A Rainbow of a Different Color

by The 24th Pegasus

Chapter 12: Jubilee Day

“Who’s a good little raptor? Who’s a good little raptor? You are! Yes you are, yes you are!”

Rubbing noses with a fledgling falcon, Lanner smiled brightly and fed it a strip of mouse meat. With a happy squawk, the small bird quickly pecked at the meat and tilted its head back, swallowing the strip whole. Shaking its head a few times, the young bird bent over and rubbed its beak against the wooden perch to wipe away the blood.

The sounds of the rookery echoed all around her, and Lanner turned to the next fledgling in line. Altogether there were seven raptors being trained to work at the post office, and it was Lanner’s job to raise them. Picking up the leather pouch of mouse meat, she sat down in front of the next bird, a juvenile hawk, and opened her wings.

“Come on, Matilda. Show me your wings, girl. Momma wants to see how your feathers are coming along.”

The hawk cocked its head to the side and stared at Lanner. Frowning, Lanner mirrored its movements and flapped her wings twice to try and reaffirm her message. With a shrill screech, the hawk flipped its head over its shoulders and stared at the wall behind it.

“For the love of oats, Matilda,” Lanner grumbled, carefully nudging the hawk’s head with a hoof. “Do we have to do this same song and dance every time?”

The hawk turned towards Lanner, inspected her hopeful face for a few seconds, then hissed and turned around.

Lanner sighed. “Do I need to sing?”

The hawk blinked at her.

With a roll of her eyes, Lanner cleared her throat and began to gently sway back and forth as she sang.

Matilda slowly turned to face Lanner as she finished the first verse of the song. Lanner smiled as she did so. It was the hawk’s favorite song ever since Lanner began singing it to her earlier in the year, and it usually coaxed the bird into listening to what she told it. Even now, the hawk glanced at its wings and stretched them just the smallest amount before looking back to Lanner and clucking its tongue.

Smiling, Lanner looked at the bird with half-lidded eyes and continued to sing.

Just then, the roof of the rookery imploded as a colorful figure went sailing through it, causing Lanner to jump and the raptors to begin screeching with alarm. Quickly putting Matilda back in her cage, Lanner paced up to the edge of the rubble and peered into it. “Rainbow Dash? What’re you doing here? I thought you were out stunt flying!”

Groaning, Rainbow managed to work her way to her haunches and then rubbed a hoof along her muzzle, wiping away blood from a few scratches. “Ungh… I am… was… my trick just got a little away from me.”

Lanner extended a hoof and helped haul Rainbow out of the splinters of wood. “Jubilee Day’s tomorrow, stoonad. Shouldn’t you be resting those wings of yours?”

Dusting herself off with her aforementioned wings, Rainbow shrugged her shoulders. “I can’t stop practicing now! I need to be perfect for tomorrow’s show! Everypony in town knows what I’m doing, and I don’t want to let any of them down, especially the king. There’re still a few kinks I’ve got to work out of my routine, which means I’ve got to keep practicing!” Standing up, she flapped her wings once in an attempt to get airborne but hissed in pain as her left wing overextended.

“Uh… Rainbow? You alright?” Concerned, Lanner touched Rainbow’s shoulder. After a few deep breaths, Rainbow managed to settle her wing back into place by her side. With an embarrassed flick of her wing, she shuffled away from Lanner’s reach.

“Just a little muscle pain. Yeah,” Rainbow answered her. “It’ll be fine. I’ve had worse.”

Lanner furrowed her brow. “How would you know?”

“Eh… heheh… just trust me,” Rainbow assured her, rubbing a hoof behind her mane.

“Rainbow…” Lanner began, her voice taking on something akin to a mother scolding her child, “this is why I told you to stay off your wing until I gave you the all clear. And what did you do?”

Rainbow’s eyes shifted back and forth. “Uh… what I was supposed to do?”

“No!” Lanner exclaimed, frustrated. “You should’ve waited at least another two days after that fall from Flurry’s place. You’re likely to separate the fracture again if you keep putting it under this much stress without giving it the time to fully calcify. And you know what they say; it’s harder to fix something you broke twice.” She ushered Rainbow aside and took the afflicted wing in her hooves. “Especially when you’ve got hollow bones like we do.”

Rainbow snapped her wing back from Lanner and settled it into place. “No offense, but I think I know what I’m doing.”

“And I’ve dealt with broken wings on birds most of my life,” Lanner countered. “I know what I’m doing.”

Rainbow took a step back. “So are you going to ground me or something? You know how important this is to me?”

Lanner sighed and nodded. “I do know, Rainbow. So I’m not going to, but please, please please please please please be careful with your wing. I don’t want you to fracture it again, or else…”

Rainbow tilted her head as Lanner failed to finish her warning. “Or else what?”

“Or else you might not fly again,” Lanner finished, the worried look on her face all too clear.

“Holy crap! When did River’s Reach get so huge?!”

