Overshadowing the Rainbow

by Eruantalon

The pink and rainbow light of dawn

Rain was still rumbling down all around Dash's cloud the next morning like a million tiny galloping hooves. Dash rolled out of bed, bounced up when her cloud bucked in the wind, and flew over to her pantry for breakfast. She quickly discovered that most of her food had been knocked to the floor in the night; half of it had come un-enchanted and fallen to the ground below, and she didn't feel like cleaning up and eating the other half. With a shrug, she decided to fly down for breakfast at Sugarcube Corner.

The rain-swept streets were deserted except for a few pegasi. Derpy was making her only-somewhat-late mail rounds; Blossomforth was flying out to the train station (Dash remembered she was scheduled to go on leave today); Thunderlane was poking his hooves into the muddy streets and frowning.

With only a few "hello"'s, Rainbow Dash ducked into a brightly-lit but almost-deserted Sugarcube Corner. "Hey, Pinkie -"

"HELLLOOOOO!" Pinkie threw a tray of something into the oven, jumped over the counter in a single leap, and landed right on top of Rainbow Dash in a big hug, crushing her down to the ground. "Dashie! I'm so glad you've come! Would you believe it? There hasn't been anypony here today 'cept Derpy, and she had the mail so she couldn't stay! It's been so lonely here; I've got all these great cookies and muffins and cakes, and the Cakes are gone in Canterlot (that's big-'C'-Cakes not little-'c'-cakes'; they're still right here uneaten), and there's no one here to eat them 'cept me!"

"Pinkie!" Rainbow Dash rolled over and finally extracted herself from the hug. "The wind blew half my pantry down to the ground, so -"

"Oh!" Pinkie gasped. "The wind! And rain! Time for a nice piping-hot muffin!" Suddenly, a steaming muffin was on a plate in her outstretched hoof.

Dash took a big bite of it. "Mmm... Apple-cinnamon," she said around a full mouth, sinking down on a chair.

"Yepparoni! Want another?"

Dash shrugged.

"So..." Pinkie produced another muffin, with blueberries this time. "Are you Derpy come back in a disguise so I wouldn't know how many muffins she's eating, or What's! Going! On!?"

Dash grinned a shallow grin. "Nothing. Just, well, the wind blew half of everything off my shelves. A cloud home's great, and all, but it can really buck you around in storms. And when things blow off the shelves, if they aren't enchanted..."

"Ooh!" Pinkie gave a small jump. "Just like when one of my balloons pops! Or, worse, when all of my balloons pop!"

"Well, I don't fall." Dash took a bite of the second muffin. Blueberry-cinnamon... How had Pinkie guessed she was in the mood for cinnamon? She hadn't known herself.

"Right! Because you're awesome like that!" Pinkie craned her neck around to peer into Dash's face while she took another bite. "So... let me guess, Dashie... Ooh! Were you jealous of this wild thunderstorm?"

Dash shook her head. "I could... well, I couldn't do anything this big, but I could make something better if I wanted." She took another nibble. "Got any cider to go with it?"

Pinkie shook her head. "Nope, not till next season! There's lots of fresh water, though - just stick your head outside!" She glanced back at the oven. "Let's see... Oh, you saw Rarity's magazine yesterday! Did you want to be the Most Prettiest Mare In All Equestria?"

Dash wrinkled her nose. "No... just no." To her surprise, the same weird feeling she'd been feeling earlier yesterday came back a bit. She gulped the last large chunk of muffin to quiet it.

"Ooh... Want to make some cupcakes with me?"

"Pinkie - you said you already had too many cakes!"

"But not cupcakes!" She put on her most pleading expression. "Please, Dashie?"

Dash shrugged.

Pinkie jumped up straight in the air. "Yay!" She bounded over the counter again; Dash walked around to follow her as she was instantly grabbing bin upon bin in a pink blur. "Oven, flour, sugar, cinnamon, eggs, more sugar... Ooh, water!" She jumped over to the window, yanked it open, held out a cake pan, and jerked it back in again full of rainwater.

"Uh, Pinkie...?" Dash asked, stepping back.

"Yep?" Pinkie paused, suddenly balancing a large pitcher of cream atop her head.

"What do you really need for me to do, anyway?"

"Ooh! I could pour this cream over your head... Or you could get me a half-dozen eggs and some milk. They're by the stairs down in the ice cellar." She pointed to a door off in the corner.

Dash quizzically stepped down the stairs. Her wings bristled a bit in the dark cellar, as rain pounded overhead. Something was weird with Pinkie... why would she invite her to bake with her? And then send her down to the ice cellar right after she'd (somehow) already gotten cream? Be that as it may, she picked up a glass jar of milk (right next to other jars of cream, just like the one Pinkie had been carrying), carefully balanced the eggs on her back, and flew up the stairs as smoothly as she could.

