> Masters of the Sky
>  by klockwork
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

FWOOSH!

The trees nearly bent from the gale force winds made by the rainbow pony flying through the sky. Rainbow Dash was on her way back to Ponyville after her trip to Manehatten. She had left for Manehatten for a few days for a mandatory weather convention. It was a yearly occurrence, the convention, all it was is ponies from around Equestria meeting up to discuss new discoveries, inventions, tricks, etc. Rainbow Dash was happy to present her own findings, about her successfully doing a sonic rainboom. Most people had already heard about it from the young fliers competition, but she went deeper than just bragging about it. She thought that if enough ponies were able to pull one off, they could use its energy and color to make even more beautiful rainbows. 

Rainbow was also excited to see her friends which she had been away from. Obviously none of them could come, since they couldn't fly and Fluttershy wasn't a weather pony. And even if she could have come anyways, she would never be able to leave all her animal friends for that long of a time span. 

It was still early in the day and Rainbow wasn't feeling tired at all so she decided to go straight to her friends. She decided to visit Scootaloo first and see how she was doing. She had said she would practice like crazy while waiting for her favorite pony ever to return home. 

She was nearing the city and she began to see all those friendly faces she had missed. They all seemed to be headed somewhere. Chances are Pinkie was throwing her a welcome back party and people were preparing for it or something. 
She sped over to the CMC clubhouse first to see Scootaloo then bring her to the party, if her hunch was correct. 

She slowed down as she began to near the clubhouse. She landed silently on the outer rim, then quickly flung open the door and shouted, "Hey kids," She stopped short when she realized the place was empty. She looked around quickly to see if there were any clues on where they went. All she saw was a bunch of hoof drawn pictures though. She admired them for a few seconds, as some of them were quite good. They had pictures of everything hung up. Most of them were about plans or stills of them getting their cutie marks. Some were pictures of Rainbow Dash being awesome, she didn't need to think twice about who drew those ones. She quietly giggled to herself about the little fillies obsession with her. 

She trotted outside to give a quick circle around to see if they were playing outside, although after a minute or two of searching she didn't see anyone. She decided it would take too much to find her, and chances are they were all at Sugarcube corner where Pinkie inevitably is holding the party, either that or Pinkie would be there to direct her to it. 

As she flew towards it she heard someponies welcoming her back and she quickly reciprocated the acknowledgement as she flew to Sugarcube. She landed and quickly flung open the door to be welcomed by a more than usual ecstatic Pinkie Pie.

"Oh my gosh! Dashie welcome back!" She cheered as she tackled her in a giant hug. "Oh ya! Come on, I got a surprise for you! Follow me!" Pinkie said as she began to bounce into the other room. 

Rainbow Dash followed her and was greeted by an ear piercingly loud "SURPRISE! WELCOME BACK!" from the multitude of guests. She acted surprised, although she really wasn't. She did act grateful as well, which she actually was. A great amount of guests had already arrived and more and more came in every minute. 

"Come on Dashie! Lets go say HI to the others!" Pinkie cheered as she bounced over to a table where Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Applejack were hanging.

"Welcome home sugarcube." Applejack said as they saw Rainbow and Pinkie walking over.

"Hey girls whats up? Hows it been since I was gone." Rainbow said.

"Oh nothin much, been quieter without you flying around and a bit more boring." Twilight said.

"Well I'm back now and ready to cause some chaos! By the way, have you girls seen Scootaloo around? I went to visit her at the clubhouse, but she wasn't there. I, don't, seem, to, see, her, here, either." Rainbow said inquisitively and the last sentence while looking around the room for the little filly.

"Oh, we actually haven't seen her or the other crusaders in the last few days. They've probably been off on some big adventure." Twilight replied.

"Ya, the three of them managed to win a contest and get wonderbolts tickets. It was too bad you were off in Manehatten, otherwise they would've taken you. They won four tickets and ended up taking Fluttershy along as there chaperon." Applejack added.

"After the show they went to find the wonderbolts to see if they could get their signatures. After a while of searching, we eventually found them and they were kind enough to get us all one, oh and they got one for you as well." Fluttershy said and she gave Rainbow Dash a picture of all the wonderbolts with all of there signatures under their respective names. 

"Oh wow!" Rainbow Dash cheered as she looked at the picture. "I wish I knew where they were, I would love to thank them. It sucks that that stupid convention stopped me from seeing the wonderbolts though. Did they say where they were going?" She then added.

Pinkie had managed to quietly slip away during the conversation to tend to the party. She flipped the music to some insane dance music and the five of them could hear her calling everyone to the dance floor as she began to dance in her crazy Pinkie way. 

"I'm sure you'll see them next time dear. At least they know who you are, not many people can say they've partied with the wonderbolts." Rarity said reassuringly.

" Also, no, Applebloom had she was goin on a new mission with her friends to find they're cutie marks. Ah'm a bit worried since she never came home last night, but they were probably having a sleep over at Sweetie's or something. Don't see where else they could be since they're not here nor at the clubhouse." Applejack said. It was a bit odd she thought, usually if Applebloom slept over somewhere else she would at least tell Big Mac, Granny Applesmith, or her. The last time she slept over somewhere without telling she got a huge lecture by the three of them as they were worried sick, then she was grounded for a few days.

"Oh I'm sure they're fine darling. Nothing bad ever happens here anyways." Rarity said calming Applejack down a bit. "I'm sure they'll show up here soon, they knew when Rainbow Dash was getting back and I'm sure at least Scootaloo would love to welcome her home." 

"Ya, this is no place for worry either, we're at a party!" Rainbow said just as Pinkie bounced back over to them.

"Come on girls! Lets boooogie!" Pinkie cheered as she pulled them over to the dance floor.

The party lasted for hours until it was night time and everyone was getting tired and had to go home. Rainbow Dash was especially exhausted. Although she didn't feel it in the morning, she was now. The long trip and the instant party hit her hard. The moment she got home she fell asleep in bed. 

Rainbow Dash woke up the next morning and went about her usual routine. After she was done with her job for the day she decided to go over to Twilight's and catch up on her reading. She was about halfway there when she remembered about the CMC. She decided to take a quick detour and visit the clubhouse to see if they came back overnight, if they weren't there she would go check with Applejack to see if Applebloom showed up, chances are if she did, the other two did as well. 

She quickly zoomed over to the clubhouse. She quickly circled around it a few times first without slowing down to see if they were outside. They weren't so she went inside to see if they were inside. She doubted it though, since usually they could hear them screaming from the inside. They were always so loud and causing chaos, but adorable at the same time. She opened the door and was right, no one was inside. She sighed and took off for Applejack's. 

"Hey sugarcube, ah'm guessing you're looking to see if the kids came home?" Applejack said as Rainbow began to land down at the farm. 

"Ya." Rainbow said. "I'm starting to worry about them." 

"Me too, and ya they didn't come home last night. Ah was about to go out looking fer em and ask around." Applejack said.

"I'll help, it'd be a lot easier if you had an aerial view as well." Rainbow said. 

They didn't need to go far to find their answers. They were only a few meters from the farm when they saw Applebloom charging over to them, her face radiant with glee.

"Oh my gosh. Applebloom!" Applejack shouted at her. "Where the hay have you been?! We've all been worried sick!" She began her lecture. 

"Wait Applejack, before you go crazy on her, lemme find out where Scoots is."  Rainbow requested. "Hey Applebloom, where's the others?" 

"There both fine, but the most amazing thing happened. Scootaloo got her cutie mark!!" Applebloom said happily, obviously no punishment Applejack could dish out would phase her, she'd except it with open arms. 
> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After Applejack had realized any punishment or edict she could give to Applebloom would be moot, she sighed and then her and Rainbow Dash followed the overjoyed filly. Applebloom refused to tell them what Scootaloo's cutie mark was or how she got it or anything of the story, she wouldn't even say where they had disappeared too. The suspense was killing Rainbow Dash, she wanted to know if her training had payed off finally or, if her training was a waste and scootaloo has no need for it other than transport. Applebloom made them wait in news-purgatory for a while longer as they went to get the others. Her and Sweetie Bell had split up to gather everypony, apparently this was more than your average cutie mark. 

"Come oooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnn." Rainbow Dash moaned repeatedly trying to nag the information out of Applebloom.

"Now ah told ya, no pony hears till we get everypony together!" Applebloom said cheerily, not phased at all by the incessant nagging. She just kept bouncing along. She was happier than Pinkie Pie, which was nearly impossible to beat. 

It only took them about 30 minutes before the two crusaders had gathered up everypony in town. A surprise to Rainbow Dash as she would have thought it would only be her friends to come and see. It must be more amazing than could be thought. Rainbow couldn't put her hoof on it, but she had a bad feeling about this, which was odd seeing as her favorite filly in the world has achieved her life goal. 

The mayor began to calm down everypony from the podium.

"Settle down mares and gentlecolts! It seems Scootaloo has a world class surprise for all of us." The mayor yelled so that everypony could hear.

