Minisode
Rainbow's First Act of Heroism
The Sugarcube Corner Bakery was usually a very happy and warm place to be in...where people young and old could get away from their daily worries and talk over a cup of coffee or one of Pinkie Pie's legendary cupcakes.
The key word in that piece however...was 'usually'.
"I'm never getting that image out of my head..." Twilight groaned while blankly staring into the chocolate milkshake she had just ordered.
Right now, neither she nor any of the other four teenagers sitting at her table felt anything close to being warm or happy.
"Tell me about it," Pinkie Pie commented in a sour tone that sounded pretty much the opposite of how she was usually like. Heck, even her once poofy hair was hanging straight down as if it had lost all of its energy. It was a depressing sight indeed.
Spike looked between the two uneasily, not really knowing what to say, while Fluttershy looked ready to burst into tears at any moment and Applejack was just silently staring out the window aimlessly.
"Hey, look on the bright side..." the boy eventually tried, only to be met by the combined glare from everyone else at the table after he had spoken up. He carried on regardless though, even if he suddenly got a bit more nervous about it, "I mean...it could be worse...right?"
"I appreciate the sentiment, Spike, but thinking about how it could be worse isn't making me feel any better right now," Twilight grumbled before resuming her endless stare-down with her milkshake.
"Was that, um...the first time you've ever seen someone...well, um...die before?" Fluttershy asked, a sympathetic tone covering her words.
"No...but it was the first time I've seen that much blood..." Twilight answered, still sounding a bit shell-shocked. "...at least from a real live person."
"You know..." Pinkie started, still sounding uncharacteristically monotone. "...I never plan funerals. I will throw parties, weddings, birthdays and Hearth's Warmings all the time...but I never ever throw funerals."
As she carried on however, more and more anger became evident in her voice.
"They just feel wrong. There's no laughter, no fun, no joy, no smiles, nothing! They're not about making you feel happy, they're about making you feel sad! And you should never be sad! Not when you could be happy instead! Please tell me no one will throw one of those sad, no fun parties when I die! I never want people to be sad because of me!"
"So...I take it you won't be coming to Firefly's funeral then?" Spike guessed, still sounding a bit nervous as he did so.
Pinkie looked a bit uneasy at the question, her eyes darting all over as she thought about it. "I...I...I don't know! It's not like I don't wanna be there for Dashie, but...but...I HATE FUNERALS!"
She then proceeded to break down into sobs while a fountain of tears started to flood out of her eyes. Whatever the emotion she had, whether it be happiness, anger, boredom, curiosity, love or sadness, Pinkie always went all or nothing about it. Subtlety was just not something for her...even at the worst of times.
Fluttershy put a comforting hand on Pinkie's back and began to pat her gently to show sympathy for her situation. "Shh...shhh...there, there, Pinkie...we won't force you to be somewhere you don't want to be," she assured, her tone soft and comforting, even by her own standards.
"But, uh...if you all feel this bad about all this..." Spike spoke up. "...then how is Rainbow Dash handling it?"
"She cried herself to sleep last night," Fluttershy revealed, sounding very sad as remembered the teary eyes and anguished screaming of her oldest friend. "...and now...now she's locked herself in her room and won't come out no matter what. I can't even imagine what she's feeling right now."
"Me neither," Twilight agreed.
"I can," Applejack stated, finally saying something after having so far been silent and aloof.
The others, even the sobbing Pinkie Pie, looked at her with looks of sympathy or curiosity depending on who you asked. Applejack however just continued staring out the window with a neutral expression on her face while she took a deep breath and explained. "Rainbow's been cutting herself off from everyone 'cause she got it in her head it will make things easier."
After a pause, she finished, "It was the same for me when Buttercup and Bright Mac passed on."
Before she knew it had a crying Pinkie Pie already buried herself in Applejack's chest while she had her arms wrapped tightly around her. "I'm...I'm, I'm so, so, sorry you had to go through that, Applejack," she cried out between sobs. "It's just so sad..."
"It's alright, Pinkie," Applejack assured while putting an arm over Pinkie's shoulder, "It was a long time ago."
"That doesn't mean it doesn't hurt anymore!" she insisted, now sounding even more distraught.
"That's true," Applejack agreed in a slightly sullen tone, one that hinted at a lot more pain than she was willing to admit she still had. And even though her face didn't show it, Pinkie knew just how much pain AJ carried on the inside...especially when she thought about her mom and dad.
