//------------------------------// // Ch. 6-Chasing Rainbows // Story: Equestria Girls-Manehattan University // by Burning_Heart //------------------------------// 🎵I'm awesome, take caution🎵 🎵Watch out for me, I'm awesome as I wanna be!🎵 The final guitar note plays and the crowd burst into cheers, "RAINBOOMS, RAINBOOMS, RAINBOOMS!" Rainbow Dash picks up the microphone and speaks into it, "Thank you, everyone, it has been a pleasure to play for you all." "Encore, Encore!" The crowd keeps chanting for The Rainbooms to continue playing. "You heard the crowd girls, who ready to shack your tail." Rainbow Dash gives the signal to Pinkie Pie, she taps her drumsticks and starts to play followed by the rest of the girls. 🎵We've just got the day to get ready🎵 🎵And there's only so much time to lose🎵 🎵Because tonight, yeah, we're here to party🎵 🎵So let's think of something fun to do🎵 The crowd cheers as The Rainbooms begin to perform again, with every starting to dance and sing along until the song comes to an end. 🎵Shake your tail 'cause we're here to have a party tonight!🎵 Rainbow Dash jumps in the air to strum the last note, but... ____________________ *CRASH* "OW, what happened," said a confused Rainbow Dash. She looks around her surroundings and sees that she is in her room laying down on the floor in the early morning. She picks herself up and walks over to Tank because her fall woke him up and pets his shell, "Sorry about that buddy, guess I was dream rocking." A knocking can be heard from her bedroom door, so Rainbow goes to answer and opens the door. It's Fizzlepop Berrytwist. "Is everything fine in here, Rainbow Dash?" "Oh ya, everything is fine. I just fell out of bed." "So that's where that cut above your eye came from." Rainbow is surprised and goes to fell above her eye, it stings and she looks that her fingers have a little bit of blood on them. "Come on let's get that cleaned up before it gets infected." Rainbow follows Fizzlepop to the bathroom so that they can clean the cut. They arrive and Fizzlepop grabs some antibiotic cream, a clean washcloth, some bandages, and some painkillers. "Here you go, the cut doesn't look deep so it shouldn't leave a scar," said Fizzlepop. Rainbow washes her hands and cleans the wound, applies the cream, and puts a bandage on. "Thanks for the help, Miss Berrytwist." "Ya well, you had to keep an eye open for infected wounds in the military, especially out in the field." Rainbows eyes open wide, "Wait, you were in the military." "Yes, I was. I got injured while out in the field and lost all motor functions in my arm and was discharged." Rainbow is shocked, she looks at her arm and gets a little sad, Fizzlepop puts her hand on Rainbows shoulder, "Hey, don't worry about it." Fizzlepop begins to leave the bathroom but turns around to ask Rainbow Dash something, "By the way, since your up, do you mind going to the campus convenience store and pick some stuff up for me, I need to head out for work. I'll leave some money and a list on the counter." "No problem," said Rainbow. She heads to her room to gets dressed and puts her geode on. She grabs the money and heads out the door. She activates her geode and runs to the store. She grabs the items on the list and goes to pay at the front register. She starts to walk out of the store and bumps into someone and both of them fall over. "Ow, whats with me and falling this morning." "Are you alright, I'm sorry about that," said a male voice. He extended his arm to help Rainbow Dash up. She grabs his hand and helps her up, "Don't worry about, it's no prob..." Rainbow stops talking and is shocked. She looks at the man with blue and light blue dreadlock hair, tied back into a ponytail, wearing a tracksuit and recognizes who he is, "Aren't you Star Chaser?" "Yes, I am." "I knew it, I saw you on TV during the high school national track and field competition, you were so awesome!" "Thanks, I'm guessing you're into sports then?" A feeling of pride in herself begins to form inside Rainbow Dash, so she puffs her chest out and says, "Well not to brag or anything, but I was captain of all my school's sports team." "Cool. Well, it was nice to meet you, um..." "Oh, I'm Rainbow Dash." "Nice to meet you Rainbow Dash. Well, I guess I'll get back to shopping." "Oh ya, and I need to get this stuff back to the house." Rainbow starts to leave the store and walks passed Star Chaser but, "Say, you wouldn't happen to have been track, would you Rainbow," asked Star Chaser? Rainbow turns around to tell him, "Yep, and I was the fastest runner too." "Is that so, cause I could use a training partner and nobody on the team wants to train with me. Think you might be interested?" A big grin forms on her face, the thought of training with a national athlete was more then she could handle. "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. Yes, I would love to be your training partner." "Great, how about we meet here tomorrow morning around the same time, sound good?" Rainbow Dash nods her head excitedly. "Well, see ya tomorrow morning." Star Chaser leaves the store. Rainbow Dash, in a burst of excitement, leaves as well, activates her geode and runs back