//------------------------------//
// Flashbacks 
// Story: My Little Dashie : A Threequel 
// by EpicBG 
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	I will forever have these two holes in my back, as a reminder of happier days. Days of flight, mirth, and freedom. Occasionally, I still get phantom pains, but they're nothing too serious. Only the occasional tingling sensation, or abnormal warmth where my wings were. The doc said they'd go away within a few weeks, and for the most part they did. Still, once in a while I get the sensation that I have wings, as if I they're still attached to me and that I can move them. Without my wings I have gone back to other methods of flight, mainly my long since abandoned projects, none of which have been successful to date but only time will tell. I arrived home after some time recuperating in the ICU of the hospital, Dashie had visited me every day, and night, I was there. She was asleep on the couch when I arrived home, she had a turtle wrapped around her fore hooves. There was a small cone with a propeller and lightning rod on top of it resting on the floor.

A small stack of about eight books was next to her on the ground, the top one had a green cover that read ’Daring Do and The Quest for The Sapphire Stone’. I went through the pile, trying not to make much noise. Another was titled ’Daring Do and the Gryphon’s Goblet’, the one under that was named was named ’Daring Do and the Legend of the Ruby Knight’, another was titled ‘Daring Do and the Zebra Code‘. Dashie shifted around in her sleep, I stopped sifting through the pile. I walked over to the closet and searched for a blanket. I brought the blanket out and covered them both up, kissing Dashie lightly on the forehead. She squirmed around even more, her eyes slowly opened.

“Heya Pops.” she mumbled, squeezing the turtle tighter, it moved around as she sat up.

“Who’s the Turtle?” I asked pointing to the shelled reptile.

“Tortoise.” She corrected me. “And his name’s Tank. Isn’t he awesome?” She held him up to me. His head popped out of the shell. He gave me a huge, slow smile. I smiled back as best I could.

“Uh…Yeah.”  I said, not wanting to upset her.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be at the hospital when you got out…” I took a seat next to her on the couch and hugged her.

“It’s okay Dashie, don’t sweat it.” I glanced down to the books and picked up ‘Daring Do and The Quest for The Sapphire Stone‘. “What’ve you been reading? Is it good?”

“Good? Try awesomely amazing! This book is undeniably, unquestionably, un-put-down-able!“ She took it out of my hands and flipped it open to the first page, she began to read out loud. We took turns reading through the night until we saw Celestia’s sun rise over the horizon. By that time we had read the first book entirely and were just about to start the second book, ‘Daring Do and the Gryphon‘s Goblet‘. The sunlight went through the barely cracked open blinds and cast a ray onto the book as I was about to open the cover, we decided that we’d read enough.

I stumbled down the dark hallway to my bedroom. My sight was stolen by a bright blur out of the side of my eye. Rainbows. It was a beautiful painting, and it belonged to my mother. She had painted a rolling field that had a large parking garage near it. Over that she painted an incredible rainbow. I fell to my knees, suddenly feeling weak and light headed. I took a deep breath and leaned against the wall, Dashie rushed over to me and began shouting for me. I couldn’t respond to her, I could only watch as she panicked and my vision faded. My mind pieced together random memories of my time back on Earth, much like it had done to me when Dashie was taken back to Equestria. I relived the walk that I found that cardboard box on. I stretched my leg and accidentally tapped it against the box, then I heard a faint yawn. The shaking box moved around, I knelt down to open it. The tiny cyan filly, six colors of her mane, a blinding contrast from the grey and drab outside. 

“Hi there.”

The seven colors of her mane all turned white as she looked up to me, I was taken to the night I first bathed Dashie, at the time she was still small enough to fit into the sink. I see her scalding her tongue on the hot water, too hot for my little pony. I dipped my hand in to check the water and burned my fingers. I felt the cold bottle of water in my hand as I uncapped it and held it up for her to drink from. Instead of crappy old tap water, she deserved only the best that I could manage. Seeing her covered in bubbles gave me an idea, I walked towards the other side of the kitchen and grabbed my camera. I told Dashie to smile as I grinned, she smiled and I snapped the picture. She shrieked and rubbed her eyes. I had to convince her that it was okay, that it was just a picture. After getting soaked by her trying to dry herself off by shaking, I dried off what water was left on her off with a small towel and dried off my shirt. I placed her down on the floor, as she trotted into the living room she turned around and asked “D-daddy? A..Are...y-you...coming?“ I got another idea, something I knew that she’d like. I reached down and picked her up, holding her high up above my head. She was flapping her little wings as if she way trying to fly. She began giggling, occasionally stopping to let out a “Whee!“ as I walked around the room.

