Rainbow Dash sighed with happiness as she sank into a small cloud over Ponyville. The cloud that she was taking her afternoon nap on felt softer then the silk sheets on Princess Celestia’s own bed.
She was not normally caught sleeping on clouds, but today was different. I need lots of energy for this afternoon if I want to beat her. Dash smiled. Oh yeah, today would be far more different than most days.
Just a short while ago, a train had brought many ponies from all over Equestria that Twilight had encouraged to come live in Ponyville. If only Twilight had told me that that Pegasus would be there, I wouldn’t have bothered showing up, Rainbow Dash thought, thinking back to this morning,
“Hello! Welcome to Ponyville!” Twilight Sparkle said as the new ponies stepped off the newly arrived train “If there is anything that you need, just stop by my library.
“Thank you for the offer, Princess Twilight, I will let you know if we need anything once we have settled down in our home” One light blue mare said as she paused to call the two fillies that were running around the train station. “Sugar Cane! Sugar Crystal! Come on! Mommy’s leaving!”
“But mommy!” Sugar Crystal cried “Pinkie was telling us a story ‘bout the time she made cupcakes that were sooooooo yummy that Discord actually snuck into her house to get some!”
“and he ate so many that he couldn’t move!” Sugar Cane giggled “Right Pinkie?”
“Sure did!” Pinkie said with her usual sugary sweet smile
Amid all the chaos from the newly arrived ponies, Rainbow Dash stood there, glancing occasionally to the sky. Things like new ponies living in Ponyville that exited Twilight, bored her to tears. A perfect day like this was meant for being in the sky trying out new tricks, not standing around watching ponies greet each other.
“Tell me again why I’m here?” Rainbow Dash asked when she found Twilight on the train station platform.
“I don’t think I even told you yet Rainbow,” Twilight said with a small smile “You’re here to meet Soarin. He’s bringing a pegasus that’s moving here from Cloudsdale”
“Soarin?” Rainbow Dash asked stunned “You mean like The Wonderbolts’s Soarin?!”
“That’s the one”
“Gee” Rainbow Dash said nervously scratching the back of her head with her hoof “must be some special pony, I mean, not every pony gets an escort from a member of the Wonderbolts!”
“True” Twilight absentmindedly mused looking back to the train “There they are!”
Soarin stepped off of the train, his cornflower blue coat covered by a suit and tie. He immediately noticed the two mares watching him.
“Princess Twilight” he said with a slight bow, then turning to Rainbow “Rainbow Dash! I haven’t seen you since Candace’s wedding!”
“Yeah” Dash said, putting on her biggest smile. He remembers me! “So, who’s this new pegasus coming to live here?”
Soarin paused before saying “her name is Midnight Amethyst”
“Midnight Amethyst?!” Rainbow Dash gasped “The Best young flier five years in a row?! The youngest pegasus to join the Wonder Bolts Academy?!”
“That’s the one” Soarin said looking rather embarrassed at the young mare’s fame
“Why is she here, instead of at the Academy?” Twilight asked, confused
“Well, you are aware that she was asked to join the team,” Soarin started slowly
“Dash bit her lower lip on Soarin’s last words to keep from growling. She’s living my dream! She thought bitterly
“So why is she here, why isn’t she becoming a superstar in the Wonder Bolts?” Dash said, unable to keep the bitterness out of her voice
“She has the ability to be on the team, but she has to be at least 18 to join”
“But she’s only sixteen” Dash said “She has to wait 2 whole years?”
“Unfortunately, yes. During that time she wants to leave the academy and train on her own”
“So you came, here.”
“Well, Twilight was very helpful with the travel arrangements” Soarin said with a smile looking over at the mare who had gone back to talking to the new arrivals
When Twilight eventually came back over to Soarin and Dash, Dash gave her a poisonous look. You’ve let Equestria’s newest star come to Ponyville to step all over me, she thought as Twilight looked taken aback by Rainbow Dash’s hateful expression.
“All of the new arrivals are off the train except for Midnight” Twilight said, breaking her gaze from Rainbow Dash
“Where is she?” Rainbow Dash asked, I’d like to meet this so-called champion before she dazzles Ponyville with her fancy moves, she snarled in her mind
Soarin looked over at the train and frowned “She was asleep when we arrived. She was practicing hard this morning before we left so I thought I should let her be for now” He chuckled “Stubborn filly, can’t even put off practice for one single day. I’ll go wake her up and help her with her luggage.”
