Rainbow Dash spends all her spare time being a superhero. Now she faces her first real enemy: The Uta Clan.
Rainbow Dash has been spending all her free time trying to be a superhero around the city of Canterlot. So far all she's had to face have been random thugs and other non-magical enemies, but then she discovers the Uta Clan, a band of fearsome ninjas, have moved into town. Can she discover what they are up to and stop them before they enact their evil scheme?
Lyra and Bon Bon hurried down the dark street, stealing glances behind themselves. They wore long dresses and high heels, which clacked on the pavement with each worried step. They clutched their purses close to their sides, and did their best to watch in all directions at once. Ahead in the distance they could see streetlights, but all around was lit only by the stars.
“I told you we should have gone with Elm Street!” Bon Bon whispered.
“I know, I know. But I thought they’d have fixed the power pole by now. It’s been hours!” Lyra replied.
“Well next time we’re out after dark, how about we take the route that doesn’t hide who-knows-what kind of ne'er do wells?”
“And how about for this time we get through here quietly so we don’t attract any attention?”
As if Lyra’s words had summoned them, two burly men stepped out of an alleyway ahead and blocked their path. Lyra and Bon Bon stumbled to a halt twenty feet away and glanced to the side. Could they cross the street without getting caught? The men began to stride forward, walking faster than the two of them could run in heels. Probably not, then.
“Easy, ladies. No need to be frightened.” One of the men called out. “We’re here to protect you. But, ah, that protection’s not free, you understand. For the low, low price of half the money in your purses, we’ll make sure you make it home safe and sound.”
“Cross our hearts and hope to die.” The other said, making a crossing motion over his chest with one hand.
Lyra and Bon Bon looked at each other. Did they have a choice? Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. On the other hand, if these two creeps followed them home… This was bad.
“Well, ladies? What’s it going to be?”
With a look of grim resignation, Bon Bon slowly unstrung her purse from her shoulder. The man closer to her held his hand out eagerly, but then suddenly, before he could react, there was a whooshing noise followed by a rainbow streak, and he found himself falling backwards. He tried to step back to catch himself, but for some reason his shoelaces were tied together. With a yelp of pain he landed on his tailbone while his partner could only stare at him in confusion.
“Never fear, ladies!” Came a call from behind them. “Spectrum Sprint is here!”
All four looked to the sound of the voice. There stood a teenage girl in jeans and a t-shirt, with a black scarf with eye holes cut out tied around her face. Rainbow colored hair waved in a breeze she herself had kicked up. She stood in a wide stance with her hands on her hips, elbows jutted out, in a classic superhero pose.
“What-?” Lyra began, but before she could say more than a single word the girl became a blur of motion. She charged between the other two girls, then spun in circles around the two thugs. She pulled a rope from her backpack and tied the two of them together and to one of the non-functioning light posts in the blink of an eye.
Spectrum Sprint stepped back and eyed her handiwork. The thugs began to struggle and shout curses, but then suddenly they had their own socks shoved into their mouths. Spectrum nodded to herself. Job well done.
“No need to thank me,” she said, turning back to the pair she had rescued. “All in a night’s work for the one and only Spectrum Sprint!”
Bon Bon opened and closed her mouth uselessly several times before finally saying, “Thanks.”
“Need an escort home?”
“No, that won’t-” Bon Bon began.
“Yes please!” Lyra interrupted.
Spectrum gave them a smirk. “I thought so. Lead the way!”
The trio of girls quickly made their way back to the well-lit portion of town, then on to their homes. A few minutes later, a police car pulled up to the two thugs, still tied to the light post, and a policeman stepped out carrying handcuffs.
“Third one this week.” He muttered.
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At noon the following day a group of seven girls sat together in the school cafeteria. Fluttershy and Applejack were talking about the best ways to care for pet dogs, Sunset, Rarity, and Twilight were discussing a homework assignment they had just received, and Pinkie Pie did her best to shove as many bread rolls as possible into her mouth at once while listening to both conversations at the same time. The last girl, Rainbow Dash, was stretched out on the bench, napping.
“I can’t believe he wants us to memorize the entire periodic table.” Rarity lamented. “Do you have any idea how many elements there are?”
“One hundred eighteen.” Twilight said. “And it’s not so bad. I memorized the whole thing for fun in the third grade.”
“Yeah, well, you’re you.” Sunset stuck her tongue out at Twilight. “The rest of us still have our work cut out for us.” She looked meaningfully at Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, who didn’t seem to be paying attention. “Some more than others.”
“Rh, drn’t wrrrr rbrrt mr.” Pinkie said.
“Swallow first, darling, then talk.” Rarity did her best to glare at Pinkie Pie and her lack of manners, but as usual her glare bounced right off.
“Oh, right! I said, don’t worry about me. I already memorized them for that chemistry themed party I threw for Bunsen’s birthday.”
“Well I’m still worried about Rainbow.” Sunset said. “She slept through Cranky’s entire lecture.”
“Maybe she’s tired from staying up all night studying?” Twilight offered.
Sunset gave Twilight a flat stare. “This is Rainbow Dash we’re talking about, you know.”
“I know.” Twilight sighed. “But one can always hope.”
“Come to think of it,” Applejack said, breaking from her conversation with Fluttershy, “She’s been napping through a lot of classes recently. More than usual, I mean.”
“Oh no, you don’t think she’s sick, do you?” Fluttershy said.
“Probably just up all night playing video games.” Sunset said with a roll of her eyes. “I saw her looking at that Marvel vs. Capcom game at the mall the other day.”
The group began to debate about what could have gotten Rainbow so tired recently, but a minute in Rarity noticed Lyra and Bon Bon walking up to join them.
“Well hello, darlings. How did you like those dresses I made for you?”
“Oh, they were very beautiful, thank you.” Bon Bon said, “But we actually came over here to thank Rainbow Dash for last night.” Sunset spit out her drink. “Would it be rude to wake her up to thank her?”
Applejack kicked Rainbow from under the table. She rolled off the bench and fell onto the ground before springing up into a fighting stance.
“Whazzat? Who’s there? I’m not afraid of you!” Rainbow blinked her groggy eyes a couple times, then relaxed and rubbed the back of her head. “Oh, right, lunch time. I, heh, I guess I dozed off there for a minute.”
“More like twenty minutes! Did you have a good dream?” Pinkie Pie asked.
“Oh it was so totally awesome! Ok, so there, I was on this pirate ship, right? I had a cutlass in one hand and a revolver in the other, and all around me were this horde of ninjas. So I-”
“Ninjas.” Applejack arched her eyebrow at Rainbow.
“What? What’s wrong with ninjas?”
“On a pirate ship?”
“Look it was just a dream, alright?”
“Ahem.” Bon Bon cleared her throat “Rainbow, I wanted to thank you for saving us last night. I don’t know what we would have done if you hadn’t come along.”
“Huh what? Oh that. Wait, no, I mean, what are you talking about?” Rainbow put on her best poker face. It wasn’t very good. “I was up all last night studying for that test in, um, history?”
Bon Bon gave Rainbow her best disbelieving stare. It was pretty good. Instead of saying anything, she held up her phone and showed the whole table a picture of herself, Lyra, and Rainbow Dash standing in front of two thugs tied to a light pole. Rainbow was wearing a black scarf around her face with eye holes cut out, and had her first two fingers up in a ‘V for victory’ pose. She was also grinning like a maniac.
“Oh, that. That’s Spectrum Sprint. I hear she’s this totally radical new superhero that showed up recently.”
“Spectrum Sprint.” Applejack said flatly.
“A new hero who has blue skin, rainbow hair, and looks like she’s your height and build.” Rarity said. “And, tell me, what’s her super power?”
“Super speed!” Lyra offered helpfully.
“Right, yes. So, a ‘new’ superhero who looks exactly like you, has your superpower, and who’s name is just a synonym for your own? And you actually expect us to believe that this is not you?”
“But I- I mean, she- was wearing a mask!”
Rarity gave a long, drawn out, well practiced sigh.
“I thought we agreed to avoid using our powers too much.” Sunset said. “Remember the whole thing about amping eachother up?”
Rainbow waved her hand dismissively. “I was way far away from any of you girls. I’m sure it was fine.”
“So you finally admit it was you?” Applejack asked with a smirk.
“What? No, I… ok, fine, yes, you got me. Happy?”
“As a pig rolling in mud.”
“Um, actually,” Fluttershy said, “Pigs roll in mud to keep cool. So, if one is rolling in mud, it probably means that she’s too hot and not happy.”
“Y’all know what I mean.”
“Anyway,” Bon Bon said, “Thank you.” The warning bell for the end of lunch rang. “Oh, we should get going. Thanks again!”
“Have a lovely day!” Rarity called after the retreating pair.
“So is this what you’ve been doing all night?” Sunset asked, standing up to clear her tray. “Besides the potential problem with our powers, you’re also sleeping through a lot of classes. You should really just let the police handle it.”
“What, so I should have just let Lyra and Bon Bon get mugged? There weren’t any police there, you know!”
“You know that’s not what I mean. Look you can’t just go looking for trouble.”
“Can too! And you can’t stop me! We have these powers for a reason, and that reason isn’t to just fake snow days!”
“Now calm down, Rainbow.” Twilight interjected. “There’s no reason to shout.”
“NO, YOU CALM DOWN!” Rainbow slammed her tray onto the table, stood up, and stomped away from the group.
“Well that could have gone better.” Twilight said with a frown.
Pinkie Pie shook her head as she reached over to pat Twilight’s from across the table. “Oh Twitwi, don’t you know you never tell someone to calm down?”
-----------------
Rainbow Dash sat on the lip of a downtown office building, watching the last vestiges of light fade on the horizon. Everything seemed peaceful tonight. Should she take the night off? She could probably use it. Her backpack taunted her from where she had set it down on the roof behind her. Inside were the results from her chemistry exam, and she had gotten nearly every question wrong. She really should study, she supposed. If her mom found-
A swirl of green light shot skyward from somewhere several blocks away. Magic! Rainbow Dash scooped up her backpack and leapt off the roof. Thirty feet into her fall she felt within herself for the glow of power and pushed. She felt her ears grow and migrate up the side of her head, felt the increased weight of her hair lengthening, and, most importantly, felt wings shoot out from her shoulder blades and extend through the slits she had carefully cut into the back of her shirt and jacket. Ten feet above the sidewalk she gave one powerful flap to kill her speed and landed in a classic superhero pose: On one knee with one hand to the ground and the other out to her side.
Rainbow held the pose for a second as her transformation reversed and she returned to normal. It was a shame that she could never hold it for long without the rest of her friends present, but it was enough for a long fall down or a quick leap up. A glance side to side revealed that she was alone on the street; no one had seen. Shoot. All that show for nothing? Well, it could count as practice, she supposed.
Now she reached for her other source of magic, the one held on her wristband. This one she could tap for longer, but she did have to be careful, as it took longer to recharge, too, if she used it all up. As she pulled the magic into herself the rest of the world slowed to a crawl. Well, she assumed. There wasn’t actually anything around her moving right now. But that’s how it usually worked.
Rainbow took off at a sprint in the direction she had seen the other magic coming from from the rooftop. As she rounded a corner from one street to the next she confirmed that her magic was working exactly as expected. This street had cars on it, and they were moving slower than Fluttershy did when she had to leave her pets behind. Rainbow wove between them for a few blocks for fun before turning down a side alley. If she had her bearings right… Yes, there! A small group of people were standing around something that glowed with that same green light, although it no longer lept to above the rooftops.
