A Rose at the End of the Rainbow (Roseluck)

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      The sky above, calm, collected, peaceful and otherwise majestic sat over the city of Ponyville as the sun began to go down on the horizon. Today was to be a snowy day by the end of the night and ponies below scurried about one last good time before the storm hit. Advisories had been placed out all around Ponyville that to stay indoors all night. Sure, on a casual snow day, ponies would be encouraged to go outside and enjoy the white blanket of beauty that would encase the land. Not tonight.

     Tonight was to be a snowstorm on a large scale. They had held off the snow all season due to mistakes having taken place inside of the Weather Factory, much to Rainbow Dash's displeasure. She was a perfectionist in her art. Ever since she had arrived in the Weather Patrol, she had taken serious pride in her work on making sure that the weather had been on point and completed at any cost to her own physical well being. Her body could handle it for the most part. She was a freak of nature when it came to pure flying and raw power. 

      She would take naps on a consistent basis, giving her body the necessary rest it needed to get back into tip top condition. She didn't know it, but her body, despite the vast leaps in evolution her body has handled, required a great amount of rest in order to keep her healthy. Speaking of napping, a cyan blue mare with a prismatic mane and tail opened her magenta eyes to the world around her. Silently giggling, she allows her body to fall from a puffy cumulus cloud.

      Down down down she falls, her cyan blue wings rustling against the wind that she's tearing through, plummeting down towards the earth. Just before she crashes into the ground, she twirls her body around, her hooves sticking out and pulls up with such force it would normally rip the wings off any who would try it. These were her skies, and she was it's dance partner. Sure she shared the skies with other pegasi, but the sky was never as friendly to others as it was Rainbow and to her, that was perfectly okay. 

     She flies up to a large, thin strip of a cirrus cloud, walking up to a group of several ponies with many boxes around them. Alright ponies, you know the deal! We need these clouds over all of Ponyville within the next hour and a half! Split up into your teams and listen to your squad leaders. This snowstorm is going to be big so when you finish, don't fly through the clouds. You'll risk ice growing on your feathers and chance falling. Clear out to your rendezvous zone and do a head count. I want all of us to be able to go home today incident free, we clear? 

      After making sure the ponies around her understood, she sent them on her way, leaving her the only pony in charge of the airspace immediately over Ponyville. It was a vast majority of land to cover, but they were running out of time and everypony needed to pitch in around the lands. She was fast enough, strong enough, and understood the weather patterns enough to be able to cover this airspace on her own. So opening a box, she pulled out the stratus clouds within and went to work, tearing through the skies above as she worked on the air above the town.

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Roseluck stepped along one of Ponyville's roads, more just a well-trod, wide street of dirt and rocks, her eyes nearly closed, a pair of headphones thumping away over her ears, a green scarf wrapped casually around her neck, and her winter coat a bit trimmed and well-brushed. The air was so crisp as she breathed it in that it tickled her nose a little, which gave a wiggle now and then as she walked. It was a lazy walk, a meander, all in rhythm to the music, heavy on the beat, clear, and melodic. It was so easygoing and so energetic that she just continued with eyes half-lidded as she slinked, scooted, and swayed towards Sugarcube Corner. Yeah ... nothing like a cake-flavored mocha just in time!

She glanced upwards, not thinking too much into the sight of Pegasai at work. If anything, her unhurried imaginings of the winged Ponies had her attention more. She imagined dozens of Pegasai with long tails and windswept manes climbing and diving, slowly putting in the pieces of the coming blizzard, somehow seizing water-crystals and vapor from their boxes. She hummed a little as her imagination went to legs ... Pegasai had athletic legs, after all, because they were the best way to quickly adjust their weight balance in a maneuver, and not many thought about that, she figured. Of course, there were the obvious features, the wings. As the melody in her headphones went soft, she smiled and imagined contrails of glittering frost.

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        Rainbow Dash flew through the air practically as if time itself had stopped. The mare had fallen victim to another one of her fevered adrenaline rushes and had wanted to see how quickly she could get the job done. In each and every direction she flew in, only a contrail of rainbows that seemed to glimmer in the fading sunlight would give a pony a sense of who was in the sky. She tore about the sky and in her wake seemed to be increasingly long strips of stratus clouds. 

