From Solitude to Friendship

For once, Clyde managed to get some sleep. It wasn't much, but it was something. He had no idea what to expect for the day since he knew nothing about Rainbow Dash. From what Twilight told him, she loves to fly, and that is something he can do, so he had no worries that they won't get along. Clyde woke up to the sun beaming in his face, joined with the sound of some pony walking down the stairs. Clyde got up and left the spare bedroom, entering the living room. He was greeted by Twilight and Spike, both relaxing, reading on the couch.

"Oh, hey Clyde, I sent your letter to Celestia. It was nice." Spike said with pride. Twilight looked confused.

"You read it?" She asked Spike. "I didn't bother, you can tell her highness what ever you want to as far as I'm concerned." Twilight added.

"I don't mind, Twilight." Clyde said. Twilight got up from the couch.

"Well, you should probably head off to find Rainbow Dash, I'm sure I know what she has planned for you. I wonder where she would be right now.." Twilight said as she looked at Spike, confused. Just in time, there was a knock on the door. Since Clyde was right by it, he answered it. As expected, the cyan colored mare was standing right there.

"You must be Rainbow." Clyde said.

"What was your first hint? The awesome mane? The awesome pose? My awesome personality?" Rainbow asked.

"I would say it was mostly your mane, not to mention we were introduced yesterday." Clyde pointed out. Twilight and Spike both laughed.

"You guys have a good time, I'll see you both later!" Twilight said as she smiled and waved along with Spike as the duo left the library. Rainbow perked up as soon as the library door closed.

"First thing's first, I am testing your ability to fly!" Rainbow said, flaring her wings. Clyde just stared at her.

"Already? Well, that's fine with me. What do you want to do to... test my ability?" Clyde asked, not sure what to say.

"My house is right on the edge of town in this general direction. It's a big place on a cloud, you cannot miss it, how about a race to there?" Rainbow asked, taking a ready stance. Clyde followed suit.

"I'm warning you, I have never raced in my life, but I have flown for hours at a time." Clyde said with a sudden hint of confidence in his voice.

"Good, means I'll have a challenge!" With that, Rainbow started flying, and Clyde quickly got off his feet and began to fly. Clyde's form was different from Rainbow's. Clyde used brute strength in his flapping motion, where Rainbow used a very quick, agile flapping motion. Nevertheless, Clyde kept up. The two flown at ridiculous speeds for about a minute until a large house on a cloud appeared on the horizon. It was then that Rainbow began to speed up, giving her all. Clyde's wing speed barely sped up, but he put more strength into it, and he surpassed Rainbow, beating her to the house by around 5 seconds. Rainbow was out of breath, but Clyde still had plenty of energy.

"That was.. Amazing.." Rainbow managed to say. "You could seriously be a Wonderbolt." Clyde looked at her, confused.

"What's a Wonderbolt?" Clyde asked.

"I should've known you would have no idea what they are. The Wonderbolts are the strongest fliers in Equestria, and are the leaders of the Equestrian Pegasus Military Force. I will be a part of them some day." Rainbow said, not hiding her pride.

"That sounds interesting. Your flying is impressive, I don't see why you wouldn't become one some day." Clyde said, nodding.

"My flying? What about yours? We have to find out what your wing power is! C'mon, I have a wing power tester in the back of my place." Rainbow said as she flew over to the back side of her house. Clyde followed to be met by a small, fan-like machine. Rainbow flared her wings once again. "This is how it is done." She said as she began to fly at the small machine. When she passed it, the fan spun, and she quickly looked at the dial connected to the machine. "17.5? Nice! Not my record of 18, but close enough!" She shouted. She motioned for Clyde to try. Clyde flew at the machine, working up his speed as powerfully as he could, as Rainbow demonstrated. When he passed the machine and Rainbow looked at the dial, her jaw dropped.

"How did I do? Clyde asked, genuinely curious. Rainbow stepped away from the machine.

"You got a 26. Clyde, those wings can slice through time itself." She said, jokingly but still very impressed. "I'm already beat, Why don't I show you where you will be staying tonight so we can each catch our breath?" Rainbow asked.

"Sure." Clyde answered, not even tired. The two enter the huge house which had a lot of white and cyan colored walls, littered with posters and decor relating to the Wonderbolts and Rainbow herself. Rainbow directed Clyde towards a room close to the entrance of the house.

"This is the room. It is small and only has a bed and desk, I hope it's enough." Rainbow said, sheepishly.

"It's more than enough." Clyde said with no hesitation. Clyde noticed a picture of Rainbow from when she was a filly, standing next to a yellow filly with a pink mane. "Who is this pony standing next to you?" Clyde asked.

"Oh, that's Fluttershy, she was my best friend in school." Rainbow answered.

"Fluttershy? The quiet one?" Clyde asked.

"Yep. are you surprised that we were friends back then?" Rainbow asked, with a nostalgic smile.

"Sort of, is she a great flier or something?" Clyde asked. Rainbow couldn't help but to giggle at the question.

