The Awesome Spider-Dash: Origins

by Flufux


2) A lecture in Heroism, Part 1

Episode 2
A lecture in Heroism, Part 1
Coming back to High School

While Rainbow Dash had thoroughly enjoyed her weekend of new discoveries, new superpowers, and the closest she'd ever gotten to being able to fly for real...sadly, the dreaded time of the week known as Monday was upon her and all the other teenagers going to the remarkably cliché suburban high school simply known as Canterlot High...and none of them were too pleased about that fact, Rainbow least of all.

At the very least, the school gave her a convenient excuse to always do her morning jog on her way there. After all, daily exercises was something she really couldn't go without...at least not if she was ever going to pass for a half-decent athlete.

This time though, as she was running through the neighbourhoods at a steady pace, she held her phone up to her ear and seemed a bit annoyed with what the person on the other end was saying to her.

"Aw come on! Not even our friends?!" she questioned with a groan, making a move to dodge a kid riding past her on a bicycle.

"Not even them," Twilight's voice insisted. "...at least not in public. If word of your powers gets out, and if people start to figure out that it's you who has them...believe me, you'll never hear the end of it."

Dash chuckled a little, now making a brief stop to let an old woman and her five dogs pass by her first. "Well, hehe, I can certainly think of worse ways to get famous. You sure that's such a bad thing?"

"It's not that. I'm more worried about what the scientific community would do to you." Twilight clarified, showing a lot of concern in her voice. "I'm your friend, and even I was tempted to run tests on you. Just imagine what someone who doesn't care about your feelings as much as I do would do if they found out about your abilities?"

Rainbow rolled her eyes, "Er...good point, I guess," she conceded. "Okay, fine, I'll try to keep my powers hidden for now and not tell anyone about them, but no promises that I'll do that forever or anything. Fair enough?"

"Fair enough," Twilight affirmed, then got distracted by what sounded very much like Spike's voice in the background, calling out to her about something. "Yes, I'll be there in a second, Spike!" she briefly shouted...then returned to her conversation with Rainbow. "Sorry, but I need to get going. Talk to you later?"

"Sure, bye!" Dash agreed, then hung up and stuffed the phone back in her pocket.

'Well that sucks,' she thought as soon as she had disconnected the call. 'And here I was so very much looking forward to seeing their faces after I jump up on the ceiling in front of everyone. But, oh well. Keeping it secret it is...for now, at least.'

While she made that decision, Rainbow soon saw the familiar image of Canterlot High School coming into view, looking just as plain and ordinary as any other school, with the only thing really making it stand out in terms of appearance being the large rearing horse statue standing tall on a pedestal out in its front yard...even if this time, it didn't contain a portal to a magical land filled with sentient pastel-coloured ponies.

Now, it certainly wouldn't be hard to believe that Rainbow Dash wasn't too big a fan of going to this school, and one could tell as much by the bored uninterested look she had on her face as she made her way to it...however, it was incidentally where all her friends were right now, so at least there was a silver lining there.

Well, in truth, all her friends were there except for Twilight, who was taking some time off for her CelestiaCorp internship, and also Rarity...who was dealing with an entirely different lifestyle than High School at the moment.


Speaking of her friends, a couple of them had already gathered in one of the school's hallways, taking the time they got before classes start to talk about their weekend while taking things out or putting in things in their lockers.

"...And then Twilight and Sunset told us all about her cross-species genetics project, then-" Pinkie Pie recounted cheerfully, her mouth moving so fast it started to look blurry...

...at least until Applejack interrupted her with a quick, "Pinkie, we already know about all that! We were all...kinda there, ya know?"

"Of course you were, silly!" Pinkie replied, still keeping her bright smile on her face. "I just told you that. Now, after that, we talked a lot about this Starswirl guy and-"

"Yes, but could you maybe tell us something that happened...when we weren't there," Fluttershy suggested, taking the time to pick up a snack she'd stored in her locker, that she then put it inside her backpack...where something could soon be heard eating it.

Pinkie looked a bit disappointed about that, and dropped her smile a bit, "Huh? I guess I could, but those things weren't really that fun. Nothing beats the fun I have when I'm with my bestest friends!"

"Oh, I'm sure you can think of something to talk about. Though if you can't, then that's okay too."

Putting her hand on her chin in thought, Pinkie soon remembered at least one odd thing she remembered from this weekend. "Weeeell...yesterday me and my sister Maud were out shopping for a birthday present for Marble when my Pinkie Sense kept telling me that something was gonna fall from the sky! Turned out it was some crazy girl dressed in a funny blue and yellow outfit who swung around from building to building with some kind of web-shooting thingies."

Applejack slowly raised an eyebrow, "...Say what now?"

