//------------------------------// // Chapter 10 -- Home Again // Story: Wear Flowers in Your Mane // by jkbrony //------------------------------// Rainbow's flight lasted for several hours, stretching on past the afternoon and finally coming to an end when the sun's golden hue gradually faded to orange. Her wings carried her beyond the borders of Ponyville, over the Everfree Forest, the Pie family rock farm, and almost all the way to Appleoosa. The empty, open sky was a blissful liberation from the seemingly endless pity smothering she had endured over the last few hours as everything came crashing down on top of her. All the while, her thoughts centered upon the unpleasant events of the last few days, all of which now made her feel incredibly thoughtless—how she had returned to her old home and left it again bitterly, how she had struggled to hide her father's death from her friends, and how she had repeatedly insisted that his passing would have little effect on her. But above all else, Scootaloo was at the forefront of her mind, as Rainbow was still deeply concerned at the notion that the news of her coma did not inspire a visit from her. Was she really that angry? Was she truly that determined to sever their relationship and cut Rainbow out of her life? As the evening sun continued to sink out of sight, Rainbow Dash returned to Ponyville and landed just outside of Scootaloo's house, several feet away from the front door. She exhaled a deep breath which emerged like an icy mist, discharging a small fraction of the nervousness and discomfort that was just beginning to overtake her insides. "Okay," Rainbow said to herself in a futile effort to dispel her nervousness. "'Hi, Scootaloo, I'm really sorry I—.' No, that won't work...." She paused in silence for several seconds, eyes fixed upon the door, prepared to disappear into the sky if it showed even the vaguest indication of opening. "'Hi, Scoot. You probably heard I was in a coma, and I just wanted to let you know that I'm okay now. I'm sorry if I made you worry, but—.'" She stopped herself again, shaking her head as she realized that there was no point in pretending that she was unaware that Scootaloo knew about her coma. She paused again, attempting to imagine Scootaloo's scorned face glaring at her as she continued to stare unblinkingly at the door. "'Hey, Scoot, I just wanted to let you know that I'm okay now....you know, if you care, that is.'" Rainbow Dash felt her stomach sink down endlessly as those final words passed from her tongue. With a sigh, she spread her wings open and vanished from the spot, now fully understanding that she did not know how to even begin repairing her relationship with Scootaloo...or if it was even possible at all. **** As with each and every evening, Celestia's sun was gradually lowered while Luna's moon replaced its spot in the sky, signifying the close of another day. Yet Rainbow Dash was unusually struck with the sensation that she had not seen the moon in a very long time. The effects of her coma still weighed heavily on her mind, and with the temporary diversion of her flight now over, the chilling realization that she could have remained unconscious for years, or perhaps even lost her life, had returned to crash down hard upon her. Rainbow was seated at her kitchen table which was now clean of the empty cider bottles that had littered it since Monday. There was nothing in front of her—no food or drink of any sort, just a flat, empty surface from which she could just barely see her own reflection gleaming off of it. Her stomach grumbled loudly to imply hunger, but the notion that she had managed to drive Scootaloo away, just as Rainbow's own father had done to her, was enough to sap away any willpower she had to eat. Rainbow had spent nearly her whole life believing that she and her father were two entirely different ponies, yet she now felt that they probably had more in common than she expected... From outside the nearby window, her peripheral vision suddenly caught an obscure glimpse of somepony landing on her doorstep. The outside darkness coupled with the lack of clarity of her corner vision made Rainbow unable to identify the pony on sight, though regardless of who it was, she did not quite feel like having any visitors at the moment. She sighed at the knock on her door that came moments later, and after letting out an annoyed groan of the deepest reluctance, she rose up from the table to answer it. "Hi, Rainbow Dash," greeted Fluttershy when Rainbow opened the door. "Uhh...hey," replied Rainbow with sudden apprehension. "What's up?" "Well, if you don't mind, I'd like to stay with you tonight," Fluttershy said at once. "I don't think I'm ready to leave you by yourself overnight." Rainbow blinked, groaning again from within her mind. "Uhhh....I think I'll be fine, Fluttershy." "Well, all the same, I'd rather know that for myself," replied Fluttershy. "So may I come in?" Rainbow nodded reluctantly and allowed her to enter. Almost