Rainbow blinked. “Pinkie?” she asked slowly.
“Mhm?” Pinkie asked distractedly.
“What exactly are you doing?”
Pinkie continued sniffing Rainbow’s hair. “I'm figuring out something.”
“Is it that you're about to get an elbow to your gut?” Rainbow suggested darkly, readying her right arm for such an act.
“No, it’s not that,” Pinkie said blithely, unaware or unconcerned about her stomach being in danger. Suddenly, she gasped. “You’ve been in the hospital recently, haven’t you?” she demanded.
Rainbow’s eyes widened, but she quickly recovered. “Yeah. Yeah, I was,” she said coolly.
“What happened? Are you alright?” Fluttershy asked quickly.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Pinkie asked.
“I probably would have, if you hadn't started out being all creepy,” Rainbow scowled, pushing Pinkie away. “Yeah, I was at the hospital last night. Had to take Adagio there.”
Sonata’s head shot up. “How is she?” she asked worriedly, her hands kneading at a mayonnaise packet.
Rainbow yanked down the front of her shirt, revealing some of her many bruises (as well as most of the sports bra she wore underneath). “She's just as good a shot as ever, if that's what you mean,” she said. She was rewarded with a blush from Fluttershy, an eyeroll from Applejack, and a pained groan and facepalm from Rarity. She grinned. Totally worth it.
Sonata’s lower lip jutted out. “You know what I mean,” she protested.
Rainbow released her shirt. “Yeah, she’s fine. She came by to tell me to stop coming, I told her where to stick it, and some of the idiots from Griffonstone just so happened to come by my house to do a drive-by egging and she just happened to get in the way. Egg all in her hair. So she punched out their windows and probably broke her wrist.”
Applejack nodded, impressed against her will.
“Is she gonna be ok?” Sonata asked hopefully through her fingers.
“Probably,” Rainbow shrugged. “She didn’t want a ride back or anything, so I think she’s fine.”
“I hope so,” Fluttershy murmured.
“That seems somewhat of an overreaction,” Rarity commented.
“Nah,” Rainbow shrugged. “The worst thing is, I probably would have done the same thing if they'd hit me. Except I'd be smart enough to pick up a rock. I can throw a rock or melee with it.” She scowled. “Heck, I’d’ve helped her smash their windows if I’d known just how hard it is to clean egg off a house and get out of carpet. That took forever…”
“I hear you there,” Applejack agreed. “We had a few punks think it would be fun to egg our barn every once in a while.”
“What happened?” Fluttershy asked.
“Mac caught them,” Applejack said simply, “and asked ‘em politely to stop.”
There was a pause.
“There's more to that story, isn't there?” Rainbow asked, with a knowing jab at Applejack’s ribs.
“Nothin’ that’ll stand in a court of law,” Applejack said with just a hint of a smirk.
After the boring drudgery of classes (hey, she stayed awake in English class every now and again), Rainbow Dash was ready to escape to the freedom of the outdoor fields; but before she could reach them, she heard someone calling her name.
“Hey, Rainbow!”
She skidded to a stop and turned around. “Sunset! Hey. What's up?”
Sunset came up and slowed to a stop in front of Rainbow. She took a steadying breath. “Hey. Uh, so, at lunch today…”
“Yeah?”
“Look, I know I’m still new to this whole ‘friendship’ thing; but it seemed to me like Sonata was really worried about Adagio.”
“Ahh,” Rainbow said, waving a hand dismissively. “She'll be fine. She'll be back at the Warzone in no time, and I'll be right there on her tail.” She paused. “Well, I would be, if she had one still,” she amended, “but you know what I mean.”
Sunset sighed. “Not like that. I mean, Sonata still cares about her. She's still worried about her. And I bet she would have appreciated a little more information about her.”
Rainbow shrugged. “I didn't notice. And I didn't know any more, anyway. She kicked me out, remember?”
Sunset exhaled, then took a steadying breath. “One of the things that really helped me was realizing just how similar we all are.”
“Huh?” Rainbow squinted. What did that have to do with anything?
“Think about it. Sonata wants us to like her, sorta like me and you want everyone else to like us. And Adagio…”
“You think I'm like Adagio?” Rainbow demanded hotly.
Sunset held up her hands placatingly. “I'm saying you might have more in common with her than you'd think,” she said gently.
Rainbow scoffed. “Yeah. Except I'm not an evil siren with a diabolical plan to take over the world.”
Sunset raised an eyebrow.
Rainbow deflated. “Ok, so I still haven't figured out her plan,” she admitted.
“Or if she even has one,” Sunset prompted.
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Or if she even has one,” she repeated bitterly. “What, are you going to tell me I shouldn't go back?”
