My Little Dashie: The Aft5rlife

by Rdasher12

Chapter 11: Longing

There is a point in every child's life when they have to leave their parents. Whether it be for better or for worse, it must happen at some point. I now sit here in my living room, by myself, sulking over the journals I found in the attic a few weeks after his passing, which held distant memories of Dad and I.

It just dawned upon me that it's been three whole years since Pops passed away. The only other time I ever went this long without seeing him was back when I went to advanced training for the Wonderbolts, and boy were those three years tough. It's just been that much harder to cope with this time around.

It's been nearly a year since I've felt his presence from wherever he may be now. I'm not too sure what that means exactly… It’s probably nothing, but I can't help but worry about it.

After I got over his death, I was never really worried about how long I'd be waiting to see him again until recently. These past three years have taken half a lifetime to pass. I just wish that the time I had with him here in Equestria would've gone just as slowly.

The only thing I can recall happening slowly in my life with Dad was when we thought it'd be our last moment together. When I was taken back home and we weren't supposed to see each other ever again.

I've always been grateful that he got to live with me for an extra nine years in Equestria, but nothing could ever beat the experiences that I had with him back when I was just a filly.

Even with over twelve years passing since that day, I can still remember it as if it'd just happened….

----------

Not only was the day I left Earth forever my twentieth birthday, but it also was the day that we planned to see the Blue Angels perform live at an airfield not too far from there. I can't even fathom the odds of that. With one year on Earth only being a single day in Equestria, they probably would've had to get it all figured out in fifteen days flat, maybe give or take ten minutes if they were lucky.

I remember that we finished eating our breakfast about an hour before and we were just about to head out the door. I was wearing a Blue Angels hat I'd got from Pops a few days earlier as a teaser for what I was supposed to see on my birthday.

"You ready to go, Dashie? I've got all of our stuff ready." Pops had everything we could've needed laying out on the dining room table, from a cooler filled with cold drinks to sunscreen and a camera. I guess he was planning on taking a bunch of photos of me close to the jets in the clouds so we could add it to our scrapbook, but of course, that never happened.

"You bet I am!" I shouted from my room as I burst through my door and zipped down the stairs, just barely missing a vase next to the bottom.

I came to a halt just a few feet from him, looking eager to go and my makeshift saddlebag filled to the brim with all sorts of handy stuff.

Dad replied, matching my excitement "Well, you sure look ready! Just let me grab our stuff and we'll head out the-".

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.

Never in the years that we lived there had anyone ever knocked at the door. Heck, I didn't even know what to do if someone did show up. Pops simply told me to go to my room while he took care of it. Once I shut my door, I put my ear against it. I could hear him asking who it was knocking, but it was a bit muffled.

"Who is it?"

I couldn't make out the words of the response, but it sounded like a woman. After a few seconds of pause, I heard the door open. This was followed by what I could only think was awkward silence...

"Ooooh, so this is what an alien house looks like on the insi- OH MY! YOU HAVE A KITCHEN! I'm starving, are you starving? I can make us some-" If I was confused before, I definitely was at that point. That voice didn't sound the same as the one from before...

"Easy there sugar cube. We're just here fer Rainbow, so we ain't got no time for any eatin'... No matter how hungry we are." When I heard the first part of my name, my mind started to race a little. The voices, as muffled as they were, sounded somewhat familiar, but even then the only voices I knew besides Dad's came from the T.V.. Just how many people are down there, anyways?

Pops chimed in, "Uh, we have some leftovers from dinner last night. You're more than welcome to some." I kind of wanted those leftovers for dinner tonight...

"Ah'll go keep an eye on her," The country girl spoke again.

"I'm quite surprised, I had expected a little more resistance to us entering."

"Why? I know who you all are."

"Ah, so you do know then."

Something about all of this gave me a bad feeling. This was the first time I'd even heard Dad talking to someone besides me unless it was on the phone, and I certainly had never seen it. At least it didn't seem like these people were trying to hurt him.

Taking my ear off of the door, I looked around my room for anything that I might have forgotten to put in my saddlebag for the airshow. I had set it on my bed when I first got in, which I had forgotten to make this morning. Oops... I knew I was always going to be Daddy's little Dashie, but that didn't mean that I could act like a child.

I walked on over to my bed and used my wings to help me reach over and straighten up both sides, but as I did, I accidentally bumped a box under my bed with my hoof and its contents spilled out onto the floor...

I stopped what I was doing and sat down on the floor to put everything back in the shoe box, but halted when I saw the contents. Inside was a bunch of memories of Dad and I. It had pictures, race tickets, old toys, and my first feather that shed from my wings when I was a filly. I had put all of this stuff in there as a kind of memory box, but once I figured out that I was sort of from a cartoon, I decided that I'd try to take this with me in the very unlikely scenario that I did have to leave Pops.

