The Truth About Girls (Vol. 2)

by TheMareWhoSaysNi

Troublemaker (part 3)

On this Thursday night, the Bellehorse Bar was almost only filled with students, and with young working persons wearing suits and ties. The television showed a polo match, which was a rather popular sport with the petty bourgeoisie, and no one really paid attention to it. In the background, music wasn’t aggressive, and purred like the sound of an engine. The dancefloor was as empty as the VIP corner.

The gang had thought the place to be neutral enough for a little crisis meeting. Their conversations meddled with these of the others, no one would pay attention to what they would be talking about, while at any of them houses was taking the risk that a parent would listen – except maybe at Rainbow Dash’s but her neighborhood was too far for a week night.

The latter, precisely, had arrived late, accompanied with Soarin. Ever since, she hadn’t unclenched her jaw, and only took part with groans and monosyllabic answers. That her boyfriend had been approached by a girl from his College, a Wondercolts’ fan, wasn’t the detail that was going to fix up her black humor.

Sunset Shimmer had been warned not to pay attention to her. She would get over it. All she had to do was to avoid to upset her, and to wait for the situation to improve by itself.

Quickly after they ordered their drinks, they struck up a feverish conversation about Mr. Caballeron. The fact he mistreated the Crusaders’ whole class, and in particular Scootaloo, was the final straw. They were tough, they could take the blows so far as possible… But the youngest ones, who still were fragile and some kind of work in progress, would risk never to get over something so cruel.

“Rarity warned me Vice-Principal Luna asked the Students Board to keep an eye on him”, Twilight sighed. “The problem is that we need proofs if we want to start a procedure against a teacher, and even with these, nothing tells us PTA is going to agree to act.”

“So what? Are we goin’ to let our lil’ sis sufferin’? Am sorry but Ah can’t do that.”

“I haven’t said that. I’m only bringing the precision that it’s going to be very thorny, even with proofs.”

“Well, what if we take charge of these proofs first?” Sunset Shimmer suggested. “Which kind would they need?”

“Maybe a recording…”

“No way. Smartphones are forbidden during his course, and we can’t hide one with our sports uniforms anyway.”

“Can’t we hide sumethin’ in our bra? I doubt he’d check around there.”

“Why not in our panties while we’re at it?” Pinkie Pie questioned, laughing. “Oh, maybe I could hide a loudspeaker in my hair!”

“I think the word you’re looking for is ‘a tape recorder’, Pinkie Pie. A loudspeaker is meant to scream.”

“Silly me, I always get them mixed up”, she giggled.

“I’m going to have my period… I tell him my stomach aches, and I record what he says before the course begins”, Rainbow Dash finally intervened.

Observing Soarin from the corner of her eyes had her so much on pins and needles that she thought taking part in the conversation she was here for would be a good way to soothe her stress. It was hard, since she could hear the silly goose he was chatting with from where she stood.

“Why not?” Twilight answered. “But nothing tells us he’s going to believe you. We need a plan B, just in case.”

“Well, I don’t know, it was nothing but a suggestion.”

She shrugged and drank a long swallow from her beer, under the flabbergasted eyes of her friends.

Obviously, though the situation irritated her too, too much couldn’t be expected from her tonight. It would be no use to make a comment about it. And so, none of the girls picked up on what Rainbow Dash had said, rather looking for a potential plan B suggested by Twilight.

“Wouldn’t that be easier if it were Apple Bloom recording?” Sunset Shimmer suggested as well. “Didn’t you say she has Mr. Caballeron as her lifestyle teacher, Applejack?”

“It’s true. She just has not to be caught red-handed, and this isn’t goin’ to be a slice of apple pie!”

“Indeed, but if Apple Bloom is caught in the act by Mr. Caballeron, things could get worse”, Twilight consented.

“Oh, I know”, Pinkie Pie said, bouncing on her seat. “Let’s pour pentothal in a cake, make him eat the cake, and then interrogate him in the girls’ locker room.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. The rest of the band looked at each other for a couple of seconds, puzzled, and then burst out laughing. Pinkie Pie, easily entertained, also laughed heartily. In reality, she hadn’t said this in order to cheer her friends up, but because she thought this would be a good solution, in all honesty.

