The Awesome Spider-Dash: Origins

by Flufux

Chapters

Celestia's Newest Students
(Outdated Prologue) (non-canon)
1) And along came a Spider...Part 2
1) And along came a Spider...Part 3
1) And along came a Spider...Part 4
Celestia's Monday
2) A lecture in Heroism, Part 1
2) A lecture in Heroism, Part 2
2) A lecture in Heroism, Part 3
The Nightmare under the Moon
Orange is the new Rarity
Girls and Guys Night
3) Power and Responsibility, Part 1
3) Power and Responsibility, Part 2
3) Power and Responsibility, Part 3
Luna's Shadow
Rainbow's First Act of Heroism
Rainbow's First Supervillain
4) Cold Blood, Part 1
4) Cold Blood, Part 2
4) Cold Blood, Part 3
4) Cold Blood, Part 4
4) Cold Blood, Part 5
Celestia's Secret
5) Face the Nightmare, Part 1
5) Face the Nightmare, Part 2 (April fools)
5) Face the Nightmare, Part 2 (real one!)
5) Face the Nightmare, Part 3
My Dear Readers...
Your Friendly Neighbourhood Rainbow Dash
1) And Along Came a Spider, Part 1 (New version)

Celestia's Newest Students

1) And along came a Spider...Part 2

Episode 1

And along came a Spider...Part 2

Waking up at the Wrong Side of the Bed...*literally*

If Rainbow Dash had to describe this particular Sunday morning in one word, it would be…‘weird’.

The first thing she noticed when she returned to the waking world was just how completely wrong everything felt. For some reason, she could feel not just the things that she physically touched, but everything around her. She couldn't explain it, but she could sense every single furniture in the room, every single piece of clothing on the floor, every poster on the walls, and even the subtle breathing of her pet tortoise as he slept quietly.

Things only got stranger when she opened her eyes to see what was going on.

The bed appeared to be…on the ceiling? Well, that was her first thought as soon as she saw the state of her room. However, after readjusting her eyes a bit more, she noticed that it was not just the bed. The whole room appeared to have been turned upside down.

“Okay…I'm guessing I'm still dreaming…” Rainbow muttered to herself groggily.

Only, she knew dreams did not feel this real, and her dreams usually involved a lot of high speed flying through the clouds alongside the Wonderbolts with Fluttershy proudly cheering her on. This on the other hand...was something else entirely.

“Oookay...probably not a dream.” She noted with a yawn.

After letting that concept sink into her head for a moment, her eyes suddenly shot open and she began to look around frantically.

It was then she noticed something far more disturbing.

It wasn't the room that was upside down, it was herself who was.

Somehow, Rainbow Dash was clinging onto the surface of the ceiling with nothing but the tips of her fingers, a feat that should not have been physically possible. Even more unbelievable was the fact that she had been sleeping in this position. To top it all off, she had no memory of how she even got up there in the first place.

However, when she tried to regain some control in her (apparently very sticky) hands, whatever holding her glued to the ceiling suddenly vanished, and like some clichéd cartoon gag, she fell face first into the bed below…probably damaging a few springs in the mattress when she landed.

After letting out a slightly pained groan, Rainbow slowly and steadily sat up straight and mumbled, “That was weird…”

Suddenly, she felt a sharp tingle buzz at the back of her head, and for some reason, she instantly knew that whatever that tingle was, it was warning her about something next to her bed.

Without even thinking about what she was doing, she sprang up into the air like a grasshopper and latched onto the nearest wall in less than a second. Just like how she woke up that morning, she was now supporting her entire weight onto the surface with just her feet and the tips of her fingers.

The next thing she knew, her alarm clock began to ring in the exact location the strange tingle had tried to warn her about. Only…the warning came a full five seconds before it began ringing.

Baffled by all of this, Rainbow Dash just stared at the alarm clock as if it was completely alien to her. After all, humans usually couldn't stick to walls like they were made of flypaper, and neither could they react to things before they even happened using strange body sensations. Well, Pinkie Pie could do something very similar, but everyone who knew her had agreed that Pinkie was immune to the laws of physics.

However, that gave Rainbow a very disturbing idea on what was going on with her.

“Am I…turning into Pinkie Pie?!”

That thought was quickly discarded though when she heard her father shout, “Dash, are you gonna turn that off anytime soon?!”

Realising that the alarm clock was still ringing, Rainbow jumped from the wall and landed on her feet in the middle of the room with little to no difficulty. She didn't even feel any vertigo from doing something like that.

She walked over to the small table next to her bed and tried to push the button on the alarm clock to turn it off, but instead of doing that, she somehow managed to accidentally smash it into pieces. Staring in surprise at the broken remains of her ancient nemesis, the only thing she had to say was…"Wow.”

Granted, she had no love for that clock, but destroying it was not her intention. Now she probably had to pay for a new one, not to mention explain what happened to the old one.

Things did not turn out any better when she attempted to leave the room either. When she tried to pull the door open, she instead ripped the doorknob straight out of the door. Not only that, but the broken off doorknob was now stuck to her hand like superglue.

Dash tried desperately to use her free hand to pull it off, but it was not budging no matter how hard she tried.

Then, with no warning whatsoever, the titanium grip she had on the object loosened while she was still trying to pry it off, ultimately resulting in the severed doorknob flying like a projectile out of her hands and right out of her bedroom window, shattering it in the process.

At that exact moment, Vinyl Scratch, a girl with purple shades and electric blue hair was passing through the street outside, her new Electro-themed music remix blaring into her headphones while she bobbed her head obliviously to what was happening around her.

But when she felt something hit her shoulder at high speed, she winced in pain and began to look around for any sign of what it was. When she saw the strange metal object on the ground next to her, she picked it up, shrugged, put it in the pocket of her white hoodie and continued on her path as if nothing happened.

Rainbow Dash’s parents on the other hand were not so nonchalant about what just happened.

When Firefly heard the unmistakable sound of glass shattering, she decided to head upstairs and see what on earth was going on. She was then met with the sight of her daughter flashing her a nervous smile with a broken window and an even more broken alarm clock in the background.

Firefly was not amused.

After an awkward staring contest that lasted a few more seconds than Rainbow Dash was comfortable with, Firefly asked, “So…care to explain?”

Truthfully, Rainbow was as confused as her mother was, probably even more so. But…she really felt the need to come up with some excuse, no matter how lame it was.

“Uhmm…I think some kid was playing...uh…baseball and…one of the balls…hit the window...and the alarm clock too.”

“Uh-huh…” Firefly answered unconvinced.

“Yeah, that’s totally what happened. I think it might have been Scootaloo and her friends, you know how those three are.”

Firefly’s eyes narrowed while Rainbow’s forced smile grew, “And you’re not trying to hide something from me, are you?”

“Nope, not hiding anything, promise!”

“Funny, because that’s exactly what you said when you promised you weren't shoplifting last year.”

No way out now, she had no choice but to explain exactly what happe…

“Hey, do you think there is any broccoli left in the fridge? I'm starving.”

…or not.

Rainbow’s completely out of nowhere question caught Firefly off-guard, “Huh, what?”

But Dash didn't explain herself at all, and instead walked past Firefly like she was in a hurry, leaving her mother with a truly puzzled and confused look on her face.

Downstairs, Rainbow Blaze was once again reading the latest issue of the Daily Bugle in the kitchen. This time, the headline read, ‘NOTORIOUS CRIMINAL GRUFF (AKA THE VULTURE) HAS BEEN RELEASED FROM TARTARUS INSTITUTE’, with a prison photo of an old man with a scarred eye looking bitterly at the camera.

The middle-aged father put down his newspaper when he noticed Rainbow Dash head from her room upstairs straight for the refrigerator. He raised an eyebrow when he saw her open it and began to frantically search for something inside.

"Good morning, Dash." Blaze greeted, "You're up early, especially for a Sunday. Did you forget to turn off the alarm clock? And what was that ruckus just now?! It sounded like a window broke."

Rainbow Dash was so focused on whatever it was she was looking for that she didn't catch a word of what her father just said. Instead, she took out a package of broccoli and one of Blaze's home-made blueberry pies. Most of the time she hated her father's pies, but today...was a bit different.

When Rainbow Blaze saw Rainbow Dash put her odd choice of breakfast on the kitchen table and messily devour both broccoli and pie alike as if she hadn't eaten in years, he cautiously asked, "Dash...should I be worried?"

With a mouthful of blueberry pie, Dash looked at him and questioned, "What do you mean?"

"First of all: blueberry pie and broccoli do not go well together, and secondly: when have you ever liked my pies?"

She swallowed what she had in her mouth and paused while she considered that. "Since...this morning, I guess..."

Blaze's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

When she saw his glare, Dash asked, "What?"

"Oh, I don't know, is it so wrong for a father to be concerned about his teenage daughter suddenly waking up at strange times and having bizarre food cravings?"

It took her a moment to figure out what he was getting at, but when she did, she immediately clarified, "What, no, it's not that!"

"Really...?"

"Look, I would know if I ever did...that. And besides, the only person I've ever done it with is Gilda...and last time I checked, she's a girl!"

"And you're sure about that, right?"

"What are...ewww, dad!"

He held his hands up, "Sorry, sorry, just had to make sure."

"I'm. Not. Pregnant! Seriously, I'm not."

"Okay, okay, I believe you. But...then what is up with your newfound taste for broccoli and Blaze-pie?"

Dash shrugged, "No idea."

Rainbow Blaze slowly raised his newspaper to hide his face in an attempt to break the awkward tension between them. It didn't work, and in fact only made it even more awkward.

The tension was making Dash just a bit uncomfortable, so she decided to try to break it by changing the subject. "So...anything interesting in the news lately?"

Blaze showed his daughter the picture of the old scarred man on the front page and answered, "Apparently, Gilda's grandpa has been released from prison."

"Wasn't that the loon who dressed up in that silly bird-costume and robbed a bunch of banks?"

"That's him. I remember back when I was just a young boy and kept hearing stories about the insane bank-robber dressed as a green vulture. Canterlot's very first super-villain...back in the sixties...the good old days. But...I guess that's all in the past since he hasn't been seen in that costume for more than twenty years now."

"It sure seems like that attitude of his is genetic though." Dash said with a hint of bitterness.

Blaze put down the newspaper again and looked her in the eye, "Is this about Gilda again?"

"Yeah, it's about Gilda! She was a total bitch to all of my friends, especially Fluttershy, and then she goes around telling everyone that I'm a selfish jerk and blames me for breaking up with her!"

"Just...please let that go. You can't stay bitter about her forever."

"Well, until the day comes when she falls on her knees and begs Fluttershy for forgiveness, I'm still going to be angry with her."

"You know that's not healthy, Dash. I'm not telling you to forgive her, but-"

"But nothing! Can we just stop talking about this?"

"Not to sound childish, but you brought her up."

"Whatever, I'm going out for some fresh air."

Dash hastily got up and left her plate and what was left of her unorthodox breakfast on the table before she grabbed her blue jacket, put on her shoes and left through the front door. Rainbow Blaze sighed but decided against reminding his daughter to put away her plate.

After stepping out of her house, Rainbow Dash decided to put her thoughts of her botched relationship with Gilda aside by exploring these new powers that she had suddenly woken up with.

Already, her strange sensory ability made her feel just about everything in her surroundings, up to and including the wing beats of the tiny mosquito that was just about to land on her neck. Within the blink of an eye, she managed to squash it with her hand in mid-air behind her back without even looking.

She slowly opened her hand again to look at the remains of the dead insect. And her immediate reaction was to brush the remains off with her other hand while making a slight disgusted noise.

"I really should think before I react to that..." She noted out loud.

Already, her ability to sense things in her surroundings intrigued her, but that was just one of her new abilities.

Determined to test something, she rubbed her hands together, bent her legs slightly and focused on the roof of the house in front of her. With her destination in sight, she jumped five metres up into the air and landed on the house's roof without breaking a sweat. Her feet's new ability to stick to things made sure she didn't slip and hurt herself, and it seemed to work even though she was currently wearing shoes. (To be honest, I have no idea how that works)

With a goofy smile on her face for accomplishing such a feat, Rainbow declared, "Okay, that was cool!"

Out of curiosity, she walked over to the edge of the roof, got down on her knees and lowered her head to take a peak through the window below. From there, she could get a perfect upside-down view of...Fluttershy's bedroom?

The moment she saw the girl she had a crush on brush her long pink hair while staring into her mirror, Rainbow Dash immediately turned her eyes away and stood back up.

She closed her eyes and clenched her teeth, "Okay, I know it's tempting, Dash, but just...don't, just don't, just don't."

However, her presence did not go unnoticed, as Fluttershy happened to hear a sudden noise by her window that struck her as a bit odd. Curious, she walked over to the window, opened it and asked, "Hello, is anybody there?"

The moment Rainbow Dash heard Fluttershy's voice, she panicked and jumped over to another house as quickly as she could in order to avoid a potentially very awkward situation.

When she had stayed there for almost a minute and was sure that Fluttershy hadn't seen her, Rainbow released a breath that she apparently had been holding. But, the fact remained that she had effortlessly jumped from one rooftop to another without even thinking, and that was an impressive feat in itself.

However, Rainbow Dash was an athlete and always prided herself in exceeding her own limits, and with these new super-powers, her limits were completely unknown to her.

Time to change that.

In the suburban district where she lived, the houses were lined up next to each other for quite a long distance, and as Rainbow took in the sight, a smirk formed itself on her face. Ordinary athletes would use plain running paths or more realistically doable obstacle courses, but as of this morning, Rainbow Dash was not 'ordinary' any longer.

She started off with a short sprint in order to get enough momentum, and then she jumped off the roof she was on and landed on the next one without any difficulty. But she did not stop there, for as soon as she landed, she started to run and eventually jump to the next one, and the one after that, and the one after that, and then she decided to keep doing it for a while.

Not only was her jumping distance improved, but also her stamina and especially her speed. And as she got more into the act of jumping from roof to roof, she got a little more daring and tried some things she hadn't even attempted before. Dash could barely believed it when she effortlessly performed a back-flip in mid-air and landed perfectly on her feet on the next roof. It was just too surreal.

After only 20 minutes of roof-jumping, she felt the need to up her game a bit. After all, she wouldn't be Rainbow Dash if she didn't test her absolute limits on a daily basis, and this time was no exception.

The ideal place for this came into view when she was beginning to approach the more city-like area of Canterlot where the buildings were starting to get just a little bit taller and were made of concrete.

She spotted a five story building at the very edge of the suburban district where she lived. The building was remote, with flat even walls, not too tall or too short, and there were not that many people around (not too surprising considering how early in the morning it was).

With her destination in sight, she said, "Perfect."

She ran over to an out-of-view wall at the side of the building and sized up the distance from the ground all the way to the top. While certainly not the most impressive building in the city, it would be more than enough for a test run.

Rainbow began by putting her right hand on the solid surface, then followed by the left one, and then followed by both of her legs so that she didn't have to touch the ground anymore. That was the easy part. Now she had to do something a little more impressive than just hanging onto a wall.

She detached one hand from the surface and moved it a step further up, then she did the same with the other while her legs followed suite. Before long, she was actually climbing further and further up the wall. Good thing she wasn't that afraid of heights.

What started out as a calm steady climb gradually turned more into a dash up the building as Rainbow increased her pace. Soon enough, she was practically running up the wall on all four. The abundance of adrenaline in her blood was higher at that moment than it had probably been in her life...and she was already an adrenaline junkie.

When she finally reached the top, she didn't just climb up, instead she jumped four metres into the air, performed a somersault and landed perfectly on the roof with her hands rather than her feet. She was now holding her weight up from the ground with just the tips of her fingers, but she'd already done something like that, hadn't she?

Feeling even more daring, Rainbow Dash took two of her fingers from both hands off the ground, then she pulled back the thumbs as well. But she had not quite reached her limit just yet, and she even went so far as to remove her right hand completely, thus proving that she could lift herself up with nothing more than the tips of the two fingers that were still touching the ground.

After experiencing the world upside-down for a moment, she flipped back to her feet, standing once again like a normal person.

When she stood at the top of a building she had literally climbed up on, she felt more like she was on top of the world. From this vantage point, she could see almost the entire city, and with the rising sun in the background, it was truly a sight to behold.

Filled with a joy she hadn't felt in ages, Rainbow shouted "THIS. IS. AWESOME!" as loud as she possibly could.

In a small apartment in the very same building Rainbow Dash had just climbed, Octavia, a young woman wearing a black suit with a pink bow-tie and straight black hair was playing on her cello in perfect harmony. Her eyes were closed as she allowed the peaceful classical music to calm her senses.

That was until she heard someone shout "THIS. IS. AWESOME!" from what must have been her roof, prompting her to open her eyes and let out an annoyed groan.

If there was one thing Octavia couldn't tolerate, it was distractions. So she calmly put down her cello, walked over to the only open window in the room, closed it, got back to her original position and picked up her instrument once more. But before her bow could touch the string of her cello, her peace and quiet was disturbed once again when her girlfriend Vinyl Scratch slammed open the front door loud enough to nearly give Octavia a heart attack.

She sharply turned around to face the blue-haired intruder and gave her a death glare for disturbing her peace and quiet for the millionth time. Vinyl responded to that with a slightly guilty smile.

Octavia really did love Vinyl, but at the same time, she kept asking herself how a mute girl could possibly be so...noisy?

Determined to know the answer to that, Octavia questioned, "Vinyl, why can't you ever open the door like an ordinary person?" in her overly posh English accent.

Using a series of elaborate hand gestures, Vinyl signed, 'It's more fun my way.'

"More fun for you maybe. I'm not entirely sure if I enjoy it as much."

'I have to be loud somehow' Vinyl signed in addition to pointing at her throat, hinting at her useless vocal chords.

"I think the chaos that you consider to be music is loud enough."

Vinyl responded to that comment by mockingly sticking out her tongue at her.

Octavia rolled her eyes, "Oh do grow up. In any event, did anything interesting happen while you were out and about?"

To answer her question, Vinyl fished out Rainbow Dash's doorknob from the pocket of her hoodie and held it up for her to see.

With a raised eyebrow, Octavia asked, "Is that a...doorknob?"

Vinyl nodded.

"Why are you carrying around a doorknob?"

Vinyl shrugged.

(Outdated Prologue) (non-canon)

1) And along came a Spider...Part 4

Episode 1

And along came a Spider...Part 4

Rainbow's first swing

On the roof of the building Spike and Twilight lived in, the two of them were patiently waiting for Rainbow Dash to show up.

It had been a couple of hours since Twilight finished the new prototype 'Web-shooters' and tested that they worked properly in a controlled environment. However, before Rainbow Dash decided to try them out for real, she insisted on grabbing something at home first, leaving the two siblings waiting for her.

With nothing better to do until Rainbow returned, Spike decided to use this opportunity to ask his sister about who she secretly had a crush on. With Dash out of earshot, she agreed to let him know. He did however have a pretty good idea on who it was...until Twilight told him that it was someone else entirely.

"Really?!" He asked in clear surprise when she finally revealed who she was interested in.

"Yes." Twilight confirmed.

"But...if that's who you have a crush on...why is everyone so sure you have a thing for Flash Sentry?"

"Look, just because I bumped into him more than once does not mean I'm dating him. Heck, I barely even know the guy! All I really know about him is that he's a security guard at CelestiaCorp with blue hair. That's it." Twilight's tone when she said that made it perfectly clear how much she disliked those rumours.

"I guess you have a point." Spike receded. "Still, I can't believe you're in love with-"

Before he could utter the name of Twilight's mystery crush, he was silenced by a shout of, "I'M BACK!" that obviously belonged to Rainbow Dash and came from behind the two of them.

Twilight and Spike sharply turned around to see Rainbow standing on the edge of the building wearing a skin-tight blue and yellow outfit with decorative lightning bolts all over it. The suit came with a mask that had openings for the eyes, mouth and hair. A pair of flight goggles also rested on Rainbow's forehead.

Seeing her rather unusual fashion choice, Spike questioned, "Uh, what's with the get-up?"

"And wouldn't it be easier to just take the stairs?" Twilight added.

Rainbow answered, "Climbing walls is way cooler!" with her usual bravado. "As for the outfit, well...it's my mom's old Wonderbolt uniform from when she was a member. It's actually a rather out-dated version. With the speeds the Wonderbolts are flying these days, they needed something to keep their blood from gathering in their legs and instead go back to the brain. The new uniforms can make the pilot take a few more Gs than the old ones, but they don't look as radical. However, since I doubt I will break the sound barrier, even though that would be super awesome, I think this will do for now."

"I'm surprised you knew all that." Twilight confessed.

"Just because I'm not an egghead doesn't mean I'm stupid. Despite popular belief, sometimes I do pay attention in class."

"That's...good to hear, actually. So what was the reason for spending the last few hours running home to get an old Wonderbolt uniform, again?"

"Are you kidding? Of course I'm gonna wear a Wonderbolt uniform for this moment!"

"What do you mean by 'this moment'?"

"For the first time I get to fly for real!"

"You know we're testing web-shooters...not wings, right?"

"Duh, of course I know that! But with those web-shooters, I can swing from building to building faster than you can imagine, and it will be awesome!"

To be frank, Twilight hadn't really thought about what Rainbow would use those web-shooters for, but after hearing that, she honestly wasn't surprised. "I guess they could work that way, but your timing and aim will have be absolutely perfect or else you'll...well..."

After Twilight trailed off nervously, Rainbow urged, "Well...what?"

Before she could answer that question, Spike bluntly answered for her. "You'll probably die or at least break every bone in your body."

"Well...basically." Twilight concurred.

Rainbow Dash waved off their concerns, "Just relax, you two, I will be totally fine. I just ran a marathon while jumping from rooftop to rooftop, I think I can handle this."

"I sincerely hope you're right about that."

"Of course I'm right! Now let's stop wasting time and hand over those web-shooters already!"

Twilight sighed and muttered, "Gee, sorry for caring if you live or die..." while she reached her hand into the pocket of the hoodie she was currently wearing.

She took out a pair of small devices strapped to a pair of bracelets that seemed quite advanced for technically being home-made. The back-end of the devices could be opened in order to insert a web-capsule into it, and even though there was only room for one, it would take a lot of usage before it ran out. The front end had an opening that the webbing could be shot out of, as well as an in-built scissor to cut the thread at the push of a button if the user ever needed to. There was also a small extension at the front of the device that had a button at the end. Once that button was pressed, the device would fire a sling of webbing similarly to the webgun prototypes it was based on. Depending on how long it was pressed, one could also decide exactly how much cobweb was to come out of it.

Twilight had already explained all of this to Rainbow Dash, so therefore I think I can skip that explanation. So instead, she simply handed them over to her.

However, Rainbow ended up with a few problems when it came to actually putting them on. The first attempt ended up with one of the devices aiming at the wrong direction, and the second try didn't have the trigger at the correct location, and the third attempt didn't have the bracelet strapped securely enough.

Eventually though, Rainbow got the things right, with the devices firmly attached to her wrists, aimed forward, and had the triggers placed at the base of her palms, allowing her to use them properly.

"So...what now?" Rainbow asked once she was done.

"All you need to do is to aim one of those at a desired target and press down your middle fingers on the trigger." Before Rainbow could get any funny ideas, Twilight added, "And just to be clear, I am not a desired target."

With a mischievous smirk on her face, Rainbow casually aimed her arm in Twilight's direction while asking, "Really? So you don't want me to do THIS!?" before she made a move to press the trigger button while aiming the web-shooter at her face, making Twilight attempt to duck from the incoming webbing.

Only...she never actually pressed the button, and it turned out Rainbow Dash had merely trolled her by pretending to.

"Hehe, got ya!" She teased.

Twilight slowly stood up straight and looked Rainbow in the eye. "That wasn't funny."

"Hey, lighten up, egghead, it was kinda funny."

"No it wasn't, and trust me, I know funny."

Spike and Dash simultaneously rolled their eyes at that statement.

Twilight's response to that was a simple confused uttering of "What?"

Rainbow Dash backed away a bit and began to look around the place for a suitable target to test the web-shooters on.

The building she was standing on had to be at least twenty stories tall and was surrounded by buildings that were far bigger. Yet, despite being in the middle of one of the biggest cities in the country, there were surprisingly few people out today. One reason for that could be the slightly chilly and cloudy weather, another might be that fact that it was Sunday. However, while there might be relatively few people out, it was still in Central Canterlot, so it wasn't exactly empty either.

Rainbow could already see quite a number of promising locations so far, but she hadn't really decided which to go for first. While she was pondering over this, she nonchalantly walked around on the edge of the roof, not bothered in the slightest about the height she was at.

Eventually, she stopped pacing and set her eyes on a pretty tall building across the street from the one she was on. She then looked down at the distance between herself and the ground. There was no possible way for anyone, even with spider-powers, to survive a fall from that height. Yet, her determination didn't waver in the slightest.

Rainbow slipped the flight goggles over her eyes and carefully aimed her right web-shooter at the highest point of the building. With her target in sight, she pressed her fingers down on the trigger and released a long thread of cobweb that quickly attached itself to the building's roof. She then took a firm grip on the thread with both hands and prepared herself for what she was about to attempt.

Seeing all of this, Twilight asked, "Um, wouldn't it be better to try on something a little less...life-threatening?"

Rainbow turned her head around to face her and smiled. "Twilight Sparkle, sometimes you must run before you can even walk."

With those words said, Rainbow Dash jumped straight off the building, allowing herself a few moments of free-falling before the thin line of webbing she was holding onto began to halt her descent and swing her towards to the structure in front of her. Throughout her trip, she was excitingly repeating, "Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!"

Twilight and Spike ran over to the edge to get a closer look, and Spike even pulled out a pair of binoculars from his pocket to see even closer.

However, Rainbow Dash hadn't really thought this through all that much, and she realised a bit too late that her swing was sending her on a collision course with the building.

Inside her apartment, a very reclusive and studious woman named Moondancer was fully absorbed in her book on Professor Starswirl's theories on cross-species genetics.

She had spent most of the day having tons of crazy (according to her) people constantly trying to befriend her, and they simply never gave her a break. She didn't need any friends, or parties or...whatever else everyone kept saying she needed. All she needed (still according to her) was some privacy where she could study in peace, and she knew that nobody would ever disturb her in her own home.

At least that's what she thought.

Needing to rest her eyes for just a moment, she put down her book, took off her thick-rimmed glasses, rubbed the base of her nose a bit and chanced a peak out the window.

That was when a girl dressed in a skin-tight blue and yellow outfit suddenly slammed straight into her window, nearly making Moondancer jump out of her skin and let out a startled scream.

Both Spike and Twilight winced at the sight.

"That got to hurt." Spike commented while he took his eyes away from his binoculars.

Rainbow Dash groaned in response to her hurting shoulder that had the misfortune of impacting with the surprisingly tough glass of the window. The fact that she hadn't broken anything was a miracle...and probably a result of her increased durability as a result of the spider-bite. Still, it would be fair to say that things didn't turn out exactly as she planned it.

She dropped the thread she was holding onto and used her hands and feet to attach herself to the window. She tried her best to ignore the pain and glanced back at the house where Spike and Twilight were watching. Once she saw them looking back at her, she freed one of her hands and gave them a thumbs up, signalling that she was okay.

Moondancer then opened the window next to her and gave Rainbow an unamused glare while making an annoyed, "Ahem!"

Dash looked at her with a nervous smile, wondering how she was possibly going to explain this one.

However, Moondancer's priorities seemed to be elsewhere. "Whatever stunt you are trying to perform, can you please do it somewhere else? I am trying to study!"

"Huh...sorry about that. Just give me a second and I'll be out of your hair."

"You better..." Moondancer warned with a bit of venom in her voice before she closed the window rather soundly to emphasise her point. Immediately after that though, she sat back at her desk and turned her focus back to her book.

"And I thought only Twilight could get so obsessed with studying..." Rainbow muttered under her breath.

While the first try at web-slinging may have not been so successful, Dash didn't believe in giving up prematurely.

The second try began pretty much the same as the first one. She shot a new line of webbing at another building nearby and detached herself from Moondancer's window, allowing gravity to propel her forward.

However, she had learned from her mistake the last time and just before she was about to receive another painful impact with the second building, she used her left web-shooter to attach a sling of web to a third building and let go of the thread she was holding. This way, she narrowly avoided the impact and kept herself in the air.

Using this method, she soon managed to swing from building to building almost as if she was flying. Rainbow Dash could feel the wind sip past her at high speed, she could feel the adrenaline flow through her blood, she finally felt...free, and that was one of the greatest feelings she had ever had.

All her life, ever since she was in kindergarten, she had wanted to fly, to soar through the air, to look down upon the world below, and to be free from the confines of the ground. And this...was the closest she had ever gotten to that goal. As she swung herself between the massive skyscrapers around her faster than was humanly possible, a smile of pure joy formed itself on her lips.

Lost in her euphoria, Rainbow Dash began to perform all kinds of tricks while swinging.

First, she began to sling herself higher up at the end of the swings, allowing the momentum alone to propel her into the air. Once in the air, she flipped around and somersaulted like crazy before she suspended her falls with an emergency line.

