The Rainbow That Never Was

"Ready to go out there?"

"Don't you think these flight-suits are a bit tight? I can hardly breath..."

"They're supposed to be like that- they keep you sleek and slim."

"If you say so..."

"Now come on, we were supposed to start a few minutes ago... don't want to be late for our first show."

As the two stepped out onto the launch platform, it was easy to see that their sponsors had done their job, and done it well. Within a matter of months, they'd managed to get enough ponies interested in the duo to fill up an entire flight stadium in Cloudsdale, and then some, hyping the pair up as: "The greatest fliers since the Wonderbolts." Interviews with ponies who had seen their earlier performance plastered the ads, drawing both hopefuls and skeptics to the show.

"There really are a lot of ponies out there... watching us..." Fluttershy blanched, looking around at the crowd. Even Rainbow Dash, with her seemingly endless confidence, couldn't quite keep her nerves down.

"Yeah... more than we've ever preformed for before, that's for sure. Don't worry though Fluttershy, we'll be fine." She tried to sound as certain as she could, but the movement of her hooves betrayed the tension as she idly scratched at the cloud she was standing on.

The announcer's voice startled her as it come on over the sound system, "Today, we've got a very special treat for all of you fans out there. The first professional performance of the newest flight team out there, the Thunderbirds!"

"That would be our cue." Rainbow Dash gave her partner a nudge, before the two of them took off, wings beating heavily.

"Remind me what we're doing up here Twilight?" Pinkamena asked nervously, constantly looking down as her hooves settled into the fluffy white with each step.

I already told you, it's for my studies." Twilight snapped back,  starting to becoming more than a little exasperated with the pink pony. "No one said you had to come." That kept her quiet for a moment. She'd taken to going places with Twilight, simply for the fact that she didn't know what else to do. She had her talent, of course- she'd discovered it in the years before she'd met Twilight, on her travels. It'd been just another lonely day, looking for somewhere she belonged, when she stumbled upon a pony even more distraught than she was. The small foal had been crying, alone on the streets, going unnoticed by all. Pinkamena had asked why the foal was crying. She'd explained, through sniffles and sobs, that it was her birthday, but she'd lost her balloon, and shortly after, had gotten lost from her parents. Pinkamena checked her bags, nodding as she trotted away, seeming not to care, just as every other pony on the road did. Having returned to her crying, the foal looked up when she heard the sound of approaching hoofsteps, being met with the sight of the long haired pink pony holding a balloon, her parents in tow. As Pinkamena handed over those blue and yellow balloons, ones that had come out of her own meager pool of bits, the look of joy on the face of the foal was indescribable to her- it gave her the warmest feeling she'd ever felt. Her cutie mark came with that, a spitting image of the balloons she'd delivered, though she was never quite sure what it meant. Whatever it was, there was no use she could find for it- nothing that would bring in enough bits to sustain her, and she'd eventually given up hope that she ever would.

Instead, Pinkie clung tightly to the only friend that she had in the world, Twilight Sparkle. It was far from a mutual friendship, but the unicorn let her stay with her, travel with her, and even had deep conversations with her, on occasion, a real heart to heart. Of course, she'd been far colder as of a few months ago... but she was sure that phase would pass, and that Twilight would be back to the friend she'd always been.

"I just wanted to know what we were going to do, Twi..." She replied after a long pause.

"Stop calling me that." Twilight snapped, straightening up a bit as she continued to speak. "We're going to a stunt show. In fact, we're here now." She said, walking up to the ticket booth. "Two tickets for the... Thunderbirds." She said, checking what the current show was.

"Sorry miss, all sol-"

I said two tickets." Twilight fished in her bags for a moment, before she was able to float out a rather large amount of bits, slipping them through the glass. "The extra is a tip. Take it, and go home." She said, not even bothering to wait for her ticket before walking inside.

Pinkamena followed close behind her, looking out at the weaving blurs of the two pegasi over the crowd whenever she got the chance. The stands were packed, Twilight simply leading her to a place in the aisle where they could see most of the stadium from. "Nice day." Twilight said quietly, eying the blue pony, watching her every movement.

"She's a great flier, isn't she?" Pinkamena said, watching how the blue pegasus looped and dived, never being anything less than graceful. It wasn't hard to see how all the Pegasi around them could get so enthralled, coming time and time again to see tricks like this.

"Great... such a gift she has there..." Twilight murmured, speaking mostly to herself as she perfectly followed Rainbow Dash's movements with her head.

The two of them sat in silence for a long while, in the middle of the loud crowd, watching. One watched in awestruck silence, while the other watched, and waited. "That's long enough." Twilight said, getting to her hooves and stretching, looking back at Pinkamena. "I've got something to take care of now." Her manner was abrupt as she turned, walking down the steps in the center of the isle towards the stadium.

Pinkamena was left to think, pondering how this had anything to do with her studies. Then it clicked. One word, a word she'd heard uttered a few months before. Her eyes widened as she knew what was about to happen, bounding down the stairs to stand infront of Twilight.

"I know what's going on... you don't have to do this..."

"You're wrong. I do."

"But... this... this isn't you! The Twilight I know would never do this."

"Prehaps I'm not the Twilight you know. Get out of the way Pinkamena. Leave."

"No, not unle-"

There was a sudden sharp noise, and Pinkamena felt a stinging in her cheek as she stumbled to the side, Twilight pulling her hoof back from the slap she'd just delivered. "I said, leave. I won't take your next refusal so lightly."

Pinkamena just watched as Twilight walked by, her eyes watering lightly as she walked back the way she'd come. Seeing the ponies in the crowd, all so happy, all cheering, she knew she had to do something. Turning to a couple, she pleaded with them to leave. They stared at her as if she were crazy. They all did. Not a single pony listened to her. She left alone, helpless to do anything.

"Now that she's out of the way..." Twilight muttered, a few ponies finally taking note of her as she reached the rim of the stadium, looking down over the edge. With barely a moment's hesitation, she stepped out over the edge.

Her horn shone brightly as she caught herself, the base of each of her hooves glowing for a moment as she stabilized, walking on the air as if it were a floor. Even the sound of her hooves against a surface was there, despite walking on what was simply air.  She had the crowd's attention now, all eyes locked on the powerful unicorn.

The performers had noticed too. "What in the world...?" Rainbow Dash muttered to herself, pulling her flight goggles down around her neck as she ground to a halt, looking down at the lavender pony below her. Fluttershy was stopped a small distance away from Dash, and Dash motioned for her to stay where she was as she descended to Twilight's level, wings flapping slowly to keep her floating there. "What do you think you're doing?"

Studying."

"What? What are you talking about? I think we nee-"

"I'm doing what my teacher told me. Isn't that how you got good at flying?" She asked, raising a brow at the pegasus.

"Of course... there's no way I could've learned everything on my own..."

"And you also had tests, yes?"

"Yes... We had to show that we were good enough at one thing, before we could learn the next... I still don't get how all this is supposed to make sense..."

"You should understand how I feel then... and why I have to do this." Twilight's horn glowed for but a second, a pulse of purple light flashing through the clouds that she'd been standing on not two minutes before.

Then, everything exploded.