My Little Dashie: The Aft5rlife

by Rdasher12

The Final Chapter: Part 1

Author's Note:

Hey, everyone. Part 1 of the final chapter is here! Took a bit longer to publish as my internet was out for a while, but better late than never. Part 2 will be published later today, and that's a promise that I can keep. It's all ready, just have to go over it one more time to make sure there's nothing wrong with it. I hope you all enjoy and feel free to leave feedback in the comments!

Rdasher12

My front door slams shut with a light kick of my hind leg. After a tiresome day’s work at the weather factory as manager, I sought a nap. Stretching my wings, I make my way to the bedroom.

I've been alone for years now, my friends all disappearing supposedly into the great afterlife after living a fun, joyful, and loving life. I'm the youngest of us all, giving me more time in Equestria. Now with all of my closest friends gone, I'm living a sad life. The occasional visits from the grown up and now disbanded Cutie Mark Crusaders do bring me some joy in life, though.

I see the note that rests on the bookshelf, the letter that my dad wrote to me on his deathbed. I take it out of its stand and laid down on the couch. In pencil, the letter reads.

“Dashie, I know your memory isn’t what it used to be and your hearing is going, that's why I'm writing this in a note. I raised you from a filly into the mare that you are today, in a world that wasn’t meant for you. For half a year you were without me, taken from me and put where you belong, but not with who you belong: Me. For those six months not a single day went by that I didn’t think about you, not a single second went by that I didn‘t think about you. After four and a half months when I arrived in Equestria for the first time, my only thoughts were to find my daughter, my little Dashie. Only to be sent back to Earth for another month and a half.

When I woke up in the clearing near the lake, I began to look for you. I found you, crying, I knew that we’d be together forever. I still remember all of our adventures together, my wings, learning how to fly, your races and performances, our mutual dreams, flying together. I still remember your fillyhood on Earth, your first bath, first words, doodles and drawings, our baking mishaps, your first preened feathers, getting your cutie mark. I remember it all, I will never forget. Dashie, I’ve lived a good life, but my time has come, I’m an old man now, everybody has to die eventually. Don't be sad, because I'll be waiting for you up there until your time comes, but don't make me wait too long. As the old wise saying goes, ‘Don't cry because the good times are over. Smile because they happened.’

I will be watching you, whispering advice in your ear. If you ever need me, just know that I'm a part of you. Remember that, and never forget your old man. I hope you had a good life, because I know I did.

Love, Dad.”

This letter brings tears to my glaucoma-ridden eyes. As I make my way to Dad's bed, I can't help but shed a few tears in remembrance of my father once more. I fall asleep, still remembering my time with Pops. That night, I flew with my father again in my dreams before succumbing to peaceful release.

I'm in the sky, just not the one that I'm accustomed to. This sky seems endless, and almost golden. Before me are my best friends, all back to their young selves. They seem to be gleaming with joy. The sight is heavenly. I myself am once again young. All of my age and impairments have washed away like stains of dirt. Suddenly, a voice speaks up behind me, each word like a beautiful symphony to my ears.

“Hey Dashie, it’s been a while.”

“Heya Pops. Yeah, it has been a while. How’s it been?”

“Oh, you know. Same stuff, different day.”

We both give each other a big smile and look on at the beautiful sky that stood before us, its sheer beauty making it almost impossible not to stare upon. We're traveling at quite a pace despite the lack of effort. It feels satisfying, needless to say.

After a few more moments of this, I feel a hand grab ahold of my left hoof and I look over at my dad, smiling ear to ear. Normally, something like this wouldn't be worth anything more than a glance at, but this time it was different. So much different...

The feeling of his soft hand on my hoof sent waves of random memories of him, each one more heartwarming than the last. From the faint memories of watching cartoons together on the old couch before and after his work, to many of our adventures in Equestria. I feel a slight tingling sensation coming from his hand and passing through my entire body, and I'm not entirely sure what that could mean. But at this moment, I don't care about that.

This feeling I'm getting as we fly through the seemingly endless sky before us has me in absolute bliss. I haven't ever felt as peaceful and tranquil as I do right now.

The serenity of this place coupled with the fact that I'm with Dad right now is unbelievable. All of this is too good to be true.

The fact that I'm with my dad right now... I can't even believe my own thoughts. I've reunited with Pops!

It honestly hasn't sunk in yet. I thought I'd be welling up with tears of joy right about now, but all I seem to be getting is a smile.

Well, I guess there's time for that later. Right here, right now, nothing else matters to me except this.