Within the next few seconds everypony quieted down just before three ponies zoomed down to the stand at an extreme speed. They all were wearing the same uniform, a blue one-piece that covered their entire body with a lightning bolt shown on their underside along with lightning bolt patterns along their ankles, with a pair of goggles just above their eyes. Their cutie marks were also stitched into the appropriate area on each of them, the one male had a winged lightning bolts, while the two females had solo lightning bolts. Two of them were easily recognizable as Spitfire and Soarin, but the third one was new. Rainbow Dash had never seen her before on the team, but she knew instantly who it was. 

Scootaloo was standing alongside the pegasi Rainbow wanted more than anything to be part of.

"I am very proud to present," The mayor continued, "that the newest member of the Wonderbolts is Ponyville's very own filly: Scootaloo!" Cheers erupted from the crowd after the mayor ecstatically shared her news.   

Rainbow Dash was stunned silent. She wasn't sure whether she was happy for Scootaloo or jealous. Being so used to her usual arrogance and gloating and being-better-than-most-pegasi attitude, it made it harder for her. She felt... -20% cooler at that moment. Beaten by a filly she was training!

Pinkie had been the first to run up on stage and congratulate Scootaloo. She said something to her and the crowd, but no one could understand as she said it so fast. The only thing anyone could make out was the obvious. Maybe they heard it because of how obvious it was and they didn't need to hear it to know it, or if she purposely did that. She then quickly rushed off to begin planning Scootaloo's party for joining the Wonderbolts.

In part of an attempt to bring attention to herself and actually congratulate her friend at the same time, Rainbow Dash jumped up on stage and tackled Scootaloo in a giant hug. "Congratz Scoots!" She cheered. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom had managed to find their way on stage as well, although much less obviously. 

"Ahem! Quiet down everypony!" Spitfire said nearly yelling into the microphone to drown out the cheer to no avail. The crowd was still conversing about the insanely awesome surprise or just cheering still.

"SILENCE!!!!!!!" Sweetie Belle screamed. Some of the cheers had turned to quick screams of pain from the sudden strike to their ear drums. "Thank you." Sweetie Belle said as ponies began to calm down and regain their hearing. 

"Uh... thanks?" Spitfire said rubbing her own ears. The crowd thought it was devastatingly loud, and she was right next to the mic! "OK so first as previously said," She began in a higher voice than normal, "I would like to congratulate our newest member, Scootaloo! And also, we are going to hold a celebration for your town in Canterlot with everyone being invited, so, Soarin go fetch the insane pink pony that just darted off. She seems like a party animal, I'm sure she'll be fun to have plan it, and she seems to know what shes doing with that stuff." Spitfire continued while motioning Soarin to go fetch Pinkie Pie. He quickly zoomed off to fetch her. 

********

"PINKIEEEE!!" Soarin called. He didn't actually know her name, but Pinkie fit her perfectly as a nickname or at least it was better than calling out 'insane, ecstatic, pink, pony' or something else of the sort. 

"Yessssss?" Pinkie replied jumping right in front of Soarin's face. He nearly crashed right into her, but at the last moment he was able to turn with precision and instead smash headfirst into the nearby house. He fell back dazed and staggering and the first thing he noticed was a brand new indent pushed into the house he hit. 

"Are you OK??" Pinkie said sticking her face in front of him again. He immediately fell back again shocked from her sudden strike again. "Hmmmm?" She asked again.

"Ya... ya I'm fine. It's not the worst crash I've ever had." He replied rubbing his head and remember that time when he was a filly and was just starting out on doing stunts and flying fast as a sport. "Ouch!" He muttered as he pulled his hand back down to his field of vision to see a piece of plastic stuck in his hoof. "Darn, now I need new goggles." He muttered to himself.

"Here," Pinkie said offering a hoof to help him up. "so I'm Pinkie Pie, if you don't already know, and your Soarin right?" She said as she pulled him up off the ground. 

"Ya... I just came to tell you something about the party your throwing, we were already planning on holding a celebration for all of Ponyville, and we have land at Canterlot already. You seem fun enough, it would be great if you could plan yours over in Canterlot." Soarin said still in a bit of pain. At the same time he was trying to pull the piece of plastic out to no avail.

"Here lemme help you with that!" Pinkie said as she pulled out the piece of plastic. "Oh and that sounds AWWWEEEESSOOOMMEEE!!!!!" She cheered afterwards and bounced high in the air wiggling her legs and cheering. 

"OH OH I'M GONNA START PLANNING RIGHT NOW! Even though I was going to start now anyways, but this is still amazing anyways, oooh oooh, sorry I would love to stay and chat and all but I have to go start planning!! This is going to be the best party ever!" Pinkie cheered and then promptly charged off to begin while talking to herself about all the details. 

"Shes..... different?" He muttered to himself. He then took off to return back to the stage with Spitfire and Scootaloo. 

***Meanwhile back on stage***

"OK..." Spitfire began, "who would like to introduce me to the plethora of ponies that have mysteriously, and non mysteriously" she looked at Rainbow Dash on this last word, "arrived on stage with us?" 

"Ohh these are my bestest friends in the world, Sweetie Belle and Abblebloom! And this is my favorite pony in the world! She made me who I am today, Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo said in the happiest tone anypony had ever heard from her. 

"Oh yes Rainbow, I remember you. Seems like we run into you everywhere." She giggled. 

"Yup, lucky for me." Rainbow replied. "You know, how did Scootaloo join the Wonderbolts? In fact, how did she even find you guys?" 

"Oh ya that is one heck of a story..." Spitfire began but was soon interrupted by Soarin. He crashed right into the podium and took out Spitfire and they both collided right into Rainbow and Scootaloo behind them creating a dog pile of pain on stage. "What the hay?!" Spitfire cried once it was all over. 

"Sorry, I'm a bit dizzy from crashing into a house, Pinkie, that pony I went off to chase, surprised me and it was either the house or her, oh ya, we need to put in an order for more goggles." Soarin said, the latter half while showing his busted goggles. "Too bad they didn't break a few hours ago when we got Scootaloo's in the mail." He added.

"It's OK, doesn't seem like anypony got hurt anyways." Spitfire replied while checking on the other two at the same time, who were standing up fine. "Now, as I was saying: it all started in Manehatten after one of our shows while we were on tour, which we unfortunately had to halt for later after this, a few of us were going out for a quick midnight flight to stretch our wings when it all started...
> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 "Now, as I was saying: it all started in Manehatten after one of our shows while we were on tour, which we unfortunately had to halt for later after this, a few of us were going out for a quick midnight flight to stretch our wings when it all started..."

***Flashback to Manehatten***

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Yes! I see no reason not too. Rainbow Dash will be so surprised to see us, and who knows what wonders she can show us in Manehatten, maybe we were supposed to be city ponies and we'll get our cutie marks here!" Scootaloo said ecstatically while doing small flips in the air.  

"Ya ah don't think ma big sis or Big Mac or Granny Smith will be happy bout this." Applebloom said. Her and Sweetie Belle were still nervous about ditching like this. 

Scootaloo had found a copy of Rainbow's trip forms while they were out on an adventure. Originally they were seeing if they had their cutie marks in accounting or pretty much anything statistics related. They were kicked out of the mayor's office fast enough anyways, but while in there Scootaloo had managed to snatch the copy. She then got the idea into the two other fillies heads that they should continue their adventure with a trip to Manehatten and see Rainbow. They had originally agreed in the spur of the moment because Scootaloo had mentioned finding their cutie marks in the big city, reminding Applebloom of Applejack's story, she pretty much agreed immediately. Sweetie Belle agreed because she didn't want to be the odd one out. They had originally forgot to tell anypony, and didn't remember till about an hour into their journey. 

They were almost to Manehatten and it had already gotten pretty late. They had no way of seeing the time but it was obviously almost midnight just from the light shown outside. They were almost there, but also extremely tired. They kept complaining to seemingly no one about how tired they were, and eventually agreed to take a quick rest. 

They had fell on the ground underneath a tree on the outskirts. 

"Hey, look down there." Spitfire said pointing towards the three fillies collapsed on the ground. "Think they need help?" She said concerned.

"I don't know, but they must be cold out here, and there is no reason for them to be alone out here either." Fleetfoot said appalled by the scene. "We should at least go check on them." She continued her motherly instinct kicking in.

"Of course." Spitfire replied as they had already begun a descent towards them. They hit the ground in only a few seconds waking up the three fillies at the same time. 

"Wha wha?! Who's there?" Scootaloo cried half startled and half asleep. "Oh my gosh..." She then said once she realized who was standing in front of them.

"Hello girls, what are you doing out here in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere?" Spitfire asked them. "And I'm sure you know who we are, Spitfire and Fleetfoot, but also what are your names?" She continued.

"Ah'm Applebloom, this is Sweetie Belle and she's Scootaloo." Applebloom said first. 

"We were just on our way to Manehatten to visit our friend." Sweetie Belle then added. "But, what are you guys doing out here?"

"Oh we were just out for a quick fly, we couldn't sleep. Is there anyone else with you? Even if your going to visit a friend, there's no reason to walk from..." Spitfire stuttered for a second not knowing the answer to her own thought.

"Ponyville." Scootaloo quickly said.

"Ponyville, to Manehatten alone." Spitfire quickly continued. "Come on let us give you a lift."

"Really! Wow! We get to ride with the Wonderbolts!" Scootaloo cheered. 

"Big fan eh?" Fleetfoot said. "You know, I feel like I've seen you three before, have we met somewhere?" 

