Origins of a Rainbow - A Dashie Tale

by Shorty Sparkle

Fatherly Advice

Origins of a Rainbow – A Dashie Tale
By: Shorty Sparkle

Fatherly Advice

Lightning shot across the sky and wind tore up the trees in the Everfree Forest. A torrent of unending rain and extreme winds broke what might have otherwise been a calm scene. Trees cracked and snapped like twigs as large gusts of wind would blast straight through them. Cracks of thunder resounded across the forest no more than five seconds apart.

Natural, or unnatural as known to Equestria, storms were extremely unpredictable and caused major damage to the Everfree Forest quite often. This storm was one of the bigger ones and would no doubt cripple the forest immensely. The mountains surrounding Canterlot seemed to intensify the storms in ways that would devastate Equestria if not for weather patrol teams keeping them away.

The team flying over Everfree now was no such team. The five fliers that made up the Wonderbolt’s Charlie team were the greatest rescue team to ever join the group. However, even with their experience in the field of flying, the storm was affecting them as well. Hawkeye, the leader of the group, found himself struggling to keep flying as the wind blasted the team.

The other four were having an even worse time trying to keep up with the stallion. It took all their power to keep from being tossed around like a dog’s chew toy. The rain beat on them like hail and lightning sent shocks up their spines. One of the ponies in particular was having an extremely hard time.

“Come on Hawkeye, this is useless, there is no way we will find the source before that storm hits!” The younger of the five screamed out in an attempt to keep his voice over the storm with little to no success.

The other four shot the rookie menacing glances before continuing to search the ground for any clues that might possibly lead to the source of the noise. The lead Pegasus, a sky blue stallion by the name of Hawkeye, responded to his comment. “It seems you forgot the oath we took Jackhammer! If you don’t want to follow the code of ethics then you can leave right now! I for one, am not about to leave until we find those ponies that went missing!” He was also shouting to keep his voice over the howling winds to no avail.

Lightning struck the ground a few miles behind them. The flight squad dipped with the feeling of shock as the electricity rippled through the air. That was the final push for the rookie who turned tail and flew as fast as he could to safety

“Caster! You follow him and make sure he cleans out his locker before we get back!”

Caster nodded and veered to follow the stallion as he flew away.

That is all that remained of the memories of that team. The two Pegasi that came back early were the only to return. A later search would turn up absolutely nothing pertaining to the location of the other three. The rest of Rescue Squad Charlie never came home.

Many mourned the loss of the team members. One in particular mourned a stallion she loved very much. Peirce looked to the sky for months hoping to see her stallion come home. She hadn’t told him about the baby yet. She had been pregnant for a few weeks before he vanished. Looking again to the sky, she just wanted him back.

She spent months becoming more and more distant from the other ponies. Soon, they just stopped visiting and she stopped caring. It had taken long for her to finally get over the loss of the one pony she had fallen in love with. She could only wish she had told him that he was going to have a daughter.

She had to learn the hard way that loosing track of time when pregnant is not the best thing. A strike of pain hit her womb as she felt the contractions start; instantly throwing her to the floor. She screamed for help but no one came. Right there she had her baby. It took nearly an hour after giving birth for her to get out the door and get help.

The next few days consisted of staring at a ceiling while the doctors took care of her baby. When they finally let her out she found herself in even deeper trouble. It only took a few weeks for the filly to begin flying. The foal hadn’t even started walking yet. Pierce found herself at a loss of patience and hope. The filly was just too much for her to handle and she knew very well that she couldn’t take care of it herself.

That is why she stood there now, looking at the orphanage that she would be trusting with the care of her filly. She set the small foal on the ground in front of the door removing the blanket on last time; looking at the sleeping baby just once more. A smile crossed her lips and she knelt down to the baby. “Fly safe Rainbow Dash, fly safe…” She trailed off for a few moments contemplating whether she should do this. She knew she had to, the foal was much better off here. So with that she knocked on the door and took off to her home. Stealing one last look as the door opened.

