Chapter 1

The sun had been set some time ago. Down in the town of Ponyville, some of the populace had turned in for the night, while quite a few more had stayed out late for one of the more special times of the year: the annual meteor shower that graced Luna's night, her gift to the ponies that she and her sister ruled.

Rainbow Dash fluttered her wings a little, just enough to keep herself loose. Sitting still for prolonged periods of time was not really her thing, so slight agitation helped to keep her calm. She looked up at the night sky, then back at her gathered friends, trying to draw some kind of reaction from... well, anything really.

"Hey Twi, how much longer until the shower starts?" she asked, subconsciously kicking a small rock down the hill they were seated on.

"Just a few more minutes, Rainbow," Twilight Sparkle said, the unicorn having set up a large telescope to observe the shower. "I don't remember you ever being this impatient about a meteor shower before."

"Last time we got here just before the shower started, but we've been sitting here for two hours. I'm starting to get all twitchy."

"Nopony ever said you had to sit still for two hours. You could have gone for a quick flight any time you wanted."

"... Okay, maybe sitting here with you guys is a little more important right now. But still, this is boring. Don't you have a book or something that has activities for times like this?"

"Um, well, I did, but Pinkie accidentally set it on fire when we went on that camping trip last month." Rainbow Dash chuckled a little; she had not actually been there, but Twilight had apparently had a meltdown that made the "Smartypants Incident" look like a foal's tantrum. Pinkie and Applejack had calmed her down, but the two earth ponies had swore never to go camping with Twilight again.

"Aw, come on Twilight, it wasn't that bad," Pinkie Pie said, popping out from behind Twilight's telescope. "I only burned it a little, and now it's got that old-timey look to it." Twilight wanted to answer, but a flash of light across the sky distracted her.

"Look, it's starting!" Rainbow Dash looked back up as hundreds of small lights flashed through the sky. She had seen meteor showers dozens of times throughout her life, but she never got bored of them. If anypony had asked, she could just say "They're cool" and be done with it, but her admiration for meteors and comets went a little deeper. When she was younger, she would imagine herself up there, racing through the sky with the meteors for everypony in Equestria to see. She showed off all the time nowadays, but meteors were still something special to her, something that spoke of childhood innocence and a sense of wonder she tried not to let slip away.

Still, she was not the pony to get philosophical; she left that job to Twilight, or possibly Rarity. She was just here to enjoy the show.

"So, Twi," Rainbow Dash said. "What's it like looking at one of those meteors through your telescope?"

"Amazing." Twilight said, still focused on her observation. "With the right calibrations I can see the entire structural makeup of the meteors; all the pockets, the irregularities, everything. They're kind of like snowflakes, in a way."

"I was never good at working with snow, or snowflakes for that matter." Twilight chuckled a little "What's so funny about that?"

"I-I don't really know." Twilight said, stifling her chuckling as best she could. "It's just... snowflakes."

"Hey, it takes a lot of work to make a good snowflake! I'd like to see you try it sometime."

"Believe me, she has." Twilight's dragon assistant Spike said. Twilight shot Spike a glare before looking back at Rainbow Dash.

"Sorry, Rainbow. It's just that I'd expected you to try to be a perfectionist at everything weather related, but snow kind of seems like a mundane thing to be bad at."

"I never said I was bad at it, just that I wasn't good at it."

"Isn't that kind of the same thing?"

"You would think that Twilight." Rainbow Dash watched more meteors streak across the sky. "So, what do you do with all that egghead stuff?"

"I store it, in case anypony ever needs any information on meteors."

"Or in case you get bored?"

"Yes, in case I get-" Twilight's mouth flapped a little before she returned to her stargazing. Rainbow Dash chuckled a little before standing up, stretching out her wings as she did so.

"I think I'm going to head home."

"Why? Don't you want to stay out here longer?"

"Any other night I would, but we've got a big storm coming in later this week and last time I screwed up the lightning because I didn't get enough sleep."

"You, the pony who takes three naps a day, didn't get enough sleep?"

"Yeah, I didn't. Besides, don't we all have that Pony Pet Play Date thing down at the park tomorrow?"

"Oh, that's right... wait, you didn't get enough sleep for that?"

"Sometimes, and I forgot to feed Tank before I came over here; he gets kind of grouchy when he doesn't eat... at least I think he does. Kind of hard to tell when he doesn't move all that fast most of the time."

"Maybe you should ask Fluttershy about it."

"I tried, but she talks about animals the same way you talk about egghead stuff."

"Oh. Well, see you tomorrow Rainbow." Rainbow Dash nodded and started to take flight before an orange hoof stomped on her tail.

"Hold on Rainbow." Applejack said, removing her hoof from Rainbow Dash's tail. "Don't forget ya promised me you'd help with harvestin' some apples before that big storm y'all are plannin' blows in."

"Yeah yeah, I remember that. What, do you think I'd actually let you down on something like that?"

"Last time ya came to help, ya just found a tree and took a nap while me'n Big Mac had to do all the work."

"Okay, there was that one time, but I promise I won't ditch you guys like last time." Applejack looked at Rainbow Dash for a few seconds before releasing the Pegasus.

"All right, but I'm holdin' ya to that promise." Rainbow Dash made a mock salute with her right hoof and took off, quickly speeding away from the hill. Her house was not very far away, but she decided to slow down and enjoy the night a little longer. A cool breeze came in from the south, blowing through her mane and cooling her down a bit. She spun lazily in the air for a bit before reaching her house, a two story cloud home complete with rainbow fountain, veranda and massive columns. She spun in the air one more time before landing outside her door.

"Hey Tank, I'm home." she called as she walked into her house. Tank was waiting for her in the main hallway, the tortoise's little flight harness giving him away in the darkness. Rainbow Dash walked over to Tank and kneeled to be at eye level with him. "Do anything cool while I was gone?" This received only a slow blink from the reptile.

"Well, next time I'll take you with me. I think you'd like to see the meteors." Tank made some sort of croaking sound while Rainbow Dash made her way into the kitchen. It was nothing much, just a stove that only worked when she did not need it and a fridge that was too small. Rainbow Dash opened the fridge and pulled out a package of glossy leaves, something that Fluttershy had said was good food for tortoises. Rainbow Dash selected several of the larger leaves and set them before Tank, who began to methodically chew on them while Rainbow Dash made her way to her room.

Still have to finish that last Daring Do book I got from Twilight; she seemed kind of anxious to get it ba-

Her train of thought was interrupted when she entered her room. Sitting on her bed was a rock, about the size of one of her longer feathers. Rainbow Dash frowned; Tank was always bringing back rocks whenever they went down to the ground, and this could have been the latest addition to his collection. She did not mind most of the time, but when he left them around for her to find it started to get annoying.

"Tank, did you leave one of your rocks on my bed?" she asked. Tank slowly shook his head no and returned to eating his food. Curious, Rainbow slowly walked over to her bed, her eyes fixed on the rock.

Okay, mysterious rock shows up in my room and it's not Tank's... How am I supposed to deal with this? She leaned over and looked closer at the rock. It was a greenish color, and it seemed to glow a little when she got close. She frowned again and tried to think if she had ever seen a rock like this before.

"Maybe it's a meteor..." she mumbled. It was not an uncommon phenomenon; ponies would find little meteors all over the place, and most just put them up on shelves or gave them to eggheads or museum. Some kept them around, showed them off to friends, sometimes even made them into things. Rainbow perked up at this.

My own meteor. Even Twilight doesn't have a meteor. Maybe Rarity could fit it into some kind of necklace or something so it would be easier to show ponies. It would say something like "Coolest Pony Ever" and then everyone would say "Hey, Rainbow Dash is cool, but now she's got a meteor and is even cooler!"... Yeah, I'd like that. Rainbow Dash smiled and scooped the rock off her bed, looking around for a place to keep her prize somewhere until tomorrow.

"I still have that leftovers box from the last time we ate out. That should do." With the rock wedged between her forelimbs, she began to fly towards her kitchen, thoughts of owning a meteor permeating her mind.

However, she did not notice that the rock had started to glow when she picked it up. At first it was only the glow, but slowly, ever so slowly, things began to happen to her.

She stopped flying for a moment. Rainbow Dash had started to feel a bit drowsy, her wings feeling like they were made of lead. She tried to shake it off, but the feeling got stronger and she dropped out of the air, the rock bouncing off to one side of the hallway. A wave of nausea overcame her, and she had trouble focusing on the area around her.

"Wh... Wh-What's happening to me?" The nausea reached its peak, and Rainbow Dash vomited , the combination of stomach acid and half-digested food splattering across the floor. She tried to get back to her room, but vomited again before tripping over her hooves, collapsing into a heap on the floor. Violent spasms shook her body, twisting the Pegasus into unnatural shapes.

"T-Tank!" Rainbow Dash called, hoping her tortoise would respond "I-I need you t-to go get... help..." Then another spasm hit, casting Rainbow Dash into darkness.

Chapter 2

Rainbow Dash did not show up on time for the Pony Pet Play Date. At first, the other five thought she was just running late and saw no reason for concern, but as time wore on and the cyan Pegasus did not show up, the others got nervous. After a quick conversation on what to do, they decided to send Fluttershy up to her house to check if she was home.

Fluttershy landed near the entrance to the cloud home, her butter yellow hooves sinking slightly into the clouds. She looked around for any sign of her friend, but the house seemed empty.

"Um, hello? Is anypony home?" there was no answer, and Fluttershy started shuffling her hooves. "Rainbow Dash, you missed our Pony Pet Play Date, and everypony was wondering where you were..." still no answer. "You still like us, don't you?... I mean, of course you do, but maybe we said something... Did I say something? Because whatever I said I'm sorry I made you mad... u-unless you're not mad, and maybe you're just tired or something... I could come back later if you'd like." there was still no answer, so Fluttershy had to think harder.

"Um, the Wonderbolts stopped by my house today; they wanted to talk to you about something." Fluttershy gave the best smile she could in her attempt to sound sincere. The smile slowly faded when there was no sign of her rainbow-maned friend.

No answer... But Rainbow Dash would never miss a chance at meeting the Wonderbolts, even if I did lie... a little. Fluttershy pawed at the clouds a little, small wisps of vapor floating up in her face.

"I-I really don't want to do this, but... Rainbow Dash! You're making everypony nervous by not showing up and if you don't come here this instant I'll... I'll... I'll do some kind of prank that even you wouldn't consider funny!" There was some shuffling behind the door and it slowly opened. "Thank you. You had me so worried that I thought you'd-" Waiting at the door was not Rainbow Dash, but Tank, the tortoise hovering at eye level with Fluttershy. The Pegasus frowned.

"Tank? Is something wrong? Where's Rainbow Dash?" The tortoise buzzed down the hall, Fluttershy following quietly behind him. When he stopped, Fluttershy looked to where he had stopped and gasped.

Rainbow Dash was lying on the ground, her head resting in a pool of vomit. Most of the color had drained out of her coat and mane, and she was breathing in ragged gasps. Sporadic spasms would shake her body, punctuated by bouts of dry heaving.

"Oh my goodness! Rainbow Dash, are you alright?" Fluttershy flew over to her stricken friend and turned Rainbow Dash to face her.

"Fl... Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash said weakly.

"Yes, I'm here. What happened to you?" Rainbow Dash coughed a few times before pointing behind Fluttershy.

"R...rock..." she said. Fluttershy looked and saw a rock sitting against the wall. She thought she saw it glow green for a second, but she could not be sure.

"This rock did this to you?" Fluttershy left Rainbow Dash for a moment to inspect the rock. She was no geologist, so she could not tell if there was anything unusual about the rock. She stepped closer to pick it up when two cyan hooves grabbed her leg.

"NO! D-Don't touch it!" Rainbow Dash tried to pull Fluttershy away, but she started dry heaving again and collapsed.

"Oh, you look awful. I need to get you to the hospital right away." Fluttershy scooped her friend up in her hooves and made her way towards the door. She was not an exceptionally strong flier, but she would be able to get Rainbow Dash to the ground where somepony else could help.

"Please don't die, Rainbow Dash. I couldn't live with myself if you died."

...

"Well, I'd have to say that this is one of the strangest cases I've ever seen." Ponyville's doctor said to the five mares in the waiting room.

"I-is she going to be alright?" Fluttershy asked.

"She's weak right now, but we have her hooked up to a couple IVs and she seems to be responding well. If we're lucky, she should be out of here in a day or two."

"Oh, thank goodness."

"But what's wrong with her?" Twilight asked.

"That's where things get a little more complicated. We did a number of tests and we found that there's a spike in radiation in her body, so I initially wrote it off as radiation poisoning."

"That's treatable, right?"

"Well, yes, but she would have had to receive a lethal dose of radiation in order for it to affect her so quickly and violently."

"L-lethal? So she is going to die?"

"No. Normally she would have died before you brought her through the door, but as I said she is recovering much faster than anypony her age should. My guess is that the radiation came from some other source and we might be dealing with something else completely different."

"But she was perfectly fine last night."

"Maybe it was something she ate." Pinkie Pie said. "She did eat a lot of cupcakes and sandwiches last night."

"I don't think overeating is our culprit here. You five know Rainbow Dash better than I do; has she ever had any trouble with substance abuse or drinking?"

"Well, she does drink, but only on special occasions." Applejack said. "'Sides, the girl can hardly keep it down for longer than five minutes."

"Also, wouldn't you have tested her for alcohol poisoning when we brought her in?" Rarity asked.

"That test is still processing. Now, when you found her was there any indication of what might have caused this?"

"Um, well," Fluttershy said, shuffling her hooves a little. "She wanted me to stay away from this little rock in her house."

"A rock? In a cloud house?"

"I think they're strong enough to hold small rocks. I wanted to pick it up, but she told me not to and then I brought her here."

"If possible, could you bring that rock by so I can have a better look at it? I'll send one of my orderlies with a hazardous material container if you'd like."

"Oh, that would be nice."

"But rocks don't just make ponies sick," Twilight said. "There are a few, but they'd never work this fast."

"Believe me we're all as confused about this as you are," the doctor said. "What's even more unusual is that it happened to Rainbow Dash, of all ponies."

"What's so weird about that?"

"Besides her accident last spring, this is the second time she's actually checked in to a hospital in her entire life. She's never broken any other bones, never gotten sick, never had any issues with her senses, never had any rashes, concussions, burns, deep cuts. You name it, she hasn't had it."

"She's only lived in Ponyville for a few years; what about her time in Cloudsdale?"

"I've already cross referenced my records with Cloudsdale's. It's the same thing; Rainbow Dash has only been admitted to any hospital once in her lifetime. Either she's obsessive over staying healthy, or there's more factors that I'm not aware of." There was a pause while the ponies collected their thoughts.

"Can we go see her?" Fluttershy asked. "I mean, if that's okay with you..."

"Visiting hours are over, but I'll let you check in with her for a few minutes."

...

The first thing Rainbow Dash was aware of was that she was lying in a bed. It was stiff, and the sheets smelled funny, but it was a bed nonetheless. If she had her way, she would have remained immobile for as long as possible, but her nerves would not allow that and forced her awake. She groaned and slowly opened her eyes.

"She's wakin' up." a voice said. Rainbow Dash blinked and saw her friends circling her, all of them looking at her with concern.

"Hey guys..." Rainbow Dash said, her voice raspy from lack of water.

"Oh Rainbow Dash, we were so worried you weren't going to get better." Fluttershy said.

"You are feeling better, right, darling?" Rarity asked, leaning in a little closer. Rainbow Dash coughed a little.

"Not really... I feel really weak right now."

"The doctors said you'd recover in a day or two." Twilight said.

"That's nice... You guys'll come visit me if I have to stay here longer, right?"

"Of course we will. We're your friends, and friends never abandon one another."

