“Courage isn’t about not having any fears . . .”
There she was, standing on top of the clouds. She could feel the wind in her multi colored mane. She could feel its presence nearing. It was coming. Fast.
Rainbow Dash was always considered a brave and heroic pegasus. She was always there to save the day, always there to help her friends, always there to be, well, Rainbow Dash. She was the fastest, coolest, loyalist, and most courageous pony in all of Equestria. She could take on any challenge somepony gave her, and pass it with literally flying colors. She wasn’t afraid of anything. At least that’s what she told herself.
This . . . thing, whatever it was, had apparently already left a huge path of destruction behind. Manehatten and Fillydelphia barely survived its attacks, and those were huge cities. No way was a small town like Ponyville going to survive. If it hit, then everything would be gone. City Hall. The library. Sweet Apple Acres. Sugar Cube Corner. Rarity’s boutique. Everything. All of it, gone. She couldn’t let it all be destroyed. Yet, was she willing to risk it all? Could she really face her one true fear?
Was she willing to face death?
NO! She was Rainbow Dash! She wasn’t afraid of anything! She would show it who’s boss and trot out of there in ten seconds flat! It didn’t have a chance!
And then she saw it.
It looked like any normal thunderstorm, but something was off. It just . . . felt evil. It sent shivers down her spine.
“C’mon Rainbow, you can do this. Remember what Twilight said.”
One hour ago.
“Girls, I’m afraid I have some bad news.”
All six of them were sitting in the library. Twilight Sparkle had used her unicorn magic to teleport to each of their homes, telling them to get to the library as fast as possible. None of them could get an answer as to why. All she said was that it was urgent, and that Equestria was in major trouble.
“As I’m sure you’ve noticed, the weather has been acting strange lately.”
“Yeah, I have. Consarnit Rainbow, I thought the weather patrol said that we were gonna have sunny weather for the entire week. Now I have to deal wit this here storm getting in the way of harvesting the crops.” Applejack gave Rainbow Dash a look of annoyance.
“Hey, it’s not our fault! These winds are coming out of nowhere, and these clouds are shooting out rain on their own! We can’t control it!”
Twilight decided to step in before the argument could get any worse “She’s right, AJ. It’s not the pegasi’s fault.” She used her magic to raise a piece of paper with elegant writing on it. “Princess Celestia sent this letter to me earlier. She says that some kind of dark force has been causing major damage across Equestrian. And apparently, it’s heading for Ponyville next.”
A look of worry spread across all of their faces. Except for Dash. She was ready for action. But before she could comment, a white unicorn asked the question the others were wanting to hear. “Uh, Darling, how bad are we talking exactly?”
Twilight looked at Rarity, her face sullen and fearful. “Manehatten and Fillydelphia were . . . they were . . .”
Dash was getting impatient “Well, spit it out Twilight!”
“They were almost completely wiped out . . .” It hit everyone instantly. Even Rainbow Dash flinched, but she managed to keep any sign of fear from showing. Her yellow pegasus friend was the exact opposite.
“Th-they’re g-gone . . .?” The fear was oozing out of Fluttershy’s voice, and tears were already starting to drip down her face.
“That’s not okie dokie at all.” Even the always chirpy Pinkie Pie was unnaturally still.
Dash refused to just sit there without taking any action. “Well, we aren’t just gonna sit here and wait are we? There’s gotta be something we can do.”
Twilight bit her lip. “It would take too long to get the Elements of Harmony from Canterlot. However, the Princess did mention another option. It involves you Rainbow Dash.”
The cyan pegasus couldn’t help but swell with pride. “Alright, let’s hear it! I’ll have it done in no time at all!”
Twilight looked at her, but not with hope, but with worry. “It’s not that simple Rainbow Dash . . .”
A Sonic Rainboom, that’s all it would take. All she had to do was cause one right in the center of the storm. Simple, right? Dash would take care of this like always and then she’d go home and Pinkie Pie would throw a party for how awesome she was. All of Ponyville would show up, showering her with praise. The Wonderbolts might even come and offer her a spot on the team! Yeah, all she had to do was take care of this small annoyance to Equestria, then everypony would know her name!
Her friends were just worrying about nothing. Twilight was known to blow things out of proportion all the time. Fluttershy is afraid of everything, of course she’d be against Dash going. Rarity being the drama queen she is would obviously go on about the “perils” Dash would be in. Applejack was just jealous, that’s why she was acting weird and saying it was too risky.
But Pinkie. Pinkie was always optimistic. She always supported Rainbow Dash in everything she did. But she . . .
“Don’t do it, Dashie!” The pinky pony held on to her cyan friend as tight as she could.
