Coming to a decision. (Patreon)

Rainbow Dash’s performance in this year’s Best Fliers Competition had just finished in my Equestria dreamscape and she had left arena. The crowd was still in a state of pandemonium. Some were booing the performance they’d seen but a significantly larger percentage of the audience was still chanting Dash’s name.

      Unfortunately I had been unable to enjoy all of her historic performance. Either by bad luck or some insidious plot on the behalf of Celestia I had been seated with Petina and Carousel on my right and Twilight, Luna and Celestia on my left. When Dash had gotten to the first pylon I had become very aware of the fact Luna and Twilight had suddenly stiffened with stunned expressions on their faces and Luna’s wings snapped open; then both of them  swiveled their heads in unison like a pair of turrets to look at Petina and Carousel.

      The problem was that I now located between two of the most powerful magic users in Equestria and their target, and from the look on their faces I’m not sure they would hold their fire just because there was an innocent bystander in the line of fire. For her part Celestia had maintained her calm, assured composure throughout Dash’s performance, although she did glance over a couple times at my marefriends and roommates with a quizzical look.

      I very much wanted to get out of the Royal Box and get to some place nicer, like say a bomb shelter. However it was obvious that another crisis was brewing in Judges Box. The Judges could not come to a decision on how to determine the final winners in the competition. Apparently there were some Judges in favor of giving Dash some award and others who were adamantly against it. Eventually it was obvious that they were at a loggerhead and they decided to do the next best thing. Kick the ball into Royal Sisters court.

       As part of the scoring the Royal Sisters could cast a vote for a flier they liked or they could act as a tiebreaker votes. So with the announcement of the final results dragging out and crowd getting more and vocal wanting to hear them, the Judges made their way up to the Royal Box. Celestia rose from her cushions and made her way over to the edge of Royal Box. Luna slowly got up and wandered over to, although she looked like somepony had tapped her gently on the head with a five-pound sledgehammer. The noise of crowd made it impossible to hear the conversation between Celestia and the Judges, but it was obvious they were plaintively looking for a solution to their dilemma.

       With the crowd continuing to roar Celestia spoke to Judges for several minutes. Then she looked to Luna and said something to her sister. With a bewildered look on her face the Princess of the Moon nodded her head. Celestia looked back at the Judges and gave her final verdict. The Judges looked rather surprised but nodded their heads and departed. With that task completed the Royal Sisters returned to their cushions and awaited the announcement of the winners. Luna still looked like she was trying to digest what she’d seen. As Celestia returned to her seat her eyes swept over to my two roommates, and me for just a second there was this mischievous twinkle in her eye. Then her usual regal composure returned.

      The Judges returned to their box and finished their counting. After a few more minutes the signaled for a flier to come over and take their final selections to the announcer. The flier took the sealed envelope and flew to the announcer’s stand, after a minute the announcer's voice boomed out over the stadium.

      “Mares and Stallions! We have our winners! Now it is time to find out who will be the winner of this year’s Best Young Flier Competition!”

      Over the next five minutes the announcer read off the list winners starting with younger fliers and specific category winners. As she called out their names the fliers came out received their awards from the Wonderbolts then they departed the arena. Then she began announcing the overall winners, and as she got closer and closer to final winner the crowd once again began to chant Dash’s name.

       “DASH! DASH! DASH!” Roared the crowd as thousands of ponies stomped their hoofs in unison.

      “AND NOW!” Thundered the announcer. “This year’s Best Young Fliers is!” The announcer paused for a moment. “Roaring Cloud!”

      At that point I thought a riot was about to break out in the stadium. A sizable portion crowd roared in anger at this decision. Most winners had zoomed into the stadium to receive their award. Roaring Cloud looked like he wanted to be anywhere but in front of this angry audience. The Announcer’s voice once again thundered over the crowd.

      “If I may have everyone’s attention please! There is one final award to be announced this year! An achievement that is only rarely awarded to a flier who Princess Celestia believes has demonstrated a technique or routine that will have a profound impact on pegasi arts and the community at the large for years to come. Today we have such a winner today! The winner of the first Princess Cup in over ten years goes to Rainbow Dash!”

      Rainbow Dash rocketed into the stadium as the crowd chanted her name. She was still wearing her performance outfit. The prismatic tassels on her chaps on gloves sparkled as she did a quick twirl and landed in front of the Wonderbolts. Spitfire and Fleetfoot looked very proper and professional. Soarin however looked rather distracted as Dash sauntered up and received the large ornately chased silver chalice. Rearing back on rear legs she held the cup above her head for all to see. The crowd once again began to chant Dash’s name. She then slowly rose into the air and then flew out of the stadium. The Best Young Fliers Competition was over for that year.

      Slowly the crowd began to file out of the stadium. Some fans were cheering and laughing about the days events, and more than one mare could be seen doing rough approximations of Dash’s performance. There was however a few ponies who obviously not as happy about Dash’s act and were either engaging in heated arguments with other attendees or were flying off with a dark cloud over them.

      Princess Celestia looked over at Petina and Carousel and final spoke up.

      “Why ladies! I have attended this competition for hundreds of years, but I must say Rainbow Dash’s performance was like nothing I’ve ever seen. Why some might describe it as revolutionary. Would you agree?”

      Celestia was smiling the whole time but there was slightly suspicious tone to her voice. She cocked an eyebrow at Petina. “You wouldn’t by chance know who the pony was who instructed her in such an unorthodox dance technique?”

      Petina bowed and replied. “Why Princess that would be myself and Carousel here! And I will say that Rainbow Dash has been one best students I’ve ever had the honor of teaching!”

      “You taught her!” Exclaimed Twilight Sparkle. “You to Carousel? You two pulled this whole thing off!”

      Petina casually waved a front hoof at Celestia’s star pupil. “Well I’ll be honest we did have some help. Rarity designed Rainbow Dash’s outfit and has been couching Dash on how to better to take care of her mane and tail!”

“Rarity helped to?” Twilight looked horrified.

      Petina suddenly wrapped a front leg around me. “And Sky Brush was indispensable in assisting Dash with setting up her remote training facility and scoring and evaluating her performance!”

       The Princess of the Sun cast her gaze at me and gave me a sly smile. “Well Sky Brush I hope it wasn’t too onerous of a task assisting your friend? She seems to have thoroughly practiced her routine so it must have required many hours of your commitment to ‘properly’ help her?”

      I nodded my head slowly. “Um, it wasn’t too heavy of a burden your Highness, and I really don’t think I had that big of a part in her preparation. I just helped her when it was needed and tried to keep her spirits up.”

      “Well she was definitely spirited!” Luna scowled at my marefriends and I. “And if we’re lucky Cloudsdale won’t fall out the sky in flaming ruins tonight! By the moon we nearly had a riot here today!”

      Petina shook her head. “I will disagree with that last statement your Highness. Anytime a new art technique is introduced it is often met with resistance by the status quo. However over time if it has merit it is assimilated by the culture. However I will agree that today’s performance will be one for the record books!”

      The white mare looked at Celestia and grinned. “Princess Celestia, am I correct that Rainbow Dash is the first pony to ever win the Best Young Flier award and the Princess Cup back to back? If so that alone she will earn her place in history books.”

      Celestia stared at Petina for a moment. “Yes, to my knowledge you are correct Ms. DePony.”

      It may have been improper etiquette but Petina did a hoof pump.

       “Yes!” She exclaimed.

To be continued.