One of the things Rainbow had learned over the years was that Soarin, for all his agility and talent in the air, was not particularly well-versed in matters of table manners. His habit of eating lots, quickly, without any care for how it might look to those around him was a topic common among the Wonderbolts’ core team, and Rainbow Dash was proud that she could share in this tradition.
“And I said to him,” Soarin continued, before swallowing, “I said, ‘What have you got to hide?’” By this time, the rest of the team (whose collective patience for Soarin’s antics was clearly wearing thin) had begun to stare off into the distance, or shake their heads in their hooves slowly; Spitfire had even pulled a book out of her saddlebag and sat reading, quite oblivious to the world around her. Even Rainbow Dash, who was by far one of Soarin’s biggest fans, was beginning to find his ways a little tiresome.
She didn’t hang on his every word as she had done the first few times she had met the Wonderbolts and Rainbow wasn’t entirely sure she liked this change.
“I have no idea, Soarin,” High Winds replied cheerfully, eliciting a silent groan from the rest of the team. “But I’m pretty sure that whatever he had to say was really mean and unfair of him, and not completely within his right as a business owner to chastise customers bringing disrepute to his establishment.”
Her comment left Soarin’s mouth agape—High Winds quickly reached across the table and closed it, letting Soarin swallow his second (and final) mouthful of pie. Rainbow suppressed a giggle at their antics. It was nice to have the chance to get away from Ponyville, if just for one night, and to spend her time with her idols.
It was nice to have some good food for a change, too; half a month of sandwiches and cold pizza had given Rainbow an appreciation for the pie before her that she couldn’t have otherwise imagined having. It was earthy, yet almost juicy and sweet, the onions adding just the right touch of sharpness. Good food, Rainbow imagined, must be one of the perks of being one of the Wonderbolts.
She turned to Spitfire, who was sitting beside her, still lost in her book. “Hey, Spitfire?” she asked; Spitfire sat up straight, blinking and pushing the book down into her lap. If Rainbow didn’t know better, she’d have thought Spitfire was trying to hide the book from the others. “Thanks for inviting me out tonight.”
“It’s no problem, Rainbow Dash,” Spitfire said, smiling warmly (or whatever passed for warmly for Spitfire, whose expression and tone had always seemed a little distant to Rainbow, even when she knew her Captain was paying full attention). “You might not be on the team, but all of us wanted the chance to get to know you a bit better on the ground. Besides, Fire Streak’s totally got the hots for you.” Spitfire winked as the stallion in question grew extremely fidgety. Rainbow chuckled and wiggled her eyebrows at Fire Streak, who blushed a deep red and tried to look anywhere but at her.
“Sorry to let you down, Streak, but I’m taken,” Rainbow said, trying to mask the rejection with a lighthearted tone. Despite his blush and nervousness, Rainbow could see the stallion’s shoulders sink. “It’s a shame—you’re really cute when you’re nervous.”
High Winds leaned across the table, her eyes wide. “Who’s the special somepony, Rainbow? Anyone we’ve heard of?” Rainbow grinned back at her; High’s enthusiasm was almost as infectious as Pinkie’s.
“I dunno,” Rainbow said slowly, leaning back in her chair with a smug air of confidence. “I mean, she’s Ponyville’s librarian, so she can’t be that well known. She said something about being privately tutored by Princess Celestia and saving the entire world once or twice, but that’s just Twilight for you.”
After a second or two of astounded silence, Rainbow opened her eyes and looked around. Even Fire Streak had forgotten his embarrassment and was staring at her with the rest of her teammates, their mouths all ajar. High Winds reached across to close Soarin’s again, without breaking from her position.
“Well, Rainbow Dash,” Spitfire said after the silence had gotten too much for anypony to bear. “It seems you’re full of surprises. I don’t think any of us would have quite expected that from you.”
“Yeah,” Soarin said. “I mean, I’d always thought a mare like you’d go for somepony who was into flying as much as you are. I mean, y’know, the actual act of flying. Not just watching flying, ‘cos if anypony were to enjoy that more than Twilight I’d be impre-”
“Wait,” Rainbow interrupted. “How’d you know Twilight likes watching flying?” The team around her all shifted, somewhat awkwardly, on their chairs. Soarin coughed self-consciously.
“Rainbow, Twilight was Princess Celestia’s private student for years,” Fleetfoot said simply. “She was in the royal box for most of our shows, after Celestia noticed her watching the mailmares fly around Canterlot each morning. We met her a few times.”
