Rainbow Dash's Bizarre Adventure

***Chapter 3

Awkward Morning***

(Morning)

Morning has finally arrived as Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and a very irritated Lightning Dust sitting in awkward silence at the kitchen table. After what happen last night and getting the message of Lightning Dust being a stand user from Twilight, it wouldn’t be a surprise that the atmosphere in the house would be… tense. Of course, this moment of awkward silence was soon broken when Rainbow Dash decided to speak up.

“S-So...are you hungry?” Rainbow Dash asked, only for Lightning Dust to glare at her while holding an ice pack to her head. “Okay, then how about coffee then?”

“...Whatever.”

“Perfect,” The rainbow head girl said as she look over at Scootaloo. “Scoots, could you make Lightning Dust a cup of coffee please?” Scootaloo nodded as she walked through the giant hole in the wall that leads to the kitchen. “So, how are you feeling?”

“Like I just got hit by thousands of baseballs being shot out by a machine gun.”

“Oh….right...sorry?”

“A little late for an apology don’t you think? Especially when you tried to cover it up with a poor ass job with the makeup you put on me. Was that really necessary?”

“Well I didn’t expect you to wake up after the beating I gave yeah last night.” Rainbow Dash said as she notice a death glare coming from Lightning Dust. “Too soon?”

“Too soon.” Lightning Dust said as she lean against the chair she was sitting in. “Seriously, ever heard of not going overboard?”

“Hey! You started first when you intruded into our home. Not to mention you threaten to hurt Scootaloo, so expect to get a beat down from me.”

“I was trying to see the capabilities of your stand, and the only way to do that is have you not treat me being here as a joke. Besides, would you really beat the crap out of me if I was here just to have Cocoa and talk with you about boys?” A bit of a silence drifted through the room, shortly before Lightning Dust sighed to herself. “Yeah, I thought so.”

“I’m not apologising if that’s what you’re thinking.” Rainbow said as Scootaloo place two cups of coffee on the table. One for Rainbow Dash, and the other for Lightning Dust. After giving them their cups of coffee, Scootaloo walked over to her scooter and started heading outside through the second hole in the living room.

“I’m heading out to meet up with Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. Be back before night time.”

“Okay, seeya Scoots.” Rainbow Dash said as she waved goodbye to her little sister, before turning her attention back at Lightning Dust.

“Not that I was expecting one knowing you. Look I was sent here to see what you’re capable of, alright. Once I get my coffee, I’ll be leaving so you don’t have to worry about me trying anything stupid.”

“Suuuuure, what confuses me though is how do you have a stand in the first place.” Rainbow said as she looked back at her.

“I would assume the same way you did… Did you pass out after seeing that Solar Eclipse last week?” She then asked, causing all the thoughts that Rainbow originally had to slam to a complete halt.

“Yeah, how did you know about that?”

“Because the same thing happened to me, I just woke up a day before you did,” Lightning Dust replied back to her. “Shortly afterwards, one of your friends noticed what was going on with me, talked to me on the side and explained what it is so that way I know what I’m actually dealing with. It was only yesterday that she asked me to check on you since you had gone through the same thing I have.”

“Yeah and look how that turned out.” Rainbow groaned to herself as she looked back at Lightning. All before there was a knock on the door.

“And I believe that is Twilight-.” Lightning sighed… shortly before the door felt flat on the ground after what happened earlier. “Okay, that I honestly did not expect.”

“Doors open Twilight! Mind the mess in the… well everywhere!”

“What the-?” She responded, looking the state of the living room as it now turned out to look like a warzone. As she entered the room, Sunset followed her inside as they looked at the sheer state of what happened. “Let me guess… Rainbow?”

“To be fair… I might have taken it a bit too far with trying to see her Stand in action,” Lightning groaned. “No matter how many times I’ve apologized, there's no way Rainbow’s forgiving me at this rate.”

“You intruded into my home, made me punch myself like a puppet and almost attack Scootaloo. If you were in my shoes would you expect me to forgive you that quickly?”

“No, sorry. Usually when it comes to thinking of things on the fly, I wouldn’t plan in advance. Besides, I needed to see you use your stand and the only way for me to do that was for you to treat me like an actual threat.” Lightning explained.

