Worst Is What I Do Best
Over the previous two hours, Rainbow Dash had been practicing her flying skills in the forest by Ponyville, with Twilight and Fluttershy timing her. After flying past the trail with a large number of trees, the Wonderbolt stopped in the wide open space at the edge of the forest, allowing Twilight to stop the timer.
“Rainbow Dash, you almost beat your record!” Twilight looking at the timer.
“I told you I knew where I was going in the forest.” Rainbow smiled as she turned around. “I may have gotten close enough to show Spitfire that I’m capable of handling high speed, low level flying.”
“Don’t you think they would rather fly in the sky where there’s nothing in the way?” Fluttershy asked in concern. “Because you could’ve gotten a concussion in there.”
“Fluttershy.” Twilight turned to the pink mane pegasus. “I am against this idea, but Rainbow’s been a Wonderbolt for a long time.”
“So true.” Rainbow turned to her friends. “With so much experience I’ve learned from the academy, I want to further improve by flying through the forest. Besides, I’m thinking my Wonderbolt dudes would be jealous once they see this.”
Twilight rolled her eyes while Fluttershy stared at the ground, unable to agree if Rainbow is right or not. “I think the word to describe your performance from the Wonderbolts would be…” Twilight finding the answer.
“Risky?” Fluttershy filling in.
“Yeah, just about sums it up.”
“Oh come on girls.” Rainbow smirked. “I’ve done risky stunts that were just as hard or harder than this. If one of them is notoriously difficult, I understand. If fillies knew about this, they would also have second thoughts.”
“I guess that is true.” Fluttershy smiled.
“Now that’s the spirit I want to see for positivity.”
“You still might need to consider that though.” Twilight putting the timer in the bag. “I think we should head to Sweet Apple Acres to help Applejack.”
“Yeah after training for hours, I feel like sticking to the ground for a while.”
The three ponies head out of the open field and onto the trail that leads to Ponyville. On their way there, there was a question that Fluttershy had just thought of. “Hey Rainbow Dash.” She spoke.
“Yeah?” Rainbow responded.
“Have you ever met a pony with the capability to do their very best?”
Upon hearing the question, Rainbow was speechless. “That’s a really odd question.”
“But a good one.” Twilight responded. “What makes you think that?”
“Because for what I know about cutie marks, any pony who gains more experience would go to a direction no other pony would bother to attempt.”
The alicorn then became confused, when she heard the information clearly. “You mean, to a point they don’t want to go any further when they already have?”
“Like what I was doing?” Rainbow added.
“Kind of.” Fluttershy said. “When I made my sanctuary for my animals to live, that was it for my goal, but what if another pony decided to keep going after they were done?”
“Ohh, I know what you talking about.” Rainbow coming to the realization.
“Taking another route that’s not really required.” Twilight added. “I don’t know, other than me becoming the next ruler, it always seemed like an end goal. I don’t think any pony would take another direction in their future.”
Just when Rainbow was about to say another word to her friends, she noticed that there’s a pony sitting by the edge of the trail. “Hey Twilight.” She spoke to Twilight’s attention as she pointed with her hoof. “There’s a pony other there.”
“There is?” Twilight asked, looking closely.
“I don’t think I've seen a pony like him before.” Fluttershy added.
The three ponies decide to pick up the pace to see who’s the pony over there. When they walk up to the pony with a closer look, they soon back away from his stench. “Man, this pony reeks!” Rainbow exclaimed, covering her nose with her wing.
“Rainbow, don’t say that in front of him!” Twilight also covered her nose with her wing.
“But surely, he needs to take a bath.” Fluttershy backing away from the smell.
The pony sitting by himself is wearing a red hat with a white sleeveless shirt with a stain on it. Just a few minutes ago, he just delivered some pizza to some ponies who ordered from their house. But instead of doing his job by heading to the restaurant to do the next delivery, he’s sitting on the ground, too depressed to even walk.
