Sounds of the Sunset.
"Have you ever had that moment... where you stop for a moment and think about what we've been through? Five years... it's crazy. It's been five years since I met Twilight, since my life turned around and became something totally new and awesome."
Rainbow Dash watched birds fly by, their wing beats sounding loud through the sky. She saw pegasi moving the clouds while a warm southern wind blew them about. She took a deep breath and let out a sigh, deep and relaxed. She smelled freshly baked cookies being carried aloft through the wind, and the sounds of music carried on the breeze. Calm and melodic, not her usual style, but soothing. A smile formed on her face, small and fleeting, her mind turning to every little adventure she'd ever had.
Rainbow turned away from her kitchen window, finishing up her half eaten apple doughnut, and taking her leave of the kitchen. She stepped through her house on soft hooves, like walking on air. She flapped her wings, stretching them and flexing them while opening the door to the outside. She was greeted by an orange sky, grey and blue clouds and that warm summer breeze. She could smell and hear even clearer now, the fresh air cleared her mind and left it open to thought, meanwhile she looked for a cloud to sit on. She turned right and slowly tread to the balcony of her cloud home. The only clouds around that she could sit on was her own balustrade. The other clouds created a beauty only Rarity could admire without it looking weird. As much as she hated to spite herself, seeing the clouds like this during a sunset was...
"Beautiful." A true smile appeared on her face, calm and peaceful, her eyes closing slowly as Octavia's piano played. The notes danced on the wind and into Rainbow's ears.
"Oh right, Pinkie Pie is throwing her 'Tantabus defeat party' this afternoon. I'd almost forgot," Rainbow thought to herself before poking at the surface of the balustrade in idle boredom.
Tank had been asleep for an hour now and Scootaloo was off with her friends. Rainbow was alone, bored and alone. Not a great combo, she thought. She yawned and looked around, eyes half lidded, a bemused smile taking the place of the calmer one. She sighed and looked down to where Twilight's library once stood.
"I remember that old thing. The first day I arrived in Ponyville, somepony else was living there. They were messier then Twilight," she laughed. "To hollow out a tree to make a library? That was the weirdest thing back then, I didn't even read books all that much at the time either.
"Looking back on my time in the hospital, after that accident that broke my wing, I'm actually glad that Twilight got me into reading. The Daring Doo books are by all means, awesome. Now I have all the books in the series, I have the next one pre-ordered... hmm...
"I never really think about it... the adventures my friends and I have been on. Five years, we've had the best times."
"Rainbow Dash?"
Rainbow snapped out of her trance and look toward her right. Fluttershy was landing; she hovered slightly above the cloud's surface before landing gently on all four hooves.
"Hey Fluttershy, what's up?"
Fluttershy walked over to Rainbow, hopping up on the balustrade and sitting down on her haunches beside her. She gave Rainbow a caring smile, which she returned.
"I thought I'd pay you a visit, we haven't seen each other since we defeated the Tantabus," she started to frown, "are you feeling alright?"
"I'm okay, Fluttershy. I was just remembering when Twilight introduced me to the Daring Do books."
Fluttershy's smile returned in an instant. "I remember you used to act strange when we came around. Then you ended up getting chased late at night for trying to sneak into the hospital just to read it," she giggled.
Rainbow laughed with her. "And to think, months later we'd meet the real Daring Doo."
"And you wanted to tag along."
Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck, "Yeah, I thought I messed up when Daring got caught, but that was part of her plan. We kicked Ahuizotls' butt"
"We did, didn't we?" Fluttershy giggled, then looked out toward the sunset.
Rainbow’s gaze turned to the west too. I let out a deep sigh as another breeze came. Fluttershy's mane flowed like it was made for it. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"It's been a long time since we sat like this, hasn't it?"
"Yeah, way too long." Rainbow stretched out her wings and let out a satisfied yawn. "The last time we sat together and watched the sunset was when we were at Junior Speedster's Flight Camp, right?"
