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// Chapter 8: Sonic Rainboom 
// Story: The Seventh Element 
// by PaisleyPerson 
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Chapter 8
Sonic Rainboom


As promised, Rainbow got me into the yard of an old, abandoned factory unseen in the dark few minutes before sun up, but then had to zoom back to fly over with Fluttershy. I’d been helping her practice all month, but she was still shaking like a leaf with nervousness. 
Left to myself, I wandered the collapsing structure aimlessly until I was let out into sunlight, thrust into a bustling plaza full of pegasi. I was given astonished stares as the pegasi watched an earth pony stroll along the cloudy roads. Rainbow said that I couldn’t miss the stadium, but in the end, I still had to ask for directions. I approached a young stallion getting a booth ready to open up for the day. 
“Excuse me?” he looked up from unpacking the boxes, but upon seeing a wingless pony, his jaw dropped. “I was hoping you could point me in the direction of the Cloudeseum for the junior flight competition. I’m looking for a friend.”
“Oh! Um, of course. If you get down to that flagpole, it’s a straight shot to your right. You can’t miss it.”
“Thank you.”
“Um, miss?”
“Hm?”
“Can I ask... what happened to your wings?”
“Oh, I’m not a pegasus. Long story short, a friend gave me a zebra potion that allows me to walk on clouds for my friend’s performance.” The stallion looked relieved. 
“Oh, well, have a good day!” he waved.
“You too.” I followed his instructions, and face hoofed myself for not seeing it in the first place. Word must have spread about the potion, because within half an hour, I stopped receiving strange looks. I was getting worried; Rainbow Dash was taking an awfully long time to get back. I knew Fluttershy wasn’t the fastest flyer around, but she couldn’t be slowing them down that much. I even had to duck under the bleachers for a few minutes during my first wing spring of the day. Was this the right stadium? My questions were answered when Rainbow finally entered the stadium. It was clear why she’d been late. Pinkie, Applejack and Twilight trotted in behind her and Fluttershy. Rarity now hovered above them all with incredibly delicate butterfly wings. I felt like my jaw was about to touch the ground, and my eyes bulged. Theirs did the same upon seeing me.
“ACRYLIC?!”
“Guys!”
“How’d you get here?”
“I was gonna ask you the same.”
“Twilight found a spell to give Rarity wings for three days.”
“It was too hard to repeat, so I found a simpler one that lets us walk on clouds,” Twilight nodded. “We tried to find you yesterday, so I could complete the spell on you too, but it looks like you found the same one. But who’d you get to complete it?”
“It was more like a zebra potion,” I nervously giggled. Would they buy it? “There was only enough for one pony, and I didn’t want to make everypony else jealous, so I didn’t say anything. Some of Rainbow’s friends gave me a lift up.”
“A zebra potion? Why didn’t we think of that?”
“I guess it doesn’t matter now, since we’re all here.”
“She’s right, y’all. We better go find our seats. All these other ponies are.”
“Applejack’s right. Good luck, Rainbow Dash.”
“You don’t need it!” I put in. 
“Yeah!” Pinkie chimed.
“Kick some tail out there, partner!” 
“Yay.” Fluttershy quietly cheered. Rainbow nervously blushed, and then glided over to the competitor’s stage. I watched silently as Rarity followed. 
“Where does she think she’s going?” Twilight sighed.
“Everypony loves her wings so much that she decided to compete.”
“WHAT?”
“I know, I know. We couldn’t change her mind, and now Rainbow’s more nervous than ever!” I shook my head. Of course I’d be here for her, but Rarity should have been in the stands with us, too. Rainbow had it in her to win this thing as long as it didn’t go to her head. I bit my lip and took a seat. I’d done everything I could for her. It was up to Rainbow Dash now.
The show started with a celebrity welcoming for not only the Wonderbolts, guest judges for the competition, but Princess Celestia too. The contestants came out, one after the other with amazing performances. There was still no sign of either Rainbow or Rarity, and I worried for her. If it’d been me, I would have wanted to be first and just get it over with. Now Rainbow had to watch all the amazing acts before her. I’d been in one such competition as a filly in the Blade Wing encampment. My stomach turned knots until it was my turn. I always managed to convince myself that the last act was better than mine. If I knew Rainbow, the same thoughts were surely churning in her mind right now. 
“I loved number seven. Doing fifteen barrel rolls in a row can’t be easy.” Twilight’s comment tore me from my worries. 
“My favorite is number ten. She just seemed like a nice pony.”
“What about you, Acrylic?”
“Hm? Oh. I liked thirteen. I know for a fact that those dives and pivots aren’t easy.”
