Chronicles of the Spectrum

by Blue_Thunder

Spectrum Speedster

Aj was beaten badly in the boxing match at Canterlot High's track field. Rainbow and Fluttershy stayed at her side in the nurse's office as she diagnosed her injuries. She had walked away from an assault that left her with 3 fractured ribs, bruised arms and broken pride.

"Applejack... You know there's no fighting at this school," the nurse warned. "But... if you came out like this... What's the other guy got?"

"We don't know, but he's strong," Dash replied. "He's got power."

"I can see that. Alright, the best I can do for you here is to tell you that you can't work on your farm until your ribs are fully healed. You took a lot of damage. And also, you'll be needing-" She stood up and went to her closet, retrieving a pair of crutches, "-these."

"Crutches?" Aj asked, holding her side. "Three ribs an' Ah need crutches?" She took them and stood. "When Ah see him again, A'mma wallop him on the head with these things. Pay him back for the fight."

A ringer tone went off. Dash looked at her phone. "Hold up. Sunny's got something." She looked at the message and read aloud. "She says, 'I'm sorry, but Twilight hasn't gotten back to me with solid news yet.' ... Well, that sucks."

Fluttershy looked at Aj. "We'll get him... We have to."

"And he's got me in his sights for tomorrow, I just know it." Rainbow squeezed her hands together.

"Ah know ya can do it, Rainbow."

"How? We have no idea how he's doing it. We have nothing to go on."

Both Aj and Fluttershy looked at her. The nurse looked out the window. "Well, if you ask me, you know more than you think you know."

Dash looked at the nurse. "You may be on to something... Fluttershy, can you help Aj for a bit? Gotta track down Twilight and get some info outta this flash drive." Before Fluttershy could respond, Dash was out the door.

"O-oh... okay..."

~~~~~~~~~

"What good will looking at Aj's fight do us?" Twilight adjusted her glasses staring at her laptop screen outside her lab. "Besides, if he can make an entire arena like that from nothing, then don't you think he could show us whatever he wanted on that?"

"Still, there's gotta be something we can do!" Dash hit the wall with her fist.

"Abusing the walls won't help any."

"Neither will doing nothing!"

Twilight was quiet. "Alright, fine." She took the flash drive from Rainbow and put it into her laptop. There was a pinging sound as the files were brought up on screen. "If it will satisfy you, then here you go." Twilight turned her screen to show Dash.

"You don't want to watch?"

"No. I don't want to see my friend get beaten. Again. Once was enough."

"Then don't watch the fight. Watch everything else. The nurse said we know more than we think, and I think she's right." Rainbow picked up the laptop and sat beside Twilight, making her watch the screen.

"Okay, okay... But what do I look for?"

"Anything suspicious."

The entire video went by with no new information. Rainbow was upset with herself for thinking he'd play by the rules. Meanwhile, Twilight didn't give up on the idea that something was afoot.

"Well... He certainly has power... But it's strange... I'll need to keep an eye on him, just in case."

"What have you got?" Dash asked.

"Just a theory, but all the times he used his power, he had to wear something over his upper body. We saw his chest, arms, neck, and head were covered when he used his power. To make it and to make it go away. I'll look into it. Go home, get some rest. You'll need it for tomorrow."

"Stop by Aj's place when you can. See how her ribs are doing." Dash saw Twilight's face turn to a look of concern. "Three fractured ribs and bruised arms." She paused to let that sink in. "And she's the strong one."

"I chose right to not get involved."

"'Not get involved'?! You're one of us, Twilight. That makes you involved by default!" Rainbow stood up and looked to the school. "What if he's not here at all? Like, what if him being at our school is just another illusion?"

Twilight looked at her computer. "Then there's a chance he'd be somewhere else. I imagine he'd have to be somewhere nearby, if that's not really him. He's one big uncertainty."

"Then here's an easy one: why is he doing this, do you think?" Rainbow turned to her friend.

"Why? Because he's a bad guy."

"C'mon, go deeper than that. No one is inherently evil."

"I don't have the answer, but I'll definitely put some thought into it while I'm tending to Aj's bandages. Anything else?" Twilight closed her laptop and returned the flash drive. "No?"

"No. I'm good. See ya later." Dash zipped away into town.

Twilight opened her door and went inside. "Yeah... I'll see ya..." She walked to her desk and set her laptop aside. "Hmm... If he needs to wear something over his upper body when he uses his power, then his artifact must be something he conceals..." She whipped out her phone and shot Sunset a text.

