//------------------------------//
// Dash's Tale 
// Story: Lessons Learned 
// by RoyalBardofCanterlot 
//------------------------------//

Rainbow Dash, age six, sank into the warm softness of her cloud bed. It was springy, supporting her wings and little back. She flicked her tail back and forth, watching it. She wondered if it would be possible to suck her tail from this angle. She lifted up and got just the tip of the colorful appendage in her mouth. Immediately, she spat it out. She groaned and rolled over onto her tummy, casting a disdainful glance at the colorful Wonderbolts plushies that had brought her countless hours of enjoyment.

She hopped up from the bed, her hooves sinking into the spongy material. Then she hopped down. Giggles came from her lips as she bounced up and down on the clouds. One particularly high jump brought her near the ceiling. Twisting in midair she bounced her shoulder onto the ceiling and let it knock her back down to the floor. She kicked her legs, squirming with laughter. She jumped up and once more zoomed against the ceiling. The ceiling once more knocked her down to the floor. After three more jumps, she got bored with her game. The filly picked up a plushie of Sky Rider, staring at its blue fur and silver mane. She launched into the air and flew slow circles holding the plushie, making whooshing sound affects. She picked up speed as she flew, the wind stirred up by her flying blowing back her mane and whistling through her feathers. 

Her pace slowed as she made her twelfth loop. Or maybe her eleventh. She wasn't all that good at math. What mystical number came after ten was a vast, undiscovered territory for her. She landed on her pillow, her heart pounding against her rib cage. That had been fun! But her room was so small. There wasn't that much room to fly. So different from the vast, never-ending sky. When she flew in the sky, she could fly forever. Sure, she had never flown by herself. But when she flew alongside her mom and dad, it was so different than flying by herself in her room. Grey, rugged mountains rising up in rocky splendor, ribbons of blue water coursing through the high grass of the meadows, gentle hills and little towns all spread out beneath her.

The wind, her companion, pushed her along, embraced her little body. The sky was without boundaries, without limits. The sky was freedom.A frown marred her face. The sky was currently off limits to her, at least for the duration of the thunderstorm outside. Thunder crashed outside her window, lighting up the sky with a blue glow that illuminated the clouds as power flowed through them.

If she closed her eyes, she could feel the raw power of the storm swirling all around her. It was her Pegasus magic, the call that would only grow stronger as she got older. For some Pegasii, the urge was so strong that they would throw caution to the wind and soar among the lightning. The Storm Riders were second only to the awesomeness of the Wonderbolts in Dash's eyes and that's only because her mom and dad were Wonderbolts and her mom and dad were the best.

She trudged over to her window and pouted as if a pouting filly would make the storm go elsewhere. That simply was not going to happen. The weather factory needed to get rid of the excess clouds, rainwater and lightning and this was how they had to do it. The rain drops beat against her window. She pressed her hand to the glass, feeling the cold. The wind howled all around her house, joining the clashing drums of the thunder in a heavenly heavy metal concert.

Dash stared out, listening and wishing she could fly among the lightning bolts. When she was older she could. When she was older and her magic had developed to the point that lightning wouldn't fry her. Anytime she wanted to do something cool that was the answer.

When you're older, when you're older, when you're older...darn it, when am I going to be older?! She stomped a hoof and her hoof got stuck in the thick clouds. With a grunt she pulled it out and tripped onto her back. She pulled herself up and grumbled at the floor. She returned her attention to the storm outside which showed zero signs of stopping.

The tap of the rain was a constant cadence, a light pounding that almost lulled Dash into taking a nap. Remembering that she had homework to do she went over to her desk, pulled out a few crumpled pieces of paper and remembered that she had done it all last night after nearly forgetting about it. Her dad had promised her they'd fly to Poseidon's Peak if she finished all her homework. Dash grumbled and picked up a math work sheet they hadn't gotten to. It wasn't too difficult and she finished it in about twenty minutes. She was so bored, she even checked her work.

She rested her head on the mahogany desk and sighed heavily. Bored, bored, bored. The desk was cool and hard, but comfortable in its way. A twitching energy tickled her hooves and then her wings which she spread to their full, not-very-impressive extent. Floating into the air, she directed herself towards the door and knocked it open with her shoulder.

The filly darted down the stairs and nearly collided with an older Pegasus stallion with her blue fur and rainbow mane. He caught her and bumped her onto his back. She laughed and wrapped her forelegs around his neck. He bucked a few times, lifting her up and down in the air. Delighted squeals came from her as he let her down. "Good afternoon, Silly Filly. I'm glad to see you chose to came out your room."

