Them

Ponyville. 8:52 PM. Ponyville Coliseum. Dressing Room. Rainbow Dash was checking herself out on the mirror. "This uniform looks much more awesome when I'm the one wearing it! But again, what doesn't?"

"Captain Rainbow Dash?" asked a Shadowbolt with spiky frost blue mane.

"Yes, Cloudchaser?"

"I thought our debut show would take place in Cloudsdale. Why are we performing here? Not that i'm not happy we're performing at home, I just want to know why."

"two reasons: first, the saviors of Equestria live here, this is kind of a 'thank you' show. Second, I wanted my debut show to be in my hometown."

"But you're from Cloudsdale!"

"iw as born in Cloudsdale, yes, but I'm a pony from Ponyville. And so are you! So are all the Shadowbolts! We're rom Ponyville, a small town in the shadow of Canterlot, but as important as it! Never forget that, Cloudchaser. We're here to show that no matter where you from, who you are or what you do, you can always shine! Hay, all of us were part of the weather team before this team was founded!" she pointed her hoof at the winged skull on her flank. "This is what this symbol means. 'Never give up and be proud of yourself.' Got it?"

"Yes, Captain Rainbow Dash!"

"Good!" she clapped her hooves. "Alright, everypony! Five minutes! Thunderlane, stretch those wings. Blossomforth, make your flexibility count. Scootaloo, is the obstacle course ready?"

"Ready to go, Captain!" the orange mare said, saluting her superior.

"Get ready, Shadowbolts! We trained really hard for this, now let's show them what we're made of. Shadowbolts, are you ready to rock?"

"Yes, Captain!" the four fliers shouted at the same time.

"Then let's move, move, move!"

She left the dressing room, followed by her teammates.

* * *

Applejack, Fluttershy, Cloud and Sky were sitting on the same row, right in front of Twilight, Trixie and Spike and behind Rarity, Pinkie Pie and the Cake twins. On the last row were sitting three ponies, trying not to drag attention to themselves: Spitfire, Soarin and Fleetfoot. Right in front of them were sitting Big Macintosh and Braeburn. Fleetfoot was petting Big Mac's mane and Soarin was resting his rear hooves on Braeburn's shoulders, who just chuckled at it. What are friends for? And sitting on the VIP area of Ponyville Coliseum were sitting the Princesses of Equestria, Luna, Celestia and Cadence, accompanied by two Royal Guards and their Captain, Shining Armor.

The five elite fliers were standing behind a closed gate.

"Do your best, Shadowbolts. There are a lot of ponies out there waiting to see some awesomeness, including the Princesses, our 'rivals' and a lot, I repeat, A LOT of future fanss. Fans that will want to be like us, better than us, to be one of us! And do we let our fans down?"

"No, Captain!"

"Exactly." she cleaned her throat, then shouted: "Lower the gates!!" once the gates were down, Rainbow took a deep breath and smiled. "It's show time!"

She then took off, followed by Blossomforth and Thunderlane, then Cloudchaser and Scootaloo. Dash looked at the rows and spotted two orange mares; she blew a kiss at one and waved at the other while smirking. Applejack blew a kiss back and Spitfire smirked too.

"Show me what you got, Shadowbolts."

"Lulu!" called Celestia. "I noticed that every Shadowbolt is a former member of the weather team from Ponyville. Care to explain why?"

"I asked Captain Rainbow Dash the same question." she said, then smiled. "That's when she introduced me her new motto."

"And that would be?"

"She said 'you don't need to be precious to shine'!"

Celestia smiled. "I understand!"

After a few maneuvers and tricks, the crowd was watching in awe; fillies, gentlecolts, foals of every age, none of them could look away.

"My big bro is the best!!" shouted Rumble.

"No way, Rumble!" Flitter said. "MY big sis is the best!"

"As if!" disagreed Cloud. "Blossomforth is way cooler than all of them combined!"

"We-Well, I-I think Rainbow Dash--" started Fluttershy.

"You can do it, Scootaloo!!" shouted Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom at the same time, interrupting Fluttershy.

"YEAHHHHHHHHH!!!" shouted Bulk Biceps.

A white unicorn stallionsat behind Twilight and Trixie, then placed his forehooves on their shoulders.

"How are my favorite unicorns doing in this wonderful night?"

They turned around. Once they recognized him, he was hugged by both.

"Overheal, we missed you so much!" Trixie said.

"Sorry for not stopping by to say hello sooner, but we've been really busy, hunting down any infected that might be left!"

"It's ok, we understand." said Twilight.

"I think they know that they don't have the upper hoof anymore and now are hiding. This virus is smarter than we think!"

