//------------------------------// // Story 7 // Story: Another Day in Ponyville // by AnOrdinaryWriter //------------------------------// Everything was a blurry mess of light blue and gray. Rainbow Dash could barely see what was in front of her due to the high velocity at which she was flying. Tears were forced from her eyes as she zoomed across the sky at an impossible speed, waves of strong cool air ripping at her and forcing its way into her lungs. Clouds blew apart as she shot right through them, sending pieces of cloud blasting off in different directions. It felt amazing. Rainbow Dash loved to fly. Flying made her feel happy. It made her feel alive. An idea popped in her head. It was time to go extreme. Rainbow Dash angled her direction upwards and flew straight up towards the sun, flapping fiercely and throwing back huge chunks of wind with each flap. Her vision registered bright yellow sparkles through the layer of tears on her eyes as the sun stared down into them. She couldn’t see where she was flying at all, but the increasing coldness in the atmosphere let her know she was very high up at this point. When she was a good distance from the ground, she kept the momentum she currently had and looped around, now bolting towards the surface. She was suddenly surprised, until now she had no idea how high she really was. Ponyville was now a little speck surrounded by a large amount of greenery, but from this height she couldn’t tell the grass from the trees. She wasn’t focused on that though; she had a different goal in mind. Tears were now leaking out of her eyes and being snatched away by the wind. She flapped furiously, and increased her speed more and more. A wall of air was forming around Rainbow and stretched as her body neared the ground. Ponyville was growing larger and larger as Rainbow went faster and faster. The wall of air was beginning to stretch and she would soon break through. Rainbow Dash… She ignored the strange voice and continued towards the ground. She would break through the sound barrier any minute now… Rainbow Dash! Rainbow’s eyes shot open. Her vision was blinding for a bit but as her eyes adjusted to the light she realized she was in fact resting on a cloud and not plummeting towards Ponyville about to create a sonic rainboom. Rainbow groaned in frustration. She was having the best dream, and it was all ruined by… The Pegasus looked down towards earth and saw that it was Applejack who had been calling her. She sighed. “What is it, Applejack? I was in the middle of napping.” Applejack rolled her eyes, mumbling to herself. “Thought so, why else would you be screaming to yourself on a cloud?” She spoke up with her next words. “Anyways, ah was wondering if you could spare some time tomorrow and call a rainstorm over at the farm. The water’s not working for some reason and our crops are starting to dry up.” “Yeah, sure. I’ll be there in the morning with a raincloud.” The truth was Rainbow Dash just wanted Applejack to go away so she could continue napping. “Thanks Rainbow. Ah’ll be gone then, see you tomorrow.” Rainbow replied with a simple u-huh, and Applejack turned and walked back down the path she came. Peace and quiet had returned, and now Rainbow could enjoy whatever was waiting for her in dream land. After about ten minutes, the dream world replaced the real world once again. This time she dreamt that she was flying alongside the wonderbolts during a show at cloudsdale. She’d pretty much figured out it was a dream once the wonderbolts started performing rainbooms, but it was a cool dream nonetheless so she kept it going. Everypony in the audience cheered them on as they performed what they’d rehearsed during practices. At one point she noticed one pony’s voice in the audience stood out. It sounded familiar. Rainbow Dash! Rainbow’s eyes fluttered open a second time that day. Rainbow sighed in anger and looked over towards the ground, seeing that Applejack had returned yet again. Why did that pony keep interrupting her nap time? “Applejack, I’m trying to nap!” Rainbow Dash complained. “You saw before I was napping up here, why couldn’t you wait until I’m done before talking to me?” Applejack looked up at her confused. “Before? This is the first time I’m talking to you today.” Rainbow groaned angrily, but didn’t bother to argue. She was too tired and not in any sort of mood to fight with her. She would just answer whatever questions Applejack had for her and then go back to sleep. “What do you want, Applejack?” “Do you think you could spare some time tomorrow and call a rainstorm over at the farm. The water’s not working for some reason and our crops are starting to dry up.” Rainbow was really annoyed now. “You asked me that question before, and I said yes! I’ll come by tomorrow morning with a raincloud!” “Oh, uh, alright then. Thanks.” Applejack walked away, puzzled by Rainbow Dash’s attitude and why she claimed she’d come by before. In the meantime, Rainbow attempted to return to dream world, but it wouldn’t take her. She waited over ten minutes, staring at complete darkness and waiting for dreams of her flying and having fun to return, but she remained on the cloud, impatiently waiting for sleep to come. Eventually she gave up with a sigh and rolled onto her back, staring into the beyond. Rainbow’s ears perked up when she eventually heard hoofsteps approaching her location. “Hey, Rainbow Dash.” It was Applejack’s voice again. Rainbow was a bit pissed at Applejack for preventing her to be able to resume napping, but didn’t complain. “Yeah?” she responded simply. “Ah was wondering if you could spare some time tomorrow and call a rainstorm over at the farm. The water’s not working for some reason an—” “Is this some sort of prank or something?” Rainbow Dash said, cutting Applejack off. “Huh?” Applejack responded, confused. Rainbow stood up on her cloud and looked down towards the earth pony. “You came to me earlier in the day asking if I could make it rain at Sweet Apple Acres, and I said yes. Then you came to me again a half an hour later asking me the same question, and I said yes. And now you’re coming to me for the third time asking the same question. I don’t know if you’re doing this on purpose but it’s really annoying!” Applejack retorted, saying that this was the first time she’d come and ask her for the favor, but Rainbow Dash’s attention was drawn by the sudden appearance of a shadow behind one of the trees by the path. Right before it disappeared, Applejack stopped talking for a moment. “Ah’m sorry, ah don’t know what’s gotten into me today,” she said. “Thanks for the favor, ah’ll be on my way now.” She turned and started back in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. Rainbow lay on her cloud, confounded. She had no idea what was up with that pony today. The sky’s hue transformed from light blue to yellow, revealing that Luna would soon bring night upon Equestria. Rainbow opened her wings and started into the sky after Rainbow decided that now would be a good time to head home and crash. Being a fast flyer, her cloud house became visible in the distance in only a matter of seconds. She landed on the front porch and entered her house, knocking the front door closed with a hind leg. She used her wings to carry herself to her bed, snuggling under the covers and finding a comfortable spot on the mattress before closing her eyes and waiting for sleep to take her in its embrace. She thought she heard something move, and then suddenly she felt her whole body rise in temperature, and the feeling of the mattress pressing against her back disappeared. Before she could question it, she had immediately fallen into a deep slumber. *** The brightness of the morning leaked through Rainbow’s closed eyelids, and they fluttered open. Her eyes felt rough, and she brought her hooves up to her eyes to rub sleep out of them. She wanted to go back to bed but she remembered she had to get a raincloud from the weather factory for Applejack’s crops. She groggily threw the covers off her body and got out of her bed and onto her hooves. She felt momentarily dizzy but was soon stable on her hooves. After performing some morning stretches, she made her way to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. Her rainbow mane was a complete mess, so she opened the cabinet above the sink, pulled out a hair brush, and fixed up her hair until it looked the way it usually did. Satisfied, she was ready to take on the day. She let out a long yawn to let out any remnants of sleep left, and then started towards the front door, opening it, stepping outside her cloud house and closing it behind her. It was a bit cool this morning, being that it was early in the day. She took in the beautiful smell of nature and humidity, and then took off towards the cloudsdale weather factory.