"I've seen frozen rivers move faster," remarked Spitfire bitterly as she read the wingpower-reading machine at 7.3. "Next!"

Spitfire, the yellow mare with the fiery mane and tail, was wearing her academy training outfit decorated in medals and her eyes were barely visible through her purple sunglasses, giving off an expression hard enough to inspire fear in the hearts of pegasi. Tired pegasus surrounded her on all sides occupying both the wide dirt path and the grass on the hill next to the Ponyville reservoir, a circular pond just to the north of the city. It was mid-evening, and to the north of them were clear skies, and to the south over the city was a large thunderstorm that had just begun to put down heavy rainfall not two hundred yards from the pond.

"We've been working like dogs all day," said one brave stallion, a dark blue specimen named Star Hunter, and virtually everyone there shared his sentiments. "Give us a break. Our wings are tired."

"What was your measure?" snarled Spitfire, who whipped her head around and raised her eyebrow at him. "7.7? I've seen better clocks out of the junior speedster flight camp."

The stallion hung his head in shameful embarrassment. Most of the ponies had already had their wingpower tested, and were off in the grass or on the path resting, but a fair number still had to go and formed an unorganized line at starting line so they could whiz forward over a small wind-mill shaped device that recorded the force of the wind produced from the their fly-by. That's where Spitfire stood.

"Our measures won't be as good when we're this exhausted," complained Cloud Kicker, a light purple mare, who was laying down on the path.

"All I hear from this crew is excuses. You should come see the times we get from the academy after hours of harder labor then you just did," muttered coldly . "Will you form a single-file line please? Next!!!! What's the hold up? Go!"

Thorn trotted angrily up to the starting line, got in position, and launched forward through the air, blowing by Spitfire and her device. She leaned down and watched the dial closely as it topped out just a little passed 11.

"11... not terrible, but you can do better," she said out loud. "If I had Rainbow or Fleetfoot here," she muttered to herself.

"You know," he said, calling back to her, "you used to be cool when you came here before. Now you're just a jerk."

"Being a jerk is necessary," she said coolly, lifting her sunglasses off and tucking them into a pocket on her suit and staring at him menacingly. "Rainbow's off on another job. That means you're under my command today from the Princess herself, and I will not have ponies under my watch failing the rest of Equestria because you happen to be tired. If Rainbow were here, she'd give me a good measure. She wouldn't tolerate this laziness and lack of wingpower."

Just then, Rarity, who had nothing better to do but come and encourage the pegasi before the tornado job (and sporting a nice sombrero-like hat), walked up to her concernedly.

"Spitfire, I'm no pegasus, but don't you think you're being too hard on them?" she asked, looking around at the dejected and exhausted ponies. Spitfire turned to her and raised her eyebrow unamused.

"What was that first thing you said, that you're no pegasus?" she asked, and Rarity's mouth dropped, as she was taken aback. "I know how to handle these ponies. They're too soft. If we wanna raise this tornado they have to do better than they're doing."

"But, what about-?" she started, looking around at them. Just then, a strong breeze swept through them all from the south, from the thunderstorm. A crack of thunder echoed throughout the land, and water from the clouds began pouring down the ground over the entire area just south of them, bringing with it a stiff breeze and the smell of rain. The city itself disappeared in the darkness and falling rain. Many of the pegasus on the hill and on the path, and also in line, began whispering and talking among themselves.

"There's no way they actually pulled that off. Wasn't it just like... eight of them?" whispered one pony.

"Yeah, no way," replied another, as they stared into the darkness below the clouds and searched the skies up in the clouds for the pegasus responsible.

"Even with the ones she sent back, that's a tough job," said another stallion from a group of whispers.

"Who's job was that?" asked Sunshower Raindrops, a yellow mare, looking up at the storm and sitting alone among other ponies doing likewise.

"That was Rainbow's job," replied Open Skies, a blueish green stallion.

"Hm," said Spitfire, looking up in admiration. "So that's what Celestia gave her. How many ponies did she have with her?"

"Seven," replied Rarity, looking around for her friend Pinkie.

"Seven?" said Spitfire, laughing. "Not even Rainbow could pull that off with just seven other ponies." She looked at across at the ponies who had lost focus looking into the weather. "Hey, come on, let's go! Those of you in line, let's go. These should be no lower than 12 and so far we have one over 12. Come on. At the academy a 14 is a good measurement."

"Well why don't you do it?" asked one mare angrily from the crowd of pegasi resting on the hill. Spitfire appeared delighted at the question, and smirked arrogantly in her direction. She spread her wings and glided over to the hill to address them all standing there.

"I hold the record for the strongest wingpower ever recorded in Equestria of 18.1," she barked loudly looking around at them. "I got that by working really hard. That's why I hold the position I hold. Maybe if you work hard enough and toughen up, maybe you'll come within four points of that some day," she added as they hung their heads humiliated, and promptly flew back to her spot at the wingpower machine. "Next!"

Rarity observed the resentment of all the ponies she just spoke to. Whether or not it made any difference in the wingpower readings you'll have to decide for yourself.

Suddenly Fleetfoot, a turquoise mare with a pure white mane dropped down from the sky and landed right next to Spitfire. The friendly competitors grabbed hooves and shook, smirking at each other.

"How's it going? These readings worth anything?" asked Fleetfoot.

"Not really," replied Spitfire, rather loudly. Rarity rolled her eyes and facehoofed herself. "You there, Sassaflash," she called to the gentle light-blue mare near the front of the line, "get up here, come on, give us a measurement."

As the yellow-maned mare lined up on the starting line, Spitfire and Fleetfoot stared together at the wingpower machine, chuckling to each other.