“Pinkie, let go!” Dash was struggling to get her off, but to no avail.
“Rainbow, this is crazy!” Twilight and her other three friends were standing behind the two. “You can’t risk it your own life! There’s enough time for us to evacuate everypony! We can get them to safety! There’s no need for you to die!”
“Yeah, and just let whatever that thing is destroy Ponyville! Nuh-uh, I’m not letting that happen!”
“Rainbow, please darling, think about what you’re doing. This isn’t some small little nuisance that you can take care of with that ruffian attitude of yours!” Rarity tried to convince Dash herself, a task made difficult while comforting Fluttershy, who was full blown sobbing at this point.
As much as Dash wanted to crack a joke about how sophisticated Rarity always acted, now wasn’t the time. “I know what I’m doing!”
Applejack temper finally reached its peak. “No, ya don’t! You’re runnin’ off inta the action without usin’ yer brain like you always do! Stop bein’ so hotheaded and think things through fer once!”
That was it. She had enough. With one fierce buck, she knocked Pinkie off of her, and looked back one more time. Pinkie was staring at her with a begging look, tears already flowing out of her eyes. “Dashie, please . . .”Rainbow Dash looked at the ground and closed her eyes, fighting back tears of her own. Of all the things she wanted to say, she could only get two words out.
“I’m sorry.”
She took off, flying as fast as she could, wanting to escape. But she wasn’t fast enough to outrun Pinkie Pie’s scream.
“RAINBOW DASH!”
Rainbow Dash shed another tear before looking up. It was much closer now, lightning shooting from all angles. This was it. It was now or never. But she couldn’t. She was afraid. She broke down sobbing, thrashing about the cloud.
“I can’t do this! I’m afraid! I’m too afraid!” She started to calm down and just sat on the cloud. “I’m not the brave pony everyone thinks I am. How can I have courage when I’m too afraid to help everypony. My friends are much braver than I am. Heck, Fluttershy was even able to stand up to a dragon when I couldn’t.” She looked down and closed her eyes. “I’m not courageous at all.”
“Having courage doesn’t mean not having any fears.”
Dash’s head shot up. She remembered that voice. It had been so long, but she remembered. “Mom . . .”
“Everypony is afraid of something, sweetie. But those who have courage are willing to face those fears, even when they are afraid.”
She remembered her mom telling her that when she was a filly. It had been years, but she remembered it clearly. She just had a nightmare, and was too afraid to go back to sleep. But here mom was there. She encouraged her, showed her what it really meant to have courage.
Rainbow Dash let out a sigh. “Thanks, mom” Then she spread her wings, and took off. She flew higher and higher, even above the great storm. She kept going until she was at just the right height. She looked down. It was getting closer and closer to Ponyville. Now was the time to act. She took in a deep breath, and looked towards the Celestia’s sun setting in the horizon. She gave a small smile, then shot downwards towards the storm.
She kept going faster and faster, not letting up for a second. Soon, she entered the cloud. Lightning was flashing all around her, and thunder was consistently booming in her ears. But she didn’t stop. She kept going.
As she was falling, she remembered the good times she had with her friends. Listening to Twilight Sparkle go on and on about some kind of science stuff, helping Applejack on the apple farms, trying to sit still while Rarity used her as a model for making a dress, trying to help Fluttershy face her own fears, enjoying one of Pinkie Pie’s famous parties, working to together to beat Nightmare Moon. She remembered all the moments they had together, laughing and playing. She hoped that maybe, just maybe, they could have more moments like that.
She looked around and saw the cone of air forming around her. She kept going, fighting the urge to give up. She was so tired, but she was so close. The cone tightened. Only a few moments now. She closed her eyes and let one last tear fall. Then she smiled.
Suddenly, the cone burst open into a circle, a light spectrum shooting out in all directions. Rainbow Dash cracked her eyes open one last time to see the clouds all start flying inwards towards her. She did it. She faced her fears and saved them. Then she finally blacked out.
On the outside, the giant cloud stopped before it started to cave in on itself. It shrunk to about three fourths its size, before exploding out. While pieces of it began to slowly break apart, the biggest sight was a huge circular light spectrum slicing it in half, spreading out farther and farther. The pieces of the cloud kept getting smaller and smaller, until there were no more signs of the monster that threatened the town.
The threat had been vanquished. All that was left in the sky were the setting sun, the Sonic Rainboom, and a small object in freefall towards the ground. It was motionless, not taking any action to slow up, until it finally fell behind the tree line of the distant forest . . .
“Courage isn’t about not having any fears . . .
it’s about being willing to face those fears.”
