//------------------------------// // Flameboom ahoy! // Story: A League of Their Own // by Sparx //------------------------------// "Spitfire you have to go faster! You have to break through that barrier!" Rainbow Dash called over to her student as they flew side by side. "I can't... quite... make it!" Spitfire pushed forward with all her might, trying to break through her restriction. "PUSH!" Rainbow Dash called out, trying to make it happen my commanding. "Almost... there..." They began to hear a crack and started to smile before... "WHOA!" Spitfire was launched backwards. Rainbow Dash flew hard to catch up and caught her love in her front legs. "So close..." Spitfire hung her head in disappointment with a pout on her face. "You did great Spitfire! You're almost there!" Rainbow Dash sounded excited as she brought Spitfire back to the ground. "That would happen to me all the time. It's just a matter of will power." She set Spitfire gently on the ground and landed right next to her. "You have to push through that last little bit, no matter how much your muscles burn. It's getting through that pain and going faster than you've ever gone before to get there." Spitfire smiled at her lover's advice. That was her main problem. Years of doing the same tricks over and over made her a little reluctant to try something new and go that fast. "Well I'm sure I wouldn't be nearly this good if it weren't for you Dashie!" The two of them smiled and exchanged a kiss. Rainbow Dash looked up at the sun. "Let's call that it for the day. We still have to hang our posters up." Spitfire nodded in agreement and the two pegasi floated off to Ponyville. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Thanks for helping us out Spike. Things should go a lot faster with your help! You sure Twilight doesn't need you right now?" Rainbow Dash looked back at the baby dragon as he rode on her back. "Nah. Twilight said she'd be fine. She's taking the day to work on her studies. I'm glad you two came along, I was getting a little bored actually." Spike said as he cycled through the posters the two ponies had been carrying. I think it's a great idea that you two are starting your own flight team! I'm sure everypony will be there to support you guys." "I'm not sure about everypony, but I've gotten confirmation that Soarin' will be there." Spitfire chuckled. "He seemed especially eager when I told him Applejack was coming to see us. I think he's looking for another slice of apple pie." "Or maybe he's looking for some Apple pie!" Rainbow Dash laughed hard at her own joke making Spitfire join in. The two cackled at the terrible pun as Spike looked at them a little confused. "Uh... I don't get it." Spike said, prodding for an answer. "When you're older Spike." Spitfire laughed as she brushed away a tear with her front hoof. "That was a good one Dashie." Spike groaned and shrugged. The three of them went all around Ponyville sticking posters onto doors and walls. They stopped by the Carousel Boutique and said hello to Rarity for a moment and she left them a jewel for Spike to eat. When they started leaving Spike began to object with a red tint to his cheeks. After they'd left Spike nuzzled the emerald he'd been given for a while before his stomach began to grumble and he chewed the thing up quickly with a satisfied belch. The pegasi giggled together at Spike's antics. "So tell me you guys. How did you say it? How did you go about it? And how can I-er... Somepony that isn't me admit their feelings for a pony? And let's say that this pony is a lot like..." Spike took a minute and gave a heartfelt sigh "Rarity?" His cheeks got bright red again as he stared into space and the two ponies laughed uncontrollably again. "Well Spike, I don't think I can speak for a pony like Rarity. Though if you'd really like to know, we both just kind of went with our guts and did what felt right." Spitfire said as she gave a dreamy gaze towards Rainbow Dash. Dash returned the look with her big magenta eyes. "What...felt...right." Spike mimicked as he began writing on the back of one of the posters as the two ponies laughed again. "Just be yourself Spike. Rarity likes you enough, she'll understand." Rainbow Dash said as she nailed a poster on a fence. "Wha? This has nothing to do with me, I was just asking!" Spike insisted before grumbling to himself and writing 'be yourself' on the poster he was holding. After Spitfire's saddlebags were emptied she started flying the posters up to higher places and nailing them in. Pinkie Pie was glad to see them when they arrived to leave a few posters and advertisements. Fluttershy Didn't talk to much when they arrived but it warmed her heart to see two ponies in love. The Cutie Mark Crusaders came into contact with the trio and were given a stack of the posters to hang, screaming out 'Cutie Mark Crusaders publicity officers' Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom dashed off with their share of posters. Scootaloo stayed behind and looked at the two of them eagerly, asking if she could join their flight team. The two smiled and told her when she was older they'll work out a place for her. Smiling wide Scootaloo flapped her wings hard and hovered off to join her friends. After they had spent up all of their posters Spike agreed to join them as they went off to Spitfire's training. They started off how they always did with stretches and slight endurance exercises. After that Rainbow Dash let Spike off and the two pegasus ponies flew up high and worked for a while on their sharp turns. Rainbow's idea to achieve the speed needed tonight was to go at a rapid decline where Spitfire could accelerate easier. "You ready Spitfire?" Rainbow Dash flew over and placed a hoof on her lover's shoulder to comfort her. Spitfire swallowed hard and nodded nervously. "Don't worry, I'll be flying right next to you in case anything goes wrong to catch you." This calmed Spitfire down as the two of them