{slice of life} {everyone}
The Wonderbolt air show Chapter 1
A young blue filly watched with excitement as the Wonderbolts performed for all of Ponyville. Today was the day that Spitfire was going to be performing the greatest move ever! Soarin and the other Wonderbolts began to form a gigantic twister out of storm clouds. The twister bucked wildly around in mid-air, shooting lightning bolts everywhere. Spitfire would fly through the twister, avoiding the lightning and creating a sonic boom to dispel the twister and pull up at the last second over the crowd!
As the fastest pony in Equestria, I knew how hard that would be but if anyone could do it Spitfire could! I watched as she dove, faster and faster, streaking into the eye of the twister. The lightning was flashing quickly as she got nearer, but then one of the Wonderbolts got out of position and a stray lightning bolt hit Spitfire knocking her out! I lept into action, closing the distance hundreds of the feet to the twister and catching Spitfire. I met Soarin and the other Wonderbolts on the ground afterwards.
"Wow Rainbow Dash, you keep on saving us and we're gonna have to make you a Wonderbolt!" Soarin exclaimed. Soarin nudged Spitfire who was dizzy but unharmed, one of the benefits of being a Pegasus was a high tolerance for electricity.
"That's twice now you've saved me Rainbow Dash, and since everypony knows your the only pony to have broken the sound barrier I'd like you to perform this trick for me at Canterlot next week" Spitfire said.
"omigosh omigosh omigosh! Really?" Rainbow proudly asked. "You'd let me join the team and do the grand finale!"
"More then that Dash, I'd like you to be the team captain for the performance. Celestia is going to be at the show and if anypony deserves to lead the Wonderbolts for a week, it's you!" Spitfire admitted.
"This is going to be the BEST WEEK EVER!!!" Rainbow shouted.
~*~
As Rainbow dash sat in her living room looking at her long unfinished novel she wasn't sure what to write next. Sure, she thought, the mare of her story would be the fastest flier in all of Equestria and become the captain of the Wonderbolts... How would she do it though? It was one thing to be awesome, anypony could tell just by looking at her. How would she describe it in her book so everypony could see it?
She thought back to Spike, who had once been her ghost writer. When Applejack had saved his life, Dash remembered about her unfinished novel and wished that she had saved Spike from the timberwolves. Then she could have just had him write the rest of the story. Dash couldn't figure out what was with this dragon code anyway, since she had saved the world and his life before. Why'd he have to choose now to follow the dragon code? And why did she let Applejack talk him out of it? Just yesterday she had pushed Spike out of the way of a run-away apple cart, but he is no longer following the dragon code so literally as to serve her every beck and call.
Well if Spike couldn't help with her unfinished novel, maybe Twilight could. Nopony knew more about books then Twilight, and it would give her a chance to see if the next Daring Do novel had come out. Daring always inspired Dash to spend a little more time reading books. She left the house and flew down to Ponyville and to Twilight's library before tapping on the glass to her bedroom. Twilight was sitting at her desk reading a book titled "A brief history of time, by Stephen Colting". It was beyond her how anypony could read such boring history books when so many adventure novels were in the library!
Twilight looked up from her book "Oh hi Rainbow Dash, what are you up to today?"
"Oh nothing much, I got bored of practicing all my super awesome moves and decided to work on my unfinished novel" she replied as she shrugged, making it look like writing a novel wasn't difficult at all. "I just thought I'd drop by and see if the new Daring Do novel is out yet."
"No Rainbow, I keep telling you it'll be out this summer. The pony who writes it has writer's bit" she replied sharply. "Now I have a lot of reading to..." she was quickly interrupted by Dash "So Twilight, what's a writer's bit?"
"It's when somepony can't think of anything else to put in their novel, sort of like you and that book about the 'awesomest fastest flier in all of Equestria' " Twilight mocked.
"Hey! I can think of plenty of things to put in my novel, I'm just too busy practicing tricks to impress the Wonderbolts! But uh... how's somepony going to figure out how to finish the Daring Do novel then?" Rainbow dash fidgeted around a little, hoping Twilight hadn't caught on that she was really trying to get advice for her own novel. Twilight finally took her eyes off of her book and looked at her, seeing her fidgety forelegs.
"Well.... 'somepony' would go around and look for some inspiration, maybe tour some ruins to get ideas for Daring Do... or just fly around until 'somepony' got a good idea for her novel" Twilight added, barely able to keep her smirk from turning into a full blown smile.