instantly, Fluttershy looked around the cloud home as though expecting to find something to be alarmed about. "How are you feeling?" she asked after her brief scan turned up nothing out of the ordinary. "I'm....well, I don't really know," Rainbow replied, shaking her head. "I wish so much that I could go back in time and just start this whole week over." "So do I," replied Fluttershy, frowning. "I wanted to apologize to you for telling our friends about your relationship with your dad. I know you trusted me to keep it to myself, but they were desperate for any information that could have possibly led to your coma, and I had assumed that you would mention it anyway once you found out that we knew about his death. But that was before I knew that you weren't ever planning on telling us that he died..." "It doesn't matter," said Rainbow. "I guess there wasn't much point in keeping it from them anymore, anyway." "Honestly, Rainbow Dash, how long did you really think you had before I found out?" asked Fluttershy, raising an eyebrow. "And what would you have said when I eventually asked about your reunion? Were you just going to lie to me about seeing him again?" Rainbow dropped her head with a sigh. "I don't know. I didn't think that far ahead." "You know, I wouldn't have told them about his death if you didn't want me to," said Fluttershy. "I would have kept it to myself until you were ready." "I know that," Rainbow replied, nodding slowly. "But you were the one I wanted to keep it from the most. I guess I just felt too ashamed to tell you." "Well, believe me when I say that I am truly sorry that you never got to see him again," said Fluttershy, placing a hoof around Rainbow's neck. "Yeah...me too." "By the way, I wanted to ask you if you would allow me to speak at his funeral," said Fluttershy. "But you didn't know him," replied Rainbow, staring at her with confusion. "I know, but I still want to do it anyway," said Fluttershy. "You know, if it's okay with you." "Uhh...yeah, sure," Rainbow said, nodding. "Thanks," Fluttershy said with a smile. "I really think you'll like what I have to say." A momentary silence fell between them, and Rainbow found herself cracking a smile now that the tension that had been present between her and Fluttershy earlier had finally dissipated. "Do you think you could do me a favor?" Rainbow asked suddenly. "Sure. What do you need?" Fluttershy said with curiosity. "Follow me." Their wings lifted them up the stairs and they floated into Rainbow's bedroom, where a soft breeze swept through the still-open window and caused her wall posters and bedsheets to flail slightly. Rainbow Dash approached the bedside table to pick up the half-open envelope, then she held it in front of Fluttershy, who eyed it with curiosity. "This is a letter my dad wrote to me just before he died. I haven't read it yet because I'm really worried about what it says, and I really don't know how I'll feel after reading it. I don't know whether he's going to tell me that he's sorry for driving me away, or if he's just going to remind me again that I'll never become a Wonderbolt. Could you read it to yourself and tell me whether or not I would want to know what it says?" Fluttershy instantly stared back at Rainbow Dash, eyes widened as though she had just heard her confess to an unspeakable crime. "I...I can't do that..." "Yes, you can," Rainbow said with an urging nod. "It doesn't bother me, really." "No, I can't," Fluttershy replied, backing away from the envelope as though under the belief that just being near it would cause her to contract a fatal disease. "I just can't do that." Rainbow Dash expelled a sigh that came out like a groan. "Why not? It's really not that big a deal. Just read it to yourself. I don't want you to tell me what it says, I just want to know if I would want to know what it says." "Rainbow Dash, whatever is written in that letter isn't for me," replied Fluttershy. "It's for you. And I don't want to read something that was never meant for me to read." Rainbow sighed again, her eyes glistening with an unmistakable desperation. "Please, Fluttershy. I really need this..." Fluttershy shook her head, and her eyes fell shut so as to not see the disappointment in Rainbow's face. "I'm sorry. You're just going to have to read it yourself." "Then I'm not going to read it!" Rainbow cried, throwing the envelope back down onto the bedside table. "Rainbow Dash..." "There's no point!" Rainbow cried. "It's not like it'll change anything. And even if I actually like what it says, I won't be able to reply, and I won't be able to take anything back." "But you have to read it," squeaked Fluttershy. "It's his final words to you, and you can't just ignore them..." "Well, there isn't much he could tell me that I'd want to hear," Rainbow replied, glaring down at the envelope. "Even if he doesn't run my dream into the ground again, he'll probably just try to make me regret not coming back. And I really don't want him to make me feel worse." "Rainbow