//------------------------------// // A Smidge of Trouble // Story: A Dash of Friendship // by Twotailedfox8 //------------------------------// “And that’s when the lady started to change. Replacing her pearly whites were monstrous fangs. Her well-groomed hair grew long, beginning to cover her whole body as it’s pristine blue colouring was covered in a black as dark as tar, developing severe split ends!” “Not split ends!” Rarity screamed in fear, her over dramatization of Rainbow’s story causing an annoyed frown to show itself over Rainbow’s face. “Ahem. Can I finish?” Rainbow asked, glaring at Rarity. “Oh, of course,” Rarity responded, closing her eyes and swiveling her head as to not be seen by Rainbow, trying to mask the embarrassment that she felt. She lifted her hand up to her hair, fluffing it back into place, as was the pale girl’s habit as of late. “Anyway,” Rainbow Dash began, a hint of annoyance still floating with each word before it fully dissipated away when the cyan girl continued to get more and more caught up and enthralled by the story she was spewing. “The werewolf stalked the young, innocent girl down the street…” Fluttershy hid under the bed, cowering in fear as Rainbow continued her story, adopting a sinister tone to convey the malice of her tale. The yellow skinned girl covered her eyes with her hands, visibly shaking in fear as she silently begged for the story to be over. “And that’s when, after it finally finished devouring its last prey, the werewolf slowly skulked back into woods. However, some say it is still out there today. Silently running down the streets, targeting urban houses with the lights on late into the night. Just… like… this one!” Rainbow Dash quickly jumped up, shouting loudly and flailing her hands above her head, intent on scaring the living daylights out of her two friends that were spending the night with her. Rarity and Fluttershy joined together in a chorus of shouts and screams that would rival the intensity of a thousand screeching chimpanzees in the jungle. Rainbow Dash fell over onto her back, holding her sides tightly as she tried to sedate the pain that she felt in her sides from the large quantities of immeasurable laughter that was escaping her mouth. Tears of joy flowed freely from her ducts as she rolled around on her back. “Y…you should have s…seen the look on you faces,” she managed to say between fits of laughter. “That wasn’t very funny,” Fluttershy piped up after her bunny managed to calm her nerves a little by hopping into her lap. “You’re right, you’re right. It wasn’t funny,” Rainbow admitted, gaining some composure as she sat up. “It was hilarious!” She couldn’t stop the giggles from escaping her mouth and she fell back down into hysterical laughter for the second time. “Well, that’s quite enough of that for one night,” Rarity said, dusting off Rainbow’s spit from her expensive pajama bottoms. “I think we have tortured poor Fluttershy enough for one night.” “C…can we just, maybe, talk about something else. You know, if it's okay with both of you,” Fluttershy asked sheepishly, still cowering behind her long, pink hair that was expertly styled to allow her to hide her face behind her long, flowing locks. “I think that is a marvelous idea, darling,” Rarity agreed, smiling warmly at the girl. “Whatever,” Rainbow agreed finally, pouting slightly as she blew a bit of air from her mouth up her face, causing her Rainbow coloured hair to shift to the side due to the wind current. “What about, Shy?” “um… okay… I wonder when Twilight will return again. I heard…” Fluttershy trailed off when Rainbow suddenly interrupted her. “Why? Did she say she was returning? Did Sunset get a response from her freaky book thingy?” Her features perked up and her mood improved. She seemed incredibly excited at the thought of their violet Alicorn princess turned high school student friend to return to them so soon. “Somebody seems a little too enthused for a return from our Twilight,” Rarity teased, noticing the sudden change in tone of voice and body language from the normal cool Rainbow. “Psh, as if,” Rainbow scoffed, raising a hand to Rarity and waving her notion away as quick as it came up. Rarity refused to back down, enjoying watching Rainbow get flustered as much as all her other friends. Although they all considered Rainbow their best friend, they could all admit that her obnoxious, arrogant personality. “I think you were a little too sad to see her leave last time. The hug you two shared lingered on a little too long if you ask me,” Rarity smirked. “Well nobody did ask you. And we are just friends, that’s all. I can’t help if Twilight hugged me longer than any of you. She must just miss me more than any of you,” Rainbow beamed, puffing out her chest. Rarity rolled her eyes sarcastically at that remark. “Well maybe I won’t tell you the secret message that Twilight asked me to give to you,” Rarity mentioned, pretending to turn