The Winning Failure

by marley

Chapter 63

Chapter 63

Rainbow Dash made her way to the Wonderbolts Compound and spoke to the guard at the gate. She informed him that she would be staying in Windyday's room and that she wanted to be called should Fluttershy or Cloud Charm stop by. Arriving at Windyday's room, she knocked on the door and was not surprised when there was no answer. Windy was probably practicing. She went down to the spa and sat in the steam room for a while and then went for a massage. She ended with a quick shower and went back to Windy's room.

The room still lacked an occupant so she went out to the courtyard and found the Wonderbolts returning from morning practice. Windyday had already landed and trotted over to Rainbow when she saw her. They hugged.

“Hi, roomie,” said Windyday, “welcome back.”

“Hi Windy,” said Dash, “yep, back again. I get to do some real training this time.”

“Coming out to the training grounds this afternoon?” asked Windy.

“No,” said Rainbow, “I'm taking it easy for the rest of the day. I have a few things to look through for my house and then just some plain old rest.”

“Been working hard?” said Spitfire as she walked up with Fleetfoot close behind.

“Every chance I get,” replied Dash, “and I've been busy with a lot of other stuff too. Twilight said she thought maybe the try outs were a break for me, comparatively speaking. Maybe she was right.”

The other ponies laughed. “We must be slipping,” said Spitfire. “I guess your first week as a celebrity is pretty hectic though, not to mention building a new house. How is that going, by the way.”

Rainbow Dash laughed. “I approved the final plan this morning. I have a drawing I can show you later. When I went to the architects this morning, this guy named Stacker was there from the Cloudsdale Construction Company. He asked me about posing for their calendar.” Rainbow Dash paused to laugh.

“What did he offer?” asked Spitfire.

“I made the offer,” said Dash, “I told him I'd do it for thirty percent off plus free delivery and setup. That's like six thousand bits!”

“You honestly think you're worth that much,” asked Fleetfoot, in a somewhat miffed tone.

“No, of course not,” said Dash, “I just said it to see how he'd react. He laughed at me and told me to stop by if I wanted to hear their counter offer. I might see him after I hear what Las Pegasus is willing to do. They seem a little more likely to make a deal. It will be fun to turn him down.”

Spitfire laughed grimly, “I've created a monster. Doing any other ads?”

“I sent out a few letters to some of the companies that I think might be good,” said Dash. “It's too soon to know anything yet.”

“I'm glad to hear you are messing with Stacker,” said Fleetfoot, “I paid regular price for my home rather than pose for them. They put my name in an ad of celebrity clients anyway. What makes you think Las Pegasus will do more?”

“They need the advertizing more,” said Dash. “That and they think that they're better than Cloudsdale and are tired of being priced out because of transportation costs. Since I'm putting up my house next to the Princess' place, I'm hoping they'll think it's a great place to showcase what they can do.”

“Come on,” interrupted Windyday, “I'm starved. We can talk over lunch.”

“I'm right behind you,” said Dash, “it's been a while since breakfast.”

They hurried towards the dining hall to catch up to the others. After another delicious lunch, they sat and talked for a bit before the team had to head back to practice. Rainbow Dash got out the drawing that Cloud Charm had done and spread it out on an empty table. The other ponies were impressed by the design.

“You don't mess around when you decide to do something, do you,” said Spitfire. “That is some house. It's huge, and such a unique design too.”

“If you think this is huge,” said Dash, “wait until you see what the Princesses are building. It'll be able to house hundreds of ponies easily. My house is sort of designed to match it. I hadn't planned on doing anything this elaborate but Princess Celestia said she expected me to build something really nice.”

“Just how chummy are you with the Princesses anyway,”asked Spitfire.

Rainbow Dash paused. “I guess we're pretty friendly, I mean once you get past the fact that this is Celestia and Luna we're talking about, they're kind of like regular ponies. I know they wouldn’t even know me if it weren't for the Elements of Harmony thing but I'm glad I know them as well as I do.”

