Alright, Rainbow...you can do this. The young pegasus flew as hard as her wings would carry her, passing cloud after cloud, flapping hard and breathing harder with every passing moment. Faster and faster she flew, reaching speeds most other pegasi wouldn't even consider approaching. And yet, through it all, she bore a look of utter dissatisfaction. Not good enough. Just...not good enough! That thought passed her mind over and over again, leading to frustration every time she passed a cloud just slightly off, or missed a beat of her wings. To any other pony, what she was doing would have seemed impressive and unrivalled. And yet, to her, all she could do about it was look unhappy. I have to get this right. The young fliers competition is just around the corner. I have to do this, to show them what I can do. If I can't...I don't know what I'll do. Grunting with frustration, she shot down, right to the ground, hoping to accomplish what she set off to do. Okay, this is it. It has to be. Her speed grew ever faster as the ground drew nearer. Okay...almost there...almost there. But, at the last moment, she missed yet another beat of her wings, leading to her eyes widening. No! Pull up! Immediately, she flapped her wings hard, managing to pull from the ground just in time to avoid impact.

But, in her efforts to avoid a direct collision, she failed to notice the nearby collection of trees, and looked on in shock as she shot right through their many branches. It took a while, but the twigs and leaves of those woods eventually slowed her down enough for her to stop herself under her own power. However, as she finally lowered herself to the ground, she found herself an utter mess, with feathers out of place and bits of twigs stuck in her mane. Ugh! This is just perfect! Another failure! What am I supposed to do when I get up to Cloudsdale? I have to pull off that rainboom if the Wonderbolts are even going to consider paying me any attention. As she shook herself, desperately trying to get all the refuse out of her mane, she failed to notice the sound of approaching hoofsteps. But, it was only after that she heard the sound of somepony clearing their throat that her ears perked up. Spinning around, Rainbow's eyes widened as she saw, standing before her, was Twilight. Oh no! How much did she see? Okay, Rainbow, play it cool.

"Er...hey, Twilight! Come to see me do some stunts? Can't say I blame ya. They are pretty awesome after all!"

But Twilight just stood there, with a completely neutral expression, before pointing up to the skies above them.

"Rainbow...you seemed to have some trouble up there. Is everything okay?"

The cyan pegasus rolled her eyes and scoffed at that.

"Trouble? Please! I'm Rainbow Dash! A little scuffle like this isn't going to stop the likes of me!"

Oh please don't let her ask about the stunt. I don't want to talk about it right now! But, as Twilight looked from the sky, to Rainbow, to the fragments of twig still embedded in her mane, Twilight let out a sigh before softening her expression.

"You're trying to pull off the sonic rainboom again, aren't you?"

Rainbow looked at her as if she'd just seen a ghost, her face going pale and shocked.

"I...I...I don't know what you're talking about."

Twilight approached her, placing a hoof upon her shoulder.

"Rainbow...it's okay. You can tell me if something is bothering you."

Rainbow frowned at that.

"And I'm telling you that nothing is bothering me!"

But Twilight merely shook her head.

"It's the young fliers competition, isn't it?"

Rainbow looked away, not wanting to look her in the eye. Horsefeathers! How does she always know this stuff! I mean, I know she's super-smart and stuff, but seriously, it's like she can look right into a pony's soul sometimes. But, as she kept her gaze away, Rainbow listened on as Twilight continued to speak.

"You want to pull off the rainboom to impress the Wonderbolts. I can understand why. It's one of the most, if not the most impressive manoeuvres in pegasus flying history. To do it would surely catch their notice."

Rainbow let out a huff at that.

"Yeah...well...you probably already know that I suck at it! I've been trying for ages but it just...won't come to me!"

Twilight let out another sigh.

"Perhaps not now, but I know you can do it."

Rainbow turned to her with a raised eyebrow.

"How?"

To that, Twilight merely smiled.

"Because you've already done it. If it wasn't for that stunt of yours all those years ago, me and the others would never have earned our cutie marks. And if you can do it once, you can do it again."

Upon hearing those words, Rainbow's expression began to soften a bit. Yeah...I did do it already, didn't I? It still feels weird, to know the girls all saw that. And Twilight...she made it a point to find out where it'd come from. I never really saw it myself, too busy with that race and all. But still...to know it spread that far across Equestria, while I was a filly...that's something special. However, her expression became more down after considering that. And now...I just can't do it. I did it as a filly and yet...it's like I've lost it somehow. Did I not practice enough? Did I just forget how to do it? What's wrong with me? Twilight, in this moment of silence, looked to her friend and saw the look of concern upon her face. Putting on a small smile for her benefit, Twilight cleared her throat again, gaining her attention. After a few moments, Twilight spoke again.

