Just when they started bonding with each other, one personal subject caused them to be apart again.
Quibble Pants finally confessed to his daughter that he's not so sporty after all and ever since then, those two have gotten closer. Quibble is relieved that everything worked out well, he intends to keep it that way.
Little does he know, the impact he had on Wind's life was greater than he thought. He completely changed her into sompony else! Himself... and he doesn't know how to accept that change. Not sure how he would accept that as well.
The Ponyville Schoolhouse was a hustle and bustle as usual. Once the bell rang, it was time to head home. The young fillies and colts ran out in cheerful faces, some soared through the skies swiftly. Some even voluntarily stayed with Ms Cheerilee to have a nice chat and accompany her. Wind Sprint, Scootaloo and their other friends were a few of those fillies.
Ms Cheerilee giggled as she said, ''Well, I'm glad you're finally on good terms with your parents."
Scootaloo nodded her head repeatedly. She felt somepony gently touch her back, she turned and saw Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle waving good-bye at her. Scootaloo smiled and waved back at them as she saw her friends walk away with their sisters.
Scootaloo turned back to Ms Cheerilee and Wind Sprint. Only to find them moving on to Wind Sprint's life instead. Ms Cheerilee gave Wind a sympathetic look as she asked the filly what's wrong. Scootaloo looked at Wind dutifully, she only knew so little about Wind's personal life. She knows that her dad passed quite some time ago. Like Scootaloo, she idolized her father for years, just like how Scootaloo looked up to Rainbow Dash like a big sister. She could imagine how devastated Wind must be.
As she was listening to Wind talk, she overheard two other ponies talking. She knew that one voice all too well. It was Rainbow Dash, talking to a stallion who Scootaloo assumed is a good friend of Rainbow's. Probably bonded over Daring Do or something. The stallion actually looked like he could be Daring Do's genderbent!
As the two stopped walking, Scootaloo didn't hesitate to throw herself at Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash was automatically taken aback. She was not expecting her number one fan to be Pinkie pie 2.0.
"Woah!" she exclaimed. "Chill down, Squirt!" She let go off Scootaloo while patting her head which messed Scootaloo's mane. Though, the filly doesn't really care much. In fact, she enjoyed her mane being messed up.
She looked at the stallion, who was looking at Wind. She glanced at Wind then back at him. She raised a curious eyebrow, "You know Wind Sprint?"
The stallion spaced out for a second and cleared his throat. "Oh! Yeah! Yeah, I do know her." He said as he chuckled nervously. "She's my..." His voice trailed off.
"Stepdaughter." Rainbow Dash interjected. Scootaloo blinked her eyes twice in surprise and let her jaw drop as well. "This is Quibble Pants by the way." Rainbow also said. "Met him at the Daring Do convention." Scootaloo fixed her surprised face and replaced it with a smug that said Hah! Guessed so!"
"Yeah yeah. What she said..." He muttered, rolling his eyes. He walked towards Wind and asked, "Ready to head home?" His tone was gentle and soft.
Wind shot him a stare. "I wanna stay here a bit more... but I'll catch up later."
Quibble stared at his stepdaughter and sighed. "Sure. Just, don't be too late." He gave her a half-smile. Wind gave him a nod instead. He walked away and turned to Dash whispered "See you soon." Rainbow Dash gestured a goodbye with her wing and sighed dramatically.
Rainbow Dash turned to Scootaloo and asked. "I don't suppose you wanna stay here too?" The way she asked it seemed like she was irritated.
Scootaloo closed her eyes and shook her head in response. "Nah. I wanna rest." Rainbow grinned as Scootaloo hopped on her back as they both took to the skies, not before saying bye to Wind Sprint and Ms Cheerilee.
"See you tomorrow, Wind Sprint!" Scootaloo shouted from above. "See you Ms Cheerilee!"
Ms Cheerilee waved goodbye while Wind said nothing.
Eh. Worth a shot, I guess. Scootaloo thought to herself.
******
Clear Sky was standing by wooden side table, half-smiling at a family photo she took with her late husband and Wind Sprint. She remembered exactly when and where they took it.
Buckball field, just right after the Ponyville team won the tournament. All thanks to Rain Splash, Wind's birth father. Taken right before that unfortunate day.
Clear Sky heard the door creak and instantly hid the family photo in the drawer. She sighed slowly and peaked at the door. To her surprise, Quibble Pants came in, followed by nopony.
She hurried towards Quibble with a worried look on her face. "Where's Wind Sprint?" she asked him in a worrying tone.