Rainbow stopped a few feet from the group, set down her backpack, and dug through it for her mask. Rarity may have been right about it doing little to hide her identity from anyone who already knew her, but it was a classic! And it always worked in the comics, didn’t it? Rarity did have a point about the name, though. She needed a better one.
Mask securely tied in place, she walked a circle around the group. Three men, two women, all in their twenties or early thirties if she was any judge. Most interestingly, they were dressed all in loose fitting black clothing with full face masks. Ninjas! Rainbow almost squeed in excitement, but stopped herself before she let anything out. Totally uncool.
What were they all huddled around, though? She pushed her way between two of them to get a better look. The two women shifted effortlessly under her touch, and as soon as she let them go they hung mostly in place. Rainbow could see them slowly, ever so slowly, tilting to either side from the momentum of her push. If she didn’t steady them before she deactivated her powers they would either fall over or be forced to catch themselves. Nevermind that now, though. She finally had her eyes on the prize, and what a prize it was. An actual, honest to goodness treasure chest! Being a superhero was the Coolest. Job. Ever. And inside the treasure chest? A statue of cow, of all things. Ok, so not everything could be awesome.
Rainbow put the two women back in their places (approximately) and stepped back to consider her options. She could just take the cow and run, but so far as she knew these ninjas hadn’t actually done anything wrong, even if it did look like they were hauling off ill-gotten riches. Tell her friends? They usually wanted to be involved if something magical was afoot, but the conversation at lunch came back to her. They didn’t want her to be a superhero. Too “dangerous.” Not enough studying! Phaw. What did they know? Who even needed to study something stupid like chemistry. She was a superhero!
Well then, tailing these goons it was. Rainbow retreated back to where she’d left her backpack, put it on, then hid behind a dumpster. Once she was certain she was well and truly hidden, she released her speed magic.
“What was that? Who’s there?!”
“Something shoved me!”
“Did you all see that rainbow streak?”
Oh, right. She wasn’t invisible just because they couldn’t react until she slowed down again.
“Over there, behind the dumpster! I see a sneaker!”
Dammit! Rainbow pulled on the magic to slow time again and stepped out from the dumpster. Three of the ninjas were just starting to run towards her, while the other two had managed to close the chest and looked like they were getting ready to haul it off in the opposite direction. Dash nodded her head appreciatively. These ninjas were fast. Too bad nothing was as fast as she was. She ran to a corner ahead of the chest-carrying ninjas, making sure she was completely out of sight this time, and let go of her magic again.
“This way! Follow the rainbow!”
Dammit, dammit, dammit! Having a rainbow trail behind you was 100% certifiably awesome, but it didn’t help with stealth missions. She slowed time yet again, and winced as she felt the stone on her wrist grow hot. Starting and stopping her speed magic seemed to drain it faster than just leaving it on, and she was getting low on time. Ok, this time make sure to run only where they can’t see you. Hmm… there. Up the fire escape and onto the roof. With her wings she could follow them in real time from rooftop to rooftop and see where they were taking the cow.
Once she was on the rooftop ahead of the ninjas carrying the treasure chest, she peeked over the edge and let go of the magic again. The ninjas wasted no time, with the first three running to the alley she had gone down while the other two whirled around and started going a different direction. Oh, right, they had seen her run ahead of them. Oh well, even without her super speed she was faster than any silly ninja, and the other three wouldn't find her up here. Her rainbow trail only lasted about a second after she slowed back down again.
Rainbow ran to the edge of the roof, activated her wings, lept to the next rooftop, and let go of them. She continued like this, from one roof to the next, as she kept a careful eye on the ninjas below. Sometimes she had to leap across a street, or up or down a couple stories when the roofs were uneven, but with her wings it was no trouble at all. She kept up the pace for nearly a mile, but then, between one roof and the next, her quarry vanished. Rainbow skidded to a halt and backtracked. No they hadn’t turned down a different street, either. Where had they-?
“Silly rainbow girl. You think the great Uta Clan would not watch the rooftops?”
Rainbow whirled around to face the voice behind her. There, on the opposite side of the roof, was one of the ninjas who had tried to follow her. She stared in disbelief. How had he kept up? Then, before she had time to regather her wits, she saw the other two ninjas across the street, on top of the building she had just come from. They ran to the edge, lept off, and practically flew over the entire street to land next to the first ninja. Rainbow’s jaw dropped. They didn’t even have wings! Ninjas. Were so. Cool!
“What will it be, rainbow girl?” The first ninja said. “Must we fight, or will you leave us in peace? We have no quarrel with you at present, but if you choose to interfere then we will not hesitate to defend our interests.”
Rainbow puffed up her chest and beat one fist against it. “The name’s Raptor Laser,” wait, no, that was stupid. “Captain Raptor Laser.” No, still stupid. “And I keep this city safe. What are you doing with a magic cow?”
The ninja crossed his arms over his chest. “And what harm are you protecting this city from tonight, little miss?”
“I’m the one asking the questions here! And I told you, it’s ‘Raptor Laser’.” Until she could think of something better, at least.
“Well, little miss,” Rainbow Dash ground her teeth at the title, and she swore she could see the ninja smirk as he said it, “We are merely transporting our grandmother’s beloved porcelain figurine to her new home. Nothing you need concern yourself with.”
“Oh yeah? Well I’m on to you. And I’ll be watching.” Rainbow pointed two fingers at her own eyes, then jabbed them towards the ninja.
“Are you? If you really wanted to know what we are doing, shouldn’t you have been watching for our two cousins below, instead of watching us?”
Rainbow whirled back around to scan the streets below her. No ninjas anywhere to be seen. And, upon turning back to face the ones on the roof again, found no sign of them either. So. Awesome. But also frustrating. She ran to the edge the ninjas had been standing on and looked around for them, but didn’t really expect to find much. Nor did she.
With a sigh, Rainbow sat down on the lip of the building and stared up at the stars. All that work and nothing to show for it. As awesome as she was, she could use a hand with this kind of thing. Super Speed was the best power, of course, but it didn’t do her much good if she didn’t know where she needed to run to. If only the other girls were willing to help her with this. Actually, maybe they would? This time it was actual, bonafied magic. They couldn’t tell her to just let the police handle this one!
With a smile back on her face, Rainbow fell backwards off the building, summoned her wings to twist gracefully through the air, landed gently on the ground, then walked home. A clocktower nearby chimed, and she checked the time. 11:00pm?! Rainbow pulled on the magic on her wrist and ran home. It was a good thing the stone had had time to cool off during that rooftop chase; she wasn’t sure it would have worked if she’d tried to activate it again immediately after the last time.
Once she got to her house she carefully snuck around back and climbed the gutter pipe up to her bedroom window. It was well past her curfew, but before she left she had told her parents that she needed to study and couldn’t be interrupted. They’d never know she was out. Once inside she took off her mask, stashed her backpack under the desk, then paused. She really should study, she supposed. Maybe. Ok fine, yes, she should. Rainbow sat down in her desk chair, pulled out her chemistry book, and fell asleep within a minute.
It was Friday morning and Rainbow Dash was feeling great. She was well rested for the first time in several weeks, even if maybe she didn’t know any more chemistry than the night before. Still, her spirits were high, she had a spring in her step, and nothing was going to stop her from finding those Ninjas this weekend!
She jogged up the walkway and into the school’s entrance hall and made a beeline for her locker. She threw her backpack in, pulled out her English class notebook, and was surprised to find Applejack standing behind her locker door when she slammed it closed. Applejack had her arms crossed over her chest and a scowl on her face.
“Oh, um, hey AJ. You ok?”
“You used your powers last night didn’t you?”
“Yeah I did! Ok, so I was on my favorite rooftop, right? And-”
“Sugarcube, I flipped my truck!”
Rainbow paused, her mouth hanging open for a second. “Oh my gosh, are you ok?! You don’t look hurt. Did you see a doctor?”
Applejack sighed. “I wasn’t in it. I was lifting it up so Big Mac could change the tire and my strength went out of control. I thought we talked about this.”
“Look, I said I wouldn’t use it for no reason any more, but I had a reason! There were ninjas!”
“Ninjas.”
“Yeah! So, like I was saying, I was on my favorite rooftop-”
“Hello, darlings!” Rarity interrupted from behind. “I hope you’re all feeling well rested this morning? I was up all night working on the finishing touches of my newest line and I’m afraid I may be the teensy bit drowsy this morning. I was hoping one of you wouldn’t mind letting me copy your notes after class?”
“Hey Rares,” Applejack said. “Yeah, you can copy mine. It’s nice to know that some of us were being productive instead of just playing around.”
“Playing around?!” Rainbow asked incredulously. “I was fighting crime! Being a hero!”
“Please tell me you weren’t wearing that ridiculous costume you wore in Bon Bon’s photo.” Rarity pleaded.
“Well it’s not like I have anything better.”
“Nonsense. Surely you must have something.”
“Rarity, you know, like, my entire wardrobe. Do I have something better?”
Rarity held up her finger and opened her mouth to reply, but then dropped it after a moment without saying anything.
“Hey girls!” Sunset called as she walked up to join their group, followed by the rest of their gang. “What’s happening?”
“RD here was just telling us how she fought an army of ninjas last night.” Applejack said with a roll of her eyes.
“Ninjas?” Sunset asked.
“Yes, ninjas!” Rainbow almost yelled. “I’m not making it up! And it wasn’t an army, it was just the five of them.”
Rainbow looked to each of her friends, hoping to see that any of them believed her, but there was nothing but doubt on the faces looking back.
“Personally,” Applejack said, “I think she just fell asleep again and dreamed them up.”
“I did not! Look, here.”
Rainbow grabbed Sunset’s wrist and pulled her hand over so that Sunet’s palm rested on Rainbow’s shoulder. Sunset’s eyes lit up white for about 10 seconds before she pulled her hand away and stepped back. Sunset shook he head to clear her vision.
“Well?” Fluttershy asked.
Sunset gave Rainbow a cocky grin. “Raptor Laser? Seriously?”
Rainbow felt her cheeks grow warm and did her best to fight back the blush. “Look, it’s a work in progress, alright? But you saw the ninja’s, right! You believe me!”
Sunset nodded to the group. “She did see ninjas. Or she believes she does at least. I’m not ruling out a vivid dream.”
“Oh come on! Can’t you give me a little credit here?”
“Rainbow Dash, darling,” Rarity said, “I know you think you saw ninjas, but just think how it all sounds to us. We are quite far from Japan, you know. Don’t you think it all sounds a bit fantastical?”
“Fantastical? You mean like magic? You know, the magic that we all have? The magic that we’ve gone up against over and over?”
“Hmm, yes, well…” Rarity trailed off.
“Look, Rainbow,” Sunset said, “even if there were ninjas, they weren’t even doing anything. From what I saw, you harassed them and they ran off, then they asked you to leave them alone. You weren’t being a superhero, you were being a nuisance.”
Sunset’s words echoed in Rainbow’s mind. A nuisance. Not a hero. Her gaze fell to her shoes as she felt all of that morning’s hope drain, leaving only a hollow emptiness in its place. None of her friends were going to help her find the ninjas. None of them even believed her. They thought she was a nuisance instead of a hero. The first bell rang and the girls split up to go their separate ways. Rainbow trudged along to her first class, walking slower than she had since she was just a toddler.