Rainbow Dash gawked at the colorful streets and bustling crowds of ponies all trying to fit into a space a thousand times too small. Stands, signs, stages, and street performers filled every nook and cranny of the town that wasn’t being dedicated to thoroughfare traffic. Stall vendors literally stood elbow to elbow as they fought for what little space there was, and proud banners fluttered overhead with the showers of confetti. There was almost no room to walk on the ground, so the skies were filled with pegasi trying to get from place to place. There were so many it was becoming difficult for Rainbow Dash, Hawk Tail, Flurry, and Lanner to fly.

“It’s amazing how this town grows overnight when it’s Jubilee Day,” Flurry commented from where she hovered. “And it’s mostly just day-trippers, too. There’s nowhere near enough housing in all of River’s Reach and the surrounding countryside to hold all these ponies.”

“I got lost in the crowds once when I was a filly who couldn’t fly,” Lanner chirped. “I must’ve spent an hour wandering around the streets looking at the stalls before I realized Dad and Hawk Tail weren’t with me.” She clacked her hooves together and giggled. “Ooh, the looks on their faces when I found them again—priceless!”

“The look on your face when Dad tied you to a leash outside the next day so you wouldn’t run off as punishment—priceless!” Hawk Tail returned, earning him an angry punch on the shoulder. Rainbow Dash and Flurry nearly keeled over, they were laughing so hard.

“Waitwaitwaitwaitwait—seriously?!” Rainbow exclaimed, slapping her thigh as she whooped. “That’s amazing!”

Lanner’s face quickly took on a red as crimson as her brother’s mane. “No it’s not! It was horrible! I thought we—you promised—you—urgh!” she sputtered to Hawk Tail, before ultimately clocking him over the head a second time in frustration.

Stifling her laughter with a hoof, Flurry turned to Rainbow Dash and touched her shoulder. “But seriously, this town gets insane around this time every year. I think the best estimates say that we more than quintuple the population of River’s Reach for the day. Despite how far away it is, there’s nothing like celebrating the original holiday in the original town, and ponies will travel all across Nymera to visit.”

“Especially royalty,” Hawk Tail added, nudging Rainbow in the ribs and pointing towards one of the intersections of the street. Flapping her wings a little harder to get a better view, Rainbow ascended until she could clearly make out the ponies travelling down the street in a large procession. The crowds parted to make room as the caravan of carriages progressed, then huddled close to the sides of the main carriage—or as close as they could get, as ponies in purple and teal armor formed a perimeter around it.

“Is that… the king?” Rainbow Dash asked, astonished. “Wow, he’s got quite a following.”

“Everypony essential for the king’s daily life,” Flurry said, waggling her eyebrows. “Or so they tell us. He’s likely got his family with him, a chef, a personal bard, and a whole contingent of royal soldiers to keep him safe. It gets a little rowdy around here when the kegs come out at dusk, believe me.”

Rainbow whistled. “That’s pretty awesome. Do you think we can go meet him? I kinda can’t see inside the carriage from up here.”

“Wait until the crowds thin out later today, Rainbow,” Hawk Tail said. “Otherwise you’ll be fighting for space in that mess down there.” He tapped his hoof to his chin. “You talked with the mayor about your show, right?”

“Duh!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, twirling over Hawk’s head to hover by his other side. “I got it all squared away and everything. It’ll be at three today, over by the Jade Hills. I’m so excited!”

“If you got it through to the Mayor, the king will probably be there,” Flurry said. “If you do a good job, you’ll get a chance to speak with him afterwards.”

“Pressure,” Lanner sang to herself.

Rainbow waved it off with a hoof. “Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine. Flying is like, my element or something.”

Everypony missed the nervous kick of her hind leg.

“I’m sure you’ll do fine,” Hawk Tail said, resting a hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder. “You’ve been in the air for about a week and you’re already a better flier than the rest of us put together.”

“Seriously,” Flurry added. “I tried doing some of the stuff I see you doing every day from my cloud home, and I just can’t keep up.” She massaged one of her wings for emphasis while she hovered. “I don’t know how you do it. I get exhausted just trying to mimic your stunts.”

Flurry’s compliments earned a slight blush from Rainbow’s cheeks. “Well, it’s just practice, ya know?”

“That and you’re a natural!” Lanner shouted, shaking Rainbow’s shoulders. “I think we know exactly what you did before you ended up here: you’re a professional stunt flier!”

“Professional stunt flier?” Rainbow echoed, her eyes fixating on some mental image running through her head.

“Of course! How else could you be so good?” Lanner asked. “I bet you were a captain or something! I’d pay to see your shows!”

Rainbow blinked, and for the slightest of seconds her pegasi friends all hovering around her wore blue and yellow flight suits. She blinked again, and then it was gone.

Hawk Tail noticed Rainbow’s face pale, and his expression changed to one of concern. “Hey, you alright?”

