Rainbow Dash held her breath as she flew through the thick cloud of black smoke. Less than a second later she was clear of it and gaining speed. The trail of fiery wisps and drops of rainbow blood that hadn’t the time to fall was clear enough, but the dragon was too far ahead to see through the smoke. She needed to go faster.

Last time Rainbow Dash had been able to outfly the dragon through pure fear. Now she was motivated by loyalty. It was time to see which was stronger.

One rainbow after another exploded in the sky. Rainbow Dash sped up.

This is all my fault.

Twilight held her head still with magic and watched Rarity float leaves of lettuce onto the Cerberus’s bleeding chest. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy hoisted Tank up and pressed her against the leaves, which began to glow.

I didn’t conceive of the dragon as a real opponent.

“Keep the pressure,” Tank said as they began to slip.

Nightmare Moon showed me mercy, and I expected the same from Niddhog. Twilight remembered the violent creatures she had read about in one of the oldest books in the Canterlot Library. He is more human than animal.

“Heavy,” Pinkie Pie grunted. Rarity added her own magic to support Tank. Twilight began to as well. Fluttershy snapped at her.

“No! We’re enough.”

Twilight relented. Applejack was sleeping with a bit of help from Twilight’s magic. Her life wasn’t in any immediate danger, Fluttershy said, but she was in a lot of pain and probably wouldn’t ever stand straight or do her usual work on the farm ever again. She said all of this in a calm voice, as if ponies were permanently crippled around her all the time.

She sat with Spike, who wouldn’t stop clenching his fists.

“A dragon did this,” Spike said.

“You’re an individual,” Twilight answered automatically.

“I should have done something.”

“No.”

Spike didn’t say anything more. Twilight laid her head against his and prayed for Rainbow Dash to return soon with Little Strongheart.

She was gaining on Niddhog. The dragon was in sight. The problem was, so were the buffaloes. The stampede was headed toward the smoke and Appleloosa. Some buffaloes carried spears. But Chief Thunderhooves did not. To Rainbow Dash’s surprise, Little Strongheart was nowhere near the front.

The buffaloes had to have seen the dragon, but they weren’t stopping or changing course. Did they think Little Strongheart would protect them? That wouldn’t work.

Rainbow Dash needed to go faster. She strained herself, wings beating furiously, but the dragon was rearing up, taking a deep breath, and the orange-yellow gas was beginning to stream out of his mouth.

Then a giant flying snake slammed into him.

The two serpents wrestled in midair. Fluttershy’s sky serpent wrapped herself around Niddhog, squeezing like she might crush the life out of him. Niddhog, in turn, seized the sky serpent’s neck with both hands. In the split second that Rainbow Dash blew past them and turned around, it was clear Niddhog was going to win the battle of strangulation.

Then an apple tree grew out of the sky serpent’s head and hit Niddhog in the face.

He whipped back, grabbed the tree by the trunk, and ripped it off the sky serpent’s head. Blood and scales burst into the air to mix with the red fruit that was flung loose. He beat the sky serpent across the side of the head with the tree. Three times was enough for the sky serpent’s grip to loosen. She fell to the ground, landing with a crash like thunder. The ground shook.

The dragon was smart and ruthless, a completely different reptile from Tank. Fluttershy had told Rainbow Dash about the clever, inventive, and downright cruel things primates thought of to do to each other. The dragon fought like a monkey, merciless, with full strength and every possible advantage. This wasn’t about hunger but the desire to destroy, to crush and kill, for what end Rainbow Dash didn’t know, only that she intended to stop it.

The buffaloes had stopped by now, at the worst possible time. They needed to run. Little Strongheart was at the fore now, and from the frozen look in her eye Rainbow Dash knew the claim of driving off Niddhog before had been a lie.

Before the dragon could take the breath it needed to incinerate the stampede, Rainbow Dash took off at Newton 3. The rainbow explosions caught the dragon’s attention, but Rainbow Dash easily dodged the swiping claws and snapping jaw. She wrapped him in her rainbow stream, which wouldn’t stop him, but she just needed to distract him. She decelerated in an instant, bouncing across the dragon’s snout, turned in front of his left eye, stood on her forelegs, and—“RAINBOW BUCK!”

The dragon screamed, and so did Rainbow Dash. She took off like a rocket and leaking fluids like a badly designed one. Then she caught herself and tore through through the air, slipping past the dragon’s claws, bounced along the snout, turned in front of the eye—“RAINBOW BUCK!”

