My Little RockStar

I knew I could get the chapter out in time! This one really throws a lot of info at ya, which is good I hope. There is some swearing, but I hope your all old enough to handle that, you can't be a rocker if you don't talk like one!

The sun had set some time ago, but Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie were still at Paper Back’s house. He had insisted they just stay in their extra guest rooms rather than spend the money on an expensive hotel in Manehatten. The girls all graciously accepted, and called the hotel to cancel the reservations for the night, and to send a message to Rainbow Dash if she appeared at the hotel and asked where they were. The one thing Paper Back wanted in return was for the girls to tell him all about Rainbow’s new life in Ponyville, and all of her incredible accomplishments.

They covered years worth of material in just a few hours, and although the girls were getting slightly tired of telling all of Rainbow’s life, they couldn't stand to see Paper Back go back to his previous irritable mood. Getting to hear about the young fliers competition, and the Running of the Leaves made Paper Back lean forward on his fore legs and just stare with an open mouth at whoever was telling a story about Rainbow Dash.

“You girls just made my heart feel ten times lighter, you have no idea how much all this means to me, I have to think of some way to repay you all.” Paper Back exclaimed with a wide grin.

“That’s quite alright, we don’t want anything, actually, we wish we knew where Rainbow was, she’s normally a little aloof, but only for an hour or two, not all night.” Twilight said with some hesitation.

“We feel just plain awful that ya’ll never get to see you're little Dashie no more, family and friends are two things that you never leave hangin’ like that,” Applejack explained.

“We were quite bitter at first,” Paper Back replied. “But we understood that Rainbow Dash needed time to learn about her self. To do some real soul searching, and we weren't going to deny her that. Rainbow has had such a traumatic past, and,” Paper Back immediately put his hoof over his mouth like he had just uttered some awful curse word.

Pinkie Pie quickly broke the tension and asked, “Is this all about you guys being Dash’s not real parents or whatever the hay you call them. Please, we know all about that stuff. Dashie told us about how her parents abandoned her, and you adopted her, the ponies up in Cloudsdale didn’t like her so you moved to the city, and Dashie had no friends, so she played guitar and what not. Am I right?”

Paper Back as well as the other girls just stared back at Pinkie with open mouths. How could she have made such a horrible situation sound so trivial? Well honestly it didn't matter, because Pinkie had told the truth, just not in the most, “sensitive” way.

“So she told you all that?” Paper Back sighed. “What you said is all true for the most part.”

“For the most part?” Twilight butted in. “I know Pinkie just said a lot, but from what Rainbow told us that’s how it happened, right?

Paper Back shifted about uneasily in his chair, and put his hoofs to his face. “Sometimes I need to remember to just keep my dang mouth shut.” The rest of the girls knew that Paper Back was hiding something from them, and they weren't going to leave until they found out. They didn’t want to be nosey, but they had their friend’s best intentions in mind.

“Sir, I don't want to pry, but what the hay aren't you telling us?” Applejack said getting up from the couch to show her seriousness.

Paper Back knew it was too late, he had to spill the beans to them now. “I can’t believe I’m about to tell you all this, and I have only known you few a few hours.”

“Well I guess we’re going to be the best of friends when this is all done,” Applejack said sitting back down on the couch.

“Before I start,” stated Paper Back. “I want you girls to tell me every thing that Rainbow told you about her old life.”

(If you need a quick re-fresher on what Rainbow said, go back to chapter three, “The Truth Comes Out.” if not then read on!)

*--------------*

“This bag is starting to make me seriously claustrophobic,” Rainbow called out, as if hoping those creeps would hear her and actually do something about it. She had been strapped to the chair for what had to have been hours now, and her flank was starting to get sore.

The other two unknown ponies had left just after the stallion mentioned “the rainbow one,” which could have only meant they were talking about Rainbow Dash. The one thing that was driving Rainbow Dash crazy was they continued to talk about somepony named Reverb. Whoever this was, those two must not have liked him very much.

