Ponyville Shimmers

Chapter 3:

"Alright were going to race from here to the next mountain over." Storm said.

They were both standing at the edge of the cliff ready for take off

"No problem!" Rainbow fixed her eyes on the finish line.

"Alright we go on three." He said.

"One"

"Two"

"Three!!"

They both kicked off the mountainside leaving a large dirt cloud behind them. They were neck and neck, and already a quarter of the way there. They were both flying extremely fast. They were getting to the half mark. Storm looked over at her and she looked back and smiled eagerly. She then doubled her speed and shot forward like a bullet out of a gun. She was not even trying. Storm reached the finish line. Rainbow was sitting there waiting for him.

"Hah, what did I tell you? What made you think you could beat me?" Rainbow said in a braggish tone.

Storm was catching his breath. "I didn't, I knew I would lose."

Rainbow looked very confused. "Wha- why did you challenge me to a race then?" Putting a hoof in the air.

"I don't know, maybe I thought it would cheer you up" Storm was looking at the ground still catching his breath. Rainbow didn’t say anything. He looked up and she was actually smiling.

"Thank you," she said.

There was a moment of silence. Rainbow yawned, "Well, I'm beat. I'm gonna go home and get some rest. You ever wanna lose again come find me." She softly hit him on the shoulder.

"Haha sure." Storm chuckled.

    Rainbow waved to him then flew away. He was tired as well. He started to fly home. He was flying over the Everfree forest and could see his house in sight. Suddenly his eye caught something. There was a flash of a yellow light down over in the woods not far from him. Storm was curious, but he knew that he should not be in the Everfree at night. He hovered closer to where he saw the flash. There was nothing in sight, but he could hear rustling down below him. He dared not to fly down to check it out. Storm came to his senses, ignored it, and continued on home.

    It's been a couple days since then. Storm had been just hanging with Improv and Pinkie. Sometimes they'd go swimming at the lake by his house or sometimes Storm had them over for some sweet apple cider. Improv always laughed at the fact that somehow Storm's fridge was always stocked with it. "How do you get this? It’s not even cider season!!" he said. Storm would always answer with, "haha, I told you I know a guy," and they all would laugh.

   Today, Storm was sitting around bored. Improv and Pinkie had went to Manehattan for a couple of days. Improv had gotten the lead role for Hamlet and Pinkie always loved to see him act when she could. Improv's special talent was acting, and he was great at it. He was also very good at making everypony laugh, which why him and Pinkie were a perfect match. He was really humble and didn’t ever let things bother him, he hardly ever got mad or upset.

   Storm decided to go to Twilights library and see what books they had. He didn't read too much, but needed something to pass time. He landed on her porch and knocked on the door. It swung open, Spike stood there holding it.

"Hey Spike, what’s up?" Storm said.

Spike shrugged, "Eh, nothin much. Just got done cleaning the library"

"Oh, well I was wondering if I could check out a book or two"

Spike smiled, "Sure, come on in"

Storm walked in and looked around. “Where’s Twilight?"

“She’s upstairs talking to Rainbow Dash. She seemed really down in the dumps. I think this actually the first time I've seen her in a few days."

"Oh." Storm was a little surprised, but he was also glad. Everyone was worried about her. "Well that’s good."

“So, anything I can help you find?" Spike said.

"What do you recommend?" Storm hadn't actually the slightest clue to what he had in mind.

“Well the Daring Doo books are really good." Spike said walking over to the shelf. “We don't have too many right now though. Rainbow has most of them."

Storm grinned. "I've only read the first one. I never got a chance to read any others."

"Well luckily for you we have an extra copy of the second book." Spike handed it to him.

"Daring Doo and the Griffon's Goblet." Storm read the title out loud. "Sounds cool."

"It is..."

An all too familiar voice came from behind Storm. He turned around. Rainbow was hovering on the other side of the room and Twilight was walking down the stairs behind her and noticed him.

"Hi Storm, what are you doing here?" Twilight said.

Spike interrupted. "He's here to check out some books."

Twilights face light up with joy. “Really?! Which book did you get?" She trotted over to him and pulled the book out of his wing with her magic.

"Oooo Daring Doo, one of my favorites." She handed the book back to him.

“Anyway Twilight, I’ll catch you later” Rainbow started to head towards the door.

"Where are you going Dash?" Twilight said.

