Rainbow Dash's Unstoppable Ego

by MagicS

True Pegasus XIII

For the first time, Rainbow Dash was getting to do something that she had seen other pegasi doing on her very first day arriving at the city.

Going on patrol.

She flew with Summer Rains across the roofs of the cloud buildings at each level of the large city. It made her feel like a police officer or one of the Canterlot Royal Guards back in Equestria. Apparently the average soldiers patrolled in pairs like this, something she didn’t have a problem with since Summer Rains was easy to get along with. Any excitement she might have had for doing this was quickly replaced with boredom though as she realized that “patrol” mostly just meant lazily flying around and looking down.

Crime was apparently non-existent according to Summer Rains so she wondered what even the point of this was. To just let everyone know the soldiers were watching over them? Or watching them? She didn’t want to be cynical like that but with everything else she had learned about Blizzard and the way this place worked she wouldn’t have been surprised.

They had started at the first level of their city from where their base sat and had slowly, slowly, made their way from one side of the mountain to the other and then went up a level to do the same. Rinse and repeat until they reached the top of the city and then started back down. Currently they were over a dense residential district and Rainbow Dash was trying her best to keep her eyes open.

“Hey Summer? Is there anything in particular we should be looking for?” She asked her wingmate.

“Not really. Just if you see anything weird or anybody acting suspicious,” he shrugged.

“Dude, you’re the one who told me there isn’t any crime here,” she cocked an eyebrow at him.

He brought up a hoof and started rubbing the back of his neck. “It’s just the procedure...”

“Well fine. But then tell me what weird stuff we should be looking for? Have you ever seen anything like that out on patrol?” She asked.

Summer Rains glanced out across the city, looking towards the edge of the clouds at the bottom of the mountain and the sky beyond them. “Once or twice. I’ve uh… caught a few ponies attempting to flee the city. Runaways as they’re called.” He paused for a second. “You can tell by the look in their eyes, and the way they’re acting. Most have the sense to try and leave under cover of night but some think it’s safer to leave during the day.”

He turned his head to look at her. “As you know, no one is actually allowed to leave this city unless they’re doing some sort of patrol or other work for the military. But I see them sometimes. They’re usually standing at the edge of the clouds with a far off look in their eyes. And I watch them to see if they’re actually going to take that first step or not. I’m not sure if I want them to or not, either way it all ends the same.” Summer Rains sighed and started looking down, his eyes on the rooftops and the alleys between the houses below them. “That’s the only crime that gets committed here. Trying to leave.”

“Oh,” Rainbow Dash blankly stared ahead. “So if we see anyone who looks like they’re planning to leave...”

“They are to be detained.”

Rainbow Dash sincerely hoped they didn’t come across anyone like that. Even if she was trying to go along with things for now and live like a normal soldier here she knew she’d never be able to stop an innocent pony from trying to run away from this awful place… and that would lead to her getting in a lot of trouble with Blizzard. She scowled at the thought of it, knowing she wouldn’t be able to do anything right now to him as much as she wanted to. Either in a fight or just changing his mind.

Although if the ponies fleeing the city were going south or west she would have to stop them anyways before they crossed paths with the Ice Sentinels. Otherwise they’d meet an even worse fate…

North was possibly the only safe direction for any runaway to travel in and even that was nothing but unknowns and more dangers. No matter what happened it seemed like the pegasi that wanted to leave the Empire were in a bad situation. She hated to admit it but it might be best for them all to bite the bullet and stay here for now.

At least until she could change things.

“Come on, there’s no reason to dwell on things like that right now,” Summer Rains shook her out of her mood and the two continued their flight over the homes.

Rainbow Dash looked down and saw a small playground that a number of fillies were playing on with their mothers watching. She didn’t see any young colts or fathers with them, which didn’t surprise her considering how separated stallions and mares were in this city for the most part, but she did see some colts playing on their own and an elderly stallion or two out on a walk or flight among the buildings. She had to admit it was a peaceful looking city. Somewhere that at first glance looked as nice as anywhere in Equestria.