Shaking her head, Rainbow cleared the ghosting of a memory from her mind. “Just saw something is all. I’ll… tell you about it later.”

“Oooh!” Lanner exclaimed, her fluttering wings dragging her body up with their excitement. “What did you see? I wanna know!”

“Lanner…” Flurry said, the warning in her voice all too clear.

Lanner’s ears flattened against her head. “Sorry…”

“It’s alright,” Rainbow Dash said dismissively. “These… flashes just happen from time to time. No big deal. It’s progress, right?” she added optimistically, glancing amongst her friends for their approval.

Hawk Tail was the first to nod. “It sure is. Don’t worry, we’ll get you there in time.” He patted Rainbow’s back one more time to comfort her, and then changed the subject. “You want to head down to some of the stalls? We’ve got about two hours until you have to get ready for your show.”

Rainbow opened her mouth to speak, but Lanner was faster. “It’s about time! Seriously, we missed the early morning stuff because we had to patch up the rookery, and all we’ve been doing is hovering since we got here! I’m ready to celebrate! Aren’t you?”

Flurry nodded. “I’ve only got about an hour myself before I need to get the ice sculpture ready for its travel to town for the big reveal. I figure I’ll be leaving my house while you’re doing your show, Rainbow. Should be an excellent view.”

Rainbow tagged Flurry’s shoulder with her wing. “I’ll try to look for you when I’m doing my routine and give you a wink or something.”

“Heh. As long as you don’t break my sculpture with a flyby, we’ll be good. Seriously,” she said as she deliberately turned toward Hawk, “you guys will love it.”

Hawk Tail blinked and moved to say something before Lanner flew up and violently shook his shoulders. “Come on! Are we going to freaking dilly-dally all day?! If you guys aren’t coming, I’ll go by myself!”

“I’m with Lanner, let’s have ourselves a party!” Rainbow exclaimed. Together the two mares descended into town and made a runway out of Mane Street, leaving Hawk Tail and Flurry to shake their heads.

“Foals,” Flurry muttered, although she made no effort to hide the amused smile on her face. “I suppose we should go after them?”

Hawk Tail nodded and gestured with his wing. “Ladies first.”

“So chivalrous,” Flurry purred, making sure to brush coats with the brown stallion as she passed. Hawk Tail paused for a second before following in her wake.

The first thing Hawk Tail noticed as his hooves struck cobblestone was the noise. The second was the sheer amount of ponies trying to fit in one space along the street. Those two combined made it nearly impossible to move and impossible to think. As he and Flurry settled their wings and moved out into the crowd, Hawk was thankful that Mayor Legislature had the foresight to clear landing zones in the streets for pegasi flying from one event to another to touch down cleanly.

Rainbow Dash’s vibrant mane was difficult to miss in the crowd, and he angled his wings out to clear some space through the crowd that he and Flurry could pass through. By the time they had pushed their way to the opposite end of the street, Rainbow Dash and Lanner were walking back towards them with powdered donuts hanging out of their mouths. The two groups faced each other in silence for a few seconds before Flurry put a hoof to her forehead and laughed.

“What?” Rainbow Dash asked accusingly. “A mare’s gotta eat before the big show!”

“You look absolutely ridiculous with those hanging out of your mouths,” Flurry said, still giggling. “You’ve got white stuff all over your muzzle!”

Rainbow decided she didn’t like her cerulean coat anymore as her cheeks went up in flames.

The innuendo cleared Lanner’s head by about a mile. “What? It’s just powdered donuts. Powerful, powdered sugah!!!” With that she tilted her head back and wolfed down the last of the donut with a single bite.

Hawk Tail rolled his eyes while Flurry flopped on the ground and tried to breathe. “I take it you’re already sampling some of the finest Jubilee Day has to offer?”

Wiping the rest of the powdered sugar from her muzzle, Rainbow Dash licked her lips and smiled. “Hey, this stuff is great. I’ll make sure to buy more before I go out for my show.”

“And hit up the winetasting vendors afterwards for a good time,” Flurry suggested. “There’s this one stallion who always sets up shop near the fountain who’s got some of the sweetest and strongest wines you’ll ever taste. Mmmm…” She blinked as her mind drifted back to some faraway place. “Nothing like the burn of alcohol after a long day’s celebration.”

Rainbow Dash stuck out her tongue. “Blech. I don’t like wines. I’m more of a mare of hard cider.”

Flurry teasingly raised her eyebrows. “Hard cider? C’mon, Rainbow, that’s the kind of stuff we give Lanner so she doesn’t feel left out.”

“Hey!” Lanner squawked. “I’m old enough to take liquor like a mare!”

“It’s okay, Rainbow,” Hawk said, defusing the subject before it could escalate any further. “There are some good cider vendors in town. We’ll take you by them after your show.”

