Rainbow Dash's Day
by Fizzy Orange
“Don’t do it boss!” said Cloud Kicker through clenched teeth as she held on to Rainbow Dash's tail.
Rainbow Dash’s wings were beating, slowly draging Cloud Kicker through the snow. Luckily for the assistant weather manager, Thunderlane showed up and grabbed hold of Rainbow Dash by wrapping his front hooves around her neck and pushing against her chest. Dash kept struggling despite this added block but she couldn’t move forward anymore.
“Let me at her! Let me at her! She banished Princess Luna!” said the multi-hued pegasus, still struggling.
“That’s Corona! Do you want to be reduced to ashes?” asked Blossomforth as she leapt on top of Rainbow, pinning her wings down.
As the trio of pegasus endeavored to keep Rainbow Dash from charging to the rescue, and to her death, the weather manager became suddenly aware of screams of terror emerging from the crowd. She stopped fighting and looked around, realizing that colts, fillies and adults were being lifted by white telekinesis and sent floating toward the crazed alicorn who had appeared in the town square.
“Big brother!” came a familiar voice as the weight around her neck disappeared.
“Rumble!” cried Thunderlane, reaching a hoof toward his little brother, only to be pushed away by the brilliant magic force.
Rainbow shook off the two mares still clinging to her and flew off toward the form of Rumble. She was vaguely aware of other familiar ponies being lifted from the crowd, including Rarity clutching her little sister, but right now her weather team needed her. An invisible wall repelled her with surprising force, just as she was about to grab the little colt. It sent her flying backward into the trunk of a tree and she slumped in a pile of snow at its base.
When Rainbow Dash managed to chase away the Rumbles spinning around her head, she realized that the monster she wanted to assault was gone, and half the crowd as well. Those that remained seemed to be crying in despair. Dash flew up to where Blossomforth was holding a crying Thunderlane. The blue pegasus looked around, nervously hovering above her employee and his date.
“Where is she?” she asked.
“Gone!” said Thunderlane between sobs. “She took my little brother and a bunch of others and…”
Seeing how Thunderlane was being too emotional to continue, Blossomforth finished for him. “She vanished! I think she went to Canterlot!”
A despondent Flitter walked up to the trio “It’s all because of that new Representative! She tried to buddy up to Corona. Corona decided to take hostages so we would obey! She took my sister!” she managed to say before she too collapsed into Blossomforth’s hooves.
Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth in anger. “That traitor! She’s that jerk who tried to force Fluttershy out of her house! Where is she?”
“She fled after Corona disappeared. Boxy Brown gathered everypony he could and went to find her. I think they’re headed for her house,” said Blossomforth, patting Flitter on the back.
“I’ll go help ‘em out!” said Dash, flying off in a rainbow-colored blur.
“Wait…A little help? Please? Anypony?” squeaked Blossomforth, unable to move because of her two friends holding her.
Rainbow Dash flew toward the residency, she quickly over took the small sized mob lead by Boxy Brown. She could see that somepony had already gone through one of the front window of the Residency.
She decided to follow through, plunging through the glass. She flew across the house and exited at the back through another window. With a sharp U-turn she smashed through glass once again before emerging out of the living room window onto the front lawn. She continued this pattern with the second floor of the building and didn’t stop until she had destroyed every window, and searched every room. Just in time for the mob to catch up to her and break down the door. Rainbow went to hover by the group.
“Hey slowpokes! She’s not in here,” she said, only to be ignored. “Guys? Hello?”
Pinkie Pie bounced by past Rainbow in her way into the house “Weee! Party!”
“Pinkie Pie, you’re so random!” grumbled Dash.
She flew up into the now sunny sky and shot glances all over town, hoping to catch a sight of the blue-coated unicorn mare and her gaudy cape. What she did see were frightened ponies rushing home. Her ears flattened against her head, thinking of how terrified her friend must be. She was about to give up the chase and head for Fluttershy’s place when she spotted something. A familiar orange speck was rushing toward the edge of town. Rushing toward the road to Canterlot.
Rainbow Dash wasn’t about to let her number one fan do something foalish. She sped toward the pegasus filly as she was about to pass the scorch mark surrounding the town. She grabbed her around the shoulder, pulling her into the air, and left her scooter to crash into a nearby tree.
"HEY! LET ME GO!" Scootaloo yelled, trying to shake loose.
Rainbow Dash let the kid down and she turned around with a determined gleam in her eye. That gleam turned to surprise as she realized she was in Dash’s prescence. The familiar spark of excitement and admiration that always appeared in Scootaloo’s eyes while around Rainbow Dash was painfully absent though.
Rainbow Dash hovered before the kid and put on her most serious adult face. "Whoa there squirt! Where do you think you're off to in such a hurry? With everything that's just happened you should get home before you folks start worrying."
