Done by a Single Night

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A quick glance at the clock confirmed it was time I left. All throughout the flight, I thought of my strange dream. After a short glide, I had arrived at my destination. Looking up, I took in all the stars. Luna really did her job well tonight. The moon was filled to the brim, a perfect pearl. Glancing back down at, and saw two silhouetted figures. They looked like the mares in question. With a level of quietness that would've impressed Fluttershy, I gently flapped my wings to a hover barely outside their window.

"...if need arises. But otherwise, I think just weapons should work." Twilight said.

"Mmk. But I can still use Virga, right?"

Weapons? Virga? Were Twilight and Fluttershy planning to kill somepony? With the mines from earlier? Or did they also have a second plan, to hire a hitmare named Virga. It seemed very unlikely, as I'd be here tonight, surely to see them. It made no sense. And why would they want to kill somepony?

"Well, you can't use her forever. You'll get tired."

Wait, so making somepony else do the work makes Fluttershy tired? What?

"What about my voice?"

"Yes, that would be good too, but it also wouldn't be infinite."

Erm... I can't imagine Fluttershy commiting murder, much less using her voice extensively. Or Twilight, either for that matter.

"This is a lot better. I won't have to just use my knives anymore, but using my voice would alert ponies..."

Okay, so she herself owns not just one knife, but a collection... okay...

"Don't worry, they can't hear you, remember?"

What's that supposed to mean?

"Well, enough about this. Rainbow will be here soon, and we need to set up the equipment."

What equipment?

My train of thought was interrupted by Fluttersy opening the window. She waved a golden hoof. "Hey Rainbow! Glad you could make it! Come on in!"

I stuttered something along a welcoming, and flew towards the window.

"Oh, uh, not here! Don't enter here!" Fluttershy warned, surprisingly loud. Her voice then dipped back down. "We wouldn't want you to uh, track in mud with your hooves."

"I flew here."

"Well, we wouldn't want you to track... cloud in."

"Clouds don't condense very well at this pressure. They'd dissapate. I'm pretty sure you learned this in flight school."

Fluttershy looked like she was going to panic. "Erm, don't track... air in?" She made one of her adorable, trademark squees.

Something suspicious was definately going down... I thought not much of it, and instead just entered the library.

Twilight bolted down the stairs. A look at the corner, and the box was gone. Maybe they really were using the mines... But that'd be pretty darn loud, and overkill... heh, overkill... I'm such a heartless joker.

"Hello Rainbow! Great, you're here!" She smiled, almost too wide. "But all the Daring Do books are checked out, so you can't read any."

That's odd, I didn't ask about the Daring Do series... but what did it have to do with the rest of the stuff they were saying? It was very unlikely one pony would check out all the books at one time... And, how is this related to murder?

We then set up our bags, and began our activities. Luckily, she wasn't using that damn book this time.

She finally was starting to not do things so... methodically. After a round of Fluttershy's quiet game, and a bit of s'more making, (why the hell did Twilight light a fire in a TREEHOUSE?) we reached truth or dare. Should I ask them? No, that'd be- Ah, buck it, might as well try.

"So, Rainbow," Twilight asked. "Truth or dare?"

"Duh, dare."

"Okay then, I dare you to tell the truth."

"Oh come on!"

"Are you a... a fillyfooler?"

"Why the hell does everypony ask me that?! No! I mean, yes. I mean, maybe. Why do you ask, are you one?" Score. Not only do I keep my reputation in check, I also redirect the question AND get one of my own questions answered, without my turn.

"Hmm, I dunno." She said, cooly. She then blushed as she realized something. "Wait, do you want me to be one?"

I stuttered horribly. "U-uh no..." DONT ASK HER DONT ASK HER DONT ASK HE- too late. "I thought you were with Fluttershy already." Damnit. Well, look at the bright side, you get to know why they're so secretive.

"WHAT?!" Two voices said at once, one substantially less audiable. Surprisingly, that one was Twilight's.