---{}---

A flash of colors went flying past the judges! Ducking and weaving through every obstacle in its way. The crowd cheered as the mare blasted through the cloud hoop, did a buccaneer blaze, and then launched around into the much easier hurdles.

Rainbow Dash was feeling good about today, she had this in the bag! There was no way they could let her down this time. Doing everything those blue wings would let her was what she did best and her best was the best ever! She let her thoughts wander a little bit.

She thought about how her father would have reacted to her amazing skills in flying. She never knew the stallion that had been her father and only vaguely remembered her mother. The only memory she had left of her mother was a song she heard as a filly. She knew that the lady at the orphanage hadn’t had sung her that song.

Her thoughts were cut off by a loud crack as she broke a hurdle. She moaned but kept going knowing that only one hurdle was only a few seconds on the time. She finished the hurdles and spun around to do a speed lap around the whole track, but as she started flying she took a look down at the hurdle she broke and gasped at what she saw. She had hit a lot more than just one. At least 15 of the cloud hurdles were broken apart.

She looked at the judges who were just shaking their heads. This day wasn’t the day she would get into the wonderbolts and all because she let herself get distracted AGAIN! Her head drooped down and she let her wings carry her back to the dressing room.

How could she have let herself get so distracted? Again the thought of her dad entered the mind of the mare. She sighed as her legs stepped out of the uniform she had put on for the performance.

A yellow mare stepped into the dressing room and stepped up next to Dash. “Hey there Dash,” she mumbled. “You did pretty well. You know, besides losing focus and crashing into 13 hurdles.” A wince covered the mares face as she thought about what she just said. “What I mean to say is, don’t let it get to you. All you need to do is work on focusing and next time you will get it for sure!”

“Listen, thank you Spitfire, for all the help you gave me to get this far. In all honesty though I don’t think I am ready to be a Wonderbolt anyway.” She sighed. Never once had Dash expected to say that sentence in her life. “There is just too much on my mind to do this and I just need to think it threw before I go.”

“Dash, don’t let it get to you that badly, heck I know for a fact that you are an amazing flier and that being in the wonderbolts is exactly where you belong. Remember that Rainbow Dash never gives up no matter what gets in her path!”

“It isn’t that I am not skilled enough because I know I am. However, I also know that my mind is in different places right now and until I can get passed that I won’t be ready for the wonderbolts.” She let out a long sigh and started packing her things away.

Spitfire nuzzled her friend’s neck. “Listen, I don’t know what is getting on your mind so let me tell you this. I was a lot like you when I tried for the wonderbolts. You see, I lost something when I was young and my mind seemed to always go to that, but I found a way to get passed that and got my focus. I ended up using that thing I lost as an advantage to get myself into shape to get to the wonderbolts.”

“Thanks Spitfire, but I don’t think that is going to help me all that much. I have done everything I could to get my mind off of everything that I am going through but it isn’t the same as just losing something. I didn’t lose something; I never had it at all.” She felt the tears welling up in her eyes and she did her best to hold them back.

“You know what, Rainbow, wait here for a little bit. I am going to go get something that should help you.” She didn’t even give time for Dash to respond when she flew out the door.

Rainbow sat down in the room and continued to fight the tears back while she waited for her friend to return. She remembered when Spitfire had found her. She had been flying around over the Everfree Forest when a blast of heat singed her wing and electricity coursed through her body. Her blue body was thrown into a seizure and she fell from the sky only to be caught a few feet from the tree tops.

The older mare had seen Rainbow flying when the blast of heat lightning had struck. She had taken a dive to catch her and did quickly. Spitfire took Rainbow to the hospital and stayed with her the whole time. A few days later she got into the wonderbolts and did her best to stay in touch with Dash but was normally too busy to do so.

“It is easy for her to say all that, she actually got into the wonderbolts.” She got back up and continued to pack her things before Spitfire got back. She just wanted to go home and she doubted anything that Spitfire would tell her could change that. A prolonged packing process preceded Spitfire’s return who was holding a box to her chest.