“Where’s Midnight staying?” Dash asked as Soarin started toward the train
At that, Twilight’s eyes got wider and her jaw dropped open slightly in a comical expression. “Oh, wow, I did forget to tell you a lot”
“What? What did you forget to tell me?!” Rainbow Dash asked nervously looking from pony to pony.
“Well,” Twilight started looking like she was about to tell her that Chrysalis was coming to live in Ponyville “Soarin had asked me if you would be willing to have Midnight stay at your house for a little while”
“Until Midnight’s permanent cloud house is build” Soaring added looking over at Dash with concern “Unless you don’t want to, I mean, it’s your house after all. Would that be fine with you?”
Rainbow would have wanted Midnight as far from her as possible, much less living with her! I shouldn’t say no though, Soarin would think that I hate her. For the sake of showing Soarin that I’m not afraid, I’ll suck it up, even if I have to share Ponyville’s spotlight with her.
“Sure!” she said, faking a smile “Always happy to have another pegasus around”
“Alright then” Soarin said with a small smile making his way toward the train “I’m glad that we’ve got that sorted out, I’ll go and wake Midnight up”
As soon Soarin disappeared into the train, Rainbow Dash’s smile faded into a frown.
“Twilight, what am I going to do? I can’t just stand there and smile as Midnight becomes the fastest pegasus in Ponyville!” she cried her head drooping “She’s good enough to join the Wonderbolts for Celestia’s sake!”
“Rainbow, relax” Twilight sighed shifting her gaze the train “I’m sure she’s not hoping to call attention to herself, since she wanted to move somewhere quiet to continue her training” She then looked back at her friend “And, you also have a tendency to overreact over some things”
“I don’t-“Dash started as Soaring stepped out from the train with a small, yet athletic-looking mare who regarded Twilight and Rainbow Dash calmly
Wow, she’s even more radiant in her pictures in the newspapers and CLOUD PONY Magazines Dash thought, noticing her jet black coat and wind-tossed, violet mane and tail. The cutie mark on her flank was a majestic golden bird in flight with an arrow in its beak.
“Twilight, and Dash, this is Midnight Amethyst. Midnight, these are my friends, Princess Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash.
“Hello” She said, bowing to Twilight “It’s nice to meet you Princess Twilight”
Twilight giggled a bit “Oh please, you don’t have to bow, I mean, I am a princess, but I’m not formal as Princess Celestia.”
“I suppose so,“ Midnight said, then turning to Dash, she said “Hi, nice to meet you Rainbow Dash. I’ve always admired you; ever since I saw you do a Sonic Rainboom at the Best Young Fliers Competition last year!"
“Thanks” Dash said with a smile This pony isn’t so bad. Maybe Twilight was right, and I was worrying for nothing
Just then, Twilight’s stomach grumbled loudly, making the four ponies laugh
“I guess princesses need to eat too” Midnight teased
Twilight laughed “We sure do! Some days I get so busy I have to wait until my stomach reminds me that I need to eat”
“Such as days like today” Rainbow Dash added with a grin, poking Twilight
Soarin smiled and looked at his watch “I still have a few hours until I have to take the train back to the Academy, I suggest that we drop of these bags at Dash’s house then grab a bite to eat, how does that sound?”
“Great” said Rainbow Dash licking her dry lips. I forgot I was this hungry, the only thing I ate this morning was a measly protein bar and some orange juice, she thought remembering her hurried breakfast when she realized that she had woken up with only 5 minutes to meet Twilight at the train station.
“Let’s go then before Twilight passes out from hunger” Soarin teased picking up two of the medium-sized purple-and-black saddle-bags at his feet
“Yeah, let’s not keep her waiting” Midnight agreed picking up her personal black saddle-bags with her cutie mark image sewn onto it and placed it on her back
There were only five bags, so each pony carried one on their back, with the exception of Soarin who carried two. “Let’s get moving” he said “I already hear a daisy sandwich calling my name”
Rainbow Dash lead the way, kicking off from the ground and stretching her wings
Ahh, that’s better, she thought glancing behind her and seeing Midnight close behind her, followed by Twilight and Soarin who caught up so all of them flew side-by-side.
“You see that pink building down there?” Twilight pointed out when they were flying over the town “That’s Carousel Boutique, where my friend Rarity lives.”
