Bully: Manticore Academy

by the silver-maned pony

Chp 8: Making Impressions

It was 4 o’clock in the afternoon and Old Manticore Ville was bustling with life. Students and residents alike were leisurely walking about, enjoying all of the shopping. Almost every building in the town was a store or some sort of business. In the center of town was a large fountain pool with benches and cafes surrounding it, where shoppers were lazing around. Laying on the edge of the fountain pool was a relaxing Rainbow Dash. The pegasus inhaled deeply through her nose and closed her eyes. Her plan was to go to the preppy’s boxing club right after school, but that plan failed as Dash became distracted by the new scenery and sudden sense of freedom.

“Now this is what I’m talking about.” Dash said to no one in particular, still not opening her eyes, “No prefects to worry about, nopony trying to bash my face in, just me and some R and R.”

“Well this isn’t surprising in the least.” Dash’s eyes shot open and her blood boiled as she recognized the voice, “It’s always the weak ones who do nothing but laze around.”

Rainbow quickly got up and scoped out the area, but Lightning Dust was nowhere to be found.

“Lightning Dust!” Dash yelled, startling some shoppers, “Come out you coward!”

There was no response. Rainbow clenched her fist in anger as she continued to search the area, but there was no sign of the amber-haired pegasus. Rainbow took a calming breath and tried to relax, but to no avail. She began to pace around the fountain as she thought of what just happened.

‘Was that really Lightning Dust?’ Dash thought, ‘Or did I finally lose my mind?’

Whether the voice was real or not, it broke her serene mindset and replaced it with fierce determination. Dash was on a mission and she couldn’t afford to get distracted. Making up her mind, Rainbow ran toward her destination; the preppy’s boxing club.

After a couple minutes of walking, Dash was in front of a large and weathered gym. It didn’t look like a place where preppies would box. Wondering whether she was in the right place, Dash turned around and saw the bridge that linked the town to the small island where Manticore Academy resided. Why somepony would build a school there was unknown to Dash. Dismissing the thought, Rainbow opened the doors to the gym and entered.

The first thing that Dash noticed was that the interior of the gym looked a lot fancier than the exterior. The floor and surrounding walls were made of what appeared to be marble. To her left, Dash saw punching bags, double end bags, dumbbells, jump ropes, and practice dummies. All of them looked like they were in mint condition. In front of Rainbow were 3 boxing rings. To her right were vending machines and stairs that led to a balcony, which led to a large VIP box. There were half a dozen ponies in the gym; Dash guessed that all of them were preppies. Most of them were exercising, except for two who were currently in the ring nearest to Rainbow. The pegasus recognized Colgate as one of the fighters in the ring. Dash walked toward the ring.

Colgate was fighting another unicorn preppy that Dash didn’t recognize. The preppy was panting heavily while Colgate looked calm and collective. The tired unicorn charged and went for a right hook. Colgate ducked down and delivered a strong uppercut. The preppy fell to the floor and the referee, an elderly earth pony, began to count. Dash began to clap lightly, which caught the attention of Colgate, who grinned and walked toward her,

“Hello Rainbow, glad to see you accepted the invitation.” Colgate said as she leaned on the ropes of the ring.

“No problem,” Dash said, her mind on Lightning Dust, “but shouldn’t you be focused on the match?”

“Don’t worry about that.” Colgate said as the referee reached five in his count, “She’s not coming back up after that. Then again, I didn’t expect anything better from a new recruit.”

“Are these all of the ponies that are in the boxing club?” Dash asked as she looked around vacant the gym looked with just 6 ponies.

“Oh no, there are a lot more of us. They’re just enjoying their new freedom after being stuck in that school for so much.”

Translation: The rest of the preppies were out in the shopping district, giving their credit cards a good workout.

“So is this like the preppy’s exclusive gym?”

“Wrong again Dash; the gym is open for everypony, but ponies usually just come in here when they get invitations.”

Translation: This was the preppy’s territory, and nopony comes into their territory without their O.K.

The referee reached ten and a bell rang from an undisclosed location. He then helped the preppy to her feet and walked her out of the ring.

“Looks like my match is over.” Colgate grinned as she took of her gloves with her magic, “You should get ready Rainbow Dash.”

“Ready for what?”