With even more bravado, she decided to swing as close to the ground as she dared. With a line of webbing attached to a high enough point on a building in front of her, she swung widely towards the street below, her feet nearly reaching the ground when she sipped between an ambulance and a delivery truck, leaving the drivers of both cars wondering what the heck just flew past them. At the end of her swing, she braced herself and landed on a wall on the Empire Canterlot Building, the tallest man-made construction in the country.

After attaching herself to the surface of the wall, she stood up on her legs and shot a line of webbing from both web-shooters to the very top of the massive structure. Once they hit their mark, she took a few steps and bent herself as far back as she could to increase tension in the cobwebs. Then, she suddenly let go and allowed the stored pent up energy to propel like a slingshot towards the top.

When gravity eventually began to slow her ascent and pull her back down, she grabbed the wall of the building and started to climb the rest of the way up.

It took her a while, but she eventually reached the roof of the enormous structure. And she didn't stop there, for she also decided to climb up on the huge antenna spire at the very top, giving her a view from the highest point in the entire city.

443 meters up into the air, Rainbow Dash could see all of Canterlot and beyond from here. It was a view she could only dream of until now, and a part of her was convinced she was still dreaming. All of this: the powers, the experience, everything, was so unreal and out of the ordinary that she had trouble even grasping the fact that this was actually happening.

However, while sitting atop the tallest building in the city may seem awesome, eventually it was starting to get cold, and windy, and...it was actually a bit hard for Dash to breathe at this altitude. All of this meant that she couldn't stay up there forever.

There were a fair number of ways to get down, but there was only one that was crazy enough for Rainbow Dash at this moment.

"When in Rome..." She said while bracing herself for what she was about to do.

She jumped straight off the building and allowed gravity to ferry her back to the ground. As she began to fall from her skydiving attempt at over 400 metres height, she began to pick up speed from every second she spent falling. By the time she started to get close to the level of the regular-sized buildings, she was close to encountering G-forces.

Seven seconds before she would have hit the ground and probably died, she used one of the web-shooters to secure herself to a tall enough building and stop her descent.

While she did so, she began to happily shout, "THIS IS SO AWESO-"

However, her swing trajectory was not exactly planned, and before she could finish shouting her catchphrase, she suddenly crashed right into Senator Blueblood's face on a giant sign with the slogan 'A vote for Blueblood is a vote for the future!'. At the speed she was travelling at, the impact was, needles to say...painful.

Rainbow Dash cursed whoever placed the sign at that particular spot, probably as much as she was going to curse the pain in her now bleeding nose.

Oh, and there was also now a sign of Senator Blueblood with a hole where her face was supposed to be.

1) And along came a Spider...Part 2

Celestia's Monday

Minisode

Celestia's Monday

Miss Celestia, President of CelestiaCorp, has long been a subject of controversy and been called many things throughout the years, including a few less than flattering nicknames. She thought that 'Trollestia' was amusing (and somewhat accurate), 'Tyrantlestia'...not so much, and 'Molestia' downright insulting in her opinion. These nicknames were entirely based on wild rumours however since very few actually knew her true story, or who she truly was on the inside.

There was no doubt that she was one of the most powerful people in all of Canterlot, rivalled only by Mayor Mare, Senator Blueblood, Governor Fancy Pants, and the mysterious kingpin of the criminal underworld known only as the 'Crystal King'. And yet, despite all that power, she never flaunted or abused her influence in any noticeable way. Ironically, that was exactly what made people distrustful of her, as she seemed a bit too perfect in the eyes of many.

Even that was a misconception though.

She has made mistakes, many in fact. However, her closet was mostly skeleton free...at least in comparison to some other people with her kind of influence like her snobbish cousin Senator Blueblood for instance...who could probably fill an entire graveyard with what he had in his closet.

It was no secret that Celestia and Blueblood did not like each other very much. Celestia didn't like Blueblood mostly because of his 'I'm better than everyone else' attitude, as well as his general unpleasantness. Blueblood didn't like Celestia because she tended to try to lecture him on his behaviour every time they met, and also for publicly giving him a bad reputation.

Still, they were on civil enough terms to not resort to punches, kicks and nosebleeds when they argued...even though that was secretly what both of them wanted.

The days Celestia used brute force to solve her problems were, alas, long behind her...

This Monday morning, Celestia was watching the rising sun through the rather big windows that the far wall of her office was comprised of.

There were only two things Celestia demanded when it came to her office. One of them was a constant supply of exotic tea, the other were large open windows that let a lot of sunlight illuminate the room.

She had the appearance of a woman in her mid-thirties, yet it was often speculated that she was far older than that...if the rumours of her falsified birth-date had any merit. She was also really tall. At 1,9 metres, she towered over most full-grown men she knew. Her height could make her just a tiny bit intimidating to some people in fact. Her most recognisable feature though most have been her vibrant multicoloured hair that reached a bit below her hips in length. Unlike the rainbow hair of Rainbow Dash, Celestia's only had four colours: green, blue, pink and lavender. Another thing she was recognised by was her yellow semi-formal jacket she always wore in public that never failed to bring a certain warm and sunny image to herself in clear contrast to her more darkly-dressed younger sister.

Celestia had spent most of her morning just basking in the sun's radiance, allowing its warm rays to touch her skin and fill her body with its heat and energy. Sunbathing was actually one of Celestia's favourite hobbies, which may seem surprising considering the fact that her skin was very pale and showed no signs of tanning whatsoever. However, she had a very different reason for sunbathing than just for getting a tan...a reason that only a handful of people knew about.

Feeling like she had enough sun for today, Celestia turned around and took a seat at her desk, where a cup of her favourite tea was waiting for her. After taking a small sip of her beloved drink, a knock came from her door, prompting her to urge, "Come in."

When the door at the other end of the room opened, three people stepped inside. One of them was Doctor Silk Mane, the eccentric head researcher of CelestiaCorp's Bio-labs, who could be recognised for her expertly groomed long teal-coloured hair she put a ridiculous amount of attention to and her very expensive and very feminine glasses. The other two were Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer...who I assume you already know.

As soon as they stepped inside, Celestia greeted, "Good morning and happy Monday. Am I right to assume you have some news on your latest project?"

Dr Mane answered with a small chuckle, "Hehehe, Oh we got some news alright, hehe. When you said you would have a pair of teenagers work in my science team I expected them to be little more than those intolerable interns you keep inviting. What I didn't expect was for them to both be scientific prodigies!"

Celestia smiled proudly, "That was why I enlisted them, doctor. Sunset and Twilight, why don't you tell me what breakthroughs you've been doing as of late?"

Twilight was just about to answer when Silk answered for her. "They have helped me solve the secrets behind cross-species genetics, haha! With Shimmer's studies on the symbiote life form and Sparkle's-"

Celestia help up a hand to silence her, "I believe I was asking Twilight and Sunset about this."

Silk Mane's expression suddenly went from haughty to a dear-in-the-headlights, "Oh, well, I guess I got a little carried away there, didn't I? Hehehehe..."

"No need to apologise, Doctor. Sunset, Twilight?"

Sunset began, "Well, after extensive study on the 'symbiote' life form, I have successfully been able to mimic the creature's ability to transfer genetic traits from one organism to another. You see, the symbiote once melded with one of the mutated spiders in the bio-labs, and as a result, the symbiote has somehow gained the ability to transfer some of the spider's traits onto another organism. Now, I have been looking for a way for us to harness that ability so that, say, you could give a man with a missing limb the regeneration power of a newt. Theoretically, this could make the missing limb grow back in only a a day or two."

"But there was a problem..." Twilight continued, "The formula didn't work, and instead it just made things...let's call it...'worse'. The problem was that we hadn't fully grasped how different the symbiote's cells were compared to that of any organism that had originated on this planet."

"That was when we discovered the missing component."

"Yes, something we called the...'decay-rate-algorithm'. It's an equation that could calculate how quickly cells with the new genetic makeup would generate and affect the body. If only a few of the subject's cells were affected, then it could lead to cancers or horrible mismatched mutations. I have spent these last few months finding a way to prevent that from happening."

With an intrigued look, Celestia asked, "Well, did you find a way?"

While flashing an extremely dorky smile, Twilight exclaimed, "YES! I! DID! Just yesterday I discovered how the decay-rate-algorithm worked and how to implement it!"

"That's wonderful, Twilight!" Celestia said with a certain aura of pride in her prized student's accomplishment.

However, Twilight may have left out the part where the breakthrough actually came from studying some of Rainbow Dash's mutated DNA that she had...(ahem)...gotten her hands on in a totally-not-creepy-way when her friend wasn't looking. She figured it would be for the best for everyone involved if she didn't mention that little detail.

With a small, mostly unnoticed blush on her cheeks, Twilight muttered, "Just doing what you taught me to do."

"Well, you have certainly made me proud of your achievements...both of you." She finished that sentence with an encouraging look at Sunset as well.

The flame-haired girl gave an approving nod at that statement, but Dr Mane was a bit peeved at it and suddenly questioned, "Hey, what about me?!"

Celestia rose from her chair and gave the doctor a slightly playful smile, "Now, now, Doctor, you were already a very competent scientist when I hired you, which makes the achievements of two teenagers coming straight out of High School just bit more impressive. But that's not enough to leave you out, is it? So, what have you got?"

"Uh, what are you talking about?"

With a mischievous glint in her eyes, Celestia mused, "Oh, I just assumed you had your own contribution into this project, my mistake."

Dr Mane's mood suddenly turned to one of anger, "Now wait just a minute! What makes you think someone like ME wouldn't bring out the very best of my brilliant mind to a project such as this?!"

Celestia's smile didn't waver despite Silk's sudden outburst, "So you have contributed something? Go on, tell me."

The scientist abruptly composed herself and returned to her more jovial persona, "Yes, I have. You see, hehe, even with Shimmer's research and the 'decay-rate-algorithm' in our possession, we needed something to speed up the procedure and actually force a genetic evolution in the subject. After all, if you just leave the genetic makeup in, it could just stay there and do nothing. Kinda pointless, don't you think?"

Celestia leaned forward and put her hands on her desk to support herself, "And you have a solution to this?"

"Haha, I most certainly do. The key is the formula I designed called the 'Catalyst Factor', the name is trademarked by the way, that will force the cells within a body to mutate and adapt into a new form. If you combine a very small amount of this compound with the cross-species genetic formula, the desired traits from the foreign species would appear a lot quicker than it would without it."

"What happens then if you just insert the Catalyst Factor without any additional DNA?"

"I'm...not entirely sure, but a guess would be that the compound would force a completely random mutation...depending on the dosage."

"And how is that significant?"

"Well, let's say you want to transfer the regeneration ability of a newt onto a human, as Shimmer suggested. A small dosage of the factor would adapt only the desired regeneration to affect the subject, but...if you use too much of it, far more traits would pass over. Next thing you know, the subject could be transformed into a human-salamander hybrid or something. But we won't cross that line...I hope."

Celestia slowly sat back down in her chair, a thoughtful expression forming on her face. The notion that something like that could happen unnerved her just a bit, especially as it brought up a few very unpleasant memories.

"Those kinds of risks are not exactly making me very comfortable." she noted apprehensively.

Twilight noticed something in her mentor's expression, "Is something wrong?"

"It's just...I know all great advances in science have all had great risks, and I'm not someone to deny anyone progress based on what might happen, but...I formed this company on the basis that nothing like what happened at Starswirl Laboratories ever happens again. We need to be careful with our research, I cannot stress that enough. One mistake with something like this and...well, we could be dealing with another Discord, and I'd rather not have that on any of your resumes."

"Don't worry, we will be beyond careful." Twilight assured.

Sunset added, "Yeah, I'll make sure there are no human trials until we're sure we know what we're doing."

All eyes then fell upon Dr Mane, who noticeable hesitated before she said, "...Of course."

With that said, Celestia concluded, "Well then, if that is all then I suggest you start working. If you have any results till Friday you may showcase it in our annual presentation. Who knows, it might steal the show this year."

"Oh it definitively will" Sunset confidently assured.

"I don't doubt that. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some work to do, and so do you."

Dr Silk Mane put a firm hand each on Sunset and Twilight's shoulders, which were a bit too tight for either of their comforts, and concurred,"Yes, yes, we will get on that soon enough, Miss Celestia, and the results will be spec-tac-ular, I assure you, heheheha."

She then began to practically drag both teenagers out of the room, "Come on, you two, chop, chop!"

After stepping out of the door to Celestia's office, Dr Mane let go off them and began to hastily make her way back down to the bio-labs. Her younger co-workers were not really in the same kind of rush and followed after her at a much slower pace.

While watching the retreating sight of the scientist they were working for, Sunset Shimmer looked at Twilight and asked, "Is it just me or am I getting a bad vibe out of her?"

"Doctor Mane?"

"Yeah."

Twilight shrugged, "She seems pretty fine to me, why?"

"It just feels, I don't know, like there is something off about her. I can't really place it."

"I admit, she is a bit eccentric, but I don't see why that's a problem."

"It's not just that, I mean, have you heard that name everyone keeps calling her?"

"Well, yes, but that was more a pun of her name more than anything else."

"Sure, but it also implies that she's not exactly...'all there'."

"It's just a name. I know I was called a lot of things back in High School. 'Twilight Snarkle' or 'Dorky Bangs' were the most common."

"And I guess basing facts on rumours isn't the best way to...wait a minute, 'Dorky Bangs'? Who the heck called you that?"

A little embarrassed, Twilight answered, "Oh, quite a few actually. I think it was Gilda who came up with it and then everyone else started saying it. I was hardly the most popular girl at Canterlot High."

"Shame we didn't meet before Celestia practically shanghaied us here after that science fare. I would have made sure those guys would have to think twice before saying those things to your face if I'd been around."

"You...would do that for me?"

Sunset put a comforting hand on Twilight's shoulder (at least a lot more comforting than Silk's), creating another small blush to form on Twilight's face, "Of course I would, what are friends for?"

With a smile and a nod from Twilight, the pair began to walk back to the labs downstairs while continuing their previous discussion. Sunset brought up Dr Mane's eccentricities for a while, and then their conversation began to derail into something else.

With her two most promising students and her top scientist off to work on their latest project, Celestia could return her attention to the cup of tea that had been waiting for her throughout the whole conversation.

However, just before she could bring the cup to her lips, the computer embedded into her desk started to give off the most irritable beeping noise. At the same time, a red blinking light accompanied with the word 'Luna' started to blink on the smooth glass surface of the table.

Knowing what this meant, Celestia used the hand not currently holding the cup to press a finger down on the blinking red icon. In response, a holographic image of Luna appeared before her, and her sister's expression told Celestia immediately that the situation was serious.

"Luna, what is it?" Celestia asked before taking a small sip of her tea.

Through the holographic communication they were using, Luna revealed, "We have...a problem."

"Is it a big problem or a small one?"

"I'm not sure just yet, but it is certainly a cause for alarm."

"Oh my...that sounds ominous." Celestia commented with slightly out of place sarcasm.

Luna sighed before she revealed, "Last night, someone broke into the building and stole quite a lot of our technology from the engineering labs."

Celestia's eyes widened at that, "That...can't be good."

"It's worse: right before the theft, all alarms and security monitors in the building turned off for reasons unknown, so we have no way of knowing who was responsible for this. This may also suggest that the theft was an inside job."

"Hmmm..." Celestia mulled over that piece of information for a moment. "So...what did they actually stole?"

Luna cringed a little before she answered, "Right, I was afraid you were going to ask that. The things that were confirmed to be stolen are as follows: a huge collection of advanced smart bombs, a lightning sabre, a strength-enhancing fighter suit, a couple of directed plasma blasters and...our prototype military-grade attack glider."

Unfortunately for Celestia, she was in the process of downing a large quantity of her tea when she heard that, causing her to spit out half of it while exclaiming, "WHAT!?"

"Thinking back, I would say that this would qualify as a big problem." Luna muttered more to herself than to her sister.

"To say the least. You don't steal that much weaponised hardware just for fun. Whoever stole them must be planning something terrible."

"That's what I thought."

"Then I suggest we contact Captain Shining Armour at the precinct and tell him everything we know as soon as possible. The police must know what they're getting into."

"Indeed. But I'm worried that that might not be enough to stop someone who not only was able to steal right under our noses but also has their hands on some of our most advanced weapon technology."

"We will have to hope that it is...for all our sake."

1) And along came a Spider...Part 3

2) A lecture in Heroism, Part 1

Episode 2

A lecture in Heroism, Part 1

Coming back to High School

The dreaded time of the week known as Monday was upon all the young people going to Canterlot High, and none were too pleased about that. Students who had enjoyed the freedom of the weekend were now forced to once again rise early and focus on their schoolwork to make sure their grades don't plummet so much that it may affect their career choices in the future.

Canterlot High was your average cliché high school, and the greatest mystery about it was how it got its name considering the fact that it was placed in the suburbs and was just one of many high schools in Canterlot. Nevertheless, it was also the school Rainbow Dash and her friends went to. Well, except for Twilight, who got her position at CelestiaCorp after she and Sunset Shimmer (who she barely knew at the time) teamed up to compete in a science fare that Celestia attended. The result of their project was so impressive that the accomplished businesswoman took both of them under her wing and enlisted them as her personal students.

Another of Rainbow's friends who didn't show up to school today was the one called Rarity...who was dealing with an entirely different lifestyle than High School at the moment.

Waiting for the classes to start, Fluttershy, Applejack and Pinkie Pie were hanging out in one of the school's hallways while taking their things out of their lockers. Rainbow Dash was a bit late though...as usual.

"So...did the rest of you all have a good weekend?" Fluttershy asked openly while unlocking her locker.

Pinkie immediately declared, "I had one of the most funnest weekends EVER! First you two and Rainbow Dash took a trip to CelestiaCorp to meet up with Twilight, then-"

Applejack cut her off, "Um, Pinkie, we already know that part. We were there...ya know?"

"Of course I know you were there, silly, I just said so."

Fluttershy suggested, "Yes, but can you maybe tell us something that happened when we...weren't there?"

"Huh? Sure, but those things weren't really that fun."

"I'm sure you can think of something interesting that happened."

"Weeeell...yesterday me and my sister Maud were out shopping for a birthday present for Marble when my Pinkie Sense kept telling me that something was gonna fall from the sky! Turned out it was some girl dressed in a blue and yellow outfit who used some kind of web-shooting thingies to swing from building to building."

Applejack raised an eyebrow, "Say what now?"

Pinkie shrugged, "I don't know who she was or why she was doing that, but it looked like FUN! I guess you had to be there."

"If ya say so."

Dropping that subject, Pinkie asked, "So how was your weekend, Jackie?"

The country girl bluntly answered, "Pretty much a plum-tuckin' pig-pushin' disaster, that's how it was! We lost over half of our usual customers to the Flim Flam Industry in two days. Those darn Flim Flam brothers have bought up almost every major business in this part of town, and it will be a cold day in hell before I let those charlatans get their greedy hands on my farm! We still don't even know who's givin' them all the money, but I bet whoever it is has not gotten that cash legally."

"That doesn't sound good." Fluttershy noted.

"That's an understatement. If they keep goin' on with this, Sweet Apple Acres will be out of business within a month and I have no idea how to stop them! I reckon I should speak to Shining Armour about it, he seems to be the only reasonable cop in this town."

"I'm sure he would be glad to help you considering you're one of his sister's best friends."

"Yeah, but...he is still only one officer and I bet even he won't be able to rightly do much 'bout it without that darn evidence."

"Is there still no evidence?"

Applejack crossed her arms, "Nope. I talked to them cops twice already and they found no proof that they were doin' anything illegal, but I ain't buyin' it for one second."

"Why not?" Asked Pinkie.

"Somebody who insists on remainin' anonymous gives a whole bunch of cash to them so they can buy up every business in this side of town. If that don't sound fishy to you, then I don't know what does."

"Things that have to do with fish sounds pretty fishy to me."

"I didn't mean that literally."

"Of course not, you meant it vocally. I mean, you didn't write it down for me, did you?"

Applejack gave Pinkie an incredulous look but ultimately shrugged it off. Only Pinkie Pie could take the word 'literary' too...well...literary.

With a strong desire to change the subject, Applejack looked at Fluttershy and asked, "So...how was your weekend, Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy happily answered, "Oh, it was wonderful! I found a new animal friend to take care of, and she was one of the most adorable little creatures I've ever seen! I decided to call her Fuzzy Legs."

"Fuzzy Legs? What kind of critter was she?"

Before Fluttershy had time to answer, Pinkie guessed, "Oh, oh, oh, let me guess: a tiger, a mantis, a monkey, crane, panda, snake? Wait, snakes don't have legs, unless that was one of those ironic names. Is it?"

Fluttershy laughed a little and clarified, "Oh no, Fuzzy Legs is a spider."

"Ooooooooh, now I get it..."

Applejack questioned, "Wait a minute, how exactly is a spider adorable?"

"How could it not be?" Fluttershy answered, "I don't really get why everyone thinks spiders are so scary. I think they look cute, with their pretty little eyes and those fuzzy little legs."

"Well, I suppose if anyone could consider a spider to be cute, it be you, Fluttershy."

Fluttershy blushed a little at that comment.

"Hi guys!" Rainbow's voice cheerfully greeted, prompting her three friends to sharply turn in her direction

Sure enough, their brash tomboy of a friend with prismatic hair was approaching them. However, there was something a little different about her today. It was subtle, but if one looked closely, one could see that Dash was acting far more chipper than she had been all month.

While she hadn't admitted it to anyone, she had been a bit depressed ever since the mess that made her break up with Gilda, but now...she looked ready to attack the day. Her eyes showed a confidence she hadn't displayed in a while and the grin on her face was as cocky as it used to be.

Pinkie Pie's reaction to her presence was immediate. Before anyone could blink, the pink blur ran towards Rainbow at hyper-sonic speed while holding her arms out with the intention of giving her friend one of her infamous 'Pinkie-hugs'.

However, just before Pinkie could reach her, Rainbow's spider-sense kicked in and she immediately side-stepped out of the way, making Pinkie miss her completely. The overly excited party girl was moving so fast though that she had no chance to slow down her trajectory before she crashed headfirst into a teacher who just so happened to be passing by, sending them both tumbling to the floor.

Pinkie Pie was the first one to bounce back on her feet, and she did so very quickly and without a scratch, her cheerful smile still plastered on her face. The teacher on the other hand...was not so cheerful about it. In fact, his name was actually 'Cranky', and it was a name he certainly lived up to. The grumpy glare he was giving Pinkie at the moment was a good example of that.

"Uhmmm...sorry?" Pinkie tried while facing his glare with a nervous smile.

Cranky merely grumbled under his breath, picked himself up and walked away without uttering a word.

With a frown, Pinkie muttered, "One day...I'll make him smile..." under her breath.

Then her smile spontaneously returned and she tried to hug Rainbow Dash again. This time, however, Rainbow stopped her in her tracks with a hand to Pinkie's forehead. Not willing to give up though, Pinkie kept on running towards her...even though she was not going anywhere.

"Whoah, easy there, Pinkie!" Dash urged while holding the pink party animal at bay.

Pinkie insisted, "But I have to give all of my friends a super-special hug on Mondays or else they'll just be bitter all day!"

"No need for that, trust me. I happen to be in a pretty awesome mood today."

Pinkie Pie suddenly stopped what she was doing and gave Rainbow back her personal space, "Okey dokey lokey!"

"That's good to hear." Fluttershy noted with a small smile. "Any particular reason why?"

'Because I just got the most awesome superpowers ever!' was what she wanted to say. However, Twilight had given her a stern lecture yesterday about why she shouldn't tell anybody about her new abilities, especially in a public setting. The reasons for the discretion included the risk of ending up being dissected in some mad scientist's lab, not to mention becoming a living freak show to the school. Having been out of the closet for a long time, she knew first hand how quick people could be at judging her.

So instead of telling the truth, Rainbow shrugged and answered, "Not really sure. I guess it's just one of those days."

"I suppose we all have those every once in a while, Sugarcube." Applejack said, "So what did you do this weekend then?"

"I jumped off the Empire Canterlot Building and hit Blueblood in the face on the way down." The slightly sarcastic tone Rainbow was using masked the fact that she was actually telling the truth.

"And what actually happened?"

Rainbow took out her keys and opened her locker, "Not much. I went over to Twilight and Spike's place for awhile and checked how they were doing. Their new place is cool, but it doesn't really feel the same without that spooky owl staring at me all the time." Then she took out a book or two and put them in her backpack.

"I don't think he's that spooky." Fluttershy commented.

"I kinda meant that as a compliment. His spookiness is actually what's making him cool."

"Oh, I hadn't really thought about it that way."

Pinkie Pie's eyes suddenly fluttered for seemingly no reason, somehow prompting her to look at Rainbow with a very sceptical expression. Then she asked, "Soooo...you're telling me that you're in such a good mood that you don't need a super-special Pinkie-hug?"

Rainbow shut her locker and confidently answered, "Of course! At this point in time, I doubt there is anything that can possibly lower my spirit."

However, the legitimacy of that statement was immediately questioned when an energetic male voice greeted, "Well hello there, Rainbows! How's it hanging!?"

Dash immediately sighed and muttered, "And I stand corrected..."

Of all the people that could get on Rainbow Dash's nerves, there were few that could annoy her as much as the person that voice belonged to. Even her spider-sense gave off warnings about his presence.

Coming out of the crowded hallway was a tall and somewhat lanky guy with blonde hair that was tied up into a slightly messy 'man-bun'. A cocky smile was plastered upon his unshaven cheeks and he didn't seem to be able to take his eyes away from Rainbow's body.

Dash crossed her arms and leaned her back against the wall while making the annoyance in her voice as obvious as she possible, "Zephyr, what do you want now?"

However, Zephyr didn't really notice the warning signs she was giving him, "Oh, I just wanted to grace you with my presence. After all, it has been such a looooong time since we had much time together."

Rainbow rolled her eyes and sighed.

And yet, Zephyr just kept talking, "I heard that you broke up with Gilda, which, to be honest, wasn't that surprising, since we all know who you really has your eye for. Of course I knew that that whole fiasco was just to make me jealous, right?"

Dash gave him an 'are you bloody serious' look and sputtered out, "What?!"

He put his hand on the wall Rainbow was leaning on, getting uncomfortable close to her in the process, "...And with that lesbian phase out of the way, why don't we get together and hang out sometime? You most certainly won't regret it!"

Rainbow pushed him away a bit, her super-strength making the push a bit more forceful than it was supposed to be, "Uhmm...no thanks."

"Whoah, that actually hurt a little." Zephyr noted under his breath before he offered, "Well, you don't have to call it a date but-"

Before he could continue any further, Fluttershy harshly said "Zephyr Breeze!" with a bit more assertiveness than was common for her, grabbed his wrist and began to drag him away from Rainbow Dash and the others.

Once they got some distance from them, Fluttershy scolded, "Zephyr, do you really think it's a good idea to try to put your moves on her while she is still recovering from what happened with Gilda?!"

Zephyr freed his hand from her grip and defended, "Oh come now, Sis, don't you think I have waited long enough for her to just go along with those feelings she has for me?"

Fluttershy's eyes held a certain amount of fury when she asked, "And what if she doesn't have feelings for you? You're just making her uncomfortable with your behaviour!"

"Hey, if she's truly not into 'the Breeze', then she should just say so."

"But she has said so...multiple times!"

Zephyr put a hand on his chin, "Strange, I don't remember her ever saying that. What I do remember is her super-obvious crush on me."

"I actually think she likes girls..."

"Yeah, so? That's just one more thing we have in common. And who said she was exclusive? I mean, you like both, maybe she does too."

Fluttershy fidgeted a little and looked around uncomfortably, "I thought we agreed to keep that a secret."

Confused, he asked, "Um, Sis, didn't you come out, like, years ago?"

"To mom and dad, yes, but that doesn't mean I want you or anyone else shouting it from a mountain top. I...I really don't want them all to think of me...differently."

"Whatever you say, Flutters."

While Fluttershy and her brother were arguing, Rainbow, Pinkie and Applejack were watching them from a distance.

Pinkie Pie then looked at Rainbow and asked, "Do you think he knows that you're a lesbian?"

"If he does, I bet he's in denial." Dash answered. "And even if I wasn't gay, I don't think he would be the dude I would go out with."

"Then who would you go for if you liked guys?"

"Hmm...I don't know. I haven't really thought about that. I guess Soarin's a pretty cool guy, but I have a hard time seeing him as anything other than just a friend...which is a lot more than I would say for Zephyr Breeze."

Applejack commented, "Zeph kinda reminds me of that exchange student we had last year, what's his name, Trenderhoof? I still don't get what he saw in me or why he couldn't go out with all them other girls who kept fawnin' over him like enamoured honeybees. Some guys just cannot see when a gal's rightly not interested."

Out of the corner of her eye, Rainbow Dash caught a glimpse of someone entering through the school doors and bitterly muttered, "...And some girls too."

Applejack and Pinkie Pie both turned around to see who got Rainbow so riled up, and as soon as they saw who it was, they both understood why.

Brown leather jacket, lavender eyeliners, white hair with purple ends that spiked to the side and an expression on her face that said 'Get lost' to anybody foolish enough to approach her.

