Episode 7: Kicking Dust
21st of March, Friday, 4:15pm, Soccer field
Rainbow Dash sat down on the bench, wiping the sweat from her forehead and breathing heavily. She swooped up her water bottle and took a long swig, as one of her teammates, Spitfire, walked towards her.
“Nice one, Rainbow Dash. Keep this up, and you’ll become a world champ in no time!” she said, sitting down next to her. “Hey, Soarin’, quit daydreaming!” she yelled.
“Thanks a lot,” Rainbow replied, leaning back on her hands.
“So, you heard about the match coming up?” Spitfire asked.
“Match?” Rainbow Dash suddenly lit up. “There’s a match?”
“Yep! We’re competing against Crystal Prep! They’re a private school, so I’m sure we can kick their pampered asses!” Spitfire said, grinning.
“Totally!” Rainbow grinned back.
“Well, seeing as you two seem very confident, you can be the captains. Rainbow, blue team; Spitfire, red team,” their coach yelled.
“Yes, ma’am!” they called out in unison, running up onto the field.
“Three, two, one!” Their coach threw the coin up into the air.
“Heads!” Rainbow said.
“Tails!” Spitfire said straight after.
The coin landed on the back of the coach’s hand, who flipped it over. “Heads it is! Rainbow’s team begins!” She threw the ball over and it landed in front of Rainbow, who stood behind it.
A loud whistle, and Rainbow quickly brought her foot forward and kicked the ball with enough force to have it fly all the way over the half field and straight into the goal.
“1–zip!” Rainbow called out, grinning.
22nd of March, Saturday, 6:00am, Rainbow’s Place
Rainbow Dash sat up and blinked her eyes a couple of times. She looked towards the sun, barely over the horizon. Grinning, she jumped up and grabbed her uniform, quickly changing, before running to the park.
22nd of March, Saturday, 6:30am, Park
Rainbow Dash slowed down as she neared the end of her fifth lap, grabbing her water bottle and taking a huge swig. She wiped the sweat off her forehead and took a few minutes before getting up to continue again. As she did, a figure wearing a hooded jacket raced past her. Rainbow blinked. That speed was incredible! Without thinking straight, she stood up and raced after the mysterious person.
She followed her out of the park, through the nearby woods, down the street and towards Canterlot High, before she finally stopped outside the entrance.
Rainbow Dash stopped behind them, huffing and puffing. “Who… are you?”
The girl smirked. “Still don’t recognize me?” She pulled off her hood, her fire coloured hair tumbling out onto her shoulders.
Rainbow Dash eyes widened slightly, then she grinned. “Lightning Dust!”
Lightning turned around, grinning. “Missed me, Dash?”
22nd of March, Saturday, 6:45am, outside Canterlot High
“So, what are you doing here?” Rainbow asked, moving the bottle around in her hands. After their reunion, the two sat on the wall near the school gate.
“Tournament. Soccer one, y’know, for school. We were supposed to arrive here on the bus, but I got up early and ran here instead,” Lightning Dust explained simply.
“Really? We’re taking place in a soccer tournament too,” Rainbow Dash replied, lifting her legs up and hugging her knees. “First one this season. I’m the team captain.”
“Eh, girl named Indigo something zapped that title before anyone else. She has energy and enthusiasm, but she’s not a very good player,” Lightning said.
“Well, having energy and enthusiasm can make you a good player,” Rainbow pointed out, smiling. “That was how I got on the team in the first place.”
“I always knew I was good. Parents, y’know.” Lightning shrugged.
“You are who you are — you’re not your parents,” Rainbow said, staring up at the sky. “I mean, who knows? Just because I really like playing soccer, doesn’t mean I’d want to make a career of it.”
“You’re actually thinking about this?” Lightning asked, turning to her with a look of disbelief. “Rainbow, ever since you were young, they only thing I’ve ever seen you do is play soccer. Every single moment we spent together, we played soccer. That, and slept. But, you really want to throw that all away in the future?”
