Familiar Skies: Part 1

Rainbow Dash

The bright blue comforter and matching cloud-shaped pillows had been the only bright thing in Rainbow's life as of recently. Oh sure, she'd tried to go outside and enjoy the day, but she never seemed to make it longer than a few minutes without getting inexplicably bored. She hated this feeling, though she couldn't understand what it was.

She still got out of bed, but it took her far longer than it ever had before, and as each day dragged on, she found it more and more difficult to leave her soft, welcoming sheets. Her parents had tried their best to encourage her, to help her, in their own unique way. They'd even gone as far as bringing board games into her room and chatting with her, on the days she'd found it hardest to leave.

But, despite these efforts, it still hadn't worked. By the time Bow and Windy had felt it safe enough to allow Rainbow back into the summer flight camp, the season had ended. Rainbow had already been frustrated at being taken out early- but this had been the clincher.

Her parents had assured her that "there was always next summer!" but that hadn't done enough to soothe her pain. She hated being home, but she couldn't stand being outside either. It was driving her crazy. In her bed was where she lay now, curled up in the soft safety of her blankets, her rainbow mane strewn across the lumpy shape of her pillow.

Rainbow was staring at the small sliver of sunlight that was peeking through her curtains, shining the bright beam on the opposite wall. Through the sliver, she could see the blurred silhouette of clouds floating along, casting a deep blue shadow temporarily over the light as it floated by.

She got so lost in the beam of light that the sudden knock on her bedroom door nearly made her jump out of her skin. She yelped, and immediately felt ashamed at doing so. Rainbow turned, well more tumbled, to her other side and sat upright in her bed.

"Yeah?" She called out, her voice cracking.

"Rainbow dear- are you alright?" Her mother's voice called from the other side, muffled slightly by the door.

Rainbow huffed a sigh, but replied. "Yeah... I'm okay."

She bunched her blankets up closer to her, and wrapped the excess cloth around her head and shoulders.

"Well, um, sweetie, your father has a surprise for you downstairs. I-if you'd like it, I don't want you to do anything you don't want to." Windy replied. Rainbow could tell by her tone that she was in a worrying mood.

For as generally upset and isolated Rainbow had felt these past few weeks, she also had begun to see the ways in which her parents tried so hard to help her. And, although she really didn't want to get up today... well, heck, what would be the trouble if she entertained them for a moment?

"Okay." Rainbow replied, shoving off her comforter and shuddering at the static the cloth rippled over her mane and coat.

"Okay, what?" Windy replied.

"Like- okay I'll go downstairs." Rainbow huffed, momentarily considering rejecting the offer, and crawling back under her blankets.

"Oh! Okay- alright. Well, I'll see you downstairs, sweetie." Windy chirped, and Rainbow heard her hooves receding back down the hallway.

Rainbow took her time walking to her door and opening it. She noticed the brightness of the rest of the house compared to her room. It hit her in that moment that she didn't actually know what time it was.

Burying that thought, Rainbow continued out of her room, leaving her bedroom door open just a crack. Slowly, as if preventing something, she made her way downstairs. She had expected to hear her parents talking in the usual, excited way that they did. But she didn't hear that, or even any hushed whispers of excitement, like they'd done to spoil her "surprise" birthday party last year.

The silence made her pause, standing still on the final step of the stairs. To her right was the open living room, and no-one sat in there, as far as she could see. To her left was the wall and doorway leading into the kitchen, where she suspected her parents were. For some odd reason, she felt as though she was in trouble, though she hadn't done anything recently to warrant that fear.

The tension in the air kept her there on that final step, hesitating. After a moment, she leaned forward, and peered around the corner of the kitchen entrance. Her parents sat at the table, her mother solemnly sipping a mug of tea. Windy had been looking more and more worried ever since the accident at flight camp.

Rainbow's father sat with his back to her, looking down at something on the table. He held his head in his hoof and let out a deep sigh.

"I think it was a good idea." Windy sighed, taking another slow sip of her drink.

"Yeah... I just... I don't know." Bow replied, tapping his hoof on whatever sat on the tabletop, just out of Rainbow's sight.

Rainbow decided to kill the tension. She pulled back from her looking spot and loudly stomped on the step she was on. She continued her louder hoof steps as she walked off the step and into the kitchen doorway. She noticed how her parents perked up as she entered the room. They both turned to look at her, smiles spreading across their faces as they did so.

"Hey kiddo!" Bow called out, waving to Rainbow Dash as she walked into the room.

