Desperate times called for desperate measures.

Mother was scared to the point where she wouldn’t leave the cottage. This was depressingly normal, but every other time she at least had the presence of mind to make sure the pantry was stocked before she gave up the outside.

He was halfway through the last carrot. He only had one shot at saving mother and the others from starvation.

And when he did, they would look to him and know.

Angel owned them.

The bunny leapt out through an open window, scanned the sky, wound up his little arm, and let fly their salvation.

A passing Rainbow Dash took the vegetable in the side of her head and fell spinning into the ground.

“What the horsefeathering- a carrot?! Angel! If that was you I’m gonna stuff you for Pony Easter you-“

She trailed off when she saw the little white bunny glaring at her and pointing a paw toward the cottage.

“…Flutters needs help?”

Angel nodded.

“Then I’ll let this go. Next time just wave the flag I gave you.”

The way the bunny looked at her plainly said ‘this way is better’.

Rainbow ignored him and took off again, making for Fluttershy’s open window.

Angel sighed to himself. Mother was lucky he loved her. She wouldn’t have survived this long otherwise.

--

“Hey, Fluttershy, open up. Angel threw a carrot at me, now tell me what’s wrong.”

“Oh, hello Rainbow.” The yellow pegasus greeted as she opened the window as if nothing was out of the ordinary at all. “I’m terribly sorry, I’ll have to have a talk wi-“

“Alright, so, how does it go?” The athlete cleared her throat. “Ahem. You've reached Equestria First Response Rescue, what is the nature of your emergency?”

“I, um… don’t know what you mean?”

“Fluttershy, every time Angel’s shot me down, it’s because you need help but can’t leave to go get it.” Rainbow flew in through the open window and relaxed herself in Fluttershy’s bed. “So, how can your favourite flying friend improve your life?”

Fluttershy shook her head. “Nothing’s wrong. I, um… just didn’t feel like leaving the cottage.”

Dash raised an eyebrow, and looked behind her friend. Angel had found his way back into the house and was giving the back of Fluttershy’s head the evil eye.

“You’re lying to me.”

“I’m… I’m not.”

“What, did something in the forest spook you? Do you have another stalker? Did somepony threaten you? Di-… what.” Dash received her answer when Fluttershy flinched at the mention of threats.

“…It’s… really not as bad as it sou-“

“Who threatened you?” Angel was now perked up and paying attention. And possibly regretting using his last carrot. Part of Dash smiled. Sometimes the ball of fluff had the right idea.

“Really, it was my fault and sh-“

“She? It was a mare? None of the mares in town have a problem with you so I…”

“Rainbow, really, it’s-“

“Hey, was it that sister of Ivan’s?” Dash asked calmly as she rolled off the bed. “She’s the only one I can think of who’d possibly threaten you.”

“Rainbow, calm down-“

“Just say the word Fluttershy.”

“It was my fault, I was the one who bumped her so-“ And just like that, Rainbow Dash had rocketed out of the room with enough force to tilt the pictures on her wall and blow about the papers on her desk.

This was bad.

“Oh dear.”

--

Salad, finding herself with another empty day off, was on her way to Sweet Apple Acres. It was becoming a habit of hers to go there to hang out.

She was beginning to suspect that she was the only one who ever visited Big Mac.

She also wondered why that orange sister of his hadn’t walked over to say hello. Granted, she truly didn’t care whether she did or not, but everypony on the farm seemed to be happy pleasant folks, and those normally said hello when one came to call.

Applebloom did from time to time, usually to ask about Ivan. Whatever.

She was just thinking about how odd it was for an apple pony to be coloured like an orange when something ploughed her in the side, sending her sprawling in into a nearby tree.

Oh yeah. Somepony was begging for spiked shoes. Lucky them, she had just enough for everypony.

“Oh, you again.” Salad said as she recognised Rainbow. “Last I checked, ‘buck off’ means ‘buck off’.”

“Last I checked, we’re on eastern pain time, and it’s Dash ‘o clock.”

“…I’m going to start hurting you now.” Salad said. “I’m pretty sure I’m not going to stop.”

Dash responded by moving at her trademark speed and nailing her again towards another tree.

She didn’t however expect Salad to land on it and spring back just as fast.

She also didn’t expect spiked shoes to hurt so much.

Addled by the strike to the head, she tumbled painfully to the ground, and looked up to blearily see something pink coming at her fast.

Is she flying with one wing?

She barely managed to move her head out of the path of a pink hindhoof, and flipped herself back upright.

Then she took another hit to the face when Salad moved again.

Dash landed painfully, baring her teeth as blood dripped into her eye.

