The wind breaking apart, the colors spreading around and the sound catching up behind her. It´s not easy to describe how it feels to be at the center of a Sonic Rainboom and, to be honest, Rainbow Dash never cared to do so. She simply described it as “Awesome” and that was enough for her.

As for the landing part, the description should have been “painful”, considering she was going full speed downward. Instead, it felt soft and comforting, like landing on a pile of pillows. Actually, that was exactly what happened, as Rainbow discovered when she spat the pillow out of her mouth.

“Uh?”

“A few centimeters to the right. My mistake, I didn´t place the cushions the right way,” a soft voice said behind her.

Rainbow shook the feathers out of her mane and looked around to see where she was. The room was too dark to actually tell, only the moonlight peeking through the windows wasn´t enough for her. She seemed to be inside some sort of studio, judging by the bookshelves.

Rainbow scratched her head, confused by the whole situation. She was sure she had been at the Flight Camp track just a few seconds ago and it had been a bright, sunny day too.

“Are you hurt?”

Rainbow turned over to meet the mysterious voice. She squinted her eyes and could just make out the outline of a pony standing in the darkness but her face wasn't visible.

“Rainbow Dash, are you okay?”

The pony took a step forward and now Rainbow could tell she had wings. Rainbow smiled, happy to see another pegasus but soon she backed down when she noticed the horn on the shadowy pony head.

“Wait a minute. You have a horn and wings? Princess...Celestia?” Rainbow Dash asked.

The shadowy pony giggled. “No.”

“Then who are you?”

“That´s quite a long story. Come with me, Rainbow,” the pony said, waving to her to follow.

“Hey, how come you know my name? Oh wait, I forgot! I´m Rainbow Dash, the most awesome cadet at Flight Academy!”

The pony giggled again. “And the most modest too...”

“Yeah! Wait, was that...umh, what´s that fancy word?”

“Sarcasm.”

“Gesundheit.”

Despite the darkness, Rainbow could swear the pony rolled her eyes. Rainbow tried to get a better look at her but it was too difficult. She was tall, not as tall as the Princess but still much taller than her. Rainbow frowned, remembering all the bullies at Flight Camp that make fun of her short stature. That made her remember the fact that she wasn't at Flight Camp anymore. Actually, she had no idea where she was or why it was nighttime or who this pony was.

Before she realized it, Rainbow Dash had followed the pony to a balcony. The pony used her magic to open the door and stepped outside. Rainbow thought she could finally get to see her face but it was still dark.

“Take a look around, Rainbow,” the pony said.

Rainbow had to climb to the railing in order to see from the balcony. When she did, she got a good view of a sleepy town. It was quite a large town and it looked really nice and welcoming, even at night. The sight managed to calm Rainbow a little.

“This town is called Ponyville. You probably never heard of it before,” the winged pony said behind her.

“I have. I have a classmate from there. A real scaredy cat. Every time she tries to fly she just falls down. She is nice though. How did I get here?”

“Well, I have a theory. When you accelerate past a certain point, the molecules of your body...” the pony began but stop when she saw Rainbow looking confused. “Never mind that. Thing is you are here now and your are for a reason.”

“What reason?”

“See this town here? How peaceful and quiet it is”

Rainbow nodded.

“Well, that´s thanks to a Princess. A Pony Princess who made this town her home and protected it from many evils.”

“Cool!”

“Yes, cool. But that Princess never would have gone so far if it wasn´t for her friends. She had the best friends a pony could ever ask and they help her become a better Princess.”

“You´re sappy,” Rainbow snickered. “But it´s a nice story. Wish I had friends like that. Hey, how come I never heard of this Princess pony before?”

“Because that didn´t happen...yet.”

“...explain.”

“Think about it, Rainbow. You flew fast, faster than anypony has ever flew. What do you think it happened?”

Rainbow pondered for a few minutes, trying to get this pony´s point. Then, it hit her. “Wait, you mean...I travelled through time?”

The pony nodded.

“That is...awesome! I mean, how cool is that? i actually went so fast that I travelled forward in time? Yeah! I´m the fastest pony alive! YES!”

Rainbow flipped in the air, happy with her accomplishment. And then reality hit her again.

“Wait. If that's true...how far did I traveled? A few months? A few years? Centuries? Can I go back? How do I do that? What if I can't? What if I´m stuck in the future forever?”

“Rainbow, breathe!”

Rainbow slowly recovered her breath, helped by the pony placing a hoof on her shoulder.

“Don´t worry about that. I can send you back to the exact same moment you left with a  simple spell.”

“You can do that?”

The pony nodded.

“But before you left, I need to tell you something. Actually, I have to ask you for a favor.”

Rainbow nodded, her nervous state coming back.

“In a few years, you´ll meet a pony. A pony who doesn't want to make friends but she´ll change her mind and become one of your best friends. One day, she will change and she´ll be very scared by that. She will lose her confidence and will try to run away from her friends.”

“That...that´s bad. Why would she do that?”

“She´ll think that she is disappointing her friends and that she is no longer helpful to them. But one friend will make her see the error of her ways and help her become a better pony. Can you be that friend, Rainbow?”

Rainbow wiped a few tears that threatened to escape and nodded.

“Thank you. Now, do me one last favour when you go back,” the pony said, her horn glowing.

“Wha-what?”

“Try not to crash into me when we´ll first met. It hurt.”

“Wait? You mean...”

But Rainbow didn´t get a chance to finish her question. A bright white light blinded her and she woke up with grass in her mouth and a bright sun over her head.

*******

“Come on, Twilight! Just flap those wings already!”

“I´m-..trying!”

Twilight tried to stay on air, flapping her wings as hard as she could. But eventually she lost balance and dropped into a mud pile. Twilight growled while Rainbow extended a hoof to help her.

“I can´t do this, Rainbow...”

“Sure you can, just remember the idea is to go upwards,” Rainbow joked.

“I´m serious, Rainbow! I can´t fly like you! I can´t even fly like Fluttershy! It doesn't matter how many hours we train!” Twilight yelled, waving at the moon over their heads. “I´ll never be good enough!”

Rainbow waited for Twilight to stop sobbing, never moving her hoof. Twilight looked up and saw her still standing and quietly accept the hoof. Rainbow help her got up and the moonlight hit her the right spot, making a memory return to Rainbow.

“Stop looking at me like that, Rainbow. It´s...a little embarrassing,” Twilight replied, blushing.

“Heh, sorry Twi. And sorry about crashing into you when we first met.”

Twilight smiled and shrugged, no longer blushing.

“Hey, can you do me a favor, Twi?”

Twilight now raised an eyebrow, a little confused.

“Move the cushions a little to the right. It hurt a little when I crashed.”

Rainbow laughed at Twilight´s totally confused look but refused to explain what she was talking about.