Spectrum of the Sky

It was a cool, crisp spring morning in Ponyville. Celestia’s sun had risen only hours before, and the heat of the day had yet to really settle in as a gentle breeze blew over the bleachers at Ponyville University’s athletic field. The stands were packed to the rafters with thousands of ponies of all breeds and colors, chatting quietly amongst themselves as they waited for the commencement ceremonies to begin with speeches from Princesses Celestia and Luna, and the Dean of the University, Professor Dame Twilight Sparkle. This year’s was especially significant, for two reasons: Firstly, it was the university’s twentieth anniversary. Second but no less important to the Dean was the farewell performance of the Wonderbolts’ current captain, the inauguration of her successor, and her acceptance of the position of head coach for the school.

From a platform above the bleachers, Rainbow Dash checked and double-checked her Wonderbolts flight suit and the attached helmet and respirator for the umpteenth time as she gazed out over the waiting crowd below. She had done a lot in the time she’d been on the aerial stunt team, and experience had taught her that equipment failure was a killer.

Satisfied for the time being, she paused to take in her surroundings. Ponyville sure has changed a lot over the years, she mused. When she had come to the quiet, peaceful village just barely out of flight school, it hadn’t had a lot to commend it, being just barely a train stop on the map. Since then, in large part due to the actions of her friends, it had gained a certain notoriety. For years after the defeat of Nightmare Moon, if you wanted a place to live outside the larger cities that still had some excitement going on now and again, you moved to Ponyville. With that notoriety had come ponies and others from all walks of life, and with that growth came the need for expansion. It was unfocused at first, but it finally coalesced around Ponyville University and the one mare who had dug in her hooves and spent most of her own fortune and goodwill among Equestria’s academic community to establish it. The quiet little farming village was now a slightly less quiet college town, with students helping keep the city going through the age-old and time-honored practice of partying whenever opportunity came combined with a distinct lack of cooking skills.

I gotta admit, the egghead really built something here, reflected the cyan pegasus, checking her reflection in a hoof-held mirror. The middle-aged mare looking back at her was still lean, still fit, but notably older than when she had first met the bookish Twilight Sparkle. Wrinkles and laugh lines now traced their way across her face, old injuries now complained on cold and rainy mornings, and try as she might, she couldn’t deny that her flight suit was a bit snugger around the middle than it used to be. I’m still at the top of my game, though, and that’s how I intend to go out. I’m just glad my last show was here at home.

She also couldn’t deny that even after moving to Canterlot to join the Wonderbolts over twenty years ago, Dash still thought of Ponyville as home, not so much because of the town itself but because of the friends she had made there. Running the show for the Ponyville Applebuckers may not be as exciting as the Wonderbolts, she thought, but at least I’ll get to spend time with my friends again. We may have gone on with our lives, but nothing will ever really keep us apart.

In truth, she had to admit to herself that stunt flying was a young mare’s game, and somewhere along the line, she’d gotten old. Into her late forties now, she’d finally caved in to her doctor’s nagging about straining herself too much at her “young” age, and taking better care of her health. Though if I never have to drink another bran-and-whole-wheat power shake, it’ll be way, way too soon. Hey! her expression brightened as a thought flickered across her mind, I can finally start eating Pinks’ cupcakes again! Retirement may not be so bad after all!

The sound of wingbeats followed by hoofsteps behind her alerted Dash to the fact that she had company. Her expression spreading into a broad grin, she turned to give the new arrival a firm hug. “Welcome back to Ponyville, Captain.”

Breaking the hug and tossing Rainbow a salute, which the sky-blue pegasus returned, the new captain of the Wonderbolts smirked back and replied, “Thanks, Captain.” Tugging her flight suit’s hood down, the mare revealed a bright orange coat that contrasted with her medium-length, windblown purple mane and tail. “Looks like a big crowd,” she murmured, “Good day for a show, too.”

