Ch. 3: The Bold Elementalist

"…Can't believe I was so stupid. Don't have time for friends. My studies are too important," Twilight grumbled to herself as the Charon left Sweet Apple Cathedral in the distance. Spike looked at her worriedly.

'Twilight, I've known you for my entire life, but I still don't understand what you've got against having friends,' He said. The Charon stopped abruptly, nearly launching Spike off Twilight's shoulder.

"Spike, what do friends do?" Twilight asked her familiar.

'Um… they have fun? They… talk to each other, they spend time together, they…'

"…Waste time. Get in the way of studies," Twilight said, finishing the sentence that Spike wasn't about to say. Spike groaned.

'Twilight, you are way too dedicated to studying,' He said. 'Taking some time off every now and then isn't a bad thing.'

Twilight stomped her foot. "Spike, we just wasted an hour having lunch with a bunch of strangers. If I hadn't done that, we could have kept on moving, and maybe even gotten this whole job finished a bit quicker. If we finish the job faster, we can spend more time studying. Knowledge is power, Spike. And when the Princess ends up needing help with Nightmare Moon, I am going to need power," Twilight said with finality.

'Twilight, the Princess already told you that Nightmare Moon is just a story,' Spike said.

"She's not a story! She's real, and she's…" Twilight groaned. "Let's just get this over with. We're wasting time." She gripped the tiller so hard her knuckles turned white, and the Charon gained speed.

"LOOK OUT!"

The warning came far too late to be any help. A rainbow colored blur shot past the Charon's bow, barely missing it.

"Oh no," Twilight said, realizing what was about to happen.

The wind that was following in the wake of the rainbow blur slammed into the Charon like a brick wall, sending it careening out of control. Twilight quickly let go of the tiller, and grabbed the mast, holding on for her life.

"That wasn't my fault!" Twilight felt obligated to remind Spike, who was too busy screaming in her mind like a small girl to pay attention. After a few chaotic moments, the Charon settled down, and Twilight released her death grip on the mast.

"What the hell was that?" She asked once her teeth unclenched.

"Hey, you alright?"

Twilight turned to face the owner of the new voice. It was a woman, around Twilight's age, but a bit shorter and with a much more athletic build, hovering next to the Charon. Her multicolored hair was in a high ponytail, held in place by a clip decorated with a cloud and a three-colored lightning bolt. She was wearing light leather armor, feathered pauldrons, dark teal gauntlets with malachite stones on the back of the hand, and long, similarly colored boots. A pair of tiny, ethereal wings were floating next to her ankles, flapping rhythmically.

"Sorry 'bout that. I guess I was going a bit too fast. Anything broken?" She asked.

"Are you insane?! I almost died!" Twilight snapped, standing up on shaking legs.

"Looks like you survived to me," The woman said nonchalantly.

"Mostly because of dumb luck! Who are you? I should report you to the guard for flying so dangerously!"

"Hey, easy, buddy," The woman said, raising her hands defensively. "I said it was an accident. No need to tell the guards about this."

"You almost killed me! I should have you arrested!" Twilight threatened, getting as close to the woman as possible.

"You can't get me arrested because of one near-miss," The woman said matter-of-factly.

"I think I can," Twilight said. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, personal apprentice of the Arch Mage, Princess Celestia, here on official business."

The woman's face drained of color. "Oh hell. You aren't bluffing," She realized.

"No, I'm not," Twilight said, crossing her arms.

The woman's attitude changed in the time it would take to blink. One moment, she was floating next to the boat, and the next, she was at Twilight's feet, nearly sobbing.

"Pleeeeaase don't tell the guards about this! It was an accident! I swear! If I go to prison, it'll go on my record, and I'll never be able to go big with that hanging over me!" The woman wailed. "I'm too awesome to be a weather controller for the rest of my life!"

"Weather controller?" Twilight repeated. "Are you Rainbow Dash?"

The woman's attitude changed again. She stopped crying at Twilight's feet and returned to floating in midair, sticking her chest out proudly.

"The one and only," She said. "I take it you've heard of me?"