“Why, your match of course.” Colgate said, “You didn’t expect anypony to join with just an invitation, right? You have to prove that you’re good enough in the ring.”

“I’m all for proving myself, but I need to ask-”

“That’s alright,” Colgate jumped over the ropes and out of the ring, “we know.”

“Know what?”

“That you’re poorer than a rock farmer without rocks.”

…

“Excuse me?” Dash said indignantly, “I’m not rolling in bits, but who said I was ‘poorer than a rock farmer without rocks’?

“One of the newer recruits brought it to our attention. But we would have figured it out. I mean, look at your clothes.”

Dash looked down at her M.A uniform. The two months of fighting has left the vest, shirt, and pants torn in numerous places, along with dirt marks and specks of blood (although not all of it was hers). She had other pieces of clothing, but they were in no better condition.

“Don’t worry, we won’t charge you the admission cost.” Colgate continued, “Faust knows that you’re mother had to do countless…services just to scrape by.” Colgate said with a sly smile

“Say one more crack about my mother; see what happens.” Dash threatened through gritted teeth.

“Alright, simmer down.” Colgate held up her hands defensively, but she looked highly amused, “I’ll go get your opponent while you change. The locker rooms are at the end of the gym.”

“Fine,” Dash said, “but after the fight, I want to ask you some questions.”

“Of course, but I usually talk more openly to fellow members, so do try to win.”

Rainbow turned and walked to the end of the gym and then entered the locker room. The room had rows of spotless blue lockers, racks with monogrammed towels, and polished wood benches. Dash searched the room until she found a locker that was labeled ‘R. Dash’ at the very end of the room. She opened it and found a cerulean boxing vest with black boxing shorts and cerulean boxing shoes. She placed her clothes and the weights from Soarin in the locker and quickly dressed into the boxing gear. She stepped outside of locker room and was greeted by Colgate, who was holding boxing gloves, a blue headgear, and a mouth guard.

“How do you like your new clothes?” Colgate asked as she motioned Dash to lift up her hands.

“It alright, I guess. But I didn’t expect the vest to be so soft.”

“Well, your vest was specially crafted by Rarity.” Colgate said with a smile as she tied the gloves to Dash’s hands with her magic.

“Who’s Rarity?”

“You could call her our manager.” Colgate replied as she placed the head gear on Dash’s head, “She’s about a year older than you, but she’s still in her first year. Rarity used to be a boxer like us, until she traded in her gloves for a sewing machine. Now she’s in charge of not only creating new boxing vest, but she also plans our events like tournaments. You’ll probably meet her later.”

After making sure the boxing gloves and helmet were secured, Colgate lead dash to the middle ring, where the rest of the preppies have gathered to see the fight. Dash looked at the ring and saw two earth ponies; both of them looked identical, except that one had pale blue hair while the other pale pink hair.

“For your initiation fight,” Colgate said as she led the pegasus into the ring, “you’ll be fighting one of our senior members, Aloe.” Colgate pointed the blue haired pony that was being prepped by the other preppy who was undoubtedly her sister, “Normally, you would have fought one of the junior members, but after seeing how well you can handle yourself, we decided to give you a challenge.” Colgate handed Dash her mouth guard and exited the ring just as Aloe’s sister exited as well. Dash and Aloe walked to the center of the ring and faced each other,

“I must say,” Aloe said in an accent Dash didn’t recognize, “this is a real privilege. After all, ponies always say that the poor make the best boxers.”

“Really?” Dash said, not sure whether to be complimented or insulted.

“Why yes. The poor are known to fight often to get anything that would make life any less miserable.” Dash now knew that she was being insulted, “Add to the fact that the poor go through a lot of family problems which only hardens their resolve to continue fighting. And from what I hear, who have a lot of family problems due to your mother.”

Dash stayed silent as she put on her mouth guard. Even though she wasn’t close to her, Rainbow would not let anypony insult her mother. Aloe put in her mouth guard and held out her gloved hands. Dash stared at it until she realized she was supposed to tap them with her own. After that, there was the sound of a bell ringing and the fight began.

The two ponies circled each other as the crowd watched in mild curiosity. Aloe threw a quick jab, but Dash dodged it by simply moving her head,

“Not bad.” Aloe complimented. She threw two more jabs and Dash dodged those with ease.

