> Rainbow Unicorns: Boast Blasters
>  by Hopeful_Ink_Hoof
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Burning Skies
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In an open field far from the edges of Ponyville, the unicorn Rainbow Burst and dragon Spike stood staring up at the sky.  Their eyes were narrowed as they scanned across the blue skies between them and town, with Spike holding up a claw to block out the sunlight.  Rainbow's ears pulled back and tail flicked with frustration as she let out a huff.

"How hard can it be to find one stinking cloud?"

"Pretty hard, I'd guess," Spike answered.  "I mean, I haven't sniffed a lot of clouds, but I doubt they normally stink.  If they did, wouldn't everything smell horrible after it rained?  Or when it was foggy?"

"Oh, har har," Rainbow Burst said as she rolled her eyes.  "You know what I mean, Spike."

Turning to face her, Spike grinned.

"Yeah, but it's not as much fun."  He returned his attention toward town.  "But, seriously, it's supposed to be clear skies all week, and you know how Twilight is about her job.  There probably isn't a cloud in five miles of Ponyville."

Rainbow let out a snort as she resumed looking at the sky, trying to catch sight of their friend.  She could, technically, wait, but did not want to.  This was going to be something awesome.  Something truly spectacular.  She just had to try it out.  Besides, aside from the lack of clouds, it was perfect.  The ground was slightly damp, the sky was clear, and they were a safe distance from Ponyville, and no other ponies were around to get caught up in any problems.

"I think I see her!" Spike called out, pointing.

Off in the distance was a streak of purple across the otherwise blue sky.  It approached toward the waiting duo quickly, growing larger and larger.  As it got closer, a large, fluffy white cloud could be seen, as was the pony that was pushing it and leaving the contrail in her path.  The pony -- Twilight Comet -- came to a stop above the waiting pair, leaving the cloud above them as she came to land beside them.

"Okay," Twilight said as she ran a hoof through her mane.  "I got you a cloud.  Now, why did you want me to bring it all the way out here?  What do you need it for, anyways?"

A wide grin spread across Rainbow's face as she turned to look at her friend.

"I'm so glad you asked."  She then turned to the cloud.  "I'm going to blow it up."

"....what?"

"I'm going to blow it up," Rainbow Burst repeated.  "I'm going to use my magic, and make it explode in a massive fireball. KA-BOOM!"  Her grin became a smile, although still very wide.  "It's going to be... so... awesome..."

A groan escaped Twilight Comet as she gave a shake of her wings, shaking her head.

"We've been over this.  You can't set a cloud on fire."

"Not yet," Rainbow replied, "but I can blow it up."

"No," Twilight stated firmly.  "You can't!"

"Wanna bet?"

The question made Twilight pause, considering the possibility.  She may not have been a unicorn, but she was a pegasus.  A pegasus that worked in weather, no less.  She knew about rain, clouds and water.  Water, which was something used to put fires out, not create them.  She may not have known much about unicorn magic, but she did know it had limits.  There was no way a cloud could be made to explode any more than it could be made out of cotton candy.

The problem was there was not really anything that she wanted from Rainbow.

"What did you have in mind?" she asked, trying to buy time to think.

Rainbow's eyes narrowed as she smirked.

"When I blow up the cloud, you have to spend a week helping clean and organize the library."

A thought suddenly came to Twilight.

"Okay," she agreed.  "But when you fail, you have to attend the next Canterlot Comic Book Convention with Shiny and me.  And -- " she held up a hoof " -- you have to go dressed up as Mane-iac."

"What?" Rainbow yelped out, eyes going wide.  "We didn't say anything about costumes."  She straightened back up, ears pulling back.  "In that case, you... you need to wear a prench maid uniform while you help at the library."

"Deal," Twilight said, holding out a hoof.

Rainbow shook it.

"Deal!"  She then turned to the cloud.  "Now, be prepared to see something awesome!"

"Mm-hm," Twilight hummed as she walked ten steps away before turning around.  "I think here --"  she plopped down "-- will be just fine."

"Are you sure?" Rainbow asked.  "I don't know how big this explosion is going to be.  You don't want to be too close if it's big."

"You're not worried about getting hurt," Twilight pointed out.

"I have a shield spell."

"You're not worried about Spike."

"I'm fire proof," Spike replied.  "The fire won't hurt me."

"But the concussive force could still damage your eardrums."

Spike opened his mouth to reply, then stopped.  He let out a hum as he rubbed his chin, considering this.

"Yeah," he finally agreed.  "It could.  I don't want to go deaf from this."

He then started sprinting away from Rainbow Burst and the cloud, stopping when he was finally twenty-five feet away.

"Okay," he called out.  "Should be good from here."

"You gonna join him?" Rainbow asked, turning to Twilight and raising an eyebrow.

Twilight Comet shifted, licking her lips as her ears and wings gave a flicker.  She shifted to look from Rainbow to Spike and back.

"Uhm... well...  I guess I should."  She turned.  "I mean... it's not going to work... but, I don't want to be too close in case of... lightning... or something."  With a quick flick of her wings, she flew over to where Spike stood and landed beside him.

"It will work!" Rainbow shouted.  "Just watch and see!"

Turning around, Rainbow Burst looked at the cloud and started to draw on her magic.  She had to block out all distractions and concentrate.  Especially since she was casting multiples spells, as well as trying something new and complicated.  The energy collected around her horn, flickering and shifting as it was held in place by Rainbow's will.  Putting as much concentration into it as she could muster, the rainbow maned unicorn shaped and prepared the magic, aiming for the cloud.

Rainbow unleashed most of her power to blast her target.  As soon as she did, she pulled up a shield dome around herself.

A deafening boom filled the air as the cloud was suddenly engulfed in flames.

As quickly as it happened, it came to an end, the sky once more clear and blue.

Dropping her shield, Rainbow blinked her eyes rapidly, trying to get the afterimage clear of her vision.

"See?" she called out as she turned to where she thought her friends were.  "Didn't I tell you it would be awesome?"

Twilight Comet sat where she had been, eyes wide and blinking quickly.  Her mouth opened and closed repeatedly, little squeaks escaping her throat.

"H...hu...ha...how...how... How?" she finally settled on.  "HOW?  HOW?!"  She pointed at the spot the cloud had been.  "HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!  HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!"

"I know!" Rainbow said, bouncing in place as she looked at the clear sky again.  "Isn't it great?  I can now make clouds explode in a massive fireball.  KA-BOOM BABY!"

Twilight Comet was suddenly right in front of Rainbow Burst.  Grabbing her muzzle, she pulled her face to face, nearly touching.

"Hhhhhhoooooowwwww?"

"Oh," Rainbow said.  "You want to know how?  Why didn't you just say so?"

One of Twilight's eyes twitched.

"Okay," Rainbow started.  "So, we found this book written by a unicorn that called himself Tin Hoof.  He was big into something called alchemy, which mostly seemed to be about making gold and finding a way to be immortal.  He never managed to do either, although he did discover some really cool stuff.  For example, it turns out that water is made from this gas.  He didn't give it a name bu--"

"Hydrogen."

"...what?"

"It's hydrogen," Twilight explained.  "I studied a little bit of chemistry when I was first applying for weather patrol.  Water is made of oxygen, which is what we breathe to live, and hydrogen, which... is..."

With a groan, Twilight smacked herself in the face.

Rainbow Burst smirked as her eyes narrowed.

"Which is what?" she asked, leaning in close and raising an eyebrow.  She did already know the answer, but was enjoying watching the other mare realize it.

"Hydrogen, in it's natural state, is highly combustible provided it has oxygen to burn," Twilight stated.  "So all you would need to do, is figure out how to separate the two gases, then ignite the hydrogen gas, which would explode, mainly leaving behind water vapor as a result."

"Exactly," Rainbow said with a grin.

Rubbing at her head, Twilight groaned more.

"How could I have forgotten that?"

"Something for you to think about while you help clean the library," Rainbow stated.  "I'm sure Rarity could help you with the uniform."

Twilight grumbled, cheeks turning pink.
> A Blast of a Show
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rainbow Burst was walking on air.  Not literally.  She was still on the ground physically.  There were no spells that would literally let her walk on air.  Although there was one that would let her walk on clouds, and a theory that light could by compressed enough to walk, allowing a pony to literally walk on sunshine.  She had not used the former, however, and had not even experimented with the latter.  Yet.

Still, she was in quite a good mood.  Walking along with a slight bounce in her step.  Her head was up high as she hummed  to herself.

"You're really proud of yourself," Spike said from his spot on Rainbow back.

"Of course I am," Rainbow replied.  "We blew up a cloud, Spike.  A cloud!  How many ponies can say they've done that?"

"None?" Spike guessed, giving a shrug.  "I doubt a lot of them have tried.  It's doesn't really do anything useful."

Turning to look at him, Rainbow raised an eyebrow.

"It's not about practicality," she declared.  "It's about awesomality."

Spike shifted on Rainbow's back, brow furrowed as he looked at her more.

"Is that a real word?"

Before Rainbow could answer, a pair of unicorn colts ran by.  One bumped into Rainbow Burst, sending her stumbling to the side and knocking Spike from her back.  As the young dragon fell, he managed to catch sight of the colts, recognizing them from around town.

"SNIPS!" he called out.  "SNAILS!"

Oblivious to their names being called out or the slight mayhem in their wake, the two of them kept on running.  That was until rainbow colored magic grabbed a hold of an ear, causing them to yelp out as they were pulled back.

"Ow! ow! ow!" the two of them cried out as they were led by their ears to where Spike and Rainbow were standing.  Although she was the one doing it, Rainbow Burst could sympathize with them.  She herself had been on the receiving end of it, often to be brought before Princess Celestia after one prank or another.

