//------------------------------//
// 7. Flooding the Rock Farm 
// Story: Raising Rainbow 
// by Pizzema Forte 
//------------------------------//

     The first few years of Rainbow’s life were quite uneventful. There were a few memorable moments now and then, but for the most part, they relived the same routine. They’d wake up, eat, have play time, do work around the house, make dinner, go to work together, and return home in the morning for a long, well-deserved nap. Rainbolt was often left alone with his daughter the majority of the night. She’d outgrown her baby bed long ago, so she slept on a portable airbed with a blanket. She always complained about how uncomfortable it was.
“I’m sorry, Sweetheart. But you’re too big for your other bed and this is the best I can do. When Harmony Day comes around, I’ll get holiday pay and buy you a nice, comfy sleeping bag. How’s that sound?” 
Rainbow grumbled to herself. “That’s not for another two months!” 
Her father sighed. “Fine, how about your birthday?” 
Dash had only had two birthdays before that, so she was still confused on when it was. “When’s that?” 
“Next month. June 16th.” 
Rainbow let out an annoyed grunt and threw her blanket over her head. That’s when a little, green pegasus made her way into the office. Her blue eyes were emotionless as usually. Rainbow peaked her head out from behind the soft, blue blankets when she heard the door opened and wings flapping. 
“Aunty Skies!” Rainbow chimed. “Give Daddy a raise so he can afford me a better bed!” 
Rainbolt blushed and looked up to his boss. Her mutual expression turned into a smile. Over the years, she’d grown quite attached to the little filly. She loved her to pieces, and even gave her cookies, treats, or even money on occasions. Rainbow called her Aunty, since she was a very close grown-up to her; she’d known her since she was a baby. Rainbolt still didn’t feel comfortable hearing his daughter call her, “Aunty”, but he wasn’t going to stop her. Who knew when Rainbow might save his flank? 
“Sorry, Sweetheart.” Mrs. Skies pat the filly’s head with love. “I can’t just give out money like that. It wouldn’t be fair to my other employees.” 
“But the other employees never have to know!” Rainbow protested cutely. 
Mrs. Skies giggled. “You’re daughter’s the cutest! You know that?” 
“Yeah, I know. She’s adorable.”   
Mrs. Skies giggled and flew away from the little filly. “Now, how about I take a look at your work.” 
“Alrighty…” He spread out the several papers he’d been filling out. They were all requests from different ponies in Equestria to make sure their certain properties weren’t flooded with too much rain, wind, heat, snow, or hail. “There! Now… I know there’s a few things that may be a bit… off… or, uh, wrong, but I promise to change all the little mistakes an even redo some of my math, if needed. You know how awful I am at math and stuff…” 
Mrs. Skies ignored the periwinkle stallion. “All of this actually looks…surprisingly good. Keep up the good work.” 
She gave the pegasus a quick pat on the back and left his office with a satisfied smile. The wooden door closed with a click behind him. He immediately returned to his never-ending work.
“Ugh! All these requests! Do you know how hard it is to satisfy over thirty individual ponies, and still scatter a minimum of six-hundred rain clouds in the south half of Equestria?” 
“Do you know how hard it is to sleep on rubber? No.” Dash argued with a grunt. 
“Do you know what it’s like to go a few days without flying for having an attitude with your parent?” 
Rainbow didn’t say anything after that. She turned to her back to her dad and tried to find comfort in her soft pillow and thin sheet. She hated sleeping in her dad’s office. It was smelly, uncomfortable, and stuffy. She wished she could go home and take a nice, long rest in her bed. Well, not really her bed, but her dad’s bed. She outgrew her crib, so lately she’d been sleeping with her daddy, but he promised to save up and get her a bed of her own. 
As Rainbow attempted to fall asleep, Rainbolt continued his work and actually noticed something; on the south side of Equestria, there was an area, barren of any towns or shelters, that was next to a large river that lead into the ocean. That’d be perfect! Nopony would be harmed, and most of the water would run into the stream, then into the ocean. It was the perfect area to put any excess clouds! With a new, broad smile on his face, he immediately drew several large Xs over the area with a confident smile. This was one of the smartest ideas he’d ever come up with it! 

“RAINBOLT!” Mrs. Skies shouted as she burst through his office door.
It was the proceeding day and Rainbolt had thought he did a considerably good job on the weather chart. He even took time to inspect each individual machine. Her sudden enragement towards him was both shocking and frightening. 
