A few days earlier in Canterlot, near a restaurant where two pegasi were just finishing off their lunch…
“You want to go to Cloudsdale?” Scootaloo asked. “Now?”
“Sure,” Rainbow Dash answered her. “It’s been months since I’ve seen my folks and I feel like visiting them. Unless you don’t want to come…”
“Are you kidding? I’ve always wanted to see Cloudsdale!”
“Then hop on, squirt. No time like the present!”
Scootaloo climbed on Rainbow Dash’s back, hooking her legs around the mare’s neck and taking the opportunity to discreetly nuzzle her multicolored mane.
“Can you really fly that far? You’ve already carried me all the way here.”
“Did you forget who you’re talking to? I can make it from Ponyville to Cloudsdale in one non-stop flight. So, doing it from Canterlot? That’s nothing.”
Rainbow jumped in the air and flapped her wings, gaining altitude quickly. In a matter of minutes, the regal city of Canterlot and its packed streets were far below the two pegasi. Despite the appeal of the bright walls and extravagant towers, they flew away without turning back, leaving behind the luxury of gold and marble only to head towards another extraordinary city. It did not take long before a cloud bank appeared in the distance.
At first, only a slightly dark spot could be seen over the horizon, but as Rainbow Dash flew closer, the city slowly revealed itself as it really was. It grew and grew, seemingly with no end in sight. After an hour, when the two pegasi were halfway between Canterlot and Cloudsdale, the cloud city was already a gigantic cloud and as they got ever closer, it became a literal floating mountain.
A puff of vapor. A minuscule droplet of water… Some of the most insignificant things imaginable and yet, when millions upon millions gather together, these can form clouds bigger than anything earthbound. In more ways than one, Cloudsdale was a cloud: thousand of pegasi, like water had stuck together and focused their efforts to create something bigger than any single, reasonable pony could ever imagine.
Cloudsdale, the greatest city in the sky.
For Rainbow Dash, the view was familiar, almost ordinary even. For the little filly on her back, the sight of the humongous cloud city growing bigger all the time felt like a dream. A surreal view, so impossible that it had to be true, for no mind would ever be so crazy as to hallucinate it.
With the distance closing, the two flying ponies could progressively see more and more details in the city. What seemed to be only one big cloud at first defined itself into an intricate sculpture of multiple clouds of all shapes and sizes. Cloudsdale appeared both chaotic and ordered since only pegasi, used to consider everything in three dimensions, could truly understand its layout. But even for non-flying species who could not appreciate the city’s complex organization, there was still a lot to admire: almost every building was a piece of art by itself, as unlike regular earthly materials, clouds were able to adopt almost any shape a sculptor could wish to give it.
Tall columns that would have been at home on the ground if they had been made of marble stood next to cloud rings, floating in the air and reminding everypony that Cloudsdale was definitely not on the ground. Ordinary walls and roofs lined empty stretches of blue sky that were roads in name only. Pegasi were much too attached to their freedom to limit themselves to a single, well defined path…
Near the top of the floating city stood the Cloudiseum, shaped exactly like the stadiums that unicorns and earth ponies would build. Around it, liquid rainbows flowed into rivers, spilling over the edges of nearby clouds and spreading every possible color into the air, a reminder for anypony looking up that the pegasi were the masters of the sky.
Cloudsdale could have been considered the greatest display of arrogance from its prideful builders, but only the most bitter and cynical ponies could bring themselves to criticize the majestic city when it was floating in front of their eyes.
For Rainbow Dash, the sight had lost some of its impressiveness, although it had been replaced since by familiarity and affection for her hometown. When she looked over her shoulder, she saw that for Scootaloo, the feeling of awesomeness was not dulled at all. Dash smirked at the gaping filly, whose eyes kept wandering all over the city.
“So, do you like the view?” she asked, knowing full well the answer.
“Its… Awesome!”
Scootaloo almost jumped from excitement on Rainbow’s back, making her chuckle. “Hang on, squirt. I’ll give you a tour.” Acting on her words, she angled her flight to go around Cloudsdale rather than head straight in.
“This huge building right there, is the weather factory.” Dash pointed a hoof at the facility taking up a whole neighborhood.
