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Breaking Barriers

by chief maximus

Chapter 1: Horizons

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Dash tossed to her right. It was still dark outside. She wouldn't have to be at work for another three hours, yet she was eager to get into the sky. Something about knowing she could be a Wonderbolt a month from now made her crave time in the air like a field craves the rain in a drought. Even when she found herself walking Tank, she often times leapt into the sky while the slow tortoise ambled along on the ground.

Not that her weather job was anything to worry about. It was the one thing she was almost certain she could do blindfolded. She was so good at it now, that she often wondered how it could even be considered work. The weather patterns were never too complex: partially cloudy, cloudy with rain, cloudy without, or clear.

And snow.

Right, and snow. Anyway, dawn was still an hour off, but she wasn't going to get anymore sleep. With a sigh, she rolled out of bed and went to the kitchen, glumly scanning the cupboards for something to eat. In truth, she wasn't that hungry, but she knew if she skipped breakfast, she'd be dead tired by lunch.

Forget it, I'll just go for a fly real quick and come back to eat something.

Her thirst for the sky had kept her awake nearly all night, and now finally she would satiate it. It had teased her while she lay in bed, taunting her with the radiance of Luna's stars and galaxies. It called to her the way the farm calls to Applejack, or the way knowledge calls to Twilight. She wanted it, she needed it, and now she'd ravish it for the millionth time.

She opened the door, stretching her wings in anticipation of flying in the cool morning air – and jumped when instead of the dark sky, she saw a pair of off-kilter yellow eyes. One focused on her, the other on the top of her right ear. Rainbow’s yelp of surprise gave way to a smile as she recognized everypony’s favorite mailmare. Looked like she was getting a head start today. Either that, or she’d misread the clock.

"Hiya Rainbow!" the grey pegasus chirped happily.

"Hey Der-...Ditzy. Kinda early today aren't ya?" Dash asked, careful not to call her by the wrong name*. No sane pony's parents would ever curse their foal with a name like Derpy.

"Yeah, it's my daughter's birthday today, but I couldn't get the day off, so I'm getting my work done early to spend the day with her!"

Dash smiled, realizing how tough it must be to raise a foal on your own. Even through her work she made time for her daughter. Rainbow found herself wishing her own mother had done more of the same.

"Anyway, I brought you a letter!" she added happily, digging through her bag and soon reappearing with a single envelope with the Wonderbolts logo on the front.

Rainbow nearly had a heart attack.

The Wonderbolts never sent out correspondence letters; they only answered after you've written to them 26 consecutive times about how much you would bring to the team.

She took the letter and stared at it, as if it were too precious to open. Ditzy bid her goodbye and went on her route, though Dash barely acknowledged her departure. She had forgotten all about her pre-dawn flight and sat down on her front steps, the envelope still unopened in front of her.

What could it say? Congrats Rainbow, you're awesome enough to be a Wonderbolt! Buck yea! But what if it's like, yeah, sonic rainbooms are cool and all, but they're not Wonderbolts cool, you know?

During her inner monologue, she had forgotten that she could simply open the letter, and put her fears and fantasies to rest.

With nervous hooves she opened the letter, carefully scanning the words, each line nearing the purpose of the letter sent chills down her spine before she got to the most important lines:

...To extend to you an invitation to the Wonderbolts training camp for tryouts...

Rainbow stared at the letter in disbelief. Sure, the sonic rainboom at the royal wedding, which the Wonderbolts had actually been conscious for, was bound to raise some eyebrows. And, during a quick conversation at the reception, Soarin had hinted heavily that they were thinking of doing some recruiting. She’d never really believed it could happen. Now, with the letter in her hooves, a grin forced itself across her lips and stretched into a wide smile. That still wasn't enough, as her jubilation escaped in a loud shout for joy.

She put the letter back inside and stretched her wings briefly before jumping from her cloud home and into the crisp dawn air. She couldn't believe it. She finally had the chance to become a Wonderbolt!

She skimmed the treetops, the wide smile still plastered across her face. She wanted to shout it from the rooftops! Everypony had to know. However, telling everyone town cryer style this early would probably be somewhat frowned upon since everypony was most likely still asleep.