"I'll say 7.4," remarked Spitfire to Fleetfoot, who in-turn mocked the suggestion.

"This flower? 6.9," she remarked.

The mare lined up at the starting line, crouched down, spread her wings, and took off. She gave her best effort but came through modestly. Spitfire and Fleetfoot looked together at the small machine's reading. Spitfire placed her hoof on the mark.

"6.8," she remarked, and Fleetfoot cried triumphantly.

"Ha!" she proclaimed, "Closer!" to which Spitfire rolled her eyes amusedly.

"Pathetic!!!! Let's go already!" snarled Spitfire to the rest of them. "We have a tornado to rise!"

"My goodness," Rarity said to herself. "Can't *somepony* come in and shut these girls up already?"

Suddenly, just then, there was a huge crack of lighting over Ponyville that commanded the attention of everypony there. They all fell quiet in the weather spectacle that Cloudsdale had produced for this evening, silencing even Spitfire and Fleetfoot as every last one of them turned their heads towards Ponyville. The bolt and the proceeding roar of thunder that shook the land, as it turns out, served a purpose. It turned out to be revealing the dark outline of a what seemed to be a lean mare in the distance, walking slowly directly towards them in the pouring rain and the darkness with a presence that mystified anyone looking.

It shocked the ponies that someone was even out in the thunderstorm much less the slow, nonchalant pace the dark figure walked at, as though completely ignoring the storm and the usual fear associated with them itself - it completely captivated everypony there. Several of the ponies even looked over to Spitfire and Fleetfoot who were standing deathly still, squinting at it with intense anticipation and the two of them traded intimidated looks. The ponies whispered anxiously to themselves. Another lightning bolt behind the figure lit up the landscape around the black silhouette. For less than one second, a flash of light blue and rainbow, looking up with reddish eyes of utter determination accompanied by a piercing smirk of pure triumph and tenacity.

There was suddenly a change of mood among the pegasi. A smug beam slowly crept onto Rarity's face. Oh yes...

"It's Rainbow!" cried one of the pegasi as the rest of them watched the mare walking towards them in the drenching rain with hopeful anticipation. Fleetfoot and Spitfire once again traded looks, though this time their eyes and mouth were even wider. Another streak of lightning over the city revealed the dark figure of a stallion right behind her on her side and six more dark figures of ponies coming into focus on either side of her walking side by side in the downpour towards the crowd of ponies. A few more seconds and the most confident pony alive was completely visible without the aid of lightning, emerging from the rainline into dryness sopping wet, the grin under her narrowed eyebrows getting bigger and bigger with every step. Behind her, the soaked figures of the other seven ponies came into focus, each one bringing a new and triumphant smile or expression into the picture.

"They actually did it!" shouted Open Skies, after which came a loud applause from all the ponies there. Now all of eight of them were completely out of the storm, one by one shaking themselves dry as they walked towards the cheering crowd, happily surprised at the sudden adoration. Rainbow loved it most of all. She looked up, spread her wings and glided over to the crowd, holding her hooves up high and waving her front legs upward asking for more crowd noise. They reacted with even louder cheers and yells, all the ones who were sitting laying now standing up pumping their hooves high. Spitfire and Fleetfoot could only watch beside themselves, knowing full well where credit was due.

"Way to go Rainbow!" screamed Rarity, waving at her.

"Heh, not bad Dash," called Spitfire, shaking her head up and down admirably.

Rainbow played shamelessly with the crowd, even striking poses in air as she went from side to side, throwing their hooves in the air with her. She flew swiftly back to her team and motioned with her front legs once again for an applause for the seven ponies standing in line there, which the crowd happily obliged. Amidst the cheering she came to a halt beside the gentle grayish/light-blue stallion standing in the middle. She gave him a loving stare and then grabbed his hoof, raising hers in the air with his triumphantly. The eight of them stood there together and proudly absorbed the cheers from the pegasi that had doubted them so strongly.

"Who is that?" muttered Spitfire to Rarity, quickly picking up on Rainbow's affection for him and watching them intently. "I've never seen him before."

"Who, him?" asked Rarity, referring with favor to the stallion. "That's Sonic Rain. He's new here. He's adorably shy if I must say so myself, but he is quite the flier," she added, adding under her breath with a doting smile, "and much more than that to her."

"Rainbow!" cried one of the mares from the crowd, silencing the others as she naturally began to speak for them as a whole. "You guys, please do a wingpower run and shut them up. They don't think we're worth anything!" she cried, and the expression of nearly every pegasi suddenly turned with venegeful smirks towards their instructor and Fleetfoot. The two mares, true to their competitive nature, hardened their expressions at this challenge.

"Is that so?" asked Rainbow, turning towards them. The two Wonderbolt mares stood there holding their ground in their expression, raising their eyebrows in acknowledgment of having been called out directly by someone under them. Rainbow's eyes met theirs, and the three traded smirks.

"They also said you couldn't do the Thunderstorm job, that you didn't have what it took," added another stallion loudly before quieting down for his next commet. "But then again so did we."

Rainbow looked back at the rest of her team, and they all traded smug looks.

"Come on guys. Line it up," Rainbow declared . There was a thunderous applause from the pegasi. "Go ahead, you first Buddy," she said, motioning with her head to the green stallion. The crowd herded over to the track where the testing was done and formed a line down it, cheering him on encouragingly.

The timid Buddy trotted wide-eyed over to the starting line, very encouraged by the loud support from his fellow pegasi, who watched him eagerly. He came to a halt at the starting point and brushed around in the dirt with fearful paranoia to ensure he didn't injure himself on his takeoff. He looked back at his wings, and then smiled shyly at all of his pegasi admirers.

