HR ~HERO~ - Part 3

...Why...? Why did this have to happen...? And now, of all times...? Now... now everyone I knew and loved... My friends, my grandfather, and... my parents... They’re all gone... Breezegale is gone! They’re all gone! Why?! Why??!! You all didn’t have to die like that! You didn’t have to!!

Aaaaagh!! It’s not fair! It’s not fair!!

IT’S NOT FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIRRRRRRRR!!!!!

“Uhh…!”

Dash’s eyes snapped wide open, her eyes shifting left and right. Almost immediately, she realized she was hearing something while she was sleeping, for the source of the voice wasn’t found in her immediate field of view.

The pegasus, as her normal blue self, was sitting on the grass with her back on the brown bark of a tree, with her front hooves at the back of her head. She was in an open grassy area with a carved road path in a part of the area, half-surrounded by a small forest that was filled with small trees and the other half being a small hilly cliff. To the left of her was a cave opening, and to the right of the cave was the carved road, leading up the hill where the cave opening was underneath it.

In the center of the area were some wooden logs and rocks that were arranged to form a camping spot, with the inactive campfire base in the middle of the spot. Scattered all over the area were white camping tents with various supplies and travel bags next to them. As Dash calmed down from her sudden wakeup, she noticed that three of her friends, sitting around the camp spot on the logs, were looking at her, having heard her.

“…Did you have a nightmare just now, Rainbow?” asked Applejack, seeing her to the left. “You yelped all of a sudden, not to mention lookin’ like somepony had just scared you.”

“Are you alright, Rainbow?” asked Twilight, looking back at her.

Dash sighed, calming down with her eyes downcast. “Yeah, I’m fine… No, I didn’t have a nightmare. I just suddenly heard a voice, that’s all.”

She rubbed the side of her head with her hoof, looking puzzled.

“Man… what’s with me hearing voices lately while I’m snoozing off? I guess it must be a part of me being the Flame of Harmony now. Hearing or seeing things before they… happen. Or something.”

“…Hm, seems like it. Didn’t you hear a voice saying that you were the destined one several days before it happened?” asked the purple pony.

“Yeah. That, and your dream with Discord and all,” said Applejack.

Dash nodded. “And… that loud growlish scream I heard the other day, where I thought that some sort of big monster was nearby. Well, I dunno about you guys, but I really don’t like it when these things scare me out of my sleep.”

Lowering her hooves from her head, the pegasus proceeded to get up and stand on her fours. She walked over to her friends and stopped.

“Who does like it when one is interrupted from their sleep?” said Rarity, looking at Dash a few feet ahead of her. “Well, what did you hear this time, Rainbow?”

“Well, uh… it was a voice. Sounded sorta close to my own, but with a more… cat-like tone to it except at the end? I dunno,” replied Dash, shrugging and looking down. “It sounded really desperate and like it was in denial. It sounded like it lost its friends and family and its home. ‘Breezegale,’ it said. And then, it screamed, ‘It's not faaaaair!’ in this really painful tone. Like how I felt when I saw that my nightmare with Discord was coming true…”

She looked up at her friends.

“And, well, that’s what woke me up.”

“…Huh. Breezegale, eh?” said Applejack. “Can’t say I’ve heard of such a place in Equestria before.”

“Me neither. And I don’t think it is in Equestria, actually,” Twilight said, looking at the orange pony. “While I was still in Canterlot after my princess ceremony, I took the opportunity to look at the most up-to-date maps they had. And this ‘Breezegale’ wasn’t marked on any of them if I recall correctly. So either we haven’t found it yet…”

“…or it’s not in Equestria at all. Remember when the Changeling Queen said she and her minions came from outside of Equestria?” asked the orange pony.

“Yeah, she did say that. Hmm.”

“Well, if this is, indeed, a foreshadowing dream, and it’s not in Equestria, then how are we supposed to save it from destruction?” asked Rarity. “If it is going to be destroyed, that is.”

Dash shrugged. “I dunno. It could be something, or it could just be nothing. Either way, whether or not this place exists and is one of its targets or not…”

She lifted up and looked at the underside of her right hoof, looking at it with a firm expression.

“We can’t forget about the darkness that’s coming here. And so I must train before then.”

“Right,” nodded Twilight.

Lowering her hoof, Dash glanced around, looking for something.

“Uh, where did the fillies go?”