It was Gilda, Rainbow's ex...and she was pissed.

When she walked through the hallway, everyone in her vicinity could practically feel the anger boiling underneath her skin and made sure to give her plenty of space. Most of them would rather approach a spitting cobra than risk incurring her wrath at this point.

The very sight of her ignited a flame of bottled down anger in Rainbow's gut and the good mood she was in that morning was simply not there anymore.

When Gilda passed Dash and her friends, she spitefully asked "What are you losers looking at?" and kept going with no intention of waiting for a response, but she made sure to give Rainbow a glare that was anything but friendly before she took her eyes off her.

Rainbow Dash said nothing and just glared back, her good mood pretty much ruined at this point. That was until Pinkie suddenly hugged her out of the blue so fast that her spider-sense didn't have time to warn her about it properly.

Confused by this sudden action, Rainbow asked, "...And what's this for?"

"To cheer you up of course!" Pinkie answered, "When you came here you were so happy that I didn't need to hug you but now you're not so happy as you were then so I have to give you a Pinkie hug to make you happy again!"

Rainbow Dash hugged her back a little, "Aw...thanks, Pinkie."

A moment later, she added, "Um...you can let go now...people are beginning to stare..."

A while later, Rainbow Dash was sitting at her desk waiting for the first class of the day to start along with the rest of her classmates.

While she waited, she was finding herself increasingly distracted by the new sensations her spider-sense kept giving her. Especially since she could feel everything that the others in the room were doing.

She could feel Ditzy 'Derpy' Doo trying to eat a muffin as discretely as possible, Minuette showing Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine something on her smartphone, Pinkie Pie impatiently bouncing in her seat waiting for the class to start, Zephyr Breeze snoozing on his desk, Vinyl Scratch bobbing her head while listening to loud music in her headphones, Fluttershy feeding one of the animals that she had sneaked into school in her backpack, Applejack using her table to rest her legs on while leaning back in her chair and eating an apple, and...were Bon Bon and Lyra Heartstrings seriously making out in the middle of the classroom? So much for being 'best friends'...

Rainbow really had to find a way to shut that spider-sense off, and she was certainly trying...with very little success. Even when she focused on something else entirely, the spider-sense was sort of always there...reminding her that a lot of things were going on around her.

However, she did have some measure of control over it. She could use the sense to focus on one thing or another, and she could switch between trying to read everything or just keeping track of the things that moved, especially towards her. Despite how much she tried, though, she couldn't turn it off completely.

Was it a gift or a curse? Rainbow Dash had no answer. So far it had its uses, even thought it could be a little annoying at times. Perhaps she could call it a bit of both?

Eventually, their teacher, Miss Cheerilee, stepped into the room and announced, "So sorry I'm late, I got held up a bit." Immediately making the whole class stop whatever it was they were doing and pay attention to her...except Zephyr Breeze who didn't even notice her come in.

Cheerilee certainly lived up to her name with her cheerful smile and supportive personality. However, some days, that was merely a Façade she put up to hide how stressed, frustrated and lonely she felt at times. She had learned a long time ago though that making the effort to appear nice and friendly for her students could go a long way.

To start the day off, Cheerilee greeted, "Good morning, students, I trust you had a good weekend?"

Gilda bluntly answered, "Not really. Mine sucked." from the corner where she was sitting.

The teacher was a bit taken back by that response, "Well...I'm...sorry to hear that. Anyway, I suppose we should start with today's new project."

However, Cheerilee soon noticed that not everyone was paying attention to her...or were awake for that manner. So after letting out a sigh, she walked over to Zephyr's desk and knocked three times on the table he was resting his head on.

Almost immediately, he sprang back to life and complained, "Aw geez! Can't a guy get a little sleep around here?!"

"No, I'm afraid." the teacher answered, "Do you even sleep at night?"

"You know me...Siesta!"

"Then I suggest you 'siesta' at home rather than during school hours."

Zephyr grumbled a little before he leaned back in his seat and began to pretend to pay attention to anything Miss Cheerilee was saying.

Satisfied with her efforts to get the class to listen to her, Cheerilee decided to introduce their next assignment. "Today we will begin a new project for you to work on this month. This time we are going to be talking about a very special type of people, ones who are rare but always needed in our society. They fight for those that need their help, for what is right and true and they rarely expect anything in return. They may even be willing to risk their own lives to save someone else's, maybe someone they don't even know. These are the people called...heroes. Now could any of you give me an example of someone that could be considered heroic? Anyone?"

The first one to raise their hand was Ditzy Doo, a blonde girl with permanently crossed eyes and probably the only person alive who considered a nickname like 'Derpy' to be a compliment.

"Yes, Ditzy Doo?" Cheerilee prompted.

Derpy asked, "You mean like the Doctor?"

A bit confused, the teacher asked, "Doctor...who exactly?"

"The Doctor, you know? He doesn't have a name."

"I don't think I know who you are talking about."

"He saved me from the Cybermen and stopped the Slitheen from blowing up the Earth. If that doesn't make you a hero, then nothing does!" The ditzy girl stated with a lot of pride.

Everybody else in the classroom however, including Miss Cheerilee, were utterly confused over what she was talking about and an awkward silence soon filled the room.

Eventually, Cheerilee said, "Oooookay...moving on, so can anyone else think of someone with heroic qualities?"

Lyra Heartstrings, a slightly hyper-active musician girl (who had been diagnosed with ADHD, but that's irrelevant) and was always seen alongside her best friend/lover Bon Bon, eagerly exclaimed, "I know one!"

Cheerilee nodded for her to continue.

"How about Captain Marvel? She wasn't just a hero, she was a superhero! I totally adore her after she stopped a flying car from hitting my dad in the head by smashing it mid-air with a single punch, and in doing so, saved his life. And the best part is: it happened before I was born. Meaning: I wouldn't even exist if she wasn't there!"

Sugarcoat, a girl with orange glasses, pig-tails and probably the most ironic name ever, extremely bluntly said, "Yes and then she suddenly turned evil and killed over fifty-seven people before she just disappeared for over twenty years." all in one breath.

Slightly insulted, Lyra looked Sugarcoat in the eye and defended, "Hey, that wasn't her! My dad knew Captain Marvel, and she was not a bad person. The one who killed all those people must have been the Changeling or some other impostor."

"Except the Changeling was already imprisoned when all that happened and she was never able to replicate Marvel's powers."

"Okay, maybe she wasn't the Changeling, but she was certainly not herself. She would never just turn evil for no reason!"

Gilda grimly stated, "You're the only one who still believes that." adding her own harsh input to the conversation.

Lyra took her attention away from Sugarcoat and onto Gilda with a righteous fury, "Yeah, you're one to talk!"

That caught Gilda's attention, "And what is that supposed to mean, dweeb?!"

Bon Bon, who was sitting between the two, tried to prevent the argument from escalating further by placing a hand on Lyra's shoulder and warning, "Lyra, please just don't."

But her efforts were in vain, and Lyra accused, "What that means is that you're probably just sour about the fact that Captain Marvel kicked your grandpa's feathered ass about a dozen times!"

Lyra thought that that would get Gilda's attention, but instead, all she did was question, "And why should I care what happens to that crazy old buzzard?"

"I just thought you-"

Gilda rolled her eyes and rudely blurted, "Bored now!"

Whatever Lyra was about to say was suddenly lost to her. She knew Gilda could be a bit of a jerk at times, but she was not used to her being this hostile.

However, their little argument got the attention of Miss Cheerilee, who stood up from her chair and reprimanded, "Gilda! We do not act that way to our fellow classmates!"

Gilda huffed and muttered, "Whatever."

"And Lyra, please stop antagonising her." Cheerilee added soon after.

Lyra crossed her arms and gave Gilda a disapproving glare but remained silent. Bon Bon let out a sigh of relief that the argument didn't escalate further, then she gave her 'best friend' a few pats on the back to calm her temper down.

Rainbow Dash internally sighed after listening to that. She knew Gilda was not angry at Lyra, she cared too little about her classmate to properly hate her. However, there was someone else in that classroom who she was certainly angry with, and that was Rainbow herself. It had only been a few days since they officially broke up, and saying Gilda was still sour about it would be a monumental understatement. At this point, she was more than willing to take out her anger on just about anything that annoyed her. It was this aura of hostility that made Rainbow so uncomfortable in her proximity, like her spider-sense could detect her rage from a mile away.

Gilda had always been a bit rough around the edges. But for the most part, she actually wasn't that bad. Rainbow had been friends with her for a long while, ever since they went to grade school actually. Back then, they really did care for each other, so much so that they even started dating for a few months. However, that all went sideways when Dash was eventually forced to choose between her best friends or her girlfriend after a really messy argument. Rainbow ultimately stayed loyal to her friends and basically told Gilda to 'deal with it or go to hell'.

Let's just say that Gilda didn't take that very well...

Having been raised in a family of criminals and money-grabbing vultures (pun intended), with a grandpa who was the city's first supervillain to boot, Gilda didn't have the most comfortable of upbringings. She received next to no love from her deadbeat parents when she grew up, and she was constantly bullied when her sexuality became common knowledge to those around her. Rainbow Dash was just about the only good thing to ever happen in her life, and without her, she quickly turned hostile and pessimistic.

It took Rainbow a while to realise that Cheerilee was continuing her lesson. Not wanting to miss more than necessary, she quickly returned her focus on her teacher.

"...while Captain Marvel may not have left off with such a great reputation, many still remember the days before she turned into a force of destruction. Back then, what the people saw was someone who would go up against the likes of the Changeling, Discord and Silvermane if it meant she could save someone else. One who could convince someone as dangerous as Scorpan to abandon his evil ways and do the right thing. However, she also proved that even someone as selfless and heroic as Captain Marvel could become cruel..."

After catching a noticeable glare from Lyra when she said that, the teacher added, "...we believe. But, you do not need to have superhuman powers or a mask to be called a hero. Anyone who decided to go out of their way to help someone else could by some definition be called a hero."

Cheerilee loudly clapped her hands together to gain the class' full attention, "So here is your next assignment! You are going to think of someone who you consider to be a hero and present that person's heroic deeds to the class. It doesn't have to be a famous superhero, it could just as well be a hardworking friend or parent who you admire. Anything goes! Any questions?"

Derpy raised her hand and asked, "Sooo...does the Doctor count?"

Later that day, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were spending their lunch break hanging out in the small garden just outside the school.

Since very few students went to that particular garden, Fluttershy liked to spend a lot of time there...away from everybody else when she wanted some time alone. Also, the lush abundance of beautiful plants and the occasional cute little animal made her day worth it. It quickly became her own favourite spot. One day, she introduced the place to Rainbow Dash as well...who mostly just used it to take the occasional nap where nobody would think to look for her.

Right now, Rainbow was sitting on the ground and leaned her back against the odd fish statue in the middle of the garden while watching Fluttershy lie on the grass communicating with a raven that was sitting on her outstretched hand.

Rainbow Dash could probably watch Fluttershy all day...with the way her long pink hair almost seems to glimmer in the sunlight...the way her slightly yellow-tanned skin looked so soft to touch...so much so that all she really wanted was to just go ahead and touch it. What really got to her were Fluttershy's big light-blue eyes that Rainbow (even thought she denied it if anyone asked her) really thought were completely adorable...as long as she wasn't using them to scare the crap out of people with her 'stare'.

Even when Fluttershy was talking to a bird, Rainbow couldn't help but be reminded of why she had fallen in love with with the sweet girl. She was so lost in the sight of her that Dash didn't pay any attention as to what Fluttershy was actually telling her feathered friend.

"...now I'm sure Loki isn't trying to usurp your master's throne, Huginn." Fluttershy assured the black bird, "I think you might just overthink the whole thing."

"Kwak?!" The raven apparently called Huginn 'asked' her.

"From what you've told me, I think all Loki wants is for more people to pay attention to him. Maybe if Odin just decides to spend some time with him and try to bond this whole mess will fix itself."

The raven seemed to be considering the mortal's wise words.

"Now you should go back to Asgard and tell your master that all he needs to do is to show just a little kindness."

Huginn nodded and flew off to who knows where.

Fluttershy then looked at Rainbow Dash, making her tomboyish friend hastily look away in a poor attempt to pretend she wasn't staring. Fluttershy didn't mind though and let a small smile form on her lips. "So, um, Rainbow?"

Dash looked back at her, "What is it?"

"I was just wondering...do you know who you're going to pick for the 'hero assignment'?"

"Not yet. Maybe I can try Daring Do. She got to count, right? I don't know, my brain does not think schoolwork right now."

"Well...I'm just asking because...I think I have decided who I will pick."

"Really? And who's that then?"

She looked away slightly and quietly mumbled, "Um...well...you."

Rainbow had to do a double take to make sure she heard that right. "Wait, what?"

A little louder this time, Fluttershy answered, "I think...I will talk about you for the hero assignment, Dashie."

Now she knew Fluttershy was serious. "But...why me, Flutters?"

"Do you...remember when we first met?" Fluttershy asked hesitantly.

"Of course, how could I forget?" Dash was now really curious about where this was going.

"Then you remember those awful bullies who were always making fun of me all the time back in grade school."

Rainbow gritted her teeth, "Yes, I remember..."

"Well, you were the only one who ever stood up to them. You stood up to them...for me. Nobody has ever done anything like that for me before. Sure, my parents always cared and supported me, but they would never dare to stand up to anyone. To me, you're a hero, Dashie, a protector to those in need. I won't deny that to anyone, least of all to you."

Rainbow Dash was speechless, the sincerity and pride in Fluttershy's voice was so genuine that she almost believed her.

"You...really think I'm a hero?" Dash asked uncertainly.

Fluttershy didn't even hesitate before she answered, "Yes, I do."

Her closest friend's faith in her got Rainbow thinking. She had always been really protective to those she cared about, even so much that she chose to give up on her previous girlfriend out of loyalty to them. And when she first met Fluttershy, she got in the face of three boys twice her size with the ferocity of a raging tiger just because they were teasing her. She didn't even back down after she received a black eye and lost one of her primary teeth. It had been a long time since she last showed that kind of tenacity though. She eventually learned not to put herself in danger (relatively speaking). However, now that she had superpowers...maybe Spike's idea of becoming a superhero wasn't so far-fetched after all.

For now, however, Rainbow shook that thought aside and said, "It's awesome that you're picking me for this, Fluttershy, but..."

She trailed off when she heard the familiar rock-themed ringtone of her cell phone coming from her pocket. She promptly fished it out and asked, "Yeah?"

The familiar country accent of Applejack replied, "Rainbow, it's Applejack! Where the heck are you?"

"I'm hanging out in the garden. What's the rush, AJ?"

"Practice is 'bout to start and we're goin' up against Lightnin' Dust's team this time. We could really use your help out there, RD."

"Oh crud, I forgot about that!"

"Well get over here then, we're all waiting on ya!"

"I'll be there in a sec!" Rainbow finished before disconnecting the call.

She then stood up and said, "Sorry, Flutters, but I gotta run!"

Fluttershy nodded, "Of course. Good luck out there, Dashie."

With a confident smile, Rainbow assured, "Thanks, but I doubt I'll need it."

1) And along came a Spider...Part 4

2) A lecture in Heroism, Part 2

Episode 2

A lecture in Heroism, Part 2

How to not use your powers responsibly

Rainbow Dash had always been an extremely athletic person. Even as a child she couldn't sit down and relax without falling asleep out of boredom. She needed to move, she needed to run, she needed to make the impossible possible. For a long time, there were none who could even hope to match her speed and determination...until she went to High School.

While Rainbow was still one of the best, there were at least three others who could challenge her there.

While they may be best friends, the rivalry between Applejack and Rainbow Dash was legendary. Having grown up on a farm, Applejack had spent most of her days doing hard labour, often while working in the harsh summer sun. This left her with an excellent physique and a very well-trained body. While she may not be able to run as fast as Dash could, she made up for it in strength and endurance. There was probably not a single student at Canterlot High who had ever beaten her in an arm wrestle. Her determination to win against Rainbow Dash in whatever they competed in was unrelenting, even if they were competing in marathon running, soccer, basketball, swimming contests, martial arts and even video games.

Her other two rivals were not so friendly though, especially considering one of them just so happened to be Gilda. Rainbow and Gilda used to compete in a similar manner to how Dash did with Applejack, with all of it ultimately being in good fun. Growing up in a pretty bad neighbourhood with a family of gangsters, Gilda had learned long ago to fend for herself. From years of harsh training, she became proficient in all manner of physical activities, including street fighting and many types of sports. Suffice to say, she was not someone to have on your bad side...as a couple unfortunate would-be-muggers found out the hard way. And while her rivalry with Rainbow Dash may have started out friendly, after their breakup, it was anything but.

Rainbow's greatest challenge though was Lightning Dust. A daredevil with an obsession with testing her absolute limits and proving to the world (and her absurdly big family) that she was the best at everything it could throw at her with no consideration or empathy for anybody in her way. She was one of the few who could easily outrun Rainbow Dash and didn't get winded nearly as often as she did. Her greatest weakness though was that she was extremely reckless and didn't grasp the concept of teamwork. During Rainbow's first year at CHS, Lightning reached out to her and they quickly became fast friends. That friendship, however, was short lived. It didn't take Rainbow long before she began to realise how selfish and manipulative Lightning was, especially with how she didn't seem to bat an eye when she tried to win a race by deliberately cutting the other players off...seriously injuring one of them in the process. Even worse: when Rainbow confronted her about that, she simply asked 'so what?' in the most nonchalant manner possible and shrugged it off. After that, she chose to never trust Lightning Dust again.

However, despite all of their strengths and achievements, they were still bound by the limitations of the human body...Rainbow Dash wasn't.

The halls of Canterlot High were, as always, filled with people coming and going all over the place. Some moved about in a calm and orderly fashion, and some others...not so much.

Most students and teachers in those hallways probably would have a hard time describing the prismatic blur that suddenly zipped past them without any warnings given aside from a few "Coming through!"s, "Sorry!"s or "Move out of the way!"s. Considering how fast most people could react to something like that, those warnings didn't really do any good in the end.

The blur was, of course, Rainbow Dash in a hurry to get from one end of the school to the other. Since she had lost track of time during her, admittedly relaxing, visit to the garden with Fluttershy, she was running a bit late to soccer practice, and that was something that she couldn't afford considering her reputation as CHS's best athlete. So to make up for lost time, she decided to make up for it by running as fast as she could...which was pretty damn fast (especially with her new abilities). Her spider-sense was also a good help since it warned her of the many obstacles in her path, whether they be people, lockers or opening doors.

Eventually though, Rainbow reached the girls' locker room. While this might have seemed like a good time to take a quick breather, the fact that nobody else was in there only made it more obvious how late she was. Most likely, the other players had already changed and were out in the field waiting for her.

Not wasting any time, she quickly opened her bag and pulled out her sportswear before she began to take off the clothes she was currently wearing.

After she had slipped off her jacket and t-shirt, leaving her upper body only covered by her bra, she heard a familiar voice behind her say, "Late again, Dash."

Rainbow didn't need to turn around to know who just spoke and continued to unzip her jeans while replying, "Yeah, tell me something I don't know, Gilda."

By the door leading to the soccer field, Gilda was casually leaning against the wall while keeping her eyes squarely on Rainbow Dash...though not in a suggestive way, as one might expect from someone watching another changing clothes, but with clear disdain and anger.

With a shrug, the white-haired girl said, "How about this one? Get your lazy butt over to practice already. We're all waiting on you!"

While she slipped on a dark sleeveless top, Rainbow repeated, "Like I said: tell me something I don't know."

Gilda crossed her arms, "You really want me to go down that road, Dash? Because there's a lot of things your simple brain doesn't seem to know..."

Rainbow suddenly turned around to look Gilda in the eyes and asked, "What the hell is your problem?! Why can't you stop acting like some stupid psycho ex-girlfriend and just leave me alone?!"

"Oh, you know exactly what my problem is." Gilda rebuked with venom in her voice.

"What? You're still mad because I broke up with you?" Rainbow asked as she put on a pair of training shorts.

Gilda answered that by menacingly approaching her former lover and declaring, "Of course I am! Did you think I dated you just because you had a nice ass? No! I loved you! I freaking loved you! You were the only damn thing I had in my life that wasn't a complete mess! You were everything I had! And then you decided to throw all that away, and for what?!"

Rainbow got right in Gilda's face and shouted, "Because you turned into a complete bitch! You know how much my friends means to me, and the way you treated them was so not cool. I could never date someone who is willing to insult and even threaten the people I care about!"

"Trust me, I know how much your 'friends' means to you...especially that little dormouse you care soooo much about."

Dash was starting to realise where this was going, and she didn't like it. "Hold on a minute, are you saying this is all because you were a little jealous? Is that it!?"

"Well, how would you feel if the love of your life cared more for some lame hippy who's afraid of her own shadow than you?"

"Fluttershy! Is not! LAME!"

"So you admit it then? You were planning on dumping me anyway, weren't you? To be with your little sweetheart and leave me living miserable and alone in the dumps you found me in? Some perfect girlfriend you were..."

Rainbow's rage was about to explode any second now. "Well, maybe I should have done that! Fluttershy is a much better person than you'll ever be, and this stupid obsession you have just proves it! Do you think I could ever love someone so selfish and possessive as you?"

"That didn't seem to stop you from being friends with that thief Rarity."

"Are you seriously pulling that one on me?! It's not like you haven't done a lot of illegal crap in your life!"

"I did what I had to do to survive in this stinking town, get that through your thick skull already! You don't have any idea what it's like to be me. You don't know what it's like to have a dad who thinks your entire life is a mistake just because you like girls over boys, or having a mom who's deadbeat drunk all the time, or a grandpa who is a freaking super-villain! No, you, miss Rainbow 'Awesome' Dash, has a mom who's a Wonderbolt and a dad who was once a world-class athlete, and they support you and all of your stupid life choices like there's no tomorrow. And you think that you're somehow the victim here?"

For just a moment, Rainbow was almost feeling bad for her. There was a small part of her deep within that still missed Gilda...but she did not let that part of her control her actions, not anymore.

"Well, boo-ho-ho, that doesn't excuse all the stuff you did, jerk!"

Gilda's eyes narrowed, all common sense, reason or compassion were gone in them. All that was left was anger...anger and hatred. Rainbow Dash responded in kind with a similar type of expression, thus showing that she too was beyond reason.

This argument had only one possible conclusion, one possible outcome, there were no parallel universes were this argument didn't lead to someone ending up with bruises and bandages by the end of the day. Gilda and Rainbow Dash had reached the point where physical violence was the only answer.

However, that confrontation would have to be put on hold.

"Are you two done already?" A third voice interrupted.

The person who spoke was a girl with windswept blonde hair that slightly, if not quite, formed a Mohawk, her lips took the form of a bemused and very smug smile with a glint in her eyes that betrayed a cockiness even worse than Rainbow Dash's. It was Lightning Dust, and she had just come over to see what was taking so long when she ended up paying witness to the argument between the two former girlfriends.

Gilda sharply turned to her and declared, "None of your business, dweeb!"

Lightning rolled her eyes, "Uh, yeah it is. I've been waiting for you slowpokes to get to the field for close to..." she checked her watch"...little more than half-an-hour already, and as entertaining as watching you two bicker like an old married couple is, I have a match to win, and there are no winners without losers, are there?"

With a sliver of her competitive spirit back, Rainbow asked, "Is that a challenge?"

"Absolutely. Now are you two coming or not?"

Gilda gave Dash one last look before warning, "We'll finish this later."

With a tense tone in her voice, Rainbow replied, "Yes...we will."

While Dash had quite a few rivals, she also had some fans...

...or at least one.

Over a dozen students had gathered on Canterlot High's soccer field, most of them having already changed into their sportswear. However, none of them were playing at the moment. Instead, most of them were impatiently slouching on the grass or on the bleachers, wondering what on earth was taking their 'star player' so long.

There was one among the lot though who was practically brimming with excitement. Her name was Scootaloo: a 14 year old girl who was without a doubt Rainbow Dash's biggest fan. In fact, Rainbow had even gone so far as to accept Scootaloo as her honorary little sister.

One would be forgiven for believing that she was a boy given her short purple hair and tomboyish clothing consisting of a black hoodie and a pair of green cargo pants, but she was definitively a girl...even though she didn't always act like one. There was a part of her appearance that stuck out though, and that was that the lower part of her left leg was replaced by a prosthetic. Her leg had been amputated about a year ago after an accident involving an ice cream truck and her scooter, but she didn't let that crush her spirit or stop her dream of one day becoming as fast and strong as Rainbow Dash.

She was sitting on the bleachers with her best friends Sweetie Belle and Applebloom, the younger sisters of Rarity and Applejack respectively. Sweetie was the more feminine of the two, as her name might suggest, and could be recognised by her slightly curly pink and lavender hair as well as her pink jacket and yellow skirt. Applebloom was far more rustic in appearance, hailing from the same farm her big sister Applejack came from, and that was evident by her simple green shirt and jeans shorts. However, she had a very feminine bow in her red hair to make up for it.

While Scootaloo could barely contain her excitement at watching her idol quote on quote 'be awesome', her friends didn't really share the same enthusiasm.

"So...what are we waiting for again?" Sweetie Belle asked, her voice cracking a little as she spoke.

Scootaloo proudly answered, "Rainbow Dash of course! She has been training for this all summer and she's going to totally rock it!"

"Yeah, but she's sure takin' her sweeeet time..." Applebloom noted, speaking in an accent similar that of her big sister Applejack. "Seriously, what's takin' her so long?"

"Well...I'm not sure, but she promised me she would show up sooner or later."

"Did she say how much later?"

"Not really, but I bet it'll be any second now."

"I hope you're right about that."

Sweetie suggested, "Maybe she's getting prepared or something. You won't believe how much time Rarity spends prettifying herself before she leaves the house."

"Sure, but she's...well...Rarity." Applebloom noted, "I doubt Rainbow would care about that kind of stuff..." then she looked at Scootaloo "Would she?"

Scootaloo grimaced a little and revealed, "Actually...you'd be surprised." making both of her friends look at her curiously.

Scootaloo lowered her voice to a whisper, "This is kind of a secret, but..." Applebloom and Sweetie Belle leaned in closer to hear her, "...she goes to the spa, like, every week, but not when any of her friends does it, and she likes to wear vanilla perfume all the time...but mostly when she's going to meet Fluttershy. No idea why though. However, she made me 'Pinkie Promise' not to tell it to anyone, so this stays-"

"Ahem!" A voice suddenly announced behind her, causing Scootaloo's eyes to widen in dread before she slowly turned around.

Staring at her with a disapproving glare was none other than Pinkie Pie, and she was not pleased. Scootaloo was so terrified that she didn't even bother noting the strangeness of how she literally appeared out of nowhere and how she was poking her head through the bleachers. "Uh...hi, Pinkie Pie."

"Scootaloo, did you just...break a 'Pinkie Promise'?"

Scootaloo's eyes darted back and forth nervously for a moment, then she answered, "Actually...well...Rainbow sort of implied that when she said 'tell nobody about it', she meant 'nobody but Sweetie Belle and Applebloom'...I guess."

Suddenly, Pinkie Pie's mood did a complete 180 and she flashed a cheerful smile and conceded with a, "Okey dokey lokey!" before she disappeared in the same mysterious way she appeared.

The three girls let out a collective sigh of relief after she was gone. While Pinkie Pie might be one of the friendliest girls on the planet, god help you if you ever break a 'Pinkie Promise'. She happened to be very serious about those.

"Phew...good thing you managed to get out of that bag of molasses..." Applebloom noted.

Scootaloo shrugged, "Lucky me. Still, I guess it might actually be true. As long as we don't tell anyone else I suppose we're off the hook for now."

"Who am I supposed to tell anyway?" Sweetie Belle asked with just a dash of bitterness, "Rarity always did like to hear gossip like that, but...well...you know."

Noticing the mood Sweetie was starting to get in, Applebloom put an arm around her shoulders and said, "Come now, Sweetie Belle, she won't be in there forever or anythin'. It's all goin' to be fine."

"Besides, you can visit her any time you want." Scootaloo provided.

Sweetie looked down at her feet, "Yeah...through a bullet-proof glass window, with those scary guards watching me all the time." she then gave Scootaloo an angry look, "I even have to speak through a phone just to hear her, a PHONE! It just looks silly when she's sitting right in front of me."

Applebloom patted her on the back, "There, there, Sweetie, it's okay. I mean, it could be worse...right? Those Flim Flam brothers are about to take my family's farm away from us and I'm still in mighty good spirits, yeah...he he he." However, her tone and nervous laughter at the end hinted that she wasn't in such 'good spirits' as she claimed.

Scootaloo added, "...And I...lost my leg." albeit with a bit more bitterness than she intended, "Yeah, that didn't really help, did it?"

"No, it probably didn't." Applebloom concurred.

Sweetie Belle sombrely noted, "Well...at least you tried."

Before the mood got too depressing for the dynamic trio though, Scootaloo spotted something that immediately got her excited. "Look girls, it's Rainbow Dash!"

