“Ow...”
“For how much you tout yourself at combat, you are quite pathetic at it.”
Rainbow Dash scoffed from her position on the ground, bruised and battered as she was after attempting to fight the other creature. “Nah, I’ve beaten practically every other pon--er, creature, I’ve fought before!”
Tianhuo looked down at the pegasus laying before her, clearly trying to hide how her ego had been damaged even more than her body after the longma had utterly defeated her. Lips pursed into a small frown, she spoke calmly, “I can imagine that must be quite a lot of creatures, going by how eager you were to spar with one you knew so little about, and for such petty a reason as well.”
“What, you expect me to take an insult like that lying down?!” Dash threw back, glaring almost incredulously at the other creature.
Tilting her head in restrained confusion, Tianhuo could only note in response, “Do you really believe you are so superior to your coworkers that they are all redundant in place of you?”
Dash had to look at her for a moment and think before she could understand what was spoken, but then swiftly continued her tirade, “Most of ‘em, yeah. I don’t care about all the boring stuff that supposedly keeps the place running, but you know I could clear all the clouds myself in ten seconds flat!”
Closing her eyes and thinking for a moment, Tianhuo looked back at the mare and spoke, “My nation is hardly one to care for meddling with nature as your kind so often does, but I am still aware of how even the slightest pushes of clouds can dramatically effect how the weather will play out for weeks in advance. I can thus imagine your fast and reckless flying would be unbalancing the dynamics of the sky that your coworkers had so carefully put in place.”
Rainbow Dash started to snidely reply, but Tianhuo saw fit to cut her off with, “Have you spoken with them about that?” When the pony hesitated, she smiled slightly and responded, “Exactly.”
Dash relaxed her body back into the grass, though it was clear she was still irritated, even before she begun to speak again, “Why the hay do you even care, dude? It’s none of your business.”
“Perhaps, but I believe that quite a few other creatures, notably your coworkers on the Ponyville Weather Team, certainly do care, and you should be treating them as more than mere background noise to yourself.”
Rolling her eyes and looking at the other creature in annoyance, Dash casually dismissed it; “Look, dude, this stuff isn’t even gonna matter when I get into the Wonderbolts. My applikay--er, -cation, is already in there, and I’m like the fastest pony in the world, so I know I’m gonna get in.”
Tianhuo sighed at the sheer arrogance in those words, and tried to respond calmly, “From what I have heard, this ‘Wonderbolts’ team requires that any that try for it are dedicated and can work with others, and you are hardly either of those things. Furthermore,” She continued unimpeded as Dash shook her head and looked away, “I truly doubt that having pure speed will make you all that impressive amongst those that actually have experience performing stunts, who will be far more likely to be recruited.”
Scoffing and trying to stretch her somewhat bruised wings out from under her, Dash sneered back, “Yeah, sure, like you’re actually any more impressive. I could already tell how much slower you were when I fought you, and I do actually practice a lot of stunts in my free time, thank you very much.”
“I am a warrior, not a flier, pony. And I have already heard about how much you laze around and sleep for the better part of a day, so how much of that free time are you really spending doing stunts?” Tianhuo looked down at the mare, who barely seemed to care about looking up at her as she added, “There are certainly many others that train themselves far more than yourself, and yet you still expect to be seen as better than them?”
Still not getting anything more than a scoff in response, Tianhuo was somewhat thankful she had already hurt the pegasus’s wings enough to prevent her from flying away, and paused for a moment before asking, “Do you know who I am, Miss Dash?”
“‘Course I don’t, dork,” Rainbow Dash replied with a roll of her eyes, and the longma’s flames flared up a bit at the absolute lack of respect of that statement.
Calming herself before looking the mare in the eyes and sighing through her nostrils, she began, “I am Tianhuo of Houshan, Captain under the Revered and Honourable Empress of the strongest and most honourable warriors in the entirety of Equuis!”
Seeming to almost laugh at it, Dash simply replied, “Flaunt your stuff all ya want, dork, I don’t care.”
“I bring this up, Miss Dash,” Tianhuo stated forcefully, her flames flaring up again, “Because the title and power I hold were something I had to work myself to the bone, day and night, for years to achieve. I do not ‘flaunt’ it, as you so often do with your abilities; I am simply stating an objective truth that humility has no place in.” Continuing to stare at the still-not-caring Dash, she kept going, “The reason I so easily bested you was not due to any natural skill or power that you and your foolish kind find so appealing; no, I beat you because I have trained far more than you, and I put far more effort into my fighting than you ever have.
“If you have so little care for this conversation, Miss Dash, then allow me to put this into context;” The longma stated, fed up with the pegasus’s continued ignorance, “These ‘Wonderbolts’ you are so eager to join do not accept those that merely believe they are best; they accept those that actually try to become the best, they are the ones that push through all the pain in the world to do what they believe in, and you are not one of them, and as such, will be disregarded without a second thought.”
Turning around swiftly and letting her flames trail behind her, Tianhuo then just trotted away and left Rainbow Dash on the ground to look over at her irately, perhaps now able to actually think about how much (or little) effort she has put into getting into the Wonderbolts, and maybe even push past her ego to truly work for it.