Rainbow Dash awoke with a start to a shattering crash of thunder. Instantly, her reflexes took over and sent her up from her bedroom floor, flapping into the air. After scanning the walls and determining that a storm wasn’t actively bursting through them, she released a long yawn. Her eyelids drooped down as her body worked to catch up to the energy in her wings. She eased herself back down to the floor and stretched her wings out before closing them back in. With a quick scratch of the leg and another yawn, she moped past the burned remains of what was once her bed and into the kitchen.

The early morning sunlight streamed through the windows, making Dash wince and pull a hoof up over her eyes. She fumbled around her shelves in search of one of the many energy drinks she usually kept stashed nearby. None were to be found, however, so she settled for a full bottle of water. Downing that in a dozen gulps, she returned to her bedroom, this time nearly tripping on her half-melted alarm clock. As she did another round of stretches, her head craned back until she caught sight of the small hole in her ceiling.

It wasn’t very big, and was getting smaller by the second as her cloud roof slowly reformed itself, but it was definitely something new and out of place. Dash squinted at it, walking back until she was pressed against a wall. Meanwhile, a new sensation pierced through the haze around her mind. She wrinkled her nose in disgust.

…what’s that smell?

Her head snapped down and focused on the smoldering crater sitting where her bed used to be. The solid clouds that made up the headpiece where smashed into tiny puffs, while the more solid materials had fused together into an unrecognizable pile of debris. A few scraps of her customized rainbow blanket remained in place, some of which was presently on fire. Lying on top of the whole mess was what could only be described as a pony-sized chunk of meat. It was seared black and still smoking slightly. After a few minutes of processing, Dash realized that it was the charred and toasted remains of her own body. Some of the rainbow mane was still visible above the burned hairs, as was the scorched outline of her cutie mark.

…huh.

Dash took a step towards the wreckage when a pounding at her front door froze her in place.

“Uh, hello? Is anypony in there?” cried a muffled voice outside.

Dash slipped a few curses out under her breath, shook her head awake, and scurried to the front door. She creaked it open and poked her head outside. Flapping over her front porch was a pair of pegasi, both vibrantly yellow in color and wearing identical white hard hats.

“Yeah?” Dash asked in the most annoyed tone she could manage. “You guys need something or what?”

“Err…” the first pegasus drew back, glancing hopefully at his partner.

“Ma’am, have you experienced any kind of unusual weather in the last few minutes?” the other asked.

Dash cocked her head while keeping a steady grip on the door. “What sort of weather?”

“The biggest lightning bolt you’ve ever seen?” the first pegasus replied. His partner reached over and smacked him on his helmet.

“What’re you talking about?” Dash asked. She glanced up behind them to spot a small storm cloud hovering overhead. It was a very dark shade of grey and vibrated gently in place. “You guys lose a stray bolt or something?”

“Well… yeah.” The first pegasus awkwardly rubbed his neck. “Look, uh, it’s… keep this to yourself, but it’s supposed to be a new experimental bolt type for the weather expo, and we were supposed to bring it up for a morning exhibition, but, uh, well, as we were passing by, uh–”

“As we were passing by, certain ponies got a little too excited and accidentally let a bolt fly loose,” the second pegasus cut in, rolling his eyes and resisting the urge to smack his partner again.

“Oh… yeah, that would suck,” Dash said. Her eyebrows wrinkled for a moment. “Hey, is that what caused that big thunderclap too? Woke me up pretty fast.”

“Yeah, that’s the one. You know how it is, always tied together in the new models.”

“Tell me about it. Drives me nuts, ‘cause they never work out right.” Dash let out a nervous laugh. Small grins broke out on the other pegasi.

“Right, right… look, what we mean to say is, the bolt got loose, and it might’ve maybe come down on your house,” the first pegasus said. “We just wanna know if we can come in and inspect for any sort of damage that–”

“No!” Dash shouted, pressing up against the door. The others backed away at the outburst. “I mean, uh, no, it’s alright, everything’s fine in here, no problems at all.”

“We don’t mean to intrude or anything here. We apologize for an inconvenience, and if we find any damage, we can see you get comped for the repairs.”