Applejack then got a glint of determination in her eyes and gently disentangled herself from Pinkie Pie while she hastily got up from her seat.
With her mind set, she said "I gotta go," before she started to head for the exit.
"Go? Go where?!" Twilight asked before she had a chance to leave.
While she was half-way through the door out, Applejack briefly stopped and turned around, "I'm gonna have a talk with Rainbow Dash, whether she likes it or not!"
The state of Rainbow's room was a complete mess...well...even more than it usually was.
Loud, obnoxious rock music blared out from her computer, drowning out the sounds of the world outside. The door was locked and the blinds to her window was shut tight, not letting even the tiniest speck of sunlight lit up the unhealthily dark bedroom.
From the looks of things, it was clear she didn't want any company. Hell, not even Tank was allowed inside right now, leaving the poor tortoise sitting just outside the door, patiently waiting for his owner and best friend to let him back in.
Rainbow Dash herself was probably even more depressing than her room was though.
She may not be sobbing anymore, but she was a far cry from being happy in any sense of the word. She had rings around her eyes from a clear lack of sleep, her hair was messy and dishevelled, and she was doing nothing productive with herself other than lie in her bed, stare at the ceiling and occasionally take a sip from a bottle containing a substance that she was not allowed to legally drink until she were a few years older at least.
For the last day and a half, she had only occasionally been seen outside this room, and even then, she mostly avoided everyone else and refused to even make eye contact with someone she knew.
She was so cut off from the world that she didn't even hear...or possibly care...when someone was slamming on her door to get her attention for the umpteenth time.
However, it was a bit harder to ignore when the person on the other side eventually lost their patience and decided to actually slam the door wide open with a kick so hard that it made Rainbow jump despite the loud music in the background.
"What the fuck, AJ?!" she cursed the moment she saw who it was.
Applejack for that manner didn't waste any time before she ran over to Dash's computer and quickly pressed a button to turn the obnoxious music off, then gave her friend a hard scowl. "Landsakes, Rainbow! Do you wanna get deaf listenin' to that ruckus?!"
Rainbow groaned and looked away, not feeling in the mood to be lectured on good behaviour.
AJ then noticed what was in her hand, "...and please tell me that ain't what I think it is..."
Dash's eyes widened in panic, and she immediately tried to hide the bottle under the cover of her bed.
It didn't fool Applejack in the least though, who merely glared at her wordlessly with her arms crossed. It wasn't quite a Fluttershy stare, but it did the trick, and Rainbow soon sighed and handed the bottle over to her.
After having read the label on it, Applejack pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a groan of her own. "Hard cider...where in blue hill did you even get this?"
Rainbow looked away guiltily, giving Applejack a pretty good idea on the answer to that question.
"You better hope Granny never finds out about this..." she grumbled irritably.
With a clear tone of anger in her voice, Rainbow suddenly sat up straight and asked, "What are you even doing here!?"
Applejack put down the cider bottle on Rainbow's desk and let out a deep sigh, then gently took a seat at the edge of the bed. She kept her voice calm and sympathetic when she answered, "I'm here because I care about ya, Rainbow."
Dash snorted humorlessly, "Well you sure have a weird way of showing it!"
"But I do care," Applejack insisted. "It's called tough love. You should try it sometime. And I know for a fact that drinking away your problems won't solve a goshdarn thing, and neither is hidin' from them either!"
"THEN WHAT!?" Dash nearly screamed. "What do you think I should do with myself?! Go into therapy, confess all my sins, yoga? She's dead...and it's all my fault! It's all my fucking fault! How do you expect me to live with myself after something like that!?"
Tears that she had kept in all day started to leak from the base of her eyes once more, but she tried her best not to break down into sobs this time...though given how she felt at the moment, that was a steep uphill battle.
"Well...you can start with not beatin' yourself up over it," Applejack suggested. "What happened...happened, and it sucks...it really does...but I promise you...it will get better...at least if you let it."
"And if it doesn't?"
Applejack put a comforting hand on her shoulder and looked her straight in the eye. "It will," she assured in probably the most sincere voice Rainbow had ever heard from her.
A moment of silence passed between the two as Dash started to process what her friend just told her.
