Best Night Ever (Extended Edition) Part 2
Luna looked around the Fellowship of Harmony, considering how to fulfil her impulsive, but heartfelt decision.
"Fluttershy, I think I can help you most easily. The Royal Gardens were one of my favourite places to... hide when facing all those courtiers got too much. I've spent many hours there, reading up on recent history and the sciences, modern magical theory... It's a wonderful place to study, quiet and peaceful. It's off-limits to just about everyone.
"That's also the reason the animals are so shy, the only ponies they know and trust are myself, Celestia, and Hoedown, the head gardener. And it took them weeks when I first got there before they were willing to show themselves in my presence. I guess I had some left over Nightmare-Mooniness they could sense, or something. My sister and Hoedown had to eventually introduce me, since I was spending so much time there, the animals and birds weren't getting their exercise." She looked slightly embarrassed.
Fluttershy's eyes widened. "Oh my, is that an old earth pony with a tall straw hat, and a fondness for whistling?"
"So you did meet him!" Luna smiled and nodded. "One of the few ponies to make me feel comfortable, right from the start. But then... oh yes, you mentioned he got caught in your box trap. He's about the only pony that spends more time in the gardens than me. I think he knows every creature by it's first name. If you had him around, you shouldn't have had a problem."
Fluttershy ducked her head and mumbled, "."
Luna looked puzzled. "Err, what was that?"
Fluttershy just squeaked.
Pinkie Pie bounced up and down, waving a fore-hoof in the air. "Oh, oh, I know this one! Fluttershy was only interested in finding the birds and animals and didn't talk to the old gardener, and find out that he could help her. And now she's embarrassed for making a foalish mistake! After all, when you meet a lone named NPC, he almost always has useful information for you."
Fluttershy squeaked again and nodded, then gave the pink pony a strange look, and she wasn't the only one. Twilight asked. "What's an en-pee-cee?"
Pinky Pie looked puzzled. "I don't know, you read lots more than I do! Really Twilight, this isn't the time for word games, shouldn't we be working out how to let Fluttershy meet all the creatures in the Royal gardens right now?"
"But you... I... said..." Twilight spluttered, then gave a sigh. "Yes."
"Well it seems simple enough to me." Luna said. "I take her with me back to the gardens, and get Hoedown along. We coax the animals out, and you get to meet them."
"You can do that?" asked Fluttershy, eyes wide, shyness gone. "But I thought the Royal Gardens were only open during the Gala!"
"To every-pony maybe, but I see no reason why you couldn't visit whenever you want." Luna frowned. "It's a stupid rule anyway, no-one else ever uses them, and then then once a year we give leave to every-pony to trample around, scaring the animals..." She noticed the pink maned pegasus look away and tear up. "Sorry, Fluttershy, I didn't mean you."
"But I did! I was so desperate to meet them I chased them, I scared those poor things!" She sniffled. "I was really mean! I've had to tell an animal off for being naughty, and be stern with them, like that cockatrice, but I've never acted mean to any animal in my whole life! I don't deserve to have another chance to meet them!"
Twilight Sparkle spoke in the silence that she left, looking right at the pegasus. "Fluttershy, you also told off that dragon, and I remember exactly what you said. 'You're not a bad dragon, you just made a bad mistake.' If you can forgive a dragon, why can't you forgive yourself for a mistake? After all, as we told Pr... Luna, making mistakes doesn't mean you're bad, it just means you're a pony..."
She paused for thought. "Or a dragon, if you were a dragon to start with, maybe that phrase needs a bit more work."
Luna thought out loud. "We can't do it tonight, they''ll be exhausted after all that running around, and most of them are diurnal anyway, but by tomorrow night they'll have calmed down."
"Oh, that would be wonderful!" Fluttershy's eyes were still shining, but with happiness. Then she added. "But I do have to take care of all my friends back in Ponyville too. I can't leave them alone for two nights in a row."
Luna shook her head. "I have a flying chariot and pegasus team assigned to me, though I haven't used it yet. Travelling is not a problem."
"If you're doing yer visitin' tomorrow evening, I reckon I can check in on yer critters fer you." Applejack added. "Y'know I'm pretty good with them, when I ain't half out of my head from lack of sleep, at least."
"Thank you!" Fluttershy smiled as she looked around the group, practically glowing. "Thank you so much!"