“That’s good,” Rainbow said, finishing off the rest of her donut with a bite. Licking her lips, she did her best to pull the white sugar off of her muzzle before wiping her mouth with a hoof. “So,” she began, glancing among her friends, “where to next?”

“Well, we’ve got our assortment of games, food vendors, arts and crafts, market stalls, you name it,” Flurry said. “I personally like to get a whole bunch of sandwiches and drinks and just have a daylong picnic down by the river. Just don’t go down by the bridges, that’s where most of the travelers tend to congregate.”

Lanner rolled her eyes. “Psshhh, that’s boring! Jubilee Day is all about having fun! Like playing games and stuff! Come on, there’re some really cool carnival stalls further in town, and they’re all really cheap, too!”

“How cheap?” Rainbow asked.

“Uh, I dunno, like a few cyrs and stuff!” Lanner exclaimed. “But it’s totally worth it!”

Hawk Tail shook his head. “If you’re going to blow your money on overpriced games, be my guest.” Turning to Rainbow, he gestured deeper into town with a wing. “I prefer to just take walks through town and enjoy the sights. You know?”

Rainbow nodded. “That sounds like fun. What do you guys think?”

Flurry shrugged. “Fine by me, I guess. I’ve only got an hour though, so let’s make it a good one.”

Lanner sighed. “Fine, whatever. I’m still hitting the games afterwards.”

“So we’re settled then?” Hawk Tail asked the group.

“Let’s do it!” Rainbow shouted, fluttering off of her front hooves as she did so. Both Lanner and Flurry nodded, and together the group of four friends made their way down the main streets.

“Look at all the things to do!” Lanner exclaimed, practically bouncing with each step. “Ring toss, corn hole, bocce, everything!”

“They have bocce here?” Flurry asked, confused.

“Not here, silly, but down by the river!” Lanner said. “You know, where it’s flat and the grass is short? Come on!”

“Uh…” Rainbow began, her eyes glancing towards Hawk Tail. “What’s bahchee?”

Lanner seemingly came to a dead stop in the middle of one of her bounces. “Wait, you’ve never played bocce before?” She quickly spun around, planted her hooves on Rainbow’s shoulders, and began to shake her violently. “What sort of poor, uncivilized country are you even from?!”

“Lanner!” Flurry shouted, harshly. Pushing the younger mare away, the white pegasus turned towards Rainbow. “But seriously, she’s right.”

“I don’t know!” Rainbow exclaimed, drawing a hoof defensively across her chest. “I’ve never heard of it before! I mean, I remember sports like hoofball and soccer from wherever I’m from, but never bocce.”

It was the other mares’ turn to be confused. “Soccer?” Flurry asked.

“Hoofball?” Lanner pressed both hooves to her mouth to stifle her laughter. “What kind of a weird sport is that?”

“Weird? I mean, it’s pretty easy,” Rainbow said. “You take two teams—”

“Shut up, woman!” Lanner exclaimed, practically punching Rainbow in the face to silence her. “We’re going to teach you the finer sports in life, like bocce. Come on!” Stretching her wings, she didn’t even offer a chance for Rainbow to reply before she took flight towards the river. Exasperated, Rainbow turned to Hawk, who just shrugged his shoulders.

“It’s a fun game, don’t worry about it,” he said. Rubbing a wing against her back, he added, “I’ll be on your team, and we’ll go against Lanner and Flurry.”

“How’s it work, though?” Rainbow asked.

Hawk waved it off. “It’s fairly straightforward, you’ll see when we get there. Besides, some ponies say I’m pretty good at it.”

Flurry pretended to gag on her hoof. “Don’t let him fool you, that’s just stallion’s talk. If you want to see a real pro, watch me.”

“Hey!” Lanner shouted from a nearby rooftop. “Are you slowpokes coming or not? There’s an open court, and if you guys hang around any longer with your tails up your asses, it’ll be claimed by the time we get there. Capisce?”

Flurry rolled her eyes and took off, leaving Hawk Tail and Rainbow Dash to follow her. Weaving their way through the busy Jubilee Day airspace, the four pegasi swiftly descended on the sparkling river and spread out on a patch of open grass. All around them, ponies milled about, enjoying meals by the water’s edge or going on long walks down the shore. Even away from the center of town, the noise in the atmosphere kept the air buzzing.

“Here, here! Over here!” Lanner exclaimed as she bounded towards an open stretch of flat dirt and sand. The grass had been trimmed away and a long rectangle had been laid out in sand. In the center were eight large balls, four purple and four teal, with a small white ball nestled between them.

“Go over to that side, Rainbow,” Hawk said, pointing with his hoof towards the far end of the court. “Flurry, go with her. Lanner and I will stay on this side.”

“What?” Raising her hoof, Rainbow came to a stop. “I thought we were gonna be on a team, Hawk!”

Hawk laughed. “We are. Each side takes turns throwing the balls, so each team has a pony on opposite sides. Flurry will explain it to you, and Lanner and I will go first.” Nudging Rainbow’s shoulder, Hawk smiled. “Simple. I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it.”

