//------------------------------// // Promotion // Story: Rainbow's Parents: The Truth // by Songbrony //------------------------------// I flew to the market in Ponyville as I searched. Usually it would be pretty easy to spot Fluttershy. All I would have to do would be to find the yellow Pegasus hiding in a corner looking through her animal magazines. But today, I had a really hard time finding her. I landed on the ground next to a cherry salespony. "Have you seen a shy, yellow Pegasus walking around here?" I asked. Angel loved cherries, so I thought that maybe Fluttershy would have stopped here to buy some. "Can't say I have kid. Want to buy some cherries?" he asked. I rolled my eyes. Typical salespony, always trying to get you to buy something. "No thanks." I said and walked away in search for her. I walked into flower shops, animal shops, and even the food mart. But guess where I found her walking out of? The freaking Beauty Salon. "Hey, Fluttershy!" I called. She looked at me with a shocked look. She tried to hide herself back in the shop, but I ran up to her before she could flee. "What were you doing there? I thought you needed things for Angel?" I asked. "Oh, well I did, but when I went home I saw an ad in one of my magazines. It was supposed to be a surprise, but you came rushing by that I didn't have a chance to surprise you." she said as she ducked her head. "Surprise me with what?" I asked. "You mean you can't tell?" she asked distressed. "Uh, no I can tell alright!" I said as I tried to retrace my steps. In all honesty, I couldn't tell if anything had changed, but I couldn't let her know that. I searched hard for whatever it was she was talking about. "Oh okay. Thank goodness. I thought you might not have noticed the tail extensions." she said. So that's what had changed. I thought to myself. "Are you kidding me? They look great! They even made them fit your tail's pink color. What made you decide to get tail extensions anyways?" I asked. Now that I looked at her tail, I could tell it was longer than usual, but you couldn't tell unless you looked very closely at it. "I just thought that maybe it would make me look better. According to the mares at school, long tails are in this year." she said shyly. "Oh ho ho! So you're doing this for a certain somepony, huh? Who is it? Ramus? Thunder? Oh! It's for Daren isn't it?" I said, recalling all the handsome stallions. I never was into the whole romance thing, but I knew a hottie when I saw one. "Oh, not at all. It's a secret." she said with a smile. "Oh, come on, Fluttershy! I won't tell! I promise!" I begged. I was desperate to know who it was. Surprisingly she stayed calm and collective. "Nope. I'm not telling. The only one who knows is Angel, and he is sworn to secrecy." she replied proudly. "You were able to get your pet bunny to swear to secrecy?" I asked astonished. "It must be someone very special! Come on! Just tell me!" I begged again. "Nope. It's not time yet. I'm waiting for them to notice me a little bit before I tell them." she said. She walked off, clearly ending the conversation about it. That wasn't like her, which meant she was dead serious about this. "Ah whatever. I'll just find out before you tell me!" I said. I was already hatching a plan to figure out how I would find out. Most of our fellow classmates would spill the beans on almost anything for the right price. We flew home and talked about our upcoming finals. Neither of us were too excited about them since they consisted of just plain writing. I got off lucky, though. In Advance Flying Techniques we were required to show how much more we had learned from practicing over the year. You know what that means? No writing behind a desk! Just flying in an open, blue sky! When we arrived home I saw Felix talking to a man in a suit. I at first thought it might be an officer, but dismissed it as I moved closer. Felix noticed me and waved me over quickly with a smile on his face. "Hey, Dash! This stallion has something he would like to tell you." Felix said. "What is it? And what are you doing home so early?" I asked as I entered the kitchen slowly. "I was able to get a day off since I've been working extremely late at night. But listen to this guy. He's got great news." he said. "Ms. Dash! I'm from the headquarters." the suited pony said. "I heard about the incident with the Apple family and how you went out to help them on your own time after work. The Captain was enjoying a bottle of scotch during the confrontation between the Apples. I'm here to congratulate you on becoming Captain of the Weather Team." he said with a smile on his face. My jaw dropped in awe as I absorbed the news. The Captain didn't have to stay cooped up in an office. The Captain could actually go out and fly around and clear the skies if she wanted to. "Are you serious?" I asked, too happy to stop my voice from raising a few notes. "As serious as a doctor. I understand you have finals coming up in school. You won't have to worry about doing your job until after you finish testing." he said. "Wait, how did you know about the whole Apple family incident?" I asked. I didn't tell anypony about it since I try to hold up a reputation of being a tad lazy when I'm not working or training. "Applejack stopped by and told me what happened. The old Captain has since been fired, leaving room for you to move your stuff into once you're ready." he replied. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to drop off a note at the post office." he said as he walked to the door. "Have a good day you three." he said, finally acknowledging Fluttershy's presence. When he closed the door I couldn't help but give a shout of glee. "I can't believe it! I'm finally done being cooped up behind a desk! I'm free!" I exclaimed. "Easy there, Dash. Just because you get to fly around more doesn't mean that you can just relinquish your duties as Captain of the Weather Team." Felix said, ruining my jubilant mood. "Aw, come on. How hard could it really be?" I said. After about ten minutes of him explaining the job, I wanted to go back to being behind a desk. "But I thought the Captain could do whatever they wanted?" I asked. "Well, in theory you can, but you still have a responsibility to the team. They need direction after what the last Captain was like." he said. I sighed. He was right. I had a lot of work ahead of me if I wanted to straighten things out so I could go and fly whenever I wanted. "Why don't you make a list of all the things the team needs to do? Like a job list." Fluttershy suggested. I thought about it and decided it would be a good start. "I'll work on that after finals. For now, let's celebrate the promotion!" I exclaimed with delight. "I'll head to the store and get some things to celebrate with. For now, you two need to study for your finals." he said, pointing to me specifically. "I'll be fine, Felix. Just go get the goods so we can celebrate!" I said. He left with a wave of his hoof. Fluttershy was already heading for the stairs to study when Felix left. "You do realize we don't have to study, right? You know all your animal stuff and I know my flying techniques." I said, hoping to get out of an hour of book work. "We still have other classes, Rainbow Dash. Do you know how to find the cosine of an angle and how to graph it without a calculator?" she asked. "That's not fair! You know I suck at math!" I shouted. "Well then, that's all the more reason you should study." she said as she continued walking up the stairs. For some reason, I couldn't help but stare at her tail. It was flowing and luscious. I shook the thought out of my head. Why was I suddenly thinking about that? I walked up the stairs behind her and went to our room. I stared at the Algebra book for an hour and still had no idea what a cosign even was. "Oh! I almost forgot about the dance!" I exclaimed as the thought returned to me. "Dance? What dance?" Fluttershy asked quietly. She hated going to social events at our school. I didn't understand her sometimes. "The spring dance! You know, the one that everypony goes to so they can celebrate the end of the year." I said. I knew she remembered it, she just hated the idea of going to a crowded place. "Oh. That. Um, Rainbow? Do we have to go? I mean, we could just stay here and celebrate by ourselves." she suggested. "Are you kidding me? Everypony is going to be there. Do you really want to be known as the only pony who wouldn't show up?" I asked. I knew that I was exaggerating about everypony being there. Hay, I wouldn't have gone if I hadn't already been asked by somepony. "Okay. And who would you be going with?" she asked. She looked at me, and I could have sworn I saw a hint of longing in her eyes. "Hey, nice try! If you want to know, you have to tell me who you like!" I said. I wasn't going to fall for that trick. "Oh." she said, lowering her head. "Well, I guess we won't know." Dang, she was holding onto that like an injured animal. She would not let it go! I sighed. I knew she wasn't going to, and there was absolutely no harm in telling her who it was. I mean, it's Fluttershy for ponies sake. What could go wrong? "Alright, fine. I'll tell you." I caved. "His name is Long Horn." I said. Long Horn wasn't your average stallion. He was big, buff, and handsome. He was basically a god at our school. It was considered an honor to have him talk to you and if he asked you out to anything, you were considered insane if you didn't accept. Honestly, I don't care for the guy. He's a huge jerk to everyone, yet people still treat him as if he's royalty. I only accepted his invitation to the dance because if I hadn't, I'd be shunned. My reputation as the tough