Chapter 11: Hero’s Glory

“It’s the same sort of feeling as when you shift from looking at your snout to something mid-range to something in the far distance,” Stardust said, trying to explain to Twilight, and also to Sweetie Belle who was also nearby, how he could see magic auras. “I call it ‘shifting focus,’ and the most I have to do to do it is blink.”

“It probably comes to you naturally, as part of your special skill, related to whatever your cutie mark will be,” Twilight said.

“That’s possible, but in order for this to work I need an outside observer to tell me what’s going on.” The point of this exercise was to find out what Stardust looked like when he lost some of the flow during his magic’s activation time. There was no such lessening with his wings, so he had to keep careful track of his time when he flew, otherwise he could kill himself by falling too far when his flight timed-out. But he wanted to know, even more, if there were any visual clues that could give the game away to an opponent when it came to his magic. That was why he was teaching Twilight how to see magic auras, since she could use all kinds of magic.

“Okay, I think I’ve got it,” Twilight said, finally. Sweetie Belle merely shook her head: her magic was still eluding her. Stardust lent her a smile, then shifted his own focus to the task at hand, activating his magic. He summoned a ball of light and set it high, in the middle of the library, and then kept it there. Past the light and directly across from him, he could see Twilight’s eyes shining amber.

“Is that what I look like when I shift focus? Yellow eyes?”

“Uh-huh,” Twilight said, partly distracted by watching the turquoise aura around Stardust’s horn. It was, she now knew, the same colour as he said his magic aura was as Gearhead, so that was one thing that didn’t change. “You just lost the top third of the aura glow.”

“That was the one hundred second mark,” Stardust said, nodding fractionally. At the two hundred second mark, he lost the middle third. At the five minute mark, the aura and Stardust’s light ball completely vanished, leaving not a trace behind. “So it is visible,” Stardust said.

“Only to those who can see magic auras, and most ponies can’t,” Twilight said.

“Still, it may be worth it to learn a spell that cloaks my aura, or a technique that allows me to suppress its visibility. As long as I have an activation limit, I don’t want my opponents to know what it is.”

“For now lets try to avoid you being on the first line of defence, alright?”

“Understood,”

“Now, don’t you have a meeting to attend?”

“Right,”

“I’ll take you,” Sweetie Belle said, getting up. She had been mostly bored this whole time, not having anything to do or see.

“You mean you’ll make sure I get there,”

“That too,” Sweetie Belle smiled. She hadn’t originally intended on going to the meeting, being more of a fan to her sister than to Rainbow Dash, but since Scootaloo had invited Dusty, she wanted to go too.

Stardust was moderately surprised at Scootaloo for opening up the Crusaders’ clubhouse to other foals, but naturally this would not be the case during regular Crusader activities. This was for the purposes of the Rainbow Dash Fan Club. Naturally Scootaloo was the president, and presided by standing at the lectern.

Stardust stood at the back of the room and watched as Scootaloo called the meeting to order. He smiled fractionally as Scootaloo ‘motioned’ for an adjective to describe Rainbow Dash’s awesomeness: since meeting with Father shortly after the Grand Galloping Gala, Gearhead had started looking into the method behind parliamentary procedure, knowing that this was the way that the Herd Council discussed and resolved matters that affected Herd welfare. In an awkward way, Scootaloo was correct, but you didn’t ‘motion,’ you ‘moved.’ But that was the sort of mistake a foal might make, and so Stardust allowed himself some private amusement – even as Snips and Snails started to suggest other adjectives as ‘motions’ instead of ‘amendments.’

Stardust’s amusement only hightened when he heard a new voice suggest a portmanteau combination of all the words being thrown around by the members of the fan club. He needed only to glance at the nearby window to see Rainbow Dash’s rainbow-coloured mane. Apparently the fan club’s very subject had come by to check in on the club’s activities. Conflict of interest, or just interest? Stardust wondered.

He also wondered how anypony was going to remember the word.

One thing nopony would have trouble remembering was how Rainbow Dash flew down a well to save Aura. “Odd place to dig a well, if it can be tripped into… but more importantly, what was she doing when she fell in?” Stardust wondered aloud.

“Somepony ought to fence off this hill,” Stardust said, later when Dash stopped a baby carriage from plunging off a cliff.

