Vignette Eighteen - Scars of the Quill
Rainbow Dash was not looking forward to this. Facing down dragons and monsters and Discord and whatever else came her way? Fine. Death-defying stunts that only the most awesome of awesome pegasi could pull off? No problem. But this? This was in a whole other league of trouble.
She groaned as she rapped against the door before her with her hoof. Nothing to do but get it over with.
The door opened, and a pegasus mare who didn’t quite look her age barely laid eyes upon her guest before she broke out in the most ecstatic grin a pony could have and not be Pinkie Pie. “Dashie!”
“Hi Mom. I…YIPE!”
Windy Whistles hardly waited for her daughter to finish her statement before embracing her and pulling her into the house. Rainbow Dash briefly spun about before righting herself as her mother closed the door and called out, “Bow! Honey! Company!”
“I’m coming, m’love, I’m…” The stallion of the household came into view, and whooped and hollered in joy as he laid eyes on his daughter. “Dashie!”
“Hey Dad, I…Oooh!” Rainbow Dash had the wind knocked out of her as her father took her into a tight embrace, and barely recovered it enough to wheeze, “Good to see you!”
“Great to see you too!” Bow Hothoof released his daughter. “What brings you by? And why didn’t you tell us you were coming? We could’ve had lunch ready for you!”
“Oh that’s no big deal, Bow, we can go out for…”
“Mom, Dad, please!” Dash’s sudden shouting caught both her parents’ attention as she explained, “I’ve got something really important that I need to talk with you about! Both of you!”
Both of her parents suddenly sobered up at their daughters’ words, and quickly found seats. “Of course, Dashie.” Bow himself seemed worried as he asked, “What’s the matter?”
Rainbow Dash took a deep breath as she sat down in front of her parents. “Okay, first off, before either of you start getting worried. I haven’t suddenly caught some incurable disease or suddenly found out that I only have a few days left to live or something.” Her parents turned visibly relieved at that. “Also, I’m not pregnant, I’m not getting married, and I haven’t suddenly decided that I’m a lesbian or something.”
Her father slumped with relief. “Well, I’m glad to hear all of that.” He raised a hoof to amend, “Of course, you being a lesbian wouldn’t be a bad thing at all.”
Windy shook her head. “Oh, certainly not, though I think we would’ve figured that out already.”
“I dunno, honey, sometimes it’s hard to tell.” At the expression on his daughter’s face, Bow decided against pursuing that argument before he stuck his hoof in his mouth any further. “So why are you here, Dashie?”
“I…actually came to say that I was sorry. To both of you.” At her parents’ stunned expressions, Rainbow Dash explained, “For…not appreciating you, as much as I should.”
Bow gave his daughter an incredulous look and asked, “Dashie, are you sure you haven’t caught a bug or something?”
Windy wrapped a wing around her husband and chided, “Bow, let her explain herself.”
“Thanks Mom.” Dash collected herself, then continued, “Growing up, you two were behind me all the way. Every competition, every sporting event, every little thing, you cheered me on. And that’s awesome, but there’s times were it felt like you went over the top with it. I mean, it felt a little awkward having you guys cheer for me like I’d come in first place when all I got was a participation trophy, and you cranked it up past eleven after I actually started winning real awards.” She bowed her head as she admitted, “It started getting a little embarrassing after a while.”
Now feeling a little worried, Windy chimed in, “We were only trying to be supportive, dear.”
“Yeah, and I don’t mind that. You being supportive is awesome, and I wouldn’t be the pony I am today without you two.” She shrugged and grinned. “Heck, I wouldn’t exist without the two of you, obviously.” That got a laugh out of her parents. “It just felt like too much after a bit is all. But something happened lately, and it got me thinking about things and, well, I felt like I had to come here and get that off my back.” She slumped again. “So yeah. Sorry. For not being as good a daughter as I could be.”
Rainbow Dash knew her parents pretty well, or at least felt that she did. Guessing their reactions wasn’t difficult, and so she knew they wouldn’t be angry with her. Maybe she’d get a tight bearhug or something, but definitely not yelling and rage.
The actual reaction was more sedate than she expected, however, as both her parents approached and took her into a warm embrace. “You’re an amazing daughter, Dashie. Don’t you ever think otherwise.” The hug loosened as Bow admitted, “And tell you the truth, maybe we did go overboard with the support.”
“Not that we could help it. You were our miracle, after all.”
That caught Rainbow Dash by surprise. “Miracle?”
Bow blushed. “Well Dashie, your old stallion tends to shoot blanks.”
Windy had a similar expression. “And your mother needed a little extra help when she was carrying you.” She sighed sadly and admitted, “It’s a big reason why you never had a little brother or sister.”
