> Paybak > by RayDawn > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Meeting Paybak > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Starlight was the first to wake up at the new apartment. She and her bandmates had decided that Trottingham was a bust and Canterlot was probably not going to be one as well. She looked around as she stood. She saw that Gilda had crashed on the couch rather than her bed. Garble started to stir and slowly opened his eyes. "What happened?" Garble stated. "Another one of your dang parties, that's what!" Starlight yelled, which startled Gilda. "What? My head. That house party was insane." Gilda said as she woke. "Hey Starlight." Starlight looked away and spoke in her condescending tone. "Hey Gilda. Woke up after you got your butt kicked last night by Lightning?" "Mostly and I didn't get my butt kicked, it was a an almost even match until she cheap-shot-ed me." Gilda retorted in a pissed off voice. "Yeah, yeah." Starlight rolled her eyes. Garble tried to inch away from the living room, but Starlight caught this. "Where do you think your going?" "I was trying to-" Garble was cut off. Starlight pointed at him. "Emphasis on trying." She opened her mouth to talk, but Lightning Dust slammed the door open and screamed. "SHUT UP! I'm trying to sleep." Lightning Dust's voice was riddled with exhaustion. "Wow. What a drama queen." Starlight said and crossed her arms. This earned her some looks. "Really?" Lightning Dust asked. Her eyebrow was raised. She looked around. "Where's Strings?" The bandmates looked around and started to freak out. "Crap! He couldn't have gone far. Lets look." The band agreed and stepped through some doors, splitting up. Dust went through the kitchen and saw Heart Strings. He was slumped over face first onto the table and on the counter was freshly cooked eggs and bacon. Four plates for his four bandmates. Lightning Dust sighed. "Thanks." She put a hand to her mouth and yelled out. "Found him!" "Whew, I was scared for a second." Gilda walked in. She immediately smelled food. "Don't tell me he- He did! That wonderful bastard!" "Not cool." Garble growled. Gilda backed off. "Sorry." "Better be." Garble mumbled under his breathe. "We might as well eat." Starlight shrugged. She had walked in during Garble's mumbling. They sat around the table where Heart Strings was sleeping. Starlight looked at him. "I feel bad for him. He can't taste this good food." Garble shared her sentiment. "He probably did." He put a spoonful in his mouth and Strings shot up. "Ah-" Garble choked out. Strings looked around and saw them eating. "Oh, you guys got the food I made. So, is it good?" He had a mile wide smile with his teeth in full view. He had dark rings around his pink eyes, which contrasted against his white hair and skin. "As always, but dang dude you nearly killed me." Garble said. Strings scratched at his neck. "Sorry." He caught himself and kept a straight face. "I enrolled us at CHS by the way." Starlight smiled a no tooth smile and said. "Good. Have to keep a strong mind with this great body." Starlight posed and Strings faked a gag. Garble and Gilda laughed while Lightning was too caught up in food to care. Starlight frowned to this while Strings chuckled lightly. "We start tomorrow and I arranged for some people to show us around." Strings yawned out after saying this. He scratched his wild white hair. "We got a- *yawn* gig in days as well." Strings may have been their lead guitarist, but he was also their part manager along with Starlight and songwriter. Gilda was their bassist, Lightning Dust was their drummer, Starlight was rhythm guitarist, Garble was lead singer, and Gilda and Starlight were backup vocals. "I think I need more sleep. See ya." He yawned once more and stood up, his thin frame in full view. "Alright. See ya later." Lightning Dust said as she finished her plate. "From the way I feel right now? Probably tomorrow." His voice was full of energy, but his body lacked it. He shuffled off like a zombie to his room. "Thanks for the grub!" Gilda shouted, but no reply came. He was probably asleep already. The Next Day... The group stood in the Principal's office waiting for their "tour guides." There was an awkward silence, but it was soon interrupted by a knock on the door. Principal Celestia replied. "Come