Vapor, condensation, placement, arrangement. Rinse, lather, repeat. It was a shame that the art of weather manipulation had been diluted to a mundane job, but Rainbow would do anything to take her mind off of last night.
Rainbow Dash stared ahead at her hooves, currently on autopilot as she continued her task to block out the sky above west Ponyville. After the rain that was supplied to the marketplace and eastern side of Ponyville yesterday, the other side of town now needed the same so as to keep things balanced.
As the final cloud was pushed into place, Rainbow sighed listlessly, barely noticing her actions as she slowly lowered herself onto the clouds. She relaxed her wings once her hooves met the comforting vapor. Magenta hues scanned the blank space around her, neck craning to clarify that nopony was around. She turned around to face towards Cloudsdale, where the Cloud Factory would no doubt be waiting for another job to give their best (and laziest) employee.
Rainbow bit her lip as she punched a hole in the clouds beneath her and set to flying again, hovering below the overcast sky so that she could see the emptiness that was 9 AM. To the north, Rainbow observed Sweet Apple Acres and the small red speck that was eliminating smaller red and green specks from trees. Applejack must have already taken the cart out to the marketplace.
Rainbow sighed before she bolted towards Cloudsdale, her head slightly tilted to the side as her mind rattled with the arguments of last night. A hoof cradled her stomach as she flew, using what was left of her composure to avoid emptying the contents of her stomach onto some random pony below her.
~~~
“Done already?”
A portly stallion in a suit that was obviously two sizes too small reached underneath his office desk and pulled out a small bag, grumbling jokingly at having to part with his money so soon. Rainbow Dash nodded without a word, eyes focusing on every decoration and useless knick knack inside of the office until she felt a bag land near her forehooves. Fifty bits, no more, no less.
“I can always count on my most loyal employee. Heh, you know, your assignment was only a half hour. Wanna take another one? I bet you wanna get a few more shifts in so that you can get yourself something nice,” the manager said, smiling as he pulled a packet of paperwork out of a bin on the corner of the desk and began to sign it.
Rainbow shook her head. “I’m fine. I still have the next three days off ‘cause of my birthday, right?”
The manager frowned, but nodded. “Yeah, Friday through Sunday, like you asked.”
“That’s all I need then.”
Rainbow stood up and walked to the door, but was stopped upon hearing her boss speak up again, feeling his concerned eyes staring a hole into the back of her head.
“Rainbow, you’ve taken more days off this month than any other month since you worked here. Even your past birthdays, you worked with a smile on your face. I mean, I know you only work part time and we don’t really talk much, but if something is the matter, we can talk about it if you want.”
Rainbow turned around to face her boss and smiled. She clutched the bag to her burning chest, hooves slightly shaking the contents within.
“Yeah, I’m okay. Just… turning 21 you know? The age where I get to make bad choices.” Rainbow chuckled. “Just taking enough days so that I can sleep away the hangover, once I get it.”
The boss laughed and slapped his hind leg, leaning back into his chair as his expression softened.
“Alrighty! Not like this job is hard anyway. I could probably do it while hung over!” he yelled, a little louder than was needed.
Rainbow smiled sheepishly as she grabbed the doorknob. “Heh, yeah. Talk to you later, boss.”
~~~
Perhaps it would have been better if Rainbow placed the clouds over the east side of Ponyville. That way, the weather would have been able to complement her mood. Rainbow wiped the sweat off her forehead as she continued to walk. She brushed past numerous ponies, some of which had bags filled to the brim with vegetables while others paid her no mind since they were completely focused on their shopping lists.
Blurry, candy-colored hazes passed through Rainbow’s peripheral vision as she focused on walking straight. Her mouth was firmly closed around the bag of bits previously given to her since she wasn’t in the mood for questions from random townsponies. Her slightly bent head and stiff posture was also a clue as to who Rainbow wanted to talk to: no one.
Rainbow bent her head up when she saw a gray outline on her right and she turned to analyze the building. She turned her head to drop the bag of bits onto her back upon seeing the golden bit coin in the middle of the sign above the door, coupled with the words “Ponyville National Bank”.
“There we go,” Rainbow muttered as she stared at the wooden door, hooves slowly catching up to her thinking. She ascended the steps and grabbed the door, but her mind was wiped blank and replaced with pain upon feeling something hard slam against her flank.
“Woah!”
“Oof!” Rainbow fell over, the bag of bits spilling its contents all over the steps and surrounding dirt path. She rubbed her head and flank, the stinging pain combining with her upset stomach. She growled and turned around to meet eyes with whoever dared to run into her, but the purple hues that stared back glistened with guilt in the sunlight.
“I’m so sorry, Rainbow Dash!”
Scootaloo hurried over to Rainbow, thankfully devoid of any injuries. She ran towards the outermost bit from the bag and picked it up. She picked up another bit, followed by another until all of the bits nearby her were settled in a pile in her forehooves.
Rainbow blinked a few times and scooped up any bits that were nearby her, followed by holding out the bag so that Scootaloo could dump her pile. “You doin’ okay, Scoots?” Rainbow asked imploringly as she gulped down her emotions.
Scootaloo’s eyes widened and she quickly wiped her muzzle and eyes with a hoof as she looked away. “I uh… yeah? Why wouldn’t I be?” Scootaloo replied, tone shaking and quivering as if Rainbow would yell at her at any moment. She accentuated her words with a nervous laugh, which didn’t help her poor acting.
Rainbow raised an eyebrow as she stared down at Scootaloo, waiting for her to meet her gaze. Scootaloo refused to however, and instead focused on gathering all of the spilt bits. Rainbow cleared her throat, but Scootaloo once again refused to face her.
“I don’t know,” Rainbow hesitantly began as she and stood up. “Usually you’re good enough with your scooter to not run into other ponies, especially not me.” Rainbow chuckled and placed a hoof on Scootaloo’s shoulder. “You should—”
Scootaloo jumped in her fur and took a step back. She turned to face Rainbow, and then sighed in relief when she remembered that Rainbow was the one who touched her. After a moment of silence between the both of them, she looked away.
Rainbow’s wings flared, but she quickly relaxed them with a roll of her shoulders. “You’re crying.”
“Wha?” Scootaloo wiped her eyes. “Uh… yeah… I just… landed hard and it hurt a little bit,” she said. “Here, take your bits back. I’m sorry for running into you.”
Rainbow held the bag open below Scootaloo’s hoof and she emptied the bits into the bag, dirt and all. Once Rainbow zipped up the bag, she sat down on her haunches and crossed her forelegs. “Don’t lie to me, Scootaloo. I’ve had a whole week of that.” Rainbow paused upon hearing the coldness in her tone and she quickly ameliorated it with a softer tone. “What’s wrong, Scoots?”
Scootaloo bit her lip and looked back towards her scooter. She stepped towards it, but stopped upon hearing Rainbow spread her wings.
“I’ll just chase you if you decide to run,” Rainbow said with a sigh as she stood up. Her words were so dismissive that she wondered if she would even follow up on them, but the thought was pushed into the back of her mind.
Scootaloo looked away and curled up into a ball. She whimpered and shook her head. “It’s… nothing, Rainbow Dash. I don’t want you to get involved.”
“Who says I’m going to get involved?” Rainbow replied, masking her hurt feelings inside of a slightly more annoyed persona. “I just want to know what’s wrong.”
After a minute with no reply, Rainbow’s ears flattening against her head as she threw her bit bag onto her back. She called back over her shoulder, tone disinterested and distant as she sighed. “Fine, I understand. I would’ve thought that after I trusted you with what happened with my dad, you would be able to trust me. But I guess not.”
