Rainbow Dash and the Uta Clan

by Zorand

Chapter 3

The best thing about Saturdays was sleeping in. This was an undisputed fact, first discovered in ancient times when they had invented the weekend. The blinds on her bedroom window were closed, her alarm clock was off, and her door was locked. Absolutely nothing was going to make her get up before noon today.

De de deep.

Ugh, except her phone. What time was it, even? 9:17? Too early. The text could wait.

De de deep.

No. If one of her friends wanted to wake up super early on a Saturday (and she was sure it was Applejack) that was on them. Rainbow Dash would sleep.

De de deep.

Ugh, fine! Rainbow reached blindly towards her nightstand and fumbled for her phone. She swore, if this wasn’t important, her phone was going straight into silent mode like she should have done last night. Let’s see… a group text from Applejack? Rainbow rolled her eyes but read it anyway.

AJ: Hey y’all, Bloom is sick and I gotta take care of her. Y’all’ll have to practice without me today

PP: Oh no! I was about to tell you all that I was going to be late because Lemon Drop needs me to cover her shift!

SS: Hmm, with two of you gone should we just cancel for today? Maybe we can meet tomorrow if Applejack’s sister is feeling better

Huh, no practice? More time to search for ninjas, she guessed. Still, she had been looking forward to it. That new song Fluttershy was writing was really good and she’d said that she’d have it ready by this afternoon. Oh yeah, and Rainbow was going to tell them all about the Dazzlings. Better do it now in the group text.

As she wrote out her message a couple more texts came in:

Rar: As much as I was looking forward to playing today, I do have a new project that has just been dominating my attention. I am not sure how focused I would have been, so perhaps this is for the best.

TS: “Y’all’ll”? Seriously?

AJ: Y’all got a problem with that?

Oh no, she did not need to get sucked into an argument about grammar. Hopefully her message would divert them.

RD: Grls youll nvr believ who i found last nite it was the dazzlings theyre back in twn and r looking to get their powers back i can show u where i found them n we can go kick their asses whos with me

There. That ought to get their attention off of grammar and onto something important.

TS: Nevermind, Applejack.

Thank you!

TS: Compared to the way Rainbow Dash types, you’re doing just fine.

Seriously?

RD: Seriously????..????.????.??????..???????.?

SS: Rainbow, we already know the Dazzlings are back. I saw them at that concert we went to last month, remember?

SS: Wait, did I only tell you girls about that in a time loop or after that all ended?

PP: I think y’all’ll is a great word!

PP: Y’all’ll’ll’ll’ll’ll have to agree!

FS: I don’t mind how you type, Rainbow

Rainbow stared at her phone disbelief. They didn’t care. They didn’t care about the ninjas. They didn’t care about the Dazzlings. All they cared about was grammar! Rainbow shut her phone off in disgust and made sure to silence it this time. Fine. Whatever. She would sleep in until noon and then go find the ninjas and save the day and they could all sit at home and argue about grammar all day long for all she cared.

That was the plan, at least, but she was just too agitated. Instead of falling back asleep all Rainbow could do was toss and turn. Eventually, at around 10:30, she gave up and decided to get up for the day. After a quick shower she headed downstairs and found her parents sitting in the living room watching TV.

“Well good morning, princess. Up before noon? What’s the occasion?” Her dad, Bo, greeted her.

“Heh, hey dad.” Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck. “I woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep.”

“Is everything ok, Rainy? You’ve barely been home the last few days.” Her mom asked.

“Oh, you know, just hanging with the girls.”

“Can you please be home for dinner tonight? It’s been a while since we ate as a family.”

“Yeah, sure, ok. I promise.”

“Oh, thank you, honey. Now hurry off to your band practice. I know you’re going to be a superstar some day!”

“You know it!”

Rainbow Dash gave them a wave goodbye and hurried out the door. She caught a bus headed downtown, sat back, closed her eyes, and planned. The spiral search had been a bust. True, she hadn’t searched the entire city, but that would take weeks, even for her. And in the meantime they could be moving their base around, for all she knew. Well, she’d found them once when that magic had given their position away. She’d just have to do it again.

