Chapters They lived in a big house, just a few miles from Cloudsdale. It was just the two of them, father and daughter. He had bought the house after her mother left, to get her away from the city. The father’s name was Silver Cloud. Her name was Dash.
She didn’t remember much about her mother, just that she was a tall, white pegasus with marvelous pink hair. Whenever she asked her father, he could only say that she was ‘beautiful’, and then changed the subject. Silver Cloud worked at the weather factory. He would often take her with him, instead of hiring a foalsitter. She loved going with him, to see him work, to see how they made the rain, and the thunder, and the rainbows. She especially loved to see the rainbows.
She was an adorable little filly, with cerulean fur, big, pink eyes, and a soft, smooth mane of pearl-white. When she was of age, it came time for her to go to school. He would take her to Junior Flight School, and then he would go to work. She got very lonely. She wasn’t an especially good flyer, and the bullies only made it worse. She would count the seconds until the final bell rang. Silver Cloud would be there, tired from work, but still happy to see her.
One day as she left the school building, her father was there, and he told her that his boss needed him to work an extra shift that night. She wasn’t unhappy, it had happened before. It was almost spring, they needed extra help for the coming changing of seasons.
She was excited. Her father had recently gotten a promotion. This meant he had one of the most difficult jobs in the factory, in the room where they refined the crude colours into rainbows. Rainbows do not start as they are; they must be extracted from a raw substance, which is very volatile, as it is made out of almost pure magic.
The large room was full of huge vats, each holding hundreds of gallons of crude rainbow. A large crane hung overhead, to remove vats so they could be refined. Silver Cloud’s job was to go to each vat and take its temperature, so they could know which ones were cool enough to take to the next room.
It started out normally. They both put on protective gear, goggles, aprons, boots. He retrieved a small clipboard, a pen, and a large scientific thermometer from a cabinet to the side. Smiling, they set off to their work. The night manager didn’t care that she was there, as long as the job got done. The work was slow and mundane, but they loved each other’s company. They worked for hours, him carefully monitoring the temperature of every last mixture, while she told him about her day at school.
And then, it happened.
Wham.
All of a sudden, time seemed to slow. His emerald eyes froze, with a look of shock and terror on them. The momentum of the crane’s load overcame his mass, and he was sent plummeting into a cesspool of scalding-hot colour. She thought she screamed, but she heard no sound. She panicked. Somepony had hit an alarm, but it wasn’t fast enough. Fearfully, she plunged into the liquid. The pure, undiluted mixture burned her skin. She began to hyperventilate, as her head slowly sank into the viscous heat.
She woke up with a terrible pain everywhere. Everything around her was white. Her vision was blurred, but she could distinctly hear a continuous beep, telling her she was still alive. Her vision cleared, and she realized that she was in a hospital room. She tried to move. Her muscles were stiff, and one of her wings was definitely broken. She tried to remember what had happened after she dove into the rainbow. She could hear voices, hurried voices, concerned voices, but not her father’s voice.
“Well hello there, little filly” came a voice from somewhere. She turned her head. A tall grey pegasus in a lab coat with glasses was standing in the corner. “It seems you’ve been out for a while. A week, almost.” She suddenly got worried. A week? What had happened? Where was her father? “I know you want to get out of here, but we’ll need to keep you here for a few more days. After that–” he paused, a look of uncertainty spread across his face. “Now, you need more sleep. You’ve had quite a week. I’ll just–” he started, but before he could prepare the syringe, she was gone.
She bolted down the hallway, scaring nurses and patients. Where was she? Where was her father? How was she going to get home? Before she could answer these, she came upon a mirror, and for the first time, she was surprised by the figure looking back at her. She was wearing bandages on her torso and wings, but that wasn’t what concerned her.
Her mane had gone from its placid white to all sorts of colours, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. It had been frizzled, so now it had no established order at all. She began to cry. Her father loved her hair, her perfect, neat, milky-white hair. What would he say? What would everyone at school say? She ran, not caring for any direction, just wanted to get away, away from this terrible nightmare. Not thinking, she bust through a pair of doors. It was dark. Several larger ponies were standing around a table, examining something lying upon it.
