Harmless Adaption

by Yarael-BJ-Poof

Peace

The clock ticked away slowly. Rainbow Dash watched it intently, waiting for the minutes to hit the grand finale. And minutes went by, crawling by at a pace that would make a tortoise proud. "So, if we take the x and divide the variable by π..." Rainbow listened to Mrs. Harshwhinny's monotonous voice drone on with mathematical narnar as the minutes inched by.

But the waiting paid off. The final bell of the day sounded, music to Rainbow's ears. She had to say that is could sound better than DAGames's songs, depending on the current circumstances. Hiding her glee, she walked out of the classroom with everyone else, until Mrs. Harshwhinny called her back. Rainbow growled inconspicuously, then whirled around and went back inside.

"Miss Dash, it has come to my attention that your scores in trigonometry have reached an all-time low. Would you care to explain how this happened?" Mrs. Harshwhinny was using the tone of voice that everyone remembers their mother using when they broke something.

"Well, you see, ma'am..."

"Are you going to beat around the bush again, Miss Dash?"

Rainbow sighed. "No ma'am. I've been busy with other things. Soccer practice, my job at Wendys, my dad's cancer treatments--"

"I know for a fact your father overcame cancer around two years ago." Mrs. Harshwhinny raised her eyebrow.

"Okay." Rainbow gave up. "I haven't been trying to do my homework." She expected Mrs. Harshwhinny to flip out and send her to ISS, but her teacher's reaction was extremely unexpected.

"Thank you for telling me the truth, Miss Dash. I'm glad you're finally applying those etiquette skills I taught you in elementary school."

Rainbow's heart swelled. She was off the hook.

"But your grade in trigonometry is inexcusable, and not paying attention is a federal offense in my book."

Rainbow's heart sank. She was still snagged on the fishing line.

"I would prefer you would spend your of doing sports and playing Pokémon Go. So, a fitting punishment is in order."

Rainbow winced. Another note to take home to her father. Another day where he would be in a semi-permanent state of depression. He was never the same after the chemotherapy treatments, and his mind was subjected to little things that made him depressed. Rainbow knew that I'd she told Harshwhinny all this, she would receive a lecture on "sob stories dedicated to kiss up to the teacher." Rainbow suddenly felt furious. Mrs. Harshwhinny was a heartless bastard! She would pay for this, someday...

"I will lower your overall grade for the year to a C-, so you academic average will need some serious work now."

Rainbow controlled her outward appearance, but she felt like she was about to go Super Saiyan.

"I hope you understand why I'm doing this. You may go."

A dazed Rainbow turned to leave, then asked, "How did you know I was playing Pokémon Go?"

Mrs. Harshwhinny gave an incredibly small smirk and deadpanned, "Remember the many times I confiscated your cell phone? You left your entire history up where anyone could see it."

Rainbow smacked her forehead and breathed, "holy crap, dammit!"

Harshwhinny advanced toward her desk, glancing back at Rainbow a final time. "And I really don't think pornhub.com/gay is really an appropriate site for you either." She sat down at her desk and did not say another word.

Rainbow left the room in a cold sweat. How could she have been such an idiot? She should have used the inPrivate browser, it was a simple click. But no--

"Um, Rainbow?"

A quiet voice interrupted Rainbow's frantic thoughts. She looked over at the wall of the locker room, and there was Fluttershy. Rainbow softened up at the sight of her childhood friend. Fluttershy was the one person Rainbow would have wanted to see at that moment.

"Hey, Shy. How'd your biology exam go?"

Fluttershy held up her paper proudly. "I got a 99. I only missed one."

"Great job! I knew you were a star student!" She saddened at the thought of her GPA, but she shook it out of her brain and looked at Fluttershy's paper. A red x was by a question that said, "What is the preferred amount of time that two humans should spend having intercourse? Fluttershy blushed. "I...didn't want to answer that one."

Rainbow patted Fluttershy's shoulder and said, "It doesn't matter. School's out and we've got a beautiful afternoon ahead of us!"

As they walked out the front door, Fluttershy pointed to a fairly small cedar tree growing in the side of the lawn. "It's finally big enough to provide some shade," she said, motioning to Rainbow that they should sit under it. Rainbow followed her, and they settled under the rustling green leaves. Fluttershy tookoff her boots and socks, and laid down on her back, her arms propping up her head.

Rainbow followed suit, and for a few minutes, the only sounds were of cars, students talking, and the breeze blowing gently. Fluttershy broke the silence by saying, "Why did you want to be my friend?"

Rainbow choked on her saliva. That question came out of absolutely nowhere. "COUGHum, well, because you're, uhh, really nice."

"No, the real reason." Fluttershy looked deep into Rainbow's eyes, her blue gaze piercing Rainbow's fuschia one. "Why, of all the girls at Cloudsdale Middle School, did you befriend me?"

Rainbow was at a loss for words. She had no idea haw to answer that. She didn't even know why herself. But then, she heard it. A tiny voice in her head, sounding suspiciously like her secret crush Soarin, told her the answer. And then she knew.

