She had done it. After months of hard work, she had finally accomplished the impossible. The crowd's silence was deafening as Rainbow Dash landed gracefully in the middle of the Canterlot Colosseum. No one was expecting it, no one would have even thought it possible, but it happened. Rainbow Dash furled her wings and stood proud as a rumble started to emanate through the stands. Hushed whispers at first, but they soon started to grow.
“Was that really...?”
“What did I just see?”
“... how did she do that, Daddy?”
As the whispers grew into a cacophony of cheers, Rainbow Dash stole a glance up towards the VIP stand and saw the Wonderbolts whispering amongst each other. Normally, they would clap along with the crowd, but this time they were only whispering; clearly something was going on up there, and Rainbow Dash had a feeling she knew what it was, or at least hoped she did.
“RAINBOW DASH, THAT WAS AMAZING!”
Rainbow Dash tore her eyes away from her idols and gave a grateful smile to her friends. They were all cheering as loud as they could (Pinkie Pie was the loudest). Even Fluttershy had improved, cheering and hollering even louder than on the day Rainbow Dash had successfully pulled off the Sonic Rainboom. The Wonderbolts could wait. Right now, a celebration was in order.
The after party at Canterlot Castle was in full swing as Rainbow Dash stood amongst a throng of ponies congratulating her.
“Oh my gosh, I can't believe you pulled it off, Dashie! I was totally worried when you flew so close to the ground but then you-” Pinkie Pie started to reenact the next scene with wild hoof motions and sound effects. Rainbow Dash smiled as Pinkie entertained the crowd with her antics. After so many months of training, she needed some time to be with her friends and what better way to get back in the swing of things than to bask in Pinkie’s seemingly never ending supply of energy? “And then you did that thing with the cloud and wowie zowie, that was awesome!” Rainbow Dash's other friends had been mingling nearby and as soon as Pinkie Pie had to take a breath, Fluttershy made her approach.
“That was really spectacular, Rainbow Dash. Um... did you hear me cheering?”
Rainbow Dash gave her a cocky smile. “Of course I did! It was your cheering that pushed me through to the end. You have quite a voice, Fluttershy.” She laughed inwardly as her friend gave out a small “meep!” and muttered something about not knowing she had it in her.
“Yes, that was certainly was a very educational performance, Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow Dash turned around and glanced at Twilight, eyebrows raised inquisitively. “What are you talking about? Educational on how awesome I am?”
“No, educational on how much we still don’t know about the world. Rainbow Dash, you just broke at least three of the base laws of magic and physics.”
“See? Even nature knows how incredibly awesome I am!”
“I'm serious Dash, scholars are going to want to study you now. You have to understand that there will be a lot of questions that need to be answered and-”
But before Twilight could continue, a hoof was placed on her shoulder and a set of green eyes told her to drop it. Applejack then turned to her rival and shot her a friendly smile. “Well shoot, Rainbow! That sure was some fancy flyin' out there. Why, I never would'a believed it if I hadn't done seen it with mah own eyes. What're you gonna call that new trick o' yer's?” Rainbow Dash looked thoughtful for but a moment before quickly answering.
“The most awesome name ever! I call it The Most Awesome Trick You Will Ever See!”
Applejack cocked an eyebrow before responding. “Yeah, but what is its name? Y'know, what're gonna call the trick?”
“The Most Awesome Trick You Will Ever See!”
“... wait. Yer tellin' me that the name of this here trick is The Most Awesome Trick You Will Ever See?”
“Yup! What'ya think? Like it?”
“Uh... yeah? It sure is... somethin'...”
“It certainly is something, Rainbow Dash. And so was your performance.” Taken by surprise, the six friends watched as a brilliant white alicorn materialized in front of them. Along with the crowd, they quickly fell to their knees in the traditional show of respect. Twilight was the first up and immediately ran to her mentor.
“Princess! We didn't see you in the stands during the competition.”
“Urgent business had me preoccupied, my faithful student. But I did arrive just in time to see Rainbow Dash's spectacular performance.” All eyes turned to Rainbow Dash.
For once, the colorful pegasus couldn't bring herself to boast. She didn’t know exactly why; she’d never felt particularly uncomfortable around the Princess. Perhaps she just had a lot on her mind. Turning aside her gaze, she nodded sheepishly. “Aw thanks, princess. It was nothing...”