“Wow! Is this where all the clouds come from?”
“Most of them,” Rainbow answered. “Some small towns that don’t need much water just make theirs locally and some of the big cities like Las Pegasus have their own weather factories, but Cloudsdale has the biggest one in Equestria. Every cloud from Appleloosa to Baltimare is made here.”
While Scootaloo oohed in wonder, Rainbow Dash continued her circular flight around the city. A few smaller factories appeared after a little while, filling the space of Cloudsdale’s industrial district. None came close to the titanic weather-making facility that seemed to try and hide them, but some were still remarkable for other reasons: there were the traditional hoof-crafting workshops where weathervanes of all sizes were made -mostly for tourists-, an impressive airshipyard where the wooden skeleton of an unfinished blimp was taking its form, and the very unassuming warehouse that was used by one of the most curious industries. Every day, Cloudsdale’s feather collection service delivered the prime material used by the Plushy Pegasus pillows production plant, makers of Equestria’s finest all-natural pillows since 1671.
As the factories left their places to ordinary commerces and residences, Rainbow headed higher. “Check this out,” she said when they were facing Cloudsdale’s stadium.
“What is this?”
“The one and only Cloudiseum, of course! The place where the one and only Rainbow Dash won the youngest flyer competition.”
“Ooooooh…”
Dash took Scootaloo on a quick flyby above the floating arena. A few pegasi were at work inside, setting up a cloud track for the evening’s races, which -according to Rainbow Dash- were not really worth seeing since the Wonderbolts weren’t participating.
The flight tour continued into Cloudsdale noisiest and most densely packed area on a Saturday afternoon: the sky bazaar. If the Ponyville market was dense and lively, the pegasi had a whole extra dimension to set up their stalls in, resulting in a district that was at least ten times busier. Pegasi-pulled wagons on their way to make deliveries were flying at high speeds only a few millimeters from each other, threatening to bombard the lower levers with their produce at the first wrong maneuver. Shoppers loaded with bags were spiraling and orbiting their way around each other and between stalls. Sellers were doing their best to attract customers by shouting the virtues of their wares as loud as they could and trying to cover the ambient noise of hundreds of conversations, salutations between neighbors and gossips between nosy friends.
To the cacophony of sounds added the myriad of colors, only a small part of it coming from the displays, since most of them were found in the feathers and manes of any imaginable hue. The white fluffy clouds stood as the canvas to the painting of a deranged artist trying to mix every single color in his palette at once.
The exotic smells coming from the numerous fruits, herbs and spices flown in from every corner of the world were merely the finishing touch on the insane sensory overload provided by the bazaar.
Rainbow Dash snickered when she saw Scootaloo’s expression over her shoulder, as the little filly’s eyes kept switching from one spot to another, trying to take the whole spectacle in and naturally failing.
“This place is crazy, huh?” Dash asked her passenger.
“So many pegasi…”
“Ha! Yeah, I tried to take Fluttershy shopping here once…” She shook her head glumly. “It didn’t end well.”
Scootaloo’s answer turned into a yelp when a large, black griffon dove in front of them and blocking the sun from their view for a moment with its huge wings.
“What’s wrong, squirt?” Rainbow smirked. “Are you scared? Griffon got your tongue?”
“Me? Scared? Nuh huh. No way… Uhmm… Griffons don’t eat ponies, right?”
“Pffft! If they did, do you really think we’d let them live in Cloudsdale?”
“I guess not...”
“Exactly. Anyways, this is the town hall...” Rainbow Dash showed a tall building, sporting elegant columns all around to support its roof. A few steps led down from its entrance to a small plaza decorated with cloud sculptures and another marvel of pegasus magic: a fully working fountain, hovering a little above the rest and modeled after the Neighagra falls.
This was the last highlight of the tour, as Rainbow headed into the residential area. Even though the cloud homes were impressive in their own right, most of them paled in comparison to the rest of the city.
Rather than one giant stretch of homes, Cloudsdale habitations were gathered in smaller blocks, each floating on its own apart from the rest but close enough that there wasn’t a feeling of separation from one to another.