Dash made a quick glance back at the blackened scene in her bedroom. “Yeah, well, there’s no need for that, everything’s fine in here. Trust me, you guys just take that cloud up to the expo.”

The first pegasus sniffed in the air and cringed. “Uh, you sure about that? Kinda smells like we might’ve damaged… something. Not sure what, but–”

“Look, I’ve got a feeling you guys are already late for something,” Dash said. She spoke carefully, emphasizing every word. “And it would probably be pretty embarrassing to have lost a bolt before you even got there.”

The other pegasi flapped awkwardly, but kept silent.

“So why don’t you guys just keep going and pretend nothing happened. If anypony asks, I’ll say I never saw or heard a thing, and everypony stays happy, alright?” Dash finished up with a small wink.

The second pegasus stared for a moment, then shrugged and smiled. “Alrighty then. You have yourself a fine day, ma’am. We’ll be on our way now.”

His partner opened his mouth to say something, but he was quickly snatched away before a single word got out. Dash watched the two fly up to their cloud, arguing quietly the entire way and exchanging the occasional small punch. They pressed up against the end of the cloud and sped away towards Cloudsdale. Dash kept watching until they were out of sight, then quickly slammed the door shut and let out a long sigh of relief.

First the woods, then Fluttershy, then these two clowns... you’d think a pony could die in peace around here.

Dash wandered back to her bedroom, and immediately covered her nose. The powerful stench of burned flesh hung heavily in the air. She popped open a window and swirled a miniature tornado overhead. It wasn’t much, barely a meter tall and faded away in less than a minute, but it proved effective in clearing most of the smell out of the house.

Okay, okay… never mind the odd start, today’s gonna rock. No pain, plenty of gain. Twilight’ll probably have me fixed by sundown, so I gotta move quick if I wanna get everything in… once I figure out what I want to do. What to do, what to do…

A sly grin covered Dash’s face. She glanced down at her barbequed corpse and scratched her chin.

First things first.

A quick trip around her kitchen produced a fresh box of garbage bags. She popped out two and went to work carefully sliding her remains into them. It was tricky business, particularly since she had partially fused to both her blanket and headboard, but eventually she managed to maneuver herself into the bags and zip them up. She balanced the bundle over to the other side of the house and dropped it into the shower.

Alright, at least here I know it won’t go anywhere. Bed’s trashed, but I can fix that later. Time to go face the day.

Her front door burst open, and Dash launched high into the air. She stretched her wings as far as they would go, taking in a deep breath of the morning air at the same time. Broad sunbeams spread evenly across on her back, though the all-encompassing numbness that clung to her kept her from feeling it. She frowned at the realization, but quickly shook it off.

Don’t let it get to you; you’re trying to enjoy this.

Dash remained in place for a few minutes. A light breeze brushed her mane over her face, but she didn’t mind. Her eyes swept over the landscape below. Her house floated over the edge of Ponyville, nearer to Sweet Apple Acres than the town proper. She peered down at the tiny dots that marked other ponies getting up and starting their morning routines. She sighed, and slowly brought her eyes up. And up. And up some more, until she was staring high into the sky.

Her grin returned in force.

I think I can get a better view a little farther up.

Dash angled her back and flew forward. She zipped through the air, passing around a few stray clouds and across to the other end of Ponyville. In a few minutes time, she was hovering high over the Everfree Forest. She squinted down at the trees, looking past the branches to make sure the ground was unoccupied and the coast clear. Satisfied, she double-checked that no pegasi were flying around anywhere nearby either.

Nice and quiet spot. Just the right spot to break a few height records.

She started with a few small circles, simple flying around and around with her hooves extended. Gradually she built up speed, putting more and more energy behind her wings and drawing out into wider circles. She angled herself upward, turning her rotations into a miniature cyclone. All the while her speed increased more and more until she was nothing more than a cyan blur in a swirl of dust and air.

Almost, almost… now!

