The day of the Cloudsdale Flying Competition had arrived. Rainbow Dash was already there and her friends were getting ready to leave. Fluttershy joined her friends over at the library where they were getting ready to leave.
Twilight realized that she would need to cast a spell on her friends and herself, except Fluttershy, so that the non-pegasus ponies would be able to walk on clouds. After she cast the spell on them they got into their hot air balloon and headed up to Cloudsdale, while Fluttershy flew up there beside them.
Once they arrived they headed over to the grandstands. As they were headed there, Rainbow Dash shouted, "Hey guys, I'm so glad you could make it. It just wouldn't be the same without you!"
Pinkie replied, "You know we wouldn't miss this for the world. After you win this we will have to have a huge party!"
"Uh yeah Pinkie," replied Rainbow "we'll have to do that."
"Come on everypony," said Twilight "Rainbow has to get ready for the competition. Let's go and get a good seat to watch this."
Fluttershy was looking better than she was last week but she still didn't seem as excited as her friends were for watching Rainbow compete.
Rarity asked, "Fluttershy, are you still feeling down? Do you remember what I told you last week?"
Fluttershy replied, "Yeah, I should be happy for her and I shouldn't let my envy affect how I act around her."
Princess Celestia arrived and announced to the crowd, "Welcome to this year's Cloudsdale Flying Competition! We have a great field of competitors this year. The winner of this competition will automatically qualify for the Canterlot Speed Competition next month! It is an open competition so anypony else who is interested, talk to me after today's competition. Today's judges will be Soarin' and Spitfire, the two longest tenured Wonderbolts! Let the competition begin!"
The crowd cheered as the competitors went out onto the stage to be introduced.
Celestia announced, today's first competitor it Lightning Dust!
Lightning Dust took flight doing numerous aerial acts, soaring skywards, plunging straight down, soaring up over the crowd and then landing on the stage. The crowd cheered loudly as she was posing for the cameras.
Next up was Raindrops. She spread her wings wide and took off. Her first act was flying around four clouds in a square making them spin very fast and then jumping on them creating a rainstorm, then dived down into the storm and soared upwards, kicking all four clouds at the same time with her hooves causing the clouds to dissipate and the rain to stop. She then soared skywards and then swooped down to the stage.
The crowd cheered loudly as Raindrops was much more modest bowing for the crowd rather than posing for the cameras.
Twilight said, "Wow, Raindrops did a spectacular job with those rain clouds."
Pinkie Pie said, "If only those were chocolate milk clouds!"
Next up was Flitter. Her's was the most interesting competition as she would have three fireflies performing with her. She started by soaring skywards carrying her fireflies on her wings, she then sped into a cloud bank clearing the sky out completely all while keeping those fireflies on her wings. She then dived towards the ground, surging back upwards only inches away from crashing and then sped to the stage. She was bowing to the crowd with the fireflies still on her wings.
"Wow," said Fluttershy "she did a really good job with those fireflies. I wonder if she has a talent involving them?"
Rarity replied, "Well her cutie mark is three fireflies so I would think so!"
Cloudkicker was up next. She took flight skywards towards a long row of clouds. She dived up and down like the way a wave oscillates kicking the clouds as she goes. After she finished that she surged down towards the ground where some fog had developed and crashed into it but avoided the ground. She surged back up and dived straight down towards the stage landing safely before crashing into it.
Applejack said, "Wow, ah didn't know that was even possible. Ah thought for sure she was going to crash into the ground."
"I thought the same," said Twilight "She must have practiced a lot to do that performance so flawlessly."
Finally it was Rainbow Dash's turn. "Come on Dashie, you can do it!" shouted Pinkie
Rainbow looked over at her friends and smiled. She took flight with great speed towards a large bank of clouds. She flew around them causing the whole bank of clouds to spin very fast and then put her wing into the cloud to shape it like an hourglass. She then sped barely above the crowd's heads, soared skywards and looked down. She flew down as fast as she could and hit a cloud as fast as she could. She bounced back up skywards and accelerated in speed, finally creating a sonic rainboom. She flew up and around the city encircling it in a beautiful rainbow before landing on stage.
Soarin' and Spitfire talked among themselves and headed over to Celestia to tell her who they believe did the best job.
Princess Celestia grabbed the microphone and shouted, "The winner of this year's Cloudsdale Flight Competition is Rainbow Dash!"
The crowd cheered wildly as Rainbow sped skyward and started bowing to the crowd. Her friends were cheering loudly. Rarity looked over towards Fluttershy and said, "You see dahling, it is good to celebrate a friend's achievements."
Rarity realized that Fluttershy was not even there. She thought to herself, "Oh geez, why does she have to dwell on this and not be here for Rainbow's celebration?"
Fluttershy flew up undetected to where Celestia was sitting and asked, "Um Celestia, I was just wondering, if it is ok with you if I could sign up to fly in next months Canterlot Speed Competition?"
Celestia at first thought to herself, "How is Fluttershy going to even stand a chance in that race but realized that she should give her a chance."
Celestia replied, "Of course you can fly in the competition Fluttershy! You're on the list, you better get back down with your friends. I am sure Rainbow will want you there to celebrate with her."
"Thank you your Majesty!" replied Fluttershy
Fluttershy flew back down to her friends right before Rainbow Dash went over to them to celebrate. "Wasn't I just awesome?" asked Rainbow
"yay! You were awesome!" replied Fluttershy
Rarity breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Fluttershy acting more like herself around Rainbow.
Rainbow Dash boasted, "I am so ready for next month's speed competition! Will you guys be there to watch me speed my way to victory?"
"Of course we will! We wouldn't miss it for the world." replied Fluttershy
"Alright everypony, let's head home." said Twilight "Fluttershy, Rainbow, we will see you two once you get home."
Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash hung around Cloudsdale for a while talking about how awesome her performance was. Rainbow Dash was talking about how she is going to crush her competition next month.
Fluttershy agreed with her but knew that she would be surprised when she would be in the race with her.