Chapter 3
3
Everypony in the lounge stopped what they were doing to throw on a salute as First Lieutenant Ship Shape stomped in wearing full, golden regalia. A neglected ping pong ball thocked against the unfinished floor while each Private stood as still as possible with one hoof on their forehead and their wings fully extended. The hoofful of nervous Privates cursed themselves for not hitting the hay right when Celestia raised the sun.
"At ease!" Lieutenant Shape barked, but his order was not taken to heart. The privates put their wings and hooves down, but they didn't dare feel at ease. The Lieutenant ran a hoof through his blonde mustache and gave his wings a brief flap while he eyed the Privates standing around. "Ah, Private Sprout!"
"Y-y-yes, sir?!" the pegasus in question stammered as he resumed saluting. Among the guards in Luna's charge, Sprout got a lot of flak for looking exactly like a Solar Guard when he wasn't under the influence of the Lunar Armor. He'd earned himself the nickname "pretty boy" for his striking appearance and foalish demeanor.
"I said at ease!" the Lieutenant shouted. Sprout brought his shaking hoof back to the floor while his wings clamped firmly to his sides. "Where's Private Thunderhead?"
"Thunderhead, sir?" Sprout asked, relieved that the Lieutenant's target was somepony else, even if it was his good friend. "He's in th-"
Sprout stopped when a loud flush cut through the tension in the air. The lounge's bathroom door swung open, and Thunderhead stepped out. The moment he saw Lieutenant Shape, his wings shot out and he put up his best salute. Without his armor on, his mane turned deep cyan and his coat became yellow. He didn't look too much like a night guard, but next to Sprout he fit in just fine.
"At ease!"
Thunderhead let his salute drop, but stayed more rigid than a two-by-four in dry air. He picked a far point on the wall and stared it down, not wanting to accidentally look into the Lieutenant's eyes. The mustachioed stallion had a penchant for perfect protocol, and he wasn't above punting a poor pony Private's posterior to periodically prove a point.
"I've got good news for you, Thunderhead: we're promoting you to Private First Class. Congratulations."
Thunderhead was sure he heard the Lieutenant wrong, and he was absolutely sure he was dreaming when the Lieutenant gave him a short salute. He wanted to pluck a feather to make absolutely certain, but he didn't dare break protocol in front of Lieutenant Ship Shape, dream version or not.
"Thank you very much, sir!" he said as if the Lieutenant just complimented him on how shiny his armor was.
"I've also got your first assignment for you too, straight from the Princess!" Lieutenant Shape explained, taking out a scroll from underneath his wing. Thunderhead wanted to argue that he already was doing an assignment for the Princess, the one he'd been doing for the past year, but he didn't dare say anything out of order. "Deliver this message to Ms. Rainbow Dash when you go on assignment tonight. You might be promoted, but this document is still more important than you are. Don't look at it and make sure this gets to her! Understood?"
"Yes, sir!" Thunderhead accepted the scroll and exchanged salutes with his superior one last time before the Lieutenant turned around and headed out the door. Everypony saluted one more time before he crossed the threshold, but once the door shut behind them there was a collective sigh by all the Privates.
"Thunderhead, that was incredible!" Sprout said with an amazed chuckle, throwing a hoof around Thunderhead. "Usually he comes in here and just yells at us, but the one time he doesn't he forks over a promotion to you! How did you do it?"
"Dunno," he grumbled, tucking the scroll under his wing. "That was enough excitement for me. I'm going to bed."
"No, please!" Sprout circled around his friend and stopped him before he could get to the bunks. "You've got to tell me how you get so lucky! First Princess Luna picks you for that special Ponyville job and now you're getting promoted? Do you secretly worship Discord?"
"No... I just... I dunno," Thunderhead said, trying to get around Sprout. The white stallion stood in the doorway and blocked it by spreading his hooves across the door frame.
"No, it isn't fair! You have it so easy!" Sprout complained with tears forming in his eyes. Thunderhead rolled his eyes and grunted.
"My job is far from easy, pretty boy," Thunderhead said, getting into Sprout's face. The ivory pegasus gulped, knowing that Thunderhead only uses that nickname when he's angry. "I thought it was going to be laid back on night one too, but I ended up fudging it because I wasn't paying attention. Some kid threw a rock through the window. I'm surprised that mare didn't chew me out over that."
"Somepony threw a rock at her window? Dude, what did this mare do exactly?" Sprout asked. Thunderhead averted his eyes because once again his friend was putting him in an awkward position. "You really can't tell me?"
"Orders right from Princess Luna's mouth. I'm not at liberty to speak freely about it," Thunderhead explained once again. "I may have said too much already."
“Hush-hush assignments straight from the top? How does one pony get so lucky?” Sprout said, but Thunderhead wasn’t going to entertain the conversation any further. He drew himself up to full height and used his guard voice.
“I outrank you now. Step aside.”
“B-but it doesn’t work like that!” Sprout said as he inched towards the verge of tears again. A stern glare from Thunderhead sent him scuttling out of the way with a yip. Thunderhead proceeded to his bunk. It was important he be bright eyed and bushy tailed tonight of all nights.
“Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!”
Rainbow Dash was already awake, although she wished she could sleep just a few minutes longer. The sun poured in through the window, beckoning her to get up and start the day. Of course there was another, more persuasive source of beckoning as well.
“Wake up, wake up, wake up!”
Rainbow Dash rolled onto her back and opened her eyes just a sliver to see the ball of energy bouncing up and down on her bed. At the zenith of each bounce, the filly beat her leathery wings furiously to achieve a brief hover. Each time she would inevitably fall back onto the mattress, and that would bring the process to the start of the next cycle.
“Wake up wake up wake up!”
As Rainbow Dash regained her awareness, she remembered what day it was. It was an anniversary of sorts, but not the anniversary of something ponies typically celebrate. She had decided, along with her friends (mainly Pinkie Pie), that there should be reason to celebrate this day, so they swept the true nature of the day under the rug and gave it a much more enticing title.
“Wakeupwakeupwakeup!”
Rainbow Dash silenced Taboo by bopping her on the head like one would do with an alarm clock, but she did it gently for Taboo was infinitely more precious than an alarm clock. Taboo stopped bouncing, but her wings kept flittering in excitement. She stared at Rainbow Dash with her golden eyes and waited for what she knew was coming.
“Happy birthday, squirt.”
Taboo switched to grinning from ear to ear, forcefully bringing the corners of her mouth up as if it could lift her spirits any higher. She hopped off the bed and scuttled out of the room on eager hooves. It isn’t every day you turn one year old, but that wasn’t what made Taboo unable to sleep most of the night. Word on the street was there were presents involved in growing older.
Rainbow Dash rolled out of bed and stretched out. She’d never planned a birthday party before, but this had been a year of quite a few firsts for her. The transition from Taboo being a defenseless foal to a spunky filly happened a bit fast, even for Rainbow Dash’s tastes. Taboo was obviously at least one or two months older than a year old, but that was a needless technicality. After working out all of her kinks with great success, Rainbow Dash headed on downstairs to find Taboo waiting patiently for her while sitting astride Tank. Rainbow Dash had hoped the two would get along well, but the filly treated the poor tortoise more like an inanimate object than a pet.
“Whaddya want for breakfast?” Rainbow Dash asked as she trotted past the pair towards her kitchen.
“I’m not hungry,” Taboo said, holding her position on top of Tank. “We can go now.” Rainbow Dash stopped short to squint at the filly. Taboo just stared back, smiling hopefully at her mother.
“Taboo, skipping breakfast won’t make the party happen sooner. Now what do you want to eat?” Rainbow Dash asked once again. Taboo pouted as her mother’s logic went over her head. She thought for sure her plan was going to work, but its failure left a pit in her stomach. Then again, maybe she was just hungry.
