Act One: Her Roots
Chapter One: The Unforgettable Sunday
Sundays were always special. It is the only day when little fillies and colts get to spend a whole day with their family, thus making Sundays always the day for family picnic days. The weather team had always tried their best to avoid any scheduled rain showers during the sundays and would clear any clouds that would block off the sunshine. With this in mind, Lithe Kite, a pegasus stallion, had always made sure that he would prepare a picnic for his family of three. They would always look forward to Sundays because of this, especially Lithe's enthusiastic little filly daughter. Their picnics were usually held in parks and open fields so that Lithe was able to teach his daughter what she loved, flying. It had always been her passion ever since she was able to hover for only a few feet of the ground. It's all she ever talked about, studied about, and she would always beg to her parents to enroll her to a flight school instead of those boring elementary schools that she goes to. Those schools just made her feel restricted too much which is why she would always value the freedom she felt when flying.
Sunday finally came after Lithe was exhausted from his job at the cloud factory. Busting clouds and weather control is not as easy as plenty of ponies think, it takes precision and accuracy to find a cloud's weak spot to be able to clear it in one hit. Yet most big clouds just won't budge and had to be beaten several times before it clears off, this is what always took away most of the weather ponies' energy, which is why Lithe looked forward to a full day of relaxation with his family, or at least thats what he expected.
The sunday morning was calm and serene, as it always should be. Lithe, his wife and their daughter were up and early preparing for their usual sunday picnic. The basket was brought out, sandwiches and drinks were prepared, and the blanket was folded and ready. Everypony was happy and excited for the day, then loud knocking was heard from their front door. Nopony had expected any visitors, especially at seven in the morning.
Lithe was the one who opened the door and was surprised by the two huge muscled stallions with stern unchanging expressions were standing like statues in front of him. Both had white coats and blue manes which were slightly seen due to them also wearing shining golden armor. They were obviously the Princess' royal guards.
"Lithe Kite?" One of them asked with their deep voice.
"Thats me, what can I do for you, sirs?"
His question was unanswered and instead he was given a scroll tied by a red ribbon which was held together with a golden pin with a "C" embedded on it. Once Lithe took it with his hoof, the two guards left without another word. Confused, he stared at the guards walk away before he closed the door.
"What is it honey?" His wife asked who was actually standing behind him the whole time along with their daughter.
"It's a letter from Princess Celestia it seems." He said before removing the pin and untying the ribbon. He didn't let the scroll fully unfurl itself and instead took a peak at part of the scroll. His eyes became the size if plates as he silently read the first few sentences in his mind.
Equestria is currently in a state of war.
The whole morning he and his family were full of joy to start the day, yet once the first sentence was read, he felt his heart sank and every single happiness he had a few seconds ago was instantly destroyed.
He quickly turned around and faced his daughter. "Sweetie, go to you room."
"But why daddy, is there something wrong?" His daughter questioned.
"W-we'll talk about it later, sweetie," he tried his best to find an explanation, but instead he thought that it was best to explain it to her in a later time, "for now, just go to your room."
She was about to ask again but now she noticed a worried look on her father's face. She instead followed his order and trotted towards her room. She climbed the steps of their house and walked towards the hallway which led to the bedrooms, yet once she reached the hallway, she stood at the end of the hall which was a perfect hiding spot from anypony to see her from the first floor.
Lithe stared at his daughter go up the second floor, once she was no longer visible, his wife was the one to start the conversation. "Is there something wrong, dear?"
"Its whats in this letter. I'll just read it." He let the scroll unfurl and reveal the message before him. His wife trotted towards him as he started reading the letter aloud.
Equestria is currently in a state of war. The assistance of the reserve army is required, therefore, Private Lithe Kite has been requested by the Equestrian Army to serve in the incoming battles and to protect Equestria at any cost. Please proceed to the train station at the given time. All reserve army personnel has been scheduled a train passage directly to Canterlot at 1900 hours. Any reserve army personnel that reside in Cloudsdale is to proceed to Ponyville for direct passage. Pegasi and Unicorns are not recommended to use flight or teleportation to travel to Canterlot since everypony is required to proceed through military checkpoints in the train stations for the checking of attendance. Any additional military assistance is welcomed.
