A Dash of Gold

by Wise Cracker

Rating: teen
Tags: Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Rainbow Dash, Comedy
Length: 20903

When the Wonderbolts announce a new competition, Dash is determined to do anything to win.

On an otherwise normal day, Fleetfoot comes around to Ponyville to announce a little try-out/competition. The prize: training under the Wonderbolts, and an appearance as their warm-up act on one of their shows. It's the opportunity of a lifetime for Rainbow Dash, and she's not leaving anything to chance. She's had it with the goof-ups trailing behind her, little blemishes on her reputation adding up to one giant stain.

So she decides to ask her friends for some help. Rarity's got the Crusaders mixing up some new things for the spa, there's no one around to catch her, and the fillies just stare at her so cutely, so she agrees to get a makeover. What she wants is a way to make ponies forget all the embarrassing things she's done.

What she gets is a few lessons on what it means to be a high-flying pegasus, the value of her friends, and the power held in a look.

Quite a bit of side characters to this four-parter, gratuitous rhyming in chapter 1,
general awesomeness from two Wonderbolts, Big Mac and other assorted surprises. Aesops are added later to get the look and feel of the show more into it.

Published 2012-04-24 23:54:02 UTC
Last updated 2012-05-01 16:18:04 UTC

Pony Overhaul

A Dash of Gold

Chapter 1: Pony Overhaul

Rainbow Dash stretched out on her cloud bed and flexed her forepaws, preparing for her morning workout. With a zoom, she raced out the door over the skies of Ponyville, taking 90° turns every which way to get her wings to wake up. Once she was satisfied she’d worked up a proper sweat, she fluffed up a cumulonimbus and started beating it. With all the speed and power she’d worked so long to garner, the little sparks it sent flying over her manes and face were felt but promptly disregarded.

“If the sparks bother ya, you’re just not hitting it fast enough,” she’d always been told. The blue pegasus panted a little, nothing like a good warm-up before breakfast.

Then she realised she’d forgotten she was meeting Pinkie Pie for breakfast today. True to her name, she dashed off for the library with a trademark rainbow trail in her wake. As she landed, she noticed almost the whole town had gathered near town hall.

Apparently some big-shot pony had come to town to make an announcement.

“Rainbow Dash! You have to see this!” Twilight got excited when she spotted her friend in the back, and a certain pair of pink hooves pushed the confused Pegasus right to the front of the mass. Rainbow Dash’s eyes went wide as she recognised the figure. It couldn’t be. White mane, awesome costume… Fleetfoot? Here?

“Yes, you heard me right,” the Wonderbolt announced, ”This Tuesday you will get the chance to show your stuff in front of me, Soarin’ and one of our personal trainers. The best performer will have the honour of receiving an initiation training as a show pony from the Wonderbolts and to perform as the warm-up act to our performance on the annual Feather and Hoof show!”

Rainbow Dash’s jaw dropped. Warm-up to the Wonderbolts, that was pretty much the best way to get noticed by the elite, and the training meant she could measure her routine to theirs, learn some of their infamous secret training setups. It was the opportunity of a lifetime.

Fleetfoot wrapped up her explanation.

“So, everypony put their best hoof forward, all comers are welcome: flyers, magicians, comedians. We want only to be entertained.”

The rainbow-maned mare went giddy with excitement. She was so giddy, she forgot she hadn’t had breakfast yet. Thankfully, her stomach groaned loud enough for all to be informed of the fact. The grumbling even drew the attention of the white-maned superstar. While the rest of Ponyville clamoured around the notice she’d put up at town hall, Fleetfoot strolled over to who she’d gathered was her biggest fan.

“Ah, you I remember. It’s Rainbow Dash, isn’t it? I take it I’ll be seeing you at the try-outs?” she asked.

“You bet! I’ll put on a show you’ll never forget!” Rainbow Dash boasted despite her growling stomach.

The Wonderbolt chuckled as she passed by. Her light blue eyes gleamed without the goggles to keep them hidden. She had the big, cute eyes one expected more of Rarity’s sort than a stunt flyer.

“From what I’ve heard from the team, I’m sure you will.”

She beamed at the compliment.

“Got any pro tips I could use?”

Fleetfoot gave it some thought.

“Try to do something new so you don’t look like a one-trick pony, don’t come flying on vapour, and err… try to clean yourself up a little.” She winked at that last comment before putting her goggles back on.

And with that, the Wonderbolt was off to the skies.

“Clean myself up? What does she mean by HAIYAAH!” Rainbow Dash nearly screamed when she saw her reflection in a window: face matted with sweat and raindrops, hair a frizzy mess and one eyelash was still smouldering like a fuse from her thundercloud sparring.

“Oh,” she dropped her head in shame.

“Rarity! I need your help!” Rainbow Dash called out, rushing into the fashion shop. ”There’s this try-out for the Wonderbolts next Tuesday and it’s like the biggest thing ever and I need to look awesome please help me!”

How exactly she managed to get all that into one sentence without requiring a second breath was beyond the unicorn’s understanding. It must have had something to do with her athletic training, or living where the air is thin. Rarity took some paper and a crayon and led the way outside.

“Well, you could put on your Shadowbolt costume, I know it would complement your Sonic Rainboom perfectly.”

Rainbow Dash floated after her, exasperated.

“No! I can’t use the Sonic Rainboom for this, this is for the Wonderbolts!” She took a deep breath as she caught her heart racing again. ”They’ve already seen me do it. I have to do something new. I’ve already got a good idea with kicking clouds, but… I need to look better, it has to be perfect.”

At that point, she noticed the little set-up in Rarity’s garden, and a few unfinished sketches Rarity had made of some new dresses lying on her chair. There were barrels of something a little thicker than water, a table lined up with bottles containing all sorts of perfumy compounds, and three little fillies mixing things up and checking recipes. Apple Bloom had somehow managed to get her chair smelling like lavender, Sweetie Belle had gotten her paws a lime-ish green, and Scootaloo was busy negotiating with a pint-sized raincloud. The negotiations weren’t going too well for her, but then that’s what happens when one tries to get the other side tied up in rope .

“Err… what are they doing here?” Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes in confusion.

“Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo called, making sure to first tie the cloud up somewhere steady. ”We’re making new soaps and perfumes for the beauty parlour.”

“Huh? You’re letting them make stuff somepony has to actually use?” the winged mare asked her friend.

Rarity, for her part, just sat down and started drawing.

“Well, they have shown that they can make potions and salves that work. They’ve been going around all of Ponyville for months now trying to find their special talent, and they always seem to get in trouble when there’s no one to watch them. So I thought: why not let them try something with a responsible adult supervising? It’s not like they can do any real harm with perfumes and soaps. And even if they make a mistake, these things are always thoroughly checked before being used on anypony,” the unicorn explained.

“Isn’t it great, Dash? Zecora let us borrow her recipe book for some new stuff they can use in the parlour.” Apple Bloom smiled widely.

“Uh huh.” Dash leaned in close to her drawing friend. ”What’s the catch?”

“No catch, darling,” Rarity whispered. ”It’s just that they’ve been getting into some very bad situations lately, and I didn’t want them to feel down about it. After all, they’re only trying to get a cutie mark, no sense in punishing them for that. Besides: this way I get to work on my designs with a little controlled chaos to inspire me, and they can do something they enjoy without endangering anypony. It’s perfectly safe. Say, if you’re worried about your appearance, why not get a makeover?”

“Yeah,” Sweetie Belle exclaimed, ”we could give you a shine or a new colour, you name it!”

“I-I dunno…”

She considered it, if haltingly. But then the big pleading eyes of the little fillies bored into her heart, and she realised that just like Fleetfoot couldn’t deny her some decent tips, Dash couldn’t deny her fans this opportunity. And besides, at least it wasn’t somewhere public, like the spa, where everyone could see her getting pampered.

She sighed.

“Fine. But only if you promise I won’t look silly when you’re done.”

“We promise! Cutie Mark Crusaders Beauty Specialists! Yay!” came the synched call, upon which the mare found herself in the hooves of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, carrying her off and plunking her unceremoniously into a bath tub that wasn’t even connected to any pipes. However, it was properly decorated with a circle of lavender flowers, as one would expect.

“Wait, why do you have a bath tub in your back yard?” came the obvious question.

“Don’t you remember those dresses I made for the Grand Galloping Gala? That tub came with the kitchen sink, dear, but it clashed with my curtains,” came the not-so-obvious reply, ”I only ever use when I need to make more dyes or if the spa’s closed.”

A tug on the rope around the raincloud yielded a cold shower for the blue mare. Rarity looked up from her sketches when she noticed her friend’s clicking teeth and got the water warmed up with a little twinkle of her horn.

“Now then, the first thing you do is get rid of all the dirt and grime,” Rarity started.

“Hey, I’m a clean pony! I wash myself all the time!” Rainbow Dash protested.

“I know you are, dear, but dirt can be tricky. All that hard work can leave you sweaty and sticky. So why don’t you just relax in that tub, and girls: give our friend a proper scrub!”

The girls needed no further encouragement, and promptly went to work on all the hard-to-reach spots with a set of soaped-up sponges. Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth as the rough scrubbing went over her back and wings, the little fillies pressing her to the tub’s edge.

“I’m telling you, you don’t need to wash my back!”

“Well, if that’s true, why’s my sponge turning black?” Scootaloo held her sponge up after a few scrubs and rubs over that supposedly clean back. There were black flecks of what looked like charcoal coming off of the surface. That was probably from crashing down a chimney last Thursday.

“That’s nothing, I’ve got some green things!” Sweetie Belle displayed what looked like green specks populating her sponge. That might have been some flour she’d gotten on her when she tried to help Pinkie Pie, but how it had turned green was a mystery. Might be the Quarray Eels from her last run on Ghastly Gorge.

“How the hay’d you get a pineapple in your wings?” Apple Bloom pondered as she took out a large piece of fruit that had somehow remained unnoticed between the blue feathers. That one... left her quite stumped.

Rainbow blushed as she got turned around and her hooves and belly were scrubbed the same way. She never knew that all her flying on Weather Patrol and stunt practice got her quite so littered. When all the dirt and grime left her tub water looking an unappetising brown, Rarity pulled the plug and had the fillies give the blue mare another once-over with the raincloud. She kept the soapy water in a few separate buckets, in case Applejack needed a mild pesticide. ‘Give a hoot, don’t pollute,’ as Twilight would say.

Rainbow Dash, visibly shaken, didn’t object much when the girls got some towels and, with their usual enthusiasm, dried her off in their best impression of a steamroller.

“There, I should think you feel better now, dear?” Rarity tried.

“Right now I’m thinking I need to get outta here,” came the dizzy response.

She was slowly guided to a spare chair and sat down, before two cucumber slices blocked her vision and a warm, wet towel was wrapped around her muzzle.

“Don’t make me too pretty now, I still wanna look cool,” Rainbow Dash warned the self-proclaimed beauty experts.

“Don’t worry, we’ll have you looking like you did in Flight School,” Rarity assured her.

Granted, Dash was feeling a lot better with all the pesky dirt off her, and the towel and cucumbers did make her face feel less worked. Being a dedicated athlete, she never really put much thought into her appearance. 'Working awesome means being awesome means looking awesome,' that’s the extent to which she worried about her looks. That and her dressing in style, but that’s where she drew the line.

“So now what do we do about her looks?” Sweetie Belle tried.

“Make her look like those ponies in fashion books?” tried Scootaloo.

“No!” exclaimed the now veggy-eyed pegasus pony, ”No makeup, no fluff, no silly glitter, just make me…I dunno, look even fitter.”

Rarity pondered.

“Apple Bloom, do you know anything that might help?”

The little yellow filly went to the table and got a bottle of what looked like oil. She read the label and checked the recipe book.

“Golden Gleam. Made from walnut peels, Zap Apples and fresh kelp. Gives your coat a mighty shine. I reckon this’ll do just fine.” She handed the bottle to Rarity, who made sure to check the instructions.

“For full effect, spread all over. Dilute for manes and tail, one tenth with essence of clover… Leave to rest for one full hour, then relish as it displays your power. Well, Dash, want to give it a try?”

The pampered pegasus shrugged in her seat. She wasn’t at all sure of it, but she was willing to take a risk with this much at stake. She couldn’t afford to pass up this opportunity just on account of something silly as her appearance. Besides that, for some reason she was feeling a little nauseous after the bath, and felt like she should lie still for a while to get it to pass. She had an odd sort of anxiety that made her want to fly at top speed and lie down at the same time. So really, she was in no position to object. She nodded before her fear took over.

