then don't wake up. We don't want to lose you so soon after getting you. Once we incorporate your abilities into our team performances, things will get even better. Well, you're free until the meet and greet with fans tonight.  I'd suggest finding a place to relax for awhile. This life style can be stressful until you get used to it.", she explains.

"Right. This life style can't be half as bad as the training I went through to get to where I am now!", Dash boasts.

Spitfire rolls her eyes and lets out a chuckle. "We'll see you tonight." She then turns and walks away from Dash.

Rainbow Dash takes a short flight back to the arena she had just performed at, which is now completely empty. She lands at a section of front row seating, and sits there. She leans on a section of railing, and looks out into the area she had just recently performed. "It really is hard to believe everything has led to this...", she says aloud for no pony but herself to hear... or so she thought.

"Well, you'd better believe it. You're living out your dream now, aren't you?", she hears from behind her.

She turns around around to see a light blue stallion with a silver mane. A pegasus that, just one year ago, had died to save her life.

"S-SILVER WIND!", she yells out in excitement at seeing him. She closes the near twenty foot distance between them faster than the eyes could see. "I haven't seen you in almost a year! How've you been!?"

"Well,  I've been doing rather well ever since being brought back from the dead. And it seems you have too. As soon as I caught wind that my best student was going to be performing here today, I made sure to clear my schedule so I could be here.", Silver explains to his former weather student.

"It's awesome that you could make it! All the training I've done over the last year really paid off. I was only doing it so I could hold my own in a fight like the one we had a year ago, but it's helped me with so much more!", she excitedly explains.

"It seems so. How strong are you now compared to what.... he.... was when we all fought?", Silver asks.

"Oh... Thundering Sky says that I'm about twice as strong as what he was when we had that big fight. But.... ugh.... I'm still weaker than all of them. The training they put themselves through was way worse than what they did to me! Not to mention your sister and Iron Horn... They've been fighting hard to try and catch up to them in a short time..."

"Twice as strong? In only one year? But, they're still so much farther ahead of you?", Silver questions as he raises an eyebrow.

Rainbow Dash nods. "Yeah. They said some stuff about the old royal family not letting them train a whole lot. But, Princess Celestia is letting us train as much as we want, as long we don't do it near where anypony lives. I can't push myself to the same level they can. I just wanted to be strong enough to fight if I had to. I'm a stunt flyer at heart."

"I'm guessing anywhere within Equestria's borders would be out of the question. Where have all of you been training? Tartaros, maybe?"

Dash shakes her head. "No. Since Lunalia has come back, the princesses don't want anypony going near that place. We've all been training in The Frozen North. That's actually where the five of them are right now."

___________________________________________________________

THE FROZEN NORTH

A steady stream of light snow falls from the sky down to the frozen ground below. Tall, snow covered trees dot the landscape next to a large lake that is completely frozen over.  Far below cloud level, five ponies are battling each other; each with the intent of pushing each other beyond their limits in the pursuit of power.

Bright flashes dance across the sky as two pegasi battle each other in the air. One, a black stallion with a short cut, blood red mane and tail which also have gold streaks running through them; the other, a bright red mare with a long, jet black mane and tail which also have a light purple stripe running through the middle of each. They separate for a moment, and then rush at each other with a front hoof outstretched. Their hooves collide, and the red pegasus is knocked back.

The black pegasus rushes at her, and throws a volley of punches that she barely manages to weave around. "C'mon Babewing, where's all that improvement you've been showing?", he casually asks her in between punches.

She pushes off of him and yells, "I told you to stop calling me that, Sky!"

He suddenly appears behind her, and she feels a hoof run along her flank. "Make me.", he whispers to her.

"GRAH!!!", she screams as she spins hard and delivers a devastating elbow to the back of his head. She then throws a volley of vicious punches and kicks all across his body, and finishes with a double axe handle shot to the top of his head; which sends him flying down to the frozen earth.

As he falls to the ground he manages to mutter, "Totally.... worth it...."

A good distance away, an earth pony stallion that's the size of an alicorn, and with a dark orange mane, watches Thundering Sky get knocked to the ground. "When will that idiot learn? Now....", he turns to face two unicorns standing in front of him; both are in a combat stance. "..... Where were we?"

One of the unicorns, a stallion that is steel grey in color and bearing a horn that is as long as an alicorn's, charges him."Hyaa!," he calls out as he throws a quick volley of punches at his target.

Despite his size, the much larger earth pony easily weaves around the assault. "Come on , Iron Horn. You need to try harder than that. You know how big the gap between our power is.", he says as he dodges. He raises a foreleg and blocks a punch, and they stay locked like that for a moment.

"Titan Hoof...", Iron Horn begins to speak, "... Blade and I won't stay beneath you three forever. We're well on our way to catching up to you."

Before Titan can offer a response, the second unicorn, a white stallion with a white mane and tail, charges Iron Horn. Iron breaks off his attack against Titan to turn his focus on the other unicorn, and they begin trading off hits. They lock forehooves and attempt to push each other back. They lock horns, and begin exerting both ki and magic. Iron begins to slide back, but then he begins exerting more magic and returns the favor. "Star Binder, you may be physically stronger than me, for now, but my magic is stronger than yours.", states Iron Horn.