“Oatmeal!”
“Just hang tight, alright kiddo?”
Taboo nodded while Rainbow Dash proceeded into the kitchen, but her patience was far from that of a sage. She idly rocked back and forth on top of Tank, imagining all the possibilities the day held. Mommy said there would be a party down in town for her, but she wondered who would come. She hoped Pumpkin and Pound would be there and all her Aunties too. She had a lot of Aunties, more than she could count.
*Knock knock*
Taboo turned and faced the door. Knocking meant somepony had come to visit. She wanted to know who, and although she waited Mommy never went to answer the door. Mommy always answered the door.
*Knock knock*
Whoever was knocking tried again, but still Mommy didn’t come. Overcome by curiosity and a bit of boredom, Taboo decided she should take it upon herself to answer the knocking. She got down from Tank and trotted over, but before opening the door up she went through her mental checklist of all the things Mommy told her not to do.
No yelling, no biting, no sticking out your tongue, no wandering too close to the edge of the cloud, no tail pulling, no mane pulling, no wing pulling, no food throwing, no toy throwing, no hitting, no spitting, no wiping your nose on your hoof, no crawling out the window, no chasing Auntie Rarity’s kitty, don’t roll in mud, don’t roll in puddles, don’t try to open the top cupboard, don’t eat cookies before dinner, don’t eat cookies before lunch, don’t eat cookies before breakfast, don’t eat cookies before bed, don’t eat cookies in bed, don’t eat cookies on the couch, don’t eat cookies on Tank, don’t eat cookies on Mommy and never, ever, ever, ever, ever leave mommy’s side in town.
Certain that there was no rule against opening the front door, Taboo jumped up and caught the doorknob between her hooves. She turned it, letting the door swing open a little. She dropped to the floor and opened the door the rest of the way with her nose. She smiled triumphantly at whoever had knocked, but her smile vanished when she found she was looking up at a complete stranger.
The stranger, however, looked oddly familiar. The closer she looked, the more the stranger looked like Mommy, but Mommy was blue and not purple. Her eyes and mane looked just like Mommy’s. Taboo, caught between not knowing the pony and how much she looked like Mommy, just gawked up at the pegasus mare. A warm smile curled across the mare’s face, making her look even more like Mommy. Taboo was filled with wonder, curious as to the identity of the pony before her.
“Well, hello there!” a strange stallion suddenly stuck his face much too close to Taboo’s. Instinct took over and she scampered backwards while she shrieked at the top of her lungs as if some sort of hideous beast had appeared. She retreated until she hit something solid, which happened to be Rainbow Dash’s front hooves. Taboo took refuge underneath her, but peeked out to keep a wary eye on the pair of strangers.
Rainbow Dash just stared at her parents while they stared back, neither party able to formulate the appropriate way to carry on for a few seconds. Order was restored by Palette giving her spouse a good smack upside the head.
“What was that for?” Birdie said, but his wife paid him no heed. She marched inside and approached her grandchild cowering beneath her daughter. Palette got down on her level, but Taboo still recoiled from her. The filly balled up as tight as she could, but she didn’t dare leave the security of Rainbow Dash’s hooves. Mommy wouldn’t let anything bad happen.
“Did he scare you baby? I’m so sorry.” Palette’s tone was just as sweet as honey, and for little Taboo it was just as enticing. The filly stayed balled up on the floor, but she inched slightly closer to Palette. Her curiosity took hold again, giving her the blind courage to rise to her hooves until the two were almost nose to nose. “You don’t remember who I am, do you?”
Taboo shook her head.
“Well, I’m your mommy’s mommy. I’m your grandma,” Palette explained as she poked Taboo on the tip of her nose with her own nose. Taboo’s face lit up as she made the connection. If this was Mommy’s mommy, that made her like super-mommy!
“And I’m your grandpa!” Birdie said from directly behind the unsuspecting filly. Taboo did not react favorably to being startled by the scary stallion a second time, and now he was invading her safe haven under Mommy’s hooves. She zipped out as fast as her little hooves would take her and took new refuge behind her Grandma’s hooves. She backed her haunches against Grandma’s hind hooves and kept her eyes locked on the strange stallion. She didn’t understand why Mommy wasn’t scaring him off already.
“Knock it off, Dad. You’re scaring her!” Rainbow Dash said, finally confronting her father. Birdie looked at his wife for assistance, but she had none to offer. “For Celestia’s sake, I thought you said he was good with foals!”
“No, I said he was good with you,” Palette reminded her. “But he’s a teacher, so frightening young ponies is his job, Dashie.” Palette leaned down and smiled at Taboo who was still cowering beneath her. “I promise he’s completely harmless.” Palette continued to gently urge Taboo out of hiding while Rainbow Dash shot a dirty look at her father.
“W-w-what?”
“Apologize,” Rainbow Dash ordered, pointing to the filly approaching with her ears pinned back. He slowly got down to her level, but allowed Taboo to be the one to approach.
Taboo analyzed the stallion before her. He had fuzzy hair on his face, which made him look funny, but he was big and Taboo didn’t know who he was. He had come with Grandma and Mommy let him in the house, so he must be friendly. Mommy never let any unfriendly ponies into the house.
“I’m sorry for scaring you, Taboo.” Taboo jumped back a little when the odd stallion spoke, but she relaxed at his apology. He had also called her by name. Even if he’s a little scary, maybe he’s friendly. “Me and grandma just came by to say ‘Happy Birthday’ and give you this.”
Taboo’s eyes grew wide when Birdie revealed a large box wrapped in shiny, blue wrapping paper. Two big, red ribbons were tied around it and a big bow accented the top. With her target acquired, Taboo leapt into action.
She jumped up and grabbed the box’s ribbon with her mouth. She had to tilt her head all the way back to keep it from dragging on the floor, so she couldn’t see where she was going when she started to scamper away with her prize. Unfortunately, Rainbow Dash already knew what the filly was going to do once she saw a present and was much faster than the young, young pony. She merely had to land in front of Taboo to make the filly bump into her and drop the stolen present.
“Exactly where do you think you’re going?” Rainbow Dash asked, lifting the present up and out of Taboo’s reach. Taboo plopped down onto her rump and crossed her forelegs. Even though ponies kept giving her presents, Mommy wouldn’t let her have them. Each time she would say the same thing. “Wait until the party, okay?”
“Okay,” Taboo said, but refused to meet her mother’s gaze. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and gave Taboo a peck on the forehead.
“Breakfast is in the kitchen. We’ll head into town after you eat.” Rainbow Dash didn’t expect a response as Taboo got up and stamped her little hooves all the way to the kitchen. The display was a lot cuter than it was threatening. Rainbow Dash just chuckled and shook her head.
“My, my… I can’t believe it’s already been a year,” Palette said. “Time sure flies when you get old.”
“Speaking of time flying,” Rainbow Dash said, turning to her parents. “I didn’t think you guys would get here so early.”
“That’s because your father insisted we leave as soon as possible,” Palette explained. “And by ‘as soon as possible’ I mean he suddenly woke me up and insisted we get a move on without breakfast. Needless to say, I’m famished. Mind if I root around your kitchen?”
“Feel free,” Rainbow Dash said with a gracious gesture towards her kitchen. Palette smiled and took her leave, which left Rainbow Dash and her father alone. The older stallion tittered and shook his head.
“I tell ya, Rainy. The letters just aren’t enough. You and Taboo really need to come to Cloudsdale more often,” he said, approaching his daughter to put a wing around her. “I can’t speak for everypony, but I know two ponies who would never turn down a visit from their cute daughter and granddaughter.”
“Sorry, but it’s like I’ve told you: things are tough,” Rainbow Dash explained. She didn’t like being coddled by her dad all that much, but for now she allowed herself to lean into him.