Nodding absently, Dash murmured her assent, then gave her companion a devilish grin. “Hey, Scoots. Think they might wanna hear you sing? Y’know, for old time’s sakes.”

Rolling her eyes, Scootaloo retorted, “Only if I want to be tarred and feathered and have to listen to ‘Bloom make chicken jokes all day.” Leaning over her rainbow-maned mentor, she started performing the standard buddy-check on Rainbow’s equipment, adjusting straps and tugging on air hoses to ensure they were secured. “Look, Dash... you sure you’re up for this?”

“And just what’s that supposed to mean?” replied Rainbow, her eyes narrowing slightly. “Look, Dr. Strangehoof cleared me for this flight. Said I was in perfectly good health for what we’re going to pull off today, and told me to enjoy coaching hoofball when it was all said and done.” She gestured a hoof out at the crowd. “They’re expecting to see Rainbow Dash going out at the top of her game, and there’s five mares out there who I especially don’t want to disappoint.”

Sighing quietly as she tightened a valve on Dash’s air supply, Scootaloo nodded in resignation. There wasn’t any arguing with Dash when she got like this; that she had been more often than not correct about her own limits in the past few years only proved her point for her. “All right, fine...” As she saw Dash about to start congratulating herself, the orange mare whipped a wing around, the tip of one primary feather just barely brushing her teacher’s nose. “But as of today, I’m Team Captain, and if anything goes wrong... anything that might compromise your safety or the team’s safety, I am going to fire the abort flare,” She patted the device on her own flight harness, a safety-cone orange gem glowing dimly amidst a network of silver and other metals. She then raised a hoof and poked Dash in the chest lightly. “And you are not going to do anything other than get yourself to the ground as fast as safely bucking possible. You got me?”

Giving Scootaloo a somewhat curmudgeonly smile, Dash nodded, “All right, kid. All right. Next thing I know, you’ll be telling me it’s time for my afternoon nap and some prune juice.”

“Rainbow -- Mom. Listen. I’m serious about this, okay?”

Hearing the worried note in her adopted daughter’s voice, Rainbow Dash nodded, looking at Scootaloo with a wistful expression. “Okay, hon.”

The commencement ceremony began as such things usually do, with a lovely speech from Princess Celestia, followed by the graduation line. Rainbow Dash half-listened as she watched the parade of fresh young graduates trot across the stage that had been erected in the center of the hoofball field, accepting their diplomas from the various deans and professors of their respective schools to the sound of applause from the audience and cheers from their friends and families. As the last student crossed the threshold from college life to the real world, she tuned back in, watching Princess Luna take the podium.

Tapping the microphone with a hoof, the princess of the night said in her Royal Canterlot Voice, “VERILY, BE THIS DEVICE ACTIVE?” causing a squeal of feedback from the loudspeakers and eliciting laughs from the Ponyville residents old enough to remember Luna’s first Nightmare Night in their community.

“Ahem. Pardon mine volume, my little ponies. ‘Twas merely a small jest, and but a reminder of mine first time here in Ponyville. When first I came here, some thirty years past, I thought that I was alone in this world, with ne’er a friend to be found. I am here to tell thee all, I was wrong. The mares and stallions of this town welcomed me into their fold as but one of their own, and taught me a valuable lesson that Nightmare Night, one I wish to impart to thee, fair scholars of this year’s graduating class.”

Luna leaned forward over the podium, giving the crowd a sly wink as she purred in a low, dark tone, “Foals are delicious.” This brought more guffaws from the town’s citizens, until the princess waved a hoof for silence. “In all seriousness, the lesson I learned that night was this: Thou art not alone. Though the passage of time and the roads thou shalt travel may separate thee in body my little ponies, thou art never alone as long as thou keepeth thine friends in thy hearts.” She smiled as she cast her gaze over the crowd. “This be true of new friends as well as old, and from the bottom of my heart, I wish to give thanks to six friends who symbolize this truth, and who helped make today possible for all of us: Dame Professor Twilight Elayne Sparkle, Applejack Anne Apple of Sweet Apple Acres, Lady Rarity Francine Kobaczek of Carousel Couture, Pinkamena Diane Pie of the successful Sugarcube Corner franchise, Doctor Fluttershy Sarah DuBois of Ponyville General, and Lt. Colonel Rainbow Miriam Dash, captain of the Wonderbolts.”