Dash broke free and rocketed up into the air at a blistering speed. A thin rainbow trail in her wake marked her path into the sky as she soared higher and higher. She kept her wings flat for a few moments to keep the drag down before switching to some fierce flapping to keep her speed steady. The landmarks on the ground grew fainter and fainter as she continued climbing up into the stratosphere. Not that Dash ever checked; she kept her head steady and focused forward, putting all her concentration into maintaining her speed.

It wasn’t long before Dash felt the air around her grow thinner and thinner. She felt less resistance with every wing flap, and her lungs protested at every strained breath. The bright sky overhead, long since free of any lingering clouds, dimmed ever so slightly into a duller shade of blue. Still keeping her wings steady, Dash risked a glance over her shoulder at the ground.

All of Equestria spread out before her. An entire continent of color, from the rocky grays and browns of the mountains to the wide greens of the plains and tans of the deserts. Deep blue oceans flanked either side of her vision, stretching out an unknown distance into the horizons. She saw the edges of the world bend down as she kept getting higher and the planet’s curvature made itself known.

Nearly there now, probably… what was Jetstream’s altitude record again? I think his was the highest… you know what, I might as well just go for it all. Because why the hay not?

The sky continued to darken. Dash was pumping her wings as hard as she could now, but could feel herself slowing down. She could feel a great weight spreading all over her body, a pressure keeping her down against her struggling.

Almost, almost, I can break free, I can do it, I can– there!

With one last shove, Dash pushed herself over the invisible line at the top of the sky. The pressure lifted away, and then kept going, until Dash was left with nothing but an empty feeling of weightlessness. She kept flapping her wings until she realized they weren’t getting her anywhere anymore. Her legs kicked back and forth to no effect as she drifted upwards. All in front of her, the stars of space spread out into an infinite canvas of twinkling light. She drifted forward in a gentle arc, propelled by what was left of her original energy.

The sunlight glinted off her wide smile. More light glinted off the frozen bits of flesh along her back and legs, but she took no notice of this.

First pony into low orbit? No suit, all wing power? Yeah, yeah, that’s me. That one’s all me.

Dash let out a silent roar of laughter and rolled around into a twisted corkscrew. She gazed across the planet laid out behind her, or at least the section of it she could see. The impressive sight kept her smile going even further. Suddenly, a few dark specks floated up obscured her vision. She swatted them away with a hoof only for more to take their place. She squinted to take a closer look, but was only able to make out their red color before her vision grew blurry.

Blood was streaming out of her eyes. Along her limbs, blood vessels expanded upwards against her skin, a few of them breaking open. She drew in another breath, only to realize she couldn’t.

Oh right. That.

Dash reflexively sucked in again, but still no air came. She kicked down towards the planet. Aside from rocking her body back and forth, the act did nothing to propel her. Even though she couldn’t feel her lungs burning within her or her blood vessels popping, she did notice the numbness grow more pronounced. Tunnel vision took over her eyes, squishing her vision down more and more until she saw only darkness. Dash floated in space, unaware of her surroundings or where she was going.

Come on, come on, haven’t… haven’t got all… all day here. Just need to… to hurry up… and… a…a…

The last of the oxygen in her brain snuffed out, and Dash went limp. After another minute of her body beating its last, she expired properly. The result was a silent POP and a new Dash flashing into existence a meter below the old one.

Took long enough.

She smiled and turned to face the planet, only for more red specks to float in front of her eye. Her old body drifted overhead, still letting out a fine stream of blood drops. She wiggled in place against the combined forces of zero-g, asphyxiation, and decompression, still not close enough to the top of the atmosphere to get any real moment. Right before she lost her vision again, she rolled her eyes.

Seriously? Can’t… can’t I at least, like, con… control where I pop… where I pop… where…

One more limp body and silent POP later, another Dash came in beneath, this one with a more subdued smile.

Alright, for real this time. Back to the planet.

The air was already empty from her lungs before she finished her thought. She flapped her wings, and fooled herself into thinking she was getting closer before another blackout. In these last few moments of life, her brain convulsed with one final thought, this time one of recognition; the recognition of a pattern.

