"Hey, great flying today, Rainbow Dash!" chirped the friendly voice of another adoring fan at the rope line.
"Thanks..."
"Please, please! Could I have your hoofprint for my sister?! She's your biggest fan in the whole wide world of Equestria!"
"Sure thing, kid..."
"Do you have any advice for somepony who wants to be in the Wonderbolts?!"
"Uhh... just keep at it, y'know? You'll make it."
Such questions weren't uncommon as she made her way out of the arena to her golden pegasus-drawn carriage. A few dozen camera flashes later and a few dozen hoofsteps that took entirely too long later, she rapped a couple times with her hoof on the front rail and waved to the crowd before the pair of Royal Guards took to the sky with them.
"So... good flyin' like always, Newbie," the team captain said, slapping her on the back.
Rainbow spared a glance at Spitfire and nodded.
"Yeah. Thanks."
"Girl, I tell ya, I've never seen a turnout like that before. Never heard a crowd that could deafen me in the middle of a routine either," she said, leaning back and sipping on a glass of sparkling apple cider.
The drink label looked all too familiar.
"Yeah... pretty cool," she muttered.
Rainbow leaned against the side of the carriage and gazed down at the glitzy, sprawling metropolis of Manehattan far below, set beneath the gleaming sunset sky off in the distance. The hairs on the back of her neck tingled, and she knew that Spitfire was staring at her.
"And how 'bout that rope line, huh? Might need to hire more security for our next show if the fan base keeps growin' like it is."
Rainbow did her best to ignore the aroma of the cider tickling her nose. She failed.
"Yeah..." she sighed, closing her eyes.
There was silence for a moment, and Rainbow felt her hackles stand on end with the imminent discussion.
"Y'know, Rainbow Dash... if there's somethin' bugging you, you can always—"
"Mm'fine, Spits."
Her sharp tone apparently caught her captain off-guard, as she had a few more precious moments of silence. Then...
"All I'm saying is that... if there's anything you wanna talk about—"
"There isn't."
"If there's anything you wanna talk about..." Spitfire cut in, "... then we're a team and we're here to help you, y'know? Me, Soarin, Fleetfoot, Rapid Fire... you can talk to any one of us if you need to." A gentle but firm hoof landed on her withers, brushing up and down between her wings.
Her fur bristled. She hated the way it felt.
Taking a calming breath, Rainbow looked at her and said, "I'm fine, Captain. Just a little off my game, that's all..."
"Your game wasn't the only thing that was off, kid." Spitfire was quiet, seemingly selecting her words carefully. "It's your distance from everypony that I don't get."
Dash turned away and pondered her reflection in a passing skyscraper.
"It's my personal life, Spits. It's none of your business, so butt out of it."
Heat flared up on her left, and Rainbow winced at the earful she knew she was about to receive.
"Newbie... it becomes my business when it's affecting how you work with the rest of the squadron. It becomes my business when you're acting like a royal ass to your commanding officer to her face. And it sure as hay becomes my business when I don't even know you anymore!"
A yank on Rainbow's wing joint caused her to wince, and Spitfire angrily spun her in her seat.
"We're talking about this and settling it right now," she hissed in Dash's face before releasing her hold on her. "'Cause I don't know if I can take another three months of you showing your flank like this."
Rainbow Dash leveled her gaze with Spitfire's and the two shared a long, tense silence. She turned away and slumped in her seat, staring ahead, at everything and at nothing.
The atmosphere soothed slightly, and there was nothing but the breeze and the distant bustle of the city far below at first.
“Come on, Rainbow Dash… level with me,” Spitfire said softly. “I thought I was your friend.”
All the tension in Dash released at once, and she deflated, sitting back against her seat. “Yeah… I'm sorry, Spits. I've been a real pain in the rump lately...”
“And it ain't like you,” her captain agreed, brow smoothing over.
“Yeah...”
Silence.
“It wasn't Ocean Wind, was it?”
“Huh?”
“That girl you met at that bar a couple weeks ago. Did that go sour or somethin'? Was she just another one of those money-grubber types?”
“No, no… she… she was great,” Rainbow interrupted quickly, burying her face in her hoof with a sigh.
Ocean Wind had been one of a string of mares she'd dated over the past several months. She'd been nice. A little quiet. Not too interesting. She'd been one of the flower-picker tree-hugging types. Not exactly fifth-date material.
At least that'd gone better than Firebrand – a few ciders too many in that girl and no bedroom was close enough for her…
Rainbow looked at Spitfire. “She just… wasn't the one, y'know?”