Star Binder exerts more physical power, and pushes Iron back further. "True, but magic can only do so much once you reach a certain level of power!" The two stay locked in battle as they train themselves to reach further and further heights of power.

____________________________________________________

CLOUDSDALE

Silver nods. "I see. Looking back now... it's kind of hard to imagine that ponies we fought and died to beat, so easily became our allies. Hmmmm.... Now that I think about it... Don't you think it's kind of odd that they changed sides so quickly?"

"Me, Blade, and Iron all thought the same thing. But, they've never done anything that was too dangerous with us. Except... ugh... for Sky. You'd think he has a death wish with how he treats mine and Blade's flanks!", she states in an irritated tone. Silver stifles a laugh; remembering how lecherous the black pegasus had seemed the one time they met. Dash sighs one time. "But.... we don't really know why they changed like they did. They don't like to talk about their past much. All we know is that it has something to do with the Elements of Harmony."

"Well...", Silver begins to reply, "... as long as the change is genuine, I suppose it doesn't really matter why."

"Darn it! It does matter! I wanna know!", Dash loudly exclaims.

Silver lets out a long, drawn out sigh. "Think about what they were willing to do before-hoof. They all did some really bad things. Whatever happened to them in their past had to have been pretty bad for them to resort to what they did. Just give them time, and maybe they'll open up about it."

Dash sounds out an irritated groan, and frowns. "Fine. I won't force it. I guess they've got their reasons." She turns herself back to face the empty center of the arena. She rests her forelegs and her head on some railing. "If... if he hadn't shown up when he did, everything would have turned out so much worse. We'd all still be dead, Lunalia would still be evil, and she'd be ruler of Equestria."

Silver follows suit with the same motions she did. "It is really unnerving to think about; knowing that a complete accident is what saved all of us. Fate itself seemed to intervene on our behalf by bringing a fighter with his level of power to Equestria; even though it was against his will."

"Yeah.... he's the one who eventually killed Lunalia, and told us about the dragon balls. I still can't believe he actually let Discord go back with him. I wonder... I wonder what he's doing now.", Dash ponders aloud.

_________________________________________________________

HUMAN EARTH

WEST CITY, CAPSULE CORP. HEADQUARTERS

A loud explosion rocks Capsule Corporation headquarters, and knocks a sizable chunk out of one of the outer walls. As smoke billows out of the hole in the wall, Discord, the lord of chaos, flies out of the building, and stops about a hundred feet from it. He is holding his sides; laughing so hard that he is in tears. "Oh, oh, oh this is PRICELESS! I knew if I came here to this world that I could make up for all of that time imprisoned in stone!"

A yellow beam of energy emerges from the billowing smoke, and drives towards his head! He makes his head disappear, and then reappear after the beam passes him. "Oh, Vegeta. There is no need for such violence. I was only having a little fun.", states Discord while trying to fight back his laughter.

The saiyan prince flies out of the smoke as well; wearing a red sleeveless shirt, blue jeans, and a black leather jacket..... and having Bulma's blue hair, rather than his own! "YOU BASTARD! I TOLD YOU WHAT YOU'D GET!", he shouts in anger as he prepares to fire another round of ki blasts.

Bulma soon walks out as well, wearing a short skirted red dress.... and having Vegeta's tall, black, spiky hair instead of her own! She takes aim at Discord with a sub-machine gun, "DARN YOU! THIS ISN'T FUNNY!", she screams at him as she prepares to fire.

Discord strokes his beard for a moment as he thinks. "Hmm.... AHA! I know what to do!", he excitedly states as he conjures a coffee mug that's as big as he is. "I am now prepared for the after life. Fire when ready.", he says with a sly smile.

"SCREW WHETHER OR NOT YOU'RE READY!", shouts Vegeta as he fires a volley of energy shots at Discord. The lord of chaos tilts his giant mug, all the shots reroute themselves into it, and turn into hot chocolate! Bulma yells loudly as she begins firing at her target, but all of her bullets deviate from their course as well, and turn into marshmallows!

Discord tilts his cup back, and drinks from his chaotic mug. "Mmmmmm. Now that hits the spot." He wipes away some chocolate on his beard as he says. "I'm hungry now, care to provide me with something to turn into food?"

Bulma and Vegeta stare at Discord in shock; completely dumbfounded by what he's capable of doing. Though they've had their fair share of his pranks for the last year, they're still not used to just what he can do.

____________________________________________________________________

CLOUDSDALE

"We may never know, Rainbow Dash. It's unlikely we'll ever see Vegeta again.", Silver replies.

"Lunalia might.", states Dash.

"Wait, what? What do you mean that she might?", Silver asks Dash.

"My friend that you met, Twilight Sparkle, got taken from us. None of us really know how, but she somehow opened some kind of portal to a different world, and got sucked inside. No pony knows just where she ended up, but Lunalia is the entire reason it happened. So she's been working on some super advanced spell that will let her jump to other worlds to find her.", Rainbow Dash explains.

