Chapter 22: October 21, Sonic Rainboom
Yet Another Human in Equestria Story
By: Bardic Knowledge
Chapter 22: October 21, Sonic Rainboom
Despite considering myself short, especially in comparison to my Dad (who is literally a head taller than me), In the world of Equestria, I am one of the tallest sapient creatures. As such, I have occasionally been used to reach places difficult for a pony to reach without wings, magic, a ladder, or Pinkie Pie.
Considering we were only missing the wings, I continued to question my presence re-shelving the books at the library.
“It's not to say that I don't mind helping,” I rambled. “But I know you and Rarity have mass precision telekinesis with your magic.”
“We know, dear, you've been going on about it for the past ten minutes,” Rarity tutted, carefully lifting a book before delicately setting it on an empty shelf. “Which, frankly, is more talking than we usually hear from you.”
“Yeah, yeah. I was all set to bring the Chronicles of Amber to Equestria, and I got shanghaied into this.” I paused, then mumbled to myself. “Hmm. I wonder what the origin of that is... Shanghai is the name of a city, but what's that got to do with being coerced into things?”
Despite my back being turned on most of the ponies in the room, I knew they were rolling their eyes (except for Pinkie). I shrugged and put the next book in my arms onto a high shelf. Between the seven of us (Me, Twilight, Trixie, Rarity, Pinkie, Spike, and AJ) we got the books all organized and shelved about five minutes after that.
“Thanks for the help, everyone,” said Twilight. “It was a crazy week of studying. Wish Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy could've been here, too.”
“Many hands make for light work,” I said, sagely. I then thought upon the familiarity of the circumstances, but came to no conclusion.
My mind was a bit jumbled from the job. I had to be hit a couple times to stop reading and get back to work.
“...Right. Anyways, I a-” Twilight was interrupted by a scream in a familiar voice. I looked towards the source, and, the next thing I knew, I was in pain and covered in books.
Shakily, I raised a hand from under the pile, pointed into the air, then moaned as I slowly let it drop back onto the pile.
Everything became clear when I heard a muffled “Rainbow Dash, you rock! Woohoo.” from Fluttershy.
Joy. I really have to not interfere in this one. While I wouldn't mind taking Rarity's place as wing-spell-guinea-pig (though I'd much rather have bat wings than butterfly wings) so I could see what flying felt like, I had to uphold my vow against interfering in the timeline. Plus, I don't think I could survive being caught at mach ten. Though Dash's own magic might have something to do with how Rarity survived. Still.
Really hope they can forgive me for this one. I sat up, books sliding off me, and looked at Dash in the middle of what she was saying.
“I'm not talking about my performance, I'm talking about yours. That feeble cheering!”
“Oh, yes, because asking Fluttershy to cheer loudly isn't going to be an exercise in frustration.” I said. I felt a hoof on my shoulder as Trixie helped me stand. Dash rolled her eyes and sighed.
“I just wish you guys could come to Cloudsdale to see me compete in the Best Young Flyer Competition.”
“What's that?” asked Twilight.
Pinkie hopped in place, “It's where all the greatest pegasus flyers get together and show off their different flying styles! Some are fast!” She zipped around the room. “And some are graceful.” She posed for a second before unbalancing and falling into a pile of books with a small cry.
“Golly. I'd love to see ya strut yer stuff in that competition,” said AJ.
“Yeah,” Dash sighed again. “I wish you guys could be there. Fluttershy's a great support, but her cheering isn't exactly inspirational.”
“Depends on who you ask,” I said. “There's a song made almost entirely out of Fluttershy's voice that makes me smile every time I hear it.”
“Ooh!” gasped Pinkie, popping out of the books, “I'd love to see you make a sonic rainboom! It's like, the most coolest thing ever! Even though I've never actually seen it, but I mean COME ON! It's a sonic rainboom! How not cool could it possibly not be?!”
Mustn't allude to the Cutie Mark Chronicles. They'll figure it out then.
“What's a sonic rainboom?” asked Twilight.
