All around me, ponies are screaming and whooping like hysterical children. The cloud floor beneath my hooves is firm, layered, manufactured. My blue and yellow suit clings to my body like an airtight glove, leaving only my colorful mane and tail poking out from beneath the tightly woven threads. My goggles are crystal clear, save for a ring of fog around the edges of my peripheral vision.
A bell sounds. The suited ponies to my left and right rocket into the sky, perpendicular to the cloud layer. Rather than follow the smokey, crackling trails in their wakes, I take a few measured steps forward. Just like we practiced, each and every day.
A strong gust hits me from behind, and my wings shoot out. In an instant, I'm being catapulted forward like a spectral comet, the gasps and cheers of the crowd lost in the intense focus bred from months of running the same routine day after day, hour after hour.
Arching my back slightly, I pump my wings in regular intervals, counting the breaths between each beat. My tempo is steady, and it pushes me further and further upwards along the rising curve of my ascent. With a chilling whistle, the wind brushes past me, nipping at my suit like an angry, frigid bird.
My climb reaches its peak, and with a practiced twirl, I'm upside down. For the briefest of moments, the world is stilI; then, I fall.
I allow myself the luxury of a smirk as the stadium below me is lost in the conical blur of energy forming at the tips of my outstretched hooves. My suit stretches and strains against my face, and I feel the barrier pushing against my rapidly accelerating body. The cone shines blindingly like the core of a star, singeing the air around it. I smell the stench of burned fabric, and groan as I flick my eyes forward to find my teammates. My gaze catches them as they complete a final twisting loop at the center of the stadium, marking my target. The two of them veer off, and I'm alone.
I enter the smokey loops, and the air behind me shatters into a million shimmering colors. Everything in my vision becomes streamlined, and I streak up and around the walls of the stadium—a glittering rainbow trail in my wake—and land in the center of my team.
Just as practiced. Just as planned.
The crowd of pegasi around us is cheering and shouting wildly. My team basks in it, soaking the noise in like sunrays. I turn without a word, and take off once more towards the locker room.
"And then—oh Goddess I love this part—Spitfire turns to me and she's like, 'Next time, don't let Soarin decide how many ponies we need to fight a dragon!'"
The locker room is filled with laughter. The echoes of the sound reach across the room to a line of empty benches under an open locker. I lean into the cold metal doors with a huff, my glazed eyes catching a glimpse of themselves in a mirror across from me.
I pull my gaze away immediately, biting my lip. Staring at the floor for a few seconds, I cringe and let out a sigh when I hear the inevitable hoofsteps coming my way.
A mare appears from around the corner of the lockers. "Hey, Rainbow Dash, pretty sweet moves out there!" Feathervane smiles at me, her green eyes lighting up. "No matter how many times I see you pull that off, it just never gets old."
"Y-Yeah, sure seems that way," I say with a cold breath.
"So," she says without missing a beat, "me and the rest of the squad were gonna go out and hit the town before we gotta pack up in the morning." She gives me a sly grin, nudging my side. "Y’know, I hear Las Pegasus has some pretty crazy bars open this time of night."
I feign a laugh. "Heh, yeah. Thanks but no thanks, girl."
She shrugs. "Suit yourself, Dash." A nod and a flick of her tail, and Feathervane is gone.
In the silent minutes that follow, I close up my locker and make my way between rows of blue and yellow lockers and benches to the door. I reach for the lights and flip the switch, taking the lack of protest as a sure sign that the room is empty. Without a second glance, I walk out and close the door.
I make a beeline straight for the hotel we're staying at this weekend. Las Pegasus is incredibly bright for the middle of the night, mostly due to the countless glowing neon signs that line the windows and doors of every building. Neither they nor the ponies chatting and crying around me cross my mind as the Cotton Cloud hotel comes into view. I look up through the windows, guessing which one belongs to me, before making my way through the front doors with thoughts of nothing but a warm bed.
"I don't get it, AJ, how do you do this dull kind of crud day after day?"
Applejack grunts as her rear hooves strike the thick trunk of an apple tree like two massive hammers. "Well excuse you, ya loaf of moldy banana bread! This 'crud' just happens to be my livelihood!"
