Most ponies in Ponyville, when asked, would all agree that Rainbow Dash was most certainly not a morning pony. In fact, spotting the town's lead weatherpony doing much of anything before lunch would be a miracle in and of itself. It was for that reason that most of the ponies that happened to glance skywards at sunrise for the past few weeks were treated to quite a surprise in the form of said weatherpony performing her various weather duties in the early morning light. Upon picking their jaws up off the ground, most ponies would simply shake their heads bemusedly and move on with their day, maybe setting up an appointment with the optometrist later on. Only some of the pegasi in town realized the full reason behind her early start, and those that did waved and smiled encouragingly at her as she worked.
Rainbow Dash herself, when asked, would be the first one to declare that she was absolutely not a morning pony. In fact, there were few things she liked more than napping peacefully atop a cloud or in a tree, basking in the rays of the morning sun. Normally, she would have been just as surprised as anypony else to find herself doing work while the sun was still barely over the horizon. As she kicked another cloud, bursting it into vapours that quickly drifted away on the high-altitude winds, she spotted a pegasus from town smiling up at her and waving. Dash smiled back. There was a good reason for her early start, of course, and every passing pegasus served as a silent reminder of it.
The Best Young Flier competition, Cloudsdale's annual aerial acrobatics event, was drawing ever closer. Just a couple days remained before Rainbow Dash would be performing in front of hundreds of pegasi in the Cloudsdale Cloudiseum to prove that she was the best Equestria had to offer.
That was the reason for her sudden shift in waking time over the past few weeks. As the date of the competition drew nearer, Rainbow Dash needed to spend more and more time practicing and preparing. Getting her weather-related work out of the way first thing in the morning left the rest of the day for practice.
Rainbow Dash smirked as another cloud disintegrated beneath her hoof. While she didn’t want to let her confidence get to her head, Dash knew that she was practically a shoe-in for first prize, and what a prize it was. An entire day spent with the Wonderbolts. She had adored the stunt team since she was just a filly, but only ever from a distance. This would finally be her big chance to hang out with them, and she wasn't about to let anything get in her way, even if it meant cutting a few hours of sleep.
Finally, with one last kick, followed by the satisfying poof of dispersed cloud, the sky over Ponyville was cleared. Rainbow Dash hadn't even broken a sweat. She smirked proudly as she touched down in the street, kicking up a small cloud of dust. Rainbow Dash surveyed her work from the ground, making sure that she hadn't missed any errant puffs of white in the spotless blue sky. Her wings ruffled against her sides, eager for a more intense workout.
She smiled once she was sure that the sky was completely empty. Rainbow Dash's wings snapped open so fast that the air sang at their passage. She bent her knees and licked her lips, all her muscles coiled as she prepared to fly. Not like when she was clearing clouds or simply travelling from place to place, but to really fly. The difference was something most ponies wouldn't understand, though Dash had never actually tried explaining it to them. All she was sure of was the subtle way the air rippled over her feathers in the morning breeze, and just how good it would feel when that breeze was replaced by the shearing wind of pure speed.
Rainbow Dash paused for a moment, her eyes closed, and breathed deeply. With one last flex of her wings, she finally tensed the muscles in her legs, flapped downward with all of her considerable wing power, and—
"Rainbow Dash!"
The sudden voice caught her attention, and the mare in question started. "Wha?!"
Any more coherent sentence was made impossible by the fact that she was already leaving the ground, but no longer in control of her flight. In her split second of distraction, Rainbow Dash's take-off quickly transitioned into a hard landing. She flipped head over hooves, half-somersaulting forwards and impacting the dirt road flat on her back with a wheezing exhale.
As the dust cleared from her tumble, Rainbow Dash opened her eyes to an upside-down beaming smile. Attached to that smile was an upside-down face, purple eyes wide with excitement, and an entire upside-down filly, complete with orange coat and fuchsia mane.
"Hey Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo said excitedly, practically bouncing where she stood.
Rainbow Dash groaned, her wings twinging from where they were awkwardly pinned against the ground. "Kid? Whaddya want? I was trying to fly here."
Scootaloo took a half-step backwards, her smile faltering slightly. "O-Oh, uh, well, you said that we could… we could hang out today, since you were so busy last time I asked…" She trailed off, scuffing at the street with a forehoof. "I-It's totally cool if you can't though!" Scootaloo quickly appended.
Rainbow Dash wracked her brain as she rolled herself upright and pushed back to her hooves. She had no recollection of making such a promise, but the kid wasn't one to lie about something like that. As much as she wanted to get to practice, Rainbow Dash didn't leave her fans hanging.
"Nah, s'alright kid. I just… rattled my brain a bit for a second there." Rainbow Dash chuckled sheepishly, before quickly striking a heroic pose, much to Scootaloo’s delight. "So, uh, what did ya have in mind?"
Scootaloo giggled happily, and pulled out a roll of paper. "Well, I've got this list here…" The beaming filly flicked the list open, allowing it to unroll to its full length. Rainbow Dash boggled as the single long piece of paper extended for several feet along the ground before finally coming to a stop a little ways down the road, every inch of it covered in line after line of chicken-scratch hoofwriting.
