• Published 16th Dec 2013
  • 9,551 Views, 1,839 Comments

Raising Rainbow - Pizzema Forte



After an accidental pregnancy, Rainbolt is left raising an adorable, sweet and spunky little filly named Rainbow Dash. Love will bring them closer, and time will leave them permanately embossed in each other's hearts.

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10. First Day of School

Rainbow Dash’s back ached under the weight of her heavy saddle-bags. They were filled with writing utensils, folders, crayons, a lunch, and paper. Her first day of school came so quickly, Rainbolt was quite shocked. She’d been so happy all her life. Every waking day she would be a giddy, light-spirited filly. That couldn’t exactly be said for that day, however.

“But Daddy!” The little filly whined. “I don’t want to go to school! I want to stay home and play with you!” She looked up at her father with the most pitiful, adorable eyes and trembling lip.

Rainbolt sighed. For the last week, he’d been hearing nothing but constant whining about going to school. She was not only reluctant, but even threatened to spend all that Monday in her closet. She’d never even been to school, and she already hated it. In reality though, she was just afraid of being separated from her father in an unfamiliar place for such a long time. She’d been so close to him… and six whole hours? From eight in the morning to two in the afternoon, she’d be stuck in the profane prison! How would she possibly make it through?

“I’m sorry, Sweetheart. If you didn’t have to go to school I wouldn’t make you, but the law’s the law! I’m sure after a week or so, you’ll start warming up to it.” Rainbolt assured his upset daughter with a hug and nuzzle.

“But you won’t be there!” She argued. “And then we’ll only have the evening together and you’ll have to go to work!”

Rainbolt looked at his daughter. “Sweetheart. I know you’re going to miss me… Would it make you feel better if we found your class together?”

The little filly’s pink eyes looked up at her daddy and she nodded her head quickly. “A-alright.”

The periwinkle stallion comforted his baby and gave her a gentle kiss on her forehead and warm embrace. Dashie returned the kiss with a small peck on his cheek. Rainbolt broke away from the hug and smiled at Dash.

“I know you’ll do just fine today, Sweetheart. Just be confident and make friends.”

“But what if other ponies don’t like me? What if they think I’m stupid?”

“Then put their head in a toilet, Sweetheart.” Rainbolt chuckled as he joked and opened his front door. He waved his hoof as a gesture for his little filly to exit the house. Rainbow smiled at her father.

“Okay, Daddy! I will!” She too giggled light-heartedly.

Rainbolt smiled at his little girl and they flew off into the atmosphere together, ready to start Dashie’s first day.

As Rainbolt promised, he guided Dash all the way to her new classroom. The school itself wasn’t big. It was one building, with three large classrooms, restrooms, and a main office. They all had to eat outside. One of the classrooms were for Kindergarten and first grade, the other was for second grade and third grade, and the final was for fourth grade and fifth grade. Finding Rainbow’s class wasn’t hard to any degree. It was the first one to the left when one entered the building from the North side. Rainbolt peered inside the classroom. It was filled with running, screaming, and hostile foals. He said a little prayer, hoping Rainbow would have fun.

“This is your classroom, Sweetheart.” Rainbolt announced.

Rainbow fluttered her wings and levitated, she too looking inside. The little fillies and colts ran wild: wrestling, playing, crying, and screaming.

“Daddy! I don’t like them!” Rainbow squealed.

Her father simply smiled and shook his head. “Sweetheart… Listen, I know you’re nervous, but I’m sure you’ll make plenty of good friends today!”

Rainbow seemed a little unsure, but still kept her hopes high. “Alright Dad…”

The stallion sensed the sadness within his daughter and gave her a long hug. “I love you, Dashie. I hope you have a wonderful day today…”

“I hope so, too, Daddy!”

Rainbolt gave his daughter a little peck on the nose and broke away from her. Silently, he turned around, and abandoned her to fend for herself the rest of the day. As he opened the glass doors, however, he glanced behind and waved at his baby girl with a reassuring smile. She smiled back and waved nervously. The moment her father closed the door and disappeared around the corner, the little filly felt lonely, despite being in a building full of ponies. Rainbow took in a breath, and opened the heavy, wooden door. As she did, the screaming and whining became much, much louder. It pierced her ears and forced her to put her hooves up to the floppy, hearing-holes. She didn't even notice the mare coming towards her until she was tapped on the shoulder. Her eyes looked behind her and she uncovered her eyes.

She was staring in the eyes of a pretty, young female pegasus. Her eyes were a dark blue while her coat was white. Her light blue, curly mane was in a messy bun, and her smile was welcoming. Her face had three light blue freckles on each cheek. Her cutie mark was a tornado swirling. She seemed…oddly familiar.

