Princess Rainbow Dash
The Best Young Flyer Competition was an annual event held in Cloudsdale. Pegasi from all over Equestria would come to the city in the clouds to compete for the title of “Best Flyer”. Princess Celestia was always a judge, but after Cadance and Rainbow Dash were crowned princesses, she would always bring one of them along as a guest judge. This year, it was Rainbow’s turn. She always liked sitting in a fancy throne amongst the clouds with the Wonderbolts next to her (three of them were always judges), but she wanted to compete...she wanted to perform the Sonic Rainboom in a routine and impress her idols. “It’s how I became a princess! Shouldn’t I start the event off with it, at least?” She once begged Celestia.
“You don’t want to be seen as a show-off by your not-royal peers.” Oh, so why do I have to do the Rainboom at every stinking Summer Sun Celebration?!
This year was no different. As the date of the event drew closer, Rainbow felt the familiar desire to compete take hold of her. She went to Celestia and asked to not be a judge. “Can’t you bring Luna instead?” She asked.
“No,” Celestia laughed. “She’s going to inspect all of the cafes in Manehattan to determine which one has the best coffee!” Rainbow had sighed and given in.
It was the day before the big event and Rainbow Dash found herself wandering over to Twilight’s library, where the rest of their friends had gathered to help Twilight organize the books. “Would you believe me if I told you that I’d rather clean the entire library than go to the stupid contest tomorrow?” Rainbow asked them.
“Um, yeah, that’s crazy talk! Like, cuckoo goes boing-boing!” Pinkie Pie said. Rainbow ignored her.
“But why?” Twilight asked. “You’ll get to be near the Wonderbolts! Isn’t that cool?”
“No, because they won’t be recruiting me for their team or applauding my awesomeness,” the Alicorn complained. She sighed. “I know that I’m one of the best fliers in Equestria...I’m sorry if this sounds conceited, but it’s true. It’s WHY I became a princess. And...if I don’t get to show off the skills that brought me this far in life, then what’s the point?”
“Would it help if I came with you to the event?” Fluttershy asked. “I normally don’t like large crowds, but I wouldn’t want you to sit through the competition all by yourself…”
“Sure, I guess,” Rainbow Dash shrugged, secretly grateful for her shy friend’s offer. I guess having a friend there will make me not being able to compete a little more bearable…
“I wish that there was a way for ALL of us to come and see the show,” Rarity said. “I would LOVE to visit Cloudsdale!”
“But only Pegasus ponies can walk on clouds, Rarity,” Twilight Sparkle reminded her. The purple Unicorn was starting to reorganize the books in the library, and Rainbow Dash saw this as a perfect opportunity to slip away. It’s no big deal, Rainbow Dash thought. I’m probably making a bigger deal out of this than I need to. It’s not like they’d enter the competition to show off knowing how upset I am that I can’t compete, right?
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy arrived at Cloudsdale a day early for nostalgia’s sake. But they weren’t expecting to run into three familiar faces...actually, Rainbow Dash was the one who approached them. She had spotted them, nudged Fluttershy with a smirk, and then led her across a cloud to talk to them. “Hoops, Score, Dumb-Bell. Is that you?”
“OMFC, it’s Princess Rainbow Dash!” Hoops bowed before his former campmate and groveled. “Oh, great and magnificent Princess Rainbow Dash, you honor us with your presence…” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and smirked at Fluttershy.
“That’s one perk that I’ll never get tired of,” she whispered to her shy friend. “Having these two kiss my hooves is awesome and totally what they deserve for everything they put you through back at camp!”
“Actually, I’ve moved on past that and learned to deal with my negative feelings associated with the experience by channeling the energy towards…” Fluttershy started to say, but the princess ignored her and addressed the former bullies in a grand voice:
“Yes, ‘tis I, Princess Rainbow Dash, the First of Her Name, Mother of Rainbooms, Element of Loyalty. You may kiss my hooves if you so wish.” The Pegasus stallions dropped to the ground and began smooching her hooves. They continued doing so until a familiar voice rang through the air:
“Yoo-hoo, Rainbow Dash!” Was that voice...Rarity’s?! Rainbow and Fluttershy turned in the direction of the speaker and their mouths dropped. It WAS Rarity and she was flying towards them with a set of majestic butterfly wings.
“Twilight did this, right?” Rainbow Dash smirked.
“Well, yes, of course, darling! We couldn’t let you go through this without us to support you!” As she spoke, a large hot air balloon appeared behind her, and the passengers were Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Twilight Sparkle. They waved at Rainbow Dash and then stepped onto the clouds. Instead of falling through them, like non-Pegasus ponies usually did, they remained and began to walk around.
“How are you doing this?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Only Pegasus ponies can walk on clouds!”
“There’s a spell that allows Earth and Unicorn ponies to walk on clouds,” Twilight explained. “I never needed to use it before, so I didn’t know about it! But it’s a pretty basic spell…much easier than the one I used to create those gossamer and morning dew wings for Rarity!”
Rainbow Dash smiled. “To be honest, I was REALLY dreading going to the competition…”
“We couldn’t tell,” Applejack said in a wry tone.
“...but now that you all are here, I really feel a lot better!” I may not be able to compete, but at least I’ll be not competing with my friends! What could go wrong?
But as Rainbow and Fluttershy led their friends on a tour through the weather factory, Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but notice how...Trixie-ish Rarity was acting. “What, these old things? They’re fabulous, aren’t they? Go on, photos ARE encouraged!” She began to attract a flock of fans from the Weather Factory workers...honestly, Rainbow Dash wouldn’t have minded too much until one of them said:
“Here’s an idea! Why don’t you enter the competition?”
“Yeah, you’d knock away the competition!” Another pony added.