Again the dragon screamed, thrashing. Rainbow Dash kicked off the snout and ran down the belly, jumped onto the whipping tail, and burst into flight just ahead of the jet of flame. She rode it for a death-defying moment, then gave a might flap with her wings and outsped it, turning up and around to let the stream of flame pass her. It was without a doubt the most awesome thing she had ever done.[1]

[1]And therefore, in Rainbow Dash’s world, the most awesome thing anypony had ever done.

Any animal would have run. Niddhog didn’t. One hand over his left eye, he flew after Rainbow Dash.

If he expected her to run, he had another think coming. Leaving a rainbow explosion behind her, she streaked toward him—if she tore through his right eye—

His mouth opened, showing the burning gates of hell, and Rainbow Dash realized her mistake. She burst up almost perpendicular to her previous direction, and saw the tail coming down.

Rainbow Dash woke up and was surprised by it.

“Why did you come here?” Little Strongheart demanded.

Rainbow Dash felt herself all over. Her body was intact, all four limbs in place, her wings covered in feathers and not charcoal. A buffalo was carrying her on her back, the ride bumpy but not unpleasant.

What happened, was the first thought and was quickly overridden by, “I need you to come with me to Appleloosa.”

Little Strongheart scowled. “Why?”

“Applejack broke and her Cerberus is dying. Come on!” She tried to get up and found that her wings wouldn’t budge.”

“I don’t think you’ll be flying anywhere for a week,” Little Strongheart said. “I’m amazed you even managed one of those rainbow bursts.”

Rainbow Dash groaned. Her wings felt empty, like she had two feathery sacks attached to her back. “Then take me to Appleloosa! My friends need your help.”

“We are going to Appleloosa.”

“What?” Rainbow Dash tried to sit up again and managed to roll on her side. Little Strongheart was walking beside the buffalo carrying her, a red crystal on her chest and an annoyed look on her face. They were in the midst of the herd, traveling steadily toward Appleloosa. “What’s going on?”

“We were going to attack. Now we have a hostage.”

Rainbow Dash looked around. “Who?”

“You, idiot.”

“Oh, okay.” That was no problem. No pony could fly as fast as…oh.

They dipped into the valley where Appleloosa was. Little Strongheart’s red crystal flashed, and a gust of wind blew a tunnel right through the smokey cloud, pointing clear to Appleloosa.

“What happened to the dragon?” Rainbow Dash said.

“You nearly dodged the tail, which was still enough to take you out,” Little Strongheart sneered. “Then, as it grabbed for you, it got a tree trunk in its injured eye for its troubles. I blocked the obligatory firestream with the earth, and it took off.”

“He took off,” Rainbow Dash corrected. She felt the top of her head. Had she been part tree? Fluttershy would be so jealous. Oh no, Fluttershy! “What about the sky serpent?”

Little Strongheart shrugged.

“PI BEAM!”

Silver light glowed at the front of the herd. A buffalo cried out in pain.

The corners of Little Strongheart’s mouth turned up into points as sharp as dragon teeth. “Oh no! Chief Thunderhooves!”

The earth rose up and bucked Sheriff Silverstar in the jaw. He fell over and didn’t get back up. No pony moved as the stream of buffaloes carrying spears and a Rainbow Dash marched into Appleloosa, Little Strongheart at the front.

“What is the meaning of this, ponies?” she demanded. “Your unprovoked assassination of Chief Thunderhooves will not go unpunished!”

“I’m not dead,” Chief Thunderhooves groaned. “Just very confused about my intuitions.”

“T-Terminal secretions!”

“You’re carrying spears,” Twilight said. “I mean, your intention isn’t exactly subtle.”

That earned her a rock-buck to the face. Combined with Twilight’s magic firmly holding her neck still, the result was a shattered jaw and several teeth knocked loose. Pain suggested that Twilight keep her mouth shut, or at least shut enough to keep quiet while the blood flowed out.

“Okay,” Little Strongheart said while Fluttershy helped Twilight sit down and gathered her teeth. “Listen up, ponies! This is our land and our apple orchard, and you all are going to pack up and get the buck out of here before I start ripping ponies limb from limb.”

“Excuse me, but would you mind healing the Cerberus with your magic?” Fluttershy said.

“Fluttershy?” Rainbow Dash sat up on the buffalo. “Fluttershy! Little Strongheart is evil!”

“Oh, I’m sure she has a heart of gold deep down. Or, um, whatever metal she chooses. I don’t see any reason why society should get to prescribe gold for everypony. I mean, everyone.”

