//------------------------------//
// Fierce Competition 
// Story: Flying to the Future 
// by moguera 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 7: Fierce Competition

For the remainder of the time leading up to the competition, Scootaloo and Dawn practiced diligently, refining and adjusting their routine and making sure they knew it back to front.  They worked together so that they were able to read one another's moves and adjust naturally without even thinking about it, so that they were able to react to any changes in their environment automatically without throwing off their synchronization.  Their years of training together, moving in a common rhythm, formed the basis for their skill at cooperating.
Scootaloo's results came back about a week after the certification exam.  She'd passed with top marks in both the written and physical tests, the transcripts of her work proving to be a nice extra for her resume.  Despite that, she decided to hold off applying for a full position on the Weather Team until the competition was over.  Raindrops and Storm Front were understanding, encouraging even.
Though Dawn, as he had told the Mayor, did not make it a regular thing, he and Scootaloo did, on occasion, take Larksong to the park where they could fly her and other foals.  As he or Scootaloo maintained the updraft that kept the foals aloft, the other would keep an eye out for trouble in the event that somepony tried to interfere and endangered the foals.  Fortunately, nothing happened, though Dawn did see one or two adults watching with disapproval whenever the foals were in the air.  Nopony tried to interfere...except to request that their own foals be allowed to join in the fun.
The two months leading up to the Best Young Fliers Competition passed quietly and uneventfully.



On the day of the competition, Dawn met Scootaloo at her house, where they planned to set out to Cloudsdale from.  Rainbow and Soarin' had departed the previous day, heading back to Cloudsdale to meet up with the rest of the Wonderbolts, who would be doing flybys before and after the competition, as well as spending a day with the winner (or winners).
"Ready?" asked Dawn, smiling at Scootaloo as she shifted nervously on the cloud porch next to him.
"Ready as I can be," she said back, her smile a little bit weak.  In the past few days, she had gotten a little bit uncertain about their routine.  Was it perfect?  Was it really the best way to showcase their skills for the judges?  Would they really have a chance of winning?
Dawn looked the very picture of serenity, though, on the inside, he was almost as nervous as Scootaloo.  Personally, he wasn't very interested in the outcome of the competition.  But he understood just how important it was to Scootaloo and didn't want to do anything that might undermine their chances of winning.  To that end, he had reviewed the form they had created several times over the past two months.  All indicators were that they were going to do very well.  Ultimately, Dawn decided to have faith in Scootaloo and in their ability to move together.
"We'll be fine," he said, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek.  "Let's head out."
The pair of them took to the air and swooped up away from Ponyville, winging their way towards Cloudsdale.  As they did, they could see other pegasi heading towards the cloud city, both from Ponyville and other locales.  In fact, they weren't the only competitors from Ponyville.  A few older ponies from the Weather Team as well as a courier were entering the competition as well.
When they got there, both Dawn and Scootaloo balked at the sheer number of pegasi swarming about Cloudsdale.  The cloud city was already a hub of activity at the slowest points of the year.  But now the air was practically packed with pegasi flitting about.  It gave the whole place an impression of a hive of insects that had been kicked.  As the two young adults watched the hordes of pegasi heading into the city, flying in from every direction, they shared a nervous look and steeled themselves to enter the throng.
"Scootaloo!  Dawn!"
The couple froze in place, their ears perking up as they looked around.  "You heard that too, right?" asked Scootaloo.
"Yes," said Drawn, his eyes roving as he stretched out with his wind-sense.  "But...shouldn't he be in Canterlot?"
As if in answer to their question, they both sensed a pegasus their age diving towards them.  Looking up, they saw a young stallion with a light-gray coat, sporting a dark-gray mane swooping down towards them.  He was dressed in a pale-green shirt of light silk with white embroideries and loose, hanging sleeves.  Dawn and Scootaloo broke into excited smiles.
"Rumble!" exclaimed Scootaloo.  "What are you doing here?"
Rumble pulled up at the last second, flaring his wings out to kill his momentum so that he could settle on the cloud the two of them had been standing on.  He exchanged quick hugs with Scootaloo and Dawn before grinning at them.
"I've got the next couple days off," he said.  "Rainbow Dash helped set things up with the Ministry so that I could come out here."
"Really?" asked Scootaloo, gaping.
"And it's not just me," said Rumble, grinning like Pinkie Pie during somepony's birthday.  "Come on!"
With that, he took to the air.  Dawn and Scootaloo scrambled to follow as he led them throughout the crowds of pegasi filling the air.  At times, it was hard to track him with their eyes, but both Dawn and Scootaloo were able to easily sense Rumble's position, even when other ponies cut off their line of sight.  As they moved about, Dawn sent gentle waves of air to ruffle Scootaloo's wings, just enough for her to notice the contact, but not enough to disrupt her flight, giving her a feeling akin to what it was like to have his wings themselves brush over her back.
Rumble led them in the direction of the Cloudeseum, ducking between buildings and weaving through all the aerial traffic with ease, flying as though he'd been born in Cloudsdale.