Pinkie shrugged, "I don't know who she was or why she was doing that, but it looked like FUN! I guess you had to be there."

"If...ya say so," Applejack relented, sounding a bit confused but also not in the mood to argue with Pinkie about what could have just as well been her slightly cooky friend's imagination running wild again. This was, after all, the same girl who threw a party for a bunch of garden gnomes and was absolutely certain they were all talking back at her.

Applejack then looked at Fluttershy and asked, "By the way, how did your weekend go, Flutters?"

"Oh, it was wonderful!" Fluttershy happily answered. "I found a new animal friend to take care of, and she was one of the most adorable little creatures I've ever seen! I decided to call her Fuzzy Legs."

"Fuzzy Legs? What kind of critter was she?"

Before Fluttershy had time to answer, Pinkie guessed, "Oh, oh, oh, let me guess: a tiger, a mantis, a monkey, crane, panda, snake? Wait, snakes don't have legs, unless that was one of those ironic names. Is it?"

Fluttershy laughed a little and clarified, "Oh no, hehehe, Fuzzy Legs is a spider."

"Ooooooooh, now I get it..."

Applejack held up a hand, "Wait a minute, how exactly is a spider adorable?"

"How could it not be?" Fluttershy replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I don't really get why everyone thinks spiders are so scary. I think they look cute, with their pretty little eyes and those fuzzy little legs."

"Well, I suppose if anyone could consider a spider to be cute, it'd be you, Fluttershy."

Fluttershy blushed a little at that comment.

Seeing an opening, Pinkie turned the conversation over to Applejack, "What about your weekend, Jackie? Did you do any super-fun stuff that I didn't know about? Because if you did..."

Her friend's mood suddenly turned a bit sour after that question was asked though, and she let out a long sigh before she answered it. "Well...not exactly. In fact, 'fun' would probably be the last word to describe it."

"Oh my," Fluttershy voiced, sounding concerned. "What happened?"

"Y'all know Barnyard Bargains, the company my family and I always sell our products through?" Applejack opened with, earning a nod from her friends each. "Well, some money-hogging weasel named Rex Storm just showed up the heck out nowhere and bought the whole company right out from under our goshdarn noses, and then threatened to run us out of business if we didn't start workin' for him! Now, I'm sure he got some fancy legal what-ya-call-it on his side, but it'll be a cold day in hell before I let that charlatan get his greedy hands on my farm! Heck, we don't even know where he gets all the money to do that from, but I bet your boots it ain't legal."

"That...doesn't sound good," Fluttershy commented, not really knowing what else to say to that.

"That's an understatement. If this keeps up, we'll lose Sweet Apple Acres within a few months unless we can find a way to do somethin' about it!"

"Why don't you just ask Shining Armour to deal with it?" Pinkie suggested. "I mean you're a friend of his sister, so that would make you his friend too, and friends always help each other out, am I right!?"

"Already tried that, Sugarcube. But the cops won't help unless they have 'evidence'." Applejack answered with the appropriate air-quotes.

"But there has to be some evidence," Fluttershy insisted. "I mean, no one can just ruin someone else's life and get away with it like that!"

Applejack crossed her arms. "Apparently...you can. I talked to them cops about this whole mess and they found no proof whatsoever that Rex was doin' anythin' illegal, but I ain't buyin' that for a second."

Pinkie popped up behind Applejack and wrapped her arm over her shoulder. "Hey, don't go all pouty, Applejack! It's only been a weekend, and I'm sure there'll be plenty of time to find a solution to this. And if this storm-guy tries to take your farm, I will unleash cupcakegeddon on him and his no-fun company!"

While she had no idea what on earth she meant by that, the sentiment brought a small smile to Applejack's lips while a small bit of her stress faded away. "Um, thank's, Pinkie."

"That's what I'm here for, cousin!" Pinkie responded before she literally bounced a few steps away to give her friend back her personal space.

"Hey, guys!" Rainbow Dash's voice then cut in, announcing the arrival of the fourth member in their circle of friends, as the spunky prismatic-haired tomboy herself swiftly made her way through the crowded hallway to meet up with them.

Pinkie Pie's reaction was immediate. Before anyone could blink, the pink blur bolted towards the new arrival at super-sonic speed with her arms spread out in order to give her friend one of her infamous 'Pinkie-hugs'.

Though when Pinkie did so, Rainbow's new spider-sense misinterpreted the action as if she was in immediate danger, and she instinctively stepped out of the way before Pinkie could reach her, resulting in the overly excited party girl to miss her completely and instead run headfirst into a nearby teacher who just happened to be walking by and send them both tumbling down to the floor in a heap.

Rainbow and her friends all winced at the sight, and Dash herself even let out a nervous chuckle while scratching the back of her head, as it was indeed her actions that inadvertently caused this.

