Snapshots

by 314

Party

I watched yet another one of Pinkie’s parties continue in full swing, ponies mingling and dancing and having all sorts of fun. The ballroom of the new castle had become her favorite place to host them, which meant there was a new confetti cannon exploding every other day. But seeing so many ponies happy was worth it.

And this time the party actually was for something. Rainbow’s birthday and anniversary of moving to Ponyville. Luckily, this party was much less of a mess than last year’s. In fact, Cheese Sandwich had joined together to throw this one, a party so big enough it was starting to spill out of the rather impressive ballroom. But there was more party already being created outside, whipped up by two ponies that were practically on my level of magic somehow.

But as I looked around, I failed to see the distinctive rainbow and cyan colors that marked the pony this whole event was for. Come to think of it, I hadn’t seen her in at least an hour. Granted, every pony was here and it was quite crowded, but she was in no way a quiet figure. If I had seen Fluttershy three times, I should be able to find Dash.

“Alright, enough is enough. She’s nowhere to be found, so where could she possibly be?”

My horn lit up, searching for her distinctive magical signature. I blinked and the scene in front of me changed; instead of seeing defined and colorful shapes of ponies, I instead saw floating, glowing balls representing their magic. The sight had shocked me the first time I saw it, but I was well used to the aural world by now.

Amid the bland or slightly tinged colors, seven easily stood out. My own, naturally, the five of my friends, and then Cheese Sandwich’s was unusually bright. I cast that thought aside and followed the bright red trail. It was the only one to go into the upper reaches of the room before disappearing out a side door.

Another blink and the world of ponies reappeared. I quickly made my way over to the exit, slipping out and breathing a sigh of relief. Parties were fun and all, but sometimes some alone time was what I really needed. Maybe that’s all Rainbow needed, but I was still worried about her. It wasn’t like her to completely disappear on a party like this one.

Stairs and stairs passed as I kept going up, bewilderment growing as I kept following the magic trail. My breath came in shorter and shorter gasps the further I went, unaccustomed to the strain. I had already passed a half dozen balconies she could have taken off from, but she instead kept climbing the stairs. Climbing them, not flying up them.

Finally, I reached the last staircase, the last spiral that led up to the highest balcony. “I swear, if she flew off from up here—“ I sucked in a big breath of air, taking a breather before going up the last and longest bit.

It took a minute before I could actually feel air in my lungs again and started walking back up the steps. The hallway got narrower and narrower until it was brushing my shoulders gently. The door was slightly skinnier, making me have to push my way through it.

“Rainbow?” I called, looking around the balcony. Before I could look for her aura, a voice came from behind me.

“I’m over here Twi.” She sounded flat, monotone, completely devoid of caring. I thought I heard a note of sadness in there, but she sounded like Maud more than anything else.

I turned to look at her, making my way around the circular platform. A quick jaunt into aural vision showed that her normally smooth-as-crystal magic was stained with black, marring it. Something was very, very wrong. Locks of hair fell down in front of her eyes as she looked sullenly out upon the town. Her legs dangled over the edge and she swung them gently, not worried in the least bit about falling.

I sat down next to her, albeit with all four hooves on the ground. “You okay?” I asked, then mentally berated myself. Of course she isn’t okay. If she was, she’d be down at the party.

“Yeah,” came the flat reply. It didn’t take an Applejack to figure out that was a lie.

“Then why aren’t you at the party?”

“I needed to get away.”

“Why?”

She let out another sigh, then turned to face me. “Cause today isn’t just my birthday and my anniversary to Ponyville. It’s the last day I saw my dad.”

The answer caught me off guard. I hadn’t been sure what to expect, but certainly not that. “Why haven’t you seen him since then?”

“I left on bad terms. It took me a letter from the hospital to make me realize how badly I screwed up.”

...Oh.

“What happened?”

She flopped on her back, looking to the sky and searching the stars. “I was mad. I said I hated him. That I didn’t want to be around him any longer and couldn’t stand him. I flew out in a rage and came down here to Ponyville. I stayed with Fluttershy for a while until I got everything settled. But my dad took it worse.

