"Aachoo!" Spike sneezed. He wasn't expecting Spring to bring quite the change in weather, which was now causing him to sneeze once in a short while.

"Geez, could you at least cover your mouth? I don't want any Dragon germs on me!" Rainbow cried. She stood on another cloud close to Spike, as her wings were flapping gently up and down as a small habit that she developed.

"I'm *achoo!* sorry. It's the change in weather!" he reasoned.

"Doesn't matter. We gotta work on your speed."

"Aww, do we have to?"

"Yeah we do! Dude, this Fall we're gonna be in high school! High School!, and you're still having trouble flying!"

"It's not my fault! My wings grow differently than yours! Remember what Scrolls said?!"

"Do you?! You're ready to go, by all accounts, and we just gotta teach you three years worth of flight school before we graduate in two months!"

"And how is it that you alone will be able to teach me?"

"Not me. Us," Rainbow looked to the side to see their two main friends flying up to them. Fluttershy landed near Rainbow while Gilda landed next to Spike.

"Hey babe," Gilda greeted Spike with a kiss on his lips as the two settled down.

"Heh, what took you so long? I thought I was going to have to suffer Rainbow's teaching by my lonesome," Spike quipped.

"Well now you'll have to suffer mine too. Don't think I'll go easy on you just because you're my boyfriend, Spike."

"Eh, you'll probably still be better than Mister Toad Swipe!" The Dragon and griffon laughed out loud at the joke, before nuzzling each other in affection. Rainbow silently gagged at the lovey-dovey display, and looked towards Fluttershy for assistance.

Yup, she thought, she's still twitching her left eye. I feel sorry for her. She's jealous, through and through, but she doesn't want to go between two of her friends. Man, if there isn't a way to help her...

"Alright, Spike, loving time's up. Just because you hooked up with Gilda in seventh doesn't mean you get any relaxation. We’ve got work to do," she ordered. Gilda gave one last peck to Spike before flying to the other side of Rainbow, opposite Fluttershy. Unlike Rainbow, she wasn't aware of Fluttershy's crush on Spike, and so she didn't understand why her friend was glaring at her.

"Okay, so first up, lets start hovering," Rainbow ordered. She and their two friends climbed up into the air, hovering a bit away from Spike and the clouds they were sitting on.

With some hesitation, Spike managed to finally flap his wings enough to get him airborne. With a few more powerful flaps he reached the same level as the trio.

"Okay, so Scrolls said that your wings are more designed for power in the air, rather than our feathery wings for gliding and control. Since there's no wind today, you're only relying on your wings for support. It's the best time to train you, as Scrolls said. Now, you see that cloud over there?" Rainbow pointed to a cloud not far from the group, "Just fly over there and back. Don't worry about speed just yet."

With a nod, Spike flew over to the cloud and back as instructed. Without speed, it took him a fair amount of time before he came back.

"Okay, good! Now I want you to go there and back again, except do it as fast as you can. You ready?"

Spike nodded before looking back at the cloud. He tried to remember some of the knowledge he learned about bats and how they flew, since their wings were as close to his as he could get, other than another dragon.

"Go!"

With a powerful flap that almost knocked the trio off balance, the dragon surged forward. Rainbow was happy that her brother could be quick, possibly as quick as her, but there was still one problem.

He had trouble stopping himself.

Before they knew it, Spike smashed clean through the practice cloud, dissipating it before he had a chance to turn back around. Now flapping haphazardly, he screamed as he started falling towards a bigger cloud that was already holding some ponies.

Before he could hit the cloud, however, he felt a vice-like grip pulling on his back. He descended enough to land on his fours and keep running, slowing down to stop himself. He looked back to see that it was Rainbow and the gang who had saved him.

Rainbow hovered up to his face, a deadpan expression showing her thoughts on Spike's progress.

"C'mon Spike, what have I told you about stopping? You tilt your wings up with your neck..."

"...and flap away from where you don't wanna crash. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I just forgot in the heat of the moment," Spike apologized.

"Sigh, what are we gonna do with you?..." Rainbow thought out loud. Spike hung his head in shame. He already was teased by everyone in school for not being able to fly.

He hated this. He hated learning how to fly, he hated school, he even hated himself for not knowing how to fly...

