//------------------------------// // The trap // Story: Another Chance // by Small Muffin //------------------------------// Diamond had calmed down now, after Sunset promised to help her out now that she had realized her mistake, but couldn't bring herself to head to class and face Silver today, so she decided to stay with Sunset instead. She was looking for Gilda. Diamond had asked why she would want to see her, but Sunset just replied with a simple, "Take a guess," which pretty much told her the answer. Like Diamond, Gilda wasn't exactly nice. The two of them walked into the well decorated school gym, where Gilda was throwing a bunch basketballs into a hoop. "Hey Gilda!" Sunset yelled as she walked over to her. Gilda turned her head, and tossed the ball in her hand behind her. "I thought I'd find you here." "Hey Shim, sup?" Gilda asked nonchalantly. "Can we talk about something?" Sunset asked. "Sure, what is- What's Miss Moneybags doing with you?" Gilda asked as she noticed Tiara. Diamond looked away, and folded her arms, "Shut up..." she mumbled. Gilda laughed, "What, no witty comeback?" she replied. "And where's your other half" "Oh boy..." Sunset mumbled under her breath. This was Sunset's main problem with these two, despite being her most... useful assets over the years, they never got along with each other. "I'm not in the mood to fight or argue, bird brain," Diamond replied weakly. "Aww, did someone hurt your feelings?" Gilda joked. "I said shut up..." "Uhhh, what happened to you kid?" Gilda asked, dropping the jokes, "You've usually got better that just, 'bird brain'." "Leave her alone!" Sunset put her hand on Tiara's shoulder, "Hey, it's alright," she said nicely, before she looked up at Gilda, "Didn't you hear about what happened at lunch?" Gilda gave her a blank stare, "You really don't know?" "Nope, I had more important things to do," Gilda replied. "Oh, well I'll..." Sunset glanced her eyes down at Diamond for a fraction of a second, "...Tell you later." she said. "So, what were you up to at lunch then?" Diamond asked. "I don't really think that matters to us Ti," Sunset replied. "I was following Lightning Dust around," Gilda replied. "You were..." Sunset raised a curious eyebrow, "Why were you doing that?" she asked. "Cus I wanted to know what she was up to," Gilda replied, "She was carrying a baseball bat around with her, and I wanted to know why." "She was WHAT?!" Tiara asked loudly. "You heard me, she was carrying a bat with her," Gilda repeated, "She didn't use it on anyone, but she did looked like she wasn't afraid to." "Well, why did you stop following her, I doubt she'd be going to class right now," Sunset asked. "I lost her in the crowd when lunch ended, and couldn't be bothered to go looking for her," Gilda replied, "Besides, if she hits anyone, she's outa here, so if she wants to get herself thrown out, then let her." "Yeah, I don't think even I could get away with that," Sunset said. "Yeah but, doesn't she see herself as, better than you now or something?" Tiara asked, "What if she wants to prove it?" Gilda almost burst out laughing. "Better than Sunset??? Ha! That's funny kid." "What do you mean?" Diamond looked up at Sunset next to her, "What's so funny?" "She's not better than Sunset, kid, she'll never be," Gilda laughed. "Alright, she's not, but isn't she still in charge?" Tiara asked, "Sunset did give the position to her after all." "That's exactly the point," Gilda began, "Sunset gave it to her, she didn't earn it from her. Alright, she gave her a small beating after, if you could even call it that, but that doesn't put her on top now." "But Shimmer's word is law here, if she says Dust's in charge, then she is. Right?" "What, you think just because Sunset says so, that everyone is gonna take Dust's word over hers now?" Gilda asked. "Well, I guess not..." Tiara replied. "Sunset, If you were fighting back, would Dust have won?" Gilda asked. "Course not, everyone knows-" Sunset's face fell, and she gave a weak sigh, "Everyone knows that..." "Exactly, everyone including Dust." "So you think, she's scarred that Sunset's gonna go after her?" Diamond asked. "Hey, you're learning, good on you Miss Rich," Gilda joked, "Simply put, no one here takes her that seriously, If she put the bat down, it would probably be a whole different story." "Hm... No," Sunset shook her head, "I don't think so, she was ready to fight me earlier, and she didn't have that bat the-" Suddenly, the gym doors flew open, and Pinkie rushed in, looking rather out of breath. "Sunset... You've... Gotta... Principals office... Now!.." Sunset ran over to her, "Pinkie, what's wrong?" Pinkie took a deep breath, "Alright, you've gotta come with me, I didn't know who else to turn to, I, here, listen!" she handed Sunset her phone. "Uh... Hello?" Sunset began, "Bon-Bon? What do you- Yeah, it's Sunset, what is it??" Sunset's eyes widened, "What, are you sure?!" she asked, "That can't be right... Alright, on my way." She passed the phone back to Pinkie, and bolted out of the gym. "Hey, what's going on?" Diamond asked. "Hey Shim, what-" Gilda grabbed Pinkie, "You! Nutjob! What's going on?" she asked angrily. "Well, if you wanna know, then come on, I'll explain on the way!" she said as she moved Gilda's hands off of her and rushed out the gym, and down the corridor. "What?" Gilda and Diamond ran to the exit, but