Across all districts of Cloudsdale, there was not an idle pegasus in sight. The winged ponies flew quickly and with purpose, thickening tufts of clouds to plant signs and hang banners. Base clouds and building facades alike were being fluffed, packed, and reformed to keep the city looking as presentable as possible for the guests it would soon be receiving. They were working overtime at the rain factory to ensure proper humidity and carrying capacity in the clouds that were rolling out, making sure to triple-check the rainbows that would run through the cloud-canals and cross the skies. The massive undertaking of readying the Cloudosseum was in full swing as the city in the sky geared up for one of the largest events of the year. It was still a week away, but, as in the years past, everypony knew that preparations had to start significantly in advance.
Cloudsdale was again slated to hold the annual Equestrian Flight Exposition, an event that celebrated the achievements and talents of Equestria’s flyers and the joy of flight itself. Years ago, it saw its humble beginnings as a small set of events and demonstrations that didn’t get much recognition outside of Cloudsdale. But as it grew into a celebrated tradition and expanded, it began to attract participants and spectators from all reaches of Equestria, and eventually the Princesses themselves made it a priority to attend the event. Years ago, the proceedings and festivities would begin and end on the same day and were concentrated within the Cloudosseum itself. Now, the event had enough competitions, demonstrations, and performances to last an entire week, and the whole city treated it as a giant festival. If a particular event at the stadium didn’t catch your interest, you had the option of walking through the Cirrus Gardens, exploring the city center, taking boats out on the Sky Ponds, or touring the rain factory with a guide.
The spectators weren’t expected to flood into town for another four or five days. The only ones that were arriving this early were the performers and competitors from abroad, as well as those unicorns that were hired to act as Exposition Flight Attendants. They, of course, would be manning posts throughout the city and be responsible for conjuring temporary wings for earth ponies and unicorns that couldn’t walk on clouds. This job was particularly necessary, as the Flight Expositions of recent years had been attended by a significant number of wingless spectators, and their presence was only expected to grow as the years passed.
Now, if somepony needed wings to walk around in Cloudsdale, that could be taken care of by the Flight Attendants. But unless somepony had a couple of winged friends that were willing to carry him along on their flight to the city, he certainly wasn’t going to get there on his own. For this reason, fire balloons were a common sight during Exposition time, as hitching a ride in a balloonist’s basket was the most popular mode of arrival for the flightless. Everypony knew that they would once again flock to the city in the sky, as during Flight Expositions of previous years.
On the other hoof, nopony had quite expected the massive airships that flew in from Soviet Equestria.
Two of them had already arrived and docked at the northeastern end of town by the side of some sizeable altostratus clouds onto which passengers could disembark. They were a pair of hulking beige giants with long, red passenger compartments on the underside, situated behind the bridge, and two stubby-looking propellers at the rear, one on either side of a sizeable rudder. They both sported enormous crimson stars on their flanks, painted to be distinguishable from great distances. One of the airships had brought a number of participants for the coming competitions, as well as some observers and tourists. The other was rumoured to house a number of Party elites from Stalliongrad, the capital city of Soviet Equestria, though none of the event organizers were entirely sure who else might have been on board. It seemed that at all times they were being guarded, to some degree, by green-uniformed pegasi, both on the nearby clouds and in the air.
It was to be the first year in history that Soviet Equestria had attended the Flight Exposition, and nopony in Cloudsdale knew what to expect. The announcement that the Reds had been asked to participate came as shocking news, but jaws really started to hit the floor when Stalliongrad accepted the invitation. In recent years, the long-running feud between the Party in Stalliongrad and the princesses in Canterlot seemed to have been placed on the back burner as rhetoric became less intense and both sides began to focus moreso on themselves than their formerly undying suspicion of the other side. The reason why was not readily apparent.
Some believed it was more than simply a goodwill gesture. Much of Equestria knew little about the secretive Soviet Equestrian Republics. Likewise, many of the Soviets hadn’t much of an idea as to what life was like outside of their isolated states. Such was the result of the Party’s restrictions on crossing the borders (in both directions) that had characterized the last few decades. The Exposition was a chance to bridge two separate worlds, but it was also a chance to give Canterlot the ability to survey the Soviet advances in flight. If anypony had heard anything about the Reds, it was that they had a talent for aviation, and the airships docked in Cloudsdale seemed to corroberate the rumors as true.
If anything was for certain, though, it was the simple fact that times had changed, and Cloudsdale was seeing its first visitors from the Motherland.
