Mr Mysterious
Chapter one: A shocking experience
Rainbow Dash groaned and threw herself dramatically on her bed.
Nopony noticed.
Grumbling to herself she rolled over and fixed her gaze on her five friends.
“And why is it that I’m not going with you girls tonight?”
“Well I did ask you if you wanted to come and you made it quite clear you wouldn’t go to some ‘Silly froufrou mushy play.’” Twilight said sternly, checking fo any flaws in her light makeup for the thousandth time.
“Yeah, but I didn’t realize you were all going! I thought I’d have at least one of you to hang out with tonight. Can’t I just come with you now?”
“Sorry darling, but the play is sold out and they won’t take kindly to gate crashers.” Rarity said, straining to get strand of her mane back in place. The strand stubbornly remained vertical and the unicorn growled in annoyance.
“I’m sure you’ll have heaps of fun without us Dashie!” Pinkie said, bouncing up and down on the spot cheerfully.
“Yeah… Whatever.”
“Um… Maybe I won’t go then... I don’t want Rainbow Dash to be all alone.” Fluttershy said meekly, worried she had somehow offended her long-time friend.
“Na, it’s alright Fluttershy. Go, have fun. I’ll just entertain myself.” Rainbow muttered rolling over and staring at the ceiling. ‘Somehow’
“Ah have every confidence in you to you amuse yerself without brinin’ the whole place down again like ya did last time.” Applejack said placing her signature Stetson on her head.
“Yes, I had a lot of trouble getting these rooms; most hotels in Canterlot won’t take us any more after that ‘incident’ of yours.” Rarity said gritting her teeth at the stubborn strand of hair.
“Hey, that chandelier was useless anyway.” Rainbow protested
“We know!” Everypony else said in unison.
Nightmare Night, what a fright…” Rainbow muttered, rolling around restlessly on her bed. She had already tried writing, drawing, snacking, running and whatever meagre flying her small room allowed and she was already bored. The small collection of books on offer were pathetically inadequate or too mushy for her tastes and she hadn’t even considered asking Twilight for the key to her room where she kept a small library of books. She glanced at the clock, eager to know how much time she had past.
“Ten minutes!? What?! It feels like it’s been hours!” she groaned throwing herself against her bed again in desperation.
“Okay, think think think… Gotta think of something or I’m going to bore myself to death.”
‘You could go to the festival.’
Trotting to the window she looked at the festival below her. Unlike in Ponyville, the festival was much more… upper-class. There were no games like pumpkin tossing and apple bobbing with the occasional toothless alligator thrown in to keep her amused.
“How about no.” She said dryly, refusing to lower herself to hoof-kissing for entertainment. She scrutinised her room more closely, there had to be something… anything, she could use to amuse herself. The tip of a jet black uniform hanging out of one of her bags caught her eye. Curious, she tugged the costume out of the hastily packed bag revealing a Shadowbolt costume she had worn once for Nightmare Night. For a reason she couldn’t describe, she slipped into the tight fitting uniform.
Amazingly it still fitted her.
She scrounged around for the goggles and placed them over her head, making the world look like a yellow filter had been applied to it.
“Neat.” She said aloud, pleased with her appearance. She started taking the old uniform off but came to a sudden halt as a wild idea hit her with the force of the Friendship Express. She cocked her head to the side as the idea turned into a plan.
A good plan.
Hovering a dozen meters off the ground, Rainbow Dash silently pushed the dark grey storm cloud above the streets, searching for a suitable target. Spying a pair of upper-class twits walking merrily along the street, she manoeuvred the cloud above their heads with a soft chuckle. Satisfied that the cloud was in the right position, she brought her fore hooves down as hard as she could.
*CRASH!*
Bouts of laughter escaped her as the pair of surprised snobs galloped down the street in panic, the ends of the manes were singed black and their faces bearing terrified eyes.
“Priceless!” Rainbow giggled. She wriggled back onto the cloud and let her mirth escape her.
While Dash wasn’t one to repeat the same trick to a crowd more than a few times, the classic ‘Thunderbolt scare’ had probably never been used in Canterlot before, never mind using it on the upper-class who would have considered themselves above such trickery.
She fell into another bout of giggles as the ridiculous idea of one of the posh ponies sneaking around in the same position as her came to mind.
She only wished she had somepony to share her amusement with.
Sobered by the thought, she pushed the cloud along silently, searching for a new target. ‘There!’ A small gaggle of nobles were staggering down a street a block over. Rainbow had no idea why they seemed so… klutzy… but she was sure it would be hilarious to give them the fright of their lives anyway.
Positioning the cloud over their path, she peered over the edge, waiting for them to pass underneath.
*CRASH!*
“Oh horse apples!” She cried in surprise as the cloud prematurely discharged underneath her. She saved herself tumbling over the edge ungracefully but the sloppy move was still a blow to her ego.
Behind her the deep, gravelly sound of laughter reached her. She quickly put two and two together and figured out what had happened.
“Hey what’s the big idea?!” She yelled, spinning around to face the culprit of the sudden electric discharge.
