Later that night, Rainbow grunted and winced as she pulled her shirt off. She looked at herself in the mirror and chuckled darkly. Giant bruises of varying sizes marred her cyan skin from the paintballs. She exhaled; but she couldn't keep a little smile off her face. That had been fun, surprisingly fun. But right now she really needed a shower. And an ice pack. And maybe a long weekend.
It’s not like I have any tests tomorrow, right? she mused as she finished stripping, mentally weighing the cost of cutting school tomorrow.
She stayed in the shower much longer than usual, letting the hot water run down her face and over her body until the water began to run cold. Still feeling sore and not particularly wanting to get dressed, she halfheartedly toweled off and then dug around in her dresser until she found a huge t-shirt that Pinkie had left here from some party forever ago. She slid it on, and though it scooped pretty low in the neck and stuck to the water still clinging to her body, it did reach down to her thighs. Her modesty now technically preserved, she shuffled back into the kitchen. She opened the freezer and dumped a handful of pizza rolls on a plate, then popped it into the microwave.
She'd eaten only a few before there was a knock on the door. She rolled her eyes—this time of night, it was probably Pinkie, who else?—and she got up, completely spacing what she was wearing.
She opened the door. “Pi-” she started.
But it wasn't Pinkie Pie at all.
“Rainbow Dash,” Adagio grinned. “What a pleasant surprise.”
Rainbow scowled. “Surprise? I live here. What are you doing here?”
Adagio frowned. “Oh, did I need a reason to visit? Silly me.” Her eyes flicked up and down, taking in Rainbow’s t-shirt. “Aw, but now I feel overdressed,” she teased. She brought her hands up to her belt buckle and unfastened it. “Should I…?”
“Put a sock in it,” Rainbow scowled harder. She crossed her arms until she realized that that made it look like she was trying to cover herself up, and she quickly snapped them back to her sides before defiantly sliding her hands up to her hips. “What do you want?”
“Want?” Adagio asked innocently as she crossed her arms. “Oh, Rainbow Dash. I just wanted to come by and congratulate you on a game well played.”
“Yeah, and I’m actually a pegasus who lives in a city made of clouds,” Rainbow spat. “I’m not buying it.”
“You don’t have to buy anything,” Adagio sneered. Her expression softened slightly as her eyes flicked across Rainbow’s body again. “But I would invest in some armor if I were you.” She brought a hand up to mirror where a particularly large bruise adorned Rainbow’s sternum. Her expression quickly hardened again, and she suggestively raised an eyebrow. “Unless you like it a little rough? I won't judge.”
“I’d like you to get off my lawn,” Rainbow snapped.
Adagio ran the tip of her tongue across the front of her teeth. “Snappy. Fine. I'll make it quick. It was good to see you out there today, and not just because you make those cute little squeaks when you get shot.”
Rainbow flushed. “I do not-!”
“And it's great to have another powerhouse girl out there,” Adagio cut her off. “It really is.” She placed the palms of her hands together. “But Rainbow, you cost me a lot of street cred today.”
“Nobody says ‘street cred’ anymore,” Rainbow smirked.
“Be serious, Rainbow,” Adagio growled, dropping her hands and quickly losing any previous traces of civility. “Between making fun of you for your outfit and your old-slash-rented equipment, there are some people who are starting to call you the Rainbow Wonder.”
Rainbow perked up. She liked the sound of that.
“But you've taken so much away from me, and you won't take this. I will defend this. I am the queen. Queen!” Adagio insisted, her voice raising in volume.
Rainbow crossed her arms again defiantly. “You've done nothing but make sure that I'm there every day after school.” She paused. “Well, not the days I have soccer practice. Or when the disc golf club meets. Or when they're doing pickup roller hockey. Or basketball. And I've been thinking of trying out for the volleyball te-”
“I get it,” Adagio hissed. “You're coming. Little Miss Awesome-pants just has to show up. You can't just live and let live, can you? You won't even let us have this. What, destroying our gemstones and humiliating us in front of everyone wasn't enough?”