“Hello there, little one. My name is Miss Whirlwind, and I’ll be your teacher for the next two years. What’s your name, Sweetheart?”

“Rainbow Dash.” She answered with a smile. “You seem familiar.”

Miss Whirlwind checked over her clipboard and put a slash through another name with a smile. She spat her pen back out, and a long chain on her clipboard prevented it from falling to the floor.

“I don’t know where you might know me from.” She said with a confused expression.

Rainbow thought for a moment. She didn’t know where exactly she could have been to. She was always at home or the Weather Factory, but occasionally left to go to a park or store with her daddy.

“Have you ever been to the Weather Factory?” Rainbow asked after a minute of thinking. Miss Whirlwind seemed almost shocked.

“I, uh… yeah. I go there during hurricane season to make tornadoes throughout Equestria. It’s not a full-time job, just something I get assigned with once in a while.”

“Oh!” Rainbow said cutely with a smile. “My daddy works at the Weather Factory! I must have seen you there once or something. He takes me there every single day!”

This earned another confused stare from the esthetically-pleasing mare. “Why don’t you just stay home with your mommy? Or does she work, too?”

Rainbow’s ears perked up skyward and she once again seemed confused. Before she could answer, however, the mare turned around at the sound of shrill screams coming behind her.

“Sorry, Rainbow Dash! I need to get that!”

The pretty mare ran off to check on the screaming children. Why had she mentioned a mommy? She knew Fluttershy had somepony she called mommy, but why would she instantly assume she had one, as well?

“Alright, everypony!” The teacher announced with a wide grin. “Find a seat, and we’ll start off by playing a little game to get to know each other!”

The entire class fled to random seats and sat in them, filling up the first two rows as if their lives depended on it. Rainbow took a seat in the third row by herself. There were some older ponies. Fluttershy wasn’t in her class. She was lucky because she got to be homeschooled. She didn’t have to deal with loud, annoying foals.

“Alright, now. I’m going to around the room. You’ll tell the class your name, birthday, and something or somepony you cherish in life.” The teacher’s white hoof pointed in the direction of the little colt sitting in the chair furthest to the right in the front row.

“My name is Starlight Shadow! My birthday is November third, and I cherish my brother most of all!”

“Good! How about you?”

The next little filly seemed rather timid she spoke just loud enough for the class to hear her. “M-my name is Lemon Stone… I was born on May eighteenth, and I cherish my mommy more than anything…”

Rainbow’s ears perked up as she heard ‘mommy’. Why did it seem like everypony knew what that was except her? Did everypony have a mommy? Why didn’t she, if that was the case? Was she…weird? What was a mommy, anyways? Rainbow went deep into her thoughts, wondering about the topic. Why was she so uninformed about what a mommy was? Was Daddy hiding something from her? She let out a sigh, and focused back in reality. A filly three chairs down from her was taking her turn.

“I’m Abbaie Twinkle and I was born January fifth! More than anything, I love books!”

Rainbow sighed. She had an Egghead in her class, and mystery in her heart. The next colt went with a gleeful smile. He was named Blue Streak, and he too, apparently cherished his mother deeply. The filly only one seat next to her announced her name was Tundra Storm. She had the same birthday as Rainbow; June sixteenth. As well as many other fillies and colts in the class, she cherished her mommy more than anything. If everypony loved their mother so much, what was she missing out on? Finally it was Rainbow’s turn. She looked up and stared at her teacher.

“My name is Rainbow Dash. I was born June sixteenth and more than anything in the world, I cherish my daddy.”

Rainbolt entered his home and his front door closed with a click. He took in a large breath. Dashie was at school, doing who knows what, and he was alone at his house. He looked around. Everything seemed so… lifeless. Usually his daughter would be flying around with a large smile. They’d be playing, or doing something fun to make the hours fly by. For the first time since Dash was born, he was alone in his house.

“Wow….this is so weird….” He didn’t know what could possibly be done to keep himself occupied.

As boredom sunk in, he thought that maybe he could do things that he couldn’t normally do with Dashie around. He didn’t know exactly what, but there had to be some things. He went off to his room, closed the door behind him, and mindlessly stared around his chamber.

“Wow…. I didn’t realize how dull this place is without Dash around…”

He sighed. What in all of Equestria could he possibly do to fill the time? Read the newspaper? Boring! Visit a friend? All he really new was Dreamscape, and he was at work. His wife was homeschooling Fluttershy at the time. Maybe he could go to a park? That, too, would only remind him of Dashie, and would most likely be boring without her. He sighed, and once again examined the room. His gold eyes stopped at two white, sliding doors. It was his closet. He hadn’t been in his closet for years, and failed to remember half the stuff he’d put in there during his move. Maybe there was something in there that would satisfy his boredom.

