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“Fluttershy darling, don’t you agree that this was a wonderful idea?” Rarity beamed at her cream colored companion as she set up her camera on a tripod.
“Oh yes, it’s…nice.” She mewed softly as she dug her hoof into the ground. It was a few days after Applejack’s most recent conversation with Rainbow Dash. The rainbow pegasus had made herself scarcer than ever. No pony had ever seen her in town, or even napping on her usual clouds. When they did spy a glimpse of her, all they saw was a rainbow contrail flashing against the blue sky as Rainbow tried out new routines and tricks.
It was a warm sunny day, thanks to Cloud Kicker and Raindrops clearing the skies in Rainbow Dash’s stead, and Rarity had taken Fluttershy down to the pond.
“Fluttershy, trust me. My new line of swimwear will be all the rage this summer! And I couldn’t think of anypony I’d rather have modeling them than you!”
“But um, I still don’t understand why a pony would wear clothes in the water…” Fluttershy looked at the frilly pink outfit that adorned her body, complete with sleeves for her legs.
Rarity giggled demurely. “That’s what makes it genius darling!” She looked out from behind the camera. “Now, give me that famous Fluttershy charm and smile!”
“Um, like this?” Fluttershy gave a tiny smile that was mostly obscured as she hid her face behind her mane. Rarity’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped open. “…too much?” She asked. Rarity didn’t answer. She just raised a shaking hoof and pointed at something behind Fluttershy. Turning, Fluttershy felt her own eyes widen as she saw a tremendous wave rising out of the lake and bearing down upon them! “Eep.” She covered her eyes.
The wave crashed over them. Their whole world became a blur of blue and white. When it was finally over and she didn’t feel herself being tossed around anymore, Fluttershy risked opening an eye. She coughed and looked around. Fluttershy found herself hanging from branch up in a tree. She clutched it for fear of falling.
“R-rarity?” She looked around. Then she heard a terrified shriek. “Oh my gosh, Rarity! Are you okay?”
“No!” came a low pitiful moan. Fluttershy saw Rarity standing beneath the tree she was currently in. “My mane!” Despite it all, Fluttershy sighed. She knew that if Rarity’s biggest complaint was her mane, she was fine.
“I think it looks really nice that way.” Fluttershy said sincerely. Rarity looked at her as if she had turned into Pinkie Pie.
“I appreciate your effort at making me feel better, but it’s no use! I know I look a frightful mess when my perfectly coiffed coiffure is ruined!”
“…but I meant it…” Fluttershy murmured quietly. Then her eyes widened. “Oh my gosh, how am I going to get down?” She clenched the branch tightly, her hooves scraping the branch as she tried to haul herself up.
It was Rarity’s turn to look incredulous. “Fluttershy, dear? Aren’t we forgetting something?” She flapped her forelimbs for emphasis.
Blushing, Fluttershy nodded. “O-oh. Right. Sorry.” She slowly flapped her wings and lowered herself to the ground, albeit a bit faster than she meant to. Wet wings tended not to work as well.
“Oops, sorry ladies!” Fluttershy and Rarity looked up and saw Rainbow Dash hovering above them. “Didn’t see you there.”
Rarity stamped a dainty hoof in protest. “Rainbow Dash just what in Equestria do you think you were doing?”
The cyan pegasus beamed at the opportunity to explain her trick. “You know how you can see rainbows when the light hits water droplets just right? Well, I figured I would zoom over the water in the middle of the lake and then there would be two rainbows created on either side of me by my wake! A Double Water Rainbow! Hmm, gonna need a cooler name for it though.”
Rarity pouted and threw her head back. Fluttershy tried to defuse the situation. “I’m sure it looks really cool Rainbow Dash. Woohoo. I mean, I just wish I saw it before the wave knocked me up into that tree.”
Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck with her hoof. “Yeeah, sorry about that. But you bet your flank it’s cool! Took me a while to get it juuust right but was it ever worth it!”
“I’m…glad for you dear.” Rarity ground out, trying to be generous despite her wet mane.
“Heh, would you believe that Twilight and the others are telling me to take it easy with the training?” Rainbow cackled. “Pff. Ridiculous right?” Rarity and Fluttershy exchanged a glance. “…what was that about?”
“Well Rainbow perhaps it would be, um, nice if you did relax a bit. I mean, it can’t be good to train all the time, not that you aren’t good you’re very good but well…” Fluttershy trailed off under Rainbow Dash’s gaze.
“What Fluttershy means is that you really should consider not getting so wrapped up with your exercises dear. Stress can do terrible things to your complexion.” Rarity chimed in.
Rainbow Dash flapped over to Rarity, hanging upside down in front of her. “Oh please Rarity! You’re the most stressed-out pony I’ve ever known! You worry about how every hair in your mane looks, you worry about how your coat looks, you worry how your dresses look, how your business is doing, worry about Sweetie Belle, other ponies grammar and manners, worry about meeting the right stallion, worrying about getting the right clients…you freak out over every little thing!”
