//------------------------------// // Rainbow Dash: Age Eighteen // Story: What Mommies Do // by SanityLost //------------------------------// Part 5 The sun peeked through the bedroom window of Rainbow’s apartment. The thin white bed sheet, decorated with lightning bolts, she used as a curtain did a terrible job of keeping out the light. The mattress that she slept on was grey and smelled of molded cheese and pickles, or perhaps it was the wall, Dash could never figure out which it was. The bed squeaked as she rolled over and rubbed her left eye, wincing as her hoof grazed across the bruise around it. Gilda and she had gotten into another fight. Rainbow shifted her weight in the bed and felt the stinging bruises and scrapes that she had earned the night before in her main event matchup with Gilda. What were we arguing about again? Dash thought as she struggled against gravity to get out of bed. The pegasus won the battle, scrambling to her feet and flexing her wings. They gave a satisfying pop, and then a twisting pain at the base of her wings made her cringe. Oh that’s right, I flexed my wings and knocked her cookie jar off of the counter. Dash chuckled as a memory of her early childhood flashed before her eyes. On the semi-circular, scuffed brown side table by the bed, was a picture of a smiling Rainbow Dash and a grinning griffin with one foreleg wrapped around each other. The pegasus sighed, turning away from the picture before dwelling on her recent past brought back the familiar twisting in her gut. Her eyes ran over the claw marks and dents in the wall, remembrances of her and Gilda’s past few fights and other events. Dash had a personal game she played where she liked to name each wall deformity after a fight she had with her marefriend. The oval shape dent was when she and Gilda fought over Gilda’s drinking problem. That hole was called “Boozey.” The really long scrape on the wall was when she spent too much money on records, that one was called “Blood Death,” after the band whose records she bought. The three small holes that formed a right triangle were called “Really, Bad, and Breath” after the fight Dash started when she offhandedly insulted the brown feathered griffon’s breath. There was one long scrape on the wall she called, “Oh, Yeah,” that was made during a very passionate night of lovemaking. Rainbow felt that familiar twist in her stomach again. She and Gilda hadn’t gotten it on for some time now. Even though Rainbow had convinced herself it totally wasn’t an emotional thing, she missed her intimate moments with Gilda. A familiar slamming noise came from the front room of their small apartment. Gilda was back home, and from how hard the door slammed, she had another miserable night on the job. “Hi Gilda,” Rainbow smiled as Gilda made the short walk to their bedroom. Gilda huffed at Dash, “You and I need to have a little talk.” “Another one?” Rainbow Dash cocked an eyebrow and smirked, “We had a little talk last night that lasted for hours, and after all that yelling, we still didn’t have any make up sex.” “This isn’t funny Dash,” Gilda growled, “this is serious.” “It’s always serious Gilda.” “Well this time it’s double serious.” “Oh no,” Rainbow said with mock dismay, “did I accidentally break two of your stupid cookie jars this time?” “That’s enough Dash.” Gilda growled, “I just got a notice from the apartment, we’re getting evicted.” “Huh?” Rainbow flicked her mane out of her face, “Didn’t you pay them?” “I would have paid them, but we don’t have any bits in the bank.” “What do you mean we don’t have any bits in the bank, I just put some in a few days ago.” “So did I,” Gilda said suspiciously, “but there aren’t any in there now.” “Well then I wonder what could have happened?” Dash asked accusingly in return. “I don’t know Dash, what could have happened?” Gilda came back. “It couldn’t have been those twelve bottles of Buck Daniels you threw back this week could it?” “Maybe it was the Wonderbolt Tickets and those stupid souvenirs you bought at that show.” Dash bristled, “Take that back, the Wonderbolts aren’t stupid!” “The Wonderbolts are just a bunch of pegasi that are so far up the Princess’ butt, Celestia would have to open her mouth for them to see sunlight.” Gilda scoffed. “Well at least they aren’t always passed out on the couch when I get home!” Rainbow puffed out, her wings spread a bit. Gilda snarled defensively, “You have no idea what it’s like working with those stupid ponies at the delivery service.” “Oh,” Rainbow’s raspy voice gained an edge, “so you are saying ponies are stupid?” “I wasn’t talking about you Dash, I was talking about those damned ponies at work, they’re so annoying.” “You know, instead of drinking, you could just talk to me about it.” “I do talk to you about it.” Dash shook her head, “No, we don’t talk. We haven’t talked for about a month. Not since we last did it. The only way I can get you to talk to me is if I screw you, and that kinda gets old.” “Well, screwing you does get old Dash. You’re a little fast for me, if you know what I mean.” Gilda’s words were laced in venom. “Oh look who’s talking miss ‘I’m too tired right now.’” Anger was etched on Dash’s face, “You’re always too tired, even if it’s just for a little cuddling. It’s