//------------------------------// // 5-Sonic Rainboom // Story: A Novice Swordsman in the Canterlot Court // by DungeonMiner //------------------------------// Chapter 5 “I can’t believe you got me this, Twilight. This is absolutely amazing!” “Yes, but please be careful with it, it is over a thousand years old.” It had been a month now with the Running of the Leaves was a few weeks away yet, and despite how often Alan brought out Judgement, he didn’t actually know anything about swordsmanship. Sure, holding the blade frequently and even swinging it from time to time had given him some useful calluses, and helped him get used to the weight of the blade, but he honestly had no idea how to use the thing. When Twilight had found out, she had made it her duty to help her "pet project" better himself, and had dove into the archives of the Canterlot Library. It had taken her nearly a week of straight searching, sleeping only a few hours at a time, but she knew that someone as important as the Pendragon would not leave history unrecorded. He had to be somewhere, something that maybe she didn’t see before, something she thought was unimportant. Then, finally, she found it. Someone, a moron by any standard definition, had recategorized it under ‘fiction.’ It was a very old, dusty tome, written in old Equestrian, but there it was nonetheless, “A Study of the Pendragon; Equestria’s Greatest General.” She had managed to translate the words into modern Equestrian, which Alan had discovered was essentially English with a handful of different symbols for letters, namely Ω for ‘o’ and Ξ for ‘e’ among a few others. And while her notes were totally complete, she felt that the illustrations were necessary, so she brought back the book, with all of her notes, a triumphant smile on her face. Alan was staring at this tome, practically drooling at the page that translated to “The Pendragon in Combat.” Twilight had translated word for word the study of every swing, stab and slice that Arthur had used in the demonstration that the artist had captured. They had even interviewed him, and asked about the intricacies of his style. Gold itself paled when compared to the value of the words on these pages. “Seriously, Twilight, you’ve saved my bacon.” “Bacon?” Twilight asked, confused. “Don’t ask,” Alan said, before giving the word “dietary,” as his explanation. The constant exchange of information had become somewhat of a normality in Twilight’s library. The back and forth of scientific debates as well as the discussions of culture, history, and art had given the human and unicorn a strong foundation for their growing friendship. “Ok, I still don’t see the how you humans can eat meat like you do. I mean, that ‘steak,’” she felt nauseated just saying the word, “was a living, breathing cow only days before.” “Ok, 1. You hardly ever get that fresh a steak,” Alan said, looking over the illustrations, “2. Cows are not sentient in the same sense of you or I, at least, in my world. They don’t talk there, they don’t build, they don’t do anything but eat, sleep, drink, and land the occasional cow pie. When you talk about a cow, you think of a being, something that can comprehend, when I talk about a cow from my world, I talking about something that cannot comprehend.” “Yes, yes, I’ve heard that, but what if they can comprehend, but no one in your world speaks cow?” The ethics of eating meat was one of the many debates. “Well, they haven’t caught on, so I doubt that they have any higher consciousness,” Alan said, before giving an evil smile. “Besides, the meat is a byproduct.” That one stopped Twi. “What now?” She asked, tilting her head. “Yeah, the meat is a byproduct, cows are actually killed for their leather.” Twilight shook her head, “Why?” “Well, people love leather, have for centuries, the feel, the smell, the flexibility, all of it, and since we don’t have magic to revert leather to a good state, we have to kill the cows while they are young to get anything of quality.” Twilight looked horribly shocked. “You kill cows for their skins?” “Yeah, we just eat the meat to justify it,” Alan said, flashing her a really big grin, specifically to show off his canines. Twilight seemed to stumble over her words before settling on “You’re evil.” “But in my world, I’m not, I'm just one of the many millions of people who won’t give up leather seats and good burgers for animals that do nothing for society,” Alan said before turning