Bully: Manticore Academy

by the silver-maned pony

Chp 5: Election and Nightmare Night pt2

In the girls dorm, at the very end of the hallway on each floor, there is a door that leads to a corridor. The corridor is packed with doors that lead to a student’s own personal bathroom. Why separate the bathroom from the student’s room is something nopony questioned or bothered to ask. Rainbow Dash was currently in her bathroom. She decided to take a shower right after the speeches to wash away the red paint. Now Dash stood in her shower, the red paint completely gone, and as the warm water cleared her mind, she thought of Twilight’s words.

‘Be careful around Lightning Dust.’

“What could that mean?” she asked herself.

‘Well,’ said an inner voice,‘it could mean to be careful around Lightning Dust.’

Rainbow scowled, “Yeah, but why? Why would hanging out with Lightning Dust be so dangerous?”

‘I don’t know. Probably because she acts like a bully and-’

“Now hold up; Lightning Dust is not a bully. Yeah she’s full of herself, but so what, that doesn’t mean she picks on other kids.”

‘Oh really. Why don’t you ask Scootaloo what she thinks?’ The voice shot back.

Dash could not ignore how Lightning Dust always belittles the young pegasus every chance she got.

“O.K, you got a point. But Scootaloo’s tough; she can take it.”

‘Why do you keep protecting Lightning Dust?’

“Because she’s my friend.”

‘Right, because she’s our friend. We sure know how to pick them. I mean, our friends were the very reason we got kicked out of 5 other schools.’

Rainbow’s mind suddenly flashbacked to the times where her ‘friends’ pinned the blame on her just to save their own skin. The sudden recollection of betrayals filled her with anger and sadness that she slammed her fist into the tiled wall. The pain brought her back to reality.

“Faust dammit.” She muttered as she shook her throbbing hand and turned off the shower. She stepped out of the shower, shook herself dry, and reached for her clothes. The only problem was that there were no clothes to grab.

Rainbow Dash quickly looked around the bathroom, as though expecting her clothes to magically appear. Thinking that she must have forgotten to grab a fresh set, Dash went to grab her paint-covered clothing she left near the shower. Those clothes have also disappeared.

“What the buck?” she said slowly.

Just as Dash was beginning to think she was going insane, she saw a slip of parchment under the bathroom door. She picked it up and read:

Dear Dashie,

If you’re reading this, then you must be done with your bath. You’re probably thinking where your clothes went. Don’t worry; I took the liberty of taking your clothes back to your room. So get your flank over to your room pronto; I got a surprise that will blow your mind!

XOXO
Lightning Dust

“Son of a…”

Dash crumpled the paper in her hands and grabbed her towel. Making sure the towel hid most of her; Dash exited her bathroom and made her way out of the corridor. Slowly opening the door leading to the hallway, Dash peeked through the small opening to see if there were any ponies around. Unfortunately, there were 7 ponies idly standing in the hallway; no doubt waiting for some friends so they could go to the Nightmare Night festival. Taking a deep breath, Dash spread her wings. She then hurled herself into the hallway with blinding speed. Ignoring the gasp of ponies, all of whom only saw was a rainbow blur, Dash slammed her bedroom door open, which was somehow unlocked, and closed it as quickly as possible. Exhaling, she turned to face her room only to find somepony else lying on her bed; a certain green-winged and amber colored hair pegasus.

“Hey Dashie,” Lightning Dust said casually, “you enjoyed your bath?” For some reason, Lightning Dust covered her whole body with the bed sheets.

“Oh it was nice,” Dash said as she walked over to her wardrobe, “except for the part where a pompous pegasus stole my clothes.”

“Nice alliteration,” Lightning complimented

Dash threw the letter she was holding in her hand to Lightning, who was chuckling merrily. Rainbow opened her wardrobe and stared at the interior for a couple of seconds.

“Lightning Dust.” Dash said slowly.

“Yeah?”

“Where are my clothes?”

“Around.” Lightning said simply.

Lightning Dust and Rainbow Dash locked eyes. Both of them glared at each other for a couple of seconds before they broke out in a fit of laughter.

“O.K,” Dash said in between breathes, “you got me. That was a pretty sweet prank.”

“I knew you’d like it.” Lightning Dust said as continued to chuckle, perhaps a little too villainously, “This is why Nightmare Night is one of the best holidays ever.”

“Yep,” Dash sighed, “but seriously; where are my clothes?”

“Like I said, around.”

“Seriously Dust; not only did you take my clothes, but also my Nightmare Night costume.”

“If you’re talking about that skeleton costume, I chucked it. That costume is too played out. What you need is,” Lightning’s hand moved from under the sheets. She then pulled out a small briefcase, “something new.”

Dash was about to argue about the difference between taking somepony’s clothes for a prank and throwing away the taken clothes when a cold breeze came over her. All she had on was that one towel. Resigning to defeat, she took the briefcase,

“You mind leaving while I change?”

“Not my problem you have no confidence in your appearance.” Lightning Dust didn’t get up, but she did place a pillow over her face to obscure her vision.

“Don’t suffocate me.” Dust said, slightly muffled from the pillow.

