Friendship is Magic

Rainbow stretched as she left the school, already clad in her athletic gear of a white tank and red shorts, her uniform stuffed into her school bag.  She was glad that boring school was over for the week.  She had two full days of training to look forward to.

Nearby, a group had gathered around something.  Rainbow cast a wary eye in their direction.  She didn't get along well with her classmates, given that they always mocked her for being such a tomboy and always being scraped up and covered in bruises.  She showed up to school in such a condition so often that the other students had taken to calling her “Rainbow Crash”, and the teachers had begun to worry.  She couldn't count the number of times that she had to convince them that she had gained those minor injuries from training, throwing herself around the city rather than being thrown around the house.

While she tried to ignore them, the mutterings from the group piqued her interest and she wandered over to see what had their attention.  A young pink-haired girl that she vaguely recalled sharing homeroom with knelt on the pavement, weeping pitifully.  She was covered in a brown sludge that smelled horrible.  Around her stood three of the more popular girls in school, mocking her.

“W-why would you d-d-do this?” the girl managed to get out between her sobs.  “I thought we were friends!”

The taller of the three girls snorted derisively.  “Us?  Friends with you?  Puh-leese.  Like we would want to be friends with some tree-hugging freak.”

Her two cronies snickered meanly.  The blonde said something about the pink-haired girl being good for nothing while the brunette shoved her down.

Rainbow nudged a boy next to her. “Hey, what's going on?”

The boy pointed over to the group. “That girl in the middle, I think her name's Fluttershy, just got a bucket of sewer water dumped on her.  Those other three spent most of the year picking on her.  Last week, they started acting really nice to her.  Surprised me.  Anyway, she was supposed to join their little group with some sort of official thing, but they used that to pull a prank on her.”

“Maybe we should help her,” Rainbow suggested.

The boy gave her a look. “No way.  She brought all of this on herself.  She's never stood up to anybody for any reason and never demanded respect.  The way I see it, she got what she deserved.”

Fluttershy climbed to her feet and bolted out of the schoolyard, crying all the way.  Rainbow watched her go.  The boy was right.  If she wasn't willing to stand up for herself, then she got exactly what she deserved.

x----x

A few hours later found Rainbow walking home, cutting her training a little short.  She didn't like the look of the dark clouds rolling over the horizon.

Ahead of her was a bridge that passed over the highway.  On that bridge was the girl from before, Flutter-something.  The girl stared down at the fast-moving traffic with a sad look, then climbed up onto the railing.

Rainbow broke into a sprint, hoping she would make it in time.

The girl began to lean forward, shifting her center of gravity over the abyss as Rainbow threw out a hand.  Strong fingers wrapped around the girl's wrist and, with an mighty yank, Rainbow pulled her back.

The girl began to struggle.  “No!  Let me go!  I wanna die!  I wanna die!”

Rainbow threw her to the pavement, hauled her back up, and shook her.  “What is wrong with you?!  How could you be so freaking stupid?!”

“Please,” the girl wept. “Please just let me go.  I don't want to live anymore.”

“Why?!  Because of those stupid girls from earlier?”  Rainbow gave her another shake.  “Listen to me, don't you dare try to please them when all they do is hurt you.”

The girl shoved away.  “You don't understand.  Ever since I moved to this city, all everybody has done is make me miserable.  Nobody wants to be my friend and everybody hates me.”

“Bullshit!”  Rainbow bellowed, startling the girl into silence. “There's always someone out there who loves us.  You know who they are.  Name them!”

She began to break down again. “M-my Mother.”

“And you would hurt her like this?”

She shook her head.  “My problems bring her more pain than anything else.”

Rainbow crossed her arms over her chest. “More pain than anything else, huh?  How about your death?  Just imagine the amount of pain and confusion your mom would go through while she tried to figure out why her little girl would take her own life.  I'll bet that she'd blame herself and might follow your example.”

The girl gasped, looking absolutely horrified at the thought.

“Uh-huh.  That's what I thought.”  Rainbow put a hand on the girl's shoulder. “Instead of dying for people who don't like you, live for somebody who does.”  In a sudden show of rage, Rainbow grabbed the collar of the girl's blouse and shook her again.  “And if I ever catch you doing that again, I'll beat you myself.”