"I've heard that you're in charge of Magiville's weather, and that you're good at your job. But now, I'm not so convinced," Twilight said, motioning to the clouds all around them.

"What, those?" Rainbow Dash said. "Eh, I'll get to them later."

"…You'll get to them later?" Twilight repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. I mean, I was kinda in the middle of training," Rainbow Dash said.

"Training for what?" Twilight asked. Rainbow Dash looked at her like she was an idiot.

"Well, I'm an Elementalist, so obviously I must be training to be Mystica's next big musical sensation," She said sarcastically. "What do you think I'm training for?"

"The Wonderbolts?" Twilight guessed.

"The Wonderbolts!" Rainbow Dash said. "The best fliers in Mystica! Only the best of the best are allowed to even lick their shoes! I've been dreaming of joining them since I became an Elementalist!"

"Yeah, I'm sure the Wonderbolts would accept a reckless flier who doesn't even have the drive to do her job on time," Twilight said. Rainbow Dash stared at her through narrowed eyes.

"Was that a challenge?" Rainbow Dash asked. Twilight smirked.

"Maybe it is," She said. "Let's see how fast you can take out every cloud a quarter kilometer from this spot. Impress me, and maybe I won't let the guards know about this little incident."

"Oh, I am going to knock your socks off, buddy," Rainbow Dash said. Twilight winced at the word 'buddy'. "I bet I can clear these skies…" She held up two fingers. "With two arrows."

"Then let's see you do it," Twilight said. Rainbow Dash flicked her hand, and a brown bow with white steel blades on the ends, like feathers, materialized in her grip.

"You might want to move back," She said, pointing off to the distance. "Way back."

Twilight grabbed the tiller and the Charon flew off. Rainbow Dash performed some basic stretches while Twilight moved away.

"This should be over quickly," Twilight said to Spike as she reached a safe distance and turned the Charon around to look at Rainbow Dash. "All these clouds, with two arrows? Impossible."

"One!" The speck in the distance that was Rainbow Dash shouted.

The clouds beneath Rainbow Dash exploded outwards as the first arrow punched through them. But then, the clouds started to swirl, following the arrow's path down to the ground.

"No way," Twilight said in disbelief. "A tornado?!"

The new funnel of clouds started to pick up speed, swirling faster and faster. The trees were starting to groan and creak. All the nearby clouds were sucked into the tornado, and Twilight could see Rainbow Dash, hovering above it.

"Two!" Rainbow Dash shouted. There was a crack of thunder as a lightning bolt shot from Rainbow Dash's bow, piercing straight down through the heart of the tornado. The clouds that had made up the tornado evaporated from the extreme heat of the magical lightning, leaving the skies as clear as pure water. Twilight's jaw was still dropped as Rainbow Dash floated over to the Charon, a grin on her face.

"Lemme guess, you've been rendered speechless?" Rainbow Dash asked, closing Twilight's mouth.

"That was… that was impressive. I honestly thought that…"

"I was all bark and no bite?" Rainbow Dash finished her sentence. "I get that a lot for some reason."

"Well, a deal's a deal," Twilight said, defeated. "I won't tell the guards that you nearly hit me. You'll be able to take care of the rest of the skies before the Summer Sun Celebration, right?"

"As soon as I finish training, yeah," Rainbow Dash said.

"That's the best I'm going to get out of you, isn't it?" Twilight asked, sighing. She pulled out the scroll and crossed 'weather' off. "By the way, can you tell me where I can find the Druid in charge of the Celebration's music?"

"You mean Fluttershy? Sure, she's probably out in the woods, practicing," Rainbow Dash said, pointing to the southeast. "If you're really going to go talk to her, be careful. She's really bad with meeting new people."

"I'll be sure to remember that," Twilight said. "Thank you for your time. And for not killing me."

"Any time, pal," Rainbow Dash said, slapping Twilight on the back. "I gotta get back to training. See ya at the Celebration?"

"Um, yes. Sure," Twilight said. She repressed a groan. She'd been referred to as a friend again.

"Great! Later!" Rainbow Dash said, leaping from the Charon and flying off.

'That's two friends…' Spike remarked. Twilight rolled her eyes.