The more modest blocks were hovering near the bottom of the city, where the sun often struggled to reach. The houses there were small and cheap, packed tightly in groups of several dozens at once. Accordingly, near the top of the city were the more luxurious homes: floating mansions and manors sometimes taking up as much as one half of a whole block.
Cloudsdale’s summit was crowned by the grandest of all, a gigantic estate decorated by dozens of statues. And unlike the rest of the city’s statuary, those were not made of cloud but marble, gold and gems. Gardens containing real trees and flower bushes were maintained by an entire crew of selected earth ponies, held aloft above the rest of the Cloudsdale by the same magic that kept the tons of necessary dirt in their cloudbeds.
“What is that place?” Scootaloo asked from her perch on Rainbow’s back. “Is that some kind of castle?”
“Almost. This is Heart Hunter’s home. He’s probably the richest pony in Equestria. Maybe the whole world. I think he invented airships or something…”
“Really? This is just one pony’s home?”
“Yup,” Rainbow Dash answered with a chuckle. “It’s crazy, huh? I heard that stallion tried to buy the princesses’ castle in Canterlot once. They say that he offered so much money that princess Celestia actually considered it. I don’t know if that’s true, but I do know that he payed the Wonderbolts a million bits for a private show in his estate.”
The two pegasi flew away from the extravagant manor and headed for a much more plain-looking block floating at a medium altitude. Houses about the same size as the one she had in Ponyville were spread around, cozy homes with each their small cloud backyard. A picturesque stream of liquid rainbow was cascading through the neighborhood and evoking nostalgic feelings from the similarly-colored mare. Memories of foalish fights with her neighbors came to her mind, always followed by a scolding that could never convince her to stop and thorough scrubbings from her mother trying to remove the extra colors from her fur.
Rainbow Dash flew along the edge for a little while, until she darted inside a narrow street. She angled herself without even realizing it, muscle memory driving her on the path that she had taken thousand of times before. By pure reflex, she flared her wings to lose speed and came to a stop exactly as she landed on the fifth’s house front yard. Her hooves dug slightly in the soft material and she turned over her shoulder. “That’s our stop, squirt.”
Scootaloo looked down, swishing her tail before taking a deep breath and jumping off Rainbow Dash’s back. Her eyes widened as she sunk in the white fluff, but did not go through. She pawed the cloud a few times, then jumped in place, giggling as she bounced on it.
“Is this the first time you walk on a cloud?” Rainbow asked with an amused grin.
“No, but the last time was really long ago, when I was just a foal.” Scootaloo jumped into a flip and landed on her back, the cloud holding her softly as if to make sure that she wouldn’t hurt herself. “This is so cool!” she squeaked as she rolled and bounced around.
“Heh. Then knock yourself out, ‘cause my mom won’t let you do that inside the house.” Dash’s expression turned flat as she added: “Trust me…”
Rainbow gave the laughing filly a minute to have her fun, then turned towards the door, chuckling on the way. With a hoof, she hit the small bell hung above the door a few times.
After a short wait, the curtain that acted as the door opened to reveal a violet-colored stallion staring at her with a pair of blinking golden eyes and a befuddled expression. If there was any doubt about his relationship to Rainbow Dash, the stallion’s mane was a dead giveaway, being an exact copy of hers.
“Hi, dad!” the young mare said with a wave of her hoof.
This seemed to get his mind into action, as the stallion grinned so wide that his smile could have blinded someone if it had caught the sunlight at the right angle…
“Dashie!”
He reared up, holding his forelegs opened in an invitation. “Come here, girl!”
Rainbow Dash lifted a hoof, but almost immediately froze. She gave a quick look behind her at Scootaloo, who only smiled in silence. Dash’s eyes went back to his father. One of his eyebrows raised quizzically and his smiled drooped a little.
Dash looked at Scootaloo again, the filly only tilting her head to the side as she failed to understand what was going on.
She looked at her father again… His arms drooped a little…
“Oh, what the hay…”
With a strong push of her legs, Rainbow Dash jumped into the awaiting arms and wrapped her own behind her father’s withers.
“Dashie!”
“Daddy!”
