Author's Note
This takes place after 'Rainbow Falls'.
The crushed dreams
"Well, this was a great - tiring; but great journey.", cheered Fluttershy with her small voice.
Turning to her friend, Fluttershy read on her face an upset and concerned expression. She didn't ask questions, afraid that her friend would react badly. After a while of walking and waiting, she decided to ask her anyway:
"Oh, Rainbow. What's wrong?"
"Nothing", muttered the rainbow-maned Pegasus.
"I know something is on your mind", she insisted. "You can tell me."
"It's just that... I realize... The Wonderbolts suck! I mean, not in flight. They're great at that but... See how they ditched Soarin' for me? That's not loyalty, it's my opposite. I can't join a flight team where you give up on your teammates."
An awkward silent installed. Rainbow Dash was devastated. Her favorite fliers, the best fliers in all of Equestria were just big ditching jerks. They didn't know the true value of friendship. She even wondered if the Wonderbolts were all friends... Probably not. Or maybe Spitfire was really one of the worst friend a pony could ever have. All she needs is her wings, other good wings, and victory. RD thought she learned something about friendship when Lightning Dust was there. But apparently not.
"I understand. They're really mean, I must say... Maybe you could make your own flight team."
"Fluttershy...", her friend murmured, her eyes widening and sparkling. "You're a genius!"
"I am?"
"She is?", a Pinkie Pie hopped out of a bush. "I was just passing by and heard you talk."
"Pinkie Pie, I'm making my own flight team. Sorry girls, gotta go!"
The blue Pegasus dashed to the sky, a rainbow-colored trail behind her. She had to write down the names of all the Pegasi she knew and she could count on. Which means, no Spitfire, no Fleetfoot. She hopped on a cloud, then took off again, the mane in the wind. Flying really was her destiny. Her Cutie Mark told her! But her Cutie Mark didn't say she had to be a Wonderbolt. She didn't even want to anymore. Finally, she reached her house and went in. She was a bit tired, but she had to work for her new flight team. She yawned and stretched and sat at her old desk. It was so dirty! She didn't use it for ages, since she didn't have any homework. She even felt strange to touch a pencil.
"There goes nothing... Now let's see... Twilight. Nah, she's a lousy flier. Fluttershy? She can fly fast with a bit of motivation. And by a bit... I mean a lot. Who else... Cloudchaser and Flitter, of course! Hmm, also Thunderlane, Blossomforth, Helia..."
And on and on. Rainbow spent the whole night writing down names. There were quite a lot. Now she realized how popular and how many friends she had. And when she saw that, her heart bumped fast and loud. She felt like all those ponies were supporting her... Then she boosted and wrote down more names. But unfortunately, some of those names had to go. At that thought, the blue Pegasus sighed: she didn't want anybody to be left out...
Rainbow Dash was so asleep she didn't even hear the knocking at her door. After a few more loud knocks, she moaned, grumbled and opened her eyes. It was morning already. She turned at the paper where she wrote everything about her new flight team: during the night, she drooled on it! Her eyes widened in shock and she muttered:
"Oh no oh no oh no oh no I'M COMING oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no . . ."
Fortunately, only a few names were blurry. She retraced and dried the paper a bit. The knocking became even more pressed. She flew as fast as she could to the door, annoyed. When she opened it, she saw a familiar yellow face and a purple face looking at her. Twilight and Fluttershy, of course. Behind them, in the floating thing, were Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie.
"What *yawn* do you want?", she asked, rubbing her sleepy eyes.
"Fluttershy told me about your project", said Twilight. "It sounds very interesting!"
"Yes, it is... Is that all you wanted?"
"Darling, you MUST tell us about it! ALL about it!", insisted Rarity.
"Fine", the cyan pegasus finally smiled. "Come in!"
The 6 friends all followed Rainbow Dash in and sat at the living room table. Rainbow Dash told them to wait so she could go get the paper. They sat there and waited before Rainbow came back from her room. She had her pencil behind the ear. She put the paper flat on the table, everypony looking at it.
"I made a list of all the ponies that could be in my team!", she explained.
"There are... quite a lot", noticed Applejack.
"I know... I'll have to erase some names. Maybe you could help me?", asked Dash.
"It's your flight team, not ours", replied the purple Alicorn.
"You could maybe pick the ones that would be interested in joining your team", proposed Pinkie.
"Yeah. I'll have to make the decisions myself. I can do this! Thanks for the tip, Pinkie.", she exclaimed.
Her friends walked at the door and waved. Rainbow sat down and ran down the list with her eyes. There were a lot of great fliers in there... She took out her pencil and stroked some pony's names who wouldn't really be interested. Her list was emptying, but a few good and interested fliers rested on the paper. She smiled, but then something popped out in her brain: she needed a name for her flight team! And an icon, too.
"Hmm... The Prism Dashes? The Spectrums? The Rainbooms? I kind of like Rainboom... I'll need somepony creative to help me."
She knew just the one.
"You're the best pony I know for names, logos and banners, Blossomforth. You're my last hope!"
"I know, I know... I'm trying!", the light mare protested. "What about the Rainbooms?"
"I thought of it... After all, it does point out my awesomeness.", Rainbow chuckled.
"Yes, but this is a team. And not only the captain gets to..."
"I know, I know!"
"What about Sunbeams? They're pretty fast and it's the colors of the rainbow mixed in each ray."
"Hmm... This is cool...", Dash scratched her chin. "It's awesome! Thanks Blossom. Make sure to design an awesome logo and banner!"
"Sure will!", shouted Blossomforth to the flying away cyan pegasus.