"And when you do get out, I'm going to throw a massive 'Rainbow Dash-isn't-going-to-die' party and invite as many ponies in Equestria as possible!" Pinkie Pie said. "Maybe I'll even get the princesses to come, and then everypony will have lots of fun and you'll be there and we'll all be happy and stuff!"

"Thanks... I'd like that." Rainbow Dash shifted a little. "Hey, if it's okay with you guys I'd like to get some sleep. Can we talk more when I'm feeling better?"

"Of course." the others began to leave before Twilight spoke again.

"Rainbow Dash, do you remember anything that happened last night?"

"A little. Why?"

"The doctors were having a little trouble trying to diagnose what was wrong with you. If you can remember what happened that might help them treat you."

"Okay... Well, I came home and fed Tank, and when I went into my room I found this rock sitting on my bed. I thought it was some kind of meteor and wanted to keep it for later, but when I picked it up... I got sick."

"Just like that?"

"I think so." there was a pause.

"I'll tell that to the doctors, and I'll try to find out what kinds of elemental combinations could make a pony sick."

"Guess that egghead stuff is useful after all." Rainbow Dash started laughing a little before coughing again "Ah... it hurts to laugh."

"Just rest for now. We'll come check up on you tomorrow." Rainbow Dash nodded and rolled over in her bed. Her body was still weak, but her mind was alight with different questions.

Did I do something wrong? Was I not supposed to pick the meteor up? Maybe I should have used tongs... Yeah, that's what they do with weird space objects in Spike's comic books... I think I need to read some more of those sometime. Rainbow Dash pulled the sheets of her bed a little closer and allowed herself to drift off into sleep.

Unbeknownst to her, a certain rock continued to glow a bright green as it was brought to Ponyville's hospital.

Chapter 3

Rainbow Dash was released from the hospital two days later. The doctors were still not entirely sure what had happened, so they had told her to eat light and not fly faster than twenty miles an hour for the first day. She was willing to accept both of those restrictions, just as long as she was out of the hospital and away from the rock that had started this whole thing.

It seemed like everypony in Ponyville knew about Rainbow's condition, and for the next two days everypony from Derpy to the mayor stopped by to make sure Rainbow was okay. Scootaloo in particular had followed Rainbow Dash everywhere for the first day, the little Pegasus terrified of the idea that her idol could have been killed. Rainbow Dash saw no problem with this, and even gave Scootaloo a few pointers on flying as reward for her concern.

Soon, the buzz died down, and everything returned to normal. Had circumstances been different, Rainbow Dash probably would have tried to keep the buzz going, but for once she was glad to have a bit of peace. Normalcy sounded like the best thing in the world right now, and she intended to let it last until she could get her strength back up and go back to being awesome.

Rainbow Dash slowed down as she neared Sweet Apple Acres. She would have kept going at her normal speed, but the last time she had tried that she had accidentally woke Granny Smith up from her afternoon nap, and Rainbow Dash had found that a cranky Granny Smith could be scarier than facing off against a dragon. She shuddered at the thought and landed near one of the fields.

"Howdy Miss Dash." Rainbow turned and saw Applejack's older brother, Big Macintosh, walking up the path with a large cart of apples in tow. Rainbow Dash gave him a smile and a nod.

"Hey Big Mac. Harvesting going good today?"

"Eeyup; we should be finishin' up by tomorrow mornin'. If you're lookin' for Applejack, she's over in the south field."

"Okay, thanks Big Mac." Rainbow Dash spread her wings and took off towards the south field. Although she often took naps in and around Sweet Apple Acres, she never liked the south field due to its proximity to the Everfree Forest. Despite being told by Applejack that it was perfectly safe, the idea that a manticore or a pack of Timberwolves could be watching her at any given moment was not very appealing to Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash spotted Applejack, the orange farm pony busy setting out large buckets under some of the larger apple trees. The Pegasus altered her trajectory and swooped down through the trees, coming to a stop near one of the biggest apple trees on this part of the farm

"Well, good to see ya kept your promise." Applejack said, picking up another bucket.

"Hey, I'd never go back on something like that."

"I know, just glad to see ya ain't just nappin' on the job." Applejack placed the bucket down "Now, I want ya to harvest these here apple trees while I go'n get more buckets. If ya get hungry, try not to eat too many apples, okay?"

"I'll try not." Applejack nodded and walked off. Rainbow Dash turned and faced the nearest tree, looking for any worn spots where Applejack or Big Macintosh had beaten into the trunk. When she did find the worn spots, she backed up a bit, planted her forehooves, and kicked back it all the strength she could muster.

There was a loud crack and Rainbow Dash found her hind legs flailing in the air. To prevent herself from falling over, she quickly flapped her wings and righted herself. Confused, and more than a bit spooked, Rainbow Dash turned to see what exactly had happened.

The good news was that she had successfully knocked all the apples from the tree. The bad news was she had also knocked all the leaves and branches from the tree as well, and she had splintered the tree into eight large chunks and countless smaller ones, and several apples had been knocked into the air and were now raining down on the Pegasus.

"... How'd that happen?" she asked herself. She looked to her hind legs, then back to the tree. "Applejack is going to be mad when she comes back... there's gotta be a way to fix this." Rainbow looked over the bits of tree that were scattered around. She gathered the biggest pieces she could find and tried to fit them back in place, but there had been so much damage that her attempts to fix things only broke the larger chunks into smaller and smaller pieces.

"Gah! Where's Twilight when you need her?" Rainbow Dash screamed after several minutes of failure.

"What do ya need Twilight for?" Rainbow Dash froze. Her irises shrunk to pinpoints and her face dropped significantly. With a gulp, she slowly turned to face Applejack.

"Heh, um, stuff..." Applejack's eyes darted from Rainbow Dash to the ruins of the tree, then back to Rainbow Dash.

"Rainbow Dash, What the hay happened to my tree?"

"Um, well, you see, I was just... I mean, I got all the apples down, but... I didn't mean to... your tree exploded." Applejack did not look amused.

"Exploded?"

"Um, yeah! I bucked it as hard as I could and it... well, exploded."

"Just exploded?"

"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash smiled, trying to convince Applejack that she was being honest. Applejack sighed and placed a hoof against her forehead.

"Why is it that whenever ya come'n help us out, ya get lazy'n break somethin'."

"I wasn't being lazy!"

"Rainbow Dash, ya can't kick nearly as hard as me or Bic Mac, 'n I know for a fact he can't make trees explode. So what happened? Did ya try to get fancy with your weatherpony skills'n try usin' lightnin'?"

"No, I kicked the tree and it exploded."

"Don't lie to me!"

"I'm not lying! Would I ever lie to you?"

"Yes."

"Okay, maybe that wasn't the best way to convince you I'm not lying, but you have to believe me when I say I kicked your tree and it exploded."

"Yeah, 'n I suppose Twilight summons demons from Tartarus to do her laundry."

"She does?"

"Of course not! Now tell me, what did ya do to my tree?" Rainbow Dash's mouth twitched as she tried to come up with the best explanation possible, but she merely sighed and slumped over.

"Look, I'm sorry I destroyed your tree. It was just an accident and... yeah, I did get a little lazy, I guess." Applejack looked at Rainbow Dash for a moment.

"Don't do any more stunts like that, okay Rainbow? Just finish up here'n we'll move on to the next grove."

"Okay." Rainbow Dash dropped the bits of tree she was still carrying and walked to the next tree. After finding where she was supposed to kick, she planted her hooves once again and reared back for a kick, her body subconsciously trying to limit the amount of force she placed in her kick. There was a satisfying thud as her kick connected, and most of the apples in the tree dropped into the nearby buckets.

That's better... Maybe Twilight would know something about what happened.

...

After she finished harvesting with Applejack, Rainbow Dash flew over to the library. When she landed, she made note that all the curtains had been pulled, meaning Twilight was busy with some magic experiment... or reading one of those romance novels Rarity was always raving about. As if Twilight needs anything more to confuse her. She shrugged and pushed open the door.

Twilight was standing in the center of the room, a pair of heavy duty goggles over her eyes and a notepad clutched in her magic. Her mane was slightly frizzled, but Rainbow guessed it was from the numerous pieces of equipment she had set up rather than stress. Twilight had not noticed Rainbow Dash coming in, all of her attention being focused on the equipment surrounding her and her notepad.

And sitting in a claw-like contraption was a very familiar green rock.

"Twilight! Are you insane?" the purple unicorn paused her studies and looked at Rainbow Dash.

"What?" Twilight pulled her goggles off "Is there something wrong?"

"'Is there something wrong'? That's what's wrong!" Rainbow Dash jabbed a hoof at the rock.

"Don't worry, Rainbow; I cast enough dampening spells that we shouldn't be in danger."

"Well, okay, but still why do you have that thing here?"

"The hospital doesn't have the right staff or equipment to study this rock, so they gave it to me. It's actually quite amazing."

"The thing that almost killed me is 'amazing'?"

"I mean scientifically. It's structure is... odd. It's more crystalline than it looks, but it doesn't refract light like your standard crystal; if anything, it actually absorbs it. And it glows green every five minutes, but I can't figure out how or why."

"Because it's evil."

"Evil doesn't have anything to do with this."

"Why not? The changelings used green magic. Flim and Flam used green magic. That thing glows green. It has to be evil!" Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash with a blank stare.

"That violated so many laws of logic I think you deserve an award."

"Are you calling me stupid?"

"Not stupid, just confused." Twilight turned back to the rock "Was there anything else you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Well, sort of... I kinda broke one of Applejack's trees today." Twilight set her notepad aside and looked at Rainbow Dash.

"Were you misusing lightning again?"

"No, of course not. I just tried kicking it to harvest the apples, and it exploded, sort of." Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash for a moment before pulling a book off a nearby shelf.

"Well, it's not an unusual phenomenon for somepony to hit a tree wrong and cause damage, but causing a tree to explode? That would take a kind of force that very few ponies can muster without hurting themselves." Twilight flipped through the book.

"What's in the book?"

"Oh this is Minerals and Their Effect on the Common Pony. See, there are a few types of rocks and metals that can supercharge a pony's internal magic, increasing their strength and magical abilities significantly. What I think is that the rock might be one of those types of materials, and you kicking the tree released all that pent up energy."

"Is that bad?"

"Supposedly your internal magic should have gone back to it's normal levels, but if it doesn't then..."

"Then what?"

"... Then the magic will tear you apart from the inside out." Rainbow Dash's face and emotions dropped.

"So, I am going to die?"

"Don't say that. I said your internal magic should be back to normal and you don't have to worry about it."

"But what if you're wrong and it's still supercharged? What's going to happen to me?"

"I don't know. It happens so rarely in Pegasi and earth ponies. If you were a unicorn this would make more sense, and you'd... well, most likely explode."

"Explode?"

"Yes. All that magic has to go somewhere, and the only way is out. Given how much energy you have stored up, it could be anything from a balloon popping to a Sonic Rainboom sized explosion." Rainbow Dash started sweating and pawing at the ground.

"C-can you do something to stop it?"

"It's beyond my casting range."

"But you're the most powerful unicorn I know! Can't you find some kind of spell that will help?"

"I'm sorry, Rainbow, but I don't think I could perform a spell like-" Twilight was interrupted by Rainbow Dash grabbing her and pulling her closer.

"Please Twilight! You have to do something! I don't want to die!"

"Rainbow Dash! Calm down before you hurt yourself." Rainbow Dash let go of Twilight and backed up. "I'm sorry, but I just don't know any spells to siphon magic off of somepony. If anyone would know, it would probably be Princess Celestia. But this was only a one-time event; like I said, maybe the magic has depleted itself and you're back to normal."

"But if you're wrong?"

"Then you should go see Princess Celestia and she may be able to help you. But if you do go, make sure to bring this," Twilight nodded towards the rock "with you."

"What, so the Princess can blow up too?"

"Princess Celestia is immune to that sort of thing. Now, go home and get some rest; you've gotten yourself worked up over this and you may only make things worse."

"Okay... But when should I go to see the Princess?"

"If anything else happens to you that you think is not normal, come see me and I'll tell her you're coming."

...

Rainbow Dash woke from her afternoon nap and stretched. Her conversation with Twilight the previous day was still rattling around in her mind, the idea of her body overloading and exploding a haunting shadow she did not want to face. She had tried to ignore it, but it still crept into her thoughts whenever she least expected it. She shook her head and looked around.

Not wanting to break any more trees, Rainbow Dash had flown back to her house to take her nap. The room was fairly dark, even for the afternoon, and she flipped on a few lights in order to see better. Tank was napping in his favorite corner, a few half eaten leaves sitting in front of him. Rainbow Dash sighed, got out of bed and picked up the smaller bits of plant matter, treading carefully so as to not awaken the sleeping tortoise. Once that was done, she walked outside and looked towards Ponyville.

Rarity and Fluttershy should be on their way back from their spa trip... Maybe I should go and see what they're up to. Rainbow Dash took a few moments before takeoff to check the weather. There was a breeze coming in from Canterlot, and Rainbow Dash prepared herself in case he had to fight against crosswinds.

Rainbow Dash spread her wings and shot forward, the Pegasus racing across the sky with unprecedented speed. While she enjoyed the speed boost, she noticed a few things that were off; normally when she reached speeds like this, her eyes would start watering and her forelegs would become stiff and unresponsive, and she only ever achieved speeds like this when diving. Now, she was flying straight, her arms felt fine, and she could see clearly.

Twilight was wrong; I'm still getting affected by whatever that rock did to me. Rainbow Dash pulled up and stopped flying in order to prevent herself from panicking. She was in the center of Ponyville, and several other ponies had noted her sudden arrival and were looking at her. She grinned and continued walking, keeping her head down so she did not look directly at anypony. She continued like this until she heard a familiar buzzing sound, a buzzing sound drawing closer.

"Hey, Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo said as she pulled up next to her idol.

"Hey Scoots." thoughts of death by magical overload receded back into Rainbow Dash's mind and she gave the younger pony a smile "What's up?"

"Well, me and Applebloom wanted to do Cutie Mark Crusader Cliff Divers, but then Sweetie Belle got hungry and they sent me to Sugarcube Corner to get some snacks. Then I saw you coming into town and I wanted to see what you were up to and here I am. So," Scootaloo leaned in a little closer to Rainbow Dash "What are you up to?"

"Not much of anything, really; I was going to see what Rarity and Fluttershy were doing, but since you're here I don't see why I can't hang out with you and help you out with some of those snacks." Scootaloo's face lit up with excitement.

"Really? You'd do that?"

"Would I ever leave my biggest fan waiting?" Best spend some quality time with her before I die. Her thoughts were interrupted by two orange hooves wrapping around her neck.

"This is awesome! I get to hang out with Rainbow Dash!" Rainbow Dash chuckled and the two began walking (or in Scootaloo's case, riding) towards Sugarcube Corner.

"You know, you kind of remind me of myself when I was a filly." Rainbow Dash said.

"I do?"

"Yeah. Have you ever heard of Rolling Thunder?"

"Uh, a little. He was a Wonderbolt, right?"

"The Founder of the Wonderbolts, actually. My mom lived next door to him when she was young, and she used to tell me all these stories of all the cool things he did. That's actually what got me into trying out for the Wonderbolts."

"Wow. Did you ever, y'know, meet him?"

"Well, once, just after I got my cutie mark. My mom thought it'd be a good idea to introduce me to some of the Wonderbolts and maybe pick up a couple of pointers from them, and then there was Rolling Thunder. He'd retired by then, but he was still, well, Rolling Thunder."

"Was he cool?"

"Actually, I don't remember; I fainted when he asked me what my name was." Scootaloo stopped and looked at Rainbow Dash.

"You fainted?"