Dash winced, missing the way Scootaloo’s ears folded back in response and focusing only on how long that list would take to get through. Heaving a heavy sigh, she rubbed a hoof across her face. "Yeah, whatever, kid. Let's just get started, 'kay?"
Scootaloo nodded, her smile seeming strained. "Uh… a-alright, Rainbow Dash." She straightened herself, brightening just a little. "You'll love the things I have planned once we get started though, trust me, it'll be the best day ever!" Scootaloo exclaimed before hopping on her scooter and puttering off down the street.
Rainbow Dash only mumbled an incoherent response as she followed her biggest fan, already dreading the amount of work she would have to do to make up the lost practice time. Besides that, long days of hard flying hadn’t exactly left her in the mood for frivolous fun lately. Another heavy sigh escaped her lips, as her vision remained locked on the ground and totally missed Scootaloo look back over her shoulder with a hurt expression.
Only one thing was running through Rainbow Dash's mind: It was going to be a long day.
----~~~----
"Alright!" Scootaloo exclaimed, setting down her table tennis paddle next to her. "Looks like I win again, Rainbow Dash."
The two pegasi were sitting across from each other at one of the free use ping pong tables set up in the Ponyville Park. They had spent the last several hours moving from item to item on the kid's list, but Rainbow Dash hadn't really found herself invested in any of them, and had already forgotten what most of the activities even were. She only allowed herself to be dragged along as a service to her number one fan, but that didn't mean she had to enjoy it when there were far more important things to be worrying about.
"Uh huh, looks that way," Rainbow Dash muttered, not really paying attention as she plotted out a new addition to her training regime. Her table tennis paddle sat on the table in front of her, where it had remained through all three of the last games.
Scootaloo seemed undeterred though. "Welp, that crosses 'table tennis with the best pegasus ever' off the list. Only 759 more items to go!"
Rainbow Dash groaned loudly, slamming her forehead on the table with a dull thunk. She couldn't afford to waste her entire day on frivolous activities with Scootaloo. As much as she appreciated the kid, whiling away an entire day with her was unquestionably uncool. She didn't like to leave her fans hanging, but it would be totally different in this case. She had already spent a good deal of time with the kid; the sun had fully moved on from morning and was now beginning its descent into afternoon. She could give the kid an autographed Rainbow Dash poster or something later, the kid loved stuff like that.
Her new plan in mind, Rainbow Dash raised her head from the table. "Look, kid," Rainbow started, the way the kid's mouth clamped shut making her realize that the kid must have been talking a second ago. Whatever it was, it probably wasn't important. "I've gotta… go. Busy pony, things to do and all that, you understand."
Scootaloo's mouth opened and closed a few times. "B-But it's barely afternoon, and there's still so much left on the list!" She frantically pulled out the list and scanned through it until she reached the next item. "See? ‘Get ice cream with the best pegasus ever'. It's next on the list, doesn't that sound fun?" she practically pleaded, her tone lost on Rainbow Dash who had already moved on from the subject and was once again mentally planning her practice.
Scootaloo slumped at the lack of response. "I… I guess w-we can, maybe, do the other… the other 759 items… we can maybe to them another day, right?"
Rainbow Dash blinked, only just then registering the number that Scootaloo had uttered, and cast a sidelong glance at the pouting filly. "Wait, you seriously counted every item on the list? I thought you were joking the first time."
Scootaloo held her smile strong for a moment, but wilted as soon as Rainbow Dash turned away. "Uh... yeah, kinda. I just wanted t-to, uh, make sure I was totally prepared. Y'know?"
Dash barked a quick laugh, totally missing the whimper that it elicited from Scootaloo. "You're weird sometimes, kid, you know that?"
Scootaloo might have mumbled something in response, but Rainbow Dash didn't hear it. She had stepped away from the table and was busy carefully scanning the afternoon sky. Hard training like what she'd been doing for the Best Young Flier competition required her to keep her energy up, and with pegasus metabolism that meant lots of naps. Somewhere up there was a cloud with her name on it.
Rainbow Dash's ears flicked, and she realized that Scootaloo was talking. "Huh? You say something, kid?"
Scootaloo cleared her throat. "Uh, I said... I was just, um, just wondering if you would, maybe, um, want t-to... to hang out again another time..." She sunk lower and lower as she spoke, and was practically prostrate by the time she finished. Rainbow Dash didn't notice, however, as her eyes were still scanning across the sky. For a moment Scootaloo thought that Dash hadn't heard at all, and felt tears welling up behind her eyes. Just as she was about to slink away quietly, Rainbow Dash finally spoke.
"Uh huh... Yeah, kid, whatever. That sounds cool to me." She wasn't 100% sure what she was agreeing to, but whatever it was she was confident it was nothing she couldn't handle.
Rainbow Dash's words quelled Scootaloo's unshed tears, and brought a small smile back to her face. "O-Okay, Rainbow Dash. I can't wait!"
"Uh huh..." Rainbow Dash had once again completely tuned out the little filly.
"Um... alright, then," Scootaloo muttered, kicking at the ground with a forehoof. "See you lat—"
"Aha!" Rainbow Dash's exclamation cut her off like a whip. The older mare had finally spotted the perfect napping cloud, and it wasn't even that far away. Not for somepony of her speed, at least. A single flap of her wings propelled Dash into the air like a rocket. She blasted off into the sunny skies, leaving behind nothing but a rainbow contrail and a kicked up cloud of dust at her point of lift off.
