One week. A week of having Pinkie to wake up next to. A week of her amazing breakfasts. A week of having Pinkie. Shade sighs as she strokes Pinkie's fluffy mane. Just one week of many to come being with Pinkie.

Of course, telling Muffins had proven difficult. In the end, Muffins congratulates Shade and wishes the best for them. Since then, Muffins has stopped showing up at the store and practically avoiding Shade.

A lick on her hoof brings her attention back to the pink mare beside her. Shade casts Pinkie a confusing look.

"What was that for?" Shade laughs.

"You looked sad," Pinkie says, her big, comforting eyes gaze up at Shade.

"I'm fine." Shade kisses the top of Pinkie's head and rolls out of bed.

"You going to shower?" Pinkie sits up in bed and asks.

Shade pokes her head out of the closet and winks at Pinkie, "Maybe…"

After breakfast, and a one hour shower, Pinkie and Shade head over to Twilight's to help her with cleaning. For a pony who likes organization, the library sits in a state of disarray on par with Discord's chaos.

Twilight sighs and sets a book on the bookshelf, "Last one. Thank you so much for helping me clean up all these books, guys. It was a crazy week of studying."

Screaming outside grabs everypony's attention. Rainbow Dash flies through the window. Shade is able to magically grab the pegasus before she crashes into the bookshelves. Shade releases Rainbow Dash who plops on the ground.

"Rainbow Dash, you rock! Woohoo." Fluttershy cheers from the window sill.

Rainbow Dash dusts herself off and frowns at Fluttershy. "That was a truly feeble performance."

Fluttershy joins everypony in the library. "Actually, it wasn't all bad. I particularly liked it when you made the clouds spin," she compliments and emphasizes by circling her hoof.

"Ugh. I'm not talking about my performance, I'm talking about yours. That feeble cheering!" Rainbow Dash complains.

"Hey!" Shade interjects, "Fluttershy is trying her best."

Rainbow Dash grunts, "Yeah, I know. I wish you guys could come to Cloudsdale to see me compete in the Best Young Flyer Competition."

"What's that?" Twilight asks.

Pinkie gasps. "It's where all the greatest Pegasus flyers get together and show off their different flying styles! Some are fast!" she explains while zipping around making noises with her mouth. "And some are graceful." She stands up on her rear hooves and dances. She begins to lose her balance. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!"

Shade catches Pinkie before she hits the ground. "Be a little more careful," Shade chuckles.

Pinkie giggles.

"Golly. I'd love to see you strut yer stuff in that competition," Applejack says to Rainbow Dash.

"Oh? Is that so?" Shade inquires with a suggestive tone and brow wriggle.

Applejack blushes. "I-I just meant I'd like to go see and support Rainbow Dash!"

Rainbow Dash laughs and nudges Applejack's side. "Yeah. I wish you guys could be there. Fluttershy's a great support, but her cheering isn't exactly inspirational."

"Ooh! I'd love to see you make a sonic rainboom! It's like, the most coolest thing ever!" Pinkie chimes.

"What's a 'sonic rainboom?'" Twilight and Shade asks simultaneously.

"You two really need to get out more. The sonic rainboom is legendary! When a Pegasus like Rainbow Dash gets going sooo fast... Boom! A sonic boom and a rainbow can happen all at once!" Pinkie elaborates.

"And Rainbow Dash here's the only pony to ever pull it off!" Applejack inputs.

"Impressive," Shade compliments Rainbow Dash.

"It was a long time ago... I was just a filly," Rainbow Dash states shyly.

"Is that… modesty I hear?" Shade cracks, cupping an ear with her hoof.

Applejack snickers earning a deadpan glance from Rainbow Dash.

"You're gonna do it again, right?" Pinkie asks.

"Are... you kidding? I'm the greatest flyer to ever come out of Cloudsdale! I could do sonic rainbooms in my sleep," Rainbow Dash claims.

Shade notices the pegasus' slight hesitation.

"Wow. If you pull that off, you'll win the crown for sure!" Twilight proclaims.

