My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
My Son, The Crime Fighter:
"Hate Is A Strong Word"
----------------------------------

"Well...that could have gone better." Applejack remarked, Rainbow Dash throwing things out of her house and through the windows as Drizzy stormed off, muttering darkly under her breath.

For a long time they just listened to Rainbow Dash's yelling. "You all think this is REAL FUNNY, DON'T YOU?!" She yelled out. "And to think…to think, after all the love I let your father give you, you ungrateful little brat!"

"Dash, please, we wouldn't think that." Pinkie Pie said nervously, though she was OBVIOUSLY not really comfortable talking about this. "Let's just all sit down over some cookies and milk and-"

"I'VE GOT A BUTTER KNIFE! I will rip up the polka-dotted couch you sent to me, I swear!"

"Y-you wouldn't!"

KRRRKKKRRRKRKK!

"Wow, she is trashing the place worse than I did with the potato cannon."

"Don't bring that back up, Marzipan!" Applejack hissed. "We CRIED over the remains of Granny Smith's new hip and OUR new tool shed!"

KRA-THRUCK!

"Think that was our coffee maker..." Soarin' remarked before the actual coffee maker soared out the window and whacked him in the head. "...nope. That was it." He mumbled, plopping unconscious to the ground as Rainbow Dash glared down at him from the attic.

"You're really gonna play the "ugly" card?" Drizzy mumbled, stomping off, a hateful glare in her eyes as she sat down on a nearby tree stump, muttering incoherent swearing as Shinedown instinctively put a hoof on Squirt's shoulder.

"Jack, c'mon, cheer her up."

"Ohhh, no." Jack N' Box insisted to his mom, shaking his head back and forth, not willing to fall on THAT particular grenade for them. "Go call up Precious!"

"She's at the club in town." Rarity sighed as she took out her cell phone, dialing away. "This is a new "Smart Phone". It's supposed to be able to eighteen dozen things at once. Paid top bits for this!"

"Your gigantic hooves are too big to press my buttons. Please hand me to somebody who knows what they're doing."

"Smart-ASS phone is more like it." Marzipan commented as Rarity sighed and pulled out a pair of chopsticks from her little purse, using THEM to push the buttons. Nobody asked why she needed the chopsticks. It wasn't that time. "Come on, honey-bee. Pick up, sweetie…" Rarity quietly wished.

Meanwhile, Precious was dancing on the floor, grooving to a "Doggy Guetta" dance tune with the rest of the club, the Diamond Dog at the DJ studio speaking it up with Sanders Matherson and the stylish Vinyl Scratch about a possible collaboration as Precious giggled with her friends. "Can you BELIEVE it? We're in the same room as the three TITANS of the Mobian Music Industry!" She asked, hearing her phone beginning to ring.

And, of course, her ringtone was "Telephone". She looked down, seeing it was her mother on the caller ID as an idea came to her and she flipped it open, "holding" it to her ear as she waved a hoof in the air, her partygoing pals laughing as she began to mockingly sing. "Hello, hello baby, you called I can't hear a thing! I ain't got no service in the club, you see-see!"

"She's doing that "Telephone" thing again." Rarity muttered under her breath. "I HATE it when she does that. Precious, mommy needs you to come here, everyone's really stressed and something's happened that's affecting-"

"I'm kinda bus-y! I'm kinda bus-y!"

"Precious! I said I need you over here!"

"Shoulda made some plans with me, you knew that I was free!"

"…she's not even remotely listening, is she?" Twilight asked as a chair went soaring out the roof to crash into a nearby tree, Rainbow Dash swearing up a storm.

"Precious, honey? I'm taking you into the doctor's tomorrow for that root canal you needed to get. Just say a clear "no" if you don't want to go."

"Stop calling, stop calling, I don't wanna talk anymore!"

"Well." Rarity closed her phone with a "THUNK" and stuffed it in her purse. "That's ONE small victory."

"That kind of relationship you've got with your daughter CAN'T be good for either of you." Twilight insisted as Shinedown nervously looked down at Squirt, who nodded up at him. "I mean, that's what? The third time you've "tricked" her into-"

"Well it WORKS. It's how I got her to pick up her room and-"

"...I guess this is a bad time to say that I'm taking Squirt under my wing and teaching him to fight crime alongside me?" Shinedown asked quietly.