Quick idiot, you started it. Think up a defense! "Erm, you two are always hanging out together... I mean, especially more. And I've seen Fluttershy slip love notes under your door. And," I gulped. "I've seen her go up to your bedroom... and not come down for a long time."

My case rested, it was their turn to hassle. "Well, erm... I- we, umm... gee, that's a good question..." A very fazed Twilight started. Again, surprisingly, Fluttershy was the one to have strong linguistic skills at this point.

"Look Rainbow, I know it looks very... compromising, but trust me, nothing obscene is occuring! We are just planning a surprise party for Applejack," she said strictly. Her face then fell to one of desperation. "But don't tell her!"

"Fluttershy, AJ's birthday was two months ago." Damn, I'm good at this.

"Rarity. For Rarity. Applejack's helping us."

It was true that Rarity's birthday was coming up in about two weeks. "Really? I've never seen Applejack go upstairs with you two... and if so, why isn't Pinkie and I in this? I'm pretty sure you'd get Pinkie to be the one planning the party."

There you go Dash! You're such a Philomena Wright... yeah, no.

Twilight frantically interrupted both of us. "You know, it's full moon. We're all pointing knifes at each others' throats. But trust me Dash, we aren't dating." I liked her choice of words, 'knifes'. But yeah, it was indeed a full moon... and I guess we all were very irritated.

"So, you're buck buddies?" You know, you should really have shut up already.

"Hell no!" Twilight assured, but I could see Fluttershy's wings stiffen in the corner of my eye. I looked at her and gave a wink, but didn't say anything. Meh, probably just a reflex Rainbow, don't get so worked up. I mean, I bet your wings are working too. I looked, and indeed they were. I snapped them back before anything compromising happened.

"Let's just go back to the game. We all just don't feel that awesome, so how 'bout we continue. I believe its my turn. Fluttershy, truth or dare?"

She quickly pried her wings down before Twilight could notice. "Uh, truth."

I really should have cooled it already, but where's the fun in that? I still had questions, anyways.

"Have you ever used a weapon?" Heh, got you now!

Fluttershy seemed more than a little distraught. "Uh, no!"

Okay... suspicious...

"Okay, maybe once..."

Aha!

"But that colt was asking for it! I mean, I couldn't dare do it in an alleyway, especially with a drunkard like him! Its not my fault he's sterile now!"

...well, actually it kinda is your fault...

"And I didn't TRY to give him a concussion, I just wanted him to have brain damage so he'd stop trying to fondle me!"

Fluttershy, that is trying to give him a concussion... but yeah, he probably deserved it.

Twilight seemed to have a similar response. "Well umm... okay then..."

"So uh, Twilight, truth or dare? I mean, whatever's okay for you..."

Three hours of similar activities later, it was time to go to bed. We all slept on the bottom floor. Twilight was first to fall asleep. Fluttershy came second, and of course that left me to be alone. Before I slept, I thought. What was all of this? What were they planning to do tonight? They were going to kill somepony, tonight, probably, and maybe hire a hitmare named Virga as a backup plan.

Fluttershy and Twilight both had weapons. And they, of course, had the mines, which had dissappeared somewhere... But if they were going to kill somepony tonight, why would they invite me over? Why would they need me-

Buck.

Were they trying to kill me?

C'mon Dash, maybe its somepony else... yeah... I thought about anything else that would explain it, but unfortunately I could think of nothing. Were they really going to bucking kill me? Why me! I did nothing wrong... right?

But all the signs added up, and there was no way around them. I checked Twilight's door. Locked, of course. All the windows? Locked. Up to the observatory? Locked. There were no ways out of here...

Maybe, if I disarmed them, I could have a chance. Yeah. I can take on Fluttershy and Twilight... right? Not with their magic and The Stare...

I went over to Fluttershy's saddlepacks and opened them. She was breathing with difficulty, as if she was having a nightmare. Probably about the events to come... I'd be scared too.

Looking through her bags, lo and behold, Fluttershy did indeed have a knife. It was a vegetable one. Really Dash? She probably just has it for cooking. I mean, she did cook a meal for us. But, not with this knife. To my great horror, the knife's edge was chipped. I really doubt cutting carrots would do that. In the second saddlepack was Fluttershy's comb, toothbrush, shampoo and... land mine.