Scootaloo hacked and coughed the dust out of her lungs, slapping her chest with a forehoof a couple times. By the time all the dust had cleared away, and she could once again breathe easy, Rainbow Dash was nothing but a speck on its way to a cloud on the horizon. She sighed heavily, picking up her helmet from where it lay next to her. With dragging hooves she shuffled over to her scooter and hopped on.
Scootaloo took one last despondent glance at the faraway pegasus. "See you later, Rainbow Dash."
----~~~----
Finally, a couple of days later, all of Rainbow Dash's hard training had paid off. The Best Young Flier competition hadn't gone perfectly by any stretch of the imagination. Rainbow Dash almost hadn't even been able to perform at all due to what she would later deny was a paralyzing case of stage fright, but in the end she had to push aside her fears to save three Wonderbolts and one of her closest friends. As a bonus, saving them from plummeting to their death just happened to involve a sonic rainboom, the single most legendary stunt in pegasus history.
Despite saving the judges lives and performing by far the best stunt there, Rainbow Dash had still botched the rest of her routine. She had accepted the assumed loss, and was preparing to leave for Ponyville with the rest of her friends, trying and failing to hide her disappointment the whole while.
"And I'm especially sorry that I was so thoughtless as to jump into the contest at the last minute after you had worked so hard to win it. Can you ever forgive me?" Rarity pleaded from her position in Twilight's hot air balloon. It had been her that had nearly gotten herself killed, and very nearly taken three of the Wonderbolts with her, and she had been apologizing profusely ever since to anypony who would listen.
Rainbow Dash realized that the last apology had been directed at her, and quickly shook off her melancholy enough to respond. "Aw, it's okay. Everything turned out alright, right?" She sighed, thinking back to the unconscious state that the three Wonderbolt judges had been left in back in the Cloudiseum's first aid office. "I just wish I could've met the Wonderbolts when they were awake…"
It came as some surprise, then, when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Rainbow Dash turned around, drawing in a startled breath as her brain tried to process the sight in front of her. Standing tall and proud, showing no sign that they had been kicked unconscious minutes ago by a wildly flailing Rarity, were Soarin, Misty Fly, and the captain of the Wonderbolts herself, Spitfire. All three of them were dressed in the full Wonderbolt uniform of blue and yellow spandex, and still had their flight goggles on, the polished lenses glinting in the late-morning sun.
Rainbow Dash tried to form some sort of coherent sentence, but all that came out was, "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!"
Rainbow Dash was completely star struck, holding a hoof to her mouth in the presence of her idols.
"So you're the little pony who saved our lives," Spitfire said, her voice like music to Rainbow Dash's ears. "We really wanted to meet you, and say thanks." Spitfire flashed a winning smile, and Rainbow Dash decided that she could die happy at that moment.
Rainbow Dash attempted a reply, but was fairly certain that what resulted was no more than another string of nonsense. She couldn't even bring herself to care, she was talking to Spitfire, the captain of the Wonderbolts. Rainbow Dash couldn't think of any way this day could get better.
As if the universe could read her mind, a heavy flapping of wings alerted Rainbow Dash and her friends to the approach of yet more ponies. They all turned to see Princess Celestia descending with two of her royal guards flanking her.
"Princess," Twilight whispered, quickly dipping into a bow. The rest of Rainbow's friends, and herself, all followed suit, bowing quickly but respectfully as the princess approached.
"Hello, Twilight Sparkle," Princess Celestia greeted, giving her prized student a warm smile. "And hello to your friends, too." She cast her gaze over Rainbow and the rest.
Rarity flinched under the princess's look. "Princess Celestia," the fashionista started, "I'm sorry I ruined the competition." She glanced at Rainbow Dash next to her. "Rainbow Dash here really is the best flier in Equestria."
Rainbow smiled at the praise, especially appreciated in front of three of her idols, and rubbed her forehooves together sheepishly.
Princess Celestia only smiled. "I know she is, my dear." Her voice picked up a little as she continued, "That's why for her incredible act of bravery, and her spectacular sonic rainboom, I'm presenting the grand prize for Best Young Flier to this year's winner, Miss Rainbow Dash!"
Rainbow Dash felt like she was going to explode from excitement as the princess placed the golden crown of Equestria's Best Young Flier competition on her head. The crowd, largely forgotten until that point, erupted in a thunderous applause of stomping hooves and cheering. Rainbow Dash vaguely realized that her friends had hoisted her over their heads, but her mind was still processing her sudden and amazing turn of fortune. She was pretty sure that she was shouting 'oh my gosh' repeatedly again, but this time it seemed appropriate.
Her friends paraded her around the Cloudiseum, much to the crowd's delight, before finally arriving back where they had started. By then, Rainbow had finally found her voice, though the sheer excitement she felt hadn't diminished in the slightest.
"This really is the best day ever!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed while pumping a hoof in the air, her voice cracking at the end.
Of course, the day was only just getting started. After saying goodbye to her friends, Rainbow Dash trotted over to where Spitfire, Misty, and Soarin were patiently waiting. The three Wonderbolts were talking among themselves as Rainbow approached with an anticipatory grin adorning her face.
