Clouds exploded as filly Rainbow Dash plummeted to her doom.
With tremendous strain, the little blue Pegasus whipped around and tucked in her limp wing but it refused to obey. The wind tore through her feathers at such a pace she feared her whole wing would just rip off. Terrified of her impending doom, she yelled with as much air as her little lungs could release.
A passing shadow answered her cry. Rainbow followed it against the clouds to her right as the sweeping body fanned out feathers slowing to a crawl before flipping in a backward loop, then skidding along toward her direction upside down, intercepting her before flying out of the maneuver in a spiraling dive right-side up, gaining lift again and racing towards the ground.
Rainbow Dash closed her eyes. Her tail whipped a clutch of powdery-white dandelions, scattering their floating seeds to the wind.
The next thing she knew, there was a soft crunch of grass beneath her hooves. Her world slowed and sensations returned, a gentle breeze carrying the puff of dandelion seedlings around her. The cool rush of wind was replaced by fuzzy warmth of a Pegasus behind her. She dared to open her eyes, realizing she was in the meadow that moments before was nearly her grave. And in that moment, it was the most beautiful meadow she’d ever seen.
“Hey kiddo,” The voice was harsh and stern but calm despite deep breaths from exhaustion.
“Whatever on Equestria were you trying to do?”
“Eh—a Sonic Rainboom?” the raspy, youthful Dash replied. She looked up to see a dark gold Pegasus with a puzzled look gazing at Rainbow’s malfunctioned wing. She swept her large wings across Rainbow’s injury and pulled it up to examine it more closely through her glasses.
“Well, you’re certainly built for it,” she replied as she flicked her lead feather across Dash’s wing.
“Wow, really!” Rainbow Dash peeled away and began prancing. “That’s the first time a pony said that! Usually I get the ‘how stupid, that’s just a myth’.” She tried to flap her wings into the air but was rewarded with a face-full of dirt.
The other Pegasus stamped a hoof in front of Rainbow. The filly looked up through the tall blades of grass to meet the mare's raised eyebrow over blue eyes, sharp against the gold fur of her coat. “But you should know how much distance is required for that.” She puckered her mouth to the side with disapproval.
Rainbow Dash stood and put a hoof behind her head. “Eh heh, heh, yeah, I guess that explains me hitting that cloud column and getting tangled up on the warning barrel.”
“It was audacious,” the mare replied looking up at the damaged clouds in the sky. “and it cost me a delivery. Those are warnings against high speed for a reason. You got rocks for brains kid? You must if you thought you’d win a headbutt contest with the ground.”
Rainbow Dash was a little shocked. Most of the time her parents were loudly proclaiming how awesome she was at everything, even when she failed. And most of her flight instructors at junior camp just praised how strong a flyer she was. More surprising, all this coming from a mare who didn't doubt her capacity for a Sonic Rainboom.
She shook her head. “I’m a great flyer! I’ve done the Sonic Rainboom before. The name’s Rainbow Dash! Huh?”
The mare was barely paying attention as she was flying gently above the ground before finding her red delivery cap.
“Did ya hear me? I said—”
“Rainbow Dash, yeah kid, I heard. Now if you don’t mind, I’d like to take you with me to my delivery so I can explain why somepony’s chow mane isn’t on time. Maybe a filly mignon will keep me from losing my tip.”
She circled over Rainbow once before scooping her into her front hooves and flying along the ground towards a row of cottages. For the moment, the blue filly’s confusion was enough to keep her injured wing from feeling too painful.
“I’m giving you a gentle ride there so your wing doesn’t get worse.”
“Say, how—how did you pull that off?”
“What? The Alpha Cobra Somersault Skid Maneuver?”
Rainbow Dash’s eyes burst into stars. “That was an Alpha Cobra Somersault Skid Maneuver? But, but, that’s impossible!”
“Heh, sure. The impossible just saved your life.”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and looked up put on a thought. “What’s your name?”
“The pony that just saved your life to hopefully not lose her job.”
Dash pouted. “Gee, you sure aren’t nice.”
“Oh, I can be very nice. I’m just not having the best day right now.”
“Oh, sorry.”
“Better be, you’re the one who nearly made it a disaster. What’s with your generation of ponies? Goanna soar off into stupid, dangerous adventures? Are you training to be a hero of Equestria with moves like that?”
“Well, not exactly, but omigosh that would be totally awesome wouldn’t it?”
They arrived at a cottage on the end of a street. “Keep pulling stunts like that and your dream to save Equestria will be quashed—just like your bones.” She used her left wing to knock on the door. A stout Earth Pony stallion answered.
“Sorry to bother you sir, but I was supposed to bring a delivery of chow mane here due sometime between three minutes ago and twenty minutes in the future. But I stopped to save a falling filly from her doom.”
The stallion rubbed his poor shaven chin. “Bleh. Happens all the time. Just try and bring in another delivery before sunset.”
The mare looked a bit puzzled at his calm approach to the excuse and walked Rainbow Dash down the steps. “Unless I’m going to be accused of kidnapping, could you just, come with me to the restaurant?”
Rainbow Dash stomped her hoof. “I have an injury on my wing. And you want to just take me back to where you work?”
“I’ll fly you home as soon as I put in this new delivery.”
The filly looked at her wing. “Maybe uh, hospital is where I need to go?”
The mare scooped her up and started flying. “You sound just fine and dandy to me, kid. Twenty percent more than fine.”
Rainbow Dash puckered her lips in a pout while crossing her front hooves before striking up an idea. “Miss, how about, after you’re done, you take me someplace to teach me that awesome move?”
“Miss? Oh, yeah, didn’t give you my name. Silly me, I forget formalities exist. Corkscrew Scissors. And uh, m aybe never.”
Rainbow Dash pouted again before her eyes widened and her little face pinched into a smirk for an evil plan. “Alright Miss Scissors. If you don’t teach me, then I’ll just tell everypony how you caused my wing to get all banged up, and, pfft, well, your word against the injured filly so…”
Corkscrew Scissors screeched the brakes with wide open eyes and beady pupils. She sighed. “Alright. You win.”
An alarm jostled her awake along with a tingling sensation on her cutie mark.