“Oh, they’ve gone up the hill to see the Falls,” replied Applejack, smiling while glancing at the path leading up to the hill.

Turning towards that direction, the pegasus unfolded her wings and took off ahead, ascending to the air above.

Twilight sighed, smiling and looking down. “What a long-winded week this was. The princess ceremony, meeting and greeting all the ponies who came to see that I’ve ascended, going all over Equestria… I’m so glad that I went on this trip to Winsome Falls with you guys.”

“Yep. Even a princess, a new one at that, needs a big breather every now and then,” said Applejack, smiling.

“Indeed,” said Rarity, smiling. “My word, who could have seen that your special destiny was to become a princess?”

Twilight looked down at the left and right side of her body, seeing her new pair of folded wings. She unfolded them, revealing their full appearance. Unlike a pegasus’ wings or even Super Dash’s and Celestia’s wings, the newly-ascended purple alicorn’s feathers looked more fuller and more regal-looking, compared to the usual thinner feathers.

“Only Rainbow did, Rarity. Only she knew that she wasn’t the only one with a special destiny.”

---

“Wow… this is awesome.”

“You said it, Scootaloo. Wooooow.”

“I never thought a place like this could exist!”

The three Cutie Mark Crusaders, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, were standing at the edge of the cliff overlooking the other side of the area where the path continued. The path led to a pond and a large rainbow-colored waterfall that was falling in from the cloud above, with the area itself being the top of a small mountain that overlooked a huge, wide, grassy landscape below. Floating above this great land were several clouds that were constantly letting out rainbow waterfalls onto the land below, with some of them fading before they touched the ground.

With the rainbow waterfalls near and far, it was a majestic and colorful sight to behold.

“Rainbows. Rainbows everywheeeere…!” exclaimed Scootaloo, with a happy look on her face.

“So this is the place our sisters wanted us to see,” said Apple Bloom, looking with awe. She then put on a puzzling look. “But, uh, some of the rainbow falls look kinda… faded going down.”

“Yeah, that is weird. I wonder why some of them look like that?” said Sweetie, with a puzzled look as well. She then smiled. “Still, this is beautiful!”

“Loving the sight of this, huh?”

Hearing a voice from behind, they looked back to see Dash standing behind them with her wings unfolded.

“Yeah, this is awesome, Rainbow Dash,” said the dark orange pegasus filly, smiling.

“Yeah, but do you know why some of them look kinda faded, disappearing before they hit the bottom?” asked the yellow filly, looking onward.

Dash looked ahead. “Oh, those? Honestly, I have no idea. All I know that this place was made by pegasi from Cloudsdale who wanted a place for sightseeing tourists to go to and to be awed. They even said that this is supposed to be a vacation spot, which was why we came here in the first place.”

“Well, this is one heck of a vacation spot, that’s for sure,” said Scootaloo.

“Yup!” Dash nodded.

The blue pegasus began to look all over the area. As she glanced here and there, mostly the landscape below, she began to get an idea.

“Huh. Actually…”

She took a few steps ahead, walking past the fillies, and then stopped there.

“This place looks big enough… Enough for me to practice and train.”

“Huh? Train?” asked the white unicorn filly. “Oh! I remember.”

“…Oh snap!” exclaimed the orange filly, looking surprised. “Are you really going to…?!”

Dash stood there for a second. Then, she looked back at them with a determined smile and with the iris of her right eye being ruby red.

“Yep!”

A second later, the blue pegasus’ mane and tail began to move themselves upward. Then, at the instant they reached all the way up, a quick white flash and a short burst of energy occurred, and she now stood there as her white-coated Super self with her flame-shaped spiked mane and with her trademark Loyalty necklace instantly appearing on her.

“Whoa! Uh, wow, that was quick,” said Apple Bloom, jumping a bit as she was surprised by Dash’s instant transformation.

“Yeah, didn’t know you could transform that quick,” said Sweetie, also looking surprised.

“Aw, aw, AWESOME!” exclaimed Scootaloo, looking very happy and excited with wide open eyes.

“Hehe. Yeah, I did it in an instant, huh?” said Dash, smiling and turning right a bit to look at them, giving them her full appearance. “Well, I could transform slowly to impress everypony, but sometimes, when there’s danger to be had or you just want to get things done, you gotta do it quick. Right?”

