//------------------------------// // CH 2: Court is in Session // Story: Rainbow Dash Wants To Fly // by Scantrel //------------------------------// Setting down her pencil, Rainbow Dash took a quick look over the paper and reviewed her answers. To her relief, the quiz hadn’t been too difficult, and while she wasn’t entirely sure she’d gotten every answer correct, she knew she had done well enough. The teacher passed by each of the students, gathering up the quiz sheets, and then returned to her desk. “Alright, everyone can go to your lab stations” she said as she set the quiz papers aside and started to arrange her lecture notes. Rainbow Dash got up and walked over to her station, plopping down on one of the stools as her lab partner pranced over and took the stool opposite across the small counter-height table. With a grin, Rainbow Dash lowered her voice and asked conspiratorially, “Hey Pinkie…did you remember the penny I told you to bring?” “Sure did!” came the bubbly reply, a little too loud for Rainbow Dash’s comfort. Pinkie Pie reached into her pocket, and produced a shiny new penny, minted just that year. “Awesome, this will be cool!” Rainbow exclaimed, and dug out a small glass petri dish from the drawer in the lab station countertop. Setting the penny in the middle, she then picked up one of the test tubes that was labeled H2SO4 and poured enough liquid over the coin until it was submerged. Pinkie leaned over the lab counter with a little “Ooooh” and gazed on with interest as Rainbow Dash finalized setting up her “experiment” and closed the lid to the petri dish and tucked it away back in the drawer. Rainbow Dash grinned over at Pinkie and said “Ok…so now we wait and see how much of it dissolves by the holiday break.” Pinkie bobbed her head with a smile and said “Okie dokie!” and then sat back on her stool as the teacher started speaking again. “Today, we will be discussing and doing some experiments with acids and bases. Please don’t take any extra steps and follow my instructions during the labs.” The teacher said, beginning her lecture. Rainbow tried to pay attention, but ultimately found herself slipping away mentally as the teacher droned on. Lectures were so boring! Her mind wandered back to her talk with Applejack, and Rainbow Dash wondered what scheme the cowgirl was cooking up. Whatever it was, Rainbow would just have to wait to see. And waiting wasn’t her strong suit. Thankfully, the lecture came to an end soon enough and the students opened their lab workbooks to begin the exercise. Most of the steps were fairly basic and involved using litmus paper and recording the results to gauge the various pH levels. Rainbow Dash suddenly got a mischievous idea, and when she made sure that Pinkie wasn’t looking, poured out the distilled water from Pinkie’s rack of test tubes, and refilled it with the vinegar that had been provided as part of the exercise. Then she sat back, and waited. Pinkie was murmuring to herself as she worked through the exercise, and finally came to step 11: “Dilute 25g of baking soda into distilled water, then add 4cc of vinegar to the solution and record the results.” Rainbow Dash had to force herself not to snicker as Pinkie measured out the powder and then dumped it into the test tube. The results were everything Rainbow had hoped for. With a sudden gushing fizz, the mixture reacted, boiling out of the test tube and covering Pinkie’s hand in a goopy mess. Pinkie’s eyes rolled up to her brows in shock and she let out a startled “Eeeep!” and nearly dropped the test tube. Rainbow Dash couldn’t hold it in any longer. “Bahahaaa!” she chortled, and Pinkie suddenly realized she’d been pranked. Her surprise turned into mirth, and the two friends shared a good laugh over the joke, earning them a look and a “Shhhh!” from the teacher. “Dashie, would you be super-duper cool and go get me a couple of paper towels?” Pinkie asked, looking at her hand as the foamy mess started to coagulate. “Yeah, sure Pinkie, hold on.” Rainbow Dash said, and got up from her seat to go to the sink, shaking her head as she could overhear Pinkie talking to herself. “It kinda looks like frosting from when I make cupcakes. But I don’t have any cups. I have a test tube, maybe it’s more like a tube-cake. Orrrrr, since it’s frosting my hand, maybe it’s a hand-cake!” Pinkie mused. Rainbow grabbed a handful of paper towels from the classroom sink and walked back over to the lab station and handed them to Pinkie, not noticing that the majority of the mess was missing from her hand. Pinkie beamed and took the towels, dabbed away the little bit of remaining mixture off her fingers, then sat down on her stool to redo the experiment for the exercise. Rainbow Dash sat down as well, turning the page in the notebook to get to the next step also, and stopped abruptly as she became aware that the seat of her pants and backs of the legs of her jeans were wet. With a groan, she then realized why her friend hadn’t needed so many towels after all. “Pinkieeeeeee!!!” Rainbow Dash growled. As if she had teleported somehow, Pinkie leaned over from behind Rainbow Dash, her face alight with the most innocent, angelic expression she could muster. “Mmmmhmmmmmm?” Pinkie hummed. Rainbow glanced back and saw the look on Pinkie's face, and realized that she, the most awesome prankster ever, had been pranked. Thankfully, the last class of the day was gym, and Rainbow Dash was eager to get out of the wet jeans and into her gym clothes. She would have to think up an appropriate revenge for Pinkie, of