A cry from below made Rainbow Dash’s ears perk up and she looked to see a balloon floating up from the playground with a young filly trying to jump up after it. Her wings buzzed on her sides but she was too little to fly by herself yet.

“My balloon!” She said, tears welling up in her eyes.

No one else looked like they were going to grab it so Rainbow Dash swooped in and grabbed it by the string, flying back down to give it back to the little filly.

“Hear you go,” Rainbow Dash said with a smile.

The filly’s eyes lit up and she grabbed the string, bouncing up and down in joy. “Thank you!”

“No problem,” she tussled the young mare’s hair while Summer Rains came to a landing right beside her. The little filly then ran off to a mare at the side of the playground who Rainbow Dash could only assume was her mother. Now that Rainbow Dash was looking at them she noticed she was getting a lot of stares from them and the other fillies who had been playing around. Not a surprise though.

She tilted her head over to Summer Rains while keeping a friendly smile on her face and waving at the mares and whispered to him out of the corner of her mouth. “Why didn’t anyone else go grab her balloon?”

“If she couldn’t get it and keep it herself then she didn’t deserve to have it… that would’ve been the prevailing logic,” he told her.

Rainbow Dash scowled. “But that’s dumb! I mean, that’s not even about being strong—it’s just mean!”

“That’s how it is here,” he shrugged.

The two of them flew off from the playground and went back to patrolling, but not before the little filly waved back up at the two of them. “Goodbye, Rainbow Dash!”

The blue pegasus didn’t stop flying but she did look back over her shoulder at the playground with a befuddled expression on her face. As soon as it was out of sight she glanced over to Summer Rains. “How did she know my name?”

“You’re a hot topic here,” was his simple response.

“But I-”

“It doesn’t matter,” he cut her off. “Your fight with Commander Blizzard was watched by a full coliseum. Husbands went home and talked to their wives, brothers talked to their sisters, mares gossiped with each other. You became popular overnight, even if you’ve almost done nothing but stay at the military base since. Everyone knows about you and the mares of the city especially find you interesting. A pegasus from Equestria has just arrived in the city and she fought with Blizzard and became a soldier? Of course they would find that titillating.”

“Well I guess my awesomeness would have that effect. So what, do the mares here find me an inspiration or something?” She smirked as she asked him.

“I think “oddity” would be a more accurate word at the moment,” he smirked right back at her.

“Pff, whatever.”

“That does make me think about something though...” Summer Rains said, his voice trailing off as he looked away at another part of the residential area.

“What?” She asked him.

Summer Rains smiled some more as he got a kind of bashful look on his face. “I was thinking… since you’ve never actually met with any mares in the Empire for real that maybe you’d like to meet my family? No one is really going to notice if we stop patrolling for an hour or two and my house is right by. You can come say hello to my wife.”

“You’re married?!” Rainbow Dash was really surprised.

“Proud to be,” Summer Rains was smug in his response. “I’m the only one in our squad who is.”

“Wow, good job I guess. So you live right nearby? I don’t mind stopping to see your family, it sounds cool,” Rainbow Dash was actually pretty intrigued to see how a regular family lived here. And yeah, she somehow doubted anyone would miss the two of them if they ditched patrolling for a bit.

“Let’s go,” Summer Rains turned and headed in towards the mountain and Rainbow Dash followed close behind.

His family home seemed to be close to the second level of the mountain city, nestled almost right up to the mountain itself. The homes and every kind of building were really crowded here with narrow streets and alleys snaking through them. Without the benefit of flight it would’ve been a maze and easy to get lost in. For pegasi it wasn’t an issue at all though. Summer Rains leisurely flew on to a segment of houses that all shared walls with each other, dropping down to street level in front of one and walking up its stoop.

Rainbow Dash looked around, the house he was entering wasn’t wide but it was four stories tall and seemed to stretch back a fair ways. It had that same classical architecture style on the outside that made it look closer to something you’d see in Canterlot than Cloudsdale nowadays.