“No promises.” Dash replied. Rainbow went to her cabinet again and this time checked the bottom drawers. It seemed that Lightning Dust was decent enough to leave some clothes. Quickly putting on a bra and boxer shorts, she opened the briefcase. She only registered that it seemed to be some sort of jumpsuit as she put it on. She saw that there was also a pair of black boots and gloves in the briefcase. After put everything on, she opened the wardrobe again to inspect herself in the mirror and let out a gasp.

For a split second, she thought she was wearing a Wonderbolts uniform. But that quickly ended when she saw that the uniform was dark purple. It had a streak of lightning were the gloves and boots met the costume and had a black collar that was also surrounded by a lightning bolt.

“I heard a gasp.” Lightning threw the pillow and bed sheets off of her and got off the bed to reveal she was wearing an identical costume.

“What do you think? Pretty cool, right?”

“Um… Lightning Dust.”

“Yeah?”

“What the buck?”

“Oops, I forgot, you’re a little slow-minded. Let me explain; these are replicas of a Shadowbolt’s uniform.”

“I didn’t mean what they are. I meant how, and more importantly why, did you get these?”

“I know people with connections. As for why I picked these for our costumes, isn’t it obvious? The Shadowbolts were some of the best flyers Equestria has ever seen during the second Great War. Fast, fearless, and ruthless, they only allowed the best of the best to join their ranks. They represented survival of the fittest.” She added in an admiring tone.

“You forgot one little detail; they were responsible for bombing countless cities and towns, killing thousands of innocent ponies.”

“Hey, your precious Wonderbolts weren’t so innocent either. They also destroyed their fair share of cities.”

“At least they didn’t bomb non-military cities and take pleasure in killing ‘the weak’.” Dash said the last two words in air quotes.

“Alright enough; do you want to stand around and talk about historical controversies, or do you want to hear my plan about taking down the bullies.”

That last part made Dash forget about her morality,

”What do you mean?”

“Come on Dashie,” Dust exasperated, “Remember the things we learned when spying on the bullies.”

“What things? The only thing I learned was that the bullies are bigger jerks than I thought and that they get annoyed really easily.”

Lightning Dust grinned and waited.

“Ohhhh.” The gears in Dash’s mind began to turn, “They get annoyed really easily.”

“Exactly. So tonight, the greatest nights for pranks, we’re going to make their lives a living Tartarus. And have some fun along the way.”

“I’m in.” Dash said excitedly. She ducked and reached under her bed, “I have some pranking supplies ready for… wait a second.” Dash searched under her bed with increase vigor, “Where’s my knapsack with my pranking stuff?”

“Don’t worry Dashie,” Lightning reached under Dash’s bed and pulled out a bulging duffel bag, “I already put your stuff with mine.”

Rainbow Dash stared at the bag of pranks,

“This is going to be the best Nightmare Night ever!”

“You know it.” Lightning said as she lifted the bag to her shoulders and walked out the room with Dash, “But first, we’re going to get Scootaloo.”

“Scootaloo’s coming with us?” Dash asked, ignoring all the stares the ponies in the hallway were giving them for their choice of costume.

“Yeah. She kept pestering about wanting to come along with us when she heard about my plan. So I finally gave in and decided to let her tag along.”

“It’s nice to see you two are finally getting along.” Dash said, now feeling even better about tonight.

The two of them walked up the stairs leading to the second floor. Dash followed Lightning as she led them to 3rd door on the right from the staircase.

“Yo squirt,” Dust knocked on the door, “you ready yet?”

“No,” Scootaloo said breathlessly. It sounded as though she was struggling with something, “Just give me a minute.”

“Hey Scootaloo,” Dash said, “Is everything alright?”

The struggling noises stopped.

“R-Rainbow Dash! You’re here too?” Scootaloo said in a slightly panicky voice.

“Um, yeah.”

There was the sound of intensified grunting and struggling. This went on for a full minute with Dash giving Lightning Dust a raised eyebrow. Lightning Dust returned it with a knowing grin on her face.

After a while, Scootaloo said,

“You girls just go on ahead.”

“What’s wrong squirt,” Lightning said innocently, but her face was anything but, “I though you wanted to come along with us?”

“You should know Lightning Dust.” Scootaloo growled, “You’re the one that gave me this stupid costume.”

“What did you expect? It was last notice and it was the only thing left in the student store that was your size. Besides, it’s not my fault your werewolf costume was stolen.”

“My werewolf costume wasn’t stolen; I lost it. And how did you know it was a werewolf costume? I never told you what it was.”

…

“LIGHTNING DUST!” Scootaloo shouted as she slammed her door open. “Did you steal my costume!”

The moment Scootaloo opened the door, Dash had to shove her fist into her mouth to stop herself from laughing. Scootaloo was wearing a bright pink, fluffy, one-piece bunny costume.

“Now why would I steal your costume?” Lightning giggled.

“So I would be forced to wear this. Why did I believe you when you said you got me the coolest costume ever.” As she gestured to her costume, her bunny ears began to droop down as though they were linked to her emotions. This broke Dash’s resistance and she burst out laughing.