“You know, I’m glad you’re here. Popping out of nowhere and attacking me without a reason. You’re the most convenient stress relief I’ve ever had. It’s great, really.”

Dash’s problem wasn’t Salad’s speed, nopony could out-speed her. The problem was that Salad was moving unpredictably. A flap of her wing had her rocketing wherever she wanted.

…she wasn’t flying. She was taking off. Dash had never considered taking off in any other direction then up. The way Salad was doing it, she could zip around and, with the aid of her cleats, turn on a dime.

Salad also appeared to have no problem hitting ponies when they were down, as Dash heard the telltale woosh of a pegasus using the wind.

A flap of her own wings had her in the air and out of the danger zone, but she heard the woosh again and sure enough, Salad was flying up right at her a split second later.

Dash just barely managed to move out of the way, but this time there was nothing for Salad to bank off of for a second attack.

Dash wrapped her forelegs around the pink pegasus’ barrel and whipped herself back so they were both upside-down in the air.

Aerial suplex, Dash thought with a grin. Buck yes.

The ground seemed to shake as Dash evened the score.

--

Big Mac paused as he was about to buck a tree.

Whatever that was, it was loud, and close. And it’s gettin’ the hay off mah property.

--

Salad landed a vicious hook to Dash’s face, only to take a pair of hindhooves to the face when the athlete whipped around.

And to make matters worse, Dash was starting to take off across the ground too.

Oh bucking moon, did I teach her how to do that?

Dash, bloodied and bruised, took to the sky and watched her warily.

She’s luring me for another grab. I think I’ll teach her something new.

Salad took off twice, once forward, and again to sharply angle herself into the air.

Dash dodged her, and made to get ready to grab her.

Salad twisted around, spread her wing as far as it could go, and gathered as much wind as she could.

Most pegasi never learn how to take off in mid air. They can just fly.

The look of shock on Dash’s previously smug face was priceless.

I’m not like most pegasi though.

Salad hit her like a speeding arrow, forehooves first, and sent the both of them digging a long trail in the ground.

She grit her teeth and raised a hoof to hopefully take a few teeth out for good measure.

“That’s enough outta both of ya.” Salad paused, blinked, and noticed that Dash had done the same. By the look of it, Dash was about to clock her too.

At the same time it looks like. Probably would’ve looked funny.

“Hi Red.” Salad coughed, clamouring off of Dash, and leveling a casual hoof at the other pegasus. “She started it.”

“Don’t care. It ain’t happenin’ on mah land.”

“She has it coming Big Mac!” Dash yelled. “Go get Applejack and we’ll make sure this jerk never even looks to Fluttershy again!”

“Wait.” Salad said. “Who?”

“Fluttershy! The one you threatened!”

“…you’re going to have to be more specific.” Salad said, rolling her eyes. “Was it Tuesday? It was probably Tuesday. I threatened a lot of ponies that day.”

“Pegasus mare. Yellow. Pink mane.” Big Mac supplied, eyebrow raised.

“Oh, her.” Said Salad. “She bumped me and stared at my wing for a while. Then she was about to ask me about it so I told her to shut it up and move it along. What, did she think that translated to ‘I’m going to cut you up and bake you into cupcakes’?”

“You’re lying.” Rainbow said. “She’s been shut up in her cottage for I don’t even know how long.”

“Since Tuesday.” Salad said. “And how is that my fault?”

“Because you threatened her!”

“Then she’s the liar.” Big Mac saw Rainbow tense up and probably almost start round two.

“Go talk to her.” He said before the cyan mare pounced. “I’ll deal with Salad.”

“What the buck did you just say?” Salad growled at him. “Deal with me?”

“Somepony has to.” Big Mac said. “Can’t have ya all covered in blood and dirt when we get this all sorted.”

Her indignation faded, ever so slightly. At the least, she was quiet now.

“This isn’t over.” Rainbow said. Something about Big Mac told her that trying to start the fight up again was a bad idea. Instead she took to the air, deciding to drag Fluttershy over and get the truth.

Maybe then Mac wouldn’t step in the way again.

--

Big Mac helped Salad remove her shoes and herded her into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him and fishing a washcloth out of a cupboard.

“Do you think I was lying?” Salad asked, surprisingly co-operating with him as he sat her down and started wiping her cuts clean.

“Ah think somepony’s mistaken. Ah don’t think either of ya’d lie about somethin’ like this.”

“…She looked worse then I did, right?”

“Maybe a little.” Honestly, Big Mac thought she gave as good as she got, but humoring her would probably help her mood. Dash certainly had more blood on her at least.

“Good. You kno- hey, watch that around my eyes!”