After sitting alone with her thoughts for sometime Rainbow tried to piece together the puzzle. “Lets see,” she thought. “They said they didn’t intend for me and who ever this Reverb guy is to meet. That means that I have seen him before. This also must mean that whoever these crazy ponies are, have known me prior to this little ‘situation.’”

The pieces were coming together, but Rainbow Dash still couldn't see what the big picture was. Actually all this thinking was making her even more nervous about her current position. These ponies were planning something, and she had to figure it out soon, or else she might not ever get to find out who this Reverb guy was. Also, she might die, and that was also bad, but somehow lower on her priority list.

Rainbow heard the door open again, followed by those same muffled hoof steps that had come before. The male pony was the first to speak this time, and he sounded even angrier than last time.

“Celestia, why must you always FUCK WITH ME!!!” His breathing was quick and labored. “They all said Manehatten was where the good shit was, nopony would recognize you here, you would get a fresh start, well look where that got me. IN ANOTHER GIANT SHIT STORM. AGH!”

Rainbow heard the disgruntled pony fall down on the couch and continue his heavy breathing. There were more hoof steps, followed by the same scratchy female’s voice.

“You acting like a little bitch ain’t makin’ this situation any better.” Rainbow was expecting the same awful sound of a hoof against a skull, but luckily it didn't come. The stallion had shifted, but he didn’t stand up.

“You know that if Reverb knows that the rainbow one is missin, he’s going to come and find us,” said the mare.

“I know, but I got a plan, we can turn this problem into a solution. All we have to do is let Reverb know that if he don’t give us any collateral, than the rainbow one is gonna get it.”

Now Rainbow Dash was really scared. These ponies meant business, and she was most defiantly on the shit end of the deal. There was just so much going on at once that she couldn't process it all.

‘I don’t know who the hay you are, Reverb, but I sure do hope that you’re on my side on whatever the hell is going on here.’

*--------------*

Paper Back went into the kitchen after the girls had retold the story that Rainbow told them back in the library after the accident. Everypony had calmed down a bit since Paper Back spilled the beans about the fact he knew more than the girls knew. Pinkie Pie grabbed a bag of popcorn out of Celestia knows where and made her self comfortable.

Paper Back returned shortly and sat back down in his leather recliner. He also grabbed himself a new cup of tea, which was tear free. Paper Back took a large sigh and looked up at the girls.

“What I’m about to tell you, is very, very private, and I don’t want any of you telling a single pony about it, do you understand?” The girls all nodded in agreement.

“Ok then, another thing you should know, is that everything Rainbow told you was in fact true, but she doesn't even know all the details as to why she is the way she is.” Paper Back stated. Once again the girls all nodded, but what did he mean by, “not even Rainbow knew the details?”

“It all started when my wife and I moved to Cloudsdale about twenty years ago. We were young and reckless, and wanted to start a family. No matter how hard we tried though, we could never get a foul of our own. We tried adopting on numerous occasions, but nopony wanted to trust us because of our age. We thought all hope was lost, and lived the next few years in Cloudsdale alone.”

Paper Back’s wife shot him a somewhat hurt look because of the way he was talking about their inability to have fouls to complete strangers, but he shrugged it off. Too late to turn back now.

“One thing you girls should know about pegasus ponies, is that they are very proud of their heritage and culture, and don’t take kindly to those who sully the pegasus name. They even threaten ponies with violence in some cases. There was one couple in Cloudsdale that was hated by everypony in the city, luckily, it wasn't my wife and I, well not yet anyway.”

Paper Back paused for a moment to take a sip of his tea and to catch his breath. Once he had finished off his second cup he faced the girls again and continued his story.

“There was one couple in Cloudsdale that was hated by everypony, even myself. They were two degenerate pegasus that were the local drug dealers. They robbed gas stations, street walkers, even fillies coming home from school. Those two had no morals, no ethics, as long as they had some cash to support their awful habit, they were happy as clams.”