"Let's not think about that now, ok? Today is a happy day! By the way, thanks for coming to the debut show of our friends."

"Wouldn't miss it for anything!"

They hugged him again.

* * *

After the show, Twilight and her friends were at Sugarcube Corner, celebrating Rainbow Dash's successful debut show. Rumble and Cloud were pretending to be Wonderbolts, wearing Thunderlane's and Scootaloo's goggles, making them, Applejack and Rainbow Dash laugh at their funny performance. Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy and the Cake twins were in the kitchen, baking. Fluttershy and Bright Sky were at a table, chatting. Sweetie Belle was standing on a table, singing. Twilight and Trixie were talking to Overheal.

"We tried everything, but none of the ex-infected were able to recover their Cutie Marks." he said, then looked at his blank flank and sighed.

"Did you tried looking for your special talents again?" Trixie asked.

"As I said, everything."

"Even zebra potions?" Twilight asked.

"Actually... No!"

"You should. There's a zebra living in the forest right outside town. Her name is Zecora, she is a close friend. You should try visiting her sometime!"

"I will."

Suddenly the door opened and Spitifre walked in, followed by a cloaked pony.

"Nice show, Rainbow Dash!" she said.

"Thanks, Spitfire!"

"And this pony agrees with me." she said, wrapping a wing around the cloaked pony. "Found her outside. She wanted to ask you something, but couldn't find the strenght to do it alone, so I'm here to help her!"

The cloak landed in front of the mare's hooves, revealing a mint green colored pegasus with golden mane.

"Hey, Dash! Long time no see."

"Lightning Dust!"

She hoofbumped her old friend.

"What are you doing here?"

"Well, you see, I'm trying to readjust. I've been facing..." she looked at her flank with no Cutie Mark. "...hard times! Many ponies still don't trust us, ex-infected, as much as they trust the clean ponies!"

"I'm sorry to hear that..."

"The thing is, I want to get ponies to respect us, this is why..." she kneeled in front of Rainbow Dash. "Please, let me take the try-out, so I can show ponies everywhere that an ex-infected is just like any other pony!"

"That's a very nice cause but... What about the Wonderbolts? They are much more popular than us, the message would spread around faster!"

"They... kind of checked my files! That tornado incident came up and... I got expelled from the Academy."

"For your own sake, Lightning." Spitfire explained.

Rainbow Dash placed a hoof on her shoulder, smiling. "Welcome to the Shadowbolts, rookie!"

Lightning Dust hugged her old friend.

"She is not a spy working for you, is she, Spitfire?"

"As if I needed an spy to know what you're up to. You're very explicit when it comes to your training sessions!"

"I guess so, heheh..." she looked back at Lightning Dust. "Next sunday, Ponyville Coliseum. Is that ok with you?"

Lightning Dust smiled and nodded.

"And once you're the best flier of the Shadowbolts, look for me! Who knows? There might be a place for somepony like you,!"

"Already plotting to steal my best flier, Spitfire? Just wait and see, once she passes my try-out I'll turn her into such a nice flier that she will be too good for you little team, just like me!"

Spitfire laughed. Rainbow Dash too. They hugged each other before Spitfire left.

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Trixie placed the quill on the table and relaxed on her chair.

Twilight walked in, levitating a tray with tea and cookies. "Are you done?" she asked, placing the tray on the table and looking at the parchment in front of Trixie.

"Almost!" she said, levitating the parchment. "Still need to figure out how to finish the last chapter."

"Just tell the truth! That's what you did in the rest of the book, right?"

"I can't just write about how we went back home and banged each other silly, can I? This is not Fifty Shades Of Hay, it's the history of how Equestria was saved!"

Twilight blushed. "Oh! I forgot about that. Let's place that moment in the 'things that will not be mentioned in this book' folder."

"I agree with you. It would probably be just a comic relief, because your performance was rather... Hilarious!"

Twilight blushed even more. "I-It was my first time, I wasn't as trained as you!"

Trixie licked her lips and approacher her muzzle to Twilight's. "So, since you're not a virgin anymore, how about you show me what you learned since then?"

Twilight smirked and ran upstair, Trixie right behind her, giggling.

"Spike?" Twilight called.

"Yes, Twilight?"

"I need you to do something at ssomeplace!"

"What are you-- Oh, right! I understand. See you guys in a few hours. Or tomorrow, if Trixie is really fired up like last time!" It was Trixie's turn to blush. "Anyway, I'll come back tomorrow morning. Maybe somepony needs a dragon to... I don't know, I'll figure this out. Bye!"

Spike left the library. Trixie and Twilight walked into the bedroom with their tails entangled and both magically closed the door at the same time.