Stop It, You're Making Me Blush.
I Love You, Dad.
Something bittersweet and written for Father's Day
by NotARealPonydotcom
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Rainbow Dash sat down at one of the many benches that dotted the Cloudsdale Riverside Park and took a deep breath. She let it out slowly, deliberately, and then turned to the rainbow-maned pegasus sitting beside her. He gave her a smile.
"Hey, Speedy," he said. "Glad you could finally show."
Dash returned his smile with a smaller one. "I thought I told you-"
"Yeah, yeah," he interrupted, waving a hoof at her. He began to mimic her speech, holding up a hoof and moving it in time with his lips. "'Stop calling me that, Dad, only my friends can!' I remember." He chuckled. "Guess all those trips to Wonderbolt shows and the Equestria Games meant nothing to ya, huh?"
"Aw, come on!" Dash whined. "You're really gonna start off with the 'I did all this cool stuff for you, remember?' card? That's so lame!"
The blue-violet pegasus laughed loudly. "Not if it works, it isn't! I got you all warmed up, didn't I? No more awkwardness between the two of us, no 'Oh, hey, haven't seen you in a while, Pops,' no 'Oh, that's alright, bud, I don't mind.' We're all chilled out now, just sitting here and chatting."
Dash smirked. "'Chilled out?' You really don't think you're trying too hard right now, Dad? Really?"
He chuckled again. "Hey, you know I can manage the lingo on my own. After all, I'm the one who taught you everything you know."
"Not everything..."
He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, your mother may have helped a little bit." He sighed. "She was more up on things than I was..."
Dash's laughter subsided slowly. "Yeah..."
There was silence, for a little while. Dash watched a Cloudball game happening near the center of the park. All of the players, foals no older than ten, were crowded around a single, proud-looking colt, who was waving his flank around as if it were made of gold. On it was the cutie mark of a pure white ball rocketing into a Cloudball goal, and Dash could tell that the colt had just received the mark, in the very game that had just been put on hold.
"When's the last time we went to one of those?" she asked, nodding to the game.
"What," her father responded, smirking, "a Cloudball game, or a cute-ceañera?" He laughed when Dash gave him an ugly look, and continued: "I'm not sure, really. Must've been just before Mom died. Couldn't afford it anymore."
Dash saw a brief look of pain flash across his face. She tried to lighten the mood: "We should go again, one day. I can buy the tickets and everything. I could totally cash in a sick day at work, or something."
Her father looked at her oddly, but smiled again anyway. "Yeah, or something."
The two watched the game resume. The teams, it seemed, were now horribly one-sided, as the colt with the newly-discovered cutie mark began trouncing anypony that got in his way. Apparently, discovering one's super-special talent was a very effective moral booster.
"How's Fluttershy?" her dad asked. "I haven't seen her since that whole coronation business, when you brought her here to celebrate afterwards."
Dash chuckled. "She's great, Dad, really great. She got married to this nice earth pony, settled down with him on his family's farm. They've got a kid now, a little colt. He's got a birthday coming up."
"Sounds like she's happy," he said. "Is the kid a pegasus like his mother?"
Dash shook her head. "Earth pony. Looks a lot more like his dad, except his eyes. He's got these great big blue eyes, just like Fluttershy." She accented her speech with gestures to her own eyes. The two of them laughed.
"Sounds like another little filly I know," her father said, winking at Dash. She blushed, and blew a few strands of her mane out of her face.
"Dad, I'm blushing," she said, her voice cracking as she chuckled. "Cut it out."
"Alright, fine." He said nothing for a minute, before: "I mean it, though." He looked at his daughter, and his daughter looked back. "When I look into those eyes"--her pointed at the twin cerise orbs--"your mother looks back at me."
Dash's blush intensified. "Dad..."
He smiled faintly, and turned back to the game. Dash stared at him, watching him watch the young foals at play.
"I miss her." Those were her words. "I miss her a lot."
Her father sighed. "I know, kiddo. So do I."
"I mean, with what's happened now, I can't imagine-"
"Rainbow Dash." He was blunt with his words. "Don't go where I think you're going." He looked at her with a serious expression, the first one she'd seen him wear since the day she'd decided to move to Ponyville. "I don't want you thinking it's your fault. Ever."
