//------------------------------//
// Rainbow Dash 
// Story: Beard 
// by mushroompone 
//------------------------------//

"Listen, I'd grow a beard if I could," Rainbow said, forcing another bite of her too-tall sandwich into her mouth. "Then I'd be, like, 'The Bearded Wonderbolt', y'know?"

I cocked my head. "What, like… you'd want to known for it?"

Rainbow nodded, then swallowed extravagantly. After a little contended sigh, she said, "'Course. Why, don't you want to be 'The Bearded Princess'?"

My magic glittered softly. I used the purple tendrils to twist and tug at the hairs of my beard, which were now long enough to show a twinge of color towards the ends; the same deep blue of my mane, of course. I wondered if any streaks of color would appear…

"Twi?"

"Hm?"

"You okay?" Rainbow wiped the back of her mouth with one hoof. "You're acting… I dunno. Weird, I guess."

"What if…" I sighed. "What if nopony were going to see it?"

Rainbow's eyebrows knit together. "How could nopony see a beard?"

"Well, what if you wore helmets? Like the Washouts?" I suggested. "Would you still grow one?"

Rainbow's gaze turned to the ceiling. "Uh… I dunno. I mean-- well, you have to trim it, right. I don't think I'd want to trim it. I hate mane care enough already." She laughed and popped a fry in her mouth.

I squinted at Rainbow. "That's it?"

"Whaddya mean?"

"That's it?" I repeated. "You'd grow a beard because… because then you wouldn't have to trim it?"

"Uh… yeah." Rainbow's expression was becoming more focused, now. "Wait, we are talking about beards, right? This isn't some weird metaphor for, like… politics or something, right? 'Cause, if it is--"

"It's not politics!" I complained. "It's just-- everypony keeps making a big deal out of it. It would be nice to know that other ponies… well, that other ponies would do it. I-if they could or… y'know."

Rainbow nodded her head slowly. "Right…"

We grew quiet a moment. I stirred my hot tea with my magic, but the swirling motion made my want to twist those little hairs on my chin once more.

The cafe was quiet and calm. The light of the setting sun filtered through the blinds, casting golden stripes across our table. It was soft and quiet and nice.

I was a cafe pony. I always had been, and I always would be. I'd always feel at home and at ease in these little, snuggly corners of Equestria. They were private and cozy and I didn't have to be a princess here… I was just a pony, ordering a cup of tea and reading a book.

Rainbow knew this, of course. That I was a cafe pony. But Rainbow was a bar pony; she liked meeting other ponies, she liked donning glowsticks and backwards caps and plur bracelets, she liked being seen and acknowledged and even fawned over.

I thought it would change when she was truly in the spotlight, but it didn't. In fact, I think she lives the attention even more.

"Y'know, Twi, I think ponies just called me a tomcolt so many times as a foal that it just… I dunno, it stopped meaning anything," Rainbow said. She chewed thoughtfully on another fry. "That stuff doesn't mean a lot to me. Ponies are gonna see me how they're gonna see me. I'm happy with how I am, so what's the point trying to change?"

I blinked. "Rainbow, you do know that we'd support you in anything you do, right?" I said softly. "If you wanted something different, we'd be there for you."

"I don't want anything different. I don't really want… anything." Rainbow stared down at her food, as if surprised by her own admission. "I just wanna be Rainbow Dash. I don't want any other labels taking credit for that, y'know?"

"Yeah…" I mumbled. "I mean-- well, no, I… don't."

Rainbow looked into my eyes. "Well… how do you feel?"

I looked up at her. 

She cared so much what others thought that she didn't care at all. How could that be?

But, then, maybe that was what she wanted. 

Nothing.

"I want something," I said. "I wanna be something. I want ponies to think something of me when they see me, or talk to me, or… or hear me."

"Yeah?"

I shrugged. "Yeah. I just… I don't know what it is."

Rainbow nodded. "That makes two of us, Twi."