"Of Females and Feathers"
Chapter 10
Rainbow Dash had never woken up to see the shy pony who was now her closest friend sitting a few feet away from her before, staring in anticipation as she waited for the other to awake. So, naturally, Rainbow Dash had never assumed she would ever wake up to this. Never even thought about it, really. But today, was just one of those days, in which random, un-thought-of occurrences, would indeed, occur.
As she slowly drifted to consciousness, perhaps from the small, barely-present inkling that such a thing was needed, or perhaps from only the mere internal workings that everypony naturally witnessed from day to day, Rainbow released a sleepy sigh, and blinked her eyes a bit to take in her morning surroundings once again. She felt quite well-rested, which was good, and a bit surprising given Pinkie Pie's party being only one night in the past. Still, she certainly couldn't complain about that. Especially since today, was also just one of those days, in which she felt quite optimistic. She didn't know why, but nevertheless, it was a nice feeling. One she could definitely accept.
The Pegasus' view finally became focused once she finished her first yawn of the morning, but the sight of Fluttershy's wide, blue-green stare across the room, was what finally spooked her into a complete state of awareness. With a surprised jump, Rainbow barely caught herself from falling off the other side of the bed.
"AH!"
Fluttershy instantly jumped to her hooves, though more worried than frightened; she certainly hadn't meant to cause that!
"Oh dear," she peeped. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you!"
It took a few seconds for Rainbow Dash to realize nothing too surprising had actually happened, and hesitantly, she relaxed again, sitting up now as she released a huffed sigh. Eyes closed, she couldn't help but find herself just a little annoyed. More than anypony else, Fluttershy had so far succeeded at being the one to surprise her the most. She knew the pony hadn't meant to do so at all, but…seriously? Still, she quickly got over it, and used a hoof to rub her eyes a little as she completely awoke.
She grunted an understanding. "It's fine… What's up?"
"Well…you know…today's the day we bring winter in."
Rainbow suddenly paused from rubbing her eyes. She'd completely forgotten. But now she that she was reminded… Bringing the hoof down again, she gave her friend a weird look.
"…Have you just been sitting here all morning?" she asked.
The shy one's eyes widened as a small, embarrassed blush coated her cheeks, and quickly, she looked away. Yep. She'd been much too nervous to actually try and wake Rainbow Dash, but sitting and waiting for her to wake up herself was another story. Allowing a tiny smile to creep upon her lips, Fluttershy looked Rainbow's way again and attempted to explain herself. Though she didn't need to.
She began, "Well…kind of…"
But Rainbow only raised a hoof to silence her, shaking her head affectionately. Fluttershy could be so weird sometimes, but it was only another aspect about her that the Pegasus had grown to love, even when it never failed to stump her. She couldn't hide her humored smile.
Once Rainbow Dash had gotten out of bed, she and Fluttershy did their best to hurry up and get to town before any major winter-bringing tasks had been done. They were already a little bit late as it was, but as neither of them planned on helping with anything much, the lateness wouldn't be too much of an issue. Fluttershy had explained to Rainbow as they were getting ready to leave that the only major thing she usually did was say goodnight to all her little animal friends before they went on to sleep for the long, winter hibernation. It wasn't until springtime when she actually had the legit task of waking them all up again, which required a bit more of an effort, even if it wasn't exactly hard to do either way.
Though bringing in winter was just as essential as wrapping it up, the latter usually required a lot more ponies helping out on the single day that was the first of spring. All the harvesting was already done by the end of autumn, and had been taken care of throughout the autumn season, so the only thing left of that was making sure that all the crops had indeed been cleared before the snow came to bury the ground. Once that had been seen to, and all the animals had begun hibernation, it was really only the Pegasi's job to bring in all the winter clouds that had been prepared by the weather factory over the past seasons. The creation of snow clouds was a very long process, as all the snowflakes were hoofmade; of course, Rainbow Dash was certainly one who knew that better than anyone, having a father who worked in the factory. But not only did the snowflakes have to be handled with utmost care, the clouds themselves had to be sufficient enough to hold the flakes until they were brought out into the cool wind of the atmosphere, which triggered the snowfalls everypony was so well accustomed to for the winter season. Not every cloud was perfect, but even the ones that weren't could easily be triggered by Pegasus ponies who lived on the earth below.
