Blossomforth with all your might

Chapters

Act 1: It's all fun and games until...
Act 2: ...somepony dies from stage fright.
Act 3: Routine as usual...or not
Act 4: Break a Wing!
Act 5: Winging it
Act 6: And the winner is...

Act 1: It's all fun and games until...

Cloudsdale, wow. It seemed like forever since she'd been here. Blossomforth settled down on an outlaying cloudwalk along with her friend Honey.

"Wow..." her voice echoed her thoughts. "Feels like forever since I've been here!"

"Really? You don't visit your parents every now and then?" her tan friend asked.

"Oh, uh, they retired to Neighvada a few years back. What about you?"

Honey scoffed. "Believe it or not, not all pegasi are born in the cloud capital or go to school there. Nope, I was born and raised in Coltorado. Even if I was from around here, don't exactly have much of a family to check up on. I'm an only child, dad's a widower on the go, and other than Sandy, I didn't have much to go on as friends were concerned."

"Oh..." Blossomforth's mood dampened a bit at the somewhat dismal and blank backstory, but then peaked up when she had a realization. "Then...this is your first time here..."

"Huh? Uh, yeah. Kinda. Not a lot of museums or archeological digs up in the sky and-" Honey suddenly took note of a twinkle in Blossomforth's eye. "Uh, Blossom? What's with that look?"

"Tooouuurist~!" she sang out loud. "Tourist alert~!"

An eruption of cloud fluff sprayed out from all directions, and suddenly, a small group of pegasi were in front of them, lead by a snow white mare with a poofy yellow mane.

"Huh? Wha-?" Honey was only able to mumble half a coherent sentence before her mouth was filled with streamers as the lead pony honked a noisemaker loudly in front of her and began to dance and sing.

"Ohhhhh...welcome welcome welcome! Welcome new pony!~
Welcome welcome welcome! To our fair cloud city!~
Welcome welcome welcome! To you I say hooray!~
Welcome welcome welcome! Here in Cloudsdale todaaaay!~"

The rest of the pegasi let loose a row of poppers at the last falsetto.

"What's going on?" the archeologist finally exclaimed.

"What's going on is you're a first time visitor to Cloudsdale!" the blonde pegasus chirped directly in her face. "And as head of the Cloudsdale welcome committee, I, Surprise, am solemnly sworn to greet all new ponies and give them the grand tour of this super wonderful cloudy paradise!"

"Uh, yeah, listen, I'm just here with my friend to buy some tickets for-"

"So off we go!" The perky pegasus hoisted and chucked the newcomer into a large cloud cart, ducked under and appeared at the front of the wagon with wearing an attendant's cap and holding a large megaphone in hoof. "Please keep your hooves, wings, and tails inside the moving vehicle at all times, and thank you again for choosing Surprise Tourlines as your mode of transportation today. We have such a fun-filled busy day ahead of us! So many places to see, so little time!" She then turned to the two pullers in the front. "Alright. Endless Clouds, Pumpkin Tart, let's move 'em out!"

"Wait!" Honey protested, but found herself snugly rooted to her seat by a series of seat belts. She turned frantically to her friend shrinking in the distance. "Blossom, help!"

"There's no stopping a Surprise welcome committee!" The watermelon maned mare called back. "Just go with the flow and enjoy the sights!"

"But what about the Best Flier's competition? We were supposed to get tickets for the gang!"

"Don't worry! I can get them on my own! I'll see you back here at six!"

"You? By yourself?! But-but-!" Anything more from the tan pony couldn't be heard as the welcome wagon dove over the edge of the platform and out of sight. Blossomforth just chuckled as she fluttered towards the Cloudsdale stadium.

"Honestly, that Daring is such a worry wart. I mean, what could possibly happen to me if I'm on my own for a few hours?"

My Little Pony, My Little Pony

Ahh, ahh, ahh, ahhh…

(My Little Pony)

I used to wonder what friendship could be

(My Little Pony)

Until you all shared its magic with me

Great discoveries!

Tricks galore!

A rich slice of life,

And a heartfelt score.

Budding courage,

It's an easy feat

And magic makes it all complete!

You have my little ponies

Do you know you're all my very best friends?

The air was bustling with activity as Blossomforth entered the large doors before her. Workers were hanging up posters and banners, athletes were flexing and stretching, merchants were setting up vendors and stocking memorabilia merchandise, and fans of all ages were gossiping, squeeing, and jittering all over for their favorites.

Another huge turnout this year, the flower loving pegasus thought to herself as she wandered the noisy coliseum halls. Seemed only yesterday she was explaining about the upcoming spectacle to her bosom buddies...maybe because it was yesterday.

"Best Young Flyer's Competition? What's that?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, just a little contest Cloudsdale throws every year. It's where all the greatest pegasus flyers get together and show off their different flying styles," Blossomforth explained. "A whole bunch of my seniors go to watch the festivities every year."

"My, my. That's sounds very exciting," Sherbet said. "Are you planning on attending?"

"Me? Uh, well...I've gone once or twice." Blossomforth shrugged as she downed a biscuit. "I guess it's pretty neat, though I probably would rather stay home and cultivate my spice garden."

"I'd like to watch the competition sometime," Honey said. "Be a nice break from my research."

"Perhaps Trixie will indulge with said performance as well," the showmare next to her concurred. "Would be a somewhat whimsical idea to see how pegasi work their magic."

"Really? You all want to go?" Blossomforth asked.

"Yeah, sounds fun!" Spike said.

"Actually, we were planning on re-cataloging my alchemical notes this week, so we'll be swamped," Twilight interjected.

"Again? But Twiliiiiight-" Spike whined.

"No buts, Spike. Princess Celestia doesn't just give holidays to her students at the drop of a hoof. I still want to finish that special talent enhancer potion I'm working on by the end of the year."

Spike then rubbed his chin, an idea forming in his head. "That reminds me, didn't the princess say she was overseeing the tournament this year?"

"Princess Celestia's going to be there?!" Twilight then realized she had teleported on top of the cafe table, staring down at her dragon assistant. Everypony around was looking at her strangely as she sat back down nervously. "Heh, well...I suppose I could use that opportunity to turn in a few essays in pony."

"There is a scratch for every itch," Octavia said to Spike. "It looks like you found hers."

"My lady, you haven't seen anything yet," Spike whispered back glibly.

"Well I guess if it's unanimous, I can head up to Cloudsdale tomorrow and get us all some tickets to the stadium."

"Uh, maybe I should come with you," Honey quickly piped up at Blossomforth suggestion.

"Yeah, that may be a good idea," Twilight concurred. Everypony else murmured in agreement.

"Huh? Why? You shouldn't have to take off time from your schedules just to help me get some tickets."

Everypony averted Blossomforth's naive gaze for a moment.

"Um...not to be inconsiderate or anything..." Trixie started.

"But...when you tend to...do things by yourself..." Sherbet continued.

"You kinda get...uh..."

"Sidetracked," Spike bluntly finished for Twilight.

Blossomforth just laughed it off. "On come on! I'm not that easily distracted! I can get a job done quick and easy as any other pony!"

"Really?" The baby dragon folded his arms across his chest. "What were you doing before you saw us and flew down to join us for a snack?"

"Oh, I was just on my way to pick my team's pizza order." Blossomforth's smile suddenly melted away as she jumped up and zoomed off in alarm. "Oh no! Lunch duty! I completely forgot I'm on lunch duty!!"

Shaking her head, she pouted to herself. Okay, that had been a bad example. Maybe she did tend to be a little more absentminded than most at times, but that didn't mean she wasn't reliable. She always got the job done in end, like that whole water delivery thing a while back. Besides, it's not like she ever made any HUGE mistakes, say-

"Oof!"

Her face bumped snout to snout with another pony and they both tumbled over to the ground.

"Oh, omigosh I'm so very sorry! I didn't see you there, are you okay?"

"Fine, fine. It's alright. I was the one that bumped into you. Head in the clouds there for a moment- wait..." Blossomforth knew that soft, melodious, and over apologetic speech. It was a voice you could never forget that belonged to a pony you could never forget. She quickly looked to the long pink mane concealing the butter yellow coat underneath. "Fluttershy?"

Baby blue eyes peeked out of the silky pink locks, a tiny squeaking voice braving the air after it. "B-blossomforth?"

"Oh my goodness, Fluttershy it is you! Oh, it's been so long!" Blossomforth swept the extremely shy pegasus up in a hug. "Haven't seen you since graduation!"

"O-oh! It's...it's nice to see you too again," her old friend smiled meekly. "I didn't...think anyone would remember me..."

"Are you kidding?" Blossomforth snapped her hoof against Fluttershy. "Flower buddies for life, right? We low fliers stick together."

Boy, was this a blast from her past! Fluttershy had to be the only flier in her class that had gotten lower marks than her. She was so inward and demure it took literally bumping into her to start a conversation. But what's more, she was also the only pegasus besides her who loved life more to the ground than in the air.

It had been so sad for them both that she had to move away to her internship in Manehattan without little more than a goodbye. She had wanted to keep in touch, but had been in such a rush to pack up she plumb forgot she had no idea where her flower buddy lived or to ask for a mailing address. With no way of finding her again, it seemed as if she would fade away from her life forever.

But now she was here! She had been reunited with her flower buddy again by sheer luck! Oh, this was so exciting, there was so much to catch up on!

"How've you been? Tell me everything! Where are you roosting these days?"

"Oh, um...I...I run a veterinary clinic in a small cottage I've rented out in Ponyville..."

"Wait, wait, Ponyville? You live in Ponyville now? Oh, rosestickers! I just missed you! I was just there a few months back attending my friend's reunion at Sweet Apple Acres. If I'd known you were just around the corner, I would've given you a ring!"

"Oh, I'm so sorry about that! Should I have...wait-" Fluttershy's head straightened out of it's turtle shell position. "Sweet Apple Acres?"

"You know the place?"

"Oh, yes!" Fluttershy nodded sweetly, "I give regular check ups to their dog all the time. That Winona is such a sweet little cutie."

Blossomforth giggled in return. "Obviously, you've never worn a hat around that energetic rascal. Let me tell you a little thing she did with my pal Trixie at the reunion-"

Neither of them realized it, but they had just stepped outside into the sunlight.

"Oh my goodness, that Lightning Dust mare did all those horrible things?" Fluttershy munched on a cloud crepe as she listened to her old schoolmate's recollection.

"Mmhmm, with one entire squad out of commission, the city was in danger of not having enough wingpower to get the windforce necessary. If I hadn't gotten my herbal remedies together for a quick temp fix, Spitfire would have cancelled the whole operation. And even then, they fell just five points short of the limit, my five points."

"Oh, you mean-!"

Blossomforth nodded, sipping her bubble tea. "I made the difference that day. Me! Tree hugging, grass rooted, Blossomforth, lead a whole injured team to a successful tornado delivery. And I'm still just a junior cadet!"

"Oh wow, that's incredible. You've gotten so brave and charismatic." Fluttershy wiped her mouth with a napkin. "You're like another Rainbow Dash!"

Rainbow Dash, now there was another familiar name. Bold, brash, always delighted to show off, that mare was an infamous academy legend. If anything, she made school life much more easier for ponies like her and Fluttershy by taking a lot of heat from the bullies that thought she was just a nopony hopelessly trying to be a somepony. If memory served, she was headstrong, but hadn't an inkling when and where to pick her fights. She probably wouldn't have been labeled as a troublemaker and left early if she had.

"The big hero of the wimps, huh? I wouldn't go that far. Makes me wonder though, what's she doing now?"

"Oh, she's my neighbor now," Fluttershy answered. "She runs the weather patrol, just like you."

"Oh no no no," Blossomforth waved her hooves. "I'm just a cadet, not a captain. Still, weather patrol's kinda selling yourself short for a mare of her attitude. I thought she was always declaring back in school she was going to be a Wonderbolt someday."

"Oh, she is," Fluttershy explained. "In fact she's entering the Best Fliers Competition just for that. She told me this year's first prize is a personal day with them." She then gasped. "Oh no! I forgot! I was supposed to be working on my cheering for her while she was signing up. Quick, tell me, how does this sound?"

She inhaled deeply and..."Yay."

Blossomforth just stared blankly at her old friend, desperately fighting back a laugh. Only you, Fluttershy...only you...

"Too loud?" the meek pegasus asked.

"Don't you worry Fluttershy," Blossomforth said, placing a hoof upon hers. "You won't be the only one cheering for Rainbow Dash now. I'll be sure my friends and I put our best hoof forward to support her too."

Now it was her turn to gasp as the window of tranquility broke for a crashing reality. "My friends! The tickets! I completely forgot to buy the tickets!"

"Oh no! I just realized! I didn't buy my ticket either! Oh I'm so sorry this is all my fault I-"

A chime of the cafe's clock signaled to the two it was now 4:45.

"The stadium locks out in fifteen minutes! We gotta get those tickets before the box office closes!"

Jerking Fluttershy's hoof with a tight grip, Blossomforth charged ahead with an 'oh no oh no oh no' and an 'oh dear oh dear oh dear' trailing behind.

Bursting into the now nearly empty halls, the two frantically swiveled her their heads left and right.

"Ticket booth, where's the ticket booth around here?!"

The two ran around the circular dome, but every door around them seemed to be closed and locked up tight.

Stupid, stupid, Blossomforth! Your friends were right, you do need help keeping your mind on track! Now I'm probably not going to be able to take them to the contest because of-

She skidded to a halt as a lit open door off to the side came in view. "There! Fluttershy! That must be it! There's still time!"

With one last gallop over the edge, the pair tumbled inside, where a pine green receptionist looked over her table to the two mares on the floor before her.

"I-is there still time?" Blossomforth asked weakly from beneath her compatriot's belly.

"You're in luck, we were just about to close up for today." The receptionist straightened some papers on the desk and took out a quill. "Can I get your names and addresses?"

"Um...uh...why would you need-" Fluttershy started.
"Blossomforth, 104 Garden Way, Manehattan!"
"Oh, um, okay I guess...Fluttershy...12 Willow Grove, Ponyville."

"Okay..." The green mare finished scribbling the info down and slid the bottom of a paper to them. "Now I just need your hoofprint here."

"Uh...but why...okay," Fluttershy relented again as Blossomforth dabbed both their hooves in the ink pad next to the papers and pressed down.

"Oh yeah, by the way, I'll need seven, and one for her," Blossomforth said as the desk mare took the forms back.

"Sorry miss," she replied. "Those numbers are taken. Hope you don't mind 13 and 14."

Blossomforth looked in confusion at the large numbered posters that were placed in her and Fluttershy's hoof. "Uh, wait. These look like contestant badges."

"That's cause they are," the coliseum employee clarified. "I know, I know. It's complete downgrade from last year's jerseys. Blame the bureaucrats for that. Look on the bright side, it won't affect your performance."

"P-p-p-p-p-performance?" the butter yellow mare squeaked.

"H-hold on." Blossomforth's dawning comprehension started to kick in. "Are you saying- did we just-"

"Signups are closed, please come back tomorrow!" the attendant loudly announced over the microphone as she shoved the two last minute entrants out of the office.

"Hey! Wait! There's been big misunder-"

And the doors locked behind them.

The two ground loving pegasi just sat there in the empty hall now, a scared silence dominating over them.

Biting her lip, heart in her throat, the yellow one finally broke the quiet. "Did...did we just-?"

"We-" Blossomforth gulped, "-just signed up for the Best Fliers Competition!"

Act 2: ...somepony dies from stage fright.

Blossomforth shamefully hung her head low in the Manehattan library foyer, where seated around a large round table were her five friends, all staring at the laminated plastic labeled with the number 13 laying on the hardwood center.

"Sooooo..." Trixie finally broke the silence. "Run this by Trixie again, how exactly does one go into a stadium to buy tickets and then come out as a contestant?"

"How could this happen?" Twilight sighed in exasperation. "Honey, we told you keep an eye on her!"

"Hey, it's not my fault the weather factories have fifty separate facilities, all open to the public!" the tan pegasus complained. "By the time I got to the Cloudiseum, Blossom here was slouched over the steps with the thing in hoof."

"I'm sorry," their white flier muttered. "I guess I really am a flower loving scatterbrain."

"It's fine," Sherbet reassured her. "We still love you regardless and wouldn't want you any other way."

"The open minded are more naive than they are narrow," Octavia mused. "You are an innovator, not an imitator."

"Oh, thanks," Blossomforth said. "...I think."

"Well then, ticket incident aside," Trixie continued, "perhaps we can address the other issue she brought back with her, say...these two?"

With a wave of her foreleg, she pointed behind her to two other pegasi, a butter yellow one cowering behind a rather annoyed cyan one with a spectrum mane and crossed hooves.

