The Truth About Girls (Vol. 1)

by TheMareWhoSaysNi

It's A Wonder, Colt (part 1)

Barely arrived behind the bleachers where everyone already was, Rainbow Dash threw her bag at her feet, and crumbled onto the grass.
Like on every Thursday, her basketball training followed up her athletics training, and she swore she could no longer feel her joints.

Yet, it wasn’t just an ordinary day… Since the morning had begun, and officially, she was now seventeen, though she said she already was all around her, claiming that a few months didn’t make any difference.

It wasn’t a reason for her not to be affected by her coaches’ orders. She could even swear they had spread the word and had tried to tire her even more than the other days. How lucky she liked these two disciplines so much, or else her legendary laziness would have made her give up long ago.

“I’m going to die”, she cried while cracking the joints of her neck. “Coach Scald was always behind my back at basketball. I know I’m not tall and it’s not an advantage, there’s no need to tell me over and over again.”

Out of all the girls in her team, Rainbow Dash was by far the smallest. When she had come to integrate the Wondercolts on the first day of High School, Coach Scald had looked at her from head to toe with perplexity, not that used of seeing girls that small trying to get in. She had to prove she compensated this height issue with skillfulness and strategy before being accepted.

Because of this advantage she could never had postulate to become point guard, unlike in lacrosse and race, where she was captain and leader. It didn’t mean she was left alone. For all that, she had to work even harder than the others.

“There’s a three-day weekend coming, you’re going to have all the time to rest”, Twilight submitted, patting her shoulder.

“Likely story! I’ve promised Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo to teach them the basis of in-door climbing tomorrow, and tonight, I have this dinner with my father… I just can’t wait…”

It was a ritual between them since her fifteenth birthday. Each year, Mr. Rainbow Blaze made sure he was in town on her daughter’s birthday. It was the only moment when he made her feel as if he was interested by her and what she did outside of her potential mistakes – though she had quieted down since Middle School and almost no longer had to stay in detention because she was late or worse, absent.

After taking her to a gourmet restaurant, he would give her a very expensive present and sometimes even a little additional envelop, then would disappear noiselessly in the night. She had suspicions that he never spent these nights at his office but in charming company, according to women’s perfume permeated on his clothes on the day after, before he would leave for another round of trips and business.

“Ya know, nothing obliges ya for Apple Bloom. Just rest and Ah’ll explain ‘em if ya want.”

“No, AJ, I’m going to do it. A promise is a promise. But I’ll sleep until midday on Saturday to catch up.”

“BEFORE OUR PARTY!” Pinkie Pie yelled with her arms in the air, without anyone except Sunset Shimmer to display even the least raise of an eyebrow.

The latter might well be huddled up to the little bunch almost all the time since their Spring Ball two weeks ago, she still wasn’t used to the former gang member’s eccentricities, which she could display at any moment, and especially those when no one was expecting.

It was no secret – they all couldn’t wait for this party, but the teenager with hair like fire and blood was in a very particular state of excitement. Pinkie Pie’s parties were famous in all CHS and it was the first time she would be able to attend one. Of course, there had been the ball, but it wasn’t the same. It was within the compass of school, and it was impossible to chill like in a private party.

In reality, half of CHS had been invited. The only difference was that she had received her own invitation by the person in question herself, who also had invited her for a sleepover with the other girls.

“It’s the first party I’ll ever go to”, Fluttershy announced. “I can’t wait… and I’m a bit scared too.”

“Everythin’s goin’ to be just fine, Fluttershy, Ah promise”, Applejack tried to comfort her, slightly elbowing her arm.

It had been nothing but a friendly gesture, nothing aggressive, yet the young woman discreetly rubbed her limb. Applejack was likely not to know how strong she was, and if Sunset Shimmer, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash knew how to bite the bullet, it wasn’t the same story as far as Flutterhy and Twilight were concerned.

“Yes, it’s going to be amazing! There’s going to be balloons, music with our Canterlot Number One DJ, a lot to drink and eat, and an enooooooooooormous delicious cake.”

“And boys?” Sunset Shimmer asked.

“Of course, duh! It’s opened to everyone.”

Once again, Pinkie Pie had just missed the point, but instead of trying to react, Sunset Shimmer held herself back and chose to talk about ‘something else’. She could see her friend’s statement didn’t reassure Fluttershy who always was a bit scared when it came to being around people she didn’t know, and unfortunately, what she wanted to ask wouldn’t help her to feel more comfortable.