"The grand prize is an entire day with the Wonderbolts. A whole day of flying with my lifelong heroes... It'll be a dream come true!" Rainbow Dash exclaims.

"Yay," is Fluttershy's weak cheer.

Rainbow Dash scowls at Fluttershy. She returns her attention to the others, "I'm gonna go rest up. Don't wanna over prepare myself, y'know. Hehe." She confronts Fluttershy, "You, on the other hand, better keep practicing. I need a cheering section to match my spectacular performance."

Fluttershy watches Rainbow Dash fly out the window. She turns back to her friends to say, "She's practiced that move a hundred times, and she's never even come close to doing it." She sighs. "I don't know if I can cheer loud enough to help her," she laments and flies out the window.

"Go on, go on," Rarity urges Twilight with a prodding horn to the flank making Twilight yelp.

Twilight glares at Rarity for a second. "'Go on' what?"

"Find a spell that will get us wingless ponies into Cloudsdale," Rarity clarifies. "Didn't you see how nervous she was?"

Applejack raspberries, "Nervous? Have you spit yer bit or somethin'? She was tootin' her own horn louder than the brass section of a marching band!"

Shade chuckles.

"Oh, puh-lease!" Rarity scoffs. "I have put on enough fashion shows to recognize stage fright when I see it. We've got to find a way to be there for her."

"So you noticed that, too, Rares?" Shade inputs.

"Indeed," Rarity nods.

"Hmm," Twilight hums and searches through her books for a flight spell.

A book hits her in the back of her head. She turns to see the book in front of her face hovering with a red aura. She glares daggers at Shade. Shade whistles innocently as she pretends to browse the bookshelves.

Twilight accepts the book with her magic and flips through the book. "Here it is! A spell that will allow Earth ponies to fly for three days. Ooh, it looks really difficult... I'm not sure I can do it."

Shade notices Twilight's pleading eyes. "What is this? The Element of Magic wants my help? If I keep out performing you does that mean I can have two elements of harmony?"

Twilight scowls at Shade but sighs in defeat knowing the tricorn speaks true.

"You've got to try!" Rarity cheers on Twilight.

"Okay... But who's gonna volunteer to be the test subject?"

"Try Applejack," Shade volunteeres the orange pony by pushing her towards Twilight.

"I will! For Rainbow Dash, I will go first," Rarity states.

"The spell is for 'earth ponies', Rarity." Shade turns to smirk at Twilight, "Unless Miss Prodigy can modify the spell to work on unicorns, the spell may not work fully."

"I have faith in Twilight's abilities!" Rarity defends Twilight.

"As do I," Shade grins.

Twilight exhales. "Here goes," she says as her horn lights up.

Magic courses around Rarity, slowly at first, but intensifies as Twilight channels more mana into the spell. Blue magic wraps around Rarity until it envelopes her completely. A dark blue ball of magic leaves Twilight's horn and Shade raises a shield around herself, Pinkie, and Applejack. The spell ends in an explosion of blinding white light.

When everypony can see again, Twilight sees Rarity hovering in the air with brilliant butterfly wings.

"I think it worked!" she exclaims. She looks over to see Shade's stoic expression. "What?"

"You sure you did it correctly?" Shade questions.

"Yes!" is Twilight's vehement reply.

Shade turns to Pinkie. "You want to try it out?"

"Yes!" Pinkie exclaims and bounces around.

"Hold still, Pinkie…" Pinkie stops and makes a diving board sound. "Right."

Shade ignites her horn and focuses on Pinkie. She recites the spell in her mind and channels her magic to her subject. With a quick flash of white light a new Pinkie stands before everypony.

"Look out Equestria! It's Pegasus Pinkie!" the pink pegasus exclaims with a back flip in the air.

Shade huffs a sigh of relief. She turns to Twilight and grins. "Your turn."

"Why so shocked? We couldn't leave our favorite flyer without a big cheering section!" Rarity says above the clouds.

"That's our cue," Shade winks to the others below her.

Rainbow Dash releases a startling yelp as four pegasi shoot past her from below. She gapes at the "pegasi" hovering before her.

