Preface
“Only unicorns can do magic!” This was something Tempest heard a lot in Cloudsdale “and only pegasi can fly! So pull your head out of the clouds!” Born to pegasi parents and being an Earth pony is difficult enough, but being the only earth pony in Cloudsdale is torturous. He looked up at his scornful teacher, who took his picture he had drawn of him and his sister flying him
“that’s kind of impossible, since we live in the clouds.”
His reply generated some giggles from his classmates, much to Ms. Kicker’s chagrin.
“So you think your pretty smart, huh Tempest? Well how would you like me to send a letter to your father?”
Tempest’ eyes widened with fear. He would rather die than have to deal with his dad.
Tempest slowly walked home, awaiting the hell that lie ahead. His father, Turbo Blitz, was an ex-wonderbolt. Once considered a flying prodigy, he was offered scholarships to flight academies across Equestria, before being offered a chance to be a Wonderbolt cadet and the chance to be captain of the Wonderbolts. But that dream all came crashing down when he spun out of control and crashed into a side wall at the speed derby in Canterlot, breaking his left hind and foreleg as well as every bone in his wing. The accident wrecked his entire flying career, and almost left him unable to fly. His body recovered eventually, but his mind never really did. The brash, egotistical athlete turned into an abrasive, abusive alcoholic with severe depression. Tempest often felt he got the brunt of his father’s anger, mostly because his only son couldn’t fly. The front door of his house crept up. The door wasn’t open, so that meant he had beat his dad home, and his mom was there. He stepped into the door and saw his mom. She was thin, with a magenta coat and light blue mane.
“ Hi mom.”
Firefly looked at her young son. Even though he was only a colt about the age of 10, he was almost as tall as his mother. She always had a happy look on, even though it was feigned most of the time. Her husband’s raging anger had taken its toll on her. Tempest could see the inner sadness she kept in her eyes.
“How was school?” maybe she never sent the letter. **CRASH!**
“Where the hell is that colt?” Nevermind. Blitz had come through the door, slamming it wide open. He glared at Tempest
“Are you Stupid?” . He kicked him this time, leaving him on the ground. “Get your shit packed, Colts like you don’t live in my house” Tempest had had enough.
“This for one silly comment?” Blitz then turned around and hoofed him in the face.
" DON'T YOU FUCKING TALK BACK TO ME! I WILL KICK YOUR ASS!" “Blitz, that is enough! THAT’S ENOUGH!” He ignored his wife, and shoved Tempest out the door, then tossing the young colt’s school bag at him.
Tempest sat on the porch outside the house while he listened to his parents fight. He thought to himself about how he hated his dad, hated the shots in his flank that let him walk on clouds and hated cloudsdale. He really wished his dad would just die or go away or something.
Why won’t he just fall in a vapor processor or something? This was a pretty common occurence. His Dad came home from work, drank half a bottle of scotch and went psycho on everyone. Even Rainbow Dash isn't spared. Tempest' little sister often gets hurt by her father as well. She's only about 5, yet Blitz has no problem shoving her and slapping her. One instance, she stepped in his way, so he grabbed her by the foreleg and flung her into the wall. The little filly was incredibly strong though. She was already a great flyer and athlete. She could often dodge Blitz's shots. Tempest spent a lot of time with his little sister. Often he was there for her more than her Dad. He tried to teach her to be strong the only way he knew how. Tempest taught her how to play baseball, hoofball, wrestling, and even flying. He had read hundreds of books on flying, and taught her what the books taught him. He taught her how the nose is the guide and to point it where she wanted to go, or how straightening her body helped her go faster. She was gifted at flying, and she'll easily be the best in her class. The door opened, and Tempest floated back into reality.
“I am sick and tired of your bullshit, Blitz!” The male pegasi didn’t want to hear it
“Oh I see how it is!”
“Do you? Do you really? Because you treat me, Tempest and Rainbow like garbage, and think its no big fucking deal!” Firefly had finally had enough of her husband’s behavior. The drinking, the abuse, cheating on her, lying to her, she could handle that; But no one hurts her children.
“I am taking the kids and leaving!”
“Oh yeah, sure, fine, fuck you, leave then. And you can take him, but she’s not going anywhere” Blitz wasn’t about to let go of one of his prized possessions. But Firefly refused.
“Rainbow is coming with me too!” Scooping Rainbow Dash up and holding the little filly in her foreleg.
