//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: A New Routine // Story: Rise of the Element Gang, Book 2: Friendship Adventures // by Power of Six //------------------------------// Chapter 6: A New Routine “No way! A full-sized hydra?” Rainbow Dash asked in disbelief. “Yes way.” Dusk replied. “A fully-grown, four-headed, toxic-breathed hydra and a very long jump between me and Twilight. It was either stay or get eaten.” “You didn’t try to jump it?” Shield asked. “We did. Luckily, as we were falling, a large swamp bubble formed beneath us. We hit it and we were shot up like rockets from the force…” “…and land on the other side without a scratch. Awesome!” She gave him a hoof pound out of respect. “That is pretty cool, Dusk. You’re almost as brave as me…almost.” “Well, I’m not surprised by this.” Shield said to Rainbow. “Dusk is one of the bravest guys I know.” “Well, it was just kind of luck we made it and…well…I couldn’t let the hydra hurt my friends.” he said modestly. “Yeah, but you still stood up to it.” Shield raised an eyebrow at me. “You’ve really gotta get yourself an ego.” “I would, Shield, but your’s and Rainbow’s are big enough for our whole group.” I countered as we all laughed. It was coming to the end of another day in Ponyville. The sun was just touching the tip of the horizon. I had finished another day of work and had come here at Rainbow’s request as she and Shield had found me just as I was leaving the library. We were at the spot on the edge of the Everfree Forest, where I had first helped her with her flying practice. Remembering how well that had gone, I tried not to think about it. While she and Shield had asked me to recount the tale of what had transpired in Froggy Bottom Bog just yesterday, the real reason Rainbow had brought me here was to finally begin trying to incorporate my color manipulation talent into her routine for the Flyer’s Competition in Cloudsdale. While I still felt nervous at the prospect of it, I was determined not to let her down. Once she and Shield stopped laughing, Rainbow suddenly became brisk and began to hover in the sky before us. “Okay, so we got that outta the way. Now, let’s get down to business of radicalness.” “Yes, ma’am.” Dusk agreed, saluting her. “Where should I start?” “Hold on.” Shield said, raising a hoof. “First off, have you found a spell that’ll allow you to get into Cloudsdale? Sorry, but I can’t carry you the whole time.” “One step ahead of you.” I replied. “I’ve already found a book with the spell in mind. It’ll enable me to grow wings so that I can fly up with you to Cloudsdale.” “Great! Does it work?” he asked. “Well, um…I, er…haven’t tried it out yet, but, once I tell the others, I’m sure Twilight will be able to perform it.” “You found a spell that could get you up in the sky and you didn’t even try it out?” Shield asked, exasperated by this. “The spell is difficult to do and I’m not sure if I have magic strong enough to do it.” I said as I explained my reasons. “That’s why I’m gonna let Twilight do it. She’ll probably be better at it than me. I mean she is the Element of Magic after all.” Rainbow sighed before saying “It’ll have to do for now. For these practice sessions, you can stay on the ground. Just be sure to keep up.” “Right. So, how’s this going to work? You said that there are three stages to your routine?” “Good memory.” she commended cooly. “Yes, there are three phases I need to pull off. Let’s start with Phase 1: The Slalom. I want you to make some rainbow pillars in the sky…about the same size as those trees.” I looked to where she pointed, nodded, and conjured them up swiftly with decent sized gaps between them, each one a different color of the rainbow. Keeping my focus on maintaining them, I let Rainbow fly to the head of the pillars. As the name gave away, this phase was a maneuvering challenge, weaving in and out of the gaps in-between the pillars I’d made. As she passed by each one, I made it vanish until she reached the end. “Good job, Dash!” Shield said before the Pegasus in question looked back, a disappointed look crossing her features. “What’s wrong?” I asked as she flew back down. “Well…do they have to vanish like that? Do you have trouble keeping them there?” “No, but I think I know what you mean.” I thought for a moment, then hatched on idea. “What about making them glow brighter when you make it through one?” “Okay, let’s see how that looks.” She flew back to the start, as he remade the pillars. This time, when she went past them, I added a little more brightness to them just to make them stand out more that she’d made it. When Rainbow came back down, I showed her what I did and she seemed impressed. “Yeah, that looks pretty good.” She said as she gave me a satisfied smile. “Yeah, nice touch there, bud.” Shield said to me, impressed by this. “Let’s keep that in. Not a bad start.” Rainbow said as she then became serious again. “Now then, for Phase 2: Cloud Spinning. Make three color clouds up there, big ones too.” I let her fly off to a good height, then did as she instructed, making a green, blue, and red cloud for her routine. I couldn’t interfere too much with the routine. This was showcasing Rainbow’s skills, not mine, otherwise that would be bordering cheating. I was just…well, the lighting guy. “Do they have to be so bright?” she called out to me. “Sorry! Can’t control that very well!” I shouted back. “Just don’t look at them directly! You should