Raising Rainbow

by Pizzema Forte


19. I'm Special

Rainbolt smiled at his daughter as she came out of her room with a frown stuck to her face. Crust bordered her eyes and her
multi-hued mane stuck up in every direction. Her new saddle bags rested on her back and uncomfortably dogged her wings
Summer flew by faster than Dashie herself, and she was quite saddened to have to go back to the dreaded prison. She absolutely hated school with a burning passion, and couldn’t express it through any words in any language.
“Awe, don’t look so sad!” Her father encouraged.
“I don’t want to go to school!” She protested with a stomp of her hoof.
Rainbolt smiled and shook his head. She was so cute when she was reluctant. Sometimes.
“Don’t feel bad!” Her father smiled and pointed to her flank. “At least you have that beauty to show off!”
Rainbow looked down at her beautiful prize with admiration and pride. He did make a valid point. She was desperately looking forward to shoving her well-earned cutie mark in Windy's face. As far as she knew, she was the first pony in her class to get the mark of their destiny.
“Oh yeah!” She smiled confidently at her father. “I guess that’s a good thing…”
Out of every day that long, harsh summer, Rainbolt was most proud when his little daughter came home with a cutie mark on her previously bare flanks. He never expected her to get a cutie mark at such a young age. He hadn’t got his until he was nearly ten, and although he was meant to be athletic, he never really expanded on the talent like he should have. He had no regrets, though.
Rainbolt nudged his daughter and they started towards their front door. Unlike most school years, Dash wasn’t as reluctant this year. The previous year she locked herself in her room and begged not to go to school. Rainbolt practically had to drag her to school. To see she was at least complying that year was a good sign.
Rainbow and her dad stepped onto their front porch and looked into the atmosphere. Pegasi flew in all different directions. Birds could be heard singing from below and the sky above was nice and clear. For the time being, at least. Rainbolt had personally scheduled rain a few areas over Cloudsdale that afternoon. Sometimes, it was nice knowing the weather far before anypony else.
“Ready for a new school year?” Rainbolt asked as he and the little filly shot skyward.
“I guess…” Rainbow responded. “I heard the fourth grade teacher’s pretty mean, though…”
“I hope not…” Rainbolt tossed his daughter a reassuring smile and she responded with a faux grin.
“It could always be worse…”
“I know, Dad…” Rainbow said with a sigh.

Rainbolt and his daughter landed on the school grounds. Rainbow frowned in dread. Her heart raced and her mind flew back home where it belonged.
“Do you need me to walk you to class?”
“Dad!” She shrieked with anger lingering in her tone. Her face lit up red from embarrassment. “I’m a big pony! I can walk myself to class!”
Rainbolt shrugged and grinned. “Alright, Miss Big Pony, whatever you say! I’ll come pick you up at two!”
“I know, Daddy. I’ll be in Miss Stormy’s room.”
The little filly had never formally met Miss Stormy. The only thing she knew was her ugly appearance and the rumors that revolved around her title. Rainbow dreaded the long two years she was going to face.
Rainbow started to trot off after giving her dad a quick peck on the cheek and hug good-bye. She ran into the singular building and stared down the halls. The usual smell lingered within the white-painted hallway. With long periods of hesitation, Rainbow slowly made her way down to the hall and past her previous classrooms. First, Miss Whirlwind, then Mr. Snowflake, who was her personal favorite out of all her teachers, and then, her new classroom. This was it. It was the day she’d see if the rumors were true, or simply lies made up to scare her. The classroom door was opened wide and a whole bunch of fillies and colts were galloping about, talking, giggling, and smiling before the long day ahead ensued. She even saw Windy, who still had a flank more barren than a desert. Her eyes lit up at the sight.
“Name?” A bored voice asked the second Rainbow trotted in.
Rainbow’s pink eyes met an old pony’s dull, navy ones. Her gray mane was tied back in a bun, and her coat was a soft shade of grey as well. Her face was littered with wrinkles and showed absolutely no emotion.
“Rainbow Dash!” The little filly announced with a forced smile.
The mare’s eyes scrolled through a list of names before she stopped on one and put a check next to it with her pen.
“Alright, you sit there….”
