The Silver Pony Slippers

by Nocturn Dreamwrite

Chapter 3: Rainbow Dash

The Silver Pony Slippers

Chapter 3: Rainbow Dash

Rainbow Dash flew high above the Everfree forest and headed back toward Ponyville. It was only 9: 45 in the morning, so that gave her

a lot of time to do whatever she wanted to. In particular, she wanted to get back to training, but instead, she decided to take a break first.

Taking care of a large pack of timber wolves was hard work after all. So after she strode down the main streets of Ponyville a few times

while “looking awesome”, she decided to get back to training. Just before she took off though, an idea came into her mind. What if she knew

her time before tomorrow? Meaning, she should have somepony watching the clock for her. Pinkie Pie did it for her every day when she was

cloud busting, but she had plans for the rest of each day. It was hard to believe, but Pinkie Pie actually planned her days with a schedule,

and Rainbow already knew that asking her to stop whatever it was that she was doing and time her again would be nearly impossible.

“Who else can I get to time me?” Rainbow Dash asked herself.

She didn’t have to think very long, or twice for that matter.

“Of course,” said Rainbow Dash aloud, “Who else?”, and with that she headed straight for the Cutie Mark Crusaders Clubhouse.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders: Applejack, Sweetie Bell, and especially Scootaloo were more than happy to help. In fact Scootaloo, so excited

to see her adopted big sister and number one hero nearly pushed Rainbow Dash through the wall when she ran up to give her a big hug.

Scootaloo quickly regained control of herself.

“Sorry Rainbow Dash,” said Scootalloo with an embarrassed smile. “It’s just so great for you to drop by. Sort of like a surprise. The best

kind.”

“That’s ok Scoots” said Rainbow, as she as Scootaloo helped her stand back up. “I’m happy to see you too.”

“Oh, hey I like your shoes.” Said Scootaloo.

Rainbow looked down at her hooves. After “being awesome” she had forgotten that she was still wearing the silver pony slippers.

“Oh. Thanks”, replied Rainbow Dash.

“Actually their pony slippers”, corrected Sweetie Bell. “Horse shoes are shaped like an upside-down U and only fit on the bottom of the

hoof. Pony slippers, like those, fit over the entire hoof so you actually put your hooves in them.” She explained.

Scootaloo and Applebloom gave each other a confused look.

“There goes the dictionary again”, said Applebloom as she and Scootaloo shrugged their shoulders.

“Well that’s what my sister said.”, replied Sweetie Bell, defending herself.

“Anyway,” said Rainbow Dash, “What I came her for was to ask you three if you would like to time me while I practice for my new-cloud

Busting record. What’d ya say?” she asked.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders looked at each other. Their faces broke out into smiles, as all three nodded their heads in approval of what

the other two thought. With out saying they were all thinking of the same thing.

Then they suddenly yelled in unison “Cutie Mark Crusaders Stop Watch Holders Yay!” and they whizzed outside almost before Rainbow

knew what was happening, almost. She had kind-of expected something like this to happen.

“Great! Let’s go!” said Rainbow Dash as she followed them outside.

A little while later, Rainbow Dash, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were standing in a field not too far away from Sweet Apple Acers. Rainbow

was preparing herself by doing some simple stretches. After a minute she was ready to go. Apple Bloom was holding the stopwatch that she

and her friends managed to “borrow” from Sweetie Bell’s sister, Rarity. Rainbow hunched down ready to take flight.

“On yer mark, get set…go!” said Apple Bloom as she started the watch. Rainbow Dash was off the ground instantly, zipping her way

through the clear sky. She did a few stunts, to compensate for the time she needed to actually bust the clouds, then came right back down

to earth. Apple Bloom stopped the watch.

“What was my time”, asked Rainbow eagerly.

“7.8 seconds,” said Apple Bloom.

“Augh!” said Rainbow Dash, that’s way slower than 7.2 and not even close to five seconds. I gotta pick up the pace.”

Rainbow got ready again, and when Applebloom said ‘Go”, she was off a second time. This time Rainbow’s time was 7.5. They kept

doing this for about half an hour. All the time, Scootaloo was cheering for Rainbow Dash. Yet, every time she landed, Rainbow was

disappointed to find that her time was always either or over 7.2 seconds. Rainbow could also tell that Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell were

starting to get board. They had pretty much come to the conclusion that they were probably not going to get their cutie marks in stop-watch

holding, even though they weren’t doing a bad job. Scootaloo looked as though she could be out here the rest of the day, and night too.

“All right girls,” said Rainbow Dash after a rest. “Three more, and we’ll call it a day.”

“All right,” said Apple Bloom.

“O.K.” said Sweetie Bell.

‘Awww…” said Scootaloo.

Rainbow got ready to go again, but looked up to the sky before she hunched down.

“I think I know what the problem is.” Said Rainbow Dash. “There are no clouds. I’ve been trying to practice my routine without them, and

that’s actually taking longer. If there were clouds I would be able to see exactly what move I need to do next. Oh well.”

Rainbow Dash crouched into position.

“I wish there were a few clouds up there right now.” Said Rainbow Dash.

As Rainbow ducked her head to the level of her forelegs, she suddenly became aware that her shoes were glowing.

“On yer mark, get set, go!” yelled Apple Bloom.