She took her usual desk at the back of class as Mrs. Cheerilee went over the chapter of the book they were all supposed to have read, but Rainbow had trouble paying attention. Why couldn’t her friends believe her? She’d never lied to them before, had she? She brought up all the conversations about magic and hero work that they’d had, searching them for some reason for them to doubt her. But she’d been right! Ok, maybe she had exaggerated that one time with the clown, but it wasn’t like there hadn’t been any trouble. Just the non-magical sort. The rest of time she’d been right, though! And she was right this time!
“Rainbow Dash?”
Why, she ought to give them a piece of her mind. What kind of friends just assumed she was lying? Or just imagining it? What kind of friends wouldn’t stand by her and help her figure out what those ninjas were up to?
“Rainbow Dash.”
At band practice. That was the time to lay down the law. Let them know that they’d hurt her and she needed them to believe her about this. Let them know that if they wouldn’t stand with her, then they were the ones in the wrong! Tell them that-!
“Rainbow Dash!”
Rainbow gaze snapped up and refocused on Mrs. Cheerilee at the front of the room. Had she called her name? Was she asking her a question? Rainbow racked her memory.
“Glad to have you with us, Ms. Dash. Now, can you tell us what the main theme of To Kill a Mockingbird is?”
“Uhh….”
Mrs. Cheerilee gave a small sigh. “I thought as much. See me after class, please.”
Rainbow sunk down into her seat. Dang it, English was supposed to be the class she was good at, after gym. And now she couldn’t even answer a basic question like a book’s theme because she hadn’t actually read the book in question. She’d been too busy fighting crime. But fighting crime was important, too! More important even. Wasn’t it? Sunset’s words from yesterday echoed in her mind. You should let the police handle it. Wasn’t it?
-----------------
That evening, Rainbow Dash brooded from atop her favorite building in the office district. The sun was setting on the western horizon, and below her the last of the office workers were getting into their cars and driving home for the weekend. Soon this section of town would grow quiet and her work could begin.
So what if her friends didn’t believe her? So what if both Cranky and Cheerilee had asked to see her after class to talk about her grades? So what if Principal Celestia had scheduled a parent-teacher-student conference for next week? She was a hero, dammit, and heroes always persevered, no matter the obstacles stacked against them.
When the last car disappeared, she jumped down to the street below and started jogging to where she had first seen the ninjas. Brooding wasn’t the only thing she’d been doing up there while she waited for the streets to clear: She’d also been planning. Those ninjas were crafty. They’d known she’d been following them from the moment she set out yesterday, so there was no telling if the direction that they had started in was the direction of their true destination. If she was going to find them, she'd have to start again at the beginning and search everywhere. Luckily for her, searching everywhere was just the kind of thing a super speedster could do.
Rainbow arrived at they alley from last night, took a deep breath, and pulled the magic from the stone at her wrist into herself. She felt it course through her veins, felt her whole body hum with power. A bird that had been flying overhead nearly paused in midair. She took a deep breath, her power forcing the surrounding air to speed up to match her, then let the breath back out and let the air resume it’s old, leisurely pace. The stone still felt nice and cool against her wrist for now, but she knew from experience that she had about an hour (from her own perspective) before she’d have to let it go. Not one to waste time, Rainbow set out.
She needed to cover everywhere, and she didn’t know the direction, so a spiral was the obvious choice. Rainbow ran down the alley to the street and hung a right. She ran past storefronts, restaurants, and warehouses. Every time she came to a door that didn’t lead into an open shop she jiggled the handle to see if she could search inside. She took the first right at L street and continued her search. Then a right into a different alley and she searched behind dumpsters, tugged at storm drains, and jumped up to peer through second story windows. Right again where the alley emptied out onto M and she was back to her main street search pattern.
Rainbow ran, untiring, through the evening and into the night. She’d always been a good runner, even before she’d found the magic stone that let her slow time, but back then she’d have had trouble keeping up this pace for so long. Before, after a few miles she’d have been ready to take a breather. Put her feet up and drink some water. But her inner magic, the one that granted her her wings and flight, also filled her with an endless energy. She pushed on that magic, just slightly, as she ran. She didn’t grow wings. Her hair and ears stayed the same. But she didn’t grow tired as she ran. She didn’t even need to breath hard.
Sadly, that boundless energy didn’t transfer to her stone, and after an hour it was beginning to grow warm against her wrist. She kept going another ten minutes and it was becoming painfully hot. But still there was no sign of the ninjas. In fact, she hadn’t even found any crime at all. That was unusual. Canterlot wasn’t a violent city or anything, but usually she’d at least have found a graffiti artist or two. Five more minutes and the stone began to vibrate. The magic in her veins began to withdraw. Rainbow tried to cling to it, grasping it with all her willpower and pulling as hard as she could, but then, with a snap, the magic jumped back into the stone and the world sped up.
Rainbow Dash stumbled as time shifted around her and caught herself against a street light. Nothing. She leaned against it and thought over her evening. Over an hour of searching at super speed and she hadn’t even found a hint of where the ninjas’ base was. Was she going about this wrong? No, a spiral search was the only pattern that made sense here. If only she had some inkling of a direction. Some way to narrow it down. Should she try in the direction she’d been following them from before? No, no, she’d ruled that out already and there was no reason to change her reasoning. That had probably been a false trail from the start.
She kicked a stray rock sitting on the sidewalk and started meandering down the street with her hands in her pockets. The last hour had been at superspeed, so only about a minute had passed in the real world. She still had all night to find them. But she needed to let her stone cool off first, and she didn’t want to search at normal speeds. No reason to get the cops called on her because she looked like she was trying to break into a shop late at night. Hmm, she was kind of hungry. Maybe a snack while she waited.
The bell over the door jingled as Rainbow walked into the corner sandwich shop. It was nearly empty at this hour, but there was a group of three girls sitting in the corner. Guess you could always count on someone being hungry late. As she read over the menu board and tried to decide what she felt like having tonight, she suddenly realized that she recognized the voices behind her. Rainbow spun around to look, and there was no mistaking it. The Dazzlings were back in town.
Immediately Rainbow was on edge, ready for some sort of attack, but the Dazzlings didn’t seem to be paying her any attention. They were completely wrapped up in their conversation. Well, no need to waste an opportunity to gather intel on the enemy. Rainbow did her best to nonchalantly wander closer to listen in.
“It’s just not the same.” Aria complained.
“Of course it’s not.” Adagio said with a roll of her eyes. “Or stones are broken and unless we can repair them we’ll have to get used to singing without.”
“But I hate singing without our stones.” Sonata whined. “We sound terrible!”
“Well you’d better get used to it.” Adagio said. “No one we’ve talked to has known how to fix them.”
Holy crap, the Dazzlings were trying to get their powers back! This was way bigger news than the ninjas, right? Her friends would have to listen to her now. Ok, band practice was tomorrow. She’d let them know what she’d found, they’d all be impressed and awed by her superheroing, and they’d agree that not only was it a good thing that she was doing it, but they’d all want to join her. Then they’d work together to stop the Dazzlings and-
“I know you’re there, Rainblow Dish.” Adagio called out without turning her head. “And why are you wearing that ridiculous scarf over your face?”
Scarf? Rainbow reached up and felt her mask. Dang it! She’d forgotten to take it off when she’d returned to slow time. She quickly pulled it off and stuffed it in a pocket.
“Well? What do you want? Are you here to gloat about defeating us?”
“Ha! I heard you say you wanted your powers back. Well I’m going to stop you!”
Aria turned to face Rainbow and rolled her eyes. “Of course we want our powers back, you imbecile. If you lost your powers you’d want them back too, wouldn’t you?”
“Uh…”
“And, as I’m sure you overheard, we don’t know how to get them back. So what amazing revelation have you learned here? That we’re sad?”
Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck, suddenly feeling awkward.
“So why don’t you go run on home, or eat a sandwich, or whatever it is you humans do with your free time, and let us mope in peace?”
Rainbow frowned. Did she actually feel a little bad for them now? They were evil! They’d tried to take over the world! They’d mind controlled her classmates! So what if Sunset had done all those things too and they’d forgiven her and become friends and dammit she did feel bad now.
“Um, listen, I, uh, I’m sorry about-”
Aria turned her head away from Rainbow Dash and harrumphed. Adagio looked to Rainbow and gave her a glare. “We don’t want your apology. We want you out of our faces. Go away.”
Fine. If they didn’t want to reform then it wasn’t Rainbow’s problem, right? They could sit around sandwich shops at 10:00 at night and mope over their lost powers all they wanted. Rainbow ordered her sandwich to go and left the Dazzlings alone in the shop. She didn’t feel bad for them now, that was for sure. And she was still going to tell her friends about them, too, even if they looked more pathetic than dangerous. You could never be too careful.
Rainbow left the shop with her sandwich and strolled down the street while she ate. Her stone was still warm so she wanted to wait a little longer before she sped up again. But how to kill the time? She shifted her backpack into a more comfortable position and remembered the homework inside of it. Oh, right. She guessed she should work on it. Maybe. But what if something bad happened while she was working? She’d be too wrapped up in her homework to notice and then someone could get hurt! No, it wasn’t a risk she was willing to take. So instead she continued to saunter down the streets, finished up her sandwich, and did her best to squish that wriggling feeling of guilt in the back of her mind.
Finally, her stone was cool enough and she took off again. Back to her spiral. Back to rattling doors and peering through windows. Back to being a hero! But, once again, her search was in vain. No secret ninja hideouts. No ninjas. Not even any graffiti artists. Was there some sort of big event tonight that she didn’t know about that everyone else was going to?
An hour later Rainbow stopped her search. She let the magic retreat back into her stone and leaned against a wall with her arms crossed. She’d searched the entire business district now and come up empty handed. Maybe super speed wasn’t the best power for finding things. If only her friends were willing to help. Fluttershy could ask an army of birds to search the city. Sunset could have read those ninja’s minds. Heck, Rarity could have gotten those guys to talk just by flirting with them with no powers at all.
So that left just waiting on rooftops, then. Wait to see more magic. Wait and react. Rainbow hated waiting. With a yell of frustration Rainbow stepped away from the wall she had been leaning on and punched it. Ow! Shit, ow ow ow! She hadn’t broken anything, had she? The back of her fingers were raw and bloody; she winced as she inspected them. They didn’t look bent out of shape. Ugh, that had been stupid. She could almost hear Twilight chiding her for acting without thinking again. Stupid Twilight. Stupid Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow reached inside herself and pushed on her magic, trying to direct it towards her hand. The magic made her significantly tougher than usual, which was a fact she’d been happy to learn back in their first fight against that Everfree plant witch. If she’d been using it before she’d punched the wall it wouldn’t even have hurt. She hoped maybe it could help her heal faster? Well she didn’t see the skin knitting itself back together or anything, but the pain died down, at least.
With a resigned sigh, Rainbow decided to go home. She’d figure this out tomorrow.
The best thing about Saturdays was sleeping in. This was an undisputed fact, first discovered in ancient times when they had invented the weekend. The blinds on her bedroom window were closed, her alarm clock was off, and her door was locked. Absolutely nothing was going to make her get up before noon today.
De de deep.
Ugh, except her phone. What time was it, even? 9:17? Too early. The text could wait.
