//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: The Dash Diaries // by DropTheBass133 //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash awoke slowly, her body wanting to relax back down for more sleep but her mind rapidly attempting to get herself in gear. Opening her eyes, feeling the weight of their lids against her drowsiness, she cast a quick glance around her room. The curtains to the left were drawn, but the sunlight shone through them and doused the room in a faint glow. Her eyes settling on the wall, she looked at the clock before feeling a familiar panic steal through her body. Wait...8:45? Horseapples! I'm late for work! Bolting upright, she tossed aside her blankets, leaving her bed unmade. Rummaging around her unkempt room for a hairbrush, she rushed to her mirror and tore it through her mane, muttering furiously with the feel of the brush tackling the tangles in her hair and mentally kicking herself for sleeping in...again. Staring at herself, her ruffled mane, the large bags under her eyes, and her exhausted expression, she decided she either needed to learn organisation or get a very, very loud alarm clock. Whizzing out of her home and slamming the door behind her, keys and lunch-bag in a saddle on her back, she flew up to the weather factory in a blur. Dashing behind a pillar, she waited for a huddle of ponies just inside the doorway to clear. Maybe if I creep in, I won't get ca- "Rainbow Dash." Uh oh. "Uh...heh...hi there, Silver. Uh...Nice day, isn't it? Yeah...heh...good day for...flying...um..." she trailed off hopelessly as her boss, a silver and emerald stallion Pegasus named Silver Flash, stood sternly in front of her. "Nice to see you up so early yet again. What's your excuse?" "Uhm...I was...uh..." "Save it. Listen, you need to buck your ideas up if you want to get along here, right? This is the third time you've been late in a month and I'm not having it anymore." "I'm sorry! I j-just..." "I need somepony to help Decimal Point draw out the weather plans and calculations for next week. Seeing as you're obviously not up to field work today, you can do that. You'll be in the second-floor office." "But I always do field work!" "Just go, Rainbow." "But-" "Now." Feeling like a scolded schoolfilly, Dash made her way to the office, face burning. Swinging open the door, she was greeted by Cloudsdale's mathematician, Decimal Point, with a curious look. "Oh, hi there, Rainbow Dash. Not like you to be in the office." "It's not like I wanna be here, Dessie." "Oh, right. You slept in?" "How do you know that?" "I've known you long enough to work that out." Dash gave an inaudible grunt as her reply, sulking over to a desk and flopping down in a chair. Her mind drifted over to her friends. It's not fair. All the others are spending today doing what they want. I mean, there's Applejack harvesting apples and stuff, like she always does, and she loves that. Then there's Fluttershy and her animal hospital, and Rarity with her boutique...Pinkie Pie'll be running Sugarcube Corner today while Mr and Mrs Cake are in Fillydelphia, and Twilight Sparkle's in her library sorting books and doing spells while I'm stuck here, all day, doing math. Not cool. Rainbow Dash's thoughts were broken as Decimal Point trotted over, smiling. Rainbow immediately resented his happiness and glared at him. "Now, Rainbow, I need you to draw three charts," he started, handing her a pencil, ruler, graph paper and calculator. "One will be to show the rainfall of Wednesday and Thursday of next week as we have some light showers planned with an average rainfall of about 5.2mm. The other two will be a map of the dry period afterward, spanning from Friday to Tuesday. Can you do that?" Dash nodded slowly, flicking the pencil across the desk. She hated math. She could do it - rather well, in fact - but she found it such a continuous bore that she preferred to have nothing to do with it whatsoever. The morning ticked by slowly. Rainbow Dash felt confined and utterly bored; her mind craving for inspiration and her body craving for speed and flight. She just couldn't understand how quiet, introverted pegasi such as Decimal managed to stay in an office all day. It's a complete waste of the wings they have, she thought. I wonder if ponies that can't fly ever get jealous...Perhaps not. I mean, they can get around it... if they really want to fly they can use hot air balloons, like Pinkie, or a flying spell or something. Heh, I remember that flying spell Rarity had at the Young Flier's competition. She could've been severely hurt if it wasn't for me! That was the day I did the Sonic Rainboom and got to fly with the Wonderbolts! That really was the best day