Take to the Skies

by Gallifrey


Dash

Take to the Skies

by Gallifrey

Edited by Reevsie, Alex and Danupert

Chapter One
Dash

Blue.

Her wings beat methodically as she cruised lazily through the crisp spring air of the first sunny day for a long time. Boy had she missed that colour. The colour of her dreams.

Infinity.

That's how far the sky went right? Twilight had said something about the world being round, though she doubted that, it looked pretty flat to her.

Dynamic.

That was one thing she loved about the skies; constantly changing its facets, always presenting her with new and exciting challenges, whether it be roiling clouds with lightning festering in their depths, the harsh bitter winds and snow that winter claimed with its icy grip, or the placid airs she was sailing through today.

Rainbow.

The six colours of her mane and tail flowed serenely as she flew. She was proud to have such a unique appearance, though she had never quite figured out how she got it; her parents were a rather drab affair when it came to colour. She supposed her awesomeness was to balance out their extreme dullness.

Dash.

She hovered for a second, gearing herself up, then shot off like a bullet, leaving her trademark, multi-hued trail behind her. Her powerful wing muscles strained beneath the short blue fur as she pushed herself to be the strongest, the most agile, the fastest, the best, the most awesome pegasus in Equestria. Her sensitive feathers picking up the slightest changes in air current as it streamed over them, adjusting with absolute precision. This was what she lived for, this is what made her alive! She climbed high up over Ponyville, her mane buffeted about roughly as she did a simple corkscrew with the utmost ease. She rolled out of the turn and dove straight down, picking up truly radical speeds with gravity on her side. She closed her eyes and thought about how cool she must seem to any onlookers right now. She opened her eyes. When did the ground get so close? Too close! She desperately tried to pull out of the dive, her wings screaming in protest. She succeeded, to a degree; she managed not to crash into the ground, but try as she might she did not have enough time to avoid the library that she was on a collision course with.

Here we go again, she thought as she begrudgingly accepted her fate, careening through a window and bracing herself for impact with a large shelf of heavy looking books.

"Rainbow Dash!" Came an angry voice from the floor below her. "Not again!"

"Oh horseapples," muttered a slightly bruised pegasus from within a large pile of literature that had cascaded upon her.

Rainbow heard hoofsteps grow louder and louder as a slightly aggrieved unicorn ascended the stairs.
Twilight entered the room where Rainbow had crash landed and tutted. The pegasus felt the weight of the books leave her as Twilight levitated them away.

"Hey Twi," said Rainbow, rubbing the back of her neck where a particularly heavy tome had struck her in revenge for disturbing its peace.

Twilight's eyebrows drew together as she frowned, looking at the empty rows of books that now needed reshelving, and calculated how much time this would take to fix. Her expression softened when she saw that the damage to her neatly ordered shelves was less than usual.

"Hey Rainbow, you alright?"

"Heh, I'm fine! Takes more than books to stop The Dash!"

"I'm sure it does," said Twilight absent mindedly as she began putting books back in their rightful places.

"Can I help?" Rainbow asked as she picked up a few of them and set them on the bottom shelf.

"Uh, sure," said Twilight, inwardly wincing as Rainbow put her beloved books in completely the wrong places. She bit her lower lip painfully, trying not to say anything so as to not hurt the cyan mare's feelings.

Mental note: Do not forget about the wrongly categorised books later.

Books. Books. That reminded Twilight of something.

"Rainbow? Are you finished with 'The Legend of the Silver Arrow' yet? You know it's due the day after tomorrow right? I really don't want to have to fine you again."

"I haven't started it actually," said Rainbow, "I've been really busy lately, you know with the Thun-"

"The Thunderway 500 coming up, yes Dash, I know!" said the unicorn exasperatedly. Rainbow had been talking about nothing else for the past three weeks.

"But it's so great! This is the first time it's been held in Ponyville for over fifty years! Ten laps around the town's perimeter? I can win this like that!" She whipped her tail at the last word.

"Yes, Rainbow Dash, I know," said Twilight wearily.

"And it's a week today! Last year's was in Fillydelphia so obviously I couldn't go, the year before was Baltimare, so again-"

"Rainbow, do you want to come for lunch with me?" asked Twilight in an attempt to shut her up.

"Is it that time already?"

"Yes, I was thinking of getting a sandwich and then something sweet from Sugar Cube Corner."

"Sounds good to me, although would it be alright if you paid? I don't wanna have to fly home..."

"Sure, just don't make a habit of it 'kay?" She said, winking.

----------------

Twilight and Rainbow entered Sugar Cube Corner after their sandwich. Twilight had had a simple hay sandwich, while Rainbow had had a very large and somewhat expensive daffodil, daisy and tomato baguette, which Twilight only bought on the condition that she wouldn't be buying her anything from Sugar Cube Corner, a decision that the pegasus was beginning to rue when the warm, sweet air of the bakery filled her nose.