"But that monster took my dad!" Scootaloo yelled, surprising Dash.
Rainbow Dash was about to say something about her mother when Scootaloo muttered "...he's all I have left..."
Dash swallowed and her ears flattened. She had been this close to putting her hoof in her mouth, but thankfully Scootaloo had managed to defuse the awkward situation before it even came up. She realized that she didn’t know much about her number one fan. Maybe that was something she should fix in the future.
"Look, kid, I know you're worried and all, but is rushing to Canterlot really the best idea right now? I mean...you DO know who that monster is, right?" the filly shook her head. "...That was Corona...."
"Doesn't matter. I-I'll still go to Canterlot." her voice shook as she spoke. "I need to save him...I can't be alone...Mom wouldn't be afraid...Mom wouldn't be afraid..." Scootaloo's muttering slowly became quiet as she began repeating her mantra to herself.
Dash couldn’t help but feel bad for the kid. She was planning on heading to Fluttershy’s place as quickly as possible, but Fluttershy probably didn’t know Corona had escaped the sun. Rainbow Dash figured she could spare some time to help out Scootaloo. She turned to the filly and realized she was still repeating herself softly. She wasn't broken out of it until she felt a hoof gently pat her on top of her head.
"Your dad'll be fine squirt. Now come on. Let's get out of the sun,” said the adult softly, giving her a small smile.
"...Mom wouldn't be afraid...." Scootaloo muttered weakly one last time, before finally relenting and following Rainbow Dash back towards the town.
Rainbow Dash realized she didn’t know where Scootaloo lived, but, without telling her that, she managed to trick her into leading the way. Turned out that Scootaloo’s father was the wagon repair shop owner. Everypony in town had heard what had happened to Heavy Roller’s wife, but somehow Dash had missed any mentions that Nocturne was a mother. She felt even lousier to have been unaware of that dramatic event in the squirt’s life.
Now she stood in the small living room above the wagon shop and she couldn’t help but feel like that portrait of Nocturne on the shelf was judging her. Night Guards were creepy. Scootaloo had lain down on the sofa, resting her head on her front hooves and looking downright depressed.
A long minute of awkward silence stretched between the two. Rainbow Dash looked at anything in the room but Scootaloo as she scratched the back of her head with her hoof. She had no idea what to do now that the kid was back home.
“So…” began Rainbow Dash, catching Scootaloo’s attention.
There was another moment of silence before Dash finally continued. “So I’ll come back to check on you later, I need to see how my friend Fluttershy is doing.”
“You’re leaving me alone?” Asked Scootaloo with a shaking voice.
The look she gave Rainbow Dash seemed to pierce her heart like a hot-white poker. There was no way she could leave the kid behind now! She gave a sigh and hung her head. There was only one solution. As long as she kept Scootaloo away from Fluttershy things shouldn’t be too bad.
“Fine, you can come along squirt. I’ll introduce you to Angel, maybe he can teach you some bun fu moves,” finally said Rainbow Dash.
Scootaloo lifted her head and gave her idol a confused look. “I thought you were going to see your friend Fluttershy? Who’s this Angel fella?”
Rainbow smiled at the question. “Fluttershy doesn’t like meeting new ponies, Angel is…well you’ll see.”
“Why do you hang out with her anyway?” asked the orange filly, jumping off the couch.
“Fluttershy is the nicest pony in all of Equestria! She doesn’t have a single mean bone in her body. She’s pretty awesome in her own way, and I’m like her big sister so I have to protect her,” explained Dash. “Now you go grab a few things to keep you busy, we’ll probably stay there for a while.”
“Allright Rainbow Dash!”
While Scootaloo ran off to her room, Dash located a piece of parchment and a pen. She quickly left a message, in the off-chance anypony came looking for Scootaloo, and slid one of its corner under the portrait of Nocturne.
“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of her. I’m used to playing big sister,” she whispered, looking into the eyes of the Night Guard.
“I’m ready!” shouted Scootaloo from the bottom of the stairs.
Rainbow Dash gave a clumsy salute to the picture before heading toward the stairs.
“Let’s jet squirt! I’ll give you a lift!”
This should be......interesting. Scootaloo seems to be too boisterous for L!Fluttershy's tastes.
Aww, this was very sweet. I like what you did with Dash here.
I feel all warm and fuzzy after reading this....
1708400 Great!
Unless that warm feeling is a fever coming
Cool. Dash's priorities are properly haphazard, and planning on settling in with Fluttershy for a protracted period underlines how the two of them a somewhat trapped in their friendship.
Dash has only thought this about half-way, but I figure Scoots should provide a nurturing outlet and a distraction from contemplating impending solar doom, though.
...and, awwwww.
Nice. Some good solid residency destruction + Dash taking care of Scoots and Fluttershy, works for me.