The two laughed as Rainbow Dash’s father used his strong legs to keep her off the ground and turned and twirled around until the two pegasi looked like a psychedelic spinning top. It only lasted a few precious seconds, though as he put her back on the ground rapidly and dropped back to four hooves with a grimace on his face.
“You’re getting too big for this, Dashie,” he said while rubbing his back. “Ow…”
“No way… You’re just getting soft, dad!”
“Well, maybe I’d get more training if you visited more often,” he answered with a playful smile, before nuzzling his daughter affectionately. “So, what brings you by, my little speedster?”
“I felt like visiting,” Rainbow Dash said with a warm smile, her ears twitching in excitement. “Also, I wanted to introduce you to somepony.”
Taking a step aside, Dash fanned a wing to present Scootaloo.
“Hi, mister!” The little filly buzzed her wings and smiled broadly. Dash could have sworn she saw a halo above her head for a second.
Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash’s father’s face took on a strange frown. He scratched the back of his head with a hoof. “Dashie…” he said slowly, still keeping his eyes on the grinning filly while his ears drooped down nervously. “Is there something you didn’t tell us? Wait… How old is she?” He stared at his daughter. “How long have you been hiding her?”
“Hiding? What do you– Wait. What?” The young mare jumped in the air and held her hooves up defensively. “Whoah whoah whoah! What are you thinking, dad? This is Scootaloo, she’s a friend, from Ponyville.”
“A friend? A friend! Of course, silly me!” A forced grin etched itself on his lips while he croaked a few strained laughs. “The way you introduced her, I thought that… Nothing. I didn’t think anything at all. Nope! So. Scootaloo, huh? Nice to meet you kid. I’m Rainbow Storm.”
The orange filly beamed at him. “Nice to meet you! Wait… Your name is Rainbow too?”
“Of course!” Storm answered while wrapping a leg around his daughter’s shoulders. “It’s a family tradition: if you get a rainbow mane, you get a rainbow name! Anyways, how do you two know each other?” he asked Rainbow Dash. “I thought you hung out with these five girls we hear about all the time?”
“Well,” she answered, “everypony knows Scootaloo in Ponyville. She’s always buzzing around town on her scooter. Heh! You should see her dad! You’d be impressed.”
“Is that so?” Rainbow Storm asked, laying his gentle eyes on Scootaloo. The little filly blushed and somehow smiled even wider that before.
“Sure,” Dash continued. “She might approach my own levels of awesomeness… Some day.”
“Ha! Now that’s some high praise,” the stallion laughed. “You’d better live up to it, kid!”
“I will!” Scootaloo answered eagerly.
Rainbow Dash enjoyed the smiles on her family member’s faces for a second before asking her Rainbow Storm if her mother was around.
“Sure is,” he said. “Let’s go see her, girls.”
Both mares nodded in approval, before the stallion stopped them with a raised hoof.
“Wait a minute…” A devious, lopsided grin appeared on his face. “I think I just had an idea...”
The Rainbows’ residence’s living room was a rather simple one, with only a sofa and a couple of armchairs, all made of cloud and arranged around a coffee table. Only one earth-made object could be seen in the otherwise uniformly white room: a radio. Rainbow Storm entered with Scootaloo riding on his back, while Rainbow Dash hid herself behind the cloud couch.
“Firefly!” her father called. “We have a visitor.”
“Coming!” a mare answered from another room. “Who is it?” she asked, her voice getting closer.
“It’s your daughter.”
“Really? This is awesome!” A cheerfully pink mare entered the room, her blue mane swinging around her neck as she skipped her way. “Oh Dash, it’s been so long since…” her voice died down as her purple eyes swept over the room. They stopped on Rainbow Storm and the filly whose head was peeking from atop his own.
“Where is she?” the confused mare asked. “And… Who’s that?”
Storm and Scootaloo exchanged a curious glance while Dash did her best to muffle her giggles.
“What are you talking about, Fi’? Don’t you recognize your own daughter?”
“Hi, mom!” the orange filly chirped, happily waving a hoof at Firefly.
“Huh– Guh– But…” She blinked a few times and shook her head. “What?”
“Love of my life,” Storm said with a concerned expression. “Is something wrong?”