“Or a cousin, for that matter.” Her father turned sheepish as he admitted, “We had a lot of help where you were concerned, Dashie, and we’re glad for every bit of it. Something you might want to keep in mind if you ever want a family of your own.” He then tried to turn the conversation to something a little less personal. “So what brought this on exactly? Can’t be one of those crazy adventures you’ve had saving Equestria, or you’d have been here sooner.”
“It’s not.” Now Dash turned sheepish as she admitted, “I made this friend recently, and a little bit ago, he told me about his family situation. Short version, his dad isn’t exactly Father of the Year material. My friend’s doing better, but when I can tell he’s got deep scars, well, there’s a problem.”
“Well good thing for him that he’s got friends like you and Fluttershy and those mares you save the world with, huh?”
Dash grinned at her father’s enthusiasm. “Yeah.” She made a preemptive groan and added, “And before either of you ask, he’s already got a marefriend. And that kinda brings me to the other thing I wanted to talk with you guys about.” At her parents’ curious expressions, she asked, “You remember me wanting to be a Wonderbolt when I was little?”
Bow and Windy gasped so deep, it almost felt like all the air had been drained from the house. An impressive feat, considering they lived in Cloudsdale. “You’re in the Wonderbolts?!”
“No! Not yet!” Dash grinned. “But I’m gonna be. Been studying up for the exam to get into the reserves.”
Her dad gave her the biggest hug that he could as tears formed in his eyes. “Dang right you will.”
Rainbow Dash sighed as her mother joined in on the hug. Some things, she was just going to have to live with.
Stats
Page generated in 0.03 seconds
Total duration
1,068 users online
2,222,869 hits today, 2,561,572 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Again, great job on the exchange, characterizations and general wrap-up. Definitely have to respect Rainbow, despite some reluctance, going to talk to her parents about certain things in light of Quiver's mess with his father and those old bullies. And, yeah, I can see your point about how Rainbow could have avoided at least some of that stuff from canon if she could bring herself to talk to her parents sooner. And, well, Rainbow DOES kind of have a little sister FIGURE now (whom Rainbow's parents are going to meet soon enough unless I miss my guess).
Anyway, certainly looking forward to more of this and I wish you and your family and friends Happy Holidays.
11095265
Glad you liked it. And yes, them meeting Scootaloo is definitely on the horizon.
Nicely done. Very nicely done indeed.
I don't hate the original episode myself either, although I do get why it's contentious with some people. But that's by the by. I'm quite happy to see how Rainbow was able to just go and TALK with her parents, and avoid an explosion on her part. (That's something that's pretty hard to do, speaking from some personal experience here.)
Merry Christmas, and thanks for the update
11096545
It helps that she knows her parents love her. Plus, let's be honest, Bow and Windy are good ponies. Merry Christmas!
11109335
I will be looking forward to that. I am definitely curious (and somewhat concerned XD) about what happened with regard to Quiver Quill when Discord decided to show up and do his chaos thing.
11109347
Hopefully, you'll find out what happened sooner rather than later.
11109735
Point taken.
11167366
Well, if it helps, I feel that the route you chose here turned out very well. :) And I can see your reasons to avoid following the route you mentioned.
I would say that performing for an audience of grown adults is, sadly, not necessarily a guarantee that there will be no bullying or anything equally unpleasant, but I do agree that it - thankfully - does reduce the odds, and of course I'm relieved Fluttershy didn't endure such things.
I will be looking forward to the next Vignette, even as I can wait for the planned update time.
11167431
True, it isn't, but adults are at least a little more likely to be mature. Plus Ponyville doesn't seem to have much in the way of hecklers...at least so far as hecklers aimed at their own are concerned. And even the worst heckler wouldn't be mean to Fluttershy.
11167448
Indeed
11188309
I see. Thank you for explaining. :)
I apologize if it seemed I was conveying there would be something wrong with him being your own creation, because there’s nothing wrong with that in the least. It's just that given how well you know the expanded universe material, I couldn’t help but wonder if he was some semi-canon pony I didn’t know.
At any rate, given what he sounds like, I can’t say I’m sorry Twilight won’t deal with him. As you said, she'll have plenty of other close-minded jerks to deal with.
And I certainly am looking forward both to the next story and to the next Vignette. :) But as always, take as long as you need with both.
11188691
No need to apologize, I was merely clarifying and no offense was taken.
Yeah they may have meant Well but they did go overboard with the love. They appear like crazy stalker fans with their obsession with their daughter. I mean who keeps their kid's diaper from their baby days.
11594575
...yeah, that's definitely going overboard.