The clock next to Rainbow Dash’s bed read nine twenty eight in the morning. The Pegasus had been awake for the past hour and a half, but she didn’t want to get up yet. She knew very soon, though, Twilight would trot her way over to Rainbow’s house and in a voice ever so excited, she would call up to Dash to glide down so they could be taken away on the train to the biology presentation.
Even though Rainbow was the element of loyalty and was therefore loyal to her friends and their promises, that didn’t mean she had to like them. In this case, she wished she hadn’t said yes to the unicorn’s offer to tag along.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to spend some time with Twilight, which recently they hadn’t been doing much of, but she wished it didn’t have to be through science. If it was science of flying really, really fast, that would be different.
She didn’t even remember anything from science class way back when she was in school, but Twilight was dragging her right back to school.
Rainbow figured she should just get up and get ready to fulfill her promise. Dash threw off the sheets and climbed her way downstairs to get a drink and a quick bite before she left. Opening her fridge she grabbed an apple and a glass of milk and plopped herself down on the couch next to Tank.
She gave him a few bites out of the apple and drank all of the milk, took Tank outside for a few minutes, and then returned to the living room. It was nine thirty now, and there was no sign of Twilight. Rainbow was still drowsy, so she closed her eyes only wanting a few more minutes of rest, but instead fell back to sleep on the couch.
Rainbow dreamed peacefully. Not a single annoying or bad thought crossed her mind. She dreamt of racing Spitfire and Soarin’ from the Wonderbolts through Ghastly gorge. The wind in her face, two of the most famous Pegasi in Equestria racing against her, and all that would be at stake in a race like that would be the complete respect of The Wonderbolts as the fastest Pegasus out there.
As the three of them flew through the gorge, one by one they would overtake one another on the corners and straight-aways through quick thinking. To Rainbow’s left was Soarin’ coming up on the inside corner, to her right was Spitfire trying to go to the outside wall and cut in sharp to bypass both of them.
Dash cut off Soarin’, and Spitfire only managed to shift herself passed Soarin’. Up ahead were several corners and then it came out to the final straight shot to the finish line. Going into the first corner Rainbow stayed in first place, but in the second she slowed down, and by the third corner both Soarin’ and Spitfire were leading the rainbow mane Pegasus by quite a distance. Victory seemed inevitable until…
FFFFFFWWWWWOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHH
A massive boom echoed across the rocky gorge. A Rainbow streak shot right between the Wonderbolts leaving them confused. Looking back they saw the long lasting shockwave of a sonic rainboom behind them. The shockwave shook the canyon and rocks started falling from the top. Soarin’ and Spitfire were forced to fly above the gorge’s walls to avoid being crushed. Up ahead of them, Rainbow split the ribbon strung across the finished line. She had won the race.
She had purposefully dropped to last place just so she could do a sonic rainboom for an epic finish to the race. She swung around and skidded to a halt at the finish line. Sweat dripping off her face, her mane and tail were all frizzled from the speed she was going, and her wings were starting to ache a little.
As Soarin’ and Spitfire made their way to the finish line, the orange pony pulled something out of a small bag that was next to the finish line post. When Rainbow saw what it was, her mouth dropped to the ground.
It was a full Wonderbolt’s outfit, but it wasn’t just any outfit. The outfit had a small patch on the shoulder with a word written on it and the goggles had the same word written on the band that held them together, it was the word “Captain.”
This outfit was the one only worn by the Pegasus worthy enough to be made captain of the whole team, and that was Spitfire’s position, until now. In respect of pulling off a sonic rainboom and beating the two members in a race of pure speed and agility, she had won it and was now the new captain of the Wonderbolt’s.
“Rainbow Dash.” Spitfire said.
“Yes?” Rainbow asked still in utter shock.
“Rainbow Dash, wake up.” The orange Wonderbolt replied.
“What?”
“We’re going to miss the train! Wake up Rainbow!”
Rainbow’s eyes shot wide open. Dash sprinted to the door and looked over the edge and saw Twilight standing way down below.
“Why are you so early! The train doesn’t leave for like half an hour.” The Pegasus told her loudly.
“The train leaves in two minutes!” Rainbow didn’t realize she had slept for thirty minutes. Her dream unfortunately was just that and as much as she wanted to fall back asleep and continue it, it was time to go get on the train.
A little reluctantly, Dash glided down to the unicorn and quickly Twilight pulled the Pegasus to the train station. Faster than Rainbow Dash could blink, Twilight had pulled her to the station, paid for the tickets, found their seats, and the train had already left Ponyville when she realized it was moving. It might have been the fact the Pegasus was still half asleep and so the she didn’t notice Twilight yanked Rainbow to the station at a dead sprint, and that there was only seconds to spare when they bought the tickets.
Already they were half way to the base of the mountain Canterlot was built upon. There wasn’t anyone else hardly on the train. There were a few ponies a was back but it was basically just Twilight and Dash.
“So how long is this whole…this whole…biology thingy gonna be?” Dash asked half asleep.
“Uh, well it’ll probably be about three hours and then the half hour ride back. So we’ll be done and back by two in the afternoon.” Twilight told her friend, who was an inch away from being back at Ghastly Gorge with Spitfire and Soarin’. A small snack cart came by and Dash got herself a chocolate bar and the two ponies ate it on the way to Canterlot.
“Hey, you said some idol was doing the presentation thingy, who is it?”
“His name is Professor Atlas and he has a degree in all the fields of science. He has traveled to several other towns to examine all the different species of animals there are all across the world. He’s been around for a long time and he was always someone to inspire me to learn complex science. I met him one time in Canterlot when I was really little, back then Princess Celestia had him visit the kindergarten because he always had a way of showing all the colts and fillies ways that make science fun.”
“And so this old guys gonna be doing…whatever it is he’s gonna be doing today?”
“Yes, and it’s going to be so much fun! Promise me, Rainbow, you’ll behave yourself, though, the science wing of the college we’re going to likes ponies that are on the same level as them. Sometimes though they can also just get carried away and pull pranks on any new ponies that come in.”
“What kind of pranks? What should I be looking for?”
“Well, if your coat turns a different color every five seconds then it was probably one of the science students. The same goes for if you suddenly become stuck to the floor, or if you an unnatural urge to eat your tail.”
Well now, Rainbow had a list of some creative pranks she should try to avoid. As a matter of fact, she could probably pull the same pranks on Twilight and the others when she got back. That was until her science friend told her about the other, not-so-carefree pranks they pull on ponies. One time some pony changed from a Pegasus to an earth pony and stayed like that for two whole weeks without his ability of flight, however, the reason that lasted so long was because the stallion responsible made the potion too strong. It should’ve only lasted about an hour or two, so it shows how sometimes they can get carried away.
Finally the train arrived at the station in Canterlot. It was a small hike from the train to the grounds of the collage. The walk seemed a little longer then it should’ve because though they had been to Canterlot before, Twilight gave Dash a partial tour. She pointed out the tree where she learned about Nightmare Moon all that time ago and the Library she learned about the Elements of Harmony.
It was kind of a fun journey to see how the simple reading of a book brought them all together to become not only the protectors of Equestria, but also close friends.
Up ahead was the entrance to the science wing of the collage. This was Dash’s last chance to turn back on the excuse she left the door open or that Tank didn’t have any food. Any chance of avoiding the awaiting lecture stopped when she stepped through the door. Rainbow Dash would’ve normally dropped out at a moment’s chance, but instead she kept true to what she had promised her friend, and when they reached the door, she stepped through it.