I tune out my own thoughts so that I can better focus on what's going on, and I'm quick to realize just how dead silent this place is. Normally, there'd always be the sound of wind passing me by as I moved through the sky, so the fact that I hear nothing is quite surprising. But even if you exclude that factor, you'd think I'd at least hear my breathing. It's at the point where the only thing I hear is the high pitched ringing coming from my own two ears.

I remember Twilight telling me that the ringing sound was just my ears "doing their job", to put it simply.

Finally, I'm the one to break the silence.

"Dad?"

"Hm?"

"Where are we going?"

I look over to him, expecting a response. To my confusion, he gives me a grin and chuckles a bit.

"Oh Dashie, I'd hate to ruin the surprise. Just keep hold of the temptation to get it out of me for a little while longer, alright? We'll be there in ten seconds flat." This is followed by another laugh from him as he made fun of one of my old catchphrases, even though I haven't said them myself in years.

I simply give him a nod and take in the marvelous sky before me. Although it was short, our conversation warmed my heart. It'd been a long, long time since we'd ever had one, and I missed them dearly. He even remembered my tendency to be stubborn about things he kept from me, and I used to stop at nothing until I found out just what he was hiding.

Half of the time this only led to ruined surprises, of which I immediately regretted solving, but I just couldn't help myself. It's a part of who I am. Or should I be saying "Who I was" at this point? I guess it doesn't really matter, although I can easily imagine Twilight correcting me on such a statement.

A few moments later, I see a small speck off in the distance getting bigger by the second.

My dad and friends must've been up to something with this whole thing, as he begins to speak as the speck's features become recognizable.

"Alright Dashie, I know you hate it when I do this, but I'm gonna have to blindfold you. Don't want you to see the surprise too soon."

"Come on, Dad, do I really have to?" I really don't like being blindfolded, although I can already tell that I'm not going to win this argument.

"Oh, come on Dashie, do it for your old man."

"Well, you sure aren’t old anymore, Pops. But, okay. Just know I’m only doing this because I don't wanna ruin your plans." I might be stubborn, but I know just how hard my pops works to make special surprises for me. I'd be a bad daughter to ruin them for no reason.

"Thanks a bunch, Dashie. Now just hold still for a second." He pulls out a blindfold from his pocket and puts it on my head, tying it at the back and then makes sure that I can't see through it. That was the last I saw for what felt like an hour.

---------- (5 minutes later, switching to Brian's POV)

As we all approach our realm of the afterlife I can't help but get excited. After nearly four years of hard work preparing for Dashie's surprise, I'd finally finished just days before we all found out that my daughter's life had reached its end. I never really had any clue what was going on in her life or how much time had passed, at least not since Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Rarity arrived here all at once. Maybe that had something to do with it? I guess it's not important at the moment, because right now, we're about to land in a field just on the outskirts of the village center where the entire party has been set up.

There are considerably more ponies here now than there was a year or so ago, the parents and siblings of our friends having arrived just a bit before everypony but Dashie had. So I was able to get help from quite a few of my friends from Ponyville with the setup of the party.

We land just a short walk away from the town center. I signal for the group to head over to the surprise so they can make sure that everything is as perfect as it can possibly be. My Dashie deserves the best and that's what she's going to get.

As the group quickly but quietly heads toward her surprise I notice that Dashie is fidgeting around with the blindfold, eager to see where in Equestria she'd been taken. So I guess it's a good thing that we aren't in Equestria at all!

"Alright Dashie, we're nearly there now. Just walk forward with me and we'll be there in ten seconds flat, and I mean that literally this time!"

"Alright, fine Dad. I'll play your little game, but only because I love you."

I can't help but smile. It's been a long time since I've heard those three words coming from her, or any words for that matter, but those three have always been special to me.

What I do next will surely surprise her. I walk right in front of her and tap her on the shoulder.

"Tag, you're it!"

I quickly begin running in the opposite direction towards our destination. I look behind me and see her looking shocked before shouting to me and running in the same direction.

"Hey, no fair! I can't see a thing!"

Despite that, she shows no signs of difficulty while she runs after me and, to my surprise, is catching up quite rapidly. But with the short distance, I reach the surprise destination and turn around just in time to catch Dashie out of the air and we both fall to the ground.

Not that we care, or anything, we're both too busy laughing at each other! Me laughing at her for running with a blindfold and her laughing at me for even thinking that a game of tag would be a good idea in the first place.

In the midst of our laughing, Dashie's blindfold comes loose... I guess there's no more hiding it from her.