Rainbolt pulled open the closet and looked deeply inside it. There was a mountain of old, dusty boxes. There were a few small ones on the top, and heavier, larger boxes on the bottom. He flew upward and grabbed one of the top boxes. It wasn’t too heavy, but it was far more comfortable to set in on the ground and open it. Rainbolt slid the lid off and looked inside. There were only books. Firefly’s books that she never unpacked. Rainbolt sighed and grabbed the box underneath it before putting the old box of books in its proper place.

Rainbolt set this box on the floor and opened it as well. This box was much lighter than the one filled with books. Inside was another small box, a knife, and several bars of soap. Rainbolt’s eyes widened and he smiled slightly.

“My whittles!”

Rainbolt opened the small, yellow box. Inside were a whole collection of figures made of soap. There were little ponies, stars, houses, trees, and animals. He smiled widely.

“I thought I’d lost you guys!”

Rainbolt had a little secret he only shared with those very close to him. He loved whittling. It wasn’t his special talent or passion, but a bar of soap, knife, and an idea could keep him busy for hours.

Rainbolt took out one of his creations and examined it. It was made with a bar of soap that smelt like French vanilla. He molded it into the shape of his mother. It wasn’t an exact copy, but it looked pretty damn close. It had the little curls in her long mane as well as the curled eyelashes bordering her eyes. He delicately carved in her cutie mark, and made her wings stand up straight. He made little details for each individual feather.

Rainbolt wasn’t sure if he still had a talent for whittling, but he knew it was worth a shot. He picked up an unused bar of soap, his usual whittling knife, and went to work on sculpting the most important thing on his mind.

“Alright class!” The Miss Whirlwind chimed to the room of kids. “We’re going to have some play time now! No yelling and absolutely no fighting!”

The entire class of kindergarteners and first graders happily smiled at one another. This was time for Rainbow to make friends and present herself. She, along with nearly twenty other students hopped out of their seats and ran to different corners of the room, pulling out blocks and dolls and other toys. Some of the foals just sat around, too timid to try to include themselves in anything. Rainbow sat in the center of the room. She didn’t know who to talk to. Fortunately, her problems were solved when a blue colt and two fillies approached her.

“Hey.” The little colt started as he approached Rainbow. Rainbow smiled and looked gleefully at the foal. “I like your mane.”

Rainbow blushed from the compliment. “Thanks!” She chimed. “I get it from my daddy!” Rainbow then remembered the subject on her mind all day. “Hey, do you have a mommy?” She asked.

The colt and two fillies stared at each other with confused expressions.

“Uh, yeah…” A blonde-mane filly asked as if Rainbow were stupid.

“So, what is it?”

The little foals all had wide eyes from her question. She really didn’t know what a mommy was?

“So… you don’t have a mom I take it?” The little colt asked.

Rainbow shook her head. She looked at the colt with curiosity and he seemed almost shocked. How did she have a father but not a mother? It seemed nearly impossible.

“How do you not have a mom?” One of the fillies questioned. “I mean, everypony I’ve ever met has had a mom.”

The rudeness in the filly’s tone forced her to look at the ground. Her eyes were on the verge of watering. Was it true…?

“Awe, what’s wrong?” The filly continued in a rude tone. “Are you going to go cry to your non-existing mommy?”

“Windy!” The little colt snapped. She ignored his verbal scold and continued.

“I think she’s actually going to cry. I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Rainbow’s sadness turned into anger as she glanced up at the filly with glistening eyes.

“What are you going to do? Hurt me? I guess the only reason your daddy loves you so much is because he feels sorry for you! You really are pathetic!”

Rainbow couldn’t take another second. She grabbed the filly by the ear and started dragging her as quickly as she could. The teacher was nose-deep in a magazine and didn’t notice. She was used to loud, excessive screaming.

“Hey! Stop that!” The little filly demanded. "Let me go!"

Rainbow ignored her and dragged her right of the class room. The filly’s little friends watched through the window on the door of the classroom in awe as Rainbow dragged her down the hall. She struggled in the pony’s grasp and hadn’t the slightest clue what was going on. Rainbow forced the filly into the bathroom, took her into a stall. He bent her over the toilet and used all the power in her anger to keep her down.

“NOPONY TALKS SHIT ABOUT MY DADDY!”

With that, Rainbow forced the pony’s head into the toilet and smiled as the toilet water soaked her mane and destroyed her ego.

Rainbolt entered the school at approximately two that afternoon. He instructed Rainbow to wait inside her classroom for pickup time. It had been a long, hard day for him without his baby in the house. He only hoped she’d had a better day than he did.

The stallion let out a long exhale and entered Rainbow’s classroom. As he went in, he didn’t see Rainbow… only a few colts and little filly remained there. A pretty mare had her nose shoved in a newspaper, not paying the least amount of attention to anything around her. Rainbolt approached the teacher’s cluttered desk and cleared his throat. Her dark blue eyes looked up at the stallion and she folded her newspaper and put it to the side.