Pinkie Pie was perfectly fine though. She could survive far worse than this. Rainbow even suspected that she was made out of some kind of strange rubbery indestructible material at times, as that would explain how she could so blatantly ignore physics so often...and as such, had no problem bouncing back up on her feet without a scratch while shouting, "I'm okay!"

The same could not be said for the teacher on the other hand, a middle-aged rather lanky man with a grumpy and short-tempered attitude...in fact, his name actually 'Cranky'...which couldn't be more fitting honestly. And, as you could expect from a person with such a name, he did not take it quite as well as Pinkie did.

"Pinkie!" he shouted, face now red with anger.

A bit embarrassed, Pinkie let out a small nervous laugh and said, "Eh, hehe...oops, sorry about that," while keeping a guilty smile on her face.

Cranky merely grumbled under his breath, then picked himself up and walked away without uttering another word.

"One day...I'll make him smile..." Pinkie promised to herself under her breath.

Then her smile spontaneously reappeared as she turned back around and tried to hug Rainbow Dash again. This time though, Rainbow managed to stop her advance simply by keeping a hand on Pinkie's forehead, thus making the overly excited party-animal run in place while holding her arms out in a desperate attempt to deliver the hug that she felt her friend deserved. The fact that she wasn't going anywhere or that Rainbow was intentionally holding her at bay didn't deter her in the least.

"Whoah, Pinkie, take it easy, why don't ya?!" Dash urged, having noticed that people were staring, Pinkie's antics having already made a bit of a scene. Though honestly, they really should have been used to that by now.

"But I have to give all of my friends a super-special hug on Mondays or else they'll just be bitter all day!" Pinkie insisted, still trying to push past Rainbow's defences. "I mean, no one likes Mondays, well, except for Misses Cake for some reason, but you're not her so I'm giving you a hug to cheer you up no matter what!"

Rainbow replied to that with cocky smile and a small chuckle, "Oh, no need for cheering up needed here, trust me. I happen to be in a pretty awesome mood today."

That simply statement made Pinkie Pie turn her attitude on a dime and immediately stop her efforts to invade her friend's personal space with a bright smile and a nod. "Okay dokey lokey!"

"Oh, that's...good to hear," Fluttershy remarked with a warm smile. "Any particular reason why?"

'Because I just got the most awesome superpowers ever!'...was of course what she wanted to say...and probably what she would have said if it wasn't for what Twilight told her over the phone on the way here just now. She did agree to not mention her new powers to anyone after all...especially in a public setting where people could overhear her, lest she'd be abducted and treated as a test subject in some mad scientist's lab or at the very least become a walking freak show for the whole school.

As much as she wanted to show off her new abilities to every single person she could show them to, it really wasn't worth all that hassle. Having been very open about her sexuality for most of her life, she knew full well how quick people could be at judging her for being...'different'.

So instead, Rainbow simply shrugged and answered, "I guess it's just one of those days."

"We all have those every once in a while, Sugarcube," Applejack acknowledged. "So how did your weekend go, Rainbow?"

Rainbow fished out the keys to her locker started to get to work on getting it open. "Not much. I went over to Twilight and Spike's place for a while, tasted broccoli pie for the first time, and...well...the window in my room kinda broke."

"It did?!" Fluttershy wondered, sounding concerned. "What happened?"

"Eh...some kid hit it with a baseball," she lied while opening her locker and tossing her backpack into it. "But it's fine. I'm sure the insurance will handle it...and if it won't, well, that's not my problem anyway."

Pinkie Pie's eyes suddenly fluttered for seemingly no reason, somehow prompting her to look at Rainbow with a very sceptical expression...then she asked, "Soooo...you're telling me that you're in such a good mood that you don't need a super-special Pinkie-hug?"

Rainbow slammed her locker shut and happily replied, "Well duh! Right now, I doubt there's anything that can possibly lower my spirit!"

The legitimacy of that statement was immediately called into question though when an energetic and slightly obnoxious male voice called out, "Well hello there, Rainbows! How's it hanging!?"

Knowing full well who that voice belonged to, Dash sighed and muttered, "...And I stand corrected."

Out of all the people who could get on Rainbow Dash's nerves, there was only one who never failed at making her feel so annoyed and nauseated at the same time as the guy who just called over to her. Heck, even her spider-sense gave off warnings about his presence.

Emerging from the crowded hallway was a tall and lanky young man with messy blonde hair that was tied up into a rather silly-looking 'man-bun'. A cocky smile that somehow made him look even more narcissistic than Rainbow Dash herself was plastered upon his unshaven cheeks...and worst of all, he didn't seem capable of taking his eyes off of Rainbow's body...especially her bottom, much to her annoyance.