Fluttershy gave a confirming nod, "It's not hard to remember, is it?"
"Well, no. I remember it as easily as my first rainboom," she snorted.
"We used to sit together on any cloud we wanted, and watch the sunset together. That was one of your favorite things to do."
A corner smile formed on Rainbow's face. "I used to open up a little during then too. Before Gilda came, watching the sunset would be one of few things I looked forward to at the end of the day, other than a nap. But I'd always ditch you in favor of racing her."
"I was never mad at you."
A bittersweet smile flashed on Rainbow's face. Octavia's piano grew louder once the wind picked up again. Then Fluttershy started to giggle.
"What's so funny?" Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow, looking at Fluttershy in wonder.
"Rainbow Crash," she said in a suppressed voice. She placed a hoof up to her mouth and shut her eyes, trying to contain her laughter in vain.
Rainbow looked at her, surprised and embittered at her response. "Come on! Fluttershy was calling me that now? And she thinks it's funny?!"
"W-what the heck, Fluttershy?! You gonna start calling me that now?!" Rainbow glared at her.
"Oh no Rainbow Dash, I wasn't poking fun at you. Do you recall that one time we all got played by the Poison Joke?"
It didn't take much to remember. Rainbow's glare dropped and was replaced with a warm look on her face. "How could I not, Flutterguy?" a smirk appeared on her face.
Fluttershy stammered and tried to find her words, "H-hey... y-you don't have to bring that up..."
Rainbow chuckled. "Too bad, you brought up my symptoms. It's only fair I do the same to you."
"You're so mean..." whined Fluttershy with an amused smile.
"I'm awesome, and I know." Rainbow gave Fluttershy the same smile.
They paused for a while, letting time pass and to take in the view. The pegasi moving the clouds had left to allow the wind to do away with them, a cool, warm, refreshing wind. "How many more times am I going to describe that? I mean seriously..."
Fluttershy grinned. "Oh, oh, remember the Changelings?"
"I remember, do you remember when I socked one in the head?"
"Poor thing, but yes, I remember. Our relationship with the Changelings hasn't improved since then."
"One was invited to Cranky's wedding, and we had to stop a hoard after that, remember?"
"I remember," sighed Fluttershy. "I just feel awful that we hurt them so much."
"You know what makes me feel awful?"
Fluttershy looked at Rainbow Dash and lifted an eyebrow. "What?"
"I tried to care for your animals when our cutie marks got switched, I was literally you but with so much more awesome."
"Oh..." Flutters looked down.
"Hey, don't take that the wrong way, okay? You're awesome as you are now. You're one of my oldest friends, and I wouldn't have it any other way."
Fluttershy blushed and hugged Rainbow Dash, putting her hooves around her and resting her head on the back of Rainbow's neck. Rainbow returned this, then they let go. Flutters grinned, but Rainbow smiled.
"You know, I just had a thought..." Fluttershy said, almost hesitantly with a slight stammer.
"What's your thought, Fluttershy?"
"What do you think would have happened if we didn't win at the Equestrian Games tryouts?"
"You know what would've happened. Ponyville would have lost and we wouldn't be able to play. And Spike wouldn't be able to shine. We got lucky to get it; even if we didn't, we still gave it a go and gave it our all."
Fluttershy smiled at this then looked toward the sunset. Her smile slowly changed into a neutral expression; she looked back at Rainbow Dash, then to her hooves.
"Well, I better get going now... I have to prepare for the party. See you there, Rainbow Dash." Fluttershy flapped her wings and hovered upwards.
"See ya, Fluttershy."
Rainbow Dash watched Fluttershy take her leave, flying through the orange and yellow lights down to Ponyville, disappearing through a large grey cloud and leaving Rainbow be. Rainbow Dash sighed and watched the clouds roam by, the midsummer breeze blowing in her mane.
"You know what... I'm not spending my afternoon up here." Rainbow Dash let her wings out. They stretched centimeters across and flapped at her command. "I'm going to fly." She squinted and let herself fall.