Once she was downtown Rainbow hopped off the bus and started walking towards that new building that was going up next to the bank. Yeah, it wasn’t her favorite rooftop. It didn’t have those potted plants she had stashed some snacks in, or that comfy chair that one of the people who worked there must have dragged up to get some fresh air on their break, but even unfinished it was the tallest building in town. At eight stories (and rising) she could see the entire town from the top. Some people might say it was dangerous to go climbing an unfinished building that didn’t have safety rails or even finished walls, but those people couldn’t grow wings on command.

The site was abandoned, it being a Saturday, so Rainbow didn’t need to worry about being caught once she was in, but there was a still a security guard posted at the gate. Ha! Like something like that could stop the great Captain Wonderbolt! No, that was too close to the school mascot. Villains would figure it out, and honestly that mascot of theirs was kind of lame. A horse? Really? Look, Sunset was a good friend, but horses just weren’t cool. Captain Wonderdragon! Now that would make a cool mascot. But no, the name was still no good. Dragons were way cooler than horses, of course, but the name just wasn’t right. Drop the captain, maybe?

Rainbow walked the perimeter of the construction site, but there were no easy entrances. Being a Saturday might have left the site bereft of workers, but it only increased the traffic on the surrounding roads. If she tried to hop the fence she would be seen. Even if she did it at superspeed she would leave her telltale rainbow trail. True, most people wouldn’t care enough to do anything if they saw her, but there was always that one busybody who had nothing better to do than call the police on a trespasser who wasn’t hurting anyone. Rainbow was lucky she had gotten off with a warning that one time.

She stepped back and looked up at the building-in-progress. Three sides abutted streets, but the last was the bank. The construction fence had closed off the alley that would normally be between the two, but if she could make it up onto the bank’s roof she’d be able to drop into the site with no one the wiser. Now, getting onto the roof of the bank wouldn’t be a walk in the park either. She knew from experience that those guys were really paranoid. They had motion detectors on the roof in case of bank robbers, and they didn’t take kindly to superheroes exploring up there. Good thing her previous exploration had found a route around the detectors, then. It would take lightning quick timing and impossible agility, but she was The Dasher, and she could do anything. Except come up with a good name, it seemed. Seriously? The Dasher? What was she thinking?

Rainbow walked into the bank and took the public elevator up to the second floor, which was as high as it would go. She made a quick right into the restroom by the elevators and slipped inside, but found her first obstacle. The stall under the vent was taken. Rolling her eyes to herself, Rainbow entered the next stall, locked the door, and waited. And waited. What was taking that lady- Oh sweet mercy the smell! What kind of foul lunch had that lady had? She did her best to not gag, but it was a heroic effort. Comic book heroes were lucky that the only forces arrayed against them were robots and assassins and the like. It was left to real life heroes like herself to suffer the worst fates.

Thankfully, a flush soon signaled the end of her torment, and as soon as she heard the lady leave the bathroom she pulled her speed magic into herself, ran into the other stall, jumped on the toilet, pulled the grate off the vent, ducked inside, then close it behind her. She let go of the magic and thanked the stars for lazy maintenance workers who didn’t check to make sure the screws in the vents weren’t carefully stripped so that the cover could be pulled off without any effort. Look, it’s not like she was planning to ever actually rob the bank, ok? It just didn’t hurt to have a backup plan in case some villain slandered her good name and she had to live in hiding or something. She’d make sure she returned the money once her name was cleared.

But in this case robbery was not on the schedule. Instead of following the ducts down to the maintenance room (the architect had been smart enough to make sure the vault had its own air supply that was well guarded so she couldn’t go straight into it. Look, a thorough exploration was important) she went up. Not all the way to the roof. That exhaust was well guarded by motion sensors. But on the 5th floor was the president’s office, and he always went golfing on Saturdays (it was important to know those kinds of things. No, she was not going to rob the bank, ok?). And in his office was an east facing window which looked out onto the construction site. Sure, she was awesome enough that she could have slipped through all the sensors on the roof undetected, but Zapp was smart enough to know that there was no reason to take that risk when there was an easier way. Wait, wasn’t Zapp the name from that Power Ponies comic? Shoot, she knew it sounded too good.