Scootaloo bit her lip and jumped to her hooves, turning back to face Dash. “Okay, fine! I’ll tell you!”
She walked over to her scooter and pulled it alongside her since she couldn’t exactly ride on the steps. “But I want to talk to you alone. I don’t want anyone else hearing in on what’s… wrong,” she added as she buckled her helmet into place.
Dash nodded and smiled as she sank to her haunches and turned her head to glance at Scootaloo. “Hop on.”
Scootaloo’s eyes widened as Rainbow spread her wings. “R-really?”
Rainbow nodded again. “Yeah! Let’s go to my house! I’ll deposit my money later when my favorite little filly isn’t having a crisis.”
Scootaloo smiled as she hopped on Rainbow’s back and wrapped her forelegs around her neck, hind legs digging into Rainbow’s side for grip. Rainbow winced, but ignored the slight sting of pain as she grabbed Scootaloo’s scooter with her hind legs. Despite the extra weight and Scootaloo holding Rainbow’s bag of bits, Rainbow had no problem ascending. Her wings beat lazily through the air, taking her time while Rainbow grabbed Scootaloo’s hind legs to make sure that she didn’t fall off. Rainbow’s position was awkward, but she didn’t mind.
Scootaloo paused as she tried to gather the right words. Even though minutes began to pass, Rainbow said nothing as Scootaloo sniffed, her legs trembling around Rainbow’s waist from her myriad of repressed emotions.
“Rainbow… I don’t even know where to start.”
Rainbow stopped and smiled as she patted Scootaloo’s hind legs.
“Don’t then,” Rainbow mumbled as her pats turned into soft rubs. “Don’t even think about what happened. Just close your eyes and relax. We’ll talk when we get home.”
Scootaloo sighed in relief as she leaned her head against Rainbow. As if on cue, her legs stopped trembling and her heart slowed to a dull thump as she closed her eyes. Rainbow’s stomach relaxed, no longer threatening to turn her breakfast into a missile. The throbbing in the back of Rainbow’s mind slowly oozed away under the cooling afternoon breeze as Scootaloo fell asleep on her shoulder.
~~~
Rainbow smiled as she rubbed a hoof onto Scootaloo’s forehead, lightly waking her up. Scootaloo’s eyes opened and she quickly surveyed her environment, but upon feeling the comfort of Rainbow’s recliner underneath her hooves, she relaxed once more and laid back against it.
“You fell asleep.” Rainbow sat down on the table behind her and stared into Scootaloo’s eyes with a soft expression. “Are you hungry? Do you want anything to drink?”
Scootaloo shook her head and broke her gaze with Rainbow. “No thanks, Rainbow Dash,” she mumbled.
Rainbow nodded and she widened her smile as she leaned back on her forehooves. “Just let me know when you want to talk, Scoots. If you want to just relax here, I’m fine with that.”
Scootaloo smiled. “Thank you, Rainbow Dash.”
“Remember, Scoots, just call me Rainbow,” Dash replied as she straightened her back and met Scootaloo’s gaze.
Scootaloo nodded and sighed as she ran a hoof behind her head, searching for the right words. “Do you remember when I told you about my parents?”
Rainbow nodded. “Yeah, the parents who wanted you to get your cutie mark really quickly, instead of waiting for it like a normal pony?”
“Yeah. I… they… Rainbow… can I ask you something?”
Scootaloo looked away again, but Rainbow nodded. “Yeah.”
“You promise you won’t be angry?” Scootaloo asked, voice quivering.
“Yeah, I promise. Now out with it Scoots.”
“Have you ever liked a mare before?”
Rainbow paused and raised an eyebrow. Right as she was about to reply, Scootaloo’s eyes widened upon seeing her expression and she shot her hooves up defensively. “Nevermind! Forget I asked! I don’t want to upset you!”
“I’m not upset,” Rainbow replied with a flat tone as she smiled again. “Just surprised at your question. Why do you ask, Scoots?”
“Answer my question first,” Scootaloo defiantly replied.
Rainbow rolled her eyes, but chuckled and smiled. “Yeah, I’ve liked a mare. And yeah, as more than a friend, to save you another question.”
“How did you feel when you first found out that you liked them?”
Rainbow paused and broke her gaze as she crossed one hind leg over the other. “I… hmm… it’s kind of hard to explain.”
“You didn’t feel it around anypony from the Wonderbolt Academy?”
Rainbow shook her head. “Nah, the ponies there aren’t really my type.” She placed a hoof underneath her chin and began to ponder. “Hmm… I guess… it… feels like a sense to me. Like… whenever you’re around them, you can feel that everything is going to be alright. Even if the world was going to explode or Ponyville was attacked, they would give you the strength to mare up and take on whatever’s in the way.” Rainbow straightened her posture again and smiled sheepishly. “Sorry if I can’t explain it any better.”
“It’s fine,” Scootaloo leaned forward. “So, you think it’s okay for a mare to like a mare, more than a friend?”
“Sure, why not?” Rainbow asked. She paused and then her eyes widened. “Oh… you’re kidding me. You like somepony?”
Once again, Scootaloo was on the defense. She shook her head, face reddening. “N-no! I was just asking because I was curious!” Scootaloo laughed nervously and looked to the kitchen. “Can I get a glass of water? It’s… hot in here… all of a sudden.”
Rainbow smirked and stood up. She walked to kitchen, keeping her eyes on Scootaloo as she filled a glass. Once she came back, she set the glass on the table in front of Scootaloo and sat back down in her spot. “Come on, who is it?” she asked again, getting back on topic.
“Who?”
Rainbow smacked her hoof to her head and laughed. “You’re terrible at playing dumb. Just tell me who it is.”
Scootaloo sighed and pulled her hind legs into her chest. She looked up at Rainbow, but couldn’t keep her gaze as she stared at the floor, mumbling words that Rainbow couldn’t hear.
“Huh?”
Scootaloo mumbled them a little louder, but Rainbow still couldn’t hear. She pressed a hoof behind her ear and leaned in. “Speak up, Scoots!” Rainbow yelled, a little impatience melding into her tone.
“Apple Bloom!” Scootaloo yelled as she leaned forward, almost falling off of the recliner due to her sudden outburst.
Rainbow blinked as she watched Scootaloo pick up the glass, hiding her maroon face as she drained the water in one gulp.
“Huh,” Rainbow muttered. “Well, this is news to me. Are you sure that you… like like her?”
Scootaloo nodded her head with a big enough ferocity to turn her mane into a small mess on her head. “Yeah! Sweetie Belle got a new coltfriend, and she’s been hanging out with him more than us lately. She brings him into the clubhouse sometimes, but from what she tells me, they like to be alone. So, ‘Bloom and I have been spending a lot of alone time together.”
Scootaloo’s face was completely red now as she continued. “One thing lead to another, and I confessed to her one day. We’ve been talking about how we are going to get our cutie marks, or what we should do as a career when we go to college. Every time I talk to her, I feel the exact way that you said. I don’t even care about the bullies at my school or what my parents think. All I care about is Apple Bloom.”
Rainbow paused and defensively raised a hoof. “But… you’re only a filly. Are you sure that it isn’t just… filly love?”
Scootaloo’s demeanor seemed to shatter right there. Her hind legs slid back under her rump and she leaned back against the recliner, expression contorting and twisting into something that resembled a frown, but seemed to be hiding so much more.
“That’s what my parents said,” Scootaloo mumbled. “I mean, maybe it is if everypony thinks that.”
“No!”