in." Just as she said that two girls walked in. One had crimson and yellow hair and the other had pink bouncy hair. "Sunset, Pinkie, these are Gilda..." Gilda crossed her arms and nodded. "Lightning Dust..." Lightning Dust looked at them and crossed her arms. She looked away. She wasn't their friend why should she acknowledge them. "Starlight Glimmer..." Starlight didn't pay any attention to them, she was too caught up in her phone to notice. "Garble..." He looked up at them, smiled and looked back at his phone with a straight face. "And Heart Strings." Heart Strings was sleeping standing up. Garble noticed this and smacked his shoulder lightly. Strings jumped awake and grinned sheepishly. He waved at them with a wide smile. Pinkie, being Pinkie waved vigorously at him. "Well, it's nice meeting you all. I'm Sunset Shimmer." Sunset waved and smiled. Pinkie threw herself forward and vehemently shook Gilda's hand "Hii'mPinkiePieand..." She moved on to Lightning Dust. "andIjustmetyouall..." She moved on to Starlight. "butIjustknow..." She moved on to Garble. "thatallofyouarenice..." She moved on to Strings. "inyouownwaysandwe'll..." She backed off them and went to Sunset, shaking her hand as well. "hopefullyallbethe..." She let go of Sunset and shook her own hand. "Bestoffriends!" She looked down at her hands. "Woops that's me!" She looked around. Their reactions varied. Sunset and Lightning Dust were confused, Garble, Gilda and Starlight were mad, and Strings was chuckling. "Sorry! Let me rephrase that. Will you all be my friends?" All of the bandmates shook their heads except Gilda and Strings. Gilda said. "We'll see." Strings shrugged however. "Eh. Why not?" Pinkie smiled. "One and a half to go, only three and a half left." She muttered. She was determined to be friends with all of them, whether they wanted to or not... > Gilda > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pinkie Pie and Sunset had finished the tour and the group was in front of the Gymnasium. "Soooo? Did you get all of that?" Pinkie exclaimed. The group conversed between themselves in whispers. Gilda said. "It went too quickly, I didn't get most of it." Garble whispered. "Maybe if you paid attention you would've gotten it. I got it." "Hey! I didn't get it either." Lightning Dust said. "Gee, I wonder why?" Starlight said as she gave her a look. "I got it just fine." Strings interrupted before Starlight and Lightning Dust got into one of their fights. Starlight, Strings, and Garble shared a look and in unison said. "Dumb jocks." "Watch you ton-" Gilda was cut off by Pinkie. "So, did ya?" Pinkie smile threatened to reach her ears. The group nodded, except Gilda who shook her head. Gilda looked at Lightning Dust. "I thought you said you didn't get it." Gilda nudged Lightning Dust while she spoke. "Not going through that again." Lightning Dust retaliated with her own nudge and reply. Pinkie grabbed Gilda's arm and dragged her away. Gilda whisper-shouted to Lightning Dust. "You traitor!" Then she was taken away around the corner. "Can we take it a bit slower this time Pinkie?" Sunset asked. "Sure! Hey Gilda?" Pinkie said as they went to the main entrance. "What?" Gilda said a little too aggressively. Pinkie recoiled slightly, but not for long. "Sorry. Yeah?" Gilda then got more loose. "Are we friends, yet?" Pinkie asked. "No, why would be?" Gilda crossed her arms and looked away. "Well, I just gave you a tour and friends do each other favors." Pinkie's hair deflated slightly. "Yeah well friends also need a connection and trust." Gilda walked with them to the Chemistry Lab. Inside they saw Lightning Dust looking confused and the Teacher waking up Strings. "Why was it so easy to befriend him?" Pinkie pointed at Strings. "Maybe 'cause he's a hippy?" Gilda suggested. "Wait he's a hippy?" "Yeah, his parents introduced it to him." Gilda and them stepped away from the lab and down the hall. Pinkie looked at Gilda. "What about your parents?" Gilda stopped walking and she sunk into her body. "I don't wanna talk about it." Gilda crossed her arms. "Why not? This is a safe space." "Yeah, Pinkie and I would never judge you for that." Sunset interjected. Gilda sighed. "Fine. I walked into this one, so I might as well walk through it. My parents are greedy business owners in Griffonstone. They never were