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The next morning Rainbow Dash’s friends gathered together in Twilight’s room. Fluttershy left Rainbow Dash to sleep some more as she let herself out. Twilight had said that it would be a good idea to trade notes. Pinkie Pie had brought some of Blues’ and Lyra’s sheet music. Twilight facehooved.
After that bit of confusion, the five friends relayed their encounters and discussions with Rainbow Dash to one another. Twilight listened to each one intently, occasionally nodding or frowning as if in deep thought. By the time Fluttershy finally finished her story Twilight got up and looked out the window.
“What’s on your mind darling?” Rarity asked.
“Pride.” Twilight answered; then repeated herself. “Pride, embarrassment, self-esteem, and loyalty. Everything that Rainbow Dash is thinking about.”
“That's a whole lotta thinking there.” Applejack said with a nod of her head. “You thinking you know what’s going on in that hard head of hers?”
“I don’t know…but from everypony’s been saying I have noticed a pattern in Rainbow Dash’s behavior that I think might be at the root of her problems.”
“What do you mean?” Applejack asked. “Her problem is Trixie giving her a zap in the patootie in front of the town and then Princess Luna doing it again.”
Twilight shook her head. “That’s just the catalyst. I don’t think that’s the underlying problem.”
Applejack muttered something about fancypants ponies and their fondness for fancy words. Louder she asked, “All right so what’re you getting’ at Twi?”
“Remember what Dinky told us? How Rainbow Dash stressed how important it was to have friends and how lucky she was to live in a full house with her mother and Carrot Top?”
“Yeah, I recollect that jest fine. Nothin’ wrong with mah memory Twilight.”
“Applejack have you ever felt down or upset?”
“Course ah have. Every pony does sometime or another.”
Twilight pressed on. “Well, what do you do when you are feeling upset?”
“Shoot, ah guess the first thing I’d do would be to throw myself into mah chores. That usually perks me right up. O’course ifn that don’t work, then I suppose I talk with Big Macintosh or Granny Smith…or spend time with Apple Bloom and that usually makes me feel better. Why?”
Twilight was grinning in triumph as she whirled on Rarity. “Rarity! What do you do when you’re upset?”
“Hmph! Well a true lady would never let herself—“
“Rarity….” Twilight ground out.
She blinked and laughed nervously. “Ah haha, I suppose I like to throw myself into my work as well but if I’m just not in the zone as it were, I’d have to say that having a tea party with Sweetie Belle always improves my spirits.”
“Fluttershy!” Twilight whirled again. The yellow pegasus cringed. “What do you do?”
“Um, I suppose I like to go for walks with my animal friends and Angel Bunny…”
“Pinkie Pie!” Twilight pointed her hoof, her voice growing louder as if in triumph.
“Ooooh! I like to throw a—”
“Besides, throwing a party? Twilight rolled her eyes.
“Oh. Well, if I’m feeling just a tiniest bit less bouncy and party-tastic Mrs. Cake makes me some cupcakes! That always cheers me up cuz I’m not taking them from the inventory or anything; they’re made special just for me!”
“And what do I do when I’m feeling upset?” Twilight said, her voice ringing loud and clear…then felt awkward when she realized she was effectively talking to herself. “Oh, right.”
Spike poked his head up the stairs from the Library. “Before or after you enchant your doll?”
“Spike!” Twilight made a face at him.
Her draconic assistant took no notice as he started ticking points off his claws, “Let’s see…usually you grab your daily checklist to see what went wrong and then panic when you realize that being upset will cut into your schedule even more and that just makes you MORE upset…”
“Thank you Spike.” Twilight said flatly.
“Then you usually take every book off the shelf trying to find that one book that you think will have the answer for you, not realizing it was right under your nose the whole time…” Spike went on. Twilight colored as her friends tried not to giggle.
“Spiiiike.” She warned, but the little dragon was on a roll.
“Then you usually throw up your hooves and wail that you’ve failed your parents, Princess Celestia, and Equestria and have a slight nervous breakdown until I make you a daisy sandwich and Princess Celestia writes you a letter to tell you that she is not going to banish you, jail you, or otherwise punish you for imaginary infractions or failings. That sound about right?”
