Author's Note: Hi everypony! Sorry for the wait. I had school and other things going on. Thanks to BronyMaster for editing and pre-reading and thanks to pegasista23 for being awesome!! Well, here we go!
Rage Against the Memes
Chapter 2: Taste the Rainbow Part 2
“Ow!” yelped Rainbow Dash as a spitball hit her in the left ear. She whipped her head around looking for the soon-to-be-deceased pegasus. She glared at the snickering brown pegasus colt who sat two desks down and was holding a red straw in his muzzle.
“Hey, Dumb Bell!” she called out to the prankster. He looked at Rainbow, still chuckling slightly. What he saw then froze him to his core. Rainbow had picked up her copy of Our Past, Present and Future: A Brief History of Equestria Under Celestia’s Reign, all thousand pages, and hurled it in the colt’s direction. Dumbell barely dodged the textbook, letting the projectile to pass through the cloud wall of the classroom and fall to the solid ground far beneath Cloudsdale.
“Rainbow Dash and Dumb Bell see me after school for an hour of detention,” sternly said the teacher, Lightning Feather, who had entered the room as the book left.
Dumb Bell pointed one of his hooves to Rainbow and asked, “Why me? I’m not the one who tried to kill somepony!”
“Well, I’m pretty sure that you’re responsible for this?” Lightning pointed at the wad of saliva-soaked paper that now lied under Rainbow’s chair and raised an eyebrow.
The young colt protested, “How do you know that somepony else didn’t do that?”
Lightning snorted, looking around the room, “You expect me to believe that Derpy did it? Don’t tell me you want me to believe that Fluttershy did it?!” he raised a hoof to his muzzle in mock surprise.
Both Dumb Bell and Lightning looked over at the little butterscotch-colored pegasus who was shaking in the back row.
“Um… I guess not?” Dumb Bell asked cautiously.
Lightning nodded, “You guessed right. Now get back in your seat, before I punt you back.” Rainbow snickered to herself as the colt sat down; his head hung low. Lightning shot her a look, shutting up the cyan pegasus.
Lightning then walked up to the front of the room and cleared his throat. “Students, I’d like to start the class by introducing a new student. She just moved here from Windver, so please be nice to her while she gets settled in.” He turned to the door, “You can come in now.” From the hall, the head of a dark pink pony peeked in. “Don’t be scared,” Lightning said softly.
The pony walked through the door and stood in front of the class, looking nervously around the room at the other colts and fillies. She was a chubby pegasus with wings that were a bit too small for her body. Her mane was primarily grey, but there were speckles of every color imaginable sprinkled across the unkempt hairs. On her flank, she had the cutie mark of an artist’s palette. She seemed shy, as she pawed at the floor and didn’t say a word.
“Go on. Introduce yourself,” said Lightning, nudging the pegasus.
She opened her muzzle and said in a small voice, “Hello, everybody. My name is Arty Tartsly.”
“Hello Arty,” everypony responded in a single bland tone.
Arty paused. She didn’t expect a response, albeit an involuntary one. “Umm…” she continued, “Well, as Mr. Feather already said, I just moved here from the junior flight school in Windver, and um well…” She put on a determined expression, “I hope I can become friends wi*squeak*.” She stopped abruptly and turned deep red, blushing from her recurring nervous habit.
The small classroom was soon filled with the laughter of the young pegasi students (save Fluttershy for obvious reasons, Derpy who was silently focusing on her book and a certain cyan filly who was mesmerized with the new student’s multicolored mane).
“All right class, settle down now,” Lightning told his students. “There’s nothing funny about a pony's speech problems. Thank you Miss Tartsly, you may take your seat. Now, everyone take out your history book and turn to the section on the Ponic Wars.” He began to read aloud droning on about the Battle of the Equates Islands.
Arty slumped over to an empty desk next to the window in the back row. Rainbow stared at her as she sat down, her head in her hooves. A folded piece of paper landed on Rainbow’s desk. Raindrops, the jasmine pegasus who sat to her right, pointed over to Dumbell who was whistling and looking around innocently. Rainbow picked up the note and read the funny joke that was written on it, and laughed. She then quickly stuffed the note in her saddle bag that was lying on the floor.
Lightning, not even looking up from his textbook said, “Rainbow Dash, fifteen more minutes of detention.”
-------------------------------------------
Rainbow sat in the almost empty detention hall, leaning her elbows on the desk, her hooves pushing her cheeks against her face. “This is sooooo borrrrrrring!!!" she thought. She looked at the clock which hung above the door. “Only five more minutes, you can make it,” she said steeling her resolve.
Lightning looked up at the filly, who had now begun to rock back and forth in her chair, and smiled, “Guess I can’t keep you from your calling any longer, huh?" He stood up and walked over to the door, “Dash I think you’ve learned your lesson, am I right?”
“Does that mean I can go?!,” the young pegasus jumped up with a huge smile.
Lightning laughed, “Yeah, I guess so.” His face once again became stern, “But, I will not be so lenient next time, got it?”
“Yessir!” the cyan pegasus saluted.
“Then get out of here,” Lightning threw a salute of his own as the filly dashed out the door.