ever. Once again, Dash was interrupted by Decimal Point. "Hey, Rainbow Dash, wanna come eat lunch outside?" "Uh, sure, Dessie." Grabbing her lunch out of her saddle-bag, she trotted outside and perched herself on a cloud. Decimal quickly found her, landing next to her and grinning. "It's good to see you around again, Rainbow Dash. We haven't crossed paths for a while, as you're in Ponyville so much." "Well...Ponyville is where my girls are, and ever since the whole Nightmare Moon thing we've all grown so much closer. But Cloudsdale is always gonna be my home, you know that." Decimal took a bite out of a daisy sandwich and swallowed. "Yup. Wow...Element of Loyalty, eh? It must be pretty great to know you lot saved our flanks from a huge disaster!" he chuckled. Dash thought for a moment before answering. "I suppose...I don't really think about it that way. For us, it's always been that moment when we realised we were destined to be best buddies, not heroes." she rolled her eyes at her own remark. "Ugh, I sound so sappy. Friendship is awesome...but sappy." Decimal nodded, before smirking. "Not as sappy as romance." Dash snorted and nudged her companion playfully. "And you know everything about romance, do you, smartie-flank?" "Enough to know it's sappy. And everywhere. I mean, look around, Rainbow!" Dash looked, her eyes falling on various Pegasus couples on clouds, around the factory, in the sky. I wonder what all that love stuff actually feels like, she found herself thinking. An awkward blush found its way to her cheeks and she suddenly focused her attention on her lunch, not daring to make eye contact with Decimal. "Uh, well, I'm not interested in that stuff." she said quickly, and, satisfied her blush had gone, she lifted her head and took a slice of cake out of her lunch bag, inspecting it before taking a bite. "Mm, that looks good." commented Decimal. "Where'd you get it from?" "Oh, it's just left over from Rarity's birthday party last week." mumbled Dash through mouthfuls of cake. "Pinkie Pie baked it by herself - and everypony knows that if it's baked by Pinkie, it's gonna be the best." She grinned, before tearing a small portion of the slice off the end and holding it out in her hoof. "You want some?" "Oh, sure, thanks, Rainbow Dash." said Decimal, taking it and nibbling gently. "Listen, I had better get back to work. I've got a lot to do today - will you be all right on your own for a bit?" "Yeah, I'll be fine. Later, Dessie." "See you, Rainbow Dash." Rainbow Dash sat alone for a few minutes. Looking around the factory, she noticed two young mares flying up that she recognised immediately. One of them, named Aurora, was dark blue in colour, her tail and mane pink. The other, Star, had a dark pink coat and wings and a blaze-striped yellow and orange mane and tail. Rainbow Dash had known them both since flight school, and although she didn't consider them her "friends" as such, they had been classmates for years and had secured a strong acquaintance. "Hey! It's like, Rainbow Dash!" "O-M-G! And when was the last time we saw you, stranger?" Dash rolled her eyes. Combined, the two of them were girlier than Rarity. Still, they were hot on gossip, and if this was a chance to show off, she was ready to take it hooves-down. "Hey guys," she said lazily, reclining on her cloud and smirking to herself. "I've been around, you two haven't been looking hard enough. Maybe I'm just too fast..." Star and Aurora floated down onto the cloud, exchanging looks and giggling. "Totally. You're just the fastest in Equestria, Dashgirl!" said Star. "Yeah, I mean, you like, totally stormed the Young Flier's competition. Like, Sonic Rainboom, O-M-G!" Aurora exclaimed. Another girlish giggle came from the two and Dash, liking the attention, continued to blow her own horn. "Hay yeah! I could do one anytime. I mean, I won't right now, just 'cause I'm at work, but I could. It's a permanent feature, that one." she chuckled, flapping her wings. "So... now that you're famous and all that, you must have a coltfriend, right?" Star winked, her eyes flashing. That caught Dash by surprise. "Uh...not right now. But...uh...I've had some...offers. I mean," she grinned, her confidence returning, "the colts can't keep their hooves off me! I'm just holdin' out for that one special pony, you know?" "Ooh," Aurora looked at Dash with admiration, "playing, like, hard to get, are we? Good tactic, keep the boys guessing!" "Mmhm. Look, girls, it's been awesome to chat, but I've gotta get back to work. Have to earn money somehow before I'm a Wonderbolt!" "Sure, Dashgirl. See you around!" "Yeah! Like, later!" Phew, I thought I'd never get outta there, Dash thought as she flew back to the