//------------------------------// // College Life In A Nut Shell // Story: Ynanhluutr // by Imploding Colon //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash strolled through the campus, shuddering with each step. The eyes of several hundred students weighed on her—but the voices fluttering past her ears tugged at her body even more. “Rainbow Dash, I-I think I'm starting to put it all together,” Twilight Sparkle stammered, her voice turning dry and drier by the second. She gulped and fumbled to catch up with the furiously marching pegasus. “You've... you've been through a lot, haven't you? I mean... what Discord did to you, it's obviously taken its toll. But you're different now! You're no longer gray! Just try and reach into your true, harmonic self! I'm your friend! I only want what's best for you... what's best for us... what's best for the Elements and all of Equestria!” “Ma'am? Uhhhh... Ma'am?” Nick scampered up, still fumbling with his bookbag. “If I could ask you just one thing—uh—ma'am!” He galloped until he was backtrotting in front of Rainbow Dash, facing her with an awkward smile. “I don't take offense to your pushing me or nothing. I mean... eheh... I was once on the School Varsity Hoofball Team. I can take a nasty fall if I have to. But I have to ask...” He cocked his head to the side. “Did you... just come from the Blighted Sea just now?” Rainbow gnashed her teeth, skirting past him. Meanwhile, Twilight Sparkle chattered into her ear. “Trust me, Rainbow Dash, if we just look eye to eye and agree to work together, then I'm certain we can get back at Discord for what he's done! I mean... h-he had to have given you a really good reason to abandon the game in the hedge maze, right? I'm certain—” She gasped as she phased through a lamp and a park bench. Fumbling, she resumed her speech with a nervous smile: “I-I'm certain that whatever was done couldn't possibly have been permanent! I mean, how could anything chaotic be permanent without an overseeing sorcerer to maintain the unstable spells—?” “—legend speaks of islands on the far side of the Ocean. Even continents! Why... before Verlaxion graced the Archipelagos, it's been long theorized that equine beings migrated from a far-off terrestrial location. There are even those who think civilization sprouted from beyond the Great Falls! So if ponies could arrive from the Firmaments—” “—just need your help in contacting Celestia and Luna, then I'll be out of your mane! At least until I need your help with the Element of Loyalty, of course. But you've already got that on you! So... uh... yaay! As awesome as ever, huh, Rainbow Dash? Please... I'll make it up to you, I promise—” “—than this latitude for the Archipelagos! So it stands to reason that a pony could have crossed over from the other side! Is that what happened to you, because—eheheheh—if I spent more than a week in the Blight, I'd have gone nuts and begun shoving ponies around myself! You should have seen me prepping for my Architectural Exam during midterms—” “—all the Wonderbolts Airshow tickets in the world once this all blows over if you would just... please... stop trotting away and look at me!” By this point, Rainbow Dash was shaking. Furiously. Her muzzle snarled, then exploded as she spun completely around and hollered straight into Twilight's ethereal face. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!” The resounding echo shook every pony within earshot. Nick about fell on his haunches. Twilight winced, recoiling as she raised a dainty leg. Her ears folded back as she gulped and opened her meek muzzle again: “But I just—” “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!!!” Rainbow bellowed. Even once the yell was finished, her eyes remained frantic and enlarged. She stared at the lavender phantom like a rabid wolf. Ponies murmured with one another, gawking at the scene. Nick chewed on his bottom lip as he shivered. He craned his neck to see what the crazed stranger was glaring at. Twilight stared back, frozen in place. At last, after a full minute of tense silence, she peeped: “If you could only—” “AAAAAAAAAAAAA-AAAAAAAAAAAA-HAAAAAAAAUGH!!!” Rainbow Dash yelled so hard and for so long that she collapsed on her fuzzy blue chest, wheezing against the grass. She covered her eyes with her hooves, shuddering. Then, after several panting breaths had finally re-filled her lungs, she peeked into the warm tropical air. Twilight gazed down at her, dull and bored. “I'm still here, Rainbow,” she muttered. “Grkkk!” Rainbow instantly hopped to her hooves, the thunderous clop of which made several students gasp and flinch away from the scene. “Grnnngh... hrmmmff!” Furious, the mare spun and prepared to gallop away—when suddenly she froze in place. Twilight Sparkle blinked. “... … ...” Rainbow Dash looked aside. Nick leaned back, as if afraid her stare might be venomous. Her brow furrowed. With a jerk of the head, she glanced past her flank. A line of young students flinched. Their eyes were on her. Everypony's eyes were on her. No one was looking at Twilight. “... … ...” With full wings spread, Rainbow Dash took flight. It was a slow glide, however, and she coasted her way towards one of the nearby buildings. Nevertheless, the ponies on campus gasped in dumb shock—as if she had just breathed fire in the process. “Did you see that?!” “No way!” “She'll kill herself!” “You sure about that? She seems to be just fine...” “But... b-but how can that be?” Nick blinked quizzically. Just then, to his side, he heard a resounding yelp. “Guys! Guys!” Nick and everypony else turned to look. A pegasus had stripped of her bookbag, choosing to flap her wings on either side of her. To the mare's own incredulous shock, she was ascending rapidly into the air, unfettered by the elements. “Are... are you seeing this?!” “Holy cow, Moira! I-I haven't seen you fly since we were East of the Bridge!” “Cut it out! You'll hurt yourself!” “No! It's... it's normal!” The mare smiled brightly. “It's just like normal! See?!” She proceeded to glide around in swift circles. “She's right!” a stallion along the edge of the courtyard threw down his books and flapped his own wings. “Check it!” He lifted up, then blazed past several oak trees, blowing their leaves off while earth pony peers clapped and cheered. One by one, those with wings began practicing their flight for the first time. Muzzle agape, Nick tilted his eyes up towards his forehead. With a nervous gulp, he concentrated—then nearly jumped out of his own skin when a purple aura emanated from his horn. “No way...” He glanced at his saddlebag, then levitated his Nautical Engineering book around. “You've got to be kidding me!” He then snarled. “Where were you when I bought that lame-ass hoof tablet?!?!”