His answer was a pillow to the face.
Twilight cleared her throat and tried to get back on topic. “Ahem. Yes, well my point is that when we’re feeling upset, something we think we can’t talk about with our friends, all of us have somepony to turn to. Applejack, you have your family which is a pretty big source of support! Rarity you have your little sister and your family and Fluttershy has her animal friends and Pinkie Pie has the Cakes. And I turn to Princess Celestia whenever I feel like I need help or someone to talk to.”
“Ahem?” A little purple dragon cleared his throat meaningfully as he placed Twilight’s pillow back on her bed.
“Oh yes, and you too Spike.” Twilight smiled. “But who does Rainbow Dash have? Unlike the rest of us, she lives alone.”
“But she has us.” Applejack pointed out. “She can talk to us anytime she wants.”
Twilight looked at her. “Applejack, you’re a very rare kind of pony; the kind who’s the same inside your home as you are outside it. But for other ponies, being home is where you can let down all the guards and shields you put up when you deal with other ponies. It’s where you can really be yourself with the ponies you love the most. But imagine if you didn’t have that. If you didn’t have family or close friends and lived by yourself.”
The lavender unicorn closed her eyes. “Home is where you can admit the doubts and fears and frustrations that you never want anypony else to know you have. And the ponies you live with—they’re the ones who encourage you, remind you of your strengths and make you feel better about yourself. But if Rainbow Dash doesn’t have anypony to do that for her…what do you think she does?
“When you have family and friends who support you, who remind you of your strengths and values, it encourages you. It gives you the confidence and support you need to face the world and any obstacles. But when Rainbow goes home, there’s no one there to give her any support, to listen to her unburden herself. The only one there to remind Rainbow Dash how great she is… is Rainbow Dash. But she cares a lot about what other ponies think. She likes to brag and show off, but even she’s caught off guard when somepony else praises her out of the blue, like Rarity did in front of Princess Celestia at the Best Young Fliers Competition.
“I think maybe that’s why Rainbow Dash likes to brag and show off so much. She’s trying to convince others how good she is as a way to seek validation from them. How other ponies see her is very important to how she sees herself.”
Applejack rubbed her head with both front hooves. “Mah head hurts. Twilight, yer making it sound like Rainbow’s just a scared lil filly on her first day of school. This is a pony we’ve seen fly headfirst at Nightmare Moon, tangle with a manticore without hesitation, offered to try take on a whole herd of buffalo to save Pinkie, and a pack of Diamond Dogs to save Rarity, try to duke it out with Discord and buck. A. dragon. In. the. face!” She emphasized, stamping her hoof for emphasis. “Rainbow might have every color on her dang-fool head but last ah checked, she ain’t got no yellow stripe down her back.”
Fluttershy fidgeted. “Well, um I think Applejack’s right but…” She cowered slightly as everypony turned to look at her but took a deep breath. “But remember before the Best Young Fliers Competition? The poor dear was so scared and upset. Before you came to Cloudsdale some bullies were calling her names and trying to make her feel just awful. She didn’t say anything when they were there but after they left she was afraid that everypony would see her fail and that would be end of her hopes for joining the Wonderbolts, everypony’s respect for her would be gone, and Princess Celestia would probably banish her to the Everfree Forest!”
“But that’s ridiculous!” The four ponies turned to look at Twilight who couldn’t help the outburst. Met with four identical sets of raised eyebrows and incredulous looks, Twilight gave a weak grin. “A heh, yeah…that’s as ridiculous as…being sent back to magic kindergarten” She admitted sheepishly.
“That’s what I mean though.” Fluttershy pointed out. “Rainbow Dash was so afraid of failing that she imagined the worst things she could think of, even if they were silly. Oh not that I’m calling you silly Twilight—” The lavender unicorn waved her hoof.