“Rarity? The element of generosity? I’d like to meet her sometime I’m not busy training”
“I have to warn you though, Midnight,” Rainbow dash added “she’ll have you fancied up in some frilly dress in-“
“Ten seconds flat” Twilight finished for her and laughed “But she’s not that bad, she just loves designing clothes”
“Well then” Midnight said with a grin “I needed to get a new dress sewn, since my older one is falling apart, maybe she won’t turn me into her fashion doll if I place an order for a new dress”
“Probably” Twilight said until Dash called to them from the front where she drifted to get a better view of the sky
“Here we are!” She called as she landed softly on the cloud “My home sweet home”
“It’s nice” Midnight said looking up at the house “Let’s go eat, I don’t know about you ponies, but I could eat my saddle bag right about now”
“Just drop the saddlebags anywhere for now” Rainbow Dash said “I’ll make you a room later on”
After dropping off the saddle bags, the four winged ponies took off toward the heart of Ponyville.
“Over here!” Twilight said, landing beside a building as the other ponies landed beside her “The Cloverleaf Café. We can eat here, unless anypony wants to eat somewhere else”
“It’s alright with me, Princess Twilight” Midnight said
“Please,” Twilight said “Call me Twilight”
“Yeah, yeah,” Rainbow Dash said digging her hoof into the ground “Let’s get some chow, I’ve got flying practice after this”
The four ponies then followed Twilight, who had already found an available table. Then a waiter came by and gave them their menus
“So Midnight, I’ve always been curious, how did you win “Best Young Flier” five years in a row?” Twilight asked, over her menu
“Well, I’m not very strong,” Midnight said, looking embarrassed to admit, fluttering her charcoal-colored wings behind her “but I’m fast, agile and I’ve practiced for most of my life at the academy.”
“Yup,” Soarin said putting his hoof on Midnight’s shoulder “and I’ve been her coach for two years now, and I’m impressed with her improvement”
Midnight just shrugged at all the attention and went back to browsing the menu
Rainbow Dash felt a bit annoyed by all the attention Midnight was getting from Twilight and Soarin. Twilight never cared about my flying, what makes Midnight so special? She thought putting her menu down as the waiter came back over
“Are you ready to decide?” he asked
“I would love a daffodil and daisy sandwich” Twilight said, collecting the menus from the table
“I’ll take a bowl of alfalfa soup with crackers” Soarin said, putting down his menu
“I’ll have a ranch salad with extra tomatoes” Dash said, carelessly tossing her menu to Twilight who just barely caught it with her magic
“I would like a feta salad with pomegranate” Midnight said, closing her menu and handing it to Twilight
“Pomegranate?” Dash asked her “Why pomegranate?”
“Because I love it” Midnight said with a small smile “I can never get enough of it”
“O-kay then,” Twilight said “Could you bring us four glasses of fizzy apple cider, please?” She asked him, which he returned with a brisk nod and walked away.
“So, Soarin,” Dash asked, turning to the pegasus pony “What’s it like being a Wonderbolt?”
“
Honestly? Brutal. We have practice almost every day, rain or shine, unless we have an event where we need to be.” Soarin said, then grinned and added “Or we need to be somewhere for a student, that’s why I can enjoy your company without having to rush back to the academy”
Twilight gave a pleasant, princess-like smile to Soarin “Well, I’m glad that we’ve gotten time to just talk for a while. But I need to help Applejack harvest the orchard later on. Her brother, Big Mackintosh, is out with hay fever, and I don’t want a repeat of last applebuck season”
“I hope our food comes soon then,” Rainbow Dash said “I gotta eat fast so I can start flying practice on time”
“Is it alright I come with you? I need to practice my routine some more today” Midnight asked as the waiter arrived with their food and drinks
“No!” Dash said, bitterness and rivalry burning like fire in her heart and her words “Uh, I mean, I like to practice alone, so I can, um, try out my new moves without anypony watching” and there is now way Midnight will make me look stupid while I’m practicing, or worse, laugh at me when I mess up, she mentally added
The three other ponies stared at her, surprised at her outburst. Twilight, Soarin, and Midnight had went and started eating but Midnight was keeping one eye locked on her as she ate. Soarin and Twilight believe me, but Midnight doesn’t! Dash thought quickly eating her salad. I need to get out of here before Midnight asks me something else she thought, the food having no taste to her as she quickly shoveled it down. But Midnight had already finished her salad, seeming as if she had inhaled her food. She pushed her bowl to the side, along with her long empty cider glass, then the locked her eyes coldly on Rainbow’s face.
“Funny, you always seem to enjoy attention,” Midnight said, pulling out bits to put on the table until, Twilight putting her lavender hoof on top of midnight’s black one
“My treat” she said, levitating a few bits from her saddlebag and putting it on the table
“Thank you Twilight, that’s sweet of you” Midnight said with a smile which soon faded as she looked back at Rainbow Dash
“What?” Rainbow Dash asked innocently
“Look Dash, just cut it out, I know you don’t want me to practice with you because you’re afraid of me. You don’t want me to be better than you. You’d rather pretend that I don’t exist than face the truth that I might end up being Ponyville’s #1 pony” Midnight said with a snarl
“That’s not true!” Dash shouted “I’m the best flier in Ponyville, and I always will be!”