~~~~~~~~~

Sunset Shimmer was tapping on her leather book she used to message Princess Twilight in Equestria. While waiting for some reply, she felt her phone shake. No noise in a library and all that. "Hm?" She read it aloud in a whisper to herself. "'Specify search parameters: patch, necklace, belt, sigil or hairclip. Something that can be removed with clothing.' Hmm. Alright..." She wrote down the parameters in Twilight's book and waited.

Soon, there came a reply. "'Will search more on those. Need to take a break soon to keep the mind fresh and active. I'll get back to you when I find anything.' Alright. So nothing's changed..." Sunset packed her stuff up and went home.

Fluttershy had driven Aj home, and then gone home herself. Aj explained to the Apples what had happened, and thanked their stars it wasn't anything more serious than a school fight. She felt around her pockets and realized her geode was gone. Then, she remembered she gave it to Rainbow for safe keeping. Several hours of bed rest flew by and Twilight stopped over as requested. She changed the bandages and showed Aj how to do it herself so she could tell Applebloom how next time.

Rainbow went and stopped at the cafe down the street and ordered herself a soda. She drank it really fast and payed quickly before zipping out of the place. Just as she rounded a corner, she bumped into Shade, because- "Of course it'd be you. What do you want?"

Shade dusted himself off. "Well, look who it is." He massaged his jaw. "Aj hits pretty hard. Not gonna lie." Shade lifted up his black shirt and showed his wounds. "She left plenty of marks."

She looked close at the bruising, and sores on his chest. She also noticed there were faint traces of scarring all over. "We know. But why you wanted to fight her in a boxing ring is beyond me."

"Most things are, but that's not your fault. You have your strengths in other areas. Like footwork, and speed." He lowered his shirt. Rainbow looked up at him, barely glancing at his chin. "I'll be fine, don't worry."

"I'm not." She huffed and crossed her arms. "So what are you doing here?"

"I've come to challenge you. For tomorrow's event. After school, the track. Bring your best kickers." He paused with a smile. "By kickers, I mean your shoes."

"I know what kickers are!" She stomped her foot at him. "I'm not dense." Hang on... maybe if I test him here... I might be able to figure out what gives him power... "Why'd you call them kickers?"

Shade tilted his head. "That is what you do with your feet, right?"

Dash nodded and took a back stance. "I do kick with my feet. But-" She lashed out with a high round house. Shade brought up his arm and blocked the impact, barely moving a muscle outside of his arm. The shockwave destroyed the sidewalk as she connected. Slowly, she returned her foot to the ground, watching his response. "Okay, so you're good."

"I'm better than good." He threw up a front kick and barely missed Rainbow's chin. She back flipped out of the way and landed squarely. "I'm just as fast as you, Spectrum Speedster."

"We'll see about that." She dashed forward and swept his leg. He raised his foot and dropped it back. Rainbow stopped with her right foot behind her, still crouched, and pushed off, launching a flying knee at him. Shade blocked it with his arm, not his hand, and pushed it down, then caught a punch.

"Come on. Stop trying to hit me and hit me." The two spent seconds fighting at high speed, which to them felt like minutes. Shade stood calmly, while Rainbow was tired and kneeling.

Rainbow got to her feet and looked out toward Shade. "You're really something, you know that?"

"I do know. But the challenge is for tomorrow. And as you might have guessed, I want to race you. I hope you do not disappoint me as your friend did." He held up the geode that was given to Dash from Aj. "Oh, right. One more rule I forgot to mention: The loser gives the victor their artifact. If it's not given freely, it is taken by force. If you ever do beat me, you can have them back."

He turned and walked away. Rainbow watched him, then took out her phone. She sent a message to Sunset.

~~~~~~~~~

When Sunset got home, she got her text from Rainbow. Her eyes went wide as she saw the message. She tossed her jacket aside and quickly sent a message to Twilight in her book. Then, she showered and changed into pajamas before reading the princess' reply. Favorable, she hugged the book and looked up at the ceiling. "Best news we've had all day."

~~~~~~~~~

The following day, Rainbow and the others met Shade in the track field. Just as before, he wore his black clothes. Everyone wore their familiar clothes, with the addition of Aj's crutches; the handles of which were signed by her friends.