Spitfire spotted Rainbow and gave her the same suave smile as before. "Hey there, kid. Ready to get going?"
Rainbow Dash simply grinned, barely registering the question. After a few seconds of Spitfire visibly holding back snickering, Rainbow Dash finally realized that she had yet to respond, and nodded her head quickly.
"Uh, yeah, totally!" Rainbow Dash's cracking voice betrayed her yet again, prompting her to rub the back of her neck with a forehoof.
Spitfire chuckled. "Okay then. We just gotta get out of these uniforms first. Not exactly the most comfortable things, y'know?"
Rainbow Dash had no idea; she had only ever worn Wonderbolt uniforms in her dreams, and they were always literally the most comfortable things in the universe. Still she nodded her head, never wanting to disagree with one of her idols.
"Cool, just follow us," Spitfire said as she turned and trotted away. The other two Wonderbolts followed on either side, and Rainbow Dash kept pace behind them. They walked through the interior halls of the Cloudiseum, moving with a sense of confidence that mean they knew the way well, and had likely travelled it countless times in the past.
Their walk came to an end in front of a set of double doors marked 'Locker Room A'. The Wonderbolts pushed through the doors and quickly stepped inside without a word, Rainbow hesitating only a moment before following them.
Rainbow paused, uttering a quiet "Whoa…" as she looked around the lavish locker room reserved for celebrity performers. Any amenity that anypony could ever want was in the room, the best cloud couches, magazines to read, a record player with dozens of records, and even a practical buffet of food set up along one wall. There were also the usual things expected in a locker room, namely lockers, as well as countless spare uniforms and pairs of flight goggles.
Rainbow stood in the entrance gaping while the Wonderbolts headed to their personal lockers. Suddenly, a quiet 'click whirr' sounded from behind Rainbow, causing her to jump with a startled yelp. She whirled to face the source of the noise, finding a short pegasus pony standing in the entryway behind her. He had a brown coat and a black mane and tail, with scraggly black stubble growing around his chin and cheeks. His cutie mark was a strip of film negatives overlaid by an 'S' with two lines through it, the symbol for bits. He had a camera rig attached to his neck, explaining the noise Rainbow Dash had heard.
"Hey there," the strange stallion greeted in a slightly gravelly, deep voice as he scratched his protruding belly idly with a forehoof.
"Uh… hi?" Rainbow Dash wrinkled her nose and turned back to the three Wonderbolts. "Hey, um, who the hay is this dude?"
"Hm?" Misty Fly popped her head out of her locker and turned around. "Oh him? That's just Otto. Don't worry about him, he just follows us around and takes pictures for papers and stuff. Y'know, in case anypony wants to run a story on the Best Young Flier and her day with the Wonderbolts."
"I… guess that makes sense," Rainbow Dash muttered, turning away from the Wonderbolts and eying the strange stallion warily.
Misty scoffed from across the room behind Rainbow. "Otto, quit being a tool and introduce yourself. You're creeping the filly out."
The stallion grinned, sending a shiver down Rainbow Dash's spine and making her take an involuntary half-step back. "Pleasure to meet you. Name's Otto Focus, but you can just call me Otto."
"Nice to… nice to meet you too, I guess."
"You know, pretty filly like you could make a lot of money in the… modelling business, if you know what I mean."
"Um… I don't think I know what you mean, actually…"
Otto raised his eyebrows, looking Rainbow Dash up and down in a way that gave her the chills. "Oh, I think you know exactly what I mean."
Rainbow Dash finally understood the implications he was making, and flared her wings aggressively, bending her knees into a fighting stance. "H-Hey! What's your problem, bud!?"
The confrontation was over before it began when Rainbow Dash heard the most unexpected sound possible at that moment. Riotous laughter erupted from behind her, and Rainbow turned to see Misty, Soarin, and Spitfire covering their mouths while they tried to fight down their mirth. Rainbow stared in confusion for a few moments before Spitfire finally managed to catch her breath.
The Wonderbolt captain, now free of her uniform, stepped forward and slapped Rainbow Dash on the back. "Oh, kid, you're gonna be tons of fun."
Rainbow Dash looked at Otto, only to see him chuckling along with the Wonderbolts, and finally realized what was happening. Her cheeks lit up in embarrassment as she fought off the sudden urge to burrow into the floor.
"Th-That wasn't funny!" Rainbow Dash protested weakly.
"Really?" Soarin asked in a mock-confused voice. "It made me laugh!"
A fresh wave of laughter erupted from the Wonderbolts, while Rainbow Dash silently waited for somepony to move on from the subject.
Finally, Spitfire once again stopped laughing first, joined shortly by her two companions. "Ah, that never gets old. Alright, kid, let's get this show on the road."
The three Wonderbolts were out of their covering uniforms now, allowing Rainbow Dash to get a clearer look at their colours. Spitfire was a bright yellow, with a fiery orange mane and tail. Soarin's coat was a light blue, while his mane and tail were a dark enough shade of blue to almost seem black. Misty Fly's coat was a more subdued yellow than Spitfire's, almost similar to Fluttershy's coat, and her mane and tail were light blue with a streak of an even lighter blue, almost white, running through them.
"Yeah, cool, let's go," Rainbow Dash agreed, glad to just move on.