like you don’t even want me near you sometimes.” “It’s not that I don’t want you near me Dash, I just want my space when I’m tired.” “You always want your space. Would it kill you to talk to me every now and then?” “Celestia,” Gilda said with a sigh, “alright, alright. I will Dash. But right now we have something more important to worry about. We don’t have any bits in the bank and the rent is due.” Dash hoofed at the floor, “I don’t know, maybe I can sell my records or something. Some of my old rock records are worth some money.” Rainbow brightened up, “Oh and that one statue you have, that bust of..uh” “Evil Boll Weevil?” Gilda raised a talon, “Hell no Dash, no chance. That’s special, I got that from my dad.” “Well, my Dad gave me those rock records.” “But you hate your dad.” “That’s beside the point.” Rainbow sighed. “Look, if we want to keep this apartment, we gotta sacrifice. Okay?” Gilda sidestepped two carpet stains left after an angry impromptu food fight between the couple, got close to Dash. The griffon’s towering form was imposing, but Rainbow didn’t flinch. “I don’t want to get rid of that statue, it’s special.” Said the griffon. “Fine then, maybe there’s something else of yours we can get rid of. How about that lingerie I got you that you um...grew out of.” “I told you that I would lose the weight and wear it again.” Gilda snarled and she clawed at the floor, leaving a scratch mark. “Well, you won’t do it sitting on the couch eating twinkies and drinking Daniels” Dash’s back hoof came into contact with a glass bottle on the floor. “I need some time Dash.” “You’ve had months to try and lose that weight, but you won’t exercise. Remember when we used to do those flying routines together?” “Remember when we used to go pranking together, we don’t do that anymore either.” Rainbow sighed, “We don’t go because we used to go late at night, but you’re working during that time. When you aren’t working, you’re drunk.” “Lay off of it Dash, I know I drink, I’m trying to stop.” “You sure haven’t shown me any proof this week, or the week before that. You know,” Dash scowled, “I don’t honestly mind that you drink so much. I don’t give a damn if you pickle your liver. But you can at least make an effort to spend some time with me. Hell, we can even go do something you like. I know, we can get sloshed and passed out on the couch together!” Right after she finished her quip, Gilda punched Rainbow with a strong talon. Rainbow was usually able to easily dodge the Griffon, but she was caught by surprise. The Cyan pegasus tumbled back onto the bed. Gilda was on her in a minute, pressing the pony’s shoulders down with her clawed talons. Rainbow groaned, trying to ignore the explosive sting in her cheek. “I said lay off of it Dashie.” Gilda growled. “Why don’t you lay off of the booze Gilda?” Rainbow said defiantly, “Get off of me!” Gilda rose and allowed Dash to get to her feet. Rainbow brushed herself off with a hoof, and then drew back and struck the griffon. The griffon backed against the wall. “Don’t hit me again bitch,” Rainbow growled, “you know I don’t put up with that. Do it again and I’ll do what I did to you last night, except this time I’ll really pull your beak out.” “You wouldn’t dare try it.” “You know better than to challenge me to anything Gilda,” Rainbow stood firm as the Griffon came toward her. The two stood, staring at each other, Gilda’s golden eyes were raging pyres. Neither moved before Rainbow finally spoke, “We have a problem we need to take care of.” Gilda took a deep breath and looked around at the damaged walls of their bedroom. “Yeah, I know.” The two were quiet for a time longer before Gilda spoke again, “There’s not enough paint in Equestria to cover up all of the holes in these wall.” Dash nodded, “I don’t think we can patch them up either.” Gilda calmly popped her wings, “I’m gonna go pack my stuff Dash, you need to do the same. They want us out in a couple of days.” “What about all this mess?” Rainbow motioned around the room with her hoof. Gilda shrugged, “It’s not our problem anymore Dash. I’m just gonna leave it. There’s no point in cleaning it up if we’re not going to live here, is there?” Rainbow looked down and nodded. As Gilda left the room, the pegasus gently kicked a whisky bottle under the bed. She cringed when the bottle clinked against another. * * * * * Rainbow was sitting on the bed in her motel room, the red blankets were rough against her skin. The pillow case, made of cheap, rough cotton was not wet because she had been crying into it for the past two hours. She’d beat the crap out of anyone that said differently. The past year and a half had not been kind to Dash. She fought and had gone a long way, only to fail. This wasn’t fair! This wasn’t right! This wasn’t how things were supposed to be! Except that they were. The pegasus lay down on the bed, trying to figure out her next move, when she spied something on the table beside her. It was a sheet of parchment and a pink feather quill. She guessed it was left for guests who wanted to take notes. An empty feeling entered in the pit of her stomach. Thoughts of her teary eyed mother looking toward the sky as Rainbow flew away flashed before her eyes. She reached out with her mouth for the quill, but