Some ponies just had no sense of humor.

Once the two were back and she was sure she had their attention, Rainbow Burst release her magical grip on their ears.

"So, what's got you two so excited?" she asked.

The short, chubby, blue colt with a scissor cutie mark -- who she figured was probably Snips -- answered.

"There's some big show happening in the center of town."

"Yeah," the gangly orange one -- Snails -- said.  "There's a wagon there and everything."

A glance passed between Rainbow Burst and Spike, both of them raising an eyebrow.

"What kind of..." Spike started to ask, but the two unicorn colts had already taken off again.

Instead, he turned to Rainbow, hopping up onto her back again.

"Well, I'm curious," he said.  "What about you?"

"Yeah," Rainbow answered as she continued on toward town, basically following the two colts.  "I don't have anything else planned for today.  I already did what I wanted most."  She grinned at the memory of the explosion.

As the two of them got closer to the town square, they could see that other ponies had collected.  A small crowd had formed, with more still arriving.  The ones that were already there mumbled among themselves, most looking in the same direction.  Rainbow could make out that something was there that had not been before, but could not make out too much of it.

A pink hoof appeared through the crowd, wrapping around Rainbow and Spike.

Next thing they knew, the two of them were suddenly up front, standing next Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack.  Rainbow blinked and looked around, trying to figure out how they had gotten there.  Clearly Pinkie Pie had been involved, seeing as they were beside her and there was only one hoof in Ponyville that could be that pink.  But how did she do it?  There had been no unicorn magic involved.  It was like Pinkie had just stretched her leg like a rubber band, reached through the crowd, grabbed them, and pulled them to the front as it snapped back into place.  Except there were not any spells that would let a unicorn stretch there limbs like they were elastic.

...wait... were there?  What if there was?  Probably be really useful and lots of fun.  Rainbow would have to look into it later.

That was beside the point though.  Besides, even if there was, there would have been some indication of Pinkie Pie using her magic, but there was none.  No glow of her aura, and -- in the case of Pinkie -- no sound of noise makers or anything.  Plus, Rainbow had no recollection of passing through the intermediate space between where they had been just a second ago, and where they now were.  It was almost like they were teleported, which was something that Pinkie could do.

At least, Rainbow thought it was.  Pinkie Pie's magic did not always seem to work the way it typically should.

In front of them stood a wagon.  It looked to be a very light, pastel green in color, broken up by the occasional bright orange lightning bolt.  At the bottom of each bolt was a series of glittery yellow spots.

"Wonder what's goin' on," Applejack said.

"Oh, oh!" Pinkie cried out, hopping up and down in place.  "Maybe it's some sort of new science exhibition.  Or maybe a puppet show about how we defeated Nightmare Moon and brought Princess Luna back.  Oh, or maybe it's a wax museum filled with horrible monsters and criminals, but each actually uses an item from the subject, imbued with a portion of their life force and dark magic, making it so that each display is actually a gateway to a pocket dimension where it tries to pull ponies in to be its victims, and once all of them have collected a sacrifice, all the monsters and evil things will come back to life to try and take over Equestria."

She let out a gasp, eyes going wide.

"Or maybe it's a raffle for a cotton candy machine.  I always wanted my own cotton candy machine.  I could make all I want, and not only could I eat it, but make sculptures out of it.  Like Princess Celestia.  I bet she would love a hundred foot tall statue of herself made out of cotton candy.  Have to be really careful not to get it wet though, or the whole thing would dissolve into a big gooey pile.  Ooh.  Or maybe I could put levitation spells on them, then we would have cotton candy clouds.  Although that would probably--"

A flash of lightning shot out from the top of the wagon.  There were gasps from the audience as their attention was drawn to the display, conversations -- and random tangents -- stopping.

"Fillies, and colts!" a voice boomed out.  "Mares and stallions!  Get ready for an amazing and awesome show like you have never seen before!"

There was another series of lightning flashes, followed by an explosion to create a massive dust cloud that hid the wagon from view.  As the dust cleared, the wagon had opened up, turning into a stage.  Standing in the center was a unicorn mare with light green fur and a dual-toned orange mane and tail.  She had a wide grin on her face as she stood with her side toward the audience, one hoof raised up to her chest.

"Behold!  The most amazing stunt unicorn: LIGHTNING BLAST!"

Near the edge of the stage, an orange unicorn filly was moving closer, purple eyes wide and mouth hanging open in awe.  Moving closer, she pushed up to look over the edge of the stage, watching as close as she could.

At the same moment, the stage mare's horn lit up yellow with magic.  A bolt of lightning exploded behind her, followed by a series of more, each striking further out from her and moving toward the corners.   Including one where a fascinated filly stood staring.

At a lightning bolt coming right at her.

Just before she was struck by the raw energy, a blur of sky blue and rainbows suddenly filled her vision.

A blinding flash and deafening crack filled the air.  The noise of the strike drowned out a yelp of shock and pain.

As the lightning struck Rainbow Burst's horn sending a flare of pain through the mare.  Quickly turning the energy into her own magic, she shot it back out as a harmless light above her.

Gasps and cries of excitement escaped the crowd as they the lightning transform into a rainbow and shoot up into the sky.

Although she had been able to channel most of it, some of it had still hit Rainbow Burst.  Especially when it first hit her.  Rainbow's entire body felt numb and tense, muscles twitching in little spasms.  Her mane and tail stuck out in nearly every direction, the tips burned and smoking.  The inside of her nose stung, and all she could smell was the stench of electrified air.

As the spasms and pain passed, Rainbow Burst could just hear what Princess Celestia would say when she heard about this:  "Now Rainbow, your heart is in the right place, and I am proud of your desire to protect another, but you really must think before you act."  She could not help but smirk at the thought.

"You okay?" she asked the filly.

The filly stared up at Rainbow Burst, eyes wide and glittering as she nodded mutely.

"HEY!"

Lightning Blast stomped to the edge of the stage, stopping to glare down at Rainbow Burst.

"What's the big idea?" she yelled, stomping a hoof.  "Are you trying to show me up or something?"

There was a moment where Rainbow stood there, confusion crossing her face as she tried to catch up with what was being said.  She had not really thought about the performing unicorn when she made her move, but if she had, she would have expected fear and maybe gratitude, not anger and accusations.

When it finally all sank in, Rainbow Burst's own temper flared up.

"Are you bucking SERIOUS!" she snapped, ears pulling back.  "YOU nearly hit a kid -- " she pointed at the filly " -- with your bucking lightning show, and you have the nerve to get pissed at me?!"

Lightning Blast turned, looking at the filly that was still staring wide eyed at Rainbow.  A snort escaped Lightning as she returned her attention to the other mare.

"She would'a been fine!" she declared.  "Maybe a little singed, but that would'a been the worst of it."

"You don't know that!" Rainbow snapped.  "Besides, that's not the point.  She still would have gotten hit."

With a grumble in her throat, Lightning rolled her eyes.

"Whatever."  Turning around, she headed back toward the center of the stage.  "I have a show to do."

With a snort of her own, Rainbow Burst turned away and started to walk off.

"Where you going?" Spike asked.

"You can stay if you want," Rainbow answered, "but I've lost interest already."
> The Show Goes On
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Although tempted to go with Rainbow and leave, Spike decided to stay behind.  Rainbow Burst was pretty mad at the moment, and could use some time to cool off on her own.  Plus, if anything else happened during the show, he could tell her about it.  Especially if it was something embarrassing, like Lightning Blast slipping off the stage and falling face first into the dirt.

From what Spike gathered, Rainbow was not the only one irritated with the stage mare.  Rarity and Applejack were silent, scowling at the stage as they watched the performance.  Pinkie still clapped and cheered, but there was less enthusiasm about it.  Maybe even... insincerity?  It was hard to tell with Pinkie.

As for the show itself: it was not really that entertaining for Spike.  Maybe what happened with Rainbow had left him a little upset as well, but he did not really find it that interesting.  It seemed to mostly be Lightning telling stories of how amazingly awesome she was, putting her life on the line to do incredible things.  During the story, Lightning Blast would jump around and spin, often showing off the moves she used to get through.  Small explosions occurred whenever she landed, with a large one at the end of the story.  Lightning Blast would stand in the center of the blast, emerging unharmed as it ended.

Judging from the reaction of the crowd, most of the ponies were enjoying the show.  There were gasps and oohing whenever one of the explosions occurred, and the clapping of hooves on the ground.

"Well," Rarity said, "she's certainly full of herself."

"She's full'a somethin', alright," Applejack mumbled, wings flickering.

"Are you implying something?" Rarity asked, turning to raise an eyebrow at the pegasus farmer.

"Imply nothin'.  I'll say it outright.  I think she's makin' stuff up.  Probably hasn't even done near half of what she's claimin'."

"It does sound rather outrageous," Twilight agreed.  "More in line with something from a bad Daring Do rip-off than actual events."

Spike gave a nod in agreement.  While not a big fan of Daring Do, he had read a book or two.  If someone tried to...

...wait...

Turning, he looked again.  Sure enough, Twilight Comet was standing there, watching the stage.  Her head was slightly tilted and brow furrowed as she watched what was going on.

"Twilight?" Spike asked.  "How long have you been here?"

Twilight gave a shrug.

"Seeing as the stories are similar and the stunts repetitive, it's hard to say." Her brow furrowed as she scrunched her face.  "I think it had something to do with Breezies and a hydra?"

"Ya mean how she saved a lost group of Breezies from being eaten by a hydra by tyin' it's necks in a knot with nothin' but her fancy footwork?" Applejack asked.

"I guess?"  Twilight shrugged again.  "It hardly matters.  The stories all seem to follow the same basic formula."