"I know this guy, he's a goofball who's afraid of everything," whispered Fleetfoot to Spitfire, "He's not a good flier... is he?"

"Oh, he's a good flier my dear," said Rarity smugly to them. She was standing just from those two on the ending pathway for the test flier opposite the crowd. The opposite sideline if you will. "These are all her best fliers." The two of them turned their heads back at her and tried to hide their nervousness, shrugging it off and looking back at the machine with intensity.

"Aw, thanks guys!" noted Buddy, his ears falling down as he addressed the line of winged ponies cheering for him down the line in front of him.

Spitfire and Fleetfoot suddenly caught a glimpse of something directly opposite them in the hostile crowd; a sea of ponies parted around Rainbow who delivered to them an unbreakable death glare as she walked towards them with movements calmer than a serene placid lake; a direct contrast to the wild cheers around her. She came to a halt right in front of the track and stared them down in full anticipation of their humiliation. They had insulted her entire team of pegasi and herself. Now it was personal. Her epic staredown had only emboldened the crowd to cheer even louder around their savior.

Buddy took his time, and the crowd silenced slightly in anticipation. Spitfire and Fleetfoot watched him, half intense, and the other half confused, wondering how a pony like this could possibly register a good measure. He finally closed his eyes and beat his wings furiously, propelling off the ground with his legs and shooting straight forward, blasting past the finish line and blowing a powerful wind on the two shocked mares. They read the machine closely, then looked at each other in disbelief.

"14.9," muttered Spitfire in disbelief, and the crowd cheered wildly. "Where did that come from?" They once again caught a quick glimpse of the only pony not cheering on the other side; as Buddy had blasted past them, a permanent smirk suddenly appeared on Rainbow's face.

"Whatever, that's one pony!" cried Fleetfoot. The crowd booed.

"Who's next?" asked the ponies around Rainbow.

"Thunderlane," she muttered, not taking her eyes off of Fleetfoot and Spitfire, who now avoided eye contact with her at all costs.

"Thunderlane!!!!!" cried the crowd in unison.

The charcoal-gray stallion danced up to the starting line, winking and sticking his tongue out at the vast crowd cheering for him. He hopped around the starting line dramatically and stretched his wings in preparation. A chant of the word "Thunder!" broke out down the line, which he put his hoof on his chest dramatically on his chest as though flattered, and the crowd laughed. He then motioned for them to quiet down with his right hoof.

"Hey, come on guys, it needs to be quiet when they read the meter so it's more embarrassing," he said, to which the crowd reacted with dramtic "oooohhs" in the direction of Spitfire and Fleetfoot, who tried to hide their intimidation with their tough expressions.

"Hey Thunder, you hear the thunder?" asked one of his buddies in the crowd, inciting laughter from the crowd and Thunderlane.

"He's great when he's not skipping out," piped in another stallion.

"Oh shut up you moron, you know I don't skip and there's actually other reasons one isn't there," spat Thunderlane angrily from the starting line, and the crowd broke into much harder laughter.

Fleetfoot leaned into Spitfire just as Rarity walked up to try to get her own look at the readings.

"I know this guy too, he got like a 10 a couple years ago. No way he gets anything over a 12," whispered Fleetfoot to Spitfire.

"Heh... then we'll let 'em have it," replied the yellow mare sneakily.

The crowd went entirely silent as Thunder got into crouching position. His wings went from slow to fast, and he shot forward through the air and straight-lined past the machine, sending a powerful gust in all directions and turning the mill on the machine furiously. Spitfire and Fleetfoot could only stare with open mouths at each other yet again. Spitfire rolled her eyes and looked away before she reluctantly spoke the meaurement.

"15.1," and the pegasi cheered and rallied around the incredibly-improved Thunderlane who pumped his hoof at the announcement. Spitfire raised her eyebrow at Fleetfoot. "What was that? A 10 a couple years ago?" she remarked, and the turquoise mare looked on defeated disbelief. "I gotta admit that's impressive."

The crowd looked back in the direction and was astonished to find Whitewash already lined up to go, in crouching position and everything. On his face was a look of determination as severe as death itself. The crowd broke into ooohs and cheers, which he ignored. Everypony here knew there was bad blood between him and Spitfire, who had him previously thrown out of the Wonderbolt Academy for "authority issues". When she saw him, her expression tightened and her eyebrows narrowed.

He slingshotted forward and sliced through the air with ferocity and roared past the finish line. Spitfire and Fleetfoot watched the measurement, and looked up afterward silent, and Spitfire especially was bitter. When they wouldn't say anything, Rarity - who'd been watching it for herself- announced the official clock-in.

"16.7!" she cried triumphantly. The crowd yelled and howled, though Whitewash just stared bitterly towards them knowing his time had spoke for itself.

"Look at me like that when you get an 18.1!" snarled Spitfire, and the crowd booed.

Next up was Clear Skies, who's innocent naivety radiated in her smiling face at the crowd as they cheered her on. Rarity heard Fleetfoot remark to Spitfire that she was "not very smart" but conceded that she was nice, but knew by now not to berate her flying ability after the first three stallions had thrown that back in her face, literally in the form of wind.

"You guys," she said daintily to the crowd with a blush, "I feel like a member of the mane six!"

The crowd laughed; her being an over-the-top fan of the elements of harmony was well established and worthy of joke material for a lot of ponies. She lined up and too flew past a smirking Rainbow and rowdy applause, notching in a still-impressive 14.6 as Fleetfoot facehoofed and Spitfire shook her head. Blossomforth, the white mare with the watermelon mane, posted with ease a 14.9 and Merry May produced a 14.6 to match Clear Skies. By comparison the previous best before they got here was 12.4, and a majority of the times fell somewhere between 6 and 10.