Rarity and Sweetie Belle took charge in getting Rainbow Dash oiled up, floating rags skilfully and evenly distributing it over her body while the other two Crusaders got the stuff ready to put on her mane and tail. It felt pretty good on her arms and legs, and a little dabbing at her face once her pores had opened up somewhat. The cucumbers stayed on just to make sure those eyes didn’t look puffy when all was said and done. The oil made her feel quite warm all over, then her manes and tail got the same treatment with the slightly diluted shampooing oil. When all was said and done, Rainbow Dash had a healthy shine all over, though the oil made her look more of a chestnut brown colour than her usual blue.

“There now, you’ll look great as long as we respect the timing.”

“That’s great, now can we please stop this silly rhyming?” came the near-desperate plea. Nopony seemed to mind.

“I’m sorry, darling, force of habit. I find it makes things go so much faster.” Rarity turned a conveniently placed hourglass. ”You just lie back like that and when we’re done you’ll look just perfect. “

“But won’t this stuff wear off before next Tuesday?”

“Nope,” Apple Bloom replied, ”it says here that once it’s had a chance to seep in, it’ll keep showin’ for at least three weeks. And that’s if you really scrub yourself every day.” The filly yawned and blinked her sleepy eyes. The excitement, for once, had actually gotten to her. Her yawn proved contagious, too.

“Okay, good. I’d hate to go through all this trouble for nothing. I’ve already promised Applejack I’d help her at the farm, get some good kicking practice.”

The Cutie Mark Crusaders all yawned simultaneously, the excitement seemed to have gotten to all of them now. That, or the hops bells they’d handled with their bare hooves, despite Rarity’s warning. Hops will do that to a pony.

“Whoa, you’re not gonna fall asleep on me and leave me hanging here, are ya?” Rainbow Dash’s hoof was almost at the cucumber slice, but Rarity stopped her and placed another dab of the oil on her eyelids instead. She was not about to have another major goof-up by leaving the stuff on for too long.

“Don’t worry, Rainbow. I’d never let anything as trite as an afternoon nap jeopardise a friend’s dream. Besides: it’s been ages since I’ve had this sort of quiet with Sweetie Belle around. This is a perfect opportunity to do some finishing up. You rest now, and I’ll keep an eye on the time.”

Rarity called forth a parasol to open over her friend, just in case, and got to fleshing out some new designs as her little sis and her friends slept off the activities of the day. Judging by the sheer amount of bottles they’d made, those fillies had taken classes on industrial production. Still, at least they wouldn’t run around and cause a mess.

Soon enough, the hourglass ran out, the little fillies woke up, and they got to work with a wet rag to get the stuff off. Rainbow Dash kept her eyes closed, nervous about the result. Sitting still for so long was not something she did often, and she was feeling a more than uneasy in her stomach. Her heart raced as she mentally prepared herself for it to end. They got done in a matter of moments, but when she finally opened her eyes, the blue mare was feeling downright sick of nerves.

They looked genuinely shocked at what had come off and what had remained on her, apparently. Rainbow Dash extended one hoof as Rarity haltingly levitated a mirror her way.

“Oh my, Rainbow Dash....” she let that trail off. Meanwhile, the Cutie Mark Crusaders had their faces stuck on ‘stunned’.

“The mirror,” Rainbow Dash asked. She hoped this wouldn’t be another debacle for the three fillies, that this wouldn’t be a repeat of all the potion abuse she’d seen and heard of them.

“The mirror!” she asked again, commandingly this time. Rarity gave her the mirror with a slight shake in her gait. Dash clasped it in between her hooves, eyes firmly shut again to prepare.

The pegasus braced herself. She took a deep breath and looked at her face, then down at the rest of her.

“I… look… awesome!”

She jumped out of her seat as she admired her new self. Apparently ‘Golden Gleam’ wasn’t just any sort of oil: it was a dye. The stuff had given her body a shiny golden coat, while her mane and tail were likewise turned golden with darker streaks of her rainbow pattern along the length, making her look like something in between a fashion model and a superhero. Every little piece of her, every little crease, looked positively glowing, the muscles she’d worked so long to develop really outlined in the new hue. Scootaloo grinned and looked back at the bottle, determined to get the same coat for herself, adult supervision or no.

“Look at me! I’m golden! I’m literally golden! Wait, does this have any side effects? Am I gonna turn orange if I eat a carrot?”

Rarity shook her head.

“No, Zecora wouldn’t let us use any tricky recipes. This will last for quite a while, more than enough to look stunning during the try-outs.”

“I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this, all of you.” Rainbow Dash got off the ground and nearly cried with joy at her new look.

“You’re more than welcome, dear. Just… make sure you don’t get overconfident?” Rarity warned with a gentle smile.

“I won’t, I promise. And I won’t forget this, not ever. I can’t wait to show Applejack my new look!” and with that, she took off with a golden wave trailing behind her.

The Higher You Fly....

Chapter 2: The higher you fly....

Applejack was just setting up her baskets for some apple harvesting, and waiting for Rainbow Dash to arrive. With all the rivalry the two had known, she’d never thought the pegasus would ask her for advice on anything, let alone training advice. Still, with the Wonderbolts in play, anything was possible. The farmer looked up at the sky at an unfamiliar golden streak, then furrowed her brow as it came in an arc for a landing. She barely realised she was holding a basket in her mouth before it dropped to the ground, though her lower jaw was certainly trying to follow it.

“Rainbow Dash? That can’t be you. Whu… how…”

“I talked to Rarity and she got me a new colour for the try-outs. You like it?” Rainbow Dash picked up the basket her friend had dropped.

“Well, ya certainly look impressive. With that blonde mane, we could be sisters. Think you can handle a little yard work with that fancy coat?” Applejack joked.

“You bet. I got a whole overhaul, and this coat won’t fade for weeks, so I can afford to get a little dirty,” came the enthusiastic reply.

The blonde-maned farmer led the way to the orchard. Rainbow Dash set the basket down under a tree and watched for a moment as Applejack gave it a good kick.

“So whatcha plan on doin’ for your show?”

“Well, I was thinking I could do something with lightning and thunder. You know: rush in between the clouds, give’em a good whack for effect, get my old Buccaneer Blaze off the shelves. And then, I’m gonna do a Thunderclad straight down. Really show my stuff, not just one Sonic Rainboom.“

“Well then, shouldn’t you be practisin’ already? I’ve seen you kick; you need a better technique.”

“I know. But I promised I’d help, so I’m gonna help. Besides, it’s not like I can’t practise here.” She gave a nearby tree a kick to demonstrate, then nearly fell face forward as she got about half the apples down in her clumsy attempt.

“Heheh. Well, I appreciate it, Dash. Just keep in mind you’re not used to this sort of thing, you don’t wanna overdo it,” AJ offered with a wink.

“Thanks. I’ll be careful.”

The golden pegasus readjusted her position and kept an eye on her friend to try and mimic her technique. While Applejack was flattered that she was taking advice and not trying to push herself too much, she couldn’t help but think Rainbow Dash was acting a little off. She paid it little heed, though, as any sort of maturing was more than welcome, as far as she was concerned.

“Not as easy as it looks, is it, sugarcube?” Applejack joked as she showed the proper technique again.

Again Rainbow Dash tried and this time wound up giving the tree a mild tap. Her back hooves took most of the impact, and the tree barely shook. She did, on the other hoof, do a good impression of a rattler.

“Well, last time I did this, I wasn’t trying to do it perfectly. And this is a whole lot different from clearing clouds.”

Applejack didn’t skip a beat.

“Come to think of it, I don’t understand why you’d even need to kick properly. Can’t you get lightning from a little tap?”

Rainbow Dash tried to pick up where the difference was between them, narrowing her eyes in concentration.

“If you’re not being serious, sure. A little tap and you can’t even give a shock with it. But if you want a good bolt, you need to squeeze it out of a cumulonimbus. And if you want the lightning to go somewhere, you need to really put your back into it. Plus, if you mess up a Thunderclad, you plummet straight down. You have to hit the cloud hard enough to get the lightning out, then get into the wake of it just as it leaves the cloud. Kick it too light and you just get shocked on the way down.” She tried another one, but still she wasn’t getting anywhere near the results Applejack was.

“Well, if you want a good technique, there’s three things you want to keep in mind: stability, position, and follow-thru,” the farmer recited.

“Huh?” came the obvious response.

Applejack made a mental note that the winged mare really wasn’t acting like herself now. The Rainbow Dash she knew would already be kicking and flailing wildly, regardless of what her friend offered as advice. Or she'd just be doing it the easy way with a fly-by, use the wind. Still, if she wanted to get better, the apple farmer wasn’t about to stop her.

“Never hit anythin’ with just your hooves, put your whole body weight behind it. Never kick if you’re standing wobbly or you’ll hurt your back, and always try to catch the brunt of the blow with your front hooves after you’ve kicked.”

Applejack expected some funny quip, but Rainbow Dash listened and gave a perfect buck against another tree, nearly strong enough to get all the apples in one go.

“You sure you’re alright, Dash?”

“Huh? Yeah, why?”

“Well, getting a new getup like that is one thing, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen you take advice this easily. You’re not even tryin’ to beat me in bucking.” Applejack kept up her steady pace as the pegasus still needed to get her bearings.

This wasn’t just helping around the farm, this was trying to be good at something. She judged her distance carefully for each kick, which slowed her down.

“Who says I need to beat you? It’s not like you can do this.” She flew up a little for her next kick and gave a firm whack in mid-air.

Two things happened: the tree she kicked shook ever so slightly, and the mare launched herself in a summer sault to land upside down against another conveniently placed apple tree. Then again, in an apple orchard all trees are apple trees and all of them are pretty much placed for convenience. To her credit, Rainbow Dash did manage to get about half of its apples shaken off with her kick-turned-body slam.

“Well, ya got me there, hun.” AJ turned her friend back up the right way, ”Nothin’ hurt?”

“Just my pride. Should’ve known that was gonna happen.” She marched on and resumed her fledgling applebucking practice.

“Okay, what is going on, Rainbow Dash? You’re not acting normal.”

“You wouldn’t understand if I told you.” Rainbow Dash kept up her bucking, still needing two kicks per tree to Applejack’s perfect one.

The orange mare went to say something, then bit her lip. She knew that road only led to pointless arguments, at least with Dash. You couldn’t bait her out and expect it to end well, you just couldn’t. Kind of like Applejack herself, really. The new blonde mane really hammered in how alike the two were deep down. It was like looking in a magic mirror.

“Alright. If you feel like talkin’, you know where to find me.”

The two didn’t really have too much in the way of conversation after that, except when Rainbow Dash tried her kicking while airborne again. Then there was some light-hearted laughter following the inevitable crash.

“Well, at least you’re still tryin’ stuff you don’t know, ya silly ditz,” came the remark. Dash smiled as she once again got herself righted.

“Yeah. I think I’ve got it, though.” She flapped her wings faster to get some sort of traction in mid-air, then gave another buck. The tree at least shook a little, and while she did fly forward a bit, at least now she didn’t end up with her back planted firmly against a bark. Her wings shook after that, though.

“That looked pretty good. And hard.” Applejack frowned.

“Psh, easy peasy,” Dash landed again and went back to ground-bound bucking, clearly trying to hide the quiver in her wings and failing.

“Oh yeah? Then how about doin’ that again?”

Rainbow Dash blushed in embarrassment.

“Okay, so I need to train muscles I don’t normally use. It’s not that big of a deal.”

“Well, as long as ya don’t hurt yerself,” came the friendly reply. Something was definitely off with Rainbow Dash all of a sudden.

“I won’t.” she put her best smile on and tried to keep going without arousing suspicion or worry.

Rainbow Dash trotted into the library some time later. The sun was low in the sky, almost ready to be setting.

“Hey, Twilight.”

“Hey, Rainbow, nice colours.” Twilight looked up from her encyclopaedia, and stared a little at her now-golden friend. ”Come to start on the ‘Daring Do’ collection again?”

“Nah, not today.” The winged speedster started looking at the books around, turning her head to see the titles.

“Are you looking for something in particular?” Twilight asked, a little curious. Normally Rainbow Dash would just be asking for something, getting it, and then be out of her way.

“I’m looking for something on muscles and bodies.” Dash was flying a little wobbly as she browsed the books, ”Pegasus muscles and bodies.”

With a slight sparkle of her horn, Twilight closed her book and opened up another one at her table. Dash walked up to her to browse along, and Twilight noted the quiver in her wings. She opened the book to its centre: a two-page depiction of a pegasus pony, seen from the side, with all the major and minor muscle groups outlined.

“So what do you want to know?” Twilight asked. She figured if Dash wanted to talk about anything, she’d do so in her own time.

“Which are the ones you use for bucking?” came the question.

Twilight sniffed the air and noticed that with Rainbow Dash so close, she could smell her sweat. She’d gotten used to that, along with the rainy smell that accompanied her when she decided against bathing and instead got a quick rain shower. Now, though, the smell of something else was mixed in.