Rainbow Dash didn’t think much of the whole ordeal. So what if the Reds were in town? It wasn’t going to change her agenda. She signed up to compete and to perform, and it didn’t matter who was watching. There was most probably going to be a fair amount of tough competition, especially from the participants that came from the more seasoned trainees of the Wonderbolts Academy, and Rainbow Dash knew that. But even a sub-par outcome during the competitive portion of the Exposition wouldn’t matter. In the end, she was going to wow everypony in the Cloudosseum with another demonstration of the Sonic Rainboom, much as she had done at the Best Young Flyer competition and at the royal wedding of Shining Armor and Princess Cadance. And if the Soviets were in Cloudsdale to see it, that only meant that there would be more ponies to wow than usual.
With the Exposition only a week away, Rainbow Dash had of course intensified her practice and exercise regimens at the training grounds, sometimes using the ones by the Cloudosseum, sometimes utilizing those of the Wonderbolts Academy that had been temporarily opened for public use, as it was every year for the annual event. She was done for the day, however, and was hovering across the main clouds of the city as she made her way back to the cloud-house at which she stayed during her time in Cloudsdale. As she moved through the center of town, she stopped and did a double-take as something caught her eye.
Situated by some of the sculptured cirrus at the heart of the city was a massive poster that she sworn hadn’t been there among the others when she left for the training grounds earlier in the day. A simple but sizeable black frame with two spokes had been planted, and in this frame hung a gigantic poster with bold, angular designs for which the propaganda of Soviet Equestria was particularly famous.
The silhouette of a single pegasus, entirely red with the sole exception of a gold pair of aviation goggles, was depicted in mid-flight, soaring along with a hoof extended toward the upper-left corner of the poster. Behind the pegasus, a hammer crossed with a sickle dominated the background of the image. The poster had two captions. The one on the top was written in the Equusian alphabet of Soviet Equestria. The caption on the bottom was in the language that the rest of Equestria could understand. It read: The Red Comet: Champion of the Skies.
That name had been thrown around before in Cloudsdale. There was a rumor that the Red Comet was a popular Soviet storybook character. When Stalliongrad had chosen to attend the Flight Exposition and the list of participants were received by the committee organizing the event, they saw “Red Comet” listed among the names, it became apparent that there was nothing fictional about it.
“Champion of the skies?” Rainbow Dash said aloud. “As if.” She stared long and hard at the the silhouette in the image, and started to walk off. “Wait ‘till these guys see the Wonderbolts in action. Soarin and Spitfire… now those are champions.” She stopped and took one last look at the poster behind her. “Heh. Buncha commies. They wouldn’t know what true champ was if it hit ‘em right in the-”
Rainbow Dash collided with an oncoming pegasus before she could finish her sentence and they both flopped down onto the cloud.
Shaking bits of cloud fluff from her mane, Rainbow Dash sat up to find a pale tan pegasus before her. The stranger somewhat reminded her of Rarity in the way that she was dressed to the nines. She had a fair amount of makeup on her face - blush, mascara, and delicately-applied eyeliner - though it was by no means overdone. Her amber-colored mane was flawless and ended in gentle curls. The odd thing about the stranger, though, was that she was dressed in furs, something that throughout Equestria was generally regarded as barbaric.
“Oh, excuse me!” the tan pegasus gasped as she helped Rainbow Dash up onto her hooves. “I not see where I was going. Excuse me.” She spoke with a thick accent. “You have such beautiful city, I looking around and get distracted.”
It was immediately apparent that this pony was not a local. The accent was Equusian. She must have come with the first groups of Soviet visitors on the airships that had arrived the day before.
“Eh, no biggie,” Rainbow Dash said as she brushed a few tufts of cloud off of her wing. She started to walk off, hoping that the mare hadn’t heard what she had said earlier. She only took a few steps, though, before the stranger said,
“Oh my… You… you are Rainbow Dash, da?”
She stopped in her tracks, one hoof frozen in the air. Had she heard that properly? Did some total stranger call her by name? Rainbow Dash turned halfway around to again face the tan mare, who was staring intently at the cutie mark on the blue pegasus’s flank.
“You must be... Is mark of cloud and bolt!” the Soviet said as got more enthusiastic. “Nichyevo sebye… I having been only one day in Cloudsdale and already meet such interesting pony!”
“You…” Rainbow Dash began slowly. “You know who I am?”
