//------------------------------//
// It's Showtime 
// Story: Graphs 
// by Mozzarella 
//------------------------------//

If you want to dash today, you have to rainbow yesterday.


Graphs



***


Spitfire plopped ungracefully back into her seat. She appeared shaken, upset, disturbed, what have you. A few moments of nervous fidgeting passed without the return of any rainbow colored pegasi before those around her started to take notice. 

"Dude," inquired Gilda. "Everything alright?"

The Wonderbolt let out a huge sigh. "Finally! I've got a story I'm dying to tell and nopony asks!"

"What happened?" her partner asked, frowning. 

"So Rainbow Dash," she began, stopping once she felt the row of five ponies behind her lean in. She turned around to face her audience and began again. "Rainbow Dash and I were walking back from the bathroom and we decided to go find Blitz 'cause he was taking a while. But when we got close, we started to hear ponies grunting and stuff. Right outside the door of the colt's room, Lightning Dust was, like, attacking Blitz!"

"What?" said the farmer inquisitively. "Like, wrestlin'?"

"Pft. Sure. Only Lightning seemed to want to do the other kind of wrestling. The kind mommy and daddy were doing when the foal walks in on them at night."

Everypony's faces contorted in either disgust, shock, or both. 

"So Blitz was all like 'Get off!' and stuff, but she really had him there. Then, you know what she does? She starts kissing him! Like, straight up snogging! I'm talking tongue swallowing-"

Rarity cringed at the vivid description. "We get it! Please, just go on." Fluttershy was now entirely inside her mane. 

"Right, sorry. So Blitz finally gets her off-"

"Good heavens!" The white unicorn interjected.

"Not like that! At least, she didn't get to that before Blitz pulled free. Once he saw us, though, he bounced. Totally blew a hole in the ceiling and everything."

Everypony around remained engrossed in the pegasus's tale except Twilight, who just sat grimly shaking her head. 

This is what I was talking about, she sent telepathically to her fellow unicorn. 

Rarity didn't react. Being right or wrong paled in comparison to juicy gossip like this. 

"What did Dashie do?" Pinkie asked, worried. She didn't even giggle at the phrase 'Dashie do'. 

Spitfire opened her mouth to respond, then closed it and gestured behind them.

"See for yourself."

The crowd behind them consisted of ponies either chatting with one another or asleep in uncomfortable looking positions. However, there was one greenish spot in the colorful sea that was not doing either. The spot was somewhat black and blue around one eye.

Applejack let out a hearty chuckle. "Ata' girl, Dash!"

"Is she going to be okay?" Fluttershy asked softly, exiting her mane. 

The fiery Wonderbolt laughed. "I dunno. I felt it when that punch landed. Definitely didn't think she could hit that hard."

"Oh my..." She returned to the mane. Six more weeks of winter. 

"And where is she now?" Rarity inquired. 

Spitfire scanned the sky and shrugged. "She went through the hole after the beat-down. Probably went after him."

Rarity scowled slightly, a step below troubled. This will certainly complicate things, she thought to herself. 

Before any more discussion could take place, a loud voice from the speakers put out a few slurred words to the audience. 

"Awwwrighty then my ponies. We got...pffft... three shows or something left for you tonight. Going next are the... the..."

"The Wonderbolts, Vinyl. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Wonderbowls? Isn't that name taken or something? Yo Wonderbars! There's already a Wonderbelts out there. They're all famous for... what was it? Bolting or something. You can't just pretend to be boltiers like the Wo...Wonder...those guys."

"Vinyl, why don't you lie down? I'll take it from here." A thump echoed through the speakers and suddenly there was no more blue hair visible at the announcers' table. 

"Will Spitfire and Soarin please come to the stage?" Octavia requested without so much as a trace of alcohol in her voice. 

Soarin burst from his seat and began to roll his joints. "That's our queue, Spitz. You ready?"

"As I'll ever be," she droned, following him.

After they were out of earshot, the stallion nudged his partner out of wherever her mind had run off to. 

"You alright?" he asked with genuine concern.

She shrugged. "Yeah. I guess I'm just a little disappointed is all."

His eyes fell somewhat. "Me too. But hey, at least it's both of us."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it would kind of suck if one of us got shot down and the other succeeded."

Spitfire smiled and shook her head. "So, what? We're each other's backups now?"