"You sure know your way around here," observed Scootaloo, pulling up on Rumble's left close enough to be heard.
"Yeah," he said.  "I've been doing courier runs for the FPS office out here in Cloudsdale and they've been telling me to get familiar with the area."
Turning a corner, they came out into an open area and the massive white bulk of the stadium loomed in front of them.  Ponies were already swarming through the entrances, though it would be another couple of hours before the competition officially started.  A long, single-file line stretched out from one of the smaller entrances, where Scootaloo could see the competitors signing in and receiving their numbers.
"I wonder how many ponies are trying today?" she mused aloud.
"A lot," said Rumble, "Last I heard, there were nearly a hundred applicants."
"We still have plenty of time before the sign-in closes," said Dawn.  "Making sure that we're at the tail end shouldn't be any issue."
"Anyway, we need to go over this way," said Rumble, tilting his wings and banking, taking them away from the line and towards the broad plaza of clouds outside the stadium.  There were several groups of ponies there already, milling about as they waited for friends and family or jockeyed for position to get in the lines to get seats.  Rumble led them towards a crowd of very familiar ponies.
Scootaloo's face lit up and Dawn broke out into a small smile as they saw all their friends and family from Ponyville.  Fluttershy, Caramel, and Larksong were there.  Fluttershy was even carrying a silent Pepita, the young colt watching everything around him with silent, but eager interest.  Melon Cream stood beside them.  Dawn noted that her boyfriend wasn't with them, which he was mildly grateful for, as he usually caused quite the stir wherever he went.  The rest of their Ponyville friends were there as well: Twilight Sparkle, Arkenstone, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Mayweather, Spike, Apple Bloom, Red River, Storm Front, Flitter, Cloud Chaser, Thunderlane, and Coco Pommel.  Even Cloud Kicker had shown up in support of her now-former apprentice.
As the three young pegasi came in for a landing, the white form of a unicorn detached from the group and rushed at them.  Sweetie Belle's pink and pastel-purple mane bobbed up and down and her pale-green eyes glittered with excitement as she threw herself at Scootaloo.  She hadn't changed much over the years, her mane and tail still resembling clouds of cotton candy more than anything else.  But she'd gotten taller.  Sweetie would probably never have Rarity's stunning figure and elegant looks without a lot of work and makeup, but she had an adorable appeal all her own.
"You came too?" asked Scootaloo as she rocked back from the impact of her friend's enthusiastic tackle.
"Of course I did, silly," said Sweetie, giggling melodiously as she turned to hug Dawn as well.  "I wouldn't miss this for the world.  Rainbow Dash said your performance is going to be a real doozy."
Scootaloo and Dawn exchanged an enlightened glance as they realized what had happened.  Fluttershy had told Dawn about Rainbow Dash's own run in the competition, where her friends, at Rarity's instigation had roused the means to come to Cloudsdale to watch and cheer her on.  The beaming look on Twilight's face as she stood off with the others marked her as the unquestionable source of the cloudwalking spells that had been used on their non-pegasus friends.
Dawn went over and exchanged a loving nuzzle with his mother before leaning down to gently brush his muzzle across Pepita's forehead as the colt smiled up at him.  Dawn smiled back before looking up at Fluttershy again.  "He has a cloudwalking spell too, right?"  Given that his young age meant that Pepita wasn't very mobile yet, Fluttershy, Caramel, or Dawn usually carried the young colt everywhere he needed to go.  He could see Twilight missing the little fellow, who, at times, seemed more like a piece of luggage than a pony in his own right.  Dawn's head flashed with a quick waking nightmare of Fluttershy setting the little earth pony aside to attend to something, only for Pepita to fall right through the clouds.
"Of course, silly," said Fluttershy, giggling at his concern.  "I made sure to remind Twilight myself."
"Okay," said Dawn, some of his tension bleeding away.  A familiar weight descended on his back as Larksong jumped up and settled between his wings, laughing as she nuzzled his mane.  Chuckling, Dawn reached up with one wing to rub her back, stroking her with his wind currents as well.
Scootaloo was over chatting animatedly with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, the three of them having been apart for quite a while after so many years of being nearly inseparable.  Rumble stepped up next to Dawn, while Spike came up on his other side.  Dawn traded a quick hoofbumb with Rumble before nodding to Spike.
"Thanks for coming," he said to his friend.
Rumble grinned.  "You're welcome.  The ponies at the Ministry were kinda reluctant to let me go right now, but Softhoof changed her mind when she knew you were involved."
"Oh..." said Dawn, raising an eyebrow.  The first time he had met Softhoof, she had come to Fluttershy's house to inspect Fluttershy for her suitability to be his mother.  Their first meeting hadn't gone very smoothly and Dawn hadn't acquitted himself very well, having seen Softhoof's presence as an unwanted invasion.  However, circumstances had mellowed his opinion and taught him to see her in a more positive light as she had proved to be a significant ally in warding off the Foal Protection Services continued inspections, which had been instigated through the machinations of a member of the now-defunct Noble Court.  The fiasco had ultimately ended with the department director resigning and Softhoof rising to take his place.  Dawn hadn't realized that she still thought so well of him as to allow Rumble an opening in his normally busy schedule to watch him and Scootaloo perform at the competition.
