Act 4: Break a Wing!
The morning air was thick with tension and abuzz with excitement as a quartet of pegasi navigated through the enclave of cumulus to the floating citadel ahead.
"You've got to learn to be aggressive Fluttershy," Rainbow lectured her friend while on the fly. "Don't be afraid to bust a move."
"Easy there, Rainbow. They're not flying in blind," Honey said, bringing up the rear. "They practiced and everything these last two days."
Rainbow still looked like she had her doubts as they descended into the residential levels of the city. The numerous ionic architectures were matched only by the colorful pennants and flag that marked the sporting event. Pegasi flocked to and fro, excited smile on each of them.
"Wow. Is it just me, or are there even more decorations than when we were here three days ago?" Blossomforth wondered out loud.
"It's not just you," Honey said in return. "You know, I really should come up here more often. The cultural ascetic of these cloud cities clearly takes a page out of the third century Roaman Empire. There could be a lot of undocumented historical texts here..."
"Well well well. What do we have here?"
The group landed to face the trio of stallions in factory uniforms that addressed them.
The tall orange one spoke up. "It's our old friend Rainbow Crash!"
"Not these guys again..." Rainbow muttered under her breath.
"Get kicked outta any flight schools lately?" The brown leader teased. And the trio proceeded to laugh as if the funniest joke ever was told.
"Get your wings bent, Billy Dumbbell. I didn't get kicked out," the cyan mare retorted.
Dumbbell didn't even flinch. "Face it, Rainbow Crash. Flight school had too many rules, and not enough naptimes for you."
"Heh, ask her about the Sonic Rainboom." The taller taunter landed around the other side, crowding her in.
"Why should I bother bringing that old mare's tale up, Hoops? We all know that's nothing but a big fat lie Crash here made up on the spot. She doesn't have the skills to try something like that."
"Now wait just a minute!"
Heads poked up to look at the yellow pegasus, instinctively recoiling at the sudden attention. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm trying to be more aggressive." She shook her head out it and regained her stern outlook. "Anyhow... she is going to do a Sonic Rainboom!"
It took only a few second for the trio to break off and surround her.
"Almost forgot about you, 'Klutz'ershy. Of course you'd show up wherever Miss Crash goes, wagging your tail like a little lap-pony."
"So tell us, 'Klutz'ershy, how exactly is she going to do a Sonic Rainboom?"
"Or maybe you'd like to do one instead?"
Fluttershy immediately began to wilt and fold under their gazes.
"Yeaaaah...that's right! I heard you signed up for the best young fliers competition too!"
"What's your routine? Face first or belly flop?"
"Hurr hurr hurr..."
"S-stop it..." Fluttershy's eyes were actually beginning to tear up as the three sang in front of her.
"Fluttershy! Fluttershy! Fluttershy can hardly fly~!"
"Hey, cut it out! What did these two ever do to you?!"
The trio turned to see the angry face of Blossomforth, whose scowl weakened when she noticed their grins had not faded, but widened.
"Do my eyes deceive me? Is that...'Blunder'forth?"
"Hey yeah! It's a loser hat trick over here! Long time no see, featherbrain!"
Blossomforth's rump backed into a wall as the jocks stepped towards her.
"Whatcha doing all the way up here, flower freak? You must have forgotten again, clouds produce rain, not pollen!"
"Betcha ten bits she wandered here chasing something shiny, just like that field trip in sixth grade!"
"Ha ha! Good thing the Hoofer Dam had insurance!"
"Uh...well...I...uh..." Blossomforth's mind drew a blank. She wanted to retort, but the intimidating sneers kept derailing her train of thought. She certainly wasn't going to give these three the satisfaction of making her cry but...darn it all, those things they were saying still hurt a lot!
"Wow, this has got to be the saddest attempt to vent self-esteem issues I've ever seen."
The fourth member of the posse finally caught the trio's eyes. "Huh? And just who are you?" Hoops demanded.
"You muscle heads are clearly slow on the uptake, no surprise, so I'll just speed things along. Name's Daring Do, and I can personally vouch that these three get a triple A-plus in my flight ranking."
The three just looked at her blankly.
"Hmm?"
"Daring who?"
"Why should we care what some nopony has to say about these noponies?"
An eyebrow was raised, and a wry, smug grin started to form on the archeologist's face. "Let me guess, you three haven't picked up a single book in your lives, have you?"