"Hey, I don't like this any more than you do," the irked one groused. "Imagine my surprise when I find my friend Fluttershy after scouring every cloud in the city, and find out she's not going to be cheering for me, but flying against me in the competition!"

"I-I'm sorry Rainbow Dash," the mare behind her squeaked. "I-I-I didn't mean to...t-that is...I'm sorry!"

The cyan mare immediately turned to her remorseful friend, her face instantaneously softening. "Hey, it's okay Flutters, it's not your fault. I don't blame you-" she then whirled a both emotional and physical one-eighty, pointing an accusing hoof at the other pegasus who flinched at her sudden outburst. "-I blame you!"

"Hey!" Twilight shot to her hooves. "Don't go getting angry at her! She's just as distressed at this situation as your friend Fluttershy is!"

"Yeah? Well, I gotta be angry at something! Do you know how scared Fluttershy is to even go grocery shopping by herself?" Rainbow Dash circled this way and that as she ranted. "This contest will ruin her! It's taken her years to get over being a laughingstock at flight camp, she was teased almost every day!"

"And you think Blossomforth wasn't?" Twilight countered. "She's been bullied by the other pegasi just as much as she has! They filled her lunchbox with compost on a regular basis!"

"Bet you ten bits they didn't come up with a snippy little rhyme for her! Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy can hardly fly!"

Trixie then gave a disdainful turn of the cheek towards the brash pegasus. "Hmph. You know, for a pony that doesn't like teasing, you're pretty adept at picking on others yourself."

That brought herself muzzle to muzzle with the Ponyville weather captain. "You inferring something about me?" she growled.

"Oh no, Trixie was implying...you inferred it. It's pretty obvious which one of you two wears the thinking cap in your clique if that's your full extent of the equestrian vernacular."

Spike was right, thesauruses are a terrible birthday present. Next year I'm getting Trixie an almanac instead... Twilight thought as she watched one big ego puff itself up against another.

"You wanna dance, freaky cape? Huh? Cause if you don't want me to beat up on her, then I'll gladly beat-"

"STOP!" A pair of yellow hooves groped the barrel of the cyan pony while another pair of white ones pulled the azure one back. Fluttershy looked at her friend with disproving, yet completely fearful and pleading eyes. "Oh please oh please don't fight. I don't like it when ponies argue."

"Come on Trixie, don't provoke her," Blossomforth pleaded with her own friend. "Besides, this kinda really is my fault-"

"See? She's admits it!" Rainbow smugly blurted, only to be pulled deep into a blue eyed gaze that was no longer pleading, but scolding.

"Now see here, Rainbow Dash. I've known Blossomforth almost as long as I've known you and she is a very sweet pony who'd never do anything mean on purpose. So don't you be giving her a hard time just because I'm your friend and she isn't!"

Almost instantly, the cocky athlete seem to shrink back and wither under her stare. "Woah, hey, easy Flutters. I get it, I get it. No player hating. I'll back off."

The moment Fluttershy's intense stare softened and she smiled again, Rainbow Dash quickly regained some steam. "But you can't honestly tell me you're thrilled at the fact that bumping into her was what caused you be entered in the Best Young Fliers competition in the first place!"

"Well, I guess I don't like it but-"

"I mean, what are you going to do now? You drop out this late in the competition, you're pretty much saying 'look at me, everypony! I'm a no talent wimp that doesn't even deserve last place!' Every pegasi in Cloudsdale will mock you and then some!"

"Well, uh...uh...maybe I could-"

"And if you do go out there, we both know you're going to freeze up, crash, and make yourself into a big teasing target the minute you see all the hundreds of ponies watching you!"

"H-h-hundreds?"

"With the way balloon rentals have been going lately, maybe even thousands!"

*Meep*

With a frightened yelp, the shy, yellow pegasus dashed with alarming speed to the large potted fern right at the hallway entrance, and buried herself headfirst waist deep into the soil.

"You're not very good at pep talks, are you?" Honey deadpanned.

"Hey, all I'm saying is this has pretty much become a no-win situation that nopony is ever going to let her forget if she messes up, especially with the photographers that are going to be there."

"Photographers?" Blossomforth queried. "As in, for newspapers?"

"Not just newspapers. Magazines, pamphlets, documentaries, you name it! Somepony blows it in a competition this big, give it a week, and EVERYpony in Equestria and outside of it will know who's the biggest disgrace to ever be born with a pair of wings!"

"E-every...pony? Disgrace?" Blossomforth felt a ball of nervousness grow in the pit of her stomach This was starting to sound more like some kind of Equestrian Hunger Games than some flight competition. Losing couldn't be that serious, could it?

"No pony would want to associate themselves with loser like that. You'd probably get fired from your job afterwards, run out of town, maybe even put in jail for such an appalling performance, you'd lose everything and nopony would ever let you forget it for the REST. OF. YOUR. LIFE."

Blossomforth made a beeline for the large plant. "Scoot over," she told the half buried occupant before she herself mimicked her actions.

Twilight turned to the cyan pegasus with annoyance. "Rainbow Dash, I think you're greatly exaggerating this-"

"And that's just all the shame somepony will get from the media! I can't even imagine what all the someponies in those VIP boxes will have to say about this. The governor-general of Cloudsdale always attends the annual competition. Heck, I hear Princess Celestia herself is coming this year!"

Twilight's lips froze in mid sentence. Princess Celestia would be there. And...and if Blossomforth does put on a horrific performance...right in front of her...

"It'd be more than just awful, it'd be an insult! What would she think of her? Her family? Her friends?"

Her friends...her friends...her friends...
"She'd probably think her friends weren't being very good friends, letting her get coerced into a situation that would make her an embarrassment when they could have done something to prevent it-"
"-that they didn't respect her-"
"-that her friend was being negligent in her friendship studies-"
"-she'd probably have them reprimanded-"
"-give that student a pop quiz to see if she wasn't being negligent and end up failing her-"
"-or whipped-"
"-maybe even disown her as her student-"
"-and banished!"
"-and send me back to magic kindergarten!!"

With a pop and plunge, a lavender unicorn joined the ranks of the hide like an ostrich club in the now very crowded potted plant.

"...annnnnnd there goes Twilight," Trixie confirmed. "Perhaps you'd like to comment on how cello careers could be affected by a flight competition scandal next?"

"Oooookay, I think I can see where this is going." Honey got up from her seat to leave. "Excuse me, I need to make a call..."

With that she disappeared from the group's view. Rainbow Dash finally settled down, taking the vacated seat. "Look, I don't want cause a panic, but that's pretty much Fluttershy's answer to every problem. And apparently it's also her old buddy's answer too."

"Fear is more often than not the substance that fills the void of anonymity," Octavia calmly spoke.

"What was that?" the cyan pegasus asked with a cocked head.

"I believe she means that the reason they're so scared is most likely because they have no idea what to do or what will happen exactly," Sherbet answered. "So adversely, if we were to make a plan on how to address the problem instead of just thinking about the problem, they would probably become less scared."

"Oh." Rainbow sat there for a few moments letting it sink in. "Then why didn't she just say that in the first place?"

Octavia sighed. "It takes all sorts I suppose..."

"Alright, enough gab," the rainbow-haired mare said, disregarding the gray earth pony's last quip. "Fluttershy dragged me into this, Blossomforth dragged you guys into this, so we might as well work together. Any ideas what to do first?"

"That's obvious," Trixie stated with a look at the three upward tails sticking out of the large pot. "We've got to harvest some pony-turnips."

"Eh, if I try to pull Flutters out, she's just stick her head back in and I'll have a lovely buck bruise to show my efforts," Rainbow said.

"If we wish to draw them out, it would be best by their own will," Octavia surmised.

"In that case, Trixie has a pretty good idea for Twilight Sparkle." with a glow of her horn, Trixie pulled a large reference book off the shelf, flipped it open, and with the teensiest tiniest motion, reached for the very edgiest miniscule corner of a page and-

*rip*

"Who damaged book ASF284, History and Achievements of the Modern Stonemason?!" Twilight's head shot out of the pot, a couple stray roots tangled in her mane.

"And voila!" the magician stated proudly. "Auntie Sherbet, would you do the next honors?"

"My pleasure." And with that, the orange businessmare procured a jar of potpourri from off from one of the reading stations, and blew on it towards the buried pegasi as she lifted the lid off.

A lone petal touched the rump of Blossomforth, and she sprouted out even faster than Twilight, sniffing anxiously. "Is that a mignonette, rosemary and lemon balm fragrance I smell?" She sniffed again. "With just a hint of cypress wood?"

"Two down, one to go," Trixie said, turning to Rainbow Dash. "Well? She's your friend. Know what makes her tick?"

"Oh, that's easy," Rainbow dismissed with a flick of the hoof that ended up resting on her chin. "Problem is, where on Equus are we going to find a bunny in a place like this?"

"Hey, Twilight. The camomile tea's ready!" Spike had taken half a step into the foyer with a tray of fine china and a kettlepot when a blur of yellow encompassed him.

"Ohmygoodness, a baby dragon!" the shy pegasus squealed. "Oh, I've never seen a baby dragon before. He's sooo cute!"

"Well, that could work too," Rainbow said with a grin as Twilight reached out with her horn's aura to catch the tray.

"Uh, hi?" Spike ventured.

"Oh my, he talks. I didn't know dragons could talk. That's just so incredibly wonderful I-I just don't even know what to say!"

"Twilight, your new friend's weirding me out a bit," the little dragon called from over her crouched shoulder.

"Just go along with it Spike," the librarian replied, her attention focused on pouring the tea. "This is pretty much the happiest she's been so far since we met her."

"So your name's Spike. I'm Fluttershy." The mare played with his frills a bit before squeeing again. "Wow, a talking dragon! And what do dragons talk about?"

"Well, what do you wanna know?"

"Absolutely everything."

A purple eyebrow was raised. "And now it's just passed into creepy," he muttered to nopony in particular. Then, with a shrug, he decided to make the most of his newfound popularity. "Well... I started out as a cute little purple and green egg... "

Meanwhile, Blossomforth sat down to enjoy a nice refreshing cup of tea. "So, what were we talking about again?"

"We're talking about how you and Fluttershy are going to be performing at competition," Sherbet explained.

"With as little freak out fiascoes as possible," Trixie added.

"Yeah, sorry about that," the white pegasus and lavender unicorn simultaneously apologized. Only Blossomforth continued though after a brief look at each other. "Guess herd mentality kinda got to my nerves for a moment. Unnnn...dropping out wouldn't be too much of a shame would it?"

"Are you kidding me? NOpony's dropped out of the Best Young Flier's Competition since Little Winglet forty-seven years ago, and I think we all know what happened to-MMMPPH!"

Rainbow Dash found herself with a mouth full of orange slices.

"We just got them to come out," Sherbet whispered into her ear. "I'd choose my next words carefully and delicately."

"I really don't understand the whole anxiety issues with your flying now that I think about it," Twilight pondered. "After all, you did such a great job regarding the whole tornado incident."

"That was just for weather duty," Blossomforth admitted. "It's my job. I didn't need to do anything fancy, just fly around in a circle. And I certainly didn't need to do it in front of a ton of ponies expecting a good show! I mean, I don't hate flying, I like it as much as any other pegasus at times. But I'm also not special at it either. This is nothing like the water tornado delivery, that was a group effort for which I had a whole team to rally behind, I'm by myself here with this stunt flying contest! How can I, a perfectly ordinary pony, hope to compare well against so many extraordinary athletes? I don't know first thing about performing or where to even begin!"

"We can begin..." a pith helm wearing pegasus announced as she walked in from the entrance, "by teaching you the basics in aerial stunt flying. And from there, we'll wing it."

Fluttershy turned her attention away from Spike and gasped as she took notice of the newcomer.

"And that's when Twilight finally stopped wetting the bed...hey, I was just getting to the interesting part!" Spike said as Fluttershy slowly walked away from him and crept closer to the legendary flier, finally reaching the limit of her awe as she delicately huddled behind Blossomforth's backside.

"You're...you're..."

"My friend gave me a buzz, said she needed some help getting a couple rookies ready for a debut performance. Nice to meet you, Fluttershy."

"Uh, who the heck are you?"

You could almost hear a needle scratch as all eyes turned to Rainbow Dash, who's face showed nothing but confusion and suspicion.

Honey was the first to push her jaw back to chin level. "Um, I'm sorry...you...don't recognize me?"

"Should I?" Rainbow's head quizzically cocked to the side.

"R-Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy exclaimed softly, "that's Daring Do!"

"Who?"

Honey could not help but suddenly burst into a fit of giggles. "I-I'm sorry," she gasped between laughs, "but you cannot believe how long it has been since I have heard that particular turn of phrase directed at me! You're telling me that you haven't heard or read any of the books about my excursions?"

Rainbow blew a detached raspberry. "Read? Bleh, I so don't read. I'm a world-class athlete, what would I need with books? Reading's for eggheads like her." She spared a glance at the librarian. "Heh, no offense, but reading is undeniably, unquestionably, uncool."

Now everyone else was giggling, even Fluttershy, to Rainbow's annoyance. Twilight seemed to be a little miffed at the egghead comment though.

"And just what pony told you that?" Sherbet asked with an amused look on her face.

"Oh, Rainbow...this again?" Fluttershy spoke in an all too apparent motherly tone. "Everypony loves a good book once in a while. They're nice and interesting and you can enjoy them without ever having to leave the comfort of your cozy, safe home."

"Who doesn't like to read a whizzbang tale every now and again?" Trixie laughed. "Why, some of Trixie's best bits come from story-telling!"

"A pony who won't read has no advantage over one who can't," Octavia mused. "It would appear you are actually the odd one out in this case."

"Reading isn't just for 'eggheads'," Twilight coolly argued. "There are all types of books, just like there are all types of ponies."

"I stand by my words," the stubborn and slightly indignant pegasus restated. "There's a reason books are shaped like squares."

Honey took a moment to fly up and browse the many shelves before finding what she was looking for. Yanking a large green book from the middle row, she swooped down and shoved it into the non-reader's hooves.

"Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone?" Rainbow read aloud from the cover.

"First in the series," the explorer explained. "Granted, it's more fiction than truth, but I got a feeling you're going to like it."

"Fat chance," the athlete scoffed. "I've got better things to do than waste my time sticking my nose into a bunch of pages. Not only do I now have to whip my buddy into non-humiliating shape, I've still got my own Sonic Rainboom to practice!"

"What's a Sonic Rainboom?" Twilight asked.

"Eh, an old urban legend among the pegasi," Honey explained. "If a pegasus can reach a speed faster than sound can carry, the resulting shockwave that would follow reacts with the light of his or her contrail, refracting and creating a mile wide spectrum ring. There was a big buzz about one happening some ten years back, but nopony had any proof."

"Hey! It's not an urban legend! And there was proof!" Rainbow puffed up pounded a hoof against her chest. "I'M the proof! That was me that day! I'm the one who did the Sonic Rainboom!"

"You?" Blossomforth was wide-eyed. "Woah, that's incredible!"

"Wow. If you pulled that off for the competition, you'd win the crown for sure!" Twilight stated.

"Yep, I'm just that awesome." Rainbow Dash flicked her trademark mane. "Twenty percent cooler than everyone else. Ain't nopony got a chance against the Dash!"

"It's like looking at a pegasus Trixie..." Spike whispered to his unicorn guardian with a cupped claw.

"Just be glad it's not another Lighting Dust..." she whispered back.

"Could we see it?"

Rainbow Dash suddenly flopped down on the ground again. "Huh? What?" she stammered at Blossomforth.

"The Sonic Rainboom! Could you show us? I'd love to see it!"

Rainbow quickly scrambled back up, her pupils shifting to the corners of her eyes while her tail flicked in a flighty manner. "Uhhh...well...maybe later. Shouldn't we be focusing on getting Flutters and Blossom into contestant worthy states?"

"Fair point, the competition is in three days." Honey proceeded to escort the pair of nervous fliers out. "Looks like we're going to have to take the crash course in aerobatics if you'll pardon the saying. There should be plenty of space in the park to get started."

The rest of the mares then proceeded to follow. "Well Spike, looks like we've got another series of training sessions to support," Twilight said as she scooped the dragon up on her back.

"It's like we get a new situation every week," he noted.

Act 3: Routine as usual...or not

"Faster!"

Fluttershy and Blossomforth panted at the commanding voice of Rainbow Dash. She blew her whistle yet again. "Another fifty around the tree and back, go go go!"

The pair softly winced as they arched their backs at what was perhaps their one hundredth wing up.

"No pain, no gain!" Rainbow crowed.

"Come on...lift it, lift it! Pull!"

