//------------------------------//
// Talent Show Invites 
// Story: Friendship's New Flight: Second Takeoff 
// by Masterob 
//------------------------------//

Rainbow Dash was flying threw the sky doing a few flips and turns mid-air effortlessly, her little stunt included flying fast upside down and then dropping down before rolling into a straight dash and finishing off with a tree spiral and dashes straight down.

(Basically she flies in circles at the bottom and as she goes up the circle space decreases til she gets to the top and then flies straight through the "tree").

Rainbow grinned and turned to Rumble, "Not much to it, now you try it"

Rainbow Dash was doing her routine training with Rumble, the little brother of her friend Thunderlane. She had promised Rumble a couple weeks back she would teach him some flying techniques, so far he's a good learner but very nervous. "Are you sure Rainbow? It looks hard"

Rainbow nodded her head, "I think you can do it, I got faith in you, go on kid". Rumble nodded and then took a breath. He attemped the maneuver he saw Rainbow do but he couldn't do it too accurately, "Shoot!"

Rainbow flew over and patted his back, "Relax little guy, don't worry if you can't get it straight away, just do your best, that's all that matters to me"

"Ok", Rumble tried again but somehow did worse than before, "I didn't even have a good start"

"Don't worry, you'll get it, some things take a while to grasp, don't beat yourself up over it"

Rumble's ears drooped a little, "But I want to do well so you don't feel like you're wasting your time"

Rainbow flew up to him and rubbed his mane, "Kid, the only way you'd be wasting my time is if you didn't try, and you're definatley trying, like I said, I care just as much about the effort, some things take a while to do, I wasn't born with the ability to do a Sonic Rainboom, and even after I did it the first time it took a while for me to do it again, if you keep trying, you'll get it, and you'll make me very proud of you"

Rumble looked up, "You really mean that Rainbow Dash?"

Rainbow gave him a cheerful smile, "Of course, I don't give sappy speeches for fun, personally I hate them, but when I do give one, you better believe I mean it, and it's something to remember, because I don't like giving sappy speeches twice"

Rumble smiled and hugged Rainbow Dash, "You're the best Rainbow Dash"

"Yeah, I know", Rainbow returned the hug, "Now lets get back to your brother, he's waiting for you at home"

Rainbow and Rumble flew off to the house where Thunderlane and Rumble lived and Rainbow knocked. Thunderlane opened the door and greeted them, "Sup Dash, hey bro", he patted Rumble's head as he went in the house. He looked to Rainbow, "Did he do well?"

"He still needs some practice but he's doing a hell of a job, give it some time and he'll be a real pro, imagine this" she put her hooes up like if imagining a headline, "The first colt in The Wonderbolts"

Thunderlane looked a bit impressed, "Whoa, that good?"

Rainbow nodded, "Yeah, he has an awesome teacher after all", she buffed her chest a little. Thunderlane wanted toroll his eyes at that but that's Rainbow's personality, besides it's nice that she's being a good friend to his little brother.

Rumble nodded in agreement to Rainbow's assesment, "Rainbow's the best, she's also really sweet"

"Come on kid, don't embarrass me", Rainbow said playfully.

Thunderlane chuckled lightly, "Wow you, sweet? I have to see that to believe that"

"Watch it Thunderlane", Rainbow put a hoof near his chin, "Unless you want to get on my bad side"'

Thunderlane put his hooves up defensively, "Relax, I'm just kidding, you know I like you Dash"

Rumble giggled, "You like Rainbow Dash"

Thunderlane blushed, "That's not what I meant!"

"You're kinda blushing bro", Rumble grinned smugly at Rumble.

"No I'm not! Besides what about you? You like her too"

Rumble nodded, "Yeah, I do, and if you steal her away, I might beat you up", Rumble said with confident smile.

Thunderlane then noogied his brother, "You, beat me up? I don't think so". Rumble looked very annoyed, "Ow! Come on Thunder quit it, not funny, ow!"

Rainbow Dash chuckled, "You two have a great sibling relationship, just like Applejack and Apple Bloom"

Thunderlane put let go of Rumble, who proceeded to go inside, but not before sticking his tongue out at Thunderlane, though Thunderlane was oblivious. He then asked Rainbow, "Speaking of Applejack, how has she been lately?"

Rainbow scratched her head, "She's been well, she doesn't talk about you much, but when she does, it's not anything too negative"

"...Too negative?"

Rainbow caught herself, "Uh, I mean...look she's just getting used to you, just relax a moment"

"I know she said she's cool with me but I get the feeling she doesn't really like me much still"

"It's not that she doesn't like you, she just needs to get to know you better"

"I just have that strange feeling", Thunderlane looked sadly to the side.

