//------------------------------// // 4 - Righting Wrongs // Story: Spark of a Flame // by Riojoriginal //------------------------------// A week later... Knock, Knock, Knock “Who is it?” Spike asked as he looked away from his desk. “Spike, it’s me. Can you open the door?” Shining Armor’s voice came through the door, prompting Spike to go open the door. “Hey, Shining. What’s up?” “Just checking on you. How’s the present going? You got it already?” Shining asked. “Er, more or less. I still need to tweek a few things, paint and get it autographed by one of the wonderbolts.” Spike explained, showing a pair of flight goggles. “Hm... How you gonna get an autograph? If I’m not mistaken, you weren’t on their best side since that little stunt.” Shining asked. “I’ll think of something... Eventually. But right now I’m worried about finishing this.” “Right. Well, I’ll leave you to it then, have fun!” Shining then left. Closing the door, he immediately made his way back to his desk. “Okay, now hopefully there’s no more interruptions.” He mumble to himself as he continued working on the goggles. At Cloudsdale... “Rainbow? Rainbow! Get up, sweetie. You gonna be late for flight school!” Windy said, knocking on the door multiple times before she gave up on it and just entered the room. She could immeaditely see Rainbow’s form laying on the bed completely wrong, she wondered how her daughter never has neck pains with the way she sleeps. Approaching the bed, she pulled the covers from Rainbow while calling her name again, with little sucess. How late was it when she went to sleep? Windy asked herself, astonished by it. Seeing how late it was getting on the alarm next to the bed, she decided to call in the big guns. With one powerful flap of her wings, she flied to the cloud ceiling and let lose a mighty kick on it, immediately causing the whole ceiling above the bed to drop a considerable amount of cold water on top of Rainbow. “Eeeeekkkk!” Rainbow jumped from the bed, soaked in water but now completely awake. “MOM! What the hay?!” “Rainbow, language! Now go clean yourself, you’re late for school!” Windy exclaimed, hurrying to the kitchen to prepare some toasts for her to eat on the way. “Ah, crap.” Rainbow ran inside the bathroom, took a quick shower before she made her way to the kitchen where her mom gave her a couple pieces of toast. “Here, eat these on the way or you’re not gonna make it.” Windy said as she pushed Rainbow towards the door. “Alright, I’m going, geez!” Shaking her wings dry, she quickly took flight with the toast on her mouth towards the school, doing a few tricks along the way for practice and to finish drying her mane. “Big deal, missing out one day of school. It’s not like anything happens there anyway.” Rainbow murmured, still annoyed about being woken up. Walking through the school corridor, was Fluttershy carrying a book under her wing with a red bird on her mane. She was humming with the bird when she stumbled into somepony, knocking the bird off her head. “Oof! I-I sorry! I wasn’t looking were I was going!” Finally focusing on the pony in front of her, she saw a lavander pegasus with jasmine mane and tail. She dusted herself off before replying. “It’s okay. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going either... Say, are you Fluttershy?” Fluttershy frowned, now curious on how she knows her name. “Uh, yes. Y-you know me?” “Not exactly. I heard that you were being harassed by Hoops gang?” She asked. “Uh, yeah. But they usually harass everypony in the same or lower grades than them,” Fluttershy said. “Yeah, I got bullied as well. That’s why I’m trying to convince the school to start a anti-bullying program,” She said. “Really? That’s wonderful.” Fluttershy replied. “Unfortunately, their administration doesn’t share the same concerns. They said only if more students ask for the same thing they would implement it. Which I think it’s stupid.” She said, huffing in annoyance. “Well, that’s concerning. Have you managed to gather students to ask?” Fluttershy asked. She shook her head no. “Apparently, Hoops and his gang got word of what I was doing and they started intimidating everypony to not help me and they keep targeting me every chance they get now.” “That’s horrible! How are you doing?” Fluttershy asked, now worried. “Eh, I’m fine. The problem is when they fight me, then I get grounded by my parents because his gang usually manages to bruise me enough to be visible. My parents are the kind that thinks if they ground me enough times I would stop fighting, which isn’t even something I can stop.” “We can’t keep letting that happen. You can count me in, uh, what’s