be fine!” “Should be?” Shield asked me with a raised brow. “I know what I’m doing, Shield.” I said to him before speaking to Rainbow. “Ready, Rainbow?” Nodding, she proceeded to begin a rotation around one of the clouds I’d made, making it spin faster and faster. Then she crossed over to the next one, making that one spin rapidly in a circle. Then, onto the third… I was having a bit of trouble though. I couldn’t quite make up for the speeds she was moving them at. They even flickered a few times. Eventually, I couldn’t hold it and cancelled the spell, clutching my head. “Dusk!” Shield said as he tried to help me keep myself steady. “Dusk, what happened?” She asked as she came down. “Why’d you stop?” “You’re moved too fast for him.” Shield told her. “Yeah. Can you go… slower?” I asked her, feeling a bit weak. “Sorry, I have to go fast. I need to show off my skills. Come on, Dusk! I need you ready for this. It’s only a week away!” “Dash, he almost fell over like a tree.” Shield said to her with concern. “Dusk needs to rest.” “It’s…it’s okay, Shield.” I said to him. “I’ll…get used to it.” I then looked to Rainbow, trying my best to look determined. “Let’s…let’s go again.” Shield and I watched Rainbow soared back up as we then tried to have another crack at it. This one took us the longest to get right. By one cloud at a time, I needed to get used to the speeds that Rainbow was going at in order to maintain the clouds and keep them there. It was hard, exhausting for me, but I needed to get this right. She was counting on me to be ready. Finally, after about 45 minutes of trying, I was able to hold all three clouds, just long enough for Rainbow to finish spinning them. Even then, there was still the occasional flicker from them, the odd vanishing. “Okay, you definitely need to work on this one.” she told me firmly. “I can’t have them flickering like that in the show, I need them perfect. I know it’s tough, Dusk, but we’re gonna win this.” “I know. I won’t… won’t let you down.” I assured her. “Mainly because… I know you’ll… rip me to pieces if I do.” “Whoa! Where did that come from?” Shield said, surprised by what I said. “Hey, hey, nothing that extreme. I’ll probably just dump clouds over your head for a week.” she said, jokingly. “That sound fair?” “Agreed.” I chuckled. “Now then… Phase 3?” “Not yet. Let’s try those two together. I need you to make the pillars, somehow, flow along with me so they become clouds when I’m done. Can you do that?” “I can try. Off you go, I got this.” “You sure you can do that?” Shield said to me after Rainbow went off to the sky. “You look like you just pulled an all-nighter.” “I’m fine, Shield.” I said to him, trying to cover up the weakness I was getting from using my magic. “I can still keep on going.” “Dusk, you ready?” I heard Rainbow say as I looked to see her waiting for me to start the routine with her. We went through those two stages again about ten times before we got it right. We didn’t do the whole of stage two, we’d focus on that on its own another time. For now, we needed to get the flow of the color right, making them fly alongside her, then form into clouds when she was high enough. That meant I had to beat her to the end, to have them ready before she made it. I’d never had to exert myself like this before with my magic, not since my days back at the school. Even then, I sometimes had a bit of trouble with tests that were done, though I always passed. I hadn’t even begun fully exercising this talent until about a month ago, not with anything like this for a long time. But I was doing this for a friend, the first in this town who had seen my talent. I would adapt. For her. On our 11th attempt, we got it just right for her and me, making her look more spectacular than ever before and successfully doing it in synchronization with the rest of the routine. “Great work Dusk! We might just pull this off!” she expressed as I lay down to have a rest. “No… we will pull this off.” I said confidently. “Don’t get ahead of yourself yet.” she reminded him. “We still need to practice stage two and we can’t slack off ʹcause we got the rest of it right so far. We keep sharp, keep practicing. Good you have the right attitude though.” “No problem… Phase 3 then. What do I do for that?” he asked. At the mention of that, a cocky smile grew on her features. “This is the part where you kick back and watch. I can take it from here.” “Are you sure?” I asked her. “Dusk, she said she’s got that part.” Shield said to me. “Besides, with all those tricks, you deserve a break there.” “Wait,” I said as I suddenly realized it, “you haven’t told me what stage three is yet. What are you going to do?” “Yeah.” Shield said to her. “We know what Phase 1 and 2 are, but what exactly is Phase 3 anyway?” “Just you watch.” She said to us, keeping that smile. “Now, the routine again, with Phase 3 this time. Let’s make this the last one for today, it’s getting kinda late anyway.” “Good idea.” I said as Shield and I just watched her fly off, ready to go. “You sure you can do this?” Shield asked me in concern. “Still got enough in me for one more go.” I told him. “And we’re gonna get it right this time.” With that, we then started the routine. She flew through my color pillars, making them glow. Then, she sped upwards, me making streams of red, green and blue fly after her, beating her to the end and making clouds. She spun these around, though I had some flickers in