Rainbow stared in confusion as the mare pointed towards a desk in the very front of the room. She’d never once been told where to sit. With the memory of bone-chilling rumors, the cyan filly took her designated seat and sighed heavily. That was going to be a long day. Rainbow put her heavy head in her hooves and stared at the green chalkboard. The name “Miss Stormy” was written in bold, white letters. She already hated the class. At least she was the only fourth grader with a picture on her flanks. If she were lucky, she may even get mistaken for a fifth grader! She already was as awesome as one!
After a minute of dreading the school day, four high-pitched dings announced the beginning of the school day. The grouchy mare quickly closed the door and locked it before turning to her unenthusiastic class. Most of them were in their seats already, but a few were still scattered around the classroom standing about. The reminder instantly sat at their desks after a long, disdainful look from the teacher at the board. She didn’t stop staring at the class until everypony quieted down. It was the fifth graders who were silent before the younger students. Finally, the teacher spoke in a rough, unattractive voice.
“Alright, class… Normally, the teachers at this school start out with a little exercise to get to know each other. You all, however, aren’t babies anymore! I’m not going to waste an entire day letting you make friends! School isn’t about friends!” Rainbow already hated that teacher. Her tone then became less irritating and far calmer. “I will, however, allow you to share one memory from your summer vacation if you please. After that, we’re going to dive straight into a lesson.”
A lesson? On the first day? This pony was absolutely evil. The thought of an approaching lesson forced a few hooves into the air. Rainbow looked around and decided to share her little summer achievement. It would only stall the dreaded school work further.
“How about…you? Sandstorm?” The teacher pointed to a little colt way in the back. He had a dusty, yellow mane and orange coat. His eyes were vermillion and his voice was quite deep.
“I went on a three-week camping trip with a few of my uncles!” He announced with pride.
“Alright, good. You?”
A sheepish, little filly smiled. Her eyes were the color of sapphires. “I went all the way to Los Pegasus with my family to visit some relatives.”
Through both of the ponies stories, Rainbow’s hoof remained high in the air. She grew a bit impatient as her arm started to ache. Silently, Miss Stormy pointed to another colt, leaving Rainbow’s efforts to get her attention unnoticed.
“I went to my aunt’s house and stayed there for a couple weeks! She taught me how to make gingerbread and candy carrots!”
At that moment, Rainbow Dash could have definitely used some candy carrots. She continued to keep her hoof up high and wait to be called on. At long last, the teacher quickly nodded at Rainbow who smiled widely given the opportunity to speak.
“I went to Summer Flight Camp, and did the first ever Sonic Rainboom!” She smiled and levitated a couple feet from her seat. “I also got my cutie mark!” She announced with pride, pointing to her flanks. Her cutie mark was the shape of lightning coming out of a cloud, but the bolt itself was blue, yellow, and red. The teacher rolled her eyes at the young filly.
“Oh, great! This year, we have not only a showoff, but a liar!”

Rainbow sighed as she began nibbling at a cheese sandwich her father had thrown together for her before she left.The whole grain bread and Swiss cheese was far too healthy for her taste. He'd also packed a bag of chips, a juice box and a home-made brownie . She preferred to just nibble on the thick piece of bread, though.
Rainbow hadn’t been having the best day… To start, her teacher didn’t seem to be too fond of her. She explained to her in front of the entire class how impossible it was to break the sound barrier, and she needed to stop telling fibs. After rudely accusing her telling a lie, she forced them to do a lengthy assignment. First, they had to write three paragraphs about themselves. Second, they had a timed worksheet to do. All of it was basic multiplication and division. Miss Stormy scolded her and accused her of cheating when she got all the answered right. She had been seated between a couple of fifth graders, after all. After she finished both assignments, she then had to suffer through a good thirty minutes of quiet reading. Because the assignment was unbeknownst to the little pegasus, she was forced to read articles from a newspaper. She really hated reading. Reading was for eggheads.
Lunch that day was the first time all that morning that she actually felt relaxed. She sat on the soft, puffy cloud and stared into the clear sky. Clouds were starting to pile up, though. She had been stressed over the never-ending assignments, and was so relieved when she at long last had a moment to sit down.