Dash, don't you think it's possible that you might be wrong?" asked Fluttershy. "I may not have known him, but I'd still doubt that the last thing he'd want to do while lying on his deathbed is make you feel bad about yourself." "I don't know," Rainbow said after a brief silence. "But I'm going to find out..." "Does that mean you're going to read it now?" asked Fluttershy. Rainbow Dash shook her head. "I'm going back to Cloudsdale tomorrow. There's only one pony who I think would know what the letter says. She's somepony dad grew close to after I left." "Oh. Well, umm, okay," said Fluttershy. "I hope she tells you what you're not expecting to hear." "So do I..." Rainbow Dash stared down at the envelope, squinting her eyes at the written words, To my daughter, Rainbow Dash on its back just before another strong, cool breeze passed through the window and brushed it off the table, causing it to fall to the floor in slow motion. **** The next morning, after the sun was raised halfway to its noon-level height, Rainbow Dash emerged from the front door of her home, spread her wings open, and headed off towards Cloudsdale. The blinding beams of sunlight almost instantly stung her baggy, exhausted eyes; she had scarcely received any sleep throughout the night, as her persistent thoughts had once more refused to allow her mind rest. Fluttershy, however, had eventually slipped from consciousness while sitting against Rainbow's bed, attempting to ensure that she did not leave the room. The two ponies eventually sat down to a light breakfast of eggs and toast, though the anxious feeling creeping through Rainbow's stomach did not allow her to swallow more than a few isolated bites. "If you need me to go with you, I will," Fluttershy had said as Rainbow abandoned her breakfast and prepared to leave. "No, I'll be fine," Rainbow replied. "Uhhh, thanks for staying with me. You really didn't have to do that." Fluttershy smiled. "What are friends for?" Rainbow Dash had found herself surprised at how much she had come to appreciate Fluttershy's company. They had talked long into the night, and the therapeutic nature of Fluttershy's comforting words coupled with her always-tender and delicate voice made Rainbow unusually glad that her father's death was no longer a secret. The morning air was chilly enough to cause Rainbow to shiver as she flew steadily against a light wind that was whipping swiftly through her mane and tail. She could hardly believe that she was on her way to visit Wind Lily again, and given the less-than-favorable manner by which their first meeting had ended, she felt highly uncomfortable about it. If there was one thing she hated more than losing, it was admitting that she was wrong, and she could never forget the condescending attitude her father had displayed on the day she had finally realized that her first Sonic Rainboom had indeed been a fluke which would likely never occur again. Would Wind Lily also display such an attitude now that her assertion about how much of a mistake it was for Rainbow to hide his death from her friends had been proven correct? Before another hour came to a close, Rainbow Dash soared into great sky city, narrowly passing by the small clouds that the Weather Factory's cloud-maker churned out every two seconds. She zipped over the hundreds of similar-looking cloud homes of the residential area and soon arrived again at 146 Cloud Drop Lane. Before she had a chance to stop herself, Rainbow knocked swiftly upon the front door, and Wind Lily's eyes spread wide open at the sight of her visitor as she opened it. "Rainbow Dash?" "Hi..." Rainbow said, instantly feeling embarrassed. "I wasn't expecting to see you until the funeral," Wind Lily said, her voice carrying a noticeable sense of disbelief. "What can I do for you?" "I...I need to talk to you," said Rainbow Dash. Wind Lily stared at her blankly for a few seconds, then smiled warmly. "Of course. Come inside." Rainbow stepped over the threshold of the small cloud home. As they walked back into the kitchen where they had spoken the first time, she noticed that there were several large, brown boxes scattered throughout the foyer and living room, some with their top flaps open, slightly exposing their contents, and others with their top flaps closed and sealed off with tape. There were several more boxes in the kitchen, littering the floor around the kitchen table, with two smaller boxes sitting on the counter. "Please excuse the mess," said Wind Lily as she took a seat at the table. "I'm hoping to move into your old house by the end of next week. Unless....I really hope you're not here to tell me that you don't want to give it up after all..." Rainbow Dash shook her head as she sat down at the opposite seat. "No, the house is still yours." "Well, that's good to hear," said Wind Lily, smiling with relief. "Unfortunately, I've already packed up my stock of tea, so I can't offer you any. However, if you're thirsty, I could get you some water." "No, I'm