That was Rainbow’s cue. Snapping her wings open with a mild wince from the morning chill, she swooped down from the platform and onto the stage, landing neatly beside her friends. “Hey, girls,” she murmured with a grin, “Long time no see.”

“Oh, we seen y’all all right, Miriam,” quipped Applejack with a smirk.

“Ugh. I really hate that name,” muttered the cyan pegasus. Giving the white unicorn beside her a sly look, she asked, “So, how you been, Frannie?”

“Rainbow Dash,” replied Rarity in a low tone dripping with promise, “If you make fun of my name, if you even mention it in my presence ever again, I will tie you up and put your mane and tail in curlers while I break out my makeup kit. We are talking extreme makeover here. Do we have an understanding, darling?”

“Do Ah get t’eat the cucumbers again?” interjected Applejack as Pinkie giggled into her hoof.

“Shhh,” murmured Fluttershy, “I think the princess is getting to the end of her speech.”

Twilight, for her part, merely gave Rainbow Dash a heartfelt smile, and said simply, “It’s good to see you again, Rainbow.” With that, the six mares returned their attention to the lunar princess.

“And in closing, my little ponies, remember The Lesson: As long as thou hast thine friends in thy heart, nothing, not even the veil beyond this life, can truly separate thee. And now, I give thee the Dean of Ponyvilly University, Dame Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight bowed to Princess Luna before taking the podium, the nervous smile on her face making Rainbow realize that the purple unicorn had never truly lost her fear of public speaking; she’d merely gained the confidence to overrule it. “Friends, students, and faculty of Ponyville U, this is a landmark year for us. Today marks the twentieth anniversary of this institution’s first graduating class, and I look forward to seeing it last for many more years to come. The last twenty years have brought a lot of changes to our town; when I first arrived three decades ago, I thought I was being punished for my curiosity by my teacher. The five mares I met that day showed me that instead, Princess Celestia gave me the greatest gift I have ever received in my life: my friends.”

She turned and cast a smile at the others on stage with her, and continued with an audible quaver in her voice, “It’s been a long time since we were all together for more than a short visit. Some of us stayed; Applejack still runs Sweet Apple Acres with all the care and integrity that she showed during her term as Mayor of Ponyville. Pinkie Pie still runs the original Sugarcube Corner here in town, and makes sure that everypony that moves here gets welcomed by all. Fluttershy went from town wallflower and veterinarian to become the Chief of Medicine at Ponyville General. Rarity runs a business that spans every major city in Equestria... but still makes time to tend to friends and family personally at Carousel Boutique here in Ponyville. And as has been said around campus when everypony thinks I’m out of earshot,” added Twilight with a self-deprecating smile, “They’ll have to carry me out of the University in a moving van because I’ll have become one with furniture.” That got a light, if slightly confused and sheepish chuckle out of the student body.

“One of us, however, felt a need to see what was over the horizon from our quiet little town. She had a vision of her future, and the drive and determination that was necessary to make that dream a reality. As an Airmare in the Skyguard Reserves, she aided in the defense of Canterlot during the Second Changeling Invasion. Later as a Lieutenant, she helped save the lives of countless ponies flying herself to exhaustion over Hoofston in the wake of a hurricane, searching for survivors. As Captain of the Wonderbolts, she’s brought endless entertainment and inspiration to young and old alike.”

Twilight turned her smile on Dash as she continued, “Her loyalty to Equestria has never been in question, and neither has her loyalty to her oldest friends. Today, we welcome that mare home as she retires from active service and accepts the position of head coach for the Ponyville Applebuckers. For her final farewell performance, the Wonderbolts will be performing a special stunt, the Rainboom Nova. Mares and gentlestallions, fillies and colts, I give you Rainbow Dash!” With that, the lavender unicorn stepped aside as her rainbow-maned friend took the podium to the thunderous noise of stomped applause.

