Cumulopolis: the cloud capital of Equestria. Its spectacular skyline of fluffy spacescrapers, towering high into the stratosphere, was said to rival even that of Manehattan. Thousands of pegasus ponies lived their lives there, barely concerning themselves with the goings-on on terra firma. Those numbers only swelled now that the day of the Pegalympics had finally arrived; pegasi from every corner of Equestria were pouring into the great sky-city, all of them eager to see the greatest pony athletes test their mettle.

It was all a bit overwhelming for Rainbow Dash. The scale and grandeur of the city and the sheer size of the crowd were intimidating, and she constantly had to keep reminding herself that she was The Great Rainbow Dash, the Fastest Pegasus Ever Born, lest she accidentally started feeling small and insignificant in the midst of it all. For all her bravado, she never imagined she'd make it here this soon. No one had told her that being Best Young Flier automatically qualified her for the Pegalympics.

But here she was, in the Icarus Stadium; a fitting venue for the most prestigious athletic competition known to pegasuskind. The ancient, roofless and circular cloud-structure was reminiscent of the stadium in Cloudsdale, only much, much more massive. A huge pit of blue sky gaped in the very center, around which ran the racing track. Rows upon rows of towering cloud-bleachers rose above the central arena, and flat, stationary cloud-platforms, hovering directly above, served as cushy VIP seats.

There were many events Rainbow Dash could have chosen to compete in: ball lightning-ball, hailstone put, skydiving, cloudboarding, synchronous flying – the list seemed endless. But the event she had signed up for was the most infamous of all: the Mareathon. A historic, mares-only endurance race notorious for its grueling, nearly inequine length. Usually only about half the ponies that showed up at the starting line ever made it to the finish. The fact that the first half of the race was on hoof - a sore trial for skydwellers who relied overmuch on their wings - was usually blamed for this.

Normally, she wouldn't even have considered such a trial and would have preferred something involving her usual aerial acrobatics. But she had been invited to participate in this event in particular by none other than Spitfire of the Wonderbolts, during the single day she'd gotten to spend with them.

The famous stuntpony had casually mentioned winning several editions of the Mareathon in a row, and had hinted that she was looking forward to - as she had put it - some actual competition. Rainbow Dash doubted this was the whole story, though. No one knew, after all, how the Wonderbolts selected those worthy of joining their ranks. Was she being put to the test?

But whatever the flame-maned mare's true motivations were, Rainbow Dash had been officially challenged. By one of her idols, no less. How could she have possibly refused?

Rainbow Dash was, of course, wearing the gear Rarity made for her. It turned out to be supremely comfortable and made her feel like a million bits. The goggles sat on her forehead, ready for when she'd need them, and the rainbow of gems on her flank shone brilliantly in the bright sun.

Despite having the proper attire, Rainbow Dash still felt antsy as she stood in the long line of proud pegasi who would be competing in the first event. She tried to stand still and face the cheering masses like the rest of them, but couldn't keep from constantly shifting her weight from one hoof to the other. She could have sworn she could actually feel the obscene amount of gazes resting on her, like pin-pricks on her skin. It made her coat stand on end. The thought of screwing anything up in front of a crowd this large was almost paralyzing.

The restless blue pony shot a glance at Spitfire, curious to see how she was coping. But of course, being used to such an audience, the older mare looked completely calm and focused. When she caught Rainbow Dash looking, she even gave her young rival a playful wink.

Rainbow Dash hoped that, one day, she could be as nonchalant under this amount of scrutiny.

Together with the audience the two mares watched the spectacular opening ceremony, which culminated in Celestia herself setting ablaze a great cauldron, which would burn until the end of the Pegalympics. With the ceremony concluded and the long-winded speech of the city's mayor drawn to an end, the torturous wait was finally over. Only those who would participate in the first event remained. There were still some preparations underway, but the ponies participating in the Mareathon, including Rainbow Dash, made their way over to the starting line regardless.