"She wanted to stay back a little longer. She'll come back soon." Quibble replied.
"You could've stayed with her!" Clear Sky exclaimed with a disappointing tone. She sighed again, softing her voice. "You just bonded not so long ago, don't let it fall back down again..."
"And what am I supposed to be doing while staying with her? She doesn't like Daring Do and I suck at literally any sport!" Quibble expressed himself deeply, facing away from his wife.
"I don't know, anything? Together? You two are family now. Whatever you do will affect each other in any way." Clear Sky suggested, placing a hoof on his shoulder. "Sure, you suck at sports, but that doesn't mean you can get any better." she told him, trying to encourage him.
"But all that is just gonna take me away from Daring Do!" Quibble cried out. "And I like reading! And I'll miss a lot of conventions too..." He said, wiping the tears off his face.
"No, you won't..." Clear Sky said. ''You will find time for it, but you'll still have to find time for your family. For your daughter...''
Quibble's face straightened up. "My 'stepdaughter', you mean?" he slowly stated, eyeing at Clear Sky.
"Well, yeah, she may be me and Rain's daughter by blood, but she's still your daughter by heart." her voice was still soft, no matter how hot-tempered Quibble is. "You do know that, right?"
"Of course I do." Quibble assured. He gave Clear Sky a smile. Clear Sky returned another smile back at him. "So, uhm... Do you want to head outside to see Wind?" He asked her calmly, trying not to blush. He looked down and blinked. "It's fine if you're not up for it."
Clear Sky simply shrugged. "You said it yourself. She'll be back soon." She pointed a hoof at the door, where Wind Sprint hovered mid-air.
Quibble's eyes went wide open. He was shocked, yet fascinated. His stepdaughter was holding a book in her hooves.
A Daring Do book.
"I thought I might give this another chance." She said, sounding innocent as ever. It's just like how she gave Quibble one. ''An actual one this time.''
Quibble, who was still shocked didn't say anything. Clear Sky cleared her throat to break the awkward silence between the two.
She moved towards her daughter, and gave her a smile to show how much she supports her. '' Oh, sweetie... I'm glad you chose to give Quibble's interest a chance, but you know he also wants you to be yourself. Athletic, sports-loving.'' she whispered in her ear. ''Just like your biological dad...''
''Oh, I don't mind!'' The filly responded. "If anything, I just want to start again. Just because dad was sporty, doesn't mean I have to be."
Wind's smile faded when she scanned the room for Quibble. There was no sign of him anywhere.
"Where did he go?" she asked her mom. A somber expression covered Clear Sky's face. She looked around, she trotted to her room to try to look for Quibble. She silently gasped when she saw him.
"Mom, is... dad okay?" She flinched when she heard Wind ask. When she heard her address Quibble as dad. It was the first time she heard her say that.
"Quibble's fine." she faced her daughter. "He just needs some time to process everything... I'll go talk to him." She went into the room, but stopped herself and glanced at her daughter. "Why don't you head to your room and start reading?" She suggested.
Wind Sprint was still confused. What's bothering him? Is there anything wrong with having new interests? Is he still not ready to be accepted into the family? She had so many lingering thoughts in her mind, but she just decided to let them be instead.
She flew to her room with the Daring Do book in her hooves.
Clear Sky noticed Quibble sitting on the bed gazing at a dusty photo frame, what's inside was unfamiliar but based on his dull expression, she could already guess what the stallion was thinking about. Quibble eyed at Clear Sky without smiling or waving at her. Clear Sky slowly moved towards Quibble with a sympathetic look to sit beside him.
"You sure have a lot of photos about him..." Quibble finally said, exhaling slowly. "Even if they're outdated. He looks more different than I remember." In the photo was Clear Sky being hugged by Rain Splash who was twice as large compared to Quibble's size. He had a dark blue mane and a vibrant lighter blue skin. He was a certainly a strong flyer. He was grinning at Clear Sky in the photo.
Clear Sky stared at him, then at the photo frame. She forced herself to look away, trying not to blush. "Well, we have a lot of pictures here and there... to remember him by." She said, smiling swiftly. She glanced at the picture confidently "That was taken when we found out I was pregnant. I was... shocked, but excited."
Quibble looked back at the old picture. He hesitated for a while and looked at Clear Sky and sighed. "If you don't mind me asking... what really happened to him...?"
Clear Sky silently gasped. Her eyes narrowed down. "He..." her voice broke, she lost it.
Quibble's eyes widened in dismay. He faced away, shutting his eyes. "Why would you ask such a personal question!?" he scolded himself, regretting what he asked.