But that still left two ponies left to go. Rainbow Dash, who was destined to go last and without doubt the most anticipated participant in the entire bunch, and the shy friendly stallion that admired her more than anyone else there.

Hey there! Sonic here... That was a summation of Rarity's third person account of what happened right before we got there, I felt for this entry it was important to describe what happened before I actually got there before I went into my usual first person account of what happened. Anyway, there's not really much of need for me to summarize anything, as you just read it, though I would add before picking back up that we actually finished the job and had the clouds all in place about a full fifteen minutes before the rain actually started coming down, so we had a chance to rest (a little bit) before we actually went and flew for the wingpower reader. As for the awesome entry we had to the tornado preparations where Rainbow led us in, well, I just wanted to reiterate that yes, it was that awesome.

As we were standing there waiting our turn to go for the wingpower machine, I was shaking. There's something terrifying about waiting in line to prove someone wrong - especially given it was personal with Rainbow and us and all the extra weight that added. It didn't help that there was a crowd of judging ponies who didn't hardly know me at all standing there, even though they'd been extremely supportive of all the rest of the team members. Plus there was the captain of the Wonderbolts who Rainbow had explicitly mentioned earlier was extremely important to impress. When they announced my team members' times and the crowd cheered, it sent icewater through my veins.

As the line in front of me got smaller and smaller, I got more and more nervous, and there were less ponies there to comfort me. I started focusing on my breaths, making sure I was getting plenty of it and keeping it nice and slow, but that only does so much. After Merry May's time announced, and there were only seconds left until I would walk up to the starting line and be in everypony's eyes, my nervousness came back to visit me.

I walked up by myself to the starting line. The sideline with the crowd was to my right, and the reservoir was to the left to this track, and standing between the reservoir was Spitfire, Fleetfoot, and Rarity, along with their little machine. Rainbow valiantly led me and the rest of the team to a stunning victory in completing a job that no one else besides her and the Princess believed we could actually do. Seeing those ponies cheering her and cheering the rest of us as we stood there together was one of the most wondrous feelings I'd ever experienced.

The one consistent emotion in almost all of the onlookers' expressions was uncertainty and curiosity. They didn't know me and they didn't know what to expect. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see them whispering and talking to each other. Near the end of the crowd down past the finish line I saw Thunderlane, Buddy, and Clear Skies watching me with hopeful looks and encouraging smiles. After quickly waving back at them embarrassed, I looked up at the finish line where the machine waited to clock my wingpower and saw Spitfire up there saying something to Rarity as looked directly at me. Reading her lips the ending looked something like "never seen him before". She was squinting curiously and sizing me up, whereas Rarity had this girly, doting smile on her face, saying something I couldn't make out. Then Spitfire's eyes shot open along with her mouth in utter disbelief.

"No," I saw on her mouth. Suddenly feeling very uncomfortable, I decided to look away from them and turned to my head to the crowd. They weren't rooting against me, I could tell that. They wanted me to stick it to Spitfire. I could sense there was just a lot of curiosity about me. At the worst possible time, right as I was getting ready to go, I had a terrible thought. What if one of them recognizes me?

I had spent a lot of time across Equestria. I had told Rainbow a lot, she knew it wasn't easy for me, but she didn't know exactly what happened the day I was taken from her. I would be devastated if one of them recognized me by myself somewhere a few years ago, in a patch of grass, or maybe alone in the fields. It couldn't come out now, especially with all of her heroics and the way the crowd loved her. What would they say if they knew her boyfriend's humble origins? I closed my eyes, and turned my head sideways. I could feel the eyes on me anyway, wondering what my problem was. Orphans like me can be hard to identify in Equestria... the chances that one of these guys saw me, remembers me, and connected the dots is tiny... I told myself.

"What's wrong?" I heard them whispering to themselves, and that only made it worse.

I opened my eyes and looked forward. No. I resolved right then that I was gonna set everything else aside and do this thing. I'm not gonna embarrass her or myself. It doesn't take a pedigree to be a good flier. I lined up and determined to give it my absolute all. This was an opportunity to show an important figure that I could fly. I shook out the last butterflies in my legs and crouched down. Just as I prepared my wings for launch off, I looked up and saw her.

She had spent the first six run-throughs standing directly opposite across from Spitfire and Fleetfoot - the sideline the crowd was on - giving them an unbreakable and defiant death stare after each pony crossed in front of them. She wasn't there anymore, though. She had moved to the track - directly in front of me - a ways past the finish line where Spitfire and Fleetfoot were. As soon as I saw her it was clear she was trying to get my attention. She just wanted me to see in her eyes that same confidence she had in me since we were foals. She threw in a wink and gave me her defining grin of grit.

I leaned back in my legs and pushed forward off my legs and flapped my wings as hard and as fast as I could. My eyes picked the top of a hill in front of me and I stared directly at that as I put everything into the flap of my wings and staying in line. All I could think about was making Rainbow proud. The ponies on the right of me turned into colorful blurs as the hill point in front of me got rapidly bigger. The wind sheared off my face before I tucked my head down and the sound of the wind blared in my ears. I shut my eyes and flapped with everything I had. Come on!!!!!

After a moment I brought my head back up and saw I was flying right into Rainbow herself. I spread my wings across like a parachute to stop myself and flapped myself backwards, finally coming to a halt right in front of her as she covered her face from the gust that followed me. I anxiously looked behind me to see the last bits of my burst of wind blowing through the manes of all the ponies and the trail of dust it kicked up behind me.

"17.7!" shouted Rarity as Fleetfoot and Spitfire ran their hooves throught their manes in complete shock.