De de deep.
No. If one of her friends wanted to wake up super early on a Saturday (and she was sure it was Applejack) that was on them. Rainbow Dash would sleep.
De de deep.
Ugh, fine! Rainbow reached blindly towards her nightstand and fumbled for her phone. She swore, if this wasn’t important, her phone was going straight into silent mode like she should have done last night. Let’s see… a group text from Applejack? Rainbow rolled her eyes but read it anyway.
AJ: Hey y’all, Bloom is sick and I gotta take care of her. Y’all’ll have to practice without me today
PP: Oh no! I was about to tell you all that I was going to be late because Lemon Drop needs me to cover her shift!
SS: Hmm, with two of you gone should we just cancel for today? Maybe we can meet tomorrow if Applejack’s sister is feeling better
Huh, no practice? More time to search for ninjas, she guessed. Still, she had been looking forward to it. That new song Fluttershy was writing was really good and she’d said that she’d have it ready by this afternoon. Oh yeah, and Rainbow was going to tell them all about the Dazzlings. Better do it now in the group text.
As she wrote out her message a couple more texts came in:
Rar: As much as I was looking forward to playing today, I do have a new project that has just been dominating my attention. I am not sure how focused I would have been, so perhaps this is for the best.
TS: “Y’all’ll”? Seriously?
AJ: Y’all got a problem with that?
Oh no, she did not need to get sucked into an argument about grammar. Hopefully her message would divert them.
RD: Grls youll nvr believ who i found last nite it was the dazzlings theyre back in twn and r looking to get their powers back i can show u where i found them n we can go kick their asses whos with me
There. That ought to get their attention off of grammar and onto something important.
TS: Nevermind, Applejack.
Thank you!
TS: Compared to the way Rainbow Dash types, you’re doing just fine.
Seriously?
RD: Seriously????..????.????.??????..???????.?
SS: Rainbow, we already know the Dazzlings are back. I saw them at that concert we went to last month, remember?
SS: Wait, did I only tell you girls about that in a time loop or after that all ended?
PP: I think y’all’ll is a great word!
PP: Y’all’ll’ll’ll’ll’ll have to agree!
FS: I don’t mind how you type, Rainbow
Rainbow stared at her phone disbelief. They didn’t care. They didn’t care about the ninjas. They didn’t care about the Dazzlings. All they cared about was grammar! Rainbow shut her phone off in disgust and made sure to silence it this time. Fine. Whatever. She would sleep in until noon and then go find the ninjas and save the day and they could all sit at home and argue about grammar all day long for all she cared.
That was the plan, at least, but she was just too agitated. Instead of falling back asleep all Rainbow could do was toss and turn. Eventually, at around 10:30, she gave up and decided to get up for the day. After a quick shower she headed downstairs and found her parents sitting in the living room watching TV.
“Well good morning, princess. Up before noon? What’s the occasion?” Her dad, Bo, greeted her.
“Heh, hey dad.” Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck. “I woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep.”
“Is everything ok, Rainy? You’ve barely been home the last few days.” Her mom asked.
“Oh, you know, just hanging with the girls.”
“Can you please be home for dinner tonight? It’s been a while since we ate as a family.”
“Yeah, sure, ok. I promise.”
“Oh, thank you, honey. Now hurry off to your band practice. I know you’re going to be a superstar some day!”
“You know it!”
Rainbow Dash gave them a wave goodbye and hurried out the door. She caught a bus headed downtown, sat back, closed her eyes, and planned. The spiral search had been a bust. True, she hadn’t searched the entire city, but that would take weeks, even for her. And in the meantime they could be moving their base around, for all she knew. Well, she’d found them once when that magic had given their position away. She’d just have to do it again.
Once she was downtown Rainbow hopped off the bus and started walking towards that new building that was going up next to the bank. Yeah, it wasn’t her favorite rooftop. It didn’t have those potted plants she had stashed some snacks in, or that comfy chair that one of the people who worked there must have dragged up to get some fresh air on their break, but even unfinished it was the tallest building in town. At eight stories (and rising) she could see the entire town from the top. Some people might say it was dangerous to go climbing an unfinished building that didn’t have safety rails or even finished walls, but those people couldn’t grow wings on command.
The site was abandoned, it being a Saturday, so Rainbow didn’t need to worry about being caught once she was in, but there was a still a security guard posted at the gate. Ha! Like something like that could stop the great Captain Wonderbolt! No, that was too close to the school mascot. Villains would figure it out, and honestly that mascot of theirs was kind of lame. A horse? Really? Look, Sunset was a good friend, but horses just weren’t cool. Captain Wonderdragon! Now that would make a cool mascot. But no, the name was still no good. Dragons were way cooler than horses, of course, but the name just wasn’t right. Drop the captain, maybe?
Rainbow walked the perimeter of the construction site, but there were no easy entrances. Being a Saturday might have left the site bereft of workers, but it only increased the traffic on the surrounding roads. If she tried to hop the fence she would be seen. Even if she did it at superspeed she would leave her telltale rainbow trail. True, most people wouldn’t care enough to do anything if they saw her, but there was always that one busybody who had nothing better to do than call the police on a trespasser who wasn’t hurting anyone. Rainbow was lucky she had gotten off with a warning that one time.
She stepped back and looked up at the building-in-progress. Three sides abutted streets, but the last was the bank. The construction fence had closed off the alley that would normally be between the two, but if she could make it up onto the bank’s roof she’d be able to drop into the site with no one the wiser. Now, getting onto the roof of the bank wouldn’t be a walk in the park either. She knew from experience that those guys were really paranoid. They had motion detectors on the roof in case of bank robbers, and they didn’t take kindly to superheroes exploring up there. Good thing her previous exploration had found a route around the detectors, then. It would take lightning quick timing and impossible agility, but she was The Dasher, and she could do anything. Except come up with a good name, it seemed. Seriously? The Dasher? What was she thinking?
Rainbow walked into the bank and took the public elevator up to the second floor, which was as high as it would go. She made a quick right into the restroom by the elevators and slipped inside, but found her first obstacle. The stall under the vent was taken. Rolling her eyes to herself, Rainbow entered the next stall, locked the door, and waited. And waited. What was taking that lady- Oh sweet mercy the smell! What kind of foul lunch had that lady had? She did her best to not gag, but it was a heroic effort. Comic book heroes were lucky that the only forces arrayed against them were robots and assassins and the like. It was left to real life heroes like herself to suffer the worst fates.
Thankfully, a flush soon signaled the end of her torment, and as soon as she heard the lady leave the bathroom she pulled her speed magic into herself, ran into the other stall, jumped on the toilet, pulled the grate off the vent, ducked inside, then close it behind her. She let go of the magic and thanked the stars for lazy maintenance workers who didn’t check to make sure the screws in the vents weren’t carefully stripped so that the cover could be pulled off without any effort. Look, it’s not like she was planning to ever actually rob the bank, ok? It just didn’t hurt to have a backup plan in case some villain slandered her good name and she had to live in hiding or something. She’d make sure she returned the money once her name was cleared.
But in this case robbery was not on the schedule. Instead of following the ducts down to the maintenance room (the architect had been smart enough to make sure the vault had its own air supply that was well guarded so she couldn’t go straight into it. Look, a thorough exploration was important) she went up. Not all the way to the roof. That exhaust was well guarded by motion sensors. But on the 5th floor was the president’s office, and he always went golfing on Saturdays (it was important to know those kinds of things. No, she was not going to rob the bank, ok?). And in his office was an east facing window which looked out onto the construction site. Sure, she was awesome enough that she could have slipped through all the sensors on the roof undetected, but Zapp was smart enough to know that there was no reason to take that risk when there was an easier way. Wait, wasn’t Zapp the name from that Power Ponies comic? Shoot, she knew it sounded too good.
She peered into the office before exiting, but as expected it was completely empty. She hadn’t pre-loosened this grate, and loosening the screws from the inside would take a long time. Luckily, time was a commodity that she had in great supply. Rainbow pulled her stone’s magic into herself and set to work. She hadn’t brought her backpack with her today, but she had started taking a swiss army knife with her everywhere. You never knew what you might need in her line of work. Even with pliers it was hard work, but half an hour later (or just thirty seconds, depending on how you counted) she had pushed three screws out and onto the floor, and had the last loose enough for her to swing the cover around and out of the way.
Rainbow dropped into the office, still, on fast time, and picked up the screws from the floor. She quickly modified them as she had done to the screws on the bathroom vent (hey, you never knew when you might need to reuse a vent), dragged a chair over, and put the vent cover back in place. Perfect. You couldn’t even tell it had been moved. The little light on a security camera by the door blinked on. Shit.
No time to drop her magic now, Rainbow put the chair back in place and ran to the window. Which wasn’t the openable kind. Shit shit shit. Of course it wasn’t. This was the 5th floor. What had she been thinking? Ok, think, what could she do? Break the window? No, too messy. She’d be found for sure. Back into the vent? It was the only way.
Rainbow dragged the chair back to below the vent, pulled the vent cover away, put the chair back again, pushed her internal magic out to form wings, and flew back up into the vent. Sliding into it while flying was tough, but, like she had said, she had impossible agility. She closed the cover behind her and let out a breath of relief along with her speed magic. If she was lucky no one had seen her. She’d been down there for only a minute or two, so anyone watching would have had to be paying attention during those couple of seconds.
She waited in tense silence. A minute went by. Then two. Finally, after five minutes with no sounds from below, she decided she was safe. No one had seen her. She was lucky, but she needed to be more careful. And she needed to get to that construction site. All this time spent inside the bank was time she could be missing the glow of magic out in the city that would tell her where to find the ninjas.
Back through the vent she crawled, and this time she went all the way up to the roof. There were fourteen motion detectors up there, most of them pointed at the edges of the roof, but one was pointed directly at the vent she was in. The cover here was conveniently pre-loosened as well, but as soon as she pushed it out the alarm would go off downstairs. She’d already used her speed magic a couple of times so far this morning, but she’d also had a medium length break as she crawled through the ducts. The stone was warm, but only a little, so she should be able to activate it once more and use it for several minutes before it needed an extended rest. The motion detector would activate as soon as she pushed the cover out, even if she did it on super speed, but if she replaced the vent cover and got out of range of any cameras quick enough the guards downstairs would think it was only a bird. That was the hope, anyway.
Rainbow took a deep breath to steady herself, and let it out slowly. Ok, this was it. She would need to move fast, even compared to her normal fast speed. Good thing Lightning Bolt was a hero and could do anything she put he mind to. Hmm, that name was better, but it still needed work. She definitely liked the imagery, but it wasn’t quite hero-y enough yet. She needed to give it just a little extra something. And, no, adding the word Captain to the front wasn’t it.
Getting back on task, she pulled the magic into herself once more. There was a little bit of resistance, as expected, but her will was strong and the magic hummed in her veins. It was time. Rainbow shoved the vent cover forward and slithered out of the duct. As soon as she was clear, she grabbed the vent, spun around, and shoved it back into place. Securing it as quickly as she could, she sprinted north around the back side of the maintenance access stairway and the motion detector guarding it, then east to the edge of the roof. Without slowing she leapt out into the air beyond, and towards the 6th floor of the partially built building. There was wall framing built on this level, but the windows had no glass, and so with a push of her magic and a flap of her wings she was through and into the other building.
