“…Ivan, would you stop looking at me like that?”

…

“Seriously Ivan. I’m not angry at you.”

…

“Alright, I’m disapointed.”

“Why?”

“Because that sudden bout of illness was all your fault. And I would have never known that if you didn’t tell the nurse. Meaning that if I wasn’t there to carry you to a safe and warm bed, you would’ve collapsed on the way back to the farm before the storm after walking the fillies home, and you would have died in the street.”

“…thank you.”

“Well yea-“

“Saved me. Thank you.”

“…you’re welcome Ivan. Just don’t do something that stupid again.”

…

“Promise me Ivan.”

“…Promise.”

“Pinkie promise.”

“No.”

“Alright fine. If I hear you tried for a Darwhinny Award again though, don’t expect me to pull your flanks out of the fire.”

“Noted.”

“Not just for me. I know a set of fillies pretty attached to you. You’d make them cry.”

“…Promise.”

“And I promise not to tell anybody that big bad Ivan loves his fellow crusaders.”

…

“Ivan, stop looking at me like that.”

“Not angry. Disapointed.”

“…who taught you how to tell jokes?”

--

“Feelin’ any better Ivan?” Applejack asked as Ivan and Cheerliee reached the farm. Ivan nodded.

“Well that’s good. Sorry to say the season ended without ya. Ah’ve got no more work at the moment. Might call on ya later.”

“…Ah.”

“If ya come back tomorrow, Ah’ll have yer bits for the work ya did ready. We’ll just call those sick days the vacation ya never took. In the meantime, take another day off. Might do ya good to relax while yer healthy for a change.”

…come to think of it, that did sound nice. Maybe another nap before the crusaders tracked him down.

“Hiya Ivan!”

Nevermind.

“We heard you were really sick, so we made you a lot of food!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed, dragging an oversized basket.

“Well, it was more like we tried to get our culinary cutie marks.” Scootaloo added.

“…it didn’t go well.” Dinky chimed in. “Then Applejack came in and helped, and we learned that the stove is not a fast track to delicious things.”

“Should we write a letter to Princess Celestia? Twilight always does whenever she learns anything.”

“This had nothing to do with friendship Sweetie.”

“So now we got all this food!” Applebloom said, “…wanna help us eat it? It was for you and all…”

“…lots.” Ivan stated, looking over the oversized basket.

“…Wanna have a picnic?” Cheerilee suggested.

--

Twenty minutes of Ivan lugging around the one picnic basket to rule them all later, they were seated on the top of a hill in the shade of a nearby tree.

“Well first up is… an apple pie!” Cheerilee said, reaching into the mystery basket. “We can save that for dessert…”

Ivan reached in next, pulling out…

“…another apple pie? Well, I guess… lots of dessert?” Cheerilee then noticed a set of very sheepish crusaders.

“…it’s all pie isn’t it?”

“Nope!” Dinky answered.

“Cobbler.” Ivan confirmed, pulling another treat out of the basket.

“…so they’re all sugary desserts?”

“They always make us feel better when we’re sick! We figured if we made a bunch, Ivan’d feel awesome!”

“Sweets don’t make a pony better.” Cheerilee said, pulling out a tub of vanilla icecream that was somehow not melted at all despite being in a basket with several hot treats. A unicorn probably did it.

“We’re not dumb Miss Cheerilee!” Sweetie Belle said. “We couldn’t just make him better, so we just wanted to make him feel better. Eating a slice of pie does that!”

“…and you made all this?” the teacher asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Well… we’re sorta the reason that… his leg’s broken.” Sweetie Belle confessed. “And we hadn’t done a good job of making it up to him yet. So…”

“…and you?” Cheerilee asked Dinky. The grey filly hadn’t had anything to do with the leg.

“I just like him.” The unicorn replied.

“…good.” Ivan spoke up, and the other ponies looked over to where he was sitting, and now working his way through a slice of pie.

“…ya mean it?” Applebloom asked. The other three fillies leaned forward in anticipation.

“Yes.” Ivan said, lifting the brim of his hat. “Thank you.”

Most of the company’s attention was off Ivan as the assorted fillies exchanged victory cries and high-hooves. And flank checks that uncovered nothing.

