The night opened up its forelegs, embracing her as she continued to fly forwards. Still, with navy blue seeping into the darkness in front of the mare, she saw orange sunlight reflected on the thin clouds ahead. Then, at the first touch of warmth through the icy air landed on the tip of her tail, Dash knew she was running out of time.
She adjusted her wings' angles, spreading each of her feathers to their prime, and picked up altitude with a powerful flap. The night was ending, yet its winds never ceased to scream into Rainbow's rough face, forcing her to squint even with flying goggles on.
It had been six hours since her last actual break. Altogether, she had taken but three breaks for an entire day and night. Minor strains, together with tons of lactic acid, accumulated and weighed down on her as if her reborn wings were dying off again. Her heart beat rapidly, a never-ending drum of pulse in her ears. Air tore at her windpipe with every breath she drew in, only to light up a flame within her chest with the bloody breath she tastes. Bells were ringing everywhere in her body, protesting her insane action, but she had never felt righter than now.
Once, she had lived freely. She had been the flyer of Ponyville, the Element of Loyalty, the brightest star of the Wonderbolts. She had lived a life full of purposes and challenges, a life where there were only adventures and interludes between.
Now all of those were just distant memories, a forelife, if you will.
Time had worn Rainbow Dash out. Her mane was no longer a vibrant rainbow to behold. Her prideful wings healed slower than they decayed. Dash hadn't felt the decline; her life simply crashed as everything she treasured in life faded at the first grey hair she found. In the past ten years, the wildest dare in her life was to forget her tiny vial of GTN when going out, just to see if she could put this mockery of a life to its end.
She had made up her mind that when she inevitably leave Equestria, she'd show the god responsible for aging some of her very strong opinions on the topic. If gods ever exist, that is. She knew she was going to get the chance very soon, if the frequent pains from the timed bomb were any indication.
At least, she had been going to show her opinions, had it not been for an old friend's sudden visit.
The wind howled on, its being caught in her feathers felt so familiar. The wind blew away the fog and snow covering her buried recollections and suddenly she was back in her prime, all the years ago. Closing her eyes, Dash allowed her recovered instincts to carry her up in the thinning air, committing everything she had into this last ride of air, into her memory clearer than ever.
Below her, a shadowed ocean heaved restlessly. Each finger of the sea breeze caressed a wave, whispering the freedom of the sky to its listening ear. Dash could pick out the never-ending chorus of ocean and air, a most inspiring hymn for those who would venture into the unknown world. Before, she was so luxurious to take her ability to fly freely for granted, blissfully unaware that the sky wouldn't always be opened to her. All the precious time she could have spent charting unknown sky, wasted in her comfort little circle.
Although, for somepony as flighty as she was, even if the ocean had been singing in her ear, she wouldn't have heard a thing. Only after the ten years she spent grounded, could she finally understand the love Fluttershy once would talk about, where you appreciate the harmony within even the simplest things.
A gust splashed on her front, cold beyond freezing point. With every flap Dash took, she felt as if under a frozen river, cleaving her way through glassy pieces of ice. Pegasi are born with the thickest coat of hair, to protect them even in the cruellest weather. Yet, as she raced forwards, every inch of her skin was in crippling pain, as coldness invaded her muscles. The heat from her beating heart put up a struggle to reclaim her body, but was only able to hold a stalemate at her bones. Not that she disliked the pain, though. It was so natural, so right, and so familiar - It made her feel alive, after all those years of confinement in the husk of her younger self.
Now that she had some time to think about it, losing everything was exactly what gave her a chance to compare, to see how happy she was, living the life she was used to. You cannot be resurrected unless you have died once; such is the axiom of life.
Winds, all around her, carried forwards the salty scent of ocean, dancing away at her muzzle. Dash poked her tongue out to take a lick of the humidity that was on the verge of fogging up, tasting ocean given flight. Even under the barrier of briny breezes, her nose and feathers were able to pick up additional information instinctively. The pressure in the air was dropping, while airflows were swirling towards somewhere nearby.
