Sky High

The race wasn't supposed to be a big deal. It was just supposed to be a quick little thing that would pass a bit of time, 30 minutes at most. Suddenly it was like every pony in Ponyville knew about it. The fields were full of spectators, eager to see a good race between Rainbow Dash and some new pegasus named Skye. And how did every pony know about the race? Well one could say a little birdie told them, but that would be way too far from the truth. The truth is that it was roughly 40 little birdies, 13 squirrels, and a bear. Needless to say, the crowd was ready and so were the competitors.

Rainbow Dash was warming up as she normally does. She was stretching every part of her body that she would use to fly and even some she wouldn't, probably just showing off. She even did a few quick dashes into the sky to test her take off speed, still trying to impress the crowd. Skye took a much less methodical route to warming up. Instead of wing drills and stretching, he seemed to just fly around the field lazily, stretching out his wings.

Eventually a well dressed unicorn stepped up onto a podium, summoned a microphone, and began to speak with a very boisterous voice. His voice seemed to radiate from everywhere, as if by magic. “Fillies and Gentlecolts, welcome to the first annual Ponyville Open! Featuring, everypony's favorite weather pegasus and the only one to achieve sonic speeds, Rainbow Dash!” The entire crowd was bursting with cheers at the call of her name and even Rainbow herself was showing off, trying to get as many cheers as possible. There were even small, bright triangular rainbow flags waving throughout the air from her faithful fans. “And featuring her opponent, a strange pegasus from far out of town. Please give a warm welcome to...” The announcer looked around for anypony that would give him this mysterious pony's name. It wasn't long before Pinkie started jumping around, screaming her head off.

“IT'S SKYE HIGH, HIS NAME IS SKYE! GO SKYE!” Not many ponies were surprised by her actions.

The announcer cleared his throat before he began speaking again. “Thank you. Please give a warm welcome to, Skye High!” The response was was far less grand for Skye, only eliciting a few cheers and some applause. The only flag flying for Skye was Pinkie, holding a faint rainbow flag in one hoof and a bright one in the other, clearly trying to cheer for both parties. The other few cheers for Skye came from Twilight and Rarity, both positioned on either side of Pinkie. Needless to say, Rainbow Dash was the fan favorite.

The announcer stepped off his podium as he flew his microphone magically across the field to a pony wearing a black and white striped jersey. The pony had a very stern demeanor as he looked at both of the pegasus as they stepped toward the starting line. “Listen up!” He said on the microphone, yet he was talking directly to the racers. “From here you'll both fly to the town hall and then to the clocktower, then the schoolhouse, and finally back here, where you will have to pass around me before you do it again. Do you understand?” The two pegasus both nodded toward the referee. “Good, now. On your mark...” Rainbow Dash, was getting ready at the makeshift start line and Skye followed her example, he'd never flew in an 'official' race before. “...get set...” Rainbow got into her 'set' position, which was her leaning slightly forward with her head down and wings out. Skye attempted to mimic her and copied the position almost perfectly. Finally the referee yelled the word, “GO!!!”, and both pegasus launched off the starting line at amazing speed.

A huge gust of wind hit the crowd as their cheers began to slowly die down. The racers were already out of sight and most likely wouldn't be back for another minute or two. It was completely quiet in the stands as Derpy finally stood up. “So, what now?” She had the feeling that every spectator had while watching some kind of race. No pony responded to her, leading to her walking off towards the town. “Welp, goodbye everybody, that sure was fun!”

Rarity couldn't help but put her hoof towards her face. “I say, sometimes that pony can be so... be so...” She just couldn't find the right word to describe the pegasus and Twilight decided to help her out.

“Derpy?”

“Ah yes, I guess that one could use that word.”

Skye was soaring through the air behind Rainbow Dash, directly behind her, drafting off of her. While he'd never been in an actual race before, he learned from watching birds that you can draft behind other ponies to block the wind. In the long run, it would save a good amount of energy.

Rainbow Dash couldn't help but be a little creeped out by Skye's tactic, I mean she could practically feel his breath on her tail, he was way too close for comfort. She had tried flying as fast as possible, but just as Rainbow Dash thought, Skye was the real deal. He was right behind her no matter what speed she was flying.

The two pegasus zoomed past the outskirts of town and were already nearing their first checkpoint. As Dash made the turn around the town hall she was given the opportunity to look back, for just a second. She immediately figured out what he was doing pretty quickly and tried to think of the most logical response, she knew he was fast and wanted to race just as smart as he did. Sadly the most logical response when someone is drafting off of you is to slow down and as much as she hated not going all out, she wanted to win even more.