Cheerilee was still watching though when Ivan took another bite. And he smiled. It was a small thing, barely there, and it didn’t last long before his hat’s brim came down and his mouth straightened, but it was genuine and warm.

“Well, I suppose a day of treats once in a while wouldn’t hurt anypony.” Cheerilee conceded, opening the tub of ice cream and passing around more plates. “Best to eat them while they’re hot anyway.”

“’Course a day of treats is alright! If it wasn’t, think about Pinkie Pie.”

“Rainbow Dash!” Three of the crusaders chorused as they all looked up to find the pegasus lounging in the tree above them.

“You look like you’ve got a lot of pie there. It just wouldn’t be right if I left you to tackle it all alone. There’s room for one more, right?”

“Sure there is!” Scootaloo replied excitedly, nudging over to make room for the pegasus and scrambling for another plate.

“Awesome. So you made all this?”

“Well… my friends helped…”

“And you made it all for this guy? Does somepony have a crush?”

“No-“

“Oh, sorry, I’m supposed to introduce myself, right?” The pegasus said, turning to Ivan. His hat was down again, and he regarded the intruder silently. “Rainbow Dash. I also go by ‘Painbow’, ‘that mare we all want or want to be’, and ‘what the moon was that it was moving too fast to see so it was probably Rainbow Dash’. You may have heard of me.”

“No.”

“Well no wonder you look so mean. Your life is not complete unless there’s a bit of Dash in it. If that author dude Pinkie’s going on about wrote a book? Hero, right here.”

“Sure.”

“…so what’s your name?”

“This is Ivan! He drove a mine cart and blew up half a mountain and went into Everfree and went through a huge gauntlet of traps, spikes, flamethrowers, tennis ball launchers, and he did it all with that broken leg. Also my sister shot lasers!”

“Huh, that’s not bad for a- wait. Rarity did what?!”

“Shot lasers! She said something about self defense, and she won’t teach me how b-“

“Rarity. Miss prissy frou-frou ‘Rainbow Dash stop being a rock star on my roof’ Rarity. Shot lasers. Like, in real life.”

“Yeah!”

“…Welp. That redeems her for hating metal and awesome right there. And makes her like, ten percent cooler on top of that.”

“Coolest pony ever!”

“Besides me.”

“She shot lasers and beat up a bunch of diamond dogs because I was in trouble. My sister’s amazing.”

“She was cool once. I’m cool all the time. After we’re done with the picnic here, I’ll prove it. Who wants a show from a future Wonderbolt?”

“Hey, Dash, could you teach me a few tricks?” Scootaloo asked, inching a little closer. “I always thought you were the coolest.”

“Sure, why not? Lesson from the Dash. I figure it’s the least I can do after this pie here. Sun this is good.”

“Woo! Cutie Mark Crusader Solo Mission: Stunt Flier!”

“Solo mission?!” Sweetie Belle complained, narrowing her eyes at the orange pegasus.

“Hey, I gotta agree with Scoots here.” Dash said, “Even I can’t teach somepony to fly if they don’t have wings.”

“Awwww!”

--

Sure enough, Ivan was sitting off a full stomach (the crusaders insisted he have at least one slice of everything) with Cheerilee as Rainbow Dash grandstanded before the supposed lesson was to begin.

“…you should smile more often.” Cheerilee said, once she was sure Ivan was committed to the bottle of cider he was drinking from. She giggled as he started coughing and sputtering.

“What?”

“You smiled earlier. It looks good on you.”

“…did I?”

“Mm. Do you just like being this… fridge?”

“…No.”

“Well, why are you always hiding behind that hat then? Looking like you’ve got some kind of tragic past that made it impossible for you to feel. I stopped reading those books when I started going to highschool.”

“…Private.”

“What, your emotions? Really?”

“Dislike showing.”

“…is it my business to know why?”

“No.”

“We are friends. Aren’t we?” She expected an affirmative, but instead he seemed to be thinking it over.

“…I hope you don’t think my saving your life didn’t mean anything.”

“…few friends.”

“Really? So I guess you met some while travelling?”

“One.”

“So the others are at your hometown?”

“…homeless.”

“…so where are your friends?”

“Here.”

“In Ponyville? You mean that when you first came here, you had only one friend in the entire world?”

“…yes.”

“So I take it that suddenly having… several friends just feels weird?”