My vision went white again, I was blinded by a rainbow. I was in a field, the sound of car alarms and cracking windows nearly deafening me as I covered my ears. I see Dashie descend slowly from the sky, the cloud and rainbow lightning mark on her flank. I smiled, and embraced her into a hug. She looked confused, but returned the hug. A blur of white brought me a few hours towards the present. I was in my kitchen, covered in flour. The entire room was a mess of flour, vanilla, and eggshells. In front of me was a giant cake, standing next to me was Dashie, her face beaming. Another blur shifted across my sight, once again bringing me only a few hours further in time. Dashie was laying in her bed, I had just tucked her in. I said goodnight to her, she said it back. I turned around and began walking to the door, just as I reached out my hand to grab the knob she said it.

“I love you.”

I stopped walking, stunned and confused as to what to say or do. I remembered what my mother used to do when I was little. I turned around and walked the short distance back to her bedside, leaned down, and kissed her on the forehead.

“Goodnight, my little Dashie. I love you too.” she smiled and closed her eyes to sleep.

A blink of white brought me about six more years towards the present, to a memory that I wish never happened. I had just gotten home from the grocery store. I set the paper bags down in the kitchen and walked out into the living room, I saw the television. “YAY! SHE DID IT!” I heard Fluttershy shout. I dropped my keys, the clang that they made got Dashie’s attention. 

“How long…”

“I…”

“How long have you known?”

“I…”

Dashie turned around to look at me, her mane was messy and her eyes were pink from crying.

“HOW LONG HAVE YOU KNOWN ABOUT THIS!”

I felt a tear slide down my face. She had never yelled at me before, and you know what? I deserved it. I sat down on the couch, turned off the TV and let Dashie ask me all of her questions. There were a lot of them. She flew upstairs after I tried to explain to her that she was different from the Rainbow Dash on the show. She slammed the door shut behind her. A few hours later I went to check on her. I got no response. I leaned my ear against the door and heard the faint whistling of wind. I broke down in tears, never had I cried that much in my entire life.

The tear covered floor went cloudy, bringing my back to under a tree to one of the more heartwarming memories. I was crying under a tree when had Dashie ran away. I was searching for her in the forest when I lost all of my motivation to continue searching. I sat down under the tree, feeling the rain against my skin. “I’m so sorry.” I said. “I’m just so sorry, Dashie.”  I heard the tree shake and crack. I opened my eyes to see a now nearly full grown Dashie standing in front of me, her coat matted in tree sap and burrs. She walked over to me, silently laying down. I felt her warmth, she looked terrible yet beautiful at the same time.

“I…I heard you…“ Her voice nearly at a whisper. “And I’m sorry too.” I felt my face curl up into a smile. 

“Dashie, you have nothing to be sorry about. It's my fault, simple as that.” She looked at me, sadness in her eyes.

“Dad. Do... do you still love me?” I reached out, seizing the opportunity and brought her into a hug.

“Of course, Dashie. I've always loved you. I still love you, no matter what. Not even a small fight such as ours could ever change that.” I feel the impact of every word has her face changes into a smile as she returns the hug.

I closed my eyes as tears made their way out, the back of my eyelids went white, bringing me to the most bittersweet memory that I‘ve ever experienced. I only experienced it in bits, as the entire ordeal lasted quite a while. I was in my old home, there was a soft knock against the front door. I found Dashie sprawled out on my Father‘s recliner, she was napping. I told her to hide in her room upstairs. I called to the door, asking who it was. “May I come in?“ the voice replied. The voice grabbed my attention, something about it seemed familiar, like I had heard it before. I turned around to see the last glimpse of Dashie’s tail as she trotted up the stairs.

I grasped the brass doorknob, behind it was the regal figure of Princess Celestia. I felt my heart nearly stop. I took a step back and allowed her to enter our home. Close behind her was Twilight Sparkle, following after her was the rest of her friends. I shut my eyes and shook my head, a blur of white streaked across the darkness of my closed eyes. I opened them, feeling the stinging of warm tears make their way down my face. I was on my knees, there was a rainbow mane tickling against my nose as wetness leaked down my neck. Around my shoulder was a hoof, on the small of my back was a second.

"I love you daddy..."

"And I love you too, my little Dashie."