With weights tied around their legs, the two struggled to stay airborne as an industrial class fan blew down on them from above.

The two trainees ran up the winding steps of Lookout Hill, head and leg sweatbands drenched, with a tail of cheering friends in tow. As they reached the top of the 5,723 step climb, they looked out to the expansive city before themselves, and with a look of triumph they jumped again and again with wings outstretched as right above them Rainbow Dash hoof pumped the air.

"Yeah...yeah! That's right!"

"Excuse me..."

Honey had her back leaned against a large maple tree with her forehooves wrapped behind her head. "When are we going to teach them some actual moves? This is a stunt competition after all."

"Oh...heh heh." Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her neck. "Oops."

Fluttershy slowly twirled to the left as Blossomforth curved up and over her over the central park greenery.

"Not bad you two," Rainbow called from afar. "May want to give a little more twist there if you want to perfect the three-winged dragonfly technique though."

"Will you quit coming up with these ridiculous names? There is no such thing as the three-winged dragonfly technique," Honey argued. "That was just a basic Chandelle."

Rainbow blew a raspberry as Honey drew the two closer for the next lesson. "You're never gonna get them to impress the judges with lame-o 'technical' move names like that. You gotta show some pizazz!"

Honey didn't even bother trying to explain the move would look the same no matter what you named it and instead focused on her pupils. "Alright, we've covered up lines, Cuban Eights, Immelmares, Aileron and Barrel rolls, in and outside loops, and the wingover. That's pretty much all the basics with the exception of stalls and spins, which I don't recommend based on your slower flying styles. From what I've seen, I think we can cover one or two intermediate maneuvers. At the very least, you should attempt the Whifferdill as that move is often used to chain other ones."

"Okay, so, um..." Fluttershy seemed a little hesitant to find the words. "This is nice and all, but...wouldn't it be easier if you just told us what the whole flight routine was supposed to be instead of giving us pieces of it?"

Honey seemed a bit perplexed at what the meek pegasus was asking, then it dawned on her. "Oh, oh! I'm sorry. You thought all this so far was an actual routine? I'm sorry, I should have told you more clearly. These are just routine building blocks, you've got to come up with the act yourself."

"W-what?" the two stammered together. Blossomforth was first to break out of the stutter. "But Daring, I don't have a clue what to do with any of these! I don't know what's proper! Couldn't you just give an airshow plan from one of your history books?"

"And how would that help?" Honey wittingly spieled rhetoric. "You told us yourself, this competition is meant to bring out each flier's own individual style. There are only so many moves you can do in the air before it starts to look all the same. Even if I showed you something to do flap for flap, it wouldn't be your style you'd be displaying, it'd be mine. All I can do is give you the brush to make your art, I can't draw what's in your head."

Both mares seemed a little downturn that a performance plan wasn't going to be as straightforward as they thought. But Honey was quick to try and bolster their spirits.

"But I can pitch a few ideas on how to go about it. How about this? Group performances aren't that common, but are allowed according to the rules. Maybe you can come up with an act together. Here, I'll even teach a few moves that can't be done in a solo act, that should give you more to work with."

As Honey explained the fundamentals around a scissors pattern, Rainbow Dash lay flat on her back across a park bench. This was Snoresville! If she wanted to listen about how to fly, she'd still be in flight school. Aerobatics was all about doing, improv, on the fly, go with your gut with what you thought awesome, not taking a page from some pre-written flight manual! This kind of teaching was just not her style.

Then again, Fluttershy was not her. Yeah...now that she thought about it, her friend would like the hold-your-hoof approach this Daring Do was giving them better than hers. Still, it was boring as heck just sitting there watching them, maybe she could take the time to work on her own routine?

No, no. That would require complete privacy. She couldn't practice her Sonic Rainboom with them in viewing range. It wasn't...ready for a public showing, yeah, that was it! It would spoil the surprise. It's not like she didn't want to do it in front of them because of some totally embarrassing, nervous, and completely different reason altogether. Soooo...what could she do?

Her hoof drifted over and suddenly felt the hardcover of the book Daring and Twilight lent to her from the library. Her eyes drifted to the cover of Daring holding a sapphire statuette while swinging over a dangerous pit, then over to the field where the real Daring was guiding her watermelon maned friend through a curvy loop. It was clear none of the three were looking her way...annnnnnnnd it's not like just watching her friend pony paddle through the skies at a record snail's pace was going to get any more interesting.....

She scooped up the novel and flew a small distance away from the group, behind the trunk of the nearest oak tree. Maybe she could look at only one or two pages, just to see how lame it was...

"Step right this way!" Trixie boldly announced as she led the pair to her caravan clearing. "The Great and Powerful Trixie has just the thing for the aspiring thespians!"

Sitting their rumps down on a log seat around the fire pit, Blossomforth and Fluttershy watched several objects fly from the the magician's open door as she searched for something.

"You're not going to throw rocks and sticks at us from an imaginary audience again, are you?" Blossomforth inquired. Fluttershy squeaked at the word audience.

"Oh no no no no no," Trixie said as she popped her shaking head out. "A truly spectacular performer never puts on a stale act!" She proceeded down her wagon's steps, her telekinetic grip straining as it tried to squeeze a huge trunk through her doorway. "Trixie feels it's time for you master the second stage of show magic, the magic of-" With a final grunt, the trunk burst out and landed right in front of them, its lid snapping open to reveal a plethora of various bobbles and bangles. "-Accessorizing!"

The duo oooooh'd at all the pretty odds and ends that spilled over the edges of the chest, then Blossomforth looked up and spoke blankly. "I don't get it."

"Oh, it's quite simple when you think about it. The P in performance stands for prrrrresentation!"

"I thought the P in performance stood for performance."

Trixie frowned as a cyan, rainbow maned pegasus laughed on top of her wagon's roof. "She's got you pegged there, Miss Great and Powerful."

"Continuing..." she slightly growled through her teeth. "Nothing brings to life a world winning performance more than a few stage props!"

With that she reared up, and from right behind her a pillar of fireworks erupted into the air, spelling her name in bright vibrant colors, as well as singeing the airspace around her roof.

Rainbow Dash immediately rolled off onto the ground in alarm and rubbed the sparks off her coat before they could catch aflame. "Hey! You did that on purpose!"

Fluttershy and Blossomforth on the other hoof, clapped at the neon sight.

"Yes, amazing, isn't it? The Great and Powerful Trixie works with nothing but the best, and now you can too! Let's see if we can't find a little something to put a little shock and awe into those judges!"

Blossomforth, acting like a filly in a toy store, immediately began to root around the insides of the chest with a slightly more cautious Fluttershy poking around.

"Ooooh, what's this?" Blossomforth pulled out a white plastic stick with a long stream of colorful satin cloth attached to one end.

"Ah, good choice! A ribbon dancer! Perfect to bring out the elegance of any twist or turn! Go on, give it a few spins!"

Blossomforth spun her hoof around in a small circle and soon enough, a swirling trail of red, yellow, and green ribbon spun around her like a long tail. Giggling, she began to prance around in more livelier movements, bending the ribbon in a splashy pattern.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy poked her head out of the trunk with a hair full of confetti and a large hula hoop around her neck.

"Hmmm...rather simple, but Trixie supposes it's best to start small. Perhaps if we add...these!"

With a wink of her horn, Fluttershy was now anxiously spinning tiny hooplets on each of her four hooves in the air as well as the large one that was now around her waist.

The showmare then turned to Rainbow Dash as the other two continued to play around with the accessories. "How about you? Perhaps there's something in Trixie's little chest of wonders you could find to spice up your act too."

Rainbow, still a little bothered by Trixie's impromptu fireworks show in her face, chose to blow a large wet raspberry in her face. "As if! I don't need some of your cheap gimmicks to get first place! The only tool I need is right here!"

Trixie looked to the back of where Rainbow was pointing at herself. "A bookmarked copy of Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone?"

"Gaah!" Rainbow quickly flung away the tome that had been hidden under her wings and flapped fervidly. "No no no! These! My wings! That's all I need!"

She let her hooves drift all around her body from her neck to her legs in a displaying manner. "You don't and can't improve upon perfection." She then whizzed upwards at a lightning pace, punching through a row of clouds. She high hoofed the sun's outline and came straight back down, gathering a trail of moisture from behind. Looping a couple of branches, she skidded to stop, letting the droplets form a mini-rainbow over her head as they splashed against her wings. "They don't call me 'Rainbow' and 'Dash' for nothin'!"

"Let's not forget 'Lightning'!" Trixie announced with the most subtlest of teasing in her voice.

"Lightning? Heh, well that's cool too, but I don't see how-AZZZAPBBTH!"

That was when the pegasus had just noticed the little thundercloud Trixie had conjured directly behind her.

"Or should Trixie say 'Thunderbutt'? Ohh ho ho ho ho-BEEEZZZZZZT!"

Trixie's mane and tail frizzed up as Rainbow Dash seized the cloud and proceeded to kick a revenge zap out of nature's taser gun.

The two glared at each other, and another dark cloud poofed right besides the azure unicorn.

"You wanna dance, pretty wings?"
"Make your move, fancy cape!"
*BZZZT* "Ow!"
*ZAP* "Ouch!"
*ZOW* "Yah!"
*ZORCH* "Heeeee!"

The next minute and a half would probably be best analogized as two toddlers sitting in place and poking each other over and over again, trying to get the other to bawl first.

It probably would have continued for even longer had not Fluttershy interrupted with a soft, "Excuse me..."

The two staticky mares turned their heads to the side to find the other pair, sprawled out over the ground, legs and wings in very awkward positions as they were chained together, back-to-back by a series of rings while a strip of ribbons bound and knotted every other inch, complete with a bow on top.

"Yeah...soooo long story short, I don't think we're going to be using either of these," Blossomforth chuckled sheepishly. "What else have you got in that trunk?"

"A good method to alleviating the pressure of performing is to imagine the audience naked."
"But, um, we don't normally wear clothes."

Spike looked up to the white and yellow pegasi laying comfortably on a lounge sofa, then back to the the book open in front of him titled '1001 ways to overcome pathological shyness', then back to the mares.

"Yeah, you're right," he said as he slammed the book shut and tossed it over his shoulder. "These self-help books are a waste of bits. Shrinks must run the biggest scam in the world."

"Now Spike, there's more to being a psychologist than just asking a patient 'how do you feel?'."

Twilight levitated another stack of behavioral study textbooks over by her devoted assistant's side, where he sat on a stool, pen and paper in claw. Her mane done in a bun and a pair of professional glasses were sported on the bridge of her nose.

"Now then, if we want to avoid either of you freezing up in the upcoming competition, we need to address the root of the issue that causes you to freeze up. Topophobia, or otherwise known as stage fright, is a common anxiety disorder that inhibits the pony from performing a designated task under certain conditions, such as being watched by a group of peers. Effects can include but are not limited to: heart palpitations, muscle contractions, increased blood pressure, vision impairment, short term memory loss, and intestinal failure."

"That sounds painful," Fluttershy worried.

"More often than not," the studious unicorn continued, "development of this phobia stems from a traumatic experience in your past, either physical, mental, or emotional."

"In Twilight's case, it was her first A-minus in magic kindergarten," Spike joked.

Twilight shot Spike a look as the two pegasi giggled. He shrugged and simply pointed to another one of the books next to him titled 'Laughter is the best medicine: by Jasper Carrot*'.

"Moving on," Twilight shifted the focus of attention to her patients yet again, "Once the moment of origin is addressed, the fear can be effectively diminished through use of retrospective therapy. Now then, Fluttershy, what is the earliest moment of your life you can remember that was frightening for you?"

"Um...the day I left the hospital?"

Twilight blinked. "But wasn't that...ugh, never mind. We'll get back to you. Blossomforth? When was the first time you got nervous?"

"Hmmmm...I think...that time when I played tulip #2 in the school play...no wait, that was Cheery who played the tulip, I played the rhododendron. Funny thing, I remember the marigolds in that skit actually being orange, not gold. Wait, what were we talking about? Oh, yes. When did I first get stage fright. Actually, I think it was my third grade spelling bee-no wait, I was sick that day. Now that I think about it, my pony pox inoculation was pretty traumatizing, but that was because I was scared of needles at the time, not other ponies. Plus I think that was after my oral report on cirrus clouds, that made me pretty nervous. But was it scary nervous or giddy nervous? I forget the difference...what were we trying to do again?"

Twilight messaged the side of her temples with her hooves. "Okay, let's try something a little more intensive. Spike, fetch me the pendulum."

Twilight's dragon assistant pulled a pocketwatch out from one of the drawers and tossed it over into her telekinetic grip. She levitated the watch back and forth in her flowery friend's vision.

"You are getting sleepy...verrrrrry sleepy," the little dragon mystically echoed.

"Spike, I need to concentrate here," Twilight chided.

"Oh come on, Twilight, you don't really think that hypnosis thing really works, do you? I mean, even Trixie agrees that stuff is complete-*SNNNNNNNNRRRRKT*"

Twilight grinned as looked over her snoozing buddy, her horn fully glowing. "Oh, the watch is just a distraction. I've found the knockout spell is much more potent when the target is caught unawares."

She then leaned in close, her own eyes closed. "Now, listen carefully to the sound of my voice. I'm going to create a psychic link with our astral bodies. When I do, I want your subconscious mind to project your most uncomfortable moment ever. Ready? One, two, three."

Her eyes glowed as she opened them up again, and she felt the world swirl and change through the shifting of perspective and time as-

"NO! NO! WE WON'T BANG! NOT OKAY! AND GET THAT SCOOPER AWAY FROM ME!!"

Twilight screamed in a mortified state of shock, forcefully ending the connection as Blossomforth jolted awake. "Huh? Wha-? What happened? Why are we yelling?"

Twilight, beet red and mane frizzy, tried desperately in vain to wipe the images of whipped cream away from her mind, knowing all too well she would never look at a banana split the same way ever again.

"Well...you've certainly lived a very stimulating college life, but I don't think that was the memory we're looking for." She fanned the steam away from her ears. "Also, I don't know if you're still on speaking terms, but regardless, NEVER introduce me to this Cloud Kicker."

"Oh, it's really quite obvious and something most ponies oddly overlook," Sherbet explained from her chair, clothed in a luxurious bathrobe. "If you don't want frayed nerves, you just have to calm down and relax. Chevron, a little more on my right hoof please." The pink and teal earth pony brought her file to the tip of the business autocrat's hooves. "And, hooves down, there is nothing more relaxing for a mare than a sinfully pampered afternoon at a day spa."

"Y-y-ooou-u sa-a-i-d it," Honey's voice vibrated as the knots in her back were pounded and rubbed out by the strong peach stallion masseur.

Around the room, the various mares were receiving various treatments with unabashed bliss. Twilight lay on one of the comfortable cots, her tail being styled with special curls and clips. Octavia lay across, cucumber slices over her eyes, seaweed wrapped around her legs, and an herbal mud mask over her face as she sipped an iced tea. Spike lay in between, obviously taking the same treatment as his divine muse's. Trixie lay on the other end, her trademark hat and cape hung by the entrance and replaced with a coat of scented oils and smooth, hot healing stones. Steam cleansed her pores from the neighboring sauna bath, where Blossomforth and Fluttershy slouched neck deep, sighing into the warm waters with moist towels around their manes.

"I don't know if I've ever been so relaxed," Spike sighed.

"Let it be written on the record, oooooh~" Trixie gave a wincing hiss of delight as a new hot rock was replaced on her backside. "You should have your out-of-town friends visit more often Blossomforth, if-*hsssss...aaahhhhhhh~*-this is what comes from it."

"Aaahhhhh~" Blossomforth mimicked Trixie's sigh of euphoria. "I have to admit, soaking in this hot and bubbly makes the whole fliers competition feel a million miles away, wouldn't you agree Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy wore what was perhaps her most genuine and comfortable smile yet as she leaned in against the tub's ivory white marble walls. "Oh yes...this is...nice. What a wonderful way to spend an afternoon."

The sound of a door slamming open out front accompanied by a 'hello, welcome to the Golden Touch health spa-hey! Customers only back there!' signaled the arrival of the tomboyish weather captain.

"There you all are!"

Spike yelped as the cyan mare came this close to crashing into his table, his cucumbers flung from his eyes to hers as he bolted upright. "I've been looking all over for you since you left the library! Sheesh, I take one little snooze, and suddenly you're gone!"

"The session ended a little early due to some...repressed inhibitions," Twilight uneasily explained as hoof polish coated her hooves.

"What the what?" Rainbow Dash puzzled, munching on one of the veggies on on her eyelids.

Spike quickly stopped her as he retrieved both and stuck them both on. "Just ask Blossomforth about Cloud Kicker, that's all I got from it."

