During the previous night, Rainbow Dash had gone to bed around two. The rehearsals had lasted until around midnight, and after the road back home and her shower, night already wasn’t that young.
This morning, waking up for those finale rehearsals with a run-through, felt quite tough. She took her breakfast in an automatic mode and didn’t really get embarrassed not to pamper herself even a little. It would give a lot of work to Rarity in order to make sure she could win anything, but she willingly let her legendary laziness catch her back.
Like foreseen, when her friend saw the bags under her eyes, the knots inside her hair, and her pallid complexion, she almost fainted. It was lucky she had the greatest range of day creams available in her possession, along with a primer known to make miracles.
All the same, to give her the fresh complexion of a starlet, she would have to work hard.
Her tongue stuck between her lips, Rarity was focused when screams of anger alarmed her and all the other girls around. It came from twin sisters who competed together like a single entity, though they knew well there could be only one winner. They were beautiful, used to competitions, and the rumor was that they could be the finale ones.
“Who stole our things?”
A stunned silence went through the room. If one of the girls were to blame for this disappearance, they were good at acting.
Clothes and makeup had not to leave the backstage, precisely in order to avoid one of them to intentionally take away the belongings of the others. The Organization Committee was looking for every possible way to limit cheating or plagiarism.
“Of course, that’s no one! What a great display of courage… You should be ashamed.”
“Don’t blame us without proofs!” Berry Preppy intervened.
“What if it was you who did that in order to get rid of one of us by accusing us of cheating?”
“What? Don’t be ridiculous!”
Before the argument to get worse, the coordinator intervened and decided to search the place completely, hoping they would find the twins’ lost things. Meanwhile, floated a scent of suspicion and wariness that didn’t particularly put everybody at ease, or set them in the perfect conditions to get prepared to participate to a stressful competition in front of a public.
Twenty minutes later, while the preparation of each went well despite the tension, the twins and the coordinator returned empty-handed. They had searched each and every corner of the Royal Auditorium where the pageant would take place, and they hadn’t found the single hint of the young women’s things.
Without makeup and hair supplies, and most importantly without outfits to display, their participation was over. The rules forbade to participate without the dresses and swimsuit demanded by the Organization Committee. And once the place left, it also was forbidden to come back for the contest. This precaution was made to avoid any attempt for the mothers and entrants at corrupting the judges.
The twins left making sure they displayed the maximum of their disagreement, even threatening to press charges. It wouldn’t make them be back in the game, but it seemed like a good way for them to release their frustration.
Because of this matter, Rainbow Dash realized how unforgiving the world of beauty pageant was, as well as requiring very strict rules that she would never have suspected.
However, there were other things she suspected… She took the opportunity of a break between the end of her prepping and the beginning of rehearsals to tell it to Rarity. Well, if Rarity would stop congratulating herself for the excellent job she had done to her face in order to make her look “competitive”.
“Come with me to the restroom, please…”
“What for? I’ve known you for five years and it’s the first time you want me to come with you to the restroom.”
“Red alert”, she said grabbing her wrist and dragging her to the place she wanted to go to.
Alright, it was a lie but it was necessary. She had to talk to her about something, and for this, she needed to make sure no one would try to spy their conversation. It seemed crazy, because of the place, but it could put her in danger.
When she had arrived here yesterday, Rainbow Dash would have never thought to be in the situation in which she was. But the coincidence was a little bit too many to just shrug and pass it by.
She was in it too now, anyway, it was too late to go back.
When they arrived at the restroom, Rainbow Dash let go her friend’s arm and started to search the place. She examined each cab to make sure it was empty, checked out whether there were mikes or cameras.
Once certain they would not risk to get spied or eavesdropped, she led Rarity in a corner of the room and talked to her on the tone of secret. One could never know…
“There’s something fishy.”
“Where? In the toilets?” Rarity claimed with a horrified face.
“No!”, Rainbow Dash sighed. “In the contest. Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed it too…”
“Well, to be honest…”
No, she couldn’t say that. Of course, she had noticed. And she didn’t think she was the only one. If the contestants kept silence, it undoubtedly was because in case of the threat to be real, the pageant would be cancelled. It was nothing but a contest for teenage girls, after all, and nothing forbade the Miss Teen Equestria Committee not to have a representative of the capital. It had already happened…
“I must admit there seem to be something going on.”
“Something? A great deal of the entrants had been food-poisoned, one of us could have been killed yesterday! I can’t get why they want to maintain the contest in spite of this.”
“Well, unless one of you gets seriously hurt…”
“It almost happened, Rarity, wake up!”
“Yes, but as long as it doesn’t really happen, the contest won’t be cancelled.”
“It makes me so sick!”
