//------------------------------// // Bonus Chapter: Family // Story: Just One Little Lie // by PonySage86 //------------------------------// "Rise and shine Dashie!" Morning Dew calls up the stairs. "I made your favorite!" The mother practically sings while skipping back over to the kitchen. Morning Dew squeals while dancing in place. "OK, OK. Calm yourself." Morning Dew instructs herself, using her hooves to drag her grin down into a calm smile before placing breakfast onto plates. As she sets the table her ears perk up and she turns around to see Rainbow Dash, the young filly groggily dragging herself into the room. "Mom." Rainbow mumbles. "Be cool." "I'm cool, I'm cool." Morning Dew assures her daughter, but as Rainbow walks over and starts climbing into her chair Morning Dew can't help but once again notice the picture on her flank. Morning Dew's smile erupts onto her face again as she flaps her wings and rockets over to pick up her filly in a hug. She twirls the startled filly around while giggling. "Mom." Rainbow groans. "I said-" "Be cool I know." Morning Dew says while still spinning around, she stops and looks her daughter right in the eye with a huge smile. "But how can I not be excited!? My baby got her cutiemark!" The ecstatic mother shouts before peppering her little filly's face with kisses. It'd been an incredible day for Morning Dew and Fluttershy's parents, discovering their daughters had gotten their cutiemarks on the same day. They'd held the party the same day they got them, after hiring a professional party planner as none of the parents believed they could host it themselves. The party had ran late as flight camp gave them following day off for it. Morning Dew's excitement had yet to fade even a little, Some ponies at the party yesterday thinking the new mother was more excited about her daughter's cutiemark than the filly herself had been when she got it. "Moooom." Rainbow whines. Even though the filly still thinks Morning Dew is pretty cool for a grown-up, the older mare has definitely activated 'embarrassing mom mode' on a number of occasions. "Right, right." Morning Dew says as she places her filly back onto her chair at the table. "Come on now, let's have breakfast." "Oh my gosh!" Rainbow gasps. "Heavencakes!" Morning Dew rolls her eyes at the enthusiasm, they were just ordinary pancakes but Rainbow loves them so much she started calling them Heavencakes due to how fluffy and delicious they are. The mother honestly doesn't think their that great but her filly's enjoyment of them always makes her smile. "And you better eat up quickly, cause I have a surprise for you." Morning Dew says as she takes a seat at the table and begins eating her own pancakes. "A surprise? What is it?" Rainbow asks as she devours her 'heavencakes', The mother frowns at the filly and she swallows before laughing nervously. "Sorry." She perks back up. "So what is it?" "Me and you." Morning Dew gestures to the both of them. "Are going to the Weather Factory!" She cheers with jazz hooves. The filly's excited smile disappears. "Mom, I've already been there before." The no longer excited filly mumbles. While Rainbow was often at school when Morning Dew works, there have been many times where the mother had to bring the filly to the factory. Morning Dew makes sure the filly stays out of trouble so no pony really minds. "Come on, I know you like the Weather Factory." Morning Dew insists, she tilts her head to try and meet the filly's lowered eyes. "Where's my happy Dashie?" "She's on break." The filly mumbles. "She wants a real surprise." "I promise you'll have a good time." The mother smiles. Rainbow raises her eyes. "Can I play with the snow maker?" The filly asks, as she always does. But she knows the answer. "I don't think so. That's a complicated machine" Morning Dew rolls her eyes. "One wrong move and you'll start winter early for some poor town." "I wouldn't do that." The filly grins playfully. "Don't you trust me?" "Not when you smile like that." The mother responds with a playful smirk. "You done?" "Yeah, I'm good." Rainbow shrugs as she pushes her plate away, Morning Dew scoops it up along with her own. "Let's get going to your boring job." "Hey, I like being a weather pony." Morning Dew defends as she washes the dishes. "And who knows, maybe you'll try it someday." "Nope. I'm gonna be a Wonderbolt!" Rainbow exclaims with excitement. Morning Dew smiles. "I know you are, now come on. We need to get going." Morning Dew ushers the filly out of the dining room and makes sure she's washed up before heading outside. CLOUDSDALE WEATHER FACTORY "Morning Dew, Rainbow Dash. Good Morning." A weather pony greets as the two walk inside, inclining her head as a sign of greeting, Morning Dew walks over and grabs a protective helmet and coat from the wall, Rainbow Dash grabs her own pair adjacent to her mother's. Rainbow Dash can't help but laugh a little to herself as she walks among the busy ponies, the workers at the Factory, even the newly hired ones had grown very used to the sight of the little filly in the building. Rainbow bets to herself that she could just show up and put on the protective gear and no pony would look at her twice, she smiles as she imagines trying that someday. "Over here Dashie." Morning Dew calls. Her filly having wandered a little while thinking to herself. Once Rainbow catches up she opens the door in front of her. "You're making cloud's today?" Rainbow asks as they walk into the room. "This way." Morning Dew instructs as she leads Rainbow over to a table. "You know how I make clouds right?" "I've only seen you do it like a thousand times." Rainbow exaggerates. Morning Dew smiles anyway. "Think you could do it?" Rainbow looks at her mother in surprise. "What?" "Make a cloud, think you could do it?" Morning Dew asks again, the filly just stares at her for awhile before putting on a smug smile. "Bet I can do it better than you." "Oh, a challenge is it?" Morning Dew grins. "How about you put your bits where your mouth is then?" "What'd you have in mind?" Rainbow asks. "How about this? We see who can make the most clouds before lunch. If I win, I decide what we do after we're done here. You win, we do whatever you want. Deal?" "You're on!" The filly shouts with excitement. However her enthusiasm falters when she actually turns to the work station, trying very hard to remember exactly how it's done. "Keep this in mind." Morning Dew says. "We're not making