Then she remembered a certain earth pony family that made a habit of being awake at ungodly hours. In her zeal, Rainbow turned sharply, too sharply. A stray wind gust twisted her already tense wing out of place, resulting in an immediate descent into a rather stiff pine tree.

Most would consider hitting every branch on the way down an accomplishment, but Rainbow saw it simply as a boring, if painful, regularity. Once the world stopped spinning, Rainbow shook her head, tentatively rotating her sore wing. There were no twinges or alarming pops, so it seemed there wasn’t any damage.

Working the pain away, and spitting out a mouthful of bark, she took off towards Sweet Apple Acres.

A short, yet controlled flight through the still dawn air ended with Rainbow spotting the outline of a certain red stallion pulling a plow. She grinned, flying towards him, sure he hadn't noticed her above him. Gently, she lowered her hover until Mac felt four light hooves resting on his broad back. Her added weight didn't even break his stride.

"Hey Big," she cooed, lowering her lips to his cheek.

They'd been together for over four months, though they haven't really had time to 'go public' with their relationship, mainly because they didn't go to restaurants or any usual date spots; that wasn't Rainbow's style. She just liked being with him, no matter what they did. In a way, this was a good thing, since the farm took up the bulk of his time. When he was able to get away, he was usually too worn out to do much. It led to a lot of cuddle time, but not much else, and Rainbow was... getting antsy, let's say, to express her feelings for Mac physically.

"Hey Rainbow. You're up early," he said, still a bit red from her display of affection. He'd had mares before her, but something about her was different. Unlike the others, the novelty wasn't wearing off. In fact, every day he spent with her, only left him wanting to spend more.

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep. Remember how I met Soarin again at Shining Armor's wedding?" she asked, still traveling slowly across the field on his back.

"Eeyup, you mentioned it."

He would have accompanied her as her plus one, but with AJ already attending, the farm couldn't mind itself. Still, it was just as well with him, he wasn't much for formal events anyway.

"Well, remember how I said he told me about the tryouts that were coming up?"

"Eeyup."

"Well guess what I got in the mail today!" Rainbow squealed, almost unable to contain her excitement.

Mac stopped pulling the plow and turned his head to her with a smile, expecting good news by her tone alone.

"They want me to try out for the Wonderbolts!" she nearly shouted, her wings flared proudly, still standing atop his back.

"That's great Rainbow! Ah knew they couldn't do without you!"

"I know! I always knew this would happen!" she crowed, throwing her forelegs around Mac's neck, hugging him tightly and giving him one more kiss on the cheek.

"Where's AJ?" she asked once she released him.

The stallion jerked his head toward the center of the property. "She's in th' barn."

Rainbow stood from Mac's back and took flight, leaving him to continue his chores. She landed near the open barn doors as she spied Applejack and Applebloom jarring various apple preserves, no doubt in an attempt to earn a related cutie mark.

"Howdy Rainbow!" Applejack called, taking a break and trusting Applebloom to safely continue the work.

"What in the hay are you doin' up so early?" she asked, taking off her hat and wiping the sweat from her brow.

“I couldn’t sleep,” Dash said breathlessly. “You’ll never believe this. I got an invitation to the Wonderbolts’ training camp!”

"That's amazing Rainbow!"

"I know!" she gushed, hopping happily on her hooves.

"Ah'm happy for ya! When's the tryouts?"

"In two weeks!"

"We'll be sure to hire some help ta watch the farm so we can watch you!"

Dash's excitement began to fade, "Uh...you guys want to watch me?"

"Of course we do! Ah'm sure the other girls'll want ta be there ta support ya too! This is your dream, remember?" AJ teased with a playful hoof to the shoulder.

"Yeah... it didn't say whether or not it was open to the public," Dash began softly. "But even if it isn't, I know you guys would be there if you could!" she added, trying to salvage Applejack's sentiment.

"Well, Ah suppose that's okay. We know you'll blow them away!" AJ answered

"Wow, you're gonna be a Wonderbolt?" Applebloom said, having just joined the conversation.

"You better believe it, kid!"

"Scotaloo's gonna blow a gasket!"

Dash smiled. She knew her number one fan would be over the moon to hear her news. She still had so many ponies to tell! Rainbow didn’t get a chance to lament over that fact, however; her stomach chose the brief silence as a perfect opportunity to growl.

