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

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

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

“What is your problem?” the guard asked.

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

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

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

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

“What is your problem?”

“Don’t give me that. I don’t need to tell you what my issues are.”

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

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

“Yes.”

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

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

“But there’s nopony else here.”

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

“Why are you here?”

“I’m trying to get Princess Celestia to prevent me from exploding.”

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

“Freeloader?” Rainbow Dash stood up “You think I’m a freeloader? I work just as hard as anypony, probably more than you've ever worked in your life. I helped save the world, twice, and I helped fight the changelings. You have no right to say I’m a freeloader!” Blueblood looked at Rainbow Dash before snorting.

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

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

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

“I see my nephew has managed to antagonize you significantly, Rainbow Dash.” Rainbow turned towards Princess Celestia, the snow-white alicorn sitting calmly on her throne.

“Is he always like that?”

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

“Oh, right.” Rainbow Dash stepped forward “I... I think something’s wrong with me.”

“Oh?”

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

“Is that the problem?”

“Yes. I don’t want to explode! I’ll hurt everypony in Ponyville if that happened.”

“I’m sure that won’t happen. Do you still have the rock that caused this?”

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

“Dear me...” The Princess said “I haven’t seen anything like this since...”

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

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

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

“Well, that makes more sense.”

“What does?”

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

“Repressed?”

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

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

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

“What was me? What did I do?”

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

“Okay.”

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

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

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

“A cryptozoo-what-now?”

“A Kryptonian.”

“Uh, I might not have had the best grades in Geography, but I’m pretty sure there’s no ‘Kryptonia’ anywhere in the world.”

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

“Wait, planet? Krypton is another planet?”

“Yes.”

“Then, if Krypton’s another planet... does that make me some kind of alien?”

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

“I don’t believe you. I-I can’t believe you.”

“Rainbow Dash...”

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

“Rainbow Dash, I need you to calm down-”

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

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

“All my life I’ve been told I was a pony like everyone else... what will my friends think?”

“I’m sure they will still see you as-”

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

“Ponies are naturally scared of things they don’t understand.”

“They won’t understand this... They’ll think I’m either crazy or some kind of freak.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

“I need answers... and I know just who to ask.”

Author's Notes:

Personally, I don't think I'm very good at emotions like these, but hey, I'm willing to improve. Also, I imagine that if someone came to me and said that not only was I adopted, but not even the same species, I'd probably have a similar reaction... maybe, I'll think on that.
As always, I don't own anything Pony or Superman related except any OCs that show up, and likes and comments are appreciated.