Without even waiting for the apples to fall from the branches above her, she's already marching to the next tree, preparing her legs for another strike. All the while, I float above her on a low-flying cloud, my tail hanging off the end.
I reach down from my perch and snatch a round red apple from the tree Applejack is about to kick, and bite a chunk out of it. "I'm just saying, Applejack," I mumble through a mouthful of apple, "that you've gotta get bored of kicking trees and carrying baskets day after day. I mean, don't you wanna change it all up a bit? Maybe grow pears, or something wacky like avocados!"
The only response is a growl and the crack of hooves against bark. I roll my eyes and take another bite of the fruit. "Well, I guess I gotta hoof it to you on one thing. You Apples sure know how to grow, well... y'know."
"Darn it, Rainbow Dash, would ya stop eatin' my source of income?!" Applejack snaps from below the branches.
"Yeah, yeah..." I toss the apple core over my shoulder, yawning. "There, gave you some good fertilizer or whatever."
Applejack shoots me a glare as she trots out from under the tree, carrying a basket of apples. "So what's that make now, Rainbow? Thirty bits you owe me for eatin' while I'm on the job?"
"Something like that." I nod.
"Honestly, I don't know why I bother puttin' up with you day after Celestia-forsaken day."
I flip off my back and lean over the cloud, smirking. "Because you know you'd be bored out of your hat the second I left to go be awesome someplace else."
With a grunt, she bucks the apples out of another tree. "I think a better word would be 'relieved.'"
"Oh, c'mon, AJ!" I spring up from the cloud in a blink, spinning over Applejack and landing beside her. "We both know you're not the pony to settle for boring."
"And here I thought you were sayin' my job was boring."
"No no no." I shake my head. "Dull. Totally different."
"I don't think they are, Rainbow."
"Yeah, you would think that."
The afternoon turns to sunset as the sky casts an orange glow over Sweet Apple Acres. As hours pass and Applejack gathers the apples from the day's harvest, I say my goodbyes and take off towards Ponyville, making sure to snatch an apple once Applejack is out of view.
"Thirty-one!" She shouts from across the orchard.
I finish off the apple and throw the core behind me. "Mmmm... Friggin' fruit psychic, I swear to the moon..."
"Alright, fillies, fifty more laps around the field! I'd better hear your wings crying when you're done!" Spitfire screams as the recruits glide past her. "C'mon, you lazy mules! Flap like a hummingbird on a caffeine trip!"
As I walk—not fly—towards her, she grumbles something angrily under her breath. I step around a group of ponies doing wing-ups with stone-faced trainers shouting at them, doing my best to avoid eye contact. With my head down, I accidentally bump into Spitfire.
"Hey! What's the big freakin' idea, scrub?! Get back in pattern before I have your feathers clipped!"
"Good to see you too, boss," I say flatly as she turns around.
"Oh." She pauses. "Oh! Rainbow Dash, I didn't even know it was you!"
"Yeah, I got that much."
"Seriously though, good to see you again! How'd the show go in Las Pegasus this weekend?"
I step around her, staring up at the ponies in recruit outfits flying broad loops around the training complex. "It went about as well as you'd expect," I say, "which is to say normal as ever."
"Good to hear," she congratulates me. "I'm glad to know there's somepony's team I can count on to not to screw up every routine I'm not there to watch."
"Glad you approve," I drone.
In my peripheral vision, I can see her tilting her sunglasses down, as if to get a better look at me. "Something wrong, Rainbow Dash?" she asks.
I take a deep breath in, closing my eyes. This moment has played itself out a thousand times in my mind, and as I open my mouth to say the words, I feel myself shaking.
"I'm resigning from the Wonderbolts."
Spitfire is silent, her mouth hanging open slightly. "Wh-What...?"
"The letter's on your desk. I just finished turning in my uniform and everything."
"Rainbow Dash, what is this about?!" she suddenly shouts at me, turning several heads in our direction. "You're one of the best fliers I've got! I thought this was your dream! Remember all that bright-eyed stuff you told me about being the 'best flyer in Equestria' and all that?" She stamps a hoof. "I thought this is what you wanted!"
"That's just the thing, Spitfire," I say with a final glance around the field. "I thought it was, too."