were met by Fluttershy, and Twilight, who came from the other end of the hall, also out of breath. "Who are you?" Diamond asked. "Pinkie, wait up!" Twilight yelled, "Oh, come on," she mumbled as they both ran after her with what little energy they had left. Diamond and Gilda looked at each other, shrugged, and followed them. Rainbow walked through the empty school corridor. She didn't really have anything to do, usually when she had a free period last, she would go home early, but her five were-ex-now-besties-again-friends, as Pinkie called them, had agreed to meet up after school, so she couldn't leave yet. As she continued through the corridor, she saw Lightning Dust leaning up against a locker, with a bat leaned up against her leg. "Hey, Dash!" she called out. "Oh boy..." Rainbow muttered. She had been avoiding Lightning as best she could all day, and it had been working, at least till now. Lightning walked over to her, holding the bat over her shoulder, "I've been looking for you all say you know?" she asked, "I even thought that you might not actually be in, but I was sure I saw you this morning." She swung her arm around Dash's shoulder, "So, how you doing?" she asked as they continued to walk together. Dash gave her a small look, noticing that she wasn't wearing Sunset jacket. She gave it little thought, however, and quickly shifted her gaze to the bat in the other hand, "I'm cool, what did you want?" she asked, "And what's with the bat?" "What, this thing? I found it in the supply closet," she replied, "So why have you got it?" Dash asked, "You haven't hit anyone with it have you?" "Not yet," Lightning laughed, as she looked at the doors they were walking past, "Then again, no one has given me a reason yet, you know?" Rainbow took her glance away from the bat, and noticed her arms were covered in small, fresh bruises, "Woah, what happened to you?" "What?" Dust asked. "Your arm... What happened to you?" Dash repeated. "Oh these? It's nothing, I just fell down the stairs earlier. I'm alright," she replied. "You... fell down the stairs?" Rainbow replied, very unconvinced, "Really?" "Yeah, yeah, I wasn't looking where I was going, and I tripped," Dust replied, "luckily no one was there to see it. That would have been pretty embarrassing," she said as she looked at the doors they were passing again. "What are you looking at?" Rainbow asked. "Oh, nothing," Dust replied, as she turned her attention back to Rainbow, and suddenly smiled. "Aw well, I'll see ya later Dash," she said, removing her arm from Rainbow's shoulder. "Rrriight???" Dash replied, walking on ahead, "Later then." "Oh, one more thing," Dust said. Rainbow turned around, as Lightning swung the bat at her. "Woah!!!" Rainbow was bearly able to move of the way in time, the bat only just missing her head, instead, hitting the door next to her. "Aw, I missed," Lightning said uncaringly. Rainbow reached forward, and grabbed the bat, and attempted to pull it from Lightning's grasp. Surprisingly, Lightning put up little to no resistance, and simply let Dash take the bat from her. When Rainbow had the bat, she turned it the right way, and pointed it at Lightning. "Hey, hey, come on," Lightning began, "I was only messing with ya Dash, come on, I didn't mean it..." Dust rambled on, as she slumped down untill she was sitting on the floor, resting against the wall, "...I mean, I didn't even swing it that hard and..." She suddenly gave Rainbow a sly grin, "STOP IT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING THAT FOR!! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?!?" she yelled, as she began cowering on the floor. Rainbow gave her a rightfully confused look, "What are you..." she began. Suddenly however, the door next to Dash opened, "Rainbow Dash? What's goi-" Rainbow turned to see it was Principal Celestia, and Vice-Principal Luna was right behind her. Celestia saw the bat in Rainbow's hands, "Just what do you think you're doing, young lady?!" Rainbow looked up, and saw the sun crest above the door. They were in front of Principal Celestia's office. "Wha- No I- I can explain-" she stuttered. "STOP IT, WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME? I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!!!" Lightning Dust purposely interrupted. Celestia looked out of the door, and saw Lightning 'cowering' against the locker, her arms still covered in those bruises Rainbow noticed earlier. "Lightning? What are you doing to her Rainbow?" "No, it's..." Rainbow realized everything that was going on. Why Lightning was covered in the bruises, why she waited until now to attack her, and why she let her have the bat so easily. She had led Dash right into her trap, and Rainbow had fallen right into it. "It's not what it looks like, I can explain -" "Oh I bet you can!" Luna replied, "In here. NOW!" Luna pointed in the office. Rainbow begrudgingly walked in, as Luna snatched the bat off of her. Celestia walked over to Lightning, and helped her up. "Lightning, are you alright?" she asked worried. "I... I'll be fine, I- I don't know what she was doing." Lightning rubbed her head, "Thanks Miss, I'll go down to the nurses office," she said. "Take care, Lightning." Celestia waled back in to her office. Lightning dropped the act, grinned, and rubbed a bit of dirt from her elbow. "Too easy," she said to hersef as she walked away.