I couldn't believe what I heard from Rarity's mouth. I stood there just as astonished as they were as I suddenly felt myself in the arms of Rainbow Dash being twirled around.

"No way! I don't believe it!!!" cried a horrified Fleetfoot.

"You've gotta be kidding me," I said under the crowd noise as Rainbow rocked me back and fourth, though eventually I was smiling from ear to ear.

"I think that's better than Fleetfoot's!" said Thunderlane as him and most of the others from our storm team ran over to congratulate me. For a split second, I was carried away to heaven on clouds right then as Rainbow Dash proudly embraced me and dozens of pegasi cheered for me. Spitfire was watching me with an expression that was almost envious, which I don't understand considering it was a solid .4 lower than her record of 18.1, and she was still the captain of the Wonderbolts.

"I told you! I told you!" shouted Rainbow Dash, looking wondrously into me with those eyes of hers. I didn't really know what to say, I was speechless.

"Hey Rainbow, can you top that?" asked a pony from the crowd, and they shouted in unison for a reaction. She looked back at them and then to me again with an almost apologetic smile.

"You better beat me," I told her with a chuckle, and I was serious, and in my heart I believed she would. I had flown with her enough to know that she was more talented than me, though how much more wingpower she had I wasn't sure, and I don't think she was either. It was gonna be close. I heard from her later that she actually measured a 16.5 a couple years earlier.

"You did well enough for me, Sonic. Just know I'm not doing this to beat you. You gotta understand, when somepony calls me out, they regret it," she added, referring to Spitfire. I could see her unbeatable spirit shining right through her eyes. The same spirit that got me this far. Now I could see it was this spirit that the pegasi of Ponyville relied on themselves. She was their leader, their hero. Not just mine.

"I know," I said, giving her an encouraging smile. "What are you waiting for? Get back there."

She backed up beaming at me before she turned around and faced the crowd, gliding up the track towards the starting line, a wave cheers following her as she went. She fed the crowd and the crowd fed her. Suddenly as she glided away from me, Spitfire flew quickly up to me, and not appearing too happy. I have no doubt she intentionally waited until Rainbow had left my side.

"Who are you?" she said, turning her head as she looked me over "and where are you from?"

I was definitely intimidated by her. I took a moment to respond as I regained myself.

"My name is S-Sonic. Sonic Rain," I started, wondering how to answer her second part. "I'm from... all over, you might say."

Her eyes squinted in reaction to my answer, and she just eyed me up and down with no regard for manners I suppose. I looked down and saw Rainbow approaching the starting line. Spitfire whipped her head around to see for herself, then back at me before she turned and went back to the machine without another word. I didn't know what to make of that whole exchange, but I didn't think it was good, and I felt my confidence slipping.

Rainbow came to rest on the starting line as she bounced around and fluttered her wings. The crowd's cheering died down as we all prepared ourselves. Spitfire and Fleetfoot now stood at the finish line, and they nervously awaited the rainbow-maned mare. They'd already been embarrassed in front of a crowd that was hostile thanks to them. Rarity was also there, standing delicately as always, cheering on her best friend and keeping an eye on the reader.

"Hey Rarity, make sure you get a good look! Spitfire may lie about it," said a mare from the crowd, and Spitfire could only glare at her.

The crowd went silent. Rainbow looked down at the ground and attempted to calm herself. She took deep breaths and relaxed her body, standing still and shaking out her legs and wings. She lifted her head up and took in a grand inhale, closing her eyes for a second, then opened them and looked over directly at me. I looked at her, loved her, and that was enough. For one moment I caught a glimpse of her soft smile before it disappeared as she turned her head down one last time. When she came back up, her legendary look of determination was firmly on her face. Every single pony there knew at once that something epic was coming. The question was, how epic? I was wondering myself.

She flapped her wings slow to fast, crouched down, and leapt forward, slicing through the air so fast that a spectacular sound of rushing wind roared louder and louder as she approached the finish line. In a flash of several different colors she thundered straight towards me in a way almost identical to how I did just before. She exploded past the finish line, causing some ponies to actually be blown off balance, including Fleetfoot and Spitfire. It was Rarity who regained balance quickly (despite losing her hat in the gust) and made sure to get the measurement as Rainbow nearly crashed straight into me while braced for impact. After a crippling silence filled the air (and Rainbow stopping just in front of me) as we waited breathlessly for the announcement, Rarity screamed.

"18.1!!!! She tied the record!"

Rainbow shrunk over in disbelief, disappointed despite the thunderous applause from the onlooking ponies that easily trumped the noise level when I got my reading. I ran over and stood her up straight as the ponies broke through the lines and surrounded her. Before I even had a chance she was picked up and sent surfing through the crowd on her back. Her disappointment melted away and she broke into joyful laughter as she bounced across the sea of pegasus. As for me, I was indescribably happy.

Eventually the crowd let her down to the ground, and she looked around at everyone with an embarrassed smile.

"I didn't even beat her," she said.

"Darling, you tied the record!" said Rarity proudly.

"Yeah, and you're like five years younger than Spitfire!" pitched in another pony.

"Also, we just nearly killed ourselves like a half hour ago," added Thunderlane, referring to our separate storm team. "And you're soaking wet."

"Eh, go on!" said Rainbow Dash, throwing her hoof out, and several ponies laughed. "Seriously though!"

Not long after that, we were ready to raise the reservoir. It was just before sunset, the sky to the north (and especially the northwest) of Ponyville was a burnt orange. For those of you who don't know, how it works is that enough of us fly around the circular reservoir and eventually the force from our massively combined wingpower sends all of the water shooting up through the sky coming down to Cloudsdale where it can be used to make weather. Rainbow and Spitfire agreed to give us all five more minutes before we took flight.

