Rainbow Dash awoke to the sound of her alarm clock, blaring her loud music in her ears. She let it run for a few seconds, then shut it off. She lay in bed for another minute or so, before finally pulling herself into a sitting position. "Okay, Dash," she mumbled to herself, "You might as well get up now." She flopped out of bed and walked into the bathroom. Dash opened up her bathroom cabinet. Having woken up moments before, she still felt a bit groggy. She noticed her old toothbrush looked a little worse for the wear, so she threw it into the trash and searched for an unopened one. Looking beneath the sink, she pulled out a set of six brushes, colored red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. Rarity had given them to her, no doubt their color a reference to the color of her mane. Dash squeezed an inch of toothpaste onto the red brush, and closed the cabinet. As Dash brushed her teeth, she patted down her mane. Her friends thought she was only interested in rainbows. When your name has "Rainbow" in it, Twilight had once told her, that's probably inevitable. She finished brushing, gargled, spit, and looked up into the mirror again. She shook the sleepiness off. She mumbled the lyrics of the song that had awoken her as she went downstairs to exit her home. She grabbed her work schedule in her mouth on her way out the door, and she almost gagged on the papery taste. It occurred to her that pieces of paper, like rainbows, were not known for their flavor. She could think about that later; she had a full morning of Weather Patrol ahead of her. Rainbow leaped into the air, flapped her wings once, and dived. She spiraled down through the atmosphere and into Ponyville. Her schedule for the day listed several jobs: clear a few clouds over Ponyville, mop up a stray thundercloud hovering near Sweet Apple Acres, and kick some juice back into a rainbow over Ghastly Gorge. "They always give me the rainbow jobs," Dash muttered, "That's so not radical." She had a fan club, a close group of friends, and a Princess who recognized her… But couldn't she get a little recognition for her loyalty to her friends? It wasn't her element for nothing; she loved her friends more than she could say. But that summed up her problem in a nutshell. She couldn't express her feelings without sounding self-centered. That's the Catch 22 here, Rainbow Dash thought; every time she tried to tell her friends about how loyal she felt, it came out sounding like she was bragging, which was in many ways the opposite of loyalty. So she bottled up her feelings until it hurt… and the pain never left her. ________________________ Lightning zapped Rainbow Dash's left hoof. Wincing, she kicked the stray storm cloud so hard that it dissipated entirely. "That's the last one," she said, "Now I can get some rest." She drifted down and alighted on a smaller cloud, which was much plusher than the stormy variety. She hadn't closed her eyes for more than a few minutes, though, before somepony had to disturb her rest, as usual. "Hey, Rainbow!" Applejack's southern twang of an accent reached all the way into the clouds, "What are you doing up there?" "What does it look like?" Rainbow Dash answered, "I'm trying to get a little sleep." "On the job? The Mayor told us you were gonna bring in some storm clouds for our southern field! Those apples won't grow right if they don't get some water soon." "That's Cloud Kicker's job," Rainbow said, rolling over, "I think." "Well, somepony with wings had better get on it," Applejack said with great emphasis. Rainbow Dash sighed, but she spotted Twilight Sparkle trotting down a nearby road with her eyes glued to a book, and the beginnings of a plan took shape in her mind. "I told Twilight I'd help her shelve some books today," she told Applejack hastily, "Sorry!" She sped away before Applejack could say a thing. Momentarily, she landed on the road beside Twilight. "Hey," Dash said, "Wanna hang out?" Twilight sighed. "I'd love to, Rainbow Dash, but Princess Celestia just gave me an assignment, and I don't have much time to do it." Twilight kept walking, but Dash followed. "That's okay," Rainbow Dash said quickly, "I'll be quiet. Mind if I borrow a book later?" "Fine," Twilight said, "But not one peep while I'm reading! Okay?" "Got it!" Rainbow Dash followed Twilight as she continued down the road. Her silence lasted for about six seconds. "Hey, Surprise and I talked about you the other day… Do you want to hear about how I met Surprise? We met at a Wonderbolts' show in Canterlot, when I was waiting in line for Soarin's autograph, because, you know, I've already got Spitfire's autograph. I've had that one since I was a little filly." Twilight already regretted her decision to let Dash come with her. "Rainbow, when I said not one peep-" "Anyway, just as my turn came, they ran out of photos for Soarin to sign! I got really upset, but then somepony