second-floor office. I'm just glad I didn't have to tell them that I've never really had a coltfriend...I don't even know if I want a coltfriend. I'm happy how I am. Trotting to her desk, she sat down and picked up her pencil, continuing her work where she had left it. Sometimes, she thought, the expectations of others are pretty hard to handle. I wish everypony would stop bugging me to perform tricks everywhere when all I wanna do is hang out with my friends...If being a Wonderbolt is like this, I don't know what I'll do. Does Soarin ever get stopped in the middle of a town market and asked to do a Super Speed Strut? Does Spitfire have her old classmates asking her about colts all the time? Dash battled with her feelings. She felt stressed out and confused; life in Cloudsdale had become hectic now everypony was dying to know the mare that saved the Wonderbolts' lives. It was fun to boast and tell stories of her adventures, but she'd much rather be having the adventures with the others than exaggerating the tale of how Fluttershy tamed a dragon and saved Equestria from eternal pollution, or how Applejack saved everypony in Ponyville by single-hoofedly diverting a huge stampede of furious cows. Talking was getting boring. And so is this math...Dash yawned, looking at the clock; it was 2 in the afternoon. Out on field duty, she would normally be done by about now, but her work laid unfinished and there was no telling how much longer she'd be in here. I wonder what the girls are up to right now. Twilight's probably writing a letter to the Princess or studying quantum physics or something...Rarity'll be washing her mane...Pinkie's probably about to pull a prank on Spike, although it won't be half as good without me there. Applejack might be...oh, yeah, she'll be helping Applebloom with her homework right about now....Heard Fluttershy got a new pet ferret the other day so she's probably feeding him. And what would I be doing if I wasn't stuck here? Napping. This is why I hate offices. The door burst open and in trotted Silver Flash, a grin on his face as he saw Rainbow Dash slumped on her desk. Walking over, he gave his employee a smirk. "You seem to have been working harder than I expected," he said, casting a look at her work. "You'd be an excellent weather calculator if I was to put you in here permanently." Rainbow Dash almost fell out of her chair. "What?! You can't do that. I've suffered enough!" Dash readied herself for further objection, but Silver Flash held up a hoof to silence her. "Let me finish. I said if I was to put you in here. Consequently, I'm not going to, as you're such a diligent and committed field worker. Today was just to teach you a much-needed lesson, and I trust that you've learnt it?" "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes." "Good. You are therefore dismissed. Decimal Point will handle the work you didn't quite finish." Decimal's voice chirped from a corner, "I'm on it!" Dash's mouth hung open. Muttering hurried thanks to her employer and her colleague, she flew out of the office block and into the fresh afternoon sky. Punching the air with a hoof, she giggled and spun rapidly in loops, ignoring the curious stares she was receiving. The stars glistened outside Rainbow Dash's window as she looked out at a silently sleeping Cloudsdale. Her day had been busier than she thought. Who knew I could spend most of a day...thinking? It's almost as if I have too much to think about...thank Princess Celestia I've got a day off tomorrow. I'm think I'm gonna need it. Climbing into her cloud-crafted bed and slipping the covers over herself, she yawned loudly before snuggling down and looking at the three photographs on her bedside table. One was of the Wonderbolts, and she traced her hoof along it, whispering a goodnight to each of them. She'd never tell anypony she did this, though - it was lame, but somehow she always felt like she needed to. The second picture was of her and the other five after their fashion show for Rarity, all dressed up in their Gala dresses and looking prouder than ever. "Goodnight Twilight, and Rarity, and Fluttershy, and Pinkie, and..." she stopped, looking closely at the third and final picture. Twilight had taken it, just after the Running of the Leaves the previous fall. Dash and Applejack were galloping, side-by-side, beaming, as the leaves swirled and cast shadows around them. Rainbow Dash couldn't put her hoof on why, but she favoured this picture most of all. "And...sweet dreams to you, cowpony Applejack," she finished, grinning. Settling her head on her pillow, she let the soft warmth of her bed envelope her into sleep, where the dreams of her thoughts and feelings finally caught her.