“…Mm.”

“…It’s alright to make a lot of friends. If anypony here calls you friend, it’s because we think you’re worth it, even with all the hiding you do.”

“Oh…”

“I call you friend. Do you call me friend?”

“…yes.”

“Well good. So you don’t have to hide from me. Or the crusaders. Or Big Mac, or any of the other ponies around here who like you. Not saying you have to throw off the hat and coat and start being Pinkie Pie levels of happy at everypony, but… baby steps, right?”

“…foalish.”

“Yes, you are. A little bit at least. Good thing you’re being foalish in front of a friend though, right?”

“Mm…”

Ivan felt Cheerilee’s side press against his when she inched a little closer. Something reassuring as he began to think his way through personal revelations.

…having friends sounded nice. Even if the thought was intimidating for reasons he was still trying to piece together. It felt like his life was changing entirely too fast.

He didn’t really miss the times when things were simple though. Cheerilee alone was proof that these times were better.

--

“…and that’s how you do a buccaneer blaze!” Dash finished, looking over the awed fillies with pride.

“…now, could I have a volunteer from the audience to try some tricks? How about the orange pegasus?”

“Yeah!” Scootaloo cheered, getting up and trotting toward the mare.

“Alright, so. Just like I said.”

“…wait, you want me to try the buccaneer blaze?!”

“Well I don’t expect you to get it on the first try. You’re not me. But seeing you try might give me an idea where you’re at.”

“…um…”

“Well? You gonna try, or what?” Scootaloo paused, and gestured for Rainbow Dash to come closer. And when the mare bent down her head, the filly whispered something in her ear. Dash’s eyes widened.

“Wait. You can’t fly?”

“Not so loud!” She hissed, looking over at the conversing Cheerilee and Ivan and hoping to Celestia that they hadn’t heard.

“…wait, you’re serious? You can’t? At all?”

“I can! Like… a little. I did it for six seconds once!”

“…Wow, how are you even in flight school? I did my first rainboom at your age!”

“I’m… not. In flight school.”

“…hasn’t anypony taught you anything? Are your parents that lazy?” Dash noticed too late that the other three crusaders were looking at her with something approaching horror. Her attention was focused more on how Scootaloo was growing rapidly more and more embarassed. She had planned to keep lowering the bar until she found the root of the problem, and then encourage the filly to laugh it off.

“I mean, my dad taught me how to fly before I went to flight school for the harder stuff. Had to get up there somehow!”

“.M-my…”

“What, is only one of ‘em a pegasus? Ooooh, I get it, you got your wings from some great great grandparent. Why didn’t your parents get a tutor then?” Scootaloo didn’t reply. Her head had dipped down, but Dash could see that her face was reddening. She heard the filly sniffing back tears.

“Hey, did I say something wrong? Come on, can’t be that bad, can it?”

“My parents are dead!” Dash’s eyes opened in shock as the area grew incredibly quiet. Cheerilee and Ivan’s heads whirled over at the sound of the outburst.

“Yeah, I guess my dad is lazy! Since the only excuse he’s got for why he didn’t teach me is because he’s dead! Do you think that’s funny? Do you think I haven’t already heard it all?!”

“Scoots, I didn-“

“Buck you Dash! I don’t know why I ever wanted to be you! I-!” She trailed off as she slowly began to take notice of the other ponies staring at her, flabbergasted.

Her mouth opened and closed a few times, the most coming from it being wordless squeaks and sobs. A few seconds of this passed before she took off in a random direction, running as hard as she could.

“Scoots, wait!” Dash shouted, about to take off after her when a purple hoof landed on her shoulder.

“…I think you should let her go.”

“But I-“

“I know fillies. She needs to let off some steam. That means you too Ivan!” She called, causing the green stallion to freeze in his tracks.

“…I… I didn’t know, really…”

“…She lives at the ponyville orphanage. And the funds are… pretty tight there, so Playpen doesn’t have the means to hire tutors for the pegasi colts and fillies.”

“Oh.” Dash said, slumping to the ground.

“Give her some time by herself. She’ll calm down and come back on her own. Then you can apologise.”