Little Strongheart regarded the dying Cerberus disinterestedly. “What’s wrong with it?”

“The dragon sharpened his claws on her.”

At the mention of the dragon Little Strongheart went stiff. “Foolish ponies. This is your punishment for trespassing onto our sacred lands.”

“We had permission!” Rarity said. Her magic was still supporting Tank, whose eyes were closed.

There was a moment of silence. “Is the Tortoise Queen going to say anything?” Little Strongheart sneered.

“She’s concentrating on keeping the Cerberus alive!” Rarity snapped.

“Actually, I think she’s asleep,” Pinkie Pie said. “We can probably put her down now.” They did so, and the cabbage still glowed.

“What magic is that?” Little Strongheart demanded. “Tell her to cease the spell at once!”

“I perceive,” Fluttershy said, “that there is much you do not understand, Little Strongheart, about our intentions, goals, and abilities.”

The earth bucked. Twilight caught it in her own levitation magic before Fluttershy could be touched. Little Strongheart was predictable in that way, and so was the vicious blow Twilight received in the stomach for her trouble. It was enough to lift her off the ground, and it took several agonizing seconds with Fluttershy by her side to start breathing again.

Little Strongheart smirked. Pinkie Pie spoke. “I propose a truce. You stop hurting my friends, and I don’t kill everypony here.” She held the potted Bloomberg again and gave the pot a meaningful shake.

Little Strongheart narrowed her eyes. Rainbow Dash spoke up. “Pinkie, no! I can’t die yet, not while I’m still rich!”

“Then what am I supposed to do?” Pinkie Pie said. “It’s like the prisoner’s dilemma all over again, and she’s ratting me out!”

“The prisoner’s dilemma?” Rarity said. “But here we all are, talking, and no pony is captured.”

Rainbow Dash clapped her hooves to her cheeks. “Something's isomorphic!” she squealed. “Quick, girls, let’s save the world with economics!”

Little Strongheart stamped the earth, and the earth cracked. “What are you all talking about?”

“Everypony is going to die, or everypony is going to live,” Pinkie Pie said.

“She means to include buffaloes,” Fluttershy added hurriedly. “No offense. Not that we have the magic of intent or anything.” Fluttershy frowned. “I suppose that’s Princess Cadance.”

Little Strongheart looked absolutely furious, and afraid. "Who the hell is Princess Cadance?”

“You need our help beating the dragon,” Rainbow Dash said. “I know you’re afraid.”

“Shut up, little pony.”

“I know you were going to run away! I know loyalty when I see it, and what I was seeing was a whole lot of nothing.”

Little Strongheart almost lashed out again. Pinkie Pie waved Bloomberg threateningly. “Ah ah. If this tree falls, you’ll hear it no matter where you are.”

This was out of control. Twilight bled a little more on Fluttershy, who seemed to get the message. “Little Strongheart, you have two choices, and so do we. You can heal our friends, or fight us. And we can fight the dragon, or fight you.”

"You can, no, will leave."

"No."

“If we fight the dragon, you can attack and destroy us,” Rarity said. “And if we fight you, then of course you’ll fight us. So it seems that no matter what we choose to do, you’ll attack us.”

“But from our perspective, it’s the same,” Pinkie Pie said. “You can heal us, and we can attack you and win. Or you can fight us, in which case we’ll fight you. This is a game, and no pony is having fun.”

“So everypony is going to die no matter what?” a buffalo said. Fluttershy winced.

“That’s just plain stupid,” one of the Appleloosans said.

“Yep,” Pinkie Pie growled, “and yet it’s all we seem to have.”

"If you ponies weren't so selfish," Little Strongheart said, "you would slay the dragon for the benefit of your fellow ponies and then leave."

"Maybe we are selfish," Rainbow Dash said. "But I don't want to let you beat us, even if it means everypony in the world dying!"

"She'll just attack us when we come down from the mountain," Rarity said.

“But this isn’t the prisoner’s dilemma,” Fluttershy said. “We can talk. We can reason things out. We both know that we’re both going to destroy each other, and we both know that we both know that.”

Twilight bled excitedly. Was Fluttershy going to…?

“And since we now both know that we both what we’re both thinking,” Fluttershy continued, “it stands to reason that for us to fight here, now, or later at the top of the mountain before the bloodied corpse of a dragon, is stupid. If we could just, in this moment, speak honestly to each other, and listen and respond in kind, that is, if we could just persuade each other that no one here is evil and no one here is good, we’re all just stuck with these awful incentives, but we don’t have to be, we could just not be the things that are thus constrained….”

