Defenders of Harmony

“Come on! You’re pathetic!” yelled Rainbow Dash from the sky.

“Well, excuse me, but I’ve only been a pegasus for 20 minutes!” I cried, flapping my wings pitifully to get off the ground. I had been trying to get up to Rainbow Dash, who was 10 feet in the air, for about 15 minutes. Try as I might, I couldn’t seem to get more than a few feet off the ground. Rainbow was losing patience.

“I was able to fly before I could walk! Even if you aren’t technically a pegasus, you’re still a disgrace! I know fillies who can fly better than you!” shouted Rainbow, obviously displeased at my inability to get off the ground. “Even Fluttershy is better and that scardey-pony will only fly if one of her precious animals are in trouble.”

“Maybe if you taught me how to fly, I’d be able to do better!” I shouted angrily. I could expect no help from anypony. Only Fluttershy might’ve been able to help me, but she left with Twilight to wait for Celestia’s letter.

“You can’t be taught how to fly! You either have it or you don’t. Apparently, you don’t have it! Of all the useless fliers I’ve seen in my life, you are by far the worst! If you aren’t in the air in five seconds, I’m going home, locking my door, and leaving you out in the cold!” She held up her hand, spreading out each of her fingers. “One” she said, lowering a finger. “Two.”

“Don’t do this Rainbow! I need help!” I whined. I flapped some more, but still couldn’t get any real height.

“Three.” She was serious! I needed to get up there.

“Four.” Rainbow was right. I am pathetic. Her insults bounced around in my head, amplified 1000 times. I felt myself (and my anger) rising, getting higher and higher, until I was nose to nose with the most terrifying girl I’ve ever met. I just sat there, awkwardly in mid-air, waiting for some sort of approval. I was disappointed

“Hm. You made it just in time. Don’t think you’re out of the woods, though. You still have to catch me.” said Rainbow as she zoomed away at top speed, leaving a rainbow trail behind her. How was I supposed to catch up with her?! I couldn’t quit now, though. I flew behind her, following her trail, which was fading fast. I leaned forward until my stomach was parallel to the ground, extended my arms, and flapped my wings with all my strength. The trail grew brighter and brighter. I was catching up to her! I could see why Rainbow loved flying and racing so much. The power, the adrenaline, the wind in your mane. No other way to describe it other than awesome. Simply awesome. I used this boost of adrenaline to put my wings into over-time. I flapped fast and hard, getting closer and closer. She looked back and saw I was right on her tail. Her face was priceless! Drifting to the right a little, I picked up even more speed, and was flying neck-and-neck with Rainbow Dash.

“Who’s the pathetic one now?” I asked mockingly, taking my eyes off the road. Rainbow’s face went from that of shock to one of awe then to an evil smirk.

“The one who’s about to run into that tree!” she yelled, pulling her nose up to ascend. Turning my eyes back in front of me, I saw a large oak tree coming right at me. I tried to stop, but realised I didn’t know how.

WHAM!

I collided face first with the tree. My eyes swam and warm, sticky blood dripped from my nose. I dropped to the ground, moaning faintly. When did we fly into the Everfree Forest? Why did we fly into the Everfree forest? Did she set me up to run into a tree?

“Oh my gosh! Are you alright?” came a voice from the heavens.

“I died, didn’t I? Oh well. Celestia, take me away.” I said drunkenly. A figure of blue flew down and came to rest to my right.

“Oh no! I didn’t think you were actually dumb enough to run into that tree! Now you have brain damage or something! You’re going to die aren’t you? I can’t live with that! You actually seemed like a cool pegasus and I killed you! My life is ruined!” cried Rainbow Dash in despair.

“Rainbow Dash?” I asked. She nodded, hanging on to every word. “Come closer.” She shuffled up until she was a few inches away from me.

“What is it?” she sniffled, tears running down her face.

“I want you to know something.” I said, breathing shallowly.

“Yes? What is it? Anything, I’ll do it! You’re going to die because of me! Please let me honor your last request!”

“Come in closer.” I said faintly. She put her ear a few centimeters from my mouth.

“Yes?” she whispered.

“You’re a jackass.” I whispered, pushing her off. I stood up relatively unharmed and quite amused at the results. Rainbow Dash was confused, relieved, and angry all at the same time.

“You’re ok?!” she asked in outrage.

“Yup.” I replied, grinning.

“And you just let me think you were going to die?!” yelled Rainbow. Uh-oh. Perhaps angering the only pony who will give me a place to stay was a bad idea. I couldn’t help myself though! That prank was too perfect.

“Yeah. You should have seen the look on your face!”

“How did you fake your nose getting broken?”

“I didn’t. That’s real. I actually did run headlong into a tree, just nowhere near as bad as you thought. I’ll just ask Twilight to fix my nose later.”

“You ran into an oak tree at top speed just so you could prank me?”

“I did it to earn your respect. It seemed to have worked. I believe you referred to me as a ‘cool pegasus’. Unless I’m mistaken.”

“I-I just said that to console you. I thought you were gonna die, so I tried to make you feel better in your last moments. That’s all.” said Rainbow blushing.

“Right. Shouldn’t we actually get to your house? Although I can’t fly anymore. I think I did receive a concussion. Walk me there?” I said, offering my left arm. She grabbed it, draped it across her neck, and flew, taking me in the air with her. We flew for a short moment until we were in front of a huge, ginormous cloud-house. Floating me down to the surface of the cloud, she said, “Welcome to my awesome house… of awesomeness.”

She wasn’t boasting. It was pretty amazing. It was huge, at least three stories tall. It had ornate arches and beautiful detailing. The ground had some sort of rainbow liquid cascading over the side, and an actual rainbow arched over the back of the house. It was beautiful.

“Whoa.” I said in awe. Rainbow stepped forward, leading me to her door. I followed her as she opened her door and entered her home. It was completely empty. There were multiple floors, but no stairs to get up there. The only real structures in her house were a television, a refrigerator, and a stove.

“If you want somewhere to sit, you can just pull up some of the cloud.” said Rainbow Dash, yanking a tuft of cloud out of the ground. Planting her butt on the makeshift chair, she said, “Well? Are you gonna sit or do you need an invitation?” I followed her example, grabbed a heaping fistful or two of cloud across from Rainbow Dash, and sat down. Immediately, I sank through the ground. I fell through until I felt a hand around my ankle.

“Get up here, you moron!” shouted Rainbow Dash, hoisting me up by the foot. She held me upside down, staring at me. “When you sit on a cloud, you have to let loose and become as light as the cloud in spirit. Relax a little. I swear I won’t bite.” I turned myself upright and tried to calm down. I looked at Rainbow Dash in the face. The brash angry look in her eye was gone, replaced with care and compassion. I tried again to sit down, and this time I was able to stay up.

“Cool! And super comfy!” I said pleased.

“Yeah, well, don’t get used to it. As soon as Celestia writes back, you’re gone.” replied Rainbow, toughness in her voice once more.

“Don’t you ever get lonely here? It’s a large place.”

“Why do you care? Are you trying to say I don’t have any friends? If I want company, I’ll ask for company.” said Rainbow Dash grumpily.

“Calm down. I just wanted to see if you were as cool as I’ve heard.”

“I’m not. I’m even cooler. At least 20% cooler than you could ever be.”

“Just wanted to make sure. But, really. Don’t you get lonely?” I said, refusing to drop the subject. She looked flustered for a while and finally answered with,

“Sometimes. Fluttershy comes over every now and then and Scootaloo will stay with me sometimes, when she doesn’t want to be at the orphanage. I wish she’d stay over more.”

“Why don’t you just ask her?” I asked.

“As if she want’s to hang out with me. I mean, look at me! Since I was a filly, I’ve had a dream. I wanted to join the Wonderbolts. My whole life was wasted, trying to join a team that’ll never have me. What use does Scootaloo have for a pony who can’t join some stupid flying team?” said RD hopelessly.

“Wow. And you call me an idiot. Can’t you see that Scootaloo adores you? Wonderbolt, not a Wonderbolt, captain of the Wonderbolts, banned from the Wonderbolts. It doesn’t matter to her. Just hang out with her.”

“What makes you think you know so much about Scoots?”

“I dunno. Sometimes words will just flow out of my mouth. I can’t always make sense out of what I say. Just ignore it.” I said with a smile. She sat there for a second, contemplating. I think it worked.

“Thank you.” said Rainbow Dash, a new power in her voice. “I’m starting to like you more and more Silver Rift. It’s getting late. Yank up some cloud and hit the hay.” I made my bed (Quite literally), laid down, and fell asleep almost at once.