//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 
// Story: Rainbow Dash and the Uta Clan 
// by Zorand 
//------------------------------//

It was Friday morning and Rainbow Dash was feeling great. She was well rested for the first time in several weeks, even if maybe she didn’t know any more chemistry than the night before. Still, her spirits were high, she had a spring in her step, and nothing was going to stop her from finding those Ninjas this weekend!
She jogged up the walkway and into the school’s entrance hall and made a beeline for her locker. She threw her backpack in, pulled out her English class notebook, and was surprised to find Applejack standing behind her locker door when she slammed it closed. Applejack had her arms crossed over her chest and a scowl on her face.
“Oh, um, hey AJ. You ok?”
“You used your powers last night didn’t you?”
“Yeah I did! Ok, so I was on my favorite rooftop, right? And-”
“Sugarcube, I flipped my truck!”
Rainbow paused, her mouth hanging open for a second. “Oh my gosh, are you ok?! You don’t look hurt. Did you see a doctor?”
Applejack sighed. “I wasn’t in it. I was lifting it up so Big Mac could change the tire and my strength went out of control. I thought we talked about this.”
“Look, I said I wouldn’t use it for no reason any more, but I had a reason! There were ninjas!”
“Ninjas.”
“Yeah! So, like I was saying, I was on my favorite rooftop-”
“Hello, darlings!” Rarity interrupted from behind. “I hope you’re all feeling well rested this morning? I was up all night working on the finishing touches of my newest line and I’m afraid I may be the teensy bit drowsy this morning. I was hoping one of you wouldn’t mind letting me copy your notes after class?”
“Hey Rares,” Applejack said. “Yeah, you can copy mine. It’s nice to know that some of us were being productive instead of just playing around.”
“Playing around?!” Rainbow asked incredulously. “I was fighting crime! Being a hero!”
“Please tell me you weren’t wearing that ridiculous costume you wore in Bon Bon’s photo.” Rarity pleaded.
“Well it’s not like I have anything better.”
“Nonsense. Surely you must have something.”
“Rarity, you know, like, my entire wardrobe. Do I have something better?”
Rarity held up her finger and opened her mouth to reply, but then dropped it after a moment without saying anything.
“Hey girls!” Sunset called as she walked up to join their group, followed by the rest of their gang. “What’s happening?”
“RD here was just telling us how she fought an army of ninjas last night.” Applejack said with a roll of her eyes.
“Ninjas?” Sunset asked.
“Yes, ninjas!” Rainbow almost yelled. “I’m not making it up! And it wasn’t an army, it was just the five of them.”
Rainbow looked to each of her friends, hoping to see that any of them believed her, but there was nothing but doubt on the faces looking back.
“Personally,” Applejack said, “I think she just fell asleep again and dreamed them up.”
“I did not! Look, here.”
Rainbow grabbed Sunset’s wrist and pulled her hand over so that Sunet’s palm rested on Rainbow’s shoulder. Sunset’s eyes lit up white for about 10 seconds before she pulled her hand away and stepped back. Sunset shook he head to clear her vision.
“Well?” Fluttershy asked.
Sunset gave Rainbow a cocky grin. “Raptor Laser? Seriously?”
Rainbow felt her cheeks grow warm and did her best to fight back the blush. “Look, it’s a work in progress, alright? But you saw the ninja’s, right! You believe me!”
Sunset nodded to the group. “She did see ninjas. Or she believes she does at least. I’m not ruling out a vivid dream.”
“Oh come on! Can’t you give me a little credit here?”
“Rainbow Dash, darling,” Rarity said, “I know you think you saw ninjas, but just think how it all sounds to us. We are quite far from Japan, you know. Don’t you think it all sounds a bit fantastical?”
“Fantastical?  You mean like magic? You know, the magic that we all have? The magic that we’ve gone up against over and over?”
“Hmm, yes, well…” Rarity trailed off.
