Rainbow Dash flew up to the crowd of weather pegasi. “Attention!” she yelled. The rest of the weather ponies dropped their conversations and turned their attention toward their leader.
“Alright, team, today begins our scheduled series of spring showers. The weather factory has already created a supply of nimbus clouds and is awaiting our arrival for transport. Cloud Kicker, take half the squad and bring back enough nimbi to cover the entire Ponyville area. The rest of you, take your positions. And Derpy, please stop playing in the cumulus clouds!”
A yellow maned pegasus looked up from a nearby cloudy mass. Her previously blissful smile turned into a confused frown as she joined the other pegasi as they assembled into their groups.
“Don’t worry, Derpy, there’ll be plenty of time to relax and enjoy ourselves. Right now, Ponyville needs its rain.” said Rainbow Dash. “Move out!”
Cloud Kicker and half the weather team immediately took off in the direction of Cloudsdale, where the steam from the distant weather factory was barely visible. The rest of the pegasi broke off into groups of three or four and began to take their assigned positions over various locations over Ponyville.
“If you need me, I will be checking on other preparations.” shouted Rainbow Dash. The ponies quickly resumed their conversations while Rainbow Dash surveyed the land from the air.
The sleek blue pegasus soared around the perimeter of Ponyville , checking for especially dry areas as well as areas that might be prone to flooding. Being the captain of the weather team meant that the responsibility of preventing meteorological disasters fell on her shoulders. Her wings cut through the cool spring air as she left a rainbow trail in her wake. Rainbow Dash enjoyed moments like these, all alone, gliding through the sky with ease. The ground beneath her passed through her vision like a blurry daydream.
Nearly twenty minutes had passed since Rainbow Dash began her surveillance. The combination of the sun, the gentle breeze, and the crisp air threw the pegasus into a state of bliss. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, knowing that the calm air would soon be inundated with clouds and rain. Out of all the things she liked to do, relaxing was one of Rainbow Dash’s favorite pastimes and perhaps her most favorite activity of all time.
Actually, that’s not entirely true.
Rainbow Dash opened her eyes suddenly as a surge of adrenaline coursed through her body. Rainbow Dash raised her wings and accelerated sharply upward toward the sun. The air rushed through her mane as she skillfully executed a triple loop-de-loop. Her wings flapped rapidly as she picked up even more speed. Rainbow Dash then performed an aileron-barrel row, her rainbow trail shimmering in the sky. She then finished with a brilliant rainbow tornado that bent the color spectrum to its breaking point.
“WOOOOOOHOOOOO!!!!!” screamed Rainbow Dash as she accelerated through the air. Her favorite activity, her passion, and arguable her reason for living was undoubtedly doing aerial acrobatics. She loved the feel of the wind in her face. She loved the sensation of adrenaline pumping through her body. And most of all, she loved the cheering of random onlookers as they witnessed her skyborne spectacles.
A team of nearby weather pegasus briefly stopped their work to witness this performance. But as amazing as it was, the weather team were quite used to Rainbow Dash’s random outbursts of aerial tricks. The group quickly resumed their preparations, inattentive to the acrobatics taking place above them. That didn’t matter to Rainbow Dash, though. She enjoyed showing off her agility even when few ponies were paying attention. Besides, the weather team members were probably not the only ponies who were able to see Rainbow Dash's spectacle.
The sleek blue pegasus continued to soar through the air. From her perspective, the world seemed to be a chaotic jumble of earth and sky. There was the sky in her sights. Now there was the town square in her vision…
…the sky again…
…AppleJack’s barn…
…the sun…
…the Ponyville Park…
A distant voice cried from below. “YEAH! THAT’S SO AWESOME!!!”
Rainbow Dash chuckled. She already reeled in her first earthbound spectator, and she was just getting warmed up. From the sound of the voice, it seemed that a young stallion had caught sight of the pegasus racing around in the sky. Rainbow Dash soared high above the park and cracked open her tricktionary. It was not long before the sky became filled with rainbow trails criss-crossing each other in every way possible.
“WOOOOHOOO YOU GO DASHIE!!” screamed the voice from the park.
Strange…very few ponies called Rainbow Dash by her nickname Dashie. In fact, the only ponies that called her by this name were her best friends. But the voice come down below was clearly a stallion’s voice. Maybe it was one her old friends from junior flight camp, or perhaps a secret admirer...
Rainbow Dash's train of thought was suddenly interrupted as a dull pain filled her head. The pegasus stop mid-flight and closed her eyes as the discomfort built up. The sounds of the outside world faded away as the pounding sensation consumed her mind. Rainbow Dash was experiencing one of those infamous headaches.
