The gentle air was tolerantly humid, the glistening stars a delightful backdrop on the deep, dark blue sky.

Above the ground, a pleasant but easy breeze blew through the dimmed sky, and the ever watchful moon sat just above the horizon.

Nighttime had just settled upon Equestria.

The sky was painted with gray and white clouds of all sizes; some wispy and thin, others thick and fluffed, and all shimmered upon by the diamond moonlight.

Upon one of the more plush clouds, there lay a bright orange Pegasus, her bright violet hair ruffled in her usual style, her teenage wings tucked at her sides. Her bright purple eyes gazed outwards, out upon the beautiful display lain out before her.

Down on the ground below, the wind blew gently through the saw grass dispersed about the land, creating a sweet but soft tune that filled the area.

Scootaloo pulled a piece of fluff out from the cloud, placed it under her head, and relaxed her chin upon it.

It was a great night to stargaze, to say the least.

Scootaloo had always loved stargazing. Perhaps it was the beauty of the stars themselves she loved so much, or maybe it was the way they hung over the earth with a watchful eye, always there to talk to her, or more likely it was a combination of the both- in any case she could not exactly place a hoof on the feeling- but she loved looking at them, and she loved the way her heart felt when she did.

Scootaloo chuckled to herself.

It felt so long since she had been able to just relax like she was now; she had been training vigorously lately for the Junior Speedstars tryouts.

And how could she not?

Her idol and friend, Rainbow Dash, was in the group herself when she was Scootaloo's age. It only seemed fitting that Scootaloo followed in her hero's footsteps.

And what better training method than practicing with her idol, who had been in the Speedstars before?

Dash had been practicing with Scootaloo for weeks to build up her speed, stamina, and confidence. Scootaloo trained until her bones hurt. She really, really wanted to make this year's tryouts. Now, the tryouts were only 6 days away.

In fact, Scootaloo was sore even right now, despite the fact that she hadn't trained since yesterday.

But the soreness was one that came with accomplishment; Scootaloo had become quite the flyer as she became older, and training with Dash had trimmed the fat off of her skills.

Man, Rainbow Dash was like a big sister to her. She loved her and looked up to her each and every day. Scootaloo even owed her cutie mark to her, partially.

She turned around and stared at the symbol on her flank, bold and bright as ever.

A slick black scooter wheel with ice white wings shooting out of the sides and a violet streak of lightning shooting from the wheel was emblazoned on her flank.

Scootaloo chuckled once again.

With a bolt of quickness, Scootaloo hopped off of the cloud, nose-dove, and spread her wings open. She turned her body slowly upward, and began to glide through the air, flapping her wings softly from time to time to keep in the air.

The ground below sped along with her, and the air whistled through her mane.

She spotted a large cloud a few feet away, sped up, and -woosh!- flew right through it, disintegrating it into tiny water droplets.

The mist covered her face, and slowly ran dan her cheeks as she flew faster yet.

She pulled to the left, soared downwards, pulled quickly upwards, and looped around several times, then flew straight for a few hundred feet.

Scootaloo felt alive.

Grinning widely, Scootaloo found another soft looking cloud, hovered above it, and sat down on her rump.

Suddenly, a rainbow streak appeared in the sky.

The streak flew across the evening sky, decorating it with a bright trail of the 7 colors as it looped and twisted and turned about.

It was Rainow Dash!

Scootaloo began to watch contently as Dash continued to fly, though Dash was unaware of her presence.

Suddenly, Dash, high up in the sky, hovered in place and looked down. She closed her wings, and began to dive downwards, gaining speed rapidly. She performed a ton of flips and tricks as she dove, and straightened out her toned body as she got closer to the dirt. When she was only about 50 feet from the ground, Dash quickly angled her wings upward, allowing her to glide directly above the ground, and flew upward and upward, aiming for a large grey cloud.

Scootaloo, after watching this much of Dash flying, recognized Dash's maneuvers as one of her new signature moves: The Rainbow Charged Flash!

Rainbow Dash had bragged on end about this new trick when she was training with Scootaloo for her tryouts, and after hearing the procedure of the move OVER and OVER again, Scoots could easily recognize it when she saw it.

Scootaloo remembered the conversation she had with Dash just yesterday:

"...and then, just as I barely brush the ground, I swoop straight up, aim for that thunder cloud, Sonic rainboom, and -Bam!- out in all directions, lighting goes flying!" said Dash.

"Yes Dash, I know, you've told me for, what, 45th time now?" said Scootaloo jokingly, laughing.

"Exactly! This trick is so undoubtedly cool, it DESERVES to be explained 45 times!" replied Dash, laughing as well.

Yup, Rainbow Dash was absolutely obsessed with this trick, and although Dash had described it so much to her, she never actually got to see Rainbow do it.

So of course, seeing it now gave Scootaloo the chills as she soared up towards that cloud.

A cone of speed began to form around Dash, as she accelerated faster and faster.

Finally, as she neared closer and closer to the cloud, Dash successfully broke the sound barrier, and went straight into the cloud.

Rainbow tinted lightning erupted in all directions from the cloud, the huge sound of the Rainboom and the lightning combined screamed through the sky, and a great flash blinded Scootaloo for a few seconds.

Scootaloo's jaw was dropped, staring at where the rain cloud used to be.

Slowly, a smile began to form on her face.

Scootaloo was in complete awe at the magnificence of Rainbow's trick.

She had known a Sonic Rainboom was quite the sight, but to see the very colors of the rainboom be electrified by the flaring bolts of lighting was truly amazing.

Scootaloo stood on her hind legs and cheered out into the night sky at her hero's awesome accomplishment.

"Yeah, Rainbow Dash! If that wasn't the coolest trick I've ever seen, I dunno what was!"

She stared above into the sky, where the cloud used to be. Dash had probably gone really high after she went through the cloud, Scootaloo thought, and so she waited for Rainbow to come back down from the high above.

After about a minute of waiting, Scootaloo knew something was wrong.

Sure, Dash probably went high up, but it shouldn't have taken her this long to make her way back down.

Scootaloo scanned the sky, and despite her efforts, could see no Rainbow Dash.

After looking some more to no avail, Scootaloo stood up on her legs, and began flying around, looking for her.

Far and wide, up and down and across the sky she looked, but still, she could not see Rainbow anywhere.

Suddenly, in the distance, Scootaloo thought she saw something falling from the sky.

It had a smoke trail as it fell, and, as Scootaloo noticed as she squinted, it appeared singed to a very light grey cyan...

"Oh no. Oh Celestia no," Said Scootaloo.

It was Rainbow Dash.