When Soarin returned to the couch, he was surprised to see everyone falling about laughing. According to what Rainbow Dash told him before they met the gang at the bar, they were here to discuss about a teacher who made their lives hard. He hadn’t expected the mood to be so relaxed.

“Looks like things aren’t that bad”, he said with a smile.

“Not at all!” Rainbow Dash hurled, drier than a day of heatwave. “But you would know it if you’d been there from the beginning.”

And so, as suddenly as it had started, the four friends’ giggles stopped. They all looked at their glasses, no longer daring to talk about the main topic. What they hoped for now was for Soarin not to insist or they knew what would happen.

In front of this deadly silence, Soarin hailed a waiter and asked for a glass of fizzy water. By his side, he could see his girlfriend finishing her bottle of beer in one gulp, before screaming that she would have another of this.

Without going into the details of what had caused that, she already had confessed to him that her liver was damaged and she needed to avoid to drink too often.

It was a weekday. She had school on the next morning. And yet, she wasn’t reasonable. Alright, the matter with this teacher seemed to be very tough, but according to him, this wasn’t a reason to get drunk the way she did, especially as she had to hit the road to get home, and she couldn’t permit herself to leave her scooter around here, like when they first went there together. One beer should have been enough.

“Maybe you shouldn’t be drinking on a night before school”, he whispered.

She turned dark eyes to him, teeth clenched, and for a second he thought her look was going to kill him. Obviously, he just made a mistake with his piece of advice, given without the least of bad intentions. In no way, had he tried to lecture her, or to tell her how to behave. Except she didn’t know about that. And it was too late. The harm had been done.

If only her words to remain strangled inside her throat… No way. Her bile was getting up, impossible to fight. Soon, it was going to be out, spit of words, sharp like broken glass.

“And maybe you should go f*ck yourself!”

Rainbow Dash grabbed her coat, her bag, and without a word for anyone, left the bar on the run.

Never before had she talked to him this way. Even back when they argued as children, she never had words that harsh. He hadn’t expected something like that. From cold, the mood became arctic. Everyone was so dumbstruck that none of them dared to move, not even Soarin.

When he decided to follow her, apologizing to the band, he met face to face with the almost empty sidewalks of the surroundings. No Rainbow Dash around.

Something might have happened. Something he had said or done before. There was no way she could get that mad at him this way for no reason whatsoever. This wasn’t the way they were together. They were on the same exclusive wavelength, two fingers of the same hand. Friends as much as lovers.

-------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash didn’t appear at the two first classes of the morning. She didn’t neither answered Applejack’s, Pinkie Pie’s, Sunset Shimmer’s, or even Fluttershy’s messages, who the friends had told everything about the previous night.

It never happened before for her to skip school one month before her mother’s death anniversary. Until then, she always came, dragging around her inconsistent mood, and she hadn’t played hooky since her return from Green Haven.

This was what Applejack feared the most with her absence. During her depression, it happened that she missed whole days of school, sometimes she left in the middle of the day or only appeared on the afternoon. She was always either stoical or tensed, and could burst out crying at the most unexpected moment. When she accepted to go somewhere with her and Twilight, which was rare, and was gained through endless negotiations, she was almost neurasthenic, smiling little, if not at all, and wavering between constant shrugs and high-level stress.

Her friends had enough things on their mind with the imminent gym class to worry about Rainbow Dash’s mental health. Although it was difficult, she had to keep her worries to herself. If what she feared happened to be real, then she would tell it to the girls.

And so, she was somewhat relieved to see her best friend stepping inside the locker room, while they were changing clothes before the gym class to start. She looked neither as overwhelmed or nervous as on the previous night, and came closer to the bench where her gang was with hesitant steps, a bit like a scared child on the first day of school.