“Actually, I'm going to say I think it's a great idea,” Sunset said. “I think she needs a friend-”
Rainbow snorted.
“-and someone who can challenge her,” Sunset finished firmly. “You can be both, and have fun at the same time.”
Rainbow nodded slowly. She liked the sound of that.
“And maybe, just maybe, she can feel the power of friendship, too.”
“Yeah, and while you’re hoping for that, I'd like to have finals cancelled at the end this year,” Rainbow deadpanned.
Sunset raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
“Fine,” Rainbow sighed. “I'll try a little friendship. But first sign of something sketchy, bam!” She smacked a fist into her open hand. “Rainbow beam. To the face.”
Sunset shook her head, but accepted that that would be all she could hope for. “Good. That being said, don't go easy on her.”
Rainbow smirked. “Way ahead of you, sister.”
Adagio Dazzle, her hand now bound in a cast, raised an eyebrow. “You did come back,” she said with just a hint of bitterness.
Rainbow held up her hands innocently. “I'm just here for fun.”
Adagio pursed her lips. “I still want to be on opposing teams.”
“Duly noted,” Rainbow grinned.
Rainbow Dash sat down on one of the benches and took her helmet off. She ran her fingers through her hair, feeling the sweat beading off it. She was starting to really get the hang of this. Basically, it was always keep moving. It was almost like endurance training, but with painful penalties if you stopped. Really, she should have been doing this earlier. This would be great training for this next year.
“You're getting better.”
Rainbow turned around. Adagio Dazzle stood there behind her, her arms crossed.
Sunset’s words about Adagio needing a friend came to mind. So instead of bragging or teasing, she went with a basic, “Thanks,” instead.
That was apparently all she'd wanted to say; Adagio spun on her toes and walked back to her locker. She opened it and once more retrieved an energy drink, and shotgunned this one as well.
“You drink a ton of those,” Rainbow observed.
Adagio shrugged as she tossed the empty can behind her back and into the recycling bin. “Negative energy is kinda hard to come by now, thanks to you and your musical friends. These drinks pack a bit of a punch. Drink it fast enough, and it’s almost the same sort of rush.” She abruptly started moving again. “Come on. Next round starts soon. Unless you want to concede defeat already.”
Rainbow shot to her feet. “Not a chance,” she said.
By the time the Warzone closed, both Rainbow Dash and Adagio Dazzle were exhausted, and for the most part, covered in bruises.
And yet, both girls were smiling.
“Did you see that last shot on that one kid with green hair?”
“I took that shot,” Adagio laughed. “I’ve never heard him squeal that loud before.”
“Yeah, oh man,” Rainbow chuckled. “Good times.” She mentally checked her schedule. “You here all day tomorrow?”
“Well, I will be, now,” Adagio said wryly. “Can’t work with my hand like this.”
“Oh yeah,” Rainbow said, glancing down at Adagio’s wrist. “Almost forgot.” Both that she worked and that she'd broken her hand; she hadn't let it slow her down at all.
“Lucky you,” Adagio said coolly.
Rainbow tried to think of a way to make a joke out of this. “Did they give you a discount? Now that you’re more of a one-armed bandit?”
“Nah. They let me in for free. They always do. I’m enough of an attraction that the owners look the other way.”
Rainbow frowned. “Really?” They never let her anywhere for free, and she was awesome. What was wrong with this world?
“Yeah.” She smirked. “I didn’t lose everything when you all broke our gems.” She ran her uninjured hand demonstratively down her front.
Rainbow rolled her eyes and changed the subject. “So what got you into paintballing, anyway?”
Adagio chuckled. “I once heard the phrase, ‘I just wanna shoot somebody!’, and, after the whole Battle of the Bands thing, I felt like it.” She shrugged. “So I went with it.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah,” Adagio said. She jerked her head towards the building behind. “This was the first place in the phone book.”
Rainbow snorted, but she was now unsure on just how much Adagio was joking. She sighed and settled back into a more relaxed stance.
Adagio looked down at her phone. “Well, if you’re done, my ride is here.”
“Your ride?”
As Rainbow spoke, she saw the city bus pull into the stop. Adagio had walked down to the nearest bus stop, and Rainbow had followed.
Almost as if they were friends.
Adagio climbed the steps. She bent over far more than strictly necessary to count out the fare, and then headed back towards the seats without so much as a backwards glance.
Rainbow chewed on her lower lip, feeling tricked somehow but not quite sure how exactly.
The bus driver looked at her expectantly, and Rainbow quickly took a step back and waved him on. She watched as the bus drove on, growing smaller in the distance before turning and disappearing completely. She grumbled under her breath. That had actually been really fun. The paintballing and the conversation.
And for some unexplainable reason, she wanted to try that again soon. She kicked her skateboard down and pushed off, heading in the opposite direction.