and popular pony would be destroyed. "Oh no. You can't be serious, Rainbow." Fluttershy said. "He's such a meanie. He doesn't care about anypony but himself." "Aw come one, I'm sure he's not so bad." I said trying to make me seem like I wasn't caring about just myself. "I'm going to give him a chance. And who knows, maybe he'll stop being a jerk." I said. "If you say so. But, who do I go with? I don't have anypony and you'll be spending all your time with Long Horn. Maybe I just won't go." she said as she started to curl up again. "Nonsense! You can hang with us! I'm sure he'll treat you just fine when he realizes you're a friend of mine." I said reassuringly. I really wanted Fluttershy to be there. She needed to socialize more, and it may give me insight as to who this pony she likes so much really is. "But we don't even have any dresses. And you hate dresses." she pointed out. "True, but I'm not necessarily wearing a dress. It's not a big formal event, just like a get together for the school." I told her. She sighed. "Okay. If you're going, I'm going too." she said. "That's the spirit! And you never know! Maybe your crush will ask you to dance!" I said trying to get more information on him. "Oh, I don't think they will." she said, sadly. "Are you kidding me? He would be insane if he didn't ask you. I mean, you're kind, caring, and you do your best to make others happy. Who wouldn't ask you to dance?" I said trying to cheer her up. "Well, you see, I just recently learned they were going with somepony else." she said quietly. I had no idea what her problem was. She could go out and win him back if she really wanted to. "Ah whatever." I said and waved a hoof at her. "What are you going to wear?" she asked. I didn't give much thought into my attire for that night. "Probably just a nice shirt." I replied. "Oh, no no no. You can't just wear a shirt! It's a dance and you have somepony you're going to be with. I can make you something, you know, if you want me to." she said. "Since when did you know how to make clothes?" I asked. "I've been looking for a different hobby. I started looking through more magazines and found tips. I've been practicing with Angel for a few months now." she said. "So, do you want me to make you one?" she offered quietly. "Eh, what the hay. Go ahead. But don't make it too girly. I want something cool." I said. I walked back to my bed and put on my headphones. I really needed to listen to some heavy metal. This talk about dresses made me feel weird. I must've fallen asleep when I was listening to my music. The next thing I know is that Angel is tapping on my face with his leg. "Gah! Get off of me!" I exclaimed as I thrashed awake. I hit my head against the back board behind me. "Ow!" "Rainbow Dash! I did it! I finished it for you! Oh, I'm sorry. Did I wake you? Oh, I'm so sorry." she said. "I can come back later, if you want." she said as she startled to shy away again. "No, no. It's fine. I didn't mean to fall asleep anyways. Is Felix back yet?" I asked as I rubbed my eyes. "He's downstairs. But first you have to see what I made you." she said. She walked over to my bed and carefully put a dress on the bed. Despite what I feel about dresses, this was a really cool dress. The colors were perfectly even with a hint of lightning stardust edging off the end of the hem. "Fluttershy...How did you do this? It's amazing!" I said as I tenderly ran my hoof over the dress. "Oh, well it wasn't too hard." she said. I noticed a white bandage on her hoof. "What happened?" I asked. She tried to hide her hoof. "Oh, um...nothing." she said. I gave her a look and she sighed. She pulled up her hoof and I gasped. Her entire hoof was wrapped in a white bandage with red dots scattered around. "What the hay happened?" I exclaimed. "Oh, nothing. I'm, uh, still learning." she said with a small grin. "You didn't hurt yourself too badly did you?" I asked. "That doesn't matter. Try it on! I want to see if it fits." she said and shuffled me into the changing room with the dress. I tried it on and I made the dress look even better! It fit me perfectly! I didn't question how she knew my size perfectly. All I cared about was how good I looked. Cool. "Does it fit? Do you like it? Oh no, you hate it. Oh, I knew I should have used french haute couture." I heard her say as she questioned herself. I walked out and gave her a hug. I loved it, which I don't feel about dresses all that often. But, there's always an exception. "Come on, Fluttershy! I love it! While I normally hate dresses, this is definitely my favorite. It fit's me perfectly, size and personality." "Oh, thank goodness. I wasn't sure if you would like it." Fluttershy said relieved. "Let's show Felix!" she said as she tried to push me out the bedroom door. "Whoa, hold on there." I said as I pushed away from her. "I love the dress, but