Rainbow Dash used to love today.
Today was, after all, the anniversary of the day that she learned how to perform a Sonic Rainboom on command and saved both the Wonderbolts and Rarity. It’s not often that her raw awesomeness could be on display as clearly as that day. Despite the years since that day, there hasn't yet been another pony as awesome as she was. Even today, nobody was able to perform a Sonic Rainboom. Rainbow Dash had been invited to be a guest instructor at the Wonderbolts Academy whenever there had been promising candidates, but none had panned out. All of them lost their nerve at the last second, or wasn't able to push themselves that last bit that would let them be able to break the barrier and feel the ecstasy of pure speed and magical energy.
Scootaloo was one of those ponies. Back when Scootaloo was very young, she kept promising Rainbow that she’d become the second pony ever to do a Sonic Rainboom. The promise was ridiculous of course; Rainbow could clearly see that Scootaloo's wing and body structure wasn't setup for the speed necessary to break any records, let alone the sonic barrier. But she had never told Scootaloo it was impossible. Scootaloo was filled with gumption, something that you couldn't train into somepony but could easily beat or discourage out of them. It gave Scootaloo something to strive toward, a goal that could be an everlasting target. It was good that she had ended up marrying a nice Earth pony stallion. He treated her well, and their three foals had kept them busy. Her priorities had changed after the foals, just as they should. The foals had moved out of the house fairly recently, only a few years ago, if Rainbow remembered correctly. It was fun for Rainbow to have her favorite fan back. In the past the foals had always seemed to get in the way when Rainbow needed Scootaloo's sharp eye to watch a new trick to see why Rainbow couldn't pull it off or how it could be improved.
Every year on this anniversary, Rainbow would put on a show for whomever wanted to come and see. It featured all of her tricks, and the Wonderbolts would frequently come to guest perform. Rainbow would get to showcase any new techniques, and the applause and cheers of the crowd would sustain her ego for the next year. One year stood out in particular, when Rainbow convinced little Miss Princess Twilight to let her do a Sonic Rainboom while all of her friends were channeling the Elements of Harmony. That had been the best boom ever! It was seen as far away as the Minotaur dungeons and had disrupted the dragon migration, causing them to think that a forest was their normal volcano resting spot. It had been worth cleaning up all of the mess it had caused.
Rainbow had been doing the show for...how many years now? Definitely more than she would admit, or even could quickly count. The shows had been the highlight of her life. But after all this time, they had started to run together. Only a few now stuck clearly in her mind. The Element powered Super Rainboom, the time when the Wonderbolts challenged her to copy their aerial acrobatics and Rainbow beat every one of them, the time when a crazed pegasus streaked out onto the field during the performance and ran into Rainbow during the climax of the performance. That accident caused both of them to be sent to the hospital and the other pony was in traction for 6 months. Served her right, but Rainbow had made sure that fresh flowers were sent there every day for her entire stay. Rainbow understood the desire to be noticed however you could get it to happen and no matter the cost.
Then there was the show two years ago. That was the first show that Rarity hadn’t been able to attend. Luna’s Tiara and Celestia’s Shoes that mare could get annoying! Always focusing on what didn’t really matter, whining to make others just stop disagreeing with her, always trying to convince Rainbow that a spa treatment was better time spent than flying practice. But in a pinch she would always be there, giving everything she had for her friends. Rainbow had always thought that maybe in the end there wasn’t actually that much difference between Loyalty and Generosity.
Rarity's funeral had been simple. Generous to the end, Rarity had planned the entire service and even created dresses and new clothes for all of her friends and family so that they wouldn’t need to concern themselves with thinking about what to wear during their grief. It was just after the service that Celestia had introduced Rainbow to the new element of Generosity. The pony who was trying so hard to replace the pony they had just lost. She had been busy speaking to Twilight about her career in Canterlot; she had specialized in some higher math that Rainbow had never heard of. It was the most ridiculous thing she had ever imagined could happen to the elements. Weird math? How can you be generous with math? Go around giving away slips of paper with boring equations on them? At least the mare was trying to fit into their group instead of waiting for the elements to be passed onto younger ponies with whom she might have more in common. Rainbow had to admit, it was nice for Princess Twilight to have another young pony with the group when the Elements of Harmony had to be sent on an adventure. As much as Rainbow hated to admit it, she couldn’t always keep up with the immortal Princess anymore.
That was also the problem two years ago. Just a few short decades ago Rainbow had been able to pull off 5 or 6 Rainbooms in a single show. It didn’t even take her more than a few days of rest for her muscles to soften to the point that she could walk again. Three years ago she was only able to do one, and two years ago her body just gave out during the show. She didn’t hurt herself, but she didn't even get up to the speed that would have caused the barrier to throw her back. Her show had ended without a bang, without a colorful flash, with just a soft "woosh” as she flew by the crowd who were waiting for Rainbow's brilliant signal that they could start cheering. It took them several minutes to realize that what they were waiting for wasn’t going to happen and the following cheers had been half-hearted at best.
Last year was Rainbow hadn’t put on a show. Thankfully Celestia and the Wonderbolts had noticed Rainbow wasn't doing any preparation and had stepped up to keep the tradition alive. Rainbow Dash just didn’t have it in her to watch something she couldn’t participate as anything but a pity flier. She had flown far away, sat on a cloud as high as she could go, and couldn’t help but notice that “as high as she could go” wasn’t anywhere near as high as she used to go. She sat on the cloud as the condensation collected on her coat and feathers and thought about her life. She took notice that Pinkie Pie had moved her bedroom to the main level because stairs had gotten difficult to navigate. She realized that Applejack’s husband had stopped accompanying her to the market to sell their apples, and that every time Rainbow asked Applejack how his hip was doing she was told that it was getting better everyday. Applejack had always been bad at lying.
Today was much the same as a year ago, but not completely. A single cloud, floating above everybody, not quite as high as last year. Hearing the cheers of the crowd from over the horizon, looking down below at the fruits of somepony’s labor who was less than one-third of her age. Wondering if she had done everything she wanted to do in life, deciding that she had, and wondering if that had actually been enough. The difference today was sitting on the cloud next to her. next to her. Today was not a day to be alone. Today was a day to nuzzle the nose of the animal who understood her, who would cheer her even as she lost the ability to fly, whom Twilight had agreed to take care of once Rainbow Dash had “flown her last flight”. Today was a day to cuddle with a close friend, look down at the world that seemed to be moving faster and faster, and wonder if it had sped up or if she had slowed down.
Rainbow Dash used to love today.