Luna felt pleased, one down, five to go. It felt good to use her power at last, and in such a good cause. If only the others were as easy... Suddenly, Luna's ears pricked up, and her horn glimmered softly. Something impinged on her senses... she hadn't arranged _this_, but her sister... She glanced at Celestia, who was picture of serenity, albeit serenity with a cup of tea and sugar frosting on her lips. Luna decided it wasn't important and said, "Someone else's coming here…"
"The Wonderbolts." Pinkie stated confidently. At Twilight's questioning look she added. "Rear right hoof tapping, tail twitch."
"Well two of them, anyway." Luna clarified. "Wait, I think you should hear this, Rainbow Dash especially."
"… never figured I'd have fun at the Gala!" Spitfire's voice came from a point in mid-air above the table.
"And that Dash kid was right in the middle of it. What did she think she was doing?" her partner Soarin replied. Dash's ears drooped as she heard herself mentioned like that.
"Trying to stop that statue falling over, I guess. Wouldn't catch me jumping under that kind of weight. I fly best as a pegasus, not a frisbee."
"The kid must have a a set of giant brass hooves to try a stunt like that in the first place. Not to mention she's got to have Earth pony blood to have held that thing up at all. I was kinda impressed."
"Didn't say I wasn't. Hey, it's just as well she did. If those pillars had gone over any earlier, some of those fat cats in top hats might of been squashed flat. Hey, that rhymes! What I want to know was why you didn't try to stop her. Too fast for you?" Spitfire chuckled.
"I thought you were with her! I got dragged off to talk to that Lady Pooflehoof. The only time I saw her was when she offered us that cup of something. Why she was doing it with her hind hoof I don't know."
"Me either. Then we got hauled off to the photo-shoot. That VIP section was crazy busy, and too flapping loud." Spitfire snorted. "I may love my job, but schmoozing with the sponsors is one of the worse parts of it. Most of the time I just stood there and nodded, it's not like I could actually hear most of what they were saying."
"If that goof-ball Fleetwing hadn't pulled a flexor tendon on the final manoeuvre, we'd have had a sixth pony to share the load. 'Warm-ups are for the weak', my fluffed pinion feathers! He probably did it deliberately just to get out of the whole glad-hoofing bit! Sure he was there for the first five minutes but then, he was out of the there faster than a filly with a tail-wind and fireworks strapped to her flanks!" The male Thunderbolt sounded uncharacteristically annoyed.
"Hey, I only did that once!" Spitfire sounded as if she was living up to her name. "Yeah, if I find out he was faking, he's cleaning the stables for a week! Making the beds, doing the laundry, cleaning the bathrooms, taking out the trash, the whole nine pony-lengths! Darn it, I wanted to talk to the kid about how she pulled off that Sonic Rainboom."
"Whoa? That was her?" The stallion exclaimed.
You could almost hear the female rolling her eyes. "You didn't hear me say... oh right, I'd forgotten that when your stomach starts up, your brain shuts down. I want to hear what other moves she's got. I could see what she was trying at the Young Fliers competition, that cloud spin trick looked pretty good. Though whoever set up the clouds needs a good buck to the hindquarters, debris in the flight-path is how accidents happen!
"For that matter the whole thing was badly organised. Who lets two contestants on the field at once? I mean, what did they expect us to do, get up and leave because it had over-run? And where was the crash team? If we'd hit the ground at that speed, they could have just filled in the hole! It was only luck, and some sweet flying by Dash, that saved us from getting a terminal mud facial."
"Then there were the grass-munching skills she showed with that statue. I've never seen anyone react that fast or move so fast, and she was in a fancy dress in the middle of a crowded room! Anyone can fly a clear sky, but ground level manoeuvres, that's what separates the fillies from the mares. I wanted to get over there to help the kid, but I couldn't get through, or enough room to dust off and over. Then Princess Celestia arrived, and that stampede happened, and I lost track of what was going on."
"You're saying she may be a future Wonderbolt?" Soarin sounded surprised.
"I'm not saying she's the next Wonderbolt, but she's certainly got the skills and the nerve for it. Remember, Flamefeather may be leaving after next season, so we should start looking for new talent now. We do owe her, kid was probably feeling pretty let down. Buck that ground-magnet Fleetwing anyway! Anyway, she deserves an apology."
Dash was now grinning madly, hooves to her face. "They like my moves! Ohmygosh! They noticed me!"
Spitfire sounded thoughtful. "Of course, there's more to it than that. Remember how close I came to getting bucked out my first season for show-carting? Like that dumb firework stunt. I've got a feeling she's got some of the same..."