"Quite the opposite, she struggled a lot with flying as a filly, and isn't that strong of a flier today." Rainbow said, her expression less excited, but rather reminiscent. "I always saw Fluttershy being bullied, and she did nothing to defend herself. I could not stand for it. I pushed her bullies when she wouldn't push them herself. We got to know each other very well." Rainbow said, mind clearly going back in time. "I remember one night when she was outside, crying outside of her house. It was on our first day of middle school, so I figured she was just scared. It was then when her mother stopped me. I asked her why, and her mother began to cry." Rainbow was struggling to tell the story. "One of her bullies went too far and told her that she was worthless and a whole bunch of things like that. If it were me, I would shrug it off as some pony trying to bring me down.With Fluttershy, it brought her down, hard." Rainbow took a deep breath. "I protected her. I hate bullies because of what he did to her. That is why she is so introverted, because of bullying." Rainbow's words trailed off. Clyde put his hoof on her shoulder.

"You care for her a lot, don't you?" Clyde asked, knowing the answer.

"Fluttershy always kept me in check, making sure my cocky attitude didn't go too far. Even though she was in a great deal of pain, she still wasted her time on me. She really deserves that element of kindness." Rainbow said. Clyde took his hoof off her shoulder.

"You stood by her side no matter what. As far as I'm concerned, you deserve your element of loyalty as well." Clyde pointed out. Rainbow chuckled.

"You have good memory, I'm surprised you remembered I had that element. It doesn't suit me well at times." Rainbow admitted.

"I disagree. You have five friends that who you have stood by through tough times, never leaving them for your own ideals." Clyde said with a reassuring smile.

"I have been tempted. I won't lie, I have wanted to leave them at times. But I didn't, mostly because of my element. I am not perfect, Clyde. I say I am all the time, but I know I'm not. These ponies need to see me as perfect if I m ever to be a Wonderbolt." Rainbow said, looking down.

"If you are required to look perfect to be a Wonderbolt, then it sounds like the worst job ever. No pony is perfect, nor will they ever be perfect." Clyde said. "Also, it is not just because of your element. I can tell you love your friends." Clyde said. "And, Rainbow, you didn't stay with them because of your element, you stayed because you care about them." Clyde concluded.

"Thanks, Clyde. It's nice to hear some pony say that." Rainbow said, genuinely. The two stood around for a while, neither sure what to say, until Rainbow broke the silence. "Why don't we go for another race? I want to study your form a little more. But first, tell me how you learned to fly." Rainbow requested. Clyde wasn't surprised at the question.

"It's quite a long story. When I was young, my family was taken from me by Nightmare Moon. I was filled with so much hatred, but I had to stay rational in my decisions. I decided to join her small, but powerful military. There were three branches, magic users, fliers, and the strength brigade. The three were divided entirely by race. Lunar Beings are just adapted versions of ponies. I was made to fly, and fly, and fly. I got better quickly, and I moved up the ranks. I became her head flier before I reached adulthood. It was then that I spent 70% of my life flying, 10% information retrieving, 10% sleeping, and 10% hiding from Nightmare Moon's radar. My wings got powerful, and I can go days without sleep." Clyde explained. Rainbow looked at him with awe.

"That is so.. cool." She finally managed to say. "I mean, I'm sorry you had to go through all of that. It must've been very tough.

"Yeah, it was, but it is all over now." Clyde said, and it felt good saying it. "So, how about that race you offered?" Clyde asked with a confident smile.

"Wow, that's a surprise coming from you. Are you getting competitive on me?" She asked.

"Well, since I've spent years practicing, it is time to test my skills." Clyde said, with a new form of determination in his voice. Rainbow was more than happy to test his skills. With that, the two departed the house and started various races through Ponyville. The entire town could see the two soaring the sky. After many hours of tiring races, Rainbow got tired from both constant flying and repetitive losing. She seemed to have enjoyed every minute of it, though. As the sun began to set, the duo flew back to Rainbow's cloud home.

"You are an impressive flier, Clyde. What you told me couldn't have been a lie. I am completely beat, but you look like you can go for another ten races." She said, laughing.

"Honestly, I am pretty beat myself. The competitive nature of racing is tiring." Clyde said with a hint of tiredness in his voice. "you are a great flier yourself. I'm sure the Wonderbolts won't hesitate to have you." He said, reassuringly. Rainbow yawned.

"Thanks, Clyde. Well, I'm heading to bed early, have a good night, it was fun." Rainbow said, yawning once more.

"Good night, Rainbow. I agree, it was fun." Clyde concluded. Rainbow departed to her room and Clyde to the spare bedroom. Clyde lied down on the bed to restore some energy before writing the letter to Celestia. He grabbed a quill and paper and began writing.

Dear Princess Celestia,

At first, I thought Rainbow was an egotistical jerk who only thought of herself. I was very wrong. She told me about her relationship with Fluttershy. Apparently Fluttershy was bullied harshly as a kid, and Rainbow was always there for her. Rainbow told me about how she hated bullies. I think she acts so big to make up for Fluttershy, which is pointless, but thoughtful. She has a big heart to make up for her big ego. She has the potential to become a powerful flier some day. She has genuine love for her friends, I can tell. She also admitted to her own flaws, which I was impressed by. She taught me that first impressions mean nothing. She has taught me how to have a friendly competitive nature, which I barely knew existed until today. I am looking forward to writing to you tomorrow.

Yours Truly,

Clyde