You had managed to get some rest before you had to meet up with Rainbow Dash. You quickly finished preparing and debated on whether or not to wear your jacket. You quickly decided against it and slipped your bag onto your back. You had felt that you had come to depend on it too much in the week that you had owned it. After you had put your jacket in the small closet you headed downstairs to get Applejack to go to Rainbow Dash’s audition.
When you found her outside she was rushing around bucking apples wildly. You walked up to her and tried to get her attention. “Applejack, it’s time to go to Rainbow Dash’s audition.”
“Sorry Blackstar, there’s a worm infestation comin’ and if we don’t find ‘em all quickly they could ruin the crop.”
“If that’s the case I could just use my magic and get rid of them.”
“You know we don’t use magic here.”
“Can’t you make an exception this one time if it’s such a problem?”
“We can do this without yer magic. Just go to Rainbow Dash’s audition. She can use all the help she can get.”
“Fine, but you are way too stubborn for your own good.” You sighed.
“Look who’s talkin’.” Applejack replied.
“I was speaking from experience.” You said with a grin before heading to the meeting place. When you arrived you saw that Rainbow Dash seemed to be having some sort of daydream. She had an odd look on her face and her wings were sticking straight up. “Hey, Rainbow Dash, I made it.” You said hoping to get her attention. This startled her and she jumped in the air and started to hover.
“Oh, Blackstar, it’s just you.”
“Yeah, I didn’t mean to startle you or anything. I just wanted to get your attention.”
“You didn’t startle me. I just wanted to stretch my wings. That’s all.”
“Uh huh, and that’s why you made an “eep” noise.”
“Fine you startled me, are ya happy?”
“Always,” You replied, smiling. “What were you thinking about anyway? You seemed to be miles away.”
“Oh, I was… uh… thinking about the audition.” Rainbow Dash said nervously.
“Then what was up with your wings. Were you excited, or “excited”.”
“What are you saying?” Rainbow Dah blurted out.
“Relax, I’m messing with you.”
“Why are you doing that?”
“Oh hey Rainbow Dash what’s up with you? Hey, Blackstar I’m having some trouble moving some stuff around in my house, could you help me?” You said in an imitation of Rainbow Dash’s voice. “No problem, I don’t have anything I need to do anyway. The next thing I know… my mane is pink!”
“Can’t you take a joke?”
“Yes, but I also like to get some payback. I could just use my magic to do it but that would make it less interesting.” You said with a wicked smile.
“You can be so weird sometimes.”
“Both of us are friends with Pinkie Pie. We have lost all right to judge something or somepony as weird.”
“You make a good point.”
“Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Applejack won’t be able to make it because of some sort of crisis at the farm. The annoying thing is I could help take care of it quickly with magic but of course she won’t let me.”
“Trust me, we all know. The funny thing is Applejack used to have even more pride.”
“I find that incredibly hard to believe.”
“Believe it or not it’s true. You sound a little peeved that she didn’t let you help.”
“Of course I am. I don’t like to see my friends doing something difficult and not helping them. Especially when they’ve been as good to me as the Apple family and the rest of you have.”
“You’re a regular Campfire Cadet, ya know that?”
“Are you saying I’m some sort of goody good?”
“Pretty much, you go out of your way to help everypony you meet.”
“I like doing it, I hate it when ponies just ignore somepony else’s problems.” You replied, slightly annoyed.
“I never said it was a bad thing. It’s something everypony in town really likes about you.”
“Sorry, I guess I can be a little thin skinned sometimes.”
“Just another reason it’s fun to mess with you.” Rainbow Dash said with a little laugh.
“Great, that just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.”
“Alright, let’s get going.”
“What are you talking about? The others aren’t here yet.”
“They all had things that came up. Rarity got an important dress order, Twilight has to take care of a sick Spike, Pinkie Pie’s babysitting for the Cakes, and Fluttershy is busy with some animal emergency.”
“That’s really weird I just saw Spike yesterday and he was fine.”
“Twilight said the exact same thing. She thinks it’s some sort of twenty-four hour bug.”
“That makes sense. I guess it’s just the two of us now.”