“Oh yeah? Prove it. I challenge you to a flying apple picking contest!”
“An apple picking contest?!” Twilight asked, stunned “Why?”
“Because you said that you needed to help your friend Applejack pick apples. A flying apple picking contest would take speed and agility” Midnight said, then, turning to Rainbow Dash and adding, “If you can keep up, old timer”
“That’s it, you’re going down Midnight” Rainbow Dash said, abruptly standing up and accidentally knocking over the table
“Oh I don’t think so, with your klutzy moves like that, you’ll be lucky if you don’t end up with your head through a tree trunk” Midnight snarled
“Bring it on; I can pick apples with one wing tied behind my back” Dash snarled back
“Let the games begin then, this afternoon” Midnight said with a wide grin
“See you there, baby” Dash shot back
“If you actually show up, chicken” Midnight said, spreading her wings and soaring away
“Hey Dash! Its time for the big competition!” Pinkie Pie chirped from below, snapping Rainbow Dash out of her flashback
“Be right there” she called down as Pinkie Pie hopped away toward Sweet Apple Acres. Lateness is for losers she thought, abandoning her comfy cloud pillow and streaking off after Pinkie
After a few minutes of flying at supersonic speed, Rainbow Dash landed in front of Applejack’s farm, gasping, out of breath
“Well, well, look who’s finally here after taking a little nap on the clouds”
Rainbow turned around to see the black pegasus behind her, stretching her wings
“Glad to see that you’re in a good mood, Midnight” Dash said, sourly
“Glad to see that you rushed over at the last minute. I flew by earlier, but I didn’t want to bother your nap, you looked so pretty with your mouth closed” Midnight said with a smirk “Why don’t you keep it that way instead of thinking up clever remarks?”
“You’ll be the one with your jaw on the ground when I’m-“
“Isn’t this exiting?!?!” Pinkie said happily, interrupting Dash, “There hasn’t been any competitions in Ponyville since The Iron Pony Competition, which made me really, really, really excited, so I went and got everypony that I knew to come to watch the competition and I know a lot of ponies so all of Ponyville showed up to watch the compe-“
Rainbow Dash had had enough of Pinkie’s blabbering on, so she covered Pinkie’s mouth with her hoof, cutting her off at mid-sentence.
“Can you just go let Applejack know that I’m here Pinkie?” she said
“Oakie Dokie Lokie!” Pinkie Pie happily chirped and trotted away in search of Applejack
“I’m gonna go warm-up some more, see you later, Rainbow Crash!” Midnight said, taking off and flying laps around the farm
Pinkie was right Rainbow thought to herself, looking at the grandstands that were used in the Iron Pony Competition last year, filled with so many ponies It looks like every pony in Ponyville is here
Rainbow Dash swallowed hard, feeling a bit nervous If I lose, every pony in Ponyville will see it she thought, biting her lower lip
Just then Pinkie Pie zipped back
“Okay! Applejack said that we have to wait a teensy bit longer until Big Mac bring more barrels for the apples” She said
“Where’s Twilight, Fluttershy and Rarity?” Dash asked
“Fluttershy and Rarity are helping Big Mac rope off the part of orchard that you’ll be using and Twilight’s over by the grandstand talking to a unicorn that came on the train to Ponyville just an hour ago. I just met that unicorn, she has hair colored just like Applejack’s and a pretty pearly grey coat, I think she’s really nice and she told me that’s she’s a nurse and her name is-“
“All right now Dash, are ya’ll ready for the competition?” Applejack said, cutting off Pinkie
“Am I ever? I’m ready to show Midnight what Ponyville weather pegasi are made of!”
Midnight finished her laps and landed next to Dash, barely winded
“I’m ready” She said to Applejack
Applejack then jumped onto the small platform that had been set up there and adjusted the megaphone
“Let the games begin!” she shouted, getting all of the ponies’ attention
“Over here, you two” Applejack said, gesturing to a painted line on the ground “The goal is to fill as many apple barrels and carts as you can with the apples from the roped-off orchard. Whichever one of you fill more barrels, wins. Good luck!”
Rainbow dash and Midnight stood at the starting line, both neck to neck, coiled up like springs ready to burst into action
“I’ll see you back here later, with a dozen empty barrels” Dash snarled at Midnight
“Please, the way you fly? Applejack will have to scrape you of the ground after I finish” Midnight snarled back
“Dream on” Dash said
Applejack stood at the edge of the starting line for the countdown “On ye’r marks, get set…..”