“Just one problem,” Applejack said, “what’ll we do when Rainbow Dash has noopony else to save ‘cause they can’t get to this hill?”

“I’d call that a desirable problem,” Stardust said, “because what’s the next incident going to be, at this rate of escalation?” It turned out to be a balcony full of elder-ponies breaking. Dash was all over that one, too, but Stardust continued to worry: eventually there would be something too heavy or too big for Dash to handle.

“Call me silly, but I’m more worried about this hero business going to Rainbow Dash’s head,” Twilight said.

“You may be right, Silly,” Pinkie Pie said.

“No, the showboating hasn’t reached a level where they get in the way of the save. Yet,” Stardust said. “But the way she waits for the cheering… it can’t be much longer. Miss Dash is gonna need some back-up.”

“Have somethin’ in mind?” Applejack said.

“Nothing in particular, not until I get past my own limits. But you five have always had her back.”

The five mares exchanged two-and-a-half significant and knowing glances, the half bouncing off Pinkie Pie before she got it.

The matter was clearly beginning to get out of hoof when somepony decided it would be good idea to hold a press junket at Sugar Cube Corner a couple days later. Dash might have invited the press up to her cloud castle if they could walk on cloud-matter. To an extent, Stardust believed that it was a good thing they could not do so.

Photographer ponies took pictures as Dash’s fans, both foals and horses, looked on. Spike had donned a reporter’s hat and trench coat, and was recording everything. “It’s a good thing he has practice writing so many letters,” Stardust said.

“Spike, are you actually taking notes?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah! I’ve been hoof-picked by Rainbow Dash herself to write her autobiography.”

“Autobiographies are supposed to be by the pony they’re about.”

“That may be true for ordinary, run of the mill, ponies, but I’m much too busy saving lives to stop and write,” Dash said.

“But not too busy to stop to be photographed and talk to fans or the press,” Stardust said.

“I gotta give the public what they want,” Dash said, “and what they want is more of my awesome heroism!”

“What I’d like is a little modesty,” Stardust said.

“Hey, what good is being a hero if you can’t live it up a little?”

“Gee, I wouldn’t know, not being a hero who’s saved Equestria from Nightmare Moon, Discord, dragons, and various other threats.”

“Jealous much, Dusty?”

“Me? When I don’t have the power to do anything without endangering myself and others in the process? Maybe when I grow up I can be a hero, but right now I can just be me.”

“Which is exactly what Princess Celestia wanted from you when she sent you here,” Twilight said. “But Dusty’s right, Rainbow Dash, you should take your pride in moderation. Before it gets in the way of everything else.”

“Oh blah-blah-blah, your boring lecture. I’m a hero, so I don’t need any of that. When was the last time you did something heroic?”

“You know when,” Twilight said with a straight, 'you-just-went-there,' face.

“Yeah, but I bet I was there, too!” Twilight rolled her eyes. “There, ya see? You can’t deny it.”

“Nopony’s trying to deny you the recognition you deserve, RD. Just try not to go overboard, okay? As your friends, which we all already are, we worry,” Applejack said.

“There’s nothing to worry about,” Dash said. “Anyway, with Spike as my ghost writer—“

“Aaah! Spike’s a ghost!” Pinkie took off, leaving dust clouds in her wake. Everypony blinked, then Dash continued.

“I can focus on those acts of bravery nopony else can do.” Now different foals were getting their pictures taken with Dash. “Yeah, it takes guts to be a hero. But it also takes brains, and sometimes a big lunch and a nap. Being a hero is surely not for everypony, but I’m up to the challenge.”

Stardust noticed the significant, and skeptical, glances Twilight and Applejack were making, but he doubted Dash was noting anything except the steady increase in her own notoriety. She certainly would not have concluded, as Stardust had, that Twilight had a plan. Unsurprising, given that all of the Element Holders had demonstrated ‘guts’ and ‘brains’ at one time or another.

Stardust decided to continue to keep tabs on Dash and her exploits, waiting to see if her glory-hounding would allow her to keep up with the various incidents that might occur. He knew that the likelihood of her successfully acting as a hero would sometimes depend on her willingness to take the situation seriously, which meant that her inflated ego could get in the way. What worried Stardust more were the possible cases when being Equestria’s best young flyer simply would not be enough.