"NERD ALERT!" Hoops mocked. And the trio resumed laughing. But to their surprise, Honey held her grin, and as she looked to her comrades, they were starting to smile too.
"Your loss. Merychippus just discovering how to graze says what?"
"What?" the three chorused.
Honey broke out laughing even louder than they had, and her three compadres echoed her. Catching on that they had just somehow been burned, the three stallions huffed up to leave indignantly.
"Yeah, go ahead and act all tough, just cause there are four of you and three of us-"
"What a surprise," Rainbow interrupted Dumbbell. "He can count."
"Yuk it up," the brown stallion continued with a tinge of red on his cheeks. "Numbers won't be in your favor when you get to the Cloudiseum this afternoon. And we'll be there to watch it all!"
"Yeah, see you then, Rainbow Crash!"
And with that, the three of them took off back towards the factories.
"That was awesome!" Rainbow exclaimed to her action book idol. "You completely zapped those lunkheads!"
"No biggie," Honey said, Rainbow's confession yesterday morning still fresh in her mind. "Glad you're not one of them anymore, right?"
"Actually, I was about to say what too," Blossomforth confessed.
"Um...me also," Fluttershy said in turn. "If that's alright with you."
"Okay, I didn't really get the joke either," Rainbow admitted. "What exactly is a Merychippus?"
Honey gave each of them a puzzled expression. "Geez, what kind of history are they teaching in college these days?"
"Trix...?"
Honey lidded her eyes at Blossomforth. "History's not that tricky, there are just a few gaps in between-"
"Trixie?"
Turning around, Honey's jaw almost dropped below the clouds. A pair of glistening swallowtail wings with several vibrant shades of deep blues and purples and dotted patterns of stars and moons daintily flapped towards them. And attached to those wings was none other than the azure unicorn they all had grown to know and love, in Rainbow's case just know.
"Trixie? Are you...flying?" Honey gasped.
"You bet your sweet little whistle," the showmare bragged as she hovered over them. "Smashing, aren't they? A set of wings truly worthy of only the Great and Powerful Trixie's charm!"
"A pair I created," came a chiding voice still in the distance.
Everypony watched as a taxi carriage pulled by a pair of goldenrod yellow pegasi stallions cruised in for a landing. Sitting in the seats were the rest of Honey and Blossomforth's earthbound friends.
Orange Sherbet flipped a generous tip into the cash box on the inside of the railing as the doors opened. "Thank you boys, that will be all."
A panicked expression flashed through Rainbow Dash's face all of a sudden. "Wait!! Don't step off that-"
The businessmare's hoof pressed down into the cloud, and stayed there as she moved the rest of her three legs out.
"Huh?" Rainbow's confusion only increased when she saw that not a single one of them, even the dragon, wasn't suddenly falling to their doom. "How'd you do that? Only pegasus ponies can walk on clouds."
"Pretty cool, huh?" Spike said as he discovered the fun of bouncing on the poofy and somewhat springy pavement.
"I found a spell that makes temporary wings," Twilight explained. "But after testing it on Trixie, I found it was too difficult to do more than once. So I found an easier spell that lets the rest of us walk on clouds."
"I thought you were taking the balloon up to cheer for us," Blossomforth thought out loud.
"Yes, there were...complications with that. No battle plan ever survives the enemy," Octavia answered.
"Who cares?" Rainbow said. "This is awesome! I mean, you lot have got to be the first non-pegasi to ever set hoof on Cloudsdale!"
A warning bell suddenly rang through Honey's head, or rather a warning horn.
"Oh no!"
Her coach's cap was left spinning in the air as she fled behind the nearest cloudbank and out of sight from the noisy speeding cloud wagon that suddenly rushed in from out of nowhere. The white, blond pegasus pulling it flipped out of her harness with ease and smacked a large button to the side of it. The wagon's cover unfolded to reveal a carnival music box lined with all sorts of trumpet horns, cymbals and bass drums, colorful flags, and a lot of fun little gizmos and do-dads that whizzed, bobbed, and popped to the beat.
"Welcome welcome welcome,
so glad that you stopped by.
Welcome welcome welcome,
to our city in the sky!
Welcome welcome welcome,
I say hip hip hurray.
Welcome welcome welcome,
to grand Cloudsdale todaaaay~!"