“A lady does not ‘freak out’ Rainbow Dash.” Rarity sniffed. Under the combined glances of Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash she felt obliged to add, “Besides, I know how to relax when I need to: I enjoy having tea, going to the spa and some of my own work—when it’s not for an order or under a deadline—can be very relaxing for me!”
“Well, nothing makes me feel better than flying and training!” Rainbow crossed her legs over chest smugly. “Check and mate! King me!”
“…” Rarity coughed daintily into her hoof. “Yes, well, Rainbow darling you have been throwing yourself into your training rather hard from what I hear…into the ground, hard, if you catch my drift.”
Rainbow glowered, and humphed. “Yeah yeah. But hey, practice makes perfect. Or in my case, practice makes perfect even more perfectly awesome.”
“But Rainbow I haven’t seen you in Ponyville for days. It’s like you’re avoiding everypony.” Fluttershy said softly.
“Fluttershy, you of all ponies, is going to call me out over not being more outgoing in town? Seriously?” Rainbow Dash demanded, causing Fluttershy to crouch down and hide behind her mane. Rarity frowned at Rainbow Dash hard enough to get her to back up. “…sorry Fluttershy.” Rainbow looked down.
“Oh no, it’s okay.” She assured her. “It’s just, um, you’re not, well, like me. Avoiding ponies isn’t something you do. Back at Flight Camp you stood up for me when ponies were making fun of me…I don’t—I don’t know why you can’t do that for yourself.”
“That’s TOTALLY different!” Rainbow threw up her hooves in emphasis.
“How?”
“It…it just…it just is okay?!” She shouted in a mix of frustration and anger.
Rarity gently tapped Fluttershy. “Ahem, Fluttershy could you be a dear and get my camera before it’s washed into the lake? I would like to have a word with Rainbow Dash, please.”
“Oh, uh, okay.” Fluttershy looked from one pony to the other as she meekly nodded and flew off. Rarity turned back to Rainbow Dash.
“Rainbow dear, I know we don’t see eye to eye on many things but I think we’re more alike than you realize.” Rainbow’s incredulous look said it all. “Now now, hear me out. Both of us have dreams, ambitions! We both want to make a name for ourselves as the best: be it the best and most beautiful fashion designer in all of Equestria,” She turned her head, showing off her illustrious mane “or being Equestria’s best flier and Wonderbolt. You and I know that one must stand out to be noticed, that second-best simply will not do!” Rainbow Dash nodded, smiling a bit.
“You know Rarity, there’s a lot more to you than I would’ve thought.”
“Why thank you darling. And I think the same of you.” Rarity smiled at the perturbed expression on Rainbow’s face. “However, part of the problem of putting yourself forward is that it’s much more obvious when you suffer a setback than a pony who does not. It’s much more noticeable and is frankly, all the more mortifying for it.”
“Amen.” Rainbow Dash muttered.
“Indeed.” Rarity quirked one delicate eyebrow. “Do you recall our little fashion show for Hoity Toity?”
Rainbow winced. “Aww geez, are you gonna bring that up? We said we were sorry for rejecting your designs!”
“And I appreciate that, but that is not my point. Do you recall how all of Ponyville laughed at me when Hoity Toity mocked *your* designs?” She made certain to emphasize that the designs were most certainly NOT hers. Rainbow Dash nodded. “And I’m sure you recall my little…episode afterwards? Every pony was laughing at me! I felt like a laughingstock!”
“So THAT’S why that sounded familiar…” Rainbow muttered.
“What was that?”
“Er, nothing. Sorry.”
“So anyway, I have been in your horseshoes Rainbow Dash and I didn’t like it at all. I do know what you’re going through darling.” Rarity assured her.
Rainbow Dash sighed. “Yeah, I remember. Thanks. How…how did you manage it?” She looked up at Rarity. Unspoken was the admission that Rainbow Dash didn’t think she could.
“Well, having Hoity Toity simply rave about my designs certainly helped ponies change their tune and restore my reputation. I also consoled myself that they were, in their backhooved way, paying me a compliment.”
“…Come again?” Rainbow asked.
Rainbow, none of those ponies who laughed at me were designers. Only a hooffull of them had probably ever sewed anything themselves. If it weren’t for Hoity Toity’s comments, they wouldn’t have known WHAT to think of those outfits. Recall when I applauded Fluttershy’s rather dreadful performance at her last modeling show? Everypony who had hated it started applauding because *I* applauded and *I* of course, was wonderfully dressed, as usual.”
“Uh, I wasn’t there but Twilight told me about it, yeah. I don’t see the point though.”
