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// 16. Explanations and the Sonic Rainboom 
// Story: Sage of Harmony (Season 1) 
// by Eon Seb 
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Midnight was sitting and enjoying a lunch with the girls as they talked about the events of the last few days. The appearance of a completely new section of town with about a dozen new ponies had been quite confusing for the locals. Add that to the fact that Vinyl aka DJ-Pon3 was walking around town with a curved horn and fangs, along with Blossomforth showing up to work with bat wings and Roseluck having snake eyes, the town was understandably reaching their collective wits' end. After an announcement from the mayor and getting to see that none of the revealed 'dark' ponies were acting any different, the town slowly went back to normal (well, as normal as things EVER got around a Weirdness Magnet like Ponyville anyway).
The girls had been very curious about Midnight's full power and what she could do, she explained that most of her power was tied to the forest. This meant that the further away she was, the weaker she got until she only had her personal abilities to draw on (which consisted of future sight, cloud walking, augmented strength, and magic absorption).
They were all taking a break with Rainbow to help her relax before the upcoming competition. The fact that the Princess would be there along with the Wonderbolts made it all the more stressful for her. The girls were being as helpful and supportive as they could. Rarity had even learned the cloud walking spell so they could all come to support her during the event. She had been practicing for weeks with Shy and Gilda acting as spotters. The only problem was she could not seem to perform the Sonic Rainboom (TM) no matter how many times she practiced or what she tried.

Cloudsdale day of the competition  

The girls had gathered in the stands. Scootaloo had managed to cute her way into coming on the trip to see Rainbow compete. They had still had a few problems however, such as the adult bullies that they all (Rainbow, Gilda, Shy) remembered from flight school.  The brick-heads proved that age does not always equal maturity, by trying the same shit they used to do.
Word to the wise: never anger an adult gryphon and do not proceed to insult the mate of said gryphon after you have angered them. Two out of those three bullies learned that the hard way. Fluttershy's intervention was the only thing that stopped her from killing them (though she had been more worried about how much trouble Gilda would be in for murder, rather than if those two idiots lived or not). Regardless, they had made it to the stands and eagerly awaited the start of the event.
"So any luck finding a guard captain?"  Midnight was sitting beside Luna during the proceedings. The guards were a bit alarmed that she got in to the box without them seeing her, but Nightmare allowed her to stay.
"Not so far. Most of the more experienced soldier's don't want to leave my sister's ranks, so I'm looking for new talent. Thankfully, the night  tribes are more than willing to fill out the ranks, but finding anyone with true leadership skills is hard'-
Here she smirked-"If this keeps up I may have to hire you as the captain and put you through the grinder to get your skills up to par"
Midnight gave her (at the moment) secret marefriend a flat look "That better come with some big benefits, your Highness. I'm afraid my brother's example has given me high expectations for those.". They continued to watch the competitors as they talked enjoying the skills of the many contestants .
"I might be open to 'negotiations' after the show, my dear. But first I need to see if any of the fresh talent has  the right potential. I refuse to let my sister have a better military force than I, so I intend to start a new flying squad, I think the name Shadow Bolts seems appropriate."
Midnight nodded. She was one of the few ponies alive who actually knew what the original roles of the Princesses were (Thank you Herman). Celestia had been the head of legislation and held ultimate veto power over all laws, which is why she had so much paperwork. Luna, on the other hoof, had been the head of military affairs.  
The structure had changed after her banishment. Thus, at the moment, she had equal power to her sister but no real influence in the long term. They were both now the  head of state for legislative and judicial purposes, but Nightmare needed to start building her own court to have any true say in what laws would  be put up for debate and have any say in the military again.  So here she was looking for fresh talent to make her own part of the guard and air force. "I think you'll find at least one of the potentials has the right stuff, Moony"
"We shall see. Care to make a bet on that, with the usual spoils?"
Midnight found herself nodding before her mind finished processing the sentence. "I am going to enjoy myself." They returned their full attention to the event. As Rainbow began her performance the show was spectacular, before it all went FUBAR. Scootaloo was sitting very close to the edge watching her mother and with one careless misstep she fell, her wings buzzing uselessly. Rainbow saw what happened and dove after her daughter abandoning the show in an instant, but she was too high up. Then, with a thunderous crack, the world exploded into color as she raced down catching Scoot at the last second and bringing her to safety.
The entire crowd went ballistic at the display. After awarding Dash her prize as the best young flyer Nightmare stood by her partner "You knew this was going to happen, didn't you dear?"
"Not exactly. I knew the Rainboom would happen, but not why. So what do you think?"
"I think I need to stop making bets with you, I never win. She would make a perfect candidate I just need to get her some proper training, and I owe you the usual. shall we?"
Midnight nodded happily. With a flash Nightmare teleported them to the library. Soon after the sounds of laughter could be heard as Midnight attacked her Princess's sensitive belly. Spectrum just shook her head and plugged her ears. The girls all came back from the show happy, though Fluttershy refused to let go of Scootaloo for the rest of the day. They all went about the rest of their day happy for their friend, who was coming ever closer to reaching her dream