1708421 Heh, I wonder which window got broken first?
1708428 The front window was broken by Raindrops in LNLD when she came to warn Trixie of the impending mob.
1708428 ironiclly, that window remained intact
Cute little chapter. Needs more proofreading at the beginning.
That was... good on Dash, there. Now to finally get my own written up.
1708782 Yup, and we got a different set of Elements,
We got a TV trope page too.
I liked this. A: it helps dispell some of the poor first impression of LNLD while allowing the deconstruction to remain, and more importantly, B: It was freaking adorable.
Aww. I like how you've blended Rainbow's temper with her care for her friends. Also, oh my gosh, Rumble. I forgot all about him. Poor Thunderlane!
I'm a year older than you.
1718214 She's a year older than Pinkie Pie, we don't know if she's older than Rainbow Dash.
This was a very nice chapter. Would've liked to see Rainbow perhaps a bit less destroy happy on Trixie, her being one of those trying to prevent that destruction probably would've helped make the rest of the story a bit stronger. Overall though where it went after the slightly weaker beginning was quite good indeed. Thanks very much for sharing it.
Well...I finally sat down and read all of these. And...I don't like them. Any of them, really. Okay, the Octavia one was decent and the Scootaloo one had some acceptable drama, but everything else has that distinctively unpleasant taste of LNLD. In fact, I'm pretty sure I dislike that story even more now as a result, and since that was the second-worst Lunaverse story out there as far as I'm concerned, that's an amazing accomplishment. So...congratulations on that, or something.
On their own merits, they're just meh. The Rainbow Dash one is the only one that infuriates me in any way, for much of the same reason "An Early Reunion" intensified my hatred for what the Lunaverse did to Celestia. It tries to justify a plot point I never liked, and in the process just upsets me even more. The deconstructive nature of LNLD was one of its most damaging components as a whole, if only because of why it was done to begin with: a writer's shorthand to get the Mane 6 pushed aside as quickly as possible so he could build up his own characters. This story does nothing to change my view on the matter.
So...sorry, but I don't see myself contributing to this project. I couldn't stand the original, and these spinoffs are really not helping in the slightest.
1745757 Well thank you for taking the time to read them at least. Sorry for upsetting you.
Which plot point are you talking about exactly?
1746051
Look, it's fine. I just get a little hot under the collar sometimes, that's all. LNLD just happens to be a pretty big Berserk Button.
"Plot point" probably wasn't the right choice of words. What I meant was it tried to justify the setup for the Mane 6 in LNLD by showcasing how nice Rainbow Dash can be to some characters. I know that doesn't sound like a problem, but remember that this is tied into LNLD in general, where Dash probably had the second-worst first appearance of any of the five Maneverse characters to appear. It's just the baggage that comes with the story that frustrates me.
As I said, though, I...never really liked the deconstructions in LNLD. Not because they were done (a good deconstruction is always a nice thing to have), but because of the motives behind it and the amount of damage it caused to the Lunaverse as a whole. RainbowDoubleDash wanted to quickly establish his new cast and why the old ones weren't going to get the EoH this time, but instead of simply building up his new characters and showing why they were worthy, he took it several steps too far and tore the ponies we love from the show to shreds. And attempts to reconstruct them since then have made things even worse. Pinkie becoming less of an annoyance after "Ill Communication?" That was only accomplished by altering her base personality, something I've hated about redemption fics since they were first invented, and came across as lecturing rather than organic growth. Applejack in "Carrot Top Season?" That was an unmitigated disaster that almost wrecked her beyond repair. So far, Fluttershy has been the only one who's worked in any way, but even that one feels like its walking the same path as the show, and that doesn't quite work for a fanfiction series like this. Rainbow Dash has a bittersweet backstory, but it doesn't justify her actions during the rest of the series. Rarity has gotten worse and worse with every appearance. And the only reason Twilight's not in this conversation is because she wasn't in LNLD.
It hasn't helped that I've actually started to run into people who take said deconstructions as proof of the Mane 6's incompetence and general thuggery. That wasn't RDD's intention, but it happened nonetheless.
The reason the Rainbow Dash story frustrates me is because it feels like it wants to be a celebration of this aspect of the Lunaverse, that it was the right move all along. While having Dash behaving like a big sister is nice and all, it's not enough to shake that uncomfortable feeling I get whenever I think of the fallout from RDD's decision.
...Sorry to lay that all out there. This really wasn't the place. I just had to get it off my chest.
1746160 I understand, it's allright.
Sorry to take so long getting to this, distraction and all that junk. Anyway...
It kind of bugs me that this chapter wastes time going to Scoots house just to leave again almost as quickly, instead of just going straight to Fluttershy's and getting on with that story. Still given that this wasn't something you planed to write in the first place, and you were trying to leave room for others I can understand why this chapter feels somewhat inconsequential in and of itself.