The answer would probably be of a complete limpidity, yet she asked the question anyway. Perhaps none had said a word until now out of bashfulness, or maybe because it wasn’t their habits to talk about this kind of topics.

“Will one of you come with a Plus One on Saturday?”

“A plus-what now?”, Applejack questioned with her head tilted.

“A Plus One, a guest of the opposite gender… or not, in fact, according to the preferences of each.”

Silence. It was as if she had asked a question about criminal law to a parquet of inorganic chemistry students. Something like this…

“None of you have a boyfriend? Not even a crush?”

Sunset Shimmer had felt some kind of tension, while not being sure where the problem came from. It wasn’t as if no male representative gravitated around them. In fact, the fact both Twilight and Fluttershy had blushed when she had said the word ‘crush’ was a sign they probably had someone in mind. Even so, they didn’t answer in a positive manner.

“Rarity will surely have someone. Rarity always has someone.”

“Since Ah’ve been harassed by a stalker, Ah must confess am even more likely to beware.”

“I’m chatting on internet with a boy which name I always forget and who likes to plan parties as well but he doesn’t live here and I never met him. Does this count?”

“I don’t think so… What about you, Rainbow Dash?”

The young woman had expected her friend to ask the question to her and feared this very moment. It always was a difficult detail to explore, because she had to explain she didn’t really have the same conception of sexuality and love than the other girls of her age – she only knew internet correspondents in the same situation as she, on a discussion group where she liked to chat. It often led to questions and doubts from the others.

Right now, she didn’t feel like talking about this topic, not because she couldn’t trust Sunset Shimmer, rather because she was too tired to start a complicated explanation about the asexual spectrum.

“Last year I had two boyfriends”, she said shrugging. “It had ended quite badly so I’m on a break about relationships.”

This justification was enough for now. A bit later, when the context would be better, she’ll explain to the teenager in front of her. All she wanted now was to go home and to crawl in her bed in order to sleep until the next day. It was impossible, because what was in store for her was a whole evening face to face with her father, and this simple prospect made her want to bury herself under her sheets even more…

---------------------------------------------------

Because it wasn’t the kind of place where one could arrive wearing jeans and a plain sweater, Rainbow Dash had put on her midnight blue sleeveless satin dress with a Mao collar and golden embroideries her father had offered her on the previous Christmas and that she wore for the first time tonight.

The restaurant in which they dined was called La Cloche Dorée, a very famous French restaurant of Canterlot, liked by members of the Royal Family, of the aristocracy, and show-business celebrities… In short, everyone worth knowing in Equestria.

Inhabitants of the small Pacific Ocean island, situated on the same parallel than Japan and New Hampshire, regarded animals as full living beings, with rights. Horses, in particular, had a very specific importance, like cows in India. This was the reason most of Equestrians were vegetarians, if not vegan, and foreign restaurants had to adjust themselves if they wanted to seduce the population.

For the tourists here on Winter and Summer holidays, it could sometimes be difficult to get adapted to this different way of eating.

In front of her menu, Rainbow Dash had found herself a little bewildered. It wasn’t in her habits to eat in restaurants of such a standard.

Her mother had been from the middle-class and avoided as much as she could the smart restaurants or the prig previews where her husband, born of a family of entrepreneurs and horses owners, always enjoyed going to. Because of this, her daughter wasn’t used neither mixing with high society folks, especially as she had got from her mother a spontaneity and an unsubdued attitude which didn’t really fit with this milieu.

Her father had tried to make a respectable girl out of her by signing her up to lessons of good manners, embroidery and ballet dancing, but quickly her restless nature had shown she wasn’t made for this kind of quiet feminine activities. Firefly had convinced her husband to let the child she was choose what she wanted to do and that was how instead of these snobbish avocations, she had started basketball, boxing and softball, lately replaced by race and lacrosse – and roller-derby, rock climbing, etc.

“If you don’t know what to choose, my advice is pumpkin, honey sweet chestnut and mushrooms cream soup, followed by roasted parsnip with puree. It’s marvelous.”

“Well… Alright, then.”

She let him order the dishes for two as well as two glasses of champagne, fidgeting on her chair of velvety silk. Without the excuse of choosing what to eat, Rainbow Dash was now obliged to be face to face with her father, and she had no idea how to behave or even of what to say.