“Right! And wow, what a difference from your normal self, Rainbow Dash,” said the yellow filly. “To go from blue to white like that…”

“…It’s as if you turned into another pony altogether,” said Sweetie, smiling with a bit of awe on her face.

“Heh, that’s what Twilight said when she saw me transform up close the other day,” the white pegasus said. “But, eh, it’s more like that I’ve just turned into another side of me, that’s all.”

Dash turned towards the Falls ahead. “Well, I’m gonna train now. If you think I look awesome here, ha, just wait ‘till I start swinging my hooves out there!”

Focusing on a spot between the various waterfalls and clouds in the air ahead of her, the white pegasus then jumped and took off, flying towards the spot with her wings remaining stationary as she flew.

“Wow, she can fly on her own without using her wings now?” asked Apple Bloom, seeing her fly to the spot.

“Yep, she can now while as her Super self,” said Scootaloo, smiling. “Didn’t you guys see her when she was helping to rebuild Ponyville a while back?”

“I don’t think we did. We were busy trying to help our sisters at the time,” said the yellow filly.

Reaching her desired spot, Dash stopped there in a bipedal position. She glanced all over, seeing she was in a spot large enough between the clouds and their waterfalls, and seeing she was high above the huge landscape below.

With a smile of determination on her face, she looked ahead, going into a fighter’s stance with her lower right hoof moving back a bit. Tensing up her body a bit, she pulled back her upper left hoof and swung it forward and down as hard and fast as she could. Then, she lowered her right hoof and swung it upward, pulling an uppercut that made her turn around. Immediately as she turned around, the pegasus quickly let loose a series of forward kicks with her lower right hoof at a really fast speed, appearing as if she had multiple hooves that were kicking the air. Stopping her flurry, she swung her lower left hoof all the way to her right, causing her to turn back around and unleashing a series of fast punches with both of her upper hooves a quick second after. Again, with her blazing speed, she appeared as if she had more than two hooves attacking the open air in front of her, and she yelped every time she threw a punch, sounding like she was stuttering.

Down below, the three little fillies watched the white pegasus as she continued to train.

“…Wow, I’ve never seen anypony punch and kick that fast,” Apple Bloom said, looking slightly stunned.

“Yeah… I mean, she was a fast hoof fighter, but she wasn’t this fast before,” said Sweetie Belle, with her mouth opened a bit.

“Well, duh. She’s Super Dash now,” said Scootaloo, smiling. “Super speed and super strength, able to lift up a giant building up on one hoof… Man, you guys REALLY should’ve seen her at Ponyville.”

Up ahead, Dash continued her session. After a heavy swing from her upper right hoof, she quickly dashed forward a bit and threw a wide kick, making her turn around once more and setting off another series of punches with just her upper left hoof alone. All with a firm, concentrated frown on her face.

“Hey… isn’t her mane supposed to be all fiery and flaming?” asked the yellow filly, looking at Dash’s mane. “It just looks kinda spikey.”

“Oh, good eye there, Apple Bloom,” said the white unicorn filly. “Yeah, why isn’t it all fiery? …Better yet, why aren’t her wings big? They were big before.”

Just then, the three of them heard footsteps approaching from behind, as well as a voice.

“That’s because she isn’t using a lot of power there. She’s basically in a low-power state now.”

The three fillies looked behind them to see the purple alicorn standing there with her wings folded, watching her friend train ahead in the air. Both Applejack and Rarity were approaching Twilight from behind.

“Huh? Low-powered?” asked Scootaloo.

“Yeah… Well, that’s what I observed when I studied her the other day, at least. It’s what she told me as well.”

“So this is her using a small bit of her energy?” asked Rarity, stopping next to Twilight on her right. “My word, she still looks quite fast out there.”

“Yeah. To think she could go even faster than that when she powers up,” said Applejack, stopping next to the alicorn on her left. “That’s gotta be somethin’ to see, alright.”

“Well, she did defeat a giant dragon after all, right? That should show how awesome her power really is,” said the orange pegasus filly, smiling and looking at Dash ahead again.

“Yep, she did, Scoots. She did.”

“And it’s all the more proof that the magic energy of Harmony really is the strongest of all Equestrian magic,” said the alicorn.

The group continued to watch on as Dash continuously did her numerous flurries of punches and kicks, slowly moving away from her spot as she continued. Watching the white pegasus, Twilight began to wonder about something.