       Alright! I've got more than enough supply to get this job done with and I'm ahead of schedule! Heh, I'm pretty darn good at this job if I say so myself. Keep your head though Rainbow, almost done!

       This had become a reoccurring theme for Rainbow. Ever since she had become "The Go To Pony" she had made it a point to herself not to lose her head in the moment quite as much. She needed to be alert for if things went awry for the other ponies and not caught up in how amazing she thought she was performing that day. Another reason, ponies looked up to her for... some strange reason. It's not like she hasn't earned the accolades to be looked up to, but to Rainbow, it still felt strange. 

       Go figure... I leave Cloudsdale behind and the teasing and picking stops, even Rainbow Crash quit following me around. Ponyville is totally the coolest place in Equestria! Heh... guess you were right about me moving here mom~. It really... was a change that I needed. Thanks~. 

      Her cyan blue wings grabbed at and carefully dragged any falling ice crystals across the sky, allowing the sticky stratus clouds to have a chance at picking up the ice crystals and produce more within. Stratus clouds could be used to signal for a rain shower or a snowstorm. Sure it was cold out, but with the output Rainbow needed to make sure this storm was going to produce, every crystal she could save and have produce more as a result built assurance up within her that these clouds were going to be cold enough and produce enough ice crystals to give her the results her team needed by the morning of tomorrow. 

      Upon finishing her handy work, just as she was unraveling the last strip of stratus clouds, she flipped herself upside down and inserted the last of the cloud into it's perspective place. She had told the team she wanted no goof ups and that meant on her end as well. By flipping over and placing the last bit of cloud about her, she could easily fly back down to Ponyville with no risk of freezing her wings. So without further ado, the rainbow streak bursted forth straight to the ground below. Just before her hooves struck dirt, she gave her powerful wings a couple of hovering flaps, popping her up back in the air for a couple of seconds and lands, well within the sight lines of the windows of Sugarcube Corner. 

      Perfect! That's only a couple minutes worth a walk away! I can have a nice hot chocolate, talk a bit with my friend Pinkie Pie and... wha... awww ponyfeathers darnit!

    Rainbow looked around her. She was just on the outskirts of the small town and surely nopony within Sugarcube corner would be paying attention. Heck, there's barely even enough pegasi here that would understand what Rainbow was about to do. So, with nerves shooting forth aggravated signals from her wings to her mind, she takes a seat in the snow, opening her left cyan blue wing and leans down. Her tongue presses itself to the middle of her primaries, firmly licking down the length several times over, her prismatic tail slapping against the ground in bliss. 

    For a pegasi, their wings were as intimate a part of their entire body as the more obvious regions. The better they took care of themselves, the more pride and confidence they had in their appearance. For Rainbow, there was no shortage of confidence. Unfortunately however, she wasn't much of a romantic, but her wings were in pristine condition. Every cyan blue feather had been perfectly aligned, perfectly preened and tended to on a daily basis not because she wanted to show herself off as a beautiful mare, but because of how much she physically demanded from her wings and the standard she held herself to. Most everyday after work, she would have to spend ten minutes at the very least to get her wings back in a display that would make it okay to walk about in public but that was NOT acceptable in Rainbow's standards. 

     It was no stranger to anypony that Rainbow held herself to a degree that for most anypony, would seem impossible. Sure, her mane was wild and untamed as her tail was and she proved to be more of a tomboy than a mare. That was fine with her, they couldn't say squat to her when she would race across the sky at breakneck speeds as if it was second hand nature to her. Speaking of which, the rainbow contrail that had been left in the sky had just fallen to the exact spot of which Rainbow was sitting, nibbling at a feather with her teeth and pulls it into place, her tongue moving over to the next feather, beginning to tend to it.

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Roseluck strolled along, and as it often happened, she couldn't quite keep her attention on the music. Eventually, it felt more like she was properly listening to a mood if that was possible. There weren't keyboards, percussion, vocals; there was just mood, and somehow, she could simply listen to the mood, and that mood was a nice chill ease. For a moment, the rainbow contrail felt a bit more like part of her imaginings, but then her thoughts went for a pause; the pure colors were real, and they raced down to a mane and tail. Roseluck paused for a moment in her rhythm as she paid attention. Rainbow Dash ... licking her wing ... wait, what!? She stopped at a leaning lamp post, tilted her head, and watched.