fine, thanks," stated Rainbow, shaking her head. "Okay, then," replied Wind Lily. "So how do we find you? Last time I saw you, I do believe you were telling me that you weren't some little orphan filly who needed to be coddled, or something to that effect." Rainbow stared down at the kitchen table, again struggling to see her reflection. "Things have...changed." "Well, I can't say I'm not glad to hear that," said Wind Lily. "Assuming that they have changed for the better, that is..." "The truth is, I've had a really lousy week," said Rainbow. "Like, really lousy. I just woke up from a coma yesterday." Wind Lily's eyes widened at once. "What?" "Yeah, it's true," Rainbow said, nodding. "It's a long story, but shortly after I left here last time, I apparently crashed or something and I ended up in a coma for a day. I still don't really remember much about what happened." "Oh, my goodness!" cried Wind Lily, shaking her head in disbelief. "Are you all right?!" "No, I'm not," Rainbow said with a sigh. "Because you were right. I never should have hidden his death from my friends. Now it just feels like my life is spiraling all over the place and I don't know how to stop it. I don't know where to even begin..." "Well, I'm very sorry to hear that, Rainbow Dash," said Wind Lily with a mournful frown. "How can I help you?" "I want you to talk to me about him," said Rainbow Dash, thankful that she had not received any condescending response as she had feared. "I want to know what his feelings towards me were these last five years." Wind Lily nodded in understanding. "Very well. Where should I start?" "Well, first, how did you get in touch with him again?" asked Rainbow. Wind Lily rubbed her chin in thought for a few seconds, appearing to be searching deeply within her memories. Rainbow awaited her response with a nervous sensation tingling at her insides, unaware of what she would be told over the course of the next several minutes and how she would feel about it. "Well, we happened to bump into each other one day at the annual Wonderbolts Air Show in the Cloudiseum. He had shown up late and was still looking for a place to sit when he eventually came across a booth where I was sitting, and after we had acknowledged each other with a greeting, he just took a seat next to me. It certainly wasn't the first time we had seen each other since I had stopped foalsitting you, but this time, he actually wanted to have a lengthy conversation, as though we were two old friends who had just been reunited after years apart. By that time, I think you had been gone for a few months, and I imagine that he was probably feeling lonely and was just really desperate for a friend. I thought it was somewhat unusual that he wanted to strike up a friendship all of a sudden, since in all the time that I had been your caretaker on a daily basis, he had barely seemed interested in starting any kind of relationship. But we started talking for a while, and once the show was over, we decided to meet each other again for dinner the next evening. And our relationship just kind of blossomed out from there." Rainbow Dash fidgeted in her seat. "Uh...was your relationship with him....uhhh....did it ever....?" "Are you trying to ask if it ever turned romantic?" Wind Lily said with a chuckle. "No, it didn't. But that isn't to suggest that I would have been disinterested in a romantic relationship. I would have at least been open to giving it a chance, but your father was the one who didn't seem interested. Perhaps he just couldn't see himself falling in love again. I'm not really sure. We never discussed it." Rainbow Dash shifted her mouth sideways, feeling a wave of discomfort smother her at the thought that Wind Lily could have potentially become her step-mother. "I asked about you during that first meeting, but he simply changed the subject, and it remained that way for months," continued Wind Lily. "He never really wanted to talk about you. Whenever you were brought up, he would just kind of change the subject or deflect my questions. It was so persistent that after a while, I had actually assumed that you had died somehow. However, since I was too uneasy about asking him directly, I eventually just stopped bringing you up and simply waited for the day when he would tell me himself. Our relationship went on—we often went to dinner or lunch together every week, took a few trips, and did just about anything that would have been considered typical for a non-dating pair of friends to do. He never seemed to want to be alone for too long and I would hear from him at least three times a week. Eventually, I began to think that I was his one and only link to happiness. He often seemed a bit depressed, and while he would do his best to hide it when we were together, I would still notice it from time to time. Then one day, about seven or eight months after we began our friendship, he finally began to open up about you. "If I recall correctly, it was just a few days after Hearth's Warming. I