“I’m sorry, girls… about last night. And about the other days as well. I really wasn’t cool at all, sorry. Lately I’ve realized that soon my mother will be dead for five years and it made me edgy. But I’m feeling better now. I’ve taken a quarter of Zoloft, it did me good. I shouldn’t have left the way I did, could you guys forgive me?”

For the first time, she told Sunset Shimmer and Fluttershy aloud the fact she sometimes needed to have tranquilizers, each time she could feel something coming up to the surface. It was hard to confess for someone as proud as her. If she spoke up, it was because she was feeling secured and knew she wouldn’t be judged.

Without planning anything, each of the girls got up at the same time and stepped closer in order to hold her in their arms. This way, Rainbow Dash understood her friends indeed forgave her.

As far as the other important person in her life was concerned… Well, she hadn’t answered to any of his messages neither, too ashamed to know what to say. He would have to wait until the next day, on his university’s open house.

“I got something to cheer you up”, Fluttershy confessed, searching through her bag after the group had parted and said how much they loved each other.

She took out Rainbow Dash’s friendship bracelet, which clasp she’d been able to fix up. The jewel seemed like new, and by way of appreciation, she received another hug from her friend.

“Thanks. You don’t know how happy I am to have it back. Being without it felt like being deprived of an organ, I swear it’s true.”

“I’m happy that you’re happy. I poured my heart in it.”

As the locker room was now empty, the girls stayed with Rainbow Dash while she changed her clothes. They’d probably be late, and with Mr. Caballeron in charge, there was no doubt that the reception wasn’t going to be friendly. It scared Fluttershy a little, of course, but she thought that with her friends to support her, she could get well without scrapes.

On the previous night, they had arrived to the conclusion that the best to do was to make Sweetie Belle record the teacher’s speech, rather than Apple Bloom, since her bond with Rarity, whom he didn’t know and didn’t intervene, would have less consequences on the rest of the mission. Meanwhile, they had to put up with him, without being doormats nor shaking him like some soda can.

On their way to the class, the group stopped once again, this time at the washroom. Once again, it was because Rainbow Dash had a problem. But at least it would be a good excuse to explain why they were late.

Since the weather was still mild, this year’s gym program started with athletics. It complicated Mr. Caballeron’s task a little since it was one of the flagship discipline for the students he took a dislike to. To ridicule her or to humiliate her because of her capacity was impossible. He had to wear her out, to make her regret her poise, and to push her at the end of her physical limits.

As soon as they arrived on the athletics field, he stood in front of them, both fists on his hips – one of his favorite intimidation pose – towering them with the most severe look he was able to perform.

“You’re at least ten minutes late! I can give detention to you all for a whole week because of this, you know.”

“No, you can’t! The school rules state a punishment has to be equal to the committed misdeed.”

“You answer back again, Sunset Shimmer, and it’s going to be two weeks of detention.”

“I needed a tampon so we went to the washroom. What? You’d prefer that I’d spew blood everywhere?”

This image wasn’t really appealing; she was aware of that. She didn’t care, and even, she’d done it on purpose. There was no need to act nice with Mr. Caballeron. He wasn’t the kind to soften when in front of someone harmless, conversely. The least of weaknesses let him know there was something to crush under his giant feet.

“Are you trying to say that you need to be five just for a matter of periods? You’re f*cking kidding me! Just because your father’s a part of PTA doesn’t mean you can do anything you want.”

“And just because you’re a teacher doesn’t mean you can talk to us like we’re shit. We’re not your doormats!”

After these words, Rainbow Dash skirted Mr. Caballeron, with the intention to go and throw some javelins far from him before the situation would become even worse.

“Come back here, I’m not done with you yet!”

Mr. Caballeron grabbed the young girl’s wrist, and twisted her arm to the extent that she couldn’t help but yelp from pain. At the same time, the brand new clasp of her bracelet gave in again, and each of the items fell on the lawn. Rainbow Dash wanted to take them back, but her teacher kept on gripping her arm, and pulled her towards him for her not to move.

“You are going to stop talking to me this way, or I swear I’m going to make you regret it, you f*cking jerk!”

“And how are you going to make her regret it?” Sunset Shimmer questioned, arms crossed and eyes dark.