Now it was Skye's turn to respond and his memories of birds would help him again. He remembers, when the lead bird would get tired another bird would speed up and replace it, and that's exactly what he did. Before Rainbow Dash knew what happened Skye was right in front of her and he was losing her fast. Rainbow grit her teeth and sped up, trying to get as close behind him as possible. If he would draft off of her, then she would draft off of him.

She was behind him as they circled around the clocktower and the race was pretty uneventful until they both finally passed around the schoolhouse. Rainbow Dash hated playing from behind, no matter what she was doing. Worst of all she, the fastest pony in all of Equestria, was about to pass the crowd behind another pony. Yeah, she wasn't gonna let that happen. She flew as fast as she could around him, practically appearing right in front of him. He couldn't help but be surprised, she was wasting so much energy for no reason, did she forget that there was another lap?

The crowd sat patiently, waiting for the racers to return. Finally Rarity's keen eye caught sight of the two pegasus flying towards the referee. Most of the spectating ponies were surprised at how close Skye was to Rainbow. As far as they were concerned, Rainbow Dash was the fastest pegasus in Equestria, there was no pony out there that could be faster than her. All of the spectators began cheering, with huge smiles on their faces, something that Skye couldn't help but notice. He knew he was doing good, trying to give the best show possible, he knew that he had to beat Rainbow Dash.

Just as soon as the competitors appeared, they were gone but that didn't stop one particular grey pony from flying back to the stands. She clearly didn't see the racers and started yelling towards the crowd. “Guys! Guys! Those ponies are back, see.” She pointed out where they already came from, sat down next to Rarity, and waited for them to return.

Rarity couldn't help but look at her with a concerned, confused face. “You know sweetie, sometimes you can be very... be very...” The word slipped through her mind again. Twilight couldn't help but jump in again.

“Derpy.”

“Yeah? What's up Twilight?” Responded the derpy pony, as if she didn't understand what was happening. “Don't worry, they're coming back. I saw them, i swear.” She turned her head away from Twilight and looked intently towards the direction of the schoolhouse.

“Uh, yeah, I'm sure they'll be here soon.”

Rainbow Dash was starting get tired, she knew that at this point there was only one way to win and it was by doing something that only she could do. She started slowly gaining altitude, keeping track of where the checkpoints were so she wouldn't overshoot any of them or cut any corners. Skye wasn't quite sure what she was doing, but he also had a plan. He was going to do something that would be sure to impress the crowd and maybe even impress Rainbow Dash. He followed her all the way, making sure to turn as they passed by the town hall, many meters above it.

Rainbow Dash was pretty sure that she had this race in the bag. She was a little worried that he wouldn't follow directly behind her, but now that he was going the distance to rise in the air with her, she was defiantly gonna win. All she had to do was keep rising in the air all the way to the clocktower and the schoolhouse then she could 'Sonic Rainboom' the straight away. This was going to be a piece of cake. The energy flowed through her as she rose high into the sky, with Skye right behind her.

They both made the turn around the clock tower and headed toward the schoolhouse. They could both see everything from the altitude they were at and Skye really just wanted to stop and admire the view. He hadn't really flew in the air on the way to Ponyville and never noticed the beautiful landscape to its fullest. But he had a race to win and he knew how he was gonna do it. Finally the two ponies rounded the turn to the finish line.

Skye sped up right next to Rainbow Dash as they both started to descend, rapidly gaining speed. Rainbow Dash was smiling as she started to warp the air around her, causing her eyes to open wide. She was descending at almost a 90 degree angle, along with Skye. Suddenly she hit the breaking point as a rainbow explosion hit Equestria, causing the sound of a huge explosion. But it all felt weird to Rainbow Dash. Did she hear the sound barrier break... twice? No. There was no way. THERE WAS NO WAY. She looked over her shoulder to see Skye High, passing her on the straight away, very slowly, with a huge grin on his face.

Both of the racers had pushed themselves so hard. They were neck and neck all the way as they zoomed through the finish line, not even noticing the flash of light to their left. They both zoomed up into the air and then started slowing down as they descended down toward the field. Skye had a bright smile on his face, he heard the crowd cheering and shouting and even better he enjoyed the race. He was breathing pretty heavily, but not nearly as heavy as Dash. Dash descended, with a very annoyed look on her face. How could some other pony, any other pony do the Sonic Rainboom? That was like, her thing. Not cool.