Rainbow suppressed the urge to roll her eyes and continued her slow trot to the table. She hopped up onto a nearby seat and gave her father a weary look as he slid the mystery item towards her. She glanced down and immediately recognized them to be two tickets to a flying event, a piece of paper that she'd become intimately familiar with after years of attending Wonderbolt shows. She'd even begun pinning them to the walls of her room.

Rainbow's glance shot back to her parents, a small spark of joy shimmering in her eyes. Her dad smiled back, and he patted the top of her head, ruffling her multicolored mane.

"I was hoping that would cheer you up!" He chuckled, glancing at Windy, who was smiling at the two of them, relieved that it had seemingly worked.

Rainbow sat up in her seat and looked closer at the tickets. Her heart sank a little as she read the name of the team performing, it wasn't any Wonderbolt troop she was familiar with.

"Now- it isn't a Wonderbolt show," Her dad interjected, noticing her declining mood. "They're off performing in Las Pegasus right now." Bow continued.

"But I've heard these guys put on a real good show- fireworks and stuff, I guess." He concluded, hoping his sales pitch would work.

Rainbow Dash squinted as she stared at the tickets, mulling over whether she wanted to bother with a group who weren't the Wonderbolts. She glanced at her parents, their eyes wide with anticipation. From their expressions alone, Rainbow was ready to call it quits and head back to her room and warm bed.

But, in spite of herself and the temptation to return to her room, she nodded and set the tickets back on the table. She couldn't stand the looks they'd been giving her, but she hated hurting their feelings even more.

"Okay, I'll go." She said, leaning back in her seat.

Her Dad yelped with delight, and swiftly swept her up into a bear-hug. Rainbow knew it was coming, though she still groaned in frustration when her mother flew over the kitchen table to join in. She only shoved them away when her face was pressed so hard against their hoofs, that she could feel her face turning pink.

Whoever these "Wing-Wreckers" were, they better have been worth it.

A few hours later, Rainbow's mane was brushed, and she felt mildly excited to go. Sure, she would've been 100 times MORE excited if it was the Wonderbolts- but, a show with fireworks and "crazy" stunts was probably the next best thing. She sat in her family's living room and was lazily running her hoof over their fluffy cloud carpet, leaving lines of circles brushed through the material.

She was just about to call out to her Dad when he appeared in the room, carrying a large, suspicious box in his hooves. Rainbow raised an eyebrow at this, and cringed when she saw the contents of the box as he set it down. Inside were the various pieces of wearable sports memorabilia that her father had been collecting over the years. (Most of which had been around since before Rainbow was born.)

She groaned and reeled away from the box. "Dad- I don't wanna wear any of this." Rainbow said, regretting her decision to attend the show.

"Aw come on kiddo," Bow replied, lifting an eyesore of a foam hat onto his head and wearing it with pride. "We haven't been to a show in months! It'll be fun!"

Rainbow tried (and failed) to pull away as Bow lifted a worn, but loved denim cap out of the box and placed it on Rainbow's head. Faded patches for teams past and present lined the bulk of the hat and added to the weight of it, making it sink on Rainbow's head. Well- that and it was one size too large for her smaller, foal-shaped head.

"Okay- okay!" Rainbow squeaked, hating how high her voice seemed to get whenever she was frustrated. "Can we go now?"

Bow beamed at Rainbow, lifting the brim to look her in the eye. "Yeah, we can go- we wanna make sure we get to our seats on time."

Rainbow muttered to herself in annoyance as they walked to the front door and left their home. "I wasn't the one wasting time with the stupid hats."

The walk to the smaller stadium on the outskirts of Cloudsdale was short, but had taken long enough for Bow to offer Rainbow a ride on his back the last stretch there. Rainbow accepted, though she still noticed the looks some ponies gave her father and his ridiculous foam hat. She buried her face behind the denim cap as they walked.

Finally, they arrived at the stadium, just as the sun was beginning to set, far off in the distance. The heavy shadows cast from the lowering sun were dramatic, the cloud architecture around them taking on a more suspenseful tone. Despite the embarrassment of the day, Rainbow once again felt excited for the event.

Ponies finished filing into their seats as the last rays of sunlight disappeared, bathing the stadium in deep purples and blues. Rainbow squinted and leaned forward as she saw, faintly, figures moving to the center of the stadium grounds.

