The Fillyhood of the Mane Six

Summer, the best time of the year. At least that's what young Rainbow Dash believed. The rainbow-maned filly loved to go flying on warm, sunny days. Except she wouldn't just fly. She would zoom! When Rainbow Dash would fly past ponies, they'd be left confused wondering if that was the wind.

Rainbow Dash had earned her cutie mark about a week or so ago. She was the only filly in recorded history to pull off a sonic rainboom, and she was proud of that fact. But as time went on, her classmates began to grow envious. None of them could even compete with Rainbow Dash. She didn't realize it because she was too busy flying. Someday, she'd come to recognize the jealousy others ponies hid in their hearts.

"This is the life," Rainbow Dash said with a relaxing sigh, "Flying makes me feel so free." She flew past some of the other Pegasus foals. They were quietly muttering to themselves. Rainbow didn't even bother listening figuring it was of little importance.

"There goes Rainbow Dash. Always moving so fast, you never get a chance to talk to her," whispered Zip, a dark blue Pegasus filly with a dark red mane.

"She sure is a showoff. Doesn't she realize that some pegasi can't even fly?" muttered her twin sister Zap whose mane and coat colors were a tad lighter than Zip's.

"Rainbow's just a natural born flier. Some pegasi are like that. Look at the Wonderbolts. They were probably fast when they were kids," Lightning Blaze, a teal colt, pointed out.

"You're only defending her because of your crush on her," Zip accused smugly.

A blush slowly formed on his cheeks. "W-wha? Crush? I don't have a crush."

"Yah, right. Your red face says otherwise," Zap said pointing to his face.

"Whatever, I'll see you two later. Dad's gonna get mad if I stay out to long," The three foals all soon dispersed.

Rainbow had flown back to her cloud home. When she entered, her mother Rainbowshine greeted her with a wing hug.

"How's my little Rainbow doing?" Her mother asked affectionately.

"Moom, you know I don't like you calling me that!" Rainbow whined backing out of the hug.

"Exactly, that's why I call you that. You know Mom loves to annoy you," Rainbowshine nuzzled her daughter's head which Rainbow returned.

"Hey, Mom? Have you always been a fast flier?" Rainbow asked.

"Pretty much. I enjoyed flying almost as much as you do. I can understand where your love for it comes from. After all, your father is apart of the Equestrian Navy," Her mother explained.  Rainbow Blaze was a five-star general in the E.N. The Equestrian Navy comprised of the strongest pegasi, unicorns, and earth pony from each city. While each individual town has its own elite force, the Equestrian Navy would be sent out to defend from foreign countries, such as, the griffons or the dragons.

"But you didn't pull off a sonic rainboom. How come I was able to?"

"Hard to say. When I heard you were the one to pull it off, you can't even imagine how both surprised and proud I was. You're probably just special. I have feeling you'll grow up to become an important part of Equestria,"  She was more accurate then she thought. Rainbowshine once again nuzzled Rainbow's mane. "I have to go out. The pegasi are planning a light drizzle. They can't start without me. There's cloud muffins in the cupboard." With that, she flew out the nearest window leaving Rainbow Dash alone.

About an hour later, Rainbow Dash had fallen asleep. She ran out of things to do and decided to nap. Her room was the highest in the house, so the noise from outside would be pretty much inaudible. Because of this, she didn't hear Zip and Zap knocking on the door.

"Rainbow? Are you in there? Hello?" Zap kept rapping on the door but didn't hear anypony coming.

"Maybe she's not home," Zip surmised.

"We'll soon find out. Come on," Zap flew to the nearest window which was left open. "Are you coming or what?"

"Oh, Zap, I don't think this is a good idea. Why are we doing this again?" Zip asked confused.

"How many times must I explain this to you? We're going to find the secret to Rainbow Dash's fastness. No Pegasus filly can fly that fast," Zap explained annoyed.

"But what if Lighty was right? What if she is a natural born flier?"

" I doubt that. Lightning's blinded by a crush. He doesn't know any better. I want to find out the truth," Zip reluctantly flew up to her sister. She knew this wasn't the right thing to do, but couldn't work up the nerve to back out of this

Rainbow's ears perked up the moment they entered the house. She could sense somepony was here. She slowly got out of bed trying to make as little noise as possible. "Somepony's in here who shouldn't be. When I found, they'd better have a good reason for being here. Otherwise, I'm going to pound them some reason not to be here," She whispered to herself. She slowly descended towards the bottom floor. She heard some voices.

"Wow! Rainbow has a big house!"

"We're not here to admire her home. We're here to get some answers."

Rainbow sprang out into the open startling both of them. "AHA! Caught 'cha! You better have a good excuse as to why you're here!"

Zap stepped forward, "We're here to discover the secret to your speed. You must take some kind of potion or something. Nopony, and I mean NO pony should be able to fly that fast. Right, Zip?"

Zip looked down, "Yah, what she said."

Rainbow stood there for a few seconds. Zap couldn't tell if she was surprised by the question or not. She suddenly began bursting out laughing.

"What's so funny?"

Rainbow had to catch her breath before she could respond, "Oh, man! You two are funny. My speed doesn't come from anywhere except from me. In case you haven't realized, it's my special talent." Rainbow pointed to her cutie mark. "Do you really think I'm a fake? Especially after pulling off that sonic rainboom?"

"See that? Right there. You can pull off incredible feats that no other Pegasus could even dream of doing. Flying seems to come so naturally to you. And some of us can't even get off the ground! You make all grounded pegasi feel bad." Zap raised her voice.

It took some time for those words to sink in. Once Rainbow understood the meaning, her ears lowered, and her wings drooped.

"I make other pegasi look bad?" Rainbow asked with a slight quiver.

"Yup. You do."

"Zap, do you even realize what you're--"

"Zip it, Zip. Leave this to me," Zap said prideful.

"I-I hadn't realized. I was too busy flying. I didn't even bother considering anypony's feelings."

"Well, maybe you should start consid--"

"Zap! Enough! Continuing to insult her won't make this situation better. I'll handle this. Rainbow, what my sister is trying to say is that since not all ponies are especially gifted, they mope around those who are. You're not a bad flier, Rainbow Dash. Far from it. But instead of just flying all the time, maybe you could help out those who struggle with flying. They'd surely see you in a better light." Zip put an arm around Rainbow. Zap was shocked that her sister had said all those things. She was a little jealous.

Rainbow let out a sigh, "Thanks, Zip. And thank you, Zap for pointing it out to me. I-I think I'll take your advice. I never wanted to make anypony feel bad. I'm glad you guys broke in." At that moment, Rainbow Blaze came home from a tiring day.

"Dash? What's going on?"

Rainbow smiled at the two sisters. "Nothing, Dad. These two were just giving me some flying tips. And boy, did it help."