"Hey, it wasn't my fault! The guy was like me and Princess Celestia combined, and I was eight at the time. I guess I got so excited that my brain got fried or something... kind of like when we first met."

"Oh, yeah..." there was a pause "Sorry if you thought I was lame when I fainted."

"Lame? You're the second coolest pony in Ponyville, after me. I'd never think you're lame." This got a smile from the younger pony.

"Thanks."

"No problem." The two continued on "So, after cliff diving what are you going to try next for your cutie marks?"

"Well, Applebloom said something about sprinting..."

"Hey, sprinting's actually kind of fun. I don't do it that much since I fly all the time, but I think you three could be good at it."

"We were going to ask Applejack if we could use that rodeo track she has, but with that big storm I don't think we'll-" Scootaloo stopped talking and pulled her scooter to a stop "Aw, why to they always have to show up whenever I go to Sugarcube Corner?"

"Who?" Rainbow Dash looked towards the bakery and saw two fillies standing near the entrance. The first one, who was wearing a pair of saddlebags, was a magenta pony with a purple and white mane, complete with a small tiara, and the second was a gray pony with pigtails and blue rimmed glasses. "Don't tell me you're scared of them."

"No of course not! It just... every time I come here, it seems like Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon are waiting for me just so they can mock me and call me 'Blank Flank'."

"I know what that's like. Everypony used to call me Rainbow Crash. Just try to ignore them and they'll... wait." Rainbow Dash squinted. There seemed to be something wrong with Diamond Tiara's saddlebags, so Rainbow Dash squinted harder to see what exactly the problem was. She saw a notebook, but that was not what was wrong. "Wait here."

"You're not going to-"

"I said wait here." Scootaloo merely nodded while Rainbow Dash walked over to the two fillies "Hey! Diamond Tiara!"

"Oh look Silver Spoon, it's Rainbow Dash the Blank Flank Lover." Diamond Tiara smiled smugly "Come to protect your precious little Blank Flank?"

"That doesn't matter right now. How did you get ahold of Cheerilee's notebook?" Diamond Tiara's gaze shifted to one of surprise, while Silver Spoon eyed her friend nervously.

"Diamond, you didn't... did you?" the gray pony asked. Diamond Tiara ignored her.

"I... I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't lie to me."

"I'm not. What, is this, like, some stupid plan to try and get me in trouble?"

"No, now give me the book."

"Or what? You'll go tell? Because I'm sure that will go over well. Who do you think my dad will believe: you, the mare who almost flooded our house with that storm last month, or me?" Diamond Tiara's smug look returned, and Rainbow Dash had to suppress the urge to tackle the filly and forcibly remove that smile.

That wouldn't solve anything... But finding Cheerilee might. Smiling, Rainbow Dash lunged forward, grabbed Diamond Tiara by her forelegs and took off, leaving a shocked Scootaloo and Silver Spoon behind. Once airborne, she turned south and flew towards Cheerilee's house, while Diamond Tiara struggled to free herself.

"Let me go! Are you insane?" the filly screamed over the wind.

"No, just doing what's right."

"My dad will hear about this, and he'll see that you get fired from the weather team!"

"I'd like to see him try." Cheerilee's house was close to the school, and its lavender paint job made it a bit easier to spot from above. Cheerilee herself was outside tending to a small collection of daisies, her back turned to the approaching ponies. Rainbow Dash dropped out of the sky and landed outside the fence before dropping Diamond Tiara unceremoniously on the ground. "Hey, Cheerilee!"

"Oh, hello Rainbow Dash." the schoolteacher said, turning to face Rainbow "How nice of you to drop in..." she frowned when she saw Diamond Tiara "Rainbow Dash, what are you doing with one of my students?"

"It was terrible!" Diamond Tiara began "I was just walking home from Sugarcube Corner when this madmare came and dragged me over here! She didn't even tell me why-"

"Quiet you." Rainbow Dash looked at Cheerilee "She stole your notebook and I brought her here so she'd give it back."

"I didn't steal any notebook. Miss Cheerilee, she's trying to get me in trouble!"

"Rainbow Dash, my notebook is back in my desk at the school; there's no way she could have taken it."

"Really?" Rainbow Dash pulled Diamond Tiara's saddlebags off and turned them over, spilling their contents on the ground. The last thing to fall out was a dark colored book with three smiling flowers on the cover "Then I suppose she just happens to have a book that has your cutie mark on it." Cheerilee and Diamond Tiara stared in shock at the book while Rainbow Dash struggled to not smile.

"Diamond Tiara..." Cheerilee said "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"I, err, uh... How do you know she didn't just plant this on me, huh? She could be trying to frame me."

"Why would she frame you?"

"Because... well, because..."

"Diamond Tiara, you, your father and I are going to have a long discussion about stealing things, after which you'll have detention for the next month."

"But Miss Cheerilee-"

"No buts. Now go gather your things; you and I are going to find your father." Diamond Tiara looked like she would continue complaining, but merely grumbled and began to pick up her things. Cheerilee looked at Rainbow Dash "Thanks for that, Rainbow Dash. How did you know she had my notebook?"

"It was nothing really. I just looked through the bag and saw it... wait, I looked through the bag?"

"Is something the matter?" Rainbow Dash backed up.

"Yes... something is wrong with me." Rainbow Dash turned and took off, changing direction towards Twilight's library.

I've got to see Princess Celestia now or else everypony will get hurt.

Chapter 4

Rainbow Dash swallowed. Standing in front of the massive double doors that lead into Princess Celestia's throne room was daunting, and the Pegasus found herself pawing at the ground again. She looked down at the lead-lined box Twilight had placed the rock in, which was currently dangling by a rope from her neck like a necklace, then back up at the two guards standing outside.

Be brave, Rainbow... Ponies' lives are at stake. She swallowed again and approached the closer of the guards.

"Um, can I speak with Princess Celestia?" she asked.

"What is your problem?" the guard asked.

"Well, my friend said something about my internal magic going screwy, and I wanted to see if she could help me not explode."

"Princess Celestia is busy with another pony at the moment. If you would like, you may wait here until she is finished."

"Okay... I've got nothing better to do." Rainbow Dash turned and walked away. She found a nearby pillar and sat down against it, pulling the box off her neck as she did. She was tempted to open the box and look at the rock, but images of herself half dead drove off those temptations. Instead, she began to push the box around with her hooves, much in the same way a foal would play with a rock or stick. She continued like this for five minutes before the sound of hoofsteps distracted her.

Approaching the doors was a white unicorn with a blonde mane and bowtie. He paid Rainbow Dash no mind and marched up to the guards "I must speak with Princess Celestia immediately."

"What is your problem?"

"Don't give me that. I don't need to tell you what my issues are."

"Unless your problem is of national importance, then I must ask you to wait."

"You would dare to say that I, Prince Blueblood, must wait like some commoner?"

"Yes."

"How dare you! I am a prince and I will not allow myself to be treated in this manner!"

"Unless the changelings are attacking, Discord broke loose, Nightmare Moon returned, or Canterlot is on fire, I cannot place you before anypony else."

"But there's nopony else here."

"Uh, yeah there is." Rainbow Dash said. Prince Blueblood looked over at her.

"Why are you here?"

"I'm trying to get Princess Celestia to prevent me from exploding."

"Likely story. I bet you just have some petty matter you wish to approach the Princess about. I don't see why she lets freeloaders like you even come in here."

"Freeloader?" Rainbow Dash stood up "You think I'm a freeloader? I work just as hard as anypony, with the possible exception of you. I helped save the world, twice, and I helped fight the changelings. You have no right to say I'm a freeloader!" Blueblood looked at Rainbow Dash before snorting.

"Please, don't try to intimidate me with your speeches; I've had plenty of times where ponies claimed to be superior to me because they felt they accomplished more."

"You want intimidation, I'll show you intimidation!" Rainbow Dash took a step towards Blueblood and raised her right hoof. She was interrupted by the sound of doors opening.

"Princess Celestia will see you now." another guard said. Rainbow Dash dropped back down on all hooves and grabbed the box containing the rock. She shot one last glare at Blueblood and entered, the massive double doors closing behind her.

"I see my nephew has managed to antagonize you significantly, Rainbow Dash." Rainbow turned towards Princess Celestia.

"Is he always like that?"

"He was much more respectful when he was younger. I'm not entirely sure what happened." the ruler of Equestria smiled "Now, let's address the question of why you are here."

"Oh, right." Rainbow Dash stepped forward "I... I think something's wrong with me."

"Oh?"

"Yeah... a couple days ago a rock showed up in my house, and when I touched it it got me sick and... Twilight thinks it did something funny with my 'internal magic' or something like that. Oh, and I accidentally destroyed one of Applejack's trees and looked through a closed saddlebag."

"Is that the problem?"

"Yes. I don't want to explode! I'll hurt everypony in Ponyville if that happened."

"I'm sure that won't happen. Do you still have the rock that caused this?"

"Yeah, Twilight gave it to me so I could show you." Rainbow Dash placed the box on the ground and opened it. It was still glowing a bright green, even as the yellow aura of Celestia's magic enveloped it. The princess brought the rock closer and inspected it.

"Dear me..." The princess said "I haven't seen anything like this since..."

"Since when?" Princess Celestia placed the rock back in its box and looked at Rainbow Dash.

"If you will permit me, I would like to see if this rock has had any affect on you that isn't visible in either strength or speed."

"Uh, okay." Celestia's horn glowed with magic, and Rainbow Dash was wrapped in a soft yellow glow. Celestia's face remained stony, and Rainbow was unable to detect any signs of confusion or interest. After a minute the glow ceased.

"Well, that makes more sense."

"What does?"

"Your internal magic is fine. Actually, it seems that quite a bit of it has been repressed."

"Repressed?"

"Tell me, Rainbow Dash: what is your earliest memory?" Rainbow looked at the floor for a moment, trying to think up any memories.

"Well, sometimes I remember when I was a foal, standing by a road and watching my parents fix a cart, but other than that I can't remember much." Celestia looked at her with a mix of shock and mild excitement.

"It was you... after all these years..." the ruler of Equestria said.

"What was me? What did I do?"

"It's not so much what you did as what happened to you. Rainbow Dash, what I am about to tell you may seem crazy, but you must believe what I am about to say."

"Okay."

"Good. Rainbow Dash..." the princess' mouth twitched, as if she was struggling for the right words "You... You are not a native born Equestrian." Rainbow Dash raised one eyebrow in confusion.

"... Okay, I know I was adopted, but then what am I? Neighpanese? Germane? Saddle Arabian?"

"Actually, Rainbow Dash, you are a Kryptonian." Rainbow Dash shook her head slightly, her confusion building.

"A cryptozoo-what-now?"

"A Kryptonian."

"Uh, I might not have had the best grades in Geography, but I'm pretty sure there's no 'Kryptonia' anywhere in the world."

"Of course not. Krypton is a planet on the very tip of this arm of the galaxy. By my reckoning, astronomers still haven't found its exact location."

"Wait, planet? Krypton is another planet?"

"Yes."

"Then, if Krypton's another planet... does that make me some kind of alien?"

"Yes, if you want to see it that way. Your increase in strength and other senses is merely your body adjusting to a change brought upon by that rock." Rainbow Dash looked down at the floor. Me? An alien? She shook her head and looked up at Princess Celestia.

"I don't believe you. I-I can't believe you."

"Rainbow Dash..."

"I'm not an alien. I've been a Pegasus my entire life. I've got the same number of limbs and eyes as every other Pegasi in the world... unless I'm going to grow more or something. I'm not going to, right?"

"Rainbow Dash, I need you to calm down-"

"I don't want to grow anything! Will I get four more legs, or an extra pair or wings, or two heads? I don't want to have to share my body with some copy of me-"

"RAINBOW DASH!" the force of Celestia's shout was enough to knock Rainbow Dash off her hooves "I know you are disturbed by this change of events, but remember that I am still the most powerful pony in Equestria, and if you do not calm down now I will force you to do so!" Rainbow Dash quickly got back to her hooves, her head hung.

"All my life I've been told I was a pony like everyone else... what will my friends think?"

"I'm sure they will still see you as-"

"No, they won't. If I tell them I'm some alien, they'll start treating me funny. They'll try to act sincere, but they'll just throw me out and shun me... like we all did with Zecora."

"Ponies are naturally scared of things they don't understand."

"They won't understand this... They'll think I'm either crazy or some kind of freak."

"If it's just because you think they'll turn on you for being different, there's nothing wrong with-"

"That's easy for you to say!" Rainbow Dash shouted, pointing her hoof at Celestia "You're a goddess; you've always been different than us! You've had centuries to get used to ponies fearing and respecting you! Me, I'm just a normal pony, and I just want to be a normal pony; not some alien, not some feared... thing, just a pony! I don't want to be a 'Kryptonian'! I want to be Rainbow Dash!" in a fit of rage, Rainbow Dash slammed her forehooves on the floor, the floor cracking and buckling with her strike. She looked up at Princess Celestia, her glare rivaling Fluttershy's State in intensity.

"Rainbow Dash, I know you are stressed, but lashing out in anger is not going to solve anything." Rainbow Dash's breathing came out in ragged snorts as the Pegasus struggled with her rage. Eventually something broke inside her, and her breath became choppy and she collapsed, tears streaming down her face and spilling into the cracks on the floor.

"Rainbow Dash?" Princess Celestia said, stepping forward. Rainbow Dash did not look at her, instead grabbing the box and rushing out of the room, small teardrops trailing after her.

...

Once she returned home, Rainbow Dash had collapsed on her bed and cried for almost an hour. The only thing she could feel was anger: toward her parents for never bothering to tell her where she came from, towards Princess Celestia for tearing her entire past to shreds, towards herself for making a scene at the palace, and towards her biological parents for abandoning her with no knowledge of who or what she was. She wanted to hurt something, to release all her pent up anger, but knowing that she was now much stronger than normal meant it would only do more harm than good.

My whole life, my parents hid this from me... Why? Were they scared? Did I threaten them? And why don't I remember anything before they found me? Rainbow Dash sniffed and wiped away some of her tears.

"I need answers... and I know just who to ask."

Author's Note: this was written before Season 3 came out, so it ignores the flashback in The Equestrian Games

---

Chapter 5

The Wonderbolts training facility was on the far end of Cloudsdale, away from the housing and industrial quarters. The main facility was a large indoor area, complete with barracks, so that the Wonderbolts could train more or less undisturbed. There was a second outdoor facility right next to the main building, but due to the numerous hopefuls and overeager fans that hung out in the area the flying team only used it for special events.

Rainbow Dash landed outside the main facility, quickly checking to make sure no guards got the wrong idea and attacked her. Once she was certain nopony had thought she was an intruder, she approached the entrance to the building and pushed the door open. Inside, she could only see a few ponies, and most of them paid her little mind at first.

"Rainbow Dash?" Rainbow turned and saw Spitfire, captain of the Wonderbolts, standing behind her "What are you doing here?"

"Sorry, Spitfire, but I need to see Firefly."

"She's busy right now. Can you come back later?"

"No, I really need to see Firefly. Please, Spitfire, it's really important." Spitfire regarded Rainbow Dash for a moment, then sighed.

"I suppose I still owe you for saving those ponies from the statue at the Gala. Okay, Firefly's on the track with Rapidfire. Just don't tell anypony you were here, okay?"

"Okay." Rainbow Dash gave a nod of thanks and made her way towards the track. Again, the Pegasi present did not pay her much attention, and some even waved to her as she passed. Rainbow Dash would have waved back, but she was focused on what lay ahead of her.

Mainly, the sound of Firefly shouting.

"Rapidfire, I've told you a hundred times that you've got to stop cutting your corners so close!" the source of the voice was a pink Pegasus mare with a slightly grayed blue mane. She was standing with her back to Rainbow Dash, all of her focused placed upon the Wonderbolt standing in front of her.