Fluttershy was struggling, running out of words. Rainbow Dash said what she couldn’t. “The point is, are you going to be a leader of buffaloes or not?”

“I think,” Little Strongheart said coldly, “that I will take my chances with that potted plant.”

Rarity whispered something to her parasprite, who floated through the air to Little Strongheart and whispered something. Little Strongheart’s eyes widened as if the contents of her diary had just been shared with the cute stallion at school.

“Okay, I’ll heal your friends,” she said quickly.

Rarity beamed as the parasprite proudly returned. “You see? A little blackmail is the beginning of many a happy friendship.”

“And then you’re all leaving before I kill everypony.”

Rarity soured. Braeburn spoke up. “What about the dragon?”

Little Strongheart rounded on him, but a buffalo spoke. “Yes, what about the dragon? The tree trick won’t work again.”

Twilight bled smugly. Buffaloes were the surest threat to Little Strongheart, not ponies. She wished the other ponies understood that better. It had been foolish to count on her own ability to intercede at any moment….

“I can handle the dragon!” Little Strongheart snapped.

“It didn’t look like you could handle the dragon,” another buffalo said.

“If it goes on forever, it must repeat eventually,” Chief Thunderhooves mumbled.

“We should work together to beat the dragon,” Braeburn said, clearly enjoying his new position as Sheriff-By-Default. “That’s how we do things in AH-PAH-LOOMMPH!”

Little Strongheart whipped her head in the direction of Twilight. Their eyes met, and an unspoken understanding passed between them.

We may be as different as night and day, but we both utterly despise Braeburn and the way he says ‘Appeloosa.’

Little Strongheart glared—and then smiled in a conciliatory way, the expression sliding into position like a practiced choreography. “Of course we should all work together to defeat that terrible dragon. What a wonderful idea! You ponies will travel up the mountain, and you ponies will stay right here, and I’ll heal up your poor little monsters, if they aren’t already dead. I will even work out an agreement for buffaloes and ponies to live in peace.”

“Good, cuz my legs are getting tired,” said Pinkie Pie, struggling to hold Bloomberg aloft. She wrinkled her nose. “Uh-oh. Ah…ah…”

Oh, no.

“AH-CHOO!”

Rarity and Twilight managed to catch Bloomberg in time.

Thanks to Little Strongheart, guided by Fluttershy, the Cerberus was stabilized, Applejack, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Sheriff Silverstar set to mending, and Fluttershy and Little Strongheart went out beyond the cloud of smoke to find the fallen sky serpent. Tank woke up after three days and, after a long meal of lettuce, guided Chief Thunderhooves through his crisis. It was time they had to lose. It would take a week, Little Strongheart and Fluttershy said, for everypony to be better. During that week, unbeknownst to their sis—uh, Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash, the Austrian Crusaders were running amok in Ponyville.

“Watch out!” Apple Bloom said from her hiding spot behind a tree root. “A Keynesian liberal socialist spotted at two o’clock!”

Scootaloo jumped out of the tree branch and landed on Big Macintosh, who calmly went on his way while Scootaloo savaged his ears.

“Another Keynesian liberal socialist and their economic fallacies defeated!” Sweetie Belle cheered once they pulled Scootaloo out of the bush Big Mac left her in.

“At this rate we’ll become real Austrians for sure!” Scootaloo said. They all checked their flanks quickly.

“Okay, no looking at our flanks for three hours,” Apple Bloom said not ten minutes since she had last advised the same.

“Then there’ll be a Keynesian liberal socialist at five o’clock,” Sweetie Belle warned.

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked at each other. Sweetie Belle simpered. Rarity said she was to be ditzy and foolish right until it actually mattered, and she intended to do her sister proud. She couldn’t wait to see Rarity’s face when she came home after a pointless trek up a mountain and saw the image of a dragon sliced in two by Austria on Sweetie Belle’s flank. She also couldn’t wait to find out what Austria was.

“Okay, girls, we’ve got three hours until our cutie marks appear,” Apple Bloom said. “Let’s go find that dragon and slay it!”

And so the three young fillies skipped off to the only place the dragon could be, the realm of darkness and terror that existed just ten miles south of Ponyville: the Everfree Forest. They went, singing:

We are the Austrian Crusaders

On a quest to discover market prices

We will never stop the journey

Until we’ve saved the world from socialism! Next Chapter: Rational Expectations Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 4 Minutes