"Oh, great, you're back!" Pinkie exclaimed, leaning over a mixing bowl half as big as she was, half-full of what was probably flour and sugar. "That was a doozy of a speech yesterday, wasn't it? When Twilight was telling us about the storm, and then she let out a great big doozy of magic?"

"Yeah." Dash passed Pinkie the eggs. "And then I faced down a princess in her wrath," she said sarcastically. "Or something like that."

"Ooh, do we need to be afraid of Nightmare Shadowbolt? No, let me think - Nightmare Thunderstorm! Or - well -"

Dash snorted.

"Oh, nice! If you were going to go Nightmare, you'd be bragging about that! Instead of feeling - well -"

Pinkie looked at Dash, but Dash turned away to stare at the eggs. "Why didn't you just get these whenever you got that jug of cream, by the way?"

"'Cause this was sour cream, Dashie! We keep it on the windowsills to go sour!" She dumped in most of a small box of baking soda and then picked up a bucket of something else. "Here! Catch this and give it a taste!"

She batted it at Dash with her tail; Dash tried to catch it in her mouth only to have the top break off and cinnamon burst all over her face. "Uh, it tastes good?" she said, licking her lips and trying to brush it off the rest of her face.

"Oh, nice!" Pinkie jumped over the bowl, picked up the cinnamon, and knocked a little more of it into the mix. "Did Twilight ever say when she found that wild chaos magic?"

"When we were out flying this morning. Some local pegasi came up and asked her to come look at something in the Everfree." Dash frowned. "They were really excited to see a princess fly."

"Ooh." Pinkie jumped up and clapped all her hooves together over the bowl, somehow breaking four eggs at once. "Dump in a jar of milk, will you... How was the flight yesterday, by the way?"

"Twilight's getting faster. She almost kept up with me," Dash said dully.

Pinkie passed Dash a spoon. "Here; stir as fast as you can."

For a few minutes, they stirred the batter in silence, to the throbbing drum of rain overhead. Dash licked a little more cinnamon that'd fallen in reach of her tongue. There wasn't a mirror there, but she was sure her face and mane had a lot more on it. It'd come off when she went outside, at least.

"You know, I really liked the sunny sky yesterday," Pinkie finally said.

"Thanks, but it wasn't needed. Just like I wasn't needed afterwards; Twi was organizing everything perfectly fine on her own."

"Still beautiful. And when this storm finally dies off and everypony can come outside again, guess who'll clear the skies?"

Rainbow Dash snorted.

"All right..." Pinkie stepped back from the bowl and set down her spoon; Rainbow Dash followed suit. "Just one more thing this batter needs... Take a look..."

"What?" Dash peered at the batter questioningly.

"Just a Dash of cinnamon!"

With one great buck, Pinkie kicked Dash head-first into the bowl. Dash's wings flared out reflexively, but far too late. Gooy batter covered Dash's face; she gulped down a few sweet mouthfuls before pulling herself out to see splatters all over the counter and the floor. Pinkie was standing back, smiling broadly.

"Pinkie! What was that for!?"

"That's what the batter needed, Dashie! Someone to have fun and eat it!"

"But -" Dash spluttered, trying to lick it off her face, "that's not -"

"Oh, I know it's not cupcakes until we bake it; it's just cupcake batter now, but I think we've still got enough to bake a couple - I did say we've more cakes than we know what to do with - and this batter just needed you, and you needed it!"

"But - well, okay, this's really delicious, but -"

"See, Dashie, you're needed!" Pinkie jumped over and gave the pegasus a hug. "Both for the weather, and for eating my delicious cupcakes, and for just being yourself! Sure, Twilight can fly fast now and do all sorts of other alicorny stuff, but you're good for much more than that!"

"Um -"

Pinkie stepped back, produced a detective cap from her mane, and waved a hoof in the air. "Now now, Dashie, don't try to deny it. I could see something was up from when you first stepped in. And it had something to do with the storm, and something to do with Twilight..."

"... Yeah." The weird feeling was settling now, as if just recognizing it had lifted it. "I know she's a princess and all, and my friend, but..."

"And she's purple, and loves to read, and she's just starting to groom her wings right -"

"It's called preening, Pinkie."

"And, well, you can still feel jealous, and lost. Like I did when Cheese Sandwich came to town, and I interrupted him right in the middle of doing Party Pony stuff. Just like you interrupted Twilight right in the middle of doing princessy stuff. But -" She spun the detective cap in the air before putting it away. "- you can still go on, and be yourself, and that's something nopony else can do!"

Dash grinned. "Thanks, Pinkie. I guess..." She flexed her wings, not sure what to say next. "... I'll talk to Twilight?"

"Oh, don't leave - we've got a little more batter we really should bake!"

Dash chuckled.

"... and then," Pinkie said, producing a tray and passing a spoon to Dash, "yes, probably talk to Twilight. Have a reading party or something! Just be a friend, and be yourself. And that -" She held up the spoon like a sword at salute "- is my friendship lesson for the day!"