In all likelihood, Rainbow Dash took all this very seriously. It was rather unexpected, with her opinion about the persons who took part to this kind of competitions.
Rarity immediately regretted her thoughts. The young woman may have flaws and a lot of prejudices, but she also was a person with a real awareness of life’s value. Because of her past experiences, she knew what it felt like to see someone you love in danger. She wasn’t lacking empathy, conversely.
It felt as if someone had stabbed her into the nape. Finally, she fully realized the consequences of such a situation. Yesterday, when this spotlight came off and almost broke her neck, she really had been worried for her friend. If someone was ready to go that far to make sure the amount of entrants would drastically decrease, there was no doubt that this person could go even farther.
It had already happened, after all. Some even were stabbed for less than that.
A strong anxiety clasped her throat, and she even thought she lacked oxygen for a second. They had already almost lost Rainbow Dash forever, and there was no way she was going to take the risk to lose her again, no matter how much she wanted her work to be discovered by a famous designer.
“You’re right. It’s starting to become too dangerous. You must retire from the contest.”
Rarity saw Rainbow Dash opening her mouth, and she lifted her hand in front of her to prevent her from talking.
“I don’t want to know. I’ll find another way to show Hoity Toity my creations. All that matters is that you’re safe and sound.”
“I can’t retire.”
“But…”
Just like Rarity had done before, Rainbow Dash lifted her hand in front of her friend’s face.
“Listen… Let’s admit I retire. So what? I’ll be safe but what about the other girls?”
She hadn’t thought about it. Indeed, Rainbow Dash wasn’t the only one to take part to this contest. There were young women in danger as well in this place. And if they didn’t do anything, they could be hurt or worse.
It could seem to be disproportionate, yet, the spotlight accident wasn’t the only one. The causes of the food poisoning weren’t known yet and if it seemed the targeted girls weren’t in a serious state; it could have consequences more tragic.
“What’s on your mind?” Rarity questioned, still a bit worried.
“I’m going to stay and try to discreetly investigate. You have to act naturally, so when we’ll be back, you’re going to have to look worried because I’m on my periods and oh, it’s such a bad timing. Got it?”
The fashion designer nodded without a word. Her hands were shaking. But she had to look convincing, although she was scared. Rainbow Dash was right, after all: they couldn’t let the others down.
It was risky, but they had to take that risk.
Her only hope was that her investigation would be quick, so that finally, she could breath.
---------------------------------------------
Rainbow Dash took a glimpse behind the curtain, and quickly spotted her friends, as well as Soarin, around the first rows. They all were here and Twilight even came with Flash Sentry. Though she felt happy for the young woman, she hoped her on-again off-again boyfriend would not make fun of her once back at school.
It wouldn’t help to make her like him, and it would ruin a reputation she had spent several years to elaborate and cultivate.
She heard a female voice clearing her throat behind her, and saw Suri Polomare, arms crossed, staring at her with her most threatening look.
“You have nothing to do here, Rainbow Dash! Go with the others, quick! The show’s about to start.”
In the audience, the gang was really excited to see the pageant start. It felt very strange to envision their friend all pampered and ready to do the catwalk like a supermodel, as she often wore shorts under her skirts, avoided high-heel shoes when she knew she’d have to walk for a long while, and only had the minimum of makeup on.
It was the ultimate proof that she was ready to do anything for her friends, though at first she’d been very reluctant to do this favor for Rarity. The general consensus was that, once again, the blame was on her tenacious pride. She was aware of a societal reality that regarded things said to be “feminine” as inferior and lacking of importance, and the idea itself to be associated to such adjectives was enough to make her worried about her dearest reputation.
True there also was a large part of her real character behind her hesitation, but no one ignored she was hiding some of her faces, especially the softer ones.
When the lights turned off and the music started, they gave a thunder applause, while Soarin was a little more hesitant, still unable to envision the fact he would see his girlfriend and childhood best friend in such a light.
He remembered clearly that, younger, she hated when her father decided she had to wear a dress, or when her mother tried to style her hair pretty. Not to stain her clothes was the most difficult thing for her back then. It meant she wouldn’t be able to play soccer or basketball the way she wanted, and she’d have to pay attention when eating. And it also prevented her from hanging upside down at the jungle gym, or the boys would see her panties and then made fun of her.
Sometimes, he even registered a small shock when he remembered she had breasts… And yet he really enjoyed watching them – and more if they got on.
All the same, spotting immediately her among the other girls was easy as pie. Her multicolored hair made her being noticed, even when you didn’t want to pay attention.
Also, the way she walked wasn’t that graceful and it appeared clearly that walking with high-heels was nothing she was used to.
If these details were set apart, Soarin already had his winner.