She knew that particular scent all too well, because she’d made it more often than she cared to remember.

Slightly salty with a hint of apple: the smell of pony tears. She wasn’t sure if her friend had been crying or if it was just from normal flight: things did tend to get in one’s eye while flying, after all. Still, Twilight wouldn’t be Twilight if she didn’t add it to her mental checklist.

The unicorn ran a line from the hooves of the figure over to the back, then circled around the glutes.

“Right here, those bigger muscles give the kick its strength, but the ones around your belly are the ones keeping you stable.” She figured the athletic pony wouldn’t be as interested in any sort of complicated names.

“Uh huh. And the impact goes all the way through… here?” Rainbow Dash ran her hoof from the back hooves of the drawing right to the skull, ”Unless you brace yourself, then it goes into your forelegs.”

“Did you talk to Applejack about bucking? Is she in the try-outs too?”

“No, she didn’t feel like it. Big Mac’ll be doing a ‘Strong Colt’ act for laughs, but… I need to know how to buck a thundercloud properly. From below.”

“Well, I’d say you need to stabilise yourself in mid-air for that, like a hummingbird. More than a hummingbird, actually: you need to burst backwards and upwards as you kick or you’ll-”

“Launch yourself forward and crash like a ditz, I know,” the curious athlete interrupted. ”But where’s the muscle for that? I can’t see it.”

Twilight put her hoof on a relatively thin line on the front of the wing.

”That’s the one you want; that’s the antagonist for your main flight muscles.”

Rainbow Dash leaned in close.

“What? Where? I don’t see any -”

Her jaw dropped when the facts hit her.

”That little string is what’s keeping me from crashing? Are you serious? Can’t I just train the big ones to push instead of pull?”

Twilight tried to decipher the question in scientific terms, then found the answer.

“No, you can’t. Muscles can only contract, they need antagonists to stretch out again. To do what you’re thinking of, those little ones will need to contract. But I’m sure they’re already quite strong in your case: you can’t train any muscle without giving the antagonist some sort of work.”

Dash nodded in resignation before heading off.

“Okay, thanks. Now I know what to do.”

“Are you okay?” Twilight tilted her head in concern.

“You know me. I just keep on going.” A forced smile accompanied the response.

“But you’re not okay. I know you’re not okay, I’ve just finished a few books on body language and facial expressions.” She checked her notes just to make sure. Yup, that smile looked forced, and those shoulders were drooped in a distinct ‘hidden worry’ posture.

“It’s nothing you need to worry about, Twilight. I can handle it. Really.”

Twilight teleported right in front of her and blocked her path, then backed her towards a wall. Her suspicion proved right: those wings weren’t exactly hurt, but certainly tired and a bit painful. Which meant that unless she was really scared, Rainbow Dash wouldn’t be trying to fly to avoid her.

“Come on, tell me. Why would you change your routine like this? Why the new colours?”

The shiny mare sighed.

“I can’t afford any mistakes. This is for the Wonderbolts, and I’ve already screwed up twice with them. I can’t use something they’ve seen already, and even if I could, I have a court order stopping me, and I can’t show up looking… normal. I need to be awesome for this, Twilight.” She grabbed her friend’s face and gritted her teeth.

The unicorn knew obsession when she saw it, mostly from well-placed mirrors. Twilight grabbed her friend’s hooves and put them down, calmly and slowly.

“Dash, you are awesome. I can understand switching things up a bit, but you shouldn’t let a few doubts turn you into something you’re not.”

“Suppose I want to be something I’m not?” The pegasus lowered her head in shame after blurting that out. A few tears started welling up in her eyes.

“What are you talking about?”

Another sigh, and Rainbow’s voice started to quiver.

“Think about it, Twilight. You’re perfect. Anytime you get in trouble it’s because you try to be even more perfect. Of all our friends, all the Elements of Harmony, I’m the only one who’s just… bad.”

Twilight’s eyes went wide. She guided her friend to sit down, as this was a lot worse than she’d thought. Rainbow Dash just didn’t have any fight left in her. She lowered her voice and discretely looked at the staircase leading to her bedroom. Now was the time to be quiet in the library.

“You know no one thinks of you that way, Dash. Everyone thinks you’re great. You’ve done a lot of amazing things no other pony could do.”

“Oh yeah? Name one,” she sobbed. ”The time with the dragon? I nearly got us all eaten. The Sonic Rainboom to save Rarity? Wouldn’t have even happened if I’d just gotten my act together in time, and it didn’t even matter at the Gala. My Cutie Mark? I got it trying to defend a pegasus who couldn’t fly, and I sent her falling to the ground while doing it. And both times I caused so much property damage and scared so many animals… there’s a law that only applies to me. Do you have any idea how big of a Charlie Foxtrot you have to make to get them to add a law just for you?”

Twilight offered a hoof on the shoulder. The pegasus’s eyes started to water at the gesture.

“Come on, you’re being too hard on yourself. We all make mistakes.”

“Not like me, you don’t. Everypony else messes up trying to help, always. Me? I can’t even pick a pet without taking some stupid risk. I can’t even start a simple new hobby like reading without turning half the town upside down.” The mare seemed to have a breakdown. And at the worst possible time, too.

“Is that why you’re trying to change your appearance, your routine? So ponies will forget your mistakes?”

A sob and a nod came.

“I’ve always wanted to be the best, the one that ponies looked up to, to be that one special pony who inspires the rest. How am I supposed to do that if I have all those goof-ups trailing behind me? I mean, like when I got Tank, my wing was stuck under a boulder, and I was too dumb to even dig myself out. I can’t be that dumb a pony and a Wonderbolt, Twilight.”

Twilight nodded. This called for drastic measures.

“Okay. I can see you’re seriously upset. I know something that’ll help. Stand up straight and close your eyes for me,” Twilight offered with a glowing horn.

Rainbow followed her advice with a sigh and stood.

With her eyes closed, Rainbow Dash only heard the flapping of pages behind her. Then a loud boom snapped her out of her reverie. She jumped up, only to find herself stuck at the tail. It was carefully folded into a pair of giant thesauri meant to be lifted only with magic or a forklift.

Rainbow Dash flew up, despite the ache in her wings. The boom had startled her and her inability to escape only scared her more. Her wings flapped uselessly as the hairs of her tail were firmly stuck to the weights of the heavy tomes.

“Twilight! What are you doing?” she screamed as she flailed.

“Proving a point,” came the calm reply.

Rainbow Dash tugged uselessly at her tail, oblivious to what was really happening.

“Calm down, Rainbow, and think about what you’re doing.” The unicorn motioned her friend down with a gentle push.

Rainbow Dash caught her breath and landed back down. She looked at the books, each page neatly folded into another and one of her tail’s blonde hairs stuck in between. She remembered something her friend had once said: get two really thick books and neatly fold the pages into each other, and just that is enough to keep them together. Friction, that’s what it was; made it nearly impossible to pull them apart.

“I’m trying to get away,” she admitted.

“You’re trying to fly away, because that’s a pegasus’s first instinct. When things go bad, a pony’s feelings take over and they can’t think. And then a pegasus will try to fly away, because that’s what pegasi do, and having your wings clipped or bound is scary for all of them. It’s how they’re built. You’re not dumb: you’re a pegasus, and an inspiration. When you get a new trick into your head, you don’t think about what might happen. You get a feeling for it, and you get in this little zone of yours. And then you leave all of us wondering how you do that. Nopony can let go of that fear like you, because that’s what you do. You’re better than you think.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better? Knowing that I’m special because I don’t think?”

Twilight sighed in frustration. She wasn’t cut out for comforting, not really. Part of her wished Spike was here, but he was helping Pinkie Pie at Sugarcube Corner. Something about getting a worm pastry recipe, she didn’t catch the details. It didn’t matter: as a friend, she had to try. The fact that normally Rainbow Dash was the one egging everyone on only made things more complicated.

Then again….

“No, knowing that you’re the only one who can actually do something when they’re afraid. Knowing that you’re the one we turn to when we feel we can’t handle things. Whenever you’re needed, you dive in headfirst, no matter what. Whenever we’re afraid, you’re the one who gives us the confidence we need. You’re more of a hero than any of us, that should make you feel better.”

The winged mare dropped her head as her tail was released, both books floating neatly to their rightful place.

“I guess you’re right. I don’t know what’s gotten into me. It’s just that I can’t stop thinking about all the bad things I’ve done. It doesn’t feel like I did it, but I know I did, you know? And that whole Mare-Do-Well thing… I don’t know why, but all of a sudden it’s like it’s weighing me down. I don’t feel so good, Twi.”

Twilight grimaced in confusion as she tried to get her head around things. As far as she knew, this sort of thing didn’t happen without a good reason. Lack of sleep or overworking were the things that usually nailed her, but Dash? She was an athlete, she didn’t make that sort of mistake. It didn’t make any sense to the librarian.

“You’d better stay here, just for the night. I don’t think you’re in any shape to be flying right now. Any slip-ups and you might really hurt yourself, one way or another.”

“Might be best,” the pegasus sounded defeated. Spike came in just then, and pretty much had to pick up his jaw to stop from spewing a stray flame when he saw the golden mare. He was swiftly followed by a tortoise with a helicopter screw strapped to his back.

“Wow, Rainbow Dash, you look -” Spike started as Tank slowly shuffled toward his owner.

“Rainbow Dash isn’t feeling so good, Spike,” Twilight interrupted. ”She’ll be staying here for the night.”

“Well, what happened? Did you get hurt or something?” Spike asked.

“No, I don’t think so. I just feel like I’ve crashed, in my mind. My head hurts, and my chest feels kinda funny. Think I need a doctor?” She tried to dry her tears. It was one thing to cry in front of Twilight, but she still had the sense to be a role model for Spike, at least.

Twilight put one ear to her friend’s chest to listen for anything unusual.

“Hmm… when did you crash?”

She started browsing some books when she was done. Nothing out of the ordinary; her heart rate and breath were quite normal. Then again, she didn’t usually place her ears on her friends’ bellies, so she didn’t have much of a standard to go on. She resolved to eavesdrop on Applejack’s gut first chance she had when all this was dealt with.

“I'm not sure. I was fine this morning, then I went to Rarity’s, got this beauty treatment, which took forever, then to Applejack’s. I think I started feeling bad then.” Dash pondered. ”Now when I blink I keep seeing that Mare-Do-Well, and I remember wanting her gone. But it was you. I wanted my friends gone.” She nearly burst into tears again at the thought. ”And then everything else just comes flooding back.”

Twilight stopped at a page that looked promising.

“Err -- just out of curiosity -- you felt bad after going to Rarity’s, after getting this beauty treatment.”

“Which looks awesome, by the way,” Spike was still staring a little.

“Yeah. What do you think? Bad oil getting me down?”

“No, something else. When was the last time you went to the spa? Not counting Poison Joke incidents.” Twilight added that last bit with a frown.

“Try never. You know I don’t get into that froufrou stuff. I’ve never even gotten a hooficure.” Dash grimaced at the thought.

“Uh huh. And you never just try to relax or do anything calm?” The unicorn raised an eyebrow as she noted Rainbow was acting more like herself the more agitated she seemed to be.

“Duh!” Dash sounded quite like her usual self now, ”I read, I take naps. I’m not some obsessed crazy pony who’s always pushing herself.”

“Actually, I think you kind of, sort of, are. You’re always either excited or nearly asleep. Even when you read, it’s action stories,” Twilight pondered aloud.

“So you’re saying --”

“That little treat this morning was the first time in months you weren’t rushing adrenalin through your system,” Twilight explained, ”You’re always getting pumped up about something, and getting praise after something like a rescue is probably an even bigger rush, which is why you wouldn’t notice it going to your head. I think you might be a little addicted to adrenalin, Dash, and what you have now is similar to what wizards feel when they come out of deep meditation. What you’re feeling is your body turning to its normal rhythm, the endorphin levels going back to normal."

Twilight paused at the sight of her friend tilting her head with an odd look.

"Endorphins make you feel good, it’s what gives you the sense of satisfaction when you get praise or when you hit a new record, and with your need for speed that can be a tricky combination. You got so used to the rush of excitement that you didn’t even notice what was happening to you. You’re feeling down now because you’ve been too far up all the time. No one can keep that up forever.”

The obviousness of the situation hit her. That rush when ponies cheered her on, the feeling of speed coursing through her veins, and all the embarrassment it had led to….

“So I don’t need a doctor? I’ve just been -- ”

“You’ve been getting too excited and staying that way for too long, that’s all. You’ll feel better after you get your right pace back, when you feel normal again.” Twilight noted the tortoise had finally made it to his owner and started prodding her like a cat. ”Now that I think about it: every time I’ve seen you, you were either racing, getting stoked up about something, or sleeping. The first time we met, you were speeding around the skies, and when you’re not speeding, you’re getting agitated so your heart never slows down. But I guess that’s just me, that sort of living would make anyone’s chest explode.”