"Mule-headed stubbornness combined with reckless insanity and utter lack of consideration for consequences?" Soaring chuckled. "Ghost Sweeper nearly singed the _rest_ of your tail off with that speech."
"I prefer to call it, independent and adventurous spirit, creativity and a pro-active attitude!" Spitfire replied primly, then went back to her normal speech. "But yeah, no matter how good she is on her own, if she can't put it aside, learn to fly as part of the team, then she'll never make it. Which would be a bucking shame. But if she can handle the discipline and formation flying as well as she can do solo, we might have a winner."
Soarin asked. "So what say we grab some quick calories from Joe's, then fly a search pattern for her? If the Princess decides to cut up rough about the palace being wrecked, having the two of us to say she did her best to limit it couldn't hurt."
"I like the way you think, fly-boy!" Spitfire agreed. "Between talking to the massive manes, and signing autographs I didn't even get to visit the buffet."
"Trust me, you didn't miss much. Fancy filigree fluff drizzled with sauce. Just the sort of thing the refined taste-buds of the flakiest flakes of the upper crust would yearn for. Not that I got a chance to try it, I only had time to get that pie, and I was lucky to get that before we had to do the rounds."
"I wanted to visit that apple-cart, those apple fritters looked tasty. What was with that anyway? The filly running it wasn't dressed like one of the palace servants."
"Don't know. She was selling stuff off it, just like a market stall. Crazy, but by Celestia, it was worth it! Thought I saw her deliver a cake, just before it all bucked off." Soarin explained, adding. "Hey, isn't that the apple-cart parked in that chariot space?"
"Trust you to spot things when it's food on the line!" the Wonderbolt mare chuckled.
"They're right outside!" Rainbow Dash had been listening intently, and suddenly her eyes widened as she realised they were about to come in. "Ohmygosh! Please Luna, hide us or something!"
Luna glanced at her puzzled, then the glow of her horn intensified. "Joe, please act normally. Everyone else, stay still and don't talk above a whisper! I'm going to encourage them not to notice us."
The two Wonderbolts entered the café, walking right past the fellowship's table without looking at it. "Hey Joe, long time no see!"
"Yup, normally you get them delivered. Your usual orders?" The cook asked as the two pegasi went up to the counter.
Spitfire nodded. "Uh huh, lay the sugar on extra thick, we've got a long night ahead of us. Oh, yeah, have you seen a blue pegasus filly, rainbow mane and tail?"
Joe thought for a moment, then briefly glanced in the direction of the table and winked the eye out of sight of the two Wonderbolts. "Now you mention it, I did see her in here earlier. Dressed up for the gala, though her dress was wrecked. She was at the gala, had a pretty rotten time of it."
The two Wonderbolts got guilty looks, and Joe clearly decided to twist the horn a bit deeper.
"From what I caught, some people she trusted, really looked up to, let her down badly. They invited her to join them, then ignored her. What made it worse was she's not from Canterlot, and the Gala was her one shot at meeting them. Sounded like she'd been looking forward to it for months."
He flipped the doughnuts into the sugar bowl as the coffee perked. "Sounds like it got a bit more exciting than usual. Way I heard it, she mangled that expensive looking dress stopping a statue falling over or something. Seems the only time they even noticed her was when she was helping out, so that's what she did.
"Didn't work the way she'd hoped. She never even saw them. I mean, you'd have thought they'd at least have gone to check she was okay. I ask you, what kind of pony goes raises some poor filly's hopes, then stomps 'em under-hoof and leaves her twisting in the wind? They'd have to be complete jerks."
"Yeah, complete jerks." Spitfire echoed miserably.
"Okay, I think they're ready for you now."
"Huh, what?" Spitfire and her companion looked thoroughly beaten down, and didn't notice the cook glance towards the fellowship's table again, but the sudden change of pace made them look up.
"Your doughnuts and coffee." A tray with their orders sat on the counter.
"Oh, right." Spitfire's tone was subdued. She glanced at her companion, and got a nod. "Better make that order to go. I'm not hungry right now, and I figure we both have something more important to do."
"Yeah, which way did they go when she left?"
"Who said anything about her leaving?" Joe said, grinning.
The two Wonderbolts turned around, seeing only the empty café.
Luna partially dropped her illusion, at Dash's whispered request, and the pair suddenly saw her. Spitfire exclaimed. "But how... You set us up?"