Looking over at the line for competitors to sign in, Dawn noticed it was beginning to dwindle.  "I think it's best if we get ready," he said, nodding to Rumble.  As he did so, he extended one wing and sent a gentle burst of air to ruffle Scootaloo's feathers and get her attention.  When she looked up, he used his head to indicate the line.
Scootaloo nodded and excused herself from her friends.  The two of them promised to meet the others for dinner, after the competition, and made their way to the line to sign in.  As they had planned, they were near the back of the line, though a couple of other ponies lined up behind them.  Given how many were there, Dawn didn't feel as though they had anything to worry about.  With the sheer number of competitors present, it would probably be plenty dark by the time they went out for their routine.  In past years, the competition had had a shorter time limit.  However, it had continued to grow in popularity, attracting more and more performers.  As a consequence, the organizers had taken to increasing the competitions duration, with some ponies predicting that it was only a matter of time before the competition started marking its duration in days, rather than hours.
When they signed in, the mare manning the desk asked them a few questions about their routine, what clouds they would need and where they should be placed, along with any other special conditions that they needed to perform properly.  Dawn and Scootaloo laid out their needs and received their number, getting an odd look from the mare as she realized that they were doing a tandem performance.
After they had signed in, the pair made their way into the waiting room.  Already, it was packed with other pegasi, all of them going through various preparations for their performances.  On one side of the room was a balcony that opened out into the stadium, giving them a perfect view of the open air and the crowds filling the seats.  From there, the competitors could proceed directly to the staging area to begin their routines.
Scootaloo made her way to the balcony, Dawn following only slightly behind her as she went up to the railing and looked out at the seating.  Already, the seats were being filled in as countless ponies, mostly pegasi, but also with a smattering of earth ponies and unicorns, settled into place.  The air was buzzing with the sounds of their voices as they chatted with one another and called over concession carriers for food and drinks.  The stadium hummed like a fully-charged storm cloud, making the hairs of Scootaloo's coat stand on end.  She licked her lips as she surveyed the clouds realizing just how many ponies were there.
She remembered hearing Rainbow's story about her performance at the Best Young Flier's Competition; how Rainbow had been so overcome with performance anxiety that she'd been reduced to a quivering wreck before her turn had come.  Looking out over the crowd, Scootaloo understood how even a confident pony like her idol could be overcome with nerves with so many witnesses to what could be a horrible failure.  It wasn't a feeling she liked at all.
Despite her best efforts, her mind began to taunt her with the thought of failure, with the idea of screwing up in front of all of these ponies, in front of the Wonderbolts, in front of the Princesses, in front of her friends, who had come all this way to give her their support and encouragement...
Dawn's draped itself across her back and pulled her up against his side.  Not even thinking about it, Scootaloo bent her head down as Dawn nuzzled her, his warm breath tickling her ear as he spoke.  "We'll be fine."
Scootaloo nodded and allowed herself to lean against him, letting the feeling of his warmth against her blot out the sound of the crowds outside and all the participants around them.  A second later, she realized that the sound actually was being blotted out, thanks to Dawn skillfully manipulating air currents to deflect the bulk of the sound around them, creating a little bubble of quiet and calm.
"Thanks," she said.
Dawn smiled and simply continued to hold her close.  Feeling more encouraged, Scootaloo lifted her head up to survey the crowds again.  On the far side of the stadium, she could see the Royal Box, where the Princesses would be watching the competition.  To her surprise, she saw her friends filing in there before quickly checking her astonishment.  Right...Twilight's a Princess.  Given that Twilight acted like barely anything had changed since her ascension to alicornhood, it was always a bit jarring to be confronted with a reminder that she was, in fact, an Equestrian Princess now, with all the perks and privileges that went with such an honor.
"Excuse me..."
"Huh?"  Scootaloo was broken out of her observations by the inquisitive voice of a pony behind them.  She'd apparently entered into the space being shielded by Dawn's wind currents if they were able to hear her.  Dawn and Scootaloo turned around to look at the speaker.
The pony in question was a pegasus mare with a dandelion-yellow coat and a deep-green mane that ran down the side of her neck in long strips, not quite long enough to reach past, except at the very tips, a fairly common pegasus manestyle.  On her flank was a fairly basic-looking cloud.  She was studying them with a pair of grayish-blue eyes...or rather, studying Dawn.
Scootaloo's hackles rose immediately as she thought that this mare would be another of the judgmental idiots that seemed so common around Cloudsdale, possibly judging Dawn for his eyes or his lack of cutie mark.  However, upon closer inspection, she realized that this mare was studying Dawn with an air of curiosity and...familiarity, as though the sight of him was jarring some half-remembered past event for her.  The mare tilted her head, regarding Dawn even more intently, prompting him to shift nervously.
"You look familiar..." she said, tapping her chin.  "Were you in Cloudsdale a few years back...during that whole craziness with the tribalists?"
Dawn blinked.  "I was...in fact."