"Alright, Zephyr, what do you want now?" she groaned while crossing her arms and leaned her back against the wall, all while trying to look as repulsed and uninterested as she could possibly be in the hope, however slim, that the guy, who was called Zephyr Breeze by the way...would take the hint and leave her alone.

She had no such luck though, as her very obvious warning signals all went completely under the guy's notice, and continued to approach her anyway. "Oh, I just wanted to grace you with my awesome presence. After all, it has been such a looooong time since we spent much time together, hasn't it?"

"Yeah, can't imagine why that is..." Rainbow noted with heavy sarcasm...which went completely over his head.

"Me neither. I mean, if I didn't know better, I'd say that you're trying to avoid me or something, but we both know that's not true, so it really is a mystery."

She rolled her eyes.

...And yet, Zephyr just kept talking, "Anyway, I heard that you broke up with that Gilda chick, which, to be honest, wasn't that surprising, since we all know who you really has your eye for. Of course I knew that that whole fiasco was just to make me jealous, am I right?"

Dash looked quite offended at that remark, and gave him her best 'are you for real' look while sputtering out, "What?!"

Next he put his hand on the wall Rainbow was leaning on and got uncomfortably close to her in the process, "...And with that sexy phase out of the way, why don't we get together and hang out sometime? You most certainly won't regret it!"

Feeling very creeped out, Rainbow immediately pushed him away from her, her super-strength making the act a bit more painful for him than strictly intended. "Uhhhh...how about no?" she replied once she'd reclaimed her personal space.

"Whoah, that actually hurt a little," Zephyr noted under his breath, her push having hit him straight in the ribs rather hard. Still, not even that would make him relent in his mission to woo her.

"Well, you don't have to call it a date, but-"

Before he could continue any further, Fluttershy suddenly exclaimed, "Zephyr Breeze!" with a bit more assertiveness than was common for her. She then rushed over to him, grabbed his wrist and physically dragged the boy away from her friends before he could make an even bigger fool of himself than he already was.

Rainbow Dash even let out a sigh of relief the moment he was out of earshot.

Once she'd gotten some distance from the group, Fluttershy looked Zephyr right in the eye and scolded, "Zephyr, I know you like to flirt with Rainbow Dash whenever you can, but do you really think it's a good idea to do it while she's still recovering from what happened with Gilda?!"

Zephyr freed his hand from her grip and defended, "Oh come on, Sis, don't you think I have waited long enough for her to just go along with those feelings she obviously has for me?"

Fluttershy, the demure shy girl who usually couldn't hurt a fly even if she wanted to...somehow managed to remain firm and uncompromising with Zephyr's obnoxious attitude, and assertively made her displeasure as clear as she could about his behaviour. He was, after all, her baby brother. "And what if she doesn't have feelings for you?! All you're doing is making her uncomfortable with your behaviour!"

"Hey, if she's truly not into 'the Breeze', then she should just go ahead and say so."

"But she has said so...multiple times!" Fluttershy angrily pointed out.

Zephyr put a hand on his chin and looked confused for a second. "Strange, I don't remember her ever saying that. What I do remember is her super-obvious crush on me. I mean, she's always so flustered whenever she comes to our place, and I can really only think of one reason for that."

"You know she likes girls, don't you?"

"Yeah, so? That's just one more thing we have in common. And who said she was exclusive? I mean, you like both, maybe she does too."

Fluttershy fidgeted a little and looked around uncomfortably at the mention of that, "I thought we agreed to keep that a secret."

Confused, he looked back at her and questioned, "Um, sis, didn't you come out, like, years ago?"

"To mom and dad, yes, but that doesn't mean I want you or anyone else shouting it from a mountain top. I...I really don't want them all to think of me...differently."

"Whatever you say, Flutters," he shrugged off.


Back with the others, Pinkie Pie looked over to Rainbow and asked, "Do you think he knows you're actually gay?"

"If he does, then he's definitively in denial," Dash responded with a sigh. "Though even if I did like guys that way, I'd still never go out with him. Way too annoying and he kinda creeps me out. Heck, I wouldn't even date him if he was the sexiest girl on the planet. I mean, yuck!"

Pinkie put her hand on her chin in thought while making a "Hmmmmm..." sound, then she asked, "But if you did like guys, who would you go out with? I've been wondering that for a while, and I really wanna know. Though fair warning, if you say Cheese Sandwich, you won't get any mercy from me!"

"Don't worry, Pinkie, the hypothetical straight version of me won't steal your boyfriend," Rainbow assured with a chuckle.

"Oh, he's not my boyfriend..." Pinkie was quick to correct, though she did a second later add an ominous, "...yet anyway," while hiding a surprisingly sinister-looking smile.