“I see what Lightning Dust was trying to do, but really? Using Scootaloo? Not cool.” Sunset replied to that comment.

“Alright, so maybe I should’ve done it differently. But you should’ve know what would’ve happen when you sent me to do that.”

“So other than the fact that I need help with settling an insurance claim for the property damage in here, why else are Sunset and Twilight here?”

“Because of what’s going on with Stands… and unlike you two, we already have ours…” Sunset replied as a golden yellow entity appeared behind Sunset while a dark purple one appeared behind Twilight. Surprising both of them immediately.

“Okay am I the only one that seem to be getting the info on stuff like this a bit too late now a days?” Rainbow asked, partially surprised.

“Well, that’s the thing. Remember what happened at the Friendship Games?” Sunset asked, getting an obvious yes from Rainbow in response. “Well, since then, she and I have been in control of a stand each that are equal opposites. Twilights is known as Midnight while mine is known as Sunrise. Each one based off of the Sun and Moon cards in the Tarot like how Lightning’s is based on The Fool.”

“Yeah, but why are you exactly telling us this now?” Lightning questioned.

“Because originally, we were the only stand users until that Solar Eclipse happened. In the weeks since then, you two gained stands, Pinkie did and who knows about who else might’ve gotten one if they saw that eclipse happen,” Sunset replied. “Besides, what would you do if you have godlike powers and think that you are untouchable to everyone else around you?”

“I could think of a few things.” Rainbow Dash said as she start to imagine herself winning every soccer games.

“I mean generally like if you think you’re above the law.” Twilight added to what Sunset said.

“That could be problematic.” Lightning replied. “Makes me worried about what if that old gym coach Wind Rider got one and tried to get revenge on those who fired him.”

“I doubt it seeing how he’s not that stupid enough to try a stunt like that.”

“What about the Dazzlings?” Sunset asked her friend, trying to get Rainbow to treat this seriously.

“We beat them once before, I’m pretty sure we can beat them again.”

Sunset sighed, looking back at Twilight. “You may be right, but the thing is, Stands can take on the forms of multiple things and it’s nearly impossible to figure out who is a stand user and who isn’t. Determining what is a Stand or not is one thing, but finding out the powers of that stand and what they’re capable of can be unpredictable. You saw how Lightning can control wires and use them to have objects or people be living puppets, but it’s unknown what others are out there… because besides us four and Pinkie. They are probably sixteen others out there.”

“And who might those sixteen stand users?”

“That’s the thing… we don’t know… the only clues that we have is based on the Tarot cards I mentioned earlier,” Sunset replied. “So far, our stands consist of five cards in the Tarot. Star, The Fool, Hierophant, Sun and Moon. What’s left on the tarot is the following.” With that, Sunset pulled out a set of cards as she set specific ones down on the coffee table that was still intact. “The Hermit, The Devil, The Magician, Strength, Chariot, The Emperor, The Empress, The Lovers, Temperance, Wheel of Fortune, High Priestess, The Tower, Judgement, Death, Justice and lastly, the World.”

“Sixteen stand users and we don’t know who they are.” Rainbow groaned as he looked at all of them. “Do we at least have any leads? Anything from Princess Twilight at all?” Sunset shook her head on that one.

“We’re trying to look into if there are any strange activities lately and also paying attention to if anything pops up on the local news. But unless we are actually sure about something, we’re basically shooting blanks.” Twilight replied. “I even asked Shining Armor to keep an eye out for any strange incidents he overhears at the police department.”

“... Okay, how exactly were you able to do that?”

“I told him we were starting an investigation club and he bought it.” Twilight replied back to Rainbow. “Right now, it’s just us. But if we did find anything, one of us needs to tell the others.”

“Okay, so what do we do now?”

“All we can do is wait and watch the news from time to time until something happens. For now we’ll just continue doing our own thing.”

“You mean just go to school and stuff?”

“Which brings us to the next topic we need to talk about.” Sunset said as Rainbow Dash looked over at her. “We need to set some ground rules if we encounter any other stand users in school or in a populated area. If we meet a stand user and we have no choice but to fight, we need to find a isolated place away from anyone. That way we can deal with them without accidentally getting innocent bystanders involve or hurt.”

