//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: Flurry Heart's Story: Calming of the Storm // by AleximusPrime //------------------------------// Stormy continued to loom over Spitfire. He had his arms crossed and still looked very angry. The other Wonderbolts were confused at what they had just heard. Spitfire felt humiliated. She knew this wasn’t true, but she couldn’t understand why Rainbow Dash’s own son threw such an accusation at her. She struggled to respond to him. “You…you think I kicked your mom out of the Wonderbolts?” she asked. “Yes, that’s the reason she’s no longer in it!” he barked at her. The guards let Scootaloo and the others by since they could already tell Stormy belonged to them. “Spitfire, I’m sooooo sorry about this!” Scootaloo said, rushing in between them. “Stormy, come on, you know Spitfire would never do that to your mother!” Spike said. “Stormy, is this the reason you wanted me to run off with you to the show?” Flurry asked. “Yes, Flurry. Mommy was a great Wonderbolt, but she had no reason to leave so Spitfire must have kick-“ “Storm Streak?! Is that you?!” Stormy stopped talking and looked up to see where the voice came from. He saw Rainbow Dash hovering in the air as she held Misty Blitz. She was with both of her parents, Windy Whistles and Bow Hothoof. They both appeared scared, but Rainbow did not look happy with what she was seeing. She motioned for Windy to hold Misty while she would handle Stormy. She flew down and landed in front of her son to talk with him. Stormy finally landed on the ground. He was a bit scared at first that his mother had found him like this, but his expression quickly returned to anger. He wasn’t going to give up on Spitfire just yet. “Storm, what are you doing here? I told you to stay home!” she said, firmly. “I came to tell her off, Mommy!” he said, pointing to the Captain of the Wonderbolts. “I’m sorry, Dash. I don’t know what’s gotten into him.” Spitfire said, nervously. “Don’t be sorry, Spit. My son’s got some explaining to do.” “Mommy, she kicked you out! I just know it!” Stormy began to explain to his mother. “Storm, I told you, I quit the Wonderbolts myself. Your father told you that too.” “No Mommy, you wouldn’t just quit the Wonderbolts. You were so good at it, you had no reason to quit!” “Had no reason?” Rainbow Dash stood and thought for a second. She realized now that her son had taken her retirement rather badly, he just didn’t realize why she did it. He never told her how angry he was about it so she figured he understood, but she didn’t think he would blame it on Spitfire. He clearly had this day planned for a while now. “Storm, I did have a reason: I quit because you guys needed me. I needed to be a stay-at-home mom.” she explained. “You…you did it because of us?” Stormy said, puzzled. “Yeah, I couldn’t tackle being both a Wonderbolt and a mother at the same time so I decided to retire early and stick with my family.” Stormy looked down at the ground and thought hard, but he couldn’t figure it out. At seven years, he hadn’t really understood the importance of what his mother was saying. He thought for certain he was right about Spitfire, but he was in disbelief that his mother would actually willingly quit something she was so good at. It made him almost feel disappointed in her. “I don’t understand. You’re not a quitter, Mommy.” “Stormy, here, this might help.” Flurry said, walking in next to him with the Journal of Friendship. “First of all, you know your mother was the Element of Loyalty once, right?” “Yeah, one of the Elements of Harmony. She’s told me all about her adventures: how she beat bad guys like Lord Tirek.” “Yes, that’s right, but here’s how she did it…” She opened the book up to a page that showed pictures of Rainbow Dash getting ready for the Equestria Games at Rainbow Falls. Stormy couldn’t read very big words just yet so she had to explain things for him from the book. “Back when she and her friends were representing Ponyville for the Equestria Games, the Wonderbolts offered for her to join their team since they thought she’d be better off with them, but in the end, she had to choose Ponyville. She had to choose loyalty. If it weren’t for her decision, she wouldn’t have gotten the Wonderbolts pin from Spitfire, which was one of the six keys they needed to beat Tirek. Don’t you see? If she hadn’t remained true to her Element of Harmony…” “Then Tirek would have won.” Stormy said, finishing her sentence as he started to realize what she was talking about. “Exactly!” “But how does that mean she should have quit the Wonderbolts?” “Because she loves you, Stormy. She chose you and your brother and sister over the Wonderbolts, and that’s not a bad thing.” Stormy raised his eyebrows a little and his ears perked up. He had finally figured everything out. “I didn’t quit the Wonderbolts because I wanted to, Storm. I did it because I had to. I wanted to stay with you guys. Sometimes we have to give up one dream to follow another.” Rainbow Dash said, putting her hoof under her son’s chin. “And I never once held it against her for doing so.” said Spitfire, putting her hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder as a few of the other Wonderbolts gathered around her. “We enjoyed having her, but everypony’s gotta move on at some point.” “Plus, if I didn’t do it, I wouldn’t be able to spend as much time with you, Flashy and Misty like I do. Scoot’s a great foalsitter, but she’s busy over at the School of Friendship sometimes and your father’s got a full-time gig for the Ponyville weather-control. I was really starting to miss you guys, so in the end, I was happy to retire if it meant spending more time with my awesome kids.” Stormy no longer looked angry. He appeared sad now and felt very bad for what he had done. He finally got why his mother had to quit and why her tendency to be loyal to others was her greatest strength. Flurry was right: Rainbow Dash’s loyalty had helped them defeat powerful foes in the past, and although he didn’t realize it till now, it helped to bring them closer as a family. “I…I guess I didn’t think about