She peered into the office before exiting, but as expected it was completely empty. She hadn’t pre-loosened this grate, and loosening the screws from the inside would take a long time. Luckily, time was a commodity that she had in great supply. Rainbow pulled her stone’s magic into herself and set to work. She hadn’t brought her backpack with her today, but she had started taking a swiss army knife with her everywhere. You never knew what you might need in her line of work. Even with pliers it was hard work, but half an hour later (or just thirty seconds, depending on how you counted) she had pushed three screws out and onto the floor, and had the last loose enough for her to swing the cover around and out of the way.

Rainbow dropped into the office, still, on fast time, and picked up the screws from the floor. She quickly modified them as she had done to the screws on the bathroom vent (hey, you never knew when you might need to reuse a vent), dragged a chair over, and put the vent cover back in place. Perfect. You couldn’t even tell it had been moved. The little light on a security camera by the door blinked on. Shit.

No time to drop her magic now, Rainbow put the chair back in place and ran to the window. Which wasn’t the openable kind. Shit shit shit. Of course it wasn’t. This was the 5th floor. What had she been thinking? Ok, think, what could she do? Break the window? No, too messy. She’d be found for sure. Back into the vent? It was the only way.

Rainbow dragged the chair back to below the vent, pulled the vent cover away, put the chair back again, pushed her internal magic out to form wings, and flew back up into the vent. Sliding into it while flying was tough, but, like she had said, she had impossible agility. She closed the cover behind her and let out a breath of relief along with her speed magic. If she was lucky no one had seen her. She’d been down there for only a minute or two, so anyone watching would have had to be paying attention during those couple of seconds.

She waited in tense silence. A minute went by. Then two. Finally, after five minutes with no sounds from below, she decided she was safe. No one had seen her. She was lucky, but she needed to be more careful. And she needed to get to that construction site. All this time spent inside the bank was time she could be missing the glow of magic out in the city that would tell her where to find the ninjas.

Back through the vent she crawled, and this time she went all the way up to the roof. There were fourteen motion detectors up there, most of them pointed at the edges of the roof, but one was pointed directly at the vent she was in. The cover here was conveniently pre-loosened as well, but as soon as she pushed it out the alarm would go off downstairs. She’d already used her speed magic a couple of times so far this morning, but she’d also had a medium length break as she crawled through the ducts. The stone was warm, but only a little, so she should be able to activate it once more and use it for several minutes before it needed an extended rest. The motion detector would activate as soon as she pushed the cover out, even if she did it on super speed, but if she replaced the vent cover and got out of range of any cameras quick enough the guards downstairs would think it was only a bird. That was the hope, anyway.

Rainbow took a deep breath to steady herself, and let it out slowly. Ok, this was it. She would need to move fast, even compared to her normal fast speed. Good thing Lightning Bolt was a hero and could do anything she put he mind to. Hmm, that name was better, but it still needed work. She definitely liked the imagery, but it wasn’t quite hero-y enough yet. She needed to give it just a little extra something. And, no, adding the word Captain to the front wasn’t it.

Getting back on task, she pulled the magic into herself once more. There was a little bit of resistance, as expected, but her will was strong and the magic hummed in her veins. It was time. Rainbow shoved the vent cover forward and slithered out of the duct. As soon as she was clear, she grabbed the vent, spun around, and shoved it back into place. Securing it as quickly as she could, she sprinted north around the back side of the maintenance access stairway and the motion detector guarding it, then east to the edge of the roof. Without slowing she leapt out into the air beyond, and towards the 6th floor of the partially built building. There was wall framing built on this level, but the windows had no glass, and so with a push of her magic and a flap of her wings she was through and into the other building.

Just in case anyone was watching, she continued to sprint at superspeed into the depths of the building. She hadn’t been here before, so she didn’t know where to find- There! She skidded around a corner and ducked into a small closet or something and breathed a sigh of relief. She was well and truly out of the line of sight of anyone outside now. She let go of her magic and sat down on the dusty floor. A few minutes to let the heat die down and she could finally, finally get down to business.

Rainbow waited in tense silence. It was still possible someone had seen her make the jump across the roofs. Her rainbow trail was a dead giveaway if anyone was paying attention, as those ninjas had proven earlier. But she moved at superspeed. So long as she didn’t move through anyone’s line of sight she’d be gone before they would even have a chance to notice. And so she waited. Waited for a cry of alarm. For the sound of footsteps coming moving around her floor, searching for her. The stone was too warm now, so if she had to flee it would be the old fashioned way. But, as with the president’s office, no one came. Rainbow frowned. She was relieved, of course, but also a little disappointed. Being an awesome hero was one thing, but would it hurt to have someone notice? What was the point of being a hero if you had no villain to face?

