Storm Of Secrets

by Beware The Carpenter

6 - Out of the Frying Pan...

Rainbow Dash had chosen the timing of the performance perfectly for the sun to paint the clouds in glistening shades of gold. But the sun wasn't enough, all the Wonderbolts, especially her, had to have perfect timing as they wove through the embroidered pattern of clouds, making the entire field come alive into a changing moving shape.

Rainbow glanced up at the viewing platform where Filthy Rich and his guests sat spellbound by her speed and grace and reveled in the moment. Performing for an awestruck audience was the only time when being Wonderbolt captain seemed worthwhile; the Wonderbolts were the best fliers in Equestria, and she was the best of the Wonderbolts, she was the best of the best, and everyone knew it.

The clouds were torn through, broken and remade into new shapes until the field resembled a giant target of progressively larger circles spinning in alternate directions. The Wonderbolts kept the circles spinning, flying between the circles and through their perimeters, breaking and reforming the lines repeatedly; giving the sky the appearance of being rocked by an earthquake rippling out from the epicenter in the middle.

Teamwork was critical, and so was understanding the strengths and weaknesses of your teammates. Misty was the weakest flier so she spun the center cloud, and then spreading outwards, as the clouds got harder to spin came the stronger fliers. Dash took the widest circle at the edge, flying close to the audience themselves. Her wings beat powerfully, each beat bringing her faster and faster as she prepared to do her sonicrainboom. Her thoughts beamed with pride as she thought of her slower counterparts; none of them could make her cloud spin as fast as she could.

The west side of the stadium was built along the outer rim of the palace; open to the public for exhibits and ceremony. The east side of the stadium marked the interior of the palace; with much tighter security and was restricted to authorized personal. There were still seats built along that side though; and sometimes tax officials or analysts from the restricted archives would take a break and a free show when they should have been working.

Scootaloo had written to her about how Diamond Tiara had been bragging about the exclusiveness of the party; and Dash sincerely hoped that a few party-crashers would skip work, bust the brat’s boast, and make Dash feel like she had a worthy audience tonight. She passed the eight, sparsely populated, boxes on the west side of the ring, and then the east side where all the boxes were irritably vacant.

Drat.

She took another lap and this time there was one geeky little earth pony staring down at her. She gave him a small wave, hoping he’d be brave enough to come out to where Diamond Tiara could see him, but by the next lap he was gone. Dash sighed, sped up for her final three rounds; then let her eyes dip further, below the tax office to the barracks built along the ground floor of the inner palace, and saw a row of about a dozen Royal Guards looking up at her in anticipation.

Diamond Tiara wouldn’t see them, but at least they deserved a show after putting out that fire earlier today. Maybe that guy she knocked out was down there, watching her. The barracks was connected to the dungeon; so all the windows had bars on them, but of the dozen or so faces that were blurring past in flashes of white, grey and red.

Dash did a double-take, lost critical momentum and almost swiveled in midflight checking back over her shoulder; trying to see if Awesome-red-guy had been caught, or if it was just someone who looked like him. This cost her her balance, and she went crashing through the outer cloud-ring and almost collided into Spitfire.

Spitfire managed to catch her, and then threw her back out the way she came with a, sort of friendly, kick in the ribs and a brief salvo of profanity; both of which snapped Dash’s attention back to the performance. It took three more laps for her to bend her cloud back to the bare minimum standard she needed it, which was still one more lap than she could afford.

The sun was setting; any moment now it was going to vanish and Dash needed every second as she broke away from the cloud circle and plummeted towards the earth. The ground raced towards her at breakneck speeds but Dash didn't flinch. She was now low enough she was passing trees and rooftops as she fell, but her course remained steady. Then, just as she started being able to identify individual flowers in the palace garden, she angled her dive into a swoop and began climbing. Her heart was racing and breathing hard as the last rays of the sun died and the sky went momentarily dark.

Breaking the sound barrier just as she tore through the center cloud, she knew without seeing that the cloud grid the Wonderbolts had assembled was being torn to shreds by the six colored rainbow blast which exploded from her mane and tail. Soaring high above the audience with the Wonderbolts, whose suits were now glowing brightly thanks to the arts of Rarity's special dyes, Dash began swerving around making tight loops leaving a shining trail of rainbow behind her, spelling a congratulatory letter for Diamond Tiara graduating junior school, clear against the dusk sky.

Even at their height, the applause sprang up clearly from their tiny audience on the west side or the ring. Dash fell with her Wonderbolts behind her to shake hooves with the little sycophant and her alleged friends. She started with the parents, partially because they’d be less likely to notice if she left early, but mostly to make Tiara wait just that little bit longer.

After thirty or forty dirty hooves, five dumb questions and one pass from some guy who was way too old for her, Dash was shaking hooves with Silver Spoon when out of her peripheral vision she saw Diamond Tiara’s smug little face turn into a scowl. “Who’s that!”

“Who’s who?”