rain or storm clouds so be careful how much water you add and avoid lightning entirely." "OK." Rainbow mumbles as she tries to get started. It does not go well, adding enough water and vapor to actually make the cloud form is difficult enough but fluffing it out and keeping it stable so the whole thing doesn't collapse before it's done almost seems impossible. By the time Rainbow creates her first cloud the number of times she's accidentally created a rain cloud that immediately poured out all of it's contents and vanished was higher than the filly could count. At last she finally created a cloud that was stable enough to not explode or something, risking a glance at her mother Rainbow groans loudly at the vast array of clouds that had been formed with practiced ease. The defeated filly bangs her head on the table in exasperation. "I wish the weather could just form by itself." She whines. "Now that's just silly." Morning Dew giggles. She then looks at her station. "Though I've heard their working on a machine that will make this much easier." Morning Dew pats her daughter on the back. "Now come on, it's time for lunch." "Already!?" Rainbow gasps. "But I only made one cloud!" "And it's a very nice cloud" Morning Dew assures. "You could be pretty good at this if you keep trying." "Nuh uh." Rainbow shakes her head. "I am done with weather making." "Does that mean your giving up? The weather wins?" Morning Dew teases. "NO!" Rainbow Dash defiantly refuses. "That would mean I lost and that is not happening. I was just getting started today, I'll make a hundred clouds next time." "Then I look forward to working with you again." Morning Dew smiles. "Now let's go eat." Mother and Daughter leave the room together, the filly occasionally throwing glares at the work station behind her. WEATHER FACTORY: BREAK ROOM "Could you wait here Dashie?" Morning Dew asks nervously. "I don't want to leave you alone here but there's something important I need to take care of." "Sure thing." Rainbow says proudly. "I can handle myself." "I know you can." Morning Dew says as she gives her daughter a kiss on the cheek. "Real quick, what do you do if a stranger bothers you?" "Kick them in the shins and run away?" Rainbow asks. "That'll work, I'll be right down the hall, so run there." Morning Dew says with a small laugh. Morning Dew leaves the room and Rainbow sits down at a table, digging through the lunch sack her mother brought and eating the apple inside. Another employee does end up coming in but he doesn't pay the little filly any mind and he soon leaves. Morning Dew returning shortly after. "OK Dashie, grab the bag, it's time to go." She announces when she enters the room. "What?" "We're done." Morning Dew explains. "My boss is letting me go early today." "Cool." Rainbow cheers as she follows her mother out of the building. Once mother and daughter make their way out of the Factory Rainbow is surprised to see a cloud floating above the cloud surface. What really surprises her is what cloud it is. "Hey, that's my cloud." Rainbow says in confusion. "Yeah, I know, I convinced my boss to let me take it." Morning Dew explains, the young filly only gets more confused. "Why?" "I'll show you, grab it and fly with me." Morning Dew instructs as she flaps her wings to float into the air. Rainbow grabs the cloud and follows after her. Mother and Daughter fly into the air, higher and higher they go, eventually Rainbow looks ahead and she's a shape up above them. As they fly further she can make out a cloud, sitting all by it's lonesome high in the sky. Morning Dew leads Rainbow up to it and they land together upon the cloud. "What's up with this cloud?" Rainbow asks as she looks around. "This." Morning Dew gestures to the cloud. "Is the first cloud I ever made." That makes Rainbow's eyes go wide. "What? So it's been here since you were a kid?" Rainbow asks in wonder, when her mother nods she pokes the cloud with a hoof. "I didn't know clouds lasted that long." "How old do you think I am?" Morning Dew inquires with a raised eyebrow. "Actually don't answer that, I'm thirty-eight OK?" The mother than shakes her head. "But yes, it has been here since I was a kid. My dad took me to make my first cloud after I got my cutiemark." Morning Dew grows nervous. "I actually took it after I made it, I brought it all the way up here where nopony could find it. I wanted it to last forever." "That's cool." Rainbow says happily. "It's like a little hideout." Her eyes go wide again as she holds out the cloud she's holding. "Is that why we brought this?" "Yeah." Morning Dew nods. "I want you to leave it here with mine. You'll always have somewhere you can go, somewhere peaceful to think." Rainbow wordlessly places her cloud alongside her mother's, the two clouds drift together along the sky. Rainbow rejoins her mother on the larger of the two clouds and they sit together, Rainbow sitting in front, her head fitting comfortably in the curve of her mothers neck. Morning Dew wraps her hoofs around the filly. "Why'd you wanna bring me here?" Rainbow asks. "I wanted our first clouds to be together, just like we are." Morning Dew explains. "I want this little part of our family to always be here. Always here if we need it." "Our family." Rainbow whispers, a content smile forming on her face. "You're my daughter Rainbow Dash." Morning Dew tightens her grip on the filly, as if she might disappear if she lets go. "It took me a long time to find you but your mine, sure as if I'd birthed you myself." "And someday." Morning Dew smiles fondly. "You'll have kids of your own, and maybe you'll bring them here too." "Definitely." Rainbow grins. "This is so cool, like there's nothing but sky all around." "This is our spot Dashie." Morning Dew explains. "Our families special place, it'll be our secret." "So I can't show anypony?" The filly pouts. "You can, but only if their really special. Deal?" "Deal." The two sit together in silence, Mother holding Daughter while the filly stares in amazement as the sun gets lower making the sky light up splendidly. The two ponies lose track of how long they sit together, the sun getting lower and lower as they sit without a word. They just enjoy the company provided by the other. Eventually it's Rainbow Dash who breaks the silence. "Knock-Knock." "What?" "Knock-Knock." "Why?" "Come on please?" "OK, OK. Go ahead." "Knock-Knock." "Whose there?" "You Love." "You Love who?" "I love you mom, don't you know that?"