From her hiding spot, Rainbow Dash savoured the look of utter confusion installing itself on Firefly’s face.
“Storm, dear…” she said softly and slowly, in the way that one would talk to a crazy pony when trying not to anger him. “Did you hit your head?”
“What are you talking about?”
Firefly pointed at the filly on her husband’s head. “This is not Rainbow Dash.”
Storm and Scootaloo exchanged a look of shock, gasping dramatically. The orange pegasus jumped down and walked closer to Firefly.
“Has it been that long since you’ve seen me?”
“Ha! You’re awesome, squirt!” Rainbow Dash whispered to herself.
“I don’t get it,” Storm added. “Why do you say this isn’t Dashie?”
“Why?” The mare blinked, looking horrified at her husband’s words. “Why? Just– Just look at her!”
“Hmmm…” Dash’s father made a show of examining Scootaloo, scratching his chin with a hoof, squinting his eyes and humming in thought for almost a whole minute while the little filly remained completely natural.
“Well, now that you say it,” he began, “you look a little different, Dashie. Did you lose some weight?”
“Just a little,” Scootaloo answered casually, brushing a hoof against her chest.
“Well, you look great.”
“Thanks, dad!”
Firefly watched the two with saucer-sized eyes and her jaw trying to make its way to the floor. “What… The… Hay…”
That was the last drop for Rainbow Dash, who exploded in laughter, rolling on the floor behind the couch. A few seconds later, her laughing only doubled when Firefly’s head appeared above the sofa’s edge, gaping her mouth like a fish out of water.
“Aww,” Rainbow Storm moaned. “Couldn’t you heve held on a little longer? We really had her going...”
Firefly’s gaze went from one pony to the other, her face progressively switching from confusion to irritation. With a huff, she walked right in front of her daughter, who was struggling to breathe by this point, and almost sticking her nose into Dash’s.
“Rainbow Dash,” she growled. “Is that the best way you think of to spend your time? Trying to make your poor mother crazy? I was beginning to think you’d been replaced by some weird changeling…”
The young mare’s laughter eventually died down enough for her to say a few words. “It was dad’s idea!”
Firefly instantly spun in place to face Rainbow Storm, making the stallion wince at her terrible glare.
“You!” she said darkly. “I should have known that kind of foalish prank could only come from you.” The pink pegasus shook her head in exasperation. “What have I done to deserve a husband like this? You’re always pulling off ridiculous stunts like that… I swear, you’re worse than a foal sometimes.”
Firefly paused for a moment in her diatribe, but only to take a breath. It was still enough for Rainbow Storm to give her a warm smile and tell three words.
“I love you.”
Firefly, the metaphorical wind suddenly sucked from under her wings, seemed to deflate a little. She huffed, but the frown disappeared from her face as she shook her head again. A half-sigh, half-moan escaped her lips. “You’ll make me crazy some day,” she muttered.
The stallion only stepped forward with a happy grin and nuzzled his wife tenderly. Rainbow Dash, after having taken back the control of her lungs, joined in to show her affection too.
“Hi, mom,” she said softly. “Sorry I didn’t visit earlier.”
Firefly sighed. “Don’t worry about that, Dashie. I’m just glad to see you every chance I get.”
The three ponies huddled together a while, until Firefly’s head shot up suddenly. “Wait…” Craning her neck, she stared at the little orange filly standing in the middle of her living room. “Who is that pony?”
Dash chuckled and walked next to the young pegasus, wrapping a wing around her. “This is Scootaloo, my new little sister.”
“What?” two voices asked at the same time.
Dash’s parents exchanged a confused glance that made the young mare roll her eyes. “She’s not really my sister… I’ve just agreed to take her under my wing. Isn’t that right squirt?”
“Yep!” Scootaloo bounced in place, a large smile plastered on her lips. “Dash’s gonna teach me all of her moves! Right, sister?”
“Sure thing… If you can keep up with me, that is,” Dash said with a wink.
“Awwww. Aren’t they adorable?” Rainbow Storm said, hugging his wife under his wing and watching the two “sisters” with an easygoing smile.
“Adorable?” Dash scoffed. “We’re too cool to be ‘adorable’, dad.”