"I don’t know I was probably going to fly around a bit..." Rainbow answered in a very neutral tone.

"Oh" Twilight thought for a minute then looked over at Storm, then back at Rainbow Dash. She had a very... peculiar look on her face. “Hmm..." Twilight thought. At this point Rainbow had stopped and everyone was looking at her very confused.

Twilight suddenly had a huge smile on her face. “Rainbow! Why don't you take Storm to Scratch’s record store? If he's not doing anything."

“There’s a record store in Ponyville?!" Storm said.

"Yeah." Rainbow was confused. "Why?"

"Don't you think it will be fun?"

Rainbow landed and sat for a second. She looked over at Storm and Twilight who had a giant smile on her face.

"... I guess it could be fun" she said in a confused tone.

“Then it's settled!" Twilight smiled.

"Are you guys coming?" Rainbow asked

"Oh no, we can't Spike and I have..... A lot of cleaning up to do." As she said that a whole book shelf mysteriously fell over, followed by Spike yelling. "Come on!!!"

"Alright then..." Rainbow said. "Let’s go." She flew out of the room.

"See you guys later!" Storm put the book in his saddlebag and flew after Rainbow.

Storm and Rainbow were flying over Ponyville. It was another beautiful summer day.

"Sooo..... How far is this place?" Storm said trying to strike up a conversation.

"Not far, but it’s pretty much on the other side of Ponyville" Rainbow answered.

"Oh."

"What are you doing in Ponyville?" She asked.

"Well, I wanted to get away from the city life. My band is on a break and I wanted to move somewhere quiet."

"Oh, that’s pretty cool." Her tone changed, it was a little more bliss.

"So what do you do?" He asked.

"I'm the leader of the weather team here, but some day I'm going to become the captain of the Wonderbolts!" Her tone had completely changed by now, it was enthusiastic.

Storm grinned, “I guess I could see that."

Rainbow smiled. “Here we are"

The two of them went in and looked around. Thirty minutes passed by and they came walking out again.

"I can’t believe you already have most of everything that was in there." Rainbow said.

"Heh yeah... so what should we do now?" Storm looked at Rainbow and smiled. She looked at him and looked like she was about to smile back, but quickly went dull. She began to hover in front of him.

"I think I'm going to head home. See ya." She said as she began to fly away.

"Wait!" Storm stopped he had realized this was the second time he had done this. She turned and looked at him.

"I want a rematch!" He exclaimed.

"Wha? Really?" She said. Storm flew up to her height.

"Yeah I couldn't see the other night.... and was tired." He said.

Rainbow busted out laughing... again. Storm was having the worst case of Deja vu.

"You’ll never beat me!" Rainbow exclaimed. "But I'll humor you."

"Fine, Where to?" Gray said.

Rainbow Dash looked around Ponyville. "How about from here to the top of town square?"

"Sure let’s go!" Storm said. “We’ll start from the ground in front of the record store." They both landed on the ground side by side.

"Ok this time I say when we go" Rainbow said.

They were both lined up. Both on the edge of takeoff.

"Ready..."

"Get set..."

"Gooo!"

Rainbow was in the lead. Storm was not far back. He looked up at her and once again she seemed to be having no trouble beating him. He had to try harder. He started to gain on her, but it was no use. They both passed town square and stopped.

"Ha! What did I tell you! I'm the fastest flier in all of Equestria!" She said. "You will never beat me in a race."

Storm caught his breath. "Swear I tried that time."

"It's alright. No pony can out fly me!"

Rainbow was ecstatic. She only seemed so happy when she races and wins.

"Yeah I guess your right" He said with a smile.

"You had enough for today? Haha or do you want to lose again?" Rainbow said poking her hoof at his muzzle with a smile.

Storm backed up. "Ha yeah. I guess I could try again another day."

She laughed again. "Haha… and lose."

"Maybe! You never know I might win!" He said poking her back.

"Like that'll ever happen!" Rainbow pushed his hoof off.

They both looked at each over and laughed.

"We should hang out more... I mean, I'm new here and don't have really any friends I can fly with. If you want to anyway...” Storm said.

Rainbow's face changed. It was a little uncertain. "Maybe....." A couple seconds past and she went back to being happy again and smiled. "We'll see..."

He was a little doubtful for a second, but was reassured by her smile.

"See ya!" Rainbow flew away abruptly.

Storm smiled. He knew it wasn't the last time he would see her.