Summer Rains didn’t bother with knocking, he opened up the door and held it for Rainbow Dash to enter, then filing in behind her. There was a hallway stretching back further into the house with a stairway (even though Rainbow Dash had never personally seen the point for stairs in a pegasus house) directly to their left and an opening to their right that looked like it led into a small living room.

“Hello? Anybody home?” Summer Rains called out as the two of them stood in the entryway.

“Summer?” A voice called from upstairs.

It wasn’t a mare’s voice though, it was an older stallion’s. From down the first flight of stairs came a middle-aged stallion with a faded green coat and an even softer blue mane and tail than Summer’s. His mouth cracked wide in a smile as soon as he saw the soldier standing there and he turned around, cupping his hooves over his mouth and yelling back upstairs.

“Hey everyone! Summer’s here, come on down!”

“Thanks dad,” Summer Rains blushed while Rainbow Dash grinned at him.

The pony from Equestria heard quite the commotion from upstairs as more voices echoed on down and a whole family tree came scrambling down to the first floor to see their soldier son.

The first two who made it were a mare and a young filly. The mare looked to be about the same age as Summer’s dad, so it was probably his mom, and she had a frazzled orange mane with a pale yellow coat. The filly had the same colors as her mom but her mane and tail were straight and smooth like her father and brother, she looked to be about as old as Scootaloo and the other Crusaders.

Behind them came three more pegasi, two of them were quite a bit older than Summer’s parents but they looked far too different to be the grandparents of anyone here. The stallion was a cloudy gray with a lilac mane and tail and the mare was snow white with a garishly pink mane done up in a beehive and reading glasses nestled on the bridge of her nose. The last pony to come down the stairs was a mare who looked maybe a few years older than Rainbow Dash and had to be the daughter of the two other ponies, with a coat just as white as her mother’s and a pretty lilac mane tied back in a long braid that was half wrapped around her neck.

Summer Rains walked towards the mare as she glided off the last steps of the stairs and the two embraced in a hug.

“It’s been too long, you couldn’t come by sooner?” She asked him.

“Sorry, it’s been busy lately,” Summer responded.

While the spouses reunited the rest of the family seemed to finally take note of Rainbow Dash’s presence. Summer’s father did a double-take and his eyes widened as he finally realized just who it was that was standing here.

“Oh! I know you! You’re the mare everyone is talking about. The rainbow mare that became a soldier.”

That got the attention of the others too and all eyes went right to Rainbow Dash. She was used to this sort of attention, and she adored it, so instead of blushing like a certain friend of hers would’ve done she proudly stood tall and puffed out her chest.

"Yep, that’s me!”

Summer detached himself from his wife and walked back over to stand beside Rainbow Dash. “I’m sorry, I should’ve taken care of introductions first...” He cleared his throat and pointed to his wife “This is my wife, Snowshine.”

“A pleasure it is to meet you,” Snowshine spoke with a soft and demure voice as she politely bowed for Rainbow Dash.

“And my wife’s parents,” Summer Rains nodded at the older couple. “Ice Breezer and Snowfall Glitter.”

The older couple smiled in acknowledgment of Rainbow Dash and went to stand beside their daughter, making this small area at the bottom of the stairs a bit crowded.

“My own parents, of course-” Summer Rains looked over at the others. “My father Autumn Mist and my mother Sun Ray.” He then walked up and grabbed the little filly in his wings to hug her. “And last but not least, my little sister, Aurora.”

“Hey, nice to meet all of you,” Rainbow Dash waved at them. “Case you didn’t know, my name’s Rainbow Dash.” She looked to Summer Rains. “So you guys all live together?”

He nodded. “It’s common for families to all live together in one home here.”

Rainbow Dash couldn’t imagine that at all back home. Ponies were way more independent in Equestria. One of the only families she could think of that lived like this was Applejack’s and there were reasons for that. And Pinkie Pie’s, but the reasons were the same. If she still had to share a house with her mom and dad her whole life… ugh. That thought brought a grimace.

“We do know you, Miss Rainbow Dash,” Autumn Mist said. “It’s really amazing to meet you, but it’s becoming a little crowded right here, let’s step into the living room.”