"Eh. Let's be honest. You had more of a chance than I did. Getting with her would kind of be like getting with the Princesses for me. It just wasn't gonna happen. But it was fun to think about."

"I'm not too sure about that. My 'chance' was more like me being totally creepy and pushy. Seriously, I can't believe I acted like that. Like I was a freaking schoolfilly or something!"

"We both acted silly. That's what these stupid crushes do to a pony."

"You know what? Screw crushes."

"Screw crushes?"

"Screw crushes."

She then, in front of what might as well have been all of Equestria in this media-driven age, pulled Soarin into the deepest, most powerful kiss she could muster. No caution. No bull. 

The crowd didn't exactly go silent. Silence was impossible once you got past a certain number of ponies. But the noise definitely dropped by a few decibels as the display of affection dragged on. 

When she finally let him come up for air, she had her forelegs wrapped tightly around his neck, eyes staring into and beyond his. 

"Screw crushes," he agreed. 


...


Two sounds could be heard at this point. 

One was the howl of Vinyl Scratch as if she'd just seen two schoolhouse lovebirds hold hooves. Luckily, all dialogue was being taped for security reasons. That sound would go on to play in the background of many a sitcom. 

The other was the exasperated sigh of one purple unicorn in the stands.  

"Is this really happening right now?" she complained to nopony in particular. "She was just practically sitting on Blitz's lap! And now this? Honestly!"

"I know!" interjected Rarity with less anger. "They've been in how many interviews? Not once did they share that they were together! The public needs to know, Twilight! We deserve the gossip if they've got it!" 

Shut up, Rarity. That's not what I meant, said Twilight's unfiltered mind. When it passed through the necessary channels, it came out as yet another frustrated sigh.

Settle down, Twilight, came a less confrontational part of her. You won.

Which is true, of course. Some unpleasant breakup was undoubtedly in the making, which was anything but Rarity's promised "benefit to Equestria". There was nothing more to worry about. 

She briefly donned a relaxed smile for the first time that night. Briefly, because it was immediately replaced by one of anticipation. Turns out she was supposed to be having fun. Who knew. 


...


"Fillies and gentlecolts! I present to you: the Wonderbolts!" 

The lights dimmed. The crowd silenced. 

The drums began.


(A small note. You see, I had originally embedded the lyrics to the song in the above link, but recent news on fimfiction has discouraged that sort of thing. So, instead of the dark lyrics of Klayton, you will be subject to my musings on his dark lyrics. I do hope you are satisfied. Remember that I never asked for this.)


They were accompanied by some muffled, low, electronic instrument. Just as the sound had begun, the flyers took off to the center of the stadium. Spitfire stopped on a dime, her fiery trail fading quickly without any means of support. Soarin kept his course and began to circle his partner, engulfing them both in a thick sphere of stone-gray smoke. He picked up speed as the music reached a crescendo.

"Blackstar!"

With each synthesized boom, the sphere pulsated and grew. It soon reached several meters in diameter. 

"Blackstar!"

An orange light within the sphere flashed with the next booms, lingering and growing each time. From every angle, it resembled an eclipsed sun. Pitch blackness in the center surrounded by a blazing corona. 

A high pitched chorus began in the background. As it rose in volume, Soarin emerged from the cloud and began to form a horizontal ring around it with his dark trail. At the moment he left, it started to grow brighter. 

(Whoever was singing this song sounded rather hostile as he went on about "Blackstars" and "spitting".)

The stallion retreated back into his sphere just as Spitfire came out. She started to fly through his ring, dispersing it in favor of her brighter trail. 

(Our narrator continued with his rant about some group that would grant some wish or other. He didn't sound too happy about the whole deal, to be honest. )

A trio of booms rocked the stadium and Soarin burst out again, arcing in and out of his structure. 

(It soon became apparent that our narrator was not the one being subject to this unfortunate wish.) 

Spitfire mimicked the stallion, her blazing loops resembling solar flares.

(About here, he shared with us that there was little to be done about these wishes.)

Their creation truly exemplified chaos. Considering a few members of the audience were rather accustomed to that concept, this was quite a feat. 

(He asserted that we should not even waste our effort.)

Fleeting shadows and flames provided more visual stimulation than most of the ponies knew what to do with. 

(Yet he felt that we should praise this impotence. Strange.)

They retreated back into the burning void as the singer began an ominous moan.


...


