//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: A Villain Rises // Story: Dark Spectrum: Public Enemy // by Bootsy Slickmane //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash crept along the edge of the dark street in her Shadowbolt costume. A few minutes in the old outfit had told her two things: the stitches weren't very well-made and she had gained a little weight since last Nightmare Night. She'd have to do something about both issues, which was why she had come to this part of Ponyville. She stopped at a corner, peeked around it, then made her way onto the intersecting street. She stopped about halfway down the block, turning to finally face her destination. She hesitated a moment, eyes fixed on the stone resting atop her hoof. She was no foal. She knew that once she started, there was no going back. Once she took those first steps along this new path, nothing would ever be the same. She closed her eyes, thinking about what her five best friends would think if she went through with her plans. Rainbow gritted her teeth at the idea. "No, not my friends. Rainbow Dash doesn't have any friends." Her eyes opened, turning back toward her destination as her anger flared. She cocked her hoof back. "Not anymore." She swung her leg forward, releasing the stone and letting it shatter the front window of the costume shop. She stepped gingerly through the broken window, glass shards crunching under her hooves. She pushed past the fake walls set up for the display window, and walked into the store proper. She'd been inside once before when she was putting together the very costume she was wearing, but she didn't really remember the layout at all. Luckily, finding what she needed wasn't very hard. Dash made her way around the store, gathering up various sewing supplies, bits of cloth, and a few different bottles of dye. She stuffed them all into her saddlebags before poking her head out through the front window. She checked left, right, and even up at the dark sky, but nopony was in sight. Feeling fortunate that nopony had come to investigate the sound of breaking glass, Rainbow hopped out and trotted down the dark street. She peeked around the same corner again, but she paused as a familiar sight came into view further down the road. Rather than taking her turn, she trotted straight ahead and into the marketplace, moving past the unattended stalls and shops. The street was empty aside from Rainbow, and looked almost abandoned. She didn't often wander at night, and the contrast in the town's apparent population between day and night struck her. If she were to make a guess based on what she saw now, Ponyville must be a ghost town. No wonder Princess Luna was so upset all those years ago, Rainbow thought, gazing around at the desolate marketplace. Nopony ever does anything at night around here. She was starting to feel like she and the Princess of the Night had something in common as she looked up at the moon. Both of them knew the feeling of being unappreciated for their deeds. Hmph. I just compared myself to an alicorn princess. I wonder what those two-faced ponies would say about my ego now. Rainbow shook her head lightly and kept walking. As if I care. It took her a few minutes to find what she had been looking for as she weaved through the market stalls. All of them were closed for business and lacked any products at the moment, but she knew there were a few whole buildings nestled along the street that would have items stored inside. She only paused for a second before bucking the shop's front door off its hinges. She'd already broken into one store, so why not another? A few minutes later, Dash was back on the road, a sack of stolen carrots in her saddlebags. If nopony would sell to her, she'd just have to take what she needed. Plain and simple. It still didn't feel very good, though. Dash made it home without much fuss. She'd ducked into an alley to avoid a young couple taking a walk, and had spent the rest of the trip buried in a cloud that she carried with her to avoid being seen. Once inside her house again, she took off the costume, emptied her saddlebags, and started organizing her loot. She laid out the sewing needles, thread, scissors, and other tools on her desk. Then she laid out the various fabrics on her dining table, which she had brought upstairs for more workspace. The fabric was a little rumpled, and Dash absentmindedly smoothed it out before pulling some paper from her desk. She sat down with a bag of carrots and started drawing, glancing at the Shadowbolt costume every few minutes for reference. Once she finished drawing a picture of herself in the costume, she set about making alterations to the design. While it was a nice costume, it wasn't really her style. Her dress for the Grand Galloping Gala wasn't the right style, either. It was flashy and cool. She wanted sinister and cool. Something dark. The Shadowbolt costume was close, but not quite right. Maybe change some of the colors. And the faux cutie mark would have to change. She'd want to recolor