With a few more quiet chuckles, the three Wonderbolts filed out of the room, followed shortly by Rainbow Dash and Otto Focus. Otto fell back a bit and took another picture of Rainbow Dash walking with the Wonderbolts, while Dash tried to just ignore him and focus on the fact that she was spending the day with her heroes. One creepy stallion was a small price to pay for a prize like that.
The Wonderbolts slipped into friendly conversation as they walked, while Rainbow remained silent. None of them seemed to pay her any mind at all until they finally reached the exit of the Cloudiseum. As the group of ponies stepped out of the dim hallways and into the bright sunlight, Spitfire, Misty, and Soarin all congregated by the large 'Cloudsdale Cloudiseum' sign and motoned for Rainbow Dash to join them.
"Hey, kid, come sit down, will ya?" Spitfire motioned at the cloud in front of the her.
Rainbow Dash complied happily, taking a seat in front of her heroes facing them. Spitfire chuckled and shook her head. "Turn around, kid. Come on, use that little noggin of yours."
Rainbow Dash blinked in confusion, and looked over her shoulder to see Otto standing a few feet away with his camera at the ready. "Any time now, filly," the stallion grumbled.
Rainbow Dash blushed. "Oh, heheh," she chuckled nervously. "Y-Yeah, I get it. Photo op," she said as she turned herself around to face the camerastallion.
"Alright, happy faces everypony," Otto said with virtually none of the enthusiasm one would expect from such a phrase.
Rainbow Dash put on her best smile, one she had practiced just for such an occasion. After the first camera flash, she glanced over her shoulder at the proudly posing ponies behind her. Spitfire wore the same smile she had given Dash earlier, and for the first time Dash noticed that it really was the exact same smile, the same smile she saw on all the magazine covers. She felt her heart sink a little as she realized that it looked so much more fake up close, almost like a mask of a pony who genuinely felt happy worn by another pony who was clearly just bored.
Spitfire caught Rainbow's eyes. "Face forward, kid. Not a hard concept to grasp."
Rainbow Dash stifled a sigh as she turned back around to face Otto again. This time, when the camera flashed, Rainbow's smile was just as fake as the Wonderbolts'.
The next hour or so passed fairly quickly. They mostly just moved from place to place around Cloudsdale having their pictures taken at places that seemed most appropriate. They stood outside one of the best restaurants in the city, all smile and content expressions, but never went inside to eat. They posed in front of a ferris wheel, Soarin mockingly laughing at a fake-heaving Misty, but never rode on it. They smiled for the camera in front of the Wonderbolts HQ while Rainbow Dash proudly held up an autographed flight suit, but never actually took a tour. Rainbow even had to give back the flight suit; it was, after all, a display piece.
The whole affair was cut-and-dry, professional, and boring. While Spitfire had initially been joking and laughing most of the time, even the Wonderbolts themselves eventually became less and less enthused between shots, simply trotting to the next photo op as fast as possible with blank expressions on their faces.
The whole time, Rainbow felt her heart breaking. Her one chance to spend a day with the ponies she adored, and it was being totally wasted. Her dream day with her heroes was something she had fantasized about for years, and it had never included a sleazy camerapony following their every move. It was like she wasn't even a pony to the Wonderbolts, she was just 'a fan'.
It was as they sat on a bench in Cloudsdale's central park, pretending to skip rocks across a rainbow pool, that Rainbow Dash finally had enough. She tossed the stone she was holding into the liquid rainbows with a plop and stood up off the bench.
Otto groaned in frustration. "What did I tell you, filly? Now we gotta find a new rock. Those things ain't exactly common in a cloud city you know."
Spitfire raised an eyebrow, her bored expression shifting to one of mild interest for once. "Something on your mind, kid?"
Rainbow Dash sighed. "Yeah… yes, something is on my mind, actually!" She rounded on the three Wonderbolts with an angry flare of her wings, causing Misty and Soarin to lean back slightly while Spitfre only tilted her head.
"Look, I was promised a day with the Wonderbolts, and this is what I get?!" Rainbow Dash gestured to Otto Focus. "Pretending to have fun while some dirtbag fatso snaps pictures!?"
"I'm not that fat!"
Spitfire smirked. "You are a dirtbag though."
"Well, yeah, I've been called many things—"
"Stop ignoring me!" Rainbow Dash roared. "It's like I'm not even here to you ponies! Can't you just let me have my day with the Wonderbolts?!" Otto's mouth closed with an audible clack, and all was silent for a few moments.
Finally, Spitfire leaned forward. "Alright, kid, you win."
"What?!" Otto shouted.
"What?" Soarin and Misty exclaimed in tandem.
There was a pregnant pause.
"…what?" Rainbow Dash quietly asked.
"You heard me," Spitfire said. "You want your day with the Wonderbolts, then you got it. Just shoot, what are we doing next?" Misty and Soarin both opened their mouths, but Spitfire cut them off quickly. "And yes, I am ordering you two, as captain, to accompany me. Don't think you're getting out of this that easy." While the two other Wonderbolts pouted, Otto quietly raised his hoof, and Spitfire nodded at him. "You can go, Otto."
The stallion laughed and flapped away, leaving Rainbow Dash alone with her heroes at last. "So," Spitfire fixed Rainbow with a level stare, "what did ya have in mind?"
