“The best and fastest flier in all Equestria.” whispered Dash to herself. “And this is my little secret.” Rainbow Dash sat on silver trimmed cloud that glowed gold in the setting sun's light. The trees and clouds and wild blowing grasses burnt away in the sunset, their edges smudged as though rendered with in an artistic hoof. Far to her left and right the oceans were tubs of pastel artists colors upended over the world's brim.

Rainbow Dash's ears barely flicked at the double jolt as two more ponies landed beside her. Her eyes lulled shut in a drawn out blink before she glanced at her visitors.

“Hello, Rainbow Dash. I'm glad somepony still enjoys our work.” said Celestia, whose shifting mane caught the evening light and scattered it to the clouds' every rounded crest.

“My sister told me that she hadn't been here since my banishment to the moon.” said Luna, who had knelt closest to Rainbow Dash. Her presence filled the cloudscape's valleys with deepest velvet shadow.

Rainbow Dash remained silent for a time, then squinted as she framed a portion of the landscape between her hooves. “Yeah, without Luna the mid-tones sort of kill it.”

Celestia chuckled.



The world was woven of cool silver and spider-silk when the sun finally sank beneath the world. The rustle of leaves sounded glassy, small, and far off. Rainbow Dash's lungs swelled with the crisp night air, and the roots of her mane prickled. She looked between the two sisters. Celestia's eyes were lidded and her head hung in repose, while Luna's eyes glittered with stars and her haunches beneath her tensed as though she could fly off into the night.

Rainbow Dash recalled the next day's work. All her chores and responsibilities as a weather pony. All her obligations to her friends. But her heart twisted within her chest. Maybe tonight. Maybe just this once I can leave it all behind. She heard Luna shift beside her, and she turned to see the alicorn rising to her hooves.

“You feel it too? Most little ponies mistake that feeling for fear and hide indoors. They never experience the night,” said Luna. In the waxing moon glow she looked even taller than her sister.

Dash rose to stand beside the princess. She looked up at Luna and splayed her wings. “What is this? I don't feel sleepy at all. I feel like I could leap into the night, but...” The words escaped Rainbow Dash in a breath of cold fog.

Luna smiled at the pegasus, spread her own wings with a gust of darkness, then plunged from the cloud's edge without a word. She dove along the world's edge waterfall, where each drop fell in sparkling array before winking into the blackness beyond the world. When she looked back she saw a bolt of silver-blue racing after her.