Rainbow shrugged. “I’m saying it might happen. Not that I want it to, but why should I work so hard to keep it that way? I’d rather focus on the present, not on keeping the present in the future,” she said, yanking at the grass.
Lightning Dust stayed silent, staring ahead.
Rainbow stood up. “Anyway, the sun’s up, so I should head home before my parents wake up,” she started heading down the path. “See ya!”
23rd of March, Sunday, 9:00am, the Markets
“Of all the days to run out of nails,” Applejack mumbled, staring ahead at the crowded markets, “it just had to be a Sunday.” She sighed lightly and squeezed through the mass of people, trying her best to keep her eye out for what she was looking for.
Five hours and thirty minutes later, the crowd died down, just as Applejack received her nails. She groaned, but decided to ignore it, as her stomach rumbled. She peered down at the change in her hand, and decide to buy herself a small snack to hold off her hunger until she got home.
She bought a cherry pie from the Jubilee Pie stand and took one of their disposable plastic forks. With a bag of nails in one hand and a pie in the other, she realized she had no way of eating it. She shrugged and balanced the nails on top of her head and then walked off through town, eating the pie on the way. It was good pie; she smiled in satisfaction.
Applejack arrived at the path towards Sweet Apple Acres and dumped the empty pie tin and disposable fork in a bin. She picked the bag of nails up off her head and stopped for a moment to stretch her neck, looking out in the distance. The familiar colours of the countryside flashed through her mind. Sky blue, grass green, cloud white, rainbow…
Applejack stopped in her tracks and did a double take, focusing on the distant rainbow colours on the field. Smiling slightly, she went to walk towards her. The thought of getting these nails back as soon as possible crossed her mind, but she washed it away almost immediately.
As Rainbow neared her, she noticed another figure appear and she stopped, frowning lightly. She’d never seen her before. Applejack suddenly decided that it’d probably be best if she left them alone. She turned around and started walking away, when—
“Hey, Applejack!” Rainbow called, smiling. Lightning Dust rolled her eyes, a move that went unnoticed by Rainbow.
Applejack slowly turned around and bit her lip. Well, here goes nothing, she thought, walking towards Rainbow Dash and this other girl, who seemed to be her friend of some sort.
Applejack stopped in front of her. “Hey, Rainbow. So, uh, what are you doing here?” she asked awkwardly, ignoring her friend’s stare.
“Practice; for the soccer match next week!” Rainbow Dash answered happily. “Hey, I want you to meet my friend, Lightning Dust! She came here for the same reason!”
“Okay then,” Applejack said, thinking that was too much of a coincidence. Still, she decided not to be so rude about it.
“Well, how’d ya do, Miss Lightning Dust?” she asked, holding out her hand. “Ahm Applejack.”
Lightning peered over at Rainbow Dash, frowning lightly. “Yeah… excuse us for just a minute,” she said, pulling Rainbow away.
“Um, okay, we’ll be back…” Her voice faded out of Applejack’s hearing range before she could finish her sentence.
“Rainbow,” Lightning started to say, “why are you hanging out with this…farm girl?”
Rainbow blinked. She wasn’t expecting that question. “Well…because…she’s my friend?” she answered awkwardly. “I don’t see why I can’t be friends with her.”
“It’s a waste of time! You could be hanging out with all the cool kids — the kids like you — and yet you choose the country bumpkin!” Lightning yelled.
“Shhh!” Rainbow said quickly. “Lightning, you can’t tell me who to hang out with. I choose my friends, and whether or not they’re popular or like me doesn’t matter! And, as you have just helpfully proven, most people like that are bitc—”
Rainbow Dash’s words were cut off as she felt the force of Lightning Dust’s fist against her cheek. At this, she growled, and — letting her anger get to her — brought her knee up and slammed it into Lightning’s stomach.
