Awesome As I Wanna Be

Chapter 13: The Truth

Yippee! Awesome As I Wanna Be as reached the first milestone! 100 reads! Thank you to all the people who have read this story so far! It means a lot and I hope you are all enjoying it. I hope we can reach 200 reads soon. Now, on with the story!

After Rainbow had run out of her house into the storm, Sunset knew that something had to be done. Calling the girls, she informed them that Rainbow needed their help. Some took a little more convincing than others bit eventually they all agreed that Rainbow needed to tell them her side of the story and any information they needed to know. Sunset only hoped that their emotional and speedy friend wouldn't get herself into trouble before they could locate her. The world outside looked wet, slippery and treacherous for anyone. With Rainbow not thinking straight, it did not fill the former unicorn with a lot of confidence.

Thankfully, Sunset had little reason to worry. The minute she'd ran out the door, Rainbow realised how terrible the conditions were. Far too many times she nearly skidded into obstacles as she ducked and ran for cover. Her dress, despite all its fabric, was actually really good at movenebt. There was a nice flow to it. Gulit tugged at her heart when Rainbow thought about how she had treated Sunset. She hadn't meant to push her as hard as that but something in her tone or words just got under her skin. Rain pelted her skin and froze her to the bone as Rainbow dove under a bus stop for a quick break.

Storms. That was another ability she had but one that had rarely had a use. It was the penultimate one of her powers and similarly to the fire, relied heavily on her emotions. In contrast though, fire was often used in a specific and strong anger or intense dislike at something or someone. Storms on the other hand required only a short outburst of often 'sharp emotions'. Sharp emotions was what Rainbow considered fear, joy, excitement, disappointment or other feelings like that. Ones that didn't last four long but helped to bring the world into focus.

Clearly, discussing the events that had transpired with Sunset was too distressing for Rainbow at the moment. She struggled to remember the last time she had created a storm at all, much less as torrential and destructive as this. Her frustration had been the root of this metrological anomaly as Sunset refused to grasp why it was important for them to stay away. Any number of bad things could happen to them in the midst of the battles between her and her teacher.

Madam Gradient had not only been her favourite teacher, she'd also acted a lot like another mother. She had taken the time to make sure that Rainbow was getting the best education possible and was feeling happy. It wasn't until she used her Equestrian magic for the first time that Rainbow realised her childhood in the village was little more than weapon training. Madam Gradient may have cared for her, but it was only in her own interest to turn the apparent vessel of darkness into someone to help her. It had hurt a lot when Rainbow had realised that for herself.

As her emotions settled beneath her body and her mind began to see things in a more logical perspective, the storms that raged above her began to calm down and clear. The early afternoon sky was filled with white, fluffy clouds and the sun glared down on the world. Rainbow took a deep breath as people started to poke their heads out of windows and doors to check to see if this unusual weather change was real. Once they had determined it was, they went back inside to inform others where confused yet glad conversations took place.

Her phone buzzed for a few seconds, rather than a quick one, which made Rainbow realise that more than one message had come through. Checking it, she glanced at the first message which had come from Fluttershy but her attention was drawn to the second which was from the devil woman in question. 'Interesting, I tried to take your Knight but you did a castling and took my Rook. Makes me forget who's turn it is now. For now, I resign. However once I've reviewed my strategies, I will want a rematch Rainbow Dash. You haven't won, merely prolonged your defeat.' Rainbow suddenly wished that she knew a lot more about chess than she actually did. She could name a few pieces and what they could do and was pretty sure that a knight was a horse and the rook was a turret. While she knowledge of a knight was doubtful, Rainbow was fairly certain that a room could do vertical and horizontal. As to when their rematch would be, she had no idea. She hoped however that it would be after she'd convinced her friends not to try and help her. They were a surprising stubborn lot.

The first message that had come from Fluttershy still remained unread so Rainbow checked it. 'Hi Rainbow, I hope you are okay. We are all so worried about you. We only want to help. Therefore, we were hoping you would stop by the animal shelter today and just talk to all of us. I'm sure between us we can all come up with a plan to get us through this.' It was a sweet gesture and one that Rainbow knew was partially what Fluttershy believed but also what Sunset, AJ, Pinkie and Rarity wanted. For a group of seven, Rainbow only had two friends remaining who were unaffected by the crazy turmoil in her life right now. Fluttershy was like a little sister to her as well, she would hate to do anything that triggered something bad happening to her as well. However if she didn't go then they would only keep pressuring her to talk to them and another incident like what happened with Sunset would be more likely to occur.

Sighing and raking a hand through her deadly hair, Rainbow tapped out her reply. She would go but she wouldn't be the friendliest of people to ever walk through the shelter's doors.

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Fluttershy hurried all manners of beloved animals to their habitats as the rest of the girls sat around the staff room. The actual staff had gone out for a conference and trusted Fluttershy to look after everything while they were away. This meant that it was the perfect place to hold a little friendly get together.

Rarity looked anxious though and kept asking if this was a good idea. After the tenth or hundredth time of complaining, Applejack finally couldn't take it anymore. "Oh Rarity! SHUT UP!" She glared at the fashionista while everyone else looked slightly shocked or uncomfortable. Realising her outburst, Applejack coughed and lowered herself in her seat. "Sorry, I didn't mean to yell. But Rainbow isn't as lost or dangerous as y'all think she is. She was not responsible for the burning of my barn or any other thing held against her. No way, no how." She crossed her arms defiantly as her hat lowered across her face.

The door to the shelter opened and the six girls sat up rigidly as Rainbow walked in. As she entered the staff room, she glanced at each of them in turn. After sitting down, Rainbow finally spoke. "I guess you each have some questions for me." Her voice was cold and short but Twilight ignored her tone and jumped right in.

"Don't feel like you have to restrict yourself to our questions. We only want to know what's going on, your point of view and what we can do to help." She and Spike smiled encouragingly at her but Rainbow felt her temper flare. Surely Sunset had already explained what had happened in her home?

Eventually though she sighed and decided not to end the conversation straight away. "A series of bad events keep happening around here and some people could say I'm indirectly responsible. While I've done absolutely none of the things people believe I have, my actions have made others believe they should. My old teacher, Madam Gradient has a special interest in me and wishes for my family to return back to the village I grew up in. No one in my family wants to so she's been trying to scare me into going back, it isn't going to work though." Rainbow paused to let them absorb that information when the blaring sound of fire engine sirens echoced through the building.

Animals started to stir and wail as Fluttershy got up to look after them. While the cacophony of animal noises was pretty loud, something about the sirens were not sitting well with Rainbow. Looking out of the window, she watched as they sped along the road towards billowing black smoke rising into the sky. Something wasn't right, she knew where that smoke was coming from. Her phone buzzed and buzzed, someone wanting to get her attention. Tearing her gaze from the growing inferno, she checked her messages. Rainbow read it and her blood ran cold, her mouth let out something that was a mix of a gasp and scream as she raced out the door, following the smoke.

Pinkie realised that she had dropped her phone and read the message aloud, her voice wavering with each word. 'Wait over, rematch time. I told you it wouldn't be soon. Too bad your speed no longer works or you could get to the board quicker. Maybe I'll steal a few of your pieces and watch as your world burns. I hope none of the pieces are charred.'

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it was actually rather long. I wonder where that fire is coming from... Rainbow clearly knows. I'll update again tomorrow. Bye, bye.