“SHE IS MINE!!” Blitz threw himself at Firefly, but she held her ground. She thrust her hoof right into his jaw, knocking him into the ground. She then turned and ran with Rainbow on her back. Tempest followed his Mom, running faster than he ever had. He wasn’t the greatest athlete. He loved sports, but was more of an Intellectual. He read countless books and was highly intelligent, but was often held back by his own stubbornness and the poor quality of education in Cloudsdale. He was bullied by the other foals, taking his glasses, picking him up and flying him before dropping him, things of that nature. He was just glad to be finally leaving.
The three finally reached the Zeppelin port. The airships were generally the only way out of Cloudsdale for non-pegasi. The pony behind the counter got on the intercom “8 o’clock flight to Chicacolt is boarding” They left at around 8pm, as the sun was going down. The sight was quite beautiful. Tempest always loved the twilight. It was the time when night and day was united, and the light seemed to bleed out of the sky. Slowly the darkness overtook the light, and the glowing moon showed itself. He saw the moonlight reflecting off the lakes on the ground. That was the last thing he remembered before falling asleep.
5 YEARS LATER
Tempest had spent the last 6 years with his sister, going between Cloudsdale and Chicacolt. They lived with his Grandparents and mother, as well as living with their Dad due to a court ruling. Rainbow Dash spent more time in Cloudsdale then him, due to being a Pegasus. She has friend named Fluttershy, a shy little Pegasus filly. The two were complete opposites, yet they seemed to get along. At least she had a good friend, even if Rainbow had to be Fluttershy’s attack dog. Tempest had changed quite a lot too. He had grown quite tall for his age, and was still growing. He was almost a whole head than his mother, but extremely thin. He had also learned much since he was nine as well. At 11, his test scores placed him in a college level in most disciplines, and he already knew more in some subjects than his teachers did, yet he was a horrendous student. His grades were all D’s and F’s; and his teachers often found him doodling on his desk. Why should I have to sit here? I know these things already. Tempest spent most of his time reading books and playing baseball to stay away from his dad.
That was until, his Dad sunk lower than ever thought before.
“The courts are going to take them away if you keep this up.” Blitz’s lawyer stated “The colt is failing and depressed and the filly is starting fights in school while she’s with you.”
Blitz didn’t want to hear it. He wasn’t about to admit any fault. What did he do wrong, anyway? He gave them a house and food, what more did they want? It was that ungrateful mare’s fault. She should be lucky he even graced her with his presence. A Wonderbolt and the best at that! I should be getting back at her! She did this to me! “You need to make them do better if you’re going to make a difference in the court’s eyes” Blitz thought for a moment.
“Thank you, you’ve been very helpful” Blitz said to his lawyer with a fake smile. Fuck him. What does he know? Takes his 350 bits an hour of my money just to patronize me. Blitz left the front door of the office, and took off for home.
Blitz came home and went right to his cabinet. He had been saving some scotch for himself. He quickly chugged a quarter of the bottle and walked through the house. He found Tempest in his room, on his bed reading The Physics of Flight. “Hey son! What are you up to?” Tempest was taken off guard. His Dad was never this nice. Unless maybe he just got a new fancy toy or something to that effect
“Uhhh…nothing serious, just reading this book I got from the library” Blitz looked at Tempest. He saw that his son seemed taken aback by his kinder-than-usual tone. Blitz perfected his Classic dad tone, and often used it to patronize and subjugate.
“So son, did you do your homework?” Tempest was more frightened than before. When did he start caring?
“Uhhhh…” Tempest’ voice trembled “no.” Blitz’s demeanor changed like a light switch.
“What do you mean ‘no’?” his grin turned to a more stoic look.
“I mean no, I didn’t do my homework” Blitz was losing his patience with Tempest. Why is he talking back to me?. “Why not?” The sharpness in Blitz’s tone could cut through steel. Tempest felt the hits coming.
He braced for impact. Except, maybe, not. I’m done with this, I don’t need his garbage anymore.
“Well, when did you start caring?”
That sentence was the worst thing Tempest could have said. Blitz leaped across the bed and swung at Tempest as hard he could. Tempest jumped back, dodging his dad’s shots. He was taller than his dad at this point, yet still managed to dodge haymaker after haymaker.
