The morning had arrived pretty quickly, and it left just as quickly.

You had been reading more Daring Do books up until the clock struck one. That was a metaphorical clock though, of course, as Twilight simply uses her unicorn magic to tell the time.

There was no real clock in the library, but you had a vague idea of what time it was based around the sun's position in the sky.

Once again, your dream had returned, but you paid it no mind. At this point, it was as big a part of your sleep schedule as actually sleeping.

It didn't really scare you anymore, nor did it really unsettle you. It was just the same thing repeated every night, over and over. It had only really differed once, and it had been almost a week since then.

Closing your Daring Do book, you placed it back on the shelf where you had found it and said goodbye to Twilight and Spike. Today you were going to hang out with Rainbow Dash.

You opened the door of the library and took off into the clear sky. She had clearly gotten up early to do her weather pony duties, as there wasn't a cloud in sight.

As you soared over Ponyville, you couldn't help but take in just how magical it looked. You had never really admired the small village from above before.

In the top corner of the town, you could see Carousel Boutique. You even thought you could make out Rarity drying clothes in the afternoon sunlight.

A few houses south of that was Sugarcube Corner, sticking out like a soar thumb. It looked almost like a ginger bread house, contrasting with the peaceful green grass.

All across Ponyville were the same thatched houses, copied and pasted across the whole village. But it added to the magical atmosphere. They reminded you of the medieval era back on Earth, which was quite well known for its wizards and witches.

And in the middle of it all was the Golden Oak Library, standing tall above everything else.

It really was quite beautiful.

Suddenly, your thoughts were interrupted when you crashed face first into a cloud. It didn't hurt, but it did surprise you.

You bounced backwards off the cloud, doing a backwards roll in mid-air. You didn't see that cloud there a second ago...

Once again, your thoughts were interrupted by a sound. The sound of snickering coming from a somewhat large sheet of clouds positioned above you.

Suddenly, the light snickering burst into full on laughter.

"Bahahahaha!"

It was Rainbow Dash, of course. You were on your way to her house to meet her, but you weren't really expecting her to meet you halfway.

"Oh, man. The look on your face!" she said, wiping some tears of laughter from her eyes. She flew out from the large sheet of clouds and hovered next to you.

"Did you put that cloud there?" you asked. It definitely wasn't there when you had checked your flight path, and you were relatively close to Rainbow's house.

"Yep! Pretty cool prank right?" she boasted, pushing the stray cloud back to its brethren. It slid over to the cluster of clouds like an ice shuttle, and then sent the clouds ricocheting across the sky upon impact.

"I mean, not really." you said, causing her to look back at you with a frown on her face, "But that was pretty cool."

You pointed a hoof over at the ricocheting clouds, that were still spreading slowly across the sky.

"I didn't even mean to do that." Rainbow said as she looked at the moving clouds.

"You didn't?" you asked, slightly confused as to why she would admit that.

"I mean- I totally meant to do that!" she boasted with a smirk. You laughed at her quick correction before she fook flight, you following not far behind.

The two of you flew the short distance that was left between you and Rainbow's Cloudomonium and sat down on the edge of the floating island. You watched as the magical rainbow waterfalls vanished into the air as they fell.

"How's Tank?" you asked, sadly, looking back at the cloud house.

"He's almost better actually!" Rainbow said, cheerfully, looking out over Ponyville, "Do you wanna see him?"

As much as you wanted to meet Rainbow's tortoise friend, you didn't want to risk contracting the illness he had. You didn't know if you even could get an illness from a turtle, but you didn't wanna risk it.

"I think I'd rather wait until he's fully better." you said, turning back to the open sky before you.

"Yeah. That's probably for the best." she said, still looking off over the horizon.

"So what do you have in mind for today?" you asked her, causing her gaze to turn to you.

"Well, I've got a few ideas." she said as she hovered into the air. A mischievous smirk was plastered on her face, "Starting with this!"

Before you could question her, you felt a hood grab you and forcibly pull you. Before you knew it, you were freefalling from Rainbow's cloud house.

You couldn't scream or shout, you couldn't really do much. The wind was knocking all of the breath out of you. All you could see was Rainbow Dash begin to stop flapping her wings and fall with you.

As scary as it was, it felt amazing. You could feel adrenaline coursing through you, further amplified by a Pegasus' instincts.

You continued to fall for quite a while, before those same instincts took over completely.

Your wings fanned out and you felt your fall become slowed. Suddenly, you felt yourself fly back up into the air and do a backwards roll. You weren't really sure how you did it, but it was awesome.

Rainbow suddenly flew up to at light speed, copying what you did. She did a backward flip in the air, and then came to a stop next you.

"So, how was that?" she asked with a smug grin on her face.

"That. Was. Awesome." you said, looking up to the large cloud you had fell from.