"I've tried, but it cuts back on my speed, and you're always preaching about speed." Rapidfire said.

"Oh, of course. I can tell you all about speed when you're in traction for turning too sharp and slamming into a wall! Get back out there and watch your turns, or I swear to Celestia I will buck you into the nearest pillar!"

"Yes ma'am." Rapidfire turned and took off down the track. Now that Firefly was no longer occupied, Rainbow Dash stepped forward.

"Um, Mom?" Firefly turned, her face showing a mix of surprise and joy.

"Rainbow?" Firefly laughed, then raced forward and hugged Rainbow Dash "Oh, it's so good to see you!"

"Good to see you too, Mom." Rainbow Dash said, returning the hug.

"I've been meaning to visit, but I never get the chance. I swear, if it wasn't for me these ponies couldn't do their routines if you gave them cheat sheets." Firefly laughed again before dropping down on all fours "So, how are things in Ponyville?"

"Pretty good. I got myself a pet tortoise."

"Really? I always thought turtles were cool."

"Um, they're not the same thing."

"Eh, that doesn't matter. So, anything else?"

"Yeah..." Rainbow Dash looked away and shuffled her hooves a bit.

"Rainbow, something is wrong, isn't it? Did you get fired from your weather job?"

"Huh? No, of course not."

"Are you getting married?"

"No, it's just..." Rainbow Dash shuffled some more before deciding to tell Firefly everything "Why didn't you tell me where I came from?" All the joy rushed from Firefly's face. The older mare staggered back, as if Rainbow Dash had just disowned her.

"I... I wanted to, I really did, But your father and I... we were scared."

"Scared? Scared of what I was? Scared that your alien daughter might hurt you?"

"No. We thought... the guards would find you and take you away from us... you were so young we didn't want to hurt you like that." Firefly sat down on the ground "When did you find out?"

"... A few days ago, this rock showed up in my room and when I touched it I got sick. The next few days were fine, except that I started doing... things. Things I'd never done before."

"Like?"

"I splintered a tree with a kick, I flew from my house to Ponyville in under thirty seconds without feeling stress, and I looked clear through a pony's saddlebags. My friend said it was my magic overloading, but Princess Celestia said I was... Kryptonian, whatever that means." Now it was Rainbow's turn to sit "I got mad. I said a few things I shouldn't have... I don't want to be some alien monster."

"You are not a monster, Rainbow Dash. You're still a pony, even if you weren't born on this planet."

"But what if I-"

"Rainbow Dash, I raised you since you were a little filly, and never once was there anything that told me you were dangerous. And if your definition of monster is simply 'big scary thing that doesn't look like a pony', not only do you not fit that definition but you need to broaden your views of the world." Rainbow Dash was silent for a moment.

"How did you find me?" she asked.

"Well, first off, your father was a lousy driver..."

Firefly looked up at the sky, then back down at the cart. The current remains of the left wheel were strewn across the road, and the various food stuffs inside the cart had spilled on the floor and slid to one side. Beneath the cart, struggling to get the spare wheel unstuck, was her husband Thunderhead, a gray-coated Pegasus who was nowhere near as good at repairs as he liked to say he was.

"This is your fault, you know." she said.

"Yes, you have reminded me for the past five minutes of that and I am well aware that it was, in fact, my fault." Thunderhead yanked the wheel out from under the cart and crawled back out.

"Well, at least you acknowledge it."

"Sure... You do know it's as much your fault as it was mine."

"Was not."

"Says the mare who was tickling my flanks."

"Oh, right... yeah, I guess I did do that." Firefly blushed and looked away.

"Hey, it wasn't that bad until we crashed." Thunderhead pulled a jack from the cart and began to set it up beneath the cart. "Since it was partially your fault, you mind helping me out here?"

"Sure." Firefly trotted over to her husband "What do you need me to do?"

"I want you to hold on to that wheel and make sure to slip it on as soon as I get the axle off-" he was interrupted by a large explosion in the field next to them. The ground shook and a massive cloud of dust flew up in the air, obscuring any visibility. Firefly yelped in fright and grabbed on to Thunderhead, and both of them ducked in case there was any falling debris.

"Wha... What was that?" Firefly asked. She released her husband and looked around, searching for any signs of danger. There was still plenty of dust in the air, but she could see the faint outline of something half-buried in the ground "Should we go have a look?"

"Are you crazy? What if it's some monster come to kill us?"

"I think it would have killed us by now. Besides, what if it's a pony? Maybe those unicorns in Canterlot tried to send somepony into space and their capsule crashed."

"You read too much science fiction."

"Oh, and you don't?" Firefly swatted Thunderhead with her tail and trotted towards the field, Thunderhead following soon after. As they neared the object, they were able to get a clear look at it; it was large, about the size of two ponies, and cylindrical in shape. Due to dirt and a fair amount of soot it was hard to tell what color the thing was, and the sides looked as if somepony had taken a heavy mallet to them.

And crawling away from the wreckage, dazed but otherwise unhurt, was a filly Pegasus. Her coat was light blue, and the little tuft of hair that comprised her mane was a wide spectrum of colors. Firefly stopped when the filly looked towards her, large magenta eyes staring at the older mare in awe.

"Thunder. It's... it's a filly." Firefly took a step towards the foal "Can we keep her?"

"Now I know you're crazy." Thunderhead said "You want to adopt some pony that fell out of the sky and nearly killed us."

"Look at her, she's only a baby; it's not like she was trying to kill us." Firefly took another step towards the filly. The filly did not run, but instead stood rigid and focused on Firefly.

"Firefly, stop this. Do you have any idea what you're doing?"

"Thunder, she's harmless, and I think she's scared." Firefly was now only a few feet away from the filly, who had not moved from her spot "Hey, don't be scared. I want to help you." Firefly said, trying to calm the foal. The filly smiled and ran over to her, her tiny wings buzzing in happiness. Once the smaller pony reached Firefly, the older mare gently scooped her up in her hooves and nuzzled her.

"See?"

"I... well..."

"Thunder, you and I always wanted to have kids, and since I... well, can't..."

"Firefly, please don't bring that up."

"No, it's okay. I just... maybe this is our chance to have a foal of our own." Firefly felt something tugging at her neck and noticed the filly had wrapped her forelegs around her in an attempt at a hug "Please? For us?"

"I... All right, she can come with us."

"Thank you, Thunder." Firefly looked at the filly "Would you like that? Do you want me to be your mommy?" the filly smiled again and nodded, causing Firefly to laugh and place the foal on her back.

"How are we going to explain this though? We can't just say she fell out of the sky in a spaceship."

"I have a friend who works in the Royal Archives; she can get us some birth certificates and adoption papers to fill out." They walked back to their cart, the little filly smiling all the way "What should we name her?"

"You really want to do that now?"

"Well, why not? Better now than when we start explaining to ponies how we got a child."

"Okay... Any ideas?"

"Well, something with rainbows, obviously." Firefly pointed to the small bits of rainbow fur on the filly.

"I'll think of something. Meanwhile, I've got to get this cart fixed." Thunderhead picked up the spare wheel and moved towards the cart. "Here, hold on to the wheel so I can get this level."

"Okay." before taking the wheel, Firefly turned and plucked the foal off her back and set her down on the ground. "How much longer?"

"Not much. Next time we've got to get a lighter cart; this one takes too long to-" there was a creak before the jack slipped out from beneath the cart, threatening to drop the cart on Thunderhead's back. He yelped in surprise and jumped back, almost knocking Firefly over in the process.

"Thunder! Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. The stupid jack slipped but I think I'm fine... where's the foal?" The two ponies looked around, searching in vain for the filly.

"She must have run off... oh dear, what if she gets caught by a manticore or-" Firefly stopped talking when she looked back at the cart. The filly was standing underneath it, her little legs pushing up against the bed of the cart. What was more surprising was that she was showing no sign of strain, and she was still smiling just as before. Firefly had heard of Pegasus foals having abnormal bouts of strength, but this was unheard of.

"... That's actually kind of cool." Thunderhead said after a long pause.

"Yeah... is now a bad time to say that I think Rainbow Dash is a good name?"

"No, I don't think it is a bad time..."

"... and that's how we found you."

"So, I saved Dad's life when I was a baby?"

"More or less. Your strength mellowed out a bit after that, so you never did anything like that again."

"But, that spaceship thingy I was in... what happened to that?"

"Well, lucky for you there was a storm scheduled for that afternoon, and say what you will about your father's driving skills he was very good at creating lightning strikes. That's why I married him in the first place; he could get very creative with bursts of energy." Rainbow Dash shuddered at an unpleasant image that came into her thoughts.

"But, I mean, you still could have told me about what I was."

"You were young, and we didn't want you to feel like you were different than other ponies."

"Like how I feel now?"

"I know this is a lot to take in, but it's nothing to be afraid of. You have an amazing gift, Rainbow, and it would be a shame if you kept it away from everypony else."

"But... What if they don't like this? What if they shun me because I'm something they don't like? I don't want to deal with that... I don't want this 'gift', I just want to be a normal pony."

"Rainbow Dash, you are anything but a normal pony. Even before you found out about this, you were never just a 'normal pony'. Remember what your dad said to you, the day before you got your cutie mark?"

"Yeah... yeah I do."

Rainbow Dash was sitting outside her house, watching the Pegasi return from their various jobs. While she watched, she picked at little pieces of cloud and swatted them around with her hooves in an attempt to alleviate the situation.

"Rainbow Dash?" Rainbow turned and saw her father standing behind her "Why are you sitting out here by yourself?"

"Hey Dad," Rainbow Dash said "I had a bad day at flight camp today."

"Oh?" the older Pegasus sat down next to his daughter "Care to tell me about it?"

"Do I have to?"

"The only way it's going to get better is if you talk to somepony about it. What's wrong?" Rainbow Dash looked away, briefly swatting at a few small bits of cloud.

"Well... those bullies at flight camp were really mean today, especially to that one filly, Fluttershy. I wanted to do something, wanted to make them less mean, but I couldn't..."

"'Make them less mean'? How would you do that?"

"I don't know. Maybe beat them up or something."

"That's only thinking on their level, Dash. They want you to do that, and if you do it only puts you one step closer to being just like them. Do you want to be like that, being mean to ponies and hurting others?"

"No. I don't want to hurt anypony... But, all those things they said, it made me feel bad, especially for Fluttershy. They said we weren't anything special, and that we were terrible fliers."

"You are an amazing flier, Rainbow Dash, and don't let anypony tell you otherwise. And you are special; heck, you're probably more special than you realize."

"But, all the adults I've met said that everyone is special..."

"That's true, but you're not just anypony," Thunderhead turned Rainbow Dash towards him "One day, you're going to have to make a choice. You're going to have to decide what kind of mare you want to grow up to be. Whoever that mare is, good character or bad, she's going to change the world."

"Me? I'm going to change the world?"

"Of course you will."

"Do you think he was trying to tell me the truth back then?"

"Maybe. I lived with him for twenty eight years and I never really figured out most of what he did." Firefly sighed and shifted her position "I don't think the other ponies will shun you. Sure, they may be scared just because you are a little different, but have more faith in them and they will come around."

"I guess..." there was a pause before Firefly stood up.

"If you're still having doubts, there's something I want to give you." Firefly trotted over to a nearby wall, where a pair of saddlebags was waiting. she opened the nearest bag and pulled out an object wrapped in a blue cloth. "Your father found this in the wreckage of the ship you landed in. He wanted me to give it to you if you ever found out about who you were." she placed the object before Rainbow Dash and pulled back the cloth.

It was a green crystal, only about five or six inches long. It looked more like a shard of glass than a gem, except that it lacked the small air bubbles usually found in glass. Like the rock, it glowed green with some kind of energy, but Rainbow Dash felt more at ease with this crystal than she ever did with the rock.

"What is it?"

"I'm not sure. I haven't really thought about finding out, but every time I've touched it I hear... voices, like there's somepony inside wanting to be released." Rainbow Dash picked the crystal up in her hooves, searching of any indication of what it was.

"What am I supposed to do with it?"

"That's for you to figure out. I've never gotten it to do anything, but maybe you can." Rainbow Dash smiled a little and stood up.

"Thanks for the talk, Mom. I... I really needed it."

"You're welcome, Rainbow." Rainbow Dash tucked the crystal behind her wing and prepared to leave.

"I think I need some time to clear my head."

...

Another Pony Pet Play Date had arrived, yet they were still short one pony.

"Maybe she got sick again and couldn't come..." Fluttershy said.

"No, I don't think that's it." Twilight said "She did seem kind of distraught after she met with the princess."

"Wait, why'd Rainbow go to see the princess?" Applejack asked.

"Well, I had a theory that Rainbow Dash's internal magic was overloading and could have killed her, so I told her Princess Celestia might have been able to help."

"Did she?"

"I don't know... but I really shouldn't pry." the conversation was interrupted by a buzzing sound. The group looked and saw Tank flying towards them, a small scroll in his mouth. The tortoise landed in front of them and spat out the scroll, which Twilight then picked up with her magic and opened.

Hey guys,

Sorry I couldn't make it to the Pony Pet Play Date, but the last train for Seaddle leaves early and I want to make it on time.

I suppose I should have said that earlier. Well... I'm leaving Ponyville for awhile. I just have a lot on my mind right now and I need somewhere to clear my head. Don't worry, I'm coming back... someday.

There should be an address here, so if you want to stay in touch you can send letters to me. I'm not the best at responding, though, so you'll have to wait a few days.

Oh, and if you can make sure that nopony breaks into my house while I'm gone that would be great. Oh, and if Fluttershy can take care of Tank, that would be great too.

I'll miss you guys.

Rainbow Dash

Twilight set the note aside and looked at her friends. "Do you think there was something we could have done to help her?" she asked.

"Sounds like she's tryin' to figure it out for herself. Don't worry about it, Twi; Rainbow's a strong pony an' I'm sure she'll come back right as rain." Twilight nodded and looked back at the note.

"I hope you're right, Applejack... I really do."

Chapter 6

The biggest complaint from those visiting Seaddle, asides from the numerous weird ponies that flocked to the city, was that due to the numerous national parks that surrounded it, and it's proximity to Equestria's northern border, it rained. A lot. Sometimes for weeks on end. The locals were used to it, which is why other ponies in Equestria thought they were crazy.

Rainbow Dash stepped out from the shelter of the train station and into the rain. She was no stranger to being rained on, being a weather pony and all, but it was a change from the idyllic setting of Ponyville. She sighed and started walking, pausing only to make sure she was headed in the right direction.

The crystal her mother had given her was tucked away in a small pack, hidden behind some camping supplies. During the train ride to Seaddle, Rainbow had pulled it out every now and then in an attempt to figure out what exactly it was, but other than glowing and occasionally spinning it did nothing. Being a mare of action, this frustrated Rainbow Dash to no end, and she began to feel like the crystal was silently mocking her. When she looked back to check on her pack, she thought she could see the green glow of the crystal through the fabric, as if the crystal was reacting to the attention she gave it.

By now a wind had come in from the east, making the rain harder to traverse. Rainbow Dash shook out her mane and continued walking, and she used her right wing to shield herself from the worst of the rain. She would have flown, using her newfound strength to combat the wind, but Pegasi never flew well in the rain, special powers or not. When I get inside, I'll need to do an overhaul on my feathers before they start to smell... Sweet Celestia, I'm starting to sound like Rarity! Rainbow Dash shook from the thought; she liked Rarity, but the unicorn's obsession with appearance and style got annoying after awhile. She checked her bearings again and continued walking.