Rainbow Dash just got home from school after playing a game of pick up hoofball with her friends. She scored a touchdown, and won a race at recess, making her day nothing short of awesome. Her brother told her to stay at school and play with friends to stay away from her abusive father. “Bro, Dad, I’m home!” The 10 year old little filly grabbed something to drink from the fridge and went to sit down, when she heard her dad yelling at her brother. Uhhhhh, what now? Her dad was always mad about something. But this sounded different, more serious. She set her juice box down, and walked towards the door to her brother’s room. She grabbed the door handle and opened.
Blitz was infuriated, and swung as hard as he could at his son. Tempest saw his dad’s punch coming from a high angle and simply dropped to the floor to dodge it. Blitz hit something else. A loud welp was heard and Rainbow was sent 3 feet down the hallway. The little filly lies on the floor crying after being punched right in the eye by her dad. She was tough, but that would hurt anypony. Blitz paused for a moment, looking at her.
He looked at Tempest and said “LOOK WHAT YOU DID!” looking back at Rainbow, more worried about how he’d get in trouble. That was until something with tremendous force hit him right in the side of the face, knocking Blitz into the wall, and giving him a huge scratch across the face. Tempest stood there, panting. He just bucked his dad in the face as hard as he could. He just fought back. He fought the biggest bully in his life. He looked at his dad on the ground.
“I’M NOT TAKING YOUR GARBAGE ANYMORE!” Blitz looked at his son from the ground.. He was about to get up to hit Tempest, when a better idea hit him first. He just got up, dusted himself off and glared at Tempest
“Fine then, I’m going to the bar. ” Blitz simply walked out of the front door, stepping over his crying daughter. Tempest scooped her up and held her as the two sat in the hallway, calming themselves after a triumphant moment. The triumph wouldn’t last though.
6 years later, Canterlot
Tempest sighed and looked out the window. It was a warm, rainy spring night in Canterlot. He had gotten home from baseball practice, it was around 7 pm and he was calmly reading a book. A lot had happened since that fateful day in Cloudsdale. When Blitz said he was going to the bar, he came back with two Royal Guards. He told them Tempest attacked him and Rainbow, and they detained the young colt. Tempest was hospitalized for several weeks, and although the Doctors cleared him, the damaged had been done. The siblings were split, and Tempest was sent to live with his mother permanently. He went through intensive therapy, and eventually got his life back in order. He managed to fight depression off, and rediscovered his love of learning. He attended community college, and got the straight A’s everypony always knew him capable of. After that he transferred to the University of Canterlot, the most illustrious school in Equestria. Not all the effects were shaken though. He still had depressive spells, and sometimes fits of anger, as well as constantly worrying about his sister. He wrote to her weekly. She had told him about doing a sonic rainboom and sent him pictures from her junior speedster camp. She sent him many letters over the years. She also said that Dad was getting worse. Tempest encouraged her to join as many sports in school as possible, that would help her stay away from him. She was doing very poorly in school though, and was getting into trouble as well.
Tempest put his book down and went up to use the bathroom, when there was a knock on the door. He turned around and went up to the door. What he opened the door to would be seared into his mind forever.
On his doorstep was Rainbow Dash, beaten, rain soaked and bloody. She had a black eye and was crying.
“I…I...didn’t know where else to go.” Tempest quickly flung the door open and helped his sister inside.
“Faust in heaven, what happened? What did he do, what did that Son of a Bitch do to you?” He set Rainbow on the couch and looked on a map for the nearest hospital. “Are you okay, how hurt are you?” Tempest was running back and forth in his small, one bedroom apartment looking for band-aids. He found the first aid kit and began cleaning her up. “What happened?” he had a look of genuine fright and concern. Rainbow looked at her brother, somewhat ashamed.
“I got kicked out of Flight school. Dad found out, and he went berserk. He called me a failure, and just started wailing on me. I managed to dodge his shots but he managed to land one on my face, and they just kept coming. I finally got loose and just started flying”
Tempest was torn up inside. He knew something like this would happen eventually. He put a blanket over her, and sat down in front of her. She cried more. Her dreams, aspirations, family, everything was destroyed. She would never be a wonderbolt, and she was the failure Dad always said she was
Why? What did I do?
Tempest saw the look of despair in his sister’s eyes. It’s a look he knew well himself. A feeling that world had just come to an end.
He sat next to her, threw his hoof around her shoulders and wrapped her blanket tighter. “I know it seems like the world is over, like you just died, but the only time you truly lose in life is when you give up on yourself. You can’t quit; not now, not ever.” He hugged his sister tighter, not unlike the time nearly six years ago.
Rainbow felt comfort for the first time in a long time. Well, I still have my brother.