Rainbow Dash used what time was left before the start of the race to stretch her legs and gallop in place, trying to warm up. Thanks to Applejack's unorthodox training methods, she was confident she could survive the exhausting first leg of the race, at least. Well, that and the combined cooking of Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Twilight Sparkle. Together these three had stuffed so many carbohydrates into the blue mare that she feared she'd never want to see another plate of pasta ever again.

Thinking of her friends, Rainbow Dash scanned the crowd. Even though she had a vague idea where they were seated, finding a small band of ponies in such a bewildering sea of colors was no easy task. As she skimmed over the throngs of ponies, the blue mare suddenly thought of something Pinkie Pie had told her and laughed. The laughter itself proved to have a curious, relaxing effect: it made her feel a lot less daunted by the presence of so many other ponies.

Still smiling, Rainbow Dash tried to remember exactly what Pinkie said. If she recalled correctly, she had just survived that impromptu visit to the spa. Which, as was to be expected, hadn't gone all that well..

“Well, that was unproductive,” Rainbow Dash muttered. She very much doubted that her neat, pedicured hooves and carefully brushed blue coat would help her master supersonic flight any time soon.

The pegasus found herself alone again, still loitering outside of the spa after parting with both Rarity and Fluttershy. The former had wanted to get back to her boutique in hopes of some last-minute sales, whereas the latter had been in a hurry to get back to her cottage. A number of animals in her care would get really cranky if they didn't get something to eat soon, according to Fluttershy.

She had been sad to see Fluttershy go. So much was still left unsaid. But Rainbow Dash knew they wouldn't be able to drag the words out, now, anyway. The delicate little moment between them had burst like a bubble the instant Rarity had interrupted them, and regrettably it could not be recreated on demand. You can't force these things, after all. Especially not with a pony like Fluttershy. Or herself, for that matter.

First things first, though. She still had two ponies left on her to-visit list: Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie. An egghead and a cloudcuckoolander. Great.

While Rainbow Dash debated with herself, trying to decide which of these two unlikely advisers to look up first, however, her train of thought was interrupted by a strange buzzing noise that swiftly grew louder. At first, it had been almost imperceptible; there was a fountain in the small square in front of the spa, and the white noise of its falling water drowned out most other sounds. But now it was unmistakable.

Suddenly, a young, helmeted pegasus sailed around the corner. She rode a scooter which she was powering with her small wings, whose rapid oscillations turned out to be the source of the motor-like buzzing noise. When she spotted the older pony, the filly screeched to a halt.

“Oh, hey kiddo,” Rainbow Dash said distractedly. She rather liked the amber filly; the blank-flank reminded Rainbow Dash a lot of herself. But at the moment, she had other things on her mind and quietly hoped the young pony wouldn't stick around too long.

“Whatcha doing?” Scootaloo asked inquisitively. She hopped off her scooter and beamed at Rainbow Dash; it wasn't often that she ran into her idol on the streets. Rainbow Dash tended to spend most of her time in the skies above Ponyville, a domain still frustratingly out of the filly's reach.

“Nothing much,” Rainbow Dash replied candidly. She regretted this almost immediately.

“Uh.. right,” Scootaloo said sheepishly, though she still looked hopeful that she could find some way to be of assistance. Or anything else that would let her spend time with Rainbow Dash.

“Uh.. right,” Rainbow Dash said sheepishly, getting a sense of deja vu. “Well anyway, whatever it is you were doing, you'd best be, you know, getting back to it. 'Cause I've got stuff to do..”

“Oh me? I'm looking for Pinkie Pie!” Scootaloo explained, apparently misinterpreting the mare's dismissal as a question. “'Cause me and Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle are planning on being Cutie Mark Crusaders Ice-Skaters today and we heard that Pinkie is really good at skating. So Apple Bloom told me: 'Y'all go look for her, Scootaloo! You're the fastest.' And so I did, 'cause I totally am. But then I ran into you and I kinda forgot, but now I remembered!”

Rainbow Dash hesitated. She really should know better, but she had to ask: “Ice-skating?”

“Uh-huh,” Scootaloo confirmed. She didn't appear to see a problem with their choice of activity.