The crowd was amazed, all they saw were two rainbow trails and then the two ponies descending from the sky. Finally the rainbow explosions hit the finish line and the spectators, blowing around all of the ponies in the 'stands'. Almost as soon as the rainbow dissipated, four referees were seen in the middle of the field just a few feet away from the racers. Rainbow Dash couldn't wait, didn't wait, she was pretty sure that she won. “So, c'mon who won? Would you slow pokes hurry up?”

The four referees looked at her very annoyed, but those old ponies were always disgruntled. Finally, a microphone was raised into the air and one of the referees walked over to it. “The winner, by photo finish, is... the strange, new pegasus, SKYE!” The entire crowd gasped and then proceeded to cheer, some ponies even changed their flags. Skye looked so happy, he was really glad that he could impress the whole of Ponyville and he really hoped that he impressed Rainbow Dash. He looked towards her and his smile disappeared, Rainbow Dash was nowhere in sight. He stood in place, looking around for her, but to no avail.

The announcer was back on the microphone. “Skye, would you please step on the winner's podium, we'd like to know your thoughts about the race.” The crowd's cheers were renewed at the sound of his name as he very quickly ran up to the podium. “So Skye, how does it feel to win the first annual Ponyville Open?”

He spoke very softly into the microphone, he really wanted to go find Rainbow Dash. “Uhm... it was fun. We really should do this again sometime.” He started to fly away, quickly in order to avoid any more questions. He left the field hearing cheers and applause as he started flying towards Rainbow Dash's house.

Rainbow Dash was feeling a mix of emotions as she flew away from the finish line. She didn't even really care to know where she was going, she was just angry, sad, and disappointed. To make things even worse, a bunch of clouds started rolling in. None of them were storm clouds, but it just meant more work for Rainbow Dash. Tomorrow anyway, she definitely wasn't doing anything this evening. She decided to fly to one of the clouds, just to try to hide from everyone.

She tried to not think about that race, but it kept creeping into her mind. She's supposed to be the fastest pegasus in all of Equestria and the only one to be able to fly at sonic speeds.

“What's wrong with me...” She said softly to herself, tears coming to eyes. She tried hard to shake those tears out, but to no avail. How could she help it though? She thought she wasn't special anymore, she thought that she was just some stupid weather pony, she thought there was no way that she could become a Wonderbolt. She had so many thoughts racing through her head and what's worse, she thought they were all true.

And then suddenly, none of it was her fault. No way, Skye must have cheated. He probably cut a corner somewhere or did something that just gave him the advantage. And he drafted off of her the entire time, what a cheap trick! Or maybe it was something with the strange feeling she got around him, like he had some kind of magic aura around him that made her slower or weaker, or... something.

“No...” She knew he wasn't a cheater, but then what? How could he beat her? How could she lose?

She just lay there on a cloud, depressed and angry, pondering why and how she lost. She knew one thing for certain, if she even heard Skye's name right now she'd either breakdown and cry or explode from anger. She had no clue which would happen... but hoped for the explosion. She'd never emotionally broken down before and she wasn't sure exactly how to deal with it. And suddenly, matters were made so much worse for her.

Skye seemed to simply appear on a cloud next to Rainbow with a very concerned look on his face. He couldn't help but notice the small tears in Dash's eyes which turned his smile into a frown before she even noticed him. “What's wrong Rainbow Dash?”

Rainbow didn't want to talk to anyone right now, especially Skye. She didn't know what to do or what to say. She just wanted to yell at him, to tell him to leave her alone. But she also wanted to keep her cool, she didn't want to completely freak out on someone that didn't really deserve it. But in all honesty, she was a time bomb. “N-Nothing.” A very obvious lie was said that day. She didn't even look at him when she said that, she just kept her head down. But that wouldn't stop Skye from being so innocent minded.

“Oh! That's good, I thought you were mad at me! It's good to see you aren't.” He put his smile back on his face, he was happy. But then he looked upon Rainbow Dash for a second time. She still seemed extremely depressed and Skye had no clue why. Maybe she wasn't telling the truth cause she was afraid that Skye would start feeling bad for her. That was the only thing that come to his mind, something that he tends to do a lot. Skye tried to cheer her up. “Ya know Rainbow, you flew a really good race back there, you shouldn't be sad, if...”

