Dear Princess Celestia,
It’s been seven years now since Rainbow Dash died, and the loss still hurts—though it’s a soft hurt, if that makes any sense. A keen sense that a person you loved to be with is no longer there to enjoy the things you do. Oh, I believe Dashie’s spirit is still with us, just as Applejack believes that, when she sees shooting stars, it’s her parents’ way of checking up on the Apples.
Sometimes I feel Rainbow’s presence, and I’m often surprised how much still reminds me of her. A pegasi flying by at high speed overhead, a certain way a pony smiles…even just a piece of music. Yesterday, I put on a piece by DJ Pon-3 (not really my speed, as you know, but occasionally I like to dance to her when Spike's not around), and the years fall away. I close my eyes, and we’re all there, still young (well, young-er—we’re not exactly dead with old age!), and Rainbow Dash is as alive as ever. I can still hear her voice. I’ll never forget her face.
Highness, I’m not really sure what prompted this letter. It’s just that, I saw Scootaloo in her Wonderbolts uniform today—the first time she’s worn it—and it brought it all back. I’ll never forget that funeral. Even Discord’s funeral, despite the honors he got, comes close, but of course I was much closer to Dashie. (Discord. There’s a name I haven’t thought of in awhile. Who would’ve guessed he would sacrifice himself for Equestria? Fluttershy tells me that Discord existed/exists outside of time and space, so it’s strangely comforting that he might still be around someplace.)
I often catch myself wondering what might’ve been different. (Now that Ponyville is hosting the Equestria Games, maybe they’ll qualify for the aerial relay—Derpy tells me that she’s really confident this time. We’ll see.) Would Dashie be leading the Wonderbolts now? Spitfire’s getting close to retirement age, and Scootaloo, for all her ability, is still too young. Rainbow probably would be leading them. Would Chrysalis have gotten so powerful if the “Mane Six,” as we used to be called, have stopped her earlier? Could we have prevented that damn bookworm from eating all my books? At least the Elements are still safe—who would’ve guessed that the Elements would choose Trixie to be Rainbow’s replacement? I still have to chuckle at that, if for no other reason than my own hubris in thinking that no one would ever be able to wield Rainbow’s Element again. I was wrong, and I am glad I was. And I’m glad that, the last time I visited the human world, that Rainbow’s human counterpart is doing well (she’s a “soccer mom,” whatever that is.)
But what I said that day still rings true. Rainbow Dash was my friend; she was one of the greats, a true blue (heh) heroine, and the realm owes her much. (That statue that Luna had commissioned that sits in the square—someone wrote a letter to the Foal Free Press saying it should be torn down as an eyesore! Can you believe that?! Luckily Mayor Sweetcream Scoops put an end to that nonsense.) I thank all that’s good in the world every day that I was privledged to know Rainbow, and that she lived and did so much in her short lifetime. She’ll never be forgotten. If anything, her legend grows every day…though I wonder, what will happen when we are all gone? What will my friends and I be remembered for? In a thousand years, if Ponyville—if Equestria—still stands, what will they say about us?
Oh well. As Starswirl the Bearded once said, “History shall be kind to me, for I shall write it.”
In any case, Princess, I need to wrap up. Princess Cadence and my brother have their foals over here, and they’re driving me CRAZY! Seriously, I know my parents didn’t raise ME to be such a brat. And I sound like every sister-in-law/foalsitter ever. I hope this letter finds you in good health and enjoying your vacation.
As always, your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
It was not the best day to be flying from Mareimar. There was a low ceiling of clouds and drizzling rain, and Spitfire had forbidden the pegasi to clear it; there were, she said, some days that it was good to sit down and take stock, and remember that there were some things ponies could not control.
For Scootaloo, that meant it was the perfect day for what she was about to attempt.
She made sure all the zippers on her Wonderbolts uniform were secure—the uniform was form-fitting for speed, and she would need every bit of extra speed she could get. A running start down Mareimar’s runway, and she was off. She made one circuit of the field, glad she had arranged this with the control tower—who thought it was insane, but looked the other way—then soared upwards. Her orange wings spread to catch the wind, shifting as necessary, unconsciously; it was seven years now, and Scootaloo was far from the young, almost flightless filly she had once been.