Then she realized at last! Oh wait ... that's preening ... duh! It was one of those things about Pegasai that nopony noticed until they really noticed it! On paper, of course, it all made sense: Pegasai, wings, grooming, preening ... it was something that made automatic sense, except when one watched, they couldn't help but keep watching. Roseluck watched for an entire ten seconds before she realized that she was awkwardly not moving. Crap ... awkwardly under a lantern ... awkwardly gawking ... uh, what do I do?! Be cool, it's cool! At that moment, almost watching for half a minute, she blinked out a spasm, cleared her throat like a soggy cold was coming, smiled and nodded at nothing, and bobbed her head as she leaned against the pole.

"Yeah, it's a groo-oo-oovy winter!" She declared with a puff in her chest.

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     "Huh!?" Rainbow Dash looked up in the middle of her preening, her magenta eyes wide. Sure enough by the lamp post that had just cut on, there was a mare there who looked like she was playing off something. Cream colored fur, a deep color of red for her mane and... puffing out her chest? Was she sizing up the pole?

         No, why would she do that featherbrain? She's an Earth Pony, Earth Ponies have... super... fluffy chest fluff... and she was totally just watching me wasn't she!? Awww horseapples! 

       Rainbow ducked back beneath her wing to give herself a moment, grumbling to herself. The one pony had seen her out of every pony, she was this close to having escaped. Now with a face full of flush and a story that if gotten out would embarrass her to Cloudsdale and back, she decided to keep on preening herself. She was this far into it, she might as well finish it. 

      Why do I feel embarrassed though? I mean... she looks like she's feeling kinda awkward about it... ah what the hay, what's the worse that could happen?

    The moment her tongue leaves her final cyan blue feather that she was tending to, she looks over her fully extended wing, smiling proudly at it. There, in all of her glory and pride sat a beautiful, perfectly tended to wing. Her right wing needed some tending to, but that could wait just a moment. She looks back up at the mare with a snicker, her own chest fluff slightly puffed out.

      "A groovy winter huh? Yea, my team did a pretty good job if I say so myself. The name's Rainbow Dash. How's it going?"

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There had been a pause as Rainbow Dash simply went back to preening under her wing that Roseluck simply had no idea what to say next. Clearly, this was all casual and trivial to the Pegasus, and she'd just have to get her cool back, one step at a time! She stepped over in Rainbow's direction, turning up a smile bordered by a blush. "H-Hey ... uh ... Roseluck! I'm the redhead with the bedhead! It's goin' ... um ... pretty dang good, actually! I mean, why wouldn't be, y'know? I mean, the clouds are looking all cozy and cold, the ground's ... um ... sturdy! That's good too! Can't go around with un-sturdy ground ... then you'd ... just have mud or something ... but hey, I think I totally interrupted ya!"

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        Rainbow laughs as the mare introduces herself. She wasn't laughing at her, but because she knew what it was like to have terrible bed hair. It had to be perhaps the only terrible downside to having a wild mane. But otherwise, the mare seemed to be of a pretty chill pony to hang around with, aside from the fact she looked totally awkward in every fashion. Rainbow had an idea as to how to fix that. 

       "Roseluck huh? It's good to meet ya. Heheh, well, you couldn't have unsturdy ground. Pegasi could but ya know, wings and all. But yea, those clouds sure are comfy if you can tolerate how cold they are. Granted, I bet that awesome Earth Pony winter coat keeps ya from feeling most of it longer than any of us can."

      Rainbow looks at Roseluck with a smile, taking one more moment to preen her other cyan blue wing. If she was going to try this, she needed to have her wings ready to fly up with the additional weight. Not that Roseluck would be heavier than anyone else she's carried, but having her feathers aligned properly was critical. After closing her wing shut, she walks up to Roseluck with a tilt of her head.

      "But, if you want to know just how cozy it is up there, I could swing a quick flyby of the clouds. I could fly ya up there and let ya feel around the clouds for about... I'd say ten minutes before I need to get my rainbow tail down here! I don't do frozen feathers. Ever seen a pegasus with frozen feathers fly? No? That's because we don't, but I'm totally up for flying ya up there if you'd like! No charge, no strings attached!"