The sulky lip returned. "You said we could go to Poseidon's Peak." Her voice was acid.

He tousled her mane. "If the storm lets up, we will."

Her lip trembled, hesitantly turned to a smile. "Promise?"

"Promise."

Her wings wildly fluttered, thrusting her into the air. "Yay!" She danced circles around his head and continued her journey down the stairs where she saw her mom. The pink mare was whistling to herself as she dusted a table. Dash flew by and the dust was kicked up in her wake. Her mom hoofted her the feather duster and in twenty seconds (okay, more like three minutes) the room was completely clean of dust. Firefly patted her daughter's head as she touched down on the floor. "Thanks, Dashie." 

Dash reached up, hugged her mom and rushed off to the kitchen. From the kitchen, she rushed back to the living room and zipped three full circles around the couch.

Firefly smiled at Dash's antics. "You know, I think a Power Ponies episode is on."

Dash almost flopped onto the couch, but she was having too much fun so she kept circling the couch and then angled upwards, shooting up like a rocket. The cloudy ceiling pushed her back. Just before she hit the ground, she snapped her wings open and glided to the floor. Firefly clapped her hooves together. "Very good, Dashie!"

Dash took a bow. "Yeah, I'm awesome!"

Firefly rolled her eyes. "Modest too. Why don't you show me a spiral?"

Dash shot into the air and made several sharp turns as she charged upward. At the top of her ascent she corkscrewed downwards and landed on her hooves (always a plus!).

Dash stretched out her front legs and then her back. She took several steps back and then galloped, leaping over the couch. She leaped again, getting faster and faster each time. 

Firefly frowned and looked out the window. The storm showed no sign of letting up. It was too bad. Being inside was a slow torture for her daughter and she hated to see it. An idea popped into her head. "Say, Dashie. Why don't you go work out with your dad?"

The moment Dash took in the suggestion she was halfway up the stairs. She bounded into her dad's excercise room. Weights and excercise equipment were laid around the room in orderly rows. Blaze laid on a leather seat, lifting up a barbell. Two one-hundred pound weights were on either side of the long pole. Sweat poured down his face and his muscles bulged and rippled as he lifted it.

Dash pounced on his chest. "Hi."

Blaze lifted the barbell again. "Hi, Sweetie."

Dash grabbed hold of the barbell. "Can I do it too?"

Blaze grunted a bit at the extra weight. Dash hopped off his tummy. "Do what?"

Dash sprung onto her hind legs and shadow boxed. "Work out! I don't know how."

Blaze looked around the room. "Sorry, Sweetie. All these weights are too big. I can buy you some filly sized weights."

Dash grumbled to herself.

"But you can do some wing-ups." 

He got into the proper position, lifted just slightly on the tips of his wings. Dash imitated him. Her wings strained just a bit as she followed him down to the floor and lifted back up. She followed him down again. Up and down. Her wings crimped on the fifth wing-up and Blaze quickly caught her. "Enough wing-ups. I'll keep doing'em, you do push-ups. Like wing-ups, but with your forelegs."

Dash got onto her forelegs. Little beads of sweat gathered on her forehead as she held herself up. "Wow, working out is hard!"

He did another wing-up. "It's how you get strong!"

She followed him, going down and struggling to lift back up. Once more, she felt the familiar "go-do-something-else" tingling in her bones. Still, she was determined to do at least five push-ups. With this burning determination, she lifted herself up and down, up and down, up and down like a seesaw until after seven she couldn't do it anymore.

She popped up. "That was fun, but I'm going to go do something else!"

"Have fun!" Blaze shouted as she whooshed out the door. 

As Dash flew down the hallway, she felt herself gathering speed. The wind whipped her hair, a contrail formed behind her as she shot ever forward. Taking a corner, she shot down the stairs and rushed into the living room. Firefly jumped out of the way. "Dash! No flying that fast in the house!"

Dash didn't even attempt to slow down. Instead, she merely accelerated. The air had now formed a perfect cone around her. Her tail lashed around her, each individual hair and feather feeling the wind as she surged closer and closer towards the wall. Firefly screamed as the cone of air expanded, as Dash became a blur of blue. 

A stream of rainbow colors flowed behind her as a loud crack filled the room and then Dash crashed through the wall.

"DASH!"

