Cool Breeze stomped around the neighborhood of West Filly. He never could be angry in front of his wife or daughter, so he would always excuse himself in order to cool down. Granted, that had been more than a little problematic after his wife passed away and when Lavender was still pretty young, but that was years ago. Now here he was, struggling to comprehend the hole left in his concept of reality.
“How could she just quit?” He muttered, heat still steaming out of his ears. “Why wouldn’t she want to be a Wonderbolt? What did I miss? Ow!”
Cool Breeze didn’t notice the lamp post in front of him—being too distracted by his thoughts—and walked right into it. Holding a hoof to the sore spot, he shook his head in order to clear his vision. Despite some odd looks from other pedestrians, nopony really took notice and continued about their business. Once the world stopped spinning, Cool Breeze noticed he was near a building entitled The Salty Lemon. He sighed and pushed against the door.
The café was rather busy this night, with nearly every table in the room being occupied, each with a drink and some with food and yet the bar itself was surprisingly empty of patrons. Some upbeat jazz music completely opposite to Cool Breeze’s mood was playing in the jukebox. Cool Breeze made his way over to the bar and sat on a stool. The yellow earth pony tending the bar looked up from the glass he was cleaning and his jaw dropped.
“What happened?” Limoncello asked concerned.
Cool Breeze looked up and realized that he forgot his hat at home, so the mark on his forehead was clearly visible—along with his partially bald head.
“It’s nothing,” Cool Breeze sighed. “Just a slight disagreement with a pole. I’ll have a scotch on the rocks; make it a double.”
Limoncello raised a skeptical eyebrow, “you sure about that?”
“Yes, and it’s not a school night, so hop to it!”
With a fury of motions, Limoncello grabbed the right sized glass, put ice and amber colored liquid into it, and put it in front of the blue pegasus. Cool Breeze took the glass and swallowed nearly half of it in one gulp before setting it back down again. He just stared off into space while Limoncello continued to stand behind the bar.
“Listen,” Cool Breeze said suddenly, causing Limoncello to jump slightly. “You’re pretty close to my daughter, right?”
Limoncello blushed slightly before answering in an awkward tone, “Yeah, you could say that.”
“Tell me, what is your impression of her?”
Limoncello’s face now went completely red, “What?”
“What is she like?” Cool Breeze clarified. “What does she do around other ponies when I’m not around?”
“W-well, I guess she’s a pretty strong and capable mare,” Limoncello explained. “She’s smart, temperamental, very determined and loves cleanliness-”
“No, no, no!” Cool Breeze exclaimed. “I already know all that! I’m trying to figure out why she never told me about her feelings against being a Wonderbolt and then lie to me about the whole thing with the Academy.”
` Limoncello’s ears drooped, “Oh, she finally told you about that.”
“Finally?” Cool Breeze parroted. “You mean she’s told you?”
Limoncello nervously rubbed the back of his neck, “Yeah, she did. I didn’t know that she lied to you about the Academy though.”
“Great!” Cool Breeze threw his hooves into the air. “She’ll confide in everypony else except me! What have I been doing wrong? What have I missed?” He leaned against the countertop and put a hoof to his forehead—still fuming over recent events.
Limoncello stared at him for about a minute, unsure of what to say. He thought back to every moment he had with Lavender and everything she ever said to him: her feelings, frustrations and worries. Suddenly, he realized something and gathered up his courage to face the older stallion.
“You want to know the truth about Lavender?” Limoncello asked as Cool Breeze looked back up. “The thing is that everything she has ever done was an effort to please you. The Wonderbolts, track, flight camp; all of it for you. She feels that she owes you so much that she is willing to sacrifice her own joy in order to keep you happy.”
“She doesn’t owe me anything,” Cool Breeze argued.
“But that’s how she feels!” Limoncello put his hoof down to emphasize his point.
Cool Breeze snorted in frustration before draining his glass. None of this was making sense. Why would Lavender feel the need to sacrifice everything just for him? And why was it only now that she decided to make her opinions known?