“Well yeah,” Scootaloo said with a slight duh-I-knew-that tone. “That's why Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle are looking for about a million ice cubes,” she explained calmly. ”Wait, did I mention that? 'Cause that's their mission. We figured we'd need about that many to freeze the lake.”

Rainbow Dash, realizing the futility of this discussion, simply nodded. “Of course! Ice cubes!” she said smoothly. ”Yeah, a million ought to be.. enough.” She idly wondered how the others ever mustered the patience needed to deal with all three of these hyperactive fillies at the same time. It occured to her that maybe Scootaloo's presence wasn't entirely inconvenient, however. Maybe the filly could save her a little time. “I'm actually looking for Pinkie, too," she told her. "Did you happen to swing by Sugar Cube Corner, yet?”

“I did, but Mr. and Mrs. Cake said she had the day off and that they didn't know where she went.”

“Figures,” Rainbow Dash sighed. “Pinkie is so random; she really only shows up whenever you least--”

“Hiiiiii guys!” Pinkie Pie said, right on cue. She was, of course, standing directly behind the pair of pegasi, giving them both quite a start. “Whatcha doing?”

“Looking for you,” Rainbow Dash snapped, glaring at the unpredictable pony after she'd regained her composure.

“Whelp, looks like you found me then!” Pinkie Pie beamed, giving no indication that she had actually intended to startle the two other ponies.

“Pinkie Pie! The Cutie Mark Crusaders need your help!” Scootaloo said, immediately hijacking the conversation. “We want you to teach us how to ice-skate. It might be our special talent! And it sounds kinda cool, anyway.”

“Oh, it's super duper cool!” Pinkie exclaimed, spreading her forelegs wide to indicate the exact extent of its coolness. “Except there's a small problem,” she added, dropping her limbs back to her sides and furrowing her brow.

Here it comes, Rainbow Dash thought to herself. She wondered how Pinkie was going to break the news. The trio's plan contained a rather fatal flaw, after all.

“Alrighty then! Meet me at Horseshoe Lake tomorrow and I'll show you guys the ropes! And after that, maybe I can teach you how to skate, too! And what about you Dashie? Did you want skating lessons, too?"

“No! No.. I just wanted.. Well, I wanted to ask you..” Rainbow Dash took a deep breath. Here went nothing. “I was thinking that maybe you could help me, Pinkie. I'm having trouble pulling off the Rainboom, and I really need to be able to do it at the Pegalympics. If there's anything you know that could help, well, I'd love to hear it..”

“Oh is that all?” Pinkie Pie laughed. “Well, I've seen you do it once; well, okay, twice maybe; but the first time I didn't really know what it was; but anyway, where was I? Oh yeah! Rainboom, duh. It was still the most awesomest thing EVER, by the way. But it looked like you were having trouble with your flying before. Prolly 'cause you were all trembly and fetal-position-y! You should work on getting rid of those nerves before a big event with lotsa ponies or you'll never be able to fly your best. I know how you feel Dashie; I mean, I give a lot of speeches at parties and that used to scare the pants off of me! Even when I wasn't wearing any!”

Rainbow Dash blinked. The fact that Pinkie Pie had managed to answer such an out-of-the-blue question with casual ease surprised her. It took her brain a moment to decipher the reply, with all of its tangents and heavy doses of Pinkie-speak. When it had finished, Rainbow Dash realized that Pinkie had hit the nail right on the head. Stage-fright had been the cause of her lackluster performance.

“Uh.. That's.. Thank you, Pinkie! That's actually a pretty good place to start,” she said, “Any idea on how to fix that, though?”

“Hmmm..” Pinkie Pie pondered, scratching her poofy mane. “Oh! I know! You could imagine that the entire crowd is naked,” she suggested with a fillyish giggle. “Then you can laugh at them, and a laugh is the easiest way to get rid of those mean ol' party-pooping nerves!”

Pinkie Pie looked down at herself, then carefully studied Rainbow Dash. “Oh! Right. Silly me, haha!”

