Shadow Strike flew over Cloudsdale, just his usual soaring around before the sun actually came up and warmed the land of Equestria. He looked into the Distance, and saw the Cloudominium, home of the legendary Rainbow Dash. Shadow has had a crush on the blue Pegasus for a long time, ever since she was a filly, and before they both got their Cutie Marks, after that Sonic Rainboom she preformed during the race, he had been itching for a chance to fly with her. But could never get close because he was always busy honing his skills.
You know, I think I'll fly down over Ponyville. Never know, might get lucky and see Dash. He thought to himself, and streaked through the morning light.
By the time he got low enough to Ponyville to see any of the ponies that lived there, the sky was already a bright orange. A very pretty color, or so he thought. He looked down over the small, quaint little town. He saw Fluttershy, caring for her animals, he saw Applejack, heading to the fields, and when he looked up, lo and behold, he saw Rainbow Dash less than 500 feet ahead of him.
This is my chance to show off my skills, He thought. Get ready for an early morning race, Rainbow.
He sped up, and shot by the still somewhat-sleepy mare, who was only flying at a slow pace.
"Hey!" She cried, but Shadow just looked back and smirked, then kept on flying. "Oh, I see how you want it. Alright, tough guy, you want a race? Let's race." Rainbow then shot forward easily catching up to the Black and Blue Pegasus, as he was mumbling to himself.
"Hey, big guy, you wanna race?" Rainbow Dash said to him. He looked over and smiled.
"You know it! On your mark, GetsetGo!" He said and then shot off into the distance, his silver and blue tail trailing behind him, giving the appearance of flames being left behind.
"Cheater!" Rainbow called, poured on speed, and flew past him. Rainbow felt proud of herself, she'd show this wanna-be up, then go back to cloud-busting and being awesome. Normally she wasn't this mean to a kid when he wanted to race, but he had shot past her before she was fully awake. Cheap Move, she thought.
She finished basking in her glory and looked back, only to find a very persistent Pegasus flying little more than 5 feet behind her.
"You're good, Kid! But you'll never be this good!" She said, and poured on more speed, soaring ahead.
Wow, an early morning Rainboom, she thought, when she saw an arc of air start to form around her front hooves. Heck of a way to wake up.
The sharp crack was all she heard, and the next thing she knew, she was about to crash into Twilight's library, she applied the brakes, and came to a stop just before she got tangled in the leaves of the tree.
Shadow came behind less than 3 minutes later, slightly out of breath, with a grin plastered on his face.
"Dang, a Sonic Rainboom at 8:30 in the morning! One damn fine way to start of the day." He said and popped the muscles in his neck.
"Well I didn't expect to pull one off until you came out of nowhere and raced me before I had a chance to warm up!" She yelled at him.
"A future Wonderbolt must be ready for everything, my dear." Was all he said, and that caught her off-guard.
"M-me? A future Wonderbolt?" She stammered, not sure if she heard him properly.
"Yep. Heard Spitfire talking about you couple of days ago. They were going to make you a Wonderbolt in due time." He said and coughed a little.
"But...I don't...I mean...I..." She tried frantically to put words together in a comprehensible sentence, but was failing horribly.
"Rainbow, calm down. Just, don't sweat it. She said it wouldn't be for a while, couple of months, maybe. But, anyway. Nice race." He said and flicked him mane around. She looked at him, body, which was a solid black color, his wings, also a solid black, his legs and hooves, which faded into an electric blue color like DJ Pon-3's back in Canterlot at the wedding. She looked at his mane, the Silver hair with a stripe of electric blue through it, his tail, which matched his mane. And finally his Mark. Two crossed swords, with black blades, silver handles, and blue flames coming from each.
"Thanks..." She said, still looking at him.
Not bad looking. Looks cool, but I look 20 percent cooler. She thought to herself. I just wonder why in Equestria he looks so familiar...
"Name's Shadow. Shadow Strike." He said, and it clicked. Rainbow remembered him swooning every time he saw her back when they were fillies. He one fell off a cloud because he wasn't paying attention and looking at her.
"Ah, well, I'm-" She started to say, then was cut off.
"Rainbow Dash, I know all about you. The one and only to ever pull off a Sonic Rainboom, the best flier in Equestria, Cloud-Buster, The Element of Loyalty." He said with a victorious smirk.
"Wow, you really did do your homework. Nice work, kid!" She said and patted him on the back.
"Thanks. So, wanna go grab something to eat?" He proposed.
"Sure." She said, and they walked off towards Pinkie Pies for some breakfast.