“We’re all witnesses”, Applejack went on. “You insulted and threatened her.”

Fluttershy, hiding behind her classmates, didn’t dare taking part in it, scared to become another one of Mr. Caballeron’s target. If it ever happened, she could never go through it without crying…

However, she noticed that a part of the other students around were watching as well, and some kind of silence numbed their air.

Cornered, the teacher immediately let go Rainbow Dash’s arm who, once freed, immediately leaned over in order to gather the pieces of her bracelet, with tears in her eyes.

“If that’s the way it is, you… You’re going to spend the whole class running around the track.”

“As if it was a punition.”

He opened his mouth, but in front of the blaming looks, he beat in retreat and went to the benches, where he knocked over one of the ice buckets where were bottles of water for the students. This violent gesture made everyone jump and made understand to those who hadn’t been a part of the argument that in no way he would let things the way they were.
It wasn’t over yet. His authority had been driven into a corner, and though the teacher knew today’s game was lost for him, he also knew he would have the last word. In this merciless war, he was going to be the celebrated winner. It wasn’t a bunch of brainless brats who would scrap him. They would see. All of them. They would see. And in particular the young jackanapes named Rainbow Dash, and her stupid little sister, Scootaloo.

-------------------------------------------

“You did good to tell me about it. We have to do something and quick!”

Twilight couldn’t believe what she just heard. Superintendence was right to stay wary of Mr. Caballeron. This heinous character had nothing to do in teaching. A teacher was supposed to be a role model, a life guide, and to teach how to survive in the adult’s world, thanks to knowledge. At least it was the image she always had of the job.

Pity that her friends had no proof of the altercation. Even with the other students’ testimonies, it was going to be quite little in the balance of PTA justice. They needed something, anything, in order to react and to cut the slaughter short before it was too late.

It had completely taken away her excitement from visiting Canterlot University. The College was known as Equestria’s most prestigious institution of knowledge, and one of the widest campus of the world, which range of proposed disciplines could make you feel dizzy. Yet, the prospect of this day had formed the pattern of her week.

To enter the Guiding Class had been her ambition from her very first day at CHS. Now that it was her reality, she realized how much studies weren’t the only thing that mattered in her life, conversely to what she always thought. To be parted from her friends, in a room where almost no one spoke to her, and where the only things the pupil took care of were their books, reminded her who she used to be a little too much.

She had changed since she knew them. Of course, studies still were her number one passion. However, she felt concerned about other things. Hanging around with her friends, even if it was to argue, even if it was to talk about things that were no affair of state, it also mattered to her.

Despite it all, when the group finally arrived in front of the campus, Twilight couldn’t help stars from hanging at her eyes. She slowed down, opened her mouth wide, like a child in front of a giant Christmas tree.

The green lawn, perfectly mowed, attracted rays of sun like nothing else. The stone paths were clean and roomy… And what about the buildings? She couldn’t believe it. Made with white and red bricks, which the highest towers caressed the clouds in the sky, they were inches and inches long, with inner courtyards pierced by arches looking out over the rest of the yard.

All the stressing affairs of this first week of class was forgotten. She couldn’t wait to explore it all… to see the library, the science rooms. High School had been impressive, but College was something else. Everything she always dreamed of.

The place was swarming with students and teachers, and activities were proposed to the high school’s students that had been invited. Twilight didn’t know where to start. And she wasn’t the only one!

Pinkie Pie was almost drooling from envy in front of this audience of mature and seemingly intelligent boys, and Rainbow Dash couldn’t wait to talk with members of the sports teams. She wondered where her boyfriend could be…

“Well, Ah offer ya sumethin’”, Applejack told her friends. “No more talkin’ ‘bout Mr. Caballeron today and we’ll make the most of this day. What dya think?”

They all answered it was a very good idea, before gathering their hands to yell their team cheer that surprised some of the students passing them by.

Quickly, however, it seemed obvious that each had different focus of attention and desires. The next thing they offered then was to part in smaller groups and to meet in two hours in order to take stock of the situation and to go a few activities all together. Everyone nodded.