It was the creation of a storm. More and more subtle hints detailed out a picture beyond eyes, telling Dash that it was so violent a storm that not even herself, with all her youthful strength, could deal with it alone. Somewhere deep within her mind, reflexes left over from her weather team years almost made her take a one-eighty and head back to the coastal city of Los Antlers to warn the local pegasi about the storm.
A quick glance at the awakening sky behind her was enough to stop her from turning back. Celestia's sun would cast away the long, unforgiving night and bring life to Equestria, all the while declaring her grand exit. Oh, how Dash would like to give it all up - her savings, her fame, even her identity - just in exchange for another day in the sky.
Everything wasn't enough, it seemed.
"Chaos defies all boundaries in the world, but not itself, Rainbow Dash."
That's what Discord told her. Considering he's the best professional on chaotic magic she could ever hope to find, as well as the rare seriousness on his face when he said that, Dash wasn't tempted to have a doubt.
When the long-missing Lord of Chaos stood on her porch, Dash knew whatever news he bore was either the worst of the worst, or the best of the best.
What she didn't know was that it was both.
"Miss Rainbow Dash, you are going to die soon," Discord announced before Dash even had a chance to ask. The way he put it, he could as well have been telling the time. Holding a blank face, he slipped past her, walking straight to the sitting room.
Surprise flashed over the pegasus's face. Turning back, she tried to follow the draconequus, her always painful right hindleg after her. "I knew. In this state, I won't last long. Another week would come as surprise."
Discord paused in his steps, turned back to give her a look, and stood in the centre of her sitting room. He was almost too calm, but that look chilled Dash into her spine, rattled her wore-out feathers, and carried just one word: "No."
He finally started after a long silence. "A week? Oh, you're so wrong, my dear little magical pony friend." He lifted one claw. "When I said 'soon,' I meant you have one more day to live."
That ruined Dash's collected façade. "ONE more day?! But-" Her chest tightened at that, interrupting her words. Dash raised her hoof in a panic and punched herself in the chest, coughing with extra force at each shake of her body. "...But..." Eventually, she trailed off. What were her "but"s for, anyway?
But she still felt fine? She knew that would be a lie. But she wanted to live on? She was as good as dead like this. But she hadn't had a chance to say goodbye? She never married and had few friends. Fans had seemed more important to her younger self. Only later did she find out that fans won't applaud your decline.
"...But, why are you telling me this?"
"Needless to say, I have no reasons to tell you anything." Discord stressed on the "I," to the point where Dash could practically see it in bold text. "But Fluttershy had."
That made Dash swallow any further questions.
"You see, Rainbow Dash, this is one of Fluttershy's final wishes." Instead of taking a seat, Discord turned around. He rubbed at one of his fingers on his paw, where, near his palm, the ring of flattened fur was still visible. "I am to visit you on your last day."
"Bu- but why?" Dash whispered. This doesn't sound like what Fluttershy would have wanted... Unless Discord wasn't finished.
Both paws to his side, Discord shrugged. "Still so ahead of yourself, I see." He smiled, not the cunning smirk she had known, but a forced grin. "Of course she didn't ask me to do this so you can plan your own funeral. Quite the contrary, may I say, as I'm here to grant you flight in your final day."
Dash's ears perked up. Her jaw dropped.
"Don't believe me?" Discord raised an eyebrow.
Dash was quick to answer. "I do believe you... It's just... Well, I didn't know Fluttershy would make a wish for me."
"She didn't ask me to 'grant Rainbow Dash her so gracious flight,' Miss Full-of-Yourself. You aren't that special to her." Discord pointed at himself, head up. "Fluttershy wished for her best friends to live as they like before the inevitable. I just happen to have the freedom of deciding the means."
"Oh..." Dash licked her dry lips. Did she have any ego to be hurt, now?
"Still, the full credit goes to her." Discord suddenly bent down to look at Dash in her eyes. "I'm catering to all of your puny last wishes only because of Fluttershy. You know I'm never a helpful friend, don't you?"
Discord's eyes almost penetrated the cloudiness in Dash's eyes. She couldn't help but nod.