“Hmm, which reminds me…” said Twilight, touching her chin with her hoof. “She has all that magic energy inside of her, and all it does is increase her speed and strength as well as change her appearance? …I know she doesn’t have a horn on her head, so she can’t really do spells or shoot energy beams. But… maybe at least she can shoot energy beams… through her hooves?”

“Huh? Through her hooves?” Applejack asked, looking at the alicorn.

“Yeah… You know how, no matter what type of pony we are, we are all connected with magic, right? Earth ponies being connected with the land, pegasi with the weather, and unicorns being the ones who can actively perform magic? Well, I once read in a book long ago that there was this secret group of earth ponies and pegasi that existed in history who, despite not having a horn on their heads, could actually perform unicorn magic through their own hooves. But they couldn’t use any type of unicorn magic, though. Only one, and that was to use the magic energy within themselves to shoot out beams as well as energy balls out of their hooves.”

“…Seriously? They could do that?” asked Rarity, looking at her. “And they were not unicorns at all?”

“They weren’t. Somehow, they were able to tap into their magic that connects them to the land and weather and were able to physically use it. How they did it is unknown. Maybe through simply focusing their energy like we do or…”

Twilight shrugged, lowering her hoof from her chin.

“Interestin’,” Applejack said. “So who exactly was this secret group of earth ponies and pegasi, anyway? Doesn’t sound like they were good guys at all, seeing how they were able to use a type of unicorn magic with their own hooves.”

“Actually, they were good guys,” said the alicorn, looking at the orange pony. “They were a secret group of ponies that was dedicated to protecting Equestria from crime and evil. They weren’t affiliated with anything or anypony but themselves, living in a secret place of their own. And not only were they able to shoot energy from their hooves, but they were expert martial artists as well.”

“Martial artists?” asked Sweetie Belle. “Like…”

“Yep,” nodded Twilight. She looked up and ahead. “Like her.”

The group looked ahead at Dash, who continued to train with a continuous flurry of punches, not showing a sign of slowing down. She continued to pour every bit of her strength into each and every swing of hers, with a part of her firm-looking face beginning to sweat a bit.

“She’s certainly good at being one, that’s for sure,” said Applejack, smiling. “Swingin’ her hooves at everything inside of my old barn to destroy it, and choppin’ all those trees at once with a dashin’ kick…”

“With all the abilities she has, it’s a no brainer on why she’s the destined Flame of Harmony and all,” said Twilight, smiling as well. She looked down a bit, pondering about something. ”…Hmm, so if those ponies were able to use magic through their hooves, then maybe…”

Looking up, the purple alicorn unfolded her wings, surprising her friends standing next to her.

“Hey, Rainbow Dash!” she shouted.

With a flap of her new wings, Twilight moved upward into the air above. Stopping a few feet above her friends, she held herself up in the air by constantly flapping her wings, leaning a bit left and then right as she tried to stay in the air.

“Whoa, careful, Twilight,” said Applejack, looking up at her. “You still haven’t gotten used to flying yet.”

“I still haven’t, yeah. But I think I’m getting there at least,” said the alicorn, keeping herself balanced in the air. “Don’t worry, she’ll catch me if I fall… Alright, stretch your front hooves out and...”

Stretching and pushing her front hooves out, pointing them in the direction of the white pegasus, Twilight began to fly over to her at a slow speed, flapping her wings to push forward.

Having heard Twilight’s voice from her right and below a few seconds ago, Dash stopped her training and looked. Watching the new princess fly, she faced her and smiled.

“Heh. Looks like somepony’s finally getting the hang of her new wings.”

“Yep! I’m still getting used to it, though,” the alicorn said, still flying on the way to her.

Reaching Dash, the princess flew to the pegasus’ left and stopped there, with her body going forward a bit as she stopped there, flailing her hooves up and down as she tried to regain herself.

“Whoa…! …Whew.”

Having regained her balance, she then faced Dash, floating there in a quadrupedal position.

“Heh, almost fell forward there,” she said, smiling. “Well, with more practice, I’ll be flying around flawlessly in no time.”

“Yeah. Just try and keep it together at all times, by the way,” said Dash, facing her again. “Even when you’re stopping.”

“Right.”

Looking down at herself, Twilight slowly moved all of her hooves and body into a bipedal position like Dash’s, still flapping her wings to keep herself afloat.

“So, you just decided to train now, huh?” she asked.