Just in case anyone was watching, she continued to sprint at superspeed into the depths of the building. She hadn’t been here before, so she didn’t know where to find- There! She skidded around a corner and ducked into a small closet or something and breathed a sigh of relief. She was well and truly out of the line of sight of anyone outside now. She let go of her magic and sat down on the dusty floor. A few minutes to let the heat die down and she could finally, finally get down to business.
Rainbow waited in tense silence. It was still possible someone had seen her make the jump across the roofs. Her rainbow trail was a dead giveaway if anyone was paying attention, as those ninjas had proven earlier. But she moved at superspeed. So long as she didn’t move through anyone’s line of sight she’d be gone before they would even have a chance to notice. And so she waited. Waited for a cry of alarm. For the sound of footsteps coming moving around her floor, searching for her. The stone was too warm now, so if she had to flee it would be the old fashioned way. But, as with the president’s office, no one came. Rainbow frowned. She was relieved, of course, but also a little disappointed. Being an awesome hero was one thing, but would it hurt to have someone notice? What was the point of being a hero if you had no villain to face?
Well she did have a villain to face, she reminded herself. She just didn’t know where they were. First she had to find them, then she could dazzle them with her supersonic speed. Ooh, supersonic. That could also make a cool name. Supersonic lightning? No, no, still not quite right. But she was close now. She’d get it. Anway, finding that villain was the order of the day, and with band practice cancelled she had all day to do it. Rainbow left her little closet and wandered around the floor until she found the staircase. Up she went, to the eighth and so-far-highest floor. Up here the workers had only built the floor and some support beams, so she had an unimpeded view of the entire city. There was her favorite office building. There was the school. And if she squinted, she thought she could even make out her house from here.
Unfortunately, what she couldn’t see, at least not yet, was any evidence of magic or ninjas. Well it wasn’t like she was actually expecting to find something as soon as she got up here. The whole point of a stake out was to wait. And so she waited. An hour went by, and Rainbow watched a guard pace around the roof of the bank and inspect the motion detectors. She made sure to hide behind a beam until he left. She waited another hour and watched people come and go from the bank. She waited another hour and felt her stomach growl. She really should have brought something to eat. She debated going back out and buying some lunch, but the thought of having to break back in here again made her decide against it. She waited another hour, and felt like she was going out of her mind. So. Boring. Where was the excitement? The adventure? Stakeouts were the worst. The absolute worst.
Ok, enough was enough. She needed to stretch her legs. A quick walk up and down the building would be good for her. And hey, maybe she would see something cool to help her not go completely insane. And so back down the stairs she went, circling each floor once before continuing to the one below. She was admiring some well-placed nails on the second floor (if that didn’t prove how bored she was, nothing would) when something caught her ear. Were those voices? Wasn’t this place supposed to be abandoned? She crept closer to the sound in an attempt to make out what they were saying.
“-serious? This is such a good hideout!”
“Orders are orders. Shoeshine says he saw that rainbow girl casing the joint this morning.”
“How do we know she wasn’t just wandering by? It could be a coincidence.”
“That’s not a chance the boss wants to take. Now go pack up. As soon as Delta team rendezvous tomorrow evening we’re leaving.”
There were some muttered words that Rainbow Dash couldn’t make out, followed by footsteps leaving in several different directions. But she didn’t try to follow any of them. Instead she let out a silent cheer and almost danced in place. Ok, maybe she did do a little victory dance. But who wouldn’t? She had found the ninja hideout! And, ok, so maybe she had waited at the top of said hideout all day without knowing, and that was a little lame and embarrassing, but you know what? She had set out to find the ninja hideout today, and she had found it. And she was already inside and they didn’t even know! Now she could sneak around the place, figure out what they were up to and prove to all her friends just how amazing being a hero really was.
Rainbow’s phone buzzed from the inside of her pocket. What? She had it do not disturb. It shouldn’t have buzzed for a call or text. The only thing she’d allowed through was her alarm clock. Wait, the alarm clock? What time was it? Rainbow pulled out her phone to check, and realized that it was already 5:00. She would need to leave now if she wanted to make it back in time for dinner with her parents. But she couldn’t just leave now. She was in the ninja hideout! But, then again, she had promised. Promised her mom. Rainbow weighed the two options against each other in her head. On the one hand, awesome adventure, fame, and glory. On the other, not breaking her word to her mother, who she had to admit she’d been neglecting a bit lately. And it wasn’t like the ninjas wouldn’t be here tomorrow, right? They’d said they weren’t planning to leave until tomorrow evening.
Mind made up, Rainbow made her way back up to the top floor. She needed to get out without the ninjas seeing her or they’d know that she’d more than just cased the joint from the outside. That guard at the gate was probably one of the ninjas, and the bank had its motion detectors, so she needed to choose one of the other two sides to exit through. Neither looked like they were being watched, but ninjas were sneaky. North or east? Her stomach growled. Home was north, and so north she would go. Hesitation never got anyone anywhere anyway.
Rainbow pulled her magic from the stone, which was quite cool after all those hours of waiting, pushed her other magic all the way out to form her wings, and shot up into the sky with a single mighty flap. This time she didn’t just leap up or slow a fall down. She kept flapping, and she flew. North across town as fast as she could. She felt the wind in her hair and her grin threatened to split her face in two. If there was one thing Rainbow Dash loved as much as being a hero, it was flying.
Unfortunately, the reason she didn’t do this more often quickly became apparent. After only a dozen seconds she started to feel the weight of her inner magic. She was pushing on it to keep her wings out, but it was growing heavy, and quickly. That didn’t happen if she had some of her friends nearby, although she didn’t know why. With even just one or two of them she could fly for several minutes, and if all seven of them were together she thought she could probably fly all day if she wanted. Maybe even forever. But right now there were zero other Rainbooms nearby, and if she didn’t land soon she was going to crash into the ground at supersonic speeds and that would be the end of Rainbow Dash.
So she descended back down to the ground, now a dozen blocks from the ninja hideout. She touched down on the sidewalk at a sprint and let go of her inner magic with a sigh of relief. She was still feeling energized from her flight, though, and decided to skip the bus this time. And so she ran. All the way home, wind blowing in her hair, and she imagined that she was flying home instead. Her grin never let up.
Three miles later and two blocks from home, Rainbow Dash slowed to a stop and panted. Without the slight push on her inner magic to energize her, that run was a lot more tiring than she was used to lately. This was like being a freshman all over again. So Rainbow did what she used to have to do back then when cooling down from a run. She paced and stretched and wished she had some water at hand, then took off her mask and dropped the super speed. Immediately the world sped up again. A squirrel she hadn’t even noticed, frozen on the side of a tree, burst into motion. A leaf that had been hovering near where she stopped resumed its flight on a gust of wind, and a car turned onto the street she was next to, after waiting for who knows how long just out of view.
Feeling at least a little refreshed, Rainbow walked the rest of the way home.
“Mom! Dad! I’m home!”
“Oh, honey, there you are!” Windy called. “Where were you today?”
“Uh, band practice, remember? It’s Saturday.”
Her mother gave her a quizzical look. “But your friend Rarity dropped by earlier to give you a package. She said practice was cancelled.”
What? What had Rarity been doing here? A package?
“Oh, uh, I didn’t want to bore you with the details, but, yeah, practice was cancelled ‘cause AJ had to take care of her sister. So I was, um,” Rainbow wracked her head for an excuse, “studying with Twilight.”
“All day?”
“Yup! That’s me! Always working hard.”
“Oh honey, I’m so happy! After Principal Celestia called I was worried, but I’m glad to see you’re taking the right steps even without us having to say anything.”
Wait, what? Why had the principal called? Oh, right, the parent-teacher-student conference. Guess she didn’t trust Rainbow to tell her parents herself. She’d have gotten around to it!
“Haha, yup! That’s me! The responsible one! So, uh, you said something about a package?”
“I put it in your room. Go ahead and wash up. Dinner will be ready in twenty minutes.”
Rainbow went up the stairs to her room and pulled out her phone along the way. She needed to talk to Twilight quick if she was going to avoid having her cover blown. She hated to lie to her parents, but that was the price you paid for having a secret identity. Upon unlocking her phone she was amazed to see 74 unread messages from that group text. What had they been talking about all day? Whatever, that could wait. So could the realization that she could have used her phone to relieve her boredom earlier on that rooftop. Right now she needed a favor from her friend.
RD: Yo twi i need a favor pls
Rainbow waited a tense minute with no reply. Was Twilight near her phone? Was she eating dinner? Or was she already spilling the beans? Thankfully, the typing notification appeared a minute later, followed quickly by Twilight’s response.
TS: If you need a favor then you can ask for it using proper spelling and punctuation.
RD: R u srs come on twi this is srs bsns
TS: So is proper writing. Now, you can ask me properly, or I can go back to doing my homework.
Rainbow ground her teeth. Of all the people she could have chosen to say she spent the day with, she had to have picked Twilight. What was she thinking? Well it was too late to pick someone else now.
RD: Twilight, can you please help me? I need a favor
TS: You forgot the period.
RD: Oh come on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
TS: I’m waiting.
Rainbow growled under her breath.
RD: Twilight, can you please help me? I need a favor.
TS: Of course I can, Rainbow. What do you need help with?
RD: I told my parents I spent the day studying with you. If anyone asks, say that I was there.
TS: What?! I’m not going to lie to your parents for you! RD: Come on, Twilight. Please? I’ll owe you 1! I’ll owe you 20!
TS: Let me guess, you were actually out fighting ninjas?
RD: Yes!!!
TS: Do you really believe that there are ninjas in Canterlot?
Rainbow Dash almost threw her phone to the ground in frustration. They still didn’t believe her! Not one of her friends! What was wrong with them?!
TS: And, for the record, you should never repeat a punctuation mark more than once unless you are writing an ellipsis. And, technically, an ellipsis its own punctuation mark so even it is not repeated, despite its appearance.
RD: I found their hideout!!!!!!! I can show you!!!!!!!!!!!
The typing notification appeared, then disappeared. It reappeared again for several seconds, then disappeared once more. Then it reappeared again, and this time stayed up for almost a minute. Great. Now Rainbow Dash was going to have to read one of Twilight’s long rants and pretend to take it to heart if she was going to have any hope of getting an alibi.
TS: Where?
Wait, that was it?
RD: That construction site by the bank.
TS: Which bank? RD: Filthy Riches. Another pause. What was there to think about?
TS: Okay, I’ll help you. RD: O my gosh thank u thank u thank u thank u TS: Spelling, Rainbow Dash. Rainbow’s eyelid twitched. RD: Thank you. TS: I’m calling in my favor tomorrow. I want you to actually come over and study, like you said you did. I know you’re not doing well. I want to help. RD: Wait, no, I can’t! TS: Some favor. I thought you were a woman of her word, Rainbow Dash. RD: No, please, I’ll study with you. Just not tomorrow. The ninjas are moving base tomorrow evening and I have to go back. It’s my only chance. Another pause this time. A long one.
TS: Fine. But instead of tomorrow, we’re going to study every night next week. And no excuses.
Rainbow gulped. Every night? It was a hard pill to swallow. But she had said she owed Twilight one.
RD: Ok, I’ll do it. TS: Thank you. I know you won’t regret it.