-----------------------------------------------
As Rainbow ran into the hall and headed for the flying course, she heard soft crying coming from behind her. Curious she ran to find the source of the sobs. As she ran the crying grew louder and was soon accompanied by angry voices. “Well, what are you gonna do about it?” she heard one of the voices say.
When Rainbow turned the corner she came upon a shaking Arty surrounded by Dumb Bell and his goons, Hoops and Score. An empty tube of paint was lying next to the misty-eyed filly. The cloud floor and three colts, who were fuming, were covered in blue. “Oh colt,” thought Rainbow. She dashed over and stood in front of the pudgy, pink pegasus.
“Stop it you guys,” Rainbow snarled, lowering her head as if ready to charge. “I’m sure it was just an accident,” she continued as Arty nodded quickly in affirmation.
“No way. I saw it. She totally meant it! She came charging around the corner!” Hoops whined. Arty shook her head, quickly denying the accusation.
“You saw her?” Rainbow asked skeptically. “How? With your hair you couldn’t see three hooves in front of your face.” Score, the most silent of the three, snickered. Hoops tried to think of an explanation for this contradiction, but shrugged after he failed to come up with one.
Dumb Bell stepped forwards, leaning over the two fillies, “It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that Arty, or should I say, Farty,” he looked back at his accomplices with a sneer, “got paint all over us. And I think we deserve a little payback.”
He flicked his head at his cronies and the three began to walk towards the fillies, fury in their eyes. Rainbow braced herself for a fight, pawing the floor in readiness as the colts got closer. Dumb Bell raised a hoof to strike and Arty let out a small *meep*, shivering harder than before. The brown colt swung downwards…
And was stopped by a long arm that reached over the three colts, catching his hoof as it fell. The bullies turned and paled at the sight of a very irate Lightning Feather.
Dumb Bell began to sweat, “Oh, um hi Mr. Feather!” He looked back at the still deeply breathing Rainbow who was now shielding Arty under her wing. Dumb Bell, who was drenched in his perspiration, said feigning innocence, “This isn’t what it looks like. We were…um…”
“Playing hide and seek! And there they are! Looks like we win!” piped up Hoops, smiling at his clever lie. Dumb Bell face-hooved at his friend’s stupidity and Score snickered again.
“Oh are you?” replied Lightning in a strangely calm tone.
Hoops nodded excitedly, “Yeah. We were all having a good time, ‘til you came.”
Lightning raised an eyebrow, “Oh, don’t let me stop you,” he said mockingly. “You know what? I’ll join your game.”
Dumb Bell and Score looked at each other in surprise. “Really?” Hoops asked enthusiastically.
Lightning smiled venomously, “Of course. But I’ll be the seeker, okay?” Dumb Bell and Score gave one small shake of their head, while their friend nodded vigorously. Lightning sneered, “Excellent. Now I’ll count to twenty and the three of you go run and hide.” His voice became suddenly low and deadly, “And do try to make sure I can’t find you.” He turned around, covered his eyes with his hoof and began counting, “One…Two…Three…” each number given a more deadly tone.
Dumb Bell’s eyes dilated in fear and he quickly ran down the hall, so fast that he almost broke the sound barrier. His cohorts followed soon after and within ten seconds the colts had left the school’s premises.
“Fourteen…,” Lightning looked up. Noticing that the colts had left he scowled and muttered, “They’d better run.” He looked back at the two fillies. Rainbow was blushing as a weeping Arty now had her in a tight hug, her forehooves crushing the cyan pony’s ribs. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Arty moaned through tears. Rainbow looked behind her back, embarrassed by the emotional display, “It wasn’t a big deal. Now wouldja please let go of me?” she asked, pushing against the pitiful pink pony. “I’ve got somewhere to be.”
Lightning walked over to the pair. “Go on don’t keep him waiting any longer. I’ll take it from here.” He managed to pull Arty off of Rainbow. Arty latched her forehooves around the teacher, who began to stroke her mane, calming her down. Rainbow gave him a small “thank you” and zoomed off to the flying course.
-------------------------------------
Mist Wing waited patiently for his flight-practice partner. The white-coated colt had heard that she had detention, again, so he decided to wait until she was done. Mist didn’t mind though. He spent each school day waiting for these practices; he could for a bit more. "Like it's really the practices you love,” he thought to himself, his cheeks becoming slightly red. Noticing a cyan streak heading towards him, Mist straightened out his mane and regained his composure, getting rid of the blush.
Rainbow rushed out onto the track, breathing heavily. She landed on the cloud next to Mist’s and raised both hooves, in a pleading gesture, “Sorry about that. I was in detention.”
Mist shook his head, a little smile on his muzzle, “No problem. Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked as he noticed Rainbow looking down, deep in thought. She looked at him, a confused expression plastered on her face. “I wonder if Arty is going to be okay?” she thought. The filly quickly shook her downcast visage off, replacing it with a wide smile, “Just thinking about how much I’m going to beat you by today.”
Mist returned the grin, replying, “I don’t know. I’m feeling really good today. Maybe it’ll be my lucky day.”