Dash frowned. "But if I'd been there, at the factory-"
"But you weren't, and there was no reason for you to be, anyway." He leaned back in his seat. "There's no logical way that you're the one to blame here. You're as much a victim as anypony."
"Dad-"
"That's enough!" He wasn't shouting, but her father spoke with such deliberation in his voice that Dash felt as though she'd been yelled at anyway. He looked at her with worried, irritated golden eyes. "I don't want you doing that, okay? Let's just... Let's just leave it be." And he left it at that.
Dash looked back out at the Cloudball game, mumbling, "I'm sorry..."
Pause. "I shouldn't have been so rough with you," he muttered gently. He stared out at the Cloudball game, and abruptly asked, "What about your other friends? I know you've got more than one."
Dash nodded. "Yeah, they're all getting along fine. You remember them from the coronation, right?"
He nodded. "Of course. There's Pinkie Pie, Princess Twilight, her little dragon assistant, what was it, Spike? Then there's the unicorn, uh..."
"Rarity."
"Yes, Rarity, of course! And...the apple mare. Applejack, right?"
Dash nodded. "Pretty good, Dad."
He smirked. "You know me. Always keeping a tab on my daughter's social life. So, how are they?"
"Well," Dash began, "you probably heard about Twilight's decision to stay in Ponyville driving the country up the wall. Ponyville almost turned into the new Canterlot, what with all the celebrities moving down there, but Twilight did a good job of keeping things under control and convincing them all that Ponyville wasn't going to become the new capital of Equestria. She spends more time in Canterlot these days, but she refuses to move out of the library in town. She loves that place more than anything. Maybe that's why she's been ignoring all the suitors coming to her doorstep. Or maybe what the tabloids say is true, and she's already got a special somepony waiting back in Canterlot, or two someponies, if they really know what they're talking about...
"Rarity's business is booming, and she moved down to Canterlot a while ago for the sake of 'having her business where her business was required to be.' Ponyville never really needed her for more than the occasional special event, so it was good to see her head to a place where she'd be needed 24/7. Twilight's assistant Spike followed her, and after this weird sort of in-between stage where Twilight kept fighting with him, saying that she wasn't sure if he was ready to go out on his own or whatever, he and Rarity both admitted to having been in a secret relationship for over a year, something that literally made Twilight faint when she heard it." She gave her dad a knowing look. "I totally called it way back when he started spending the night at her place, by the way."
He rolled his eyes. "Of course you did."
She ignored him and continued, "So, they got married a few years ago, and they're pretty darn happy, last time I checked. They always spend holidays out in Ponyville, for Hearth's Warming and Hearts and Hooves Day and stuff like that.
"Pinkie Pie's just as crazy as ever, taking over the Sugarcube Corner after the old owners retired. She's teaching their kids how to run the shop. She's hoping it'll get to the point where they can run it on their own, so she can go visit her coltfriend over in Appleloosa. She's really hoping that maybe she can set up her own store there, or that maybe he can come work on his cousin's farm in Ponyville. She really loves the guy, and I mean reeeeeaally loves him." She sighed. "I hope she can make it work with him."
"And Applejack's, well, Applejack. She's still working on the farm, though her little sister's had to take up a lot of the work since AJ's had to start taking care of her new niece. I have a feeling that she's gonna have to take up a lot more, though, on account of AJ's belly starting to swell up. Her husband's going into hysterics over how to prepare for a new mouth to feed, so much that he can barely help with the farm work..."
She stopped, realizing how much she'd said in the past two minutes. She looked at her father, who was giving her a look that told her he was patiently waiting for her to finish.
"Sorry," she said. "I don't know what came over me. I didn't mean to tell you their life stories..."
He shrugged. "That's fine with me. It sounds like all your friends are doing just fine, moving on with their lives, settling down or doing bigger, better things." He tilted his head. "What about you, though? What's changed since we last talked?"
Dash frowned, and thought, then frowned some more. "Well," she began, "I'm still in the Wonderbolts, and I haven't really moved up since Spitfire's not retiring yet. When I'm not on tour or working on new moves, I'm helping out foals at a flight camp near here. And I always visit Ponyville, say hi to Twilight and Pinkie, help Scootaloo with her own shows-"
"She's the one with the weird wings, right?"