“Now, what I am about to show you is something I have never shown anypony except my flight squad.” She set the box down on the ground and pressed a small button on the side. The box popped open revealing old pictures of a wonderbolts flight team. Rainbow recognized the team from a museum that she had gone to a while back. The wonderbolts museum being the only one she ever visited in her life.

“Why do you have a bunch of pictured of the old Rescue Team Charlie?” She thought about how the team would be relevant to Spitfire. It being the first team to have a Griffin in its squad was the only thing it was famous for, except disappearing in the Everfree Forest.

“Well, if you look there,” she pointed to the left most pony on one of the pictures. “That is my father, he was with them when they went missing on that mission over the Everfree Forest; so many ponies and griffins alike came together to find them.”

“You… you lost your father too?” Spitfire looked Rainbow in the eyes to see her tears welling up again. “I never even knew mine. I grew up in an orphanage with only a few memories of my mom. I try to think that he would be proud of me if he saw where I was but I don’t even know that for certain.”

“I was just a filly when my father disappeared and so I didn’t exactly understand it. I knew him enough though and I remember meeting his team. I honestly wish I had known him better than I do currently. However, I used my memories of him to help me get into the wonderbolts.”

“How did you do that exactly? I have been trying for years to get passed not having a father and you used it for your benefit?” Her maroon eyes pleaded with Spitfire to tell her.

“Well, I knew that he was a wonderbolt and one of the best at that. So I just decided to live up to him and used the example he set as a template for getting into the wonderbolts. I also remember that when I found you and found out that you didn’t have any parents…” Her mind wandered off in thought.

“You realized that losing just your father wasn’t the worst thing that could happen?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Exactly, because of you I got into the wonderbolts. When I heard from you that you wanted to get into the wonderbolts I did everything I could to help you simply because of how much you helped me without even trying.”

Dash smiled for the first time in a while. The tears finally let loose and she cried with her friend. “I have an idea, how about we go to your mom and ask her about your father?”

Spitfire looked up in pure shock at what Rainbow had just asked her to do. “What? Why on Equestria would I do that?”

“Well, you said you wished you knew more about your dad and no one could know him better than your mom so we can ask her about some of those things. We are not that far from her place anyway it would take just a few minutes to get there and you never know, maybe it will help.”

Spitfire nodded and smiled at her friend. “I think that is a great idea!” Her smile faded though, “but she never told me about him at all. I doubt she will tell the both of us at once.”

“I am sure she will understand that you need to know more about him anyway. Come on Spitfire, let’s go and just ask her!” Spitfire thought for a minute before giving the green light to go. So Rainbow grabbed her things and they both flew out together. Dash was happier now knowing that she would be helping her friend.

It only took them a few minutes to get to Spitfire’s mother just as Rainbow had expected. They walked up to the house that Spitfire remembered living in for such a long time. She walked to the door and knocked. They heard hooves walking to the door before the fire red mare opened it.

“Spitfire, what do I owe a visit from my daughter?” She gave her daughter a nuzzle. “It has been so long since you came here last that I thought you would never come back. As for you Rainbow Dash! You have grown so much since I last saw you! Such a little filly and you grew into such a well formed mare!”

Rainbow Dash gave Spitfire a shocked look before responding. “Umm, I have never met you before in my life. Ever.” Spitfire was dumbfounded at how her mother knew Rainbow Dash.

“Well of course you did little one! I remember your mother coming to me and telling me what to do with you! You played with Spitfire the whole time. You two were such good friends that day.”

Spitfire gasped. She looked at Rainbow Dash and almost facehooved. “Oh my Celestia, how could I have not noticed that!”

Rainbow Dash was completely baffled at the strange spectacle that her friend and her friend’s mother were providing. “What is going on here!”

“Dash, I met you a long time ago; long before I saved you from that fall. You were just a tiny little filly but there is no doubt it was you! I can’t believe that I forgot about you after how much I had talked about you afterward!”

