"We've covered a lot so far, Ms. Dash," Dr. Mindmender gently said, "but in order to help you move on, I need to know what happened from you. Remember I'm here to help you, not to judge you."
"But my friends already told you what happened, so why do you need to hear it from me?" Thunder Dash asked him.
"Because hearing it from you will allow me to help you deal with any guilt that you are feeling," the chestnut brown unicorn responded
"I disagree that it would help me, but if you insist," Thunder Dash reluctantly began. "It was beautiful spring day..."
"What's the matter, Mom? Old age catching up with you?" teased Thunder Dash as she did corkscrews around her mother.
"I'm just taking it easy today. I don't want to sprain anything," Rainbow Dash laughed. "Plus it's been a while since I let you outdo me."
"You're joking, right?" Thunder Dash said, raising an eyebrow. "I've been flying circles around you, literally, for almost two weeks now. What's going on, Mom?"
"Ok, fine," admitted Rainbow. "I have been feeling sluggish lately and because of that, I've been saving energy for your wedding with Sunrise."
"What are you talking about, Mom?"
"I'm planning on doing a very beautiful, but difficult stunt for the end of your ceremony," replied Rainbow Dash.
"You're gonna do a Sonic Rainboom?" Thunder Dash said excitedly.
"Well, not exactly," said Rainbow quietly.
Dejected, Thunder Dash asked her mother, "So what exactly were you planning to do, then?"
"I am planning on doing one of my old Wonderbolt stunts. One that no pony has seen since I retired," Rainbow Dash said with a smile.
The expression on Thunder Dash's face changed immediately from disappointment to elation when she realized what Rainbow Dash had in mind.
"Hold on a sec. You mean to tell me that you're going to do a Rainboom Splash?!" she shouted.
"Yeah, surprise," Rainbow again said softly.
"That is so awesome!" Thunder exclaimed. "Now it all makes sense why you insisted we have a lakeside wedding at Ponyville Park."
"So you were having a mother-daughter day and were discussing the wedding," verified Dr. Mindmender as he made notes on his clipboard.
"That's right," Thunder Dash replied.
"That's nothing to be ashamed of. I would probably be just as excited as you were," stated the unicorn.
"I know but that's not the end of the story..."
Rainbow Dash and her daughter landed softly on the grass of Ponyville Park. As soon as they settled on the ground, Thunder Dash started to dig at the ground with her hoof.
"Thunder? What's wrong?" Rainbow Dash asked with a concerned look.
"Mom, I have something to get off mind," Thunder Dash began. "I have been wanting to know how to pull off a Sonic Rainboom to impress Sunrise. I've seen you do it all the time in the Wonderbolts shows and I was wondering...."
"If I could teach you how to pull it off?" finished Rainbow Dash.
"Yes, exactly!"
Rainbow was at a loss for words and could only stare at her in silence. She had tried to teach the fastest Wonderbolt cadet from each class how to create a Sonic Rainboom but nopony was anywhere near fast enough. Now her daughter, who was nowhere near as fast as any of the cadets, was asking her the same thing.
"Mom? Hello? You ok?" Thunder Dash said as she waved her forehoof in front of her mother's face.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Rainbow said as she snapped out of her trance. "It's just, well, I tried to teach the Rainboom to numerous pegasi over the years and nopony has been fast enough to pull it off.
"But Mom, I am fast enough," Thunder insisted.
"No offense but I've seen your top speed and Scootaloo could probably run circles around you."
"Have you seen me when I fly with my friends, Mom?" Thunder Dash asked, slightly annoyed. "We race each other all the time, with me winning every time. I don't fly anywhere near as fast with you."
"Seriously?" Rainbow Dash replied, somewhat surprised. "You've been sandbagging all these years?
"Yeah, I have," Thunder said sheepishly.
A devious grin appeared on Rainbow Dash's face. "Well then, let's race to see how fast you really are. Go on the count of three, ok?"
"Alright," agreed Thunder Dash.
"Three!" shouted Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow Dash took off toward the sky in a flash of color, while Thunder Dash bolted after her being trailed by a deafening thunderclap.
Rainbow heard the rumbling from her daughter's wake closing the distance behind her. She looked over her shoulder to see a steel gray blur closing fast. Rainbow turned back around and put on an additional burst of speed to put distance between herself and Thunder Dash.
As she saw her mother begin to put distance between them, Thunder Dash thought to herself, No way, Mom. I'm going to do whatever it takes to prove I'm just as fast, if not faster, than you.
After another clap of thunder, she began to close the distance on her mother, until Rainbow made a seamless 90 degree turn upward toward the sky. Thunder Dash wasn't as skilled at such maneuvers, she had to slow down slightly to be able to make the same directional change.
The next couple minutes seemed to move in slow motion for Thunder Dash. While Rainbow Dash had her head turned to see how far ahead she was, another pegasus just happened to inadvertently fly in front of her and clipped Rainbow's right wing, shattering it instantly. The other pegasus tumbled a few dozen yards before recovering. Rainbow Dash wasn't as lucky, as she fell to the ground.
Rainbow Dash instinctively tried flapping her wings to recover, but when only the left one moved, she fully unfurled it in the hopes that she could use it as a parachute. Instead, it put her into a tailspin that accelerated her descent.
After shooting past her mother, Thunder Dash stopped and watched thinking Rainbow Dash was pulling off a Wonderbolt stunt as a way of showing off until she heard something faint come from Rainbow Dash mere seconds before hitting the ground:
"HELP ME!"
A pale green aura surrounded Dr. Mindmender's horn as he levitated a box of tissues over to the couch where Thunder Dash was laying.
"Ms. Dash, from what you yourself just told me, this seems like a combination of coincidences and bad timing," Dr. Mindmender told her. "It's not your fault. Your father and your friends do not blame you for your mother's death. In fact, they are the ponies that you need to be open with if you want to get through this."
"It just hurts so much though," Thunder said with tears in her eyes. "I should've known something was wrong but I just hovered there until she hollered for help. By then I was... was..."
"You couldn't have known in the short amount of time what happened," reassured Dr. Mindmender. "As we've already discussed, this was just a freak accident."
The two ponies continued their discussion for another thirty minutes until Thunder Dash's session was finished.
"Ms. Dash, I'd like to continue these sessions for a few more weeks, at least," Dr. Mindmender told her as she got up to leave. "I know that this memory was difficult on you and it will be hard to deal with. But if you need to speak with me, my office is always open."
"Thanks, doctor," Thunder Dash said as she shook his hoof and left the office.
"Applejack?" Thunder Dash asked with a surprised look on her face as she walked through the waiting area. "What are you doing here?"
Feeling her cheeks starting to burn from embarrassment, Applejack responded, "Well, ya see, Applebloom an' Big Mac say that I have..."