The crowd dispersed across the track, with most ponies stretching individually though there were some groups. Of course, Rainbow and I were together. She and I were all smiles. We were happy. Upbeat. Contented. Delighted. It was one of those moments I was fully aware, consciously and unconsciously, how deeply in love with that mare that I am.

"Did you see that I slipped on my takeoff?" she asked, as she laid on her side to stretch out her back.

"No," I replied, astonished and looking down at her. "You did?"

"Yeah," she continued excitedly, speaking a million words a minute. "That's why I was so slow at first. The whole time I was thinking 'I'm not gonna make it!' so I got really angry and then I flapped even harder and then I saw you and stopped and looked back and she was like '18.1!' and I was disappointed because I thought if I hadn't slipped I'd have beat her."

"That was most amazing, the most incredible, the most - I don't even-" I started, shaking my head thoroughly impressed. She blushed and stood up, and looked right into me with infectious joy.

"I'll tell you what though, Sonic, almost as amazing was you embarrassing Spitfire and Fleetfoot like that. You should've seen the look on their faces!" she said, cracking herself up in recollection.

"Hey, you know, I'm not here to embarrass anyone," I said chuckling, though even I have to admit it felt pretty good.

"Psh," she said, throwing her hoof out exaggeratingly. "They totally had it coming," she remarked quietly raising her eyebrow, before she broke out into her super-excited hyper state. "You got a 17.7! That's so good!!!"

I laughed and turned my head away, drowning in bliss.

"If you say so," I teased, and she gasped.

"What?" she said, raising her eyebrow with a smirk. "There you go again! Will you cut that out?"

"What?" I replied, trying to keep a straight face and failing.

"You're acting like you're surprised!" she said, sticking me in the chest. "You're a great flier, Sonic! Maybe one of the best in Equestria!"

"I was not expecting 17.7," I said, shaking my head.

"Let me tell you something," she said, leaning in close to me and whispering. "Neither were these ponies. You getting a 17.7 is big. There's more to flying than wingpower, but that's a great start."

Hearing this from her was so important to me. First of all, at that moment I felt more a member of a community than I ever had before, with the team getting the job done and the ponies all witnessing my wingpower time. Also, with her being such a hero, I felt there was almost a certain standard that was demanded of her boyfriend (and in my heart of hearts, her husband). This seemed to me to be a good step towards fitting in and achieving the ultimate goal of Wonderbolt status with her. Though in all honesty I didn't care as long as she was happy. But to me that seemed like her dream scenario.

She looked directly into me and casted her spell, rendering me unable to do anything but stare into her magnificent eyes.

"No one was less surprised, or more proud, then I was," she muttered with a soft smile. It seemed she was quickly losing herself in me as well. Suddenly she shook her back and fourth rapidly a few times before she pleaded with me. "No, no, no! We can't have one those moments right now, not in front of these all ponies," she said, looking around nervously before coming back and regaining herself. "Er- we gotta keep this positive energy going for the tornado! We gotta stay jacked up like we just were!"

"Whatever you say," shaking my head and fully smitten. She took another look at me and felt herself softening once again, it showed plainly on her face.

"But on second thought..."

"Hey Rainbow!" called Blossomforth, and Rainbow snapped out of it immediately, turning her head fast.

"What?" she asked quickly.

"Looks like we got some ponies that didn't make it home before the storm," she said, pointing to the north. Emerging from over the hills was a group of about ten ponies, all of them young adults and split down the middle between mares and stallions. One of them had a camera, and most of them had what appeared to be food baskets or blankets saddled over them.

"What are you guys doing out here? It's not good to be outside during the storm. That is if you're planning on getting back to your houses," she called to them. Then she raised her head and yelled at the top of her lungs to everyone in her raspy voice. "ONE MINUTE!!!"

"You mean like we just were before we came here?" said Thunderlane with a smirk, who was standing a few yards from us.

"Hey," shot back Rainbow, mirroring his expression, "we put that storm there. It belongs to us. Not the other way around."

"We were just having a picnic. Mind if I get a couple pictures for the paper?" asked the pegasus stallion with the camera, a white pony with a blueish mane, similar to Whitewash.

"Heh, no problem! Take as many you want!" dared Rainbow. She turned back around and looked at me with encouragement. "Let's get this tornado over with so you and I can go for a walk by ourselves somewhere. Huh?" she asked, and that sounded great to me. "You've done awesomely thus far. Will you fly with me one more time today?"

I turned my head.

"You know I will."

She reached out her right front leg to interlock with me. After a short pause I stuck mine around hers and we both pulled tightly, looking triumphantly at each other. After that she smiled and put her flight goggles on, and grabbed an extra pair from Thunderlane. She turned her back and trotted for a few steps towards the reservoir, then she looked back and hovered off the ground a few feet.

"Pegasi of Ponyville," she said loudly and absolutely, and all of us herded up together in front of us. "Equestria owes you a big thanks after today. You've all put in more than your share of work, and it's all paid off. Now there's just one thing left to do. I know everyone's tired but in five minutes we'll be all be back in the comfort of our own homes, probably laid out in bed," she continued, and several ponies laughed. "So for the next five minutes let's give one more effort. We're so close! Let's do this and go to bed as heroes!" she said, raising her hoof in the air to rally us. We all returned her hoof with our own, screaming in agreement. "Come on!!"

She took off up into the air, and like a thousand crows taking off at once, all the pegasi around me began flapping their wings and taking flight, seemingly covering every square inch of air when you looked upward. For one final time this day, I, caught up with emotion, joined the epic movement and flew into the sky with a burning heart, ready give my last for Rainbow Dash and for Ponyville.

