• Published 27th Nov 2017
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Long Distance Friendship - Drag Orion



The Map calls Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack to solve a friendship problem in different locations.

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Chapter 11

“This sure has been a lot of fun,” admitted Rainbow Dash as she walked through the streets of Los Pegasus with oversized sunglasses on her head and a giant turtle plushie on her back. “But everywhere we’ve looked I haven’t seen a friendship problem anywhere.”

“We’ve been to half a dozen resorts already,” Flash Magnus reminded her. “And there’s still a lot more to go. At the rate we’re going it could take days.”

“I know, but I felt so certain I found it right back when I was confronting Flim and Flam. I could feel it in my gut, but then I found out that they weren’t doing anything wrong for a change.”

“Maybe you were right,” pondered Flash. “Maybe the problem was back at the Split Apple.”

“You think they might actually be up to something?” she asked.

“Maybe not them, but the problem still might be there,” he told her. “You said you could feel it in your gut and I don’t know how things are done with the Wonderbolts, but when I was with the Royal Legion when I was faced with a tough decision to make my gut instinct never let me down.”

“I guess some things never change,” smiled Rainbow Dash as the two of them rushed back to the Split Apple as fast as they could struggle their way through the crowd of ponies.

By the time they made it back to the Split Apple, the crowd was dispersing from the theatre once more. “Another great performance,” Flim praised to Gale along with his brother.

“There’s just one more show tonight so you can take it easy till then,” added Flam.

“You have it scheduled for after sundown, right?” she asked.

“Set for half an hour after sunset,” Flim assured her.

“Then I’ll see you then,” she smiled and started to walk away to take a break. She put on her long, black coat and worked her way through the number of ponies to reach the lounge.

“We’re here again,” said Flash. “So, what does your gut say you should do now?”

“Follow her,” she answered and weaved through the crowd in pursuit of Gale. Her black coat made her stick out very easily compared to all the pastel-colored ponies surrounding her. She made her way to the lounge area and ordered a hay burger and some horseshoe fries along with a cup of fresh squeezed apple cider. When the order arrived, she carried it over to an empty table, taking up one of the four seats there and started eating.

“So, that was some awesome performance,” admitted Rainbow Dash casually sipping from a cup of apple cider she got.

“Oh, thanks,” Gale replied happily. “I’m glad you enjoyed it. I’ve always loved performing, to be the center of attention. I know that might sound a bit self-centered.”

“I’m guilty of plenty of that myself,” admitted Rainbow Dash. “Mind if I take a seat.”

“Sure, go right ahead,” she smiled. “It’s been a bit lonely since I came here and I haven’t had much time to make any friends.”

“Being the new pony, uh, zebra in town can be pretty rough, I’m sure,” she agreed. “Unless you got the Pinkie Pie Welcome Wagon to greet you.”

“The what?” she wondered.

‘Uh, nevermind,” replied Rainbow Dash. “But there’s something I’ve been wondering about. There’s a zebra who lives near Ponyville and she always talks in rhymes, but you don’t. I never knew any other zebras besides Zecora so I didn’t know if all zebras did that or if that was just her thing.”

“Heheh,” she giggled softly before speaking again. “Zebras always love to speak in rhyme, but for me it’s been quite a time.”

“That answers that question,” said Rainbow Dash. “But if zebras like to rhyme why don’t you?”

“Growing up in Manehatten wasn’t a very fun experience,” she admitted. “Other than my parents, I think I was the only zebra there. From all our unusual customs like our rhyming to just how we looked most ponies avoided me like I was some kind of evil enchantress or something. They didn’t even know anything about me yet they judged me so harshly.”

“Guess Ponyville was guilty of pretty much the same thing for a while too,” admitted Rainbow Dash.

“I tried to be and act like the other ponies to fit in,” she continued. “But none of that seemed to work. I was lucky, however, that I did eventually find three ponies that did finally accept me, but I didn’t want to go through my whole life with everypony else hiding from me. Then, one day, there was a little accident. One of my friends slipped from atop the clocktower. None of us had wings, but even so, I just jumped after her. I managed to catch her and safely get us to the ground. A crowd of ponies saw this and were suddenly cheering for me. I don’t know if they realized it wasn’t a show, but the next thing I knew my friends and I were suddenly putting on shows. Well, save for actually having me rescue somepony from falling. For a change, all eyes were on me and I realized how much I loved to perform. And now I’ve made my way to Los Pegasus.”

“What about your friends back in Manehatten?” asked Rainbow Dash. “What happened to them?”

“After I told them that I planned to go to Los Pegasus a couple of the others were saying how they wanted to go out into the world too. They threw me a party and shortly after that we went our separate ways. I miss them a lot, but I know they are rooting for me to do my best.”

“Did you have to go, to Los Pegasus, I mean?” asked Rainbow Dash. “I mean, nobody was forcing you or anything so it wasn’t like you had to leave your friends.”

“It was just something I wanted to do,” she admitted. “And I wanted to see if I really could make it on a stage like this. I would have loved it if my friends could have come, but it wouldn’t have been right to expect them to give up their own dreams just to be with me and they wouldn’t have wanted to hold me back either.”

“You’ll still make sure to meet up with them again, right?” questioned Rainbow Dash. “I mean, you want to, right?”

“Of course I do,” she sighed. “But it might not be for some time. I’m the headliner here so I do a lot of shows every day. I doubt I’d be able to get much time off for a while and I can’t just leave Flim and Flam without an act after they’ve given me this chance.”

“You make a lot of good points,” Rainbow Dash admitted, though she sounded like she didn’t want her to. “Thanks for taking the time to talk with me.” Without another word, Rainbow Dash walked away.

“So, how did it go?” asked Flash who had been waiting for Rainbow Dash while she was talking.

“It went very, very well,” she admitted with her head down. “I was given quite a bit to think about.”

“Uh, you were given a lot to think about?” he asked confused. “Weren’t you the one who was supposed to be giving her something to think about?”

“I came here to find a friendship problem,” she sighed. “But the only one I can find is my own.”