The mare's eyes went wide and she gasped.  "It is you, isn't it?  You're that colt who fought the tribalists with Rainbow Dash and the Wonderbolts, aren't you?"
Now it was Scootaloo's turn to blink in surprise as she stared at the mare, barely comprehending the fact that a pony had actually noticed Dawn's involvement in the whole affair.
"Y-you...you remember that?" asked Dawn.
"Of course I do!" exclaimed the mare, breaking out into a jubilant grin at the confirmation of her theory.  "How could I forget!  You came down into the stadium, like BOOM!  Then you slapped that one guy across the whole place and through the wall-WHAM!  It was the coolest thing ever!"
"U-um...thanks," said Dawn, wrong-footed by such adoring praise.  His flustered behavior forced Scootaloo to cover her mouth with a hoof to stifle her giggles.
"Wow!  I can't believe it," she said, leaning in closer, causing Dawn to lean back a little.  "So that's what your eyes look like up close.  They look neat."
Dawn's cheeks turned red and Scootaloo felt a faint flare of jealousy stir in her chest as she looked over this mare.
"Th-thank you very much," said Dawn, trying to figure out how to respond to this unexpected situation.
"My name's Sunflower.  What's yours?" asked the mare.
"Dawn Lightwing," answered Dawn.
"And I'm Scootaloo," said Scootaloo, feeling very much like she was being forced out of the conversation.
"So you're performing in the competition too," observed Sunflower, looking over the two of them.  As she did, her eyes passed over the numbered tags that had been stuck to their flanks.  "Wait!  You two have the same number?  Is that a mistake?"
"No," replied Dawn, resting his wing on Scootaloo's back again. "We're actually performing together, in tandem."
"That's right," said Scootaloo.
Sunflower blinked.  "Together...can you even do that?"
"Yep," replied Scootaloo, grinning.  "The rules cover tandem flights too."
"Cool!" said Sunflower, breaking out into a grin again.  "I never knew that!"
"Apparently, quite a few ponies don't," said Dawn ruefully, remembering the number of double-takes that their application and sign-in had received when it was revealed that they were performing in tandem.  Apparently Rainbow Dash had not been exaggerating when she'd said that tandem performances were almost unheard of.
"Sunflower!  What are you doing talking to those two?"
Sunflower let out a derisive snort and rolled her eyes as the voice of another mare carried over the murmurings of the other competitors.  "Great, the Little Princess is here."
The press of pegasi nearest to them shifted slightly as another pony shouldered her way through the group.  Her coat was a brilliant, alabaster-white, easily a match for Rarity's, while her mane was a shining gold, brushed to perfection.  That, combined with her bright-blue eyes and elegant figure made Scootaloo do a double-take of her own for a second.  This mare was practically a female version of Prince Blueblood in appearance, though not in attitude.  Her lips curled back in an arrogant grin that revealed shining white teeth that practically sparkled in the sunlight streaming in through the balcony.  Her cutie mark was a black gyroscope.
Sunflower's moniker of the "Little Princess" was an apt nickname for this pony, for she carried herself like she thought she was royalty.  She approached the three of them with all the swagger of a member of the Noble Court (ironically enough, nopony in the actual Royal Family carried themselves with remotely a trace of arrogance this mare was displaying).  She looked over both Dawn and Scootaloo with an expression of deliberately ill-concealed disdain, her sneer widening with each successive second.  More to the point, Scootaloo noted that this mare's eyes were looking at her with greater interest than they were at Dawn.
"Sunflower," she said, looking at the mare she was addressing as she drew up alongside her, "you shouldn't be bothering with incompetent fools like these."
"Shut up, Cyclone," said Sunflower with another roll of her eyes.  "I can talk to them if I want.  Besides, they're not incompetent."
"They most certainly are if they are trying to put on a joint performance," said Cyclone with an indignant sniff.  "It shows that they lack confidence in their own skills and think that banding together will help them put on a better show."  She smirked at Dawn and Scootaloo.  "I look forward to seeing the two of you trip over each other's tails in front of the judges."
Scootaloo yawned, feeling bored.  Compared to the teasing and insults she was used to being on the receiving end of (usually by proxy of her association with Dawn), simple pre-competition trash-talking was beyond dull.  "Feel free to think that if you want," she said.  "I can understand why you'd think that.  You certainly wouldn't be able to fly with another pony, given how much airspace your ego must take up."
Cyclone's cheeks turned bright red and her eyes narrowed in an angry glare, the arrogant smirk deserting her face altogether as Sunflower tittered next to her.  "Shut up, you low-class twit."  She was going to say something else, but stopped as she took a second look at Scootaloo, her eyes narrowing.  "There's something about you...tell me your name."
Scootaloo bristled at Cyclone's demanding tone.  "I don't jump because you tell me to," she snapped angrily.  "I don't have any reason to give my name to you."
"Give me your name or I'll just go over to the listings and look it up myself," Cyclone snapped back.
"Go ahead and do that," said Scootaloo, rolling her eyes.  "While you're over there, you might want to reserve a second spot so that your attitude can take a turn in the stadium too."