“Granted, she wasn’t the friendliest of kids,” Soarin added with a chuckle. High Winds laughed at that, very suddenly and loudly—her laugh was the kind that could fill whole auditoriums without any kind of assistance, and Rainbow couldn’t help but giggle a little, too. Fleetfoot and Fire Streak shared a look, smirking knowingly. “But you have to admit, she was definitely a huge fan.”
High Winds was collapsed on the table by now, with the rest of the team shaking their heads in mirth. “Huge… fan…” she managed to repeat between shaking breaths, her eyes scrunched up tight and her lips stretched into a wild grin.
Spitfire leaned over to whisper in Rainbow’s year. “One year we were all hot and sweaty after a long flying session, and Soarin made some remark about being overheated in his flightsuit. Unfortunately, Twilight heard and decided to cool us down with a spell she’d been reading about—she enlarged the little desk fan from the commentator’s booth and hovered it over, blasting us with winds that made us feel like we were in a hurricane.”
Rainbow smiled fondly at the absurd mental image. “Yeah, that sounds like Twi alright,” she said. “She’s still not exactly the most practical thinker. Did you hear about the time she made all of Ponyville fall in love with an old doll of hers?”
Minutes later, the room was filled with the sound of riotous laughter as Rainbow and the team competed to see who could tell the most ridiculous story about Twilight. There was a nagging thought in the back of Rainbow’s mind that, just maybe, she shouldn’t be talking about her marefriend quite like this, but she swatted it aside—she wasn’t sharing anything personal, after all, and it was Twilight’s little quirks and foibles that made Rainbow fall in love with her in the first place.
… in love?
Rainbow’s laughter died in her throat as she considered what she had just thought. Was she in love with Twilight? She certainly cared deeply for her marefriend, and she couldn’t help but smile just thinking about her, but surely it was too soon to say she was in love. Right?
“Hey, Rainbow Dash,” Spitfire had turned to her, concern evident in her distant eyes. “Are you okay?”
Rainbow grinned as she dismissed her concerns. She shouldn’t judge herself by the speed of other ponies; Rainbow Dash was the fastest pony around, why shouldn’t she fall in love that much faster. Perhaps, she considered, she might wait a while before she told Twilight, though.
“Yeah,” Rainbow replied, smiling widely. “I was just thinking about Twi is all.”
“Well, Rainbow,” Soarin said, “I for one think it’s great you’ve found somepony who makes you happy, and I think you and Twilight probably make an awesome couple.” Rainbow stared down at her lap, still smiling and trying to hide her blush. Her wings twitched on her back and she had to work hard to resist the urge to just up and fly out the window. It took most of her willpower to just stay seated.
Fleetfoot, as Rainbow could see out of the corner of her eye, was staring at Soarin in disbelief, her expression a display of pleasant surprise. “Since when were you so emotionally mature about all this?” she asked. Rainbow took the opportunity to let her embarrassment be deflected, slowly lifting her head to take part in the discussion once again.
Soarin gaped at Fleetfoot, his expression feigning indignation; he let out a loud sigh of resentment. “I am hurt that you could think so little of me, Fleetfoot.” Soarin help his pose a moment, before smirking at the mare opposite him, who was shaking her head as she laughed silently to herself.
Spitfire cleared her throat; she was raising her wine glass to her eye level, looking sternly at the team around her. The rest of the room quickly reached for their own glasses, High Winds rapidly filling any empty ones before their owners could reach them in a flurry of movement; Rainbow was pleasantly surprised to find hers filled with water, though she never saw High switch bottles.
“A toast,” Spitfire said, once the noise had quietened and everypony was still, “to Rainbow Dash, for holding the most records anypony in Academy history has held. It’s no mean feat, and I’m sure we’ll be seeing her continue to push herself well beyond our expectations in the future.” The was a murmur of agreement that passed around the table, and Rainbow felt her wings twitch again. Before anypony could begin to raise their glass to their lips, Spitfire continued, “And to Soarin, who seems at last to have gained at least some level of emotional maturity in the past week.”
Even Soarin joined the laughter as the group called out, “To Rainbow Dash and Soarin,” the overall effect of which was much like an echoing cave, with so many voices saying the phrase not quite in time with each other. A moment of silence passed as everypony drained their glasses (or, in Rainbow and Silver Lining’s cases, sipped a little water before placing their glasses quietly down).