“Hehe, yeah,” Rainbow Dash replied, nervously rubbing the back of her head. Now that she considered it, getting stoked, being stoked and sleeping pretty much summed up Dash's whole lifestyle lately. ”I guess I should try to pace myself a little better. But knowing why I feel bad doesn’t change anything. I’m still the least of the Elements, and this just proves it.”

Spike looked wide-eyed at that one. Twilight beat him to it and placed her hoof on her shoulder.

“No, you’re not. You’re the best friend a pony could ask for. You think that you make dumb mistakes that don’t involve helping others, but you forget that you’re the only one pushing the limits for yourself. You galvanise yourself, and you galvanise us.”

“I do whatnow?”

“She means you’re always trying to be better than you were before, and you set an example for anyone else who wants to,” Spike offered.

Tank, meanwhile, was doing his best impression of a cat rubbing its face along its owner’s leg. He wasn’t doing a bad job, considering he lacked fur and warm blood and a ‘purr’. He compensated with a ‘hiss’, though.

“Yes, exactly,” Twilight added with a nod. ”You’re always there to lift our spirits, you’re always showing us that we can rise above ourselves. You are awesome, Dash, and if I ever catch anypony claiming otherwise, well… they won’t be a pony for much longer!” She gave the most adorable threat a pony had ever heard with her best attempt at an angry frown and a twinkle of her horn.

“Thanks. maybe I am just being silly.” Dash looked down and realised her golden colour might have been a little much.

A blonde Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle uttering threats that didn’t involve rainbows or friendship. The world had gone mad.

“It’s alright. You’re strong, but even you can’t be strong all the time. You’ll feel better after dinner. I just need to finish these notes, set up a few things and then we’ll be off, fifteen minutes, tops. It’ll be just us over-achievers, okay?” Twilight looked her friend in the eye, hoping her little intervention had made a difference. The weak smile that she got out of it seemed to indicate as much.

“Okay. You’re right, you’re always right. Got anything I could read in the meantime? Something, I dunno, low-paced?” She blushed as she realised her usual fare was part of what caused this problem in the first place. Twilight magic-handed her something a little scientific: “The Physics of Awesomeness, part 2: Vectors as Applied to Stunts and Rescues”. Rainbow Dash suppressed a grimace, but the fact of the matter was she had to avoid excitement, at least for one night. Aside from that, she could do with a little catching up on her theory, seeing as she never actually finished Flight School.

Twilight finished making some notes based on several sources regarding the many applications of fermentation, then noticed Rainbow reading, using an unequipped Tank as a pillow. She glanced towards the stairs, then towards Spike, but thought the better of it. Better to wait until later.

When all the notes were complete and Spike’s dinner was set up (as mature as he was for a baby, Twilight didn’t trust his knowledge of the food pyramid), she trotted out with her golden-dyed friend, confident that the crisis was averted, and doubly so when the pegasus’s new look got her a few impressed stares. Scootaloo had gotten herself the same colour, and seeing the little filly in the fading sunlight brought a chuckle from her would-be idol. Twilight thought of the report she’d write concerning this.

“Dear Princess Celestia,

When you have strong friends, it’s hard to see them at a weak moment. But it’s exactly the ones who hold us up, the ones who show us how to be strong, who need our help the most. When they fall, they fall harder under the weight they’ve been carrying for us.

I learned today that even the strongest hearts can be stricken by doubt, even those that carry their friends to greater heights. And I learned that when this happens, it is our duty as a friend to carry them as they have carried us. I know my friends will always be there to catch me if I should fall, and I’m honoured that I can return the favour.

Your Faithful Student

Twilight Sparkle

The Thunderclad

Chapter 3: The Thunderclad

“Are you sure this is going to be alright?” Rarity asked worriedly.

With Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash setting up some thunderclouds in the sky, Twilight checked her calculations.

“I’m sure. I think Rainbow Dash is too focused to make any mistakes now. Maybe a new look did make it easier to change herself for the better.”

Rarity nodded.

“Indeed, I’ve never known her so composed.”

“Okay, all set. You ready down there?” Rainbow called out. Twilight put down her notes as her friends came in for a landing.

“We’re ready,” Twilight replied, ”any sign of trouble and we’ve got you.”

The golden mare nodded in thanks, then assumed her starting position. The section of the apple orchard they were in was quite clear, and what trees there were had been harvested a month ago, so if they knocked off any stray leaves or apples, it wouldn’t matter. Pinkie Pie was off preparing her own act for the try-outs, something she guaranteed would be a “bang those ‘Bolts would never forget”. The Apple siblings were getting their quota for the week, so that left the four of them a nice and quiet spot for Rainbow’s new act.

“Okay, so first I rush in.” She zoomed straight over the ground, landing directly behind the first cloud she’d set up close to the ground. ”Then I bounce off the first cloud, show my signature moves, then wrap up with the Thunderclad.” She looked up at the biggest cumulonimbus. "Then straight down to go into a High-Speed Strut.”

Rarity frowned a little at that.

“Something wrong, Rarity?” the dyed mare inquired.

“Well, I’m not sure, Dash. I’m not too familiar with stunt shows and the like but if you want to look like a professional and not just someone playing in a contest, you should put your most impressive move at the beginning, not the end. You want to captivate the audience’s attention right away, not finish with something that would make them forget the rest of your act. That’s more for amateur contests like the Young Flyer’s Competition, not a professional performance.”

Dash considered it. It was true: the fashion unicorn had no sense of stunts at all. But she did know a thing or two about shows, and had a lot of experience in taking centre stage.

Nopony ever upstaged Rarity, not in a fair fight, at any rate.

“Okay, so first the Thunderclad, then high-speed strut, then bouncing around the clouds. Got it.”

As Rainbow Dash took off straight up to practise her new move, the two unicorns whispered to each other.

“Twilight, have you noticed something off about our dear Rainbow?”

“You mean how she’s taking it seriously and accepting advice? Yeah, she err… hit a bit of a rough spot after she left your place. Couple of things pent up that just came crashing down on her. Don’t worry, it had nothing to do with you, and she’s better now. You should’ve seen her this morning clearing the clouds: fresh and peppy like a filly with a new toy,” Twilight replied slightly awkwardly just as a loud crack of thunder erupted from the sky. Fluttershy ducked in fear, then put on her headphones. This was going to be a loud and long afternoon for the poor pegasus, but never let it be said that she wouldn’t suck it up for a friend. At least, as long as there were no dragons involved.

Rainbow Dash, meanwhile, had gotten a decent-sized thunderbolt rushing behind her. It was the sort of trick pegasi could do, part of their innate magic that allowed them to walk on clouds and send out lightning with some degree of accuracy. Having it trail behind her was a simple matter of slowing it down and speeding herself up, and while it wasn’t difficult once one got the hang of it, it still looked quite impressive, and it was tricky to learn.

“My, I can see why she wants to do that.” Rarity stared in awe as she beheld her friend pulling up and letting the thunderbolt continue on and fizzle harmlessly on the ground.

“Actually, that’s not the Thunderclad. That was a Cloud Hammer. She took off right as she kicked, so the lightning never actually touched her beyond her tail. And she didn’t get a very big bolt, either.” Twilight pointed to the lack of singed earth where the bolt landed. ”She’s just practising the basics for now.”

“So what, then, is a Thunderclad like?” Rarity was more than a little worried now. The next thunderclap didn’t help much, either.

“It’s a pretty amazing trick, according to what I’ve found on it. First she bucks a cloud hard enough to get the lightning out, from below so she can control it from the source. Then, very important, she keeps contact with the cloud long enough for the charge to pass through and over her, flying backwards and upwards. Then she lets go and rides the wake of the bolt, spinning to stay stable as the lightning crackles around her, the vibrations of the energy would knock her off course otherwise. Then it’s a free fall towards the ground, and as she pulls up she makes this sizzling sound as the charge dissipates around her.”

Another thunderclap, and another dive towards the ground. Rainbow Dash wasn’t taking any chances.

“I see. And what happens if she does something wrong?”

“You don’t wanna know.” Twilight frowned.

The potential for error was staggering: if Dash didn’t put enough force in the cloudbucking, the bolt would dissipate too soon and she’d have to contend with varying momentums. If she didn’t steady herself properly, the bolt would be launched and she wouldn’t have the contact with the cloud needed to get it around her. That would leave her in a position where she was not only falling down, but also having to outfly lightning she didn’t control anymore, which no one could do. Then there was the spin, the pulling up… but then, the rainbow-turned-gold mare did know what she was doing. This would be for the career, for the dream.

“You ready?” Rainbow Dash stood in position again. ”I’m gonna try it for real now.”

Fluttershy, for her part, steadied her nerves and called her butterfly friends just in case the unicorns’ magic was too slow. At the very least, they’d be able to dissipate the electricity for her insect friends to catch Dash safely.

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and went into her zone. With a firm thrust of leg and wing, she soared up towards the black cloud, then stopped for just a moment of weightlessness. With perfect control, she bucked the cloud and gave a firm flap of the wing to keep from flying forward. She grunted a little at having to fight both gravity and her own movement. Sure enough, the sparks washed over her as the thunderbolt enveloped her. In a split second, the energy was covering her, making her golden fur stand up and glow even more. Her wings groaned under the pressure, but she knew it was worth it.

She let go.

Rushing down, she started her slow, deliberate spin to keep the vibrations around her going without losing her stability or messing up her internal organs. Then, with ample time before hitting the ground, her wings flapped again and she pulled up, leaving what looked like faerie dust in her wake.

She turned and landed, then checked her friends’ expressions. They were looking at her funnily.

“What? How did it look? Did I miss anything?”

Fluttershy shook her head, for once the first to break a reverie.

“No, it was perfect.”

“Yeah, that was a textbook example, literally,” Twilight remarked. ”How are your wings feeling?”

The pegasus looked to her side and gave those flappers a little stretch.

“No sorer than they should be. I guess that bucking practice yesterday really paid off.”

“Not to mention going to sleep with your wings taped in to recover,” Twilight thought.

Looking back, she noticed a few small fillies had gathered… and their parents… and teachers. As a matter of fact, quite a few ponies had shown up to see Rainbow Dash train. Scootaloo was the only one brave enough to actually approach the mare herself, though.

“Hey, Dash! We heard the thunder and thought we might get a sneak peek.” The likewise golden-hued filly gave her idol a big grin.

Rainbow Dash grinned right back, but she stopped herself from her first response.

“Okay, you can watch, but remember: this is practice. You can’t distract me or my safety crew, and take care that you don’t damage anything. This isn’t my place, you know. If Applejack comes along and wants you to leave, you leave, got it?”

Scootaloo nodded, as did all the other ponies. Rainbow sighed as she got ready to practise some more. She did have a problem with performing in front of crowds before, might as well make sure she could handle it now.

To their credit, no one present ever so much as gave a “Woohoo!”, not even Derpy. Granted, there were five ponies, three rabbits and a fully grown alligator keeping watch on her to make sure she didn’t even move. But all in all, everyone seemed to be thinking the same thing: don’t mess it up for Rainbow. As she went through the motions of her routine time and time again, perfecting her technique step by step with the zeal they’d come to know and love from the speedster, no one dared to distract her.

Slowly but surely, her launching cloud was lowered to the point where the safety measures wouldn’t cut it anymore. At best, they’d be able to cushion her fall, but they’d have to be really fast to react properly. Of course, Dash herself knew what to do in case of an emergency; she was fast enough to compensate.

“Okay, I’ve gotten it all down now. Who wants to see the whole thing?” she called out to her audience. She’d mastered all the pieces, only thing left was to put them together.

As quiet as they had been, they all cheered her on. Dash gave her friends a brief look, just a reminder she wouldn’t let hubris get the better of her, not this time. They nodded back, they wouldn’t let anything bad happen to her. One could almost see Twilight running over the many things on her mental checklist and giving the ‘all clear’.

The cloud she’d be bucking hung a lot lower now, but she’d practised enough to get the transition into a High-Speed-Strut down even with a short reaction time. Something in the back of her head told her she shouldn’t, though, that she was missing something important. She pushed it aside and went into the zone as she took off again. Like clockwork, she hung in mid-air at perfect distance.

She wasn’t sure what happened, but next thing she knew she was hurtling towards the ground with a lightning burn on her right flank and ringing ears from a far louder bolt than she’d gotten so far.

She panicked, heart racing and breath nearly stopping. Her wings were locked from the shock, and she’d drawn her legs in close. The ground was rushing in to meet her, and the crowd gave a hushed gasp in unison. She was spinning, but she wasn’t riding the bolt, it had already struck her. She stopped herself from worrying about what had happened and concentrated as best she could on limiting the damage.

