//------------------------------// // 15 - Rock and roll // Story: LOYALTY // by Crowne Prince //------------------------------// The sun came up, and then it went down and the moon rose. The sun came back up again. The moon shoved it out of the way and it was dark once more. After two seconds, the sun pulled the moon down and the daylight shone on. Soarin' crunched a pillow over his head. If he didn't know any better, he'd think he could hear the arguing from here: "Day." "Night." "Day." "Night." "Day." "NIGHT." "Oh, look Luna. I think breakfast is ready," Soarin' imagined the sun princess saying after noticing a guard cowering in the doorway. "Ha-hah. So it seems. I shall be eating my breakfast before the sun is even up." Luna turned her back and went to the dining hall. "Day," Celestia whispered. With the approaching Summer Solstice, there had been a few minor issues regarding the time the sun was supposed to rise on the horizon. On a good morning, the sun came up a little earlier than the previous day. On a bad morning, everypony who didn’t feel like being at a rave buried their heads in their blankets. Soarin’ rolled out of bed and crashed into the floor. He lay on his side, wincing. Note: do not roll out of bed. Sounds good on paper, doesn’t actually work. The growing sleep deficit and lack of free time was taking its toll on his ability to concentrate. There was a derby the day after he ate dinner at Rainbow Dash’s place. After flying back and forth, demonstrating the cloud trick, and more team flight practice with her, he wasn’t in full form for the race the next day. He didn’t place high enough to make it to the second round. Soarin’ expected to see his hallway portrait in last place in a few weeks. Yes, the other Wonderbolts noticed his underperformance, but he would find little sympathy from them. If a team member’s own personal choices were affecting their competency, then that was their problem to sort out. It was fine to lose stride for a while, as long as the consequences weren’t damaging or prolonged. “Yay for being a responsible adult,” Soarin’ sighed to himself on the way out of his room. He had to make an announcement this morning before routine practice. ‘Routine practice’ made it sound dull and easy, but it was the opposite. As a result, every week it got more difficult to keep up with Wonderbolt training and also visit Rainbow Dash. He tried not to think about how tired he was over a cup of coffee, which he only recently started drinking. Was all of this exhaustion worth it? Yes. It had nothing to do with the coffee, either. Coffee tasted terrible. He added two more sugar cubes. Everypony else was already on the practice field when he got there. He had to shout over them to get their attention. When he had it, he went on: “Guys, I know the Wonder Trial is only a few weeks away and it’s a little late for this, but I can’t be involved in the Trial this year. I’m dropping out of the planning meetings.” None of them seemed surprised. Lightning Streak’s flashy mane whipped around. “Oy Soarin’, and why’s tha’?” Lightning Streak knew full well why not. Rapidfire cuffed the troublemaker’s ears. Fleetfoot tapped the empty spot next to her for Soarin’ to get into position. “Perfect. You can deliver the Trial invitations with me and Spitfire.” Soarin’ felt his coat prickle in alarm. When and why did Spitfire back out of the Trial? He tried to catch his teammate’s attention, but she was another row in front of him and focused on the formation. This wasn’t the time for questions, anyway. All of the Wonderbolts took to the sky on a cue from Rapidfire. During break, half of the team left to practice small group maneuvers and combat training. Soarin’ took the opportunity to corral Spitfire, who had been ignoring him and making sure Rapidfire was between them at all times. Now the gray stallion stood to the side while Soarin’ interrogated Spitfire. “Why didn’t you tell me you weren’t going to judge the Trials this year?” Soarin’ tried to keep the worry from his voice. “You’ve been training one of the other potentials, haven’t you?” Training one of them enough to get too vested in one competitor over the others. “And what if I have?” Spitfire said coyly. That was all the confirmation he needed. “Don’t you remember what you said after the Best Young Flier Competition last year? That you and Fleetfoot were seriously considering training Dash specially? It’s not like you to go back on your word! She’s ready, I swear, as biased as I may be – you saw for yourself in Ponyville. Why