“Rainbow Dash, not you too.” Scootaloo complained.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” Dash wheezed in between breathes, “If you don’t like it, why not just take it off?”

“I can’t because the zipper is stuck.” She pointed to the grey zipper on her chest that was partially hidden amongst the pink fur. Dash reached down and pulled on the zipper, but to no avail.

“This thing really is stuck. Hey Dust, wanna give it a try.”

“Nah, she looks too adorable.” This got her a vicious glare from Scootaloo, “Anyway, we should get going. The festival is about to start and I don’t want to miss a single chance to mess with the bullies. So, are you coming squirt?”

“I don’t know.” Scootaloo said slowly, looking at her costume.

“Come on Scootaloo,” Dash said, “it’s gonna be fun. Tell you what, you’ll be the first one to throw an egg at the bullies.”

“Sweet.” Scootaloo now looked a lot more pumped.

“Oh, before I forget,” Lightning Dust reached into her costume and pulled out a pair of masks and goggles. She tossed one of each to Dash, “put those one.”

“Why?”

“Two reasons. One, it wouldn’t be a Shadowbolt’s outfit without these.” Dust put on the black mask, her hair popping out from the top of the mask, and she adjusted the yellow-tinted goggles, “Two, it will help disguise us. We don’t need the bullies to know who’s messing with them just yet.”

“Yeah, we might have a slight problem with the last part.” Dash pointed to the top of her mask where her rainbow colored hair was sticking out like a beacon amongst the black and dark purple, “I’m pretty sure I’m the only student in this school with this type of hair.”

“Not my problem you have weird genetics. Alright then,” Lightning Dust clapped her hands, “let Operation Blitzkrieg begin.”
________________________________________
A couple of minutes later, the 3 pegasai left the dormitory and joined the mob of ponies that were heading toward the football field. They would have left earlier, but Rainbow Dash had to retrieve a couple of items; mainly her super slingshot, in case of emergencies, and her pouch of bits as the festival also acted as a fundraiser for the school.

As Dash walked with her friends, her eyes were drawn to the surrounding students. It has been a long time since she had seen so many costume ponies in one place. Something even more amazing was the lack of bickering between the factions. She saw nerds walking near jocks and greasers walking near preppies with only minimal animosity. That’s the magic of Nightmare Night for you.

Then Lightning Dust elbowed Dash, “Bully at six o’clock.”

Rainbow looked ahead and recognized the plum hair of Berry Punch; she was wearing a ghost costume with her hood off.

“So what are we going to do?”

“I say,” Lightning Dust reached into her duffle bag and pulled out a ‘KICK-ME’ sign, “we start with a classic.”

“Allow me.” Dash took the sign. As stealthy as possible, Dash stuck the sign on Berry’s back and retreated back to her friends. As soon as she left, a nerd, who Dash realized was Sparkler in a witch’s costume, gave Berry a swift kick in the shin.

“Ouch!” Berry cried as Sparkler ran off, “You better come back and-”

Next a preppy came by and kicked Berry’s other shin. Before she could react, a greaser came by and planted her boot to Berry’s throbbing shin. As Berry glowered, a jock came by and kicked her right off her feet. Dash and her friends chuckled merrily as Berry fell face first on the ground.

“Well that was amusing.” Lightning Dust said as she led Dash and Scootaloo towards the festival.

They continued to walk until they reached a group of large ponies gathered together. Dash flew above the crowd and saw that there was a large gate blocking the way to the football field.

“What’s going on Rainbow Dash?” Scootaloo called from below. “Why can’t we go in?”

“It looks like the festival isn’t ready just yet.” Dash said as she descended back to the ground, “Looks like we’ll have to wait a while.”

“No problem,” Lightning said as she nodded to something a little ways ahead of them, “I just found us something to make the time fly.”

They turned their heads and saw Cherry Berry, in a bee outfit, and Daisy, who’s costume consisted of a school uniform and cowgirls hat.

“Let’s have some fun.” Lightning said simply as she took a carton of eggs from her satchel bag. She popped the lid open and pulled out her white-shelled grenade and prepared to toss. That’s when Dash quickly snatched the egg from Lightning’s grasp and held it in front of Scootaloo.

“Here you go Scootaloo, the first throw.”

The small pegasus’s eyes widened, “Really?”

“Well duh; I did say you get the first throw.”

“Thank you Rainbow Dash.” Scootaloo cried as she held the egg as though it was a priceless artifact.

“No problem.” Dash said slightly embarrassed by Scootaloo’s show of gratitude.

“Just hurry up and throw the thing.” Lightning said sourly, she was slightly sore that she didn’t get the first shot.

Scootaloo aimed and threw the egg. It wasn’t the best of throws as it only got Daisy’s shoulder. Suddenly, a barrage of eggs pelted Daisy from all angles, covering her in yolk.

“The Tartarus just happened?” Dash asked as Daisy searched for the pony who threw the eggs, pure rage in her eyes.