The group chatted idly for a while after, as the restaurant staff came in and moved dishes and glasses out of the way. Pots of coffee and tea were laid out across the table, mugs and mints laid by each place. Rainbow watched the changeover out of the corner of her eye as she chatted with Fleetfoot about changes in the weather industry: it was nice to know that one of her idols had come from the same position she was now in, but it was nicer still to complain about her daily struggles with the management with somepony who understood.
As the staff began to disappear from the room, their numbers thinning and the air seeming almost lighter for their disappearance, Rainbow leaned across the table for the nearest coffee pot, her eyes still really on Fleetfoot. Reaching for where the handle should have been, Rainbow found her hoof impeded by something solid and round. Looking up, she saw she had brushed hooves with Fire Streak. Grimacing and muttering an apology, she waved her hoof to let the stallion know she could wait; Fire Streak blushed and glanced away, biting his lip but taking the coffee without any complaint.
Fleetfoot smiled at Rainbow Dash, letting out a small sigh. “You’re really lucky, Dash,” she said.
“Lucky?” Rainbow replied, her eyebrows raised. “You think I’m lucky to have to deal with ol’ Rainy whilst trying to keep a whole weather team in check?” Fleetfoot laughed at that, a throaty, deep chuckle that was filled with warmth.
“You’ve got more than I did when I was leading a weather team,” she said. “I had nothing more than my work and my training, Rainbow, but just look at you! You’ve got yourself friends to be proud of, and a marefriend who complements you so well.” Fleetfoot flashed a smile at her. “You’re a lucky, lucky mare.”
“You’re telling me a mare as awesome as you never had a special somepony?” Rainbow raised her eyebrows, cocking her head to one side. “I find that hard to believe.”
“I’ve never had a relationship,” Fleetfoot said quietly. Rainbow tried not to let her jaw drop, hiding her surprise. “I’ve always put so much time into my training, I never really thought about it. I’ll be honest, until I made the team and got invited along to all the parties and socials, I never even really thought about my teammates as friends. It’s probably my biggest regret in life.”
“What about now?” Rainbow asked, before leaning forwards slightly, letting her tone become more conspiratorial. “Got your eye on anypony?” Fleetfoot blushed a deep red at that and Rainbow almost rolled back in her chair, her laughter a quiet cackle. She reached over and poured herself a cup of coffee as she watched Fleetfoot try to control her blush. It was almost surreal to be able to tease her idols.
“It’s okay,” Rainbow said after she’d taken a sip of the scalding hot drink, the warmth refreshing her despite burning her tongue. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”
“Hey, Rainbow?” She turned her head sharply to the sound of the call—High Winds was standing over by the balcony with Misty Fly, beckoning her. “You should totally join us!” Rainbow turned to Fleetfoot, her expression questioning; Fleetfoot smiled and nodded in encouragement, not quite able to make eye contact and her blush not quite vanished. Rainbow stood up.
“What’s the plan?” she asked as she strode over to the open window. Misty grinned at her, and with her teeth on show the competitive mare’s expression seemed almost feral, yet still friendly. She glanced sideways at High briefly; her eyes were almost sparkling with anticipation.
“Fly,” Misty said, before throwing herself sideways out of the restaurant. High followed shortly after with a whoop of excitement, filling the silence of the wide, open sky. Rainbow’s eyes widened and before she knew it she was leaning over the balcony, trying to see where the two had gone—far below, in the air beneath Canterlot, she could see the two pegasi spreading their wings and soaring upwards. Breaking into a grin that could have matched Misty’s, Rainbow took one last quick look back at the restaurant, her eyes sweeping around the room full of aimless chatter and light music, and jumped.
Her wings itched to spread and fly, but Rainbow kept the impulse at bay. There was something magical about being able to just fall, and Rainbow could hear the air around her filled with laughter. It was the craziest rush, feeling the air flow past her and not stopping it, and it was a moment before she realised that the shaking feeling in her chest and the laughter surrounding her were one and the same.
Not capable of waiting a second longer, Rainbow spread her wings, angling herself so she continued to glide downwards. Now the air that flowed around around her was directed, purposeful and she could hear her own laughter ringing out all the clearer for it. Far above her, she could hear High Winds’ joyous cheers echoing down into the valley.
Pulling up, letting her momentum do the work, Rainbow felt the familiar pressure as gravity itself seemed to grow, the planet beneath her doing all it could to keep her from soaring up and flying away. Finally, she flapped her wings, feeling the air currents break and reform as she levelled out to a steady climb and the clutches for the ground gave up on dragging her down.
