//------------------------------// // Sleepover for Friendship // Story: Rainbow's Parents: The Truth // by Songbrony //------------------------------// It was late. Most of the ponies who were out for Nightmare Night went home. The fillies were either dead asleep or devouring all their candy. I knew where mine was. Back at the house, all soggy and wet because of the rain. I didn't bother going back to salvage anything. Too many memories. I flew to Fluttershy's cottage and saw her sitting on the front porch. I landed a few feet in front of her, trying not to scare her. I half succeeded. I must have made a sound because she jumped a little and gasped. She relaxed when she noticed it was me. "Sorry, Fluttershy. I didn't mean to scare you." I said. Fluttershy lowered her head again. "It's okay. I know you didn't mean to." she said quietly. I stood there silently for a few seconds as the rain landed on her costume's leaves. My costume was basically ruined. It was worn and torn, and I had only worn it once. "This rain is really hammering down on our costumes." I said, trying to rejuvenate the conversation. She continued to sit there with her head hung low. Her pink mane had started to fall through the hood of her costume and cover her eye again. "Have you been out here since I left?" I asked concerned. She nodded her head. I walked up and sat next to her on the porch. "Rainbow?" she said. "Yeah?" I said as I turned my head to look at her. "About the note. Is everything-" I cut her off. "Ah that was nothing. Just a little prank my parents pulled on me and my brother. We got a little extra money this year. Just a little gift for us." I said. It wasn't a complete lie. I mean we did get money. A lot of money. But it wasn't a prank. They really did leave. I pushed it out of my mind. I was here to comfort Fluttershy, not wallow in my own sadness. "Okay. It just sounded like something awful had happened." she said. "It's all good. Hey, I was thinking, maybe staying at your house tonight would be a good idea. My brother was able to win a few extra bits from a game of Blackjack and is taking them out somewhere." I lied. Again. "Besides, when was the last time you had an awesome pony like me stay at your house?" I said as I gave her a soft playful nudge. She smiled. "Not in awhile. Maybe we could play some games? I haven't played 'Hungry Hungry Pony' in awhile." she said. "Of course we can! Maybe some 'Oranges to Oranges' later." I exclaimed. We had never really hung out like this. I mean we'd been friends since school, but we never had a sleep over or a get together at our houses. I was reminded of one of the reasons why we never did when I heard a loud crash from inside the cottage. Fluttershy winced when she heard the sound. "Hey, it'll be okay." I said reassuringly. I put a hoof around her shoulders. "You got me here. When have I ever let you down?" We stood up and walked into her house. Her parents were playing baseball. Inside the house. With pictures of Fluttershy. "C'mon honey! Hit the damn thing!" her mother cried as she tossed another one. Her dad swung at chipped the top corner off. "Ah got 'un!" her father exclaimed with the bat in his mouth. They were both way too drunk. "Umm...Mom? Dad? Rainbow Dash is going to stay the night. If, you know, that's okay." Fluttershy asked softly. Her parents waved her off and kept throwing the pictures. We walked behind her mother as she threw another photo. This time her father made full contact. The picture frame shattered, sending glass everywhere. "Great hit honey!" her mom said and took another swig of alcohol. I pushed Fluttershy out and into her room. "How can you stand them?" I asked. "Oh, they aren't so bad." she said. Another shatter outside the door. "They just get like this sometimes." She was just being Fluttershy. She couldn't see the problems like I could. "Well I would've gone insane by now." I said. I took off my ruined costume and set it next to the trash can. I wasn't sure if I should throw it out or not. There was nothing I could really use it for, but it was the last thing my parents gave to me. "Um, Rainbow Dash? Can you..." she stammered off. I rolled my eyes. I turned around as she took the tree costume off. We never wore clothes that often anyway so I don't know why she gets so embarrassed by it. "Okay. I'm done." I turned around as she got 'Hungry Hungry Pony' out. We played for about an hour. She kept beating me and I hate losing. I hated it more than giggling. "How do you always win?" I asked. "Oh, it's not that hard. You just have to time when you hit the lever." Fluttershy said. "How about a different game?" I asked. "You up for a game of 'Oranges to Oranges?' I want to see what weird comparisons you can make up." We put 'Hungry Hungry Pony' away and brought out the old game we would play at school. We didn't play for points or to win since there were only two of us. Our objective was to create the most outlandish comparison we could think of. Fluttershy always had hilarious ones, but I had some pretty darn good ones too. We played a few hands and laughed whenever something funny came up. After awhile we started playing in silence. I could hear her parents in the other room singing drinking songs. How the hay are they able to drink so much and not pass out? I mean I'm just a filly, but I know when somepony is too drunk. "Do your parents ever stop drinking?" I asked quietly. "Well yes. They have to if they want to take care of me." she