"I must say, Twilight. I've never taken you to be a fan of... whatever this is," Rarity remarked to her head-bobbing friend. 

The purple unicorn smiled sheepishly. "I admit, it is a bit loud for my tastes. But it's not that bad. I'm more interested in the meaning of songs rather than the sound."

Their farmer friend snorted. "Speak fer' yerself. Ah' can't even figure out what the hay kind of instruments they're playin in this thing! Sounds like one o' them mechanical juicers or sumthin."

"It's called a synthesizer."

"A syth-o-what now?"

"Synthesizer. It's like a machine that can be used to make music. Most songs of this genre are made on a computer."

Applejack scratched her head. "Computer? Ain't that cheatin'?"

"Oh not at all," interjected the yellow pegasus who was happy to find anything to distract her from the assault on her ears. "They have just as much trouble with their programs as other musicians do with their instruments. The only advantage they receive is the ability to make unique sounds."

Rarity felt confused, as did her other friends. "Fluttershy, darling? Do you listen to this type of music?"

"Oh no. Of course not. But some of the animals do."

"Th- the animals?"

"Yes. Celldweller is very popular among the fruit bats. And little Angel loves his dubstep."

Nopony knew exactly what to make of that. Between the explosions in their eyes and the noise in their ears, there wasn't enough room in their heads to properly process the image of that sweet little bunny bounding along to some ear-shattering bass drops. 

Not including Pinkie, of course. She simply returned to bobbing her head and humming along as if she had expected as much. 

By the second verse, Rarity had cleared her head enough to get back to probing. She leaned over to Twilight. 

"You said you were more concerned with the meaning of songs. What exactly does this one mean? I can't quite find one."

The unicorn smiled a cheesy smile. The smile the protagonist dons as he or she spits out a catchy one-liner. Or what would have been considered catchy about half a century before ponies discovered actual wit. 

"Oh, something along the lines of, 'Be careful what you wish for.'" 

The fashionista shrugged an unimpressed shrug. "Hm. I suppose that's as good a lesson as any. I can't imagine why he couldn't just lower his voice to tell us, though."

"What?" Twilight asked. "You've got a better lesson?"

"Nothing of the sort. I simply don't agree is all."

"Don't agree? What's not to agree with?"

"The heart wants what the heart wants, Twilight. On some matters, it just takes a leap of faith. What one desires may very well be worth the risk."

Twilight frowned, annoyed. 

"So we should throw caution to the wind whenever the spirit moves us?"

"I suppose not. Though I recall hearing that fortune favors the bold. It doesn't matter anyway. Look at us! Arguing during this, of all things! By the way, do you have any idea how they make those lights like that?" Rarity gave a short laugh and shook her head. "Of course you know! You're Twilight Sparkle!"

Twilight Sparkle did know. Her head just wasn't exactly in the right place for the explanation. Her opponent just gave up a perfectly good chance to make her point. Had she really forgotten? No. She's more clever than that. Still, tutor Twilight was far more powerful than combatant Twilight, and she did not hesitate to take the reins. 

"Well to understand this, you have to know that magic isn't limited to unicorns. All ponies have some means of magic. It all just depends on the location in which the magic is stored..."

So she went on with a lesson that most college students were scammed into paying for. Though Rarity couldn't quite pay complete attention to her with all those bright lights and booms going off around her. It's also worth mentioning that she did not particularly care. 


...


One absurdly long chant of "hallelujah"s, courtesy of the singer with Pinkie singing backup a bit too cheerfully, later, the black sun in the middle of the stadium had reached critical mass. Its swirling black surface bubbled with what appeared to be orange plasma. Parents grabbed a hold of their children out of instinct. Because nothing stops an incoming inferno more than an additional layer of squishy pony flesh. 

It did not engulf them, thankfully. And even if it did, they signed the waivers. The star began to shrink just as the song calmed down to a relatively slow pace. Our singer lapsed back into his third verse, which was in fact nearly the same as the first, as the sounds grew fainter

Then, the respite was taken away just as swiftly as it came. The chorus and the booms returned, the star contracting with each beat. Soon, it appeared too small for a foal to fit inside, let alone two flying adult pegasi. 

And yet it continued to shrink. The sphere slowly became little more than a point in the air. An infinitesimally small spot that seemed to distort the air around it. As the singer repeated his chorus, it started to shake unnaturally. As if it was not meant to exist in this reality. 