After a lot of waiting for everyone involved, Rainbow Dash, along with Gilda and Lightning Dust, finally stepped out onto the soccer field all prepared and ready to start playing.

The first one to notice them aside from Scootaloo was the PE teacher, Miss Harshwhinny, a stern middle-aged no-nonsense woman with a Brittish accent. And as soon as she saw Dash step out in the field, she scolded, "Miss Dash! How many times do I have to remind you of punctuality? If not for the fact that your team refused to begin until you arrived, we would have already started playing half an hour ago."

One of the players, a girl with the very fitting name: Sour Sweet, used a sickeningly sweet tone to say, "Yeah, we didn't want you to miss out on anything, honey..." then she suddenly changed her whole demeanour and took on an angry, bordering on hysterical, tone, "...WHEN YOU DIDN'T SHOW UP FOR OVER TWENTY MINUTES!"

When Rainbow saw the other players' disapproving glares directed at her, as well as Lightning Dust's haughty smile, she clenched her teeth a little and nervously tried to come up with a good enough excuse. However, when she caught a glimpse of Scootaloo looking at her with an expression of joy and anticipation, her heart melted a little and Rainbow managed to gain a small smile. Her honorary younger sister tended to have that effect on her. Just knowing that she had such a devoted fan made her instantly forget how cross she was with Gilda and got her squarely in 'the zone' as it were.

With her fighting spirit back, Dash said, "Sorry teach, got held up. Now are we gonna play or just stand around talking about how bad it is that I'm late?"

Miss Harshwhinny crossed her arms, "You're not quite off the hook yet, Miss Dash, but you do have a point." then she raised her voice, "Students, you know your teams, get ready!"

Keeping her eyes on Rainbow though, Harshwhinny quietly added, "I'll have some words with you later though..."

With those words said, the players immediately scrambled to their feet and began to get to their respective positions. Some were making an effort to move as much as possible to get back the warm-ups that they lost because of the delay. Still, they were quite eager that something was finally happening.

There were two teams, the Wondercolts and the Shadowbolts, Rainbow's and Lightning's teams respectively.

The Shadowbolts consisted of Lightning Dust, her sister Indigo Zap, Gilda, Sugarcoat, Sour Sweet and two other girls named Lemon Zest and Sunny Flare.

The Wondercolts (names after the Wonderbolts) consisted of Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Lyra Heartstrings, Bon Bon and Vinyl Scratch. At one point, Zephyr Breeze wanted to join them (probably in an attempt to impress Rainbow Dash), but got kicked out after a terrible performance. Ditzy Do got his spot on the team instead.

While Rainbow Dash had a lot of faith in her team, she knew they had little to no chance of beating the Shadowbolts. The members of the rival team were just way more disciplined, with a clear cut goal of winning above all else. Also, with Lightning Dust, Gilda and Indigo Zap, some of the school's best athletes, on their side, they held a clear advantage. The Wondercolts were mostly playing for fun, and some of them joined just because nobody else would take them. Rainbow Dash, Applejack and interestingly enough Pinkie Pie were about the only ones on the team who were even that good at these kinds of sports. They had tried to score a win against the Shadowbolts for close to a year now, but so far, it simply hadn't happened.

However, as Rainbow Dash stared into Lightning Dust's eyes in the middle of the soccer field, she knew that was about to change. While she had promised Twilight that she wouldn't show off her spider-powers in public, she decided that she was going to use at least some of it today. No wall-crawling or web-shooting of course, but that was not all that was new with her.

With her spider-sense she knew exactly where every single player on the field was, and that was an advantage that none on the opposing team had. And with her increased speed, agility and reflexes, she was pretty sure that not even Lightning Dust would be able to keep up with her. However, the cocky daredevil didn't seem to be aware of that yet.

All her muscles properly warmed up and ready, a small line of sweat coming from her forehead, Rainbow could see that Lightning was prepared to score the next win. The slightly sociopathic grin on her face only made that more apparent. "So, Dash, ready for another defeat?"

Rainbow Dash, by contrast, was far more relaxed. She held a slightly nonchalant pose, and while her grin was just as smug as her rival, her expression was far less aggressive. Her demeanour spoke of someone who knew, not just thought, that she was going to win...even without much effort given. "I don't know...are you?"

"Me? Lose? HA! Don't you remember what happened last year? Because if I remember correctly, your stupid team couldn't get a single point. I mean, I can take losing a match, but that was just embarrassing."

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that. I promise you though, this time, things are gonna be different."

"As if."

"Don't say I didn't warn you."

Miss Harshwhinny came up between them, a soccer ball in her hands. "Alright then, students. I want to see a clear and fair match. Anybody who is caught breaking the rules or sabotaging for the other players will be immediately sent off their team with a dire warning." with a bitter look directed at Lightning, she added, "That goes double for you, Miss Dust. Understood?"

After letting out a small groan while rolling her eyes, Lightning reluctantly answered, "Yes, ma'am."

Seemingly satisfied with her answer, Miss Harshwhinny placed the ball on the ground between the two star athletes and stepped away from the field. "Alright then, begin on my signal."

Anticipation filled the air as everyone waited for said signal. Scootaloo was sitting at the edge of her seat trying to get the best view possible, Gilda was keeping an eye on her ex-girlfriend like a hawk, Lightning Dust was waiting like a bear trap ready to go off at any moment, Applejack licked her lips once in anticipation, Pinkie Pie was jumping up and down happily (like she always did), Lyra and Vinyl appeared to be communicating something via hand gestures while Bon Bon looked between the two confusingly, Zephyr Breeze turned out to be sitting on the bleachers while trying to get a good view of Rainbow's backside (pervert), and Rainbow Dash herself was sensing all of this with her Spider-sense.

Just before the game started, Rainbow commanded, "Derpy, catch!"

Then the signal came in the form of Miss Harshwhinny's whistle, letting everybody know that the game was officially on.

Lightning Dust reacted as fast as any ordinary human being possibly could when she moved her foot to kick the ball, but Rainbow Dash was way faster than her, and managed to use her foot to send it flying back to her team member Ditzy Doo, who somehow managed to react quickly enough to kick it straight across the field over to where Applejack was waiting for it.

Once Applejack got the ball, she started to charge towards the opposing team's goal with the determination of a raging bull. Indigo Zap tried to cut her off and take it from her, but Applejack would have none of it, and managed to keep the ball well out of Indigo's reach. However, when Gilda also ran at her, she knew she was about to be outmatched. So as a last ditch resort, she tried to kick the ball over to one of her teammates on the other side of the field...only to severely miss, sending it towards Lightning Dust instead.

Seeing the opportunity, Lightning lined up the next shot perfectly and kicked it with enough force to send it flying directly towards the other team's goal. As usual, she had managed to use her quick thinking to score her team an easy point without much of a hassle at all. Or...at least that was what she thought she had done.

What she didn't expect was for Rainbow Dash to jump a metre up into the air, intercept the ball, and kick it with enough force to send it straight into the Shadowbolts' goal so fast that their goalie Lemon Zest didn't have a chance of reacting quickly enough to do anything to stop it.

It had all happened so fast that it took a few seconds for everyone to comprehend what had just transpired. While Rainbow Dash was known for pulling off some very impressive feats, none of the other players had ever seen her do anything quite like that.

Scootaloo, in fact, was so amazed by the what she had just witnessed that all she could say was, "Wow..."

Lightning Dust was speechless, her jaw was dropped, and she kept frantically looking between her goal and a very smug-looking Rainbow Dash. She wasn't just surprised by Dash's gravity-defying jump kick, but also the fact that she managed to instantly turn what would have been a guaranteed goal for the Shadowbolts into a win for the Wondercolts.

Seeing her expression, Rainbow put her hands on her hips and boasted, "How's that for never losing, Dusty?!"

While the outcome was certainly unexpected, it was in the end just one goal, and Dust was not one to give up easily. "Eh, you were lucky, I guess. I doubt you'll get any more than that though."

"Wanna bet?" Rainbow offered with probably the most arrogant smile Lightning had ever seen...when she wasn't looking into a mirror.

With a small chuckle, Lightning assured, "You bet I do."

She would soon come to regret that decision.

As soon as Lemon Zest had kicked the ball out of her goal and back onto the field, Rainbow was on to it in seconds.

With a velocity unlike anything she had displayed before, it didn't take long before she practically owned the field. While the other players were struggling just to keep up with her, Dash was running circles around them. She knew exactly where the ball was at all times, she knew exactly where all the other players were at all times, she knew just who to pass it to whenever the situation called for it, and she knew just how to stop any and all attempts by the Shadowbolts at getting the ball anywhere near the Wondercolts' goal.

Whenever anyone on team Shadowbolt tried to pull something off that could give them at least a single point, Rainbow Dash was able to find some miraculous way to turn the whole thing around. With the Shadowbolts nearly spotless track record when it came to winning these kinds of games, they were completely baffled by the fact that a single student was effectively making the whole team look like a bunch of amateurs.

Even the others on Rainbow's team were growing frustrated with her sudden success-rate. While they were happy that the Wondercolts were scoring more points against their biggest rivals than ever before, it was also clear that Dash was outshining all of the other players' efforts. Every single goal had been done by Rainbow Dash, and the most the other players could contribute was merely to stall or pass it around for their team leader to play the whole game for them.

Applejack in particular was getting increasingly frustrated by how much Rainbow Dash kept showing off. Best friends they may be, but there were few things that could rile her up as much as when Rainbow's ego got out of hand, especially when she didn't even realise that that ego was hurting others. Pinkie, Lyra and Bon Bon were no happier about this either, and Vinyl Scratch, the Wondercolts' goalie, was starting to get seriously bored by the fact that Rainbow kept making sure that no soccer ball was getting anywhere near her, thus making her job essentially pointless. The only one who wasn't particularly angry at Rainbow Dash right now was Ditzy Doo, who was most of the time indifferent about pretty much everything.

The Shadowbolts though...they were getting more and more infuriated by the minute. Lightning Dust was in complete disbelief. None of this made any sense to her. She had trained for years to be the best athlete in Canterlot, and she could for some reason beyond her understanding suddenly not amount to anything in this match. Lemon Zest was starting to wish she could switch places with Vinyl Scratch right about now, as for every time the ball flew past her, she was worried it would hit her hard enough to hurt. Indigo Zap, who happened to be one of the best runners in the school, was desperately panting for breath while her knees were practically begging her to slow down. Gilda was already angry at Rainbow Dash when the game started, and was by now practically fuming with barely controlled anger.

After managing to secure nine points for her team, Rainbow Dash was still keeping a firm grasp on the soccer ball. This time, she went one step further and bounced it on her knees while keeping her eyes closed.

Lightning Dust and Gilda were once again trying to catch up with her, but it was no use. With her spider-sense, super strength, increased speed and reflexes, she had no problem keeping them at bay. A fact she made sure to rub in their faces as much as possible.

Rainbow knew she could go a bit easier on them, or at least not taunt them with her smile of superiority, but...she really enjoyed showing them up. Having the once unbeatable Lightning Dust drive herself to exhaustion just trying to keep up with her gave Rainbow a small amount of sadistic glee, and after all the things Gilda just said to her, she wanted to make her feel every bit how much that hurt...forgetting the fact that Gilda said those things because her life was already miserable enough.

Driven to near desperation, Lightning Dust finally had enough with playing fair. Losing now without a single win to her name was a humiliation she could not even stand the thought of. The words spoken to her by her uncle Wind Rider came to mind: "Sometimes you must play dirty to be the best", a lesson she had taken in stride. It was time to take the gloves off.

The one odd ring Lightning had on her right hand was not just for decoration: it was, in fact, her secret weapon. If activated, the ring could discharge a painful electric jolt to anyone she put her hand on. While it may not be strong enough to seriously hurt someone, it had just enough kick to disorient them for short periods of time.

Gilda was also growing frustrated with how things were going, and the urge to cause Dash physical pain was starting to take over her common sense. Unlike Dust's idea however, Gilda preferred the more blunt approach.

At that moment, Rainbow's spider-sense went off like crazy, telling her that danger was approaching from two directions at once. She could sense that there was something dangerous about Lightning Dust's approaching hand, and also that Gilda was running straight at her, probably with the intention of tackling her.

Rainbow's eyes suddenly snapped open, then she twisted her whole body around so that Gilda narrowly missed her, but since she was in full motion, she couldn't stop herself fast enough before she ended up tackling Lightning Dust instead. In a panic, Lightning grabbed onto Gilda for dear life, but as she had already activated her electric ring, she ended up sending a painful buzz of electricity into Gilda's shoulder...while unintentionally dragging both of them down to the ground.

And with her two biggest rivals down for the count, there was nothing to stop Rainbow Dash from kicking the ball into the net one last time, scoring the last point needed for the Wondercolts' first victory against the Shadowbolts in years.

After taking a quick look at the scoreboard, Miss Harshwhinny announced, "And the winner is...the Wondercolts!"

Scootaloo immediately stood up on the bleacher and hollered, "That. Was. SO AWESOME! You rock, Rainbow Dash!"

She was not the only one though. Soon enough, everyone else on the bleachers except for Applebloom began to cheer as well. That was...all five of them. Still, that was more than enough for Rainbow Dash though. And with their cheering fuelling her ego to maximum, Rainbow began to perform an extremely silly victory dance to celebrate it.

"This is the best thing ever!" she enthusiastically declared, "I won, I won, I won, because I'm the bestest, and I'm awesome, and they know it, ah-ah ah-ah ah-ah!"

Lightning Dust was at a complete loss for words when she slowly got back on her feet while stealthily hiding her electric ring in her pocket. With not a single point to their name, the Shadowbolts had just suffered the most humiliating defeat in Canterlot High's history. As a team with a reputation for never losing...ever, it struck them hard...and it struck Lightning Dust the hardest.

In utter disbelief, Lightning sputtered out, "What, what...how? What the hell was that, Rainbow Dash?!"

Still keeping her arrogance, Rainbow gave her a slightly pitiful look, "You said it yourself, Dust, you snooze, you lose."

"But I never lose! I've faced you and your team many times before and you were never this good back then." She then raised an eyebrow, "There's something fishy going on here, isn't there?"

Rainbow just waved her off, "Heh, puh-lease, as if!"

However, Lightning Dust's concerns caught the attention of Applejack, who approached her and noted, "Like it or not, Rainbow, she's got a point. I have never in my life seen you move like that before."

Pinkie Pie popped up right next to her, "Yeah, what have you've been taking? Chemical X?"

Dash's eyes widened upon hearing that suggestion, "Wait, what?"

"Dash..." Applejack began with a sigh, "...I know you want our team to win and all, and would probably do anythin' to make that happen, but please tell me you didn't resort to doin' anything unsportsmanlike."

"Actually, please do tell us that," Lightning urged, "because if you did, then I can at least have an excuse for losing."

Rainbow only now noticed that nearly everyone was staring at her. Most of those weren't the good kind of stares either. While she was fully expecting the Shadowbolts to glare at her after suffering such a humiliating defeat, she was a bit more surprised to see her own team look at her like she had done something wrong.

Having a suspicion of what they were accusing her of, Rainbow defended, "If you're saying that I would ever cheat just to win a game then you clearly don't know me at all."

"Then why are you suddenly so much better than you usually are?" Pinkie asked while narrowing her eyes suspiciously.

"Maybe I was just lucky or something."

Lightning Dust didn't buy it, "As if? No one is that lucky! Face it, Dash, you're a cheater, so why don't you just man up and admit it?"

With an accusatory tone in her voice, Rainbow sarcastically answered, "Yeah, just like you did when you gave me food poisoning just to get first place in the Canterlot High Marathon?"

Lightning's eyes suddenly widened and zipped back and forth while she nervously rebuked, "Well...that's...that's...you have no proof that I did that!"

Her response did not exactly help her situation and served to only dig herself deeper. It got even worse when Gilda put a painfully firm grip on her shoulder and whispered, "Or that little joy-buzzer of yours..." into her ear with a menacing tone. "Now do us all a favour and walk away before you make this whole situation even worse. I'll deal with her."

Lightning gave an arrogant snort at that, but ultimately decided to take her advice. She gave Rainbow Dash one last glare before she turned around and began to leave. Though as soon as her back was turned, she quietly muttered, "...I'll get you next time, Rainbow Dash...next time..."

Gilda then looked at Rainbow Dash with a fair bit of tranquil fury in her eyes but didn't say a word. This time, she didn't really need to say anything to get her point across.

"Look," Rainbow said while looking at Gilda and the other Shadowbolts, "I get that you guys are upset that you lost, but come on, everyone does eventually."

"I guess that is true..." Sour Sweet (who was standing next to Gilda) noted in a sad, sombre tone...then she abruptly changed it to an angry and bitter one, "...for anybody but us!"

"Rainbow..." Applejack said, speaking in a clear and steady voice, "Did you, or did you not cheat to win this match? And I want you to look me in the eye and tell me the absolute truth, nothing more, not a darn thing less."

Rainbow turned to Applejack and looked her friend in the eyes. She saw no anger in them, just determination. So after releasing a meaningful sigh, she answered, "I did not cheat. I just...I wanted us to win. I mean, the Wondercolts have never beaten the Shadowbolts before and...I chose to not hold back anymore."

Seeing that at least most of what Dash was saying seemed to be true, Applejack said, "Alright then, at least that's cleared up. But Rainbow, you may not have realised it, but you made the rest of us feel mighty bad about ourselves. We're supposed to play as a team, but its hard for us to do that when you keep showin' off like that."

"Besides," Pinkie added, "It's not really that fun to play when you're so much better than the rest us. I mean, look at Vinyl, she didn't even get to do anything during the whole game!"

Upon hearing her name being uttered, the blue-haired girl nodded absentmindedly while her magenta eyes were showing a very bored expression. (She weren't wearing her shades during soccer games for safety reasons)

Sugarcoat (who was just standing in background) bluntly commented, "You could have also have been a bit less smug about it and not make the rest of us feel like we were middle-school children." in her usual fast-talking way.

Rainbow looked at the silver-haired Shadowbolt with a raised eyebrow, "Okay, first off: you guys have no right calling me smug, second:" she turned back to her own team, "Chillax people, I scored our team the first win against the Shadowbolts in years, so...you're welcome!"

"Thanks...I guess?" Pinkie answered uncertainly.

"Yeah right." Gilda said with quite a bit of venom in her tone, "Like this was about them in any way. You could care less about your little team of losers. This was about you, and you alone! You wanted to win, you wanted to humiliate the rest of us, you wanted to humiliate ME! Well, guess what, girlfriend, I am sick of your crap!"

Rainbow narrowed her eyes at Gilda, a clear and unmistakable expression of fury evident in them. "Funny thing you brought that up, Gilda, because the feeling is mutual."

"Good! Finally we can agree on something. I may have grown up in a family of gangsters, but you're the most evil person I've ever met! At least they didn't pretend to love me before stabbing me in the back! And now that you don't have to play nice for me anymore you showed everyone who you really are: a self-centred braggart who doesn't care who she hurts as long as she's 'cool' while doing it!"

"SHUT UP!" Dash screamed at the top of her lungs, silencing everyone on the soccer field. Gilda's words really struck a cord with her, as was evident with how her face had turned red out of anger. Her cockiness was gone, replaced with her overwhelming hatred for her ex. "You're calling me self-centred, bitch?! I'm not the one who threatened to hurt an innocent girl just because of petty jealousy! I'm not the one who made Fluttershy think you were going to literally murder her on her way home every day! And I'm definitively not the one that would whine about her sad pathetic life to the whole school like a little crybaby!"

That was it, that was the threshold, the point of no return.

Gilda steeled her facial expression into a cold merciless glare, a sign that she was far beyond reasoning, right now she was an eagle ready to pounce on its prey. She turned around, took a few hasty steps over to where the soccer ball was and picked it up. She hesitated only for a second before she she sharply turned back around and threw the ball as hard as she possibly could directly towards Dash's face.

The sharp buzzing of the spider sense blared like a fire alarm in Rainbow's head, and she reacted fast enough to move her face away from the incoming projectile. However...the one standing behind her did not have a spider sense.

As soon as the argument between Rainbow and Gilda began to escalate, Scootaloo had made her way down from the bleachers in order to try putting a stop to it. Being the supporting sister that she was, she couldn't just sit still and do nothing. Unfortunately, she did not expect the ball flying at her before it was far too late. Scootaloo could barely grasp what was even happening when it hit her in the face so hard that it knocked her off her feet and sent her falling to the ground.

Time seemed to slow down for Rainbow as she shouted, "Scootaloo!" and ran over to her little sister's side. Her concerns only worsened when she saw Scootaloo whimper in pain while her nose was bleeding. She was also not the only one to come to the young girl's aid, as Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were at her side in seconds, their faces showing much concern over the well-being of their best friend.

Frantically, Rainbow Dash got on her knees next to the downed Scootaloo and rambled, "Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, please be okay, please be okay, please be okay..."

Scootaloo sputtered out, "AAaaghhh...it hurts...aaahhh..."

With the authority of a military officer, Dash looked at Pinkie and ordered, "Pinkie, get her to the nurse, NOW!"

Too panicked to object to that, Pinkie ran over to the injured girl and picked her up, fast but gentle. By this point, Scootaloo had begun crying, evident by the tears that were pouring from her eyes. Pinkie didn't waste any time before she carried her away towards the school nurse.

Rainbow Dash could have taken her there herself, but she had something else to do first. After all, it would be a cold day in hell before she would allow someone to hurt her little sister and get away with it.

Gilda however, was in a state of shock. She had no intention of hurting Scootaloo, or anyone other than Rainbow Dash for that manner, and it was only now she realised that her rage had once again erupted out of control. However, she came to that realisation a bit too late for her sake and before she could snap out of her trance, Rainbow had managed to make it over to her and punch her in the jaw with enough force to nearly dislocate it. Gilda had no time to recover from that impact though, as another punch to the other side of her face was not far behind, making her spit blood out of her mouth in the process. The final impact was a kick to her gut that hit with enough force to send her flying two metres back before crashing onto the ground, making her roll on the rough grass a little before she eventually stopped.

Rainbow was about to follow up her assault, but was stopped when Applejack stepped between the two and sternly declared, "That's enough!"

Dash stared at Applejack with an angry expression while breathing heavily through her nose. Applejack was not budging though, and managed to keep her cool despite her friend's glare. That determination gave Rainbow pause though, and she soon began to realise just how far things had almost gone.

She saw everyone around her look at her fearfully, almost like it would only be a matter of time until she attacked them too. However, it was not the sight of their frightened eyes that got to her the most, it was the sight of Gilda lying helplessly on the ground, quivering in agony. The once terrifying girl's face was filled with bruises, she had a black eye, severely damaged lips, and blood was leaking out of her mouth and nose. The sight of Gilda in that state made Rainbow Dash afraid...afraid of what she could do. She hadn't considered just how strong she was now, and how easily she could hurt someone.

"I'm sorry..." Was all Rainbow Dash could say. Though to who exactly, it wasn't clear.

Celestia's Monday

2) A lecture in Heroism, Part 3

Episode 2

A lecture in Heroism, Part 3

A Valuable Lesson

Firefly had been through quite a lot in her 46 year old life.

She had passed military school and the Wonderbolt Academy, flown fighter jets into hostile territories, survived the Yakyakistan war, and most trying of all: managed to raise a daughter...a daughter that happened to be Rainbow Dash.

Despite Rainbow's brash attitude and enormous ego, Firefly had more respect and love for her than anyone else in the world. Over the years, she had learned to trust her daughter to make her own decisions on what to do in life. If she wanted to be a top class athlete, then Firefly would do what she could to get her into shape, if Rainbow wanted to become a member of the Wonderbolts, then her mother would teach her everything she would need to know to become one, and if Rainbow Dash wanted to start dating a girl, then Firefly would gladly welcome that girl with open arms.

However, there were some things her daughter did that ended up crossing the line, and this was one such occasion.

When Principal Cadence called and told her of Rainbow's fight with Gilda, Firefly couldn't decide if she was surprised or not about what had happened. She was most certainly disappointed though. While she had expected her daughter to still be at odds with Gilda, and would probably not forgive her anytime soon, Firefly thought she was at least mature enough to not resort to physical violence because of it.

Truthfully, she didn't even know what to think when she looked at her daughter staring off into nothingness in the chair next to her. A part of her was undeniably angry, no furious, at what Rainbow had done...while another part of her wanted nothing more than to just give her a big hug and tell her that it's all going to be okay.

Rainbow Dash herself happened to be just as unsure on how to think about this situation as her mother. She knew when she had overstepped her bounds, and she wasn't dumb enough to not see that she had gone way too far when she attacked Gilda.

However...if there was one thing that Rainbow really hated, it would be to be seen as the villain, the bad guy, the one who did wrong, and the one that caused all the pain to those around her. She knew that none of the things that had just happened would have happened if it wasn't for her actions: it was Rainbow Dash who made the other players mad at her by abusing her superpowers, it was Rainbow Dash who provoked Gilda into accidentally hurting Scootaloo, and it was Rainbow Dash who nearly put someone in the hospital by letting her anger get the better of her. Still, she just could not find it in her to admit that she was the one who did anything wrong, she just couldn't.

And as the irritatingly obnoxious noise of the clock on the wall kept ticking, it only made the extremely uncomfortable silence in the Principal's Office feel a lot worse than it already was. Even if she hadn't gotten her spider-sense, Rainbow still found little things like that annoying...especially when it was so unnervingly quiet.

She tried not to notice the glares that the other people in the room were giving her, but it was not easy. While Gilda's threatening and aggressive nature was not nearly as prominent given the black eye, bruised lips and defeated pose, her hatred for Rainbow Dash could still be felt in the look she gave her from the other corner of the room. The old man sitting next to Gilda was no happier about what happened either, and his glare at Rainbow from his one functioning eye was nearly as terrifying...especially considering the fact that he was once a supervillain.

Not everyone was looking at her though, and strangely enough, that was also a problem. Her own mother's refusal to look her in the eye made it perfectly clear that she was very disappointed in her, and that made Rainbow feel even more uncomfortable.

The ones that bothered her the least in the room were actually the ones who's judgement would affect her the most. Principal Cadence was clearly trying to be as diplomatic and neutral about the situation as possible, while the police officer standing next to her (who happened to be Cadence's husband), was trying to be the same.

For Captain Shining Armour, these kind of assignments were usually way below his pay grade, but as a personal favour to his wife, and the fact that the one involved happened to be a close friend of his younger sister Twilight, he decided to handle the situation anyway.

At first glance, it would be very hard to guess that he and Twilight were related at all, since they looked nothing alike. Twilight was a short and lanky girl who could barely run ten metres before getting winded, while Shining Armour in comparison was tall, had an excellent build and could run down and tackle any would-be-burglar to the ground with little effort. Strangely enough, Shining didn't even have Twilight's dark skin colour, though that was mostly because of their parents having different skin tones. The one thing they did have in common in terms of appearances were the fact that both of them had dark blue hair with colourful streaks in it...yet in slightly different tones.

Unlike pretty much everyone else in the room, Shining Armour's stink eye was not on Rainbow Dash...or even Gilda, but instead on the man Gilda was sitting next to: Gruff, AKA the Vulture, AKA Canterlot's very first supervillain. While it was true that he had gone through years of rehabilitation and was released on good behaviour, Shining, being a cop, could easily tell that it wouldn't take much for old Gruff to relapse into becoming the Vulture again. Honestly, the only reason why he was even allowed on school grounds was because he was the only one of Gilda's next of kin who could come. Cadence couldn't reach Gilda's mother no matter how hard she tried, and Gilda's father outright refused to have anything to do with his own daughter anymore, so...they had to settle for her ageing, and possibly still evil, grandpa instead.

Even out of his costume, Gruff was not really someone you would like to be around. His thick eyebrows were constantly cross, almost as if he had few expressions other than anger, and the scar running down his pale and glassy left eye made him just a bit more scary. However, it was also clear that he was not in his prime: he was mostly bald, he limped a little when he walked and he could spontaneously burst into coughing fits on a dime. Also, as the years went by, he got more and more scatterbrained, and tended to forget things every now and then.

About the only person in the room who wasn't glaring at someone else (or deliberately avoiding eye-contact in a dismissing way) was the principal herself. It would only take one glance at Principal Cadence to know that she was not really used to her job just yet. After all, until just a few weeks ago, she was just an ordinary teacher at the school, teaching students social studies, philosophy and a few other things...including sex ed. However, when the previous principal Spoiled Rich was fired due to several confirmed reports of verbal child abuse and encouraged bullying, particularly concerning her own daughter Diamond Tiara, Cadence was forced to take over. And all things considered, she had so far been a lot better at making sure her students were treated fairly...even though she was not nearly as good as her predecessor when it came to dealing with finances.

For a principal though, Cadence was fairly young, being only in her early thirties, and few people would deny that she was a beautiful woman. She was a bit taller than most women (but not nearly as tall as Celestia), had very long hair that was toned in several different nuances of pink, yellow and purple, and her clothing made it very clear that her favourite colour was pink, though she preferred the slightly more darker version of the colour.

After the increasingly uncomfortable silence in her office was beginning to go on for way too long, Cadence eventually decided that it was her duty to end it.