can’t we just take her on without wasting everypony’s time at the Wonder Trial?” Spitfire’s expression turned serious. “Even if the whole team agreed to that, it wouldn’t be fair to Rainbow Dash. How do you think she would feel about being handed a spot on the team without fighting for it like everypony else here? Also, if I recall, some sneaky fox-excuse for a pony took on Rainbow Dash before Fleetfoot or I did.” Spitfire’s usual saucy smile returned. “If she’s as good as she claims to be, my recruit won’t stand a chance.” She put her leg around Soarin’s shoulders. “Don’t worry pal, I’m sure it’ll be fine. I think she’ll enjoy the competition, and we’ve got to give every talented pegasus a fair shot.” “Yeah,” Soarin’ said, returning to his senses. He cared too much. “I guess you’re right.” This is one competition against Spitfire I don’t want to lose. Rapidfire clicked his hooves together. “An impossible riddle.” He trotted off towards a different gathering of Wonderbolts like he hadn’t been paying attention to Spitfire and Soarin’ at all. ~~~ Rainbow Dash opened the latest edition of the school newspaper and saw her picture at the top of Gabby Gums’ feature. It’s about time I get to be in the spotlight. Not like every pony in town was before me or anything. She read the title. Suddenly the column wasn’t funny anymore. She opened the newspaper to the column and skimmed through the first few lines. Rainbow Dash, Speed Demon or Super Softie? A certain “do not” source close to local speedster Rainbow Dash revealed in an interview that the pegasus enjoys hooficures, wears cute accessories during her downtime, and has a bed covered in plush stuffed animals. Some suspect Rainbow Dash’s daredevil license is a fabrication to promote her “bad girl” attitude. No pony was able to confirm they had ever actually seen the license. Gabby Gums was going down. A split second before Rainbow Dash raced out to get all of the copies off the market, she noticed the “continued” box at the end of the second page. That was the first time Gabby Gums wrote three pages. Rainbow Dash flipped to see what came next. Before she knew it, she was interrupting the news carrier. Dense stacks of papers filled a mail cart behind the delivery pegasus. Rainbow Dash zoomed into the cart without a word and heaved every copy of The Foal Free Press into her forelegs. It shouldn’t have been possible to hold all of them at once, but Soarin’s magic trick apparently worked on newspapers. “I’ll pay you back later!” she shouted as she took the first batch of papers away. Rainbow Dash dumped the load into her living room and raced off to find the shipment of newspapers going to Ponyville. How could Gabby Gums possibly have made it past Tank? She must be a pegasus. When I find out who she is… This was not how she expected to find the photo that had gone missing from her nightstand drawer. Reprinted inside every school newspaper was a black and white image of her and Soarin’, him dangling ridiculously from a cloud while she clutched one of his hind legs. Her cutie mark was blurred out. Even the fastest pegasus in Equestria couldn’t stop all of the newspapers. By the time Rainbow Dash made it to the last newsstand, ponies pointed her out and laughed. This was slightly more tolerable than the other reaction, which was to look at her, blush, and turn away. It didn’t take Twilight Sparkle to figure out what the text might be on the third page of Gabby Gums’ article. Rainbow Dash swept past the ground ponies, snatching papers straight from their hooves left and right. “I’ll take that! Whoops, that one doesn’t look any good. 'Scuse me, thanks! Sorry! Recall." Enraged readers shouted and shook their hooves at her as she sped away with a new heap of newspapers to one of the safe zones in Ponyville: Sugar Cube Corner. Pinkie Pie would definitely know how to get rid of all these papers. - - - A few days later "Gabby Gums" apologized. At that point Rainbow Dash had calmed down enough to be glad to see the end of the stupid column. If she needed to have her daredevil license printed in the paper to prove it was real and she wasn’t a wuss, though, she was going to sock somepony. There was one thing she couldn’t figure out. Before the Cutie Mark Crusaders could leave to make amends with their next victim, Rainbow Dash turned to the winged filly in the trio. “So Scootaloo, how did you get into my house?” Scootaloo fussed with the soggy newspaper. “Uh, well, you see, that’s…” “Oh, she didn’ fly,” Apple Bloom said cheerfully now that she wasn’t