“Y-yes, ma’am?” He spoke in a shy tone. 
“I just received a complaint that a family had their property flooded… Would you care to explain?” 
Rainbow popped her sleepy head out from under her blanket curiously. Daddy must’ve been in trouble again. 
“F-flooded?” he asked with a cry. “I-it couldn’t have been! I swear!” 
“Oh, really? Well apparently, you flooded a poor family’s rock farm! They weren’t charted on the map, but you sure did drench them!” 
Rainbolt gulped. It must have been that area he thought was a safe haven. 
“M-ma’am… I am so, so sorry! P-please don’t fire me! I swear, I’ll personally apologize to the family if that’s what you want!” 
Mrs. Skies looked at the stallion in disappointment. “And?” 
“A-and I’ll work any shifts that are needed to be filled in with absolutely no pay.” 
Rainbolt’s eyes were on the verge of watering as his boss looked down at him sternly. He sighed. They both knew exactly what she wanted to hear. 
“And you may take any of my pay out for property damage….” 
Mrs. Skies smiled slightly. “Adda boy. Now, tomorrow morning you’ll deliver your apology, and ask if we need to pay them anything for property damage.” 
“Yes ma’am…” Rainbolt muttered. 
As soon as the angered mare left the room, the little, cyan filly hopped out from her air mattress and gave her father a warm embrace without his consent. Rainbolt hugged his daughter back. 
“Daddy….” Rainbow started. “A-Are we going to lose all our money?” 
“No, Sweetheart. I may have a major paycheck reduction, though… That would make things tight for a while. We’d definitely have to budget…” 
“Oh… You can always take money out of the savings for my bed.” 
“I don’t want to do that… but I may have to… It all depends.” 
Dashie sighed and hugged her father tighter. “Listen, Sweetheart… Don’t worry about it. Just get some rest, and it’ll all be better throughout time.” 
Rainbow broke away from the hug. “O-okay Daddy… I love you.” 
“I love you, too, Dashie. Goodnight.” 
Rainbow tucked herself back under the covers of her uncomfortable bed and slowly drifted into lands of dreams and wonder. 

Rainbow soared next to her father happily. The wind rushed through their multihued manes and made their hearts thump. She loved flying as if it were her child. Rainbolt smiled at his daughter as he shot downwards beneath the thick layer of clouds. Rainbow went with him as a look of confusion smeared across her face. 
“Uh… Daddy…where are we goin’?” Rainbow asked. 
“Someplace you’ve never been. It’s called ‘ground’.” Rainbolt slowed down as their conversation continued. 
“Why are we going to Ground?” 
Rainbow sighed. “Remember yesterday when Mrs. Skies yelled at me?” Rainbow gave an affirmative nod. “It’s because Daddy made a big mistake and flood somepony’s property. He has to go apologize like a mature adult.” 
“Oh…” Rainbow thought for a moment. “Is Ground pretty?” 
Rainbolt shrugged. “It’s different. It’s down below the cloud layer. It’s strange, but you might like it.” 
Dash didn’t say anything after that, and after a few moments of silence, both of the pegasi sped up, trying to reach their destination with more speed. They swooped over large forests and rivers. Rainbolt started fallowing the river carefully. Rainbow’s pink eyes remained concentrated on the running water, trees, and grass below them. 
“Daddy, is that Ground?” 
“Yeah… It is.” He said, trying to concentrate. 
“I don’t like it.” 
“To be honest, I don’t like it too well either.” 
At that moment, Rainbolt’s mind swarmed with old memories. He thought of that dingy, little apartment he used to own in the “skid road” of Equestria. It was on the South half of Manehatten, and regularly reeked of rotten eggs, blood, and hopelessness. He’s still sometimes wonder what his life would be like if he never had Dashie. His mind would trail off to the night she was conceived. 
“No! No!” Rainbolt muttered to himself angrily, but with little volume. “Just stick to your task! Don’t think about her!” 
Even though Rainbolt was twenty-two, he’d still occasionally think of his ex-marefriend. He’d think about what his life may be like if she were still in it, or if she were living happier than he was, or the awful things he’d wish would happen to her. He’d sometimes have a little daydream about the bitch crawling back to him, and having the sweet moment of vengeance where he’d brag about how amazing his life with Dashie had been and how he didn’t need anypony, especially not an irresponsible foal who was less mature than his two year-old daughter. 
Rainbolt let out a long sigh. Just thinking about telling her off made him feel better. His anger sunk as he faded back into reality. He looked down and within a minute spotted his destination. 