Stunned silence reigned...for about two seconds.
"Wait for it..."
A ding signaled from the side compartment of the wagon, and a miniature oven opened up to shoot a freshly baked cloud cake into each of the ponies mouths while a steady stream of confetti erupted from the organ pipes.
"Yippee! I didn't mix them up this time!"
Honey chanced a peek, and whispered into Blossomforth's ear. "How did she know? And so fast?"
Blossomforth just shrugged. "I don't know how she does it. She just does it."
"Woo-wee! I got a full crowd today!" Surprise continued as she pushed the first time visitors, some still in a state of shock, into the passenger seats. "And you all are in for a special treat! In addition to the grand Cloudsdale tour deluxe package, there's going to be a special performance today at the Cloudiseum later on! If you don't have tickets, don't worry!" The mare then lowered her voice all secret like. "I've got connections..."
"Well, I did kinda want to explore this city while I was here..." Twilight finally speculated.
Before another word could be said, Surprise's entourage caught up and hauled the tour wagon off into the distance, leaving the four pegasi alone yet again.
"Should we follow?" Fluttershy asked.
"As much as I'm loathe to be anywhere near that random mare's vicinity..." Honey paused take a quick look at Blossomforth. "It's probably for the best we stick together this time to avoid other 'Surprises'."
"And over here on the left-hoof side, you can see the Floccus Plaza, our fifth most popular shopping center. The stores we're passing in the following order are: Scent of Luck Perfume Parlor, Festive Fan-atics, Majesty Mirrors Emporium, Just-in-Chime lawn instruments, and Lucky Horseshoes Boots."
"Oooohhh...aaahhhh..." Orange Sherbet marveled at the unique storefronts and beautiful advertising.
"Oooohhh...aaahhhh..." Octavia listened intently to the muffled tones the hollowed architecture gave as the slightest breeze wafted through.
"Oooohhh...aaahhhh..." Twilight impressed upon the number of things one could make with condensed water vapor.
"Oooohhh...aaahhhh~" Trixie admired herself and coyly posed her beautiful butterflied backside as much as possible as she stopped in front of the mirror store. In fact, she only lifted her head when Surprise rallied into her tour wagon megaphone half a block down.
"Moving on!"
"Hmm? Oh, wait for Trixie!"
"To your ten, or is it ten-fifteen?...is the Mighty Wings Memorial Hall, dedicated to all the great pegasi in history to ever come out of Cloudsdale! Earplugs at the ready everypony. We're about to enter the industrial zone, and it can get a little loud at times."
Surprise's tour wagon passed by a group of construction ponies noisily working on a building extension to emphasize the point. The stallions, however, let their tools fall to the wayside as they took notice of the magician in the crowd passing them by.
"Hey, Tin Tailor. Take a look at that dame there!"
"Hubba hubba! Those wings are gorgeous!"
Trixie's smile just widened at the wolf whistles that passed her ears. "Oh, these? They're just a little something Trixie slapped on at the last minute. But thank you, thank you. Trixie always aims to please..."
She seductively twisted her shoulder at the ogling stallions before giving a bat of the eyelashes and returning to the wagon's level with a loop.
"You're really loving this, aren't you?" Spike quipped.
"Give them what they want, that's the rule Trixie lives by," Trixie stated as she gracefully flipped a coif in her mane and caressed an edge of her wings. "Who knows? She's already grown quite attached to these herself. Maybe she'll keep them."
"Just keep in mind Trixie, those wings are made from gossamer and morning dew, and they're incredibly delicate. You have to be careful with them," Twilight warned.
"Oh boo hoo, Twilight Sparkle," Trixie dismissed. "Trixie's sure they can't get worn out from too much attention."
"I still think we should have tried it on Octavia instead," Spike privately conversed with Twilight. "Now she's a mare that can pull off the real grace of a butterfly."
"I'm actually more particular to moths," the gray mare interjected with a coy smirk. Spike flushed and immediately clammed up.
"Oh, yes. Moths are so furry and cute."
"Gaaah!" Everypony jumped from their seats to the yellow pegasus mare that stuck her head out from behind the railing.
She immediately shrunk down. "Oh, I'm sorry. Was I interrupting something?"
Blossomforth's head peeked up next to Fluttershy's. "Hi guys. Enjoying Cloudsdale so far?"
