I was happy to see Rainbow so excited to hang with us, especially after the near disaster she had just averted.
I had certainly been mildly surprised to see Rarity come flying out with Rainbow Dash during the Competition. I certainly hadn’t seen her elaborate getup or the full extent of her fake wings in my visions. She certainly seemed to have forgotten her mission of cheering Rainbow up too, as Rainbow looked even more nervous than I had last seen her. I quickly scanned the crowds, making sure that Fluttershy and Derpy were still where they said they’d be. They were there, but so were Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack. I made a mental note to ask how exactly Twilight had gotten them all here and had helped them stay here.
I turned back, making sure to be critical of Rainbow and Rarity’s joint performance. Just because I knew what would happen didn’t mean I needed to act any different.
I watched and waited, seeing Rainbow go through “Phase 1” and “Phase 2” as she had called them during practice. Though she did great for most of components of each Phase, her nerves were clearly affecting her performance, making her fail where I knew she could’ve succeeded.
Rarity was a pretty flier, but no more than that. She was showvanistic, relying on her looks instead of any solid skills. She was clearly not used to the extraneous effort flying required and was tiring easily. She began to ascend at the same time as Rainbow Dash began “Phase 3.” Almost time for the Sonic Rainboom.
I knew what was about to happen, but watching it beforehand didn’t make it much easier to watch in real time. Rarity began to plummet and the other Wonderbolts leapt up to go save her. I knew it wouldn’t work, but hadn’t been able to inform them of that before they were already on their way. As I watched them, waiting for the inevitable hero I knew would emerge shortly, I felt another set of hooves touch down beside me. I looked over to see before me my very angry Godmother.
“Hey Aunt Celestia. Long-time no see. How’s Luna coming along?” I asked, attempting to deter her anger a bit.
“Breeze Rider! I am very disappointed in you! Why did you not leap to save Rarity as your fellow Wonderbolts did?” She demanded.
“Because of that.” I replied, pointing below to the scene I knew had just occurred.
Celestia looked over, terrified to see the now unconscious members of my team continue to fall with Rarity. She turned to me again.
“Why do you not go now though?” She asked, rage building behind her words again.
“Because another hero is already on her way.” I said, pointing up to Rainbow.
Within 10 seconds of my reply to Aunt Celestia, Rainbow dashed past and achieved the Sonic Rainboom I had promised the other Wonderbolts. A true shame they couldn’t see this one.
“Ah. I see. Very well measured reactions Breeze Rider. I assume you need to go and awaken your teammates?” Celestia asked me, clearly aware of my answer. We followed Rainbows path to just slightly in front of us where it ended.
“I suppose. This’ll be the longest Spitfire’s never yelled at me though. I wish I could enjoy it more. I suppose you need to present the award too?” I replied, ending with an obvious question of my own.
Celestia chuckled, taking to the air again. I rose a few second later to go revive my teammates.
“What? What happened?” I heard Afterburn ask as I moved to wake Soarin with a ‘smelling apple.’
“The Unicorn you were trying to save kicked you unconscious and you were saved by a Sonic Rainboom performed by Rainbow Dash. I told you that you’d regret not bringing padding.” I explained simply and honestly.
“I still wish I’d seen it.” I heard Spitfire pitch in. “Nothing else could have saved us in time though, so I know it’s no lie.”
“Yep.” I said, turning to answer her as Soarin awakened and quickly devoured the apple I had. “Let’s go present the award to Rainbow Dash now shall we?” I asked all around.
I heard no worded replies, and saw no negative nods either. We all knew nopony else but Rainbow Dash deserved to win the best Young Fliers Competition after that performance.
The rest of the day was very much a blur. Rainbow had wanted to do so much with us, I kinda lost track of everything we had done somewhere along the way.
Now all I could hope was that the Grand Galloping Gala might go a bit easier than this day had gone.