“No, no. You’re right. I was.” She frowned in thought. “But that’s what I’m talking about. All of us have ponies—or dragons—” she glanced at Spike “who we turn to when we want an opinion of us we can trust. But Rainbow…she doesn’t seem to know how to filter out the neighsayers and just listen to the ponies whose opinions she should rely on the most. So she tries so hard to be cool and to be praised by everypony she knows…and there’s no such thing as universal popularity.”
Fluttershy nodded. “But where Twilight was afraid of disappointing Princess Celesia, Rainbow Dash is afraid of letting ANYpony see her fail. I-I think Rainbow’s very brave when she’s standing up to creatures or bullies for her friends, but it’s still very hard to stand up for yourself. I should know. I-I mean, Rainbow’s been telling herself how awesome and cool she is for as long as I’ve known her. But m-maybe she stopped believing it herself? And that’s why she wants other ponies to tell her how amazing she is?”
“…danged if that don’t make some kinda sense.” Applejack nodded. “Rainbow was nervous as a cow getting milked by doctor claw when the two of us started competing in the Iron Pony contest. And by the time all them other ponies showed up she was ready to use her wings to cheat instead of losing in front of all them folks. Same thing for the Running of the Leaves.” She paused. “Heh. Now I’m wondering if the reason cousin Braeburn talks so much is because he spent all that time out trying to get Appleloosa started on his lonesome that he didn’t have nopony else to talk to but himself. Now it takes a bushel of apples and a hoof in his mouth to git him to shut up.”
“Or like how Big Macintosh keeps quiet since he can’t ever get a word in edgewise between you and Apple Bloom and Granny Smith?” giggled Pinkie Pie. Rarity and Twilight covered their mouths with their hooves and tried not to chuckle at the indignant expression on Applejack’s face, failing miserably.
“So, what’s yer idea?” Applejack asked with a roll of her eyes.
Twilight grinned and turned back to Spike. “Spike! Take a letter…”
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Meanwhile Rainbow Dash, looking much more refreshed after a good night’s sleep, was resting on a cloud floating lazily above Sweet Apple Acres. Since she had abruptly quit the Weather Patrol the remaining pegasi were stretched to the limits to keep the skies clear and maintain the scheduled weather. Seems like they decided they could let a couple of stray clouds remain, being shorthooved and all.
She had received a letter from the Mayor when she stopped showing up to work. When Rainbow had sent in her resignation, she had gotten another one, cajoling her for the good of the town to come back to work. Rainbow didn’t bother responding. Two more letters, each more beseeching than the last, had followed.
Good of the town…whose good? Rainbow mused idly. Cloud Kicker and Raindrops could handle the important stuff. Maybe not as quickly or as awesomely as she could but that was to be expected. Was that the only reason ponies in town liked her? Because she kept their days sunny and the plants watered?
Rainbow groaned and rolled over on her back, staring up at the expanse of blue. She tried to stop thinking about it, but she just couldn’t help it. Right now if Princess Celestia appeared and would grant her any single wish, she would ask for the ability to know what other ponies really thought about her. Or, perhaps she should wish for the ability to not care what other ponies thought about her? She covered her face as she felt a headache start to brew up. This is why she hated those ‘deep’ philosophical, rhetorical questions Twilight was so fond of.
“Confounded ponies.” She muttered. “They drive me to—”
“Rainbow Dash!” Turning over, she saw her friends gathered on the ground below her. Rainbow stood and hopped off the cloud, gliding down in front of them.
“Hey guys. What’s up?”
Twilight stepped forward. “Rainbow, we’ve been talking and—” Rainbow held up a hoof.
“Sorry Twilight, but there’s something I gotta say first.” She looked around. “This…really isn’t easy to say. I know you’ve all spent time that you could’ve been doing other stuff to talk to me and well, I want to say that I appreciate it. I—I really don’t have much to say. I feel like I’ve been all talked out. But…thank you. For everything. I’m sorry that I’ve been shutting you out and stuff. And…I guess that’s it.” Rainbow looked down.
“Aww sugarcube, ya know we would never leave you hanging anymore than you’d leave us.” Applejack smiled.
