The sky was painted pastel that early morning over Vanhoover, one of Equestria's busiest sea port cities. It was the last pit stop for the Wonderbolts' Equestria Tour before the team would be flying back to Cloudsdale. The elite pegasi aerobatics team had been travelling across the land, showcasing their death-defying stunts and marvellous wing-work to ponies from every town and city for almost a year now. Almost every stop along the way was a sellout performance, with tickets being snapped up within a couple of days. Vanhoover was no exception; tonight, the Wonderbolts would be performing in front of a five-thousand strong audience, with many more who would be watching from outside the city's sports dome.
True, the Wonderbolts were nothing short of spectacular when it came to their well-rehearsed routines miles up in the air. They were, after all, the best at what they did. But the real crowd-puller was one particular stunt that took the cake. The main reason why anypony would've paid that many bits to watch.
The Sonic Rainboom.
Once deemed an urban legend, one amazing cyan pony with a mane full of rainbows was the sole master of the multicoloured phenomenon. A few ponies from Cloudsdale claimed to have witnessed it first-hoof, several years ago. Some claimed the pony had already perfected her technique when she was just a little filly in flight school. Whatever the case, many were convinced that her prowess at this incredible stunt was the one reason that the cyan pegasus was handpicked by the Wonderbolts themselves to join their high-flying ranks. Who could blame them? Rumour had it that none of the other Wonderbolts came close to replicating what she could do with apparent ease. She was a mystery all right, this multicoloured maverick.
At that point of time, several miles above the dome itself, that very cyan pegasus stood atop a cloud, scanning the horizon. The spread of high-rise buildings, streets and tiny, tiny ponies down below lay before her in a constantly moving tapestry. For the moment, she ruled over the land with her steely magenta gaze.
She began her daily analysis of her surroundings. It had become second nature to her ever since she started running with the 'Bolts. Wind speeds were normal. Temperature; a shade more chilly than she'd expected, but she figured it would get better as the night approached. The lone Wonderbolts member closed her eyes and breathed in the cool dawn air. The faint scent of dew mixed with the refreshing salty tang of seawater wafted upwards, filling her lungs.
She exhaled. A small cloud of mist formed from her muzzle, only slightly obscuring the picturesque view before her. A sudden breeze blew it away, and gently swept the mare's rainbow-coloured locks to the side, as if a tender, invisible hoof had done it for her. The pony was not usually accustomed to savouring moments like this. But now that she was, it sort of felt like nothing short of...magical.
Magic. The very word made her wings tingle ever so slightly with the rush of memories and emotion that she had connected it with. The arcane, the unexplainable, mystery. Smoke and fire, ablaze, a spark. Sparks, sparkle, unicorns...
Noticing this involuntary reaction, the pegasus pony shook her head, attempting as well to shake off her train of thought. Sillypony, she chided mentally. Magic shmagic. It didn't all have to come from a dumb pony's horn. This was magic too, wasn't it? The magic of flight. Flying as fast as she wanted, like the crowd wanted. Yes, that was it. She was a star now, no room for any willy-nilly here and there with things that didn't matter. She had to serve her fans. Herds and herds of screaming fans. Yessirree, she sure was living the dream. Basking in the surreal glow of admiration and fan-worship as thousands of voices chanted her name as a single, feverish entity: RainbowDash! RainbowDash! Rainbow-
"-Dash!" called out a familiar voice. Rainbow Dash let out a yawn, rolled over and looked down to see what all the commotion was about. Beneath the low-floating cloud she'd been lazing on was the miniscule form of her lavender unicorn friend, a slightly annoyed look on her face, which brought a cheeky grin to her own features. "Something eatin' ya, Twi?" she replied.
"What's eating me is that for something you've supposedly been training your whole life for, you're taking things surprisingly easy," Twilight Sparkle replied, chiding her Pegasus friend. "Honestly, you'd think somepony would be paying a little more attention to their flying skills ever since they fluffed up their competition piece last year..."
"Hey! That was a one-off thing, alright?" Rainbow retorted, cutting her friend off as her tail swished in agitation at having had to remember such an embarrassing moment in her life. "'Sides, none of it would've happened if you didn't start magicking up pretty little fairy-wings for Rarity, of all ponies! She was cramping my style!"
Twilight winced. Almost immediately, Rainbow mentally bucked herself for shooting her mouth off again. It was thanks to that very setback that she was able to actually bag the Best Young Flyer competition in the first place. Had Rarity not fallen, she might have never been able to pull off the stunt. Besides, her only other supporter before Twilight had helped all her other non-pegasus friends gain cloud-walking abilities could barely speak louder than she could sigh, and had to be forcefully coerced by Rainbow herself to cheer her on at the Cloudiseum. Poor Fluttershy wasn't really one for crowds, especially noisy pegasus ones.
Sighing, she flapped her wings and lifted herself off the cloud, descending before Twilight. "Okay, okay, I didn't really mean that, alright? I just...don't like to be reminded of my failures", she said, touching ground and pawing it sheepishly with her hoof. "Not that it happens that often enough", Rainbow quickly added. "But...you're right. I totally lost my cool that day knowing that I was up against Miss Fabulosity, plus fancy wings. It just never occurred to me before that pure skill could be overlooked by flashy frou-frou stuff like that."
Twilight smiled. Rainbow Dash's attitude could be a little exasperating at times, but she really was a softie at heart, no matter how much she denied it. "It's okay, Dash. Like you said, it was a one-off thing. And it's not like many other pegasi actually have wings like Rarity did, if any at all. I'm sure if you could just learn to focus, like I keep telling Spike to do as well, you're sure to impress. Still," she added, as her horn glowed and a book hovered out of one of her saddlebags, "a little extra help never hurt anypony. I'm pretty sure once you take a gander at this that nopony's going to be able to overlook your wingwork." The book floated in between the two mares and began flipping on its own accord.
