Want

by DongleKumquat

Chapter 2

NOTE: Copy-pasting here doesn't keep the original formatting. I recommend visiting one of the following links instead.

Equestria Daily Post

"Want" Ch. 2 in Google Docs

Chapter 2

Rainbow Dash opened her eyes to a clear, blue sky. The sun beat down on her as she tossed and turned, struggling to find a comfortable position. Usually cumulonimbus clouds gave the best naps, but this one itched terribly.

She jumped five feet in the air when a low, booming voice screamed at her.

“RAINBOW DASH! IF I CATCH YOU ON YOUR RUMP AGAIN, YOU’RE FIRED!”

Dash sighed in annoyance. “You know Ironwing, you always say you’re gonna fire me, but you never do. You need me. You can’t find a patrol supervisor better than me.” She grinned. “So do it. I dare you.”

“EXCUSE M-”

“Oh, relax. I’ve known you way too long for me to take you seriously anymore. The patrol’s got it taken care of.” She resumed her nap position on the cloud. “Besides, they learn from the best.”

Ironwing’s face fell, and he sighed. “I know. I’m sorry. It’s just that I’ve been getting evil looks from upper management lately, and they keep telling me how I hired a weather patrol supervisor that takes naps all the time.”

Dash rolled her eyes. “Not all the time.”

“Could you at least clear this patch in the next twenty minutes? For me?”

Dash saluted him sarcastically. “Consider it done in ten seconds.”

“Good. Now, when I-”

“After my nap.”

Ironwing grunted in frustration and flew away.

Dash placed her forelegs behind her head and closed her eyes. She slept poorly the previous night and felt no motivation to patrol anything. She felt unclean. The dream replayed in her mind over and over. She felt poisoned, tainted by the fact that such thoughts had entered her brain. No pony would think of her the same again, disowned by her friends and everypony she knew.

Dash opened her eyes, suddenly nose to nose with a huge pink face.

“WAAAH!”

It was Pinkie Pie.

“Pinkie, don’t DO th-"

“Hey Dashie, what’s up?” She squealed in her usual high-pitched voice. “Well… I am! Now so are you! HA!”

“Wait, how did you-”

“Balloon.” She grinned.

Dash groaned and rolled over on her side. “Go away, Pinkie.” Pinkie got out of the basket and plopped down on the cloud next to Dash. Twilight really needed to stop doing that spell.

“Daawww, what’s wong missy gwumpy pants?”

“Nothing. Go aw-“

“Tell me!”

“No. I said go awa-“

“You know you can tell your auntie Pinkie Pie anything!”

“I’m a year older than you, Pinkie.”

Pinkie giggled. “No you’re not! Fluttershy is a year older than me. We’re the same age!”

“What? No! I was born a year before you!”

“No, you’re thinking of Rarity.”

“No, she’s a year older than Twilight, who’s the same age as-” she put a hoof on her face. “Ugh. What am I doing?” She rolled back over.

“Tell me! What’s wrong?”

“No.”

“Pleeeeease?”

“Go away, Pinkie.”

“C’mon Dashie. It can’t hurt!”

Dash opened her mouth to retort, but sighed instead. Pinkie was right. She couldn’t be in a worse mood. She’ll just tell her about how the Bolts ditched her, and she wouldn’t tell her about the dream. That secret would be carried with her to the grave.

Dash turned and faced Pinkie. Pinkie smiled from ear to ear.

“Pinkie… have you ever been totally blown off by your fillyhood idols? Like, they say they wanna ‘hang out,’” She drew hoofquotes around the words, “But instead go off and talk to a million other ponies?”

Pinkie put a hoof on her chin in thought. “Hmm… no, but I bet it feels terrible!”

“Yeah, well that’s what happened to me last night.”

“Yeah, I thought that was kinda rude of them.”

“I kno- Wait... you knew?”

“Duh, silly! You’ve been obsessed with the Wonderbolts for forever!”

“But you don’t understand! I can’t get over it! You and AJ and Rarity and Twilight got over your problems real fast but I… I don’t know. ” She ended her sentence with a sigh. Pinkie put a foreleg around Dash’s shoulder.

“Oh, Dashie. You just want it too bad. And that’s a good thing! It makes it more likely that it’ll happen!”

Dash pondered this for a moment. She did want it bad, more than anypony or anything. Even more than Twilight wanted to spend time with the princess; even more than Rarity wanted to get on with Prince Blueblood.

She hung her head, cringing at the thought of getting over the Wonderbolts.

“Maybe I should stop wanting it.”

Pinkie giggled. “What good would that do?” She stood up tall and put a hoof over her chest. “‘The wise pony that desired happiness more than anypony always received it.’”

