//------------------------------//
// Prompt #493-Passing It On 
// Story: Ponywatching 
// by ThunderTempest 
//------------------------------//

Rainbow Dash shifted her weight, glancing around the room. She had never liked staying still, or being inside, and visiting her mother required her to do copious amounts of both. The usual accruements of a long life well lived hung from the cloud walls, and sat on shelves. Rainbow had seen them all a thousand times before. She watched, as her mother walked backwards into the room, pulling an ancient wooden chest with her mouth.

“Now, where did I put that...” muttered her mother, “aha! There it is. Rainbow, dear, would you get that old silver key for me?”

“Sure, mom.” It was a moments’ work for Rainbow to retrieve the indicated key, an old, ornate silver thing, engraved with her mother’s inititals. She passed it to her mother, who promptly unlocked the chest, threw open the lid, and dived headfirst into the chest to a depth that should not have been physically possible. Rainbow completely disregarded that fact in favour of ducking the stream of assorted knick-knacks her mother began tossing out of the chest.

“Watch it, mom!” said Rainbow, as she threw herself to the side to avoid what appeared to be a full-size Shetlandish claymore sword, and then a blue tortoise shell smacked her on the head.

“Ow,” muttered Rainbow, and she ducked and weaved her way to the other side of the room, where she would be safe from her mother’s throwing hoof. It was several minutes of clangs, bangs and frantic muttering before Rainbow’s mother emerged from the chest with what she wanted.

“Now Rainbow, I know you think I’m just an old has-been,” began her mother, with an exaggerated eye roll to accompany Rainbow’s, “But in light of this Element business, I think it’s time I let you in on a little secret. I wasn’t always the killjoy you think I am. I was once no less than the greatest adventurer in all of Equestria!” Rainbow’s mother had assumed a dramatic pose on the coffee table, waiting for a reaction from her daughter.

Rainbow just stared at her mother without a single change in expression.

“Okay, maybe not the greatest, but I was an adventurer. I explored new lands, met new cultures, experienced strange and wonderful things. Why, one time, I even found myself well beyond Equestria’s borders, trapped in this strange land, with nary a thing to eat and four months to wait for the next ship back...”

Rainbow faked snoring to show exactly how interested she was in her mother’s stories.

“Well, fine. I suppose I can regale you with my tales of derring do and high-stakes adventure another time.”

[Time]

Rainbow’s mother moved closer to her, and hugged her tightly. “You know I care for you deeply, Rainbow. That’s why I want you to have this,” said Rainbow’s mother, hoofing over a wrapped bundle. Rainbow pulled on the string tying the cloth wrapping around the object, and unwrapped the bundle.

Inside were two objects. One was a dagger made out of what looked like black glass, which seemed to glow if Rainbow tilted her head just a touch to the side. The other was a necklace, the pendant a model of a pegasus in full flight, and made out of the same weird, glowy black glass. Though oddly, the necklace seemed to glow a different colour.

“They’re made out of obsidian, a material which you can’t find here in Equestria,” said Rainbow’s mother, in answer to Rainbow’s unasked question. “The necklace was enchanted by a unicorn I met on my travels to enhance the wearer’s reaction time. Given your love of speed, you will probably get some use out of that. The dagger, I hope you never have to use. But if you do, know that it was enchanted by that same unicorn, to never dull or break. Both served me well while I was out adventuring. I hope they can do the same for you while you’re out with your Element friends, saving the world.”

“Thanks, mom,” said Rainbow, giving her mother a brief hug, and silently asking for permission.

“Oh, alright. You can go now, dear.”

Rainbow was out of the door before her mother finished speaking. Her mother smiled, and then trotted back over to the pile of odds and ends that she had tossed out of the chest, and picked up the blue tortoise shell with a rather vicious grin.

“Now, let’s see if that plumber was right about this thing...”