"CK? What about her? She's one of the greatest partners I have!"

Twilight choked on the straw of her passion fruit smoothie, her face going full flush again. "W-w-what?" she coughed and sputtered.

"Yeah! Best cloud clearer the Ponyville weather team's ever had, minus myself of course."

"Oh!" Twilight laid her head down and beckoned to red velvet unicorn with the stack of wet towels. "Gentle Rub? Another wrap over here, and make it the icy snow glaze treatment."

Rainbow then hovered over the bath. "Anyways, on to more pressing matters. Up and at 'em, Fluttershy! You call this getting ready for the competition? I've had naps that were more productive than this!"

"Now, now. Rainbow, darling, Fluttershy and Blossomforth have already spent the whole day taxing their bodies and minds over this whole contest business," Sherbet politely argued. "They deserve a chance to unwind and put the whole thing out of their minds for just a little while. It's not healthy to obsess overly about one particular thing."

"Besides," Honey groaned as the masseur proceeded to stretch her wings, "This place isn't considered a health spa for nothing! Some of these treatments are one of the best body conditioning techniques known to ponykind."

"I'll remember that next time I'm rolling around in the mud," Dash deadpanned as she jerked her yellow friend out of the tub, who for some reason, instinctively grabbed another towel and covered her body with her hooves in a blush and a squeak.

"Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are," Octavia said, not even lifting her head to talk to the pegasus. "Even the maker herself put aside one of the seven days to simply do nothing."

"Wow, seriously, do you write fortune cookies for a hobby?" Rainbow asked. "Can't anypony in this city talk normally?"

A slight frown was all the satisfaction the musician would concede to her. Orange Sherbet, meanwhile, waved an inviting hoof over to the mare. "Come now, why don't you join us? It's all on me. I'm sure a little lounging would do wonders for you too. Why, these hooficures alone are to die for!"

"Oh, yes. Rainbow, why don't you join us?" Fluttershy asked, taking the opportunity to conceal herself back in the bath.

Rainbow scrunched her mouth and gagged. "Flutters, did you forget who you're talking to? The day I get a hooficure is the day I turn in my daredevil license."

"I didn't know you need a license for that," Blossomforth obliviously pondered.

"Seriously though, first reading, now makeovers?" Rainbow brushed her locks with a roll of the eyes. "What kind of a sissy do you all take me for?"

"The only one who thinks it's sissy is you," Twilight tried to reason with her. "It's not like one little comb and brush will kill you."

A silken black mare approached from behind with a nail file in her mouth's grip. As she made an offering gesture to Rainbow, she instantly backpedaled a few steps. "Woah! Back off! Keep that thing away from me!"

"Oooooh," Trixie teased. "Could the awesome Rainbow Dash actually be afraid of getting her hooves done?"

"I'm not afraid!" Rainbow quickly countered. "I'm not scared of anything!"

"Prove it," the relaxing magician sipped from a bottle of mountain spring water before continuing. "Trixie's not asking you, she's daring you to get a hooficure!"

Rainbow seemed to blank out for a brief moment, then tried to hide a gulp. She then looked to everypony else, who gave her a quick nod over. "Uh, s-sure. Fine. It's...actually pretty good, right?"

"Heavenly," Sherbet assured her.

"Okay...maybe one just one little hoof."

Rainbow plopped down in the empty seat beside Orange, and the filer approached. She reached out with her tool to the lower legs of the client, and by instinct, they rolled up out of reach. Rainbow lowered them down again, tossing to the side with a bitten lip, you could almost see a bead of sweat go down her brow. The salon worker leaned slowly in, and as the tip of the metal connected with the cyan hoof-

"YALP!" Rainbow leaped up ten hooves into the air as stayed there. "I just remembered! I got an evening of scattered showers to arrange back in Ponyville!"

"Hmm? But didn't we just have some last-"

An unhooficured hoof plugged the soft melodious voice of Fluttershy. "I gotta go right now! See you at home, Flutters!"

With that the athlete zoomed out. Leaving the room in a stunned silence. Well, mostly silent.

"Bawk, bawk bawk bawk baaaaaawk..." Trixie sniggered.

Under the starry light of Luna's sky, Blossomforth wandered alone into her greenhouse out back. Despite the fact she had a full course spa treatment just hours ago, with all that had happened today, she still felt too restless to just go to bed. Taking a watering can in her mouth, she sprinkled over a batch of her moon lilies. Just a bit, didn't want to overwater. Settling down her can, she tucked in her legs around a ring of ferns, and let the aroma freshly trimmed foliage fill her nostrils.

Auntie Sherbet had the right idea, however, this had to be the most relaxing thing for a mare like her. All alone, under the clear and cool beautiful night with nothing but the company of her lovely and silent-
*rustle rustle*
Wait a minute, that wasn't silent!

Ears perked up, and wings taut against her body, Blossomforth's stance stiffened around her jungle-like landscape. Intruders! Her night adjusted eyes caught the unsteady waving of some nearby potted palm plants, and before she knew it, she was holding a broomstick between her teeth. She crept over to her tropical display slowly, only to knock over her watering can after four steps. The movement amongst the dense leafy silhouettes froze, then started up again with a quickened pace. Blossomforth's head turned to the orchid patch, but it had already moved to the bellflowers and violets. With a mad dash, Blossomforth tried to head it off at the door, and she had just rounded the holly bush when something soft and feathery leapt out and bumped right into her muzzle.

She shouted in surprise, causing the other to scream, which prompted her to drop her broom and scream back.

"Aaah!"
"Eeek!"
"Aaaaa!"
"Eeeee!"
"Whaaaaahahahahaaaahhhh!!"
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!"

Finally out of breath, the scared wingless mare was able to get a good look at her ambusher as she refilled her lungs. "Fluttershy?"

The canary yellow pegasus peeked out of her shivering hooves. "Oh! It's just you, Blossomforth. I didn't know you were in here."

"Feeling's mutual," the other answered as she helped her old friend to her hooves. "What are you doing here? I thought you went back to Ponyville after dinner."

"Oh well, um, I wanted to," the inward animal lover started to explain. "But, the sun had already set a-and...I sort of...didn't want to wander all the way back in the dark alone. You understand, right? So, maybe, um, I figured I could have spent the night here in Manehattan, but then where was I going to sleep? I-I didn't want to trouble any of your friends, so I looked around and found your place. Oh, but then I thought I'd be troubling you, so I figured maybe I'd just lie down in your garden for awhile instead of knocking on your door so late at night. T-that was okay, right? I'm so sorry if it wasn't! I'll leave right away if you don't-"

Fluttershy's mumbling monologue slowed to a halt when she realized Blossomforth was starting to laugh only halfway through her apology.

"Oh, Fluttershy! Only you...only you..."

"I-I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'llbegoingnowthank-awp!"

Fluttershy had taken two steps backwards only to be grappled softy around the neck and reeled in as Blossomforth escorted her back to the bed of ferns.

"Come here. Take a load off, and just keep me company why don't you?"

The pair lay their backs down on top of the leafy mattress, clear view of the starry sky directly above them through the transparent glass roof.

"So...you're not mad I'm here?" Fluttershy ventured at last.

"Honestly, I'm thrilled you popped in when you did. With all that's happened, we never did finish our catching up."

Despite saying that, the two lay there in silence for quite awhile, simply looking up at the starry sky and feeling the leaves tickle their sides occasionally.

"I...like your garden," Fluttershy finally said.

"Yeah. Had it built first thing when I saved enough to get my own place here. My own little patch of green in the concrete jungle." Blossomforth turned to her side, making eye contact with Fluttershy. "Just you and me, lying amongst the flora and fauna of the world without a care in the world."

"Like the day we first met, isn't it?"
"Yep, those were the days. Such simpler times..."

"Hello again little friends!"

Fluttershy was warmly greeted by the swarm of woodland creatures as she made her daily constitution from her home up in the clouds to the ground below. It had been a full six months since she first fell to the surface below, and she hadn't skipped a day of coming down after school.

Chirps and squeaks were all abuzz has their pony friend said hello to each and every one of them. "Good day Mrs. Ferretworth. Hi Mr. Frogucius. Oh, afternoon Cottontaily Fuzzlebuns, how's the litter doing?"

*chitter chitter chitter chitter*

"Oh! One more? How wonderful! Can I see him?"

The proud mother eagerly showed the little white bundle that lay snoozing in her arms. Fluttershy just squeed. "Oh! Isn't he just the sweetest little angel?" As she leaned in close, the newborn bunny suddenly popped its eyes wide open and gave her a swift kicker-bop to the snout. "Owp! Oh my. Lively little bundle of joy, isn't he? I'll bet he'll grow up to be one of the nicest bunnies ever, though."

*sniffle* *sniff*

Fluttershy's ears perked up. It was faint and off in the distance, but she could still barely make the noise out. Oddly, it didn't sound like any of her other animal friends. In fact, it almost sounded like somepony crying.

*hic* *sob*

It was somepony crying! Oh dear oh dear oh dear! This was awfully deep in the woods, so nopony ever seemed to be here but her. Could one of the foals from the nearby villages have wandered in and gotten lost? Straining her ears, the little pegasus filly followed the sound of the voice, a swarm of butterflies curiously tailing behind.

Reaching the edge of a clearing, she found a few evergreen pines growing freely over a slight mound across the grassy enclosure. She could hear the sobbing clearly now, it was coming from behind the largest pine, second to the right of the group. Shyness now catching up to concern and curiosity, she daintily approached the trunk, taking a few steps with a pause in between, never making a sound. After reaching the base of the tall, imposing coniferous, she stretched her neck around the base so as to get the tiniest look behind.

"H-hello?" she whispered.

The occupant of the other side, a small white filly that looked around her age shot her head up from the fetal position she was in and locked eyes with her company.

"Aaah!"
"Eeek!"
"Aaaaa!"
"Eeeee!"
"Whaaaaahahahahaaaahhhh!!"
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!"

The butterflies scattered, as did any bird or mouse that happened to be within the direct vicinity of the clearing. The white filly stumbled backwards and flipped head over tail on the ground. When she scrambled back up, she quickly rounded the trunk and disappeared out of sight the same moment the yellow filly was doing the same.

A minute passed, then slowly, both heads peered around the wide body of the pine. They took each other in bit by bit. Their wings, their cutie mark, their mane, coat, and tail...

The white filly was apparently the bolder of the two, as she was the one to speak up first. "W-who are you?" she asked quietly.

Fluttershy shrunk her neck back like a tortoise and replied even more quietly. "Um, I'm Fluttershy...who are you?"

For some odd reason, the filly before her answered back even softer. "I'm...Blossomforth..."

"Um...I'm sorry? What was that?"
"Excuse me?"
"What did you say?"
"I can't hear you."

Fluttershy finally shook her head in a blink, finally getting enough nerve to raise her voice back to normal levels. "I'm sorry, why do you keep whispering?"

"Why did you keep whispering?" the other filly asked. "It wasn't some sort of game?"

"Oh, um...I don't know, I guess I didn't know if I should talk to you or not..."
"Why shouldn't you?"
"Because I was...um...interrupting your crying. Was that wrong of me? I'm so sorry if it was! I'll let you get back to it right away if you want!"

The white filly stared blankly at the other pegasus apologizing, then suddenly let loose a tiny giggle. "You're sorry that you made me stop crying? Oh you..."

She then sat upright to get into a more comfortable talking position, her nerves completely back. "My name's Blossomforth, Fluttershy, right?"

"Y-yes..." Fluttershy shuffled a lone hoof. The filly seemed well enough if she was being this friendly and outgoing, but just to be sure, maybe she should ask. "So, are you alright? You're not lost or hurt or anything are you?"

"No, I just..." Blossomforth turned her head to the side, a gloomy grimace sat on her face. "Rainy Feather just had a birthday party, and she invited everypony in the neighborhood...except me."

"Oh my, you poor thing," Fluttershy was no stranger to being left out, and moved around to sit next to her side. "Is that why you were crying?"

"Kinda..." her sad compatriot mumbled. "It's just...well it was the fifth party this month I was left out of. Sometimes I don't like it...being different from everypony else and getting booted for it. I like thunder tag, cloud bouncing, and all the other games pegasi play, it just not my favorite thing. I've tried sharing what I really like a few times but...they just don't like it the same way I do. Some of them even make fun of me, saying I have oddball tastes. That's why I'm always left behind, nopony wants a lead wing like me spacing out about non-normal pegasi stuff and dragging their fun down. Whenever that happens, I just come down here to be alone. After all, no pegasus except me ever wants to actually come down on their own."

"Oh..." Fluttershy gave a somber nod. She came here to get away from all the teasing and disappointment too. Why, even her loyal friend Rainbow Dash didn't like leaving the heights of Cloudsdale. In fact, the first time she ever came to the ground with her she was afraid of it.

Hang on a second...

"But I come down here," Fluttershy said in realization. "I come down here all the time."

Blossomforth turned her head, the same realization dawning on her. "Hey, that's right! You are down here! Why do you come here anyways?"

"I come down here to be with all my animal friends of course." Fluttershy coaxed all the nearby creatures who had taken to the holes, knots, and burrows nearby closer to her. "Come on out. It's alright. I'd like you all to say hello to Blossomforth."

Blossomforth looked all around the increasing cluster of woodland animals around her. "Hi there?" she half asked. The band of fauna chorused their greetings. Blossomforth giggled and enthusiastically waved before turning to Fluttershy. "Nice bunch you have here. Well, I suppose I should introduce my friends as well!"

"You have friends down here too?" Fluttershy was surprised. She thought she had known all the residents of these woods by now.

"Sure, they're all a little ways off, in my special spot!" Blossomforth trotted off past the trees, looking back only once to signal Fluttershy to follow.

After a brief minute or two of walking, the trees parted away again. But what Fluttershy saw this time was no small clearing. The branches opened up to reveal a vast and lush meadow, with rolling hills of grass and valleys carpeted in flowers of every shape and size.

"Ohhhhh myyyyy..." she gasped. She had been visiting these woods for so long, but never had she realized such a place like this was right nearby.

"They're not as chatty as your friends, but they are great listeners," Blossomforth said with a smile.

What is this place filled with so many colors?
Such beauty and fragrance send my heart aflutter~
Tulips, hydrangeas, and cute little pansies,
This is my garden, where I frolic with glee~

Liiiight and freeee~

Blossomforth spun around, wings outstretched and hooves upward as loose petals and pretty pollen danced around her, painting the very air in color and sweet smells as the filly falsettoed with a huge smile. Soon she was joined in the mid-air dance by an equally blissful leader of butterflies.

Ohhh, such a wonderful view!
And I owe it all to my meeting with you!~
Now that I know another loves the ground like me
I finally have someone to call a flower buddy!~

Yes, I...love...everythiiiiing!~

The pair fell into the fields, and Blossomforth popped her head out, a pair of daisies covered over her eyes like a pair of glasses. Fluttershy surfaced as well, a swallowtail butterfly masking her own. They took one look at each other and laughed long and merrily.

"After that, every day forth, I would always take my little friends and play with you over at your special place," Fluttershy lovingly reminisced.

"Our special place," Blossomforth corrected. She picked a few irises within reach and fashioned a necklace over their necks. "Flower buddies for life, right?"

"Yes, definitely." Fluttershy then stroked a strand of her own mane, as if coyly trying to find just the right words to say next. "Blossomforth, you know...I'm glad I got entered into the young best fliers competition now."

"You are?" her floral friend asked surprisingly.

"Yes," Fluttershy said with absolute certainty, and then gave her a warm nuzzle. "Because I got to become your friend all over again."

Blossomforth reached around and pulled Fluttershy into a tight hug. "Awww...well when you put it that way, I'm glad we got entered too."

After a few minutes, the embrace ended and they resumed gazing up at the stars, Blossomforth gave a sighing chuckle. "Still, it would be even nicer if we could figure out a way to go on up there without looking like a pair of complete klutzes."

"Oh, you're not that poor a flier," Fluttershy reassured her. "You're much better than me. I mean, just thinking back to our fillyhood makes me remember how gracefully you danced around in that meadow all the time, petals swirling in such wondrous and pretty patterns with every flap of your wings."

"Hey, don't sell yourself short, you were there prancing around with me. And let me tell you, those fluid motions of yours in sync with all your birds and butterflies were-"

The gardener pegasus sat upright in a bolt, eyes lit up.

"Blossomforth? What is it?" Fluttershy asked with mild concern.

"I think I just figured out our routine for the contest," she answered with a smirk.

Twilight flipped another page of her large spellbook under the low light of her candle, nearly burned down to the stump.