Rainbow blinked and looked down. She was up on her hooves, mouth slightly open from her yell. She raised a hoof to point at Scootaloo, but she ended up biting her lip instead, unable to come up with anything to add.
Scootaloo buried her back against the recliner, alert with bulging eyes at Rainbow’s sudden outburst. She whimpered and glanced towards the door.
“I can leave, Rainbow, if that’s what you want,” Scootaloo said as she turned her back to Rainbow. She buried her face into the recliner as her voice began to crack. “I don’t want to be in this house either if I’m just making you uncomfortable.”
Rainbow’s hooves pressed against the floor as she stared at Scootaloo’s back, her small wings beating like a fly to help her off of the recliner. Rainbow instead jumped over the table and stood between Scootaloo and the door.
“What do you mean, ‘either’?” Rainbow asked.
Scootaloo stepped back and looked up into Rainbow’s eyes. A small ray of sunlight glistened off of the bright fluids in Scootaloo’s hues, threatening to stain her cheeks and mix in with the dirt from her previous fall.
“I… ran away from home,” Scootaloo mumbled as she turned to stare at the wall.
Rainbow sighed and nodded her head. Her gaze turned to the empty glass on the table as she ran a hoof through her mane.
“I had a feeling that was it,” Rainbow replied as she picked up the glass and walked back to the kitchen. She filled up the glass from the sink while keeping an eye on Scootaloo, who sat back in the recliner in the fetile position. Rainbow walked back to the living room and sat back on the table. She gave the glass to Scootaloo, a warm smile on her face as she stared back into her eyes. “Go ahead and tell me everything, Scoots. That is, if you want to.”
Scootaloo’s gaze broke almost instantly as she looked down at her lap. “I… we were having lunch, my parents and I. My dad asked me about what I did yesterday, and… I couldn’t tell him.”
Rainbow propped her forehooves on the edge of the table and crossed her hind legs, nodding. Her smile turned into a small smirk. “Did you do something with Apple Bloom?”
Scootaloo’s face brightened once more and she nodded without a word. Rainbow whistled a suggestive tune.
“It was just a kiss,” Scootaloo replied as she took a sip of the water. “It didn’t even last a second.”
“Oh.” Rainbow’s suggestive tone left her voice and she shrugged. “Still farther than when I was your age.”
“I guess.”
“Keep goin’, Scoots.”
Scootaloo nodded and took another sip. She gulped, but Rainbow had a feeling that it wasn’t because of the water as she continued. “I... lied to my dad and said that I went to your house. They didn’t believe me, but I made up another lie and said that you wanted to help teach me how to fly, since I was having so much trouble.”
Rainbow frowned and crossed her forelegs. “You brought me into your lie? Why would you do that after I told you everything that I was dealing with? The last thing that I need is your parents coming to my door if they don’t like me.”
“But they do like you! I’m sorry, Rainbow Dash, I couldn’t think of anything else!” Scootaloo yelled. She raised the glass to her mouth once more and managed to wipe an eye with the side of her hoof while she brought the glass back down. Rainbow however, wasn’t fooled. She sighed and uncrossed her legs.
“I guess if they like me, then it’s no harm. Go ahead and cry if you need to, Scoots,” Rainbow muttered. “I don’t want you to feel like you need to hide things from me.”
Scootaloo sniffed and wiped her other eye, smiling as she held out the empty glass. “Thanks.” She paused so that she could gather her composure again. After a sniff, Scootaloo continued. “Anyway, we kept eating and everything was fine, until my mother asked me how I was able to get up to your house if I couldn’t fly.”
“How do they remember my house?” Rainbow asked as she raised an eyebrow. “Seems like an odd thing to remember.”
Scootaloo shrugged and sighed. “I remember Dad reading something about your house in the paper when you got accepted to the Wonderbolt Academy,” she said. “But it doesn’t matter. I couldn’t think of another lie and they caught me. They yelled at me and told me that I was grounded for lying.”
Rainbow winced and seethed in understanding for Scootaloo. “Ugh, I remember the first time my dad grounded me,” she muttered as she placed a hoof over her heart, pressing into her chest harder than she needed to.
Scootaloo nodded. “They asked me if I was lying about anything else, and I couldn’t keep it from them any longer. I told them what I told you, that I like Apple Bloom. But when I tried to explain why, they told me that I couldn’t see her again.”
“What!? Why!?”
Rainbow stood up in shock and glared at Scootaloo, but upon seeing her retreat back against the chair, Rainbow sat back down and tried to relax. “Sorry. Why?”
“They gave me a bunch of reasons. They said that I was just a filly and I didn’t know what love is. They said that their daughter is not going to be hanging around a bunch of stupid hicks. That I shouldn’t waste my time trying to fall in love when I should be getting my cutie mark and focusing on school. I mean… I haven’t been doing that well… but it’s not because of Apple Bloom. It’s not her fault.”
Rainbow’s wings flared briefly, but she relaxed them against her back and instead converted her anger to disappointment. She sighed.
“And since they’re your parents, they think that they’re right and it probably won’t be easy to change their minds.”
Scootaloo looked away. “They said that I was a useless daughter, that I’ve done nothing for the family and have just been selfish by not caring enough about my cutie mark.” Her eyes began to water. “It hurts… I’ve been trying to get my cutie mark for the past two years. I try so hard. I’m doing nearly everything that I can think of to try and find it, because my parents told me to. But it doesn’t matter what I do, my cutie mark never shows up. They don’t accept how hard I’m trying, and now they won’t accept how I feel for Apple Bloom. It’s not filly love!”
Scootaloo’s body shivered in anger as she covered her eyes and began to sob. “Why don’t they trust me? Is it just because I’m a filly? Or is it because I’m not who they want me to be? Can’t I just be their daughter? Why do I have to be everything that they want?”
Rainbow stood up and bridged the gap between herself and the recliner. She sat on it and pulled Scootaloo onto her lap, spreading her wings to wrap around the filly as she felt the warm tears moisten her fur. Scootaloo’s composure finally broke into a crying fit. She gripped Rainbow’s chest while Rainbow slid a hoof slid up Scootaloo’s back, rubbing in gentle circles while the filly continued to cry. Rainbow sighed again.
“I… understand what you are going through, Scootaloo.” Rainbow winced slightly at her use of cliched words as she raised a wing under Scootaloo’s chin and tilted her head up. As their eyes met, she smiled. “Hey, look at me. I understand.”
Scootaloo looked away, but Rainbow pressed a hoof to her chin and realigned their gaze. “Hey, Scoots. I trust you, I really do, but I really think that you need to go back to your parents and apologize.”
Scootaloo’s eyes widened. “What!?” She wriggled herself out of Rainbow’s grasp and jumped onto the floor. “What do you mean I have to?! They yelled at me, grounded me, made fun of Apple Bloom behind her back, and you want me to apologize?!”
Rainbow sighed and nodded her head. “Can you please hear what I have to say?”
Scootaloo rolled her eyes and turned her back to Rainbow, stepping towards the door. “Fine.”
“They’re your family, Scoots. You’re going to be living with them for at least another five years, maybe less if you get your cutie mark. I understand, your parents aren’t exactly being nice, and I frankly don’t like how they are treating you either. But, they’re your parents. I’m sure that underneath all of their stupid reasons, they love you and they mean well.”
Scootaloo turned to Rainbow, who stepped off of the recliner and onto the floor.
“Why can’t I just be like you? I can find an easy job and work! I’ll buy my own house or live with Apple Bloom! I don’t have to live with my parents if I know what I’m doing!”