Their relationship was generally quite tensed, so no topic of conversation seemed to come naturally, even in a supposedly relaxed moment like this one. If she had been with her mother, she’d have known what to say, that was for sure… She used to find everything interesting. Nothing told her it would be the case with Mr. Rainbow Blaze, the famous Canterlot Airlines’ CEO, only one of this profession to keep on piloting planes of his own company.

In fact, she couldn’t really know, since he never tried. And so she was very surprised when he talked to her the first, though once again he wasn’t looking into her eyes, but seemed to stare at another person beyond her shoulders.

“Well, how is it going, this basketball season? Do the Wondercolts win games?”

“Err… Yeah, the season’s good. We’re in quarter final of the interschool championship.”

“Good, good…”

Once again, silence, lingering on even after the young stiff waiter had brought them their glasses of champagne. The other tables around them were full of conversations, smiles, sometimes even burst of laughs. Yet they were high society folks, more used to muted parties where no one danced. Her and her father being so unable to communicate probably was symptomatic.

Rainbow Dash toyed with her salmon-colored napkin, not sure whether or not she had to be the one talking now, and if yes, what she had to talk about with him. The world of financial markets and horse races wasn't her area of expertise, and she was convinced if she started to mention politics, he would probably tell her she was too young to understand.

She liked comic books, thriller, detective and adventure novels, outdoor activities, fighting and car races video games, sports of all kind, hip-hop and rock music… Nothing she could share with him. As for talking about the past or the so-called family bond they had, it meant taking the risk to say her mother’s name, which always antagonized her father, and it would lock himself in an even deeper silence.

“Fine. Let’s toast”, he said breaking the silence again, rising his glass in front of him. “To your birthday. Already seventeen.”

Rainbow Dash followed up without a word, and while she barely dared plunging her lips inside the golden and fizzy liquid, she saw her father gulping his own glass in full before ordering a new one when the appetizer arrived.

The soup was a good excuse not to say anything, glancing at each other discreetly, though each time, she had the uncomfortable sensation he was still ogling someone else behind her.

When the main course arrived, her father already had his third glass of champagne, while, a knot in her stomach, she had barely touched hers, and was forcing herself to eat what was on her plate. There was one thing she couldn’t wait: that her torment would come to an end, so she would be able to curl up under her blankets.

After her mother’s death, she had celebrated her fourteenth birthday in Green Haven, surrounded by people she hated and who said they hated her too, a few days before being finally ‘set free’ and having a real party with her two best friends. It was only at her next birthday her father had started this ritual, and sometimes she wondered why he kept on forcing himself. It didn’t work.

She was almost done with her dish, eating small mouthfuls in order not to get sick, when he spoke to her again, with yet a little less fluidity than at the beginning of the dinner.

“I suppose you’re going to have a huge party this weekend with these little friends of yours. Is there going to be boys?”

“I think so.”

“Be careful, Rainbow Dash, boys only want one thing. You mustn’t give in to them just because they’re saying sweet things…”

“Dad, we’ve already talked about it. There’s no need to lecture me with boys. I told you, I’m asexual, it doesn’t interest me.”

Of course, she hadn’t told him she already had known three boys in the biblical sense of the expression, and kept to herself her experiences had only reinforced her certainties. However, by dint of hearing him being worried about her sexuality because she didn’t have female-gendered activities, she had confessed him a part of the truth. Thanks to the explanation that she was asexual, she thought she could avoid endless lectures about the supposedly dangerous nature of boys.

But even that wasn’t enough…

“You’re saying that, but one day you’re going to meet a boy that will make you change your mind.”

“This isn’t the way it works…”

Even if the mood wasn’t sunny, Rainbow Dash didn’t feel like arguing with her father tonight. Until the clock would tick midnight, it was her birthday and she wanted it to be a day free of dramas and quarrels.

From the back of the suddenly dimmed restaurant, appeared the light of crackling candles, accompanied by a “Happy Birthday” song chanted enthusiastically. The cake that would be brought on the table in question was some kind of giant macaron, filled with cream and raspberries… One of her favorite desserts.

For a short while, she told herself her father remembered and had thought about doing this little childish yet pleasant surprise for her… So, what a deception it was when she saw this cake being put on a table nearby where a preteen wearing a black dress celebrated her thirteenth birthday.

