With the sun still beaming down on her back, Rainbow Dash led Derpy Hooves away from the scene of their previous crime and to a spot she thought was safe. Rarity wouldn't mind, she was sure. "Now listen up, and listen good! If you want to learn anything from this, you will do EXACTLY as I say. Got it?" Rainbow Dash stared firmly into her student's eyes. "Sure thing, Rainbow Dash!" Derpy exlaimed, barely able to hold in her excitement. "Good, now first thing about being less destructive is balance. So, to fix this, how about we start off by flying straight?" Derpy sat wordlessly; as if trying to soak in every word Rainbow Dash said. "Over there," Rainbow continued in her stern, demanding tone, "I set up a small, red flag. Over here, I have placed a small, blue flag. I want you to fly from here to there without making any curves at all. Since I know you can at least fly slowly, let's speed up your pace a bit."
This task seemed simple enough. The blue flag, located only two feet away from where Derpy sat, waved with the wind in unison with the red flag; which was located approxomately fifteen feet north of them. Set in those positions, the two flags created a straight, imaginary line.
"Okie-dokie!" Obediently, Derpy stumbled over to the blue start flag, and stretched her wings.
"I'll be following you the whole time, so if you make ONE mistake, we're going to start over." Rainbow said, preparing herself as well. After stretching their wings (if one would call Derpy's strange, irratic movements "stretching"), they stood before the blue line, ready to fly. "We're about to go." She announced.
"This will be fun, huh?" Derpy flashed her childish smile. Brushing this aside, Rainbow counted off. "Ready..." Their wings flicked out at the same time. "Set..." Rainbow instinctively set one of her hooves out in front of her, while Derpy, who had somewhat of a short attention span, fixed her eyes greedily on a nearby pink butterfly. "Take o-"
Something large tumbled right into Rainbow Dash before she could finish, leaving her sprawling on the grass both confused and annoyed.
"HI, RAINBOW DASH!" A high pitched voice stung her ears while stars danced before her eyes. "I saw you and Derpy here and thought you two were having fun, and since I absolutely, positively LOVE having lots of fun, I thought I'd join you! Is that okay? I hope it's okay; because if it's not, then I would have jumped in and surprised you all for nothing! Wouldn't that just STINK?! There's nothing less fun than being told it's not okay to join in the fun when you went to all the trouble of trying to double the fun! Hey Rainbow, are you having more fun than you had before? Because I-"
"Pinkie." Rainbow inturruped, picking herself up off the ground.
"Am having twenty times more fun just being here!"
"Pinkie, Derpy and I are not here to 'have fun.' This is serious training. She wants to learn how to help, so-"
"You're teaching her to stop destroying things? Do you think Rarity's okay with your little flag thingy SO close to her shop? Well, I guess it's a good thing you're teaching her, because I don't want my room messed up AGAIN! But I can hardly blame Derpy because who ever had any real fun without a big mess? Think about it: it's almost-" By this time, Rainbow's patience was wearing thin. "Pinkie. You can watch us train if you want; just don't get in the way. Okay?"
"Okie-dokie!" Squealed Pinkie Pie, then skipped a short distance away to view the session. Rainbow sighed with exasperation. "Derpy, are you still ready?"
Silence. Rainbow felt a lump rise to her throat. Oh no, she thought. During her conversation with Pinkie, she hadn't realized Derpy left. "Hey, Rainbow, look! Derpy's trying to rebuild Rarity's house!" She was half right. Evidently, Derpy crashed into Rarity's shop after speeding off from the start flag, and was picking up pieces of wood before entering the shop. Luckily, there was only one visible hole. "I thought she was going a little fast when I tackled you!" Pinkie said.
"You SAW? Why didn't you tell me?"
"Was I supposed to?"
Rainbow Dash didn't stop to respond. She zoomed over to the hole in hopes of spotting Derpy. No luck. If Derpy wasn't on the ground, she was probably flying around somewhere. If not, Rainbow could at least spot her from a distance. So, she rocketed towards the sky.