“Well, yeah. This place is big enough for me to do it, so why not?” replied Dash, looking left and right. “Plus with all these rainbow falls and all…”

“Right,” Twilight nodded. “I see.”

“Yep! And I’m just warming up here, actually. I’m not even at my desired power state yet as well,” Dash said, looking at her hooves she brought up. “Well, now I’m going to kick it up a notch and start training harder.”

Lowering her hooves, she then looked at her alicorn friend, her smile fading away.

“But, uh… why are you up here, Twilight?”

“Well, watching you train from down there, I was thinking,” replied the princess. “You wield the strongest magic energy ever seen in Equestria, and yet, all it does is increase your speed and strength as well as making you look like a flaming pony hero? I know you don’t have a horn on your head, but you still ought to be able to use that energy inside of you in ways that don’t involve punching and kicking and headbutting…

“Ah, but that’s exactly why you’re training, actually,” Twilight said. She chuckled while looking away. “I forgot.”

“Yeah, pretty much what I said the other day. But, are you trying to say that, even though I’m not a unicorn, I can actually do unicorn magic with the energy I have?” asked Dash. “How? I mean, isn’t unicorn magic a bit complicated to do from what I’ve seen?”

“Well, yeah, they are quite hard to do for a novice. But not basic energy beams and blasts. Those are the easiest of all the magic we can do. And yet, with the energy of an experienced user, they can also be the most powerful. Enough to be somepony’s main arsenal without relying on anything else, I’d say.”

“Energy blasts? Uh… yeah, did I mention that your burning self went completely crazy with them against me? Seriously, they hurt me a lot.”

“You did. So you already know first-hand how powerful they are. Wouldn’t you like to do the same, Rainbow Dash? They can be quite useful when you need to attack from a distance.”

“…Hmm, well…”

Putting her hoof on her chin, Dash began to think about it. She recalled to her earlier, month-old battle with the burning unicorn and how the latter had always kept on attacking from a distance. Indeed, no matter where Twilight was, she always kept on throwing fireballs and energy beams at Dash without needing to be up-close and personal except for a few times, while the pegasus had to be up-close at all times in order to punch and kick her opponent.

“…Shoot energy from my hooves, huh?” Dash said while bringing up and looking at her hooves once more. “Now that I think about it, it could definitely be useful, alright. In fact, seeing what you did before, it could be quite awesome.”

“Yep,” the alicorn nodded. “Say that an enemy is keeping distance from you at all times while the enemy is unleashing similar attacks at you. Fighting back with your own energy might be the only to get back at him or her, yes?”

“Well, now that you’ve said that and everything, yep! Now I’m eager to try it out,” the pegasus said with a determined smile, lowering her hooves. She looked at her. “So how do you do it, then? Hope it’s not too hard, but since you said it’s the easiest of them all…”

“Well…”

Twilight turned to her right and went into a quadrupedal position again.

“The way we unicorns, or alicorns now, I guess, do it is simply like this. Gather your magic energy within, bring them to the horn from their place, and then…”

With her horn glowing its magic purple tone, bringing her head up and swinging it down, she fired a small purple energy beam from her horn. The beam went into the distance until it shrunk and faded away.

“Like that, basically. Though, that was a small one, so that means I only used a small bit of my energy to fire that. The more energy I use, the bigger the beam…”

Twilight’s horn glowed again, and this time, a purple energy ball twice the size of her horn appeared at the tip of it.

“…or ball will be. See?”

With the ball at the tip of the horn, she then swung her head to throw it ahead. The ball flew and flew until it made a miniscule explosion.

“Right… Wait, seriously?” asked Dash, raising an eyebrow and looking a bit surprised. “That’s it? Just gather your energy and shoot it out?”

“Yeah, that’s it, honestly,” replied Twilight, facing her again.

“Huh. ‘Cause that’s what I’ve been doing all along, except for the shooting part. I gather my energy, I get more powerful and I can pull off some special attacks. Like the Super Sonic Rainboom that I pulled off to defeat Discord… Hm.”

“Ah. Then… you should be able to easily do it. Alright, then. Try making an energy ball for me, Rainbow.”

Dash nodded. A second later, the pegasus raised her upper left hoof and brought it near her face. Frowning and looking firm, she began to concentrate, calling for the Harmonic energy within her and bringing it up to her hoof.  With the shape of it in her mind, she focused the energy into a ball and began to summon it from underneath her hoof. Within a second, something quickly popped up from the surface of her hoof.  A swirling, colorful energy ball with a rainbow gradient, it was, floating right above her hoof and with the size of it being half the size of her own head.