Giving the crowd her best devil-may-care grin, Dash leaned into the microphone and said, “Hey, gang... wanna see the best trick ever?” Another round of cheers was all the answer she needed. “Then what the hay are we waitin’ for? This one’s for my friends!” She paused, letting the anticipation build, “And for the Applebuckers!” to which there was a shouted chorus of “BUCK ‘EM HARD!” before she added, “And for you, Ponyville!”

Lifting off from the stage, she shouted as her team formed up around her, “WONDERBOLTS ARE GO!”

The ground receded rapidly below her as the Wonderbolts flew in perfect formation into the sky. Timing was everything for this stunt: One pegasus out of place, and the overlapping shockwaves from seven Sonic Rainbooms at once could swat somepony out of the sky before he or she knew what was happening. Tonguing the radio switch in her helmet, Rainbow Dash called over the Wonderbolts’ frequency, “Comm check, everypony report.”

“Scootaloo, check.”

“Starscream, check.”

“Skytrotter, check.”

“Fireball, check.”

“Thunderhead, check.”

“Gold Wing, check.”

“Hey, boss,” said Starscream in his scratchy voice over the radio, “So, since I’m Scoots’ L-T now, that means I’m in charge if you two ain’t around, right?”

Rainbow laughed, sensing the old joke coming. “Yes, ‘Scream. That’s right.”

“Excellent! Then all I have to do is bide my time. I can see it now: Scootaloo has gone to the bathroom, now I rule the Wonderbolts!”

Laughter erupted over the channel for a moment before Scootaloo cut in, “All right, you jokers. Safety check time. Check pressure on your masks before we hit Alicorns Ten. Don’t need anyone passing out this high up.” As before, the team ran down, everypony giving the green light. “Okay. Wonderbolts Three through Seven, you’re on me, star formation. Wonderbolt One, on your mark once we reach Alicorns Twenty.”

The Nova was perhaps the Wonderbolts’ most awe-inspiring feat.. and also their most dangerous. The first stage involved the central pony in the formation kicking over into supersonic to give the other six a significant speed boost as they rode the shockwave. Stage two brought the team around in wide arcs, their trails overlapping each other as they circled the central pony’s own trail. Stage three brought said soloist back down from an extremely high altitude -- hence the masks, helmets, and G-suits -- to fire off another Rainboom when the rest of the team were flying at an oblique enough angle and with high enough velocity to trigger their own sonic effects. To date, the team had only performed this feat successfully twice.

There was a faint chirp in Rainbow’s ear, signaling that one of the team had requested a private frequency. Tonguing the switch to accept, she guessed, “Yes, daughter of mine?”

“I still don’t feel right about this, Mom. Pulling this off ten years ago was one thing, but now? It’s bucking foolhardy!”

“Scoota Lucille Dash, you watch your language. The words you should be using are ‘bucking awesome!’”

Scootaloo muttered something that would’ve made a Marechigan fishwife blush. “Just remember what I said, Mom. I pull the plug, you get your butt on the ground. Sweet Luna’s flank, I’m half-tempted to do it now before somepony gets hurt like last time.”

“Scoots,” said Dash quietly, “I need this.”

“Yeah, and Skysong needed to lose the use of her wing for three months after the last time. Mom--”

“Scootaloo, listen to me. You know me. I don’t pull the ‘Sensitive Mom Card’ often, but I’m doing it now. No horseapples. I need this. I’m leaving my life’s work behind me after today, and I am scared spitless. I’m going from being the captain of the ever-bucking Wonderbolts to teaching hoofball to a bunch of college students. It’s not even my favorite sport! Cloud-hockey is so much better!”