“Nu, da, kanyechno!” the tan pegasus went on. “Much time ago, when I was young filly, I with my sister was playing in field by our home. Then, we see glorious blast of color in sky that almost shook ground. Of course, we not knowing what it was.”
Rainbow Dash was somewhat impressed. Though not perfect, this mare had a very appreciable command of the greater Equestrian tongue.
“For years, I always wonder what happened to cause the great rainbow in sky,” the Soviet went on. “And then, just short while ago, it happens one time more. Nopony knowing why or what was, so Soviet of Soldiers’ Deputies send telegram to Canterlot, ask what is cause of great rainbow explosions. And they tell us - young mare by name of Rainbow Dash had done unthinkable and performed Sonic Rainboom.”
Rainbow Dash could hardly believe what she was hearing. It was no secret that the Sonic Rainboom could be seen far and wide, but she hadn’t expected anypony from Soviet Equestria to pay it any mind, let alone know who had been responsible for it.
“Sometimes, in Stalliongrad, we see gazette from beyond borders if somepony manage to bring one back when he traveling. I was lucky enough to see gazette with article of Young Flying Competition. My comrades and I knew what is your cutie mark because in gazette showed photo of you with Thunderbolts.”
“You mean the Wonderbolts?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Shto? Oh, yes, da, Wonderbolts, excuse me,” the Soviet responded.
Rainbow Dash was beside herself. They apparently knew about her in Stalliongrad. She had become something of a micro-celebrity in Cloudsdale and Ponyville, but who’d have thought that ponies in Soviet Equestria knew who she was?
“You guys… you guys know about the Sonic Rainboom?” Rainbow Dash inquired, still in disbelief. The mare in furs seemed to laugh at this question.
“Is joke, da? Ahah! Listen - when Red Army saw second Sonic Rainboom, they had no idea how to think. Somepony thought was test of secret weapon from Canterlot.”
They thought I was a secret weapon? Rainbow Dash said to herself. Ooh, this is SO COOL!
“Well, why not? I mean, it’s not every day that you see a Sonic Rainboom in the sky,” Rainbow Dash replied, smiling as she began her shameless plug. “Gotta be a pretty good flyer to pull it off, you know. I don’t know anypony else that can do it.”
“It is special talent, Rainbow Dash,” the tan mare continued. “I hope we might being able to see another in week at Ekspositsiya. My comrades and I would love to see up-close.”
“Don’t worry. You’ll see one,” Rainbow Dash beamed. “And it’ll be a lot cooler up-close.”
“Then I looking forward to,” the Soviet said with a nod. “Nu shto, has been very exciting to meeting you, comrade, but unfortunately, I need go back to my room in dirizhabl’.”
“What?”
“Ah. How you call it… flying ship.”
“Oh.”
“Yes, need hurry back, as I have plans with comrades,” the mare said as she adjusted her coat. “We not want to waste any of time… we only have short while in Cloudsdale. But maybe I see you around city again, da?”
“Yeah, sure thing!” Rainbow Dash replied. “See ya around… um… what was your name again?” The Soviet’s eyes widened as she put a hoof to her mouth.
“Ah, excuse me, all this talk, and I completely forget introduce myself. I am Valentina Vladimirovna.”
Rainbow Dash hadn’t expected such a complex mouthful.
“Valen…. Valentina Vlad… Uh…” Rainbow Dash paused for a moment, then threw her hoof around Valentina’s shoulder. “I’ll just call you ‘Val.’ Does that work?” The tan mare contemplated the name. It sounded strange to her. Her friends had always called her by her nickname, Valya, but never simply “Val.”
“Ah, okay. Da.”
“Great!” Rainbow Dash said with a grin as she flapped her wings and resumed her hover. “I’ll see you around. And hey, I’ll be at the training grounds by the Cloudosseum tomorrow. So, you know, if you want to bring your friends by, get a few autographs…”
Valentina smiled.
“Hmm… at training ground, da? I will see if I can pay you visit. But for now, goodbye, comrade Rainbow Dash!”
“See ya!”
With that, the two mares took off toward opposite ends of Cloudsdale. Rainbow Dash was still bursting with excitement from learning that her name and signature aerial stunt were known even in the Soviet Republics.
“She seemed nice enough. I guess the Reds aren’t so bad,” Rainbow Dash told herself as she flew toward her cloud-house. “After all, adoring fans are adoring fans. Even if they are just a buncha commies.”
