[Backdated to Friday/Open]

[elementofloyalty]

[Not everyone was off having a grand old time at the Homecoming Dance.]

[For example, take this pegasus pony, who -- after clearing the clouds out from around Balamb as promised -- has snuck a purloined cumulus into the Training Center. Not terribly deep inside, but high enough to be out of range of danger, she lies on her cloud and looks miserable.]

[She is, after all, clearly not cool enough to go to the stupid dance where no one wants her around anyone and it's not like she has anyone to impress so she gets an invite onto the Wonderbolts so why should she bother even showing up.]

[Stupid dance. Stupid Garden. She's way too cool for ANY of them.]

Comments

[elementofloyalty]

...You really think so?

[It isn't that she wants a date, it's that she wants attention and respect and awe. If she can get it by performing... even if no one thought she was cool enough to bid on...]

[morphitudinous]

I'm sure of it. It's simple mathematics. Most of those people have one person's attention due to the way dates work. You'll easily have more than one pair of eyes.

[elementofloyalty]

[Her face falls, straight down to pained disbelief.] Seriously, did you just try to prove being cool with math?

[morphitudinous]

[Billy shrugs helplessly, staring up at the same pony who once quantified her coolness with a percentage that was bound to be inaccurate. Not that he knew that.]

Why not? Everyone uses math. And if everyone's using it properly, you'll get the same answer no matter who's running the calculations. It'll be a fact.

[elementofloyalty]

Coolness isn't about MATH. You can't compare the two!

Ugh. Have you ever met Twilight? Because if you haven't, you should.

[morphitudinous]

I think I've heard of her. She's studious, right?

[Billy shrugged, faint embarrassment on his face.] It was worth a try.

[elementofloyalty]

Yeah, what you just said is exactly the sort of thing she'd say.

[Which is perhaps why Rainbow, despite her attitude over the math, actually seems to have lightened up just a bit.]

[morphitudinous]

Then I'll have to introduce myself. Maybe I'll see her in one of my classes!

[He smiles in response. There, that's something.]

But you're too cool for a class like that.

[elementofloyalty]

Which class is that? [If she ever knew, she's forgotten.. unsurprisingly.]

[morphitudinous]

Engineering.

[Most probably not her interest. He smiled awkwardly.]

But you're doing well everywhere else, right?

[elementofloyalty]

Oh pbbbbt. [She rolls her eyes, waving a hoof dismissively.] I took that first quarter!

[morphitudinous]

[This is a jaw-drop. Billy is impressed and embarrassed in one shot.]

That's great. What's your focus now?

[elementofloyalty]

Piloting, of course!

[Admittedly, she never, ever would have taken Engineering if it wasn't a requirement for that specialization. Nor had she done nearly as well as she tried to imply with that casual dismissal.]

[morphitudinous]

I should've guessed, with all that flight experience.

[He didn't have to know. He just smiled.]

So you're coming to show off your superior piloting, right?

[elementofloyalty]

Haven't learned how, yet. Still gotta go through all the basic stuff before they let me behind the... whatever it is planes have.

[And this is exactly WHY they make her go through that basic stuff.]

[morphitudinous]

[Billy nodded. Good---so vehicle safety was still followed. Always good to hear.]

That wasn't the kind of piloting I was referring to. It's the wrong word, but...I thought you were piloting yourself across the sky tonight.

[elementofloyalty]

Flying. You're thinking of flying.

[She hops off the cloud into midair, then turns a loop around it casually.]

[morphitudinous]

[That sound is Billy slapping his forehead. Amazing how the simplest things could slip the mind.]

Right. So you'll fly for everyone.

[elementofloyalty]

I practically do that every DAY here.

[She sighs.]

Maybe I'm just too common to be awesome.

[morphitudinous]

[Billy blinks at her. And blinks again.]

Rainbow Dash? You're a pegasus. With a rainbow mane. You're anything but common in this world, and I don't even need to use math to prove that. I'm sure you have a new flight pattern up your sl---in your head.

[elementofloyalty]

Yeah... I mean, I do have a new routine ready and all...

[morphitudinous]

So it'll be something they've never seen before!

[Billy nods his approval.]

[elementofloyalty]

But maybe they don't even notice it's different! What if all they see is, "oh, that pony is flying again"?

[morphitudinous]

They will if it's different enough. They're intelligent people, and so are you.

[elementofloyalty]

You really think so...?