Rarity looked disgusted, and was about to share her opinion about such ruffians, but Applejack shot her a glance saying that now was not the time.

Paper Back cleared his throat and went on. “These two had been threatened to jail time on numerous occasions, but sadly, nopony could ever catch them in the act. The police would raid their shack of a home, but not a single drug or weapon could be found. It was like they were always one step ahead of everypony else, and that just made the residents of Cloudsdale even more angry.”

“I know this all seems like a lot of random info girls, but please, bare with me, I’m getting to my point soon enough.” Paper Back pleaded to the extremely confused mares sitting in front of him.

“Anyway, there was a point in time that nopony had seen those two for a few weeks. We all hoped that the two had packed up their saddle bags and left town, but we soon learned that they were just taking part in another week long drug bender, and they had locked them selves in their house. It seemed as if the two would never have a single consequence for all their actions, but that all changed a few months after the two unlocked themselves from their house. It was quite apparent that the mare was pregnant, and every pony in Cloudsdale feared that the poor little foul would be subjected to an awful life. Unfortunately, we were right. The mare gave birth to a small brown colt, that despite his early birth, appeared to be quite healthy. A year or two went by, and the two drug ponies and their foul were seldom seen in the city. We knew that by the cuts and bruises on the poor little colt, that his parents beat him, most likely in a drug fueled rage, but every time the authorities went to the house, the three were sitting down to dinner, having a family conversation. Once again they managed to beat the system.”

Rarity could no longer hold her dissatisfaction with the conversation. She stood up and yelled, “What does all this talk of drugs and domestic violence have to do with Rainbow Dash!?”

Paper Back, still calmly sipping on his tea motioned with his hoof for Rarity to sit back down and to be quiet. Very reluctantly, she did as she was told.

Paper back set his third empty cup of tea down, and picked up where he left off. “Another year or so went by, and the family was now starting to show their faces in public again, much to the displeasure of all the other residents. About once a month the city council would hold a meeting trying to get custody of the small colt, but every attempt, every court trial, ended in failure. The two could simply not be caught in the act. That was, until the two had decided to go on yet another week long drug binge, but this time, they locked their son in with them, and he was forced to watch his parents experiment with a new assortment of drugs they had recently received from out of town. Luckily for that little colt, one of the drugs had some incredibly unknown, but powerful side affects. His parents passed out, and he was able to break down a section of the house that was being eaten away by termites. The little colt ran to his neighbor’s house and told them what had happened. The neighbor was the lead board member for achieving custody of the colt from his parents, and he was not going to let this one opportunity slip by. The authorities were contacted, and they broke into the small little shack, to see the two ponies passed out on top of each other in the middle of the room.”

At this point all the girls didn’t care that they had no clue how this tied in with Rainbow Dash, all they knew is that they wanted desperately to find out what happened to the little colt, and the parents. Paper Back could sense that the girls were restless to hear the rest of the tale, so he continued.

“The neighbor insisted that both of them be taken to jail immediately, but because they were in such a heavy drug induced sleep, the police were forced to let the paramedics take the couple, and the traumatized colt to the hospital. Quite a few new discoveries were found when those two were taken to the hospital. For one, they had taken some sort of drug that had ravaged every part of their body, inside and out. The most distinguishable new characteristics about the two, was that the mares normally dark purple coat had turned to cyan blue, just as the stallions had changed to the same color, instead of his usual dark brown. Apparently the drug had somehow rearranged some of their genetic information, which caused some underlying mutations to come out in full force.”

The girls were starting to fear the worst, the fact they had gotten cyan blue coats didn’t sit well with any of them. Paper Back waited for the whispers between them to die out before he continued.

“The other physical characteristic that had changed was their manes. They went from their normal solid purple and brown colors to a fully array of colors.” Paper Back sighed and gulped slightly. “A rainbow more or less.”

All of the girls shrieked, but quickly silenced themselves when Paper Back threw his hoof in the air to signal silence.