"Yeah, but they work just fine, now." She kept her mouth open, wanting to say more, but as much as she tried, there was nothing else left to say that hadn't already been said except, "That's all."
"That's all, huh?" Her father shot her an accusing look. "You're not hiding some colt from me, are you?"
"What?!?" Dash's face turned bright red again. "N-No, Dad, why would I-"
Her father was laughing. "I'm joking, kiddo! C'mon, what would I have to gain from knowing about some colt?" He suddenly grew serious, and his face darkened. "Unless it's a mare..."
"Dad!"
He broke into a fresh fit of snickers. Dash crossed her forelegs and waited out the embarrassing giggle-fest her father was having, before mumbling, "I'm not a fillyfooler."
"I know, I know..." Her dad wiped away a tear in his eye. "Still, though, I've been waiting for the day I get a letter inviting me to my daughter's wedding."
Dash sighed. "That's just it, Dad. I don't know if I'm not trying, or if there's just something wrong with me, but..." She hesitated. "...There's a colt I'm interested in, and I don't think I can talk to him."
"And why is that?"
"Well, for starters, he's like, famous. He's a Wonderbolt, and-"
"Honey, you're a Wonderbolt."
"It's different! He's been around for a while, longer than me by about ten years, and I don't even know if he thinks of me that way. He's a great guy, and we're good friends, but it seems like he's always more interested in getting his hooves on an apple pie than he is in anypony else. I mean, what if..."
Suddenly, she sounded like a little filly again.
"What if he doesn't like me back?"
Her father didn't answer back immediately. He squinted at Dash, rubbed his chin, made sounds that were deep-thinking sort of sounds, but he didn't answer until she looked over at him.
"Dad...?"
"Who are you?"
Dash blinked a few times. "What?"
"Who are you?" he asked again. "Who do you think you are?"
Dash stammered, "I-I don't understand-"
"It's a simple question, kiddo."
"I--I'm Rainbow Dash."
"That's right. And who's Rainbow Dash?"
"I-I-"
"Is Rainbow Dash afraid of anything?"
She knew what the answer was supposed to be. "N-No?"
"Was that a question?"
"No." She sat up straighter, and repeated, "No, Rainbow Dash isn't a coward."
"Is Rainbow Dash the only mare in the world to execute a Sonic Rainboom perfectly?"
"Yes."
"Is Rainbow Dash a member of the Wonderbolts, the most amazing and most talented flying force in the country?"
"Yes!"
"Is Rainbow Dash the most awesome, most radical, most dragon-stomping badflankiest mare in the universe?!?"
"YES!"
"And is my daughter, the Rainbow Dash, afraid of asking a colt out to dinner?!?!?!?"
"NO!"
"So do it," he finished quietly.
The sudden drop in his voice's volume made Dash do a double take. She opened her mouth, closed it, opened it again, and rasped out, "OK."
Her dad nodded. "Good." Then he went back to watching the foals playing Cloudball. Dash stared at him for a long while. After a minute, he turned back to her, and said, "Sorry for yelling at you, Rainbow."
"It's okay," she answered back. "I needed that." She sighed, and leaned her head back. "I just wish that I wasn't so... freaked out about all this."
"Kiddo, everypony's freaked out by change. It's always happening, though, and you learn to live with it. I did, and so did your mom, when you were born."
Dash smiled at her father, and he smiled back.
"You've just gotta treat it like thermals," he continued, stretching his pale blue-violet wings out wide. "You can't fight 'em, or else you'll go down without hesitation. If you listen to 'em, though, let 'em carry you on your way..." he fluttered his wings, and the tip of one tickled Dash's nose lightly. She giggled and scratched her nose as her father folded his wings back up, concluding, "...you'll be just fine."
Dash smiled. "Thanks, Dad."
He grinned. "No problem, kiddo." He sighed, and looked back out at the Cloudball game again. His grin slowly faded, and when it was gone he said, "Listen, I want you to do me a favor, okay?"
"Sure, what is it?"