Well she did have a villain to face, she reminded herself. She just didn’t know where they were. First she had to find them, then she could dazzle them with her supersonic speed. Ooh, supersonic. That could also make a cool name. Supersonic lightning? No, no, still not quite right. But she was close now. She’d get it. Anway, finding that villain was the order of the day, and with band practice cancelled she had all day to do it. Rainbow left her little closet and wandered around the floor until she found the staircase. Up she went, to the eighth and so-far-highest floor. Up here the workers had only built the floor and some support beams, so she had an unimpeded view of the entire city. There was her favorite office building. There was the school. And if she squinted, she thought she could even make out her house from here.

Unfortunately, what she couldn’t see, at least not yet, was any evidence of magic or ninjas. Well it wasn’t like she was actually expecting to find something as soon as she got up here. The whole point of a stake out was to wait. And so she waited. An hour went by, and Rainbow watched a guard pace around the roof of the bank and inspect the motion detectors. She made sure to hide behind a beam until he left. She waited another hour and watched people come and go from the bank. She waited another hour and felt her stomach growl. She really should have brought something to eat. She debated going back out and buying some lunch, but the thought of having to break back in here again made her decide against it. She waited another hour, and felt like she was going out of her mind. So. Boring. Where was the excitement? The adventure? Stakeouts were the worst. The absolute worst.

Ok, enough was enough. She needed to stretch her legs. A quick walk up and down the building would be good for her. And hey, maybe she would see something cool to help her not go completely insane. And so back down the stairs she went, circling each floor once before continuing to the one below. She was admiring some well-placed nails on the second floor (if that didn’t prove how bored she was, nothing would) when something caught her ear. Were those voices? Wasn’t this place supposed to be abandoned? She crept closer to the sound in an attempt to make out what they were saying.

“-serious? This is such a good hideout!”

“Orders are orders. Shoeshine says he saw that rainbow girl casing the joint this morning.”

“How do we know she wasn’t just wandering by? It could be a coincidence.”

“That’s not a chance the boss wants to take. Now go pack up. As soon as Delta team rendezvous tomorrow evening we’re leaving.”

There were some muttered words that Rainbow Dash couldn’t make out, followed by footsteps leaving in several different directions. But she didn’t try to follow any of them. Instead she let out a silent cheer and almost danced in place. Ok, maybe she did do a little victory dance. But who wouldn’t? She had found the ninja hideout! And, ok, so maybe she had waited at the top of said hideout all day without knowing, and that was a little lame and embarrassing, but you know what? She had set out to find the ninja hideout today, and she had found it. And she was already inside and they didn’t even know! Now she could sneak around the place, figure out what they were up to and prove to all her friends just how amazing being a hero really was.

Rainbow’s phone buzzed from the inside of her pocket. What? She had it do not disturb. It shouldn’t have buzzed for a call or text. The only thing she’d allowed through was her alarm clock. Wait, the alarm clock? What time was it? Rainbow pulled out her phone to check, and realized that it was already 5:00. She would need to leave now if she wanted to make it back in time for dinner with her parents. But she couldn’t just leave now. She was in the ninja hideout! But, then again, she had promised. Promised her mom. Rainbow weighed the two options against each other in her head. On the one hand, awesome adventure, fame, and glory. On the other, not breaking her word to her mother, who she had to admit she’d been neglecting a bit lately. And it wasn’t like the ninjas wouldn’t be here tomorrow, right? They’d said they weren’t planning to leave until tomorrow evening.

Mind made up, Rainbow made her way back up to the top floor. She needed to get out without the ninjas seeing her or they’d know that she’d more than just cased the joint from the outside. That guard at the gate was probably one of the ninjas, and the bank had its motion detectors, so she needed to choose one of the other two sides to exit through. Neither looked like they were being watched, but ninjas were sneaky. North or east? Her stomach growled. Home was north, and so north she would go. Hesitation never got anyone anywhere anyway.