When her turn to strike a pose in front of the judges arrived during this first parade, instead of trying to copy the way models walked during fashion shows, like all the other entrants, Rainbow Dash moved pretending to have the greatest of fun, as if on the dancefloor of a nightclub.
It looked surprising, but it wasn’t such a bad idea. She always been told to stay herself and not to play a role, even when she didn’t like it, and it seemed she’d chosen not to betray this motto. She was herself, and too bad for the rest.
It undoubtedly was the reason why she’d asked Fluttershy, second of the girl to be fond of fashion after Rarity, where she could find videos of a former French supermodel* who was very famous for the way she moved on the catwalks, different, cheerful and loosen up.
She even dared winking at them when she heard the gang calling out her name, under the dumbfounded looks of most part of the audience.
However, the whole gang agreed to say that with this hairstyle, makeup and clothes, she looked really pretty. Maybe it wasn’t really objective, since they all loved her, but they didn’t care. They weren’t the ones voting, after all…
Also, they had to admit the blue dress created by Rarity was dazzling, and in no way looked similar to anything that could be found in boutiques for low incomes. It seemed to be straight out of a fashion show.
So, it wouldn’t matter if they didn’t make it to the second part of the competition. They all were sure Hoity Toity had noticed the dress and just couldn’t believe it.
After this first parade, the emcee, who was no one else but Canterlot’s female mayor, asked the competitors to introduce themselves orally, and asked a question to each of the girls.
No one could doubt Rainbow Dash felt at ease speaking in front of a public. Presentations and various speeches never scared her. Her friends didn’t fear to see her panicking, but rather to see her legendary lack of modesty showing up and ruin her chances. Humility was appreciated in this kind of contest, they all knew it.
It probably was difficult for her to wait without a word, motionless with her smile on all the time while the other girls spoke each their turn, but she kept going.
Nevertheless, her pose looked a little too nonchalant.
When it was her turn to introduce herself, Rainbow Dash kept it to the minimum: her name, the fact that she was a student at CHS, her extracurricular activities, and her hobbies which in fact often were the same.
But the hardest still was about to come around – the question she was going to be asked.
“What’s the greatest inspiration in your life?”
Alright, if she answered herself because she was way too awesome, she would never access to the rest of the contest, and Hoity Toity would never have another chance to admire another one of Rarity’s creations.
Now the pageant had started for good, everyone was too involved to say that it didn’t matter if they wouldn’t go any further, and that the most important was to participate.
“It’s easy”, she started. “My mother. She’s the one who taught me to be myself no matter what, and also how important it was to be brave, to be self-confident, and to always count on your friends. Even today, when I’m feeling lost, I wonder what she would have done in my shoes, and I draw strength from her words.”
“How lovely! What’s your mother doing for a living?”
“She was a pilot. In the Royal Aerobatics Float.”
“Oh.”
For a few seconds, this last detail caused a small shock to the audience. From it, it was easy to deduce who her mother was, and Canterlot inhabitants who never had seen footages of the crash on television, there weren’t any.
Her intention had never been to move the judges or the audience. She’d been asked a question, and she had answered in all honesty. Her group of friends and Soarin could testify it: her mother was the greatest inspiration in her life.
But if it could make her gain points and allow Rarity to show more of her creations to Hoity Toity, then it was good to take. In fact, she was rather satisfied of her performance during this first part of the pageant.
A local band had been invited to play songs between each parades. It let the entrants a very short amount of time to get changed, including new makeup and hairstyles. They had to work with a sense of urgency and not to crack under pressure.
Rainbow Dash had to admit her habits of interschool championships and Roller Derby competitions helped her being used to this kind of frenzy. She had nerves of steel when it came to this kind of stress.
She had to admit girls who wanted to be famous in the field of beauty pageants had not to be poor frail young creatures. In the middle of the frenzy, the urgency, the pressure, the most fragile ones who never keep going. Once again, it was a good lesson for the teenage girl.
The way Suri and the coordinator urged them and yelled at them didn’t let them much time to think things through. They had to keep coming without further questions.
In the middle of the pandemonium, the mother of one of the competitors stepped into the backstage, tears in her eyes, which called each of the girls’ attention, focused or not.
“Lily! Lily, are you there?”
Lily, in reality Lily Lace, was one of the entrants the others thought to be a favorite. With her elegant curls of a mauve so pale it looked almost white, her beautiful blue eyes and her benevolent smile, she had the typical profile of a winner. For most of the girls here, it was clear she could win the competition.
Maybe a little too much, judging by her lack of answer.
It was impossible that she had disappeared, like by magic, when all they had to do was to walk from the stage to the backstage. All the girls were pushed by the coordinator, and couldn’t stop at all. It had been the same with her.