"Ya, we met ya'll backstage after yer last show in Ponyville. You gave us all autographs!" Applebloom said. 

"I remember that." Spitfire said giggling a little, "I remember Soarin pointed you out and we went over before you went any crazier, seemed like you were giving that other Pegasus a heart attack." She said laughing more.

"Me to, but even then. It felt like I knew Scootaloo before that as well... but I don't know I've seen a lot of fans." Fleetfoot said concentrating on trying to remember. 

"It's probably nothing, come on. Lets get you girls to your friends place safe and sound." Spitfire said as her and Fleetfoot picked up the flightless ponies and began to lift off. 

"As much as I wish I knew a Wonderbolt, I don't remember either." Scootaloo said a bit disappointing. "Although you might know our friend, Rainbow Dash. She won the young fliers competition back in Ponyville. Shes out in Manehatten on a convention." 

"Oh ya I remember her, she has some great talent. But if shes out here on work, I don't think she'd be all too happy to suddenly have three fillies show up at her door." Spitfire said thinking how high maintenance these three must be from her own experience. "Unless she told you to? Although if she did I'd think you'd have a guardian taking you three or something." She then added. 

"No, we were playing in the Mayor's office and found a copy of her trip form and thought it would be great to surprise her." Applebloom said. 

"Well, she might not. Work isn't the time for play, and I'm sure she won't have the time or room to see you three." Fleetfoot said. "I remember when I was a weather pony... Not the funnest job." She said remembering a bad story from before. 

"Come on, lets take you three back to our place, then we can get you home tomorrow when its safer and brighter and you aren't falling asleep on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere." Spitfire said. 

"REALLY! We get to stay with the Wonderbolts! This is the best plan ever!!!" Scootaloo cheered as Spitfire and Fleetfoot laughed a bit. 

They flew back to the Wonderbolts's place, which luckily was on the ground. They were staying in a special place that was an addition to the Mayor's buildings. It was reserved for special guests such as the Wonderbolts. The building wasn't as big as a mansion or probably where they really lived, since they would be out more than in, but it was still a very elegant place. They were told to be quiet and not go flipping through everything since everyone else was asleep. Once they got inside it the place was even more amazing. It had the five rooms with one kitchen, and a dining room, and the rest were living rooms and about 15 bedrooms each with their own bathroom. It didn't look that big on the outside, but on the inside it seemed much larger. Spitfire said it usually held more than just one party of people and that was why it had that insane amount of bedrooms. 

The two Wonderbolts were showing the three fillies to there rooms when they were interrupted. 

"Who's there?" A voice came from the room across the hall from them. 

"Its just me and Fleetfoot, we couldn't sleep and went out for a quick fly." Spitfire began as Rapidfire came out of his room. "And we found these three on the side of the road. Apparently they were walking here from Ponyville to visit their friend away on work. I told them they could stay here for tonight then we'd send them back tomorrow." She finished. 

***Back in Real Time***

"Oh damn, sorry guys but I gotta jet. I'm already probably late for work!" Rainbow Dash said, right before she zoomed off, faster than usual just to show off for the Wonderbolts. Really she didn't have to go to work for about another hour. She just couldn't hold it anymore, she wanted just to go home and beat the crap out of her pillow or clouds to let out the jealously and anger she was holding. She still didn't want to let Scootaloo hear this though. 

"OK well, see ya, I can tell you the rest of the story later." Scootaloo called after Rainbow Dash. The crowd hadn't died down at all, in fact it had grew a little. Everypony was sitting down listening intently to the story, waiting for the moment when it all comes together. 

***Back to the Flashback***

"Oh nice, what are our guest's names?" Rapidfire asked. 

"I'm Sweetie Belle."

"Ah'm Applebloom."

"And I'm Scootaloo." The three of them said respectively. 

"Well welcome girls. I'm sure you'll have a great time staying with celebrities." He said gloating a bit.

***Back in Real Time***

"Wait, Spitfire are you almost done with the story?" The mayor asked.

"Uhh, no, in fact we're just getting to the good part." She said. Thinking to herself about how rude it sounded interrupting her like that.

"OK, well then bring in the wagons!" The mayor called out. A few wagons carting in food arrived and began selling lunch to all the hungry ponies who were still intently listening to the story. It wasn't every day Spitfire came and told a story to your entire town. 

"Sorry for the interruption dear, please continue on." The mayor said before going down to a stand and buying a sandwich. 

"OK so where was I..."

***Back to the Flashback***

The six ponies awake had all said their good nights and went to separate rooms. The three crusaders decided to stay in one room to keep each other company though. 

"Can you believe it! We're sleeping in the same house as the Wonderbolts!" Scootaloo said ecstatically.

"Ya I know this is amazing. I wish Rainbow Dash was here though, she would love this more than anypony. I wonder if she even knows there in town. Work sucks if it makes you miss out on amazing things like this." Sweetie Belle said. 

"The real thing we should be worrying about is how much trouble we're gonna be in once we get back home." Applebloom said pessimistically. 

"Quit your worrying! This is no place for worrying." Scootaloo said, also remembering that there was nopony who would even get mad at her back at her home. 

They stayed up just talking for a while about how amazing it was that they were actually there. Now that they were there, none of them actually wanted to go home. They wanted to go out and explore the city and get their cutie marks in the big city. They knew that the Wonderbolts weren't a daycare service for them and chances are they wouldn't want them running around a city like crazy monkeys and getting into trouble. Eventually they crashed from the exhaustion of the day. 

*

"Wake up girls!" Called Fleetfoot who was standing next to the bed. "Come on, get up, breakfast is ready." She said shaking them a bit. 

The three of them yawned and stretched as they woke up and began blinking the sleep out of their eyes. 

"Did you say breakfast?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Ya, come one we got a great chef. I think he said he was making pancakes today." Fleetfoot replied. 

"Awesome!" Scootaloo said as the three of them began getting out of bed. "Thanks a lot for letting us stay here by the way." 

"Ya you guys are even more super duper awesome now!" Sweetie Belle said.

"Um, what they said plus 10,000!" Applebloom said.

"Oh no problem girls. Can't leave kids in the middle of nowhere." Fleetfoot replied giggling a bit. "We're glad too." 

The three fillies followed Fleetfoot out to the dining room. The room was empty, only Soarin, Spitfire, and the chef were up in the room. 

"Where is everypony?" Applebloom asked. 

"Probably still sleeping." Spitfire replied. "They're probably exhausted from yesterday. Me and Spitfire seem to have insomnia or something, and that's why we were out and found you, and Soarin is up, because..." She trailed off realizing she didn't know. 

"Because the food Gourmet, our chef, makes is the best ever." Soarin said yawning a bit afterwards. "I don't care if I have to miss out on sleep." He added.

"Well you should. One day your just gonna pass out in the middle of a race." Fleetfoot joked. 

"Ya well at least I'll be full of this delicious stuff." He replied. 

The chef then walked into the room as if on queue bringing in six plates of pancakes, with 3 on each plate. "Eat up guys, I'm gonna have to jet though. The mayor said she wanted to see me for something." He said as he put down the food. 

"OK then, see ya later Gourmet." Soarin said as he quickly began eating. "Don't be late for lunch though!" Soarin said in a joking tone. 

The six ponies were nearly halfway through their meal when they heard a loud BANG come from the entrance. It sounded like somepony had just slammed the door. 

"SPEEDY WHERE ARE YOU?!?!" An unfamiliar voice screamed angrily throughout the house. "I KNOW YOUR HERE!!! YOU CAN'T HIDE ANY LONGER!!!" The pony seemed angry enough that he'd break down the building to find his victim.

"Uhh who's Speedy?" Scootaloo asked calmly. 

"I have no idea." Spitfire said stunned. "Come on you three fillies should get out of here, doesn't sound like a peaceful diplomat has arrived to solve his problems." She added.

"No! I wanna stay and help!" Sweetie Belle said stubbornly. "I'm good at helping!"

"Ya me too... wait, wheres Soarin?" Applebloom said in agreement and then realizing Soarin's mysterious Disappearance. Fleetfoot and Spitfire were still in place, but no one saw Soarin leave. 

"I don't know. Maybe he went to see the angry pony at the door, he'll probably want help though." Spitfire said. "Now, please go back to your room." She pleaded. 

"WHERE IS HE?! COME OUT YOU PATHETIC BABY!" The angry pony shouted. The proximity sounded closer than before as he seemed to have become impatient waiting was coming to rip Speedy out of place himself. 

The colt quickly trotted into the room only to be tackled down by both Spitfire and Fleetfoot. In less than a second they had been able to intercept him, even when he was running at an extreme speed from adrenaline. The three began wrestling and fighting on the floor, the mysterious colt to get up, while the girls to hold him down. 

"Go get help! Just wake them all up! And then if you can find Soarin!" Spitfire shouted to the three crusaders while trying with all her might to keep him down. The Wonderbolt's were starred at flying, and they were finding out this skill didn't transfer to wrestling. 

"OK!" They shouted as they split up and began screaming and banging on everyone's doors until they heard the pony on the other side shout at them "WHAT!" and then they'd continue until they came out to yell at the disruptive kids in person, only to find out that there's a commotion going on in the other room. 