Dash grinned.

"And now, let's bake some cupcakes!"

---

Dash ducked outside while the cupcakes were baking, to clean the batter off her coat. The cinnamon came off, too.

But even without a Dash of cinnamon, the cupcakes were still good.

"Thanks," Dash said, nibbling the last crumbs of her cupcake. "For the cupcake. For just being Pinkie. And everything."

"Thanks, Dashie! And - just a moment -" Pinkie ducked into the oven, came out with the second tray of cupcakes, produced a box with a bow on top from out of her mane, and flipped the cupcakes into it with a single nod of her head. "Here! Take these with you!"

"For -"

"For Twilight - you're going to see her next, right?"

"Um..." The same weird sense of jealousy resurfaced for a moment, but less, now that she knew what it was. "Sure. And... well, apologize. And give her the cupcakes. Though I don't think she needs the dash of cinnamon."

Pinkie giggled. "Maybe I should put you in my cupcakes more!"

Author's Note:

Cover art is by dm29 on DeviantArt; used with permission. Ponies are by Hasbro, Faust, et al; used with no infringement intended.

Yes, putting Dash in cupcakes was a reference to that story. Yes, that one.

Twilight's special alicorn powers - that is, the "doozy" ones - are closely inspired by Jordan179's fanon that Celestia and Luna intentionally designed the alicorn body to signal "hyperdominance" to all other ponies. He's got some excellent stories and elaborate fanon; go read them!

Comments

[Zocarik]

On the fic. I like it. It has been a while since I have seen a story about other ponies adapting to Twilicorn.

On your Author's Note, which stories by him include the alicorn hyperdominance stuff?

[Eruantalon]

6115702 Thanks for the favorite, and thanks for the comment! I love when people actually want to talk about my stories! And yes, Twilight's friends adapting to her ascension does seem to be a greatly underexplored corner - I don't remember the last story I read that touches on it. It definitely deserves more than this one short piece I wrote.

Jordan179 has a magnificent epic headcanon tying together all four generations of MLP, together with a space opera future. He says the best place to get into his universe is Nightmares are Tragic; I might recommend instead Dragonshyness if you want to start somewhere closer to canon. Sadly, a lot of it isn't written yet, save in his extensive notes on his blog, and will probably never be anywhere close to fully written. That's the only place he specifically discusses alicorn hyperdominance, though it does sort make an appearance in his An Extended Performance, where Trixie saves the day during Nightmare Moon's return. (Yes, really. It works. And it's very good.)

[Jordan179]

I am really honored that you like my work enough to incorporate some of my ideas into your own fiction. I also think that you're right, that Rainbow Dash would be the most bothered by all of them by being overshadowed in her own sphere of expertise. She's the most competitive.

Though of course, Rainbow Dash still knows far more about the weather and weather control, in terms of the practical details of their management, than does Twilight. This is because Twilight is more focused on other things -- magic and friendship, to be precise.

[Eruantalon]

6117718

It feels like such an achievement when one of my favorite fanfic authors favorites and comments on my work - thank you!

Yes, Dash still outdoes Twilight in practical details of weather work, as I'm sure Twilight would remind her if she was even aware of her friend's feelings. (Dash does a good job of hiding her feelings.) But however true that is, I don't think that would solve Dash's inadequacy on the emotional level.

But what if you spend the next ten years studying weather and practicing it and come out of that ahead of me there too?
Well, I'm fairly sure I could do that if I wanted to, but -
crashes through window to fly away
Um, Twi, I think you said something wrong there...

[Jordan179]

6120291

Unless, of course, Dashie also becomes an Alicorn in time. Though nopony knows whether this will happen, and the idea probably hasn't yet occurred to Rainbow Dash that it might happen.

[Eruantalon]

6213041 Well, at the moment, Rainbow does see Twilight as something of a Mary Sue. But I'm sure Twilight herself would say otherwise, and if she was the protagonist, the story would look a lot different. Sorry if you still don't like it, though.

And I have to insist that Twilight is cuter than Rainbow!

[eraser]

Pinkie's solution doesn't sound convincing enough :(

And the set of smileys lacks a sad Rainbow.

[Eruantalon]

6587868 She interrupted Twilight in front of everyone, while she was acting as a Princess, and insisted on completing the job herself. I'd say that's significant enough for an apology.

(And Dash's been studying the Wonderbolts, who're organized along somewhat-military lines, so she'd probably think so too.)

[FanOfMostEverything]

An excellent character study of Dash. When your friend ascends to demigodhood, you're going to have to go through an adjustment period. Especially when your self-image is predicated on being the most awesome thing with wings. I kind of wish you'd included Dash and Twilight's conversation, but the cupcake therapy really said it all. Good Dash, great Pinkie, excellent story. Thank you for it.

[Bugsydor]

Thanks for the story. It's nice to see someone think about not only alicorn headcanon, but also its implications.