“Umm...Excuse me?” Twilight spoke to the pony’s attention. “What are you doing here?”
“Just sitting down to take a break. Nothing special.” He responded. “I’m Dishwater Slog.”
“Dishwater Slog?” Rainbow blinked.
“Aren’t you supposed to be doing your job right now?” Fluttershy asked. “You know your boss would suspend you if he finds out about this.”
Dishwater gave Fluttershy a frown with no awareness. “What’s the difference, I barely get a decent salary ever since I got this job.”
“Maybe it’s because you take too many breaks for yourself?” Twilight added.
The delivery boy rolled his eyes with a sigh. “Ponies take breaks during their job, it happens sometimes.”
He then looked into his pizza bag while Twilight and her friends didn’t move a muscle. Rainbow Dash wanted to head to Sweet Apple Acres as soon as possible, but there was a question that suddenly came to her. She looked at Dishwater’s cutie mark and it’s revealed to be a pizza, which makes sense why he would be delivering pizza. But at the same time, he still reeks with a terrible stench, something most delivering ponies would never have.
“Why are you so depressed? Did something horrible happen?” She asked.
“No.” Dishwater replied. “It’s just...it’s just…”
“Just what?”
“I’m the best...at being the worst.”
Rainbow and the others were speechless from what they just heard. “You're joking, right?” Twilight chuckled.
“I never joke.”
“Not to be critical, but nopony would say that about themselves.” Fluttershy said.
“I’m serious.”
“Come on, what do you do that makes you the worst?” Rainbow added.
Dishwater stood up from the ground and gave the wonderbolt his answer. “I dropped two pizzas in one day last week, I always cause a huge mess on the floor at my house, and I even ruined a pizza after I tried to add frozen toppings to it.”
This caused Twilight and her friends to make awkward faces. “Frozen toppings? You didn’t bother to thaw them out before heating the pizza?” Twilight replied.
“Yeah, who does that?” Rainbow blinked.
“Me. Worst is what I do best.”
He then sat back on the ground, getting back to his break for the next five minutes. Twilight and her friends have never met a pony who would be honest, but in a way no other pony would expect themselves to.
“I’ve met several ponies who always do positive things. But not negative.” Twilight whispered.
“Well what are we gonna do? We can't just leave him here.” Fluttershy whispered back.
“I think I might be able to help.” Rainbow said as she walked up to Dishwater. She sat by him, but due to his stench, she moved slightly away from him. The delivery boy slowly turned his attention to the athletic mare. “Why do you keep making these...mistakes?”
“Because I’m not the best at doing simple tasks and keeping things clean.”
Rainbow blinked while trying to be nice. “Well that explains a lot about your...lifestyle.”
“Don’t mention it, I barely have enough bits to pay the water bill.”
“Well maybe if you try doing more positive things, you might get more-” Twilight gets cut off by Dishwater.
“I can’t, every time I try to do that, I always mess it up.”
As the alicorn felt annoyed from getting interrupted, she tried to continue on the subject. “What I mean is maybe if you take your time, you might be able to succeed.”
“Yeah, from my knowledge, you seem to be rushing things way too quickly.” Fluttershy commented.
“From the job I have, we don’t have many delivery ponies. Do you have any idea how hard it is to make a pizza and then deliver it in a short timeframe?” He asked, while being serious.
“On second thought, maybe you’re right.” Twilight responded. “I’ve achieved multiple goals in one day and I know how hard it can be.”
“See what I mean?”
“If that’s really true, then why aren’t you learning from them over time?” Fluttershy added.
“Because I don't have better working skills.”
This made Fluttershy place her wing on her face. “That doesn’t mean-”
“Fluttershy, let me handle this.” Rainbow speaking to her closest friend. “Dishwater, I want you to know that I’ve done positive things in my life. Unlike you, I’ve achieved my goal of becoming a Wonderbolt. Do you have a goal?”
This caused Dishwater to slowly look at Rainbow Dash. “Yes, I do.”