23rd of March, Sunday, 9:20 am, the Park
After hearing the words “farm girl” and “country bumpkin”, Applejack had a very clear idea of who they were talking about. One part of her felt it’d be best if she didn’t know, so she turned around and decided to head home.
Or she would’ve, if not for the sound of a move she knew very well. Applejack shot around; just in time to see the green skinned girl leaning over, grasping her stomach. She frowned.
“Heh, you’ve gotten pretty strong, Dash,” Lightning complimented, before bringing her fist forward at Rainbow’s stomach.
Applejack’s eyes widened and she ran forward, not really thinking straight. She gripped Rainbow’s arm before she could make another move, holding her tight. “Stop, Rainbow, stop! You’re better than this!”
Rainbow shoved her off and aimed at Lightning’s cheek, ignoring her out of sheer rage.
Applejack fell back onto the ground, almost frozen stiff. How… how is she so strong?
“Stay out of this, if you don’t wanna get hurt!” Rainbow yelled, grabbing Lightning’s hand as it aimed at her, slamming her into the ground as well.
Fine. If I can’t stop her… Applejack shook her head and jumped up. “Ah don’t care! Anything to stop this!” She ran forward and stood in front of Lightning Dust. “Take your best shot.”
Rainbow froze, stumbling back a step. “G–Get out of the way!”
Lightning Dust groaned and went to stand up, but found out she couldn’t move her legs. “W–What?” she whispered, frowning.
“No! Ah said it, and ah mean it. If you really wanna finish this, you’ll have to go through me first,” Applejack said, sweating slightly.
“This is ridiculous,” Lightning mumbled. “I was doing fine, you know!”
“This isn’t for you, this is for her,” Applejack replied. “So, what’ll be?”
Rainbow Dash eyes widened, but still frowning, thoughts rushing through her brain too quickly for her to comprehend them. She didn’t know what to do. She honestly hadn’t thought this would happen. But, there was a part of her that knew this was wrong, and she couldn’t ignore it.
Without words, Rainbow turned and walked away.
23rd of March, Sunday, 9:40 am, the Park
“So what the hell was that? What did you do? How did you know she wouldn’t hit you?” Lightning asked, sitting on the grass as Applejack tended to her legs.
“Well, ma father always told me to aim at the core. Which is somethin’ ah worked out in Rainbow,” she started to say. “It’s Loyalty. And it’s a strong quality to have. Rainbow has it, and that’s why she wouldn’t hit me. But ah know for one thing; you don’t have it.”
“Because I don’t need it! I need to be the best I can be, and Dash here can be exactly the same, but she’s wasting her time with friends like you!” Lightning snapped.
“Then what about you? Ah have a feeling Rainbow doesn’t like ya at all anymore; is that what you want?” Applejack asked, sitting back.
Lightning stayed silent.
Applejack sighed and stood up. “Well, ah better head home. See ya later.”
24th of March, Monday, 4:25pm, outside Carousel Boutique
Rainbow Dash slammed the soccer ball against the wall, and caught it with her hands.
“Ugh!” she sighed and plonked down on the ground.
“That didn’t help…” Thoughts rushed through her mind about all the things she said to Applejack, the fight, and she could barely contain her bottled up anger. She gripped her hair and stood up, grabbing the ball and kicking it as hard as she could.
A loud crash rang through Rainbow’s ears, and she shot a look up, realizing the ball had gone straight through the window of the building she was near. She panicked, and quickly shot behind the nearest tree, biting her lip.
“Hello? Anyone?”
Rainbow Dash’s pupils dilated as she recognized the voice. It was Rarity! Oh god, she was going to kill her when she found out.
If she found out.
Rainbow sighed in relief when she heard the curtain shut and went around to collect her ball. Maybe it’d be best to play in the tunnel near the lake instead.
26th of March, Wednesday, 8:30am, Canterlot High School entrance
Loyalty, Lightning thought, looking up at the bus that pulled into the school, while she fixed up her uniform, who cares about loyalty?