“Y-yeah…”

--

“Stupid Dash, stupid useless wings, stupid flight school…

“…stupid dead parents…”

Running was good enough. She didn’t need to fly when she could run. Unicorns and earth ponies did it all the time, so it was good enough for her too. Running made it easy not to think about bad things and how her life probably wasn’t going to get any better, and how she wouldn’t find a cutie mark that could tell her that she was good for something, she’d grow up like Ivan, angry and blank for the rest of her life-

Run harder. Stop thinking.

Run harder. Stop thinki-

Her thoughts were brought to a sudden halt when she ran into something solid.

She saw wings first through her blurry vision and shook the tears out of her eyes.

“Watch where you’re going you moron!” She yelled as she turned and bucked the pony she had run into. She heard a grunt of pain and that felt good for a second before she remembered that whatever she just kicked was bigger then her, and didn’t move when she ran into it full tilt.

“Kid, I don’t know if you’re inbred or what…” Scootaloo, now paying full attention, looked up at the eyes of a very irate griffin.

“…but you just made a big mistake.”

--

“Ivaaaaaan!” They had only barely heard before Ivan was off like a shot in the direction Scootaloo had run, moving faster then any pony with a broken leg had any right to be.

Into a clearing next to a lake, Ivan saw a griffin flexing sharp talons and advancing on a terrified filly.

His hat was off.

--

Scootaloo only knew that one minute she was about to be gutted by an angry beast, and the next, she was safe, and the griffin had been ploughed in the side by a giant green spectral hoof, throwing her violently into the water.

She was glowing green a second later, and flying over to Ivan, landing on his back.

For good measure, his hat fell onto her head. Tipping up the brim, she peered around Ivan’s neck to see the griffin climb out of the lake and stomp towards them.

“You think landing a sucker punch means anything?! I’m gonna rip you in half!” Ivan dug in his hooves, horn glowing, ready to launch something more convincing then a hoof, when a rainbow blur landed in front of him.

“Gilda?! What the buck are you doing here?!”

“Well I was minding my own business before some filly kicks me in the side. Then she calls her guard dog and I get blown into a lake. If you think I’m gonna love and tolerate instead of shredding ‘em you can think again Dash.”

“She’s a filly Gilda. You’d really sink that low?”

“Why not? Least I won’t sink any lower then you.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?!”

“Don’t act like you don’t know Dash! Don’t even act like you care! Either get outta my way so I can relieve some stress, or stay here so I can make this the best day ever. You’ve all got it coming.”

“…You’ve changed, Gilda.”

“You too.”

They both paused, digging hooves and talons into the ground, ready to take off at any moment.

“…we gonna scrap Dash?”

“Looks like it.”

“Remember the last time you tried that?”

“I really needed to get bucked in the head that day. Think I’ll return the favor. What do you say?”

“If you think you can.” Gilda taunted, before leaping forward.

Her talon came with a hair of Dash’s throat before the pegasus suddenly wasn’t there. Next thing she felt was a hoof connecting with the back of her head. Hard.

“When did you get so slow Gilda?!” She laughed as she ascended into the sky. Gilda roared and flew after her.

“Ivan! Aren’t you gonna help Rainbow Dash?!”

“No.” Ivan replied, turning his head back to the worried filly behind him.

“Why not?!”

“Their business.”

“Well you helped me!” Scootaloo argued.

“My business.” He said, to which Scootaloo had no answer.

“Ivan, what’s going on?!” Cheerilee yelled as she followed three galloping fillies. Probably ran off when she told them not to, Ivan mused.

“Their business.”

“…Scootaloo, are you alright?” Cheerilee asked, switching gears.

“…m’fine.” She answered, not taking her eyes off of the fight taking place above them.

--

“Wow Gilda, you’ve really let yourself go! Good thing we don’t race anymore, or you’d be riding the shame train all the way to loserville.”

“Least I don’t hit like that spineless wimp Fluttershy! Try hitting me a little lower next time! Work the knots out of my back!”

“Don’t talk about Fluttershy like that you bucki- Argh!” Dash cried as she took a backfist to the face and spun out of control.

“Is that it? Really? I thought you were gonna teach me a lesson Dash! All I’m learning is that you probably take a hit like that coward too!”

The pegasus shook the cobwebs out of her vision and glared up at the gloating griffon. A griffon who hit like a train filled with several smaller trains. Each one driven by Applejack.