your name I forgot to ask?” Fluttershy asked. “It’s Cloudkicker. And thanks. Though, I think we might need at least one more pony to ask,” Cloudkicker said. “Oh, I can ask my friend to help. She also had an awful time with them,” Fluttershy said. “Cool, what’s her name?” Cloudkicker asked. “It’s Rainbow Dash. Sh-” “Rainbow Dash!? You kidding me? She is just as bad as them! She even broke my wings a few years ago!” Cloudkicker said, almost shouting in anger. “W-what?!” Fluttershy was taken aback by that. But Rainbow told me she never hurt anypony when she was on Hoops gang... “Hey! Fluttershy!” Rainbow called as she flied in, just now finishing the toast she had. Before Fluttershy could say anything, Cloudkicker started walking away towards her classroom, shoving Rainbow out of her way. “The hay?! What was that for?” “Rainbow... Did you ever hurt anypony before?” Fluttershy suddenly asked as she went to her side. “Wha- No. Other than the bullies I mean.” Rainbow answered. “You sure? Because she told me you broke her wings.” Fluttershy said, frowning. “What? That’s a-” Rainbow stopped as she glanced towards where Cloudkicker went, seeing her just turning around the corner. “Wait a minute... Crap! I completely forgot!” “What do you mean?” Fluttershy asked. “I...” Rainbow sighed. “I hit her wing with a rock when she was flying. She was flying so fast that she fell through the clouds and crashed on the ground.” Fluttershy gasped. “Why?!” Fluttershy asked, indignant with her. “It was by accident! Hoops was annoying me and I tried scarrying him with it but I ended up nailing her. I planned on checking on her after shaking the gang off but I took too long and when I went to search for her, I couldn’t find her.” Rainbow explained, looking away in shame. “You should apologize to her.” Fluttershy said. “She clearly doesn’t want to talk with me...” Rainbow said, thinking a bit. “Which is weird that she knows it was me, since I never met her after it... Eh, Hoops or the other two probably snitched to her.” “You still should apologize, though. What if she holds a grudge?” Fluttershy said. She sighed. “After class, okay?” Rainbow relented, though not by much. Fluttershy shook her head. “During lunch.” “Ugh, fine. Can we go now? I’m probably getting detention again for being late.” Rainbow said as she and Fluttershy hurried to their classes. A couple hours later... “You sure you’re okay? They literally threw you inside a trashcan.” Cloudkicker said, dusting off the grey pegasus with blond mane. “I-I’m fine, Clouds. I’m used to it by now.” She replied, stopping just in time before she hit a wall. “Oops, almost... Did you saw where they put my muffins bag?” “Yeah, I found it, but Derpy! You shouldn’t be used to this treatment because this isn’t supposed to be happening.” Cloudkicker said, leading her towards the cafeteria. “I’ll be eating my muffins, you want some?” Derpy asked. Clouds gave one look at the canteen’s food before turning back to her. “Yes, I would. Thanks.” “You’re welcome. So where should we sit?” Derpy asked as she pulled a muffin and gave it to Clouds. “Not sure. An empty table, preferably.” Cloudkicker said, munching on the muffin. “Hm. There’s only one table left with space for us, do you mind if we eat by those two ponies?” Derpy asked, pointing to the secluded table at the corner of the place. “Yeah, yeah, sure.” Clouds replied, not paying much attention as she kept invested on the muffin. “Derpy, you gotta tell me how you make these things, they are so good!” *Chuckle* “Sorry, it’s a family secret.” Derpy replied, leading them to the table. Once they got there, she pulled their attention. “Hey, would it be a problem if we sat here?” Fluttershy glanced at them for a moment to answer her. “Of course not! Feel free to take the seats.” She then turned back to Rainbow, helping her with the assignment she got. “Come on, Clouds. They don’t mind us here.” Derpy said, sitting down. ”Not like we needed their approval.” Clouds murmured as she took the seat, only to finally notice who was on the other end of the table. “Derpy! Why are we sitting here?!” She whispered her. “Hm? What’s wrong?” Derpy whispered back, puzzled. “She is what’s wrong here.” Clouds replied, pointing towards Rainbow furtively. “Wh- Why? She helped me a few times against those bullies.” Derpy asked, confused. “Because she- Wait, she helped you? When?” Clouds asked, surprised. “It was by the time you were away because of your wing.” Derpy said, glancing at Rainbow and Fluttershy. Not sure what her friend had against her. “Hm. Well, she was the one who broke my wing. You sure it was her who helped you?” Clouds