Yet, the young woman seemed to be nowhere around, and her mother, in tears, threatened to call the police, in order to cancel the pageant until her daughter was to be found.
A security manager was sent to her, to look for her extensively, yet she was warned, there was no way the show could be cancelled now. The contest would go on, with Lily or not. The coordinator thought that, caught up by pressure, she went and hid somewhere.
Her mother didn’t believe in this at all, but out of desperation, she agreed to follow the security manager.
Meanwhile, show had to go on. The contestants went back on the stage, and the name of the first ones to be selected were called. Lily Lace was part of the chosen girls, but in her absence, another of the contestants was saved in order to replace her.
Much to her surprise, Rainbow Dash was called among the first selected girls. Though she thought she was convincing when she talked about her mother, because of her style, too eccentric for the old-fashioned judges, she really had thought the adventure to stop here for her – which would have allowed her to investigate on Lily Lace’s disappearance, which really worried her.
It was now about time to start the trial called the talents contest, some kind of show inside the show, where each of the remaining girls showed the judges their artistic gifts, as long as it was a field prominently featuring entertainment.
Rarity took advantages of the girls busy to change clothes and to rehearse their performance to talk with Rainbow Dash about the latest events. Not her selection for the next step of the competition, but what had happened to Lily Lace, in the complete indifference of the Organization Committee, which seemed to care about money more than they cared about the lives of their fillies.
“For now, your “investigation” is ineffective, and another girl had just been excluded. Seems like she completely vanished away! It’s way too dangerous now. I want you to retire from the competition.”
At first, Rainbow Dash had assured her it was rather unlikely anything to happen to her, since she could in no way win this thing. It no longer was enough to comfort her friend. Especially now that she was about to compete for another part of the show. It meant she was now more likely to win, although it would be a general surprise.
It was too dangerous… Who knew what happened to Lily Lace? It was about twenty minutes now that she had disappeared, and still no news from her.
Rainbow Dash put her hands on both sides of Rarity’s shoulders, and looked straight into her eyes. Of course, she knew what she feared. And it would be false to certify that she was a hundred percent reassured as well. However, it was nothing like her to turn around and leave as soon as it started to smell like rot.
And, she hadn’t agreed to take part in this pageant for her own sake.
“You’re scared and I can understand, but we can’t go back now. I won’t chicken out, it’s nothing like me, and you know it. Hoity Toity must see the dresses you created.”
“But what if something happened to you?”
“You forget I did boxing for several years and I can pin any of these chicks against the ground if I want to. Trust me.”
“Rainbow Dash, hurry up! It’s your turn!”
Behind her, the coordinator was clapping her hands as always, while stomping her feet at the same time.
Even if she wanted to, Rainbow Dash couldn’t stop everything now. Not only because she was too far in the competition now, but also because now that she was that far, she absolutely wanted to make sure the goal of her participation to be achieved. Also, she had to admit she was starting to get caught up in the game, and let the competitive side of her speak.
With a comforting smile, she hurried back on the stage, armed of her electric guitar. Before she started, she made sure the technicians had installed her soundtrack for the second song, as well as her model amplifier for the first song. Once everything was okay, she settled on the stool which had been put in the center of the stage.
Usually, girls who competed with singing only performed one song, most of the time a cover. She had planned two songs, two shorter versions, to make sure the judges could see the two main faces of Rainbow Dash.
In the audience, her friends like Soarin were expecting her to compete with a rock track, or that she would try something urban. Thus, when the firsts chords resounded with an acoustic sound, they all glanced at each other, surprised.
As her first song, she had chosen a piece of “Over The Rainbow”, Judy Garland’s version in “The Wizard of Oz”. Those knowing her well also knew the meaning of this song for her.
The movie was one of Firefly’s favorites, who quickly ignited her daughter’s interest for great classics. She often sang “Over The Rainbow” to her before she fell asleep, and always explained her all the essential lessons of life were in “The Wizard of Oz”, and the character of Dorothy. It also was the origins of her name, chosen by her parents based on the lyrics of the song.
Soarin couldn’t help but shedding a few quiet and calm tears. Her to dare bringing herself to light this way in front of complete strangers, it was a huge step ahead. She probably didn’t realize, but it proved she no longer was this teenage girl, affected midair and who could never face anything related to her mother’s death.
It was a beautiful moment for him and the girls. A moment they wouldn’t forget.
However, after this moving break, what characterized Rainbow Dash the most resurfaced when she started her second song, “Awesome as I Wanna Be”, this time a title she’d written herself for the Rainbooms and that was… Well, everything they feared she would show in the first place.
Was it a cold shower or had she just confirmed her status of outsider, no one could tell for now. And Rarity, watching from backstage, was no longer sure of what she wanted. Yes, her dream was important, but her best friends’ lives were even more precious.