Rainbow put her arm around his neck in a sorta friendly hug way, "Relax Thunder, you worry too much, just let your buddy Rainbow Dash handle this, you're a great guy, sure you have faults and you can be really annoying sometimes but you're still kinda sorta cool"

Thunderlane groaned a bit, "Is this supposed to make me feel better? Because you're sending mixed messages"

"Hey I already gave one sappy speech today, I'm not giving another, man up already", she hit his arm a bit to toughen him up, Thunderlane rubbed his arm a bit after that, "Fine then"

"Stop worrying, even if they don't like you, which they do, I still like you, you're my friend"

"That's also a little worrying to me, what if I come between you and your friends? You're the Elements of Harmony, I don't wanna be the reason for any of you breaking away from each other, especially considering you saved the world many times, last thing we need is for somepony like Chrysalis showing up and attacking a divided elements"

"Come on, like you said, we're the Elements of Harmony, to deny you as a friend would go against our elements; Fluttershy's Kindness means she would never do something so mean-spirited and she'll be kind to you in general, Pinkie's laughter means she wants us and you to be happy, Rarity's generosity means she won't be selfish about such things, Twilight's magic, well Friendship IS Magic, my Loyalty means I'm loyal to my friends AND you, and Applejack's honesty means...it means...um...damn how can I put this?"

Thunderlane went gloomy, "It may mean that the truth may hurt"

Rainbow groaned, "She won't, in fact I'm gonna give a Pinkie Promise right now that things will be fine between you and my friends" she put her hoof up in a threatening way, "So stop worrying before I literally knock some sense into you"

Thunderlane put his arms up defensively, "Ok, fine, I won't worry"

"Good, anyway I need to head off, see you around, and tell your bro to keep practicing"

"Will do, see ya Dash"

Rainbow Dash flew off, "What a worry wart, Applejack's cool with him, she said so herself, she would be dishonoring her element if she didn't...wait why didn't I tell him that a moment ago? Eh, I'll remind him later"

She then saw Twilight and Spike walk out of Sugarcube Corner with Spike writing on some paper.

"Ok, we have the orders ready, so next is..."

"Hey Twilight!" Rainbow called to her.

Twilight looked up and saw Rainbow Dash approach her, "Hi Rainbow, what brings you here?"

"I saw you heading out Sugarcube Corner with a massive list, planning something big or are you just having Spike list things for fun cause you enjoy being little miss perfect"

Twilight furrowed her brow, "Rainbow that made little sense, but yeah there's gonna be a big deal over in Canterlot", she showed Rainbow a flyer, "There's gonna be a big entertainment show, some professional entertainers will be there, like The Wonderbolts, plus several amateur acts that if look well enough, can be turned into something major, a make or break moment for ponies wanting to get in show business"

"Wow, that's so cool, think I'll be able to go? I'll show off for The Wonderbolts to keep me fresh in their minds and help them make the decision to pick me sooner".

Twilight chuckled, "Rainbow I think you've done plenty to get their attention, just be patient".

"Still think you can get me a ticket?"

"Actually we're all going, Celestia not only get passes for us, the girls, & Spike, she's also letting the Cutie Mark Crusaders come"

Rainbow blinked in surprise, "Really?"

"I told her I'd like for all our friends to come, especially ones closer to us".

Rainbow smiled hard "Sweet, so just us elements, Spike, the fillies, what about Thunderlane, did you get him a pass?"

Twilight raised her eyebrow, "Thunderlane? I didn't ask Celestia for a pass for Thunderlane"

Rainbow's smile turned into a confused frown, "What? Why didn't Thunderlane get a pass?"

"I didn't really think to get him one, must have slipped my mind"

"I thought we wanted to be close friends with him, make him part of the group, you know that his brother looks up to me right?"

"Yeah but..."

"He's become pretty close to me lately and I want to share that with all of you, he's a nice guy and the other girls are taking a liking to him, in fact I think Rarity has a crush on him"

Spike dropped the list and quill, "WHAT!?"

Rainbow nodded, "Yeah I know, bad, but that's how Rarity is".

Twilight got confused, "Wait, why do you think it's bad?"

Rainbow blushed a little, "Um...because Spike likes her and I cherish his feelings on the matter..."

Twilight gave Rainbow an unconvinced look, Rainbow then shook her head a bit, "Don't change the subject! Like I said, what about Thunderlane?"

"Well I guess I can get him a pass, maybe I can get Rumble, Flitter & Cloudchaser all passes if you'd like"

"Perfect, the more the merrier, this is awesome, maybe I can do a little show with them, we'll ALL get into The Wonderbolts, maybe they can be my personal team, they will call me 'Captain Rainbow Dash', that's so awesome!"

Rainbow Dash flew off, leaving Twilight and Spike.

"Spike send a letter to Celestia and see if she can arrange for Thunderlane and his friends to come"

"How come Thunderlane gets special treatment? I mean lets say hypothetically, Fluttershy wanted to bring Derpy along, does that mean that Golden Harvest, Dr. Hooves and Dinky have to come along too? Or what if Pinkie Pie wanted to bring Lyra & Bon Bon or something?"

"Well Rainbow really wants this so I guess we should give them a chance, who knows this might turn out pretty well", Twilight gave an optimistic smile.

"I hope so", Spike said.

They continued to get ready for the event, Twilight next headed over to Sweet Apple Acres for some extra stuff.