After a few minutes, she came to a row of houses not unlike those in Ponyville save the roofing was slate and not thatch. Most of the houses were dark, but one or two still had lights on, allowing Rainbow Dash more visibility (night-vision, it seemed, was not something Kryptonians had). She kept walking until she saw her destination, a house near the end of the block with a large sign hanging over the door. Once she reached the house, Rainbow Dash shook as much water off of herself as possible and knocked.

There was the sound of shuffling behind the door before a Pegasus mare opened the door. She blinked a few times, as if she was still adjusting to the light. "Hello there. May I help you?"

"Yeah, I was wondering if I could say here for a few days?"

"Oh of course. Please come in." Rainbow nodded her thanks and stepped inside, setting her wet saddlebags down. The other mare had disappeared, only to reappear with a book and pen balanced on her back. "I must say, I wasn't really expecting anypony this time of year; most just wait until the rain goes away."

"Really? Do the weather teams not schedule sunny days or something?"

"They do, but some ponies like to play in the rain more often than not." the mare chuckled. "Oh, where are my manners? I'm Honeydew, and I want to welcome you to-"

"Seaddle Heights Bed & Breakfast." Rainbow Dash finished.

"Oh... so you've visited before?"

"Once, when I was really little. I'm not sure if you remember me."

' "Oh, I'm very good at remembering ponies." Honeydew took a moment to size up Rainbow Dash. "Oh yes, you were with that couple that was working with the Wonderbolts, right?"

"Yeah, that was them." the other mare beamed.

"My mother was so worried she'd mess something up... well, I'd love to keep chatting about the past, but you're probably beat from the trip."

"Yeah..." And other things, but she doesn't need to know that. Honeydew nodded and grabbed the book and pen from her back.

"Now, I usually charge ten bits a night, but since you are a repeat customer I'm willing to charge eight. Breakfast is at eight every morning, and if you have any questions just ask either me, my husband or Honeysuckle."

"Who's Honeysuckle?"

"My daughter." Rainbow Dash blinked before taking the pen and signing her name in the book. Satisfied, Honeydew walked over to a nearby cabinet and produced a small room key. "You'll be staying in the second room to your left, up the stairs. We mostly use it for storage nowadays, but I can move things out if you'd like."

"Nah, I think I'll be fine."

"Just holler if you need anything." Rainbow nodded and made her way up the stairs. The stairs squeaked with each step and the water on her hooves soaked the rug, but after being stuck on a train for several hours the sensation was welcomed by Rainbow.

The room itself was small, only about half the size of Fluttershy's cottage, and smelled of pine. There was a bed set against the farthest wall, right beneath a window, and next to that sat a small nightstand with a clock. A few boxes were tucked away in one corner, and Rainbow Dash saw that they were filled with books, toys and small magazines. Rainbow set her saddlebags against the nearest box and walked over to the bed.

A nice nap should be good...

There were two ponies: a mare and a stallion. They stood at a distance, staring at Rainbow Dash. Confused, and a bit scared, Rainbow stared back at them, trying to get a response.

"Um, hi." she said. No response "So, are you going to keep staring at me like that? Because it's starting to get creepy... Seriously, can you guys even talk?" The other ponies did not respond. Rainbow Dash tried to get closer, but every time she did the others would move away from her. Trying to move farther away had the same result, with the ponies merely drifting after her.

"Stop following me around like that." Rainbow Dash said "Did I do something wrong?" The ponies did not respond to her, the stallion merely looking at the mare.

"She is ready." he said.

"Ready for what? Wait, does this have to do with me being an alien? I'm not going to go crazy, right?" the ponies looked back at her and she began to rise up in the air, lifted by some unseen force. Flapping her wings to counteract the rising had no effect, and Rainbow Dash saw that she was now the size of a small filly. Seeing that her wings were effectively useless, she tried flailing her legs in an attempt to break free of whatever was pulling her up, but this only made her ascend faster.

As she flew higher, the two other ponies faded out of sight, replaced by a column of rock and fire.

Rainbow Dash woke to the sound of knocking. A quick glance at her clock showed that an hour and a half had past since she had fallen asleep, and she guessed it was probably Honeydew coming to make sure Rainbow was okay. She pushed thoughts on her recent dream out of her head, rolled out of bed, and crossed to open the door.

Honeydew was not at the door. Instead, Rainbow nearly tripped over a filly about the same age as Scootaloo. "Oh, you must be Honeysuckle."

"Yes." The filly said "I need something in here."

"Oh, sure. Take whatever you need." the filly nodded and brushed past Rainbow Dash "So, what's it like living here?"

"It's nice." the filly reached one of the boxes and began nosing through it.

"Is there anything cool around here?"

"Not really."

"... Then what do you do?"

"Nothing much."

"So, you just sit in your room and do nothing all day?"

"Yes, except when I have school."

"What's that like?"

"Nice." the filly grabbed one of the magazines and exited the room.

"Are you trying to avoid talking with me?"

"Yes." and with that the filly left, leaving behind a confused and slightly angry Rainbow Dash. Deciding that complaining about it was probably not in her best interests, she went back into the guest room and closed the door.

"Okay. That was weird... Guess she's kind of like Twilight." She sat down with her back propped up against the door and looked at the box "Still, even Twilight wouldn't be that focused on a book." She stood up and walked over the the box, pushing her saddlebags aside for the moment. She selected one of the magazines and pulled it out of the box, dropping it on the ground when she was sure she had enough room.

Calling it a magazine was probably excessive; it was small, had more bright colors, and was printed on cheap paper. The cover showed the picture of a beige stallion, dressed in a light blue suit, punching a grey pony with an ugly haircut and funny mustache in the face beneath the banner "Captain Equestria".

"This must be one of those comic books Spike told me about." Rainbow flipped the comic over "Well, it looks cool... kind of crummy, though." She flipped it over once more and began leafing through the pages.

"I guess I have some time to kill." two hours later, she was asleep again.

"Miss Dash... Miss Dash?"

"Hmn?... No, Captain, we've gotta stop Red Skull..." Rainbow rolled over, dragging a nearby blanket with her.

"Miss Dash?" Rainbow felt somepony poking her in the back, right between her wings. She flared them briefly and rolled over, coming face to face with two very large green eyes.

"Gah!" Rainbow Dash reeled back, tangling her forelegs in the blanket and startling Honeysuckle. "Why did you do that?"

"Sorry, I didn't know you'd roll over like that." the filly said, looking towards the floor.

"Well, don't stand so close to me next time." an image of Rainbow accidentally smacking the filly through a wall drifted into her mind, but she quickly shifted her attention and proceeded to untangle herself from her sheets "Where's your mom?"

"She's doing something with Dad downtown. They said I should be able to help you if you need anything."

"Oh..." Either she'll just ignore me, or whatever freaky alien powers I have will come out and I'll kill somepony... this should be fun. "So, uh, is there anything you wanted?"

"No. I already ate; I just came to wake you up and tell you you're watching me."

"Couldn't you have waited until I'd woken up?"

"Well... I was going to... I've never really woken somepony up before."

"You sound like one of my friends. She makes everything from spells to getting drunk sound like some kind of school assignment."

"I... I don't know anything about that... getting drunk, that is..."

"Good." Rainbow Dash finished untangling herself and climbed out of bed "So, you're sure you don't need me to do anything?"

"Not yet." Honeysuckle turned and left. Rainbow Dash exited her room and headed downstairs, the carpet still a bit wet from where she had walked the night before. When she reached the bottom floor, she glanced around and was able to spot a small pot of something sitting on a stovetop. It took Rainbow a minute to realize she was looking through the wall before everything returned to normal.

"I've got to find a way to turn that off." Rainbow said as she walked towards the kitchen "Well... there's always poker night with Applejack... that should be fun." Rainbow chuckled and continued on. Upon entering the kitchen, she looked and spotted the pot once more, and an idea came to mind. Planting her hooves, she looked at the pot, trying to call up her special vision to see what exactly had been prepared.

What happened next was nothing anypony would have expected; as she started focusing, two red beams shot from her eyes and struck the pot in the center. Unable to withstand the amount of energy being poured into it, the pot exploded, scattering bits of food and shrapnel across the room. Rainbow Dash yelped in surprise and ducked, small pieces of metal bouncing off her with little lasting effect. When she was sure it was over, she stood back up and surveyed the room, noting the number of gouges in the wall caused by wayward shards.

"... I really need to find a way to turn that off." there was the sound of hooves coming down the stairs before Honeysuckle burst into the kitchen, a small fire extinguisher balanced on her back.

"What happened?" she asked.

"I, uh, accidentally blew up a pot." the filly placed the fire extinguisher on the ground and looked at Rainbow Dash.

"How'd you do that?"

"Laser vision?" Honeysuckle merely raised an eyebrow "I'm not really sure what happened; I was just looking at the pot and it exploded." there was a long pause before Honeysuckle picked up her fire extinguisher and made to leave.

"You're weird... I like that." she smiled and trotted out of the room. Rainbow Dash smiled slightly and turned her attention back to the mess in front of her.

All in all, it was a rough start for a pony trying to clear their mind.

...

Another day had past. In an attempt to be useful, and to make up for destroying part of the kitchen, Rainbow Dash had taken up a few smaller chores around the house. Most could be done without Rainbow overexerting herself and breaking something, and for that she was grateful.

However, after the incident of the other day Honeysuckle had taken great interest in Rainbow Dash. While Rainbow was tolerant of foals following her around, the little filly was almost as persistent as Scootaloo. When she was not peeking around corners or hiding in her room, she was always standing next to the older mare as she went about her different tasks.

"My mom said you loved flying." Honeysuckle said "Why aren't you flying?"

"I'd love to, but there's no room." Rainbow Dash flapped her wings for emphasis "I'd knock something over if I was careless. Wait until the weather clears, and I'll show you some of my moves."

"Moves? Like stunt flying?"

"Yeah, something like that. You ever see any stunt flying?"

"Not really. I haven't thought a lot about flying since my wings aren't strong enough."

"Hey, maybe I could give you some pointers. My mom's a flight trainer, so I've picked up a few things from her."

"Such as?"

"Well... When I was five, she took me out to a lake with a small cliff to teach me how to fly. She proceeded to throw me off the cliff until my wings got strong enough for hovering."

"Isn't that a little dangerous?"

"It's better than being pushed off of Cloudsdale. Besides, it wasn't that big of a cliff, and she was waiting to catch me if anything went wrong."

"You're not going to do anything like that, are you?"

"Of course not. I'd probably get a lot of ponies angry if I started throwing foals off of cliffs. I could probably show you a few exercises to get you started."

"Okay." There was a pause before Rainbow Dash spoke again.

"So, I noticed that you read comics." Honeysuckle frowned and looked away.

"You think that's weird..."

"No, of course not. I'm not one of those prissy Canterlot ponies who thinks everything anypony does is 'weird'. Besides, it's kind of like me and the Daring Do series... Have you ever read any of those?"

"No."

"Oh. Well, you should, I think you'd like them. But that doesn't matter now. I just wanted to know why you read them." Another pause, punctuated only by Honeysuckle's shuffling.

"Well... when I was really little, some mean ponies came and... they hurt my dad. I mean really hurt him. He couldn't fly for days... Mom cried a lot, and I didn't really know what was wrong, so I got sad and cried too... The guards tried to be helpful, but nothing really happened. But if there was a superhero, then nopony would have gotten hurt. Everypony would have been fine..."

"So...?"

"It makes me feel better, that there's still some ponies who don't want the bad guys to get away... You remind me of them, somehow."

"Me? I'm not much of a hero."

"Why?"

"... To be honest, I'm not the nicest of ponies; I play pranks, I show off, and my friends say I talk about myself too much."

"Maybe that's why you could be a hero. Maybe you need to work those things out."

"Yeah, maybe..." there was more silence.

"Mom's still wondering how that pot exploded."

"Maybe when the weather clears I'll show you what happened."

"You said something about laser vision... that's not possible, is it?"

"I'm not an egghead so I couldn't tell you if ponies could have laser vision... it'd be pretty cool if they did." Rainbow Dash chuckled. "Fluttershy wouldn't have any trouble with her animals if she had laser vision. Maybe Angel would actually be nice to her for once."

"Who's Fluttershy?"

"One of my friends from Ponyville. I suppose I should tell you a little more about them someday."

"I'd like that." Honeysuckle smiled and wandered off.

The rain stopped the next day. Even if she had learned just to bear with it, Rainbow Dash was glad to see the sun again. She stepped outside and took a deep breath; there was enough moisture in the air to give it a sweet smell, and Rainbow Dash felt a small shiver run down the length of her spine as she inhaled. Seeing as the weather was clear enough for flying, she spread her wings and prepared to take off.

At least she would have, had there not been extra weight tugging at her tail.

"Miss Dash?" Rainbow turned and saw Honeysuckle standing behind her.

"You can just call me Rainbow Dash. Keep calling me 'Miss' and I'll probably start acting like my mom."

"Okay... where are you going?"

"I was just going to fly around for a little, maybe do some sightseeing... Wanna come with me?"

"I can't fly, remember?"

"Well, no you can't, but I can." she turned, grabbed Honeysuckle by the scruff of her neck, and placed her on her back.

"Wait, are you sure this is safe?"

"Relax, I've done this a million times. Just hang on tight." Rainbow felt the filly's hooves wrap around her neck just before she took off. Before the incident with the rock, flying sessions like these usually got off to a slow start, but with her new powers taking off was no problem at all. If anything, her greatest problem was keeping a reasonable speed.

"So," Rainbow asked once they leveled off. "Enjoying the view?"

"Yes," the filly said "I've never done anything like this before."

"Ask your parents about it sometime; I'm sure they'd love to take you out flying like this... Well, ask your dad; I don't think your mom is in any condition to fly right now."

"Why, is she sick?"

"Wouldn't you like to know." they circled around and began to head south. As they did, Rainbow Dash spotted a group of ponies gathering around a cart in a large green area "Wonder what's going on down there."

"Ponies don't really get into groups around here..." Honeysuckle said.

"Well, I always liked a good crowd." Rainbow Dash changed direction again and glided down to the rear of the group. She landed and allowed Honeysuckle to climb off her back before proceeding. "Hey, what's up?"

"Not sure." one of the nearby ponies said. "Some mare came in after the storm; said she was some kind of powerful wizard and wanted to show off her powers."

"Powerful wizard... Wait, what does she look like?"

"Just wait, I think it's starting." Rainbow Dash looked towards the cart, where a small stage had been set up. there was a puff of smoke and a blue mare with a white and blue mane and wizard costume stepped out.

"Trixie..." Rainbow said, her gaze shifting to a scowl.

"You know her?" the other pony asked.

"Yeah. She showed up in the town I lived in and started bragging about defeating an Ursa Major. A couple of colts believed her and woke up an Ursa for her to defeat, and it would have destroyed the whole town if my friend hadn't driven it away."

"... She's not going to do anything like that, will she?"

"I hope not. Just don't try to prove her wrong. I'm going to get out of here before she-" Rainbow looked down and saw that Honeysuckle was missing "Great. She ran off."

"You really should keep an eye on your daughter when you go out in public."

"My what? She's not my daughter."

"Sister?"

"No." Rainbow Dash scanned the group once before attempting to use her new vision. She saw nothing at first, but after a second sweep she spotted the filly shoving her way towards the front. Frowning, Rainbow began to follow her, trying her best to not shove the other ponies in her path. She was so focused on finding the filly that she was not paying attention to what Trixie was saying.

"Citizens of Seaddle! Gaze upon the force of magical might that is the Great and Powerful Trixie! I have traversed the world many times over! I have studied many spells and magical arts that most ponies wouldn'tdare to attempt! Now, watch as the Great and Powerful Trixie dazzles you with her immense power!" There was a flash of pyrotechnics as Trixie reared up on her hind legs. Rainbow Dash ignored this and continued towards Honeysuckle.

