Catch Me if I Fall

by Shahrazad

Epilogue

She landed on the porch at dusk. It took several attempts, and plenty of heavy breathing, before her hoof landed on the door.

knock-knock

“I told you, I’m just a weather factory worker! I don’t have the bits to buy any magazines, now go—” The door opened. The home was humble by Cloudsdale standards. It was still made of fluffy white clouds, and had a small porch with delicate white columns. A set of musical wind chimes made out of rainbow-colored crystal rods played a random tune in the breeze. Warm, yellow light spilled out of the house when the door opened. A radio crackled with static from somewhere inside. “...You…”

She smiled sheepishly and looked down. “Yeah, me. So how have you been—gahh!”

He rushed forward and crushed the mare in a hug. “You don’t write, you don’t call, what’s the matter with you?” He sniffed and squeezed harder. “It’s been too long since I’ve seen my little Dashie.”

Rainbow Dash’s face was starting to turn purple. “Dad—can’t breathe!” He released her, and she let out all the air trapped in her lungs with a great wheeze. She pounded a hoof to her chest once before she continued, “So, it’s nice to see you. You’re looking good, did you lose some weight?”

Full Spectrum smiled and glanced at his own barrel while lifting one wing. “I did lose a little weight, but don’t try to butter up your old stallion. I haven’t seen you since you visited for Hearth’s Warming Eve, what, two, three years ago? You mentioned you had new friends and now I’m reading about them in the papers! And you’re the Element of Loyalty! So much for loyalty to your poor father.” He drooped his head and wings.

“Dad… I’m sorry, I just got a little busy.” She drew closer to him and put a hoof out to touch his shoulder. She never got the chance.

“MY DAUGHTER IS AWESOME!” He shouted at the neighbors. He half-hugged, half-tackled her, and dragged her into the house. He tossed her like a sack of potatoes onto the couch, which let out a gasp of air on her rough landing. Like most things in the house, it was made of clouds. “Tell me everything!” Dash blinked to stop her eyes from rolling in opposite directions, and looked around the family room of her youth. Pictures of her adorned the walls, several of them recent. Over the mantel there was a framed news clipping showing her in her Wonderbolt cadet uniform, next to a card. She could see a page peeking out from behind the frame. Another frame held a picture of her with her best friends at a picnic several months ago. There was also a present, wrapped with a flamboyant red bow, sitting next to that picture. The picture of her as a filly with Fluttershy sat at the end of the mantel. Dash and Fluttershy were about to leave for their first day of flight camp, lunch boxes packed in their saddle bags, covering their blank flanks. Full Spectrum was out of the kitchen with two frosty bottles before she could finish looking at what had changed since she was last here. Without ceremony, he popped the top on both of them and set one in front of Dash. He snatched the present from the mantle and set it next to the open bottle. “Go ahead—I know it’s early, but I don’t care!” He flopped into his favorite recliner and gazed at his daughter, his pride and joy.

Dash gingerly took the bottle and took a swig. Apple cider, she thought, and couldn’t help but smile. “I, uh, see you got my letters.” She gestured to the mantel. She went for the present, tearing open the wrapping paper and bow. Daring Do was underneath, blurred on the front cover of the book, being chased by something large with teeth. Dash felt herself choke up. “Thanks, dad. It’s what I really wanted.”

Full Spectrum snorted and said, “Nahh, what you really want is for everypony to tell you you’re awesome. I just want you to be happy with the ponies who do say that. You know, me and your friends.”

Dash looked at him with wide eyes. “How do you know my friends call me awesome?”

He raised one eyebrow. “Um, because you are? And they see you the same way I see you? Seriously, Dashie, how many elements of harmony do you need to be before it’s enough?”

Dash looked away, because she knew looking into his golden eyes would make her cry. Instead, she looked at her new Daring Do book and said, “I wanted to say this face-to-face, instead of sending a letter. I wanted to thank you—”

“What for, Dashie?” He smiled and relaxed into his seat. He looked like a flower ready to soak up sunshine.

“For being there to catch me when I fell. I’ve been teaching this little filly how to fly, and she didn’t have anyone to catch her until I came around. I just didn’t realize how important it was ‘til I saw what happens without it.” Dash looked her father in the eye. “I didn’t realize how horrible it must be to not have somepony there to catch you. You’d never leave the house ‘cause you’d be too scared of getting hurt.”

Full Spectrum sat up, shrugged, and said, “Every parent does that for their children, Dashie. I’m just lucky to have such an awesome daughter. I hardly ever had to catch you.”

“Dad, this filly doesn’t have any parents around, so I caught her. We did a starfall, and it worked.”

Full Spectrum put his bottle of cider down slowly. He looked at Dash, mischief glittering in his eyes. “Well, that was awesome of you, Dashie. I wasn’t going to let you drink any more cider ‘til after dinner, but I think you deserve another.” He jumped up and darted into the kitchen to make dinner.

“After dinner? Um, sure, I guess I’ll stay for dinner then.” Dash sank in her seat. She couldn’t ever say no to her father. It was embarrassing, but she loved being cared for by him. “Dad… who’s there to catch you when you fall?”

Full Spectrum stopped for a moment, a knife hovering over the asparagus. He gently set it down before he replied, “Your grandma.” His eyes became unfocused as he looked at the urn on the mantel.

“Oh… it doesn’t matter that she’s—?”

He shook his head and said, “No, it doesn’t matter. She’s there to catch me every time. Just like I’ll always be there to catch you. Just like you’ll always be there to catch this filly.”

“That’s a relief. I thought I’d have to actually be there to catch her every single time.”

Full Spectrum laughed. “We’d have pegasi zipping all over Equestria every minute catching each other. No, she’ll be fine. Have you ever fallen and needed my help to get back into the air again?”

“Not since I was a filly,” she replied while shaking her head. “You know, it’s funny. If you don’t have it, you need it. But if you have it, you don’t need it anymore.”

Full Spectrum trotted back into the family room carrying a bowl of apple salad, one of Dash’s favorite dishes. “Funny how that works, isn’t it, Dashie?”

Comments

[a506]

Thank you so much for writing this story. I enjoyed every minute of it and could tell it came from the heart. It was very touching.

[Cold Spike]

Short and sweet, I love it!

[dashybrony2012]

Aaaawwww this was so sweet I loved every second of reading it it was beautiful thank you so much for this story

[Matt11]

this chapter was good tho i was hoping for a chapter were dash adopts scoots hmm oh well

[narcolepto]

I stand by my comment about the overreaction trope, but the rest of the story was pretty good. Keep writing, I'd like to see what you put out with more practice!