"You should see the look on your face," Shade teases.

"I... I can't believe it!" Rainbow Dash gasps.

"It's incredible!" Fluttershy exclaims.

Rainbow Dash shakes the stupor from herself. She smiles gratefully up at her friends, "This is so cool! You guys made it!"

"Sure did!" Pinkie chimes.

The four new pegasi touch down on the cloud.

"How'd you all grow wings?" Rainbow Dash wonders aloud.

"I found a spell that makes temporary wings and with Shade's help, we all have wings," Twilight informs the cyan pegasus.

Shade's eyes sparkle with an idea. "Hey, Twilight, let's go show Celestia your new wings. Since you're technically an alicorn now does that make you a princess?"

"What? I'm not a real alicorn," Twilight dismisses the notion.

"What matters is that we came to cheer you to victory!" Applejack nudges Rainbow Dash's side.

Rainbow Dash smiles sheepishly, "To be honest, I was starting to get just the teeniest, tiniest bit nervous. But I feel a lot better now that you guys are here. Hey, we've got some time before the competition. Why don't Fluttershy and I show you around Cloudsdale?"

Everypony cheers and agrees with that idea.

The new pegasi follow Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy to the edge of the cloud where the whole city opens up to them.

"Here it is: the greatest city in the sky!" Rainbow Dash boasts.

From the cloud they can see the rest of the city and its ancient architecture hover atop clouds. In the nearby distance, the Cloudeseum stands regally.

"Ooooo! Aaahh!" Everypony awes.

"Oooo! Aaahhh!" Rarity croons to herself in a mirror.

"Uhh..." Rainbow Dash utters uncertainty. She continues on her way, "Some of the greatest Pegasi in history came from Cloudsdale."

"Oh, wait for me!" Rarity calls out to the group and flutters to catch up to them.

As Rainbow Dash continues with the tour, they pass by three construction ponies who are working on a cloud. A brown stallion operating a jackhammer gapes at Rarity releasing the jackhammer from his mouth to run away.

"Those wings are gorgeous!" a gray stallion calls out to Rarity.

"Why, thank you!" Rarity replies.

Shade glares at the butterfly wings supporting Rarity. Just one spell to the wings and all the airs Rarity has will not keep her up. Shade grins malevolently.

"Be careful with those wings, Rarity. They're made from gossamer and morning dew, and they're incredibly delicate," Twilight warns the unicorn.

"Don't worry, Twilight. I'm sure they can't get worn out from too much attention," Rarity preens.

"Careful, Icarus," Shade cautions Rarity.

"Who's 'Icarus?'" Pinkie asks aloud and searches the area.

"Icarus was an ancient unicorn who learned how to fly because of his father, Daedalus, created a spell that would allow him to fly. Icarus flew too close to the sun and his wings melted and he died. Daedalus later refined the spell to the one I used on Pinkie, AJ, and Twilight," Shade explains.

"'Died!'" Rarity gasps.

"Eeyup," Shade nods.

"I'm too beautiful to die!" Rarity wails. She lands on the ground. "I promise to be careful!"

"Please do," Shade smiles.

"Since we're up here, I'd sure like to get a look at where the weather's made," Applejack voices.

"Great idea! C'mon, girls. To the weather factory!" Rainbow Dash announces and flies off.

After a ten minute flight, the group arrives at the towering massive weather factory. Black, ominous thunder clouds loom on the left spitting out lighting while on the right side—only clear skies and rainbows. Rainbow Dash manages to convince the supervisor to allow them a tour, Rarity not shying away from using her wings to help persuade the stallion. With white coats and helmets the group follows Rainbow Dash's lead once more.

Rainbow Dash opens the first door, "This is where they make the snowflakes. Each one is hoofmade. As you can see, it's a delicate operation."

Many weather ponies in white coats and hats work arduously in the cold room. They carefully craft the snowflakes under magnifying glasses. Rarity takes flight to examine a large snowflake hanging from the ceiling.

Rarity breaths in a gasp, "Ooh, the snowflakes look even better from up here."

