Writing Time: 30 minutes
Word Count: 616
Characters: Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy
Prompt: A year older and wiser
Disclaimer: I do not own MLP:FiM.
Author's Note: This is actually TODAY'S thirty-minute story from the Thirty Minute Pony Tumblr blog so I actually submitted this one! I hope you all enjoy it.
A lot of things can happen in a year and some ponies know that better than others. The ponies who started out in abusive families with few friends. The ponies who find it hard to love and be loved. The ponies who believe that their only option is to be absolutely, positively, without-a-doubt, indisputably perfect.
In one year, her parents had gotten divorced and her father had remarried that evil witch who demanded she call her "Mother".
In one year, she met Fluttershy and her whole world was turned upside down when she discovered her first crush on that little yellow pegasus. They had just been fillies then. Where had the time gone?
In one year, she had asked Fluttershy to be her fillyfriend and in that same year, she was hated for it when her father found out his daughter preferred fillies to colts. And of course, that was the same year Fluttershy had fallen down to the ground. That scary place that all the older pegasi warned against going. But she was determined to get there when she was old enough. She refused to believe she had lost her only friend forever.
In one year, she had earned her cutie mark.
In one year, her step-mother beat her for not acting enough like a lady and for joining the flight school's competitive racing team. That was the same year she doubted her talent was racing. It was also the year she was introduced to the Wonderbolts and the year Cloudsdale had lost the Games. It was also the year she won her first gold medal for racing. She was best in the school.
In one year, she lost her first race and failed in the eyes of her father. This was when she felt she was driven to be the best. She had to be perfect for her father because, although she knows she'll never impress her step-mother, she hopes to impress her father. She must be perfect. She must join the Wonderbolts. She'll someday be the Captain of the Wonderbolts.
In one year, her father dies, leaving her step-mother in control of her. This is the year she drops out of flight school due to the inability to hide the marks her step-mother leaves on her coat.
In one year, she learnt that life will kill you if you can't be strong enough and she leaves. She goes to the ground to live in exile and to find her old friend.
In one year, she discovers that her old fillyfriend likes a different mare now and found her talent in dealing with animals. Rainbow Dash wants to impress her. She wants to prove to Fluttershy that she's every bit as good as that apple-picking country pony.
In one year, she meets three new ponies who will soon become her best friends.
In one year, she discovered just how wonderful life's highs were and just how terrible its lows were.
At the end of that one year, she learns again, for the first time since her mother left, exactly how good it feels to have a surprise party thrown for you and how wonderful it is to smile a real smile.
In one year, she discovered everything that would make her who she is now. She had discovered her love, her destiny, her race, her faults, her enemies, her friends, and – most importantly – who she was and where she belonged. She realized that maybe being a weather pony wouldn't be so bad for now. She'd just have to clear clouds until she became a Wonderbolt. No, being a weather pony is no problem at all. After all, a lot can happen in a year.