It was a process that excited Rainbow quite a bit: she'd seen snowfalls from earth a few times in her life, but both of those times had been years ago, back when she was a small filly. Of course, there were snowfalls in Cloudsdale as well, which were lovely to see in themselves, as it was also exciting to look down from the city as the flakes fell to earth, but it still wasn't the same as having the ground entirely blanketed with the lovely crystals that together formed what earth-dwelling ponies knew as snow. Rainbow loved Cloudsdale, and she always had; but this would be the first earth winter she'd seen in a while, and she couldn't deny that she was much more excited about it than about the winter that would be going on at home.
No offense, Dad…
She couldn't help but think to herself. She knew both her parents would be happy to hear about her earth adventures once she got back within the next week, and she'd certainly come a long way, even if she wasn't ready to tell them she was a lesbian yet. But she had her hopes up that they'd notice the changes in her, nonetheless, and wouldn't question things anymore. That'd be nice. Really nice. Thinking about them again, she could only smile.
When she and Fluttershy finally made it into town, the first thing that really caught their attention was the team of Pegasi standing all around one another, waiting for their task of retrieving the winter clouds to begin. Truthfully, the Pegasi of Ponyville were the main ponies who had a major task for bringing in winter. There were a few other things that needed to be done, but none as crucial as making sure that there were enough clouds to start the first snowfall of the season. Once the sky was filled, it would chill the air down and more clouds could be released as the season went on, though not nearly as many as would be brought in for winter's official start. The mere need for so many snow clouds at the start of winter was the main reason the weather factory in Cloudsdale had to work so hard through the rest of the year for this one day.
"Whoa…" Rainbow Dash immediately smiled in amazement at all the Pegasi who were willing to do such a task. "All of them are bringing clouds in?"
Fluttershy giggled as they stopped to take a quick look. "Yes. There are usually more, though, I think. This is our weather team. They're all waiting for the mayor to officially call the start. She shouldn't be too much longer."
So despite how many there seemed to be, all of them were specifically designated for the task. It was definitely amazing in Rainbow's opinion, and though she was excited about joining Fluttershy to say goodnight to all the critters, she found herself wanting to watch the weather team in action as well, at least for a while. However, she was still pretty glad to only be doing the watching.
She asked, "So are we gonna watch em?"
"Sure, if you want," Fluttershy answered with a smile. She was more than happy to let Rainbow Dash enjoy herself with things she'd like to do, rather than make her feel obligated to come spend time with little animals. "I'll try to be back from my animals so I can watch with you, so if you wanna just stay here, that's fine too."
With a surprised blink, Rainbow Dash quickly turned to face the other. She wanted to watch the weather team, but she didn't want to ditch Fluttershy for it, especially since it wouldn't be nearly as fun without her closest Ponyville friend there.
"No way. I wanna see the animals too. They'll be bringing in clouds for a while anyway, won't they?" she asked.
Fluttershy shared the surprise for a short moment, but only stifled another happy giggle, unable to stop her smile from growing again; she wasn't completely sure if Rainbow would enjoy bidding the animals farewell for the winter, but she still should've known her friend wasn't going to choose something else over helping her with it.
She answered gratefully, "Yes. Bringing in the clouds usually lasts for most of the day."
"Sweet," Rainbow smiled back. "Let's go ahead and go, then!"
With their plan for the day settled, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy went on past the center of town and headed to the dens of the critters Fluttershy was to bid farewell to until spring returned. It wasn't much further at all from town, which made for quite a short trip, but that was good considering Rainbow did want to get back and watch the Pegasi for a while, even if she'd probably miss the takeoff. Not that she minded that much, or anything, but still.
Rainbow Dash was both a little surprised, and tickled to see how shyly spastic her roommate became once they'd arrived, and all the animals nearby scurried over to see her. It was easy to tell this had been going on for years, but even so, Fluttershy never grew tired of it. She lay down, and ushered Rainbow to do the same, since being closer to the animals' levels helped them feel more relaxed and open (so she said). And while Rainbow was a bit hesitant, she did go ahead and follow her friend's suggestion.