I don't want my brother to see it. He wouldn't let me hear the end of it! Then it would spread and I would be thought of as a fashionista!" I exaggerated. I knew I was blowing it out of proportion, but I didn't want him to see it. "Oh, ok. I understand." she said. I went back and took the dress off. I walked out and saw Fluttershy being nudged by Angel. "No, not now." I heard Fluttershy whisper. "Not now what?" I asked. "Ah! Nothing, nothing at all. Um, Angel just wanted me to uh, feed him!" she said nervously. "Uh-huh." I said confused. I noticed Angel face paw. "Well, I'm going to see what Felix brought for us." I said and walked downstairs. There was a cake and a letter on the table. I picked up the letter and walked over to Felix who was sitting on the couch. "What's this?" I asked him as I took the letter out. "Read it." he said. "Dear Felix. It's been a number of years since we left. I'm sorry that we weren't able to write earlier, but we've had to keep moving so we wouldn't be caught. How are you two doing? I heard you were Head of the Exchange. Congratulations! I know how much you enjoyed that. We also heard Rainbow Dash was hired at the weather headquarters. How's she handling being behind the desk? I wish we could have more time to write, but we are only able to stop for a few minutes. Don't worry about us though. We will see you soon. There should be a doctor around if you have any questions. You'll know him when you see him. He helped you with the mansion. He'll tell you what you need to know. We love you both. Look out for each other and stay out of trouble. Love, Mom." I read over what she said about there being a doctor. "I think I know who this doctor is." I said recalling the spiky haired officer. "But why did mom tell us about him now? Why not tell us he was around earlier?" I asked. "I remember who that pony was. He said he knew about our parents and that if I didn't accept his offer on the house and bet him on our fortune, he would tell the authorities. I don't know what he was going to tell them, but I didn't want to risk it. So I bet our parents money. I didn't know what else to do. When I won, he just smiled and told me congratulations and to watch over you. I didn't know how he knew, but at the time all I could think of was how lucky we were to have a place to live." he said. I stood there shocked. I had no idea that the Doctor would do all that for some ponies he didn't even know. Well, I guess he knew about us since he must know our parents, but why help us and then never be seen again? I couldn't make sense of it. "Is there anyway to write back?" I asked hopefully. "Not that I know of. There's no return address and since they're on the run, they'll be in a different place before we send a letter out." he said. "Anyways, you have finals to study for, a promotion to celebrate, and from what I hear, a dance to go to." Felix said trying to change to conversation. I folded the letter and put it back in the envelope. "Fluttershy and I are going to have a piece of cake, alright?" I yelled to him. "Fine. Just don't eat too much." he said as he headed to his room. I called Fluttershy down for cake as I read what the icing said on the cake. "Congratulations on making Weather Team Captain." I read aloud. The cake was decorated with Wonderbolts designs. I got us two plates as Fluttershy walked down stairs. "You want a corner or an innard?" I asked. I gave her the piece she asked and we sat together. She looked at the letter that sat on the table. "What's that?" she asked as she took a neat bite out of her cake. "Oh, that was nothing. Just another letter about me becoming Captain." I said. How long was I going to keep lying to her about this? "That's nice. Who was it from?" she continued. "Just a co-worker. They said the last Captain was such a flank hole that they were about to quit. But they're going to stay now that I'm in charge." I explained. I changed the subject to the upcoming dance. We talked for about an hour before we finally went to bed. It was around 9 o'clock when Fluttershy fell asleep. I opened up my drawer and pulled out the journal. I don't know why, but for some reason, I wanted to read it again. I quickly put it back though. I didn't want to see any of those things before I went to bed. Fluttershy didn't even know I had her journal. I don't think she wanted to remember all of what happened. I know I wouldn't. So, I kept it in my drawer next to my bed. I don't know why I kept it around. I just felt like I needed it. I rolled over on my side and looked at a sleeping Fluttershy. While she was awake, she was an angel. But when she slept she would snore all night long. I hate snoring. It's loud and keeps me up at night. I shove my head underneath my pillow to drown out the sound. I finally fell asleep with the Fluttershy floating in my thoughts.