“So what is it?”
“I wanted to work at a pizza restaurant, because I love pizza.”
Rainbow Dash grew a smile. “That’s good and if you want to keep your job, do it right.”
“Yeah.” Twilight added. “We’re letting you know that thinking worse of yourself is the last thing any pony should do.”
“Do ponies at work call you the worst?” Fluttershy wondered.
“Not really, but after the failed toppings, they were super close to saying it.” Dishwater confessed.
“Then try always doing the right thing. I may prank other ponies, but I’m always loyal to them. If you can try to fix your mistakes, then maybe the other ponies would see something in you.”
“Like what?” His ear perked up.
“Showing them that you're fully capable of doing a good job. Being the worst isn’t going to give you the employee of the year.”
“It’s definitely gonna get you a pink slip of termination.” Twilight added.
Dishwater Slog slowly realized that he kept getting the same cheque with less and less bits every time. When he looked at other ponies in his surroundings, they got a better cheque than him when they did their job right.
“I thought it was because I haven't taken a shower in weeks.” He opened his eyes wide.
“That’s mostly.” Rainbow responded. “What’s important is to make wrong things right. You don’t have to be the best, but with years of experience like I have, your goal will be just as good as ours.”
The delivery pony looked at his pizza box again after taking Rainbow Dash’s advice. After getting a job at a pizza restaurant, he made little progress, and suffered many setbacks. “I guess a change in me as an employee would get me somewhere.”
“Maybe you can give them a new topping for the pizza.” Fluttershy offered.
“Yeah, we haven’t had that in Ponyville in a long time.” Twilight smiled.
“And if it’s popular we would definitely have some.” Rainbow standing up. “Just take your time and make things right for yourself.”
Dishwater got off the ground, while growing a smile on his face. He looked at Rainbow and her friends after the helpful advice they gave him. “You’re right Rainbow.” He responded. “I’m gonna do my best, hopefully with no mistakes!” He then wrapped his hooves around the three ponies with a group hug. However this made them feel a bit disgusted, due to his stench.
“Yeah, practice makes perfect!” Twilight said, while trying to hold her nose.
“And get the bits to finally take a shower.” Rainbow asked, tearing up from the stench.
“So much!” Fluttershy said, shaking in horror.
Dishwater broke the hug, picked up the pizza box and headed back to Ponyville. “See you girls later!” He called as he ran on the trail. While Twilight and her friends shook, they soon began to smile at Dishwater.
“I got to say Rainbow, you actually did something I thought only I could do.” Twilight looking at Rainbow Dash.
“I’ve been with you almost all the time, I’m not a bookworm, but I can still learn to help others.” Rainbow rolled her eyes.
“By why would you do that?” Fluttershy wondered.
“Because of what you said earlier. About a pony with a capability of what makes them do their very best. If he went in his direction of being the worst, he would be living by the dumpster.”
“Rainbow, even if you believe that’s true, it’s still not nice to say.” Twilight replied.
“Yeah, I mean after hearing his story about...him being the worst, I would be scared to see what his boss was feeling.” Fluttershy feeling scared.
“You know he has to do the right thing. That’s like us doing the opposite of what we’re doing. Otherwise, we would be like him.” Rainbow pointed which caused Twilight to roll her eyes while still smiling.
“He’s just like every other citizen in Ponyville. It’s not like he’s an outcast who does terrible things.” She commented.
“Please, that’s like saying Lighting Dust is the best at almost causing serious injuries.”
This made Twilight remember that she and her friends almost got hurt after the incident Lighting caused. “Yyyeah, I would easily agree with you on that one.”
“Anyway we should probably head to Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack must be wondering where we are.”
“We should probably tell her and the others about Dishwater Slog.” Fluttershy replied.
“Yeah I bet they would be just as surprised like we were from hearing he’s the best at being the worst.” Rainbow smirked.
“Or at least in disbelief.” Twilight finished as she and her friends headed back to Ponyville.