Signed,
Princess Celestia
The stallion read the letter with a worried tone and an expression of fear planted on his face. Beside him was his wife whose happiness was also crushed after the grave news. He rolled the parchment and let out a long sigh followed by silence which filled the room. He set his eyes on his wife, she had a worried look on her face along with watery eyes which were staring on the floor.
After which seemed like an eternity of complete silence, his wife finally spoke up, "Honey, do you have to go, must you really do this?"
"It's what I signed up for dear."
"But honey, it says here requested," the mare said with her voice showing her worry and desperation, "that means you don't have to go, right?"
"Dear," the stallion placed his hoof on his wife's shoulder and let out a deep sigh, "I'm really sorry, but I have to go. I have to protect Equestria, everypony, a-and you girls, my family."
The little filly was too far to hear any of her parents' conversation, but when her father had read the letter aloud, she was able to hear every detail of it. She, who was at the verge of breaking into tears, quickly galloped towards her room to lock herself in, wishing that she had never heard of what was in the letter. She tried to hold herself from wailing until she finally reached her room. She climbed up her bed, grabbed and cuddled her Wonderbolt plushie, and cried through the whole morning until she fell back into slumber.
After crying herself to sleep, she woke up from a booming crackly sound. She quickly sat up on her bed to find out that a thunderstorm had woken her up. She then tried to glance up to her clock but found it difficult to because of the lack of light caused by the storm. She decided to give up in finding put the time and lied back on her bed.
She didn't dare to go outside to talk more about the bad news, instead, she just stayed laid down on her bed and decided to daydream. Daydreaming always made her happy. The way how she was able to escape the troubles of the real world and to live in her own fantasy, how she was able to imagine herself flying with the Wonderbolts and to join them in a performance. The crowd would always cheer and chant out her name. Her day dreaming was once interrupted by another sound, yet this time, it was the sound of knocking on her door.
She knew who exactly it was on the other side of the door, and she was not sure whether to answer it or not. All she just wanted to continue living her own fantasy life where she was completely free, but this isn't real life, and she knows this too. She got out of her bed, trot towards the door, hesitated for a bit before she opened the door. She expected her father on her door, yet she came face-to-face with her mother instead.
"Oh good, you're awake," her mother said with her voice trying to sound cheerful, "come, its already an hour past noon, your lunch is still on the table."
The young filly ate her cold lunch while her mother was seated beside her, yet the seat on the other side of the table was empty, it was where her father would usually seat.
"Where's daddy?" The filly questioned with a soft voice.
"Right now he's gone to some shops for a while," her mother answered, "he'll be back soon."
"What about the picnic?"
"Umm, well you see, we saw you sound asleep and we didn't want to wake you up, so we just cancelled the picnic," she said once again trying to sound like nothing terrible happened, "plus we're lucky we didn't continue with it because there is quite a storm out there."
She already knew the truth, she didn't dare bring up a conversation about the truth so instead she just quietly ate her lunch and went with the flow. Once she was finished, she had nothing to else to do and retreat back to her bedroom.
This sunday, she was suppose to learn and practice her very first trick from her father which he called the Super Speed Strut. She was looking forward to learning an easy yet awesome trick, especially the fact that she was going to learn from her father, sadly her anticipations led to nothing. Since she was confined in her room the whole afternoon, all she did was to delve into her own daydream fantasy. It was where she would feel the freedom of swimming in the skies, where she could perform all her own amazing tricks, and where she would not have a single care in the world.
"Honey, you're back." Her wife greeted him.
"Well plenty of the shops were closed because of this storm, but I think I'm all prepared and ready to leave."
"Yes, well you still have one more thing to do before you leave."
"Hmm?" Confused, he opened his saddlebag with his wing and double checked if he was able to buy what he needed. "No I don't think I forgot anything that I would need."
His wife responded with a sigh and said, "Honey, you know who else you have to talk to." She said while tilting her head towards the stairs.