“GO!” Pinkie Pie yelled as the two pegasi raced into the orchard
Pinkie Pie had surprised Dash, catching her off guard. Taking advantage of Dash’s distraction, Midnight took of a second ahead and started filling the barrels painted with a purple stripe with apples, while Dash took off after her, hurriedly filling her blue striped barrels trying to catch up while the Ponyville crowd was cheering on their favorite and shouting words of encouragement
Midnight was zipping through the trees, knocking off apples and catching them in midair while Rainbow was doing similar, flying right through the leaves of the trees, scoring armfuls of apples
Rainbow had eventually lost track of time until all the trees in the orchard were bare, stripped of their fruit. Looking over at the two stacks of barrels filled to the brim with apples, it was hard to tell if Dash or Midnight had won
She looked to her left side, spotting Midnight in midair a meter away from her, when their eyes met, they soared back in to the orchard with the same thought: Just one apple could be the difference between winning and losing. There’s got to be a few more apples that have been missed
Dash flew loops around the orchard a few times, hoping to spot one apple that might end up being the tie breaker, noticing with irritation that Midnight was doing the same thing
Suddenly, Midnight dropped sharply from the sky, aiming for the middle of the orchard she must have found some! Dash thought, speeding after her Maybe I can beat her to it...
Dash dived steeper than Midnight, passing her by a few inches. “Oh, no you don’t Dash, find your own apples” She shouted, over the wind from their accelerated dive
“Too late! They're already mine! Dash called behind her soaring ahead
Just a few meters from the tree, Midnight dived steeper, calling behind her, “Too slow Dashie!”
“Wait, Whoa!” Dash shouted, she was going so fast, she didn’t notice that she had no time to stop before hitting the tree
“Midnight! Look out! Dash screamed, just before crashing into the tree trunk. Midnight had moved out of the way, but it was her wing that took the damage, being crushed between Dash’s body and the tree with a nauseating crunching sound and a shriek of pain from Midnight. The impact on Dash head was so hard she forgot what was happening
Dash had never felt so dizzy, it seemed as all of Equestria was spinning around her as she plummeted to the ground, hitting it, and knocking her breath out of her. Letting out a moan ,she saw rainbow colors dance behind her closed eyelids.
Dash’s head hurt so badly, it felt as if Princess Luna had used her head as a hoofball. She could faintly hear Midnight shouting
“Dash! Dash! Oh my Celestia……Rainbow Dash! Somepony help! Dash is hurt! I think she’s unconscious”
“Midnight! We’re coming!”
Hearing her friends, she opened her left eye a bit to see that she was lying on her left side in an unnatural position with midnight standing beside her, her black wing stretched out painfully as her friends ran to Dash’s side
“What happened?” Twilight asked
“Are you ok?” Fluttershy asked
“We saw Midnight take off into the orchard and you follow her,” Twilight said, breathlessly, indicating that she ran all the way here
“We both went for the same apple, I beat her to it but she was going so fast that she crashed into me. Luckily, she warned me to move out of the way, but she took the damage. I’m ok, though” Midnight said to Twilight
“We’re gonna need a doctor or a nurse to see her before we move her.” Twilight said, then instructed to Fluttershy “ Fluttershy, you and Pinkie go and find someone in the crowd to come and help Dash” Then she turned Rarity “Can you bring that quilt that you were sitting on earlier here? We need something to keep Dash warm if she’s unconscious”
“I’ll get it right away, Twilight” Rarity said, running in the direction of the farm “I hope that Rainbow will be alright”
Applejack came over to Dash and took Dash’s hoof “You’ll be alright, sugercube, Fluttershy and Pinkie’s gone to get help, here they are now” She said
Just then, Pinkie rushed out of the orchard “I found a unicorn nurse that was in the crowd. She wants to help Dashie"
Then, Dash heard soft hoofbeats on the right side of her, but she couldn’t see the unicorn because Dash was facing the wrong side. But she did see Midnight’s eyes pop open as soon as she saw the unicorn.
“I’m so sorry” Midnight whispered, then she took off on hoof into the south side of the orchard
Dash couldn’t fight the pain in her head anymore. As she closed her eyes, she heard the unicorn say as she placed her hoof gently on Dash’s head “I think she has a concussion. We need to get her to the hospital. What happened to the other pegasus?”
Twilight’s answer was lost to Dash as she drifted off into the darkness, the pain in her head fading into nothingness