An angry snort burst forth from Cyclone's nostrils and she whirled about sharply, inadvertently slapping Sunflower across the face with her tail in the process.  She then stalked angrily through the crowd, shouldering ponies aside without any regard for anyone but herself.
"Sorry about that," said Sunflower, rubbing the tip of her muzzle with a hoof.  "I'm just about the only pony who can stand her for more than sixty seconds, so she thinks I'm her lackey."
"And she doesn't take it well when you suggest otherwise?" asked Dawn.
"She doesn't take it at all," grumped Sunflower, her ears falling.  "Whenever I say something that contradicts her or suggests that I'm not a member of her entourage, she develops spontaneous deafness.  It's like she can't hear a word that comes out of my mouth when she does that.  You have no idea how hard it is to make friends when she can come up at any moment, swinging that ego around like it's a broadsword."
"And ponies actually let her get away with that?" asked Scootaloo, gaping at Sunflower.
"Well...she gets away with a lot more than she should," said Sunflower, averting her eyes slightly and slumping down to her haunches.  "She may not have friends, but she's got...connections."
"Connections?" asked Dawn, tilting his head.
Before Sunflower could answer, Cyclone came tramping back, once again pushing through the packed pegasi without so much as an "excuse me."  Her look of arrogance was gone, replaced by one of cold anger as her eyes homed in on Scootaloo.
"I was right," she said as she came within speaking distance again, "It is you."
Scootaloo sighed dramatically and raised a hoof.  "Okay.  You've got me.  You're totally right.  It is me.  I've always been me and I've never been anypony else but me.  Your powers of deduction are overwhelming, oh great detective."
Sunflower had to push both of her hooves against her mouth as her cheeks bulged.  Beside Scootaloo, Dawn snorted, then began coughing into his hoof.
Cyclone's eyes narrowed and she glared pointedly at the bright-orange mare.  "Very funny.  I know who you are, Scootaloo."
"Wow," said Scootaloo, rolling her eyes again.  "You know my name.  Congratulations!  That means you can read words.  Good for you."
"They warned me you'd be like this," muttered Cyclone petulantly.
Her words actually caused Scootaloo to pause and she canted her head.  “Who warned you?”
“You really have no idea, do you?” prodded Cyclone.  “Unbelievable!”
“Uh…What the hay are you talking about?” asked Scootaloo.
Cyclone opened her mouth to respond, but was abruptly cut off by a shout from across the room as one of the competition organizers began belting out instructions.  “We are beginning in ten minutes!  The first ten competitors need to report here immediately!”
Cyclone snorted, apparently frustrated that she didn’t have time to say whatever it was she was going to.  The number over the cutie mark on one side of her flank was seven, so she was in the first group of competitors.  “I’ll deal with you later,” she snarled at Scootaloo before stalking back through the crowd.
“See what I mean,” said Sunflower with a sigh.  Her number was thirteen, so she would be with the next group of competitors.
“She’s certainly a hoofful,” observed Dawn in a bemused tone.  “But I wonder what her problem with Scootaloo is.”
Sunflower could only shrug.  “I didn’t even know who you were until a couple minutes ago.  I have no idea how she knows who you are.”
“Are you stuck with her or something?” asked Scootaloo, craning her neck to look over the crowd.  She could see Cyclone taking her position in the line arranged in front of the event organizer.  They appeared to be going over final checks for anything the performers needed.
“You could say that,” said Sunflower.  “When we graduated from Flight School, we both went into work as cloud wranglers.  She used her connections to get us on the same team, the team that handles some of the really high-profile jobs, like taking clouds to Canterlot or Manehattan.”
“That doesn’t sound too much like a bad thing,” said Scootaloo, raising an eyebrow.
“But I’m guessing you don’t want to ride on her coattails,” guessed Dawn.
“Yeah,” agreed Sunflower.  “But it’s less riding on her coattails than her tying her coattails around my neck and dragging me around behind her.  It’s a pain.  I’ve been trying to get a transfer to another team-any other team.  But I keep getting told that there are no options open.”
“Wow,” said Scootaloo grimly.  “That sucks.”  She noticed Dawn tilting his head and eying Sunflower speculatively.  “What’s up?”
“I’m just thinking,” said Dawn.  “Were the other teams you applied for Cloudsdale teams as well?”
“Well…yeah,” said Sunflower.
“Have you considered, maybe, applying for Weather Teams in another town?” asked Dawn.
“You mean…leave Cloudsdale?” asked Sunflower, her eyes going wide.  “That’s…”
“A bit hard for a pony who’s just gotten her certification and started working,” said Scootaloo, rolling her eyes and jabbing Dawn with her elbow.  “Not everypony can just pick up stakes and move on the way you used to.  Imagine if somepony asked you to move away from your family right now.”
Dawn blinked and worked his mouth for a second.  “Oh…sorry.”
“It’s okay,” said Sunflower, giving him a sad smile.  “I might consider that.  But the process of transferring to another town’s Weather Team is a little hard for a newcomer, especially because I’d have to work out moving to the town in question.”