asked. “Is there another pony with that many colors on their mane on the school?” Derpy sarcastically asked, before she turned towards them. “I’m gonna ask her something.” “What are you doing?! Wait!” Clouds whispered, but it fell in deaf ears as Derpy approached their end of the table. “Hey, if you don’t mind me asking.” Fluttershy looked at her curiously, while Rainbow only glanced at her puzzled. “Are you still bad or you good now?” “What?” Both Rainbow and Fluttershy asked, caught off guard by that. Cloudkicker couldn’t help but facehoof. “What’s that supposed to mean?” Rainbow asked, then she finally noticed Cloudkicker at the end of the table. “Oh, I understand now. *Sigh* “Look, I’m sorry...” She glanced at Fluttershy, who motioned her to continued. “...I know I screwed up your life for a bit but I genuinely never meant to hit you...” She thought on what else to say. “If there’s anything I can do to make it up to you, just say it.” Rainbow said, waiting for Clouds to answer. “You know, they might be great friends to have if you give her a chance.” Derpy whispered. “...Grr. Fine, Derpy.” Cloudkicker whispered. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she finally looked at Rainbow in the eyes. “You wanna make it up? Fine, get Hoops gang to leave me alone.” “And how am I supposed to do that?” Rainbow asked. “You were on their gang before, convince them to leave me alone. Or just kick their flanks, I don’t care as long as they stop attacking me.” Cloudkicker answered as she took one more muffin. Great, now she wants me to buy a fight with them... “Alright, I’ll think of something,” Rainbow said. “Cool, then I’m done eating. I see you later Derpy.” She left before anyone could give a reply. “But you barely ate- Clouds!” Derpy tried calling her, to no avail. “Sorry for upsetting your friend.” Fluttershy said. “It’s okay. You didn’t do anything.” Derpy replied, putting her bag of muffins on the table. “Would you like some muffins?” “Oh, if it’s okay with you.” Fluttershy said as she took one and bit it. “Hmm~ so good! Rainbow, you gotta eat one of her muffins. They are delicious...” Grumbling in annoyance, Cloudkicker made her way through the hallways alone. Unfortunately, her lonesome didn’t last long as she realized way too late that she was been followed by Dumb-Bell. ”That’s not good. Where’s one, the other two are nearby.” She thought of running back to the cafeteria, but that plan was quickly shut down when her only way around Dumb-Bell was blocked by Score. “I swear if they get me grounded again...” She tried going for the longest route, exiting the school and using one of the cafeteria windows, but that plan too crumbled to pieces as Hoops flied in, effectively cornering her. “Look what we have here. The snitch all by herself, how convenient.” Hoops started, only to be interrupted by Clouds. “You try anything and I’ll send to the infirmary!” “Ooo, so scaried!” Hoops mocked her. “We’ll see how that goes for you. Get her!” Hoops ordered as he charged at her. Meanwhile... “Here, this should let you walk arould freely without worrying about falling.” Shining Armor said as he gave Spike a necklace that emitted a faint cyan glow. “Thanks.” Spike wore it and took a step off the carriage to the cloud streets of Cloudsdale. “It’s been a while since I last visited.” “I actually never visited Cloudsdale before, it’s a good thing we brought a map.” Shining said as he turned back to the carriage. “SnowFlame. Pass me the map!” “One sec, sir.” Came the reply from the carriage before a dark blue pegasus with dark gray mane came out, handing Shining Armor the map. “Thanks, Thunder. You two take care of things here while me and Spike go after what he needs.” “Sure thing, boss.” Thunder replied as he went to talk with SnowFlame. “So, where we heading?” Shining asked. “It’s actually pretty close from here. Just after the flight school around the corner and we arrive there.” Spike replied as he showed on the map for Shining. “Cool, we’ll be done in no time then. Lead the way, Spike.” Shining said as he followed Spike. And true to his words, they were in front of the Wonderbolts academy in less than ten minutes. “Here we are.” “Okay. So whats your plan on convincing Frosty?” Shining asked as they approached the main building. “I- Er.” Spike got a little nervous. “I actually planned on going to ask alone...” “Wha- Why?” Shining asked, caught off guard. “I promise to tell you later, okay? I just need to do this alone.” Spike explained, showing he was not backing down. Shining look at him suspiciously for a few seconds, thinking about it before he decided to let him do