“I’m sure you know, but it’s not going to get any easier, Rainy,” he reminded her. “Especially if you don’t let yourself take a break every once and a while. From your letters, it sounds like your friends would gladly bend over backwards to help you out, so take a night off if it ever gets to be too much. Doesn’t matter what you do, really. You could go flying, read a book, sleep, go on a date...”
“Ah yes, that again,” Rainbow Dash said with a groan at her father’s mention of dating.
“Rainy, it took a lot of effort on my part to keep your mother from questioning that guard outside if he had any feelings for you. Promise me you’ll put time aside for yourself and I’ll do my best to keep your mother off that subject all day.”
The offer was tempting for Rainbow Dash, more than her father realized, but ever since Taboo showed up Rainbow Dash never left the filly’s side. When Rainbow Dash worked, she took Taboo along for the ride. When Rainbow Dash practiced, Taboo would play where she could keep a constant eye on her. They even bathed together. Her friends offered to foalsit more often than Rainbow Dash cared for, and while she appreciated the sentiment she couldn’t bring herself to part from Taboo.
“I said I’d take care of Taboo, so that’s what I’m doing,” Rainbow Dash said. There wasn’t a pony in the world who could convince her she’d done wrong by Taboo and there were no good arguments to make a claim against her. Taboo was fed, sheltered, and loved. Anything more would be excess.
“I know, and you’re doing a great job, Rainy. Just remember to take care of yourself.”
“Please, I can do both just fine!” Rainbow Dash gave a toss of her mane, surprising her father with her sudden boasting. She’d gotten bigger, older, and stronger since she’d left home, but at heart she hadn’t changed much.
“Can you? Have you eaten breakfast yet?” her father asked.
“Hey, you haven’t either!” Rainbow Dash replied with an added jab of her hoof into his chest.
“Well then, we’d better eat before we turn into hypocrites.”
“Wait!” Taboo stopped right in the doorway with all four hooves spread further apart than normal. Rainbow Dash and her parents stared back at the filly, wondering what had suddenly stopped her. Rainbow Dash had just finished asking her if she was ready to go, so of course now would be the time Taboo would choose to hold up their departure.
Without a single word more, Taboo turned herself around and scampered back into the house. Rainbow Dash figured this could only mean one thing and followed her. Sure enough, Taboo went up the stairs and into the bathroom. Rainbow Dash tried to follow her inside, but Taboo insisted that she could do what needed to be done all by herself. Rainbow Dash stared at the closed bathroom door for a full five minutes before Taboo finally opened the door and stepped out. From the look on the filly’s face, one would think she just accomplished something very profound. For wasting five minutes, Rainbow Dash really hoped she had.
After making sure Taboo hadn’t made a mess in the bathroom and checking to see if her bum was clean, the birthday girl was loaded up onto her mother’s back and the entire family was off to Ponyville. The ultimate destination was Carousel Boutique, where Rarity had insisted the party take place. Nopony had any objections, aside from the fact that only so many ponies could be in there at one time. Rarity then reminded everypony that, unlike most Ponyville functions, this party would not be well attended. For their intents and purposes, everypony who mattered would be there.
Upon entering Carousel Boutique, Rainbow Dash was surprised that none of those ponies were around. Instead, it was just Rarity and some stallion who looked only vaguely familiar. Both ponies turned around when the door’s bell chimed.
“Oh, Rainbow Dash! Don’t worry, we were just finishing up,” Rarity said, turning back to her guest. “So you’ll be in touch?”
“Of course! When I get any news, I’ll send you a letter right away. Now, if I could just have those drafts.” Rarity’s guest spoke mostly through his nose, indicating that he was probably among the Canterlot elite. Rainbow Dash found it odd that he was an earth pony and not a unicorn because most everypony who was anypony in Canterlot was a unicorn. She could only remember meeting one other high-class earth pony, but upon noticing the guest’s cutie mark she realized she was looking at that exact stallion.
“Of course, Hoity. My assistant should be back any second now,” Rarity said, but her smile became a little more strained and her voice leaked out just the tiniest bit of annoyance. She’d sent that stallion after those drafts thirty-two seconds ago. There was no reason for him to be so slow.
Right on cue, a blue stallion came tripping down the stairs with several odds and ends levitated above his head, one of which was a manila envelope overflowing with designs drawn with a carbon pencil. He moved quickly, fully aware of the fact that his employer wanted said envelope in her hooves ten seconds and counting ago.
“Oh, thank you Pierce,” Rarity said in a gracious enough tone and unassuming smile as she took the envelope from him. He smiled back, but deep down he knew there would be repercussions later. There were no dire consequences while other ponies were around. “Here you go and I do hope to see you soon, Hoity Toity.”
“Yes, very soon. Ta-ta!” Hoity Toity waved, waltzed past Rainbow Dash and company, and right to the door. Before opening it and stepping through, he turned around. He put his shades down and looked right at Taboo. Taboo stared right back at him, unsure of what to make of this strange looking… stranger. Hoity Toity pushed his glasses up and pointed a hoof at Rainbow Dash. “Ma’am, is this your child?”
“Yes, she’s mine,” Rainbow Dash said, with a bit of an edge creeping into her voice. In the past, that question never lead to anything good. She wouldn’t put it beyond a Canterlot elite to get uppity about Taboo’s appearance and she definitely didn’t put it above a fashionista to get uppity about somepony’s looks. Her wings flared slightly, ready for whatever sort of criticism the posh pony planned on putting out.
“Ah, yes! She must be Taboo! Rarity has told me quite a bit about you,” Hoity Toity said directly to the filly in question. “It’s your birthday today, yes? Well, happy birthday to you then!”
Rainbow just gawked at Hoity Toity open mouthed while he reached out to give Taboo a friendly pat on the head, which she gratefully accepted. Taboo beamed and saw Hoity Toity out the door with an enthusiastic wave. The earth pony waved back before letting the door close behind him. The bell jingled.
“My, he seemed awful nice,” Rainbow Dash’s father said.
“I should’ve asked him who does his mane,” her mother added.
“Well, there’s no need to stand around the door everypony. Come in, come in. Everypony should be coming by shortly,” Rarity said, urging Rainbow Dash and the rest of her family the rest of the way inside. “And now you just have to introduce me to your parents, Rainbow Dash.” Rarity approached her friend and her parents, snapping Rainbow Dash out of her own thoughts. There were some questions she wanted answered, but she could always ask Rarity later.
Once introductions were through, ponies started arriving. First to arrive was Pinkie Pie, bringing along with her just about anything and everything you could ever need for a party. She also brought Pound and Pumpkin cake with her, which was of far greater importance to Taboo. The Apples came next, Applebloom bringing Sweetie Belle, Big Macintosh bringing Roseluck, and Applejack bringing just herself. Fluttershy was the last to arrive, laden with plus one gift and a wide look in her eyes.
“Hey Fluttershy. What’s up?” Rainbow Dash asked, relieving her friend of her physical burden as she walked in the door. The yellow pegasus shook her head and cleared her throat.
“Twilight asked me to apologize for being unable to be here today. She gave me Taboo’s gift to give to you to give to Taboo.” Fluttershy pointed at what looked to Rainbow Dash to be the most hastily wrapped book she’d ever seen. Granted, she hadn’t seen too many wrapped books in her household, but she did know a hastily wrapped gift when she saw one.
“What’s this about Twilight being unable to come?” Rainbow Dash started flying over towards the table of gifts, with Fluttershy trailing behind her on the ground.
“W-well, she got a letter from her brother and Princess Cadence this morning.”
“That isn’t much of a reason…”
“Princess Cadence has apparentely… uhm… given birth.”
Rainbow Dash whipped around so quickly the end of her tail whapped her on the nose.
“Cadence is pregnant?”
“N-no, she just got done being pregnant,” Fluttershy pointed out. Rainbow Dash tapped her noggin a few times with her hooves to recalibrate for a moment.