It happened the next afternoon, when Dash was out signing autographs onto greyscale photographed headshots. Suddenly somepony shouted out for help, and everypony looked up. It was Cherry Berry, falling from a great height aboard the Sparkle Balloon, which had ruptured.

“Shouldn’t you go and help?” Snips asked.

“Yeah, yeah. I got a good ten seconds to spare,” Dash said, continuing to sign autographs while Cherry Berry continued to plummet toward the ground. When Dash finally took off, Stardust already knew she would miss. But he couldn’t do anything from where he was watching, with his magic still in cool-down from practicing with Sweetie Belle and Twilight.

Fortunately a mare in a full-body costume of various shades of purple leaped from roof to roof, pausing only to estimate her intercepting jump. She grabbed Cherry from the balloon and swept her free. Dash bungled into the limp balloon, although she could have corrected in the air, since she was a Pegasus. The newcomer, in her wide-brimmed hat and blue tinted goggles, couldn’t have corrected her course if she had missed, but she had been right on target.

And for that, Mayor Mare, who had appeared near Twilight, dubbed Ponyville’s newest hero ‘the Mysterious Mare-Do-Well.’ She’s in on it, Stardust thought as he returned his attention to Dash, stuck in a tangle with the balloon. She’d been lucky Mare-Do-Well had appeared, or Cherry would have gotten grievously injured. Stardust decided that he had to be on better guard, in case Dash’s supersized ego put anypony else at risk, and Mare-Do-Well was not around, or could not handle the crisis either.

This seemed entirely possible, as Stardust heard Dash proclaim that the only hero for which Ponyville had the room was herself. This smells of trouble, he thought.

Two black-clad figures crept up to Carousel Boutique’s front entrance in the post-midnight darkness. One had the build of a stallion who trained for strength and speed. The other was much more slight, but taller than an average mare. As they pressed up against the curving wall, the stallion turned to his companion and whispered in such a low voice even she could barely hear him. “Last chance to turn back.”

“I’m not changing my mind,” the mare said. “You read the same report I did, so you know how necessary this might become. Not only that, it gives us a chance to check in on ‘Twily.’ Besides, how many chances do we normally get to have a little fun?”

“Just making sure,” the stallion said, before moving around his companion to start picking the lock on the door. In this plan, she was the mastermind and he was the accomplice. The mare rolled her eyes, although the stallion could not have seen it, and moved to help him. They were inside the shop in seconds.

While the two intruders were not as concerned about waking Rarity as they would some of the other ponies who they felt would be involved in this whole operation, the two ponies still moved as silently as possible, so progress was slow if steady. They made their way to the master bedroom, keeping their eyes peeled and their ears open for anything that could change their plan.

The ponies soon came to a walk-in closet without having seen any sign of what they were looking for. The mare gingerly opened it, moving so as to make as little noise as possible. The hinges creaked slightly, but the stallion gave her the proper sequence of taps on her flank to indicate that Rarity had not reacted. The mare led the way into the closet.

Once inside, with the door closed, the ponies could shed a little directed light on the situation from their horns. Given Rarity’s occupation, it was not surprising that her walk-in closet would be quite large, and carry a variety of styles. The stallion started systematically checking each outfit starting from the immediately left of the door, while the mare went right for the back of the closet and started searching to either side of the center. It was tucked in a little further back, but she found it.

There were three different Mare-Do-Well costumes back there. One had a horn sewn in, while the second one had wings. The mare checked the fabric on both before turning her full attention to the third suit. This one must have been a prototype, with holes for both wings and horn, so the coverings had not yet been added. The mare carefully checked it to make sure everything else matched up with what she had heard about the suit Mare-Do-Well had worn earlier that day, and then she clicked her tongue softly once.

The stallion came over, and they worked together to lift the costume from the rack as soundlessly as possible. They folded it and placed it into the small saddlebag the stallion was carrying, then made their way back to the front door, making sure they had not disturbed anything else.

Once the two ponies were outside again, they made their way to the nearest bushes and removed their stealth suits before putting them away. They would look much less conspicuous moving about the town normally, if anypony at all was awake to spot them. They then made their way toward the northern edge, walking as though this was perfectly normal.