Oh–

POP

–you–

POP

–have–

POP

–got–

POP

–to–

POP

–be–

POP

–joking.

POP

Dash flapped, and felt herself move forward with it. Her smile, absent for the last few regenerations, returned in force. More flaps followed as she pushed herself into the atmosphere. Though it was another few meters before she could take a few hurried, shallow breaths, her eyes barely bled at all, opting instead for a few small trickles that plummeted straight down to the ground.

As gravity returned in force, Dash cast one final look into the reaches of space. This time she focused her attention on the half-dozen-plus corpses floating around above her in a kaleidoscope of movement. They moved around at different heights and speeds, some of them bumping into each one another while the rest simply spun in place. All the while small spurts of blood trickled out into the abyss, mixing with her cyan skin in the light into an almost entrancing display.

It’s been fun guys, but this pegasus has got places to be.

Dash pointed her legs down, tucked her wings, and dove into the planet. Her speed picked up at once, accelerating her at a rate even she could scarcely believe. Her eyes blinked back a combination of tears and blood as she worked to keep them open. The ground barely seemed to get closer at all even as she reached terminal velocity.

Wow, I gotta try some high dives more often. This is awesome! And so… orange?

Dash stared at the tips of her extended hooves. A bright orange glow, similar in shape to the wind resistance that built up just before her Rainbooms, expanded in a small semi-circle in front of her. Dash had to laugh, though the act of opening her jaw caused it to snap back, completely broken in half. She shifted her shoulders to account for the new drag.

Meteor time.

The glow expanded until it was all around her. Soon it was Dash’s skin itself that was glowing red hot. To her disappointment it was her eyes that melted away first.

Aww, shoot, I kinda wanted to see–

Dash got no further with her thoughts as the rest of her body burned away into a cloud of ash. A few meters below, she appeared back, tumbling down backwards in an awkward fall before she gathered her wits enough to catch herself. She spread her wings out and slowed down, bringing herself to a gradual halt without tearing herself in half from the stop. Looking up, she saw a long rainbow trail in the sky, ending in a small, technicolored puff that marked the spot where she had completely burned up.

Dash laughed again, and this time it came out in full.

Look at that… I’m a falling star! Bet even Twilight’ll be jealous of that–

At the thought of her friend, Dash suddenly winced. Her head fell to the ground far below. Even after her rapid fall, she was still many kilometers in the air. In a wide, low spiral, she brought herself back to solid earth, this time carefully guiding her gliding into a casual controlled descent. Even though this route took her upwards of twenty minutes to reach the ground again, there were no more burnouts or rainbow-colored explosions.

Dash landed in a clearing in the Everfree Forest, one not far at all from where she had initially floated before taking off into space. She made her impact a gentle one, eyeing a stack of rocks nearby with a suspicious glare. As she paced back and forth after touchdown, she took in a long, slow breath.

Alright, alright, relax. So I’m not exactly keeping quietly to myself like Twilight said. I’m still keeping it a secret, and it’s not like what happened up there is gonna make anything worse than it already is. Right?

Dash looked up into the pale blue sky. A cloud bank was being assembled in the distance, but it was completely clear overhead. The rainbow puff had long since dissipated, and there were no similar marks in the sky.

“Right,” Dash said aloud. “I was just having a little fun. No big deal. Especially since I’ll never ever get a chance to do that again. Had to take advantage of it while I could.”

Hey, no arguments here. Another few hours of this sort of thing, enjoy my day, get cured by Twilight before dinner, and stay nice and relaxed tonight… although I should probably ask if I can crash at her place.

Dash grinned sheepishly and clapped her hooves on the ground.

“Okay then!” she shouted to nopony in particular. “Let’s go get started on something else awesome! Just gotta pick a flight path and go.”

Dash shut her eyes, took in another sharp breath, pivoted on her rear hoof, and propelled herself into the sky. Her breath continued until it was interrupted by a long, sharp tree branch being shoved all the way down her throat. Her takeoff speed carried her forward along the wood, allowing the branch to shred its way through her throat, stomach, kidneys, and intestines, until it finally pushed back out just over her thigh. She remained in place for a few seconds, gurgling slightly while blood pushed its way out her mouth. Her eyes looked frantically in every direction, until one twitched twice and her body went still.

