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Chapter 9

Out of the Blue
Chapter 9

It was a beautiful and bright Wednesday morning. Celestia's sun shone extra radiant, the weather ponies had strewn clouds artfully across the sky, and the birds felt ling singing their joys to the sky. All of Ponyville's citizens happily went about their business, exchanging bright and cheerful greetings as they passed one another, and all was peaceful and pleasant. Well, except for one pony. A certain pink party pony that did not exactly feel like interacting with anypony- which was quite the rare and unusual happenstance. Her hair was extra frizzy - frizzier than usual-, and she was developing rather disturbing bags beneath her eyes.

Creeeeeeeeaaaaaaak.

"Still nothing..." Pinkie Pie mumbled quietly to herself as she slammed the mailbox down again. She took no notice whatsoever of her friends approaching her, instead preferring to continue her mailbox antics.

"She's still at it," Rarity remarked.

"I just wish we could help her..." Fluttershy timidly sighed.

Pinkie Pie blearily looked up as her mailbox creaked open again. "Help me? The only thing that could possibly help me right now is a letter from Rainbow Dash! It's been three days already. By now, she probably doesn't even know our names anymore! She probably can't remember our faces!"

She paused to slam her mailbox door down again. She took a dramatic gasp of air. "Pinkie Pie? I never heard of a Pinkie Pie. Who is Pinkie Pie?"

Twilight Sparkle facehooved before glancing worriedly at her friend. "Well, if you're so worried, then why don't you send her a letter first?"

Pinkie visibly brightened. "Of course! That's a great idea!"

Her friends sighed in relief.

Pinkie's hair poofed out of its extremely frizzy and disheveled state to its normal bouncy and messy curls. She grinned. "Oh wait! I got an even better idea! How about we send Rainbow Dash a care package? You know, before she forgets all about us? Although, come on, let's face it. It's probably too late for that. But, uh, maybe it'll jog her memory somehow." Her face fell slightly but maintained a spark of hope.

Twilight sighed and put a hoof on Pinkie's back. "Pinkie Pie, I'm sure Rainbow Dash still remembers our faces and who we are. But I think sending her a care package is a great idea."

Pinkie clapped her hooves together. "A care package it is! We'll send it through the mail! WAIT!" She froze and scratched her chin thoughtfully before randomly shrieking. "AAH! That won't work at all!"

"Why not?" Applejack inquired.

The pink party pony began to pace back and forth. "Because what if the package gets lost in the mail? What if somepony else gets the package by accident and then she remembers us instead of Rainbow Dash and then she becomes our new friend? And then the real Rainbow Dash won't ever know that she used to have friends and she forgot them!!!" She was practically hyperventilating.

Applejack shook her head in an attempt to grasp the concept. "Is anypony else followin' this?"

Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy shook their heads.

Pinkie continued mumbling to herself as she paced. Suddenly, she stopped, reached a hoof into her poofy mane, and pulled out a lightbulb.

"I'VE GOT IT! We'll just deliver the care package to Rainbow Dash ourselves!"

Rarity twirled her violet curls around her hoof thoughtfully. "I wouldn't mind a little trip," she decided.

"I'll go too." Twilight said.

"Count me in," Applejack added.

"Me too." Fluttershy timidly stepped forward to join her friends.

"Me five!" Pinkie Pie launched herself into her friends. "But don't be upset if she doesn't recognize you at first. It may take a while for her to get her memory back."

Twilight sighed once again. "Okay, Pinkie. If we want to get there in time to see her today, we'd better get going. The academy is a long ways away for those of us who can't exactly fly with wings. We can take my hot air balloon."

The aforementioned balloon appeared with a popping sound and an expulsion of magenta sparks.

"Sounds like a plan, man!" Pinkie exclaimed.

The five mares piled into said balloon and were off to see their friend.

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Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash was lined up outside a menacing looking structure of tubes, pipes, and clouds. Of course, she wasn't afraid. And if she was, she wouldn't have noticed, for at that moment, Spitfire flew in, flanked by a pair of security guards.

"Today we'll be doing our famous air obstacle course." Spitfire announced, glancing back at the pipes in front.

Right on cue, the tubes spouted out more clouds with a loud hissing noise. Spitfire continued her speech without missing a beat.

"The object of this exercise is to work on your precision flying under extreme circumstances."

Rainbow and her partner Lightning Dust exchanged a determined glance. Spitfire noticed the cheeky smirks and grins the two were wearing upon their faces right away.