“Adults are weird,” Scootaloo observed, looking from one mare to the other and wondering if they even still realized she was there.

“You could also imagine they're all wearing, I dunno, funny hats or something,” Pinkie amended her advice, completely unfazed by the doubtful looks the other mare and the filly were giving her. “But the most important thing is that you believe in yourself.”

Too late, Rainbow Dash recognized the meaningful tone in which Pinkie had said these last few words. By the time the penny had dropped, the pink pony had already sucked up a lungful of air and jumped atop the edge of the fountain. It served as a makeshift stage as Pinkie began to sing:

“The tale she was most fond of -
my dear old granny Pie -
was of the humble bumblebee
and how it could not fly!

'Cause, you see, still fly it did!
The skeptics it ignored.
It spread its tiny, clumsy wings;
ma-jes-ti-cal-ly soared!”

“Does she do this a lot?” Scootaloo said, looking rather dismayed. She wasn't used to ponies randomly bursting into song like this. The bemused filly watched as the roseate mare hopped down from her perch, frantically flapping her forelegs like wings.

“Only every other day or so,” Rainbow Dash said drily, as Pinkie continued undeterred:

“So just believe in yourself
and let them all say nay!
Just take ol' Pinkie's words to heart:
each pony has its day!

For on the gray old rock farm
in days of yesteryear,
they said: “A party cannot last
forever, Pinkie dear!”

But I believed in myself
and let the whiners wail.
'Cause brimming full of confidence,
well, you will never fail!

When you believe in yourself,
then pony, what the hay!
You'll beat the odds, and show them all.
No matter what they say!”

Panting, and with her forelegs splayed wide above her head, Pinkie finished her song. She looked expectantly at Rainbow Dash.

Scootaloo, eager to escape the assault on her poor ears, had hastily said goodbye somewhere around the third couplet. Probably to report the success of her mission back to her fellow crusaders and aid in the “borrowing” of Celestia-knows-how-many ice cubes, Rainbow Dash thought.

“That wasn't--” Dash began angrily, until she realized that she should have learned not to underestimate Twilight despite her lacking physical prowess. “Alright, alright. Well played,” she sighed.”Let's go.”

Rainbow Dash had finally found her friends amidst the countless other ponies gathered to watch the race. It had actually been easier to spot them than she'd expected; they were drawing quite a bit of attention to themselves. The pegasi here didn't see a lot of unicorns and earth ponies, to begin with. Usually there was no way for them to get around, without plummeting straight through the city's vaporous surface. But Twilight's handy little cloud-walking spell took care of that, and her air balloon had safely carried them all here, even to these elevations.

The blue mare's little group of supporters didn't stop standing out there, though: all of them were sporting rainbow-colored face-paint (or make-up, in Rarity's case). Applejack, who got plenty of practice at rodeos, was cheering louder than anypony else in the entire stadium, with plenty of yee-haws thrown in for good measure. Pinkie Pie had somehow acquired a complete Cloudsdale High cheerleader get-up, including pom-poms. These she waved enthusiastically while she came up with one embarrassing cheer after another. Fluttershy was being overshadowed by her peers as always, but looked quite cheerful and waved a little rainbow flag. Spike looked mostly preoccupied with the diverse pile of snacks he had brought along. Twilight Sparkle, lastly, had clearly only read about the Pegalympics and seemed to be having trouble taking it all in.

Rainbow Dash waved and felt a surge of affection for her friends as they jumped up and down for her and called her name. It was impossible to hear, but she was sure she saw Fluttershy break out a little 'yay!' It wasn't much, but hey, she'd settle for it.

Focusing on Twilight - who was still looking around with foallike wonder - the blue mare wondered how a pony could be both so knowledgeable and yet so naive at the same time. She tried to remember all the advice the purple pony had given her. She'd certainly given Rainbow Dash quite a few things to chew on when she had dropped by a few weeks ago - both literally and figuratively.