“You do?”
“Sure. I have lots of flying experience. Remember the time I decided to catapult off the cliff and do a swan dive off the tree branch in the Everfree?” We all erupted into giggles at the dry joke. 
“Hmm... I wonder why we haven’t seen Rainbow Dash or Rarity yet. The competition’s almost over.” I looked up at the scoreboard, and furrowed my brow. There were only fifteen slots, but two competitors left. They were, of course, our very own Rarity and Rainbow. I assumed the lack of positions was because of how Rarity spontaneously decided to join. If there was only one slot left, then who got it?
“And now, for our final competitor of the day, contestant number fifteen! Uh... and apparently, contestant number four.” I had a bad feeling as soon as the wrong music started playing. I’d personally helped Rainbow select what she deemed to be the perfect rock and roll track. This was a slow classical number, by the sounds of it. It must have been Rarity’s doing, because she twirled magnificently in the air in perfect time to it. 
Regardless, Rainbow began her routine of tight weaves. The spacing of these obstacles was a little different from what we’d practiced, and that must have thrown her off. Her timing was off by a second, but that was enough to send her careening into the cloud and bouncing into the side of the stadium. Some rude pegasus stallion jeered at her for it, and I gritted my teeth. She made a more or less neat recovery, zooming back up to the clouds for phase two.
“Look! Phase two is working!” Fluttershy pointed out, cuing the rest of us to cheer. I wasn’t sure if it was my tip to dig her wings into the clouds or just bad luck, but a small tuft broke free and hit her square in the maw, causing her to spin out of control and fling the larger cloud straight for the Princess. Though the Princess ducked in time, I winced for Rainbow. That couldn’t look good to the judges. Her only hope was phase three; the sonic rainboom. If she could do it, that is. Out of every practice session, she hadn’t been able to perform one rainboom.
Rarity was flying up for her big finale at the same time as Rainbow. Only, Rarity didn’t get too far. While the sun filtered down through her wings, casting dots of light down to the stadium below, it was too much for her delicate wings to take. 
“Oh, no! Rarity’s wings evaporated into thin air!” Twilight wailed. Indeed, our friend was tumbling to the world below. Was this it? Did I have to give myself up to save my friend? I looked back at the Princess and gulped; she would see first hoof! I closed my eyes. That didn’t matter. Not with Rarity’s life on the line, that is. I was bracing myself to leap down when a hoof stretched in front of me.
“Acrylic, what are you doing?! You can’t fly either!” I looked over just as the Wonderbolts were leaving their judging balcony and diving to catch the unicorn. I sat back down, ears flat in embarrassment. 
“I wasn’t gonna,” I quietly mumbled. I jumped back up, rigid once more when Rarity’s flailing knocked even the Wonderbolts unconscious, sending them all into a freefall. 
“Hold on, Rarity! I’m coming!” The next best thing to the Wonderbolts dove down to save them; Rainbow Dash herself. 
“I can’t look!” Fluttershy squealed, hiding her eyes. I anxiously shifted in my seat. Come on, Rainbow. At this point, they were too far down for me to reach even if I did show my wings. I wasn’t that fast. I joined Fluttershy in hiding my eyes, but the girls’ gasps brought me out of it. The air was bending around Rainbow as she pierced it. She was about to break the sound barrier! She might pull off this sonic rainboom after all! Static electricity crackled around her as she dove faster and faster, farther and farther. Come on, Rainbow! Another ten seconds and they’d all hit the ground! Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three... I couldn’t watch, but my eyes were locked onto the scene. The loudest BOOM I’d ever heard rattled through my body, ringing in my eardrums as the sky exploded in rainbow colored light. The sonic rainboom. She’d pulled it off. While the rest of us were struck dumb, Rainbow’s cheering lessons with Fluttershy must have paid off. She was screaming louder than anyone in the stadium.
“A SONIC RAINBOOM!!! SHE DID IT!!! SHE DID IT!!! WHOOO!!!!!”
Rainbow made a clean arc over the stadium, painting a magnificent rainbow over it before circling back to deposit her passengers. By then, we’d all been knocked out of our stupor, partly due to Fluttershy’s cheering, and spat confetti at them.
“A SONIC RAINBOOM! WHOO! YEAH!” Fluttershy screamed again. Applejack and I ran to fetch the hot air balloon the girls had arrived in for Rarity. The pegasi currently supporting her were thankful for the weight to be removed from their care, and quickly eased her in. 
“I just wanted to apologize to all of you for getting so carried away with my... beautiful wings,” Rarity said once we were alone. “I guess I just lost my head.”
