Rainbow's Redemption
Chapter 1: A pair of fledgling wings
The great floating city. The grand example of all that ponies could create with imagination and skill.
Cloudsdale.
A metropolis of beauty and tranquility. Towering cloud buildings and beautiful arched sculptures.
And the hustle and bustle of the day was well underway.
A pegasus pony streaked through the skies, weaving in between cloud columns, blasting forth at an unnatural speed.
The sound of a jet turbine followed the pony. Such a sound was only made by the fastest of pegasi. He was colored blue with a green mane and purple eyes. A speed demon.
Today he was in a particular hurry. His speeds made a small speed bubble form in front of him.
There it was. His destination. He darted around commuting pegasi in his path. His destination was Cloudsdale General Hospital. Room 217. He burst in through the window. The Nurses in the room dove to the floor in panic.
"Am I late?"
"Right on time." The pegasus in the bed said softly.
A fine orange and yellow pegasus, who now held a small bundle in her hooves.
The speedy pegasus froze. "Is...Is that...?"
She nodded. "Yes Lightning. It's our baby. She's a girl."
The pegasus known as Lightning Dash slowly trotted towards his wife. She held out the baby.
Lightning took it in his hooves. A small face, sleeping peacefully. It's coat was cyan blue."I see she didn't wait around to see her daddy. She's out cold."
The baby pony's eyes slowly opened. Her bright, dark pink eyes looked up at Lightning.
He felt a tear come to his eye. A pony who had long considered himself the epitome of tough, was now tearing up at the sight of his newborn. It made an inaudible squeal of joy and reached a tiny hoof up at her daddy.
He softly touched her tiny hoof. She made another tiny inaudible sound as she stared up at him in wonder.
He slowly unwrapped the blanket around her to see more of her. Her mane was several colors. A rainbow. Her hair was all frizzed up.
"She's gorgeous." Lightning stammered. "Arrowhead? How could she be this gorgeous? I mean...I have such an ugly mug..."
"Oh stop it." Arrowhead laughed. "She's handsome just like her daddy."
Lightning laughed weakly. "So what's her name?"
She shrugged playfully. "I don't know LD. What do you want her name to be?"
Lightning jabbed a hoof at his own chest in clarification. "Me? I get to pick out the name?"
"She's your daughter too Dash." Arrowhead chuckled. "What do you want to call her?"
Lightning Dash stroked her hair. "Rainbow. Rainbow something."
"Rainbow Something? That's a horrible name. She'll get made fun of." Arrowhead joked.
"You know what I meant sweetheart. It has to have Rainbows in it. Uh..." He absorbed himself in deep thought. "I don't know. I really don't."
"How about Dash?" Arrowhead asked. "After her daddy?"
Lightning Dash grinned uncomfortably. "I mean...you're name should be in there somewhere. How about Rainbowhead?"
"No, that's horrible. Rainbowhead? No that just doesn't sound right. Rainbow Dash."
He looked down at it. "Okay. Rainbow Dash it is."
The baby yawned. Lightning Dash watched it stretch it's tiny wings.
"Oh look at those. You think she's gonna be fast?" Arrowhead asked.
"The fastest." Lightning Dash replied.
22 years later
Cloudlife Stadium was packed. Standing thousands of feet above the rest of Equestria, it was Cloudsdale's biggest and finest stadium. Ponies had come early to watch the opening game of the new EHL season.
The Cloudsdale Giants hosting their hated rivals the Fillydelphia Eagles. This game held little interest for most of the mane six. Yet they had packed into the stadium early at the insistence of their most jockish member.
Rainbow Dash was hooting and hollering as the throng of blue jerseyed pegasi exited the tunnel. The others were there mostly to humor her.
Twilight Sparkle brought a book. Rarity had brought a mirror. Applejack was moderately amused by the game. Pinkie Pie was being random. And Fluttershy was hiding under her seat trying not to see the large ponies crash against each other.