Bright, multicolored lights suddenly flared on, their loud clicks and electric pulses making Rainbow jump slightly in her seat. The light illuminated a group of four pegasi standing in the center of the stadium grounds. They stood in choreographed poses and waved to the audience as cheers passed through the stadium seats. They all wore brightly colored red and blue costumes, with name tags on their shoulders that Rainbow couldn't make out from the distance.

"How's everyone doing tonight?" One of the performers called out, lifting a microphone in her hooves as she addressed the audience. The attendees called back with various hoots and hollers, clearly excited by the question.

"We're gonna expect a lot more noise from you after we're done here tonight!" Another performer called out, flying above the other and sweeping a hoof over his head in exaggeration. The crowd responded louder this time, roaring up in excitement and cheers.

"Alright!" The two performers called out again, both flying up into the air, as the other two pegasi with them rushed off to the sides. Together, all four began performing a flying routine, involving swooping as low as they could go without hitting the ground, and flying so close they almost- but never did- collide with each other.

Rainbow hadn't even noticed that during the routine, stadium workers had rushed out various props for the oncoming show, as the team dazzled the audience with their flight routine. Which is why she'd been surprised when the performers each landed on four separate pedestals positioned on opposite corners of the grounds.

For the next hour and a half, the audience- and most importantly, Rainbow Dash- was wowed with the various stunts and tricks performed by the Wing-Wreckers. Dodging lightning bursts, spinning around mini cyclones, leaping over fire pits- it was all so much to take in, and Rainbow was loving every second of it.

She'd always known that flying was awesome, and performing for an audience was awesome too- the Wonderbolts did it all the time. But she'd never thought that shows could be so exhilarating or dangerous.

At one point in the show, a performer flew so close to the audience that Rainbow lurched forward in her seat, grabbing onto the denim cap to prevent it from flying off. She'd nearly been thrown by the wind created by that one pegasus- it was amazing! And, just when Rainbow was sure she'd seen all the epic-ness she could, she looked on eagerly as the stadium workers pushed out a large crate of fireworks.

The audience cheered, Rainbow and her father joining in, as two of the performers held active sparklers in each hoof and began flying in a slower routine. Twirling and spinning the sparklers, the lights dazzled and illuminated the dark night. Rainbow grinned ear-to-ear, her heart racing, wondering what they would do next.

While the two flying performers spun the sparklers, the other two raced to their respective pedestals. The fountains began sparking to life, shooting off sparks of color and bright light, casting a colorful array over the audience. The two flying performers moved off to the side and began slowly flying in circles, still illuminating the crowd with their sparklers.

As their light died off, the standing performers dramatically unfurled their wings and leapt up into the air. They dived just above the fountain sparks and then soared back up into the sky, kicking up sparks in their wake. The colors swirled with their movements and followed them as they flew. The circling performers beside them tossed down their dead sparklers and joined in.

Together, all four performers dove back down towards the fountains and flew around them in a circular motion. They flew faster and faster around the fountains, and slowly began flying back up into the sky, their wings and created wind pulling the sparks up with them. They flew up and up, carrying the sparks on the tips of their wings, making the colors rise higher and higher into the sky, a beam of vibrant blues, greens, pinks, and yellows casting an amazing light over the crowd.

The energy was high enough to cheer, but everyone in the audience was silent, watching the act before them in awe. The night was already plenty dark and somewhat chilly, but Rainbow didn't notice. The sights before her spreading a warmth from her heart throughout her entire body.

Finally, the beam of light rose to a point as the pegasus performers neared each other, so close to touching. But, just as they flew so close, each performer turned and soared downward, taking their own stream of sparks and light with them. The sparks bloomed and spread across the sky, dimming and turning to small specks of ash once they reached the audience down below. The entire night was illuminated with colored sparks falling down like colored rain, sparkling and shimmering against the dark sky.

The fountains died down, spitting out a few, final bits of light as the pegasus performers flew back to the center of the grounds, and settled themselves in front of the fountains. They waved to the audience, who immediately erupted in cheers. Rainbow joined in with them, feeling as though she'd just experienced the most amazing thing ever to be seen by pony-kind.

Rainbow's heart was still pounding, and her mind still reeling from the amazing show when she arrived home. And that adrenaline-fueled energy continued long into the night, even after she'd been tucked in and her lights turned off. She couldn't stop being excited, the show with its lights and stunts and glamour had captured her entire attention. She hadn't been this excited since her first ever Wonderbolt's show.

She couldn't place it entirely, but she knew that what she'd experienced that night would stay with her for the rest of her life.