her attention to elsewhere although she was watching how Rainbow would respond with determined eyes. “What is it? What did she say?” Rainbow asked quickly, her face perking up again as she sat up and crawled over to Rarity. “Ha, caught you,” Rarity gloated, poking Rainbow’s chest with her finger. “Nah-uh,” Rainbow shook her head in response. Fluttershy’s spirits slowly lowered further and further throughout the whole display. Although she wasn’t quite sure why, she couldn’t watch Rarity torment Rainbow any further, and especially not about liking Twilight. She decided that she had to speak up and end this. “Um… can we… maybe… talk about something else, if you want that is,” Fluttershy sighed, slowly losing a demanding tone throughout her sentence until it came out as a shy question which was the very reason why most of the students at Canterlot high stepped all over the shy girl. “Whatever, I’m going to bed,” Rainbow responded stubbornly, rolling over in her mattress and dragging the covers over her head, obscuring Fluttershy’s view of the girl. “Same here,” Rarity scoffed, mimicking Rainbow’s actions. ‘At least they stopped talking about Rainbow liking Twilight,’ Fluttershy sighed to herself before crawling into her bed and snuggling under the covers herself. “Goodnight,” she squeaked but when she wasn’t met with a reply, she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep. Sunset Shimmer walked from student to student down the halls, asking the same question to each of them and getting the same, confused answer. ‘This is useless,’ she sighed to herself, placing the palm of her hand over her face and letting it run down her features. ‘Nobody knows a thing about where Flash is.’ She thought harder about her conundrum. A student doesn’t just go missing into thin air all of a sudden. Sunset was convinced that Equestrian magic was involved, just like it always was. She rolled her eyes, a small smile crossing her face as she thought this. Suddenly, her something in her mind clicked as she raced down the winding hallways, heading to her locker. Her red and orange tinged hair danced behind her in the wind, swaying much like a crackling fire. She screeched to a stop in front of her locker and frantically searched the confines, not stopping until she pulled out a small journal with a blazing sun plastered on the front of it. ‘I’ll just write a note to Princess Twilight and she can help me solve this,’ her mind decided as she picked up a pen and began scribbling a quick letter in the pages of the book that would inevitably appear in a similar book back in Twilight’s castle. “Hey Sunset, what ah ya doing?” A rustic voice asked from behind her. Sunset swiveled her head to see a confused, blonde haired girl wearing a denim skirt and long boots behind her. “Oh, hey Apple Jack, just writing a note to Twilight.” “What went wrong this time?” Apple Jack asked curiously. As Sunset began to recount the events of the morning, stressing that not a single soul had heard, let alone seen, Flash since yesterday afternoon. Just as she was finishing her story, a pink haired girl bounded around the corner. “Hey guys, Whatcha talking about?” Pinkie asked enthusiastically. “Flash went missin’ and we need ya help,” Apple Jack replied. “I’m gonna text the girls to come over to help us,” she finished. “Don’t worry silly, I already text them all 37 times while you told me what was happening,” Pinkie smiled. Apple Jack and Sunset Shimmer looked at each other, confused before Sunset shrugged her shoulders. Although it seemed improbable that anybody would be able to do things so quickly, they learnt not to question Pinkie. “Hey A.J and Sunset, I got Pinkie’s message. What do you need me for?” Rainbow asked, sprinting through the school doors, sweat pouring down her face. “Oh, hey Rainbow. It’s not that important,” Sunset admitted, running a hand through her fiery hair. “Are you kidding me? Pinkie said it was urgent! I got out of bed early for this!” Rainbow complained. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up. We just had an issue that we need to solve.” “A magical issue,” Pinkie added helpfully, putting emphasis on the word magical whilst waving her individual fingers through the air to symbolize the whimsy behind it. “I’m going to remember this next time I have something that is ‘urgent’,” Rainbow muttered, annoyed, acting out the air quotes around the word urgent. Sunset wanted to ask more and apologize again but their other friends turned up and she decided to turn her attention back to the problem at hand. “I’m glad you’re all here. I need your help,” Sunset began. “We’re your friends, sugarcube, we're always here to help,” Apple Jack smiled in reply. Sunset walked past the group of friends, making her way down the stone steps of the school and into the yard. Her flat soled shoes crunched on the individual blades of grass that danced about in the morning breeze. The girl’s shoes