“It's what happens when a pegasus manges to break the sound barrier in a fashion that simultaneously shatters the visible light spectrum.,” I explained.
“Huh?” asked Trixie and Pinkie.
“She goes really fast and makes a rainbow explosion.”
“Oh.”
“And Rainbow Dash is the only one that's ever pulled it off!” said Applejack.
Dash blushed slightly before replying, “That was a long time ago... I was just a filly.”
Curious. Here I thought Dash would be bragging about how she had done it once.
“But you're going to do it again, right?” asked Pinkie, bouncing in place.
“Are- are you kidding? I'm the greatest flyer to ever come out of Cloudsdale! I could do Sonic Rainbooms in my sleep!”
Twilight let out a short laugh, “You do that and you'll definitely take the crown!”
“The grand prize is an entire day with the Wonderbolts! A whole day of flying with my life-long heroes... It'll be a dream come true!”
“yay,” cheered Fluttershy. I smiled.
“I'm gonna go rest up. Don't wanna over prepare myself, y'know. Hehe.” Dash turned to Fluttershy, still in the window. “YOU, on the other hand, better keep practicing. I need a cheering section to match my spectacular performance.” She then walked out the door.
Fluttershy looked after her, then turned to us. “She's practiced that move a hundred times, and she's never even come close to doing it. I don't know if I can cheer loud enough to help her.”
“I'm pretty sure she's far enough out of earshot for me to mention that she does manage it,” I said. “But I can't say any more without potentially making bad stuff happen.”
Everypony nodded, then Fluttershy turned and flew off.
“Well, guess we better get this cleaned up... Again.” Twilight sighed.
“Why has nopony developed a sorting spell already? Laziness is the grandmother of invention!” That got me a few odd looks before they once again chalked it up to “strange things Joe says.”
“Go on, dear,” Rarity said, prodding Twilight with a hoof.
“Go on, what?” Twilight looked quizzically back.
“Find a spell that will let us wingless creatures go to Cloudsdale! Didn't you see how nervous she was?”
Applejack snorted, “Nervous? Have you spit your bit or somethin'? She was tootin' her own horn louder then the brass section of a marching band!”
“You helped.” I pointed out. “Also, that's an odd turn of phrase, considering I've never seen an Equestrian pony wear a bit.”
“And I have seen more than enough fashion shows to recognize stage fright when I see it. We've got to find a way to be there for her!”
“But Joe just said-” started Applejack.
“We should be there.” I said, firmly. “If only because I want to see it in person instead of on a screen.”
Twilight glanced around the room. “But, how am I supposed to find a flight spell in this mess?”
Pinkie perked up, “A flight spell? One sec.” She blurred and came back to Twilight with a book. “Page twenty-seven.”
Applejack looked at her askance. “How'd you do that?”
“Aside from 'she's Pinkie Pie?'” I snarked.
“It landed on my face when Rainbow Dash knocked me into the bookcase.”
“Here it is!” interrupted Twilight. “A spell that will let Earth and Unicorn ponies fly for three days. It looks really difficult. I'm not sure I can do it.”
Trixie raised an eyebrow, “You're the Element of Magic. I'm pretty sure you can do just about any spell you set your horn to.”
Twilight took a deep breath and looked at us. “Okay. But who's going to be the test subject?” There was a pause.
“I will!” said Rarity. “For Rainbow Dash, I will go first.”
“All right... Here goes...” said Twilight. She glanced over the spell before closing her eyes in concentration.
Rarity stood on the pile of books with her eyes closed as the magic took shape around her, raising her off the ground. Just before it fully surrounded her she looked out at us, and when I smiled and nodded, she closed her eyes again.
With a last grunt of effort and a flash of light, the spell completed, depositing Rarity back on the book pile with her new butterfly glimmerwings.
Twilight grinned and wiped some sweat off her brow. “I think it worked.”
“New question,” I said. “When's the competition?”