"Twilight, shouldn't we getting to bed right about now? It's almost midnight..." Spike groaned drowsily from his basket.

"You can go to sleep if you want Spike, but I've got to find a spell that can solve our current dilemma," the equally sleepy but much more determined unicorn responded, the conversation hours ago with Orange Sherbet still fresh on her mind.

"We can't use your family dirigible?"

Sherbet shook her head sadly. "Unfortunately, it sprung a leak on my husband and our board's trip back from Alpacaistan. It's going to be undergoing repairs in the hanger for a full week."

"But how are we going to watch the competition then? Without a balloon, we have no way of staying airborne in Cloudsdale!"

"I'm terribly sorry Twilight, and I know it's rather imposing for me to ask this of you, but there's nothing I can do. Is it possible you could find a spell of sorts that could get us there instead?"

Twilight scratched her horn, and gave a serious nod to her rich friend. "I'm sure I can come up with something."

"I just know there's been some study done on flight spells before. If I could just find the right page-"

A loud thumping sound came from below, like a bookshelf had just been emptied of its contents all over the floor. Being that it was past the library's hours of business, Twilight could deduce whatever made that noise downstairs, it wasn't a customer.

Cracking open her storage closet, Twilight levitated out the closest blunt object she could find. Spike did the same and followed behind from a distance.

"Who's there?!" she demanded as she marched down the spiral steps and flipped on the lights. "I have a bat, and I know how to use it!"

She stopped at the foot of the stairs as her eyesight caught a mare clad in a black jumpsuit, which completely covered her in a stealthy garb except for her rainbow tail.

Rainbow tail?

The intruder whirled around in a panicked alarm, and Twilight recognized the face of none other than-

"Rainbow Dash? Is that you?"

"T-t-t-twilight! Spike!" The athletic pegasus quickly retracted against the wall and tried to put on her best accusatory face. "Wait! What are you two doing here?!"

"First, we live here...and second, I was about to ask you the same question." Twilight lowered her bat, but still kept her grip on it just in case. "Didn't you head back to Ponyville hours ago?"

Rainbow Dash's face quickly gave away to signs of unease. "Uuuhh, well, I just forgot my...my..."

"And why are your front hooves behind your back?" Spike pointed out.

Beads of sweat started to form on the cyan mare's brow. "Oh, um, I-I thought that..."

"Are you hiding something from us?" Twilight prodded.

"I...I...I...no, I didn't do..."

Rainbow suddenly twisted around in mid-air as Twilight gripped whatever was clasped behind her back with her magic, and pulled it over, pegasus still attached to it.

"Daring Do and the Griffon's Goblet? Why on Equus would you have the second volume of the Daring Do series-"

Twilight stopped, her mind began to connect some dots, and suddenly a big knowing grin spread across her face as she looked smugly at Rainbow Dash, who began to wave her hooves frantically.

"No, wait...it's not what you think..."
Her grin widened.
"Th-this is a big misunderstanding. You've got to believe me, I..."
She leaned in closer, gaze never faltering as her opposition started stamping the ground on all fours.
"Listen...I am telling you-! YOU BETTER LISTEN TO ME, EGGHEAD!!!"

"You like reading, don't you, Rainbow Dash?"

Rainbow's cheeks puffed up as she bit her lip, her legs trembled in fury as she squeezed her eyes shut. Then she finally slumped to the down, wings limp at her side, and let loose a defeated sigh of exasperation.

"Fine...you got me. I'm an...egghead..."

"You ended up reading Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Statue after all," Twilight deduced matter-of-factly.

"Yes..." Rainbow moaned.

"And you snuck in after the library hours, hoping to get the next book in the series without getting noticed."

"Uh huh." Judging from the smug look on her face, the pegasus knew the librarian was taking her time to enjoy this.

"Wow, I knew the book was good, but I didn't know it could drive a pony to petty theft!"

"Good? Try awesomely amazing!" Rainbow Dash finally relented her excitement. "That book is undeniably, unquestionably, un-put-down-able! When I finished the first one, I just had to read all the others! But after all the smack I said about books just being for smart ponies like you, I just couldn't face up to you all...especially not in front of Flutters..."

"Rainbow Dash, just because you're athletic doesn't mean you can't be smart!" Twilight explained.

"Yeah, just look at me!" Spike flexed his arms kissed his tiny biceps. He gave a little pout when he received no ovation.

"It's like I said in the first place, there's always a book for everypony."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it already. I shouldn't knock something until I've tried it." Rainbow then looked at her with a slight pleading expression. "You're not going to tell anypony about this, are you?"

"Nope, you are," the unicorn stated once again matter-of-factly.

Rainbow sighed. "Fine, but you better make sure that Trixie pony doesn't tease me afterwards!"

"You have my solemn word," Twilight said as she levitated the book back into Rainbow's hooves. "Speaking of trying new things, are you ready for that hooficure now?"

Rainbow was already halfway out the door. "ThanksforthebookIreallygottogonowbye!"

Twilight chuckled to herself at her little amusement. One step at a time I guess...
"Spike, would you mind tidying up here? I've got to get back to finding that spell."

The little dragon looked to the mountain of spilled books, then back to the purple unicorn trotting back up the stairs, an open spell book already levitated in front of her.

"This really is the city that never sleeps..."

Author's Note

*This comedic stallion writer also included this extension to his quote in his book's foreword: Unless you're diabetic, then insulin comes pretty high on the list.

Act 4: Break a Wing!

The morning air was thick with tension and abuzz with excitement as a quartet of pegasi navigated through the enclave of cumulus to the floating citadel ahead.

"You've got to learn to be aggressive Fluttershy," Rainbow lectured her friend while on the fly. "Don't be afraid to bust a move."

"Easy there, Rainbow. They're not flying in blind," Honey said, bringing up the rear. "They practiced and everything these last two days."

Rainbow still looked like she had her doubts as they descended into the residential levels of the city. The numerous ionic architectures were matched only by the colorful pennants and flag that marked the sporting event. Pegasi flocked to and fro, excited smile on each of them.

"Wow. Is it just me, or are there even more decorations than when we were here three days ago?" Blossomforth wondered out loud.

"It's not just you," Honey said in return. "You know, I really should come up here more often. The cultural ascetic of these cloud cities clearly takes a page out of the third century Roaman Empire. There could be a lot of undocumented historical texts here..."

"Well well well. What do we have here?"

The group landed to face the trio of stallions in factory uniforms that addressed them.

The tall orange one spoke up. "It's our old friend Rainbow Crash!"

"Not these guys again..." Rainbow muttered under her breath.

"Get kicked outta any flight schools lately?" The brown leader teased. And the trio proceeded to laugh as if the funniest joke ever was told.

"Get your wings bent, Billy Dumbbell. I didn't get kicked out," the cyan mare retorted.

Dumbbell didn't even flinch. "Face it, Rainbow Crash. Flight school had too many rules, and not enough naptimes for you."

"Heh, ask her about the Sonic Rainboom." The taller taunter landed around the other side, crowding her in.

"Why should I bother bringing that old mare's tale up, Hoops? We all know that's nothing but a big fat lie Crash here made up on the spot. She doesn't have the skills to try something like that."

"Now wait just a minute!"

Heads poked up to look at the yellow pegasus, instinctively recoiling at the sudden attention. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm trying to be more aggressive." She shook her head out it and regained her stern outlook. "Anyhow... she is going to do a Sonic Rainboom!"

It took only a few second for the trio to break off and surround her.
"Almost forgot about you, 'Klutz'ershy. Of course you'd show up wherever Miss Crash goes, wagging your tail like a little lap-pony."
"So tell us, 'Klutz'ershy, how exactly is she going to do a Sonic Rainboom?"
"Or maybe you'd like to do one instead?"

Fluttershy immediately began to wilt and fold under their gazes.
"Yeaaaah...that's right! I heard you signed up for the best young fliers competition too!"
"What's your routine? Face first or belly flop?"
"Hurr hurr hurr..."

"S-stop it..." Fluttershy's eyes were actually beginning to tear up as the three sang in front of her.
"Fluttershy! Fluttershy! Fluttershy can hardly fly~!"

"Hey, cut it out! What did these two ever do to you?!"

The trio turned to see the angry face of Blossomforth, whose scowl weakened when she noticed their grins had not faded, but widened.

"Do my eyes deceive me? Is that...'Blunder'forth?"
"Hey yeah! It's a loser hat trick over here! Long time no see, featherbrain!"

Blossomforth's rump backed into a wall as the jocks stepped towards her.
"Whatcha doing all the way up here, flower freak? You must have forgotten again, clouds produce rain, not pollen!"
"Betcha ten bits she wandered here chasing something shiny, just like that field trip in sixth grade!"
"Ha ha! Good thing the Hoofer Dam had insurance!"

"Uh...well...I...uh..." Blossomforth's mind drew a blank. She wanted to retort, but the intimidating sneers kept derailing her train of thought. She certainly wasn't going to give these three the satisfaction of making her cry but...darn it all, those things they were saying still hurt a lot!

"Wow, this has got to be the saddest attempt to vent self-esteem issues I've ever seen."

The fourth member of the posse finally caught the trio's eyes. "Huh? And just who are you?" Hoops demanded.

"You muscle heads are clearly slow on the uptake, no surprise, so I'll just speed things along. Name's Daring Do, and I can personally vouch that these three get a triple A-plus in my flight ranking."

The three just looked at her blankly.
"Hmm?"
"Daring who?"
"Why should we care what some nopony has to say about these noponies?"

An eyebrow was raised, and a wry, smug grin started to form on the archeologist's face. "Let me guess, you three haven't picked up a single book in your lives, have you?"

"NERD ALERT!" Hoops mocked. And the trio resumed laughing. But to their surprise, Honey held her grin, and as she looked to her comrades, they were starting to smile too.

"Your loss. Merychippus just discovering how to graze says what?"

"What?" the three chorused.

Honey broke out laughing even louder than they had, and her three compadres echoed her. Catching on that they had just somehow been burned, the three stallions huffed up to leave indignantly.

"Yeah, go ahead and act all tough, just cause there are four of you and three of us-"

"What a surprise," Rainbow interrupted Dumbbell. "He can count."

"Yuk it up," the brown stallion continued with a tinge of red on his cheeks. "Numbers won't be in your favor when you get to the Cloudiseum this afternoon. And we'll be there to watch it all!"

"Yeah, see you then, Rainbow Crash!"

And with that, the three of them took off back towards the factories.

"That was awesome!" Rainbow exclaimed to her action book idol. "You completely zapped those lunkheads!"

"No biggie," Honey said, Rainbow's confession yesterday morning still fresh in her mind. "Glad you're not one of them anymore, right?"

"Actually, I was about to say what too," Blossomforth confessed.

"Um...me also," Fluttershy said in turn. "If that's alright with you."

"Okay, I didn't really get the joke either," Rainbow admitted. "What exactly is a Merychippus?"

Honey gave each of them a puzzled expression. "Geez, what kind of history are they teaching in college these days?"

"Trix...?"

Honey lidded her eyes at Blossomforth. "History's not that tricky, there are just a few gaps in between-"

"Trixie?"

Turning around, Honey's jaw almost dropped below the clouds. A pair of glistening swallowtail wings with several vibrant shades of deep blues and purples and dotted patterns of stars and moons daintily flapped towards them. And attached to those wings was none other than the azure unicorn they all had grown to know and love, in Rainbow's case just know.

"Trixie? Are you...flying?" Honey gasped.

"You bet your sweet little whistle," the showmare bragged as she hovered over them. "Smashing, aren't they? A set of wings truly worthy of only the Great and Powerful Trixie's charm!"

"A pair I created," came a chiding voice still in the distance.

Everypony watched as a taxi carriage pulled by a pair of goldenrod yellow pegasi stallions cruised in for a landing. Sitting in the seats were the rest of Honey and Blossomforth's earthbound friends.

Orange Sherbet flipped a generous tip into the cash box on the inside of the railing as the doors opened. "Thank you boys, that will be all."

A panicked expression flashed through Rainbow Dash's face all of a sudden. "Wait!! Don't step off that-"

The businessmare's hoof pressed down into the cloud, and stayed there as she moved the rest of her three legs out.

"Huh?" Rainbow's confusion only increased when she saw that not a single one of them, even the dragon, wasn't suddenly falling to their doom. "How'd you do that? Only pegasus ponies can walk on clouds."

"Pretty cool, huh?" Spike said as he discovered the fun of bouncing on the poofy and somewhat springy pavement.

"I found a spell that makes temporary wings," Twilight explained. "But after testing it on Trixie, I found it was too difficult to do more than once. So I found an easier spell that lets the rest of us walk on clouds."

"I thought you were taking the balloon up to cheer for us," Blossomforth thought out loud.

"Yes, there were...complications with that. No battle plan ever survives the enemy," Octavia answered.

"Who cares?" Rainbow said. "This is awesome! I mean, you lot have got to be the first non-pegasi to ever set hoof on Cloudsdale!"

A warning bell suddenly rang through Honey's head, or rather a warning horn.

"Oh no!"

Her coach's cap was left spinning in the air as she fled behind the nearest cloudbank and out of sight from the noisy speeding cloud wagon that suddenly rushed in from out of nowhere. The white, blond pegasus pulling it flipped out of her harness with ease and smacked a large button to the side of it. The wagon's cover unfolded to reveal a carnival music box lined with all sorts of trumpet horns, cymbals and bass drums, colorful flags, and a lot of fun little gizmos and do-dads that whizzed, bobbed, and popped to the beat.

"Welcome welcome welcome,
so glad that you stopped by.
Welcome welcome welcome,
to our city in the sky!
Welcome welcome welcome,
I say hip hip hurray.
Welcome welcome welcome,
to grand Cloudsdale todaaaay~!"

Stunned silence reigned...for about two seconds.

"Wait for it..."

A ding signaled from the side compartment of the wagon, and a miniature oven opened up to shoot a freshly baked cloud cake into each of the ponies mouths while a steady stream of confetti erupted from the organ pipes.

"Yippee! I didn't mix them up this time!"

Honey chanced a peek, and whispered into Blossomforth's ear. "How did she know? And so fast?"

Blossomforth just shrugged. "I don't know how she does it. She just does it."

"Woo-wee! I got a full crowd today!" Surprise continued as she pushed the first time visitors, some still in a state of shock, into the passenger seats. "And you all are in for a special treat! In addition to the grand Cloudsdale tour deluxe package, there's going to be a special performance today at the Cloudiseum later on! If you don't have tickets, don't worry!" The mare then lowered her voice all secret like. "I've got connections..."

"Well, I did kinda want to explore this city while I was here..." Twilight finally speculated.

Before another word could be said, Surprise's entourage caught up and hauled the tour wagon off into the distance, leaving the four pegasi alone yet again.

"Should we follow?" Fluttershy asked.

"As much as I'm loathe to be anywhere near that random mare's vicinity..." Honey paused take a quick look at Blossomforth. "It's probably for the best we stick together this time to avoid other 'Surprises'."

"And over here on the left-hoof side, you can see the Floccus Plaza, our fifth most popular shopping center. The stores we're passing in the following order are: Scent of Luck Perfume Parlor, Festive Fan-atics, Majesty Mirrors Emporium, Just-in-Chime lawn instruments, and Lucky Horseshoes Boots."

"Oooohhh...aaahhhh..." Orange Sherbet marveled at the unique storefronts and beautiful advertising.

"Oooohhh...aaahhhh..." Octavia listened intently to the muffled tones the hollowed architecture gave as the slightest breeze wafted through.

"Oooohhh...aaahhhh..." Twilight impressed upon the number of things one could make with condensed water vapor.

"Oooohhh...aaahhhh~" Trixie admired herself and coyly posed her beautiful butterflied backside as much as possible as she stopped in front of the mirror store. In fact, she only lifted her head when Surprise rallied into her tour wagon megaphone half a block down.

"Moving on!"

"Hmm? Oh, wait for Trixie!"

"To your ten, or is it ten-fifteen?...is the Mighty Wings Memorial Hall, dedicated to all the great pegasi in history to ever come out of Cloudsdale! Earplugs at the ready everypony. We're about to enter the industrial zone, and it can get a little loud at times."

Surprise's tour wagon passed by a group of construction ponies noisily working on a building extension to emphasize the point. The stallions, however, let their tools fall to the wayside as they took notice of the magician in the crowd passing them by.

"Hey, Tin Tailor. Take a look at that dame there!"
"Hubba hubba! Those wings are gorgeous!"

Trixie's smile just widened at the wolf whistles that passed her ears. "Oh, these? They're just a little something Trixie slapped on at the last minute. But thank you, thank you. Trixie always aims to please..."