---------- (switching back to Dashie's POV)

I find myself being picked up right off the ground as I was running and I end up falling on top of who I'm guessing is Pops. I can't help but let out a loud laugh as old memories from the Grand Galloping Gala as well as my fillyhood come to mind. It seems that Dad is remembering the same things as he's laughing just as hard.

As I get up, I notice my blindfold slipping off of my head. My brain tells me to secure it as fast as I can to my keep from ruining the surprise that Dad worked so hard on, but by the time my muscles are ready to react, it's too late...

I'm bewildered by what I see. Right in front of me are all of my friends, each of them holding up a picture of me during different stages of my life...

It starts off with a picture of me when Dad first brought me into his home.

My first bath.

My first words.

My first drawing.

My first preened feather.

My first flight.

The Sonic Rainboom and my cutie mark that came along with it.

My 9th birthday on that same day.

Some of our baking mishaps in no particular order.

Our moving day.

The day we made up after our big fight.

Us at the Indy 500.

Me at my first NASCAR race!

And the last picture of me ever taken on Earth with me wearing my Blue Angels cap on, just a couple of days before being taken home by Princess Celestia and my best friends.

To my surprise, it continues into all of our fun times in Equestria as well.

The first day of our lives together there.

Us building his new home.

The small house being finished, along with his small welcoming "party" that included him, Pinkie Pie, her pet alligator Gummy and myself.

It continued even further, with a picture of us relaxing with each other in his homemade house.

Then us at the Canterlot Castle six months after Princess Celestia found out about my dad's existence there.

Then one of me crossing the finish line after winning my first Wonderbolts race with Dad cheering me on in the background.

A picture of us and my team celebrating after a performance in a bar.

Then a picture of me helping my dad learn how to fly when he first got his wings.

Then nearly two months later with Dad successfully getting them removed after they failed.

Later that year, I had to leave Ponyville and my dad for three whole years for Wonderbolts training and unfortunately, there weren't any pictures in between that time.

But it did pick up when I got back, my welcome home party.

Then came my 29th birthday... By now, I'm running out of ponies that I know, which means that there must only be a few pictures left.

And I'm right, there's a picture of Dad and I whistling to the tune of our favorite songs from Earth while cleaning up the house.

Sadly, there was only one final picture left of us, my dad and I posing in a sort of family portrait the day after he got home from his second to last visit to the hospital just a couple of months before his death.

I'm speechless, I don't even remember half of those pictures in Equestria ever being taken, but it's so awesome that they exist!

---------- (switching back to Brian's POV)

All I can do is stare at Dashie as she looks upon the first surprise. I was ecstatic to get all of our photo album pictures copied and enlarged while even managing to remember every date in which those pictures were taken and got them all labeled as so, but I was never entirely sure how Dashie would feel about it. Granted I'd mastered the skill of reading her face, but it's been a while and I'm a bit rusty.

When I see that she reaches the end of the timeline, I wait for her reaction. For a few seconds, she looks down at the ground, still processing what she just saw.

Finally, she looks up at me and gives me a full-hearted smile that in turn warms my own. This is then followed by her reply.

"OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH!" She runs at me full speed and I get tackled to the ground with a big hug.

"Haha! Glad to see you like it, Dashie!" It warms my heart seeing her happy once again and even more so that I can actually give her hugs now. There must've been so many times in Equestria where she needed an embrace but I was no longer around to give her one, so it's pleasing knowing that issue won't arise ever again.

"Like it? I love it! How did you ever pull this off?"

"Oh, you know, just some afterlife magic. It's amazing what you can accomplish up here." I add a wink at the end for good measure.

"I honestly don't know what else to say Pops, you really outdid yourself this time. I couldn't possibly ask for a better surprise, so thank you!" We both get up off of the ground before I reply back.

"Aw, you're welcome Dashie. But, you don't actually think that this was the only thing I was up to this entire time, do you?" I give her a mischievous grin as she looks at me in confusion.

"What do you mean, Dad?" her confused look still remains, all I can do is laugh a little bit as I look up to Vinyl Scratch and point to her.

"Hit it, DJ!" With a push of a button on her turntable and a flick of the left disc, 'The Final Countdown' begins to play throughout the town center, Pinkie activates her party cannon, and everypony along with my parents help pull the cover off of all the food tables and Rainbow Dash memorabilia.

Dashie's ears perk right up in reaction to her favorite song as confetti and streamers fly everywhere. Upon seeing all of her favorite foods on the snack tables and the other knick-knacks from her life, her jaw drops.

