As far as Spoiled Rich knew, the mission had been a success. Not that it was published in the news, of course. Ponies, being a prey species, were prone to panic, and no doubt the political structure had circled their wagons both figuratively and literally. All Spoiled knew was that the vehicle she mentally referred to as the “meat wagon” had appeared at the mayoral house and had driven away quickly. Nothing more had been released to the public, and even the contact in the organization did not know exactly what Derpy had done. After what had happened to the Apples, though, Spoiled imagined that whatever it had been had been quite gruesome.
So she rejoiced in this fact. The tax bills would die with the mayor, and she would make sure that the next one could be bought off as the previous one had. Ideally for a low cost. Perhaps even she herself could be the mayor, and rule with an iron hoof.
This thought appealed to Spoiled. The whole thing appealed to her. She liked power, and the idea of having a useful idiot who could solve her problems made her tingle in places that not even pool colts ordinarily could. No pony could stand against her, because she was best pony- -because she could make any detractor disappear.
She contemplated this, staring out at a vista visible from one of the more empty parts of town- -part that was technically property of the Apple family, but that Spoiled now fully intended to buy. After all, she had seen the teenage heiress, Jaqueline Apple. No doubt she was a meek, shy, easily manipulated thing. Spoiled was sure of it.
Then, suddenly, her perfect view of her future holdings was ruined as a vast shadow fell over her.
This offended Spoiled deeply, as she had specifically ordered the town weather control to make today sunny. She looked up at the offending cloud, intending to berate the mayor responsible to tears. Her words stuck in her throat, though, when she saw that that object over her was not a cloud- -or at least not technically.
It was a house. A house made of cloud. And not just any house. It was enormous. Bigger than Rich Manor by far, and built with exquisite attention to architectural detail. The tingle that Spoiled Rich felt vanished, and was replaced by a different and less positive tingle. Somepony was trying to rival her.
Something swooped downward from the sky. To Spoiled, it looked like a group of fluffy white clouds moving at incredible speed, leaving a rainbow-colored contrail behind them as they moved. In an instant, they touched the house and the rainbow contrail surrounded them, swirling around it and forming a new wing onto the structure.
“HA!” cried a voice above, and a mare appeared out from the clouds. Or, rather a filly. The ugliest, gaudiest filly that Spoiled Rich had ever seen.
She was blue, which was already a horrible color for a pony. She was thin, and had not yet grown out of her childhood fuzziness. Worst of all, though, her mane and tail were died into the most gauche rainbow pattern conceivable.
“And mom said I’d never get anywhere by stealing office supplies!” laughed the filly.
“YOU!” shrieked Spoiled. “You! PEGASUS! What in the name of Celestia’s obesity do you think you are DOING?!”
The mare-filly looked over the edge of her cloud yard. “What do I think I’m doing? I think I’m being awesome! Why? What did it look like I was doing?”
“You- -you can’t have a house like that! It isn’t ALLOWED!!”
“Really?” The rainbow-mare-filly-fuzzy-usurper lay down and tilted her head, putting it on one hoof. “Says who?”
Spoiled bristled. “This land is NOT zoned for buildings greater than two bedrooms!” In fact, the only region that was zoned for that was the land on which Rich Manor was built; Spoiled had made sure of that.
“Oh really?” The mare looked down at the bottom of the cloud on which her cloud house was constructed. “Cuz my house isn’t on the land. So…I don’t care?”
“WELL! The- -the building permits- -”
“It’s clouds. Like, the whole thing. As in water vapor. I’m literally living in compressed water vapor. You don’t need a permit to live in vapor. Just to inhale it.” The filly-mare snorted part of her house. “And I have that permit in spades…”
Spoiled Rich had darkened to the point that fruit bats were beginning to arrive from the orchard below and surround her, thinking she was an apple. She brushed them away.
“Wow,” laughed the rainbow mare. “Keep it up! With all that vapor your sweaty forehead is putting off, I’m going to be able to build myself a second living room!” She paused, stroking her chin. “Or maybe a walk-in closet…”
“YOU ARE RUINING MY TOWN YOU DIRTY PEGASUS!” screamed Spoiled Rich. “YOU CAN’T HAVE A HOUSE THAT BIG!!”
“But…I do.” The Pegasus shrugged. “So there. Unless you want to come up here and stop me?” She slid off the cloud and hovered for a moment. “Oh wait. You can’t. No wings. Sorry. Well, maybe if you eat your vegetables, wish reaaaaalllly hard, and pray to Celestia’s butt you’ll get some. Until then?” She kicked the cloud-base of her house, and something inside ruptured. The internal rainbow circulation system failed and began to squirt the acrid fluid out of the structure.
It struck Spoiled Rich, drenching her and nearly washing her away. Some of it got in her mouth and she screamed. It tasted terrible. Worse than apples.
“Oops,” said the rainbow mare. “Sorry. That was the supply line for my water feature. Or RAINBOW feature, I guess. Because I’m Rainbow Dash. Weather technician, level one. And I live here now. And consider yourself lucky, I could totally have peed on you from her. Trust me, I’ve practiced.” She paused. “But then again, if you think about what Rainbows are actually made of? This is probably worse.”
Spoiled stood up, finding that her entire body and clothing- -clothing that cost more than most ponies would make in a year- -had been dyed a rainbow of colors. Screaming with rage, she shook her hoof at the sky. “You dirty little girl! You’ll regret this! Do you have any idea who I am- -”
The mare did not answer, as she had gone to sleep. She was snoring so loudly that the resulting force had caused her house to move, and it was drifting off toward the far side of town. Where, no doubt, everypony would see that there was a pony- -a dirty, rainbow-maned Pegasus of barely fourteen- -who had a house larger and far more beautiful than the one that Spoiled Rich lived in.
Spoiled could not tolerate this. She could not tolerate this at all. She vowed on her mother’s grave that Rainbow Dash would be dead by the time the moon started to rise. Derpy would see to that- -just as she had with the Apples and with the mayor.