“I heard about the Elements,” said Fleetfoot, “and remember something about them from a book I read a long time ago. Kindness, Laughter, Loyalty, Generosity and Honesty are the five and then there was a mystery one. Which one are you?”

“Loyalty,” said Dash.

“That's a good one for a pegasus,” said Fleetfoot, “I thought you might be laughter though. You seem to enjoy joking around. I'd like to meet the others and see if I can guess which ones they are.”

“You're doing the flyby at Princess Luna's party,” said Dash, “we'll all be at that. You'll figure it out.”

“How about a hint,” said Fleetfoot.

“Hmmm,” said Dash, “okay, you've already met Kindness.”

Fleetfoot thought for a second. “Fluttershy; she's the only one of your Ponyville friends that I've met. That's interesting. Are the others pegasi too?”

“No,” said Dash, “just us two. The others are unicorns and earth ponies. Two of each.”

“This should be a really cool fly by,” said Fleetfoot. “I usually get bored at these Canterlot soirees.

“I'm looking forward to Dash's show,” said Windy, “I'll bet it will be something special.”

“I hope so,” said Dash, “I guess I'll know more about how it will look after tomorrow. I hope Mr. Immelmane can help me sort it out.”

“He will,” said Spitfire, “and I hope you appreciate me taking part of my day off to chip in and help too.”

“Really?” said Rainbow Dash, “Oh thank you! That's great, I really mean it.”

Spitfire was amused by Rainbow Dash's gratitude. “We'll see how you feel about that after my critique. I'll also be doing a little sky dancing with you to see how you've progressed.”

“I'm doing alright,” said Dash, “I can't compete with Firewing but I'm learning. Fluttershy has really been a help. I want her to fly with Frost when she comes to Ponyville. If she can match Fluttershy's speed, it will really help her.”

“Oh really?” said a familiar voice.

“Oh, hi Frost,” said Rainbow Dash, “we were just talking about sky dancing. Where were you anyway?”

“At another table stuffing my face,” said Frost. “Windy and I have some training for you planned out too, you know.”

“Really?” said Dash, “like what?”

Spitfire answered. “They're going to start you on one of our basic routines. You don't have to be perfect at it, but it will help get you ready for when you do start training with us. You'll spend more time practicing sky dancing and your routine.”

“Cool,” said Dash, “I am so up for that.”

“We have to getting back soon,” said Spitfire, “we still have a full afternoon of work to do.”

“Windy, could you let me in your room? I'd like to unpack and kick back for a while,” said Dash.

“Sure, Dash,” said Windy, “I hope you brought a cool new costume along.”

“Two,” said Dash, “and wait until you see them. I have some things I want to talk to you about then, you too Frosty. Oh, yeah, I have the prototype of the uniform for the Golden Sun team too, I thought you might want to deliver it yourself.”

“Sure Dash,” said Frost, “I'll see you then.”

“Let's go,” said Windy, “I don't want to be late.”

Together they hurried back to Windy's room. Windy unlocked it and let Rainbow Dash in. The room was extremely neat and orderly, as Dash expected. An extra pillow and blanket lay on a sofa made of clouds.

“Make yourself at home,” said Windy. “The solid areas are pretty standard, probably the same as the room you shared with Firewing. I'll see you after work. It's good to have you back in town.” Windy smiled.

“Thanks for letting me stay here,” said Dash, “now get going, I'll see you later.”

Rainbow Dash spent some time going through the brochures from LPQCI, circling the ones that she liked. It didn't take very long so she unpacked her bags and did another quick read of her routine. That, she felt, was enough work for today. She looked around the room and decided that the sunny cloud by the window looked comfortable. She took off her flight suit and curled up for a nap.

Author's Note:

I've been rereading some of my later chapters and they aren't really well edited. I'm going to try to fix some of that. This and the next one are (I hope) a little better. Still working on some other stuff too. I have a short story about an earth visitor in Equestria that is a little unusual and I don't believe has been done yet. No spoiler heh. Real life has been an utter bastard of late but I'm trying to work through it. Should be another Chapter up tomorrow.