"You like what you see?" I have to raise my voice a bit due to the music and I can't help but be a bit cocky with what I say as I caught her off guard. Her surprised expression quickly turns into glee, just like a filly in a candy store.

"You just made my day 20% cooler!" she laughs a bit at the end, making fun of her old catchphrase.

"Oh, it gets even cooler than this, Dashie! Come on, let's have some fun!" I pick up the blindfold that was on the ground and motion her to follow me into the small crowd and she follows suit, smiling ear to ear.

The next few minutes are spent eating snacks and chatting with all of our friends, laughing and catching up with everypony we hadn't seen in a while. Dashie would get the occasional visit from one of the many ponies that she had experiences with at some point in her life. Including Gilda, The Flim Flam Brothers with some of their apple cider to give, and AK Yearling, with a fresh batch of Daring Do books that she'd made whilst in the afterlife.

At one point, my parents even stopped by to talk to us.

"Your dad sure did raise a beautiful mare. Although I can't say the same for him!" My mother is always one to throw in a brutal joke and of course, we all laugh at this.

"I actually think that you rubbed off on him more than he did you! Can't say I'm disappointed!" My father is definitely right about that one, she was the one who managed to break the hard shell that'd formed over my heart when my parents died, and I'll be forever grateful for that.

Dashie can't help but blush from the compliments she'd been given. "Haha, I like you two already! I still can't believe that this is the first time that I'm getting to meet my grandparents!"

My parents eventually parted ways with us, and we resumed our celebrating. A few minutes later, I leave the group to go refill our apple cider mugs, but as I reach the cider barrels, I notice something strange out of the corner of my eye, or rather, someone?

I look to my left to focus on what I saw, and I can't believe my eyes. What I'm looking at is another human... He couldn't possibly be my father, he looks way too different. Whoever he is, he's talking with Mayor Mare. The ex-Mayor of Ponyville notices that I'm staring at the back of the unknown human being and calls my name.

"Why, hello there, Brian! Care to join us in our little chat?" I nod to her and walk towards them giving a curious gesture towards the man all the while.

"Yeah, sure." I reach the two and look directly at the man. "Hey, I don't think we've met. I'm Brian, Rainbow Dash's dad. And you are?" He gives me a warm smile as he speaks.

"Oh, we've met before, albeit a long time ago and I didn't look anything like this until I got here pretty recently. I'm Forest, the pony that was found in the Everfree Forest, hence the name." Everything clicks inside of my head at the name "Forest". So I was right all along, he was a human the entire time!

He spends the next few minutes explaining how even though he was just a human turned into a pony through the unknown power of the Everfree Forest, he didn't know it himself until he passed. No way am I settling for that conclusion, but it can wait. Plus, it kind of makes me feel bad for him since I was constantly getting on his case back in Equestria, and undeservingly so. Towards the end of our conversation, I apologize for how I used to pressure him all the time and we part ways after a firm handshake.

I go back to refill all the mugs and return to our friends. I hand them back out and as I hand Dashie's hers, she looks at me quizzically.

"What took you so long, Pops?" It takes me a few seconds to conjure a decent answer. I don't think it's important that she knows about the whole "Forest" thing, even though it'd feel great to prove to her that I was right all along, I'd prefer not to ruin her happy mood. After all, that's what I set out to do when I made all of this happen, and proving her wrong wasn't ever on my list.

"Oh, just catching up with an old friend from Ponyville. Nothing to worry about." I give a fake smile, hoping she wouldn't ask who it was as I had no idea what I'd say then. Luckily for me, she doesn't and simply nods, satisfied with my answer. I breathe a sigh of relief.

A few moments later and I find myself getting a bit anxious as I still had another surprise left to show Dashie. So I wait for a good opening in all the chatter going on between Dashie and her best friends as well as any other discreet friends that visited her.

I tap her on the shoulder as I speak. "Hey, Dashie? Mind coming with me for a minute? I got something else that I want to show you still."

She looks back to me with a curious look. "Oh sure, Pops. But I can't possibly imagine what's left for me to see. You've already thought of everything that I could've ever asked for an event like this!"

My mischievous grin returns as I reply. "Oh trust me Dashie, what you've seen so far is definitely not all you could've ever asked for, not by a long shot!" I beckon for her to follow me and we weave our way through the crowd until we escape it. Outside of the town center, I take out the blindfold that I used earlier.

Dashie notices this and rolls her eyes at me. "Oh come on, Dad. This again?" She's probably fed up with the whole blindfolding thing at this point, but she'll thank me later.