absorbing the dew drops that were created from the cold temperatures brought upon by the moon. Sunset traced her finger along the statue, stopping at the frame that faced the school. She placed the palm of her hand against the cold stone as the heat that she emitted was dissipated from her due to the greedy pull of the sculpture. Small ripples began to appear on the surface, much like how ripples of water occur after a delicate leaf is blown from its branch by a powerful wind and had floated down to land upon the unbroken surface of a lake. “This was where he was last seen. Do you think he was taken through the portal?” Sunset asked to nobody in particular. As if the inanimate object towering above her had heard her calls, something began to stir inside the portal. All the girls looked on eagerly, sparkles in their eyes not dissimilar to the symbol that adorned the backside of a certain violet alicorn. However, their enthusiasm turned to horror when a hand, a ghostly shade of white appeared from the portal, wrapping itself around the midriff of Sunset instead of Twilight emerged. The colour drained from Sunset’s face, being replaced by a pale white identical to that of the hand. Fear pumped through her system, releasing adrenaline through her veins that traveled around inside of her. Sunset immediately reached out her hand, pleading for her friends to help her. It was Rainbow, always the alert one in the group, that leaped into action before the seriousness of the situation had fully been absorbed by the others. Cyan met orange as Rainbow clasped her hand around Sunset’s. She steadied her stance, pushing with all her force onto the soles of her shoes so that she wasn’t also pulled into the portal by the fantastical force. Rainbow heaved with all her might. She was in the middle of the most intense game of tug of war with the hand of a phantom in which the prize was the life of Sunset. “Guys… a little… help here,” Rainbow grunted, refusing to loosen her grip on the panicking girl in front of her. Apple Jack, followed by Pinkie, Rarity and Fluttershy all wrapped their arms around Rainbow’s waist and began to pull, adding their force to that of Rainbow’s. Slowly, Sunset inched further and further away from the statue. Finally when her leg had completely emerged from the portal did the hand give up its attack and retreat back into the mysterious realm on the other side of the portal. With the sudden lack of opposite momentum, the girls all fell backwards suddenly, taking Sunset with them. They all landed in a heap on the lawn, laughing from sheer relief. “Get off of me, Sunset,” Rainbow yelled happily, pushing the flaming haired girl off of her. Sunset turned and immediately gave all of them a great bit hug, thanking them for their help. Little did they know that, whilst focused on making sure Sunset was alright, the misty white hand had begun to emerge from within the portal again. With little warning the hand seized Sunset for the second time, taking all six of the females completely off guard, and wrenched her off of her feet. Rainbow dived forward, trying to grab ahold of Sunset’s boots but she missed by a nose, watching in horror as the hand pulled Sunset into the portal. Just as the last finger of Sunset began to get swallowed up to the statue, a bright light emanated from the portal, bathing the surroundings in a heavenly glow. Rainbow rubbed her eyes, trying to gain the ability to see again after the burning light seared her retinas. When she finally was able to open her eyelids without pain, she noticed the blurry silhouette of two girls standing before her. As her sight adjusted and the hazy images began to focus, she noticed Sunset, standing on the grass beside her without a single scratch. And next to her, standing in all her glory, was Twilight Sparkle. “Twilight!” Rainbow cheered with joy, rushing over to the violet skinned girl and picking her up in her arms, twirling her around in the air with a big smile on her face. “H…hey Rainbow. Nice to see you…too,” Twilight managed to say, confused by the sudden outburst. Rainbow Dash, realizing what she was doing, quickly put Twilight down and rubbed the back of her neck, fighting off the encroaching blush that threatened to cover her cheeks. “Heh, heh, sorry Twi. It’s… been a while,” Rainbow muttered, laughing allowed to dispel the embarrassment. Although all the other girls seemed extremely happy, each running up to greet Twilight for themselves, one pouted silently, feeling a sudden emotion that she had never felt before. Fluttershy watched on, letting this emotion consume her as she viewed Rainbow Dash twirling around Twilight, beaming with joy from just seeing her again. Fluttershy gasped silently to herself when she realized what was happening. Although she had no clue why she was feeling this way, she did know that she was feeling an emotion she had never experienced before. Resentment. She resented Twilight.