home, so I got stuck with babysitters. I grew up barely seeing them and I never got the knack, as my mom would say, for business and all that math mumbo jumbo. Instead I got good at sports and at 16 my parents kicked me out for not following their footsteps. They never approved of me. I used my last amount of money and went to Trottingham. That's where I met Starlight and Strings after about three months of being homeless. They were a duet guitarist group, but they let me room with them on the condition that I learned Bass guitar with Strings. Been with them ever since." "Wow." Pinkie stopped for a second. "At least you found some people who accepted you." "Yeah. I've been homeless before and it's not a good experience." Sunset said as the group continued to walk. "You know, I can relate to that. My parents didn't accept the party planning future I wanted and kicked me out. I decided to room with Maud, my sister, while she gets her Rock-torate." Pinkie said. "Doesn't that make you mad?" Gilda almost growled. "No. My friends help me to stay happy." Pinkie said. Gilda thought for a second. "Are we friends now?" Pinkie asked, breaking her train of thought. "Why woul -" Gilda was then interrupted by Pinkie. "We have a connection and you trusted me enough to tell me about your parents and I trusted you enough to tell you about mine." Pinkie explained. "Me telling you about my parents was more of a-" Pinkie interrupted Gilda again. "Please?!" Pinkie begged. Gilda sighed. "You're not gonna stop until I say yes aren't you?" "Nope!" In resignation Gilda said. "Fine, I'll be your friend." Gilda acted like it was a pain, but inside she was smiling. Pinkie internally squealed. Two down, three more! Pinkie thought. "Now, I need to go to Home Ec with Rarity. Bye." Pinkie skipped away. Gilda looked at Sunset. "Can you repeat the tour, bacon hair?" Sunset face palmed. "My name is Sunset and sure." "Thanks." Gilda paused. "Bacon hair. " Gilda chuckled to herself. "Hey, I never heard how you got to Canterlot." Sunset then replied. "Well, that's a long story. You sure we have enough time?" "Yeah." Gilda then deadpanned. "It'll take me forever to memorize the layout of this place." > In Between Chapter: Heart > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- After school, *** The school day was over for the bandmates and they decided to travel back to their home, but Gilda and Lightning Dust had decided to check out the city together and left the others alone during the walk, so it was just Heart Strings, Garble, and Starlight. The others, mainly Garble, made comments about how they should just kiss and get it over with. Garble was pissed, he didn't think highly of Starlight, but at least Heart Strings was there as well. Garble looked at who he considered was his best friend. Strings currently was wearing a gray long sleeve shirt, all shirts he had were long sleeve for some reason, light blue skinny jeans with a chain coming out of the pocket, and gray canvas shoes with white soles. He wasn't ripped, but he wasn't frail. He was skinny, mind you, but not unhealthily skinny. His wild white hair only distinct from his pale white skin because it protruded in many directions and reached the top of his shoulder blades. Garble looked over at his current source of anger. Starlight was currently ranting about her most recent "exploits" in the fight for feminism, which were over a week ago and barely substantial at best. Garble felt like she was being a feminist just for a higher opinion of herself and fake people pissed him off. After more incoherent words from Starlight, Garble's meager amount of patience faded away. He yelled out, "Just shut up already! I don't care!" "Geez. What a scene. You could've just asked nicely..." Starlight swore she saw Garble foam slightly. "Seriously!? You could've just nicely SHUT YOUR TRAP!" Garble mocked Starlight voice until he yelled out, drawing attention to the yellow haired, red skinned, teenager with a short mohawk (his sides weren't shaven off), in a black tee, dark blue jeans, and black canvas shoes with black soles. This yell got Strings' attention and he took off his headphones in the middle of a Neighvana (Nirvana) song. Strings sighed, "What is it this time?" He rubbed his temples. "She wont shut up!" Garble growled out. He crossed his