“Sorry.”

“…she really did start it.”

“Yeah?” Big Mac noticed she kind of looked like a little filly, the way she avoided his eye. He quashed the notion she might be afraid of his disappointment. Making assumptions like that could be hazardous to his health.

“She just flew in out of nowhere and hit me in the side. Then she made a reference and basically told me she was going to take me apart.”

“…Hm.”

“So yeah. You’re not cleaning up the cause. Just wanted you to know.”

“Wouldn’t matter if ya did.”

“What?” She turned back, looking up at him as he rubbed some mud out of a particularly nasty cut above her eyebrow.

“Ya said we’re friends. If ya did start that, Ah’d still stick by ya.”

“But I didn’t.”

“Ah believe ya. Ah’m just sayin’.”

“…I don’t start fights anymore.” Salad said, looking away again.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. So… so don’t tell Ivan, alright?”

“Ah won’t. He’ll probably find out anyway though.”

“Maybe.”

“…Ya need help with yer wing?”

“You back the buck off or I’ll murder you!” In a flash, Salad was backed up against the door looking ready to kill.

Big Mac didn’t bat an eye.

“Did Ah offend you?”

“You asked to feel up my wing, of course I’m offended!”

“…Would it help if Ah said Ah don’t know what yer fussin’ about?”

“…really? How could you not know, that’s like, lesson one about dealing with pegasi.”

“Most of the town’s earth ponies, and Ah don’t get around much to begin with.”

“…Well, uh…” Salad looked uncomfortable. Only Mac’s titanic self control enabled him to keep his face straight at the sight.

“Alright, so… it’s like… you ever been with a unicorn?”

“Yeah.”

“Like, been with.”

“Ah know what ya meant.”

“Did they ever want you to…” She paused, awkwardly, probably not liking this at all. “…play with their horn?”

“Ooooh yeah.” The stallion allowed a smirk as fond private memories started playing back in his head.

Then he frowned.

“…really?”

“Yeah.”

“…Sorry. Wasn’t mah intention.”

“…I believe you.” Salad echoed as she visibly relaxed. “…I’ll take care of it myself though, if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all.”

“…would you, ah… get my back though? Hard to reach. Watch the wing though.”

“Sure.” He said, wetting the cloth as the mare trotted back to him.

With her back turned, he ran his eyes over the wing in question. To be honest, half the reason he offered in the first place was because he had never taken a good look at a pegasus wing before. Or any wing for that matter.

Aside from how dirty the plumage was, the wing seemed… like a wing. Big Mac didn’t have an eye for such a thing.

The feathers looked soft though. He idly wondered how they’d feel.

…he also let his mind play with how similar they might be to a unicorn’s horn, as far as foreplay went.

“Feel better?” He asked, putting the thoughts aside for later.

“Huh?”

“Ya looked madder then a kicked hornets nest before. Ya feelin’ better now?”

“…a little.” She said.

“…Right. Ah’ll leave the rest to you. Dash’ll probably be back pretty soon.”

“Kay.”

--

“…oh dear oh dear oh dear.” Fluttershy paced the floor, at a loss of what to do.

If she left, and found Rainbow, she could possibly explain things before they escalated too far. This was good.

If, however, Rainbow had found that pink mare before Fluttershy found her, that would involve being in the general proximity of said pink mare. Which might lead to even more unpleasant things for everypony.

That was bad. Very bad.

“Hey, Fluttershy, can I use your bathroom while I’m here?”

“Oh, of course Rainbow, I’ll ju- oh my gosh what happened to you.”

“Huh? Oh…” The cyan mare looked herself over. “Yeah, I guess I did get worked over a bit. Hey, take a picture, I could look like this next Nightmare Night.”

“You’re bleeding!”

“Oh, sorry, look, I’m not getting it on anything that’s not hardwood floor, so that’s easy to clean up.”

“You’re bleeding what happened to you are you alright is anything broken are you dying please say you aren’t-“

“Alright. Not dying. I look a little corpsey, but I’m not dying. Come on, you’re a vet that lives next to Everfree. You’ve seen worse then this.” Fluttershy bit her lip as she avoided Dash’s eye.

“Um… well yes, but…”

“Great, tell me about it sometime. Right now though, wanna help me get cleaned up?”

“Oh, of course. I’ll get the first aid kit. You look like you need stitches.” Fluttershy said as she started digging through a cupboard.

“Yeah, well, blame it on the cleats she was wearing. Cheater.”

“…I beg your pardon?” Fluttershy said as she stopped searching. If Rainbow had been paying more attention, she would’ve noted Fluttershy’s voice had the same chill her own had when she heard about the alleged threats. As it stood, she was already trotting her way toward the bathroom.