“Oh dear, I am sorry, I remember now what your mother did after realizing she couldn’t take care of you…” Dash and Spitfire turned their heads to Spitfire’s mom. “Your mother couldn’t take care of you so she decided to do what she thought was best for you. For some reason she decided that was living in an orphanage. I am sorry you have to learn from me.”

Rainbow Dash didn’t know if she should be in a total rage or in ecstasy from what she was hearing. “So you are telling me that you know my mom?”

“Yes dear, I knew your mother very well. The wives of the Rescue Team’s stallions were very close. We all stayed together for the most part. Your mother is the only one left now besides myself and if you take a look at me,” she gestured to her body. “I am not too far behind the others.”

“Do you know where she lives? I really need to talk to her, I have been torn apart recently thinking about who my parents were and this will help me so much!”

“I guess that I could, actually, I can do even better than that. Let me go get something really quickly.” She trotted back into her home and they could hear her rummaging through a drawer in the background.

She came back to the door carrying a list. “This is the list of all the ponies my husband helped over the years. I have crossed off any that have died but kept track of all the others. This has all their current locations as well. Your mother is at the top right there.” She handed the list to Spitfire, “keep good care of this list dear. I use it to remember all those ponies they saved and how they are currently doing.”

“Of course mom, I will make sure to not lose it.”

Rainbow Dash took a peek at the list and saw the top name, ‘Pierce’, and a smiled took control of her muzzle. After all those years she finally knew the name of her mom. “Thank you so much for this. You don’t even know how much I owe you for this.”

“Oh, don’t mention it at all young one. I am happy to help you like this. And honestly I think that your mother could use this as well.”

So with that Spitfire and Rainbow Dash flew off and headed to Spitfire’s home so she could pack some things before they left. After that Rainbow remembered that she would need to tell her friends why she wouldn’t be around for a little while. “Spitfire, is it ok with you if we stop by Ponyville on the way?”

“I don’t see why not, it is only a few minutes off our course.” She looked at her rainbow maned friend. “Let me guess, you need to make sure your friends know?”

“Yeah, they would get worried otherwise.”

“That is understandable, one course correction to Ponyville on the way!” It was a little bit longer of a flight to get to Ponyville but the two well seasoned fliers had not trouble tackling the distance in minimal time.

As Ponyville came into view Rainbow Dash wondered how her friends would take what she was about to tell them. No doubt the trip would take quite a long time if they were going to find that many ponies on the trip.

They landed next to the Ponyville library. “Are you sure they are here? All the lights are off.” Spitfire gave a skeptical look to the library that seemed to be empty.

“Oh don’t worry, I am sure they are there right now.” Rainbow opened the door and walked into the hollowed tree with all the lights off. “Oh I wonder where on earth my friends are!” She said with an easily noticeable amount of sarcasm in her voice.

A few seconds later the lights turned on and five ponies jumped out from behind assorted objects that sat around the room. Pinkie jumped out of an opened book lying on the ground. “Surprise!” They all screamed out at once.

“Hey, great job on becoming a wonderbolt Dash!” Dash felt a pang of sadness hit her heart. She had almost completely forgotten about the trial in the excitement.

“Actually, I didn’t get it girls. I am actually here to tell you all something else.”

“What is wrong Rainbow? Nothin’ a good apple can’t fix right?” Applejack asked.

“Well, actually it isn’t a bad thing anymore. In fact, if I hadn’t had lost I wouldn’t have learned about something that is far more important.” Everypony in the room gasped at what they just heard Rainbow say.

“Wait, more important than becoming a wonderbolt? Dear, this must be quite an important thing! Oh, let me guess, you found a stallion finally?” Rarity asked.

“Did you find a REALLY good book?”

“Get to go to an A-mazing party?”

“Meet a really nice animal?”

Rainbow intervened before they could ask any more questions. “No, none of those; I found out who my mother is because of Spitfire here.” Spitfire stepped forward smiling to the group. “Now I need you guys to know that I am going to meet her.”