think the reason he decided to open up then was because he was surprised that you hadn't come home for the holidays. I imagine that it was probably the first time he realized just how serious you were about not seeing him again until you were a Wonderbolt. On this particular day, he was doing a poor job of hiding his depression, and so I asked him what was bothering him. And just like that, he began to talk about you. He told me about your dream of becoming a Wonderbolt and how much he had wished that you had pursued a different career since he thought that you were just setting yourself up for disappointment. He told me that you had left on your birthday and that he hadn't seen you since and didn't know when he would see you again. After I had heard the entire story, I understood why you wanted to leave. I really did. However, I certainly didn't expect that you'd be gone for as long as five years. He never explicitly stated that he missed you, at least not that I can recall, but I could easily tell that he did. He seemed to always run away from his feelings, and never really wanted to come to terms with them. I really think he wanted you back in his life by that point." She paused momentarily, and Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and briefly thought of the mental conversation she had with her father the previous day, instantly recalling the first thing he had said to her: "It's too late now, isn't it?" She slowly and mournfully nodded her head in reply. "Even though I did mostly see it as his fault that you left, I didn't really want to place too much blame on him," said Wind Lily, and Rainbow opened her eyes again. "He really seemed to show a lot of regret for how he had treated you and how he had stomped on your dreams. I really couldn't say much, mostly because I hadn't met you and thus hadn't received your side of the story, so I just ensured him that you would probably come back someday, even if it was before you became a Wonderbolt. That thought seemed to satisfy him for the time being. However, within the next few months, your birthday came again, and once again, he couldn't hide his depression. It had now been a year since he had last seen you, and he had expected that you might come back on that day. I wasn't sure of how to console him, so what I ended up telling him then was that I would do whatever I could to find you, even if it meant searching all over Equestria. I would track you down somehow and try to persuade you to pay him a visit. However, to my surprise, he actually declined that offer. The reason he gave was that he was going to allow you to live your life without him since that was what you apparently wanted. However, thinking back, it may have just been because he didn't want to give you the satisfaction of letting you know that he missed you. I guess it's easy to see who you get your stubbornness from, huh?" She chuckled to herself while Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes with annoyance. "In any case, I think it got easier for him as time went on," Wind Lily resumed. "Soon we were at another Hearth's Warming, and then your birthday passed yet again. And each time they did, he seemed to become less and less upset about it. However, that isn't to say he didn't still show signs that he missed you. He would still bring you up every now and then, and whenever he did, his tone of voice would noticeably become a bit softer and more sorrowful. I kept telling him that my offer to track you down still stood, but he still refused to accept it. Then, before either of us had known it, five years had passed." She paused again, looking down at the table as though expecting for a moment to see a drink sitting in front of her to wash away her drying throat. Once realizing that it was not there, she stood herself up from the table, grabbed a clear, plastic cup from inside an open box on the counter and filled it up with water from the sink. "Are you sure you don't want any water?" she asked Rainbow before taking a drink. "I'm good," Rainbow replied silently, still remaining undecided towards whether or not she was going to read her father's letter. When she was sufficiently hydrated again, Wind Lily floated back over to the kitchen table and returned to her seat. "So...he never told you that he missed me? Not even once?" Rainbow asked in a solemn voice. "Well, as I said, he was always very discreet about the subject of you," answered Lily. "He never explicitly stated that he missed you, but it was always obvious to me in his tone of voice and his expressions. But even if I had asked him, he probably would have denied it. He just didn't seem to want to come to terms with the reality that he had successfully managed to remove you from his life." "So then why did my leaving get easier for him as time went on?" Rainbow asked. "If I had to guess, it might be because he probably came to accept that you wouldn't be gone forever. Maybe he came to the conclusion that you were probably happier