“Right… I mean, why are we just finding out about this now?”
“Twilight said something about things being busy for them, what with them taking charge of The Crystal Empire.” Fluttershy scrunched up her nose a bit, remembering how Twilight had not accepted that as a viable excuse to not update her on the impending arrival of her nephew/niece.
“Wow. I guess that’s as good as an excuse as any,” Rainbow Dash said. “Do you know if it was a boy or a girl?” Much to Rainbow Dash’s surprise, Fluttershy produced a piece of parchment from under her wing. She scanned it with her eyes briefly before answering the question.
“Alicorn male, named Nimbus.”
“Alicorn?” Fluttershy nodded a confirmation. “That seems… important.”
“Yeah… Twilight was pretty irate about the whole thing. She dropped this right before she teleported away,” Fluttershy explained, handing over the letter in question to Rainbow Dash. She read it over once herself, but she was still having trouble coming to grips with the contents.
“Cadence and Shining Armor need to stop having important events in their lives while they’re busy keeping stability in Equestria.”
“I don’t think they have much control over it.”
Birthday parties are awesome. Taboo wished every party could be her birthday party. Everything was centered around her, her, her, her. Ponies sang to her, they gave her gifts, they let her play games with her friends, but best of all was Mommy let her have two pieces of cake. Today was the best day ever and only getting better.
Taboo was growing tired of having to stick around the Boutique. She liked it there, but it was such a nice day outside. Pumpkin and Pound had agreed with her. Now that all the cake eating and present opening was done, maybe Mommy would let her go outside to play. Hopeful, she went and asked.
Rainbow Dash had conflicting feelings about letting her go. On the one hoof, this is Taboo’s party and technically she shouldn’t be leaving. On top of that, Rainbow Dash couldn’t leave the party herself just to watch Taboo, which she felt compelled to do. On the other hoof though, Taboo would be with Pound and Pumpkin, the only two party goers who would probably lament her absence from the immediate area. The Boutique was close enough to the edge of town and far enough from the Everfree Forest that she shouldn’t have to worry about Taboo getting into trouble.
Feeling particularly generous today, Rainbow Dash decided it couldn’t do any harm to let Taboo play outside for a while. There really weren’t any more festivities to be had aside from having the older ponies fuss over her. For extra measure, she enlisted the two Cutie Mark Crusaders to keep an eye on them.
“Sure, no problem Rainbow Dash!” Applebloom said. “They’re out behind the boutique then?”
“No, they’re over by-” Rainbow Dash turned and pointed to the door, but saw it was slightly ajar and the three little ponies she had instructed to stay by it were missing. “… Yeah, they’re out back. They sure are energetic today.”
“Aww, shucks Rainbow Dash. They ain’t no match fer the Cutie Mark Crusaders, even if we are down by one!” Applebloom said, reminding Rainbow Dash that the Crusaders were unusually active for fillies their age, or any age really.
“I’m sure, but remind me why Scootaloo couldn’t be here again?”
“She doesn’t want to miss a day of flight practice,” Sweetie Belle explained again. “We told her one day off wouldn’t kill her, but she said something about losing half of yesterday’s practice and that spiraled into a rant about… something. I’ve learned to tune her out nowadays; she gets pretty passionate.”
“Passionate about what?” Rainbow Dash asked. The Cutie Mark Crusaders Minus One just shrugged. “Well, as long as she’s okay. Better get out there before… well, before anything really.” The Cutie Mark Crusaders took their leave and trotted out the door, leaving Rainbow Dash to puzzle over what Scootaloo had been up to for the past year. She used to have trouble getting rid of her, but now it was rare to even see her around.
“Something on your mind, darling?”
Rainbow Dash was startled by Rarity’s sudden appearance, which in turn clued Rarity into just how deep in thought Rainbow Dash had been. It wasn’t easy to sneak up on the cyan pegasus.
“Please tell me you’re not that worked up about Taboo going outside…”
“No, I was just thinking about Scootaloo,” Rainbow Dash admitted. “She’s been… scarce.” She was surprised to look over at Rarity and see a smug smile across her face.
“I guess you haven’t been about town recently, so you haven’t heard the news about her.”
“News?”
“Yes. She’s become quite the little wing-nut. She’s been getting flying lessons and advice from every pegasus in Ponyville… well, every pegasus except you and Fluttershy,” Rarity explained.
“But I’m a great flier! Why wouldn’t she come to me?” Rainbow Dash asked. The reasons why she would avoid Fluttershy’s advice were clear as day to her, but she couldn’t fathom why the filly wouldn’t come to the self-declared and undisputed greatest flier in all of Equestria for flying advice.
“Do you have time to take out to teach her to fly?” Rarity asked, but only rhetorically. “You spend all day with Taboo at home, your cloud home that only ponies who can fly can get to. When you are down in town you’re too busy running deliveries for Roseluck to stop and talk to anypony. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I think Scootaloo might be respecting your time constraints.”
“I… hadn’t thought of it like that.” It almost seemed like a given that Rainbow Dash wouldn’t see Scootaloo. It wasn’t like she saw Applebloom or Sweetie Belle all that often either, and when she did it was only at special functions like this. Scootaloo always had some reason not to show up, so that explained why Rainbow Dash hadn’t spoken to the filly in a while.
“That’s fine, I mean you have bigger things to worry about than what Scootaloo does with her days,” Rarity said, her point as valid as ever. “Any other unimportant worries you want me to sweep away?” she asked with more than just a hint of poking fun at her friend.
“Actually, yeah,” Rainbow Dash said, giving her friend a mock, stern gaze. “Why did Hoity Toity know about Taboo?” Rarity’s first response was to heave a very, dramatic sigh.
“Of course… the pony standing at the top of the fashion industry comes to see me about having some shows in Canterlot this winter, but all you want to know is why he knows about your kid.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash said. She didn’t catch on to the fact that Rarity was just joking.
“We work together and we talk about non-work things sometimes. That’s all there is to that, really. He knows about Roseluck and Big Macintosh going steady for four or five months now, if that’s of any importance to you,” Rarity said.
“Not really, but I’m glad those two came together to this party at least,” Rainbow Dash admitted. Rarity didn’t actually want to get away from the topic of Hoity Toity until she could detail her certain, future success to Rainbow Dash, but the train was already leaving the station. “Having a special somepony will keep my mom from pestering him.”
“Oh, your mom is one of those, is she?” Rarity said, knowing full well the kind of romantic pressure mothers are capable of impressing upon their daughters if they so desire to pour on the pressure. “Should I hide Pierce in the cupboard?”
Rainbow Dash had forgotten about Pierce. She glanced behind her, and sure enough her mother was talking very animatedly to the unicorn stallion. Pierce, inversely, was obviously searching for some sort of out, preferably one that didn’t involve proposing marriage to the daughter of the mare before him. He didn’t have anything against Rainbow Dash (a point he’d reiterated to Palette several times), but he hadn’t woken up today expecting to tie the knot.
“Well, better him than me,” Rainbow Dash said, happy to throw Pierce under the bus for the day.
“He’ll pull through; he’s a fighter,” Rarity assured her friend. “In your mother’s defense-”
“Here we go…”
“I am just saying,” Rarity spoke up in a bit sterner tone. “It wouldn’t hurt you to find somepony. We’re always around if you need a night to yourself. At least entertain the idea of getting married and having foals now and then, not that you haven’t. You have, haven’t you?”
“Well, not getting married,” Rainbow Dash replied. Rarity giggled a little.
“But you’ve thought about having foals?” she asked. Rainbow Dash did not respond, not verbally at least. She blushed a bit and threw her gaze skyward, and that’s when it dawned on Rarity. “You… want to have a foal?”
“Look, just hear me out!”