The gray clouds parted quickly enough, and she broke into blue sky. Scootaloo smiled, remembering one of the first pieces of advice Rainbow Dash had given her: if you climb high enough, you’ll always find the sun. Dash liked to say that; at Pinkie Pie’s insistence, it was inscribed on Dash’s monument in Ponyville. The clouds were still piled up here, in huge, towering white puffs that topped out far above. Since she had plenty of time (she hoped; if Spitfire found out Scootaloo’s intentions, there would be an unscheduled intercept practice for the Wonderbolt Academy), and knowing that Dash would probably think it awesome, Scootaloo flew into the periphery of the clouds. She rolled through them, spun them in circles, danced with them, wheeled through them, tumbled through them. Scootaloo laughed, with the sheer thrill of flying. She felt sorry for her friends, like Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, Babs Seed, and even Diamond Tiara, who would never know this feeling.
She broke deeper into the clouds, and cut through them, leaving curlicues of confused air behind her. They surrounded her on all sides, but where she flew through, the air was calm and easy. It was like flying in a cathedral, and Scootaloo’s laughter died in sheer awe. No matter what ponies could build, no matter how pegasi could mold the clouds, not even Princess Celestia was capable of sculpting this. She flew along, in complete silence, the only noise the fluttering of the wind through her feathers.
Scootaloo’s inner time sense told her that if she was going to do this, she needed to do it now. Spitfire was going to find out sooner or later. She gave a kick with her hooves—it was unconscious, but a quirk that she still did when she needed a running start to fly—and climbed. She climbed high, higher, until finally she passed through the clouds and out the other side. Now the clouds were spread out below her. Still Scootaloo climbed, until she felt the air getting thinner. There were limits to a pegasi’s ability, after all, and if she went too high, she would fall out of the air, or worse, go unconscious. Scootaloo shuddered. Lightning Dust had died in that way, climbing so high she couldn’t breathe. She had passed out and never woken up until her body shattered against the ground far below. Spitfire had put an end to attempts to beat Rainbow Dash’s record ever since. No other pony had tried.
Until now.
Scootaloo put out a hoof, as if to touch the moon, visible in the deep blue far above her. She said a brief prayer, a silent goodbye to her friends if this didn’t work. Back in her barracks room was a note to the other Crusaders in case she failed. But she wouldn’t fail.
Go for it, kid. You got this. Rainbow Dash’s voice was laughing in her ear.
Scootaloo took a breath, put her goggles down over her eyes, winged over, and dived. She tucked her wings against her body, kept her head level, and pressed her hooves back into her body. She dropped like an anvil. The wind howled around her body, buffeted her ears to the point where Scootaloo idly wondered if her eardrums would burst.
The first few thousand feet were no different from training or any other time she had flown—she was in control, and diving was easy. Then the buffeting began, as Scootaloo’s body began to feel the effects of such velocity, though not enough that she couldn’t feel her heart pounding. She remembered Rainbow Dash telling her about the buffeting, as Scootaloo had listened with rapt attention, pressing her heroine for more details. They served her well now. She slightly adjusted her course, wincing as she thought she might’ve adjusted it too much. Not too shallow, Scoots, she told herself, or you’ll never do it. Too steep and you’ll never pull out, and you’ll know then what Rainbow Dash, what Lightning Dust felt in those last seconds. She felt her teeth chattering, the wind blowing her lips to comical proportions.
Then her heart leapt as she felt the shockwave beginning. A white mist of air began to form in front of her—just as Dash said it would—and the feeling of being out of control passed. If she wasn’t afraid of her teeth shattering under the extreme velocity, then Scootaloo would’ve been grinning her plot off. Then her good feeling faded. The buffeting was getting worse, and it felt as if she was slowing down. No, I’m so close! I can do this! Scootaloo realized the air was getting thicker as she reached lower altitudes; she would have to make a decision soon or she would hit the ground—
And suddenly the air split around her.
Coincentric rings reflecting every color in the visible spectrum exploded outwards from Scootaloo. The clouds were no match for them; they were blown to pieces in microseconds. Scootaloo could not hear the sound her own passage made: it was too far behind her. It was heard in Mareimar, where it rattled Spitfire’s windows nearly out of their frames. It was heard in Canterlot, where even Luna awoke from her day’s sleep and blinked in confusion. And it was heard in Ponyville, where Pinkie Pie looked up awestruck at the rainbow shockwave filling the sky, where Rarity nearly swallowed the pins she held in her mouth for her wedding dress, where Applejack saw the apples shaken loose from the trees, where Fluttershy looked up from Angel Bunny’s grave and began cheering wildly, where Twilight Sparkle looked up from her letter and felt the moisture on her cheeks.
For the first time in seven years, the sound of a sonic rainboom sounded across Equestria.