“Well, thank you for being honest,” Cool Breezed sighed. “I guess I better go, but first-” As he turned to reach for something, another realization came to him and groaned. “I forgot my wallet too!”
Limoncello held up a hoof. “That’s okay, I’ll-”
“NO! I know that you don’t charge my daughter, but I’ll have none of that for me!”
“I was going to say that I’ll put it on a tab,” Limoncello explained. “Then you can come and pay me back by next week.”
“Oh, thanks,” Cool Breeze said, embarrassed. “Well, I’m off to set things right.”
Cool Breeze got up and walked out of the building. Limoncello watched him leave and turn the corner around the store.
“Yeah,” he muttered. “I hope so—for Lavender’s sake.”
***
Lavender stared into the kitchen counter that she had been scrubbing ever since her dad left the apartment. It was so clean that she could see her own reflection in the surface. She was a mess; her mane was completely disheveled, her eyes puffy and red and some snot dripping out of her muzzle that dripped onto the counter. Disgusted, she wiped the countertop clean again, but she wasn’t feeling any better.
“That’s never a good sign,” a voice from behind her stated.
Lavender turned to see her father standing in the entrance to the kitchen. She didn’t even hear him come in. Immediately she turned away as a new batch of tears flooded her eyes.
“I’m s-sorry for yelling at you,” Lavender sobbed.
“I know,” Cool Breeze said comfortingly as he got closer. “I just want to know why you haven’t been honest with me all this time? Why didn’t you tell me you didn’t want to be a Wonderbolt?”
Lavender sat silently for a few moments, only letting out a few audible sniffles. Cool Breeze waited, standing only about a foot away from his daughter. He could hear the rustling of leaves outside, which was odd since it wasn’t windy when he was out. Finally, Lavender looked at his hooves.
“I didn’t want to disappoint you,” she said.
“But why would I be disappointed at you for telling the truth?” Cool Breeze asked.
Lavender sniffed a couple of times and tears ran down her stained cheeks. “B-because you gave up everything…when Mom died…you gave up your position in the Wonderbolts…for me. Then you kept talking about them…I thought I needed to make up for everything I caused you after Mom left.”
“So that’s what this is about,” Cool Breeze stated, finally understanding the issue. “Listen, what happened to Mom was a tragedy. I believe that she would’ve been much better at this sort of thing if she was still here, but that didn’t happen. And while I do miss being a Wonderbolt, I never once regretted my decision to leave. You needed me; and if I had to relive that moment, I would still do the same thing.” He lifted her chin up so they could look each other in the eyes. “Do you understand me?”
Lavender nodded before bawling entirely. “I-I miss her so much!”
Cool Breeze pulled her into a tight embrace and could feel Lavender’s tears dampen his shoulder. “I know, I know. I miss her too.” Tears started falling from his own eyes. “Not a day goes by where I don’t wish she was here. But we still have each other.”
Lavender continued weeping as Cool Breeze stroked her mane. She was surprised that she had any tears left at this point, but they still came out strong and she didn’t hold them back. She felt relieved with every drop shed. Burdens that she had been carrying around for years were slowly being lifted away.
Her father broke the silence between them, “Now, we just got to figure out what you’re going to do with your life.”
“W-well,” Lavender hiccupped. “I could go into cleaning.”
Cool Breeze suddenly tensed up and his grip got tighter. “What!? There’s no way my daughter’s going to be a janit-” He stopped as Lavender started weeping again. He relaxed his grip and spoke in a more soothing tone, “You know what? Let’s not worry about this right now and we’ll discuss it in the morning, okay?”
“Okay,” Lavender responded. She opened her eyes and saw a flash of indigo light disappear from outside the window. A smile crept on her face for the first time since the previous day.
***
High in the night sky over Fillydelphia, a sparkling trail of indigo magic morphed into a solid mass. The dark figure circled the city airspace for a moment before banking westward, towards Canterlot. Luna smiled.
“Fair thee well, Lavender. Fair thee well.”