“Keep in line My Little Ponies,” the teacher said with some degree of annoyance in her voice. As the fillies and colts rambunctiously filed their way into the museum, the teacher took a moment to run her hoof through her long magenta mane. Looking after the class at the Cloudsdale Elementary School was more than a full time job for Miss Gossamer. But to be honest, it was a fulfilling one, even for an earth pony in the cloud city.
Ever since Twilight Sparkle had made readily available the spell for anypony to walk on clouds, the population of Cloudsdale had changed dramatically. Whereas once before it was filled with nothing but pegasi and the occasional griffin, now they were a much more diverse group of individuals. Gossamer was a daughter of one of the first earth pony's to settle in Cloudsdale, and though there had initially been resistance by many of the elder pegasi within the city hierarchy, eventually the younger generations and newcomers were accepted with open hooves. Despite this, however, the vast majority of Gossamer's class were still pegasi ponies.
“Miss Gossamer!” one unicorn said, “Raven Wings keeps picking on me! He keeps knocking my hair ribbon off my head.”
“I do not!” the afore mentioned pegasus colt chimed back, “You keep using your magic to throw tufts of cloud in my wings!”
“Enough both of you,” the teacher sternly warned them. “I want you all on your best behavior for this field trip or you will be writing lines when we get back to school, is that understood?”
“Yes ma'am,” the two quarreling ponies replied, having enough sense to look down at the clouds ashamed.
“Now, as I was saying,” Gossamer continued as they walked into one room of the museum, “This wing of the Cloudsdale Flight Museum just opened. And we should be thankful that we have this traveling exhibit on the most famous aerial team in all of Equestria, the Wonderbolts!” She finished her explanation as they entered a blue and white room that had been decorated especially for this situation.
The foals oo'ed and ahh'ed at the images that unfolded before their very eyes. In the center of the exhibit was a magical display showing some of the greatest tricks of the Wonderbolts, from their Starburst Explosion to the Stormcloud Special. Various ponies of all different colors and sizes zipped their way around the virtual display, and the children watched, enraptured by their every movement.
“There are all sorts of artifacts and other mementos from the 200 year history of the Wonderbolts in this exhibit,” Gossamer explained, though she smirked as the children were still distracted by the admittedly impressive display in front of her, “Feel free to look around, and remember that you have to take notes for your reports that are due in a week.” That reminder got a collective groan from the group of children, and they slowly dispersed to take in the other sights of the exhibit.
Gossamer let out a deep sigh and soon began to examine some of the artifacts herself. To be honest she had never understood the pegasus desire for stunt flying. Perhaps it was due to the fact that she was an earth pony and thus couldn't engage in the activity herself, or perhaps it was due to her overtly cautious nature. Whatever the reason, she had not been all that interested in taking this trip, outside of the educational value it would provide for the children.
Her parents had taken her to an airshow once, featuring the Wonderbolts, and Gossamer did marvel at some of the tricks that the flying masters had performed. There was one pony in particular, a mare who traveled so fast that she created a spectacular rainbow colored shockwave that had taken her breath away, and ended with a beautiful sparkling rainbow that filled her with no small amount of joy. Just thinking about it now still brought a smile to her face.
“Miss Gossamer,” came a quiet voice from her side, causing the teacher to fall out of her daydreaming and rembrances, “Can I show you something?” Gossamer looked down at Juniper, the unicorn who had earlier been complaining about being picked on and smiled. Juniper was something of a teacher's pet who reminded Gossamer of herself at that age, especially when it came to curiosity about the world around her. She followed the unicorn foal over the an untouched corner of the exhibit, where Raven Wings was waiting.
“Miss Gossamer! Miss Gossamer! Look at this!” The excitable pegasus was jumping up and down, using his black and silver wings to hang in the air for a few moments before gently landing on the cloud floor. “This is the actual flightsuit of the famous Rainbow Dash!”
Gossamer looked up at the familiar blue and yellow flightsuit that had become synonymous with daredevil flying in Equestria. Reading the caption on the note outside the glass display case, she nodded her head in affirmation. “That's correct Raven,” she explained mechanically, “Rainbow Dash was the captain of the Wonderbolts for nearly 25 years before she finally retired. I actually saw her perform once in an airshow.” The two ponies looked up at Gossamer as if she had seen the Holy Grail.