“Hmmm… no fun? Too quiet?”
“Nah… just not… right, y'know?”
“Any reason why?”
Rainbow slouched and looked westward, past the glassy towers and shimmering spires towards darker, simpler lands beyond. Off in the distance she could see the occasional light flickering, and she couldn't help but wonder if one of them was her bedroom window…
“She just wasn't the one...”
Rainbow Dash had dated movie stars, fans, fellow celebrities, athletes, and even had a drunken one-night stand with a politician in there somewhere. All had had their own special something, but there was still one problem.
“Dash?”
Rainbow looked ahead as the pegasus carriage descended, sliding to a landing on the street and coming to a halt in front of their hotel. “She just didn't make me feel like… like I had somepony to show off for...” she muttered, pushing herself up out of her seat.
“Where you headed?” Spitfire asked after her. “You look beat. Shouldn't you rest up for our show tomorrow? It's another sold-out. You'll wanna be at your best.”
She slumped, looking at the ground. “Sure… if you say so...” she said, trotting off towards the park.
“Newbie.”
Rainbow stopped and looked at her captain.
“You know, right? You know you have ponies you can talk to about anything...”
She turned away and sighed, continuing to walk.
“Not about this...”
***
Rainbow's walks were always lonely. She could be distracted from it so long as she had some hot piece of rump under her wing, nuzzling her and telling her how great she was and how great it was to be with her.
Everypony knew she was an awesome flier. She'd established that the second she'd been admitted to the Wonderbolts. She'd made it obvious when sixteen different rags called her the best flier to ever perform in the modern era.
She took the photos. She went to the dinners and dances. She hobnobbed, dated the ponies too good for anypony else, got mixed up in the controversies and stayed out late doing things she never remembered doing the next morning. She had all the fame and fortune she could ever want, and could pretty much buy anything short of a magical horn and the throne that came with it.
And all of it rang empty.
Every fan that fawned at her hooves failed to make her heart tick with joy and excitement. Every one was a little slap in the face reminder.
In truth, all the fans in the world couldn't placate Rainbow's empty hunger. Every face she passed by in the park lit up as they recognized her, bouncing in excitement just to catch a glimpse of the Wonderbolts' latest rock star. A number of tourists took pictures, and continued only to further confirm what she already knew.
Then they were gone again, passing away like shadows in a light, like they never even existed in the first place, and Dash knew that she would likely never see them again.
It had been great the first few months. Signing Vinyl Scratch's new platinum album had been neat at the time, and she never lacked for ponies to hang out with. Spitfire and the gang were cool, and all the mares she had dated up to that point had been… well, interesting at least.
But like the parties, the energy she got from them faded too, until she was just as alone as the day she read that letter that Applejack had left her.
At first, she had wanted to be angry. Her entire paycheck, in fact, from that show, had been spent on repairing the hotel room she had thoroughly demolished.
Then she read it again, more carefully this time, and not blinded by the seething rage of being broken up with via letter.
Then she'd tried to read it once more with shaky hooves and hot pouring tears.
Applejack had been clear about it. She simply couldn't maintain the lifestyle of following somepony all across Equestria who never went home. She had a home, family, and friends to attend to, not to mention the farm itself.
Rainbow Dash hated knowing she had no right to complain.
Applejack had been within her right, and it hurt. Because now, whenever she looked down at the stadium, whenever her eyes glazed over the teeming masses far below, she knew she wouldn't see an orange and yellow speck yee-hawing and cheering her heart and soul out for her. She wouldn't see the one pony in all the world that she had to impress above anypony else – the one pony in all of Equestria who could not even try, and still be every bit as awesome as she was at her peak.
She wouldn’t see the one reason in all of Equestria for her to push her skills that extra one percent.
Dash found a dark bench beneath a burned-out streetlamp and draped herself across it, closing her eyes and pushing away sight and sound in favor of memory.
She remembered their first date at the sandwich shop.
It hadn't been the five-star meals that she had grown used to. It hadn't been being waited on hoof one and two. They hadn't gotten into the theater with complimentary backstage access simply for gracing their establishment with her presence.
But it had been the most awesome that Rainbow Dash had ever felt when Applejack had finally broken down and said yes, because at last, she had accomplished something that mattered.
She thought when she became a Wonderbolt, it would have been more of the same. Everypony had been happy for her. Pinkie had thrown the most epic party in the history of partydom. Princesses Celestia, Luna, and even Cadence had made the trip to wish her congratulations. The entire town showed up to see her and Applejack off with cheers and thunderous applause and well wishes.
