Bangarang?

Chapter 1: Bangarang!

“You ready for this, Twilight?”

“Am I ever, Rainbow Dash!”

“Alright,” Rainbow Dash said as she lowered the vinyl record onto the gramophone in Twilight’s study and lowered the needle onto it, releasing the plucking of guitar strings followed by a booming bass beat.

“So, what do you think so far?” Dash asked.

“I like it very—” Twilight started before she was cut off by hearing a very unusual word unlike any other she had ever heard. Well, it was like a word she had heard before, but the song provided no context for it to be used in, so she was left wondering as she mused on the...noun she had heard. At least she thought it was a noun.

Finally, the music stopped and Rainbow Dash lifted up the needle and stared at Twilight eagerly. “So, what do you think?”

“Well,” Twilight said, “I can’t really deny the musicianship involved in it. But there was one part that kind of threw me off.”

“Ugh!” Rainbow Dash said as she facehoofed. “What’s wrong with this one? The first song I showed you, you didn’t like the time signature. The second song, you had a problem with the... the—”

“—tempo—”

“—yeah, that.” Rainbow Dash sighed. “So what’s wrong with this one?”

Twilight looked down. “Well, technically, nothing. There’s just a word in it that I’ve never heard before.”

“Oh, jeez, all this over a word? Seriously, Twi!”

Twilight leveled a glare at Rainbow Dash. “I know every word in the Equish language, and I have never heard this word before. It’s irking me to no end.”

“Whatever,” Rainbow said as she rolled her eyes. “So, what word was it?”

“I don’t really want to say,” Twilight said as she blushed.

Rainbow Dash giggled as she lightly hoofed Twilight’s shoulder. “Come on, it’ll be our secret.”

“Okay,” Twilight said as she smiled earnestly at Rainbow Dash, “it was bangarang.”

“Oh, okay that’s—” Rainbow started before she froze.

“What?” Twilight asked as she looked at Dash.

Rainbow let out a small giggle. That giggling turned into a hearty chuckle which morphed into raucous laughter as she fell to her back and kicked her legs into the air.

“What?” Twilight asked.

“No, it’s just–it’s just...bangarang threw you off?”

“Well, I had never heard it before…”

“So?” Rainbow asked as she sat up.

“Well, what if I want to use it in a sentence? I have no idea what part of speech it even is, let alone the definition. What if people laugh at me? What if I become a laughingstock based on my improper use of bangarang?” Twilight shuddered. “I’ll be laughed out of town right after I get my new castle! Imagine that, a princess laughed out of her own kingdom due to improper word usage! What’ll Princess Celestia think of that?”

“Whoah, whoah, whoah,” Rainbow Dash said as she waved her forehooves in front of her, “you’re getting ahead of yourself.” Rainbow Dash stood up. “Did you even think to ask if bangarang even has a meaning?”

“A word with no meaning?” Twilight asked as she looked a Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash put on a smug grin. “Yeah, no meaning. So it can mean whatever you want it to.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Yes, really,” Rainbow Dash said as she lifted the record off of the gramophone and slid it into the cover. “Well, I’m glad you at least liked the song.”

“Yeah…” Twilight said as fell to her haunches and tapped on her chin. “Whatever I want…”

“Yeah, whatever you want. Well, see you later,” Rainbow Dash said as she left Twilight’s study, leaving her alone with her own thoughts.

“Whatever...I...want…”

Rainbow Dash shuffled in bed, the moonlight dancing across her blanketed form as she tried to get some sleep. She was about to enter the sweet bliss of dreamland when she heard a knock on her door. Dash groaned and threw the cloud-comforter over her head and drew it in tightly. Nopony was going to disturb her sleep.

Another loud series of knocks emitted from the door. Dash snorted. “Go away! It’s—” she said as she removed her head from the blankets to look at the alarm clock on the nightstand “—three in the morning!”

“It’s actually three-oh-six.”

Rainbow Dash sat up in bed. Was that...Twilight?

“Coming,” she mumbled as she jumped out of bed, trotted towards the door, and opened it. It was indeed Twilight Sparkle—although her hair was mussed up, her eyes were bloodshot, and she had a thick layer of soot on her face. Dash blinked a few times. “What happened to you?”

“I made them!”

“Made...what?”

“The bangarangs!” Twilight said as she motioned to a large sack next to her. “You said bangarang could mean whatever I wanted it to, so I made a bangarang!”

“What’s...a bangarang?”

“A boomerang that explodes upon sharp contact with any surface! After I made the first one, it was easy to make more, plus due to the incendiary nature of the device it seemed prudent to make multiples—”

“Hold on,” Rainbow Dash said as she held out a hoof, “you made multiple exploding boomerangs—”

“—bangarangs, Rainbow Dash. It’s important to use proper terminology. And yes, I made about five hundred.”

“Five hundred? Where did you get five hundreds boomerangs in ten hours?”

Twilight giggled. “It’s amazing what you can requisition when you’re a princess with a kingdom.”

“Eh, whatevs.” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “So, what are you going to do with them?”

“Hmmm…” Twilight said as she looked down at her bag of bangarangs, “I’m not exactly sure. I was more focused on actually making them.”

“Why don’t we throw them at thunderclouds?”

“Well, I guess that would be a good way to test the feasibility…”

“Good enough for me!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she reached into the bag, pulled out a boomerang and shot into the sky, Twilight hurriedly following.

“Wait!” Twilight shouted as she flew behind Rainbow Dash, “I haven’t tested them in actual combat situations! Slow down!”

“Not on your life!” Rainbow Dash said as she wound up her foreleg and chucked the boomerang into the sky towards a cloud, which it slightly missed.

“Ponyfeathers!” Rainbow Dash shouted. She then witnessed the boomerang slice through the sky and right towards her. She reached out to catch it only for Twilight to shove her out of the way. “Hey, what was that for!”

“They’re bangarangs, Rainbow! They explode upon contact!”

“Well, what’s it going to make contact with now?” Her question was answered by a loud explosion as both ponies turned their heads to see Rainbow Dash’s house swallowed up by a massive fireball. They both hovered there, jaws dropped.

“My—my house…” Rainbow Dash said.

“My bangarangs…” Twilight said, “I was up all night making those!”

“Hey!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she turned to face Twilight, “those bangarangs took you like eight hours to make! My house’ll take at least a week!” Rainbow Dash turned away. “At least Tank was at Fluttershy’s for the night.”

“I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash. That was insensitive of me.”

“Darn right it was! And you’re going to help me rebuild it!”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “But I don’t know anything about cloud construction!”

Rainbow Dash crossed her forelegs. “Well, it’s about time you learned. By the way, can I stay at your place for the night? You were kind of responsible for blowing up my house…”

“Me? Responsible? I’m not the one that wildly threw the bangarang!”

“Well I’m not the one who left a bag of five hundred explosive boomerangs on my porch!”

Twilight blew a strand of mane out of her eyes. “Fine. Whatever. Just don’t make a mess.”

“You mean like how my house was blown up?”

“And it was four hundred and ninety-nine—”