Rainbow pulled her magic from the stone, which was quite cool after all those hours of waiting, pushed her other magic all the way out to form her wings, and shot up into the sky with a single mighty flap. This time she didn’t just leap up or slow a fall down. She kept flapping, and she flew. North across town as fast as she could. She felt the wind in her hair and her grin threatened to split her face in two. If there was one thing Rainbow Dash loved as much as being a hero, it was flying.

Unfortunately, the reason she didn’t do this more often quickly became apparent. After only a dozen seconds she started to feel the weight of her inner magic. She was pushing on it to keep her wings out, but it was growing heavy, and quickly. That didn’t happen if she had some of her friends nearby, although she didn’t know why. With even just one or two of them she could fly for several minutes, and if all seven of them were together she thought she could probably fly all day if she wanted. Maybe even forever. But right now there were zero other Rainbooms nearby, and if she didn’t land soon she was going to crash into the ground at supersonic speeds and that would be the end of Rainbow Dash.

So she descended back down to the ground, now a dozen blocks from the ninja hideout. She touched down on the sidewalk at a sprint and let go of her inner magic with a sigh of relief. She was still feeling energized from her flight, though, and decided to skip the bus this time. And so she ran. All the way home, wind blowing in her hair, and she imagined that she was flying home instead. Her grin never let up.

Three miles later and two blocks from home, Rainbow Dash slowed to a stop and panted. Without the slight push on her inner magic to energize her, that run was a lot more tiring than she was used to lately. This was like being a freshman all over again. So Rainbow did what she used to have to do back then when cooling down from a run. She paced and stretched and wished she had some water at hand, then took off her mask and dropped the super speed. Immediately the world sped up again. A squirrel she hadn’t even noticed, frozen on the side of a tree, burst into motion. A leaf that had been hovering near where she stopped resumed its flight on a gust of wind, and a car turned onto the street she was next to, after waiting for who knows how long just out of view.

Feeling at least a little refreshed, Rainbow walked the rest of the way home.

“Mom! Dad! I’m home!”

“Oh, honey, there you are!” Windy called. “Where were you today?”

“Uh, band practice, remember? It’s Saturday.”

Her mother gave her a quizzical look. “But your friend Rarity dropped by earlier to give you a package. She said practice was cancelled.”

What? What had Rarity been doing here? A package?

“Oh, uh, I didn’t want to bore you with the details, but, yeah, practice was cancelled ‘cause AJ had to take care of her sister. So I was, um,” Rainbow wracked her head for an excuse, “studying with Twilight.”

“All day?”

“Yup! That’s me! Always working hard.”

“Oh honey, I’m so happy! After Principal Celestia called I was worried, but I’m glad to see you’re taking the right steps even without us having to say anything.”

Wait, what? Why had the principal called? Oh, right, the parent-teacher-student conference. Guess she didn’t trust Rainbow to tell her parents herself. She’d have gotten around to it!

“Haha, yup! That’s me! The responsible one! So, uh, you said something about a package?”

“I put it in your room. Go ahead and wash up. Dinner will be ready in twenty minutes.”

Rainbow went up the stairs to her room and pulled out her phone along the way. She needed to talk to Twilight quick if she was going to avoid having her cover blown. She hated to lie to her parents, but that was the price you paid for having a secret identity. Upon unlocking her phone she was amazed to see 74 unread messages from that group text. What had they been talking about all day? Whatever, that could wait. So could the realization that she could have used her phone to relieve her boredom earlier on that rooftop. Right now she needed a favor from her friend.

RD: Yo twi i need a favor pls

Rainbow waited a tense minute with no reply. Was Twilight near her phone? Was she eating dinner? Or was she already spilling the beans? Thankfully, the typing notification appeared a minute later, followed quickly by Twilight’s response.

TS: If you need a favor then you can ask for it using proper spelling and punctuation.

RD: R u srs come on twi this is srs bsns

TS: So is proper writing. Now, you can ask me properly, or I can go back to doing my homework.

Rainbow ground her teeth. Of all the people she could have chosen to say she spent the day with, she had to have picked Twilight. What was she thinking? Well it was too late to pick someone else now.

RD: Twilight, can you please help me? I need a favor

TS: You forgot the period.

RD: Oh come on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TS: I’m waiting.

Rainbow growled under her breath.

RD: Twilight, can you please help me? I need a favor.