---
Turns out the competition was that evening, and, as canon, Twilight decided to cast a cloud-walking spell instead. I was actually starting to get used to the tingling feeling enchantments gave me, and I made sure the spell was also affecting my clothes, and we all piled into the Twinkling Balloon to head for Cloudsdale.
The balloon, it turns out, was Pinkie's instead of Twilight's, even though the show opener and the toys seemed to attribute it to Twilight. The trip was kind nice, though I had to sit down in the basket for a while to keep vertigo from making it feel like I was going to tip out of it at any moment.
The basket was space-bendingly roomy. I just chalked it up to Pinkie having connections, considering she knows everybody in Ponyville. I guess it also helped that Rarity was flying alongside us, though she had a few sudden stops here and there while getting used to her new wings. Personally, I'm surprised Rarity doesn't have/develop acrophobia from falling so often in the series. But I should be able to stymie the Spikezilla and Wonderbolt Academy events, preventing such a thing.
I shivered slightly as we neared the cloud city (and that just makes me think of Star Wars), thankful I was already wearing one of my thicker coats. According to the weather schedule, Ponyville's ambient temperature was supposed to be around sixty degrees, which meant it was inevitable for me to start shivering on the way to Cloudsdale.
I hate the cold.
Fortunately, Trixie noticed my discomfort and sat beside me, warming me up some. I really hope that spell works and is developed quickly.
Maybe... Maybe I could date her anyways. It's not like I kiss or anything on the first date. I smiled to myself and whispered, “sounds like a plan.”
“What was that?” she asked.
“I'll tell you later.” She looked at me for a moment, then shrugged and we continued watching the clouds go by.
“Cloudsdale ho!” cried Pinkie. Trixie and I stood up, and I marvelled at the sight. I'd never really seen much famous architecture other than Disney World and Mount Rushmore, but I felt like comparing it to a grand cathedral with a Greek theme (considering the Spartan appearance of Old Pegasopolis, this was to be expected) and rainbows.
I decided, then and there, that I was going to also try liquid rainbow. It might be too spicy for Pinkie, but that was oddly part of the appeal. I also decided to mention Skittles and Zap Apple Jam when Dash claims that rainbows aren't known for their flavour.
Rarity spotted Rainbow Dash easily, and we landed right behind her as 'Shy and Dash.
“I-I can't believe it!” cried Dash.
“It's incredible!” whispered Fluttershy.
“This is so cool! I can't believe you guys made it!”
“Of course we did. We're your friends, and friends are always there for each other.” Though I said that normally, I thought it in Digmon: the Movie-Terriermon's voice. I swung one leg over the basket and tested my weight on the cloud. It not only held, but felt like plush carpet, even to my hands. “Huh. This feels more like cotton than fog. Doesn't even feel wet.”
“How? Only pegasus ponies can walk on clouds!” asked Dash.
“I found a spell that makes temporary wings,” explained Twilight, “but it was too exhausting to cast more than once, so I found an easier spell that let the rest of us walk on clouds.”
“And we came to cheer you to victory!” added Applejack.
“...To be honest, I was starting to get just the teeniest, tiniest bit nervous. But I feel a LOT better now that you guys are here. Hey, we've got some time before the competition. Why don't Fluttershy and I show you around Cloudsdale?”
“Yeah!” cheered Pinkie, Twi, AJ, and Rarity, as Trixie nodded and I said “Lead on.”
We started our tour with the spot we had landed, which was apparently the street where Dash grew up. I had to keep from cheering/squeeing from finding out that her mom was actually Firefly. Her dad's name was Rainbow Blitz (I had to refrain from mentioning that that's what we named Rule 63 Dash).
It was difficult to keep myself from fangasming the whole visit. I didn't want to embarrass Dash in front of her parents. I really wish I remembered the opening theme of Firefly, I'd've sung it.
Regardless, our next stop was the weather factory. On the way, a lot of Pegasi were distracted by both me (because they didn't know what I was) and by Rarity's wings. I was doing my best to follow the Doctor's method of just looking like you belong and no one will care, but it didn't seem to be working out.