Lightning peered up at the school, following behind her classmates. At least, for a whole three days, she wouldn’t have to face Rainbow Dash. She marched in with her class and, arms folded, payed no attention to anything that was going on around her.
“…Hey, Lightning, that girl over there keeps glaring at you. Does she know you or something?” One of the guys in her class asked.
Lightning looked over, confused, before her eyes shot open widely, and she glared back at the rainbow-haired girl, before the class was instructed to move onto the bus to collect their stuff.
“No. Never seen her before in my life,” Lightning answered, turning away.
26th of March, Wednesday, 12:45pm, Soccer field
Rainbow Dash trekked out onto the field, forcing herself to look away from Lightning Dust, who was at the other end. She sighed and stared off ahead, thinking.
This is more torture than I thought it was going to be, she thought, I don’t care about the game anymore, just-
Her thoughts were cut off at the hard feeling of a soccer ball hitting her back. Rainbow groaned and whipped around.
“Would you watch where you throw?!” she yelled, before looking ahead at her team. The one who had failed to catch the soccer ball flinched, and hid behind one of the others.
Spitfire’s frowned lightly. “Rainbow, just because you’re angry, doesn’t mean you need to—”
Rainbow’s foot hit the ground. “Who said anything about anger?! I didn't say anything about anger! I'm not upset! And I am not angry! Do I look angry to you?!” she yelled, before huffing and storming away from her silent team members.
26th of March, Wednesday, 3:50pm, near the markets
“Of all the…” Rainbow grumbled, pacing back and forth, her soccer ball under her arm. “Is this some kind of joke? The only good thing that comes from this is totally kicking her ass tomorrow! Which doesn’t sound so bad, but you know! Ugh…” she went to walk off, but immediately ran into someone else as they turned around the corner. Without noticing who it was, Rainbow’s eyes fell on the threads that tumbled towards the ground, and quickly held out her hand, catching them all at once.
The girl sighed with relief. “Oh thank goodness!” She looked up. “I’m so sorry— Rainbow Dash?”
“Rarity?!” Rainbow said, holding out a hand. “What are you doing here?”
“Oh, you know, picking up more supplies,” Rarity said, nodding towards the threads in Rainbow’s hand.
Rainbow Dash chuckled nervously and handed them to her. “Right.”
Rarity placed them in her bag, and as she did so, caught the sight of Rainbow Dash’s soccer ball under her arm, and gasped.
“That ball… it looks exactly like the one that crashed through my room the other day!” she exclaimed, peering closer.
Rainbow tensed, biting her lip. “Heheh, what a coincidence!” she said nervously, and started to turn around. “Well, guess I better be going now! Loads of training!”
“Ah ha!” Rarity’s hand shot up in the air, before she reached for the soccer ball and pulled off the purple thread. “Mind explaining, Rainbow Dash?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.
Rainbow Dash looked around, grinning awkwardly. “You got me!”
Rarity grabbed her arm and dragged her down the street.
26th of March, Wednesday, 5:30pm, Outside Carousel Boutique
“Have a nice evening!” Rarity said.
Rainbow Dash groaned, and trudged out the door, responding to the Fashionista’s words with nothing but a small nod. She turned down the street to head towards her home, kicking rocks as she went.
“Ugh, that was such a waste of time…and I don’t even have time to practice this evening, because of my stupid english assignment!” Rainbow said, frowning sadly. Wrapping her arms around herself, she continued to trudge down the path. A loud rumble caught her attention as she diverted her eyes over to the incoming thunder.
“...Great. Just great,” Rainbow said sarcastically, turning around the corner, “it’s just one problem after the other.” She looked around and shrugged her shoulders. It didn’t make much of a difference whether she went home or not. She turned back, looking around. The sight of the brightly coloured cupcake caught her eye; it was probably the only light in the incoming darkness. Rainbow Dash pushed open the door and was greeted with the bright smile of her candy coloured friend; she walked up to the counter, smiling a little.