As soon as they rallied everypony they looked through all of the empty rooms and at the ceiling, in attempt to find Soarin. 

"Soarin! Where'd you go?" They continuously called out along with variations of it. They searched every room and every corner to no avail; Soarin wasn't anywhere to be found. They gave up and decided to return to the kitchen to see how the rest were doing. 

Back in the kitchen they found the Wonderbolts had managed to tame the beast. They were flying and holding him in the air, with one pony holding each leg and one holding the back of his head. He kept flailing nonetheless even though escape was impossible. 

"Who is Speedy and why the hay do you need him?! No one here is named Speedy!! This is everyone here minus Soarin, and Soarin is no where near close to sounding like Speedy!" Rapidfire was screaming back at the insane colt. 

"NO HE'S HERE I KNOW IT I HAVE PROOF! I WILL GET THAT DAMNED COLT FOR WHAT HE DID!! IF THIS SOARIN IS THE ONLY MISSING ONE, THEN HE IS THAT DAMNED COLT!!" The pony screamed ignoring part of Rapidfire's question. 

"We couldn't find Soarin anywhere. He must be a great hider or flew away somewhere." Scootaloo said as they re-entered the room. 

"SEE? THAT DAMNED COLT HAS FLED FROM HIS PROBLEMS AGAIN! HE IS PATHETIC! COME OUT AND FACE YOUR PAST SPEEDY!" The colt screamed. He wasn't calming down at all, if anything he was getting angrier every second that passed. 

"WHO THE HAY IS THIS SPEEDY?! WHAT DID HE DO THAT IS SO DAMNED BAD AND WHO THE HAY ARE YOU!!!!????" Fleetfoot screamed right back at the insane colt. 

"MY NAME IS LIGHTSPEED AND THAT SPEEDY RUINED MY LIFE! HE STOLE EVERYTHING FROM ME!" Lightspeed screamed. His voice was beginning to sound scratchy as if he was running out of energy to talk from all his yelling. 

"OK now just calm the hay down so we can figure all this out!" Spitfire said. 

"Fine. I will have my revenge, and nopony will stop me from it. If you knew what he did, you wouldn't try to stop me either." Lightspeed said calming down more. He seemed a bit happy to stop the screaming. 

The Wonderbolts let him down and he promptly began to tell his story and why he hates this colt named Speedy. 
> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lightspeed began to tell his story in a much calmer voice. "It all happened years ago. Me and Speedy were friends and rivals at the same time. Or, at least I thought we were. We had known each other since we were just little babies, and had been friends ever since. When we got older, we both developed immense flying skill and ability. We were the best fliers in the school by far. Even so, we always practiced and got better and better every day. One day, we discovered that a sports organization called "The Wonderbolts"  had been formed. We both wanted to be one of them more than anything.

We decided to make a 'friendly' competition." He added air quotes on the world friendly. "We had seen a notice that the Wonderbolts were recruiting one new member, one and only one. We knew it would be one of us, but we were both amazing and matched in skill. We decided to have an intense race of speed and agility. The winner would be the one who tries out, and inevitably makes it.

I never had a reason to hate him before that race though. He won, and only because he cheated. For the past four years I have been looking for him, in fact I've been looking for this damned civilization of Equestria for the past three and a half years. 

Our race took place on the outskirts of the Everfree Forest, where it connects with mountains far, far away. We had a map set up already, with markers in place. We should have probably had a ref somewhere to watch us, if we did, none of this would have ever happened. 

We had just finished our part in the forest and were crossing into the mountains. I was in the lead by a few meters and I was feeling good. I knew I was going to win, in fact I still think I would have. But then he cheated. What did he do you ask? Well, apparently one of the markers nearing the top of a mountain was a trap. It was designed to activate when a pony flew over it, and once it did it would eject a huge amount of gas. The gas would immediately crash anypony's nerves who would inhale it. They would get knocked unconscious and wake up with a splitting headache and amnesia. I'm not completely sure, but from dates from now I am pretty sure it has been four years since this happened. I could be wrong though. I must have adapted quickly because of the amnesia because I was easily able to survive on the mountain and eventually I managed to walk back to the forest.

I do remember how I regained my memory though. It came back slowly, but there was one thing that I saw that hit me and began to make me remember everything slowly. I saw an orange and purple maned filly wandering about in the woods with her friends one day. She reminded me of my daughter, she looked just like her as well. It may have even been her. It may have even been you." He said as he pointed towards Scootaloo. "Where are your parents?" He asked a bit awkwardly. He had the sudden thought that she may be his daughter. 

"I don't know." She said half sadly and half excitedly. It occurred to her as well know that she may be looking right at her father. "I don't remember them. The last place I remember being was at an orphanage. Do... do you think you're my father?" She asked even more awkwardly. 

It wasn't every day that in the middle of story time the speaker asked if one of the listeners was his daughter. Everypony else in the room was quiet. This was a new experience for everypony, and none of them knew what to do or say now. Everypony was at a loss for words. 

"Maybe." Lightspeed said after a minute. "I had two kids. One was already grown up and had just moved out that very year, it was unfortunate how she didn't get my genes in flying though, she ended up leaving flight school on the final year of it. She was still a great girl though and was successful in other ways. And then my other was only a baby. She had the same colors as you on her mane and skin. Her name was Scootaloo." The awkwardness in the air had previously been so thick you could cut it with a knife. It began to fade away and turn to rejoice as evidence went together. 

"So is my name!!" Scootaloo cheered. "My friend Twilight is a genius, she could do a, oh what was that thing called again." She stopped and thought for a moment before shouting out ecstatically "A DNA test! That's it, as a final check." 

"We could have Rapidfire do one here. He always excelled in physics and chemistry as well as flying. I wouldn't feel right anyway, sending you home with a random stranger who just burst into our house screaming." Spitfire said. 

"Ya sure, after you finish your story. Now go on." Rapidfire said obviously a bit annoyed at the interruption. 

"OK, so as I was saying. I began remembering my past once I saw Scootaloo. Over the course of Celestia knows how many months, everything slowly came back to me. Eventually the remainder of it all hit me full on and I remembered mostly everything. I immediately screamed off in a fit of rage and began my search for Speedy. For about five months I searched everywhere, until I saw a flier of a tour of the Wonderbolts. I decided chances are that that bitch had joined the Wonderbolts, and I decided to go after them then. I got an apartment and relaxed for a bit and worked out. I had four months until the tour began and the entire time I exercised and let my hatred grow. I had spent some time looking for both of my children as well, my wife had died when Scootaloo was only a baby though. If you are my daughter." He stopped the story for a moment and looked at Scootaloo. "Then I'm sorry that you never got to meet your mother."

"At least I would have you." Scootaloo replied still in a happy tone. She had spent her life missing her parents, and the possibility of finding one was enough to shadow even more sadness and mourning. 

"Well, that's pretty much all there is to my story. Next thing is, I ended up here. Oh by the way, I'm sorry for incapacitating the guards outside. I was angry as hell and was so happy I was about to get my revenge, but they wouldn't let me in. Again, sorry." He said apologetically and hoping he wasn't going to get in trouble for that.  

"I'd be angry, but this seems like a good enough excuse." Spitfire said. "Don't worry about it, there trained to fight. Although, they might need a refresher course...." She began to trail off wondering how one single angry flyer was able to take down nine guards. 

"Rapidfire! Now that the stories over can we have that test?" Scootaloo asked impatiently. 

"Ya sure kid." He said. "I haven't been able to play in the lab for a few weeks now cause of all this training and shows. It'll be refreshing." He said. "Come on, follow me its not in this building." 

Spitfire and Fleetfoot picked up the earth pony and unicorn and they all zoomed out following Rapidfire. 

"Hey Spitfire, do ya think that if Scootaloo is his child, then she would have the skills of a Wonderbolt?" Applebloom asked as they flew through the air. The flush of the air against them blocked out all sound, Spitfire could barely hear the question.

"I don't know. She can try out and we can see if she can fly. He said his other daughter hadn't developed flight skills like his, so I don't know." Spitfire said not wanting to get the kids hopes up or let her down either. 

"It would be amazing if she made it in." Applebloom wondered. 

They quickly arrived at the science lab in Manehatten. Turns out, Rapidfire has his own lab sector for himself there along with ones in other towns. The lab was amazing. The three fillies especially were entranced by it all. It had so many machines and charts and graphs that they had never seen before. There were numbers and symbols all over the charts and graphs, it almost made there brains hurt. The rest of the Wonderbolts were familiar with some of it, but they didn't understand any of it, and they never hoped to. Rapidfire had once tried to teach them some of it, and they all just sat there and stared blankly at the lesson they were being given about trigonometry.  

"OK, this won't hurt for more than a moment." Rapidfire began as he went over to a closet and took out a few needles. "We'll need blood samples from you both." 

Rapidfire quickly took blood samples from both of the ponies foreleg. Scootaloo let out a tiny squeek when she got poked, Lightspeed stood as hard as stone. Certainly a needle wouldn't affect him after his life. 

"OK... now it will only take a few moments for the tests to run and declare there types." Rapidfire said monotonously already absorbed in his machine and test. 