her mane and tail, too. "Hmm...." Dash leaned back from her drawing, thinking. She'd need a name. Rainbow Dash was the hero they had turned on, but it was somepony else who would make them suffer for it. A new pony, born from the blood and tears of the mare they'd condemned. She knew there was no going back, so why not cement it with a new name for this new persona? But what? Rainbow pondered over the paper before her, writing and then crossing out various ideas. Rain Shadow? Pretty awesome. Shadow Dash? Definitely radical. But she was looking for something cool and sinister, not radical or awesome. She turned to the mirror nearby. The candle on the desk illuminated only her front half, leaving her tail in darkness. She stared at her own reflection for a few minutes, her mind formulating an idea. She turned back to the sheet of paper and recolored the mane and tail to almost match her own, each color being darker than her natural coloration. She then wrote two words on the page. She repeatedly looked from the words to the revised costume design. A smile came to her slowly. A devious smile. A wicked smile. She picked up her newly-acquired sewing equipment. She worked through most of the day, only sleeping for a few hours when she found her concentration slipping too much and taking a brief break to dye her hair. She kept the same colors, but made her mane and tail several shades darker. The costume was finished up shortly after the sun had slipped beyond the horizon and Equestria was in darkness. She slowly slid her head up through the grayish-blue belly of the modified suit, then slipped her hooves through to the black-colored end of each leg. She stretched her legs out, making sure the suit was tight against her hooves and that the blood red lightning bolts held the two different fabrics together properly. She zipped up the belly of the suit, then pulled the black mask on over her face and made sure it fit snugly. She turned her head briefly, getting a look at the winged skull and crossed, multicolored lightning bolts on the suit's flank. Lastly, she reached a hoof out behind her. Tank leaned forward, dropping her new goggles onto her hoof. She gazed down at them for just a moment, then strapped them to her head, covering her eyes with the blood-red lenses. She turned around to face the only other creature in the room, and Tank made a raspy gasp at the sight of her. She smiled wickedly, exposing the set of costume fangs she'd glued to her teeth, and Tank pulled himself into his shell. Satisfied, she headed for the door and toward her new career. By the end of the week, the ponies of Ponyville would have a new name to fear: Dark Spectrum. * * * * A pale-purple unicorn trotted along a dark road, quietly humming a little tune to herself as she made her way through town. Her eyes were shut, seemingly oblivious to the danger lurking just out of her sight. She stopped suddenly at the sound of rustling leaves nearby, her contented smile fading as she looked toward the shrub. Seeing nothing there, she resumed her trotting, only to stop again as an odd tapping noise reached her ears. Again she looked, and again she saw nothing. An ear twitched as she heard galloping behind her, rapidly getting louder. But as she turned to see who was approaching, the sound stopped and the street was empty. "Is anypony there?" she called out, but there was no answer. Sea Swirl whipped back around as the roar of thunder washed over her. Just ahead of her on the road floated a dark cloud that certainly hadn't been there a moment ago. It flashed and rumbled again as a dark shape emerged slowly, walking out of the swirling mass of black toward her. Sea Swirl's breath caught in her throat as she backed away from the costumed pony. After several steps backward, Sea Swirl managed to speak. "Wh-who are you? What do you want?" The costumed pony flared her cerulean wings out, replying with a growl, "I want you, Sea Swirl." A sudden flash of lightning and thunder shot out of the cloud, and Sea Swirl turned to gallop away as fast as her hooves could carry her while Dark Spectrum cackled in her best impression of Nightmare Moon. Once Sea Swirl was out of sight, Spectrum picked up her cloud and headed back into the sky. Not bad, she thought to herself as she pushed her cloud over some rooftops and scanned the streets for her next target. Could be cooler, though. Suit's ended up kinda loose, too. I should probably take it over to Carousel Boutique and have Rari— No! Shut up! She stopped flying, shaking her head as if it might fling the thoughts away. She tried to focus on her first outing as Dark Spectrum. So far, it had been good. She could see the fear in that little pony's eyes from the moment she showed herself. She was rather proud of her idea to use a storm cloud to add to the theatrics and drama, even though it was a recycled trick from last Nightmare Night. The cloud seemed a little cumbersome, though, and she felt there might be a better way to carry around something she could conceal herself in. The costume was