It was hard for Spike to argue.  Admittedly, he had kind of lost interest more and more as the stories continued.  They did all seem pretty much the same thing over and over:  Lightning would be going about her normal business, something unexpected would happen, and she would have to use a mixture of her amazing athletic prowess and magical talent to escape the danger and save the day.

"Wow," he heard the voice of Snails call out.  "She's really amazing."

"Yeah," Snips agreed.  "She must be the most amazing and powerful unicorn to ever come to Ponyville."

Something in Spike suddenly snapped.  Turning around, he glared at the two colts.

"Really?" he snaps.  "With ponies like Pinkie and Rainbow around, you think she --" he motions toward the stage "-- is the most amazing unicorn in town?  Her?"

"Well... yeah..." Snails answered.

"How can you not think it too?" Snips asked.  "Just listen to all the amazing things she's done."

"That she says she's done," Spike countered.  "We don't know if she's actually done any of it."

"What's this?" Lightning Blast said from behind Spike, causing him to tense and freeze.  "It seems we have a neigh-sayer."

A yellow aura wrapped around Spike, grabbing him in magic and lifting him off the ground.  Despite knowing better, Spike tried to run away.  His arms pumped as fast as they could while his legs pumped, trying to get any kind of purchase to let him run.  With nothing for him to gain purchase on, he could not get anywhere, making him simply flail in mid-air instead.

Lightning set Spike down on the stage beside her with an audible thump, making him feel it through his legs.  It did not hurt, but he definitely felt it.  Lighting stood there, glaring at him with her ears pulled back.

"So, you don't believe I've done what I said?" she asked.

Well no point in denying it now.  He had already been heard, and was in front of of dozens of ponies.  Turning to face her, Spike crossed his arms and looked at with all the defiance that he could manage.

"No," he stated.  "I don't believe you.  And I'm not the only one either."

Moving closer, Lightning leaned in until her nose almost touched Spike.

"And what, exactly, have you done that's so impressive?" she asked, tilting her head and raising an eyebrow.

The question brought Spike to a stop.  Biting his lip, he looked away, thinking about what he had done with his life so far.  Most of it was pretty nice.  He had played with Rainbow, spent time and learned with Princess Celestia, and has moved here to Ponyville and met the girls.  All of it was great things.  But... none of it was really very impressive.  At least from the view of action and adventure.

Grabbing a hold of his tail, he looked down at his feet and let out a sigh.

"...nothing..." Spike mumbled.

A smirk appeared on Lightning Blast's face.

"That's what I thought."

With a quick flicker of light from her horn, Lightning Blast gave Spike a small shove off the stage.

There was a pop from beneath Spike just before he hit something that did not feel like ground.  As he hit whatever it was, a sound like air escaping through a tight hole echoed in his ears.  With the sound, the thing he landed on moved, lowering him to the ground at a slower rate.  After it stopped, Spike pushed up to see what he landed on.

A whoopee cushion.  His fall had been slowed by a whoopee cushion the size of a small bed.  It was surrounded in a pink glow, and had bits of confetti sticking to it.  The same magical glow was emanating from Pinkie Pie's horn.  Pinkie was glaring up at the stage before turning to look at Spike, her expression softening.

"You okay?" she asked, her magic fading and the cushion disappearing with it.

"Yeah," Spike said as he stood up, brushing herself off.

"Good," Pinkie said with a smile.  It then turned back into a scowl as she looked up at the stage again.  "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a meany pony I need to talk to."

With a flash of pink light, burst of confetti, and cry of noisemakers, Pinkie disappeared from her spot in the audience and reappeared on stage.  Ears pulled back, her neck stretched upward nearly twice its length as she glared down at Lightning Blast.

"What's the big idea pushing Spike off the stage like that?"

"He would'a been fine," Lightning said, pulling back as she stared at the elongated neck in front of her.

"Bet she's fallen off it plenty of times," Applejack whispered to Twilight.  "Probably landed on her head, most of them."

Twilight stifled a snicker before shushing Applejack.

"That's not the point!" Pinkie yelled, neck snapping to normal length as her body jumped up into the air.  "You can't just go around shoving others like some sort of bully."

"And what are you going to do about it?"

Pinkie Pie took a step closer, straightened up, looked Lightning in the eyes, and smiled.

"Ask you politely and nicely to please apologize and promise not to do it again."

Lightning Blast stared at the pink mare for a half a minute before bursting into laughter.

"Are... are... are you... serious?" she asked between laughs.

"Yes," Pinkie answered.

The laugh turned to a snicker before Lightning stopped, clearing her throat.

"Tell you what," she said as her horn lit up with power, "I'll apologize... if you can beat me in a magic duel."

"Hmm...no," Pinkie answered, giving a shake of her head.  "I don't really like the idea of fighting any pony.  It's not really fun."

With a huff, Lightning Blast turned away from Pinkie and toward the crowd.

"What about any of you?" she called out.  "Not just any unicorn, but any pony.  I will prove my skill in magic or acrobatics against anyone here."

A murmur started among the crowd.  Would anypony dare?  Would one of them challenge Lightning Blast?  What would happen if they did?  

"I'll do it!" Applejack shouted.  With a quick flap of her wings, she hopped up onto the stage.  Reaching up,she adjusted her hat while giving Lightning a hard look.

"Pinkie, could ya give me a rope?"

"Sure," Pinkie said.  With a puff of magic, a six foot long, quarter inch thick, red rope appeared beside Applejack.

"Uhm..."  Applejack blinked, looking at the the rope for a moment.  "Could you... give me one made out of... rope material and not licorice?"

"Right."

There was another puff of magic as licorice rope was replaced by a ten foot length that was made out of proper, not so easily edible, rope-making material.  With the use of her hooves, wings and mouth, Applejack made a lasso, which she began to spin in front of her.  Once she had the momentum and got the hoop of lasso stable, she lifted it above her head.

Applejack stretched her wings out as far as they could reach.  A twitch of her neck brought the lasso down around her.  As the ring of rope was about to hit her wings, she tucked them in just enough to avoid the inner edges.  The rope continued to spin, down around the farm mare's hooves.  This time she pulled the rope up, flapping her wings to have them raised just shy of getting hit.

Bringing the rope back in front of her, Applejack yanked it back as she jumped through the loop.  She then pulled it the other way, jumping through it backwards with no wing assistance.  This was followed by a series of side-to-side jumps and making the lasso spin around her, using it like a jump rope.

For her finale, Applejack tossed the lasso at a nearby tree, snagged an apple that was growing on it, and yanked it off, managing to land the fruit directly in her mouth.

"Beat that," Applejack said around a mouthful of fruit.

Lightning Blast tilted her head, letting out a chuckle.

"That's it?" she asked.  "Rope tricks?"  She let out a snort and waved a hoof.  "I could do that blindfolded."

Horn lighting up, she pulled out a blindfold and rope of her own.  Lightning quickly put the blindfold in face, covering her own eyes with the strip of fabric.  She then took the rope, working to tie it in a lasso similar to Applejack's.  Lifting it above her head, she began to spin.  As the rope picked up momentum, the audience watched intently, curious what was about to happen.

The lasso came undone as the rope shot toward Applejack.  Before she could react, the rope had wrapped around her legs, pulling them tight together, then around her barrel to pin her wings to her side.  With a yank, Applejack was pulled off her feet and onto her back, hat flying off in the process.  Lightning Blast's magic caught a hold of the hat and shoved it down onto Applejack's face as hard as she could.

Taking off the blindfold, Lightning Blast looked at her work, then puffed up and grinned.

"See?  Blindfolded."

There were a few tentative claps from the audience, although most seemed to be quiet.

"Anypony else want to challenge me?"

"Somepony should do something," Spike grumbled.  He turned to Twilight and Rarity.  "Can't either of you do something?"

"I would love to," Rarity said, "but I'm a fashion designer, not a stunt mare, and it's not like I can whip a dress up from thin air."  She paused, looking at the stage.  "Although, those are some nice curtains.  I think I could make a lovely little outfit from them."

Spike turned to Twilight Comet, who shrugged.

"With my practice and training to be a Wonderbolt, I could do some stunts, but I don't really know if it would do any good."  Her eyes narrowed as she glared at the mare on stage.  "Seems like she'd sooner embarrass a mare than show her up."

"No?" Lightning asked, raising an eyebrow.  "Nopony at all?"

A thought suddenly occurred to Spike.

"HEY!" he shouted.  "Do they have to be here and challenge you now?"

Although it was already quiet, it suddenly became deathly silent.  All eyes turned to look at Spike, the young dragon now the center of attention.

Moving to the very edge of the stage, Lightning Blast focused all her attention on Spike.

"What do you have in mind?" she asked.

"I know a mare who is great with magic," Spike called out, "and could take anything you hit her with."  His eyes narrowed.  "You even saw it yourself earlier."

"You mean that weirdo that jumped into my lightning?"

Spike's claws clenched, digging into his palms as he resisted the urge to defend Rainbow Burst.  Admittedly, yes, Rainbow did not act like most of the other unicorns he had met, but that did not mean some stranger could just call her a "weirdo."

"She's a very talented and powerful unicorn," he said, "and I bet she could beat you in a magic duel."

"Really?"  Lightning grinned, letting out a snort.

"Really!"

"Fine!" Lightning Blast declared.  "Tomorrow morning, your friend and I will duel right here for the entire town to watch!"

"Fine!" Spike called back.  "She'll be here!"

"Good!"

There was a flash of lightning, striking Lightning Blast.

As it cleared, she was gone.
> Snaily and the Snips
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

With the show over so abruptly, there was a moment where all the ponies assembled still stood, staring at it.  Slowly, they began to disperse, leaving the spot and heading away.  As they went, many of them talked about what they had seen, and speculating on what will happen with Rainbow Burst tomorrow.