With that, I take to the skies. The Wonderbolt Academy disappears behind me, and everything ahead is clouds and open skies.
"Can you friggin' believe it, AJ?!" I squeal like a school filly, waving a piece of paper around wildly. "Me, a Wonderbolt! Finally, the life of twists, turns, and bad-flank dangerous flying I was destined for!"
"Heh, well, good on ya, Rainbow Dash," Applejack says as her hooves strike another trunk. As the apples fall into the baskets below with a chorus of thuds, the humid air is filled with the low rumble of thunder from the dark clouds above. "About time somepony in that fancy club gave ya credit where it's due."
I fly backflips over Applejack's head, snatching an apple and settling down beside her. "I know, right? I—"
"One hundred and five," she says.
"What? Oh, uhm..." I fake a grin, my teeth showing as I toss the apple into one of the baskets beneath the tree. "But yeah, I totally can't wait to get started! Spitfire says I could have my own squad and everything in only a year or so if I work hard enough!"
Applejack stifles a laugh at that.
I raise an eyebrow at her. "What's so funny?" I ask.
"Oh, nothin'. I just can't believe the day's finally come when Rainbow Dash is excited about hard work."
"H-Hey!" I frown at her. "I totally work hard on stuff!"
"Like what?"
"Y'know, uhm..." I pause, squinting my eyes as I raise a hoof to my chin.
"That's what I thought, ya wingnut."
Applejack gathers her baskets one by one at the door of the barn. A chilly breeze brushes past us, forcing Applejack to hold her hat down with a hoof.
"Whew!" She shivers, her ponytail twitching in the wind. "It sure is gettin' mighty cold for a summer night."
"Well what'd you expect, AJ? I told you there's a storm scheduled for tonight, so of course there's gonna be some wind chill." We both look up to the dark grey clouds looming over Sweet Apple Acres. "Speaking of which, I probably oughta be heading back home. I don't wanna be a fried pegasus when I show up at the Wonderbolt Academy next week."
"You sure about that, Rainbow? This storm's lookin' to be a bit of a fierce one for ya to fly home in."
I scoff, flicking my tail as I turn around. "Oh puh-leeze, AJ! I made this friggin' thing, I think I can—"
The air explodes with crashing thunder as lightning arcs menacingly between the clouds. Amidst the flashing and the noise, a thick sheet of rain begins to fall.
"You were sayin'?" Applejack says with a smirk. When I don't reply, she pats me on the back and tells me, "C'mon, you can stay the night here at the Acres. The family's out of town, so I could use the company."
I bite back a sigh as she leads me to the house. As soon as we're inside, Applejack has a towel in my hooves and a cooking pot in her own. As I dry myself off, I have to resist the instinct to shake myself like a dog as I would in my own home, remembering that not all surfaces are as water-absorbent as clouds.
Stepping carefully over a sleeping Winona, I make my way to the kitchen. Applejack already has food on the table, almost all of it some sort of apple dish.
Applejack finishes laying out the applesauce and apple tarts, then sits down at the table with me. "So," she begins as she starts loading her plate with food, "your own squad in a year, huh? That sounds like a pretty big deal."
"Pretty big deal? Like you wouldn't believe, AJ! I'd have my own group of ponies to lead, to make routines for, to practice with... It's gonna be sweet!"
"Assuming it happens, of course."
I stop loading massive spoonfuls of applesauce onto my plate and stare at Applejack, confused. "What do you mean by that?"
"Well, you were the one that said you get your own squad if ya work your flank off for a year or so, right?"
"Pffft. Are you still hung up on that, Applejack? I can totally work my flank off, I just need the right motivation is all."
She smiles at me. "Well, if there's anypony I know who'll fit the bill of leadin' her own squad of fancy fliers, it's you."
"Heck yeah, it's me!"
Her voice drops slightly. "Just don't forget about us little ponies back home, will ya?"
"Hah! You kidding? It'd take a couple lifetimes for me to not think of this place every time I see a fruit salad."
"Oh, you know what I mean."
We both snicker at each other, and then the room goes quiet. Applejack sits there with a smile, taking a bite out of the apple tart she made herself, with the ingredients she grew on her own farm. She looks so content, so pleased with the break from her usual routine that could only be afforded because of her routine.