“Remember, we could get caught if we interfere near Twily,” the stallion said.

“That’s right, she knows how to shift focus now,” the mare said. “But I doubt Dust would do anything to hinder the plan.”

“He’s smart enough to know what’s up. I’m just worried what Twily might blurt out before she can think things through, if she was to see us.”

“She would be surprised,” the mare said, as they left Ponyville behind.

Mission accomplished.

Ponyville’s next crisis seemed to be a runaway bus, with five passengers, caroming down the same hill as the baby carriage from before. As Stardust watched from a distance, Dash came flying in. She settled for a moment beside the bus, and while Stardust couldn’t hear what she was saying, he could guess that she was announcing herself. After a moment she flew to the front of the bus and put her hooves down. But the bus spun her about, under it, and spat her out. Stardust’s concerns had come about: the Pegasus was not strong enough for this task.

But then there was Mare-Do-Well, standing near the end of the hill, where it became a sheer drop. She braced herself with her rear hooves ready to receive the bus. And on impact, slid only a few meters before stopping the bus. The five riders were saved, and the mare made her discrete exit once again, without having said a word. But she had proven herself to be stronger than Dash, as well as faster in certain circumstances.

Rainbow Dash had started to patrol Ponyville from the air in order to catch each crisis as they came about, and most probably to try to take the advantage in her imagined competition back from Mare-Do-Well. Dash was first to arrive at a construction site where wisps of smoke announced an out-of-control crane at work demolishing the framework for a multi-storey building Ponyville’s construction team were putting up. As Dash swooped in and tried to bring off her catchphrase, beams, girders, bricks, and tools started falling, threateneing the integrity of the building as well as threatening injury to ponies below.

Before Dash could get to anypony, Mare-Do-Well swooped in to scoop one pony on to her back to carry him to safety. Seeing this, Dash was both amazed and more than a little upset. She looked for somepony else to rescue.

In the same moment, something silvery-white streaked out of the sky. It bounced off joists and girders as it descended, and where it touched down the wood seemed to transform into metal, which spread somewhat. As the newcomer descended it scooped up two falling ponies and carried them to safety.

As the new flyer came around, Dash got a good look at it. The shaped, plate armour was the white that Dash had picked up as this pony had come in, and it was trimmed smartly in yellow. A T-shaped visor glowed blue from within the helmet that hid the wearer’s face. A long mane flowed out from the back for several meters, zigging and zagging as though made of lightning. The helmet sported a horn – or maybe that was the horn of a Unicorn? Like the rest of this stranger, its wings were armoured, and little jets of blue flame shot out from the nozzles at the back as it changed direction or charged. The whole thing had an off-white glow, making it hard to identify the pony’s mane and coat colour, and its cutie mark was covered by its armour. Even its gender was hard to tell, since it wasn’t built overly muscular, while the armour prevented Dash from seeing the curves of a mare.

The flyer accelerated back toward the failing tower, and bounced between the frameworks like a pinball, shouting “Fixit fixit fixit!” all the while. Again, Dash noted as she carried one pony free of the falling carnage, where the pony touched there was metal. At the top of the tower, the flyer half leaped and half flew across to the crane, and vanished inside the cabin. It took only a moment for the crane to return to a resting position, and then the smoke also stopped coming out of the cabin. As soon as that happened, the flyer leaped back out of the cabin, did a powerdive, and shot back off into the sky, in the direction of Canterlot.

“What just happened?” Dash asked, looking at the still-standing building frame. The construction ponies shrugged, while Mare-Do-Well made a discrete exit.

“That guy was fast, though,” one of the workers said.

“Was it a stallion?” Another said.

“No, it was a mare,” the silver-haired mare said. “Look at that hair!” Dash honestly didn’t know either.

Rainbow Dash had a fair chance when the Ponyville Hydromagical Dam broke two days later, but then again she wasn’t an expert on construction, and did not have anything on hoof with which to repair the leaking crack. The gushing water washed her away, until Mare-Do-Well lowered a log for her – and then used a spell to take the slabs from the dam and return them to their previous place. A second spell repaired the dam’s retaining walls as good as new.