arms and a scowl appeared on his face. "And Garble is being rude. Just. Plain. Rude." Starlight pouted while pointing at Garble. Strings just sighed, "You know, at first this was funny, but it's just annoying now. You're acting like children." Strings put his hands on his hips and slightly changed his stance. "Now you two are gonna go to this-" Strings looked at a sign, "-Sweet Shoppe and are gonna calm down. Then you can go home. As for me, I'll go to the apartment." "What! No fair!" The two youngest members of Paybak said in unison. Their eyes widened in unison as they spoke. "See ya!" Strings turned and saw them one las time. Starlight had chosen to go with her light blue shirt, dark purple thigh length skirt and light blue slides. "Try not to kill each other!" With that he left his friends on their impromptu bonding session. He chuckled to himself because he low-key wanted his two friends to get together. *** Strings walked into the apartment and was greeted by silence. He smiled in relief and stretched. "Peace and quiet! Finally!" He walked into his room and basked in a pungent oily herb smell. He breathed in the glorious smell and breathed out. Strings looked at the mirror ln his wall. He saw himself and took off his shirt revealing a white tee with a heart being stabbed by two jagged eighth notes that were connected. He looked at his right arm. He had a vibrant tatoo scaling up, down, and around his arm until it was concealed by his sleeve. He put on his gray long sleeve again and made his way to his bathroom. He stared at his reflection again. He smiled at himself. He seemed so happy. Strings opened his medicine cabinet which was located behind his mirror. He grabbed a bottle that read Phenelzine. He unscrewed the top and took a pill. Strings swallowed it and placed the bottle back. He whispered, "Sometimes I wish I could take the entire bottle and the process would speed up." He looked at an empty bottle that had once stored pills, but he had thrown out the contents of because of the side effects. It read Meperidine. He really didn't want to take "drug store heroin" as it was affectionately called. Lastly, he looked at the rest of the bottles. He had so many prescriptions he had to alternate them, so he wouldn't OD. Strings closed the cabinet and the face that looked back was tired beyond belief. He turned and went to his drawer. He pulled out a white paper and a bag full of green plants. He took out the plants and put them onto the paper. He rolled it up and grabbed his lighter. One light and deep breath inward and outward later the room was filled with smoke. Thank goodness he got rid of the fire alarms ages ago. He stood up from his bed and grabbed the acoustic guitar in his closet. He sat down on a bean bag chair and started to play. > Garble > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Try not to kill each other!" Strings said as he walked away leaving Starlight and Garble alone. They scowled at each other, neither of them letting up. Garble and Starlight walked into the Sweet Shoppe still shooting dirty looks at each other. Garble mumbled, "Dang Strings, making me deal with this cun-" "I can hear you," Starlight exclaimed. Garble mumbled again, but this time Starlight couldn't hear. She put her hand to her ear, "What did you say?" "Nothing." Garble mumbled out, his face a scowl. " Nothing at all." "Okay, seriously. What is your problem? You always act so angry with everyone and I have had enough of your shit!" Starlight was slamming her hand and her voice gained an aggressive tone. She stopped and caught herself. She drew back, a blush forming on her face. "Sorry! I'm above this." "There it is," Garble exclaimed. He raised his hand and lowered it without effort. Starlight merely raised her eyebrow. "My problem with you," Garble explained. Starlight scoffed, "And what might your problem with me be?" "You're so full of yourself." "Well, of course. My body is made up of it's own mass, so I must be full of myself." Garble growled, "That just pisses me off even more! You come up with crap jokes to justify yourself. News flash: you live the same shit life as the rest of the non-high class, you aren't some super model, and at most your slightly above average in intelligence!" "Yeah well, your just some little angsty teenager who so mad his