All of a sudden, a table leg held in her hoof like a baseball bat…an opportunity presented itself in Rainbow Dash's mind. A chance to leap on an INCREDIBLY ill-advised statement and just rip right into it.

"No WAY!" She announced, sticking her head out a window that had been broken. "Are you FOND of seeing your partners get bullets lodged in them!?"

Shinedown felt something inside of him begin to bubble up as tears immediately sprung to his eyes and he rubbed them out as fast as he could.

"DASH! That's...she didn't mean it like THAT, but...seriously, what are you thinking?" Twilight asked.

"But seriously? Putting the child at such risk?" Rarity asked of him.

"Shinedown, come on, you can't do that." Fluttershy added.

"Look, take it from a man who knows. The life might SEEM all glorious as yer blastin' the beejebus outta people but it ain't." Marzipan told him with a shake of his head, the others giving him a "What did you use to DO?!" type of look. "An' come on, he's too young fer this."

"What're y'all thinkin'?" Applejack added.

"OH FOR-SHUT UP!" Shinedown yelled and threw his hooves in the air, unable to take it anymore. "Shut up, shut up, and shut up, okay?! For Luna's sake, who are any of you to give me advice on anything, let alone parenting? None of you know what it means to be a good parent! Dash is throwing furniture out the window because of what her kid said! You let your daughter treat you and your wife like a doormat!" He said, turning on Marzipan.

"Shinedown, think about-!" Rarity began before Shinedown whipped over to glare at her.

"I have, Rarity! I'm more lucid now than I've been all day! Lucid enough to notice how jealous Rainbow Dash is of the fact that Ms. Cheerilee's been getting more attention than her! And glare all you want, "Big Dog", I'm not afraid of you." He hissed at Rainbow Dash as she glared at him. "Oh no, my husband's only paying attention to my kid, that must be so hard for Little Miss "Look At Meeeee"!"

He turned on Twilight and Rarity. "And what, you two are having problems getting along with your kid? Oh wow, you're probably the first parents that ever did that ever! Course, at least you're TRYING. And Pinkie--" He looked over at her. "There's a difference between being a parent and being a playmate, okay?! That is NOT connecting! But your relationship's the least honest, right after AJ. Funny thing about that guy me and Squirt beat up. He's actually a loan shark."

Applejack paled as Shinedown got in her face. "Didn't feel like sharing the fact that you owed money to him, huh? All I had to do was ask him when he was in jail. You've got a gambling problem, don't you? That's why you made a beeline for the card table. That's something you maybe oughta tell your friends, Applejack. Not telling the whole truth is usually just as bad as outright lying."

"I'm sure she was going to...eventually..." Fluttershy mumbled nervously as Shinedown turned to her.

"Oh, and you? Let's ignore the fact that you told me you couldn't be with me in a relationship not so long ago because for me? It's fun to watch you ruin your relationship from the outside, it really is. Honestly? The only thing that helps me sleep at night, you guys, when I'm sitting alone, in my room, just wishing that I had someone to talk to, is knowing that none of you idiots realize how lucky you are! And you can't even handle that right!" He said, waving a hoof in the air, snorting a bit. "It's amazing, it really is-"

"SHUT UP!!!"

There were probably several people you would expect those two words from.

…Fluttershy was not one of them. EVERYONE slowly turned their heads to look over at Fluttershy, her eyes tearing up as she stomped on the ground with one hoof, panting slightly.

"How…DARE…you!" She hissed, flying up into the air, smoke visibly pumping out of her nostrils like a train as Shinedown realized he'd totally overstepped and had put both hooves squarely in his mouth.

"Look, Fluttershy, I-" He began to apologize.

Too late. "How Dare you!?!" Fluttershy snapped. "Who do you think you are, telling us we have no idea how to raise our children, when you came to us! You do not talk that way to MY FRIENDS! Yeah, I do spoil my kid and yeah, maybe Rainbow is jealous, but you? You're deliberately going to put him in danger, and you think you can look down on us? And 'connecting'? What do YOU know about connecting? With the way you act! Oh, but of course, you think you know everything. It's the kind of jerk you are!"