Her soft feathers glided across my arms as we forced ourselves out of the embrace. I looked around as I stood up, everypony had tears in their eyes, even Celestia. Twilight fought back her tears and approached Dashie, her horn glowing in purple energy. I wanted to do everything and anything necessary to stop her, but I knew it was right. I knew it was where she belonged. Home. That may be true, she did not belong in my world, but in Equestria she wasn’t with who she belonged. Me. It pained me to know our time together was coming to an end so abruptly. I looked down to the floor, I didn‘t want to accept the fact that I was losing my daughter.

“Wait!”

I looked up. “Before I go, I want to get something." She flew up the stairs before anypony could get a word in edgewise. She came back down with a shoebox in her hooves, she placed it on the table. She wrote down something on a piece of paper. It was that letter that kept me sane through the depressed months that followed. It alone didn’t fill the hole in my heart, the rest of the gap was filled with enough beer to cause me to go into a coma at least twice. I felt more tears fight their ways out of my eyes, I shut them to relieve some of the pain. When I opened them Celestia was in front of me, her horn glowing in a golden color. She touched her horn to my head, I felt the warmth travel throughout my body. “Thank You.” She said. Everypony behind her then stepped forward and one at a time chimed in and thanked me. 

“Are you ready now, Rainbow?” Dashie nodded. Twilight began focusing her magic, her horn glowed in response. She bent her neck down as it tapped against Dashie’s forehead and everything went white as her magic activated. The room was different now, everything that Dashie had owned was gone or different. I crawled to my father’s recliner, the seat that was usually covered in cyan fur had been cleaned of it all. I stood up and made my way over to the window, I told myself that I wouldn’t be mad, that I would instead be happy but I can’t help myself. I yelled as loud as I could, my ribs cracked a few times as I shouted, it ended in a yawn. ’How can I be tired at a time like this?’ I took another breath and screamed some more, only feeling slightly relieved. I saw an old vase in the corner of the room, remembering how Fluttershy acted when she was upset, I kicked the vase. It exploded into a cloud of dust and sharp pieces of dried clay. I sighed as I walked over to the cold and wet window, I knocked my head into it a few times, trying to just stop thinking, to stop remembering.

The months that followed seemed to zip by me in an instant, I saw myself sitting under a tree one second, I had dreamed of that day when Dashie ran away and I had gone out into the forest to look for her. I just wanted to hold her again, to know she was okay. I fought for control of my arm, I reached out for her wings. I had woken up with a feather in my hand the next moment. I don‘t know how much time had passed while I was asleep or how I managed to grab the feather. That was the feather that brought me to Equestria. Three times. Many times I felt the coldness of a can in my hand, as I tried to relax and watch television, which was usually NASCAR or cartoons. I see the television, NASCAR was on. The screen gave way to a blue car that had a number ‘16’ on the side. In my buzzed state I began cheering for it, referring to it as ‘Dashie’. The car managed to win by… I don’t know how, but it did.

When the race came to an end and the driver jumped out of his window, he was asked how he won, he replied that he didn’t know. “It was almost like magic.” he said. At that time I had many weird experiences, the feather being the cause of them all. I had stared at the screen for a while, it was as if the racer had been talking to me. I walked to the kitchen and got myself a glass of water, trying to wipe the taste of alcohol from my tongue. There was a plank that stuck up at just an angle that, no matter what, every time I walked into the kitchen it managed to trip me. Well, it had done it again and I fell onto my butt, the glass flying out of my hand and into the floor. I had gone to grab a broom and towel to remove the glass. I had just dried up the water and swept up most of the glass into a pile to vacuum up when I saw a piece that had slid all the way to the television room. I walked over and bent over to pick it up. The room glowed a faint blue, I stepped in and saw the source of it. The feather above the TV had glowed in the darkness, it drew me in. It floated above the television, I reached my hand out to touch it and was gone, my sight went dark.

This part of memory was a huge blur since the beginning, remembering it didn’t help me discover what caused it in the first place. I was in a room, the ground was dirt and all around me were masks and weird things that looked like a witchdoctor would own. I’ve long since discovered that it was indeed Zecora’s hut, but what was even more confusing was that I heard a voice call out to me “Dad!” it said. ‘Dashie?’ I couldn’t respond to her, only watch through blurred sight as she tried to tackle me into a hug. She made contact with me, the rest is just blackness. I woke up with the feather in my hand, it’s color had been sucked dry. It was a faint grey-blue color, like it had been used. Light ebbed in through the window.