home, running passed Star Chaser along the way. ____________________ The girls are up and eating breakfast before their classed start, but instead of eating, they stair at Rainbow Dash who has been eating with a giant grin on her face. "Um, Rainbow, are you okay," asked Sunset? Rainbow Dash jumps out of her chair, surprising the rest of the girls, saying, "Okay? It's better than okay, it's the most awesome thing ever!" "What is it then," asked Twilight? "I got asked to be the training partner for Star Chaser." A moment of silence passed and nobody spoke a word, "Oh come on, he's was a track and field running star who went to the national high school competition and he asked me if I could be his training partner." "So I'm guessing he must be a fast runner then," asked Fluttershy. "Are you kidding, of course, he's fast. He's won medals in every sprinting events he was in." "Wow, you weren't kidding Bowie, he does sound fast," said Rosebud. "By the way, Rainbow, are we going to be practicing for our band performance at the cafe," asked Rarity. Rainbow stands there, frozen in place after what Rarity said. Pinkie Pie goes over next to her, waves her hand in front of her face and pokes her in the cheek, "I think she may be broken." "I FORGOT," yelled Rainbow Dash, scaring Pinkie Pie and causing her to fall backward. "What am I going to do, I told him that I'd train with him but we need to practice for our performance, we have classes to worry about and we still have that shadow man problem!" "Easy there sugarcube, there's no need to go gettin in a hissy fit now," said Applejack. "She right Rainbow, we still have two weeks before the performance, I'm sure we'll be ready before then," said Twilight. "And I've been working on trying to see into the future again so you don't have to worry about the shadow man," said Sunset. Then at that moment, Sunset came up with an idea, "and maybe training with this Star Chaser could help with your powers as well." "What are you talking about," asked Rainbow Dash? "Well think of it this way. AJ, when that Timberwolf was going to attack Rosie, what was it you were thinking at that moment?" "Well, I reckon it's that I couldn't let anything terrible happen to her, afraid she might get hurt. And I couldn't let that happen," said Applejack. "So your motivation to save her awoke magic more powerful inside of you, is that correct," said Rarity. "And that's my theory. If we all have something to help push and motivate us, we all might just be able to get more magic," said Sunset. "That could work, so why not give it a try," said Fluttershy. "You know what, why not. I'm down for the challenge," said Rainbow Dash. ____________________ The next day, Star Chaser is waiting outside the convenience store where he met Rainbow Dash, waiting for her to arrive. Out of nowhere, a big gust of wind flies passed him and then he heard a familiar voice, "Hey, sorry I'm late," said Rainbow Dash. "Not a problem, I haven't been waiting long. So you ready for a challenge," said Star Chaser. "Oh I'm more than ready," said Rainbow Dash. They go inside the store to buy some water and then head to Central Park. They arrive and see that a portion of the park is closed off. "Did you hear what happened here, apparently a couple of weeks ago a rumor began to spread that a couple of superheroes were fighting some monsters here in the park and wrecked the places up," said Star Chaser. "R-really, wow that sure is some rumor," said a nervous sounding Rainbow Dash. They head to an open section of the park that has a straight path and circular path and they begin their sprint training. They jog a few laps around the circular path then after the jog, they do some stretches. "Alright, so whats next Star Chaser," asked Rainbow Dash? "Well, let's with some thirty-second sprints for starter and you can just call me Chase. I have a roommate that gave everyone in my boarding house and I've gotten used to the name." "Funny, I have a roommate just like that too," said Rainbow Dash. A quick thought popped into her head, "Say, that roommate you mentioned wouldn't happen to be Burning Heart, would it?" "Ya, it is. How did you know?" Rainbow starts to laugh after guessing right, "It's because I'm roommates with his sister, Rosebud, she calls me Bowie." They both get a chuckle over the coincidence but after a few seconds of laughter, both get back to being serious about training, "You ready to see fast I am, Chase?" "Ha, bring it on, Bowie." After a few thirty-second sprints, both Rainbow Dash and Star Chaser took a short break to get themselves hydrated with some water. "So how do you feel about a race, Rainbow?" "Sure, that sounds like a plan." "Okay, so we'll do a 100-meter race and if you want, we'll pick it up from there." "Sounds great, you ready to eat my dust." "We'll see about that." They both get into position after marking the finish line, "OK, you ready," said Star Chaser and Rainbow nods her head. Star Chaser sets an alarm to go off in a few seconds, he starts the alarm and they hear *beep*beep*BEEEEEEP* and both take off. ____________________ A week has passed and the girls are practicing for their performance for the cafe with Burning Heart, Rosebud, Brownie Bite, Ginger Ale, and Allegretto there to see them perform. 