Downstream, the flyer was back. It threw in a blue marble, and when that sank into the water, the water itself became instantly frozen, halting its advance on the town. As Dash pulled herself up and clear of the water, the ice spread past her, all the way to the dam, before starting to melt in a simple trickle.

Both Mare-Do-Well and the unknown flyer flew off without a word, Mare-Do-Well on real Pegasus wings. It seemed as though there was no way Dash could compete, or even keep up, at this rate. How could anypony be stronger and more agile than her, and be magic and fly?!

At Sugar Cube Corner, none of Dash’s friends were of any help to her bad mood. Twilight kept going on about how heroic and humble Mare-Do-Well was. Rarity, seeming slightly miffed at first, couldn’t stop admiring the difficult spell Mare-Do-Well had used to repair the dam. Fluttershy said that she thought Mare-Do-Well was a fashion hero, too.

Dusty wasn’t any help either. “C’mon, you’ve gotta know who this flyer is!”

“Because I’m an Alicorn and you think he or she’s an Alicorn too? You don’t know every Pegasus in Equestria, do you? Heck, I doubt Pinkie knows every Earth Pony in Equestria. And you know she’d like to,” Dusty said.

“There’s nopony else here, so you can drop the act, Gearhead,” Dash said, coming in closer so they could speak more conspiratorially. “Did you make that armour?”

“Oh, I wish I could lay claim to such a design, and the method – wow! But I’ve honestly got no idea how that flight system works. And come to think of it, are the wings fake? What about the horn? That’d completely blow the Alicorn theory out of the water!”

“I hadn’t thought of that, but if you didn’t make that stuff, who did?”

“It looks like I’ve got some competition,” Dusty said. “What a time not to be in a position to retort, eh? But you were around both times. Did you get a good look? What did the pony look like?”

“Eh. White and gold armour, which fit really well. Covered cutie mark. White. Really ridiculously long hair. The helmet covered everything. And glowy. Really glowy.”

“So we know about as much about this one as anypony else in this town,” Dusty said.

“The guy flew off toward Canterlot,” Dash said.

“Was it big enough to be Princess Celestia?”

“No, smaller.”

“Well, that’s it: I’m out of ideas,” Dusty said, and then he ate a cupcake.

“Out of ideas, eh? Well, here’s mine: I’m gonna prove I’m a better hero than Mare-Do-Well, and I’m gonna unmask the white one!” Dash made a hasty exit.

“On so few clues?” Dusty asked. The others were skeptical, but also concerned.

It didn’t take long before Mayor Mare organized a thank you parade for Mare-Do-Well and Fantastic Fix-It. That was the name most ponies seemed to like for the metal-clad hero, since they could not decide whether it was a mare or a stallion, or even an Earth Pony, Pegasus, or Unicorn. Some alternate names were Silver Streak, White Lightning, and Firewing. ‘Fix-It’ won out because that was the only thing anypony had heard the hero say.

Mare-Do-Well showed up for the parade, and so did Rainbow Dash, seeking to unmask her competion. Fix-It was the only no-show, so Dash decided to simply go after Mare-Do-Well – who evaded Dash’s first grab for the hat, and ran away. Dash gave chase. Stardust followed with Rarity and Fluttershy.

When the three ponies caught up, Dash had already unmasked Pinkie Pie, and Twilight and Applejack had voluntarily unmasked. Each of them listed off their planned contributions to Mare-Do-Well, although Rarity still seemed puzzled. “What is it?” Twilight asked.

“Well… it’s probably nothing, but I can’t seem to find one of the earlier iterations of the costume I was working on.”

“I guess we’ll just have to keep our eyes open for a fourth Mare-Do-Well. But that was really nice work at the dam. I almost made the huge mistake of jumping in on the action at the same time as you. I didn’t think you had that kind of magic in you, Rarity.”

“Me? I thought that was you.”

“Huh. I guess we already have been seeing some of the fourth Mare-Do-Well’s work. And she’s really good.”

“Agreed,” Rarity said.

“I didn’t even have to do a fly-by,” Fluttershy said.

“So that wasn’t you at the crane?” Pinkie Pie asked. “I decided not to jump in ‘cause it looked like you were having so much fun!”

“I’m sorry,” Fluttershy said demurely.