"Heh heh, wow, I've never seen a dragon fail like that ever!" Spike heard a voice from behind him. He looked up to see his sister snarling at the ponies behind him. If that laugh was any indication...

He turned around to see Dumbbell and his cronies laughing at him. "Well speak of the devil, he thought.

"Hey, pick on somebody your own species, bub!" Rainbow stepped in front of Spike in a defensive stance, snarling at the trio of bullies in front of them.

"Hah! Look at this guys, Rainbow Crash is trying to defend the stupid dragon!" Dumbbell laughed.

"Hey, Spike isn't stupid! He even has better grades than you dumb...dumb...dumb mule!" Rainbow tried to find something to mock Dumbbell, but the only thing she could think of was a pack animal.

"Eh, all dragons are stupid. He's lived with ponies, so he's the exception that proves the rule!"

"That's...that's speciest! You're speciest!" Rainbow cried.

"I'm not speciest, I'm just a species realist. Think about it, all other dragons hoard gold and just grunt. They are raised alone and unwanted. If Spike wasn't raised by ponies, that's what he would have become. Instead, he got it worse by having a crasher like you for a sister!" The trio of bullies laughed again.

"What do you mean by species realist?" Gilda asked. She and Fluttershy walked up next to Rainbow and Spike, not letting them fight the bullies alone.

"It means the same as a speciest, but they think they're more entitled to share their opinions," Rainbow replied, snarling. "Hey, bub, if you're so confident that you're better, why don't you race me?!" she challenged.

"Hah! I'm waaaay faster than you! I can fly circles around you any day!" Dumbbell replied.

"Prove it! See that cloud over there? Waaaay over there? First to reach it and back wins!" Rainbow set the parameters down.

"Fine! If you win I'll take back everything I said about your little freak of a brother and your friends. If I win..." Dumbbell rested a hoof on his chin before smiling deviously, "...you have to wear a dress to school tomorrow. My choice."

Rainbow Dash shivered. She hated dresses, and Dumbbell would probably make her wear the ugliest one. Still, she wasn't worried, because Dumbbell WILL apologize.

"I accept. Fluttershy, go out a bit and be our stop pony," Rainbow said.

After a few minutes, a crowd of school foals gathered around to watch the impromptu race. Fluttershy was hovering a bit further away from the group in front of the racers, holding her front hooves high in the air.

"Rainbow Dash, are you ready?" She asked. The racer on the left nodded.

"D...D...Dumbbell, are you–"

"Yeah, yeah, lets go!" he yelled on the right. Fluttershy flinched, and Rainbow Dash tightened her stance.

"One..."

The whole crowd was silent. With no wind the air was deathly quiet.

*koff*

"SHH!"

"Two..."

*koff* *koff* *THUMP*

"Sigh. Always with your asphyxiation attacks, Cloudy. I'll take her home..." A lone colt grabbed a filly that passed out among the group and dragged her off by the leg. All of them, including Spike, looked at them bewildered.

"Wait, did he mean asthma attacks or..."

"THREE!" Fluttershy screamed as hard as she could. Lapsing from the distraction, the two racers shook their heads and blasted off at the same time towards their marker. The crowd whooped and cheered as the two flew as fast as they could towards the far off cloud.

"Yeah, Rainbow Dash! You go sis!"

"C'mon Dash, beat him. I know you can do it!

"Yeah!...wait. Gilda, where's Fluttershy?"

"I have to say, Twilight, this is one of the better receptions I've seen yet."

"Why thank you Princess! I'm sure your academy's qualified will love it as well! Now let's head back to see some of the tests. I'm excited to see if I will find my own apprentice!" the longtime Prized Student of Celestia responded.

"Yes indeed. Give me one moment to place Philomena in her cage."

Philomena, standing tall on Princess Celestia's back, suddenly dropped down to the ground, screeching as it tried to scratch her ears off.

"Oh dear, what's wrong?" Twilight asked.

"I do not know. It seems something is bothering her hearing!" Celestia replied.

Philomena rolled around a bit more before bursting into flame and flying around the room.

"Oh no, she's headed for the reception table!" Twilight spotted.

"NO! NOT THE SANDWICHES!" Celestia cried.

"Eh, she's probably watching somewhere away from the crowd. You know how she is," Gilda replied.