“From what I’ve heard from other ponies, he got terribly depressed and went out wandering the streets of Cloudsdale. He disappeared for three days. Absolutely no one I’ve talked to knows anything about what happened to him. Then, he shows up on the steps of Cloudsdale General, delirious, bruising, and head trauma. They treated him as best they could and took him in overnight. The next day, he was gone. No trace. The sheets were even neatly made. No one knows what happened to him.”

There was a pause, then she craned her neck to look up at me, meeting my eyes. “I miss him Twi. So much. I’ve tried to find him for years, but no one’s seen hide or hair of him.”

“What about Princess Luna? She dreamwalks, surely she knows where he is.”

“She wouldn’t tell me. Said I had to ‘remedy my mistakes myself.’ But I won’t stop looking for him.” Loyal to the last.

I extended a wing and gently tickled her exposed belly, getting a slight giggle and smile out of it. “Well now I’ll help you find him too.”

Her smile faded and she dropped my gaze, looking back to the sky. “I appreciate the offer. I really do. But this is something I have to do by myself. I was the one to mess it up, I’ll be the one to fix it.”

I shifted over to her, scooping my hooves behind her back and lifting her to my chest with the aid of a little bit—okay, a lot bit—of magic. I hugged her tightly, pressing my nose into her shoulder. “But that’s why you have friends. So you don’t have to do things by yourself.”

It took one very awkward moment, but I felt Rainbow’s wings and hooves press into my back, returning the hug. We stayed like that for a minute or two, quiet and listening to the sounds of the party continuing outside. A drop or two of water dampened my fur. I almost looked up, thinking it was raining, before realizing that Rainbow was crying. Not bawling, but it was still quite a bit for a mare I had never seen cry before. I squeezed her tighter, then let go and gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek. She nuzzled me in return, rubbing her soft fur along the side of my cheek.

“So what do you say about going back down to the party? And then we can start looking for your dad tomorrow.”

“Sounds like a plan. And you were always great with plans.”

“Were?” I questioned, a smirk on my face. I got the response I wanted: a laugh and an eye roll as she tried to discreetly wipe away the tears. Not 100% Dash again, but better than she was. I blinked, wondering if the blackness from earlier was gone.

It was certainly less present than it was, but it still weaved in and out, tormenting her. It hurt; I wanted to do so much more to help her, but I couldn’t. Not right now. Another blink and she returned, gazing out at the Pinkie Party below. I stepped up next to her and gave her a winghug, pulling her close to me. She didn’t fight it, instead moving towards me willingly.

Then, with a sly look and grin on her face, she yelled “Last one down is an Egghead!” She ran and jumped off the balcony, wings spreading as she fell.

“Wha— Hey!”

Comments

[dragonjek]

Hm... Luna's response doesn't seem right. Helping Rainbow Dash just find him isn't an intervention in their reconciliation--it's allowing it to happen in the first place. A single pony isn't really capable of finding a specific person who could have moved to any city in Equestria (or even beyond).
Considering that... the brain damage could be more severe than Rainbow Dash thought. If her dad isn't the same pony or wouldn't recognize her, it could be seen as a form of protection on Luna's part.

Also, do you have an explanation for how chipper she was about the previous year's birthiversary? Adding in sorrow to a normally joyous event is good and all, but she was pretty happy about her party last year.

[314]

6043840 Which sounds better: "How'd you find me?"
"Princess Luna told me."

"How'd you find me?"
"I searched endlessly for years trying to get you back."

She seemed happy at this one too, as long as she was around other ponies. Only a very very few will see her shell drop. Other than that, she's still the invincible Rainbow Dash.

[dragonjek]

6046017 You forgot the third option: "I wish I could have spoken with my daughter again before I died of old age."
Y'know, seeing as how it's incredibly unlikely for a single pony to be able to find another single pony without access to vast amounts of resources and connections. Sure, you could say that Twilight's helping her with her princessly connections now, but then you just get a variant of the first one - "Twilight found you for me"