Blown Away

By the time Twilight had finished her laps, the sun was low in the sky. She lay flat on her back, exhausted, admiring the alternative perspective of the sun setting from above the clouds. Rainbow Dash landed by her side.

“Finally finished?” Rainbow asked, lying next to her. Twilight nodded, transfixed by the sunset. “I take it you got through all twenty-five laps?” Twilight nodded again. Rainbow Dash followed her gaze. “If you stare at the sun too long, you’re going to go blind.”

“It’s just so beautiful. Ever since I became an alicorn, it’s like a whole new world opened up to me. I know it’s been like this for you your entire life, but you just can’t imagine how lucky I feel to be able to experience things like this… Things that no unicorn would ever see,” Twilight said. “And I have you to thank for it. Without your encouragement, I wouldn’t have gotten through my first day.”

Rainbow Dash looked uncomfortable. “Yeah, about that…” she said. “Do you REALLY want to stay here?” Twilight turned on her back to face her friend.

“What do you mean?” Twilight asked, “Of course I do. This place is wonderful. I can see why you like it here so much.”

Rainbow Dash turned away from Twilight’s gaze. “There’s something that you need to know, and it’s a little awkward to tell you now, but there’s really no time to waste.”

Twilight was very confused. “You’re not confessing your undying love for me or anything, are you?”

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “You wish. Well, what I’m saying is… you need to step it up,” she said.

“Yeah, I know I need more improvement, but everypony learns at their own pace,” Twilight said. “I just got my wings three days ago… I’m not going to be an expert flier right away.”

Rainbow Dash turned back towards her friend and gestured. “You see those stormy clouds over there in the dragon course?” she asked. Twilight nodded. “Those are the clouds that you’re gonna have to fly through in three days.” The sunset had finished and the dragon course emanated an aura of foreboding against the blackened sky. “At the rate you’re going, you’re going to faceplant into the first cloud and get a faceful of lightning. At best. Ponies train for weeks, practicing on all the other courses before they even think about tackling the dragon.”

“But we don’t have weeks! We have three days!” Twilight said worriedly. “What can I do? Maybe I’m not ready for this…”

Rainbow Dash stomped her hoof, raising bits of cloud fluff into the air. “Hold it right there. Spitfire she saw something special in you to place you in the advanced fliers with me. I even see something special in you, and I have an idea. You do want to stay in the advanced fliers, right?” Twilight nodded. “And who’s the best flier in the academy?” Rainbow asked.

“You are,” Twilight said, rolling her eyes. If stroking Rainbow Dash’s ego was the only way to keep her rank, then so be it.

“So, what do you say to some special one on one training after hours with the one and only Rainbow Dash?” Rainbow asked, smiling. “I’ll teach you everything I know about the course so you’ll get through easy peasy. Well, maybe not easy peasy, but with all of your feathers still intact.”

“You’d do that for me?” Twilight asked. “That sounds wonderful! When can we start?”

“Actually, that’s what I returned to the academy for. Everypony else went home hours ago. We’re starting right now,” Rainbow Dash said, pulling Twilight up.

“Right… now?” Twilight’s hooves were still shaking from the previous exercise.

“If you want to catch any amount of sleep tonight, we can’t do it any later,” Rainbow said, tugging on her front leg impatiently. “C’mon, let’s get over to the butterfly course.”

They made their way over to the easiest course, where Rainbow Dash pulled out a stopwatch. “I’ll time you as you make your way through, but don’t let the timer distract you. The numbers don’t really mean anything, so we won’t have a use for them…yet. Just make sure to give it your all.”

“Okay…” Twilight said nervously, shivering as a cool night breeze swept across her sweat-soaked mane. Rainbow Dash flew upwards, kicking a hole in the clouds so that moonlight illuminated the butterfly course.

“On your mark… get set… GO!” Rainbow Dash shouted. Twilight took off, flying as fast as she could. Despite being the easiest course, the butterfly course was harder than she had anticipated. “Look out on your right!” Rainbow Dash shouted as Twilight swerved to avoid a cloud pillar. “Pull up!” she called as Twilight approached a large solid-looking wall. “Last stretch, give it your all!” The last stretch consisted of a wide turn weaving in between archways of cloud and a long way to the finish line. “and… Time!” Rainbow Dash cheered.

If Twilight was tired before, she was exhausted now. Her body was completely drained of energy and she felt like throwing up. “Ugh…” she groaned, collapsing flat on a cloud.

“Hey, what are you doing? Get up, you’re not done yet!” Rainbow Dash yelled in her ear. “Oh alright, take a five minute break, and we’re doing it again, ten seconds faster!”

“But I thought you said the time wouldn’t be used for anything and to give it my all!” Twilight protested, muffled with her face in the cloud.

“I said it wouldn’t be used for anything YET. And do you want to improve or not?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Okay, that’s long enough, time to go again!” And so Rainbow Dash’s relentless training continued through two more repetitions before she was satisfied with the results.

“Well you’re still slow, but you’re improving,” Rainbow said. “Your time was four minutes twenty seconds the first time and we got it down to four minutes twelve seconds Twilight? Are you okay?” When there was no response, she turned to the patch of cloud where Twilight had planted herself earlier, but she wasn’t there. “Twilight?”

Twilight Sparkle was by the high scores board. “One minute four seconds,” she read, tears flowing down her cheeks. “By Rainbow Dash, on her first try…Rainbow, what am I going to do? I’m going to be demoted, aren’t I?”

Rainbow Dash flew over and comforted her. “Hey there, egghead. Do you trust me or not?” Twilight nodded, nuzzling her face into Rainbow Dash’s wing. “When I say I’m going to train you to fly the dragon course, do you believe me?” Twilight nodded again. “Well then, I’m going to train you to be able to fly the dragon course. Go home and get some rest. You’ll need it. Oh and meet me here again, same time tomorrow.” Rainbow Dash patted Twilight’s head and flew off.