own father left him because he didn't love his wife, or SON!" Starlight shouted at Garble. Both of them were in the other's face, but Garble reeled back with his face contorted in rage and sadness. Starlight's voice lowered to a whisper, "Garble... I'm so-" "SHUT UP! LEAVE! I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOUR FACE ANYMORE!" Garble started thrashing around as he vehemently yelled at Starlight. Starlight stood up with her eyes watering. "I'm sorry..." Starlight whispered, but the other customers had left after they started yelling, so it was easily audible. Starlight put her hands on her face and ran away, sobbing. Garble's scowl was soon replaced by a frown and sobbing. He slammed face first into the table and shuddered. No one heard him cry, except the pink haired cashier at the sweet shoppe. Pinkie took off her apron and hesitantly reached out to Garble, "Are you okay?" "Well gee, do I look like I'm okay?" Garble sat up flailing his arms around. His eyes were bloodshot and his voice quivered. Pinkie's arm retreated back to her stomach, "I'm sorry. You just seem like you need some cheering up." "So? You don't know me. Why help me?" Pinkie placed her hand back on his shoulder. "Well, I'm Pinkie Pie, cheering up people is what I do. Also, I can't leave someone alone if they look sad, it's just wrong." Garble chuckled lightly, "You're not gonna leave me alone, are you?" "Nope!" Pinkie Pie's blue eyes gleamed. "Take a seat then. I need someone to release some steam with." "Oki-doki-loki!" Garble's face fell as Pinkie uttered those words. "Please tell me there aren't more..." Garble responded. "Tons." Garble slammed his face into the table again. "How bad." "Well, if I put all of them on a piece of paper, I'd say they were tear-ible." Pinkie decided to make a motion of ripping a paper in half as she said this joke. Garble slowly lifted his face off the table and slammed face first yet again. Pinkie laughed uncontrollably as he did this. She swore she saw a small smile appear on his face while faceplanting into the table. Nice! New friend: check. Now all I need is two more! "By the way, how did you get into Paybak?" Pinkie pondered. "Oh. Well, I was a rowdy teenager about a year ago. I'm originally from the badlands out west, but I moved. I was in Trottingham around that time and my mother and I needed money. I was 16 and reckless, couldn't get a job, so I turned to petty theft and kept it secret from my mom. One day I tried to rob this local Deathcore group. They were called The Suppression of Aggression. The lead screamer caught me and they offered me a place in their band. I accepted and Starlight taught me to sing. As the year went on, we changed our name to Paybak and Strings retired his vocals and went back to Passion. That's what he calls his electric." "Woah. That's cool. So Paybak was originally The Suppression of Aggression?" "Yeah. You should've heard Strings' screams. That kind of stuff isn't human." "Garble, are we friends?" Garble hesitated for a second. "I guess? I'm still iffy when it comes to friendship and that bizz, but I guess so." "That is all I needed to hear." Pinkie stood up. "Where are you going?" Garble raised his eyebrow while speaking. "I need to get back to work or the Cakes'll fire me." Pinkie put her apron back on. "Yeah, it's for the best. I need to get-" Garble choked on his words and his eyes widened, "-I forgot about Starlight." He whispered. "I need to go and apologize. Bye Pinkie, but I need to go apologize!" Garble then ran out. "Geez, and people tell me I'm always energetic. Right reader?" Pinkie said. Seriously Pinkie! No fourth wall breaks! "Sorry Mr. Author Man!" ... Garble ran into the apartment in a frenzy, but was shocked at what he smelled. He stormed into Strings' room and shouted, " Seriously Strings! We agreed tha-" Before him was Starlight and Strings sitting in bean bag chairs with slightly red eyes. Starlight was sobbing uncontrollably. "I'm just so sooooorrry!" Starlight yelled out. Strings noticed Garble. Strings' voice slurred slightly, "Heeey, maaan. Whaaaz up? You here for lightweight?" Strings pointed at Starlight. Garble sighed and left the room, closing the door behind him. In the living room Gilda had just come in with Lightning Dust. "You up for video games, Dust?" Garble said. "That