“Whoa… I think I did it,” Dash said, staring with a bit of awe at her own energy ball she made.

“Yeah, you definitely did. And wow, it’s rainbow colored,” said Twilight, smiling with a bit of awe. “Ah, but of course it is. It’s the energy of Harmony you wield after all, and rainbows go one-in-one with Harmony.”

Dash began to chuckle. Then, she grinned. “Yep, and it fits who I am with my mane and tail here… How awesome!”

With the ball above her hoof, her ruby red eyes turned to their left and she formed a determined grin as she turned to her left, taking the ball with her. Moving her hoof all the way to her back, she then threw the energy ball ahead of her. The ball flew and flew until it made a miniscule explosion in the distance.

“Heh, guess I can now do something without needing to be up-close and personal.”

“Indeed. Now, how about the energy beam?” asked the alicorn.

“Trying that out now!”

Taking a look at her left hoof again, Dash then pulled it back. Focusing her energy again, this time, she summoned up more energy to her hoof than she did with the ball, intending to unleash all of it.

“Heh, this is easier than I thought! Just focus your energy and let it out! Haaa!!”

She threw the hoof ahead, and as soon as she did, a rainbow-colored energy beam three times her size was shot out of her hoof, quickly flying into the distance. Twilight was knocked back a bit by the force emitted from the firing of the beam, causing her to almost fall back and over in the air with her wings flapping to try and keep her afloat.

“Whaaa! …oh, whoa…!”

Falling back and over, the alicorn slowly regained herself in the air with her wings slowing down. She looked ahead, surprised at Dash’s sudden huge beam.

“Well, that was a big one,” she said, blinking in surprise. “So much that it made me fall here.”

“…Whoa,” Dash said, looking surprised with her hoof still out. She then grinned. “That… that was even more awesome!”

Twilight smiled. “Well, at least we know you can easily do energy beams as well.”

The pegasus chuckled happily. “Yep!”

Still grinning, Dash brought her hooves to her face once more. Whereas she had to rely on her own body before for attacking, now she could use these new beams and balls to get back at her opponent as well. Her life couldn’t have been more awesome than this.

“Guess my battles from here on out are gonna get much easier with what I just learned here,” said Dash, facing her alicorn friend and smiling. “Thanks for showing me, Twilight.”

“Hey, what are friends for?” Twilight said, smiling. “Heh, no problem, Rainbow Dash. I just thought I could help, that’s all… and I guess I had to give something back for teaching me how to fly and all.”

“Ah… Hehe! Fair enough!”

Dash looked back at the area she was in. “Well, then…”

Looking ahead again, flying back a bit, she then put and crossed both of her hooves in front of her, her body leaning forward as well.

“…let’s kick it up a notch! And begin training for real! …Grrrrrrrr…!”

With that growl, Dash then swiftly moved her hooves down and strut her body forward, letting loose a loud scream to the sky that echoed across the landscape below. With that scream, the Super pony exploded with a massive amount of white particle energy that was coming from her, forming her usual white aura. Her spiked, flame-shaped mane and tail became their actual flaming forms, and her wings grew larger.

She quickly lowered her head from screaming to the sky and formed a determined grin on her face. Turning left, she then blasted off towards that direction, with her aura trailing from behind her.

“Do your best, Rainbow,” Twilight said, smiling and watching the white pegasus blast off.

Turning to where the rest of the friends were, the alicorn proceeded to fly and descend over to them. Reaching the cliff, she landed on all fours and sheathed her wings, turning around to watch Dash train.

“My word, did she really need to scream like that?” asked Rarity. “It seriously sounded like she was angry at somepony or something.”

“Well, sometimes, you need to let everything out if you want to get things done,” said Applejack, smiling. “Especially when you have all that power within.”

“Oh, there’s her flames and the big wings now,” said Sweetie Belle, smiling. “I think she looks pretty with her wings looking like that.”

“Man, those flames of hers…” Scootaloo said.

Up ahead, at a farther spot among the Falls, Dash resumed her punch and kick flurries, punching and kicking at a speed much greater than before, with the multiple hoof illusion looking blurrier. Her training continued, trying to push herself harder and harder as the hour went on.