However, Rainbow then found answering Pinkie's question to not be the easiest thing in the world, evident by the fact that she spent a good half-minute thinking about it first.

"Hmm...I don't know actually. Haven't really thought about that. I mean, I guess there are some guys I like; Spike, Big Mac, Soarin, Thunderlane, Quibble Pants, but I really can't imagine any of them being anything more than friends to me...which is still a lot more than I would say for Zephyr Breeze."

"You know, Zeph kinda reminds me of that exchange student we had last year. What's his name, Trenderhoof?" Applejack added, cringing a little as she remembered just how annoying that time was. "I still don't get what he saw in me or why he couldn't go out with all them other girls who kept fawnin' over him like enamoured honeybees instead. Heck, even after he went back to his own high-falutin school, I had to block him on social media because he couldn't stop writin' love poems to me. I guess some guys just can't take no for an answer, huh?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Rainbow Dash caught a glimpse of someone entering through the school doors and bitterly muttered, "...that goes for some girls too."

The sheer spite Rainbow put in that comment made Applejack and Pinkie pause for a second, then followed their friend's gaze to see who it was that had gotten her so riled up...though once they did, they instantly knew why.

If there ever was a perfect example of a 'bad girl' at Canterlot High, the heavily built jock in a brown leather bomber jacket with spiky white hair with purple ends on her head and sharp purple eyeliners around her almost predatory yellow eyes would be her. And in case that image alone didn't convince you, the fact that she was angrily stomping through the hallway with a face that screamed 'get lost' and snarled at anyone daring to even come close to her definitively would.

It was Gilda Griffon, Rainbow's not-so-amicable ex...and she was pissed.

Given her fearsome reputation, short temper and less-than-cheerful mood (that being barely contained anger and hatred that could boil to the surface at any minute), everyone wisely gave her a wide berth as she made her way to her locker at the other end of the corridor.

It wouldn't even be an exaggeration to say that many of them would rather approach a spitting cobra than risk incurring her wrath at this point.

The very sight of her ignited a flame of bottled down anger in Rainbow's gut, and the good mood she was in that morning had all but vanished in an instant. There was only one person she knew who had such an effect on Rainbow Dash...and that was Gilda.

When Gilda passed Dash and her friends, she snorted and spitefully asked, "What the hell are you looking at, dweebs?"...yet had no intention of waiting for a reply, so she just kept walking...though not before she'd given her ex a single noticeable glare that was anything but friendly.

Rainbow Dash herself said nothing in response and instead just glared back. After all, there were no words that could really convey how much tension there was between the two that their eyes hadn't already communicated.

In fact, her anger over Gilda was so distracting that she didn't notice her spider-sense ringing when Pinkie suddenly hugged her tightly out of the blue.

"...And what's this for?" Rainbow questioned, having been taken slightly off-guard by her friend's quick affectionate gesture.

"To cheer you up of course!" Pinkie answered with a smile. "When you came here you were so happy that you didn't need a hug, but now you're not that happy anymore so I want to cheer you up with one of my patented Pinkie hugs!"

Though a bit awkwardly, Rainbow Dash did hug her back a little, "Aw...thanks, Pinkie."

...
...
...

"Umm...you can let go now. People are beginning to stare..."


A few minutes later, Rainbow Dash was sitting at her desk waiting for the first class of the day to start along with the rest of her classmates.

In the process, she was finding herself increasingly distracted by the new sensations her spider-sense kept giving her. Especially since she could feel everything that the others in the room were doing.

She could feel Ditzy 'Derpy' Doo trying to devour a muffin as discretely as possible, Minuette showing her friends Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine something on her smartphone, Pinkie Pie impatiently bouncing in her seat waiting for the class to start, Zephyr Breeze snoozing on his desk, Vinyl Scratch bobbing her head while listening to loud music in her headphones, Fluttershy feeding one of the animals that she had sneaked into school in her backpack, Applejack using her table to rest her legs on while leaning back in her chair and eating an apple, and...were Bon Bon and Lyra Heartstrings seriously making out in the middle of the classroom? So much for being 'best friends'...

Rainbow really wanted to find a way to shut that spider-sense off...and not for lack of trying. Even when she focused on something else entirely, the spider-sense was sort of always there...reminding her that a lot of things were going on around her, whether she cared about that or not.

However, she did have some measure of control over it. For instance, she could focus the spider-sense on one specific thing or another, and she could switch between trying to read everything or just keeping track of the things that moved, especially things that moves towards her.

Despite how much she tried, though, she couldn't turn it off completely.

Was it a gift or a curse? Rainbow Dash currently had no answer. So far it had its uses, even thought it could be a little annoying at times. Perhaps she could call it a bit of both?

