A Hero's Days

A Hero’s Days

Prelude: The Arrival

The sun shone brightly and the few clouds that were in the sky lazily drifted along. A light purple filly lay under the shade of a tall oak tree next to the road. All of Dinky’s friends were busy and she had nothing better to do than pony watching. With the summer warmth, sleep sounded like a pretty viable option too. Just as she closed her eyes, a boisterous complaint made her jolt upright.

“But how come you two can’t help me with this stuff?”

“Because, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and I have to go ahead and set up the bases. Hop on!” Dinky blew a blond lock of hair out of her face and looked to the three fillies on the road. She recognized them to be the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and the orange one (who she couldn’t remember the name of for the life of her; Scootehla, Scootabo, Scoot-something…) rode a scooter with Sweetie Belle; forelegs wrapped around the driver’s waste. The white filly grimaced and tightened her grip when Scootababalo sped up.

Dinky watched Apple Bloom struggle for another two minutes before blurting out “Need any help?”

She jumped at the sudden voice, and looked around until her gaze met the potential aid. “Um…Su-sure," she nervously replied. Dinky rushed over and put the other end of the bag on her back.

“Woah, this is heavier than it looks, what’s in it?”

Apple Bloom giggled before responding, “Everything we need for crusading today; golf clubs, helmets, vinegar, a couple books, tools, gas masks, flashlights, fire extingui-“

“Oookay,” Dinky interrupted, “And where are we headed with all this stuff?”

“To the big field over the bridge!” She grunted as she shifted the weight of the bag. “First, we’re gonna try out baseball!”

“With only three ponies?”

“With only three ponies?”

“You betcha!... but now that Ah think about it, we miigght need ‘nother pony or two.” Apple Bloom stopped walking as she exclaimed “Ah know! How ‘bout you join us? You don’t have your cutie mark neither and who knows, maybe you could find your super special talent with us!” The answer was clear when the filly smiled while her blond mane shook up and down.

They further inched along the road and on their backs was the bag which Dinky would have presumed to be filled with cement if it weren’t for the incessant rattling of many items. When the bag was shifted again, a round object rolled out of a side pocket. “Oh! Stop! We have to get that!” Apple Bloom frantically dropped her end of the bag, the weight suddenly pinning Dinky to the ground.

With the breath knocked out of her, she croaked “Yeah, let’s.” After the ball was retrieved, Apple Bloom looked at her new friend apologetically.

“I’m mighty sorry, but this is Applejack’s ball and I kind of took it without asking. It was on a high shelf with all these pictures and I mean to put it back there when we’re done.” She hung her head dejectedly.

“No! Don’t be sorry. If it was your sister’s then of course you want to take care of it.” They shared a smile as they also shared an understanding.

“Scoot and Sweetie Belle always ask me why I’m so careful with AJ’s stuff. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard Applejack talk about Rarity being upset with Sweetie Belle over her breaking or ruining something!” There was that name again, but Dinky knew “Scoot” was just a dub. She’d figure it out sometime that day if they would all be together. The two young ponies once again carried the bag, but it didn’t feel like such a burden anymore.

~

Spike searched the menu in his claws up and down one last time, but it didn’t bear what he desired. Why can’t the Ponyville restaurants have gem stones? Just a couple crunchy, delicious… He snapped back to reality as the server cleared his throat.

“Ugh yeah,” Spike squirmed under the mustached ponies’ fixed glare, “I’ll have the usual.” The waiter put his nose in the air as he went to put in the order of Twilight’s sandwich and the young dragon’s extra crispy hay fries.

Ponyville had taken its toll on Spike’s once convenient life. He didn’t like living there-no-he hated it. He was taken from a place where his preferred food was abundant and strange customs were not forced upon him. The façade of loving the town and the occupants was partially true; he found Twilight’s friends to be wonderful companions of his own and all of his discomforts were sometimes forgotten in their presence. Spike often wondered why the town made him feel the way he did, and the cordial occupants (besides moody attendants) were definitely not the root. So what was?

