//------------------------------// // Smooth Moves // Story: Appledashery // by Just Essay //------------------------------// “I call this one the nasty nibbles!” Holding her breath, Rainbow Dash jerked left and right through the air, zig zagging at near ninety-degree angles. Through sheer speed, miniature bursts of thunder clapped all around her and the filly clinging to her shoulders. “Whoahhhh-hee-hee-hee!” I squealed, grinning against the fuzz-rippling winds. “Wowwww!” At last, the two of us evened out, and I found time to breathe. “Cool! It's like the sky's taking tiny little bites out of us!” “Heh... very smart, kid.” Rainbow winked over her shoulder. “You win a cookie. And now—” “The buccaneer blitz?” I ask with sparkling eyes. Rainbow sighed, smiling slyly. “Good try, kid. But I'm not gonna end up with you cooked like a goose.” “Awwwwww...” “We will, however, share a taste of the radical clear cloud clap!” I felt Rainbow's lungs expanding, then holding tight as she lifted the two of us high, high up. I gasped, glancing out my peripheral vision as the horizon ducked low beneath us. The world was a green splotch of fuzzy happenstance, and I couldn't hear my own cheering through the blood rushing through my ears. Rainbow Dash's wings flapped and flapped. I felt us tilting back, raising up like a ballast rising straight towards the surface of a grand blue ocean. Then, at some point, Rainbow purposefully stalled. Half a second later, we both went plunging straight down with Rainbow's lower legs pointed earthward. I felt my stomach shooting towards the nape of my neck, and I clung harder to Rainbow's shoulders. Just as the air past us began whistling, Rainbow jerked back, spreading her wings wide with each feather stretched out. A cushion of air formed beneath us, and just as it reached the breaking point, Rainbow thrusted forward and sprung off it with her rear legs. POW! A monstrous burst of air propelled us forward. I watched with darting eyes as we outflew the vaporous shockwave of the blast, before once again twirling towards the sunny sky. When the noise of disrupted air settled, I became aware of my incessant giggles. “...hee hee hee! Oh wowwwww—That was awesome!” “Yup. That tends to happen when I'm defying gravity.” “Rainbow...” I smile smugly, leaning in to speak directly into her ears. “You could totally be awesomer.” “The fuzz are you going on about, kid?” “I mean stop holding back!” I grinned. “I wanna feel what it's like to rule the skies like you!” “Heheh... but this is the total package, squirts! You're getting full, unmitigated, one hundred percent concentrate awesome! That's awesome with no pulp in it!” “For real?” “Would I lie to you?” “Then how about the forward filly flip?” “The what?!” “You know, that one trick that I've seen you do with Fluttershy's pet bunny!” “You mean before she breaks down in tears and tells me never to pick up Angel ever again?” “Yeah, that one!” “Er... I-I dunno...” Rainbow Dash looked ahead as we glided along. “Not to sound mean or anything, but you're a teensy bit heavier than a bunny rabbit...” “Oh come on! You've carried four grown ponies at once before!” “Uhhh—” “At the Best Young Fliers Competition, remember?” “Eh heh heh... yeah... s-sure.” She gulped. “But that was... erm...” “Come onnnnn!” I yank and tug at her shoulders, grinning. “I wanna feel awesome! Like you!” Rainbow Dash took a deep breath. “It'd make you really happy, huh?” “Rainbow Dash, just being up here with you is super killer sick...” I smile. “But if you think it's too dangerous, then I'm totally okay with—” “Pffft! Buck that!” Rainbow grinned daredevilishly over her shoulder. “Besides, if you're ever gonna do this trick yourself, ya gotta learn from the best!” “Yaaaaaaaaay!” “Don't cheer yet!” Rainbow Dash shouted, gaining altitude with mightily flapping wings. “For me to pull this off, I'm gonna need your cooperation!” “Uhhhh...” I suddenly gulped. “In wh-what way?” “When I shout 'jump,' I need you to spring your lower legs just like you're hopping a fence.” “What? I never hop fences!” “You forget who you're talking to, kid.” I blushed, glancing down at the bowing horizon. “You r-really do see everything from this high, don't you?” “Shhh! Concentrate! When I say 'jump'—” “I spring my lower legs!” “Darn straight! Don't worry if you don't get much air! Don't worry about everything! You hear me?” I nodded and nodded some more. “Sure thing, Rainbow Dash—” “No matter what, I'm going to catch you.” Her eyes momentarily glared. “Do you trust me?” I exhaled with a grin. “With my life...” “Heh. That works.” Rainbow Dash took a deep breath. “Okay...” She accelerated, gliding forward over treetops. “Get ready...” My body tensed, my hooves planted against her upper flank. She took a deep breath, twirled upside down, and shouted “JUMP!” “Gnnngh!” I did so, springing myself forward—and yet earthward. My body plummeted at a high velocity. In the meantime, Rainbow Dash used the thrust from my kicking legs to fly upwards at a steep angle. Still upside down, she angled her wings, arced downwards, and performed a full flip. She came back and around in time to intercept me. “Aaaaaaaaaaaand... bingo!” She thrusted both hooves forward... tingling with numbness. I fell straight through her grip. Rainbow gasped silently, her eyes twitching. She looked past her tingling hooves at the orange shape hurdling towards the ground. Treetops and sharp brambles lingered far below. “CRUD!” Rainbow's voice cracked behind her tail, for she was already diving towards me at unearthly speeds. “Crud crud crud crud crud crud!” Seething, she gritted her teeth against the whipping winds, forming a frictious pocket of air around her blue arrowhead body. My body sailed past the treelines and into a sea of razor sharp branches-branches-branches— “Hnnnnngh—!” Rainbow barreled through the mess, spun her body upside down beneath me, and caught me in all four legs. “Gotcha!” The air cracked with snapping twigs. Rainbow clenched her teeth, hugging my body to her chest as she weathered every ricocheting smack and blow. Somehow, she flew the two of us blindly backwards, emerging from the tree-line in a jagged glide through the earth. Her flank formed a muddy trench as we grinded to a stop, facing skyward. Rainbow wheezed and wheezed for breath. As for me... “Wooo-hooooo! Yaaaaaaaaay!” I clapped my hooves together and tilted my head up to nuzzle her chin. “That. Was. So. Awesome! Let's do it again!” Rainbow panted and panted and panted... her muzzle pale as she felt blood settling in her numb extremities. “Heeheehee...” I breathed easier, my pulse returning to normal. I blinked awkwardly at the four pegasus limbs still clinging to me tightly from behind. “Uhhh... Rainbow?” I tilted my muzzle again. “Everything okay?” “Yeah... yeah... everything's... okay...” Rainbow gulped. “That wasn't how I remembered seeing you do the forward filly flip!” I said, grinning. “Did you improve on the trick!” “That... Scootaloo...” Rainbow wheezed. “...is how you practice crashing.” “Whoahhhhh!” I cooed. “So you let me try it out after all! Wow! Hahahaha! That's so cool!” “Hah hah hah hah... hah hah... hahhhhhh...” Rainbow glanced towards the faraway chariot with a sweating expression. “Yeahhhhhhhh... Let's... uhm... g-get you home to your parents now, kiddo...”