“Come on Aloe, stop teasing her and finish it.” Aloe’s sister said.

Aloe made the fatal mistake of turning her head to reply, “Don’t worry Lotus, this match will be over soon.”

Aloe returned to the fight, only to have Dash’s fast and powerful right hook collide with her face. The preppies stared, their mouths agape, as Aloe crashed to the floor and the referee began to count.

“First rule when fighting me,” Dash grinned at a dumbfounded Aloe, “never take your eyes off me.”

Aloe snarled; she could not believe she was dropped by somepony so quickly. A poor pony no less.

Aloe got up and let loosed a barrage of jabs that were much quicker than the ones before. But Dash was too quick and dodged the attacks.

“Why don’t you just throw in the towel?” Aloe panted angrily. The fighters have been going around in circles and Aloe was getting exhausted, “We both know you can’t beat me.”

“Oh I’m sorry,” Rainbow grinned as she bobbed and weaved the oncoming jabs, “are we fighting now? I thought you were still warming up.”

Aloe growled and threw a left hook.

“You almost got me there.” Dash said as she side-stepped the attack.

The earth pony then threw a right hook.

“You’re getting closer.”

Then she threw an uppercut.

“That would have probably hurt if it hit me.”

Out of desperation, Aloe threw a wild straight and it miraculously hit Rainbow right in the nose. The preppies cheered as the pegasus was finally silence, but that didn’t last for long. Rainbow Dash did not fall to the floor; she only had her head tilted back from the impact. Slowly, she faced Aloe with a cocky grin and a somewhat red nose,

“Thank you ma’am, may I have another?”

Aloe was so shocked by the fact that Rainbow didn’t go down that she didn’t register the oncoming pegasus until it was too late. It was Dash’s turn for the assault and Aloe, who was already exhausted, didn’t have a chance. Dash’s jabs landed perfectly and the preppies could only watch as one of their senior members was being trounced by somepony who wasn’t even in the club. In desperation, Aloe threw a right hook and Dash ducked down to dodge it. From her position, Rainbow delivered to punches to Aloe’s stomach, flapped her wings once, and finished the earth pony off with a pegasus uppercut. The preps were barely able to comprehend what just happened.

The referee walked up to Dash, “Foul.”

“What?” Dash asked, confused, “Why?”

“Pegasai can’t use their wings in boxing.” Colgate said, “The same thing goes to unicorns and their magic.”

“But what about the earth ponies and their strength?” Dash inquired.

“The boxing gloves are specially designed to repress the earth pony’s raw, superior strength. But since this is your first match, we’ll ignore your use of wings. While we’re discussing rules, you should know that there is no head-butting, kneeing, grabbing, kicking, or hitting below the belt in boxing.”

“Well that’s boring.” Rainbow said casually, ignoring all the glares she was receiving from the preps. The referee then began to count. Even though Dash didn’t think much of boxing for being limited, her grin grew as the referee’s count got closer to ten.

“Eight…nine…ten…” The referee waved his arms and a bell rang, signaling the end of the match. The preppies all clapped politely,

“Not bad Rainbow Dash.” Colgate said, “Allow me to be the first to welcome you-”

“AWWW YEAAAHHH!” Dash shouted as she ran a victory lap in the ring, “They’re a new kid in town and she is cleaning house!”

“Yes, your match was impressive, but don’t get carried aw-”

“Alright, who’s next?!” Dash shouted. She began to point at the preppies, “You’re going down, then you, then you, then you, then everypony else!”

“Calm down Dash.” Colgate said, now annoyed. But Rainbow wouldn’t listen as she was too drunk from her victory and cocky personality,

“All right everypony,” Dash exclaimed, “when I say Rainbow, you say Dash! You ready?! Rainbow!”

*Silence*

“Rainbow!”

*Silence*

Rainbow Dash blew a raspberry, “You preppies are no fun.” With that, she stepped out of the ring, patted a couple of preppies on the back, and she walked to the locker room. All the while, she was still chanting her name.

After Dash was gone, Lotus walked up to Colgate, who had her eyes closed and was pinching the bridge of her nose,

“Why did we want her in our club again?” The earth pony asked.