"Spike?" Rarity said softly as she moved closer to the young dragon. "Are you certain you should be volunteering Rainbow for this?  I mean, while I am certain she is talented enough to hold her own, would she really be interested in dueling against Lightning Blast?"

"More than willing," Spike answered.  "Rainbow kind of hates ponies that are arrogant and full of themselves like that.  Especially when they seem to like demeaning or embarrassing others."  He shifted, looking from his friends toward the direction of the library.  "Although, she would probably rather pull pranks on her than face her one on one."

"Oh," Pinkie cried out.  "Speaking of."

Her horn lit up, grabbing a hold of Applejack and pulling her over to the group.  After pulling the hat off and popping it back into the proper shape, Pinkie quickly untied the bound pegasus, setting her back on her hooves.

"Are you okay?" Pinkie asked.

"I'm fine," Applejack answered as she made a few adjustments to her hat.  "My pride's hurt more than anything.  I'm gonna tell Shy 'bout what's happening.  See if she wanna show up tomorrow to give Burst some support.  See y'all later."  She then took off, flying away and toward Sweet Apple Acres.

"I should get going too," Pinkie said.  "Either we're going to need a 'congratulations on beating Lightning Burst and stopping her being mean to other ponies' party, or a 'we're sorry you were beat up but we're glad you tried and still think you're the coolest unicorn' party for Rainbow."  She then lit up her horn, and in a flash of confetti and squeal of noisemakers, vanished.

"I guess I should head to the library and tell Rainbow what's happening," Spike said.  "See you guys later."  He gave a wave and started off toward the library.

He did not get far before two unicorn colts moved to block his way.  Snips stood to face the dragon, brow furrowed and noses nearly touching.  Snails was standing behind his short, pudgy friend, just kind of staring off into the distance.

"So what's the big idea?" Snips asked.  "Why do you get to tell us to stop talking about how great Lightning is, but you get to brag about Rainbow Burst?"

"Well, the biggest difference is that I'm not simply taking Rainbow's word for it," Spike retorted.  "I've seen some of what she can do myself.  Plus, with the stuff I haven't, there are others who have."  He pointed back toward the others.  "Like our friends.  Or Princess Celestia."

"Wow," Snails said.  "That is impressive."

Snips glared at his friend.

"Right," Spike agreed.  "But nopony here has seen Lightning Blast do any of the things she claims.  It's just her word."

Snips shifted, bringing a hoof up to his chin and tapping it as he let out a humming noise.

"So... what you're saying... is that if we want to prove how awesome and amazing, we need ponies to see it?"

"Yeah," Spike answered.  "Good luck with that."

He then continued on, leaving the two unicorn colts lost in thought.  Snips was considering what Spike had said.  While Snails...


*****


The legendary sailor, Captain Snails, stood on the deck of his might vessel, The Sea Slug.  His jaw was pressed tight as he looked out at the sea in front of him.  His eyes narrowed against the glare of the sun on the water, he scanned back and forth, looking for any signs.

"Ship ahoy!" a voice called out from the crow's nest.

"Sir," the first mate said with a salute.  "A ship has been spotted not far ahead of us."

"Find out if it's the one we be seeking," Captain Snails ordered, getting another salute before the first mate took off.  Snails did not bother to watch him go, he trusted his crew and knew they were very competent about their job.  Instead he moved closer to the edge of the bow.  If it was the ship they were looking for, he wanted to see it as soon as he could.

It was not long before another ship came into view.  Snails could make it out and already knew: it was the ship they were looking for.  It was her.

"Sir," one of the crew ponies called out, "we have confirmation.  It's Daddy's Money."

They had found the ship, which means they had found the pirate, Diamond Tiara, and also who they came for.

"Ready the cannons," Captain Snails ordered.  "Prepare to engage.  Remember, we are on a rescue mission.  Getting her back is our top priority."

A round of "aye-aye" came from the crew as they began to move.  Every mare and stallion got into action, getting into position and ready for the confrontation.  Pegasi took flight, using their wings to increase the wind and their speed.  Earth ponies moved the cannons into position while unicorns began to load them.  Swords were drawn and ropes readied.  Those that were not needed for running the ship or manning the cannons prepared to board.

Captain Snails stood ready to be the first across.

They soon got into cannon range.

"FIRE!"

The ponies at the cannons began pulling the cords attached to the back ends.  There were clicks followed by pops as their ammunition was fired, launching from the opening.  What came out were not ordinary cannonballs made of iron, however.

One "cannonball" struck the side of the opposing ship, the chocolate shell shattering apart and coating it with a thick layer of peanut butter.  Several others struck not far behind, coating the hull in the gooey treat.  A few even struck enemy crew member, covering them in the peanut butter and pinning them in place.

"Who dares attack the dreaded pirate queen Diamond Tiara!" boomed a voice from the opposing ship.

"Diamond Tiara!" Captain Snails shouted back.  "Release Twist and surrender peacefully.  If you do, then we will go easy on you."

"I shall never surrender!" Diamond Tiara called out.  "If you want your precious mare, come get her!"

"So be it."  Using his magic, Snails pulled the cutlass from his side.  "Prepare to be boarded!"

With that, he grabbed a hold of the rope and jumped from his ship, swinging across to the other.  As soon as he landed, he was surrounded by dozens -- scores -- of enemy pirates with their own swords drawn.  With quick, practiced swings, he made his way through them, knocking their weapons aside and sending many overboard as he made his way across the deck.

Reaching a door, he kicked, sending it flying from its hinges.

Inside were two mares, both earth ponies.  One was a cream coated mare with thick red hair.  She was currently tied up, legs tied together.  She looked at her hero with wide, pink eyes.  The other was a grey mare with silver mane.  One eye was covered by a patch, but the other glared at her enemy.

"Silver Spoon," Captain Snails said, "I should have known that Tiara would have you on guard."  He pointed his cutlass at the silvery mare.  "I will say this once: step aside or I shall go through you to free my beloved Twist.",

Silver Spoon let out a snort as she drew her own blade.

"You think you can stand against me?" she asked with a sneer.

"Yes," Snail's answered.  "For I am pure of heart, and have the power of love on my side."

A snort of derision escaped the wicked mare as she raised her sword in front of her, crossing the blade with Snails'.

"Then show me what you got."

Captain Snail's moved first, lunging forward with his blade.  It was easily parried by Silver, who then swung at him.  Snails ducked under the strike, missing by a hair (less, actually since several hairs on his head had been cut a little shorter), then swung upwards.  Silver Spoon stepped aside, but a little too slow.  The very tip of Snails' cutlass hit her cheek, leaving a small scratch.

The two continued on, fighting back and forth.  Steel would clang off steel as swords met, striking off one another.  Each would get through the defense of the other a little.  Not enough to land a clear victory, but enough to create a scratch or cut here and there.  The pair moved and stepped, shifting position and working around the room as they fought each other.

Then Captain Snails raised his sword high and lunged forward, bringing it down hard.  Eye wide, Silver Spoon jumped to the side.

Which was exactly what he had been hoping for.

The blade sliced through the knot, cutting it in two and freeing Twist from her bindings.  Taking advantage of it, Twist kicked out hard, driving a back hoof into Silver Spoon's stomach, knocking the air from her lungs and throwing her into a wall.  With a bang of skull against wood, the silver mare collapsed, unconscious.

Free of her binds and warden, Twist got up and threw herself at Captain Snails, wrapping forelegs around his neck.

"My hero!" she cried out before kissing him on the lips.


*****


"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Snips asked, turning to look at his tall, thin friend.

"Yeah," Snails answered.  "Chocolate covered peanut butter balls would be pretty good right now."

"No!" Snips replied before pausing.  His brow furrowed.  "Actually, now that you bring it up, that does sound pretty good."  He let out a sigh of frustration.  "And now I want one."

Turning around he started walking.

"Come on.  We can stop on the way at the candy shop and get some."

"Okay," Snails said as he followed after his friend.

The two made there way through town, heading toward Bon Bon's candy shop.

"Where are we going?" Snails asked.

"The Everfree Forest," Snips answered.

"Oh.  Okay."
> My Tip: Don't Lose!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rainbow Burst stared at Spike, processing what she had just been told.  Several thoughts and emotions coursed through her, running through her mind and heart, and fighting for dominance.  Eventually, her thoughts and feelings came enough to a consensus that she was able to respond.

"You did what?!" Rainbow cried out.  "Why would you do that?"

Spike jumped back at the reaction, eyes wide in shock.

"Why are you mad?" he asked.  "I thought you would like the chance to take her down a peg."

Rainbow's body dropped as she let out a sigh.

"I would," she answered.  "That mare was a pain and clearly needs somepony to knock some sense into her."

"So what's the problem?"

"The problem is that I have never been in a real magic duel before."  Rainbow pushed herself back up, looking at Spike again.  "The closest thing was when we went over it school."  She let out a huff.  "Got to do mock battles, but didn't even use actual spells.  Just pieces of paper with spells on them that we were randomly given."

She rubbed at her forehead.

"Don't even really remember the rules." 

A pang of guilt shot through Spike.  He had been so caught up in thinking about how irritating Lightning Blast was and how nice it would be for Rainbow to put her in her place, that he did not even think about whether or not she would be able to.  Well, he knew she was able to.  There was no question in his mind about that.  It was more a question of could she do it on Lightning Blast's terms.  Rainbow had the raw power for it.  Now she just needed to know how.

"Well... we're in a library," he said.  "Maybe they have a book on it?"

That managed to make Rainbow perk up.

"Yeah," she said with a smile.  "Plus, we still have Princess Celestia to ask for advice.  Spike, take a letter."

Smiling at the return of his friend's enthusiasm, Spike quickly pulled out a scroll and quill.