“Then get a cloud-hockey team started, Mom. There’s enough pegasi in Ponyville now.” A quiet sigh came over the wireless from the orange pegasus’ end. “Still. I get what you’re saying, even if I don’t like it.”

“Thank you for understanding. I just... I need to know that I left at the top of my game, and that I left something to be remembered by.”

“Mom... you did. You took an orphaned pegasus with stunted wing growth, and turned her into the, how did you say it? ‘Captain of the ever-bucking Wonderbolts?’ I’d say that’s pretty memorable... It is for me, at least.”

“I should’ve known you’d turn out like your mother, kiddo.”

“Then I’d say she did a pretty good job. Just... be careful, and don’t take any stupid risks. You’re not as tough as you were back in the old days.” Switching back over to the team frequency, Scootaloo announced, “Angels Twenty. Wonderbolt One, on your mark.”

Dash stretched her hooves out in front and behind her, thinning her aerodynamic profile and beating her wings faster as a mach cone started to form in front of her forelegs. “Going Rainboom in three... two... one... MARK!”

Far below, ponies gasped in delight as a peal of thunder sounded in the air, accompanied by a ring of iridescent rainbow light spreading across the sky, propelling the contrails of six pegasi before it, a seventh shooting straight up into the sky on a plume of rainbow light that would linger for hours afterward.

Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth against the acceleration, ‘bearing down’ to force the blood back out of her hooves and into her trunk and brain again. Ignoring a faint twinge of pain in her chest, she whooped a line from one of her favorite Hayndrix songs, “‘Scuse me, while I kiss the sky!”

Soon, however, she started reaching an altitude that deprived her wings of the air to sustain her speed. Gazing upward as the blue sky started to fade to purple, Dash smiled at the faint pinpoints twinkling at her through the thinning atmosphere. “Hey guys,” she whispered, “I’ll tell Twilight you said hi.” Banking into a controlled stall, Rainbow pointed herself earthward again, her rainbow trail soon flaring out behind her once more as she picked up speed, wings swept back close to her sides as she let gravity do most of the work for her. Trimming her wings a little to keep from accelerating too fast before rendezvous, she called into the radio, “Wonderbolt One, bringin’ the hammer down.” She grunted quietly, as another pain, this one sharper, stung her chest.

“Wonderbolt One, you all right?” came Scootaloo’s voice.

“Yeah, m’fine, Two. Just think I pulled a muscle. It’s nothing.”

“Don’t make me call an abort, One.”

“You’re not so old that I can’t ground you. Besides, they’re promoting me to Colonel when I retire, so I could do it anyway.”

Spluttering frustration answered her, making Dash grin inside her facemask. Noting the altimeter on her forehoof, she announced, “Going Rainboom in thirty seconds. Everypony in position?”

“All set here, One. Just waitin’ on you to shine the light on us poor monochromatic peons,” said Skytrotter, Wonderbolt Three.

“All right... Rainboom in ten... nine...” She flapped her wings harder, building her speed back up to the critical threshold, “Eight... seven...” Pain made its presence known again, this time stabbing and fierce, but she was committed. There was no way she could slow down in time to avoid causing a mid-air catastrophe that could seriously hurt somepony. “Six... five... four...” She coughed, spitting something into her mask that tasted coppery as the pain radiated down her left foreleg. “Three... two... one...

“Mark.”

On the hoofball field, forelegs were pointed skyward as another of Dash’s signature Rainbooms erupted. Standing beside her husband and daughters, Twilight Sparkle watched it in awe, then frowned deeply, her brow furrowed as she adjusted her glasses with her magic. “Something’s wrong.”

Glancing skyward and chewing thoughtfully on his hay stalk for a moment, her husband replied, “Eeeeeyup. T’ain’t no rainbow trail comin’ outta that there ring like ought t’be.”

Her eyes wide with worry now, Twilight gave Big Macintosh a brief nuzzle and murmured, “Stay with the girls, I’ll be right back.” With a flash of light, she was across the field, scaring the feathers off her quarry.

“Fluttershy... get the paramedics.”