“There it is!” He announced, pointing towards the barren ground.
It was a large amount of property with loads of moist soil, tons of rocks, and a large farm and windmill. Rainbolt shot down towards the farm and Rainbow fallowed closely behind. The stallion landed on the ground softly. The goopy mud felt disgusting beneath his hooves. It wasn’t until he realized his daughter was no longer beside him that he caught her lingering in the air. She was staring at the muddy ground only a foot away from her. 
“Rainbow, what’s wrong?” 
“I-It’s not…cloud…” 
“I know…. Just come on. The ground’s not gonna bite you or anything, I promise.” 
Rainbow continued to stare. Her eyes were trembling and she shook her head. She didn’t want her hooves near that filthy ground. 
Rainbolt sighed. “Fine, get on my back.” 
Rainbow’s smile grew happy and wide. “Yay!” 
The little foal jumped onto her daddy’s back. Rainbolt let out a long breath and started walking towards the farm house. His legs squished in the mud beneath him. Man, was he in for it. He'd seriously caused some damage there. He approached the door with all caution and thumped his hoof against the wooden surface several times. A few moments later a brown-coated stallion answered the repetitive knocks. He had emotionless eyes and little, black hat. A piece of straw rested in his mouth. 
“May I help you?” 
Rainbolt gulped. “I am, uh… from the Weather Factory… I’ve come to apologize for your inconvenience. I-If there’s anything I can do to make it up I will…” Rainbolt’s voice was timid and quiet. 
The earth pony did nothing but take a deep breath. “Thanks, but the only thing that would make me happy at the moment would be to strangle the hell out of the careless bastard who did this to my precious farm!” 
Sweat dripped off Rainbolt’s forehead. The food in his stomach felt like merging up. He grew increasingly nervous as his heart thumped vigorously. He could already tell the explosive mess the pony was about to turn into.
“Rainbow… You see that cloud over there?” Rainbolt pointed to a soft-looking cumulous. Rainbow nodded. “I want you to go perch yourself up there… this will get very loud… and possibly violent. I’ll come get you when it’s over.” Rainbow obediently shook her head and flew over to the fluffy cloud. Rainbolt watched her and then turned to the rock farmer. “S-sir… I uh… I’m that c-careless bastard you’re looking for.” Rainbolt’s yellow eyes shot towards the ground. He wasn’t able to see the anger arising in the stallion’s face. 
“You what?” His tone was furious. “You’re the reason my whole damn property was flooded?”
Rainbolt slowly started backing away and nodded. Rainbow watched safely from a distance. The pony started coming towards the nervous stallion. One odd thing Rainbow noticed about the farmer was his wingless back. 
“You, YOU BUCKING INCONSIDERATE ASSHOLE! HOW DARE YOU? HOW DARE YOU DO THIS! I’LL KILL YOU FOR THIS! YOU WANNA MAKE UP FOR IT SO BAD? Huh? WELL THERE’S NOT A DAMN THING YOU CAN DO! MY ROCKS ARE SINKING INTO THE MUD YOUR LOUZY STORM CREATED!” 
Rainbow was on the cloud, covering her floppy ears and letting tears fall from her eyes. She’d never heard anypony scream that loud in her entire life. And there her dad was, just taking it like an adult. 
“IF YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST WALTZ DOWN HERE, APOLOGIZE, AND MAKE EVERYTHING BETTER THAN YOU’RE WRONG!” 
“I-I’m genuinely sorry….” Rainbolt shyly muttered. “This place isn’t charted on the map… I-I swear it’s not going to happen again.” 
“IT SHOULDN’T HAVE BUCKING HAPPENED A FIRST TIME!” 
“I-I know, sir…” 
“Don’t act all innocent! You know what? If my family starves because we go out of busyness, I will personally come to your house and murder you!” 
Rainbolt didn’t mention the fact that they probably didn’t make too much money farming rocks, anyway. In addition to that, he had no wings, and hadn’t the slightest clue where Rainbolt lived. Even the nearly-three year-old in the skies above could see the flawed logic in his plan. The pegasus simple nodded in agreement and held back any tears that may have been forming in his eyes. 
“YOU KNOW WHAT? YOU…You….” The stallion didn’t hesitate a moment longer to raise his hoof and land it right under Rainbolt’s left eye. He let out a grunt and Rainbow gasped from the sky above with streaming tears. 