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At that, Roseluck made a face. She pursed her lips, went wide-eyed, and drew her head back, all as though she had been surprised with a super-hot rainbow candy covered in Appleloosan hot sauce when all she expected was a caramel with a creamy center. "Ehhhhh." She sound was nasal, the elegant squawk of some pond-dwelling bird of grace and territorial assaults on foals that didn't give up the breadcrumbs. Then, because that wasn't nearly precious enough for retrospect, her cheeks swelled and she broke into snickering onto laughing, holding her chest!

"I'm sorry! Sorry!" At least partially excused from what must have looked like a lapse into utter insanity, she let herself laugh harder, falling on her back. "I! I didn't mean to make such a stupid face! It was such a ... stupid face!" It took a long moment before she was back on her hooves. "Seriously ... I'm so sorry ... I just ... wasn't expecting to be offered a ride on the back of the fastest flyer in Ponyville out of the blue ... hey, that was kinda a pun ... I mean, I'm just kinda hungry, my tummy is funny, heading to eat, don't want to freeze you, you know how it is!"

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       Wow, this mare certainly was something. Rainbow wished she would take more time and get to meet more of the ponies in Ponyville that she lived with each and everyday. Some of the ponies were... well...  not the best of ponies to put it lightly, though many had without a doubt been better to her and others than Gilda had been in her last showing. But there were lots of cool ponies here in Ponyville that made her smile when she would place her hooves behind her head on a casual, relaxing flight, watching the world pass her from above and this pony was certainly becoming one of them.

     Rainbow began to snicker herself upon hearing the sound of the mare laugh. Rainbow had seen something random coming from a mile away, when the best of the best asks you if you'd like to join them on something completely awesome, it becomes an unfathomable thought to process. If Spitfire had asked her right now if she wanted a race, Rainbow would probably squee over the moon and back before saying yes. So to say this wasn't expected was right in it's own way but wrong to Rainbow who offered the mare a smile, placing up a hoof and giving it a wave of dismissal.

       "Heheheh, hey don't sweat it. It's all good. I get it, kinda just came outta the blue to be honest but I figured hey, not every pony gets the chance to feel a cloud in their lifetime, why not give you the chance. You're totally cool anyways. But if you're heading off to eat I don't wanna hold you u-" At that point Rainbow looks down at her stomach as it growls loud enough to be considered a relative to an Ursa, her magenta irises shrinking as she looks at Roseluck. "Eheheheh... heh... someone says hi."

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"Yo-ho there, talkative tummy!" Despite the awkwardness of her entrance with this conversation, she recovered her easy manner; it wasn't as though Rainbow was going to hold it against her. "It certainly sounds like we've got some goals in common, Tum Tum! Hey Rainbow, wanna go rock some food? Bet there's soup and a roll with our names on it somewhere." She stepped over near Rainbow, easygoing in the cold as she tossed her scarf back securely around her neck.

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      Rainbow laughed as Roseluck talked to Rainbow's tummy! How often could she say this ever happen? The last possible chance her tummy had been talked to is when her mother back in Cloudsdale would do so when Rainbow had an upset tummy. Now, it wasn't so much upset in a gas bubble kind of way but more like 'HEY I'M HUNGRY YA JACKWAGON!' Which that feeling was almost every single day at every single meal. With as hard as Rainbow worked, if you didn't have an empty stomach at the end of it all you didn't work hard enough.

     "Do I wanna go rock some food? Girl, do ponies just wanna have fun!? You better believe I wanna go rock some food! Let's go see what Ponyville has to offer us tonight before the snow really hits hard! I'd hate to have to dig our way through a mountain of snow... almost makes me wish I could snag Pinkie Pie. She'd just bulldoze the snow right out of her way like it wasn't even there! Or at least hop through it, I don't understand her sometimes."

      Rainbow gave Roseluck a friendly nudge in passing as she began to go ahead and head towards the center of town. The mare seemed like the playful sort, so giving her a nudge here and there didn't seem like it'd hurt. Now Rarity? That's the last pony you wanted to nudge! She'd get all up and in a fit about her perfectly brushed tail or mane though... since she took so much pride in it, Rainbow couldn't blame her. Instead, Rainbow had found her a mare who had a wild mane like she did, a completely hilarious personality and company that'd she definitely welcome for the night! 