Rainbow loved this game. The competitiveness. The raw physicality of it. The thrill. It reminded her of flying.
"Hey AJ! Look at number 10 there. He's coming off a huge season. You think he'll kick flank today?"
"Oh sure." Applejack replied dryly. "If he stops throwing interceptions. I mean, does he know he's supposed to throw to the blue ponies and not the green?"
But Rainbow Dash wasn't here just for the hooveball. She was here for halftime.
The Wonderbolts. They're annual opening day performance at Cloudlife stadium was famous.
And today they would gain a new performer. Rainbow Dash had rehearsed her best moves. She would fly out into the center of the stadium and show these moves off to Spitfire and the Bolts.
She might have to deal with stadium security but it was okay. She just needed to be seen.
With a boom the first half ended. The padded pegasi retired to their respective locker rooms and the crowd went silent.
Rainbow Dash took a deep breath. Then with a loud fireworks display the Wonderbolts came soaring into the arena.
Dash's mouth fell open. It was amazing. They came out turning and twisting elegantly through the air. The crowd got to their hooves. It was a fantastic spectacle. Every move. Every twist. Every barrel roll. Perfectly executed. They were truly the finest in all of Equestria.
"Don't even think about it." Applejack muttered.
Rainbow Dash turned to her, acting dumbfounded. "Don't think about what?"
"I know what you're thinking. Don't do it."
Rainbow Dash faked a gasp. "Applejack? You think I'd do something like THAT? Please. I'm all over that whole Wonderbolts thing."
Twilight snorted. "Yeah. Right."
"I am!" Rainbow Dash asserted adamantly.
"But I saw you in that Wonderbolts costume the other day." Fluttershy said. Rainbow glared at her.
"Oh. I'm sorry. Never mind."
Rainbow sighed. "Yeah. You got me." She suddenly extended her wings and flung herself towards the field.
She could feel the wind hit her face. She could feel the adrenaline start to pump. Then she felt a horrible pain in her tail. Applejack.
"Let me go!" She screamed.
"Settle down trigger!" Applejack yelled, maintaining a grip on her tail.
Rainbow Dash sighed and came back to her seat. "Fine. I wasn't feeling on top of my game anyway."
But she suddenly got back into flight position. She extended a hoof and prepared to take off.
"Who is that?" Rarity asked, pointing a hoof at the stadium's upper deck. "Is that...Scootaloo?"
Rainbow's head jerked up. "WHAT?" The mane six looked up to see Scootaloo extending her stubby, fledgling wings.
Suddenly she leapt forward. She was heading straight off the deck.
Twilight turned to Applejack. "Can she fly?"
Applejack shook her head. "Nope."
Rainbow jumped from her seat. "Come on Fluttershy!"
She headed down the stairs towards the edge of the deck. A stadium security pony stood in her way.
Scootaloo jumped.
"Excuse me miss I suggest you get back in your seat." The security guard gestured to the seats.
"Oh of course we will. Just a sec." Rainbow shoved the guard out of the way and took off. "Oh my gosh so sorry!" Fluttershy squeaked, helping the guard to his hooves.
Scootaloo stretched her wings and flapped. No lift. She let out a dull screech, then plummeted to the earth below.
The Wonderbolts saw this. Spitfire dove for the filly. But Rainbow was faster. She was tearing towards the ground at mach 3 and building.
Scootaloo was screaming and flailing. A sonic cone began to form in front of the rainbow pegasus. Tears came to her eyes as she pushed closer and closer to the screaming filly.
But the ground was coming up fast. Rainbow couldn't slow down now. She reached out and grabbed the filly by the tail. She pulled her into her chest, and extended her wings to slow herself down.
Moments before ground she pulled up. But it was too late. Too little lift. She crashed into the grassy undergrowth.
Scootaloo came to. She stumbled, knocked off balance by the impact.