holding up rather well, though, even if the stitching was still a bit rough. Spectrum stopped her flight and climbed up onto the cloud to survey the area below, thinking about where she should go next. Her new goggles made it a little harder to see detail at a distance and cut into her peripheral vision, but it wasn't too bad. They were still better than the cheap fabric eye wear the old costume had. There wasn't much in this part of town. Just a few houses, some trees, and a familiar-looking stone well. The sight of the watering hole brought back some memories in her mind. The whole hero business had begun with a filly trapped in that very well. Any pegasus or unicorn could have saved her, but it had been Rainbow who stepped up and did it. Was that such a bad thing? At the time, she had thought it was meant to be, really. She wasn't even supposed to be there that day; she was supposed to be in Canterlot with her friends, getting a tour of the city with Twilight and Spike as their guides. It was actually kinda lucky that their trip had been canceled, since Rainbow had overslept by about three hours and missed the train entirely. If they hadn't decided not to go, they might have left without her. Her five friends waking her up at her house and telling her that they weren't going to Canterlot was the last time she'd talked to them before the whole hero thing had started up. After that it was just the five complementing themselves for their heroics (and costume) and then telling Dash not to be such a braggart. They didn't even hang out much during those two weeks. Rainbow shook her head, turning from the old well and trying to dispel the thoughts of her former friends. No... not Rainbow. Rainbow wasn't the one flying over Ponyville in the middle of the night. Dark Spectrum was here now, and it was time to get to work. So, where to begin? She could use some more food to stock her pantry. All she had left was a half-eaten salad, two bags of carrots, a few apples, a box of cookies, and a tub of ice cream. Time to go shopping? Nah, she did that yesterday. Besides, stealing things wasn't really fun. She kept finding herself thinking about how the ponies she robbed must feel, and how it might cut into their income. She tried to banish the thoughts when they came, figuring she spent too much time around Fluttershy and that it had made her weak. She'd have to get some food at some point, but she decided to do that later. Maybe she should see how other ponies react to her new costume? Yeah, that was more like it. Spectrum tried a few different ponies around town, varying her entrance slightly with each one and experimenting a little. She tried leaping out of her cloud, zipping around a bit before stopping right in somepony's face, and making her presence known first with an evil laugh. Her favorite one, though, was when she popped some thunder above a couple taking a walk and then dropped down out of the cloud in front of them baring her costume fangs. That one had gotten her the loudest screams. Spectrum lounged on the cloud for a bit, thinking of more ways to introduce herself to the ponies around town. She wanted to hone her skills in striking fear into ungrateful pony hearts, and felt it was good to be thorough when it came to trying out different methods. Twilight always said it was important to test out a variety of— Shut up, Twilight! Rainbow shouted at her own mind. She sat up and took a last look around the city as the moon reached its peak in the dark sky above, but the streets were clear. After scanning the streets twice more, she finally just shrugged. "Meh, that's probably enough introductions for tonight. Don't want to overdose Ponyville on my awesomeness, after all." She felt better about her new persona as she casually bucked down a door to a candy store. All the reactions she'd gotten were those of terror, and she filled up a few bags of various candies as a reward for her coolness before heading back to her cloudy home. As she approached, however, it suddenly occurred to her that she might want to relocate her house to someplace a little harder to find. The police were probably going to be looking for her sooner or later, so she shouldn't be where they would think to look. Her house was built on clouds, so it couldn't be that hard to move, right? So, where should an awesome villain like Dark Spectrum hide out? The Everfree Forest might be a good spot, but it was pretty creepy in there. Not that Rainbow was scared, of course, but there were a lot of weird noises and it might be hard to sleep in someplace so annoying. It was also kind obvious, being so sinister and all. She'd have to conceal her house, too, and that meant having it buried beneath the treetops, which would be a total cramp in her style. A dangerous place like that would deter ponies from coming in after her, though. Her wicked smile returned as she moved up onto her porch, dumping her saddlebags onto the solid flooring. She then zipped around to the back of the house. She rubbed her hooves together briefly, planted