//------------------------------// // Shame // Story: Lavender's Plight // by theNDinspector //------------------------------// Lavender paused halfway up a flight of stairs in the apartment building—she refused to use the elevator. Every step felt heavier than the last, but not due to fatigue. She could have just flown up—it certainly would have been faster—but a part of her resisted facing what would at least be utter disappointment from her father. “I don’t know if I can do this,” Lavender muttered as she stared into the rectangular steps in front of her; one of them bore a small crack on the surface. She continued to stare at it while another distant memory came to the front of her mind. *** “You’re up Lavender!” A purple filly poked her head out from the top of a cloud pillar. Bellow her was an obstacle course that only the former Wonderbolt that was her father could design. There were hoops at varying heights, some clouds to avoid and some added wind. It didn’t have the large turbines or storm conditions that the Wonderbolts’ “famous air obstacle course” did, but it was certainly intimidating for a young pony. It didn’t help that her dad was coaching the flight camp class. “You’re not giving up on me now, are you?” Cool Breeze yelled up at her. Lavender’s muscles tensed and held her breath at the sound of those words. “No Dad!” “Good,” Cool Breeze shouted his approval. “You need to finish what you started. Now let’s move it!” Lavender gulped as she took one last look at the entirety of the obstacle course. ‘Okay, you can do this. Just go.’ Lavender spread out her little wings and leaped of the pillar, taking flight. Once she was airborne the course seemed to come naturally to her. She adjusted her flight path to go through the rings—even doing some loops around a couple of them. The wind blew her a little off course, but she managed to press forward and hit all of her marks and avoid the clouds. Soon, she was at the end of the course and landed besides her dad and the other colts and fillies that had already completed the course. A few of them clapped half-heartedly, but most just looked away as if she didn’t exist. “Twenty-five seconds,” Cool Breeze exclaimed as he ruffled Lavender’s mane with his hoof. “I knew I could count on my ‘Number One Flyer’ to get the best time. Just what I expect from a future Wonderbolt.” Lavender blushed as she saw even more angry glares from the faces of her peers. ‘Why does he have to do this to me?’ “All right, now everypony gets to go again,” Cool Breeze announced, immediately followed by a collective set of groans. *** Lavender turned her attention from the crack in the stair step to her cutie mark. It showed a flower with a cluster of violet and blue pedals at the top. She never felt any passion for being an elite flyer like her dad. It was more apparent to ever her since she got her cutie mark. No matter what her dad thought, it just wasn’t the mark for a Wonderbolt. Yet here she was, in the middle of the stairs—debating on finally confronting the pony who raised her. ‘We spent years working for this.’ ‘But you’re not happy with it.’ ‘I can’t just let him down.’ ‘But what will it prove?’ ‘He gave up everything because of me. It’s the only way to make up for all of it.’ ‘But you lied to him. He’s going to find out sooner or later.’ Lavender sighed and resumed walking up the stairs—those last words still echoing in her mind in a strangely regal tone. She soon reached the familiar sight of the front door to her dad’s apartment. Lavender paused for a moment to look at the doorknob, before sliding her key into it and open the door. At first, the apartment seemed empty despite the fact that the lights were on in the kitchen and dining area. Lavender could feel sweat on her brow as she slowly turned the corner towards the light. She found her father sitting at the table with his hooves pressed together as he leaned forward on it, facing the hallway. He wasn’t wearing his hat, so she could clearly see his maneline stop about halfway up his head. “Lavender, please sit down.” Cool Breeze motioned to the chair on the opposite side of him. His voice seemed calm, but Lavender recognized a tone of disappointment and confusion in it. Lavender took the empty seat at the table. She tried to look into her father’s eyes, but found it difficult to meet his gaze. Instead she looked down at the table in between them. There was an opened envelope on the table and a piece of paper. Glancing quickly at the enveloped showed the unmistakable seal of the Wonderbolts. Lavender’s heartbeat quickened. “What’s the meaning of this?” Cool Breeze slide the paper across the table. Lavender picked it up and began to read: Dear Cool Breeze, I know I probably should be calling you Lieutenant, but we’re friends and you’ve moved on to other things in your life. I’m pretty sure we can let this one slide since I’m not really talking about “official” Wonderbolt business. Anyways, I’d like to talk about your daughter. From what Soarin tells me, Lavender is quite the flyer and definitely takes after you. She even had a great performance at the end of initial training this past week. It was one of the better ones. I guess you really trained her well in that regard. But there is also something else very interesting that she get from you: following her heart. It’ll certainly be a shame not having her around to continue that legacy of yours, but everything has to end sometime I guess. I hope you’re not taking everything too hard, but I’m sure you’ll understand. You did the same thing for her after all. Your old friend and captain, Spitfire Lavender gulped. The one positive thing was that she didn’t really have to break the news to her father, but she now faced the daunting task of having to explain herself. Looking up into her father’s icy stare she feared that, somehow, this was going to be worse. “What did she mean by ‘not having her around?’ ” Cool Breeze was still frowning as he looked into Lavender’s eyes. “What aren’t you telling me?” A chill went down Lavender’s spine as her breathing became much more labored. There was no avoiding the issue anymore. She had to tell the truth, and it was going to hurt. “I…I quit the Wonderbolts,” Lavender finally said after heaving some more. Cool Breeze fell silent. The only thing that moved were his eyes getting wider at Lavender’s confession. There simply was no other way to put her words since that is exactly what she did, in a matter of speaking. Lavender could no longer bear to look into her father’s eyes; instead, she focused on the corner of the table. She could tell that her father was still processing her words, and dread threatened to overwhelm her. She wished he would just say something, anything; the silence was too much for her to handle. “You…quit?” Cool Breeze finally managed to ask. Lavender glanced back at him and could see lines creasing in his increasingly large forehead. She could tell that he was trying to reign in his anger, but Cool Breeze was failing to keep his composure. “How could you quit? I thought I taught you to always see things through to the end!” “I know,” Lavender whimpered. “It’s just…I can’t do this anymore.” “Do what?” Cool Breeze stood up and paced back and forth on his side of the table. “Be a Wonderbolt? You excelled every test at flight camp, trained throughout school and signed up for the academy. I thought that you wanted to be a Wonderbolt!” “But I didn’t want that; you did!” Lavender stood up and began shouting back, tears falling down her face. She pointed a hoof at her father, “You were the one who had me train nonstop and told me what future I could have as a Wonderbolt; a future you could never have! You never once asked me what I wanted!” “But you never said anything against it.” “Well, maybe you should have paid better attention!” Cool Breeze’s jaw dropped. “Paid better…I’m your father! I raised you! How could I not pay attention?” “Well you didn’t and the evidence is right there!” Lavender slapped her hoof on the letter. Cool Breeze glared at both the letter and Lavender. His nostrils flared as he breathed heavily. He struggled to say something as he looked at the young mare he thought to be dependable and diligent. He tried to calm down but his anger was getting the better of him. “I can’t…I just can’t,” he muttered. “I need to step out for a moment.” With that, he walked out of the dining area. Lavender heard the entrance door slam as her father left the apartment. “Well, I finally did it.” Lavender sat back down at the table, put her head into her forelegs and wept.