“Okay, so let me get this straight, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said. She was sitting at the table in the Ponyville Library along with Pinkie Pie. The pegasus had trouble concentrating since Pinkie was sitting right next to her, noisily wolfing down various deserts. In the background, Spike's jaws crunched away happily at a smorgasbord of sapphires. “What you're saying is that all ponies have magical powers?” Rainbow Dash managed to finish her sentence. She cocked her head quizzically.

Despite her initial misgivings, Rainbow Dash had been convinced, by Pinkie's irrefutable arguments, to drop by Twilight's home and ask her for advice. To their surprise, the purple unicorn had immediately invited them in for dinner.

As it turned out, the magical mare, ever eager to learn, had picked up cooking and baking as potential new hobbies to pursue. A constellation of pots, ingredients, and utensils was floating around the room, lazily revolving around the wannabe-chef. There was a huge, precarious stack of recipe-books teetering on the floor and, in typical Twilight-fashion, she seemed to be going through them alphabetically rather than attempting to create any kind of logical procession of courses. The upside to this was, of course, that there was plenty for a famished pony to choose from.

Twilight, for her part, seemed delighted to have someone other than Spike around to sample her culinary creations; after all, he was omnivorous and considered virtually everything edible. (Except for her pound cake. According to him, he'd eaten diamonds less dense.) The arrival of two additional dinner-guests-slash-test-subjects really couldn't have been more timely, even if one of them constantly peppered her with questions.

“That's correct, Rainbow Dash,” she said patiently, as she poured her guinea pigs some fresh water and had a floating quill tick off a step of the current recipe at the same time. The spike of mystical ivory on her head lit up even more as she made a spherical bubble of water boil in mid-air, before directing it into a pot. “At least, that's what my recent research on the nature of pony magic shows.”

“So, if I wanted, I could chop celery and totally overcook it with the power of my mind, too?”

“That was an accident. And I'm sorry but I'm afraid it doesn't work like that..”

“Gee, thanks! I wasn't sure if I got the right amount of caramelization, but--”

Twilight Sparkle ran a hoof over her face and took a deep breath. The objects orbiting her slowly settled back down onto the floor as her concentration waned. “It's like this, Rainbow Dash: all of us ponies are descendants of alicorns such as Princess Celestia. As you know, these are immensely magical and immortal equines--”

”But each of us are born with only a part of that ancient magic,” Twilight pressed on. ”Unicorns like myself, because we have a horn to use as a focal point, can use our magic directly and specifically.”

“Like I said: you guys got all the cool powers,” Rainbow said sulkily. She was repeating a statement she had made earlier, which had sparked this entire discussion.

“Sort of,” Twilight admitted a bit apprehensively. “But what earth ponies can do is pretty neat, too! Though their form of magic is still poorly understood. I don't quite get how it works myself, but all the books I've read suggest that wherever earth ponies dwell they affect the world around them. As though they form a bond with the land.”

“Applejack does get really buddy-buddy with her trees,” Rainbow Dash said, remembering Bloomberg.

“Sort of like that, yeah. They are very attuned to their environment. Sometimes, apparently, to the point where they can somehow feel things coming within it.” Twilight paused to shoot a glance at Pinkie Pie, who, at the moment, seemed much more attuned to a stack of pancakes. ”But anyway,” she continued, ”If it weren't for the earth ponies, Ponyville would just be another part of the Everfree Forest.”

“How can you say that, Twilight?” Rainbow Dash said, disturbed by the suggestion. “Ponyville could never be like that freaky place. You've been there!”

“Obviously. But bizarre as it may sound, Rainbow Dash, I think the Everfree Forest is how the world actually is. How it's supposed to be. Without ponies around, I mean. Plants pollinating plentifully wherever they please, animals all fiercely feral and ferocious, and the climate completely chaotic; occasionally cataclysmic!”

“Do you have to do that?” Rainbow Dash had to ask. She wondered if Twilight was at all aware of her apparent addiction to alliteration.

Twilight Sparkle looked confused. “Uh, anyway.. My point is: it is a wild, savage place. But when earth ponies settle somewhere things gradually change. The land becomes more fertile, animals increasingly domesticated and docile, and the climate temperate and calm.”