The first place we visited in the weather factory was the snow-smithy, which got me shivering further than just being in the sky was. The expected disaster with Rarity's wings occurred, which of course made it even colder than before.
Sorry if I'm complaining too much.
“We better move on before Rarity ruins winter and causes a drought.”
“Actually, can I have that happen?” I asked. Everypony gave me a flat stare and we moved on anyways. To the rainbow room.
Almost immediately, Pinkie and I dipped a hoof and finger into a pool of rainbow and licked it off. Presumably, Pinkie went through her canon spectrum with fire breath. I couldn't quite tell because I had my eyes clenched shut, tears streaming down my face. I quickly bent down, scooped up some cloud, and shoved it in my mouth, where it melted like ice cream. Didn't do much for the heat, though. And it just tasted like rain water. Which it was.
“Spiceyyyyy,” moaned Pinkie in a raspy voice.
“Yeah, rainbows aren't really known for their flavour.” said Dash.
“Unless you count Zap Apple Jam,” I countered (then breathed in a way to cool off my mouth). “Plus the tagline for Skittles is 'taste the rainbow.'”
We were then distracted (sort of, I was still trying to cool off my tongue) by some commotion over by Rarity about her wings again
“Where'd you get those amazing wings? I want a pair!” said one of the jock pegasi. He had dumbbells for a cutie mark. I think we dubbed him Dumb Bell.
“Hmm, yes, I guess I could see that,” said Rarity. I chuckled, which drew their attention to us.
“Oh, look, it's 'Rainbow Crash' again!”
“Yeah! Rainbow, um, Crash!” chuckled one with his mane over his eyes and a basketball cutie mark. Not sure about his name.
“Well, aren't you the smartest knife in the shed,” I quipped.
As if to prove my point, he said “Awesome! Thanks!” So I facepalmed.
“Rarity!” hissed Dash. “What are you doing, talking to these guys?!”
“Oh, they were just admiring my wings, Rainbow Dash,” said Rarity, flipping her mane back haughtily. I didn't want to be happy that things were following the show, but...
“Yeah!” laughed Dumb Bell, “you should forget the sonic rainboom and just get yourself some wings like these!” His sycophants laughed as well and they all flew off.
“Uhh, come on everyone,” said Fluttershy. “Why don't we go see how clouds are made?”
Shadows, how I wanted to say something right then. I'm going to skip ahead. Just remembering how painful it was to just watch...
---
I sat on a cloud near the sort-of arena of the Cloudsdale Coliseum, trying my hardest to keep my pain contained. Trixie lay a hoof on my knee, and my hand lay on her hoof to draw comfort. Pinkie was wearing what turned out to be a wing with “#1” on it, not a hand. Which made sense, considering how amazingly dexterous pegasus wings were.
Oh, that's something I forgot to mention from some time ago. Pegasus wings were no more sensitive than unicorn horns. However, the idea of “wing boner” is actually a pegasus joke. When a pegasus is excited or startled or whatever, their flight muscles tense up, flaring their wings for intimidation purposes. At least, the intimidation was how it worked for ancient pegasi.
I didn't pay too much attention to the first few contestants, knowing about Rarity's stalling and Dash's stage fright. But what I did see was rather curious. Derpy managed to fly in ways that seemed almost non-euclidean. “Leeroy Wingkins” did an impressive barrel roll donut-thing (I think he called it a "double barrel roll"), which wound up being fifteen barrel rolls long. The pegasus Time Turner look-a-like had some impressive backwards flying abilities as well, reminding me of that scene with Mater in Cars.
Finally, we were down to the last.
“Here we go,” I said. “First, I want to tell you that everything will turn out fine.” The others looked at me. “B, this was really hard to let happen. And, bullet point... This episode's name is actually Sonic Rainboom.” Okay, I couldn't think up anything good for my third point. I just like the number three.
“And now,” announced the emcee, “for our final competitor of the day, contestant number fifteen!” Dash creeped out, follewed by a prancing Rarity (whose make-up actually looked horrible in my opinion). “Uhh... And apparently contestant number four...”