"So...could someone please tell me what happened at the soccer field earlier today?"

Neither Rainbow Dash nor Gilda said anything. Rainbow just stared blankly into a wall with a distant look in her eyes while Gilda simply snorted and looked away.

Trying to sound as sympathetic as possible, Cadence added, "If you tell me now, things will be a lot easier for you, I promise."

They were still not responding.

"Look..." Cadence began with sigh, "...I am not here to put blame on either of you. I just need to know what caused this. I cannot help you if you won't talk to me."

Still...no response.

That was when Shining stepped up and said, "If you don't want to talk about this here you will have to talk about it at police station. Your choice."

While Rainbow was still unresponsive, Gilda rolled her eyes and finally uttered, "Fine, let's just get this lame thing over with."

That answer made the others, including Rainbow Dash, look at her curiously. And after releasing a sigh, she explained her side of what happened.

"Me and Dash had a...messy breakup...to say the least. The details are none of your business, but we had a fight both before and after the game, and I got a bit...mad at her, and may have thrown a ball at her that accidentally hit that Scootaloo kid in the face. Next thing I know I'm bleeding on the ground while feeling like I was hit by a car."

"So you're saying that what happened to Scootaloo was an accident?" Shining asked.

Gilda nodded.

The blue-haired police officer then looked at Rainbow, "Do you agree about that?"

"Yes, she did not try to hurt Scootaloo..." Rainbow answered in a quiet voice...before accusingly adding, "Instead, she was trying to throw that thing at ME!"

With another roll of her eyes, Gilda stated, "Puh-lease, you could have taken it easily."

"Hey, getting hit with a soccer ball in the face is really painful!" Dash insisted.

Gilda gave her another angry look, "So is getting manhandled by your ex!"

Gruff, who had been silent until now, spoke up in a strained and raspy voice, "You're lucky she wasn't seriously injured by what you...(cough, cough)...did to her, Rainbow...Smash? Flash? or was it Crash?"

"It's Dash." Rainbow corrected.

"Whatever! The point is that Gilda is my favourite granddaughter...only granddaughter I have actually, but that's beside the point! And if you or anyone else do anything to hurt her, the Vulture will be ready for you!"

Rainbow raised an eyebrow at that, making it perfectly clear how terrified she was...which was to say 'not at all'.

Cadence had another reaction to that statement however. "Gruff, I do not appreciate death threats to be made at these meetings. So can we all just try to keep this civilised...please?"

Shining Armour leaned in towards his wife's ear and whispered, "Is this a good time to remind him that I'm carrying a loaded weapon?"

The principal whispered back, "I think that will only provoke him, so...better not."

Gruff's bad hearing made it impossible for him to make out what they were saying, but he figured it wasn't anything nice, so he grumbled to himself and tried to avoid eye-contact with them (which was a bit easier to do when you only had one eye that worked).

Shining Armour then looked at Rainbow Dash, "So...what's your side of the story, Dash?"

The teenager ran her hands through her prismatic hair and let out a deep sigh before she answered, "Well...I guess its mostly the same as Gilda's version: We did have a messy breakup, and she was angry with me for dumping her."

"To say the least." Gilda interrupted.

"And we ended up fighting a bit. After a while, I was getting more and more riled up, and...and when she threw that ball at me and hit Scootaloo, I stopped thinking, I just reacted. I was just so...angry, I didn't think about the consequences at all, and I took it out on her. After I saw how hurt she was though, I...well, you know the rest."

Silence filled the room again, as everyone was processing everything that had been said so far. Shining Armour wrote down a few notes on his standard police issue notepad while Cadence kept a hand on her chin and her eyes looked away absentmindedly. It was clear that they were both thinking really hard about what to do about this situation.

Eventually though, the pair of them made eye-contact and seemed to make some kind of silent agreement between them. Cadence though, was the first to say anything out loud.

"Now, the good news is that nobody is being sent to jail or being expelled, but...I'm afraid that I cannot just let this go. There will be consequences for this."

Gilda and Rainbow Dash didn't really like the sound of that, but they both stayed silent and waited for their inevitable punishment. What that punishment was though...while expected, wasn't something that was easy for Dash to take.

"First of all: you are both off your respective soccer teams."

Upon hearing that, Rainbow exclaimed, "What?! But...I started it! You can't just kick me out of my own team!"

Cadence gave Dash a sympathetic look, "I am sorry about this, Rainbow Dash, but I'm afraid my hands are tied."

"What happened here was not acceptable," Shining added, "and would under most circumstances be taken to court. The two of you can consider yourself lucky that the punishment isn't worse than it is."

Rainbow wanted to say something else, to argue that it wasn't fair, that she couldn't just leave her soccer team, that she practically considered them family and losing them would be kinda the worst thing ever, but...she then came to realise that...she was wrong. Considering what she'd done at the soccer field earlier today, she probably deserved it.

So, instead of arguing any further, she bit her tongue and looked down on the floor dejectedly. Just because she could come somewhat to terms with understanding the decision, that didn't mean she would have to like it.

Gilda's reaction on the other hand...wasn't nearly that extreme. If she was bothered by the news at all, she didn't show it much.

However, Shining Armour had two more rules that needed to be enforced. "Also, until further notice, you two are not allowed to participate in any joined activity unless you manage to get over your differences. The school's counsellor will decide when that is. Lastly, as per the law, you will both be subjected to at least a month of community service."

Rainbow Dash did not like the sound of that. Community service, being sent to the school counsellor regularly, and what amounted to a restraining order for her ex-girlfriend, all on top of being kicked off the soccer team? This was definitively not her lucky day. Yet, she supposed, it was better than being sent to jail...like Rarity had been. Well, if that happened, she would have at least one friend in there with her.

While she didn't even pretend to be okay with any of this, Rainbow chose not to protest out loud this time either, and grumbled curses under her breath instead. Only Firefly was close enough to her to hear what those curses were, and normally, she wouldn't have let her daughter get away with such language, but this time, such things were the least of her worries.

Gilda had heard enough, and frankly, she couldn't stand being in this room anymore. It had way too many judgemental eyes, disapproving tones and one too many Rainbow Dashes for her liking. She didn't even bother waiting for someone saying she could go before she stood up and said, "Come on, Gramps, we're leaving!"

Gruff looked at his granddaughter with a raised eyebrow but didn't move from his perch.

Shining began to say, "You can't just-"

But was cut off when Gilda repeated, "We're. Leaving!" punctuating both words to get her point across.

The cop kept his eyes on her for a moment, meeting her glare with his own. The similarities her attitude had to several people he had put away were striking, and it made him uneasy. However, he was forced to let her go when Cadence put a hand on his arm to get his attention before giving a trusting nod.

A bit reluctantly, Shining Armour looked back at Gilda and conceded, "You're free to go."

Gilda nudged her grandpa on the shoulder to get him moving, which he did...eventually. He just needed to glare at everybody in the room one more time for no apparent reason first.

The need to glare at people before leaving appeared to be genetic though, as before she and her grandfather left, Gilda looked at Dash and quietly warned "Don't even think this is over."

Only after she had left the room did Rainbow mutter, "I'm not."

Since this whole meeting took place after school hours were over, the halls of Canterlot High were mostly empty. It could be received as being either very relaxing without the usual noisy chaos around...or it could just be incredibly awkward...or even feel like a spooky ghost town...or possibly all three at once.

While they weren't allowed inside the principal's office during the duration of the meeting, there was nothing to stop a concerned group of girls from waiting just outside it.

The group consisted of some of Rainbow's closest friends, including Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and even Scootaloo. While the early teen did have a bandage over her nose, she was otherwise in good shape...aside from the amputated leg of course. Her mood on the other hand...was a different story.

None of the girls could come up with anything useful to say, which only served to make the atmosphere a bit more awkward than it had to be. Their sullen expressions certainly didn't help either. Heck, even Pinkie Pie was more glum than normal, as was noticeable by the fact that her hair was a bit less poofy than it usually was.

Eventually, Fluttershy of all people tried to break the silence, "So...what are we supposed to-"

However, before she got to continue that sentence, Gilda stormed out of the door with her grandfather following suit. While Fluttershy and the others looked at her curiously, she ignored them as best she could and just kept on walking.

When she was far enough away that the only one around was Gruff and herself, she took out her inner rage on the first object she could see...which happened to be a poor defenceless trashcan. With no signs of mercy, she kicked it again, and again, and again, so much so that it was buckled and broken with all of its contents spilled out on the floor by the time she was done with it.

While she assaulted the inanimate object, she screamed, "AAAAARGGHHH! STUPID, STUPID, DASH AND HER STUPID, LAME, AAAAAARGGGHHHHH! What the hell is so freaking wrong with her!? Why do she have to be such an evil bitch to me!? I HATE HER! Next chance I get, I'LL TEAR HER APART!"

After she was finished with her rather loud rant, she just stood on the spot while letting out a couple of slow angry breaths. Gilda had never been good at managing her own rage, and that was mostly because she had way too much of it in her. The fact that she still had feelings for Rainbow Dash made her even more angry at her. There were few words she hadn't already spoken (or rather, shouted) about how betrayed she was feeling at this moment, and how much it felt like Dash had ripped Gilda's heart right out of her chest.

Her anger turned to curiosity though when Gruff suggested, "That...might actually be possible."

Cautious about what he was on about, Gilda slowly turned around to face him, "Uh, what are you talking about?"

Gruff's facial expression turned into a slightly mischievous smile, "Hehehe...you know back in my days we didn't just let someone get away with hurting us so much, oh no. Instead...we hit them back even harder!"

That suggestion only made her groan, "Yeah right, because that worked out so well for me when I tried it. How did you tell, by the bruises or the black eye?"

Gruff looked positively insulted by that remark and stubbornly declared, "Did I teach you to talk that way to your elders!?"

"Whatever." Gilda muttered while crossing her arms.

"Don't 'whatever' me, because I have something important I need to say...(cough, cough)." After clearing his throat a little, he revealed, "I know of a way for you to become even stronger than you are now. Strong enough to teach your...urggh...ex-girlfriend some manners, teach her what happens when you tick off a member of our great family!"

Gilda was starting to grow suspicious about where this was heading, and narrowed her eyes while asking, "What are you saying?"

"What I'm saying, dear child, is that my nest wasn't reserved for just me. The 'Wings of the Vulture' has been in need for a new bearer for years now, and I think that you might just be the one...(cough, cough)...to, eh, to bear them once more."

"Are you insane!?" Gilda asked incredulously, "Wait, stupid question, of course you are. After all, what sane person would ever dress up like a giant vulture and rob a bunch of banks even though you had all the money you could possibly need! Why the hell would you ever think I would humiliate myself by putting on such a stupid costume anyway? I got better things to do with my life than to throw away what little I got left of it on some old buzzard's delusions!"

"How dare you speak with that tone at me after all I did for you?! I was the one who gave you a roof over your head when your father kicked you out of your own home, and without my money you would have been living on the streets, you ungrateful whelp!"

"Yeah, and who was it that raised dad to be a homophobic asshole in the first place? And could that be the same guy who put the rest of our family's reputation in ruins by becoming some crazy supervillain?!"

Gruff grumbled a little under his breath, but then offered, "No matter. I offered you a way to get back at your ex, and you can take it or leave it if you wish. All I'm saying is that if you want a way to get back at those you're angry with...go to my old tower and set the clock: three, six, eight, in that order, and you'll find exactly what you're looking for."

Gilda quickly ran his insane idea and what good it could possibly give her through her head, and then decided, "No. I'm not going to become your little sidekick or continue your lame supervillain legacy, and I don't need your help either, I don't need ANYONE!"

In an angry huff, she turned away from him and stormed away, not even bothering to look back or listen to what else he had to say.

However, she did make sure to memorise that code...

Back inside the Principal's Office, Rainbow Dash and Cadence were still discussing the consequences of the situation. With Gilda out of the room, it was actually a lot easier for Rainbow to say anything out loud. She was still not much happier than before though.

"So how long will it be before I can get back on the team?" Dash asked.

The principal paused a little to consider that before replying, "Well, I am not entirely sure. That depends."

"On what exactly?"

"Mostly it has to do with what Zecora, the school counsellor, thinks, but also...well, what your team decides." Seeing Rainbow's perplexed look, she elaborated, "After the way you acted during the game, I have received a lot of requests that you'd be dropped off the team. Some even believe that you were using some kind of substance to...um...'improve' your performance."

"Which is illegal in most cases by the way." Shining Armour added.

"But I didn't take anything!" Rainbow defended, "I have played many games in my life, and some of them I've lost, sure, but I have never in my life resorted to cheating, not once! You've got to believe me!"

"While I want to believe you-"

For the first time during the entire meeting, Firefly spoke up. "She's telling the truth, and I'm not saying that because she's my daughter, I'm saying it because I know her better than anyone else. While she may have had problems with both trespassing and shoplifting in the past, using cheap methods just to win a game goes against everything I know about her. So unless you have any proof that she did such a thing, I will not let you or anyone else continue with these accusations. Are we clear?"

Firefly's voice held no deceit or doubt, making it clear that she meant every word she said. Having spent years in the air-force, and even had a stint as a fully fledged Wonderbolt pilot, tutored some of their most famous members like Soarin, Fleetfoot and even Captain Spitfire herself, Firefly was not someone to take lightly. And when she told you to do something, you would most likely do it.

Even Shining Armour was a bit intimidated by her, and the tone in his voice betrayed a tiny bit of nervousness. "Okay...um, then I guess that's settled. But about what happened with Gilda-"

"I will have a talk with her about that later. She does not need to hear it from a police officer or the school's principal. No offence."

Cadence and Shining thought about that and once again made eye-contact to communicate something to each other silently. After reaching some kind of agreement, Shining looked back at Firefly and said, "Well...then I suppose my work here is done."

He tipped his police cap, said, "Good day to you." and walked out the door, leaving only Cadence, Rainbow Dash and Firefly left in the room.

Outside the office, the four girls gathered there peaked up after hearing the door opening, but were then disappointed to see that it was only Shining Armour. They had been waiting for Rainbow to come out of there for close to an hour now and were starting to lose their patience.

However, when Shining Armour saw the group, his attention focused on one of the girls in particular.

"Applejack, glad that you're here. I need to tell you something, but...it's a bit...sensitive."

The country girl raised an eyebrow, "What do ya mean 'sensitive'?"

"The kind that I can only talk about in private. It's about the farm." His tone was serious, so she knew this was important.

While still being a bit apprehensive about what this was all about, she walked up to him and said, "Well...I guess that would be a heck of a good thing to know. Lead the way, officer."

With a nod, the policeman began to lead her away from the others in search of a place he could be sure neither one of them would be overheard. The way he went about it though showed that it wasn't just for convenience, it was way more serious than that.

After a short search, Shining found a currently unused classroom and did a quick check to see if it was indeed empty. When he was sure that it was, he motioned for Applejack to come inside and closed the door behind her.

Applejack sat down on one of the benches in the room and noted, "Alright then, we're alone. Now what was this here important thing you wanted to tell me about?"

The policeman paced back and forth a bit before he asked, "You remember when you told me about your family's problems with the Flim Flam brothers?"

The mention of that issue peeked Applejack's curiosity, and she had a feeling that she was finally about to get some well-deserved answers. "Yeah...I remember."

"Well, I started an investigation to find out the identity of their anonymous business partner, you know the one who sent them all that money to run your family out of business? The thing is, after a bit of scouting and searching I eventually got a name, and that's...where things get a bit complicated."

Applejack crossed her arms, "'Complicated' how?"

"The name was...'Crystal King'."

The way he said that name alone made it clear that this was no laughing matter. However, it was not a name Applejack was familiar with.

"And who in tarnation is that?"

"Right, you probably wouldn't have heard of him, but...he's seriously bad news. If there is one person in this city you do not want to piss off, it's him. From what we can tell, he practically owns all organised crime in Canterlot, and has done so for almost twenty years now. We believe he came to power about the same time Captain Marvel disappeared. After she had sent the leaders of every other major criminal organisation in jail, there was nothing stopping him from taking what was left for himself. He has ruled over the criminal underworld unopposed ever since."

"No offence, but isn't it your job to put people like that behind bars? I mean, shouldn't someone have tried to do somethin' about him durin' all that time?"

"It's not that easy!" Shining insisted, "Believe me, I want nothing more than to see that scumbag locked away for the rest of his life...but I can't."

"Why the heck not?!" Applejack angrily questioned.

"I tried! I tried to track him down once. I was getting close, closer than anyone else to finding the evidence I needed, but then...he found out I was after him."

"And I take it he didn't appreciate that?"

"No...he didn't." Shining answered with a sigh, "Just as I was about to meet up with an informant who had the last piece of evidence I needed, a woman came to my office and introduced herself as a representative of some kind of law firm. However, I recognised her immediately as Abacus Cinch, the Crystal King's right hand woman. She told me that if I didn't shut down my investigation at once, there would be consequences. I was not intimidated though, and made sure to let her know that. Then...she took out her laptop and showed me a live camera feed of Cadence, in our home, feeding our daughter Flurry Heart with a baby bottle, and said that this would be the last time I saw either of them if I didn't cooperate." In a defeated voice, he finished, "I shut down my investigation that very evening, claiming it was a dead end."

"Oh..." Applejack said understandingly, "That sounds mighty awful. If my family was threatened like that I would do the same."

"Doesn't make me feel any better about it though. I really want to help you with this, but if he's involved, there's really nothing I can do, not without putting my family at risk. I'm sorry."

"No need to apologise, Shining, I understand plenty of what you're goin' though." she said politely, though under her breath, she swore, "Horseapples."

The situation had just become a lot more complicated...

Meanwhile, the meeting in the principal's office was about to draw to a close. Though they had covered most of the things they needed to talk about, Rainbow Dash was still trying to argue about her punishment.

"But my team were counting on me to help them win, how are they supposed to make it now?"

"I suppose we will have to hope that they will manage." Cadence offered.

"And what am I supposed to do?! Playing soccer is about the only thing I like about this school!"

"I'm sorry that you feel that way, but that is the punishment. It's not all bad though. Now you can focus more on your other assignments instead."

"How wonderful..." Rainbow sarcastically muttered.

"Yes, I know that doesn't sound very fun. But from what I've heard, you seemed to have a lot of skills with a camera, and it is not too late to sign up for the new photography class before it starts."

"Taking pictures is just a hobby, being an athlete is who I am, and you can't just take that away!"

"You do know that you're just out of the soccer team, right? You still have PE classes like everyone else."

Dash was about to reply to that, but then realised that the principal had a point. "Oh...yeah, I guess that's true."

Cadence sighed, "Look, I really don't like taking away something you love to do, but the rules are what they are. You will just have to accept that."

"Fine..." Rainbow finally conceded through gritted teeth.

Growing just a bit impatient, Firefly asked, "Is there anything else that needs to be discussed here, or can I take my daughter home now?"

Cadence tapped her fingers on her desk a few times, and made eye-contact with both mother and daughter before she gave an affirmative nod, "Yes, for now at least. I will come to you with information about the school counsellor and your required community service later. For now, why don't you head home and get some rest? I'm sure it could do you some good."

"Yeah, I guess you're right about that..." Rainbow Dash agreed, until she spitefully finished that sentence with, "...anything to get out of this stupid meeting!"

"Rainbow Dash!" Her mother scolded.

Dash ignored her and just got up and left the office without another word, her body language showing very clear signs of anger...and the desire to get as far away from here as possible as fast as possible.

As soon as she was out of the room, Firefly let out a long sigh and then looked at Cadence, "Teenagers. In a few years you'll deal with them too..."

"I already am." the principal answered, "As you can see, I'm apparently in charge of a whole school of them."

"Trust me, its a lot different when they're your own."

After the three girls outside the office had waited patiently for Rainbow Dash to come out of the meeting for over an hour, and were a bit disappointed when apparently everyone else got out before her, they were relieved when Rainbow finally came out through the door.

However, whatever they were about to say fell flat when they saw just how grumpy Rainbow appeared to be at the moment.

While Pinkie Pie was an expert at cheering people up when they were sad, she didn't really know what to do with someone who was angry, which she could tell Rainbow was. Scootaloo always liked to cheer for her honorary big sister whenever she could, but she was far more used to Dash comforting Scootaloo than the other way around. Lastly, Fluttershy was...well...Fluttershy. So all three of them were pretty much stumped on how to even begin this conversation.

Rainbow Dash saw their cautious, but inquisitive, looks directed at her, and decided to spare them the indignity of asking by answering for them.

"I'm kicked off the soccer team, has to go meet the school counsellor from now on, and am currently stuck with a ton of community service. So yeah...it didn't go well."

"That's a bit of a bummer." Pinkie Pie commented.

"Gee, ya think?"

In an attempt to lighten the mood, Fluttershy tried, "I suppose it could be worse...somehow."

"Yeah..." Scootaloo agreed, "...at least I'm okay...mostly."

With a slightly concerned look, Rainbow asked, "How's the nose?"

Scootaloo rubbed her bandaged nose a bit, "It still hurts, but it'll pass. This is nothing compared to what it was like when...you know..." she looked down at her artificial leg, "...this happened."

A glimpse of Dash's sensitive side was shown when she said, "I still don't like seeing you get hurt, Scoots. Especially not because of Gilda."

"But...was it really necessary to...you know, attack her?" Fluttershy questioned apprehensively.

Even if it was Fluttershy asking, Rainbow had just about enough of people criticising her for her mistakes, "Come on, Fluttershy, don't tell me you think I was just going to let her get away with what she said to you!"

"It just seems so...violent. I would never do such a thing, not even to Gilda."

However, even with how frustrated she was feeling, Rainbow could still not bring herself to stay mad at Fluttershy. So she softened her tone just a bit, "Look, I didn't mean to hurt her...that much. I just wanted to give her a taste of her own medicine."

"Uh, you didn't give her medicine, Dashie," Pinkie helpfully informed, "you punched her in the face."

Rainbow facepalmed, "Pinkie, that was just an expression."

Pinkie almost looked insulted by that remark, "Well duh, of course I know that. I'm just bringing up that it wasn't all that bad."

"And how did you figure that?!" Dash asked with her anger instantly restored.

"Because giving her medicine would be even worse! Seriously, am I the only one who realises how dangerous taking the wrong medicine is!? Those pills the doctor gave me and my sisters when we were younger still gives me nightmares...when I'm not having nightmares about cupcake ingredients, the teacher's garden or a colourful factory. Don't ask. But mostly I just have happy dreams where we're all colourful talking ponies living in a magical land."

"Yeah, because I'm so in the mood to hear about your weird dreams, Pinkie!" Rainbow said with a groan, her voice filled with sarcasm.

"I was just trying to cheer you up with some-"

Rainbow got up right in Pinkie's face and shouted, "Well if it wasn't obvious before, I AM NOT IN THE MOOD FOR THIS!"

Pinkie shrunk down from Dash's shouting and uttered a very meek version of her catchphrase, "Okay dokey lokey." in response.

"Rainbow Dash!" a stern voice demanded from behind her. After turning her attention away from her friends she was met with the tranquil fury in her mother's eyes. She was looking at Dash with a narrowed brow and her arms crossed. "A word."

Firefly really didn't need to say anything else to convey her intention. The intensity in her voice was enough to make Rainbow Dash, someone who rarely listened to anyone and preferred to loudly voice her own opinion, to instantly fall silent and follow her mom out to the corridor away from the others.

Before leaving, Rainbow looked at her friends and said, "I'll see you guys...later."

Just after she left, Fluttershy asked, "Um...weren't we supposed to cheer her up?"

Scootaloo answered, "I tried to."

"Me too!" Pinkie added, "But I guess she's too much of a grumpy-pants to be cheered up right now."

For a few minutes, Rainbow followed her mother to her car in an uncomfortable silence. She could tell that Firefly had something to say, but Dash's fear of what that might be made her a bit hesitant about bringing it up.

Instead, Rainbow tried to occupy her mind on other things...like...say that one badly beaten trashcan she spotted on the way or the distant echoing voices of Applejack discussing something with what appeared to be Shining Armour.

Still, no matter how hard she tried, all that she could think about was what happened at the soccer field earlier.

She wondered just how much her spider powers were responsible for what happened, and how much was just her own fault...or Gilda's. Would the fight have still happened? Most likely. Would it have ended up the way it did? Probably not. If Rainbow didn't just happen to get bitten by that spider it might as well have been herself who was beaten and bruised, not Gilda.

By the time Firefly and her daughter were seated in her car, she decided now would as good a time as any to talk about what happened. She didn't put on her seat belt or even insert the key into the ignition. Instead she just sat there for a moment and tried her best to figure out what to say.

Eventually, she turned to where her daughter was sitting in the passenger seat and said, "Rainbow...we should probably talk about this."

Rainbow Dash didn't answer, and just stared at the school through the window silently.

"Rainbow?"

She didn't answer.

"Rainbow Dash, talk to me!"

"What is there to talk about?" Dash questioned in a slightly depressed voice while still looking out the window, "What's done is done."

"While that may be true, that doesn't mean we're supposed to forget it ever happened. Like it or not, what happened today was not something you can just sweep under the rug, not by a long shot. You need to understand that, and more importantly, take responsibility for your actions."

Rainbow Dash looked her mother in the eye, "Maybe I did take it too far, but after all she'd done, she deserved at least something. You can't just expect me to just let her get away with giving Fluttershy death threats and hurting Scootaloo, do you?"

"I get it. I get that you're angry with Gilda. When I was your age I went through exactly the same thing."

"Well, not exactly." Rainbow cryptically pointed out.

Firefly misinterpreted what she meant by that and said, "Okay, I had never dated the guy I was angry with, but he hurt me just as much as Gilda did to you, and I too tried to get back at him. The point is, I made a lot of mistakes back then, and I'm not proud of a single one of them. Sure, I had my reasons, but those reasons were not enough to excuse my actions. It wasn't until after I joined the military that I learned that just because things are understandable, it doesn't mean that they're acceptable."

"So what was I supposed to do, politely tell her that she should be nicer?"

"I don't know. Maybe. But tell me: what good do you think beating the living tar out of her will do in the end?"

Rainbow had fair bit of venom in her voice when she answered, "Maybe it will teach her a lesson about what happens when she messes with my friends."

"So you want to scare her so much she wouldn't dare to do anything against you? Is that what you're saying?!" Firefly asked, clearly appalled by what Rainbow just said.

"Well, what if I am? That's what she was trying to do to Fluttershy!"

"And that's the problem! You spend most of the time after your breakup complaining about how horrible of a person she was, and now you're starting to become just like her."

"What?!"

"Beating people down to get them to do what you want is a bully's way of dealing with things, and I know you're better than that, Dashie! When I was in the airforce, I saw good people, even friends, get gunned down by our enemies, and for a time I wanted nothing more than to return the favour. But...when I finally had the power to do that, I refused, and instead forced the enemy into a surrender, even though there was no tactical reason for doing so. Why? Because I knew that they didn't deserve it. And if they did, it was not for me to decide, for with great power, there must always be an even greater responsibility to go with it. Always remember that."

Rainbow Dash thought about those words for a moment. There was no doubt that they held a certain amount of wisdom, and they seemed strangely fitting considering her situation. It was true that she had been given great power, and judging by what happened at the soccer field, she had not been acting very responsibly. Maybe her mother did have the right idea...but damn if Rainbow was gonna let Firefly win yet another argument against her. Also, mentioning that war brought back a lot of painful memories.

"Yeah, and how responsible were you when you left me and dad all alone to fly away and fight a war on the other side of the planet, huh!?"

Firefly did not expect that to come up again, and was a bit confused over what brought this on. Still, the answer to that question had not changed. "I had a duty to my country to fulfil, and I was not happy about having to leave."

"But what about your duty to your own family?" Rainbow questioned, "Shouldn't we be more important than your stupid job!?"

"Rainbow..." Firefly warned.

But Dash didn't want to hear it, and instead revealed, "I couldn't sleep for months because I thought that you...you...weren't coming home! Do you have any idea how worried I was?! I mean, what kind of mom would leave her twelve-year old daughter alone for six months knowing that she might not come back? Didn't you think that it was your responsibility to be there for her instead?!"

"We've been over this-" She began to say, but was immediately cut off.

"Yes, we have, but you have never apologised for leaving me behind! Never! Not for over four years have you taken responsibility for how you made me feel! Not once! I may have gone too far today, but I did it because I give a damn about the people I care about! I would never leave them hanging! So don't you DARE lecture me on responsibility when you don't even know what that word means!"

By the time Rainbow had finished her rant, her face had turned red of rage, and there were signs of tears building at the base of her eyes, revealing over four years of bottled up resentment.

Firefly just stared at her daughter with wide eyes, her emotions very difficult to decipher. She had an expression on her face that either spoke of someone who's heart had been shattered into a million pieces, or someone who was in complete disbelief...or both. It was clear though that she couldn't come up with anything to say, judging by her intense silence.

Dash couldn't stand looking into that face for long though, and angrily got out of the car and slammed the door in her wake, her superhuman strength making the slam even louder.