getting rained on. “We put her in a big box an mailed her straight to yer door!” Two of the three crusaders grinned at their creative brilliance. “Well,” Scootaloo said quickly, “We’ve got a lot more apologies to do, so we’ll see you later!” She grabbed her friends and zipped off. “Not so fast.” Rainbow Dash was on the ground, blocking their path. “One of you still has my photo. Since you already have my address, go ahead and mail it back.” She put a hoof to her face. “Just don’t let any more ponies see it, okay?” She stepped aside to let the troublemakers get on with their apology quest. Sweetie Belle complained quietly, “Scootaloo, you just wanted to add that to your Rainbow Dash collection.” “Did not!” “Did too!” Apple Bloom walked ahead without them. “Come on Crusaders, let’s go see Fluttershy.” - - - Pinkie Pie rolled in the dirt next to the restaurant table, laughing. “I mean, did you guys see what was in the one about Rarity? It was so funny, I couldn’t stop reading. Especially the part about the garden party in Canterlot.” The voice of reason Twilight Sparkle said, “We were there, remember?” “Oh yeah!” Rarity harrumphed, insulted. “That was my private diary. I’d appreciate it if you put what was in that column out of your minds. Besides, those three greatly exaggerated the most important details and added a few beastly things I would have never written.” She muttered to herself something about peanut butter and prince charming. Applejack handed her menu to the waitress while she spoke. “Well ya can sure as hay bet there won’t be no more of those nasty, low-down stories. Big Mac gave those three a talkin’ to like I ain’t never seen.” “Yay,” Fluttershy cheered. “I’m glad there’s no more Gabby Gums.” “You know what this calls for?” Pinkie Pie asked. “A party!” Twilight chimed in with a spot-on impression of Pinkie Pike. “No,” Pinkie Pie said. “No, it doesn’t call for a party. Leave the decision-making to the experts, Twilight.” The waitress returned with a tray boasting more glasses than there were ponies at the table. Three pink lemonades lined up in front of Pinkie Pie. “It calls for drinks! Woo-hoo yeah!” The party pony slammed down an entire glass of lemonade in the time it took to blink. Rainbow Dash pulled her drink closer after the waitress set it on the table. “How come you always order the same thing Pinkie?” “Well that’s a silly question, silly. Don’t you know anything about flamingos? If I didn’t drink anything pink, I’d lose all of my splendiffic color. Wouldn’t that be a surprise! I mean, imagine me completely white.” “Uh. Newsflash Pinkie, you’re not a flamingo.” “Well duh Dashie,” the mare rolled her eyes. “I’m not the one who thinks ponies are trees.” “I do not think – ggrrrr,” Rainbow Dash gave up on that particular argument. Pinkie Pie didn’t, though. “Prove it!” “How am I supposed to prove what I’m thinking?” “Easy, we’ll just hook you up to my–“ Pinkie Pie twirled her hooves in the air and made a spooky voice “–mind reader.” Twilight finished sipping on her drink and set it down. “All in favor of not wanting to read Rainbow Dash’s thoughts.” Every pony at the table besides the two arguing raised their hooves and said ‘aye.’ Oh come on, my thoughts aren’t that bad. - - - After lunch Soarin' intercepted Rainbow Dash on the way to the Everfree Forest and told her there was a change of plans. Thanks to this new activity, Rainbow Dash was developing a serious animosity towards everything large and gray. This is earth pony work! I don’t have a hard forehead like Pinkie Pie. Rolling rocks with my noggin ain’t an option here. She struggled and strained against the boulder, digging furrows into the ground. It didn’t budge. “Is this really…”she panted “…necessary?” “No,” Soarin’ said. He continued kicking some small stones into a pile on the other side of a line scored in the dirt. Today he sported nothing except a pair of flight goggles fastened around his neck. Her own goggles shifted as she tried to get more leverage on the dumb rock. “Then why are we doing this?” “Come on Dash, be a hero.” “Believe me, I tried that and it didn’t work out so great.” Rainbow Dash rammed her shoulder into the boulder and heaved. Dirt and grit crackled underneath it as it plowed forward. The big stone passed over the line on the ground and erased a section of it. They were spending their training time on the rock farm outside Ponyville. Barren trees tainted with dull earth pony magic poked from the grassless earth. Nopony ever visited the rock farm because the folks here were so