"Why did you run away from me?" she asked in a whisper once she found the filly.

"I couldn't see the stage." she replied.

"Yeah, well, you don't know the kinds of ponies that hang around these places."

"Do those kinds of ponies watch magic shows?"

"I, well... I don't know." Rainbow Dash turned her attention back to the stage, where Trixie was busy setting up her next act... and stroking her ego quite a bit. Rainbow Dash was not really listening to what she was saying until somepony asked what exactly Trixie had done to qualify her as "Great and Powerful".

"Trixie is glad you asked. When she was starting her journey of discovery, Trixie stumbled across a village being menaced by an Ursa Major." a quick spell created an illusion of a massive blue bear made of stars and magic "Drawing from my mass of power, I, The Great and Powerful Trixie, vanquished the Ursa and allowed the town to rest in peace for-"

"That's not an Ursa Major." Trixie visibly panicked as Honeysuckle stepped forward.

"Wha- Who dares to challenge the integrity of the Great and Powerful Trixie?"

"Um, me?" Trixie glared at the filly.

"And what would you know about Ursas? Have you ever seen one?"

"Um, no... But Red Skull hypnotized one to attack Manehattan in a comic I read, it looked exactly like that one and he said it was an Ursa Minor."

"You mean...?" Trixie failed to suppress a snort "You mean you base your accusations off of...comics?"

"Um, yes?"

"Well, how do you know what they say is true? After all, they just tell fantastic stories that have no chance of actually happening. Who are you going to trust, a mare who has spent more time out in the world than you ever will, or some poorly colored pieces of paper?" the filly backed up and hung her head, pawing nervously at the ground as she did so.

"... They're not poorly colored..."

"Keep telling yourself that, maybe you'll actually convince yourself it's true." Trixie turned back and was about to continue her act when she saw a second pony step forward.

"You know she's right, Trixie," Rainbow Dash said, glaring at the showmare "And I've actually seen an Ursa, so I know the truth."

"You..." Trixie merely returned the glare "Have you come to attempt some pitiful show of force to prove yourself to the Great and Powerful-"

"Don't give me that! You couldn't even scare the Ursa away; you only made it angrier. What kind of power is that?"

"Oh, and where were you during that incident? I didn't see you trying to stop the thing from destroying your town."

"Unlike some ponies, I know not to go attacking giant rampaging animals... okay, there was this one time with a dragon, but that doesn't matter."

"Bah! I know the real reason; you just stood aside and let that little witch of a friend humiliate me in front of all those ponies."

"Twilight is not a witch!"

"Sure, and you are not a Pegasus." Rainbow Dash approached the stage.

"It's your own fault that you got 'humiliated'. If you hadn't been bragging every second you were in Ponyville, those colts wouldn't have led the Ursa to you."

"You are calling me a braggart? What about you? You constantly spoke of yourself as the greatest pony to come out of Cloudsdale, and I have it on good account that you are a massive glory hound. If I actually considered myself a braggart, I would say you are no different than Trixie."

"You want to know what's really different about us Trixie?" Rainbow Dash leapt up and landed in front of Trixie "I've learned to back down when I've gone too far, and I know when I'm starting to hurt ponies. You, on the other hoof, you just keep bragging and insulting and humiliating ponies until everypony is against you, and you don't seem to have a real problem with this. I am nothing like you, and I never will be anything like you." Trixie stared at Rainbow Dash, unsure of what to do. After a pause, she chuckled and regained her composure.

"So, now what? If you think that you are somehow superior to me, do you hope to prove that in a show of skill? Because I'm sure you would love to pit yourself against my arcane powers."

"No."

"... What?"

"No. I don't think you're worth it." Rainbow Dash turned around "I'm going home." This, more than anything Rainbow Dash had said, seemed to hit Trixie the hardest.

"Not worth it? Not Worth It!?" Trixie stamped her hooves "Trixie is the most powerful unicorn to have ever lived, and you say I'm not worth it?!"

"Yeah. Besides, I'd probably end up breaking you or something."

"'Breaking me'? How's this for 'breaking'?" Rainbow Dash turned to the sound of wood splintering and saw a large chunk of the stage flying towards her at high speed. She threw her right foreleg up in defense as the chunk of wood slammed against her. There was a second crack and Rainbow Dash saw the stage chunk splinter into pieces while her foreleg and head remained unharmed. She lowered her leg and saw Trixie staring at her in shock.

"What was that for?"

"I-I... Wha-... How did you... That's impossible!"

"Well, I'm still standing and I'm not dead. I'd say it is possible." Trixie could only stare and babble in incoherent sentences. Finally, she recovered and glared at Rainbow.

"I just didn't use enough power, then." Trixie's horn began to glow and another section of the stage began to tear off. In desperation, Rainbow Dash reared up and slammed her hooves against the stage, shattering it and sending both mares tumbling into the dirt.

"Trixie! Calm down before you kill somepony!"

"You upstage my show, destroy my stage, and you want me to calm down?!"

"You're the one who threw the stage at my head!"

"Oh, I'll do more than that!" Trixie lowered her head, her horn glowing with magical energy. She would have cast her spell, had not another aura of magic enveloped the two mares and yanked them off the ground.

"Sweet Celestia, you're both out of control." a unicorn stallion said, stepping out of the crowd "I don't really care what you two have against each other, but stop fighting like a couple of angry foals or we'll have to take more drastic measures." Rainbow Dash turned to the best of her abilities and looked at Trixie.

"I'm up for it. Are you?"

"Just put Trixie down." the aura ceased and the two mares dropped to the ground "So, you have turned yet another town against me."

"Hey, I thought he said-"

"Silence. You have made a cham of me now, but this will not be the end. This is not the last you will see of the Great and Powerful Trixie!" there was a puff of smoke and Trixie was off, running towards the town as fast as her legs could carry.

"Still hasn't learned how to Teleport." Rainbow Dash turned to the other ponies "You all should go home now; I'm sure the town guard will show up and take care of this mess." Most of the ponies nodded and began to wander off, while some decided to stick around and help with the cleanup effort. Rainbow Dash stepped back to allow the others room, while Honeysuckle trotted over to her.

"How did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Smashing the stage like that. It was bad, but it was also kind of cool..."

"I panicked, I didn't mean to let loose like that."

"You mean you've done something like this before?"

"... I made a tree explode by kicking it once, if that's what you want to know."

"Wow... Is that why you're here?"

"What?"

"You never told me why you came here, so are you hiding from somepony because you broke their tree?"

"No, it's not that... Come on, I'll show you."

They were back in Rainbow Dash's room, with the crystal in front of them.

"I know I shouldn't get worked up over this, but I feel like there's something with this crystal that I need to find out. Everything I've done has only made it glow."

"Have you tried talking to it?" Rainbow Dash looked at the filly.

"It's a crystal, it's not going to do anything if I talk to it."

"How would you know? You haven't tried that yet."

"Yeah, because I don't talk to rocks. One of my friends might if she ever got lonely, but me? Not so much."

"Maybe I should try." Honeysuckle stood to approach the rock, only to be blocked by a blue hoof.

"No. I don't want you to get hurt if something goes wrong... I can take a lot of hits, you can't. I'll do it." Rainbow Dash approached the crystal and leaned in. It continued to glow, the brightness increasing as she got closer.

"Um... Hey there, rock. So, I think there's something important that I need to find out, so if there's any way you could help me that would be very much appreciated." the rock did nothing, its glow never dimming for a second. This is stupid. How is Pinkie able to do something like this. In frustration she swatted the rock with her hoof, and she saw it.

She saw a field of white, with snow blotting out the sky. The ice beneath her hooves was firm, but slippery, and ahead she saw a green glow from beneath. The glow flickered for a moment before a massive spire broke from the ice. Rainbow Dash blinked and she was back in the room, the crystal sitting next to her.

"Hey, it worked... I know what I have to do." She grabbed the crystal and made for her saddlebags. After rummaging around for a minute, she produced a sack of bits and tossed them to Honeysuckle. "Here's best give this to your mom when she comes home."

"Are you leaving?"

"I have to. The crystal wants me to go somewhere, and If I'm going to find out anything then that's where I have to go."

"Why?"

"Because I'm really an alien and that crystal is the only thing I have that can tell me where I'm from." there was silence as Honeysuckle made sense of what Rainbow Dash said.

"You mean... all this time..."

"You were spending time with an alien. Yeah, I know it's kind of hard to believe, but it's the truth." The filly blinked a few times before smiling.

"Well, I hope you find what you're looking for."

"Me too." Rainbow Dash strapped on her saddlebags and exited the room. "Your parents should be home in a minute... tell them that I'm really happy that they let me stay here for a bit... Oh, and tell your mom to go see a doctor some time soon." the two reached the front door, Rainbow Dash prodding it open with her nose.

"Why? Is she sick?"

"No, she's having twins." with that, Rainbow Dash spread her wings and began to fly north.

...

It was night, and Trixie found herself roaming the streets of Seaddle. In her mind she was scolding herself for destroying her wagon, as now she had little money and no real place to stay. Again.

"It's that stupid Pegasus' fault." she growled "If she hadn't shown up I could have actually made something on this tour. But no, she just has to go and ruin my life one city at a time... Well I'll show her. I'll show her, that witch Twilight, Ponyville, Seaddle; I'll show them all why no one shames the Great and Powerful Trixie!"

"But do you have the means to do so?" a voice said from the shadows. Trixie whirled around, trying to find the source of the voice.

"Show yourself! Be warned, I am well versed in many combat spells!"

"Don't panic, I am not here to kill you." the voice said again "I just couldn't help but overhear that you have been wronged several times." Trixie relaxed her magic and slumped to the curb.

"Yes... it's as if the universe is content on making Trixie suffer."

"I doubt it is geared specifically for that purpose. But again, how do you plan to go about your revenge?"

"... I don't know. Someday, I hope to have enough power that I can flatten that miserable town with ease."

"Some day? Why not now?" Trixie looked to where the voice was coming from.

"You have a way?"

"I have many ways, and I share your cause. Many years ago, I was wronged by ponies who did not share my ideals, who wished to take credit only for themselves. I want to redeem myself and do away with that lot, but I need help."

"What's in it for me?"

"I know several powerful spells that will aid you greatly. No longer will you be on your own; you will have servants, ponies who will do anything for you, even die for you. You will be able to slay the most powerful beasts on the planet, even challenge Princess Celestia herself."

"And you will teach Trixie these spells?"

"Of course. You help me regain my honor, I help you get your revenge. What is your answer?" Trixie thought about it for a moment before replying.

"Yes, I want this. Give Trixie the power to challenge the gods. Let my name be feared and respected by every stallion, mare and foal in Equestria. Let me squash that little witch and her posse! Give me this power!" there was a pause before Trixie heard chuckling.

"I admire your enthusiasm. I will do so. I just ask for one more thing."

"What?" there was the sound of movement before a stallion stepped out of the shadows.

"Kneel."

Chapter 7

The frozen north of Equestria was poorly explored. The only ponies who ever ventured this far north were either incredibly brave or incredibly insane, and more often than not they were a combination of both. Most died, their bodies vanishing into the snow and ice, while those that did come back told stories of either roaming monsters or caves filled with massive crystalline structures.

Rainbow Dash shook out her mane once more and continued walking. The snow and wind did obscure her vision, but traveling mainly by instinct allowed her to not get lost amongst the snowdrifts. Her coat and feathers were damp from the exposure, and her saddlebags were once again thoroughly soaked. The only thing that remained remotely dry was the crystal, still glowing after days of travel.

She crested another hill and looked down, a small smile crossing her lips. "This is the place from that vision." she said, turning and pulling the crystal from her bag. she let it rest in her hooves and inspected it. "Now what?"

The crystal did nothing. It sat here, flickering at Rainbow, as if it was mocking her. In frustration she tossed it down the hill, and she watched as the crystal rolled to a stop near the base of the hill. For a moment nothing happened, then the crystal began to slowly sink into the ice. After half a minute, the crystal had vanished without a trace, not even its glowing visible.

"Well... that was a waste. Now what am I supposed to do?" she swatted a few snowflakes and looked back at where the crystal had vanished. She prepared to leave when the ice shook and a green glow spread out from beneath her. She took a few steps back, trying to figure out what was going on, when a massive crystal broke through the surface of the ice. The crystal continued to grow, rising higher and higher into the sky, and it was soon joined by several others, all of them interweaving with one another. Rainbow Dash took flight and backed away as more and more crystals began to smash their way through the ice, all of them weaving together to form a large structure of crystal.

When the display was finished, Rainbow Dash landed and looked over the structure. It was large, about the size of Twilight's library, and it sparkled in a way similar to Celestia's mane. While it did not glow like the crystal it had grown out of, she could feel energy radiating off the structure, a pleasing sensation when compared to the cold of the snow. She fluttered her wings once more and approached, the energy slowly bringing feeling back into her body. She smiled a little and sped up, the snow giving way to hard crystal similar to the tiles in Princess Celestia's throne.

Rainbow Dash entered a large circular room, one that glowed with white light as she walked through. Inscriptions in some ancient language were carved on a few of the crystals, most of which were either too worn or too faint for Rainbow Dash to read. The sound of the wind was stifled completely, and the only thing she could hear were her hooves clicking on the crystal beneath them.

"Um, hello? Is anypony here?" she asked. There was a chime and several crystals parted from one another. A cloud of something rose from the parting crystals, and it slowly formed into a large blob "Okay, that's kinda freaky."

The cloud began to take a more solid shape, finally setting on that of a unicorn stallion's head. The stallion looked old, not as old as Granny Smith but still pretty old, and even for being only an image he seemed... wise, like the Princesses. The stallion smiled a little before speaking.

"Welcome, my little filly. You do not know how much it pleases me to see you before me."

"Uh, thanks." Rainbow Dash stepped towards the image "Who are you?"

"I suppose I should have introduced myself earlier." the stallion sighed "Even with my position on the Council, I still forget that. My name is Jor-El; I am a scientist from the planet Krypton... and I am your father." Rainbow stepped back in shock. This guy's my father...

"If you're my father, then who am I?"

"Who you are, exactly, is not for me to decide; how you were raised and how you treat others ultimately decides who you are."

"But I mean, did I have some other name?" Jor-El paused.

"Your name is Kara Zor-El. I would have wished to deliver this to you face to face, but as you are receiving this, I have been dead for nearly a thousand years."

"... Dead?"

"I suppose there is more I should have told you, my dear Kara." he sighed again "Around the time you would call the 'Nightmare Moon Incident', I made a discovery: our homeworld, Krypton, was dying, and would take all of us with it very soon. I tried to warn the others, tried to get the Council to stage an evacuation, but... they did not listen to me. Krypton was entering a second golden age, and it's destruction seemed absurd.

"In desperation, I constructed a ship and placed you, my only daughter, inside and sent you here. Kryptonians are no different from Equestrians physically, so you would blend in with the populace and be able to live a normal life. As for Krypton, well... as far as I know, you are the only surviving Kryptonian; the planet was destroyed only minutes after your ship broke through the atmosphere."

"Oh..." there was silence. "I... I don't really know what to say to this. I mean, well..." she felt a small tear running down her face "Look, I'm crying for ponies I haven't even met."

"That is a natural response to such news; our minds can only take so much in, that hearing of traumatic events, even if they did not occur to us, can trigger feelings we don't fully understand."

"Yeah," she sniffed "But there's still a lot of things I want to know. Can you help me?"

"Of course I can. You are my daughter, and I could never turn you away."

"But how? I mean, you're dead."

"Before I sent you here, I poured much of my knowledge of the universe, most of my memories, and bits of my personality into the data crystal that created this place. Think of it as a copy of all that I was infused in a different form."