"I wanted you to be my friend because I really admired your every quality." An adorable grin spread across Fluttershy's yellow face. "Th-thank you, Rainbow. I wanted to make friends with you because I really thought you could be a great person. And I know you are."

The two girls seemed like they were speaking directly to each other's heart. A tear of happiness formed in Fluttershy's eye, but she wiped it out, hoping Rainbow wouldn't notice. Rainbow felt amazing inside, but it soon faded because something odd caught her attention.

"Uh, Shy? Where's your car?"

Fluttershy owned a preowned electric Smart, staying eco-friendly of course. Rainbow had not noticed it was absent from the school parking lot.

"I walked here today. I wanted to get up early and exercise." Fluttershy only lived a half-mile away from the school, over on Shelter Blvd.

Rainbow felt slightly worried. "You walked from Shelter Blvd. to here? Isn't that near that really dangerous crosswalk is?"

"Yes, but I always look both ways."

Rainbow put both her hands on Fluttershy's shoulders. "Shy, three pedestrians died at that crosswalk last year. If I were you, I would play it safe and come here by car."

"It's fine, Rainbow. If you were there too, I'm sure you would watch out for me."

"Yeah, I guess I would." They both leaned back on the tree trunk and looked up at the sunny sky.

"Rainbow? What do you think that cloud looks like?" the cloud was a rounded square with a semicircle wisp floating out the top. Rainbow was reminded of her grade, but she used a little imagination and said, "I think it's a Tattooine hut."

Fluttershy looked confused. Rainbow clarified, "A thing from Star Wars."

"Oh," Fluttershy nodded. Rainbow found a cloud that was shaped like an insect with giant wings. "Shy, what does that one remind you of?" "A butterfly!" She gave it a little volume, somewhat startling Rainbow. "I love butterflies so much." Fluttershy was genuinely happy, and Rainbow felt happy too. Away from the troubles of everyday life, it was relaxing to get away from it and spend quality time with a close friend.

They spent a while naming cloud shapes, back and forth.

"A banana."

"A motorcycle."

"An ampersand."

"A diamond."

"A penis."

Rainbow stared at Fluttershy, her pupils the size of pinpoints. "Eep!" Fluttershy slapped a hand over her mouth. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to..."

Rainbow laughed and said, "It's ok. I guess I've been rubbing off on you!"

Fluttershy shot up and said, "Oh my goodness, I have to get home and feed the animals. I need to go right away." She put her boots back on and slung her backpack over her shoulder. "I hope this doesn't seem too abrupt."

Rainbow shrugged. "Naw, I understand. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye, Rainbow." Fluttershy started to walk on the direction of her house. "Wait!" Rainbow called after her. "Please be careful at that crosswalk."

"Don't worry, Rainbow, I'll be extra careful just for you."

They shared a tender gaze with on another and then went their separate ways. Rainbow jumped into her blue sports car and headed home.

---

Rainbow was actually working on her homework. She wanted to suck up to her dad before she gave him the note. He would be proud of her and might actually stay happy. His vibrantly-colored hair was growing in nicely, and Rainbow loved having the same type. It was pretty uncommon.

Our dying grace is to remove you WITHOUT A TRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rainbow's cell phone rang with the hyper metal sounds of Game Over. She picked it up and answered it. It was Rarity, and she was sobbing uncontrollably. "What is it? Rarity, make some sense!" Rainbow's heart was hammering progressively faster inside her ribcage. Rarity sounded truly traumatized. She made a word between heavy, shuddering breaths, then a full sentence.

As the full sentence was revealed, Rainbow felt like she had been hit by a bus.

Just like Fluttershy had been.

Author's Note:

This was an effort, but I managed to write it as I went along, and in the span of only an hour and a half. And yes, there will be a second chapter. And I'm sorry, I went a little hyperlink crazy.

Comments

[Yarael-BJ-Poof]

Just a note, future stories I write will contain Fluttershy, so you can consider this one noncanon to anything.

[Dash32]

FLUTTERSHY!! NOOOOOOO!!!!![youtube=http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DgZIYdFmZqc]

[NaiadSagaIotaOar]

An ampersand.

That is one funky-looking cloud.

But I'm curious to see where this goes. It's a little short for my tastes, but I'm liking what I see so far. However, there are some points where you do more telling than showing, as well as a couple cases where you did not make a new paragraph for a different speaker.

This one, for example.

"I walked here today. I wanted to get up early and exercise." Fluttershy only lived a half-mile away from the school, over on Shelter Blvd. Rainbow felt slightly worried. "You walked from Shelter Blvd. to here? Isn't that near that really dangerous crosswalk is?"

[mutualism_is_nice]

Rainbow felt like she had been hit by a bus.
Just like Fluttershy had been.

I know that was supposed to be sad, but I laughed so hard.

[Yarael-BJ-Poof]

>> NaiadSagalotaOar Thanks for noticing that. I'll fix it next time I get to a public computer.
>> mutualism_is_nice Fun fact, that sentence just popped into my head one day, and the entire reason I wrote this story was just to use that sentence.