In a manner so harmoniously it would put sparrows themselves to shame, we pegasi fell in place on top of each other forming a great cylinder over the reservoir, zooming around counterclockwise. Fueled by adrenaline and love I flapped my wings faster than the rest of them, whizzing right by several of them on the left and the right. Eventually they increased their speed so I was wasn't whizzing by them quite as fast, but I remained the fastest pony in my level. I kept my eyes on the inside turn and perpetuated my turning motions around it, hugging the inside lane. Come on, baby, come on!! Come on, Sonic! I set my heart on doing my best job for Rainbow, for Ponyville, and for Cloudsdale and the rest of Equestria.

We all toiled away and beat our wings furiously, our limbs outstretched, and after two minutes at top speed following a day's work, we were all starting to get tired. The urge to quit was making it's presence well known among most of them, though I still had plenty left in me. I looked out and saw the winds gently nudging the onlookers -including Rarity - away. You could feel the powerful force in the middle reaching peak intensity just as ponies were coming so close to giving out.

"We're almost there!!!!!" shouted Rainbow from above. "The water is coming up!"

I beat my wings furiously and ignored my fatigue. After working so hard this day, and with a leader like Rainbow, quitting was never an option right before the end like this. To my left I saw a wall of water raising up over me. I looked triumphantly up the tornado to catch a glimpse of her. We're gonna do it!

Just then, just as I looked back down, I suddenly noticed a brown stallion with a white mane right in flying right in front of me, and I had to slow down so as to not hit him. All at once my feeling of triumph left. There was something not right about him. He was directly in front of me, and unlike the rest of the ponies, he wasn't tired at all. All at once my perplexity turned to alarm as his head moved to the right and revealed a smirk. It was Dumbbell.

I looked to my right and flying right beside me at the exact same speed as me was a large stallion with a golden-brown coat and a mane of pure brown that covered his eyes. He was looking straight ahead with a similar expression as Dumbbell. I immediately recognized him as Hoops, one Dumbbell's friends and fellow bullies from junior speedster flight camp. I looked back up to his leader, who was still preventing me from advancing by the way he was positioned, and it suddenly struck me as very intentional. What is going on? All of a sudden I was overcome with nervousness and fear as something was not right here.

Flying equally with me to my left was another stallion. It was Thorn, the purplish stallion with the yellow mane, the one with whom, you remember, I had a rather forgettable conversation with earlier this morning. He too was looking straight ahead with something on his mind, I could see it in his eyes. It suddenly hit me that they must have been planning something awful. Their expressions were too nonchalant, as was their quiet crowding me into one place. Why they would ruin our glorious team effort and imminent victory like this, I didn't know. I looked ahead to Dumbbell and begged as my emotional state came crashing down.

"Noooo!!!!!"

"Whoops," remarked Hoops, and suddenly blindsiding me from the right none other than him, with a powerful but conceited nudge from his rear end. Injected with terrible anxiety and shock, the force of the bump sent me crashing into Thorn, and there was nothing I could do about it.

"Ah, Sonic! What are you doing?" he shouted for as many ponies to hear as he could. He then crashed, by means of my running into him - or at least how he played it - directly into a yellow mare with a blue mane, who then in-turn fell into the mare below her as Thorn and I were blasted from the flow of the tornado.

"Sonic!!!" cried Hoops in a tone of fake-alarm. I desperately tried to get myself back as I beat my wings violently. No, no, NO! Flap, flap!!! But after Thorn had run into the mare and she had subsequently run into another mare below her, it was setting off a chain-reaction in a matter of milliseconds. Ponies everywhere below me were falling out of place. The force was suddenly thrown every which way and screaming pegasi were sent in all directions. I didn't see who went were as we all collapsed and pegasi came crashing down all around me. As for myself I was barely struggling to maintain flight as I too was flung away from the water.

The tornado was all but destroyed in a matter of seconds. Pegasi were sent in all directions, most of them crashing to the ground scattered all about. The water from the reservoir, which had just began to advance out of the tornado and into the sky, came crashing to the earth all around us. It soaked most of us from head to toe, and I was no exception as I landed on my hooves on the track and the force of the fall causing me to roll over.

It all happened so fast. Now we were all left disoriented on the ground and dripping wet, with all the water gone to the earth and no longer of any use to us. There were sounds of aches and moans all around me and frustrated cries. Ignoring any thoughts of convicting the perpetrators I stood up and looked around me, devastated by what I saw. No... I ran my hoof through my mane horrified as I came to terms with what just happened.

"Is anyone hurt?" I called, looking around me in all directions with heavy breaths and a heavy heart. Ponies were clutching themselves painfully, the sight of which brought pain to my own heart. It was getting dark, and it was harder to see. The photographer and a few of the other ponies who were picnicing ran up and looked around.

"What the heck was that?!?" demanded the photographer, running up through the collapsed crowd and coming to a halt right in front of me.

"Sonic, why'd you run into me?" asked Thorn as he too walked towards me, his voice carrying over the whole crowd. I saw immediately he was acting, and was part of a plan between at least the three of them- him, Dumbbell, and Hoops. Rather than being filled with anger at their framing of me, at the expense of potentially harming several ponies not to mention the loss of the entire reservoir, I was overcome with sadness. One word came out of my mouth as I stared at him with watering eyes.

"Why?"

That's what I wondered above everything else. I simply didn't understand what I had done to be the target of such a plot. From the day I arrived I wanted nothing but friendship from these ponies, and that remained all that I wanted. When I said it, perhaps a flicker of remorse came across his face and he turned his head away. Spitfire ran up angrier than a wet hen, looking to condemn whoever she could. Going off what she had heard, that was me.