"And don't worry about winning. It's not a race. Now everypony, get on your marks!"

Unfortunately for them, as all the trainees lined up in pairs, from the way they had all been in a single file line, they ended up the last pair in line.

Spitfire blew loudly upon her silver whistle and her security guards lifted the barrier.

As much as Rainbow and Lightning Dust wanted to take off, they were stuck behind the others, who were pretty much just cruising right along.

They tolerated it for a bit, but eventually, Lightning Dust began to lose her patience.

"Ugh. Can't they go any faster? It's no good. I can't get around them!"

Rainbow wanted so badly to agree, but she knew it wasn't quite right- it wasn't everyone else's fault that she was cooler. If she just so happened to be 20% cooler than everypony else, it wasn't really anypony's fault. It just worked out like that.

"Doesn't matter. We can still fly completely in sync and blow Spitfire's mind with our moves."

"I guess..." Lightning Dust sounded less enthusiastic.

They flapped their wings in rhythm, skillfully soaring around pillars and through clouds of steam.

The pipes began to spout out puffs of swirling, angry black clouds, crackling with power and electricity. As rain started sprinkling and then pouring out of the clouds, the ponies all slowed down, which pissed Lightning Dust off greatly.

"What are they, a couple of snails?! It's just a bit of weather!!"

From one of the miniature storm clouds, a bolt of lightning flashed out and struck near the pair of trainees in front of Rainbow and Lightning. The two mares looked at each other- Rainbow with doubt and Lightning with certainty.

"Come on, Dash! Now's our chance to pass these slowpokes!"

One by one, they passed over all of the fumbling pairs and easily rocketed to the finish, landing at the exact same time in front of a seemingly impressed Spitfire.

"Not bad! And in record time, too! Definitely made the right decision making you two a team."

She glanced backwards at the obstacle course, only to find that the other pairs were stuck and tangled up in the storm clouds.

"The others seem to have had a little trouble with the precision part of the exercise. I'd better go help sort them out. Why don't you two go hit the mess hall early?"

Lightning Dust gave a playful but sharp salute. "Yes ma'am!"

She began flying off at a leisurely pace, sure that their fellow trainees were soooo behind that no matter how fast or slow she got to the mess hall, she and Dash would be first in line.

Rainbow seemed less excited, but still wanted to go eat. It was rather obvious that she was feeling uncertain about something. Not that her leadpony Lightning Dust noticed. "Thank you, ma'am."

She flew over to fly next to her friend on the way to the mess hall. She opened her mouth a few times as if to speak, and finally got over her nerves- which she wasn't even sure why she had. "Um, Lightning Dust?"

"Dash?"

"Maybe next time we don't cut the other teams off like that, okay?"

Lightning Dust waved a hoof in the air indifferently. "Meh."
She took a look at her wingpony and finally picked up on her feelings. Was Dash feeling... Guilty? Lightning was a bit surprised, but wasn't about to treat her very own wingpony like trash. She tried to reassure her- well, sort of, but in her own brash and selfcentered way.

"Hey, you snooze, you lose! Besides, Wonderbolts are supposed to be able to recover from a spin-out. You saw them on the Dizzitron! They could use the practice. I mean, it's not our fault we're so much better than those other guys! Not every pony is destined to become a Wonderbolt. Only the best of the best, right?"

Dash sighed and looked up at her leadpony. "Yeah, I-I guess... I guess you're right."

Lighting grinned. "'Course I'm right. Now, let's go fuel up, Dash. I'm starving- kicking all that tail made me hungry." She tugged impatiently on her partner's hoof, only to notice that Rainbow Dash had stopped completely.

Rainbow was looking the opposite direction, her gaze resting intensely on the cobbled cloud pathway that led to the dorms.

I could have sworn I heard a familiar voice, she thought to herself. Unaware of the fact that she'd stopped flying, she perked her ears towards the area where she thought she heard the voice.

"...yeah...and then she said that I wasn't respons...yeah. And then I... Uh-huh...she was worried...in my group...off-limits because...saved my...but pie!" The voices continued, but Rainbow had heard enough of the conversation to know.

She returned to reality. Lightning Dust was giving her an odd look. A tinge of pink colored her cheeks lightly as she cleared her throat.

"Ahem. Well I guess lets go eat."

The two mares trotted towards the mess hall, an awkward silence piercing the space around them.