Once they were both lying down, Fluttershy introduced her to the animals, and all them to her. Rainbow couldn't deny it was interesting literally meeting animals, but, also a little awkward. She supposed that was just because she couldn't talk to them the same way Fluttershy could, though. As the introductions continued, Rainbow found her mind wandering a little, but only to Fluttershy's cutie mark. She and Fluttershy had always been so wrapped up in discussing other things that they'd never actually had a cutie mark discussion. With how much Fluttershy did with the animals, though, Rainbow couldn't help but assume the butterflies on her flank had something to do with that.
The animals had been a little cautious of Rainbow Dash at first, but they quickly warmed up to her, though only a few of them approached her the same way they did Fluttershy. Of course, Rainbow didn't really mind. After a few more minutes, Fluttershy told them all goodnight for the winter, and to go ahead and get ready for sleep. They'd already gathered and eaten all the food they'd need, so Fluttershy didn't need to help with that. And finally, after she and Rainbow had bid them farewell for hibernation, they began their way back to town where the weather team would be bringing in clouds.
"They sure do like you a lot," Rainbow Dash observed with a grin as they headed back. "I'm surprised they haven't all just moved to your cottage."
Fluttershy giggled, a small, knowing blush coming to her cheeks. "Yeah…they've been some of my best friends here in Ponyville for a long time. They were my only friends at first. I know that sounds kinda silly, but…well…it was a while before I was brave enough to meet new ponies too."
Rainbow only smiled at the shy one who kept her gaze downward in slight embarrassment. She knew Fluttershy so well now that she understood completely, and didn't find it weird at all. It was great to know that she wasn't the only one who'd had troubles starting out, though, even if those troubles weren't exactly caused by the same thing. As for Fluttershy, she'd always known that eventually, Rainbow would succeed in conquering her worries, not only because she knew the inner strength Rainbow had, but because she'd also succeeded in conquering hers. And if she could do it, she knew the brave pony she remembered from flight camp could do it as well. Even if it took a while.
Shortly the two ponies reached Ponyville again. As they'd expected, the Pegasi on the weather team had already taken off and begun bringing the clouds in for the start of winter. However, as they got closer to the moderate-sized crowd that was watching, it became obvious that something was up. There wasn't much excitement going on at all, and even the mayor seemed quite distraught. It was odd, but Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash only exchanged glances and continued their approach. Despite the awkwardness, though, Rainbow still couldn't help but grow in her own excitement at seeing the clouds being brought in: she'd witnessed snow from earth before, but she'd never witnessed the act of bringing it. And try as she might, she couldn't stop her stupid grinning at the thought of how busy the factory probably was pumping all those clouds out for the nearby earth towns.
Fluttershy had her mind on other aspects of what was going on, though, and she soon brought Rainbow's mind to them too as she led her down to the edge of the pony crowd standing around, where Rarity, Applejack, and Vinyl Scratch now were.
"Rarity!" the shy one called as they approached, causing all three of them to look her way, though Scratch only glanced over for a second before looking away again, obviously occupied with other thoughts. It wasn't like she was a close friend of Fluttershy anyway, though.
Rarity and Applejack both gave smiles and turned to face the two Pegasi as they came closer.
Applejack said, "Hey there, Fluttershy, Rainbow. You come to watch too?"
Fluttershy came to a sudden stop, almost causing Rainbow Dash to ram right into her, but the blue one caught herself just in time. She gave a slightly annoyed look as Fluttershy looked down shyly before continuing to speak. She was curious to know what was going on, but at the same time, she didn't want to completely interrupt…even if she technically already had. Hesitantly after, she looked up to meet the two's gazes again.
"Well, yes, but…" she took a pause to look over to the mayor and other Pegasi again. "…is something going on?"
Rarity shook her head in response, almost in disbelief. "Five of our Pegasi decided today was a splendid time to not show up. Apparently, one of them is sick, but…it's a bit hard to believe that that's the case with all of them. Especially since they didn't even tell Mayor they wouldn't be here. The poor dear is losing her mind!"