~~~
The feel of the wind rushing past her ears, through her mane, through her feathers, it all brought feelings of excitement, joy and unending freedom. The wind is free, and so is she. Rainbow let her wings loose, and flew. She closed her eye and flew up, through the cloud and past her house, up into the clear airspace above the cloud cover. She could see the night in the east and sunset in the west; the setting sun kissed her body. She opened her eyes and looked out toward the sunset, her beauty maximized while she was bathed in the light She grinned ear to ear and launched herself forward, a burst of wind following her sudden movement.
Fast was her speed, like a jet, and swift was her movements, turning the clouds into her own game. She dodged, serpentined and ducked around and under clouds, creating hoops with some and flying through them for fun. She was in bliss, she laughed, a smile ear to ear, her forelegs held close to her body in a hug, her back legs pointed horizontal to her body. She flew straight up until she hit Celestia's sky barrier.
She looked down at the land below, Manehattan, The Crystal Empire, Canterlot, all of it. It looked so close, but so far. Rainbow Dash took in the view and a deep breath.
"The thing I love about flying this high, is that I get to see Equestria in its full awesomeness. On a clear day it's the most amazing thing. I bet someday my friends and I will go out there and explore the places nopony has dared to set hoof near, we'll beat back any bad guy that comes our way. Until Equestria is free of all things dark. But... what happens when it all ends..?
"I've asked Twilight, I've asked Applejack, but they say that when it's over, we should just go on about our daily lives... No way! I don't ever want to go back to my boring old life. Fighting magical creatures, saving everypony and hanging out with the girls, which has been my life for five years, has been the best. And to be honest, I'm afraid..."
Rainbow wrapped her wings around herself and dropped. She turned and twisted in the air before locking herself forward, plummeting to the ground like a missile. She squinted, she waited, and soon enough she reached terminal velocity. Her speed picked up; faster and faster she dove. Coming in hot, Rainbow corkscrewed her way down before she unleashed her wings once more and broke out of her dive, creating a rainboom and leaving a streak of rainbow in her wake.
The ponies of Ponyville stared in awe at the rainboom. Pinkie Pie took a photo, while Twilight stared at it from the town square. By the time the rainboom had subsided, it was already five o'clock. Rainbow's fun had allowed time to fly quite quickly. Rainbow Dash came to rest on the balustrade again, letting out a deep sigh of satisfaction.
"I love flying with an edge."
"Rainbow Dash!" called Twilight.
Rainbow looked down at Twilight, the clouds having been cleared by the rainboom. Twilight waved up to the blue pegasus and called again. "The party's starting, you're going to be late."
"Oh, right... Thanks Twilight, I'll be right down!" Rainbow back off of the railing and hurried herself inside.
She grabbed a basket of treats and left the house, taking flight once more to Pinkie Pie’s. It was a short flight, but she managed to get there in no time at all. Twilight waited at the front, a big kind smile worn proudly on her face.
"I saw that rainboom a moment ago."
Rainbow smiled, "I was just showing off."
"I'm sure," Twilight chuckled.
Both mares stepped into Sugar Cube Corner. A party horn sounded, streamers flew and confetti showered onto the ponies attending. The ponies cheered for no reason and continued to go about their partying activities. Fluttershy was standing by the punch with Rarity, Applejack was trotting in place in a little dance.
"Welcome everypony!!" Pinkie screamed at the top of her lungs.
Rainbow Dash stood by a corner and watched everypony mingle, dance, eat and have fun. As the sun’s final rays were disappearing, she looked out the window and sighed. A smile formed on her face as she came to realize her fears were unfounded, she snickered and sighed.
"As long as I have my friends, I have nothing to be afraid of, I am afraid of the end, and the future obstacles we will face, the threat of losing one another and being alone. But before that time comes, I'll always be here to fight alongside them, to laugh with them and tell them, they're my friends."