said. "Fluttershy." I said carefully. "I don't think they really care for you that much. I mean, don't you see the way they treat you? They were playing baseball with pictures of you." I said, trying not to hurt her feelings or make her cry. "They're drunk. There's not much I can do when they are like that." she said. "Even when they aren't drunk they treat you badly. I've seen the emotional impact they have on you." I said quietly. "Oh, not at all. Most of the time what they say is true. I am a very weak flier and am definitely more like an Earth Pony than a Pegasus. I mean, how else do you explain my Cutie Mark?" she replied. "I don't know. It just bothers me about how they treat you." I said. We returned to playing our game which had grown boring quickly. "Want to do something else?" I asked. "What do you mean?" Fluttershy asked quizzically. "Well, you still haven't told me how you got your Cutie Mark. I told you about mine, why not tell me about yours?" I asked. I wasn't just trying to find something new to do. I was sincerely interested in the story. We put the game away and sat down on her bed. She was smiling a wide smile as she recalled the story. "You see, after you and those bullies started to race, I fell off of the cloud. Since I'm such a weak flier and afraid of heights, I couldn't flap my wings. I could have sworn I was going to hit the ground, but then a cloud had appeared under me. It wasn't like the white ones we see in the sky, but one full of butterflies." she continued. She kept going on about how all the creatures fascinated her and how they were frightened after my totally awesome Sonic Rainboom. She was smiling the entire time too. I don't think I've ever seen her smile for so long at one time. "That's nice. Not as sweet as my Sonic Rainboom, but still nice." I said. Fluttershy kept smiling as she looked at her three butterflies on her flank. "Did I ever tell you how Felix got his?" I asked. Fluttershy shook her head. "No. At least, I don't think you have." she said. "Isn't it like some bits in a circle with arrows?" "Yeah. I was only three years old, but he told me about it so many times that I have it memorized." I said happily. Fluttershy moved a little so she could get comfortable to hear the tale I was about to tell. "So for as long as I can remember, we have lived in our old rundown house. It wasn't much, but it was still home. Every month my parents would fuss over the bills and how we would pay for them. One month had been particularly rough on us since my dad had dropped a heavy box on his leg while unpacking a moving truck. The box smashed it and he had to go to the hospital. The bill was way higher than what we could afford. After a little bit my mom was able to volunteer at the hospital as a nurse so they could pay his medical bill. When they had finally paid it off, the bill for our house arrived. We were broke. We had no money whatsoever to spend on the bill and keep us fed at the same time. Felix took a look at the bill while my parents went to go see how much they had in the bank. He found that if we would stop buying me my Wonderbolts chewing gum every time we passed the store, and started to eat less than what we already did, then we could pay it off. With a few calculations he was able to find a perfect median to pay the bills and keep us fed. The funny thing is that he enjoyed it! He loved the math, the speculation, the counting, all of it. Not only were my parents impressed, they put him in charge of the bills. It was then that he found out that it was his super special talent. They took him to the Equestrian Stock Exchange a few days later. He helped manage that budget too, but he had a blast. Apparently, he was able to beat a top speculator at an Exchange Simulator. Whatever it was, it wasn't something that anypony could do easily without prior experience. Yet somehow he did. He was too young to do any real help for the family to bring in money, but he helped keep the budgets in check. Pretty cool, huh?" I said, finishing the story. "Wow. That's really cool! I always wondered how he got it." Fluttershy said. There was a knock on the door. "Fluttershy! Your mother is asleep on the couch. If she wakes up before I'm back, you better hope you aren't the reason for it!" Her father yelled. "You understand?"he asked, pointing to her. Fluttershy nodded her head quickly as the color drained from her face. "Good." he said and stumbled away. He was definitely too drunk to even walk straight. "Where is he going?" I asked Fluttershy who had slowly gotten up to close the door. "He's probably going to get more. He always goes out to get more if they run out." she said softly. She walked back over to me and sat down. The bright smiling face that I had seen just moments ago was replaced by a dark, sad, depressed gloom. "Let's go to sleep. It's late and we've been up too late." Fluttershy muttered. "I guess so." I said with a sigh. I got off the bed and laid on the floor. "Oh, Rainbow Dash. Please take the bed. You're my guest and you shouldn't sleep on the dirty floor." Fluttershy pleaded. I looked at her. "Are you sure?" I asked. She nodded her head and laid on the floor. I got up and went to the bed. "Thanks." I said. The mattress was soft and comfortable. I laid down and it was the most comfortable place I had ever slept, except for the clouds of course. I felt bad for taking her bed. It didn't seem right, but I couldn't help myself. I laid there and let sleep wash over me.