“Not letting her do that again…”

“Oh look at that. More fillies! What’s the matter, you had to find friends as smart as you?”

“Least I have friends Gilda!”

“Course you do! Loads! So many you don’t even care if you drop one here or there!”

“What the moon are you talking about?!”

“I’m talking about you Element of Loyalty! The day you tell me about that, you show me how much it means, and you have the balls to flap there and tell me that I changed?! Did you get that title out of a cereal box?!” the griffon yelled as she lunged.

“Keep talking Gilda! It might mean something if you weren’t such a jerk!” Dash dipped and scored a punishing uppercut, darting out of Gilda’s reach,

“You know, I was wrong. Maybe you haven’t changed a bit.”

“If you don’t start making sense, the next one’s going right into your beak!”

“I shouldn’t be surprised. Hanging out with that pink idiot’s probably sapping your IQ.”

“If you don’t stop insulting my friends I’ll-“

“You’ll what? Hit me with your best shot Rainbow Crash!” The pegasus saw red. That was the last straw.

Gilda’s next swipe missed by a mile when Rainbow dodged wide, circling around and connecting both back hooves with the griffin’s face with incredible force.

Dash then pushed off Gilda, rocketing into the sky and roughly shoving the griffin into a spinning falling mess.

She righted herself just in time to see Dash diving toward her and picking up way too much speed.

“Oh flock.”

Her vision exploded into colors and stars as Dash hit her like a meteor, spinning wildly as they both rocketed toward the lake.

--

The sonic rainboom when Dash made contact, combined with the erupting spray of water when the pegasus let go of Gilda at the last moment painted the sky the most beautiful combination of colors Ivan had ever seen.

“…was that a rainboom powered spinning piledriver?” Scootaloo asked, voice just barely above a whisper. Ivan didn’t answer. If he told her yes, the filly might have just imploded on the spot.

Rainbow Dash landed in front of a sopping wet Gilda pitifully crawling back onto dry land.

“That was a rainbow crash! Say it again if you want more!”

“What the moon Dash! You could’ve killed both of us with that stunt!”

“Hey, you asked for it. Talking about my friends that way.”

“I’ll remember this when you leave them too.”

“…what?”

“Don’t you remember? When I got mad at that bubblegum piece of trash and you just told me to get out of your life? Didn’t want to talk it out or anything! I didn’t mesh well with the new friends, so you got rid of your old one! By the sun, why did you think I was so angry?!”

“Well you were about to beat up a filly! Don’t act li-“

“The filly ran into me and bucked me in the side when I was in a bad mood, so I decided to scare her off! Then she called in the cavalry and suddenly everyone wanted a piece of me! Then you come in and almost kill me. And it’ll probably happen again when you make a new batch of friends that don’t like your old ones, and you’ll just act like it’s all their fault and have a huge flocking party about it all.”

“I… why were you even here?! If you hate me so much th-“

“I was mad, alright?! I got myself all worked up and came out here to do something stupid! Then you came along and I figured I’d finally get to punch you in the face, and started pushing your buttons, and…”

“...I thought it was over Gilda. I really did. I saw you again after… I don’t even remember how long, and then you open it up by crossing the prank line with my friends, and… I thought you changed. And then just a little while ago I got here and found you threatening Scootaloo, and Ivan protecting her from you and…”

“…what happens now?”

“…we’re gonna have that talk.”

“Well what if I don’t want t-“

“Then I rainbow crash you again, and if we both don’t die, then we talk.”

“…I hate you…”

Ivan turned to leave, deciding that he didn’t want to be around for special sharing time. Cheerilee agreed, shooing the crusaders along.

“…Applebloom? Are you alright?” the teacher asked, noticing the earth filly’s hanging head.

“…that thing that the griffin said. ‘Bout throwin’ away old friends…”

“Sometimes friends grow apart, or they have misunderstandings… What’s important is that if you do somepony wrong, you apologise.”

“…Yeah…”

--

Peppermint Twist was cleaning up the kitchen after a candy making session when she heard a knock at her door.

Opening the door, she found somepony she wasn’t expecting.

“…hiya Twist…”

“Hey Applebloom. What’s up?”

“…are we still friends?” Twist almost answered yes on the spot.

…then she stopped to think about it.

