A Skip and a Dash

“Need to fly! Have to get back in the sky!”

“Hold still for one second, Rainbow!” Rarity said, holding the frustrated Pegasus to the ground.

Rainbow Dash was wearing Rarity’s latest breakthrough: a lilac coloured frock that trailed to the ground. Dash was clearly not happy about it.

“Any thoughts, Twilight?” Rarity asked.

Twilight Sparkle looked at Rainbow Dash in the frock. Rarity’s tone of voice was slightly impatient, but she didn’t look as impatient and annoyed as Rainbow Dash did.

“Rarity, you have nothing to worry about.” Twilight said, “This is perfect. A work of art.”

“You think so?”

“Sure. It’ll be an amazing entry. And Rainbow Dash has been a great model for the day. You should let her go now.”

Twilight winked at Rainbow Dash.

“Certainly.” Rarity said with a smile.

As the frock was unclipped from her, Rainbow sped out of the front door. She sighed once outside.

“Feel better now?” asked Twilight, coming from behind her.

“Phew…much! Thanks, Twilight. I could have been there for hours!”

“Say, now that I think about it,  I’m kinda still deciding on what to write for Princess Celestia this week and…”

Twilight kept on talking but Rainbow Dash was not really paying attention, for she had seen a dark shape move across the clouds up in the sky. It looked mysterious and sneaky…and why would another Pegasus be up there?

“…if you would like to, you can have a rest at my house and give me some ideas.”

Her mind suddenly switched back to Twilight Sparkle. “Erm… I think I’ll give it a miss this time, Twilight. You know…wing exercise needed!”

She fluttered her little blue wings to show them.

“Okay, understood!” Twilight said cheerily, “See you later, Dash.”

When Twilight trotted away, Rainbow turned her attention back to the sky. Her eager sense of curiosity led her up into the clouds again. The desperation of wanting to fly fast suddenly went away. Maybe that was just an excuse to get away from Rarity, but she was only inquisitive now.

She scanned every cloud for signs of movement. Soon boredom took over her again, and she slumped onto a nearby cloud, her wings folding away, but her eyes still alert…

“Is somepony lonely out here?”

Rainbow Dash let out a squeaky yelp and fell off her cloud, before her little wings held her upright. She immediately recognized the Pegasus looking at her.

“You!”

The grey male Pegasus with a mane and tail coloured with fire gave Rainbow Dash a cheeky smirk.

“Oh we’ve met before then?”

“Just what is your problem?!” Rainbow Dash snapped, shooting up to him so her eyes were staring sharply into his.

“First you come crashing into me, and then you intend to terrify the wit out of me!”

“Well, the WIT certainly hasn’t gone.”

Despite Rainbow Dash’s fury, the colt still kept calm and had a casual grin on his face. Rainbow wasn’t used to being outsmarted like this.

“I don’t have time for your lame comebacks!” she propped herself on the white fluff underneath her, her hooves folded, “Don’t you have some other place to be?”

The colt looked amused at Rainbow Dash’s irritated eyes. “Actually, right here is where I have to be. I AM a weather pony, you know.”

“Oh, are you now?” Rainbow Dash said sarcastically, “Well, I’M the top weather pony in Ponyville so don’t get any rough ideas!”

Her frown then changed to a proud smile. “You should also know that you are talking to the Best Flyer in Equestria.” she fluttered a little off the cloud, her eyes closed with smugness.

“Hmmm, then I am most honoured to be so, my lovely one.”

Another tinge of anger stung in Dash’s stomach, but she tried not to show it.

“So what can you do with those blue wings of yours?” he asked, showing off his own pewter wings.

“Oh. An AWFUL lot.” she said in her smug tone, “Including a sonic rainboom.”

“That I gotta see!”

For the first time the colt was honestly intrigued.

“Well, obviously I would show you my talent but…” she let out a brief yawn, “these little beauties get tired.”

She flapped her wings lazily.

“You couldn’t face up to me then.” the colt said, still grinning, “I’m active every day and every hour! Let me entertain you with my style!”

Before Dash could protest at him, he had already bolted high into the sky and began a series of backflips and loops through a row of ten clouds. He weaved through every one of them with little effort and he looked like a ball of fire as he sped gracefully around the sun.

Rainbow Dash forgot how to blink. She just stared with round eyes. She didn’t know whether to be annoyed or fascinated…

After a while he spiralled down in front of her, showing off his spiral Cutie Mark. It was clear what his Cutie Mark meant now.

“Clearly you’re too tired to show me your own stuff…”

His voice was so offhand and annoying that Rainbow couldn’t take it anymore.

“You think you can get the better of me THAT easy?” she said with fiery eyes, “No one outsmarts Equestria’s Best Flier!”

And Rainbow Dash was set to prove that. As she felt the colt’s eyes follow her into the sky, she thought of every move she could remember. She twisted in and out of every treetop nearby, she darted straight through a row of fluffy little clouds and performed an incredibly fast loop the loop just above the wide eyed Pegasus. As she landed, she left a little trail of rainbow behind her.

“Admit it, mister.” Rainbow said happily to the colt, sitting in front of him, “You HAVE met the BEST Flier in Equestria.”

“I can’t deny you were pretty impressive…but I still don’t see a sonic rainboom.”

“They’re a hard job, ya know. I can’t manage them EVERY time.”

“All the same…impressive flying.” the colt said, smiling at her with admiration, “Love to know your name, missy.”

She rolled her eyes, her multi-coloured tail curled around her legs. She looked away from him and said, “It’s Rainbow Dash. If you must know…”

“You’re a fascinating pony, Rainbow Dash. My name’s Blazedart. Hope to catch you around again sometime.”

“Um, I-”

Blazedart whizzed off in the blink of an eye. And Rainbow Dash sat on her cloud in thought, suddenly feeling lonely again.