offered to give me her photo. That was Surprise," Rainbow Dash finished, "And now she's a good friend of mine!" "-I really meant I need you to be quiet!" Twilight said, stopping in her tracks. She looked at Rainbow Dash, who felt as confused as she looked. "Listen, Rainbow, I'm busy today. Why don't you go see if Rarity needs any help?" "Fine," Rainbow said, mumbling as Twilight walked away, "Whatever." ________________________ "Rainbow Dash," Rarity said, "If you can't hold still, you're of no help at all!" "But this is so boring," Rainbow said, and truthfully, acting as Rarity's test subject held no interest for her. She had only allowed herself to get roped into modeling Rarity's outfits because she didn't actually want to do anything today. "It's just for a few more seconds… got it!" Rarity said, stepping back to admire her handwork. Rainbow wore a light green gown, the stitching on which Rarity had said she needed to patch up. Rainbow slipped out of the gown and let it hit the floor. "Now, I've got another three gowns of the same style that I need to check," Rarity said, as Rainbow Dash backed away towards the door, "The stitching on all four needs to be identical if I'm going to sell them. The next fashion show should…" Rarity kept on talking as Rainbow Dash slipped out the door. Outside, Dash shook her head, and wondered what she had done. She had flitted from place to place, avoiding every opportunity to help her friends in the way that a true, loyal friend should. She flapped her wings and took off. Maybe she should follow her first instinct; ask Twilight. Rainbow Dash shrugged, thinking, It couldn't hurt, and she zoomed off to find her friend. Dash landed outside Twilight's house, knocked once, and walked in. Spike and Twilight had spent a whole day re-shelving and re-organizing the library in which they lived only last weekend, so entire place looked pristine. Twilight looked up from her notes at her desk. "Not again! Didn't we just go through this?" "I need some help," Rainbow Dash said slowly, wondering how to put her thoughts into words, "I want to feel helpful, and show everypony how loyal I am, but I'm having a hard time doing it." "Rainbow, to feel helpful, you should start by helping somepony," Twilight said, exasperated, "Has anypony asked you for help recently?" "Well…" Rainbow dash said, and she thought back to Applejack, and to Rarity, "Actually, that has been happening all day. It's just hard for me, because I want to feel accepted for who I am, not just for what I do or how I look!" "I know that, Rainbow Dash," said Twilight, locking eyes with Rainbow as she stepped forward, "You're special to me because you're you." Rainbow Dash looked down at her hooves, then leaned in to rest her head against Twilight's. She closed her eyes tightly. She loved Twilight, and she knew this was where she was meant to be. She would never forget that. "It sounds," Twilight said, "Like this whole adventure will make an interesting report to the Princess." Rainbow Dash nodded, but then stopped as something occurred to her. "Yeah," she said, "But first, I think I'll go help Applejack with those clouds." ________________________ The job took quite some time, but Rainbow Dash eventually felt the joy of her friend's gratitude as Applejack thanked her once again for moving the clouds. Knowing that her friend's thanks trumped all other rewards, Dash returned to Twilight, keen on writing her letter to Princess Celestia. "Dear Princess," Rainbow dictated, "Today I thought I could get away with being lazy, even when my friends needed my help. I thought I could skip out on them when they needed me. "I realize now that if I'm going to call myself loyal, I have to act loyal, and let ponies know that I'm loyal through my actions, rather than just assuming they know it. Loyalty has to be shown through actions, not words. Sincerely, your faithful and totally awesome subject, Rainbow Dash," Dash paused, "Did you get all that, Spike?" "Yep!" said Spike, Twilight's young dragon assistant, who had copied the entire dictation down onto a sheet of parchment, "I'll send this to the Princess right away." "It sounds like you learned a lot about yourself today, Rainbow," Twilight said approvingly. "Yeah," said Rainbow Dash, "Hey, do you still have that book I asked for? I was thinking of checking out Daring Do and the Silver Scale." "I'll see if we have that," Twilight said, smiling as she turned to search for the volume. She stopped for a moment, pulled the book off the shelf, and walked up to dash, handing it over to her. "Thanks, Twilight," Dash said, "And thanks for the advice." "It's no problem at all," said Twilight, who suddenly leaned in to kiss Rainbow delicately on the cheek. Rainbow Dash blushed a deep red. "That was for being such a trooper today, and this," Twilight said, kissing Dash full on the lips, "Is for being Equestria's most selfless pony."
