Ponyville Square: where one can always go to see friends and friendly faces. Hellos and goodbyes, laughter and cries; everything has happened at least once within the colorful confines of this happy place.
Our tangerine friend was managing her apple stall on a busy day. It was a pleasant sort of busy. Apples sold in a steady stream. Short conversations and well-wishings changed hooves just as often as bits and goods. And today was a lovely day for being busy. Applejack had seen Rainbow Dash flitting from cloud to cloud, directing her weather team, setting up the clouds and wind for tomorrow’s weather. She worked hard to make sure everything went to plan.
The perfect morning brought friends and neighbors by and soon became a perfect afternoon which, as the stand ran out of apples, turned into a perfect evening. The sun slowly fell to the west, casting its slanted light across the town. The farm filly loaded up her cart with the apples that didn’t make it to a pony’s shopping bag, bade a good evening to Roseluck, Daisy, Carrot Top and Mayor Mare, and set off for home.
She wasn’t far along the road before she came upon a familiar cerulean figure. Rainbow Dash walked slowly down the road, her head hanging low and tail swinging limp. Applejack set a determined smile on her face and hurried to her friend’s too-lonely side.
“What’s up, RD? Y’all did a great job with the weather t’day, lot’s a’ ponies turned out. Nearly sold all my apples,” she bantered in a jovial tone.
Rainbow only looked up momentarily and though her eyes were still sad, a little smile quirked her lips. “Oh, hi, AJ. Thanks. Uh, glad to hear you sold some apples,” she mumbled at the road.
The tangerine mare shot a quick glance at Rainbow’s wings. Tucked under the blue feathers of one, she caught a glimpse of the white corner of an envelope. The top had already been torn open and a little sliver of sky blue stationery peeked out. “Got a response from ‘em, did yah?” she asked, but she already knew what it was.
Rainbow wasn’t the type to send letters often, but for the last few weeks, AJ had seen the weather pony intercept the mail ponies any time they came to town. The blue daredevil squeezed her eyes shut. “Yeah,” she sighed.
Applejack let her friend take her time.
Rainbow Dash inhaled sharply. “They said no... again.” A pitiful laugh escaped the pegasus. “At least this time Spitfire wrote it. She gets my name right, their manager never does.” She lifted her head up and adopted a silly expression with a snooty-sounding voice. “‘We currently have no spots on the main performance team. We have some openings for the junior fliers. Better luck next time. How come you never catch a break Rainbow Dash? Cuz, you’re a swell flier and all.’” Her expression instantly soured as she stuck her tongue out at the trees. “I dunno, AJ. I just... I just want a chance. They’ve seen what I can do. Is it too much to ask for? Just one chance?” She looked up at Applejack through her multi-colored hair.
“Aww, buck up, sugarcube. It ain’t the end a’ the world if yah can’t fly with ‘em. You got plenty a’ ponies here who appreciate yah. ‘Sides, what would Ah do with m’self if yah weren’t around?” She gave Rinbow a friendly nudge and a smile. “Look, Ah know you’ve been wantin’ ta fly with them Wonderbolts yer whole life. That’s a mighty fine goal ta have, not everypony can dream as big as you.” The farm filly stuck her tongue between her teeth. “Have Ah ever told yah about the tahm Big Mac went on a rodeo tour with th’ Rough n’ Rowdies?”
A cerulean ear perked up and swiveled toward her. “The Rough n’ Rowdies? Aren’t they the ones who claim to be ‘Tougher than Tough and Stronger than Strength’?”
AJ nodded with a smile. “The very same. Y’see they were in town a few years ago an’ they were stayin’ at the farm. Claimed there wasn’t a buildin’ made by ponykind that could hold ‘em, that is except an Apple Family barn it turns out. Ah think they just wanted a chance ta have some a’ Granny’s famous apple pies. Anywho, they used some of our open space ta practice an’ whatnot before the rain came that day, and Big Mac an’ me were headin’ in from the orchard. Y’know, Big Mac, he ain’t the type ta show off, but he was hawlin’ quite a few carts of apples that day. Applebuck season was underway and we were workin’ as fast as we could to harvest all them apples in tahm. Now, them rodeo ponies got ta guessn’, tryin’ ta figure out how heavy that cart train was. They figured it couldn’t be too heavy, Big Mac didn’t have a problem with it at all and he wasn’t even one o’ them. And like the kind a’ ponies they are, they started makin’ fun of eachother sayin’ one or the other couldn’t pull that there train. Finally, one of ‘em decided he had to prove he could. He marched right up ta Big Mac and asked ta be hitched up. Well, Big Mac didn’t say a word, just let ‘im into the harness and guess what?” She grinned.