"Ready," he declared.

"Dear Princess Celestia," Rainbow Burst said aloud.  "I'll skip over the details, but it turns out I've recently been pulled into a magic duel.  Not something I've ever actually done before, and I don't really remember the rules.  If you have any advice you could give me, I would appreciate it.  Sincerely, your student, Rainbow Burst."

With that done, Spike rolled up the scroll, held it to his mouth, and let out a puff of magic fire.  The scroll vanished in a flash of flame and smoke.

The letter sent, Spike followed Rainbow Burst into the main room of the library.  There, they began to search through the books, trying to figure out where any books on magic dueling might be.

"We really need to take an inventory of everything and organize some sort of list or something," Rainbow mumbled to herself as she was making her way through the M's.

"Definitely," Spike said as he searched through the D's.  "Maybe by subject matter.  Something more elaborate than 'fiction' and 'non-fiction.'"

"Ugh," Rainbow groaned, rolling her eyes.  "Can't believe I'm talking about organizing a library.  Bad enough I live in one, but now I'm planning on being its librarian or something."

Spike looked away from the books, eyes narrowing as he smirked.

"Soon you'll be wearing your hair up in a bun, and have a pair of glasses hanging from a chain around your neck."

Rainbow growled, grabbing a book and throwing it at him.

"Smart-flank!"

The book went far enough to reach Spike, if barely.  It was also pretty slow.  He could have caught it if he wanted.

After searching and searching, they were able to find several books on the subject, including one titled "Magic Dueling for Dummies."  All of them had a basic run down of the rules: there were two duelist, most often unicorns but similar had happened between other races; the two then take turns attacking; each time one attacks, the other either defends or counters; after, the two switch; this repeats until one surrenders, or is unable to continue either due to running out of power, not having any more spells available, or cannot counter their opponent's; no spells that could be fatal or cause bodily harm were permitted (although it had been known to happen).

It all seemed easy enough to Rainbow Burst.  At least on paper.

A belch and gout of flame from Spike got Rainbow's attention from her book.  Reaching out with her magic, she caught the scroll that appeared and pulled it close, quickly unfurling to read it.



My Dear Student,

It is quite exciting to hear that you are entering your first magic duel.  Please keep me informed on how it goes.  I am curious to hear how you do, be it good or ill.

As to your question: the best advice I can give you is diversity.  Learn spells that could be used for multiple purposes, both in defensive and offensive capability.  As you cannot be certain what your opponent is capable of, it is often best to plan for as many possibilities as you can.

Luna, meanwhile, suggest you use a Blitzkrieg maneuver.  A massive show of power and skill performed immediately and quickly, meant to impress and intimidate an opponent.  While this is true, it is not entirely effective.  Particularly when the duel is before a crowd.  In point of fact, this could backfire if the opponent does not back down and you find yourself drained due to using nearly all your energy in a single strike.  Even somepony with reserves as extensive as your own can be drained.  To that end, try to keep track of your energy use, and -- if possible -- force your opponent to use more energy than you.

I wish you the best of luck, my faithful student, and look forward to hearing both the story of how this happened, and how you did, at a later time.

Sincerely, your teacher,
Princess Celestia.



With a sigh, Rainbow Burst set the scroll aside.  While the advice was helpful, it was not quite as much as she would have hoped.  Maybe it was too much to think that Princess Celestia would share some sort of secret that would guarantee Rainbow would be able to win the duel quickly and instantly.  Even if such a thing did exist, the princess would not simply tell Rainbow Burst what it was.  Instead, she would give hints, or an example or demonstration, and allow Rainbow to try and figure out on her own.  She always did seem learn better with a hooves on approach.

"Alright," Rainbow said, turning to Spike.  "So we need to create a short list of powerful, low energy spells, that could be used for multiple purposes.  Plus we might want to get in a little practice to see what I--"

The rest of what Rainbow was going to see was cut off as a booming noise filled the air, the entire tree shaking.  Both Rainbow and Spike were knocked off balance, with the unicorn landing on her stomach, and the dragon on his backside.

"... The buck was that?"
> Into the Creepy Dark Woods
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	After stopping at the candy shop and getting a bag of chocolate covered peanut butter balls, Snips and Snails continued on their way.  Leaving the town limits of Ponyville behind, they made their way across the open country before reaching the edge of The Everfree Forest.

"So, what are we doing out here?" Snails asked as they stepped into the forest.

"You remember what Spike said?" Snips asked, looking back at his friend.

Taking one of the peanut butter balls, Snails popped it into his mouth.  He chewed slowly, feeling the thin chocolate shell break apart and the smooth peanut butter coat his tongue.  It was sweet with a hint of salt, gooey with the occasional crunch, covered his entire mouth in its peanut butter goodness.

"No," he finally answered after swallowing.

Snips let out a sigh, rolling his eyes.  Snails was his friend, and he liked the colt most of the time, but times like this, he wondered what went through his friend's head.  If anything.  It was like Snails' was only half-aware of the world around him or something.

"Okay," Snips said as he turned to face Snails.  "Lightning Blast is an awesome pony, right?"

"Right," Snails agreed, giving a nod.

"And we want everypony to know how awesome she is, right?"

"Right."

"Well, Spike said that the best way to do that was for ponies to see how awesome she is for themselves."

"Makes sense."

"And the best way to do that is to have her face and fight a monster where everypony can see it."

"...okay..." Snails said as he grabbed another peanut butter ball.

"And there are always plenty of monsters in The Everfree Forest."

"Not to mention the witch, the old castle--"

"Yeah, yeah," Snips cut in.  "All that stuff.  Anyway, that means that there are plenty of monsters for a pony to fight if they wanted, right?"

"Right."

"So, if we can bring a monster from the forest to town, Lightning Blast can beat it up, and everypony can see it.  So they'll all know how amazing she is.  That way, she'll be a hero, everypony will know she's awesome, and she will know we are her biggest fans."

Snails stuck the candy in his mouth and chewed.  Not just to enjoy it -- although he did -- but to give him a moment to think.  He was not sure what it was, but something about what Snips came up with did not quite seem right to him.  Snails could not quite say what it was, though.  He thought over it as best he could, but could not really find any flaws in Snips' logic.  Besides, Snips was the smarter one, and Snails always trusted him before.

"Okay then," he said.

The two of them continued on, working their way deeper into The Everfree Forest.

"So...how are we going to find a monster to take back?" Snails asked.

"This place is crawling with them," Snips answered.  "I'm sure we'll run into something sooner or later."

The two of them continued on, making their way through the forest.  Reaching a place where the path (in the vaguest sense of the term) split, the pair of colts headed off to follow the left.  As they continued, the path grew darker and darker, until they could only make out the outline of each other.  Soon even that became impossible to see.

"I can't see my hoof in front of my face," Snips grumbled as he looked around.

There was a smack and an "ow" from Snails.

"I can't see mine either.  Can still feel it though."

Despite the lack of sight, the two tried to continue on, stopping after Snips hit something big and rocky face first.

"Should have brought a light," he grumbled, rubbing his now tender snout.

"Oh, wait," Snails said.  "I think I can help."

Closing his eyes, he concentrated, focusing on his horn, and his magic.  A small speck of light flickered from the tip before disappearing.  Trying again, he managed to make the horn glow brighter, lasting a full second before disappearing again.  Jaw clenching, he pushed harder.  The tip lit up, flickered, then grew blighter before stabilizing.

Snails had done it.  He had cast a spell.  A small, simple one, but a victory all the same.  Now they could see where they were: which seemed to be some sort of cave.  There were rough stone walls, glistening with moisture.  One, however, seemed to be covered in some sort of shimmering blue hair.  There were also some of those pointy things that grew up from the floor.  What were they called?  Stallion-something or other?  He was pretty sure they went over it in school at some point, but he had not really been paying attention.  Why would he care about cave stuff?  Not like he was ever going to be in one.

The fuzzy wall shifted, big yellow eyes opening to look at the two of them.  The wall itself suddenly seemed to glow with its own light, little white stars appearing all across it.  As he and Snips looked around, Snails could not find any way deeper into the cave.  They would have to turn around and...

Wait a second.

"Hey, Snips?"

"What?"

"How are we going to get the monster back to town when we find it?"

"I don't know," Snips answered.  "We'll figure it out after we find something."

"Okay."

Snails looked at the wall that was now glaring at him.

"Hey, Snips?"

Snips let out a sigh before turning to look at Snails.

"What?"

"Do caves normally have furry walls with big eyes in them?"

"Why would--"

The rest of Snips' question was lost as the furry wall roared.  Foul, hot air poured from the gaping mouth that had opened, revealing razor sharp fangs that must have been as long as Snails' legs.  The wall then moved, revealing that it was not a wall, but some sort of massive, bear-like creature.

With screams, the two fled from the cave and ran as quickly back to Ponyville as they could manage.
> A Bear of a Problem
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Getting back on their feet, Rainbow Burst and Spike headed for the door and went outside to see what was going on.  They were not the only ones either.  Nearby ponies had either come outside or stopped what they were doing to find out what was making so much noise.  As they watched, a familiar looking pair of unicorn colts ran by, followed by...

"Is that a bear?" Spike asked.

That was the best description for it.  The creature did have the basic shape of a bear to it.  The "bear" was massive, about the size of a two-story house and then some.  It looked like Princess Luna had taken a piece of the night sky, shaped it into a giant bear, and set it down.  Its body glowed with a night blue light, with shining yellow eyes, and a white star on its head.  The creature let out a roar, showing teeth as long as swords.  It continued after the two colts, smashing through anything that got in its way.

With a sigh, Rainbow Burst's horn lit up.  Grabbing Spike, she placed him on her back before taking off.

"Come on.  We need to find out what's going on and how to stop it before all of Ponyville is flattened."