In unison, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash's eyes widened at the news; that certainly wasn't good. Five may not have seemed like much to anyone, but the ponies who'd lived in Ponyville for a while knew how detrimental losing even a few could be, especially when the success relied on teamwork itself. The weather team would now have to work extra hard, but even that could end up backfiring if one of them worked past his or her limit.
"Oh my," Fluttershy worriedly responded as she averted her gaze. "That's not good at all."
"No it ain't. Winter might not be comin' today after all. Can't tell for sure, but, we'll see," Applejack agreed.
They'd lost a couple of the weather ponies last year as well who ended up having to quit for some reason or another. And all of them had been hoping it wouldn't happen again, but…now with this, it seemed like it might. Technically, they didn't know for sure what was going on with the Pegasi who weren't here, but even if they couldn't show up, it'd still be nicer with some explanation as to why. Rainbow Dash also only looked away worriedly in thought. She'd been really excited that winter was coming today so she could hurry and get home after the first snowfall. Now that it might not be coming, it looked like her plans were kinda ruined now. At least for a day. But that wasn't really bothering her right now as much as the thought of those Pegasi possibly just ditching so they didn't have to work.
There were two things Rainbow Dash had always been taught by her father: well, obviously, he'd been the one who taught her most of the things she knew about flying, but she'd also learned from him that above all else, the only thing a pony can do to completely fail at something, is letting down the ones who count on him. Even if a task can't be done perfectly, or even if one completely doubts himself, any amount of effort is better than none at all. For the pony who was sick, Rainbow could understand; but for the ones who hadn't even bothered to tell somepony they wouldn't be able to make it, the thought only angered her. At least if Mayor had known, she could've planned for the inconvenience. Rainbow tried to keep the thoughts from affecting her too much, but it was simply inevitable. With a sudden huff, she angrily slammed a hoof to the ground.
"That's not fair!" she exclaimed, causing all of them to jump a little. "They could've at least said something! There's nothing Mayor can do? There's no backup?"
Surprised, the four ponies, including Scratch, were all looking her way weirdly. Rainbow was right, of course: it wasn't fair at all. There was nothing they could really do about it, though, as they sure weren't weather ponies. A few seconds of silence passed before Scratch finally broke it with a reply.
She smirked, "Not unless you wanna get out there, babe."
Rainbow's anger immediately left her at the suggestion, magenta eyes widening with a surprised blink; she wasn't sure whether she was more taken aback by the reply itself, or the fact that Scratch had just called her babe. A little bit of a blush came to her cheeks, but before it could embarrass her too much, Applejack took the awkward silence to speak next.
"Land sakes! I didn't even think a' that one! Rainbow, didn't you tell me you was in some flyin' camp for a while? I bet you really could get out there! Either you or Fluttershy, one. Y'all both got the wings!"
Fluttershy gasped lightly, backing away instantly at the frightening thought, eyes wide. "O-Oh no, I-I could never… I-I'm not a good flier at all…"
When Rainbow Dash said nothing, the four ponies brought their gazes to her again, almost expectantly. The thought was in the air now, and even Fluttershy seemed to be accepting of it, at least a little. She smiled just a little at her roommate, hesitantly, and very quietly, continuing.
"You really are a great flier, though, Rainbow," she finished. She said nothing more, as she didn't want to be the one to ask so much of her. But even she couldn't deny that Rainbow probably could help out, if she wanted to.
Rainbow still couldn't speak for a second, and only took a step back, herself, her cheeks only reddening more as she looked among the ponies who were now all waiting for her to respond. She hadn't meant her! She hadn't even assumed they'd pin this on her if she said something about it! She didn't even live here in Ponyville! She sure as hay didn't want to go out there with all these professional weather ponies; she was good, hell, she was great as far as she was concerned, but…as good as them? Her voice choked in her throat a moment before she finally forced herself to speak again, her heartbeat speeding up from both disbelief, and the reality of the situation she'd now gotten herself into.
"W-Well—yeah…but…me? I don't even… Would she even…"
Suddenly, Applejack nudged her, quite harder than she expected, and gave a chuckle as she walked around behind to push her again, toward the front of the town hall building.