She was momentarily taken aback. A stallion rolled around on the cloud behind her, giggling like a school filly.
It was his costume though that surprised her the most.
He was a Shadowbolt.
His fur was a light shade of grey identical to the Shadowbolts she had met in the Everfree forest and his eyes were covered by a set of flight goggles the same as hers.
“The look on your face!” He crowed, biting his lip in an attempt to stop laughing. He broke down into giggles again as the hot-headed mare glared fiercer.
“Hehe… Sorry, I just couldn’t help it, one prankster to another. You were just hanging off, totally unaware… then boom!” He chuckled again. “Totally worth it.”
Rainbow’s glare softened slightly. She could appreciate a good joke and she had to admit, the stallion had gotten her good.
“Yeah… I suppose…” She said, unwilling to let the stallion see he had gotten the better of her. “I’m Rainbow Dash by the way.” She said extending her hoof.
“Nice to meet you.” He replied. His smug look was suddenly replaced by one of surprise as the electric buzzer on her hoof got to work. His navy mane stood on end and the small patches of visible grey fur stood at attention.
Now it was Rainbow Dash’s turn to giggle like a filly.
“Yeah, yeah you got me.” He muttered, smoothing his mane back to its original position.
“Yeah I did, first you were like, and then you were all like.” She pulled a shocked face and thrashed around a little.
“Whatever.” The stallion snorted.
“You got a name?” She asked.
“Yeah. You can call me M.” he said matter-of-factly.
“Bit of an odd name.” Rainbow pointed out.
The stallion nodded his head. “Yeah, but I’d rather not use my real name around here.”
Dash cocked her head in confusion but quickly dismissed her curiosity. The stallion probably had his own reasons for keeping his name secret.
“So… Mr. Mysterious, what are you doing here?”
“Same thing as you I guess. Showing these Canterlot ponies what a real Nightmare Night is like.” He smiled suavely “Don’t suppose you’d want to team up? We could go nuts on this town.”
Rainbow grinned broadly. “Sounds great.”
“Argh, I can’t… quite get it in.” M Grunted.
“Jeez, All you guys are the same. Talk yourself up and then you can’t deliver.” Rainbow muttered. “Here, let me try. It’s those big hooves of yours I reckon.”
“You know what they say about guys with big hooves right?”
“They need big boots?” Rainbow guessed, grabbing the thin cord from his hooves and within seconds had expertly threaded it through the mounting ring.
“That’s not fair.” He muttered
“Maybe I’m just better at setting pranks up.” Rainbow countered.
“No way.”
“Stop whinging, I got it done now let’s get out of here before somepony comes along and finds us with our pants hanging down.”
“We’re not wearing pants.” M pointed out.
“Whatever.” She said, giving him a rough shove along.
“You sure this will work?” he asked, taking flight and perching on the low cloud cover the two pegasi had moved overhead.
“Sure I’m sure.”
“Well looks like we’re going to find out.” He said with barely suppressed glee.
Further down the street a large group of ponies dressed in fine clothing walked towards them, noses on the air.
“Snobs.” Rainbow muttered sourly.
“Shh!”
“The ponies walked towards them, oblivious to the tripwire across the road.
“Here we go.” Rainbow said as the first pony crossed the threshold.
A loud crash came from a side alley as a pile of crates, attached to the tripwire tumbled over. Looking for the source of the noise, the group of ponies didn’t see the clouds above them slowly descending nor the two black and purple clad pegasi pushing them.
“I do say, there wasn’t just fog here a moment ago was there?” one asked in a high Canterlot accent as he she finally noticed the low lying clouds appearing around her.
“No dear there wasn’t.” another said with a twinge of nervousness in his voice.
Rainbow Dash, concealed by the fog let out a loud scream from in front of them.
“Sweet Celestia what was that?” a third asked, his voice breaking in fear.
Rainbow had to suppress a giggle; she and M still had a few tricks up their sleeves and it wouldn’t do to ruin the trick now.
An ethereal whistling sound came through the mist. Rainbow knew it was merely a pair of empty glass bottles slung under M but he had to admit, the noise was… unsettling, to say the least.
Shrouded by the fog, she crept closer to the cluster of now thoroughly spooked ponies.
M whistled over again followed by the sound of another pallet smashing against the cobblestone road.
“Who- who’s there?” One asked, whipping around to face where Rainbow slinked through the mist. Quick as a blink, she faded back into the mist and approached from another angle, her hooves clopping loudly against the road.
“I’ve had quite enough of this I think.” One gibbered and galloped off into the mist.
“You should have followed him while you had the chance.” Rainbow roared, appearing above the shocked ponies, mouth wide open. In place of her normal teeth were a set of (candied) blood covered fangs. M appeared out of the mist behind them, yellow goggles gleaming in the mist and a similar set of fangs in his open mouth..
The remaining ponies screamed loudly and bolted in all directions, leaving Dash and M staring at each other with stupid grins on their faces. They held the stare for a moment before erupting in fits of laughter.