place and an aching head, but I could breathe a sigh of relief when she was done. “Way to go, Dusk!” Shield said to me as I canceled my magic to let Rainbow do the rest. “Looks like you finally got it!” “Yeah.” I said to him as we looked to Rainbow still flying in the air. “Now for the mysterious Phase 3. I wonder what she has planned for this?” Rainbow did a few loops, climbing higher into the sky. After these, she sped off, straight down to the ground. She really picked up speed, a mach cone forming around her as she flew, indicating she was travelling near the speed of sound. “By Celestia, she’s fast!” I said, surprised this. “Is this Phase 3? To reach insane speeds like this?” “Wait a minute.” Shield said as he looked at Rainbow more perceptively. “With that speed…” He then got a look of shock like he figured it out what Rainbow was trying to do. “She’s trying to do it.” “Do what?” I asked him, wondering what he meant by that. “Dude, the speed she’s trying to go at is the same one I need for a Sonic Rainboom!” He said to me, making me finally realize it. “Wait, are you saying…?” “Yeah.” Shield said as we then looked back at Rainbow, already knowing what I was going to say. “She’s trying to do a Sonic Rainboom!” That’s what Phase 3 was, a Sonic Rainboom! She did say she was able to do one. I never thought I could actually see her do one. “Um…she’s getting a little close to the ground.” I said, seeing how she wasn’t slowing down as she neared the ground. “Yeah, you’re right.” Shield said, seeing that too. “If she’s keeps going like that, she might…” CRASH! With an almighty noise, she smacked into the ground, leaving a pony-shaped crater where she had hit the surface of the earth. “Rainbow Dash!” Shield and I said as we hurried over and helped her climb out, her eyes in a daze from the impact. “Ugh! Ow.” She furiously shook her head. “Darn it! Too little height. I’ll need more next time. Thanks, guys.” “No problem.” Shield said to her. “Yeah, but we won’t be here every time you crash like that, you know.” I warned her. “You really need to be more careful. What were you thinking?” “Relax. I made it out okay, didn’t I?” she brushed off, giving him a throw-away smile. “I’ve had worse.” “So you seem to say.” I reminded her. “So Phase 3 is a Sonic Rainboom?” Shield asked. “Isn’t it obvious?” She said to us. “Wow.” Shield said, surprised by this. “So you want to use a Sonic Rainboom in the competition?” “Well, yeah.” she said. “I mean, it might be the only thing that’ll help me win it for sure. A Sonic Rainboom is…” “…a very rare move, achieved by only the best flyers, whereby upon breaching the sound barrier, the Pegasus in question can reach hypersonic speeds, that doubles their current speed and also completely shatters the visible light spectrum, in the form of a powerful rainbow explosion of energy.” I smiled at the bemused expression she had on her face. “Oh, I know what the Sonic Rainboom is.” “Yeah, Dusk has practically read up on everything on pegasi legends.” Shield said to her. “But are you sure you can be able to do a Sonic Rainboom at the competition? You only did it once as a filly and the girls haven’t really seen you actually do it.” Shield was actually giving out a good point. The first time I saw Shield do his second Rainboom was years after his first. Being without practice of a Sonic Rainboom for so long would actually be difficult. It took Shield a few tries before he managed to do it. “Heck yeah, I can do it!” She said with a confident expression faltered. “Sure, I haven’t really done it in a while, but I’m gonna pull it off for the competition for sure. You’ll see.” “Are you sure?” he asked her. “You’re good, Rainbow Dash. Well, scratch that, you’re brilliant, but…the Sonic Rainboom? I’m with Shield on this one. Are you sure you can do it?” “Course I can. I’ve got a week to practice, so I’ll be ready by then.” I couldn’t help but feel her confidence was somehow…forced. Before I could dwell on it further, she swooped off again. “I’d better get some shut-eye. See you tomorrow, Dusk. Come on, Shield.” “Right behind ya!” Shield said to her before speaking to me. "See ya, Dusk!” “Okay…have a good rest, you’ve earned it.” I earnestly said as Shield then got onto a cloud and join Rainbow up there in the sky. “You too. Same time, same place tomorrow. Keep practicing.” With that, she and Shield sped off back to Cloudsdale, with me setting at a gentle pace for my own home. As the crickets began to play their nighttime tune, the owls hooted in the trees and fireflies flew across the meadows, I considered all that had transpired that evening. Rainbow was truly an incredible flyer. In my opinion, with her skills and my own magic adding some more variety to her performance, she would win the grand prize hooves down. And yet… The Sonic Rainboom… it had been one of the very first things I’d learned about in a book. Hence, I knew how difficult a move it was to pull off, even for Rainbow Dash. It was even harder for Shield since he needed to slingshot himself just to do one. If she could though, if she did perform it…it would look spectacular. She had a week to prepare, as had Dusk. They would be ready by then…I hoped. I least now I knew, once I told the others about that book, we would have a good cheering section to accompany us. Rainbow said, though she appreciated having Shield up there, she hadn’t been looking forward to just having Fluttershy in the stands.