bad, huh?" Lightning Dust said as she turned on the system. She grabbed her light teal controller. Gilda decided she was too sleepy to play and walked to her room. "No. Worse." Garble grabbed his red controller and sat down next to Lightning Dust, ready to accept this slaughter he was about to receive. > In Between Chapter: The First Rainboom > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The school day was really boring for Pinkie. Nothing happened, but her friends were there for her. She did meet up with Starlight, but when Pinkie approached her she blushed, probably due to the argument she had with Garble, and left. School did end pretty quickly for her, but time usually flew for her. After school had a completely different feel though. Pinkie was excited to see Rainbow colored hair as she turned towards the practice room. "Hi Rainbow!" Rainbow Dash turned towards Pinkie and her face lit up. "Hey Pinks." Rainbow Dash's guitar was in her hands. "You ready for practice? The girls were waiting for us." Pinkie walked up to Dash and they walked side by side. "Yeah I am! Today was so boooooooring." Pinkie emphasised the o's by holding her head back. "Same here! So far the highlight of my week was meeting one of my old friends, but she had brought along some asshole with her. They both tried out for the Soccor team, and they'll probably both get in, but that means I need to see her smug face almost daily!" Rainbow started venting the duo got to their destination. This, of course, distracted Pinkie from her friend words as Pinkie stated, "We're here!" Pinkie slammed the door loudly, startling Fluttershy. Fluttershy jumped and hid her face behind her hair. "You startled me Pinkie." Fluttershy said while slightly blushing. "Sorry Shy! How goes the set up?" Pinkie directed her question towards Applejack. Applejack was busy plugging in stuff. "So far, so good. Ah reckon ah'll have this done soon." Applejack adjusted her stetson as she kneeled down to plug in the amps. "Oki doki loki! Thanks Applejack!" Pinkie was a pink ball of energy as she sat down next to her drums. She was rarring to go. "Pinkie, darling. Calm down." Rarity, who was connecting her keytar, turned to look at Pinkie. Her hair bouncing slightly. "Sorry. It's just that I made three new friends this week and I plan on making two new ones soon. I neeeeed toooo plaaaaay!" Pinkie squirmed in her seat. "Oh yeah, that new band we met the other day." Sunset strummed absently as she spoke. "What was their name?" "Paybak!" Pinkie squirmed even more. "Payback? That's a weird name..." Twilight pondered aloud. "No. Paybak. Without the c." Pinkie corrected. "So... Paybak? Even if, it's still the same even with the c. How could you know if I spelt it wrong while saying it?" "Because I'm reading along what the author is writing." Pinkie smiled widely. All the girls stopped and stared at Pinkie. Suddenly Pinkie lost her cool. "Huuuuurrrrryyy UP!" ... Strings was at his locker whistling aimlessly. His locker was empty except for two guitars. They were an acoustic and an electric. He grabbed both and swung the electric's case on his back, grabbing the acoustic by its fretboard. He continued whistling until he heard the faint sound of music. For some reason, he felt drawn towards the music. He reached out towards the door separating him from the sound origin, but paused. He scrunched up his face, as if he was doing some deep thinking, but in reality he just thought: Would it be weird for me to enter unannounced? Heart Strings gave it about five seconds of thought, which was admitably long for him, and then thought: Nah. He pushed forwards and the door creaked as it opened. What he saw was a room full of girls, which all stopped playing and looked at him. One of the girls jumped and hid while the rainbow haired one spoke up, "Yo! Who are you and what do you want?" A girl with purple hair recoiled and said, "Rainbow! What she meant to say was-" Then Strings recognized a face. "Heart Strings!" Pinkie rushed forward and dragged Strings more into the room. "Hey Pinkie. These are your friends you told me about, right?" Strings said as he went to a more comfortable stance. "As for why I'm here. I heard music, so I followed the noise. My name is Heart Strings, by the way, but call me Strings." "Howdy! Nice ta meet yah. Ah'm