back to the book. “Besides, it’s not like I’d touch a cow here. I’ve actually had a cup of coffee with one.” Twilight rolled her eyes before dropping the subject, willing to let it sit until she had a better counterpoint. “Are you two still arguing about this?” Spike said, coming between them with a stack of books in his arms. “Debating!” They both corrected. Spike sighed, “Yeah, yeah...” Alan chuckled, despite himself. Yeah, he and Twi poked at each other, but they were, at least, friends enough to take it, despite him being horribly “evil.” Alan had, of course, changed in the month of being here. He had actually begun to develop, of all things, an outline. Alan still wasn’t sure how it worked, especially since he was pretty sure he was in three dimensions. Nonetheless, he had, eventually, gotten used to it, even though it had taken four or five days of him screaming every time he looked in a mirror. He had also gotten a wardrobe upgrade. After taking his measurements one day, Rarity had locked herself in her boutique for a few days, and came out with no less than nine dress-casual outfits. Each one was comprised of a button down shirt, with her logo embroidered on the collar, and slacks, mostly khakis, although she did make one pair black and gave him a “heavy-duty” pair which she guaranteed to take anything he threw at it. As of right now, he was in a dark-blue shirt with a pair of khakis, which only had three belt loops, mostly so that he could attach his sword quickly. However, this all took a backseat, as Alan read the words on the hallowed pages, quoting Arthur Pendragon himself. “My sword is what is called a hand-and-a-half sword, not normally seen where I come from, most preferring the two-handed broadsword. However, I once held a mystical blade called Excalibur, and used that for most of my life in Camelot. Excalibur was truly unlike anything else ever forged, however, the longsword is perhaps the closest one can get. In truth, I have always preferred the longsword to the broadsword for its usefulness. One could easily wield such a blade with one hand, while the other could perhaps hold a shield or a parrying blade. Wielding a broadsword with one hand, however, while simple, is not as agile, and therefore, not as advantageous.” Alan drank in the words, eager to learn more of the hero-made-folktale, the mystery of his predecessor, the— A knock sounded at the door. “I’ll get it!” Alan yelled, before closing Twilight’s notes in the book. Heading over to the door, Alan opened it to see Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie. “Well hi, guys, how’re you doing?” “Doing perfectly peachy, Alan!” Pinkie said before giving her trademarked bounce into the room. “We came to help Twi with her books,” Applejack drawled, “she said everything need some organization.” Alan looked back at the library, and was kind of shocked that he didn’t notice the massive towers of literature the two of them have been reading. “Oh, well I guess it could use a bit of touching up.” Three towers of books suddenly crashed onto the pink mare as she looked at it. Alan sighed, “Well, grab some books, and relearn the dewey decimal system. Let’s get to work.” <<<|Ω|>>> In another part of Ponyville, a field outside of Fluttershy’s cottage, Rainbow Dash was giving the yellow pegasus a lesson. “Now,” the multi-colored maned one asked, “What have we learned?” “Lots of control,” the shy one responded. “Good.” “Screaming and hollering.” “Yes. And most importantly...” “Passion.” “Right! So now that you know the elements of a good cheer, let’s hear one!” <<<|Ω|>>> “And there we go!” Alan said, placing the last copy of “The Creature Catcher: Tales of a Monster Hunter,” on the top shelf. “I do believe that is the last one.” Twilight gave a grateful sigh,”Thank you so much for your help, ladies, it was starting to get hard to move around the Library.” “I didn’t really notice,” Alan said. “So says the creature where most of its length is vertical,” Twilight said. “You try crawling around towers of books and see how easy it is to move.” “Touche,” Alan replied, coming down the ladder to the now-clean floor of the Library. That’s when Rainbow Dash crashed through the window. The pegasus tumbled through, knocking every conceivable book from its perch, burying all of it occupants under a sea of paper. Fluttershy soon followed the cyan daredevil, “Rainbow Dash, you rock,” she said, in the quietest yell Alan had ever