//------------------------------//
// Problem 3: Rainbow's Rising Rank 
// Story: The Alicorn Problems 
// by TheTimeSword 
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It'd taken hours but Rainbow Dash finally departed from her loving and wonderful parents' home. She flew down the streets of Cloudsdale, dodging other pegasi who weren't pegasi anymore. It was nice to be around the more normal ponies of the city, rather than her parents. Those two couldn't understand that becoming an alicorn wasn't special if everyone also became an alicorn at the same time. At least they were taking the change well, neither cared about their new horns or learning spells. Some things never really changed—even if the world had overnight. 

And Cloudsdale had a surprisingly sparse amount of ponies. On her way up to the floating city, she'd passed many ponies who weren't accustomed to being such heights. More than once she heard the screams of somepony falling to their doom. She raced herself sore trying to catch them, only for the helpless fool to figure out how to hover all by themselves. It became an itch underneath her skin that she could not scratch.

Still, it beat trying to explain to her parents how she wasn't really a princess. They couldn't understand that becoming an alicorn did not mean also becoming a princess. Rainbow Dash didn't get it either since Twilight had become both, and Cadance too. Celestia and Luna? Well, it didn't matter anyway. If she were to name herself a princess though, she would definitely be the Princess of Speed. The fastest princess alive! 

Rainbow Dash quickly shook her head, loosening the thought. "They really got to me this time. If I keep thinking like that, I'll be the Princess of Ego—and the girls won't ever let me live that nickname down." She already had one nickname that she didn't much care for—Rainbow Crash. And if she needed an arrogance check, the ponies who called her that were the ones do it. She wondered if they'd already come together and brainstormed some new ideas utilizing alicorn magic.

It was a short trip to the Wonderbolt Academy. While passing over the landing zone trainees used, she saw no one was in flight today. That made sense, there must've been a few meetings about how to handle the change. Rainbow Dash regretted not being there, but she hurried, hoping to make the tail end.

Hurrying only led to surprise, however, as the entrance of the academy had a mess of bags, luggage, and ponies who were leaving. "Fleetfoot!" Rainbow Dash cried, landing in front of the mare. 

Fleetfoot had two saddlebags on her back, and wasn't in uniform. Her arctic-colored fur stained with sweat, as though she'd been working out for hours. Her mane was super slick too, almost flat against her skull, making her horn prominent. "Hey, look who it is, Rainbow Dash," Fleetfoot greeted, with no nickname added. "You're a little late, but we haven't touched your locker. I bet I look a mess, but wait till you see Soarin."

"Touched my locker? What's going on!?" Rainbow Dash asked, her eyes bulging. She grew anxious looking at all the stuff on the ground.

But Fleetfoot's mouth twisted in a perplexed frown. Sweat dripped down her furrowed brows. "Right, I guess you wouldn't know yet. Uh—maybe skip Soarin and go find Spitfire. She should still be in what's left of the captain's office."

"What's left!?" Rainbow blurted out, but didn't wait for another word from Fleetfoot. 

There weren't many ponies inside the academy as there were outside. Rainbow did find Soarin who looked like he was going to pass out from carrying six duffel bags at once. He tried to ask for help, but Rainbow Dash just went on past him. She had to find out what exactly was going on. Walls were barren. Banners had been removed and rolled up. Tables and chairs sat against walls, folded and stacked as though they'd never be used again. The trophy case sat empty. Paintings sat backwards facing the wall.

One table remained outside the barracks where ponies slept, however. The captain of the Wonderbolts used that table whenever they needed to address the entirety of the squads. Usually there would be papers, scheduling information or training duty operations. Today it remained empty. Another bad sign to Rainbow Dash, who hurried along to the captain's office.

With a swift knock, Rainbow didn't wait to be called in. "Captain Spitfire!" she cried out, surprised by the emptiness of the room. The walls were undecorated, the oaken table paperless, and even the seats had all been dragged out. Only a few plaques remained—which the captain proceeded to remove. "Captain! Reporting for duty!"

The yellow mare threw a look over her shoulder. "Rainbow Dash? Duty's finished. Pack up your things and leave. It's been nice working with you."

"Ma'am?" Rainbow Dash questioned. "What are you talking about? What is going on!?"