looked to the ground. After a minute of gathering her breath Spitfire was ready and the two started their descent. They gained speed at an amazing rate, and it didn't take long for Spitfire to feel the barrier take it's position in front of her. She couldn't hear anything beyond the wind blaring in her ears and Rainbow's voice screaming encouraging statements from right next to her, but sounded so far away. The barrier began to narrow and Spitfire could feel herself breaking through again. If she could just...go... a little faster... Spitfire lost consciousness as they approached the ground at a ridiculous pace. Rainbow Dash broke through the barrier and swept Spitfire up in her front legs before they made impact and avoided the ground, pulling up hard. She landed and held Spitfire close, waving air on her face with one of her wings. "Hey, Spitfire! Wake up!" She said in a nervous voice as she stroked her love's brow. Spitfire opened her eyes and almost swore she was looking up at a blue angel holding her tight. "Are you okay Spitfire?" "Yeah, I'm fine Dashie." She smiled and grabbed Dash's cheek, pulling her down for a tender kiss and chuckled. Dash let out a sigh of relief as Spike ran over. "Spitfire, are you okay? Should we go get somebody?" His eyes were wide and nervous. "No worries Spike I'm fine." Spitfire brought herself back up to her legs as Rainbow Dash stood next to her. "I still didn't do it I guess?" She asked. "Actually you managed to break the barrier, but you weren't able to maintain the speed." Rainbow Dash said happily. "It was AWESOME!" Spike exclaimed, spreading his arms wide for effect. "You were like, ZOOM! Then the sky practically EXPLODED with fire! And then you started to fall and I was like AAAAAHHHHHHH!! Then Rainbow Dash came in and the sky exploded again and it was a sonic RAINBOOM!" The dragon narrated with his entire body and not just his voice. He pointed over to the remaining smoke from the event. "I did that?" Spitfire's eyes grew and sparkled. "Well in a way yeah. Now you just need to maintain it." Rainbow Dash chuckled. "Well then." Spitfire Spread her wings wide and flapped them enough to kick up a gust. "Let's try again!" "What already?" Rainbow Dash seemed taken off guard as Spitfire brought her flight goggles down over her eyes. "You just passed out a few moments ago." "Yeah, and now that I've done it once, I wanna do it again." Spitfire grinned wide. "No, Spitfire you're going to get hurt!" Rainbow Dash came around to Spitfire's front view and stamped her hoof hard in the ground. Her pink eyes had never been more demanding than they were now. "I'm not right now am I?" Spitfire asked in her usual cool attitude. She batted her eyelashes heavily towards Dash, but she wasn't having any of that tonight. "You almost were. We can try again some other time after you've had some time to recover but not now Spitfire!" There was a tone of desperation in Dash's voice. Spitfire looked her over with her large amber eyes growing a different type of sparkle in them. Spitfire walked over and placed a kiss on Dash's cheek. "Dash, I trust you. You just saved me from becoming a red stain on Celestia's great green Equestria. Now I'll ask you to trust me when I say that I can do this." She could see Rainbow Dash's wall coming down as she continued. "Dashie, my love..." "You did catch her last time pretty easily Rainbow Dash, you could do that again can't you?" Spike asked as he looked up at Dash. "Spitfire... I just-" "If you let me do this, I'll give you that one wing massage you love so much later tonight when we-" "Alright you have a deal." Rainbow Dash spoke almost as if it were a reflex. "But just one more chance!" "Of course Dashie." Spitfire nuzzled in appreciation. Spike smiled and watched as the two flew up out of his sight again. They looked down once they reached the appropriate height. Rainbow Dash let out a nervous sigh and Spitfire was the one to give a pat on the shoulder. "I'll be fine Dashie. I have you here to help me." With another kiss they were ready to go. They began their descent again. Spitfire approached the barrier and began flapping hard, pushing herself to pull that extra will power into her speed. The two entered Spike's view again as he cheered the pegasi on from afar. The barrier began to crack again as Spitfire built her speed up until- BOOM! She did it! She pulled off the explosion and pulled up just as she almost hit the ground. She looked behind her and smiled wide. From where she felt the explosion there was a ring of flames spreading wide, and was soon followed by another explosion and a rainbow ring. Spitfire left a trail of flame as she flew on. Rainbow Dash soon caught up to her and they exchanged a smile as they flew on. Spike watched as the two of them made amazing designs with their trails. Winding together in a swirl of fire and rainbows, a cross, a tree, and many other impromptu designs before the two of them finished it off with a heart, meeting in the center where they slowly descended together as the lights and smoke fell with them. As they touched earth, Spike ran over in an ecstatic frenzy waving his arms over his head. "Guys that was AWESOME! You were all like-" "We were there Spike, we know." Rainbow Dash said after stuffing a hoof in his mouth. The two ponies looked at one another and giggled together. "I think we have a trick to impress the entire crowd now!" Dash said nuzzling Spitfire. "So what'll we call that? Wasn't exactly a rainboom was it?" Spike asked in a shrug. "Seemed much more like a... sonic FLAMEboom!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. She flapped her wings in excitement. "Well then, in about a week we'll introduce the sonic flameboom to the public together!" Spitfire said. The three of them laughed for a few minutes. As the sun began to set they dropped Spike back off at the library and went back to Spitfire's home where Rainbow Dash got her 'special massage.'