heard. “Woohoo.” Second quietest. “Oh dear,” she mumbled, “did my cheering do that?” Alan sat up, and was shocked as he heard a very familiar conversation go on. It was almost word for word, as far as Alan could remember, even up to the point where Pinkie began to explain the Best Young Flyer competition. Holy crap. He was actually in an episode. Well sort of. This was, without a doubt the episode titled “Sonic Rainboom,” and Alan had a front row seat. Of course, that meant that theoretically, Alan should have seen himself when he watched the episode, unless of course the Derpy was right with her theory of split universes. Ditzy Derpina Do, Derpy as her friends called her, was in fact a mailmare, and did deliver mail as well as help the Doctor with his post-retirement experiments. “Helping immortal Time Lords doesn't buy muffins!” She had said. However, that did not stop her from sharing her views on interdimensional time travel. “The best I could figure, according to the Doctor, your presence here has dramatically transformed the timeline.” She then went on to explain how the secondary timeline creates a whole new universe, one where he never came to Equestria, and one where he did. The latter would hold the alternate timeline, and while things may seem the same, things will progressively become more different the longer he would be here. “Either that,” she said, “Or the former ceases to exist, and everything that was ever done in that timeline would be rewritten causing a paradox of epic proportions that could theoretically rip the very fabric of space-time to pieces. Oh, well.” Pinkie had moved on to talking about the ‘legendary’ Sonic Rainboom, before Applejack told Twilight everyone that Dash had been the only one to do it. Alan mouthed Dash's humble (for once) reply, “It was a long time ago, I was just a filly...” That was actually kind of creepy... Alan watched the conversation unfold with surreal interest. He had never really thought about what it would be like to be in one of the episodes, even though he knew that there were some that had to come, he never thought it would be like this. “Wow,” Twilight said, after hearing Dash’s boast about being able to do Sonic Rainbooms in her sleep. “You pull that off, and you’ll win the crown for sure.” Rainbow nodded, “The Grand Prize is-” “An entire day with the Wonderbolts.” Alan finished. Twilight gave him a look, while Dashie nodded again, already daydreaming about her day with her heroes. She suddenly shook the thoughts away before saying, “Well, I better go rest up, wouldn’t want to overwork myself.” She then turned to Fluttershy. “You on the other hand, better keep practicing. I need a cheering section to match my spectacular performance.” With that, Rainbow took her leave, going out the way she came, and as she did, Fluttershy watched her go, biting her lip as she did. Once the cyan flyer was out of earshot, Fluttershy turned. “She’s practiced that move a hundred times, and hasn’t even come close to doing it, and I don’t know if I can cheer loud enough to help her.” With that as her only explanation, Fluttershy took after Rainbow Dash, leaving only four ponies, and one very curious human left. “Well,” Twilight sighed, “better get this cleaned up...again...” Twilight began to pick up several books from where they lay, only to be poked by Rarity’s horn. “Go on, go on,” the well-to-do unicorn urged. “Go on, what?” Twilight asked, books dropping as her concentration broke. “Find a spell,” Rarity explained, “to get us wingless ponies into Cloudsdale. Did you see how nervous she was?” “Nervous?” Applejack scoffed, “What are ya, deaf or somethin’? She was tootin’ her own horn louder than a brass section in a marchin’ band.” “Oh, please,” Rarity groaned, “I have been to enough fashion shows to recognize stage fright when I see it. We have to find a way to be there for her, now go on!” Rarity yelled, bumping Twilight into what seemed like a not-so-soft pile of books. Twilight recovered, and groaned as she popped out of the pile. “How am I supposed to find a flight spell in this mess?” she asked, rhetorically, Alan noted, and if you ever want to have a rhetorical question answered, you could always turn to... “A flight spell?” Pinkie asked, “hang on a second.” She zoomed off, and literally a second later, came back with a book in her mouth, giving it a quick toss to Twilight she said, “Page 27.” “How did ya do that?” Applejack asked. “It landed