"Do you expect me to believe this!?"
"Yes, In fa-"
"I don't care! I thought you would be supportive of this, Twi!"
"Yes, Dash, while I am supportive, I can't deny and throw away true facts!"
Rainbow Dash stood on the cloud floor, furious. Her veins were pumping with rage and disbelief towards the purple alicorn sitting in the blue sofa in front of her. The atmosphere around them where buzzing, humming and vibrating. Not in seven years had these two ponies, Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle, had such a heated argument before. Not in seven years of their relationship and marriage. The subject was something very personal to Dash, and not even her wife couldn't touch it. Twilight wore a slightly shocked and frightened expression.
"But it's true! Facts can't lie, and you know it all too well!" Twilight defended herself. She was also starting to become angry at the pegasus who refused to reason.
The argument had been brought up after some critics in Canterlot had taken notes and researched how Age affects the abilities of Pegasi, Earth Ponies and Unicorns. Sadly for Rainbow Dash, they had thought that she was a perfect candidate. As a effect of this, they had taken notes of her current performance including speed, agility and much more to compare it to the Wonderbolts notes from when she was trying out to join. The summary of it all had leaked out to several news papers across Equestria who had of course, made a huge deal of it, spitting on the pegasus' reputation of being the best flier in Equestria. The critics had seen how much of a deal it had made and decided to sell the notes later on to news agency's across the land who had printed them out on paper. The notes had proven that, Rainbow Dash's peak of success had passed and she was only getting worse. The fact that she hadn't done a single Sonic Rainboom in a years either had been taken into calculation which only made it worse for the poor pegasus.
Rainbow Dash's wife, Twilight Sparkle, protegé of Celestias school for Gifted Unicorns, Princess of Friendship and the Magic element of Harmony had no choice but to believe the raw facts and carefully calculated numbers on the papers. While she normally didn't trust any papers calculations since they always made no sense, she herself couldn't stop herself from doing some calculations on her own which turned out the same.
Unknowing of the already present conflict Rainbow had in both her head and at her work, she had brought up the subject of maybe backing off a little from stunt flying, a plan that sadly did not work out as well as she had thought. In fact, it had taken a sharp turn towards the worse and now they were driving down the path of Twilight's secret note taking.
"Oh, and you know what? I don't CARE about CHANCES! I did it then, I can do it now, and I WILL do it now! All I need is One last try, One last time and all of you will be proven WRONG!"
"Rainbow, all that I was saying is that if the chance is one to a hundred that something will go wrong, after a hundred tries and successions, it's very risky to keep going, but further more, after two hundred times it's bound to fail!" Twilight said, devastated at the pegasus' behavior and anger. Yet alone her little understanding of the issue.
"Then I should've crashed long ago! But oh, wait, look! I STILL STAND, TALK AND BREATHE!" Rainbow shouted at the other mare who was flinching in the sofa. Twilight took a couple of nervous breaths, not entirely sure of how to handle the situation. She was terrified of Rainbow right now, and she hated to admit it, but it chilled her bones to the core.
"And while I honestly couldn't care less about them saying such nonsense, it really pains me that YOU TWI' BELIEVE IN IT TOO!" Rainbow shouted, directly facing Twilight. The walls shook as the last words exited the rainbow mare's mouth and they rang in the thick atmosphere. Twilight who couldn't handle it any more, struggled to keep her tears back. What Rainbow was saying was in fact completely true. Instead of taking the critics side, she should have supported Rainbow instead, but her silly brain had taken the side of numbers instead. The side of over-the-top calculations, formulas, lists, facts and speculations, and it made her feel sick to the core of her heart.
"R-Rainbow... I-I'm so sorry..." she stuttered out, breath hitching in her throat as she tried to suppress the tears. Rainbow's eyes softened as she saw the alicorn crying in front of her.
"T-Twi..." she whispered. Her wings who were standing straight out like sticks because of adrenaline folded and her stance took and adapted into a more calmer demeanor.
"I-I should've h-helped you bu-t instead... I..." Twilight buried her face into her hooves to cover her face. Rainbow gained a lump in her throat at what she saw and jumped into action. She unfolded her large wings and with powerful flap, she flew across the room and landed in front of the sofa. With nothing stopping her, she crawled up into the sofa and settled beside her wife, hugging her gently while tears of her own formed in her eyes. Twilight turned around and returned the gesture, making the two ponies share an awkward looking embrace in the couch. Twilight buried her face in Rainbow's Mane and breathed in the scent it carried. Rainbow started to slowly stroke the purple alicorn's back as her own tears ran slowly and soundlessly down her cheeks.