"I prefer to think of it as extra service. I gave you a free side-order of perspective. To her this is far bigger than to you." came Joe's voice from behind them.
"But it was all a mistake!" Spitfire said, shaking her mane angrily. "The Gala is our biggest single fund-raiser. Do you think we enjoy being stuck in the middle of a bunch of stuffy stuffed shirts?"
"I'm not the one you should be telling." Joe replied.
Spitfire took a deep breath, and trotted over to the table. "Uh, hey there, Rainbow Dash."
Rainbow Dash knew this was it, the chance she'd been angling for the whole Gala, to make her play for a shot at the Wonderbolts. She was also terrified, for all her outward coolness. She knew, just knew that whatever came out of her mouth, it would somehow be the wrong thing, and she'd blow her best chance ever, and she couldn't even speak...
Suddenly she felt a hoof against each of hers, and she could see the others, clearly but transparently, like ghosts. From the way the two Wonderbolts were still looking at her, she was the only one. Pinkie Pie and Princess Luna were to either side of her, their hooves against hers, and the others circled the table.
They were there for her. Her friends. They wanted this for her, she could see it in their eyes, they _knew_ she could do it. Well, she _was_ Rainbow Dash, the pony who never let her friends down. Suddenly, she was in the zone, feeling the way she normally only felt when travelling through the air at speeds that could only be described as far too fast.
All the panic and doubts blew away in the slipstream. 'Twilight or Luna must be using a calming spell or something', she thought. 'Thanks guys, but I can take it from here'. She 'd heard these two talk like normal ponies, about normal pony things.
Forget the fan-girl fantasies, they were real ponies. Maybe she should be one too. She knew they were impressed with her flying skills, maybe she could show them she had the other things they needed. "Hey there, Spitfire. You too, Soarin."
"Look, we're really sorry about how things turned out at the Gala." Spitfire said. "We didn't mean to leave you out of it. It's just that we've got to press hooves and do the whole publicity bit. I guess you heard."
"Sorry about that." Soarin added, then duty done, flipped the doughnut off the plate with a wing tip, and caught it in his mouth. While he sounded like he meant it, he seemed content to let Spitfire carry the conversation.
"Yeah, I guess it was pretty dumb of me to expect you guys to drop everything for me." Dash said, off-handedly. Somewhat to her own surprise, she found she meant it. She hadn't realised that being a Wonderbolt would be anything other than awesome flying. She hadn't figured on the rest of it. Listening in really had been a eye-opener.
Spitfire winced. "Still, I guess we kinda hit the ground on that pretty hard. I saw your zero-height moves out on the dance floor. They were sweet!"
"Aww… that was nothing, if you want to see some real moves I could do my Super-sonic Strut, or my Rainbow Splash." Rainbow Dash said, proudly.
"I'd like to see them some time." The Wonderbolt captain replied, smiling. "And I wish I could have been there for your Sonic Rainboom, conscious, I mean."
"I do to." Dash felt this was the moment. "Y'know, I've pretty much wanted to be a Wonderbolt since I was in junior flight camp. I have all the articles, know every-pony's name, all your manoeuvres, past tours, everything! Flying with you guys, it's pretty much everything I've ever dreamed of since I was a filly."
"You know it isn't all fun and games, don't you?" Spitfire asked. "You've got a lot of hard training and publicity stuff like this one. _Dull_ publicity stuff too, for every kid that wants a hoof-print, you've got a dreary dinner for the Loyal Order of something, where you trot out a five minute speech and then spend the rest of the night listening to over-stuffed stallions telling each other how much money they have.
"The flying is likely to be different to what you're used to, solo manoeuvres are the exception. It's a tough schedule, and you have to work as part of the team. That means sometimes sitting in the bleachers while the other squad does a move you're sure you could do better, or staying precisely in a given flight-path, even if you can see a better one, because you're team mates need to know exactly where you are. You understand?"
Rainbow nodded. She'd been thinking ever since she'd heard them in the street outside, a fact which would have surprised even her friends. Most people saw the hot-head, or the pegasus that chilled on clouds and didn't realise that when something engaged her interest, she could be as focussed as Twilight.
"I think so. I always figured I'd pull some stunts and strut my stuff here at the Gala, and you guys would let me join. Simple as that. I guess I was wrong. But I know about training, I've been training, figuring out new moves and practising them since... well, forever.