Rainbow shook her head. “No offense, Scootaloo, but that’s not going to work. You probably won’t be able to make enough money to support yourself. Just please, trust me. I know I said that your family might not have your best interests in mind, but ponies can change. They can change if you talk to them enough, or if you can find a way to change how they think. Just keep in mind that some ponies would do anything to speak to the family that they no longer have or can’t talk to. The last thing that you want to do is give up on family.”
Rainbow stepped over the table and walked over to the bag of bits that she previously left in her saddlebag. She picked up her bag and tossed Scootaloo’s helmet at her. “Now come on, let’s take you back home and you can apologize. Maybe if you do, they won’t ground you for as long.”
Scootaloo held her helmet close to her chest, eyes searching around the room as if there was a third alternative hiding amongst her. “But… but…”
“No buts. Come on, Scoots.” Rainbow fastened her saddlebag against her back. “Just trust me. We’ll go out and get some ice cream or something, and then I’ll take you home. You like ice cream, right?”
Scootaloo sighed, but walked over to her scooter and picked it up. “Fine.”
~~~
“Oh, I was so worried!”
Scootaloo froze up as a pair of forehooves wrapped around her neck, pulling her close and forcing her to hold her ice cream away from the embrace to avoid dripping it onto the floor.
“Hey, Mom,” Scootaloo mumbled flatly as the hug was broken. She licked her ice cream and wrapped her other forehoof around her scooter, mumbling angrily to herself as she tried to balance both the scooter and her ice cream while still trying to walk inside. Rainbow chuckled and grabbed onto the scooter, freeing up a hoof. Scootaloo turned back to exchange glances with Rainbow, who nodded her head and motioned for Scootaloo to go inside.
“Nice to see that you got her back safe and sound.”
Scootaloo’s pupils contracted to pin pricks as she turned to face the open door and the tan stallion who stood in the living room. He was smiling, an expression of warmth conveyed across his face as he sank to his haunches and held out his forehooves. Both the mom’s and stallion’s brown irises focused on Scootaloo, staring intently as he spoke.
“Come here and give your dad a hug.”
“You’re not my dad.”
A chill flowed through the room as Scootaloo paused and remained frozen on the threshold. Her grip on her ice cream tightened while her wings pressed against her back, as if reminding her that she needed to respond. She took a step inside the house and bit her lip before she bridged the gap between herself and the husband.
Their hug conveyed enough for Rainbow. Scootaloo’s one forehoof that wrapped around the stallion while the other held her ice cream behind her back. The stallion’s shaking hind hooves that was a temporary distraction for his anger, or a side effect of the stallion’s lack of lower leg strength. His head was pointed down and as such, his mane blocked his expression, angry or otherwise. Rainbow could have sworn that she heard mumbling before the mother’s words grabbed her attention.
“Thank you for bringing Scootaloo home! We were worried sick!”
Rainbow blinked and shifted her gaze to the mother. She smiled and waved away the mother’s appreciation.
“Anytime! I found her on her scooter around the Ponyville Marketplace! There wasn’t a single friend around her so I took her out for ice cream to cheer her up,” Rainbow replied as she shrugged her shoulders and reached behind her to unclip her saddlebag.
The husband let go of Scootaloo and rose back to his fours. Scootaloo made a move towards the hallway, but he cleared his throat and pointed towards the opposite hallway from Scootaloo’s attempted escape route. Her ears flattened against her head as she turned around and walked into the other hallway, out of sight.
“Well at least she had enough respect to listen to us, if she wasn’t filly-fooling around for the few hours that she was gone.”
The mother smiled sheepishly and turned her back to Rainbow to give the husband an unknown look, which spurred him into action. He walked back into the kitchen behind him while the mother wrapped her wing around Rainbow’s back.
“We’re sorry if Scootaloo was a burden to you at all. You know, she’s reaching that age. Teenagers. We’ve all been through it before,” the mother said with a small chuckle.
Rainbow choked. The diverse scent of perfumes and lotions that assaulted her nose made her reach down for her saddlebag out of necessity, even if she didn’t need anything from it.
“It’s no problem,” Rainbow managed to say, using the rest of her air to sound as normal as possible.
The mother smiled and let go of Rainbow and walked back to the threshold. After a quick glance to the kitchen (where the husband was slicing vegetables), she turned back to Rainbow and pointed behind her.
“Would you like to come inside for lunch? I mean, I know that it’s a little late, and I’m sure that a famous Wonderbolt such as yourself is probably busy, but I’d love if you came inside and talked to our daughter. I’m sure that she just needs a little Wonderbolt inspiration to get her on the right track.”
”So, they don’t completely know me.”
Rainbow glanced over the mother’s shoulder at the living room table, where a plethora of magazines were stacked upon it, organized by date. Her gaze turned back to the mother and she smiled and nodded her head. “Sure, I’ll stick around for a little bit.”
Rainbow picked up her saddlebag and tossed it near the coat rack as she stepped past the mother and walked inside. The mother closed the door behind her and gestured towards the living room, her smile widening to the point where Rainbow wanted to grimace in disgust.
“Her daughter was just brought home, and she barely even spoke to her. Not to mention that smile… I’ve seen better smiles in the clouds.”
“Go ahead and make yourself at home. We just have to heat up lunch again and we can eat. Bathroom is the hallway that Scootaloo went to if you want to wash up.”
Rainbow nodded as she walked to one of the couches and sat down. “Thank you very much. I’ll wash when Scootaloo is done,” Rainbow said as she stared down at the pile of magazines.
“Alrighty then! Lunch is coming up!”
The mother walked into the kitchen to check up on the progress while Rainbow surveyed the living room, eyes scanning up and down as she realized an interesting detail: there weren’t any. The walls were stripped bare of any decoration. Not a single picture adorned the walls or the few end tables against the walls. As Rainbow turned around to stare at the dining room table (which was mere yards away from the kitchen counter), she noticed that the wooden edges of the table were chipped. The chairs looked to be a few uses away from collapsing, except for the one unused chair in the corner of the dining room.
Matter of fact, now that Rainbow thought about it, her back felt itchy from the upholstery of the couch. Rainbow sighed as she stood up and walked into the hallway, flashing a fake smile to the parent(s) before she made it to the bathroom. The door was locked and the light was still on, which prompted Rainbow to knock.
“W-who is it?” the hesitant voice asked.
“It’s Rainbow,” Rainbow replied as she pressed an ear to the door. “Are you doing okay in there, Scoots? You’ve been in there for a while.”
“I-I’m fine. Don’t worry about me, heh.”
The lock clicked before Scootaloo opened the door. Rainbow’s eyes widened as she stared down at Scootaloo, her question answered. Her mane and tail had been brushed and combed down while her frame was covered with a frilly, purple dress. Her gaze remained on the floor as she tried to sidestep past Rainbow, but she held out a hoof, blocking Scootaloo from slipping out of the room.
Rainbow lowered herself to one knee as she kept her hoof against the doorframe. She leaned her head onto Scootaloo’s shoulder and lowered her voice as much as she could while she remained alert for any incoming hoofsteps.
“Why are you dressing yourself up?”
“I have to, if I want them to back off,” Scootaloo whispered back, her eyes still on the floor. “I have to be respectful to guests and dress like a filly would.”
Rainbow grimaced and raised her head to look down the hallway. Deep in the kitchen, she could hear the rambling and mumbling of a wife on a tangent while a stepfather listened, on autopilot most likely. She growled and turned back to Scootaloo.
“Take that stuff off,” Rainbow replied as she motioned towards the shirt. “I’ll wash up when you’re done and we will go out to the table together.”