For over a minute, Firefly just...sat there...pondering over Rainbow's and even her own actions. She was surprised to hear that Dash was still angry at her for leaving her behind during the war, and that she was still waiting for the apology that Firefly had been too stubborn to give at the time. A trait that seemed to possibly be genetic.

She knew that her daughter needed time to calm down, so she didn't follow after her. For now though, what she could do...was say, "I'm sorry, Dashie."

Rainbow Dash was definitively not sticking around to hear that though. In fact, she didn't feel like talking to anyone right now. What she knew she needed was somewhere she could be alone and sort out her feelings. Somewhere no one would disturb her, or worse, try to talk even more sense into her already very confused mind.

She knew running into the streets would probably give her a lot of stares, though not because she stood out that much aside from the rainbow hair, but because she was crying, and that always made people look. She couldn't go inside the school either, for she knew there were still a few more people in there, most of them her friends, and she was not in the mood for their pity.

However, there was one place she could think of that she was certain no one would be able to follow her to.

After running out of view from her mom's car, Rainbow used her newfound powers to leap up onto the wall of the school house and climb up on the roof. And when she had found a place up there that seemed to be enough out of sight, she sat down and began to sob in peace.

What Rainbow Dash didn't even bother to take notice of though was that just by the field next to the school, Gilda was also looking for a secluded spot to wallow in self-pity. However, when she saw Rainbow run past her and then climb up on a solid wall like an insect in under ten seconds flat, Gilda had only one thing to say.

"What the hell?"

2) A lecture in Heroism, Part 1

The Nightmare under the Moon

Minisode

The Nightmare under the Moon

While most citizens of Canterlot could feel the security of the vibrant metropolis' artificial light when the night set in, there were some places where that light didn't illuminate. One such place were the docks, where workers had to work tirelessly at ungodly hours with only the glow of their flashlights and the shining surface of the full moon above to help them see what they were even doing.

Currently, a pair of dockworkers were hauling quite a large number of crates with the 'CelestiaCorp' logo printed on them from an open shipping container onto a truck waiting to take the cargo to CelestiaCorp Tower. Neither of them had the faintest idea of what was in the crates, but frankly, they could care less about that. The two of them had been working all night and were both just waiting for their shift to end so they could finally go home.

One of the workers, Goldengrape, yawned loudly after picking up yet another of those endless boxes and in an extremely tired voice asked, "So...Amethyst, is this the last shipment, because I don't think I...(yawn)...can keep going...any longer?"

His coworker, Amethyst Star, had a hint of relief in her tone when she answered, "Sure thing, but not before those geeks at CelestiaCorp get their delivery of whatever the heck are in these boxes. So would you please stop complaining and help me get these things loaded up?"

Even though she tried to sound authoritative, there were signs in her voice that she was just as tired as he was.

Goldengrape groaned, "Fine...I'll do my job, but when I get home I'm gonna sleep for a month and then try to negotiate for something better than the night shift."

"Aw, quit being such a baby!"

"Yes, mom." he sarcastically answered, making Amethyst roll her eyes.

However, despite their bickering they did manage to get the job done in the end. While the boxes were not only heavy, but also numerous, the workers' shear stubbornness was enough for them to pull it off. And with yet another productive day of harsh labour about to draw for a close, the only task left was now to get the delivery over to CelestiaCorp...and that job fell to Autumn Leaf, the driver.

Only...he seemed to have fallen asleep at the wheel while he was waiting for the workers to load the truck with the crates he was supposed to deliver. Not really a good statement to make for a young truck driver.

When Amethyst noticed that he wasn't moving, she shouted, "Autumn Leaf! You're up!"

He didn't respond.

"Come on, Leaf! Wake up already!"

When he still didn't show any signs of having heard her, Amethyst groaned and began to make her way over to him.

However, she stopped in her tracks when a male voice with a noticeable Western drawl said, "Hold it right there!"

Both Amethyst and Goldengrape immediately began to look for the owner of that voice. Neither one of them recognised it, and the poor lighting of the docks made it hard to see who it was.

That was when three strange men emerged from the shadows and made themselves known. While they all hid their faces behind masks and wore visors that completely obscured their eyes, they all carried a distinct look. One of them was far bigger and burlier than the other two while another was rather short and moved about in a slightly spastic manner.

The third man of the trio was definitively the most interesting of them though. He wore a brown coat over some kind of yellow and brown jump-suit, had a tan-coloured stetson on his head, as well as a red scarf that obscured most of his face...which was already hidden behind a mask with a visor made out of one-way glass, making it impossible to see even a glimpse of his true appearance. While the short one was armed with a handgun and the big one with a crowbar, their leader was armed with some rather unusual weaponry. Strapped to both of his wrists were a pair of slightly oval-shaped mechanical gauntlets that seemed to be based on some kind of advanced technology.

After having made their presence known, the leader greeted, "Howdy there, good fellas! Thank you kindly for packagin' our bounty for us, but if you know what's best for ya, you'll hand over that shipment to me and the boys."

Goldengrape, who was a bit too tired to notice that the new arrivals were clearly armed, tiredly asked, "And why should we do that? For that matter, who are you people?"

"Name's Shocker, and these here are my compadres Ox and Fancy Dan. As for why you should do what I say..." he aimed one of his gauntlet-thingies at a nearby shipping container and pressed a button, sending out a highly concentrated beam of compressed air that hit with such force that it tore a hole right through the solid metal of the container. "...Well, use your imagination."

While Autumn Leaf had slept through most of the things that was going on around him, Shocker's sonic blast made about as much noise as a gunshot, and woke him up instantly. It took a little bit longer for him to make sense of what on earth was going on though.

Amethyst and Goldengrape were a bit more up to speed on the situation, and if they weren't awake before, they sure were now. Since neither of them were in the mood of getting shot, beaten, or blasted by Shocker's blasters, they raised their hands in a surrendering motion while slowly backing away from the trio.

Shocker put his hands on his belt in a very Western-style manner and said, "Wise move, fellas. Ox, you're drivin', Fancy Dan, give the 'Big Man' a call and tell him his package is on its way and that we're in need of an address."

Ox, who was the big guy by the way, menacingly made his way over to the truck Autumn Leaf was sitting in. He played around with his crowbar a little to appear a bit more intimidating.

The short guy, apparently called Fancy Dan, fished out a cellphone from his pocket and punched in a number. It didn't take long before someone on the other side answered.

"Cinch, its Fancy Dan. You can tell your boss that we got his birthday present. Where do he want it?"

After a short pause, Fancy Dan turned to Shocker and relayed, "He wants it at the Flim Flam brothers place, and he wants us to look like we're making a delivery. Ya know, for the witnesses."

Shocker snorted, "Typical. I was frankly expectin' a job with a mite more action, but if the Big Man wants us to play dress-up, then let's get to it."

Suddenly, Goldengrape felt something bump him on the head that then landed on the ground next to him. After wincing a bit from the impact, he looked down to see what it was. From his first glance, it looked to be some kind of orange metal ball.

Curiously, he picked it up to take a closer look.

From a closer inspection, he got even more confused, as the strange object appeared to be shaped like a Jack-O-Lantern pumpkin and glowed with a faint green light from within. It looked harmless enough, but he did wonder why anyone would throw it at him...and who threw it in the first place.

However, looks turned out to be very deceiving.

With no warning given whatsoever, the pumpkin-shaped object exploded right in Goldengrape's face, killing him instantly and sending anyone anywhere near him reeling from the powerful shockwave the explosion caused.

Amethyst Star took the blunt of it, and ended up on the ground screaming in agony. Her eardrums were probably permanently damaged, and she had noticeable minor burns on her back and left arm. She was lucky to be alive though.

While the others were not really close enough to the blast to suffer any major injuries, an explosion, unlike what Hollywood would have you believe, was not something safe to be around. The booming noise alone was enough to make even Shocker's ears ring...and he was wearing a suit specifically designed to protect him from harmful vibrations.

The only one who had some more protection from the blast than that was Autumn Leaf, who was still sitting in the driver's seat of the truck. However, he was in such a state of shock that he couldn't force his body to do anything other than stare wide-eyed with a slack jaw.

Then...he heard a beeping...and it was coming from inside the truck.

Autumn Leaf slowly turned his head to look at the source of the beeping noise, and when he saw that it was another pumpkin-shaped explosive just...sitting there in the passenger seat, he could do nothing but stare at it.

Then the entire truck, along with Autumn Leaf and the truckload, went up like a bonfire while sending shrapnel everywhere. With the bomb connecting to not only the car's gasoline supply, but also whatever advanced technology were in those boxes, the blast was even bigger than the last one.

Ox was sent flying off his feet by the explosion. However, being as tough as he was, he managed to get his bearings together surprisingly quickly and had gotten back up not long after.

While they had so far survived the attacks without any major injuries, Shocker and his flunkies were pretty rattled by it and all three of them were frantically looking for whoever it was that had attacked them. So far, they couldn't see anyone.

That was until they heard the demented laugh of a madwoman coming from above...

When the three of them looked up to see where the laughter was coming form, they finally caught a glimpse of their attacker.

She appeared to be standing on some kind of winged mechanical contraption that glowed blue at certain parts, making it easier to distinguish in the dark of the night. Shocker's best guess would be that it was some kind of advanced attack glider, yet it had either been custom-made or heavily modified judging by the fact that the front of it was shaped like the head of a gargoyle. Speaking of which, whoever was piloting the thing appeared to have a thing for Nightmare Night, judging by the fact that she was wearing what amounted to a Nightmare Night costume. She hid most of her appearance underneath a tattered dark purple robe, but her blue glowing eyes were shining through her intimidating hood. While it was difficult to see in the darkness, she also appeared to wear some kind of armour underneath her cloak.

Her voice, while being distinctly female, was exceedingly menacing and showed signs of gleeful sadism, "Hahahahahahah...Isn't it beautiful? The glorious orchestra of explosions, Mhmhmhmhmhhaha!"

Shocker was not amused, and both he and Fancy Dan aimed their respective weapons at her. "What in tarnation is the meanin' of this?! Who're you workin' for?!"

"Working for? Mhmhmhaha, Why, am I not royal enough for you? And here I thought breaking the law meant that no one had any power over me."

"The Crystal King owns this town, and if ya ain't workin' for him or learn how to stay out of his way, you're as good as dead."

"Heheheh, the Crystal King? So dear old Sombra finally loses it and gives himself a name like that, who would have guessed? Hahahaha! Well then, allow me to pass on a message to him from me. Please tell him that his rule over this city's low-lives is over, that his Crystal Empire will soon amount to nothing, and that when I come for him, what is left of His Majesty will fit inside a coffee cup! And best of all, when he's gone...there will be new throne, and I will be the one sitting on it! Mhahahahahahahahahaha-HAHAAAHAHAHA!"

Shocker had heard enough. It was obvious that whoever this person was, she was clearly insane, and was better off dead than alive. Besides, she had made her intentions perfectly clear, and taking care of one of his boss' problems could score him some extra cash if he was lucky.

So, without wasting any time, Shocker fired both of his blasters at her. As she was a bit too occupied laughing at her own jokes, she didn't have time to react before the blast hit her in the face and sent her falling off her glider.

However, not only was her armour built to withstand concussive attacks like that, but the glider also had an auto-pilot system that she had personally modified to suit her own needs. And as soon as the glider detected that she had fallen off it, it had swooped down and positioned itself at just the right place for the woman to land back on it with grace.

Through the shadow cast by her hood, a wicked smile could be seen as she looked upon her opponents. Then she quickly reached into her cloak and pulled out another pumpkin-shaped metal orb and threw it at them.

This one was different though, as instead of releasing a fiery explosion, it split open to unleash a couple dozen bat-shaped razor-sharp boomerang-like objects that flew straight towards the mercenaries.

Shocker deflected the ones headed towards him with a blast from his shock-blasters, and Fancy Dan was quick and nimble enough to dodge them. Ox on the other hand had no way to defend himself and was hit by five of them at once. With one of them hitting him straight in the heart, and another catching him in the throat, he died instantly, and his now lifeless body fell to the ground with a thud.

The assailant didn't relent though and swooped down till she flew barely half-a-metre above the ground while heading straight towards Shocker. And he responded to that by trying to blast her in the face again.

However, this time she was ready for him and used some kind of hidden function of the glider to launch herself three metres up into the air while still propelling herself forward, dodging his attack expertly while leaping above his head. Also, as the glider was still in motion even without its owner on it, it moved fast enough to knock Shocker's feet out from under him. When the glider had passed him, the woman landed back on it as gracefully as before.

She was not the only one to land on it though, as Fancy Dan managed to use his acrobatic skills to hitch a ride on it as well. By holding onto the hem of her cloak, he kept himself from falling while he moved his other hand, which was holding onto his handgun, to score a close-range head-shot. Only, before he could pull the trigger, she grabbed him by the wrist and immediately moved his hand out of the way, making him fire several rounds into a shipping container in the background instead.

Before Fancy Dan could break out of her grip, she grabbed the back of his head and pulled his neck back so far that it snapped, ending his life in the process. And with him dead, she carelessly threw his body aside while turning her attention back to Shocker.

The seasoned bounty hunter may have been hit in the legs by a metal vehicle moving about as fast as a car, but he was not letting that stop him from getting back up on his feet. If anything, he was mostly upset that his hat had flown off during the impact.

Seeing him struggle a little to stand up straight, the cloaked woman asked, "Oh, you poor thing, did you hurt your little legs?" in probably the most condescendingly childish tone she could muster.

Shocker glared at her and shouted, "Shut yer piehole, you stinkin' varmit!" and took another shot with his right blaster at her.

She was prepared for that one too, and responded by pointed her index finger at him like a child pretending their hands were pistols. A strange response to be sure...if she hadn't installed plasma blasters into her gloves, letting her shoot a concentrated beam of superheated blue plasma out of the tip of her finger. Her aim and timing was perfect, and she managed to hit him straight in the barrel of his shock-blaster the very moment he fired it, causing a chain reaction that made his own weapon blow up in his face.

With the full force of his own blaster turned against him, Shocker was slammed into a container behind him so hard that it instantly knocked him unconscious. While any other person would have died, the mercenary's protective suit managed to save his life.

"Well, that was almost too easy..." the cloaked woman noted in a slightly bored tone.

Amethyst Star, the only one beside the attacker herself who was still alive and conscious, was trying desperately to limp away from the chaos despite the overwhelming pain she was feeling throughout her whole body. The event had left her scared out of her wits, and all she wanted was to be out of it as soon as was humanly possible.

She had no such luck though, as she was soon yanked off the ground by a powerful hand that grabbed her by the back of her neck. And she then came face to face with the mysterious attacker.

She had big blue eyes with pupils that were slit like a snake's and accentuated by surprisingly feminine violet eyelashes. Underneath her purple cloak it was now apparent that she was wearing lavender armour, which included a helmet that had a slightly regal theme to it. Her skin, or what looked like her skin, was unnaturally pitch black, and her chin and nose were especially pronounced. Also, her long pointed ears seemed more like something a wild animal would have. The most disturbing part of her appearance though was the extremely unnerving Cheshire grin that showed a lot of sharp teeth and pronounced fangs.

Either she was not entirely human or she was wearing a very advanced and expressive mask.

Having to stare into that nightmarish face, Amethyst let tears form in her eyes while she was too frozen to move a muscle.

Then, the mysterious woman asked, "Little child, would you please do me one little favour?"

The hapless dockworker was too terrified to respond, which she took as a 'yes'.

"Give me a name."

She managed to croak out, "Um...Ama...Amathyst...Star..."

"No, not your name, my name."

"B-Bu-But...I...I d-don't kn-know i-it..."

"Well of course you don't, not even I know that."

"Y-You...d-d-don't?"

"I know the name of the woman hiding under this mask, I know the human who bares it during the sunny days I sleep through. But she is not me, for when the moon rises and the darkness comes out, I wear this mask and turn into a demon of the night. A demon with no name, and who, pray tell, gives names to demons?"

"I...I don't-"

"Those who fear them, such as yourself, of course. Now tell me, what do you fear? What are your nightmares filled with? And what word does my mask speak into your dreams? Tell me."

"Uh..."

"Tell me!"

"I cannot-"

"TELL ME!!!"

She finally blurted out, "G-Goblins...I fear goblins, and you look...like a goblin!"

The masked woman's smile grew even wider, "Mhmhmhm-hehehehehehahahahaahaha-HAHA! Goblins!? Yes, I like that. Then that shall be the name of the demon. From this moment forth, I am the Goblin of the night, the...Nightmare Goblin! Mhmhmhm-heheheheh-ahhahahahahhaha-HAHAHAHAHAAAHAHAHAHAA!!!"

2) A lecture in Heroism, Part 2

Orange is the new Rarity

Minisode

Orange is the new Rarity

A few years ago, just after a new school year had begun at Canterlot High, six freshmen girls came together and formed a friendship that was meant to last throughout their whole tenure at the school.

Rainbow Dash was a proud member of that group of friends, and was even the one who started the group in the first place. Well, to be precise, it was actually Pinkie Pie who started it...with Rainbow's help of course. And they did it mostly on Fluttershy's behalf. So, technically, all three of them were responsible...or one could just see it as all six of them coming together.

Either way, it all started when Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy enrolled at the school.

The two of them had known each other for longer than any of their other friends, and had thus formed a very close bond that had withstood the test of time. And even when they were both suddenly thrust upon the madness of High School for the first time, they did everything they could to not drift away.

However, that was proving to be easier said than done. For while Rainbow could easily impress almost anyone, especially other athletes like Gilda and Lightning Dust, Fluttershy had no such luck. Her shy nature and lack of proper social skills, especially when dealing with strangers, made it very difficult for her to make any new friends at all.

All Fluttershy had was Rainbow Dash, and at the time, Dash spent far more time hanging out with Lightning Dust or making out with Gilda than to be there for her timid and socially awkward best friend. Because of that, Fluttershy was starting to get lonely...especially when she was at school.

That was until she met Pinkie Pie, the sugar-obsessed party girl who always kept a smile on her face. For according to Pinkie: being lonely and sad was not acceptable, and something that should immediately be replaced with a cheerful smile. So when she picked up on how sad Fluttershy was being, she not only offered her own hand in friendship, but also promised to introduce her to people who she thought would make good friends for her.

While Fluttershy was a bit intimidated by the hyperactive girl who suddenly took an interest in her, she eventually agreed to Pinkie's proposal after getting some encouragement from Rainbow Dash. And with Pinkie's help, Rainbow and Fluttershy went on a mission to find friends who all three of them could bond with.

The first one they found was Twilight Sparkle, who, at the time, was basically a recluse, only caring about her studies while keeping her eyes glued to any interesting book she could find. She had no interest in making friends and generally considered it a waste of time. While that attitude gave her pretty good grades, which she was content with having, it was not something that Pinkie Pie considered acceptable. She didn't want Twilight to be content, she wanted her to be happy.

While it wasn't easy, Pinkie eventually managed to convince Twilight to leave the library and hang out a bit with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.

It started out rather awkwardly, especially after Twilight made it perfectly clear that the only reason she was quote on quote 'wasting her time talking to them', was to get Pinkie Pie to leave her alone. Though...after a while, she managed to find some common ground with Fluttershy given that they both found zoology an interesting subject to discuss. However, the differences between herself and Rainbow Dash made it hard for Twilight to truly bond with her...until they found out that they were both massive fans of the Daring Do books.

After meeting the three of them a couple of times and got to know them better, she apologised for her initial rude behaviour and decided that having at least a few friends wasn't such a bad idea after all.

However, as one friendship was gained, another was lost.

When a race Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust participated in basically went to hell because Dust sabotaged it for the other players, Rainbow became fed up with her friend's reckless behaviour and called her out on it. At first, Lightning tried to play it off as if she hadn't done anything wrong, but when Dash still wouldn't let it go, she somehow managed to spin the whole story around as if Rainbow Dash was the one who sabotaged it.

That was when Applejack came in. As one of the racers who got injured when Lightning cut her off, there was no way she would allow her to get away with it. And when she heard Lightning Dust accuse Rainbow Dash of being the one responsible, Applejack stood up to her and told Dust that what she was saying was nothing but 'a load of bull', and that Dash didn't deserve any of her lies.

Unwilling to admit that she was at fault, Lightning Dust just decided to turn her back on them and leave, firmly cementing the fact that whatever friendship she and Rainbow once had was now gone.

Because of the injury Applejack sustained during the race (a sprained ankle to be precise), Rainbow Dash volunteered to help Applejack on her farm as a favour for publicly defending her. While initially reluctant about letting a girl she barely knew handle her responsibilities, she could tell that Rainbow was sincere about it and eventually accepted her help.

Being a hardened and dependable tomboy just like Rainbow herself, but at the same time being nothing like the reckless opportunist Lightning Dust was, Rainbow Dash grew to like Applejack quite a lot. And while the two of them could always find something to argue about, especially about Dash's laziness or bloated ego, it didn't take long for them to grow as close to each other as two platonic friends could be.

Together, these girls formed a nearly unbreakable bond that has lasted to this very day...or at least...mostly. See, there was also another member of this circle of friends, and her name was Rarity.

Rarity came into the group when she met Twilight and Fluttershy at a local spa, and once she learned that the two went to the same school she was, she made sure to get in touch with them afterwards. Unlike the brash and athletic Rainbow Dash and the hardworking Applejack, Rarity was a lady in every sense of the word. She always wore makeup, groomed her hair, and dressed in the most fashionable clothes she could afford...or make, since she also happened to be a fashionista in training.

However, Rarity kept a little secret...or rather...a very big one.

As it turned out, she had a hobby of sneaking out at night dressed in a black catsuit with a mask over her eyes in order to break into hard-to-get places and steal what she could get her clawed gloves on. With an elegance and precision most thieves lacked, Rarity, or rather Black Cat, as she was called by those who didn't know her, became the 'Robin Hood' of Canterlot, stealing from the rich and powerful before anonymously donating it to the poor and suffering.

No one knew of course. Not her parents, not her sister, not her friends, no one. And she made sure to never leave evidence behind, or let someone see her face, or most importantly: not get caught.

However, as brilliant as she was, even she made mistakes, and eventually...her luck ran out.

And now Rainbow Dash was looking at Rarity through a bullet-proof glass wall while the former fashionista was dressed in an unflattering orange jump suit and a pair of metal cuffs kept her from moving her arms as much as she would have liked. Her hair, once made in elegant violet curves was now a dishevelled purple mess, and Dash had to admit that she looked very different without all of her makeup, and especially without the fake eyelashes.

Rarity was beyond grateful that she was allowed visitation hours. Without them she was sure she would have completely lost her sanity by now. However, she was a bit surprised that Rainbow Dash had decided to see her all of a sudden. Mostly it was her parents or Sweetie Belle, or possibly all of her best friends together, who visited her. Dash rarely came to see her alone.

After raising an inquisitive eyebrow, Rarity picked up the phone on her right while Rainbow did the same with the one on her side, and then they spend a few seconds just...staring at each other.

As someone who prided herself on noticing small details others usually miss, Rarity could tell that something was troubling her tomboyish friend. Her first clue was that there were no signs of Rainbow's usual cocky smile or her chipper mood. Yet, at the same time, she didn't look particularly sad…at least not as much as she seemed angry or possibly frustrated. However, that frustration and anger was not directed at Rarity, but at something else completely. Whatever that could be, she could only guess.

After a short while, Rarity asked, "Darling, are you quite alright? It looks like something's troubling you." As was usual for her, she spoke in a very refined and posh mid-Atlantic accent.

"It's...uh...nothing serious." Rainbow answered, sounding rather tired, "I just had a really annoying day."

"Oh, is it something you would like to talk about, perhaps?"

"Not really."

"Well then...um...whatever was it you wanted to speak to me about? Not that I'm complaining, mind you, I just didn't expect you here today."

"Yeah, about that..." Rainbow looked around a bit to see if anyone was listening in, "I sorta, kinda...need a favour from you."

"A favour?"

"Yep."

"Well, I'm not entirely sure what it is I can do for you in here, but let it never be said that Rarity wouldn't help a friend in need. Now, what did you need from me, darling?"

"Actually...I want a new outfit."

Rarity's eyes lit up while a massive smile appeared on her face, "Ooooooh, really?! You finally want me to design an outfit for you?! I didn't think I'd ever see the day!"

Rarity's excitement earned a chuckle from Dash, "Hehehe, calm down, Rares, it isn't that big a deal."

"But it is!" Rarity insisted, "Normally, I have to practically beg you to wear anything of my design, so to see you come all the way here to get me to make something for you is almost like a dream come true. Now what do you want, a new training outfit, something comfortable, something stylish, or...something a little 'special' for dear Fluttershy?"

Dash's eyes snapped open, "How did you-"

"Pish posh, just because I sometimes need reading glasses doesn't mean I'm blind. Anyone with the slightest understanding of romance would be able to tell that you're completely infatuated with her...and I totally approve! You two would make such a cute couple, I can already see it..." Rarity drifted off while dreamily looking up at the ceiling.

Becoming just a bit uncomfortable, Rainbow asked, "Um, Rarity, can you please not start daydreaming about me doing things with Fluttershy? It kinda freaks me out."

"Mmmm...what?" Rarity answered innocently, before she realised what she was doing and abruptly shook her head, "Oh, so sorry, darling. I believe I was swept up in the moment there...as it were. Now what kind of outfit did you want me to make? Something cute, something dapper, or dare I say...something sexy?"

"Yeah...no. The thing is...I want something that's completely aerodynamic, like skintight, easy to move in, but also looking really cool. I think a combination of red and blue might work for the colour, and its supposed to hide my face."

That had got to be strangest order Rarity had ever received...and that's saying a lot.

"Do I want to know what you plan to use it for?" Rarity questioned.

"It's for a...contest...in school." Rainbow lied, "Anyway, the point is that it needs a…theme, and I decided to have a...spider...theme."

"Spider-theme?! Why ever would you choose an outfit with such a repulsive creature as its main theme?"

Slightly offended by that remark for some reason she couldn't quite place (maybe it was because she had spider-DNA in her blood), Rainbow argued, "Hey, spiders are awesome! And...I've already decided, so can you make it or not!?"

"You don't have to be quite so rude about it, but...yes, I suppose I could. While your instructions are...a little strange, I do think I can create something absolutely smashing out of them."

"A little strange? You're the one who dresses up in a skintight catsuit that leaves absolutely zero to the imagination...and that cleavage, man...that's hot."

Rarity stuck her nose up in the air, "Would you please keep such perverted thoughts to yourself?! The Black Cat suit is both functional and fashionable, and the excellent outfit for a master thief...even though I will admit it can help me keep people, well, distracted, when I need them to be. Although...perhaps I did go a tad bit overboard with the slightly exposed...uh...front section. I think I might have to change that in the future. Maybe make it a bit more modest?"

"Do you have to? I don't mind really." Rainbow noted in an uncomfortably suggestive tone...while almost looking like she was drooling at whatever mental image she had in her head.

Rarity rolled her eyes and made sure her mouth was away from the phone when she muttered, "Rainbow, I swear, you're starting to remind me of those hormone-obsessed rowdy lesbian teenagers in the showers..."

"What was that?" Dash asked, not really knowing if she should be offended by whatever it was her friend said or not.

Rarity put the phone back to her ear, "Oh, nothing important, dear! Now what were we talking about?"

"So how long will it take you to get that suit done?"

"Hmmm...well, that might be a problem actually. In this forsaken place I cannot find any good fabric whatsoever. Because if I did, I would never wear this orange crime against fabulosity, and have you seen the state of my hair!? I'll tell you that life in this dreadful place is just...just...uh...dreadful!"

"It can't be that bad. At least you got put in the women's section and don't have to deal with a lot of guys staring at your butt."

"Pah, these so-called-women I have to live with are some of the most unladylike women I have ever had the misfortune of meeting! I mean, the girl I have to share a cell with is a complete and utter narcissist, always tries to steal my things, and constantly talks in the third person. I swear if I have to hear her call herself 'the Great and Powerful Trixie' one more time, I'm going to feel the need to introduce her to my 'Great and Powerful' fist! Of course, as a lady, I would never stoop to doing such a thing...but I can definitively feel the temptation."

"Hmm...let's see: a narcissist who sometimes talks in the third person and likes to steal things..." Rainbow surmised, "Are we talking about your cellmate or yourself right now?"

"Very funny. But unlike my dear cellmate Trixie, I at least have some dignity about it."

"Uh-huh...whatever helps you sleep at night, Rares."

"Anyway...as I said, it would be quite a bother to design your outfit in here, but that does not mean it cannot be done!"

"You mean if I break you out of this place?" Rainbow suggested, though more in a sarcastic way.

Rarity put her hand on her chin in thought, "While that offer is a bit tempting, I'd rather not see you join me in here for my sake. Also, there are alternatives."

"I'm listening. What'ya need?"

"More like who I need, actually. You see, before I got locked up in here I taught our dear friend Spiky wiky a lot of my tricks when it came to sewing, dressmaking and that...cosplaying thing you and Twilight are so into. He has already handled several of my orders since I was incarcerated. However, while I am impressed with his accomplishments in the field thus far, he is...lacking a bit in the creative department unfortunately. But not to worry, for if there is one thing I am allowed to have in this place, its a pen and paper, and I intend to use it."