“You think that would be easy to do that?” Lightning Dust said while taking a sip from her coffee. “I’m pretty sure that some of them would be willing to do that, but most of them wouldn’t care if anyone got involved in the fight. Not to mention forcing them into an isolated area would be a challenge within itself.”

“We know, but it’s better than to have innocent bystanders hurt during the fight. Next rule is that we should be careful when using our stands out in the open. That means we can’t goof around with them.” Sunset said as she, Twilight, and Lightning Dust look over at Rainbow Dash with deadpanned expression.

“What? I wasn’t going to use my stand for stuff like that...well...maybe for pranking some of the students and helping me during soccer practice and games. But it’s not like I was going to use it to steal anything.”

“Which is why we’ll have Applejack keep an eye on you and Pinkie Pie so she can stop you from doing that.”

“What? It’s not like everyone can see these stands we have. You heard what Discord said.” Rainbow pointed out.

“Yes, but stands can also be seen by other stand users… and if you are using your stand to be pranking other students, one of those sixteen other stand users will know that you will have one and go for you next.” Sunset pointed out to her.

That just made her groan as she rolled her eyes. “You’re no fun, you know that right?”

Before Sunset could be able to respond though, all of them soon heard something on the news that caught their attention. “Good afternoon everyone, we have breaking news at this hour and what I’m about to tell you is really disturbing. During a raid on a warehouse that belonged to a street gang called “Basilisk”, police found a very gruesome scene inside. All of the gang members were found dead and brutally slaughtered, almost leading investigators to think that they somehow turned on one another in the events leading up to this bloody massacre. We’ll have more information for you on this story later on our 10 o’clock evening news.”

“Wow...talk about a stroke of luck huh?”

“How is that suppose to be luck?” Lightning asked, before looking at Sunset and noticing something. “Uhh… Sunset? Is something on your mind?”

“Twilight, can you rewind the footage? Something about this whole thing seems…off.” She told them, looking back at the TV as Twilight did what she requested. Which confused Rainbow in the process.

“What’s off? We have a lead don’t we?”

“Yeah, but what’s confusing to me is how they ended up like that…” Sunset explained as she looked back at Rainbow. “Have you ever heard the saying thick as a band of thieves?”

“...You do realize I don’t read that many books to know what you mean, right?”

Sunset sighed to herself before replying. “Well thanks for reminding me…anyways, the saying means that if a group like this street gang is thick as a band of thieves, it means that they treat each other like family and wouldn’t exactly betray or turn on one another, like what the news anchor just said…”

“So wait just a second…” Lightning interjected, looking back at Rainbow before having her gaze return to Sunset. “Are you saying that somehow…someone else actually killed all of them?”

“That’s the theory and I believe that someone is another stand user.” Sunset replied. “Because if they took on a gang like this and left them a bloody mess, that stand user would most likely be left unscathed.”

“Alright, so do we head over there and investigate or what?”

“Well, if this story recently broke out, cops would already be at the scene investigating so-.” Twilight said, before noticing that the TV went to static. “What the? What just happened?”

“Well the house is pretty much a wreck if you forgotten.” Rainbow Dash said as she points to some of the exposed wires sticking out from the walls. “...You girls don’t mind me crashing with anyone of you until things are...back to normal around here do you-.” Before anyone could answer, they saw the screen turn to black before seeing a set of vicious green eyes stare at them. Sending chills down their spine as they could see what looked like a demon stare at them. However, what really startled them was what happened next once they heard the figure speak.

“Death awaits you all.”

After that was said, a loud gunshot was heard as it barely missed Rainbow’s head. Shortly before the screen went to static and then turned to normal once more.

“Well...this is going to be one bizarre adventure we’ve been on.”

“Don’t you mean… we’re going on? Otherwise, that sounds like ill grammar.” Twilight corrected.

“I’ve been out for the past week and find out I have this weird power. I don’t need the grammar police on my ass after this.” Rainbow groaned as she looked back at Twilight with a set of narrowed eyes.