Rainbow set her phone down and closed her eyes. She was already regretting it. But hardships were just a part of being a hero. She flopped backwards onto her bed in order to properly contemplate her fate, but she landed on something large and boxy. What? Oh, right, Rarity’s package. She got back up again and inspected the box. It was a bit crushed. She hoped she hadn’t broken whatever was inside. Of course this was Rarity she was talking about, so there was about a 100 percent chance of the contents being clothing and therefore not breakable, but still.
She opened the box to reveal a note set atop folded fabric. Another dress, she guessed. Rarity was always looking for an excuse to shove her into one, although she wasn’t sure what the occasion was this time. The note would probably explain it.
If you’re going to fight ninjas, you should be properly dressed for the occasion. -Rarity
Wait, what? Rainbow pulled the dress out of the box and found that it was no dress at all. There were actually several items in the box: The first that she pulled out was a wide brimmed hat, slightly squished. Oops. It was magenta in color with a dark blue band set just above the brim. Beneath that was a long, flowing cape, the same color as the hat’s band. Next a skin tight leotard the same shade as the hat, with a wide belt of the darker blue color. A high collar around the neck gave the outfit some form, and a cowl of that dark blue color hung off the back. Dark blue gloves and boots, long enough to reach midway up her calves and forearms, completed the outfit. This… this was a hero costume.
Rainbow’s eyes began to water and she rubbed them with her hand to wipe the tears away. One of her friends believed her. She wasn’t alone in this after all. Sure, she had shown her support by making her clothes instead of coming out to join her, but that was Rarity through and through, and Rainbow had never felt happier. Even when she was flying.
Her mom called her down for dinner, and Rainbow left her room with the hole that had slowly been forming in her heart all day starting to mend.
Rainbow Dash woke up on Sunday morning at 6:00 a.m. If anyone else in the house had been awake yet they would have called it a miracle. But she had been tried from a long day of being bored out of her mind, the emotional swing brought on my Rarity’s gift, and excitement for the next day, and had gone to bed straight after dinner. Now she was wide awake and ready to go. Well, not quite ready yet. She need to pack.
She grabbed her backpack and started stuffing anything she thought she might need inside. Her swiss army knife, a flashlight, some glue, her old mask (just in case), and a spare battery pack with a charging cable for her phone. Oh, and better add the phone, too. As awesome as this outfit was, it didn’t have any pockets. She should really talk to Rarity about a utility belt. Then she wouldn’t even need the backpack.
Once she had everything from her bedroom packed, she crept downstairs to the kitchen and made herself a sandwich. Then another, just in case. She took those two, an apple, and two bottles of water and started heading back to her room when her father peeked his head out of her parent’s bedroom door.
“Dashie? What are you doing up so early?”
“Oh, uh, hey dad. Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. The, uh, the girls wanted to get an early start today because we missed yesterday. I was just making some snacks.” She held up her sandwiches and water.
“At 6:30? Really?”
“Heh heh, yup! Really early start.” She gave him her best grin.
Her father just stared at her for almost a full minute, and Rainbow felt beads of sweat tickle down the back of her neck.
“Well, all right. Be safe and have fun.” He finally said.
“You got it, dad! Sorry to wake you. Say bye to mom for me.”
Bo just nodded and went back into his bedroom, closing the door behind him. With a sigh of relief, Rainbow continued back up to her room and packed away the food. She picked up the hero outfit to pack it on top, then paused. She hadn’t actually tried it on yet. She quickly stripped out of her street clothes and put the costume on. It was smooth and comfortable, and somehow a perfect fit even though she could have sworn that Rarity hadn’t taken her measurements since the Spring Fling last year. Rainbow stretched and swung her arms and legs around, and found that the fabric moved with her easily without impeding any of her movements. Rarity, Rainbow decided, was a genius. Her talent was wasted on dresses (although she suspected that Rarity would disagree on that point).
She pulled the mask up and over her face and put the hat on, then stepped in front of a mirror. Damn she looked good. Rainbow made a few action poses and had to fight down a squeal of excitement This was the Best. Gift. Ever. She needed to find a way to say thank you to Rarity. A really big thank you.
All of that could wait until after today, though. She took off the hat and pulled the mask down, and was about to strip the rest of the suit off, when she paused. Why even wear her street clothes today? She was planning on doing hero work all day, and she wouldn’t even need to break for lunch. With a grin she tossed her street clothes onto her bed, threw on her backpack, opened up her window, and jumped out.
The sun was just barely up at this hour, and a cool breeze made her shiver as she landed on the grass in the backyard. Hmm, the outfit didn’t have much in the way of insulation. She’d need to talk to Rarity about that, too. Or would that interfere with her movement? Eh, whatever, that was Rarity’s department. Rainbow pulled the stone’s magic into herself while pushing her internal magic out at the same time. The two magics filled her to the brim and she shot up into the air with a powerful flap of her wings. Another flap sent her streaking southward, back towards the construction site. She didn’t want to waste all her internal magic right away, so she angled herself down and hit the ground running only two blocks from home. She relaxed her internal magic until there was just enough to keep her energized and continued onward at a full sprint.
Down the center of the street she ran, weaving around the occasional car out this early. She rounded the corner onto Main Street and saw the construction site ahead, the top of the unfinished building poking out above the skyline around it. She felt her two magics humming within her, distinguishable from one another but harmonized, and she let out a whoop of triumph. This was living. Why her friends didn’t also want to spend every second of the day using their magic she would never know.
In the blink of an eye she was at the ninja hideout. The street was mercifully empty of cars, so rather than working carefully to find a way in without being seen, she just jumped the fence. With the magic empowering her legs she didn’t even need to grow her wings for a jump this high. She just sailed over the fence and landed in a crouch on the other side. It was time to get to work.
The first order of business was to find where the actual hideout was. She had searched the upper stories of the building yesterday, so they clearly weren’t camped out up there. But everyone knew that villains lairs were always underground, anyway. She needed to find the basement.
She still had plenty of time left on her speed magic, so she decided to search the place at superspeed. Rainbow ran around the outside of the building first. She pushed some mulch around in a small greenspace, but didn’t find any doors hidden underneath. She found a group of empty barrels stacked in a corner of the site, but nothing was hidden behind or beneath those, either. There were some pallets of steel beams on the opposite corner from the barrels, but without Applejack and her superstrength she knew she’d never be able to move those around. But it wasn’t like the ninas had superstrength either, right? Right.
That was it for the ground floor. Time to try to find the basement. Luckily the stairs were clearly marked for the construction workers so locating them was no obstacle. The guard posted at the top, however, was. Rainbow skidded to a stop just out of his line of site. He was looking just to the left of the doorway she was peering in through, and she’d have to pass into his line of sight to reach the stairs. If she dropped her speed she could wait for him to turn his head until she had a clear path, but she could only restart it so many times and she knew she might need it again soon. Maybe there was some other path?
Wait, there on the opposite wall where it wasn’t well lit, was that a doorway? Yes, it was. Ok, if she could find a way to that door she would have a clear path behind the guard and down the stairs to the basement. Rainbow retreated back the way she had come and took a left at the first corridor. Unless they were building this place like a maze for some reason it should be as simple as following the left wall from here. And yes, there it was. She stepped into an unlit hall and saw the same room ahead of her, but this time with the guard’s back to her. Rainbow walked carefully and quietly through the room. The guard wouldn’t be able to react in time to stop her or anything, but if she made noise and alerted him he would still be able to raise an alarm eventually. And unless she was able to complete her entire mission at speed there would be plenty of time for him to do so.
Down the stairs and into the basement. First level of the basement, she corrected herself. The stairs continued down at least one more level. Would the hideout be here, or further down? Or maybe the entire basement was a hideout? She paused a moment to consider, then left the stairwell to explore the floor. Better to do this methodically.
She aimed for stealth more than speed now, so it took her longer to search this floor than it had the ground upstairs. But she didn’t want to stumble into any ninjas and give herself away, so taking the extra time was important. Her caution proved justified when she found a room with six ninjas in it. They were all sitting around a folding table with a map spread open before them. Half of them could potentially see her from the doorway, so she wouldn’t be able to go in until she was ready to reveal herself. Was this the time? A map meant a plan, and if she could figure out what they were planning she could stop them.
After a moment, however, she decided against it. This was just the first room. Who knew what else was down here? She could always come back as long as she kept her speed up. And so she left the map room behind, with curiosity burning a hole in her brain. A few rooms down she found what she guessed was some sort of break room. Three ice chests were lined up against a wall (all empty) and two more folding tables with a dozen chairs lined the middle of the room. No ninjas in here. Maybe they weren’t ready for breakfast yet. Or maybe this was for the construction workers’ lunches?
She paused at that thought. How were the construction workers and ninjas related? That map room wasn’t hidden at all if you were just walking around the basement. Maybe the ninjas only used this place after the workers left? Or maybe they had paid the workers off! Rainbow’s eyes glittered at the thought of her name in the newspaper headline, an article about how she had revealed the den of corruption in the heart of the city.
Ok, focus Rainbow. You still have a lot more basement to search. The next room over from the breakroom had a dozen air mattresses on the floor, and a ninja was sleeping in one of them. She crept inside to search it, careful to not wake the ninja, but didn’t find anything else interesting. This meant that they were staying there overnight, though. It also meant that there were a lot more ninjas here than she’d realized.
The rest of the first basement level was empty, so she descended to level two. The stairs kept going down even further, but, peering over the edge, she could see that they stopped on level three. Big basement, she thought to herself. Rainbow carefully stepped into the hallway leading out from the staircase, but then, three steps in, her boot stuck. What? She tugged and pulled her leg, left and right and forward and back, but no matter what she did her boot would not come off of the floor. What was going on? This hallway was dimly lit, so she took off her backpack and pulled out the flashlight. Using it revealed nothing on the ground, though.
Ok, Rainbow, don’t panic. Think this through. You just stepped in some gum or something, right? Some really, really sticky gum. She pulled at her leg again. Yup, Really sticky. Are you going to let some stupid gum defeat you? You’re a superhero! So what can you do? She thought for a moment. Well, if only her boot was stuck, then she just needed to take the boot off and leave it behind. It was a shame to leave some of Rarity’s work abandoned in a ninja lair, but it was better than being stuck here herself. She suddenly wished she’d brought her street clothes with her. She was going to look ridiculous running around with one bare foot. Not to mention the danger of a stray nail or something.
She unlaced her boot and held it in place as she pulled her foot up and out. Or she tried to, at least. Instead, however, she found that her foot was stuck inside her boot just as securely as her boot was stuck to the ground. She stopped pulling and stared in disbelief. What was going on? Ok, time to brute force this thing. She grabbed the boot with both hands, planted her other foot behind her and pulled. There was a popping noise and her knee flared in pain. Ow! Fuck! Ow! Rainbow stopped and tried to bring her other leg forward to put the weight off her knee, only to find that it was stuck now, too. Oh no.
Fear and panic began to rise with each throb of pain from her knee. She was stuck in an enemy lair, and she’d just hurt herself so badly that she was going to have trouble walking. What if she’d done permanent damage? What if she’d never run again? What if she couldn’t be a hero any more. Rainbow started breathing faster and faster, and was heading straight into hyperventilation territory when she noticed a leg sticking out behind the doorway to her left.
Ok, that definitely wasn’t there earlier. Someone was walking out of that room. Rainbow Dash had at most five minutes to get out of here or she’d be caught. No, that wasn’t right. She was already caught. Whatever was sticking her to the floor must have been magical. There hadn’t been any glue to stick her other foot, and nothing should have gotten her foot stuck inside her boot. They were expecting her. They had set a trap and she’d fallen right into it.