“Oh, I’m listening alright.” Rarity levitated her couch over and took a seat. She patted the spot next to her, prompting Rainbow Dash to heave a sigh and sit on down.
“I can’t help but think about what it would like to have a kid, you know? Don’t get me wrong, I love, love, love Taboo and from time to time I forget she didn’t actually pop out of my stomach. She’s my daughter and that should be enough, but I my mind can’t help but wonder. Having her around makes me wonder what it would be like to… you know… Taboo just… she just…”
“Woke up your maternal instincts?”
“Yeah, that.” Rainbow Dash did a double-take as she realized Fluttershy had appeared right next to her at some point in the conversation.
“Oh, I’m sorry, am I interrupting?” Fluttershy asked in her normal, meek manner.
“No, no, you’re fine. Right on the money too, I think,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Oh, I know. I can relate,” she said with a sage nod. Both Rarity and Rainbow Dash cocked their heads at the shy pony. “Oh, don’t get me wrong. All the critters I take care of or have taken care of are like my children, but sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be a real mama.”
“I guess that’s… the same,” Rainbow Dash said, shooting a glance at Rarity to search for some agreement. Rarity shrugged and shook her head, unsure if Fluttershy’s statement was cute or creepy. Perhaps it was a little bit of both.
“At any rate,” Rarity started before the conversation could wander deeper into the rabbit hole. “You know the old rhyme: ‘First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the foal in the foal carriage’. I don’t want you two going and having foals out of wedlock.”
“Okay…”
“… Fluttershy, please don’t answer like that; it worries me,” Rarity said, turning back to Rainbow Dash. “And I don’t think it’s odd to have thoughts like that in your situation. I know you’ll be responsible for Taboo’s sake, so I’m sure everything will work itself out for the best.”
“Yeah, I know that,” Rainbow Dash said. Her tone came off as a little ungracious, which earned her a stern look from Rarity. “Sorry, what I meant is that I know you’re right.”
“That’s better.” Rarity gave her friend a few goods pats on the back and then sent her off to get herself a piece of cake. Rainbow Dash didn’t protest against it very earnestly, trotting off to get another slice after just a few prods. Rarity and Fluttershy were left around.
“So… you want to be a mother?”
“Well… uh.” Fluttershy rarely kicked herself for opening her mouth, but whenever she opened her mouth she usually ended up kicking herself over it. Today’s confession was far from the exception.
“See? Taboo is cheating!”
“Am not!”
“Are too!”
“Am not!”
“Are too!”
“Stop it you two!” Pumpkin shouted, or squeaked rather, stopping the argument between the other young ponies.
“Yeh, I’m sure Taboo isn’t cheating, Pound,” Applebloom added. “She’s just good at hide-and-seek… really good.”
“I’ll say.” Sweetie Belle had been just as skeptical as Applebloom when Pound complained that Taboo always won at hide-and-seek. They were ready to believe she was the best among the three, but fifteen rounds of the game later and nopony had managed to sniff the filly out even once. They always had to call olly-olly-oxenfree after searching bore not fruit. Each time, Taboo would always emerge with a grin from ear to ear.
Sweetie Belle and Applebloom weren’t about to say it out loud, but they were also starting to suspect foul play was ahoof.
“That’s right, so it’s your turn to count!” Pumpkin reminded her brother. She had ousted him from his hiding spot in the bushes right off the bat, so the rules of the game dictated he was the next seeker. This did not please him, but he did see it as an opportunity.
“Fine! Everypony go hide.” Pound put his head down on the stump they had designated as the counting spot and covered his eyes with his hooves. He started counting, but once he was sure nopony was looking he lifted one of his hooves slightly.
Out of the tiny little window, he watched Taboo trot off towards her hiding spot. She moved as fast as she could towards the rocky riverbank a few yards out from the back of the boutique. Pound couldn’t see any obvious hiding spots in the area, but Taboo just kept going for it. Right before he finished up counting, he saw her duck behind a large stone. He had her now.
“Ready or not, here I come!” Pound shouted, darting off towards where he knew Taboo would be hiding. The tables had turned and the cheater would be revealed. He arrived on the riverbank and rounded the rock Taboo had gone behind. Now was the moment he would finally beat her at hide-and-seek. He had to cheat a little to get this far, but cheating to stop a cheater wasn’t cheating. With a bound and a few flaps of his wings, he bounced behind the rock.
There were only more rocks.
Pound was dumbfounded. He wondered if she’d moved somewhere else in the brief moment he’d looked away when he stopped counting, but there was nowhere for her to even go. He scanned the surroundings thoroughly, but there wasn’t anywhere for the filly to hide. At least, there shouldn’t be anywhere for her to hide.
Pound lifted up some of the filly sized rocks in the area and checked underneath them. He tried to lift the big rock too, to see if she’d gotten under there somehow. He then dug his hooves through the smaller rocks, in case she had burrowed her way beneath the stony shore.
The only other viable place he saw to hide in was the river. He trotted over to the edge and peered over into the shallows. The water wasn’t exactly deep enough to hide in, so he waded in to his knees and took another look. He was surprised to see two blue eyes looking back up at him from under the water. Before he could riddle out what was happening, Pinkie Pie burst from the water and picked him up.
“You found me!” she said, but Pound wasn’t even aware that she was playing. He was, in fact, entirely sure she was not playing. “Let’s go find everypony else!” At any rate, she was playing now and taking Pound along for the ride. The two left the shore to look elsewhere before Pound could scour it any longer.
With Pinkie’s help, he found Applebloom, Pumpkin, and then Sweetie Belle in no time at all. Taboo, however, was still nowhere to be found. The others gave up quickly, realizing they were no closer to discovering where she had gone than they were in any previous round. Pinkie Pie, a self-proclaimed Queen of Hide-and-Seek, refused to give up. She only lasted five minutes longer than the rest of the gang.
“Oh, she is good,” Pinkie said, returning to the stump in defeat.
“I’m telling you, she’s cheating! She has to be!” Pound insisted once more.
“No she isn’t!” Pumpkin replied, turning on her brother. Pound still refused to yield.
“Yes she is!”
“No she isn’t!”
“Yes she is, and I’ll prove it!” Pound got up on the stump and pointed towards where he had seen Taboo go hide when he cheated. “When we call olly-olly-oxenfree, she’s going to come from over there! I know she is!” The others exchanged uncertain glances. They didn’t understand why he wouldn’t just go over there and find her if he knew where she was. The group called the all clear, and waited to see if he was right. All eyes were on the river bank. The air was tense and charged. Nopony moved. The world stood still.
“Whatcha doing?”
Everypony spun around to see Taboo standing behind them, watching them watch for her.
“But you went… I saw you… the riverbank! How did you get over here?” Pound demanded an explanation.
“What do you mean you saw her?” Pumpkin asked before Taboo had to explain herself. “Did you cheat, Pound?”
“Only because she was cheating!”
“So you were cheating!” Now all eyes fell on Pound. He couldn’t believe it. He wasn’t the cheater; Taboo was! They should be angry at her.
“Y’all shouldn’t cheat, Pound.”
“Yeah, you have to play fair no matter what.”
“B-but I-” Pound did not get a chance to defend himself.
“No buts!” Pumpkin shouted. “Since you cheated, you have to be the seeker again!” Pound couldn’t do anything beyond stand completely still and fume as the others ran off. He turned back to the stump to see Taboo was still around. He stared her down, but she kept her innocent, sweet smile up and blinked her puppy dog eyes at him. She trotted right up to him until they were almost touching noses.
Pound wasn’t sure what was going on, but he remained rooted to where he was. Taboo looked left. Taboo looked right. She looked left again, just for good measure. She turned back to Pound and looked him dead in the eye with that same, unassuming smile.
“Phptttttt!” Taboo stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry right in his face. When she was done, she scampered off to wherever it is she always hides. Pound just planted his face into the stump and slowly counted. He just couldn’t win.