He was lying there, wearing the same shocked, horrid face she had seen just before he had fallen in. He was laid horizontally, his limbs set into panicking, frantic positions. He was covered from head to toe in asymmetrical colours, and his skin was cold and smooth, as if he had been sculpted from wax.
He definitely wasn’t going to care about the colour of her hair.
Something happened during the accident, something that changed her forever. Her life was now becoming normal again, or as normal as it would ever be for her from now on. She had been taken in by Thunderstreak, one of her father’s friends from the factory. He and his wife, Lily Blossom, had a young filly about Dash’s age. Her name was Fluttershy. At first, they hadn’t gotten along very well. Dash was depressed from her father’s passing, and Fluttershy was, well…. shy. However, one day, that all changed.
Dash soared through the sky. A multicoloured spectrum flashed across the azure sky behind her. She was no longer the young, awkward flyer she was in junior flight school, but was now at the top of her class. Suddenly, she saw a familiar yellow filly, surrounded by other ponies. Something was wrong. Fluttershy was cowering. She zoomed down to a perch on a lower cloud to check it out. She heard what was going on.
Fluttershy! Fluttershy! Fluttershy can hardly fly!
The group of hecklers consisted of other school kids, mostly older ponies. Fluttershy was lying in a fetal position, crying. Dash went into a steep dive, and landed right between them, kicking up a puff of water vapor. Some of the younger ponies flinched.
“Hey! Leave her alone!” she shouted, her tiny voice cracking. “It’s not her fault that she’s not a great flyer!” The oldest one among them, a large brown colt named Dumbbell, laughed at her.
“Whatever, Rainbow Crash !”. He nodded sideways, and the whole group flew away, still laughing. Fluttershy turned around to see what had happened. Dash held out a hoof, and she stood up.
“Th-thank y-you. I just d-don’t know what I would’ve done if y-you hadn’t been here” she said, wiping tears from her turquoise eyes.
“No problem,” said Dash, nonchalantly, “Nopony deserves to be treated like that.” The way she had been treated when she was a bad flyer, before the accident.
After that, they had gotten along like two birds of a feather. She protected Fluttershy because she reminded Dash of herself at a young age, awkward, innocent, and lonely. Before Dash was there, her only friends were her parents and her teachers, but they couldn’t protect her everywhere. A few months later, Thunderstreak burst into the house mid-afternoon, excited, with a mysterious brown envelope tucked under his wing. He brought thrilling news.
They were going to see the Wonderbolts.
He quickly presented three silver tickets from the envelope. Dash’s eyes became the size of dinner plates. “The Wonderbolts‽ Like, the best most super amazing undeniably undoubtably awesome Wonderbolts‽ The–” Thunderstreak almost had to put his hoof in her mouth to stop her. He explained further. Sunburst, one of the factory workers, had caught the pony pox, and couldn’t go with his family. He, Fluttershy, and Dash would go to the airshow at the Cloudsdale Coliseum on Saturday.
The stadium was packed. The Wonderbolts trained in Clousdale during the off-season, but they stayed in Canterlot for most of the year. The only times they returned were for the Best Young Flyer competition (won this year by a promising mare named Surprise), and for one show. Tickets were selling for hundreds of bits. Dash was skipping happily above the crowd, while Fluttershy cowered near her father. They had excellent seats, in the top section. There were many vendors selling souvenirs, and Dash prodded Thunderstreak until he bought her a pair of replica goggles. And then, it began.
She had never seen such flying. They were the fastest ponies she had ever seen, zooming in all directions with perfect agility. One of them zoomed right by the balcony, almost hitting the coliseum floor before recovering. It continued for two hours, but to Dash, it might as well have lasted forever.
She couldn’t talk about anything else for an entire week. She wore the goggles constantly, even sleeping with them on. Posters of the team wallpapered her side of their room. Every day in flight school she tried to copy their manoeuvres, usually spinning out of control but sometimes making a loop-de-loop or a barrel roll. Many of the other school ponies were in awe, some jealous. When she finally returned to the ground, they stomped their hooves in approval. “Wow, Dash, that was awesome!” they would say. They were, confused, though, when she shook her head.