Spitfire blinked. "Right. Guess you weren't at the meeting—where have you been?" Spitfire shook her head. "Doesn't matter now that I think about it. You and your friends probably caused all this. Which means—" Setting her bag down first, Spitfire strode across the room to Rainbow Dash. With a grab of Dash's hoof, Spitfire shook it with all her might. "I've got to thank you! I wouldn't have thought I'd be waking up yesterday morning to the sight of a new horn, or that I'd consider myself a princess, but here I am!"

"Princess?" Rainbow Dash recoiled from the hoofshake. "Captain, what's going on? Why is everything being removed? Taken down!? What has happened to the Wonderbolts!?"

"We're finished, Dash," Spitfire stated flatly. "We've got new sights, and nopony wants to stay behind to continue the Wonderbolt legacy. Not that anyone needs to. It's a brand new world, and we're going to find out what's in store for us. Blaze and Misty already took off. Soarin and Fleetfoot volunteered to help dismantle some of this place before we leave it to whoever comes to claim it." She then threw a bag to Rainbow Dash. "You can help too, if you're so eager to do some work one last time."

Rainbow Dash threw down the bag in a fit of frustration. "No!" she cried, falling on Spitfire's hooves. "Please! You can't be serious! What about your cutie marks? You're really going to tell me the Wonderbolts aren't a place for you? That being an alicorn changes who you are!?"

With a look of revulsion, Spitfire snatched back her legs from Rainbow's pitiful grip. "Get a hold of yourself, Dash! Being a Wonderbolt isn't my cutie mark, and it's not yours either. You think I don't have other hobbies? That my whole purpose is just to do this one thing?" She paused and thought about her own words. "Don't answer that. My point is, you're an alicorn. There's so much more you and I can do. You don't have to follow my orders or anyone else's for that matter."

"But my whole life all I've ever wanted to be was a Wonderbolt!" Rainbow Dash crawled on her belly, trying to touch Spitfire's hooves again. "Now that I am, you're just going to take that away from me!?"

Spitfire narrowed her eyes, and Rainbow Dash realized how pathetic she must sound to her superior. She almost wanted to stop groveling, but this was worse than the worst thing imaginable. If this was karma for being annoyed by her parents, she'd rather live with them again and be a Wonderbolt than never be a Wonderbolt ever again.

"So, you love the Wonderbolts that much?" Spitfire asked, and Rainbow Dash nodded her head so hard that she almost bruised her chin on the floor. "Alright then." Spitfire dug into her bag and pulled out the golden pin of a lightning bolt. "Congratulations, Rainbow Dash." She dropped it into Rainbow's hooves. "Or should I say, Captain Rainbow Dash."

There was no way. Rainbow Dash couldn't believe her eyes, refusing to acknowledge what she heard. But here it was, the captain's pin! And her? Captain? Captain Rainbow Dash! "Me?" Rainbow said softly.

"I'll make sure to tell Soarin and Fleet that they can stop what they're doing," Spitfire said as she made her way to the door. "Oh, one more thing." Rainbow looked back just in time to catch a pair of sunglasses. "Captains always get the coolest shades," she added, before ducking out into the hall and leaving Dash alone.

Rainbow Dash could see herself in the reflection of the sunglasses, her smile beaming ear to ear. "Captain Rainbow Dash," she said in a rush. "Captain Rainbow Dash!" she said, louder and prouder. "Me. Captain of the Wonderbolts!" Or what was left of it.

Almost stunned, she moved autonomously to the seat behind the captain's desk. It was large, too big for her small frame, and probably the reason it remained. She set the pin down on the desk—she wasn't wearing anything to pin it to—and then put the sunglasses on. "Real captain shades!" The plastic pair she had would be thrown out as soon as she got home. These were the real deal. "I can't wait to try these out! I bet the air practically parts for them!"

With the fascination finished, she put the glasses away and found herself staring down at the pin. How long had she been staring at it? How long had she watched Spitfire wear it? Rainbow Dash almost didn't want to touch it for fear of tarnishing it. "Am I even ready for this?" she wondered aloud. "I guess I have to be." Kicking up her hooves onto the desk, Rainbow Dash then swung back, forelegs behind her head, relaxing in the seat. "Yeah, I've got this."