The little living room that sat on the first floor of this house didn’t have much room either but it was still better than standing next to the stairs. There wasn’t enough seating for everyone so Summer Rains stood with his little sister on his back, Rainbow Dash would’ve stood as well but his family insisted on having their guest take a seat. So she ended up sitting side by side with Snowshine on a couch and being stared at by the two pairs of parents.

“The reason we stopped by-” Summer Rains began. “Is because I wanted Rainbow Dash to meet some mares of our city. And, well, who better than you?” He said with a blush as he looked at his wife.

She giggled, hiding her mouth behind her hoof. “I only wish we had more notice, I would’ve gathered up all the ladies from the neighborhood and we could’ve thrown a little get-together for Miss Rainbow Dash.”

“I’m sure we can organize something like that next time,” Sun Ray said. “It would be wonderful to get to know you better and show you what the normal mares are like around here.”

Rainbow Dash wasn’t entirely sure how she should take that but she just smiled for Summer’s mom.

“So, umm… what kind of stuff do you do around here and all then?” She asked, pointedly looking between the three adult mares present.

Snowshine’s eyes sparkled. “I’m glad you asked! We mares of the Empire take care of things like watching over the children, cleaning up, knitting all the togas and garments you may have seen others wearing, cooking for our families, and whatever else needs to be done around the home. It’s really a joyous lifestyle. The mares of the neighborhood usually get together for lunch, or work on knitting projects and other little things too. Oh, I hope next time I can bring you along to see the other ladies!”

Fluttershy or Rarity would enjoy it a lot better up here. Rainbow Dash thought. She might have enjoyed her spa visits but she’d never consider herself such a girly pony.

“That sounds… fun,” Dash tried to say as genuinely as possible.

“It will be great for you to make some friends who aren’t just soldiers,” Snowshine giggled.

“Umm...” A quiet voice spoke up from the floor right in front of her.

Rainbow Dash looked down to see Aurora standing there, looking up at her with big doe-eyes. The filly had hopped off her brother’s back while Rainbow was talking to the others and made her way over to the blue pegasus.

“Hi, what’s up?” Rainbow smiled at the young filly.

The filly shyly cast her eyes down and rubbed one of her legs before looking back up at Dash. “I like your mane… and I think it’s cool that you’re a soldier like my big brother.”

“Thanks,” Rainbow Dash gave a short chuckle. “I like my mane too. Do you think it’s cool I’m a soldier because I’m a mare?”

Aurora nodded. “Yeah…” She fidgeted around a bit more. “Is it okay if I tell my friends I got to talk to you? They’d be really jealous.”

“Yeah, go ahead and make them as jealous as you want!” She laughed, with Snowshine joining in.

Summer Rains then cut in. “Hey Aurora? If you want to talk with Rainbow Dash some more why don’t you go show her your room? There were some things I wanted to speak with the rest of the family about.”

Rainbow Dash glanced over at him and raised an eyebrow, wondering what he might’ve wanted to say to his family that he didn’t want Rainbow Dash to hear. But Summer just winked at her and it’s not like he had ever given her a reason to be suspicious of him so she figured she might as well trust him. If he had something private to say then whatever.

“Can I?!” Aurora got excited as her eyes sparkled, looking back between her brother and Rainbow Dash.

Dash shrugged and stepped off the couch. “Sure, kid, I don’t mind. Let’s check it out.”

“Yay!” The filly jumped up and ran out of the room to the stairs, only just stopping before running up them to beckon to Rainbow Dash. “Come on!”

Rainbow Dash unfurled her wings and floated on behind her, letting Aurora take the lead as she galloped up the stairs to the third floor of the house. She bolted down the narrow hallway to the end and pushed open the door to her room. The little pegasus was squeeing and jumping up and down the whole time she looked like she had enough energy to keep up with Pinkie Pie. Where did that shyness she had shown gone away to? Rainbow Dash couldn’t hold back a small smile as she softly flew down the hallway and let herself walk into Aurora’s room.