"Hang on," Rainbow Dash objected, "Me and the rest of the Weather Patrol are the ones who control the climate."

"No, you manufacture the weather," Twilight corrected her, "Since you can manipulate the clouds. But without earth ponies around the weather would be creating itself autonomously, and you'd probably find it very hard to keep in check."

“I don't know, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said. The blue mare was beginning to feel a bit out of her depth, and all the big words and subtle nuances the bookish unicorn was throwing at her weren't helping. “How can you know all of this? Things have been like this in Ponyville for as long as anypony can remember.”

“Well, remember Appleloosa?” Twilight replied, ”That was a frontier town, a recent settlement, and yet Applejack's relatives already had a huge, fruitful orchard growing there. In the middle of a desert. If agriculture was naturally possible in that environment, how come the bison were still living as grazing nomads after all these centuries?”

“Wow, that's super interesting, Twilight!” Pinkie contributed. The pink mare had seemed insatiable and focused solely on the food, before now. She'd stopped stuffing her face however, listening to Twilight with a rapturous look on her face and her chin propped up on her hooves.

“Yeah, totally riveting. It even woke me up once or twice,” Rainbow said flatly.

“You know, I don't know why you're bothering to ask me questions if you're just going to disparage me for trying to answer thoroughly,” Twilight huffed.

“Sorry Twilight. You're right,” Rainbow Dash sighed. “It's just, this is all really fascinating and all – and I mean that, honest - but I just don't see how it helps me at all.”

“Thank you,” Twilight Sparkle nodded. ”Where was I? Right, pegasus ponies. Well, that one's really obvious. You guys can fly!”

Rainbow Dash waited silently for a few moments, but when no additional exposition seemed to be forthcoming she threw up her hooves in frustration and disbelief. “But that's not magic!”

“You ever notice these?” Rainbow Dash said. She spread her wings to illustrate her point.

“I have,” Twilight said simply, glossing over the sarcasm. ”But did you ever stop to think that it should be physically impossible for you to generate enough lift for flight, with wings as puny as those?”

“Did you.. did you just call my wings puny?” Rainbow Dash said. She sounded deeply offended and glared at Twilight with smoldering eyes.

“N-no, they're.. great!” the unicorn hastily backtrotted; she clearly hadn't intended to be insulting. “What I meant to say was: if you look at the birds indigenous to this area, you'll notice that they're - literally - featherweights. And their wingspans are proportionally much larger than yours.”

The gluttonous party-pony had, indeed, devoured so much pudding, ice-cream and other treats, at this point, that one wondered how she was still able to move. She was following the back-and-forth discussion between the two other ponies as though she were watching a tennis match, and grinned at them when they looked at her dubiously.

“Riiight," Twilight said, "Probably not. But, erm, under normal circumstances?”

“Yeah, sure. I guess," Rainbow Dash said dismissively. She couldn't really argue there. "Why?”

“The point is that you aren't any lighter or smaller than us unicorns or earth ponies. Birds are relatively small, and even have hollow bones to keep their weight down. Yet pegasus ponies can fly around at higher speeds than any bird, without going through all that trouble. In fact, they can have their fall broken by a swarm of butterflies, apparently, or casually stroll about on clouds like they're nearly weightless!”

Rainbow Dash needed a moment or two to digest all this. She felt like Twilight was on to something, but the preceding slight about her wings made her reluctant to concede too quickly. “So.. wait, you're saying my wings are just there for decoration? Then what the hay have I been training my flank off for?”

“No Rainbow Dash, I'm saying your wings are like my horn: they allow you to instinctively use some form of magic that allows you to fly with them. It's obvious there's physical activity involved, otherwise you wouldn't have to move them at all. But all the flapping in Equestria wouldn't help if you weren't able to affect gravity or disregard a few fundamental laws of nature somehow. At least, that's what I think.”

"If that's true," Rainbow Dash said doubtfully, "I should be able to do the Rainboom every time, no sweat. In fact, every pegasus should be able to do it. What gives?"