But as quickly as the sensation had come it had left. Rainbow Dash opened her eyes and shook herself vigorously. She was beginning to get very annoyed at the headaches, and she could not wait for them to go away, forever. In the meantime, the show had to go on.
With a whoosh, Rainbow Dash delved into the depths of her tricktionary. Maneuvers such as “The Shimmering Bolt” and “The Spectral Spiral” painted the skies with their brilliance. At this point, any spectator would be jumping in excitement and shouting for joy. Unfortunately, the mystery spectator did not seemed to be impressed, judging by the lack of any cheering from below. This was, in Rainbow Dash's mind, something that must be fixed immediately.
For her last trick, Rainbow Dash performed her signature move, the one maneuver that truly separated her from other flyers. The pegasus dived directly downward toward the Ponyville Park. The wind now screamed in her ears, and the air pulled her mane and tail straight behind her. As she gathered speed, a white cone formed around her body. Closer and closer she flew to the ground, until at the very last second…
The weather team was suddenly thrown into disarray as a massive rainbow wave plowed through the air.
Rainbow Dash flew back toward the sky, sweat and tears on her face as she watched the shockwave travel over Ponyville. The Sonic Rainboom was a feat achievable by only the fastest, most agile of pegasi. It was also the source of Rainbow Dash’s pride and fame ever since the Young Fliers Competition. The exhausted pegasus paused for a break, satisfied that she appeased her onlooker’s appetite for awesomeness. She closed her eyes and cleared her mind, taking in once again the cool spring air.
It was then that Rainbow Dash noticed something weird. The light spring breeze that blew through the sky just moments ago had suddenly vanished. The air had become quite still and…dusty as well. Not only that, but the warmth from the sun had dissipated and an uncomfortable chill took its place. Rainbow Dash dismissed these observations, too absorbed in the fact that she just executed the most legendary aerial maneuver in existence.
“AWWWWW YEAH. THAT’S MY LITTLE DASHIE!!!” cried the voice from down below.
There it was again. The pain flooded into Rainbow Dash's head, but left only a couple seconds later. After regaining focus, the pegasus looked around for a moment. In addition to feeling different, the sky also looked noticeably different. Instead of the vibrant blue that permeated the Equestrian sky, a sort of pale gray colored the firmament. Rainbow Dash took in her strange surroundings when a random thought popped in her head. "Wait...what did he just call me?"
The mystery spectator's cheer struck Rainbow Dash with complete confusion. Nopony in her entire life had called her “My Little Dashie.” As she turned her gaze toward the ground to search for the source of the call the sight that met her eyes shocked her even more.
The park below her was still there, but it wasn’t the pristine Ponyville park she knew; instead, it seemed to be a dirtier, more neglected and unkempt area than she remembered. As Rainbow Dash gazed around Ponyville, even stranger sights met her eyes: instead of the colorful streets and shops that comprised the small town, there were instead rows upon rows of houses. Run-down, bleak and lifeless houses. In fact, the entire surface of Equestria seemed to be less colorful than usual. And most surprising of all, the ponies that were walking about on the ground literally a few seconds ago vanished. Even her working weather team was gone without a trace.
Rainbow Dash’s heart began to beat faster. “Where am I?!” she said in a panic. She suddenly found herself stuck in a strange land, a place that she had never seen in her life. There were no discernible landmarks in any direction, and no signs of activity anywhere.
Directly below Rainbow Dash, however, there was a bench with a single solitary figure sitting upon it. Wait, was he the one cheering me on? Rainbow Dash thought to herself.
The lone figure then called out to Rainbow Dash. “DASHIE, COME DOWN QUICK BEFORE ANYONE SEES YOU!”
“It was him!” she said to herself. Despite the shock of being in a completely different world, Rainbow Dash worked up the courage to fly down to confront this being. She dived toward the run-down park, through the cold and dusty air. Her heart was pounding, and her thoughts were racing. Where am I? And who is he? On top of that, Rainbow Dash was feeling one of her headaches coming on again. She was far too distracted to notice the clump of cumulus clouds in her path. With a muffled thump, the blue pegasus plowed through the heart of the clump. Rainbow Dash was not prepared for the impact, and as a result a mixture of water and dust got caught in her eyes. She squeezed her eyes shut and rubbed her face with one hoof while continuing her steady descent toward the ground.
As her temporary blindness faded, Rainbow Dash caught a blurry glimpse of the ground getting closer and closer. She came to a steady landing as she rubbed the last specks of dust from her eyes and blinked hard several times. Surprisingly, the pain in her head had vanished altogether.
She then quickly turned her attention toward the nearby bench from which the mysterious figure was calling her name. Rainbow Dash stared for a second. She then took a few steps forward and paused again. With a dumbfounded look on her face, the blue pegasus walked slowly toward the bench. She stopped a few feet from it, her eyes fixed on who was currently sitting upon the bench.
