Wonderbolt vs Washout

By the time the festival had arrived, both teams were near exhaustion. They knew that they shouldn’t practice too hard and wear themselves out before the ceremony started, but they knew that if they wanted to pull off what they were trying to do, it would take all night to make sure it was perfect. They’d be performing at the break of dawn, after all, which meant that they wouldn’t exactly get much morning practice done anyway.

Both teams had decided to wear their normal outfits, which wouldn’t be much of a surprise to anypony. Not only would they have a tough time getting outfits made that suited all of them perfectly in time for the performance, but for what they had planned, it made sense for the audience to be able to separate between them while they were in the air. As dawn approached closer and closer, more and more ponies began trickling in, which meant that it was just about time for the opening act to take their places.

“You all about ready?” asked Spitfire, peeking out the curtain that would eventually be pulled to welcome in the sun.

“Pssh,” Rainbow chuckled with the flick of her hoof. “Are you kidding? After all the practice we’ve done, it would be hard not to do everything perfectly.”

“Sure you won’t need any potty breaks mid-performance?” quipped Lightning Dust, nudging her hoof into Rainbow’s side.

Rainbow Dash, though, rolled her eyes with another chuckle. “This coming from the pony who spent the whole day in the bathroom after--”

“I thought we agreed not to talk about that.”

Just as Rainbow Dash was about to jab at her with more banter, however, Twilight emerged from the curtain, smiling at both Lightning and Rainbow Dash. “Weeeell,” she began. “Looks like you two have become close friends.”

““NO, WE HAVEN’T!””

Twilight couldn’t help but giggle, covering her mouth with her hooves in an attempt to not be too offensive, but she still ended up giving both Rainbow and Lightning Dust rosy cheeks. “Princess Sunset will be here any minute for the opening ceremony. Do you think you’re ready?”

“WHY IS EVERYPONY ASKING US THAT?! GET OFF OUR BACKS!!!”

Twilight flinched, but Rolling Thunder quickly pulled Short Fuse back to the ground before his anger could cause any issues. “You don’t need to worry ‘bout us,” the purple pegasus said. “Just tell us when to go ‘n we’ll give you the best show ye’ve ever seen.”

Just as Twilight nodded her head, however, Princess Sunset walked through the curtains with a loud yawn, lazily rubbing her eye boogers away. “Ugh. Why do mornings have to be so early? Is everypony ready?”

Short Fuse leapt into the air again, but before he could explode, Spitfire stepped in front of him. “Affirmative, Princess. We’ll be waiting for your signal.”

“Well, that signal’s gonna be any minute now, so you might wanna take your places.”

Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust turned their heads towards each other, and with a mirroring smile, they looked back at the princess of the morning and exclaimed, ““Yes, ma’am!”” before flying off into the distance with their teams following behind them.

Their starting point would be the peak that looked over all of Canterlot, the second tallest part of the city besides the castle itself. The Washouts and Wonderbolts both took their places at the top of the hill, making sure that nopony in the crowd would be able to see them. Even if they were ready, just knowing the kind of act they’d be performing made Rainbow’s heart race. This was probably going to be the most elaborate performance ever put together in pegasus history, and even though they’d done it perfectly a dozen times already, there were plenty of opportunities to screw up the one time it counted.

“Hey.” Before Rainbow could work herself up too much, though, Lightning Dust placed a hoof on her back, and somehow, the stress seemed to disappear all at once. “Don’t mess up out there, OK?”

And then it came right back.

Still, though, Rainbow flashed a cocky smile nudging Lightning Dust with her head held high. “You don’t need to tell me. Which one of us is the Wonderbolt, after all?”

“Oh, right, because the crowd is definitely gonna be checking out the grandmas in the leotards.”

Right when the two of them began a playful shoving match, however, they saw Spitfire perk up, and out the corner of their eyes, they could see the sun gradually beginning to rise in the background. “The ceremony’s starting!” Spitfire announced. “Places, everypony!”

The eight ponies in the group all crouched to the ground, placing their backhooves down like they were at the starting block. In the next moment, they saw Princess Twilight and Princess Sunset opening up the curtains to the stage, revealing the crescent-shaped sun statue to symbolize the lowering of the moon and the raising of the sun. None of them could hear what either of them were saying--probably just some namby pamby stuff about what the festival symbolized--but that wasn’t important to them. The only signal they needed was when the moon fell from the sky and the sun took its place.