Flurry draped her wing over Hawk Tail and pulled him close. “Don’t worry, Hawky, I’ll teach her. She’ll be learning from the best.”

Hawk Tail rolled his eyes and escaped from Flurry’s wing, quickly trotting to the center of the court where Lanner was nosing the balls towards the near side. Using his wings, he quickly shoveled the remaining balls towards his end, while Flurry and Rainbow walked towards the opposite side of the court. After a few seconds, Hawk and Lanner managed to separate the colored balls between them, with Hawk taking teal and Lanner taking purple.

“Who goes first?” Rainbow asked from the other end.

Lanner turned towards her brother. “Primaries?”

“Sure,” Hawk answered, extending a wing. Lanner mirrored the action, and together, they shook their wings in unison.

“One two three shoot!”

Both ponies opened their wings at the same time, displaying a number of extended primary feathers. Lanner revealed two to Hawk Tail’s one, and the younger mare immediately whooped and grabbed the white ball in her wing.

Rainbow crossed her eyes. “Huh?”

Flurry giggled. “I guess they don’t have primaries where you’re from either.”

“Is that some sort of game?”

Flurry giggled again. “I suppose it is. It only works with pegasi, though. See, you display one, two, or three feathers at the edge of your wing to see who wins. Two feathers beats one, three feathers beats two, and one feather beats three. It’s useful for choosing who goes first.”

“Oh,” Rainbow said. “I guess it’s like rock, paper, scissors.”

“Erm… sure. I don’t know that one, but I guess.” Looking back towards the field, Flurry immediately ducked as the small white ball nearly hit her in the face. Turning towards Lanner, she fixed her eyes on the giggling culprit and angrily opened her wings. “Watch where you’re throwing that thing, else next time I’ll ram it down your throat with my bare hooves!” Reaching around with her wing, she scooped up the ball and chucked it back at Lanner.

“What’s that?” Rainbow asked as Lanner retrieved the ball and threw it just past midcourt.

“That’s the pallino,” Flurry said. “You try to get as close to that with the bocce balls as possible. The more you have closer than your opponent, the more points you get.”

The two pegasi sat down as Lanner made the first toss. Picking the ball up with her teeth, she balanced it on a hoof before lobbing it towards the pallino. The ball hit the dirt with a much harder thud than Rainbow had anticipated and rolled until it was about two feet from the pallino.

“Not bad, not bad,” Hawk teased from his side of the court. Picking up a ball of his own, he likewise lobbed it towards the pallino. The ball impacted the dirt and began to roll towards the white pallino before it deflected off a rock and settled farther away than Lanner’s. “Buck.”

Lanner responded by blowing raspberries in Hawk’s direction. “Not bad yourself,” she retorted. Feigning boredom, she reclined and rested her hooves behind her head while Hawk went for another ball.

Rainbow squinted from across the court. “Why’s Hawk going again?”

“Whoever’s farthest from the pallino goes until they’re closer than the other player,” Flurry answered her. “You just keep trying until you get closer or you run out of balls.”

“And what happens if you do?” Rainbow asked.

“Then the other pony gets to throw the last of their balls and not worry about you being any closer. The more balls you have closer to the pallino than the other pony’s closest, the more points you get. We usually play to eleven.” Yawning, Flurry smirked as Hawk’s next shot landed farther behind the pallino. “Still purple,” she called out.

Hawk shuffled a few steps to the side and smiled. “Not for long.” Raising his foreleg back, he lobbed the ball directly at the pallino. The teal ball struck the smaller white one head on and pushed it back towards his second shot until it came to rest just a few inches away. “Two teal,” he observed from his end of the court.

“Are you allowed to do that?” asked Rainbow Dash.

Flurry nodded. “You can hit the pallino and the other balls to try and get them farther away so that yours is ultimately closer, which is something that purple should strongly consider doing!” She swiveled her head towards Lanner, who rolled her eyes.

“I’m not a rookie, Flurry!” Lanner exclaimed as she threw her next shot. “I know how to play the game!”

“Just giving you a little advice,” Flurry muttered around her slight smile.

With a grunt, Lanner threw her ball. It caught a bad bounce, unfortunately, and slid past the two teal balls next to the pallino. Grunting, Lanner picked up her third shot and lobbed it, this time managing to hit Hawk Tail’s shots and send them wide. Still, the pallino came to a stop near a teal ball, forcing Lanner to take her last shot.

“Try not to miss,” Hawk teased from beside her.

Lanner scowled at him. “Stop trying to play mind games with me!” Furrowing her brow, she lined up her final shot.

“Mind games? I would never do that,” Hawk said, smirking, right as Lanner made her shot. His words caught her attention at the very last moment, and the ball left her hoof awkwardly. Sailing high through the air, it cut a much sharper angle than Lanner had intended, and when it hit the ground it was with a solid thump as it rolled off to the side. Frustrated, Lanner groaned and punched Hawk Tail repeatedly.