"I want you to not blame yourself for anything that's happened, these past few days." He turned to her, a sad smile on his face. "I want you to forgive yourself for anything you might have done wrong, or anything you think you might have done wrong. Can you do that for me?"
Dash stared at him. Her eyes glistened a little, and she sniffled. Slowly, a smile spread across her face.
"Okay, Dad," she said, wiping her eyes. "I'll do that."
He nodded. "Thanks."
Dash nodded back, and turned to the Cloudball game, which was wrapping up now. She thought for a while, grasping for anything that might pass as a conversation.
"Fluttershy came with me," she finally said. "To the memorial, I mean. She wanted to be there to support me, or whatever. Not that I need it," she bragged, leaning back her head against her forelegs.
Her father smirked at her cockiness. "Of course not. My brave, strong filly don't need nopony to support her." He said it with a mock voice, and it made Dash laugh.
"Nope!" she said, looking up at the sky. "I'm all good on my own. It was nice of her, though, to come." She paused. "Sucks that it's on Father's Day, though. Totally ruins the whole 'family' vibe."
Her father sighed. "At least we get to spend it together."
"Yeah." A flash of memory crossed Dash's mind, and she turned to her dad. "Hey, remember your holiday flag collection? Y'know, those huge flags you'd always wave around like a madstallion, yelling the holiday's name?" She started snickering. "Can you imagine if you did that at the memorial, just standing in the back with the flag in your wing?"
"What flag?"
That wasn't her father. Dash turned around, and faced Fluttershy. The cream-colored mare was standing beside the bench, wearing a black gown, veil, and sun hat that Rarity had designed for her, an outfit that Dash had refused to wear, memorial service or not. Fluttershy was very sullen, had been since they'd come to Cloudsdale, and Dash, still grinning, decided to try and cheer her up by filling her in on her dad's tradition.
"This big, green flag, with this picture of a stallion cuddling with a foal on it. We could go around, wait for the main service to be done, and then when the last speech or prayer or whatever were over, we could start waving it around, screaming 'Father's Dayyyyyyyyyy!!!!' as loud as we could!"
Fluttershy gave Dash a look that told her that what she'd suggested was probably not a good idea in any way imaginable, and that it was horrible for her to say something like that, especially on this particular occasion, and where did she even get the idea to do something as stupid as that anyway? Fluttershy opened her mouth, paused to think of what to say, and then spoke in a voice that was startlingly clear, serious, and loud for the animal lover:
"Where do you think we are?"
Rainbow Dash tilted her head in confusion, and looked back in confusion at the empty bench seat beside her. She stared at the spot for a lengthy moment, as though something about it was not right. Fluttershy could see the sides of her mouth twitching, like she was trying to smile and something was stopping her. Just as she reached out to touch her friend, though, Rainbow broke into a strange, sad smile, and turned back to Fluttershy. She shook her head, said nothing, and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, deliberately. Then she got up from the bench and gestured for Fluttershy to follow as she made her way to an area just outside of the park. Fluttershy followed, still a little confused, and as they made their way to the memorial service, she looked back at the bench. It was empty, as it had been when she'd found Rainbow.
The two mares approached the service in the glade of clouds slowly, and Rainbow glanced at the stone markers that designated the proper area for each pony's memorial. She scanned the names on the stones, looking for the one she had come to see, and she found it after a minute of searching. Fluttershy caught up with her a second later, and she commented on how lovely it was that they placed his next to hers, that perhaps now they were together again. Rainbow nodded, and Fluttershy saw her shivering, even though it was the middle of a fairly warm summer day. The yellow pegasus leaned against her dear friend, and comforted her as she stared down at the two markers. Rainbow didn't listen to whatever it was Fluttershy was saying: her attention was focused on the markers, which stood only a yard or so apart. She blew another lock of mane out of her face, and squinted at the small writing on the rocks.
Inscribed on the two chucks of stone, which had been designed to look like two halves of the same rock, were the following words:
HERE LIES
FIREFLY
LOVING MOTHER AND WIFE
962-992
"Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward..."
HERE LIES
BIFROST
LOVING FATHER AND HUSBAND
960-1011
"...for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."
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THE END