Take to the Skies

by Gallifrey

Rating: teen
Tags: Spitfire, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Romance, Rainbow Dash
Length: 20975

Rainbow tries out for the Thunderway 500, a racing event that this year is being held in Ponyville.

Rainbow Dash tries out for the Thunderway 500, a racing event that this year is being held in Ponyville. Can Rainbow hold her nerve in the knowledge that Spitfire is competing too? What do Rainbow and Spitfire discover about one another after a night of heavy drinking? Are they perhaps going too fast?
Thanks to Conicer again who was awesome enough to make some cover art for me again.

Published 2012-06-04 21:04:01 UTC
Last updated 2012-06-26 19:55:01 UTC

Dash

Take to the Skies

by Gallifrey

Edited by Reevsie, Alex and Danupert

Chapter One
Dash

Blue.

Her wings beat methodically as she cruised lazily through the crisp spring air of the first sunny day for a long time. Boy had she missed that colour. The colour of her dreams.

Infinity.

That's how far the sky went right? Twilight had said something about the world being round, though she doubted that, it looked pretty flat to her.

Dynamic.

That was one thing she loved about the skies; constantly changing its facets, always presenting her with new and exciting challenges, whether it be roiling clouds with lightning festering in their depths, the harsh bitter winds and snow that winter claimed with its icy grip, or the placid airs she was sailing through today.

Rainbow.

The six colours of her mane and tail flowed serenely as she flew. She was proud to have such a unique appearance, though she had never quite figured out how she got it; her parents were a rather drab affair when it came to colour. She supposed her awesomeness was to balance out their extreme dullness.

Dash.

She hovered for a second, gearing herself up, then shot off like a bullet, leaving her trademark, multi-hued trail behind her. Her powerful wing muscles strained beneath the short blue fur as she pushed herself to be the strongest, the most agile, the fastest, the best, the most awesome pegasus in Equestria. Her sensitive feathers picking up the slightest changes in air current as it streamed over them, adjusting with absolute precision. This was what she lived for, this is what made her alive! She climbed high up over Ponyville, her mane buffeted about roughly as she did a simple corkscrew with the utmost ease. She rolled out of the turn and dove straight down, picking up truly radical speeds with gravity on her side. She closed her eyes and thought about how cool she must seem to any onlookers right now. She opened her eyes. When did the ground get so close? Too close! She desperately tried to pull out of the dive, her wings screaming in protest. She succeeded, to a degree; she managed not to crash into the ground, but try as she might she did not have enough time to avoid the library that she was on a collision course with.

Here we go again, she thought as she begrudgingly accepted her fate, careening through a window and bracing herself for impact with a large shelf of heavy looking books.

"Rainbow Dash!" Came an angry voice from the floor below her. "Not again!"

"Oh horseapples," muttered a slightly bruised pegasus from within a large pile of literature that had cascaded upon her.

Rainbow heard hoofsteps grow louder and louder as a slightly aggrieved unicorn ascended the stairs.
Twilight entered the room where Rainbow had crash landed and tutted. The pegasus felt the weight of the books leave her as Twilight levitated them away.

"Hey Twi," said Rainbow, rubbing the back of her neck where a particularly heavy tome had struck her in revenge for disturbing its peace.

Twilight's eyebrows drew together as she frowned, looking at the empty rows of books that now needed reshelving, and calculated how much time this would take to fix. Her expression softened when she saw that the damage to her neatly ordered shelves was less than usual.

"Hey Rainbow, you alright?"

"Heh, I'm fine! Takes more than books to stop The Dash!"

"I'm sure it does," said Twilight absent mindedly as she began putting books back in their rightful places.

"Can I help?" Rainbow asked as she picked up a few of them and set them on the bottom shelf.

"Uh, sure," said Twilight, inwardly wincing as Rainbow put her beloved books in completely the wrong places. She bit her lower lip painfully, trying not to say anything so as to not hurt the cyan mare's feelings.

Mental note: Do not forget about the wrongly categorised books later.

Books. Books. That reminded Twilight of something.

"Rainbow? Are you finished with 'The Legend of the Silver Arrow' yet? You know it's due the day after tomorrow right? I really don't want to have to fine you again."

"I haven't started it actually," said Rainbow, "I've been really busy lately, you know with the Thun-"

"The Thunderway 500 coming up, yes Dash, I know!" said the unicorn exasperatedly. Rainbow had been talking about nothing else for the past three weeks.

"But it's so great! This is the first time it's been held in Ponyville for over fifty years! Ten laps around the town's perimeter? I can win this like that!" She whipped her tail at the last word.

"Yes, Rainbow Dash, I know," said Twilight wearily.

"And it's a week today! Last year's was in Fillydelphia so obviously I couldn't go, the year before was Baltimare, so again-"

"Rainbow, do you want to come for lunch with me?" asked Twilight in an attempt to shut her up.

"Is it that time already?"

"Yes, I was thinking of getting a sandwich and then something sweet from Sugar Cube Corner."

"Sounds good to me, although would it be alright if you paid? I don't wanna have to fly home..."

"Sure, just don't make a habit of it 'kay?" She said, winking.

Twilight and Rainbow entered Sugar Cube Corner after their sandwich. Twilight had had a simple hay sandwich, while Rainbow had had a very large and somewhat expensive daffodil, daisy and tomato baguette, which Twilight only bought on the condition that she wouldn't be buying her anything from Sugar Cube Corner, a decision that the pegasus was beginning to rue when the warm, sweet air of the bakery filled her nose.

Twilight looked around; there was nopony at the counter. She walked up to it and a faint clattering came from upstairs, the two ponies looked up at the noise and slowly lowered their heads as the clattering came down the stairs behind the counter. A bright pink, party pony emerged from behind the wall at the bottom of the stairs, with a colander upon her head. Her eyes widened and she squealed when she saw the two ponies.

"Twilight! Dashie! Do you have any toothpaste on you?" she whispered excitedly.

"Toothpaste..." said Rainbow slowly, "why?"

"I want to turn my hooves white."

"I don't follow," said Twilight.

"Well you know how toothpaste whitens your teeth?"

"Pinkie, I'm not sure that's how it works..."

"Sure it does! If it works for my teeth, why not my hooves?"

"Because..." Twilight began. In truth, she wasn't actually sure why.

"What's with that thing on your head?" asked Rainbow. Pinkie looked up at it.

"Duh! It's so she can't hear my thoughts!"

Twilight and Rainbow exchanged nervous glances.

"Ummm, who?"

"The Tooth Fairy silly!"

"Pinkie-"

"I doubt she'd be too happy if I used her toothpaste to whiten my hooves instead of my teeth, so I'm wearing this," she said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Okayyyy," said Rainbow, who eventually just put it down to Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie.

"Pinkie, can I have something to eat?" asked Twilight.

"Sure!" She zipped back up the stairs and returned, colander free. "What d'ya want?"

"Hmmm," she pondered, looking out the windows at the sunny weather. "Ice cream."

"Oooh, good call Twilight! What flavour?"

"Blackberry please."

"Okie dokie lokie!"

Rainbow Dash had followed Twilight's eyes when she looked out the window, and as Pinkie bustled around, her wings began aching for her to start flying and get back into the skies, muscles tensing up all over her athletic body.

"You alright there Dashie?" asked the pink party pony as she scooped a generous amount of purple ice cream.

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Rainbow distractedly.

"You sure? You look like you ate some cement and it set inside you."

"You mean tense Pinkie," said Twilight.

"That's what I said!"

Twilight just rolled her eyes.

"I just- I feel like flying right now, bad."

"Why?" asked Twilight. "You don't usually have random urges to fly, well, at least not to get you this worked up."

"Is it because of that super fun race that's coming to town you're taking part in?" said Pinkie as she bounced her way to Twilight, the ice cream balanced on her nose.

"Yeah it is!" chirped Rainbow enthusiastically. "Can't you remember the name of it Pinkie?"

The earth pony shook her head.

"The Thunderway 500! It's gonna be so awesome!"

Twilight sat in silence, licking her ice cream slowly.

Urgh, she's off again, she thought as Rainbow animatedly talked about the race to the avidly listening pink pony.

Rainbow was talking though the finer points of her tactics for various weather conditions when Pinkie interrupted.

"You gonna win?"

"Huh? 'Course I'm gonna win!"

"But what if you don't?" the pink mare asked curiously. Twilight perked up as Rainbow fell silent.

"I... Uh..."

It was evident that Rainbow hadn't even considered that she might not win, a bead of sweat forming on her brow.

"I've-I've got things to do, practise and... stuff," said the pegasus, edging towards the door. "Twi, Pinks, I'll catch you later." And she shot off.

I am gonna win! I can't lose! I'm faster than everypony in this town!

Rainbow Dash had been repeating variations of those words to herself all afternoon, not paying much attention to where she was flying. She had spent the last twenty minutes flying in a vague circle over Sweet Apple Acres, which hadn't been overlooked by two certain ponies that were working the fields, planting the seeds for this year's harvests.

"What d'ya suppose she's up to?" asked Applejack.

"If ah didn't know better, ah'd say she don't know any better than we do lil' sis," replied the large, red stallion, who was harnessed to a plough.

"If she doesn't stop soon, I'm gonna go shout 'er down, something might be up."

"You do what you think is best, though remember we gotta get these planted before the end of t'week."

"Ah know, ah know," she said, getting back to work, following Big Macintosh's wake, sprinkling seeds into the freshly turned earth.

Rainbow Dash meanwhile was flying lower and lower, completely lost in her own thoughts.

I wonder what pancakes taste like without syrup on them, she mused, having been flying for so long now her mind had drifted to other topics. I mean, they can't be that great, because I always eat them with syrup... but then that's like saying syrup isn't great, because I don't eat that on its own...
She didn't even notice the rope that had latched itself onto one of her hind legs until it gave her a sharp tug.

"Hey. What the-?" she exclaimed, being literally dragged out of her reverie.

She looked down to see Applejack, rope in mouth, reeling her in. hooves driving into the dirt.

"AJ, what gives?" asked Rainbow indignantly.

"Rainbow, you've been flying over the farm fer the last hour, just going round in wobbly circles, I tried calling ya, but you weren't listenin', so next best thing was to get out Indy."

"Indy?" said Rainbow, an eyebrow raised and a small smile curling her lips.

"What? It's a good name!"

"Yeah... but it's just a rope..."

"Ah like mah rope!"

"I bet you do," Rainbow snickered.

"Urgh, anyway," said Applejack, dismissing Rainbow's words.

"I didn't hear a no," the pegasus teased.

"Rainbow Dash," said the earth pony warningly. Rainbow knew she was treading on thin ice when she used her full name.

"I'll stop now."

"Good. What ah was gonna say was, you fancy joining us fer dinner tonight? Since you're out here and all and we're finishing up now."

"Yeah, sure! Thanks Applejack."

"So Rainbow," said Applejack after dinner, "why exactly were you flying in circles for a good hour?"

They were in Applejack's bedroom. Rainbow was lounging on the bed, her form sprawled across it, her magenta eyes watching the earth pony tidy up.

"I was thinking," said Rainbow vaguely.

Applejack rolled her eyes.

"You're gonna have to be a mite more specific sugar cube."

"I was thinking about the Thunderway 500," said the pegasus, picking up a golden bit off the floor and playing with it in her hooves.

"When aren't ya thinking about it?"

Rainbow decided to ignore this.

"It was something Pinkie said earlier. She asked what I would do if I didn't win..."

"Ah'm not following."

"That's what I've been thinking about, I hadn't considered the chance I might lose."

"And what would you do?"

"I don't know," Rainbow huffed, "sulk probably."

"Business as usual then, least when I beat you."

"Hey!" said an indignant Rainbow, throwing the bit at Applejack, knocking off her hat.

"Come on RD, you know I'm joshing ya."

"I know."

"Hey, talking of the race," said Applejack, picking up a magazine off the floor, "ah saw an article you might be interested in."

She flicked though to the right page and handed it to Rainbow. The pegasus took it, smoothed out the paper and read:

The Thunderway 500: Legendary Wonderbolt attending?

"WHAT?!" she cried.

Applejack started at Rainbow's outburst. She looked at the cyan mare, who was now frozen in position, with the exception of her eyes, which were racing over the text.

There are many rumours surrounding high profile public figures, and the Wonderbolts are no exception. Unconfirmed reports suggest that Spitfire will be participating in the annual Thunderway 500, which this year is being held in the town of Ponyville. The mare is well known for her complex aerial...

"Nononononononono, this can't be happening," said Rainbow frantically, her breathing quickening.

"Rainbow Dash, are you feeling alright sugar?"

"Alright? Never better!" She smiled a very strained smile.

"You sure? You don't look all that-"

"GAHH!" Rainbow jumped up and opened a window. "Sorry to cut this evening short AJ, but I'm gonna have to leave, I've got a lot to think about."

Applejack frowned.

"Well, if yer sure..."

Rainbow gave Applejack an apologetic glance, then sped off into the dusk without another word. Applejack could hear a 'nopenopenopenope' on the air as she left.
The earth pony sighed, slightly put out that her friend left so abruptly.
There came a gentle tap from her door.

"AJ?" the deep rumbling voice of Big Macintosh asked.

Applejack sighed again, sitting down on her bed.

"Yeah? Come in brother."

The door creaked open and the red stallion walked in. He immediately noticed the lack of multicoloured pegasus and the open window.

"Ah thought ah heard shouting, did you and Miss Rainbow have an argument?"

