Long Distance Friendship

by Drag Orion

Chapter 23

Rainbow Dash yawned and stretched as she awoke to a brand new day. “I didn’t think I’d manage to get a good night’s rest with how loud and bright this city is,” she told herself as she rubbed her eyes. “But I’m really glad I… did…” Her words trailed off as she got a look at her surroundings and saw that he had been sleeping on a plush couch in the middle of the room. Against the wall was a makeup table with a vanity mirror that looked nearly as well stocked with beauty products, perfume, and makeup as Rarity had in her room. There was also a mobile clothes rack in the in the middle of the floor with costumes on it from one end to the other.

“Either Trixie is a better magician than I thought or this isn’t the inside of her wagon,” she concluded.

“Morning,” Gale greeted Rainbow Dash as she walked in from another room. She let out a big yawn herself before taking a seat beside Rainbow Dash on the couch. “Did you sleep well?”

“I did,” she answered. “But where are we exactly?”

“This is my room in the Split Apple,” she explained. “You kinda fell asleep while you were trying to comfort me so I carried you back here to spend the night. Hope you don’t mind.”

“Probably the best sleep I would have gotten,” Rainbow Dash admitted. “But now I feel bad that I fell asleep while I was giving you a shoulder to cry on.”

“It’s fine,” Gale assured her. “I was just happy to have a friend beside me. After last night I’m feeling a lot better and for that you have my gratitude.”

“Gale, I hope you’re up and ready,” announced Flim as he knocked on the door.

“Another great day at the Split Apple is underway and fans of yours are already lined up ready for your next big performance,” added Flam.

“It’ll begin in only one short hour so make sure you are all up and ready to perform that grand, super stupendous, performance of yours,” finished Flim.

“Do they always have to talk like that?” asked Rainbow Dash rolling her eyes.

“Looks like I’ll have to get myself ready,” Gale told Rainbow Dash.

“That’s fine,” Rainbow Dash replied. “I’m sure Flash and Trixie are probably worried about me for taking off on them. I better go let them know I’m alright, but I’ll come back to see you later.”

“I’ll see you later, then,” Gale replied and approached the vanity mirror to get herself ready and Rainbow Dash took her leave back towards Trixie’s wagon. The crowd of ponies in the street as cluttered as ever forcing Rainbow once more to struggle and squirm her way through. Upon reaching it, Rainbow Dash banged on the door and Trixie opened it.

“There you are,” Trixie said quite surprised. “Where did you go last night? I got a spot all set up in the corner for you and everything.”

“Sorry to make you go through all that trouble,” lied Rainbow Dash not sounding the least bit sorry at all. “It was hard to find you last night in the dark so I had ended up finding somewhere else to stay. Now, can I come in? I wanna talk to Flash.”

“Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you weren’t the only one who took off,” Trixie explained. “He left some time in the middle of the night, but he did leave this letter behind for you.”

“Well, can I see it?” she asked.

“I have it right here,” answered Trixie handing it over. “So, what’s this big decision you have to make?”

“You read it?” cried Rainbow Dash as she took a look herself.

“I promised Starlight I’d come back with some good stories to tell her from Los Pegasus,” she explained. “And for being such a lively city, I haven’t gotten much else to talk about yet.” Rolling her eyes, Rainbow Dash ready the latter.

Dear Rainbow Dash,

I’m guessing you probably won’t be back till some time tomorrow and I’m planning on heading out early to travel through more of Equestria. Hopefully to some place a bit less lively. Anyway, I hope that you are able to make up your mind on what you want to do. I wish there was more advice I could give you, but I’ve already said all that I could. The rest is up to you.
FM

“So, is he like your boyfriend of something?” wondered Trixie peeking at the letter over Rainbow Dash’s shoulder.

“What? No, he’s not!” snapped Rainbow Dash a bit flustered. “He’s a Legendary Pony from a thousand years ago and kind of like my predecessor in protecting Equestria. I have no romantic interest in him whatsoever.”

“Relax, I was just kidding,” admitted Trixie. “Although, I do think the pegasus doth protest too much.”

“If I tell you my problem will you drop this?” offered Rainbow Dash.

“And bargaining too,” smirked Trixie. “But I accept. Come on in and tell me what’s up.”

The two of them entered into Trixie’s wagon and took a seat. “It’s like this,” explained Rainbow Dash. “I am doing well with the Wonderbolts. Actually, I’m doing awesomely amazing. They loved the new routine I came up with and Spitfire even thinks I could be captain material and lead my own team. That would seriously be the most awesomest of awesome things that could ever happen to me.”

“Then go for it,” Trixie answered. “Now, was that so hard?”

“There’s more to it than that,” continued Rainbow Dash. “She isn’t the one who can decide. It’s the top brass, I’m guessing the eggheads in charge of the Wonderbolts, who will make the decision. Spitfire thinks that I should move back to Cloudsdale so I can get noticed by them a lot more. She says that’ll help me out a lot.”

“And it will,” agreed Trixie. “If you want to get ahead skill, talent, even tons of bits can only get you so far. The real key to success is who you know and if you know the right ponies then they can open doors for you. That’s why tons of ponies come here attempting to entertain on the streets. They’re hoping to be noticed and taken into one of the resorts here to improve their career. You’ll never get anywhere if you stay in the middle of Nowhere, Equestria.”

“But my home and friends are in Nowhere- uh, Ponyville,” argued Rainbow Dash. “My whole life is there. My Element is Loyalty for crying out loud. I can’t just abandon them.”

“Then you choose to abandon all those who didn’t make the cut when you did,” countered Trixie.