“From now on, you can call me Rainbow Dash.”
Chapter 3: The Sonic Rainboom
You may have heard the story of the first sonic rainboom, but what you heard was probably wrong.
It started off as a normal day, but Celestia knows it didn’t end as one. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had just finished lunch, and were heading outside for their afternoon flying lesson. Rainbow, as usual, wore her Wonderbolts goggles around her neck, now worn a bit from months of use. Fluttershy was laughing at a joke she had just told her, when a chestnut blur appeared, and a strapping colt was standing directly in their path.
“Dumbbell” Rainbow said, a tinge of anger in her voice. “What, are you still mad ‘cuz I beat you in the last flying exam?” It was true. That only seemed to make him angrier. Fluttershy let out a silent whimper.
“If you’re so great, why do you always hang around with Klutzershy ? Everypony knows she can’t fly to save her–” He was stopped by the sudden contact of one powder blue wing to his face. His face changed from its usual tint to an enraged maroon. He raised his hoof, but she laughed.
“You wouldn’t hit a girl , would you?” It took a while for it to take full effect in his mind. And then, the tiny gears within moved with a rusty squeal. He quickly launched an uppercut, and she dodged. But he wasn’t aiming for her.
The amber glasses were lifted from her neck, and soared into the air. The clouds were soft, but nonetheless they landed with a mighty CRACK. Now Rainbow Dash’s face became red. Fluttershy was now curled up like an armadillo.
“You….. you…….” Staring at the broken goggles, she couldn’t find a single word, her mouth twisted into a crooked frown, her eyes focusing upon them as if she could magically repair them simply with a stare. She held back a single tear. She slammed her hoof to the ground, and looked him straight in the eye. “You. Me. Cloud Circuit. Tomorrow morning. Come alone .” He smiled at the corner of his mouth. She did a quick 180, and began to walk away. She gestured with her wing, and Fluttershy joined her, sobbing quite audibly.
Cloud circuit was located in the more desolate part of Cloudsdale, an old Wonderbolts training ground, now trodden upon only by the bravest pegasi. The princess had just begun to raise the sun, setting beams of orange and gold across the sky. Rainbow Dash stood under a faded START sign. The morning light brightened the spectrum of her mane. She smiled. Maybe he wouldn’t show up. Maybe he was too chicken. Except he wasn’t.
“You should have brought your mommy and daddy, in case you hurt yourself.” This made Rainbow Dash furious, but he didn’t know. None of them knew. To them she was just a freak with a wild manecut.
“Just shut up and let’s settle this,” she said, clenching her teeth. “I’d hate for you to miss your nap time.” Dumbbell let out a sadistic smile.They lined up at the decrepit starting post. The new sun shone brightly in their eyes.
“One…. two…..” she began, but before Rainbow Dash could get to three, he was off. Cheater. She rocketed after him, a light spectrum in her wake. The wind almost forced her eyes closed. If only she still had her goggles. She could only see a small brown dot a ways in front of her. She made a sharp left turn to follow it. She began to get closer, and closer, until she finally passed him. There was a shocked look on his face. She smiled, and surged forward. Her multicoloured hair was swept straight back. The drag was beginning to build up, pushing her back, but she pressed forward. A cone of solid air formed in front of her. She just wanted to break it, like everything else that was holding her back. She went faster, and faster….
Boom.
The shockwave shattered windows as far as Baltimare. Ponies in the surrounding area ran into the streets, wondering what happened. Rumors spread like wildfire, some said it was a great dragon that had taken residence in the Matterhoof, others believed that the Griffons were attacking again, yet some thought that it was the beginning of some alien invasion. They all saw the shockwave, a circle of multiple colours that spread across the sky, blocking out the sun. A little pegasus in the forest had to calm down the animals. A unicorn passed her exam. There were earthquakes in the desert of New Mulexico. A little filly in Manehattan found her way home. Only about five ponies knew what it really was, and one of them was on the moon.