“The looks on their faces. Priceless!” Dash struggled to get out. “At fist they were like, 'What?' And then they were like ‘Ahhhh!’” She fell into another fit of giggles as she made an obnoxiously high pitched imitation of the Canterlot elite
"This prank, I like it.” M chortled. “Another!”
The duo pulled off the prank twice more before a patrol of city guards ordered them away. Even under the guard’s steely eyes the pair could barely contain their mirth.
“I think it’s time you headed home ma’am.” One said sternly. “You too sir, I don’t want to have to throw either of you in the lockup for the night.”
“We’ll try to keep out of trouble sir.” M said respectfully, trying not to snicker.
The guard blinked once. “Try.” He said dully before marching off with the rest of his patrol.
Naturally he didn’t notice the large ‘Kick me!’ sign stapled to the back of his armour.
“Okay, I think that’s enough.” M said as another group of well-dressed ponies scattered from the sudden crack of thunder he had made.
“Yeah, those guards are getting pretty annoyed.” Rainbow said as a pair of guards trotted underneath them, throwing venomous glares at the two pranksters. Ever since the guards had broken their antics up the first time, a pair of them had been shadowing them. Luckily, the duo seemed adept at giving them the slip before pulling off another prank. By the time the guards arrived, there was little they could do but glare and think angry thoughts.
Rainbow suppressed a yawn and smiled back at the guards innocently.
“Tired?” M asked.
“A bit.”
“Where are you staying?”
“A hotel that is close by, no biggie. What about you?”
“Secret unspecified somewhere.”
Rainbow paused for a second as the stallion neatly sidestepped her question.
“Neat.”
“Yeah.”
He turned to look at her.
“We should hang sometime again, you’re pretty cool.”
“That’d be nice.”
“Awesome.” He said, grinning widely.
“Wait, you don’t mean like… a date do you?” She said, trying to hide excitement behind her ‘anti-sappy barrier’ and failing horribly.
“I mean, if you want it to be, yeah sure. Like a date.” He looked at her knowingly. “Getting a little excited aren’t we?”
“And you’re not?” she said giving him a rough shove. “No funny ideas buddy.”
He grinned mischievously.
“You know, I still don’t know your name.” Rainbow said, trying to tease the information out of the stallion.
“You can call me M.” he said simply.
“No you doofus, your real name.”
“You’ll find out.”
She flipped her goggles up and examined the stallion closely. Throughout the night he had kept his identity close to his chest and had easily skirted any questions she had asked about his job or life. But it didn’t take a genius like Twilight to figure a few things out about him. His build was athletic and he wasn’t lacking in the brains department. His powerful wings meant he flew a lot; almost as much, if not more, than she did.
Frustratingly though, this got her no closer to finding out who he really was.
She nudged him roughly.
“Be honest here, who are you? I’ve tried working it out all night and I haven’t gotten anywhere.”
“Good.” He said with a smirk.
Rainbow Dash groaned in frustration. “Come on! Just tell me! Please please please please!”
The flight suit shifted over his eye as he presumably raised an eyebrow.
“No.”
“That’s a funny way to tell me what your name is.” Rainbow said tackling him and flipping him over, back against the cloud. He tried to squirm out of the hold but Rainbow simply sat on him.
“You’ll have to better than that!” He said mockingly as he suddenly pushed the mare off of him and pinned her underneath him. Rainbow squealed in surprise as their positions were reversed, making M. laugh loudly.
Rainbow struggled under him for a few moments before giving up. He was much stronger than she was and no amount of budging would get him off her.
“Gotcha! What’ca going to do now Dash?” He asked, confident in his victory.
A impulsive thought ran through her head and she did something neither of them expected.
She kissed him. A quick peck on the lips that send a jolt of electricity running down her spine.
Rainbow felt a dull heat rising in her face and was glad for the costume covering her blush. M’s jaw opened in surprise and he toppled off her, stupefied.
“That was unexpected.” He said dumbly, his voice a little less harsh than normal.
“Sorry, I don’t know what came over me.” Rainbow said timidly. “You know, I should probably get going. Getting late and all.”
“Yeah not a bad idea.” He said, seemingly eager to forget what she had just done.
Rainbow cursed under her breath, her recklessness and impulsiveness had driven him off. If she hadn’t been so stupid she would have admitted defeat and never would have kissed him.
She turned to fly off towards her room, most probably to lie on her bed all night hitting herself with a book, when M hooked a hoof around her leg and turned her back around to face him. Much to her surprise he was smiling goofily. After a moment he flipped his goggles up revealing a brilliant set of deep green eyes. A faint smudge of grey came away from what Rainbow Dash now realised was his dyed coat.
“We’ll hang out some time, yeah?” He asked.
Rainbow Dash’s mind locked up as she sudden recognised his voice. She remained in her stunned state as he winked at her and flew off into the night.
A quiet squee escaped her mouth and after a moment she jumped up and down on the spot barely able to contain her emotions. After briefly checking if anypony else was looking, she abandoned all vestiges of self-control and bounded up and down enthusiastically on the cloud.
“Yes yes yes yes!”