//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: Big Changes // Story: Abstracted Spectrum // by Abstract Spectrum //------------------------------// FRIDAY, THE FOLLOWING MORNING... Rainbow Dash awoke on the floor again. Yeah, really. Third time that week. She had no idea why it kept happening, either. She wasn't having nightmares, she wasn't uncomfortable in her bed, and she wasn't so lazy that she couldn't do something as simple as lay in bed all night. She thought maybe she should go talk to Twilight about this, but she first decided that maybe Fluttershy would be a good resource for why she was constantly falling out of bed. On her flight over, she saw several ponies gathered around one area, and also noticed a white wagon with a red cross on it near the gathering. Rainbow Dash touched ground and trotted over to the gathering. She was suddenly shoved out of the way as a grey pony with his eyes closed was carried to the wagon on a stretcher. Dash's friends walked towards her, glancing back at the hospital wagon as it was carried away. "What the hay happened here?" Rainbow Dash asked anxiously. "I'm... we... are so sorry, Rainbow Dash." Twilight said. "Why? What happened?" Fluttershy began crying. Pinkie patted her and comforted her while Applejack explained. "Rainbow Dash... that... that there was yer pa." "WHAT? HOW? WHAT HAPPENED?" Rainbow yelled. Her cheeks began to get puffy and red, as if she were about to cry. She tried to hold it in in front of her friends. A white mare wearing a hat with a red cross on it approached Rainbow Dash. "Ms. Dash, I'm not going to lie to you. The colt was old, very old. Our whole team is surprised he lasted as long as he did. He was a brave won, pure of heart, I'll tell you that." "So... he died of old age?" A tear fell down Dash's cheek. "Yes. We're sorry. But it was just... his time." The doctor told Rainbow as she walked away. Everypony else also went away from the scene, where was nothing else to see. It was all over. Rainbow Dash squeezed her eyes as if she just wanted to spray tears everywhere. Her friends embraced her. They said nothing, and Rainbow Dash sniffled a few times. "It's okay, Rainbow Dash. It happens to everypony eventually, there's no stopping that. It's just... how life works." Twilight explained. "I... I know." Rainbow sniffled, nudging her friends as a single that they can let go of her. Her friends let her go, as she walked slowly away from them. All she left behind were a few teardrops on the ground. "C'mon girls, she needs to be alone." Twilight said. Rainbow Dash and her friends went their separate ways, for now. During her walk, Rainbow Dash thought about whether or not her mother knew. She didn't want to tell her, she maybe wanted to wait until she got a little bit over it first. Rainbow Dash flew up to Cloudsdale to visit her father's old home. She sat staring at what was now an empty home of an important pony who once lived. She walked around the house, and felt the walls, with an occasional sigh. When she'd walked into the house, it was noon. But when she left, it was about 12:55PM. Rainbow Dash decided to walk around town a bit, and just think how little she knew her dad. Her dad was old, and she barely remembers those generic times between father and daughter. Her first flight, her first fall, her first injury, her first this and that. Rainbow Dash approached the front door of her mother's house with her head down; sulking. Suddenly she stopped before knocking at the door. She noticed a small slip of paper under it. Rainbow took it out and unfolded it. Immediately, she dropped it. The note landed on the ground, face up, and read, "Take care of yourself, my little Dashie. She couldn't believe it. "N... no... not her... too..." Rainbow Dash began to slightly sob again. The clock tower below in Ponyville rang to signal the 1 o' clock hour. Rainbow Dash remembered this time as the time she was supposed to meet Soarin' for their date. Regardless of how she felt about the current situations, she went anyway. LATER... "Rainbow Dash!" Soarin' shouted with excitement. Rainbow Dash said nothing, and walked slowly towards Soarin', keeping her head down. Soarin' lifted her face with a hoof, and studied her eyes. "Have you been... crying? What happened?" Soarin' asked. Rainbow Dash