Rainbow Dash almost couldn't believe it. Her mouth hung open for a few seconds, before closing just in time for a foalish giggle to work its way out of her throat. Her excitement that she'd felt at the beginning of the outing was finally returning. Finally, she would have the chance to really have some fun with her heroes. Of course, the blank expressions of the three stunt ponies did make her a bit nervous.
"W-Well, I've got a few ideas…" Rainbow Dash squinted in thought, her tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth, wondering just where to start. "Oh, I know!" she exclaimed. "We can start off with a tour of the weather factory! It's actually pretty neat, and I bet bit-time famous ponies like you have never even seen it on the inside."
Misty Fly winced, causing Dash to flinch in response, but Spitfire only sighed lightly. "We have, actually," the captain said, before putting on that same magazine-cover smile, "but I'm sure you'll give us a whole new perspective on things. It'll be very interesting, no doubt."
Rainbow's ears folded back. "It's p-pretty cool how they… how they make the r-rainbows."
Soarin let out a groan, and Spitfire rubbed a hoof across her face before saying, "Yeah, whatever, kid. Let's just get started, 'kay?"
Rainbow Dash tried her best to smile, but it was a tentative thing. "Cool, cool… Um, follow me, I guess." She straightened up her stance a bit, feeling determination well up inside her. "You guys'll love the things I have planned once we get started, trust me." She paused, unsure if she was reassuring her heroes or herself, before adding in a small, quiet voice, "It'll be the best day ever…"
After Otto had left, Rainbow Dash had been a little more at-ease. The three Wonderbolts, on the other hoof, had only seemed to grow more bored as time wore on. The visit to the weather factory passed by in a blur of sighs and groans from Rainbow's unwilling compatriots. Even Spitfire seemed to be nearing the end of her patience by the time they finally reached the end of the tour.
"One thing's for certain," Soarin exclaimed as they emerged from the factory and back into the open air of Cloudsdale. "I'll never take my job for granted again. I can't image having to deal with something as boring as weather every single day of the week." He shuddered theatrically at the end of his rant, eliciting a snicker from Misty Fly.
Rainbow's ears folded against her head. "I-I thought it was… neat. The th-thunderheads were kinda cool…"
Spitfire just sighed, doing her best to give her number one fan a smile. "Alright, kid, what's next?"
"Um… I… uh," Rainbow stuttered under the scrutinizing glares of three of her her biggest heroes. Suddenly, all the events she had planned didn't seem so cool anymore. She wanted nothing more than to simply give up and run away, but she swallowed heavily and fought through it.
"J-Just follow me. I… I know a ton of f-fun places around town." Rainbow Dash tried to grin as best she could, but managed little more than a sickly grimace at the deadpan stares of her idols.
"Yeah, sure thing, kid, whatever," Spitfire grumbled, making a flippant gesture with a forehoof. "Just, uh… just lead the way." She let out a yawn, covering her mouth with a forehoof. "We're right behind you."
Rainbow Dash flinched slightly, but she held on to her desperate smile. The day wasn't over just yet, and there was still the chance to salvage it. "R-Right!" she exclaimed, her voice gaining a little confidence. "How are you ponies at table tennis?"
----~~~----
Hours passed like days, every moment dragging on as Rainbow lead the Wonderbolts from activity to activity hoping against hope that something would finally liven them up. They allowed themselves to be dragged around by their number one fan, but none of the Wonderbolts seemed to be putting forth any effort to actually invest themselves in any of the activities.
Rainbow Dash tried to kick up friendly conversation, but was never able to elicit more than mumbling and barebones responses. They rode on the ferris wheel in awkward silence, endured the Cloudsdale Mall without a word spoken, and wordlessly accompanied Dash on a number of other activities while Rainbow Dash spent the whole time barely holding her last threads of enthusiasm together.
They were just leaving a matinee screening of the new Daring Do movie, and Rainbow was hovering above the cloud floor, vibrantly attempting to pass on a little of her excitement to her still-bored heroes. "Remember that part where she totally kicked that bad guy off a cliff? That was so awesome!"
"Uh huh," Soarin muttered. "Looks that way." His quiet voice and the half-lidded expression on his face did enough to let Rainbow know just how much he actually agreed with her.
Rainbow Dash chuckled sheepishly. "Uh, yeah, right…" She quickly rounded on the Wonderbolt captain. "Hey, Spitfire, you saw that one police pony was totally a reference to you, right? That was pretty cool."
Spitfire shrugged, stifling another yawn. "I'unno," she muttered, "I think I must've slept through that part or something. We've had a lot of tough practice lately."
Rainbow Dash sighed, touching down on the cloud heavily. "Yeah, I guess…" She started to lead the way away from the movie theater, head down, before noticing a distinct lack of hoofsteps following her. Rainbow turned around, surprised to see the three Wonderbolts still standing just outside the theatre exit, conversing in hushed tones. All three of them were gesturing at Rainbow Dash intermittently, and they seemed to be arguing heatedly about something.
"Uh… guys?" Rainbow Dash ventured as she took a couple steps in their direction.
