Celestia x Rainbow - The Truest Love

by Bronyxy

1 "Meet me over Canterlot"

A look of bewilderment spread over the cyan blue face of Ponyville’s most easily recognisable weather pony and Wonderbolt wannabe. Sure, she was an excellent flier, but there was that rainbow mane and tail that were to die for, let alone her undeniable charisma.

She looked down again wearing a puzzled expression, head on one side to study the embossed invitation, but it still didn’t make any sense. Then again, it looked legit enough that it might be genuine; after all, who could pull this level of prank?

Dear Rainbow Dash,

If you are free, please meet me over Canterlot at 2 pm this afternoon.

Sincerely,

Princess Celestia

“Weird or what?” she pondered, vocalising her thoughts to nopony in particular.
She checked the time - quarter of an hour before 2 pm; there was time to get to Canterlot from Cloudsdale without any real hurry.
She lifted an eyebrow inquisitively.

“Yeah, OK” she said to herself, making her mind up almost as if having flipped a coin and waiting for it to fall. If Princess Celestia really was waiting for her, she wouldn’t want to be late, but if it was a practical joke, the perpetrator had at least earned the credit of seeing her turn up.

Still unsure what she would find waiting for her, if anything, Rainbow sprang into the air and left Cloudsdale behind as she headed south east, the sun shining off to her right. Even if she didn’t have an innate inbuilt sense of direction, the sun's position would have ensured that even the most inexperienced novice could have navigated their way unerringly to the nation’s capital.

As she approached the gleaming metropolis, she mulled over the wording of the invitation and toyed with the few words that had been written “… meet me over Canterlot …”. Well, the skies looked pretty clear.

She looked again and way above the altitude of nap clouds were a few dots.
“Surely not …” she thought “Nopony would be way up there. Would they …?”

Rainbow didn’t want to think that she could be seen to be falling for a prank, so convinced herself that even if there wasn’t anypony up there, she would have wanted to go there anyway to look at the really cool view over Canterlot and way beyond. Why shouldn’t she? She was the best flier in Equestria, after all.

Climbing higher, she could see the small dots barely visible from the ground start to form into puffy cloud shapes and became intrigued. You just didn’t see clouds like that up this high, so now as a conscientious weather pony, she felt compelled to take a closer look out of professional interest.

A fleck of gold flashed uniquely from one of the clouds, catching her eye, immediately distracting her attention from any of the other small clouds that seemed to be lazing around at their ease.
“Ah hah!” she said to herself triumphantly “I have you!”

She continued her climb until she was above her target and then took in the sight, which as the note had implied was a large white pony, perched on a cloud with her legs tucked serenely underneath her.

Celestia watched the rainbow ribbon unfurl as the cyan blue mare creating it grew closer until she could begin to make out some of the more recognisable features, such as the flowing mane and brightly coloured tail. She admired Rainbow Dash and took delight in seeing her in action, at home in her natural element.

Rainbow slowed to a more respectful speed as she closed towards her target, admiring the unusual spectacle of seeing Princess Celestia resting on a cloud, but what made the whole scene doubly unusual was the fact that this was the wrong type of cloud for this altitude. She now noticed a second cloud close by that which Celestia was alighted upon and fluttered gracefully over to land onto it.

“Good afternoon Rainbow Dash” said the regal alicorn “I’m so pleased you could find time to meet me today.”
“Hey, no it’s fine Princess” she replied, still perplexed by the whole unlikely scenario “Did you fly up here or did you use your magic?”
“A little of both” she chuckled “I summoned these clouds from further below with my magic, but I did fly up here; these old wings aren’t just for decoration, you know.”
“I thought the clouds looked kinda out of place, and that makes sense now.”

“Rainbow Dash, I know you as the Bearer of the Element of Loyalty, but I should like to avail myself of your honesty.”
“Hey, if that's what you want, then Applejack’s the one for you.”
“No, I require an expert flier who can speak to me honestly. I am the only pony remaining who saw General Firefly lead her team of pegasi as they created a shower of magical lightning at the first display when the Wonderbolts were formed. That was a performance that you would no doubt liked to have witnessed yourself. In time, I suspect that you too may fulfil your potential and become a Wonderbolt at least as famous as her, but first I should like to ask something of you.”

Rainbow was lost for words at the respect Celestia obviously held for the Wonderbolts and how she was being compared directly to the group’s founder. Suddenly she felt the weight of history bearing down on her shoulders and could only nod her head numbly in response.
“Good. You have mastered the sonic rainboom, a feat unparalleled in pegasus history. Are you sufficiently versed in its onset that you can estimate how close you are to achieving it at any given moment?”
“Yeah” she said pensively “Yeah, I can probably nail it down by feel to about the nearest 10%.”
“Very well then. I want you to accompany me and inform me of my speed” said the white pony, all hint of humour having evaporated from her “But you must be truthful.”
“Er … right” said Rainbow, even more perplexed “Couldn’t you just make a sonic rainboom or even a double rainboom just by using your magic, what with you being an alicorn and all?”
“I could” she replied “But this has to be by my wing power alone. Will you fly with me?”
“OK Princess, but if we start to get close to a sonic rainboom, we’ll have to be some distance apart or the resulting shock waves would be really bad news.”
“Thank you, Rainbow Dash” she replied resolutely “Shall we?”