The supersonic speck drove right through a cloud, and started to spin out of control. She landed in a patch of deserted cloud, the ends of her mane charred, drawing slow, deep breaths.
Luckily for her, somepony found her before she passed out. She woke up for the second time in her life in a hospital room. She didn’t panic. Panicking had so far only done bad things for her. The door was opening. Probably some doctor, or nurse, or a teacher coming to expel her, or her foster parents coming to disown her. She was surprised, then, when a great alicorn wearing a crown entered the room.
“P….pr….princess‽ ” She couldn’t believe her eyes. She was hallucinating. The princess had come to banish her from the kingdom, or something much worse. “Hello, Rainbow Dash” she said. She was sort of shocked to hear her name spoken by the divine monarch.
“We need to talk.”
Chapter 4: Junior Speedsters
She had been in trouble before, but never like this, she imagined. Before she could even respond, she was imagining all sorts of terrible scenarios. Maybe she’d go to the Canterlot dungeons. Maybe she’d be banished. She’d even heard from some of her school friends that they used to send ponies to the moon, but she was pretty sure that was just a myth. But, why was the princess here?
“I’m sure you’re very confused right now.”
Wasn’t that true.
“Am– am I in trouble?” she asked, waiting with bated breath.
“Oh, no. Quite the opposite, in fact. Rainbow Dash, you’re a very... special pegasus. You’ve got a lot of talent. That’s why I’ve decided to send you to a more advanced program.” She was bewildered.
“Sp-special? Advanced?”
“Oh, yes. Starting next term, you’ll be studying at Junior Speedsters Flying School, a very prestigious academy, and one more suited to your natural ability.” Rainbow Dash was shocked. Junior Speedsters‽ The private school on the other side of Cloudsdale, only attended by the most skilled and, well, richest young pegasi?
“But– I– can’t– don’t–” The princess hushed her.
“Now, naturally, due to your circumstances, your tuition will be covered by the royal treasury. I want you to succeed.” She almost wanted to get out of her bed, and hug the alicorn. Herself, going to a private flying school? However, a new thought popped up in her head.
“Um– Princess C– Your majesty, I, um– wh-what about Fluttershy?” She couldn’t very well leave her best friend, practically her sister, all alone, to be bullied. The princess looked confused for a second, and then understood. “Fluttershy will no longer be going to flight school.” This shocked Rainbow Dash, but Celestia interjected. “–however, she will now be pursuing an alternate course of study. An animal shelter in Ponyville has graciously accepted her as an intern. You’ve got a lot of potential, don’t let it go to waste. Fluttershy will be fine.” She smiled.
A small unicorn with a disorganized purple mane stuck her head through the door.
“Princess! We’ve got to get back to Canterl–” She paused at the sight of Rainbow Dash.
“Just a second, dear.” The filly disappeared. The princess chortled. Rainbow’s mouth was agape.
“Cloudwalking spell. That was my new student. It’s funny, she actually passed her entrance exam during the race. Perhaps you two shall meet again someday–” Her voice trailed off. “Well, I must go. Good luck, and never give up on your dreams.” With a wink, she moved out of the room. Rainbow Dash’s head was filled with thoughts. What would this new school be like? Would they like her there? Would they tease her? Would she ever see Fluttershy again?
Of the two times she had been in the hospital, this was definitely the best. She would still be at regular flight school for the rest of the year, but everything had changed. She was now the big mare on campus. Fluttershy was still there, and she enjoyed this sudden rise to the top. Dumbbell was nowhere to be seen. He wasn’t dead, Rainbow Dash had seen him at the hospital, but he wasn’t at school.
Soon enough, September came, and she was off to her new school. She bid goodbye to Thunderstreak, Lily Blossom, and Fluttershy, as they dropped her off.