Rainbow was almost caught of guard, she flapped her wings as hard as she could as she flew straight for a….cloud.

“A cloud!” said Rainbow Dash. “Where did that come from?”

Rainbow quickly flipped around, as she would in her usual morning cloud busting, and gave the cloud a good kick, evaporating it. At

that moment, she realized that the sky was full of clouds.

“Where did all these clouds come from?!” She asked nobody in particular.

Never the less, it was her job to keep the skies clear, and so she proceeded to do her job. She broke and busted the clouds with the

greatest of ease and perfect precision before coming to a quick land in front of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

“Wow”, said Apple Bloom, “Your time was 7.3 seconds, you nearly beat you current record!”

“Way-ta-go Rainbow Dash!,” yelled Scootaloo.

“I wonder where the clouds came from though,” said Sweetie Bell.

“Who knows,” said Rainbow Dash, “but I wish there were more of those clouds, wherever they came from!”

Instantly the sky was full of clouds again.

“Whoa!,” said Rainbow Dash.

“If I didn’t know any better,” said Sweetie Bell, “I’d say there was magic a-hoof here.”

“A-hoof.” said Rainbow Dash to herself. She looked down at her silver shoes. They were glowing again. She thought back to what Zecora

had said. “What was it again,” she thought, “She said something about my shoes being somehow magic, and granting wishes or something.

Is it possible that she was serious about...?”

“Are you ready to go again?” Asked Apple Bloom.

“Wait, what?” Asked Rainbow dash.

“Are you ready to go again?” Repeated Apple Bloom.

‘Uh, yes. Absolutely. Said Rainbow Dash as she crouched into position. “All I could wish for now is if I could somehow fly faster.”

“What was that.” asked Sweetie Bell?”

“Ready, set…” began Apple Bloom.

“I said I wish I could fly faster!” said Rainbow Dash.

“Go!” said Apple Bloom.

Rainbow Dash flapped her wings, but before even she knew it, she was off the ground, and plowed head first into a cloud evaporating

it. Rainbow turned around and flapped her wings. She suddenly found herself flying faster than ever before. It took a moment for her to get

used to it, and at that moment it all suddenly clicked as she figured out why. Rainbow looked down at her shoes again, and sure enough

they were glowing just like before.

“Aw…Yeah!” yelled Rainbow Dash. “Zecora was right. These are magic shoes. This… Is… Awesome!” She cleared the sky so fast, it

seemed like a blur, even to her. She landed in front of three dumbfounded Cutie Mark Crusaders.

“Well what was my time?” asked Rainbow Dash.

Apple Bloom looked down at the watch. It was still ticking. She immediately stopped it.

“The watch says…4.8,”said Apple Bloom but you landed like a second ago.

“Yes,” yelled Rainbow Dash, “I did it! I knew I could do it! Five seconds flat! Actually, less than five seconds. Sweet!”

“Wow, Rainbow Dash that was totally cool.” said Scootaloo.

All right Crusaders, want to see me clear the sky the awesome-est way?” asked Rainbow.

“Absolutely!” Said Scootaloo.

“Uh, what is the awesome-est way?” asked Sweetie Bell as Rainbow crouched down for one more go round.

“Don’t you know?” asked Scootaloo. “Rainbow Dash is about to do a sonic rainboom! It’s totally epic!”

While the Cutie Mark Crusaders were talking, Rainbow Dash quietly wished on her silver slippers for the clouds to reappear, and to fly

with super speed again. Now that Rainbow knew that she had magic on her side, she wanted to test it to the limit.

“On your mark, get set…”began Apple bloom.

“Go!” yelled Scootaloo. She couldn’t wait any longer.

With that Rainbow Dash flew up into the sky, and above the clouds like a rocket until, from the ground, she was just a tiny speck. Then

she charged right straight down, heading for the exact center of the cloud patch. Faster and faster she flew. This was going to be the fastest

sonic rainboom she had ever done. The sound barrier began to bend. Rainbow made one final thrust with her wings before folding them,

and burst through the sound barrier making a giant ring of all the colors of the rainbow that spread out and evaporated the clouds on

impact. As soon as she was through, Rainbow kicked her forelegs back and spread her wings to come out of the dive. She did so just in time,

making a near 90 degree turn. She glided until she had slowed enough to land and came to skidding stop in front of the three little fillies.

“4.3 seconds,” called Apple Bloom. “That was ya best time ever!”

“Yeah, it was pretty amazing wasn’t it?” said Rainbow Dash trying to act humble and proud at the same time.

“Totally Rainbow Dash,” said Scootaloo. “It was so cool how high you went up, and then how fast you came down, and how you kicked

your shoes off when you broke the sound barrier, and then the rainboom, and the…

Rainbow Dash was just taking in all the admiration and attention she was getting, when she suddenly something that Scootaloo said

caught her attention.

“Wait what was that again?” she asked.

“The rainboom?” asked Scootaloo.

“No before that.” Said Rainbow.

“When you kicked your shoes off when you broke the sound barrier?”

Rainbow Dash looked down at her hooves. Her hooves were bare. Her magic silver pony slippers were gone. She had flown so fast

when she made her sonic rainboom that the sudden force of the boom had blown her shoes off. Her eyes popped wide open.

“What the…?” she began as she looked wildly in every direction for her slippers. “Where’d my shoes go!?”