“Hey Dashie! You want anything?” Pinkie asked.
Rainbow shook her head. “I would, but I don’t have any money at the moment.”
“Then you have to let me treat you! It’s almost the end of the day and we have so many cupcakes left!” PInkie complained, but then giggled. “But, you know, I may have gotten a bit carried away with baking. So, which one would you like?”
Rainbow grinned and shrugged. “It’s fine, surprise me.”
“Okay! You wait right over there,” PInkie said, pointing to one of the tables, before ducking to the kitchen.
Few minutes of cupcake gathering
Rainbow Dash stared at the mound of cupcakes infront of her. “Wow. This is a really big surprise!” she said, blinking.
Pinkie chortled. “You’re so funny Dashie! Ooh, you should try the vanilla ones!” she said, reaching for the pink iced one holding up the cupcakes from the bottom.
Rainbow eyes widened, alarmed. “Pinkie, don’t—” She cut herself off when the tower remained standing.
“Don’t what?” Pinkie asked innocently, taking a bite.
“...Never mind,” Rainbow Dash replied, carefully grabbing one off the top of the pile. She peered out the window; it was absolutely pouring, she noticed. In a flash, she blinked as she saw the blur of light purple and pink race past the building. She rubbed her eyes, and turned away, finishing the cupcake she held in her hand.
“Well, thanks for all this Pinkie, but I should head home now…” Rainbow Dash pushed back the chair to stand up, but then felt a hand clasp around her wrist.
“You can’t walk home in this weather! How about I give you my cellphone so you can call your family?” Pinkie offered, digging around in her pocket.
Rainbow tensed and tried to think of an excuse. “They’re out of town for now. I’m staying with my brother, but he can’t drive at the moment.”
“Bummer! Well, how about you give him a ring, and stay with me for tonight?” Pinkie suggested, holding out her phone. “Mr and Mrs Cake will be back at dinner time; I’m sure they won’t mind!”
Rainbow Dash peered out the door again. She did have to get back to do her assignment, but the offer was sounding really tempting. She shook her head and turned back to Pinkie.
“Sure,” Rainbow agreed, placing her hand on top of her phone, smiling, “thanks.”
28th of March, Friday, 10:00am, Canterlot High, Soccer field
Rainbow Dash turned away from her friends, holding her left arm and staring at the ground. She sighed, kicking the grass. After a couple of seconds of staring off into space, she felt a hand on her shoulder, but couldn’t be bothered to look up.
“I don’t wanna hear it…” she mumbled.
“Rainbow. Just stop it,” Spitfire said sternly. “You’re the team captain! You’re supposed to be the one who pulls everybody together; and makes sure they stay that way! But how can you possibly do that when you haven’t got yourself together?”
Rainbow Dash frowned. “I just can’t get over Lightning—”
“Then show her! Show her what you’re made of!” Spitfire yelled. “You can’t give up. You can’t let her win! It’s time for you to get up there and do the best you can do; and we’ll be with you every step of the way! We can win this, I know we can. But not without you!” She finished, then softened and held out a hand. “Are you in?”
A big grin formed on Rainbow’s face and she took Spitfire’s hand, shaking it once. “Let’s do this,” she ran up to her team, “let’s win this thing!”
Cheerleaders: C-A-N-T-E-R-LOT! Canterlot!
Cheerleaders: C-R-Y-S-T-A-L! Crystal Prep!
Cheerleaders: It’s time to show them what we’ve got
Cheerleaders: It’s time to show them they’re not who they think they are!
Rainbow Dash:
We’re going to win this game,
We’ll put them all to shame.
Lightning Dust:
I’m going to win this game,
They’re going to know my name.
Rainbow Dash:
Our team will play our best
And put them to the test.
Lightning Dust:
I’m going to play my best,
I’ll outshine all the rest!
Both:
It’s time to show them what we’ve/I’ve got.