Since her earliest childhood, Fluttershy knew she wanted to be a vet. Canterlot University offered a program in life sciences, which gave access to the competitive exams of the vet specialized schools. It was for her that her family had decided to move to Canterlot, so she wouldn’t be alone in an unknown city when she would be in age.

Like her, Applejack already knew what she wanted to learn. She had made inquiries years in advance, and thanks to Big Macintosh, knew exactly everything she’d have to do to get enrolled, and all the offered course unit of the campus for Business and Management. So, they both went together… For these reasons, but also in order to find the pretty blond girl’s big brother.

Fluttershy held hope of spending a bit of time with the boy she was in love with. There were no hidden reasons and she had imagined nothing special. All she wanted was to be by his side, to know whether he hated her or not, and whether he could enjoy to be by her side.

As far as Sunset Shimmer and Twilight were concerned, they shared the same interest in experimentations, chemistry, mathematics and astronomy. They both teamed up to visit the College’s scientific hub, as excited as if they were going to the gig of the century.

Last but not least, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash launched together an attack on sports teams and clubs. They also both knew they would better look for a discipline to be enrolled in first, being the only ones who hadn’t planned their future a long while ago. Although Pinkie Pie had envisioned something in communication, with the intention of turning her taste for parties into something real.

To be honest, the latter was here especially for the boys. She was very envious of Rainbow Dash and Soarin, and wanted to fall in love for good. The boyfriends she had until then only been nice little flirts, and she didn’t have the chance to experience a real love story yet. There might be someone that was made for her. Someone kind and fun. Able to follow her lead.

One of her problems was that when a boy did like her, she couldn’t even notice. No matter how much she liked members of the so-called stronger sex, there were so many things on her mind she could hardly interpret gestures and looks. Maybe someone she knew well secretly loved her, and she was passing him by.

The young woman couldn’t stop dragging her friend from one stall to another, speaking to everyone, and gathering all the pamphlets she could. Each time, Rainbow Dash displayed a tensed smile, after looking around by wringing her neck.

Although she was here in order to discover the campus, she also was looking for Soarin. They both hadn’t made up yet. She wanted to apologize, to tell him how she regretted she’d talked to him this way, and to explain what was stressing her. He had been so nice and patient with her, she had no right to treat him that bad, just because she was feeling nervous and didn’t like him to have so many fans. After all, it was rather flattering to know her boyfriend was idolized. It meant she had good tastes.

Unfortunately, the young man never was in her field of vision. It was as if he’d vanished away from the face of earth, and everything was in action so she wouldn’t be able to tell him about her remorse. Of course, all it would took was a message on his phone, but as she hadn’t answered his latest ones, she thought it to be strange and daring.

Although, maybe, if she specified that she wanted to apologize… No. Never keep a trace of a moment of weakness.

Someone patted her shoulder, and Rainbow Dash almost could’ve been knocked over with a feather when she discovered the face of her ex-boyfriend, along with her other ex-boyfriend. What were they doing together? They never been friends, and even barely acquaintances! If Pinkie Pie displayed a wide delighted smile, she wanted to bury herself inside a hole like a mouse fleeing from granules of rat poison.

“Holy cow! Rainbow Dash!” One of them said. “Still cute as can be, my goodness!”

It was supposed to be a compliment. Surely. But Tornado could wrap his words in all the glucose of the world, she couldn’t forget what the boy who had just spoken told her on the day they parted: ‘sleeping with you feels like making love to a plank of wood!’

“How come you two became good friends?” she asked, mumbling.

“We met in the same Economics and Management class, and it happened we had someone in common”, Fireball answered, slipping his hands into his short purple hair.

They exchanged a knowing look, and Rainbow Dash knew it was a hint about herself. So, these two had finally became close because they both had dated her and both experimented her lack of interest for sex? It was just her luck to be on their way at a moment when everything in her life seemed to be going awry, and Soarin and her were on bad terms.