The new Dash looked the scene over carefully. She had originally landed in front of an old, tall tree. The long branch she was now shish-kabobed on was angled downward, directly in line with her initial, now-failed ascent. Dash shuffled away from the scene with red cheeks, scratching the back of her neck and whistling softly.

Note to self: no more blind takeoffs.

It was with more awareness of her surroundings that Dash took off again. A sudden stiffness had overtaken her on the ground, and she wasn’t able to shake it until she was back safely into the air, with no solid objects to be seen for a kilometer in any direction around her.

Right, so, like I was saying… what now?

Dash peered around the horizon. Ponyville powered on as usual past the treeline, as did Cloudsdale in the opposite direction. The mountain range sat between the two, and as Dash stared ahead, a small column of black smoke caught her attention. She raised an eyebrow as she studied it as best she could. It was barely a sliver of color against the grey mountains, located high up a peak. A lower peak in front of it masked it from any observers on the ground, at least for the moment.

Looks like… almost like a… really? Again?

Dash’s jaw dropped. She moved forward in the sky, the smoke getting closer and closer by the second.

Oh wow, it totally is! Another dragon, barely three mountains away from where the first one was!

Dash puffed out her chest and flexed her legs.

Well, it picked the wrong day to come near Ponyville. Time to nip this one in the bud, before anypony else even notices it was there to begin with.

Dash leaned forward and sped off towards the source of the smoke. At the speed she was traveling, the mountains were a short journey. All the while the smoke grew larger and larger, until there was no mistaking what Dash had already assumed it was. A final confirmation came in the form of a loud roar that sounded out as she approached.

She landed on a small, rocky outcropping, which looked down into a wide canyon carved along a high spot in the mountain. At the far end of the canyon was the entrance to a tall cave, out of which spewed a steady stream of black smoke. A large yellow tail briefly flashed out of one side of the cave, shiny scales glinting in the sunlight.

One dragon for one pegasus… not a fair match, but I don’t wanna wait for him to find a buddy to even it up. Time to get on this.

Dash swooped low, skidding to a halt at the mouth of the cave. Loud grunts flowed around in front of her, accompanied by the sound of dirt being tossed around and sharp claws scraping across rocks. Dash took a few steps forward, pausing when she saw the tail flash again.

“Heeeeello in there!” Dash called out. “Hey, Mr. Dragon! Come on out now, we gotta talk about this!”

Dash leaned in to listen for a reply. Her voice bounced around the cave, but all she got in return was a few more random grunts. She sighed and flapped forward. The cave curved to the right just inside, and she could see a large mass moving around. She approached slowly, taking the sight in.

The dragon was fifteen meters tall, about a third of which was neck. Tall, slim spikes ran along his back, while similar ones protruded from his elbows. His yellow scales shined vibrantly, illuminating the otherwise dim cave. He was crouched under the high ceiling, sniffing along the ground and scratching at the walls.

“Yo! Lizard!” Dash tried again. “Come on, cut it out. You must’ve heard from your other dragon friends that this close to Ponyville is no place to settle down. So how about we skip to the part where you just pack up and leave?”

A claw twice Dash’s size slammed into a wall, shaking the cave to is foundations. A few small pebbles fell from the ceiling, but other than that no major damage appeared. The dragon let out a satisfied grunt and returned his attention to sniffing the ground.

“Hey, I know you can hear me! You can’t stay here. It’s just gonna cause problems for everypony, and we don’t need that. Hey!” Dash flapped into the air, buzzing back and forth by the dragon’s back. Still it ignored her.

She watched him search along the floor, his eyes constantly darting back and forth. “What’s the matter anyway, lose something? Forget all your gold in another cave?”

The dragon snorted and looked up, finally taking notice of the intruding pegasus.

Dash smirked. “Aw, no, it’s worse than that, isn’t it? You’re broke. Totally, completely, flat broke, like a bum. Well, good luck trying to dig up gold in these mountains pal. Better lizards than you have tried.”