"Fluttershy, I didn't mean to be so-"

"No, you shut up!" She went on, tearing up bitterly, hovering back down and turning away from him. "I'm so sick of it. I'm so sick of just…having to listen to your garbage again and again! You think we're selfish?! All you ever do is go on and on about how horrible your life has been and how you feel, nopony else! Oh, and Squirt? This isn't about him. No, it's about you and how you feel! That's all it's ever been about, and you can't even see it! You're the one who's selfish! At least with our kids, they're our priority!"

Shinedown looked stunned. An expression of pain was beginning to dawn on his face, like he was literally being stabbed with Fluttershy's biting words as she moved in closer and closer, finally going eye to eye. "Oh, and you want to know why I can't be in a relationship with you? ALL…OF…THAT." She muttered. "You're a selfish, miserable jerk who does nothing but wallow in pity and constantly expects everypony else to cry and pity for him, and even when they do, you throw it back in their faces. Marzipan? He actually acknowledges I have my own feelings and thinks they're important, not just his own, and that I'm not HIS Fluttershy. I'm nopony's Fluttershy. I'm my own pony!"

Nobody said a word as Fluttershy whipped away from him, Shinedown extending a hoof to put on her shoulder, but she shook it off, wheeling back at him to glare for a moment.

"NO! Just get out of here, Shinedown, okay? As far as I'm concerned right now, I don't wanna talk to you again! Stay away from me, my daughter, and my friends!" With that, all of the others stepped away, shaking their heads or biting their lips or frowning at him.

"But-" He tried to say.

"Shinedown…do as she says. Right now, I don't any of the rest of us are in any mood to talk to you, either." Twilight said quietly, Shinedown hanging his head as he slowly ambled off towards Everfree Forest as the others turned to Squirt, who had been standing to the side through it all.

"Well!" He remarked cheerily, rubbing his hooves together as he looked them over. "...while it's real nice to see you guys care about my future…little question. When were you gonna ask ME if I wanted to train with him or not?"

Fluttershy raised a hoof up. "Well obviously you wouldn't-"

His tone turned dead serious and bitting. "I said YES."

Dead silence. Mouths hung open.

"...what?" Brainy began, the young colt actually STUNNED that this little Changeling wimp was actually showing a pair. "…but…his old partner was-and…and he's-"

"I. said. yes. Yeah! He came to you! Yeah! He might be trying to make up for what happened to his old partner! But he asked me if this was what I wanted and I! SAID! YES! He adopted me because I was right in front of him, in need of help, with nobody else to turn to! And I said yes! He treats me like an equal. Nobody else ever did that. None of YOU bothered to ask if this was what I wanted like he did. You all treat me like a kid, like a victim."

"Okay, that was…wrong of us, we…admit it…" Rarity nervously gulped.

"But you're NOT equals, Squirt, not yet." Twilight insisted. "It's nice that he really honestly wants to help, but you're the foal, and HE'S the adult, and that's the way it's going to be for the next few years."

Silence. And then...

"...and…I should have just told him that from the very beginning." Twilight mumbled out.

"I should have just told all of you about my...problem...from the beginning." Applejack admitted.

"I should have just sat down with you and talked like I'm supposed to with a son." Pinkie admitted to Jack N' Box.

"We ALL should have handled ourselves better." Rarity admitted as she looked down at her phone in her purse, then over in the direction of Fluttershy, then over at Everfree Forest, in the direction Shinedown had gone to. "But none of us acted right. We should ALL be ashamed of ourselves, not just him..."

"Look at what's happened to us. One little chink in our armor and suddenly we all come falling down." Twilight sighed. "...we need to get Rainbow Dash and Drizzy back together. I have a feeling that'll be the closure we all need."

"And where are you going?"

"I think I know where HE went!" Twilight yelled back, galloping off.

…

…

…

…the old lake that had been such a beloved childhood memory was empty, save for one resident, who was skipping rocks over it every couple of seconds. Twilight stood there, staring at the back of his head as Shinedown reached down with a single arm, picking up a rock then hurling it through the air, his other arm wrapped around his legs as he sat on the bank of the lake.