Scootaloo’s eyes widened and she shook her head in a manner that rivaled Pinkie’s energy.
“Rainbow, I can’t! I’m already in trouble with them! I’m not going to anger them any more!” She hissed.
Rainbow sighed. “Come on, Scootaloo. Don’t you want to talk to them about this? Don’t you want to prove them wrong? I got your back, you just have to take that stuff off.”
Scootaloo growled. “And what happens after we blow up on my parents? You leave and go home while I have to sleep on the couch with all my toys taken away?! Just so that you can take the anger you have at your family out on mine?”
Rainbow gasped and bit her lip as she stood back on her fours. Her hoof dug into the door frame of the bathroom before she walked past Scootaloo. Scootaloo turned around to give Rainbow a guilty stare, before she broke her gaze and walked down the hallway and out of sight. Rainbow closed the door and covered her eyes as she fell to her haunches without a word.
~~~
“So, Rainbow, tell us how you found Scootaloo again?”
Rainbow’s stare on the blank wall broke as she shifted her focus to the mother in front of her, with her perfect posture and a probably fake smile adorning her features while she held a spoonful of soup with a hoof. Rainbow passed one quick glance to Scootaloo, who stared down at her soup without a word, the steam collecting on her forehead since her mane no longer covered it. Rainbow smiled lightly and turned back to the mother.
“Well… I was at the bank when I ran into her. She told me that she ran away from home.”
The father scoffed from across the dinner table while Scootaloo picked up her spoon and began to pick at the soup, drawing up broth with a small scoop before letting it cascade back into the bowl.
“Well… yes… but it wasn’t her fault that she ran away. We just had a little disagreement, but we can talk about it later when we aren’t eating. Rainbow, do you mind telling Scootaloo about how you got your cutie mark?” the mother asked.
“I told her that story before,” Rainbow said as she swallowed a spoonful of soup.
The mother blinked. “Oh.”
A few minutes passed by with only the clinking of silverware into bowls. Rainbow smiled as she turned to Scootaloo.
“Hey, Scootaloo, why are you wearing a dress?” she asked. “I’ve never seen you in a dress before.”
Scootaloo’s eyes widened and she stared into Rainbow’s eyes, expression aghast before she heard her mother cry out. She turned to stare into a glare.
“Scootaloo! Is this true?” the mother asked in exasperation as she frowned. “I spend a lot of bits in order to buy you pretty dresses, and you don’t even wear them outside of this house?”
“I don’t want to wear these dresses, Mom,” Scootaloo replied as she stared down at her lunch and if she kept this up, her dinner.
“And why not? Do you just hate anything that I buy you? Do you like wasting my money?”
Scootaloo bit her lip and gripped her spoon. She lifted it out of her bowl, only to stare at it, hoof shaking as she responded.
“I just… don’t want to tear them while I’m outside playing," she lied as she looked away.
“Oh. Well… I’d still appreciate if you said something. I just wasted thirty bits because of you.”
The room grew silent once more. Rainbow gulped down her irritation and focused back on her food. Her neck tensed as the bitter soup drained down her throat, but her name caught her attention. “Hmm?” Rainbow looked up to meet the mother’s gaze.
“Have you told Scootaloo the story about how you became a Wonderbolt?” she asked.
“I’m not a Wonderbolt yet,” Rainbow replied as she took another spoonful of soup. After another moment of silence, the mother blinked.
“Well… you’re on the road to become one, right? I read in the paper that you are in the Wonderbolt Academy.”
“Yeah, that means that I’m not a Wonderbolt yet.”
“I… see.” The mother exchanged glances with the husband before she smiled once again. “Well, can you tell her the story of how you got into the academy?”
Rainbow shrugged. “It’s not that interesting, but I guess.”
The mother leaned back against her chair, smile still on her face while Scootaloo stared at Rainbow, eyes pleading to be gentle.
Rainbow leaned back against her chair and looked to Scootaloo with a smile. “Well, I always wanted to be a Wonderbolt. You know that, Scoots.”
Scootaloo nodded. “Yeah! I’ve seen you do tricks in the air all the time!”
Rainbow chuckled. “Yeah, I’ve been practicing my stuff for a while now. I sent them a letter every year, and they said that I couldn’t join until I was at least 19, because of liability issues. Even though they’ve seen me do a Sonic Rainboom twice now, they told me themselves that they couldn’t let me in because of my age. But when my 19th birthday came around, there was that letter in my mailbox. The first few days of the Academy were tough, but soon enough, I became the lead pony. I’m gonna be a Wonderbolt anytime now. I can taste it.”
“So… would you say that once you got your cutie mark, you knew what you were going to do?” the mother asked.
Rainbow shrugged again. “I guess, if you want to phrase it that way.”
“I do,” the mother looked to Scootaloo, who avoided her gaze. “See, Scootaloo? I told you. Once you get your cutie mark, you’ll be all set.”
“I’ve been trying, Mom. We already talked about this,” Scootaloo mumbled as she wiped her muzzle with her napkin. “I don’t have my cutie mark yet, and I’m probably not going to get it for a while.”
“Well, you’re obviously not trying hard enough,” the mother replied in a flat tone. “If you really wanted it, you’d have it already.”
“I… didn’t really get my cutie mark because I wanted it,” Rainbow replied as she raised a hoof and turned to stare at the mother. “It just kind of… happened at the right time.”
“But you wanted it, didn’t you?” the mother asked.
Rainbow’s wings flared against her chair, but she ignored it as she nodded. “Yeah, I guess. Every filly wants their cutie mark.”
“Then I rest my case,” the mother replied with a smile. “It’s good for a filly when she gets her cutie mark.”
“But it’s not needed.” Rainbow frowned, but buried her expression within her eating once more. After a bite, she added. “Plus, her friends are helping her find her cutie mark, so I’m sure she’ll find it in no time.”
The mother laughed nervously.
“Well… I’m sure that Scootaloo will find her cutie mark soon. Her future depends on it.”
“Maybe your future.”
“What was that, Scootaloo?”
“Oh… uh… nothing, Mom!”
The husband looked up from his soup and stared at Scootaloo before he spoke up, his voice resembling the loud bark of a Diamond Dog.
“Scootaloo.”
Scootaloo instantly sat up in her chair and picked up her fork. “I… uh… yes… Fix?”
The stallion narrowed his eyes, but continued. “Did you talk to Apple Bloom at all while you ran away?”
Scootaloo passed a glance to Rainbow, who looked down at her soup once their eyes met. Scootaloo looked back down at her soup, not responding while Fix’s lack of patience began to show.
“I expect an answer, Scootaloo,” the stallion barked.
Scootaloo turned back to Fix and growled. “What does it matter to you?”
The mother laughed nervously and turned to Rainbow, whose attention was fully on the stallion.
“It completely matters to me! We grounded you from talking to that filly!” Fix replied as he pointed his spoon at Scootaloo and looked at Rainbow. “This is why she ran away the first time. She got all bent out of shape because we didn’t want her wasting time on her little filly friend.”
Rainbow raised an eyebrow as she looked between Scootaloo and Fix. Scootaloo’s hoof barely managed to keep a tight grip on her spoon while her other forehoof threatened to turn over the bowl if she wasn’t careful. The stallion on the other hand lowered his spoon back to his bowl and leaned back in his chair, smirking as if he had won.
“Is this really the time to bring this up?” Rainbow turned to the mother, who frowned. “Are you just going to let them—”
“They need to get out their feelings,” the mother said with a simple smile as he looked down at her soup.
Rainbow’s expression contorted into one of disbelief as Scootaloo and Fix continued their verbal bashing.