The first one of them, Tornado, was part of her baseball team in ninth grade. He was two years older than her, and all the girls used to be crazy for him. Because she was the only one to display no interest whatsoever in his pretty face and muscles, he courted her constantly until she gave in. He had been her first one, and the experience took a turn for the worse. Their separation happened in screams and stained her ninth grade in CHS with a particular mark. It was on this day he had struck her with his little killer comment that she’d never been able to forget.

On the next year, Fireball appeared in front of her. He was the same age than her former boyfriend, but wasn’t part of the same clubs or classes. He had a sweet smile, was fond of athletics and old cinema, just like her. He was the one who kissed her and who said he was in love with her. Unfortunately, like Tornado before, sex was what ruined their relationship. The young man wanted to make love each time they saw each other and couldn’t stand for her to reject him. Irritated by his lack of patience and understanding, this time it was Rainbow Dash who took the decision that they should part. And then, he revealed his real face – the one of the demon.

To see them again, knowing they were now friends didn’t delight her at all. She could hear them from here, busy comparing their sexual prowess, in order to know which one of the two made what best. Just to think about it made her want to puke her cheese macaroni.

While Fireball was shamelessly starting to hit on Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash was wringing her neck and pulling herself on her tiptoes, hoping she would take a glimpse at Soarin’s tall and athletic figure. Tornado was talking to her, yet none of his words seemed to print into her mind. She had to run away… Far. The farthest she could.

“What do you think about it?” the young man’s voice with sugary accents asked.

She shook her head and looked up, with wide lost eyes.

“Excuse me… What were you saying?”

“We could both show you and your friend the campus. There’s nothing better than a student already enrolled to explain everything.”

This invitation, if it could seem attractive to Pinkie Pie, was the height of horror for Rainbow Dash. In order to please her best friend, she could make an effort… But no. That was behind her.

A smile appeared on her lips as she saw her savior in the crowd, with his dark blue messy hair clumsily pushed back from his face, and his peaceful attitude that always made her stomach and heart warmer.

Finally, she was going to be able to send the two boys packing, and to warn Pinkie Pie it was a really bad idea to let herself get charmed by Fireball. This guy was a real oaf! He maybe was cute and husky but he didn’t have a single clue about interpersonal relationships.

Her smile nevertheless melted down when she saw Soarin approaching, and she realized he was surrounded by girls. Still these cursed groupies! Couldn’t they let him breath? And… couldn’t he let them know he wasn’t interested? Why did he always have to be nice with everyone?

In all honesty, the real problem wasn’t for him to behave nicely with other girls. It all took root in a much deeper fear, on which she never went into details. These girls had something she didn’t have, something she wasn’t sure to be able to give to Soarin. And he was human, after all.

Of course, since she never told him about it, he couldn’t guess… But right now she was blinded by deception. She would never shut her two exes up with a boyfriend surrounded by nymphets…

If that was the way it was, he would see how it felt like.

Rainbow Dash already showed him a picture of the boys. He knew who they were. She made sure he noticed her, and at the moment he put his eyes on her, she turned to Tornado, grabbed his arm and displayed a beguiling smile which she didn’t even know she was able to make.

“You know what? That’s a wonderful idea! Show me your gymnasium and locker rooms.”

Her former boyfriend rose his neck, triumphant. While she was going toward the back of the campus with the two boys and Pinkie Pie, she turned around to catch a glimpse at her current boyfriend. The way he was staring at her, with a mix of deaf bitterness she knew too well, broke her heart.

Too bad for him. She hadn’t come here in order to worsen their situation, but he had it coming.

Comments

[PinkDiamond67]

Poor Soarin, Rainbow Dash wants to say sorry but soarin is surrounded by girls

[Midday Giggle]

Ouch.

[Dusk_Writer]

Someone patted her shoulder, and Rainbow Dash almost could’ve been knocked over with a feather when she discovered the face of her ex-boyfriend, along with her other ex-boyfriend. What were they doing together?

This is the worst coincidence anyone could ever experience xD

Too bad for him. She hadn’t come here in order to worsen their situation, but he had it coming.

Oh shiet.