//------------------------------// // Epilogue: The Gala (or: Because 17 Was An Odd Number To End At) // Story: My Little Dashie : A Threequel // by EpicBG //------------------------------// Leading the Wonderbolts was Dashie, to her left was Spitfire, and to her right was Soarin’. The rainbow trail behind her softly glowed against the light smoke that the other four Wonderbolts produced. Soarin’ looked to Spitfire, she gave him a nod. Both Soarin’ and Spitfire broke off the group and flew in opposite directions; large grins spread across each of their faces. “This is gonna be so awesome.” They both hovered in place, high above everypony, waiting (impatiently) for the optimal time to do it. Rainbow Dash looked up through the tinted goggled and saw that her friends were in position. She flew up into the night sky, the two ponies on either side of her flew off and waited for the signal. Dash looked around and saw that all four ponies were ready and waiting in position. She took a deep breath, let it out, and began her descent down. The familiar mach cone soon began to form around her. Her goggles nearly cracked from the immense change in pressure, yet somehow managed not to. A boom shook the entirety of Canterlot, leaving ponies, at least one dragon, maybe a griffon and Zebra or two, and one person, in awe. Brian stared up into the night sky, watching his daughter and feeling pride swelling in his heart. He smiled up to the night sky, watching the performance with engrossment. Soarin’ and Spitfire flew towards the rainbow, being careful not to interrupt the trail. They flew around; both of them soon felt the spark of energy at their hooves. “Now!” They flew towards the rainbow, spinning around and lighting up the colors in a double helix of lightning. The sparks at their hooves danced across the rainbow trail, causing the bright shards of color to break off and shatter in the night sky. In unison, the trio pulled up back into the sky, mere inches before hitting the ground; a plethora of color blinded the audience. The shouts and cheers emanating from the crowd reached the ears of each and every Wonderbolt as they flew by the mass of enthusiastic admirers. One such voice stole Dash’s attention. “Yeah Dashie!!!” A tear formed in her eye. She knew that voice. Rainbow Dash fought against the wind to look down and see her friends standing around either sides of her father; all of their eyes looking up at Luna’s purple night sky towards her. Pops was waving up into the sky, Fluttershy was jumping up and down cheering at the awesomeness that is the Sonic Rainboom; that coupled with the awe-inspiring display of a duo-Buccaneer Blaze made for an incredible show. The other ponies were watching in silence, except Pinkie whom was softly chewing on - something, yet still enthralled in the performance nonetheless. A smug grin formed across Dashie’s covered face. ‘You think that’s awesome? Watch this.’ Out of the corner of his eye, Brian saw that an alabaster hoof adorned with a golden hoofguard had placed itself lightly on his shoulder. He turned his head and followed the hoof to the face of the pony it belonged to: Princess Celestia. She gave him a small smile, one which Brian eagerly returned. It was good to know that they were finally on good terms with each other. Celestia looked back up into her sister’s beautiful night sky. She never really could do as great a job as Luna did. Alongside the princess of the night’s sparking stars, the persistent rainbow slowly began to fade alongside the darkness of the night and the blue lightning that had been spawned at the hooves of the two Wonderbolts. The other two ponies: one a mare with a white muzzle, and a curly mane of yellow. Her dark purple eyes could be seen through the cyan tinted flight goggles. The second pony was an older stallion with a mane of white that has long since lost it’s color, and a dark grey muzzle peeking out the blue flight suit. They shared a brief glimpse, then nodded to each other and began their flight towards their fellow Wonderbolts. The lightning around Soarin’ and Spitfire began to disperse, as did the rainbow following behind Rainbow Dash. Seeing that the lightning had came to a halt, the other two Wonderbolts flew straight into the trail, sending the remnants of shattered rainbow color above the clouds, which in turn generously reflected the color ten fold back into the audience. The deafening shouts of the crowd was reward enough for the Wonderbolts - but it wasn’t quite perfect. Not yet. The Wonderbolts landed to the ground, all of them exhausted, yet Rainbow had one last thing to do. She stood upright to remove