“Sounds like you’re stuck with her for now,” said Scootaloo, giving Sunflower a sympathetic look.  “I wish there was something we could do to help.”
“Well, it’s my problem anyway,” said Sunflower.  “I wouldn’t want to drag you two into it.”
“Scootaloo seems to be a part of it already,” Dawn pointed out, “tangentially, at least.”
“That’s true,” admitted Sunflower.
“Actually, now that I think about it, there is something we can do to help,” said Scootaloo, her grin returning.
“What’s that?” asked Sunflower anxiously.
“You said you have a hard time making friends while Cyclone’s around,” said Scootaloo.  “But we can be your friends.  Even though it’ll be a little tricky, since Dawn and I live in Ponyville, we’d love to be friends with you.”
Sunflower’s eyes went wide.  “Really?  You would?”
“Sure,” said Scootaloo.  Beside her, Dawn nodded his agreement.
“Wow!  Thanks,” said Sunflower.  “This is great!”
Scootaloo took a moment to look for Cyclone again, now seeing her at the head of the line, speaking imperiously to the organizer.  The look on his face indicated he would have much rather slapped her upside the head for her attitude.  But he reined in his temper, an impressive feat in Scootaloo’s eyes.  “So…” she said, looking back at Sunflower, “she any good?”
A tired sigh escaped Sunflower’s mouth.  “It’d be great if she was all talk and no show, but she’s got real skills.  In fact, she probably has a pretty good chance of winning this, especially if she does what I think she’s doing.”
“What’s she doing?” asked Scootaloo.
Sunflower drooped.  “You’ll see.”
At that moment, the sound of trumpets echoed throughout the stadium.  The crowd broke out into a roaring cheer as a voice boomed across the venue.  “WELCOME FILLIES AND GENTLECOLTS TO THIS YEAR’S BEST YOUNG FLIERS COMPETITION!”  The crowd’s roars of approval redoubled, making it a little bit harder to hear the announcer as he continued.  “I’M GLAD TO SEE YOU ALL SO EXCITED.  PLEASE PUT YOUR HOOVES UP FOR OUR SPECIAL GUESTS AND ESTEEMED JUDGES…THE WOOOOONDERBOOOOOOOLTS!!!”
As the cheers and applause rose to ever more tumultuous heights, a formation of twenty ponies streaked overhead, leaving behind contrails of clouds of various types, from pure white to crackling thunderheads, and, in one case, a trail of sizzling flames, and, in another case, a shining rainbow.  The Wonderbolts, with Rainbow Dash soaring near the center of their line, executed a simple flight straight over the top of the Cloudeseum.  As they passed over the Royal Box, three of them, including Spitfire, peeled off and dipped down to land in the seats just below the box.  The rest, Rainbow included, continued their flyover until they passed over the stadium wall, disappearing from sight.
The announcer waited for the cheers to die down before speaking again.  “NOW, PLEASE GIVE A CHEER FOR OUR OTHER GUESTS, PRINCESS CELESTIA AND PRINCESS LUNA!!!”
More cheers filled the air, though they weren’t as loud as they had been for the Wonderbolts.  Scootaloo doubted that it had anything to do with lingering resentment that had fostered the tribalist uprising in the first place.  The Wonderbolts were a Cloudsdale favorite, since that was where they were based.  The Princesses were rarely seen outside of Canterlot.  Still, there was plenty of respect and adoration as the two older alicorns strode out into the Royal Box.
“IN ADDITION TO OUR ESTEEMED RULERS, WE HAVE ANOTHER DISTINGUISHED GUEST!” continued the announcer, “FROM PONYVILLE WE HAVE NONE OTHER THAN THE NEWEST PRINCESS, THE PRINCESS OF FRIENDSHIP AND MAGIC HERSELF, TWILIGHT SPARKLE!!!”
Though there was no way to see it from where she was, Scootaloo fancied that Twilight was probably blushing furiously as she gave a shy wave from where she had been sitting.  Twilight always got self-conscious whenever ponies publicly made a big deal of her rank.
As the first contestants began to line up for their turn, the announcer relayed the stakes.  "REMEMBER EVERYPONY, THE WINNER OF TODAY'S COMPETITION WILL NOT ONLY BE HONORED WITH THE TITLE OF BEST YOUNG FLIER, BUT WILL ALSO HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO SPEND A DAY WITH NONE OTHER THAN THE WONDERBOLTS!"  This time, the crowd's reaction was supplemented by the competitors themselves, who cheered wildly at the idea of spending time with the famous aerial team, maybe even making a good enough impression to join.  Both Scootaloo and Dawn knew better, having gotten to know the Wonderbolts quite well already.
"You two okay?" asked Sunflower as the cheering died down.  She'd been doing her own fair share of shouting, forgetting her previous melancholy over Cyclone's good chance of walking away with the victory.  "You weren't cheering at all."
Scootaloo grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of her head.  "Uh...well...we've met the Wonderbolts before."
"Huh?"  Sunflower's jaw dropped.  "You've gotta be kidding me!  You know the Wonderbolts?"