“It’s okay,” Fluttershy assured. 
“Don’t worry about it, kiddo.”
“We still love you.” I only smiled, knowing how easy it was to get carried away in the air. I, too, had gotten lost in flaunting off my father’s flying tricks more than once. 
“And I'm especially sorry that I was so thoughtless as to jump into the contest at the last minute after you had worked so hard to win it. Can you ever, ever forgive me?”
“Aw, it’s okay. Everything turned out alright, right? I just wish I could have met the Wonderbolts when they were awake.” Speak of the devil. Spitfire, the leader of the flight group, tapped her shoulder. “Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!” Rainbow lolled. 
“So you’re the little pony who saved our lives. We just wanted to meet you, and say thanks,” Spitfire spoke.
“Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!” Rainbow repeated. I nudged her.
“Say something besides ‘oh my gosh.’ Introduce yourself!” I hissed. 
“Hi,” was all she had the sense to squeak.
“Princess!” I whirled to find the tall white alicorn standing over us. I shuddered. She’d seen me nearly jump down to save the falling pegasi. Would she say anything?
“Hello, Twilight Sparkle,” she greeted after a brief bow. “And hello to your friends, too.”
“Princess Celestia, I’m sorry I ruined the competition. “Rainbow Dash here really is the best flyer in Equestria.”
“I know she is, my dear. That is why, for her incredible act of bravery and spectacular sonic rainboom, I’m presenting the grand prize for the best young flyer to this year’s winner, Miss Rainbow Dash!” This was announced to the entire stadium, which promptly erupted into congratulatory cheers. 
“Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!”
“So, Twilight Sparkle, did you learn anything about friendship from this experience?”
“I did, Princess, but I think Rarity learned even more than me.”
“I certainly did. I learned how important it is to keep your hooves on the ground, and be there for your friends.” 
“Excellent. Well done, Rarity.”
“This really is the BEST DAY EVER!” The group of pegasi stallions that were teasing her before now approached. I hurried to her side to give them a piece of my mind if they started acting up. My ears were back and eyes narrowed to slits, letting the whole world know about it.
“Uh, hey, Rainbow Crash.”
“Dash!” his friend hissed. 
“Oh! Uh... Sorry. Rainbow Dash. Uh, we just wanted to congratulate you on winning the competition.”
“That sonic rainboom was awesome!”
“Heh, thanks, guys.”
“Uh, we're really sorry we gave you such a hard time before.”
“Aww, that's okay. Don't worry about it.”
“Hey. Do you want to hang out with us? Maybe you could show us how you did that incredible trick!”
“Sorry, boys... But I've got plans!” Rainbow let the Wonderbolts escort her off into Cloudsdale, leaving them open mouthed. I grinned after her. Their jaws dropped even further when the Princess walked over to address me.
“Hello there, Acrylic. How nice to see you again.”
“Princess! I- um- er- it’s nice to see you too.” She smiled, amused. I kicked myself. 
“That was a daring attempt you made out there,” she began. I quietly groaned. So she had noticed.
“Well...”
“Though I’m not sure what you could have hoped to accomplish, I’m sure it was meant as a thoughtful gesture.”
“It was,” I assured. “I wanted to help, but sometimes I forget that I’m not built for some things.” In reality, I was built for exactly that, but she didn’t know.
“Good. It sounds like you’ve learned a valuable lesson as well. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must return to Canterlot.” I nodded, slightly relieved. 
“Come on, Acrylic! You can get a ride home with us.” I nodded farewell to the Princess and hurried for their hot air balloon. 
“What a day,” Applejack commented as Twilight untied the balloon. 
“Yeah. I’m ready to go home and take a nap,” Twilight agreed. 
“Oh, not me,” Rarity sighed. “I have a big order of dresses to fill. With the gala coming up in a few months, I’ve been working double shifts all week trying to keep up with them!”
“I’ve got to work on a new paint formula before my shop opens,” I concurred. 
“You’re getting close, then?”
“It should be ready to open to the public by the end of the week.”
“WHAT? You’re getting ready for your grand opening but didn’t tell me?” Pinkie squealed. “I wanted to arrange the party!”
“You still can, Pinkie,” I assured. “I’ve seen you set up parties in an hour.”
“She’s right, Pinkie,” Rarity cooed. “You put my boutique’s grand opening together in a day flat.”
“Oh yeah,” she giggled. 
“I’ll do the decorations for you, of course,” Rarity added.
“I can arrange a snack table for ya,” Applejack put in. And so, they began arranging my grand opening for me. I just stared out at the open sky.