"Wh-Oh," the emotion he felt before was neither happy nor contented, yet now that he found out who she was talking about, his sadness increased even more which almost felt like he was overwhelmed in depression, "how am I going say this to her."
For the whole day, the storm raged on that it completely covered the sun. The sunset was never seen by anypony and the beginning of the night quickly covered the skies in total darkness which was unexpected to some ponies. The dawn of the moon not only signaled the start of the night, but also told Lithe that it was almost time for him to go, which means he must now confront his daughter. No more laters, it was now or never.
He tried to prepare himself for what he should say to his daughter and tried to envision any question she would throw at him. Yet he was still as nervous as a colt asking out a mare on a date. He let out another long sigh before knocking on the door. The clicking sound meant that the door became unlocked. He felt bad about trying avoid the truth and lying to his daughter, but he thought that it is best for her to have no worries. He then opened the door and slowly trotted inside the room.
Once inside, he was barely able to see anything in the room. All he saw was the gloomy part of the room which was fairly lighted by a street light from the window. He tried to take a few steps forward but instead stepped on a few of his daughter's toys which were laying around. He didn't bother to bring any lights and instead narrowed his eyes to see better in the dark. Through his squinted eyes, he was able to see the silhouette of his daughter sitting on the bed who seemed like facing the other way.
"Hey there sweetie." He tried to add a happy tone in his voice which failed and sounded like he was worried. He then tried to cover his failed attempt by clearing his throat. "How was your day?"
"Fine." She answered back with her faint voice.
"So, umm, you see, I have to go on a business trip because of, well, my job." He tried to insert a small chuckle at the end, yet he failed once again which turned his chuckle into a nervous laugh. It wasn't technically a lie, he thought to himself, more of a white lie, being in the military is a job, and a war is just like a business trip, right?
"Daddy, how long does a war last?" She asked in a somewhat curious tone.
Uh oh. He started to panic in his mind. He started to think that his daughter was able to see through his lies, or even was able to read his minds, yet he was able to calm himself when he thought that it might just be a mere coincidence.
"Wh-why do you ask, sweetie?" He had a sheepish and nervous smile planted on his mouth even though he knew she wouldn't be able to see it.
"So that I would know when you'll come back."
Game over. He knew that there was no use in continuing white lie. He thought about scolding her for eavesdropping and disobeying him, but he knew that now is not the right time for it. He lost count of how many times he let out a long sigh this day as he let out another one. He approached his daughter and once he was close enough, he noticed that some of the faint light was causing something to weakly shine in front of him. That was when he realized that his daughter was facing him the whole time, and the faint shine he sees were her watery eyes.
"D-daddy, will you be c-coming back home soon?" She struggled to ask due to her occasional sobbing.
Seeing this, he quickly confronted her with a hug and tried to comfort her by whispering words of comfort to her.
"W-will y-you come back soon?" She asked him while she tried to hold back her weeping, hoping to get an answer.
"Don't worry Dashie," he hugged her even tighter and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "I'll try my best to come back as soon as possible."
"R-really dad?" Her weeping was now lessening as she heard those words.
He slightly backed away from the hug to be able to look at her eyes. "Yes sweetie, I promise once I get back, I'll teach you the tricks that I promised I'd teach you, I promise that I will be back in time for your birthday, and I promise that I will be back soon."
With this being said, his daughter developed a small smile and was confronted once again by a hug from her father, which she happily enjoyed every single moment of it.
Their hug lasted for a while until her father backed away and said, "Well, I have to get going now. The train stations isn't far but theres sure to be a lot of ponies lining up there." He have her a little kiss on the forehead and rubbed her mane. "Be good to your mother sweetie. I truly promise I'll be home soon."
With his goodbye being said, he trotted towards the door, went outside, and before closing the door, he heard her daughter's faint cracking voice which spoke, "I love you daddy."
He turned around, tried to find and look at his daughter in the eyes and said, "I love you too..... Rainbow Dash." He closed the door, looked outside, and noticed the storm had turned into a light drizzle.