//------------------------------// // A little bit of Mischief // Story: 6 Shades of Rainbow // by fimfic4ever //------------------------------// Spike ran as fast as his little legs could take him through the streets of Ponyville, ducking and weaving through various ponies going about their day as if nothing was wrong. Spike thought he was almost there, wherever there was, he still wasn’t sure exactly where Twilight was, but he had to find her. A sneaky blue hoof stuck out just as Spike neared a corner of a shop, causing him to fall to ground and drop his precious cargo, the book with the reversal spell. “Have a nice trip, Spike?” a recognizably raspy voice asked cheekily. Spike gulped, still staring down at the ground. Please don’t be her, please don’t be her. Spike lifted his head to face his mocker, thankfully it wasn’t Anger again, but it was still a Dash, one with green hair. “I take it you’re not ‘helpful dash’.” Spike joked. Mischief gave Spike a friendly smile and reached out a hoof to help him up. After accepting the kind gesture, Mischief pulled spike part way off the ground, but then suddenly yanked her hoof away! Spike crashed back down to the ground with a surprised yelp. “Nope.” Mischief snickered. “They call me Mischief, Rainbow’s uh… mischievous side, I guess; Wanna have some fun round Ponyville?” Spike picked himself up, dusting some dirt off his scales he turned to Mischief. “Something tells me you and I might have a different sense of humor.” “Why, whatever do you mean, Spike?” Mischief inquired, still holding a cheeky grin. As if on cue, a loud boom erupted from the nearby store, causing ponies to scatter in the streets and cake frosting to spill out, completely covering Mischief and Spike. “I mean like that,” Spike said as he wiped a few clumps of the sticky substance off his face. “Well if you don’t like that…” Mischief began, her grin growing wider, “I’ve got another game we can play.” With the situation explained, the crowd was just starting to clear out, when a large boom rang through the air. “What the hay was that?!” Twilight screamed. Pinkie rolled her eyes, “An explosion, Twilight, duh.” “It’s going to be something for us to handle, isn’t it?” Rarity asked. Lust slumped down on a cloud hovering just outside Sweet Apples Acres, she didn’t want to stay, but she knew if she went somewhere else things would only worsen. She thought to earlier, back with the cutie mark crusaders… Lust clung to a tree, her own body fighting her, willing her to go to the fillies despite her own wishes. “Hey, Rainbow Dash!” A voice called from behind her, “What are you doing with the tree? And also… what’s with the hair? It’s still awesome, I was just curious.” Lust recognized the voice from Rainbow’s memories, it was Scootaloo, a cute, little filly who hung on Rainbow’s every word. Possibly the pony Lust least wanted to be around right now. “You… you need to get outta here, squirt. Like right now,” Lust said without turning around to face her. “Rainbow Dash, w-what do ya me-” “Man, where’s Anger when ya need her,” Lust muttered, “just trust me, Scootaloo, you and the girls need to go… now!” “Oh, ok…” Scootaloo said, her ears falling flat against her head, “guess I’ll see ya later.” Lust waited as she listened to sound of hooves clopping away from her, when thought they were far enough away, she opened her eyes and watched the three small figures slowly trotting away. Lust continued to stare blankly at the path the girls took, even after they were completely out of sight. What am I gonna do? What did I almost do? Rainbow would never do that. She would never hurt Applejack or the girls by even thinking about. Why would I- “Hey, Sugarcube, got the drinks for us.” Lust racked her brain trying to find a solution, when a thought occurred to her. Twilight! She’ll know a way to… no, she won’t help… she’ll just trap me and stick me with the others… but maybe … maybe that is the only way to help me… help Appleja- Lust’s thoughts were interrupted by some kind of distant explosion coming from the middle of Ponyville. If I know the girls, they’ll be there… except AJ, she was pretty upset… and