“I can’t remember.” Colgate replied in a tired and annoyed tone.
________________________________________
Rainbow Dash and Colgate stood outside of the gym’s double doors. The pegasus was dressed in her original attire and she was carrying her boxing attire in a duffel bag, courtesy of the preps.

“I assume that you are done with boxing for today?” Colgate asked.

“Yep, I can’t show you all of my stuff on the first day. I have to leave you preps wanting more.”

Colgate rolled her eyes, “Of course you do. Now, you said that you had some questions?”

“Yes.” Dash said in a more serious tone, “I was wondering if a pegasus named Lightning Dust is also in your boxing club.”

“Ah, Lightning Dust.” Colgate said with a smile that was similar to Luna’s when she said the pegasus’s name, “Yes, she is one of our newer recruits. She joined our club a little over two weeks ago. Of course, her initiation was in our clubhouse at school as we were unable to leave the academy at the time. Lightning Dust is a really prized fighter; she passed her initiation with flying colors and she accepted victory with grace.” Colgate emphasized the last part as she leaned closer to Rainbow. However, all of the subliminal messages flew over the pegasus’s head. Colgate continued, “If you need to talk to her, just keep on coming to the gym. I’m sure you’ll run into her sooner or later.”

“You can count on me returning. Anyway, thanks for the invitation and see ya later.” Dash held out a fist and Colgate pounded it half-heartedly. Dash turned around and began to walk away. Unbeknownst to her, Colgate breathed a sigh of relief.

Rainbow walked down the road when she suddenly stopped. The bridge to M.A was directly to her left, but she was focused on what was across the street from her and past a steel railing; the beach. On impulse, Dash walked across the street, jumped over the railing, and landed on the empty, sandy shores. Her left side was where the sand ended, so she walked leisurely to her right, no goal in mind.

Dash lost track of time as she walked down the beach. Eventually, she saw a pier. She flew up until she landed on it and she began to walk down the pier. She stopped when she reached the end of the pier, which ended with a rectangular platform and benches to her left and right. She flopped down on one of them, and stared at the sunset.

‘What am I doing?’ Rainbow thought. She stared at the sunset as she pondered her decision to come to the beach. Even though she wasn’t a big fan of the ‘natural beauty’ of the world, Rainbow had to admit that the sunset was very pretty. Suddenly, her mind was flooded with memories of somepony she didn’t expect; her mother.

Dash remembered the last time she went to the beach was one she was a little filly. After weeks of working non-stop, Dash’s mother decided to take the young pegasus to the beach for some family time. Of course, this was before Dash’s string of expulsions and her mother’s string of marriages. This was a time where the two of them had a close relationship. Dash and her mom arrived at the beach with nothing more than some towels, and an old basket filled with home-made lemonade pops. They spent the day building sand castles, collecting sea shells, and drawing images on the sand. Dash even chased and ran from the oncoming waves, just for her mother’s amusement. The day ended with Dash’s head resting on her mother’s lap as the two of them watched the sunset.

Such fond memories.

Back in the present, Dash shook her head and laughed lightly, “Geez, when did I become so sappy?”

Rainbow has tried to adopt the philosophy of just focusing on the here and now, but that proved to be difficult as her past, the good and the bad, was never far from her thoughts.

Dash stared back at the sunset and saw something interesting. Out in the water, there was a small, wooden boat that was being paddled by a pony. However, the boat kept going around in circles. In a fit of frustration, the pony began to jump on the boat.

“‘To rock the boat, don’t rock the boat baby, rock the boat, don’t tip the boat over’.” Dash sang under her breath. After a couple more angry hops, the boat finally tipped over and the pony fell into the water.

Dash continued to stare, waiting patiently for the pony to resurface. However, there was no sign of a head breaking the surface of the water.

“Oh crap!” Dash cried as she immediately took to the air and flew to the overturned boat. Once there, Rainbow saw a shadow under the water. Plunging her hand in, Dash managed to grab a hold of something and she pulled it out. Miraculously, she got hold of the pony’s backpack with the pony still attached to it. Dash was relieved to see the pony was alive and coughing up water. She quickly flew the two of them to the shore and they both flopped to the ground.

“Hey,” Dash said slightly out of breath, “you O.K?”