"Well yes, but we thought you all had gone on ahead to the stadium," Sherbet replied.
"Eh, not much to do there except sit on a locker bench and wait for four hours," Rainbow said, sticking her head in between the two pegasi. "Might as well make this tourist trap 20% cooler for you."
Twilight gave a rather befuddled look to the cyan mare. "And how exactly do you measure coolness? It's not even an appropriate unit."
Rainbow Dash leaned in and gave Twilight's head a condescending pat. "My dear egghead, you've got a lot to learn about the pegasus style."
Twilight frowned and looked to Honey, who had just climbed in over the side. "Daring, mind backing me up here?"
Honey shot her a smirk. "Actually Twilight, just for the fun of it, I'm gonna side with the cool one this time."
The pair hoofbumped. Twilight facehoofed. "It's official. You, Rainbow Dash, are a negative influence on my friends."
Lightning boomed in the distance as a set of huge buildings with rainbow waterfalls pouring out the pipelines and large curvy funnels releasing large clouds came into view of the approaching tour wagon.
"Next stop, the weather factory!" their excitable guide announced.
"Don't they make these coats in dragon size?" Spike complained as he fumbled with the baggy protective uniform and oversized helmet.
"I don't imagine they get many non-pegasi on the factories' worker repertoire," Sherbet lightly bantered as their guide opened the doors to the first warehouse. A breath of frigid air blew across their cheeks before they even took a step in. Workers in earmuffs and scarves were delicately holding magnifying glasses to finely cut droplets of snow and ice, occasionally making a snip or two with their tiny art knifes.
"This is where they make the snowflakes. Each one is hoofmade, that way you know there's love in each crystal shape. As you can see, it's a delicate operation."
Blossomforth took the liberty of flying up to the top shelf racks where some completed specimens hung. "Ooh, they look even prettier up close."
"Um, Blossomforth? I don't think we're supposed to be flying in this room-"
Fluttershy's warning came too late. All it took were a few flaps of the freckled mare's wings and soft breeze drifted down and around the circular dome. While it barely even qualified as wind, snowflakes were known for being notoriously light. The craftsponies all shouted in varying degrees of surprise and annoyance as their work flew from their tables and swirled around the chamber like an indoor flurry. Buckets were passed around at lighting speed as the workers scrambled to and fro to try and catch their precious inventory.
"Oops," was all Blossomforth could say.
Rainbow Dash gave a nudge and a whisper to the tour group. "We better move on before Blossomforth ruins winter and causes a drought."
"And here's my favorite part of the factory, where they make the rainbows!" Surprise led her group into an open air chamber where pools of liquid rainbow flowed and bubbled. Workers here carried long stirring paddles, carefully mixing and sifting the colors into just the right blend on regular intervals.
"Neato, right? All that bright color, the sugary sweet atmosphere, almost makes this stuff look like candy!"
"Huh." Curious by that statement, Spike dipped a finger in one of the pools and gave a good lick.
"F.Y.I. It does not taste like it. Believe me, I tried it once."
"Urp!" Spike's face morphed into a series of flashy colors he cupped his mouth with bulging cheeks. "Spicyyyyyy!!"
With that, he scurried off to find the nearest water cooler in the building, leaving the mares to have a quick giggle at his expense.
"Woah!"
Everypony's heads turned to see that Trixie had strayed a bit from the group again. And once again, was flaunting her newfound attractiveness to everyone who caught her in their eyesight. Blossomforth and Fluttershy simultaneously blanched at the particular ponies she was charming their way this time.
It was the factory jock trio.
"Where'd you get those amazing wings? I want a pair!" Dumbbell fawned.
"Hmm...yes...Trixie sees where you're coming from. After all, who wouldn't want to have even a faction of the blessing that is the Fabulous and Beautiful Trixie! She wouldn't trade these in for the world!"
"Flattery is of a poor money, to which our vanity gives us currency," Octavia cautioned. Her hinting was either unheard or ignored, as the next thing both Trixie and the stallions did was canter right past.
"Oh, hey look, it's Rainbow Crash again!" Dumbbell teased as they got a good look of the group.
"Yeah! And her earth pony wannabe cheer squad, Klutzershy and Blunderforth!" Hoops added.
"Trixie! What the hay are you doing, hanging around these jerks?!" Rainbow demanded.