"We still got some breakfast left if you're hungry," Applejack said, knowing she didn't even have to ask if Rainbow was going to take her up on the offer.

Dash nodded before the earth pony had even finished. “Thanks!” she said, before spreading her wings and zipping out of the barn. The wake of her passing nearly blew Applejack’s hat off her head.

Applejack chuckled to herself as she watched the pegasus go. That was certainly the most energetic she’d ever seen her in the morning.

Rainbow stumbled out of Applejack’s kitchen, half-regretting that extra serving of apple pancakes, while at the same time wishing there had been more.

Who else would be awake to hear her news? After a moment, a perfectly obvious answer occurred to her.

Fluttershy! She's always up early taking care of her animals!

Rainbow flew out of an open window in Applejack's kitchen, despite Granny Smith's shouts of protest, and out towards the edge of the Everfree forest.


It turned out that Rainbow’s pegasus friend was in a similar situation. She hadn’t been able to sleep that night either, although for completely different reasons.

Over the last few months, she’d been learning quite a bit about being more assertive, and standing up for herself. But the situation she was finding herself so nervous about had nothing to do with that. Unfortunately, this scenario was much more frightening. There was way more on the line than just having somepony else speak for her.

The cottage suddenly shook as something slammed into her bottom floor, sending a burst of adrenaline through the pegasus’ veins. She bit back a squeal of terror and poked her head over the edge of the loft, half-expecting a timber wolf, or a manticore, or even a—

Oh. It was just Rainbow Dash.

"Fluttershy!" Dash called, shaking the leaves from her mane. "You'll never guess what happened today!"

Though it was early, the timid pegasus was already wide awake, fluttering down to Rainbow's level.

"What happened?"

“I got a letter from the Wonderbolts!” Dash squealed. “Can you believe it? They want me to come to their training camp!”

"Wow, that's great Rainbow!" Fluttershy congratulated. She was happy for her oldest friend, but was glad to see her for another reason.

If anypony could give her some help with her problem, it would be Dash. She was never afraid to say what she thought!

"I know!" Dash smiled, "So what're you doing up so early?"

"Oh, uhm... I couldn't sleep," she admitted.

"Me neither, you got animals to take care of or something?"

"Oh no, I..." What was she doing? She knew she could tell Rainbow anything, and she was most likely to know what to do in such a situation.

Fluttershy sighed. "Rainbow, have you ever... uhm... wanted to tell somepony something, but were too afraid of how they'd react to do it?"

Rainbow had known her long enough to realize when she had a crush. She cut right to the chase.

"Who is he?" she smiled.

Fluttershy blushed madly. She wasn't ready to admit that.

"I uhm... I don't really..."

Rainbow's sharp grin softened, recalling how hard things like this were for her soft spoken pal.

"It's okay, you don't have to tell me," she said comfortingly, "So you're afraid to tell this guy you like him, huh?" she deduced.

Fluttershy stayed silent, yet nodded.

"You're an amazing mare Fluttershy, and whoever he is, he'd be lucky to have you around!"

Rainbow took a step toward her friend, putting a comforting hoof on her shoulder.

"Don't let how he'll react keep you from telling this guy how you feel. Sure, he might not return your feelings, but there is just as much chance he could like you too!"

Fluttershy smiled, thanking Celestia she had a friend like Rainbow to help her improve herself.

"Thanks Rainbow! I'm really happy you get a chance to be a Wonderbolt, I know how much it means to you."

Dash grinned after a hug from her friend as she headed towards the door. After all, the day had just started, and she had more friends to inform of the good news!

"Thanks Fluttershy. See ya!"

Fluttershy closed her door and went to the kitchen to feed Angel, thinking about Rainbow's advice.

Rainbow is right. I should just tell him the next time I see him! As long as nopony else is around... that is... No! The next time you see Big Macintosh, you're going to tell him how you feel, and that's that!


*Regardless of whichever name you choose to address our wall-eyed muffin queen, I think we can all agree there is no way any sane, loving pony parents would name their daughter Derpy. Although Ditzy isn't much better... But Faust has decreed that either name is acceptable.

Next Chapter: 2. Good News Everyone! Estimated time remaining: 6 Hours, 45 Minutes
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