on my face when Rainbow Dash knocked me into the bookcase.” Pinkie explained. “Here it is!” Twilight exclaimed, “A spell that will allow earth ponies to fly for three days.” As Twilight went on about the spell, Alan suddenly had a thought pop in his head. He could change this couldn't he? He knew what was going to happen long before it did. He knew that Rarity would volunteer to be first to try the flight spell, succeed, and then proceed to unashamedly let it go to her head before all of Cloudsdale. He knew that, the fame would go to her head, and that she would enter the competition, blindsiding Rainbow Dash entirely. He even knew that, once she was actually competing, Rarity would pull an Icarus, and fly much too close to the sun, lose her wings, and proceed to fall to her would be death. This fall, however, would lead to Rainbow Dash’s second successful Rainboom, allowing her to win the competition. The question was though, was it worth it? Was having Rarity make a fool of herself worth the Rainboom, the confidence that Rainbow needed, the fame that had seemingly did nothing other than give her a simple head-nod from Soarin’ and Spitfire at the Gala? Alan blinked. Holy crap! The power in this one decision alone made it obvious to him. This wasn’t the TV show anymore. He could change everything, in fact, it was questionable if everything had not already changed. But so far, the events that did take place in “Sonic Rainboom” were going just as seen in the show, and if that is the case then... A smile spread across Alan’s lips. “I think I can play a bit of ‘Puppet Master’...” <<<|Ω|>>> Twilight’s hot air balloon touched down on Cloudsdale’s puffy, white fields with a barely audible thump, right behind the two pegasi of the Mane Six. Rarity had just made the critical introduction, and the balloon had just made its entrance. “I-I can’t believe it!” Dash muttered. “It’s incredible,” Fluttershy agreed. “This is so cool! You guys made it!” “Sure did!” Pinkie said before jumping out of the balloon onto the cloud. “Wait!” Rainbow cried in horror, expecting the young mare to fall straight through and plummet to her death. When Pinkie did no such thing, she was then joined by Applejack and Twilight, the latter smiling as if she had just proven a point. “How did you do that?” Rainbow asked, a little disturbed that her friends were not dying. “Only pegasus ponies can walk on clouds.” Pinkie laughed, cartwheeling across the cloudscape. “Pretty cool, huh?” Twilight smiled before explaining, “I found a spell that makes temporary wings, but it was too difficult to do more than once, so I found an easier spell that lets the rest of us walk on clouds.” “I remain unconvinced!” Alan yelled from the balloon basket. Twilight sighed, “Alan, look, we are walking on the clouds, it works.” “I know it works for you,” Alan replied, “I don’t think it will work for me.” “And why not?” Twilight asked. “Because, and I quote, ‘Ah, here’s the spell I’m looking for.’” Alan said, quoting the lavender student, “‘It allows ponies to walk on clouds for up to two days.’” “Yeah and?” “‘It allows ponies to walk on clouds.’ And I’m not sure if you noticed, but I am no pony.” Twilight rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on. We did an entire week of study to see how magic effects humans, and every experiment showed that you are affected as easily and as potently as anypony. Trust me, you’ll be fine.” Alan gave a quick look at the cloud, and also the 8,300 feet between that aether carpet and the ground. He gave a quick look to Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. “You two, if I fall, you better catch me.” With that, he took the proverbial leap of faith. The cloud beneath his feet felt like he was in an over inflated bouncy castle. Alan, glad to see that he was not falling, gave the cloud another experimental bounce, before taking a tentative step. Satisfied that he was not going to die, Alan jumped, belly-flopping into the cloud. He bounced as if he were on a trampoline. The clouds were soft, immaterial soft, hardly existing, and yet just there enough to make this trampoline city a very potentially fun place. His belly flop flipped him in the air, and he landed on his back after another bounce. So much potential. “Alright,” Alan said, standing. “Should we head to the Cloudoseum?” “Actually,” Rainbow Dash said, “The competition doesn't start for another couple hours, so why don’t Fluttershy and I