“There was one other thing that the doctors learned when the two were in the hospital. The mare was pregnant with a filly.”

All of the girls could not believe what they were hearing, they knew what Paper Back was saying, but they desperately wanted to deny it. For him to stand up and laugh and say it was all just one big joke, but the punchline never came, just silent sobs.

Twilight was the first to ask the question that everypony was thinking. “She was pregnant with Rainbow Dash, wasn't she?” It was a question that everypony knew of course, but a question that still needed to be asked. Paper Back responded with a weak nod.

“I know that this is a lot to take in girls, but if you’re still interested, I will continue the story.” Paper Back asked to the crying ponies before him.

Applejack worked up the confidence to respond. “Well it can’t get much worse I reckon,” she said in between sobs.

Paper Back nodded and caught his breath before continuing. “The two were in the hospital for a few days, before they released the father and sent him to prison. He got sentenced to 10 years in a maximum security jail in Canterlot. No chance for parol, no bail. Justice was finally served. The mare on the other hand, was held in the hospital until she gave birth, to......well you know.”

Paper Back once again reached for his tea cup, only to find that it had yet to be re filled, so he quietly set it back down on the plate and twiddled his hoofs for a moment, before continuing.

“The birth went, relatively easy, but the doctors worst fears were confirmed. The drugs had also affected the filly, and she had the same cyan blue coat, and rainbow mane like her parents. She was also incredibly weak, so she could barely move for the first few months of her life. The doctors said she would never fly because of the birth defects.”

“Another moth in the hospital, and the mare and Rainbow Dash were released. The mare didn’t receive immediate jail time, but she was forced to be under house arrest as well as being under constant supervision by a filly protective agent. As for the other little colt, he was taken to the agency’s main office in Manehatten where he was sent off to find a good home.”

Pinkie Pie now on her third bag of popcorn suddenly sat up. “This means that Rainbow has a brother?!” Pinkie said in an upset tone of voice.

“Please calm down Pinkie,” Paper Back yelled. “Let me finish.” Pinkie slouched back down into the couch and began eating her popcorn again.

“After six months of house arrest, the agency came to arrest the mare and take the filly with them, however when they arrived, the only thing the agents saw was another distraught pony from the agency in front of a burning shack. They all feared that the mare had killed herself as well as the filly, but luckily when the fire was put out, and the rubble was looked though, no bodies were found. A few hours later, the agency got a tip that somepony had seen the rainbow mare flying north to an unknown location. Meanwhile a small rainbow filly was found on the door steps of the Cloudsdale flight school.”

“So that’s how Rainbow Dash got left behind, it all makes sense now, in an awful, terrible way” Fluttershy whispered.

“Indeed,” replied Paper Back. “I happened to be the accountant for the flight school at the time and they said that they were going to give the little filly up to the police. I pleaded with my boss to let me keep her and have me deal with all the filly protective agents that would come asking questions, but he just didn’t think it was the right thing to do. I begged everyday, and after a week or two, my boss finally gave in and gave us Rainbow Dash. He had actually been the pony who named her because he had found her first, but I felt like it was a fitting name. In exchange for my job, I got to keep Rainbow Dash.”

“So why were you forced to leave Cloudsdale, you had done everypony in the whole city a huge favor why would they want you gone?” Twilight asked.

“Excellent question Twilight,” Paper Back replied. “As I said before, pegasus ponies are incredibly proud of their culture and population. They knew that Rainbow Dash was born to be a flightless, problem pegasus, that would give the rest of them a bad reputation, so my wife, Rainbow Dash and I left, and moved to the city in hopes we could start a new life. We also had hoped that we could track down that little brown colt that was Rainbow Dash’s brother, but he had already been adopted, and because of his traumatic past, the agents refused to let us know where he was or who had adopted him. They would only tell us that a nice loving family from Manehatten had adopted him, and that his name was Reverb. I still wonder where that pony is today.”

I’m sure Rainbow Dash was probably wondering the exact same thing.