Ch 2 - Two To Tango
"Dash? Dash, please let us in."
It had been an entire week since the day of the Mare-Do-Well celebration, and Rainbow Dash had refused to set foot outside her cloud house. Her friends had been willing to give her time to calm down before trying to talk to her, but when they realized that she had even stopped showing up for work, they decided to intervene.
"Go away." came Rainbow's dejected voice from inside.
"Dash, everypony is worried about you." Twilight called. "They haven't seen you in a week. And the clouds are starting to build up. The other weather ponies can't keep up. I understand that you're mad at us." Twilight's voice broke slightly. "But please.....don't let other ponies suffer because of it."
There was a pause, and then a deep sigh, and the door opened.
The girls visibly flinched at Rainbow's appearance. She obviously had not been sleeping well.
"I'm not mad." Rainbow said wearily. "I just....I don't understand." She raised her head to look them in the eye. "Why didn't you just talk to me? Did you really think I wouldn't listen?"
The girls averted their eyes. They couldn't answer.
Rainbow smiled bitterly. "Wow. My own friends don't trust me to listen to them. I really am a jerk."
"Rainbow, no!" Fluttershy cried, horrified. "We don't think you're a jerk! We just...wanted you to look at the bigger picture."
"We just wanted you to remember what was important." Applejack added. "Savin' ponies. What ya set out ta do in the first place."
"You obviously didn't think I was doing a good job." Rainbow said sadly. "You said so yourself, 'A hero doesn't brag.'"
Applejack winced, her ears flattening against her head. "Maybe I shoulda phrased that better. It's okay ta be proud a' what ya do, sugarcube, so long as it don't go ta yer head."
Rainbow bit her lip, contemplating what to say next, then said, "The thing is....I didn't know what you were trying to say. I just thought Mare-Do-Well was trying to stand me up. And that day at Sugarcube Corner...." She lowered her eyes. "It felt as though you were choosing Mare-Do-Well over me."
Rainbow wiped her eyes. "That's what really hurt. Losing my popularity was one thing. But losing my friends, too?"
"You didn't lose us, darling." Rarity interjected. "And we're so sorry. We never intended to hurt you."
"That was the last thing we wanted." Twilight added, and the others nodded in agreement.
There was silence for a moment, and then Rainbow sighed. "You guys really hurt me."
Twilight nodded sadly. "We know."
Another long pause. Then Dash continued. "I really wanted to be mad at you. But...then I kept thinking about everything. I mean really thinking." She ran a hoof through her messy mane. "That day...when I was signing autographs....that pony could've gotten hurt, or worse, because I was so distracted.
"And then when I was in the river...you pulled that branch so I could pull myself up. And you never really tried to stop me from saving ponies. You just...showed up, saved the day, and then left.
"And even when I was chasing you....you purposefully lead me to alley, didn't you? You wanted to lead me away from the crowd, so I wouldn't be humiliated.
"I guess what I'm trying to say is....you guys messed up, but...I messed up, too."
Twilight took a timid step forward. "So.....bygones?" She raised a hopeful hoof.
Rainbow sighed, then gave a weary smile. "Yeah....bygones." She touched a hoof to Twilight's.
"YAAAAAAAAY!!!!" Pinkie Pie leapt forward and squeezed Rainbow's neck, hard. "We're friends again!"
Rainbow's face turned red. "Pinkie....can't.....breathe......"
Dear Princess Celestia,
We all learned two lessons today.
The first, is that it's okay to be proud of your accomplishments. It's even okay to brag about it once in a while. But you shouldn't let your pride get in the way of what's important.
The second, is that even if you have good intentions, it doesn't mean your actions are the right ones to take. Sometimes those actions can make things worse, and you can up hurting the people you care about.
Nonetheless, if your friendship is strong, you can overcome any obstacle.
Yours faithfully and loyally,
Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash
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Oh, already finished? Well, it was a nice good read, even with the classical, sappy happy ending. I usually prefer the reaction stories to this episode to take a turn for the worse, but sometimes it's not so bad to read a pacific ending.
7552336 I didn't see that episode yet.
This episode reminded me of one on Full House. A notorious prankster finds her report card blown up in the school corridors for one and all to see. When she turns around, she's shown on the verge of a suicidal breakdown. They had gotten her back, good and hard, right where it hurt the most. It was not a pretty sight.
Ooh, boy. Don't mind me! *Grabs popcorn* Dis gunna be gud. Now, where's the hate? (Last chapter, ma'am.) Good. Good.
What about Newbie Dash? According to that episode the CMC are in the wrong for not liking to be called blank flanks. And that it's apparently 'wise' to stay in an abusive relationship for the benefit of being in that abusive relationship.
A Hearthswarming Tale: Oh shut up episode! If you need to constantly celebrate a holiday to keep on loving your friends and family then that 'love' is as shallow as shallow can be.