"H-he passed away due to a h-heart failure..." Clear Sky told him, her voice slightly stammering. "It's really common for athletes to pass on like that..."
"I'm sorry for your loss..." Quibble whispered. "I don't know what got into me..." he also said.
Clear Sky patted him on the shoulder. "It was a long time ago, and... I kinda was expecting that from you." Her voice dragged a little in a sing-song tune, giving him a smirk.
Quibble glimpsed back at her. "You were?" He asked with curiosity.
Clear Sky gave him a small kiss on the cheek. "Yeah. I was." she half-smiled. Quibble smiled back at her and returned the kiss. He flashed back at the picture frame.
"Do you think he minds...?" he wondered while he asked. Clear Sky just shook her head gently and kissed him again.
******
Daring Do was heavily focused on planning an ambush against Doctor Cabelleron and his henchstalions, knowing that she should be careful with her words and actions she chose to do. She was suddenly jumped by an unknown voice. She raised an eyebrow as she turned to look. It was a blue pegasus with a similar mane style to hers, except it was rainbow-colored. She looked pretty confident and determined like she wanted to help. Daring Do rolled her eyes and wasn't hesitant to get away, but the blue pegasus stopped her.
"You look like you could use help from somepony." she said, offering a hoof to Daring. Daring Do stared at her for a while but ignored her instead.
"I don't need help..." she told the rainbow pony, trotting away. "I work alone." she also said, frowning at her as she got further away.
The rainbow pegasus gave Daring Do a smirk. "Uh, you sure about that?" she asked in a sarcastic tone while flying after her.
Daring Do stopped and faced her. "What do you even know about what I'm doing?"
"Oh, nothing at all! I just like to help!" the pony responded.
As much as Daring Do wanted to know what the rainbow pegasus's intentions were, she needed to get the ring of destiny from Doctor Cabelleron, and fast. She smushed her hat and placed some leaves beneath her chin as a disguise. The rainbow pegasus was constantly asking her questions about what she was doing.
"Oh! Are you planning to go undercover? That's sick! You're going to negotiate with them? Cool! Are you gonna sneak attack them? Are you-" Daring Do cut her off.
"Look, I don't care if you're curious or keen on helping me but I'm doing this by myself! Not with some stranger I can't find trustworthy!" she snapped at the mare. The rainbow pony's jaw dropped in protest as Daring ran away.
"But I am trustworthy! You can trust me!" she shouted, chasing after her. "Hey!"
The rainbow mare stopped just right when Daring Do stepped up against Doctor Cabelleron to act out her plan.
******
Wind Sprint flipped the page smoothly to avoid causing damage to it. A lot of grown-up ponies, including her parents, and especially Quibble, keep telling her to be careful with the book.
"Whew! That's 5 chapters!" She thought as she straightened her back up on her comfy chair. She peaked at the end of the book and instantly dropped her expression.
"200 more pages to go..." She remarked as she groaned to herself dramatically. She fell back onto the chair with defeat.
The next few chapters were just as Rainbow Dash and Quibble told her so for the sake of time, she decided to skim it through. Once she reached the end of the book, the filly stretched her hooves and got off her chair. She yawned while she moved to check the ticking clock.
Her eyes remained tired but surprised. Huh... Only four in the afternoon... she thought. She would be playing buckball with her friends in an hour.
Most of the time, she would rather warm up before the real thing comes. As for now though, Wind Sprint stared with widened eyes at the buckball, then back at the books, why not hook up on some more adventure stories?
She jumped towards her stack of books and took another Daring Do book and held on a grip to it tightly.
It's time for her to move on from her past. After All, her life, her choice.
Wind closed the book when she finished it. I should probably take a break... Wind told herself while getting up from her chair, pacing back and forth with a frown on her face.
"But I really wanna know what happens to Daring Do in the next book!" She squealed joyfully, flapping her wings in excitement. She hurriedly stopped herself when the door made a sound that dragged slowly across the room.
A figure peaked in gently hitting the door wide open. He had a smug on his face that seemed suspicious to the purple filly. She raised an eyebrow at him and crossed her hooves. "Hmph! You didn't hear any of it..." She said, shaking her head in disbelief. "Did you...?" She asked softly.
Quibble shook his head automatically, trying to hide the smirk that clearly meant that he did but preferred to not admit it. "No, not at all." He replied. He slowly turned his head to the books. "But I think I did notice something different..."
Wind looked back at the books and chuckled. "Yeah, I guess so."