"As for teamwork and staying the course, I'm Weather Control Officer for Ponyville, and I paid my dues as an assistant weather mover for a couple of years, before that, so I know about formations and working with other pegasi... and any of my friends will tell you that I'm loyal. I _never_ leave someone hanging, and if I say I'll do something, it's done."
Rainbow Dash paused to frame her next question, she'd found out tonight that there was far more to living her dream that she'd imagined. She looked into Spitfire's eyes, no bravado, just a pony who needed a straight answer.
"When I heard you might actually think I was good enough to try out, I was so excited, but... I found out once tonight that just because you think some-thing's gonna be awesome, doesn't make it that way. I need to know, is it worth it? The time when you get up there and show the whole of Equestria your stuff. Is it worth all the rest of it, all the dull meetings and training?"
Spitfire's eyes grew distant. "When you're boosting along, pulling a sevenfold star spiral, nothing between the you and a spin-out but your own skill and the timing of your team-mates... Oh yeah, it's worth it, a hundred times over!"
Dash sighed, eyes equally distant, fixed on a future only she could see, then smiled. "Then I want that too, and I'll do whatever I have to to get it! I know flying, as well as anyone in the sky! And what I don't know, I can learn!"
Now the sixty-four thousand bit question. "So, will I get the chance?"
"I wouldn't have asked to see what you could do if the answer was no." Spitfire replied, nodding. "I can't promise you anything right now, beyond that chance to try-out, but we'll be starting to look for new talent soon, and if you can back what you said with your wings..."
"Always." Dash couldn't believe it, she had an offer for an audition! "I told a friend once I could clear a sky of clouds in ten seconds flat. There was about 30 percent cloud cover. Ten seconds later, no clouds."
Spitfire suddenly realised something. "Hey, how did you know we were considering you? I only just said so on the way here."
"You're not the only one with a team." Rainbow grinned. She'd been serious long enough. Time for some fun. "Meet Twilight Sparkle. Scary powerful mage, and about the smartest pony I know."
Luna took her cue and dropped the illusion on Twilight. The purple unicorn blushed at the praise but nodded politely. "I was the one she was talking to about the clouds. I timed it, ten seconds. She's also the most loyal person I know."
"Okay, unicorn magic. Some sort of invisibility spell" Spitfire had the right of it, except for the species.
Dash left out Spike, the kid was asleep, but went round the table. "Applejack, owner of Sweet Apple Acres. I think Soarin already met her, or at least one of her pies."
"Yeah, and it was delicious! Got any more?" Soarin said, having long since demolished the pile of doughnuts on his plate.
"Wish more of those fancy folk at the Gala felt the same way. I still got plenty." The pony in the hat replied. "I weren't too happy about the way you treated Dash at the Gala, but I reckon it weren't deliberate or outta meanness, so I'd be happy to let you have another one, though I'm guessin' Pony Joe might have something to say about that."
The counter-pony replied. "Keep orderin' and I don't care what you get up to so long as it don't damage the furniture. This is normally my dead time, before the palace night shift come off duty."
Dash smirked. "Next we have Rarity, who designed these awesome outfits. Though mine looked better before the palace fell on it."
"Delighted." Rarity had cleaned and buffed up her outfit and hair magically before she reappeared.
Soarin said to Dash. "Oh, yeah, If the Princess complains about those wrecked pillars, we can back you up that you were trying to save them. It was that bozo unicorn who started wrecking the place."
"I do hope you mean that royal pain, Blueblood." Rarity asked, in a tone that was on the edge of causing icing on the leading wing edges of the Wonderbolt stallion.
"Is that what he was called?" Soarin asked, oblivious. He wiped the smeared frosting off his muzzle with a wing-tip. "What kind of guy freaks out over a little cake, anyway? I'd have been diving the other way."
Spitfire rolled her eyes. "He would too."
"That still makes him more of a gentle-pony than Blueblood. I'm glad not all stallions in Canterlot are obnoxious foals." Rarity said, now turning on her considerable charm. While Soarin was still drooling, Rainbow Dash continued the introductions.
"Fluttershy's great with animals, well, usually." She chuckled, remembering the stampede.
" h'llo." Fluttershy mumbled, and ducked her head.
"Don't let that shy routine fool ya! I've seen her tell off a rampaging red dragon!" Dash added. Pinkie Pie nudged her firmly with a hoof, and she realised the yellow pegasus wasn't enjoying the attention, so she moved swiftly on. "Next we have Pinkie Pie, the greatest party thrower and party goer in all Equestria."