Tanks For The Memories: RD is hanging with the Wonderbolts too much, she's starting to scheme to hurt others just to help herself.
Bats!: Those bats are vermin but because Fluttershy says so they apparently are not. And apparently coming up with a compromise is wrong. And apparently AJ is 'short sighted' because her produce is under threat.
Testing Testing 1 2 3: No the problem was RD wasn't APPLYING herself, not in need of learning a special way. This episode was just justifying bad behavior. Plus RD is an adult not a child, and Twilight was in the wrong for forcing RD like that. And this episode dared to say that country people are stupid.
This episode could even be the worst episode of the entire show.
I'm all for pointing out how horribly flawed the tv series is, but isn't this a little late? Usually fixfics are published a lot closer to the intended episode's air date.
This is exactly what a fixfic for that episode should be, in fact, this could've been what that episode should've been from the beggining...oh wait, I just repeated myself there didn't I?
They stepped in whenever Rainbow Dash was letting her grandstanding get in the way of her heroism, AND when she was clearly in over her head. Mare Do Well 'stealing rescues' existed only in Rainbow Dash's distorted point of view.
7554398
It's actually real life air force tradition for your call-sign to be something embarrassing.
7553090
I had really hoped that after all the emotional charge had died down, people would stop seeing things from Rainbow Dash's twisted point of view this episode and look at it objectively. Rainbow Dash STOPPED FOR PHOTOS AND AUTOGRAPHS while a pony was falling to her doom! She doesn't get an excuse!
7554398
You have the cause and effect reversed. Without that love, that holiday wouldn't exist in the first place, Snowfall Frost failed to realize what retconning the holiday out of existence would do.
7554398
Applejack was handed the 'straw pony' t-shirt, (I didn't like the episode much either) sure, but it gave us Flutterbat! So I give it a pass.
How things should have gone, Rainbow Dash should have gotten on her knees thanking her friends for saving other ponies and Rainbow Dash herself from Rainbow's egotistical show boating as they were covering her ass!!!
7552787
Yes, HOW DARE THEY save all those ponies lives! HOW DARE THEY step in to pick up the slack while Rainbow Dash proved she couldn't do it alone AND that her showboat was putting ponies LIVES in danger. And that Rainbow Dash couldn't comprehend that Mare Do Well would wear a mask to hide her identity, AND that she never stopped to be praised (until the time that was obvious bait to end the performance), shows RD had a problem. And the fact Mare Do Well didn't instantly appear to save the pony falling to their death, IMHO implies the mane six SAW what RD was doing, and had to get into costume FAST, implying they were on the fence about the whole plan until Rainbow Dash herself gave them the push. And the fact they dropped so many transparent hints at their true identities afterwards, implies what they underestimate was how utterly THICK HEADED Rainbow Dash is!
7569321 Yes I'm sure it is. But it's wrong in real life and it's wrong in fiction to bully people and that's what the Wonderbolts were doing. Plus I doubt taking moral advice from people who literally murder for a living is a smart idea.
7569415
The problem was Rainbow Dash MISTOOK IT for bullying. And calling the Wonderbolts murders for hire is over the line. So is calling a holiday done in honor of the birth of a man who said "have your yes mean yes and your no mean no" and "let he who has no sin cast the first stone" evil. If anything, I was insulted for them turning it into a parody of the holiday, but I didn't go on a rant about it.
7569473 Christmas is NOT in honor of Jesus anymore than the golden calf was in honor of God.
7569473 RD crashed so the Wonderbolts were all "RAINBOW CRASH!" Instead of saying...oh I don't know, "Are you okay Rainbow Dash?" That is NOT "mistaking" for bullying, that IS bullying.
7570944
That's not what Christmas is for me.
7570947
Clipper. Slowpoke. Flatfoot. And "Can't Even Say That On Television!" And Rainbow Dash brought it on herself, ignoring rules that she'd just been told to watch out for. And Rainbow Dash had through a TREE and gotten back up without need for professional help.
7570949 And it wasn't what the golden calf was to the 3000 Israelites who were killed.
7570960
No. They wanted a god they could SEE, and that's what they got.
7570954 I'm aware RD was in the wrong too. But just because one side was in the wrong doesn't mean the other is in the right. Both sides of the issue were in the wrong but the episode acted as if the Wonderbolts were in the right.
And not just this episode.
Wonderbolts Academy:
Spitfire kept praising bad behavior to the point where 5 lives were almost lost and then she yells at the one she victimizes as if Rainbow Dash did something wrong. And if Spitfire "learned" that she was in the wrong then I shudder to think how many ponies she's unintentionally killed ever since she's become the leader of the Wonderbolts.
Rainbow Falls:
They'd dis one member for another.
Rarity Investigates:
They'd dis one of their members simply because one idiot says so.