It was an imposing structure, a solid brick Neo-Classical building, three stories tall (including the mezzanine) which one would struggle to understand how it could stay afloat on clouds alone. Legends were told of this school, which nearly all of the Royal Canterlot Guards and the Wonderbolts had attended. Pegasi flew about it in pairs, chatting, wearing lavender-and-gold striped ties and bows. She looked around in amazement for a while.
“Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Da-ash!”
She looked around. The voice came from an older, mauve pegasus galloping from the great oak double doors.
“If you’ll just come with me please, we’ve got a lot to do, you know, you’re a rather late entry, but you know with what the princess said I’m sure you’ll have no trouble–” They entered the school. “Now, we’ve got to go to the office, do some paperwork, make sure your transcripts got here- did I introduce myself, I’m Amber Dawn, Assistant Dean of Students– oh, we are terribly late–” Her voice faded into the distance as Rainbow Dash admired the school. She saw ponies, lots of ponies, most of them she didn’t recognize. A trophy case took up nearly an entire hall, full of silver and gold medals and medallions and cups earned by the school’s most skilled flyers.
Amber Dawn whisked her through a tornado of forms, sign this, initial this, write this here. It went on for what seemed like hours, until she finally handed her a manila envelope with 289 written on it in permanent marker. She then led her to a second, still impressive building behind the main one. This was the dormitory. She went over the rules, lights out at eleven, such and such, and then finally released her to her own business. Post-haste, she flew up to the second floor, and found the room that matched the number. Rock music blared through the door. She dug around in the bag with her wing until she was able to find a key. She put it in the lock, and opened the door.
What she saw inside surprised her. It was a creature unlike any she had ever seen, with the head, wings, and front limbs of an eagle, a purple streak highlighted in her feathers, and the lower body of a lion. A pair of purple eyes focused on her.
“Hey. ‘sup?”
Junior Speedsters are our lives, Sky-bound soars and daring dives Junior Speedsters, it's our quest, To some day be the very best!
In some ways, life at her new school was exactly as Rainbow Dash had expected it, and in a lot of ways, it wasn’t. She certainly didn’t expect having a griffon as a roommate. Prior to that day, she had never even seen one, outside of the occasional picture in the Cloudsdale Herald . Relations between griffons and ponies weren’t exactly cordial, so not many lived in Equestria. Gilda was the only one of her kind at the school. Rainbow Dash could definitely empathize with her. Another thing she didn’t expect was the work. She had figured that at a place like this, the academic load would be lighter as they put a focus on flying. She was wrong. Her classes here were much harder than they had been at public school. Not only was she expected to take the normal classes like she did before, she also now had Flight Theory, Early Equestrian History, and Meteorology.Classifying Clouds ,” the class gave a group sigh as they heaved the tremendous tome from their bags, “can anypony tell me what the average altitude of a stratoculumus cloud is?” He stared around the room with a dumbstruck expression. The class looked around awkwardly. Rainbow Dash adjusted the violet scarf around her neck. “Well,” he said, as if everypony in the room was hanging on the edge of their seats, “As the renowned unicorn meteorologist Windvale the Wise calculated, the average altitude of a stratocumulus cloud is about...” Rainbow Dash’s head slowly lolled to the side until she was looking straight out the window. The fourth-years were practicing flight manoeuvres. What she wouldn’t give to be out there. Professor Nimbus’ lecture sounded like the most unpleasant sound a bagpipe could make. He was now writing the names of several terribly disinteresting cloud types on the blackboard. She sighed. Several ponies drooled over their notes. She looked around the room again. An off-white stallion with a blazing orange mane was looking at her, giving a suggestive smile. She blushed, and turned back around. A paper airplane had landed on Rainbow’s desk. She looked around. A pearl-headed griffon was winking at her from across the room. Gilda was a year ahead of Rainbow Dash, but she had failed the class last year. The teacher was still babbling on about precipitation. She unfolded it.
Who’s the handsome colt?
She looked back to the pegasus. He had temporarily switched focus to his notes, but gave her a wink with one saffron eye when he saw her. She quickly grabbed a quill with her mouth, and scribbled as best she could:
I don’t know.