“Look, Rainbow,” Sunset said, “even if there were ninjas, they weren’t even doing anything. From what I saw, you harassed them and they ran off, then they asked you to leave them alone. You weren’t being a superhero, you were being a nuisance.”
Sunset’s words echoed in Rainbow’s mind. A nuisance. Not a hero. Her gaze fell to her shoes as she felt all of that morning’s hope drain, leaving only a hollow emptiness in its place. None of her friends were going to help her find the ninjas. None of them even believed her. They thought she was a nuisance instead of a hero. The first bell rang and the girls split up to go their separate ways. Rainbow trudged along to her first class, walking slower than she had since she was just a toddler.
She took her usual desk at the back of class as Mrs. Cheerilee went over the chapter of the book they were all supposed to have read, but Rainbow had trouble paying attention. Why couldn’t her friends believe her? She’d never lied to them before, had she? She brought up all the conversations about magic and hero work that they’d had, searching them for some reason for them to doubt her. But she’d been right! Ok, maybe she had exaggerated that one time with the clown, but it wasn’t like there hadn’t been any trouble. Just the non-magical sort. The rest of time she’d been right, though! And she was right this time!
“Rainbow Dash?”
Why, she ought to give them a piece of her mind. What kind of friends just assumed she was lying? Or just imagining it? What kind of friends wouldn’t stand by her and help her figure out what those ninjas were up to?
“Rainbow Dash.”
At band practice. That was the time to lay down the law. Let them know that they’d hurt her and she needed them to believe her about this. Let them know that if they wouldn’t stand with her, then they were the ones in the wrong! Tell them that-!
“Rainbow Dash!”
Rainbow gaze snapped up and refocused on Mrs. Cheerilee at the front of the room. Had she called her name? Was she asking her a question? Rainbow racked her memory.
“Glad to have you with us, Ms. Dash. Now, can you tell us what the main theme of To Kill a Mockingbird is?”
“Uhh….”
Mrs. Cheerilee gave a small sigh. “I thought as much. See me after class, please.”
Rainbow sunk down into her seat. Dang it, English was supposed to be the class she was good at, after gym. And now she couldn’t even answer a basic question like a book’s theme because she hadn’t actually read the book in question. She’d been too busy fighting crime. But fighting crime was important, too! More important even. Wasn’t it? Sunset’s words from yesterday echoed in her mind. You should let the police handle it. Wasn’t it?


-----------------


That evening, Rainbow Dash brooded from atop her favorite building in the office district. The sun was setting on the western horizon, and below her the last of the office workers were getting into their cars and driving home for the weekend. Soon this section of town would grow quiet and her work could begin.
So what if her friends didn’t believe her? So what if both Cranky and Cheerilee had asked to see her after class to talk about her grades? So what if Principal Celestia had scheduled a parent-teacher-student conference for next week? She was a hero, dammit, and heroes always persevered, no matter the obstacles stacked against them.
When the last car disappeared, she jumped down to the street below and started jogging to where she had first seen the ninjas. Brooding wasn’t the only thing she’d been doing up there while she waited for the streets to clear: She’d also been planning. Those ninjas were crafty. They’d known she’d been following them from the moment she set out yesterday, so there was no telling if the direction that they had started in was the direction of their true destination. If she was going to find them, she'd have to start again at the beginning and search everywhere. Luckily for her, searching everywhere was just the kind of thing a super speedster could do.
Rainbow arrived at they alley from last night, took a deep breath, and pulled the magic from the stone at her wrist into herself. She felt it course through her veins, felt her whole body hum with power. A bird that had been flying overhead nearly paused in midair. She took a deep breath, her power forcing the surrounding air to speed up to match her, then let the breath back out and let the air resume it’s old, leisurely pace. The stone still felt nice and cool against her wrist for now, but she knew from experience that she had about an hour (from her own perspective) before she’d have to let it go. Not one to waste time, Rainbow set out.