“The point is, if any of them had tried designing their own outfits I’m sure that most of them would have come out as dreadful as yours—no offense intended. They were laughing because they thought those dresses were of my design. They thought if funny because Hoity Toity thought they were dreadful and because they expected better of me. They knew I made the most fashionable outfits in all of Ponyville and so they thought it was…’amusing’…when I produced those requested dresses. Do you think they would’ve laughed if Lily or Big Macintosh or Raindrops had created those dresses? Why would they; they know that none of them have any talent for dress making. They might expect other ponies to create such horrendous designs but they didn’t expect it of me and that is where the source of their…amusement derived. In doing so they acknowledged, in their crass way, that I was and remain a good cut above the rest. Their expectations of me were higher because they knew I was capable of better.”
“I…didn’t think of it like that.” Rainbow admitted, not entirely sure if she was following.
Rarity continued. “And secondly Rainbow Dash, is that I’m sure you’ve noticed that a lot of ponies are…shall we say, easily persuaded when it comes to their opinions of ponies, which is my point about Fluttershy’s last walk?”
“Yeah, Applejack kinda pointed that out to me.” Rainbow nodded.
“Yes, well, I’m sure Applejack would have some quaint saying about the nail that sticks out being the one to get hammered, but there is a truth there, albeit tackily dressed. When you try to stand out you will experience hostility from ponies who you have outshined, jealousy from a few, but mostly inflated expectations of perfection and increased attention to any mistake—real or perceived. And when—not if—you should make even the slightest misstep, you can be sure that the ponies who just yesterday adored you will howling the loudest against you; as if they are ashamed that they ever liked you. Such is the price that ponies like you and myself undergo as part of our quest to be the very best. Yet we must raise our heads proudly high in spite of and because of the adversity we face!”
“For after all…” Rarity raised her hoof dramatically. “It is not the critic who counts; not the pony who points out how the strong pony stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the mare who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends herself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if she fails, at least she fails while daring greatly. So that her place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat!”
Rainbow’s jaw dropped. “Um…wow. Just wow. I never knew you were so…that.”
Rarity beamed. “Well, I did spend a few years in my school’s drama club.”
“…okay, that shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anypony.” Rainbow snorted. Her face softened. “Thanks Rarity. That was really…cool. You’re cool.”
“Again, thank you.” Rarity said primly. “I understand your frustration and why you feel so upset with the ponies who laughed at you. But that doesn’t make them bad ponies and it certainly doesn’t you any less spectacular.”
“…Thanks Rarity. I—I really appreciate that.” She ruffled her wings. “I—I don’t know if I can face the town yet though. Not before I do something to make them respect me again. Like your second show for Hoity Toity. But…maybe sometime later you and I can hang out or something.”
Rarity’s eyes gleamed. “I would like that very much Rainbow Dash. I have such wonderful ideas for your mane…”
Rainbow Dash suddenly backed up. “Uh oh look I think I hear the wind calling me! See ya!”
She zoomed off. Fluttershy trotted up a moment later and deposited Rarity’s camera next to her. “That was very nice what you said to Rainbow Dash. I-I never knew you were so…deep.”
Rarity smiled. “I’m a lady of many talents. Now then, where were we…oh yes!” She smiled happily as she looked at Fluttershy, who was still wet and wearing Rarity’s swimsuit. “My outfit looks simply darling even when wet! Oooh this is simply going to make my career!” She held up her camera. “Now then, give me a smile!”
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Rainbow Dash soared across the sky. Talking with her friends made her feel ten pounds lighter and twice as fast. Effortlessly she swooped through a cloud bank, enjoying the feel of puffy cloud and moisture on her coat. She closed her eyes. Perhaps things weren’t as bad as she had made them out to be. Besides, everypony probably already had moved beyond the whole lightning thing by this point.
Right?
A sudden bleat made Rainbow snap her eyes open. She was heading straight into a formation of ducks! Banking hard, she swerved around them. But she had startled them enough to create a symphony of startled quacks and squawks. Rainbow gritted her teeth. The noise was so loud and flat and crass. It reminded her of nothing else as much as the sound of laughter. Cruel, mocking laughter.
The same laughter from her dreams. The same laughter she heard when Trixie zapped her rump with lightning and from her tormentors from Flight Camp and school. It was pointed, hot and definitely not a “laughing with you” laugh. Rainbow felt her cheeks heat. She swore she could feel individual pinpricks from each drop of blood that suddenly swarmed to her cheeks. Her stomach felt like she had just lost her lunch. The feeling was just so horrible she actually felt herself drop a couple of feet.
She couldn’t go back into Ponyville to face that. Not until she was sure that everypony had moved on and forgotten about. Until she was sure that they wouldn’t laugh at her anymore. Or ever again.
“It’ll be okay.” She assured herself, her voice cracking slightly. “When I’m a Wonderbolt everypony will wish they were me! They’ll never laugh at me again! Never again…”
Any ponies below her would’ve felt drops of moisture falling, despite there not being a single dark cloud in the sky.
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