"I'm so sorry..." Twilight whispered, her voice muffled by Rainbows mane. Rainbow sniffled and took a deep breath while closing her eyes.
"It's not your fault..." she said slowly in a hushed tone Twilight folded her ears.
"But it i-"
"It's not. Your. Fault." Rainbow repeated, more sternly this time. Her wings unfolded and wrapped around the couple, bringing them together even tighter.
"It's mine." the pegasus whispered slowly into the little air there was between them.
Rainbow took a deep breath, feeling awful about herself.
"I shouldn't have exploded like that... it's true... I'm getting old..." Rainbow's breath started to hitch. It was tough for the proud pegasus to admit such things and if she should be honest, she almost didn't believe that she was saying this.
"I-I... I'm sorry T-Twi... Y-You shouldn't b-be..." Rainbow fell silent. She couldn't continue. She squinted her eyes and buried her muzzle in Twilights mane between her ears. Twilight was still silently sobbing into the pegasus' mane, slowly wetting it down with her tears. The couple remained like this for a long time and in the end, both of the ponies' tears stopped and for one pony, dreams took their place.
Rainbow nuzzled the mane of the sleeping alicorn and kissed it. She hated to admit it, but she was so ashamed of herself. She thought for a moment and wondered if she really should try again. It didn't really seem like the right thing to do, but she couldn't let those critics tear her almost spotless reputation apart.
"All I need is one last try to prove them wrong... I promise Twi." she said as she folder her wings and gently placed the alicorn on the sofa. She smiled at the sight. and stood up, stretching a bit.
"One last try..."
And with that, the pegasus left the sleeping alicorn in the room.
:::><><:::
The Wonderbolt headquarters were full of cadets, members and staff, all running around doing their own business. Even though it was quite late in the evening, the headquarters were still wide awake, and in the corridors of the active cloud building, a rainbow mare was sprinting through the crowds. In her mouth were paper, rolled up in a scroll. Her wings was pumping in sync with her running, her breathing deep and quick to take in the optimum amount of oxygen to fuel her legs. Her eyes were squinted and she had glasses resting gently on her forehead, strapped stuck by the leather band around her head. Her mind was set on one goal. The billboard in the main hall.
She slowed down as she approached her goal., the clopping of her hooves against the tile floor slowed down and her eyes locked with the billboard in the hall. On it was mostly notes and annotations about schedule changes, lost items and commercial. Without any hesitation, she unrolled the paper and held it up against the middle of the billboard. On the small ledge under the billboard laid some paperclips and with one hoof still holding the paper in place, she grabbed two paperclips with her other hoof and quickly put them in the two top corners of the paper. She backed off and inspected her work. Feeling like it was good enough, she backed off and walked to her office. She'd need sleep for the day after.
:::><><:::
The doors to the headquarters slammed open, shocking anypony inside with the loud noise. Twilight, the one guilty for slamming the door, looked worriedly around the headquarters. They were freakishly empty. The only ones there were Twilight herself and three ponies by the billboard. She walked up to them to read what might be there. What she saw was what she was expecting. One note about a missing cat, one note about schedule change for squadron 3, one note about-
'Wait...' she thought. There was a note in the middle of the board that was written with red marker.
'Sonic Rainboom Performed by; Rainbow Dash 11:00 AM outside the main Aula, don't be late.' Twilight stopped breathing. This couldn't be true. The group of stallions that was by the billboard turned towards the door and started walking towards the exit of the headquarters.
'Oh no...'
Twilight looked at the digital clock above the billboard. The red numbers clearly said '10:58'.
'Dammit Rainbow!' Twilight thought as she whirled around and ran for the exit.
:::><><:::
Rainbow stood proudly at the cloud who was hovering above the cloud city. In the distance, the Wonderbolt Headquarters and apartment complex floated gently in the sky. She was about a kilometer away. She had calculated, that 1000 meters would be a long enough distance to gain enough speed to break the barrier and perform a Sonic Rainboom. She picked up a pair of binoculars and put them against her eyes. She concentrated to see as she scanned the Wonderbolt Headquarters for the Main Aula.
As she had hoped, a large crowd was gathered outside. She spotted several of her squadron mates, staff members and even guards standing there. All waiting for a rainboom.
And she was going to give them one.
She turned her binoculars towards the main digital clock that stood beside the training field.
'10:59... Showtime.'
With that thought, she took off her binoculars and placed them on the cloud. She'd pick them up later. She unfolded her wings and stretched them, giving them a few weak flaps before she lifted off the cloud surface and propelled herself forward.