Rainbow took a few more bites of her sandwich before giving up on it and tossing it to the side. Maybe, it’d be a wiser decision to simply munch on some chips for the rest of the lunch. She dug her hoof into the little, blue lunch bag and pulled out a smaller baggie within it. It was clear, and held a good amount of salty potato chips. She unzipped the bag and dug her hoof into it. She pulled out a little hoof-full of crunchy chips and popped them in her mouth. The savory taste of salt, vinegar, and potato invaded her mouth and brought a smile to her face. It did taste pretty good. The salt did have a way of drying her mouth, and she decided to then take a sip from her juice box. It had a green covering and an apple on the front. Daddy knew she loved apple juice. She loved apple cider more, though. With a long sigh, Rainbow separated the straw from the container it had been glued to with her teeth. She spat a bit of plastic out and pounded the top of the straw against her hoof. It would have only slipped through the cloud layer and she’d have to squirt the contents into her mouth. She knew that from experience. Finally, Rainbow poked the straw through the box of juice and smiled. She raised the white bendy straw to her lips, but didn’t even get a chance to take a single sip before she heard a familiar, annoying voice behind her.
“Well, well, well… If it isn’t the legendary Sonic Rainboomer.”
Rainbow turned her head to the little filly and stared in disbelief. She had a blue mane tied back in a pony tail, and a light blue coat. Her eyes were a dark shade of blue and her smirk was as menacing and provoking as always.
“What about it?” Rainbow asked.
“Oh, nothing… Everypony knows you’re just lying about that because you want attention. Nopony’s ever pulled that off? What makes you think you’d be good enough to even attempt something that big?”
Rainbow growled. “How dare you! I did too do it! And I didn’t try to do it, it just kind of happened!”
“Oh, yeah… I totally believe you!” she rolled her eyes and smiled at the filly. “What’s your cutie mark for, anyway?”
“Flying.” Rainbow answered simply, and tried hard to get back to her mean.
“Flying? Really?” The rude filly snickered. “You mean, the thing every pegasus in Equestria can do? What’s are you other hobbies? Walking? Breathing?” she asked.
Rainbow’s mouth dropped. “Hey! I’m good at flying! I also race and stuff!”
“Because flying and racing will get you so far in life! Your ‘talent’ is just as useless as you are!"
“Hey! At least I have a talent! I don’t see you with anything but a blank flank!”
“I’d rather have a blank flank than a talent as insignificant as flying!”
“My talent is awesome!” Rainbow argued with more aggression building in her tone.
Windy spoke up again in the most mocking tone she could. “’OH look, I’m Rainbow Dash! I fly and race and stuff just like any regular pegasus!’” She smirked evilly at the tormented filly. “I always knew you were pathetic!”
Pathetic? That was it! That was the last straw! Rainbow growled at the little brat before pouncing on her. She used all of her bodily strength to pin her to the cloud layer below. The little bitch kicked and wailed and screamed when Rainbow landed a hard smack on her mouth. All of her anger went into the blow, and left a red mark under the filly’s right eyes. That was enough to draw in the attention of bystanders. Rainbow lifted her hoof and smacked her face again with all her strength. She hit her face again and again. She did nothing to fight back, but heavily cried and screamed for help. Rainbow’s anger was dropping as she saw the little filly crying. She’d wanted to do that for such a long time…
As Rainbow was going in for her sixth hard blow, she suddenly felt a pair of hooves wrap around her torso and desperately try to separate her from the victim of her anger. Rainbow struggled hard to remain connected to her venerable, crying target.
“Let me go!” She demanded and kicked furiously.
The mare that had picked up the angry, little filly turned her around and met eyes. The teacher’s were full of anger and hate. Rainbow gulped as she slowly faded back into reality and was presented before the worst teacher she’d ever met.
“I’ll see you after class…”

For what felt like the millionth time, Rainbow Dash wrote “I will not attack my peers” on the green chalkboard. Her jaw was starting to ache from the excessive writing, but she so desperately wanted to get it over with. It was the worst of her punishment, along with eating in the office for a full two weeks instead of outside with the rest of the fillies and colts. Not that she ever ate lunch with anypony anyway. Windy, on the other hoof, got off with nothing but a black eye and sympathy from her peers. It would be only dreaded moments before her father would fly in and see what had happened. She dreaded that moment so, so much. She didn’t want him to know a thing of it, but it was all inevitable. She hated it when her father was disappointed in her. It made her feel like an awful pony.