“I don’t know,” Lightning Dust said as she aimed another egg, a big smile on her face, “but I like it. Hey Cherry!” she called. Cherry turned around and was met with a face full of yolk. Just like before, a flurry of eggs pelted the earth pony. This time Dash was looking around the crowd. She saw that the surrounding students all had a carton of egg with them, which they stuffed back into their costumes after they were done with them. It seemed like Dash wasn’t the only pony who was packing pranks.

“Let’s try that one more time.” Dust said as she passed an egg to Dash and Scootaloo. “Ready… and go!” They all threw their eggs at the two bullies, and so did everypony else. Soon Cherry Berry and Daisy were caked in yolk. Somepony took it a step further and threw a bag of marbles at them, causing them to slip and the other students laughed. Everypony then went back to their business and the three pegasai walked past the downed bullies, giving them mischievous smiles.

“Hey,” Scootaloo elbowed Dash as the three of them walked toward the front of the gate, “it seems that the yolks on them. Ha!”

Lightning Dust groaned painfully, pinching the bridge of her nose, while Dash rolled her eyes good-naturedly and patted Scootaloo on the head.

They were approaching the gate when they saw a pair of bullies they knew too well; Lyra, in a mummy outfit, and Bon Bon in a pharaoh costume.

“Egg me.” Dash said as she extended out her hand.

“Come now Dashie,” Dust said as she pulled out something else from the bag, “we can’t be doing the same thing over and over. If we do, we’ll never get better.” Dust pulled out something that was large and wrapped in construction paper.

“What’s that?” Scootaloo asked.

“Something that will ruin any bully’s day. Now Dashie, cause a distraction while I get things started.”

“Why would we need a distraction?”

“Just do it.” Lightning ordered before merging within the crows of ponies and disappearing completely.

“What do we do now Rainbow?”

Rainbow Dash thought for a moment of using the eggs as a distraction, but that would only distract the ponies with actual eggs. Her eyes drifted amongst the crowd, trying to think of a plan. Then her eyes fell on Scootaloo, her bunny ears falling to the back of her head. Then, it hit her.

“I have a plan. Scootaloo, I’m going to need your help.”

The bunny ears immediately straightened, “Sure Dash, anything!” Scootaloo said excitedly.

Rainbow turned Scootaloo around so she was facing the crowd and put her hands under the small pegasus’s arms.

“What are you do-” Scootaloo began, but was quickly lifted up in the air.

“Hey everypony!” Dash shouted. Everypony turned, “Check out little Scootaloo; isn’t she the cutest bunny anypony has ever seen?!”

That did it. All of the students began to laugh once they’ve seen the small pegasus bunny. The mocking jokes were led by Lyra and Bon Bon while some of the other mares merely aww’d.

“Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo said as she hid her face in embarrassment, “why?!”

“I’m sorry squirt,” Dash said sincerely as the crowd continued to laugh, “but we needed a distraction. I’ll make it up to you later.”

Eventually, everypony got tired of poking fun at Scootaloo’s expense and went back to their business of idly standing around. Dash let go of Scootaloo, who was still covering her face.

Then there was a fizzing sound. Everypony turned their heads and saw a large model volcano in front of the gate. It was sending out a variety of different colored sparks. The students step forward to get a closer look, with Lyra and Bon Bon the ones nearest of the volcano. Then the volcano stopped operating for a split second before it suddenly exploded. Dash quickly stepped in front of Scootaloo and used her wing to block the substance. Dash then took a finger and scraped the substance from her wings and, surprisingly, tasted.

“It’s cake batter.” She said aloud.

Everypony that was near the volcano was covered in it, but they laughed it off as they can always appreciate a good prank. Everypony except for Lyra and Bon Bon, who were the ones completely covered in it.

“Wow that was an awesome prank!”

Everypony turned and saw somepony standing on the gates. Soon they all realized it was Pinkie Pie in a chicken costume.

“Alright everypony,” she said with a microphone in hand, “are you all ready for the best night of the year?!”

She was answered with roars of approval.

“Then as the leader of the festival committee, I’m proud to present…” She jumped off the gate as they were opening. Once they were gone, Pinkie gestured to the large courtyard overseeing the football field, “The Nightmare Night Festival!”

Pinkie quickly got out of the way as the crowd of ponies turned into a stampede.

“Have fun!” She shouted to everypony as she bounced away.

The courtyard was divided into two sections. Front of the courtyard was filled with concession stands. Committee members were selling things like cupcakes, funnel cakes, pies, apple cider, sodas, and so much more. The back of the courtyard was where they had the games like spider toss and there were stairs descending to the football field, where the larger games were being held and the band was playing.

“So squirt,” Dash asked as she and Scootaloo walked down the stands, “what do you want to do?”

Scootaloo, who was now peeved at Dash’s little distraction, merely shrugged.

“You’re mad, aren’t you?” Suddenly, an idea suddenly popped into Dash’s head.

Scootaloo sighed, “It’s not that. It’s just that when you lifted me up, you reminded me of what the bullies did. And… what Lightning sometimes does.” Scootaloo turned around, “Listen Rainbow, I should tell you about-”

She stopped when she realized that Rainbow Dash was nowhere nearby.

Just as a sense of loneliness began to settle in Scootaloo, she felt a tap on her shoulders and saw that it was Rainbow Dash holding two funnel cakes.