“Why do you even care about what I do in my spare time! What if I’m trying to get my cutie mark, like you told me to?!”
“You’re not going to get your cutie mark by putting a filly’s flank in your face,” Fix replied coldly as he stared into Scootaloo’s purple hues, anger flashing within his own eyes.
Rainbow’s jaw dropped. She looked to the mother, who acted as if she didn’t hear Fix, remaining impassive as she ate. Scootaloo looked at Rainbow, expression begging for some intervention before Fix decided to continue.
“Oh don’t think that the dyke is going to save you just because she brought you home. She’s just here for dinner and nothing else.”
Rainbow blinked. “Excuse me?”
Fix turned to Rainbow and glared. “Stay out of it. I’m reprimanding my daughter.”
“I’M NOT YOUR DAUGHTER!” Scootaloo screamed as she slammed her forehooves on the table. As if on a chaotic cue, the table creaked before the two legs near Scootaloo bent backwards. Every bowl on the table slid in her direction before they fell off and shattered onto the floor.
Perhaps it was a reflex. Scootaloo screamed in fear as Rainbow stood between Fix and Scootaloo, her chair thrown back from her sudden dash as she glared at Fix.
“Do anything, I dare you,” Rainbow growled as she flared her wings out.
Fix raised a forehoof, his right eye twitching as he pointed at Scootaloo, who was now in the corner of the dining room, shielding herself with her forehooves while the mother had stepped back from the table and planted her back against the wall.
“That little nuisance just broke a 50 bit table because she couldn’t control her temper.”
“You’re the one who can’t control your temper!? I didn’t even do anything to you and you called me a dyke? What, do you think that makes you sound cooler when you talk down to everypony?!” Rainbow turned to Scootaloo. “Scoots, has he hit you?”
“I haven’t laid a hoof on her. The filly is smart, she knows that nothing is going to happen to her if she just listens to me. And by the way, I’ll say whatever the hell I want in my house.”
“Oh yeah?” Rainbow pointed at the mother, glaring as she yelled. “Is this what you want your house to be?! Do you want Scootaloo to be scared whenever she comes home just because you won’t stand up for her!? What’s going to happen the moment you leave the house and she’s alone with him? No wonder she left!” Rainbow pointed at Fix with her other hoof, keeping her eyes on the mother. “You’re bucking weak for letting a bully like this into your daughter’s life!”
“She has no opinion,” Fix replied as he pointed at his wife before pointing back at Scootaloo, “and neither does she. I’m the bit earner of this household. The two of them would be out on the streets if it wasn’t for me, and all I ask in return is for my step-daughter and wife to listen to me. The last thing I need is a dyke like you coming in here and pretending that you know what you’re talking about.”
Rainbow blinked. She almost couldn’t believe her ears. Almost. She merely chuckled.
“Really, dude? Is ‘dyke’ all you got? Do you just resort to name calling when you’ve got nothing else to say?” Rainbow turned back to the mother. “Take my advice. I’d rather be on the street than living with this joke. There’s nothing more pathetic than somepony who resorts to threatening when their mind can’t think of anything else to say.”
“You think that you can just come in here and tell me how to discipline her? Like you would know how.”
Rainbow glared into Fix’s eyes with the intensity of a Sonic Rainboom. She reached a hoof behind her and motioned for Scootaloo to hide behind her, which the filly was all too eager to oblige. “If you touch her, I’ll make sure that you’re in the Ponyville jail faster than you can say my name, buddy,” Rainbow mumbled as she turned to look at the mother, expecting some sort of response.
The mother bit her lip, but the moment she exchanged a glance with Fix, she growled and took a step towards Rainbow. “Who the hell do you think you are, telling us how to punish Scootaloo?!” she yelled. “I invited you to lunch because I thought that you would be able to explain to Scootaloo that she needs to listen to her parents!”
Rainbow scoffed. “I’m not going to be your monkey. I would tell her that, if her parents weren’t a hot-headed idiot and a spineless mother.”
Fix flexed his muscles and bridged the gap between himself and Rainbow, their eyes merely inches apart. Rainbow merely smirked and flared her wings again.
“You don’t have the guts.”
Fix growled and stepped back from Rainbow as he pointed to the door.
“Get out. Get the hell out of our house before we call the guards on you.”
Rainbow turned to Scootaloo and held one of her forehooves in her own. Her eyes bored into Scootaloo’s leaky hues, a smile on her face as she gripped the hoof. “Scoots, if you ever need anything, you know where I live. If this idiot ever puts his hooves on you, go to the closest guard and get him in jail.”
Scootaloo nodded and sobbed as Rainbow let go of her hoof and walked across the living room to the coat rack, where she picked up her saddlebag and clipped it on. Fix smirked as Rainbow opened the front door.
“If I find Scootaloo at your house, I’ll have you arrested for foalnapping,” he said.
Rainbow shrugged as she turned to meet Fix’s smirk with her own.
“I know a few lawyers, try me.”
The house remained silent as Rainbow slammed the door behind her.
~~~
Never had such a myriad of emotions taken shelter within Rainbow at the same time. She soared through the air, the golden waves of Celestia’s sunset unfortunately unable to stir her from her thoughts. Her chest throbbed with the pain of uncertainty, of the enigma that she left behind at the front door to Scootaloo’s house. Scootaloo was alone in that house with that abusive monster, but at least she wasn’t completely defenseless now.
A shudder ran through Rainbow’s spine as she stared ahead, waiting for her house’s image to appear over the horizon. A pain shot through her stomach and she stopped to grip it, closing her eyes with a grimace. She descended into the forest below her house and emptied her stomach nearby a tree. Her cheeks leaked tears as she wiped any leftover bile from her mouth before she rose on shaking hooves and sat against it.
What if she hadn’t gone inside for dinner? What if she didn’t intervene? What was going to happen now that she intervened? Would Ponyville’s jail acquire another inmate? Would it be her or him?
Rainbow gripped her head and sobbed as she pulled her hind legs up to her chest. She surveyed the forest in front of her as it opened up to a lush grassland with her mailbox sitting beneath the shadow of her house. She closed her eyes once more.
“What am I doing?”
Rainbow ran a hoof through her mane as she closed her mouth to hold back her gasps.
“I’ve never… snapped like that… in my life. Twice in two days. Celestia only knows what Scootaloo’s parents are doing to her. That’s all because of me, because I wanted to open my big fat mouth and act like the smart one. I just… can’t believe that mare! What kind of parent doesn’t stand up for her child! She just sat there and bullied Scootaloo along with her husband, and would have probably been worse to her if I wasn’t there! My mom would have given the both of them an earful if they dared to do that in front of her!”
Rainbow straightened her hind legs and let her hooves fall to the ground, hazy vision clearing away as she looked up to the sky.
“What am I doing, Mom? What am I doing with my life? I alienated and hurt the ponies that I love the most. When it comes to you, anything that may change you, I can’t think. I just get angry. I get angry and I stop thinking the way that I should. My dad… isn’t replacing you. I know that, but just the mere possibility of that happening has scared me. When the pony who I looked up to the most and loved with all of my heart feels like she is being replaced… I just don’t know what to do. I love you, Mom. I love you so much. But… my love for you is tearing me apart.
“I should have admitted this sooner, but my wings flaring from those mere words are enough to tell me that there is something within me… something that I need to get out. My heart aches just from admitting this. My mind tells me that I am being unloyal to you, that I’m ruining your memory, just because I want everything to stay the same. I want to go back to my house in the sky and go back to my life the way that it was before Twilight got into the picture, but I’m sure that’s the same thing that I told myself when you left. I wanted to go back to the life I had when you were a part of it, and the only way that I could do that is to keep you in my heart, with me at all times.