“Is that a problem?”
“Not at all, hanging out with you should be a lot of fun. There’s just one problem though.”
“What’s that?”
“How am I going to get up to Cloudsdale?”
“Can’t you levitate up there or something?”
“I might be able to do that, but then I might not be able to use the spell that lets me stand on clouds. Do you think we’d be able to borrow Twilight’s hot air balloon?”
“That depends. Do you know how to fly it?”
“Haven’t you pulled the balloon before? Why can’t we just do that?”
“I could pull the balloon, but you still have to know how to land it. Look, I hate having to do this but we don’t have any choice. I’ll have to carry you.” Rainbow Dash stated, blushing a little.
“Uh, you know what. I can totally levitate up to Cloudsdale and still use that spell.” You replied, feeling your cheeks flush as well.
“Blackstar, please just let me carry you. Having somepony to cheer me on at the audition would mean a lot to me.”
“Fine, I understand.” You said with a sigh. ‘Damn these ponies and their huge, pleading, eyes.’
Rainbow Dash flew up above you and grabbed at the nook of your fore-hooves with her own and brought you up into the air in a kind of reverse hug. Most of the flight was spent in uncomfortable silence while you tried to focus on anything but the current situation.
‘I think it’s about time you and I had a little talk.’
‘A voice in my head, I would be surprised but I already knew I was crazy. Which one of my childhood traumas did you pop up from?’
‘This has nothing to do with that. I’m just an underused part of your subconscious that wants to make his peace.’
‘Could you be a little more specific? I’ve literally spent half of my life suppressing urges and emotions.’
‘I’m part of your desires, what you want and what you want to be.’
‘And you’re here because I’m trying to ignore the fact that I’m in a compromising position right now?’
‘That, and because you said you wanted a relationship and haven’t done a thing about it.’
‘It’s not like it’s that easy. I have no idea where to start. If you are essentially me then you should know that already.’
‘How ‘bout you start with Rainbow here, or any of your other friends. This isn’t rocket science.’
‘I… I couldn’t do that. What if they reject me? Or what if they say yes and it doesn’t work out? This is the first time I’ve had real friends in a long time. I don’t want to lose any of them.’
‘You are completely hopeless. If you keep thinking like that then nothing will change. Oh well, I’ve done my part. Just think about what I’ve told you.’
“Here we are.” Rainbow Dash called, pulling you out of your thoughts. You took a deep breath and casted the “cloud shoes” spell as Rainbow Dash landed on the outskirts of Cloudsdale. “This is it, my hometown, Cloudsdale.” You took a quick look around and saw that most of the buildings looked a lot like Rainbow Dash’s house. There were some differences here and there but it was still obvious that they were in the same style.
“This place looks really cool, Rainbow.”
“Yeah, all of the greatest fliers in Equestria come from here. I learned how to do some of my most awesome stunts here.”
“If this place is so great then why’d you move to Ponyville?”
“A part of me felt like I was trying to just copy somepony else’s style with my old routine. So, I decided to go somewhere to just clear my head and do my own thing. What about you, why’d you move from Canterlot?”
“Canterlot wasn’t my hometown to begin with. Honestly I moved around a lot growing up, never staying in any place for that long. In the end I just wanted my own place that I wouldn’t have to leave, and Ponyville seemed as good a town as any to do that in.”
“Moving around must’ve been hard on you.”
“You learn to get used to it after a while. Besides, that part of my life is over now.”
“That’s good to hear. Hey, we have plenty of time before the audition. Why don’t I show you around town?”
You ended up having a good time with Rainbow Dash. She enjoyed talking about all of her favorite places growing up. After a while the two of you ended up taking a tour of the weather factory. To your mild shock Rainbow Dash was extremely knowledgeable about everything that went into the process of creating all the various types of weather. You also learned that clouds were programmable. At one point you were busy looking at the snow maker and overheard something disturbing.
“… Rainbow Crash,” Said a male voice, causing your ears to perk up.
“Yeah, Rainbow… uh Crash,”
“Nice to see you guys too.” Rainbow Dash replied.