She shoved past the girl and marched off. “And go take a shower!  You stink!”

x---x

“I saw something in you, that day,” Fluttershy said. “I saw someone who knew love, loyalty, and the real meaning of friendship.”

“Yeah, I remember,” Rainbow replied. “You stalked me for a week after that.  I knew you were there.  You weren't very good about hiding and you still aren't.  I figured you were just trying to mock me, like everybody else.  Until the day you approached me.”

x----x

Rainbow glanced to the side, just in time to see pink-hair duck behind a tree.  She ignored her and squatted down, setting herself before breaking into a wind-sprint.  She dashed, going as fast as her short legs could carry her.

A root caught the toe of her shoe, sending her tumbling through the dirt.  She lay there for a moment, waiting for the ground to stop spinning, before rolling over and trying to stand up.  A sharp pain from her knee caused her to hiss and sit back down and she glared at the small cut, left by a small stone.

“Uhm...hello?  Are you okay?”

Rainbow looked up to see pink-hair standing over her.  “Fine, just tripped.”

“I'm Fluttershy.  I was on the bridge...”

“I remember you.  Why have you been spying on me?”

“Oh, I didn't mean to spy.  I was just admiring your efforts.  I'm not very good at sports and what you do is pretty impressive.”

“Thanks.  Now, I've gotta keep practicing, so...” She tried to stand back up, but her knee refused to take any weight.

Fluttershy gasped.  “You're hurt.  Oh, I didn't mean to distract you like that.  Let me help you.”

Rainbow shook her head. “It's fine.  Just a little cut.”

“No!”  Fluttershy's sharp command startled her as the girl set her bag down and began to dig through it.  “It needs to be taken care of right now, or it might get infected.  Then you wouldn't be able to train at all.”

Rainbow shook off the surprise from seeing this new side of Fluttershy. “Okay.”

Fluttershy pulled out a small disinfectant pad. “Now, this will only hurt for a moment.”  She dabbed the pad at the cut, eliciting a hiss from the smaller girl.

“Almost done,” Fluttershy assured her as she unwrapped a plastic bandage and pasted it to the cut.

“Why do you carry all of that medical stuff in your bag?  You wanna be a nurse or something?”

Fluttershy shook her head. “No.  I'm just really delicate and I get hurt easily.”

“'Delicate' my ass,” Rainbow replied.  Those girls do more than just pick on you, don't they?  They hit you.”

Fluttershy looked away and busied herself packing up her bag.  “I don't like to talk about it.”  She stood and gave a pixie-like giggle. “There, all better.  You can keep practicing, just remember to change the bandage every day.”

“Thanks.  Uhm...I'm Rainbow.”

“It's a pleasure to meet you.”

x----x

“From that day on, you were always there.  Sometimes, I didn't even begin training until I was sure you were there.  At first, you just stood and watched, but, after a while, you started helping out and keeping records of my times.  You were a big part of the reason why I became good enough to enter the Wonderbolts Tournament.”

Fluttershy giggled.  “I remember that day.  You were so excited.”

x----x

“Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, welcome to the Fourteenth Annual Wonderbolt's Academy Scholarship Tournament, here in the city of our humble beginnings as a small school for extreme sports enthusiasts, Ponyville.  Today, the Wonderbolts Academy is one of the most prestigious schools in the world, accepting only the most outstanding of young athletes.  Let's congratulate our newest student; winner of the Parkour competition in the children's category:  Lightning Dust!”

The roar from the crowd was deafening, but Fluttershy's heart sank slightly.  “Wasn't that the competition you wanted to win?”

Rainbow shook her head. “That's for those who just want to enter the academy.  Soarin told me to enter the Adult category if I wanted to be an Elite.”

“Ah...right, you mentioned that.  Er...can I ask you something else?  Why did you ask me to dye your hair?”

Rainbow self-consciously ran a hand through her rainbow-colored mane.  “Well, I figured since I'm going to win for sure, I'd better have a new look to show off.”

“Oh, okay.  Er...Rainbow?  If you win this tournament and go off to France to study, does that mean that we won't see each other anymore?”

I hadn't really thought about that,” Rainbow admitted.

Fluttershy giggled. “Don't worry about it.  Even if you do go away, we'll still be able to send letters and emails and stuff.  Besides, I'm stronger and more confident than ever because of you.”  She looked down and saw a shadow.  Yelping, she jumped behind Rainbow.