I think they did try to talk to rainbow dash and failed. But the only thing that I can see fixing in that episode is a little scene where the five are all talking like this:
Was I that stubborn? Applejack asked.
A tie, twilight said.
So what can we do? Fluttershy asked.
We all tried talking to her but it was pointless of course, rarity said.
I got a plan but it may not be a good one, is it ready rarity? Twilight asked.
Yes, but I really don't like it.
It's time. Pinkie you are up.
The other scene:
Rainbow dash, you need to understand that we did it to save you of becoming a criminal, twilight said.
Yeah right.
The hot balloon crash. Even if mysterious mare do well didn't get there in time that pony would have been hurt badly. You could have been arrested for a crime.
I got you five.
Even as Princess Celestia student that crime I can not protect you. At worse you may have been banished! And right there is the issue. The wonderbolt do not ever take banished ponies at all.
7570981 I haven't read this yet, but this post, right here.
The episode wouldn't have been so bad... had it been the first time we've seen the outside perspective of the Wonderbolts sucking hard, y'know?
7609587
They tried to have RD figure out how Mare Do Well on her own by dropping transparent hints right in front of her ... but they underestimated how thick RD can be.
7680922
It was one of those lose lose problem. Sometimes there is no right way to solve a problem at all
You cannot write a fic about the mane 6 acting dumb an
D label it as a straight-up Drama, that kind of implies that ponies are naturally stupid
The story was decent, but the ending kind of ruined it for me. The whole prank was bad enough, but expecting Rainbow to learn a lesson from it is just going to make everything worse. A lesson about bragging, at least. Showing off never got into the way of her heroic deeds, if anything the insecurities she gets from losing her fans did.
7569366
The problem is that Mare-Do-Well didn't need to EXIST in the grand scheme of things.
Think about it, Rarity contributed nothing aside from making the costume, Fluttershy didn't need to be in on it since all she did was fly by when RD gloated that it was the one thing she couldn't do.
Now, imagine that Twilight, AJ, and Pinkie pulled off their rescues WITHOUT the costume. Wouldn't THAT have had more of an impact considering the fact that it's her friends helping out with crisis that she couldn't handle alone?
But instead they simply pulled the costumed hero gig, stalked her around town in-costume (how else would they have known when the crisis was happening and managed to get in costume so quickly?) and simply did the hero act to teach her a lesson. Also how can they call her out on bragging if they showed up at the parade?
Heck, the costume would've worked if they left out Fluttershy's little stunt and gave her some words of wisdom to her after saving ponies.
And before you say "RD wouldn't have listened anyway", the Zombie-Pony episode worked better with that reason because of one solitary aspect:
SHOW DON'T TELL
We actually SEE them SIT HER DOWN AND TALK WITH HER. And when that fails they have Pinkie confront her one on one. That way it doesn't feel like they all just jumped in on the plan without thinking of other options.
7829435
Because Mare Do Well was cool!
7829855
The rule of cool only get you so far, and again, it would've been much better and effective they actually talked to her while in disguise, offering words of wisdom to her instead of just remaining silent.
And again, there was literally no point for Fluttershy to be involved, all she did was a flyby and just served to make it feel like they were just rubbing salt in the wound.
Simply pulling a stunt like that and expecting your desired results doesn't always work out in the long run. Especially since they didn't bother to simply sit her down and talk with her about it. Even if she didn't listen, it would've shown that they actually give a damn about her feelings and tried a different approach first.
Nah I agree with ya. Cool concept and art work. Absolute bull shit moral.
Classic "et tu" moment.
I know im gonna get a hoof to the face for my opinion, but the main 6 didn`t goof up when they did this.
Rainbow Dash needed to learn to stop being an egotistical ass. Even if she can back up her claims. And if anyone says how would i feel, id expect my friends to break my damn habit of that. Even if i have to be humiliated. No one likes an egotistical pony.
Plus, I just dont like Rainbow Dash.
8839417
She wasn't hurting anyone. Her friends are to blame for not talking to her like decent friends would. Humiliating was fucking uncalled for, especially when they're just as guilty of doing stupid shit as she is most of the time. Then again, your last sentence just proves you're a fucking hypocrite who can't use common sense in the face of your bias.
7552339
Dash didn't put anyone in danger though.
8893376
Its called Opinions
9747290
fair enough.
9128487
Fluttershy was being a showoff as mare do well. I mean seriously, what was the point of flying?
8839417
Well I like Rainbow and can also see where you're coming from. Yes there was a problem but the solution was wrong. Also Rainbow was made to act egotistical for plot.
10608834
I understand that but she was taking it to the extreme. After some time of thinking yeah maybe it wasn`t the right way to knock down her pride, but, as harsh as it was, it got the job done. Besides, I`m an "Ends justify the means" type of gal. Doesn`t mean that I won`t feel bad about what I done.
That was sweet.
10613521
that style of thinking is bound to end up to disastrous consequences.