"What? No! Ah showed her this article and she done flew off!"

Big Macintosh looked at the magazine and slowly shook his head.

"You thought it was a good idea to show this to Miss Rainbow?" he said steadily.

"Yuhuh, it's about the race, and ah know how excited she is about it."

"And showing her that one of the best fliers in Equestria will be taking part is gonna help her how exactly?"

"Aw ponyfeathers."

"Eyyyup, she's gonna be right distressed now, you better check up on her soon to make sure she's alright."

"Okie doke, can you balance the books day after tomorrow's mornin' then, so ah can go see her?"

"You know ah'm no good with numbers sis," he said flatly, looking back at the magazine, turning over a few pages.

"Urgh, worth a shot ah s'pose, fine, I'll check the south field in the mornin' for thievin' critters instead, and I'll go see after that, shouldn't take long, and do the business stuff in the afternoon."

"Okay. Can I borrow this?" he asked, looking at the magazine again, to see that there were several pictures of Spitfire over the central pages, some of which were designed specifically to arouse the interest of stallions, along with certain mares.

Applejack snorted.

"Aw, does somepony have a crush on Spitfire?" she teased.

"It ain't no crush," he defended, his blush disguised under his red coat, "she's just mighty pretty."

"Sure, take it..." Then her nose crinkled as the implication of what he was probably planning to do with it hit her. "Though I'd rather not have it back, if ah'm honest."

Now the stallion's blush was clearly visible as her backed out of the room with a sheepish grin.

"Boys," said Applejack under her breath as she got into her bed.

Big Macintosh walked into his room and shut his door firmly. He opened up the magazine and carefully tore out the central pages and stuck them to his wall with a tack.

"No wonder AJ don't want it back," he said to himself, "nopony wants half a magazine after all."

He admired the pictures for a moment, then he clambered into his bed and slowly drifted off to sleep.

The Wonderbolts

Take to the Skies

by Gallifrey

Chapter Two
The Wonderbolts

The locker door was wrenched open and slammed shut by an irritable pegasus.

"You okay Spits?" asked a sky blue stallion, stuggling free of his sweaty flying suit and removing his flight goggles.

The mare sighed.

"No Soarin', I'm sick of being pushed this hard by Shooting Star," she answered, also struggling out of the tight outfit.

"I admit he does like getting us in as early as possible and out as late as possible... If it wasn't for Celestia's laws on the maximum ten hours that a pony could work a day, I think we'd be dead from overworking ourselves."

"I have half a mind to strike until he lets up on us," said the mare darkly.

"Hey, chin up, how about we hit the bars in Canterlot?" asked Soarin', playfully punching her withers.

"It's like you can read my mind."

Canterlot has a wide variety of bars for all occasions and moods. Such a choice in fact, that the two pegasi were unsure where to go.

"We could go to Hoof Beats?" suggested Soarin', as they walked down the city's winding and cobbled streets in the twilight.

"I'm not really feeling it tonight to be honest Soar, I'd prefer somewhere more quiet."

"Well, there is always the Cross and Arrow? Though it is all the way across town."

"Yeah, because it's not like we have wings or anything..." said the yellow mare sarcastically.

"B-but, unauthorised flying in Canterlot's airspace is forbidden!"

"Pfft, rules schmules, they were made to be broken, c'mon let's go."

"What if the Princesses see us?" he whispered, as if he were scared they might hear him.

"What are they gonna do? Throw us in a dungeon? Come on Soarin', live a little, be the pegasus that inspired me to fly in the first place."

"Woah, woah, back up. What?"

"Like I said, when I was a filly, I used to see you at shows and stuff. You... um, were my hero," she finished lamely, her cheeks turning pink.

"And it only took you six years to divulge this information?" he teased.

"I guess."

There was a moment of silence between them for a few moments, then Soarin' shook his head to bring himself back to reality.

"So, we gonna fly or not?" he asked with a grin.

The Cross and Arrow was a small, quiet and friendly little pub in a secluded area of Canterlot, away from most of the hustle and bustle of the city. Soarin' opened the polished wooden door for his yellow friend and they both entered the dimly lit pub. They sauntered up to the bar, Spitfire putting on what she liked to call 'the charm,' attempting to make eye contact with the earth pony barman. The light grey stallion soon made his way over to them, even though there were one or two ponies who were there before them.

"Well good evenin' miss, what can I get you?"

Spitfire fluttered her eyelashes subtley.

"Could I get three, no four shots of firewhiskey please; what d'you want Soar?"

The bartender looked away from Spitfire, only just noticing her blue friend, disappointment forming on his face.

"Um... can I get some ginger beer please?" Soarin' asked, oblivious to the earth pony's inner thoughts.

"Yeah, sure," he said, taking another glance at Spitfire, who was looking away, licking her lips, though he was sure she knew he was looking at her.

He fumbled slightly while he prepared their drinks, stealing a look at Spitfire every so often. Soarin' finally picked up on his peculiar behaviour.

"Why does he keep looking at you?" he muttered into her ear.

"No idea," she replied innocently, then continued to bite her lower lip, closing her eyes halfway.

His walk was odd when he returned, as if he was trying to hide something.

"That'll be be ten bits all together miss."

"Here ya go mister," she said, handing him a note.

He leaned in slightly, she followed suit.

"I finish at one ya know, you can ditch pretty boy here and come with me."

"I'll bear that in mind," she replied.

"What did he say?" asked Soarin' as they left the bar.

"He just told me what time he got off tonight," she said, almost disappointedly as they sat at a table in a corner.

"Isn't that a good thing? By Celestia, I'd be happy if a mare told me something like that."

"Nah, I was only teasing him, he was way too easy."

"Is everything a game with you Spits?"

"Never really thought about it, but yeah, I suppose it is."

Soarin' simply shook his head and had a look around at the fellow clientèle. He enjoyed pony watching, wondering who strangers were in reality, what their backgrounds were, experiences, lives... He saw a few couples, possibly on their first dates, perhaps they'd been lovers for years. In the corner on the other side of the bar, he saw a brief glimpse of colour. Squinting, he saw a few colours, red, orange, yellow, was that green? Oh yeah, there it is, blue, lots of blue, and purple.

"Hey Spits, look over there. Is that who I think it is?"

Spitfire looked over in the direction he was pointing.

"Jeez, if you can't tell who that is, you need to get your eyes tested."

"But what's she doing here? In Canterlot? Doesn't she live in Ponyville?"

"I don't exactly ask Rainbow what she's up to all the time do I?"

"Why not? You've met each other enough times now, surely that warrants keeping in touch?"

"Maybe," said Spitfire, lowering her eyes. "Should we go and say hi?"

"I dunno, she looks a bit glum... I think," he said, squinting again.

"Yeah, she does look a bit down, we'll see how she is after a few drinks. Is she alone?"

"Looks like it."

"That seems odd, she's told me a lot about her friends before."

The evening passed, with Soarin' getting another round of drinks, much to the bartender's disappointment. Rainbow Dash as well got a few more drinks herself, her walk to and from the bar becoming more and more haphazard.

"Can ah get a *hic* get a umm... another fireblitz?" she asked on her last visit.

"But miss, this will be your eighth! I strongly advise you that you call it a night soon."

"Pleeeeeaaaaase?" she implored.

The bartender looked slightly concerned but did as she asked, collecting the bits she placed on the counter.
Rainbow thought this was a good time to break out into song one her way back to her seat.

"A long long time ago,
I was just a young mare, and that stallion used to make me smile,
And I knew if I had my chance,
If I could get up with him and dance,
Then maybe I'd be happy for a while.
But February made me shiver,
All I did was fuss and dither,
Bad news on the doorstep,
I couldn't take one more step,
I can remember that I cried,
I wept, I choked, fell down and sighed,
And something touched me deep inside,
The day my sweetheart died.

"So bye bye, my dear Blue Sky,
I loved you like the air and in the air we would fly,
Until one day and I never knew why,
You said, this will be the day that I die,
This will be the day that I die..."

She put her head in her hooves and sat morosely at her lonely table. The two Wonderbolts, along with the majority of the pub, had been watching Rainbow as she sang.

"I think we should go over," said Spitfire, "she's clearly had too much to drink."

They got up and made their way through the sea of chairs and tables to the intoxicated blue pegasus.
Spitfire gently tapped her shoulder.

"Hey, you okay?"

Rainbow looked up and saw just who was talking to her, but didn't seem to recognise who it was, given that Spitfire wasn't wearing her suit. The copious amounts of alcohol she had consumed didn't help much either.

"Are you talking to me? What're you doin' umm here?" she asked, her eyes slightly crossed as she tried to focus on the yellow mare.

"I could say the exact same thing to you."

"Well, I don't really remember to be... honest, I can't remember-ember today all that well... I'm Rainbow Dash."

"Sweet Celestia, how much have you drank?"

"Not enough!" she said as she grabbed her drink and began downing it.

"Something tells me that isn't the best idea," said Spitfire, wresting the drink from her grasp.

"Hey! I was *hic* drinking that."

"Let's get you home."

"But I don't wanna!" Rainbow whined.

Spitfire was thinking fast, and winked at Soarin'.

"Or you could come round mine? Got lots of drinks that you can have, for free," she lied.

"Wassat?"

"Free drinks, at mine."

"Sweet! You can count me in!"

"Good, now put a hoof over my withers, and let's get going."

Rainbow did as she was told, and supported by Spitfire, they left the bar in less than a straight line, the two Wonderbolts had been drinking too after all.
Rainbow was dimly aware that the air temperature had suddenly become much cooler. She looked around and saw a blue stallion next to her. Quite an attractive blue stallion too.

"Hey," Rainbow giggled, "what's a handsome guy like you doing around these parts of town?"

Soarin's face flushed as he fumbled over his words.

"Well I-I, y-you think, handsome, me?"

Spitfire rolled her eyes and came to his rescue.

"He's with me, Rainbow."

"Oh!" exclaimed Rainbow, realisation dawning on her face. "So you two are together?"

"Oh, you have no idea. But no, we're not."

"If you're not together, then why are you here?"

"We're friends," said Soarin'.

"Awesome, I have loads of friends too. Don't know if you've ever heard of them, though you probably have, s'not like we're not all amazing and saved Equestria twice or anything. There's Twilight Sparkle, total egghead, but I love her for it ya know? Applejack, down to Earth, country gal..."

After this, Spitfire and Soarin' zoned out the pegasus' babbling, until they reached the outskirts of the city.

"Well, you're in no fit state to fly, so you'll have to fly on either mine or Soarin's back."

"Pffft, whatever, I'm the best flyer in all of Equestria!"

Spitfire and Soarin' exchanged glances.

"Oh, you think so huh?" the yellow pony said smugly.

"Think so? I know so!"

Her wings sprung open and she jumped into the air, to show them her skills, but something was wrong; why was the ground coming up to meet her like that? And why was she now flat on her back?

"Greatest flyer eh?" said the looming face of Spitfire, coming into focus over her.

"I could've blitzed that," said Rainbow, getting to her hooves, "just didn't feel like it."

Spitfire nodded in mock understanding and pounced before the cyan mare could react, grabbing her by the waist.

"Hey! What're you doing? Put me down!"

"Hey, listen!" she said to the struggling pegasus beneath her as she and Soarin' took off, "Look, there's no chance of you getting home safely on your own, so just trust me 'kay."

"Hmmph! 'Kay."

"Good, now just hang on tight."

"Goodnight Mr Handsome Stallion!" called Rainbow as Soarin' left for his home upon arriving in Cloudsdale.

"Um, goodnight Rainbow Dash!" he called back, clearly flustered.

"So, where's your place?" asked Rainbow.

"Not far, come on."

"As if I'm actually going home to a stranger's house."

Stranger? Didn't Rainbow know who she was? Apparently not as it turned out, but Spitfire was happy to maintain her anonymity for now.

"Well, going out, getting drunk, going home with a 'stranger,' don't you think that might be implying something?" asked Spitfire.

"I dunno, can do if you want it to," she replied with a wink and a flashing smile. Spitfire felt a tingly sensation inside her that had nothing to do with alcohol.

Rainbow meandered down the road towards the Wonderbolt's home, with said Wonderbolt keeping an eye on her, while occasionally stumbling herself.

"Here we are," said Spitfire, in front of a large house constructed entirely from cloud. She opened the door and let the mare in.

"It's all dark, oof!"

"Ouch!" yelped Spitfire, switching on a light and rubbing her snout. "Try not to do that again eh?"

"Heh, sorry. Um, you got any drinks?"

"Well, you really shouldn't. You seemed really drunk, and I planned on sending you to bed, but I suppose one can't hurt."

Spitfire walked up to her bedroom, beckoning Rainbow to follow. The cyan mare clambered up the stairs as Spitfire rummaged through the drinks cabinet that she kept in a corner of her room. She retrieved a bottle of very sweet and strong spirit, called Luna's Moonshine, which was very, very expensive and manufactured by the Princess of the Night herself. She sat herself on the bed and poured out a measure of the opalescent, silvery liquid into two glasses, and topped them up with lemonade.

"Here, have a treat," she said, passing her a glass.

Rainbow took a sip of the odd looking silvery drink and her eyes lit up in delight, as the cool, sweet drink caressed her tongue and throat.

"S'good isn't it?"

"Buck yeah it's good!" she said as she got onto the bed too and lay on her front, very close to Spitfire.

"Horribly expensive, but so worth it."

"How much?"

"You don't wanna know."

"No I do," said Rainbow, putting on her best puppy eyes.

