//------------------------------// // Rainbow Dash: Age Three // Story: What Mommies Do // by SanityLost //------------------------------// What Mommies Do Part 1 A cyan pegasus filly, with a rainbow mane, giggled to herself. Her rose colored eyes fell on the earthen cookie jar resting the counter where her mother thought it would be out of reach. She grinned. Little did her mom know that she had been practicing her flying when she was supposed to be asleep. The little filly loved to fly. She would fly all the time if she could, even in her sleep. Nothing beat the excitement she felt when she beat her wings, feeling nothing but air beneath her hooves as she accelerated upward. A few months ago, she was only able to hover. But after months of practice, she was finally able to fly upward a little bit before she got tired. Now, she was going to put her super awesome flying skills to the test and get to the cookie jar. Her mom had told her that she couldn’t have any cookies before dinner, but she was hungry, and half of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich wasn’t nearly enough lunch for a starving pegasus filly! The pegasus spread her wings and the muscles in her back tightened as she began to flap them. She beat her wings as fast as she could, causing little currents of wind to form. Slowly, she began to rise from the ground, upward toward the cookie jar. Her eyes got wider as her goal got closer. Closer and closer she came. She could feel the burning strain in her muscles, but she didn't give up. She wanted those cookies, and nothing was going to stop her. She slowly rose, higher and higher. Her breath started to come more quickly, and her heart pounded against her chest. Slowly she inched up, until finally, she was at eye level with the jar. This is so awesome, she thought, as she reached out with little forehooves and grabbed the jar, pulling it off of the shelf with a mighty tug. Right after the jar was in her hooves, gravity gave it a powerful pull downward. She strained and tried to keep her grip on it. The pegasus didn’t think it would be this heavy. It didn't look so heavy when her mommy picked it up. The fluttering pegasus fought a tug of war with gravity. She groaned, tightening all of the all of the muscles in her body, rapidly fluttering her already tired, aching wings. She started to wheeze, her forelegs that held the jar began to shake, hot fire shot through her wings each time she beat them. In the end, gravity prevailed. The cookie jar fell to the ground, taking her with it. The container broke against the floor, sending shards flying and cookies rolling in many directions. The pegasus hit the ground, belly first, and felt an ensemble of sharp stings dance through her body. She gritted her teeth as her eyes welled with tears. She was not going to cry, no way, only baby ponies cried! Not long after, her mother, a dark blue pegasus with an orange mane named Star Shine, rushed into the room. Her worried visage soon became stern as she saw her daughter lying among many cookies scattered about the floor. “Rainbow Dash!” Her mother scowled. “What in Equestria happened here?” Star Shine’s sharp tone pierced Rainbow’s ears. She was used to her father yelling at her for doing bad stuff, so that didn’t bother her. But when her mother scolded her, it felt like cold picks were being run through her stomach. Rainbow huffed and fought back the tears in her eyes. “Nothin’.” Star Shine’s eyebrows arched, “It sure doesn’t look like nothing to me. How did these cookies get on the floor? How did the cookie jar break?” “I don’t know.” “I think you do, young filly. Now are you going to tell me what happened here?” Rainbow definitely looked up into her mother’s deep red eyes, but then quickly looked away. “No.” The elder pegasus took two steps toward her daughter, broken pottery scraped against the floor as she moved it aside. “Rainbow, I’ve had a very long day. I don’t have time for this. Work has been hard as usual. Your dad’s gone again, and...” Rainbow’s mother sighed and shook her head. “Little one, did you do this or not?” The little filly quickly looked to the ground. “No.” “Then who did?” “I don’t know, the wind?” Rainbow said quietly. “The wind did not do this, you know better than to lie. Now, tell me the truth.” Rainbow looked up at her mother. Her lip quivered and her eyes glimmered with tears. Her cheeks puffed out in a pout. Rainbow’s mother moved closer, moving a few cookies and debris out of her way. “Are you going to tell me the truth?” “Are you gonna be mad?” A tear trailed down her cheek. She hated it when her mommy was mad. Her mother’s visage softened. “Rainbow, did you do it?” Rainbow’s lip quivered more. She started to shake, and hid her face in her hooves. Her mommy couldn’t see her cry...only little baby fillies cried... “Maybe...” came the strained, muffled response. Rainbow’s mother felt her heart being squeezed by an invisible force. She quickly reached down, scooped her up daughter, and placed the young filly on her back. She left the mess behind and took her filly into the living room where she sat down in a rocking chair, and placed the Rainbow in her lap. Slowly, she began to rock as the filly started sobbing into her mother’s chest. After several minutes, a red eyed filly looked up from her mother’s soaked fur and sniffed. “Are you mad at me mommy?” Her mother put on a loving smile and sighed softly, “A little bit, I told you to stay out of the cookies before dinner.” Rainbow looked away, she felt burning tears in her eyes again. “Do you hate me now?” Rainbow’s mother was visibly taken aback. “No dear, that is silly. Why would I hate you?” “Daddy said he hated me after I accidentally chased him with his cloud mower.” Her mother remembered the incident. He had let Rainbow play on his cloudmower while he went to get the mail. Rainbow, being the rambunctious little filly she was, figured out how to start the mower and started riding it around the front of the house. Dash’s father heard the machine behind him and was just able to jump out of the way before the machine ran him over. The laughing filly hopped up and down on the machine, joyously telling it to “giddy up.” When Star Shine came outside, she heard her husband yelling at their daughter. Star put a stop to his rage, and told him to go inside and cool down. She didn’t know that he had said something so callous to his own daughter. Rainbow’s mother felt seething rage. That wasn’t something to say to your daughter, even when you’re angry. Her mother bit her tongue, and held her daughter close. “Well, daddy is just silly. He doesn’t hate you, he just says silly things he doesn’t mean when he’s upset. He loves you very much.” Rainbow’s mom looked out of the window at the cloudy city beyond. Other incidents of her husband’s latest exploits, most caused by drinking, came to mind. “Daddy says silly things...” She paused and held her daughter close to her chest. “Daddy says a lot of silly things..” “Are you sure he doesn’t hate me?” “I’m sure of it dear, he’d never hate you.” Rainbow sniffed again and looked at her mother. “You promise you’ll never hate me too?” Her mother was called back from her trance and looked down at her daughter, once again putting on a smile. “Let me tell you something that my mommy told me when I was your age.” Rainbow’s mother began to rock in her chair, and recited words that she remembered from her past. You will do things that make me sad You will do things that make me mad You will do things that puzzle me and things that I wish wouldn’t be You will make my hair turn all gray with the things you do everyday and you will make me all wrinkly a long time before I should be But no matter the things you do something will always be true your mommy will always love you because that’s what mommies do Rainbow’s mother continued to rock her daughter, gently stroking the little filly’s rainbow mane, until she fell asleep. “I love you Rainbow,” she said sweetly as she leaned down and kissed the cyan filly’s forehead.