One minute seemed like an eternity to pass, but gradually, the sun came up higher and higher towards the horizon as the moon gradually made its descent. Finally, Twilight nodded towards Sunset, and all eight ponies raised their wings, watching closely for their cue. Then, as both princesses turned towards the sky, the moon slowly fell behind the earth as the sun gently floated its way into the sky.

“Now!”

And with that, all eight ponies launched into the sky, creating a smoke trail behind them as they flew through the air. They could see some ponies in the crowd begin to look up and notice them, waving at them from their seats, but they all remained in perfect uniform, none of them moving any faster or slower than the pony beside them. Once they’d made it over the stage, they angled their sides and quickly made their descent towards the ground. They could just barely hear the amazed gasps of the ponies in the crowd, but rather than pulling up, they descended behind the horizon, disappearing completely.

Seconds passed without movement, and they could tell that the ponies in the crowd were beginning to wonder what was going on. Right before any of them could start to get impatient, however, the Wonderbolts zoomed into the sky again as the Washouts flew in barrel rolls, coming within inches of hitting the podium’s support beams. While the Wonderbolts circled in the sky, the Washouts reached their hooves out towards the crowd, slapping the hooves of their adoring fans.

After making a few laps around the stands, the Washouts then flew behind the crowd as far as they could, and just as the ponies in the crowd started murmuring about what was going on, the three of them zipped at supersonic speeds, pulling their wings into their bodies as they each flew through the narrow crescent-shaped statue of that symbolized the festival. The crowd roared with amazement as they made their way back into the sky, joining the Wonderbolts as they changed their course.

Once both teams were back together, they once again zipped through the sky, splitting into two groups of four and flying off in opposite directions. Then, after the groups had made a far enough distance between each other, they spun upwards and started racing in the other direction, zooming on a collision course with the other group. Rainbow could barely hear the crowd gasping through the wind in her ear, but with a smile on her face, she lifted up her leg and hoof-bumped Lightning Dust, just barely avoiding a straight collision as even their manes slid by each other. Again, the crowd roared loudly, which she could hear more and more as all eight of them plummeted towards the ground, but right before they smashed into the grass, they all lifted themselves up at the last second, circling in the air.

Once again, the Wonderbolts and Washouts split apart, the former spouting up like a fountain as the latter descended the rest of their way to the ground. As the Washouts scurried away, the Wonderbolts split into two intersecting circles, creating a three-dimensional fountain where one pony shot up into the air before joining the other circle’s rotation. The crowd was so fixated on the Wonderbolts that they didn’t even notice the Washouts grabbing three buckets of water.

Once the Washouts returned, Lightning Dust splashed her own pail onto the Wonderbolts, Short Fuse splashed his own bucket onto the two mares in his group, and Rolling Thunder splashed hers onto Short Fuse. Then, all eight of them flew into the air again, this time with the Washouts flying at a higher altitude than the Wonderbolts. Once everypony was in position again, the Wonderbolts circled around in a ring, flying faster and faster, zooming so quickly that their appearance disappeared entirely, replaced with a giant rainbow halo that glittered down all the colors in the light spectrum. The crowd was practically losing their minds, but they hadn’t even seen the best part yet.

In the next moment, Rolling Thunder zoomed through the halo, intersecting it perfectly and leaving a rainbow trail through its center. Then came Short Fuse, intersecting it from a different angle, creating a rainbow-colored target in the center. Everypony quickly looked up, seeing Lightning Dust hovering over the center and waving to the fans. What the fans didn’t notice, however, was that the ring was getting smaller as the Wonderbolts gradually closed the gap between them.

This was it, the defining moment of the performance. Lightning Dust flew so far into the air that nopony in the crowd would be able to see her. As dizzy as Rainbow was getting, she was more worried about Lightning Dust even being able to breathe from the altitude she was at. In the next moment, though, Lightning Dust soared down as fast as she could, creating a rainbow-colored mach cone around her with a lightning smoke trail following behind. By this point, the crowd was beginning to notice how little space she had to work with. She would need pinpoint accuracy, otherwise somepony could end up with more than just an injury.

Everypony held their breath waiting to see what would happen, some even closing their eyes. Finally, in the next second, Lightning Dust barely slipped through the halo, and once she did, the Wonderbolts slowly circled around her as they descended back to the terrain. To the audience, though, it looked like one rainbow-colored trail in the center with a similar spiraling rainbow that descended to the ground.

Just as Rainbow Dash landed, trying to keep her legs balanced despite how much they wanted to wobble in dizziness, the crowd roared so loud that it knocked her center of gravity back in an instant. The Wonderbolts pulled off their goggles. The Washouts took off their helmets. Even after all the crowds they’d seen cheering for them, never before had they seen one as lively as full of life as the one they were watching right now.