"Know that it isn't your wish I'm fulfilling, but Fluttershy's." Discord's eyes became sharper. "Tomorrow, at the first ray of sunlight, your body will be restored to how it was when you became a full-time Wonderbolt and shall remain that way for one day. You'd better enjoy your last chance flying, and remember to thank Fluttershy profusely when you meet her over there. Oh, just so you won't forget..." He blinked. "I shouldn't tell you much, but of this you can be sure: Death herself can't stop me when I feel the need to pay the price."
Dash gulped hard and gave a nervous nod. Finally satisfied with her reaction, Discord put a top hat on himself. "Well, thanks for the hospitality. I'll be going."
"W- wait!" Dash stopped him as he walked past her. "Couldn't you give me longer than one day?"
Discord turned at her, his face never more serious. "To defy how you age is completely different from to deny Death," lowering his voice, he told Dash, his eyes on her again. "Chaos defies all boundaries in the world, but not itself, Rainbow Dash. From tomorrow's sunrise, until the sunrise after it, that's how long you shall be alive flying. Not even an extra split second."
He tipped his hat in a not-so-typical curtsy and snaked through the window before Dash could say anything. When she finally dragged her body to the window, his ridiculous form was nowhere to be found.
Walking back to her table, Dash saw that her breakfast was gone. By the half glass of water, only the empty paper napkin remained, a barely visible rainbow on it.
One day. Rainbow Dash thought it was enough.
The sun was barely above the mountain range to the east when Dash felt something long-gone returning to her body. The moment her heart finally stopped slacking off, Dash shot for the sky.
At first, there was hesitation. Dash flapped her wings tentatively, balancing herself with care, suppressing her urge to go all out.
But then, experiences from her days started to fill in her wings. The youthful Wonderbolt guided her older counterpart as they angled their wings, pushing for the zenith.
Soon she was over those too familiar rooves, across the thin clouds speckling the dome, and hovered between the Equestrian sky and land, open for her to look around. There in the mid-air, she stood herself proud, as rays of sunlight tore free in the pale daybreak, navigating the sun herself above the hills in the distance.
When half the sky was painted orange, Dash pulled her wings in. Gravity took hold and dragged her downwards.
This wasn't enough. Immediately she did half a backflip, aimed her head at the ground below, and accelerated her fall with powerful flaps of her wings. Air was becoming sticky, like it had always done, no longer a friend of hers. She wouldn't be surprised by anything it had for her, though.
Straighten out your legs. Reduce your resistance area. Narrow your eyes. Brace for pressure. Shut up. Stop fidgeting. Give. All.
And then, after eleven years and one hundred and forty-five days of absence, the Sonic Rainboom once again graced the sky of Equestria.
She dived at her neighbour's roof, pulling up in a sharp angle at the very last moment. As she mocked the rules of gravitation with her bare feathers, Dash could feel something wild and unexplainable bursting out from the depth of her throat. In the strong wind, her magenta eyes welled up, before she heeded the call from within and shouted and hollered and freely cried out with her energetic voice.
Even after all the years, Ponyville was still a morning town. Those who got up early had their eyes guided by the Rainboom to the sky, at the sole cyan figure soaring about. Numerous looks of amazement focused on Dash while she frolicked without a care, throwing in daring moves that could qualify her a Wonderbolt again. Each pair of eyes held a mixture of emotions; there were wonders, realisations, confusions, excitements...
And more than any others, awe. What she had grown tired of, missed, and recovered.
Because she is awesome now.
A barrel roll earned Dash a flurry of gasps for Dash. No efforts at all. Then an outside loop, followed by zigzags, before she climbed up for a stall turn. On the ground, by the windows, and in the air, there was audience everywhere applauding her. The manoeuvres she took would cringe even the average Wonderbolts, not to mention the slow-living residents of Ponyville.
Rainbow Dash, though, was neither average nor slow. Aerobatics came as a part of her life. Air and gravity were tamed under her wings to carry her in a flittering waltz through the morning breeze that was turning azure. She climbed up high, her wings spread, and gazed into every pony below. At their admiring looks, she gave a smirk, a smirk of Rainbow Dash the Wonderbolt.