Fluttershy’s iffy as is, let alone if a Dash got to her, but Twilight will be there! It may be my only choice. Twilight, Pinkie and Rarity quickly galloped to Sugarcube Corner, closely followed by Joy in her floating bubble. When they arrived they found the store and nearby street, completely covered in what appeared to be frosting. Pinkie licked her lips and began to eat some of mess splattered around the ground, “what a… delicious… tragedy,” she said between mouthfuls. “Um… you two can take it from here,” Rarity said, slowly backing off from what she would consider an extremely hazardous area. Twilight quickly swung a hoof round Rarity’s back, preventing her from leaving. “Sorry, Rarity, but we need your help. We may need to get a little dirty… especially considering what happened here, but we have to work together if we want Rainbow back.” Rarity gave Twilight a small smile, “you’re right, Twilight, I’d do anything for a friend, so if I need to get a little dirty to help Rainbow, then by Celestia I shall be dirty… I still think we should let Pinkie take care of the frosting though.” “No argument here.” Twilight nodded, “Pinkie…?” Pinkie head shot out from a nearby pile of frost, “mmblefl theth frethinrth,” She said with mouth full of frost, half of it shoot out as she spoke and covering Rarity. “Twilight… please tell me you know a cleaning spell,” Rarity said, wiping off a few clumps of frosting. “It was actually on today’s to-do list to learn one, but uh… something happened with the first spell I was trying.” Twilight explained. “What happened with the first spell, Twilight?” Pinkie asked obliviously. “You know, the accident, the Dashs, the reason we’re out here in with this pile of frosting!” “Oooooh yeahhhh.” Pinkie said, scooping up another hoofful of frosting. “I have but one question…” “What’s that, Pinkie?” Twilight sighed. “How much is hoofful?” Pinkie asked, staring down at her hoof covered in the creamy treat. “You’re a hoofful, Pinkie.” Twilight deadpanned. “Can we please get back to the important things here?” Rarity interrupted, “namely, my coat and hair… they’re still dirty.” “TWILIGHT!” a voice called out to them, “HELP!” Twilight gasped, “that sounds like Spike!” Spike coming running down the street, he came to Twilight’s side and wrapped his claws around her foreleg, “Twilight, one the Dashs has chasing me all over the place, she’s crazy.” “Well that’s not a very nice thing to say,” Mischief said, hovering just above the other ponies. “Well it’s not very nice to pick on Spiky Wiky, you brute!” Rarity snapped back. Mischief shrugged, “I like an easy target, and since Fluttershy was already crying, might as well be Spike.” Pinkie shot to attention, “Fluttershy’s crying? My baby!” She shot off at an incredible speed, leaving nothing behind but hoofprints in the frosting. “Well… that happened,” Mischief said as she watched her disappear into a small, distant pink dot. Twilight horn started a purple glow, “so did this!” she shouted, shooting an sleep spell at Mischief. Mischief bended backwards in mid-air, narrowly avoid the beam. “HA! I may not be Ego, but even I’ll say it takes a lot more than that to take a Dash down.” She laughed. “I’m really getting tired of these Dashs today,” Twilight groaned. “Them how ‘bout you go home, Twilight,” Mischief suggested, “I’m not doing anything wrong anyway, just haven’t a little fun with Ponyville.” “A lot can go wrong with a little bit of fun, Mischief,” a voice called from behind Mischief. Mischief turned round to face the new pony, a smirk spread across her face as found herself face to face with an assumed comrade. “Lust, nice to see you again, shouldn’t you be getting your fields plowed by a farmpony right about now?” Lust grumbled, “come on, Mischief, we’ve had our fun. It’s time to go back.” “Huh? Go back? She literally screw your brains out or something?” Mischief asked. “Mischief, let’s not make this difficult…” “Look, Lust, I am not going back, and there isn’t anything you or anypony else can do to stop m-” Mischief was suddenly cut off by a magical barrier completely surrounding her. “Yes!” Twilight cried in triumph, “another Dash