"And so the second day is upon us. Rainbow, I trust you took my advice to heart?"

Rainbow smirked and pointed at her running shoes. "I won't go easy on you. You can believe that."

"Then will you race me with or without your special powers?" he asked her.

Dash thought it over a moment. "I think I'll give it to Twilight to hold on to." She leisurely walked over, removed her necklace, and gave it to Twilight. She also added, "I don't care who comes knocking, do not open your door."

"Understood." Twilight put the necklace over hers on her neck.

Rainbow returned to the center of the field. "Your turn." She watched as Shade took off his shirt. He tossed it aside. "I told you he was ripped, girls.

Rarity fawned a moment. "It's a shame you're on the wrong side of this war."

"Am I though?" He walked to the starting line with Rainbow at his side. "You'll see there's more to me than what's in last year's yearbook."

When they got to the starting line, Twilight asked, "What? No spectacle? No spectators?"

"Nope. This is just between her and me." He set his stance low. "Fastest mile wins."

Fluttershy held up a small checkered flag at the starting line. "I almost can't watch this..." She dropped the flag with force and said, "Go." Shade and Dash took off like pro runners leaving very little room for improvement. They were neck and neck for the entire race.

Sunset waited until they were halfway across the track. "Girls. I looked into persons of interest on the internet and I found this guy. Looks just like Shade. He's got a lot of student awards at his other schools. Track was one of them. Mile time of 6:12. And that was years ago. Celestia knows he's only gotten faster since then. What he's training for might be unknown still, but I'm slowly putting it together."

"And you let Rainbow race him?" Fluttershy asked.

"What choice did I have? You all got the message, right? We win, we get his artifact. Rainbow might be our best bet." She held out a page of his accomplishments. "On top of track, he also won awards for chess, fencing, martial arts, gymnastics, drama and swimming. How he found the time to do all of that, I don't know. But, I suspect it's another illusion. He must know one of us would try to get info on him. Bet he used that thing to make all that stuff up."

"Maybe not made up... But definitely out of place..." Twilight raised a hand to her chin. "I mean... Most of those activities run the same time as some of the other things. And one's attention can only be divided so far while still maintaining efficiency. That he could do all of that in the few years of school is near impossible to believe. What if... he is an illusion? Rather... His age is the illusion? What if he's really a middle aged guy made to look as old as us?"

"That would make sense. His punches came with a heap o' experience, and a ton more strength than an average highschooler."

Fluttershy added, "I do feel an energy about him. Some familiar, some not..."

"If he really is older, then he's got a very clear advantage on us."

~~~~~~~~~

Rainbow took off from the starting line, and she could see Shade at her side the whole time. One lap went by under a minute and a half. He sure is fast. I never doubted that...

Shade kept pace like it was nothing. I can't believe I get to race the Rainbow Dash! he thought.

Second lap. Rainbow breathed a little harder, trying to keep ahead of him. It wasn't working so well, as she saw him creeping up on her slowly.

Third, he was right beside her, and holding position. Then, at the last corner, he turned his head, and said, "You're faster than this. Don't think you are. Know you are." With that, he pushed forward and crossed mere inches ahead of Rainbow. He kneeled over to catch his rugged breath. "I win..."

Rainbow fell to her knees and hit the ground. "But I'm the fastest in the school! No one can beat me! How did you-"

"Slipstreaming," he replied, standing. "Or drafting, if you're using racing terminology." He picked up his shirt and put it on. "Oh, and you can add this to your channel. The flash drive I gave you should be updated with the new video."

Aj crutched over and swung at his head with one of her tools. He ducked it and giggled. "Sorry, guy. Had to try it once."

"Forgiven." He started walking for the exit. "I'll be by for my prize later, Twilight. Do keep it safe until I come to collect, won't you?"

Twilight muttered, "Don't count on it..."

Author's Note:

Sorry it took a while to get out. Lost motivation writing this story, got caught up with a bad time at work, got a new job, new car, new cat... New a lot of things... But, I got hit with inspiration for this story today, so lemme know what you think?

Comments

[Dashie04]

It’s been so long that I forgot the plot. But this chapter’s pretty good, regardless.

[Blue_Thunder]

Yeahh... Sorry about that...
Give it a reread? Gonna be working on the next chapter soon.

[Venerable Ro]

Reminds me of an old villain of Hawkeye's way back in the day. Champion or summat like that?