No one.
There was nobody, nothing, nopony sitting on the bench in front of her. But that was the least of Rainbow Dash’s confusion. At that very moment, she was staring at a bench….in the middle of Ponyville Park. The desolate area that she saw from the sky contrasted greatly with the green foliage surrounding her. The familiar vibrant colors of Ponyville met her eyes, and the Ponyville Park lay before her exactly as she remembered it. She could hear faint sounds of pony conversation as well as the distant clamor of the weather team recovering from the surprise Sonic Rainboom. Even the once cold dusty air returned to the initial warm, clear weather.
As Rainbow Dash attempted to process a multitude of thoughts and questions, a rustle came from the bushes behind her. She turned toward the source of the sound, and out from the greenery emerged a pink maned, yellow pegasus.
“Oh. Hi Rainbow Dash,” said the pony in a timid voice.
“Hey Fluttershy. What’s up?” replied Rainbow Dash.
“Nothing really…I mean, I need to ask you something…if that’s okay with you,” she replied.
“Yes, what is it?” asked the blue pegasus
“Ummm…I was wondering if you could next time possibly perform your tricks a teeny bit farther away from the park. A lot of the animals that live here are frightened by loud noises, and your sonic rainboom scared most of them back into their homes.”
Rainbow Dash scratched her mane in embarrassment “Yeah, sorry about that. I kinda got carried away up there…wait, is there anypony with you Fluttershy?” inquired Rainbow Dash.
“No, not that I know of” replied Fluttershy as she glanced over her surroundings. “I believe it’s just me and the animals in the park today.”
“Huh…did you hear any loud noises, particularly cheering and screaming for my awesome air tricks?” asked Rainbow Dash with a slight smile on her face.
“Not a single peep. Although I did see you up there, and I must say that you were quite impressive Rainbow Dash,” replied Fluttershy with feigned excitement.
Rainbow Dash struggled to process was Fluttershy was saying. "Are you absolutely sure that you heard nopony else in the park?"
"Yes...well...I mean, I think so. Perhaps my hearing isn't so good. I really wasn't paying attention," replied Fluttershy.
"I see," said Rainbow Dash skeptically, Fluttershy had the best hearing of anypony she knew. Rainbow Dash briefly wondered if her mind was simply playing tricks on her but the blue pegasus had some second thoughts. "When I was up there, you saw me right? I didn’t like disappear or anything?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“Nope, I watched you from the beginning all the way until the sonic rainboom, which scared my poor Angel senseless…I wonder where he ran off to,” said Fluttershy as she started to look around for her pet bunny. “Is there something wrong Rainbow Dash?”
Rainbow Dash stared at the ground, perplexed by the preceding sequence of events. “No, I’m fine.” She replied. Did she just imagine the entire thing? Was it all just a trick of the mind? These thoughts ran through the young pegasus’ mind as she tried hard to figure out what had just happened. “I’m fine. I think I just knocked my head around a little during that last trick.”
“Oh, ok,” replied Fluttershy as she headed toward a nearby shrub. She looked at it for a second before sticking her head in. Then the yellow pegasus withdrew her head, a struggling white bunny caught in her mouth. Rainbow Dash watched her place the bunny gently on the ground. “Ah, there you are. No need to worry, it was just our friend Rainbow Dash practicing in the sky,” said Fluttershy as she motioned toward her friend.
Angel gave Rainbow Dash a dirty look and then hopped onto Fluttershy’s back. “Well, we’d better get home before the afternoon showers come in.” she said to the blue pegasus.
Rainbow Dash had almost forgot! The weather team was still preparing the spring rain and she needed to supervise. “Oh, yeah! I better go check on the weather team and see how they’re doing,” she exclaimed. Rainbow Dash took off suddenly toward the faraway gathering of weather ponies. “I’ll catch you later, Fluttershy!”
“Bye, Rainbow Dash!” shouted Fluttershy from the ground. “Alright, Angel, let’s go home now.”
Rainbow Dash sped toward her waiting weather team. A nice cloud cover had been put in place during her absence, and it looked like the spring showers were ready to go. Many of the ponies were now idly chatting away and she could see Derpy playing in the cumulus clouds in the distance
Rainbow Dash was quite confused with the multitude of events that had just transpired. There was the fact that a random stallion called her by a totally strange name. There was the fact that she was seemingly somehow transported to a completely different world where the mysterious onlooker also happened to be present. Then there was the fact that he disappeared into thin air when she tried to approach him. As Rainbow Dash neared the awaiting team of pegasi, she tried to push out all of these thoughts and focus on her assigned task, but despite her best efforts to concentrate, one question remained at the surface of her mind.
Who is he?