Rainbow paused. She leaned out and glanced over Adagio’s shoulder, as if expecting Aria or even Sonata to appear. “Us?”
“Me,” Adagio corrected herself irritably. “You humiliated me.”
“Sorry, no can do,” Rainbow said, folding her arms again. “I know you're up to something sneaky. I just know it. And I won't stop until your plan is as ruined as your gemstones.”
Adagio bared her teeth. “Oh. You want my plan? Well, here it is.” Her eyes narrowed further and she jabbed a finger in Rainbow’s chest, making her wince. “I'm not letting you or any other Rain-loser take away what I've fought so hard for. I will stop you if you try. Believe me. This is far from over; and when you least expect it, expect it.”
“There she is!”
Both spun around at this new voice. Rainbow vaguely recognized one of the passengers as being on Griffonstone High’s soccer team before it suddenly dawned on her what exactly they were carrying in their hands.
“Hit the deck!” Rainbow quite literally dove for cover behind the door. She made it just an instant before impact.
Adagio, however, was not so lucky.
At the hospital, Rainbow Dash looked in the waiting room. She glanced over at Adagio, who was scowling and looking decidedly unapologetic, even as she cradled her right hand protectively in her lap.
“You know, that might have been going a bit overboard back there,” Rainbow started hesitantly.
“You've never cleaned egg out of your hair,” Adagio said darkly.
“I was referring to the fact that you broke your wrist punching out their windows.”
“Maybe next time they'll check twice that they've got the target right before going all ‘bombs away’ on someone,” Adagio shrugged. “Why would they egg you, anyway?”
It was Rainbow’s turn to shrug. “They're probably still bitter about last year’s championship game. I scored the golden goal in double overtime. We won, obviously. 1-0. They didn’t take it so well.”
“Interesting. I would have thought someone with your level of skill would have scored earlier in the game,” Adagio said airily.
“Hey, the Gryphons are one of the best teams in the league,” Rainbow defended herself. “They were defending champions five years running. We just happened to knock them off their pedestal. At their home arena. With lots of media coverage.” She looked away wistfully. “A lot of people were even booing their own team and they had to call the cops because fights broke out and the cops were kinda ticked at us too and then the crowd started throwing stuff at our bus and then throwing stuff at their team and they had to cancel the victory parade they had planned afterwards. It was pretty sad.”
“So they egged your house because they were being petty and just couldn't let the past go,” Adagio said leadingly.
“Yeah, something like that,” Rainbow said, realizing too late just where she was going with that. “It was pretty… dumb of, uh, of them.”
And Adagio just smirked.
Rainbow exhaled. “Fine. Truce at the Warzone; I won’t try and steal your thunder there. But don't you try anything anywhere else.”
Adagio put on her most innocent look. “Me? Try something? You must have me confused with someone else.” Her eyes narrowed. “Perhaps someone who still has magic to use offensively,” she jabbed.
But before Rainbow could respond, a nurse stepped out, holding a clipboard. “Dazzle, Adagio?” she called.
Adagio stood up. “That's me.” She glanced over her shoulder at Rainbow, and her glare might have softened a bit. “Thanks for the ride,” she grumbled.
“Yeah,” Rainbow said with a shrug. “No problem. Hope it isn't broken.”
“Yeah,” Adagio said with a slight grimace as the consequences of her actions slowly started to become real to her. “Me too.” She turned around and started walking towards the nurse. “You can go home now. I'll take a taxi back to my place.”
Rainbow narrowed one eye. “You sure?”
“I'm sure.”
Rainbow’s protest about reactions to pain meds died in her throat; Adagio’s steely tone left no real room for argument. Still, enemy or not, they technically had a truce. “At least take my number,” Rainbow offered. “Just in case something comes up.”
One side of Adagio’s mouth curled up. “Fine.”
Rainbow did not fail to notice that Adagio saved her name with a skull emoticon next to it.