“You're our bestest most superific friend Dashie!” Pinkie Pie beamed. “If you’re not happy, we’re not happy!”
“We would never turn our backs on you, dear.” Rarity nodded.
“We’ll always be there for you Rainbow Dash. Always.” Fluttershy promised.
Twilight smiled. “I couldn’t have said it any better. Rainbow I know you’ve been trying to work through your problems on your own, but we wanted to do something so I wrote the Princess—no, I didn’t tell her anything about that!” she added when Rainbow started to glare. “And well, here.” Twilight floated a ticket over to Rainbow Dash. “This is a chariot ticket for a trip to Canterlot.”
“Well, uh, thanks Twilight by why would I need a chariot when I can fly?” She flapped her wings demonstratively.
“Because you probably would want to rest your wings for when you try out for the Wonderbolts tomorrow.” Twilight beamed as Rainbow’s jaw dropped. “I asked the Princess if she could arrange for a private session for just you and the Wonderbolts for you to show them your stuff. No big crowds to get you nervous like in Cloudsdale or to distract them like at the Grand Galloping Gala.”
“Y-you asked the Princess to let me try out for the Wonderbolts? Just for me?” Rainbow’s wings flared and her jaw trembled.
“Well, yes.” Twilight said modestly. “Turns out the Wonderbolts have a day or two off before they start their Equestria-wide tour this year. It was really quite lucky that they could squeeze in any time at all! But when I told the Princess how important this was to you, and to me, she…OOOF!!” Twilight let out a surprised grunt as she was suddenly tackled to the ground by a blue blur.
“ThankyouthankyouthankyouTHANKYOU!!” Rainbow Dash stood over Twilight, her eyes shimmering. “I-I don’t believe it! This is the most amazingly awesome thing anypony’s ever done for me!” In her unbridled state, Rainbow actually leaned down and nuzzled Twilight’s cheek in front of everypony. “I don’t—I don’t know what to say!”
“That hasn’t seemed to stop you so far.” Twilight joked as she rubbed her cheek in disbelief. “Um, you’re welcome Rainbow but if you wouldn’t mind…”
“Oh! Uh, right! Sorry!” Rainbow Dash hopped off and helped Twilight back to her hooves. “I guess I got carried away.”
Twilight smiled. “It’s okay. Just go and do you best and know that the five of us will be rooting for you, if you want us there.”
“Y-you guys are incredible! You’re the best friends a pony could ever ask for.” Rainbow sniffed, quickly rubbing a hoof across her face. “You bet your flank I want you all there!”
“We’ll all be there to cheer for you. Woohoo.” Fluttershy cheered softly. Pinkie laughed and blew into a party favor.
As Rainbow gleefully rocketed off into the sky and started turning summersaults in sheer glee, Applejack quietly made her way up to Twilight. “Um sugarcube, I’m glad to see Rainbow so pleased and all, but isn’t this what you said was the problem? Rainbow caring too much about what other ponies felt about her? Howzit any better if she worries about what some fancy-shmancy Wonderbolts think of her instead of regular ol’ folks right here in Ponyville?”
Twilight turned to regard her. “Applejack, this isn’t something we can fix in a day or two. It takes a long time and a lot of support to make her realize that she doesn’t have to take every pony’s opinion of her to heart.” She responded. “Right now, I think it would be good for her to get a fresh perspective and some positive reinforcement from ponies who she knows she can trust to give an unbiased view of her skills without worrying that they’re trying to protect her feelings or purposefully try to make her feel bad. That way, Rainbow can come back to Ponyville with her confidence and self-esteem back. Then she can get into her old routine and through experience learn when to listen to what other ponies say about her or not.”
“Ah guess I see what yer getting at.” Applejack watched Dash weave a rainbow contrail through the sky. “This shore was a nice thing ya did for her. Made her real happy.”
Twilight shook her head. “I only set some things up, made some arrangements. In the end, the only pony that can really help Rainbow Dash be happy…” the two watched Rainbow Dash zoom up, until she was silhouetted against the sun. “…is Rainbow Dash.”
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