(A/N: This is a quick something I did with some downtime at work last night. I don’t expect it to be great or anything, but feedback is still appreciated. Also, I’m using the “Slice of Life” tag for the story, because that seems like the best fitting one. If anyone disagrees and thinks one of the others are better, please tell me so. Enjoy.)
Worthless
You’re a failure.
You can’t do anything right.
You should have given up a long time ago.
These were the thoughts that currently buzzed around Rainbow Dash’s mind. She sat atop a hill on the outskirts of Ponyville, away from anyone who might stumble upon her in this condition. She sat here so no one could see the tears that streamed down her face, or hear the retching sobs that escaped her throat. She was weak, and that was something nopony needed to see.
She hadn’t moved from this spot for hours. That made it hours of crying, anger, and self-loathing. It was surprising that she had any tears left after crying for so long, but she did. And every time she tried to stop, she instantly reminded herself of how she had failed to achieve her dreams. This was the cycle that she had been repeating this whole time.
They’ll all make fun of you. You might as well never show your face around Ponyville again.
Just face it, you’re a loser.
It was all true. She was nothing put a loser now. What would everypony in Ponyville think of her? Even worse, what would her friends think of her? Dash knew that the news would spread fast. It would be impossible to avoid the inevitable ridicule of her failure.
The dream that she had held since she had been merely a filly, crushed before her very eyes. It had been the first time in years that the Wonderbolts had held tryouts, and she had screwed it up.
She had a perfect routine, and she messed it up.
*****
Rainbow Dash speed above the Wonderbolts’ training stadium in Canterlot, pulling off a maneuver after maneuver and eliciting loud cheers from the crowd that has come to watch the tryouts. Any nervousness she had before she started has since disappeared. As she passes over the stadium, she spies her friends waving up at her. All of them cleared their schedules to come watch their friend dominate the tryouts, and she isn’t about to let them down.
Her routine consists entirely of her own original tricks. Combinations flips, hairpin turns, loops, corkscrews, and spins make up an elaborate routine that has been months in the making. Dash pulls the maneuvers off with expert precision, firing up the crowd every time one is successfully completed.
To end her routine, she rockets up into the air, gaining as much altitude as she can for her final trick: The Sonic Rainboom. She hadn’t originally planned this to be part of her routine, but she had successfully performed one practicing her routine, changing her mind.
Dash reaches the apex of her ascent, flips herself over, and begins the descent. At first she does nothing, letting gravity build her momentum. As she gains speed, she starts flapping her wings as fast as she possibly can. She stretches out her limbs and adjusts her body in order to make herself more aerodynamic. Her eyes start to water, and she can feel her face being pushed back. The resistance builds as she gains speed. She can see the mach cone forming around her body, slowly getting smaller as she gets closer to executing the Rainboom.
This is it, she thinks to herself.
She needs only to give herself one last push. That one last flap of her wings, and she will stun the crowd.
She flaps, and she stops.
“Wha-“
She shoots back, failing to perform her move.
The crowd below lets out a collective gasp as Rainbow Dash is shot back into the sky. The stunned mare barely registers what is happening, stunned by the failure of her trick. When she finally does realize what is happening, she is plummeting back towards the stadium. She flails her limbs and flaps her wings in a panicked attempt to stay airborne, but she only succeeds in slowing her decent to the ground. Dash hits the floor of the stadium, hard. She lays there for a moment, regaining her composure. Standing up, she sees that she has sustained only minor cuts and bruises from the fall, and lets out a relieved sigh.
At that moment, she realizes that she is still in the stadium, and looks up to thousands of ponies staring at her with varied looks of shock and concern.
“I-I….uh,” stutters the shocked mare. Not able to think of anything to say, Dash does the next best thing: She flies from the stadium.
*****
“Fourth place, all b-because I messed up that s-stupid Sonic Rainboom,” Dash reminded herself.
She slowly rolled herself over and stared up at the sky. Normally, she would be up there flying, not a care in the world. But it was just too hard for her to do anything right now. She had no motivation to leave this spot, let alone fly around.
“Rainbow Dash?”
Dash shot up at hearing her name. Quickly wiping her eyes, she looked around for the pony that had called her name. At first, she saw no one and thought that she may have just been imagining it. But then…
“Twilight?”
The lavender mare was trotting up the hill, worry practically etched on her face. Reaching the top of the hill, she picked up her pace and ran over to her friend.
“Dash, we’ve been looking all over for you! You flew off after the auditions before we had a chance to talk to you. Are you okay?”
Dash turned her back to Twilight. “Go away,” she demanded.
Twilight moved closer to her friend. “Dash, come on, talk to me. I know you must feel horrible, but-“
“Horrible doesn’t even begin to describe it,” Dash interrupted.
Twilight sighed. “I know, Dash. But please, just talk to me. I’m worried about you-we’re all worried about you.”
Dash shot a glare over her shoulder. “I said, ‘Go away.’ I just wanna be left alone.”
Twilight let out a sigh and lied down next to Dash. “I’m not leaving until you talk to me, Rainbow Dash. So until you do, I guess I’m just going to have to stay here with you.”
There was no protest from the cyan mare, only silence. Minutes started to pass, but they felt like hours to Twilight. She was concerned for her friend and wanted to help, but it was hard when she couldn’t get her to open up.
And finally, after what felt like an eternity, Dash spoke.
“Twilight.”
Twilight snapped her gaze to her friend. “Yeah Dash?”
Dash met Twilight’s gaze for a moment before continuing. “Am I a failure?”
“Rainbow Dash…” Twilight was shocked. Did her friend really think this? “Of course you aren’t.”
The pegasus was not convinced. “Then why did I blow my chances to get into the Wonderbolts? Why do I feel like a failure?”
Dash was on the verge of tears again. Twilight had always known that this was important to her, but she had never realized how important. To see Rainbow Dash, of all ponies, on the verge of crying openly in front of another pony spoke volumes of its importance.
All Twilight could do was try to comfort her. After a brief moment of hesitation, Twilight wrapped her hooves around Dash in a hug.“You are not a failure, just remember that. You got unlucky, that’s all that happened out there. You’re still the greatest flier in all of Equestria, and you’re still one of the greatest friends a pony could have.”
“You really mean that?” asked Dash.
Twilight released the hold on her friend. “Of course I do, Dash. We’re not going to think any differently of you because of what happened. We want to help you, not hurt you. You know we’ll always be there for you, no matter what!”
It was Dash’s turn to give a hug now. With fresh streams of tears streaming down her face, she wrapped herself around Twilight and cried into her shoulder.
After a few minutes, Dash uttered a weak, “Thank you.”
“No problem, Dash,” Twilight replied, patting her friend on the back.
She spent a small amount of time silently crying into her friend's shoulder, and receiving gentle pats on the back in return. Finally getting herself under control, Dash let go of Twilight and looked back down the hill towards Ponyville. “I guess we should get going, the others are probably starting to worry,” she said.
Twilight only nodded in agreement and started down the hill with Dash following close behind.
As they made their way down Dash smiled and said, “Y’know, I didn’t think it would be the egghead that cheered me up.”
Twilight stopped and turned around, glaring at Dash.
Seeing the look on her friend’s face instantly sent Dash into a fit of laughter. She didn’t know why, but that reaction seemed like one of the funniest things in the world to her. Twilight couldn’t stay angry at her friend for very long either, and soon joined in on contagious the laughter.
After a day of disappointment, it felt good to laugh again.