'That's it? Just...it's gonna be better some day? Sure doesn't feel like it, but hey, what do I know? I'm just the stupid impulsive adrenaline junkie who keep telling herself she's awesome when she's clearly anything but. At least AJ knows how to make something of herself...because I sure don't.'
After thinking about it for awhile, Rainbow eventually decided to ask, "So...um, how did you get through this...you know when..?"
Applejack didn't answer that right away. Instead, she took a moment to think about it, to make sure she said it right, and as honest as possible.
"It...was hard.
"When we were told what happened to Ma and Pa, I refused to hear a word of it. I lied to myself and to everyone else, pretended to be fine so I would be no bother to anyone. I bottled up my feelins', lashed out at everyone else, even drank some of Granny's hard cider without permission just to make the pain go away...but it didn't help none. In fact, it just made everythin' a whole bunch worse.
"It was only once I came clean and told my family how awful I felt that I could let go of it. That was also when I learned that even with my parents gone...I still had Applebloom, I still had Granny Smith, and I still had Big Mac...and I needed to be there...for them, to make sure they were alright."
"So...it's that easy, huh?" Rainbow asked. "Just...remember that you have people you care about and the pain just magically goes away?"
"No, it ain't easy at all, but that don't mean you shouldn't try. Look, I get that you and your Ma were close and all, and that you feel responsible for what happened to her, but punishin' yourself for it wouldn't be what she would have wanted, would it?"
After a pause, Rainbow replied, "...Probably not."
"Exactly! And, well...you still have Fluttershy...and your Pa...and Scoots...and of course all of us gals, and we need you now too. If you keep punishin' yourself over this, it ain't just you who'd get hurt in the end."
During the time they had been talking, Tank had taken the opportunity to slowly crawl back into the room through the now opened door. And somehow, even though he was a tortoise, he was giving his owner a compassionate smile from his place on the floor.
"...and don't'ya forget about him too," Applejack added after casting a small glance at him.
Rainbow looked at her little pet reptile out of the corner of her eye, and her lips showed a hint of what must have been the closest to a genuine smile she's gotten since Firefly's death.
She looked back at Applejack, then let out a sigh, "Look, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but...well, I think I need some time on my own...to, you know process all of this."
Applejack wordlessly raised an eyebrow.
Dash was quick to assure, "No more cider, I get it! I just...I need to be alone right now...please."
After giving herself a moment to think about it, Applejack nodded and stood up, then picked up Rainbow's stolen bottle of alcoholic cider and took a few steps towards the slightly broken door.
"I'll...fix that later," she assured with a slight cringe. Though it seemed necessary at the time, the whole kicking the door down thing may have been a bit excessive.
Before she could leave though, Rainbow noticed something in Applejack's previous statement, "Wait, hang on! What did you mean when you said I had Fluttershy...as in Fluttershy specifically?"
Applejack turned around and gave Dash a sceptical look. "Are you pulling my leg? That gal's all sorts of crazy about you, she's just too darn shy to admit it!"
"Wha- for real?! Like, for really real?!" Dash gasped incredulously.
"What, you mean y'all didn't know already? And here I thought I was the oblivious one when it came to these things. Heck, me and Rarity used to have this silly little bet on who of you would ask the other out first even!"
Rainbow merely gaped at her with a wide open mouth, looking not entirely unlike a hungry fish as she did so. Applejack smirked a little at the reaction, then tipped her hat and quipped, "Well, at least now you have something else to think about, RD," before she stepped out of her room to give her friend the space she demanded.
Rainbow ended up laying there for quite a while longer...doing nothing other than just thinking about everything that was going on with her.
Without that loud music or an easy access to alcohol, that was a bit easier to do. While the tiny amount she had already drunk still affected her a little, Applejack had luckily taken it away from her before she get particularly wasted.
'So Fluttershy actually is into me? Would have been nice to know that sooner. Right now, I don't even know what to think about that. Arghh...there's just too much, too much stuff in my head right now!'
She clenched her skull as she felt a new headache coming on.
'I mean, how could things go south so damn fast?! First, it's life like normal, then I get bitten by some freaky spider and I wake up with a bunch of weird super-powers, and then my mom gets shot! What's next? Is a giant purple dragon gonna trash the town or something?!'
With a groan, she muttered, "I need some goddamn air..."
If there was one thing that always helped Rainbow Dash calm down, it was the open sky, and the feeling of freedom it always provided her.