“So what brings you back to Cloudsdale? It wouldn’t happen to be the Wonderbolts audition, would it?”
“So what if it is?”
“You don’t think you actually stand a chance of getting in, do you?”
“Yeah, you don’t stand a chance.” At that point you couldn’t take anymore and turned around to see a short, dark brown, male, Pegasus with a white mane and tail with blue eyes, a tall, tan, male Pegasus with a brown mane that covered his face and both were insulting Rainbow Dash. You put on your best fake smile and calmly walked up to the two.
“Excuse me, could I ask why you two are talking to my friend like that?”
“Stay out of this Pretty Boy. This is none of your business.” The dark brown, Pegasus hissed.
‘He just made this way too easy.’ “Sir, I’m flattered that you consider me attractive, but I’m afraid that I’m not into that sort of thing.”
“What are you talking about? I’m not some colt-cuddler!”
“You mean… oh, I’m so sorry! I just thought… the way you two were together I just thought you were a couple.”
“We… we’re not like that! You know what forget you, come on let’s just go. See you at the audition, Rainbow Crash.” The two male pegasi flew off, leaving you alone with Rainbow Dash.
“I could’ve handled that on my own you know.”
“I’m sure you could’ve, but I decided to handle it. I can’t stand bullies anyway.”
“Well thanks, what you did was impressive. I’ve never seen those two run off like that before.” Rainbow Dash said, laughing.
“All I did was question their masculinity. It’s the most basic tactic there is.”
“You’re almost as weird as Pinkie Pie. Come on, it’s almost time for the audition.”
The two of you set off to the arena, but you noticed that the closer you got the more Rainbow Dash seemed to tense up. She didn’t want to show it but you could tell she was nervous. You made it to the check in line where Rainbow Dash and you were separated. At first you acquiesced, but the more you thought back to how Rainbow Dash was acting you couldn’t help but do something.
“Excuse me,” you said walking up to the white Pegasus mare with an orange, curly mane at the check in desk.
“Signups for the audition are now closed, not to mention the audition is for pegasi only.”
“I don’t want to sign up, my friend is performing and I was wondering if I could go backstage?”
“I’m sorry sir, but the backstage area is for performers only.”
“Please, my friend is extremely nervous but way too proud to admit it, and I really want to try and help her.”
“I can’t help that sir. The rule says…”
“Can’t you please forget the rule just this once? Look, I know a lot of magic, am extremely stubborn, and have been prone to stupid and irresponsible behavior to get the things I want done. So can we just do this in a way that doesn’t lead to making a big scene?” The Pegasus looked stunned for a moment but her expression softened into a smile.
“I think we can make an exception just this once.”
“Thank you so much.” You said grabbing the pass that she had made for you.
“Oh and by the way.” She called out, causing you to turn around. “Tell your friend she has a very good coltfriend on her hooves.”
You blushed at what she had implied but kept going towards the backstage, thinking that if you corrected her you might lose your pass. After a minute or two of searching you finally found Rainbow Dash who looked like she was about to lose it at any moment.
“Hey Rainbow, did ya miss me?” You asked with a grin.
“Blackstar, how’d you get back here?”
“I persuaded the check in mare to let me give some moral support to the new Wonderbolt.”
“Thanks, you didn’t have to do that.”
“I know, but I wanted to. Plus this gives me a much better view of the action than those nose bleed seats.”
The two of you shared a laugh for a little bit. After that the auditions started and despite your best efforts, Rainbow Dash still seemed nervous. In fact she seemed to be worse than before. The number of ponies waiting to audition kept dwindling while you wracked your brain to come up with an idea on how to help Rainbow Dash. Eventually, Rainbow Dash and another mare were the only competitors left. The other mare stepped out to do her performance while you and Rainbow Dash watched. The other mare was extremely agile, pulling off high speed turns and dizzying loops. You looked over at Rainbow Dash who wasn’t faring well. The announcer didn’t help matters much either.
“Can you believe this ladies and gentle colts?! This is truly a spectacular performance, probably the best one we’ve seen so far.”
“Wow, that’s gonna be tough to beat, huh?”