it. “Alright, I’ll wait here. But you will tell me why on the way back, understood?” Spike nodded, thanked him before he made his way inside the building. “Why would he want to go alone? Especially here of all places...” Caught in his inner thoughts, he almost didn’t hear the sound of glass shatering not far from him. “What the-” Not wasting time, he rushed the direction the sound came. It only took him a couple minutes to find the broken window, and the reason why it was broken as well. He saw four young pegasi near the window, fighting. Scratch that, three of them were fighting while one was curling on the cloudy ground. They didn’t even see Shining approaching when they all were lifted up in the air. “Ahh! What’s going on?!” Hoops asked, surprised. “I should be the one asking that. Why are you all fighting?” Shining asked, pinning them on the ground with his magic. Grunting, Cloud Kicker was the first to answer. “They are bullies! That’s all what they do!” “Oh, is that right?” He eyed the other two only to see them either avoiding eye contact or trying to free themselves from his magical grip, what amused him the most was the fact the supposed bullies had way more bruises than her. “And who broke the window?” All the bullies immediately pointed to her. Clouds looked away sheepishly, before she snapped back. “I was trying to get away from them!” “Okay, I heard enough. Let’s find a teacher or school staff to take you all.” Shining said as he made his way towards the school entrance with all four of them still in his magic grip. “Remind me again on why are we here and not eating?” Rainbow asked, annoyed that Fluttershy dragged her into her’s and Derpy’s search. “To find Cloudkicker. We don’t want her to get into trouble with the bullies.” Fluttershy answered, completely missing Rainbow’s mood. “Let me ask again. Why did you drag ME into this?” Rainbow asked. “Because- Wait, who’s that?” Fluttershy asked as she pointed to the entrance. “...Shining? What is he doing here?” Rainbow asked as they saw him walk towards them while carrying four pegasi behind him. “Wait! He has Cloudkicker with him!” Derpy warned them. Curious to what happened, Rainbow flied in from of him, blocking his path. “What are you doing here?” “Oh, Rainbow! Surprised to see you.” Shining replied. “Really? I study here. What are you doing on Cloudsdale?” “Er, well. I supposed that information is confidential to you. Sorry.” Shining said, before he remembered what he was carrying. “Oh, by the way. Where’s the principal’s office? I caught these troublemakers here fighting.” “C-could you not bring Cloudkicker to the principal? I-if that’s okay with you.” Fluttershy asked, as she flied to them. “Why? From the look of things, she did more than just defend herself.” Shining said, pointing to the other three. “Sir, please. My friend already has so much trouble as it is.” Derpy joined in. “She did break a window, you know. I can’t just let that slide.” Shining replied. “I can pay for the window!” Cloudkicker interjected. “Hm. Okay, I’ll bite. Who’s taking the fall for her then?” Shining asked as he put Clouds down. Rainbow sighed as she stepped forward. “I’ll do it.” “You’re sure? Your mother is not gonna be happy about this.” Shining asked, not wanting to cause trouble for Rainbow. “Yeah, yeah. Let’s get it over with.” Rainbow said as she lead Shining towards the principal’s office. “You okay, Clouds? You’re covered in bruises.” Derpy asked. “I’m fine... These bruises are gonna be a problem, though.” Cloudkicker said as she dusted herself off. “Um, I could help with that. If that’s okay with you.” Fluttershy offered. “How exactly you gonna help?” Clouds asked. “Uh, I have a make up kit at home. We could use it to hide those bruises.” Fluttershy suggested. “Hm, I’m not a huge fan of make up, but if you think that will work.” Clouds replied, not too much happy about it. “I believe it will. Meet me after school and we’ll go to my house... Oh, Derpy, could you tell Rainbow later where we went? She usually waits for me when school ends.” “Sure. I can do that.” Derpy replied. “Also, tell her I said thanks. I’m not forgetting that.” Then they all heard the bell ring signalling the end of recess. “Well, we better get a move on. See you later, Fluttershy.” Spike hurriedly left the main building, looking around for Shining. “Shining? Shining!.. Where the heck is he?” Not wanting to stay there, he pulled a empty scroll from his satchel, quickly wrote a note for Shining before he burned the scroll with his fire. “Well, now to see if they brought anything to eat.” He murmured as he hastily made his way back to the carriage. “Snowflame? You