show you around Cloudsale?” With several approving grunts the five of the six ponies walked off, followed by one bouncing mare, and one bouncing human. <<<|Ω|>>> As they made their way through their tour, Alan could practically see Rarity’s head grow. She had ignored the very obviously posted “No-fly zone” sign at the door to the snowflake manufacturing warehouse, and didn’t even recognize the mad scrambling of the workers as their work flurried all over the factory floor. When they moved to the rainbow part of the factory, doing his best to keep that one fanfic out of his mind, Alan noticed that Rarity had gone off on her own, completely taken by her wings to not even notice her friends that were still behind, and walking. Alan mused that perhaps she had already forgotten how to move her legs in sync, and that flying was perhaps the only way to travel. Pinkie had just tasted the rainbow pool, but Alan hardly gave it any notice. He was watching Rarity, as she gracefully, albeit, lazily floated across the air above them. It was there that she caught the eyes of a few certain stallions. They followed her back like moths drawn to a flame. They gawked, and made total idiots of themselves. Of course, that wasn’t too hard... “Hey, look, it’s Rainbow Crash.” the dark brown pegasus taunted. “Yeah, Rainbow, uh...uh...” the lighter one stumbled, “Crash!” Yep, not that hard at all. “Rarity! What are you doing talking to these guys?” Dash yelled. “Oh, they were just admiring my wings, Rainbow Dash.” “Yeah, you should forget the Sonic Rainboom, and just get some wing like these.” the darker one said, meanwhile, Alan was trying to decide which would make a better target. Alan stepped forward, earning another round of laughs. “Oh, and what’s that thing? It is some kind of monkey? Hey Monkey, did you know you're hanging out with worst flyer in history?” The three broke into laughter again. Alan, however simply snorted before pulling out his knife. The wide blade shone in the daylight, and their laughter quickly died. "Did you know," Alan said, "that if the Subclavian artery is punctured, the victim only has two seconds before they lose consciousness, and five seconds before death?" The three pegasi gave him a look before backing away. “Shall we continue?” Alan asked, smiling as he sheathed his blade. Twilight shook her head. <<<|Ω|>>> The cloudmakers floor was probably the worst. Rarity was now actively seeking attention, drawing so much of it to herself that a literal crowd of ponies followed. Finally Twilight couldn’t take it anymore. “Rarity,” she hissed in whisper, “we’re supposed to help Rainbow Dash relax remember? Put your wings away and stop showing off.” Rarity scoffed, “How can you ask me to put away perfection?” she asked, fluttering high into the sky, letting the sun filter through her wings, giving off a very spectacular light show. Alan’s eyes, however, went straight to the pegasus that was laying on the floor, covering her head, and shaking like a leaf. “You ok, Dashie?” “Of course!” she answered, her voice wavering ever so slightly. “Why wouldn't I be? Everyone is so in love with Rarity’s wings they won’t even notice when I totally blow in the Best Young Flyers competition!” “Hey!” a nearby mare exclaimed, “There’s an idea, you should enter the Best Young Flyers competition!” She said pointing her hoof towards the white unicorn. This idea was only met with praise and adoration as they began to beg Rarity to join. Alan meanwhile, was looking straight at Rainbow Dash, who was getting visibly more nervous by the second. This would pay off, Alan told himself, she just had to go through a little bit more, but it would pay off. Celestia forgive him. <<<|Ω|>>> They were sitting in the stands and Alan felt a rock in his stomach. Pony after pony had performed, meanwhile, Rainbow Dash, he knew was backstage, switching competitor numbers and putting herself further down the line. What was he putting her though? Why hadn’t he volunteered instead? He could have saved everyone from this terrible situation, and everyone would be ok right now. But then, Dashie may not have been able to make the Rainboom. This was imperative, Alan thought, if she could do that, then she gets her prize, she wins her fame and the title “Best Young Flyer.” But was it worth the suffering the poor pegasus was going through right now? She would probably say yes if she knew what was to happen, but that did not help Alan’s