"Oh, well let me know when it comes out, gotta run!" Rainbow shouted as she had already started to fly away. She had been embarrassed when she had to admit how awesome reading was after giving Twilight such a hard time. If she had to admit to her how much her unfinished novel was bugging her.... she couldn't bear the thought! She was the awesomest pony in Equestria, the only one to do a sonic rainboom, the element of loyalty! If anypony could finish their novel it'd be her!
As she flew along she began to pick up speed, if inspiration was what she needed then surely doing a sonic rainboom would give her all sorts of ideas for her novel. Approaching Apple Acres she continued to speed up, the wind pulling back at her mane until it felt like she was pushing her way through a vat of glue. Squinting against the wind, her wings beating furiously she felt the resistance build more and more. This was the moment of truth, the air was so palpable that she felt like she could tear a hole in it. Focusing on a point in front of her, she reached out her hooves, took a deep breath, and flapped with all her might.
In a split second, she had penetrated the sound barrier. As Rainbow flew along, outrunning the sound of her own sonic rainboom, she realized how her novel should end! Sure there was still that whole part in the middle of the novel to take care of, but how hard could that be? She had a beginning and an end, the rest would be a piece of cake!
Realizing how hungry her flight had made her, she circled back around to Apple Acres to see if the Apple family was eating dinner yet. She was no Pinkie Pie, but she was proud of the fact that nopony could hide the smell of a fresh baked meal from her Pegasus sense of smell. Slowing down she could see the last bits of the rainboom vanishing into the air and landed outside Applejack's house.
"Well I reckon that's her now Granny smith, she was loud enough to peel paint off the barn!" Applejack exclaimed.
"Hey Applejack! I couldn't help but notice some of that apple pie cooling on the windowsill" Dash grinned.
"What did I tell ya about doing sonic rainbooms so close to the house?" Applejack snorted.
"That it was TOTALLY AWESOME and COOL!" Rainbow excitedly added. "I don't suppose you wanna let this one slide if I promise to do it over the south field next time?"
"Ah swear Dash, sometimes ah wonder what's goin' on in that head o' yours. One of these days your gonna scare somepony into the hospital, or knock out our windows again. Ah reckon' you can have a piece of pie but you should head back home and work on that novel instead of trying to impress everypony" Applejack added knowingly.
"Pfft that's totally not what I was gonna do tonight Applejack" she denied. "And just because I asked you to make Spike finish my novel for me doesn't mean I don't know how to end it! In fact I just thought of the perfect final chapter."
"And let me guess, ya'll are gonna do a rainboom so spectacular that all o' Canterlot is in awe and the princess makes you captain of the Wonderbolts?" Applejack sarcastically added.
"What? No way! I'm WAY too cool to have such a cheesy ending" she replied defensively. Dash stood there for a minute as Applejack sized her up. There was no lying to that pony, and somehow she had hit the nail on the head about how she wanted to end her novel. "So I'll take some of the pie now, thanks, and head off. I've got some serious napping to do if I'm going to be at my best for Owlilicious' birthday party tonight."
"All right Rainbow, and remember not so close to the house" Applejack implored, sure that Rainbow had already tuned her out as she flew off with 2 pieces of apple pie.
After some apple pie and a 1... maybe 4 hour nap, Rainbow stretched and yawned. Sitting on her living room desk was the quill and parchment Twilight had given her when she expressed her desire to "write a book 20% cooler than Daring Do!" Twilight had been so amused that she readily gave her 4 quills and 10 rolls of parchment, and sent Spike out to restock her library at Sofas & Quills. Rainbow Dash had been so embarrassed at Twilight's glee that she hadn't often mentioned the unfinished novel since then.
Rainbow was loyal to her friends and loved spending time with them, but she always worried that she would fail them. If she couldn't finish this book, Twilight would probably stop letting her hang out at the library so much. Everypony would hear about how she couldn't finish the book, and Applejack would get that mischievous grin of hers when she finished her novel first. Rarity would probably shout "this is the worst... possible... thing!" and pass out, while Fluttershy and Pinkie would probably wonder why she hadn't mentioned her novel to them before. "Ugh, pleasing everypony can be a hard thing to do" she mumbled to herself as she sat down and began to write the last chapter.
~*~
Final Chapter, Canterlot Grand Finale
Rainbow Dash stepped onto the stage, flanked by Soarin and Spitfire who had insisted on being her wingpony after she told her the new idea she had for the finale. "That's going to be a trick people will remember the Wonderbolts for forever!" Spitfire had gasped. "I have to help you pull it off if your going to get that kind of speed."