Unlike most people, the prospect of being high up didn't frighten her. Instead, it relaxed her, and made it easier to think. Well, at least after she got over her fear of heights she had as a kid. Plus, the spider-powers helped a lot in that regard.
Currently, she was sitting on the ledge of a five-story concrete building at the very edge of the suburban district where she lived. In fact, it happened to be the very same one she climbed up on over two weeks ago back when she first discovered her new powers.
Climbing it now wasn't as fun as the first time though. Back then, she was beyond ecstatic. Heck, euphoric even, to wake up one day and have the most amazing superpower you could imagine.
Now however...that excitement had faded away.
'What am I supposed to do with myself?' she pondered while she looked over the city from her vantage point.
Before she left the house, she made sure to change into her blue spider-outfit to make it easier for her to swing around. Though once she reached the roof, she took her mask off to make it a little easier to breathe in the fresh air up there.
For the record, she could breathe just fine with the mask on...but it just didn't feel the same as when she was without it.
'I have these amazing powers like nothing anyone's ever seen...but every time I try to use them for something, things keeps going wrong.'
Rainbow picked up her discarded mask from the spot next to her and began to stare at it, its big white eyes staring at her back.
'First I try to use them just to win a damn soccer game and Scoots gets hurt, I nearly sent Gilda to the hospital, I got kicked off my own team, and I ended that with yelling at my mom and insulting her when she was only trying to help me. Some daughter I turned out to be.' She closed her eyes and tightened her grip on the mask. 'Then I try to use them to win me a new camera by going into a stupid wrestling game, and what do I get?!'
Dash clenched her teeth in anger. 'I had to watch my own damn mom die right in front of me just because I wanted revenge on some guy who wouldn't pay me! Gilda was right, I am a bitch. I am nothing but a stupid, greedy, not to mention selfish, bitch who thinks she's cool.'
She slumped over and once again came dangerously close to crying again. 'I don't deserve these powers. Not by a long shot. It should have been someone else who'd got bitten instead of me. Maybe Twilight would be smart enough to not make the same stupid mistakes I did, and Fluttershy wouldn't have been selfish and whiny about it in the first place. Hell, Spike even had the bright idea of becoming a superhero. Why couldn't he have been bitten instead? Anyone else would have used them better than I did.'
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself down.
'With great power...comes even greater responsibility. I get it, mom. But what the hell is the responsible thing to do anyway?'
A sudden and unexpected ring of her spider-sense came to her attention shortly after that thought crossed her mind. Though, unlike most times that had happened so far, Dash could tell that it wasn't her own life that was in danger, but someone else's.
Someone on the street below was running in distress...and three much bigger guys were running after him. The guys were bigger than herself too. So big in fact that just a month ago, she wouldn't have dared to pick a fight with someone like them if she had any plans of seeing tomorrow...
...but now...
"...Or you could be a superhero!"
"A superhero, seriously?"
"Of course! With those new powers, you'd be great at it! Just think how many people you could save, how many bad guys you can put in jail, and just how much people will love you. Everyone loves a hero, and I'll say that you might just be up to the challenge."
'Look, Spike, that sounds like a great idea and all, but...this is insane! Doing this is gonna get myself killed, I know it!'
She started to pace back and forth on the rooftop while she pondered what to do. Her common sense and will to live clashing with the part of her brain that told her that she couldn't just turn her back on an innocent life in danger.
Then...another memory hit her.
"I was just wondering...do you know who you're going to pick for the 'hero assignment'?"
"Not yet. Maybe I can try Daring Do. She got to count, right? I don't know, my brain does not think schoolwork right now."
"Well...I'm just asking because...I think I have decided who I will pick."
"Really? And who's that then?"
"Um...well...you."
"Wait, what?"
"I think...I will talk about you for the hero assignment, Dashie."
"But...why me, Flutters?"
"Do you...remember when we first met?"
"Of course, how could I forget?"
"Then you remember those awful bullies who were always making fun of me all the time back in grade school."
"Yes, I remember..."
"Well, you were the only one who ever stood up to them. You stood up to them...for me. Nobody has ever done anything like that for me before. Sure, my parents always cared and supported me, but they would never dare to stand up to anyone. To me, you're a hero, Dashie, a protector to those in need. I won't deny that to anyone, least of all to you."