The downdraft of her lovely wings causes enough wind to start blowing around the snowflakes. The weather ponies run around frantically trying to secure their precious hoofcrafts. Shade and Rainbow Dash glare at the still hovering unicorn. Shade pulls her down with crimson magic.

"We better move on before Rarity ruins winter and causes a drought," Rainbow Dash deadpans with a snowflake breaking in front of her for effect.

After trotting past the scrambling weather ponies, Rainbow Dash pushes open a door and leads her friends to the next sector. The room opens up and there are vats of rainbows with streams of rainbows snaking and pouring into the vats.

"And here's where they make the rainbows!" the cyan pegasus announces.

Pinkie zooms to a vat and sticks a hoof in the rainbow liquid.

"Pinkie don—!" Shade's warning fails to reah Pinkie in time.

Pinkie licks the rainbow liquid off her hoof. Her face changes color along with her expressions of disgust. Flame spits from her mouth and a train whistle blows from her ears.

"Spicyyyyyy!" Pinkie interjects with a whinny and runs off to find water.

Applejack laughs. Twilight stamps the ground trying not to laugh. Shade rolls her eyes and catches Pinkie with magic. As she reels in the panting pony, Shade conjures a glass of milk. Pinkie grabs the glass and gulps down its contents.

Pinkie sighs in relief. "Thanks," she pants.

"What have I said about randomly licking things?" Shade scolds the pink mare.

"I'm sorry," Pinkie gazes up at Shade with big puppy eyes.

Shade's heart melts and she hugs Pinkie.

"Yeah, rainbows aren't really known for their flavor," Rainbow Dash snickers.

"Whoa!" a voice awes. "Oh, where'd you get those amazing wings? I want a pair!"

Looking behind them, the group notices that Rarity not only had flew away on her own she now has three stallions following her. Shade scowls at the white mare.

"Hmm... Yeah, I guess I could see that," Rarity pretends to not care about the attention.

The three stallions notice Rainbow Dash and walk over to her.

The brown stallion speaks first, "Oh, hey look, it's Rainbow Crash again!"

"Heheheyeah! Rainbow... Umm... Eyah... Crash!" the orange stallion tries to fabricate a comeback.

"Rarity! What're you doing talking to these guys?" Rainbow Dash hisses up at the unicorn.

"Oh, they were just admiring my wings, Rainbow Dash," Rarity replies nonchalantly.

"Yeah, you should forget the sonic rainboom and just get yourself some wings like these!' the brown stallion remarks.

The trio laugh and fly away.

"Ohhh..." Rainbow Dash groans.

Noticing her friend's distress, Fluttershy takes the initiative to speak up, "Uhh... C'mon, girls. Why don't we go see how clouds are made?" She starts to lead her friends and turns to Rainbow Dash to comfort her. "Don't listen to them. You're gonna win that competition for sports sure!"

"Are you kidding? I can't do the sonic rainboom, and just look at these boring, plain old feathered wings. I'm doomed!" Rainbow Dash laments.

Slap!

Rainbow Dash blinks.

Shade picks up Rainbow Dash by her barrel and slaps the cyan pegasus with her new white wings, "Get. It. Together!" Shade releases the pegasus to the ground. "The Rainbow Dash I know doesn't let anything stop her from being awesome! The Rainbow Dash I know charges head on through any challenge! The Rainbow Dash I know would not let this opportunity to be with the Wonderbolts be for nothing!"

"Yeah!" Pinkie cheers.

Rainbow Dash shakes her head. "Yeah! You're right! Thanks, Shade."

"No prob—"

Smack!

Rainbow Dash snickers and flies off. Shade smirks and follows after her with the group in tow.

The make there way to another part of the factory. This room has magenta machines and a higher humidity than the other rooms. Clouds float near the ceiling. As they make there way down the middle of the line of machines, weather ponies gather around Rarity to awe and marvel at her delicate wings.

Rarity basks in the attention. "What, these old things? Go ahead, everypony. Photos are encouraged."

Twilight trots over to the group of ponies. "Rarity, we're supposed to be helping Rainbow Dash relax, remember? Put your wings away and stop showing off!" she admonishes the unicorn.