“I can’t do this anymore, Mom. I’m hurting Dad. I’m hurting my best friend and the filly that looks up to me because I can’t let you go. You were the perfect mom, you were my mom… but that’s just it. You were there, and now that you aren’t, all I see is what life could be if you were still here. As a filly, I pledged undying loyalty to you and your memory. I did what I knew you would want. I’m going to become a Wonderbolt. I’m one of the best fliers in all of Equestria. But eventually, everypony has to grow up. Despite the fear that has taken shelter in my heart, the fear that only time can heal, I need to move on.
“You would never want my father and I to hate each other because of you. You wouldn’t want us to use your name as a weapon to throw at each other until the other cannot talk back. You wouldn’t want me to use you as a contrast to everyone else, as the model of perfection, because despite my childhood beliefs, we both know that you aren’t perfect. You were perfect for me, and as a filly, that’s all that mattered. But there is a price for blind loyalty.”
Rainbow sniffed and wiped her muzzle as she rose back to her hooves. She looked up at the clouds underneath her house and lightly smiled, her hooves shaking.
“I love you, Mom, but I can’t act like this anymore. My mind needs to catch up with my body, and I need to grow up. I wish that I could have realized this sooner, since I know you are probably looking down on me from Heaven and shaking your head when you see me fight with Dad again and again. I’m sorry, and I blame no one but myself for the troubles that I put everypony through. I’m going to apologize to Dad, to Twilight, to Scootaloo, and fix what my ego has ruptured. I hope that they forgive me. If they do, in time, I can forgive myself.”
Rainbow’s wings beat, hovering her up into the air as she wiped the final tears from her eyes.
“I love you, Mom and I always will. That is why, I have to say good bye.”
~~~
A blue speck hid behind the rainbow waterfall as Rainbow landed upon her porch. She froze in place as Blue Streak stood up from the welcome mat below him and looked away, golden hues fighting back more than the desire to water due to the chilly evening breeze.
Rainbow pressed a forehoof to her chest, right where the wind was knocked out of her. Not due to her father, but fear. She took a step towards Blue and opened her mouth to speak, but Blue spoke first.
“You were right, Rainbow, about everything.”
The few feet between Rainbow and Blue felt like a canyon as Blue bridged it to embrace Rainbow in his shaking forehooves. Rainbow bit back her emotions and raised her head to stare up at the sky, the soft and fragile hues of her father unable to be met with a gaze. Blue pulled back from the hug and after seeing that she was looking away, he sighed.
“It’s fine, Rainbow. You don’t have to give me a response. Just promise that you’ll listen.”
Blue pressed a hoof underneath Rainbow’s chin and tilted her head down, meeting their eyes as he lightly smiled.
“Please look at me, Rainbow.”
Rainbow broke her gaze, but established it again as she nodded without a word. Blue sighed in relief as he removed his hoof from Rainbow’s chin and placed it back on the ground. A chilly breeze brushed past the two ponies and Blue shivered while Rainbow ignored it. However, she noticed his shiver and looked towards her door.
“Let’s talk inside,” Rainbow said as she walked past Blue and unlocked her door with the keys inside of her saddlebag. After tossing her saddlebag into a corner of her room and motioning for Blue to sit down on the couch, Rainbow sat down on the table in front of it and waited. Blue sat down as well, tucking his legs underneath him as Rainbow walked back to the front door to close it. Once the both of them were settled in, Blue spoke again.
“Rainbow, do you remember the first time that we sat at the dinner table without F… Mom?”
Rainbow looked down at the floor and nodded her head, the red bangs of her mane obscuring her expression from Blue.
“You mean the last time? Yeah. Spaghetti and hay balls,” Rainbow muttered, reciting the dinner as if it was the memorized answer to a test.
“Do you remember the first thing that you asked me?”
Rainbow refused to respond, her gaze finding the floor to be severely interesting at this point in time. Blue continued.
“You asked me whether or not Mom was going to stay with us.”
Blue sniffed and wiped his muzzle with a hoof as he looked down.
“I told you that she would. That Firefly was going to be with us no matter what happened. That’s why I never took away the silverware from the table, even though you and I both know that it wouldn’t be used again. It’s why I washed the bed sheets while you were at school, because I was used to it. Firefly would usually be at work at that time, and it was the only time when I could get housework done. But,” Blue wiped his eyes with another hoof and sniffed again, “I knew that her side of the bed would never be the same. You crawled into it many a night with me and we snuggled together while we remembered her.
“But that’s all that Firefly became. She became a memory.” Blue Streak felt something catch in his throat and he paused to catch his composure before he continued. “My bed sheets were no longer the things that I pulled over myself to help me sleep. They became the sheets with a memory. That whole room became a memory. I couldn’t stay in there without looking to the magazines featuring her inside of the bookshelf, or her treadmill that would slip me up whenever I tried to jog at her pace. Even as I laid back on my own pillow, Firefly’s pillow, the one right next to mine, was always out of place. She wasn’t laying on it.
Blue Streak covered his face with his hooves while Rainbow looked up, enamored by his words as he continued.
“I couldn’t cook unless she was there, sitting in the chair right next to you and across from me, so that we could both stare at each other and smile as we talked about our day. You would ask her about pro flying tips and she promised to show you right after dinner, since you had a few minutes to play before it was time to take a bath and get ready for bed.”
Rainbow smiled and chuckled, her vision beginning to fog up. “And she always had a tip or two for me, never an old one.”
“I had to keep up a good impression for you, Dashie. I knew that even after you were kicked out of Flight Camp, you were going to pursue your dreams. I saw the way you stared at every Wonderbolts poster that we passed whenever we were out.” Blue sadly chuckled and sighed. “You always wanted to stay outside just ten more minutes so that you could practice that trick that would get you in. And I always let you, because I knew, in my heart, that you were going to get in. And you did.
“You used your memories as a springboard to pursue your dreams, while I used them to wallow in the unobtainable. I would never get Firefly back, even though I went to bed wishing for it and sighed in disappointment when I woke up. I was selfish, because I forgot that the biggest reminder of her was staring at me in the face when she came out of her room to ask for breakfast. Firefly left me you, and I hurt you. You’re right, Mom probably is rolling over in her grave.”
Rainbow’s eyes widened and she shook her head and leaned forward, placing her hooves on top of his shoulders. “No… Dad… it’s okay. I understand. Please, don’t beat yourself up over this.”
Blue sighed again and shook his head. “No… no it’s not okay, Dashie! I hurt you, I betrayed you… all because I wanted to be happy.”
Rainbow felt a pang of guilt spread across her insides as she pulled Blue Streak’s head onto her shoulder. Blue moistened her fur with his tears as he continued.
“I knew it… I knew about everything. I’m a selfish jerk who tore apart my daughter and used her mother against her. I never should have dated Twilight. I should have told you. I just… no… it doesn’t matter. It’s over.”
Rainbow’s stomach lurched as the color left her face. “Wh… what’s over?” she asked hesitantly, fearing the answer as she let Blue go.
Blue wiped his muzzle and smiled softly as he straightened his back, staring into Rainbow’s eyes once more.
“It’s over, Rainbow. I broke up with Twilight today.”
Rainbow’s mouth moved, but she couldn’t form any words.
“We sat down and talked for hours… and we both agreed that it was for the best. We did nothing but hurt you with a relationship based on lies. We agreed that you were right, and our relationship was wrong.”
“No!”