“Ooh, this Mare-Do-Well is good!”

“I’m just glad that nopony was hurt, so we didn’t end up having to step in as much as we thought we would,” Applejack said.

“So… is all this over?” Dash asked.

“Who knows? We could get the help of the fourth Mysterious Mare-Do-Well at any time,” Twilight said.

“Well, if I can do something to help I’m not about to wait around and do nothing. I know now that while there’re certain things I can’t do, the best I can do is what I can do.” Dash said.

“Good lesson,” Spike said, walking up. “It’s too bad I didn’t write that.”

“That’s okay, Spike. This probably should come from me anyway,” Dash said. “There’s just one other thing bothering me.”

“And what, pray tell, might that be?” Rarity asked.

“Who’s this ‘Fix-It’ character?”

“Beats me,” Applejack said, and the others either nodded or shrugged.

“Aren’t you gonna say something?” Dash asked Dusty.

“Oh, I suggested you might be able to use some back-up in the hero department, but I think the others came to that conclusion separate from me. I didn’t do anything else, other than watch events unfold.”

“So you’re not Fix-It?”

“I didn’t think I looked that tall,”

“No, you’re definitely smaller,”

“Smaller than Fix-It, who’s smaller than Princess Celestia. I still can’t figure out who could fit that pony’s profile.”

“Maybe it’s a mystery that should remain unsolved,” Twilight said.

“Oh, I agree,” Fluttershy said. “I’m sure she --”

“Or he,”

“-- will come to us when he or she is ready.”

Stardust looked at Apple Bloom’s blueprints and nodded. “A simple, but effective test,” he said. After Rainbow Dash, Pinkie-Do-Well, and Fix-It had collided for a haphazard team-up at that construction site, trying to get a cutie mark as architects had seemed like a natural leap for the Crusaders. Using supplies borrowed from the town’s construction company, the four foals worked together to design a simple building that they could construct. Most of the ideas had been Apple Bloom’s.

There was one wildcard element to the design: while Apple Bloom had come up with most of the ideas, the others just couldn’t help tossing in a few of their own. The resulting design was, in Stardust’s semi-professional opinion, three quarters sound and practical. He just hoped the remaining quarter didn’t end up compromising the building’s integrity, otherwise the result could be disasterous.

The blueprint was for an all-purpose testing facility, where the Crusaders could make further attempts at getting their cutie marks. It was, essentially, a large, open room with different compartments set into the floor. Each compartment could hold an artificial setting, within which the Crusaders could try numerous actitivities. And the ones at which they failed to get their cutie marks, they could easily dispose of, so they could make further attempts at other activities.

Unfortunely for their attempt, Scootaloo tried to work too quickly, and this often meant that she cut corners and the part she was working on fell apart almost as soon as she thought she’d hammered it together. Sweetie Belle wasn’t much better, since she could only handle bigger sections with help from at least one of the others. Apple Bloom was the only one who was getting it, and her progress always stalled out whenever she had to go help one of the others with their section, which was often. Stardust himself stuck to being halfway competent, even though he could have probably just used his magic to finish things off. The Crusaders decided to give up with only a fifth of the support structure up, and tore it down to avoid Applejack’s wrath. Architecture was out.

Next, they decided to try careers in comedy. This ended poorly, when their admittedly poorly-written jokes fell so flat even the crickets felt too embarrassed to chirp. “At least that was fairly quick and painless,” Scootaloo said as they left the stage.

“Speak for yourself,” Button Mash muttered. Stardust and Sweetie Belle made apologetic gestures. Stand-up comedy was out.

Stardust felt strange not working on his projects as Gearhead for so long, so he started sneaking off to collect resources or work on a gadget whenever he had the time. It seemed that when he accessed his magic, although he only had 300 seconds of it, there was little limit to what he could cast. Wanting to see how deeply his power ran, he called upon each Elemental Spirit in turn, pushing himself until he could not go any further.

Stardust found that when he called on a Spirit in this way, he could take on its properties. That meant that when he took on Lightning or Light he could travel, and think, at their speeds for as long as he was completely transformed. His five minute limit seemed much longer, experienced on the scale of a faster elemental, however the drawback was that he could not interact with anything material as long as he was transformed, otherwise he would set off a massive explosion.