"I'm here to talk to you."

"...please just leave me alone. I really don't think it's a good idea for me to be talking to anyone. I don't wanna snap again." He mumbled out.

"I'm not going anywhere." She said firmly, stepping forward. "I think you've already said what you wanted to say. I want to know how long you've been itching to say all that."

"...a while. But it wouldn't have been right to say it."

"Don't put that on. You can criticize all you want; it's a free country. But I will not tolerate is the way you acted."

"The way I said it was like a dam bursting, drowning everyone in a torrent of hateful, caustic CRUD, right?"

"You weren't WRONG, Shinedown, you were just being an JERK!" She stepped closer. "Now. Why are you choosing to adopt Squirt? Straight answer." She insisted, eyes stony.

"...I don't...know...if I really am choosing to adopt Squirt for his sake." He finally admitted, tracing a small circle in the ground. "You can't KNOW your own subconscious reasons for doing things, can you? Can anybody ever really know? I just felt...he needed help. He needed somebody. And it was kinda my fault that he was in that position in the first place, and...I...maybe I saw a bit of myself in him, I don't know, I don't know ANYTHING anymore."

"We're not talking about Squirt anymore, are we? I don't think Fluttershy was entirely right when she said it's about you, but it's certainly now become about you. So let's move on from Squirt for a moment and focus on you, because right now, you're the one who urgently needs a talking to."

"I don't like talking about myself. Despite what some people might think."

"Okay, "selfish jerk" is a bit cruel but…well it's obvious that Squirt's obviously not the only thing worrying you, so who else? ...Fluttershy?"

"...I'm NOT mad at her."

"You're not?" Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow up. "…then what ARE you feeling?"

"Please just…" Shinedown covered his head with his hooves. "I don't think this is a good idea."

"Just talk."

"…I…I just...wanted her to...be happy. It just...it woulda been nice if she could have been happy with me, is all......oh, LOOK at me! Even when I'm trying to think of her I keep thinking about myself, she's right, I am a selfish idiot!" He held his head in his hooves and shook it back and forth. "I can't believe I said that about all of you! I should have just kept it squashed in my head instead of letting it spill out, I never meant to hurt your feelings, I was just so...FRUSTRATED! I needed help...I STILL need help...I...don't know what to do..."

"Well, first of all, I'm not going to disagree with you, because you're right. You WERE being selfish and you were wrong to act the way you did." Twilight insisted to him as she moved even closer. "But now you've admitted it, and that's the first step to sorting the problem."

"I don't know if there's a way to "sort" this problem." Shinedown told her.

"There IS a way. Look, as much as we have our faults, Shinedown, that doesn't give you the right to talk down to us like garbage. If you want Fluttershy to apologize, you owe an apology to everypony first."

"I'm not sure I can apologize to…him."

"Oh, for…" Twilight groaned. "I KNOW you kinda resent him for taking her, and I know Marizpan can be…kind of…an idiot." She sighed. "And he's really, really annoying sometimes, I admit that, but Pinkie Pie can be like that too!"

"Pinkie Pie's idea of fun is parties and cake. Marzipan's is smoking cigarettes that blow colored smoke and, if what I've heard about what happened to Granny Smith, accidentally shooting people with homemade potato cannons."

"…okay, that was a LITTLE horrific..." Twilight admitted. "she makes him happy-"

"Then I should be happy for her." Shinedown finished. "If he honestly can make her smile, I should be grateful to him."

"Yes." She finished. "THAT'S more like it, Shinedown. Much more like it. Look, I know why you're the way you are, the term is co-dependency. You're a person who looks for someone she can trust unconditionally, and without any kind of guide in your life, you can't carry yourself through life. The first time it was Serge, then it was in Fluttershy…"

"I…" Shinedown flinched. "I…"

"Look, relax. You took Sunset on as your partner because you recognized that, didn't you? By having somebody being able to depend on YOU, you feel like you can be your real self, right?"

"Yeah…I guess." He admitted, standing up.

"You're going to work through this. It's in the open now. And I'm gonna try to help you if I can, alright?" Twilight asked, putting a hoof on his shoulder.

