So there I was, alone and scared. I stood against all odds and zoomed down through the clouds; I knew it would be dangerous, but I didn’t let that stop me. Danger is my middle name! Rainbow Danger Dash! You know, thinking back on it, I acted pretty awesome. All I could hear was her screams echoing in my head, the wind flowing through my mane, the speed, the adrenaline, the fear and freedom was nothing like I’d ever felt before, it was both exhilarating and terrifying. I flew down, faster and faster, the fear in her eyes from the lightning of a dark Cumulonimbus, her frantic scrambling to try to fly. Without me she would be dead. I was no more then fifteen hooves away, I could feel the sheer terror radiating off of her.
I began to close the gap between us when I noticed the mach cone surrounding me. I couldn’t stop now or I’d be pushed out of the cone and forced in the opposite direction of her. The ground was approaching faster and faster, getting larger and larger. I could just begin to make out the details of the trees. The cone around me began to get smaller, I was getting closer and closer to a sonic Rainboom. I couldn’t stop now. I made one final push and suddenly boom! I’d done it. I reached out to grab her and held her in my arms as we looped back up into the sky. I flew up, the rainbow trail still following me, as I slowed down to a stop. I dropped her off at a cloud, I collapsed onto it. We both laid there for a few moments to catch out breath; her from screaming, me from overexertion.
She rolled over and planted a kiss on my cheek. “Hey. Thanks kid, you’re pretty cool.” she said. I will never wash this cheek again.
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Dashie wouldn’t stop caressing her cheek, she didn’t care how awkward it looked. Shortly after Dashie’s story concluded there was a knocking on the door; Pinkie had begun to chat up a less than interested Twilight, and Dashie had began to sink back into her beanbag chair, while still caressing her cheek, so I decided to answer the door. There in front of me was Rarity, Fluttershy, and a half-asleep Applejack. Behind them, in the sky illuminated by the moon’s light was the shadow of a Pegasus pony rolling around, doing flips and the likes. I turned around to make sure that Dashie was still in her chair. She was. I invited Rarity, Fluttershy and Applejack inside. They had all gotten comfortable as I excused myself outside to go watch the mysterious mare in the sky. I closed the door behind me as I walked over to one of the tables that was outside in front of the bakery, and pulled out one of the chairs and began to watch the mare.
She was a really good flyer, I did think that she was Dashie after all so she must be good. I could make out the color of her coat in the moonlight. Bright yellow. Like the center of a fire. "Spitfire…" I thought. "Dashie’s idol." I watched her for a few more minutes, I soon noticed the bandages on her wings. They didn‘t effect her in the slightest. "That must’ve been the mare that Dashie saved." The door behind me opened with a crack, I heard light hoofsteps on the hard soil behind me. I took my eyes off of the flying pony and glanced to my right to see Dashie smiling up at the sky.
“She sure is something, huh?”
I nodded my head as a response, and looked back up into the night sky. The yellow Pegasus was still doing tricks under the moonlight, her wings elegantly cutting through the air. It was an amazing show. She was flawless in the way that she flew, much like Dashie. Eventually she stopped her display and slowly descended under the moonlight, lowering herself to the ground in a spiral. Dashie and I held each other in an embrace for a few moments afterwards, partially because we were getting cold, partially because we just wanted to. It was getting rather late at that point in the night, Dashie and I were both getting tired.
We both walked back into the bakery and saw a sky blue stallion talking with Pinkie. There was a crash on the ground. I looked to my left and saw that Dashie had fainted. That got his attention. He stared at me and tilted his head a bit to the left as he raised his right brow. I waved, gave a small grin, and let out a brief chuckle, my hand was close to my neck as I moved my wrist left to right. A smirk formed across his visage as he trotted over to me, Pinkie was still hopping close behind him, and around him, talking up a storm about nonsense, as she always does. When she took a breath and broke off from her train of speech, a light blue hoof ended up in her mouth.
“I would offer my hoof at a shake but I’m a bit tied up, as you can see.” he said, struggling to keep Pinkie from talking.
“You’re Soarin’, one of the Wonderbolts, aren’t you?” He nodded as he struggled to push his hoof further into Pinkie's mouth.
“Guess my reputation precedes me. Most ponies don’t know what I look like without the suit on.” He said with a cocky grin.