"Spike, I don't think that she counts as a friend for almost killing me," Twilight said, making the Charon descend to the forest floor. "We'll be going on foot from here. We might miss her if we're in the air."

It was a point of pride that Mystica had a very, very low crime rate. There were occasional thieves, of course, but things like murder were very, very rare. In fact, there was only one prison in the nation that was equipped to hold hardcore criminals: the Stalingrad Penitentiary. But even there, there was only one prisoner whose crimes were so heinous she earned a life sentence.

Her name was Nightshade, a former Wonderbolt.

Nightshade lay on her bunk in her solitary cell, her hands behind her head. She was staring at the ceiling, which had the distinction of being the most interesting thing in the world at the moment.

"Three hundred and seventy six," Nightshade said, counting off the last of the tiny dots on the ceiling. She didn't know what they were, only that they were starting to spread. Last time she'd counted, there were only three hundred and seventy four.

"Maybe I miscounted," Nightshade sighed. She closed her eyes. "Well, better start over."

She opened her eyes, and was decidedly unsurprised by the sudden presence of a strange, hooded man in black armor standing over her. What little could be seen of his face was wrinkled and scarred.

"Hello, Nightshade," The man said.

"Hello, strange old fucker who somehow got into my cell," Nightshade said. "Are you actually here or am I just dreaming?"

"I'm very real, I assure you," The old man said. "And I have an offer for you."

"Not even going to introduce yourself, huh?"

"No. First off, what do you know about the Mage in the Moon?" The old man asked. Nightshade shrugged.

"About as much as everyone else. Some mage tried to destroy the sun or some shit, I don't remember, and got banished to the moon for her trouble, yeah? It's a bedtime story. What about it?"

"What if I told you that it wasn't a bedtime story?"

"Then I'd probably just laugh at you. Look, are you going to tell me what you want from me or not?" Nightshade asked impatiently.

The old man grunted. "Long story short, there will be a drastic change in regime tonight. When the smoke clears, our new Queen wants to have people working for her who can perform certain duties without complaint. Due to your track record, we believe that you will be perfect for leading an elite team of flight-capable mages to…"

"I swear, if the next words out of your mouth are 'entertain the populace', I will strangle you with my handcuffs."

"…To ensure that the populace doesn't try and revolt against the new regime."

"Oh. Good," Nightshade said. "So, we'd be like flying military police?"

"I suppose it could be put that way."

"What's the pay like?"

"Straight to business, I see. You'll receive a salary of…"

Nightshade whistled at the number that the old man gave her.

"Damn. You guys must really want me on your side," She said.

"As I said, you possess traits that we find desirable for the position," The old man said.

"You do know why I'm in here, right?" Nightshade asked. "My teamwork skills are a wee bit infamous."

"We're fairly confident that the fact we will not be so merciful to criminals will keep you from going on a rampage and killing four of your teammates."

"And one janitor. Don't forget the janitor."

"My point still stands. Have you come to a decision?"

"Let me think…" Nightshade said. "I could either get out of this shithole and lead a team of flying badasses to uphold whatever laws you people are planning, which would probably involve me getting my hands dirty in the best possible way…" She looked back up at the ceiling. "Or, I could just sit here in this stupid cell for the rest of my life, counting those little dots on the ceiling. Tough choice."

"Well, when you finally make up your mind…" The old man dropped two items on Nightshade's bunk. A ring of keys and a black bow. "…Here's your first test. I'll be waiting for you outside."

With that said, he stepped into the shadows and disappeared. Nightshade didn't waste any time. She picked up the keyring and started testing the keys on her handcuffs. She found the right key on her third try, and the cuffs clicked open.

Nightshade grinned as she felt the magical power the cuffs had been blocking off flow back into her. She felt complete for the first time in five years.

She picked up the black bow next, getting a feel for its weight in her hands. It felt good. Very good. She looked between her bow, the iron bars, and the ring of keys. She could just use the keys on the door, and get out without tripping any alarms, or she could try out her new bow, alerting the guards to her escape, and have to fight her way out.

Tough choice.

A ray of fire formed on her fingertips.