When they were inside, Lightning Dust broke the silence to ask Rainbow a question.

"...so what was that all about, Dash?"

Rainbow's cheeks colored again.

"Nothing... I'd rather not talk about it."

Lightning gave her a very skeptical glance but dropped the subject.

Rainbow sighed. I know that he works here, plus it just saw him. Who else would be complaining about a lack of pie anyways? She thought to herself as she wondered if she'd see him again before the week was over. She mulled things over, wondering if it was safe to seek him out sometime in person. Spitfire might bite her head off. Her grimacing was interrupted by Lightning Dust, who sounded bored.

"Why the weird face, Dash? Is it the salad or something?"

Rainbow hesitated to tell her. Who knows what the impulsive and cocky pegasus might do?

"Nothing. I was just wondering how my friends are doing back in Ponyville."

"...ok. Hey, I'm gonna use the little filly's room. Take my tray for me?"

Rainbow obliged, although with a less than generous attitude and quite a few grumbles. As she sat back down, she felt something shift in her pocket. It had been in her pocket for two days now, and she'd practically forgotten it was there. After checking to see if Lightning Dust had gotten back yet (she hadn't) or if the other trainees, who were just starting to file in, were paying attention (they weren't), she pulled out the small slip of paper and unfolded it.

Dear Dashie~

I'm happy to see that you're here. I wish I could spend more time with you but Spitfire is keeping the both of us so busy. Just wanted to let you know that a) I've seen you training and keep up the awesome work, and b) I'm thinking about you!

Love from Soarin

P.S. You should buy me another pie sometime, yeah?

She smiled and sighed. Her ears inadvertently twitched. She replaced the note in her pocket just in time, took for Lightning Dust was quickly approaching their table. The two mares sat and chatted while they waited for their next task.

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At the sound of a whistle, all the trainees blasted into the air to clear the extra-tough clouds- some more enthusiastic than others. Rainbow flew directly behind her lead pony, feeling squirmish and fidgety. Her impulses were acting up again. Their task was to clear the sky of these super-clouds- she still could have done it in ten seconds flat, but alas, she was stuck waiting for her lead pony to make a desicion. She'd already gone and complained to Spitfire about the placing, but her idol and sargaent had coldly dismissed her, saying that Lightning Dust pushed herself a teensy bit harder. Rainbow was then kicked out in favor of the Wonderbolts fan letters being autographed.

Lighting motioned a hoof toward a particularly tough looking blob of cumulus clouds, and the two mares dived towards it. A pair of flying kicks caused the cloud to cease existing.

"Psssst. Dash, I have an idea about how we can literally blow away the competition."

Dash slowed a bit, looking around as a couple of pulls stretched apart a cloud, dispersing it into nothingness.

"But we're already way ahead!" She protested. Lightning shot her a look.

"Are you in or not?"

Rainbow's ears flattened against her skull as Spitfire's words echoed in her head.

Ears still flat, she heaved a sigh and pretended to perk up.

"...I'm in."

"Then follow my lead."

The two mares began manipulating the winds. Rainbow was not having any trouble at all- she did this all the time back home. However, Lightning Dust didn't seem to have experience with tornadoes. Through the rapidly increasing vortex, Rainbow Dash could see her turquoise lead pony slipping and sliding in the air currents.

"...can't...it!"

"Huh?"

Rainbow wasn't sure if Lightning had spoken, but that wasn't important. She kept the focus on the twister as it sucked up clouds. She was so focused she didn't even realize what the problem was.

And then it hit her across the face. Literally. For apparently the problem had a name, four legs, wings, and a golden mane. Rainbow cleared her head just in time to see the mini-tornado go flying through the air towards a random but rapidly approaching pinkish-purple speck.

Wait a second...

Rainbow scratched her head in confusion. What in Equestria was Twilight Sparkle's balloon doing here all by itself?! Inconceivable!!

By the time she realized the only logical explanation, it was nearly too late. She shook her head to clear the smack-induced cobwebs and took off as fast as she could.

It wasn't fast enough, though, and the twister got there first.

"No!!!" She shrieked. It was a stereotypical nightmare- but it was no dream. The four piercing mortal screams of terror (and one bout of high-pitched maniacal adrenaline filled cackling) filled her brain, reverberating as her friends plunged to their deaths. Even Fluttershy was falling too fast to use her wings- and she was probably too scared to anyways.

Rainbow smacked herself across the face.

"Think fast! You gotta save them," she told herself.

