Sit down. Lemme tell ya a story, kid. I grew up in Ponyville, right? You already knew that, I know, but it’s kinda important, ‘cause you know who else was in Ponyville the same time I was?
Rainbow-freaking-Dash.
Yeah, I was pretty much the same around her. Heck, most of the fillies and colts treated her like that. She even had a fanclub. She was just awesome. She’d pull turns that would make every other pegasus in town look slow, and I ain’t gonna lie-she was a big thing for me. There’s a lot of her early style in my stuff, kid. To me, she was the ultimate, what every pegasus should be measured against.
But for a sec, I want you to picture yourself in my horseshoes. Dash is this fantastic, amazingly confident pegasus, who even to a filly like me, is clearly the best flyer in the entire town. Okay, got that? Now imagine that you can’t fly.
Yeah, I was late coming into my growth. Docs explained it-something about my bones and muscles means I can’t take off or really fly. Give me a high enough point and I can glide just enough to make it look like I’m just falling gracefully, and thermals help some, but I can’t fly like most. Point is, there was nothing more I wanted than to be like Rainbow. Or even just to have her notice my practice and say ‘hey, good job’ or something. Or she’d come by and give me flying lessons until I was soaring up there beside her. Basic stuff, you know, but when you’re not getting anything, even that seems like everything.
Point is, what I wanted was attention from her. I’d gotten this image of her as a cool older sister, and she sort of acted like that to most of the fillies and colts in Ponyville anyways. Thing was, once she actually started paying attention to me, I started not caring so much that I couldn’t fly. And that lead me to discover my real talent, instead of trying to be like Rainbow Dash. But let me tell you, coming as a voice of somepony who’s been where you are right now, there are two things you should know.
One, it’s great to have role models, and I’m flattered that I’m yours, but I ain’t the greatest thing since ever. I screw up, you know. Most of the time it’s my own stupid fault, too. I’ve lost just as many competitions as I’ve won from me forgetting the darn rules.
And two, I know you’ve got parents, kid. Talk to them. You said that they didn’t get you, and sure, they may not get everything, but you can bet they can understand a whole lot of stuff you didn’t think they could. I can see you’re kind of like I was-nopony pays attention to you, so you act out, see me as this awesome pegasus who overcame difficulty, and while that’s true, most of that came after I pulled my head out of the sand about what I could and could not do.
Basically, stop wishing your talent is something like your idols’. I’m me, and you’re you. If it turns out that you have a talent in the kind of stuff I do, then hey, we might see each other out there one day. But you shouldn’t force yourself to do stuff that you want a cutie mark in, and just do what you actually like.
Take it from a pegasus who spent too many afternoons washing tree sap out of her feathers, it’s only worth it about half the time.
Now go on, kid. I think that’s your parents over there, and have a think about what I told you.