In the next second, Rainbow Dash felt Lightning Dust wrap her hoof around hers, giving her a wide smile, but to Lightning’s surprise, Spitfire arrived at her other side doing the same thing. “Good job, you two,” said Spitfire. “Now, what’s say we take a bow?”

Rainbow and Lightning Dust nodded their heads, and with all eight of them facing the crowd, they all bowed their heads down, hearing the crowd explode even louder.

Even after spending most of her life being on the other side of the table, Rainbow Dash couldn’t quite understand how a couple scribbles and a hoofprint could wind up making somepony so dang happy. There was so little effort on her part; all she had to do was smile, say how happy she was that the pony enjoyed her performance and write her name on a picture--a picture of herself no less. Still, though, it seemed like everypony that came by was completely thrilled just to walk away with some proof that they’d actually spoken with a member of the Wonderbolts… or the Washouts, who had their own audience lined up to see them as well.

“And who am I making this bad boy out to?” asked Lightning Dust, sitting to Rainbow’s right.

“I’m Sugar Stix!” replied a filly with a frizzy blue mane. “You were amazing! How did you do those tricks?! You went so fast! I wish I could be like you someday, but I’m just an earth pony. I wish I could fly.”

Lightning Dust giggled, patting the filly on the head. “You know something? My dream was to be a Wonderbolt one day, but my life took me in a different direction. Just remember to keep following your dreams in the meantime, OK? You never know where you’ll end up later if you just keep trying.”

Then with a quick scribble and a hoofprint, Lightning Dust handed the picture of herself back to the filly, who beamed the biggest grin Rainbow had ever seen. “Thank you, Miss Lightning Dust! I love you so much!”

Lightning Dust blushed as the filly pranced away, leaving Rainbow Dash laughing beside her. “What’s the matter?” asked Rainbow as her own fan walked away with a smiling face. “Not used to actually being a role model?”

“Something like that.” Lightning Dust rubbed the back of her neck. “When your career is based off of sticking it to the ponies you looked up to, it’s kinda weird having ponies looking up to you.”

“Maybe that’s just it,” replied Spitfire, on Lightning Dust’s other side. “Maybe you should go through a rebranding stage, one where you guys stop trying to ‘stick it’ to anypony and focus on how talented you are in the first place. No rivalries, no chip on your shoulder--”

“Thanks, but I think we’ll pass on that one.”

Lightning Dust then smiled at the next pony who came up to talk to her, but once the three of them had another chance to talk, Spitfire didn’t waste a moment picking up where they’d left off. “You know, I don’t regret kicking you out of the academy.”

“I know. I don’t regret it either. You were right that me and Rainbow made a pretty unstoppable team. It just took me a while to figure out that I was even better with other ponies like me.” The teal mare looked over Rainbow’s shoulder at Rolling Thunder, then at Short Fuse on the other end of the lineup.

“The Wonderbolts aren’t for everypony,” Spitfire continued, “but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Even up to the very end, I never once thought that you weren’t one of the most talented prospects the academy had ever seen.”

Lightning Dust scoffed. “Yeah, you just didn’t approve of my methods. I don’t regret anything I did either. I still got to live my dream, and I ended up living it my own way. Plus, I still got to fly with the Wonderbolts, just like I’d always dreamed of since I was a filly.”

Again, another round of fans came up to the table, each of whom got to meet their idol and a little piece of history before walking away with a smile on their face. Once the stallion getting his autograph from Lightning Dust turned away, though, Rainbow couldn’t help but notice that Lightning Dust’s smile faded a little bit more than the other ponies at the table.

“You know, this doesn’t need to be the end.”

Lightning Dust turned to Rainbow Dash with an eyebrow raised in curiosity. “Was I supposed to think something was ending?”

“No,” Rainbow replied, shaking her head. “What I mean is, this doesn’t need to be the last time you perform with the Wonderbolts. Captain Spitfire!”

Spitfire moved her neck to see past Lightning’s head. “You know that all Wonderbolt affairs have to go through me first. Don’t go planning any shows without getting my permission.”

“I know, but--”

“That being said, I think you have a point. It would be pretty anticlimactic if our troupes never performed again. Lightning Dust, am I safe to assume you’re the general manager of your squad?”

Lightning Dust smirked. “Don’t let Short Fuse hear you say that, but yeah.”