She wasted no time in diving down and started flying in circles around a bunch of low lying clouds that had survived the bout with the swirling vortex of doom, which was what the silly bit in the back of Rainbow Dash's head decided to call the tornado. She flew tighter and tighter circles, until by some freak of nature they condensed into a thick cushion of vapor. All Rainbow could do now was fly up with it and hope it would work.

Much to her relief, it was wound tight enough that they landed somewhat safely. She let out a breath that she hadn't realized she was holding as the emergency squad arrived. They split off into pairs and helped to hold up the frazzled non-pegasi. Rainbow chose to ignore the tears streaming down her face.

Or maybe she should wipe them off. She did so, glancing upwards. Much to her disdain, Lightning Dust was still hovering. She seemed to still be in shock. Rainbow felt an inexplicable tug at her bowels and tingling in her chest. She didn't even notice she was trembling with the anger, but right then, Dash decided she had had enough of that pony's horseapples.

She saw that her friends had a safe lift up, then sped ahead.

"What the hell was that?!" She shrieked, pointing an accusatory hoof at her lead pony.

Lighting came back to reality. She looked around, taking in the vast blue of the now extremely cloudless sky.

"The twister?"

Rainbow narrowed her eyes in a dangerous glare.

"That... Was AWESOME!"

Perfect timing, for the rescue squad was not quite there yet with the other element-bearers. Otherwise the egotistical mare would have been subject to a brilliant and colorful dose of love and tolerance. Or maybe just colorful language.

"Awesome? My friends could have been smashed to pieces!" Rainbow snarled.

"Yeah, but they weren't, right? Can't say the same for the clouds. We totally wiped them out with that tornado. The other cadets will have to be up there for days to bust as many as we did." Lightning held up a hoof, all the while grinning mischievously.

Rainbow could not believe the cockiness of this mare. What she really wanted to do was punch her across the face until you couldn't tell her face was turquoise, nut instead she settled for yelling.

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Twilight Sparkle caught her breath as she hung in the arms of a pegasus officer. She focused her inner spirit, allowing herself to calm down. She reached out with her magic and cast a cloud walking spell on herself and her friends that lacked wings. She explained to the squad that they would be fine, and the pegasi flew them up and set them down.

Just in time, too- things were getting ugly.

"A hoof bump? Seriously? You made me clip my wing. You sent half of our class into serious tailspins on the obstacle course. You unleashed a tornado that nearly demolished my friends!" Rainbow Dash all but shrieked at Lightning Dust.

The mare seemed indifferent. "Yeah, and?"

"And I get that you want to be the best. So do I! But you're going about it in the wrong way." Rainbow's eyes were glistening, large and fragile like a sheet and ice, but with depth and strength as she defied this pony for the sake of her friends.

Before she could get any further, Lightning cut her off with a snarky retort.

"The Wonderbolts don't seem to think so. After all, Spitfire did make me the leader and you the wingpony."

Ouch.

"You're right, she did..." Rainbow Dash sighed in defeat before flying off to who knows where.

"Pfffffft. What a loser. And here I thought she was cool." Lightning Dust scoffed and turned around, probably to go kick some puppies or something.

"gggrrraaaah!!"

A tiny little growl sounded. Immediately, Applejack and Pinkie Pie leaped onto Fluttershy, restraining her from chasing after the rude pegasus mare or something.

"Woah there Sugarcube. What's got y'all so worked up all of a sudden?" Applejack grunted as the held back the livid pegasus mare.

"Nopony talks to my Dashie like that. NOPONY."

Even Pinkie had to agree that she seemed like a 'RudeMeanieMean McJerkyStuckUpPants the Eighth, twice removed' or something along those lines.

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Soarin stretched his forelegs as he hovered out of the mess hall.

"Hmmmm. Not as good as apple pie from that place in Ponyville, but it'll do. Pie is pie after all."

And then, his normal day ended.

For he was greeted by four non-pegasi standing on the clouds (WUT) as well as a very timid looking pegasus, who managed to look both shy and demure and yet royally pissed, being held back by the aforementioned unicorns and earth ponies. (Dafuq.)

And then he was barreled over by a turquoise and yellow blur with wings, and then again by a pair of security guards following her tail, which prevented him from getting up.

When he did, he saw a rainbow streak headed for the main offices/headquarters.

He'd know that streak everywhere. He opened his mouth to call out her name, but then remembered that he was forbidden from seeing her.

