Wants. We all got one, be you a foal crying for a mom’s fresh milk, a filly wanting a big Cute-ceañera party, a colt wishing for cool—as they call it— toys for Hearth’s Warming Day, a mare praying for a good lover, and a stallion hoping for the perfect partner.
But for one mare, her wants are bigger than others. She wants a lot of things; she wants fame, she wants pizzazz, she wants to be written in history books as the living personification of Awesomeness and Loyalty. And maybe, if she put her mind into it, maybe she could have all of them.
She is Rainbow Dash, ex-bearer of the Element of Loyalty, one of the six famous Equestria’s national heroes, the very personification of Loyalty and Awesomeness. In fact, it would be a lie for me to say that she isn’t the most awesome being that the earth ever had the pleasure of being stepped on.
Still, for Rainbow Dash, as she lazily swam in the soothing air of Ponyville, the sun cocooning the town like a mother would to her foal, it wasn’t enough. There was something missing. Sure, she’s not a Wonderbolt, but she has her friends. Sure, she’s famous, and she had no doubt the history books would remember her till the end of time.
But it wasn’t enough.
With a sigh from our titular protagonist, she slowly descended from the air, and to the middle of the town square. Ponies of various colors walked about in their merry way, saddlebags on their back, and smiles on their face.
Their smiles were proven to be infectious as Dash found herself smiling as she touched the ground. As she wandered on the street, no direction in mind, many ponies gave her smiles, some even shouted a greeting of ‘Good morning!’ or ‘Fine day, Rainbow Dash!’ to her. All of which she replied with a boisterous response.
Despite this, she couldn’t stop herself from sighing, staring at the clouds for a moment, before shaking her head. “C’mon, RD, what’s wrong with you today?” she muttered to herself. “Get yourself together.”
It was as if on cue, that familiar sound of a scooter closing in made her smile. “Hey, Rainbow Dash!” her favorite filly shouted, skidding to a halt just inches away from her side. “Good morning!
She was an orange filly with a purple mane and tail. Her name is Scootaloo, one of the many—and perhaps the biggest— fans of Rainbow Dash. Some would find her obsession for Rainbow Dash to be obsessive, borderline creepy. But for Rainbow Dash? Well, I wouldn’t know what Rainbow Dash would think of it, but I found it adorable. After all, she’s just a filly that really, really looked up to the mare.
And if there’s one thing that Rainbow Dash always does, it was that she never disappoints.
“Morning, kid,” the adult of the two greeted back, chuckling as her hoof mussed up the filly’s already messy mane. “How’s your morning?”
The filly beamed happily at the contact. “Great!” Perhaps she said it because she had a dark secret that she didn’t want her idol to know. That or having the hoof of her idol mussing up her mane already made her day great. I’m willing to bet it was the latter. “How’s yours?”
“Awesome as always, Scoots,” the answer came smoothly with a smile. “How about your wings, did you preen them up this morning?”
Scootaloo’s smile froze, and she pondered if there’s a rock-staring cutie mark out there. “Well, about that,” she scratched the back of her neck, chuckling sheepishly.
The disappointed sigh from her idol made her cringe, and she cringed more as she peeked up to see Rainbow frowning at her. “Scoots, I know that you can’t fly yet, but that doesn’t mean you could neglect your wings, okay? I mean, it’s the first thing that my dad taught me long before I could even fly.”
Meekly, Scootaloo nodded her head. “Yes, Dash,” she muttered.
Immediately, the jovial grin returned into Rainbow’s face as she nudged Scootaloo’s head. “C’mon, kid, don’t be so down on it. Even when I was your age, I’d sometimes forgot to preen my wings,”
Scootaloo’s head snapped upwards, staring at Rainbow as if she had sprouted a horn. “Really?”
She nodded, before she not-so-discreetly shifted her head to the left and right, before she leaned forward to Scootaloo’s ear. “Keep this as our little secret, kay?”
As Rainbow pulled back, a grin bloomed on Scootaloo’s face as she nodded eagerly. “Sure thing, Rainbow Dash!”
“Great,” Rainbow chuckled, mussing up the filly’s mane again, much to the filly’s pleasure. “Now, how about I fix your wings up first, eh?”
“Really?!”
Rainbow shrugged, “Sure, why not?” then she peered at the filly curiously. “You don’t have anything to do, do you?”
Eagerly, and perhaps too eagerly, the filly shook her head. “No.” Then she paused. “Well, I promised to meet Sweetie and Apple Bloom in the Sugarcube Corner, but I’m sure they could wait,”
Rainbow grinned as she mentally set her next destination. “Well, I was going to meet Pinkie as well, and preening you will just take a while, anyway.” she said, before looking up to the sky, nodding as she found the perfect perch. “Hop up, we’re going to that cloud over there,” she gestured at one of the many floating clouds.
As Rainbow lifted the dazed filly to her back, as Rainbow carefully ascended to the sky, Scootaloo pondered if she was in Pony Heaven. She pondered a lot of things in that short snippet of her life, but one thought remains ahead. Best day ever! She squealed mentally.
And as she felt herself being plopped to the ground, her wings unfurling subconsciously as she felt Rainbow’s hoof nudging her side, and as she stared at the peaceful blue sky riddled with few wandering clouds, feeling Rainbow’s teeth carefully setting up her askew feathers, she could only put a loopy smile on her face.
Wait till the others hear this!
After what felt like an eternity of bliss, which was actually ten minutes, Rainbow spat out the feather in her mouth. “Wow, Scoots,” she commented, staring at the unfurled wing, checking if there were any feathers need to be fixed. “When was the last time you preened your wings?”
“Huh?” Scootaloo blinked, turning towards Rainbow. “What did you say, Rainbow Dash?”