“This probably won’t make up for the distraction thing,” she said as she handed Scootaloo the cake, “but it’s a start.”

The small pegasus stared at the cake for a moment before giving Dash a hug.

“Thanks Rainbow.” She said as she took a big bite from the cake. Dash also took a bite from her funnel cake.

“Well isn’t that touching?”

Dash and Scootaloo turned and saw Lightning Dust walking toward them,

“Don’t mind me.” She said, “I insist; please continue your little ‘sister’ bonding.”

Dash walked over and gave Dust a high-five,

“That was a nice prank you pulled.” Dash complemented.

“Did you expect anything differently?”

“Where were you?” Scootaloo asked.

“I was looking for a certain griffon.” Lightning pointed to the gaming section of the courtyard, “And I found her.”

They craned their necks and saw the leader of the bullies, Gilda, wearing her usual short brown jacket, was playing the ‘test your strength’ game and talking with Lyra and Bon Bon, who managed to get off most of the cake batter. Gilda raised the giant hammer over her head and then slammed it down to the lever which sent the small piston rocket to the bell overhead. The sound of a ‘ding’ was audible from where the pegasai were standing.

“So do you want to go first?” Dust asked.

Dash tossed her funnel cake and held out her hand, “Give me the bag.”

Dust grinned and handed over the duffle bag.

“You said that you put all of my prank stuff in here too, right?” Dash said as she searched the very bottom of the bag.

“Yeah.”

Dash smiled as she pulled out two joy buzzers

Lightning snorted, “Really Dashie, joy buzzer?!”

“These aren’t your regular buzzers.” Dash said as she put each one on her hand. She made her way to Gilda and her little cronies.

Gilda was lifting up the giant hammer again when Dash was almost next to her. Slamming down the hammer, the piston soared and hit the bell. Gilda turned to receive a victorious high five from Lyra, only to get a high five from Dash.

Normal joy buzzers would only give somepony a jolt and cause them to flinch. Dash’s joy buzzer, which she got online from a rather shady website, sent electricity through Gilda’s entire body, actually showing her skeleton for a brief second.

“What…the…buck?” she said as she stumbled backwards.

“Sup Gilda.” Dash said, a pleased smile on her face.

Gilda shook herself awake, “Who the Tartarus are you?”

“Why don’t you ask your friends?” Dash said as she pointed her thumb at Lyra and Bon Bon, who were glaring at the rainbow haired girl.

Dash extended out her arm, the buzzer on her hand now obvious, “The name’s Rainbow Dash.”

Gilda glared at Dash, “So, you’re the one who’s been causing us so much trouble.”

“Well I try.”

Gilda ignored Dash’s hand and went to shake her other hand, intending to break her fingers. She didn’t realize that Dash had another joy buzzer in that hand and once again felt a jolt through her whole body.

Dash chuckled, “That never gets old.”

Gilda quickly balanced herself, “You’re so gonna get it.”

She took a menacing step forward.

“Everything alright here?”

They turned and saw a school prefect standing near them, his eyes filled with suspicion.

“Everything is absolutely peachy.” Dash told the prefect, giving Gilda a pat on the shoulder every two words, “We’re just here talking about how much we enjoy each other’s company. Right Gilda?”
Gilda was too busy being electrocuted to answer. The prefect eyed them a little longer, giving Dash a disgusted glare for her choice of costume, and left.

Once the prefect was gone, Gilda grabbed Dash by the shoulders,

“You better watch your back kid!” she threatened, slightly breathlessly from all of the electricity that passed through her.

“I always do.” Dash said before patting both of Gilda’s shoulders at the same time, causing her to fall to her knees. Dash gave Gilda an arrogant smile before walking away.

Dash walked back to where she left Lightning and Scootaloo. As she got closer, she saw that the two of them were having hushed conversation. Lightning’s face was gleeful and Scootaloo was looking nervous.

“What are you to talking about?” Dash asked once she was near them.

“Oh nothing much.” Lightning said, “And it looks like it’s my turn.” She tossed the duffle bag to Dash and made her way to Gilda.

“So, what were you and Lightning talking about?” Dash asked Scootaloo.

“W-what do you mean?” Scootaloo asked nervously.

If Dash wasn’t suspicious before, she was now,

“What were you and Lightning talking about.” She repeated.

“Oh that,” Scootaloo was now looking everywhere except at Rainbow Dash, “we were talking about… talking about… cartoons!”

“Cartoons.” Rainbow sighed, “Lightning…was talking to you…about cartoons?”

“Y-yeah.” She said, realizing how pitiful her lie was.

Dash decided to not pry into the discussion. She trusted Scootaloo to tell her the truth if it was important.

“Do you see Lightning around?” Dash asked, noticing that the ‘test your strength’ was void of Gilda.

Scootaloo, eager to change the subject, quickly scanned the concession stands.

“There she is.” Scootaloo said, pointing to a stand that was selling cupcakes. Dust was casually leaning on the stand and was having a conversation with Gilda, who was looking suspiciously at Dust.

Lightning then left with a goodbye and made her way to Dash.