Twilight smiled at him with her endearing purple eyes. “As I was starting to say before, we decided to give up on Miss Mare Do-Well.” Spike cocked his head in confusion.

“But you helped so many ponies, why would you stop now?”

“I guess the townsfolk rely on the heroin too much. Everypony’s been careless the past couple of weeks and we shouldn’t be obligated to save them all the time. We’ll help a pony if we see them in need, but we won’t wear a costume or go looking for trouble. After all, she was only created to show Rainbow Dash how full of herself she was being.” She took long sip from her glass of pink lemonade with a straw in it. “That and we all have our own lives to live; we shouldn’t have to be responsible for everypony all the time.”  The waiter came over just as she was finishing her sentence.

“A daffodil sandwich for the delightful mare,” Twilight’s cheeks became tinged with red, “and hay fries for the gentlecol- err – dragon.” Spike glumly said his thanks and threw one hay fry in his mouth. Too soft! You’d think that by now they would know how crunchy he liked his food; after all, he was the only dragon in the area and a regular customer.

“Is something on your mind, Spike?” The question caught him off guard and he took his elbow off the table to sit up.

“What makes you say that?”

“Well for one, you didn’t even look over when Rarity walked by just a minute ago with her gem shovel.” The green scales on his head perked up at this.

“Really? Rarity needs help digging?!”

“Well, I don’t know about that, but what is it tha-“

“If she needs help, then who am I to ignore a damsel in distress?” Spike quickly interrupted. “Thanks for lunch!” At this he picked up the plate of hay fries, tilted back his head and impossibly poured all of them into his mouth. “Hold on Rarity, I’m coming!”

“W-wait let’s talk about your problem!” Twilight stammered but the young dragon had already run off.

~

Rainbow Dash soared through the sky with her teammates on the Wonderbolts. Of course they let her join once they realized how truly awesome she was. They all spiraled down around her as she went straight and a huge bang sounded off. She flew level once again, but this time she was too fast for her peers. Flying back to the station, she waited for a whole five minutes before they caught up.

Spitfire looked at her with a large grin. “Wow, Rainbow! You’re so fast and like, too awesome for us. Please, please sign this jersey for my colt brother!” The other Wonderbolts all nodded their heads in agreement and giddily asked for some item of theirs to be signed too.

“C’mon guys, you know the rule. One at a time!”

Rainbow Dash was participating in her favorite midday activity: napping. A slight breeze rocked the cloud she was on and her eyes slowly opened. Bad idea. She moaned and put a foreleg over her face as she adjusted to the light. Why couldn’t her fantasies actually come true? She was sick of not getting what she deserved. Her mother used to always say sleep is the best remedy so maybe a second snooze is just what she needed, as she had (by her standards) been working very hard that day.

Her eyes shot open all the way when a train sounded off not too far off. Why the hay she take a nap by the train station? Dash sleepily stuck her head over the side of the cloud and was instantly confused. The cloud she lay on was above four adorable fillies playing baseball. She jumped when the boisterous noise repeated itself; this time from right below her.

Once again looking down, her rainbow mane was flung around as she shook her head in disbelief. A magical train that could travel on trackless ground was speeding towards Ponyville; a train that looked a lot like…Flim and Flam’s! Only this was much bigger, but nonetheless it was theirs; “The Flim Flam Brothers” was painted in white over the black coat. Rainbow Dash heard the sound of a good hit in baseball and a light purple filly ran to get the ball. She bent her legs to pick it up with her mouth, but froze as she saw the metal beast roaring towards her. A weak bubble of magic erected itself around her, maybe brought about from some primal instinct of her kind. The self proclaimed fastest flyer in Equestria’s thoughts flew around faster than the speed of sound. There was no way to carry her to safety with that bubble, so she would just have to stop the train; even if the chances were slim.

Rainbow Dash sped down to the locomotive and went towards an open window. As her back hooves cleared the entryway, something hard hit her forehead and she fell flat. Consciousness was slipping from her grasp as a shovel clanged on the floor in front of her. Shouts in another language and the squealing of brakes were heard echoing through her cotton filled head. It was too late- for Dash knew she had failed.