I finished putting all the things back in the box and I closed it before putting it back under my bed. My attention then shifted back to the conversation Dad was having with whoever was down there, if they were still there.

"You see, my student-"

"I know who she is, get to the chase," The woman that I heard when the door was first opened spoke again, or at least tried to before my dad cut in, seeming a bit ticked. I was really confused as to why he was acting all rude. It wasn't like him then and it certainly never was at any other point in my life.

I couldn't make out all of what the oldest woman in the room was saying, but I tried my best regardless "Yes, of course... She was working on a spell... storm development... too large of a storm... magic to try and dispel it, it shot... Dash was unfortunate... the blast, and it... well, here. So... retrieve her, simple enough I'd imagine."

I was reaaallllly confused at this point, and worried... What storm was she talking about? We haven't had one here in months, not since the beginning of summer. At that point, I just wanted to make sure that everything was okay. As long as they didn't see me, it'd be fine, right?

I slowly opened my door and spoke "Dad? Is everything alright?"

"Uh... 'scuse me sugar cube," Applejack started, returning from the kitchen, "did ah jus' hear Rainbow call ya ‘dad’?"

"Do you care to explain?"

After another awkward silence, Dad replied.

"Go into the living room and make yourselves comfortable, I'll be right down with her."

I could hear him walking towards the stairs on the hardwood floor of the living room, eventually making his way to and up the carpeted steps.

"Dad?"

"Yeah Dashie, I'm coming up. We..." He paused. "... we need to talk."

And that's what we did. He told me who was down there, and that they were there to take me back. I had seen the cartoon every so often and found the wacky adventures pretty entertaining. But I had given up any thought that the Rainbow Dash in the show was me and I only saw it as another cartoon.

When he spoke with me and explained that those very ponies I didn't believe in were downstairs, I brushed him off with a laugh. I didn't buy it for a second and thought he was playing some joke on me. So, he took me down to the living room.

"DASHIE!" Pinkie shouted, jumping onto me to my bewilderment.

I was quick to shove the pink pony off, "Hey, get away from me!" I was taken aback by the sudden amount of ponies filling the room. They all looked at me with worry.

Pinkie's cotton candy mane went straight as she looked in confusion.

"You... don't recognize me... do you?"

"No, or any of you," I continued. I feel so bad looking back on it. Twilight, Pinkie, AJ, Fluttershy, and Rarity, I knew that these ponies were supposed to be my friends, but so many things had happened differently that I didn't know the truth fully. And neither did they, so Pops had to explain it all.

"I..." he started, "Dashie, take a seat please so I can talk to them."

I sat down in my recliner. The entire time I looked at all the ponies who occupied the couches and center rug in front of the fireplace.

"How long ago was she sent over here?"

The question caught them off guard, but Twilight cleared her throat as she spoke, "About fifteen days ago, why?"

Dad had a moments silence. I've been here a whole lot longer than that...

"Well," he continued, "It's been a lot more time than that here."

"How long?" Twilight asked.

"... Fifteen years."

All the ponies, besides Celestia, had their mouths agape.

"That don't es'plain why she don't know us," Applejack said.

"Well, that's the thing. When I found her, she was... a filly."

"Come again?"

"From my math, I think she was no older than four or five years old."

Now Celestia looked surprised.

"You mean to tell us, that you've been taking care of Rainbow Dash for fifteen years since she was a small filly?" she asked.

He nodded and looked over to me, I had no expression on my face.

"We... she is..." he started, but couldn't hold back the tears any longer, "I know it's not true... god, I wish it was, but-"

To this day, I still don’t know what he was trying to mutter exactly… But Celestial was quick to relieve him from his difficulties.

"I understand, the ‘Dad’ now makes sense," Celestia cut him off, holding a stern look on her face. She was thinking, trying to piece together in her mind what'd possibly happened.

For a few moments, it was quiet, besides the breathing of six ponies, a human, and myself. Finally, I broke the silence.

"So, what's supposed to happen now?"

Pops looked to the princess before she responded.

"Well, it's quite simple. Twilight?" Celestia looked to her pupil, who instantly perked up hearing her name, "Do you still remember that memory spell? From the Discord incident?"

Twilight simply nodded, as she stood from the couch and hopped onto the floor.

I wasn't sure exactly what was going on. I tried to remember the Discord incident from the show, but all I could remember was how wacky their town got from his antics for a while.

"No, wait please," Dad started. Twilight stopped, and looked to the princess, "Just, give me a moment with her, please. All I ask, since... since this is the last time we'll see each other."

He'd given up on holding back tears, and at that point, he was openly crying, which was something that I had only seen once before. I didn't look too great either, though. He walked over to me in the recliner, and knelt down to meet me eye level as he spoke.