Her panic reflex allowed a moment of clarity. As she spun, she stretched out her legs before she opened her wings, making sure to slow her rotation first. A leg's length off the ground, she pulled up clumsily, but still in time to stay in line with her act. She was too unsteady to strut, but she lined up her blow on the first bounce perfectly. With a loud cotton pop, she bounced off the first cloud into a summer sault, gritting her teeth at the pain still shooting up her right hind leg. Without the concentration to properly toughen herself up, she had to keep her momentum, otherwise the sudden stop could cause some serious damage to her joints.

Second cloud, standard ram with her left flank. It should have been a clean swoop with a tail swish for a Buccaneer Blaze, but there was no time for proper technique now. Third cloud, tense up the stomach muscles for a belly flop and a spread eagle jump… then the landing.

The whole thing was over in a matter of seconds. As she neared the ground, she could scarcely believe she’d managed it. But now for the painful part. She turned to meet the ground with her shoulder, giving the soil a firm whack with her hoof as she landed before skidding to an ugly, dusty stop.

Her friends came running. She could almost hear their suppressed outcries, how they hadn’t dared stop her because she just kept going, how they feared that they’d only wind up hurting her if they tried to catch her. They were right: a misfire was simply not on Twilight’s list of “Things We Need to Stop from Killing Rainbow”.

The whole thing had blindsided them. This wasn't supposed to be even possible.

The speedster gave them an embarrassed smile as she got to her hooves. "It’s always what you’re not prepared for that gets ya," she thought. At least they had the first-aid kit ready this time. And aside from the lightning burn, there wasn’t so much as a scratch on her.

“I’m alright, folks!” she waved her hoof at the crowds, who promptly erupted in applause.

“Wow, Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo came running before anyone else got a word in, ”I didn’t know you did comedy acts, too!”

“Yeah, comedy acts… tadaa!” she added that last one with a blush. Applejack had joined the fray by now as well.

“What happened? You were doin’ so well the whole time. Are you sure you’re fine?” AJ asked. She’d probably staid out of sight to avoid distracting her friend.

“I dunno,” came the reply. ”About what happened, I mean. I’m really fine, though. I know how to break my fall. I just don’t know what went wrong. The cloud just… went off.”

Twilight pondered it for a moment. She turned around to check the crowds, then noticed one pony was shuffling away…the wrong way, in fact, opposite from where every other pony had come from. She didn’t recognise the figure due to a hooded cloak, but the cloak itself was slightly familiar.

Twilight teleported blindly to try and catch up, which didn’t close the gap much since her target could apparently do the same.

“Hey! Stop!” Twilight wasn’t very good at playing police, but she tried.

Fortunately, right at that moment, the cloaked figure bumped into a tree. On closer inspection, it was a red tree. One with several trunks and an angry face, even. It took some time, but eventually she realised she’d run into a stallion, not a tree. There was just very little difference concussion-wise.

“You again,” Big Macintosh loomed over her as Twilight came running. The pony’s hood had been knocked off, revealing a blue unicorn.

“Trixie,” Twilight confirmed, ”what are you doing here?”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie will be competing in the try-outs, naturally. It will be the perfect chance to show that I am the greatest pony in all of Equestria,” she boasted.

“Uh huh,” Big Mac interjected, ”I saw that dirty little trick you played. You had that cloud blow too soon and nearly sent poor Rainbow straight down.”

Trixie scowled.

“As if it matters. The Great and Powerful Trixie will be crowned winner no matter what that loser tries to prepare for her show.”

The red stallion took one menacing step forward.

“Now you listen here, missy. That’s twice now you come around and hurt my sister and her friends. You ain’t gettin’ away with a third one.”

Trixie frowned at the hillbilly’s attitude. Even Twilight had trouble taking it seriously: Big Mac just wasn’t the threatening type, big though he was.

“Is that a challenge?”

“Nah,” came the stoic reply, ”that’s a warnin’.”

With a twinkle of her horn, she conjured up a thundercloud and gave the big lug a firm bolt to his hind quarters.

Big Mac didn’t jump, he didn’t even flinch. He just glared at her even more menacingly. This finally broke the unicorn’s composure and sent her into a bit of a panic. She gave him another bolt, and another, and another. He never budged, except to lean in closer. Twilight was sure that sort of abuse would have to leave a painful burn, even for a workhorse like him.

“I was raised big and strong on Zap Apples. Takes more than a little prestidigitation to shake me up. So you listen: I want a fair competition this Tuesday, ya hear? I catch you cheatin’ again, and I’ll kick you outta town so fast your tail will be sendin’ postcards to your mane. Is that clear?”

Now both unicorns were shaking in their hooves. Twilight had never seen Big Mac so angry before. He got upset, sure, but mad? Really mad? It was hard to imagine things that stuck around long enough to get him that far. Trixie, true to form, hid her fear with the usual bravado.

“I don’t have time for this. The Great and Powerful Trixie needs to prepare for her act.” She turned her back on him.

“Git!” he snapped, which sent the show pony running scared.

Twilight walked over to the guy, his expression softening up with the blue arrogance on legs gone.

“Wow, that was… scary,” she followed Big Mac as he walked towards a nearby shed with a puddle of rain water.

“I just don’t like anyone hurtin’ my kin, is all. Stallion’s gotta step in when a stallion’s gotta step in.”

“Well, I think she got the message.” Twilight glanced at his flank, which had taken four bolts of lightning without so much as fazing him. ”I didn’t know Zap Apples made you immune to lightning.”

“They don’t.” And with that, he plunked his rump into some cold water, his face contorted in that unique mix of pain of relief only seen on those cooling off burned hindquarters.

“Let me just get you some burn cream for that.” Twilight put up as serious a face as she could, which didn’t amount to much in this situation.

“That’d be lovely,” he replied dreamily.

“Fancy flying you got there, Dash,” Fleetfoot walked up to the golden mare, out of that tight costume for now, ”Nice coat, too. Didn’t think you’d be taking my advice so literally.”

“Eheh, yeah. I just want to make it look good on the big day.” She averted her gaze, not wanting to embarrass herself in front of her idol.

“Well, you managed to get half the town deserted, so I’d say ‘Mission accomplished’. Good of you to go for a comedy act, too, by the way, gave everyone a right chuckle.” She nudged the dyed mare in encouragement.

“Right. Comedy act. Gotta leave’em laughing, you know.” Rainbow wasn't about to admit that crashing wasn't part of her act, even though everyone could understand accidents happening. She wasn't sure where Twilight had run off to, either, but Dash was sure she'd hear about it later.

“Exactly. Not everyone can change how ponies look at them over the course of a few days.”

Rainbow Dash looked up in confusion. Fleetfoot leaned in a little closer.

“That is what you’ve been doing, right? Getting into character, like your comedy act at the Best Young Flyers Competition? First you make it look like you can’t do any proper tricks, then do something awesome to blow the audience off their seats. I’ve only heard of it, sure, but hey: you look all set to repeat that success; first check out all the safe routes, then surprise everyone with a thought-out crash. And you are really pulling out all the stops for this, aren't you? You’ve got a shiny new golden coat, blonde manes that’d make the boys in Canterlot just drop like flies, and now a funny new act as… well, a stunt ditz. You’ll be the talk of the town for weeks, and if you win, you could get fame all over Equestria.”

That hadn’t occurred to Dash yet, obviously. She’d gotten a new look because she wanted to be rid of what she felt was her reputation as a trouble maker, of an arrogant, overconfident wannabe. Somehow, she hadn’t thought this would actually work. The looks on some of the ponies’ faces as they went home were those of mirth, not admiration.

She wasn’t setting a good example of how to be awesome, she was making sure everyone would remember her as ‘the fake blonde who crashes into clouds’. The fact that Fluttershy was rubbing anti-burn salve on her flank didn’t help her dignity much, either.

“Anyway, you keep that up and you’re sure to win. Everyone likes comedy acts,” the Wonderbolt offered as she walked off, ”and with that sense of showmanship, you could make it to the elite, you know.”

The words kept echoing in Rainbow’s head.

Comedy act. I flew Ghastly Gorge a million times, pushed myself to the limit, trained like crazy… for a comedy act.

I’m gonna make it to the Wonderbolts… on a comedy act.

I risked my life doing all those crazy stunts… and all it amounts to… is a comedy act.

Rainbow sighed, but kept her smile up as the salve eased her minor burn.

She’d have to go through with this now. Crashing like a ditz, the embarrassment would have driven her out of town just a few years ago. But now, it didn’t matter as much. She could make it to the Wonderbolts, a Wonderbolt had actually confirmed it in person. She could live out her dream at last. And her friends would always help her feel better, no matter how much embarrassment she’d have to bring on herself to get to where she needed to be.

She made up her mind right then and there that she’d do anything to finally make the cut, to get the attention of the finest flying team in all of Equestria at long last. It was right within her grasp.

And all she’d have to do to get it, was to make a complete fool of herself.

The Mane Act

Chapter 4: The Mane Act

The days had flown by. All the practice, all the sore muscles, all the sweat… today was the day.

Rainbow Dash strutted along Ponyville’s Main Street towards the signup booth at Town Hall. Big Mac and Applejack joined her, flanking their friend. Considering her stage fright at the last big competition, Dash felt it was the nicest thing anyone could do at the moment.

“You’re sure you don’t want to compete, Applejack?” the pegasus asked. ”The Wonderbolts can give you all sorts of training advice for your rodeos, you know.”

“I know, but it just wouldn’t feel right, Rainbow,” Applejack replied. ”I’d only compete to take the prize, and I don’t wanna even try taking it from you.”

To that, Dash looked up at the big guy of the Apple family.

“What about you, Big Mac? You feel alright taking me on?”

“Eeyup,” came the stoic reply.

“Oh, he’s not in it for the Wonderbolts, Dash. Big Mac’s got a little somethin’ different on his mind,” Applejack remarked.

Just as she said it, they passed by miss Cheerilee, and the mares all gave the stallion a brief look with varying degrees of knowingness. Big Mac, ever the gentlecolt, just whistled inconspicuously, and silently thanked Celestia that his red coat meant he could blush without anyone ever knowing.

Coincidentally, a uniformed Soarin’ flew by at the same time and gave Applejack a smile and a look that was somewhere in the awkward regions between ‘Hi!’ and ‘The Great Hunger is upon me!’. Applejack smiled back and wished she had the same luxury as her brother.

“Lemme guess: you’ll be setting up your apple stand at the try-outs?” the pegasus mare asked as the booth came into sight.

“Well, I might try to get a bit of sales going, and if a certain Wonderbolt just happens to like my apple pies and kindly asks to purchase some more, I’m not about to stop him.” She kept her eye on the Wonderbolt as he landed by a burly minotaur.

They got to the signup, no turning back now.

Competition of this sort was a little different from the generic improvisation contests and routine athletic competitions. In bouts like these, signing up was a ‘first come, first serve’ affair, and ponies usually had a very distinct idea of whom they’d be competing against, given the fact that everyone knew who could put up a show and who couldn’t. That’s why there was no need to sign up long beforehand: if you weren’t a proper showpony with an act that could be made ready in a week, you weren’t going to do anything worth doing anyway. At the strike of the clock, the minotaur got a quill, Fleetfoot came flying in, and everypony looked around, a little psyched.

“Alright,” the hulking creature known as Iron Will announced, ”we have ten places open. The best of you, step forward now. If you have any doubt, consider yourself out!”

The two Wonderbolts facehoofed at the minotaur’s obligatory rhyme.

Say what you want about Iron Will, for hamminess the minotaur always fits the bill.

Rainbow Dash, Big Mac and Pinkie Pie stepped forward. The pink mare waved cheerfully at her friend. They hadn't seen each other for a few days with all the practice they’d both put in. The golden mare figured she was mostly in it for the publicity: there were quite a few ponies from out of Ponyville present to check out the performances, and probably to get autographs from the Wonderbolts. A Pinkie Pie party was definitely something one could market to out-of-towners, and knowing her she’d probably get out the old party cannon for her musical act. She was sure it was going to be awesome.

“Okay, so: Rainbow Dash, Big Macintosh, Pinkie Pie….” Fleetfoot pointed at them and impressively got their names right from the first try, ”put them down along with Trixie.” The minotaur wordlessly followed the command.

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath. It was done. No more time for worries, no more messing up. She’d have one chance, just one.

Twilight came to see her friend at the competitor’s section. She looked at her a little worriedly.

“Rainbow, are you going to be alright?”

“Of course I will,” Dash replied, ”Why wouldn’t I?”

“Well, you’ve been practising alone since that incident with Trixie, and there’s been rumours. You are still going to do your cloudbucking act, aren’t you? Not this comedy thing everyone’s talking about?” Twilight grimaced at the thought.