Dash looked up at her.

Pinkie began speaking in a heavy Manehatten accent. “The way I sees it, you got a hundred years; ya do good to make every single one worth it!”

She stared at Pinkie in amazement.

Pinkie giggled again and said, “I swear. Sometimes Dashie, you’re a billy full o’ silly.”

Dash put her face in her hooves. “Wait, wait, wait. Where did you-” she looked back up, and Pinkie was gone.

She threw her hooves in the air. “Great!”

The cloud made a satisfying POOF sound as Dash fell onto her back. The weather patrol soared overhead and they shot Dash nasty looks.

“Maybe I’m not wanting it enough…”

Maybe that was it. Maybe she only needed to want it more. Maybe the amount of pride and determination she had wasn’t cutting it. She needed to want it so bad that it was, in the words of her filly friends from flight school, an “unhealthy obsession.” She needed to fill every single moment of her life with all things flying. She needed to lift wing weights, go on long-distance endurance flights every day, and practice the Sonic Rainboom until she could do it in her sleep. Rainbow Dash was filled with determination. She knew exactly what she was going to do and how she was going to do it. Pinkie Pie had just given her the most subtle yet most successful pep talk she had ever received. Suddenly, she felt like she could do anything. She was itching to fly off as fast as she could in one direction and shatter every speed record there was; why was she still sitting there? All she needed to-

“Hey, Dash.”

She froze. Rainbow Dash knew that voice. Its owner landed right behind her. She slowly turned around.

It was her.

Dash didn’t know if she should stay or fly away as fast as she could. Her body froze in place, totally petrified. The dream returned to her memory. The pegasus causing all of her distress, the way to make all of her dreams come true, and her only ticket back to the world where everything was perfect stood right in front of her.

“Soo… I’m guessing by your expression that you’re not too mad about last night,” said Spitfire.

Dash’s mouth and eyes were wide open. She shook her head and straightened herself up. Before she could say anything, Spitfire began what seemed like a poorly rehearsed apology.

“Look, Dash. I wanted to tell you-” She bit her lip. “We screwed up. I screwed up. It’s mostly my fault, I’m supposed to keep up with what the Bolts are doing, but I totally blew you off last night. And I’m really sorr-”

Soarin’ popped out from behind Spitfire. “Yeah, yeah, we’re sorry to disturb you, we’ll just head out now.” He pulled Spitfire away, but she knocked him on the forehead and engaged him in a fiery exchange of whispers.

Dash’s heart rate soared off the charts, her eyes flicked back and forth between the two Wonderbolts, but she allotted all of her effort into maintaining a calm composure.

Soarin’ and Spitfire each finished their quiet argument with an “Ugh” and turned back to Rainbow Dash.

“This is so embarrassing,” Soarin’ added.

Spitfire sighed and held up a hoof to Dash. “So. Dash. Are we cool?”

Her stomach fluttered. “Y-Yeah. We’re cool.” A smile made its way across her face. She hit Spitfire’s hoof with her own.

“Awesome.” Spitfire looked around at the area of clouds that Rainbow Dash was supposed to be clearing. “So. How do you like this job? I started out in the weather patrol myself. Granted, it was only two years ago, but… you know.”

“I- I guess it’s ok. It pays pretty good.”

“Hah, cool… so, uh...” There was an awkward pause. “Um…” Spitfire suddenly grinned.

Rainbow Dash forced a smile back. “Yeah…?”

Soarin’ put a hoof on his face.

Spitfire sighed. “I’m never good with stuff like this… Ok. Dash, Soarin’ and I would like to ask you-” She looked at Soarin’, who gave her a “go on, do it!” look.

“Ok, this is gonna sound ridiculous... but can you do a Sonic Rainboom for us?”

A sudden rush of anxiety bubbled up inside her. Do a Sonic Rainboom? Not only do it, but for the lead fliers of the Wonderbolts?

“I- I don’t-”

“If you don’t want to, it’s totally fine, I understand.”

She couldn’t decline. Not only would that show weakness, it would disappoint them and ruin her dreams of ever becoming a Wonderbolt. If she accepted, she ran the risk of embarrassing herself in front of her idols and would still ruin her dreams of ever becoming a Wonderbolt.

“I- sure, I guess.”

Suddenly there were excited voices coming from the cleaning crew.

“Is that… SPITFIRE?”

“Oh Celestia, It’s Soarin’!”

“I LOVE YOU SOARIN’!”

“Uh oh,” said Spitfire, “We’d better get out of here. C’mon, Dash!”