“…I don’t know. One day, I think you just stopped talking to me. Started hanging out with those new friends you made…”

“Ah’m sorry. Really, Ah still wanna be friends with you!”

“Hey, it’s no big deal. If you still wanna hang out, yeah, we could do that now.”

“…Ah’d like that.”

“So, what made this happen?”

“…Ya might not believe me if Ah told ya.”

“Try me.”

--

“Hey, whats-your-name!” Ivan heard some time later after everypony had parted ways. Rainbow Dash landed in front of him, cutting off his escape route. Ivan sighed.

“Sorry, forgot who you were.”

“Ivan.”

“Right! Hey, so, anyway, wanted to say sorry for being such a mule before. So, you’re not mad?”

“…mad?”

“Well, Cheerilee told me when I ran into her after that whole… thing… that you’re looking after the fillies while you’re in town.” Ivan supposed that was accurate enough…

…shouldn’t he be getting paid though?

“…and you were pretty protective of Scoots, Gilda said you hit her like whoa. Not as hard as I hit her of course, but you still hit her pretty hard. So just wanted to say sorry for cheesing her off like that. Forgive me?”

“Sure.” He thought that if she was going to apologise to anybody, it should’ve been Scootaloo. He was past caring at that point though.

Just a bit longer and he could get to his sleeping tree…

“So yeah, I talked with Gilda, and then talked with Twilight, had to write a letter… thought some more about things… I’m gonna make it up to Scoots.”

“How?”

“I’m gonna volunteer at the orphanage. Since Scoots said that the guy in charge couldn’t hire a tutor, there’s probably a bunch of other pegasi in the same boat. I figure teaching them how to fly is a pretty bangin’ way to say sorry. Think so?”

“Yes.” Scootaloo’d probably be delighted. He decided not to tell Dash that she wasn’t holding any grudges though.

“So… how’d you get that cast?” She asked, giving it a closer look. “I heard you broke it the day you came into town.”

“Accident.” Her eyes suddenly lit up in understanding.

“Wait, I remember now! That one Pinkie party a while back. She said something about a pony getting horribly maimed, and she locked herself in her room for the rest of the day. That was you?”

“Yes.”

“…looks like the crusaders did a number on it. Hey, Rarity too. Lotta ponies… You got a pen on you?”

“Mm?”

“Well there’s this exclusive ‘sign Ivan’s cast’ club, and I think I want in. Come on, my autograph makes anything twenty percent cooler. That and future wonderbolt. Better get it before I’m crowded by a bunch of fanmares trying to get me to sign their-“

“Here.” Ivan interupted, offering his pen.

“Sweet! So, you gonna be in town long? That leg has to be healed up a lot by now.”

“…Unsure.” He answered. It was something he didn’t want to think about at the moment.

“Huh. Well I’m done, here.” Ivan took back his pen from the grinning pegasus. “That cast is worth like, a thousand bits now. At least.”

“Sure.”

“Anyway, I’ve gotta go. Gilda doesn’t have a place to crash, and I’ve gotta unlock my door for her. See ya!”

“Bye.” He watched the pegasus go, leaving a rainbow in her wake, wondering if those flying lessons she was going to give would lead to less crusader time.

…then something cold seized him when he realised that it would lead to a flying Scootaloo.

“…oh moon.”

--

Keep looking after the fillies Ivan! Somepony has to!

-Rainbow Dash

--

Dear Princess Celestia.

I swear this wasn’t my idea, but Twilight won’t stop glaring at me so I should probably shut up and get to the point.

No no, Spike, leave that, it’s funnier this way.

Alright so, I guess I learned that sometimes friends can make mistakes, think they’re both right when they make those mistakes, and then horrible things happen and have to be resolved with a sonic rainboom powered spinning piledriver.

Yeah I know what you’re thinking. I totally did that. Even if it did lead to a huge emotional discussion during which nopony cried and now there’s this huge awkward… thing between me and a friend I’m getting to know again, sort of.

It’s complicated.

End result though, I think it’s worth it. Next time I’m going to make sure to get the whole story from all sides before I try throwing anypony out of my life.

Keep it real.
Your faithful student’s most awesome friend, Rainbow Dash.

P.S. Tell Twilight to loosen up, will you? If she doesn’t then how is she going to seduce that sister of youQUICK SPIKE SEND IT SEND IT SEND IT SEN