suddenly threw a hug on Soarin' as tightly as possible. "B-B-BOTH MY PARENTS ARE D-D-DEAD!" Rainbow Dash sobbed. "By Celestia, that's awful! Did somepony kill them or something?" Rainbow Dash sniffed. "No... they died of old age. At least my dad did. The only thing I know about my mom is from this note. " Dash said, showing Soarin' the note. "Oh, they died of old age? In that case it's not that big of a deal. You'll get over it eventually." Soarin' said. "WHAT?" Rainbow sobbed. "MY PARENTS ARE BUCKING DEAD, AND YOU'RE NOT FEELING THE LEAST BIT SYMPATHETIC?" She screamed. "Hey, are we gonna go on our date or not?" "Really!? That's all you bucking care about!?" "Look, I bet Spitfire that I'd get you to go out with me, and-" "THIS WAS ALL PART OF A BUCKING BET?!?! YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!" Rainbow Dash screamed, tears pouring like waterfalls from her eyes, in anger, and in sadness. "Look Dash, I'm really sorry, but I-" "NO! You know what? Buck it! Buck it all to Tartarus! This date is OFF!" Rainbow Dash yelled again, punching Soarin' in the mouth extremely hard before turning away from him and flying off as quickly as possible. Soarin' clenched his mouth with his hoof, and spat out a couple of teeth. He held them in his hoof as he watched Rainbow Dash fly away. No expression whatsoever. LATER, BACK AT RAINBOW DASH'S HOUSE... Rainbow had her head shoved deep into a pillow, which by now was soaking wet. She sniffled and lifted her head up from it. "Stupid Soarin', I can't believe him! Who says that the death of somepony's parents isn't that big of a deal? Yeah, it's not like they gave birth to me or raised me through my whole fillyhood or anything!" Dash said, returning her face into the pillow. Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Dash wiped her face as best she could, and answered it. "Hey, Rainbow!" "Oh... *sniff*... hi Surprise." "What's uh... going on?" "OH! I just uh... *sniff* got a bit of allergies, that's all." "Well, are you up enough to come to training? Apparently I'm your new trainer, now, for some reason." "Really? Well... okay then. *sniff*... let's go." LATER, IN THE TRAINING FACILITY... "Nice work on that form, Dash! Keep it up!" cheered Surprise. With those words of encouragement, she couldn't help but think of Soarin'. Her mind drifted off to another land, but only for a few seconds before she ran into a wall. "Oooh! Pay attention, Rainbow! Keep your head in the game!" Surprise yelled. Rainbow Dash shook her head to re-focus. She took off again, attempting the same routine she'd been practicing for several minutes. Eventually she took a break. She told Surprise that she had it nailed down, but she was a little distracted today. Of course, Surprise asked the inevitable. "So... how'd your date with Soarin' go?" Crap. Rainbow thought to herself. "Uh... just fine! We had a great time, I think we're really going somewhere in this relationship!" "Are you sure? I haven't seen him all day." Rainbow began to sweat nervously. "Oh uh... I'm sure he's just... sick or something. Nothing to worry about!" "If you say so. You headed home, now?" "Yeah, not much to do today. Seeya." Dash said, flying off. When she returned home, she found a letter on her front door. She tore off the top of the letter and took out a piece of paper, that read: "Dear Ms. Rainbow Dash; Unfortunately, a member of our team is out with an injury, and will be for a few days. Since no other pegasi with your training are available or applicable, you will be taking the place of Soarin' in the next performance tomorrow. We hope that you can be there! Sincerely, The Wonderbolts' Medical Administration" Dash was surprised. She guessed she didn't know her own strength if she hit Soarin' so hard that he couldn't go to work. Maybe she was too hard on him, he was right, for one thing. Not even a day had passed and as of now she wasn't as upset about her dead parents than she was when she first heard about it. She was still pretty bummed though, she still has friends to talk to, but only her parents really understood her. Rainbow thought maybe she could go apologize to Soarin', and maybe get back together, but it was getting awful late, and apparently she needed to get to bed as early as possible. After all, tomorrow... she was officially a Wonderbolt.