She said as she corralled her forward, "C'mon now, girlie. If me and Fluttershy both think you can do it, I'd say you should go on and give it a try. Any help's better than nothin'! Just leave the talkin' to me!"
Rainbow only whimpered softly, but couldn't allow herself to stop walking forward with Applejack toward the front of the crowd. This was certainly not what she'd expected, or wanted at all, but there was nothing she could do about it now, now that all three of her friends were counting on her to try it. She shut her eyes for a few of the seconds it took to reach the mayor, trying to calm herself. But in barely any time at all, they'd reached the front, and she'd been pushed right in front of the town's head lady.
Much to Rainbow's surprise, it really didn't even take a full minute for her orange friend to convince their mayor that she was a perfect stand-in for at least one of the Pegasi who hadn't shown up. Of course, Applejack had always been a pony that the mayor trusted in, not only for the produce their town was provided with constantly, but for her dependable nature as well. If Applejack had a suggestion, it was obviously a good one.
Rainbow hesitantly looked around at all the ponies who were watching her now, and silently, she gulped, her cheeks still red. Applejack continued her talk with the mayor for what seemed like much longer than it was, mostly due to Rainbow's internal freaking. She was still in disbelief that this was happening. She almost wanted the mayor to change her mind about this, but with Applejack's bragging on her flying skills, and Mayor's desperate need of even a little more help, that was obviously not happening. Finally, as the conversation shifted a little, the Mayor brought her attention to Rainbow Dash, and spoke.
"You're really interested in giving it a try?" she asked her. "You aren't a weather pony, so I can't make you, but…if you really think you can help, I'd appreciate it a lot. Nopony else has ever offered!"
The polychromatic one jumped at the words being directed at her, and turned to meet the mayor's hopeful gaze. She was frozen for just a moment, uncertainty coating her own eyes as she ran the question through her mind a few more times. It wasn't ME that offered! Internally, she almost felt like whining about it, but she knew she could never do such a thing to Ponyville's mayor. And seeing Applejack's attempt at a reassuring smile, as well as the mayor's anticipation, Rainbow also knew it was impossible for her to back out now. Not now that they were all expecting this from her, and seriously believing she could do it.
She sighed, shutting her eyes for just a few seconds, before opening them again, and lifting herself up into a more confident-looking pose, or, what she hoped was one that would assure them of her ability. She couldn't believe she was even doing this, but…if she was going to, she had to try her best to push this fear back. And get some words together.
"…U-Um…yeah…I mean, yes, ma'am. I wanna try," she finally choked out, hoping the fact that she really didn't want to try wouldn't show. All she could do now was hope Applejack was right to believe in her so much.
The mayor blinked, and a short moment of silence followed the response. Rainbow almost fell short, but the older pony suddenly gave a smile.
She said, "Alright then! Just follow the other Pegasi and you'll be fine!"
The mayor explained the details of what Rainbow would be doing quickly, and just as quickly, Rainbow jumped into flight, and followed the others as she was told. Once she was in the sky, she heaved a sigh, glad to be away from all the other ponies who were now staring at her, even if they still technically were. In the air, though, it was easier to forget them, which was why even if she hadn't really wanted to, she still had quickly jumped into the task. It took a second in the sky for her to completely soak in the thought that she'd seriously been given a job for the day, but quickly, she sped up, and followed the others who were headed back to the halfway point between Ponyville and the factory, to get the snow clouds.
How the hay did I get myself into this! Why did I even have to say anything! I swear if Applejack and Fluttershy are wrong about this…
She couldn't help but growl at herself as she sped even faster, knowing that even if she didn't particularly want to do this, as Applejack had made it seem like, she still had to. And she couldn't just stay mad at them…they were her friends. And they really believed she could do it.
Okay, just get over it, and get to the damn clouds!