Hawk Tail chuckled as he lined up his final shot. “Easy, sis, there’s no reason to take out your frustration on me.” With a casual toss of his hoof, he deftly tossed the ball so it rolled next to the pallino and stopped.

“That’s a wrap on round one,” Flurry commented as she stepped forward to examine the court. “Looks like two teal before we get to our closest purple.”

“Two-zip?” Hawk asked from the far side. “I’ll take it.”

“Flankhole,” Lanner muttered under her breath. Together, the four pegasi shuffled the bocce balls towards Rainbow Dash’s and Flurry’s side, and Flurry passed the pallino to Rainbow.

“Give it a toss,” she said, gesturing with a wing. Wedging the small white ball between her feathers, Rainbow raised a wing and gave it a casual flick downfield. Afterwards, Flurry turned to Rainbow and nodded. “The last round’s winners go first.”

Rainbow Dash gingerly picked up a bocce ball and felt its weight, surprised at how dense and how heavy the ball was. “Right… here we go.” Balancing the thing in her hoof, she gave it a toss towards the pallino. The ball hit the dirt and rolled a few feet before coming to a stop a good distance from the target.

“Eh, you’ll get the hang of it,” Flurry assured her as she reached for her own. Deftly scooping one up, she opened her wing and nestled the ball on the crest. With a grunt, she threw her body into the motion and shunted the ball forward, where it hit the ground and rolled directly into the pallino.

Rainbow blinked several times before she realized her jaw was open. “What was that?”

Flurry smiled and flicked Rainbow on the nose. “Didn’t think a small pegasus like myself had that much wingpower, eh?” Pointing to the field, she added, “It’s your toss, by the way.”

“Err… Right,” Rainbow carefully replied, stepping forward to pick up a ball. Shuffling up to the throw line, she opened her wings and leaned forward. “This one’s gonna be a rocket!”

Hefting the ball in the air, she flung it with her forehoof at Flurry’s ball as hard as she could.

It hit the dirt and skipped once, twice, before sliding completely past both the purple bocce ball and the pallino.

“It was a rocket, alright,” Flurry observed. “A little bit more accuracy probably would have been helpful.”

Grunting, Rainbow picked up another ball and tossed it towards the pallino. “It’s a hard game!”

“It’s a game of skill and finesse,” Flurry countered. “You just have to get a few losses under your belt before you really get the hang of it.”

“I’ll show you a loss,” Rainbow grumbled as she reached for her last ball.

When that last shot sailed wide left, Flurry picked up her last three shots and chipped them in for three easy points. “Four-two, purple,” she said from their side as Hawk Tail and Lanner went to gather the balls. Then, yawning, she sat down in the grass and leaned back, observing the lone stallion from afar.

“So… Rainbow…” Flurry began while Hawk Tail lined up for his first shot.

Rainbow Dash perked her ears. “Hmm?”

The white mare rolled her neck and softly cleared her throat. “How have you been finding River’s Reach so far?”

Rainbow narrowed her eyes at the question. “It’s been good, yeah. I’ve enjoyed myself in the few weeks I’ve been here. Why do you ask?”

Flurry shrugged. “Just trying to make friendly conversation.” A pause as Lanner tossed the pallino and lined up her first shot. “I’m happy to see that you’re getting along with everypony here.”

Rainbow nodded. “It’s because you guys are so awesome. Seriously, without you or Hawk Tail or Dawn or Wrangler, I wouldn’t be where I’m at now.” She shrugged her shoulders as Lanner’s ball made a solid thunk against the ground. “If it wasn’t for those two over there, I’d probably be dead by now.”

“Lanner’s naïve, but she does her best,” Flurry said. “Hawk Tail just tries to be nice to everypony, and I think it suits him.” She pushed at a pebble in the dirt with her hoof and muttered, “Sometimes I think that blinds him to just how much others care for him.”

Rainbow Dash felt a sudden burning in her cheeks, only amplified by Flurry’s proximity. “Say, do you think Wrangler or Dawn will be here?” she asked, quickly changing the subject.

Flurry shook her head. “If Wrangler shows up, she’ll be somewhere at the fringes near the farm show. Dawn…” Flurry tapped her hoof against the ground and just shrugged. “You know she isn’t going to show up to such a crowded event as this. She gets uncomfortable when there’s exactly more than zero strangers in one place. This is kind of pushing it.”

“I guess you’re right,” Rainbow replied. She stretched her left wing and examined it, noting the small bump along the crest where it had fractured before. Fluttering it, she quickly settled it against her side and looked on towards the game. “I want to go see her when today’s all finished, then. At least it will keep me away from Hawk’s dad for a bit.”