"Hi!" Pinkie Pie bounced around the table to shake hooves with Spitfire. "I'm happy that you made Rainbow Dash happy, and that you're happy because everyone's now happy!"
Spitfire's eyes widened. "Weren't you that pony who was up on stage, trying to haul the party into the current century? It sounded a lot more fun than the big bland music they were pushing!"
Pinkie Pie nodded enthusiastically. "When that old lady said they didn't want to party, I thought they wanted to par-tay!" Then she sighed. "But they didn't. No games, no fun, no laughter. But if you enjoyed it, then at least I made someone happy."
"Princess Celestia should get you to do her next party." Spitfire said. "Maybe then the thing mightn't be the dullest duty on our calendar. Last time I checked, a dance floor was for dancing. Though good luck getting any of the regulars moving at more than a slow walk. They'd probably trip over their own egos. If I ever get that dull, you can bury me, because I'll be dead."
"Ohh! Zombie ponies!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "What a cool party theme!"
Rainbow Dash grinned. Now for the big reveal. She glanced over at the two princesses, and surprisingly, both of them nodded.
"I've still got two more to go. The first is the lady who did all the special effects, our newest friend Luna. Princess Luna if you're going to be formal."
The named alicorn appeared. Spitfire goggled, but then shook her head. "Wow! That's a good one Dash. She really looks the part!"
"I _am_ the part!" said Luna, doing her Moonlight Shadow to appear in her full form, surrounded by a shroud of starlit sky. This was enough to even tear Soarin away from rapt contemplation of Rarity. "Mistress of the Night, Keeper of the Lunar Crescent, and all the rest. Accept no substitutes. You may now bow, peons."
She rather spoiled the imperious effect by giggling.
"But you can't be! I've seen Princess Luna at that Fall festival display and she was all quiet." Spitfire said.
"I've been ill." Luna shifted back to real form. "But I'm getting better."
Spitfire still looked a bit uncertain. "Okay, fantastic prank, Dash, next you'll be telling me that Princess Celestia's here to vouch for her."
"Why should I tell you when I can show you." Dash smirked.
Luna dropped the final part of her don't notice me field. The two pegasi's jaws didn't quite hit the table, but they made an honest effort. There was no uncertainly this time, they'd met her and no-one could fake Celestia's aura. They went down on their knees.
"My dear Spitfire and Soarin. So good to see you again." the Princess said. "Please, get up, this isn't a formal occasion. My sister and I are here unofficially. Thank you for your offer to protect Rainbow Dash from my terrible wrath..." she smiled, "... but I am already aware of the circumstances. She has nothing to fear."
"But... your Majesty! Majesties. I never expected... What are you doing in a doughnut shop, if you'll allow me to ask?" Spitfire asked, somewhat stunned.
Celestia glanced down at her plate and said with perfect timing. "Eating doughnuts."
That had Rainbow Dash pounding the table with a hoof as she laughed helplessly, and most of the others joined in to various degrees.
Spitfire glanced at Soarin, eye-brows raised, and said, "I think we've just been pranked."
Rainbow Dash had calmed down enough to say. "Sorry guys, but the looks on your faces... We're still cool, aren't we?" For the first time she started worrying that they might not take the joke well.
Spitfire relieved her worry by grinning. "Yeah, nicely played. But expect no mercy when you're part of the team. Though it would have been nice to know we had an audience during our little heart to heart."
Rainbow Dash had calmed down enough to put on a more serious expression. "Well I didn't just ask Luna to keep everyone else hidden for the sake of the prank, even though it was awesome! I want that place in the Wonderbolts more than anything, but I want it because of who I am, my own skills, not who my friends are. As long as it was just the two of you and me, that's how it was."
"I can see that." Spitfire was impressed again. She'd had several over-entitled brats before now expect to walk into a place on the team because of who their parents were. She was even more determined that if Dash could 'do the blue', she'd be top of the list to replace Flamefeather. She scooped up her doughnut and munched it down.
Soarin looked back and forth, brain clearly working better after the sugar injection.. "Six ponies, and Princess Luna... No... There have been rumours going around that six ponies from Ponyville were the ones to stop Nightmare Moon last year, and rescue Princess Luna."
Princess Celestia looked right at him. "And I would prefer it that they stay that way." She looked over at the rainbow haired pegasus, who seemed about to protest. "I'm sorry Rainbow Dash, while I'm sure you would enjoy the fame, not all of your friends would."