“You must be Rainbow’s father.”

Oh, no. That irritated tone and look in her eyes couldn’t have been good.

“I am, ma’am. Do you know where my daughter is?”

“She’s in the principal’s office. Got in trouble for shoving some filly’s head in a toilet.”

Rainbolt gaped. Just that morning he was making jokes about shoving bullies’ heads into toilets. It was only the first day and she was already getting in trouble. He had no clue she’d take his advice seriously.

“W-well… thanks. I’d better go check on her…”

Rainbolt dashed out of the room. The office wasn’t too far away; only straight down the hall and to the right. Rainbolt calmly opened the door and looked around. There was an old stallion at the front desk, filling out some papers with a pen in his mouth.

“Um… excuse me?” Rainbolt started. “I was told my child is somewhere around here for being in trouble.”

The stallion nodded, and without a word, pointed down the hall. Rainbolt started to head through the little hallway. It smelt like pine trees and depression. He made his way to the very end where he saw his daughter in a separate desk. She was looking down at the wood surface and thinking to herself about her actions, but more importantly about mommies. She was rather depressed from the long day, but didn’t want anypony to notice. Rainbolt took in a breath. Before he got too mad at her, he’d allow her to explain what had happened. Maybe she had a semi-good reason. She was in trouble no matter what, but an explanation would definitely make him reconsider everything.

“Rainbow Dash.” Her father started in a firm tone.

The little filly jumped a bit from being startled. She turned around in her seat and looked up at her father and gulped. He didn’t look to pleased with her.

“H-hey Daddy…”

“Rainbow Dash, I want you to explain to me why you thought it was a good idea to shove a filly’s head into a toilet.”

Rainbow looked at the ground. “I-I don’t know… she just started making fun of me for not having a mommy and I got mad at her… You told me if somepony messed with me I should stick their head in a toilet, so I did…”

The moment the word ‘mommy’ left Rainbow’s lips, Rainbolt gaped. She… she was being made fun of for not having a mother… He looked at the ground and felt like crying. It was all his fault. He sent her to a public school with hundreds of children, and didn’t expect her to even hear about a mother? How stupid was he?

Rainbolt put his hoof under Rainbow’s chin and lifted her head so their watering eyes met. “Sweetheart… I’m so, so sorry…. I… I should have told you about mommies before I sent you here. This is all my fault.”

Rainbow’s eyes watered further. “D-daddy…why don’t I have a mommy? Everypony else at my school has one.” Her tone was weak and crackling.

“Rainbow…” He started.

What Rainbolt wanted to say was, “Because, your mom was a stupid cunt who couldn’t take responsibilities for her actions.” What left his mouth was quite different, though.

“Your mother left the family a little after you were born…. It was because me and her were fighting a lot. We just didn’t get along, and sometimes things like that happen.”

“But why didn’t Mommy come and visit me? Did she hate me?”

At that point, tears were streaming out of Rainbow’s eyes and dripping off her face, nose, and chin. Rainbolt struggled not to cry himself.

“No, not at all, Sweetie. She loved you. After we split, she moved far away, though. It would take her a month to travel all the way back and visit you.”

He wasn’t sure if lying to his daughter was the right thing, but he didn’t want to hurt her anymore than she already was.

“D-daddy….?” Rainbow started with a sniffle.

“Yes, Sweetheart?” He spoke in the softest, most comforting tone he could.

“W-Will you find me a new mommy? Like, go out and get a wife?”

Rainbolt went agape. He couldn’t possibly start dating again at this point… could he?

“I-I don’t know about that, Dashie…”

“Please, Daddy? I-I want a mommy so badly…” The water in her eyes began overflowing and fell down her face with the rest of her tears. “Everyone else h-has one. I just want one s-so badly….”

Rainbolt couldn’t take it any longer. He wrapped his hooves around his daughter and gently pat her back. Little tears escaped his eyes as well.

“O-okay, Rainbow… I’ll try dating again… If that’ll make you happy.”

Rainbow sniffled and her tears stopped rolling. “R-really?”

“Y-yeah… I can’t guarantee I’ll find anypony, but I’ll try, okay?”

Rainbow almost smiled. “Th-thank you Daddy. I love you.”

“I love you, too Sweetheart.”

They both embraced once more and smiled. After a minute of hugging, Rainbolt’s yellow eyes went wide. What did he just agree to..?

Author's Note:

This chapter was a lot of fun to write to be quite honest.
As for some of the random foals' names, I took some from the commenters! I'm awful at coming up with pony names, so I went through my comments and picked out a few names I liked!
I hope you're all enjoying this story so far, because I'm having a blast writing it!