Eventually, their teacher, a certain pink-haired woman called Miss Cheerilee, stepped into the room and announced, "So sorry I'm late, I got held up a bit." Immediately making the whole class stop whatever it was they were doing and pay attention to her...except Zephyr Breeze who didn't even notice her come in.

Cheerilee certainly lived up to her name with her cheerful smile and supportive upbeat personality that made her so approachable...at least when on the job. In truth, that attitude was actually somewhat of a cover for how stressed, frustrated and lonely she really was. Behind the scenes, you might not even recognise her.

However, for now at least, she acted very much as the friendly, always smiling teacher that her students expected from her when she asked, "Good morning, students! I trust you all had a wonderful weekend?" in a chipper tone.

"Not really. Mine sucked," Gilda snappily replied from the corner from where she was sitting.

The teacher was a bit taken back by that harsh response, but kept her mood up regardless. "Well...I'm...sorry to hear that. Anyway, I suppose we should start with today's new project!"

To make sure everyone was paying attention, she then immediately stepped up to Zephyr's desk and knocked three times on the table where he was resting his head on. "Rise and shine! Class is in session!" she sing-songed.

The sleepy teenager groaned, looked up and groggily complained, "Aw geez! Can't a guy get a little sleep around here?!"

"I'm afraid not," Cheerilee replied bluntly. "Honestly, Zephyr, do you even sleep at night?"

"You know me...Siesta!" he argued...as if that actually meant anything.

"Then I suggest you 'siesta' at home rather than during school hours."

Zephyr grumbled a little before he leaned back in his seat and began to pretend to pay attention to what Miss Cheerilee was saying.

Satisfied with her efforts, Cheerilee decided to cut to the chase and introduce her class' next assignment. "Today we will be beginning a new project for you to both write an essay about and present to the class!" she revealed, followed by a couple of groans from a number of her students. She chose to ignore them though. "The assignment will be about a very special type of people, ones who are all too rare, but always needed to make our society a better place. They fight for those that need their help the most, they fight for what is right and true, and they never expect anything in return. They may even be willing to risk their own lives to save someone else's, perhaps even someone they don't even know. I am of course talking about heroes and heroines. Now, can any of you give me an example of someone that you'd consider to be heroic?"

The first one to raise their hand was Ditzy Doo, a blonde girl with permanently crossed eyes and probably the only person alive who considered a nickname like 'Derpy' to be a compliment.

"Yes, Ditzy Doo?" Cheerilee prompted.

"You mean like the Doctor?" 'Derpy' asked.

A bit confused, Cheerilee inquired, "Doctor...who exactly?"

"The Doctor, you know? He doesn't really have a name."

"I'm not sure I know who you're talking about."

"Well, he saved me from the Cybermen and stopped the Slitheen from blowing up the Earth. If that doesn't make you a hero, then nothing does!" The ditzy girl declared with a lot of pride.

Everybody else in the classroom however, including Miss Cheerilee, were utterly confused over what she was talking about and an awkward silence soon filled the room.

Eventually though, Cheerilee said, "Oooookay...moving on, so can anyone else think of someone with heroic qualities?"

Lyra Heartstrings, a slightly hyperactive musician girl with spiky teal-coloured hair and was always seen alongside her best friend/lover Bon Bon, eagerly raised her hand and exclaimed, "I know one!"

Cheerilee nodded for her to continue.

"How about Captain Jupiter? She wasn't just a hero, she was a superhero! I totally adore her after she stopped a flying car from hitting my dad in the head by smashing it mid-air with a single punch, and in doing so, saved his life. And the best part is: it happened before I was born. Meaning: I wouldn't even exist if she wasn't there!"

Sugarcoat, a girl with orange glasses, pig-tails and probably the most ironic name ever, extremely bluntly replied, "Yes, and then she suddenly turned evil and killed over thirty-seven people before she just disappeared for over twenty years."...all in one breath.

Slightly insulted over that remark, Lyra turned to Sugarcoat and angrily defended, "Hey, that wasn't her! My dad knew Captain Jupiter, and she was not a bad person. The one who killed all those people must have been the Changeling or some other impostor."

"Except the Changeling was already imprisoned when all that happened and she was never able to replicate Jupiter's powers."

Cringing a little for not having a good counter-argument for that piece of logic, Lyra simply remarked, "Okay, maybe she wasn't the Changeling, but she was certainly not herself. She would never just turn evil for no reason!"

Gilda, after rolling her eyes for good measure, grimly stated, "You're the only one who still believes that."...adding her own harsh input to the conversation.

Lyra took her attention away from Sugarcoat and onto Gilda with a righteous fury, "Yeah, you're one to talk!"