“I’m abandoning who now?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“You might have become a Wonderbolt, but what about the dozens of others who didn’t. Some might still get their chance later on, but, for many, they just won’t make the cut. They will have to give up their dream, the very same dream that you are now living. Is it then not a betrayal of them if you turn down an opportunity like the one that is practically being offered to you on a silver platter? If I was given an offer to perform on one of the stages here do you think I would pass up such an amazing offer?”

“And stay here and be far, far away from Starlight,” pointed out Rainbow Dash.

“She would understand,” snapped Trixie. “She would be happy that I managed to get this opportunity and she’d support me like a true friend would. And I know that your friends would do the same. Do you think they would be happy to see you blow such a big opportunity?”

“Just because I don’t move back to Cloudsdale doesn’t mean it won’t happen,” Rainbow Dash pointed out. “If I can’t impress those brass guys with quantity than I’ll show them quality. I’ll work twice as hard. No! A hundred times as hard if I have to and show them flying that they couldn’t even dream of.”

“Is that your final decision?” asked Trixie seriously.

“Yes!” nodded Rainbow Dash loudly. There was silence after that as she took a few deep breaths and calmed down. “Yes it is.”

“Then you have your answer,” smiled Trixie. “Simple wasn’t it? Glad I could help.”

“Wait? You were trying to help me?” asked Rainbow Dash confused.

“Yeah, though I was almost certain that you’d have chosen to move back to Cloudsdale,” she admitted. “But I guess we’re both just made that way. We like to earn things through hard work and gumption. We don’t take the easy way or use shortcuts to reach our goals.”

“Uh, but what about that one time you used the Alicorn Amulet to become stronger than Twilight to beat her in a magic duel,” Rainbow Dash reminded her. “Isn’t that taking a shortcut?”

“I prefer to consider that gumption, but that’s beside the point,” she explained. “I aim to be the greatest magician in Equestria and I will do so even if I have to do all my performances on the street… though a bigger stage is nice from time to time.”

“Wow, I actually do feel better now,” admitted Rainbow Dash. “This might actually be your greatest trick ever.”

“Would you expect anything less from the Great and Powerful Trixie?” she asked.

“Uh, well,” Rainbow mumbled for a bit but decided not to answer. “Well, anyway, thanks again. I owe ya.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” smiled Trixie. “Cause I am going to need another volunteer to help me out and you were quite the crowd pleaser last time.”

“I guess one more performance wouldn’t kill me… hopefully,” agreed Rainbow Dash quite nervously.

“Only one?” scoffed Trixie. “I’d say you owe me at least ten after helping you out.”

“It only took five minutes to help me figure it out,” argued Rainbow Dash.

“A problem that a ‘Legendary Pony from a thousand years ago and kind of like your predecessor in protecting Equestria’ wasn’t able to help you solve,” quoted Trixie. “So, I’d say you owe me ten performances.”

“One!”

“Ten!”

“Three!”

“Seven!”

“Five!” conceded Rainbow Dash.

“Deal,” agreed Trixie shaking hooves with Rainbow Dash. “Now let’s go get ready. And I promise it won’t take very long to turn you back from being a teacup.”

“Suddenly I feel even worse than before,” groaned Rainbow Dash.

“Another stellar performance,” praised Flim as he and his brother met up with Gale after the show.

“We’re already sold out on shows for the foreseeable future,” added Flam. “So we don’t need a fortune teller to tell us that you’ve got an incredibly bright future ahead of you.”

“I didn’t think things would work out this well for me,” she panted still a bit winded from just finishing her last performance.

“It’s a simple matter when you have the two of us advertising you,” boasted Flim.

“There isn’t another pair of ponies around that can get a crowd hanging on our every last word like we can,” bragged Flam.

“So, go take a breather and get yourself ready for your next show,” instructed Flim.

“Oh, and the mail arrived too,” added Flam. “Probably a lot more fan mail.”

“More fan mail,” Gale replied excitedly going into her room to see the sizeable pile on her table. “I think that’s the most I’ve even gotten.”

“Pretty soon we’ll need to carry it in with a wheelbarrow,” joked Flam.

“That’s a good one, o’ brother of mine,” laughed Flim. “Well, enjoy yourself our little star. We’ll call for you when the next show is about to start so make sure to get ready before then.”

“I will,” she promised and headed straight for the mail on the table while the Flim Flam Brothers took their leave.

Right away, Gale began to open the fan mail she received one after another happily enjoying the words of praise from her devoted fans. When she finished reading each letter she’d carefully place it on top of the other ones she already read and move onto the next. On the occasion the letter she received wasn’t a fan letter, but junk mail, she merely tossed it aside. This continued until she reached a letter that caught her attention. Looking at the return address, she instantly recognized it. “April?” she pondered and opened the letter up quickly and began to read what was written on it. After she finished, she remained silent for a while as she thought and then she bolted out of the room quickly catching up to Flim and Flam before they got too far.

“Whoa! Where’s the fire?” asked Flim.

“Gale? Is something the matter?” questioned Flam.

“This letter,” she panted. “I need the night off.”

“The night off?” they said together.

“It simply cannot be done,” Flim told her. “We have shows set up for you. There is no way you can just take off like this out of the blue.”

“I wasn’t even considering it for a while,” she admitted. “But this letter and Rainbow Dash… I just really need to do this.”

“There is nothing we can do,” Flim stated matter-of-factly. “You signed the contract and we made it more than fair for you.”

“‘Failure to produce a performance when assigned to a showtime can and will result in the termination of the contract,’” Flam recited from memory. “We hate to strongarm you this way, but this was part of the terms for our agreement.”

“We’re afraid that you’ll have to miss it,” Flim told her. “We’re really sorry, but all you can do is learn from this and make sure to give us advanced notice in the future. Do you understand?”

“I do,” she sighed and walked back to her room disappointed.

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[Boop-Happy Lass]

MOAR!