Morning sunlight streamed through the windows. Rainbow Dash blinked and sat up. She felt much better. The queasiness and nausea were gone, and she felt like herself again. Her sudden illness was unusual, but not dangerous. The doctor dismissed her condition as “stress-induced”, gave her a prescription for sleeping pills should she need them, and discharged her.
Outside the cool, brisk morning air brushed Rainbow’s wings. Her body thrummed with energy, and she felt much better since yesterday when she had received her parent’s letter in the mail.
The letter! How could she have forgotten? She glanced skyward. The sun was still rising. If she left now, she could make it to Cloudsdale by mid afternoon. Should she bring anything? “Maybe I should bring the letter in case it was some stupid prank…. Nah that’s stupid.” She had left it at home anyway, and going all the way back would only take more time.
While in flight, Rainbow’s thoughts wandered, but she felt more in control, instead of feeling faint and dizzy like before. Her mind was miraculously sharp, and she could remember details vividly.
The gray pony’s name was Derpy Hooves. She told Dash her story, how she had been rejected by her superstitious parents who had thought she was a curse brought upon them by the gods and how she had run away when she was a little filly. How Sword Flash had found her freezing to death and at the brink of starvation in the dead of winter in the mountains and had brought her to live with him in his home. How he had trained her in the art of swordplay and meditation since then.
“Strangely enough, I’m not clumsy when I hold a sword!” she exclaimed proudly. “I used to break everything when I was with my parents, everything from glass vases to my mom’s favorite wooden spatula. I really did feel like a curse. But when Sword Flash heard about my clumsiness, he taught me how to control it using swordplay as an outlet. I’ve been living and training here ever since!”
The dog barked and bounded up to Derpy, jumping on her and licking her enthusiastically. She laughed and pushed him off. “This is Timothy by the way. He’s friendly.” She looked at him with amusement. “Most of the time.”
Observing quickly that she had nowhere else to go, Sword Flash took Rainbow in immediately as his pupil. He never questioned her about her past, or what she had been doing in the Everfree Forest all by herself in the middle of the night, or who her parents were. When she fell into the grasp of one of her frequent flashbacks, he would sit calmly until she came around again, and then resume the lesson as if nothing had happened. He was patient. Too patient. Almost as if he was waiting for something.
Furthermore, his lessons had nothing to do with swordplay. He didn’t teach her fancy moves, or advanced techniques regarding the sword. He taught her observation and meditation- often advising her to sit by the lake for hours at a time and observe everything around her. He taught her about the various flora and fauna in the lake, and in the forest- the fish, deer, birds, mosquitoes, and even how to tell poisonous mushrooms from edible ones. He taught her how to use all her senses to pinpoint what she needed when she needed it. But never once did he mention the sword. She would see him sparring with Derpy frequently, light sparkling off of their blades as they clashed.
And one day, almost a month later, something in her broke. The emotions that she had been holding in for years while she lived under her parents let loose in a giant flood. She screamed. She raged. She kicked everything from cooking pots to Timothy, who ran yelping into the forest. She tipped over the large pot of stew that Sword Flash had simmered all day into the lake where it became a red splat on the mirror surface of crystal clear water. Sword Flash made no move to stop her. He let her raze his well organized cave to piles of rubble. He showed no sign of surprise, anger, or annoyance.
Derpy, on the other hand, looked appalled when Dash told the story of her relationship with her father. Anger lit her normally happy features, and a dark shadow clouded her expression. It passed as quickly as it had come.
Finally she stopped her rampage. Breathing hard, she spoke in a calmer tone “Aren’t you going to stop me from wrecking your home? Why aren’t you angry and disappointed? Why didn’t you just leave me to those stallions in the Everfree Forest?” Tears of shame poured from her eyes. She braced herself, knowing that this was the last straw. He was going to kick her out, and she’d have to live all by herself, all alone and frightened. Again.
He gave her a broom. “Not my home. Our home.” And he started cleaning up his kitchen, piling the ruined vegetables and
herbs into a neat pile with his hoof. He turned around with a fierce glare that had nothing to do with Rainbow Dash’s actions and everything to do with his sense of duty and protection. “As long as you are here, no pony will hurt you. Do you understand?” He paused, and his expression changed to one of long suffering and pain. His eyes glazed over, and he spoke with a more distant tone, as if he was caught in memories of his past. “Family, Rainbow, is the most powerful bond you can have in this life. You've learned in the hardest way possible that birth isn't necessarily a guarantee that you’ll be part of one. Remember that lesson, and be reassured that Derpy and I are your family now.” And he said no more.
But Sword Flash had made a fatal miscalculation. The day after he found Rainbow back in the Everfree Forest, the gang had located the three dead bodies of their members. The Mare8, as they were known, was a collection of the most notorious and dangerous stallions in Equestria- eight of them to be exact. Astonished at the fact that some pony had managed to take out three members at once and escape, the remaining five swore never to forgive. And never to forget. The leader knew the killer’s handiwork. He could see it, from the kinds of injuries inflicted upon his friends. This was no doubt, the work of Sword Flash.
Rainbow arrived at her parent’s house in Cloudsdale. She opened the door, and reeled back in shock. Derpy stood with her sword over the motionless body of Rainbow’s father with a murderous look in her eyes. Rainbow's father turned his head to stare at Rainbow Dash for the last time. His eyes registered nothing but calm acceptance and sorrow. At that moment, Rainbow saw the regret clear as day in his gaze. She yelled at Derpy to stop- to put away her weapon. Derpy looked at her with an expression that Rainbow knew all too well. It was the same expression of betrayal that Rainbow had worn during the last argument with her father. Derpy stabbed downwards. Rainbow lunged at her. Time slowed down. Rainbow felt as if she was moving in molasses. The sword met its mark. And he was gone.