"And what is that supposed to mean, dweeb?!" Gilda shot back, feeling personally insulted by that statement.

Bon Bon, who was sitting between the two, tried to prevent the argument from escalating further by placing a hand on Lyra's shoulder and warning, "Lyra, please just don't enga-"

But her efforts were in vain, as Lyra ignored her completely and accused, "What I mean is that you're probably just sour about the fact that Captain Jupiter kicked your grandpa's old feathered ass about a dozen times!"

"So what?!" Gilda replied, surprising Lyra quite a bit. "My grandpa's an idiot who got what was coming to him, and you're just a sad little fangirl who can't except that her hero isn't as perfect as you thought she was!"

While to most people it would seem as if that harsh statement was aimed at Lyra, the fact that she gave Rainbow Dash a quick glare right after saying it painted a bigger, and more personal, picture-

After hearing Gilda's rude an unfair words at her girlfriend though, Bon Bon suddenly sat up and argued, "Hey, that was completely uncalled for! What did Lyra ever-"

"Bored now!" Gilda interrupted without even giving the girl a second glance.

Whatever Bon Bon was about to say was suddenly lost to her. She knew Gilda could be a bit of a jerk at times, but she was not used to her being this hostile.

However, their little argument did get the attention of Miss Cheerilee, who stood up from her chair and reprimanded, "Gilda! We do not act that way to our fellow classmates!"

Gilda huffed and muttered, "Whatever."

"...And Lyra, please stop antagonising her," Cheerilee added soon after.

Lyra crossed her arms and gave Gilda a disapproving glare but remained silent.

Rainbow Dash internally sighed after listening to that bit of tension. She knew Gilda was not really angry at Lyra, she cared too little about her classmate to properly hate her. However, there was someone else in that classroom who she certainly was angry with, and that was Rainbow herself. It had only been a few days since they officially broke up, and saying Gilda was still sour about it would be a monumental understatement. At this point, the girl was more than willing to take out her anger on just about anything that annoyed her. It was this aura of hostility that made Rainbow so uncomfortable in her proximity, like her spider-sense could detect her rage from a mile away.

Gilda had always been a bit rough around the edges. But for the most part, she actually wasn't that bad. Rainbow had been friends with her for a long while, ever since they went to elementary school actually. Back then, the two of them really did care for each other, so much so that they even started dating for a few months. However, that all went sideways when Dash was eventually forced to choose between her best friends or her girlfriend after a really messy argument. Rainbow ultimately stayed loyal to her friends and basically told Gilda to 'deal with it or go to hell'.

Let's just say that Gilda didn't take that very well...

Having been raised in a family of criminals and money-grabbing vultures (pun intended), with a grandpa who was the city's first supervillain to boot, Gilda didn't have the most comfortable of upbringings. She received next to no love from her parents when she grew up, and she was constantly bullied when her sexuality became common knowledge to those around her. Rainbow Dash was just about the only good thing to ever happen in her life, and without her, she quickly turned hostile and pessimistic.

It took Rainbow a while to realise that while she was spacing out, Cheerilee was continuing her lesson. Not wanting to miss more than necessary, she quickly returned her focus to her teacher.

"...while Captain Jupiter may not have left off with such a great reputation, many still remember the days before she turned into a force of destruction. Back then, what the people saw was someone who would go up against the likes of the Changeling and Silvermane if it meant she could save someone else. One who could even convince someone as dangerous as Scorpan to abandon his evil ways and do the right thing. However, she also proved that even someone as selfless and heroic as Captain Jupiter could become cruel..."

After catching a noticeable glare from Lyra when she said that, the teacher added, "...we believe. But, you do not need to have superhuman powers or a mask to be called a hero. Anyone who decided to go out of their way to help someone else could by some definition be called a hero."

Cheerilee loudly clapped her hands together to gain the class' full attention, "So here is your next assignment! You are going to think of someone who you consider to be a hero and present that person's heroic deeds to the class. It doesn't have to be a famous superhero, it could just as well be a hardworking friend or parent who you admire. Anything goes! Any questions?"

Derpy slowly raised her hand and asked, "Sooo...does the Doctor count?"


Later that day, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were spending their lunch break hanging out in the small garden just outside the school.

Since very few students went to that particular garden (aside from a certain rarely noticed girl named Wallflower Blush), Fluttershy liked to spend a lot of her time there away from everybody else. Also, the lush abundance of beautiful plants and the occasional cute little animal made her day worth it. It quickly became her favourite spot on campus. One day, she introduced the place to Rainbow Dash as well...who mostly just used it to take the occasional nap where nobody would think to look for her.

At the moment, Rainbow was sitting on the ground and leaned her back against the odd fish statue in the middle of the garden while watching Fluttershy lie on the grass communicating with a raven that was sitting on her outstretched hand.