It wasn’t long before she had caught up with the two pegasi above her, her rainbow trail below abandoned. The three began to fly alongside each other, at first each trying to outpace the other two but soon settling into a pattern, building up speed alongside each other. It wasn’t a competition: it was an experience shared with friends. And, all the while, one thought passed through Rainbow’s mind, one idea that wouldn’t go away and Rainbow couldn’t want it to because it was simply just true.
This was flying.
Each morning she too to the skies and made her way slowly (at least, for her) to work, her wings almost dragging her against her will, but that wasn’t flying. Each day she would spend her lunch break up in the sky, whirling and turning, practicing her sharp corners and the individual twists and turns of her routines, but that wasn’t flying. Each evening she would fly down to the library, a warm smile on her face and her heart beating loudly against her chest, both racing to get there sooner and enjoying the slow end to her busy day while she could, while nopony could see her, but that wasn’t flying.
This? There was a rush, an excitement, that Rainbow remembered feeling before but couldn’t put her hoof on when it had been. Somewhere deep in her mind she knew that this was the reason she flew, that this was without a doubt the feeling that drove her to better herself each and every day. This was flying, pure and simple: no purpose, no distractions, only the Wonderbolts, the sky, and Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow glanced right at the pegasi beside her. Both were grinning: High with her wide, warm grin that made Rainbow think of Ponyville and hot chocolates and marshmallows; and Misty with her toothy grin that was somehow also a smirk, an expression which seemed to display self-assuredness and confidence in their purest form. Catching Misty’s glance, Rainbow grinned back at her, and for a moment wondered what her grin reminded the Wonderbolt of.
It was barely minutes later when the trio began to slow down, the adrenaline drained from their systems and the distance from Canterlot beginning to seem a little daunting. Without a word, they tilted to the left, banking and gently gliding down onto a large hill that sat in the shadow of the mountain. The hill was, for the most part, covered in trees, but its very top was bare and open to the sky, and it wasn’t long before the three were lying on the grass, staring over the valley at Canterlot. They were breathless, but Rainbow knew that it was not from exhaustion but the excitement and giddy sense of freedom the flight had left them with.
It was a while before any of them spoke.
“So,” Misty said between short, sharp breaths, “what did ya think?”
Rainbow sighed, her exhalation becoming a low, throaty chuckle as she shook her head in disbelief. She could barely control her own grin, but in that moment she just didn’t want to.
“That was amazing,” she managed eventually. “I wish Twilight could have done that with us.” Rainbow blinked, not entirely sure where that thought had come from and not completely certain that she’d said it out loud. She heard a deep intake of breath beside her.
“That’s so sweet,” High Winds said. Rainbow turned to shoot the excitable mare a disapproving glance. “For what it’s worth, I think Twilight would have love to see that. It’s a shame I never got to meet her when she was a filly. She sounds lovely.”
“She is,” Rainbow said, turning to look down at the valley beneath the hill. The ground below was speckled with lights, bright pinpoints of amber in the dark. The space between her and Canterlot seemed a vast expanse of flat space, but in the middle of it all she could see the twinkling, rippling light reflected in the river.
“Okay, enough sappy talk,” Misty said, cutting into the silence with a gentle, mocking tone. High caught Rainbow’s glance and rolled her eyes at her, making Rainbow giggle. “Let’s talk flying.” Rainbow rested her chin in a hoof, frowning.
“Yeah,” she said slowly, a lighthearted tone to her raspy voice. She hadn’t noticed before, but her throat was almost sore from dryness and her lips were a little cracked. Her tongue darted between them, softening the dry flesh. “I guess I can do that.”
Sitting on the hillside in the dark, the three pegasi let time flow by them as they talked about the challenges and difficulties that they had faced since they’d last met. Rainbow spoke of how the Academy had been pushing her after her cloud-clearing record to keep going on and set more and more records of her own, and how no matter how hard she pushed herself and how high she reached the bar would always be moved one notch higher. It wasn’t, she insisted, that the challenge wasn’t exhilarating and incredible, but she did feel that maybe she could spend some time improving her techniques and honing her skills than simply being thrown at a record and told to break it.