Their was so much suspense in the air. Scootaloo was ready to burst with joy at finding her father. There wasn't a doubt in her mind, as she wanted it to be true so much. The clock seemed to be moving slower she thought, just for her. 

Finally after a few minutes of insanely impatient waiting, Rapidfire finally talked. "And the results are....." He began, purposely milking it for joy. "a match! Wow, I've made many great achievements in my life, yet they don't feel as good as reuniting a father and her daughter. And when Soarin gets back here, I am going to kill him." He added, saying the last part in an angrier tone. "He must be Speedy. I remember him saying that he was a bit tired since he had just finished doing something else. Even so, he managed to outperform the rest. Although I doubt hes going to show his face around here again. Unless he brings an equally crazy story." 

While Rapidfire was venting Scootaloo and Lightspeed were having a grand time in the background, finally reunited. They seemed to have more energy than Pinkie Pie. 

"Wait, if your my father then that means I have a sister as well! Whats her name? Oh! And it also means I must grow up to be a great flier just like you, daddy!" Scootaloo cheered.

"Her name... I feel like such a bad father right now. I can't remember my eldest daughters name! I think she did end up getting it changed though, she said it fit her better. But still, I can't remember. It should come back to me eventually. Every once and a while some small piece of information comes back to me." Lightspeed said depressed. 

"Its OK! I have you at least. She'll find you one day, or we'll find her if she doesn't." Scootaloo said. Nothing, no matter how sad, could affect her right now in any way. She was overjoyed at finding her father after years of living at an orphanage. "Does this also mean my father could be a Wonderbolt?!" She then thought of the fact of why he was lost in the woods in the first place, he was cheated out of the position. 

"If he still has the ability." Spitfire replied. 

"I can't remember how well I used to fly, but I think right now I do pretty outstanding. I'm sure Scootaloo has some of my genes as well. I doubt both of my kids would lose that one." He said 

***Back in Reality***

"And after that they both tested out with our manager and he felt both did outstanding. He said Scootaloo for one did outstanding for her young age, but still had much to learn. And obviously, as well, Scootaloo found her cutie mark during her test run. As you can see, we did find Soarin though. Turns out he isn't this Speedy character Lightspeed was looking for, but there was another story between Speedy and Soarin. That one doesn't matter now though. In fact he won't even tell us. We wouldn't have believed he wasn't Speedy, if he hadn't brought a beat up pony named Speedy with him when we found him" Spitfire said. 

"Ya... and sorry but its going to stay that way." Soarin said a bit embarrassed and rubbing the back of his head.

"That's what I call a great story." The mayor said beginning to clap. The crowd followed her precedent and and eruption of clapping had ensued. They also shouted various praises. It wasn't every day that a member of your town found her dad and became a Wonderbolt and on top of that, the story was told by Spitfire!

"Ah wonder how Rainbow's doin. As much as she loves this little filly, she must jealous to no end. Ah doubt it was work she went to." Applejack whispered to Twilight. "Ah reckon somepony should go check on her."

"Ya, you're probably right. We could go get Pinkies hot air balloon and all of us could go visit her." Twilight suggested. "Shes probably taking it hard. It was her dream. Although, I'm not sure why she hasn't been accepted in yet, shes the only pony to perform a sonic rainboom, and shes done it twice." Twilight then wondered. 

"That's a great idea darling, and for the Wonderbolts thing, who knows." Rarity said.

"Ya, sounds like a good idea." Fluttershy agreed quietly.

"OK, lets go. I'm sure Scootaloo will be busy up there for a while longer." Twilight said. 

She felt it rude to just up and leave like that, but it wouldn't sound right to say 'See ya Scootaloo, congratulations on the joining the Wonderbolts and finding your father, but we gotta go check on Rainbow Dash to see if shes gone insane with jealousy yet and beat herself up.'

They all quietly and secretly snuck off to get Pinkies balloon. Chances were they would find Pinkie frantically planning the party at Sugarcube Corner and she would want to come along as well. 

They could hear Pinkie talking to herself from outside, and she was probably running around based on the noise. The door was still wide open, so they decided it was safe to just walk in.

"Pinkie!!" Twilight called out. 

"Ya?" She replied stopping mid-trot dropping some supplies. "Wassup?" Shes said bouncing over towards them.

"We thought we should go check on Rainbow Dash, and we were wondering if we could use your balloon and also, would you like to come?" Twilight asked. 

"Ya sure thing, I bet Rainbow's a bit down in the dumps after seeing Scootaloo beat her to the Wonderbolts. Did you guys learn how Scootaloo found her cutie mark by the way?" Pinkie said. 

"Ya, its a long story. We can tell ya on the way to Rainbow's. Now come on les' go." Applejack said. 
> Chapter 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As they got the hot air balloon ready they told Pinkie the gist of the story. Even though they took out every piece of extra detail, Pinkie still showed overly dramatic attitude towards the story, especially the good parts where Scootaloo finds her father and joins the Wonderbolts. 

The hot air balloon wasn't working correctly and they spent nearly an hour trying to fix it, until the discovered the problem. 

"Looks like someone broke it." Pinkie said with a frown. "The thingy that makes the balloony part rise isn't right. Someone broke it on purpose!" 

"Ah'm guessing Rainbow wants to be alone, or someone is screwin with ya Pinkie." Applejack said guessing it was the former herself. 

"Oh if she wants to be alone, maybe we should check on her later." Fluttershy said. 

"No, shes obviously upset about this, I can teleport us all up there and use the cloud-walk spell. Get ready to catch me though since its a lot of energy to cast that much." Twilight said as the others agreed. 

Her horn began to glow as the she cast the cloud-walk spell on everypony before huddling up and then porting up to Rainbow's house above. As she predicted, she nearly fainted after they all arrived. She couldn't remember a time where she expended so much energy in such a small time period as under a minute. 

Applejack flipped Twilight onto her back to carry her inside, as she couldn't walk on her own without stumbling on every step. 

"Rainbow are you home?!" Pinkie called as she relentlessly knocked on the door. The only answer she received was what seemed to be a small wooden box fly through the door and knock her backwards causing her to fall off the cloud followed a shout saying to go away.

Fluttershy quickly reacted and dove down catching her mid-fall and then promptly brought her back up. The five of them then invited themselves into Rainbow Dash's home through the now broken cloud-door.

"Dashie, that wasn't very nice!" Pinkie yelled back once she caught her breath. "You could've killed me!"

"Well I didn't." She replied walking into the front room to meet the others. "I want to be alone right now." She said in an angry tone. They could tell she had been crying as well from her tone and her eyes. 

"Come on, you never even heard how and why Scootaloo got in. You should be proud anyways. The one pony who looked up to you more than anypony else, and was trained personally by you joined the Wonderbolts. You must be a great teacher as well as a great flyer." Twilight said trying to cheer her friend up.

"Well, then I'm only a great teacher. If I was a good flyer I would be with them. Please, I just want to be alone!" Rainbow said getting impatient. 

"Scoots found her daddy!" Pinkie burst out trying to help both sides. "And he was in the Wonderbolts or something before he went missing. How'd that story go again?" Pinkie then asked.

"Turns out, Scootaloo's father was poisoned and left in the Everfree forest with amnesia by somepony named Speedy. The two were competing to be in the Wonderbolts, and Speedy cheated. There's more to it, but that's important now, err it must not be at all since Soarin wouldn't tell us who Speedy was, since he was never in the Wonderbolts." Twilight explained. 

"Well that's great, no, amazing for her. But she's still a million times younger than me and still is a better flyer than me apparently." Rainbow's mood didn't seem phased at all by the new revelations. She was still depressed and enraged at the same time. She seemed to be trying her hardest to hold back more tears as well. "Please, just GO!" She shouted at them. 

"Come 'ere! Somepony needs a hug!" Pinkie said as she bounced over to Rainbow wrapping her in her hoofs. 

"No, go away, I WANT TO BE ALONE!" Rainbow screamed this time as she pushed away Pinkie. 

"I... I think we should listen to her." Fluttershy said quietly. 

"Maybe your right dear." Rarity agreed.

"OK fine." Pinkie humphed sadly. "Bye Dashie! We'll be back later to see how your doing! We still love you!" She said in her normal cheery voice which was then followed by partly sullen goodbyes from the rest as well before they all left.

"Oh and you might want this back." Applejack said as she tossed the box Rainbow had chucked at Pinkie back inside.

"Good, give her more ammo." Pinkie muttered inaudibly to herself. 

Rainbow went back to her bed after they all left and let loose the barrage of tears she had been trying her hardest to prevent her friends from seeing. 

"Its not fair! I'm ages better than her! I doubt she got in for the sole reason of her dad being good. Its not fair!!" She shouted into her pillow through her sobs. 

Her room was a mess. The door wasn't the only thing she had broken. Tissues littered the floor along with her bed sheets. In her initial release of anger she had smashed one of her tables in half. If her room wasn't enchanted to hold all of this, her floor would have busted wide open allowing a plethora of Rainbow's stuff to fall on Ponyville. 

Throughout all of this she still had one more worry: What would she do if Scootaloo came over to flaunt her new title even more? It sure wouldn't make her happier to see this. It would only hurt her, making her idol do this. As pissed to hell Rainbow was about this she didn't want to hurt the little filly. 

