*sniiifff* “Mmmmh!”

The little draconequus took a rather large sniff of the wildflowers in front of her, deeply savoring their wonderful scent. It was a lovely spring day, about seventy-two degrees and sunny, so it was pretty perfect for a picnic. She, and best friend/future Princess of Friendship, Dawn Star, were to meet here in the park meadow for sandwiches and lemonade.

However, knowing her sister-from-another-mister’s tendency to get a bit wrapped up in perfecting whatever she was working on (especially in the kitchen, where Uncle Spike usually gets involved, and then cupcakes, and cookies…you get the idea) it was going to be a bit of a wait. So, she sat quietly in the grass, enjoying the sun on her wings and creature-watching, noticing Bon Bon and Lyra in the distance, her overly large, but keen ears picking up a soft giggle as the green mare told a joke that made her wife laugh.

Her left ear suddenly pulled to the side, picking up a different, unpleasant sound - frustrated grunting, muttering under one’s breath, and sad sniffles. A sudden concern washing over the little creature, Annie rose from the grass, levitating slightly and hovering over a nearby hill in the direction of the noise. Peering through the flowers and grass, Athena spotted a familiar bulky figure - Iron Weight, the son of her mother’s old bully, Dumbbell.

The pegasus colt walked slowly along the path, his facial features twisted in frustration as he spitefully kicked at a couple of flowers along the trail’s edge. He made sure to stamp his hoof against their petals, crushing them into the dirt. Athena frowned, her ears sweeping backwards as saw this. Iron certainly wasn’t her favorite pony. A favorite activity of his if she happened to be in his vicinity was making fun of all of her “weird/freaky/ugly” traits.

However, it was obvious something was really bothering him. Like, really really bothering him. Annie could swear she caught a slight glimmer in his lavender eyes. Her long, feathered tail swished in agitation as her thoughts bounced back and forth. Iron still hadn’t noticed her, and instead still hung his head, his lower lip beginning to tremble. His wings drooped, hanging limp at his sides as he shuffled along, looking truly downtrodden.

The day before yesterday, all the kids from town and nearby Cloudsdale had gotten together for the annual spring field day held by Wonderbolts Rainbow Dash and Soarin. Iron had won a third place ribbon in the hoop race, and was so excited to show his mom and dad. Cloudchaser, as always, congratulated her son enthusiastically, but Dumbbell couldn’t seem less interested. He gave his son a pat on the head, but whenever Iron tried to bring up his accomplishment, he got a lot of grunts and quiet nods from his dad. It had bothered the usually unbothered colt so much, Annie had taken notice.

Biting her lower lip, Athena rose from behind the hill, raising a paw and calling in as kind and chipper a voice she could, “Hey, Iron! What’s cookin’?”

The pale violet colt snapped around, his surprised expression quickly darkening as he realized who his visitor was.

“Ughhh, what the heck do you want, Athen-duuhh?” He crossed his eyes and stuck out his tongue as he sneered his signature insult. With the redness in his eyes and moisture around his muzzle, it took all Athena had to not let out a sympathetic chuckle. Instead, she offered a smile, gently lowering herself to the ground gave a shrug.

“Well, I saw you out here all by yourself. Where’s Thunderclap?” She asked innocently, looking around for Iron’s blue-maned best friend. They were usually glued together at the hip, Thunder often echoing Iron’s rhetoric and being his right-hoof colt when it came to intimidating other creatures. His absence made the situation all the more odd.

Iron scowled. “His parents took him to Ha’whinny. He’ll be back next week.” The colt then gave a slightly-malicious laugh. “He’s gonna have so much schoolwork.”

Athena gave a little laugh herself, then gestured over the hill. “Me and Dawn Star were going to have a picnic, with some sandwiches and lemonade. I got here first, and I brought a ton of sandwiches! My da helped me make them! Wanna come and hang out with us?” She asked in the most inviting tone she could muster. This fella may be mean, but seeing her fellow creature hurting was just a tad too much for the draconequus (plus, her mother is the Element of Kindness herself, so, y’know…legacy and all that). However, the reaction she was given was certainly not an affirmation of gratitude. Instead, Iron Weight gave a disgusted scoff, peering down his muzzle at her like she was some gross insect.

“Why would I risk my life eating something your dad made? He probably helped you poison it. Or it makes your tongue fall out.” He said, sticking out his tongue again for emphasis. Annie’s smile dropped, and her brow furrowed.

“Hey! That’s not fair! I can’t make them very fast, and my mum was busy, and he can literally levitate all the ingredients and put all of them together at the same-”

“Um, don’t care? He wants the whole world to be weird and crazy and this whole ‘royal’ stuff is just fake. And everycreature knows he’s teaching you so when you get big you can join him and rule over all of us.” He spat, looking her up and down as if she was infected with some sort of disease. Athena couldn’t help but stamp her paw, her bright yellow and pink wings flaring out in anger.