Sunbeams? What a cool name! She grinned while flying from cloud to cloud. She had a bunch of ponies to visit. She stopped at Thunderlane's house. She knocked twice on the door before entering. Thunderlane and Rumble were playing video games while Cloudchaser and Flitter danced to some music. He was lucky to see all of them at once... She trotted in and took out her paper.
"Hey, Rainbow wat'cha doing here?", asked Thunderlane, without looking away from the screen.
"I need to show you guys something", she said, scribbling the name of the flight team on the paper. "I decided to create my own flight team. But it's not gonna build up on its own, is it?"
"I guess not", hesitated Flitter next to Cloud who was holding a giggle.
"So I need you guys to be in my team, being close friends and cool fliers and all!", she looked at each pony in their eyes. Even Thunderlane and Rumble were looking. "Are you up for the task?"
"I'm totes in!", cheered Cloudchaser. "I wanted to join the Wonderbolts, but I've been invited to Rainbow Dash's flight team! Makes it 20% cooler, huh?", she winked.
"We are gonna gather tons of pegasi in this team in ten seconds flat!", shouted Flitter, happily flying off before bumping her head on the ceiling. "Ouch. I'm sooo excited!"
"Omigoshomigoshomigoshomigosh!", Rumble imitated the rainbow-maned pegasus.
"I'm in! But uhhh, what are we going to be called?", asked Thunderlane, tilting his head to the side.
"The Sunbeams! Blossomforth proposed it becaus-"
But Rumble, who apparently learned his lesson, cut her off:
"The Sunbeams are all the colors of the rainbow compressed in one, and are 299,792,458 m/s fast."
"Yeah.", Rainbow grinned. "That."
The girls high-hoofed and Thunderlane went back to his video game, still excited. He looked at Rainbow Dash to make her come closer to him. He whispered to her ear:
"Is your friend... Um... Ra... Radiance?"
"Rarity."
"Right. Is she free tomorrow?"
"Oooooh myyyy!", chuckled the blue pegasus. "Having a crush, hm? I think she is."
"Yess.", smiled the dark coated pegasus.
Rainbow patted his back and walked out the door, waving at the four ponies. She flew up to another cloud, a bit nearer to Ponyville. She knocked on the door and heard surprised sounds, before a few 'Uh oh gotta clean this up' and 'We look gross'. She blushed a bit, thinking of what might have happened. Finally, a dark pegasus with a blue mane opened the door, next to a brown mare. Rainbow Dash held a giggle at their messy manes.
"Hi Lightwing. Hi Green. You busy?"
"Kind of, but you can make this fast, can you?"
"Sure. I need you to sign this, I'm making my own flight team! And I want my friends to be in it.", she looked at Green. "Do YOU want to join?"
"Ah, uh, um no thanks...", she replied. "I'm not... into sports. Good thing my boyfriend is, though~"
Green rubbed her cheek against his neck muscles. Rainbow rolled her eyes, smiling. Love is such a ridiculous thing, she thought. But she was happy for her friends. She took back the paper and quickly flew away, leaving the more free time possible.
Rainbow Dash gave Misty Fly a puzzled look. She really, really, really did not understand. The mare rolled her eyes and sighed, looking deeply into Rainbow's eyes.
"Want me to repeat again? Very well. I. Quit. The. Wonderbolts. Understood? Following? I. Want. To. Be. In. Your. Team. Sorry, went a bit fast. I. Wa-"
"I understood", replied Rainbow, giving a sarcastic look. "But why would you do that...?"
"I'm tired of flying with those big disloyal idiots... I want to fly with friends. Seeing how Spitfire treats us, I don't feel like we're in a team. I want to be friends with everyone with yours. I want a life, Rainbow."
"This is so cool... Okay, just sign here", she said, giving her the paper. "We'll have a big reunion with each member next week."
"Thank you! I'm happy to leave the Wonderbolts...", she sighed with a sad smile.
"Hmm? Tell me, what went wrong. I can see it in your eyes, Misty."
"It's my boyfriend...", Misty started crying, her voice broken. "It's Firestreak... After I told him I-I felt like the Wonderbolts weren't worth the time after what they did to Soarin', he... went mad at me... He thinks I'm ungrateful for all the things I've lived since the time they took me in."
"Let it all go.", Rainbow patted her shoulder, a bit uncomfortable.
"That's when... I left the team, heartbroken. Then I heard of your flight team. It was the ray of light - funny it's called Sunbeams - at the end of a dark tunnel, Rainbow... A light full of hope, and I've finally reached it.", she smiled. "You have no idea how happy I am... Now tell me, who's in the team?"
"Woah... a good bunch of them.", Dash chuckled and showed her the list.
"ALL of them?!", her eyes widened in shock.
"Well, ah, some can be replacements. I'll set up a poll for that later.", explained the blue mare.
"Such a bad wingwriting though", laughed Misty Fly. "Long time no homework done?"
"Well how'd you know?", smirked Dash.
"I've been in the same situation! Now I got to go get fired at this restaurant!"
Misty flew out the door. Rainbow Dash screamed 'OH MY GOD', flying in her house. She just talked to an ancient Wonderbolt, and as a FRIEND! She talked to her about her LOVE PROBLEMS! Finally, she fell on her bed, happy of her day.
Author's Note
Credit goes to darkrapter125 for the flight team name! I found it pretty cool. :)
The reason why I didn't choose 'Shadowbolts':
I'm thinking of a city in the sky over the Everfree forest where Luna's batponies live. And there, there's a flight team called the Shadowbolts. I love this head canon and I plan on keeping it.