In an instant, Soarin’ and Spitfire were gone into the sky. Dash hesitated.

“Well. It’s now or never.”

She took off after them, leaving a bewildered group of pegasi behind her.

________________

They came to the side of a large hill after fifteen minutes of flying, overlooking a valley that stretched out as far as the eye could see. The afternoon sun had begun to loose its strength and slowly sank towards the horizon.

“This looks good,” said Spitfire. She turned to Rainbow Dash and said, “Ok Dash, you ready?”

“You betcha.”

Spitfire pointed out at the vast expanse of land and said, “Alright, fly high and far enough away so you can get up to speed. We’ll watch from down here.”

“Ok.”

“Good luck, kid,” said Soarin’, smiling.

“Thanks,” said Dash, and she took off into the sky.

“‘Good luck Kid?’ Really?” said Spitfire.

“It’s the best I could come up with,” said Soarin’.

“Maybe, ‘Good luck Dash?’”

“Whatever.” He sat down. “You think she’ll do it?”

Spitfire sat down next to him. “Of course she’ll do it. She just did it a few weeks ago.”

“I mean… what if she doesn’t do it?”

“She’ll do it.”

Soarin’ fidgeted. “Ugh, I’m nervous.”

“Don’t have a cow, dude. She’s got this.” She looked up, and Rainbow Dash was nothing but a speck against the top of the blue sky. C’mon, Dash. You got this.

Rainbow Dash began to fall. She picked up speed faster than anypony Spitfire had ever seen. It took Dash three seconds to do what Spitfire could only do in ten.

“Geez!” exclaimed Soain’. “Are you kidding me? Her acceleration is insane!”

“See? What’d I tell you.”

Dash went faster and faster, shattering what Spitfire was sure to be several speed records. Soarin’ stared at the sky with his mouth agape. Spitfire’s stomach lept as a subtle adrenaline rush came over her.

“C’mon Dash. You got this. You got this!”

Spitfire recalled the countless times she had tried the Rainboom after Rainbow Dash had done it. Breaking through the last barrier was like breaking through a wall of metal. Each time, the wall would catch her and send her flying out of control in the opposite direction. If she was lucky, she would land in a soft patch of grass or a group of bushes, but most of the time she landed in a tree or a patch of hard ground.

Soarin’ still had the same dumbfounded look plastered to his face.

“You ok dude?” Spitfire said.

His eyes were glued to the sky. “It’s not fair. It’s just not fair.”

Suddenly, a sharp tearing sound echoed across the valley. An oval-shaped cone had formed around Dash.

“She’s close… she’s almost there!”

Spitfire nearly couldn’t contain herself. She felt like jumping up and down and squealing like a giddy schoolfilly, but two years of exercising self-control in front of the press had turned into a habit. The cone became well-defined and triangular. It glowed as Rainbow-colored arcs of lightning formed everywhere.

Then, everything went still. The birds stopped chirping. Nature seemingly shut itself down into a deafening silence. Spitfire held her breath.

A silent, blinding flash of light exploded in the sky.

“HOLY-“ yelled Soarin’ as he and Spitfire shielded their eyes.

The silence was almost unbearable. The light subsided and Soarin’ stood up, his mouth hanging wide open at what he was witnessing.

A spherical shockwave of vivid rainbow expanded across the sky, illuminating everything with every color that existed. A ringing sound echoed across the valley, piercing the silence and rising in pitch until it became inaudible. The wall of rainbow hurdled towards them at the speed of sound.

“Here it comes! HERE IT COMES!” Soarin' screamed and put both hooves in the air, welcoming the shockwave as if it was his long lost brother. Spitfire never saw him so hyped up before. The blast knocked both of them back. The wind clawed at Spitfire’s face and screamed in her ears as she buried her head in her hooves.

But, warmth surrounded her. Warmth as if the sun had burst through the clouds on a cold Autumn day. A low, rumbling sound rattled her chest, and she looked up at the rainbow-scorched sky...

Spitfire jumped with all of her might, fluttered her wings, and fell on her face. She sighed and her brother snickered.

“It’s ok, just keep trying. You’ll get it eventually,” said Rapidfire.

“This is dumb. I wanna fly now!” she said, pouting.

Her father helped her up. “Here, try flapping slower.”

“And with a bit of a beat,” said her mother.

Spitfire looked up at her parents incredulously. “A beat?”

“Yeah,” said Rapidfire. “You know, like music.”

Spitfire thought of her favorite song and began to flap her wings to its rhythm.

“There you go!” said her mother. “Now jump up and keep flapping!”

Spitfire took a breath, held it, and jumped into the air. She opened one eye, and saw that she was off the cloud.