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At the nudge, Roseluck, stood on her hind legs for a moment, pawing at the cold air with her hooves before touching down and darting to Rainbow's side and stride, her unruly tail playfully swishing behind her. "That Pinkie ... heh ... I want to say that she's a special kind of goof that's always funny and always pretty groovy, but really she's ... she's quintessential, y'know? Like ... somepony trying to be cheerful, they've got to go on a pilgrimage to the pink, bouncy grandmaster, offer a hug or a cookie, and bam, the master bestows her wisdom or something! I hope that mare never boogies out of Ponyville. Hey though, what about you? Seeing a cozy future here?"

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     "Heh, Pinkie Pie? Heck yea! Let me tell ya something, to a lot of ponies, it might look like she's being really foalish and really annoying. Heck, it's so easy to mistake what she's doing for annoying, I've done it plenty of times! But in reality, you're right, everything she does is to make somepony smile! We were about Ponyville a few years back, pranking ponies. We found Fluttershy and I thought it'd be sooo easy to prank her! Pinkie Pie though told me to stop and got me to remember she's really sensitive and might get upset because of it... and then pranked me. Point being, she's a genius at what she does, even if the rest of us think she's clueless and needs help."

         That was one of the things she wanted to work on. Better understanding her friends. With Pinkie Pie, she wanted to get to a point where she could see Pinkie wasn't as annoying as she was helpful. It'd make communicating with her and actually hanging out with her a heck of a lot more fun! It might even give her enough insight to stand up for Pinkie Pie when somepony else might flip out on her because they think she's being annoying.

       "That's... actually a tougher question to answer than I might have thought a few years back. I admit, about three years back, I would have easily said nah, I'm gonna be a Wonderbolt and live in Cloudsdale! But... times change ponies, and three years is a lot to take in. I've done so much with my friends here, I've become so important to the weather factory to the point I feel loved at my job that... I don't know if I ever could leave Ponyville permanently. I guess for now, I know for certain I'm staying here, just... I don't know if being a Wonderbolt and back in Cloudsdale, living out my foalhood dream is more important to me and makes me moree happy than being a crucial part of the weather team here in Ponyville with my friends..."

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Roseluck wiggled her neck to adjust her earphones, but listened to Rainbow with more and more attention. There was a time when the Pegasus felt like a bit of a broken record of bragging and exhausting attention to the Wonderbolts. Clearly, this wasn't the Rainbow from a few years ago. Guess we all get a little different with time, huh?

"No kidding? I mean ... guess ... might be a little on the personal side, I guess, but ... I ... don't get out that much. I'm not a recluse or anything, but you can always count on there being more work to do out there. Guess ... one of my fears, which isn't a revelation or anything, is change ... the kind of change where friends head off and that's about that ... I mean, we don't hang out -- though I'd like to -- but ... just ... you're a part of the big vibe of Ponyville, you know? It'd suck if you left even if I don't know you all that much, and it kinda warms me ol' heart to see that you're feeling at home here. I mean ... I know that I feel good here and stuff."

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        "Heh... yea. I guess also what kept me here and not googling over the Wonderbolts was the fact other ponies still think they're better than me at flying and call me Rainbow Crash. Yea, you better believed I crashed a lot, but anypony who tells you they never crash has never pushed the boundaries of their limits because they're afraid to. Me? I've crashed a thousand times over pushing that limit. Why? Because what I love more than anything is to be up there in the sky competing with Mother Nature and fate itself. I love going up there and doing what nopony thinks I can do and drive myself constantly to prove them wrong!

         "Everypony didn't think I had performed the Sonic Rainboom when I was a filly except for my friends. The trick itself has eluded pegasi forever! I guess the fact that a filly pulled it off put a lot of ponies in denial." Rainbow lets a grin crack as she begins walking to find a place to eat, nudging Roseluck at her side to tag along. "My friends never lost faith in me and when I needed to do it the most, I did it. There's no denying it when on the front of every newspaper in Cloudsdale had a picture of me grabbing the Wonderbolts and Rarity to keep them from plummeting to their death with a giant colorful shockwave shattering clouds behind me. 