Applejack. I'm guessin' you play guitar." Applejack pointed to the acoustic in Strings' hand. "I do. Though I'm not as good on acoustic"- Strings lifted his guitar-"than electric." Strings pointed his guitar. "Cool, another guitar player. Can you shred?" Rainbow asked Strings. "I'm Rainbow Dash." "I'm okay at shredding, I guess." Strings shrugged. His shirt sleeve fell slightly, almost revealing his tattoo. Fluttershy got out of her hiding spot and approached him. "I'm Fluttershy." Strings however, barely heard her. "What?" Strings lifted his eyebrow. "That's Fluttershy. Hey Strings." Sunset sat down with her guitar. "Hey Sunset. What about you?" Strings directed his question at Rarity. "Hmph! That's no way to ask a lady her name." Rarity pouted and crossed her arms. Strings sighed. "What is thou name?" Strings said with his voice raising at the end as if he was unsure. "It's Rarity. You messed up, but nice try, darling." Rarity returned to her keytar afterward. "Rarity is right. It's 'What is thy name?'" Strings' arms flopped down. "Dangit." "It's okay, not all of us are smart." Twilight said. Her face had a slight smirk. "Ouch." Rainbow said with a smile. Suddenly, Strings' phone rang and a song started playing. Strings took out his phone and answered it quickly. "Hello. Hey dad. Right. I can pick you up at the airport if you go two days before. How's mom? Oh." Strings looked down and sighed. He looked around saw all the stares he was receiving and left the room. "Is that so? Hmmm. Me? I'm doing fine. The band and I are doing fine. We have a new place in Canterlot now, by the way. It's great, but you guys may need to get a hotel because you won't fit in the apartment with us. We could find you a place close by. Alright, bye." Strings started to silently cheer and left to tell his bandmates... Forgetting about the girls... and his acoustic. ... "Where did he go?" Applejack asked, "He left his acoustic guitar." Pinkie shrugged. "Sily Billy, he didn't tell me." Silence followed her friends' grunts. Soon Fluttershy spoke up,"Sooo uh... Your new friend likes scary music." > Lightning Dust > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The struggle. The struggle was real. Lightning Dust was fighting Ganondorf and she was one hit from death. "Got you know, you motherfu"- Lightning Dust then jumped as an elated strings came through the door. "MY PARENTS ARE COMING HERE!" Strings shouted with a grin that was way too big. "AHHH!" Lightning was not ready for this as Ganondorf swung his sword killing Link. "NOOOOOOO!" Lightning Dust shouted. Strings reeled back slightly as a frown formed, "You haven't even met my parents yet." "Dangit Strings. Now Hyrule is fu-" Lightning only got out those words as Starlight opened her room's door and interrupted her. "Your parents are coming?!" Starlight was smiling as well. "Yeah! I can't wait to see them again! It's been two years!" Strings almost squealed. "Wait. You haven't seen your parents in ye-" Lightning was then cut off again, by Gilda. "Cool! Now I can make fun of you for all your baby pictures!" Gilda smirked. Even though Strings was already as white as a ghost, his face went pale. "SERIOUSLY!!!" Lightning shouted out. "I CAN'T EVEN TALK!" Lightning shouted and then paused. "Okay. As I wanted to say. Strings, you haven't seen your parents in ye-" Lightning Dust was then cut off again. "Yo. Dust, you woke me up!" Garble shouted. Lightning Dust then grew as red as a tomato. Then she sighed out, losing her red color. "Dust? Are you o-" Garble asked Lightning Dust, but then Lightning Dust threw the game controller at the wall. She then stormed out of the apartment with one goal in mind. Food. "Damn author. Making me a stress eater." Lightning Dust mumbled. Her bandmates all stood there, wide-eyed. Garble spoke up after the silence, "Dang. She gets way too mad." Gilda, who was placing the controller back, stopped and deadpanned at Garble, "Says Asura over here." Garble was getting heated up, but then Starlight spoke up, "Why did she get so mad?" Strings then answered her, "Because the plot needed to progress." Starlight then nodded in agreement. "Well, I'm going to go to my room and then I'm going to put away my guita-" Strings' eyes then shot open. Strings whispered, "My acoustic... I left it..." Strings sighed and