At this moment, time had forgotten where it put her. The smirk, across a long journey of half a century, found its way onto the young, vigorous Rainbow Dash's face, connecting the two in a long curve. Before Dash knew it, she had crossed her forelegs and was shouting her own name.
At her second shout, some of her audience had shaken off the shock and joined in.
At her third shout, Dash could no longer hear her own voice. Even with her hovering this high from Ponyville, the enthusiastic shouts from its ponies were enough to drown out her shout, embracing her in the warmth of a golden sun.
Dash relaxed her wings and flipped almost carelessly as she did a free fall. At the ninth backflip, she put herself in a horizontal flight, almost kissing her audience with her tail. Among the ponies watching, she saw foals of the Apples gathered in a group, gaping at her. Apple Bloom's youngest filly raised Applejack's grandson overhead just in time to let him have a hoof bump with Dash.
It wasn't long before Dash was in the clouds again. She turned around for the last time, took in a last deep breath of Ponyville's natural scent, and offered her last bow to her long-time neighbours. After that, she swung below a piece of cloud like a pendulum, heading towards her next stop.
Out of Ponyville, not everypony knew what Rainbow Dash looked like, but they did recognise her Wonderbolt-levelled flight and appreciated the surprise.
Appleloosa showed her passion, Manehattan gave her the applause, and even though the uptown Canterlot was somewhat reserved, the downtown was nothing short of a perfect stage. Pegasi of the royal guard closed in on Dash, but none of them could keep up with her flight. Then, when she'd had enough fun and turned herself in, the young guards were out of their minds. After all, it was the Rainbow Dash, one of the former captains of Wonderbolts that made it into history. Seeing her right in front of their eyes, somehow young again and even faster than history gave her credit on, struck even the leading officer speechless.
Dash then barged into the princesses' morning tea to say hello to the royal sisters. Ignoring the compassion in Luna's eyes, she basked in Celestia's compliments, before making her way through the dumbstruck guards and maids for the opposite windows.
She received the warmest welcome at Cloudsdale. Her hometown opened up her wings to hold her daughter close. When Dash soared over Cloudsdale Mega Stadium, the Cloudsdale hoofball derby was on. She didn't want to interrupt at first and just hovered there watching silently. Yet, when her iconic rainbow mane and tail were seen, everypony forgot about the game, even the players, coaches, and referees.
In the end, she just couldn't say "no" to the audience's thunderous requests. So she gave everything she had to the city where her heart belonged in this ten-minute improvised performance.
Silence reigned the stadium as Dash landed on the centre mark. After a moment, though, her audience burst into deafening cheers. The players ran towards the living legend of Cloudsdale, surrounding the cyan mare, the game long forgotten.
The referee took out the red card, not for sending off the players who stopped the game, but for Rainbow Dash's autograph. Dash had been happy to comply, before she realised that it would mean an autograph for every player's jersey.
After leaving the stadium, Dash didn't rush to depart. Instead, she visited every street and attraction in Cloudsdale, and relished in how everywhere was still so familiar even when they'd become alien. Just after noon, she went to her childhood favourite restaurant and was offered her favourite "pasta and potato sandwich on sourdough," hoof-made by the owner himself. The carbs fuelled her up for her to begin the second half of her journey.
She flew with her youthful self in lead, delivering surprises to ponies all around Equestria. The sun went westwards with her, silently painting the cerulean sky into shades of orange, then purely dark. Dash's wings were worn out, but also so light and agile, as they carried her forwards.
She hadn't felt so real for a very long time. It was too real for her to remember that all of this was just a beautiful dream, a farewell before the end of everything for her.
When Dash arrived at Los Antlers, it was late night, there was nopony outside to see her. Finally taking another much-needed break for her wings, she allowed herself to land on a random roof nearby and sat down. For the entire day she had been flying tirelessly, as she was, after all, riding a pair of rented wings.
She looked up at the various stars in the night sky. To be honest, she knew nothing about stargazing. All she had for stars is the envy of their long and shining lives.