"You caused this?" she charged, looking forcefully at me. The state of my heart had not improved from when I asked Thorn the question, in fact it had gotten worse and was reaching new lows by the second.

"No," I whispered, shaking my head in crippling sadness. "I-I was-"

"It's true, Spitfire," said the voice of Dumbbell, who was walked up to the conversation as the droves of shaken pegasi looked up from the ground or from where they had just stood up. "Sonic crashed into Thorn, which started the chain reaction that led to this."

"That's not what happened," I pleaded, at an utter loss of words.

"Whoa, whoa, whoah," said Thunderlane, rushing up beside me and shaking the water off himself. "We're not trusting anything he says," he said, pointing at Dumbbell, who retracted his face with bitter anger, though Thunderlane was not intimidated. "I flew with Sonic all day, he's an excellent flier and this stallion has a history of bullying ponies, including Sonic and me."

"Oh yeah, says his friend, of course you're gonna defend him," replied Dumbbell with an eye roll.

Dumbell and Thunderlane traded looks of hatred as Spitfire looked back and fourth from the both of them, and then back to me with harsh judgment. In fact from the moment she had that conversation with Rarity from the starting line she hadn't not given me so much as anything but an unfavorable look.

"Did anyone else see what happened?" she asked, looking around.

"I saw Sonic run into Thorn," said a voice from behind us. It was Cloud Chaser, who was also with Thorn this morning when I was trying to be friendly. Spitfire's eyes went from him to me condemningly. I stared at him, utterly devastated at this clearly coordinated event. I didn't know what weight my testimony carried if no one else could say they saw what happened. I had never been falsely accused before, but it ranks way up there with the worst feelings I've experienced, and the feelings of abandonment were rushing back.

"Didn't anyone else see what happened?" I pleaded, choking on my words and looking around for support. All I saw was face after face of bitter ponies looking angrily at me.

"Wonderbolts take responsibility for their actions," she said harshly, walking up and giving me a death glare. "Looks like the Wonderbolts are above you, Sonic."

Unable to take it, I looked away and continued choking on my gulps, on the verge of tears. I sat back on the ground and buried my head in my hooves. I just couldn't understand why. I had only wanted to be their friend.

"Where's Rainbow?" I said, though it came out much closer to a whine as raised my head despairingly in desperate need of her.

"Go home everyone. Looks like I'll have to tell the Princess that we'll have to get water from somewhere else. Maybe Horseshoeville has some water in their reservoir," said Spitfire to the crowd, though looking straight at me bitterly. All the pegasi got up and glared at me as they one by one headed off slowly towards, which cut through the depths of my soul. I had suddenly not felt this bad since that terrible day ten years ago.

"Way to go, Sonic," a few of them said. The look of utter disappointment from everyone there seemed to pass through my eyes directly into my heart, each one of them adding more heaviness to it then the last.

"Please believe me," I whispred, but they were unresponsive.

"This is outrageous," declared Thunderlane, as I looked my eyes around desperately for Rainbow and unable to find her. "LOOK AT HIM! Does he look like a liar? You see what these accusations are doing to him? These stallions are jealous of him because he's Rainbow's boyfriend, and they're bitter that she rejected them," he charged against them.

"You!" growled Dummbell, as though in disbelief that he dared to say it out loud. Yelling from several sides followed swiftly against Thunderlane. I couldn't see their faces when he charged this, because I was looking for her as my heart wrenched.

"Sonic!" called the voice of alarmed Rarity. It came from the east side of the reservoir, at the edge of some trees.

I immediately abandoned them and flew fiercely towards where the voice had come from. The wind in my face quickly released some of the tears in my eyes and the flight highlighted the muscle aches in my legs that come with intense anxiety. I came to a halt around the trees' edge looking desperately for her.

"Over here," said her voice to the right, and I flew a few more feet before I reached her. I could barely see in the dark, but I saw what appeared to be the color cyan laid out across the ground and Rarity crouched over her. "She's hurt. It's her wing."

I did my best to set aside my sorrow enough to act in the form of leaning down and examining her. She appeared to be unconscious. Just when I thought I couldn't get any sadder, the sight of her lying on the ground in pain caused my heart to feel the very real feeling like it was actually losing blood from inside my chest.

"She was on the top of the tornado and was flung the furthest," said Rarity. I put my hoof on my mouth and placed my hoof gently on her mane. She opened her eyes and saw me, and immediately tried to sit up. "Wait my dear!" she said, sitting her back down with her hooves. "You mustn't stand so quickly. I think you hurt your wing."

"What?" whined a horrified Rainbow, the sound of which along with her expression stabbed away my heart.

"How do you feel otherwise?" asked Rarity. Rainbow once again tried to stand up, this time forcing her way through Rarity's attempts to keep her down. She successfully stood herself up and attempted to move her wings around. She spread them ok, but when she attempted to come down she cried out in pain as her left wing twinged, unable to complete it's motion downward. The sight of her this way once again brought my hoof to my mouth.

"It's a sprain," she whimpered, trying desperately to hide her heartbrokenness. "I won't be able to fly for weeks." She fell to the ground and coverered her eyes with her hooves. What had started out as one of the best days of my life had somehow soured into one of the worst in a matter of minutes, and my heart was just praying for it to end. She looked up and saw me, and she was moved with overwhelming concern. "Sonic... you look terrible," she remarked, with devastation in her voice. "What's wrong?"

Without an answer she stood up a second time against Rarity's third urging against it, wrapped her front legs around me and buried her head into me. I was in desperate of need of this for what seemed like an eternity. I set everything else aside and rested my head against her, and we both poured our sorrows into each other, which is just what made them bearable. Some relief at last.