“What was that all about?” Dash asked as she tossed the bag back to Lightning Dust, “And where’s the prank?”

“Give it a sec.” Dust said calmly.

At the stand, Gilda shrugged and took a bite from a cupcake. Her face immediately turned red and she started to sweat profusely. She opened her mouth to shout, but all that came out was a column of fire.

“Whoa!” Dash said as the fire continued and stopped as quickly as it came, “What did you do Lightning?”

“Oh, you know,” Lightning took out a small bag she hid in her sleeves, “just a little home-made hot sauce.”

Dash laughed, “Nice. So what do we do now?”

“I say we-”

Suddenly there was a sound of a small explosion and the pegasai were showered in confetti. Before Dash could react, somepony grabbed her by the arm and with surprising strength whisked her away, leaving behind a very confused Lightning Dust and Scootaloo.

Dash’s vision was all a blur until whatever had her came to a complete stop. As her senses came back, she realized somepony was talking.

“…and then I dyed her hair pink so nopony would notice the bubblegum.”

Dash looked up and thought for a wild moment she was ponynapped by a giant chicken. As her mind slowly calmed down, she realized the giant chicken was Pinkie Pie and that they were both on the football. There was a giant stage in the center of the field where the band was playing and the ponies that were dancing to the music took up the entire left field. The right side of the field, where Dash and Pinkie were located, was where the games like pumpkin toss and ‘bobbing for apples’ took place. As Dash looked, she saw her teacher Luna jumping joyfully as her catapulted pumpkin soared through the air and hit the ring of red circles at the dead center.

“Um…Pinkie Pie, why are we here?”

“Weren’t you listening?” Pinkie said joyfully, “Remember earlier today when we met. I saw that your face was red and I realized that you were mad. And if you’re mad, then you’re upset. And if you’re upset, then I will do all I can to make you smile. So now I’m going to give you the best Nightmare Night you’ll ever have!”

She said all of this in less than 10 seconds.

“Then,” Dash said, remembering what Pinkie was talking about a couple of seconds ago, “ what was up whole the whole hair dyeing… thing? You know what, it doesn’t matter.”

“So Dash, you ready for fun?!”

As Pinkie rambled on of all the activities she had plan, Dash kept smiling. Never had she ever met as somepony as eccentric and cheerful as Pinkie Pie. She could see why so many ponies liked her. Although, she could also see some ponies that might find her annoying. Especially ponies that have a short temper and low tolerance for crazy antics…

“Hey Pinkie,” Dash cut Pinkie off from her listing, “don’t worry about me. I feel a lot better now.”

“Really?! I’m so glad.” She really sounded glad.

“But,” a mischievous smile formed on Dash’s face, “one of my friends is not so happy.”

“Really? Well then we’ll have to fix that!”

“My thoughts exactly. Now, her name is Gilda and she’s a griffon. The last time I saw her was by the cupcake stand at the courtyard-”

Without a further ado, Pinkie Pie sped off, leaving behind dust that strangely took the form of the chicken costumed earth pony.

“Hey Rainbow Dash!”

Dash turned and saw Scootaloo and Lightning Dust running towards her.

“Hey Dashie,” Lightning said once she reached Dash, “where did you go?”

“Well, Pinkie Pie-”

“Ah,” Lightning nodded understandingly, “so what did the pink menace do?”

“She thought I was upset and tried to cheer me up. Now, she’s off to try and cheer up Gilda.”

“Oh my Faust.” Lightning Dust looked mildly surprised and pleased, “So this is what it feels like to be a parent that’s not disappointed by their child.”

“So where’ Gilda now?” Scootaloo asked.

Dash looked up and pointed at the stairs leading to the courtyard. The other two looked and saw Pinkie dragging a very annoyed looking Gilda.

“I think we just ruined Gilda’s night.” Dash said as Pinkie and Gilda entered the crowd of dancing ponies.

“No, not yet.” Lightning said with a smile, a slightly malicious look in her eyes, “We can still do more. Come on ponies, think.”

And so they did. The three pegasai pondered of what else they could do. Rainbow was watching Pinkie and Gilda from a break in the crowd. She could see Pinkie’s mouth moving nonstop and Gilda’s fingers twitch, as though wanting to wrap them around Pinkie’s throat. Dash looked to her left and saw an unoccupied catapult with a pumpkin lying next to it, ready to be launched.

“Yo Dash, what are you doing?” Lightning asked as Dash walked toward the catapult and turned it 180 degrees.

“My prank. Hey Scootaloo, mind helping me out?”

“Sure.” Scootaloo said excitedly, “What do you need?”

Dash pulled the arm of the catapult all the way back, “Put the pumpkin here.”

Scootaloo picked the pumpkin up and put it on the catapult.

“Now hold it there.” Dash said as she aimed right at Gilda. Once she locked on, she gave Scootaloo a thumbs up, “Ready when you are.”

Scootaloo grinned and let go.
________________________________________
“So Gilda what do you think? Chimmycherry or Cherrychunga. Chimmycherry or Cherrychunga. Chimmycherry or Cherrychunga.”