As a result of this discovery, Stardust would set up his laboratory to receive the resource he was after before going off, transformed, to the area where he could find that given resource. He only prepared the lab when he was ready to bring the wood or gem or metal in, because he had to unearth and fly it back in realtime. Because he could range much further in lightningtime or at lightspeed than he could in realtime, Stardust set up a number of secret caches along the way, where he could stow his supplies for later pick-up. When he got close enough, he flew them the rest of the way, directly into the lab.

Naturally, Stardust always had to check to ensure he was never seen. Getting spotted close to Gearhead’s Gadgets could raise unwanted questions. Getting spotted going inside would be even worse. As long as he still had enough time, Stardust could bend the light around himself and his cargo to render them invisible to the eye, however he could not do any such thing about a pony’s sharper hearing or sense of smell. He always had to be careful.

That evening, Stardust had a nearby cache ready to be brought in. This one was located in the mountain where the red smokedrake had once nested. Stardust left the bins at the shop open, and after checking to ensure nopony was watching, transformed into light and flashed off, faster than most ponies could see, or even think to see.

Stardust arrived at the cache to find that Rarity was already there, collecting the jewels he had left behind. Of course Rarity’s Gem Finder spell could unearth Stardust’s caches, and she would just consider herself lucky. Stardust knew how the Unicorn was often under pressure to produce the next great work, so he barely slowed down before flashing off to another cache higher up the mountain – it made little difference when you were made of light.

Nopony was at the higher cache. Stardust came in for a landing, and reverted to his physical self before he could touch the ground. He lowered his head so his horn was near the ground, and called on the Alicorn version of his Geomancy to bring his supply of metals and gems to the surface. Knowing he would be pushing his luck, he enhanced himself to full stallion size, and slung on the saddlebags, double-checking to ensure the straps were secure. Then he took off.

The bags were heavily loaded, however Stardust used his magic to enhance his flight back to Ponyville. He flew as low and as fast as he dared, hiding from prying eyes as best he could. But the load was heavier than he’d calculated, and his magic timed-out. Stardust went into a power-dive, then called upon his flight. It was a short drop, but the speed boost helped. Now that he was relying on his flight, he could make it the rest of the way back – but he would not be able to cast anything until a couple seconds before his flight timed-out.

When he got back to Gearhead’s Gadgets, Stardust found Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle standing at the front door, and looking through the windows. He realized they would spot him if he landed nearby, and they would probably hear the saddlebags settling. He decided to turn around, and headed for the library instead. He would have to hide his saddlebags and wait for his next opportunity to take them in… and hope Rarity didn’t find them in the meantime.

“You’ve been gone awhile,” Twilight said when he came in.

“Sometimes it’s just a thrill to spread one’s wings,” Stardust said. “Spike already asleep?”

“Yep, and you should be too. But first…” Twilight levitated a letter in front of him so he could read it.

“’Consult?’” Stardust raised an eyebrow. “Then I can take it they haven’t made any worthwhile progress.” It was true: if Princess Celestia or any of her researchers had found a way to turn him back into Gearhead, Princess Celestia would have said so in the letter. Instead, she was requesting that he come to Canterlot for a consultation.

“Maybe they’ve got a lead,” Twilight said. “Princess Celestia is the most powerful caster in Equestria. If anypony can find a way to turn you back, it’s her.”

“Alternatively, it could be something I’ve got to muddle through on me own: new phenomena, new circumstances, new solutions. No precendent.”

“You never know,” Twilight said.

Stardust suddenly recalled that Rarity had been on the mountain, and she would now be on her way back. That meant only one thing if Sweetie Belle was still out when her older sister got back. “I forgot something,” he said, and went back outside.

When Stardust got back to Gearhead’s Gadgets, Scootaloo was trying to boost Sweetie Belle to see through the second storey windows. Naturally, they could not reach very high up compared to the first floor. Stardust made sure to stamp his hooves as he walked, so they would hear him coming. “See anything yet?” He asked.

“No,” Sweetie Belle said, then she turned her head. “Dusty? What are you doing here?”

“Lookin’ for you,” Stardust’s reply made Sweetie Belle blush a little. “I’ve heard that Miss Rarity’s on her way back, which means you’d better high-tail it home.”