"Now now, the Fabulous and Beautiful Trixie can't help if her spectacular wings turn the necks of ponies of all sorts, Rainbow Dash. A thespian is never choosy of her audience!"
"Yeah, you should forget the Sonic Rainboom and just get yourself some wings like these! At least then you'll look like a good enough flier!"
The trio laughed so hard their wings flapped unevenly by their sides.
"Yes, and those pretty girly wings you want so badly will go so well with those rough, burly muscles and that leathery, dirty hide of yours," Honey cut in.
Dumbbell's face lost all humor as he leaned in to Honey's. "You think you're sooooo smart, don't you? We'll see how smart you are when you're the only one in that big wide stadium cheering for that loser and those two scaredy mares." He then narrowed his eyes. "By the way, I asked Silver Script what a Merychippus was. I'm not amused."
"Obviously. Emotional concepts like humor weren't established amongst the equines until the Pliohippus** developed seven million years later."
"Oooooh, snap!" Rainbow cracked with a grin. Hoops then stamped right to her.
"You don't know what that means!"
"Neither do you!"
"Yeah? Well...umm...eyah...you don't know what that means, Rainbow Crash!"
"Hoops, stop talking." Dumbbell had Score push his cohort away. "Anyways, even if by some dumb luck Crash here doesn't make a complete fool out of herself, those two groupies of hers are sure to make up for it in spades, or should I say down?"
"Yeah," the stout one of the trio spoke for the first time in deep and slow voice. "Everypony in Cloudsdale already knows that wimp who's scared of her own shadow and that daisy pulling dork are the two worst fliers in history. You don't need a social studies class to know that. All they're going to prove today is that it's true."
Hoops looked down at the slightly trembling shy mare, who had crouched down to make herself seem as small and hidden as possible. "They're not gonna take two flaps outside those stadium doors before a cross breeze sends them spiraling into the walls. And losers of a feather flock together!"
The trio then took off, making sure that the last word was theirs.
"Uhhhh...okay! I think we've stayed here long enough! Let's move on over to the cloud maker building!" Surprise quickly piped up, a slightly overstrained smile of her face.
As the group plodded along, Blossomforth nudged her shaken friend to keep up the pace. "Don't listen to them Fluttershy...they don't know anything about us. Remember what we planned?"
"Ohhhh...but none of that will matter if we do mess it up. And look at us, look at our flimsy third-rate wings. We really are the weakest fliers in Cloudsdale. Maybe a breeze will be all it takes bring us down."
"Take it easy Fluttershy, you're starting to get me scared..."
Trailing behind, Twilight, Octavia and Sherbet could not help but exchange a worried look among them as they listened in on the pair's murmurings.
Steam billowed everywhere as the ponies walked among the towering vats. They watched as workers poured buckets of water down the tubes into the unseen boiler beneath the building that processed it into raw, malleable vapors that erupted in bursts. Others worked large bellows to blow fresh air and stoke the fires beneath.
Blossomforth however, had her head looking down and her expression glum as opposed to awed.
"Hey, what's got you down?" Spike asked, having returned with his thirst quenched.
"Oh, Spike. It's just what those three said earlier while you were running around with your mouth on fire," Blossomforth explained. "I've been trying to get Fluttershy to put them out of our mind, but the more I think about it, the more it's starting to get to me too. We've tried so hard to make sure we don't put on a pitiful performance, what if it was all for nothing and we still suck?"
"Aw, come on. You two practiced and exercised every hour on the hour! Of course you'll do great!"
"But what if we don't?" Blossomforth stressed her last word right into the little dragon's face.
Spike chewed his tongue for a second. Twilight was usually the one who dealt with these big insecure worries from her friends, unless she was the one who was worrying. Then all he could really do was damage control since she never really listened to him anyways. Racking his brain for an answer that wouldn't get the two of them to burst into jittery tears, he tapped his teeth with an index claw and an averted gaze.
"Well, at least you can feel good that you did your best," he finally offered.
Thankfully for Spike, a distraction came in the form of the Great and Powerful Trixie. Almost everyone in the factory room was crowding around this time as front and center, Trixie elegantly posed like a fashion model.
Amongst the awing, she let out a filly-like giggle. "What, these old things? Go ahead, everypony. Photos are encouraged."