The dragon’s eye twitched, but he took a deep breath and returned to his work.

“Nope, not that easy dude! I’m not going anywhere, so you might as well just beat it. Or else!” Dash whizzed past the spines on his back and delivered a small kick at the base of his neck.

The dragon grunted and flashed a claw up. It missed Dash by a hair, brushing air through her mane and almost throwing her off-balance in mid-air.

“Hah! You guys are just that out of it without your stash, aren’t you?” Dash giggled and flew loops around his neck. “Come on, come on, betcha can’t get me.”

With another grunt, the dragon swiped his claw again. This one went wide as Dash continued to fly around. He shifted in place to follow Dash with his eyes and swatted again, still to no effect.

Dash let out a low whistle. “Hey, nearly felt that one. Just one swipe, that’s all it’ll take, right? I know you think you’ve got it in you, so let’s hurry up and–”

The edge of the claw hit Dash right in her chest. The point pressed into her ribs, tearing through her skin and getting stuck in place just behind her lung. He flicked his claw back and forth in an attempt to dislodge her as she gasped for breath. After a few swings the momentum, combined with the steadily leaking blood flow, loosed her just enough to send her shooting into a nearby wall. She struck the stone face first, compressing her spine back and snapping a few more damaged ribs in half. Her body crumpled to the floor, where it continued bleeding out and succumbing to agonal respirations.

The dragon’s mouth curved up into a small grin. He wiped his claw clean and brought it back down to the ground. Just as it touched dirt, a small blue object buzzed in his face.

“Hey, you got one!” Dash said. “Little off to the side though, so more like a glancing blow. You’re gonna have to do better than that.”

Dash grinned into the dragon’s eye. He did a quick double take at her and the bloody spot on the wall. His eye twitched again, this time accompanied by a long exhale. Dash quickly blocked her nose and flapped back.

“Whoa, easy there! No need to bust out the big guns like that, we’re just having fun.” Dash wiped her face off and flew around the cave in a few laps. The dragon eyed her all the way, taking the occasional swing at her with his claws and tail.

“But now I’m actually curious…” Dash said. “What does cause breath like that? I thought you guys mostly ate gems all day. What are you munching that makes a stink like that?”

A thunderous roar shook the chamber. The dragon pumped his arms in the air and drew himself up to full height. He never stopped taking lashing out at Dash, who continued her aerobic display around the chamber.

“Unless it’s not something you ate,” Dash went on. “Maybe it’s something like– oh! I know!”

Dash slammed her wings up and came to a halt. A flashing swipe of the tail connected with her as she did and slammed her into a stalagmite. Even with the blunt rocks at the top, the force of the blow was enough to pierce her clean through from flank to shoulder. Her blood proved an excellent lubricant, allowing her to slide down with little effort beyond producing a squeegee-like sound. She slid quickly enough to take what few organs remained intact and shove them out her throat, where they dribbled down her chest.

Before her kidneys hit the floor, Dash was back in the air with a devilish grin on her face.

“I mean, your neck’s long enough, and you seem like you’d be dumb enough to actually try it, but I mean, there’s no way…”

Even with the dumbfounded expression on his face, the dragon kept his reflexes up. This time he opted to grab Dash. He pulled her close to his face, squeezing her tighter as she came in.

“So I… gotta know… if…” Dash managed to get out between gasps. The dragon squeezed again. Dash’s right eye shot out of its socket like a cork. “Wow, that’s a… w-weird view… but did you really…”

The dragon opened his jaws wide. He wedged Dash’s head between two mailbox-sized fangs. Her commentary never let up. “Really… take your head and… and… shove it all the way up–”

The jaws came down with a discernibly sticky crunch, cleaving Dash’s neck in two. Her body spasmed in the dragon’s claw as a small red waterfall poured out the stump. He tossed Dash’s limp corpse to the floor, where it twitched and kicked grotesquely for a moment on impact. He rolled his tongue a few times, swishing it around like a particularly gamy lollipop. Then he muscled up some extra saliva, turned, and spit the head out the mouth of the cave. It sailed across the canyon in a tall, wide arc until it finally landed in a tiny crevice on the opposing wall.