stopped. No. No she wasn’t going to write her. All her mother wanted to do was run her life, that was it. Rainbow nodded in affirmation. Then her stomach started to twist itself into knots. Ice slid through her veins. Maybe her mother wanted to run her life, at least she thought that her mother just wanted to run her life. She never wanted her daughter to make her own decisions. Her mother shot down all of her decisions! Well, not all...maybe just most of them. The cyan pegasus thought back to the actions her mother disagreed with. Most of them usually ended up in some kind of disaster.The pegasus let out a self depreciating chuckle when she looked at the motel room and her stuff piled in the corner. The pegasus closed her eyes and thought. Was it because her mom thought her decisions were wrong? They obviously were, but that didn’t give her mother any right to impose a decision on her daughter. Did her mother force her to do things? No, if she did then she would have called the cops and stopped her daughter from running away. So why did her mom get mad when she did what she did? It wasn’t her business what her daughter did. So why did her mother get so frustrated and upset? A clawing sensation wormed through Dash’s stomach. Why did her mom cry? Rainbow rested her head against the headboard and let out a pained sigh. Her mother had nothing to lose through Dash’s decisions. Why did she care? Visions of Dash’s youth swam through her mind. All of those nights in the rocking chair, all of those consoling words her mother told her when she cried, and all of those sleepless nights her mom endured when Dash would sneak out with her friends. Did she care because she just cared? Dash didn’t understand why her mother cared so much, but to Dash it didn’t matter. Her mom cared. Even when the world was crashing down around them, her mom still cared. She hoped her mom still cared. Dash gritted her teeth and swallowed the hard lump in her throat. She grabbed the quill in her teeth and took a piece of parchment. Slowly, she began to write. Dear Mom, How are you? You probably don’t want to talk to me again, and that’s fine. You can just throw this letter away if you want. I just wanted to finally write and tell you I’m okay. I hope you’re doing okay too. If you wanted to know how I’m doing, not so hot. Me and Gilda broke it off. We didn’t work out. I guess you were right, I’ve made a pretty bad mess of my life. I guess I deserve it. I didn’t do anything but give you hell when I was a filly, and now I’m paying the price. Oh well, that’s the way it goes. I think I understand why you got mad those times I did things you didn’t want me to do. You wanted me to end up with a good life so you’d know that I could take care of myself. You didn’t want me to end up in the kind of mess I’m in now. Right now, I’m in a motel room, and pretty soon I’m gonna look for another apartment. Hopefully I can find a cheap one somewhere. I’m gonna sell off some of my junk so I can pay a deposit. I know it’s too late to say it, but I’m sorry for all the stuff I said. I’m not sorry for moving out, because I felt that was the right thing to do. If I had never left the house like that, I wouldn’t understand the things I understand now. But anyway, I’m sorry for what I said, and for what it’s worth, I love you. I hope you still love me too. Take care, Rainbow Dash The next day, Rainbow flew to the post office and mailed her letter. That afternoon, as she tried to take a nap, there was a knock on her door. When she opened tit a very young, wall eyed mare with a blond mane handed her a letter. The mailmare saluted her with a goofy smile and flew away. Rainbow Dash looked at the front of the letter and immediately noticed her mother’s mouthwriting. The pegasus opened the letter and read. Rainbow, I was so shocked to see a letter from you, that I had to write back as soon as I could. There is no way I would just throw away a letter you sent me. I am sorry that you and Gilda didn’t work out. Initially, I was upset about the relationship, but as I thought about it, I was just happy that you were with somepony (or somegriffin) that made you happy. It probably hurts the same way it hurt when your father left us. I wish you didn’t have to feel that pain, but I guess we all have to feel it at some point. Instead of selling your things, why not come back home for a little while? You can stay in your room until you find a permanent place to live elsewhere. I was hurt by you leaving Rainbow, but we all have to make our own way. I just hope that life’s road from here on is a little smoother for you. As for me still loving you, I guess you don’t remember what I always told you. 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 It’s still true and it always will be. I love you Rainbow, I hope you will reply soon, Your Mom Rainbow read the letter over and over again, gritting her teeth and taking deep, ragged breaths. After several minutes, she was finally able to control herself. She knew what she had to do. She walked over to her pile of things and started packing them inside of a black military duffle bag she carried with her. She made sure to pack things evenly so that it was comfortable to carry. It would be a long flight to Cloudsdale.