uptight. Day in and day out pegasi managing the skies could see the stiff-faced farmers moving rocks from one side of the field to the other. Often the weather team put gray clouds up so they didn’t have to see. At the moment Rainbow Dash and Soarin’ were the only ones here. Apparently Celestia had told the Wonderbolts to move the rocks for a few days. The rock farmers themselves were on a forced vacation, courtesy of the Princess. Today it was Soarin’s turn to rotate all of the stones from the south field over to the west field. Rainbow Dash complained, “Why couldn’t Spitfire give you a different day, or assign another Wonderbolt to help us?” “Spitfire?” Soarin’ was confused. “Wait, you don’t think…” “She’s your captain, right?” “I should have explained this to you. I thought you might have already noticed.” Soarin’ shuffled his feet. “We don’t have a captain. Everypony finds this hard to understand, so they assume one of us is leader. A lot of the military stuff about the Wonderbolts dissolved before my time, and ponies didn’t listen to the team when they said there wasn’t a captain anymore. Might as well let them believe what they want to believe.” Rainbow Dash sat down, dumbfounded. Spitfire was not captain. Everypony said Spitfire was captain. All the newspapers and stories agreed. But just because everyone believed something didn’t make it true. “You’re kidding, right?” “I’m not.” Soarin’ grinned. “What, had your eye on being captain, did you?” “Commander of the most talented flyers in all of Equestria? Wouldn’t dream of it.” “Ha ha. Of course you wouldn’t, Modest Mare.” Rainbow Dash shushed him and put one hoof on top of a small rock, adopting a grave expression. “No talking. And no smiling. This is a rock farm, remember? Wipe that grin off your face. Yeah, that’s right.” She put her free forehoof on another small rock. “This is serious business.” Now the rocks were ready to roll. The ruler of Ponyville’s skies did her best impression of a Canterlot snob, throwing her head so far back that her muzzle pointed straight to the sun. She pouted her lips and rolled the stones underneath her hooves with dainty kicks: left, right, left, right. Soarin’ was trying to contain his snickering with little success. She reminded him without breaking stride: “Rock farm. No laughing.” The rocks went over the border with two final kicks. “No need to tell me that.” Soarin’ flattened himself against the ground and pressed his nose to a rock. “I’m a very serious stallion.” Without warning he pushed the rock forward as fast as possible, taking awkward spider-like strides to keep his body low to the ground. Rainbow Dash put her hoof over her mouth. There was Soarin’ the Wonderbolt, chuffing through the dirt like a demented winged bug. The two pegasi were definitely breaking the rule about no smiling while they desecrated the stoic atmosphere of the rock farm. Rainbow Dash lay on her side and attempted to kick stones into the west field, squirming to a new batch when she ran out. Soarin’ did every silly bowling trick in the book. Then he used his wings like a snowplow to gather up bunches of tiny stones. Eventually both of the racers did the forbidden thing and burst into laughter. The rock farmers were going to wonder why the skies were blue and sunny when they got home. All of the rocks had been rotated, so nopony would find out today what happened if they did not get moved. “Hey Dash,” Soarin’ said. “Race ya to the Everfree Forest. Threetwoonego.” Rainbow Dash tore into the sky and overtook Soarin’, even though he’d tried to catch her off guard. “Last one there is a Wonderbolt!” she yelled over her shoulder. It took her competitor a few seconds to process that. She heard him spluttering behind her, “Hey wait, you mean me – I’m the Wonderbolt in this duo. Get back here!” He couldn’t catch her, though. Not today Soarin’. Not today! Rainbow Dash barrel rolled over Sweet Apple Acres and landed with a final flip on the first pinkish cloud at the edge of the forest. Soarin’ joined her seconds later. She boasted, “What did you think of that?” Soarin’ smirked and poked her in the chest with a wingtip. “I think I’ll see you at the Wonder Trial, and then we’ll find out who’s the Wonderbolt. Now let’s fly!” The pale pegasus crouched and shot off the cloud, Rainbow Dash following right behind him. She flapped to catch up and fell into a steady synchronized rhythm with her flight partner. This coordination wasn’t some neat little trick she’d picked up. This was the product of months of practice, and Soarin’ was about to test her on all of it. The two pegasi spun round and round each other, flying straight up in a corkscrew until the sun's rays shone in their eyes. Flight goggles snapped into place to reduce the glare and protect against high wind speeds. The speed demons turned and raced side by side over the clouded skies of the Everfree Forest, punching through any that got in their way without slowing down. Their goal was a towering cotton candy cumulonimbus up ahead. Already it was in front of them. Both flyers angled upward and flew a tail’s length from the unusual tall wall of cloud. Soarin’ dipped the tips of his hooves into it and skimmed along the surface. Rainbow Dash followed suit. When they reached the top they kept going upward, contrails of pink streaming from their feet. Soarin’ shifted his legs in a signal she now recognized. Fireworks crackled as the two collided again and again, unleashing bursts of magic every time their hooves struck together. Sparking clusters of light fell to the forest and their creators fell with them. “Dash.” Soarin’ rushed to get the words out before the trees were too close. “Fly south far enough for a Rainboom at this spot. When you get there, rise above the clouds and wait for me to stop. Then charge.” “Got it.” They both turned and took off in opposite directions. Colored wisps of mane lifted off Rainbow Dash’s face and blew back against the wind. Her heart thrummed in her chest; her soul was alight and burning for action. I don’t need to go as far as I used to. She cut an upward corner and climbed the sky. A colored beam flowed from her tail and created a vertical rainbow. She noticed out of the corner of her eye a bright yellow path mirroring her movement far away. The blue speck at the tip of the shining pillar came to a stop, as did she. All movement paused for the pair of ponies crowning the two distinct contrails. The moment of stillness was brief. Rainbow Dash aimed for the spot they’d started from and flew true. The distance between her and the goal shrank rapidly. Faster, faster. Her wings lashed at the sky in dual blurs. Through the clear surface of her goggles, she saw another blur headed in her direction, slightly offset from the path straight toward her. Soarin’ pushed at the sound barrier. If they miscalculated and collided, they’d both die so quickly their minds would survive a fraction of a second past their bodies: just enough to maintain full awareness as flesh and bone were crushed beyond all recognition. The danger of stunt flying was that this thought wasn’t fast enough to keep up with Rainbow Dash. It only made it to her brain after she shot through the pressure trying to hold her back and colors erupted around her; after she felt the air disturbance of Soarin’ passing her at supersonic speed. A sickening crack made her ears throb and her breath catch in her throat. Her breakneck pace slowed slightly as she flew against the wind generated by the opposing flyer. Like always, she turned her head to see the Sonic Rainboom. Rainbow flames of light swirled outward from a pair of brilliant golden wings. It was the same awe-inspiring Sonic Rainboom that had put her on the map, only the radiant white center highlighted blossoming yellow plumes of light, growing and spreading into Thunderwings. Soarin’s sigil faded and the rainbows followed, but the image still burned in her memory. I think that broke my awesomeness scale. I’m gonna have to ask Twilight for a better word. Rainbow Dash landed on the ground outside the forest and let her wings hang limply at her sides, brushing the grass. It had been a really long day. Soarin’ joined her after some time. “You know what, Soarin’? I never thought I would say this to another pegasus, but we make a great team.” Their eyes met. “Yeah. We do.” Soarin' opened one of his wings halfway and for a moment, she thought he was going to reach out to her. Instead both of his wings dropped open to the ground in exhaustion. He had come all the way from Canterlot, after all. The Wonderbolt turned his gaze back to the forest and closed his eyes, letting his head droop. Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. "You okay?" No response. She poked him and he didn't so much as flick his tail. Soarin' had fallen asleep standing up. "Oh come on! Not again," she grumbled aloud and stifled a yawn. "Falling asleep on me like that." She left Soarin' standing at the edge of the forest for some unsuspecting passerby to find. That was, of course, after she went and borrowed a marker from Applejack.