TS: Of course I can, Rainbow. What do you need help with?

RD: I told my parents I spent the day studying with you. If anyone asks, say that I was there.

TS: What?! I’m not going to lie to your parents for you!
RD: Come on, Twilight. Please? I’ll owe you 1! I’ll owe you 20!

TS: Let me guess, you were actually out fighting ninjas?

RD: Yes!!!

TS: Do you really believe that there are ninjas in Canterlot?

Rainbow Dash almost threw her phone to the ground in frustration. They still didn’t believe her! Not one of her friends! What was wrong with them?!

TS: And, for the record, you should never repeat a punctuation mark more than once unless you are writing an ellipsis. And, technically, an ellipsis its own punctuation mark so even it is not repeated, despite its appearance.

RD: I found their hideout!!!!!!! I can show you!!!!!!!!!!!

The typing notification appeared, then disappeared. It reappeared again for several seconds, then disappeared once more. Then it reappeared again, and this time stayed up for almost a minute. Great. Now Rainbow Dash was going to have to read one of Twilight’s long rants and pretend to take it to heart if she was going to have any hope of getting an alibi.

TS: Where?

Wait, that was it?

RD: That construction site by the bank.

TS: Which bank?
RD: Filthy Riches.
Another pause. What was there to think about?

TS: Okay, I’ll help you.
RD: O my gosh thank u thank u thank u thank u
TS: Spelling, Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow’s eyelid twitched.
RD: Thank you.
TS: I’m calling in my favor tomorrow. I want you to actually come over and study, like you said you did. I know you’re not doing well. I want to help.
RD: Wait, no, I can’t!
TS: Some favor. I thought you were a woman of her word, Rainbow Dash.
RD: No, please, I’ll study with you. Just not tomorrow. The ninjas are moving base tomorrow evening and I have to go back. It’s my only chance.
Another pause this time. A long one.

TS: Fine. But instead of tomorrow, we’re going to study every night next week. And no excuses.

Rainbow gulped. Every night? It was a hard pill to swallow. But she had said she owed Twilight one.

RD: Ok, I’ll do it.
TS: Thank you. I know you won’t regret it.

Rainbow set her phone down and closed her eyes. She was already regretting it. But hardships were just a part of being a hero. She flopped backwards onto her bed in order to properly contemplate her fate, but she landed on something large and boxy. What? Oh, right, Rarity’s package. She got back up again and inspected the box. It was a bit crushed. She hoped she hadn’t broken whatever was inside. Of course this was Rarity she was talking about, so there was about a 100 percent chance of the contents being clothing and therefore not breakable, but still.

She opened the box to reveal a note set atop folded fabric. Another dress, she guessed. Rarity was always looking for an excuse to shove her into one, although she wasn’t sure what the occasion was this time. The note would probably explain it.

If you’re going to fight ninjas, you should be properly dressed for the occasion.
-Rarity

Wait, what? Rainbow pulled the dress out of the box and found that it was no dress at all. There were actually several items in the box: The first that she pulled out was a wide brimmed hat, slightly squished. Oops. It was magenta in color with a dark blue band set just above the brim. Beneath that was a long, flowing cape, the same color as the hat’s band. Next a skin tight leotard the same shade as the hat, with a wide belt of the darker blue color. A high collar around the neck gave the outfit some form, and a cowl of that dark blue color hung off the back. Dark blue gloves and boots, long enough to reach midway up her calves and forearms, completed the outfit. This… this was a hero costume.

Rainbow’s eyes began to water and she rubbed them with her hand to wipe the tears away. One of her friends believed her. She wasn’t alone in this after all. Sure, she had shown her support by making her clothes instead of coming out to join her, but that was Rarity through and through, and Rainbow had never felt happier. Even when she was flying.

Her mom called her down for dinner, and Rainbow left her room with the hole that had slowly been forming in her heart all day starting to mend.

Comments

[lord_steak]

Interesting so far. Gonna track.

[IAmApe]

Instead of following the ducts down to the maintenance room (the architect had been smart enough to make sure the vault had its own air supply that was well guarded so she couldn’t go straight into it. Look, a thorough exploration was important) she went up.

A multi-sentence parenthetical inside another sentence? Forget "Y'all'll". This is a real crime against grammar.