“Right, right. Silly me.” He rolled his eyes while his wife giggled.
“So, Scootaloo,” Firefly said while walking to an armchair and plopping herself on the fluffy seat. “What’s your story? How did you meet my daughter?”
“In Ponyville,” the filly answered. She jumped up on the couch and sat herself before continuing. “Everypony in Ponyville knows Rainbow Dash. She’s always flying around town kicking clouds or practicing her moves. Like that one time, she combined a looping and a corkscrew, then flew straight up before making a one-eighty turn to dive down, then a series of barrel rolls and…”
Rainbow Dash smirked and sat next to Scootaloo while the little pony went on and on about her favorite subject. For the next five minutes, the blue pegasus mare basked in the adoration Scootaloo entertained for her. Meanwhile, Firefly nodded and hummed, asking question here and there. Rainbow Storm chuckled and, after mussing his daughter’s mane -despite her annoyed glare-, went to fetch some drinks. By the time he came back with a tray loaded with four glasses of orange juice, Scootaloo was talking about the Cutie Mark Crusaders and the numerous efforts they had gone through to find their true callings.
“I see that it worked,” Firefly said while pointing at Scootaloo’s flank. “Good job! Looks like you’re the kind of pony who knows how to get what she wants. Never forget that, kid: if you want something, you have to work and fight for it. It’s the only way.” Scootaloo simply nodded while Firefly continued. “And be sure to make everypony give you what’s rightly yours.”
“Oh boy,” Storm said, slapping a hoof to his face. “Here we go again.”
“Hush you,” the pink pegasus sid. “It’s important.”
“She’s just a filly, don’t bother her with that kind of stuff.”
Scootaloo nudged Rainbow Dash and asked her quietly what the couple of pegasi was arguing about.
“Don’t worry, squirt. Mom’s just giving her usual union leader speech. You get used to it…”
“Union?” The filly raised an eyebrow. “A union of what?”
“A labor union,” Dash began to explain before Firefly took over.
“A union’s a group of ponies working together to make sure their rights are respected.”
“And if you listen to mom,” Dash added, “every single pony should join one.”
“Well, duh!” Firefly said, throwing her hooves in the air. “How are ponies supposed to protect themselves otherwise? In fact, I still don’t understand why you’re not unionized, Dash.”
The young mare sighed. “I’m a weather pony, mom. It’s gotta be one of the cushiest job in Equestria and I’m employed by the government anyway.”
“That’s no reason to–”
Rainbow Storm interrupted his wife before she could go on. “Love of my life, I don’t think this is the time for this. Don’t bore Scootaloo with politics… Why don’t you show her your sculptures instead?”
The filly stared at Firefly for a moment. “You make sculptures?”
“I sure do! Cloud sculptures. Do you want to see them?”
“Yeah, that sounds cool!”
“It is,” Rainbow Dash said with a grin. “You’ll see.”
With a graceful beating of her wings, Firefly flew through the room and motioned at Scootaloo to follow. Dash watched them leaving, then turned her eyes back to her father.
She smirked. “Well played, dad.”
The stallion groaned. “Don’t make it sound like I just wanted to get rid of your mother… There isn’t a filly in the world that wants to hear about laws and rights and all that jazz.”
A certain purple pony briefly flashed in Rainbow Dash’s mind, but she was not exactly an ordinary pony… Rainbow Storm’s voice pulled the mare back out of her thoughts.
“So”, he asked, “how’s life in Ponyville these days?”
“Oh, you know… Same old.”
“Well, as long as you’re healthy… How’s that quiet friend of yours? Fluttershy, right?”
Dash shrugged. “She’s alright, too. Still takes care of all the animals of the region… She’s getting bolder with time, but it’s still hard to get her out of her cottage usually. Discord’s supposed to be her friend now, but I still don’t trust him.”
“Discord? Wow…”
Dash shrugged again. “What about you guys? Anything interesting happening in town?”
“Not much. The Cloudsdale Eagles can’t win a match, but I guess that doesn’t qualify as ‘news’...”
“Not really,” the young mare said with a chuckle. “I’m glad to live in Ponyville this season.”