Rainbow sighed as she went to watch Trixie’s act. It was all fireworks and flashy fire spells. It looked pretty good, actually, really professional. She hadn’t realised it yet, but the arrogant showpony made her living on performance, making her a real contender.

“I have to, Twilight. Everypony’s expecting me to do it. I got the look.” She looked at her hooves, ”I dyed my rainbow mane for this. I can be somepony else now and leave all the bad things behind me. Fleetfoot even said I can make it big with a comedy act.” The mare bit her lip at the prospect of living her dream.

“But is that what you really want?” Twilight asked. ”To be the one who makes everyone laugh?”

“No, I don’t. Don’t get me wrong, I love fun, and when Pinkie Pie or anyone makes me laugh, I-I’m happy. But I’m not supposed to make ponies laugh, I’m supposed to help them be all they can be.” Rainbow looked on as the blue unicorn wrapped up her act with a loud boom of self-indulgent idolatry.

“So why don’t you? I don’t understand why you don’t just do your normal act. Forget about appearances, it’s what’s inside that counts.” Twilight seemed to recite something she’d said to herself often enough, but never to someone else.

“Guess I don’t really have a reason. It just feels wrong,” Dash admitted as Pinkie Pie entered the stage. Sure enough, she was lining up her one-pony orchestra along with some party cannons.

The two didn’t look at each other, rather keeping their eye on their friend as she started playing her tunes at a building pace, trumpets, violins and percussion all getting worked over at seemingly the same time. Neither of them could place the tune at first, but they both caught a snippet of “La Marseillaise” in her composition, if sped up considerably.

“What is that silly pony doing?” Rainbow Dash smirked curiously.

“I’m not sure, but… I think she’s playing the 1812 Festival Overture by Tchaicudsky.”

“The one with the cannons? Can’t be.” Dash knew the tune, of course, it was frequently played when the Wonderbolts decided to do something bombastic at the end of their act. But as she recalled, that bit of music had the sound of explosions in it right from the get-go.

“The cannons don’t show up until about three minutes before the end. The piece actually takes about fifteen minutes in all. And I think Pinkie’s playing the whole thing, at triple speed, too. That’s going to be some heavy cannon fire,” the unicorn realised.

Rainbow Dash whistled in admiration. Her unicorn friend returned to the original subject.

“So why don’t you feel like doing your normal act? You look perfect, you have the moves down to the last detail, and I’m sure everyone will appreciate it.”

“I don’t know. I know it’s what’s on the inside that matters, that I shouldn’t let myself get wrapped up in what ponies think of me or how they see me. But the thing is: I can’t. I’ve been practising my normal routine all week, and even though I know I can do it, I feel like I shouldn’t. I wanted to be looked at differently, to be somepony better, and now it turns out the pony I am just isn't as awesome. I don’t know how to shake this feeling, and I know that if I try, I’m going to come off as awkward. It’s like… like I’ve always worn a mask, and now that I’m wearing a new one, I don’t know where the old one is.”

Twilight lowered her head.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?” A headtilt answered her.

“For not being able to help. I thought maybe I could get you to feel better, but all I do is make things worse. I mess up when I try to help.” She smiled nervously.

“And that’s what makes you perfect.” The golden mare smiled right back.

“I just wish I could fix this somehow. That stuff you have on you has Zap Apples in it. If I cast a spell on it, there’s no telling what might happen.”

Twilight started talking herself into a panic just as Pinkie Pie started firing her party cannons and getting to the bit that everyone knew. For all its awe-inspiring beauty, Tchaicudsky’s war music always seemed to get cut down to just its finale. Luckily, Pinkie Pie’s parents had brought her up with a bit of culture.

Sadly, ‘sense of restraint’ had been omitted from her cultural heritage, and she wound up making a very loud and a little too overwhelming a spectacle of the thing. In other words, it was par for the course for both Pinkie and Tchaicudsky.

“Then don’t. I can stand a little embarrassment if it means getting into the Wonderbolts. I know this won’t be wasted, Fleetfoot said so herself. I just have to get through it, I guess.”

“You’ll do no such thing, Rainbow Dash.” Rarity came walkiing over with a pair of saddlebags. ”Twilight, I appreciate your effort, but I cannot stand idly by while poor Dash makes a fool of herself in the name of glory.”

“Rarity, it’s okay. I can handle it,” Rainbow insisted. Twilight, on the other hoof, was curious what the bags were for.

“Okay? It is most certainly not okay. If you must choose between what will get you your dream and what feels right, then you must do what feels right, or your dream will lose its meaning.” She stomped her hoof for emphasis, which in her friends’ books meant she was not to be fazed.

“Look: if I do my comedy act, I’ll feel a little bad, but I’ll get what I always wanted. If I do my normal act, I’ll still feel bad and I might not be able to win at all. I’ll look normal again eventually, but for this I need to be different from what I’ve been, so I have to go through with it. There’s nothing I can do to make this easy, so I’m doing it the hard way.” Dash proudly thrust her chest forward and raised her wings to emphasise.

Meanwhile, Big Mac had trotted on stage and started juggling some bales of hay with his hind hooves while lying on his back. He then picked up the cart he’d piled them up on and balanced it on one hoof. The silence that fell over the audience and the entry section got the mares’ attention, and all three picked up their jaws halfway through the act.

Rarity placed her hoof on Dash’s shoulder.

“Rainbow, you don’t need to do it the hard way. As much as you might think we’re completely different, we do have one thing in common: we both live our lives based on looks.”

Twilight pondered that for a bit. Rarity, she could understand, but Dash?

Rainbow Dash frowned at the remark.

“Maybe you do, but I don’t. Even if I feel a little bad when ponies look at me funny, I don’t let it control my life.”

Rarity shook her head and set her bag on the ground.

“You’ll understand in a minute, dear. I ran back to my shop as soon as I saw you looking glum. It’s my fault; I said you should get a makeover. I should have known this was a little too drastic. That’s twice now I stand in the way of your dream. So please, let me make amends, at least this time.“

Rainbow gritted her teeth.

“I’m not going to be my old self for this act, Rarity. I’ve come too far to go back on this. My rainbows will come back, but what I do today will be remembered long after that. This is my one chance to wipe away all those embarrassing mistakes I’ve made, but I can’t do it as my old self.”

The white unicorn opened the bag with her horn.

“Then how about a better self?”

The two ponies looked inside, and Rainbow Dash’s eyes lit up, excitement filling her every nerve like the moment she first accomplished the Sonic Rainboom.

Everyone gaped in awe as Big Mac slowly set down the fully laden cart he’d balanced on his left hood, then set down the barbell he’d balanced on his right hoof, then set down the tub he’d borrowed from Rarity to balance on his chin, complete with warm running water and shower curtains, since Derpy had insisted she bathe in private even if she was going to be part of the show.

All in all, Big Mac had put on a pretty impressive display. For all his shyness, he had a lot of strength and coordination under that deep red colour. He took a bow and received the applause with his usual calm, quiet presence. The judges looked genuinely impressed, even Iron Will couldn’t think of something to say.

A certain white pegasus in the audience gave him a loud “Yeah!,” though.

Fluttershy went to work setting up the thunderclouds just the way Rainbow Dash wanted, carefully making sure everything was in position. One to launch her Thunderclad, one for the Buccaneer Blaze… she mentally checked everything twice before moving off. She noticed Twilight and Rarity coming back from speaking to Dash.

“Is she feeling better now?” she asked.

“I think everything’s worked out just fine,” Twilight smiled at Rarity. True enough, the egghead was out of her league when it came to image, but the fashion unicorn had more than made up for it.

Rainbow Dash stood behind the curtain, darkness in her mind despite the broad daylight. She took a deep breath and got in her zone. She was back in character, though a slightly different one from her usual stunting self. Rarity had been right, of course. She shouldn’t have doubted it to begin with. Her life was, she had to admit, governed by looks. She’d have to write to Celestia about this, when all was said and done. But for the moment, she needed all her concentration. On a whim, she remembered a trick Princess Luna had explained to her last Nightmare Night. While it was mostly only good for pranking, today was just such a perfect opportunity to use it she couldn’t pass it up.

“Next up: Rainbow Dash!” Iron Will shouted.

She breathed out.

Showtime.

She rushed out with a burst of speed, triumphant grin adorning her face and chest pushed out forward in defiance. The crowd gasped as they beheld her. If they hadn’t heard her name, nary a pony would have known it was her. She radiated something different from her usual confidence, a more sinister element none had ever seen in her. And while some still recognised her new mane and the golden streak it gave her, the entrance was certainly impressive enough to make them forget about the little cloud-crashing incident, or any other incident she’d caused.

Rainbow hopped on the first cloud just as the crowd got its breath back. She knew what they saw, what she wanted them to see.

A Shadowbolt: darker in presence and even more awesome than a Wonderbolt.

As she landed on the first cloud, like a real pro, she set the tone of her act with a loud peal of thunder, and threw her voice into the thunder to echo one simple word.

“DARKNESSSS…”

She dashed forward to the sweet spot while her copyright violation ringed in everyone’s ears. She could deal with the riot later. Like clockwork, she readied herself for the big one, hanging in mid-air with her legs ready to kick.

Twilight thought she’d heard what sounded like a goat, so she looked over to Big Mac and the other contenders. Trixie had actually fainted from the scary voice effect.

Perfect.

Rainbow let loose. Lightning and thunder washed over her, then passed through her, and she dived straight down with it. She spun to let the shaking energy stay in position, and pulled up perfectly. Sizzling sounds marked her passage as she went into her High Speed Strut, slightly crouched to give her a more predatory look to go with her costume. She jumped up to the next cloud, catapulting herself with another thunderclap into a summersault.

She slammed her whole body into the next cloud, using one back hoof to get the lightning out into her tail as she swished. The flash of light in the Buccaneer Blaze only added to her terrifying presence, making it impossible to look at her for the slightest moment. Never breaking stride, she belly-flopped into the last one and landed neatly with a curt bow to finish.

Just a few seconds, when it all came down to it. She kept her head low in the bow, and slowly straightened up to her natural posture. Her mind came back to her, she found her pace again, and the crowds exploded.

She took in the crowd’s reactions, knowing what they all saw in her: nothing but good things and pure awesome. Dash finally realised what the word ‘galvanise’ meant, metaphorically if not chemically. She had the golden coat and the dark costume to show on the outside what she’d almost forgotten she had on the inside, and it all just clicked. The costume would come off, the golden coat would fade, but now that she’d felt the sheer power in and out, she wouldn’t need them next time. Now she had a resounding confirmation that what she was doing was the right thing, that she truly was all the things she wanted to inspire in others. All that hard work, all that doubt, this was what she did it for. The nagging doubts were silenced at last.

She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so much like her true self, and she tried not to think of what could have happened if things had gone a different way.

Rainbow Dash didn’t even bother to turn to the judges, the reaction she got from the audience was all that mattered. Friend and stranger alike cheered her on. She looked down at her hooves and tried to verbalise her lesson. Not that she knew what ‘verbalise’ meant, but it’s the thought that counts.

Dear Princess Celestia,

It’s easy to say that ‘what’s inside is what counts’, and that ‘appearances aren’t everything’. But we can never forget that appearances are something. When we’re looked at in a way we don’t like, we say these things because we don’t want it to hurt, but if we act like it's true then we're crippled.

If it doesn’t matter how we look, how can we ever look good, or even happy? If it doesn’t matter how others see us, how could we be an inspiration in their eyes? The way we look and the way others look at us may not be the most important thing in the world, but if they didn’t matter at all, we’d be lost.

Our idols would never get to see the looks of admiration we give them, our friends would never be able to show us their sadness so we can help. And if we didn't have a look, we’d never realise that what we see in the mirror can change, that we can grow and learn. If we didn’t care about appearance at all, how could anyone see us grow? Would we even care to try if no one ever noticed? Would we ever dare to ask for help if no one could show us their strength? Would we share a smile if no one ever saw it?

Saying that appearances don’t matter is saying exactly that: that no one would ever care, and that we’d have no way of showing how alone that really makes us.

I learned today that a look you wear and a look you give can be a powerful thing, even if it doesn’t change who you are on the inside. A smile, a sob, a dress, a new colour... it can change how others look at you, and they can help you grow because of it. Just by looking different, I feel like a new pony now, even if I am the same on the inside.

Knowing what looks can do, I don't have to let them scare me anymore. I can see them for what they are, and use them. I can change the way I look or how others look at me without worrying about what it does to the real me.

The real me is stronger than that now.

So here's my promise: no matter what costume I wear or what colour my mane may be, I will always be

Your Faithful Student

Rainbow Dash

When the noise had died down and the final contestant was finished, Rainbow Dash joined her friends at Applejack’s stand. The farmer had gotten a nice bit of selling done, and a good dose of free advertising, which was always welcome.