"Not all of them," said Dawn, chuckling at Sunflower's astonishment.  "But Scootaloo here is Rainbow Dash's sister."
"Wha-...Rainbow Dash?  The Rainbow Dash?  As in...the only pony in Equestria who can do a Sonic Rainboom?  That Rainbow Dash?"
"Y-yeah...that's her," said Scootaloo, blushing even harder as she elbowed her coltfriend in the ribs.  Dawn responded with a tiny, spinning gust that tugged and twisted a few of her mane-hairs together.
"Sh-she's your sister?" gasped Sunflower.
"Sort of," said Scootaloo.  "We're not blood-related, but she sorta adopted me as an honorary little sister.  She even gave me my house."
Various emotions flickered across Sunflower's face as she processed this information.  "That's so cool!  I'm so jealous!"  She began to pout.
"Hey," said Scootaloo.  "If it's any consolation, I can probably help you meet Rainbow at least.  We'll probably all get together after the competition, regardless of which way it goes."
"You'd do that?" asked Sunflower, her eyes widening.  "That would be awesome!"
"Sure," said Scootaloo, giggling at Sunflower's enthusiasm.  A breeze Dawn sent across her back signaled his approval of the idea.
Their attention was drawn out into the stadium as the competition began and the first of the competitors took her starting position.  The first few fliers were a mixed bag.  Their routines were fairly standard flight routines; intense barrel-rolls, tight loops, sharp turns, all executed at high speeds and with careful precision.  There were a couple whose performances were fairly sloppy, making Scootaloo suspect that their routines had been thrown together at the last second.
Then Cyclone's number was called and she flew out to the staging area.  The staff had cleared away the clouds that had served as obstacles for the previous contestant, not setting up anything in their place.  It seemed that Cyclone wanted to perform in a completely open space.  To Scootaloo's surprise, there was no overconfident swagger to Cyclone's flight.  She flew with smooth, efficient wingbeats and settled into a steady ready-posture at the staging area, her previous arrogance nowhere to be found her eyes steely and her expression determined.
When she got the signal to begin, Cyclone launched herself into the air and launched into one of the most whirling, acrobatic routines Scootaloo had ever seen.  Far from simple rolls and loops, Cyclone went into wild-looking spins that rotated her body across multiple axes at blinding speed, turning her into a blurred dervish against the sky.  However, she came out of every one of them in complete control, freely maneuvering into another that would launch her in another direction in an equally-dizzying manner.
"Very impressive," observed Dawn, raising an eyebrow.
"You weren't kidding when you said she's good," said Scootaloo, glancing sidelong at Sunflower, who was looking crestfallen at her chances of winning.
"I told you," she replied sullenly.
"I don't get why she keeps stopping though," observed Scootaloo, turning her gaze back up as Cyclone went into yet another twisting spin and backward flip.
"If she simply spun wildly from beginning to end, it would be easy for observers to assume she was just throwing herself into it pell-mell," answered Dawn.  "By stopping periodically, she's showing that she remains in complete control of her motions even when they are at their most intense.  You can see in how smoothly she pulls out of every move that she's not just recovering from out-of-control spins."
"Yeah, that's her specialty," said Sunflower.  "When it comes to handling turbulent weather, there's pretty much nopony in our group whose as good at keeping her head as Cyclone.  No matter how crazy things get, she always knows up from down."
"Yeah, that's a sweet talent," agreed Scootaloo.
"I don't think it's just talent," said Dawn.  Even as he watched the show with his eyes, he was also following it with his wind-sense.  He could feel how Cyclone moderated her motion in little ways to keep her head as steady as possible to avoid being beset by the dizziness such spinning would normally impart.  It was the smooth, controlled motion of a pony who practiced diligently.
A minute later, Cyclone's routine ended with her coming out of yet another spinning flip to land perfectly on the staging area on all four of her hooves, with her wings spread upright in a dramatic flare, her muzzle pointed sharply to the sky.  The crowd broke into enthusiastic applause and cheering as she held the pose for a few seconds before finally relaxing.  Looking over at the Royal Box and the Wonderbolt seats below it, Scootaloo could see that the special guests, including Spitfire and her fellow judges, leaning forward with keen interest after having been underwhelmed by the first few entries.
Once the applause started to fade, Cyclone began winging her way back to the waiting room.  This time, her flight completely oozed with her smug demeanor as she flew with her head held high and her legs outstretched, but slightly curled in a continuous rearing pose.  As she came in for a landing on the balcony, she shot Scootaloo a smug look.  Scootaloo returned the look merely by rolling her eyes and smirking.  Though she'd found Cyclone's routine impressive, she believed that her and Dawn's would come out on top.
In the meantime, the competition staff flitted about the stadium, positioning clouds for the next act.  At the same time, the organizer called for next set of ten contestants to line up for their routines.
"Good luck," said Scootaloo, giving Sunflower an encouraging smile as she headed for her place in the line.
"Thanks," said Sunflower, smiling back.  As she made for her place, Cyclone sauntered over and began speaking to her.  Scootaloo and Dawn saw that Sunflower was giving her "friend" a quietly-attentive, if reluctant, listening ear, barely managing to pry herself away from Cyclone to line up.