them against one of the outer walls, and gave a mighty shove that did absolutely nothing. Rainbow hovered back a little ways, only to shoot forward and slam into the house. It moved about half an inch. Maybe. Dash groaned, pulling her goggles down to a spot around her neck. This was a bit harder than she'd thought it would be. Maybe she should try pulling instead of pushing. Zooming around to the other side of the house, she wrapped her hooves around a pillar and pumped her wings, straining to pull the mighty structure. She gave up after a few minutes, collapsing onto her porch for a little break. She reached out and tugged a stolen candy bar from her saddlebags, awkwardly munching on it with her fake fangs as she contemplated her situation. She would probably be able to do it if she had the whole weather team with her, but she was all on her own now. Besides, even if they'd wanted to lend her a hoof, she wouldn't want the help of those jerks. She was just going to have to find a way to move it alone. She plucked up her saddlebags, trotting upstairs before dumping them on her bed. She made an instinctive check around the room to be sure she was alone before delving into her bedroom closet, shoving aside the few outfits she owned until she found the cardboard box she'd been looking for. Dash emerged from the closet a few seconds later, a sizable length of rope in her mouth, and headed outside. She'd been wanting to use the rope for a long time, although she had never suspected that she'd be using it to tow her house. She swiftly tied a clumsy knot around one of her house's exterior columns, which, despite its looks, wasn't actually made from clouds. Most non-pegasi seemed to assume that pegasus architecture was all cloud-based, but Dash always thought that was kinda silly. If it were all made of clouds, everything would just fall through. Drop an orange, and you could kiss it goodbye, because it'd go all the way down to the ground. Unfortunately, having solid sections made pegasus houses a lot heavier. Rainbow took the other end of the rope in her mouth, stretched it taught, and flapped her wings as hard as she could. It took a lot of effort, but the house began to slide through the air behind her. Slowly but surely, she moved her house, headed south. Minutes turned to hours as she dragged it along, the only sound coming from her furious feather flapping and her own labored breathing. The sun had risen before she'd managed to tow her home past Everfree, and it was nearing noon by the time she finally got it settled into Ghastly Gorge. She dragged herself to her bed, utterly exhausted by the whole ordeal, and tiredly took out her costume fangs. Rainbow rolled onto her bed, dampening her pillow with her sweat-soaked mane. It had been a lot of work, yeah, but now nopony would find her. Hopefully. She really wasn't sure what she'd do if somepony discovered her home. Should she... capture them? That's what a villain would do, right? She didn't really have any place to stuff hostages aside from inside her house, though. She guessed that it would have to do. She lounged on her bed, reaching over to her new bag of candy. It hadn't been from Pinkie's store, as Rainbow was still trying to avoid her ex-friends for the moment. She popped a ball of chocolate into her mouth, biting it open to release the creamy filling, and pondered her new career plans. Rainbow wasn't really upset that ponies had recognized her. She wasn't exactly going for a disguise, otherwise she would have changed her hair completely and maybe even dyed her coat. No, it wasn't about hiding, it was about making those ungrateful ponies pay for running her out of Ponyville, and knowing that nopony pushes Rainbow Dash around. More than that, she wanted to make Mare Do Well pay for humiliating her and ruining her reputation. Vandalism and theft weren't really her thing, but they'd become necessary for her survival as of late. Terrorizing the ingrates around town felt better, though she didn't want to hurt anypony... except for Mare Do Well. Ah, of course, she thought as an idea came to her. If Mare Do Well and the ponies who played her thought they were so heroic, then surely they would come to rescue Ponyville from its latest threat. And when those treacherous ponies came out, Dark Spectrum would show the townsponies what the five really were, and she would make them all pay for betraying her. All she had to do was stir up enough trouble around town and the masked mare would return. She wasn't completely comfortable with the idea of beating the stuffing out of the five mares who had been her best friends, but she quickly steeled her own resolve with thoughts of the humiliation she'd been through. Thoughts of the bonds of trust they'd broken. Thoughts of their shocking display of disloyalty. Too much resolve; her fury was rising at an alarming rate. Rainbow took her head in her hooves, gritting her teeth, slowing her breathing, and trying to calm down. Save it, she thought, rolling over to face the window. Save it for Mare Do Well.