"Oh, pfft," Rarity dismisses Twilight. She flies up higher in the sky, "How can you ask me to put away perfection?"

Her wings flare open which catches the sunlight and shines a rainbow of colors over everypony in the room. The weather ponies awe.

"Waa-haa-haa!" Rarity guffaws malevolently.

"That's it," Shade ignites her horns, "I'm incinerating those damn wings!"

"No, Shade," Pinkie stops Shade with a touch on the withers. "Just let her have this moment. They only last three days anyways."

"Rainbow Dash, are you okay? You don't look so good," Shade over hears Twilight.

Shade can see the prismatic pegasus laying in the floor and quivering.

"Of course! Why wouldn't I be okay?" her false smile and nervous titter can not hide Rainbow Dash's discomposure. "Everyone's so in love with Rarity's wings that they won't even notice when I totally blow it in the Best Young Flyer's Competition."

"Hey! There's an idea! YOU should enter the competition!" a mare with a rainbow cutie mark suggests aloud.

"Yeah! I could watch you fly all day long!" an old mare adds.

"There really isn't anypony who uses their wings quite like me. Perhaps I should compete," Rarity mulls. Rarity and her entourage make their way to leave.

"What?!" Rainbow Dash interjects.

"Okay. Now, Rarity and those two mares both go to the Dragonlands!" Shade growls and ignites her horns.

"Shade!" Pinkie interrupts Shade. "What did I say about sending ponies to the Dragonlands?"

Shade cocks her head at Pinkie. "Uh, nothing? This is the first time I've ever brought it up."

Pinkie chortles. "Right! Anyways! You can't send ponies to the Dragonlands just because you disagree with them."

"What about the moon?" Shade inquires innocently.

"That's even worse!" Pinkie exclaims.

"Fine," Shade pouts.

"Can you send me to the moon?" Rainbow Dash asks Shade. "I'll never win the competition now."

Shade unfurls her wings. "Guess I gotta give you another pep talk..."

Pinkie frowns at Shade, forces her wings close, and points a hoof at the exit. Shade pouts and allows Pinkie to escort her out.

"You can do it, Rainbow Dash," Twilight tries to cheer up her friend.

"We'll be here for you, sugarcube," Applejack nudges Rainbow Dash as they follow the pink pony.

"Yeah…" Rainbow Dash replies lamely.

Twenty minuets later…

"I loved number seven. Doing fifteen barrel rolls in a row can't be easy," Twilight comments.

"My favorite is number ten. She just looked like such a nice pony," Fluttershy inputs.

"How come Muffins didn't tell me she was in the competition?" Shade wonders aloud, downcast.

Pinkie leans against Shade for assurance and nuzzles her ivory chest. Shade wraps a wing around Pinkie and pulls her in closer.

"Hmm... Wonder how come we haven't seen Rainbow Dash or Rarity yet. The competition's almost over," Applejack voices.

"And now, for our final competitor of the day, contestant number fifteen!" the announcer announces. Rainbow peeks her head out while an extravagant Rarity flutters out of the curtains. "Uhh... And apparently contestant number four..." the announcer adds.

The crowd cheers. Those three stallions from earlier whoops from the cloud underneath them. Shade uses ever ounce of restraint to not disintegrate their cloud. Shade observes how Rainbow Dash maneuveres in-and-out of the cloud-trees and her hopes rise with each successful pass but her heart sinks when she hits the last obstacle. Rainbow Dash flies towards the stands and crashes into the wall below her friends.

"Nice work, Rainbow Crash!" the orange one jeers.

Rainbow Dash grumbles and flies off.

Shade turns to Pinke with her brows furrow over her goggles. Pinkie shares the expression. She nods her head to Shade. Shade grins and her horns spark to life. A moment later, the three stallions yelp in surprise when their cloud disappears.

Shade returns her focus on her prismatic friend who is now spinning clouds. Shade and company cheer her on.

"Look! Phase two is working," Fluttershy points out.