that.” he said. “You’re right, Mommy. You did have a good reason for quitting.” “There. Now what do you say to Spitfire?” Stormy walked up to Spitfire and spoke to her rather bashfully. “I’m sorry, Captain Spitfire. I shouldn’t have blamed you. I just didn’t know why my mom quit so I got angry with you. I won’t do it again.” “Aw, no worries, kid. We all make mistakes.” she said, patting him on the head as a smile began to form on his face. “I can understand wanting to stand up for your mother like that. Rainbow Dash sure is something else. And I can definitely see where you get your spunk from now too. Ya know, it’s impressive how you were able to make it this far to me without getting caught by any of the guards. You just might make some good Wonderbolt material one day.” Stormy’s eyes widened and he smiled huge as he looked back at his mother and began to tap his hooves on the ground in excitement over what Spitfire just said. “Alright, let’s not get too ahead of ourselves just yet.” Rainbow laughed as she put her wing around her hyperactive son. “Aw, Stormy, you scared us for a minute there!” said Windy as she and her husband walked in to talk with their grandson. “We’re glad to see you’ve learned your lesson though.” Bow added. “Thanks Grampy.” Stormy replied. “Sorry you had to see that. I shouldn’t have gotten mad.” Rainbow watched with a smile on her face as her son went in to hug his grandparents. She then turned to Flurry. “Thanks for the help there, Flurry.” she told her. “That entry was a pretty crazy time in my life, but it was really awesome how you used that for Stormy. He’s already learning the importance of loyalty.” “Happy to help.” Flurry replied as she put the Journal of Friendship back in her bag. Behind them, Scootaloo had been hovering anxiously next to Spike, hoping things would work out, and she was relieved to finally see the issue resolved. She wiped her forehead clear of the sweat on it and let herself fall into Spike’s arms. “PHEW! Glad that got taken care of!” she said. Spike smiled, shook his head back and forth and rolled his eyes while Flashy giggled at the sight. Everyone returned to the house and began to prepare supper. After they were done eating, they waited for Thunderhead to get home from work. Stormy was playing with a small plushie of Spitfire he dug out from his toy box, now that he had put aside his anger with her. Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash were watching Flashy finish his painting and Flurry was at a small desk, writing her friendship report to her aunt. Dear Twilight Sparkle, There comes a time in somepony’s life when they have to give up one thing to pursue something else. We all move on to greater things, but when it comes to something really important like family, choosing family is the right thing to do. It never hurts to follow your dreams, but sometimes we are called to focus on what matters more, like a loving spouse or children that you need to be there for. Your good friend Rainbow Dash reminded me today how loyal she is and that she was right to quit the Wonderbolts, even if she loved being one. Her son, Storm Streak learned this today, and he’s very happy to know his mother loved him so much that she chose him over her dream. Your niece, Flurry Heart Flurry finished writing her letter and handed it to Spike. After he sent the letter, Stormy and Flashy came to Flurry and showed her Flashy’s painting of her and Stormy. “Aw. It looks great, Flashy!” she said as she held the painting on her hoof. “Thanks for helping me today, Flurry.” Stormy told her. “You were right about Mommy: she was right to stay with us. You’re an awesome friend!” Stormy and Flurry hugged as Rainbow Dash and her parents watched with big smiles on their faces. “You’re welcome, Stormy.” Flurry replied. “We’ll have to get together again soon with Pound and Pumpkin.” “Yeah, and we need to introduce you to Apple Chip and Annie Smith!” “Of course; Applejack’s twins. I’d love to see them too!” “Alright everyone, we’ve got the Power Ponies Movie ready to watch! Who wants some popcorn?!” Bow said as Windy turned on their TV monitor. “ME!!” Stormy and Flashy shouted in unison. They all went to the living room to gather in front of the TV. Rainbow Dash had already seen this movie so she began to clean up around the house a bit until she heard the front door open. She looked to see her husband, Thunderhead walk in. Thunder was a greyish blue pegasus stallion. His mane and tail were darker blue and had a yellow lightning-bolt shaped streak going through it. His cutie mark was a dark cloud with a bolt of lightning underneath. He was wearing a work vest for this weather-pony job and put it on a nearby coat-hanger. “Dash, I’m home!” he said. “Hey, you!” she said as she walked over to him and rubbed her nose against his. “How’d it go with Flurry?” “It went great! We had a little issue with Stormy earlier, but it’s all been taken care of now.” “Uh oh. What did he do this time?” “Well, let’s just say we really should have talked with him more about why I quit the Wonderbolts. I guess he thought Spitfire actually kicked me out cuz he had a hard time believing I would even quit. Thankfully, Flurry told him about that one time I had to choose my friends over the Wonderbolts and he gets it now. I don’t think it really registered in his head just yet that my family is way more important.” “Aw, poor Stormy. Well I’m glad you got that worked out with him.” Thunder put his wing around her and gave her a kiss on her forehead as they snuggled up to each other. “I’m glad you made the right decision too, Dash. Our kids are gonna turn out just fine now that you’re stay-at-home. Our son grew a lot today if you’d ask me.” Rainbow and Thunder looked into the living room to see everyone in front of the TV. Stormy and Flurry sat next to each other to share some popcorn while Spike laid down on his belly and allowed Flashy and Misty to sit on his back as he munched on his own popcorn. “I knew Twilight was right to have Flurry visit Ponyville.” Rainbow continued. “She’s going to do amazing things here.” THE END