By the Unfaltering Light of the Sky

by CandleEyes

Vertigo

The blue pegasus angrily gave her pillow-cloud another smack. Another restless night. Her troubles had caught up to her again, and now she couldn't untangle herself- but how did she expect to face the mess of reflections that was flight camp?

It still held many a fond memory for her. It was when she had discovered her talents, after all. Oh, and how brash she had been. The spunkiest little filly in all of Equestria!

She had grown, however- matured and changed. Now whenever she looked back, she felt so much shame and regret and she just wished it had never happened. But it had, and she didn't like it one bit.

The lofty cloud she rested on stayed a cloud... but Dash was a foal again.

---

"Alright, so, first one to get to that funny-shaped cloud over there wins. Ready, everypony and... Gilda? What do griffons call themselves anyway?"

"Just shut up before I change my mind about hitting you, Checkers."

"Right! Ready?"

The three colts muttered their agreement, as did Gilda.

Dash eyed the "funny-shaped" cloud anxiously. She hoped she didn't look nervous. Because she wasn't. She was going to win this, no doubt about it. It wasn't as if anypony else had gotten their cutie mark, for flying with speed no less.

"Rainbow?" Checkers almost rolled his eyes but caught himself.

"Uh... yeah! Let's do this!"

"Okay then. On your marks-"

I've got a cloud on my flank.

"Get set, and..." Dash narrowed her eyes. "Go!"

The four fliers-

Dashed. You'd have said they dashed.

darted off.

Rainbow's confidence was sealed the instant she felt the current building up around her. This was her element, and nopony would beat her here.

Gilda, on the other hand, seemed less suited for success. The only one she could overcome in terms of agility was Score, but that could easily be remedied. The griffon grinned to herself.

Suddenly, the grey colt found he had something wrapped around his left hind leg- something that felt uncomfortably like a tail. Gilda pulled her victim back, released her grip and delivered a good, strong kick that sent him flying in the opposite direction. Her efforts were not for naught; a moment later Score crashed into Dumbbell, creating a definite setback for the pair. Satisfied, Gilda flew ahead.

Dash looked behind her, and her smug smirk melted into disappointment, then an angry frown. Hoops was getting closer and closer, but she wouldn't give up without a fight. She watched him carefully- his eyes were narrowed, focused on their common target. Tunnel vision would be his demise, she'd make sure of it. A small cloud presented itself to her, and she gave it a slight nudge- hopefully he wouldn't see it until it had planted itself on his face.

The colt surged on, oblivious to anything but his wings and destination- the cloud he'd reach before that dumb filly who thought she was so great just because she had her cutie mark. Then he suddenly couldn't see anything.

It took Hoops a few moments to realize what had happened, precious seconds during which he slowed down to brush off the cloud, and by the time he could see again, Rainbow Dash was proudly standing atop a cloud whose funny shape he seriously doubted at this point.

---

The mare wondered what the chances were she was lying on that same cloud right now. She hoped she wasn't, hoped it had been blown to pieces by a pegasus having a very, very bad day.

Checkers made his way to the cloud, where the racers were busy throwing insults at each other.

"It's not fair! You can't just launch a cloud at somepony!" Hoops was practically screaming.

"A-and Gilda cheated too!"

"Hey, the rules never said we couldn't do that stuff!" The griffon leered at them.

"All we had to do was get to the cloud. And I did." Rainbow flashed a smile that threatened to bring their blood to a boil.

"Well, the rules didn't say anything about what they did, so Rainbow Dash wins this race. Congratulations!" He smiled at her in what he hoped was a heartwarming way.

The object of his affections frowned. "Ew, nerd cooties. Those are the worst!"

"Come on, Dash. Let's leave these idiots alone."

"Yeah," she snickered, "Idiots."

She sighed. It had taken her so long to realize... and now she wondered how her friends had ever put up with it. Trixie had beguiled them so, but how was her behavior any better? At least the unicorn had had an excuse. So why hadn't she told them about this yet? Why was confessing to her newfound self-image so impossibly difficult?

Her reputation, of course. After all, she had been just like that until a few weeks prior- all her friends knew, all everypony she had ever met knew her for was her determined attitude, obsessions with flying tricks, explosive brashness and occasional superiority complex. And her tendency to crash into things.
And crashing into walls you didn't even know existed is just what you're doing now. Where are you going, Rainbow Dash?

She had to admit she really didn't know. At least she still enjoyed flying- and she had a feeling a little trip through the skies was just the thing she needed now.