It didn't take long for Chinese police to respond to the shattering impact on the city street. They rushed to the scene, weapons in hand, to find the sole occupant of the crater sitting up and cracking her neck, rotating her head to dispel the lingering stiffness that clung to her like a blanket. She rolled her shoulders once before stretching her wings, causing the feathers to fluff up slightly before laying flat against her sides again.
Approaching slowly, they spoke in their strange tongue at Rainbow. Rainbow perked an ear. "I like the sound of that." Tapping at her earpiece, her words began to be translated. "Hello, sorry for the, uh, damage." She looked around, taking in the urban area she'd landed in. "I meant to hit the water, but I missed." She could see she had been so close, but just next to the water was the urban tangle she'd struck instead.
She spread her wings, looking them over before closing them again, puffing up her chest proudly as she looked the stunned humans over, trying to ignore their guns. "If you've got a bath and some grub, I'll be on my way."
One of the officers, the oldest stepped forward. "Stop right there. Identify yourself." His weapon didn't waver from Rainbow's position.
Rainbow waved a hoof. "Sure. Just trying to figure out what name would go down well with you folks." She lowered herself, bending one knee before tapping her chin in thought. "Honesty's the best policy, right?" She shrugged. "Rainbow Dash." She directed a hoof at herself. "Pony. or alien, if you prefer, but pony, specifically. I was sent to say hi, and chat, and see what this place was like. Hope you don't mind me stopping by."
The officer considered his weapon and holstered it, holding up his hands as he approached Rainbow. "You are not armed, and have done no damage other than impacting the road." He took a slow breath. "We have to take you in. We can't have a monster wandering the city, mild-mannered or not. It is the law."
Rainbow snorted and chuckled once. "I'll bite." She pointed her hoof at the officer, indicating him as she spoke. "This city?" She glanced around again. "Manhattan?"
The officer shook his head. "This is not America. You thought this was America?" The other officers laughed at the idea. "No no no. This is People's Republic of China. Come. This way." While some officers were busy keeping curious onlookers from getting too close, the one in charge escorted Rainbow towards a waiting car. "Don't try anything."
Rainbow smirked. "Relax, I'm just here to see the sights." She hopped into the back of the car, being too large to fit in the front properly without squeezing. In the back, she could flop longways across both seats and it was even kind of comfy. "Where are we headed?"
The officer slipped in the front behind the driver's wheel. "We are going to headquarters." He started the car and pulled out, leaving the shattered street behind as they went on their way, the people dispersing slowly as they did so, meandering back to their homes. "You are here to represent your alien species?"
"Yup!" Rainbow poked her head between the cushions, smiling at the officer as he drove. "We have special prizes for good humans. You are a good human, yeah? Cause you're sure cute enough." She winked, but it didn't really register with the driver, who kept driving without saying much more to Rainbow, which disappointed the pony greatly.
She wiggled back down into the cushions and relaxed. It wasn't long before they had her inside the police station, and from there, she was bounced from office to office until word and command reached the top and she was ferried away to visit Beijing, and with it, the offices of the president and other high-ranking officials.
But for now, she was left to sit and wait in a hallway outside a boardroom as they whispered within. The pegasus flopped down to lay on her belly, letting out a deep sigh as she rested. She hadn't expected this level of 'excitement'. "I just wanna look around," she groused to herself, watching the humans mill about. At least they had the freedom to do that. She had been ordered to sit and wait. She considered sneaking off, but it wasn't as if she could wander far, or knew where to go.
Twilight's voice popped into her ear. "How are you feeling, Rainbow? Any lingering issues?"
Rainbow shook her head, exhaling heavily as she sighed once more. "Do you mean the landing? Everything worked the way it's written it should. I didn't feel anything but the rush of meeting the ground." She laughed at the memory of it. "That was a landing! I want to get back up into the air, but the humans seem to want to parade me around first."
Twilight moved about, hoofsteps thumping on the floor. "Well, we'll let them have their fun for now. Don't antagonize them too much. They may not be your biggest fans just yet."
Rainbow waved lightly at the voice in her ear. "I got this! I'm your agent on the ground, remember? I won't slack off, promise." She batted at her earring, ending the chat. "Finally, some peace and quiet." She grinned, flicking her tail once as she gazed about the room. Everything was so foreign to her, and yet so similar. They all stood on their hindlegs, but their forelimbs were fingers and toes instead of hooves.
They were also emerging from that office. The one with more pins on their chest arrived first. "Welcome." The offered a hand that Rainbow met with a hoof, completing the light shake. "Thank you for waiting. I'm sure you have many things you want to do. I am here, in part, to inform you that you are being given permission to do exactly that."
Rainbow sprung up from her seat with a broad grin. "Well, thank you, Mister." She checked the nameplate once more. "Ji. You folks sure do make some fine government leaders." She chuckled, flashing a confident smirk. "Are you folks ready for what I have to offer?"