The explosion knocked Firefly off of her hooves and she slammed into the wall at such a speed that the clouds dissipated. The couch was overturned along with the table. A vase shattered into thousands of purple pieces. The mulitihued explosion filled the room, cut through the wall as if it were made of water. The screen of the TV cracked and then the appliance fell to its doom.

The clouds making up the wall Dash had crashed into simply vaporized, returning to their constituent atoms and drifting away leaving only an absence that had once formed a barrier.

Firefly rocketed like Dash had, searching for her daughter. She found her a few feet outside, staring slackjawed at what she had wrought. She lifted up a hoof, pointed to herself and then at the space where a wall built by her ancetor's hooves and enduring for five centuries had once stood. 

Firefly grabbed her by the ear. There was no question in Dash's mind of what the consequences for this escapade would be. She didn't resist as her mom dragged her by the ear towards what she knew would be a trip across her knee. She only bowed her head and accepted her fate like the stoic Pegasan warriors of old.

The moment Firefly stepped hooves inside she was greeted by her husband. "Dash decided to do a sonic rainboom. Inside."

"I can repair the wall."

"Good."

While Blaze busied himself with the task of spinning out new clouds to keep out the rain, which was slowing, Firefly led the junior miscreant to an armchair. Wordlessly, she bent the filly across her knee. Dash tensed up. The first firm smack landed across her behind and was followed in rapid succession by two more smacks to the right side of her bottom. Dash tried not to kick her legs or squirm or cry as the spanks continued to land across her bottom.

Firefly landed the spanks evenly, pausing a few seconds between each spank, a rythmic cascade of swats across Dash's behind. She fell into a cadence, a rhythm of slaps descending as her hoof connected with Dash's hind end. A sting followed in the wake of each spank that finally made Dash begin to squirm.

Firefly ignored the squirming and began focusing the spanks on the left side of her bottom. She peppered the pegasus' posterior with stinging swats that left an uncomfortable heat beginning to build up in Dash's bottom. Dash jerked around across her mom's knee to no avail. Firefly alternated, switching from spanking the right part of Dash's bottom and then the left part. A few smacks landed across Dash's spit spot that made Dash finally cry out.

Dash held back the tears as Firefly focused the spanks all across her backside, avoiding spanking the same area twice. Her bottom was slowly growing pink. Firefly began swatting the lower part of Dash's butt and moved up to the higher part of her tushy, making sure to smack the fatty part and nowhere near her spine.

She moved the swats to the center of her bottom, landing several firm smacks there. Dash finally broke. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry I broke the vase! I'm sorry I broke the wall a-and the tv and-"

Firefly paused and gave her rump one last spank. "Is there anything else you're sorry for?"

Dash sniffled. "Not listening to you?"

Firefly choked back a wave of nausea. "Oh, Dashie, no...oh, Sweetie..."

She picked Dash up and pulled her into the warm embrace of her hooves and wings. Dash nestled against her and wrapped her hooves around her chest. Firefly nuzzled the top of her head. "Dashie, I love you. More than you'll ever know."

"I love you too, Mommy."

"We can buy a new vase and table and tv-all coming out of your allowance by the way-, but we can't buy a new Dashie. You're so much more precious to me than any vase or material thing. I spanked you because you could have hurt yourself. What if you'd hit something harder than clouds? You could have..." She choked back a second wave of nausea at the thought. "You could have killed yourself. Promise me you won't ever do that again, okay?"

Dash nodded. "Promise."

Blaze stood back from the half-completed wall. "Hey Dash, want to learn how to make clouds?"

With a consenting smile from Firefly, Dash hopped off her lap. She looked up at her dad with tearful dejected puppy-dog eyes."I know I was naughty and don't deserve it, but can we still go to Poseidon's Peak?"

Blaze looked to Firefly who nodded. "I've been looking forward to that trip as much as you and Dash."

Blaze wrapped a hoof around her. "Well, if your mom says its okay, sure."

Dash jumped up and down, hugging her dad's neck. "Yay!"
...
"We spent the rest of the day at the Peak. It was fun and I never did a sonic rainboom in the house again. Why are you all staring at me like that?"

Applejack snickered. "I know what I'm doin' next time you crash into one of my apple trees."

"Or my library."

"Or the windows of the boutique."

Dash chuckled nervously."Okay, I get ya. I'll try to be more careful. Don't go get the paddle.”

Applejack settled into her cushion. "I'm one to talk about bein' careful. Let me tell you about the time I went to the Everfree Forest to be a hermit."