“Goodnight!”
It was an odd thing for Taboo to say right after walking in the door, especially considering that the sun wasn’t quite down yet. Rainbow Dash suspected the filly was planning something, mostly because Taboo never willingly went to bed. Even if she nodded off only seconds after getting into bed, getting her there was never an easy task.
“Hold on a second!” Rainbow Dash stopped her, setting down the bundle of gifts next to the door. “What’s the hurry? Don’t you at least want supper first?”
Taboo paused. She looked upstairs, then back to Rainbow Dash, then to the kitchen, then out the window, then back to Rainbow Dash, then back to the kitchen, then right back to Rainbow Dash… and then-
“Yes or no.”
“Okay.” The little filly took to her hooves and cantered off to the kitchen, deciding she was hungry. Rainbow Dash decided to overlook the odd behavior for the moment and focused on feeding her kid. She didn’t have anything special planned for dinner, so she threw together a salad in order to accommodate Taboo’s desire to go to bed.
“Tired?” Rainbow Dash asked through a mouthful of greens. Taboo was also chewing away at some leaves (cut up for easier consumption), but her manners were a little better for some reason. She just shook her head. She swallowed before answering verbally.
“I mean yes.”
Rainbow Dash could puzzle over the conflicting signals, but if Taboo was willingly going to hit the hay she wasn’t about to stop her, especially after a busy day like today.
“Alright, just brush your teeth before you go to bed, okay?”
Taboo nodded, pushing herself away from the table. Rainbow Dash hadn’t even noticed how quickly the filly had shoveled down her meal. Maybe she was tired, but judging by how quickly she was heading up the stairs that seemed unlikely.
Halfway up, Taboo stopped. She spun around and ran right back to the table, right to where Rainbow Dash was seated. She pulled herself onto the chair and then into Rainbow Dash’s lap, where she threw her front hooves around her.
“I love you, mommy! Good night!”
Rainbow Dash wrapped one hoof around Taboo while she ran the other through her mane. Sometimes, she wished Taboo really was her flesh and blood. She wished she was just like any other filly and they could live happily as a normal family. She wished the darker side of how they came to be together didn’t exist. In moments like these, though, she stops wishing. She just gives thanks.
“I love you too. Sleep tight and happy birthday.” Rainbow Dash leaned down and gave Taboo a kiss on the forehead. After giving each other one last squeeze, Rainbow Dash tapped Taboo on the rear and sent her off to bed with a giggle. “And brush your teeth!” she added before Taboo disappeared into the bedroom.
Rainbow Dash finished up eating by herself. There was a time this would not be unusual, but Rainbow Dash suddenly felt how she was currently all alone in the room. Before Taboo, she was anything but lonely. Now she knew how empty her house felt without somepony else around. It was quiet, boring even.
It wasn’t a bad thing to feel alone in her house, but it was certainly something she could not have realized without knowing how lively it could be. Between just the two of them, Taboo and Rainbow Dash had turned the house into a home. She got along fine before with just Tank, but she liked the way things had become. Besides, when it got quiet she could just curl up with a book.
Unless there was somepony knocking at her door, which now for some reason there was. Rainbow Dash got up from the table and trotted over to the door, wondering who in the wide-wide world of Equestria was coming to visit after the sun had gone down. Curious, if not a little perturbed, she opened the door.
“Evening. I have a letter from the Princess for you.” Thunderhead hooved over the letter only moments after Rainbow Dash had opened the door. Seeing as she hadn’t spoken to the guard since the incident a little less than a year ago, she was surprised to see him. Thunderhead aside, this was a moment Rainbow Dash had been expecting. She took a deep breath, and took the letter from Thunderhead. He threw her a salute while she unfurled it.
Dear Rainbow Dash,
I find it hard to believe that is has been a year since you first found Taboo, since I first learned of her existence. Although it pains me to say it, we cannot make heads or tails of what she is or who her parents are. If she is going to continue living in Equestria, both of these issues must be resolved, even if just temporarily.
Firstly, she is henceforth a pegasus under Equestrian law. Although her wings are not feathered like other pegasi, having wings at all is enough to earn her that qualification. Like any other pegasus, she must be registered with the local Air Traffic Office when she is able to fly. The Cloudsdale Flight Security Committee must also have up-to-date health information on her before she flies between any two Equestrian cities. She can also get a Weather Manipulation License from either your local Weather Patrol or from Cloudsdale Central Weather Supply once she is old enough and if she wants to.
The reason I am telling you this is because I want you to remember that even if Taboo is a special case it is no longer the case when it comes to being a pegasus or flight laws. Her adherence to these laws is mandatory, just like any other pegasus. I could have her registered under “other” for species, as if she were a griffon citizen or a minotaur, but I don’t think she is different enough to merit that measure. She is a pony, so she her official documentation will reflect this.
Secondly, effective as of midnight tonight, you are no longer Taboo’s caretaker. Starting tomorrow, you are her Legal Guardian. I know I said you were her Guardian a year ago, but it was more honorific than official. You were not immediately made her Guardian when you came to me a year ago only because that would have complicated putting Taboo back with her real parents. Now that she is an Equestrian citizen, she needs a Guardian. The reasoning for that, from a legal standpoint, should be obvious.
Before I was trusting you to keep her healthy, fed, and happy, but actually being her Legal Guardian is a bit different. You are now legally responsible for the aforementioned items (not “happiness” technically, but I’m still holding you to that) along with some other issues. You will be responsible for taking her to see a doctor regularly, for making sure she attends school when she is old enough, and until she is an adult you can be legally held responsible for certain actions should she choose to take them. I realize it’s probably not as big of a change as I’m making it sound, but I implore you to take care of these things now that you’re tasked with them.
I also feel obligated to inform you that we will no longer be actively searching for Taboo’s real parents. Her information will be available to anypony who is searching for a lost child, but that’s about it. The trail leading to her parent’s whereabouts is just as cold as the day we picked it up, so it pains me to say I do not have much hope in discovering them. You should know, that if they do make themselves known, you have legal grounds to keep Taboo in your care.
On a different note, Luna has not given up on figuring out why Taboo is the way she is. She isn’t quite as consumed with the pursuit as she once was, but the trail she’s following is very cold as well. She’s trying her best, though. She even requested books from archives outside of Canterlot. Whatever she may discover, I will update you.
I believe that is all I need to address. I’ve sent this letter though your guard and not Twilight because it is for you and only you. This letter is your official notification as to your status as Taboo’s Legal Guardian. Don’t lose it.
I wish you much happiness, my loyal subject, and I wish Taboo just the same. Most ponies sign off with “good luck and do your best”, but I’m actually against those sentiments. I know you’ll do your best without me having to tell you and I wouldn’t allow your happiness to be determined merely by luck. Keep doing what you’re doing, Rainbow Dash. The future is bright if you do.
Sincerely,
Princess Celestia
“Well… that’s that I guess,” Rainbow Dash whispered to herself.
“What’s what?”
She had forgotten Thunderhead was still standing around and watching her. The letter had been pretty long, so she was impressed he could stand so still and silent for so long. Then again, he was a royal guard.
“Taboo is my kid now… legally.”
“Oh.” Rainbow Dash waited for him to say something more, but he didn’t. The pair just stared at one another, not realizing what the other was thinking.
“…’Oh’? That’s all you’ve got?” Rainbow Dash asked. Thunderhead shrugged. “Taboo officially becomes my child and I officially become a mother, and all you’ve got is ‘Oh’?”
“… Congratulations?” Thunderhead watched as Rainbow Dash’s face contorted into a suppressed grin. She didn’t hold back very long, allowing herself to laugh after a second or two. Thunderhead scowled a little, unhappy that his earnest reply was being handled so delicately.