Unfortunately for Rainbow, her father arrived the same time as usual. Five minutes after school ended. She was going on nearly her sixtieth sentence when the stallion popped his head in the room. Rainbow turned her head and dropped the chalk when she heard the classroom door open. At first glance, he already knew Rainbow was in trouble. He remembered writing sentences after class quite a few times when he was a young colt. It wasn’t pleasant, but it was still far better than his alternative, corporal punishment.
Slowly, Rainbolt read through the sentences. He thought his eyes were deceiving him at first. Rainbow looked away from her father, just knowing his face was probably burning with disappointment. She couldn’t stand to look at him for more than a second. She instead looked at the ground in shame.
“Seriously?” Her father finally spoke up in a more firm tone. “Fighting?”
Rainbow turned to her father and frowned. “Sorry…” was her only response.
“Sorry? Rainbow, this is serious! You could have gotten hurt or something! What were you thinking?” His tone was quite angry, but he managed to keep the volume as low as he could.
“Well…I….” She thought for a moment and swallowed. “Dad…Can I talk to you…i-in private?”
Rainbolt glanced at the teacher, who was stamping papers over and over again. She looked up at the stallion.
“There’s nothing to explain. Some filly was making fun of her, so she pinned her to the ground and punched her in the face.”
“Rainbow!” The stallion raised his volume in disbelief.
“Daddy, I’m sorry! You should have heard the things she was saying to me, though!”
Rainbolt sighed. “Rainbow, there’s no excuse to fight if she didn’t strike you first!”
“Dad….” She repeated in a more serious tone. “Can I please just talk to you in private?”
Rainbolt hesitated. He wasn’t sure if he should or not… She was in mid-punishment, and there wasn’t anything left she could say to make it any better… Maybe it wasn’t related to the whole situation, though, although…chances were it was. If she was that desperate to say something personal to him, than he supposed he should at least be considerate enough to accept her offer.
“Alright…” The stallion started. “Let’s go into the hallway…”
Dash forced a smile and bolted into the hallway before her father moved an inch. He sighed heavily and trotted out after her. Once at his desired location, he closed the door with his hind leg and stared at his daughter.
“Daddy….” She started. “Do you think I’m useless?”
Rainbolt was instantly confused by the question. “Of course not…why in all of Equestria would I think you’re useless?”
Dash’s eyes began to water. “B-because…My special talent is flying…”
“And?”
“And everypony can fly, Dad! Just because I’m better at it doesn’t mean anything!”
Rainbolt stared his daughter for a long moment.
“Why would you think that, Sweetheart…?”
She stared at the ground, and then back to her father with watery, sad eyes. “Why do you think I got into a fight to start with…?”
That’s when it sunk in. Everything she was asking him was all taunts and provoking insults said to her by a mean old filly.
“Rainbow… Listen, that’s still not a good reason to fight, but….”
“But?”
“But I can at least see why you’d do that…” He looked at his sad daughter. “Rainbow, do you remember what I told you when you first got your cutie mark?”
“That the Sonic Rainboom was just a myth, and you didn’t think I actually did it?”
Rainbolt sighed. It was true; the thought of his own filly achieving something that legendary was extremely hard to believe. At that point, he did lie a few times and said he believed her. There still was never enough proof, and he couldn’t help but think it was only her imagination sometimes. He did want to believe her, however, and he did try his very hardest to force the tale into his stubborn mind.
“No, Sweetheart…what else did I tell you?”
The cyan filly thought a moment. “That you’re proud of me?”
“And?”
“And that I have a very special talent…”
“There you go…”
“But why…? I’m nothing special… I just fly… It’d be like if you were good at breathing…”
“Sure…” Rainbolt started. “You may be able to fly like everypony else, but you’ve taken that ability and done amazing things with it… You’ve proved that there’s more to flying than just transportation. You’re a great flier, Rainbow…” Rainbolt wrapped a hoof around his daughter. “No matter what anypony says, you’re an amazing filly, and you have so much talent… Besides, I don’t think any normal pony could break the sound barrier.”
Dash returned the hug. Her eyes started to glisten and her mouth turned into a smile. The warm comfort of her father’s embrace, along with his kind words cheered her up dramatically and made her feel less terrible about the terrible day.
“I love you, Daddy…” She said into his ear.
“I love you, too…” he stated back and hugged her a bit tighter before breaking away.
“Now, I think you have some sentences you should attend to.”