“Then I believe it would be in the best interests for both of our acts to have occasional collaborations like this, whether that be just the Festival of the Two Sisters or otherwise. I know you don’t need us anymore, but we’d still like to keep that fire burning if at all possible.”

Then, for the first time Rainbow Dash had ever seen around Lightning Dust, Spitfire smiled. It wasn’t like the kind of customer service smile that she gave to the ponies lined up for autographs--nopony in Equestria would get her to smile like that if she had the choice--but still in a subtle way where Rainbow knew it was genuine, and hopefully Lightning Dust did too.

“We’ll have to get back to you on that one,” Lightning replied with a grin. “Even if I end up forgiving you guys for kicking me out of the academy, it doesn’t mean they will.”

Spitfire nodded her head. “Understandable.”

“Hope you ladies don’t mind me overhearin’,” said the pony to Rainbow Dash’s left, “but I think that maybe if Spitfire over there did some grovellin’, maybe we’d consider it. Ye know, just tellin’ us how much better we are and how much she needs us for the Wonderbolts to stay relevant.”

“Not on your life.”

Rolling Thunder chuckled. “Can’t blame me for tryin’ at least. Sure you’ll be alright with me doin’ barrel rolls through 90 million volts of electricity in ragin’ thunder storms?”

Spitfire seemed to stare into Rolling Thunder’s eyes for what seemed like minutes, but the purple mare’s poker face never changed. Finally, after a sigh, Spitfire faced forward and said, “Just keep me out of your line of fire.”

Lightning Dust and Rainbow Dash turned to each other with a matching smile and immediately started cracking up. It was like all the anger that Rainbow had been storing since the academy just felt like a funny joke at this point, and it was beginning to rub off on both teams. As much as Rainbow never thought she’d ever do any kind of work with the Washouts, maybe they’d never imagined working with her either. Now, though, her only regret was not closing this gap sooner. She spent all this time holding a grudge when she could have just spent it bonding with her new friends.

All three of them.

“Hey, barkeep! One more for my friend here!”

“Uh, I think she means give her another club soda on me.”

“Hey! How come nopony’s paying for my drink?!”

Lightning Dust and Rainbow Dash giggled as Spitfire grumbled. The bartender, however, grabbed two glasses and began filling one with cider and the other with club soda.

“Sorry, boss,” Rainbow replied with a snicker. “It’s not that we don’t think you can hold your cider or anything.”

“Yeah,” Lightning Dust continued, “we’re just kinda having a contest to see which one of us barfs first.”

Spitfire raised an eyebrow. “You know, most ponies come here to actually enjoy their drink.”

“Most ponies aren’t us!” Just as soon as Rainbow finished her sentence, the bartender returned with their drinks, which they immediately clinked together before chugging them down. Once she felt the bubbles burning her throat, everything else seemed to disappear. She felt like she could be anypony she wanted to be, not that she’d ever be anypony else anyway, but it was still nice to have the happy feeling while she did.

“You’re more than welcome to join in,” said Lightning Dust, swaying her glass with a quick hiccup.

“Thanks,” Spitfire said, “but I think I’ll pass. I don’t want to spend my entire paycheck just to throw it back up later. In fact, I was actually thinking about calling it a night.”

The yellow pegasus then spun around in her stool and hopped back to the ground, followed by disappointed groans from the other two pegasi. “C’mon, Spitfire!” Lightning pleaded with her head wobbling. “I thought we was *hic* friends.”

“Rainbow Dash, be sure she gets plenty of water. That’s an order.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Rainbow Dash saluted her captain, who again turned towards Lightning Dust with a cringe. “And you don’t need to worry about her. She’ll be fine.”

Spitfire smirked. “She always has been, hasn’t she? Well, I guess that just proves that you don’t need me around anymore. I should go back and help clean up the fields. It’s mostly our mess anyway.”

“You want me to help out too?”

“No, you stay right where you are. She may not need me, but she definitely still needs you.”

Rainbow tilted her head to the side in confusion, but Spitfire just walked away with a laugh. By the time that Rainbow turned back towards Lightning Dust, however, she was already passed out on the counter, sleeping like a baby. The cyan mare chuckled to herself, assuming that this meant that she automatically won, but right as soon as she started digging into her saddlebag for bits, she felt something bubbling in her stomach.

“You little cheater,” Rainbow muttered, holding her hoof to her mouth before she accidentally tossed her cookies. Then, after getting her bits and throwing them onto the counter, she turned towards the bathroom, but right before leaving, she leaned into Lightning Dust’s ear and whispered, “Rivals for life.”