"Believe me, Rainbow...I know what you're going through."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow at that, prompting Twilight to explain herself.

"Back when I was a filly, I had to enter Celestia's school by way of a test, as you know. I tried everything on Spike's egg, but it just didn't work. I felt in that moment that everything would go wrong, that my dreams would crash right there before they even began."

Rainbow looked down at the ground. Yep, that's pretty much me right now, Twilight. However, as she looked up again, she saw that Twilight was still smiling at her.

"But...I had help in succeeding."

She took a step forward, placing a hoof squarely in the middle of Rainbow's chest.

"You, Rainbow. If it hadn't been for your rainboom, that test would have been a failure for me."

Her smile grew even wider after saying that.

"You helped me long ago. So now...let me help you."

For a while, Rainbow fell silent, looking back down at the ground. Darn it, Twilight! How do you always know what to say at times like this? After a few moments, Rainbow looked up at her, but her face bore a look of confusion.

"So...are you to use all that fancy magic on me or something?"

Twilight looked to her with an almost-scolding expression.

"No, Rainbow! You know the rules! No magical interference in competitions like this."

Twilight's words caused Rainbow to roll her eyes a little before responding.

"No offense, Twi...but how then? There isn't exactly a school for rainbooms out there."

Twilight giggled at that.

"Maybe not, but I have done some reading about it. The rainboom is a legendary technique, and many a pegasi scholar as studied it, and how to accomplish it over the years. Some have managed to get down some pretty good descriptions on what needs to be done, but the pegasi they tried it on just didn't have the skill to pull it off."

As her expression became something of a smirk, she placed a hoof upon Rainbow's shoulder again.

"You, on the other hoof...could probably do it."

Despite her earlier morose feeling, Rainbow perked up at that, puffing her chest out slightly.

"Yeah...you're not wrong."

Twilight giggled at that before speaking up again.

"So, I'll help you learn what you need to, and then me and the other girls will be right there to cheer you on!"

Rainbow chortled.

"Yeah, it'll be pretty..."

However, her expression soon turned to one of horror yet again.

"...you...you'll what?!"

Twilight turned to her with a reassuring smile.

"I cast a cloud-walking spell on the others, so we'll be there to cheer you on when you perform at the show."

Rainbow began frantically waving her hooves at this point.

"Nononononono! You guys can't be there! What if I fail? What if...!"

But, she was stopped from speaking further by a hoof to her mouth from Twilight. After Rainbow had calmed down a little, the lavender unicorn began to try and explain.

"Rainbow...we're your friends. We're going to be there for you. Besides, you're the bearer of the Element of loyalty. Did you think for one moment that we weren't going to stay loyal to you?"

Rainbow tuned away from her, letting out a grunt of annoyance.

"I knew that was going to come back and bite me one day. Gotta remember to use that on AJ and her honesty at some point."

Looking to her friend, the cyan pegasus stared at her carefully, trying to see if there was any crack in her expression. No...she means what she said. She and the others are going to be there, watching me at every moment, along with everypony else. Ugh! Blast it all, Twilight! Why do you always have to be so...so...helpful?! But, she began to calm herself down a bit with that thought. She...she's my friend. She's trying to help me. And, as much as it pains me to admit, she's right. I'm the Element of loyalty. If one of my friends says they have a way to help, then I guess I've gotta trust them. Ugh, that job is going to be the death of me one day. However, she began to breath out a long sigh. Okay, Rainbow, think about this. This is Twilight we're talking about. The mare who single-hoofedly took on a dragon! And won! When she says she can do something, she means it, so if she says she can help you with the rainboom, chances are that what she's got has gotta be pretty sweet. After a long silence had fallen between the two, Rainbow eventually slumped her shoulders before putting on an appreciative smile.

"Okay...I'll let you help."

Twilight squealed with joy over that, reaching forward and embracing her friend in a manner not too dissimilar from Pinkie. After being taken aback by this, Rainbow chuckled a little before breaking free, after which she planted a hoof square in Twilight's chest.

"But this egg-head research about rainbooms had better work!"

She began to walk off, ready to begin her practice once more. And all the while, Twilight walked behind, smiling in a mischievous manner while speaking in a tone low enough to avoid having Rainbow hear her.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that...especially since you're the one who'll write it...egg-head."

The young unicorn turned her head away and stifled the need to giggle.

"I've been waiting centuries to say that."

Author's Notes:

Okay, I feel the need to let you guys know ahead of time that I won't be writing about Rainbow actually pulling off the rainboom and winning the competition. I thought about doing it, but then I realised that it'd just be a note-for-note identical scene from the episode, except without Rarity getting into trouble. I figured from that that it'd be a fairly uninteresting chapter, so I'll just say here that, like the official canon, Rainbow does indeed win, albeit with what Twilight taught her.