Quibble made a move towards the books stacked upon one another. Only one of them was left open, Daring Do and The Ring of Destiny by A.K Yearling. He half-smiled at the cover illustration. Wind took a look at the cover too and glanced at her stepfather curiously. She looked back at the cover and widened her eyes emotionlessly while she spotted the blue-colored pony with a flowy rainbow mane. She smirked at her stepfather.
"I see it now. You still don't believe her." She teased him, setting Quibble aback.
"What- ? No, of course I do!" He protested, glaring at the young foal, who was still eyeing at him.
Wind Sprint facehoofed herself. "No. That's not what I meant." She pointed a hoof at Rainbow Dash. "Without her, you wouldn't have met the real Daring Do. Without her, you wouldn't have made amends with us." She pointed out, which made Quibble realize it. "Without her, I doubt we would even get along..."
It is true that none of this would have happened if it wasn't for Quibble's sudden encounter with Rainbow. Even if everything did go accordingly without meeting Rainbow, things wouldn't have lasted that long. Hence, neither could he stay in the family any longer.
Quibble's expression softened and so did Wind's. The two faced away from each other for a bit before leaving the other alone. Quibble stepped out of the room silently. "I'll leave you to read for now." He whispered, closing the door. He closed his eyes and sighed.
There really is such thing in fate, huh? He thought as he walked.
Quibble walked towards the living room where he noticed Clear Sky going through the mail with her horn lit up. He replaced his frown with a half-smile, not wanting Sky to get all worried again. He just stood there wandering around the room while listening to Sky's mumbling at the same time.
"School Report card from Cherilee, Letter from mom, Letter from Pinkie Pie- ? Whatever, Hmm... Aha!" She exclaimed as she settled all the other letters on the table.
"Quibble!" She called out.
"Yeah? What is it?" Came a faint reply. Turns out Quibble was distracted by the same photo frame.
Sky rolled her eyes slowly. She walked towards him and showed him a letter from Rainbow Dash. As expected, he immediately grabs the letter and reads it.
"I wonder... Why did you end up with me instead of her..." She pondered, preferably as a light joke but Sky wasn't the best with jokes. The stallion's eyes widened and tilted his head. It was definitely a terrible joke.
"No, really! You two do look cute together!" She chuckled. She cleared her throat and asked, eyeing at the letter. "So, what is it this time?" She asked.
Quibble scanned through the letter twice, his eyes darting around to get all the details.
"Another Daring Do convention..." answered Quibble expressionlessly.
Clear Sky blinked in confusion. She has never seen Quibble so- 'unmooved' by a convention before. The Quibble she knew would scream in joy.
The Quibbl"e who was never even a father to begin with...
Sky's eyes lit up as she encouraged Quibble, "Why don't you bring Wind with you?"
"Huh...?" Quibble stared at Clear Sky with his tired eyes. "Bring Wind Sprint?" He chuckled sarcastically. "I doubt that would do any better..." he muttered, ending his sentence with a sigh.
Clear Sky narrowed her eyes at Quibble. "Well, I think it would be a great opportunity for some father and daughter bonding, but if you'd rather go and have fun with Rainbow Dash than bond with your daughter, fine!" snapped Clear Sky with boiling frustration. She instantly gasped at what she said and shoved her hooves in her mouth whimpering.
Quibble stared at his wife in horror and shaked his head swiftly. He had never seen Clear Sky so angry before. He thought for a second and told the unicorn. "I guess bringing her won't be so bad..." Clear Sky was still sniffling in silence. He got closer to her and placed a hoof on her shoulder. "Hey, it's okay... I'm fine. No need to cry now." He whispered, giving her a gentle smile while hugging her.
Clear Sky embraced herself on Quibble. She levitated some tissues to wipe off her own tears. Quibble noticed a light purple pegasus standing right before them, he let go off Clear Sky and chuckled lightly. Wind rolled her eyes, "Why are you so hesitant about this? I've seen mom and dad do it all the time." She questioned, fixing a look at Quibble. "Well, before you came along..." she mumbled, she hesitated for a while but said it anyway. "No offense..."
Quibble gave her a reassuring smile. "None taken. I've gotten a lot of these before." Remembering what he was encouraged to do, "I actually wanted to ask you about something."
"What?" That intrigued the filly.
Quibble bit his lip, he looked at Sky who in return stared at him hopefully. He turned back to Wind.
"Well, Rainbow Dash and I are going to a convention together tomorrow, and I was wondering if you would like to come with us..." He said.
Wind stared at her parents before finally making her choice.
"Eh, got nothing better to do so, sure." Wind shuddered.