She needed to cover everywhere, and she didn’t know the direction, so a spiral was the obvious choice. Rainbow ran down the alley to the street and hung a right. She ran past storefronts, restaurants, and warehouses. Every time she came to a door that didn’t lead into an open shop she jiggled the handle to see if she could search inside. She took the first right at L street and continued her search. Then a right into a different alley and she searched behind dumpsters, tugged at storm drains, and jumped up to peer through second story windows. Right again where the alley emptied out onto M and she was back to her main street search pattern.
Rainbow ran, untiring, through the evening and into the night. She’d always been a good runner, even before she’d found the magic stone that let her slow time, but back then she’d have had trouble keeping up this pace for so long. Before, after a few miles she’d have been ready to take a breather. Put her feet up and drink some water. But her inner magic, the one that granted her her wings and flight, also filled her with an endless energy. She pushed on that magic, just slightly, as she ran. She didn’t grow wings. Her hair and ears stayed the same. But she didn’t grow tired as she ran. She didn’t even need to breath hard.
Sadly, that boundless energy didn’t transfer to her stone, and after an hour it was beginning to grow warm against her wrist. She kept going another ten minutes and it was becoming painfully hot. But still there was no sign of the ninjas. In fact, she hadn’t even found any crime at all. That was unusual. Canterlot wasn’t a violent city or anything, but usually she’d at least have found a graffiti artist or two. Five more minutes and the stone began to vibrate. The magic in her veins began to withdraw. Rainbow tried to cling to it, grasping it with all her willpower and pulling as hard as she could, but then, with a snap, the magic jumped back into the stone and the world sped up.
Rainbow Dash stumbled as time shifted around her and caught herself against a street light. Nothing. She leaned against it and thought over her evening. Over an hour of searching at super speed and she hadn’t even found a hint of where the ninjas’ base was. Was she going about this wrong? No, a spiral search was the only pattern that made sense here. If only she had some inkling of a direction. Some way to narrow it down. Should she try in the direction she’d been following them from before? No, no, she’d ruled that out already and there was no reason to change her reasoning. That had probably been a false trail from the start.
She kicked a stray rock sitting on the sidewalk and started meandering down the street with her hands in her pockets. The last hour had been at superspeed, so only about a minute had passed in the real world. She still had all night to find them. But she needed to let her stone cool off first, and she didn’t want to search at normal speeds. No reason to get the cops called on her because she looked like she was trying to break into a shop late at night. Hmm, she was kind of hungry. Maybe a snack while she waited.
The bell over the door jingled as Rainbow walked into the corner sandwich shop. It was nearly empty at this hour, but there was a group of three girls sitting in the corner. Guess you could always count on someone being hungry late. As she read over the menu board and tried to decide what she felt like having tonight, she suddenly realized that she recognized the voices behind her. Rainbow spun around to look, and there was no mistaking it. The Dazzlings were back in town.
Immediately Rainbow was on edge, ready for some sort of attack, but the Dazzlings didn’t seem to be paying her any attention. They were completely wrapped up in their conversation. Well, no need to waste an opportunity to gather intel on the enemy. Rainbow did her best to nonchalantly wander closer to listen in.
“It’s just not the same.” Aria complained.
“Of course it’s not.” Adagio said with a roll of her eyes. “Or stones are broken and unless we can repair them we’ll have to get used to singing without.”
“But I hate singing without our stones.” Sonata whined. “We sound terrible!”
“Well you’d better get used to it.” Adagio said. “No one we’ve talked to has known how to fix them.”
Holy crap, the Dazzlings were trying to get their powers back! This was way bigger news than the ninjas, right? Her friends would have to listen to her now. Ok, band practice was tomorrow. She’d let them know what she’d found, they’d all be impressed and awed by her superheroing, and they’d agree that not only was it a good thing that she was doing it, but they’d all want to join her. Then they’d work together to stop the Dazzlings and-
“I know you’re there, Rainblow Dish.” Adagio called out without turning her head. “And why are you wearing that ridiculous scarf over your face?”