“A bit underwhelming, but I’ll take it,” she said, after her giggles subsided. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
“And thanks for the letter,” she added.
“Just doing my job.”
“Well… is that part of your job?” Rainbow Dash asked, pointing to something she’d spotted on his back. Thunderhead lifted his wings and turned a bit so she couldn’t see, but it was already too late. She stepped out the door and rounded him, bringing the newspaper-wrapped parcel into full view. It wouldn’t have been so suspicious if it weren’t for the big tag hanging off of it clearly marked “Taboo”.
“No… it isn’t…”
“No need to be secretive about it. It’s fine with me if you wanted to get her something for her birthday. How were you planning on giving to her without telling me anyhow?” Rainbow Dash asked. Thunderhead’s eyes darted away and he tensed up a bit. Rainbow Dash smelled something fishy. “How did you know it was her birthday anyhow?”
Thunderhead had to answer, and he had to answer honestly. He really shouldn’t have kept it a secret in the first place. It was really only a secret because he never talked to Rainbow Dash and apparently Taboo never told her about it.
“Taboo told me about it a week back,” he admitted. Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. She took to her wings and hovered over the stallion while she interrogated him.
“Last week? When last week?”
“Before she went to sleep.”
“How?”
“I was near the window and she called out to me,” he explained. The whole story didn’t exactly sit well with Rainbow Dash. She didn’t think anything indecent was brewing, but something inside her kept her on edge.
“Does this happen often?” she asked.
“I… guess-”
“How long has this been going on?”
“Well…” Thunderhead wasn’t exactly sure where to start. He decided it would be best if he started from the very beginning. “That night those pegasi tried to harass you on the way home, I was under the window when I heard her crying. I flew up to see if anything was wrong. You weren’t around, so I ended up trying to calm her down myself.” Once he’d finished his explanation, he saw a light go on in Rainbow Dash’s head.
“That was you?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Ever since then, I see her looking out the window time to time. When I do I just fly on up for a little bit. I’m sorry if I was going behind your back.”
The gears in Rainbow Dash’s head were still spinning a bit. She was not, could not be, upset. She was okay with this new information. It surprised her, but that was about it. She trusted Thunderhead, so she was okay with him talking to Taboo.
“Well… you shouldn’t be keeping her up,” Rainbow Dash replied, feeling the need to reprimand him on some point. Thunderhead chuckled a bit in response, which earned him a little glare.
“Sorry, that was just a very mother-y thing to say.”
Despite Rainbow Dash’s high capacity to take compliments, this one threw her. He called her motherly, in so many words. She’d been running around with Taboo thinking how she was her mother, but nopony had ever explicitly said to her that she acted like one.
“Y-yeah, so what if it is?” Rainbow Dash shot back, even though she wasn’t sure why she was retaliating. One thing was for sure though: saying thanks would have been far too embarrassing. “Are you gonna come in and give Taboo her present or not?”
“I… well, if you’d let me,” Thunderhead said, hesitating at the breach in ritual.
“Yes, I’m letting you,” she said with a huff. “I’m not letting you deliver it through her window. Do it like a normal pony.”
“Right.”
Rainbow Dash led Thunderhead inside, who trotted behind her at an infuriatingly slow pace. He insisted on taking it easy and observing the “scenery” of the house. Rainbow Dash flew up the stairs and hovered in the air impatiently while he trotted up the stairs two at a time. She was glad he could at least do that quickly. They finally reached the bedroom door, which Rainbow Dash pushed open quietly. She did not enter in.
Taboo was in her bed, another Apple Family Artifact that they had generously loaned. She wasn’t sleeping, but she was instead staring out the window with her hooves on the sill. Rainbow Dash had a very good guess as to who she was scanning the cloud below for. If she had any doubts about Thunderhead’s story earlier, seeing Taboo like this was all the confirmation she needed. Instead of leading Thunderhead in, she closed the door just as silently as she’d opened it.
“What’s wrong?”
“Do it like you usually do it,” Rainbow Dash told him, trotting past and back down the stairs. Thunderhead, although confused, went ahead and followed her.
“What happened to doing it like a normal pony?” he asked.
“I wouldn’t want to ruin this thing you two have going,” she said. He couldn’t tell if she was serious, joking, or both. He guessed both.
“You’re the boss.”
“Darn right I am.” Rainbow Dash opened up the front door and gestured for him to go out. Thunderhead chuckled again, shaking his head as he went on out the door. This Rainbow Dash was certainly different from the one he had to defend all those nights ago. “Thank you.”
The door was closed by the time Thunderhead turned around. Yes, this mare was certainly different indeed.
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All right! A new chapter!
Like any other pegasus, she must be registered with the local Air Traffic Office when she is able to fly. The Cloudsdale Flight Security Committee must also have up-to-date health information on her before she flies between any two Equestrian cities. She can also get a Weather Manipulation License from either your local Weather Patrol or from Cloudsdale Central Weather Supply once she is old enough and if she wants to.
Okay, see, I got an issue with this.
This is the equivalent of needing a WALKING LICENSE. And not even communist dictatorships are meddling and tyrannical as that.
Are you trying to write Equestria as a choke-hold tyranny? If not, get rid of this.
I think we as individuals have gotten way too used to asking big daddy bureaucracy if we can go wee-wee.... and thinking that it is perfectly natural for everyone to have to do so!
D'awwwww!
Nice to see this still alive. I'm a sucker for the main characters with babies fics.
Phew, finally an update. And a very good chapter indeed! MOAR!
... Please?
D'AAAWWW! I'm snesibg there's probably gonna be a relationship between thunderhead and RD. if I'm wrong you have permission to hit me
2353927 Well....
I think their might a touch of misunderstanding in your interpretation of that, 
I'm going to address the paragraph in portions and hopefully the new look will be something you find more agreeable.
Like any other pegasus, she must be registered with the local Air Traffic Office when she is able to fly. I'm assuming they aren't referring to low altitude town level flight, but this part is the only part of the whole thing I kinda agree on being excessive.
The Cloudsdale Flight Security Committee must also have up-to-date health information on her before she flies between any two Equestrian cities. This makes perfect sense. Pegasi have the most mobility of the ponies, and tend to enjoy travelling LONG distances via flight, either as recreation or for employment.
Registering with this office would essentially ensure that medical officials everywhere will have her files on hand incase of say, a crash or freak lightning strike etc etc. 
She can also get a Weather Manipulation License from either your local Weather Patrol or from Cloudsdale Central Weather Supply once she is old enough and if she wants to. This is easily understandable to me.
No one's gonna care about a personal nap cloud being moved around or something like a pony sized thunderhead to water a garden, but considering how drastically dependent Equestria is on Pegasi controlled weather to maintain it's ecosystem, it would make sense that a pony being able to just make sudden thunderstorms or clearing them could wreck weeks if not months of ecological planning 
. A license for weather manipulation would imply large scale manipulation, and to have such a license would require education and proof that the licensed pegasus knows the ramifications and the workings of large scale weather well enough to not make something that gets out of hand or to be able to help form/disperse official weather.
Imagine if any pegasus who wanted to help tried to form a thunderhead for a large scale storm. All it takes is one wrong up or down draft to change the whole thing from strong rain to monsoon with hurricane winds
Don't get me wrong, I'm not voicing against your opinion on other matters, I just felt that what the author wrote made sense to me for the most part and I felt that sharing how I saw might help you to understand what the author probably meant as well
. granted, I could be just as wrong 
2353927 I think the author is referring to the flight license we have in our world here. (That don't automatically make it a good idea.) And if I agree with you that how it is in this story is bad.
But I think it can make sens that they need a license to do commercial flight, which include mail delivery, pulling a chariot with passengers, supply shipping & any other service you can sell.
2355665
First rule of tyranny: Terrible laws always make perfect sense.