“Nothing? No need to be so modest, Rainbow Dash. This is your day, live it up.” And with that she nodded to them and gracefully walked over to where some of the coordinators of the competition were chatting.
Rarity chose this moment to step in. “Rainbow Dash, darling, I must say that your performance has inspired me.” She dramatically raised a hoof to the ceiling. “Watching your trick, the colors you created, the way you moved... it was all so artistic!”
“Uh... thanks?”
“And as soon as I'm done with my new creation, you can have a set for free! Oh, I know it'll look just divine on you, dear!”
Rainbow Dash smiled gratefully at her friend. She did want to spend more time with all of them, but for some reason the crowd was causing her to feel... stuffy?
“Hey girls, I think I need some fresh air. I'll be back in a bit.” And with that she backed out of the mass of ponies before any of her friends could follow her. She found a secluded balcony and sat down at the nearest bench. Rainbow Dash looked up at the clear night sky and sighed.
“What's the matter with me...? Any other day, I would kill for this attention. Why am I feeling so weird about things all of a sudden?”
“I didn't take you for someone who talks to herself.”
Rainbow Dash spun around and came face to face with Spitfire. Her lifelong idol was standing in front of her and all Rainbow Dash could do was keep her mouth from hanging to far open.
“What's with that face? This certainly isn't the first time we met.” Spitfire walked over and sat next to Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow Dash, from what I know of you, you should have been a lot more... lively out there. You feelin' ok?”
“Yeah! Sure… uh…” She looked over at Spitfire with less than lively eyes. “Hey, Spitfire?”
“Yeah?”
“Are you going to… well…?”
Spitfire scratched her chin and smiled at Rainbow Dash. “Well... I guess it's pretty obvious, isn’t it? I was going to wait until after the party, but I suppose now is as good a time as any. As captain of the Wonderbolts, I formally invite you to join our flying team as we carry Equestrian pride across our fair country. You will be following in the footsteps in some of the greatest fliers the world has ever known and... uh... becoming a part of the next generation of...” Spitfire couldn't finish as Rainbow Dash didn't seem to be listening. In fact, she had walk away from Spitfire and continued to stare up at the stars.
“You know what they remind me of, Spitfire?”
Spitfire followed her gaze. “You mean the stars?”
“My friend, Twilight Sparkle. She loves the stars. She's always dragging us along on her astronomy trips. I always tell her how boring they are but really... it's nice to spend time with my friends like that.”
Spitfire said nothing. She knew that Rainbow Dash was loyal to her friends and that this could be an issue. Instead of trying to comfort Rainbow Dash with words that could easily turn out to be empty, she let her continue talking. This was something that Rainbow Dash would have to work out for herself.
“I've never really cherished my friends as much as I do now. I've never had to... even think about leaving them all.” Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
Spitfire looked into the young pegasus's eyes and stood up from the bench. She walked on over to the railing and leaned against it. Staring out to nowhere in particular she started to speak.
“I was twenty three when I was made a Wonderbolt. All my friends told me to follow my dreams but I knew how they really felt about it. My first few months away from home were the worst. I would sometimes wake up in tears after having a terrible nightmare. Nightmares about never seeing my friends or family again. Sometimes I wouldn't even be able to sleep from worries of what was going on at home.”
Spitfire glanced over to Rainbow Dash who was hanging on every word she said. “The truth is... I don't know if I actually made the right choice in leaving them. Sure, I still see them but my relationship with those back at home has never been the same since I left. This is something we all have to deal with, Rainbow. Do we follow our dreams? Or do we follow our friends?” Spitfire suddenly smiled as a thought came to her. “And hey, at least your home is closer to Cloudsdayle than mine was. You would have visits to look forward to.”
Spitfire waited for a while before realizing that Rainbow Dash wasn't going to say anything else. “So what will you do?”
“It depends. How many times per year will I be able to see my friends?”
Spitfire chose her words as carefully as she could. “Well, you would obviously be able to see them during the holidays. The training regime is pretty tough, but it isn’t unbearable. I'd say about twelve times per year, so one weekend every month or so.” Rainbow Dash looked at the ground and mumbled something inaudible. After a few tense moments, she looked up and into Spitfire's eyes.
“Give me some time to talk to my friends. Then you'll have your answer.” And with that, she took off into the night.