without him in your life, and that he had no good reason to force his way back into it." Rainbow's ears lowered. "Oh..." "I know something that might interest you," said Wind Lily. "During last year's Best Young Flyer Competition, news quickly spread around Cloudsdale that the winner of the event had performed a Sonic Rainboom, and he knew instantly that it was you." "Yeah, it was me," Rainbow replied, barely suppressing a prideful smirk. "I have to say, I had never seen him talk about you as pridefully as he had on that day," said Wind Lily. "He flew around the entire neighborhood, crying out that it was none other than Rainbow Dash who had performed that Rainboom. It was as though he wanted to make sure that everypony in Cloudsdale knew it." "Really?!" Rainbow said, her eyes widened in an incredulous stare. "The same pony who always told me that I would never do a Sonic Rainboom ever again was actually proud of me for doing one?!" "He sure was," said Wind Lily, smiling as she nodded. "As a matter of fact, he even admitted that he had been wrong for telling you that you would never pull it off again for all those years." "Well, that doesn't sound like him at all," said Rainbow with a scoff. "Well, it's true," replied Wind Lily. "He was quite proud of the fact that his daughter had turned out to be quite the prodigious flyer. I think he even half-expected you to pay him a visit if for no other reason than to rub it in his face." Rainbow frowned and closed her eyes. "I actually considered doing that, but I just didn't think he would have been impressed. In fact, I even thought that he'd probably deny that I was the one who did it." "Well, that's a shame," said Wind Lily. "Because after a few days had passed, he once again seemed unable to hide his disappointment at the fact that you never showed up. I don't think he even cared that he would be called out for being wrong, just as long as he finally got to see you again." Rainbow Dash sighed apprehensively, falling into a momentary silence. "You told me before that....he decided not to tell me he was in the hospital because he thought I wouldn't care, right?" Wind Lily looked down at the table, and her eyes appeared to moisten over slightly as tears began to reach them. "As I've said before, we didn't know at the time just how bad his condition was," she said. "His cough seemed pretty bad, but I didn't think it was anything more serious than flu symptoms. Neither of us could have expected that it was going to claim his life. I'm sure that had he known, he'd have wanted you to be there. I would imagine that the letter he left for you is all the evidence to confirm that. By the way, have you read it yet?" "Not yet," Rainbow answered, her head shaking slowly. "I...I'm just not sure if I can." "I can understand your hesitation," said Wind Lily, looking back at her again. "But I fear that you won't feel any closure until you do." "What do you think it says?" asked Rainbow, staring hard at her. Wind Lily fell silent for a long time, her eyes shifting all over the kitchen as she descended into thought. "I'd like to tell you that it says that he regrets not letting you know about his illness, that he wishes he could have seen you again, and that he wishes you a wonderful and prosperous life and that you make it into the Wonderbolts one day. But I don't know for sure. The truth is that there's only one way to find out." Rainbow Dash felt a tear drop from her left eye, splashing silently upon the table, followed quickly by another from her right eye. If that was truly what the letter said, she would still be unable to bear reading it. It would still cause her regret for the rest of her life... "I'm truly sorry," said Wind Lily, frowning solemnly. "I don't know what to tell you except to just read it when you're ready to read it. There's no hurry." "I'm just....I'm just so afraid to miss him," Rainbow said, wiping her eyes before any more tears could fall. "I don't want to miss him. I just want him to still be at home waiting for me. Why couldn't he just wait a little longer...?" "Well, if it'll make you feel any better, I'll be there," said Wind Lily, attempting to suppress her own tears. "I know it won't be the same, but you could pay me a visit once you're wearing your Wonderbolt uniform, and I'll be there." "Thanks," Rainbow said, smiling faintly in appreciation of the gesture. "Hey, umm, if you don't mind, could I borrow an empty box? Just a small one?" "Sure," said Wind Lily, wiping her eye to stop a tear before it could fall. "Why do you need it?" "Because...I'd like to go home again." Wind Lily nodded her head and smiled. "Of course." **** By the time Rainbow Dash left Cloud Drop Lane, the sun had climbed almost directly overhead as the morning steadily transitioned to noon. Cloudsdale's higher altitude always made the sun seem much closer than from the ground, and likewise, its warmth always seemed much more encompassing. Yet the sun's warmth did little to heat Rainbow's chill body