“Do you have an off switch?!” Gilda said, exasperated as the band neared its finale.

“Of course not silly; I’m not a robot. Or am I.” Pinkie Pie proceeded to dance the robot.

Gilda groaned loudly in frustration.

“Hey Gilda,” Pinkie said, still dancing, “do you hear something?”

“No because I think my ears are bleeding!”

“Are you sure you don’t hear anything? It sounds like an orange, 15 pound object flying directly towards us.”

“What the buck do you smoke?! There is nothing falling-”

*SPLAT*
________________________________________
Dash could see Gilda covered in Pumpkin. She could also hear Pinkie shouting,

“Gilda, are you O.K?!”

Pinkie looked toward where the pumpkin came from and saw Dash waving merrily with one hand, and pointing at the recently fired catapult with the other.

“Oh. Nice one Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie shouted her compliment. She turned to Gilda, “That was a pretty cool prank, right Gilda?”

The band finished their song and the crowd clapped vigorously. There was a moment of silence as the band got ready for another song when Gilda let out a animalistic roar. She soared to the air, absolute hate in her eyes.

“Rainbow Dash!” Gilda shouted, “When I find you, I’m going to rip out your spine and feed it to you!”

Complete silence followed this threat. Ponies were either confused or scared of what just happened. Scootaloo was one of the fearful ones while Lightning Dust merely looked amused. Dash, however, shouted, “Cool story bra!”

The ponies in the field began to snort at Dash’s comment, which eventually led everypony to think this was some Nightmare Night activity and laughed. Gilda roared in anger as her ability to provoke fear in the ponies was now gone. Gilda searched the crowd until her eyes locked with Rainbow Dash. Dash smiled and waved, much to Gilda’s chagrin.

“You might want to get out of here.” Lightning told Dash.

“Why?”

Lightning pointed to the stairs where prefects were running to investigate the loud threat. Lightning then pointed to the sky where Gilda was hurling herself at Rainbow Dash.

“Right.” Dash said before spreading her wings and taking flight. She decided it was better to get out before the prefects or Gilda got a hold of her. So she sped off, out of the football field and towards the parking lot.
________________________________________
“Get the buck out of here you damn kids!” Soarin the hobo shouted as he threw a bottle of cider at to greasers who tried to tag up his fence. Soarin turned to reenter the bus that lead to his ‘home’ when her heard fast flapping wings.

“I thought I told you kids-” Soarin began but stopped when a rainbow blur zoomed past him, over the run-down bus, and into the fenced off area. He was momentarily confused until he heard a shriek of a griffon. He turned and saw Gilda, covered in pumpkin, screaming Rainbow Dash’s name. Soarin entered the bus and then entered his home, where he found Rainbow Dash sitting with her back to the fence.

“Sup Soarin.” Dash said causally.

Soarin stared at Dash before shaking his head disapprovingly, “I can’t believe you kid.”

“What?”

“Running away from a fight.” He chuckled as he laid down on his bed, “And here I thought you actually had some guts.”

“Hey, I’m not running away from Gilda.”

“Then why are you here?”

There was the sound of hurried footsteps and prefects shouting as they chased Gilda.

“I’d rather not get busted.”

Soarin grumbled, “Excuses.”

They stayed there in silence until the shouting of ponies subsided.

“So,” Dash began

“No.” Soarin stated flatly.

“You don’t even know what I was gonna say.”

“You were gonna say if I could train you like you have been saying for the past 3 weeks. And then I would say I will train you when you bring me parts for my radio.”

Dash kicked the ground in frustration. For the past couple of weeks, Rainbow had made routine visits to Soarin in order to try and coax from him some free lessons. It had not worked. So she had spent her time just enjoying the silence and tried to learn more about the hobo. All she knew was that he was once in the military, but suffered a wing injury and was never the same again.

After a couple of minutes of silence, Dash got up to leave,

“Hey kid,” Soarin said suddenly, “do you know a green-winged pegasus that has an over inflated head.”

“You mean Lightning Dust?”

“So you do know her?”

“Yeah, she’s my friend.”

Soarin was silent for a while. He then got up in a sitting position and patted the space next to him,

“Take a seat kid, I have something to tell you.”

Confused, Dash walked over and sat next to Soarin. He was quite for a while, thinking over what he was going to say.

“O.K, you know I was in the military, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, when I first joined the military, I was singled out. Being a Wonderbolt-”

“Whoa slow down! You were a Wonderbolt?”

“Yeah, why is that so hard to believe?”

“Well the Wonderbolts are famous. Their shows are always sold out. If you’re a Wonderbolt, then what are you doing here?”

“Do you really think I would be allowed back in the Wonderbolts with a messed up wing. Now shut up and listen. Being a Wonderbolt, I was singled out; ponies were either intimidated by me or didn’t respect me for being a ‘show pony’ as they called it. After a while, I found my first friend. He didn’t treat me differently from any other ponies, so we became fast friends.