Rainbow Dash recoiled at the sight of the tome as though it had horribly offended her. "Ugh, you're not serious are ya, Twi? In case you haven't noticed Rainbow Dash here ain't no egghead. Thanks for the help, but no books for this pegasus. I'm stickin' to old school flying practice."
"If I recall correctly, a certain egghead's methodology seemed to earn her fifth place in the annual Running of the Leaves last year," replied Twilight smugly, as a faint blush appeared on Rainbow's cheeks. "Trust me Dash, this is about as 'old school' as you can get. AmazingAerialAcrobaticsandAssociatedAnecdotes. It was written well over half a century ago by a Pegasus stuntmare. Maybe you've heard of her. Jet Halifax."
At the mention of this name, Rainbow immediately perked up. "Jet Halifax? The Jet Halifax? The youngest champion ever in the history of the Best Young Flyer competition, who single-handedly fought off the freak storm of '42, who bagged gold in the Flight Olympics seven years running, and-"
"-and broke the pegasus record for the fastest globe circumvention, yes. I didn't take you for a history buff, Rainbow!"
"Twilight, she's Spitfire's great grandmother! And an awesome flyer in her own right! Anypony who knows anything about the Wonderbolts has gotta know about Jet Halifax! She's a gosh-darned legend!" Rainbow cried, her wings springing up of their own accord. "I didn't know she wrote a book!"
"There's a lot of things you can find in a library, Rainbow Dash," Twilight said proudly as the pegasus began eagerly scanning its content. "You've just got to know how to look for them."
"Okay, you win this round, egghead," Rainbow sighed, rolling her eyes in mock exasperation. "But...how d'you work out what she's trying to say here? I got the first box, and then the second box...and then all these squiggles and I just...can't." She was gesturing with a hoof towards a page titled Seven-SpinSpeedScrew-dive, accompanied with Da Vinci-esque diagrams of how to execute the said move.
"That's where I come in, Dash. I took the liberty of analysing your performance at the competition a while back. I can't deny the fact that you're probably the best pegasus I know at raw talent. But..." Twilight hesitated a little, shuffling her front hooves.
"But what?"
"You're sloppy."
"Suh...suh...sloppy?" Rainbow shrilled, her face contorted into one of disbelief. "Whaddya mean, 'sloppy'? How d'you call a rainboom 'sloppy'? I don't-"
"Hold your horses, Rainbow, let me finish! You're superbly full of energy, and bold to try out new material, which was what a lot of the other pegasi in the competition lacked...enthusiasm and originality. But your method of flying, as far as I could observe, was really inefficient. On most occasions you were flapping your wings much more than you needed to, instead of making larger, more effective strokes like the other competitors. Plus, you never angled your wings to ensure maximum velocity; instead, you were still spreading them out wider, creating unnecessary resistance. I was really surprised. These seemed like the basics of flying, and well...you're the best flyer I know."
Rainbow's ears drooped a little. "I...I guess we learnt that in flight school."
Twilight's eyes widened in surprise. "Then...how is it that you're still making these fundamental mistakes? Oh...oh Rainbow, you don't mean to say..." began Twilight, as Rainbow Dash turned her head away from her, "You never finished school?"
"I don't want to talk about it now, Twilight."
"Oh, Rainbow! While it still is absolutely remarkable that you managed to come this far without completing your formal study of flight, I can't stress enough how important it is to have a proper education! Especially in matters like these!"
"But...you're not even a pegasus! You don't know what it's like, being up there flying!"
Twilight began to fidget. "W-well, I have my hot air balloon! And I do know plenty about the sciences of flying, wing aerodynamics, pegasus flight theory..."
"Quit talking about things I've never even heard of!"
"Well, you might have heard of it if you actually finishedschool!" Twilight blurted out before she could stop herself.
It was a verbal slap to the pegasus' face. Rainbow Dash lowered her head. "Twi. I know you're Celestia's best student and all, and the best with books, and studies, and magic. And maybe I'm not the smartest pony, or the most well-trained pegasus, but I'm where I am now because of me, and not anypony else. And I think it's best that it stays that way."
"No...no, please, Rainbow Dash, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it that way-"
"Thanks for the help. I gotta...go clear the sky." The pegasus hastily galloped away in the opposite direction and took off, into a cloudless sunset. Celestia's setting sun quivered before the pegasus, made blurry with the tears that had begun to well up.
"Dash! Yo, Dash!"
The Wonderbolt snapped out of her reverie upon hearing her name being called. Hastily, she wiped her eyes dry and looked up behind her to face a pale blue stallion with a spiky mane of midnight, flapping his wings to land on the cloud. "Mornin', Soarin'," quipped Rainbow Dash, putting on the best grin she could muster.
"Heh, nice rhyme! I found your note on the mirror, thought I'd hang out with you a bit before the morning debrief," Soarin' replied enthusiastically. If he had known Rainbow Dash had been crying just moments earlier, the stallion showed no sign of it.
"Oh, yeah, well...it's about time for the team to get up and going anyway," Rainbow replied, averting her eyes. "Let's head on back to the hotel. Wouldn't want old Coach to wheeze on us."
Soarin's face fell. "Aww man, I just got here!"
Rainbow chuckled. "Tell that to Coach! C'mon, dude, chin up. I'll race ya!"
"Heheh, alright. Last one back pays for the pieeeee!" Soarin' yelled, as he leapt from the cloud and took off like a bullet towards the city center.
"No fair, you big fat cheat! Come back here!" yelled Rainbow Dash, glee in her voice as she followed suit, hot on his hooves. And the pain of the past was momentarily forgotten once more, as it always was.