“Come on Dashie! Just a little further!”
The little white pegasus zoomed up the stairs excitedly, her little wings beating hard to maintain height. Behind her plodded a taller, much older pony, her blue fur and feathers slightly tinged with grey, as was her once radiant and striking mane.
Rainbow Dash was a shadow of her youthful-self. She’d grown up fit and strong, maintaining her athletic lifestyle until it was no longer possible; nowadays she spent her time regaling the young pegasi of her past exploits of daring bravery, or caring for the young filly which now beckoned her on faster than she could move.
The pony reached the top and took a deep breath, moving along to their seats. Cloudsdale had barely changed over the years. It had grown a lot larger, now accommodating more pegasi than back in her days, but the basic principle was still the same.
The stadium was also the same as always, coliseum layout with the large yellow banners fluttering in the breeze. Speaking of fluttering, she turned to the young pegasus beside her, “Fluttershy, stop jumping about. Honestly, you’re almost as bad as Pinkie”
The white filly blushed and grinned broadly, “But I’m so excited! This is my first time seeing the Wonderbolts in person!” Rainbow smiled softly, the filly looked just like her grandmother when she smiled, even had the pink hair to match. Ah how she missed her, still, life goes on.
The trumpets sounded and the crowd quietened down as the announcer floated into view.
“Fillies and Gentlecolts! Please rise and join me in welcoming our beloved Princess Celestia!” Out from her box stepped Princess Celestia. She looked as beautiful and young as ever, her mane flowing in the wind. To her right stood Princess Luna, a rare sight during the day but just as breath taking as her older sister. She had grown a lot since that night so long ago, almost as tall as the mare beside her.
“And there is our most gracious Princess Luna! And their grand adviser!”
To Celestia’s left was a sight that made Rainbow beam. Her mane and body still richly coloured, but her eyes betraying that youthful posture stood her good friend Twilight Sparkle. Twilight had moved out of Ponyville a long time ago, met some colt in Canterlot and had a foal. The colt had been born an Alicorn, a pegasi like his father, but with his mother’s unicorn blood, making him on par with the royalty and has grown to be the princess’s most trusted adviser, besides Twilight of course.
“And for the moment you’ve all been waiting for...The Wonderbolts!”
The crowd roared with cheer, the thundering sound of hooves echoed into the clear sky. Twelve streaks of multi-coloured cloud and lightning whizzed overhead, curling around each other to form a huge spiral tunnel.
The broke off into two groups and looped around each other and make cloud-braids then re-join to perform their latest and greatest stunt thought up by their captain and had taken months of practice.
They moved in intricate and very carefully timed ways, whizzing close to each other, swooping mere feet from the audience to their delight, and launching themselves into breakneck turns and bends. Eventually they broke off into a large fan, leaving the cloud image of the Equestrian coat of arms, the crowd whooping loudly in renewed effort.
Rainbow ooh-ed and aah-ed along with the everypony else, stamping her hooves loudly at the finale. She watched amazed as once again, the Wonderbolts put on a show that outdone any other, including their own from last years.
The show went on for a while, an amazing mixture of death-defying feats, incredible manoeuvring that could only be achieved by the best of the best. Their moves were greater than they’d ever been, greater than anything Rainbow could cook up, not that she couldn’t perform them of course. Duh, she was the greatest thing with 2 wings in Equestria.
It slowly started coming to a close, they were obviously preparing for something special, they all flew up high and formed a tight funnel as they came back down. Shooting out the centre of the cloud flume came the captain, rocketing herself downwards. The blue suit shone, her purple mane whipped back in the wind. Rainbow knew what was going to happen and couldn’t dare to look.
As she reached the top of the stadium, there was a huge explosion, a shockwave of colour and sound rippled through the crowd and spread out across Cloudsdale. A rainbow shoot into the sky and arched from the cloud city all the way to Canterlot, the end eventually dissipated and the captain shoot back into view, heading for a flyby over the stadium, with her team at her side.
The crowd were in awe for a moment, and then erupted in a cheer that most likely would have shaken the clouds to pieces had there not been enough pegasi there to hold it together. The Wonderbolts slowed and landed in the middle to bow to the audience, the cloud below the captain moving upwards towards the announcer.
“Now THAT is a show worth watching! Ending on none other than a spectacular sonic rainboom”
The crowd cheered once more, howling with delight. It took a few minutes for them to quieten down and listen once more.
“That has only been performed a handful of times by only one pony as far as our recorded history goes. How on earth did you manage it?”
The captain grinned and spoke into the mic, “Well, it took me years of watching, learning and practice. Even now, I barely managed that and highly doubt I’ll do it again” She gazed up at the rainbow she’d produced with a smile, pulling off her goggles to sweep her eyes through the crowd, “To be totally honest. There’s only one real reason why this dream has been made possible, the dream of another excelled me to this point. It also helps to have a great teacher”
As she said that she pulled down the mask on her face and shook her mane free, the short purple fringe bouncing over her face a little as her orange fur beaded with sweat from her efforts. She fixed her gaze directly on Rainbow Dash, winking and grinning at her idol.
Dash smiled back, a tear glittering in her eye. She’d had many achievements in the years, true she’d never had her own family, but her friends were all the family she never needed, and her honorary little sister had gone on to realize the other achievement she had never reached. Scootaloo, captain of the Wonderbolts, the only other pony to achieve the sonic rainboom.