As she flew on, Rainbow couldn't deny it felt good to be going so fast through the cool autumn air, which was only growing cooler as more snow clouds came in. She closed her eyes again as she continued on the air-path, trying to relax. It'd be fine. She'd blown everypony away back in flight camp, and always had, ever since she was a tiny filly. She had the same speed her father had, hell, he'd told her himself that she had even more skill than him, plenty of times now. Especially with the Sonic Rainboom she'd done at such a young age: maybe she hadn't been able to do it again yet, but she'd still done it! If she could do that, she sure as hay could do this!
The thoughts succeeded in relaxing her, and quicker than she'd assumed she would, she arrived at the halfway point where the clouds were being given out by a few of the factory workers.
Oh geeze, please don't recognize me…
She knew it was too good to be true, though. As she approached to get a cloud to bring back, the pony who gave it to her gave her a surprised look, and a small inquiry. Of course anypony from the weather factory would automatically know who she was; it was simply inevitable, and insanely annoying.
"…Rainbow Dash?" he asked, obviously confused to see her doing this.
"Yeah," she answered very bluntly, her tone a little more annoyed than she'd intended.
Now gimme my cloud, she finished the thought as she grabbed the large, fluffy form from him, and hurriedly turned to begin her trip back to Ponyville, leaving him in the same confusion she'd brought him into.
Rainbow Dash gave another heavy sigh, rolling her eyes as she focused on her task again, and tried to ignore the fact that practically everypony who worked with her father knew exactly who she was. She brought her attention to her cloud again as she continued on; she had to be as gentle as possible with it, yet still get it to Ponyville as quickly as possible, if she really wanted to be of any help. Slowly, she gained her speed back again, and ended up almost flying as fast as she'd been before when she'd just been on her way to the midway point. With her speed, it only took her about ten minutes between the points, which also sent her passing quite a few of the other weather ponies, though she barely even took the time to notice. If she'd paused a moment, though, she'd have seen all the surprised glances she was getting from them. That was simply how it was when she set her mind to conquering, though. She was the best. She'd always been the best.
And that was exactly what had happened. As nervous as she'd been about it to begin with, all of that had pretty much gone away by the first cloud, and now she only wanted to succeed at what she'd been assigned to. The adrenaline was pumping all the way through her now, just from the mere thought of failure, of winter not brought in just because of a few ponies who hadn't had the decency to announce that they wouldn't be available to do their damn jobs. Still, she knew she technically didn't know the reasoning behind their absence, even if they hadn't told anyone, and they could have valid reasons. But seriously, they still could've told somepony that before it became the huge issue it was now!
As more time passed, Rainbow hurriedly brought in more and more clouds, and before long, she was even bringing in double the amount that most of the weather ponies were bringing in. She really didn't mean to seem like she was trying to be better than them, because she really wasn't, but at the same time, she couldn't help it that she kind of was. Or rather, totally was. It was just in her blood: she was an expert in the skies, just as Rigel was.
Back in Ponyville, all the other ponies were still watching the whole process in amazement. They'd started out with barely any clouds, and now had so many that the entire sky would definitely be filled before the day was over. Which said a hell of a lot considering they'd been short five Pegasi, and even with those Pegasi, they still wouldn't have made this much progress in only a single hour. Since Rainbow had started, more and more ponies had stopped to watch the clouds come in, as well as Pinkie Pie who'd finally bounced in late on the scene to take her place next to Scratch. Still, late or not, she was just as enthusiastic about it as anypony else, if not even more, with the strong affinity she held for Pegasus ponies in general.
"Whooo! Go Dashie!" she called with a giggle, very happy she hadn't missed the show. "I had no idea she was a weather pony too! How great! Maybe she can teach me!"
Rarity gave a soft laugh. "Darling, she's just helping out. And…you don't have wings."
"…Oh yeah," the pink one paused from her bouncing with a pouty look. She was generally fine with being an earth pony, but at the same time…she couldn't help but want to be able to fly sometimes.
"She may just be helping out, but she's good. Like…really good," Scratch chimed in, even she unable to ignore the skills of the polychromatic Pegasus.
Pinkie answered, "Well, yeah! She is a rainbow Pegasus! They're the only ones who can do all the super cool moves like Sonic Rainbooms and stuff."