"…Twilight…I…" Shinedown hesitated, then spoke up. "You know what? I think I can help you with what's going on."

"How so?" She asked.

"Let me show you what I showed Squirt." He told her, leading her through the Everfree Forest. "You follow the Solarian School of Thought, which places emphasis on the Elements of Harmony, right? Of course you would, you're Celestia's best student!"

"Well, I don't like to brag. Really, I don't." Twilight insisted as Shinedown reached the statue of Night Mare Moon, a form emerging from behind it as Twilight gasped.

"Young Squirt the Changeling has become MY new student." Princess Luna informed Twilight Sparkle, her starry mane flowing freely as she looked down upon them. "I'm in town for the next few days and have much to teach him, just as I taught Shinedown. Yet I can tell you're in something or a predicament."

"QUITE, my liege." Shinedown said, bowing his head. "It concerns Rainbow Dash…her daughter Drizzila told her she hated her."

Luna gaped as if she'd been smacked in the face with a fish before shaking her head back and forth, her voice turning low and introspective. "How awful. There's nothing more important than the bonds of family. We've got to do something about this. I will talk to her."

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Twilight insisted as Princess Luna walked alongside them. "I respect you thoroughly, my liege, but I can't honestly speak for your interpersonal skills…"

"I have a way with words." Princess Luna told her as they approached Applejack's quickly-becoming-more-ruined-by-the-minute house, all of the other ponies gasping in awe and bowing before Princess Luna as she strode by them, head held high. "Please, please, no groveling…what're you doing, Marzipan?"

"Averting my eyes, oh liege." Marzipan insisted, looking away from her, one hoof covering his face as Luna pulled it away and made him look at her.

"DON'T. It's like those miserable POEMS they make those poor tykes read for English class. They are SO depressing and stuffy." She sighed. "I want to be treated as an equal…just as one who has a bit more experience in…family issues." She added with a hint of hurt as she walked over to Drizzy, who nervously glanced up at her before looking away.

"I'm not averting my eyes out of worship. This is more out of being incredibly uncomfortable around you." She bluntly responded.

"I heard you informed your mother that you hated her."

"My dad's always said "Hate is a strong word". That's why I used it."

"I seem to recall people used to hate me as well. They feared me. Despised me and all I represented, all you see around you…" Luna spread a hoof around her, gesturing at the starry night sky, the faint but firm wind that was wrapping around them, the way all was faintly illuminated by the moon's pale, soft glow. "The night. People had no true love for the night…I thought they hated it as much as they once hated me. Was that true?"

"Who ARE you?"

"GAAAAAH!!!" Everyone else all fell down in a collective, loud groan, Twilight slapping her face with her hood.

"…regardless, I think we all know…save for you…how that turned out. Now why don't we go inside and talk things over?" Luna asked her.

"I…I am NOT goin' in there. I HATE her! She's the worst mom in the WORLD!" Drizzy insisted as she folded her arms across her chest and "harrumphed". "…heh. Feels good every time I say it!"

Luna approached the door and knocked on it, Rainbow Dash slowly opening it up, looking Princess Luna up and down.

Instinctively, she felt the urge to immediately get on HER knees, but she was still riding a wave of furious adrenaline and muttered out "What do you want" at the princess.

"May I talk to you?"

"Alright." Rainbow Dash said, opening the door as Luna gave a nod at the others, everyone glancing around at each other as Luna sat down at a nearby table, Rainbow Dash flying back and forth, pacing angrily in the air as Luna munched on an apple that had yet to be tossed against the wall.

"So…" CRUNCH-CRUNCH-CRUNCH. "Why do you believe your child hates you so much?"

"She's a hateful, contemptuous little BRAT!" Rainbow Dash hissed, waving her hooves in the air, turning red in the face with fury. "She's been whining and screaming and yelling about how I'll never be good enough for years and years! Since the minute she popped outta me she's been a pain!"

"Come now...deep down, just between you and we--we won't tell anypony-- you don't really hate your daughter?" Princess Luna asked, trying to be as diplomatic as possible.

"Yes, I do!"

"But you don't. You can't. She is your daughter."

"Head to tail!"

"No, really..."

