Prism Bolt settled into his favorite cloud-chair; a big plush one that could seat two ponies, provided those ponies already really liked each other. It had been a long time since he had tested this particular feature, nearly ten years in fact. For now, he was using the extra room to hold a large case of beer. It was weak beer, practically water; he needed a case of it, especially on days like today.
Or rather, it started off as a large case of beer; it was steadily becoming a large case of empty bottles, while his stomach was turning into a large keg of beer. It had been getting larger for a while, actually. His mane was getting thinner up top. He was starting to get a little grey in his muzzle. It was time to accept two things: one, she was never coming back, and two, nopony else was coming along.
No matter. He still had his work, as much as coaching the sort of ponies he used to smoke on the track could be considered work, and he had his daughter to take care of. Rainbow Dash was really the best of him and the best of her mother, despite having never really known her mother. Must be those gene things he'd heard about. Ponies look like their parents, and act like them too. He was surprised scientists needed a special word for that: it was just logical, how things were.
Bolt's old man had a little thing he liked to say. He said it first in Old Pegasopolitan, so that Bolt would know it was important enough to remember, and then he said it in Equestrian so his kid would understand. A foal that does not resemble its parents must be a changeling.
Bolt didn't know much about changelings. Myth was never his strong suit. He caught the implications just fine, though. Everything he did, he did to make his old man proud, to prove he was his foal. He had looked forward to having a colt of his own to do the same with.
'Course, Firefly had given him a filly, and he did the best he could. Then she went and had a unicorn, and there wasn't a damn thing he could do with that. Bolt had been born and raised in Cloudsdale. His family hadn't settled anywhere else in generations. Firefly was from Los Pegasus originally, and judging by her taste in stallions—not that he'd ever met the bastard, but everypony knows what a unicorn foal meant—she'd never stopped lusting for the ground.
The front door opened, the squeaking of the hinges shocking him out of his dark memories. He'd never been certain how they got cloud-hinges to squeak, but somehow they'd managed. Bolt was grateful; Dashie didn't need to see him like that, wallowing in self-pity. He put on a smile for her when she came into the room.
"Hey dad. You doing okay?" She crawled up into the big chair with her dad, while he moved the bottles to the floor to make room.
"I'm getting by, sport. You been training like we talked about?"
"Yes sir. Cloudsinger was spotting me; I flew like fifty feet today! That's a new personal best!" Rainbow Dash was always so excited when she talked about flying; her youthful enthusiasm, to always be better than her best, was one of his favorite things about the filly.
"That's great!" He ruffled his daughter's mane affectionately. "Pretty soon you'll be besting your old man's records, right?"
"I'm gonna be the best racer in Cloudsdale someday, so I've gotta!"
"That's right. Listen, what do you say next year I send you to flight camp over the summer?"
"Really!? Awesome!" Dash buzzed her wings in excitement. "Can Cloudsinger come too?"
"Well, that's really his mother's call, but I don't see why she wouldn't let him." Prism Bolt smiled at his daughter, then frowned seriously. Privately, he thought of the expression as 'dadface'. "You gotta take good care of him, okay? He's not strong like me and you, but I promised his father I'd keep an eye on him."
"I always take care of Cloudsinger! I can't tell you how many times I've had to take on bullies over him."
"That's my girl." Bolt gave her a single-legged hug, squeezing her affectionately. "You want a beer?"
"Dad, I'm twelve."
"Relax, I won't tell your dad." He snickered at his own joke, while Dash rolled her eyes; dad jokes were only funny so many times. "Just one."
"Alright, dad." Dash reached over and popped the top off of one of the remaining beers, passing another to her father.
Three beers each later, the two were laughing like old friends; in a way, they were. Bolt had never been much for disciplining Rainbow Dash—it reminded him too much of his job, and that was the last thing he wanted when he came home—and in return Dash never did much in the way of acting out. As she grew up, she was less like a daughter and more like a younger version of himself. A friend who happened to come along twenty-some-odd years after he did.
A friend who came along right when he needed one, to be honest.
"Hey dad?" a rainbow-colored blur from around his shoulder asked, snuggling against him. "It'sh, uh, Mother's Day." She was slurring a little, but not too badly. She held her drink well; got that from her old man.
"Yeah?"
"You know what that means."
"Yeah, I do." He sighed.
"I might as well get it out of the way, so we can go back to not talking about it." Dashie took a deep breath to steel her nerves. "Can we talk about mom? I know she's gone. Not like how Cloudsinger's dad is gone, but she's not coming back either. I guess I just wanna know what she was like."