"Do we have to?" Spike mumbled, gripping tightly onto Rainbow.

"Do you want to let... whatever that is smash all of Ponyville?"

"No, but I don't want to be eaten like some dragon mcnugget either."

Rainbow Burst continued running, trying to get ahead of the creature.  If she wanted to know what was going on, she would have to ask somepony who might know.  Considering the giant, glowing, rampaging beast was chasing after two specific colts, it was safe to guess that they had something to do with it.

The pair of colts may not have had the longest legs, but they were young and literally running for their lives.  As such, they were going pretty fast.  Too fast for Rainbow to catch up with enough to grab or talk to.  However, as they reached the town center, she did manage to get close enough to hear them shouting "Lighting Blast!" over and over.

Snips reached the wagon first.  Rearing up on his hind legs, he started pounding on the door with his front hooves as quickly as he could.  A yellow aura covered the door, throwing it open and knocking the colt onto the ground.

"What?!" Lightning snapped as she stuck her head out.

The bear let out a massive roar, the sound booming through the air and being near deafening.  Lightning Blast turned her attention from the colts on the ground to the massive creature shambling toward them.  Lightning's ears and jaw dropped as her eyes went wide, staring at the thing.

"WHAT THE BUCK IS THAT?!"

"We found it in The Everfree Forest," Snails answered as he got back up.  "Brought it back to Ponyville so you could beat it."

Lightning's eyes nearly bulged out of her skull as her mouth was wide opened, jaw moving up and down as choking noise came from her throat.

"WHAT?!" she finally managed to cry out.  "WHY?!  WHY WOULD YOU POSSIBLY--"

Another roar from the creature cut off the angry rant.  It continued to walk into the town square and toward the ponies, smashing the side of one building as it entered open area.  Its big yellow eyes were focused quite intently on the small group, primarily on a pair of unicorn colts, one of which looked ready to wet himself.  Moving closer, it let out a snarl as it lifted one of its massive paws, then brought it down toward the wagon.

Magic grabbed the pair of colts, pulling them away from the wagon as Rainbow Burst and Lightning Blast jumped clear.  The small group managed to get away just before the massive came down, slamming into the traveling wagon and smashing it to pieces.  Chunks of wood and twisted metal flew through the air as most of the cart was crushed flat into the ground.

"My... my trailer..." Lighting whimpered out, looking at her home turned into nothing but a pile of debris.

Rainbow grabbed the other unicorn and pulled her back up onto her hooves.

"Grieve later," Rainbow said.  "Right now, we need to take these two" -- she motioned at Snips and Snails -- "to The Everfree, and hope that things" -- she pointed at the bear creature -- "follows us out of town.  Hopefully before it smashes up too much more of the place."

Lightning Blast let out a growl of frustration, but did as she was told.  Following after Rainbow, she ran back through the path of destruction the creature had created, Snips and Snails being pulled along in the mares' magic.  Rainbow Burst ran as fast as she could, Lightning following as fast as she could.  They made their way past shattered buildings, occasionally weaving around chunks of a place or a spot where the creature's foot had left a dent.

As they left town, the path became more difficult to follow.  No buildings meant that no buildings got smashed, but also meant there was less damage to mark where the creature had been.  Fortunately, Rainbow knew where The Everfree Forest was and how to get there.  Unfortunately, Lightning did not and was forced to follow the other mare.

The thud of massive steps and a deafening roar let the group know that the plan was working.

That was until a louder roar boomed from somewhere up ahead.

If the one that had followed them was the size of a two-story house, the one now in front of them was the size of a skyscraper.  Its body was purple as opposed to the blue of the smaller one, but there was a star on the larger creature's head that matched.  Even more stars covered its form, twinkling and glittering like the night sky.  Beneath burning orange-yellow eyes were fangs as long as a pony that looked as sharp as a guard's spear.

The massive creature took a step forward, the impact of a monstrous clawed paw causing the ground to shake.  Rainbow Burst and Lightning Blast were knocked off their hooves, while Spike, Snips, and Snails all dropped to the ground.  Another paw lifted up off the ground, looming above the group.  If it came down, they all would have been squashed into pony paste with a side of dragon jelly.

The paw then continued on, landing on the ground behind the group as the creature moved right past them and toward the smaller one.  It let out a growling noise as it moved closer.

The (relatively) small blue creature lowered its head, looking down at the ground.  It ran one paw through the dirt, making small circular  motions.  The big one let out another growling noise.  This time, the small one let out a plaintive whine, pointing a paw toward the group.

As this was happening, Rainbow suddenly realized something: the smaller one must have been a child.  She may not have been able to understand what was actually being said, but she recognized the body language.  The larger one -- probably the mother, but definitely an authority figure -- was upset about something the younger had done.  Now the younger was trying to either explain, or make an excuse.  More specifically, it was blaming them.

As all this occurred to Rainbow, the large, glowing, bear-like creature turned to face them.  Its massive head came down enough that it could look at the ponies with its large, yellow eyes, which were narrowed into a very disapproving look.

"Uhm... Sorry?" Rainbow said, putting on a nervous smile.

The bear creature let out a snort, sending a blast of cold, snotty air across the group.  Turning away from them, it moved to the smaller one.  The larger one then reached down, taking a hold of the small one by the scruff.  After giving the group of ponies one last glare, it lumbered off into the forest, carrying the small one with it.

They all stared silently as they two creatures disappeared from sight, the steps echoing before it too faded, leaving the ponies and dragon just sitting there, looking at where the strange beasts had vanished as they returned to their home.

"Well," Rainbow said, "now that that's over," -- she turned to face Snips and Snails -- "would one of you care to tell me: WHAT THE HAY WERE YOU THINKING?!"

"We were just doing what Spike told us," Snails answered.

"WHAT!?" Rainbow, Lightning, and Spike all cried out.

"So that's it!" Lightning shouted, turning to glare at Rainbow.  "Your pet lizard told you about the duel, and you knew you couldn't win.  So you had him get these colts to find some monster and bring back to smash my stuff and try to scare me off.  That way, you wouldn't be humiliated in front of everypony, and claim that I was a coward or something."

"What?" Rainbow snapped.  "I did no such thing.  Even if I was afraid of losing -- which I'm not -- I wouldn't resort to cheating.  On top of that, I wouldn't have Spike, or a bunch of foals do it, and I definitely wouldn't do something that would destroy a town I'm trying to make my home!"

"Of course you wouldn't admit it," Lightning huffed, ears pulling back.  "Well it's not going to work.  The duel is still on."

"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!" Rainbow yelled.  Her horn lit up.  "But if you wanna fight, I'll show you what I can do!"

"HOLD ON!" Spike shouted, jumping between the two.  Once the pair of unicorn mares had their attention on him, he took a deep breath and relaxed, turning to Snips and Snails.

"Now," he said calmly, "what makes you think I told you to do this?"

"You said that the best way for everypony to know how amazing and awesome Lightning Blast was was to have them see it for themselves."

A sheepish look spread across Spike's face as he scratched behind an ear fin.  He let out a chuckle.

"Technically, I did say that," he admitted.  "But I just meant that they shouldn't believe every word Lightning was saying without some proof.  Like some ponies who had seen her do what she claimed.  I didn't think they would go find a monster and bring it back to Ponyville."

Lightning Blast turned to the colts, ears pulled back and horn lighting up.

"You mean to tell me," she growled out, "that my wagon got smashed and I ran all the way here because you wanted to see me actually fight that thing?"

"...yeah?" Snails answered.

"Why?  What would possibly make you think that was even remotely a good idea?!"

"...but... you've beaten monsters before," Snips said.

"Nothing the size of a house!" Lightning snapped.  "And I knew it was coming, so I was ready for it."

The colts cringed away from the angry mare, heads down and ears pulled back.

"Now where am I going to stay?"

"Maybe the mayor knows a place," Rainbow suggested.  Her horn lit up as she grabbed the colts by the ears.  "We need to talk to her anyways, so she can decide what to do with these two."

Rainbow then started making her way back to Ponyville, dragging Snips and Snails by the ear the entire time.
> Time to Duel
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rainbow Burst looked at herself in the mirror.  Taking a deep breath, she let out it, blowing some of her rainbow colored mane in the process.  She straightened up, standing as tall as she could, and looked herself hard in the eye.

Alright, Rainbow, she told herself.  You can do this.  You were a student of Princess Celestia.  You've dealt with the likes of Blueblood time and time again.  Hay, you even faced down an enraged alicorn and came out of it alive.  You can handle one loud-mouthed show mare.  Plus, you have plenty of spells ready, including shields and...  She shifted, furrowing her brow.  Really need to come up with a name for my cloud exploding spell.

She gave a shake of her head.  That was not the point right now.  The point was, she had spells at the ready, she had enough power, and she had at least some training.  Everything said that she should be able to win a magic duel.

Letting out a sigh, she stepped away from the mirror, leaving her room and heading downstairs.

"Ready?" Spike asked as she came down.

Straightening up again, Rainbow put on her cockiest smirk.

"Course I am," she replied.  "That Lightning Blast doesn't stand a chance."

Spike looked away from Rainbow before rolling his eyes.  He had known Rainbow Burst as long as he remembered, so he knew when she was putting on an act.  Especially since he was the one that had told her about the whole thing and had seen how worried she was at the time.  No reason to point it out though.  It would do no good, and might shake Rainbow's confidence a little.

"Come on, Spike," Rainbow said as she headed for the door.  "Everypony is probably waiting to watch us duel."

"Right behind you," Spike said as he followed after her.

Opening to door, Rainbow and Spike found five other mares waiting for them.

"Girls?" Rainbow asked, raising an eyebrow as she looked at her friends.