"So the plan is for you sketch something, send it to me, and then I'll bring it to Spike so he could sew it for me? Sounds easy enough."

"Precisely. Though I'll have to write some instructions as well so he doesn't forget anything important. I'd assume that with how many checklists he handles for Twilight all the time, following a few basic instructions will be a walk in the park for him."

"No kidding. With how much he helps her I'm not even sure if he qualifies as a brother or a slave to her at this point."

"I think you should give him a tad bit more credit, Rainbow. Spike was stuck in a terrible orphanage when Twilight convinced her parents to adopt him, and I think its only natural for the boy to want to do anything to repay that favour. Also, all the things he does for her, he does willingly. So no, I would never call him a slave. In fact, isn't his relationship with Twilight practically the same thing you have with Scootaloo?"

"In what way?"

"Well...you are both a pair of siblings in anything but blood. Just like Spike needed a family to live with, Scootaloo needed someone to give her the inspiration and encouragement to get back on the horse and run again. You and Twilight were both there for them when they needed you, and now they practically idolise you for it. It is truly a special connection the likes of which I have never seen before. I am quite envious."

"Whoa, Rarity...that's...really sappy. You ever think about becoming a poet?"

"You know what? I think I might just do that." she then put on the biggest pouty face she could muster, "I mean, it's not like there's much else I can do in here anyway. Not when I'm all alone...in this ghastly prison...eating terrible food...having to use this ridiculous contraption to speak to people sitting just in front of me...not being able to hug my little sister...not-"

"Alright, stop right there, Rarity!" Rainbow interrupted, "I am so not in the mood for you to go all drama queen on me. Come to think of it, you really should be an actor...or a poet, or a fashion designer or whatever. Seriously, I never really got why you decided to become a thief in the first place."

Noticing a bit of bitterness at the end of that sentence, Rarity asked, "Does it...bother you...not knowing?"

"Hell yeah it does!" Rainbow answered in a slightly angry tone, "I mean, we were all best friends once: you, me, Twi, Flutters, Pinkie and AJ. And then all of that suddenly ends because you got arrested for breaking the law! What's up with that!?"

"It's...a long story...and one that I most certainly owe you, but...I'm afraid visitation hours are over."

Rainbow had completely forgot about the time, and only now noticed that a pair of guards were heading towards where Rarity was sitting.

"Wait, already? But I'm not finished talking with you yet!"

"I am truly sorry, but things are well out of my hands. I will remember to design that outfit though. Skin-tight, face-concealing, spider-themed and red and blue, correct?"

"Well, yes, but-"

"Excellent! I'll get on that as soon as I can."

"Rarity!"

But Rarity couldn't hear her, for she had just put the phone back on the wall. And with a reinforced glass wall in the way, there was no way for Dash to get another word in before the guards began to escort her friend back to her cell.

After letting out a frustrated groan, Rainbow put her phone back as well.

"Dammit, Rarity. Why can't you ever just give me a straight answer?"

2) A lecture in Heroism, Part 3

Girls and Guys Night

Minisode

Girls and Guys Night

Twilight's apartment wasn't really all that big, but she appreciated what little she had, and when one room was suddenly not available to her anymore, it felt a lot smaller than usual. Ever since Spike began with his 'top-secret' thing that he couldn't tell Twilight about despite the fact that everyone already knew about it, she had found herself missing her access to her living room.

However, she made due in the kitchen, where she and Sunset Shimmer were having a conversation over a cup of tea.

Since both of them were off the clock, they had forgone the lab coats for some more relaxed clothing. Sunset was wearing a pair of shorts and a purple sleeveless shirt with an image of stylised sun on it, while Twilight preferred a light blue shirt with purple pants. And while she usually tied her hair up into a bun while working, she was now opting for a loose ponytail instead.

Having been working under Dr Silk Mane's harsh guidance all day, they were relieved to finally have some time to relax and talk about things that were not related to cross-species genetics.

Given how completely obsessed and single-minded the good doctor they worked for was in finishing their assignment on time, and by the fact that she didn't seem to care about the feelings of all the people she constantly overworked to do so, Sunset was by now pretty sure that Mane was some kind of psychopath...though she lacked any concrete proof to confirm that.

Still, even after a whole day of working for someone like her, a nice cup of tea was all it took to get Miss Shimmer back in a good mood.

"Wow, is this strawberry?" Sunset asked after taking a sip of the cup she was given.

Twilight nodded, "Hmm-hm."

"I like it. Maybe I should try this stuff more often."

"I'm more partial to Earl Gray myself, but unfortunately...I'm all out."

Sunset put down her cup and looked around a bit, taking in the features of her friend's new apartment. "So...nice place. I'm a bit surprised you could afford it, actually."

"Oh, you can thank my parents for that, they were the ones who paid for it."

"Man, you're lucky your folks are so nice. I mean, paying for your apartment, adopting Spike, not constantly yelling at you all the time. I haven't even met them yet and I can already tell that they're a lot better than the ones I'm stuck with."

"Why do you say that?"

"If you'd met them, you'd know. With how much they shout at each all the time I think I should invest in sound-proofing my room or something. Seriously, I'd love to have my own place."

"Well, it's not nearly as easy as it looks. I'm really lucky to have Spike's help, because otherwise…I'd probably be eating nothing but breakfast cereals and have this room full of unwashed dishes."

With a coy smile, Sunset noted, "So you're not exactly a...kitchen person, then?"

"I can cook, it's just that sometimes...I...well, I...kinda forget to do it. Spike is really good at reminding me though that I still need to eat and sleep every now and then. I'm not sure if I could even survive an entire week without him."

"I'm sure you could manage."

"That makes one of us."

"Hey, cheer up, Tiger, you'll learn eventually."

"Pff-hihihi, What did you just call me?" Twilight asked with a small giggle.

Sunset raised a teasing eyebrow, "What? You don't like it?"

"Well...I guess it's a lot better than 'Dorky Bangs' at least."

"I sure hope so, Tiger, for that's what I'm gonna call you from now on."

They both laughed a little, simply enjoying this time to talk about silly things like that.

Twilight may not have known Sunset Shimmer nearly as long as she had known Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rarity, but there was little to no doubt that she was the one Twilight was closest to. While she loved her other friends as if they were her family, Sunset was the only one she had a lot of common interests with, and also the one who understood Twilight best. Despite the fact that Sunset had once been a bit of a bully herself when she was younger, she was very protective of Twilight, and didn't tolerate anyone trying to make fun of or take advantage of her.

However, that didn't stop Sunset herself from teasing her.

"By the way..." Shimmer began in a slightly mischievous tone.

"Hmm?" Twilight hummed curiously.

"...I heard from a little bird that you had taken an...interest in someone."

On cue, Twilight immediately started to blush, "I...don't know what you're talking about."

"...and not in a platonic way."

She blushed even more. "Well, I...I...wouldn't-"

Sunset Shimmer's smile was impossibly smug when she saw her best friend's embarrassed expression. "So...would you be so kind as to maybe tell me who it is that you're so interested in?"

"Uhm...well, it's...uh...HEY! Who told you that?!"

"Actually...no one did. I just made it up." Sunset confessed before she morphed her face into a trollish grin, "However...judging by your reaction, I'd say that I was right on the mark. You do have a little crush on someone, don't you?"

"No I haven't!" Twilight insisted...very unconvincingly.

"Twilight Sparkle, you are a terrible liar. So come one, Tiger, its time to spill the beans."

Twilight's eyes darted around all over the place while her blush grew so big that she couldn't even rely on her dark skin to hide it. She was so flustered that all she could get out of her mouth were a bunch of nervous, "I...I...I don't...uh..."

"Wait, don't tell me! Let me guess." Sunset offered, making it very clear that she was really enjoying this, "Since you obviously wasn't into Flash, it's got to beeeeee...wait, is it Timber Spruce?"

Twilight snapped out of her ramblings and asked, "Um, who?"

Sunset's smiling face immediately turned to confusion, "Well...you know the guy we met in the Everfree forest when we were looking for that meteor the symbiote came from? I really thought there was something between you two."

"Ooooooh, that guy." Twilight answered after she remembered who she was talking about, "No, it's not him. I mean I did agree to go out on a date with him, and he's a really nice boy with a great sense of humour and a lot of things we could talk about, but...halfway through the date I realised that it wasn't going to work out. He took it well enough...though I haven't really met him since. There's nothing really wrong with him, I was just..."

"...in love with someone else?" Sunset finished for her.

Twilight nodded.

"So who is it? Because if it isn't Flash or Timber, I can't really think of anyone. Is it somebody I know?"

"Well...yes, I guess you do know the person I have...a...crush on." Twilight stuttered, her face as red as a tomato, "Actually...you kinda...know that person very well."

"Really?!"

"Yes." Twilight squeaked out, visibly shrinking in a very Fluttershy-like manner.

Sunset thought about that for a moment, mentally going through all the people that she knew, and all the people that she knew that Twilight also knew. Yet, after all that thinking all she could answer was, "No, I got nothing. You got to give me a hint."

"Do I? It's kinda...personal."

Sunset Shimmer's mood went from teasing to comforting while she put her hand over Twilight's and assured, "Look, if you don't want to tell me who it is, you don't have to. But know that I'll be here to help you if you need it. I may not be a relationship expert or something like that, but I've had some experience in the dating field. Well, when I say 'experience', I mean two past relationships that went up in flames...one of them almost literary."

Twilight really liked the feel of Sunset's hand on hers, and it made it a bit easier for her to finally say what she had wanted to say for a while. "Look, the thing is...the person that I have a crush on...is..."

However, by some twisted divine prank, at that very moment, the doorbell went off, thus stopping the love-struck girl from finishing that sentence.

A little awkwardly, Twilight said, "Excuse me for...just a moment."

Sunset groaned a little at the phenomenally bad timing, but kept a smile on her face regardless, "Sure thing."

While Twilight hurried over to her front door, she wondered who it could possibly be that would show up at a time like this. She rarely got visitors in her new apartment, and when she did, they usually gave her a call before coming over. Well, Rainbow Dash didn't usually follow that rule, and as it so happened, when she opened the door she wasn't actually too surprised to see that it was indeed Rainbow Dash waiting on the other side.

What was surprising though was the Rainbow didn't show any signs of her haughty and playful attitude, instead she looked oddly glum for some reason. Also, the fact that she came through the front door instead of climbing through her window told Twilight that she wasn't really in an adventurous mood.

However, being as polite as she was, Twilight greeted, "Um...hello, Rainbow. Did you need something?"

Rainbow made her way into the apartment and answered, "Yeah, sorry for just dropping in like this, I probably should have called first or something."

Now Twilight knew something was wrong. Rainbow usually didn't sound quite so...humble. "Are you okay? You sound a little down."

Dash leaned her back against a nearby wall, "Let's just say that yesterday kinda sucked, and today was no better."

"What happened?"

"It's a long story. I don't really feel like going into it."

"Oh...I'm sorry. So are you here for a social visit or...?"

Rainbow walked over towards the kitchen, "Actually, I was hoping to talk to-" but stopped herself when she saw Sunset Shimmer drinking a cup of tea at the kitchen table, "Oh hi, Sunset, didn't see ya there."

Sunset looked puzzled for moment before she guessed, "It's...Rainbow Dash, right?"

"Yep, that's my name."

"I figured as much, the hair kinda gives it away. Also, I think I remember you being the captain of the Wondercolt team at Canterlot High when I went there. How's that working out for you?"

Rainbow scratched the back of her neck, "Can we not talk about that right now?"

"Um...okay. Touchy subject?"

"Yeah."

"Was that what happened at school yesterday?" Twilight asked as she followed Rainbow into the kitchen.

"Like I said, I don't want to talk about it."

"Oh right, sorry I asked. So why did you come here again?"

Rainbow Dash looked around a little, "Actually, I came here to talk with Spike. Is he home?"

Twilight did not expect that answer, "Spike?! What did you need to see him for?"

"I just need his help with something I've been working on. It has to do with..." she subtly pointed at the small, red, but mostly faded, spot on her right hand where the spider had bit her, "...you know?"

Twilight's face lit up in comprehension, "Ah...that. Well, he's here, but...now isn't really the best time."

"Why not?"

"Well, tonight is...'Guy's Night'."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. Every once in awhile he and a couple of his male friends come here and take over my living room...while making it sure that absolutely no one without a Y-chromosome is allowed inside. And despite that fact that they're doing this in my own home they still won't tell me whatever it is that they're doing no matter how many times I ask."

"Well, that's guys for ya." Rainbow noted with a shrug, "Lucky for me, though, I'm practically one of the boys, so why don't I go in there and have a chat with him while you more feminine 'girly girls' stay back out here?"

"Hey!" Sunset objected, clearly offended at being referred to as a 'girly girl'.

"I don't know..." Twilight said uncertainly, "He's awfully persistent about about the whole 'no girls' rule."

Rainbow waved her off, "Ah come on, it can't be anything too embarrassing."

"Are you sure about that?" Sunset asked from where she was sitting.

With an all too familiar cocky grin on her face, Rainbow replied, "Question: What do guys like to do when there are no girls around? Answer: Watch sports or play video games. And as it happens, I happen to do both. Ergo: I fit right in. I guarantee it!"

Meanwhile...in the currently dimly lit living room of Twilight's apartment, Spike and two of his friends were about to embark on a perilous journey to a magical land filled with excitement and adventure.

The only source of light in the room was a flashlight that Spike was using to light up his own face in an attempt to build suspense. He also spoke in a very dramatic voice when he narrated, "In a world where evil reigns supreme, a small band of warriors stands tall against the darkness. This is...Ogres and Oubliettes!"

Suddenly, the light switched on to reveal all three players sitting around the table where the popular role-playing adventure game was laid out on.

Shining Armour, known for his professional attitude and sharp mindset he had as the captain of the police, was now off-duty and out of his uniform. And when he was off-duty, he was almost like a completely different person. In fact, hidden underneath the mask he put on when he was on the job, he was actually quite a goofball and maybe even a bit of a nerd. He had been playing Ogres and Oubliettes since he was a kid, and even now at the age of 28, he's still completely obsessed with it.

The third and final player at the table was none other than Big Macintosh...Applejack's older brother.

Big Mac was certainly a man who lived up to the 'big' part of his name. Not only was he tall, but he also had big arms and broad shoulders: a sign that he was used to hard work just like his sister was. His scruffy blonde hair and freckles also made it easy to see that he and Applejack were related. However, unlike his Little Sis, Mac was not really that much of a hat person...his trademark was instead the red plaid jacket he wore most of the time.

Despite appearances though, Big Mac was a bit brighter than one might expect from someone as big and silent as him, and was probably the best Ogres and Oubliettes player in the room.

How these three got around to having the tradition of playing this game whenever they all had a lot of time on their hands was a rather long story actually. The short version is that the three of them once ended up in a room together for far too long without anything to do...and then Shining Armour had an idea on how to pass the time...and then they all got really into it.

Still keeping his dramatic voice, Spike looked at Shining, who was sitting on the couch on his right, and inquired, "Prince Smarty Pants, are you prepared to enter the world of Ogres and Oubliettes?"

With confidence in his voice, Shining Armour answered, "Hehe, You bet I am."

Spike moved his gaze to the left where Big Mac was sitting in a comfy chair, "Sir McBiggen, are you also prepared to enter the world of Ogres and Oubliettes?"

In a deep and steady voice, Big Mac answered in only one word. "Eeyup."

"Then let's begin!" Spike decided, "Now, as we all remember from last time, the Squizzard was just about to awaken the dreaded Owlbear Demon Princess from her eternal resting place, which could mean the end of all of Spiketopia if we don't do something about it. However, the Legendary Rabbit-foot Arrow, the only thing capable of smiting it, is locked behind a massive stone gate. Now if my memory's right, it was...Prince Smarty Pants' time to choose our next course of action."

"Uhm, wasn't it Sir Mcbiggen's turn?" Shining asked while trying to remember what happened last time they played this game.

"Nope." answered Big Mac.

"Right, let me think. Hmmmm...now that's a tricky one..."

He took a moment to mull over that conundrum. Somehow, he managed to look completely serious...while at the same time looking like he was the exact opposite. Sure, this was only a game, but he had no intention of losing it...well, not this time at least.

After a short while, Shining had an idea, "Alright, what if I use my high lockpicking skills to pry the gate open?"

"That could work." Spike answered while looking through one of the game's rulebooks, "Given your class and skill points, that would mean...hmmmm...ah-HA, you're in luck! You only need to get a three or higher to succeed."

Feeling a bit cocky, Shining picked up a 20-sided dice and commented, "That all?" before he threw it on the table...only for it land on a...'2'.

He did not see that one coming. "Argh, dammit!"

The odds were 18 to 2, and somehow, Shining Armour had gotten such bad luck that he narrowly lost at that. Karma was clearly not on his side today.

Snickering a little at his adoptive brother's expense, Spike narrated, "The lockpicking...failed, and Prince Smarty Pants begins to feel deeply and personally humiliated."

Shining gave him a slightly grumpy look, "Do you really have to rub it in?"

"I'm just following the script, and the script demanded it." Spike defended, trying to sound professional.

"You're the one writing the script."

"And that is exactly how I know what it demands. Now, Sir Macbiggen, you're up!"

To communicate his next move, Big Mac put on his best war face and moved his arm as if he was swinging a sword.

Needless to say, he was not much of a talker.

Spike understood him for the most part, but he still needed to be sure, "Wait, are you saying you want to...smash through the door...with only your sword?"

"Eeyup."

"I don't know...that's going to be really difficult, you'll need a full twenty to succeed. Are you sure you don't want to try something else?"

"Nope."

"Well, don't say I didn't warn ya." Spike noted while Mac picked up the dice and tossed it.

Whatever bad luck spell had cursed Shining Armour...had apparently not affected Big Mac in the least...as he somehow managed to score a perfect twenty despite the fact that the odds were sorely stacked against him.

With vigour, he shouted, "EEYUP!"

"Seriously?!" Shining asked, clearly surprised at the result.

"Well...that was unexpected." Spike commented, "Alright. Ahem, Sir Macbiggen strikes the door with his massive sword, and he swings it so hard that not even the mighty stone door that once held an entire army at bay could survive. The door crumbled, and our heroes finally found the-"

Suddenly, the door to the living room was slammed open and Rainbow Dash blundered in and asked, "Hey guys! What'ya doing?!"

Because Spike was completely focused on his narration and was sitting with his back to the door, the sudden unexpected visit made him jump a little, "AAARGH! What the!?"

All three guys soon found themselves staring at new arrival as if she had caught them doing something illegal. After all, what they were doing during 'Guys Night' was only supposed to be between the three of them. If it had been Twilight or Sunset, who Spike had explicitly told not to disturb them, who had entered without knocking, then he would have really been upset.

Still, Spike really had to ask, "Rainbow Dash?! What are you doing here?"

"I just came to see what's up with you guys." The prismatic-haired teen replied.

"Couldn't you at least knock first? You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Spike, you're fourteen, you're way too young to have a heart attack. And as for your question, well, that's just how I roll. I thought you were used to it by now."

She then looked at Big Mac and said, "Hi Mac, didn't expect to see you here, and..." though her mood lowered a bit when she saw the third guy in the room, "...hello to you too...Shining Armour."

The police officer took note of the salty tone she used when she addressed him and nervously replied, "Rainbow Dash, nice...to...see you. How are you doing?"

"I'm doing great!" Rainbow answered, her voice completely dripping with sarcasm, "I just had to tell my soccer team I was leaving them for good after having all my lovely community service duties laid out for me for the coming month. Oh, and I'm going to meet Zecora the school counsellor every Tuesday from now on. I bet that will be fun!"

Shining sighed, "Look, Rainbow...I was only doing my job, and I have nothing against you personally. So you think we could bury the hatchet for a bit...at least while I'm out of uniform?"

Rainbow shrugged, "I guess I could. You're a pretty cool guy, Shining, I'm just a bit cranky right now."

"Is it about what happened with Gilda?"

"Yeah, mostly it is...but enough about me, what are you guys doing in here?"

Spike gave her a slightly immature look and declared, "We were having a guys night, and that means that no girls are allowed. So I'm afraid you have to-"

"Sweet! Can I join you?!" Dash asked, clearly missing the point Spike was trying to make.

"No you can't!" the boy insisted, "Do you even know what a guys night is?"

"Well duh...of course I do."

"Then you should know that only guys are allowed to be at them."

"Yeah, that's why Twilight and Sunset have to wait outside, right?"

Spike facepalmed. He wasn't sure if Rainbow was messing with him or if he actually had to spell it out to get her to understand. Hoping it was the latter, he said, "Yes, and that is exactly why you aren't allowed in here either. You do know you're a girl too, right?"

"So you're saying I can't join because I got boobs? Wow, Spike, I didn't think you were that sexist."

"WHAT?!" Spike spat out in complete disbelief, "I'm not sexist, I just...just..."

To prevent Spike from saying something he would surely regret, Shining offered, "How about we make an exception...just this once?"

"Eeyup." Big Mac agreed.

"Fine!" Spike conceded, "Just shut the door and don't you dare tell Twilight what we're doing in here."

However, before he sat back in his chair, he looked her straight in the eyes and added, "And don't call me a sexist again either!"

"Jeez, chillax, Spike, learn to take a joke! Oh, and I won't tell Twilight about...wait, what am I not supposed to tell her about?"

"Well...me, Shining and Big Mac have this thing that we do whenever we have some spare time together. It's called 'Ogres and Obliettes', and its a fantasy role-playing adventure game, and pretty much the best game ever if you ask me."

"Eeyup." Big Mac chimed in.

"Riiiiight..." Rainbow noted sceptically, "That sounds...fun...I guess?"

"So...you want to join us?" Shining asked with a hopeful smile on his face. "With this game, it's definitively 'the more the merrier', but…it's been kinda hard to find someone who's interested in playing with us."

Rainbow considered it for a moment. Save a few, she had never really been into role-playing games, and she had never even heard of 'Ogres and Oubliettes', let alone played it. However, given the amount of stress she was dealing with since that whole Gilda incident, playing a silly fantasy game with a couple of friends wouldn't be such a bad idea after all.

"I might be up for something like that. I mean, it couldn't hurt to at least try it."

"That's the spirit!" Spike exclaimed, "So let's start with a character for you to play as. There are warriors, mages, rogues and archers. They all have different stats specific to their specific class that allows them to..."

When he started to get into a very complicated explanation of how each character class affected the game, Rainbow Dash found it a bit hard to keep up. And after spending a full minute staring at him with a dumbfounded look, not really comprehending what he was saying at all, she decided, "Uhh…you know what? On second thought, I think I'll pass. The game sounds fun and all, but…it may be a bit complicated for me."

"It's not that complicated." Shining noted, "Trust me, the other version is waaaaay more complicated than this. You just have to play it a bit to get a feel for it."

"Well, sure...but…maybe later." She then remembered something, "By the way…Spike, I need to talk to you about something."

The kid raised an eyebrow and looked at her curiously, "Huh? What do you mean?"

"It's about Rarity, but…I can kinda only talk about it with you."

The simple act of just mentioning her name immediately got Rainbow his full attention, "Rarity!?"

"Yeah…that's what I just said. However, she said I could talk to you, and you alone, about this. So you know any place that isn't occupied right now?"

While Spike really wanted to continue the game without any more interruptions, his very obvious crush on Rarity made him surprisingly easy to motivate. A clever enough manipulator could conceivably make him do almost anything for her...though the one that used that trick the most was ironically Rarity herself. The fashionista-turned-master thief may have been one of the kindest people around inside and out, but she was also really good at charming or manipulating people into doing what she wanted them to do.

Spike turned back to the others, "I'll be back in a bit. Don't continue without me!"

"Don't worry, we won't." Shining assured.

"Nope." Big Mac added.

With an eager smile on his face, Spike jumped out of his chair and led Rainbow Dash into the one room left in the apartment that he was allowed to be in and wasn't currently occupied: his own bedroom. Twilight's bedroom was out of the question, and she didn't really feel comfortable having people be in her workroom when she wasn't around either. So it would have to do.

Well, it was either that or the bathroom...and that would just be awkward.

Unlike his sister's, Spike's room wasn't quite as mathematically organised, but at the same time, way more tidied up than the mess Rainbow Dash lived in. It was a lot smaller then either of their's though and only had room for a bed, a desk, and a window from which one could actually see the headquarters of the 'Daily Bugle'.

After the two had made it inside, Spike took a seat at his desk chair and asked, "So what did Rarity say about me?"

Rainbow Dash closed the door and sat down at the end of his bed. "Only that you're the one to talk to in case of fashion emergencies."

"Yeah, that's right! Wait...since when did you care about fashion?"

"Didn't you know?" Rainbow asked jokingly, "I always dresses in style!"

"Seriously?" Spike questioned in a deadpan tone.

"Nah, I'm just kidding. But I do actually have a fashion emergency this time."

"That's a first. So what is it?"

Rainbow reached into her back pocket and pulled out an envelope before handing it over to him. "Rarity said that you used to do her orders ever since she ended up in prison. Well, here's the next one for ya."

The letter wasn't sealed, so Spike had no problem opening it and checking out the contents inside. Said contents turned out to be a few folded papers that were written in Rarity's handwriting and were detailing a brand new outfit for Rainbow Dash. And it was no ordinary outfit either.

His eyes lit up when he figured out what the suit was for. "Wait...does this mean you're giving my superhero idea a shot?"

"What, no!" Rainbow immediately denied, "That's a stunt costume. It's just meant to help me web-swing better and look cooler while doing it."

"I don't know...it looks much more like a superhero costume to me."

"So what if it does?!" Dash asked, starting to sound a bit annoyed, "I already told you I'm not doing the superhero thing!"

"Why not? I mean with your powers, you'd be-"

"Look, I already got one annoying lecture in 'responsibility' from my mom yesterday, and I'm so not in the mood to get one from you too."

Spike sighed, "I'm just saying you have a golden opportunity here that you're completely wasting."

"An opportunity to do what? Get killed by some lunatic with a gun, or better yet, end up arrested for taking the law in my own hands? Maybe I can even give Rarity some company in prison. I'm sure she would like that very much. And I suppose you want to be my sidekick or something too, huh? Well, it's not gonna happen, just accept it!"

Spike was a bit taken back by just how quickly Rainbow had gone from being joking and chipper to being downright angry. Guess she woke up on the wrong side of bed this morning, he supposed.

"Uh...sorry. I had no idea you were so sensitive about this."

"I'm not sensitive about..! Actually, never mind, I'm just a bit frustrated at both Gilda and my mom right now."

"Why, what happened?"

Instead of answering that question, she decided to change the subject entirely, "You know what? I just decided what I could use the suit for."

Spike tried to ask, "But what about-"

But Rainbow just ignored him, "I saw in the paper this morning that there's this brand new amateur wrestling tournament downtown in a week or so, and with my new powers I could get it done in ten seconds flat. And if that suit is finished quickly enough, I could wear it and do the whole thing incognito. That way I could kick some serious butt while saving up some cash for my troubles. It's the perfect idea!"

"But Rainbow-"

She silenced him with a glare and said, "Look, all I need from you is to get that suit done. And what I decide to use it for is my own business. Got it?"

"I suppose. But it may take me some time to make this thing...just so you know."

"How long would that be?"

"About a month."

"A MONTH?! But that tournament is just in two weeks!"

"Hey, I'm no Rarity."

Rainbow sighed, "We'll just have to work something out then..."

The Nightmare under the Moon

3) Power and Responsibility, Part 1

Episode 3

Power and Responsibility, Part 1

Suiting up for a Challenge

Twilight Sparkle let out a sigh of relief as she stepped out of the CelestiaCorp building's lobby, allowing the warm rays of the summer sun to give her a sense of freedom that she hadn't felt all day.

While her mind may have the capacity to work almost as efficiently as a super computer, there were still limits to what even she could handle. For instance, working day and night on a massive research project under the guidance of someone as eccentric as Dr Silk Mane while only having a week to finish it was not something that she considered to be particularly easy.

Twilight Sparkle did have a lot of respect for the good doctor. Silk Mane had devoted years of her life in studying advanced chemicals and how they affected biological systems, and had gathered an impressive understanding of the human genome. And while her scientific career may have started with the development of new forms of shampoo, she had now become the 'go-to-expert' for anything regarding experimental genetics research. There was even a rumour that she had figured out how to successfully clone human beings...though that rumour had never been confirmed.

More to the point, she was also the one who started the cross-species genetics project in the first place. Sunset and Twilight were merely assigned to be her interns. Unlike the numerous other interns Celestia had sent her though, Mane was very impressed by their intelligence and even admitted, albeit very begrudgingly, that she wouldn't have come as far as she had without their help.

However, Silk wasn't really a...'people person' by any means, and at times seemed to forget that her co-workers were actual human beings instead of soulless automatons. The simple concept that someone working under her needed to take a break every now and then was almost an alien concept to her. In fact, the only reason Twilight and Sunset were allowed to leave early now was because Celestia all-but-ordered Mane to let them go for the day...for which Twilight was very thankful.