"I guess you're old enough now to know. I mean, hey, you're old enough to get drunk with your old man."
"I'm not drunk!" Rainbow Dash protested. The effect was ruined by her glassy eyes, slurred speech, and inability to support her own weight.
"Sure you're not, sweetie." Bolt kissed her on the forehead. "Your mother was an amazing mare. Fast. Way better flier than I ever thought about being, but she never thought about going pro. Beautiful. Smarter than three of me put together." He sighed. "Really, she was too good for me. That was probably why she left."
"What? Come on, dad, don't beat yourself up. You're totally great! You're the best!"
"You say that now. Give it a few years."
"She left because she couldn't handle your awesomeness?"
"No, she left because..." Bolt sniffed, blinking back tears. Dash didn't need to see him like this, but some things had to be done, and some things had to be said. "She had another stallion's foal. I still would've stayed with her, but she wanted to keep the thing. A unicorn. It was obvious I had nothing to do with that foal. And she had to leave Cloudsdale to take care of her."
"Why couldn't you have gone with her?"
"And leave Cloudsdale? For some other stallion's foal? You still have a lot to learn. Betrayal can't be rewarded, Dashie. Remember that. If you forget everything else I taught you, remember that loyalty is the most important thing. Part of that is keeping your promises."
"Promises? What does that have to do with this?"
"Everything! She promised to stay loyal to me when she got married, and I promised to keep an eye on Cloudsinger if anything happened to Stormchaser. What could I do, move him and his mother with us?" Bolt sighed, a long, heavy one. "I also promised you'd marry Cloudsinger one day, but me and him were both drunk and that's not really my call, so I'm not holding you to that."
"Wait what? Me marry Cloudsinger? He's my best friend but that'd be like..." Dash made a face. "I dunno, I was hoping to marry somepony awesome."
"He's probably just a late bloomer. His dad was too, and Stormchaser was the bravest, strongest pony I ever met. I'm not saying you should start dating him right away or anything, but mark my words: Cloudsinger is going to surprise us all one day. When you least expect it, you'll see what kind of pony he really is."
Cloudsinger leaned into the bathroom mirror, holding a tube of lipstick to his lips. He made a few kissing motions at his reflection, making sure everything looked about right. He combed out his long pink mane, the one he almost always held in a ponytail, so that it covered one eye.
Eyeliner. Mascara. Blush. Lipstick. Hair.
Braces. Nothing he could do about the braces. Other than that, though, everything felt perfect.
He felt pretty. He felt right, for the first time in a long time.
Okay, the makeup was a little sloppy, but nopony's perfect the first time they try something, and it's important to stay positive and believe in yourself.
He coughed. "H-hi." Ugh. "Hi." Good, better. Kind of... breezy, but he thought it worked. "Hi, I'm Cloudsinger."
He frowned; hearing his name ruined it. Reminded him it was all fake, all of it. "Hi, I'm... Cloud...blossom?" No, that didn't work either. A voice from the other side of the bathroom door startled him out of his brainstorming.
"Cloudsinger, you've been in there an awfully long time, is everything okay?"
"Oh yes, I- Yeah, I'm fine mom!" Cloudsinger grabbed a cloud-towel, rubbing it futilely against his face; he only succeeded in smearing it and making a mess of a perfectly good cloud. That's alright, this was Cloudsdale. They make those things here.
"I'm coming in." She opened the door, looked at him with shock, and shut the door. "I'm going out. I don't want to see you wearing... that when I get back, or ever again." A pause. "I suggest a shower, young colt."
"Where are you going?"
"Your father's grave, to be thankful he couldn't see how you turned out."
Cloudsinger looked at his face in the mirror, tears welling in his eyes. "I'm sorry..." he whispered. "I'm sorry."
Ten minutes later he was curled up in the floor of the cloud shower, letting the water pour over him, the pounding rain masking both the sound and appearance of his tears. Barely audible over the sound of the water, he whispered, over and over again, "I'm sorry."
Rainbow Dash finished tucking her dad into bed; he always needed a little help on Mother's Day. That's what she was there for, though. As near as she could tell, that's what mares were supposed to do for stallions they loved. Someday she'd probably be helping Cloudsinger to bed when he'd had too much to drink. Maybe that's what love is all about.
"I'm shorry, Dashie," Fluttershy slurred, barely held up by her oldest friend, stumbling enough to send them both careening off-course. "I know I shouldn't drink sho much..."