“Fluttershy, what's your problem?”

“Somebody's following us.  Didn't you see their shadow?”

Rainbow blinked.  “Uh...Fluttershy?  That's your shadow.”

“And now, the moment you've all been waiting for.  It is our great pleasure to introduce you to the pride of Wonderbolt Academy:  The Elite Wonderbolts!”

The crowd cheered as Rainbow began to bounce with excitement.  “This is it, Fluttershy.  You'll finally get to see him!”

“First, from the shining city of Venice, California.  Our own siren of the sea and master of all things aquatic.  The one...the only...Fleetfoot!”

The massive screen onstage depicted a lovely woman with tawny skin swimming elegantly through the sea.  Each pump of her long, powerful legs pushed her onward, building speed as she rocketed for the surface.

“She looks like a mermaid,” Fluttershy gasped as she watched in awe.

With a final stroke, Fleetfoot broke the surface with enough momentum to launch herself clear of the water and land safely on the waiting boat.  The screen froze on the image of the smiling girl as Fleetfoot herself walked onto the stage and waved to the cheering crowd.

From above, they heard the drone of an aircraft.  Rainbow and Fluttershy raised their eyes, mimicking the rest of the crowd as a small speck separated from the craft.

“Descending from the skies above Ponyville,” the voice on the loudspeaker announced as the speck glided along the thermals but steadily grew larger.  “An expert in the areal sports and Captain of the Wonderbolts.”

A canopy opened above the speck, which was clearly a woman, and slowed her fall.  She pulled her toggles as she worked her angles.  Somehow managing to avoid the light rigging and power lines, she landed safely on the stage and removed her helmet to reveal short, choppy, ginger-and-gold hair.  Stage hands ran out to gather her forgotten parachute as the woman took her place beside Fleetfoot.

“Captain of the Wonderbolts: Spitfire!”

Spitfire waved, but, unlike her counterpart, the serious woman did not smile.

“And now,” the voice began, “Ponyville is proud to introduce her native son.  An expert in all terrestrial sports.  The one, the only, Soarin!”

The audience roared as they stared at the stage expectantly.

And Soarin didn't appear.

After a solid minute of dead silence, he was shoved out onto the stage, obviously still waking up.  Stumbling, he fell forward with an echoing thud, pushed himself up, shook his head, and joined his incredibly embarrassed teammates while rubbing sleep from his eyes.

“That...That's the incredible Soarin?” Fluttershy asked Rainbow, who was mortified that her hero would be caught in such a state.

Fleetfoot grabbed Soarin and began to shake him, spouting words that Rainbow knew would get her in trouble if she ever repeated them.

“Attention competitors; the registration for the Adults category of the Wonderbolts Parkour Challenge will be closing in five minutes.”

Rainbow grabbed Fluttershy's hand and began to drag her towards the registration booths.  “C'mon Flutters, I need to sign up!”

She saw the two registrars, a brown-haired boy and a blonde girl, begin to pack up their things, obviously thinking that everyone who was going to compete had already signed-up.  She broke into a sprint, practically leaping onto the table to get their attention.

“Hey!  I want to register.”

The boy was a little slow. “What?”

“I said I want to register,” she repeated.

“That's nice, sweetheart, but the children's competition ended an hour ago.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes.  She hated it when people called her “sweetheart”.  “Yeah, that's great, but I wanna register for the adult's competition.”

The two registrars glanced at each other before breaking into loud laughter. “You're kidding me.  Like we're gonna let some six-year-old pipsqueak join.”

First, a “sweetheart”, which only her Nana was allowed to call her, and, then, mistaking her for a six-year-old?  With a snarl, she leaped up onto the table and grabbed his shirt. “Idiot!  I'm ten!”

He scoffed, clearly not impressed.  “Either way, I can't allow you to compete.  The minimum age is fifteen.”  He pointed to a sign, indicating this.

Slowly, Rainbow slid back to the ground, tears forming in her eyes as she watched her chance at greatness slip away. “But...but...but, I was gonna be the best,” she moaned.

“Hey, guys?  Everything set to go?”

Rainbow's heart lifted at the familiar voice.  Now they'd have to let her compete.