Rainbow lowered her head, and leaned forward, preparing for takeoff, “You’ll need more than luck to keep up with me. Ready? Three…” Mist settled into starting position, “Two…” Rainbow's tongue poked through the corner of her mouth and she narrowed her eyes in concentration. “GO!” Rainbow exclaimed, both she and her rival taking off at the same speed.
Rainbow pulled ahead slightly within seconds. No matter how many times she experienced it, flight always amazed her; the sheer force of the wind pushing against her as she whizzed through the air, the exhilarating feeling of power as she controlled of the skies, moving effortlessly through the atmosphere. But her favorite part would have to be the sight of the vast never-ending vibrant blue sky that surrounded Equestria. “This is my home,” she silently said.
Mist, who had been gaining on her, heard this and smiled. “Maybe today really will be my lucky day,” his face was suddenly steeled with resolve. He tilted his body to the left, going closer to the cyan filly. He began blushing and said, “Hey Dash?” They both pulled into a nosedive, signifying the end of their race.
The filly looked back at him, peering over her wings, “Yeah Mist?”
“There’s something I want to tell you…” Mist began breathing harder out of nervousness. “Come on you can do this, she’s right there,” he told himself, lowering his voice.
“What Mist?” Rainbow said, leaning her head back to listen.
“IthinkIlikeyou,” Mist blurted blushing furiously.
Rainbow rolled her eyes, “I like you too.”
Mist realized what she meant by that and quickly said, “No not like that. I LIKE like you.”
Rainbow’s eyes widened until they practically took up half of her face. Her mind went on overdrive trying to process this confession. She looked back at Mist to see if he was lying, but when she turned she only saw Mist hovering in place yelling and pointing towards something in front of her, “DASH WATCH OUT!!!”
Rainbow Dash whipped her head back around and found a pillar of stone waiting for her. She screamed and crashed into the hard column and began plummeting, free-falling to the surface of Equestria below. As her eyes closed, she felt herself caught by another pegasus, identified by his wings, and heard “DASH!!! DASH!!!” Then all went pitch black, pain grabbed Rainbow into the dark abyss on unconsciousness.
------------------------------------------
“Hey, are you even listening?”
Rainbow snapped out of her trance. She looked at the huge mare that sat in the grass across from her, “How long since we started?” she asked, groaning as her mind re-focused on the music (if anypony could call it that).
Nyeigh smiled. “Two hours,” she replied letting a small purr escape her lips.
Rainbow could’ve fainted, if it weren’t for that infernal song pounding her eardrums back into her skull, on and on, the same thing over and over. “GAH!!!” Rainbow yelled as she began to struggle against the tart pegasus’s magic. However it had the opposite effect as her wings only wrapped tighter around her body.
Nyeigh sighed, “You shouldn’t have done that, Dashie.”
The song grew louder and Rainbow covered her head with her hooves, foam forming on her muzzle. “MAKE IT STOP!!! OH DEAR CELESTIA, MAKE IT STOP!!! IT’S SO BUCKIN’ ANNOYING!!!” Rainbow wailed.
Nyeigh became furious. She got up and ran over to where Rainbow laid, “You hate my music! You hate my paintings! WHY DID WE EVER BECOME FRIENDS BACK THEN?!!” The pink pegasus breathed heavily through her nose, filled with rage at her captive audience.
Rainbow looked at her, anger filling her own eyes, “I LOVED YOUR PAINTINGS ARTY! WHAT I HATED WAS WHAT THEY WERE DOING TO YOU!!"
Nyeigh shook her head forcefully, “I don’t buy that, Dashie. I don’t BUCKIN' BUY THAT” she yelled, causing Rainbow to jump.
“Umm… hello? Is somepony there?” a soft voice called out from outside the barrier.
Both Nyeigh and Rainbow whipped their head to the direction of the new voice. Nyeigh frowned and Rainbow smiled at what they saw. “Fluttershy??/!!” they said at the same time, one excited, the other saddened by the sight of their friend.
The flitting butter-colored pegasus trotted up to the edge of the barrier, cautiously craning her neck to watch out for dangers. “Umm… Is somepony there?” she asked again, a little bit louder this time.
Rainbow yelled to the animal caretaker, “Hey, Fluttershy! Help me out here! Can’t you see me?!” Fluttershy just tilted her head and gently hit her ear, making sure it was working okay. “Rainbow Dash?! Is that you?” she asked looking around aimlessly. She walked closer to edge of the barrier. Closer and closer until she touched the barrier…
Suddenly Fluttershy spun around and began following a trail of spiders. Rainbow looked at Nyeigh, a question forming on her lips. Nyeigh put her forehoof up, “I know what you’re going to ask. This barrier makes Anypony who touches it will recoil from it and go on doing whatever it was that they were doing previously. Gotta make sure no one disturbs us, right Dashie?” Nyeigh finished with a wink, before settling back onto her patch of flowers.
“UGH!” Rainbow exclaimed. She flopped back on the grass and felt the trance from before begin to glaze over her eyes, drawing her back to her past.
-----------------------------------------
Section I: To Be Concluded