“So, why are you here?” I asked. He let go of Pinkie just as she had begun to lick his hoof in an effort to make him stop. He shook off his hoof of drool and continued talking.
“I’m here to give Rainbow Dash this, as a sign of our thanks.” He mouthed open the buckle on his dark blue saddlebags that rested across his back, and pulled out a blue and yellow jumpsuit in between his teeth. It was neatly folded in a square, the belt that kept it together had a lightning bolt as a buckle.
I nearly fainted myself. Dashie. My not-so-little-anymore Dashie (Who am I kidding, she‘ll always be my little Dashie). A Wonderbolt. I’ve never been one to get emotional but I couldn’t help but hug him, he didn’t seem to mind too much. Pinkie had tears forming in the corners of her eyes, soon she released a waterfall of tears. She grabbed a hoofkerchief out of thin air and held it in between her fetlocks. I could feel tears forming in my eyes too, but I wouldn’t let them out. Not yet. I let go of Soarin’ and shook his hoof. There was a groan behind me and a quiet ‘Huh…?’. Then there was a string of ‘ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh’s' followed by a long and drawn out high pitched squeal. I turned around and saw Dashie trying to stand up. She was shaking. I was too.
Dashie stumbled over to Soarin’ and myself and looked into his eyes, no, his soul. The next thing that happened took less than a second. In that time she had managed to: one, knock Soarin‘, and the suit in his mouth, down onto the floor. Two, cause him to blush a shade of red that the light spectrum normally wouldn’t allow. And three, make my heart explode. Once again.
“Welcome to the team, rookie.” he said, through muffled gasps.
A tear trickled out of my eye, and my head got light. I took a seat in one of the beanbags, I rubbed my forehead and rested my head against the soft cloth.
“N-…-kie…p-t…-at…-cket…d-n…” I heard garbled speech as I woke up, then there was a loud splash. I felt frigid water splash against my legs and chest. I opened my eyes and sat up, my head collided with something solid. Something blunt. A horn. Again. I shut my eyes in pain and pushed my hands against my forehead.
“Darling, you really must be more careful.” I heard a soft and refined voice say. I felt a hoof lightly rest against my shoulder. I looked out through the cracks in my hands and glanced up to see Rarity, her horn glowing in a light azure color. A few feet behind her was Pinkie, she had a metal bucket in between her hooves. On the other side of the bucket was a pair of cyan hooves. Dashie let go of the bucket as she saw me look at her, Pinkie tried to hide it behind her. The off-blue color covered my forehead in a blob-like glow. All the pain in my head, even the headache that I’d had the entire day, slowly disappeared under the tingling sensation that took it‘s place.
“Where did you-” She answered before I could finish my sentence.
“Sweetie Belle tends to get hurt. A lot." She let out a sigh. "Especially during her adventures with her friends. I eventually got fed up with her whining and decided to learn some medical magic.” I shook my head around in circles a few times to make the tingling go away before I pushed my palms against the cloth and bent my knees to try and stand up. My head instantly got light, there was yet another thud as I fell back into the chair, onto my ass, like a moron.
“Here, let me help you.” I heard a different voice say. One I'd rarely ever heard. There were bright yellow hooves under each of my armpits. Then there was the sound of flapping wings and a few strained grunts. I looked down and saw that I was a few inches off the ground, I touched the floor softly and I regained my balance as I stood upright. I turned around to see Dashie’s number one idol, Soarin’ being number two, right behind me standing upright on her hind legs. Spitfire.
“'Sup, you’re Dash’s uh…dad, right?”
“Yeah, I am. It’s nice to finally meet you.”
We shook hands and hooves. I peeked over her shoulder at the clock on the wall behind her, it was a few minutes past midnight. We talked for a few more minutes before she trotted back over to Dashie who was still slightly shaking while talking to Soarin', still not letting go of his hoof. I reached into my pants pocket and pulled out the orange bottle, uncapped it, and popped another pill into my mouth and swallowed. Dashie had now been struggling to put on the Wonderbolt uniform that Soarin’ had given her, both Spitfire and Soarin’ had to help her get into it. I’ve never seen her happier. With a smile on my face and my heart dancing in my chest, I took a seat in the beanbag chair and let myself sink down into it. I almost instantly dozed off into sleep. The label on the medicine bottle wasn't kidding when it said 'may cause drowsiness.'