Rainbow Dash could probably watch Fluttershy all day...with the way her long pink hair almost seems to glimmer in the sunlight...the way her slightly yellow-tanned skin looked so soft to touch...so much so that all she really wanted was to just go ahead and touch it. What really got to her were Fluttershy's big light-blue eyes that Rainbow (even thought she denied it if anyone asked her) really thought were completely adorable. Well, at least until she used 'the Stare'...then they're completely terrifying.

Even when Fluttershy seemed to be involved in an actual conversation with a wild bird, which would make anyone else question that person's sanity, Rainbow couldn't help but be reminded of why she had fallen in love with with the sweet girl in the first place.

She was so lost in the sight of her that Dash didn't pay any attention to what Fluttershy was actually telling her feathered friend.

"...now I'm sure Loki isn't trying to usurp your master's throne, Huginn," Fluttershy assured the black bird. "I think you might just be overthinking the whole thing."

"Kwak?!" The raven apparently called Huginn 'asked' her.

"From what you've told me, I think all Loki wants is for more people to pay attention to him. Maybe if Odin just decides to spend some time with him and try to bond, this whole mess will fix itself."

The raven seemed to be considering the mortal's wise words.

"Now you should go back to Asgard and tell your master that all he needs to do is to show just a little kindness."

Huginn nodded and flew off to who knows where.

Fluttershy noticed that Rainbow was staring and gave her a cheeky smile, "What are you looking at, Dashie?" showing a bit more sass than one would expect of her.

A bit flustered, Rainbow Dash hastily answered, "Uh, nothing!"

The slightly amused smile on Fluttershy's face made it pretty clear that she didn't buy that. Either way, as she didn't want to make her best friend uncomfortable, she then asked, "So, um, have you figured out who you want to pick for that 'hero assignment' Cheerilee gave us?"

After a second of thought, Rainbow simply shrugged, "Not yet. I mean, maybe I can pick Daring Do, but I don't think she wanted me to pick a fictional character. I dunno. My brain does not think schoolwork right now."

"Well...I'm just asking because...I think I have decided who I will pick."

"Really? And who's that then?"

She looked away slightly and quietly mumbled, "Um...well...you."

Rainbow had to do a double take to make sure she heard that right. "Wait, run that by me again."

A little louder this time, Fluttershy revealed, "I think...I will talk about you for the hero assignment, Dashie."

Rainbow's jaw dropped, "But...why me?"

"Do you...remember when we first met?" Fluttershy asked a bit hesitantly, tilting her head down.

"Of course, how could I forget?"

Dash was now really curious about where this was going.

"Then you remember those awful bullies who were always making fun of me all the time back in grade school."

Rainbow gritted her teeth, "Yes, I remember..."

"Well, you were the only one who ever stood up to them. You stood up to them...for me. Nobody has ever done anything like that for me before. Sure, my parents always cared and supported me, but they would never dare to stand up to anyone, not even my brother. So while you may not think you're a hero, I think you're my hero."

Rainbow Dash was speechless, the sincerity and pride in Fluttershy's voice was so genuine that she almost believed her.

"You...really think so?" Dash asked uncertainly.

Fluttershy didn't even hesitate before she replied, "Yes, I do."

That assurance got her thinking. Rainbow Dash had always been rather protective to those she cared about, even so much that she chose to give up on her last girlfriend out of loyalty to them. And when she first met Fluttershy, she got in the face of three boys twice her size with the ferocity of a raging tiger just because they were teasing her. She didn't even back down after she received a black eye and lost one of her primary teeth. It had been a long time since she last showed that kind of tenacity though. She eventually learned not to put herself in danger...too often. However, now that she had superpowers...maybe Spike's idea of becoming a superhero wasn't so far-fetched after all.

For now though, Rainbow shook that thought aside and said, "It's awesome that you're picking me for this, Fluttershy, but..."

She trailed off when she heard the familiar rock-themed ringtone of her cell phone coming from her pocket. She quickly fished it out and asked, "Yeah?"

The familiar country accent of Applejack replied, "Rainbow, it's Applejack! Where the heck are you?"

"Hanging out with Fluttershy. What's the rush, AJ?"

"Practice is 'bout to start and we're goin' up against Lightnin' Dust's team this time. We could really use your help out there, RD."

"Oh crud, I forgot about that!"

"Well get over here then, we're all waiting on ya!"

"I'll be there in a sec!" Rainbow finished before disconnecting the call.

She then stood up and said, "Sorry, Flutters, but I gotta run!"

Fluttershy nodded, "Of course. Good luck out there, Dashie."

With a confident smile, Rainbow assured, "Thanks, but I doubt I'll need it."