She seductively twisted her shoulder at the ogling stallions before giving a bat of the eyelashes and returning to the wagon's level with a loop.

"You're really loving this, aren't you?" Spike quipped.

"Give them what they want, that's the rule Trixie lives by," Trixie stated as she gracefully flipped a coif in her mane and caressed an edge of her wings. "Who knows? She's already grown quite attached to these herself. Maybe she'll keep them."

"Just keep in mind Trixie, those wings are made from gossamer and morning dew, and they're incredibly delicate. You have to be careful with them," Twilight warned.

"Oh boo hoo, Twilight Sparkle," Trixie dismissed. "Trixie's sure they can't get worn out from too much attention."

"I still think we should have tried it on Octavia instead," Spike privately conversed with Twilight. "Now she's a mare that can pull off the real grace of a butterfly."

"I'm actually more particular to moths," the gray mare interjected with a coy smirk. Spike flushed and immediately clammed up.

"Oh, yes. Moths are so furry and cute."

"Gaaah!" Everypony jumped from their seats to the yellow pegasus mare that stuck her head out from behind the railing.

She immediately shrunk down. "Oh, I'm sorry. Was I interrupting something?"

Blossomforth's head peeked up next to Fluttershy's. "Hi guys. Enjoying Cloudsdale so far?"

"Well yes, but we thought you all had gone on ahead to the stadium," Sherbet replied.

"Eh, not much to do there except sit on a locker bench and wait for four hours," Rainbow said, sticking her head in between the two pegasi. "Might as well make this tourist trap 20% cooler for you."

Twilight gave a rather befuddled look to the cyan mare. "And how exactly do you measure coolness? It's not even an appropriate unit."

Rainbow Dash leaned in and gave Twilight's head a condescending pat. "My dear egghead, you've got a lot to learn about the pegasus style."

Twilight frowned and looked to Honey, who had just climbed in over the side. "Daring, mind backing me up here?"

Honey shot her a smirk. "Actually Twilight, just for the fun of it, I'm gonna side with the cool one this time."

The pair hoofbumped. Twilight facehoofed. "It's official. You, Rainbow Dash, are a negative influence on my friends."

Lightning boomed in the distance as a set of huge buildings with rainbow waterfalls pouring out the pipelines and large curvy funnels releasing large clouds came into view of the approaching tour wagon.

"Next stop, the weather factory!" their excitable guide announced.

"Don't they make these coats in dragon size?" Spike complained as he fumbled with the baggy protective uniform and oversized helmet.

"I don't imagine they get many non-pegasi on the factories' worker repertoire," Sherbet lightly bantered as their guide opened the doors to the first warehouse. A breath of frigid air blew across their cheeks before they even took a step in. Workers in earmuffs and scarves were delicately holding magnifying glasses to finely cut droplets of snow and ice, occasionally making a snip or two with their tiny art knifes.

"This is where they make the snowflakes. Each one is hoofmade, that way you know there's love in each crystal shape. As you can see, it's a delicate operation."

Blossomforth took the liberty of flying up to the top shelf racks where some completed specimens hung. "Ooh, they look even prettier up close."

"Um, Blossomforth? I don't think we're supposed to be flying in this room-"

Fluttershy's warning came too late. All it took were a few flaps of the freckled mare's wings and soft breeze drifted down and around the circular dome. While it barely even qualified as wind, snowflakes were known for being notoriously light. The craftsponies all shouted in varying degrees of surprise and annoyance as their work flew from their tables and swirled around the chamber like an indoor flurry. Buckets were passed around at lighting speed as the workers scrambled to and fro to try and catch their precious inventory.

"Oops," was all Blossomforth could say.

Rainbow Dash gave a nudge and a whisper to the tour group. "We better move on before Blossomforth ruins winter and causes a drought."

"And here's my favorite part of the factory, where they make the rainbows!" Surprise led her group into an open air chamber where pools of liquid rainbow flowed and bubbled. Workers here carried long stirring paddles, carefully mixing and sifting the colors into just the right blend on regular intervals.

"Neato, right? All that bright color, the sugary sweet atmosphere, almost makes this stuff look like candy!"

"Huh." Curious by that statement, Spike dipped a finger in one of the pools and gave a good lick.

"F.Y.I. It does not taste like it. Believe me, I tried it once."

"Urp!" Spike's face morphed into a series of flashy colors he cupped his mouth with bulging cheeks. "Spicyyyyyy!!"

With that, he scurried off to find the nearest water cooler in the building, leaving the mares to have a quick giggle at his expense.

"Woah!"

Everypony's heads turned to see that Trixie had strayed a bit from the group again. And once again, was flaunting her newfound attractiveness to everyone who caught her in their eyesight. Blossomforth and Fluttershy simultaneously blanched at the particular ponies she was charming their way this time.

It was the factory jock trio.

"Where'd you get those amazing wings? I want a pair!" Dumbbell fawned.

"Hmm...yes...Trixie sees where you're coming from. After all, who wouldn't want to have even a faction of the blessing that is the Fabulous and Beautiful Trixie! She wouldn't trade these in for the world!"

"Flattery is of a poor money, to which our vanity gives us currency," Octavia cautioned. Her hinting was either unheard or ignored, as the next thing both Trixie and the stallions did was canter right past.

"Oh, hey look, it's Rainbow Crash again!" Dumbbell teased as they got a good look of the group.

"Yeah! And her earth pony wannabe cheer squad, Klutzershy and Blunderforth!" Hoops added.

"Trixie! What the hay are you doing, hanging around these jerks?!" Rainbow demanded.

"Now now, the Fabulous and Beautiful Trixie can't help if her spectacular wings turn the necks of ponies of all sorts, Rainbow Dash. A thespian is never choosy of her audience!"

"Yeah, you should forget the Sonic Rainboom and just get yourself some wings like these! At least then you'll look like a good enough flier!"

The trio laughed so hard their wings flapped unevenly by their sides.

"Yes, and those pretty girly wings you want so badly will go so well with those rough, burly muscles and that leathery, dirty hide of yours," Honey cut in.

Dumbbell's face lost all humor as he leaned in to Honey's. "You think you're sooooo smart, don't you? We'll see how smart you are when you're the only one in that big wide stadium cheering for that loser and those two scaredy mares." He then narrowed his eyes. "By the way, I asked Silver Script what a Merychippus was. I'm not amused."

"Obviously. Emotional concepts like humor weren't established amongst the equines until the Pliohippus** developed seven million years later."

"Oooooh, snap!" Rainbow cracked with a grin. Hoops then stamped right to her.

"You don't know what that means!"
"Neither do you!"
"Yeah? Well...umm...eyah...you don't know what that means, Rainbow Crash!"

"Hoops, stop talking." Dumbbell had Score push his cohort away. "Anyways, even if by some dumb luck Crash here doesn't make a complete fool out of herself, those two groupies of hers are sure to make up for it in spades, or should I say down?"

"Yeah," the stout one of the trio spoke for the first time in deep and slow voice. "Everypony in Cloudsdale already knows that wimp who's scared of her own shadow and that daisy pulling dork are the two worst fliers in history. You don't need a social studies class to know that. All they're going to prove today is that it's true."

Hoops looked down at the slightly trembling shy mare, who had crouched down to make herself seem as small and hidden as possible. "They're not gonna take two flaps outside those stadium doors before a cross breeze sends them spiraling into the walls. And losers of a feather flock together!"

The trio then took off, making sure that the last word was theirs.

"Uhhhh...okay! I think we've stayed here long enough! Let's move on over to the cloud maker building!" Surprise quickly piped up, a slightly overstrained smile of her face.

As the group plodded along, Blossomforth nudged her shaken friend to keep up the pace. "Don't listen to them Fluttershy...they don't know anything about us. Remember what we planned?"

"Ohhhh...but none of that will matter if we do mess it up. And look at us, look at our flimsy third-rate wings. We really are the weakest fliers in Cloudsdale. Maybe a breeze will be all it takes bring us down."

"Take it easy Fluttershy, you're starting to get me scared..."

Trailing behind, Twilight, Octavia and Sherbet could not help but exchange a worried look among them as they listened in on the pair's murmurings.

Steam billowed everywhere as the ponies walked among the towering vats. They watched as workers poured buckets of water down the tubes into the unseen boiler beneath the building that processed it into raw, malleable vapors that erupted in bursts. Others worked large bellows to blow fresh air and stoke the fires beneath.

Blossomforth however, had her head looking down and her expression glum as opposed to awed.

"Hey, what's got you down?" Spike asked, having returned with his thirst quenched.

"Oh, Spike. It's just what those three said earlier while you were running around with your mouth on fire," Blossomforth explained. "I've been trying to get Fluttershy to put them out of our mind, but the more I think about it, the more it's starting to get to me too. We've tried so hard to make sure we don't put on a pitiful performance, what if it was all for nothing and we still suck?"

"Aw, come on. You two practiced and exercised every hour on the hour! Of course you'll do great!"

"But what if we don't?" Blossomforth stressed her last word right into the little dragon's face.

Spike chewed his tongue for a second. Twilight was usually the one who dealt with these big insecure worries from her friends, unless she was the one who was worrying. Then all he could really do was damage control since she never really listened to him anyways. Racking his brain for an answer that wouldn't get the two of them to burst into jittery tears, he tapped his teeth with an index claw and an averted gaze.

"Well, at least you can feel good that you did your best," he finally offered.

Thankfully for Spike, a distraction came in the form of the Great and Powerful Trixie. Almost everyone in the factory room was crowding around this time as front and center, Trixie elegantly posed like a fashion model.

Amongst the awing, she let out a filly-like giggle. "What, these old things? Go ahead, everypony. Photos are encouraged."

"Trixie..." Twilight whispered with a harsh undertone as she approached from behind. "We're supposed to be helping Blossomforth and her friend build confidence for the contest, remember? Put your wings away and stop showing off already!"

Trixie just gave Twilight a lighthearted chuckle. "Oh, fiddle faddle, Twilight. That's like asking a fish to stop swimming." She then climbed higher to the skylight, letting the sun's rays shine through her glittering butterfly wings and bathe the room in a series of colorful sparkles. "Besides, how can you ask Trixie to put away perfection?"

Another chorus of Oooohs and Ahhhs prompted Trixie to squeal in delight. "Waa-haa-haa! Ah, brains, brawn, and beauty! Trixie truly is the mare who has it all!"

Orange Sherbet in the meanwhile turned to see Fluttershy crouched down next to her, trying to make themselves as small as possible instead of giving a standing ovation. "Fluttershy?" she started in her most motherly tone possible. "Are you alright? You don't look so well."

"Oh, I'm fine, really," the nervous mare answered in a hurried voice. "Why shouldn't I be unwell when I'm only two hours away from going through the most mortifying situation in my whole entire life?"

Orange Sherbet felt like she was consoling her daughter before her first day of school again, except perhaps ten times more panicky. "Well, look on the bright side. Maybe there won't be as many spectators as you think. Maybe everyone will be so busy admiring Trixie's new wings they'll all forget to attend the Best Young Flyer's Competition."

"Hey! There's an idea!" A worker mare to their direct right exclaimed to Trixie. "YOU should enter the competition!"

"Yeah!" Another worker, an elderly mare a few years from retirement agreed. "I could watch you fly all day long!"

Trixie seemed to pretend ponder in a gesture that showed her doing her hooves with an imaginary file. "Well, there really isn't anypony who uses their wings quite like Trixie. Hmm, yes. Perhaps she should compete."

"What?!" blurted an incredulous Rainbow Dash.

"Fillies and gentlecolts, come one, come all! For today only, the Gorgeous and Lovely Triiiiixie will be showing the full extent of her beauty and power at the Cloudiseum this afternoon!"

Fluttershy looked to Blossomforth, who shared the same fearful thought. "Ohhhhh...now every pegasus in Cloudsdale is sure to come to watch the competition!"

"And compared to something like that," Blossomforth added, "Anything we or any other pegasus will do is going to stink like a skunk cabbage!"

"I changed my mind! I'm dropping out. I can handle a lifetime of ridicule and cowardice!"

Honey gruntingly dragged her friend up to the steps of the imposing Cloudiseum by the tail as the Manehattan junior weather cadet gripped the cloudwalk with all her might. "Oh...no..." she stressed through her teeth. "We did not spend all that time and effort...building up your confidence and routine...just to let it go to waste at the last moment...and watch you chicken out!"

"Chicken?" Fluttershy's head perked up from the similar restraint Rainbow was tugging her through. "Oh, that reminds me. I forgot to lay out Henrietta's 2:30 snack. Better go home to my chicken coop and fix that. Guess I can't compete after all."

With an absurdly wide and fake smile, Fluttershy gave a quick adrenaline induced sucker buck to her loyal friend, and took off like a shot. She had made it 3.6 meters before getting caught in a magic field of purplish pink hue.

Twilight then proceeded to pick up the other scared silly contestant. "Come on you two, everypony else is already inside. Just remember the calming techniques I read to you from page 147 of 'Fight the Fear' and everything will be just fine!"

"Y-yeah," Rainbow said as her eyes darted around for some reason. "There's...there's nothing to be worried about. I mean, look at me. Everyone still thinks I can't do the sonic rainbooom, but I'm...I'm not letting that get to my head. It doesn't mean I won't be able to do it in front of an entire stadium, full of impatient, super-critical sportsfan ponies. Heh...just pony up and be brave."

"Oh, this is me being brave!" Fluttershy said as her hooves flailed the air helplessly alongside Blossomforth's while they were carried in. "I wanna be brave at home!"
"Locked in my greenhouse!"
"With my teddy bear!"

A fanfare of trumpets sounded around the Cloudiseum to announce the beginning of the competition. Deep inside the arena's corridors, in the contestant lobby, pegasi of all sizes, shapes, and ages were stretching their legs, warming up their wings, and doing anything to get into the competitive mindset. There were two in the room however, that were feeling a completely different kind of excitement.

Fluttershy and Blossomforth both paced from separate ends of the room, one to the other, as if looking for a place to hide. On the eighth pass, they collided muzzle to muzzle.

"Oh, s-s-sorry," Fluttershy squeaked.

"T-that's okay," Blossomforth replied. She then gulped down the lump in her throat that was building up every other minute. "S-so...we're really here...we're really doing it..."
"Y-yeah..."
"R-remember all the steps to our routine?"
"Mmmm...hmmmm..."
"Did we check to see if the stuff we had delivered to the dressing rooms the day before is there?"
"Um...five times I-I think..."
"Well...maybe a sixth time couldn't hurt?"

A roar from the crowd outside drew their attention. Peeking their heads out of the arena entrance, the nerve wracked pair chanced upon a view of their stage. Not a vacant cloud in sight, the stadium was packed. Over to the left and close to the front sat their Manehatten supporters, and on the cloud just below...

Oh no! It was the jock trio! And they were already laughing and jeering, or at least practicing to.

"Fillies and gentlecolts!" the sky blue Cloudiseum official Madden announced into his mike on top of his lone cloud overhead the stadium. "Please rise and join me in welcoming our beloved Princess Celestia!"

Cheers went out all around as the divine sun diarch of Equestria descended from the sky, accompanied by a pair of her guards, to the royal viewing box directly across, and waved to the crowds before directing her full attention to the arena before her.

Yup, as if the atmosphere wasn't tense enough.

"And please welcome our celebrity judges for the Best Young Flyer Competition: the Wonderbolts!"

As if on cue, a sextet of ace fliers soared into the arena at lightning speed, a trail of smoke in their wake of the air. The squad surged into a ninety degree vertical upline, adjusting formation into a single streamlined queue, and with a circular motion, came together and broke apart in a flashy fireburst. The fans went wild as they joined the Princess in the next box over.

"And now, let's find out who will take the prize as this year's best young flyer!"

"Okay everyone, let's form up and get organized here." Backstage manager, Lucy Packard, walked in and gave a quick lookover through her half-moon glasses. "You two, back away from takeoff platform and wait for your number to be called. Alright, contestant number one, you're up."

Blossomforth and Fluttershy scooted out of the way to clear a path for a sand colored mare with a bushy magenta mane and tail that trotted out into the open arena. After a series of rolls and three stall turns off the left side of the walls, she proceeded to land on a cloud reserved for finished participants.

"Okay, number two, let's go."

A few seconds passed, but Fluttershy and Blossomforth didn't see anyone approach the platform. They even checked their own numbers. Nope, 13, and 14. It wasn't them being called.

"C'mon, c'mon, we ain't got all day! Where is number two?"

Now every pegasus was checking their numbers, not a single one of them were number two.

Lucy nearly facehoofed. "Look, we're on a tight schedule here. If number two isn't here, then somepony else go already!"