Rainbow let out a sigh of defeat, and let go of her time magic. Hopefully they’d release the trap to move her and then at least she could take her weight off her knee. The foot in the doorway swing forward as time sped up, and it was soon followed by the rest of the ninja. Wait, that was no ninja.
“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” Sonata Dusk said with a smirk. “Why, I think it’s the little rainbow girl. What did she call herself again? Raptor Laser?”
Rainbow said nothing and just glared at Sonata. Not that she could see the glare under Rainbow’s mask, but it was the thought that counted.
Sonata made a tsking noise and shook her head. “Silly little raptor, did you think we did not expect you?” She put her fingers to her lips and let out a loud whistle. A few seconds later the sound of footsteps on the stairs behind Rainbow preceded a man’s voice.
“Mistress?”
“Bind her, then find her magic stone. Can’t have her using any of her powers.”
Strong hands grabbed Rainbow’s wrists and forced them behind her back where they were quickly tied together. She felt her wristband with the stone slip off her wrist.
“No!” She cried. She reached for the magic in the stone, tried to pull it into herself to fight, but it was already beyond her grasp.
“Oh no, is the little girly sad? What’s wrong, little girly?” Sonata mocked her.
Rainbow bit back tears. That magic was part of her. Taking it away was like… like taking away her legs. But she wouldn’t dignify Sonata with a response.
“Nothing? Very well. Put it with the rest of the artifacts.”
The man left without a word. Sonata smiled again and pulled what looked like a bottle of arts and crafts glue out from behind the wall. It looked perfectly ordinary, except that it was glowing a soft blue. She tapped the bottle against the ground and Rainbow fell forward, her feet unstuck. She pulled her injured knee up to her chest and winced.
“Oh no, what’s this? Is the little birdy hurt?”
Sonata kicked Rainbow’s bad knee and Rainbow let out a cry of pain. Sonata laughed.
“This is going to be even easier than I thought! You have no magic, and now you can’t even run. The Lady is going to put me ahead of Adagio now for sure. Whose scheme was it that bore fruit again? That’s right, it was mine!”
She laughed again, an angelic giggle in all opposition to the cruel woman giving it.
“Come now, my little birdy. Don’t you have anything to say?”
Rainbow turned her head away from Sonata and stayed silent.
“Suit yourself. You, bind her ankles and take her to the cell.”
Another pair of hands grabbed her feet and forced them together, bringing out another cry of pain from Rainbow Dash. Then she was lifted and thrown over the shoulder of the burliest ninja she’d ever seen. He carried her down to the third basement level like she weighed nothing. He took her out into the level propper and down a corridor that dimmed and dimmed. It looked like the only light on this level was at the stairs. She heard the rusty squeak of a door being opened, and then she was unceremoniously tossed into a small room. She turned to look out the doorway and saw Sonata standing there, barely discernible as a silhouette. She was rifling through something.
“Food, water, knife, phone, scarf. Well I can’t let you have the knife or phone, of course, but if you behave you can have the food and water.”
She seemed to be waiting for something, but Rainbow stayed silent.
“Say, ‘Yes, Mistress.’”
Rainbow said nothing.
“Very well, I’ll just keep this for myself, then.”
Sonata slammed the door closed. There was a little window at the top of the door, and Rainbow could see Sonata’s head framed inside it for a few moments longer, but then she turned and left, and Rainbow was all alone.
She let out the tears she had been holding in, and silently wept.
Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure how long she’d been in the cell. Several hours, at least. Her tears had dried up quickly, and she’d tried to think of an escape route, but with her hands and feet bound and the door locked closed there really wasn’t anything she could do. Especially with her magic gone. At one point one of the ninjas had come in with her water and one of the sandwiches. He’d unbound her hands and told her to eat. She considered trying to overpower him, but her legs were still bound and her knee still hurt like crazy. So instead she took her meal like a good little prisoner, and when she was done the ninja had tied her back up and left. At least he had tied her hands together in front of her instead of behind. Her shoulders had been going numb..
Rainbow rolled over to try to get more comfortable. The floor was bare concrete, like the walls and ceiling. She could see that much, now that her eyes had grown accustomed to the darkness. The door looked like the doors on the classrooms at school: Metal with a little window at the top to look in or out. She wondered if it was supposed to be here when the building was completed. It looked out of place against the bare concrete walls, and there was a large gap at the bottom like it didn’t quite fit right.
As she contemplated that gap, a rat poked its nose through and stared at her. Rainbow yelped in panic and scrambled backwards as best she could with her hands and feet still bound. Oh god oh god it was going to eat her, wasn’t it? It would burrow into her stomach and eat her from the inside out, just like in that horror movie she’d watched! And bound up as she was she wouldn’t be able to fight back! But, instead of squirming its way under the door to attack her, the rat just ran off, scared off by her shout. She let out a sigh of relief. Ok, just a normal rat, then. Not the horror movie kind.
Sadly, that bit of excitement was the only to be had for a long time longer. She was starting to get hungry again. What time was it? Dinner time? Her parents were going to be worried. They’d think she was out late with her friends and would have to come home after dark. They’d think she could get attacked by a mugger. As if something as little as a mugger would phase her. Muggers looked out for Rainbow Dash! No, if only they knew the real trouble she was in.
Footsteps outside. Time for her other sandwich? She was so hungry she didn’t even think about trying to fight her way out. There was a click as a key turned in the lock, then the door swing open to reveal not a ninja, but Sonata Dusk gain.
“Rise and shine, little rainbow. I hope you slept well, because we have a long trip ahead of us.”
Wait, what? Rise and shine? Did that mean it was the next morning already? And a long trip? Oh gods, what were they going to do with her?
Sonata stepped back and the burly ninja from before came into her cell. He picked her up and slung her over his shoulder, then followed Sonata back out and into the light of the stairwell. Rainbow was facing away, but she still had to squint her eyes at the brightness. They went up the stairs to the second level, and Rainbow was surprised to see a flurry of activity here. Ninjas ran every which way, packing up and carrying boxes out of the hideout. Another siren, Aria, was directing them.
“Hurry up, you lazy maggots! They’re going to be here soon and we should have been gone last night!” she shouted.
Huh. Maybe they really did just use this place nights and weekends. Sonata and the ninja carrying Rainbow didn’t pay Aria or her crew any mind, though. They continued right up the stairs, all the way to the ground level. They came up aboveground and Rainbow could see that it was indeed the next morning. Predawn light was just starting to light up the eastern horizon.
Rainbow drew in a deep breath. This was it. If she was going to have a chance to escape before they carted her off to who-knows-where, she was about to get it. The ninja broke into a jog and Rainbow began to bounce up and down on his shoulder. Twisting her head, Rainbow could see that they were heading towards a windowless van parked by the front gate. Rainbow squirmed a little and began to slip off his shoulder, so the ninja readjusted his grip on her. Now!
Rainbow reached inside herself and shoved at the magic. Wings erupted from her back and she flapped for all she was worth. They may have taken her stone. They may have bound her arms and legs. But they hadn’t counted on her having a second source of magic or a third set of limbs. She twisted out of the ninja’s grip as she flew. She needed to get up and away before the magic ran out and she was forced to land.
Pain! Horrible, unimaginable pain! It felt like her knee was being torn in two! She looked down and saw that the ninja who had been carrying her had quicker reactions than she had anticipated. He had lost his grip on her back, but had managed to grab her ankle before she was completely free. Now he hung, dangling from her bad leg as she dragged him a foot above the ground.
The pain was making her dizzy, was making it hard to fly straight, but she had to push through it. Rainbow swerved back and forth as she tried to make it to the edge of the construction site. Then there was a thump and Rainbow screamed as the pain somehow jumped to an even higher level. She tumbled head over tail and hit the pavement. She lay there, panting and with tears streaming from her eyes as she waited for the ninja to pick her back up and take her away. But as her swimming vision settled, she realized that there was no ninja with her. She looked back at where she had come from, and saw the ninja trying to scramble over the construction fence. She must have flown too low over it and he had hit and been knocked loose.
She was free, for now, but she knew it wouldn’t last long. She tried to flap her wings and fly again, but nothing happened. She must have let go of her magic when she’d crashed. She reached inside to push it back out again, but it was like trying to push a boulder. It was too much. She hadn’t slept, and all she’d eaten yesterday was a single sandwich. How could anyone expect someone to keep going after all that? It was too much.
But she was a hero, and heroes didn’t give in. And so she reached with both hands, still bound together, for the base of a light post and pulled herself up onto her feet. She wavered a moment, then found her balance and started hopping across the street while doing her best to keep all her weight on her good leg. The bad one bounced and bumped and made every jump agony. She couldn’t outrun anyone like this, but if she could just find a place to hide, maybe-
A pair of arms grabbed her and held her still. She tried to hop once more, but he was too strong. Too strong. Rainbow gave a wordless cry of dismay and collapsed against his arms, all the energy finally drained out of her. She felt tears falling down her face. She’d been so close. So close! It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair to let her come this far only to lose.
“Shh, shh, it’s ok, Rainbow. I’ve got you.” Sunset said in a soft voice, hugging her tight.
Wait, what? Rainbow blinked the tears from her eyes and looked up, disbelieving. But it was true. Sunset was the one holding her, not the ninja.
“Sunset?”
“I’ve got you, Rainbow Dash. You’re going to be ok.”
Tears filled her eyes once again and Rainbow burst into a relieved sob. All the stress of the past day flowing out of her.
“It’s ok, Rainbow. It’s ok.” Sunset said in a reassuring voice as she stroked Rainbow’s hair.
After another minute of relieved crying, Rainbow finally quieted down. She spoke up in a raw, raspy voice. “Sunset, we have to go back. The ninjas- My amulet-”
“Let us take care of it. We’re here to support you now, like we should have been from the beginning. Look, see?”
Sunset pointed over past Rainbow’s shoulder, and she turned her head to see Applejack using a steel beam to tie the burly ninja up while Twilight picked two others up with her telekinesis and held them squirming in the air. Rarity meanwhile was corralling a dozen of them in a fence of magical gemstones, and three more cowered with their hands over their heads as a manic Pinkie Pie threatened them with a can of sprinkles. But of the windowless van there was no sign.
“Sunset, my amulet! Sonata took it! We have to get it back.”
“Fluttershy has it. Her rat found it and brought it to her after it found you.”
“What?”
“It’s a long story. Come on, let’s get you to the hospital and I’ll tell you what you missed.”
It was all Rainbow could do to nod and follow along.
-----------------
Rainbow lay in the hospital bed and stared blankly at the ceiling while her mind sorted through everything. Out in the hall her parents talked to the doctor, but she already knew the diagnosis. She had pulled her knee badly, almost dislocated it. It would take weeks to recover. A whole week at the hospital, then crutches for at least three more. There would be no sports for Rainbow for a while, she had been warned. No heroing either, she had added silently to herself, although neither the doctor nor her parents knew about that part. The week in the hospital was going to be the worst, if for no other reason than boredom. Luckily her friends had promised to visit every day after school.
Rainbow glanced at the clock. 2:30. They should be here soon, then. Sunset still owed her that explanation, but she had had to go to school for the day before she could give it this morning. Outside, the doctor finished his explanation to her parents and left them, and they came back into Rainbow’s room.