She gasped and squealed with joy, along with her parents.

“Now take it easy,” said her father. “You’ve never flown before so-”

Spitfire flapped harder and rose higher into the sky, a huge smile stretching from ear to ear. She dove and zoomed this way and that, trying the tricks she had seen on TV.

“Spitfire, honey! Be careful!” called her mother from below.

“Look mom, I’m a Wonderbolt! Delta formation seven-R!”

She spun around in mid air, went straight up, then stalled as she dove back down. She landed in her mother’s arms and hugged both of her parents tight...

Soarin’ was screaming at the top of his lungs, his mane blown straight backwards. He turned to Spitfire.

“Spitfire, are you… are you crying?”

“Huh? I…” She straightened up and wiped her face. “No, I was just… had something in my eye. Wind was pretty strong.”

A bright rainbow streaked across the sky, and suddenly Rainbow Dash landed in front of them, panting hard with a huge smile plastered across her face. Her eyes darted back and forth between the two Wonderbolts.

Soarin’ and Spitfire looked at each other. Soarin’ raised his eyebrows, asking with his expression the question Spitfire knew he would ask. She looked back at Dash.

“You are something else.”

“Heh… thanks…” said Dash, still panting.

“Listen… would you mind coming with us for a bit?”

“For- for what?”

Spitfire smiled. “You’ll see.”

______________

Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. I’m actually going... inside?

The Wonderbolts’ headquarters was a sight to behold. Floating on a huge cloud near the center of Cloudsdale, it stood out among the marble architecture that was popular in that neighborhood. It was a mansion adorned with fountains and statues of past great fliers, surrounded by excellently maintained hedge gardens. A giant yellow bolt sat on the facade, just above the entrance.

Oh my gosh.

Soarin’, Spitfire, and Rainbow Dash landed on the top step. Spitfire pushed the buzzer, and a low voice emitted from the speaker.

“State your business.”

“Don, you know it’s us. Look at the video monitor from time to time.”

“Oh, right.”

“Get the team together. We need to talk to them.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Wait- y-you- t-talk- team-” Dash stuttered.

The double-doors swung open, revealing a pitch-black hallway. At the end was a single door. A chill ran down Rainbow Dash’s legs.

“Alright. In we go.”

Somewhat to her relief, Rainbow Dash could sense nervousness in Spitfire’s voice. Dash glanced at Spitfire as they walked inside. She walked confidently with her head held high and no break in her stride. Dash could tell how good she was at hiding fear.

Eager to calm herself, Dash broke the awkward silence. “So... w-what are we gonna do?”

“We need to talk to the others.”

“About what?”

Neither of them answered. They reached the door, and Spitfire opened it.

They walked into a huge room embellished with every kind of decoration possible. Huge trophies filled large cases, giant pictures of the Wonderbolts plastered each corner, and a gigantic flatscreen television hung from the wall. Rainbow Dash’s stomach dropped. All of the Wonderbolts were sitting on several couches, and each of them turned to look at her.

Oh my gosh.

“Hey, Spit,” one of them said. Spitfire nodded to them and proceeded to a seat on the couch.

“Sit there, Dash.” Spitfire pointed to a chair that sat in front of the couches. Dash shook from head to hoof. She could feel every eye in the room burning holes in her forehead. She sat in the chair.

Dash recognized the other four from the main show team; Tyco was gray and had a long, fluffy white mane. Misty was the third pony that Dash saved at the Best Young Fliers Competition; she was a similar cyan color to Rainbow Dash, but her mane was white and light blue. Rapidfire was Spitfire’s brother and they looked exactly alike, but Rapidfire didn’t have the yellow highlight in his orange mane. Fleet Foot sat elegantly on the arm of the couch, her long blue mane flowing down to her lap. The other five Wonderbolts were the alternates and Rainbow Dash didn’t know them.

A few of them shifted around, a couple moved to the arms of the couches and some moved to the floor.

The room fell silent. No pony made a sound. The Wonderbolts stared at Rainbow Dash.

“Ok,” said Spitfire, breaking the solid silence. “So obviously, you know why I called you guys in here.”

Rapidfire sighed and Misty smirked.

“Rainbow Dash. First I would like to apologize on behalf of the team.” She smiled. “I did earlier, but now I’m giving you an official one. I completely ignored you at the Gala, and I’m very, very sorry. After the Best Young Fliers Competition, we had a lot on our plate and we never contacted you. Just so you know, that’s usually not how things run here.”

Rainbow Dash still shook violently, trying desperately to hide it. By now, everypony in the room must have noticed it.

“And I’d like to thank you personally, said Misty. “You know. For saving my life and all.”