“They just can’t do anything right since Thunderclap went to the Baltimare Dolphins… Hey, Ponyville should really get itself a team. Maybe we’d have a chance against a small town. Maybe you could even play for them!”
“Then nopony would have a chance!” Dash laughed. “But seriously, I don’t have time for this, I too busy training for the Wonderbolts.”
“Ah yeah, of course,” Rainbow Storm said. “How’s that going?”
“Pretty well. I came out on top of my class at the academy. It’s just a matter of time before I’m part of the team.”
“Well, that’s good to hear,” her father said with a small smile. “Just don’t quit your job yet.”
The smile that had graced Rainbow Dash’s face for most of their conversation disappeared, evicted by an annoyed frown. “What's that supposed to mean?” she asked coldly.
“It means what I said, nothing more… You speak as if you were a Wonderbolt already, but you aren’t. Don’t quit your job until you’ve got something real to replace it.”
“I won’t need it for long, anyways.”
“So you can be patient,” Storm answered calmly. “There’s no point in taking unnecessary risks.”
Rainbow Dash took her eyes off of him, staring at nothing through the window. “It’s not unnecessary, If I didn’t have to work the weather, I’d have a lot more time for my training.”
“You’re actually considering this?” Rainbow Storm’s voice remained quiet, but his calm speech was not a good enough façade for his daughter...
The familiarity that comes with many years had taught Rainbow Dash every subtle aspect of her father’s voice. Just like an experienced musician playing the same instrument for so long can hear variations in its music that no one else can, the young pegasus could perceive every single change in her father’s speech. The timbre, the pitch, the volume and intonation… His voice was an entire orchestra playing a symphony of disappointment and worry.
Rainbow Dash did not take her eyes off of the nothing she was intently watching and did her best to keep her own voice neutral as she answered. “I’ve thought about it, that’s all. Don’t panic, I haven’t given my resignation yet.”
“I hope so… I know how impulsive you sometimes get.”
“Impulsive?” Frowning, Dash turned her gaze back on her father. The look of serious concern on his face heated up her blood. “I’ve thought about it. I’ve really thought about this, I know what’s at stake, what I risk and what I can do.”
Rainbow Storm sighed and closed his eyes. “Listen I’m just asking you to be careful… Don’t give up what you have now for something that you might get later.”
“Might?” Dash threw her hooves in the air. “I will make it into the Wonderbolts, dad.”
He gave Rainbow Dash the most infuriatingly loving and kind look he could. “I hope you do, Dashie. I really do. The only thing I want you to do, is to make sure you have something to fall back to in case things don’t work out.”
“Fall back? Oh come one dad. There’s no way I can fail. I’m the best young flyer! I made a strong impression on Spitfire. Several times! It’s in the bag!”
“Just like I thought when I was your age.” His expression took a certain hardness as he spoke. “I was like you and I dropped everything to move to Cloudsdale. School, family, friends, everything, just to go after my dream. I didn’t care about burning bridges ‘cause I was so sure I’d become a pro player…
“I was good, Dashie. Really good. I knew it and everypony else told me so. ‘The best receiver I’ve ever seen,’ they’d say. ‘You’ll go far.’ ‘You’re a future legend...’ Yeah, right! I tried and tried, but I never made it. If I was the best, then that still wasn’t good enough.”
Rainbow Dash sank deeper into the couch, crossing her arms and looking away from her father.
“I just don’t want you to go through the same manure that I did,” he said, doing his best to keep the bitterness out of his voice. “I don’t want you ending up selling hay fries at Speedy Feedbags for a bit a day. I tell you, if it hadn’t met your mother, I’d have gone crazy back then.”
“Fine,” Dash growled, “I get your point. I’ll keep my lame job… It’s not like me to give up anything anyway.”
“You dropped out of flight school…”
Dash’s head snapped back to face him so fast she could have snapped her neck. “That was ten years ago! How long are you going to keep bringing that up, dad?”
“Sorry.” he brought up his hooves defensively. “I didn’t mean–”
“Forget it.” She jumped off the couch and turned her back to him. “I’ll go see what mom’s up to.” The young mare headed off into the hallway. Either her father had taken the hint of he didn’t have anything to add, but he made no attempt to stop her.