“Hey, Pinkie, I didn’t know you liked classical music,” the speedster half-joked at her pink friend.

Pinkie Pie shrugged.

“Why not? Muffins are a classic, I like muffins, and I like music, so of course I like classical music!”

Pinkie Pie logic: an oxy-genius.

“So what did you think, Fluttershy?” the black-clad mare asked her fellow pegasus.

Fluttershy didn’t reply, she just nibbled at her apple fritter.

“She’s been pretty quiet today, actually,” Twilight remarked.

“Uh huh.” Dash flicked her ear, and Fluttershy promptly took out the earplugs she’d been wearing to stop from fainting. ” What did you think of the acts, Fluttershy?”

“Oh, I think they were all very good.” She looked away from the intimidating athlete, who now had the scent of ozone and lycra to go along with her sweaty smell. Dash didn’t mind: the day had been very loud, and that one dragon costume act probably didn’t help steady Fluttershy’s nerves much.

“Yes, they were all of a very high level, but only a few looked professional,” Rarity offered. ”Big Macintosh could easily compete with some of the ‘Strong Colts’ in Canterlot theatres, Trixie --as much as it pains me to say it--” She gritted her teeth, ”did an astounding job in her pyrotechnic choreography, Pinkie Pie was….”

Currently, Pinkie Pie was chowing down on some apple pie, which broke the unicorn’s concentration somewhat.

“Pinkie Pie managed to put a high degree of class in what was still a festive act. And you, Dash, well…”

Rarity tried to find the words. She frowned in thought.

“Well?” Rainbow egged her on.

“I’m sorry, darling, but I can’t think anything to compare it to. It wasn’t just stunt flying, or just tricks. It was a full act, a persona you adopted beautifully. The only thing I could compare it to is a Wonderbolt act, and even then it was a very good one.”

Rainbow Dash smiled. Rarity, of all her friends, had seen the most of showbusiness. Hay, she literally supplied the business with more show. To get a compliment like that from her?

“Thanks.”

Fleetfoot and Soarin’ came trotting along just then. They nodded in greeting, and Soarin’ immediately licked his lips when he saw Applejack’s stand. AJ patted the counter as he turned to look at his team mate.

“Well, what are you waiting for? I know you’re hungry, I’m hungry too and I don’t have your bottomless stomach.” Fleetfoot let him go first, to which Soarin’ happily dug into some apple pie Applejack had reserved just for him. Fleetfoot herself just had an apple tart for some quick sugar after all the deliberations.

“Well? Do we get to hear who won now?” Pinkie Pie asked. Soarin’ tried to reply, but a face full of apple pie got in the way, and he kept glancing furtively toward Applejack and Big Mac. Big Mac didn’t seem to mind: he was there with Cheerilee, it’d be pretty awkward to stop someone from making advances towards his sister in front of the teacher.

Besides that, he was fully aware of the fact that his sister had no compunctions about using any overzealous stallions for target practice, the target being a tall building and her ammo being them. Soarin’ being aerodynamically built only made the red stallion feel safer about it.

“Actually, kind of,” Fleetfoot started, and she didn’t seem at all happy about it.

Without her goggles, the Wonderbolt’s eyes were clearly showing her frustration despite trying to hold it back. She looked at Rainbow Dash intently, as if to say she’d finished last for some reason. The pegasus stallion looked up from his meal, but the white-maned mare stopped him from speaking.

“We can’t declare you the winner, Rainbow Dash. Even though you were the best, we cannot publicly say you won and give you the prize.”

Pinkie Pie slammed her hoof on the table.

“This is an outrage! I demand to know who is responsible for this debookery!”

“Debauchery, Pinkie,” Twilight corrected.

“Debauchery, debookery, this is nothing but a mookery! Why can’t Dashie take the prize?” Pinkie Pie surprised Twilight with her knowledge of literary devices. She didn’t seem the type to know what a ‘mook’ was, let alone a ‘mookery’. Then again, it might have been a fluke. Pinkie was a flukery like that.

“We’ve had several reports about possible partial judging. Apparently some ponies think that we’d favour Dash because she once saved the lives of three Wonderbolts, and that her being an Element of Harmony -- not to mention tied to Celestia -- somehow makes it an unfair competition,” Fleetfoot explained slowly.

There was a collective dropping of the jaw, from everyone but Rainbow Dash herself. Everyone was thinking the same thing, though.

Trixie. Even if she wasn’t the only one, she must have at least started it.

“When I get my hooves on that no-good --” Big Mac started.

“It’s okay,” Rainbow interrupted him, ”I’m still the best, right? I did beat everyone else, fair and square?”

Fleetfoot nodded.

“By a landslide. Your act had a degree of professionalism we only see in, well, professionals. All of you, by the way. I assume one of you has had some experience in showbusiness?”

Fluttershy nodded slowly, and Rarity followed suit.

“It’s not against the rules to consort with friends, is it?” the unicorn asked, ”We all helped where we could, for all our friends.”

The Wonderbolt smiled knowingly.

“No, it’s not against the rules. But the problem remains that we cannot appear partial to any contestant. Celestia herself has confirmed it, with no small amount of regret, I imagine. So that means we award the initiation and warm-up act to the runner-up. That’s you, Big Macintosh.”

Big Mac nearly had a fit.

“Whu-wha?”

Soarin’ looked up from his now cleaned-out dish.

“Rainbow Dash was the best, Big Mac came in second. Trixie came third, then Pinkie Pie. No offense, but Trixie’s act had a little more coherence than yours.”

“None taken. I like to save up my coherence for special occasions,” came the reply.

“I can’t take that from Rainbow! She’s wanted this since she was a filly! It ain’t right!” Big Mac raised a hoof, but brought it down slowly after a collective gasp. Nopony wanted to give the Phillydelphia Institute of Seismology something to lose sleep over.

Fleetfoot looked at Rainbow Dash as everything sank in for the rest.

“Dash, could I have a word with you? In private?”

She looked at her friends before turning.

“Umm, whatever you need to say to me, they can hear too.”

“No, they can’t. I have orders,” Fleetfoot slowly took off and headed to a higher level in the sky, settling on a stray cloud with a confused Rainbow in tow. She made sure no one was eavesdropping before saying anything.

“What I’m about to say to you has to remain between us. You spill any of the Wonderbolt’s secrets, we cut you off. Forget about becoming one, forget about even talking to one or one so much as acknowledging your existence.” Fleetfoot kept her voice even, but serious.

“Well, if it’s that important, I think I’d rather not risk it. I don’t need to know.” Dash smiled nervously at her idol.

“Good. But we want you to know, we just need to keep it private, that’s all.”

“We?” Rainbow asked curiously.

“First things first: Spitfire wanted me to tell you that she’s sorry for ignoring you at the Gala. She’s promised that one day she will make it up to you, and it will be awesome. You know how it is when you get famous, right? You attract a crowd, everyone wants a piece of you and you can’t really say ‘no’. We got swarmed. That sort of thing happens every year, but we’ve never had a fan quite like you showing up at the Gala. Most of the fans we run into don't get into the VIP section to begin with, so we didn’t think much of it once you were in. All the Wonderbolts feel bad about it, but unfortunately our captain isn’t so good at apologies. I am. So now you have them.” Fleetfoot smiled apologetically.

Rainbow Dash rubbed her head, still intimidated by the celebrity.

“Wow. Apology accepted, I guess.”

“Now that we have that out of the way, I have to ask: why did you compete today?”

“Umm, to win, of course. This was the best chance of getting close to the Won-well, you. I wanna be a Wonderbolt, to join the elite.” Dash tried to find just the right words.

”I have a need for speed, and I love it when I can help ponies be all they can be. Like you: you’re the smallest of the lot, but you’re the fastest. I want to be just like you.” Dash mentally kicked herself for saying the one embarrassing thing every fan tells their idol at some point.

Fleetfoot nodded and sighed.

“I thought as much. You’re one of those ponies. You go around saying you’re the best, pull some crazy stunts, never look back or think twice about what you’re doing. And your idea of motivating is intimidating or playing on somepony’s emotions. You think you deserve a spot on the Wonderbolts because you think you’re a little better than everypony else and want to be famous. You get a kick out of the reaction you elicit, craving fame but hating it when anything hits public ears that makes you look bad, like smashing into things because you got cocky. Is that about right?”

The golden mare felt some stings in her chest at that. She nodded solemnly.

“Yep. That’s me. 'Rainbow Crash', they used to call me. Might as well still do it now.”

“You realise we have about twenty ponies of your skill level just as eager to join the Wonderbolts? None of them can do a Sonic Rainboom, true, but then neither can any of the actual Wonderbolts, so it’s a moot point. Your skills are impressive, I’ll admit, but there comes a point when everyone’s skills look more or less the same and we need to look at other criteria for admission."

"Okay, but what other criteria are there? Stamina?" Dash asked, confused.

"Not that kind of criteria, Dash. What you need to understand is: in the Wonderbolts there’s no room for overconfident flyers who refuse to listen to advice or commands and just wind up doing stupid things that endanger themselves and their friends. Not to mention make the papers on some inanity like hammy heroics or midnight wanderings.” Through all the verbal hammering, Fleetfoot never stopped smiling.

Dash’s head drooped a little now. She bit her lip in resignation. Funny how she forgot that when you're trying to become famous, that means ponies actually know what you're doing.

“I know. And I guess I knew skill wasn’t everything, too.”

“Too right,” came the reply, ”With the training methods we have, we can even turn your friend Fluttershy into a Wonderbolt in ten weeks, flat. We could break anyone down and give them a new, more aggressive personality. That’s how they did it in the old days, you know. And as for physical characteristics, a lot of pegasi have good gimmicks, some even better than yours. Our training and teamwork put us above the rest, not talent. Individual skill is what you contribute, not what gets you in. Anyone can catch up to us, if they know how. You understand what I’m trying to say? You’re just not that special.”

A nod and a sigh came. Dash raised her head to face Fleetfoot's criticism once she’d regained her composure.

“But listen to me rattling on, you already knew all of that deep down, didn't ya? How about I share a little something you don’t know: why am I here with Soarin’, and Spitfire still in Canterlot? Wouldn’t it make sense to have the captain here instead of me?”

“Err, she’s busy?” Rainbow Dash tried a hopeful smile, to at least get something good out of this conversation.

“No. It’s simpler than that: I don’t have that much exposure to my name yet. Spitfire thought it would be a good idea for me to get out and let myself be seen somewhere other than the racing track. What can I say, I don’t get out much. It doesn’t help that I’m the most recent one to join, either.” Fleetfoot kept an eerily calm expression for having chewed out her fan like that.

“But why don’t you get out more, then? You’re awesome,” Dash only just realised that despite everything else, Fleetfoot wasn’t that much older than her: only two years. Three in about five weeks, she had it marked on her calendar. That was going to be one awkward birthday card, though.

Fleetfoot smiled and beamed a little with those cute eyes.

“Be that as it may, I am also the egghead of the team. I prefer books over cameras.”

Rainbow Dash suppressed a gasp. Then she realised this wasn’t that big a deal. After all, she’d accepted that books could be awesome, and a Wonderbolt confirming it only made it official.

“So what do you read, then?”

“Mostly stuff on flying. But I can’t get around to reading much when I’m drawing a crowd, so I try to lay low when I do, or rely on fellow eggheads to get me a good hiding spot. As a matter of fact, your friend Twilight offered her room as a little hideaway while I went through my favourite again: ‘Physics of Awesomeness’. She’s a nice one, that friend of yours: let me read in quiet, away from any curious fans, didn’t even dare try to affect my judgment of you.”

Dash’s heart sank when she heard ‘Physics of Awesomeness’. Twilight had given her part 2 during her little episode. Why hadn’t she started her on part 1?

“So you were there, and you heard --”

“Your little breakdown? I did. And let me tell you something: in the short time I’ve been with the Wonderbolts, I’ve seen a few breakdowns, both in and out of the team. It’s never pretty, but it’s a nasty side effect of flying high: you feel at home racing with your head in the clouds, so you feel homesick when you’re just living your daily life.” Fleetfoot shrugged.

Rainbow Dash averted her gaze. This was pretty much the ultimate humiliation: all her flaws revealed to her idol? Nope, she couldn’t think of anything worse. Even a dragon swooping down and eating her seemed like an attractive option right now.

“Now that you know all of this, I want to give you some advice. Your prize, if you will. You deserve to take at least something home after making all that effort, so here's some things to consider, one ace flyer to another."

Rainbow Dash leaned in a little closer. Finally, something to salvage from this disaster.

"You might want to keep trying to go faster, maybe work on stamina next, since your burst is pretty much all it’ll ever need to be. And you definitely have the drive to keep learning new stunts, you should listen to that instinct to become a better flyer. But there’s just one thing I’d like you to do when it comes to becoming a Wonderbolt.”