I see the light of the window fade to white as the hardwood under me turns to dirt and leaves. “Yeah, this is like my fifth time here.” I said with a smug grin. I just wanted to rile the Princess’ royal feathers, in reality it was my second time there. We had discussed the weather matters and time differences. With me crossing over it only made the problem worse, I had to go back home. The two worlds had actually begun to be dragged closer together with every time Dashie crossed over. It was all over too fast, I was whisked back to Earth, and left alone in my world. Nobody to care for, nobody to love. 

Two days. For two god damn days I had been back on Earth, thank god it was the weekend. I drank so much that I nearly forgot it all. I just couldn’t do it anymore, I wanted it to end, to be over. My sight went black, in my lap was the open photo album, the page turned to Dashie’s letter, it was still stained by her tears. I knew it entirely by heart.

“Dad,

For fifteen years you took care of me. For fifteen years you loved me, played with me, and made sure I enjoyed my life in a world not meant to house me. I'm not a mare of many words, but even though I told you this in person, I felt you needed a written version of it so you will know it was all real.

I love you daddy. You helped shape me into the mare I am now. I'm not sure what is going to happen, if I will remember any of this or not, but I want you to know that you did a darn good job of raising me, even if I was a bit stubborn at times and short with you during others.

With Celestia's permission, I hope to allow you to keep our photos; our memories, with you so that you will never forget. Again, I love you, and thank you.

Your little daughter always,
Your little Dashie forever,
Rainbow Dash.”

I read it again to myself, tears were beginning to form in my eyes. It was the same as always, up until ‘I love you daddy. You helped shape me into the mare I am now.  But now, I need you again.’

“Wait, what?”

I read the line again, it was different this time. I continued reading, my heart racing. ‘I am sorry to say that I had to change the original note I wrote for you those many days ago, but I needed some way to talk to you, and this was the last connection I have to home...’

I rubbed my eyes, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I continued reading.

“It is true that I am the element of loyalty, but how can I be that if I cannot be loyal to family as well as friends?  So now, I leave you with a choice.  With this choice, I uphold my loyalty not only to my friends, but to you as well.  Celestia has taken my powers from me and I no longer control the ability to bring you back to my world.  I have locked my memories of you away, deep inside my mind, somewhere that Celestia will not be able to get at, but it will not last.  My memories will come back if I see you again; it is how the spell works.  Until then, the memories that the purple one, Twilight, gives me will be mine.  And that is your choice, enter Equestria and be with me, the one you raised, or choose not to, and I will be the Rainbow Dash that was on the show.  If you do come, I will be waiting by the lake near the forest.  And, this is important, I won’t be there forever.  I gave myself the idea that for three days Equestrian time, I should go to the lake and relax.  From what I understand, that gives you a little more than a month to decide.  This paper now controls the last of my ability.  Once that month fades away, the energy will too, and when the energy fades the portal will close, either behind you, or in front of you.  Which ever one it is, is up to you, and there is no turning back, it will close forever.

Your little daughter always,
Your little Dashie forever,
Rainbow Dash.”

My mind was racing to piece together what was happening, so many questions floating around with no answers in sight. She had given me the choice? She had learned how to control her magic? I took the paper out of the plastic housing, I felt the energy flow through it against my fingertips, but how to harness it? I grunted and sighed, trying to figure out how to activate it. ‘Just listen to me! How can I be so selfish! How could I endanger so many lives just for my own selfish purposes!’ I thought. I wasn’t doing it for me, I was doing it for Dashie. So she could remember our memories, so she could remember her Pops. Still, how to activate it?

“Aha!” I sprinted to the spent, grey feather, I lifted the paper next to it. It floated out of my hands as a string of bright energy between the two formed. The feather glowed and it’s color flowed up from the quill, the feather had returned to it’s cyan color. I took a step back, stunned that it had such a spontaneous reaction. But then, I heard Celestia’s voice in my head, ‘Your world was not meant to house her, I’m sorry but that is the way it must be.’ I took a step towards the feather, and then? I turned around. The world around me faded and gave way to a green forest.

I looked around for Dashie, knowing that she had to be near me. I walked towards the only source of light that I could find, the setting sun. I emerged from the brush and saw the sand a few meters in front of me, I looked up to see a pony beginning to fly away. I hid behind a tree as she turned her neck around. The pony landed and looked back into the water, the water rippled under her reflection. She was crying. “That’s gotta be her!” I whispered to myself. I emerged from behind the tree and walked atop the sand, trying to be as silent as possible.  I walked myself a few feet behind her, my reflection just visible on the water.