“That’s f-fine…” Rainbolt said, rubbing the pink mark under his eye tenderly. 
Rainbow’s was at that point crying harder than she had in her whole life. “No, Daddy! F-fight back!” She encouraged from seemingly miles away. 
“I don’t need you’re consent. I could beat the shit out of you and there wouldn’t be a damn thing you’d do about it!” He threatened with a growl. 
“I-I know..." The scared pegasus stated as his eyes swarmed with tears. "I-I'd deserve... I'm just so, so sorry about this whole thing.."
The stallion rolled his light brown eyes. “You’re really pathetic. It’s stupid to think a stallion like you could do so much damage. This farm was my life, you know?!” 
“S-sir… I’ll pay for any and all property damage you have… I promise…” 
The stallion yet again burst into a volatile storm of anger. “PAY FOR THIS, YOU BASTARD!” 
The brown-coated pony raised his hoof above Rainbolt’s face. Rainbolt clenched his teeth and closed his eyes seconds before the smack landed right on his nose. This hit proved to be much harder and leave a much more severe sting than the list.
The little foal up in her haven couldn’t take another damned second of this. She narrowed her watering, pink eyes on the pissed stallion, spread her wings and leaped down. She flew as quickly as she could towards the stallion and rammed her little body right into the body of the pony whom assaulted her dear daddy. 
“NOPONY HITS MY DADDY!” She wailed.  
When Rainbow stood on all fours, she was a wet, saddened mess. 
“My daddy’s the nicest pony ever! And you have no right to hurt him!” She screamed in anger towards the adult.
“Rainbow Dash!” Her father cried, ripping his daughter off the hurt stallion. “I-I swear! My insurance will pay for whatever my child did to you! I-I’m so, so sorry, sir!” 
The earth pony shook his throbbing head and looked at the stallion, who'd been gently holding his daughter. He looked at them and tears swelled in his eyes from the awful pain in his side. 
“Ugh! Beat that damn kid!” He rubbed his head. “I don’t need a hospital! I can take care of myself!” 
His wasn’t screaming anymore, but you could tell anger still filled him to the brim. 
“J-just go! Take your freaking kid, and leave me alone! I’ll send a bill for the property damage later.” 
“Y-yes, sir!” 
Rainbolt saluted the earth pony, and let his daughter climb onto his back. He outspread his wings, and flew upwards, happy to be away from the farm. He soared upwards silently. Neither of the pegasi spoke until they’d flew a full ten minutes and landed safely on their front door step. 
“Rainbow.” Rainbolt started in a firm tone. “I never, ever want you to do anything like that ever again.” 
“B-but Daddy! He was-“ 
“I don’t care what he was doing! You will not fight like that! Especially fighting an adult!” His tone was far more assertive than she was used to. “Do you understand that, young mare?” 
Rainbow looked up at her daddy. Her pink eyes were glistening with salt water. “O-okay, Daddy…” 
Her father unlocked their front door, and as always, held it opened for the little foal. “If I wasn’t striking back, that probably should’ve sent a little signal to your mind that I wasn’t in any really serious danger.” 
“But, Daddy… he threatened to beat the ‘s word’ out of you. That seemed dangerous to me.” 
“I know… but if he wasn’t actually seriously hurting me, then I had no right to hit him back. That could get me fired.” 
“Oh… I’m sorry about jumping in… I just couldn’t stand seeing you like that.” 
“I know, Sweety…” He wrapped his periwinkle wing around his daughter. “You’re a good girl. I love you very much.” 
“I love you, too, Daddy. Hey… Can I ask you something?” 
“Sure, anything.” 
“Why didn’t the mean pony have wings?” 
Rainbolt was almost shocked she didn’t know the different races of ponies. Then again, she’d never been to school, the ground, and the Weather Factory only had pegasi. 
“You see… there are three races of ponies in Equestria; pegasi, earth ponies, and unicorns. We’re pegasi, which means we have wings. Earth ponies, like the stallion we saw earlier, has nothing. And unicorns have horns.” 
“Horns?” Rainbow asked questioningly. An image of a pony with two long horns sticking out of their sides like wings appeared in her innocent mind. 
“Yeah…like…” Rainbolt went over to a nearby counter he’d spotted a white piece of paper on. He rolled it up into the form of a cone and set it at his forehead. “Like this, but with no wings.” 
Rainbow stared silently for a good minute. 
“Unicorn sounds stupid. I’m just going to call them cone heads.”