The pony replied with nods and coughs. Dash got a closer look at the pony as the two of them got to their feet. She was a young unicorn, roughly the same age of Scootaloo. Her eyes were pale green and her hair was a grayish mulberry color with pale rose streaks. The thing that caught Dash’s attention was what the unicorn was wearing over her baby doll dress, an aquaberry vest. The same type of vest the preppies wore.

The unicorn did not reply immediately, she was too busy staring at the upside down boat.

“Hey kid,” Dash tapped the pony’s head, “did ya get a couple screws loose?”

The pony finally turned to Dash with a confused expression, “No, why?”

“Well, usually, ponies thank other ponies after they saved them from drowning.”

The unicorn blushed lightly before smiling and bowing her head, “I’m sorry. Thank you for saving my life. My name’s Sweetie Belle.”

“That’s better. The name’s Rainbow Dash by the way. Do you want me to go get your boat?”

“No.” Sweetie said, frustrated, “I was barely able to get that dumb boat onto the water and when I finally did it, I couldn’t stop going in circles.” She sighed, “I guess my dream of being a captain of a ship is over.”

“Wow that sucks. How long have you wanted to be a captain?”

“Since Sunday.”

…

“But today’s Monday.” Dash said, slightly bemused.

“Yeah, you see, I saw a documentary about ship captains and I wanted to be like one of them. And like my sister always says, ‘You should always follow your passion’.”

“I think you misunderstood your sister. Your passions should be something that means the world to you, something that you love and don’t ever want to let go. Tell me, what do you want to be or do more than anything?”

Sweetie thought it over until she smiled, “I want to be like my big sister!”

“O…K. So, why do you want to be like your big sister?”

“Because she’s generous, kind, and always devotes herself to her passion.”

“Then, why don’t you talk to your sister about your passion?”

Suddenly, Sweetie Belle looked crestfallen. She hung her head as she said, “She’s too busy for me. Like I said, she devotes herself to her passion.”

“Well that’s stupid.” Rainbow said bluntly, causing Sweetie to look up at the pegasus, “I don’t have an older sister, but even I know that the older sister should always make time for their siblings. If your sister really is busy, then you should help her so you two can hang out more.”

“You really think that would work?” Sweetie said hopefully.

“I know it.” Rainbow said confidently.

Sweetie smiled and gave Dash a hug as a show of gratitude for her comforting words. The pegasus was caught off guard, so she just awkwardly patted the unicorn’s head. As Sweetie pulled away, she got a better look at Dash’s disheveled clothes. Sweetie Belle patted her chin in thought before she took of her backpack and began rooting in it.

“What are you doing?” Dash asked.

“My sister said to always be generous whenever possible. And by the look of your clothes, you need all of the generosity you can get.”

‘Was I just insulted by a filly?’ Dash thought.

Sweetie placed the backpack on the ground and she held a small sack in front of Dash, “Take it, it’s my allowance. You should go get new clothing.”

“Sweetie Belle, I’m not gonna take money from a kid.”

The unicorn stood there before throwing the small sack at Dash’s face and ran away. The pegasus instinctively caught the bag just as Sweetie Belle reached the 10 stone steps that led back to the sidewalks of Old Manticore Ville.

“Thanks for everything Rainbow Dash!” Sweetie smiled as she shouted. She then climbed the steps and disappeared into the town.

“Sweetie, come back here!” Dash called out, but the unicorn was gone. Rainbow knew she could catch up to her, but she decided to let the filly have her fun. Dash looked down at the small bag in her hand and chuckled. She began to undo the string that tied the bag, expecting to find 10 bits at the most. However, as soon as she undid the last knot, the bag expanded to the point where it was bigger than the palm of her hand. Dash’s mouth was agape as she found the bag was bulging with shiny bits.

“Oh my Faust.” Dash said as she held more money than she ever held. In the back of her mind, she was slightly annoyed that a preppy’s allowance was a hundred times greater than Dash’s allowance. She knew that she would have to return it, but that didn’t stop Dash from grinning, thinking that she didn’t have to return all of it.
________________________________________
It was 8’o clock at night. The students have all returned back to school. All except one.