“Dashie?” I said. She looked up.

“Daddy?”

We sat there on the beach crying in each other’s arms for a while, the sun setting in front of us. It started to get cold, Dashie and I had begun to get chills. I thought about going up to Dashie’s cloud home, but I didn’t want to risk getting sighted in the sky, and I didn’t know if I could even walk on clouds. Dashie was exhausted and I didn’t think she could carry me all the way up even if she wasn’t so we decided it would be best to set up a small fire pit deep in the forest, the house kind of built itself up from there. We set up the foundation within a couple of days, and within a few months of labor, the house was done. I lived there for three and a half years in secrecy.

Dashie had let it slip to Pinkie that I made it to Equestria, but she and Pinkie had “Pinkie” promised not to tell anypony. For a while it all seemed too good to be true, and it was. I would wake up, do a little fixing up around the house, look for some food in the forest, maybe do a little fishing, take a bath in the lake nearby, and wait around the house for company.

Well, one day that company was somepony that I didn’t ever, ever want to see again. By ways I still can’t explain, Celestia had discovered me and was furious. She nearly went ‘Solar Flare’ on me, I swear from her screaming that I saw her mane begin to ignite at the tips. She tried and she tried but she just couldn’t send me back, in trying to send me back she did something weird. She turned me into a pony. Not for long, it was only a few seconds, but it happened regardless. She didn’t seem to notice, her eyes were shut in focus. I looked exactly the same way that I appeared in the dreams Dashie and I shared, I was a Pegasus with a brown coat, a short black tail, a messy black mane, and bright blue eyes.

I panicked, I liked having fingers! I was surrounded by her golden aura within seconds, and was back to being Human. I sighed, then laughed at her continued efforts. She was so out of her regal character, screaming and grunting at my snide comments. She even decided to use the ‘Royal Canterlot Voice’, as Dashie calls it, on me when I gave her a particularly rude remark. After about an hour and half of shouting, deep breathing, and focus, she disappeared in a flash of white and deafening screech, seconds later there was a brief flash and a neatly rolled up scroll floated above the ground. 

I walked over to the steaming piece of paper and unfolded it, it read: “Dear Human, seeing as I can not send you back from whence you came, I shall allow you the privilege of living here in Equestria, for the time being. It seems that the weather and time phenomena have been resolved so there is no problem with you here. Do anything to harm my little ponies and you will regret it. The ponies will, no doubt, be afraid of you. Please do not give them reason to fear you, gain their friendships and your stay here will be pleasant.” She eventually disregarded me and, for the most part, ignored my existence as long as I didn’t do anything against her laws. With the news that I was safe, Dashie told the rest of her friends that I was here, for the most part they were all happy. Twilight had taken some talking to, and a letter to the Princess, but she eventually came around.

With Dashie and her, no, our friend’s help, we had gotten enough money for me to buy a decent sized cottage on the outskirts of town. Rarity insisted on making me some presentable clothes for the meeting. Without her I’d have had to wear the same clothes every day, which was what I brought with me from Earth. A hooded sweater, a blue T-shirt, jeans, socks, underwear, and shoes whose soles have been worn down so much by walking. As I walked into town, wearing the fancy clothes Rarity had hoof-made for the occasion, I tried my best not to attract attention. Dashie found the town hall and helped me find my way. Inside It was empty, but I still had to wait for a while to talk with the mayor, she was dealing with ‘official matters’ and couldn’t be bothered. I walked into her office and told her about the empty house that I wanted to purchase, we came to an agreeable price. She hoofed over the contract and I signed it, with Twilight and Big Macintosh' help, I got moved in within a couple of days.

The memories ended with Dashie in my arms after she crossed over the finish line of her first race. I gasped for air as I came back from the seemingly endless stream of memories. Dashie was shaking me, I hugged her as I awoke from the memories, tears were leaking out the corners of my eyes. As we let go of each other, I pinched my arm to make sure that I could feel it. I did.

“You okay, Pops? Y’know, you kinda scared me.”

“Sorry…how long was I…?”

“About an hour.”

I sighed as my mind returned to normalcy, I stood up from the rug as my ankles cracked and walked to the kitchen and got a glass of water. I drank it down and looked to Dashie, she had fear in her eyes. I hugged her and told her that we should get some rest, we both agreed that it was a good idea, considering we were supposed to an hour ago. Dashie laid down on her bed and got comfortable under the blanket, I laid down on my bed and did the same.