It was a warm, sunny afternoon in Ponyville, and everypony was happily going about their daily business, shopping, talking with friends, or simply enjoying the beautiful weather. For the most part, the town was fairly quiet. But, at Sugar Cube Corner, there actually seemed to be quite a bit of activity going on. Mares, stallions, colts and fillies were gathered in their dozens outside of that bakery, looking through the window at what lay within. But, while the confectionaries on display were nothing out of the ordinary for this place, it was not the sweet things that the ponies were paying attention to. Instead, their gaze seemed to be on a collection of mares that were currently sitting around a table on the far side of the shop. Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were all busying themselves eating a cake between them, though, given the amount of attention they were receiving, it was difficult to do so. Every once in a while, one of the mare would look up, looking to the crowds outside, but quickly got back to their snack. Fluttershy especially was put off from this, using her long mane to hide her face from the eyes of those outside. As for Rainbow Dash, see seemed to be the most uncomfortable of all, looking down at her cake with a frown upon her face.

"Ugh! Can't they just...I dunno...go away or something?"

Rarity nodded at that slightly.

"Indeed! One can hardly enjoy a pleasant afternoon like this while being gawked at like some zoo animal!"

Applejack looked up to the gathered crowds while speaking up to the rest of her friends.

"Anypony know what they want here, exactly?"

The mares all shook their head, showing their shared confusion at the situation. All, that is, except for Rainbow Dash, who began to look rather nervous about the whole thing. Applejack, before getting back to her cake, noticed this just as the cyan pegasus tried to avoid eye incant. But, before she could enquire further about it, something new began to happen. The five mares all turned in unison to the distinct sound of the shop's front door bell ringing. After looking to the door, they watched as a light-brown stallion, wearing a fedora hat and carrying a camera around his neck, tried his best to squeeze past the crowds outside. When he finally managed to get indoors, he swiftly closed it behind him, panting furiously after doing so. The mares watched him with some confusion, watching as he began to compose himself, after which he began to walk over. As the five friends kept their eyes on this newcomer, they noted, to their confusion, that his gaze was fixed entirely onto Rainbow Dash, prompting the latter to look away immediately. Once the stallion finally arrived at their table, he pulled out a notepad and pencil before finally starting to speak to them.

"Ah, Miss Dash! I've been looking all over Ponyville for you! I'm Papa Razzi, from the Ponyville Express! Would you care to answer a few questions?"

The young pegasus immediately looked to the stallion with scorn in her eyes.

"No! My friends and I are trying to have some cake!"

But, the stallion was not deterred by this.

"Don't worry, it'll only take a moment!"

Rainbow frowned at that, but did nothing as the guy simply kept on speaking.

"Tell me, how did you feel doing what you did earlier today?"

The other mares gained immediate looks of confusion, turning to their friend, making it clear that they wanted her to explain what the guy was talking about. Instead, Rainbow just blushed lightly as she glared at the stallion.

"I'm not talking about it! Just...go away!"

Seeing the anger on her friend's face, Rarity turned to the reporter, speaking in a far calmer tone than Rainbow was.

"I say...what exactly are you talking about, Sir?"

Papa Razzi turned to her, looking more than a little surprised.

"You mean...you don't know? This remarkable mare here saved two kids today! A filly and a foal, both within hours of one another!"

Immediately, all of the mares widened their eyes wish shock, but Rainbow Dash simply started to look embarrassed. As for the stallion, he practically beamed while speaking in an enthusiastic manner.

"Why, she's a hero, I tell ya!"

Upon hearing that, Rainbow's head immediately snapped in his direction, and she spread out her wings in an intimidating manner. With an almighty flap, she launched herself upwards before flying forward, grabbing a hold of Papa and dragging him along, all while her friends watched. The cyan pegasus opened the door of Sugar Cube Corner before unceremoniously throwing the stallion out, watching as he landed on his rump some distance away, before slamming the door behind her. As she turned, she let out a deep sigh, only to be greeted by her friends, who were giving her quizzical looks. Blushing again, Rainbow looked away from them, and after a long and awkward silence, Pinkie spoke up.

"Whatcha do that for, Dashie?"

Applejack then stepped forward, frowning slightly.

"An when, exactly, were y'all plannin on tellin us about all this? What happened?"

There was a pause after those words, during which, Rainbow looked to each of her friends, all of whom seemed to be showing the same eagerness to know. There were signs of resistance on Rainbow's part, after which she simply let out a sigh. She turned, noticing that some of the crowd had dispersed rom outside. Perhaps only now did she feel safe enough to speak out, but whatever the reason, she walked over to her previous chair, soon joined by her friends. With all of them seated around the table, Rainbow Dash finally began to explain herself.

"So...yesterday...I was flying around, doing my usual thing, when I started to hear this call for help. I looked around and found that it was this filly. Somehow, she'd managed to get herself stuck down a well. I flew on down there and...well...saved her. Later on, I saw this carriage tumble down a hill, right towards a cliff. I flew in and stopped it before the foal got hurt. And...ya know...a few ponies saw me do it. Now I've got all of them wanting to thank me for it."

After having heard that, the group all looked to each other, each showing confusion after Rainbow stopped speaking. Eventually, Rarity broke the silence when she turned back to Rainbow, carefully placing a hoof upon her shoulder.

"But...Rainbow...that was amazing! You should be proud of yourself for having done that! Those two fillies are alive and safe because of you!"

Applejack then nodded in agreement.

"They sure are! It's like that feller said, yer a hero!"