She turned to see Rainbow Dash, arms crossed, an angry look on her face.
"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?" Dash shouted. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
Scootaloo looked away, trying to keep down the tears of shame. "I just wanted to..."
"Just wanted to what? Mess up my routine?" Rainbow Dash let out growl of frustration.
"I'm sorry rainbow dash..."
"YOU BETTER BE SORRY!" Dash screamed. She kicked a tree in her rage. Branches fell to the ground.
She looked at the crying, shaking filly. She suddenly felt remorseful.
"Look. I'm...I'm sorry. I just...I really wanted to perform in front of the Wonderbolts. Why...why did you do that?"
Scootaloo looked away and whispered something.
"What?" Rainbow Dash asked, much more softly now.
Scootaloo looked up at her with her big purple eyes. "I wanted to show you that I can fly."
Rainbow Dash's mouth gaped open. "W-why?"
"I just...I wanted you to see that I could fly."
Rainbow Dash was confused. "But...why me?"
"I just wanted you to see it okay? I don't know why. I'm sorry Rainbow Dash."
Fluttershy touched down behind a tree. "Oh thank goodness I found you. Oh am I interrupting something? I'm sorry..."
"No. You're not interrupting anything. C'mon. We should probably head back to Ponyville."
Scootaloo looked down and kept crying. Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and shook her head. "Look. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you. Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
Scootaloo shook her head. "I don't think so."
Rainbow nodded. "Good. Let's go home."
Rainbow Dash collapsed onto the bed. She had been staying at Twilight's library while her Cloud home was being repaired.
She had had a rough day. And she had no idea how to handle the Scootaloo situation.
There was a knock at the door. Rainbow groaned and rolled over.
"Who is it?"
"It's Applejack. I want to talk to you."
Rainbow sighed. "Come in."
Applejack opened the door. "What happened with Scootaloo today?"
Rainbow shook her head. "Nothing happened. She fell. I saved her. Simple as that."
"Are you sure? She was mighty cried out when she got back to the farm. Looked like someone ripped her a new one. You wouldn't know anything about that would you?"
Rainbow sighed again. "I might've yelled at her a bit, okay? I said sorry."
Applejack walked up to Rainbow Dash. "Look. I know she can be a bit of a hoof-full sometimes-"
"A hoof-full? No. Pinkie Pie is a hoof-full. Scootaloo is just...a...pest! Yes that's the word! A pest."
Applejack rolled her eyes. "C'mon. Don't be so quick to judge. You know she's an orphan right?"
Rainbow's ears went back. Guilt trip. "Yeah. I know."
"And you are too. So you should understand her situation better than most."
Rainbow looked at the floor and fidgeted. "Yeah. But I'm not about to take on a sidekick. I'm a lone wolf."
Applejack cleared her throat. "You have a lot of friends for a lone wolf."
Rainbow sighed and fell back on her bed. "So what do you want me to do?"
Applejack shrugged. "I don't know. Hang out with her. Take her places. She has a couple friends, but she just...she needs some guidance. You know?"
Rainbow buried her head in her pillow. "Yes. I know. But...I don't think I have the energy for it right now."
"Of course not. Energy for speed trials but not for friends. Lazy."
Rainbow turned to Applejack. "I'm not lazy! I have plenty of energy for friends! But not...a sidekick."
Applejack thought about a new subject to come up with. "So are you actually going to the speed trials tomorrow?"
"Sure. Anypony know who I'm going against?"
"Thunderspark." Applejack replied.
Rainbow moaned into the pillow.
Applejack smiled. "Take it easy sugar cube. Get some sleep. You're gonna need it."
In a cave far away, the statue of Discord stood. It had been months since the six had trapped him in this state. Suddenly the rock began to crack.
There was a flash of light and rock was blasted throughout the cave. Discord drew himself to full height and exited the cave's mouth.
"Watch out my little pony's. Time to restore Chaos."