"Dashie, my little Dashie. I love you with all my heart. You have done wonders to open me up from the man I once was. You..." he paused for a moment, "... you have brought me so much joy in my life that I can't possibly ever thank you for."

At that point, I too began to cry.

"These fifteen years we've had together, talking, playing, flying; all those have been so special to me. I just want you to know, that - I will forever love you. It doesn't matter if we aren't biologically related, or from different worlds. I don't care what you may ever think of me, or if you even remember me, but right now, you being my Dashie, I want you," he poked me in the chest, "to know that fact. If there's ever a problem that happens, and you need me, don't hesitate to find a way to get me, okay?"

I could hear some sniffling from behind me; I could picture Pinkie Pie crying like she had after the two princesses reunited in the first episode of the show.

"D-d-do I have t-t-to go d-d-daddy?"

It'd been a few years since I had called him "Daddy" aloud. Most of the time it was simply "Dad" or "Pops". It felt good, I wanted him to know that I still cared for him enough to call him Daddy, like the first few times I said it to him, ages ago now.

He simply nodded his head, as he stood up. I jumped up onto him and hugged him tightly. My tears dropped onto the back of his neck, and he returned the embrace.

"It's your actual home, Dashie. You don't belong here. You need to go back to where you belong."

"I belong here, with you!"

I wasn't yet convinced that me leaving him forever was the right thing to do…

"No, you don't. You're limited here, only able to fly around the house. You have no friends, or other ponies you can relate to. I was only taking care of you until this time would come, but I never thought it would be this painful."

It remained quiet for a few more moments as we held each other tight. I didn't fight back or want to resist what was happening, at that point I knew as well what had to be done.

"I love you, Daddy..."

"And I love you too, my little Dashie."

We separated, as I lowered myself to the ground.

At this point, all the other ponies had tears flowing, even the princess herself.

Twilight stepped closer to me, sniffling once before her horn glowed. I wasn't sure what was coming, but it hurt so much... but I knew it was right. It was what had to happen, for me, for my friends, and in retrospect, for Pops. As explained to me once we reunited, he could know I was actually going home, that I'd be around my friends and could fly where ever and whenever I wanted to, without any limitations. I could enjoy my friends' company once more.

I nearly closed my eyes, but then I remembered something "Wait!"

Dad looked from the floor to me, as I backed away from Twilight, "Before I go, I want to get something."

I flew up to my room, and was quick to return with a shoebox in her front hooves after a brief last look at my room. However brief, it was enough for me. Looking back on it now, I remember that I wasn’t able to bring it with me. I was lucky to be able to get it later down the line. Although how exactly was something I wouldn't find out until I read through Pop's journals. At the time I wasn't sure if I'd be allowed to take anything back with me, but I figured I might as well try to. I quickly wrote a letter on a piece of paper and set it on the coffee table.

I looked back to Dad, while still crying, but with a smile on my face. I had realized this was how it must end, and knew he knew that as well.

"I'm so sorry Rainbow Dash." Twilight started. "I... I honestly wish there was another way to do this. I wish I didn't have to do this. But..."

"Can't..." I started, "can’t he come with me?"

I was just simply speaking my mind, not actually asking the question. As much as I hoped the answer was yes, I knew what it really was...

"Rainbow Dash-" Princess Celestia started, "He can't join you in our world much like how you can't stay in his. This was all never meant to be, and the world around us wasn't made to house you. And yet..." Celestia looked at Dad, smiling, then began to look around our living room. All the photos of us together, all my knick-knacks and belongings strewn around the room, "... and yet, something beautiful happened here. Something I can't fully explain.

"When I realized where you ended up, I expected the worst. I figured you to be ruined, tainted and tarnished from this world's cruelty. But now, I see that it's quite the opposite. That here, this man that has raised you, shows me that you were in good hooves- Or, hands as it were."

Celestia then looked back to Dad, "I can't speak for you, but from what I see in front of me, the amount of love you both share and have shared together, tells me that you raised her as if she were your own. Even with the obvious differences, you still raised her unbiased as to her species, her origins. You raised her as your daughter, which only makes this entire ordeal so much worse."

I absorbed her words, as well as the others in the room.

"So, I must say to you, dear sir, please do not hold my student accountable for this. It was never her, nor anypony else's intention to cause this much hurt to either of you. If you must blame somepony, I would ask for you to blame me. I am the one that helped bring them here, to take Rainbow Dash back to her home... away from you."

Dad didn't look at any of them. He was breathing heavy and breaking down with sobs.

