"Ah hope ah'm not makin' yer too uncomfortable or anythin'." Applejack giggled, sitting behind the ex-pegasus at the lake, her front hooves around her. The sun was hanging low in the sky, and after a day of helping her round the farm, Rainbow Dash was relaxing with her.
"Heh, nah, honestly, it's fine," Dash replied, blushing just a touch. It was, like she had thought earlier, interesting. It was almost like part of this world was like a self-contained fantasy, playing on idle thoughts that occupied her mind from time to time. Hm. She thought. If this place's Rainbow Dash is going to come back going whole hog into this, and they know I'm not her anyway, then I guess I can't really mess anything up... "It's... actually kinda nice." Applejack smiled, leaning her head down over Dash's shoulder. However, their moment was interrupted by hoofsteps. Twilight approached the lake with a couple of saddlebags.
"Don't get too comfortable Rainbow Dash, you're not here for too long." Both of the pair looked a bit disappointed. "I've made a couple of modifications to my original HEV suit design..." Using her magic, she opened one of the saddlebags and lifted the suit out, unfurling it in front of them. Mounted on the back was something resembling a small jet engine.
"Neat."
"Also, this rocket isn't the only thing I've brought out to help you." At this cue, another pony stepped out from behind Twilight. Rainbow's jaw hit the floor as the flame-maned mare stepped into view.
"S-s-s-... Spitfire?" Despite not wearing her Wonderbolt uniform, Rainbow recognised her immediately.
"Twilight told me about your, uh, circumstances. Seemed a little weird, but weirder stuff has happened. Besides, a favour from one Wonderbolt to another isn't much to ask, is it?" This last thing set Dash's head spinning even more. She spent a moment or two gibbering before a light tap on the head from Applejack brought her back.
"I'm a W-Wonderbolt in this Equestria?" Dash held her front hooves to her mouth, bouncing a little. Spitfire nodded.
"It was after the accident. We made you an honorary Wonderbolt." She couldn't help but chuckle at Dash's excited gibbering. She could barely make out a thing, though it seemed to be something like 'ohmigoshohmigoshohmigosh'. "It was the least we could do."
"When you're quite finished, Rainbow..." Twilight interrupted, opening the other saddlebag.
"I kinda don't want to leave now..."
"Rainbow!"
"This is so awesome!"
"RAINBOW DASH!" The three other ponies yelled simultaneously, bringing her back down to earth.
"Sorry..."
"Remember," Twilight continued. "This isn't your life. As tempted as you might be to stay, the pony who suffered and earned all of this is out there somewhere. You should be grateful you didn't have to go through any of that." Her steely tone completely burst the bubble on Rainbow Dash's fantasies. She sighed.
"Yeah... I guess you're right." Damn. Just as I was warming up to this place... she grimaced and tried to move past it. "So what's your plan?"
"Well..." she pulled out a second HEV suit from her saddlebags.
"Are you sure this is going to work?" Spitfire called from her perch on top of the barn, Rainbow Dash's forehooves clipped to her hind hooves by little rings on the sleeves of the suits. Twilight was bracing herself, concentrating on the task ahead.
"Not a clue..." she smirked. "Start the countdown, Applejack." The earth pony took a deep breath and backed up a little.
"Uhh... three!"
"Hey, Dash!" Spitfire whispered back.
"Yeah?" Rainbow responded, still a hint of fannish squeal to her tone whenever she talked to her. With a mischevious grin, the yellow pegasus continued;
"... I hope Twilight made those suits fireproof... for your sake."
"Two!"
"Oh, and she said to put this in your mouth."
"WhaMF." Before she could inquire further, Spitfire had tossed a folded-up pen knife in Dash's mouth, and used her front hoof to jam her mask on.
"One!" Spitfire hunkered down, prompting Rainbow to follow suit at the last moment, before the pair leapt into the air at the utterance of the word "GO!" from the ground. What they didn't hear was how Applejack continued, murmured rather than exclaimed; "Stay safe sugarcube..."
With her tail held carefully over Rainbow Dash's head (as opposed to flapping in her face, where the flame trail would scorch her), Spitfire ascended rapidly, experienced enough to take the extra weight in her stride. The HEV suit certainly helped her acceleration, along with the Rainbow's rocket pack. It wasn't firing full blast just yet, but the fact that it worked at all was an achievement in itself - this was no ordinary jetpack. On the ground, Twilight was concentrating to channel her magic to the rocket from long distance, giving it thrust indefinitely as long as she held her focus. With the aid of the suits and and jetpack, the two ponies ascended the atmosphere until the sky began to thin and darken, before banking around to return to the surface. Spitfire took the brief moment where the wind wasn't deafening to yell a statement to her passenger;
"Y'know your Sonic Rainboom? Wait 'til you see what I have..." Without even waiting for a response, she began her descent, the cyan pony praying those dinky little hooflinks wouldn't snap at the wrong moment. She watched as all the familiar traits of her signature trick formed around her - the Mach cone closing around her, slight elongation... and then, as rapidly as her HEV-enhanced flight had done it, it hit. They broke the sound barrier with a thunderous KABOOM, and looking over her shoulder, a ring of fire erupted from where it had happened, and a trail of flames and smoke all the way through it. A Sonic Fireboom... she thought. Her adoration was interrupted by a sudden dragging feeling; the intense forces out of leftfield causing a brief moment of dizziness. Spitfire was banking around again to go level with the ground. She could barely hear her screaming over the wind; "Disengaging in three!" Uh oh. "Two!" This is either going to really well... "One!" ... or really badly. "DROP!" At that, the hooflinks uncoupled, launching Rainbow Dash across the sky like a catapult. She watched Spitfire continue to arc upwards away from her, while Sweet Apple Acres rapidly faded into the distance behind her. It's one thing to be hurtling along at speeds where even a brush with something could be catastrophic, and quite another to be doing so with no control over it. Expecting herself to begin arcing towards the ground, she winced... only to be relieved as the jetpack rattled into gear. It wasn't quite the same as her familiar wings - the rocket pack handled like a shopping trolley - but it was certainly doing the job speedwise. Whoever gets this body next, she thought, as the light cone began to form around her, is in for a fun ride... and everything faded to white.