down.” Lust slowly lowered herself to the ground just in front of Twilight, “make that two, I’m giving myself up.” Twilight gave her a skeptical look, “not that I’m objecting to you making this day a lot easier but… why?” Lust’s ears drooped back, “I just realized it’s for the best. You let your emotions and desires out of control and end up hurting those you care about most.” “That Mischief Dash… she said your name is Lust right?” Twilight asked. Lust gave a small nod, still staring down at the ground. She may not technically be her, but Twilight could still see Rainbow in her, more than just the physical appearance, but a certain depth of character the others had not expressed. “Are you ok, Dash? Did something happen?” Lust raised her head to meet Twilight’s gaze, “you have other ponies to worry about… just put me in one of those bubbles and move on, and… check on AJ.” “Right…ok” Twilight’s horn glowed with a small red shimmer, a sphere of the same colour formed around Lust as she was pulled into the air by the other Dashs’ side. “I wonder what could have happened…” “She seemed particularly concerned about Applejack, and Rainbow did tell me she… Twilight, I suggest we get to Applejack quickly.” “Wait, Twilight, I've got something to you, kind of a good news, bad news deal,” Spike said. “What’s the good news?” Twilight asked. “I found the reverse spell you needed,” Spike said, as he presented the page to her. “Excellent job, Spike, this will be a big help,” Twilight said, quickly scanning the page before her “… and the bad news?” “One of the Dashs came back to library, a really mean one… she took Sad Dash and well… I’m sorry for letting you down.” Spike eyes shifted to ground, and he began fiddle with claws in shame. Twilight wrapped a fetlock around Spike, bringing him into a hug, “Spike, there is no need to apologize, I know you would have tried, and that’s all I can ask; besides, we have no idea what Dash it was, I’m just glad you’re ok.” “Thanks, Twilight,” Spike said, returning the hug. “Now, Spike, I have something I need you to do,” Twilight said in a serious tone, breaking the hug. “I won’t let you down, Twilight,” Spike said confidently. “I need you to go to Fluttershy’s cottage, get her and Pinkie Pie, and tell them to meet us at Sweet Apple Acres,” Twilight ordered. “I’m on it.” Spike gave a quick salute, then ran off in the direction Pinkie had previously disappeared in. “I guess it’s just you and me, darling… and the Dashs I suppose,” Rarity said as she eyed the three Dashs floating above them. “Right, we need to find Applejack so she can help us round up the other Dashs.” “Lust suggested we check on her, that is certainly not a good sign… especially considering what Rainbow Dash has already told me.” “You said something like that before… is there something you know that I don’t?” “Well… it seems Applejack may already know, so I suppose it doesn’t matter if you know too…” “Know what?” Twilight asked impatiently. “Rainbow Dash… likes Applejack.” “Well of course she does, they’re like best friends,” Twilight said cheerfully. “Not like that dear, Rainbow Dash has… developed feelings for Applejack,” Rarity explained. “Oh… oh my,” Twilight said, finally catching on, “so if Lust went to Applejack, do you think they-” Rarity quickly placed a hoof on Twilight’s muzzle, cutting her off mid-speech, “perhaps we shouldn’t speculate on what may or may not have happened between a friend and part of a friend, and instead make sure said friends are alright, hmmm?” Rarity began to trot towards Sweet Apple Acres with Twilight quickly following suit. With the book grasped in her magic, Twilight held the spell book in front her, studying the spells technique and use, but something still plagued her mind. “Hey, Rarity, what do you think it would be like to uh… be with another mare?” She asked. “Don’t worry, Twilight, I’m sure you’ll find out someday,” Rarity replied. “Oh, ok.” Twilight returned to her reading until another thought entered her mind. She narrowed her eyes at Rarity and said “wait a second… what did you mean by that?” “Oh nothing darling,” Rarity said with a cheeky grin, “nothing at all…”