“Yeah, that sister of Ivan’s. We threw down at Sweet Apple Acres. Don’t worry though, I totally hit her harder then she did me- …Fluttershy?”

Dash turned to see a rather surprised Angel looking at the open window.

“Oh buck me, she went after her, didn’t she?”

Angel nodded.

“Well. I guess I’m going for a rematch. Wish me luck.” Angel idly held up a paw, which Rainbow bumped with her hoof as she passed. “I’ll make sure nothing happens to her.”

The bunny’s look plainly promised bad things if anything did. Dash chuckled and took off.

--

Salad, now presentable, walked out of the farmhouse to see Big Mac looking out in what looked like a random direction.

“Where are my cleats?”

“Put ‘em aside for washin’. Also so ya wouldn’t scratch up mah floors.”

Salad grumbled, but seemed to accept it.

“Birdwatching?”

“Waitin’ for Fluttershy.” He said. “That’s her right there.”

Salad squinted and saw a yellow shape approaching at a decent speed.

“Do I have to do this? If her first impression was any indication, she’s just going to cower and stutter. Then that rainbow freak’ll pop up, think I’m the bad pony, and attack me again.”

“Maybe.”

“If she does, I’m using my blade. There won’t be anything left this time.”

Big Mac sighed.

“Alright. Yer just gonna sit there and play nice, and we’ll get this all sorted, and it’ll never happen again.”

“Oh, is that the plan?” She scowled. “When it rains, it pours. This is gonna go sour.”

“Just sit tight. Fluttershy might surprise ya.”

Salad decided this was unlikely.

A minute later, the pegasus landed softly and trotted towards them with a purpose. Salad noted she didn’t look happy.

Neither her or Big Mac expected her to march right up to Salad and Stare her down.

“Did you hurt Rainbow Dash?” Salad knew that tone. That was the tone Rainbow had earlier before they started brawling. The tone of a pony who had shoved aside everything else in the entire bucking world, including reason, for the sake of one single objective.

She wanted to answer and tell the twit exactly what she’d done to Rainbow, but the words wouldn’t come. And a feeling unfamiliar to her slowly started creeping up her spine as she found herself unable to look anywhere except a pair of wide angry eyes.

“Rainbow Dash is my friend.” Fluttershy said stepping forward as Salad slowly tried to back away. “And nopony…”

Salad found her back up to a wall, both figuratively and literally. Fluttershy continued, looming over her.

“…but nopony…”

Those eyes seemed to consume her entire world, and Salad had never found herself in a position like this.

That unfamiliar feeling, she realized, was fear.

Fluttershy, using some blighted magic she had never even heard of, had made herself the most threatening thing Salad had ever encountered in her life and she was terrified.

The wall of the farmhouse pressed up against her back, and Fluttershy had her trapped.

She had to escape. She had to get far far away from this sunless demon so the world could start making sense again, otherwise she could be trapped forever.

Run. By the moon, run run run run run run run run run run

“…hurts m-hurk-“ Big Mac’s eyes widened further as he saw Salad break eye contact with the Stare, and buck Fluttershy in the chest with enough force to probably empty an apple tree.

The yellow mare barely had enough time to land on her back before Salad had bolted. She was out of sight in mere seconds.

Bic Mac shook the surprise aside as he realized that desperate wheezing he was hearing was Fluttershy. He walked over and knelt by her prone body.

“Easy there. Yer alright. Just give it a second.”

Slowly, propped up against Bic Mac’s foreleg, she managed to start breathing again. And after a few moments to calm down, she looked up at him.

“That’s… never happened before.”

“The Stare not workin’, gettin’ winded, or gettin’ hit at all?”

“…yes.”

“…Huh.” He said contemplatively. “Well. What do ya suppose we do now?” He asked as Fluttershy shakily got to her hooves.

“Hey, I’m back.” Said a much cleaner Rainbow Dash as she landed. “Sorry I took so long, Rarity roped me out of the air when she saw how dirty I was. She even gave me those stitches you said I needed Flutters.”

She looked the area over for a moment. “So, what’d I miss?”

Big Mac and Fluttershy exchanged a look, wondering how they could possibly explain anything without Rainbow taking off again while swearing revenge.

“And where’s that pink mule? Did she go home or something? Did I miss all the fun?”

Big Mac sighed. Pa warned him about days like this.

Author's Notes:

Hey, quick question, anybody have an actual idea for Pony Easter? I'll edit it in later, but I couldn't come up with something decent myself before posting this. Please and thank you.