“Oh, what a marvelous idea! I think I will enter the competition!” Rainbow Dash’s mouth fell open, as did Twilight Sparkle’s.
“But Rarity, you know that Rainbow Dash wants to enter!” Twilight protested. “Isn’t it a little mean to enter yourself in front of someone who can’t?”
Rarity rolled her eyes and shrugged. “I can’t imagine how many Earth and Unicorn ponies dream of being able to fly with wings and enter a competition like this. I shouldn’t let them hold me back! And no one can really use their wings like I use mine!”
Rainbow Dash’s conversation with Trixie suddenly came back to her.
“There’s no need to go struttin’ around and showin’ off like that. That’s MY job!”
“Don’t throw stones if your house is made of glass, Princess Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow Dash grinned at Rarity, trying her best to hide how upset she really was.
The next day…
“Please welcome our beloved Princesses Celestia and Rainbow Dash and our celebrity guest judges, the Wonderbolts!” The announcer’s voice boomed throughout the stadium. Rainbow Dash and Celestia entered their private box of the Cloudsdale stadium and waved to the crowd of ponies.
Rainbow Dash hadn’t spoken a word to Rarity since the latter announced that she was entering the contest. Rainbow Dash didn’t deny that Rarity had made a valid argument, but at the same time, she felt betrayed and jealous. Is it selfish of me to not want her to enter the competition? Am I the bad guy here? And then...Rarity entered the stadium, wings and all, and Rainbow Dash’s mouth dropped. Oh, are you bucking kidding me...what is she wearing?! It was a ridiculous, gaudy costume unlike anything the other contestants had been wearing. And the fact that she had applied three times as much makeup as usual didn’t add to her appearance. This is a flying competition, not a beauty pageant! Despite her shock, Rainbow Dash watched as the white Unicorn soared through the clouds, drawing “oohs” and “ahhs” from the crowd. Yeah, I’m having Trixie flashbacks...and I think I’m the only one...
“Look upon me, Equestria, for I...am...RARITY!” The white pony proclaimed with a grand flourish as she flew close to the sun so that it might serve as a spotlight…
...and then her wings burst into flames and turned to ash. She lingered in the air, motionless, as she processed what had just happened to her. And then, the moment of realization hit her...and she began to plummet towards the ground. The crowd gasped and began to panic, but the only ones who went to help were the Wonderbolts...unfortunately for them, they did not factor in Rarity’s flailing hooves, and soon they were plummeting with her. Rainbow Dash couldn’t believe this was happening. “Are you going to do something?!” She shouted at Celestia.
“I can’t, I’m still eating cake!” The older Alicorn snapped as she used her magic to levitate a slice of chocolatey goodness to her mouth. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and flew into action.
“Hang on, Rarity, I’m coming!” She shouted. She zoomed down, concentrating only on the thought, the goal, of getting to the ponies on time, gathering up wing power as a pressure seemed to increase inside of her and around her, making her eyes water...for a few moments, everything around her went silent; even Rarity stopped screaming. But then, in the blink of an eye, there was an explosion of color, and Rainbow Dash grinned as she gathered her friend and idols up and charged back towards the clouds, knowing that she could look Celestia in the eye and say:
“Ha! You can’t tame this awesomeness! I did the Rainboom, I did the Rainboom~” She chanted in a sing-song voice, dancing around the hot air balloon that Rarity occupied. Celestia sighed.
“Yes, you did. Congratulations. What do you want, a cookie? Because I ate the last one…” She slapped a hoof to her forehead as Rainbow Dash continued to sing over her. “Okay, I’ll stop telling you when and where you can do the Rainboom if you stop singing now, okay?” Rainbow Dash became quiet, but she continued to aim a smug smirk at the white Alicorn.
“Well, I certainly learned MY lesson,” Rarity declared with a small smile. “From now on, I’m going to take my friends’ feelings into account before I start doing something that they wanted to do but weren’t able to do. Instead, I should keep my hooves on the ground and be there to support or comfort my friends.” She blinked. “I really am a horrible pony, aren’t I?”
“No, it’s okay, Rarity,” Rainbow Dash grinned. PLEASE, PLEASE don’t become like Trixie. PLEASE. “If anyone knows the first thing about getting carried away, it’s me. I’m like, the champion of showing off. So...just forget about it! Let’s move on!” Hooray for taking the high road! She turned to Princess Celestia. “And I guess I’ve learned that there’s more to being a princess than just the Rainboom...and that I don’t need a trophy to prove that I’m awesome...something something friendship something?” She sighed. Why does it feel like I can’t have a normal episode...of my life...without having to learn something that ultimately connects to friendship? Is the universe playing a prank on me?
“Hey, Princess Rainbow Dash!” Rainbow turned to face the leader of the Wonderbolts, Spitfire. She and her fellow Wonderbolts had walked over sometime during the friendship lesson technobabble that seemed to make Celestia content. “That was pretty awesome flying back there,” the golden Pegasus complimented. “You totally saved our flanks! Think you can teach us some of your moves sometime?”
“Maybe,” Rainbow Dash said with a coy smile. Her eyes widened as she realized something. “But...who won the competition?”
The next day, in the Everfree Forest...
“Oh, Mighty Muffin Mistress, I present to you and our society the trophy for the Best Fliers Competition.” Several ponies, all with derped eyes, blond manes and tails, and seven bubbles for cutie marks watched as a pony stepped forward and crowned another with the trophy for the Cloudsdale competition. The newly-crowned pony was obviously the leader of the others: she had a scepter with a muffin for the crest.
“Excellent work, Derpy Number Fifteen,” the leader smirked. “Soon the prophecy will be complete and Rainbow Dash will notice us!”
“Hasn’t she already done that?”
“NOT IN THE PROPER WAY!”