So obviously the next best option was to secretly stalk her. Duh.

He didn't have to look much further after entering the building. He could hear her distraught and outraged cries from all the way down the hallway.

"...nearly took out my friends!! No disrespect, ma'am, but there's a big difference between pushing yourself as hard as you can and just being reckless. And if being reckless is what gets rewarded around here, if that's what it means to be a Wonderbolt, then I don't want any part of it."

Soarin silently made his way behind a pillar near Spitfire's office. Peeking through the window, he saw that she was barely paying any attention before, but now she set down the stamp and crossed her forelegs over her desk.

"What are you saying, newbie?"

Rainbow angrily tore off the goggles and threw them down. She then proceeded to rip off the silver pin that indicated her rank.

He could see her eyes glisten, but she didn't let her voice waiver.

"I quit." She declared.

Spitfire was so shocked, her classy shades fell off of her face. Rainbow marched out of the office with a mix of righteous indignation and humility. All Spitfire managed to do was sit there and gape while making sounds like a dying fish. He snickered a little, but quickly turned his attention back to the blue mare, only to see her tail rapidly disappearing around a corner. He quietly flew after her, but decided to leave it, she probably wanted to talk to her friends. He sat down sadly on his haunches and watched the mare of his dreams walk away from everything she'd ever wanted. He could only listen to the fading sound of erratic hoofsteps and wrenching sobs.

Wait.

This was backwards. He let her go, but it's not like he couldn't help.

"What was that all about?" He casually walked into his captain's office. She cleared her throat and tried to put her shades back on, although she wasn't successful.

"Rainbow Dash just quit the academy." She tried again this time succeeding.

"Oh, I know. I heard that part." He waved a hoof dismissively.

"Were you eavesdropping?" Cue glare over top of shades.

Soarin batted his eyelashes. "Who, me? 'Course not! You two were so loud I could hear everything as soon as I stepped into the hallway. But that's not the point. The point is, Rainbow Dash had a point back there, and you couldn't see that because you're being selfish. Her friends nearly died, it seems like. Couldn't you see that she was terribly shaken up?"

Spitfire was rather speechless.

"Well if you had any brains you'd march your flaming pegasus butt over to that ex-trainee and get over your stupid selfishness, and then you'd see. You're wrong. She knew it, I know it. You know it. I'd say you have five minutes before she convinces her friends that it's fine to just leave."

Spitfire hung her head at his sharp tone.

"...fine. I'll do it, you're both right here and I see that."

"And furthermore, she...!"

Spitfire rolled her eyes and stuck a hoof into his mouth.

"Numbskull, I said I'd go."

He grinned, and handed her the discarded goggles and the silver pin.

"You'll need these."

"Thanks." She slowly flew through the hallway.

She could see her faults here, but that wasn't going to stop Spitfire from hating that little blue pegasus from the depths of her soul.

Okay, maybe that was extreme, and she could admit that to herself. But she couldn't help but be jealous of her. More raw talent, more base fame, and more Soarin.

She shook her head.

"Whatever. Let's get this over with. RAINBOW DASH! HOW DARE YOU STORM OUT OF MY OFFICE WITHOUT GIVING ME A CHANCE TO RESPOND!"

Soarin watched this all go down from his own office window overlooking the street. He grinned to himself as he watched his filly gleefully have the silver pin replaced for the gold one, signifying leadership. The other ponies really look up to her, he thought as they all gave her a clumsy salute. He chuckled. From below, he saw Spitfire wave at them as they hovered away in a group. He saw that she was glaring up at Rainbow Dash with contempt.

He'd seen that look on her face before... That one time in a bar with the... Never mind that, but it hadn't ended well.

"Uh oh..."

Author's Note:

FINALLY, FILLIES AND GENTLECOLTS... THE LONG AWAITED CHAPTER NINE!!!!! *wild and thunderous hoof stomping*

Thank you, thank you!

I love all you guys! Hope you enjoy this one, I'll have more time on my hands soon! Expect many chapters, especially over the break.

But firstly, next week I take midterms. And then I write.

Seriously keep the feedback coming. I need to know if I've forgotten how to pony. Or how to English. Or anything.

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DismantledAccount

DismantledAccount #1 · Dec 13th, 2013 · · ·

How to pony? Nope, you still got it.
How to English? Ehhhhhhhhh... you could use an editor.
It's by no means illegible, but an editor could help you with the few mistakes you have.

LightSpectrum