🎵And you don't have to wonder🎵 🎵We can be free🎵 🎵Anything you want🎵 🎵You can count on me🎵 🎵I'll be around🎵 🎵I'll be around🎵 The song comes to an end. The girls stop playing and cheers can be heard from Rosebud and Brownie Bite. "Wow, oh my gosh guys, that was incredible," said Rosebud. "Ya, that sounded great, don't you think so Al," asked Brownie Bite. He looks over at Allegretto, but he shakes his head in disagreement, "Yep, I agree with Al there B.B.," said Burning Heart. "Something was off with Bowie, but I don't know what." Allegretto then grabs a notebook and starts to write something down. Back over with the girls, they gather around an exhausted Rainbow Dash. "Is everything okay Rainbow, you don't look so good," asked Fluttershy." "Pfft, what are you talking about, everything is fine," said Rainbow Dash. Allegretto walks over to Rarity and taps her shoulder, she turns around and he hands her his notebook. She reads whats written inside, "Oh my, so that's whats wrong. Thank you Allegretto." Rarity walks over to Rainbow Dash and shows her the notebook and Rainbow reads whats inside, "Rainbow Dash, It looks like the reason your guitar playing seems lacking is that your hands are off the mark while playing and you were moving your feet, not to the beat but to something else. Simply put, your mind is thinking elsewhere and not on the guitar in your hand." "Rainbow, whats going on. You were really looking forward to playing in front of everyone," asked Sunset. "Pardon the interruption, but maybe it has something to do with Star Chaser," said Ginger Ale. Everyone looks at Rainbow Dash, who looks like she about ready to pass out. Even though it's one of her best friends, Sunset knows she needs to look inside Rainbows mind. After some training she has been doing on her own, she closes her eyes and uses her telepathy to send a quick message to Burning, "I think I know whats going on, could you get the others to leave, I don't want them to know about magic just yet." At first, he was shocked to hear another voice in his head but he recognized it was Sunset, he looks over at her and nods. "Come on guy, maybe it's time to go." "Shouldn't we stay to see if the ladies need help with Miss Dash," said Ginger Ale with Allegretto nodding behind him. "Na I'm sure they'll be just fine, besides it getting late." The other boys agree and they say their goodbyes to the girls and head to their house. After they leave, the gang try one more time to figure out whats wrong with Rainbow Dash. "Come on Rainbow, how are we suppose to help if you won't tell us whats wrong," asked Twilight. "I told you, I'm fi*yawn*ne," said the tired Rainbow Dash. "Sorry Dash, I don't want to do this," said Sunset. She reaches her hand out to touch Rainbow, but get stopped by Pinkie Pie. "Hold up, let me take a crack at this!" Pinkie Pie stairs intensely at Rainbow Dash and after a few seconds, Pinkie speaks. "I've got it, the reason you're tried is that you've been thinking of nothing but racing Star Chaser, because not only do you two keep beating one another in races to see who the fastest one is but also because of what Sunset said about motiving yourself for the sole chance that it will help you get more powerful magic in case the shadow man attacks anyone of one of use again," said Pinkie Pie, leaving every one dumbfounded. "Are we sure you don't have telepathy, Pinkie," asked Rainbow Dash. "Nope, it's just what I do," said Pinkie Pie. "Is this true Rainbow," asked Sunset. "Ya, it's true. It's just that, when we started training we decided to have a race and after our first race, Star Chaser ended up winning. I was shocked, I wanted to race fair and square so I didn't use my magic so I kept challenging him. But he kept on winning, so I thought that this is what Sunset meant about motivating myself to become stronger. But no matter what I did nothing was changing, no matter how hard I push myself, I could never win or unlock more magic." Sunset places her hand on Rainbow's shoulder, trying to comfort her, "Listen Rainbow, I'm sorry if I pushed you into trying to unlock more of your powers, I never meant that you should focus just on that." "She right Rainbow, maybe the only thing that the rest of us to do is just be patient and one day, I'm sure all of us will have our full powers," said Twilight. "And the Shadow Man won't know what hit him," said Pinkie Pie. "Well that's not the only reason," said Rainbow Dash. "What do you mean by that Bowie," asked Rosebud? "Well, I've always been competitive and knowing that there's someone out there whos better than me at something, just makes me want to beat them so much." All the girls then burst out in giggles as to how serious sounding Rainbow Dash is. "I don't think we need to worry so much," said a giggling Sunset. The giggles stop and they see a sleeping Rainbow Dash, who's exhaustion finally caught up with her. They lay her down on the sofa, trying not to wake her, and put a blanket on top of her. "I think we should call it a day," said Fluttershy. Everyone agrees and they all head upstairs to sleep.