as her wings slowly carried her towards her old house again while she held a medium-sized box in her forehooves, ready to fill with items that she no longer wished to leave behind. Her mind was still whizzing around everything Wind Lily had told her. The thought that her father had been awaiting her return came as a genuine surprise after she had convinced herself years ago that he was living a happier life without her. Rainbow briefly wondered to herself whether or not she would have returned to visit him had she known how much he missed her, but she shook her head within seconds, knowing the answer almost instantly. She had decided long ago that there was absolutely no force on Equestria and beyond which would have persuaded her to pay him a visit before she was wearing a Wonderbolt uniform, the only exception being if he had fallen ill or was close to death. Nevertheless, the revelation that he had missed her provided her with no comfort and instead only left her with a deeper and sharper sting of sorrow, filling her with an even greater dread to read his letter, especially if Wind Lily's prediction of its contents was true. As Rainbow arrived at her fillyhood home again, she paused outside to stare at its exterior. It was now somewhat humorous to think that just the other day, she had assumed that she had left it behind forever, perfectly satisfied to give it away without taking any of its contents with her. Still, she could not help but think of it as nothing more than a lingering, hollow shell of her past, interwoven with numerous pleasant and unpleasant memories which would never disappear. She was certain that the home now held very little that she actually wanted to take with her, yet she felt it was necessary to go through it anyway. It was only a small step towards moving forward and putting an end to the downward spiral that had consumed her life. Rainbow Dash's wings lifted her up to the front door and she slowly pushed it open. Just like last time, the feeling of nostalgia instantly overwhelmed her as vivid memories circled around her mind. For all she knew, she could have been returning home after a long day at Flight Camp while her father was in the kitchen, hard at work on the night's dinner... Floating above the floor as silently as a ghost, she lifted herself up the stairs and entered the hallway leading to both her and her father's bedrooms. She let out a chilled breath as she moved along the hallway to the left, wordlessly collecting the photos that hung upon the walls and placing them into the box without bothering to take the time to stare at them again. She then made her way into her father's room, which still looked almost exactly the same as she always remembered it—the curtains drawn over the windows as usual, barely allowing any light to enter it. An uncomfortable sensation come over her as she entered the room, and she suddenly felt as though she were a thief in the night, preparing to take items that did not belong to her. She instantly turned to face the dresser where the five framed photographs still sat upon it as they had for several years, and she began staring at them from left to right. She cracked a smile as she looked at the first photograph, depicting herself hovering in midair. Of all the pleasant memories that the house held for her, this one was undoubtedly her favorite. She could never forget the bliss that came over her when she had flapped her wings one day, and instead of falling to the ground, she remained hovering. She remembered how her father had ordered her to stay in the air while he rushed to find a camera, not that it was an order she had any trouble following. In that moment, she had felt so convinced that she would likely never use her legs for movement ever again. It was somewhat crazy to think that those same tiny wings which only allowed her to hover in place were able to pull off a Sonic Rainboom merely two years later... The next picture made her smile fade away. It depicted a happy moment with her father—a memory which now seemed so obscure and distant. She could not quite remember which birthday she was celebrating, however, since she did not have a cutie mark in the photo, she assumed that she was still under the age of ten. Her father had planned a surprise party all by himself, and took obvious pride in the fact that it had managed to go exactly as he had planned. Seeing him smiling at her in the picture had always left Rainbow with an unusual feeling. It always made the photograph seem like nothing more than a hollow glimpse of an alternate life in which she finally had the relationship with her father that she had always longed for... The centermost picture was the most familiar by far—the one she had spent innumerable hours staring at until its every last detail was etched permanently into her mind. This one photograph was often the only reason why she would ever come into her father's bedroom at all. Rainbow Dash sighed as she stared into her mother's loving