Her fists clenched under the table, and she dug her fingers as much as she could in the velvet of her skirt. It was a struggle of every second not to let a few tears roll on her cheeks, her face suddenly taken over by a hot flush, from her chin to her temples. On the side, the young girl had just blown her candles to thunderous applause, while her own father was staring speechlessly at his empty glass of champagne.

When he spoke, the tension became worse.

“Do you want a dessert? Their bitter chocolate fondant is a delight.”

“I’m intolerant to chocolate.”

“Ah, since when…? Oh, yes. Sorry.”

He knew since when. Since this night when she had swallowed a full bubble pack of pills with a derivative of morphine which had made her stomach and liver malfunction – among other consequences. It was the chapter they had to avoid at any cost, along with her mother’s death, especially as the two were connected.

Obviously, now was the perfect time to shorten their face to face. This dinner hadn’t been a success, that was for sure, yet they had been able not to go to some red zones, and in order for things not to run out of control, they’d better head home.

They both got up to leave the restaurant. While waiting for the parking valet to come back, Rainbow Dash’s father told her he had her birthday present home, and that was the only word he uttered during the whole way back.

Outside, it had started to rain, and all along the road, she observed the streets and the wet pavements, and in order not to be focused on the slight pain stabbing the back of her head – another consequence of this dreadful night – she was wondering what her friends were doing now.

Sometimes, when she became more melancholic, she thought about him, and wondered who he had become, why did he never try to get in touch with her, as if everything they had shared during almost five years no longer were important.

Her thoughts were interrupted when her father and her finally reached their destination. Much to her surprise, he didn’t park his luxurious sedan in their garage, what made Rainbow Dash think he wouldn’t stay the night, like it always happened.

Even when he was present, he would find a way to be away while she had to bear with the loneliness of this huge house she sometimes hated so much.

Once again, she had a surprise when he told her she had to close her eyes while he opened the garage’s door. Her heart suddenly started to race… Maybe what was on the other side was the motorcycle of her dreams, though she didn’t have a license, and maybe for once, her father had done something that would end this strange evening on a high note.

He took her hand and slowly guided her along the damp slabbed driveway, and she noticed her father had never held her hand since she no longer was a little child… And yet, even when younger, she remembered very well he used to spend a whole lot of time complaining to his wife that she’d let her “act too much like a boy”.

Cuddles, kisses, compliments… This never been Mr. Rainbow Blaze’s favorite thing. Since always, this man had been better for admonitions. In this, he was a perfect match for Firely who never embarrassed herself with sentimentality, except with her daughter, whom she thought of world of, to the extent to create tensions in her marriage.

“Here we are”, her father finally said. “You can open your eyes. Happy birthday, Rainbow Dash.”

She obeyed, her heart twitchier than a samba dancer, thinking she would be face to face with this gorgeous black Hyosung G4 she dreamed of since months, as a symbol of a limitless freedom her simple scooter would never give.

Instead of it, what was under her eyes was a luxurious convertible car of the gaudiest yellow.

Of course, except for the color, it was a very beautiful model, that more than one person certainly dreamed of. He had probably splurged on this gift that was extraordinary, in consideration of their damaged relationship.

She had no right to feel disappointed. Some of the people of her age were obliged to drive forty-year old beat-up cars, and she received a real car that was the synonym of money and social success… A social success that wasn’t hers, but that belonged to a patriarch whom she owed everything she already had.

In front of him, she displayed her brightest smile, and swore she was delighted to have the chance to drive such a machine. She didn’t tell him this car was nothing like her, but the twisted reflection of what a father thought about a daughter he didn’t know, or at least not enough.

Only two years left, she said to herself while going in her bedroom, after she had watered down her father with insincere superlatives. Only two more years and she would be able to stop pretending, to suffer and to make suffer her father. He was a man over-stripped by life, and the gnawed bond linking them together only stand thanks to one thread as thin as the ones from a spider web.

Comments

[Dusk_Writer]

Aaah!! This chapter killed me! Can I say how much I love your writing style? The emotions are conveyed perfectly and it just makes me feel so bad for Rainbow and want to slap her father upside the head! Like, really hard!

Sometimes, when she became more melancholic, she thought about him, and wondered who he had become, why did he never try to get in touch with her, as if everything they had shared during almost five years no longer were important.

I wonder…

[TheMareWhoSaysNi]

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