"You think that was awesome? You have no idea what's next!" Rainbow said happily.

It was silent for a while. Neither you or Rainbow said anything for what felt like 10 seconds. Suddenly, you felt something tap you.

"Tag! You're it!" you heard Rainbow shout as she flew away in a blast of rainbow colours.

"Hey! Come back!" you shouted back to her. She couldn't hear you, of course, but that didn't stop you.

You gave chase to her instantly, but you knew you weren't gonna catch her. You could see her flying in the distance, but no matter how fast you flew, she was always getting further and further away.

But then you thought about something. Without much effort, you stopped trying to move your wings, and instead let your familiar instincts take over.

You felt yourself soaring through the air, almost as if it was natural. Well, it was natural for a Pegasus to fly, but you were now flying at such speed it was as if it was meant to be.

Much to your surprise, you were actually gaining on Rainbow Dash. The once small dot that was her on the horizon was getting larger, until it was almost reachable.

"Woah! How did you-" Rainbow gasped as she turned her head to see you next to her.

Without letting her finish, you extended a hoof out and tagged her on the side.

"Tag!" you exclaimed, as you did a 180 and began flying in the opposite direction.

"Get back here!" you heard her shout from behind you as she instantly took flight.

You just kept flying forward, not wanting to risk turning around. Although you were somehow faster than Rainbow Dash in those few seconds, you didn't know if you could maintain that speed.

Regrettably, you glanced behind you, to see Rainbow Dash coursing along right next to you.

"Tag, you're it." She said, effortlessly. She did a large arch in the air as she turned around and began flying in the direction towards her house.

Naturally, you chased her, just for her to fly right over her house and continue ascending. Much to your surprise, she stopped mid-flight, now hundreds of feet in the air.

You didn't stop, however, and continued rocketing towards her.

Rainbow smirked at you, before suddenly turning herself to face downwards. She began to divebomb through the air, cutting through it like a knife through butter.

You wondered if you should follow her, it was tag after all. But, eventually, you decided not to. Rainbow was the fastest flyer in Equestria, and even she was having difficulty maintaining a straight face while doing this.

Remembering that you are a Pegasus, you grabbed the nearest cloud and pulled it over to you. You sat down on it contently as you watched the ensuing show.

Out of nowhere, a white vapour cone had begun to form around Rainbow Dash. You knew exactly what it was.

The edge of the cone formed into a sharp point as Rainbow continued to slice through the air, working with gravity. You were actually going to get to see the Sonic Rainboom in person.

Rainbow grunted slightly with effort, but at last, the vapor cone gave way, releasing a large shockwave of multiple colours. The rainbow ring spread across the sky quickly, sending magnificent sparkling embers flying down to the Earth.

It was the most amazing thing you had ever seen.

Sadly, the colourful aftermath vanished as quickly as it appeared, leaving the blue sky as it was prior.

Despite being left in awe, you could still notice a tired out Rainbow Dash flying back up to the cloud that you were sat on.

"How was... That?" Rainbow asked, panting between her breaths.

"That was..." You couldn't find the words to describe how amazing that was, so you settled with her favourite word, "Awesome."

A smile crept on to her face, before the exhausted Rainbow Dash collapsed onto your cloud.

"Rainbow! Are you ok?" you asked, hovering off of the cloud to give her more space.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit tired out, that's all." she attempted to reassure you.

You had never seen Rainbow so tired from a Sonic Rainboom before. Something was definitely wrong, and you could feel it.

"Hey, Storm?" you heard her say with a shaky voice, "If it's ok with you I'm gonna head home."

"What? Why?" you asked, slightly concerned over her wellbeing. Usually she would hang out with you for the whole day, but it had only been half an hour.

"I'm just not feeling... myself." she said. Her voice was scratchier than normal. It was always scratchy, but never this much so.

"Do you want me to come with you?" you asked, now becoming quite concerned.

"Nah. I got it covered." she insisted as she began to take flight. Thankfully flying came easily to her, even when tired, "see ya, Storm."

"Bye, Rainbow." You replied before she slowly began flying back towards her home. You didn't know what was wrong with her, but you hated seeing her like this.

With nothing else to do, you started flying back to the library. You figured if Rainbow needed you she would come to find you.

Despite just pulling of a Sonic Rainboom, she seemed like she was in pain.

And that worried you.

That worried you a lot.

Author's Notes:

This chapters shorter than normal but I did intend for the last one to be short, but it didn't end up being short.

Also you may have noticed I didn't update yesterday. This is because my iPad broke, which is what I did most of my work on. Now I have to type this story entirely on PC, which is less convenient for me. Unfortunately, this means chapters might take a bit longer to come out. But on the bright side, a longer story, right?

Even though it's short, I hope you liked this chapter. It's quite important for this Acts storyline.