"We thought we'd walk with you to the town square," Twilight offered.

"And cheer you on," Pinkie added, appearing in front of the others with a pair of pom-poms.  Standing up on her hind legs, she waved the pom-poms in the air above her with her front hooves.

Seeing her friends made Rainbow feel a little more relaxed, more hopeful.  The knot in her stomach did not disappear, but it did loosen.  She also let out a chuckle at Pinkie and her antics.

"Thanks," Rainbow said as she moved forward.  "I appreciate the support."

With her friends at her side, Rainbow made her way toward the town center.  As they approached, she noticed that quite a crowd had formed, waiting around.  It caused that knot in her stomach to tighten again.

Is every pony in town here? Rainbow wondered as she continued on toward the center.  Don't they have other things to do around here?  Like their jobs?

As Rainbow Burst continued on, the gathered crowd took notice of her.  As she moved closer, they started to part, giving her a clear path to the open area where Lightning Blast was currently waiting.  Rainbow walked along the now clear path, dozens -- hundreds, probably -- of eyes focused on her.  She was like a celebrity getting ready to perform.

...or a criminal being sent to their execution.

Closer to the front stood several foals.  Among them were: Snips and Snails, holding a sign with "Yay! Lightning Blast!!" written on it; Applejack's little sister, Apple Bloom; and the orange unicorn filly from yesterday, carrying a sign reading "Go Rainbow."  The filly saw that Rainbow Burst was looking at her, and grinned so wide, her face was about to split in half.

"Well, it seems you have a fan of your own," Rarity said.

"Heh, yeah," Rainbow responded, looking at the filly.  It was no surprise, really.  She had saved the kid from getting hit by lightning, after all.  Although it was really impressive to see, it was not that impressive once a pony understood how it worked.  The only hard part was that they had to know the lightning was coming so they could prepare for it.

As she went by, Rainbow gave the filly a small smile.  At this, the filly's eyes went wide, twinkling like stars.

Looking away from the filly, Rainbow Burst saw Lightning Blast waiting.  Rainbow's body tensed as her stomach started to squirm.  Jaw clenching, she straightened up and put on her best game face.

"Ready to lose?" Lightning asked.

"I'm sure you are," Rainbow retorted.

"...what?" Lightning asked, brow furrowed and head tilted in confusion.

"What?"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"That you are going to lose?" Rainbow answered.  "Did... did I not do it right?  Was that not clear?"  She turned to look at the others.  "Did... did that not come across?"

"It did come out rather ambiguous," Rarity answered.

"I understood it," Pinkie said, raising a hoof.

Rainbow let out hum as her ears pulled back.  Whether Pinkie understanding it was a good sign or a bad one was not something that she felt like trying to figure out right now.  Especially when she had something way more important to focus on.

"Whatever.  The point is, I'm ready."

"Great," Lightning said.  Moving to the center of the clearing, she turned and faced Rainbow Dash.  "Since I'm from out of town, I'll go first."  Her horn lit up yellow with magic.

Three pies appeared in the air before Lightning Blast, and shot toward Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow's horn lit up as well.  Her multi-colored aura wrapped around Pinkie Pie, pulling her up onto the stage and in front of Rainbow.  As the pies came in, Pinkie opened her mouth wide, swallowing them whole before -- somehow -- spitting out the now empty tins.

"Mmm," Pinkie said as she licked her lips.  "Chocolate cream.  My favorite."

"HEY! NO FAIR!" Lightning shouted.  "This is a magic duel.  You're supposed to use magic to defend yourself, not just grab random ponies from the crowd to use as shields."

"First," Rainbow retorted.  "I didn't grab a random pony.  I grabbed a specific pony because I thought I knew what she would do, and she did.  So I didn't use her as a shield.  Second, summoning is permitted, which is basically what I did."

Lightning's ears pulled back and her eyes narrowed.  Lips pressed tight, she let out a snort of annoyance.

"Fine," Lightning huffed out.  "Just go ahead and take your stupid turn."

Rainbow's eyes narrowed as she smirked.  Since things seemed to be starting slow, she decided to go with something small as well.  Although what she had in mind would be more entertaining than throwing pies, it would be about as childish.

Rainbow Burst unleash her spell, firing it directly at Lightning Blast.  The spell hit the opponent unicorn, engulfing her in the rainbow colored aura for a second.

As the magic faded, the crowd stared at Lightning Blast.  Snorts began to escape from the gathered ponies.  Then snickers and coughing.  Shortly, ponies began to just out and out laugh.

"What?" Lightning asked, blinking at the crowd.  "What's so funny?"

"Your mane!" Pinkie Pie called out.  "It's like a big ball of cotton candy!"

Conjuring a mirror, Lightning took a look at herself.  On top of her head -- instead of her typical, slicked back, orange and yellow mane -- was a large ball of light blue fluff that looked like cotton candy.

"I thought blue would be more your color," Rainbow said, smirking.

Lightning Blast let out a huff as she banished the mirror.  She would deal with the mane later.  Right now, she had an obnoxious unicorn to deal with.  One that needed to have her head soaked, at that.

Turning her head up toward the sky, Lightning's attention focused on one of the clouds above them.  Grasping it with her magic, she pulled it down toward them, bringing it to rest above Rainbow Burst.

"Oh no," Twilight whispered, eyes wide at the sight of the cloud.  "Rainbow, if you're thinking what I think you're thinking, be careful."

"What's the matter, sugar cube?" Applejack asked, leaning in close and raising an eyebrow.

"Yesterday, Rainbow came up with a spell that would let her blow up a cloud," Spike answered.  "Well, she tested it out, actually."  He held his arms up in front of him.  "Big explosion.  Totally awesome.  Twilight saw it."

"Oh," Rarity said as she turned toward the stage.  "So it seems that this very well may work in Rainbow's favor."

With the cloud less than a foot from Rainbow Burst's head, Lighting Blast shot at it with her magic, giving the equivalent of a pegasus' kick.  The cloud boomed with thunder before unleashing its rain upon the mare below.

The cloud sent a thrill of excitement through Rainbow Burst.  She had been hoping to show off her new spell, but did not think it would be so soon.  With all of Ponyville watching, no less.  That would be great.  A big explosion and an impressive performance to intimidate her opponent into quitting.

She just had to be careful not to have anypony caught in the blast.  Wrapping her magic around the cloud, she pushed it up and up, higher and higher until it was what should have been a good enough distance (she had not actually done any real mathematic calculation for the possible explosion size relative to the base cloud).  Releasing it, Rainbow turned her attention to the spells needed to make it explode.  She then unleashed the blast of magic, hitting the cloud.

All the gathered ponies looked up, watching the stream of energy fly up into the sky and hit the fluffy whiteness.

Then they waited.

And waited.

And waited.

"Is something supposed to happen?" somepony asked.

A blush formed on Rainbow's cheeks as she looked at the cloud.  Yes, something was supposed to happen.  It was supposed to explode in flame.  Jaw clenching, body tensing, she called on her magic and tried again.  Again, her magic hit the cloud.

This time, something did happen.  The cloud turned pink, then shifted to a light, creamy orange.  It continued on: a pastel yellow; a light, soft green; and then turning purple before becoming white again.

"Neat little trick," Lightning said, "but not exactly impressive in a duel."  Her eyes narrowed as she grinned wickedly.  "Now, my turn."

Taking a hold of the wet ground around Rainbow's hooves, Lighting pushed more water into it.  The thick mud wrapped around Rainbow's legs, pulling them close to each other.  It then worked its way higher and higher, wrapping around her until stopping just below the barrel.  Lightning squeezed the mud hard with her power, pressing it tight, compacting it, before pulling all the water out of it.

Rainbow Burst was now trapped up to her body in hardened clay.  No matter how much she squirmed, how much she pushed, how much she tensed or tried to kick, she could not even move her legs, much less break free.  Conjuring a hammer, she hit clay. The she hit again, and again, and again.  It was after the tenth hit that a small piece of it even began to chip off.  Next, she conjured a chisel to use as well.  Pressing the sharp edge against the surface, she brought the hammer down against it with all her magical might.

If felt like every bone in her body was shaken and rattled, sending aches through her muscles and joints.

The clay had a hairline fracture in it.

"Need help?" Lightning asked as she strolled forward, eyes narrow and a smirk on her face.

"I got it," Rainbow retorted.  Lifting the hammer up, she slammed it against the top of the chisel again.  The fracture grew slightly thicker, running further down the length of the clay.  She then gave it a third hit.

With a sigh of boredom, Lightning Blast looked at her wrist.

"We don't have all day."

Rainbow Burst let out a huff of her own as she dismissed the hammer and chisel.  Focusing her attention on the fracture, she poured her magic directly into it.  As she pushed her power into the clay, she hardened it, making it solid as possible, and pushed out against the edges.  Slowly, she pushed deeper, further, feeling the pressure against the clay grow and grow.

The crack grew wider and wider.

"Not bad," Lightning Blast said as she lit up her horn again.  "How 'bout we make it extra challenging?"  She then wrapped her magic around the outside of the clay, pressing it down again.

Body tensing, eyes squeezing shut, jaw clenching, Rainbow focused.  She continued to push with her magic, pressing against the clay and the force of Lightning Blast's own power.  She could do this.  She was Rainbow Burst: powerful unicorn; student to Princess Celestia herself; one of the ponies to defeat Nightmare Moon and save Princess Luna; and she bore The Element of Magic.  She could beat some stupid dirt and a loud mouth showpony.  She just had to think of a way.

Until then, she would just bull her way against it.

The crowd gasped as the magic aura around Rainbow's horn grew.  It became larger, brighter, pulsing with her energy and will.

"No," Lighting growled as her own horn lit up brighter.  "I will not lose to some back-water, small town, loud mouth!"

