//------------------------------// // Sonic Painboom // Story: Prank War! // by Ashfur //------------------------------// “Princess Luna?  What are you doing?”  Rainbow Dash questioned.  Sure, having permission to some restricted areas of the castle meant that she had caught the princesses in a few awkward situations, but this one was just strange.  “Are… are you painting flames on a bathtub?” “Ah, good evening, Rainbow Dash.  Yes, We art painting this ‘bathtub’ as thou call it with a flame pattern.  But ‘tis no average bathing receptacle, nay! Tis Our dear friend Nicholas' befavored vehicle, the Bathmobiletm!  We are painting it as such as a present for our friend, as he has stated that in his culture, flame patterns make things go faster!  He also said something about a ‘mixtape’, but We did not understand his explanation, so We settled on this! Is it not a glorious gift that he will enjoy for… where did she go?”  Luna looked around, but Rainbow had disappeared during her explanation. Twilight excitedly pranced around on one of her castle's many balconies as she readied her instruments.  “This is a fantastic idea, Dash! I love investigating things from Nick's world, and if this is true then we could revolutionize the transportation industry!  Think of the time and fuel saved by applying it to trains and airships! Or boats!” “Forget that, this'll make me an even more awesome WONDERBOLT!  No wonder Spitfire is captain, she does this fire thing without even trying!”  Rainbow flapped her wings a few times to make sure she could still fly, and see. After all, it was a tad difficult to fly while covered head to hoof in flame stickers bought at the toy store. “Dash, aren't you worried those are going to fall off mid flight?  The adhesive on those stickers isn't exactly high-grade…” “I know!  That's why I used superglue to stick them on instead!  There's no way in Tartarus these babies are falling off anytime soon!”  She lifted a wing to her face and kissed it, much like a proud bodybuilder smooching his muscles.  “Aw, yeah, the Dash is ready! “Well, my instruments are good to go!  Launch in twenty...nineteen...eighteen…” “Three-two-one-GO!”  Dash took off like a shot, with Twilight scrambling to get her machines readjusted.  Rainbow, meanwhile, was sailing through the sky with practiced ease. The stickers were a tad uncomfortable, but if they made her go faster then it was totally worth it!  And, she thought, even though it might be the, ah, what did Twilight call it? The gazebo effect? Rainbow felt herself accelerating better than ever! The sky was hers! Well, it was already hers, but now it was more hers than earlier! Dash performed a few loops and corkscrews before deciding that the best possible thing she could do was show off her newfound speed to her fellow wonderbolts, and took off for Cloudsdale without a second thought.  In fact, she wanted to arrive in style! As fast as she could! There was only one option, so she accelerated to even higher speeds, the wind stinging her eyes as she moved faster and faster until- “Hey, Celestia, is that one of those ‘sonic rainbooms’ you keep telling me about?” “Yes, Nick, it is.  It's always a beautiful sight, don't you agree?” “Yeah, but do they usually sound like somepony screaming in agony?” Rainbow Dash, collapsed in pain on a cloud somewhere, took a moment to reboot her brain and take stock of what had just happened. Fact one: Stickers tend to come off if hit with strong enough wind.  Even with superglue. Fact two:  A sonic rainboom is not strong enough to overcome the superglue, so the stickers tore off most of her fur and feathers instead once she got to that speed. Fact three:  Having most of your fur waxed off and your feathers plucked all at once is excruciatingly painful. Fact four: She was in the Wonderbolts’ cloud stadium, and they had noticed her. “Well, this is a uh, *snrk* surprise,” Spitfire began, barely able to stifle a laugh.  Most of the other Wonderbolts were also moments from exploding into guffaws. “Dash, what in the world happened?” “I… uh… I was doing an awesome aerial stunt and I went too fast!  Have you ever gone so fast your fur flew off, Spitfire?  Huh?” Rainbow really, really hoped they would buy the bluff.  Better look like this with a cool reason instead of a stupid one. “Really?  Because it's been raining these fire stickers with blue fur glued to them for the past ten minutes.” Fudge. Nick was facing a pleasant evening lounging on a blanket in the royal gardens with a nice glass of lemonade.  Suddenly, a blue blur snatched him up, carried him a short distance, dropped him in the moat, and sped off without a word.  Nick resurfaced, with only one thing on his mind: “What was that for?  I didn't do anything this time!”