Dash sat under the stars silently, until she felt her wings were good to go. Spreading her feathers tentatively, she gave a flap, and leapt into the sky. Still, there was no audience, so she danced in the night, alone. This time, it wasn't about speed nor manoeuvre, but relaxation and peace. It was a flight only for herself.
Just like how, before her story as the famous Element of Loyalty even began, she would fly under an ordinary clear night sky. She would be so carefree, letting the wind do all of the jobs as she closes her eyes, drifting forwards in a slow-paced glide. There would only be her wings and the open sky.
Every now and then, she would toss in a roll, or maybe a sharp turn, imagining how she would impress the Wonderbolts with her moves and earn their recognition.
Dash flew on, the chilled air embracing her, the winds massaging her unfurled feathers, the industrial scent of Los Antlers air teasing her nostrils. Perhaps, she was a little bit too comfortable, to the point her sense of smell was tricked into liking the smoggy scent. What should've been nothing but pungent somehow felt like the smoky smell of Cloudsdale's famous fried fish.
It wasn't a long flight, nor was it as taxing as her previous ones. Occasionally there were parks in the city, and she would take every chance to land and lie down for a while, where she would try to memorise the tingling of grass blade on her wings, gazing into the stars again. She had finally put her envies to rest; if the tales from her childhood were anything to believe, she would become one with the stars at tomorrow's moonrise and shine happily ever after.
Suitable, she would think.
When Dash lay down on the park near the coastline, she caught a glimpse of the crescent moon on the nightly background. She didn't want to care. She didn't need to care. As she listened to the rhythms of the sea from the distance, sleepiness flooded into her mind with each wave, dragging her deeper into -
Then she saw it. The crescent was already far to the west, not much higher from where the sea met the sky. A sense of deboning fear crept onto her, driving away any drowsiness as what Discord had said echoed around her head.
"From tomorrow's sunrise, until the sunrise after it, that's how long you shall be alive flying. Not even an extra split second."
Dash sat up and turned around to look at the opposite side of the sky.
A patch of it was starting to light up. Soon the sun would come up, spelling the end of Rainbow Dash's life story.
She took a leap, high into the sky, and soared across the coast, making a rush to where the moon would submerge.
Rainbow Dash flew west, because she wasn't ready to say goodbye and take her grand exit.
Rainbow Dash flew west, because she hadn't seen the last of the sky and wasn't done flying.
Rainbow Dash flew west, because it would be another great adventure, where she raced against the sun herself.
Rainbow Dash flew west, just because she could.
All the way west, Dash knew how this ridiculous race would end. Even if she could manage to keep ahead of the sunrise, she wouldn't escape the coming of tomorrow. A book she had read somewhere in her life talked about an invisible barrier called the Date Line, where the planet is divided into today and tomorrow. Flying west, she wouldn't make it a lap before trespassing into the tomorrow that didn't belong to her, ending it all.
Now it's more of the race itself than winning. Dash hadn't slowed down a bit, but she no longer feared the end. She just felt like taking up the challenge and wanted to print this race for her life in the very depth of her soul.
After becoming a Wonderbolt on the ground, Dash had never been in any kind of race. And even before that, how many races had she evaded, in fear of losing? Her soaring heart couldn't help but feel a sense of pity. If she had taken some of those races, be they well-known or not, she would have had so much more fun in her life, even if she lost more than she won.
None of those mattered now, though. The warmth was catching up on her. The light was surrounding her. No matter how fast she flew, the moon was going to sink anyway, only a glowing tip above the horizon now.
Maybe it's time to concede her first defeat and put this long story to an end.
Dash pulled her wings back into a hover and turned around.
She saw the dawn lighting up everything within sight. She saw the sun coming up from the ocean. Perhaps, the sun didn't consider itself to have risen fully, for Dash could still hover there and witness its climb.
But then she felt it coming. Strengths faded from her body.
So she took one last long gaze into the rising sun, before closing her eyes and holding her wings close. As a new day came, Rainbow Dash let gravity claim herself and fell into the hymn of waves and winds.
The End
Author's Note
So, this is the end of Rainbow Dash. I hope you enjoyed it.
