The Wonderbolt cadets stood in a perfectly straight line with military precision.
"Alright cadets," roared Spitfire, making some of the assembled Pegasi flinch. "This is the end of the line for some of you!"- she paused for a moment to let it sink in before continuing -"But for the best of the best of the best of you, you'll get to move on to the next level!"
The cadets broke their formation briefly to stomp their hooves on the fluffy cloud floor before allowing Spitfire to continue.
"I will now call out the names of the cadets who will have the great honour of joining the Wonderbolts in the sky permanently- as our newest members."
The Pegasi were silent.
Rainbow Dash grinned cockily to herself. "I may as well just step forward now..." she thought.
"Alright, the first new recruit is..."
Rainbow Dash smashed the door of her cloud house in so suddenly that it flew off its hinges. She didn't bother to check it as she flew towards her bedroom.
Once she was inside, she slammed the door shut and sobbed into her pillow.
"Favouritism this, politicians that..." she wailed, the sound muffled by her bed.
"Just because I'm the Element of Loyalty..."
Just thinking about it made her tear up again.
"I'll never get to be a Wonderbolt now! Just because I'm too well-known and all those horseapples. How can I ever show my face in public again? They'd only just laugh at me, like they did at Rarity that one time! 'Oh look, it's Rainbow Crash, the show-off who never got to be a Wonderbolt because she was too busy somewhere else!'. And I promised my friends I'd be a Wonderbolt no matter what. I can't just go back on that! I'm the bucking Element of Loyalty! I can't leave my friends hanging!"
Rainbow began to cry again.
"Maybe I should just stay here forever..."
There was a soft knock on the bedroom door.
"Um, hello? Rainbow Dash? I came to deliver milk and eggs for you...but your door was missing, just in case you didn't know...I'll just leave them in the kitchen if that's ok with you..."
Fluttershy's gentle voice gave Rainbow a little bit of a shock. Lifting her head, she called out, "That's ok, Fluttershy. I know the door is missing. Just leave the stuff in the kitchen. Thanks." She mentally cursed as her voice broke mid-sentence, despite her best attempts to steady it.
Rainbow hoped against hope that Fluttershy didn't notice.
"Rainbow Dash? Are you ok? You sound like you're not ok, but I'm sorry if you are, my mistake, I just thought..." Fluttershy spoke again, trailing off.
"I'm fine!" Rainbow answered, trying to sound ok, but failing miserably.
"I'm coming in now, um, if you don't mind."
Rainbow realised that she had forgotten to lock the door.
A gentle yellow hoof pushed it open slowly, and Fluttershy stepped into the room. Upon seeing Rainbow, her expression shifted.
"Oh my goodness! Rainbow, are you ok? What happened? Are you hurt?" she asked frantically, unused to seeing her normally tough friend so broken.
Fluttershy climbed onto the bed and laid down next to Rainbow.
"Go away Fluttershy. I don't want to talk about it."
Fluttershy laid her soft yellow wing across Rainbow's back and stroked her gently. It was a technique she oftener used on animals, that worked fairly well on ponies too.
"There, there, it's all right. You can tell me what's wrong," she said soothingly.
"You'll only tell everypony else."
"No I won't, cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye, I won't tell anypony else unless you give me permission." Fluttershy performed the motions.
At this, Rainbow realised Fluttershy was serious.
"I'll never get to be a Wonderbolt," Rainbow admitted.
"What? But why?" asked Fluttershy.
"Because I'm friends with the princesses and I'm the Element of Loyalty. Spitfire told me that if I were to join, politicians and reporters would call foul play and suspect favouritism with the princesses. That would be bad for the Wonderbolts."
"Oh, I see now..." said Fluttershy.
"It's so unfair! I have awesome talent, and because of my awesome talent I can't fulfil my dream!" Fresh tears spilled from Rainbow's eyes. She was ashamed at showing such weakness in front of another pony, but she couldn't help herself. At least it was only Fluttershy.
"Now everypony will only just laugh at me!"
"I won't laugh at you," said Fluttershy.
"You won't?"
"Of course not. And neither will Pinkie, Rarity, Applejack or Twilight, because you're our friend, Rainbow. And if anypony tries to be mean to you, I'll give them 'The Stare'," reassured Fluttershy.
"But I'm not a Wonderbolt! I promised I would become one, but now I've disappointed you all!"
"No you haven't. It wasn't a promise you could be sure you could keep. You were very brave to make it in the first place. And besides, it isn't like you didn't try. That would have been breaking a promise."
"Do you really mean that?"
"I do."
"But now, I'll never be a great star with fame and fortune!"
"You don't need fame and fortune to be a superstar, Rainbow. You're already as bright as stars go in my eyes. No other mare can perform a Sonic Rainboom. And no other filly gained her cutie mark in such a way that five other fillies found their talents at the same time because of it. You're the only filly who ever bothered to stand up for me when I was being bullied in flight school. You saved Rarity, you led tornado day, you're a Winter Wrap Up team captain. You're a weather patrol top worker, you're a town hero. And most of all, you're a brilliant friend. You're exceptional, Rainbow, and don't you forget it," said Fluttershy, louder than usual, and determined.
"Thanks, Fluttershy," smiled Rainbow.
"Stop being so down and look on the bright side! Every cloud has a silver lining, you just need to find it and make the best of it. Stop expecting so much from yourself. You don't need to be better, because you're already perfect. You don't need a fancy flying suit to tell you that you're important and loved."
"Thank you, Fluttershy. You're the best friend a mare could ask for," said Rainbow Dash.
She opened her wings and threw herself around Fluttershy in a wonderful hug. Fluttershy just smiled and hugged Rainbow back.
"It was nothing Rainbow. After all, there's no problem so big that it can't be solved with a little kindness."
Author's Note
My first one shot. Hope you enjoyed it!
As mentioned in the description, this was written for a contest being held by The Fluttershy Fan Club.