"You...really think I'm a hero?"
"Yes, I do."
Rainbow stopped her pacing and let out a long...refreshing...sigh.
'You know what, Fluttershy, I am so gonna regret this...but I just can't say no to you. Okay, let's do this thing!'
With her mind set, she slipped the mask over her face and jumped off the building, ready to save the day.
Down on the streets below, a kid, probably no older than 14 or 15, but with short black hair and wearing rugged clothes that had definitively seen better days, was running for dear life.
The boy was quick on his feet, and his youthful energy kept him one step ahead of his pursuers...but it was a losing battle. He had already started to hyperventilate, and in his panic, he wasn't thinking about where he was going and soon found himself running out of potential escape routes.
It certainly didn't help that his three pursuers were positively relentless. Though they, like the one they were hunting, were all teenagers, these three guys were a bit older and much bigger in size than him.
While two of them, the big bald guy who was a bit more heavy-set than the others, and the more tall and lanky one with blonde hair practically covering his eyes, were slightly falling behind due to their lack of stamina, the apparent leader of the trio would do no such thing.
His spiky orange hair, sharp eyebrows and noticeable dragon tattoo on his left arm spoke of a rebellious attitude...but his borderline evil smile on his face as well as the flip-knife in his hand made it clear that this kid was a bit worse than your average teenage delinquent. And unlike his partners in crime, he wasn't slowing down one bit.
Eventually though, the boy they were chasing took a wrong turn and soon came face to face with a solid brick wall at the end of an alley. With the speed he was running at, he practically slammed into it when he did so.
"What's the matter, Thorax?! Nowhere left to run?" the alpha bully asked in a very patronising way.
The boy, apparently named Thorax, quickly turned around, placing his back at the wall while facing his assailants. "L-lo-look Gar-Garble...can't we settle this...ehm...peacefully...please?" he begged with a terrified stutter.
Garble played around a bit with his knife, flipping it back and forth in a subtle show of sadism while his two cronies placed themselves on either side of him to make sure that the kid had no way of escape.
"I dunno..." he replied before giving the other two a glance and a sinister smile. "...Can we?"
They both snickered.
The lanky one of trio, Fume, pulled out a baseball bat from under his black leather jacket and let it menacingly drop in his hand a few times for effect. "Hehehe, sure thing..."
"...If you lay down quietly and let us beat you!" Clump, the big bald guy, finished while strapping on a pair of brass knuckles to his fists and clenching them to show that he was serious about that.
Thorax, understandably terrified, pleaded, "Wait, I'll do anything! Just please don't hurt me!"
"Sorry, kid, but you and your brother better learn to stay out of our turf," Garble answered before he began to steadily approach him with his knife drawn, ready to strike. "...and I know of a perfect way to teach you."
Thorax let out an audible gulp and pressed himself as far back into the wall as he physically could.
"Don't worry, I'm not gonna kill you..." Garble promised with a smirk...before he narrowed his eyes and finished it with, "I'm just gonna hurt you...really...really...bad."
However, before Garble could take a step closer to his hapless victim, a sling of webbing came down from above and attached itself to his back. Then, barely even a full second later, he was forcefully yanked across the alleyway like a jo-jo and slammed back first into a couple of trash bins with a loud clanking sound...leaving Garble splayed out on the ground, groaning in pain in a pile of newly spilled out garbage.
Fume and Clump were left speechless, and could only stare with their jaws nearly hitting the floor at the mysterious masked person they had to presume was the one responsible.
Of course, it was none other than Rainbow Dash, or rather...Spider-Girl, who had shown up just in the nick of time. While the three punks had kept their attention on Thorax, she had managed to sneak up on them and was now standing between them and Garble with her arms crossed and a glare that somehow translated through the mask.
"You know, boys, there's being a jerk...and there's being a complete psycho," she commented. "And from what I've seen of you guys, all I have to say is: not cool."
"Who the hell are you supposed to be?!" Clump asked, himself not too sure what to make of this strange masked interloper.
She readied herself in a fighter's pose and confidently answered, "I'm Spider-Girl."
"Spider...Girl? PAH-hahahah!" Fume mocked, nearly barreling over from laughter at the sheer ridiculousness of the situation. "What are you trying to be, some kind of superhero wannabe!?"
To pour salt in the wound, Clump added, "Looks more like someone lost their way to the circus to me! Hahahah!"
