Double Rainbow

Double RainbowChapter 3

The next morning, Fluttershy came to visit Rainbow Dash and her brother at Dash’s home in the sky. When she got there, the twins were trying to do some flying routine, or something. Whatever they were doing, it did not look good. “Um, excuse me.” Fluttershy said quietly. The twins didn’t hear her, and bumped into each other, sparking the billionth argument of the morning. “…Me? That was not my fault! You were doing it wrong!” Dash yelled. “Oh really? How did I mess it up?” Indigo asked her, giving her a challenging look. “Well first of all, your form was all wrong. Second, you flew up instead of to the left when I told you to, then you…” and Dash named any possible mistake he could have made. The argument went on and on, and Fluttershy waited patiently. Finally, when she figured, she decided to speak up again. “Um, Rainbow Dash? Indigo? I brought you some cupcakes, courtesy of Pinkie Pie.” She said quietly. The argument seized immediately and the two flew down to her. “Food?” Indigo asked, staring at her basket. “Oh, yes. Pinkie was busy this morning, so I volunteered to take them. She says they’re ‘welcome to Ponyville’ cupcakes. You have to share with Dash though.” Fluttershy said, handing him the basket. He ducked his head in and ate one. “My compliments to the chef.” He said, then ducked his head back into the basket. Rainbow Dash shook her head. “If you don’t mind me asking, what are you doing today?” Fluttershy asked her friend, gesturing to the sky. “Oh, Indie and I are going to audition for the Wonderbolts together! When he leaves for Manehatten, I’m going with him, cause that’s where the auditions are!” Dash exclaimed happily. Fluttershy shook her head. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea… what if you make it? We won’t see you for a long time. Besides, you’re in charge of the weather around here. You can’t just skip out on it.” Fluttershy said. “No problem. I can always get someone to cover for me, and as for you guys… Well, you can live without me for a few months, right?” Dash asked. “I guess so. But what happens if you don’t make it? You’ll be crushed.” The yellow Pegasus was trying her best to talk her friend out of it. “Fluttershy, who says I won’t make it? We’ll just do a sonic rainboom or something, and bam, we’re in!” She said, looking up at the sky. “But Rainbow Dash, you’re the only one who can do a sonic rainboom! Do you really think your brother can do it?” Fluttershy asked. Indigo pulled his head of the basket. “You can do a sonic rainboom? But those are just legends! My parents in Los Pegasus would tell me stories about them at bedtime! You actually pulled one off?” He asked. Rainbow Dash looked proud. “I’ve done a few in my time.” Indigo pretended to bow to his sister. Rainbow Dash only stood there proudly. Fluttershy shook her head. “We can do a double sonic rainboom! We could like, fly together at top speed and make the single biggest rainboom the world has ever seen!” Dash said. Indie shook his head. “I can’t do that. But you know what I can do? The Twister.” He said. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy stared at him blankly. “What the hay is that?” Rainbow Dash asked her brother. He sighed. “I basically just spin around until I make a tornado.” He said. Dash blinked. “Any Pegasus could do that, Indie. Probably even Fluttershy. No offense, Shy.” Dash said. “Oh, none taken.” Fluttershy said. Indie looked at the ground and his ears drooped. “I can’t do anything very cool. Just tricks.” He said sadly. Futtershy could hardy bear seeing someone so sad. She ran over to him and patted his back. “Oh, cheer up. Rainbow Dash is one of the best fliers in Equestria! She can teach you everything. After all, practice makes perfect.” Fluttershy said. Indigo looked up at her. “Um… Thanks… That makes me feel a little better.” He said, averting his eyes from hers. Fluttershy backed away and bumped into Rainbow Dash. “Oh, I’m sorry! I’m going to go now. And Dash, if you’re going to go through with this, give Indie some of the spotlight. I know how you are.” Fluttershy said and headed down the trail. Rainbow Dash shook her head, making her multi-colored mane shake. “What is THAT supposed to mean?” She asked, herself, but she knew exactly what Fluttershy meant. But Dash would never admit to that, of course.

***

Fluttershy decided to head over to Twilight’s house and tell her what was up. She knocked on the door and heard her friend call, “Hold on! I’ll be there in a second!” so Fluttershy waited patiently. She heard some books crashing and then she heard Twilight again. “Spike, could you please start cleaning this up? Someone is at the door.” Fluttershy heard Spike the dragon make an “uuuggghhh!” sound, and then Twilight Sparkle opened the door. “Oh, hi Fluttershy! Come on in.” Twilight said, stepping aside to let the Pegasus in. Shy trotted in and sat down on one of Twilight’s reading chairs. “Hey, Fluttershy! What brings you to casa de Twilight?” Spike asked her. Twilight began helping Spike pick the fallen books up. “I came by to tell you about Rainbow Dash and Indigo.” Fluttershy said quietly. “What’s going on with them? Is something wrong?” Twilight asked her Pegasus friend. “Oh, nothing is wrong, exactly. It’s just… well, Indigo Rush came to visit on his way to Manehatten, where the Wonderbolts are holding tryouts because one of their fliers is hurt for a long time. Anyway, Dash found out and now they’re going to try out as a brother-sister team. I just don’t think it will end well, knowing Rainbow Dash.” Futtershy explained to the lavender unicorn. “You’re probably right, but I also know Rainbow Dash, and if she’s determined to do something, you know she’s gonna do it. I would just leave them to what they’re doing, and we’ll see how it plays out.” Twilight replied. “I know, I just don’t want them to get their feelings hurt!” Fluttershy cried. “Don’t worry about it, alright? They’ll be fine. You wanna go get something to eat or something?” Twilight asked, and Fluttershy nodded. “Okay… that would be just fine.” So Twilight grabbed her saddle bag and the two headed out the door, leaving Spike behind. “Well, thanks for the invite.” The dragon mumbled as he went back to cleaning the books.