With a sigh of relief, the dragon wiped his claws and turned back around. Dash was floating in the air to meet him.

“Because if you could, then, for real?” Dash looked both ways and leaned in, lowering her voice to a whisper. “That’s actually pretty impressive. You should go find some other dragons and show off, I’m sure they’ll love it.”

The dragon’s eye twitched a third time. He opened his jaws and let loose another deafening roar that bounced around the chamber and made Dash shudder. With claws glistening in the light, the dragon lashed out in all directions. For several minutes there he was nothing but a blur of golden movement. His claws scraped along the walls and ceiling, his tail whipped back and forth in a furious frenzy. All the while he kept roaring, all the way to the point where it sounded strained.

After another minute of flailing, the dragon paused, took in as deep a breath as he could muster, and let loose with a piercing jet of fire. The flames filled the cave, cooking the back walls and warping back around until the whole place resembled a giant oven.

The dragon spit flames as long as he could. Finally, with a final dribble of sparks, he hunched forward onto his knees. His breathing was deep and labored, and it was another minute before he could bring his head up to look around the cave. Every wall was burned black, and Dash’s remains on the floor roasted to the bone. His eyes scanned around for any possible sign of movement while his breathing slowly eased up.

Shortly, Dash popped up from behind his back.

“Alright, that time you just straight up missed me.” She pointed all over herself. “See? Not even singed.”

The dragon just stared. He wiped his forehead and drew his jaws apart to let out a single small growl.

“I… I don’t have time for this…”

Then, with the smallest of grunts, he sagged his shoulders and turned out of the cave. His great wings expanded as he stepped out into the sunlight. Dash kept next to him every step of the way.

“See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” she chirped. “Just go on and get back to where you belong, and there’ll be no ponies like me to mess up your day anymore.”

A loud huff was all she got in reply. With two flaps, the dragon took to the air. Dash paused in front of the cave and watched him rise. As her gaze went up, she failed to see the dragon’s tail whip up with him. The sharp end clipped her clean on the chin. Her head immediately snapped back, while the top of her spine forced itself out the back of her skin and the rest of her body cartwheeled up into the air like a ragdoll. The dragon took no notice of this, and simply took a left when he got out of the canyon and flew off over the mountains. By the time Dash popped back into existence, he was out of sight and no more than a diminishing smoke trail over the rocks.

Piece of cake… Dash grinned and rubbed a hoof on her chest. Looking down, she saw a small black shadow growing larger and larger over her. She looked up in time to see her corpse falling back to the ground. The dead skull cracked into her live one, and it was lights out.

Another Dash wandered over to the scene a few moments later. She turned up to the cliffs and shouted “Your aim’s getting better at least! Be proud of that!”

Bit of a wimpy death on my part, though, Dash thought as she scooted the bodies into the cave. It’s not like I’ve never head-butted anypony before. Didn’t off me then or anything.

Dash glanced over her smoking remains in the other parts of the cave and shrugged.

Eh, nopony will find them here. I can always get them later.

A low growl gurgled up, catching Dash’s attention, making her look in all directions.

The dragon’s back already?

Finally, seeing she was still alone, she glanced down and rubbed her stomach. Another growl petered out. Dash giggled.

I don’t feel it, but I think I might be getting hungry.

Dash glanced at her foreleg. She raised it into the air, where it trembled slightly.

Yup, definitely hungry. Which makes sense, since I don’t think I’ve eaten since… yesterday. Better head back to town to grab some grub.

Keeping a watchful eye on the nearby protruding rocks, Dash took to the air and aimed herself back towards Ponyville. She made a gradual descent from the high mountain altitudes, and eventually she was skimming over the tops of the trees. Ponyville’s town limits grew steadily closer, and she increased her speed accordingly.

“Howdy up there, Rainbow Dash!”

Dash slowed to a halt and looked down, noticing she was hovering over Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack waved up at her from between her barn and a few small sheds. Dash glanced back towards town and thought for a moment.

