The large party banner waved in the summer wind as much as it could between two large apple trees. In bold colorful letter it read, “Congratulations Dashie!”
No small number of ponies and other assorted beings wove through the crowd as they sipped punch from red plastic cups or munched on party food or just enjoyed the revelry. A few were even dancing in a large corral set up for dancing.
An orange somewhat large for a mare wrapped a hoof around her friend's cyan neck and gave her a noogie, “Ah am so proud of you Rainbow.”
Rainbow Dash put up with Applejack’s noogie for a few seconds with a light blush across her muzzle before she pushed her away, “Alright AJ, easy on the mane.”
The cowpony chuckled and let up, “Alright, Rainbow but just ‘cause you're the mare of the hour.”
“Why Rainbow Dash I never knew you cared that much about your coiffure,” Rarity teased as she leaned in closer to the pegasus, “I've honestly never seen your mane look so radiant.”
The statement caught the attention of a number of the ponies that surrounded her chief among them were her closest friends.
Dash blushed and pawed at grass, “Well Spitfire has been on my case about taking better care of my mane and coat. Public figure and all that.”
“It's not like I haven't been trying to get you to take better care of yourself, darling,” added Rarity looking a little put out.
Rainbow bristled at the comment and opened her mouth to say something but was stopped when she noticed Fluttershy giving her a look.
“We did convince her that visiting the spa once and awhile was a refreshing and relaxing experience,” added Fluttershy with a small smile.
“If by once in awhile you mean twice a week,” Applejack smirked at Rainbow, “If she made it three times she would be as frou frou as you Rarity.”
“Hey!”
“Girls, stop teasing Rainbow Dash!” The purple princess Twilight Sparkle said as she glared at three offending ponies, “we are supposed to be celebrating her third successful year as a Wonderbolt.”
Applejack chuckled, “Sorry Rainbow ah’m just tryin’ to get you caught up on all the teasin’ you missed.”
“And if it come across as hurtful I'm sorry. I was just glad that a mare with such fine attributes was actually trying to let in shine through for a change,” Rarity said as placed a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder. Her eyebrows rose and she gave the other mare’s coat a rub, “It's… it's… so soft.”
Pinkie Pie shot through a gap between a couple of ponies and joined Rarity in petting Rainbow Dash before switching to nuzzling her instead and giggled, “Oh, Dashie your coat is soooooo soft.”
The other mares closed in to check for themselves. Rainbow tensed and then shot up in the air to land on a small cloud passing overhead, “Alright enough touchy feely stuff.”
Pinkie gave a disappointed, “Awwww.”
“I'll come down if you promise not to touch me,” said Rainbow before singling out Applejack and sticking her tongue.
Applejack was the only pony that didn't actually check to see if her coat was actually as soft as the others said it was.
The others quickly acquiesced. Applejack just rolled her eyes which caused the pegasus to ruffle her wings in irritation. She started to dive off the cloud but her ear swiveled back towards the cloud. Turning around she pushed through a short cloud bank and spotted the source of the noise.
“Geez, you guys. Get a room,” she said before giving the two non-ponies a smirk. Gallus pulled away from kissing Silverstream to give her a hard look, “Get your own cloud!”
Silverstream just blushed and gave Rainbow a goofy grin.
Rainbow facehoofed and then looked back at the two, “Don't do anything that I wouldn't do.”
She turned and walked to the edge of the cloud thinking all the while. Looking back over her shoulder thinking about all the stuff she got up to when she was their age she added, “On second thought scratch what I said, definitely don't do what I would do.”
Applejack watched Rainbow dive down and land. The most obvious change the pegasus had since leaving their sight was that she was blushing like mad. She briefly wonder what that was about.
Scootaloo made her way over to her idol and gave her a big smile, “You said you had a big surprise for everypony earlier.”
Rainbow’s muzzle stretched into a huge grin, “You bet, squirt. You want to help me?”
Scootaloo's eyes went wide, “Do I ever!”
She lifted the filly up and placed her on her back before taking off and flying into the loft of the nearby barn. After a few moments of pushing a few bales of hay around she found what she was looking for and gave it to Scootaloo to hold, “I'm going to fly up and land on the roof of the barn and hold that up real high when I tell you to.”
The filly looked it over. It was obviously some kind of trophy. It depicted six ponies forming a pyramid with the top most pony with her forelegs raised in excitement. They were all wearing Wonderbolts uniforms, “What is it?”
“A trophy, duh,” Rainbow shook her head.
“I know that,” Scootaloo blew a raspberry at the older mare, “But, for what?”
Rainbow winked at her, “You'll know when everyone else knows.”
They flew out of the barn and landed on the the roof. The ponies below milled about without really noticing. Rainbow got Twilight’s attention and gave her a nod.
The alicorn gave her friend a nod as a nimbus surrounded both her horn and Rainbow's throat for just a moment before it faded away.
Rainbow cleared her throat which while amplified caught everypony's attention, “How's it going, everypony!”
The crowd gave a cheer.
“I want to thank everypony for coming and congratulating me on my third successfully year as the best Wonderbolt!”
“Boo!” shouted three other pegasi in the crowd but Rainbow could tell that they did it in jest.
“Thunderlane, Cloudchaser, your time will come. And know that I'm still doing my best to annoy the higher ups enough to give you both places on the first string,” her grin became playful, “it's not like you can get in any other way.”
The crowd laughed at that.
“It's taken some time and a lot of hard work-”
“Kissflank!” yelled Thunderlane with a big smile.
Rainbow giggled and then continued,
“Anyways, what I was saying was that I've worked hard and continue to work hard to keep up with some pretty amazing ponies. I've had some hardships and plenty of setbacks but after three years my work has finally paid off,” Rainbow looked back at Scootaloo and nodded.
The filly raised it up high for everypony to see.
“I was voted Most Valuable Flyer of the year!”
The crowd stomped their praise. None louder than her closest friends with Pinkie yelling, “You go Dashie!”
Rainbow held up her hoof and the sound died down, “I want to thank all of you for your support. Since I've come to Ponyville from Cloudsdale all of you have made me feel welcomed. Some of you have become really good friends.”
She looked to Applejack then to Thunderlane and finally to Cloudchaser, “Three of you pushed me to my absolute physical limit and then beyond with tests of endurance, strength, and speed. Without you I wouldn't have been prepared for the rigors of professional level training that we Wonderbolts go through to prepare for our shows and races. Give it up for Applejack. Cloudchaser, and Thunderlane.”
The ponies gave them a round of applause and more than a few pats on the back. Thunderlane’s little brother gave a whoop for his older brother.
“To my oldest friends; Fluttershy, Derpy, and Cloudkicker! I want to say thank you for believing in me and giving the little brat I was a chance-”
Cloudkicker placed her hooves on either side of her muzzle and shouted, “Still a brat!”
Rainbow gave her a hard look as a number of ponies laughed at her expense.
“Ahem, for giving me a chance to have a few real friends and for giving me my first taste of the magic of friendship.”
The following applause made Fluttershy shrink a bit before she pulled herself together and give the others a small smile.
“Lastly and most importantly I want to thank the rest of my best friends for being the best friends a mare could ask for. We are all pretty awesome by ourselves but I'm sure as everypony knows from all the adventures we have had and the times that together we had the chance to be heroes several times over. Together we are Legend-” she waited a few moments, “-Dary”
The crowd went wild for the six most famous mares in Equestria.
“Thanks and enjoy the rest of the party!” With that she took to wing for a moment and then landed beside Applejack and the others gently brushing the cowpony's side with a wing.
Scootaloo hopped down and the hugged Rainbow’s leg. The older mare ruffled the younger mane, “Thanks.”
“Anytime, Rainbow Dash,” she grinned before she started to head off to find the other two Crusaders.
“Hey, where are you going with my trophy?”
Scootaloo skidded to a stop and blushed as she walked back towards Rainbow. “Sorry I just thought I would show the other girls and maybe keep it long enough for the fan club meeting tomorrow.”
Rainbow looked at the trophy and then back to Scoots before relenting, “Okay, just try not to break it and bring it back to me right after the meeting.”
Scootaloo gave her a salute, “you got it!”
Applejack and Rainbow watched the filly make her way through the crowd, “You know that you ain't getting that trophy back without a few dents and scratches right?”
“Who says that's the real one,” said Rainbow as she looked at Applejack out of the corner of her eye.
“Shoot, Rainbow! Ah, don't believe you,” Applejack bumped her shoulder against Rainbow's, “Letting a filly think she has something important and that you trusted her with it and all the while it being a fake.”
“What are you talking about AJ,” Rainbow bumped her right back, “I don't even trust me with it and that is why the real one never left the official Wonderbolts trophy case back at HQ.”
“Ah, still don't like it,” Applejack fussed with her hat.
Rainbow rolled her eyes and turned around gently flicking Applejack on the nose with her tail before looking back and giving her a wicked little grin, “So, how much longer before we can all get together and really have a party?”
Applejack rubbed her nose with her hoof and then raised an eyebrow, “Ah don’t know. You would have to ask Twilight but if Ah had to guess Ah'd say in a couple of hours.”
She expected Rainbow to complain and try to come up with an excuse put a rush order on the big sleepover party they had planned but all she did was shrug. Mostly because she always brought a keg of Sweet Apple Acres premium hard apple cider. The others usually brought their own liquors and other assorted alcoholic beverages. It was also no secret that Twilight kept enough alcohol and bar goods on hoof to put all but the town's biggest bar to shame. The alicorn claimed it was because she had to be prepared for the tastes of any visiting dignitaries or nobles but even as a unicorn the mare had a surprisingly high tolerance which had only grew since she had become a princess.