***

“That’s not good enough, Indie! You have got to get your time down! You’re not fast enough!” Rainbow Dash called to her brother. Indigo sat on a cloud. “Why aren’t you doing any of the work here? You need practice, too.” He said. Dash flew up to meet her brother in the clouds. “Um, excuse me, but I am Rainbow Dash herself. I’m Scootaloo’s idol, I’ve successfully performed at least three Rainbooms in my life, and I’m basically the living manifestation of loyalty itself! I don’t need NEARLY as much practice as you do, Young Grasshopper.” Dash replied arrogantly. “I think that’s your way of admitting that you’re lazy.” Indigo said. “I am not lazy!” Dash gasped. “Then why don’t you train a little bit, huh? Give me a break!” Indigo shouted, flying up from the cloud he sat on. “I already told you, I don’t need to train!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “If you don’t practice this at all, then you’re going to blow our chances of ever becoming Wonderbolts!” Indigo shouted back, equally loud. “At least they know I exist!” Dash screamed, and immediately regretted it. Indigo lunged at her, but Dash got out of the way just in time. Dash sped off as fast as she could, with Indigo on her tail. Dash was so caught up in making sure Indigo didn’t catch her that she nearly knocked Cloudchaser out of the sky. “Watch it, Dash!” Cloudchaser called. “Sorry!” Dash replied, though she was already long past Cloudchaser by then.

***

“Rainbow Dash! Get back here!” Indigo called. He lost his sister. Okay, so maybe she was a lot faster than he was, but that doesn’t mean she was totally exempt from practicing the routine at all! How are you supposed to practice a routine made for two ponies if only one pony is willing to cooperate? “Hi there!” Indigo heard behind him. He turned around to see a grey, cross-eyed pegasus. “Um… hi?” He said, wondering why this strange pony was talking to him. “Whatcha doing?” The pegasus asked him. “Uh… I’m looking for a blue pegasus with a rainbow mane. Seen her?” He asked. “Of course I have, silly! Everypony knows Rainbow Dash!” She said. Indigo felt like he might win this battle with his sister. “Good! Where did she go?” Indigo asked hopefully. “Oh, you meant just now? Well, she just went that way. I don’t really know where she is.” She said, pointing in the direction that Indigo had just come from. Indigo facehoofed. “Alright, thanks, Bubbles.” He replied. “My name is Derpy!... I think….” But Indigo was already gone.

***

Dash flew a while, not realizing that she was directly above the Everfree Forest. She knew how much Indigo hated it, so he wouldn’t look there. She dropped down and decided to go to Zecora’s for a while, because she didn’t exactly love this place, either. She went as fast as she could and made it to Zecora’s place in 10 seconds flat. “Zecora, you gotta hide me for a while!” Dash called through the door. Zecora opened it and Dash stepped in without waiting for Zecora invite her in. “What are you hiding from, Rainbow Dash? Is Pinkie Pie throwing another party bash?” Zecora asked. “No, no. My brother is mad at me, and now he’s after me.” Dash replied. Zecora nodded. “I thought you were fearless and brave, but now you beg for protection in my little cave?” Zecora asked, making some of that weird herbal tea that nopony liked. “I am fearless and brave! Just… My brother is bigger than me, and he’s angry right now.” Dash said sheepishly. “Is this the same Rainbow Dash that kicked a dragon in the face, fought a hydra, beat Discord, and saved the pony race?” Zecora asked and sipped her tea. “Well, yeah! But…” Zecora cut her off. “No, there are no excuses. Now go find your brother, for he is on the loose!” Zecora said. Rainbow Dash sighed, knowing she was right. “Alright, fine. But if he kills me, I blame you!” Dash said, flying out the door. Zecora laughed, because if Rainbow Dash died, she couldn’t blame anyone.

***

“There you are!” Indigo said. He had given up the chase about an hour ago, and now he was sitting in Sugarcube Corner, eating everything Pinkie told him to try. That was when Rainbow Dash walked in. “Hey, Indigo. I’ve been looking all over for you!” She said, sitting at his table. “Oh, Rainbow Dash! You wanna help me bake some cupcakes real fast?” Pinkie asked her friend. Rainbow Dash wasn’t quite sure why, but that idea didn’t really sound very appealing. “No thanks, Pinkie.” She replied. Pinkie hopped away to get another cake for Indigo. “Maybe another day?” She called from the kitchen. “I don’t know, maybe.” Dash called back. “There are some weird ponies in this town.” Indigo said randomly. Right then, Pinkie hopped back in balancing a chocolate cake on her head. “What clued you in?” Dash laughed. “No, seriously! When I was looking for you earlier, I passed a house and I happened to look in. There was some guy bathing in jelly.” Indigo said, shuddering at the image. “Hugh Jelly is strangely obsessed with tubs of jelly. It’s just who he is.” Dash said. There was an awkward silence then, so Dash figured she should apologize. “Sorry, Indie. I didn’t mean to make you so mad.” Dash said. “Nah, it’s alright. But you still need practice, just like I do.” Indigo replied. “You’re right. We need to work together. So, what do you say about practicing now?” Rainbow Dash asked her brother. “Yeah, sure.” Indigo said. Pinkie came hopping in with yet another cake, this time looking strawberry flavored. “Who wants cake?” Pinkie asked them. Indigo looked at his sister. “After this cake?” He asked her. “I bet I can eat my half faster than you.” She replied. Before Indigo could reply, Pinkie screamed “Ready, set, go!” And the eating race was on.