Rainbow Dash was making her way to the bridge that would lead her back to the academy. Since she got the money from Sweetie Belle, Dash had been to nearly every clothing store in town. Even though she was never into fashion, she knew it would be bad for her reputation if all she wore was her school uniform. Rainbow had only one bag that was filled with different kinds of clothing from the different shops in town. But clothes weren’t the only thing she bought. Rainbow was now riding over the bridge on her new skateboard. It had been years since she rode on a skateboard, but as soon as she got on, it felt as though she’s been riding for years.

Rainbow popped an Ollie as she finally crossed the bridge back to Manticore Academy. To her right was the school. To her left, on the other side of the rode, was a small meadow with a tree line. As she observed the tree line, Dash was startled to see Twilight Sparkle under one of the trees. Dash stopped and picked up her skateboard,

“Hey Twilight,” Dash called as she made her way to the unicorn, “what are you doing.”

Twilight, who was currently holding a long branch, turned to see Rainbow before turning her head back to the tree in front of her,

“Oh, nothing much.”

The pegasus was now next to Twilight. Rainbow looked up to the tree and saw a large number of books on the branches.

“Oh my Faust. Twi, you actually made a tree that grows books!” Dash joked, receiving a dirty look from Twilight.

“First off,” The unicorn said as she used her branch to try and push off one of the books on the tree, “while a book tree would be amazing, it is impossible to create. Somepony decided to pull this ‘humorous’ prank by placing my textbooks on this tree, which isn’t as funny as it is frustrating.” Twilight gritted her teeth as she tried to push off one of her books on a tree branch with her own branch. After a couple of hits, the branch Twilight was holding became stuck on the tree’s branches.

“Damn.” Twilight grunted while Dash giggled. The unicorn then began to jump up to try and reach her books.

“Why don’t you just use your magic?” Dash chuckled.

“I am not about to break school rules just because of a dumb prank.” Twilight said stubbornly as she continued her fruitless jumping.

“Alright,” Dash said after a minute of watching Twilight jump, “this became painful to watch. Move aside Twilight.” Dash then dropped her belongings on the grass.

“Oh no Rainbow,” Twilight said as she saw the Pegasus beginning to stretch, “you are not breaking the rules just to get my books.”

“Who said I’m gonna break the rules?” Dash said. She then sprinted toward the tree and then began to sprint on it. After the 4th step on the tree trunk, Dash jumped to a low branch and hung on. She then pulled herself up and began to collect the books.

“Wow Dash,” Twilight said, her eyes slightly widened, “I knew you were athletic, but I didn’t know by how much; impressive.”

“Come on Twi,” Dash said as she grabbed a heavy textbook, “I thought by now you would know that I am awesome.” After two minutes of searching, Dash jumped down with all eight of the books.

“Thank you, Rainbow.” Twilight said as the pegasus returned the books to their owner, “I hope you don’t mind, but I took the liberty of organizing your shopping bag while you were up there.”

“Thanks.” Dash said. As she looked into her bag, she was surprised to see that all of the crumbled clothing were now neatly folded and organized by shape and color.

Once the two ponies got all of their belongings, they walked side by side toward the school.

“So,” Dash said, “you have any idea who pranked you?”

“I have a solid guess.” Twilight said matter-of-factly.

“Alright then, why don’t you and I go pay this prankster a visit?” Dash said eagerly.

“Don’t worry Dash; this little matter doesn’t concern you.”

“Of course it does, I mean, we’re friends, right?”

“Probably.”

The two were in front of the gates of the school when Dash held her arm in front of Twilight, stopping her in her tracks.

“Whoa, what do you mean ‘probably’?”

“By probably, I mean probably.” Twilight said stoically, “Let’s face it Dash, we are polar opposite. I know friendships that ended with two ponies that were practically identical. One day, one of us is going to do something that the other will not tolerate, and the friendship we had will end. Clean and simple.”

Twilight moved Dash’s outstretched arm out of the way and continued toward the school. Rainbow was dumbfounded by this revelation and she would have continued to let Twilight walk away if it wasn’t for a memory that suddenly appeared in her head.

“Hey Twilight,” Dash called out, “I’m not Trixie.”

Those three words stopped the unicorn in her track and she turned around to face Dash.