On the plus side I really do appreciate what you did for Dash, letting her be both noble and inconsiderate all at the same time. I'm also glad that we finally got some more named foals kidnapped. Most of all though, I'm glad I convinced Blackbelt to use Rainbow Dash at the end of Scoots chapter, because now we get to watch the little orange filly tramatize... err, meet Fluttershy.
1708820
Good, someone needs to do that.
1710136
Pretty much this. I don't want the L!M6 to every become mere copies of the M! counterparts, but I'm quite supportive of showing that despite their more pronounced flaws, they are still mostly good hearted ponies. The aren't and were never meant to be bad ponies, they just have different priorities that the versions we see on the show.
1719289
True but she looked older during the Cutie Mark Chronicles, plus it's funnier if Dash acts like the big sister when she's actually a year or two younger.
1728277
M!Rainbow accused Twilight of being a spy after NMM showed up, not really surprising that L!Rainbow would help smash up Trixie's house.
1756141 Yeah I originally planned to write until they got to Fluttershy's house (if only to show Scootaloo and Angel get into martial arts training) but I decided to leave more freedom to whoever wanted to do Fluttershy's day. I also like the feel of total improvisation this gives to Rainbow Dash's actions. She's a bit out of her depth here with Scootaloo.
1756141 Honestly, I didn't find the coming-and-leaving Scoot's place to be a problem; perhaps looking at it from the perspective of a story it feels awkward, but looking at it from an in-universe perspective, it feels natural:
I think our discussion a few days ago on the "what don't you like" thread was the result of a misunderstanding; I don't want the Lverse M!Six to become clones of their canon counterparts, either. What I meant by 'misrepresented' was that RDD didn't really give them good rounding in LNLD, thus why they appeared too antagonistic and led to further misrepresentation down the line. I understand he was trying to set them apart from their canon counterparts, but I feel they're different enough in their own right that one need not unfocus them as well, to achieve that.
Man Scoots is feels central in these mini stories.
2051589
Than that means I did it right.
What a nice little set of stories ^_^
Definitely shows a side to characters who, even later on, perhaps we don't really see a whole lot -- as much as he's presented as almost a bigger joke then in the Maneverse, Blueblood is more than meets then eye....it's hard to really describe in a worthwhile way, but you never could run away from the impression that he could be a whole lot more....that he is a whole lot more, and just about *everyone* doesn't see it. I don't want to necessarily overblow it, but it's sort of like Zizanne said....he has hidden depths, just like everyone else, and while that doesn't necessarily make him a good (or bad) person, it certainly makes him more then a characterture or just this buttmonkey. He has, is, potential....what he ends up becoming or aspiring too, I guess is up to him....but he's certainly someone worth being watchful for -- that's definitely how I take his presentation.
Octavia, ahhh....was this her first appearance in the L-verse? In any case, it really was a wonderful chapter with her....I'm pretty sure it's what you were aiming for, but she's just like the musicians onboard the Titanic (I'm going by the James Cameron movie here) who stayed on, even in the face of great increasing danger....and here, the results are, in a way, much much better -- because she manages to perform a tiny miracle among so much chaos....she manages soothe and alleviate a group of foals. It's as if she readily admits that there is only so much she can do, as per typical of a super-high standards in the L-verse....but she works with what she can do, and even if it's only so much, in a way, it's more than enough...she safeguards and soothes a group of children, and in that way, she becomes her own everyday hero -- not the one who charges in and defeats Corona, but a sort of unsung hero all the same, and it's something worth feeling proud of .
Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were great.....as 'dark' as the Lunaverse may get, it's nice to see instances like this where not everything has completely changed -- there is still some of that harmony from the Maneverse, and it was nice seeing RD and Pinkie Pie together, if only for a little while. Diamond Tiara as well, and her chapter.....you made her three-dimensional, like so much of the other characters, and really made her just so much more -- from being taught what to do in a foalnapping situation, to begging her father to buy their way to safety.....she's privilaged, and still a bully at school, but you went far enough that you really filled her out and made her truly three-dimensional and not just some characterture.
And finally, Big Mac....like Octavia, the Apples recognize when they are out of their league and prepare to wait out the storm -- there is simply not a whole lot they can do, and they admit that. I guess the best thing I can say that is that you really just got the right "vibe" for them....I'm not sure how to describe it, but again -- they are going by what they know, and doing what they can....it may not be a whole lot, but you have to give them credit and respect for trying to put on a brave face in the midst of this adversity and for not doing anything rash: Granny Smith, as you'd expect, shows some southern wisdom and doesn't recommend any blind heroics.
Overall, it really was just a sweet set of wonderful stories about a few unsung heroes -- I imagine, like in any tale of adversity, whether real or fictional, there are many many more that we never heard of, but it's nice to see a warmer different side to these characters
Nice little moment for Rainbow and Scootaloo there but otherwise, not a whole lot to say.