Dash and Dumbbell were neck and neck. Both were pushing their wings' limits on trying to beat the other.

"Give it up Dash! Maybe I'll go easy on the dress!"

"As if! You're eating your words!"

It took another two minutes before the racers reached the marker. Both of them tried to stop and immediately turn back. For all her emphasis on stopping in Spike's training, she wasn't very good at stopping herself. When she turned around, she saw Dumbbell already flying back, and picking up speed.

"No, I can't go to school in a dress!" Rainbow flapped her wings harder than ever before. The air pressure was too much, so she closed her eyes and tried to flap harder.

What happened next surprised everyone.

In a brilliant flash of chromatic light, a ring of a rainbow blasted away from Dash with a loud boom. She zoomed past Dumbbell and the crowd to win the race, taking a few minutes to slow down and circle back, jaws open at the scene before her.

Rainbow Dash just did the impossible.

Rainbow Dash made a Sonic Rainboom.

Rainbow Dash had to celebrate with her friends.

She flew down to the crowd of ponies that was slowly but surely dissipating, off to tell their family and friends.

"Wow! Did you see that!"

"She did it! She did the Sonic Rainboom!"

"I thought the Rainboom was a myth!"

"Well now it isn't!"

"Rainbow Dash!" she heard a familiar voice. She looked to her left to see her brother wrap his arm around her neck.

"Ya did great, Dash! That'll teach Dumbbell never to mess with the Rainbow family... LOOK!" Spike pointed a finger at Rainbow's flanks. On them were...

"My Cutie Mark!" Rainbow exclaimed. "I've got my Cutie Mark!" Indeed, on her flanks was a symbol of a white cloud with a chromatic lightning bolt piercing out.

"Congratulations! We gotta go tell mom and dad now!" Spike said.

"Yeah! Hey Gilda, catch up with you later!" Rainbow flew off.

"See ya! Spike, you should go. Your family will probably want to celebrate," Gilda said.

"Aww, but we had plans tonight!" Spike whined.

"Eh, we can postpone. Tomorrow night then?" Gilda asked.

"Tomorrow night." Spike kissed the top of Gilda's forehead before flying off after his sister. Gilda sighed happily, watching him fly away, and giggling each time he dropped in flight.

"Hey...where is Fluttershy?" she finally wondered.

"PRAISE BE THE YELLOW ONE,
SHE WHO FELL FROM THE SKY!
WE'LL NEVER HAVE TO FLEE OR RUN,
HORRIBLE DEATHS WE SHALL NOT DIE!"

A crowd of butterflies sang and marched around Fluttershy as she was carted away from an animal that had been the cause of millions and millions of butterfly casualties in their war against their short life-span. She landed on it as she fell from the race in terror.

"Oh, it's quite alright. I just need to go back and see my friends up there," she replied.

"Let us at least give you a sacrifice, to show our appreciation for your arrival!" one of the butterflies said.

"Oh no, really, I don't want to impose on..." The butterflies parted to reveal the juiciest and most delectable salad she had ever seen. It had tomatoes, apple slices, and even an orange slice on the side of the bowl. She could not keep her eyes off the sacrifice, and her stomach rumbled in anticipation.

"Maybe I can stay around for a little bit..."

"THREE PRAISES TO OUR GOD FOR OUR SAVIOR! PRAISE!"

"LERAR!"

"PRAISE!"

"LERAR!"

"PRAISE!"

"LERAR!"

Fluttershy looked a little bewildered at the sight of the god-fearing butterflies between bites of her salad. She felt a small tingle at her flanks and glanced to see three pink butterflies. It was her Cutie Mark! She finally got her Cutie Mark! She felt the need to jump up and down in joy, but she settled down with a frown.

...she'll go tell the others when she's done here. She wouldn't want to impose on Rainbow after she wins her race...or on Spike and Gilda...

Author's Notes:

I feel I need to clarify this:

Yes, the Rainboom did happen later than canon, which is why Twilight is already Celestia's student.

While Fluttershy and, obviously, RD are tied to the Rainboom, the rest of the mane 6 are not, and have their own ways of discovering their Cutie Mark, except for Pinkie, but that will be telling...

Regardless, thanks for all your support! In the next chapter, we're going to be near 8th grade graduation, but something is bothering Spike, and it involves Cutie marks...