        "Then not to mention just the sheer thought that those in Cloudsdale along with ponies in general don't even give me the respect of being the greatest damned flier in all of the world not because I boast it but because I straight EARNED that right! They think I'm some dumb pegasus who can only fly fast and can't work well with a team, who doesn't use her head and is beyond rash! Yea, I'm rash alright, but only because I wear my damn heart on my sleeve and give everything I do three hundred percent! There's days when I'm working a routine where I've got no energy in me, those few pegasi who were working out with me already having called it quits, and I force myself to get up and keep going. I am not satisfied with something until I know I gave EVERYTHING I have to it.

     "If I didn't use my head, then explain to me Cloudsdale how I became the lead pony on Ponyville's weather team? Explain to me how Ponyville's overall satisfaction with the weather for the past two years since I've been in this position been on the borderline of a hundred percent, with a few mistakes here and there that we just simply can't control! Explain to me how Ponyville can save more of it's supplies and share it with other cities in Equestria while being able to continue day in and out perform to a standard YOU can't even meet! Explain to me how my team of pegasi are all one hundred percent qualified to head to any city in the country and train every one of your pegasi BETTER than anyone at those cities could!

     "I don't have a problem with being called a great flier and not the best. Every pony is going to have their own opinion on that. What I have a problem with is not even being put into consideration while also being disrespected. Every flier on that Wonderbolt team is great and some of the best if not the best in the world, they earned that, a lot even herald Spitfire to be the greatest ever. I guarantee you right now, Spitfire doesn't even come close to me on a flying talent level. Break the Sonic Rainboom first, and when you can turn on a bit at those speeds directly behind you immediately and without losing speed, come find me... truth be told as of right now, I'd rather race her, beat her so soundly it shuts everypony in the crowd up then lead my weather team to be some of the greatest Wonderbolts ever. 

       "Everyone of them I trained, and every one of them is just as smart as I am when it comes to manipulating the air around them when they fly. Pegasi tend to think they can just fly right through the air, no, you can't. There's flying, and then there's smart flying, for instance I know for a fact that none of the Wonderbolts use drafting to their advantage in the shows, a reason why they tire out so quickly and need fill ins. The lead flier would take point and create a pocket of air around them, the air in front of them is trying to resist their efforts, but if a pony got behind and started flying, the two of them can work together to go just as fast without exhausting themselves. For instance, let's say I'm running, because it works on the ground too, and you ran behind me. You'd immediately feel like the air is lighter around you and you can run effortlessly, therefore, you expend less for the same result. When I get slightly tired, you can take point, almost as fresh as you were when you started, and now I can get my breath back while keeping the same pace. I trained my team to use that when we're putting up the weather. We get far more efficient results with less strain on our wings and fresher air in our lungs. That's only one of the things my team can work to a perfection that I taught them that the Bolts don't have a clue about..."

     Rainbow takes a breath, sighing, looking back at Roseluck with a tired smile. "Sorry... guess it's been a touchy subject for me since my time at the Academy... put me on Ponyville's team which they knew wasn't a team. Fluttershy and Bulk Biceps tried their tails off, but to put us against the actual team of Bolts themselves, knowing this team was going to rise and fall based off me? No, it's not fair to put them both through that. They deserved their right to be just as responsible for our success as I was, and I hate the fact that it's looked at like I carried Ponyville's team. It's one thing to put two very talented teams against one another and have the best fliers on each team go and earn their bits, it's another when you label a team as 'These ponies' and Rainbow Dash. Don't associate me with that. When my friends and I are kicking bad guy's tails, you don't hear one individual being talked about and the rest are seen as dead weight, they talk about The Elements of Harmony, when you hear of Ponyville's weather team, it isn't the team and Rainbow, it's Ponyville's Weather Team.... I'd like to think I'm more than meets the eye... just... yea... I'm definitely happier here."

      "But... even after all of that... if you'd like, I'd love to hang out with ya some more, get to know you. I feel like all I know in this town are my friends, their families and my weather team. I'd like to get to show other ponies I'm not some arrogant pony just because I wanna be heard and get to know them as well. Sure, there's always more work to be done... but it's just another excuse to be able to get to hang out, yea?"