Her pet turtle Tank finally managed to stroll into Rainbow's room. Ever since Tank had heard Rainbow come home crashing through everything in her way, he had began is long journey to comfort her. Rainbow had decided to run all over the house at first which only made his journey take much longer.

As if on queue Rainbow momentarily glanced up to see the turtle strolling in through the doorway. "Oh Tank, you agree with me, don't you? This is crap, its not fair at all. I should be the one in the Wonderbolts topping the charts, not her!" She wailed. 

As if to agree in reassurance Tank's head bobbed into his shell and then quickly reemerged wearing a pair of sunglasses and bobbed his head at Rainbow as if to say 'Your still awesome.' Rainbow seemed to get the message since she let out a small laugh. It was the first sign of happiness she had shown since arriving home. 

After another hour or two of complaining and crying she began to get tired of it all. She wanted to cry more, she felt like she should, but she couldn't. She had cried herself dry and could feel her heart racing like crazy from hyperventilating during it as well. She finally began to think straight again and not have every thought filled with indignation and jealousy. She thought how pathetic she seemed right now. She had never, not once, ever broke out like that. She had been bullied as a filly and yet she never took it this hard. It was like she had reached her limit and everything just exploded out of her in one big bang. 

Tank had eventually managed to make his way over to her on the floor-as she had previously rolled out of bed and plopped onto the floor during her rage session-to comfort her. 

"Damn... I should really clean this up." She muttered to herself finally free of the tears as she wiped the final ones from her eyes. 

She began to get up weakly and pick up her room. She would definitely have to go out and buy some new things, but that wouldn't be too bad. She had the money anyways. Her recent convention trip had earned her a nice bonus as a reward for going. It wasn't mandatory for her to go, and she had easily complained and refused to go because of that. Her boss really wanted her to go and present there, and in the end the only way to get her to go was to give her a bonus. 

A new thought rushed into her mind as she was medially cleaning up. What was she going to do next? She couldn't just ignore Scootaloo or tell her to shut up and go away. There was no answer. She wished that she hadn't been so short with her friends and they were still here. She wasn't going to kill her pride-if she had any left, she thought-by going out to find them for that kind of help. She decided to be up front about it and go to Spitfire. If Scootaloo could get in, there was no reason that she couldn't. If Spitfire said they were full, she could just tell her to drop one of the lower ranked ones. More ponies probably knew Rainbow's name than their's. She immediately pushed that evil thought out of her head. She wanted to get in, but not at the expense of being a total ass. 

"RAAAAIIIINBOW DASH!" Scootaloo called from the other room. "Are you home from work yet?" 

Rainbow didn't want to see Scootaloo yet. She would probably end up letting loose on her, and she looked terrible from her recent fit. She put a finger to her lips looking at Tank, as if he could make enough noise to pull Scootaloo into here. She remained completely still and it was killing her.

"Rainbow? Are you home yet!" Scootaloo called again. "Is anypony here?" She didn't want to give up. 

Rainbow Dash stayed completely still. It was only about 30 seconds so far, yet she had still never consciously stayed this inactive and still for this long a time span before. Even in her fit she was all over the place. A few bruises were on her side from where she had hit herself falling out of bed a few times. 

"Hmph. I guess nopony is home." Scootaloo said a saddened. "I wonder why her door is broken open like this... *GASP* maybe she was robbed while away at work!" Scootaloo then thought. "I should go tell her boss so he can get her, I bet she has his information around here somewhere." She wondered aloud as she walked inside the house. 

Rainbow Dash silently gasped. If Scootaloo found her here now then she would know she was purposely ignoring her. Scootaloo wouldn't take too kindly to that. Luckily no information about her boss had been left lying around, she couldn't even remember if she had any at all. That only led her to think even worse. If she found nothing outside her room, she might come in here to look. Rainbow was screaming in her mind and wracking it attempting to find a way out of this. 

She could hear Scootaloo shuffling around in the room next to her bedroom. Luckily the door to her room was open, because she had a plan. She walked more silently than she ever had before over to her hand-mirror. It was diamond encrusted and was a gift from Rarity. Even so, she had rarely ever used it. Her mane seemed to work itself into position every morning after she showered. She never really cared about her looks anyways. Looks didn't make you faster. 

She remembered Rarity had said maybe she could change her mane a bit too, maybe let it grow out and style it. She had even asked if she could do it herself. Of course Rainbow had refused completely and that was that. She liked her mane shorter anyways, shorter hair was less wind resistance and it worked for her. She may not have always been the smartest mare but she knew enough about physics to fly faster. 

She took the mirror in her mouth and silently slid it across the floor over near the door. The mirror had its own little stand on it so she was able to see it from over here. Her plan was once she saw Scootaloo either go into the kitchen or the living room out of view of her room and entrance room she would sneak out of there. Or even better, she could just completely relax if Scootaloo decided it a lost cause and left. Her only hope was that Scootaloo wouldn't check her room first. 
> Chapter 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

She could see Scootaloo in the mirror. She was looking through all of Rainbow's stuff frantically looking for her bosses information. It only made things worse for Rainbow seeing how she was now invading her house. At least she had no secrets to hide from anypony she thought. 

"Oh! Maybe she has it hanging on her fridge." Scootaloo said as she closed the final draw in the room. She then flew over to the kitchen to start rummaging in there. 

Without a moment of hesitation, the moment Scootaloo was in the other room, Rainbow silently flew out of her room. She was going slow as not to make any noise from her wings and prayed the whole time Scootaloo wouldn't see her. 

She was halfway to the door when she heard Scootaloo again. 

"Dang, its not here either. Maybe she has it in her room." 

At hearing this Rainbow didn't care if she was heard or not. She needed to take the risk. She sped up and darted out of the door in under a second on the last half. The moment she exited she flew straight down and out of view of the the wide open doorway. 

She decided to go see if she could find Spitfire and see why the Wonderbolts haven't taken in the best flyer in Equestria yet to join their team. It had always irritated her that she wasn't in yet, but she always buried it saying to herself that there is some other reason. Now that they've taken a filly half her age before her, obviously its something stupid, she thought.

Finding her would be the hard part. Chances are she had already left. It had been a few hours since she left the podium to have a fit in her room. On the off chances she was still there, Rainbow decided to check the stage and the Town Hall. 

She sped up and blazed from her house there. She could feel the wind cutting through her main, and chances were speed she was going at was making the wind erupt through everypony else down below. She could see leaves falling off of the few trees she passed. She wasn't sure whether it was the wind or not, but she swore she could hear yell of complaints from down below.

Even if it were other ponies, she didn't care. She wanted to find the Wonderbolts and if they saw her, she wanted to show off as well. She was done playing games. She was determined to get into the Wonderbolts today at any cost. 

She began to slow down as she encroached the stage at a dangerous speed. Seeing how it was empty, she immediately flew right through the doors into the Town Hall coming to a complete stop once she reached inside. 

Inside she saw the Mayor, Spitfire, and another pony who she had never seen before. 

"Spitfire." Rainbow said interrupting whatever they were talking about. "When your done here, can I talk to you?" She asked trying to sound angry and rude, like she really felt. 

"Ya, sure. We're just finishing up legal documents for Scootaloo and her father, but you wouldn't know since you left early." Spitfire said motioning to the third strange pony. "This is Scootaloo's father, Lightspeed." 

"Hey, I'm Rainbow Dash. I've been looking after your daughter for a while now and helping her with her flying too." Rainbow said introducing herself. "My friends stopped over when I was done with work and told me the gist. Wheres Scootaloo?" Rainbow asked pretending not to know the truth. 

"Hello Rainbow, I'm Lightspeed as Spitfire said. Um scootaloo said she was going to find you." Lightspeed laughed a bit. "I guess that's kind of hard when your right here though. Chances are shes back at your house." 

"Spitfire, how long do you think this'll take?" Rainbow asked. 

"Oh, we should be done in a minute." She replied.

"OK, then I'll go check for Scootaloo after we talk." Rainbow said as she walked over to the bench in the office to wait.

Rainbow fidgeted impatiently waiting for a few minutes for Spitfire to finish. She was relieved when they were finished as she hated waiting, and hated waiting for this information even more.

"So, Rainbow, what did you want to talk about?" Spitfire said walking over to her as Lightspeed left and the Mayor went upstairs. 

"I have a question." Rainbow couldn't wait, this was the moment she would figure it all out and maybe live her dream. "How come Scootaloo got into the Wonderbolts and you never asked me?" She said.

"Oh, um." Spitfire stuttered. "You... you don't remember?" She asked expecting Rainbow to have already known the answer.

"Remember what? Does this have to do with flight school? Cuz I'm better than all of them and Scootaloo hasn't passed it yet, and hes in!" Rainbow said trying to hide the anger in her voice.

"How do you not remember the reason you left Cloudsdale?" Spitfire asked incredulously.

"I left because I hated it. It was stupid, and everypony made fun of me. I'm better than all of them anyways. I'm the only pony to perform a sonic rainboom, and I've done it twice! How is that a reason to be excluded from the Wonderbolts!" She said failing to hide the anger this time. 