As soon as she said that an idea started to form in your head. You were unsure about it seeing as it was likely to backfire, but you were out of time and it was all you had.
“Yeah, I don’t think anypony can beat that.”
“What are you saying? I’ve done better tricks than that in my sleep!” Rainbow Dash replied, fuming.
“I don’t know that was really impressive. Not to mention we met by you crashing into me during one of your stunts.”
“Well I do know! There is no way I’m gonna lose to a performance like that!”
“If you’re so sure then why don’t we make this interesting?”
“What do you mean?”
“Let’s make this a bet. If you can beat that performance then you can make me do one thing and no matter what it is I have to do it, but if you don’t then you have to do something I want.”
“Fine, you’re on.” Rainbow Dash growled.
As soon as the other mare was done her performance Rainbow Dash rushed out and started hers. You could hardly believe what you were looking at. Rainbow Dash moved so fast that it was almost impossible to keep up with her. She maneuvered around objects without any problems. At one point it looked like she had created a giant ball of light. The crowd that had been cheering not too long ago fell silent. Even the announcer didn’t know what to say. Finally, Rainbow Dash ended her performance with a Sonic Rainboom and left a giant rainbow hanging over the arena. Rainbow Dash came to a screeching halt in front of you with a triumphant grin on her face.
“What do you have to say about that?”
“That was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen in my life, and I think they all agree.” Both of you turned your attention to the crowd who suddenly erupted into thunderous applause. “I knew you could do it, Rainbow Dash.”
“But you said,”
“I said that to bring out your competitive side. I figured if I made you forget about everypony else and just made this between us you’d stop being nervous and do an amazing job.”
“I wasn’t nervous.”
“Yes you were, and it’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
“And what would you have done if your plan hadn’t worked?”
“Start running before you kicked my flank.” Both of you started to laugh at this and just enjoyed the moment.
“I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”
“Spitfire,” Rainbow Dash beamed.
“Yup, and I just wanted to say that you gave a truly spectacular performance.”
“Thank you so much. That means a lot coming from you.”
“You earned it. Listen, officially the announcement of the new Wonderbolt isn’t for a few days. But when we saw what you did we made our choice immediately.”
“You mean…”
“Congratulations, you’re a Wonderbolt.”
“Blackstar, I’m a Wonderbolt! I did it! I became a Wonderbolt!” Rainbow Dash said, wrapping her fore hooves around you in a massive hug. “Thank you so much! If you hadn’t fired me up I probably would’ve failed.”
“Somehow I doubt that. Now, please let me go. This is incredibly painful.” You wheezed.
“Sorry, I’m just really happy. This has been my dream for so long, and now it finally came true.”
“I get it, you’re happy. But you don’t have to break my spine because of that.” In the end you and Rainbow Dash left Cloudsdale and you made it back to the farm feeling drained. You slipped your shoulder bag off and brought out the journal.
Hey me in the future. It’s been a really eventful day. Apple Bloom earned her cutie mark and Rainbow Dash became a Wonderbolt, seeing both of them like that made me feel so proud. I guess I should start the latter event at the beginning seeing as I’ve talked about the former in here a lot. I was supposed to go with everypony to the audition but they were busy so it was just Rainbow Dash and me. It ended up being a lot of fun.
I learned a lot about Rainbow Dash and I told her a little about me. I also had a conversation with a part of myself today. We or I talked about how I’m not trying to get in a relationship, even though I say I want one. I or he… whatever; even suggested I try having one with Rainbow Dash or one of my other friends. I mean, I did enjoy hanging out with Rainbow Dash today, and we did seem to have some things in common. But I don’t want to ruin any of my friendships. I don’t even know a good way to ask a girl out. Maybe I should just try to keep things as they are for now.
Anyway, as we got closer to the arena for the audition I noticed that Rainbow Dash was nervous but would never admit it. I even found a way to get backstage to offer moral support. I actually had to trick her by making a bet between us. Oh great, I forgot about the bet. Now Rainbow can make me do whatever she wants. This is just perfect. I just hope she doesn’t make me do anything too humiliating.