"I.. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Lunalia is gonna bring her back. She wants to set everything right. Because of her, everything changed that day. So much got screwed up. She targeted us because we were the Elements of Harmony. She broke all of us in some way, and now she wants to make it right by bringing Twilight back to us.", Dash continues to explain.

"I'm glad I decided to go to Cloudsdale, that day. After hearing about what happened to Twilight, and what Pinkie did to Star Binder, I'm not sure I could have handled seeing that....", Dash says as her ears slump and she looks down.

"What happened?", Silver asks in a very concerned manner.

"You have to know Pinkie to really understand. She lives and breathes to make other ponies happy! I still have no clue what exactly Star said to her, but after beating her half to death, she snapped on him! She didn't just kill him; she outright mutilated him! My other friends, Fluttershy and Rarity, saw the whole thing. Fluttershy can't even talk about it without fainting. It gave them more nightmares than watching Star murder Princess Cadance!", states Dash. As mental images flash through her mind, she shivers one time. "Scary..."

"It... it sounds like it was.", Silver responds.

Dash lets out a sigh before she continues speaking. "It doesn't stop there. Whatever happened to her.... I dunno anymore. Even after she recovered from her injuries, she stayed cooped up inside for awhile. She seems like she's back to normal now, but something still isn't right with her. Sometimes she talks to herself.... and not in the way we're used to! It's like she's talking to somepony we can't see!"

"Hey, I'm sure she'll be fine. Once Lunalia brings Twilight back, things with your friends will start to shape up again!", he says; trying to reassure her.

"I hope so. I'm afraid if this keeps up, we may start believing this pony she's talking to is actually there.", Dash says in an annoyed tone. "Anyway, I should really be going. I need to go get some food, and relax awhile before tonight. It was cool seeing you again."

"It was indeed. Take care of yourself, Rainbow Dash.", Silver Wind says with a smile as he waves her off.

Dash smiles, and waves back. She then spreads her wings, and takes off into the sky. As she loops around to the other side of Cloudsdale, she begins thinking to herself. "I wonder how much longer we gotta wait? How much longer will it be till Lunalia finishes her..... whatever that spell was called?"

_____________________________________________________

CANTERLOT CASTLE

Luna and Celestia are climbing a circular staircase that leads to the top of the tallest tower in the castle. A single, blue unicorn maid nervously trails behind them. "Three days.... You've heard nothing from her in three days, and you're only just now telling us!?", Celestia angrily asks her.

"I'm... I'm so sorry your majesty! Please do not be too angry with me.", she pleads as she cowers. "I - I - I was told only to disturb her if absolutely necessary. It's not uncommon for her to ignore my knocks at her door for dinner. This is the first time she's done so for this long. Please do not bring too harsh a punishment upon me!", she continues to beg.

Luna and Celestia look down at the pleading mare, and then back to the double doors that lead into the room. Luna knocks on the door.

No answer.

She does so again. "Mother? Are you okay? Can you hear us?", she asks, hoping for some kind of response.

Nothing. No response.

Celestia looks down at the maid. "Leave us."

She looks up to the princess of the sun. "But-"

"LEAVE US!", Celestia yells.

A look of terror grips the young maid, and she bolts down the stairs.

Luna uses her magic to unlock the door, and she and Celestia walk inside to find an empty room; an empty room that looks like it has not been used for several days. The large room has several tables with open books strewn across them. Writing is scribbled all over, not just papers on the tables, but even the floor itself. A light layer of dust has begun to settle on most of the room. It's clear that this room has not been disturbed for a little while.

"Where... Where is she!?", asks Celestia aloud as she searches around the room.

Luna looks around worriedly as well. "Sister.... you don't think she... turned again?"

Celestia looks Luna in the eyes. "No! We can't assume the worst! She was cleansed by the Elements! There is no way that she returned to her evil ways!"

Before Luna can offer a response, black energy begins to form in the center of the room. "What... what is that!?", Luna cries out. The energy grows in size, and black lightning arcs all around it. Luna and Celestia back themselves to a wall as the energy swells to cover a quarter of the large room. With one bright flash, the magical energy dissipates, and standing where it was is an adult alicorn. Her coat is as black as the night sky. Her mane and tail are a translucent violet, and dark green. Her eyes are a deep shade of blue, and her cutie mark is a pair of crescent moons connected back to back. She stands for just a moment with her wings spread wide, but she quickly loses her balance and stumbles to her knees.

"MOTHER!", Celestia and Luna both cry out at once.

Lunalia, the former queen of darkness, sits on her knees before them. She is sweating profusely, and practically gasping for air. "Mother, what is wrong!?", Celestia asks worriedly.

Lunalia struggles to raise up a hoof, and motion for them to give her a moment. As she gets her breathing under control, she manages to get out two words. "Three..... days....."

"We know, mother. You've been gone for three days. What happened?". Luna asks.

Lunalia shakes her head, and takes in several deep breaths. "No. In three days... gather everypony here." She looks up at them with a big grin on her face. "It's time."