Twilight looked around; there was nopony at the counter. She walked up to it and a faint clattering came from upstairs, the two ponies looked up at the noise and slowly lowered their heads as the clattering came down the stairs behind the counter. A bright pink, party pony emerged from behind the wall at the bottom of the stairs, with a colander upon her head. Her eyes widened and she squealed when she saw the two ponies.

"Twilight! Dashie! Do you have any toothpaste on you?" she whispered excitedly.

"Toothpaste..." said Rainbow slowly, "why?"

"I want to turn my hooves white."

"I don't follow," said Twilight.

"Well you know how toothpaste whitens your teeth?"

"Pinkie, I'm not sure that's how it works..."

"Sure it does! If it works for my teeth, why not my hooves?"

"Because..." Twilight began. In truth, she wasn't actually sure why.

"What's with that thing on your head?" asked Rainbow. Pinkie looked up at it.

"Duh! It's so she can't hear my thoughts!"

Twilight and Rainbow exchanged nervous glances.

"Ummm, who?"

"The Tooth Fairy silly!"

"Pinkie-"

"I doubt she'd be too happy if I used her toothpaste to whiten my hooves instead of my teeth, so I'm wearing this," she said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Okayyyy," said Rainbow, who eventually just put it down to Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie.

"Pinkie, can I have something to eat?" asked Twilight.

"Sure!" She zipped back up the stairs and returned, colander free. "What d'ya want?"

"Hmmm," she pondered, looking out the windows at the sunny weather. "Ice cream."

"Oooh, good call Twilight! What flavour?"

"Blackberry please."

"Okie dokie lokie!"

Rainbow Dash had followed Twilight's eyes when she looked out the window, and as Pinkie bustled around, her wings began aching for her to start flying and get back into the skies, muscles tensing up all over her athletic body.

"You alright there Dashie?" asked the pink party pony as she scooped a generous amount of purple ice cream.

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Rainbow distractedly.

"You sure? You look like you ate some cement and it set inside you."

"You mean tense Pinkie," said Twilight.

"That's what I said!"

Twilight just rolled her eyes.

"I just- I feel like flying right now, bad."

"Why?" asked Twilight. "You don't usually have random urges to fly, well, at least not to get you this worked up."

"Is it because of that super fun race that's coming to town you're taking part in?" said Pinkie as she bounced her way to Twilight, the ice cream balanced on her nose.

"Yeah it is!" chirped Rainbow enthusiastically. "Can't you remember the name of it Pinkie?"

The earth pony shook her head.

"The Thunderway 500! It's gonna be so awesome!"

Twilight sat in silence, licking her ice cream slowly.

Urgh, she's off again, she thought as Rainbow animatedly talked about the race to the avidly listening pink pony.

Rainbow was talking though the finer points of her tactics for various weather conditions when Pinkie interrupted.

"You gonna win?"

"Huh? 'Course I'm gonna win!"

"But what if you don't?" the pink mare asked curiously. Twilight perked up as Rainbow fell silent.

"I... Uh..."

It was evident that Rainbow hadn't even considered that she might not win, a bead of sweat forming on her brow.

"I've-I've got things to do, practise and... stuff," said the pegasus, edging towards the door. "Twi, Pinks, I'll catch you later." And she shot off.

---------------

I am gonna win! I can't lose! I'm faster than everypony in this town!

Rainbow Dash had been repeating variations of those words to herself all afternoon, not paying much attention to where she was flying. She had spent the last twenty minutes flying in a vague circle over Sweet Apple Acres, which hadn't been overlooked by two certain ponies that were working the fields, planting the seeds for this year's harvests.

"What d'ya suppose she's up to?" asked Applejack.

"If ah didn't know better, ah'd say she don't know any better than we do lil' sis," replied the large, red stallion, who was harnessed to a plough.

"If she doesn't stop soon, I'm gonna go shout 'er down, something might be up."

"You do what you think is best, though remember we gotta get these planted before the end of t'week."

"Ah know, ah know," she said, getting back to work, following Big Macintosh's wake, sprinkling seeds into the freshly turned earth.

---------------

Rainbow Dash meanwhile was flying lower and lower, completely lost in her own thoughts.

I wonder what pancakes taste like without syrup on them, she mused, having been flying for so long now her mind had drifted to other topics. I mean, they can't be that great, because I always eat them with syrup... but then that's like saying syrup isn't great, because I don't eat that on its own...
She didn't even notice the rope that had latched itself onto one of her hind legs until it gave her a sharp tug.

"Hey. What the-?" she exclaimed, being literally dragged out of her reverie.

She looked down to see Applejack, rope in mouth, reeling her in. hooves driving into the dirt.

"AJ, what gives?" asked Rainbow indignantly.

"Rainbow, you've been flying over the farm fer the last hour, just going round in wobbly circles, I tried calling ya, but you weren't listenin', so next best thing was to get out Indy."

"Indy?" said Rainbow, an eyebrow raised and a small smile curling her lips.

"What? It's a good name!"

"Yeah... but it's just a rope..."

"Ah like mah rope!"

"I bet you do," Rainbow snickered.