"I'll do it!" A bubbly grey mare with a dull yellow mane, some particularly skewed eyes, and the number 15 plastered on herself galloped forth unsteadily out the exit. Peaking out once more, Fluttershy and Blossomforth watched as the mare lazily flipped a few turns, sometimes upside down and even sometimes backwards! All the while with a wobble in her flight path. Suddenly, she wobbled a smidge to the right by a little much, and her wing clipped one of the clouds on the course.

"Wooaaaoooaaaoooaaah!" Number fifteen spun into a tailspin until her posterior wedged itself directly into one of the large columns to the side. With a crack, the top of it broke off and dragged her right into a fluffy crash landing on one of the stands below that was quickly evacuated. "Oops, my bad," came the muffled voice from underneath the puffy wreckage.

"Smooth moves, 'Derpy Hooves'!" Hoops wheezed in between guffaws.

Blossomforth and Fluttershy looked to the entire stadium that seemed to be laughing at the funny performance, even Princess Celestia who had a hoof raised to her mouth for but a second to conceal her grin, then to the unharmed, but still stuck contestant, and as their wide eyes left the arena and gazed into each other, they shared the same knowing sentiment.

"I can't do this after all!"

Fleeing from the platform as fast as they could, both mares simultaneously turned their heads in a frantic search to find a place to disappear. They both found it in the form of the only other door next to the dressing rooms, a small custodial closet.

With a quick jostle of the knob, the pair leapt into the cluttered darkness and squeezed the door shut.

"New plan, we wait until everyone leaves the stadium, then sneak off to some remote colony in Zebrica via the pony corps, adopt new identities, and live the rest of our lives in peace as nursing equinitarians and never leave the ground again," Blossomforth whispered in a panic.

"Sounds good to me," squeaked Fluttershy.

"Could we try the Griffon Empire instead? I hear the highlands there have really neat airways."

Blossomforth and Fluttershy leapt into each other's tight embrace at the third voice behind them. Trembling and frightened out of their wits, they peeked back into the darkness.

They stopped trembling almost immediately.

There, crouched behind a bucket and mop, was Rainbow Dash. The number two hanging from her neck for both of them to see in the faint darkness. Her eyes were wild in a fight or flight state, and her mouth scrunched up in a nervous frown.

"Rainbow Dash?" Fluttershy ventured. "What are you doing in here? Your number was already called!"

"I...well...it's...kinda complicated...but...I can't go out there," Rainbow mumbled.

"What? But why are you hiding? You're a shoo-in to win!" Blossomforth exclaimed.

"Shhhhh!" Rainbow hissed, placing her hoof against the white mare's mouth. "They'll hear us!"

"Doesn't this competition mean the world to you?" Blossomforth asked again in a more hushed tone. "Why would you of all ponies not want to go out there?"

"Because...because..." Rainbow bit her lip and looked away. "I can't do it..."

"Umm...what was that?" Fluttershy asked.

"I can't do the Sonic Rainboom..."

"Uh, one more time?" Blossomforth leaned in to hear better.

Rainbow Dash jerked her head up in a burst of anxiety and nearly shouted directly into both of their eardrums. "I said I can't perform the Sonic Rainboom!!"

Both ponies' jaws dropped as the proud and brash pegasus stood up for them so many times during their fillyhood, the mare who showed no fear, who went against the odds in a fight every time and came out on top, looked to them with pleading eyes and uttered the two words they never thought they'd ever hear from her mouth.

"I'm scared..."

Author's Note

*Merychippus is an ancestor of the modern horse, first in the evolutionary tree to adapt to grazing on an interesting note. It's basically the pony form of a neanderthal.

**Pliohippus evolved from it. It was the first one-toed horse.

Act 5: Winging it

"I loved number seven," Twilight chatted among the buzz of the stands. "Doing fifteen barrel-rolls in a row can't be easy."

"I give props to number four," Honey said. "He used every aspect of the the arena at least once."

Sherbet spotted Octavia rubbing a hoof against her lower cheek ever so slightly. "Is something bothering you Octavia, dear?"

"I am just pondering...about the contestants we specifically are anticipating."

"We're only up to number ten. Blossomforth and her friend aren't supposed to be up yet if that's what you're wondering."

Octavia gave an indifferent shake of her head. "No, no. That is not it. I speak for our other acquaintance. If what I gather from the clues provided from conversation, Rainbow Dash had signed up early on and would have been one of the first to perform. Yet the competition is growing late and we have not seen her perform."

Sherbet mirrored Octavia's wonderings with a flick of the ear. "That is peculiar now that you mention it. I'd imagine a mare of her boldness would be so eager as to cut in line to perform if she got the chance. I wonder if something is inconveniencing her?"

"What do you mean you can't do the Sonic Rainboom?"

Rainbow Dash cringed over the level of disbelief that seemed to emanate from Blossomforth as the initial shock wore off her. "I mean I really can't do it. Ever since that day I won that race against Billy and Hoops I've never been able to repeat the Sonic Rainboom."

"But you've kept telling me you could do Sonic Rainbooms in your sleep," Fluttershy protested.

"I...sorta...kinda...fibbed a little." The anxious mare looked like she was about to tear her own wings off. "I-I figured I could get it ready by the time of the competition, but I still keep failing! I don't know why or what's keeping me from doing it, but I just can't make the impossible possible anymore!"

She then curled up into a ball, laying against a bucket. "Billy and his posse were right all along. I can't go out there. Everypony's gonna see me fail!"

"But Rainbow, what about everything you told us about-"

"You don't get it!" the cyan pegasus snapped at her inward lifelong friend. "They don't expect greatness from you in this area, but they expect it from me! And I'm not going to be able to deliver! I didn't accidentally sign up or come here to have fun, I came here to win! Because losing is one thing a Wonderbolt never does! This is just a contest for you, but for me, this is my reason for living! I don't care for animals, I don't care for flowers, I care for FLYING! And how can I call myself a flier if I go out there with no Sonic Rainboom? The Wonderbolts will never let a loser like me join. Princess Celestia will probably banish me to the Everfree Forest! My life is ruined!"

Blossomforth looked to the shivering and spastic mare before her, then to her contestant badge, rotating it around in her hoof. This sounded an awful lot like the tirade she was given back at the library. And yet despite that, despite her nerves getting frayed to the very ends of their neurons, despite being dragged around, teased, and force fed confidence by every other pony...

"What makes you so important?"

"Huh?" Fluttershy and Rainbow both looked into her piqued eyes.

"So it's okay if our reputations get put on the line, but not yours? After everything you've done, everything you've said, just to keep us in the game, YOU'RE backing out?"

Rainbow Dash was taken aback, unable to immediately grasp where the conversation had turned. "B-but I-"

"Do you realize how selfish and foalish you're acting right now? Are you really that starved for self-satisfaction that you think you're the only one that matters in this tournament?"

The white mare towered over her still but breathing body. "News flash for you, Rainbow. Just because Fluttershy and I don't share your aspirations for flying, doesn't mean we've thought any less of this contest! We worked just as hard as you did, weathered all the slings and doubts, and still came here expecting the possibility of being booed and humiliated. Everypony who entered did! But that's still not stopping them from charging out those doors and giving their all for the crowds."

"But, ummm...aren't we hiding here too?" Fluttershy asked.

Blossomforth nodded. "Yeah, and that's just yet another lapse of judgement we can account to my scatterbrainess. Seeing us here, thinking back on my time in Manehattan, our fillyhood secret paradise, has just made me realize something. I don't give a molting feather to the opinion of anypony in those stands except my friends. And the only thing I need to do to get them clapping is to just fly out there and participate."

She backed away, and took a few steps back towards the door. "No more running and hiding. I'm going to face that audience and flap my wings like no tomorrow. And if they boo or laugh or even write me down as the worst flier in history, so what? I know five ponies out there...well five ponies and one dragon, then again Trixie's in here so four ponies and one dragon...who have their own gold medal with my name on it!"

She then turned to Fluttershy. "And they've got one for you too. Well...partner?"

"Um...I..." The hesitant pegasus looked from one friend to another. Tentatively lifted a hoof...and then slapped it alongside her fillyhood friend's offering one, scrunching her most fierce and courageous face. "Okay! I'll do it! I'm going to be brave, this time for real! If...if you're really going to face an onslaught of ridicule and criticism, then I'm not letting you do it alone!"

She then immediately withdrew some of her sudden spunk. "Um...if that's okay with you, that is."

The two then looked to the last inspiree. "How about it Rainbow? Would it help if we dared you?"

Rainbow shakily pawed the floor with a hoof. "Ahhh...well..."

Fluttershy reached out and lifted her hoof to hold warmly. "It's okay Rainbow...everything will be alright...I won't let a single one of them badmouth you..."

Rainbow was dead silent for some time, her head down so that her mane shadowed her eyes. Then finally, a faint chuckle escaped from her lips.

"Heh...heh heh. Funny...all these years I've spent protecting ponies like you, and now you're the ones ready to defend me."

She wiped a tear from her eye, heaving a another sighing snicker that carried anxiety out by the breath. "Man, I must have really zonked out if you guys had to go and twist my wing like that. Thanks a bunch Flutters, you too Blossom. What you two just did for me now, that was super cool."

With renewed vigor, the proud mare stood up straight and cut ahead to the door. "And no way is this pony going to be letting anyone outcool her. If you two will excuse me, I've got a Sonic Rainboom to do."

Her hoof had barely touched the knob when it swung open to the frazzled curled mane and annoyed frown of the backstage manager.

"Oh for the love of- there you are! Do you have any idea how messed up the program is because of your antics?" Lucy Packard waved her clipboard frantically. "This job is stressful enough as it is without having to reshuffle lineups, swap cues, and budget the competition time, by myself, five times over! Honestly, you're the ones supposed to be jumping through the hoops, not me!"

"Trixie's reaaaadyyyy~!"

Out of the dressing rooms stepped the beautiful magician with the butterfly wings. Her silvery mane was done up in a wavy perm full of volume, glossed over to make it shine and sparkle as much as possible. Accompanying her wings was a frill of tropical feathers with matching bedazzled choker and bracelets. A midnight eyeshadow decorated her visage, she even had a pair of false eyelashes to complete the look.

"Ugh...look, we're almost outta time for this, thanks to you all treating the janitor's closet like a clubroom. So if we're going to make this happen, you'll just have to go out there together!"

Lucy fervently motioned for both rainbow Dash and Trixie to go. As they walked to the platform, Trixie gave Rainbow Dash a vain smile. "Best of luck to you. And not to worry, Rainbow Dash, Trixie won't try to upstage you too much."

"And now, for our next competitor, contestant number twelve, Trixie Lulamoon!" Madden pulled his shades down to get a better look at what he thought he saw coming out. "Uhh... and apparently contestant number two, Rainbow Dash."

"Wait a minute, those two are putting on their routines at the same time?" Twilight asked out loud to nopony in particular.

Spike scratched his chin from atop the unicorn's backside. A boastful unicorn entertainer with newfound vanity and a brash athletic pegasus showoff, one spotlight to share, add them together and...

"Yep, this isn't gonna end well."

"Welcome ponies of all ages, to the greatest performance in the history of the Cloudiseum! Prepare for the dazzling and awe inspiring beauty that is the Great and Powerful Trrrrrrixie!"

A scattered assortment of fireworks burst in the background as Trixie already began to drink in the ardor that the crowd gave her. She then began to lightly twirl as the music she had arranged began to play.

Honey just stuck a hoof to her temple and gave a half moan, half sigh. "Here we go folks..."

Trixie:"I feel pretty...oh so pretty...I feel pretty and witty and gay!
And I pity...any girl who isn't me today~!
I feel charming...oh so charming...it's alarming how charming I feel!
And so pretty...that I hardly can believe I'm real~!"

She winged over a paparazzi group where the reflective surfaces of their lens mirrored her gorgeous appearance as she looped backwards.

Trixie:"See the pretty mare in that photo there.
Who can that attractive mare be?
Such a pretty face,
such a pretty wing,
such a pretty smile,
such a pretty me~!"

As she pirouetted across the sky, Rainbow Dash psyched herself up below. "C'mon, Rainbow Dash. You can do this. Just remember the routine. Phase one."

Gunning in low, Rainbow winged in low and across a series of cloud pillars, swerving in a half scissors maneuver. She was at the third to last column however, when she jumped her timing by a fraction of a second, slamming and bouncing off the obstacle and into the wall.

"Oof, WAAAH!"
*thud*

The jock trio didn't miss a beat. "Nice work, Rainbow Crash!" Hoops teased.

Trixie looped the sky, her horn's magic tracing a skywriting of her cutie mark.

Trixie:"I feel stunning...and entrancing...
Feel like soaring and dancing with glee~!
For I'm loved...by each and every pony~!"

Up in the stands, a particular group voiced their concerns.

Manehattan mares:"I take it you've met our friend Trixie,
the cockiest mare in our town.
You'll know from the minute you meet her,
that she has the biggest head all around."

Sherbet:"She thinks she's so cute, she thinks she's so fine."
Octavia:"She's clearly never heard of pearls before swine."

Twilight:"I'm starting to regret giving her those wings.
She's prancing around like she's some sort of king."

Honey:"Such narcissism! Such an ego!"
Spike:"It pains me to say this is the Trixie that we know!"

Manehattan mares:"Modest and pure,
polite and refined,
well-bred and mature,
and out of her mind!"

"Time for phase two." Rainbow sped up over the edge of the arena to some stray clouds. Altering her doughnut loops, she began to spin them simultaneously. Two...then three...then four...

All of a sudden a chuck of the nearest cloud broke off and was caught in her slipstream. Coming around the next loop, Rainbow caught a faceful of water vapor and was sent spiraling out in a flip. The clouds, no longer held in place by her vortex, spun out of control. One even barely missed the Princess and her guards as they ducked down to avoid the ballistic cloud missile. Rainbow winced. If she didn't get banished for such a poor showing, she'd almost definitely get sent to the moon for attempted assault on royalty.

Trixie leapt daintily from the tips of her hooves from one puffy tuff to the next, glittery sparkles descending from her wings.

Trixie:"I feel pretty...oh so pretty...that this city should give me its key.
A committee...should be organized to honor me.
I feel dizzy...I feel sunny...I feel fizzy and funny and fine~!
And so pretty...Miss Equestria can just resign!"

Trixie:"See the pretty mare in that sky so clear~"
Pegasi:"We see her, yes!"
Trixie:"Who is that attractive pony~?"
Pegasi:"Trixie! It's Trixie!
Such a pretty mane,
such a pretty tail,
such a pretty flank-"
Trixie:"Such a pretty meeeeee~!"

Honey:"Pretty annooooying~"

"Looks like this is my last chance to turn things around." Rainbow steeled herself as much as she could. She had fumbled almost every part of her routine. There was only one part left. If she was going to win, she had to pull it off flawlessly. "Phase three. The Sonic *gulp* Rainboom. Wings, don't fail me now!"

She rocketed upwards at a lightning pace speed, racing for optimal altitude. From the other side of the arena, another pony rose more slowly, her voice crescendoing into a final verse by the increasing light of the sun. As her body eclipsed the burning sphere, prismatic light refracted from her gossamer wings to fill the whole stadium.

Trixie:"I feel lovely...and so comely...
of my beauty we all can agree~!
For I am the...marvelous, gorgeous Trixiiiiiie~!"

There was but only the faintest second of a warning under the intense heat of the sun above and the oohs of the audience below. A near silent sizzle...a blackening wingtip...a thin wisp of smoke...

And then in an instant, a flash of flame devoured the fragile strips keeping Trixie aloft. With a blink of the eyes and a bead of sweat dripping down her forehead, the unicorn looked over her shoulder to find her backside was bare.

"Uh...oh..." she whimpered.

Then she fell like a rock, a flailing, screaming for her life rock.

"Oh no!" Twilight exclaimed. "Her wings evaporated into thin air!"

Plummeting past the Cloudiseum, a collective gasp of horror erupted from the stands. Everypony knew a fall from that height would only result in one thing!

A trio of the wonderbolts dove from the stands straight for her, Honey only half a second behind.

"Hang on Trixie!"

Rainbow turned her head down to the sound of the screaming, eyes widening to see the now wingless unicorn shrinking in the distance. "Yikes!"

The three professionals closed in on the pony in peril. But Trixie was so frantic and panicked, and the fact that her eyes were squeezed shut didn't help, as their hooves reached out to grab them, her own wild hooves gave them a good knocking.

"Ooh!" One.
"Aah!" Two.
"Uuh!" Three KOs.

Now one pony in danger had turned into four. It all rested on Honey now. The archeologist pushed her wings to the limit, muscling against the building G-force meter by meter.

Almost got them...almost...