"...Just how could I blame somepony? For sending Rainbow Dash here?” He sniffled, then cleared his throat as he continued. He nearly choked up as he tried to speak. "These have been the best fifteen years of my life. I wish to thank you, Twilight, and the rest of you. Thank you, for what you did. Thank you, for all that came out of this. And finally thank you, for all my years, my life, and my love... with Dashie." He tried to smile at Twilight between the sobs, but she looked on the edge of tears herself, and could only look away before she cried herself.

Celestia then stood from the rug she laid on and walked over to him.

"No need for thanks, good sir. Instead, I wish to thank you, for taking care of one of my little ponies. She would've never made it without someone much like yourself."

Celestia closed her eyes and then leaned her horn towards him. He didn't move; I wasn't sure what was going on as her horn touched his head. After a moment, she drew her horn away, still smiling as she stepped back.

"Thank you."

Then, another pony spoke up.

"Thank you, sir," Twilight added, finally able to speak through her tears.

"Thank ya," Applejack said.

"Thank you, darling, for caring for our Rainbow Dash," Rarity spoke.

"Um, th-thank you," Fluttershy quietly said.

"THANKS!" Pinkie shouted, as she sprung up to Pops and hugged him.

He laughed a little from her extrinsic attitude.

He then remained quiet and nodded, then looked back to me, as I also wore a smile on my face.

The ponies all returned to me as Twilight's horn began to glow once more.

"Are you ready now, Rainbow?" Twilight asked again, returning to me and starting her magic.

I simply nodded, as I closed my eyes and awaited the inevitable.

It seemed time slowed down as Twilight's horn approached my forehead. My mind was forcing random memories of Daddy and I together. I could vividly remember the splashing of the bathtub from my bath times before I showered myself. I could still taste our many failed attempts at baking and cooking in general. I still smelled the outdoors from our times at the park, where we were able to run around endlessly and have all the fun in the world together. There were so many memories, that I simply let flow through my mind, as I knew I might not remember any of them the next time I opened my eyes.

A single tear ran down my left cheek, as my eyes were moving under my eyelids. For a split second, I imagined that Daddy was doing the same thing I was, forcing our fondest memories all at once, for we believed this would be the last time we ever saw one another.

Finally, I could feel Twilight's horn reach my forehead. There was a bright light, and when I opened my eyes again, Dad was gone, and so was everything else. It was as if the entire world had dissapeared.

----------

By now, I’m just as teary as I was back then. While I was reliving that big memory I was also going through our scrapbook. Starting off with a picture of when he'd just found me and took me back home with him. It then went through my childhood. My first bath, first words, my doodles and drawings, my first flight, the sonic rainboom along with my cutie mark.

It went into my teenage years as well. Our moving day, us together after we got home from making up in the woods, our Indy 500 experience, as well as multiple NASCAR races.

The last photo we'd taken of me before I went back home was just a few days prior when he gave me a Blue Angels hat to tease what I would see for my birthday.

I'd come to the end of my life on Earth in the scrapbook now, and unfortunately, I had to modify my original note so he could have the choice to live out the rest of his life with me in Equestria, or let me become the Rainbow Dash from the show with no memory of him.

But, despite that, the minute or so that I spent writing it gave me a lot of time to reflect and think about everything, so I remember it as if I had written it just yesterday.

Dad,

For fifteen years you took care of me. For fifteen years you loved me, played with me, and made sure I enjoyed my life in a world not meant to house me. I'm not a mare of many words, but even though I told you this in person, I felt you needed a written version of it so you will know it was all real.

I love you, Daddy. You helped shape me into the mare I am now. I'm not sure what is going to happen, if I will remember any of this or not, but I want you to know that you did a darn good job of raising me, even if I was a bit stubborn at times and short with you during others.

With Celestia's permission, I hope to allow you to keep our photos; our memories, with you so that you will never forget. Again, I love you, and thank you.

Your little daughter always,

Your little Dashie forever,

Rainbow Dash.

I look up at my grandmother’s rainbow drawing and smile. Every time I see it, it reminds me of all the fun Daddy and I had.

And thus I now have the strength to keep on going, to exist another day with happiness, knowing that I will see my Daddy again. It doesn't matter if it's in a hundred years, or if I see him tomorrow. Regardless, I will make the best of it.

Author's Note:

I’ll admit it, I was a bit sappy when I had to look back at the original My Little Dashie story for reference. Going through the events just prior to her leaving, as well as the note she left and the ending. THIS IS IN NO WAY THE END. There’s no way I’m leaving everyone hanging like every other installment did. You can all expect the ending of this story within the next two weeks. (Besides a possible Epilogue later on)

Rdasher12

Comments

[ROBCakeran53]

>asking ROB is a lost cause.

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[Rdasher12]

8239209
:D

I figured it was XD. Thanks for the comment, man. It's made my day!