Before she could finish what she was about to tell them Twilight interrupted. “Well that is great, learning about where you come from is a great thing. Good luck learning about that and I suppose we will see you tomorrow!”

“No, Twilight you won’t see me tomorrow. In fact, I am probably going to be gone for a while. You see-“

“Oh I see, you want to spend some time with your mother before coming back. We understand perfectly and-“

“Twilight listen to me!” Dash cringed at the volume of her own voice. “I am going to find out a lot more about my dad with Spitfire. We have a list of a lot of the people he has saved over the years and we will go meet them to hear about their stories to try and find out some about our fathers.”

“So, you are going for a long time? How long do you expect to be gone exactly?”

“I am going to be gone for probably around a month, but I will be back I promise.”

Pinkie Pie, who looked as if she was deflated, looked at her blue friend before asking. “Pinkie Pie Promise?”

“Yes, I cross my heart, hope to fly, and stick a cupcake in my eye!”

Pinkie reinflated and hugged her friend. “Good enough for me!”

Twilight was the next to voice her concerns. “You do realize how dangerous this could be? You don’t even know these ponies you are going to go visit. Just, be careful ok Rainbow?”

“You got it Twilight.”

“Now, Sugarcube, make sure you keep plenty of food with you and remember to keep safe no matter what. I don’t exactly agree with what yer doing here but I understand that you need to know who yer parents are.”

“Thanks Applejack, I knew you would understand the most.”

“Don’t forget to pack plenty of clothes alright Rainbow? Make sure to make good first impressions on these ponies and that you don’t scare them off with, well with all of you.” Rainbow laughed. “No, I am serious.”

“Also, Dash, be sure to look out for things like Manticores and stuff. They are really scary and could probably hurt you a lot.”

“I know that Fluttershy, everyone knows that. Thanks anyway though.”

“I don’t suppose there is any way to talk you out of this is there?” Twilight asked.

“Probably not, I need to do this Twilight.”

“I understand, just don’t stay away longer than you have to alright?”

“I know, you already said that earlier Twilight.”

“I know I did. Anyway, good luck out there and be careful.” She hugged her friend and was joined by all the others. Spitfire gagged in the background.

Rainbow Dash broke the hug with her friends. “Anyway, I better get going before it gets too late. I will be back soon girls and I will try my best to write to you when I can.”

Spitfire and Dash walked together to outside the Library. They both took off to fly to Cloudsdale with Rainbow’s friends waving goodbye. An adventure waiting for them that would change the world in a way they could never imagine.

Comments

[Method in Maddness]

good story so far my friend, looking forward to seeing more from you! Advice time now, , I would be to try and make the transitions a little less in your face, so to speak. The part where Rainbow goes to tell them that she's leaving seems a little forced with not enough depth to it. (Characters were a little to accepting of such monumental news and Dash, a liitle too easily devulging painfull memories about her past.), if you can I'd suggest trying to extend that scene some more to add more of an impact and hook future readers. I'd also take out the line, "This has been an ineresting week." considering that we're only really given a brief two, (possibly three) day snap shot with no insight to what happened earlier.

Ok well thanks for dealing with my well intended rant here. (If you ever need a beta reader just Private Message me, and I'll be more then willing to help). Fantastic story bro.. or chicka I guess?

P.S. first!!!

[Shorty Sparkle]

304053 Glad you like it. I will be sure to fix up that ending as soon as possible. I have been a bit more focused on seeing what everyone thinks of the idea first. Of course it is far too late anyway as I have the WHOLE story planned out already and because of the awesomeness that I have planned I am going to be pulling this through.

As for Beta Reader, I am sure it would be helpful. I do have one already so I will see how things pan out with him.

P.S. Im a bro. Just so you know :P

[Method in Maddness]

304471 haha sounds great! love the idea for this!

[Zanmatsuken]

I'm liking the beginning of this. definitely gonna track because i'm curious to see where you take it.