course. “No one gets the last laugh on Rainbow ‘Danger’ Dash!” Rainbow vowed to herself. Today’s period was devoted to Volleyball, in preparation for the team tryouts coming soon. Rainbow wasn’t surprised in the least when the coach named her a squad captain for the afternoon; after all she was the Varsity team Captain. Looking over the other girls, she set about selecting the other four players for her team, picking the ones she knew would make the strongest squad. Practice or not, they needed to win! The first choice was easy; Rainbow Dash took Golden Dawn, her friend and teammate from last season. The tall, thin girl gave Rainbow a fist-bump as she came over to stand by her captain. The others weren’t veterans from the actual team, but Rainbow Dash had a pretty good idea of their overall athleticism from watching them throughout the semester. In short order, she filled her squad and then headed over to the court where they had been assigned to play. When they arrived at the court, Rainbow saw that the other team was being captained by Sunset Shimmer, and an almost feral grin broke out on her face. While she and the rest of the girls had slowly accepted Sunset’s apology, and were helping her understand the value of real friendships, Rainbow Dash didn’t mind taking her down a notch or two on the court. As the teams took their position, Rainbow was playing center net to start, and Sunset Shimmer was just to her right across the net. Rainbow Dash looked over and said “Hey Sunset…I hope you didn’t have too much lunch, so I can serve you some humble pie.” Sunset Shimmer scoffed, and said "If there's anyone that's going to be humbled, Dash, it's you. So far all I've heard is talk." Rainbow Dash glowered at Sunset, and quipped "At least I can beat you fair and square. When we're done here, you're going to wish you were back a grade!" Sunset Shimmer glared back through the net, and snapped back curtly with a menacing air, “Bring it, Loyalty”. Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth as she heard the first smack of the ball in service. It...was…on! The other team was surprisingly good, which just made it all the more thrilling for Rainbow. She was in her second element, the spirit of competition, and as the other team executed a decent set for Sunset, Golden Dawn leaped up to make a perfectly timed block, resulting in a side-out for Rainbow’s squad. Rainbow Dash pumped her fist with triumph as she rotated to the right wing position. The next serve was deep, but handled well, and this time, the block didn’t happen, but Rainbow’s mid-court player dug hard, saving the point as Golden Dawn batted the ball up and right, setting Rainbow Dash for the kill. With a strong leap, Rainbow Dash took to the air, and in that second, all thoughts of flying in any other way ceased as she targeted Sunset’s sideline. Timing her smash perfectly, Rainbow pounded the ball past the blockers and screamed it down the line, but to her surprise Sunset was faster than she expected, and she dove to dig Rainbow’s spike back into the air. Rainbow’s team was caught off-guard by the return, so certain they were that it was a guaranteed point that they weren’t in position to block the other team’s tap over the net. Sunset Shimmer looked up from the ground over at Rainbow Dash and flashed a victoriously snarky grin at her. The match lasted the entire period, both teams trading points and side-outs until the final minutes, when Golden Dawn and Rainbow Dash teamed up for one of their signature sets and kills they had practiced and performed over and over during the regular season. As the coach blew the final whistle, ending the game at 25-23 with a win for Rainbow's squad, Rainbow Dash stole a glance across the net at Sunset Shimmer. Sunset’s usual air of bravado was gone, and she was catching her breath as the rest of her team headed for the showers. Rainbow ducked under the net and walked over to Sunset, offering her a fist for a bump, with a respectful look on her face. At first Sunset seemed genuinely surprised by the gesture, but then curled her fingers and bumped her fist with Rainbow's. Rainbow Dash lowered her hand and said “You know, you’re a lot better than I thought, Sunset. I have to admit, I’m impressed.” Sunset nodded thankfully and said, “You too, Dash. I never gave you credit for being more than mostly hot air, but…you’ve really got game.” Rainbow Dash grinned and said, “Of course, I’m just awesome! But really Sunset, I really liked your determination and skill. You should totally try out for the Varsity team this year. I’d have you on the team in a heartbeat!” Sunset Shimmer blinked and said “Really? I…I didn’t think you wanted to be around me that much.” Rainbow nudged Sunset and said “There’s no way I’d not want you on my team, after seeing you play. And besides…being competitors doesn't mean we can't be friends. This will be a good chance to get to know each other better.” Sunset gave a thoughtful nod at that, then turned to head for the locker room. Looking back, she gave a hint of a friendly smile and said “I’d like that, Rainbow Dash.” Sunset turned back and walked off the court, favoring her right leg slightly where she had hit the ground pretty hard to pull off one of her great saves. Rainbow Dash started to follow her, but instead of heading into the locker room, she turned to exit the gym and go out to the running track. The thrill of victory had her pumped up, and she wanted to get in a few laps to bleed off the rest of her energy before heading home for the weekend.