A sudden knock sent Rainbow Dash spinning in the seat, twirling in a moment of panic, before ultimately falling onto the floor with a thundering crash. She gripped the desk to pull herself up, only to meet the shy stare of a yellow mare. "Fluttershy? What're you doing here?"

Fluttershy only poked her head through the gap, but the mention of her name sent her skittering back till only the front of her nose remained. "Rainbow Dash? Is that you?" she asked, and only came in slowly at the call. "I wasn't sure if I was allowed back here."

"Fluttershy! Fluttershy!" Rainbow bounded to her like an excited fox in snow. "Look! It's me!" She held the golden pin so close to Fluttershy's face that the mare's eyes had to cross. "It's me! I am the captain now! Captain Rainbow Dash, leader of the Wonderbolts! Can you believe it!?"

"That's wonderful, Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy congratulated, though she still said it in her usual quiet voice. "I always knew you could be!" Fluttershy looked around the room. "Does that mean this is your office now? What happened to the others? To Spitfire? I saw there some things outside—nopony stopped me from coming in. Where is everyone?"

Rainbow Dash flew back to her seat, kicking her back legs onto the desk. "Spitfire made me captain before she left. She said all the others were leaving too. Something about a whole new world or whatever. Everypony is going crazy over being alicorns, I guess." She waved a dismissive hoof.

Fluttershy hid half her face in her hair. "That kind of sounds like you're only captain because nobody else is left."

That certainly sucked the enthusiasm out of the air. Rainbow Dash sat forward, avoiding meeting Fluttershy's eyes. "Well, yeah, when you put it like that—but I would've been captain one day! This speeds it up!" She let out a hearty laugh, and hoped Fluttershy couldn't tell her heart wasn't in it. "You know how I like to go fast!" A cough and a pat of her forehead was all Rainbow added before quickly changing subjects. "What are you doing here? Done with your parents already?"

Fluttershy's meekness fell away at the mention of her parents. "Oh, yes! My parents have decided to move."

"Move? Where to?" Rainbow Dash gawked. She wouldn't have thought Fluttershy's traditional family would've been afflicted by becoming alicorns. "They got the princess bite, huh?"

But Fluttershy just blinked at that. "N-no, they planned their move before the change. Apparently, they had their eye on a bigger place in the quieter part of Cloudsdale, and that owner wanted to downsize and be closer to the inner city. So they're just house swapping."

"Oh." That was certainly on the level Rainbow Dash expected. "So, I guess they took the alicorn change well?" Fluttershy nodded. "That's good. Mine went nuts seeing me—you know how they are. Shucks, out of all your family I would've expected Zeph—"

As soon as the words left her mouth, the stallion she spoke of burst through the door. "Flutterbutter, you would not believe the things they have just lying around here." He wore an almost exact pair of sunglasses that Rainbow Dash now owned. "Oh, hey Dash," he said smoothly, looking over the rim of the shades. "You're looking nice behind that desk."

An unstoppable groan of disgust erupted from Rainbow's throat. "I'm assuming he's gotten a confidence boost?" she asked Fluttershy, who replied by darting her eyes between the two. "I'll take that as a yes. What are you doing here, Zephyr?" she dryly asked.

"Well." He removed the shades, but Rainbow Dash quickly snatched them out of his hoof. "I'm here to try out for the Wonderbolts. Now that I'm a princess—er," he stammered over the word. "Prince Zephyr," he tried to correct, though nopony fell for it.

"You? A Wonderbolt? Not a chance. You were a pegasus before the change, what makes you think you got the stuff for it now?"

"I've been practicing," he replied, bobbing his head. "With this horn, I'll bet you've got all sorts of aerodynamic issues. I'm used to having a bun in my hair, so it's nothing new to me. I got all the know how." He was serious, and his smug grin made Rainbow Dash want nothing more than to turn him into a frog. Not that she knew how—but Twilight could teach her that. Someday.

"Not a chance. I'm captain now, and there's no way I'd have you out on the field." She studied him for a moment before looking to Fluttershy. "Seriously, why'd you bring him here?"

Fluttershy's eyes darted between the two again before falling to the floor. Her head hung low as she said, "My parents don't want him to know where they're moving."