After having heard that word, Rainbow couldn't help but look away, prompting yet more looks of confusion from her friends. Eventually Rainbow finally spoke up again.

"I'm...I'm glad you guys think that. I mean...the kids' parents already thanked me for it, but...I was just in the right place at the right time. I don't really need all that attention those other ponies keep trying to give me."

Immediately, all of the mare looked at her with incredulity, even the usually-bubbly Pinkie Pie. After some silence, which Rainbow didn't like one bit, Rarity spoke.

"Um...begging your pardon, Rainbow...but are you feeling alright? I mean...not to put too fine a point on it, but...you usually enjoy getting that kind of attention."

Rainbow looked down at her plate, with a slice of cake still upon it, and nodded.

"You're right, I usually do. But lately...I dunno...I guess things have been kinda different for me."

Applejack raised an eyebrow at that.

"Different? How?"

Rainbow looked deep in thought after being asked that question, as if trying to get the right words together. After some time of simply trying to figure it all out she, at last, gave her friends an answer.

"It's like...a while, back, there was nothing I would have loved more than doing something awesome and having ponies praise me for it. But then...Twilight came to town."

As soon as their friend's name was mentioned, every single one of the mares gained an immediate look of understanding, looking to each other and nodding in unison. Every one of them knew where Rainbow was going with this, but even so, they kept silent as she carried on.

"Ever since then...sheesh...she's being doing everything under the sun. Before she arrived, I think it's safe to say that I was pretty much the most awesome mare around."

Understandably, that earned more than a few eye-rolls from her friends, which Rainbow ignored as she continued.

"But...Twilight? She fought off dragons. She found the Elements. She led us against Discord. She saved Ponyville from...well...everything!"

Rainbow turned, looking towards the main window of Sugar Cube Corner.

"And then, there's what she's doing now. Who knows where she is or what it is that she's actually doing out there, but you can bet your flank it's gonna be something pretty big, and more important than what any of us are likely to do anytime soon!"

There was a general murmur of agreement amongst the other mares as Rainbow looked back to them.

"Every problem we've come across in the last few months, Twilight has been there to stop it. She's like...I don't know, a one-mare army or something! Without Twilight...heck...I'd probably have never even managed to pull off my sonic rainboom. In the few months she's been here in Ponyville, she's done more than most of us have in our entire lives. And what's more...what does she ask for in return? Nothing!"

Applejack looked down to the table after hearing that.

"Ah get ya. It's like when she stopped that stampede. The Mayor said she wanted ta throw her a big party...but she just up an said no. Ah don't know if ah'd have done that in her place. Heck, she even missed out on that big party Celestia threw when we beat Discord!"

Pinkie dropped her head down to the table, looking more than a little upset.

"It's so weird! Her not wanting to go to big parties like that? It's just not right!"

The other mares shook their heads at the fact that that was what Pinkie was most concerned about right now. However, the conversation soon got back on track as Rainbow spoke up again.

"It's just...if Twilight can do all that and just want nopony to thank her for it...what kind of mare would I be if I let ponies make me into some kind of hero when I haven't done anywhere near as much?"

Rarity raised an eyebrow at that, opening her mouth to offer some kind of counterpoint. But, Rainbow, perhaps already predicting what she would say, raised a hoof, stopping her from doing so. After being silenced, Rarity looked on as Rainbow began to explain herself.

"I know that what I did was important. Like you guys said, those kids are alive because of me, and I'll always be happy I did that. But..."

She looked down slightly, a silence passing over her, before looking back up with a genuine smile.

"...it's Twilight that deserves to be called the hero of the town, not me."

After thinking that over, she afforded herself a brief laugh before speaking up again, this time in a softer tone.

"And you know what? I'm actually okay with that. After everything she's done, for me, for you guys, for Ponyville, heck, for Equestria...she's earned it."

The mares all looked at her, all reacting in different ways to this massive and unexpected display of humility by their once-cocksure friend. Rarity and Applejack seemed to be in a state of sheer shock, while Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy both smiled to her in an appreciative manner. Needless to say, being stared at like this caused Rainbow to blush slightly, but, since some things never change, she did her best to hide this from the others, prompting many of them to giggle at her reaction. It took a while, but Rainbow herself now joined in on the laughter, and soon enough, much of the tension they’d felt at the start of all this soon began to melt away. When the laughter finally died down, they all did what they'd been hoping to do for some time now, namely, just getting back to their cakes. As they all tucked into their food in various ways, with Pinkie Pie simply throwing her whole piece into her mouth and swallowing, the whole mood was becoming calmer and more peaceful. And through this silence, Rainbow thought long and hard about what had been talked about. Ugh, it feels so weird, me not wanting ponies to love me like that. Still...the way those kids' parents looked at me when I saved their children...that was nice. A small smile crept onto her face. I don't think I'm a hero. But that? That's enough for me. However, she was soon interrupted from that train of thought by Pinkie, who looked at her with some nervousness in her eyes.

"Um...Dashie? I know you don't really want all of Ponyville throwing you a big bonanza for this, but...would it maybe be okay if we throw you a party? You know, a teensy weensy one with just us?"

Rainbow looked at her friend with uncertainty, but soon turned to all of the others. Each of them seemed to share the same approving smile, a clear sign that they were of the same mind on this. Seeing this, Rainbow let out a sigh before looking back to Pinkie, after which she carefully placed a hoof upon her shoulder.

"You know what? Yeah...I think I'd like that."