"It's fine, Fluttershy. I know Mother's Days are hard on you. At least we had a good time, right?" Rainbow Dash grinned, barely bothered by Fluttershy's weight and the dozen mugs of cider they'd knocked back between themselves.
"A great time! We should have a 'my mother doeshn't talk to me' day party every year!"
"It was nice of Pinkie to throw us that party. Well, mostly weird, but also nice." Rainbow Dash thought for a moment. "I don't know why she had the banner ready when you suggested it."
"I didn't shuggest it! I wash joking. How wash I shupposed to know Pinkie wash lishening?"
"That girl has problems, but none of them are in her ears. I dunno why you're always hanging out with her."
"I've known her for yearsh, and she'sh alwaysh been nishe to me. And everypony. It'sh how she dealsh. Hold up." Fluttershy stumbled into some bushes along the path, dry-heaving. "Falshe alarm. Where wash I? Oh, right. Pinkie'sh way shtronger than anypony knowsh. She'sh great."
"Psh. Should I start shopping around for a new best friend?"
"No, no!" Horror crossed Fluttershy's face. "I din't mean it like that, Dashie!"
"I know, I'm just kidding. Besides, if I gotta worry about anypony stealing you, it's Rarity. Okay, here we are." Rainbow Dash gestured dramatically at the door to Fluttershy's cottage. "You got it from here?"
"I'm not sure..." Fluttershy stared at the ground, partially out of embarassment and partially to make it stop spinning. She held her wings out to steady herself.
"Hey, lemme help you out, then. I'd never leave you hanging." Dash opened the door and helped Fluttershy inside, up the stairs, and into bed. She stepped out of the room and came back with a bucket, setting it beside the bed.
"Hey Dashie?" Fluttershy pouted at Rainbow Dash, looking pitiful. "I'm shorry about everything. About... not giving you foalsh, and running away from Cloudshdale, and... and everything."
"If we had stayed in Cloudsdale, we probably would've just made the same mistakes our parents did, maybe had a kid to make the same mistakes we did, just do what we were supposed to. Maybe it's better this way. You're happy, I'm happy..." Dash tucked Fluttershy in, kissing her on the forehead. Fluttershy blushed. "Besides, this is a good look for you. You're still my best friend no matter what you look like, and this makes you happy. I... I don't want you to regret that, okay?"
"...Okay. I shtill feel a little guilty though. I feel like I let you down."
"Hey, none of that." Rainbow Dash glared at Fluttershy with mock sternness. "Never feel guilty for being honest with yourself. Look, I'm no good at this." She sighed deeply. "You're awesome, keep being awesome, don't try to be somepony you're not just to make somepony you barely even knew happy."
"Thanksh, Dashie."
"You're welcome." Rainbow Dash turned to leave, then glanced backwards over her shoulder, snickering softly.
"What'sh sho funny?"
"It's funny how things turned out. Like, not even a little how I was expecting. Well, except I'm awesome, obviously. The Dashster being awesome is universal, like gravity. I'm glad they did, though. You're like the little sister I never got to have."
"I'm two yearsh older than you..." Fluttershy grumbled weakly.
"Yeah, but I watch out for you. That's never going to change. G'night, Fluttershy."
"G'night, Dashie." Fluttershy smiled up at Rainbow Dash at she left; it would have been a lot cuter if her eyes could focus.
Rainbow Dash settled into her favorite cloud-chair, a big plush one that could seat two ponies, provided those ponies already really liked each other. It had been a long time since she had tested this particular feature; never, in fact. For now, she was using the extra room to hold a case of bottled cider she won off that Apple girl. That'll teach her to race the fastest pegasus to come out of Cloudsdale. She moved to pop open one of the bottles, then thought better of it. Instead, she got out a piece of paper and a pen, and wrote a letter.
Dad,
I haven't written in a while, I'm sorry about that. I've been busy with all my duties as a junior weatherpony here in Ponyville. Me and CFS are doing great; I've been keeping an eye on himherhim it's her now like you wanted. Things haven't always gone how I expected, but I'm happy. I'm working hard, I'm training hard, I'm playing hard, I'm even napping hard, but at the end of the day it all feels worth it.
I guess I just wanted you to know your only daughter was okay. Maybe things didn't always go the way they planned, but what does? That's what life is about, I guess. Doing the best you can with what happens, and never forgetting the ponies who made you who you are. Write me back when you get this, okay? I love you, even if I've never been the best at showing it.
Your awesomeloving daughter,
Rainbow Dash