Rainbow stood up from the table and kicked it away, seething with anger as her wings flared against her back. She shook her head and pointed a hoof right in Blue’s face.
“You… you… idiot! Why would you let Twilight go!?”
Blue’s expression contorted into a mixture of confusion and anger as he leaned back against the couch to avoid the interloping hoof in his face.
“What do you mean, why?! Wasn’t that the whole point of the fight last night?!” Blue ran a hoof over his face in irritation as he jumped off of the couch, landing on his hooves as he began to pace back and forth. “Our relationship was tearing you apart? It stepped on Firefly’s memories? Do you remember any of that?!”
“Of course I remember it! I was angry!” Rainbow groaned in frustration. “I was being a jerk! Why would you seriously take my word for it!”
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe because you guilt-tripped me into thinking it?!”
“Am I not allowed to be wrong!?”
“Of course you’re allowed to be wrong. But you aren’t, Rainbow. What part of ‘I betrayed your trust and the trust of Twilight’ do you not understand!?”
“That has nothing to do with it! You were happy!”
“But you weren’t!”
“That’s because I was being a jerk! I hurt the both of you with our fighting!”
“The truth hurts, Rainbow!” Blue Streak sputtered as he bit back tears, but couldn’t avoid keeping the crying from his tone. “Your father is a failure and an idiot for dating his daughter’s best friend and thinking that he could keep it from her without consequences! I’m an emotionless, stupid, shell of a pony that can only be happy by manipulating my daughter until she’s an emotional wreck! That’s who your father is, Rainbow! You’d be better off if I died rather than Firefly, because at least she would never betray her daughter like I did!”
Rainbow paused as her whole body began to shake. Her emotions boiled over and she fell to her haunches, placing her hooves over her eyes as she began to cry. “J… just go back to Twilight! I don’t want to fight anymore! I don’t want us to hurt! I just want to go back to when I could see you smile… when I didn’t have to worry about you.”
Blue Streak’s eyes widened and he froze in place. He reached out a hoof towards the crying Rainbow, bridging the gap between himself and her. He cradled her head against his chest and rubbed her mane as she choked out more words.
“I don’t hate you… I was being stupid… and a jerk. I’m sorry,” Rainbow mumbled.
“Shh,” Blue Streak mumbled as he ran his hoof through her mane. “Rainbow, I love you, and I appreciate that you want me to be happy. But if my attempts to be happy only make you miserable, then I wish I was never happy to begin with.” He sighed and stopped rubbing her mane, reaching down to give her a light kiss on the top of her head. “I’m used to being sad. I’ve had seven years of it. What’s another seven? Or a decade… or two. I’ll just rent some extra books from the library and visit you a little more often. We’ll go back to the way things were.”
“I want to go back… to when you were happy.”
Blue Streak’s pathetic smile widened as he let Rainbow go. “We both know that’s not going to happen. Being sad is a part of me, Rainbow. Your mom died in front of me while I stood behind the hospital glass and watched. Nopony ever gets over that.”
Rainbow looked towards the front door and then stared back into Blue’s eyes. “Dad… please take Twilight back. I was wrong, I’m begging you.”
Blue Streak shook his head. “You’ve been through a lot this week, Dashie. You’re tired. Come on, let’s get you up to bed. Don’t you have work in the morning?”
Rainbow stepped back from Blue as he reached out a hoof to guide her. She bit her lip and flared her wings once more as she stared into that fake smile. It was the smile of a stallion with options, but no desire to search for them. It was a seven year smile, one that Rainbow had enough of.
“Dad… I’m sick of that smile.” Rainbow spread her wings and flapped them a few times, hovering in the air as she pressed her forehead to Blue’s. “I’m sick of you being the victim of everything that happens to you. I’m sick of you giving up whenever life throws a curveball at you. I’m sick of your lack of self esteem, and this isn’t even because of Mom. You were always this way. Mom told me that you were a doormat, that she had you wrapped around her hoof during your entire marriage. She never used it against you, but she knew that she could.”
Blue shrugged, the smile on his face unwavering as he ran a hoof underneath her chin. “We’re completely different ponies, Rainbow. Some ponies are born to be winners, while others are born to be losers. There’s no point in fighting it. You save yourself a lot of disappointment if you just accept it.”
Rainbow smacked away his hoof and jabbed his chest. “You may have given up on yourself, but I’m not going to. The one time that you were standing next to Twilight, that was the first time when I’ve ever seen you without that dead smile on your face. Mom would want you to move on. Mom would want you to date other ponies and get out of this little spiral that you call your life. Don’t just give up on this one chance because I decided to get up on my high horse about nothing.”
“It wasn’t nothing,” Blue Streak muttered.
“Shut up!” Rainbow yelled as she pulled back from Blue. “Now, you know what I’m going to do? I’m going to go to Twilight’s house and talk to her. Tomorrow, the both of you are going to go out on a date, paid for by me. You’re going to have fun, and you’re going to get back together with her. Consider it as an early birthday present, for me.”
Blue merely shook his head and lightly smiled. “Oh… speaking of which, I still need to get you a present. Eh… I guess I’ll just go tomorrow,” Blue muttered, shamefully changing the subject as he placed a hoof underneath his chin in thought.
Rainbow’s right eye twitched, but she sighed and walked over to the front door. She opened it and turned to give one last glance to Blue before she faced forward.
“I’m not giving up, Dad. Mom wouldn’t, and neither would I.”
~~~
“What do you mean you won’t take him back!?”
Twilight frowned as she levitated her candlestick onto the nearby table near her bookshelves. She sat down and sighed as she met Rainbow’s gaze with her downcast hues.
“I don’t have a reason to. Blue Streak lied to me throughout our whole relationship. He brought me into the bad blood that the both of you had for each other, and almost ruined my friendship with you because of his carelessness.”
“He isn’t careless!” Rainbow fired back. After realizing that she was raising her voice, she dialed it down, sighing to calm herself. “He’s just… clueless. You’re the second mare that he has ever dated. He’s not exactly smart in that department.”
“Well neither am I,” Twilight replied. “But even I know enough about relationships to guess that when a stallion isn’t being honest with you, then you shouldn’t date him.”
Rainbow gritted her teeth as her face contorted to try and think of a response. After a few moments of silence, she sighed and looked down. “He told you about Firefly, didn’t he?”
Twilight nodded and looked away as she raised a hoof to wipe her eyes.
“He trusted you with that."
Silence wafted through the room as Rainbow paused, fumbling for the right words to say. "Twilight, if there was any way that Blue could earn your trust back, would you date him again?”
Twilight sighed again and crossed her forehooves. She nodded without a word as she stared at the wall.
Rainbow smirked. “Good enough for me. I just have one favor to ask of you.”
“Hmm?”
“You’ll be at my party on Saturday, right?”
Twilight smiled and turned to face Rainbow again. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
“Great.” Rainbow walked over to Twilight and gave her a small hug. She smiled as she pulled back and walked over to the door. “Oh… one more thing. Twilight?”
“Yes?”
“I’m sorry… for everything.”
Twilight’s smile softened. “I… forgive you, Rainbow. You’re one of my best friends, I could never stay mad at you.”
Rainbow nodded and gulped. “That… means a lot to me, Twilight. Have a good night, and I’ll see you at the party.”
“I can’t wait to be there.”
Rainbow stepped out of Twilight’s house, closing the door behind her. As she looked up at Luna’s midnight sky, she sighed and began to trot onto the dirt road, eyes scanning the buildings for Sugarcube Corner.
“Pinkie… I hope you can work your magic. Dad gets one chance, and I could sure use one of your miracles right now…”