For months, it had worked. Applejack even got involved during training exercises, keeping time and bringing her drinks. Massages had a way of becoming really fun after shows.
She had returned to her hotel suite one night to a letter. And in that letter, had been Applejack's goodbye. In it, she had learned that Apple Bloom and her friends had received their cutie marks. In it, she learned that Granny Smith had passed away, and that Big Mac and Cheerilee were engaged.
And in it, Applejack had told her how she wasn't angry – she had been happy, in fact, living Rainbow's dream with her, and she wanted her to keep living it. But AJ… she couldn't keep being a part of it.
Rainbow reached into her chest pocket and took out the engagement earring she had bought for her that very night, opened the case, and looked over the apple-shaped rainbow-tinted diamond inside.
She had cried. For weeks, Rainbow Dash had been a locked-up mess in her room. There had even been talk about whether she was quitting the team, and rumors amongst the gossip columns about who the next mare in Rainbow's life would be.
She had tried to answer that question far more times than she cared admit over all these months.
But in truth, there was no new mare in Rainbow's life.
The earring still glinted. There was nothing to tarnish it except for the pain and the anguish that it yet continued to represent.
Her eyes caught focus just past the earring itself. Across the way was a small, lit phone booth.
She looked at the gem once more. Her vision blurred, and a painful choke formed in her throat, seizing her breath.
A sigh escaped her, and Rainbow Dash pushed herself to her hooves, crossed the parkway and stepped up to the phone. She fished through her pockets and deposited a bit into the coin slot. She punched in a number with her hoof.
The phone rang. Somepony answered.
“Manehattan Grande. How may I direct your call?”
“Executive Suite, please.”
“May I ask who's calling?”
“Spitfire’s staying there. Tell her Rainbow Dash wants to talk to her.”
“One moment, please.”
Rainbow looked down at the earring and set it down on the shelf, stroking the jewel with her wingtip. It shimmered brilliantly in the park lighting, and she couldn’t help but smile. It was every bit as beautiful as the day she picked it up in the store
There was some noise on the other end of the receiver.
“Rainbow, what the hay? It's... two o'clock in the morning,” her captain moaned into her receiver. “You didn't get hit with another drunken disorderly conduct charge, did you?”
“Spits… listen…”
There was quiet on the other end of the line. Rainbow knew that Spitfire knew that she would only use such a tone if something were seriously wrong.
She sighed. “Look, I don’t know how I’m gonna soften this any, so I guess I’m just gonna say it.” She inhaled. “I… I can’t make it to the show tomorrow.”
Noise on the other end of the line made it apparent her message had had a big impact.
“Rainbow Dash, what are you talking about? What’s wrong? Where are you? I’ll come and get—”
“Spits, listen… I’m fine, okay?” Rainbow swallowed the painful lump in her throat. “I’m just… I’m not gonna be in town tomorrow. I’ve got… I’ve got something that I need to do.”
“What’s ‘something’? Girl, don’t hang up on me, just tell me what’s going on.”
Dash paused, her ruby eyes reflecting the light of a platinum earring she had bought so long ago, and the warmth of a feeling she had so long wished could have died.
She closed her eyes.
“Spits… I quit.” She breathed. “I’m quitting the team.”
Loud clattering on the other end of the line.
“Dash, hold on! What do you mean you’re quitting? You… can’t just quit the team! What the hay are we supposed to do without you tomorrow?! There’ll be fifty-thousand ponies in the stands! They’re gonna want you, Rainbow Dash, and every single one of them’s going to be wondering where the hay you went!”
“So tell ‘em where I went. Tell ‘em…” She bit her lip, trying so desperately hard to stop from sobbing into the receiver. “Tell ‘em I went back to where I always belonged.”
“Rainbow Dash! Wait! Let’s talk about this first!”
“Sorry, captain,” she said softly with a smile, squeezing her eyes shut. “There’s nothing to talk about anymore. I know why I’ve been hurting so much… and I know the only way I can really fix it...”
“Rainbow Dash!”
“Seeya, Spits…”
“Newbie—”
The receiver slapped down onto the phone box, and Rainbow Dash took one last look at her old present. She hoofed it back into her chest pocket, and stepped away from the phone booth.
Then, with a mighty flap of her wings, Rainbow Dash rocketed into the air, tears of a different sort trailing off her face.
With one last look towards the mighty, wealthy, and adoring city, the pegasus flared her wings, peeled away from the skyline, and exploded westward, and on towards newer, better dreams.