conscious. You saw the look on her face, tell me she wasn't in pain. It’s for the best, Alan argued, This is going to help her. I’m sure she sees it that way. “Alan, are you alright?” Twilight asked him. “Huh? Oh, yeah, yeah, sure, just thinking,” Alan mumbled. The thought of Rainbow Dash eating herself alive popped into his mind for some reason. He couldn’t take it. Here he was with the power to change a situation so easily, but he had to force her through this to give her what she really wanted. Maybe that’s what God feels like. Alan stood, “I’m sorry guys, but I’ve got to do something.” “Where are you going?” Pinkie asked, munching on popcorn. “To do something very stupid.” Without another word, Alan headed straight for the backstage. Very stupid. <<<|Ω|>>> Rainbow Dash lay at the foot of a pillar, shaking like a leaf in a hurricane, holding on to the last strands of sanity for dear life before the storm blew her away. “Look, it’s Rainbow Crash!” she heard in her head, which was quickly followed by dozens of scenarios where she went out there into the Cloudisium. She trips on her way out, falls into a dive, can’t recover and dies. She forgets to flap her wings, falls and dies. She gets out there, manages to put on a passable show, before ramming into the Cloudisium walls at a breakneck speed and dies. After each death, the Wonderbolts, her heroes, scoff at the pathetic attempt and name Derpy as the best flyer. Nevermind that said grey mare wasn’t even competing... Crash and burn. Crash and burn. My name is Rainbow Dash, and I am going to Crash and Burn. “Dashie?” a name called out to her, it was Pinkie’s nickname for her, but that voice was definitely not Pinkie’s. “Rainbow Dash?” it called again. It was male, she could tell, and somewhere in her brain, something told her vocal chords to answer. “Here...” she mumbled weakly. Alan came into her field of view, which had significantly diminished through her squinting. “Hey there, Dashie, how are you doing?” He asked with a soft smile. “I feel sick,” she admitted. Alan nodded, “You don’t think you can do it, do you?” “No.” she replied, “I know I can’t do it.” Alan shook his head, “Now come on, Dash. You said it yourself, you’re the best flyer to come out of Cloudsdale, you’ll do this.” “I can’t,” She assured. “I can’t do this, I can't make a Sonic Rainboom. I’m not even sure I did to begin with.” Alan sighed, this better be worth it. “Dash, Dash look at me.” She opened her magenta eyes and stared at him. “I know you can do this. I know you did do this once before, you can do it again, I would bet my life on it.” Alan looked her directly in the eyes, “You will do this, Rainbow Dash, you will make a Sonic Rainboom and you will impress the Wonderbolts.” Rainbow sniffed, wiping her face to keep herself from crying. “You think so?” “I know so.” “Alright, I-I think I’m ready...” Alan smiled, as he helped the pegasus up, “Then go out there, and knock ’em dead, kid.” <<<|Ω|>>> Rainbow Dash and Rarity, in some cruel twist of fate, exited at the same time. Twilight groaned at the sight of it. What was Rarity thinking? Competing against Rainbow Dash was bad enough, but to go on stage at the same time was downright malicious. Of course, Twilight was sure that Rarity didn't even realize what she was doing, being so caught up by the ability of flying. Where was Alan? He should be here cheering now, not off doing whatever he thought was ‘very stupid.’ This one was just painful to watch. Rarity was going for grace, while Rainbow Dash’s aim had been for speed and agility, but Rarity went and changed the music for it, and now Rainbow Dash didn’t even have a beat to sync to. She crashed twice now, and had even sent a cloud straight for Celestia’s Private box. Rarity went into a climb, smiling in that outfit of hers, before getting high enough to have the sunlight filter through her wings. “Look upon me, Equestria, for I am Rarity!” she yelled, not even noticing that Rainbow Dash had climbed even higher to start phase three of her act. Twilight saw it all, in seconds, Rarity’s wings went up in smoke, and she began to fall, screaming as she went. A collective gasp went through the crowd and the first ones to action were the Wonderbolt judges, flying to save the contestant. Hardly anyone saw the human jump after them. Twilight did though. <<<|Ω|>>> Rainbow Dash saw it all, Rarity’s wings turned to ash in the sun, and now she was falling, the flightless unicorn