“Oh, Rainy, I’m so glad you’re ok.” Her mother, Windy, fretted over her. “You had us so worried.”
“Heh, yeah, sorry about that. That sleepover got a little wild.” Rainbow said.
“Say no more,” her father said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “I know how those teenage parties get. I pulled a muscle or two of my own at your age.”
Rainbow frowned. What exactly did he assume she had been doing? Sunset had told her to tell everyone that she had been at a sleepover as her alibi, but she didn’t know how much anyone knew.
“Well I hope you learned your lesson.” Windy added. “You’re absolutely amazing, you know, but you need to be more careful.”
“I will be. I’m sorry, mom.”
Her mother leaned over the bed to give Rainbow a kiss on the forehead, then glanced over her shoulder as she stood back up.
“Oh, look, here are your friends now. We’ll get out of your hair so you can talk to them.”
Her father gave her a wink as he left. “Tell them to take it easy next time, casanova. There’s plenty of you to go around.”
Wait, what? What?? Rainbow felt her blood rush to her cheeks. Did he think-?
“Dashie!” Pinkie threw herself into the room and onto Rainbow Dash. She wrapped her in a crushing hug which somehow managed to avoid jostling her bad leg.
“Oof. Hey Pinkie. Glad you could come.”
“Oh, darling, you look absolutely dreadful!” Rarity cried. “That hospital gown does not suit you at all. What happened to…” She leaned in to whisper the last part, “your hero outfit?”
“Oh, it’s over there.” Rainbow pointed to a bag in the corner. “I, uh, I don’t have anything else to wear.”
“I thought as much. Which is why I brought you this.” Rarity held forward a small box and lifted the lid as if she was revealing a great treasure. Inside, Rainbow could see a t-shirt and some pants.
“Thanks, Rarity. I can always count on you to think of clothes.”
If Rainbow meant that as sarcasm, Rarity didn’t take it that way. “Oh of course, of course. I’ll take the other outfit with me so you can maintain your secret identity.”
Twilight chose that moment to speak up from the foot of the bed. “Why didn’t you wait for me?”
Rainbow took a second to sort through her confusion.
“What? Wait for you? When?”
“You said you were going to show me the hideout, but when I showed up at your place yesterday morning your parents said that you were already gone.”
Rainbow stared at Twilight, uncomprehending. “...Huh?”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “When we texted the night before, remember? You didn’t hit your head, did you?”
“I thought you didn’t believe me!”
Twilight cocked her head quizzically. “But we all said that we would give you a chance.”
“When?!”
“Earlier that afternoon? Wait… you never spoke up again in the group text. Did you never read it?”
Rainbow opened and closed her mouth uselessly several times. They had believed her? They were going to give her a chance?
Applejack crossed her arms and gave Rainbow a flat stare. “You were sulking, weren’t you?”
“I don’t sulk!”
“Oh yeah? Then why didn’t you read any of those texts?”
“I just… wanted to cool off first.”
“So you were sulking.”
“I was not!”
“Girls, chill.” Sunset stepped between them. “Applejack, she’s just been through an ordeal and she needs to recover. Leave her alone for now, ok?”
Applejack backed off, but grumbled to herself. “She wouldn’t need to recover if she hadn’t been sulking.” Rainbow Dash did her best to pretend not to hear.
“So what happened this morning?” Rainbow asked.
“Well,” Twilight replied, “After your parents told me that you had already left I assumed you were still upset with us and wanted to go there alone. I went home to study.”
“Don’t you already have perfect grades?”
“Oh, I wasn’t studying for school. I’m working on a side project using that magic detecting device I had when we first met. Do you remember it? Well there’s this forum for magic geeks online and they were suggesting-”
“Ok, ok, I get it. Um, thanks for trying to be there for me.”
“I just wish we would have been there for you earlier.” Fluttershy said, her head hanging low. “I feel just awful.”
Rainbow gave Fluttershy an encouraging smile. “Don’t sweat it. You girls had my back in the end, and that’s what matters. Um, speaking of that, though, how’d you find me?”
“Oh, Mr. Rat told me where you were.” Fluttershy said with a smile.
Rainbow shuddered as she remembered the rat that had almost burrowed inside her. Of course Fluttershy would be friends with that thing.
“Actually, the next part of the story is that your parents called me at around 7.” Twilight said. “They were wondering if we were all still practicing and if you would be home for dinner. They’d tried to call you a couple times but it went straight to voicemail. It told them that we had decided to have a sleepover slash study session and you would be back in the morning. Then I called the rest of the girls and told them that you were missing.”
“Twilight told us where you was headed, so Fluttershy here asked all her animal friends to look for you and see if you were still there.” Applejack said. “Not sure why it took so long, though. She sent them off around 9.”
“Oh, um, I’m sorry about that.” Fluttershy said meekly, almost whispering. “They try their best, but they don’t always make the best decisions. The rat who found you told a racoon, and the racoon told a pigeon, but the pigeon was new in town and didn’t know who I was. She had to ask around and she didn’t find me until 4 in the morning. Oh, but the rat did find your amulet and bring it to me!”
Fluttershy reached into a pocket and set Rainbow’s amulet and wristband on the bedside table. Rainbow snatched it up and pulled the magic into her for just a moment. She felt the hum in her veins like an old friend and breathed a sigh of relief, then released it.
“Oh my gosh, thank you sooo much.” Rainbow said. “Sonata told one of the ninjas to put it with the other artifacts and I was worried it went off in that van.”
“Sonata?!” All six of her friends exclaimed in disbelief.
Rainbow blinked. Hadn’t she already mentioned that to them?
“So you didn’t see her there?” She asked.
“No! All we saw were the ninjas.” Applejack said.
“Oh. Um, yeah, Sonata was the one who captured me. Aria was there too. The ninjas were doing whatever they said.”
“Hmm, that does explain some things.” Sunset said. She brought her hand to her chin in thought. “Those ‘ninjas’ all stopped fighting after the sun came up. They claimed to have no idea what was going on, and that they were just construction workers. If the Dazzlings got their powers back and hypnotized them then that would explain it.”
“Did you get the rest of the artifacts?” Rainbow asked.
“No. We didn’t see the van either. I’m guessing they were all on it and got away.”
Rainbow sighed. “So I failed, then.”
“What do you mean, sugarcube?” Applejack asked.
“I didn’t stop their evil scheme. All I did was get captured, and then you girls came and rescued me like I was a damsel in distress. If I had just stayed in my cell I wouldn’t even have hurt my leg the second time.”
“No.” Sunset said, “You’re not a failure. You found their hideout all on your own. You discovered their plan. You chased them out of town. And you even rescued yourself. I barely got to you before that ninja did. If you’d let him carry you into the van I think we never would have found you.”
Rainbow gulped. That wasn’t a fate she wanted to contemplate.
“Thanks, Sunset. And thanks again for getting my amulet too, Fluttershy. Did you see my backpack and phone?”
“Oh, right! One of the construction workers gave it to me after they snapped out of it.” Pinkie Pie said. She reached behind herself and pulled Rainbow’s backpack out from somewhere. “They even left your phone!”
Rainbow accepted the backpack from Pinkie and dug through it. The phone, charger, and even her knife were all accounted for, but her old mask was missing. She frowned. She’d wanted to keep that as a momento.
Rarity saw her frown and spoke up. “Is something missing, darling?”
“Just my old mask. They must have thrown it out.”
“Well you don’t need to worry about that. The one I made you is much better, if I do say so myself. And if you want one in that style again I can always make you another.”
“Yeah, I guess so. Thanks. And thank you for the costume. I don’t think I said anything before, but it really means a lot to me.”
“Think nothing of it. It is my duty to make sure that we all always look our best, after all.”
After that Rainbow gave them all the full story of her adventures, starting with the magic cow the first day all the way until she had collapsed into Sunset’s arms this morning. They gave her rapt attention and gasped or cheered in all the right places. By the time she wrapped up she was feeling like her old self again, minus the knee.
“Oh my gosh, you’re so cool, Dashie!” Pinkie yelled as she hopped up and down in excitement. “You’re like a real life superhero!”
“I am a real life superhero. Get it right. Oh, and I finally settled on a name!”
“Well? Lay it on us.” Applejack said.
Rainbow paused for dramatic effect. “Sonic Bolt.” she said with a grin.
Each of her friends took a moment to consider the name.
“Well, it’s not a synonym for your real name any more, so that’s a plus.” Rarity said.
“I think it sounds nice.” Added Fluttershy.
“I was going to suggest ‘Mare Do Well’,” Pinkie said, “but I think your name is superific too!”
“Mare? Pinkie, Sunset’s the horse, not me.”
Sunset gave an over-exaggerated roll of her eyes, but didn’t dispute Rainbow’s statement. From there the group joked and laughed and talked about other things. Before they knew it visiting time was over and they all bid their farewells. Twilight promised to bring some study material over tomorrow (“You did promise, after all. And besides, what else are you going to do while you lie here all week?”), her parents came back in for their own goodbye, and then Rainbow was alone with her thoughts again. Thinking over the last few days, she decided that she didn’t regret anything. Ok, actually, she regretted several things, like hurting her knee, but she didn’t regret going after the ninjas. In fact, she was looking forward to being back on her feet and out fighting crime again. Just you wait, Canterlot. Sonic Bolt was here to stay.
-----------------
At the edge of town, inside a discount self storage shed, Adagio, Aria, and Sonata presented a crate of artifacts to The Lady. She inspected several, lifting them out of the box and testing their powers. She nodded in satisfaction and turned back to the Sirens.
“A good haul. I was right to trust you with the hypnotizing magic.”
Adagio lifted her chin in smug satisfaction. “We do know our stuff.”
The Lady nodded. “And what of Rainbow Dash?”
Sonata winced, and Adagio smirked. Attempting to capture her had been Sonata’s idea from the start, and she was eager to watch her take the fall for it.
“She… she escaped.”
“I see.” The Lady responded. “And her amulet?”
“Lost.” Sonata spoke in almost a whisper and hung her head.
“Then we can assume she has recovered it. Well, no matter. Taking out one of the Rainbooms this early was always a longshot anyway. I like your initiative, though. If you can keep it up, and produce results next time, you’re going to go far.”
Sonata beamed at the praise, and Adagio’s jaw dropped open. Sonata had failed! And The Lady wasn’t going to punish her? Just what kind of organization was she running here?
“Oh, but we did get this from her, though.” Sonata held forth a black scarf she had been guarding personally. It glowed with a soft blue light.
The Lady’s eyebrows shot up as she inspected it. “Interesting. Very interesting.” She held it out towards the crate with the other items as if she were going to add it to them, paused, then put it into her pocket instead. She turned back to the Sirens. “Good work, all of you. You told me what you could do with a little magic, and you proved yourselves. I think it’s time for you to meet the boss.”
She left the shed and started walking towards the exit of the self storage lot. The Sirens hurried after her, leaving the crate of artifacts to some thugs who came in after them.
“You’re not the boss?” Aria asked.
“Heh, no. I’m number two.”
“What’s this boss like?” Sonata asked.
The Lady stepped up to a limo parked at the entrance and opened the rear door, motioning with her hand for the others to go in. “See for yourself.”
Adagio leaned down to slide into the limo, but paused for a second before getting in. “You’re the boss? Well I’ll be damned.”