Dash flew through the columns pretty well, only smacking into the last one. Were I not still pent up about earlier, I would probably have quipped “wrong side,” in a reference to an old skiing game on our old Apple III that my sisters used to play.
After some taunting by the jerk-jock ponies, she took off for the clouds above the stadium and started spinning them.
“Look!” said Fluttershy. “Phase two is working!” But, as she spun the last cloud, she was suddenly knocked off course, sending her away as the cloud flew straight for Princess Celestia's box. But it only impacted the top of the arch, rather than the princess and her guards (that could've been awkward).
Dash and Rarity then started ascending, and I put my hands together in an almost praying gesture (I say almost, because I then immediately cracked my knuckles), breathing out heavily. Dash ascended faster than Rarity, quickly getting above her.
We then heard across the whole stadium, “Look upon me, Equestria! For I! Am! RARITY!” as Rarity flared her wings. After a couple seconds of filtering the light and actually causing a rather pretty prism effect, the glimmerwings went up in smoke.
“Oh, no!” cried Twilight. “The wings evaporated into thin air!”
The Wonderbolts dove after her, but were knocked out by her flailing hooves.
“Hold on, Rarity!” cried Dash, just before she zipped by the stadium. “I'm coming!”
Feeling much better, knowing things were going to be good, I grinned and said, in a growly, guttural voice, “Hatred detected. Firing Orbital Friendship Cannon.” The others looked at me in surprise that I would be so glib, but I just pointed at the five ponies just as Dash did it.
It started with a crackling sound, and an almost electric tension filled the air, not even a second after, the tension snapped and the world seemed to shake. I was momentarily blinded, but only momentarily, as if the magic in the sonic rainboom was determined to be seen. A ring of rainbow fire spread out from the point she split the sound barrier, accompanied by a sound I can only describe as a “fwooshing shoom.”
All in all... Spectacular.
“A SONIC RAINBOOM!” screamed Fluttershy, right in my ear. “SHE DID IT! SHE DID IT! WOOO!”
A'course, at the same time, I fist-pumped and shouted a loud “BOOYAKA!” that startled the others. I then collapsed in relief on the cloud. “Sweet heart of darkness, and this isn't even going to be the hardest day of my time here.” After things wrapped up (and the celebrity judges woke up), everypony started towards Dash and Rarity. Pinkie had already gone to get the balloon, which she landed so the pegasi holding Rarity could put her in it and take a break, so technically, she was already there.
However, I held Trixie back, and she looked up at me quizzically.
“In light of what just happened, and due to my realization on the way here, I have something to ask of you.”
“What is it?”
“Would like to go out with me tomorrow night?”
You can guess what she said.
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She said "no".
I rather enjoyed that chapter and Leeroy Wingkins made me laugh.
I honestly don't find that much enjoyment in the Planeswalker portions. Not that I dislike D&D or anything like that, far from it. I enjoy any good RPG, D&D included, but... it's one thing to play it and immerse yourself, than to read about people doing it. It just doesn't hold the same appeal.
Now the date with Trixie is definitely something that would interest me.
"Wha?"
I'd love to see more of the RPG, but I'm rather biased in that regard.
In any case, a fine chapter, though actually describing the sonic rainboom would've been nice. The sound, the feel, that sort of thing. "Dash did it" falls rather flat.
Still, definitely looking forward to more. And Derpy is best hyperdimensional flier.
I'm surprised as the lack of shout outs towards the end. No mention of Icarus?
4146662
4146703
I was expecting there'd be joking comments like this. I almost put a line in the author's notes to ask readers not to, but decided people would do it anyways.
4146669
Thank you.
4146694
You have a good point (Though the system is Active Exploits, not D&D, but that's besides the point).
4147059
Hmm... I think I'll work on that and edit it in. That's a good thought. And I think I should mention, that when I see "Fan of Most Everything commented on Yet Another Human In Equestria Story," I go "Yay, Fan commented!" Considering how much I enjoy your stories, I'm always glad to read your opinion.