“Thanks,” Sweetie Belle dropped down to the ground, and Scootaloo rubbed sore shoulder joints. “How did you know we were here?”

“Educated guess,” Stardust said, looking past the two fillies. Not much could be seen through the curtains, that way nopony would be tempted to break in and steal anything. Sweetie Belle blushed again. “Hey, you’re worried about your magic teacher, right?”

“Oh, right. Yeah. That,” Sweetie Belle pawed the ground awkwardly, then her expression returned to normal.

“We’d better get home,” Scootaloo said.

“Me too,” Stardust said. “I sorta skipped out on Miss Twilight to come warn you.”

“Oh yeah, you’d better get back. Thanks again,” Sweetie Belle said, and they all went off toward their respective homes. Stardust really did hope Sweetie Belle didn’t end up getting in trouble, especially on his account.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders weren’t Dusty’s only friends: he also had started to hang out with Featherweight, Pip, and Button Mash, making a second foursome – this one entirely male. Button was showing the others some moves at a new fighter game at the arcade, and he was obviously aware that Dusty was staring at his beanie.

“Got something to say?”

“It just keeps spinning,”

“And..?”

“It’s perpetual motion. That’s impossible,”

“’Per-petal?”

“Perpetual. It means it doesn’t stop, ever. But everything slows down and stops eventually, so it’s impossible.”

“Says the male Alicorn,”

“Touche,”

And of course, Button was correct: Gearhead had already done and seen a lot of ‘impossible’ things happen, and he was still very young, even more so as Dusty.

“You know what’s really impossible?”

“What?”

“You beating me at this game,”

“is that a challenge?”

“You bet it is!”

“You’re on,” Dusty said, taking his place at the neighbouring console. Of course Button did beat him, but Dusty gave him a good fight. Button was an expert gamer, able to beat almost any game he played. But he sometimes took his games a little too seriously. Pip and Feathwerweight also played, and got beaten.

“Ah-hah! The Stache remains undefeated,” Button crowed.

“The Stache would do well to avoid playing Aunt Luna, then,” Dusty said.

“What, because she’s really good at carnival games?”

“She’s exceptionally good at them, and able to quickly master any new game to boot.”

“This is different, though.”

“Not to her, it’s not,” Dusty said.

“We’ll see about that,”

“Maybe we will… not sure when, though. I’m not aware of any plans for anypony to come to Ponyville.”

“Not that they always tell you,” Featherweight said.

“True, they don’t.”

“Until then, at least, I’m undefeated,” Button said.

“Eiyup,”

“Got any more spare bits?”

“Nope,”

“Oh well. Lets go toss a ball,” Button said. His game had just gone ‘over.’ Dusty chuckled to himself: the Stache had been defeated by the game.

“Say,” Button said as they left the arcade, “why do you hang out with Sweetie Belle and her friends all the time?”

“It’s not 'all the time,' but they do tend to be a lot of fun. Except when they’re trying something really dangerous. Then I’m there to make sure they don’t get too hurt.”

“So which one d’you like best?”

“Relax, we’re just friends,”

“Why’re you telling me to relax?”

“I thought maybe you had a thing for Sweetie Belle,”

“What makes you think that?”

“You said ‘Sweetie Belle and,’ like in your mind she comes before the others.”

“So?”

“And you also hang around with Sweetie Belle more than with any other filly,”

“I do?”

“It may not be so noticeable, or maybe just coincidence. If I believed in coincidences.”

“You don’t?”

“This is a land full of magic, which means there isn’t a lot of room for coincidence. But we’re getting off topic.” They had a ball, and started to toss it between them.

“Which was?”

“Your crush on Sweetie Belle,” Dusty said, bouncing the ball to Button.”

“I do not!” The denial only made Dusty and Featherweight chuckle. “I really don’t,” Button said sulkily.

“Maybe it’s coincidence after all,”

“You’d better believe it is!”

“Hey, what d’you think of Fix-It?” Pip asked.

“What a lame name,” Button said. “Has anypony even seen him?”

A shrug went around the field: Nopony had seen Fix-It since the dam. Next Chapter: 12. Meek But Fleet Estimated time remaining: 9 Hours, 34 Minutes