"Sorry, Dashie. But this is something that we gotta do. If you see any of it before I have it all set up, it'll be a dead giveaway." She gives me a short nod in understanding along with an annoyed groan and I apply the blindfold seamlessly.

We walk another short way out of the town and come upon part of her surprise, a racetrack. In fact, I made sure when it was being constructed that it copied Michigan International Speedway to the millimeter. It was our home track back on Earth, and it was the one we went to for most of our NASCAR outings, making it her favorite by far.

I guide her through the track tunnel that will take us to the infield and I guess the feeling of asphalt on her hooves as we exited the tunnel was reminiscent to her.

"Wait, what're we walking on? It feels kind of familiar." I can hardly hold back a chuckle as I watch my daughter try to guess what she's walking on. The fact that her favorite thing to watch back on Earth relied so heavily on asphalt and yet she had trouble identifying what it was, just seemed pretty funny.

"Oh, you'll see my little Dashie. You'll see." From there, there's no talking until we reach pit road where the best part about this surprise was.

I make sure she's facing her surprise at the best angle so she can see the entire thing. "Alright, Dashie. You ready?"

She replies back to me sharply. "Are you kidding? I was born ready!" With that, I untie the knot in the back of the blindfold and let it fall to the ground.

---------- (switching back to Dashie's point of view)

The annoying blindfold that's around my head falls to the ground and I look up to gaze upon whatever my dad had up his sleeve this time. What I see makes me freeze.

Sitting on the ground is an actual... real... NASCAR race car...

I step closer, trying to get a better look at the beautiful hunk of metal before me. I can't believe what I'm seeing. There shouldn't be a physical, mental, or extraterrestrial way how this could be here... how it could be here, in this simple, old-timey, bare-bones afterlife. I examine the car further and on the side in simple Sharpie says "Rainbow Dash" copying the style that I used to use for autographs to a tee.

I'm at a loss for words as I stare into Dad's eyes. Moments later, he speaks up.

"Well, what're you waiting for? Get in and drive the thing, that's what it's there for!" A big smile involuntarily forms on my face as I nod furiously and fly towards the car. He runs after me and takes down the window net so that I can climb in. I give him a tight bear hug as he hoists me inside of the car and then buckles me up.

Attached to the skinny steering wheel on either end are two hoof-shaped holders so that I can steer properly and the pedals had been readjusted so that I could reach them with ease. I gaze upon the blank digital dashboard as well as all the other bits inside of the car. A big rearview mirror in the center and a smaller circular one just outside of the car. My gazing is halted as I hear Dad's voice.

"You remember how the drivers would start it up?" I think back to my days of watching NASCAR on the TV trying to remember how to start the engine. After a short few seconds of this, it hits me.

I look to my left and flip all of the necessary start-up switches and finally hold the ignition switch up and the grunt of the V8 engine comes to life. Although I struggle to hear him, my dad says a few more words before I hit the track.

"Remember to shift gears at 9,000 rpm, keep it nice and smooth, have fun out there and most importantly, don't wreck it!" He says this jokingly more than anything else. Although it's pretty surprising hearing all of this car talk from my dad, he must've been studying this sort of thing so he'd know what he was dealing with.

---------- (switching back to Brian's point of view)

I take my head out of the car and point my finger towards the end of pit road signaling that now was the time to go. She notices this, puts the car in gear and rockets onto the track almost as fast as she would if she were flying.

She had a lot of fun, I knew she would. She was always asking me if there was some way that she could possibly drive one back on Earth. There wasn't anything that I could do about it then, but anything is possible here in the afterlife it seems.

I got inspiration for the design of the car from the #16, the same car that I cheered for back on Earth while watching a rerun about four and a half months after Dashie had been taken home. I copied its cyan base paint scheme and it was practically a replica aside from her name on it. I would've copied it off of her favorite driver, but she never really had one. I guess she just enjoyed the racing as a whole and didn't feel the need for one.

I had a stopwatch in my left hand thinking that she'd like to know what kind of times she ran. She'd already tied the lap record on her fourth lap, and at this point, she was a few tenths faster, which is a lot of time in the racing world, apparently.

This went on for quite some time, she only came back to pit road after she ran on out gas. Once she had the car stopped, she climbed out beaming with pride at what she just did.

The whole walk back was filled with chatter, her about how it felt driving the car and me about what great lap times she was running. I think it's safe to say that she's satisfied with everything she got to do today. She's happy, and therefore, I'm happy.