4147453
Curiously, the Folly of Icarus didn't enter my mind while writing, even when I swung by the trope page and read the two tropes with his name in them. Ah, well.
DERPY IS AWESOME!!!
For what its worth, 'Shanghaiing' was term developed during the California Gold Rush. Quite often, a clipper ship would pull into San Francisco and half the crew would disappear over the sides to go digging for gold. The ships couldn't leave port without a full crew, so the captain of such a ship turned to a handful of enterprising, if unscrupulous, barkeepers along what was known as the Barbary Coast for its lawless nature. How the process worked started when an unsuspecting 49'er would come rolling in looking for a drink. A shill would offer to buy him a drink and usher him over to a hidden trap-door in front of the bar; the regulars knew to stay away from the spot or they would be considered fair game as well. The bartender would fix the mark a drugged drink; as the target started to keel over in a stupor the shill would often help matters along with a blackjack across the back of the victim's skull to ensure he was knocked out. The shills were very careful with the amount of force applied, as a ship's captain would not pay for a dead or crippled man. At the same time the bartender would throw a lever that opened the trap door, which led down to a basement that in turn led out to the bay. The mark would fall onto a mattress, and a couple of compatriots would pack the unconscious man into a rowboat that would hustle him out to one of the awaiting clipper ships. The bartender and his gang got paid per crewman by the ship's captain for procuring unwilling crewmen for the clipper ships bound for Shanghai, and the 'crewmen' found themselves coming to in the midst of a nautical Hell as the California shoreline disappeared below the horizon. They had been 'Shanghaied'.
4150497
Thank you. It's always good to learn something new.
4150552
You're welcome. Please do continue your story; it is one of the better stories on FiMFiction.
The line, "On the way, a lot of Pegasi were distracted by both me (because they didn't know what I was) and Rarity's wings," should probably be, "On the way, a lot of Pegasi were distracted by both me (because they didn't know what I was) and by Rarity's wings."
The sentence, as it is, implies the pegasi are distracted by the wings on both of them instead of being distracted by his being human as well as by Rarity's wings. I use the later underlined sections to show the point.
That is, unlesss you mean that they do both have wings? That would be distracting.
4151418
Thank you. Fixing.
One little note:
I'm not going to say you can't name Dash's mother "Firefly," but she can't be the same Firefly as in Escape from Midnight Castle. That movie had no alicorns, and the castle - which later became the ruins in Everfree - was in pristine condition, which sets the time more than 1000 years before FiM.
Chronicles of Amber... One of my favorite fantasy series.
Also... Avast Fluttershy :)
4153093
She's not the same one. She looks the same, has the same name and cutie mark, but is not the same character. I actually don't know if I'm going to incorporate any of the previous generations storylines into this. So far, it's just the characters who happen to share names/appearances (For example, Granny Pie is going to be Surprise, but Dash's mom, Granny Pie, Twilight's mom, and Applejack are not about to go on an adventure with a couple others whose names I don't recall).
4153193
I quite enjoy it, too. First read it in ten separate hard cover books, then bought The Great Book of Amber.
If haven't already planned the whole story, you may want to consider having your in-universe self mess up on the "no interference" rule. If you/he tried to prevent some bad thing and ended up causing some unforeseen other bad thing, it would give you lots of plot fuel and room to experiment. Just a suggestion.
She says either https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6BL6QvKljo or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3ALwKeSEYs
I have been marathoning this since you posted it on my page, can't wait till the next chapter!
4173963
If it came to novelizations, he'd have to first run out of books to transcribe (and I have a few sci-fi books, like Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow, and the Hitchhiker's Guide series amongst the hundreds of books I've read). After that, he'd probably start with the novelization of Star Trek.
Out of curiosity, is the song you referred to Flutterwonder or Fluttershy's Lament? I like both, but Flutterwonder makes me feel so peaceful and listening to it right before falling asleep is such a relaxing experience.
7623098
I think he means the show, with jayne cobb