“He’s never hurt anycreature as long as you’ve been alive! He’s a good creature, he loves me and my mom and all of my friends! He changed! And I never will hurt my friends! Why would I feed the Princess a poisoned sandwich that I’m gonna eat too?!”

“Oh, come on, you’re stupider’er than you look. You’ll eat the not poisoned one and let her and me and all the other kids eat the bad ones. Like you said, he can put them all together and it would be the easiest takeover ever. After all, pretty much all your friends are fat anyway.” He scoffed.

At that, Athena couldn’t help but picture her stick-skinny cousin Mel, and at that point the absurdity of the conversation made her deflate slightly. “Come on, Iron Weight, I haven’t ever tried to hurt anycreature. Not on purpose. I’m always working on my powers, just like Dawn, and you with your flying. Plus, its not my fault your dad won’t let you have sweets.” And, just like doctor exploring a patient’s body, Athena found the inflamed nerve in the pegasus colt’s heart.

“You can’t say anything about my dad! He’s awesome, and he’s gonna make me a Wonderbolt! I’m gonna be the best one ever, and they only let you in if you show you’re one-hundred percent dedicated to being the best!” Iron Weight proclaimed proudly, puffing out his chest and also raising his wings. Annie stood steadfast, making an effort to keep her voice strong and unwavering.

“Iron, if you’re upset because your dad wasn’t nice to you on field day, then why don’t you just let us be nice and-”

“SHUT UP!” Iron bellowed, raising a hoof and stomping the ground. “Shut up! Don’t talk about me and my dad, ever!”

“If you just talk about how you’re feeling, then maybe-”

Annie’s attempts at kindness were in vain. Enraged, the purple colt lunged forward, merely shoving himself into the smaller creature with all his might. His knee jerked forward, and smashed into her turquoise eye, knocking her backward. The draconequus tumbled to the ground, her eye, wrist, and now nose stinging quite badly (due to a good amount of dust in her sinuses now). Shaking her head, she tried to blink the dirt out of both eyes, but her left felt rather sore now. The tears welled up, and spilled over faster than she could attempt to stop them. “That was mean.”

“Mean?! I’ll show you mean-”

“No, you won’t!”

A bright little ball of light was shot towards the ground between them, like a little meteor. Surprised, Iron Weight leaped back, his head snapping to the side. The young princess stood before them, eyes narrowed and horn maintaining a steady violet glow.

“Maybe its time you go home, Iron.” She said, walking forward and putting herself directly between her best friend and the still-fuming colt. He gave an overly-dramatic roll of the eyes.

“Or what? You’re gonna tell your mom on me? Gonna tell her to put me in the Canterlot dungeons? I’m so scared.” He leered at Dawn, tone incredibly mocking.

“My mother’s busy enough without having to deal with you. That’s why I’m telling you to go away before-”

“I can do what I want! You’re no princess yet!” Iron shouted, rearing slightly and giving a mighty flap with his wings. He was only a colt, but the twisted expression on his face made him appear rather intimidating. He slammed his hooves back to the ground, making a startled Dawn stumble backwards and fall beside Athena. She crouched beside her friend, still trying to shield her, but flinching as Iron Weight took another step forward, when he was suddenly slammed to the ground with a shout of surprise. The blue-gray blur that crashed into the other colt came to a halt before the girls, assuming a defensive position and spreading his wings, raising every feather and baring his teeth.

“Touch ’em again, see what happens!” Jetstream challenged, pawing at the ground and leaving a deep groove for good measure. As Iron regained his bearings, his own eyes narrowed as he realized who dare push him. Scrambling to his hooves, he sneered at the rose-eyed colt.

“And what are you gonna do about it? Tell your mom?” His last word as nearly drowned out by the rumbling of thunder by the clouds suddenly beginning to build along the horizon. He was undeterred, however. “None of you are special, just because your parents did a couple of special things! What are you going to be, huh? A princess with cruddy magic and a vicious pet, and your gonna be their Wonderbolt bodyguard? You’re never gonna be a Wonderbolt, and your mom is gonna hate you because you and your stupid brother can’t do anything. I’m gonna be so much better than your mom, I don’t need some stupid, girly Rainboom to show Equestria I’m the best flier ever.” His visceral speech only made the other colt chuckle.

“Big ego much, huh, Weighty? At least my mom knew she was the best flier ever at your age. How are you gonna show that you are instead now, huh?” The rainbow-maned pegasus replied smoothly, cocking a brow and making sure to utilize the nickname he knew Iron loathed.