High Winds was sympathetic but keen to show her enthusiasm for Dash’s success. She herself had been struggling with the latest routine (though Misty was quick to point out that everypony on the team was struggling with it, even Spitfire) and felt that she was letting the team down with her poor performance. Dash and Misty each tried to ensure High felt valued in their own way, with Dash trying to boost her confidence with pep-talky speeches and Misty trying to convince her the rest of the team was struggling just as much as she was. Despite Misty’s disapproval of the emotional outbursts, the usually bubbly High’s eyes were damp by the end of their discussion.
“What about you, Misty?” Rainbow asked. Misty Fly was one of the members of the Wonderbolts she hadn’t spent very much time around, but the more she saw her the more she reminded Rainbow of Lightning Dust: they shared the same bold determination and utter confidence that both worried and inspired Rainbow.
The pale pegasus shrugged. “I’ve been doing alright, I guess,” she said. “The new routine’s been tough, but I think all of us are going to get the hang of it soon enough. I haven’t had much chance to fly outside of practices lately; I guess that’s why I wanted to come out here.”
A clock rang out in the small town below, the metallic clang echoing out into the valley and shocking the three pegasi on the hillside who hadn’t realised quite how long they had been gone. Staring at each other for a moment, wide-eyed in disbelief, the three wordlessly kicked off the ground, pushing themselves as fast as they could go to return to Canterlot.
This flight felt different—maybe it was the lack of adrenaline, or the urgency with which they flew, but it became pretty clear to Rainbow Dash that this was a race not against each other, but against the chiming of the bells beneath and above them, the synchronised call of the clocks in the valley and the city. Rainbow felt the air around her fighting back, the wind and the chill working in their separate ways to try to stop her.
Panting and thoroughly exhausted, the trio landed on the balcony just moments after the final chime of the bell signalled midnight; slightly deflated from the loss, the three nodded and went their separate ways, walking off towards the rest of the team with the silent promise to go flying again. After looking around the room for a few moments, Rainbow Dash walked to the second balcony and sat down at the table, quietly pouring herself a coffee. Spitfire sat across from her, staring out into the night sky; the older pegasus seemed not to have noticed her arrival at all.
“Enjoy your evening, Rainbow Dash?”
Rainbow smiled, turning out to join Spitfire in admiring the view. It was certainly incredible to look out from the edge of Canterlot; it almost reminded her of Cloudsdale, with the illusion of hanging up in the air, but the splendour and beauty of Canterlot’s architecture, the magnificence and the grandeur, simply gave the view an air of grace and refined pleasure. It felt relaxing, where Cloudsdale simply felt awesome.
“Yeah,” she answered. “It was really nice to spend time with the team again, and I’m glad I got to go flying with High and Misty. They’re nice.”
A moment of silence passed between the two mares. Rainbow felt like she should be content—she was certainly relaxed after a challenging and physically draining flight, and with the night drawing to a close and the team slowly leaving the restaurant behind her she felt that the evening had wrapped up nicely, but there was a small feeling in the back of her mind that wouldn’t quite go away. Something was missing, she was sure of it.
“Thank you,” Rainbow added, quietly. It wasn’t what was missing, but it needed to be said. “These evenings are basically a dream come true for me. It still feels almost like I’m going to wake up any moment and have to head out to work knowing how far I’ve still got to go to make the team.”
Spitfire chuckled. “Rainbow Dash, you’re an amazing flier and one of the Academy’s most promising cadets. Is it really so surprising that you’d be spending time with us?”
“I guess not,” Rainbow admitted, “but it still feels so surreal, you know? Like I’m getting rewarded with my life’s dream when I’ve just been doing what’s expected of me back at the Academy.”
Spitfire laughed suddenly, a loud, barking laugh. “Rainbow Dash,” she said, slowly, shaking her head, “do you really think that I only invite you to these evenings as a reward for doing well?” Rainbow frowned.
“What else could it be?” she asked. Spitfire sighed, still shaking her head and letting out a sigh of disbelief.
“Have you ever considered, just for a moment, that maybe we as a team just want to get to know somepony who has consistently impressed us?”
Rainbow Dash frowned. Was this really more than a reward? Were the Wonderbolts just as interested in her as she was in them? She couldn’t bring herself to think it might be possible—she found it hard enough to think that she had earned this, anyway. She opened her mouth to respond, but no noise came and she found she had no words to say. Spitfire smiled and turned to the door.
“It was a pleasure spending time with you, Rainbow Dash,” she called over her shoulder as she left, and Rainbow stood for a moment in silence, trying her very best to believe it.