"Trixie..." Twilight whispered with a harsh undertone as she approached from behind. "We're supposed to be helping Blossomforth and her friend build confidence for the contest, remember? Put your wings away and stop showing off already!"
Trixie just gave Twilight a lighthearted chuckle. "Oh, fiddle faddle, Twilight. That's like asking a fish to stop swimming." She then climbed higher to the skylight, letting the sun's rays shine through her glittering butterfly wings and bathe the room in a series of colorful sparkles. "Besides, how can you ask Trixie to put away perfection?"
Another chorus of Oooohs and Ahhhs prompted Trixie to squeal in delight. "Waa-haa-haa! Ah, brains, brawn, and beauty! Trixie truly is the mare who has it all!"
Orange Sherbet in the meanwhile turned to see Fluttershy crouched down next to her, trying to make themselves as small as possible instead of giving a standing ovation. "Fluttershy?" she started in her most motherly tone possible. "Are you alright? You don't look so well."
"Oh, I'm fine, really," the nervous mare answered in a hurried voice. "Why shouldn't I be unwell when I'm only two hours away from going through the most mortifying situation in my whole entire life?"
Orange Sherbet felt like she was consoling her daughter before her first day of school again, except perhaps ten times more panicky. "Well, look on the bright side. Maybe there won't be as many spectators as you think. Maybe everyone will be so busy admiring Trixie's new wings they'll all forget to attend the Best Young Flyer's Competition."
"Hey! There's an idea!" A worker mare to their direct right exclaimed to Trixie. "YOU should enter the competition!"
"Yeah!" Another worker, an elderly mare a few years from retirement agreed. "I could watch you fly all day long!"
Trixie seemed to pretend ponder in a gesture that showed her doing her hooves with an imaginary file. "Well, there really isn't anypony who uses their wings quite like Trixie. Hmm, yes. Perhaps she should compete."
"What?!" blurted an incredulous Rainbow Dash.
"Fillies and gentlecolts, come one, come all! For today only, the Gorgeous and Lovely Triiiiixie will be showing the full extent of her beauty and power at the Cloudiseum this afternoon!"
Fluttershy looked to Blossomforth, who shared the same fearful thought. "Ohhhhh...now every pegasus in Cloudsdale is sure to come to watch the competition!"
"And compared to something like that," Blossomforth added, "Anything we or any other pegasus will do is going to stink like a skunk cabbage!"
"I changed my mind! I'm dropping out. I can handle a lifetime of ridicule and cowardice!"
Honey gruntingly dragged her friend up to the steps of the imposing Cloudiseum by the tail as the Manehattan junior weather cadet gripped the cloudwalk with all her might. "Oh...no..." she stressed through her teeth. "We did not spend all that time and effort...building up your confidence and routine...just to let it go to waste at the last moment...and watch you chicken out!"
"Chicken?" Fluttershy's head perked up from the similar restraint Rainbow was tugging her through. "Oh, that reminds me. I forgot to lay out Henrietta's 2:30 snack. Better go home to my chicken coop and fix that. Guess I can't compete after all."
With an absurdly wide and fake smile, Fluttershy gave a quick adrenaline induced sucker buck to her loyal friend, and took off like a shot. She had made it 3.6 meters before getting caught in a magic field of purplish pink hue.
Twilight then proceeded to pick up the other scared silly contestant. "Come on you two, everypony else is already inside. Just remember the calming techniques I read to you from page 147 of 'Fight the Fear' and everything will be just fine!"
"Y-yeah," Rainbow said as her eyes darted around for some reason. "There's...there's nothing to be worried about. I mean, look at me. Everyone still thinks I can't do the sonic rainbooom, but I'm...I'm not letting that get to my head. It doesn't mean I won't be able to do it in front of an entire stadium, full of impatient, super-critical sportsfan ponies. Heh...just pony up and be brave."
"Oh, this is me being brave!" Fluttershy said as her hooves flailed the air helplessly alongside Blossomforth's while they were carried in. "I wanna be brave at home!"
"Locked in my greenhouse!"
"With my teddy bear!"
A fanfare of trumpets sounded around the Cloudiseum to announce the beginning of the competition. Deep inside the arena's corridors, in the contestant lobby, pegasi of all sizes, shapes, and ages were stretching their legs, warming up their wings, and doing anything to get into the competitive mindset. There were two in the room however, that were feeling a completely different kind of excitement.