shrugged, "I'll get it tomorrow." ...Later That Day... Lightning Dust had heard from Garble that this town had this nice little place called The Sweet Shoppe. Her hungry mind went straight to the place and sat down in a huff next to a big group of girls. She didn't know them so she really didn't care for them. She calmed herself for a bit and then stood up to order something, she didn't care what. "I'd like a-" "Hi there Lightning Dust." The cashier said. "DON'T INTERRUPT ME!" Dust shouted. She took a closer look at the cashier and recognized her. "Sor-" "You need to stop talking to my friends like-" Lightning Dust heard a familiar voice as someone put a hand on her shoulder and turned her, "Lightning Dust!" "Rainbow Dash." Lightning Dust spat. She really wasn't in the mood for this. Dust crossed her arms and changed her stance. "What do you want?" "I want you to stop treating my friends like that and say you're sorry." Rainbow was getting more angry as the sentence continued. "I was." Lightning said matter-of-factly. "Sure you were." Rainbow said sarcastically. "What's that supposed to mean?!" Lightning asked as her blood boiled. "It means what you think it means." "You little-" Lightning Dust's blood was seething at this point. "Both ah ya need tah calm down." Some orange chick with a country accent said. "Can it. This between us two." Lightning Dust said. Rainbow rushed forward and grabbed Lightning Dust's shirt. "I told you to stop treating my friends like-" Rainbow was cut off by a headbutt. Rainbow grabbed her forhead in pain and Lightning Dust took this opportunity to kick Rainbow back. Rainbow recovered soon and ran towards Lightning Dust. Rainbow connected with a right hook, followed up with a left jab, and somewhere in the back Rarity was shouting. "Girls! Stop this!" Her voice went unnoticed. Rainbow went for another hook, but Lightning Dust managed to grab her arm and twisted her it. Dust put her palm on Rainbow's back and pushed her towards the wall. Rainbow hit the wall and turned around to continue the fight, but Pinkie jumped the counter and got in the middle of the fight. "STOP FIGHTING!" Pinkie shouted. "If you continue, I'll have to ban you! That means you two Dashie! Now, say you're sorry!" "Why? She was the one who started it!" Rainbow Dash said while pointing at Lightning Dust. Lightning Dust sighed and said, "Sorry Rainbow. It was uncool to treat Pinkie like that." Rainbow Dash's jaw hit the floor. "You apologized?" "This isn't The Wonderbolt's Junior Academy, Dash. I don't roll like that anymore." Lightning Dust said. Rainbow composed herself, "Sorry, Dust. I may have been too harsh." Rainbow stated to smile, "You have gotten better at fighting, though." "Please, I could've mopped the floor with you back then and I still can." Lightning Dust smirked. Rainbow rolled her eyes. Lightning Dust proffered her hand out to Rainbow. "Want to start over?" Rainbow accepted, "Sure. I'm Rainbow Dash." They shook hands. "Lightning Dust." "Yay!! Group hug!!" Pinkie said. The girls all hugged and Lightning Dust just stared at them. "I knew the rainbow hair meant something." Lightning Dust smirked. "Really? We just started over." Rainbow Dash said. "Right, sorry. Now we start over." Lightning Dust said. Meanwhile, as the group hug separated, Pinkie had one thought running through her mind. It looks like Rainbow and Lightning are friends, so am I friend by association? I think so. Yay, a new friend! Lightning then spoke up. "My band and I are performing at a festival in town tomorrow. You girls should come. Also, can you not tell my band about this fight? Last time I got into a fight the band almost kicked me out." "Sure. I won't tell. I might go, though I'm not sure." Rainbow Dash said. "Awesome." Lightning Dust said. "Oh yeah. Lightning Dust, can you give this back to Strings?" Pinkie pulled out an acoustic guitar from the counter. "Okay, but why did you have that down there?" "Convenience." "How would that be convenient?" "Because I read the author's script for this story." Lightning Dust raised her eyebrow at Pinkie's answer. "See you then." Lightning Dust was about to leave ,but Pinkie stopped her. "You should take this to go." Pinkie then handed Dust a strawberry smoothie. "Thanks." Lightning Dust then started to walk back to the band's apartment.