Damn that's cute, she thought. Then she shook head slightly.

"Ten thousand bits a bottle."

"WHAT."

"Told you you didn't wanna know."

"Ten thousand... I don't even... How do you afford that?!"

"Let's just say I have a very well paid job.

"Oh? What do you do?"

"Let's just say I get paid to show off."

"I wish I got paid to do that."

"You like showing off then?"

"I don't like to think of it like that, I just love to perform in front of ponies. Though there are a lot who think I am just a show off."

"Well, from what I know of you, Rainbow, you're not a show off, you are a kind and loyal pony, and... easy on the eyes as well," she added, testing the waters and downing the rest of her drink, the warm drunken haze washing over her.

"Really? Ya think so?" the cyan mare replied, as Spitfire refilled her glass. She rarely received genuine compliments. Her tail swished over the bed.

"Yeah, you're like totally sweet!" Spitfire said, pushing a hoof onto her withers playfully. Rainbow shivered.

"You 'kay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Umm, do you think you could do that again?"

"What? This?"

She pushed again.

"Yeah, it felt, well, good."

"Long story short, you want me to give you a massage?" asked Spitfire, who was never really a pony for subtle intentions and preferred a pony to just ask for what they wanted.

"Y-yeah, if that's okay."

"It's more than okay Rainbow," said the pegasus in a sultry tone, "just relax."

"Oh, I am don't mmmm worry," Rainbow mumbled as Spifire gently worked out the kinks and knots in her muscles, the two of them taking a drink every so often, becoming increasingly intoxicated.

"How is it?" whispered Spitfire.

"So good," murmured Rainbow, tension unravelling.

"Good, good. Maybe you'd like a lil' more?"

"More?"

"Mmmhmmm."

She ceased with her massage and turned Rainbow over, so that she was now lying on her back.

"You really are a beanti- be- beautilal, dammit. Sexy. You're sexy, Rainbow."

"You- you being serious?" asked Rainbow, butterflies erupting in her stomach as she turned her head to look at Spitfire, her face inches from Rainbow's.

"Come over here and find out," whispered Spitfire, eyes half lidded.

She could feel the cyan mare's hot breath on her muzzle, smell her sweet, spicy aroma and see the excited, yet nervous look on her face.
Rainbow wanted to kiss her, or did she? Her drunken thoughts were very indecisive about what she desired.

She's right there Rainbow, more than willing, go for it, it'll be so awesome! It's been like forever since I did anything like this!

But this might not be a good idea, I've made stupid as buck mistakes before when I was drunk, surely I've learnt my lesson by now?

But maybe it won't be a mistake. Maybe this could be the start of something new. Celestia knows I get awfully lonely sometimes.

Oh, I don't know!

"You seem confused Rainbow, perhaps I can help you make a decision."

She placed a hoof over Rainbow and gently pressed her lips against hers, causing Rainbow to sigh lightly, until Spitfire bit her lower lip slightly causing her to squeal in delight. The blue mare's senses were bombarded with amazing sensations, the spicy, cinnamon-like taste of the the pegasus, the touch of soft lips against hers, alive with heated passion, all seemed specially designed specifically for her pleasure. Spitfire withdrew and looked at her.

"Well? Did my guest enjoy that?" she asked looking over Rainbow's shoulder.

Rainbow looked vaguely over to her, a grin etched on her face, then followed Spitfire's gaze over her shoulder to her flared wings.

"Huh? Oh yeah! Definitely!"

"Compliments of the house," said Spitfire lightly, waving a hoof. "I'm glad you enjoyed it Rainbow, though don't think I'm finished yet, I'm just getting started."

She rolled from her side onto her back, giving a look with her warm, amber eyes that scares lesser ponies, intimidates stallions, and excites Rainbow Dashes. Rainbow's eyes widened excitedly and she ran a hoof through the yellow mare's fiery mane, leaning in for another, deeper kiss, which Rainbow delved into eagerly, setting her mind ablaze. A whirlwind of emotions descended upon her, and her lucidness was disintegrating rapidly. She was vaguely aware of Spitfire's tongue coming into contact with hers, and revelling in the feelings it brought.

"Oh Rainbow, you're so amazing," was the last thing she could recall Spitfire saying. The yellow mare kissed Rainbow Dash again, and ran her hooves along the pegasus' wings, making her shudder violently, after that, her memory failed her...

The Morning After

Take to the Skies

by Gallifrey

Chapter Three
The Morning After

Rainbow opened her bleary eyes the next day, sleep sticking them together.

"Holy buck, my head," she groaned. Her head throbbed painfully with every beat of her heart, her mouth was so dry it was like she had eaten a spoonful of flour, and she felt ill and rough, as if she had been hit by a freight train.

Squinting, protecting her eyes from the evil light that was intent on causing her as much pain as possible, she realised she was not in her own home, even worse, she felt a horrible sinking sensation when she heard the light murmur of another pony under the blankets next to her. She forced her mind into gear, trying to remember the previous evening's antics, but everything was a meaningless blur of blue and yellow.

Oh Celestia, not again! Why do I never learn? Stupid stupid, stupid.

As her mind berated her, she reached out a trembling hoof to discover just who she was sharing a bed with. Her mouth fell open wide as she saw simultaneously the pony she most wanted to be beside her, and the very last pony she wanted beside her. The slumbering face of Spitfire was buried in her pillow, drooling slightly.

"S-Spitfire?! Huh? H-how?"

The Wonderbolt awoke to the pegasus' voice.

"Mmmrrrh? Oh, mornin' Rainbow," she said sleepily, snuggling her head further into the pillow, "Wait, hang on," she added, eyes snapping open, sounding much more awake all of a sudden.

"Um, w-what am I doing here?" she said in a meek and timid voice much unlike her own as she looked around.

"I um, hold on, lemme think," said the yellow mare, confused as well, though perhaps not as much as Rainbow, "me and Soarin' saw you at the Cross and Arrow last night, and you had drank far too much to get home safely on your own. I offered you a place to stay, and I planned to sleep on the sofa while you took the bed, but evidently that plan went out the window... Oh! Oh. I remember us drinking more, aha, and um, we made out... A lot."

"We what." said Rainbow in disbelief, unsure whether this was a dream come true, or a nightmare realised. "Um, tell me something Spitfire, because I can't remember at all, did we er, g-go beyond that at all?"

Spitfire closed her eyes, frantically searching her memories for what transpired last night. Then a sudden vivid memory surfaced.

"No, not at all, I can remember you throwing up at some point and frankly, it isn't much of a turn on."

"Oh thank Celestia," the pegasus sighed in relief, she looked at Spitfire, who looked slightly hurt. "Oh, no offence to you Spitfire, it's just I am so glad I didn't, well, have sex with you when I was drunk. Though I'm not implying I'd do it while sober, which isn't to say I wouldn't, unless you wanted t- I've dug myself into a pretty big hole haven't I?"

Spitfire merely looked amused.

"You certainly have, though don't worry, I don't blame you for finding Equestria's most desirable pony to be attractive," she said, grinning.

"I didn't say that!"

"Your actions last night say otherwise," she teased.

"Hmmph! Can I get some water? My mouth is so dry."

"Yeah, sure, c'mon."

Both ponies dragged themselves downstairs into the kitchen, and as Rainbow gulped down the water, her reasons for going out last night came flooding back to her.

The Thunderway 500! And Spitfire's competing! Oh Celestia and Luna, why do you have to be so cruel to twist fate so that I am hungover in the one pony's house who drove me to drink last night in the first place! I have to get out of here! But do I want to? A few memories of last night swam to the forefront of her mind. She was a great kisser, and really sweet too. Oh, what to do?

"You okay Rainbow? You look spaced out."

"I was just thinking... Um, that is, whatdowedoaboutyouandme?" she blurted.

"Pardon?"

"Um, wh-what do we do about you and me? Where do we stand?" Rainbow was painfully aware she was walking upon a knife edge.

"Well... I'm not sure. I barely even know you as an actual pony Rainbow Dash, although you are pretty cute. It's all too fast, even for me, I'm sure you'll agree."

"Yeah, I do. I have an idea: how about we wipe the slate clean, and pretend this never happened."

"I'm listening."

"And hang out together sometime, ya know, to get to know one another better, and see where it goes."

"I can roll with that, when do you wanna do it?"

"How about just after the Thunderway 500?" suggested Rainbow.

"Oh, you racing in that too? Not a surprise really, you do live in Ponyville after all."

"Yeah..." she said, with a nervous laugh.

"So what do you wanna do?"

"I was thinking maybe going out to Canterlot again, but not drinking quite as much?"

"That's definitely an idea, though I'm intrigued by a day in the life of a Rainbow Dash."

"You won't be interested in that, my days are nothing special."

"They are to me, I've always wanted to live a normal life."

"Surely your foalhood was pretty normal?"

"You'd think so wouldn't ya? However, what most ponies don't know is that my father was a Wonderbolt before me."

"He was?"

"Yup, Tri Thunder was his name, though he'd already retired when I was born. But still, my younger years were certainly out of the ordinary. Dad had always encouraged me to be the best I could be, and I spent next to all my time training and honing my skills. Obviously all my hard work paid off and since then my life has been with the Wonderbolts. It would be nice to see the day of a relatively normal pony, not that you're really a normal pony, in a good way you understand."

"Yeah, I get ya, though if you get to see a day in my life, I wanna see a day in yours."

"I can pull a few strings and let you in sure, being captain does have its advantages," she said shrugging.

"Awesome, I've always wanted to see what you guys do."

"It's just really hard work: our trainer, Shooting Star, sure does like keeping our noses to the grindstone."

"Well, that sounds kinda suckish, but come on, you're a Wonderbolt for pony's sake, surely you have some fun."

"Well, Soarin' always manages to have fun, but I find training pretty boring, I have the most fun when I'm actually performing."

"That's fair enough, I can imagine with the amount of training you do, it gets old after a while."

"Yeah, it can. Say, I bet you'd like some breakfast?"

"I was hoping you'd say that," said Rainbow happily.

After a breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast, Rainbow Dash took her leave, opening the door to a bright sunny day with a brisk, cool wind.

"Well, thanks for everything I guess, I owe you one."

"Hey, don't sweat it girl, I'm sure you'll find a way to repay me," she gave Rainbow a roguish wink, which granted the the blue pegasus a rare blush.

"Well, see ya soon Spits," said Rainbow, giving her a return wink and the use of her nickname.

Rainbow took it easy on her flight home, she still felt rather delicate. She took a wide detour to make sure she didn't bump into anypony she knew, she knew wouldn't be able to stand somepony like Pinkie Pie right now.
She bypassed her door as per usual, and flew straight into her bedroom and collapsed on her bed. She closed her heavy eyes and decided to dwell on the recent events of her life as she let the welcoming cosiness of her bed sink through her.

Spitfire likes me? She actually likes me? The pony I've idolised all my life thinks I'm attractive? This is surely too good to be true. I'm not even that pretty.

She hauled herself up and looked at her confused reflection from the mirror on her dresser. Rainbow Dash was confident in most things, but one of her biggest insecurities was her own appearance. Her mane, as dashingly awesome it may be, was the cause of much disapproval from the older population of Equestria, who often said that the spectrum of colours advertised and encouraged homo and bisexuality, which quite apart from anything else, made Rainbow want to give them a swift buck to the head. Many years ago, she had once considered dying it, but it was her namesake after all and her parents told her to be proud of her unique hair, which she was, although it still got to her sometimes when she got disapproving looks.
Next was her body, which she saw though somewhat misguided eyes. What most stallions, and a few mares saw, was a sleek, lithe, athletic body that was toned, healthy, and very attractive, the end result of many years of exercise and training. What Rainbow saw however was a body that was far too masculine and muscled to be considered that desirable, and although her friends had tried to convince her otherwise, Applejack in particular, she still didn't think that much of herself.

I wouldn't say I was 'ugly' as such, but definitely not good enough for a pony such as Spitfire surely?

She lay back on her bed and considered it might not just be because of her looks.

Maybe she likes my personality, I can see why, I am pretty awesome. We're also both massive speed freaks who love competition... maybe I should just ask her the next time I see her.

She felt a warm fire-like sensation deep inside her swelling as she revelled in the happy thoughts flying though her mind about what she and Spitfire might share together in the future, and sleepiness began to fall over her. With a final thought of the yellow pegasus smiling at her with those deep brown eyes, she fell fast asleep.

To the Library

Take to the Skies

by Gallifrey

Chapter Four
To the Library

Rainbow eventually woke in the cold dusky evening, feeling much better and accepting that her sleeping pattern was now ruined. Without much to do, she decided to return the unread 'Legend of the Silver Arrow' to Twilight Sparkle while she still remembered; her track record of returning books on time was poor at best, and it ended up being quite costly when it all added up, which was all very good for her purple pony friend, but not so good for Rainbow Dash, so she was determined to start returning them on time. She pulled the blue covers from over her body and stretched. Routing through her beside cabinet, through scraps of paper, books and unwashed plates, she found the book, and blew the fluff and crumbs off it. The mare rose up to leave and sighed when she remembered she owed Twilight a few bits for when she bought her that sandwich. She slipped a note into the book and trotted outside, using her little used door for a change to exit.
She galloped to the edge of the cloud and jumped into the abyss, savouring the freedom and simple thrill of the open air before she flared her wings and soared into the orange skies. Mind now suffused with adrenaline, she took a moment to appreciate Celestia's beautiful sunset. The clouds were in stark contrast tonight which made them look almost alien in their exotic appearance combined with the rich orange sky.