Her idols' conversation stopped abruptly and they all turned to face her. Spitfire had a sheepish smile on her face while Misty and Soarin just looked to their captain pleadingly. Rainbow faced off against the Wonderbolts in a silent standoff for several moments before Misty finally nudged Spitfire in the flank, prompting the captain to take a hesitant step forward.
Spitfire cast a venomous glare back at a smirking Misty before once more turning to face Rainbow. "Look, kid…" Spitfire rubbed the back of her neck with a forehoof. "We've gotta… go. Busy ponies, things to do and all that, you understand."
Rainbow Dash's tenuous smile finally shattered, and a desperate look replaced it. "B-But we still have plenty left to do. There's still time in the day left! Hey, wanna go, uh, wanna go get ice cream? I know a great ice cream place. Doesn't that sound like fun?" Rainbow Dash pleaded with spitfire as the other two Wonderbolts kicked off the ground and began hovering behind their captain.
Spitfire gave no sign of actually hearing Rainbow Dash at all, instead focusing on takeoff preparations, fluffing out her wings and quickly preening a few loose feathers. "Uh huh, whatever you say, kid. Look, we'll send you an autographed poster or something." Spitfire smirked, apparently confident that Rainbow would be satisfied with such a deal. "See you around, ki—"
As the word left Spitfire's mouth, Rainbow Dash had finally had enough. "I have a name!" she bellowed at the Wonderbolt captain, who finally looked at her, shock in her eyes.
"Whoa, easy there, kid—"
"And my name's not 'kid'!" Rainbow once more cut her off. "All my life… All my life I've looked up to you ponies. I wanted to be just like you, I wanted to hang out with you every day, I adored you since I was a filly!" She was breathing heavily now, but Rainbow wasn't finished. "You never had to do anything. All you had to do was be the Wonderbolts and that was enough for me. I would never meet you, always just watching from afar, and that was enough for me. You guys could give me a pat on the head and an autograph as you passed, and that was always enough for me." Rainbow paused shaking her head and fighting back tears. "W-Well, today I finally… I finally got the chance t-to meet you, and none of that old stuff was enough anymore. Seeing you in person, I thought this would be the… the b-best day of my life. I thought that finally, after all these years, you would earn my adoration. I thought that somehow, when I got to know the real you, I would finally have a solid reason to idolize you." Her voice had become quiet and sad, but it quickly became loud and angry once again, shouting, "Then this day actually happened! After all that I've dedicated to you, years of my life devoted to you, you have no right to be bad ponies! You have no right to treat me like some worthless waste of your time! You have no right to… to p-prove me wr-wrong…" She trailed off into a tiny whimper as a few tears managed to break past her efforts.
Spitfire stepped forward and opened her mouth, but no words came. She stood like that for several seconds, mouth agape, staring at her former biggest fan crying before her. A nudge on her shoulder startled the Wonderbolt captain, and she turned to see Soarin gesturing silently for them to leave. With one last sad glance at Rainbow Dash, Spitfire sighed heavily, shook her head, and took to the air. Within moments, the three Wonderbolts were dots in the distance, and Rainbow Dash was left alone.
----~~~----
When Rainbow Dash had finally been able to pull herself together, she'd flown back to her cloud house in a slump. Her speed would have been called slow even for normal pegasus standards, to say nothing of the fastest mare in Equestria, and by the time she arrived on her porch it was already wearing into evening.
Not feeling like doing anything else that day, Rainbow had lazed about the house until nightfall, before crawling into her bed and falling into a fitful, whimpering sleep.
When the sun rose the next day, Rainbow Dash rose with it. She groaned as her eyelids were assaulted by the dawn's rays, flopping over in an attempt to get a little more sleep. Unfortunately, the last few weeks of early mornings in preparation for the Best Young Flier competition had gotten her into a habit of waking with the sun, and good habits tended to be even harder to break than bad ones.
Realizing that getting any more rest was a futile effort, Rainbow Dash rolled out of bed with a grumbled half-complaint and a sour frown. She wandered into the kitchen and whipped up a quick breakfast, something she had become quite proficient at over the last several weeks. After scarfing down her morning meal, and making sure to feed Tank, Dash was halfway out the door before she realized that she had no real reason to get her work done early that day. She paused only for a brief second, before shrugging and taking to the sky anyway.
She managed to lose herself in her work for the short time that clearing the sky took. While she worked her mind was clear and free of worries, but it could only last so long. All too quickly Rainbow Dash found herself dispersing the last cloud in the sky with a quiet poof. As usual, she hadn’t even broken a sweat.
Still, it only brought her the barest glimmer of the satisfaction and pride that the very same job well done would have brought her just a single day ago. Dash sighed heavily as she landed slowly in the street. She didn't bother double checking that the sky was completely clear, her mind troubled by other things. The emotional toll of the day before still weighed heavily on her.
Rainbow Dash realized at that moment that with all her work done so early, she really had nothing to do. She had fallen completely into routine of practice for the competition, expecting to simply continue at a slightly slower pace afterwards. Now that it came down to it though, Rainbow Dash just couldn't find the motivation to dedicate an entire day to practice. She wasn't giving up on it, not by a long shot, but her new regime of wake early and fly all day just didn't seem so worth it anymore. With a sigh, Rainbow resigned to the fact that she just didn't know what to do with herself.