Fluttershy and Blossomforth both paced from separate ends of the room, one to the other, as if looking for a place to hide. On the eighth pass, they collided muzzle to muzzle.
"Oh, s-s-sorry," Fluttershy squeaked.
"T-that's okay," Blossomforth replied. She then gulped down the lump in her throat that was building up every other minute. "S-so...we're really here...we're really doing it..."
"Y-yeah..."
"R-remember all the steps to our routine?"
"Mmmm...hmmmm..."
"Did we check to see if the stuff we had delivered to the dressing rooms the day before is there?"
"Um...five times I-I think..."
"Well...maybe a sixth time couldn't hurt?"
A roar from the crowd outside drew their attention. Peeking their heads out of the arena entrance, the nerve wracked pair chanced upon a view of their stage. Not a vacant cloud in sight, the stadium was packed. Over to the left and close to the front sat their Manehatten supporters, and on the cloud just below...
Oh no! It was the jock trio! And they were already laughing and jeering, or at least practicing to.
"Fillies and gentlecolts!" the sky blue Cloudiseum official Madden announced into his mike on top of his lone cloud overhead the stadium. "Please rise and join me in welcoming our beloved Princess Celestia!"
Cheers went out all around as the divine sun diarch of Equestria descended from the sky, accompanied by a pair of her guards, to the royal viewing box directly across, and waved to the crowds before directing her full attention to the arena before her.
Yup, as if the atmosphere wasn't tense enough.
"And please welcome our celebrity judges for the Best Young Flyer Competition: the Wonderbolts!"
As if on cue, a sextet of ace fliers soared into the arena at lightning speed, a trail of smoke in their wake of the air. The squad surged into a ninety degree vertical upline, adjusting formation into a single streamlined queue, and with a circular motion, came together and broke apart in a flashy fireburst. The fans went wild as they joined the Princess in the next box over.
"And now, let's find out who will take the prize as this year's best young flyer!"
"Okay everyone, let's form up and get organized here." Backstage manager, Lucy Packard, walked in and gave a quick lookover through her half-moon glasses. "You two, back away from takeoff platform and wait for your number to be called. Alright, contestant number one, you're up."
Blossomforth and Fluttershy scooted out of the way to clear a path for a sand colored mare with a bushy magenta mane and tail that trotted out into the open arena. After a series of rolls and three stall turns off the left side of the walls, she proceeded to land on a cloud reserved for finished participants.
"Okay, number two, let's go."
A few seconds passed, but Fluttershy and Blossomforth didn't see anyone approach the platform. They even checked their own numbers. Nope, 13, and 14. It wasn't them being called.
"C'mon, c'mon, we ain't got all day! Where is number two?"
Now every pegasus was checking their numbers, not a single one of them were number two.
Lucy nearly facehoofed. "Look, we're on a tight schedule here. If number two isn't here, then somepony else go already!"
"I'll do it!" A bubbly grey mare with a dull yellow mane, some particularly skewed eyes, and the number 15 plastered on herself galloped forth unsteadily out the exit. Peaking out once more, Fluttershy and Blossomforth watched as the mare lazily flipped a few turns, sometimes upside down and even sometimes backwards! All the while with a wobble in her flight path. Suddenly, she wobbled a smidge to the right by a little much, and her wing clipped one of the clouds on the course.
"Wooaaaoooaaaoooaaah!" Number fifteen spun into a tailspin until her posterior wedged itself directly into one of the large columns to the side. With a crack, the top of it broke off and dragged her right into a fluffy crash landing on one of the stands below that was quickly evacuated. "Oops, my bad," came the muffled voice from underneath the puffy wreckage.
"Smooth moves, 'Derpy Hooves'!" Hoops wheezed in between guffaws.
Blossomforth and Fluttershy looked to the entire stadium that seemed to be laughing at the funny performance, even Princess Celestia who had a hoof raised to her mouth for but a second to conceal her grin, then to the unharmed, but still stuck contestant, and as their wide eyes left the arena and gazed into each other, they shared the same knowing sentiment.
"I can't do this after all!"
Fleeing from the platform as fast as they could, both mares simultaneously turned their heads in a frantic search to find a place to disappear. They both found it in the form of the only other door next to the dressing rooms, a small custodial closet.