Flurry chuckled. “It’s just Red Tail being Red Tail. He’s been protective of his family ever since Hawk’s mother died. And nopony knows where you come from,” she said, poking Rainbow’s chest. “I’d be more than a little hesitant myself to take somepony with no past into my house.”

Rainbow sighed. “I guess. Yeah, that makes sense.” Watching Hawk Tail line up his next shot, she turned back to Flurry. “What happened with Hawk Tail’s mom?”

Flurry blinked. “Hawk didn’t tell you?” When Rainbow shook her head, Flurry blinked again and shrugged her shoulders. “She died sixteen years ago, during Lanner’s birth. There were complications…” she sighed, and her shoulders sagged. “There wasn’t much anypony could do. The family’s just lucky that they could save Lanner.” Tapping a hoof to her chin, Flurry cocked her head. “Come to think of it… you actually look a bit like her.”

“Oh yeah?” Rainbow asked, surprised. “What was she like?”

“I didn’t know her that well because I was only six at the time,” Flurry began, “but she was always nice and kind. She cared for Hawk and Red Tail, and she was competitive in her own way. She had a light blue coat like you, although her mane was only yellow instead of… well, colorful. Rising Sun, I think her name was.”

Rainbow chuckled. “I was expecting another bird pun.”

Flurry made an amused snort. “She married into the family, Rainbow. That’d be a little weird otherwise, don’t you think?”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Hey, I didn’t mean anything like that—”

“I know, I know, just teasing you,” Flurry assured her. “Still, I’ve probably said more than I should. You should talk to Hawk Tail if you want to know more about it.”

Rainbow nodded. “I probably will tomorrow.” Then, climbing to her hooves, she walked towards the center of court as the last ball rolled to a stop. “In the meantime, we’ve got a game to play!”

Flurry smiled. “Not for long we don’t.”

Rainbow Dash paced back and forth across her staging cloud, high above the overpopulated town below. She’d been mentally reviewing her routine and trying to soothe her nerves ever since the end of the bocce game, a real hoof-biter with a final score of 11-6 purple. The tragic loss had done wonders to her competitive nature, and all she could do was insist that she lost because it was her first time playing the game.

Shortly after, Flurry had left to make the final preparations for her artwork, leaving Rainbow, Hawk Tail, and Lanner to wander around town for the next hour. They passed the time with food, carnival games, and occasionally bumping into a pony that they recognized and stopping to talk. Soon enough, however, that hour passed, and Rainbow took leave of her friends to warm-up and prepare for her routine.

Peering over the edge of the cloud, Rainbow could see a huge crowd of ponies gathered on the hilltop just outside of River’s Reach. There were far more than she had anticipated; word must have gotten out fairly quick. Instead of the green of grass, the hill was a shimmering of numerous different colors of ponies, as if a rainbow had fallen out of the sky and splattered against the ground. In the center of it all was a small clearing enforced around a select group of ponies waiting expectantly for the show to begin.

“Right,” Rainbow said to herself, flexing her wings. “There’s just a few thousand ponies down there, including the king of the country itself, waiting to see you solo a whole flight routine. No big deal.” Gulping, she blinked and stepped back. “No big deal,” she repeated.

Glancing at the sun, she watched as it neared three o’clock. “Five more minutes,” she told herself, flexing her wings in anticipation. “Start with the dive, loop it three times, then curl right and dive-bomb the crowd before pulling up at a U…”

For the remainder of the time she rattled off her routine to herself, making sure that she remembered everything and mentally steeling herself for her performance. Then, opening her eyes, she squinted as the three o’clock sunbeams struck her square in the face. A roar of anticipation carried through several thousand feet of sky to her ears, and it sent an oddly familiar shiver down her spine.

“It’s time,” she whispered to herself. Perching on the edge of her launch platform, Rainbow checked her goggles one last time and flexed her wings. They were as strong as they had ever been; she was ready.

She didn’t know why she said it—she didn’t even know what it meant—but as she leapt from her perch and flattened her wings against her side, she screamed the words that immediately came to her mind:

“Wonderbolts, look at me now!”

A chorus of warbling, joyous screams tore through the air behind her as she picked up speed. Behind her, her rainbow trail sliced a path through the air, leaving the air humming with energy. Closing her eyes, Rainbow counted off the seconds in her dive. Five, four, three, two, one…

Rainbow Dash snapped her wings and eyes open with an audible crack akin to the lash of a whip. The air pulled harshly on her wings, but it didn’t slow her in the least. Tilting back, she quickly reclined into a large loop, feeling the moment of weightlessness at the apex. With a flourish of her tail, she accelerated downwards through the loop, where she caught a full view of the crowd gathered below.

The cheering and stomping lit her eyes, and she fed off the energy of the crowd. They were absolutely enthralled, and it was only the beginning of her act. Her face settled into a confident smirk, and she screamed through the second loop faster than she originally planned to.

“Ha! If they like this, let’s show them something truly amazing!”