Just as she says that, the last cloud Rainbow Dash is spinning goes out of control and sails towards Princess Celestia. The princess manages to duck in time to miss the cloud to the face.

Shade chuckles and watches as her two friends fly higher. Shade's smile disappears immediately. Rarity eclipses the sun and opens up her wings illuminating the entire Cloudesium. The crowd takes a collective gasp of wonder.

"Hubris," Shade mumbles.

Twilight turns her attention from Shade and looks up to see Rarity's wings expire. "Oh no! Her wings evaporated into thin air!" she gasps.

Rarity screams as gravity pulls her down. She zooms past the Cloudesium and the Wonderbolts fly into action after her. A rainbow blur zooms behind them.

"Oh, I can't look!" Fluttershy whimpers and covers her eyes.

The crowd gasps as Rainbow Dash presses against the sound barrier. Fluttershy peeks to see what happens.

Boom!

A rainbow and thunder fills the sky.

"A sonic rainboom! She did it! She did it! Wooo!" Fluttershy exclaims. Her cheers are the only sound in the Cloudesium.

Shade along with the rest of the crowd gapes in awe. A few seconds later, Rainbow Dash makes her way back to the Cloudesium, not before leaving a rainbow contrail over the arena. Rainbow Dash returns inside the arena where the other contestants help unload the Wonderbolts Rarity had knocked unconscious in her fit of panic. The crowd owe goes wild cheering for Rainbow Dash, especially a certain buttery pegasus.

"A sonic rainboom! Wooo! Yeah!" Fluttershy screams and celebrates.

Fireworks and streamers fill the Cloudesium along with more cheering and whooping.

Shade and company glide down from their cloud to join Rainbow Dash and Rarity on the floor. Shade smirks up at Rarity who is being held by two pegasi.

"I did it," Rainbow Dash utters. "I did it!" she stares with triumph.

"You sure did," Rarity breathes a sigh of relief. "Oh thank you, Rainbow Dash. You saved my life!"

"Oh yeah. I did that too. Ha, best day ever!" Rainbow Dash exclaims.

"Uh-huh," Shade grunts. She envelops the unicorn with crimson magic and casts a cloud walking spell on the unicorn. She then levitates the white unicorn to the cloud. "Wouldn't have happened if you had heeded my warning."

Rarity titters nervously. "I want to apologize to all of you for getting so carried away with my—" Rarity pauses to hold back a tear, "—beautiful wings. I guess I just lost my head."

"It's okay," Fluttershy assures Rarity.

"Oh, don't worry about it, sugarcube," Applejack replies.

"We still love you!" Pinkie chimes.

"Eh. If worst came to worst," Shade inputs, "I could have always raised you as a zompony."

Everyone gapes at Shade.

"Can you actually do that?" Twilight dares to question.

"Want to be the first test subject?" Shade smiles devilishly.

"So you're the little pony who saved our lives," comes a voice from behind. Looking back, Shade sees the Captian of the Wonderbolts addressing Rainbow Dash. "We really wanted to meet you, and say thanks," she finishes.

"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!" Rainbow Dash sputters with her face split in a star struck grin.

"Princess!" Twilight announces and kneels before the alabaster alicorn.

The rest of the group mimics Twilight—sans Shade.

"Princess Celestia, I am sorry I ruined the competition. Rainbow Dash here really is the best flyer in Equestria," Rarity speaks up.

"I know she is, my dear," Princess Celestia replies tenderly. "That's why, for her incredible act of bravery and her spectacular sonic rainboom, I'm presenting the grand prize for Best Young Flyer to this year's winner, Miss Rainbow Dash!" she announces and bestows a brass crown upon Rainbow Dash's chromatic mane.

The crowd cheers.

"Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh!" Rainbow Dash rambles. A group of ponies gathers around and picks up the cyan pegasus to cheer on.

Through all the excitement and commotion, Shade spots Muffins near the stage where the performers had emerged from. They lock eyes for a split second and Muffins flies away. Shade takes a step to go after but stops herself. She gazes back at the pink mare still celebrating with Rainbow Dash. Shade sighs and trots over to her friends.