I'll be there for you, Rainbowdash

"You're blind now, Rainbowdash. I know it hurts to be told you shouldn't fly, but what about how the rest of us would feel if you hurt yourself trying to? Please, stay on the ground...where you're safe."

Scootaloo nuzzled her friend and mentor's cheek; the pain of having to keep Rainbowdash from flying evident on her face and the tears welling up in the corner of her eyes. She knew Dash's wings were still as strong as ever, though she feared seeing her hurt again.

It was her fault Rainbowdash had been blinded; she'd begged and pleaded for her to help teach her to fly faster. The day had come when she finally gave in and agreed, though the weather had been ill suited for any flight. The Pegasus ponies had warned everypony to stay indoors as there would be hail. Scootaloo had only seen it as an opportunity to practice, to get more agile and be more like her idol; she never considered the danger such a storm actually represented to herself or Rainbowdash.

The lesson had started out smoothly; light hail gave them perfect mobile obstacles to thread their way through. It offered a perfect experience with the hail as a reminder whenever she failed to dodge or out fly one of the icy chunks. Dash had been pacing herself to allow her the chance to keep up when the hail suddenly began coming down in thick sheets.

She had been far enough behind to seek shelter, only to watch her mentor get smashed out of the sky by a seemingly unending torrent of jagged hail. When she finally found Rainbowdash, she broke out in tears.

Her face was soaked with blood, empty eye sockets all the explanation Scootaloo needed to feel little more than horror; the uncounted cuts, gashes and bruises on the rest of Rainbowdash's body paled in comparison in her eyes.

She let the memory fade, not wanting to further depress herself but simply be there for the pony who had always meant the most to her.

"One day, Rainbowdash, I'll become the strongest flyer in Equestria. Then I can fly for you... so you can feel the wind and clouds in your mane again..."

Scootaloo turned and walked a little ways from Rainbowdash. In a way she was glad Dash couldn't see. She wouldn't want to have her friend see the tears pouring down her cheeks, nor hear the sobs she was choking back. A hoof on her shoulder made her jump, though at the sound of the voice that came moments later she felt her misery return full force.

"Don't you worry about me, Scoots', it's not your fault. I don't know how many times I have to tell you this, but I should have been the responsible one and just arranged for us to fly on a clear day. You will always be my friend, and now you can always have a place at my side. I won't be trying to get away from you. I may not be able to see anymore, but I can tell you need me just as much as I now need you."

Scootaloo turned around and stared into the dark wells in Rainbowdash's face, a constant reminder to her of what she had destroyed, and flung her hooves around her friend's shoulders, letting her emotions flow freely in her tears. She would never understand why she deserved to still have Rainbowdash as a friend, but she wasn't going to argue with an offer like that.

Several minutes passed before she reluctantly pulled away and wiped her eyes with a hoof. As much as she would have loved to spend the rest of the day clinging to Dash's shoulders, they had somewhere to be.

"Thank you... Rainbowdash, I'll be okay now. We should get going if we're going to make the ceremony on time. Sweetie Belle is supposed to be performing too, and I for one can't afford to miss it! I've got a cart waiting right over here."

-----

"Welcome, fillies and gentlecolts, to the Annual Wonderbolt Initiation Ceremony! I am Scootaloo, and I would like to say thank you all for coming!

It is with great pleasure that I introduce to you our newest members and the largest addition to the team since Spitfire's induction!  Please welcome Wing Seventeen and her duly appointed commander, Iridescent Spark!"

On que, Iridescent and her wing shot over the stands, eliciting a roar of cheers and thundering hooves. With practiced ease they broke formation and performed a series of aerial agility stunts, twining their thunder-head contrails into a complex web before launching skyward and vanishing behind the crackling cloud matrix.

Silence fell over the crowd as awe and worry filled the air. Several minutes passed with no sign of the team. To the further bewilderment of everypony watching, none of the other Wonderbolts showed any sign of distress. Concerned whispers were just beginning to fill the audience when several sonic booms rattled the stands; each followed by a streak of color and a shockring matching each of the new Wonderbolt's manes. Shocked silence was quickly replaced by near rabid cheering as the streaks oriented on the center of the stage.

The four flyers ate up the distance to the platform in seconds. As they neared the stage they each began to bank left, turning their speed into a ridiculously tight spiral and releasing their contrails once more. Their contrails directly tied to their mane colors, this time, but were rapidly consumed into the blur of colored clouds the flight was weaving beneath the thunder-web. Everypony in the stands had stopped cheering to stare in awe at the stunt, only to be knocked off their hooves by what came next.

Scootaloo had been watching the center of the crackling thunder web since the flyers had finished it. She and Dash alone, out of every other pony present, knew what was coming next. She grinned the instant Iridescent breached the cloud net and braced herself against Rainbowdash; and not a moment too soon. An iridescent rainboom sliced through the thunder web, setting off a tremendous roll of thunder so powerful that the ground began to split in front of the stands. Iridescent herself was little more than a streak of glittering color as she struck the tightly woven clouds; on que the rest of the team hit the brakes and landed on the platforms corners as Iridescent shot through the bottom of the cloud, snapped open her wings, and landed in the center with a tap. Her landing and sonic boom had cleared the sky completely, exposing a perfectly sunny day.

Dead silence filled the air for several minutes as the shock of the performance washed over everypony. Mouthes moved, yet spoke no words, as awe held them mute. Finally somepony managed to break her suppresed voice and began cheering madly; shortly after the rest of the crowd was following suit.

Iridescent and her wing took two humble bows for the cheering crowd before heading to the raised stage in front of the grandstand and bending their knee to Luna and Celestia. The crowd went silent out of respect for the Princess' as everypony shared Wing Seventeen's bent knee. With a nod of acknowledgement from each princess Wing Seventeen turned to face Scootaloo, and in turn RainbowDash, offering each a salute before standing at attention.

Scootaloo smiled, satisfaction to see the stunt finally performed threatening to cause her to burst with pleasure. It had taken four years to find and train a team capable of the coordination for the stunt alone and the speed needed for RainbowDash's trademark Sonic Rainboom. She had discovered, though, that any pony capable of reaching the speed necessary to perform the trick would have a uniquely colored concussion line. It was, in its own way, a plus, as it gave the performers something special of their own while leaving the original Rainboom something Only Rainbowdash could have done.

Scootaloo scuffed her hoof on the platform to signal Rainbowdash of her salute, and the two of them responded to the salute, sending the new wing back to the barracks to be received by the majority of the other wings for a party.

Attendants swept over the stage, cleaning it of debris and setting out the change of decoration to support Sweetie Belle's performance. Applebloom's ingenuity for efficiency and building never ceased to amaze Scootaloo, but she had a habit of going overboard when it came to getting a hoof in setting up for one of her friends events.