After several minutes of searching, Rainbow caught sight of something. Heading for the dead center of Rarity's top floor, spun Derpy uncontrollably. "Derpy, WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Rainbow yelled, and swooped down to avert Derpy from the clothing store. "I can't stop, Rainbow! Help me!" Rainbow caught hold of Derpy's stomach and tried to steer her away from the building. They struggled in the air; kicking and spinning in an irratic fashion. From below, Pinkie was heard laughing furiously. "Pinkie, this is no time to be- OOF!" I really wish she wouldn't flail so much, she thought, groaning from the pain of Derpy's kick. "R-RAINBOW DASH!" Derpy managed to cry out moments before they slammed into Rarity's roof.
Bits of ceiling and furniture from above rooms crackled and shattered before hitting their heads and the floor. "This is very bad." CRACK! "Oh, great. What did you break this time, Derpy?" She roared. "But I didn't touch anything this time!" Derpy insisted. "When Rarity sees this... Oh, man." Rainbow stood in the center of the devistated clothing store. "We can fix this! Don't worry!" Derpy grabbed a nearby chunk of what used to be Rarity's holding rack for her fabrics, went to the gigantic hold in the ceiling, and set it on top. "Derpy, NO!" The curve of Rarity's roof rejected the piece; sliding it off instantly. The weight of the wood increased the size of the hole, then crashed against the door. "I can fix that!" Knocking down the remaining furniture, Derpy made her way over to open the front door. Rainbow Dash would have stopped her, but at that moment, she smelled something odd.
I hope that's not what I think I smell. Shuddering, she followed the scent into the kitchen.
Bad. Very bad. Extremely bad. While the microwave toppled over, the kitchen sink was spewing out water from the severed nozzle. The stove, Dash noticed, blazed furiously from the inside. WHY WOULD SHE RUN AN ERRAND WHILE COOKING? Rainbow Dash sped over to the fire. "Oh." The word slipped quietly out of her mouth. The word; the simple, tiny word held all the tension she had felt from Derpy's mishaps that day. It also held a sudden realization: Rarity did not cook anything. At least, Rainbow thought Rarity didn't regularly cook cupcakes and leave the freshly made mess unattended to. Though, she thought she might know who would make the mistake of setting an unfamilliar oven to bake at five hundred degrees. A pink figure bounced in through the smoke.
"Aw, MAN! They're burnt! How could they be BURNT?" Pinkie Pie complained, oblivious to the noise Derpy was making.
"YOU made this mess? Why would you be cooking anything while the house is a disaster?" Rainbow Dash could not believe any of what was happening. While Derpy and I wreck Rarity's home, Pinkie Pie's baking sweets. Typical.
"I thought she'd like having something good after seeing her house so bad. Sheesh, no need to overreact!"
Rainbow Dash would have remained silent and held her position if she hadn't noticed the room becoming darker. We are so dead... Smoke drizzled from every open hole and window in Rarity's home while the fire grew larger and hotter with each passing second.
BWOOSH! The flames engulfed the stove, setting off a loud fire-alarm. Grabbing Pinkie, Rainbow fled from the kitchen to safety. After placing Pinkie far from the house, she shouted "WAIT THERE," then returned to the smoking house in search for Derpy.
Inside the front display of the shop, Rainbow only took a second to view the damage Derpy had done. Scattered, disassembled furniture were lying on the now filthy base. The once standing, closed walls were now barely holding up the top floor. No Derpy.
"Rainbow!" A voice called out to her.
Upstairs, she knew. It took Rainbow Dash no more than five seconds to locate Derpy helplessly struggling with a broken wing. "Oh, no." Rainbow removed Rarity's fallen desk from her wing, then carried her off to Pinkie. As soon as she flew out the opening, the bottom floor fell beneath the weight of the top floor. The tip of the boutique toppled inward, and the flames spread throughout the ruins of Rarity's shop.
In the midst of Rainbow's confused silence, a familliar scream broke her line of thoughts. "What happened?!" The voice screeched.
Rainbow gulped. There, just beyond her reach, stood Rarity.