He bowed his head in response. "We would be most delighted to receive it. In time." He touched a hand to his chest. "I believe introductions are in order."
So there was at least one more function to complete, as Rainbow as introduced to the president of China and the various ministers of different things. When Rainbow met with the NEC, she perked. "You guys would be in charge of all things related to power, right?" She looked them over, grinning at them as she considered her options. "Awesome."
"Er, yes. We do have the energy council." The man smiled uneasily. "How do you know of us?"
Rainbow thumped her hoof on the ground. "We've been studying you, and boy do I have an offer for you." She leaned in, brows waggling. "Imagine, a world where every single power need is met, without a single pound of stuff being burned to do it. No reliance on time of day. No caring about what month it is. Just, taken care of." She grinned as she leaned back, pulling away from the humans with a smug expression.
He breathed out slowly. "I see. Yes. Of course, we'd be very interested in this. Pardon my asking, but what is the catch, Miss Dash?"
She waggled a hoof at him. "Now, now, Mister-" She checked his nameplate. "Qiang. That's for another time." She poked him in the chest with a hoof. "If I told you now, you wouldn't have anything to look forward to." She rolled her eyes. "Seriously, no catches on the power. We want humanity to get over this whole power thing. It's holding you back. You're more than this!"
Qiang looked over Rainbow with a considering gaze before bowing once. "Thank you for your consideration. Now, what is it that you would like to do?"
Rainbow reared up and let out a triumphant whinny, grabbing their attention instantly. "Okay, so, I'm not the big turbo nerd Twilight is. You'll be talking to her for the specifics. I'll be your pony on the ground, helping out to get things done. There are things we have to do to get ready first." She slyly smirked. "The Americans are already preparing. You don't want them to win at unlimited power, hm?"
He shook his head quickly, straightening as he considered the words being offered to him. "I see. That would be unfortunate, yes." He glanced over Rainbow with a careful eye. "How long will it take you to prepare?"
Rainbow huffed softly. "If it was up to me, we'd already be done, but it isn't. This is your world and your country." She put a hoof at her chest. "Twilight promised you all would get to make your decisions like grown creatures, so it's up to you how fast we go. I'll get the list together." She turned for the door. "But first, I really want to get a look at this lovely country of yours. It's nothing like where I'm from."
The council members spoke among themselves for a moment before Ji stepped forward again. "That can be arranged. We can arrange a tour of our facilities, and a flight over our territory. How long will you need?"
Rainbow's eyes lit at the mention of flight, at least until she realized what they meant. "I don't need help flying." She flapped her wings lightly. "Just give me permission and I'll fly myself, gladly! It's been far too long since I had a good flight. The whole 'orbital' thing wasn't exactly to my taste."
The Minister of the Environment stepped forward, giving Rainbow a sheepish smile. "It would be great for our environment ministry if you would allow us to accompany you, Rainbow Dash."
Rainbow perked a brow. "If they can keep up. Oh! Right." She tapped at her earring, interfacing with it in subtle ways her modified hoof allowed. "Here." A nearby computer chimed gently. "Use that and you can see where I am all the time. I'm not trying to sneak around, but I am kinda fast." She winked once at the humans before turning on a hoof and prancing out of the room, nearly bowling over an official who had been moving down the hallway as she did so. "Sorry!" She took off, racing for the nearest window, bursting through it without stopping, shooting up into the air, disturbing everyone near it with the soft bang of rainbows as she pushed her limits with a cheerful cry.
The president waved at the computer that had beeped. "Does it work like she said?"
An officer hurried over to check. "Yes, it has her position." He turned the screen for the president to see, with a little rainbow shown flying over China. "She's in Beijing right now, moving at very high speeds, well over two thousand kilometers an hour." He scratched his head. "Aircraft aren't supposed to fly that fast. That would disturb the sound barrier."
The minister for the environment looked at the map once, then gestured at the president. "That explains the thump we just heard, but we only heard one. Going that quickly, she should be making them repeatedly. But how? Is she somehow preventing sonic booms?"
Another officer picked up a phone and started relaying orders to get a team together and in the air to chase after the pony and test this theory out. The president followed his people to a helicopter, eager to watch what happened as they sped into the air. Soon, he was able to see Rainbow Dash ahead of them, rocketing across the sky at absurd speeds, but leaving no signs that she had ever done so.
Jets came in screaming, and Rainbow just waved at them. They began to fly together, the pegasus laughing with joy as she got flying partners that could almost keep up with her sharp turns and joyous loops. She twisted about, sliding back and forth between the jets to mess with them and laugh at their frustration, only to jump away and speed ahead of them again, to dash through clouds like she was swimming in a river of cotton candy, to nosedive towards the ground before pulling up at the last moment and fluttering her wings to hold her elevation before coming to a gentle landing, quite unlike her original explosive arrival. "Woo, that was a real workout. I missed those!" Technically, she had never experienced them, but her memories, lingering within her, were howling with just as much joy. Yes, flying was where she was meant to be.