That caused the pegasus filly to pause. Thinking of Fluttershy's reaction just now, and her abortive fashion career she could understand where the Princess was coming from. For that matter, did she want to be known as the pony who helped vanquish Nightmare Moon, or a Wonderbolt? It was more of a thing that just happened, whereas being a Wonderbolt was what she'd worked for. The clincher though was Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash would never let down her friends. "Yeah, I can see that."
Spitfire had goggled a bit at this, but recovered herself. "Well, we've got to go. I've got a team to find, and a bed to go to. Dash, if you can get to Wonderbolt field by tomorrow afternoon, around six we'll try you out."
"I'm there!" The rainbow pegasus replied.
Spitfire turned and headed towards the door. "Looking forward to it! C'mon Soarin, we've gotta go. See you in the clouds!"
"But I haven't got my pie..." A pie did a flying saucer impression through the door, which had mysteriously opened, though the glow of Twilight's horn made it less so. "See you soon Dash! And thanks Applejack! Oh, and Miss Rarity, if you ever want a VIP tour of Wonderbolt field, you know who to come..." His litany was ended by pie reception.
Once the two had gone, Rainbow Dash squealed out loud, punching the air with a hoof. "Best night ever, for real, better than I could have ever dreamed! I get to try out as a Wonderbolt! For real! This is the most awesomely awesome thing to ever happen to me!"
She looked almost as excited as Pinkie Pie. "Thank you thank you thank you everyone! And Luna, your spells helped a lot! In fact, I couldn't have done it without knowing you were all there, supporting me. I don't know whether it was you or Twilight who cast the calming spell, but it worked!"
Twilight and Luna exchanged puzzled glances. "Calming spell?"
"You know, I was freaking... excited to be talking to them, and then you let me see everyone rooting for me and cast the calming spell. Made me cool as a cucumber... uh, not that I needed it really, but it helped."
Luna shook her head. "I partially dropped the spell for you, but I didn't cast another one. I don't even know a calming spell. Twilight?"
"It wasn't me. I know musical sleeping spells, but nothing that just calms a pony while awake." She looked over at Rarity, and Princess Celestia, who spoke.
"My dear Rainbow Dash, no-one cast any magic, unless it was one of friendship. I do believe all you needed to know was that your friends were there, and knew you could do it. They believed in you, and you believed them. That was all the magic you required."
Authors Notes: Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash down, four to go. Once again, secondary characters came in and took over the plot. If it seems convenient that they just happened to be coming by, put it down to some Xanatos Gambit by Celestia, or narrative causality, or the Casablanca effect. 'Sooner or later, everybody walks into Joe's place.'
Hopefully, I can box off the other four in a single chapter, which will leave me free to get on with other stuff... I hope. Oh who am I kidding! This was a lot harder to write than it had to be, and it's all Dash's fault. I originally had the Princess and Twilight pretty much using the guilt of them letting Dash down so badly to get them to replace Fleetwing in the team while he was on stable cleaning duty. Dash gets to fly with the Wonderbolts thus fulfilling her Gala dream.
But I had a review from Alex Warlorn that made me think. While I didn't agree 100 percent with his analysis (Rainbow Dash had a golden ticket from Princess Celestia, she had as much right to be in the VIP section as they did), he made some cogent points. Rereading, I decided I hated it. Dash may want fame and to fly with the Wonderbolts, but to get it handed to her would make it a pyrrhic victory.
Dash is all about her skills, her independence. She would want to, as I said in the fic, make it in on her own skills, not on who she knew. Then I got thinking about those skills. Superficially, she might not make a good team flyer. She does tend to race off from the group on her own. But she's seen leading weather control formations, and seems to be in charge of weather control for Ponyville, so she must have some team-working skills, and done time following orders.
All I had to do was give her a reason to say so, hence the over-heard discussion. To be honest, writing Thoughtful!Dash without making her seem out of character was the hardest part. One of her character traits is her tendency to speak first and think later, if at all. The only card I could play was that she could think when she made the effort, but most of the time she didn't bother, unless it interests her. Please let me know if it worked.
Alex, if you read this, thank you for making me stop and think about what I'd written. I think the fic is better for it.
Sorry there was relatively little Blueblood-bashing this chapter, but don't worry, he'll get his. Oh yes... mad insane laughter ensues...