“Listen,” Rainbow said, “I don’t know what happened between you two, but I won’t betray you. I mean, how can I? We have had each other’s backs since we first met. I had your back when you were giving your speech and Scootaloo told me that when I was being pummeled by Gilda, you tried to save my flank. To me, that’s what friends do for each other. You hear me Twi, friends!”

Twilight stood her ground for a couple of seconds before turned around and walking toward Dash. She sighed,

“Listen, Dash, I don’t want you to think that I’m ungrateful for all that you’ve done for me, But let’s face it, we know little to nothing about each other.”

“Then let’s fix that.” Dash said as she walked to the curb and sat down. She then turned to Twilight and patted the spot next to her. The unicorn smiled and rolled her eyes as she sat next to Rainbow.

“So what now?” Twilight asked.

“I’m not really sure.” Dash admitted, “I’m kind of making this up as I go along,”

Twilight sighed, though not annoyingly. She then picked a book from her pile and began to read it.

“What’s that?” Rainbow asked.

“Comparison of Magic Before and After Harmony. It’s a book that talks a lot about the old and new theories of magic. It also has a biography about Star Swirl the Bearded”

“Oh, I know about him.”

“Really?” Twilight said, surprised.

“Yeah, he was the one some famous conjurer, right?”

“He wasn’t just some conjurer. He was one of the most important figures in magical history.”

“O.K then smarty pants, educate me on Star Swirl.”

“Nah, I don’t think you would understand most of it.”

Dash leaned forward, “Try me.”

Twilight smiled and began to give the pegasus a crash course on magical history and theories. Of course, Rainbow did not understand most of it, much like Twilight predicted, but she didn’t stop the unicorn. As she continued to talk, Twilight’s voice became more animated and full of emotion. She even started to show Dash images from her variety of books. Rainbow soon got into the discussion, but it wasn’t just because she found it interesting. The pegasus became more involved because for the first time since the two ponies met, Twilight had a genuinely, friendly smile.

Comments

[Undead_Non-Brony]

And the seeds of friendship are sown...

[Kaelos Dashery]

Awesomeness on red bull! Definitly my kind of chapter.
This may just be because I have been forced to read about three shipping fics a day, but I may see a bit of twi dash. Probably just me being stupid again but whatever.

Love the whole thing ;)

Signed-
Bubblini Dusk Davinci Crashton Dashery

[touileasaso]

Neat chapter. Although you might want to make the fights a little harder for Dash next time, try not to make things too easy for her (although I'll admit that the preppies are pretty easy to beat).

[the silver-maned pony]

2893155
Good point.
If it makes a difference, it should be noted that Aloe is one of the weakest of the senior members.

[the silver-maned pony]

2900707>>2900710
First off, thanks for the complement

Secondly, I have more grammatical errors?! I am sorry if they were a hinder to your read. I usually proofread the chapter myself, and then I send it to my sis who proofreads it. *Sigh* looks like I'll have to ask around for proofreaders.

[the silver-maned pony]

Everyone, I apologize for any increase in grammatical errors. For some reason, I usually find inspiration to write chapters at midnight, when I'm half-asleep. Don't ask me why, I just do. Again, sorry for the grammatical errors and hopefully, they will decrease in the future.

[awdawfddsgse]

2905772
google.com/imgres?hl=en&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&tbnid=HojsX9FyysToYM:&imgrefurl=http://www.epicgifs.net/en/tags/264/poker-face/2&docid=Ek5RnGuBbIRF1M&imgurl=http://www.epicgifs.net/images/show/VKITH73R&w=272&h=400&ei=4brqUcKANuG9yAGyvYBY&zoom=1&iact=rc&page=1&tbnh=195&tbnw=133&start=0&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:8,s:0&tx=80&ty=47&ved=1t:3588,r:8,s:0,i:105

[Darken]

2925369 *shrugs* Anytime.

[LunarMoon]

Sorry, I know that you may be very busy but can I please know why is the new chapter not here yet? (sorry for interrupting ....)

[the silver-maned pony]

3016337
I am really sorry for the delay. You see...the newest chapter is already completed.
...
I sent the newest chapter to a proofreader as to deal with the grammatical errors. However, that was about a week ago. So, whether the proofreader is done or not, expect a new chapter by either Sunday or Monday. Hopefully it will be worth the wait.

[Thean Bitter Crowe]

....romance please? Just a little bit, please!