It was pink. The room itself was small with mostly just a bed and a table that held an assortment of sewing instruments haphazardly thrown on top of it. The clouds and everything that made up the room were somehow tinged with a pink color that reminded Rainbow Dash of the cotton candy clouds Discord was fond of making. She wasn’t sure how the Empire’s pegasi did this but it was pretty impressive. Aurora’s bed was also covered in an assortment of stuffed animals. She saw a moose, a reindeer, a walrus, a penguin, and a-

“Is that a tortoise?” Rainbow’s eyebrows shot up as she walked over to the bed. Sure enough, a green stuffed tortoise was sitting with the other animals.

“Yeah!” Aurora said as her wings buzzed and she jumped up onto the bed, grabbing the tortoise. “He’s my favorite! Do you like tortoises too?”

A blush spread on Rainbow Dash’s face and her eyes quickly darted side to side. “N-No way! Why would you think that, huh? I like awesome, fast animals, not slow tortoises. I totally wouldn’t do something embarrassing like think tortoises are cool!”

Sniffle

“Guh—you… you d-don’t like my tortoise?”

Rainbow Dash looked to see a horribly sad looking Aurora, standing on the bed so they were eye-level, her lip stuttered and tears poured down her eyes as she hugged her stuffed tortoise like it was her security blanket.

“Ah! No! I didn’t say that, I didn’t say that!” Rainbow Dash shook her head as she frantically tried to backpedal. “Tortoises are awesome! I love tortoises, I even have a pet tortoise called Tank and he’s the coolest pet ever! I was just being dumb, really!”

“You—hic—you really mean it?” The poor crying filly asked.

“Yes! Seriously, tortoises are the best!” Rainbow Dash desperately admitted to get Aurora to stop crying.

“O-Okay… do you want to play with him?” She offered while rubbing away her tears.

Rainbow Dash was torn. She was pretty certain what Aurora’s reaction would be if she said no. But she was also pretty certain she’d die of embarrassment if she started playing around with stuffed animals. As she was debating what to say all it took was another look into the innocent and hopeful eyes of Aurora to know what her choice had to be.

“Sure, I’d love to play with your tortoise,” she said through a clenched and forced smile.

“Yay!”

She liked to think she got along with kids really well but it was still awkward to sit on that bed with Aurora and play make-believe with her assortment of stuffed animals. Still, Rainbow Dash was the type of pony who gave everything her all, especially after that cheerleading fiasco, and she made sure Aurora had a fun time playing with her. Dash was holding the walrus and flying it in circles around the room when she heard the unmistakable sound of the door being pushed open.

“Having fun?” Summer Rains snickered as he saw her.

Rainbow’s pupils shrank to pinpricks and she dropped to the floor, standing still and fighting to keep her face from turning beet red.

“We sure are!” Aurora answered for her, hopping over to her brother and hugging his leg.

“That’s good but I came to gather Rainbow Dash, we really need to get back on patrol,” Summer patted his little sister’s head.

“Awww,” Aurora pouted, looking downcast.

Rainbow Dash stealthily tossed the walrus onto the bed and walked over to Summer. “S-So, what did you need to talk about.”

The soldier looked up for a second to mull his thoughts over before looking back at her with a small smile on his lips. “It’s not exactly a secret or anything but I’ll tell you later.”

“Whatever, dude,” Rainbow Dash shrugged. “So we’re going back out?”

He nodded. “Yeah, let’s go. Bye bye, Aurora, I’ll see you again soon.”

“Okay,” she still seemed a bit glum but she perked up a little when she said goodbye to Rainbow Dash. “Goodbye Miss Rainbow Dash, I hope we can play together again!”

“See ya, kid. It was fun,” Rainbow Dash grinned and waved goodbye to the filly as she and Summer Rains stepped out into the hallway. In a moment they were back downstairs and Rainbow Dash said her farewells to the other family members before the two soldiers exited the house and flew back into the sky. Nothing else for them today but more menial patrolling until the sun went down and they returned to their bunks at the barracks.

Comments

[Lepuita0901]

dashy? where are you going..?

[THERDSTORYWHISPERER]

Great chapter!