With a quick jostle of the knob, the pair leapt into the cluttered darkness and squeezed the door shut.
"New plan, we wait until everyone leaves the stadium, then sneak off to some remote colony in Zebrica via the pony corps, adopt new identities, and live the rest of our lives in peace as nursing equinitarians and never leave the ground again," Blossomforth whispered in a panic.
"Sounds good to me," squeaked Fluttershy.
"Could we try the Griffon Empire instead? I hear the highlands there have really neat airways."
Blossomforth and Fluttershy leapt into each other's tight embrace at the third voice behind them. Trembling and frightened out of their wits, they peeked back into the darkness.
They stopped trembling almost immediately.
There, crouched behind a bucket and mop, was Rainbow Dash. The number two hanging from her neck for both of them to see in the faint darkness. Her eyes were wild in a fight or flight state, and her mouth scrunched up in a nervous frown.
"Rainbow Dash?" Fluttershy ventured. "What are you doing in here? Your number was already called!"
"I...well...it's...kinda complicated...but...I can't go out there," Rainbow mumbled.
"What? But why are you hiding? You're a shoo-in to win!" Blossomforth exclaimed.
"Shhhhh!" Rainbow hissed, placing her hoof against the white mare's mouth. "They'll hear us!"
"Doesn't this competition mean the world to you?" Blossomforth asked again in a more hushed tone. "Why would you of all ponies not want to go out there?"
"Because...because..." Rainbow bit her lip and looked away. "I can't do it..."
"Umm...what was that?" Fluttershy asked.
"I can't do the Sonic Rainboom..."
"Uh, one more time?" Blossomforth leaned in to hear better.
Rainbow Dash jerked her head up in a burst of anxiety and nearly shouted directly into both of their eardrums. "I said I can't perform the Sonic Rainboom!!"
Both ponies' jaws dropped as the proud and brash pegasus stood up for them so many times during their fillyhood, the mare who showed no fear, who went against the odds in a fight every time and came out on top, looked to them with pleading eyes and uttered the two words they never thought they'd ever hear from her mouth.
"I'm scared..."
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Imagine what would happen if Suprise and Pinkie ever met one another. We'd enter an apocalypse!
First thing I want to say to Trixie is: Stop being an attention seeking w****!
Now, this chapter is being good for buildup. Can't wait for the conclusion.
3188652
Been done. Actually I am going to try it myself.
Oh, and to the author, can I borrow your version of the Welcome song? I just need to modify it a bit. I am using Surprise too. I love Surprise. Wish there was a Surprise tag.
3189145
I'm surprised there isn't one yet, as many times as this site uses Surprise and Firefly as characters.
3189145
Sure thing. I modified it myself as well.
Just wanted To let you know that I love all your stories. Can't wait for more.
And now here's where I feel sympathy for Dash. Poor kid. :(
So far I am loving your story, especially how you both retell the episode 'Sonic Rainboom', and add elements from some others. This has been both really inspiring and helpful for my own AU Fic's take, mainly in regards to having a more sensitive pony with stage fright [in my case, a "Shy" version of Rainbow Dash] participate in the Young Fliers competition.
Oh Dash...
.
Nice to see that you replaced Rarity with Trixie having the wings instead, much better than in the main episode
.
Somehow, this is bizarrely fitting.
And that kinda ruined it for me.
Well, we got the "20% cooler" meme. Any other memes I should expect? I'm willing to wait for a total of 10 seconds flat.
Something Twilight has to learn is that not everything in life is quantifiable. Then again, if anyone can formulate an equation for "coolness units", it would be Twilight (and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if she tried). Then she'd probably calculate that Rainbow Dash only increased the coolness by 18.275% (granted a margin of error of 0.5%).
No, don't take the Manehatten 6 to the Rainbow Factory! Seriously, Octavia isn't going to produce much anyway!
Did this story just predict Tanks for the Memories?
You just had to make me say it again, didn't you? I ship it.
...Do I really need to explain where my mind went with that wording? It is kinda sad when Derpy ends up being the butt of the joke.
Twice in one chapter? If you insist. I ship it.
3188652
It depends on your portrayal of Surprise. In canon, she's not a Pinkie clone. In fact, she's one of the Wonderbolts. Although, taking the comics into consideration, Surprise was a Pinkie clone as a filly.