Celestia lifted off the cloud with large wingbeats that took her cyan blue companion by surprise; she had been so used to seeing the Princess transported everywhere by chariot it was most unusual to see her fly, let alone be this close to her as she was doing it. She was the largest of the alicorns and far bigger than any pegasus, so the effect Rainbow saw and felt was quite breathtaking, but once having overcome her brief moment of surprise, she too lifted into the air to accompany her Princess.

The pace built, tipping into a gentle dive and building power, Rainbow amazed by the sheer force of her massive wings and ensured to keep a watchful eye lest she get caught in the slipstream.
“You’re doing well, Princess!” she called reassuringly.
Celestia had become focused and did not hear. She had a strong reason to fly her fastest; one that Rainbow may have assumed at face value to be merely a point of vanity, but the truth was far more significant and not something that she would ever share with anypony if she failed. She pushed on as hard as she could, as if the fate of Equestria hung on her success.

The dive became steeper and Celestia pushed harder as if possessed. From a safe distance to one side, Rainbow looked on amazed to see the onset of a shockwave begin to form from the tip of her horn while her powerful wings pushed her forward in one of the most unusual sights she had ever seen. Surely, she wasn’t going to rainboom, was she …?

For her part, Celestia was focusing hard on pushing through the buffeting that surrounded her and sapped her energy, recognising that she needed to dig further into her reserves to get through it. Even though she was starting to feel it slip away from her, she kept pouring in as much as she could, desperate to achieve her goal.

Rainbow was taking in the bigger picture now, not just a near-supersonic Princess, but also the fact that the ground was coming up to meet them really rather fast and Celestia was making no attempt to acknowledge that making friends with it had the potential to hurt. Celestia’s lip was starting to draw back and flap in the airflow revealing her teeth gritted in supreme concentration; a yellow trail streaming out behind her.

“Princess Celestia!” she called “PULL UP!”

As Rainbow waited for a response or even an acknowledgement, the ground started to loom dangerously large in front of her.

She drew in closer.

“PRINCESS CELESTIA! PULL UP NOW!”

Still with no response and the ground growing to a quite terrifying size, Rainbow did the only thing she could think of; she accelerated and flew immediately underneath the frighteningly oblivious alicorn and pulled up fast. The resulting rainbow trail drowned Celestia, flooding her consciousness with the overwhelming dazzle of bright colours and snapping her back to reality in an instant.

Rainbow pulled up as hard as she dared given that she was only just a fraction short of the speed needed to rainboom. She knew if she had gone any faster, then the resulting sonic rainboom would have created a shockwave of such magnitude that no flier following could have hoped to recover through that turbulence, not even an alicorn.

She had calculated her move finely, and had just enough room to level out at treetop height, the thin trunks and upper branches bending with the effort of trying to resist the forces sucking them in behind the fleeting pegasus, and then springing back again once she was past and the pressure wave subsided. She found herself jinking to avoid the highest and most sinister looking trees – this was way too low to be safe at this speed!

All she needed was to clip a branch now and it would all be over!

Pulling back gently to gain height her mind suddenly turned towards Celestia. Had she been able to pull up in time or had she sailed obliviously into the ground at very high speed? She was too focused on avoiding what was in front of her to even risk a look round, and her mind flashed images of being blamed for the loss of Equestria’s beloved Princess along with how she would fill the lifetime of exile that was bound to follow …

When it was safe to look back, she risked a glance over her shoulder and saw to her immense surprise that there was a white pony shadowing the exact trajectory of her recovery, her purple eyes wide with fear of imminent collision with either the ground or the cyan blue pegasus or both!

Rainbow continued her climb out and gently rolled over onto her back, giving Celestia something to focus on lest she had become disorientated, whilst also providing her space to recover. They were slowing down now and she watched as Celestia’s countenance grew to resume one of more familiar regal composure.
“Come on Princess” she soothed “Let’s go find a cloud to rest on.”

Celestia nodded and followed as Rainbow led her at a much more sedate pace to a large cloud that had crept in under the watch of the weather ponies. Normally Rainbow would have bawled out the pegasus responsible, but for now it was just what her Princess needed, so she allowed herself a grateful smile to cross her face as she flared and landed effortlessly. Next to her she heard the slower beat of powerful alicorn wings and felt rather than watched Celestia land.

“Way to go, Princess!” said Rainbow warmly.
“I was stupid, and you know it” commented Celestia, reproaching herself.
“We’re safe now, so don’t sweat it.”
“We wouldn’t have been if it weren’t for your quick thinking. Good call, by the way.”

“So, what’s all this about then?” asked Rainbow “It isn’t about proving something to yourself, is it?”
“I suppose you’ve at least earned that much, but I must swear you to absolute secrecy, no exceptions.”
Rainbow’s eyebrows raised at this shock announcement.

“What is going on Princess?” she asked.