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This story, the first thing I have ever written for the eyes of others, is written with special thanks to Forest Rain.

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Prologue

One dark, nearly cloudless night in Equestria...

Rainbow Dash looked down upon Ponyville from the highest of clouds and smiled to herself. She had finally yielded all of her signature moves to the Wonderbolts, and was waiting in anxiety for word as to whether or not they would be incorporating them into their routine. Her heart exploded... She had worked so hard to get noticed by them, and despite the initial discouragement she received from Twilight Sparkle, she kept a cool head, and you know what? Her hard work finally paid off. It was only a matter of time before the Wonderbolts would personally thank her for teaching them her signature tricks. She was beaming.

But that could be days away, and she couldn't very well do nothing... In light of that, she began a daily ritual that only Rainbow Dash herself knew of: She could let her inner filly out and be the lookout for Ponyville. Her superb vision could be attributed to her hours of searching the earth beneath her for potential threats to Ponyville. She didn't let on, but it was quite a thrill for her to alert the town when the Apple family cows had stampeded toward the town, and she never really stopped. She particularly enjoyed doing this after exerting herself and her wings had become nearly limp from battling against the rigors of high winds.

Today had been particularly tiresome for her. She had become particularly adept at producing Sonic Rainbooms as of late. In fact, she had disturbed the town below so deeply with her repetitive sonic bursts as to be scolded by Princess Celestia herself. She had been reassured that the Princess was proud of her, but told that it was ruffling a lot of manes down below. Although she was initially heartbroken, she knew it was for the best of everypony involved if she would cool it for the time being.

Rainbow Dash let out a soft sigh. It was, perhaps, going to be another uneventful session of looking out for the Earth Ponies and Unicorns of Ponyville. She would likely never receive any gratitude for the countless hours she had spent protecting this town. What good is a lookout who never spots anything? She began to think this tradition of hers had been for naught. "Better safe than sorry," she mumbled to herself as she basked in the moonlight. "They'll thank me one day."

Rainbow Dash poked her head over the edge of her cloud and looked lazily to the heart of the Everfree Forest where a small clearing gave view from above. Although it had to be miles away, she could easily make out the galloping figures of those two colts, Snips and Snails. One had an orange coat and a blue mane; The other had a blue coat and an orange mane. She then spotted Trixie running shortly behind them, and Dashie knew for sure that this couldn't mean anything good, but the excitement was too rare to pass up.

Rainbow Dash rose gracefully from her celestial throne, higher and higher to get a better look. "What are they running from this time? The last time those two ran back to Trixie to-" her heart skipped a beat. What she saw lumbering after them in the Everfree Forest was the most horrifying, gut wrenching monstrosity she had ever seen. It was real. If even one of them had been awakened... She couldn't even think about it. Not yet.

Not thinking for even a moment of her own safety (or her scolding from the Princess the day before), she took off like a shot toward the forest, accelerating faster and faster. Icy wind and water droplets stung her face and chest as she dropped faster and faster, almost unable to open her eyes. "There's no way I'll get to them in time," she said through gritted teeth. She knew what she had to do. "Sorry, everypony," she thought to herself as she made the final push. She could only be 700 feet above Ponyville, and only half a mile outside of it. She condensed her body as hard as she could, getting as little wind resistance as possible, putting forth an energy for flight that she didn't entirely understand herself. Pegasi don't just use their wings to fly; There was something else, something wonderful, a feeling of power a Pegasus would get every time he or she takes off.

Then it happened, just as she reached the outskirts of Ponyville: The Sonic Rainboom.

Rainbow Dash never grew tired of the sheer exhilaration of zipping past the mountains and trees at lightning speed as the tantalizing, prismatic nova of colors expanded behind her. By the time she knew she had done it, she had already sailed directly over Ponyville and into the edge of the Everfree Forest. It was not long before everypony in Ponyville had cantered out onto their doorstep, ready to give Dashie a piece of their mind.

The moon had barely peeked its luminous head from beneath the horizon.

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Please spread the link to my story to your friends. It would mean a lot. Thank you. Next Chapter: Chapter 1: Calm before the Storm (Part 1) Estimated time remaining: 35 Minutes