With a quick and practiced movement, she slid down her goggles so they covered her eyes, protecting them from the wind. She had left the flight suit at her office. While it looked cool, it never was comfortable.
She put her hooves in front of her and set her mind to go at maximum speed. Her wings flapped faster and harder against the cold wind. It was a good day to fly. The air was cold enough to cool the pony down, and the winds weren't too hard. But this still didn't mean that Rainbow Dash did not need to struggle to reach Rainboom Speeds.
The headquarters loomed closer and closer by every flap of her wing, but her speed also increased by every meter she got closer. The wind tore through her mane and tail, it dug into her skin and pressed against her. Soon, a cone started to form around her.
'Yes! C'mon!' the mare thought. She was so close. Soon everything would be good again.
Then, a sharp pain cut through her wing.
The wing cramped up, but Rainbow Dash refused to accept defeat now. She kept flapping. Her mind screamed at her to stop. The pain was cutting through her body, going up and down her spine, but she didn't stop. With one final push, the barrier broke and a sonic rainboom exploded behind her.
'Hah... I did it...' she thought. But then, against her will, her cramped wing stopped flapping. She started spinning. Rainbow closed her eyes and braced herself as the ground of the Wonderbolt headquartes came closer and closer. Then, all blackness came over her.
:::><><:::
'Oh, Rainbow Dash... I didn't expect to see you right now...'
That's all I need. (Terribly short, I'm so sorry.)
"Oh, Rainbow dash, I had not expected to see you right now."
Rainbows eyes fluttered open to accept the light coming from outside the thin locks who kept them protected. Her vision was blurred and her head was spinning. The smooth voice that had spoken the words echoed softly in her ears while bursting through the invisible wall of nausea. The voice tingled her senses, starteling her awake as the voice registered in her head and was recongized.
'Wha-... Oh no...' She muttered out, her senses jumped awake and the dizziness disapeared. Now as her eyes were clear, she could see where she was. She was standing on a solid black floor, hard as stone that had light underneath her. She looked around her to see where the light would come from, but to no avail. All she could see was never ending black. She shivered as the voice spoke again.
"Oh, yes, Mrs.Dash. You are currently unconscious after crashing into the ground after your latest Sonic Rainboom. What was you thinking?" The voice echoed again as a shadow formed behind Rainbow approached her.
'I...' Rainbow stopped talking as the shadow swept over her and rested on her back. Another shadow floated into her view, directing every ounce of attention to its dark grey form. It took the shape of a pony head with shining white eyes and got a mouth full of pointy teeth.
"Ah ah! Don't tell me. You don't know." It said with a amused voice and a grin while a piece of it stretched forward to caress Rainbow gently under her chin.
Rainbow narrowed her eyes and looked sternly at it.
'Wake me up Oblivion.' She said, voice ice cold and tinted with threat.
The shadow used her outstretched shadow piece as a hoof and gave Rainbow a nonchalant wave
"Oh, Rainbow dash, you know it doesn't work like that..." Oblivion said sheepishly while rolling her eyes.
'It does too! You just like to keep me here so you can torture me further!' Rainbow stomped her hoof into the ground.
"You know me well, Mrs.Dash. But honestly. That's not how it is." suddenly, Oblivion vaporized.
'Then how is it?' Rainbow called out into the empty air around her. It vibrated at the sound waves sailed through it.
"Funny you should ask." Oblivion's unmistakable voice called out.
"I'll spare you the details and get right to the point. You are about to die."
Rainbow felt time freeze around her as the words rang out. Cold chills ran down her spine and up into the tip of her wings, making them freeze in anticipation.
'W-what?' she muttered out in disbelief.
She couldn't be dead. Never. The last thing she could remember was her totally awesome Rainboom. The amazing way the wind blew in her mane... How she felt her tail tug at the resistance of the wind and how the cold air rushed through her nostrils. She even remembered how her wings cramped as sh-
'Wait...'
She hadn't... She couldn't have...!
'Oh no....'
"Oh yes. And it's my duty to... well... Oh, you know what I'm going to do. Let's just get to it!"
The blackness around Rainbow flashed for just a second, making her eyes burn.
'Cut it out Oblivion! You can't fool me!' She shouted out into the void.
"Oh, Rainbow Dash.... I'm not fooling anyone, and you know it." the voice spoke. Then, the wind began to howl. It came suddenly and smashed against Rainbow's face with all its might. She folded her wings and placed her hooves firmly on the ground, trying to resist the enormous power the wind brought.
"TIME FOR ACT ONE, MRS.DASH!"