Her mind must have blocked it out, and made a replacement story. Spitfire thought to herself, knowing that Rainbow wasn't telling the truth, yet, she didn't seem to think she was lying. "Oh nevermind. Its nothing." Spitfire said choosing to not tell Rainbow the true reason she left. It would be better to keep her in the dark she thought. "But, if you want to get in then you should go talk to Soarin." She continued trying to dodge this subject. She would just have to get to Soarin first to tell him that Rainbow doesn't remember. She didn't want to deal with this, and anyways she knew Soarin would be the better pony to deal with this. 

"OK." Rainbow said a little calmer before she zoomed off instantly to find Soarin.

Soarin had already left Ponyville with Pinkie Pie to plan the celebration. Spitfire knew this and quickly zoomed off after Rainbow Dash left to cut him off before Rainbow Dash found him. She knew Rainbow could fly extremely fast and would checking all over the place. Luckily for her, Rainbow had been to angry and impatient to ask if Spitfire knew where Soarin was. 

It only took Spitfire a few minutes to reach Soarin. She was flying as fast as she did in her races, she didn't want to take any chances. Soarin may remind Rainbow of what really happened back in Cloudsdale and that wouldn't help anypony. 

"Soarin! Soarin! Wait up!" Spitfire yelled as she reached neared Soarin and Pinkie. They were taking a royal carriage back to Canterlot, for the sole reason of Pinkie being grounded. 

"I'll be right back Pinkie." Soarin said immediately after hearing Spitfire. It wasn't that he cared so much of what his friend had to say, but more so he needed a break from Pinkie. The entire ride she had filled every second with words. He couldn't remember a second of silence at all. 

"What is it Spitfire?" Soarin said as he left the carriage and flew over to Spitfire. 

"Its about Rainbow Dash. She came and found me a few minutes ago about why we asked a filly before her to join the Wonderbolts." Spitfire said.

"Well, maybe I should tell you why then." Soarin said. 

"It is of no matter, I already know enough. But she doesn't. She doesn't remember anything of her dark past at all. She thinks she left Cloudsdale by choice because she hated it and the other fillies." Spitfire replied.

"What, who told you?" Soarin said surprised seeing that Spitfire knew even that much. He was the master of entries and he had never told anypony what was up with Rainbow Dash and why he never asked her. He always would reply with 'I have my reasons.' or other replies of the such. 

"Not important. Just, shes looking for you. Don't remind her of the story. And no, I don't know it all, just that something happened to force her to leave Cloudsdale and it involved you. I just wanted to warn you." Spitfire said. "I'll go take Pinkie to Canterlot and you go find Rainbow Dash or something." Spitfire said quickly zooming off. 

"Why can't she just find me?" Soarin shouted back not wanting to deal with this either. 

"What? Can't hear you!" Spitfire lied in reply. She then quickly took the reins herself and charged off into the distance at a speed she normally didn't go to. 

She felt a little bad leaving Soarin to deal with it by himself, but she didn't really know what happened. And even if she did, it probably wouldn't be fun in the least bit. It was Soarin's problem after all, she thought trying to reassure herself.

"OK, Pinkie. Soarin had to go do something, so I'll help you. Did I miss anything important?" Spitfire asked. She knew the pink pony could speak a mile a minute, and at least it would take her mind off of this all. 

*****At the same time back in Rainbow's house*****

FWOOSH!

Scootaloo heard the noise come from the front room. She immediately charged out to see what it was. Unfortunately, whatever it was, was gone. The room was exactly like she remembered it. Maybe she just imagined the noise, she thought. 

She decided to take a quick look through Rainbow's room to see if the information was in there. She didn't want to open up Rainbow's dressers and invade her personal privacy though. Everywhere she looked, she couldn't find it. 

"She's probably on her way home now anyways." Scootaloo thought aloud before leaving Rainbow's house to see if she could cut her off. 

She flew around for a while almost aimlessly around Ponyville looking everywhere for Rainbow Dash. Eventually she saw a streak of Rainbow fly right by her face. 

"Rainbow!" Scootaloo yelled excitedly to no response. 

Rainbow Dash kept on going to wherever it was she was going. Scootaloo tried to follow her, but she was quickly outpaced by her. She didn't give up though. She could see the streak of rainbow blurring across the sky from a long way and followed her far behind. 

"I'm going to kill Spitfire later and then I'm going to tell her why." Soarin muttered to himself as he slowly flew back to Ponyville. He wasn't excited for this conversation. 

He then saw a streak of rainbow coming right for him. Rainbow Dash had found him already. He had no idea what to say or what to do. He really didn't want to accept her in, but she doesn't even know the reason why!

"Soarin!!" Rainbow Dash called as she zoomed forward. 

"Yes?" Soarin sighed.
> Chapter 7
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Soarin!!" Rainbow Dash called as she zoomed forward. 

"Yes?" Soarin sighed.

"So, tell me, what they hay is up? I went to talk to Spitfire about why you guys took a little filly before me and then she said something about how it was because of something in Cloudsdale that she wouldn't tell me and I don't even remember! So... WHATS GOING ON!" Rainbow Dash couldn't hide the anger in her voice. She didn't care anymore either. 

I don't wanna deal with this, I don't wanna deal with this, I don't wanna deal with this. Maybe telling her I'll give her a tryout will calm her down, then if she remembers or discovers anything, I can deal with it later, Soarin thought to himself. He had no other excuse besides telling her the truth, and that wouldn't help anypony. He was in a tough spot, no matter which decision he made, it wouldn't be correct. It simply came down to which would be less negative, and he knew which that was. 

"OK fine. Come with me. We'll see if you are up to Wonderbolts material and give you a tryout. First we have to find Coach then we can go to the track." Soarin said with a small hint of annoyedness in his voice. Rainbows emotions were to conflicted to notice anyways. 

"Really!" Her tone shot up from angry to happy in seconds. Heh, from what Spitfire said, I wouldn't think it would've been as easy as to say 'GIMME A TRYOUT!', she thought to herself. "Well what are you waiting for? Lets go!" She said immediately before shooting off. As the Wonderbolt's biggest fan, she already knew where they were headed. 

"I'm waiting for a new idea." Soarin mumbled to himself as he flew off after Rainbow. He just had to make sure that Rainbow didn't run into her  and everything would be fine. If she did, she might remember her past then everypony would be screwed. Or even if she didn't remember, the other pegasus may remember. It still surprised him as well that she could trot around with that pink pony everyday and never even remember anything. 

"Rainbow Dash! Wait up!" Scootaloo called. She had finally managed to catch a glimpse of Rainbow, right before she zoomed off again. Scootaloo sighed and continued on trailing behind Rainbow, and now Soarin too. 

The two of them were polar opposites. Rainbow was more excited and happy than ever since she knew she was seconds away from accomplishing her goal. Soarin looked like he wanted to just slam his head on the wall and pass out just to get away from this. 

You know what they say, 'Hell is what you make it.', Soarin said to himself. He knew that part of this story was his fault anyways. He still wasn't sure whether he was in the right place at the right time, or the wrong place at the wrong time. He had saved both of the pegasi's lives that day. 

Maybe I can just skip town and go live in Baltimare and get a new identity, Soarin joked to himself. As enticing as it sounded based on current times, he knew he couldn't. He knew he just had to suck it up and be a real colt and not a wuss. Deep down he knew this was how it would all end up anyways. He just never wanted to admit it to himself. 

It didn't take long before Rainbow and Soarin arrived at the Wonderbolt's track in Cloudsdale. 

"We're here Rainbow, now lets go find Coach." Soarin said as they slowed down. Soarin went up to the base cloud-house and unlocked the door and led Rainbow Dash inside

"Coach! Coach! You in here? Its Soarin!" Soarin called out once they were inside the house. It was the Wonderbolts main office place, if you wanted to put a name to it. Even so, not much office work was ever done inside. It was more of an indoor practice room or just a place to hang out, as that was what it was used for. Whenever they needed to do some paperwork or something of the sort, their coach would always whip through it, and they rarely ever got paperwork anyways. 

"Yes? Soarin? Whatcha need boy." The coach said as he came into view. "Ay, ya brought a girl with ya?"

"Ya... I want her to try out to join the Wonderbolts." Soarin replied. 

"We got special talent falling from the skies this week! Three in only a few days. Our teams gonna double by the end of this week at this rate." The coach joked. "Come on you two, lets get to it." 

The coach was a pegasi as well. He had a dark blue coat and a greyed mane that had tiny remnants of blue in it. Rainbow's first impression of him was that he must be old by now and he used to have a blue mane. She thought he was probably in the Wonderbolts before he got too hold, and when we was too old he was hired as their coach. 

"Ya'know Soarin, I've been wondering how long it would be until you asked this'in to join. I saw her amazing performance during the last young fliers competition. A sonic rainboom! And 'ere I thought they were just myths. In all my years, I had never seen one before." The coach said as they walked outside to the track. Then he began rambling on about his past and how flight talent was back then. It didn't interest Rainbow that much and Soarin had heard all of it more than once already. 

Outside on the track the coach explained the routine that Rainbow would have to perform. First he wanted to see how she compared up to current members, so her first trial was to fly a set with Soarin around the track. 

"On yer mark! Get set! Go!" The coach brought down a checkered flag to signal for the two pegasi to begin their race. 