…well, a quick hello couldn’t hurt.

She glided down to the ground. Applejack smiled at her.

“Hi Applejack,” Dash said. “How, uh, how ya doing today?”

“Oh, I’m mighty fine,” Applejack replied. “How’s it goin’ for you? You feelin’ alright an’ all?”

“What? Why, is something wrong with me?” Dash took a defensive step back.

“Spike came by yesterday. He mentioned you were in a bit of an accident at the library.” Applejack pointed to Dash’s flank. “Seems to have healed up pretty good, though. Of course, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t stop bustin’ up Twilight’s tree at every opportunity. It’s dangerous for you an’ irritatin’ for her.”

“Yeah, yeah, I got this lecture already,” Dash said. “But I’m all better now. Tip top shape, flight ready as always.”

“I’ll bet. What were you up to this afternoon?”

Dash raised an eyebrow. “What up what now?”

Applejack nodded towards the mountains. “I saw you flappin’ off to the hills not too long ago. Somethin’ goin’ on up there? You seemed to be movin’ at a pretty good pace.”

“Oh! Uh, I, uh…” Dash rubbed the back of her neck and glanced at the ground. “I was just, you know, taking a look around. Not much to do on weather patrol today, so I just wanted to make sure the outlying areas were all, you know, set and accounted for.”

“Well, alright then. You folks seem to be doin’ a good job lately, takin’ us into the new season.” Applejack glanced up at the sky, noting the large cloudbank being assembled south of town. “Guess a storm’s brewin’, though.”

“Huh?” Dash looked up. “Oh, yeah, right. Well, it’s like you said, new season and all. Still plenty of time before it’s ready to roll, though.”

“Good to know.” Applejack nodded and walked towards an old shed ahead of her. Dash followed up behind. Her gaze wandered around the farm nearby. A breeze brushed through the orchard in the distance, while sunlight streamed into the empty house and barn. Other than the two of them, the area was deserted.

“You guys got a good harvest for us this year?” Dash asked.

“You know it,” Applejack said with a grin. “Gonna be apple fritters every night of the week until spring, don’t you worry. Gotta get this here storage shed sorted out before the harvest, though.”

Applejack patted the shed’s side, which creaked at the slightest touch. It was a thoroughly dilapidated structure, a far cry from the spotless glean on the other ones. “Old girl’s fallin’ apart. Might be about time to put her out to pasture, an’ get a nice an’ new one up in its place.”

Dash flapped past the mold display and settled down on a nearby stone well.

Applejack circled the shed twice, taking a close look at all the damage and loose, rotten pieces. A tall sideboard on one side caught her attention.

“Right, cool, that’s good to, uh, do.” Dash glanced around again. She fidgeted back and forth on the well. “So, uh, it was good talking to you and all, but I should get going, I gotta get some food in me.”

“Oh, you’re more than welcome to stay for a lunch here,” Applejack said. “Let me just sort some of these loose pieces out first, an’ I’ll whip somethin’ right up for ya.”

Applejack felt along the old board. It flexed in place, revealing a loose connection by the roof. She turned and pivoted up on her forelegs.

“Thanks, but trust me,” Dash said, bringing her head back towards the shed. “I’ll be fine going into–”

With a mighty burst of power, Applejack delivered a hard kick onto the board. It instantly lined back into place, sent a shockwave over the roof and, jolted an equally-loose board on the other side free. It popped straight out of place right in Dash’s direction.

Dash blinked. The blur of wood came straight for her. She pushed her head back only for the long nail at the top end of the board to slam down into her eye. It pushed through to the back of her eye socket and into the rest of her skull in one fluid motion. Dash immediately went limp, falling backwards over the edge of the stone wall and down into the well. Her eye remained behind, the jagged edges of rust holding it in place until, with a faint, sticky twang, it snapped off free the rest of her face.

“You say somethin’ over there?” Applejack leaned around the shed to get a look at the well. She saw the board lying unevenly on top, and heard the distant splash of water at the bottom.

Frowning, she stepped forward to peer down the well. “Uh, Rainbow Dash? You okay?”