My mind thinks back to the orchard, to all those days I watched her spend tirelessly growing, watering, and harvesting apples. I remember each day of her hard work, and not a single one of my own.
"H-Hey, Applejack?"
She looks up from her plate. "What's that, sugarcube?"
"Do you..." I hesitate for a moment, looking away from her green gaze. "Do you really think I could get my own squad?"
She blinks. "Well of course I do, Rainbow Dash! Why would I ever tell ya any different?"
"I dunno, I was thinking about what you said with me not working hard like you do—"
"Now wait just a minute, Rainbow—"
"—And you're right, I really don't! But I've always been worried that if life is all work and no play, then I'll just get friggin' fed up with it all, y'know? Like there's nowhere higher for me to go..."
We're both silent for a moment. I can't bring myself to look up from the table until I hear Applejack's chair shift as she stands up.
"C'mere, Rainbow Dash," she says, making her way to the kitchen counter. "I wanna show ya somethin’."
Confused, I stand up and follow her. As I get there, she's already pulled out a big glass jar and some apples. She picks up the apples, placing each one in the jar until there are five inside, and no more will fit.
"Rainbow Dash, is this jar full?"
"I mean, you can't fit any more in there, right?" I say, gesturing to the apples left on the counter. "So, yeah, I guess it's full."
Applejack smiles at me, and opens a drawer under the counter. She pulls out a bag full of apple seeds and proceeds to pour them into the jar until the seeds completely cover the apples and fill the jar all the way to the top.
"How about now, Rainbow?" she asks. "Is it full?"
I let out a sigh, smirking at her. "Yes, AJ, now it's full. Cute trick."
She smiles at me again, and my own grin disappears as she reaches under the counter once more and pulls out a bag of flour. She pours the flour into the jar, and the white dust slowly but surely fills the cracks between the seeds and the apples, until the jar is completely filled with flour.
"Is it full now, Rainbow Dash?"
"I-I, uhm... Yes...?"
She sets the bag of flour down next to the bag of seeds and the remaining apples. "Rainbow, this big ol' jar here is somepony's life. You can have all the really important stuff—family, friends, a home—and you can say it's full. There ain't anypony pony who'll argue with ya about it, and certainly not me."
Applejack then points to the bag of seeds. "But some ponies want more than just what they got. Some ponies wanna have a big list of blue ribbons, to be a Wonderbolt, or to be a fancy fashion pony. For a lot of ponies, makin' their dreams into reality is when their life is full."
I feel a smile tugging at my cheeks. Applejack notices and grins back at me as she points to the bag of flour.
"Still, some ponies ain't satisfied with just livin' their dreams. Some ponies wanna take it a step further, to be a Wonderbolt with her own squad of ponies. Their lives won't be full 'til they hit the tip of the top."
It's right then that Applejack turns around, opens her fridge, and takes out a jug of apple cider. I sit and watch as she pours the cider into the jar, the drink finding its way into the microscopic gaps between the grains of flour.
"But all ponies, Rainbow Dash, all ponies got somethin' worth celebrating, so long as they got the ponies to celebrate with. No matter how far you go with the Wonderbolts, no matter what crazy adventures you do or don't have, no matter how high you are when you hit the top, you'll always have a place to come back to here in Ponyville. And that seems like somethin' worth celebrating to me."
I can't help myself. With drops of moisture in my eyes, I lurch forward and wrap Applejack in a hug, nearly knocking over the jar and its contents in the process. She's surprised at first, but quickly reciprocates. There, embracing my best friend with a smile as a storm raged violently outside, I know I'll always have a place to go to from the top.
I glide down from the low hanging clouds and over the fence surrounding Sweet Apple Acres. The trees are as green and vibrant as ever, dotting every bit of the land for as far as I can see. A farmhouse presides on a hill far off in the distance, rising above the rest of the property. From behind it, the sun rises like a foal from slumber, warm amber light bathing the land and sky. I hear a rooster crowing, and I know it's time.
It's been almost five years since I got that letter and worked my way to the very top. When there's nowhere left for me rise to, the only place I want to go is home.