The two rocketed off from the starting line and spun around three laps. It wasn't much of a race though. Soarin wasn't even all that surprised at the outcome. Rainbow had a lead on him the entire race. It wasn't a huge lead, but it was still a lead on one of the fastest fliers of Equestria. Soarin knew that chances were, Rainbow Dash would be in at least the top 3 fliers. Maybe even #1, but he doubted she was faster than that other pegasus...

Now that the coach saw that she could at least fly and the rest of this wouldn't be pointless, he instructed her on her next obstacle course. He explained it while he set up the course. 

First she would have to fly around moving disks. The disks were set up so that some moved in a horizontal circle and some moved in a vertical circle. They weren't organized and their setting was random. The disks also moved fast and the opening was only 35% of their surface area.

Afterwards, he wanted her to spin some clouds, just like she had done in the young fliers competition. The coach had liked that display enough to add it as a test in the tryouts session for the Wonderbolts. He already knew she would succeed on this part, but he still wanted to see it again. Probably just for his entertainment. 

Then she would have to do vertical dives and jumps. She would have to make turns on a dime while going straight. He set up markers to show when to dive or go up. She had to go straight the entire time, with the exception of 90 degree turns. The area given to begin the turn was also very small, and she wasn't allowed to slow down either. 

The final test was the simplest one, but also one of the most important. It required her to fly around the track as many times as possible. It was just a stamina test, to see how long she could last at top speed before slowing down. The coach had a speedometer with him to make sure she maintained her speed the entire time. When she began to drop dramatically, she was done. 

Rainbow Dash enthusiastically rushed through and completed all of the trials easily. She didn't make one single mistake, she was perfect. She even managed to do 27 laps around the track before falling down. When she was done though, she felt like fainting from the strain she had put on her wings to manage 27 laps. Soarin's record had only been 23 and Spitfires was 25. The other Wonderbolts were between 17-22. The minimum amount of laps the coach was looking for depended on the performance on the other trials. For Rainbow Dash, the minimum happened to be 16, meaning she greatly surpassed her required ability. 

"Oi! I haven't seen such fresh speed, agility, and stamina in a while. I remember back in the day when Spitfire first tried out. She was just like you, except not as good!" The coach laughed. "Well needless to say it doesn't require much thinking over to say you fit in perfectly. Screw the paperwork, I'm pulling you in now! Yer one of the best fliers I've seen in a very long time." He laughed again. 

"Great job Rainbow! Now we're like partners!" A voice called down from the stands. Nopony had noticed that during the trials, Scootaloo had finally caught up and had been watching Rainbow's spectacular performance the entire time. 

"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! I'M FINALLY A WONDERBOLT! THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER!" Rainbow cheered ignoring everything around her. She started flying and dancing about ecstatically. All of the negative emotions from before had left her. She then flew up and gave her little buddy a hug. 

"Heck ya were partners! You ready to set records all over Equestria as the best fliers ever?" She cheered. All her anger and contempt and jealousy towards Scootaloo had disappeared. She couldn't even believe she had ever been mad at the cute little orange filly in the first place. 

"Ya!" Scootaloo cheered back. She had also completely forgot that part of the reason she wanted to find Rainbow was because she thought somepony broke into her home. 

"So, what are ya gonna do first?" Soarin asked Rainbow Dash when she calmed down a little bit. 

"I'm gonna go tell everypony!" She said before zooming off to go tell all of her friends the great news. 

"Soarin," Scootaloo began, "how come she wasn't already a member? Coach said she's the best flier he has ever seen. And hes old, hes seen a lot!" 

"First off, don't call your elders 'old' or any variants, its rude. Secondly, I don't know why." He lied. He never shared the full story with anypony else yet and he wasn't going to start with a child. 

> Chapter 8
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash zoomed through the sky, charging back to Ponyville to share her great news. The amount of joy shown on her face wasn't nearly close to the amount she was feeling. 





"RAINBOOOOWW!! YOU IN HERE?!" Twilight shouted in Rainbow Dash's house. The remaining four of them had come back to check on her and when they came around, they found an empty home. 

"I guess she finally got up and out herself." Rarity said when no response was given to Twilight's calls. 

"We should still go find her." Fluttershy said. 

"Ya." Twilight agreed. "Come on girls, lets go." 

"Hey!! Guys! Wait up!" Rainbow Dash shouted. The other four could see nothing less than a blur of rainbow that increasingly encroached upon them. Before it bowled them all over, Rainbow Dash stopped in her tracks right in front of them with the biggest smile ever on her face. 

"Uhh, wha's up partner?" Applejack asked surprised by Rainbow's sudden attitude change.  

"Guess!" Rainbow Dash cheered the word everypony loves to hear when there's news afoot. 

"Uhh..." Twilight began before being cut off by Rainbow Dash.

"I got into the Wonderbolts!!" Rainbow Dash squealed out. 

Round of congratulations came out from all her friends immediately, after the initial shock of the amazing news. 

"Wow! How'd you get in?!" Fluttershy asked excitedly. 

"Actually, it wasn't that hard. I just yelled at Spitfire and Soarin for a while before they gave me a tryout and I got in for being, well, awesome!" Rainbow Dash cheered. 

"Well that's amazing darling! How come they never had you tryout or whatever earlier?" Rarity exclaimed. 

"Who cares! I'm in the Wonderbolts now! I'm awesomer than awesome!" Rainbow Dash cheered. 

"Well, what happens know?" Fluttershy asked. 

Rainbow Dash stopped for a moment and thought for a minute before replying. "I.. uhh I don't know. Whatever it is my life is complete now!" She said still beaming. 

"Well we should go to Canterlot and tell Pinkie and add your name to the party." Twilight suggested. "We can catch the next train easily." 

"Ya! That sounds like a great idea!" Rainbow Dash said with the others agreeing. 

"Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo yelled as she flew over to them. After flying forever she had finally caught up.  

"Hey Scoots!" Rainbow called back.

"Congrats on joining the Wonderbolts, now were like teammates!" Scootaloo said as she landed on the cloud.  

"Ya, I told you that you'd be a great flyer one day!" Rainbow Dash replied happily. "Were all going to Canterlot to see Pinkie Pie and the party. You wanna come on too little buddy?" 

"Ya definitely." Scootaloo replied. 

The group of them then took off on their trip. The next train was full so they had to wait another two hours at the train station for the next one. They were able to get first class being the first ponies to buy tickets for the next train. 

The train ride itself was uneventful and boring, well except for Rainbow Dash. She just went on and on and on beaming about her new position. She was only going a little crazy with wondering what she would be doing next. She probably should have asked before flying off from HQ. 

When they finally arrived in Canterlot it wasn't too difficult for the to find there friend. There was only one real destination where Pinkie Pie would go. Only the best foundations could be used for her party and with Celestia as a friend, getting the best wouldn't be too hard.

The six of them went over to the courtyard next to the building where the gala had been held before, chances were she would be in one or the other. It ended up being the former as they saw a path of party layed out around the courtyard with decorations and everything already being put together. 

"Oh thank god." Spitfire said to herself as she saw the others arriving. "Hey! Over here!" She called the newcomers over. 

"Hey Spitfire! Guess what?" Rainbow Dash said excitedly as she sped over to her. "I'm your newest teammate!" She said without even giving Spitfire a chance to speak. 

"Well congrats then Rainbow. Its a pleasure to welcome you aboard, did you leave before anypony could tell you anything or not?" She asked as if it was a routine thing to say. 

"Oh ya, I um kinda did." She replied a little embarrassed. 

"OK, well we can add your name to the banner and stuff here and afterwards we can get you fitted for an out-form and a special passport for traveling." Spitfire said. 

"A passport? For what?" 

"Well, we travel a lot if you haven't noticed. Its a passport so we get free hotel rooms and free transport if we aren't flying." 

"We travel that much? So does that mean I'm not going to be in Ponyville that much anymore?" The excitedness in her voice was dropping a little as she quickly realized she'd be away from her friends more than she'd expect. 

"Yes, most of the time, you won't be here in Ponyville."

"Well... can they at least come with me?" Rainbow said motioning towards her friends. 

"I'm sorry, but they can't. It doesn't really work like that." Spitfire said a bit awkwardly. She could see Rainbow Dash's spirits being crushed a little. 

An awkward silence followed. Until it was broken by Rainbow Dash for what seemed to have the sole reason of breaking the silence. 

"So... on one hand I live my dream and be even awesomer.... but on the other hand I get to see my friends." Rainbow muttered, crushed. "I'm gonna go think things over for a little while..." Rainbow then said before quickly flying off to be alone. 

The rest of them just stood there silent the entire time not sure what to do. 

"Well, um, what do we do know?" Twilight spoke up first. 

"I guess just go through as planned. You girls should probably go find her though. She may say she wants to be alone, but she doesn't." Spitfire said recollecting her past. "I guess, I'll just stay here and watch your pink friend whenever she gets back. Make sure she doesn't break anything else." she continued. 

"What'd the gal break?" Applejack sighed. 

"The budget for this party. I don't know how she manages to do it back in Ponyville, because she seems to be fine doing whatever it is she is doing." Spitfire replied, still wondering how that pony does it. 

"OK, well then we should go check on Rainbow Dash, wherever she went." Fluttershy said.