Both Rarity and Scratch gave a weird look at the matter-of-fact statement, neither of them having even heard of rainbow Pegasi, or Sonic Rainbooms. Neither of them could really tell whether the little note was serious or not, simply because Pinkie was always switching back and forth between crazy shit and real shit. As her closest friend, though, Scratch had learned that despite how weird the earth pony could be, she often really did know what she was talking about, even if it seemed a little farfetched. She could only grin, and look back to the sky again, deciding to take her word for it.
A few feet away, Fluttershy wasn't paying any attention to the conversation at all, as she was too busy watching Rainbow Dash, herself. Blue-green hues wide with hope, it hadn't taken long at all for her to become completely unable to hold back a smile. A part of her almost felt like crying, as silly as the thought sounded to her. But Rainbow was doing it. She was not only helping Ponyville immensely, but she was proving to her, and to herself, that she could still succeed at life, regardless of how much she'd doubted it over the few months of self-discovery. Not to mention that even if she'd been avoiding this at all costs, she was now getting noticed by Ponyville as a whole, and they'd definitely never forget her for helping so much. Of course, that was only a matter of time, Fluttershy knew. Rainbow Dash was amazing. She always had been.
"…You say her name is Rainbow Dash?"
Still in front of the town hall, the mayor and Applejack stood watching the scene as well, though as Applejack had seen the Pegasus in action in the past, she wasn't nearly as surprised or impressed as the older one next to her. She smiled proudly, though, glad she'd suggested Rainbow helping out, and glad her help was definitely paying off. Hell, at this rate, it'd only take another hour or so before the sky was filled and the first snowfall could begin: of course, Applejack had always known she was right about Rainbow's wings being more powerful than her legs. The only thing going through the mayor's mind was how she'd never even heard of this pony before.
Applejack answered, "Yes'm. Rainbow Dash."
And just as had been suspected, only a little over another hour passed before the sky was filled with clouds, and the snowfall finally, slowly began, and with it the signal to the weather team that their job was done. Through the entire ordeal, Rainbow Dash had blocked out nearly everything from her mind but the task itself, and she really hadn't even realized how close they were to being done, until one of the official weather ponies managed to get her attention. And with said attention came the surprising realization that the cheering from the crowd below was not only directed at the snow that was finally falling down, but also at her. Rainbow had been so enwrapped in her flying that she hadn't even noticed how many ponies had stopped to watch her. But now that she was back in reality again, she could scarcely believe she'd helped the process to move so quickly, as well as gained quite a few extra viewers.
The fact that so many had their eyes on her now would've normally brought the instinct back to her to flee, but…they truly were cheering, for her. She'd never had a crowd cheer for her before. Witnessing it now, though, she could only be reminded of how badly she'd wanted something like this when she was younger. She'd gotten a whole act planned out in her filly years, too, what she would say, what body language she would use, when she finally succeeded at winning the hearts of so many others. She still remembered it. But she was too shocked to even think about seriously doing it. She was only frozen for a moment with the weather ponies still in the air nearby, blush upon her cheeks, until the cold sensation of snowflake upon face broke her daze, and she hesitantly looked up to see the white ice droplets coming down.
BEFORE YOU SAY ANYTHING...
I know my thing about how snowfall works in Ponyville was utter bullshit and made no sense. I also know this chapter was predictable as hell. :D If you didn't predict it, though, don't feel bad. You're still amazing!
I'm...kinda lost at why so few of you reviewed my last chapter. ): Not trying to complain but... Was 9 just not as good as the past ones? Hopefully y'all liked this one better. I'm actually even MORE worried about this one, though. I feel like it was too dramatic or something. But even if it was predictable, I hope it was handled alright, nevertheless. I'm just glad school hasn't gotten in the way as much as I thought it would!
Well, there's only one more real chapter left, and then an epilogue. I've also devised a soundtrack for the story, which I'll post next Friday with chapter 11. That might sound weird, but they're mostly just songs that have inspired me along the way, or stuff I listened to a lot while writing it. Hopefully it'll be cool. Hopefully.
Oh and by the way... what's with the poll? Spitfire dream is tied at third? Are you guys just trolling or something? lmao.
Reviews are very appreciated! Thanks for reading & stay tuned! I love y'all. (: