A blur of prismatic colors streaked across the sky, moving at speeds only heard of in legends. Eyes watched from below, following the rainbow streak as it shot across the flight track, going the length over and over again, before she shot across the finish line one last time, and soared into the sky, doing a couple of unnecessary and theatrical loop-de-loops.
Rainbow Dash loved hanging with her friends, whether it was at a party, at a sports competition, or even just occasional tea time with Fluttershy. But her heart would always belong to the limitless expanse of the sky, where she could soar and fly to her heart’s content.
Or, heck, just race along on the same track fifty times over.
Sweating profusely, panting to catch her breath, Rainbow Dash landed in front of the flight captain. “Did I...” She gupled in a breath of sweet, fresh air. “Did I break the record?”
Spitfire checked the watch. “Oh, yeah,” she said. “Almost eight seconds faster than the old. That one’s gonna be hard to break.”
“YES!” Rainbow Dash cried, leaping into the air. “Whoo-hoo! In your face, Soarin! You’re paying for tonight’s cider.”
Soarin grumbled to himself, then curiously looked over at the time Spitfire jotted down. His eyes bulged, and he leaned in. “Whoa. I didn’t know ponies could go that fast.”
“Not even my top speed,” Rainbow bragged. “But, uh, fifty laps is its own problem, so I slowed down to keep going longer.”
“That’s going in the Hall of Records,” Spitfire said. “Quickest time on the most laps, and the most cider drunk afterwards.”
“I haven’t drunk any yet,” Rainbow pointed out, raising an eyebrow.
“I’ve seen you during Cider Season,” Spitfire said. “Soarin’s gonna be out more than a few bits over this one, Crash.”
Soarin winced.
Spitfire trotted back inside, heading for the Hall of Records. Rainbow followed, with Soarin dragging his head in shame. Spitfire pulled out the laps records, adding Rainbow Dash’s new one to the list.
“Fifty laps in twenty-two seconds,” Rainbow said, holding her head high. “Not too shabby, if I say so myself.” She looked around curiously. Not that this was her first time here, but she could never spend enough time to go over all the many great achievements of the Wonderbolts.
Though the record of most records actually went to Spitfire, who held three other records and thus had her name carved onto a golden cup, which had several smaller trophies sticking out of it.
Rainbow Dash’s was going to go right next to her other one, for, of course, the Sonic Rainboom. And then...
Rainbow paused, trotting over to a trophy she hadn’t seen before. And no wonder that was. The trophy was bent at a weird angle, the cup part caved in slightly, and one of the handles was missing. Rainbow squinted, reading the number on the trophy.
It was ‘two’.
“Hey, what’s this?” she asked Spitfire.
Spitfire looked up, eyes shooting for the dented up trophy. “Fastest honorary Wonderbolt,” she said.
“Honorary...?”
“She was fast, and one of the best fliers I’ve ever seen,” Spitfire said. “But because of other reasons, she couldn’t be a Wonderbolt, so we gave her that. Made her happy.”
“Really? Who?”
“Derpy Hooves,” Spitfire said, writing down the date. “And done. Your record, and Soarin’s empty wallet, are up for all to see.”
“Did you have to write down the betting part, too?” Soarin asked, rubbing his mane.
“Hold up, Derpy? Derpy? The same one who cries if she drops one of her specialty muffins? Who accidentally destroyed Ponyville Town Hall twice? Consecutively?”
Spitfire looked back to Rainbow Dash. “Uh, yeah. Same one.”
“Huh. I guess...she wanted to be a Wonderbolt?”
“Yeah. But you know how her vision is bad?”
Rainbow nodded.
“Well, flying those tight courses became impossible for her at a certain point, so...we couldn’t let her join,” Spitfire said. “Tragic, but it was what it was. I wasn’t captain at the time, mind you, but I’d have made the same decision.”
“I...I raced her back in Flight Camp,” Rainbow Dash said. “She was faster than me for the longest time, until...”
Until her vision started going.
Rainbow felt a sick feeling in her stomach.
“Yeah. Actually, I think you only narrowly beat her record.” Spitfire gestured to the plaque below the trophy.
“One lap in...three-point-two seconds?”
“And that was after bouncing off nearly every single wall,” Spitfire chuckled. “If it weren’t for her eyes, she’d probably be faster than you.”
The words echoed around in Rainbow’s head for a minute, as she looked back to the trophy. “Yeah, maybe,” Rainbow said softly. “Hey, Spitfire?”
“What is it, Crash?”
“I’m gonna head back to Ponyville for the day.”
It wasn’t, strictly speaking, the longest journey back to Ponyville. Especially when she was Rainbow Dash.
She landed in town with her saddlebags on her back, then paused to catch her breath. So, perhaps, flying the fifty-lap course, then flying back to Ponyville left her a little out of breath, but she dusted herself off and kept moving.
Rainbow Dash was, after all, awesome.
Without too much idea of where to look, she checked the Cakes’ store. She pushed the door open to find Mrs. Cake struggling with Pound Cake while Mr. Cake sat behind the counter.
“Hey, Rainbow Dash!” he called out. “Didn’t know you were coming back today.”
“Yeah, had somepony I wanted to talk to,” Rainbow Dash said. “You seen Derpy around?”
“She should still be at the Pony Express,” Mr. Cake said slowly.
“Thanks! Hey...how about some muffins?”
“Muffins? For Derpy?”
“Yeah. A dozen. She likes the plain ones?”
“She likes all of them, but at this time, she normally grabs the plain ones,” Mr Cake confirmed. “Here, let me get those packaged for you.”
Rainbow nodded. “Hey, do you send mail by Pony Express often?”
“Semi-often, anyway. Derpy’s their fastest courier. Only one who can provide same-day delivery service.” He chuckled. “No, seriously. I’ve received packages all the way from Vanhoover before, the same day they were sent. That pony loves her job. I’ve heard that she once fought a bugbear to make sure that the package wasn’t damaged.”
“You know, I actually pity the bugbear,” Rainbow said slowly. Taking the package, she said, “Thanks for the muffins!” and flew out the door.
The Pony Express was a small building on the north side of town. Rainbow had never given it too much thought--she only rarely sent letters, and when dragon-mail wasn’t an option, she was usually out of town anyway.
It was just the same as she remembered it, regardless. A one-story building with drab walls that would, and had, made Rarity cry, with a storage room in the back for packages. And, behind the front desk was a familiar gray pegasus with crossed eyes.
“Hello, Rainbow!” she said, with an excited wave of her hoof.
“Hi, Derpy,” Rainbow replied. “You got a minute to talk?”
“I’m not sure, it’s a slow day, but--”
Rainbow set the basket of muffins on the desk.
“--I can spare a moment,” Derpy said, eagerly snatching one.
The two moved over to a small table to the side, Derpy happily chewing on muffins. "So," she said, "what's up? Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, everything's fine, I just...I saw your trophy. At...the Hall of Records."
Derpy chewed thoughtfully for a moment.
"I guess...I just never knew you'd applied."
"Well, yes," Derpy admitted. "But I didn't qualify."
"You were more than good enough," Rainbow said firmly. "You just..."
Derpy stared at her. "I didn't qualify," she repeated. "It's not about how good I was, Rainbow. You don't see many Earth ponies in the Wonderbolts, though I think there was at least one." She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I forgot about the trophy, though. They still keep it up there?"
"Of course! I only barely beat your speed," Rainbow said. "I had no idea you were so fast."
"Well, I try my best," Derpy said, blushing.
"Do you...ever regret...not being able to join?"
Derpy swallowed, thinking. "Eh. Sometimes, I guess."
"You guess?"
"I mean, I'm really happy where I am," she said. "I get to deliver packages all over Equestria, and see really happy faces when packages they've been waiting for arrive. I'm glad I got to work this job!" She grinned, happily. "No use worrying about what I can't do, right?" She pushed a muffin, rolling it across the table to Rainbow Dash. It bumped into her hoof, coming to an abrupt stop. "I gave it a try, and I didn't quite make it. They were super nice about it, and even gave me that trophy, though they would have had to melt it down anyway." She paused, then continued. "But I don't really regret it. I would have lived a happy life, but I'm happy now." She smiled at Rainbow Dash. "Isn't that what matters?"
"Well, I mean," Rainbow stammered. "I just hate that you had to miss out just because...well..."
"I have cross eyes?" Derpy smiled. "I don't mind. I break some things, sure, and can't fly in a straight line usually...but it is what it is, Rainbow. You can't change it. I've made peace with it. That's all." She smiled.
"What if I could? I'm sure there's a magic artifact thingie somewhere around that could do it."
Derpy thought that over. "Then give it to somepony who needs it more," she said. She grinned.
Rainbow stared.
"I'm happy where I am, Dashie," she said. "Nothing else matters. Old dreams, old boo-boos...it's all just stale muffins." She lifted one up, balanced on top of her hoof. "You can sit there staring at it, but that won't make it un-stale. Just eat it, and accept it for what it is." She threw the muffin into her mouth, chewing.
"I guess," Rainbow admitted. "I guess I never...thought about how awesome it was that...I could go and do the thing I wanted to. And how other ponies...would never be allowed that chance." She rolled the muffin to her other hoof, thinking. "I mean...I joined up, and became an actual Wonderbolt, and...things worked like I wanted them too. No problems. And anything could have gone wrong. At any point. So...I should be thankful for what I have."
Derpy nodded. "See? That's all there is too it." She smiled. "You can take pain, and hold on to it. But you should let it go. Accept it, move on." She gestured to her eyes. "We tried to fix that. It didn't work. I couldn't just keep crying about how I wanted to be a Wonderbolt. And...I kind of wanted to. Sometimes, it hurt a lot. But I didn't. I accepted it, and...well, here I am!" She gestured at the office around her. "It may have been my second pick, but it was the best second pick I could have hoped for! And I wouldn't trade it for anything."
"Huh. That's...a good way of looking at it, Muffins. You may not look it, but...you're awesome, you know? To be able to keep smiling like that, after all you went through." Rainbow took a bite of her muffin, chewing thoughtfully. She swallowed, then said, "Thanks for the chat. I won't take up any more of your time! Oh, and if you ever feel like racing..." She gave her wings a flutter. "I'm always game!" she announced.
"That could be fun. I'll take you up on that sometime!" Derpy said. "Bye-bye!"
Rainbow waved, taking her muffin and flying out. She flew through Ponyville, landing on the front steps of her cloud house, staring down at the muffin in her hooves.
"You're awesome."
Author's Note
A one-shot centered around the character they tried to remove, but the fandom wouldn't let them! Derpy's an unstoppable machine who keeps on keeping on, even in the face of all that happens to her. In the light of bad things happening to me, it seemed like a good thing to write about.
In any case, well wishes to all my fellow ponies! Hope you enjoyed, hope to see you next time, and hope you keep on keeping on!