A slight breeze rustled the grass on the side of the road, the sun continued its slow trek up past the horizon, and Rainbow Dash stood alone in the street wondering where to go from here.
"Rainbow Dash!"
"Hm?" Rainbow turned to face the unexpected voice, glad for the interruption from her dismal thoughts.
She was greeted with a sheepish orange filly hopping off her scooter with a tentative smile. "H-Hey there, Rainbow Dash." Scootaloo kicked a small pebble in the street, staring straight down at her hooves as she spoke.
Rainbow Dash mumbled something that could have been construed as a greeting, which was enough to spur Scootaloo on a bit.
"Um, I was… I was just, y'know, wondering if, um…" she trailed off, glancing up at Rainbow Dash nervously. Rainbow didn't see her, too busy staring off into the distance, not really paying attention to anything.
Scootaloo grimaced. "Um… y-you know, I th-think you've got better things to do anyway." The filly hopped on her scooter and prepared to leave, only to be stopped by a snort from Rainbow Dash.
"Hardly," Rainbow muttered sardonically. "What's up?"
Scootaloo gulped. "Well, erm, I w-was just w-wondering if you might, maybe, want to… hang out today or something." Her voice had decreased in volume until she was practically mumbling, eyes lowered, but Rainbow had gotten the gist of it.
Rainbow sighed, again failing to spot Scootaloo's ensuing wince. "Yeah, sure thing, kid, whatev—"
Rainbow Dash froze, eyes wide. For a moment, she could clearly hear Spitfire's voice, echoing that exact statement in that exact tone. She could feel how badly it cut, but she could also remember the fake smile she'd plastered on to hide it. Rainbow turned and looked at Scootaloo. She saw the same expression the kid always wore around her, eyes wide and shining, smile as wide as a mile, practically jittery with excitement. Only now, after experiencing it herself, could Rainbow Dash see the fragility in Scootaloo's expression. She could see the tenuous threads of desperate hope holding the filly together, and the slightly strained stint to her smile. She could see deeper than the excitement in Scootaloo's eyes, deeper into the nervousness and fear that hid beneath.
Rainbow Dash was struck for a split second, her mouth agape as she stared at Scootaloo. Finally, she realized that Scootaloo saw her exactly as Rainbow herself had seen the Wonderbolts. Scootaloo adored her, plain and simple. In that split second of thought, Rainbow Dash made a decision.
"Actually, you know what, ki—" Rainbow Dash coughed into a forehoof, "You know what, Scootaloo? I haven't been fair to you."
Scootaloo shook her head, raising her forehooves in protest. "It's fine, Rainbow Dash," she insisted. "You've got other things to do, more important things than hanging out with somepony like me, I understand."
The way the filly's ears folded back at the end of her statement, for the first time ever, wasn't lost on Rainbow Dash, and she stifled a wince. "No, no it's not fine. Look, y-you deserve a h-hero that… a hero that deserves you as a fan. I haven't treated you nearly like I should've, and I only hope it isn't too late to start." Rainbow smiled warmly, holding back a giggle at Scootaloo's awestruck expression. "So whaddya say we, uh, we get started on the rest of those items?"
Scootaloo's mouth opened and closed silently a few times. The little filly finally managed to shake her head, clearing it enough to speak, and stutter out, "Uh… I, um, yes! That is, uh, I'd love to, Rainbow Dash. Oh gosh…"
Rainbow chuckled good-naturedly. "How many items did you say were left, seven hundred and… fifty nine?" Scootaloo nodded, dumbstruck, and Rainbow grinned brightly. "I think we can knock a few of those out no problem. In fact, I know a pretty great ice cream place."
Rainbow Dash leaned down and spread her wings. "Hop on, Scoots. It's a bit of a flight, but the ice cream is so worth it."
Scootaloo, looking like she thought she was dreaming, clambered up on Rainbow's back and nestled between the older mare's wings. Rainbow Dash smiled a real, genuine smile. One that she knew was reflected on the face of the filly on her back. As much as she wanted to see Scootaloo's eyes lacking in the fear and doubt that they usually held, she had to keep her eyes forward as she took to the air with a sweep of her powerful wings. Besides, there would be plenty of time for that. From that day forward, Rainbow Dash was going to be a different pony. It had taken an entire lifetime of adoring the Wonderbolts for Rainbow Dash to realize that they didn't deserve her adoration, and at the same time she had realized that she didn't deserve Scootaloo's.
"Hey Rainbow Dash?" Scootaloo's voice, clear over the rushing winds of flight simply due to the filly's proximity, paused Rainbow's musings.
"'Sup, k— uh... 'sup, Scoots?"
Scootaloo paused, seeming to search for the right words. "I, um, I just wanted to thank you. This is the best day ever."
Rainbow Dash grinned, a warmth flooding her chest that she hadn't even realized she was missing. "Not yet it isn't." She chanced a look over her shoulder, flashing Scootaloo a quick wink before turning her focus back to her flight path. "We're just getting started."
From that day on, Rainbow didn't want to be like the Wonderbolts anymore. Even if she someday became a member of the team, she would never be like them. Rainbow Dash let a laugh escape from her lips as she pulled into a loop, the filly on her back adding to the chorus with a fit of foalish giggling.
From that day on, Rainbow Dash was going to earn that adoration.