Why would she keep an explosive device in here? I doubt they'd kill me with this, especially in here. And wouldn't they keep all of them together?

Ha, I'm such a weirdo, thinking of the ideal ways to kill myself. And not in a suicidal way.

Plus, there'll be other things than the Wonderbolts... you could make your own team. Outshow them in a wink.

My assuring thoughts did not push out my fear. I really was going to die here? I thought about the mines. There were four of them... Wait, four? Were they also going to kill the others? A horrible chill ran down my spine as I dropped both the knife and the mine. Twilight heard, and began to stir. With a quick jump, I flew into my sleeping bag and pretended to sleep, but angled my head so I could look.

Twilight got up, and looked around. She stretched, then looked down at me. She poked my head with a hoof. Buck, here it comes... I prepared for her to snap my neck, or something equally horrible, but she instead withdrew her hoof. "Okay, maybe they aren't trying to kill me, you're being stupid Dash!", I thought.

As if just to disprove me, she woke up Fluttershy, who, as if she did this many times before, just picked up her knife and mine. With one deft twirl of her hoof, she spun the knife so it rested like a dagger, then back up again all in one swift motion. How the hell did she do that? It was getting more and more evident that Fluttershy was a serial killer...

Twilight, seeing Fluttershy's weapon, simply facehoofed and went and got her own, which was a metal disk that looked suspiciously like a metal wagon wheel. However, it had a shoddily created hole in the center, and a few thumbtacks melted onto the sides. She twirled it in her hooves also, spinning it quickly and rotating it at an angle, making a kind of cone with surprising grace. She also picked up another of the mine things.

Maybe they are going to kill me... why else would they have these weapons... and such experience weilding them? What would drive them to kill me?

I waited for them to turn toward me, at which point I'd try to knock their things out of their hooves and fly through the roof. But, I probably would be dead first. And even if I got an opening, I was way too frightened to move. The time never came though, they both nodded to each other and went upstairs.

Maybe... they're masochists? But, both of them are dominatrices? I dunno... they said they had nothing going on, and even if they did, I seriously doubt they'd do it while I was here. Plus, those weapons looked seriously hardcore... Well, at least they weren't going to kill me. But wait, what if they're just sharpening their knifes or something?

A new wave of fear washed through me, but I remembered what the strange colt in my dreams did. Clearing your mind can save you from chaos. Those taken in the throes of fear are never really hurt... I am really only making it worse by pondering.

Enlightened by this new thought, all the fear in my system suddenly washed away. I suddenly felt calmer. In the depths of my mind, I heard something snap. A shattering sound, like a glass being broken. And like that, I suddenly fell into a deep sleep.

Up at Twilight's top floor...

Twilight was huddled over a large machine. It was very simple, nothing on it but a dial for channels, a switch for power, and a screen with many numbers and diagrams, all being updated constantly.

"So, does she have the potential?" Fluttershy asked Twilight. She was currently twirling her knife, bored.

"I'm not sure, it doesn't sa- hmm, that's weird."

She put her knife down. "What?"

"Rainbow Dash is awake."

"We probably just woke her up, nothing big..."

"She's thinking pretty deeply by the looks of it... I doubt she'd just wake up and start pondering her life... wait, what if she is? I mean, last week we all saw what Soarin' had done to her. She's pretty good at facades..."

"Don't worry, she'll get through it. I just know it. Now, she doesn't have the potential?"

Twilight's voice was very flat, almost sad. "No, she does- WOAH!" The graph on the screen convulsed madly.

"What happened?!" Fluttershy's voice was dripping with worry.

"It's... it's amazing..."

"What? Please explain!"

"Right now, in front of us, Rainbow Dash just unlocked her full potential."

"Wow... um, yay."

"But, this is strange. Just as she unlocked it, she fell down, sleeping. And not only that, guess what."

"What?"

"She's zero. Not seven."