Spinning through a third and final loop so tight her head hardly moved, Rainbow hammered her wings down and rocketed forty-five degrees upwards. With a tight flip, she spun back and streaked parallel to the ground, leaving a thick rainbow trail in her wake. After blazing for about half a mile, she glanced behind herself to see that everything was all set up and took a deep breath.

With a strained grunt, Rainbow sharply twisted her wings back and flipped onto her back, suddenly killing her speed and causing her to float at a near standstill for half a second. As her rainbow trail raced towards her, she corkscrewed in place and accelerated blisteringly quick directly into the streak of colors.

“Yyyyyyyyaaaaauuugggghhhh!” she screamed as she punched through her own wake. As her new trail met her old, the colors split at impact and scrambled the rainbow trail in its passing. The colors blurred together until they left behind only a blindingly bright white light, flashing with an audible hiss and crackle left in Rainbow’s wake as she pierced through the sky. Streaks of light ripped through the air and struck out at random, filling the sky with energy and excitement.

Rainbow smirked as she looked back at her handiwork. “The buccaneer blaze, fillies and gentlecolts! Get a load of that!”

The crowd roared its approval.

Angling her wings, Rainbow sent herself into a sickening tailspin as she dove towards the crowd. As her speed intensified and a few feathers tore free from her wings, she opened them up and slammed them downwards, pulling up just in time from the dive-bomb to avoid becoming one with the hilltop. She saw ponies duck and dive out of the way as she passed, and as she curled back up towards the sky, she cast a quick glance over her shoulder to see them stand back up and applaud.

After executing a series of daring dives and rolls, twists and turns, and several blackout-inducing loops, Rainbow suddenly roared upwards as fast as she could. She flapped her wings harder and harder, straining as the air began to thin out around her and her wings started to ache. Only when the air was frigid and cold did she stop to look back at the ground below, several miles distant.

A ghost of a feeling touched at the back of her mind, and Rainbow knew what she wanted to do next. Emotions and excitement picked at the veil of her memories even if she couldn’t remember why. But she did know one thing: she wanted to go fast, faster than she had gone yet.

With a yell akin to a war cry, Rainbow flipped in midair and rocketed downwards, her wings flapping all the while. The clouds began to zip by incredibly fast, and if it weren’t for her goggles the wind would have blinded her. Forcing her hooves out, she streamlined herself into an arrowhead and only accelerated harder.

At first Rainbow thought her eyes were playing tricks on her. There, just in front of her hooves, the air flickered and shimmered as it streaked past her head. But soon enough it began to grow more solid, and the faster she went, the sharper a cone of light began to form around her outstretched hooves and encase her body. She could feel it pushing back on her, trying desperately hard to keep her from making any progress. Stretching her wings, Rainbow flapped harder, trying to force her way through and keep her speed up. As she flapped, however, a sharp knot of pain tore through her left wing, right along the healed fracture.

“Gaaahhh!!” she shrieked to herself as her speed faltered. The cone was gaining momentum on her now, and it was beginning to cancel out her kinetic energy. The bones in her wing burned and ached. But she was so close, the cone almost flattened to a needle point…

“You won’t stop me now!” Rainbow cried, and, ignoring the pain in her wing altogether, pressed harder through the cone. Her wings moved faster than before, and she swiftly recovered all the ground she had lost. The hilltop was only a few thousand feet below her. It was now or never.

With one final, triumphant yell, Rainbow punched straight through the end of the cone. The steep edges of light folded back and suddenly exploded as Rainbow screamed forward at several times her previous speed. As the cone snapped back on itself, the light that composed its walls shattered the visible spectrum. A thunderous boom tore over the town, and with it, a dazzling ring of color.

The crowd gasped. Then the crowd roared. Above them, the most amazing display of color they had ever seen, vibrant in a way they had never seen before, spread out for miles across the countryside. The rainbow ring undulated and pulsated as it spread out, bathing the country below in myriad colors. Successive claps of thunder followed as the air slammed back together in the void Rainbow had vacated, and even as the noise and light settled, it never felt like it ended.

Then somepony began shouting. They pointed their hoof at the lone stunt flier as she plummeted towards the ground. Pegasi nearby began to scramble, realizing something was wrong.

In the air, Rainbow’s mind flickered in and out of consciousness. She could barely focus on anything other than the immense pain in her wing and how it flopped around loosely as she fell. The ground was racing up to meet her, but there was little she could do about that in her current state.

But something else pulled at her mind. Names. Faces. Events. A pool of memories began welling up around her as the sonic rainboom dissipated in the sky above. As her life flashed before her eyes, it brought back with it the life of a different pony from a far away place.

“Twilight…” she croaked. The ground was incredibly close now. She knew in the back of her mind she wouldn’t survive the impact.

“I… I’m sorry.”

But just as she closed her eyes and accepted her fate, a white missile streaked through the air and broke her fall with a scream.