Wings feel funny, she thought to herself, quite unable to remember the massage Spitfire had administered her due to her copious alcohol consumption. What Spitfire had planned to do, and had indeed carried out, was a trick that she had learnt long ago. Spitfire had massaged Rainbow's flight muscles, removing the substantial tension they were carrying, but what she had neglected to do, was to stretch her wing bones to release the pressure in the joints, instead allowing it to build up during her ministrations. Rainbow flew up high, very high. There was a knack to cracking those bones, which could only happen at high speeds. Rainbow dived, falling, faster and faster, flapping to increase her velocity, she pulled sharply out of her dive, speeding along the ground in a straight line. She twisted violently and a resounding series of cracks was produced, the shockwaves jolting her highly sensitive wings in a delightful way.

"Oh sweet Celestia that felt good!" she exclaimed, as had been part of Spitfire's cunning plan.

She twisted the other way, and her other wing cracked too. Shuddering again, and still none the wiser why it felt quite so good, she continued on her flight, now aided with extremely flexible and supple wings.

Being careful not to crash into the purple pony's precious literature again, Rainbow decided to enter the library in a conventional way. She knocked lightly on the wooden door to have it opened by magic. She entered the warm library to see Twilight washing up her's and Spike's dinner plates in the sink.

"Oh good evening Rainbow Dash, what brings you up here?"

"Oh you know, to hang, and also return this book before it's due, and also pay you for the sandwich from yesterday."

"Well it certainly is new that you're returning it early," commented the lavender mare, "it's a pity you didn't get a chance to read it."

"Yeah, it looks really good too, but I haven't had the time, what with the race coming up and... stuff."

Twilight raised a slightly suspicious eyebrow at 'stuff,' but made no further comment.

"So what have you been up to Twi?" asked Rainbow as they made their way to Twilight's living room, where Spike was resting in front of a small, crackling fire. "Hey Spike."

"'S'up?" he murmured, lazily opening one eye half way in acknowledgement.

"You mean since yesterday?" asked Twilight.

"Yeah, a lot of crazy stuff can happen in one day ya know," she replied, thinking about her own last twenty-four hours.

"Well, I did do some research into how to decrease the temperature of high magic use. I don't know if you know-"

"I do," said Rainbow immediately.

"That certain forms of magic create quite a bit of heat on its target, as well as the user's horn, and I, being somewhat... more adept than the average pony, have often overheated my horn which gives me the worst headaches, so I've been experimenting into how to negate the effects by trying to make the majority of the flux of the magical energy flow over my horn instead of through it."

"Yes," said Rainbow, nodding fervently, having no idea.

"My results so far are promising, I can now cast spells thirty percent stronger than before and my horn is now twenty percent cooler than it was. So that's been my day, what have you been up to Rainbow?"

"Oh not much, just wound up at Spitfire's last night and made out with her," said Rainbow as casually as she could, although she was fit to bursting with excitement.

"You what?!" exclaimed Twilight, shocked.

"Yup, met her and Soarin' in Canterlot last night, she offered me a place to stay, and well, you could say one thing led to another."

"You didn't um..."

"Huh? Oh no! No no no, we didn't do that, apparently I threw up at some point."

"Lovely."

"Anyway, yeah, so that happened, and we decided that we actually want to know each other better before we jump into anything without thinking it over first."

"A very wise decision, I wish you both the best of luck."

"Thanks Twi, though one thing is on my mind."

"Oh, what's that?"

Rainbow felt decidedly uncool as she opened her mouth.

"I'm not sure I'm good enough for her," she admitted. It was painful, she would never normally imply that she wasn't awesome at something, but this was not a normal situation.

Twilight studied Rainbow carefully before saying:

"What makes you think that?"

Rainbow was taken aback, expecting sympathy rather than a question, she thought for a moment, looking around the neat and tidy library.

"I guess, it's because she is the pony I look up to the most? Who I aim to become one day?"

"Precisely," said Twilight nodding, "and naturally, you consider her to be a far more magnificent pony than she prehaps is? Above us mere mortal ponies?"

"Maybe a lil'," she admitted.

"Adding that this is a rare stroke of luck where the very pony you idolise so much has seemingly taken a shine to you, I am not at all surprised that you feel like this Rainbow. But, what you have to remember, is that under all of all her hype and ah, 'awesomeness' as you would say, she is a normal pony just like you or I, with normal thoughts and feelings."

Rainbow thought this perspective over for a few minutes. Now that she thought about it, when she had been talking to Spitfire, she had been acting more like her fan than her equal.

"I see what you mean," said Rainbow in her scratchy voice, feeling a lot of weight leave her chest. "You're pretty good at this advice stuff ya know Twi."

Twilight's cheeks turned a little pink at the compliment.

"Thank you Rainbow, I'm glad I could help. How are you feeling about the race?"

The very weight that had been so recently lifted crashed back down upon her as realisation hit her.

"The race. Oh no, Spits is racing in it!"

"Is that a problem?" asked Twilight, puzzled, "I think it'll be a great bonding experience for you both."

"No no, you don't understand! I can't beat her, because I don't want to upset her, but I can't lose either, because why will she let a slow pony into the Wonderbolts?"

"Rainbow, listen to yourself!" snapped Twilight, "how can you possibly consider yourself slow?! Just do your best out there and Spitfire will be impressed no matter what."

"Yeah, maybe," said the cyan mare, not entirely convinced, then she smiled. "You sound like my mother."

"I do wonder sometimes," said Twilight teasingly.

Rainbow took her leave, which left Twilight to get back to her work. It was as she was writing a report to the Princess summarising her progression, quill flying over parchment, when there came another knock at her door. She opened it to reveal an orange earth pony standing on the porch.

"Oh hey Applejack, I'm starting to feel popular this evening!"

"Evenin' sugar cube. What make ya say that?" Applejack asked, walking in and closing the door.

"Rainbow came round not half an hour ago."

"She did? Shoot. She's the reason ah'm here at all. If ya feel kind enough, could you perform that cloud walkin' spell on me like ya did when we went Cloudsdale?"

"Sure AJ, do you want to visit Rainbow or something?"

"Yeah, ah do, I need to apologise to her."

"Oh," said Twilight, wondering what Applejack could have possibly done. "Do you want to borrow the balloon?"

"Thanks fer the offer Twi, but since you're already giving me the spell, I went to see Pinkie a few minutes ago to borrow that flying contraption o' hers."

"Do be careful won't you Applejack? That thing never looked very safe to me."

"Ah'll do mah best darlin'."

"Good good, is there anything else I can help you with?"

"Nah, ah'm good thanks Twi, if you need any favours, you know who to come to."

"Thank you, we still on for that picnic the day after tomorrow?"

"Yup, though I will be a lil' late, will have a bit o' farm work t'do."

Applejack rose with Celestia's Sun the next day, as she always did. She began her day as she began any other, with a shower and breakfast. After she had searched the south field for thieving animals she went out to the barn, where she retrieved the pedal-powered machine that belonged to Pinkie Pie. She dragged it out and prepared herself for a long haul, she didn't much feel like becoming airborne until it was absolutely necessary.
The Sun was fully risen by the time Applejack was directly beneath Rainbow's cloud home. She clambered onto the machine with some trepidation, being an earth pony, she was not overly keen in taking her hooves off the ground, but she had to see Rainbow Dash, so with steely resolve, she set it into motion, rising gently up into the sky.What she realised as she was hovering outside Rainbow's door was how the machine itself was supposed to be supported by the cloud, but apparently Pinkie Pie had already considered that because as she descended onto the cloud, it came to rest upon it without falling through. She tested the ground before hopping off herself; she had faith in Twilight, but still was naturally cautious about stepping onto a cloud. She walked up to Rainbow's white, wooden, and little used door and knocked. No answer. She tried again, to receive only silence.
She took a few steps back to see that the windows of Rainbow's bedroom were slightly ajar.

"RD? You up there?" she called. She could hear a faint mumbling and then a very tousled rainbow mane appeared at the window, followed by a Rainbow Dash that had clearly just woken up.

"Mmmrrrhh, AJ? What are you doin' up here? And this early?"

"It's half past ten Rainbow."

"Like I said, early."

"Sorry to disturb ya from your sleep, but might I come in?"

"Yeah, sure, gimme a few minutes."

Rainbow Dash eventually opened the door for her earth pony friend, looking slightly more awake as she dragged herself to the kitchen.

"Do you want some coffee?" she asked.

"Nah, I can't stand that fancy stuff."

"Why not? It's good stuff," Rainbow said, flicking her kettle on. "What brings you up here anyway?"

"Ah came to apologise fer the other day," said Applejack, looking down at her hooves.

"Apologise? For what?"

"For being so tactless in telling you Spitfire was competing in the race next week."

"Huh?" Then she remembered the minor panic attack she had, flying away from Sweet Apple Acres without any explanation.

"Oh yeah, that. It's no big deal AJ, in fact I suppose I should thank you in a way."

"How d'ya work that one out?"

"Well, after I left you, I went to Canterlot to hit the bars, and I met Spitfire and Soarin'. I ended up staying at Spitfire's for the night and we had a little fun together."

"Fun."

"Yuhuh," she said, routing through untidy cupboars, preparing coffee.

"What kinda 'fun'?"

"Just kissing, ya know?"

"Can't say ah do know, to tell truth," said the earth pony, feeling suddenly rather lonely.

"What?" said Rainbow, pausing, "You've never kissed somepony?" she asked, incredulous.

"Nope."

"We'll have to do something about that girl. Get you out there ya know?"

"I'd like that Rainbow."

"Of course you will," she said happily, taking a drink of her much needed coffee. "Ah, that's the stuff," she said with a satisfied sigh.

"Bitter and fancy."

"Whatever you say, pony gal," said Rainbow, now feeling much more awake. "What you gonna be up to today?"

"Not much, just gotta work out how business is doing, numbers and all that."

Rainbow shuddered.

"What will you be doing RD?"

"Well, I booked off this week from the Weather Team to practise hard, so that's what I'll be doing all day."

"Sounds good, though try not ter burn yerself out sugar cube, you won't get very far if you're exhausted."

"That's what I'm worried about to be honest."

"You'll do fine sugar cube," she said with a warm smile.

Splash!

Rainbow Dash was completely worn out after a day of hard practise, sweat was pouring from her hot and aching body. She had thought it a good idea to take a dive into a lake on the outskirts of Ponyville. She immediately regretted her decision.

Stupid, stupid, stupid!

Gasping and spluttering, the poor, bedraggled pegasus pony swam to the water's edge and attempted to shake herself dry, shivering violently all the while.

"What in Celestia's Sun possessed me to do that?"

She looked behind her at her matted fur and dripping tail.

"Well at least it's just water and not sweat now."

She gave her wings a few strong flaps, spraying water everywhere, then she took off towards her home.

Buck it's cold! she thought as the water in her fur chilled her. That really was a stupid idea.

By the time she reached her home, the Sun was beginning to set over Equestria, and a certain blue pegasus was suffering from what felt like borderline hypothermia.
Her priority when she entered her house was to put the kettle on and pull out several empty hot water bottles.
She ventured upstairs to dry herself as much as possible with lots of fluffy towels. A high pitched whistling let her know that the water had boiled and with her mane looking as though she had been dragged through a hedge backwards, she descended to make herself some hot chocolate as well as fill up the hot water bottles.
She'd rarely been so happy to get into bed as she was then. Tired from her day and freezing cold, getting into her soft and gloriously warm bed felt sublime to the blue mare. She soon finished her cocoa and turned out her lights, and with the warmth and comfort surrounding her, her last thoughts were of Spitfire as she closed her eyes, and fell asleep.

Exchanging Letters

Take to the Skies

by Gallifrey

Chapter Five
Exchanging Letters

Rainbow Dash tore through the air, wind rushing faster and faster over her sleek body as she endeavoured to break the sound barrier.

Just a little further, she told herself as her wing muscles began to burn.

The air in front of her began to spark and grow warm.

Nearly there.

She strained her wings as she fought through the last of the resistance.

BOOM!

Fluttershy squeaked loudly and dived behind Twilight, forehooves flung over her head.

"Come on Fluttershy," consoled Twilight, "it's only Rainbow Dash."

"Still, it was very startling."

"Perhaps," admitted the purple pony.

It was a sunny morning in Ponyville's park, and Twilight, Applejack and Fluttershy were having a picnic together, which had been punctuated for the third time by Rainbow Dash accomplishing the sonic rainboom.
Applejack looked up to see the pegasus soar over their heads, leaving a vibrant trail of rainbow in her wake.

"She's mighty determined about this ain't she?"

"Do you think she'll win?" asked Fluttershy, watching Rainbow with awe in her eyes.

"She's definitely got a good chance by the looks of things," said Twilight. "Do you want some more tea Fluttershy?"

"Oh, yes please Twilight. It would be quite something if she won, I heard somewhere that a Wonderbolt would be competing too."

"Two from what ah heard," said Applejack, "Spitfire and Soarin' now. Originally it were jus' Spitfire but ah reckon she convinced him to join in too."

"It sounds like it'll be quite the race then," said Twilight.

"Oh, definitely," agreed Fluttershy, nodding. "But who will win?"

Spitfire was drifting lazily through the air, her golden wings effortlessly keeping her aloft.

What a beautiful day for a simple flight, she mused, elegantly sweeping around the silky clouds. She continued in this fashion until a rude interruption in the form of a cloud appeared rapidly in front of her.