“You actually saw a Sonic Rainboom!?” Raven Wings questioned. “WOW! That must've been so awesome! I've read all about Rainbow Dash! She was fearless and deathdefying. She wasn't scared of anypony or anything! She's the greatest Wonderbolt who ever lived!” His jumping and exclamations kept becoming more and more pronounced and animated, until he stopped, a daydreaming look in his eyes. “One day, I'll be even more famous than her! I'll perform like a hundred Sonic Rainbooms!” He jumped up again, only this time stumbling into an elderly pony who was standing nearby.
“Raven!” Gossamer chastised, causing said pegasus to look up at her sheepily, “What have I told you about acting like that!” He gave her a lopsided grin, and then sighed at her stern countenance. Sighing, he turned to the elderly pony and, without looking up at her, offered an apology.
“I'm sorry,” he said, only half-sincerely. “I should watch where I'm going.”
“Oh that's okay My Little Pony,” the elderly mare replied, “I'm sure you didn't mean anything by it.”
Gossamer was about to force him to apologize more when Raven was distracted by a couple of his friends calling him over. He darted after them, and Juniper chased after, not wanting to be left behind. She shook her head at the two's antics, and told herself to talk to the young troublemaker when they left. “I'm sorry ma'am,” she continued, “He tends to get excited whenever someone talks about their heroes.” Gossamer looked at the cyan mare, and seemed to only vaguely recognize her. The mare laughed a hearty laugh.
“That's quite alright,” she explained, waving her hoof dismissively, “It brings a smile to this old pony's face to see someone like that. Reminds me of me when I was a little filly. So brash and full of life. I guess as you get older, though, you lose a little of that." She sighed and looked back at the flightsuit in the glass case and sighed, a wry smile on her face. “You say you saw her once,” the mare asked, pointing to the flightsuit.
“Oh..um...yes when I was little. To be honest I only remember the Sonic Rainboom and not much else.” She looked at the pony from the side, and swore to herself that she had seen this pony somewhere before. “How about you,” she replied, “Did you ever see the great and famous Rainbow Dash in person!?”
The mare was quiet for a moment, contemplating her answer it seemed like. Gossamer was about to ask the question again in case the elderly pony hadn't heard her, when she got her answer. “Yes...well...a long long time ago.” she began, her eyes faded from time and memory. “I saw her fly several times in fact. But I was so caught up in what was happening that I never actually saw the Sonic Rainboom happen, just the rainbow in the aftermath.” Her voice was quiet as she seemed to remember something from long ago. “I remember the last time she flew. That was several years ago, when she turned over the Captaincy to her good friend Scootaloo. I heard they were almost like sisters.”
“I read about it,” Gossamer replied, having gotten the feeling of deja vu more than a little bit in the last few moments. “I'm sorry,” she finally said, having to ask the question, “But have we ever met before?”
The elderly pony chuckled. “No, I can't say we ever met before today,” she explained, before cryptically adding, “I only think we might have stared at the same rainbow once.” Her eyes glazed over with memory, misting slightly. Gossamer was about to follow up with another question, when a crash from the other side of the exhibit distracted her.
“RAVEN!” she shouted at the top of her lungs. “YOU GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW! YOU'RE NOT A WONDERBOLT YET!” Gossamer darted off after the now fleeing pegasus pony, leaving the old mare to her thoughts.
Rainbow Dash fixated on the flightsuit for a moment longer, remembering everything she had done in it and what had led up to it. The Sonic Rainboom had connected her to her friends and had done so much more for her. As she remembered, she couldn't help but tear up at the thoughts of her friends long since passed, and give a small smile at the adventures they would have again soon in the wonderful places at the end of the rainbow.
/ - / - / - /
A/N: Inspired by the famous deviantart comic “Memories” by Capt Nemo found at the link below. Also inspired by the pmv created out of the comic, done by spikero2. Warning, clicking on that video is far more emotional than this little piece is certainly.
[url= http://capt-nemo.deviantart.com/art/Memories-253545420]Memories Comic