The black hole drew attention like a real one would draw anything else. It was mesmerizing to see beyond the event horizon. To see a true void. The blackest black, and so on. 

A low buzz faded into existence just above everypony's hearing threshold. It was not coming from the speakers or a foal that thought it was cute to download that "mosquito ringtone". It didn't even seem like a sound a machine could make. And it was angry. 

Dread struck the audience as they watched the unstable, oscillating mass. Would it swallow them up? Trap them in the darkness forevermore?

Apparently not. With the final lyrics, the sound cut off abruptly. At that instant, the black hole collapsed in on itself and allowed reality to come back into focus. Nopony could be entirely certain what had happened. They tried not to blink, for all the good it did them. They wanted to see how it would end. 

But the eyes were not up to such a task. After the inexplicable daze that followed the disappearance of the show's only prop, the performers appeared out of thin air, as if they had not even been moving. 

After a short pause, cheers erupted from the stands coupled with some muffled plopping noise. Some ponies had not yet figured out that stamping on clouds didn't have quite the same effect as it would back on the ground. So they switched to whistling and clapping their hooves together. 

From afar, the team looked rather imposing. They floated back to back with their expressions blank as if they had not just bent space and time. 

"My word!" Rarity exclaimed, gawking. "They aren't even winded!"


...


"I'm dying, Spitz," murmured Soarin through pursed lips. 

She didn't move to acknowledge him. "If I," she swallowed. "If I turn my head one more time, I will throw up."

"Why do we even do that routine?" he asked laboriously. "We feel like crap afterwards."

"Because it's the best one we've got and we can't afford to be shown up by anypony at this thing."

"But it's Rainbow Dash!"

"But nothing. We've got an illusion to maintain. Now, I'm going to turn slowly so we can head back to our seats. If I throw up on you, sorry."

She placed a hoof on him for support and nearly sent him plummeting toward Equestria. 

"I don't think I'm gonna make it," he whimpered.

Spitfire grunted and mentally demanded the world to stop spinning. "Keep it together. We just need to stay alive for a little bit longer and then we can crash on the bed."

Mentioning a bed caused Soarin to drool as if he'd seen a pie on a windowsill. However, another detail caught his attention as well. 

"We?"

"What? You expect me to fly all the way to my house after that?"

The stallion faked a weary sigh, which was easy given his condition. "Fine. I guess you can stay at my place."

"Like you would send me away. C'mon, I need to sit down."

"Yeah. I like the idea of sitting down."


...


Vinyl Scratch had moved her stylish shades up and over her horn in order to display the awe she was feeling. At night, there's really no reason to wear them anyway. However, she preferred to keep ponies' eyes off of hers. They got all upset about it for reasons she couldn't understand. 

Speaking of things she couldn't understand, her drunken mind was having trouble processing what had just happened in front of her. It was like, some black dot or something. But then there was no dot and there were Wonderbolts instead. Weird. 

"Dude..." she breathed, trailing off immediately. She couldn't even dedicate any thought to the hoof waving before her face. 

"Snap out of it Vinyl. Just two more and you can- oh what did you call it? 'Trip out' or whatever it is. Come on. You can speak, correct?"

"Huh? R-right. Right. Who's next?" She squinted at a sheet of paper before her, mouthing what she read. "Double Rainbow? Tch. Alright. Double Rainbow, you're up!"


...


Rainbow Dash scowled back at the stadium in the distance, the brightest spot in the nighttime Cloudsdale. The Wonderbolts were supposed to go next, but there were other things to think about. 

Luna was being less than generous with the moonlight tonight. How could one full moon be dimmer than another? Did it change with the princess's mood? Was she sad or angry? 

Or maybe it was just a side effect of Dash seeing red.  

She shook her head, trying to rid herself of that stupid little scene replaying over and over in her mind. Those two tangled up on the floor, her with that damned grin of hers. "Hey what's up?" she said when he ran off. She then said "Blrgh!" as Dash's hoof passed through her head. 

"I should have punched her harder," Dash spat. "She doesn't care about anypony but herself. I knew she hadn't changed."

Some part of Dash tried to find a way to excuse Lightning's actions, but it received a cold glare every time it tried to speak. So what if she didn't know about them? She should have asked. Or picked up on it sometime between the wrestling and the punch. Dash considered returning for a few more blows at that smug little face. 

"And him? Oh I'll get him for this. Freakin' Blitz."


...