the hood of her suit and galloped over to her friends, and father. Dash tackled Brian to the ground and brought him into a tight embrace. She looked up to see Celestia, and bowed her neck. Gently, she rolled off of Brian and said hello to the princess. Seemingly from the night sky itself came the younger of the two royal sisters, the regent of the moon and stars, Princess Luna. “Heya, Luna.” Dash said as Luna softly made contact with the earth. The dark blue alicorn took the few short steps over to her sisters’ side and looked down to the smaller cyan pony in front of her. “Hello, Rainbow Dash. It’s very nice to see you again.” She looked to the man laying on his back on the ground. “This is your… father?” Dash nodded. “Well met.” Brian dusted himself off and stood up. He was noticeably taller than Luna, and at nearly perfect eyelevel to Celestia. Glancing down to Luna, he outstretched his arm to shake hands and hooves with her, but was surprised when she drew him into a ursa hug. “Thank you.” Luna said, in a near whisper. “And thank you, Rainbow Dash. As well as your friends; all of them.” Her hoof behind Brian’s back waved across the night sky; the stars’ shine glinted across the purple beauty which she crafted with an insurmountable joy. Tears formed in the corners of her aqua rimmed eyes: nopony had ever blessed her night with such a gift of beauty, nor taken an interest in her night. Ponies simply slept through it, while they worked and played during the daytime. Celestia looked to Brian, he has a look in his eye that said ‘Please… help’ however she simply let out a brief, regal chuckle. Luna’s hoof which was outstretched to the sky came down and squeezed Brian once more. A soft crack echoed through his back; Luna took it as a signal to finally stop the relentless hugging. The sound of many pairs of clip-clopping hooves coming up the grassy hill took everypony’s attention. “Hey, RD, why’d you run off like that?” The raspy voice of Soarin’ called to her. “You’ve gotten up quite a lot of fans.” Spitfire added, as she moved out of the way, revealing a group of fillies and colts: each with some sort of ‘Rainbow Dash’ themed memorabilia. “There she is!” One colt shouted. “Thanks Ms. Spitfire!” a filly chimed in. The foals soon circled around Rainbow, shooting question after question towards her. Some asked for autographs, which Dash kindly obliged to, but there was simply too many little ponies for one mare to handle. “I’ll, uh, see you guys later.“ She let out a nervous chuckle to end the statement. With a smile, she floated away with little ponies all around her. Soon she was out of sight, but Brian knew she was more than capable of taking care of herself. It’s hard to believe, but Brian really was getting old. His years were finally catching up to him, and seeing that his daughter had grown up had shown him that. Pops rubbed his eyes, it was getting rather late and he had stayed up all night. He simply didn’t have the energy he did in his youth. Brian took a seat on the grass, being careful not to ruin the suit further with another grass stain. Under the influence of the stars, sleep soon consumed him, but he didn’t dream alone. Rarely did he ever. He saw his parents once more. They were all in his parent’s old house, which he hadn’t seen in so very long. The same house which he grew up, and the same house he lived in when he found Dashie all those years ago. The table clacked with the sound of tea cups as Brian and his parents reminisced. Laughter was the only ambient noise as stories of his daughter were exchanged with his parents. A soft clopping on the door, and a soft flutter of wings told Brian exactly who it was. He excused himself from the table and opened the door. A plumage of cyan feathers, and a polychromatic mane greeted him at the entrance. Wordlessly, Dashie flew over to hug him. Brian’s parents stood under the doorsill behind their son, looking at the little blue pony which he held tightly in his arms. They couldn’t be prouder. His mother got teary. Of course, they were there to see him grow up, and mature into a man, but the concept of having a daughter, regardless of species, made his mother realize that they’d both done an amazing job as parents. Now it was their son’s turn to be a parent. The world around him soon started to fade. He said goodbye to his parents, hugged them both, and returned to reality. When he opened his eyes, he saw that Dashie was in his arms. Her rose rimmed eyes opened as a small, warm smile appeared on her face. He pulled her into a tight hug. She whispered in his ear, “Thanks, Daddy.” and hugged back. “Anything for you, Dashie.”