"Like an artificial intelligence?"

"More or less. So, if you have questions, I will be able to answer them." Rainbow Dash thought for a moment.

"What happened to me? Why can I break trees and shoot lasers from my eyes."

"Technically they are not lasers, but it is easy to make that mistake. As for your other abilities, that is partially to do with Kryptonian physiology. You see, we have the ability to absorb and store solar energy. Krypton orbited an ancient red giant, so the effect was minimal, but Equestria has a much younger sun, and it is home to two goddesses as a bonus. The amount of energy that is within you has given you powers beyond that of any normal pony: you can fly faster, lift more, see farther, and survive injuries that would kill a pony without taking a scratch. While you are not exactly a foal, you are not used to your powers and still need to learn how to control them."

"And you can help me with that?"

"Yes." another pause.

"Why did you send me to Equestria? Why not somewhere else?"

"That is an interesting story, my child. When I first decided to send you away, I searched through time and space for a suitable planet. Most I visited offered such things as glory in battle, unlimited knowledge, endless luxury, even deification on some worlds, but the pony I contacted on Equestria... she told me of something more."

"Who did you meet? Was it the Princess?"

"No, although I have met both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna before, but that is for another time." Jor-El's face vanished, replaced by an image of Canterlot "It was about twenty five years before today, one year before you would land in Equestria. My message arrived and I found a mare; she was one of Celestia's attendants, young and full of promise. She already had one foal, and had just sent him to his first day of school when I met her." the image shifted to that of a white unicorn mare with a purple and white mane and tail.

"Hey, that's Twilight's mom!"

"I do not know this Twilight, but she seems to be close to you."

"Yeah, she's one of my friends... I think she'd like you; she's big on science and stuff."

"I am sure she would be an interesting pony to meet. Anyway, after explaining what would happen to Krypton, I asked her what Equestria had to offer. This is what she said." the image of the mare came to life, shuffling her hooves a bit and looking away.

"Well, we ponies aren't really the most kind of beings; we tend to get judgemental and jealous, and occasionally do harm to one another. But I promise you, if I ever find your daughter, I will raise her and love her as my own along with my own son." The image faded back to Jor-El.

"That is why I sent you here: love. These ponies have a capacity to love that is unmatched by any other race in the galaxy. I wanted you to be raised somewhere where you would be loved, and where you would learn to love those around you, no matter who they were.

"But there is another reason I sent you here. These ponies mean well, but they can become distracted. They have the capacity to become great, but what they lack is a light to show them the way."

"But, the Princesses-"

"While I have nothing against the rulers of Equestria, their status as supreme rulers and control over day and night tends to intimidate more ponies than it inspires. They may try to shake this image, but it is a sad truth. The ponies need someone closer to them, a pony who will inspire them and drive them towards reaching their full potential, and you will be that pony."

"Me? But I'm not a ruler of anypony."

"I did not send you here as a conqueror, Kara, but as a guide, a guardian. Allow your natural leadership to stir their higher instincts. You will give the ponies an ideal to strive towards. They will race behind you, they will stumble, they will fall. But in time, they will join you in the sun. In time, you will help them accomplish wonders."

"That's... a lot to take in."

"I understand that. If you do not think you are ready for this, you may return home. I will remain here and wait until such a time that you are ready." Rainbow Dash looked at the image of Jor-El. Yes, he was asking a lot of her, but a bit of her mind pushed her on, telling her that she could be the pony her father had spoke of.

"I... I want to help. I want to know what I can do with my powers." Another pause, before Jor-El smiled.

"Then let us begin your training."

...

Rainbow Dash was not sure how long she had spent in the crystal structure, or Fortress of Solitude as her father called it. She had tried keeping track of time at one point, but she had gotten wrapped up in her studies and training and forgot.

"I think you are ready." Jor-El said after she had woken up from the previous night.

"Are you sure? I've only been doing this for... How long?"

"Less than half a year. You have managed to master your powers, and you know much more about your place in the universe." Rainbow Dash nodded and crossed to the center of the room.

"So, now what?"

"You will go out amongst the other ponies. Guide them, as I have guided you, and use your powers and skills to help them all. But before you leave, I have something for you." a segment of the nearest wall parted to reveal a flight suit similar to one worn by the Wonderbolts. Unlike those suits, this one was a darker shade of blue, made from a material Rainbow Dash did not recognize, and it lacked a hood and mask for protection against the elements. A red cape was draped over the back, and a large stylized S had been set inside a shield, the emblem placed in the center of the suit's chest.

"No mask... Won't everypony know it's me if there's no mask?"

"If you do not wish a pony to see your true face, they will not." Rainbow Dash shrugged and approached the suit. She was able to slip it on without a lot of difficulty, but the clasps for the cape had a few issues that needed to be worked out.

"Hmm, feels comfy." she stopped, placing a hoof on her mouth. Her voice had shifted once she had put on the suit; it was higher, less raspy and a bit more melodic "Hey, what's up with my voice? I sound like Princess Celestia right now."

"There are ponies that may oppose you. To protect both you and those you care for, I have cast several shielding and cloaking spells on your suit to hide both your true face and your true voice. It is deceitful, but in a way you are protecting the others by doing this."

"Oh." Rainbow Dash found a smaller crystal that had been polished similar to a mirror. The pony staring back at her had a tan coat and a darker mane, although the faint outlines of Rainbow Dash's multicolored hair could be seen "Hey, that's actually kind of cool... at least now I know what to do for the next Nightmare Night." the image slowly faded and Rainbow saw her normal face once again "Hey, what happened?"

"The spells adjust to you. The others will not see your true face, yet you will be able to."

"Cool." she turned and faced the image of her father "Thanks for the help."

"It was my pleasure, Kara. I see that you have grown into a fine young mare, and I am proud of you."

"Thanks." Rainbow Dash turned to leave, her cape fluttering behind her as she walked.

"And remember, my daughter: if there is any information you may need, or if you feel as though you need to be alone, the Fortress of Solitude will always be waiting for you." Rainbow Dash smiled and stepped outside.

"Now, Ponyville should be that way," she said, pointing to the southeast "But I should try out this new suit and see how well I fly." She turned into the wind and took off, shooting forward at speeds ponies only dreamed of. She banked right and increased her speed, flying over the Crystal Mountains and down into Equestria. She climbed higher, punching through a bank of clouds as she ascended. Rolling and turning right, Rainbow Dash giggled a little before shooting straight up, the wind pulling at her mane and cape and she climbed higher and higher.

As she flew, a small mach cone formed around Rainbow Dash. The cone grew in size and sharpened, narrowing considerably as she climbed. Finally, she reached the breaking point and shot forward, leaving only a tremendous explosion and a shower of light as she raced into the stratosphere.

"This... is... AWESOME!" she shouted. She twisted her head around and watched as the rainbow disk spread out across the sky, a wide grin stretching out across her face. Soon, the sound of wind diminished, and she was flying in almost complete silence. Looking down, Equestria was but a small green patch amongst the surrounding land, barely recognisable from where Rainbow Dash was flying. She hung there for a few minutes, her cape fluttering from the slightest breeze.

This is amazing. I can see so much... she relaxed as much as possible, allowing all of her sense to take in everything. By the positioning of the sun, it should have been early morning in Ponyville. She could hear the sound of Pinkie and Mr. Cake setting up for the day, the sound of Mrs. Cake tending to the twins, the sound of Rarity singing to herself in the shower, all of Fluttershy's animals waking up for the day, even the sound of Scootaloo and the Cutie Mark Crusaders riding off on their daily adventure.

She closed her eyes and allowed the sounds of home to flood her mind. When compared to the winds of the north, or the dead silence of the Fortress of Solitude, the sounds of Ponyville were warm, welcoming, soothing. She breathed in, taking in as much of the sound as she could.

One sound, however, caught her attention: it was a clanking sound, like somepony banging two giant pots together. She opened her eyes and scanned the country, looking for any sign of trouble. She spotted movement in the Everfree forest, and she squinted to get a better look.

Something big and metallic was moving towards Ponyville, and her instincts told her that it was up to no good. She turned and dove towards Ponyville, using as much of her speed as possible to make the trip shorter.

Time to start protecting ponies, she thought.

Chapter 8

Another day in Ponyville was beginning, and the denizens of the town were busy setting up for the day; shops were opened, food stands were prepped and ready, and foals ran about the town in their never-ending quest to find entertainment and excitement. Twilight would have joined them, but a letter from Princess Celestia concerning the rock that had poisoned Rainbow Dash had come in last week, so she was spending time reviewing her notes and preparing a report.

She was not getting far; since Rainbow had taken the rock with her to Canterlot (and subsequently lost it), Twilight had nothing to test on. Her previous test had drawn a little information, but none that could answer the question of what exactly the rock was or how it affected ponies. If she had had better foresight she would have asked for a blood sample from Rainbow Dash to test, but with the Pegasus nowhere to be found that plan had been scrapped.

She was about to review her notes (again) when Pinkie burst through the door at high speed and tackled her.

"Oh Twilight! You're here! That's good 'cause this is really really really important!"

"Pinkie, get off me." Pinkie jumped off Twilight and allowed the unicorn the chance to pull herself up "Now, what's the problem?"

"Well, I was making cupcakes with Mr. Cake when my Pinkie Sense went off. My knees got all twitchy, my ears got floppy, and my nose and eyes got itchy."

"And that means...?"

"That something really big and scary is going to come into Ponyville and lots of ponies are going to get hurt if we don't do something!" Twilight's eyes widened; Pinkie Sense was rarely wrong, and the concentration of ponies outside meant there was a very good chance that somepony could be hurt.

"What exactly is coming to Ponyville?"

"Uh... I don't know. Just something big and scary!" As if to answer her question, the ground shook from an impact. The two ponies trotted outside and gasped.

Coming out of the Everfree Forest was a machine. Its design was based on a typical dragon, except the wings had been replaced by exhaust pipes and armored plating. Smoke and steam welled out of its mouth, and its eyes glowed blood red. The thing let out a roar, a terrible noise of synthesizers and worn steel, before continuing on its march towards Ponyville.

"Giant... robot... dragon..." was all Twilight could say.

"See, I told you it was scary. What do we do?"

"Uh... I, uh... Get everypony away from there... Now, please." Pinkie was off, the earth pony disappearing in a cloud of dust. Twilight could only stare at the metal dragon as it advanced on the town, its heavy footfalls ringing throughout her entire being. She managed to shake herself out of her stupor long enough to take off in the opposite direction Pinkie had gone.

I've got to get everypony out of here... Do I have any spells that work against giant mechanical dragons?... I think I do. As she formulated her plan, other ponies noticed her distress and began following her.

"Listen up everypony! A giant robot dragon is coming towards our town, and I need everyone to leave before it starts hurting ponies." Most of the ponies just stared at her, with some mumbling or chuckling nervously to one another "This is serious! We're all in big danger... Pinkie Pie predicted it!" As soon as she said that, every pony panicked and made a beeline for the western half of town.

Just as the dragon reached the eastern half of town.

...

Scootaloo pulled her scooter to a stop and gasped. The giant robot dragon had stomped on a few houses and was now eyeing the small Pegasus and her two friends. Scootaloo gulped and began to backpedal, her hoof bumping against the wagon she had hitched to her scooter.

"Um, Scootaloo?" Sweetie Belle said, prodding the Pegasus in the back "Could you get us out of here faster?" The dragon bellowed and began to stomp towards them, its giant tail slamming into another house as it moved. Scootaloo gulped once more and took off as fast as possible, the dragon chasing after her and her friends.

"Can't ya lose it?" Applebloom asked, her voice barely audible over the sound of the dragon's stomping.

"Hang on, this might get rough!" Scootaloo turned left down an alley as a jet of flame scorched the earth behind her. The dragon roared again and changed direction, smashing the wall off yet another building as it moves. The fillies turned down yet another corner, with Scootaloo increasing their speed, and found themselves in Ponyville's town square with the dragon still on their heels. Scootaloo, on the verge of panic, veered right and headed towards the town hall in hopes the machine chasing her would stall after wrecking a few more buildings.

However, Scootaloo was in such a panic that she failed to spot a large rock in her path. Upon striking that rock, she, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were pitched head over hooves into the dirt, stunning the three fillies and allowing the metal dragon to catch up to them. Scootaloo shook her head clear and watched as the giant machine raise one foot to stomp on the Cutie Mark Crusaders. With no time to roll away, or to save her friends, the orange filly raised her right foreleg in an attempt to shield her eyes from her impending doom.

There was a clang of hooves against metal and the sound of gears and pistons grinding together. Confused as to why she was not dead yet, Scootaloo opened her eyes and looked up.

Standing over her, pushing up against the dragon's foot with her forehooves, was a mare. She had a tan coat and gray mane, and she was dressed in a red cape and blue suit, which was adorned by a stylized S. The mare showed no sign of strain as she held back the mechanical monster, as if this was something she had encountered every day of her life. The mare looked over her shoulder at the filly behind her.

"Are you alright?" she asked, her voice melodic and regal, yet containing a small bit of steel.

"Uh, yes, yes I am." Scootaloo got back to her hooves while the mare turned her attention back to the dragon.

"Good. Get your friends out of here and go find the others. I'll deal with this thing." she swished her tail a little and with a snarl pushed up against the foot. The sudden force caught the robot dragon off guard and flipped it, the machine slamming into the ground with an earth-shaking impact. "Go, now!" Scootaloo nodded and raced over to the other two crusaders, who were still collecting themselves.

"You guys okay?" Scootaloo asked.

"Yup." Applebloom said, placing her helmet back on her head "Wha' happened?"

"We hit a rock and then this weird pony came out of nowhere and flipped the dragon!" try as she might, Scootaloo could not suppress her grin as she spoke.

"But that thing was huge!" Sweetie Belle said "No pony could have flipped it."

"I'm serious. Look, see, she's right over-" as the three fillies turned, they saw that the mare was now beneath the dragon, lifting the machine with her forehooves. With a lunge she pitched the machine to the east before taking off after it.

"See?! See what she did?!"

"But... that's impossible..." Scootaloo smiled again and hopped back on her scooter.

"Come on Crusaders, we've gotta follow her."

"Wait, ya want to follow th' robot that tried ta kill us?" Applebloom asked. "Did ya hit your head or somethin'?"

"I just want to see what that weird pony's doing."

"I agree with Applebloom," Sweetie Belle said "It's really dangerous..."

"Well, if you don't want to come, then I'll go by myself." Scootaloo kicked off and sped towards where the dragon had been thrown. The other two Crusaders looked at each other.

"Should we go after her?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Better'n her gettin' hurt." and the two began galloping after their friend before Pinkie jumped in front of them.

"Where are you two going?" she asked.

"Scootaloo went off after the dragon. We were just-"

"What?!" The pink pony grabbed the two fillies and pulled them in "You know what's gonna happen to her if that mean robot dragon finds her?"

"Wait! There was this other pony that was fighting the dragon!" Sweetie Belle said, struggling against Pinkie's grip. "She threw the dragon out of town and then Scootaloo started following her when she went after them!" Pinkie's grip weakened and the two fillies dropped to the ground.

"Really?"

"Yeah, ya gotta believe us!" Applebloom said. There was a pause before Pinkie smiled.

"I'll tell Twilight about this; she'll be so happy knowing that the big mean robot dragon's taken care of. You two go find Scootaloo and I'll go get the others."

"Wait, won't somepony get hurt if something goes wrong?"

"Don't be silly; there's always crowds when big mean robots get beat up and they never get hurt." and with that Pinkie was off, leaving behind two very confused foals.

"Let's just go find Scootaloo."

...

The dragon landed with a crash in the field next to the Everfree Forest, kicking up a massive cloud of dust as it landed. As it struggled to get back on its feet, the mare hovered over it, her forehooves up in a fighting position.