Rainbow grinned back. “He couldn’t do it could he?”
AJ chuckled. “Heh, you darn tootn’ he couldn’t. He didn’t get a sceptre with that train, just dug a rut with ‘is hooves. Ohh, boy, it was a hootin’ hollar. Well o’course all of ‘em had ta try it and not a single one could move that train farther than a few sceptres. They were mighty impressed with Big Mac and asked ‘im to go on a tour with ‘em. It was a short one, just ta Phillydelphia an’ back, hittin’ all the little towns on the way. Yah gotta understand, Big Macintosh had never left the farm before then, an’ well, he’d never had a reason to. He said he’d think about it, and think he did. He was up all night thinkin’ about what they said. He could be famous, meet lots a’ ponies, heck, maybe even get rich. Ah thought that he wasn’t up fer it, but he surprised us all the next mornin’ when he said he wanted ta go. Heh, Apple Bloom, bless her little heart, almost talked ‘im out of it but in the end, Ah encouraged him ta try it out. Well, off ‘e went with them Rough n’ Rowdy roadies all set ta be famous.”
Rainbow shook her head ruefully. “I bet he had a great time, huh?”
Applejack snorted. “You kiddin’? He was downright miserable.”
RD did a double-take. “What? But he was out being famous and doing stuff he liked to do and getting paid for it. That sounds like the dream life to me.”
“Well, it might just be, but to Big Mac, he felt like he’d left behind what ‘e loved the most. He said he met plenty a’ friendly ponies and everypony was nice to ‘im. I bet they were. But it just wasn’t the same as bein’ home on the farm. He did his little tour an’ then high-tailed it straight back here. Hahaha! He came a gallopin’ up that road with the biggest grin on his face. Ah never did find out how many bugs he got stuck in ‘is teeth, but I bet he was chewin’ flies fer a week!” She and Rainbow Dash chuckled at the image of Big Mac spitting flies out of his mouth.
“Every once-in-awhile we get a pony from around those parts, comes by ta see Big Mac an’ get his autograph and what-all. Embarasses the poor fella somethin’ awful but he does it anyway. Even though he was all famous and got ta see some new places, he says that he’d never done anythin’ more worthwhile than when he was here.” She slowed to a stop and put a hoof on her friend’s shoulder. “Rainbow, it’s all fine and dandy ta have yer name up in lights and havin’ everypony know who yah are. But what matters the most to yah?”
The blue pegasus took the rejection letter from under her wing and held it in the golden sunset. She stared at the Wonderbolt emblem emblazoned on the heavy, expensive paper. After a few moments, she gave a sharp nod and looked up at the farm filly. “Y’know what, AJ? You’re right. I shouldn’t let this get me down. I’ve got better things to do. Like have fun with my friends and make sure you get the best from me. I don’t need the Wonderbolts to prove I’m a great flier, I’ve got friends like you who know, and that’s good enough for me.” She dropped the letter and gave AJ a big hug.
Applejack laughed as she returned the embrace awkwardly with one leg, still being strapped to the cart and all. “Well, yah can’t give up on yer dreams either, RD. Ah think you’d do a bang-up job, flyin’ with ‘em. You could even show ‘em a trick or two, I bet.”
Rainbow gave a snort and stood up, proudly sticking out her chest and spreading her wings. “You bet I won’t give up! I just gotta wait for my chance. Hmm, maybe I could give their junior team a go, worth a shot I guess.”
“Heheh. Well whatever yah choose, Ah’m behind yah one-hunnerd percent. You still gonna practice tomorrow?”
“Uh-huh! You better get ready, you’re gonna see some wicked-awesome stuff. I even built a new launch pad!”
“Oh boy...”
Rainbow waved a hoof. “Don’t worry, this one’s better than the last one. I made sure to get some padding on it and Twilight showed me some stuff about how to make it even more powerful than that simple little thing I made before. It looks pretty darn cool, if I do say so myself. The best part is, you don’t have to jump off of a platform for it to work. All you gotta do is pull this lever and it does the rest. Ha! This is gonna be sooo awesome! See yah there?”
“Bright and early, sugarcube.”
Rainbow Dash smiled and took off into the air. “Thanks, AJ!”
“Yer welcome!” She waved at the retreating contrail of color. With a smile that always seemed to get stuck on her face, she picked up the discarded letter and tossed it into her cart of second-chance apples. A perfect ending for a perfect day.