got anything to eat there?” Spike asked, but the only answer he received was of loud snoring coming from it. Growing annoyed as he saw the orange unicorn sleeping soundly on the seats. “Where is... What was that other guy’s name?” “That would be Thunder.” A voice replied from behind him. “Ahh!” Spike jumped as he turned around. “Dude! Don’t sneak up on me like that! You gonna give me a heart attack.” “Apologies, didn’t mean to. Though, may I ask where’s our boss?” Thunder asked. “Uh, I actually don’t know. He was supposed to wait for me to be done, but he disappeared.” Spike answered, shrugging. “I did sent him a letter, though. So he should know we are waiting for him.” Thunder nodded in acknowledgement before he approached the snoring SnowFlame, and in one swift move he pulled him off the seats onto the floor. “Ow! What the hell was that for?!” SnowFlame asked, almost shouting. “You really gonna keep cursing in front of the princess’s son?” Thunder asked, pointing to Spike. “Huh? Oh! Er... I’m sorry?” SnowFlame apologized, still a little groggy from his nap. “Didn’t I ask you to keep guard while I went to a bathroom?” Thunder asked, annoyed. SnowFlame rolled his eyes as he got up. “Really? Who’s gonna try and steal from guards, Thunder? We haven’t had single incident this last two years, why would it be now?” “This again? I told you, evil could strike from any moment and we have to be prepared!” Thunder replied. Spike couldn’t help but chuckle a little as he watched they bicker again. He just wished he had something to snack on while watching them. “What evil?! Last time I remember we were at peace for a MILLENNIA!” SnowFlame replied, frustrated already. “If you think we are at peace, you’re more dense than I thought.” “WHAT are you even talking about?! You lunatic!” But thinking better, without Shining here, it fell onto Spike to stop them from escalating their arguments further and attracting a crowd to them. “Hey! Guys, stop! You attracting a lot of attention to us!” They finally stopped and saw the few pegasi nearby watching them in curiosity. Thunder immediately jumped off the carriage to disperse the curious bystanders while SnowFlame lazily sat on the opposite seat to Spike. He could faintly hear SnowFlame whisper something about ungrateful but he wasn’t sure exactly what he meant. “You sure took your time, boss.” They could hear Thunder from outside. “Yeah, sorry ‘bout the wait. A few kids were causing trouble, had to intervene.” Shining replied as he entered the carriage, followed by Thunder. “Mighty trouble to keep you for this long,” Thunder said. “Eh, just some small property damage. Nothing too serious. Anyway, is there anywhere else we need to go next, Spike?” Shining asked. “Well... There’s at least two more we absolutely need to go after. But they are on the same place!” Spike added the last part when he saw both SnowFlame and Thunder sigh. “Well, where we going then?” Shining asked. “Manehattan.” Spike answered. “Manehattan? Hm, okay. We’re gonna have to take a train then, the boys pulling the carriage can’t fly us that far.” Shining then walked out to give them the new destination. Mid-afternoon... “-I still can’t believe you did this, Rainbow. I know you’ve had trouble with bullies before, but never this badly...” Windy said, worried as she and Rainbow walked out of the school. “Yeah, I know. Not gonna happen again, yadda, yadda.” Rainbow replied, not really that worried. Her parents never were the type to ground her. Windy sighed in frustration. “Rainbow, this is serious. You can’t just fight your way out of everything. You shouldn’t rely on violence.” “Yeah, I get it!” Rainbow replied, rolling her eyes. “Where’s Fluttershy?” Before Windy replied, Derpy appeared from the entrance and approached Rainbow. “Hey, Rainbow. Fluttershy asked me to tell you that she and Clouds went to her house, so you don’t have to worry about her.” “Ah, right. Guess that answers it.” “Oh! And by the way, Clouds is really grateful for the help.” Derpy added it in. “She better be, I hate that guy from detention. And they are going to be there too... Sigh See you girls tomorrow,” Rainbow said, following her mother as Derpy waved goodbye. “...So is that why you fought? To help your friend?” Windy asked. “Eh, something like that.” Rainbow answered. “As noble as that is, try not resorting to violence next time... And try not to break any windows too.” Windy told her as they flied towards their home. ”Well, at least she won the fight. They will think twice now before messing with my girl. She couldn’t help but let a small chuckle out, earning a puzzled look from Rainbow.