she always was, the Wonderbolts flew after her, ready to catch her, only for Rarity’s flailing hooves to knock them all unconscious. Then she saw Alan. He had swan dived after the four falling ponies, but she could not for the life of her think of why. Why did he jump? What possessed him, a being who never had wings to throw his life away like that? Then she heard his voice from a few moments ago. “I know you can do this. I know you did do this once before you can do it again, I would bet my life on it.” He did bet his life on it. She could see him, now, gathering the falling bodies to a single point, making a much larger, easier target to catch. He trusted her with his life. … And she was not going to let him down. She turned, using all of her built up momentum, and went straight into a dive. <<<|Ω|>>> “What on earth are you doing, Alan?” Rarity yelled. “Something very stupid,” he answered. “Don’t worry, Dash will catch us.” Rarity went back to screaming, but Alan looked straight up, it would happen any second now. <<<|Ω|>>> No. No. No. No. No. No! They were going too fast. Much too fast, she would never be able to catch them at this speed. “I’d bet my life on it.” She had to do this. This wasn't a matter of what she could or couldn't do anymore. She had to do this. At that thought, the mach cone began to form. <<<|Ω|>>> Everypony in the stands, watched, horrified at what they were seeing. No one had made a move, frozen in shock at what they had seen. The four victims were now just a dot against the ground, unable to be seen, and it was only Rarity’s scream that gave them any indication that they were still alive. No one had reacted in time. It was impossible to save them, nopony could ever fly fast enough to stop the fall. It was over. Four lives would be claimed in the next few seconds unless a miracle happened. <<<|Ω|>>> Push, Rainbow Dash, push! the barrier was giving so much resistance right now. She wasn’t sure she could break it. “Come on, come on.” she urged, her words lost in the rush of wind in her ears. Forget pride. Forget the Wonderbolts, forget all of that. This is for the human who had bet his life on whether or not she could do this. She had to do this. She could do this. She pushed against the barrier, one more time. It held against her, but she felt it. It was weakening. She pushed again, scrambling to exploit that weakness, and when she did, she felt it break. She never heard it. <<<|Ω|>>> Kraka-Thoom! The jaws of the audience collectively dropped. That was not just Sonic Boom, that was a Sonic Rainboom. A myth, a story, and old-mare's-tale. Also, apparently a living legend. One yellow pegasus in particular, totally lost it. “A Sonic Rainboom! Whooo!” <<<|Ω|>>> Alan watched the sky as he was falling, four ponies in his arms. He was very much aware as to how close they were getting to the ground, but he didn’t look at it. Rarity was screaming still, and he was sure that he would go deaf in his left ear soon, but he kept his eye on the sky. Then he saw it, a corona of prismatic colors filled the sky, and before he could hear the boom, Rainbow Dash had reached him. Alan smiled as she grabbed him, and pulling off a physics-defying turn, she was taking them back up to the arena. Alan didn’t know if Dash could read lips, but nonetheless, he mouthed the words. “I knew you could do it.” <<<|Ω|>>> Rainbow Dash landed, dropping the human back on the cloud floor. Alan then proceeded to hand off the still unconscious Wonderbolts, before handing off Rarity. Then the cheer started. The Cloudosium erupted in applause, ponies were throwing their hooves in the air, and Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but notice Fluttershy, jumping up and down and screaming at a volume she didn’t think the shy pegasus was capable of. “I-I did it,” she said. “I actually did it.” Alan smiled, before placing his hand on the rainbow-colored mane and giving it a good shake. “I told you could.” Dash laughed, “You are one crazy son of a bovine, you know that?” She teased before hugging him, “Thank you.” “Don’t worry about it.” Alan said, before pushing her back far enough to look her in the eye, “Now, hey, you’ve got all these ponies cheering for you, go give them a show.” Rainbow grinned, “Oh, I’ll give them a show, I am the best flyer to come out of Cloudsdale you know.” <<<|Ω|>>> Rarity had been dropped in the hot air balloon, which had been moved so that she could see the arena stage, her