"Woah!" she cried, trying to swerve out of the way, only to awake, crashing into her bedroom floor, face buried in duvet.

"Well, that was weird," she remarked, picking herself up and stretching.

Spitfire walked to her windows and threw them open, deeply breathing the fresh, late morning air, the gentle rays of the Sun caressing her face.

"Today's gonna be a good day," she said to herself, looking out over the suburbs of Cloudsdale and far off in the distance, Ponyville. She fancied that she saw a very tiny circle of light in all seven colours over the little town, but assumed it was just her imagination.
She turned her back from the pretty view to clean herself in the shower. Most ponies had a heated shower in their homes; but Spitfire preferred the cool, refreshing feeling of a natural cloud shower. Such inclination also had the upside of saving her money, needing only a swift buck to a rain bearing cloud that she replaced every day.
After her wash, she ate breakfast and then wondered what to do with herself. She had today off, and had quite forgotten to make any plans. She looked around, but soon gave up and retreated back to her room. There was a book that she was half way through reading on the floor by her bed, she picked it up and fell back onto her mattress, trying to get into it.
Her attempts were somewhat successful, the reading alleviating the boredom, but soon her mind began to wander, and she started reading the words without absorbing their meaning. She backtracked a few sentences and read them again.

Rainbow Dash quite likes reading I believe. I think she told me after she helped raise that water to Clousdale.

Spitfire once again saw the words without understanding.

Maybe I could buy her a book sometime, I'm sure she'd like that. I wonder what's she's doing right now?

Her thoughts turned to the various things the blue mare might be up to, and concluded she'd either be napping, or training.

Sounds like her. I wish I could talk to her right now.

Her ears perked up as an idea popped into her head.

"I may not be able to directly talk to her, but this is the next best thing."

Book completely forgotten, she ventured downstairs into her comfortable living room to her writing desk. She pushed aside a large pile of manuscripts that was the autobiography that she was writing, and took her quill into her mouth after dipping it into her inkwell. She was going to write Rainbow Dash a letter... Somehow...

Dear Rainbow Dash,

She immediately screwed it up and threw it over her shoulder.

"Far too formal," she muttered.

Rainbow, she began in her surprisingly elegant writing,

I'm not too sure how to begin this, so I'm just gonna write and see where it goes.
How you doing? I have the day off today and in my sea of boredom the thought of you came into my head and wouldn't leave. I want to talk to you but it would be too short notice to come and see you right now and you're probably busy anyway.
I hope you're as excited as I am about the race on Saturday, it's gonna be great, though don't think you're gonna win pony gal. :P You'll be racing against some pretty hot competition, in more ways than one if I do say myself.

See you soon gorgeous,

Spitfire ;)

X

She reread it and considered it good enough to send to Rainbow Dash as a small surprise for the multi-hued mare, who would receive it later that evening thanks to her connections at Cloudsdale's mail depot with a certain blue-grey pegasus.

"Hey, is Miss Hooves about?" Spitfire asked a yellow stallion at the post office.

"Yes, I just saw her a minute ago, hang on."

"No worries," said Spitfire, leaning against the counter, tapping hoof lightly on the counter.

"Spitfire?" asked a cross-eyed mare, walking up to her.

"Hey Derps, how ya doing?"

"I'm doing well, thank you Spitfire. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"In fact there is. Is there any chance that you can deliver this letter to Ponyville at some point today?"

"I finish work in two hours, so I can take it home with me," said Derpy happily.

"Good good, can you deliver it to Rainbow Dash for me? I'd be ever so grateful."

"I sure can!"

"Thanks a lot Derpy, I owe you one."

"It's no problem, I guess I'll see you on Saturday?"

"Yup, you watching the race?"

"Nope. I'm competing in it!"

"Oh really? It's always good to have more ponies to race with. I wish you the best of luck."

"You too!" said Derpy as Spitfire made to leave.

"See ya later!"

"Bye bye Spitfire!"

Rainbow should like that letter, she thought happily as she made her way back home for a nap.

Rainbow Dash trotted towards her door, happy with her performance today. She had accomplished no less than nineteen sonic rainbooms, much to the irritation of Ponyville's residents, as she eventually discovered when an agitated Twilight Sparkle dragged her out of the sky to show her just how traumatised she was making poor Fluttershy, who's nerves had been set on edge and the smallest of sounds spooked her. After that she kept to subsonic speeds, but was still happy with the amount of work she had done. She was also extremely hungry, and planned on cooking a ridiculous amount of noodles to sate her appetite.
She opened her door, to tread on a letter on the floor.

Odd, I don't often get mail.

She picked up the letter and read the elegant, curvy writing upon it.

For Rainbow

Puzzled, the pegasus tore open the envelope and started reading. Her expression evolved from one of confusion to one of delight as her eyes flew across the page.

"Wow, I didn't expect this from somepony like Spitfire, this is actually rather sweet."

She thought to herself for a few moments.

"I should probably send one back, to show that I liked it."

She padded into her living room, picked up a scrap of parchment and a quill from a shelf and began in her untidy scrawl.

Spitfire,

Thanks for the letter! It was nice to come home to that after a long day being awesome. Yeah, I was busy today, (see previous sentence) so wouldn't have been able to hang out with you, as much as I want to.
As for the race, I am SO excited, and don't think you're gonna win either Spits! I'm gonna run rings around you! :P
Anyway, totally can't wait for the race and to see you again,

Until Saturday, handsome, ;)

Rainbow Dash

X

Rainbow did an about turn and left her home, hunger quite forgotten, as she dashed towards Ponyville to post her letter. She landed in front of a post box and deposited it.

"Rainbow?"

The pegasus turned to see Twilight Sparkle, with an empty saddle bag across her back.

"Hey Twi, what'cha up to?"

"I've just been to see Rarity and give her a book."

"Cool, cool."

"What are you doing? Posting a letter?"

"Yup."

"Who to? Is it Spitfire perchance?"

"Yup yup, she sent me a letter today telling me about how she wants to see me."

"Aww! How sweet!"

"And how she's looking forward to the race, ya know, being all competitive and stuff," she added quickly, not wanting anypony to think she was turning, soft, lovey dovey and uncool.

"Ah okay, sounds like you two are getting on really well already."

"Thanks Twi," said Rainbow as her stomach gave a very audible rumble.

"Wow, sounds like somepony's hungry," said Twilight, eyes widening slightly.

"Heh, yeah, I haven't eaten all day."

"Well, I won't keep you, have a good evening Rainbow."

"I will, you too Twi."

She darted back to her home, with only one thought on her mind.

Noodles!

The Thunderway 500

Take to the Skies

by Gallifrey

Chapter Six
The Thunderway 500

Rainbow Dash woke unusually early after a bad night's sleep. Today was Saturday. The day of the Thunderway 500, and she didn't feel prepared, she hadn't practised nearly enough, eleven hours a day for the last week and a half just wasn't cutting it. Spitfire was going to kick her flank she knew it! She tumbled out of her bed and forced herself to eat some breakfast, as much as her body rejected the idea right now due to feeling queasy, she knew it would ultimately do her good.
Eventually, she finished her cereal, and put her head in her hooves to have a quiet moment of despair and to reflect that her life would soon be over.

She touched down on the high street of Ponyville in the early dawn light, where many ponies were already gathered for the race. There were many signs that had been erected the previous evening, directing the participants. Rainbow followed them until she came upon a large, yellow tent in the centre of town, which was adjacent to a wide starting line.
Rainbow entered the tent to see a few other early pegasi warming up, stretching and flexing their muscles and wings. The cyan mare however sat in a corner and remained motionless, as if frozen, watching a nearby clock tick agonisingly slowly to the start time of nine o'clock. By half past eight, many more pegasi had showed up, though Rainbow had yet to see Spitfire. At twenty-to, a small gang of ponies entered the tent and made a beeline towards Rainbow Dash.

"Mornin' Rainbow!" called Applejack.

"Oh, Rainbow, are you alright, you don't look too good," said a concerned Fluttershy.

"Hey guys," said Rainbow in a higher voice than usual. "I'm fine, why'd’ you ask?"

"You look ever so tense dear," said Rarity.

"Like you-" Pinkie began.

"Ate cement?" Rainbow finished for her.

"Yeah!" said Pinkie happily.

"You'll be fine," consoled Twilight, attempting to quell the pegasus' fears. "Have you not met up with Spitfire yet?"

"I haven't seen her," said Rainbow, looking at the clock. Quarter-to.

"Is she ever late to shows or anything?" asked Rarity.

"I dunno, I’ve only ever seen her as she comes out to perform, I don't know about what goes on beforehand."

"A pity."

"Well, we have to get going Rainbow," said Twilight, "We'll be cheering you on all the way!"

"Thanks guys," said Rainbow, a small spark of confidence igniting inside her, "I'll do my best."

The pegasus waved her friends goodbye as they left.

The clock was all too soon pointing at five-to. Rainbow was beginning to wonder if Spitfire was going to turn up at all.
The curtain of the tent flicked as a golden yellow pegasus sauntered her way into the canopy, her expression one of focused calm and serenity, not at all affected by the imminent race. A sky blue stallion followed her, but hung back to allow Spitfire to talk to Rainbow Dash alone.
Rainbow clapped eyes on her as soon as she entered.

How in Equestria is she so relaxed? Rainbow marvelled.

"Morning Rainbow," said Spitfire the moment she was within earshot. She extended her hoof and Rainbow bumped it in return. "How ya feeling?"

"Just the slightest bit nervous."

"Now that's a lie, you look like a wreck Rainbow, you do know that this is just a game right?"

"A game?"

"You know, a competition, it doesn't matter whether you win or lose right?"

"But if I lose... What about you? You won't think I'm a... bad flier or anything?"

"What? Why would I think that?" asked Spitfire, genuinely confused.

"I dunno, I guess I let my myself get carried away. I just thought you might think I wasn't a good flier."

"You can be pretty dumb sometimes Rainbow," said Spitfire bluntly, but adding a wink.

"Huh?"

"If it wasn't for your flying, I'd be a splatter of dead pony. Hay, not just me either, also Soarin', Fleetfoot and your friend Rarity."

"Oh yeah!" said Rainbow, confidence inflating like a balloon inside her.

Spitfire brought a hoof to her face but continued her pep talk.

"No matter how you do I'll be proud of you, because I already am and always will be." She gave Rainbow a glowing smile. "Now are you ready to get out there and give it your best?"

"Yeah," said Rainbow.

"Louder."

"Yeah!"

"Louder!"

"Yeah!"

"Atta girl! Now let's get going!" said Spitfire enthusiastically, giving Rainbow a light pat on her flank as she got up by way of encouragement... at least that was Spitfire's excuse for it.
As they ascended the steps to the starting line they heard a loud horn.

"Oh ponyfeathers! It's just started!" yelled Spitfire, as the pair galloped to the top of the stairs and shot into the air to join a ways back behind the rest of the race.

"Now what in the hay were those two numbskulls doing that made them miss the start?" asked Applejack from the cheering crowd.

"I can think of a few things," giggled Rarity, licking an ice cream.

"You might not be far off," commented Twilight, which caused the white unicorn to accidentally shove her snout into her ice cream.

"Surely not?!" she exclaimed. "Those two?"

"What's so far fetched?" said Applejack, "they're both pegasi, both great racers, they share a heck of a lot in common if ya ask me."

"I think so too," chirped Pinkie, "what do you think Flutterbutter?"

"I think it's nice. I'll be happy for them if they get together."

"Oh don't get me wrong I will be too!" said Rarity, "perhaps I should have seen it coming, I always thought she'd end up falling for you Applejack if I'm honest."

"Excuse me?" said Applejack, not unkindly.

"Oh, you know," said Rarity, nonchalantly curling a lock of her mane in a hoof, "the competitiveness, the rivalry, the tension between you both, it was a melting pot in my humble opinion."

"It probably would've been if you ignore one major flaw in your guesses Rares."

"Oh? What's that?"

"Mah barn door don't swing that way, sugar cube."

"Ah... I see..." said Rarity as the others fell about laughing around her.

While they had been talking, the pegasi of Ponyville, not to mention a few from Cloudsdale, had almost completed their first lap of the town. Soarin' was in the lead, though he was being tailed by Thunderlane. Spitfire and Rainbow Dash, despite missing the start entirely, had worked their way through the field to the middle of the pack, the yellow pegasus ahead of the cyan.
They flew past the start line to tumultuous cheering.

"Come on ya numbskull!" were the words Rainbow Dash thought she heard Applejack yell at her. Grinning, she put on a burst of speed to catch up with Spitfire, manoeuvring around her fellow competitors and getting into the pegasus' slipstream.
Rainbow was determined to beat her at her own game, the slipstream making it easier for her to fly while she waited for the time to strike. Spitfire soon became buffeted slightly by an air current and as she corrected her flightpath, Rainbow took her chance. She dove under her and boosted her speed, leaving Spitfire in the metaphorical dust.

She's better at this than I gave her credit for, thought Spitfire, I didn't even know she was behind me.

Narrowing her eyes, the feisty yellow pegasus continued keeping her steady pace, biding her time.

Derpy Hooves meanwhile was in third place, eyes closed without a care in the world, humming to herself. How she was managing to fly was quite beyond anypony watching her.

"Is it over yet?" Rarity complained, "I'm scheduled for a pony pedi after this is over and my hooves are itching for it."