"And all her stupid birds!"

"Look, she was a foal once."

"Everypony hated that ugly foal!"

"Hated a foal?!" Princess Luna exclaimed, looking horrified.

"I am NOT sorry! I mean, Dad said my first words were "YOU SHUT UP"." Drizzy mumbled to the others as they looked from the house to her. "And she never let me forget I couldn't fly. That's the only thing she cares about! That's what she wanted, a foal who could fly! I was doomed to failure from the start!"

"She BIT me when I first held her in my arms!"

"No WONDER I bit her when she first held me in her arms!"

"Let me ask you something…" Luna said as she slowly took out a small scroll from a pouch slung around her body. "…do you know of the "Deep Magic"?" She asked Rainbow Dash, a hush falling over the Pegasus as the others could feel a visibly charged air rising around them, all of them slowly inching to the house, trying to listen in. "Of the time before time?"

"…what…is that?" Rainbow Dash whispered as Luna unrolled the scroll, revealing strange words in some kind of odd language she could not really understand. "Is…is that…"

"This deep magic once kept the monstrous Old Guard at bay. It made the Changelings into what they were. It is a powerful force that is nigh-beyond comprehension. And I am offering it to YOU, Rainbow Dash of Ponyville." Luna whispered, her hushed tone more powerful and more deadly than the most booming voice she'd ever spoken to anyone before as real fear creeped into Rainbow Dash. And yet…she found herself inching closer to the scroll to look upon it.

"What does it do?"

"This is the "Armageddon" spell…combined with the Barrier of Life. Speak these words and cast it…and a barrier will surround a target as Armageddon is unleashed upon them…as they are utterly wiped from all existence, every last trace of them lost to the abyss, cast between the dark space between spaces. Forever gone and ne'er to return. You have a "magic wand" to wave, Rainbow Dash of Ponyville…" Luna continued to say, the others peeking in through the windows and the cracks in the door. "Say the words and Drizzila will be gone."

"…I…" Rainbow Dash murmured, her hooves beginning to shake, sweat dribbling down her brow. "I…"

"Go on. Say it."

"…I…"

"SAY IT."

"I…"

"SAY IT!"

"I CAN'T!" Rainbow Dash finally screamed, tossing the spell scroll through the air, falling into a heap on the floor, sobbing as the tears came fully, dribbling down onto the floor beneath her, trickling down her cheek. "I can't, I can't, I CAN'T! She's…still my daughter, she…she's still my baby girl." She murmured. "I…I don't feel so good."

"You really wouldn't obliterate me?" Drizzy asked as she slowly pushed the door open. "You…want me around?"

"I've never NOT wanted you around!" Rainbow Dash mumbled as she turned her head to the side, gritting her teeth. "Drizzy, I…I've always…you know… I was just too stupid to know how to say it. I'm not…good at emotional stuff. Never have been, never will."

"This is like saying "I love you" coming from her." Fluttershy admitted.

"I…want you around…too…" Drizzy finally admitted as she reached down with a hoof, Rainbow Dash looking up at her and taking it. "I thought…you didn't want me."

Rainbow Dash deeply hugged her little girl, trying not to crush her. "Oh, baby…" She whispered, lifting Drizzy onto her back, the two soaring out through one of the many holes in the roof, soaring off into the sky, tiny twinkling dots soaring through the stars.

"It is a start." Princess Luna as the others walked out the door, Shinedown putting a hoof on Squirt's shoulder as he lifted the kid up onto his back.

"Would you like me to teach you how to shoot a taser?" He asked Squirt as they headed out after Drizzy and Rainbow Dash.

"Nonlethal already? REALLY?"

"Um…princess?" Twilight nervously asked Luna as the deep bluish/black pony picked up the scroll to put into her pouch, the others quickly becoming long gone. "The things you said about the "Old Guard" and "Deep Magic"…that wasn't true, right?"

"No. It was. My sister and I fought against entities that dwarfed us in might in a battle that raged across the nexus of realities. But this?" Luna said with a small smile, waving the scroll in the air a little. "This is just a recipe for hair tonic."

"You're getting better at this." Twilight admitted with a bow of her head.

"I know. But I don't like to brag."