The yellow aura grew larger, engulfing all of the clay and the unicorn trapped inside.  It pressed down on the material and around the mare, holding her in place and trapping her magic.  The shell began to swell and pulse, the inside filling with more and more power.  It grew larger and larger, stretching like a balloon.  The rainbow colored energy trapped inside could be seen, shifting, swirling, growing larger and large.

Until...

POP!

The yellow aura shattered, the trapped rainbow energy bursting out.  It exploded outward, from the spot it had been building.  The thick clay shattered as Rainbow Burst and Lightning Blast were hit by a the magical blast, knocking them off their hooves.

"RAINBOW!" her friends shouted as they ran to her.

"We need to get her to the hospital!"
> Patch-up and Fall-out
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"You're very fortunate," Nurse Redheart stated as she finished wrapping the now awake Rainbow Burst's legs in bandages.  "Most of the cuts are superficial, and the worst of them won't even require stitches."  She reached up to tap a hoof against Rainbow's horn.  "You also exerted yourself pretty hard.  You seem to have overcharged your horn and exhausted a large amount of your magic stores.  After some proper rest and a few good meals, the headache will fade, and you'll be at least partially recharged."

"Was... was anypony else hurt?"

Redheart looked at Rainbow Burst, who was not making eye contact.

"Lightning Blast," she answered.  "Worst injury is a scratch on her cornea, but nothing permanent.  Otherwise, some cuts on her face and overexerted magic as well."

"But noponies in the crowd?"

"No," Redheart said.  Her brow then narrowed.  "You mean you don't remember?"

"Remember what?" Rainbow asked, looking up at the nurse with a raised eyebrow.

"The shield."  Tilting her head, Nurse Redheart raised an eyebrow of her own.  "Just before the explosion, you threw up a shield to protect the crowd."

Rainbow let out a sigh of relief as she flopped back onto the hospital bed.  She did feel a little bad about Lightning getting hurt, but not very much.  After all, they had brought it on themselves really.  The crowd, however, was a different matter.  They were just innocent ponies that were there to watch the duel.  If any of them got hurt, it would be her fault.

"There are some ponies waiting outside for you," Nurse Redheart said, pulling Rainbow from her thoughts.  "Do you feel up to having some visitors?"

"Yeah, sure."

"I'll let them know."

A few seconds later, Spike came running in.

"Rainbow!" the young dragon cried out as he ran to the unicorn, throwing himself onto the bed and wrapping his arms around her.  Gripping her tight, he buried his face against her fur.  Rainbow could feel the warm wetness of tears against her chest.

"Hey," Rainbow said as she wrapped a foreleg around him, pulling him into a hug.  "Come on, Spike.  I'm fine.  You've seen me go through worse."

"What are you talking about?" Spike asked as he pulled away to wipe his eyes.  "I wasn't worried."  He then smirked.  "Besides, you're too thick-headed to be taken down easily."

"You're one to talk," Rainbow retorted, poking at Spikes forehead with a hoof.

Her smirk faded as she looked at the bandages covering her leg.

"Is it true, Spike?  Did I really throw up a shield to protect the crowd?"

"You don't remember?"

Rainbow shook her head.

"No.  What I remember is that one moment, I was being squeezed like a lemon.  The next, there was a pop like a water balloon exploding, and then everything hurt.  Next thing I know, I'm here."  She motioned at the hospital around her.

"Well you did," Spike said as he moved to get more comfortable.  "Just after the bubble of Lightning Blast's magic popped, your magic did kind of explode outward.  At the same time, a wall of your energy popped up in front of us.  It was hard to see what happened after that, but when it vanished, you and Lightning were on the ground..."

Rainbow gripped the dragon and pulled him into a hug again.

"I'm fine," she repeated.  "Just a couple scratches and some magical exhaustion.  I'll be out of here tomorrow, and back to normal in no time."

"Well that's nice to hear," Rarity said from the doorway.  She stepped into the room, followed by the others.  "Sorry for intruding, but we have been waiting out there a while for... a proper moment."

"How long have you been waiting out there?"

"Not long," Applejack answered.  "Soon as the nurse told us, Spike took off like a dog after a jackrabbit."

Spike looked away and blushed at the comparison, but did not argue.

"We also brought you a few things," Rarity said as she stepped forward.  "I brought you something especially interesting.  It seems that putting up the shield was not the only thing you managed to do."  She then pulled out a stone, holding it up.

Rainbow took a hold of the stone, looking at it closely.  It was smooth and glossy, like crystal or glass.  The surface of it gleamed and glowed, the color shifting through the spectrum from red, through yellow, to violet, and back to red.  As Rainbow held it in her hoof, she could feel the magical energy humming off it.

"Wow," Rainbow whispered as she pulled it closer to look.  Her eyes were wide, the glow of the stone reflecting in them.  "I didn't think I would ever see one outside of Canterlot, to say nothing of making one myself."

"What is it?" Twilight asked.

"It's called a Mage Crystal," Spike answered.  "According to Princess Celestia, when some rock or earth is exposed to large amounts of raw magical energy, it can sometimes absorb it.  The result is that the stone pretty much becomes something like this, --" he motioned toward the stone in Rainbow's hoof "-- taking on the colors of the pony's magic, and pretty much becoming a crystal or gemstone."

"This is awesome," Rainbow said.  "I have to send this to Princess Celestia."

"I brought you something to read," Twilight said as she stepped forward and held up a book.

"Daring Do?"

"A tale of a brave and brilliant pegasus, who travels the world, solving puzzles, finding artifacts, and battling villains," Twilight declared.  She grinned.  "It's one of my favorite series."

"My turn, my turn," Pinkie called out as she popped up beside the bed.  "Well, not just me."  Reaching into her mane, she pulled out a small bakery box and opened it to reveal a frosted cupcake.  "A zap apple cupcake.  Courtesy of Applejack and myself."

"Heh, thanks," Rainbow said, grinning down at the treat.  She then stifled a yawn as she set the treat and gemstone aside.

"We're glad you're okay," Flowershy said.  "We'll let you get your rest now."

Several looked reluctant, but none of them were willing to argue.  With comforting smiles, they moved away from the bed and headed for the door.  Spike was the last at the bed, giving Rainbow Burst one last hug before hopping off and following the others.

Flowershy gave a gentle smile before silently heading out, shutting the door behind her.

Alone in her room, Rainbow Burst flopped back on the bed and looked up at the ceiling.  She felt tired -- exhausted even -- but doubted she would be able to get to sleep any time soon.  Her gaze drifted toward the cupcake.  It did look rather tasty, and it would help her replace some of the energy she had lost during the duel.  She was not feeling very hungry, though, and it seemed like too much sugar to eat on an otherwise empty stomach.

With little other options, Rainbow picked up the book and started reading.

"So that's how it is," a voice interrupted before Daring had even finished deciphering the code on the ancient map.  "You blow us up and nearly blind me, and get treats and gifts, while I get shoved off and forgotten."

Putting the book down, Rainbow found Lightning Blast standing in the doorway.  One eye was covered by the bandages wrapped around her face, and the other narrowed as she glared at Rainbow.

"Lightning," Rainbow said as she set the book down.

"Save it!" Lightning snapped.  "I don't want to hear whatever you have to say after nearly killing us."

"I nearly killed us?!" Rainbow yelled, sitting up more.  She pointed a hoof at the other mare.  "You were the one who didn't want me to break loose from your stupid clay, so you wrapped me in more magic!"

"So you're saying it's my fault?"

"As much as mine, if not more so."

"Whatever," Lightning snorted, rolling her eye.  "Not like I expected somepony like you to own up to your mistakes anyways."

Rainbow's ears pulled back as she scowled at the other unicorn.

"So, what do you want?" she growled out between clenched teeth.  Some part of her felt she should have been nicer.  After all, they were both hurt, and Lightning had lost her home before that.  Plus, Rainbow was supposed to be learning about friendship, its benefits, and values, which should include forgiveness, right?  She should forgive Lightning.  Maybe even try to make friends with her.

But something about the other mare just pissed her off to no end.

"First, you didn't win," Lightning declared.  "It was a draw due to dual knockout."

"Fine," Rainbow sighed.  "Whatever.  I don't really care right now."

"Pft, sure.  Just keep telling yourself that."

Shifting in her bed, Rainbow looked around for things she could throw at the other mare.  The book was a gift, and she did not want to imagine what would happen if Twilight or Celestia found out she had damaged one.  The mage stone would shatter, or maybe explode?  Either way, it would be lost and she would not be able to send it to the princess.  The cupcake would create a nice, messy splat, but would mean that she would not be able to eat it.

There was a bedpan nearby...

"Second," Lightning continued.  "This isn't over."  She moved closer.  "It may take a while, but I'll be back.  And when I do, I'll show you and everypony in this town who the better unicorn is."

Rainbow fell back onto her bed as she burst into laughter.

"What?" Lightning asked, blinking in confusion.  "What's so funny?  Why are you laughing?"

Rainbow's laughter subsided, leaving her sitting there, panting.  She looked at Lightning and burst into another fit of giggles.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she managed to snicker out.  "It's just..." she snorted, bringing a hoof to her mouth to control herself.  "It's just, you sound like a cheesy villain from a bad play.  All you're missing is the mustache to twirl and the maniacal laughter.  Well... that and the outfit..."

The image of Lightning in a top hat and black cape, twirling a blond mustache sent Rainbow into another fit of laughter.

With a huff of frustration, Lightning Blast turned and stomped her way toward the doorway.

"Wait, wait!" Rainbow called out, getting the other mare's attention.  "Shouldn't you say something dramatic like, 'I shall return!' or 'you haven't seen the last of me!' or something?"

She then broke into another round of laughter as Lightning stormed off.