Despite her early release however, Twilight had no time to relax at home, for she had a mission to accomplish:

Rainbow Dash's brand new spider-costume.

When Spike told her about the project and how fast Rainbow wanted it done, Twilight didn't hesitate to offer her own assistance as well, despite her already very busy schedule. While she may not have been a fashionista like Rarity, Twilight more than understood the basics. Rarity's instructions were also deceptively easy to follow, which suited the very organised mind of Twilight Sparkle just fine.

Though it was a difficult task, Twilight considered it a welcome challenge, and even went so far as to make a select few improvements on the design.

The first thing she added to the suit was a pair of web-shooters she had incorporated into its sleeves. Since Rainbow had some issues putting those things on correctly during their initial testing, Twilight decided that this little addition could save them both a lot of time and patience.

Also, while it had been proven that Dash could climb on walls in her normal running shoes, the effect was somewhat lessened by the rubber soles in them. While it was barely noticeable, and wasn't exactly an immediate problem, it was still not something to take lightly considering the type of dangerous stunts Rainbow was planning on doing. Just one slip...one single slip at wrong place at the wrong time...and the results could be disastrous.

After some extra work, Twilight eventually discovered a material that not only did not cause this problem, but also was very comfortable to wear.

She had not, however, changed any of the aesthetics or the overall design from Rarity's original drawing. Rarity was the artist, not Twilight, and she had enough respect for her fashion-forward friend to not mess with her art. Still, as Rarity had not been informed about the true purpose of the outfit, the changes Twilight made were still needed.

And by working together, Spike and Twilight had managed to finish the suit much faster than they expected...which was probably a good thing considering how many times Rainbow had called to ask how soon it was going to be finished. Apparently, she needed the suit for some kind of wrestling tournament that was going to start in a few hours at some place downtown.

All Twilight had to do now was to bring it over to her.

A bit easier said than done though, given that she didn't own a car or have a driver's licence, not to mention the fact that Twilight had never even been to that wrestling place before and had no information about its location aside from a vague address.

While she was standing there, just outside the main entrance to the CelestiaCorp building, she put a hand on her chin and began to plan her route.

'Maybe I can take a cab? No, too expensive, and cab drivers in this city are not to be trusted. I suppose I could use the subway, but that would require sitting in a cramped tube filled with dozens of creepy strangers and visually distracting ads everywhere. The bus is pretty much the same, only less extreme, and I have no idea what bus to take. The 200 travels right next to my destination, but couldn't the 198 get there faster? At least that one doesn't bypass Restaurant Row, but does it even stop at the wrestling area or will it stop at Star Square? Or maybe the-'

Someone gently tapped her on the shoulder, which took Twilight's focus away from her inner thoughts and over to the person who was trying to get her attention.

She wasn't very surprised to see that it was Sunset Shimmer, now wearing her rebellious leather jacket instead of the lab coat she had on a few minutes ago, but she was wondering why she was waving a hand over her eyes repeatedly.

"What?" she asked blankly.

"You were using your 'I am thinking really hard' face, hehe." Sunset answered with a small chuckle.

Twilight blushed a little, "I was not."

"Of course you weren't." Sunset noted with a hint of sarcasm, "Something on your mind?"

"Um…well, I'm trying to determine the best possible way to reach the, uh, Gladmane Wrestling Emporium I think it was called. I'm supposed to meet Rainbow Dash there in an hour or so. Any ideas on how to get there in time?"

Sunset raised her left eyebrow, "I never really took you for someone who'd be into wrestling."

"I'm not really. It's more of a Rainbow Dash thing. She wanted to see the match, and...you know that time you told me to take an interest in the things my friends like?"

"Sure."

"Well, I decided to give it a go. I don't know, maybe it will be fun."

"You don't sound very sure about that."

Twilight cringed a little, "Yeah, it's just...I don't really see the appeal of watching a lot of overly-muscular, half-naked men throw each other all over the place. But Rainbow seems to enjoy that, so there must be some entertainment value in it, I guess."

Sunset flashed a sly grin, "You sure she's not just there to admire the view? I mean, all those, big and strong guys in those weird outfits, that's a lot of eye-candy for a girl in Dash's age."

"Well... I wouldn't think..." Twilight began a bit hesitantly, "I don't think she would really be interested in that."

"Oh really? How would you know?"

"They're...not exactly her type."

"Oh..." Sunset answered calmly, until she then realised just what Twilight meant by that, "Oooooh...right, now I get what you mean. But hey, there are female wrestlers too, and rather sexy ones at that, so I'm not ruling that possibility out just yet."

Twilight nervously played a little with her hair while casting her eyes down, "So...you're..okay with that?"

A bit confused, Sunset questioned, "Okay with what? Dash being gay?"

"Well...yes, that." Twilight replied while secretly dreading the answer to that question. 'Please say you're okay with it, please say you're okay with it, please say you're okay with it...'

Her fears were put to rest though when Sunset answered, "'Course I am. This isn't the dark ages, you know? Besides, it'd be pretty hypocritical of me to have anything against someone betting for the other team."

Twilight's eyes lit up, 'She is okay with it! then maybe that means there's also a chance she- hang on, did she just say what I think she said?'

"Wait a minute...you're a lesbian?!" Twilight asked in disbelief, "But I thought you dated Flash before."

Sunset chuckled a little, "Hehe, you know there such a thing as being bisexual, right?"

"Oh...right, of course...I knew that." Twilight said while blushing a little, 'Wow, I feel stupid right now.' "How come you never mentioned this before now?"

"Maybe because you never asked?" Sunset suggested, "Hey, remember those two failed relationships I had? Well, only one of them was with a boy."

"Wow, I had no idea. I guess I'm not always the best at assuming things."

"It's not that big a deal, really. I didn't realise it myself until that one time I kissed Sunny Flare in a 'Truth or Dare' game...and later got so drunk at a party that I woke up in bed with both Vapour Trail and Sky Stinger."

Twilight stared at Sunset with a baffled expression, her glasses slowly sliding down her nose as she did so.

"I was...a different person back then." Sunset admitted with an embarrassed blush on her cheeks.

Twilight pushed her glasses back and slowly said, "...If you say so."

"Anyway, I actually started to date Flash around that time...though mostly just because he was popular at CHS. He was...okay, I guess. I mean, he was nice and all, but also, not gonna lie, kinda boring to date. I'm still surprised he was the one who broke up with me rather than the other way around. Guess I had it coming though."

"What do you mean?"

"I was...not exactly the nicest person at the time. You're lucky you never saw me at my worst, believe me."

That peaked Twilight's curiosity. 'She really doesn't like her past self, does she? I have heard from some other students at Canterlot High that she used to be quite the bully during her freshman years, and Sunset herself has never made any attempts to deny that...but I have never seen her act anything like a bully for all the time that I had known her. I wonder what could have happened that could have changed her so much. I suppose I could just ask her what it is, but that could be a sensitive subject, so I better hold it off for now.'

"So..." Sunset continued, "...after Flash dumped me, I was single for about...a year I think before I met this showgirl called Trixie Lulamoon. She was...well...a bit full of herself...to put it mildly. A very good illusionist though. Had dreams of becoming a Bridle Way star if her plans panned out...which they never did. How I ended up dating her is...a long story, but I think she had a thing for 'bad girls'...or something."

"And I assume that relationship went...well?"

"Pretty much as 'well' as a train crash."

"Ouch, that sounds...bad."

"She got arrested...after one of her firework pieces crashed into a restaurant and set it on fire."

"Wait, what?! Really?"

"Luckily, nobody was hurt, but the owner of that restaurant was not very happy about what happened. The second he figured out who was responsible for it, he got right up in Trixie's face and began to yell her ears out. What followed was a series of screams, insults, curses, an eventual fist fight, and then the timely intervention of the police. After the whole mess was over, Trixie ended up in jail...and our relationship kinda fell apart after that."

"I can see why."

That hit very close to home for Twilight actually, given what happened to Rarity after she got caught. 'Having people close to you ending up in prison is a toll for anyone, no matter how much you try to keep in touch. Come to think of it, didn't Rarity say she had a cellmate named Trixie? Nah, probably just a coincidence.'

"...And that's my messed up love life in a nutshell." Sunset finished, "How about you?"

Twilight blinked, "Huh?"

"What's your story, Tiger, ever dated someone before?"

"Uh...well, not exactly." she confessed in a sullen tone, "I mean, who would ever be interested in asking someone like me out?"

Her friend gave her a healthy punch to the arm, "Hey, don't beat yourself up over that. You're smart, talented and completely adorable. Anyone with half-a-brain would easily be able to see that. And don't forget that you actually were asked out by both Flash Sentry and Timber Spruce, but you were the one who said no."

Sunset's compliment made Twilight become a little bit flustered. "It's good to know you think so highly of me, and I guess you have a point about that, it's just that...well...I'm more into...somebody else."

"And that somebody still hasn't noticed you, right?"

"No, not...really. At least, I don't think so."

With a snort, Sunset commented, "That's how it usually goes, Tiger. Even with how blatantly obvious your crush may be for other people, the one you're crushing on is usually the one who finds out last. It's kinda silly actually. I mean, is it really that hard to realise that someone's crushing on you? If someone were crushing on me, I'm pretty sure I would have known about it right away."

Twilight smiled a bit nervously and stuttered, "He he, yeah...I guess you would notice something like that. You're usually very...um...perceptive."...while secretly thinking, 'Oh, Sunset Shimmer, If you only knew...'

Feeling the need to change the subject, Sunset asked, "So anyway, this wrestling arena Rainbow wanted to meet you at, you said it was Gladmane's place?"

Twilight only now realised that she had gotten a bit sidetracked from the task at hand, and shook her head a little to regain her focus and remember the answer to Sunset's question. "It's...yes, yes it is. Do you know a good way to get there in time? I'm kinda late as it is, and all options I can think of...are...not...uh Sunset...why are you smiling like that?"

As soon as the idea had formed in Sunset Shimmer's mind, her mouth had taken the form of a very mischievous grin...one that made Twilight just a tiny bit uneasy. "Ooh, I do know of something that could get us there in time. Come, I'll show you!"

A little suspicious about what her friend was implying, Twilight cautiously followed her over to CelestiaCorp's parking lot. 'I got a bad feeling about this...'

"Sunset, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you say you didn't have a car?"

Without skipping a beat, she answered, "Yep, and I still don't."

"Then...what exactly are we looking for in here?"

Sunset stopped around a particular corner of parking lot and put her hands on her hips, still keeping her confident grin on her face. "I'm looking for...that."

Twilight's eyes widened in horror when she saw what Sunset was looking at. A cold sense of dread and an internal queasiness built up in her stomach. "This...this is a joke, right? I mean, you cannot seriously expect me to use...that thing, do you?! I don't even have my driving sickness pills with me!"

"It's not a car at least." Sunset pointed out.

"No...no, it isn't...it's WAY WORSE THAN A CAR! Does it even take two passengers!?"

"Of course it does."

"And is that even legal?!"

"Relax, Twilight, you'll be fine."

"No, no, no, no, I will not be fine on that thing! Maybe I'll just take the bus. The bus is always good, right? I don't have to use that thing if don't want to."

"Well...you could take the bus, I guess, but in this traffic that would probably take all day, and Rainbow never struck me as being the patient sort. Trust me, if you want to get there in time, this is the only way."

"...but...it's...it's...a...a..."

"...an amazing vehicle that will get you where you need to go faster and with far more style than anything you have ever sat on before? Yes it is. Now, Tiger, let's take this beauty out for a ride, shall we?"

Twilight gulped.

It had been two weeks since the incident in the soccer field...two weeks since Rainbow Dash was punished for attacking Gilda in her anger...and two weeks since Dash and her mother had their argument.

Firefly had expected Rainbow to have cooled down and let the matter go by now, but so far...that hadn't happened. Dash may not have been shouting at Firefly anymore, but she wasn't exactly talking to her either.

Sure, she spoke to her from time to time, but she never really talked to her. There's a difference.

If there was one thing Firefly knew more than anyone else, it was how her daughter handled herself. She was boisterous, lived in the moment, hated to sit still unless she was napping, put passion into whatever hobby she had an interest in, whether that involved rocking her guitar, taking pictures at near impossible angles, compete against her friend Applejack in anything and everything they could think of, or train her body and mind into one day becoming Wonderbolt material. She wasn't quiet or mopey...or at least, she usually wasn't quiet and mopey.

Yet, as she took a peak at her daughter in the passenger seat of her car, all she could see was Rainbow being exactly that: quiet and mopey. She showed no signs of her endless energy and enthusiasm...or even impatient boredom for being stuck in one place for too long. She was just staring at the city outside through the window, trying her best to avoid any and all eye-contact with her mother.

However, this also meant that she didn't have the energy to lash out in anger at the moment...which was a good thing for Firefly. If there ever was a time to resolve the tension that was going on between them, it would probably be now.

When Rainbow mentioned that she was going to watch some kind of wrestling event downtown, Firefly immediately offered to drive her there herself, despite how much she could see her daughter didn't want her to. She was just lucky that Rainbow Blaze was too busy managing the gym he owned to offer his help instead. It would give Firefly an opportunity to have a proper conversation with her daughter again.

Now if only she had any idea how to start...

"So...uhm, Dashie?" the older woman began carefully, "What's this thing you wanted to see, a...wrestling tournament?"

Rainbow did not respond.

Firefly flashed a very fake smile, "Got to say, it does sound pretty interesting. I've heard a lot of good things about the guy who's funding it. What's his name, Gladmane?"

Rainbow slowly turned her head to look at her, though her expression was anything but amused at Firefly's awkward attempts at conversation.

"You'd probably not believe it, but I was quite the wrestling fan myself when I was your age. When someone told me most of it was fake I-"

"What are you doing?" Dash asked suspiciously.

Her mother's phoney smile vanished in an instant, "I'm only trying to break the ice, kiddo. You haven't even looked me in the eye since we had that stupid argument, and its starting to get ridiculous now."

Rainbow Dash was looking her in the eyes now though, but she wasn't saying anything.

Firefly had to break that eye-contact momentarily when a car horn behind her reminded her that the traffic light ahead had turned green. After she had turned her eyes back on the road and continued driving, she said, "Look, when you told me about how you felt when I left you behind during that war, it got me thinking. I know I had my reasons for doing what I did, but you're right...I should have at least apologised properly to you. So...here it is: I'm...sorry, Rainbow Dash. I'm sorry for making you feel lonely for so long, and I'm sorry for going somewhere so dangerous when I had you waiting for me back home."

Rainbow Dash looked at Firefly's face for a moment, mainly to see if she was being sincere or not. 'I guess that was a pretty good apology, all things considered. Besides, I can't stay mad at mom forever. I mean, she *is my mom after all.'*

Rainbow let out a deep sigh and then decided, "Okay, sure, just...can you promise me something first?"

"Anything, Dashie." Firefly answered with utmost sincerity.

"Can you promise me you won't leave me alone again? It's just...when you left, I had to go through the worst six months of my life, and the last thing I want right now is to go through that again."

A bit taken back, she asked, "Was it really that bad?"

"I was just a kid, you know, and for awhile there I seriously thought...you had...had...well...you know." Rainbow almost shuddered after saying that, "And after what happened to Applejack's parents, I...kinda thought the same thing had happened to you."

Rainbow Dash felt a comforting hand touch her arm soothingly in a very motherly fashion, "Alright then. I promise you, you're not getting rid of me anytime soon, kiddo."

"You are?" Dash asked hopefully.

"'Course I am. Wait, how did it go...uh, cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a...something, whatever, you know what I mean. That 'Pinkie Promise' thing you and your friends do all the time."

"That's 'cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye'." Rainbow clarified.

"Ah, yeah...though it doesn't really make any sense."

"Well, neither do Pinkie Pie."

"Touche."

"Then I guess it means you're sticking by that promise then?"

Firefly smiled, "Absolutely."

"So...we're good, you and me, now, right?"

Firefly nodded.

"Good, because gosh this conversation was starting to get sappy." Rainbow commented with her usual bravado.

They both shared a goodhearted laugh about that, cementing that while neither had completely gotten over their issues, they were at least on good terms...for now.

And for the next few minutes, the silence between them returned...but it wasn't quite as tense as it was before. In fact, Firefly might even go so far as to call it comfortable.

Despite all the bad things that had been going on with her lately, which happened to be mostly Gilda related, Rainbow did finally feel some sense of happiness after she made up with her mom. Now, all she needed to do was to fess up and tell Fluttershy how she felt about her and Dash's life would be just great from now on.

If only things were ever that easy...

While the car passed through the streets of Central Canterlot, Rainbow spent most of the ride just...looking at the city around her. She wasn't really that much of a city girl, but she did admire the view quite a bit.

'Damn, those buildings look so...climbable.' She thought as she looked at the sky scrapers she passed, 'There's got to be a ton of cool swinging locations around here, and I can't wait to try them out! All I need is that spider-suit when Spike and Twilight are done with it. I mean, I can't just go around jumping off rooftops in my normal clothes, because...well, they're not aerodynamic enough I guess. Also, it might be bad if someone I knew saw me doing stuff like that. Must keep superpowers secret and all! And I can't keep stealing, I mean, borrowing mom's old Wonderbolt uniform. She'll kill me if she'd found out.'

Another idea also crossed her mind, 'I bet I can take some cool pics up there too. With my sticky powers, I can get some pretty awesome angles if I wanted to. A city-wide shot of Canterlot from the Empire Canterlot Building? No sweat! Now, if only I had a camera that didn't take stupid blurry pictures all the time, that'd be amazing. I'm way overdue for an upgrade. I can't keep using that cheap piece of junk that can't get a focused shot unless I'm standing right next to the thing I want to photograph, I need one of those high res cameras that could take snapshots of a fighter jet flying at top speed, the ones that are used by real professional photographers...and the ones that I totally can't afford in a million years.'

She then saw Gladmane's Wrestling Emporium come into view...

'Well, if this Gladmane person is as rich as he says he is, then that little money problem will be an easy fix. All I have to do is to make a bunch of wannabe wrestlers taste the Rainbow! And no, that's not becoming my new catchphrase.'

When the car began to slow down to park next to the building, Rainbow took off her seat belt and opened the door. However, before she could leave, Firefly said, "Hey, Dashie?"

Rainbow looked at her, "Yeah?"

"I've been thinking about how much the whole getting kicked off the soccer team must suck for you, and...well, I thought maybe tomorrow after school we could play a game...you and me...just like old times."

Her daughter's cockiness returned with a vengeance after hearing that, "I dunno, don't you think you're a bit too old for that?"

"Oh but I have experience, kid." Firefly quipped back with a smile on her face, "I bet you won't even score a single goal against a seasoned veteran like me."

"What? Just because you can beat dad? He's even older than you."

"But he did win several marathons in a row when he was only five years older than you. Why do you think I stuck around with him for so long?"

"Sure, sure, but I'm literary a combination of you two, so I have the best of both of ya. Plus, I'm also still in my prime!"

"Oh You're going to regret saying that, kiddo." Firefly warned before holding her hand out for a fist bump, which her daughter immediately answered with her own fist.

"I doubt it. But I guess we'll find out tomorrow then."

"Damn right we will! Now, I'll pick you up here at five. Don't be late."

Rainbow Dash mockingly saluted, "Yes, ma'am!"

Firefly rolled her eyes.

Rainbow winked and then stepped out of the car, a cocky smile on her face again.

However, as soon as Firefly knew Rainbow couldn't see her face, her expression turned from 'happy'...to 'concerned'.

While she had done a good job of hiding any obvious distress, when Dash mentioned that she was 'literally a combination of her and Windy Blaze', it reminded her of a certain issue that spoke directly to her competence as a parent. A little secret that she had kept from her daughter for almost twelve years now...give or take.

She reached into her pocket and took out a small flash drive with the words 'For RD only' written on it.

'...Maybe it's time she knew the truth' Firefly considered.

If there was one thing that Sunset Shimmer knew for sure that she loved, then it would be her good old Ducati. For her, it was the single most awesome pile of scrap metal on the face of the earth, and she would be lost without it.

She considered the bike to be the best thing she had ever gotten from her dad. He was a mechanic, and the one who sparked Sunset's interest in tinkering and engineering. When she was growing up, he regularly gave her pieces of junk and taught her how to turn it into something useful. She eventually became a lot better at it than even he was, and proved that when she fixed a bike that hadn't been working properly since the eighties, and that she eventually began to call her own.

The moment she heard the engine roar for the first time, Sunset knew she had fallen in love, and nothing relaxed her as much as when she was driving her bike through the city.

Twilight on the other hand...did not really have the same reaction.

She was clinging on to Sunset's waist as if her life depended on it, and Shimmer could feel just how tense Twilight was being. If she wasn't panicking yet, then she was probably about to start any second now. With Twilight's tendency to get driving sickness, coupled with her irrational paranoia and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, getting a lift on a motorcycle in the most hectic part of town was the complete opposite of what Twilight considered relaxing.

The irony of the situation was that Sunset was driving much slower and safer then she usually did. She may have been a a bit of an adrenaline junkie at times (though not to Rainbow's level), but she respected Twilight's boundaries as much as she could, and she didn't want her to have an early heart attack or anything.

Lucky for Twilight, the ride didn't last all that long, and soon enough, Sunset pulled up at the parking space outside Gladmane's Wrestling Emporium with both her and her terrified passenger in one piece.

As soon as the vehicle had properly stopped, Twilight immediately tried to climb out of it and nearly tripped over herself in the process. She then pulled the helmet Sunset loaned her off her head and started to hyperventilate while also trying her hardest to not throw up.

After she had turned off the engine and gotten off her bike, Sunset calmly walked up to Twilight and put a hand each of her shoulders. "Take it easy there, Tiger. Deep breaths, breathe in, breathe out, can you do that?"

Twilight tried the best she could at doing just that. 'Come on, Twilight, remember Cadence's breathing exercises. So, take it easy and stop panicking, stop panicking, STOP PANICKING! Just need to focus on something in particular and forget everything else, BUT WHAT?!'

Her eyes then fell on the face of the woman who was calmly and patiently trying to help her overcome her anxiety. 'Wow, I never realised it before, but...her eyes are really pretty...and that flaming hair looks so beautiful...and those lips are just so inviting that...what the hell are you thinking, Twilight?! Get a hold of yourself!'

She shook her inappropriate thoughts and her building panic attack away with a shake of her head and said, "I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm perfectly calm, perfectly...calm."

Sunset couldn't help it, Twilight's dorky bespectacled face was just begging her to rub her cheeks, "Aren't you just adorable!"

After Sunset had let go, Twilight righted her now crooked glasses and blushed while she played with a lock of her hair, 'She thinks I'm adorable! Maybe that means...' She shook her head again in a doomed attempt to get her brain thinking straight, 'There it is again...that feeling. I mean, I have had crushes on people in the past, but I have never felt like *this about anyone else before. What if...Sunset really is the one? I don't know. And even if I did, I really doubt the cool and confident Sunset Shimmer would ever be interested in a neurotic and socially-awkward nerd like me? Or...maybe she actually would? I heard some people found geekyness attractive, though I don't know if I've ever met someone who thinks that...aside from Flash and Timber maybe.'*

It went without saying that Twilight had little to no experience dealing with love or dating, and when this crush on her friend began, she had no idea how to tackle it.

The closest situation she had ever been in that came anywhere close to something romantic was either that one date she had with Timber Spruce that didn't lead to anything or that time she and her old study-buddy Moondancer decided to 'pretend' to be each others dates to Canterlot High's Fall Formal dance...since neither of them got asked out by anyone else.

Turned out, that dance only made things way more awkward than it needed to be. Rumours of them being a lesbian couple started to circulate all over the school after that, even though they really were only friends...and barely even that. Suffice to say, it was probably a bad idea in the first place. Moondancer in particular didn't appreciate those rumours one bit, especially given the fact that she was straight, and suggested that she and Twilight should stop hanging out for a short while until the rumours stopped. Twilight agreed after some convincing, but...she only now realised that she hadn't spoken to her old friend in over a year.

Still, the whole thing only proved to Twilight how inexperienced she was in the dating field. And while the rumours of her and Moondancer being a couple were false, the rumours that Twilight was a lesbian were...not as exaggerated as one might think.

Twilight honestly had no idea what her sexuality actually was, not that that fact really mattered to her in long run, but she knew that she definitively had a crush on someone.

Someone...who also happened to be another girl...

...and that girl...was none other than Sunset Shimmer.

While Twilight Sparkle had once denied the notion of 'love at first sight' as nothing more than a fairy tale concept that held no truth in reality, she honestly couldn't find any other way to explain how her crush on Sunset started. The redheaded girl just had a confidence, a drive, that lured her in like a siren. And at the same time, Sunset also showed signs of a more vulnerable and sensitive side underneath.

Not to mention, Sunset was drop-dead-gorgeous in Twilight's eyes. With the way her hair seemed to be made of flames that cascaded down her back, her perfectly proportioned figure that looked even more fantastic when she was wearing that roguish leather jacket, and finally that confident smile that sent Twilight's heart pumping just thinking about it.

Unlike her other friends, Sunset could keep up with her technobabbel as if it was second nature to her, and her intelligence was leagues above most people Twilight had ever met. While, admittedly, not as good at mathematics and equations as Twilight, Sunset Shimmer had always been an adventurer at heart and wasn't hesitant to get her hands dirty if it meant she could discover something new.

Also, she owned a freaking motorcycle! What's not to love?

Scratch being a lesbian, Twilight had just decided that she was Sunsetsexual! And if she could only ever muster up the confidence to just get her act together and tell her how she felt, she might as well have hit the jackpot...or face a rejection that would most likely spell the end of her self-confidence and leave her a depressed loner yet again.

Yes, she needed to analyse every conceivable scenario as to what would happen if she did that, including even the most pessimistic worst-case-scenarios. Not that she could help it; she was Twilight 'Queen of the Freak-outs' Sparkle after all.

"Uh, Twilight, you're spacing out again." She could hear Sunset's voice say, prompting her to get her attention back in the moment.

"Sorry! Got distracted thinking about...uh...some things."

"Uh-huh. So anyway, can you find your way to where you need to go from here?"

Twilight looked around a bit. "I guess so. This does look like the place Rainbow talked about...just got to find her first."

Sunset grabbed the helmet she had loaned to Twilight and got back on her bike, "Well, good luck with that. Now, I have a doctor's appointment in a few hours, and I can't be late for that."

"A doctor's appointment? What for?"

She paused for a second before she began to strap on her helmet and answer, "Oh...it's...just a...routine check up thing. Nothing to worry about. I have those all the time."

The way Sunset said that made Twilight a tiny bit suspicious, "You do? You never mentioned that."

"Well...you never asked."

Twilight narrowed her eyes at her flame-haired friend, "Is there anything else about you that I haven't asked about?"

Sunset pondered that question for a second, then revealed, "...I also play guitar."

Before Twilight could respond to that, Sunset revved up the engine and said, "Anyway, see you later, Tiger!" before she began to steer her bike back to the city streets and drive away to where she needed to go.

Twilight, having been left in the dust, scratched the back of her neck while she thought about Sunset's strange excuse. 'Routine medical-check-ups? I remember her telling me that her family couldn't afford to take her to the hospital unless it was an emergency. She is definitively hiding something. I'm not clueless enough to not notice that. I just wonder what it could possibly be that she's hiding.'

A familiar voice brought her attention back to earth. "About time you showed, Twilight!"

That raspy impatient voice that clearly belonged to Rainbow Dash immediately got Twilight's attention and made her turn around to see a certain rainbow-haired teenager push her way through the crowded city street in order to reach her.

Twilight checked her watch, "It's actually about...twenty minutes left until the time we agreed on."

"Yeah, yeah, but at least you're here now." Rainbow shrugged off.

She then sported an enormous smile and got a pleading look in her eyes, "Sooooo...did you bring it?"

"...Yes, I did." Twilight answered while taking off her backpack, "Though it's only the first version and Spike and I had to rush it, I think you will be pleased with the result."

Having no patience for her bookish friend to give it to her in orderly manner, Rainbow simply yanked the backpack from her hands and opened it to take a peek inside.

"Ah man, this looks awesome! Thanks, Twi." Her smile then faded a little, "I owe you, Spike and Rarity something for this, don't I?"

"I don't know about Rarity, but the supplies for that suit took a bit out of my wallet, so if you win any prize money, well...it could help me avoid going bankrupt any time soon."

"Uh...I was kinda hoping to spend it on a new camera actually." Rainbow confessed, "I've been saving up for one for a while now."

Thinking logically, Twilight suggested, "Well...maybe we could split the take. How much money do the winner get?"

"About...three-thousand dollars, I think."

"Wow, that's a lot." Twilight noted, a bit amazed, "A third of that would be enough for me, and then you can spend the rest on the camera."

Rainbow Dash spat in the palm of her hand and held it for a handshake, "Deal!"

Twilight cringed a little as she hesitantly reached out her own hand...then retracted it just before Dash's hand could touch it. "Yes...yes, it's a deal!"

Dash raised an eyebrow, then wiped the spit off her hand on her leg and haughtily said, "Then what are we wasting time here for? We have a tournament to win!"

Orange is the new Rarity