“I don’t have to tell you nothing! This isn’t gonna last forever, you losers! Some pretty princesses can’t tell us all what to do! I don’t have to listen to girls who’s magic is all messed up. We’ll all be doomed when we’re grownups, if they don’t blow up the planet by then! We have Princess Celestia and Luna, so we don’t need anypony else giving us rules and telling us to be nice and walking around thinking they’re better than everypony else.” He smirked at Dawn and Athena, still lying on the ground behind Jetstream. “They’re gonna be useless.”

Jetstream took a step forward now, something in his darkened expression actually causing Iron Weight to slightly inch backwards. The blue colt gave a couple of flaps of his wings, the dark clouds over the hills almost seeming like they were following Jet. Their shadows dissolved into the ground as the thunder grew louder. Annie and Dawn looked up to try and spot the pegasi that were moving the storm, but nobody was in the sky. The smaller colt was still slowly approaching the other, incensed now and past the point of no return.

“You wanna know who’s useless?! You are! You think its okay to hit a girl? You think its okay to hit anycreature?!” The son of the Element of Loyalty roared, digging his front hoof deeply into the dirt, flapping his wings harder now. The sky was completely darkened, and tiny sparks of electricity suddenly seemed to appear along his feathers, building with each flap. “You wanna know what I’m gonna do about it? I’ll show you what I’m gonna do about it!”

With that, Jet reared, flaring his wings and flexing every muscle in the them he had. Curling each flight feather, the sparks turned into a full-blown lightning storm, seemingly erupting from his very feathers. The streaks of electricity shone with each of the colors of their creator’s mane. Jet had been able to produce sparks from his wings before if there was a particularly good storm in the area, but never something like this. The bewildered Iron Weight stumbled backwards at this point, scrambling in confusion away from the light show. However, he wasn’t quick enough to avoid the jolt of sheer electricity that was shot right at his shoulder as Jet slammed his wings together in a flash of light.

He was knocked to the ground, giving a cry of pain. Jet landed heavily, panting and still maintaining his position between the injured colt and his shocked friends. The bolt of lightning had managed to graze Iron’s shoulder enough to cause a visible burn. His fur was slightly stained red, and for a moment, he was more shocked over the events that had just occurred more than anything. Then, his expression screwed together and he shakily got back to his hooves, trying to obviously pretend like the burn didn’t sting.

“You…you just wait until my dad sees what you did! Not even your mom can protect you now!” Iron roared, blinking back tears of anger and pain and panting heavily.

“I don’t need my mom to protect me! Your dad can come and face me himself! I’m not scared of him, and I’m not scared of you!” Jetstream retorted, slamming a hoof against the ground. Little sparks continued to dance around his wings, the fur along his spine standing on its end. Iron could only give a shout of frustration and turn to flee, giving the three the ugliest of looks before flying off into the distance. The clouds above their heads began to slowly break up as the now-deflated colt turned around and headed back towards his friends.

“Are you two okay?” He asked as Dawn helped Athena to her feet, the draconequus wincing and placing a paw over her darkened eye.

“Yeah, its just a little sore. I don’t think he actually meant to hit me.” Annie said with a sigh, shaking her head. “I’m sorry I ruined our picnic, Dawny.”

“Don’t even start with that. You didn’t ruin anything.” The little princess said sternly, putting a foreleg around her best friend’s fuzzy shoulders. “I can’t believe he hit you.”

“Doesn’t matter if he meant it or not. He shouldn’t be hitting anyone.” Jetstream snarled, glancing over his shoulder to make sure the bully hadn’t returned. The coast remaining clear, he turned back to Athena and walked around to her other side, raising a wing and placing it gently over her back. “C’mon, let’s all get to your mom’s, Dawn. She’ll send for Aunt Shy. And I’m sure my mom too.” He gave a long sigh. “I’m so grounded.”

“We’ll tell her it was just an accident. It all just got out of hoof.” Athena said.

“We’ve got your back Jet.” Dawn affirmed. But he shook his head.

“Nothing like that has ever happened before. I only meant to scare him, but I got so angry, everything just felt hot, and…I honestly didn’t mean to hurt him. I shouldn’t have done that. I guess we all need to learn how to control our powers.” He gave a halfhearted laugh, then he became quiet for a moment. “He is never gonna lay a hoof on you again, Annie. I promise.”

“Aw, my hero.” Annie replied with a chuckle, her smile turning into a frown as her eye gave an unpleasant throb. Jetstream gave a nod to Dawn, and the three melancholy creatures began to make their way to Twilight Sparkle’s castle, sandwiches forgotten in the meadow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And we finally have another installment in the Athenaverse saga! Sorry its not the happiest, I’ve been feeling rather bummed these last few weeks and ended up hashing this out. Next one should be a little bit sunnier in subject lol. Hope you enjoy the read anyways!