Her writing wasn’t as good as Gilda’s neat cursive, but it was excusable due to her lack of opposable thumbs. She balanced the plane in her hoof, aimed, and....
"I hope I’m not interfering with your playtime, Rainbow Dash."
She turned around, terror in her eyes. Professor Nimbus was giving her the eye through his thick spectacles. The ponies in the rows in front of her had turned around in curiosity. She blushed. “I would like you to stay after class.” He turned around and continued to drone on about humidity at high altitudes.
“Just because you’ve been sent here by the Princess doesn’t mean that you can slack off in all of your classes, Rainbow Dash.” He adjusted his glasses. “I expect to see a five hundred page essay on this chapter on my desk, at the beginning of class tomorrow. Am I understood?” Rainbow Dash gave a sullen nod. “Good. You’re smart enough to succeed, you just need to put in the effort.”
As she slammed the door behind her with an audible sigh, Gilda was waiting in the hallway.
“Got some extra homework, did ya, ya little punk? That’ll teach you for passing notes in class” she said in a heavily facetious voice. She laughed. Rainbow angrily blew a thicket of scarlet-and-tangerine hair out of her eyes.
“Let’s just get to our next class, OK?” She said, head held low.
“Hey, relax kid. Professor Nimrod’s given me lots of extra homework over the years. You’ll be fine.”
“Tardy again, little princess?” Coach Greywing had adopted this nickname for her since she started halfway through the year. Rainbow Dash didn’t care. As long as she could fly, she was happy. The assistant coach beside Greywing wrote on a small clipboard with a quill held in his mouth. “Well then” she said. “Now that her majesty is here, we’ll start off with some basic flight manoeuvres. Everypony, get in formation.” The pegasi dashed onto the ground, getting into a loose formation on the soft clouds. Rainbow Dash was near the centre. The white stallion that was looking at her in Meteorology was near the edge. A loud tweeeeeeeeet issued from the coach’s whistle, and they all pushed up into the sky. They started off with the basics, doing a few laps around the school, and the pack began to spread out. Rainbow Dash was in the front, and when she looked over to her left, the stallion was there, flying almost as fast as her.
“Think you can keep up?” she said, wind rushing past her face. He said nothing, but gave a nod and rushed ahead of her. Grinning, Rainbow Dash accepted his challenge and bolted ahead in a spectrum of colour. The sensation was euphoric, the wind in her mane, the sensation of pure speed; she caught up with the white pegasus, overtook him, still accelerating....
Tweeeeeeeet!
Before she knew it, class ended. She landed just outside the track, kicking up a billow of water vapour, trying to catch her breath. The white colt was walking up to her, huffing and puffing.
“Man....heh..... you....heh..... really know your stuff” he said, nearly wheezing. “
You.....huh..... too. Name’s Rainbow Dash” she said, also out of breath.
“Funny, I thought it was ‘little princess’” she blushed. “I’m Fire Streak. Maybe we could, um, hang out later?” She blushed again.
“Oh, uh, okay. Whenever, I guess. I- uh, gotta get to my next class, but I’ll see ya ‘round, okay?”
“Yeah, that’s cool. See ya.”
Later that evening, the door to room 289 slammed with a solid THUNK. The walls of the room were completely covered, one half with Wonderbolts posters, the other, with posters of heavy metal bands such as Neighvana, Maretallica, and Judas Pony. The head of an eagle peered over the top half of the bunk bed to investigate the interruption.
“Hey. Did’ja meet your special somepony? ” Rainbow Dash looked up at her with a grievous frown, but then cracked a smile.
“Ha, no. Like I’d ever fall for that romantic crap.” Gilda looked slightly disappointed. She turned her attention back to the electric bass in her ill-postured lap. Rainbow Dash pitched herself into the bottom bunk, and immediately fell asleep.pretended to study together while they talked about flying, and even ate lunch together, much to the dismay of Gilda, who now refused to believe anything but Rainbow Dash and Fire Streak being marefriend and coltfriend, sneaking out behind the school between classes to make out.
It was from the Wonderbolts.