friends were standing in front of it, “I...I would like to apologize,” she began. “I...I just got so carried away by their beauty I just...It must have gone to my head.” The four ponies all gave her their kind responses of “Don’t worry about it,” and “It’s alright." “I especially want to apologize to you, Rainbow Dash, it was so thoughtless of me to join the competition at the last minute after you worked so hard to win...can you ever forgive me?” “Of course.” Rainbow Dash said, and was about to continue when Rarity cut her off. “I’d also like to thank you, Rainbow, and you too, Alan, because if it weren’t for you to I would have...” “Anything for a friend, Rarity.” Alan said. “Yeah,” Dash said. “Besides, everything turned out alright.” She then mumbled under her breath, “I just wish I could have met the Wonderbolts when they were awake...” “Well don’t look now,” Alan said with a smile. Dash tilted her head, wondering what that meant, until she felt a hoof tap her shoulder. Rainbow did a 180 faster than Alan thought was possible. There they were, the three Wonderbolt judges. Okay, Rainbow Dash, don’t do anything stupid. a voice said in her mind, You need to make a good impression. Introduce yourself. “Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh.” Or you could do that... “So you're the little pony who saved our lives,” the leader said, Spitfire if Alan guessed correctly, “We really wanted to meet you, and say thanks.” “Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh.” Words, Rainbow Dash! Words! Use them! Alan smirked, and turned just in time to see Princess Celestia, accompanied by two pegasi guards, approach the hot air balloon. “Princess,” Twilight Sparkle gasped, bowing, an example which was then followed by the other ponies in her presence. Alan took that as a cue to bow himself. “Hello, Twilight Sparkle and hello to your friends, too.” She said, smiling as her wings were spread. They were very large wings, Alan noted. “Princess Celestia, I am so sorry for ruining the competition. Rainbow Dash here, really is the best flyer in all of Equestria.” “I know she is my dear.” Princess Celestia smiled, “That’s why, for her act of bravery, and her spectacular Sonic Rainboom, I award the Grand Prize of Best Young Flyer to this year’s winner, Miss Rainbow Dash!” Cheering broke out again as every pony in the arena yelled and applauded. “Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh.” I give up! The pegasus was picked up by her friends and was then paraded around the Cloudoseum, leaving only Twilight Sparkle and Rarity to talk with the Princess. After making two rounds of the Arena, Rainbow Dash was placed at the basket of the balloon. She seemed to have regained control of her vocabulary, because she yelled, “This really is, the Best Day Ever!” “Yeah, yeah.” Alan said, picking her up, and giving her a playful throw towards her Wonderbolt escort. “Now get out of here, and enjoy yourself!” Taking flight in the middle of the air, she laughed, “Oh, trust me, I will!” “And hey!” Alan called after her, “Drop by Sugarcube Corner when you’re done, we'll have a round of Sarsaparilla, on me!” “I’ll hold you to that!” Rainbow laughed before flying off. Alan laughed as he watched her go. Yeah, it was worth it. -------------------------------- Alright guys, don’t for- “What was that!?” Dah! Oh, geez, Pinkie, don’t do that. “What is the meaning of this Chapter?” What are you talking about? “This is practically Ctrl+C Ctrl+V’ed from the script! This isn’t Writing.” I know, I know, but look, hear me out. This is happening for a reason. Alan is trying to make himself a good friend by doing what we were all screaming at our TVs for them to do. For example, in “Ticket Master” I was practically yelling at Twilight to just ask for some more tickets. Yes, she did eventually, but it would have saved her a lot of pain to just ask. Alan, here is just going to be playing Advisor, so that everyone gets that character development, but it’s also so Alan won’t be sitting on the sidelines being useless. “So you’re going to do more of this?” Well, yes, but the episodes are going to change more and more as time goes on, I am also going to be making an effort to try to get things from other perspectives, i.e. In “Fall Weather Friends” instead of following Applejack and Rainbow Dash, I’d follow Twilight. “Alright, but I’m warning you.” Noted...anyway...comments, questions, and the like, guys. Bye!