Rainbow sighed, a soft smile as she softly tapped the preened wing. “Done, furl it.” Scootaloo did so, feeling surprisingly fresh for a long time. “I said, when was the last time you preened your wings?”
Scootaloo fidgeted. “Uhh, I forgot?” she tentatively asked.
Rainbow stared at the filly for a second. Suspicion set that she should at least check the filly’s father. Sighing, she plucked the filly onto her back. “Never mind.” She shook her head, peering at the edge of the cloud. “Now hold tight, I’m going to fly us over to Sugarcube Corner.”
She waited for a moment until her passenger gripped around her neck, before she dropped down head first to the ground. She grinned as she heard the happy squeals on her back, and that squeals turned into excited scream as Rainbow suddenly banked upwards, her wings flapping as she took a calmer pace on the air.
“You like that, kid?”
“Yeah!”
Rainbow chuckled happily, her earlier slight melancholy from the morning forgotten as she made her way to the Sugarcube Corner, doing small harmless tricks to the pleasure of both ponies. One because it was the best thing to be in the air with her idol, and one because it was the best thing to be praised—if non-verbally— in what she does best.
Softly, Rainbow landed in front of the Sugarcube Corner, the filly on her back laughing happily. “We’re here, kid,” she told the filly, though whether Scootaloo heard her was up to debate.
The bells clinked as Rainbow pushed the door, the smell of baking goods wafted into her nose, and even though she had breakfast in the morning, it still managed to cause her drool slightly. Behind the counter was Pinkie Pie, giving her a happy wave. In front of her, a stallion with a light brown coat--wearing an Appleloosan vest-- with a slightly darker brown mane--covered with a Stetson hat-- and tail.
A new pony, Rainbow mused.
“Scoots!” she heard two familiar voices shouted excitedly. Looking to the side, she saw Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom sitting on one of the many tables in Sugarcube Corner, waving their hooves at her passenger.
In reply, Scootaloo hopped off Rainbow’s back. “Girls!” she shouted happily, giving Rainbow a quick—yet still surprising— hug, before she bounded off to her friends. “You won’t believe what just happened!”
Rainbow chuckled, shaking her head as she turned back to the counter, only to freeze as a pair of blue orbs stared at her eyes, floating a few centimeters away from her. They blinked.
“Ack!” Rainbow shouted, jumping backwards to the air, her hoof at her rapidly beating heart. It took a moment before she confirmed the owner of those blue orbs. “Pinkie, what the hay?! Don’t do that!”
Pinkie grinned, her white teeth glistening. “Aww, don’t be a silly pony, Rainbow. Now get down here and let Aunt Pinkie give you a hug!”
Rainbow blinked, her heartbeats returning back to its normal speed. “What?” she slowly asked as she landed back on the floor. “Why—“
Before she could say anything more, Pinkie stretched her hooves around Rainbow, and pulled her in for a nice big hug. One would say it was more of a glomp rather than a hug. Not that it mattered either way as Rainbow tried to pull away from the hug, protests of ‘Pinkie!’ and ‘Stop it!’ much to the amusement of other patrons in the bakery.
After a minute of futile struggle, Rainbow simply shrugged, and resigned to her fate as she returned the hug. It felt nice for Rainbow, for some reason. And after exactly two minutes, Rainbow melted into Pinkie’s hug, her eyes closed.
“Thanks, Pinkie,” she murmured. She didn’t know why she said it, but the hug was nice, so she supposed it was only proper.
Pinkie giggled, before pulling away from the hug—much to Rainbow’s inner pout—, giving Rainbow her typical grin. “Don’t be silly, Dashie, it’s what I do best. Now,” she said, pulling Rainbow next to the Stetson wearing stallion. “Have I introduced you to my old pal Tory here?”
“I don’t think so, Miss Pie,” the stallion said, turning to face the two ponies; a handlebar moustache adorned his face. His eyes then turned to Rainbow. “Though I reckon you have introduced Miss Dash here to me several times.”
Rainbow gave the stallion an inquisitive gaze. “You know me?”
The stallion nodded, followed by a nod from Pinkie.
“Yes.” he answered, a smile crept onto his face. “I’d even say that I’m a fan of yours, Miss Dash, if what I heard from Miss Pie here is true.”
“Huh,” Rainbow intoned, before scratching her neck awkwardly. “That's nice. So, uh, what’s your name?”
“You could call me Life Narrator,” he glanced at the nodding Pinkie. “Though you could call me Tory if you want,”
“Weird name,” Rainbow noted, before blinking, a sheepish grin appeared on her face. “Sorry.”
The stallion chuckled good-naturedly. “No worries, Miss Dash. I heard it several times before from different ponies.”
“Right,” Rainbow drawled, before turning to Pinkie... that was only a few centimeters away from here. She gulped.”Err, Pinkie, I think you’re too close.”
“Oh?” the pink pony blinked, before a light blush colored her cheeks as she pulled away, smiling sheepishly. “Oops. Sorry about that.”
Rainbow shook her head. “Nah, it’s okay. I just wanted to ask if you’re free after your shift,”
A big grin broke out of the pink pony’s face. “Absolutely!”
“Great!” the colorful pony cheered happily. "I want to show you this neat trick I found out,"
As the ponies animatedly talked, unconsciously walking away from the counter, the stallion simply chuckled as he stared to his right; staring at the readers beyond the white screen. “Now,” the stallion started. “You may be wondering to yourself, what’s the point of this story.” He shrugged lightly. “Nothing, but I do want to say that a hug can do a lot of things. And for Miss Dash there? It does a helluva lots of things.”
The stallion turned away to the counter, grinning at the bottle of root beer on it. “She may not be The Dude,” he said, taking a sip of the fizzy liquid, glancing at the animatedly talking pair of ponies.”But she's not so different."