Silence fell. Dash locked her gaze with her idol's. This would be it: the one thing she had to know to really make it. The one redeeming factor.

“Stop trying.”

At that, Rainbow blinked and checked Fleetfoot’s expression. There was no frustration, no resentment, if anything Fleetfoot was showing friendship, though that might be faked by some beauty product she didn’t know about.

“What I’ve seen these past few days is a mare who’s not afraid to admit to her mistakes, who owns up to her flaws, and accepts that even though her friends can’t follow her, they can still help her. I’ve seen you go from breakdown to elation to the calm concentration that a professional has, and still you never stopped just trying to be happy. For all your faults, you never turned your back on your dream, and you jumped at any chance you had to get it closer. You took my words to heart and then some.” Fleetfoot smiled warmly as she paused.

"You didn’t even try to make excuses for your mistakes," she continued, "and as for all those screw-ups you wish you could leave behind you? Nothing compared to what the Wonderbolts pulled before they joined, every last one of them. We have ‘The Flying Wrecking Ball’, ‘Little Miss Fizzle’ and ‘The Bane of Windmills’ on our team, and that’s just what they’ll admit to. A ‘Rainbow Crash’ wouldn’t so much as raise an eyebrow. Besides that, the team, right now, still needs some time to get used to each other before we’re as good as the previous generation. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but our track record on heroics isn’t exactly up to speed yet.” the Wonderbolt grimaced at the thought.

“What are you saying? That the Wonderbolts aren’t as awesome as I think, but I’m still never going to be good enough to join them?” Dash shook her head in confusion. She was getting mixed messages here.

“I’m saying that if you never made a mess, you’d never learn to clean it up, either. Every dumb mistake can be a valuable lesson, if nothing else a motivation to do better. It’s precisely those experiences you should share, so you can help others avoid your mistakes.”

As she said it, it dawned on Rainbow why she liked Fleetfoot so much. She was basically Twilight as a Wonderbolt, but she had some of Rarity in her as well. Thinking more about it, she figured that Fleetfoot was just the sort of pony she could be friends with: she had a little of all the Elements in her. But that didn’t help her immediate situation.

“I still don’t understand,” Rainbow squinted a little, as if the answer was flitting before her eyes.

The Wonderbolt put a hoof on her colour-shifted counterpart’s shoulder, the lycra from both giving a little static spark and a pleasant rubbing sound. She looked her in the eyes and recited the same words Spitfire once told her, and that had been passed down from generation to generation of Wonderbolts, going back to before Luna and Celestia’s rule.

“As you are, I once was. As I am, you will be.”

The full weight of what she meant sunk in. Rainbow Dash felt her heart skip a beat.

“You mean…”

“The word ‘elite’ means ‘chosen’, you know. Wonderbolts add members depending on the need, circulating in batches when the generations shift, then adding them one at a time, depending on how many squads we need and what each squad is missing. Prospective candidates have to meet certain physical requirements, but those are standardised and qualitative; you don’t get priority for being the best of the lot, only passing matters. The important thing is that you get in based on a unanimous vote. The main team only accepts those who they think they can rely on, be friends with, the ones they know they can help when the pressure gets to them. So stop trying to be a Wonderbolt, Rainbow Dash.”

The mare was a little teary-eyed at that. Fleetfoot just smiled as her fan caught her breath.

“As far as me and Soarin’ are concerned, you are a Wonderbolt. When the time comes to find a new member and found a new squad, you’ll be at the top of our list. And I know Spitfire will agree once she spends some time with you, trust me. Although I wouldn't count on her showing it right away: she knows how to put up a friendly face for the cameras and how to put up a nasty one for the cadets.” She grinned.

“I-I don’t know what to say…” Dash stammered.

“Spoken like a true champ,” Fleetfoot joked as she patted her shoulder. ”You can focus on honing your skills now, and don’t worry about getting our attention: rest assured, we’ve got our eye on you. You don’t need to go out of your way to get noticed.” She broke the contact and made to go back to the ground.

“Come on, I want to get one of those famous apple fritters before Soarin’ eats the lot.”

“He doesn’t really eat that much, does he?” Dash asked as they went back down. She’d gotten one day with the guy, but that had just raced by, and most of the talking they’d done had been in mid-flight. She'd been giddy that day, and desperate to show her moves. In hindsight, it was normal, but still a little embarrassing.

“Oh, believe me, he does. He’s done the same Iron Saddle training you have, actually, only two levels higher. You can drop a boulder on him and the ground would give before he does. As for his appetite, that’s kind of his thing, I guess. He actually likes to go a little hungry first, gives it all he’s got in training. Then his stomach gets this really unsettling growl going, but when he eats he gives you a silly grin… the same you get when you’re going at top speed, come to think of it.”

Rainbow Dash considered it. She really was just like a Wonderbolt. She’d tried to be, sure, but she never realised how close she'd gotten.

“Hey, about that, something’s been bugging me for a while. That time at the Young Flyer’s Competition?”

“You risked your life to save your friend and my team mates, that’s all that matters,” Fleetfoot insisted.

“But I didn’t really save them, did I?”

Fleetfoot slowed down a notch. Dash knew she was on to something.

“I’m friends with some of the most amazing unicorns in all of Equestria. One can bend space and time itself, the other makes dresses that even Canterlot ponies are jealous of. I’m not an expert, but they are, and I’ve seen what they can do. And what they can do tells me it can’t be that hard to weave a safety spell into your costume.”

Fleetfoot turned to her with a weak smile.

“Remote controlled rune invertors with force field action, lined into the yellow fabric. We always have a backup plan, we never let anyone fall. That doesn’t make you any less of a hero and it doesn’t change one thing about our gratitude.”

Dash’s curiosity sated, they resumed their brisk flight down. Big Mac and Pinkie Pie were still bickering with Soarin’ about the prize, but Pinkie stopped when she saw her friend’s eyes, a tear barely restrained in the speedster’s eye.

“You okay, Dashie?”

“Never been better." She beamed. ”And as for the prize: Big Mac, you should take it. At least you can give Applejack some tips when you’re done with the training. And you’d be getting publicity for Sweet Apple Acres.”

“I can’t, Rainbow. It ain’t right,” came the reply. Even Cheerilee seemed to agree.

“I can live without it, Big Mac. I got everything I wanted out of today. And if you don’t accept, then Trixie goes home with the prize,” Dash half-threatened. After all, the big lug was notoriously shy, and she felt he deserved any reward for performing the way he had.

The prospect of Trixie winning seemed to annoy Big Mac even more. He grumbled as he considered it.

“What is with that Trixie anyway? Everyone I see seems to have some sort of grudge against her,” Soarin’ inquired.

“She came by a while back with this upstagin’ stage show,” Applejack explained, ”said she was the greatest unicorn in all of Equestria, that everything we could do, she could do better. She dared everypony to do something they were good at and that she’d trump it. I tried to show her up with a lasso act, she tied me up with her magic.”

“She turned my hair green when I tried to best her in elegance,” Rarity added, ”and Rainbow was spun around and struck with lightning while she was dizzy.”

To that, Soarin’ gulped and made an angry face at Rainbow Dash.

“You were what now?”

“Nothing big; I just flew around, did some moves, and ended with a rainbow over my wings. She spun me around with the rainbow and I landed off stage. Then she zapped me a little.” The mare averted the Wonderbolt’s gaze. She didn’t see the big deal, really.

Fleetfoot leaned in to Dash and whispered.

“Soarin’ got teased a lot as a colt. The spin and zap? Not a button you wanna push.”

“You do not use lightning like that. You scare ponies with thunder, you give a little zap as a surprise when they don’t see you coming, but no pony zaps a dizzy one. It ain't proper.” Soarin’ gritted his teeth. Everyone looked over at Rainbow and Fleetfoot, clearly missing something.

“Just a shock isn't that bad, but when you get one after being spun around, it's like getting up really quick after the blood's gone up to your head. The spinning makes it easier for you to faint or get hurt when your muscles suddenly tense up. It used to be a war tactic, actually,” Fleetfoot explained.

“I can understand pranks, I can even, barely, forgive a little sabotage if the safety crew is still there to catch you.” Soarin’ must have heard of the training incident. ”But that sort of thing? Unforgiveable.”

For a moment, his line of reasoning didn’t make much sense. Then Rainbow Dash looked at Fluttershy and realised that it actually made perfect sense. Soarin’ was a pro, he knew what was safe and what wasn’t. That he could forgive sabotage with a safety crew present was probably due to him being bullied a lot.

Like Fluttershy and Dash herself, being bullied would make one focus mainly on the sort of bullying they’d endured. Rainbow Dash could tolerate a good prank, as long as it was in good fun, but anyone hurting her friends would be in dire need of a barricade. Besides, they couldn’t actually prove Trixie had done anything to sabotage her practice, and Fleetfoot probably didn’t call it out because she wanted to see Dash’s reaction. Even the Wonderbolts couldn’t just bend the rules, after all. However…

“Then maybe you’d like a little time alone with Trixie, Soarin’? A little training with you guys might help shave off some of her rough edges. And if she just happens to get a little pain along with her humble pie…” Dash dreamily looked away in faux-contemplation.

Soarin’ grinned wickedly. Even Applejack looked at him funny.

“Oh, it would be my pleasure.”

Everyone not dressed in shiny suits stared at Rainbow Dash. Applejack was the first to speak up.

“You sure you wanna let her have your prize, Rainbow?”

“You realise that means Trixie will be officially announced as the winner,” Fleetfoot added. ”You could just wait until the officials settle the matter, but if you agree to this it’ll look like she beat you. And Big Mac.”

Rainbow Dash nodded, then looked to Big Macintosh.

“I’m fine with it. She needs the lesson more than I do. My friends all know I won, and my fans all think I deserved to win. And they’ll look forward to me being even better and winning for real. That’s enough for me.”

“Mighty big of ya, Dash,” Big Mac offered. "I wouldn't mind it either, if you can promise to give that one the lesson she deserves."

“Then that’s settled,” Fleetfoot replied,” Rainbow Dash, you remember our little talk now.”

“I will. Next time you see me, I’ll be even better,” she boasted.

“I’m sure you will.” Fleetfoot helped herself to another fritter, chewing a little slower both to find the right words and avoid looking like a female Soarin’. ”You’ve got a great thing going here, Dash. If things had gone a little different, we’d be having the same conversation with our places traded.”

The other Wonderbolt nodded knowingly, and he suppressed a grin. The white-maned mare shot him a silencing look that he wisely heeded. Rainbow figured she’d hear the whole story once she made it to the Wonderbolts. For a reason she didn’t grasp right away, it made her feel a little sad.

Once I make it to the Wonderbolts.

It hadn’t dawned on her before, but that was getting closer now, almost an inevitability. She realised that if and when she did join the Wonderbolts it would probably mean moving to Canterlot, or back to Cloudsdale. There would be a day she had to say goodbye to her friends.

“Wait! Before you go, don’t we get any spoilers about what you told Rainbow?” Pinkie Pie asked excitedly, ”You know, something cool and mysterious that’ll stay with us for a few weeks?”

“What can I tell you? Just that it's advice that'll make all your lives a bit easier if she listens to it. Oh, and that if she ever wants to be as good as me,” she declared, giving her fan a proud look, ”she’ll have to get used to flying from here to Canterlot in under ten minutes. That’s about what I get on a daily basis.”

“Tuh-ten minutes?” Dash went wide-eyed. Her record was twenty-five, and that was on a good day.

“Against the wind, I might add.” She winked.

“Then ten minutes it shall be,” she saluted the Wonderbolt as she finished her meal. The two professional aces exchanged a glance and a nod, and they made their way off.

“We’ll be seeing you, Rainbow Dash,” Soarin’ and Fleetfoot waved goodbye before bursting off with their characteristic trails in tow.

Dash found herself staring in awe as they left. For once, she hadn’t made a complete fool of herself, she hadn’t gone all fangirl on them.

And for the first time since she could remember, it felt like she was really one of them.

“I think you made quite the impression today, darling,” Rarity offered. ”We’re all very proud of you.”

Rainbow Dash closed her eyes to savour the moment.

“What are you thinking?” Twilight asked.

“I’m thinking that tomorrow, I need to do another run on Ghastly Gorge to get my bearings again. I'm thinking I’ll sleep like a baby tonight knowing I’m on the right track. But what’s really going through my mind, what I’ll always remember…”

Rainbow Dash turned to face them, the ones whose looks at her never changed, regardless of her colour. Everything she’d learned, she owed to them.

“I’d never have gotten to where I am without my friends.”

The End

Author's Note

22/10/14 Finally edited the bit about the spin and zap to imply it's more of a principle thing than a dangerous thing.