face again, and as usual, the question of how different her life would have turned out had she not died crossed her mind. But at the moment, Rainbow was not in any mood to reflect on it again... Her eyes darted over to the next picture—the one of her first day of school. She chuckled silently to herself as she recalled how repulsed she had been at the notion that she would have to spend several precious hours each day sitting in a classroom to learn when she could have been flying instead. Her father had consoled her by saying that she would able to attend Summer Flight Camp after the school year had ended, which gave her something to look forward to. Nevertheless, he could not help but capture the moment with a picture, even in spite of Rainbow's obvious lack of enthusiasm—or perhaps even because of it... And at last, she looked over at the final picture—the one that she ultimately came to detest the most, the one depicting the moment that had sparked the beginning of the strained relationship with her father. It was the day she had received her cutie mark—the day she had successfully pulled off a Sonic Rainboom without even trying, the day the Wonderbolts had positioned her within their sights. Her father had been immensely proud of her and could hardly wait to capture her thrill and excitement, blissfully unaware of anything that was to follow. It had never made any sense to Rainbow that in spite of it all, he still saw fit to frame the picture upon his dresser as though it were a memory he wanted to return to each time he saw it. Rainbow shook her head as she stared bitterly into her younger, overjoyed face. She wished she had known back then just how little there was to be happy about... One by one, Rainbow Dash picked each of the pictures up and placed them into the box lying on top of each other. Their absence made the dresser look unusually bare, and a thick collection of dust was lined where each of them had been sitting. Stepping away from the dresser, Rainbow turned towards the record player and nearby case of albums just behind her. She immediately shook her head coldly. "I don't think so..." she muttered with an equally cold tone. She had always hated the classical, instrument-heavy music that her father commonly listened to. If Wind Lily wanted the albums, she could have them, though it would not have particularly bothered Rainbow to see them all tossed into the nearest garbage dumpster. She then looked at the closet at the left corner of the room, and she immediately felt her stomach sink down. The only thing housed in the closet that she knew for sure were her mother's pictures her father had stored away long ago. With a deep breath, she opened the closet door and was somewhat surprised at how empty it was. A few dress suits and outfits for special occasions were hung up inside, most looking as though they had not been worn in years. On the floor, sitting to the right was a small, rectangular box with a bright, red book sitting on top of it. The book instantly triggered a spark in Rainbow's memory—she recalled seeing it a very long time ago when her father had shown it to her on a day they had visited her mother's grave. Trembling slightly, Rainbow took the book and opened it, and it contained exactly what she remembered it to contain. Multiple varieties of flowers from each season were folded tenderly and taped into its pages with a brief description for each scrawled in delicate ink. It was her mother's flower book. Rainbow Dash instantly recalled her father saying that flowers were her favorite thing about the ground, and how much she had lamented that they could never grow in Cloudsdale. She had intended to fill the book with every type of flower she could possibly find, and according to her father, she had only managed to collect twenty-two different varieties before she died. At the time she was shown the book, Rainbow did not think that the flowers were anything special, mostly because she was still under the mindset that anything that did not come from Cloudsdale was inferior, yet nevertheless, she was happy to have learned something new about her mother. Her eyes then trailed over the the small box, the contents of which she had never seen before in her life, which she could only surmise contained the pictures of her mother that she had never seen before. Feeling too apprehensive about opening it to look inside, she simply picked it up and placed it into her medium-sized box, along with the flower book. With that finished, Rainbow Dash exited the room, feeling that there was nothing else worth taking. Everything else was left to Wind Lily to decide whether it would stay or go. As she descended back down the stairs, she glanced upwards at the clock in the living room. Rainbow immediately dropped the box as a sudden realization struck her. It was almost two in the afternoon, and her Wonderbolts debut, the very thing she had been looking forward to for her entire life, was only a mere twenty-four hours away...