"Simmer down and jus' enjoy the race Rares," said Applejack, rolling her eyes.

"Who do think might win?" asked Fluttershy tentatively.

"Hang on," said Pinkie, pulling a few bits out of nowhere and flipped them into the air; after bouncing off Twilight's snout they came to rest on the ground, where the pink party pony inspected them closely.

"Spitfire," she said.

"Wha-? You can't just, urgh," said Twilight, irritated once again by Pinkie's lack of making sense.

"We'll see if she's right soon enough," said Applejack, "what are we on now, lap five?"

"Six," said Twilight, "and Rainbow is still pretty far from the lead."

"Oh my, what's holding her up?" asked Fluttershy.

"I'm not sure, but I can guess. I reckon she and Spitfire are running their own race on who can beat who rather than actually concentrating on the race, remind you of anypony AJ?"

"Hey, no need to rub it now."

"Who's in the lead again?" asked Pinkie Pie.

"Tain't Soarin' no more, he's been falling back fer the last lap or two."

"Yes, I hear that Soarin's not the best endurance flier," said Rarity, "he specialises in agility and complex tricks. Whereas Spitfire excels in speed, though the way she's been going with Rainbow Dash she's lost quite a bit of that. What are you all looking at? Is there something in my mane?"

"We just didn't know you were that knowledgeable about the Wonderbolts," said Fluttershy.

"I do take an interest in them it is true," she replied, "though I think it's somewhat eclipsed by Rainbow Dash's enthusiasm."

The blue pegasus meanwhile was at arms with Spitfire as they jockeyed for position, all but forgetting the race going on around them. Rainbow had just lost a little ground when Spitfire intentionally flapping her wings over Rainbow's snout made her sneeze.
Soarin' was panting as he maintained a more steady pace in fourth.

Boy, I sure regret eating that pie for breakfast, were his constant thoughts as he struggled along, watching a blue-grey pegasus list to the left and right as she flew.
Derpy was in first place and was having ever so much fun, the kind ponies cheering her on from the ground fuelled her motivation and enjoyment. She opened her eyes, and one of them looked down on the crowd. She saw her daughter waving a light blue flag with 'Go mum!' written on it. Derpy was quite unaware that Dinky had made her a flag, and her heart glowed at the touching sentiment. With added resolve, the mail mare closed her eyes once more, and picked up her pace.

"Last lap!" said Twilight, who had been keeping count, "Where are Rainbow and Spitfire?"

"In fifth and sixth," said Pinkie Pie, looking at a leader board behind her.

"An' who's in first?" asked Applejack.

"Derpy," said the pink pony casually.

"Derpy!?" everypony within earshot exclaimed in unison.

"What's so odd about that? She's been flying a great race," said Pinkie, puzzled. "Didn't you notice?"

"I thought she'd been lapped or something," muttered a mauve earth pony.

"Me too."

"Honestly, some ponies," whispered Twilight under her breath.

"Ooh! Ooh! Here they come!" squealed Pinkie Pie, pointing excitedly.

Soarin' had managed to reclaim the lead, Derpy on his tail. She saw the flag her daughter had made and put on a sudden burst of speed as both ponies dashed to the finish line...

"She won!" yelled Fluttershy, bouncing up and down. "She won! Wahahaha!"

Her four friends also joined in her celebration, though more reservedly.

"But where's Rainbow?" asked Twilight.

As if she had heard her, the cyan mare and her yellow friend tore around the corner, in fourth and fifth, having finally remembered the race wasn't centred around them. Both ponies were giving it their all to triumph over the other, but in the end there could only be one 'winner.' Or could there?

"Who in the hay beat who?" said a confused Applejack. The two ponies were so close when they passed the finish line, no-one was quite sure who was fourth, or who was fifth. The officials decided to just say they both tied for fourth place and leave it at that, it wasn't like it mattered.

"Tied?!" yelped the two pegasi in unison, looking at each other "how can we be tied?!"

"How did Soarin' beat me?" said a disbelieving Spitfire, "that stallion eats so many pies it's untrue!"

They looked up to see a delighted Derpy standing on top of a podium with a large golden medal around her neck. A microphone stand was placed in front of her.

"I just don't know what went right!" she said jubilantly. "Thank you everypony!"

A Day in the Life of a Rainbow Dash

Take to the Skies

by Gallifrey

Chapter Seven
A Day in the Life of a Rainbow Dash

Well, that was unexpected," said a worn out and slightly disappointed Rainbow Dash at Sugar Cube Corner a short time after the race.

"You can say that again Dash," said an equally put out Spitfire, resting her weary head on a hoof.

"Urgh, what happened?"

"You two were too busy tryin' to best each other instead o' tryin' tah best everyone else," said Applejack, "not that ah'm in much of a position to comment..."

"Ohhhh," said Rainbow, realisation hitting her, "boy do I feel stupid now."

"Don't blame ya sugar cube, it was pretty stupid," teased the earth pony.

"Wow, kick a pony when she's down AJ," said Rainbow.

"Aw c'mon, ya know ah don't mean it."

"Yeah, I s'pose."

"You both did well to come where you did," commented Twilight, "considering you both missed the start of the race."

"Yes, just what were you two doing?" asked Rarity innocently.

"Spits was giving me a pep talk, I thought it would be more obvious Rares, you saw how I was before she arrived."

"Oh..." said Rarity, not even trying to mask her disappointment at the lack of gossip, "yes, of course. I knew that."

"Well, good game Rainbow," said Spitfire, in the early evening light.

They were outside Rainbow's house, and since her home and Cloudsdale were in the same direction from Sugarcube corner, they had travelled together.

"What time should I come round tomorrow? I still can't believe you work on Sundays.”

"Don't bother coming down here Spits, I go up to the Weather Factory at nine o'clock to get my instructions, so I'll come round to yours at like half eight?"

"Ah, cool, I'm looking forward to it."

"Really? Don't hold your breath, it's not that exciting."

"We'll see, I hope you're wrong though."

"Heh, me too, I don't want you to be bored all day..."

"I'll be fine no matter how tedious it is, don't worry."

Their gazes lingered on each other for a second.

"Spits, thanks for today ya know, I had a good time racing with you."

"Don't sweat it Dash, I had fun as well."

"Can we maybe do it again some time?"

"Rainbow, I'd love to!" she said as she flapped her wings to take to the air. "Seriously, you're real match for me, unlike anypony else, and I love a challenge."

She flicked her tail, batting Rainbow's snout lightly as she did so, and she sped off into the skies. Rainbow Dash watched her, as she became smaller and smaller against the blue sky, before disappearing altogether. The pegasus eventually turned away to get inside, she was beginning to feel cold.

"She is such a tease," Rainbow said to herself, shutting her door. "I kinda like it."

She took two paces into her house, and realised that she didn't know what to do with herself. She had no books to read, she had just seen all her friends, she wasn't particularly hungry, nor was she in the mood to do anything else. That only lead to one conclusion for the mare.

"Sleep, lots of sleep."

Rainbow woke the next morning, feeling unusually sprightly. Most days, she was not a morning pony at all, today was different.

Today is going to be a good day.

She jumped out of bed, whistling all the while through her shower and as she prepared eggs and toast for her breakfast, the enticing scent permeating her nose.
Rainbow heard the clatter of the letterbox. Picking up that day's copy of Equestria Daily, the pegasus returned to her meal.
She flicked through the pages; not much had been going on in Equestria recently, at least not to her interests. The main news today was talk about Equestria further expanding trade routes with the Griffon Kingdoms, but such news tended to bore Rainbow Dash silly.
A burst of bright, golden sunlight streamed through her window, as it peaked above the clouds, lighting Rainbow's world.

Correction, today is going to be an awesome day.

Full of eggs and toast, Rainbow Dash left her home, making a beeline for Cloudsdale.

I do hope Spitfire is in as good a mood as I am! she thought as she did a few loop de loops.

Spitfire awoke a few hours earlier than she would do normally. She slouched out her bed and half fell down her stairs as she struggled to wake up.

"Coffee," she moaned. "Need, coffee."

She slumped at a table in her kitchen, a freshly boiled pot of coffee in front of her.

"Ah, that's the stuff," she sighed, letting the hot drink warm and wake her up in synchrony.

After she had awoken properly, she poured a bowl of cereal. Not just any cereal either, it was called Canterlot Crunch and featured a beaming image of Princess Luna on the box. The reason for this was because Luna loved the cereal so much, she asked if she could help support it financially, and so the makers put her picture on their boxes as a thank you. Why the Princess liked it so much was obvious to everypony, given that it was chocolate cake flavoured.
Her gaze turned to a clock, twenty past eight.

Rainbow ought to be here soon.

As if Rainbow had read her mind, there was a knock on Spitfire's front door that heralded the cyan mare's arrival.

"S'up?" said Spitfire, Rainbow could hear the slight sleepiness in her voice.

"I'm feeling awesome!" said Rainbow as Spitfire welcomed her in, "Yourself?"

"Not bad, not bad, I'm a lil' sleepy but coffee will sort that out."

"Cool, are you looking forward to today?"

"As a matter of fact, I am. I'm not familiar with how pegasi control the weather, do you know what you'll be doing yet today?"

"I find that out when I get told at the Weather Factory."

"Ah, I see. Shall we get going?"

"Bit early isn't it?"

"I'd rather go on hoof," said Spitfire, "gives us more time to talk."

"Good idea," said Rainbow.

On the way from Spitfire's to the Weather Factory, the two ponies talked about the previous day's race; and how they still couldn't believe Derpy won, amongst other, inconsequential things.

"Well, here it is," said Rainbow, looking up at the great, white, fluffy factory.

"Oh wow!" said Spitfire, looking at the fountains of rainbow pour their spectrums of colour into deep pools, the chimneys that created all types of clouds, and the great silver doors that were the entrance to the meteorological fortress.
They entered and Spitfire followed Rainbow down many intriguing hallways and corridors, sneaking peeks of the manufacturing of snowflakes, hail, and even bolts of lightning.

"This place is so cool!"

"You think?" said Rainbow, surprised, this was all pretty mundane for her.

"Totally! I mean actual bolts of lightning? I love lightning!"

"I do too, but I guess you just get used to it after a while."

After Rainbow had collected her orders for the day, the pair of pegasi flew back to Ponyville.

"So, what have you got to do today?"

Rainbow nodded to the west.

"You see that thundercloud over there?"

"Yuhuh," said Spitfire, seeing the large, dark grey cloud in the distance.

"I need to charge it with lightning."

"Okie doke, anything else?" asked Spitfire as they made their way to the thundercloud.

"Yeah, I need to make a rainbow after Thunderlane makes a shower this afternoon."

"All sounds pretty interesting."

"Yeah, you got a lucky day, normally it's just shifting clouds about or keeping the sky clear."

"Sooo, how do you actually charge up one of these?"

"You don't know?" said a surprised Rainbow Dash.

"To be honest, I didn't even know that pegasi made lightning."

"Of course we do! It's good for the atmosphere, it makes chromozone or something... or was it astrogen... I should've paid more attention at flight school."

Spitfire laughed, "It's ozone you numbskull!"

"And yet you didn't know we made the lightning in the first place, or how," countered Rainbow, which shut Spitfire up.

"So, tell me pony gal, how do you do it?"

They both landed on the top of the great, fluffy cloud.

"First things first," began Rainbow, "you gotta check it that it's not already got lightning in it."

She gave the cloud a swift buck, and nothing happened.

"Right, so it's clearly empty, follow me."

And without further ado, Rainbow began digging into the cloud with her hooves. Spitfire stared down the hole in puzzlement.

How the hay is this supposed to do it?

"What are you waiting for?" came Rainbow's slightly muffled voice.

A thoroughly confused Spitfire followed Rainbow's wake, into the cloud.

"I haven't a clue what's going on," she said when she saw the top of the cyan mare's head.

"You'll see," said Rainbow, manoeuvring around the small hollow she'd created.

"Well, this is cosy," said Spitfire.

"Yeah," Rainbow agreed; she could feel the pegasus' warm breath on her snout they were that close, could see every eyelash around those bright, golden brown eyes...

"So, you gonna show me how to charge this baby up?"

Rainbow blinked, then nodded, coming back to her senses.

"It's a neat lil' trick," she said, "and it's all about the wings."

"Your wings? You mean you make the electricity?"

"Yeah, well, no, well, some of it," said the pegasus, stumbling over her words. "I just set the ball rolling you know, give it a kick to make even more. Now watch my wings."

Spitfire tilted her head so she could see. Rainbow began flittering her wings rapidly, as if she were shivering, but much faster.

"How does this do it?" asked the puzzled pegasus, looking from Rainbow's wings, to her eyes.

"My feathers rub together creating static electricity," she replied, her voice shaking due to the fact her entire body was vibrating, "and the static diffuses into the cloud. Simple as."

"I've never heard of a pegasus doing this before."

"Not many can do it, it takes a lot of practise to perfect."

"Just how strong is the electricity?" she said, a hint of suggestion lacing her words.

"Well," said Rainbow, picking up on it, "why don't you come here and find out."

Spitfire leaned forward slightly, which was all it took for her lips to gently brush Rainbow's. A spark leapt from the blue mare's mouth to tingle Spitfire's in a most delightful way. Rainbow felt it too, as the electricity left her, and gasped at how good it felt. As much as Spitfire wanted to continue, she left it at that and pulled back. They had agreed to get to know one another better after all. Rainbow looked slightly disappointed but nodded.

"I-I think the cloud's charged now," she said, somewhat lamely.