“Hmm, well," Twilight said, "Unicorns clearly don't all have the same magical potential, so I'm guessing the same goes for other types of ponies. You are probably the fastest pegasus I've ever seen--”

“But.. you can't expect to be able to do something as extreme as the Rainboom consistently without a better understanding of your abilities."

Rainbow Dash shook her head. "How can I understand something when nopony even knows how it works?"

Twilight smiled sympathetically and touched Rainbow Dash's shoulder. "Look, believe it or not, I understand your frustration. When I took my entrance exam for Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, my magic was still very flaky. I couldn't even do the simple, stupid magic tricks I'd done a million times before. I felt like I was under so much pressure; my whole future was riding on the outcome and those examinators were constantly frowning and scribbling away at their notepads.."

"But you pulled it off, right? Turned them all into potted plants, if I remember right," Rainbow Dash said approvingly. She'd have given anything for the ability to turn her teachers into houseplants, back when she attended Flight School.

"Not all of them," Twilight said, looking a bit embarrassed. "And it was the wave of magical energy from your first Rainboom, washing over me, that awoke my latent abilities. It was exactly the little push I needed."

"Maybe all you need is a little push, too," Twilight interrupted. She smirked, enjoying Rainbow Dash's expression now that she experienced first-hoof how annoying that could be. "Though I have to add: I've been studying magic for years now and I still can't fully control it."

"I don't have years, Twilight," Rainbow Dash said. She tried not to sound too impatient.

"Well, we can try to figure out the first step," Twilight said soothingly. "Both occasions where you pulled off the Rainboom were pretty extraordinary, right? We should probably take a closer look at those--”

“--and figure out what made it work then!” Rainbow Dash realized. “That's brilliant, Twilight!”

“Thanks,” Twilight sighed. “But will I ever be able to complete a sentence, I wonder?”

“Oh! Oh! I know this one!” Pinkie said, sticking up a hoof as if she were in class. “The last time she went all rainboomy was 'cause if Dashie hadn't gone that fast, Rarity and those other guys would've been pony pancakes!” The pink mare made a rather graphic 'splat' noise while she pantomimed something falling and flattening on the ground. ”So I guess we should go get your balloon, Twilight, and then I can jump out of it, and then..”

“Pinkie has a point though,” Rainbow Dash considered. “When I saw that they were in danger I didn't even think about whether or not I'd make it. I had to make it.”

“But the circumstances weren't quite that extreme the very first time, right?” Twilight asked, trying to recall all the details of the blue mare's cutie-mark origin story.

“Strange,” Twilight said. “Almost as if it was easier for you when you were younger.”

“Um, Dashie, didn't you also mention something about having to “defend Fluttershy's honor,” or something adorkable like that?” Pinkie Pie teased.

“Yeah..” the blue mare said reluctantly. She'd intentionally left out that embarrassing little detail. “Yeah, there was that, too.”

“So essentially you were still trying to protect a friend,” Twilight said with a smile.

“Yeah. A friend..” Rainbow Dash said evasively. ”That's pretty useless though, if that's the secret behind it.”

“I don't think it's that specific,” Twilight reassured her. “This is just a hypothesis, mind you, but I think what you have in spades is confidence. And in life-or-death situations you generally don't even think about what needs to be done, you just do it. What it seems to all boil down to is that, in order to pull off something as blatantly impossible as the Rainboom, you need to actually believe you can do it first. That seems to be the key!”

Every fiber of Rainbow's body was tense, like a drawn bow, waiting for an electrical signal to pulse from her brain as soon as her eyes registered the wave of the checkered flag. In this moment that flag was all that existed; the rest of the world was being filtered out by her faculties.

"Ready?" the attractive, white pegasus model who carried the flag began. She got only intense stares for an answer. Even the crowd was completely hushed.

"Seeeeet..." she continued, annoyingly stretching out the word. Wings were being revved in anticipation, ready to give their owners a little starting boost. Hooves scraped and stamped impatiently on the surface of the track.

Morrow

by Aurora

Chapter 4: Chekhov's Filly