“Him!” answered Tiara, pointing towards the other side of the stadium, though the drifting cloud maze had covered him up again, “There was someone else watching.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Awww, and this was meant to be a private show.” Smirked Rainbow Dash, “He didn’t need to be your friend or have a rich dad or anything he just walked in.” Diamond Tiara looked disturbed, “He’s probably just some low life secretary or something; but since he was on the east side of the stadium he probably had an even better view of the show then you did.”

Diamond Tiara's face puckered into an adorable scow, “But…”

“Don’t worry.” Said Rainbow Dash thinking as quickly as she spoke, “I’ll go find him and beat him up for you, bye.” Dash took off before anyone had time to object, feeling very pleased with herself.

When a layer of cloud blocked the party guest’s view of her she felt elated. When she’d passed out of earshot and tossed her mask and suit onto a cloud for a cleaning crew to collect later, she felt like she was free; without needing to touch the brat or say anything else to anyone. Whoever it was Tiara had seen, assuming he existed, he wasn’t there now; meaning she couldn’t thank him. Now the only question was; what to do with the rest of her night?

If she left now… she could make it to Ponyville in time to see Scootaloo before the night was out. Of course; she’d only be able to stay for a few hours before needing to turn back; and she’d be exhausted for training tomorrow. Maybe she could leave a note for Spitrfire to take the team on an endurance flight, and she could meet up with them half-way between Canterlot and Ponyville.

No; that wouldn’t work. Spitfire hated it when Dash brushed off dates with ‘important’ fans; and she was already trotting on thin ice with broken wings after the little theater fiasco that wasn’t so little. Come to think of it… running off just now was probably already more than she could afford.

Dash hovered for moment and looked back, wondering if she had the endurance to fake smiling for the next several hours; and then something moved her mane. Dash swatted the air around her head, looking for the source but caught nothing. There was another tug, slightly harder; causing Dash to turn around, angrily looking for whatever unicorn was using magic to play with her mane, then paused when she saw awesome-red-guy leaning over one of the battlements, looking at her.

Dash looked at him for a few seconds and then flew towards him. Seeing his goal achieved, he ducked back behind that palisade, like he was hiding. The fact that she could see two teams of guards running along the east side of the stadium suggested why.

Dash picked up her pace, and then forced herself to slow down so she wouldn’t attract attention, before dropping over the railing and next to Awesome-red-guy, and got a good look at him for the first time. He was tall, and ripped with solid muscle from hoof to horn like Rainbow had only seen in the most conditioned of athletes; but didn’t look like any athletes she had known.

There was a big, cool looking scar that ran along his chest, with several smaller scars scattered around it. Two more scars ran parallel to each other along his back, and one scar behind his ear, and another; OK there were a lot of scars, but particularly so around his cutie-mark which looked like a hoof and some mud. Then again, maybe she just couldn’t see it right behind the scars because that seemed like one of the weirdest cutie-marks ever. They stared at each other for several skittish seconds, both with one eyebrow raised and then he broke the silence,

“…Seriously?”

“What do you mean?”

“You burn down Trixie’s theater, then you have the guts to come to the palace and do your thing here?”

“Why does everyone always blame me for that?” pouted Rainbow Dash.

“Did you burn down Trixie’s theater?”

“… That theater didn’t belong to Trixie.”

“It didn’t?”

“No, it’s crown property; three hundred years old or something like that. Trixie just managed to book it.”

“But you burnt it down anyway?”

“… Maybe.”

The stallion shrugged, “She’s fine by the way?”

“Trixie?”

“The silver pegasus… Derpy.”

One of the guards that was combing the lower palace shouted, and a quick glance over the railing showed they were closing in on this position.

“Did you just escape from prison?”

The stallion swallowed, “… No.”

“You did, didn’t you?” she grinned heatedly.

“… Not exactly.”

Dash glanced over the railing again, gauged the stallion’s weight, and lowered her voice; “I can fly you out of here right now, if you ask me to.” The stallion didn’t respond right away so Dash swiveled her rump towards him, bending her knees to receive his weight. “Hop on my back.”
Of course, for any mare from decent society, the proper way to carry a stallion, (if ever), would be for her to hold him under her; so it wouldn’t look like they were screwing. But weight distribution made it much easier to fly carrying someone on your back and if she was going to out-fly royal guards she needed maneuverability. “We need to leave before anyone sees us.”

“Too late for that.”

Dash glanced behind her then followed the stallion’s gaze to a cloud half-way across the stadium to where Spitfire was hovering behind a cloud, arms folded in an expression that drifted between ‘thoroughly pissed off’ at thinking she’d been lied to, ‘absolutely unamused’ at Dash playing hooky with Tiara’s party, and ‘lewd amusement’ at finding her in a suggestive position with the guy she’d just promised she didn’t know.

Dash stood up and quickly swung her tail away from Awesome-red-guy. The fact that she’d excited him with her little display wasn’t helping her come up with a convincing explanation for what Spitfire had seen that didn’t involve anything illegal or scandalous. Spitfire, seeing she’d been spotted, spread her wings and glided towards them at a casual pace, an amused smile playing on her lips.

“Hi Spitfire.” Squeaked Dash.

“Rainbow Dash.” Drawled Spitfire inclining her head slightly, “You’re out of uniform early.”

“…Yup.”