"Sweet, now what?"

"I'm free until after lunch, so you wanna go get some?"

"Lunch? Sounds good to me!"

Rainbow and Spitfire were both quite damp when they made it to Sugar Cube Corner. Spitfire's normally windswept and fiery mane now hung down to her sides and clung to her coat. Rainbow was in a similar state.

"I didn't know it was gonna rain that much!" said Rainbow, "That was horrible!"

"Nah, it'll do you good," she said briskly, shaking herself, spraying water everywhere.

"Ooh! Fun! Can I join in?" squealed a pink party pony, jumping out of nowhere and shaking her body like Spitfire was.

"Hey Pinkie," said Rainbow, "the usual please. In fact, make that two usuals," she added, glancing at Spitfire.

"Okie dokie lokie!" she said, bouncing away.

"Usual?" asked Spitfire as they sat down at a table together.

"Yup, you'll love it, pizza, hay fries and salad."

"Isn't this a bakery though?" said a puzzled Spitfire.

"Yeah, though Pinkie doesn't do this for just anypony; just awesome ones like me. And you." she added. "Dessert is pretty sweet too, cherrychanga."

"What now?"

"Deep fried tortilla wrap with cherries in it."

"That sounds... horrific."

"No, really, it's amazing."

"You sure about that?"

"Trust me, I'm the Dashter."

Spitfire snickered.

"The what now?"

A blush was developing on the cyan mare's cheeks.

"I-I don't know why I said that."

"Me neither! Dashter!"

She fell about laughing while Rainbow sat, feeling silly.

"Ohhh, heh, sorry Rainbow, I couldn't help it," she said, still giggling.

"It's fine, I'll get my revenge when I kick your flank the next time we race."

"Whatever you say pony gal."

"I mean it," said Rainbow, determination blazing in her eyes.

"Perhaps you do, I better up my game."

"Damn straight."

"Good, I like a feisty competitor."

"Hmmm, I bet you do. I'd even bet-"

Their banter was cut short however by a sudden pink arrival.

"Here you are!" she chimed, "enjoy, enjoy enjoy!"

"Boy, that was fast!" said Spitfire in amazement, "how did you-"

"It's Pinkie Pie," said Rainbow simply.

"But it's impossib-"

"It's Pinkie Pie."

"But-"

"Seriously, that's the only explanation you'll ever get."

"Well, okay," she said hesitantly, looking at the curious and excited aqua eyes of the pink pony.

"You'll get used to it, don't worry."

Spitfire blinked, and Pinkie was gone.

The pair remained in Sugar Cube Corner until the rain had passed.

"Time to shine," said Rainbow, walking out and taking a deep breath, smelling the petrichor.

They took to the air together and flew to the outskirts of Ponyville.

"Soo," said Spitfire, making a small splash as she landed next to Rainbow, "how do you make a rainbow?"

"Most pegasi have to paint it themselves using the liquid rainbow from the Weather Factory, although, I can do it differently, because, well, if you haven't noticed, I'm all about rainbows. All I have to do is this."

She trotted over to a clean looking puddle of recent rainwater. Spitfire was curious to what she was about to do, but definitely did not expect her to start rolling around in it.

"Why are you doing that?"

"Because it's necessary, I haven't just gone mad on you don't worry."

She then suddenly leapt into the air and flew in a great, smooth arc over the town, leaving a vibrant band of seven colours in her wake.

"Well, that was unexpected," said Spitfire, darting off after her.

"And that's how I do that," said Rainbow proudly, when Spitfire flew within earshot.

"You really are full of surprises Rainbow Dash."

"That's me all right."

"Is there anything else you have to do?"

"Nope! All done for the day, free to do whatever now."

"Which would be?"

"Either seeing my gals, or just going home, nopony's doing anything today, so I'd normally go home, is that alright?"

"Yeah, I told you, I want to live an average Rainbow Dashy day."

"Let's get going then! Race ya! Threetwoonego!"

Not missing a beat, Spitfire took of with as they sped into the air like bullets.

"I totally beat you!" claimed Spitfire, collapsing on Rainbow's sofa in her somewhat untidy living room.

"As if! I was in the house way before you!" said Rainbow, joining her.

"Only because you flew in through a window, I was trying to get in through the door like a normal pegasus. Besides, I would've won if you hadn't added that stupid rule."

"Nu-uh! You're just upset 'cause you got beat."

"Oh shut up and c'mere."

She leaned over and hugged Rainbow, who reciprocated. They stayed there for a time, content to be in each other's hooves. Rainbow could feel the beating of Spitfire's slightly rapid heart astride her own, bodies pressed together, in the simple gesture that meant so much for both pegasi.

"Is this what you usually do then when you get home from work?" whispered Spitfire, lazily running a hoof through Rainbow's mane.

"No, but I'm glad I am today," murmured Rainbow in reply.

"Mmmm, me too," said the yellow mare placidly.

The silence between the two of them returned, a comfortable silence where no words needed to be spoken, at least not verbally, instead, they expressed themselves physically, a hoof dragging through mane here, a nuzzle there.

Eventually, they broke apart and looked at each other.

“You hungry?” asked Rainbow simply.

A grin spread across Spitfire’s face.

“Very.”

"Well," said a well fed Spitfire, "what do I do now? Should I just stay here tonight?"

The Sun was beginning to set on Equestria, deep, orange beams made Rainbow's living room glow like molten gold.

"If-if you want," said Rainbow, caught slightly off guard, she had not expected her to say that, even though she was hoping for it.

"Makes sense anyway," said Spitfire, as way of flimsy justification, "I'm at work tomorrow, so if you're coming with me, it's best that we stick together."

"Yeah yeah," said Rainbow, nodding vigorously.

"So, where shall I be sleeping?"

"In my bed."

"Okie doke, and where will you be sleeping?"

"Uh, in my bed?"

"You are?" said Spitfire, slightly surprised.

"I-I can sleep on the sofa if you want."

"No, it's not that, I just didn't expect you to say that."

"Oh, I see, well, I have no issues with that, I mean, it's not like we both slept in your bed that, ah... night."

"True true, I'm cool with it too."

The rest of the evening they whiled away in typical Rainbow Dash fashion, reading while listening to the radio, often talking to one another. Spitfire found it surprisingly fun to wind down like this. She might even do this herself sometime.

"What will we be doing tomorrow?"

"Just my usual training."

"Which is...?" said Rainbow, at a loss.

"Oh yeah, course, um, warm ups, bit of casual flying, then some hard training and practise for our next performance, and that's it I think. It's not that interesting."

"Oh believe me I am interested," said Rainbow, eyes wide. "I can't wait!"

"Well, as long as you're looking forward to it, that's enough for me," said Spitfire with a smile.

"This is your room?" said an amazed yellow pegasus.

"Yeah, I know, it's a mess."

'Mess' was quite the understatement, Rainbow's room looked as though it had been bombed. There were books everywhere, paper everywhere, apple cores and crisp packets everywhere, and a clear view of the floor, nowhere.

"I love it!"

"I'm sor- what?"

"I love it! The mess, makes the room feel lived in ya know?"

"You actually like it? Twilight can't stand it when she visits, and don't even get me started on Rarity."

"Well I'm loving it, no matter what anypony says, though you could lose the apples I suppose."

"Heh, sure thing."

Spitfire had a shower while Rainbow tidied up a bit, once she was finished, she was immediately bored. She could hear Spitfire humming away, which gave Rainbow an idea, a very devious idea.

Could I get away with that? she pondered. I don't see why not, it's not that unusual, plus Spitfire seems cool with almost anything.

Having made a decision, she put her plan into action. Sneaking to the bathroom door, she all but silently crept to her shower cubicle and slid open the door, and simply tapped Spitfire on the withers.

"Oh, hello Rainbow Dash, I was beginning to think you weren't going to join me," said Spitfire in a surprisingly low voice that rolled off her tongue like honey.

"You were?" said Rainbow, more excited than she anticipated at Spitfire's sultry tone.

"Nah, not really," she said, snapping back to her usual, bright tone. "But it certainly is a pleasant surprise."

"You wanted to live a day like me, so that's why I'm here."

"That's the single worst excuse I've ever heard," said Spitfire with a giggle.

"Yeah, it was bad wasn't it?"

"So why are you really here?"

"Dunno, just felt like it, it also speeds things up, two pegasi with one stone and all that."

"As long as there's not actually any stones, I don't mind."

They looked at each other, water falling upon their bodies, steam rising around them in thin, silver veils.

Sweet Celestia she looks gorgeous when her mane's wet, they both thought.

Spitfire took the initiative to take the shampoo bottle in her mouth, put some into Rainbow's mane and began working it into her hair with her hooves.

"That's nice," said Rainbow contentedly.

"Oh I know," said Spitfire, hooves working magic on the cyan mare's head and neck.

Rainbow returned the gesture, and soon, her water ran out; so much the better that they had taken the shower together.

"Thanks for that," said Rainbow, flopping onto her bed.

"Right back at'cha pony gal," she said, joining her.

"I'm so tired for some reason," murmured Rainbow, yawning widely.

"Oh, don't do that, or you'll get me doing-"

Spitfire's sentence was stifled by a huge yawn.

"Heh, got'cha," she said sleepily, snuggling into her pillow.

"Goodnight Rainbow Dash," whispered Spitfire into the cyan mare's ear and gently kissing her on the cheek.

Rainbow smiled as Spitfire drew her hooves around her and in her loving, secure embrace, she slowly drifted off to sleep.

Take to the Skies

Take to the Skies

by Gallifrey

Chapter Eight
Take to the Skies

Spitfire woke before Rainbow Dash the next morning. She kept her eyes shut, and enjoyed this sleepy half slumber of the early hours of the day. She pushed her head into her pillow, savouring its squashy comfortableness. She could feel the warmth of a certain cyan pony's body beside her, one of her hooves lying on Spitfire's belly, her warm breath on her face, in time with the slow, steady rise and fall of her chest. She could smell the sweet, spicy scent of her friend, blended with the fresh morning air that crept through the window. She slowly cracked open one eye. The beautiful cyan mare lay snoozing in absolute serenity in front of her, the gentle smile that was upon her face made Spitfire's heart flutter like a butterfly within her. She twitched in her sleep and one of her ears flicked.

"Sp-Spitfire," she murmured dreamily.

A smile grew upon the yellow mare's face and she scooted even closer to Rainbow, so that their bellies were now pressed together and her face was mere inches from Rainbow's. Rainbow's eyes flittered and she awoke.

"Mornin' Spits," she whispered to her yellow friend. "How are ya?"

"Morning Rainbow, I'm pretty good, yourself?"

"Pretty awesome, I'm looking forward to seeing you at work."

"If you say so."

"I do say so! I've wanted to see what you guys do since I was a filly!"

"Really?"

"Yeah yeah! You guys have been my idols for as long as I can remember."

Spitfire thought to her own foalhood, and how much the Wonderbolts had inspired her back then, Soarin' in particular, who was now the most well seasoned and experienced member of the team.

"I understand. Thinking back, I always wanted to see the Wonderbolts training myself before I joined."

"So you know how excited I am?"

"I sure do now, c'mon pony gal, let's get going!"

The Sun was peeking out from behind the clouds by the time Spitfire and Rainbow reached Cloudsdale Stadium, where the Wonderbolts often trained when it wasn't being used.

"Mornin' Soars!" called Spitfire as they entered the great, powder blue arena. Rainbow had been here many a time before, but she had never seen it empty like this. She stood with wide eyes, it somehow seemed so much more imposing now that it was all but devoid of a crowd of ponies, or perhaps that feeling was due to being an outsider encroaching upon her idols' territory.

"Hey hey Spits!" he shouted, trotting up to meet them, "Oh! And good morning Miss Rainbow Dash," he said, surprised.

"You didn't tell them I was coming?" asked Rainbow.

"Oh course I did, but feather brain here can't remember anything except how many pies he has at home."

"It's not that bad!" defended Soarin'.

"Not far off though am I?" said Spitfire with a sly grin.

"N-no," he admitted reluctantly.

"At any rate, I did tell you Rainbow was coming to see what a day with us is like."

"Okie dae, I just hope we live up to your expectations, Rainbow."

"I'm sure you will," said Rainbow, "and then some."

Spitfire led Rainbow into a wooden panelled room with several tables with comfortable coverings upon them.

"Err, Spits, what's this got to do with flying?"

"Remember yesterday and I said you gotta warm up first?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I lied, we get somepony else to warm us up instead."

"I don't follow."

"These are massage beds you klutz," said Spitfire.

"They are?" she said, looking at them more closely. "I never go to the spa treatments so I don't know much about these things."

"Don't blame ya, I never go in for those things myself either, but trust me, you're gonna love this, though it perhaps won't be as good as mine."

"Wait, what?" said Rainbow as they both clambered onto beds, the stallion masseurs entering the room.

"You seriously don't remember?"

"Remember what?" she asked as the two stallions got to work on loosening the tension in their muscles.

"Urgh, all that hard work for nothing, that massage I gave you when you were drunk! "

"Is that why my wings cracked and felt amazing the other day?"

"Yes! I did that for you, and you never even knew." She grinned. "You are one of a kind, Dash."

"I'll take that as a compliment. Did I enjoy this massage?"

"Enjoyed it? You were like putty in my hooves. These kind gentlecolts here teach me a few things, don't ya lads?"
They nodded in affirmation, "Help give me magic hooves you see?" She winked at Rainbow.