Rainbow Dash:
We’re going to show them all
How we control the ball
Lightning Dust:
I’m never going to fall
Keep running through the wall
Rainbow Dash:
We’ll give it all we’ve got,
Because we’re Canterlot.
Lightning Dust:
I’ll take things up a step,
Because I’m… … … Lightning Dust
Both:
It’s time to show them what we’ve/I’ve got.
Cheerleaders: C-A-N-T-E-R-LOT! Canterlot!
Cheerleaders: C-R-Y-S-T-A-L! Crystal Prep!
Cheerleaders: It’s time to show them what we’ve got
Cheerleaders: It’s time to show them they’re not who they think they…
“Argh!” shouted a cheerleader, taking a tumble and ripping her skirt.
Rainbow Dash peered around, grabbing the ball under her foot. She heard someone yell out for half time, but barely comprehended much after that as she stood in the middle of the field, breathing heavily.
“1–zip!”
“Missed me, Dash?”
“I’d rather focus on the present, not on keeping the present in the future.”
“I choose my friends, and whether or not they’re popular or like me doesn’t matter!”
“Heh, you’ve gotten pretty strong, Dash.”
“Do I look angry to you?!”
“Then show her! Show her what you’re made of!”
“Stay out of this, if you don’t wanna get hurt!”
“We can win this, I know we can. But not without you! Are you in?”
Rainbow Dash stood up straight, hands curling into fists. “Come on everyone! Let’s win this!”
28th of March, Friday, 12:10, Canterlot High, Soccer field
“Nice game everyone!” Rainbow called out, grinning, as she headed towards the back entrance of Canterlot High. She pulled opened the door for the others, and as she waited for them to head through, looked over to see Lightning Dust heading towards her. With a slight frown, she let the door go and continued on her way up to her.
“Let’s hear it. What have you got to say?” Rainbow Dash asked, folding her arms.
Lightning Dust growled quietly. “Nice play out there. You deserve it.”
“No,” Rainbow stopped her quickly, “my team deserves it. We’re all in this together. Apparently, that’s something you haven’t learnt.”
“Yeah,” Lightning continued, “and it’s something you may have taught me. I’m not ready to be all open arms and shit— hell, I might never be, but next time...next time we’ll train hard. My team will train hard and win this thing. So you better be ready.”
“Oh, I’m ready alright,” Rainbow Dash said, smirking. She punched Lightning’s shoulder, then quickly held up her hand to block the incoming aim for her own shoulder.
“You gotta be quicker than that,” she said, grinning.
“Oh shut up,” Lightning said, walking off.
“Break a leg!” Rainbow called, before heading inside.
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6703061
Haha, about that XD
I have no ideas for the next one; otherwise I would've started it already
another well done chapter! cant wait for one with fluttershy!
I really like the style that you wrote this in. Hope you think of something soon!
~ADG
6709145
Aww thanks
I have one question. Did you create your own lyrics for the musical numbers or was it based on a tune?
6723318
Why are you asking?
But, no, they're not based on a tune. Otherwise I would've linked it
6723318
Oh, wait...
Did you pick up on the High School Musical? >.<
I did that on purpose, but any song could've used cheering like that
This story is so friggin awesome.
I just wanna say that this story is amazing! I'm really sad to hear it's been a year since you worked on it though. There are so many questions left unanswered like what's going on with Rainbow's family? When did appledash happen? Who has been treating Rainbow Dash so badly and made her rush to home all the time? The story could have gotten so many more development if it only wasn't abandoned... Rose if you ever read this I just wanted to let you know that we would love to know what happens next! Your story is just so wonderful ♡
This book is awesome plz continue!
7468124
I thank you, but... I really have little to no interest in MLP, and even in my current interest (Undertale) I can't seem to sucessfully write stories; I guess I just have no motivation to do so anymore at all... I hate it, but it's how it is... I'm terribly sorry... but thank you for your kind words...