"Urgh, anyway," said Applejack, dismissing Rainbow's words.

"I didn't hear a no," the pegasus teased.

"Rainbow Dash," said the earth pony warningly. Rainbow knew she was treading on thin ice when she used her full name.

"I'll stop now."

"Good. What ah was gonna say was, you fancy joining us fer dinner tonight? Since you're out here and all and we're finishing up now."

"Yeah, sure! Thanks Applejack."

------------

"So Rainbow," said Applejack after dinner, "why exactly were you flying in circles for a good hour?"

They were in Applejack's bedroom. Rainbow was lounging on the bed, her form sprawled across it, her magenta eyes watching the earth pony tidy up.

"I was thinking," said Rainbow vaguely.

Applejack rolled her eyes.

"You're gonna have to be a mite more specific sugar cube."

"I was thinking about the Thunderway 500," said the pegasus, picking up a golden bit off the floor and playing with it in her hooves.

"When aren't ya thinking about it?"

Rainbow decided to ignore this.

"It was something Pinkie said earlier. She asked what I would do if I didn't win..."

"Ah'm not following."

"That's what I've been thinking about, I hadn't considered the chance I might lose."

"And what would you do?"

"I don't know," Rainbow huffed, "sulk probably."

"Business as usual then, least when I beat you."

"Hey!" said an indignant Rainbow, throwing the bit at Applejack, knocking off her hat.

"Come on RD, you know I'm joshing ya."

"I know."

"Hey, talking of the race," said Applejack, picking up a magazine off the floor, "ah saw an article you might be interested in."

She flicked though to the right page and handed it to Rainbow. The pegasus took it, smoothed out the paper and read:

The Thunderway 500: Legendary Wonderbolt attending?

"WHAT?!" she cried.

Applejack started at Rainbow's outburst. She looked at the cyan mare, who was now frozen in position, with the exception of her eyes, which were racing over the text.

There are many rumours surrounding high profile public figures, and the Wonderbolts are no exception. Unconfirmed reports suggest that Spitfire will be participating in the annual Thunderway 500, which this year is being held in the town of Ponyville. The mare is well known for her complex aerial...

"Nononononononono, this can't be happening," said Rainbow frantically, her breathing quickening.

"Rainbow Dash, are you feeling alright sugar?"

"Alright? Never better!" She smiled a very strained smile.

"You sure? You don't look all that-"

"GAHH!" Rainbow jumped up and opened a window. "Sorry to cut this evening short AJ, but I'm gonna have to leave, I've got a lot to think about."

Applejack frowned.

"Well, if yer sure..."

Rainbow gave Applejack an apologetic glance, then sped off into the dusk without another word. Applejack could hear a 'nopenopenopenope' on the air as she left.
The earth pony sighed, slightly put out that her friend left so abruptly.
There came a gentle tap from her door.

"AJ?" the deep rumbling voice of Big Macintosh asked.

Applejack sighed again, sitting down on her bed.

"Yeah? Come in brother."

The door creaked open and the red stallion walked in. He immediately noticed the lack of multicoloured pegasus and the open window.

"Ah thought ah heard shouting, did you and Miss Rainbow have an argument?"

"What? No! Ah showed her this article and she done flew off!"

Big Macintosh looked at the magazine and slowly shook his head.

"You thought it was a good idea to show this to Miss Rainbow?" he said steadily.

"Yuhuh, it's about the race, and ah know how excited she is about it."

"And showing her that one of the best fliers in Equestria will be taking part is gonna help her how exactly?"

"Aw ponyfeathers."

"Eyyyup, she's gonna be right distressed now, you better check up on her soon to make sure she's alright."

"Okie doke, can you balance the books day after tomorrow's mornin' then, so ah can go see her?"

"You know ah'm no good with numbers sis," he said flatly, looking back at the magazine, turning over a few pages.

"Urgh, worth a shot ah s'pose, fine, I'll check the south field in the mornin' for thievin' critters instead, and I'll go see after that, shouldn't take long, and do the business stuff in the afternoon."

"Okay. Can I borrow this?" he asked, looking at the magazine again, to see that there were several pictures of Spitfire over the central pages, some of which were designed specifically to arouse the interest of stallions, along with certain mares.

Applejack snorted.

"Aw, does somepony have a crush on Spitfire?" she teased.

"It ain't no crush," he defended, his blush disguised under his red coat, "she's just mighty pretty."

"Sure, take it..." Then her nose crinkled as the implication of what he was probably planning to do with it hit her. "Though I'd rather not have it back, if ah'm honest."

Now the stallion's blush was clearly visible as her backed out of the room with a sheepish grin.

"Boys," said Applejack under her breath as she got into her bed.

Big Macintosh walked into his room and shut his door firmly. He opened up the magazine and carefully tore out the central pages and stuck them to his wall with a tack.

"No wonder AJ don't want it back," he said to himself, "nopony wants half a magazine after all."

He admired the pictures for a moment, then he clambered into his bed and slowly drifted off to sleep.