As Rainbow stood there, Celestia watched from her private balcony. Thousands of ponies were cheering for the fastest flier in Equestria. Rumors had been spread about the finale that she had planned, as well as the fact that Spitfire had made her captain for the week. In the stands were her friends from Ponyville to cheer her on. She could almost swear she heard Fluttershy cheering. She pulled the green tinted flight goggles down over her eyes and smirked. Standing there in the hoof-made blue flight suit with the golden Wonderbolt insignia, she had finally realized her dream. This was going to be the best airshow ever!
Leaping into the air the routine began. Warming up with some easy tricks, Rainbow was soon spiraling through the air. Approaching Sorain and Spitfire rapidly she sailed within inches of them before diving towards the ground. As their rainbow and smoke contrails mixed they corkscrewed tighter and tighter together. Forming a solid formation, they used their hind legs to kick apart from each other and rocketed apart above the stands. The ponies below cheered wildly at Rainbow Dash, and feeling the adrenaline she knew it was time for the grand finale.
After giving Spitfire the signal, Rainbow dash did her signature super speed strut to get everyponies attention, then the buccaneer blaze. The ponies below hadn't even noticed the giant twister Spitfire and Soarin had formed until the lightning began to crack through the sky. As everypony looked at the looming black twister that shot lightning around the edges, Rainbow zoomed straight up to gain altitude.
Looming over the storm twister, Rainbow could see the eye of the twister far below. She would dive down, performing a sonic rainboom in the middle of the twister causing an explosive rainbow and thunderous noise that nopony would ever forget. Her heart beat like a hummingbird, threatening to steal her resolve as she prepared to dive. Sweat trickled down her now matted mane, and she wiped her flight goggles that had begun to fog up. This was the moment she would go into the history books. The crowd below had now fixed their attention on her, a small blue dot in the evening sky, and she folded her wings to her side and began the dive.
As everypony silently looked upon her, she plummeted like a rock, conserving her energy until gravity could accelerate her no further. As she neared the cloud she began to flap her wings mercilessly, beating the air into submission. She was going to get every bit of speed possible, shatter the sound barrier and give Princess Celestia a show the like of which she had never seen in thousands of years of life. She felt the familiar thickening of the air, as if it couldn't get out of her way fast enough. She fought back as the air tugged against her skin, stretching her forelegs out in front of her into a spear. She was close now, the sound deafening, the air fought with everything it had, and then it happened.
Rainbow burst through the eye of the twister and simultaneously performed her sonic rainboom. As she veered to the left through the wall of the twister, she slowed down to just below the speed of sound then speed up breaking the sound barrier again. She had just performed the double rainboom, and nopony would ever be able to steal her place as the most awesome, fastest, coolest pony in all of Equestria!
Two rings of brilliant color spread out through the air, with lightning arcing between them. The entire audience was stunned silent, and a rush of cool air hit them like a wall of water blowing all of their manes back. The power and beauty of it brought tears to Celstia's eyes.
Rainbow landed as the cheering crowd rushed to congratulate her, and Princess Celestia stepped forward.
"My little pony, that was a full rainboom, all the way... a double sonic rainboom all the way! no way..." Celestia stopped as she fought back tears. "Whoa, that was so intense."
"omigosh omigosh omigosh omigosh" Rainbow chanted not believing what she was hearing from Celestia.
"You are without a doubt the fastest, most awesome flier in all of Equestria Rainbow Dash. It is with great honor that I pronounce you co-captain of the Wonderbolts and the best flier in Equestria!" Celestia exclaimed, using the royal Canterlot voice her sister was so fond of.
"BEST! DAY! EVER!" Rainbow screamed with glee, as Spitfire, Sorain, Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Applejack tossed her into the air and carried her off to her "Best flier in Equestria Party" that Pinkie was throwing.
~*~
Rainbow dash leaned back exhausted, noticing that Tank was sitting on the table watching her write the novel. It was hard to believe only a week ago she had told Applejack and Rarity about her unfinished novel. Now that she had a first and last chapter, it would be super easy to finish the novel now. Kicking her hooves up on the table she got comfortable and closed her eyes to take a quick nap. Owlilicious had a party later tonight and she was sure when she told everypony about the awesome ending to her book, they would all want a copy. Just a couple more weeks, she'd tell them, and she'd have the best selling novel in all of Equestria.
Rainbow dash fell asleep with a wide grin on her face. Tank slowly crawled over to the quill and dipped it in the inkwell. Someone had to help Rainbow Dash finish her novel, and if he left it in her hands it'd never get done. With a very slow grin, he began to work on all those "pesky middle chapters" and correct her grammar. Tank was happy to be the best pet in all of Equestria.