Rainbow cut him off, practically screaming at him. “But I lost!” Now she was staring at him, just waiting for him to say something wrong.

“Well... yeah, but it was really close the entire time. Besides, there's no way that they can prove that I won right? I'm sure the referees just called it wrong, they weren't even pegasus.” Skye couldn't think of anything else to say and this just made Rainbow Dash even more angry. The announcer definitely said that it was a photo finish and she saw the camera before she left the field. Was Skye stupid or something? Whatever, there was something that she just needed to know.

“Skye...” She stood up, still staring right at him. “...how can you do the Sonic Rainboom?”

“Well, you know the story I told you about how I saw the sky? Well, that hole in the storm cloud never closed and everyday after school I would leave and practice flying. I was kinda good at flying and one day a light blue pony in a flight suit flew by me and asked me what I was doing. I told him the story about how I got my cutie mark and he told me that you were the pony that did the Sonic Rainboom. I was really excited and he told me that if I could do the Sonic Rainboom too that I could join the Wonderbolts and meet you. He said he would come visit me in a year to check up on me. Well over that year I trained non-stop and well... I guess I just learned how to do it. It was kinda funny, he came back and he never expected me to be able to fly that fast, he was pretty surprised.”

Hold on a minute... so Skye's a... Wonderbolt? Are you kidding me? Rainbow Dash just had to confirm. “So, you're a Wonderbolt!?”

“Well not exactlly... you see Soarin, that's the name of the pegasus, flew with me all the way to Cloudsdale. It was really nice of him and I felt really bad when I had to deny his invitation to join the Wonderbolts. Of course, he wouldn't really allow me to just decline so I had to sneak out of Cloudsdale... it was pretty fun!”

Now... now Dash was mad. Skye could have been so cool. He could have been a Wonderbolt. He could have been her hero. But no, he ran away from them, how stupid could he be? How stupid? How stupid? How stupid... “How stupid are you?”

Skye's smile disappeared yet again. “Wh-What?”

“How stupid are you?” Rainbow Dash was ready to attack and Skye knew it. She was gonna release all of her built up anger. “You... you could have been so cool. You could have been a famous pony. But no, you're just some... some stupid, useless pegasus. I mean, how did I even lose to you? You don't even deserve to fly...” Both of them knew that she was about to unleash her rage. She was building up ever since she started her little speech, she was practically yelling at this point. “ YOU DON'T EVEN DESERVE WINGS! Just... Just go back to your stupid storm cloud! No one wants you here... NO ONE PROBABLY EVER WANTED YOU! And, And no one ever will! So just... just go home! I-I-I... I HATE YOU!” Rainbow was breathing hard, still staring right into Skye's eyes, which were starting to water.

Skye's voice started breaking and his breathing between words became heavy. “I'm... I'm really sorry Rainbow. I didn't mean to make you angry. I just... you are my hero Rainbow and I really, really wanted to meet you.” Skye turned away from Rainbow Dash and started dropping towards the ground. “I'm sorry for disappointing you. I'll just go h-h-ho...” He dropped out of Dash's vision. He never really could call that storm cloud home. Really, growing up was terrible for him. He honestly hated it.

Rainbow Dash just went back to laying on the cloud but only for a very short time. Another pony appeared in her vision, this time with a light gold coat. She looked up to see none other than Fluttershy who looked very, very disappointed in her. She spoke extremely softly, yet in a very stern voice. “What is wrong with you?” Rainbow Dash just didn't want to look at her, she was done talking. Yet, Fluttershy wasn't and wouldn't be until Rainbow Dash heard what she wanted to say. Fluttershy tried to clam down her voice. “He looked up to you Rainbow. You were his hero. I mean, how would you feel if Soarin said all of that stuff to you? That was... that was terrible Rainbow Dash. And...” Fluttershy turned away, she had a very hard time saying her next sentence. "...and you should feel terrible..." Tears started to roll down her face from what she had to say to her friend and the tears were returned from Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy turned and tried to follow Skye as she disappeared from Dash's vision.

Dash just lay there, no longer angry. Now she was just sad. She knew that what she said was pretty bad but hey, she was really, really angry and she just couldn't help it. She knew that eventually she was going to have to apologize to him but right now she just didn't want to. Still she started feeling bad, really bad and her feeling bad only made her more depressed. She just started looking at her hooves and started fiddling with them. “What's wrong with me...”