"Listen to me." she said "You attacked Ponyville, and for that I should destroy this machine. But I don't want to kill you, so surrender before I am forced to defeat you." It seemed like a reasonable offer, and flying halfway around the world had been taxing her energy a little. The dragon managed to get back on its feet before roaring again and swiping at the mare with its right hand. The massive metal hand struck the mare and sent her spiraling through the air, but she managed to recover quickly and return to her original position.

"So that's how you want to handle this? Fine. This won't take long, then." The dragon roared once more and swung with its left arm. Before the attack could connect, the mare turned and swung with her right hoof, the two attacks colliding at high speed. The metal of the hand folded almost completely in half before the entire hand shattered, with bits of metal falling to the ground.

Seeing her opening, the mare shot forward and slammed into the robot's chest, the steel plates bending under the force. The dragon staggered back, but she allowed it no time to recover. She rushed forward and slammed her hooves into the machine again and again, each strike leaving visible cracks and dents in the armor. Satisfied with the damage to the torso, she rose up and brought her right hoof down on top of the dragon's head, knocking it back to the ground.

"I'll give you another chance to surrender." she said. The dragon struggled to get back on its feet, it's eyes fixated on the mare in the blue suit and cape. With another roar, a jet of fire shot from the machine's mouth and engulfed its opponent,who barely flinched as flames that would be hot enough to melt iron washed over her.

When the attack was finished, the mare was still flying, her suit and body no worse for wear. "Impressive. Let me try mine." she flew around the side of the dragon, and after a pause two red beams shot from her eyes and struck the robot's right leg at the hip. She dragged the beams across the leg, slicing through the metal like a pair of scissors through worn paper. When she finished, a clean cut had separated the leg from the rest of the body, and with the loss of support the metal dragon collapsed to the ground.

The mare landed on the back of the dragon, quickly locating a seam near one of the exhaust pipes. A quick smack with her hooves created a gap large enough for her to slip her forelegs through, and she proceeded to rip the entire back of the robot off. As she tossed the sheet of metal away, she spotted a large glowing cage lined with tubes and wires. "Ah, a power source. That should end this." she jumped down to the power source and wrapped several wires around her hooves before yanking up, ripping it from the machine. The robot stopped moving and shuttering, and the glow in its eyes began to fade. The power source shook for a moment before it too stopped glowing, and the mare tossed that next to the piece of metal she had ripped off earlier.

She flew up to the head of the now disabled machine, searching for a way in. A brief scan showed a small door near where the left ear would have been. She landed next to the door and pried it open, readying herself for anything she might find inside.

Inside the dragon's head, dazed from being knocked around, were two unicorns, identical save for different cutie marks and a mustache on the closer one. They wore striped blue shirts and bowties that looked like they had not been washed in quite some time. But what caught the mare's attention was their eyes; they were dull, unfocused, and had a slight glow to them. They looked nothing like the con-artists she knew them as; rather, they looked like a pair of drunken bums.

"It appears we have been caught, dear brother of mine." the lead said, his voice slow and mechanical.

"Yes indeed. Just like they said." the other replied.

"Well, it was still a good run, wouldn't you agree?"

"Indeed it was." the two unicorns stood next to each other and faced the mare. "I suppose now we need to enact our contingency plan."

"I suppose so." With that, the two leapt at the mare, hoping that together they could overpower, or at least hassle, their opponent. Before they could reach her, however, she had slammed the door on their heads, knocking the two

out.

"If your plan was to try and overpower the mare who just tore your robot to pieces," she said, reaching in and grabbing the two other ponies by their shirts "I'll have to recommend you to a psychiatrist."

...

Scootaloo had only arrived near the end of the fight, when the mare had sliced the leg off the dragon. She stood there in silence, awed by the display of power the mare had show, and it was only after the mare moved towards the dragon's head that she noticed her wings were buzzing with excitement. She was so focused on the scene before her that she failed to hear the pop of a teleport and the sound of hooves rushing towards her.

"Scootaloo! What do you think you're doing?" Twilight asked as she ran to the Pegasus filly. Scootaloo's wings stopped buzzing and she turned to the older mare.

"Sorry Twilight. But look at what she did!" Scootaloo pointed towards the wrecked dragon. Twilight gasped a little but managed to regain her composure as the mare flew towards them carrying two battered ponies.

"Is... Is that Flim and Flam? They're the ones that made that thing?"

"I'm afraid so, ma'am." the mare said before dropping the two ponies to the ground "Contact the Royal Guards and put these two into custody. Also, check them for any signs of brainwashing; While they might not have been the most moral of ponies the first time I met them, I don't think they would go on a rampage like this on their own accord."

"Wait, you've met them before?"

"I traveled a lot before coming here. Now if you will excuse me, I have to dispose of the dragon." The mare turned to leave before Scootaloo stepped forward.

"Wait! Who are you?" The mare paused before turning around and facing Twilight and Scootaloo.

"A friend." she smiled and flew back to the dragon, hoisting the thing up in her hooves and flying off to the east.

Once the mare and robot dragon were out of sight, Scootaloo fainted.

...

The next day, reporters from all over Equestria flooded into Ponyville. Every major newspaper, from the Manehattan Enquirer to the Seaddle Times, even the local Foal Free Press, had somepony scouring Ponyville for anything that might have been of use. They could care less about the damage, the displaced ponies, even the giant robot dragon; all they cared about was the mysterious mare that had appeared and saved Ponyville.

And inside Sugarcube Corner, five mares were discussing the events.

"I don't like this," Applejack said, pushing away her mug of cider "Somethin' don't add up."

"Applejack, our sisters could have died the other day, and you think there's something wrong with them being saved?" Rarity said.

"Nah, I'm glad they're still alive... But I mean, some mare just shows up outta nowhere 'n beats up some big robot that just happens to attack town for no reason? I bet she staged the whole thing!"

"Scootaloo and your sisters said she threw the dragon across town," Twilight said, setting aside a newspaper "Nopony besides the Princesses is that strong."

"Exactly. I reckon she used some kinda freaky magic stuff to make it look like she was throwin' it around like that." Applejack stamped her hoof against the floor "Just ain't decent, tryin' to make somepony look all big 'n powerful like that."

"I did a sweep of the area after I got Flim and Flam to the guards; the only magic residue I got was from the power source." Twilight slumped over "Which I can't analyse because she took it away. Imagine what I could do if I could figure out what was powering that thing; Equestria could enter a new age of technology if magical propulsion got worked out."

"Twi, yer ramblin' again."

"Oh, sorry."

"Well, I'm just happy everypony's okay." Fluttershy said "It would have been just awful if somepony had gotten hurt or died when that robot showed up."

"Yeah..." Applejack looked around "Where'd Pinkie get off to?"

"Some reporters asked her what happened, and... Well, you know Pinkie."

"When was that?"

"Six hours ago."

"Oh." there was silence.

"Well, I think we're all just being a little too glum about the whole situation," Rarity said, picking another cupcake up with her telekinesis "Let's just be happy that everypony is okay."

"Yes, I would like that." Fluttershy said. Applejack muttered something and pulled her mug back.

"Another thing, why's she gotta be so secretive about everythin'?"

"Because she's a superhero!" Pinkie Pie said, popping out from behind a nearby table "And superheroes never tell anypony about all the super things they do because they don't want to be big Braggy McBraggersons."

"I think it's a little early to be calling her a superhero." Twilight said "Yes, she saved a bunch of ponies, but-"

"But nothing!" Pinkie said, leaning in real close to Twilight "She beat up a giant robot. She is a superhero."

"But beating up robots doesn't make a pony a superhero. There has to be more than that."

"There is, but that's ruining the fun of it."

"Geez, I go away for five months and you guys start having arguments about superheroes." the five ponies turned and saw Rainbow Dash standing in the middle of the room, her saddlebags resting on the ground "Guess I really do hold you all together." The other five could only gape at their friend, while Rainbow Dash shifted her gaze to one of confusion "What? Should I leave and come back later?"

"R-Rainbow Dash!?" the five other said.

"Yeah, is something wrong?" She had barely finished her sentence when she was barreled over by a pink blur.

"Dashie! You're back!" Pinkie said, hugging the Pegasus as tight as she could. "We tried writing you, but every letter we sent just came back unopened."

"Spike wasn't too happy about that." Twilight said as she and the others trotted over to Pinkie and Rainbow.

"Well, I only spent a few days in Seaddle, then I started doing some odd jobs around that part of Equestria."

"I can tell," Applejack said, poking Rainbow Dash in the side "Looks like you've been doin' some hard labor."

"There were a bunch of citrus farms over near Los Pegasus."

"You were in Los Pegasus?" Rarity said, swooning slightly "Oh, you simply must tell us everything you saw there."

"Maybe some other time; I'm a little beat from the trip."

"That's another thing," Twilight said "Why didn't you tell us you were coming back? You disappear for five months and then show up without warning. We could have met you down at the station."

"I did send you a note... What, did you not get it?" the other five shook their heads 'no'. "Ah, sorry about that. Well, I'm here now, so you don't have to worry about anything else... Hey, can I get some food, I'm really hungry." Pinkie

released Rainbow Dash and reappeared with a fresh plate of cupcakes and some milk "Thanks... So, did I miss anything while I was gone?" The others looked at each other before looking back at Rainbow Dash.

"Well... Um... You missed something... yesterday." Twilight said.

"What?"

"Um... Well, there was an incident with a... dragon."

"And you didn't tell me sooner?" Rainbow Dash set the plate of cupcakes down and grabbed Twilight "Are you guys okay? Was anypony hurt? Where's Scootaloo? Is she okay?"

"Relax, Rainbow. Nopony was seriously injured-"

"Because a superhero came out of the sky and saved us all!" Pinkie shouted, pushing Twilight out of the way.

"... What?"

"Yeah, she came in and she threw the big mean robot out of town and then she went and ripped it open and disabled it and beat it up and then flew off with it and she was all mysterious and didn't say much and then Scootaloo fainted and-"

"Pinkie!" the other four shouted.

"What?"

"I think it'd be better if we explained it to her a little slower."

"But Twilight-"

"No Pinkie." Pinkie's mane deflated slightly and she walked away.

"What she was trying to say was that this mare-"

"Who was a superhero."

"... This mare came out of nowhere and started fighting the robot."

"Like a superhero."

"Pinkie, stop interrupting me."

"But Dashie won't get the whole story if you don't tell her about the superhero."

"You know what, fine! There was a superhero! She threw the dragon across town and shot it with laser eyes! She was wearing a big red cape and blue suit with an S on it, and she sounded a lot like Princess Celestia! Are you happy now!?"

"Yes Twilight." Pinkie said, smiling all the way. Twilight sighed and looked back at Rainbow Dash.

"Sorry you had to see that; I've just been under a lot of stress lately."

"Hey, that's okay. I mean, we've all had times like that, right?" the other five nodded. Rainbow Dash pulled a cupcake from the nearby plate and began eating "So, a superhero?"

"Yes." the other five, save Pinkie, said.

"And she just disappeared after destroying the robot?"

"Yes." There was a pause.

"Okay." Rainbow Dash resumed eating while the others looked at her in shock.

"Wait, you're not jealous?" Rarity asked.

"Uh, no. Should I be?"

"Well, you are the local hero, and there was that one time when..." Fluttershy mumbled the rest of her sentence and backed away, but the others got the general idea.

"Well, yeah, but that was smaller stuff. I couldn't fight a big robot dragon if I tried, so I guess this new mare gets a couple points there... whoever she is."

"Ooh, she doesn't have a super-cool name!" Pinkie cried. The others ignored her.

"Promise us that you won't do anything... stupid?" Rainbow Dash chuckled.

"Hey, if she shows up again, I'll be nice. But if she starts stealing my fans, well-"

"You'll have a nice talk with her and get her to compromise." Twilight finished for her.

"... I was going to say challenge her to some kind of competition, but I guess that works better in the long run."

"What do you think would be a good name for her?" Pinkie said "She's all super and stuff... How about Supermare? Is Supermare a good name?"

"Pinkie, nopony cares about her name."

"Sure they do. I'll prove it." Pinkie bounced over to one of the reporters, a beige colt who wore a small button with the letters "EQD" printed on it "Hey, Mr. Reporter Guy?"

"Um, yes?"

"Do you think Supermare is a good name for the superhero?" There was a pause before the colt smiled.

"Good? It's awesome! I was having trouble with what to call this new pony, but 'Supermare' fits perfectly. Besides, it's kinda catchy."

"I know!"

"Hey, can I talk to you about what you saw for a bit?"

"Sure." Pinkie bounced off with the reporter tailing her. Rainbow Dash chuckled again and ate another cupcake.

"Ah, it's good to see Pinkie being Pinkie." the conversation would have continued, but the five friends were interrupted when an older mare with a grey mane and glasses came over to them.

"Oh, Twilight, so good to see you here." the Mayor said "I need to ask you a favor."

"Oh?"

"You see, some of the town council members, myself included, thought that we should show our appreciation to that mare-"

"Supermare." Twilight corrected her.

"What?"

"Pinkie named her Supermare."

"Oh. Well, anyway, I was hoping you and Pinkie could coordinate something to show her how thankful we are that she saved our town. Nothing too big, mind you; just something small and heartfelt for her."

"Okay, I'll think of something."

"Wonderful!" the Mayor smiled "I'll go tell Pinkie about my plan." and she walked off, leaving the five mares alone again.

"Guess we need to fight more dragons if we're ever gonna get a party like that." Rainbow muttered.

"We don't need that kind of recognition," Twilight said "Can you imagine what our lives would be like if everypony thought we were superheroes? We'd be mobbed by ponies everywhere we went and couldn't really live out our lives."

"Hey, I wouldn't mind; I think it'd be kinda cool to have a bunch of ponies following me around."

"Well of course you wouldn't mind, Rainbow Dash," Rarity said "But we're not all you. Could you imagine poor Fluttershy if thousands of ponies were coming to see her?" Fluttershy cringed a little and looked at the table.

"... Maybe you're right." Rainbow Dash finished another cupcake and stood to leave "I'm going to go find Scootaloo, just to see how she's doing."

"Oh, when will you be coming by to pick up Tank?" Fluttershy asked.

"When I'm finished hanging out with Scootaloo." Rainbow Dash nodded her thanks to the Cakes and left Sugarcube Corner.

"Well, it's good that Rainbow Dash is back home safe." Rarity said.

"Yeah... but ain't it kinda weird how quickly she blew off that whole 'Supermare' thing?"

"I'm sure she's just tired," Twilight said "Once she settles back into the swing of things she might have more to say."

"Maybe..."

...

That night, Rainbow Dash lay on her bed, her cape draped over her like a blanket. Tank was sleeping in his favorite corner, and Rainbow Dash was happy that she had him back. She sighed a little and pulled the cape a little closer.

So, superhero... I think I'm okay with that. She rolled over and looked out one of her windows. I still have to watch out for Pinkie; all that talk of superheroes and she might actually find out I'm Supermare... Wait, is there anything wrong with her finding out? Or my other friends finding out? Rainbow Dash sat up and frowned. Well... Pinkie's Pinkie but she's good at keeping secrets. Applejack's a bad liar, but she keeps her word. Fluttershy might let something slip, but not on purpose. Twilight would probably want me in some lab, but I don't think she'd betray me. Rarity's big on the whole reputation thing, so she'll probably understand... Rainbow smiled again, before another thought crept into her mind. But what if some bad guy comes along and tries to get to me through them...? No, I can't risk it. She flopped back down on her bed and looked at the ceiling.

Someday, though... Someday. She pulled the cape and her normal blanket a little closer, closed her eyes, and fell asleep.