'Seriously, guys? That's your A-material?' Rainbow thought with a sigh, then with an unseen smirk on her face she decided to play along for a bit. "Yeah, sure. They called me by the way to pick up their two lost monkeys, and now I'll give you two options. One: walk away and leave the kid alone, or two: you make it difficult and I have to throw you both back in your cages."
That reply made both of them stop laughing and look at her angrily.
"So what will it be? Your dignity intact or back to the circus?" she offered, sounding a bit more cocky and fearless than she actually was.
Garble meanwhile had just managed to crawl back to his feet and shook his head to clear his vision a bit. "Huh? What the hell happe-?" then, once he got back to his senses, his mood turned from confusion to rage in an instant and glared down at the Spider-Girl. "You'll pay for that, freak! GET HER!"
Fume and Clump reacted quickly and charged at her without a second thought. Though neither of them were particularly skilled fighters, their weapons were pretty dangerous no matter who wielded them.
Rainbow's spider-sense was her saving grace though, for it warned her in time to duck under the wild swing of Fume's baseball bat, and immediately after that catch Clump's brass knuckled fist in her hand with little effort.
Then, before he had a chance to free himself from her grip, she pulled his arm to the side and grabbed his shoulder with her free hand, and then used enough force to literally throw the bigger-than-average thug right at the much lankier Fume, sending both of them sprawling to the ground.
Any hopes of them getting up from that was immediately dashed when Spider-Girl leapt up on the wall opposite of them and sprayed them shut to the ground with enough webbing to make sure they stayed there.
There was no time to rest for the new hero though, as Garble, the leader of the terrible trio, was now rushing towards her with his knife drawn, looking no happier than one would expect after she had so effortlessly made a fool of him and his cronies.
Luckily for her, Rainbow had a few more tricks up her sleeve, and proceeded to bounce off the wall and into the one on the opposite side of her, if a bit lower down on it than before, and then finishing her move off with a zig-sack style leap at Garble while keeping her fist ready to deliver a nasty punch at his left cheek, knocking him off-balance and leaving a red mark on the side his face in the process.
However, through sheer rage and bloodlust, Garble managed to push past the pain far quicker than Dash thought, and suddenly turned back around and slashed her in her upper arm with a swipe of his knife, sending a sharp jolt of pain throughout the whole limb by doing so.
Seeing an opening to attack, Garble tried to stab her again, but this time she jumped back a metre or so from his attack and quickly web his knife-holding hand stuck to the wall nearest to him...then quickly proceeded to do the same to his other hand before he could use it to free himself.
Now mostly immobile and very humiliated, Garble cursed, "You'll pay for this, bitch! Doesn't matter who you are, here, GARBLE RULES! YOU GET ME! HERE, GARBLE RU-"
Thwip!
...and then Rainbow webbed his mouth shut for good measure, leaving him powerless to do anything to her other than aggressively glaring at her.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say..."
She then sighed and took a moment to check the small wound he inflicted on her arm in the fight.
After spraying a small layer of cobweb over the cut to serve as a temporary bandage, she turned her attention to the person she had just saved. "You...eh, Thorax was it? You okay?"
"Well...I guess I am now," he hesitantly answered, now nearly speechless while staring in awe at his unexpected saviour. "I don't know who you are or where you came from, but thank you!"
Rainbow walked up to him and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Don't mention it. It's the least I could do."
"It's just...I never thought that anyone would go out of their way to help someone like me," Thorax sadly noted, thought with a hint of optimism thrown in as well.
"Hey, if I see someone who needs my help, I can't just sit by and do nothing," Spider-Girl assured while taking a step away from him. "Now go on now while I find somewhere to put these jerks."
Thorax nodded with a smile and uttered "I will. Uh, thanks again!" before he dashed off to get as far away from his, currently tied up, attackers as possible.
As she looked at him running away...safe and unharmed thanks to her effort alone...a small proud smile graced her lips under her mask.
'I guess this is what my powers were meant for. Spike and Fluttershy saw it all along, but I was too dumb to see it myself...until now at least. If I can use these powers to help others not go through the same thing that happened with mom, then that's what I'm gonna do!'
While she got her powers a few weeks ago, and the suit and web-shooters a bit later than that...it was at this moment that Rainbow Dash truly became...the Awesome Spider-Girl.