Chapter 7
"Rainbow... Rainbow Dash?"
Dash turns over and away from the voice calling her name, she feels the twinge of pain from her wings and the exhaustion of her whole body and opens her eyes. "Twilight, you need to get your bits back for this bed, it's a piece of cud."
"I'm sorry Dash but after your landing last night it was this of the hospital."
Their experiment the night before was perfect and both ponies plus Spike agreed that all three of the recordings did it justice. When they got up the next morning and saw the blizzard had moved on also they could help but cheer as the strapped themselves together and readied to take off. However with Rainbow Dash's pride swollen by everything going so well she had pushed herself until she passed out on Twilight's doorstep.
Twilight used her magic to carry Dash up to the loft in her bed room and though she too was tired and just wanted to sleep Twilight knew there was one pony she had to talk to. Pinkie Pie is the only one of her friends that could get all her other friends together at a moments notice while having breakfast ready for them first thing in the morning.
Twilight trotted over to the Sugar Cube Corner and managed to get through the door just as Miss Cake was closing it and since Pinkie was helping clean up it took only a minute for them to greet each other and plan for the morning.
"Equestria to Twilight, you in there?" Dash says while flipping the end of her tail off the bed and in front of Twilight's face. "You sure we need to be up this early. You look as tired as my wings feel."
"Sorry, but you know Pinkie. She's most likely been up for quite a while now and already half way done with getting everything together for today."
"Yeah your right." Rainbow Dash cranes her neck towards the wall clock. "but if she's only half done - that still leaves twenty to thirty minutes, right?" her hooves shoot out from under the covers and take hold of Twilight. "Come-here you egg head."
"Wait Rainbow what are you doing?"
"I just spent the last two days hauling you around on my back, it's time for some payback!"
Sensitive hooves are prodded with tired feathers and the top of the library tree is quickly filled with laughter. The sound of the two ponies reach a group of four that stop just outside the tree-house door. Pinkie Pie, with a small cart of food strapped to her back, looks up to the top windows, smiles, and says "Sounds like we might be too late for the start of the party."
"Non sense Pinkie. This here party started the moment you said they got back. All that's going on up there is them two celebrating getting back safe and sound." Applejack says as she reaches for the door.
Fluttershy and Rarity are the first to enter, followed by Applejack then Pinkie pie and finally the cart. Once inside the first two in go about spreading the food out while Applejack heads up stairs; half way up though she stops. The laughter getting even louder tells her why Spike is dragging himself and his blanket down the stairs and pass her without a word.
When she reaches the top of the stairs she's immediately greeted. "Applejack, Help me!" Twilight shrikes out between giggles while her head is hanging out from under her covers and off the side of the bed. "Rainbow won't let me go!"
The blanket in the center of the bed rises up with the shape of a ponies head. Pawing a hoof at the edge of the covers, Rainbow Dash's head pops free with a bright red blush and a panicked expression. "Well hey AJ, when'd you get here?"
"Only a moment ago Dash. Me and the girls showed up just when Twi there told us to."
Twilight breaths a deep sigh at the relieve coming from her hooves and rolls out of the bed. "That was fun and all but," she stumbles once while trying to get to the loft stairs then looks back to Rainbow Dash. "Come on Rainbow, we have an adventure to show our friends."
The party that had been set up on the main floor was another Pinkie Pie original with the only exception being that the entire main floor was dark as night. The projector was set up in the center of the room with snacks and drinks surrounding it while the screen is stretched up next to the stairs and covered in streamers.
Twilight and Rainbow Dash were expecting the decorations but Twilight was not expecting the room to have been darkened and the projector to have already been set up. The confused and distant expressions on Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie's faces snap at seeing the three coming down the stairs.
Fluttershy is the first to speak. With a concerned tone she says, "Pinkie thought we could set everything up. Since – since you and Rainbow Dash sounded busy..." her voice lowers even more as she adds a quick "sorry."
"There's nothing to be sorry about," Dash says with a prideful spirit. "you all just couldn't wait to see how awesome I really am." she leaps into the air and flies around until she faces the screen from above her friends.
Twilight's image is frozen in the picture and when the real Twilight walks over to the proper side of the screen a similar distant look crosses her face. With a soft clearing of her throat she backs up to the projector and looks at it with forced concentration. "Pinkie, are you sure you have it all set up right?"
Pinkie swallows deeply before stepping next to Twilight. Her eyes dart between Twilight and Rarity twice before she nods her head. "Of course, When I saw it laying by the door where you left it I thought." she pauses to take a dramatic deep breath and a glimmer crosses her eyes. "'I'll just pull that all out so that Twilight can get it going quicker' but then I found a book on top of everything and it said how to put it together and I did that so you wouldn't have to worry about anything..."
"Yeah yeah, you got it working, great job Pinkie. Now lets watch and see how awesome I am." Dash blurts out, waving a hoof towards Pinkie while not taking her eyes off the screen.
A tentative purple hoof presses the play button on the projector. Twilight's face holds on the screen for a moment before it blinks off and is replaced with Rainbow Dash flying away and turning in and out of focus; the silver whistle on her back. The sound of spike letting out a bletch of fire comes next then an immediate blaring sound of a whistle fills the room.
"Twi! Can't you skip this part?" Rainbow Dash yells out while trying to cover her ears from the sound. Twilight fumbles for the pause and once she hits it the shocked faces of her friends start to calm down.
"Well, that was certainly an unpleasant sound." is Rarity's curt complaint.
"Sorry girls, I was still trying to tune everything in. I'll just move it forward some."
A loud whirling sound comes from the projector and soon enough the picture comes back and Rainbow Dash is again shown flying away from the screen. Once she appears as nothing more then a pin prick she lifts towards the top of the image then drops down and merges with the distant walls that take up most of the screen.
"Aw yeah, this is my big moment." Rainbow Dash cheers; grabbing hold of Applejack and shaking her with excitement. "Just you all wait and see how great I am!"
A bright green glare comes from behind where the recorder was set and is accompanied by a deep bletch. All six ponies watch the screen with an intent glee as a blue speck lifts high into the air then begins to dive. Dash grins broadly at the memory of what she had done and at finally getting to see what other ponies see.
In only a moment they could all see the white cloud form behind Dash as she came closer and closer, her flapping wings growing intense. Breaths were held in anticipation as the air around Rainbow Dash contracted into a funnel shape. The explosion of color lights up the screen with instance hues and all their faces glow with excitement as they watch the rainbow ring spread out. The sound and colors of the shock wave reach the edge of the valley walls before Dash can leave the frame while the first sound of excitement enters the room.
"Oh, my." is the only thing spoken as the rays of light on the screen fills the room and brightens it with all the colors of the rainbow. When the waves of light reach the valley walls and floor they spread like ripples in water until it flows across the icy valley, mixing together into a miasma that fills the air.
"Spike, that's - it..." Twilight's voices comes from the projector in stammering bursts. "Rainbow Dash really did it... RAINBOW DASH!" She yells just as Dash streaks by, above and to the left of the screen, making the machine behind all the ponies howl from her speed. "She's passed, get ready Spike." She says as the arcs of racing color close the distance. "This is it!" The recording begins to shake as the night sky is blotted out by more colors then any of Twilight and Rainbow Dash's friends thought they would ever see.
Twilight's Library tree-house thrums with a sound that resonates again and again, the strength of it knocks several leaves from the branches and causes three ponies to cover their ears against its volume.