Cyclone looked over at Scootaloo and Dawn and glared pointedly at them.  They briefly worried that she was going to come over for another round of insults, but relaxed when Cyclone instead marched to another section of the balcony, apparently determined to keep as far away from them as she could while still having the best possible view of the competition.
After Cyclone's dizzying performance, the next few routines were comparatively unimpressive.  Number Eleven showcased some very impressive cloud-sculpting skills, using a rapid, circling and looping flight to carve an elegant column out of a wad of construction-grade cloud that had been placed in the center of the stadium.  However, the others were fairly typical.
Then it was Sunflower's turn.  Scootaloo and Dawn leaned forward, eager to find out what their new friend was capable of.  In preparation for her performance, several pony-sized clouds had been set out in concentric rings.  Sunflower flew out to the staging area with a look of trepidation.  Once she settled in, they could see her take several deep, calming breaths, very much like the breathing exercise that Twilight Sparkle sometimes practiced.
"What do you think?" she asked, glancing over at Dawn.
"Her flight is interesting," he said.  "Did you feel how she moved when she flew up to the stage?"
Scootaloo blinked and thought it over.  "Now that you mention it, her slipstream is pretty strong.  That's not a good sign, is it?"
"Only if it isn't deliberate," replied Dawn with a small smile.
Both of them turned their full attention back to Sunflower as she began her routine, leaping off of the stage and straight into the center of the cloud formation, going through a swift, but powerful roll exactly at the instant she passed through.  To Scootaloo's amazement, she felt Sunflower's spin pull at the air around the mare, matching her spin perfectly.  The clouds of the innermost ring were swept up in the rotating current and began to revolve around the center.
But that was only just the beginning.  Sunflower smoothly and efficiently pulled out of her ascent and stooped right into a flight along the clouds forming the second ring out from the center, setting them on a revolving path moving in the opposite direction from the central ring.  She then repeated the process with the rings all the way to the outside, alternating the direction of each one.  Upon reaching the outside ring, Sunflower pulled her circling flight back inwards, this time flying in tight circles that led her weaving back and forth between the rings in sets of two so that the clouds on the outside ring instead began to individually circle with their partners on the next ring in.  The audience gasped in awe as she essentially set the clouds to dancing.
"Whoa!  How's she doing that?" Scootaloo exclaimed, flaring her wings in excitement, managing to catch Dawn's feathers with a small gust in the process, prompting a chuckle from him.
Dawn slightly spread his wings and simply allowed his awareness to spread out through his wind-sense, feeling the winds that moved the clouds that Sunflower had set into motion.  "She's created air-currents in concentric rings," he said.  "Rather than generating a cyclonic motion, she's instead created what might be called low-speed, self-contained jet-streams.  She's even isolated them so that they don't interfere with one another."
"That takes a lot of focus," said Scootaloo, feeling out the winds for herself.  "I don't think either of us could do that."
"Probably not," agreed Dawn, "Mainly because it's a different type of wind-control from what we practice.  Her unusually strong slipstream is a result of her constant practice in this kind of flying."
Sunflower's routine continued from the inside again.  This time she pulled pulled each ring up to a different altitude, expanding or condensing the diameter of the rings until they whirled in a stacked column over the stadium.  The rings of clouds were now spinning in the same direction.  Sunflower flew up through the center of the stack and started with the topmost ring, working her way down, she pulled all the clouds into a single line behind her before she looped back, crossed down, then looped back and crossed down again, leading all the clouds into a continuous infinity-sign path in the sky above the stadium.
Finally, Sunflower pulled up through the center of the infinity sign, spinning rapidly, drawing all the clouds around her into a clumped, whirling mass that blurred together as they spun faster and faster around her.  Feeling the winds that Sunflower was stirring up, Scootaloo worried that she might have been trying to make a tornado.  But then, Sunflower stopped her spin, coming to a complete halt in the air, snapping her wings out wide, dispersing the winds and the clouds themselves, sending them flying out past the edge of the stadium and out of sight.
As Sunflower came in for a landing, the crowd roared its approval.  Spitfire and the other Wonderbolts were visibly impressed by the display.  Scootaloo was cheering quite loudly herself as Sunflower took her bow and flew back to the balcony.
"That was awesome!" she exclaimed as Sunflower landed.
The bright-yellow mare was panting hard.  "Thanks," she said between breaths.
"That was very impressive," added Dawn, smiling at her.  "You show excellent control."
"Of course she does," snapped Cyclone, strutting over haughtily. "Now, if you'll excuse us, she needs some rest...away from riffraff like you."  She pulled Sunflower with her, leading her away from the two of them.
"Jerk," muttered Scootaloo.
"Though," said Dawn contemplatively, "she seems genuinely concerned about Sunflower's wellbeing...even if she goes about it in a rather arrogant way."
Scootaloo looked around, seeing the throng of competitors yet to take their place on the stage.  "So what do we do now?"
Dawn shrugged.  "Wait for our turn, I suppose."