“My friend, however, was no saint. He would just about disrespect anypony. He had little patience for ponies that were weaker than others. Of course, being the loyal fool that I was, I ignored it as he was the few ponies I could talk to. One day, we were tasked to retrieve Intel from enemy territory. At first it was simple. We got in easily, but than a two random guards popped right in front of us. We took care of the first one easily, but the second one sounded the alarm before he was taken out. Me and my friend, my wing-pony, took to the air and flew as fast as we could.”

Dash didn’t say anything. She knew what happened next as Soarin once told her before about an incident with his wing-pony. The same incident that cost him his wing.

“So there we were, my friend holding the Intel and both of us dodging bullets. We thought we were in the clear, until a stray bullet hit my right wing. I looked at my friends and he looked back. He looked me straight in the eye and shrugged. I will never forget what he told me; ‘Sorry Soarin, you weren’t strong enough.’ He then picked up speed and left me behind.”

There was silence. Finally, Dash couldn’t take it,

“How did you survive?”

“Like I said before, reinforcement.”

“So your friend didn’t abandon you?”

Soarin laughed humorlessly, “Thankfully, he wasn’t my only friend. I found out that my wing-pony said I was killed when we were escaping. My other friend, she didn’t believe that. She kept urging that I might still be alive. Eventually, it was decided to send a small rescue team to search for me. They found me in a day at a makeshift camp I made near where I crashed.”

“So what happened to your friend, your wing-pony?”

“He wasn’t penalized. He managed to convince everypony that he thought I was dead.”

“But didn’t you try to tell anypony he left you behind?!”

“I did, but everypony thought I was just going through mental trauma. The fact that I tried to strangle him in broad daylight the moment I got back didn’t really help my case.”

“Soarin, why are you telling me all this?”

“Because,” Soarin paused, “your friend Lightning Dust is exactly the same way as my old wing-pony was. And I want you to learn from my mistake and know the difference between being loyal to somepony, and blindly following somepony.”

Dash was silent and got up.

“See ya later Soarin.”

“Remember Rainbow Dash, tread cautiously when around Lightning Dust.”
________________________________________
Dash was in the girl’s dormitory and she barely registered that she was walking to her room. She had been told by two different ponies to be wary of Lightning Dust. She opened the door and walked in her room, jumping violently when she heard her name being shouted. She turned to her bed and saw Scootaloo sitting on her bed, still wearing the bunny outfit.

“Scootaloo, how did you get in here?”

“Through the window.” Scootaloo pointed to one of the windows in the room that had a gaping hole in it, “I guessed that Gilda had something to do with it.”

“Great.” Dash said as she kicked the shattered glass to the nearest corner of the room, “So what’s up Scootaloo? Why are you in my room?”

Scootaloo hesitated for a second before opening the bedroom door and looking down the halls. Seeing nopony around, she close the door and turned to Rainbow Dash,

“Listen, back at the festival, I lied. Lightning Dust and I weren’t talking about cartoons.”

“Oh really? I never would have guessed!” Dash said in mock shock.

“Please listen,” Scootaloo said urgently. Dash noticed that Scootaloo looked really nervous, “I need to tell you something.”

“What’s the matter Scootaloo, everything alright?”

“When me and Lightning were talking, she said how she has a surprise for you.”

“…And?”

“Lightning’s surprises aren’t…nice.” Scootaloo finished lamely.

“Don’t worry Scootaloo, I doubt Lightning Dust has anything evil in store for me.” Dash said as Soarin’s and Twilight’s voice rang in her head.

“It’s just that…” Scootaloo couldn’t seem to find the words so she just sighed, “Please be careful around Lightning Dust. Please.”

Dash sighed; 3 ponies are now warning her. She crouched down and placed a soothing hand on each of Scootaloo’s shoulders, “Don’t worry, I can take care of myself.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, anything Lightning Dust throws at me, which I really doubt she would, I can take it. Come on Scootaloo, you’re talking to Rainbow Dash here, the coolest pegasus in this school.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Scootaloo said with a smile. She turned to leave but stopped, “Oh one more thing,” she turned to Rainbow Dash and pointed toward the zipper on her chest, “Do you mind?”

Dash laughed and tugged on the zipper for a full minute before it finally zipped down and Scootaloo was free. Saying her thanks, Scootaloo went back to her room, leaving Dash alone. Dash decided to change out of her costume and she opened her wardrobe to reveal all of her clothes and satchel there. (Dash found all of her stuff under her bed in a loose floorboard where Lightning Dust had hid them.) She took off her mask and goggles and was about to throw them on the bed when she stopped and simply stared at them.

She remembered an old history video about the Shadowbolts she saw during middle school. It talked about how they were the most ruthless flyers ever know and Dash recalled their motto; ‘The strong will live while the weak will not’

Dash shivered as Lightning spoke in the very same manner that the Shadowbolts did. Sighing, she took off her costume and tossed it into her wardrobe. She put on her pajamas and flopped to her bed. It took a couple of hours to sleep as her mind would not stop processing the day’s events.

Comments

[Rainbow Song]

really really awesome story
more soon please

[touileasaso]

Next chapter is when it happens. This ought to be good.

[ThEvErYdErPyBrOnY]

(O.K)<------this is getting anoying

[Thean Bitter Crowe]

got to say, nice to have a mondern equis.