Scarf? Rainbow reached up and felt her mask. Dang it! She’d forgotten to take it off when she’d returned to slow time. She quickly pulled it off and stuffed it in a pocket.
“Well? What do you want? Are you here to gloat about defeating us?”
“Ha! I heard you say you wanted your powers back. Well I’m going to stop you!”
Aria turned to face Rainbow and rolled her eyes. “Of course we want our powers back, you imbecile. If you lost your powers you’d want them back too, wouldn’t you?”
“Uh…”
“And, as I’m sure you overheard, we don’t know how to get them back. So what amazing revelation have you learned here? That we’re sad?”
Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck, suddenly feeling awkward.
“So why don’t you go run on home, or eat a sandwich, or whatever it is you humans do with your free time, and let us mope in peace?”
Rainbow frowned. Did she actually feel a little bad for them now? They were evil! They’d tried to take over the world! They’d mind controlled her classmates! So what if Sunset had done all those things too and they’d forgiven her and become friends and dammit she did feel bad now.
“Um, listen, I, uh, I’m sorry about-”
Aria turned her head away from Rainbow Dash and harrumphed. Adagio looked to Rainbow and gave her a glare. “We don’t want your apology. We want you out of our faces. Go away.”
Fine. If they didn’t want to reform then it wasn’t Rainbow’s problem, right? They could sit around sandwich shops at 10:00 at night and mope over their lost powers all they wanted. Rainbow ordered her sandwich to go and left the Dazzlings alone in the shop. She didn’t feel bad for them now, that was for sure. And she was still going to tell her friends about them, too, even if they looked more pathetic than dangerous. You could never be too careful.
Rainbow left the shop with her sandwich and strolled down the street while she ate. Her stone was still warm so she wanted to wait a little longer before she sped up again. But how to kill the time? She shifted her backpack into a more comfortable position and remembered the homework inside of it. Oh, right. She guessed she should work on it. Maybe. But what if something bad happened while she was working? She’d be too wrapped up in her homework to notice and then someone could get hurt! No, it wasn’t a risk she was willing to take. So instead she continued to saunter down the streets, finished up her sandwich, and did her best to squish that wriggling feeling of guilt in the back of her mind.
Finally, her stone was cool enough and she took off again. Back to her spiral. Back to rattling doors and peering through windows. Back to being a hero! But, once again, her search was in vain. No secret ninja hideouts. No ninjas. Not even any graffiti artists. Was there some sort of big event tonight that she didn’t know about that everyone else was going to?
An hour later Rainbow stopped her search. She let the magic retreat back into her stone and leaned against a wall with her arms crossed. She’d searched the entire business district now and come up empty handed. Maybe super speed wasn’t the best power for finding things. If only her friends were willing to help. Fluttershy could ask an army of birds to search the city. Sunset could have read those ninja’s minds. Heck, Rarity could have gotten those guys to talk just by flirting with them with no powers at all.
So that left just waiting on rooftops, then. Wait to see more magic. Wait and react. Rainbow hated waiting. With a yell of frustration Rainbow stepped away from the wall she had been leaning on and punched it. Ow! Shit, ow ow ow! She hadn’t broken anything, had she? The back of her fingers were raw and bloody; she winced as she inspected them. They didn’t look bent out of shape. Ugh, that had been stupid. She could almost hear Twilight chiding her for acting without thinking again. Stupid Twilight. Stupid Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow reached inside herself and pushed on her magic, trying to direct it towards her hand. The magic made her significantly tougher than usual, which was a fact she’d been happy to learn back in their first fight against that Everfree plant witch. If she’d been using it before she’d punched the wall it wouldn’t even have hurt. She hoped maybe it could help her heal faster? Well she didn’t see the skin knitting itself back together or anything, but the pain died down, at least. 
With a resigned sigh, Rainbow decided to go home. She’d figure this out tomorrow.