“Y-yeah. N-no prob.”

“Now,” said Spitfire as she turned to face the Wonderbolts. “Second thing. I got the call yesterday. We’re flying in Manehatten this weekend.”

Every eye turned to Spitfire, and noises of surprise and exhilaration came from the Wonderbolts.

“No way!” yelled Rapidfire.

“Yes way. It’s already sold out, too. We’re looking at half a million in attendance.”

“Wait, how’s it already sold out?”

“Well. That brings me to the third thing.”

Everypony again fell into an impenetrable silence. Spitfire looked at Rainbow Dash and a tiny smile formed on her face. “This mare sitting before you is the only one to have ever done the impossible.” Once again, each eye in the room found a mark on Rainbow Dash’s face. “And she did it three times. Soarin’ and I just saw her do it.”

Sounds of amazement came from the Wonderbolts.

“No way,” said Tyco. You guys were actually there?”

“Yep,” said Soarin’ proudly. “Saw it in full force with my own two eyes.”

“Lucky,” Misty grumbled.

“Oh,” said Tyco. “In case you didn’t know Dash, you’re pretty famous already.” He tossed a newspaper at her. It was the Equestria Daily, and it was still hot off the presses.

SONIC RAINBOOM SEEN NEAR PONYVILLE

Rainbow Dash gasped. She looked at the picture, which seemed like nothing more than a rainbow smudge on the camera lens.

“B-but- w-what- ah-”

“Anyway,” said Spitfire. “Dash.”

Rainbow Dash couldn’t contain herself. Her heart pounded against her throat.

“We’ve been discussing this for a while now. The Sonic Rainboom is like nothing I’ve ever seen in my life.” She smiled and looked at the floor, apparently lost in thought. “and I’ve never felt the way I did when you did it.” She looked back up at Dash. “I mean... think what would happen if a stadium full of ponies all witnessed it at the same time! Tickets for shows would be hotter than fire, our salaries would go through the roof, and-” She shook her head. “Ah, I’m sorry. I’m going off on a tangent.” She took a deep breath. Dash tried desperately to hold back tears.

“Rainbow Dash, you’re the only one to ever do the impossible, and well...” She paused for an eternity. It was as if she was purposefully drawing out the moment.

“...We want you.”

Reality collapsed. Everything turned into a dream. The walls, the air, the floor; everything began to flow like a dream.

“W-w- wh-” Dash stuttered. She felt the tears building in her eyes.

“We want you. I hope you’re still interested in being a Bolt.”

Her breathing became erratic. Tears began to pour down her face.

Spitfire smiled. “You ok?”

Then, everything went black.

Rainbow Dash fainted. She lay on the floor, unconscious.
____________

Comments

[Fox-Sama]

LMAO!!!! She passed out!!!!!! This is fantastic!

[primalcorn1]

The Equestria Daily

I'd read that paper

Wait...I'm a brony...

I already do

[Queen of Everything]

Oh my gawd. This, so far, is brilliant!

[Leapingriver]

Wow this is pretty good :D The writing is great, and I like this story line, most people just jump into the bolts accepting Dash for the sonic rainboom, but you took some time leading to that part and I really like how you told us why they took so long to do so lol. Quite reasonable; although a bit inconsistent with the show considering the wonderbolts thanked her for saving them but I understand it was to get the story moving along. The piece with Spitfires flashback was also sweet, although a bit random, unless it comes into play later on in the story...
Overall these 2 chapters are awesome, I have great expectations for this story. The occasional comedy lightens the downer parts of the story which is good, you don't want a story becoming too heavy too soon. Amount of detail used is great; I can see this playing out quite easily in my head. There was one thing however that did drive a needle into my side and I know I shouldn't get to hung up about it. I've been on DA where a ton of people kept making this mistake so it was driving me mad by the time I read this. And that is: you mixed up Fleetfoot and Misty Fly.

Misty was the third pony that Dash saved at the Best Young Fliers Competition; she was a similar cyan color to Rainbow Dash, but her mane was white and light blue.

Misty, if you look at her closely, is a light cream with a blue mane with a lighter blue streak. Fleetfoot is the 'similar cyan color to RD', and she doesn't have blue hair, she's the one with a white mane. I'm really sorry for pointing that out but it just really was bothering me. Other than that this is a great chapter :) I'm excited to read the next chapters (prob later tonight).

[RainbowManedPegasus]

“C’mon Dash. You got this. You got this!”

YOU GOT THIS! WE GOT THIS TOGETHER! IT’S THE FESTIVAL OF FRIENDSHIP TPGETHER WE ARE ONE-oh shit wrong story