A visible dome of air suddenly blocked her view. A stretching sensation overwhelmed her body. She could feel her inertia shifting drastically.

Oh no...the sound barrier!
*Snap*

Honey took a mighty recoil punch to the face, sending her back up into a low hanging cumulus.

"Even Daring can't catch her!" Blossomforth exclaimed from edge of the platform.

"Oh, I can't watch!" Fluttershy ducked under her hooves and squeezed her eyes shut.

A downward rush of wind prompted her to peek out of her hooves though. "W-what was that?"

Blossomforth pointed down, almost tumbling off the edge. "Omigosh! Fluttershy, look!"

No good. At this point someone would have to be traveling at supersonic speed to beat them before the ground does! I can't even make that on my best day! What do I-

A blur of rainbow brushed past straight down, nearly knocking Honey off the cloud. "What the- who?"

"Hold on everypony! I'm coming!"

Rainbow could feel her old foe, air resistance pressing against her. But she kept pushing back harder. She wasn't even thinking about how thick the air was getting or how she wouldn't be able to pull up at this speed or even that she had probably just abandoned her final performance mid-routine as well as her last chance to avoid losing the Young Best Flier's competition. No, there was just one thought on her mind.

I've got to save them.

Her eyes watered against the wind, her lips stretching out at the folds. The dome of air was completely visible now.

A similar image flashed through her head as she locked in on the hapless ponies. The image of a little butter yellow pegasus filly plummeting to earth, she plunging after her once she realized she was gone to what she thought at the time was the most evil of places, trying to save her from all those creatures and then...kinda getting saved herself. And then...and then everything that happened afterwards. How she stuck up for her in school, how her friend comforted her when she lost or felt insecure, the past few days of supporting her and training, and just a few minutes ago, when her warm smile brought her out of that closet...

The dome began to compress and sharpen into a cone.

She was right. That Blossomforth mare was completely right. All the races she's won, all the games she's played, winning them was good, but really feeling it...the rush...that sense of accomplishment...it just never tasted that sweet when she had it all by herself. The day she met Fluttershy...that moment she knew there would always be someone there to personally say to her 'yay', albeit softer than preferred, going for the gold just got that more exciting. Because she had won the real prize that day...her first friend. No amount of gold medals or trophies or prizes could ever trade up for the ponies that would be there to celebrate, to console, to cheer long after the games were all played and done with.

And that's why...that's why it didn't matter if she lost now. Because she had that to look forward to regardless. Her friend Fluttershy, and Fluttershy's friend Blossomforth, and Blossomforth's friend Trixie...and a friend of a friend of a friend was her friend too!

And I never...leave my friends hanging!

What happened next was almost too amazing to describe unless seen by one's own eyes. The tip of her hoof poked through the tip of the cone, and time stood still. Her body completely disappeared into a buildup of pure white light, a surge of energy greater than any lighting bolt filled her blood and coursed through her veins.

Then the world exploded before her. A massive ring of colors lit up the sky and deafened the ears of every creature within a mile with a rocking boom. Then she was there, she was right next to her targets, the ground mere hoof-lengths away. And then she was back up in the sky, speeding back towards the massive stadium at full throttle, a trio of unconscious Wonderbolts on her back and a shocked unicorn cradled in her hooves. And then, she was safely back in the center of the Cloudiseum arena, the arch of her contrail still lasting overhead.

And then time started up again.

Streamers, confetti, and cheers erupted from the stands. A flock from the nearby stands lifted the passengers off her back. Rainbow Dash took a full 360 view around her, as the fact slowly sunk in.

"Whoa...I did it. I finally did it! I can do the Sonic Rainboom again! I-urk!" Her windpipes were suddenly closed by the compression and squeezing of two azure hooves around her neck.

"Ohthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou! You saved me! You saved me! You truly are the greatest flier in the history of the world oh wonderful and amazing Rainbow Dash!!" Trixie continued to kiss the hooves of her savior with every other outburst of subservient praise and hug around the barrel.

"Oh y-yeah...guess I *urf* did that too...best day ever-*ummmph* T-trixie...can't...breathe..."

"SHE DID IT!! SHE DID IT!! A SONIC RAINBOOM!! WOOOOO!!!" Fluttershy leapt around and waved her forelegs like a jackrabbit who had gotten into the coffee beans.

Blossomforth was bouncing around in giddy tandem. "And she saved them! Trixie, the Wonderbolts, she was even faster than Daring! That was so awesome!"

After a full minute of unrestrained screaming in delight, the pair finally quieted down to catch their breaths.

"I guess all that cheer practice didn't go to waste after all, huh?" Blossomforth complimented her friend.

"Yes..." Fluttershy panted. "Come on, let's go congratulate her, right now."

"I'd love to...but there's a little problem with that."

"Huh? What problem?"

The euphoria of celebration died down in the two as their gaze dropped to the numbers on their chests.

"Now it's our turn."

"*Ahem* Yes, well, if everypony will settle down now, it's time for our final competitor of the day! A duet performance by numbers 13 and 14, Blossomforth and Fluttershy!"

Blossomforth scanned the stands, they were all still galvanized by the Sonic Rainboom, but still and seated and ready to move on to the next act. A few butterflies in her stomach reared their queasy heads. Just because she had resolved to follow through with this no matter what the end result was didn't mean that huge stadium audience wasn't completely unnerving. She looked behind her to see if all the stuff they had taken out of the dressing room storage was accounted for, then to her partner.

"That's our cue. Ready?"

"Um...no." Fluttershy's knees were trembling as her wings were close to locking up. The excitement she had earlier had definitely worn off completely.

"Me neither," Blossomforth agreed. But then she put a hoof over her shy friend's shoulder. "But remember what we talked about. When we go out that doorway, there's nopony. It's just you...me...and our meadow."

Fluttershy closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and slowly lifted her wings up. "Okay...our special place...just for us..."

"Where we played..."

"Where we sang..."

"Where we...flew..."

The pair walked hoof-in-hoof out from behind the curtains, gazing out at the crowd. The ponies fell silent as for the first few moments, no activity came from the two. What were all those cages and baskets behind them?

Then, Fluttershy raised her head, closed her eyes, raised a hoof to her diaphragm, and released the most melodious voice anypony had ever heard.

"Aahaahaahaahaaaaah~"

Blossomforth then echoed a reply. "Aahaahaahaahaaaaah~"

They then leaned together, wings unfolded as the cages and baskets opened up behind them. "Aaaah aaaah aaaah aaaaaaah...aaaaaaaaaah~!"

Suddenly, an explosion of color and smell burst from their vicinity as on the blowing wind, flowers and petals of all sorts erupted from the baskets and a menagerie of robins, mockingbirds, blue jays, cardinals, hummingbirds and more emerged from the gilded metalwork.

The two immediately then broke off the platform in a dive. Fluttershy rolled into a close knit formation with her birds, coming in low with a changing pattern of chevrons, diamonds, and lines. Blossomforth took the higher air, twirling and looping, bringing the light flora into updrafted spiral that began to spread across the entire stadium.

The pair raced from opposite ends of the outer edge of the Cloudiseum, meeting each other full circle. From there they moved to the direct center of the arena, where a huge cumulus cloud was floating. Circling around a few times, they herded the birds around the mass and spun up more drafts that spread the flowers not just left to right, but up and down as well. It seemed as if it were snowing petals in the stadium now.

Then, the two gracefully pranced around the cloud, flittering to and fro as if they were chasing one another in a game of tag, poking their heads around every corner like it was hide and seek. Their wings flapped, blowing tuffs of cloud to one another as if it was a game of catch. The way they galloped on air, and danced among the petals, and hummed in tune with the birds, it was almost as if they were actually in a real flowerfield on the ground.

After a series of turns and curves, the pair began to circle again from the bottom up, climbing to the very top of the stadium. There, they came together, front hooves clasped to one another, and closing their wings, spun downward in a graceful freefall, straight onto the top of the cloud, that everyone just realized had been molded and sculpted by their 'playing' into the shape of a large flower, accompanied by three smaller butterfly shaped clouds and dotted with color by the birds now roosting on the leaves and petals.

Landing on their hind legs, the pair kept one hoof on each other, raised the other one, and unfurled their wings in a whiplike movement to let one last blast of petals fill the air. A split second of silence and stillness told the audience the performance was over.

The cheers that followed were deafening.

Author's Note

And the competition comes to an end! Stay tuned for the winner's circle!

Act 6: And the winner is...

Safely snug in the seat of the air taxi that arrived inside the Cloudiseum for an emergency pickup, Trixie leaned herself out the window to address her company.

"Again, Trixie is very sorry to all of you for getting so carried away with her-" she choked back a sob, "-beautiful wings."

"You miss them already, don't you?" Spike deadpanned.

Trixie took one look at him, and then buried her face into her hooves. "Yeeeesss!" she whined.

And then she was done mourning just like that. "*Ahem* But regardless, Trixie did end up displaying some rather hedonistic behavior that was most unbecoming of her usual charming flair." She then stuck a movie star worthy lip quiver to her friends. "Can you ever forgive her?"

"Oh Trixie..."
"Of course!"
"We're used to it by now."
"We still love you."

Trixie then looked to her pegasi companions on her left. "And as for you three, you really were spectacular today in the competition. Especially you, Rainbow Dash. Trixie is forever and ever ever ever in your debt."

"Yeah, I'm cool like that. Just keep your undying gratitude at non-contact distance only from now on," Rainbow replied with a smirk. Then she lowered muzzle just the tiniest bit. "Would have been a lot cooler if the Wonderbolts had been awake to see me save them too..."

The cyan pegasus then felt a tap on her shoulder, and she turned around to see...the Wonderbolts, standing right behind her!

Her wings stood straight up and her eyes widened. "OhmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshOHMYGOSH!"

The leader, Spitfire walked right up and extended her hoof. "We're awake now. And we'd like to thank you in pony."

"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!"

"And by the way, that amazing trick my teammates said you pulled off? Pretty impressive. Fleetfoot gave me the skinny on you even outpaced Daring there. I've seen that mare in action firsthoof, and believe me, it takes a real lot to surpass her."

"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!"

The Wonderbolt leader lifted her goggles off to show a quirked eyebrow. "Did I break her or something?" she asked Honey.

"Eh, just give her a minute. She had the same reaction with me after she finished reading about my expedition to retrieve the Amulet of Kaboo yesterday."

"Well, putting that aside..." Spitfire marched up to Blossomforth, who scratched her neck a little as Fluttershy shrunk back against her.

"I did wake up in time to see you go on. Gotta say, you've come a long way from that junior weather cadet I met in Manehattan months ago."

"Thanks, but like before, it was really more of a team effort. Me..." the white mare looked to her wingless friends, "My cheer squad..." pointed a hoof at Honey and a still gushing Rainbow Dash, "My coaches..." and pulled Fluttershy up in front of her in a neck hugging motion, "And my one and only flower buddy!"

Fluttershy squeed a meek and sheepish smile.

A flutter of wings sounded the approach of another pony from the southern end of the arena.

"Princess!" Twilight and the others bowed to their benevolent ruler as she cantered over.

"Hello, Twilight Sparkle, and hello to your friends too," she warmly beamed as they lifted their heads.

"Princess Celestia," Trixie began, "Trixie is so sorry she ruined the competition. The real star of this show really should have been Rainbow Dash here. She really is the best flyer in Equestria."

Rainbow Dash, finally out of her giddy stupor, rubbed her forelegs with a slightly bashful smile.

"I know she is, my dear." Celestia raised a hoof in declaration. "That's why, for her incredible act of bravery and her spectacular Sonic Rainboom, I'm presenting the grand prize for best young flyer to this year's winner, Miss Rainbow Dash!"

As the crowd cheered and the winner's crown was placed on her head by the Princess herself, Rainbow quickly suffered a total relapse of excitement overdrive. "Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh!"

She continued to ohmygosh as her Manehattan chums lifted her up to parade her around the stadium.

"So Twilight Sparkle," Celestia addressed her faithful student who remained behind near the taxi. "Did you learn anything about friendship from this experience?"

Twilight nodded. "I did Princess, but I think Blossomforth can explain it better than me."

Blossomforth cocked her head. "I can?" She looked to Fluttershy for a hint, but then the point hit home. "Oh, oh! Yes, I get it!

Sometimes, being a friend means doing something with them that's well outside your comfort zone. But as long as you're doing it with ponies that appreciate how much of an effort you're making it for them, even the most difficult and/or scary of activities can seem not so bad as you thought. And even if it is, you can always take comfort in knowing how thankful your friends are that you stuck through it the whole way, and maybe next time they'll do something with you that they don't like much.

You just might even make some new friends in the process."

She looked to the crowned winner completing her victory lap, then to her lifelong flower buddy, sharing her sweet smile. "And some old friends too."

"Excellent. Well done, Blossomforth." Celestia turned her head, making an idle look towards the winner's podium. "That reminds me, we need to get yours and Fluttershy's reward out too."

"R-reward?" Blossomforth was completely taken by surprise. "We placed?"

From behind the ceremonial stand, the solar diarch levitated over a pair of bronze medals, that firmly wrapped around the duo's necks. "Third place to be exact. Congratulations, my little ponies."

Fluttershy and Blossomforth each felt the bronze emblems that emblazoned their chests, their eyes locked, and a wide smile shone through them both.

"Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh!"

"You guys too?" Rainbow jumped off her parade as it return and high hoofed her flying pals. "This really is the best day EVER!"

"Uhh, hey, Rainbow Crash."

The trio turned to face another all too familiar trio.

"Dash!" Hoops nudged Dumbbell.

"Oh! Uhh... Sorry." Dumbbell rubbed the back of his head. "Rainbow Dash. Uhh, we just wanted to congratulate you on winning the competition."

"Yeah, and you too Blunderforth, Klutzershy."

Now Dumbbell nudged Hoops. "Fluttershy, Blossomforth!"

"Oh, oh! Yeah, yeah! You both were really awesome with those flowers and birds!"

"Heh, thanks guys," Blossomforth said.

The trio shifted uncomfortably. It was plain was day they were new to apologizing. "Uhh, we're really sorry we gave you all such a hard time before, especially you Rainbow Dash. I guess that Sonic Rainboom wasn't just some made up story of yours after all."

Rainbow flicked a hoof. "Aww, that's okay. Don't worry about it. I'm past that now."

"Hey. Do you want to hang out with us? Maybe you could show us how you did that incredible trick!"

"Sorry boys," Rainbow zipped by them to the Wonderbolt squad awaiting her. "But I've got plans!"

"You ready for your super fabulous ultra fun day as a Wonderbolt roadie?" piped the yellow maned one on the right.

"You know it! Let's get out there and live it!"

As the young champion soared off with her idols hoof and hoof by her side, Honey leaned over to her third place winner. "Blossom? That mare...was that who I thought-?"

Blossomforth gave a grin and a wink. "After today, and knowing her...I wouldn't be 'surprised' if it was."

"So it's agreed. Every second Sunday of the month is going to be our Cloudsdale convene?"

Blossomforth and Fluttershy hugged at the edge of of the city limits. "That sounds nice. I can bring Rainbow Dash too...uh, if that's okay with you, maybe..."

Blossomforth gazed warmly into her first friend's soft blue eyes. "Wow...so much as happened, and yet it still feels like it was so short. Next second Sunday just cannot come soon enough."

"It's alright," Fluttershy assured. "We have a whole lifetime to get together. Flower buddies forever?"

Blossomforth clinked their medals together with a toothy smile. "And now, flying buddies too!"

*Honk honk*

The weather cadet's head jerked around to the cab hovering across the open air.

"Come on, Blossomforth!" Spike called from the window. "The meter's still running in here!"

"Okay! Ah, to be continued...!" Blossomforth flapped off into the open door, and looked behind from the back to the steadily shirking citadel and the still waving yellow pegasus as the taxi pulled off in the direction of Manehattan.

When it was finally out of sight, she turned back and properly sank into her seat, an alleviated sigh of relief that had been held for over three days finally escaping her. Looking down to her chest, she grasped the copper-tin alloy in her hooves, pulling it up to eye level.

"Wow, third place..."

"Not bad for a first timer, huh?" Honey commended.

"I think this deserves a celebration, don't you?" Sherbet asked the group. "How about I make us all a reservation at the Oneighin Restaurant for dinner tonight?"

"No need to go over the top, Auntie," Twilight said. "I'll bet she's just glad it's done and over with, aren't you Blossomforth?"

Blossomforth rubbed her chin with a playful smirk. "I don't know...maybe next year I'll see if I can try for second."

Author's Note

So now Blossomforth has a bronze medal hung in her room, and will head to Cloudsdale once a month to keep in touch with her Ponyville pegasi friends.