"Well, don't feel the need to hold back if you wanna show me these magic hooves any time."

The two stallions exchanged knowing glances with each other during the two mares' conversation, and they simply nodded in the mutual agreement that they were both indeed very attractive.

After their very vigorous warm up, Rainbow and the Wonderbolts began the training proper, consisting mainly of extremely complex manoeuvres that Rainbow simply could not do. She grew increasingly frustrated as she attempted each of the tricks after watching the Wonderbolts do it themselves.

"Come on Rainbow!" shouted Spitfire as encouragement, "you can do it!"

The cyan mare dove for the ground and hit it hard in her dissatisfaction.

"This is impossible!" she said desperately, "I can't do it! I'm making a fool of myself in front of you all!"

"Hey, hey, c'mere," said Spitfire soothingly, "now you listen to me."

She whispered in Rainbow's ears, words of hints, tactics and strategy. But she also injected confidence and asserted her belief in Rainbow's abilities. Something ignited deep within Rainbow, an urge to prove herself and impress all the Wonderbolts, Spitfire most of all. With a grin, she tore into the sky, steeled herself, and with a flourish, swooped through the air, performing stunts she didn't believe she was capable of doing. Complex twists and aerial patterns, dives and loops. She suddenly felt invincible. Unquestionably, undeniably, unstoppable. Spitfire spurred her on from the clouds, whooping and cheering. Rainbow performed one last triumphant somersault, and came flying back down to solid and fluffy ground
with head held proud and a slight manic glint in her eyes.

"I knew you could do it Rainbow!" shouted Spitfire, galloping up and hugging her.

"I actually did it!" she squealed, "Awww yeah! That was amazing, I never knew I could do that!"

"I did, believe me Rainbow, you have so much raw talent in you, it's quite staggering."

"Y-you really think so?" she half stammered, hearing that from Spitfire meant so much for the pegasus.

"One hundred percent, pony gal." She walked up to Rainbow and whispered again in her ear. "Don't get your hopes up just yet, but I'll put in a few good words about you here and there, being Captain gives me a fair bit of sway in the goings on around here."

"Thank you, Spitfire," she whispered in return.

The rest of the day followed in a similar fashion, Spitfire was giving Rainbow a real taste of what it was to be a true Wonderbolt, and Rainbow was loving every single second of it.
All too soon for the cyan mare, the day's training had come to an end. She was exhausted, but also exhilarated. She hoped to be able to do this again someday, in fact almost every day, with Spitfire by her side the whole way.

"So, uh, I guess you enjoyed today?" said Spitfire outside her home.

"I'm never going to forget it."

"Would you like to come in? I'm gonna be making tea if you want any."

"Please, thanks again Spits."

"No worries."

After Spitfire had made tea, they sat down together in her living room.

"Do you think we better understand one another now then?" asked Rainbow.

"Oh definitely," said Spitfire in a slightly muffled voice, her mouth was full of chocolate biscuit. "I've learnt so much about you these last few days, more than I even thought possible."

"So, what do we do now?"

"What everypony else does? Let's just roll with it and see where it goes. Speaking of which, I know we've been doing this a lot recently, but you know you're more than welcome to stay here tonight if you want. My home is your home and all that."

"I'd love to," said Rainbow brightly. "Hey, you're off tomorrow right?"

"Yup, why do you ask?"

"Because I'm off too. I was wondering if we might be able to race together?"

"Oh, I dunno Dash," Spitfire began, then her mouth split into a grin. "Why wait tomorrow, for what we can do today?"

A competitive sparkle gleamed in Rainbow's eyes.

"Oh, you are so on!"

The Sun was starting to go down as Spitfire and Rainbow lined up side by side.

"You see that cloud over there?" said Spitfire, pointing out to a medium sized cumulus cloud about two miles away.

"You mean the only one in the sky?" pointed out Rainbow, looking around.

"Yuhuh, that one. First one to land on it wins."

"Okie dae."

"You ready pony gal?" Spitfire asked, bumping her flank into Rainbow's. The cyan mare smiled.

"You bet."

"Three. Two. One. Go!"

Wind rushed, wings strained, and hearts started pounding as the two ponies took to the air like rockets. Rainbow looked to her side and saw Spitfire, her fiery mane swept back into her characteristic flare, buffeted by the wind in such a sexy way. She spurred herself on faster and faster, Spitfire's speciality was speed, and in this head to head, she was certainly giving the poor cyan pegasus a run for her money.
Rainbow began to feel a familiar sensation at the tips of her hooves as they began to grow hot, sparks forming and the resistance of the air increasing with every moment. Spitfire was in a similar position herself, she, like Rainbow, had broken the sound barrier many times too, though she never produced the band of multicoloured light like Rainbow did, there was only a deafening bang when she broke it.
Spitfire looked at Rainbow. She could see her fierce conviction, her face contorted into one of pure concentration, the desire to win was clearly burning in her heart. She glanced at Spitfire, and through all her determination, Spitfire could see a tender and loving smile, she could almost feel the warmth radiating from her. The Wonderbolt was struck with a sudden idea and when she turned away again, Spitfire decided to put her idea into action.
Rainbow knew it would be any second now before her legendary sonic rainboom. She looked to her side again to look at Spitfire, but the yellow mare wasn't there. She looked all around for the pegasus, but couldn't see her at all. Assuming that this was a trick of hers, she continued her flight.

Splitting spectrums, ripping sound so easily,

Spitfire watched in awe from her vantage point as the cyan mare tore through the sound barrier, a great disc of broken light shimmered and radiated outwards from the epicentre that was Rainbow Dash, and still faster she went, not satisfied with seven hundred and sixty eight mile per hour.

You have the heart and soul that I could only wish to be.

Rainbow was nearly at the cloud, Spitfire was nowhere in sight, she was going to win this! She figured that she should probably slow down so that she didn't collide with the cloud too hard.

Spread your wings, come with me, we'll fly away,

Spitfire began acting out her plan, spinning through the air in graceful sweeps and loops.
Rainbow impacted the cloud roughly, sealing her victory.

"I win! I win! What do I get?"

She turned around, still no Spitfire. She looked up, and her jaw hung wide.

I'll write in clouds, 'cause I ain't afraid to say,

I love you.

There, emblazoned against the sky of the setting Sun, were those three words, written in Spitfire's elegant script.
Rainbow could only sit on the cloud, at a complete loss. She was so touched by the gesture, that she even completely forgot she had won.
A yellow pegasus came into view, flying from the direction of the writing. She came to land softly next to Rainbow.

"Do you like it?" she asked tentatively.

"Spitfire, I-I..."

"I understand if it's a bit soon," she started lamely.

"No. It's not that. It's just- Oh Spitfire, it's beautiful! You've even got me all acting like a school filly! And believe me, not many ponies can do that... Do you mean it?"

"Rainbow, I would never lie to you. I love you, completely."

Rainbow smiled.

"I love you too Spits."

The looked at each other, as if they finally saw each other for the first time as who they truly were. The magenta eyes looked searchingly into the amber, and they spoke volumes to each other, without a single word being spoken. Spitfire moved closer to the cyan mare, touching her face with a hoof and drawing her closer and they shared their first real kiss. A kiss, not of lust, but of love. A deep warmth suffused both of them as they shared their tender embrace, under the dying light of the setting Sun.

The End

Well, that's that, I do hope you enjoyed reading! This one was a blast to write, I love RainbowFire, but there is a distinct lack of it on this site, so I have helped to correct that. Special thanks to Alex, Reevsie and Danupert for editing and giving advice. A few acknowledgements should go to Chain Algorithm, who I used lyrics from Beautiful Blue Wings, check that out, it's a good song. Also, Owl City, who I've used so many times I've simply lost count, but the main usage is in the title itself, a delightful song he wrote called To the Sky. Anyway, I know there's more but I can't remember them...
A final thanks to you, the reader, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't be writing.
Until next time. <3 X

Epilogue: Head in the Clouds

Take to the Skies

by Gallifrey

Chapter Nine
Head in the Clouds

A warm and sticky day was drawing to its inevitable close over the town of Ponyville. It had been one of the hottest days in living memory, and now most everypony in the kingdom of Equestria was basking in the late evening sunshine that was suffusing the country and its population with a lazy and peaceful air. A certain couple of pegasi were no exception to this evening enjoyment.

"Oh man, I don't know if I've ever been so relaxed," said a sleepy yellow mare, as she rested her head upon her cyan marefriend's belly, snuggling up as she did so.

"Ditto on that, Spits," Rainbow Dash sighed, eyes half lidded, looking at Spitfire's fiery mane, and how soft it looked, she began dragging a slow hoof through it, ruffling it in a pale imitation of a plough turning up a field. She knew the Wonderbolt enjoyed having her mane toyed with. And it showed, because soon after she began, Spitfire sighed contentedly, her breath tingling the short fur of her belly in a most delightful way.

"Hehe, Spits, that tickles!" the rainbow maned mare giggled.

"Huh?" she replied drowsily.

"Your breath tickles," she said, chuckling.

"Oh but you love it so when I tickle you," said Spitfire, an evil glint in her eyes.

"Hey hey! No! No fair!" she yelped as Spitfire descended upon her with an onslaught of tickles. Over the last four months, she had come to learn a lot about Rainbow, and this included all of her ticklish spots, which included her belly, her snout and curiously, to Spitfire at least, her hooves.

"Please! No! Please stop!" Rainbow gasped.

"What do I get in return?" the yellow mare said teasingly.

"That's for me to *snort* know, and you to haha find out."

Spitfire loved it when Rainbow played that game, she stopped her attack on the poor pegasus and patiently sat on her haunches while Rainbow lay flat on her back regaining her breath. She looked out over Equestria, an awe inspiring sight accompanied by the audio of her marefriend's panting in the background. Ponyville was sprawled out almost directly beneath their cloud, as were most of its residents, enjoying the evening as they were. She cast her eyes further afield, to the great mountain that housed the country's capital, Canterlot, that was currently in silhouette, resting in the shadows of the mighty mound of rock and earth. She turned back to Rainbow- or at least where Rainbow was a few seconds ago.
She suddenly felt hooves cover her eyes.

"Guess who?"

"I have no idea," said Spitfire sarcastically

"Nope! It's Rainbow Dash!"

"Ya don't say?"

"Oh shush you, it's reward time."

She felt herself being turned around by Rainbow's strong but gentle hooves, a smile upon her face with warmth to match the evening air. Spitfire knew what was coming, and wasted no time in leaning her head forward to press her lips against the cyan mare's. It never got old for the Wonderbolt, the sensation of kissing the pony she loved most in the world, she liked the feeling even more when tongues were involved, as such was the occasion now, the yellow mare could taste the faintly spicy sweetness that was Rainbow.

"Well, somepony's eager today," said Rainbow, when she eventually broke the kiss.

"What can I say? I haven't seen you all week."

"Yeah, you being on the other side of Equestria for that long sucked."

"Tell me about it. I missed you pony gal."

"I missed you too Spits."

Rainbow looked over Spitfire's withers at Spitfire's golden wings, and inwardly tutted. There were many feathers that were out of position and ruffled. She would put an end to that.
Without saying a word, Rainbow reached over and stroked a wing slowly from base to tip, eliciting a sigh from Spitfire. Without any objections, Spitfire lay down and let Rainbow get to work. Preening amongst pegasi was usually a solitary pursuit, but when performed on another, it is a very intimate and bonding experience. Which was precisely what the two ponies were feeling. Every feather that was snapped back into place by Rainbow's muzzle caused a small wave of pleasure to ripple through Spitfire's body, her relaxed eyes snapped open when she realised she was being unbelievably selfish. She raised her head and turned to face Rainbow's back. The beautiful blue wings unfurled unconsciously on Rainbow's part, who was unaware of Spitfire's actions until she felt a feather be put back into its correct position.

"Thanks Spits."

"Just returning the favour, Dash."

Both ponies continued the mutual preening, the Sun setting over the land, splashing the shy with warm crimson and orange light. Spitfire was now tugging lightly on each of Rainbow's primary feathers, in case any old feathers were due to fall out soon.

"Ooh, that one," gasped Rainbow, "pull it harder."

"You sure? I don't wanna hurt you."

"Yup, sure. Do it."

Spitfire tugged at the biggest feather at the end of her wings, it remained firmly attached to its owner; she pulled a bit harder, and her head snapped back slightly as it came loose.
For Rainbow, it felt amazing, like relief from an itch she never even knew she had. The new feather that was trapped under the old one was now free to grow. She shuddered slightly.

"Your biggest feather as well," said Spitfire sympathetically.

"Why are you saying that like it's a bad thing?"

"Pulling feathers out hurts like buck!"

"What? No it doesn't! It feels great!"

"Really? Hmmmm, maybe it's different for every pegasus, or one of us is the odd one out... Hey," said Spitfire slyly, "if you take pleasure in what gives me pain, does that mean you're into bon-"

"For the last time no!" snapped the cyan mare, as Spitfire rolled around in laughter. "Hey!"
She dove on top of the giggling mare and started play fighting with her. They always loved doing that together, they also loved doing what always came after the fighting. A time after the Sun had bid goodnight to the world and the stars were beginning to appear, they both collapsed on the fluffy cloud, both exhausted, and both victorious, or at least, they both inwardly claimed victory for themselves. They looked at each other, panting, and they shared a gentle kiss together, a heartfelt and tender gesture to one another. Wide smiles broke out upon their faces when they broke apart.

"I love you, Rainbow."

"I love you too, Spits."

The end

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