“Right… we should first tell the rest of the girls about this. I’ll call Pinkie and see if we can meet at Sugarcube Corner to talk about it.” Sunset replied, picking up her cell phones. “Oh and remember. Even though we have Stands, The Cutie Mark Crusaders don't. So that means we need to keep this as a secret amongst us for right now.”

“I’m pretty sure Scoots can keep a secret. Especially after what happen last night.” Rainbow told her. “Just let me tell her that we’re going out and we’ll be on our way to Sugarcube Corner.”

(Around Noon, Sugarcube Corner)

“Well, we did plan to meet here at noon, yet Rarity is still not here…” Rainbow groaned. “How much longer are we going to have to wait on her before we can talk about this!?”

“Calm down, Dash. She’s probably busy at the boutique. Ah had to do my chores before coming to meet you guys.” Applejack reminded her. “Now, what the hay is this I heard from Sunset about an emergency?”

“Twilight and Sunset can explain the situation better than I can.”

“Come on, Rainbow. You were there when we saw it… and when that shot almost hit your head.” Twilight added onto that statement, looking at Applejack. “We may have a lead on a new stand user that could be in the neighborhood… which may tie into the news about a street gang that was massacred.”

“Ah heard about that on the radio over here.” Applejack replied. “Now, what’s this have to do with the possibility of a new stand user though?”

“Pretty much this new person might either be using his powers for good, or for evil. We haven’t really decided on that one yet until we can find him or her.”

“Or for other reasons,” Sunset replied. “The only lead we have is just what was said before what happened… Death awaits you all. I would think that whoever this stand user is, they either have a stand that represents the Tarot card of Judgement or Death. Depending on what Rainbow was saying and whether or not this newcomer is using his powers for good or evil.”

Applejack scratched her chin as she looked at Fluttershy for a moment before looking back at Rainbow and the others. “Ya know… that phrase sounds almost like a reference to something. Because ah swear that ah thought ah heard something like that before.”

“Where have you heard that from?”

“Ah think it’s some darn game that Applebloom and her friends were playing… Ah now I remember. She, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Rumble and one other kid named Button Mash were participating in some big team tournament at the arcade for a video game that Apple Bloom told me was in Beta. They made it all the way to the finals and were doing well, but someone on the other team was using a character and… said that exact same phrase before being able to take out a third of their team in the blink of an eye.” Applejack said before looking at the girls. “What? I have a photographic memory. At times, it can be helpful.”

“So we got a wanna be bad guy that want to spread chaos and madness throughout the world?”

“Nah… It wouldn’t make sense. Why take out an entire gang if they wanted to be a bad guy?” Lightning pointed out. “My only thought would be if this individual had a reason for taking them out… Say, I think that’s Rarity crossing the street right now.” When Rainbow turned around, she indeed did see her friend cross the street with a spring in her step as she hurried over to them.

“Hey girls… sorry I’m late. I had a customer ask for a small patch up of his coat on the way out.” She replied. Some of the details that were said in that small sentence made some of her friends a little… curious. Especially Rainbow.

“Who’s the customer that asked for his coat to be patched up?”

“I remember that his first name was Swift… though I didn’t exactly ask for his last name… why do you ask, darling?” Rarity posed the question for her as she looked at the others while taking a seat at the table they were at.

“Just curious… We were looking into something that happened with the police recently and I was just wondering if you have seen anyone suspicious.” Rainbow replied back.

“If this is in regards to those two gangs that were found dead, then I don’t know what to tell you. I haven’t heard anything out of the ordinary other than what was said on the news and the radio this morning, dear.” She replied to her as she took a seat in between her and Applejack.

“Okay, so what we know already is that somehow, whoever this stand user is, it can project itself through screens and Applejack has heard of it before somewhere in a game that his sister has played… Honestly, I’m not sure how we can go off of this…” Twilight spoke up, trying to think to herself and process everything she knew. “Hang on… Applejack, you said that your sister and her friends were there when you heard it correct?”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“Well, my only thought would be that maybe one of them would know something that could help provide a clue as to what we’re dealing with.” Twilight replied. “I mean, from the sounds of it, this was a five on five competition similar to if it were a game of basketball, so someone on Applebloom’s team might know who or what would say that phrase.”