To someone. Somewhere. At some time. And the more people you can mentally massage into agreeing with you, the more 'perfect sense' those terrible laws make. (that's why America has a Constitution: to put certain laws--- like the Bill of Rights, the Emancipation Proclamation, etc.--- out of the reach of 'perfectly sensible' sounding people.)
Let's consider this from the perspective of human terminology. Suppose you had to register with a government office before you could walk anywhere. Suppose you had to provide your complete medical transcripts--- private, personal information-- to a government office merely to travel from one city to another. In case of accidents, of course. It's so perfectly sensible, you almost overlook the "MUST SUBMIT" part of that law, or the fact it's a gross invasion of privacy.
The little bit at the end about needing a license to haul a carriage, or to cloud-kick --- well, nice little addendum tacked on the end there. It glosses over the fact that the pegasi seem largely coerced by government to do weather work anyway (hurricane fluttershy, winter wrap up)... A common feature in totalitarianism: Force them to do something, and then make them beg for the privilege to be forced to do it. (Now that sounds IRrational, doesn't it? Not really: it's the oldest gambit in totalitarian states: to layer on law after self-contradictory law, until the enforcement of the law is entirely up to the interpretation of the authority in charge. That way you can punish them either way, at your whim, because either course of action is criminal.)
And hauling a carriage? "reasonable" safety precaution, but it insures that they must have the government's permission to earn a living with their most advantageous ability. Outside of weather bucking, of course. With the government's permission. If you've earned the 'legal right' to fly in the first place. And a bureaucrat with a bug up his arse hasn't denied your license to travel on the grounds that he doesn't like your face.
2355963 first of all , relax
you starting to come across as a touch Pinkamena here. 
Now, yes, you bring up some good points, but if I'm not mistaken the "Cloudsdale Flight Security Committee" isn't exactly government, again, not sure given that it's mentioned in a fanwork mind you.
Now, Pegasi generally speaking if the show is anythign to go by, used to have a very militaristic culture before the unification, so it makes sense for some of that to carry over in how they handle things, Second, It's pretty much flat out said that Weather outside Everfree HAS to be handled by pegasi of it runs amok in a way That is NOT at all liek our worlds weather, thus leading to a self wrecking ecosystem. Would you trust someone with no training or proof of training to fly a jumbo jet you're a passenger on? NO, you'd want a licenses, trained pilot who has proof that he knows what he's doing. Same thing for Weather license in this case.
As an additional point, please keep your reply tied to the context of this story. If you cannot do this, I don't care to continue the discussion as I do enough of that when I'm busy dealing with the rest of my hallucinations and reality
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Not trying to drag you down or bum you out. It's a good story, I'm enjoying it. But my motivation for expounding on the issue is summed up in two words: Culture matters. A society's value is spelled out in its idle pastimes and entertainment; it's there where you see what beliefs, attitudes, etc. are unconsciously held by it's people. And it distresses me to no end to see how much the "your papers, citizen" attitude is marinated into our own, and how it comes out in our 'trivial' pastimes.
And poor thinking and unconscious biases are never corrected until we're made aware of them. There's nothing more dangerous than attitudes and beliefs held thoughtlessly. As a thinking individual I feel morally and ethically obligated to point it out when people, no matter how benign the circumstances, are saying things without thinking. It's as automatic for me as pointing out "Your" vs "you're," or casually correcting someone's pronunciation or spelling. The purpose is not to rant or rave, but to politely correct (though I will not deny ranting and raving from time to time. I'm only human.)
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Excellent! thank you for actually being the sensible sort in this, for a brief moment I was afraid you were some random conspiracy theorist who'd made an account just to have an outlet ( I now know this not to be the case after checking, I read a few of your works
)
And again, you make valid points and have justified concerns, and were I not currently falling asleep at my keyboard I could probably provide a more intellectually stimulating response, however weariness does worse things to the mind than any government or culture could, and much more swiftly. Mayhaps after I've slept we might have an exchange of dialogue at a future time.
So very cute, can't wait for more.
Okay, this is vastly underrated. This reminds me of a similar story I read a while ago, that was also very good, only this one's better because the foal isn't a Mary Sue (alicorn, has health problems that culminate in Rainbow donating a lung to save her, bringing Rainbow back to life after she dies saving her, even being named Mara... yeah). What are you calling it here? Bat-pony? Thestral? Or are you just going with pegasus of a different color?
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I don't think it's the equivalent to a walking license. After all pegasi can walk
Take a look at Fluttershy and Ditzy Doo. They pretty obviously suggest that not all pegasi have the same level of flight ability. And looking at the Wonderbolts shows that they don't just consider flying basic locomation. They aren't birds. Flight is a skill they choose to develop beyond what they need to survive.
So in my mind that makes it more like driving. And we license driving.
Is scootaloo jealous of Taboo¿ Does Scootaloo know the parents¿
You sir deserve a like and a fav, you have earned my interest.
NOW KISS DIS DASHIE!!!
so cute!
Moar, moar, moaar
! Incredible awesome story. Now, MOAR!
so im sitting at work rummaging through the batpony group folders and see this.
i say to myself self i say,i know yer not found o the dash but batponys are epic.
so i took my advice and chucked it into read later.and there it sat....for ten minutes before i said fuck it work or no the fist ten thousand plus word chapter must be devoured now.
upvoted,faved and i may have to ask you to marry me.
my wife might be pissed but you know, whatever.
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Maybe...DUN-DUN DUUUUUUN...SHE'S THE MOMMA
ThunderDash shipping ACTIVATE
Also
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8u7px_GzWQ
3163432 PLOT TWIST
update?
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I think they mentioned a name in the first chapter... Fell-something or other... I don't know, and I don't feel like checking to give you better info.
Why you no update?
ok seriously. this story has 100 (now 101) green thumbs, and no red thumbs... it is an amazing story..
SO WHY QUIT NOW?!?!?!?
Seven freaking months man... 7...
Damn a year and she's already freaking like crusader sized XD and I see where this is going
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Walking is pretty much the only way to move that we have. That's why people who can't walk need wheelchairs.
Flying (Going off what I've seen in the show and comics) is in fact, not the only way a pegasus has to go from point A to point B. Even a cursory look would reveal that pegasi have legs, with which they can walk, to go places.
In other words, no, getting a flying license is not equivalent to getting a walking license. They're things that can be done naturally, without outside assistance. That's where the similarities end.
All hail the seven-word alliteration combo!
And I'm certain all of these rules were tested by Taboo
Looks like Scoots is distancing herself from her old idol
I suspect she might be the one who chucked the rock through the window a year back.
And finally, its been a year and RD and Taboo still need a 24-hour guard?! While I realize that is actually horribly realistic for how humans often react, what the buck is wrong with these ponies?!
6529542 C-C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!
My ship senses are tingling.
Somepony may have subconsciously internalized that whole accusation of being Taboo's papa. Nice setup.
...it's sad that it looks like Scoots has kinda been nudged out of her adoptive sister's life. Avoiding Rainbow like this isn't a good sign. I hope that thread has a happy ending. Enjoying the story so far!
If that was the case, he'd get a threatening letter from Celestia. "Stay away. He's not your god, he's my stallion."
Does he have a date? I'm torn on if I want him and Dash to be a couple or not. I want to say No, but it would be cute for a while.
She has a vocabulary of three words, and she flies better than Scootaloo.
But all of her other Aunts, their pets can be chased around?
One party canon, that's about all she needs.
More like conquering. The Crystal Empire was never part of Equestria until Cadence took over. And I hope this baby of hers isn't the demon child trying to destroy the Crystal Empire like Flurry and Sombra did.
I think he and Pinkie would get along.
Please don't ship Rainbow with any of her friends. Taboo needs a father figure in her life, not another mother.
That's how Derpy delivers things half the time.