“That… is not a bad idea.” Sunset spoke up. “And they did host this at the arcade, so maybe asking some of the people that worked there could help us too.”

“Woah woah woah, wait a minute.” Lightning interjected. “How the hell are we going to find out what exactly were looking for at an arcade? Shouldn’t we… you know, investigate the crime scene from the other night?”

“There’s a likelihood that the cops are still investigating sugarcube,” Applejack replied. “Not to mention that they might have that area closed off to the public…”

“Oh… crap.”

“And this thing with the girls and the arcade is the only lead we have right now until we hear the police chief give a press conference on the incident,” Twilight added on since she remembered how Police Protocol was enforced with her brother being a Detective on the force. “But that only happens after they have some information regarding the investigation.”

“You know it just occurred to me that you guys are taking this whole stand thing pretty well...care to explain?” Rainbow replied, before noticing Rarity look over at Twilight and Sunset.”

“Darling… did you forget to inform Rainbow that all of us have Stands… We were all there when the Eclipse happened, so the same thing that happened to you, happened to us.” The Seamstress explained to her friend. “Sunset helped us all out along with Twilight because they already had stands by the time the Eclipse happened. So they weren’t affected like we were.”

“Geez, thanks for not informing me about this.”

“You were still getting used to it, sugarcube.” Applejack replied. “We all thought that it would be best for you to be comfortable with controlling your stand first before telling you. Besides, according to Twilight, you freaked out the first second you saw yours.”

“Um, who wouldn’t if they saw something like that appeared from out of nowhere?” She questioned. “Plus, Twilight and Sunset have said that there were sixteen unknown stands right now. How come you three can be stand users and not be accounted for with that list of hers?”

“Because they aren’t awakened yet, Rainbow.” Sunset cut her off. “Like with you when you first had Stargazer, their stands haven’t revealed themselves yet and right now, we don’t know what cards they represent. They’ll make their presences known in time, but we know that they are stand users because they were able to see our stands.”

“I guess that does make sense when you think about it.” Rainbow shrugged as she looked at the arcade that was across the street. Surprisingly, it looked like the owner was putting up a few life sized cutouts of characters from a particular game they were promoting… and one of them matched the green eyes that she saw on the television set earlier today. “Huh… that looks awfully familiar… naw!”

However, when she overheard some nearby kids talking, her original estimations soon changed. “Hey, did you see that Paladin’s tournament last weekend at the arcade?”

“Heck yeah I did, that one guy named Swift came in clutch late game for his team. Even got a triple kill late in the game, look,” For a moment, Rainbow ignored what the kids were talking about… but something immediately caught her attention rather quickly.

It was the sound of a gong… and… “DEATH AWAITS YOU ALL!!”

“Holy crap man, how the hell is he so good with Androxus?” She heard the kids talk amongst themselves, but when she heard the previous question, she now had a possible new piece of information… a name.

“Androxus……”

Applejack looked up at her friend and raised an eyebrow. “Did you say something, Sugarcube?”

“Just that name. Androxus… sounds familiar.” She replied, trying to think on what she had just heard. Just as Rainbow was thinking this over though, she did not happen to notice someone in a black coat on a nearby rooftop. He had tan skin and also had pitch black hair as he waited for the call to kick in and connect.

By the time it synced, he could hear the other person on the line speak up. “Hey, it’s been too long since you were last suppose to call me. What the hell have you been-?”

“I found her.” The figure spoke, looking from the rooftop towards the tables by the bakery on the street as he took out a photograph that he had. It matched the appearance of the Rainbow haired girl that was sitting down at the table with her friends.

“A-are you serious!? You actually did?!”

“Yeah. I found the girl matching the description in the spirit photograph you gave me,” The person said again. “Turns out though that it’s more than just her that were affected by the eclipse. I placed a small listening device inside the purse of one of her friends when I was at their boutique earlier and from the sounds of it, several people they know also have Stands of their own.”

“Well, that definitely is a lot to process… Right now, just continue with your investigation into the incidents and only approach her when the time is right.”

The man chuckled, saying one last thing before turning off the phone. “Whatever you say, old man… she is your granddaughter after all.”

To Be Continued

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