Great! Yep, this is just great. Totally living the dream here. Today's probably the best day ever. Why?
Because here I am, bored as hell, at the end of a long line to see somepony I couldn't care less about.
What a great way to spend my Saturday. I could be doing something important right now, like napping!
But nooo! Some random lawyer that I haven't spoken to since all the legal crap I had to go through after my father died just decides that I should come see him today.
How pleasant.
I got a letter in the daily post saying that it was really important I saw him today.
But today's a Saturday.
So, you know, I have a one hour wait to suffer through.
Whatever he needs to tell me better be bucking important, or else I'm going to end up slapping him.
...At least I have my misery to keep me company.
So maybe that wait was a little bit shorter than I expected...
Like 50 minutes shorter.
In all defense, I assumed that most appointments took like and an hour to fill, and there was only one guy before me, so...
Whatever. Ten minutes is still long enough to piss somepony off.
"Miss Rainbow Dash?" I heard a voice call from the door at the end of the waiting room. I sat up and miraculously managed to get a hoof through my hair. Deciding that was enough to make me look professional, I walked towards the door and opened it, revealing a small, blandly painted office. It was cluttered with tons of stacks of papers, cabinets, and a small desk. Ergh. Offices are so not cool.
"Hello, Rainbow Dash," the lawyer said, rearranging his tie, "How are you today?"
I rolled my eyes, ready to spit out just how mad I was at him for wasting my time. "Yeah, yeah. Just cut to the chase. What do you want?" I abruptly sat down on my chair, ready to leave this joint. I wanted this to be as quick as possible.
"Do you recall your father's death?" He asked.
I literally almost facehoofed. Is this guy really that stupid?!
"Well, duh!" I brashly frowned and burrowed my eyebrows, my voice raised with anger.
I have a high intolerance to stupidity.
"No, I meant all the courts and disputes we had to sort out. Remember how we couldn't find his will, so we had to forfeit his money and belongings to Princess Celestia?" He asked, pushing his large glasses closer to his face and sorting through a pile of documents on his desk.
"Yeah...?" I said, confused. That was years ago, and bringing up my father's death isn't going to make me feel any better. He better have a good reason for this...
"We've found his will," the lawyer stated firmly.
Okay... Maybe that's a good reason.
I seriously could not comprehend that. After all these years of me giving up everything that I was supposed to own, they only now realize that it was actually my shit that they took from me?!
"Why couldn't you find it earlier?! I want my stuff back!" I angrily kicked one of the legs of his desk, rattling the boards, and causing a few pens to drop off the side and land onto the carpet.
Oh well. They lived a good life.
He calmly summoned a bit of magic and placed the pens back on his desk, showing no anger.
Sometimes I wonder how ponies don't lose their temper when ponies are completely rude to them. I would have exploded right now if I was him.
"I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash, but it was trapped under a large pile of bits in his back account, and no one ever realized it was there. After the account was changed under Celestia's name, we weren't allowed to search for it. One of Princess Celestia's bankers just recently noticed it after transferring the money to another account. "
"So do I get my stuff back, now?" I asked, more curious than I intended.
Okay, maybe this is a big deal. I'll get back all those painful memoirs that are just going to remind me of how I blew my one and only chance to love my father. Great.
Now if only I had free shipping and handling, this would make my day.
Wait... Make my day? Make the day that I earlier thought would be wasted with this petty visit?
Wow.
I really need to stop all my assumptions.
Zooming back into reality, I heard the lawyer say, "I wish we could get your belongings and money back, I really do. But it's very hard to schedule a court session with Princess Celestia; it may take us years before we even get assigned a court date, let alone win it..."
Ah, how nice.
Nevermind that assumption crap. I was right all along...
What's better than disappointment?
...Napping.
Yep, that's another thing I COULD HAVE BEEN DOING right now!
"So if it's never going to happen, then why did you say this was "so important"?!" I stomped my hoof onto the floor and puffed some hair out of my eyes, displeased. The only thing worse than having to wake up on a Saturday is doing that and then getting worked up over nothing. Sprinkle in a little remorse about having to remember my father, and BAM! You've got just the most perfect day.
"It's important because of what we found attached to the will," the lawyer said, placing his hooves onto the table and sitting up straighter, "He left you a letter."
Wait... What?!
No, that's not possible. He's dead, he can't just leave me a letter and...
No.
I can't believe my ears.
I stood there gaping at him, unaware of the entire situation. My mind raced with so many thoughts, I couldn't believe it.
I was astonished. I was astonished to the point that I didn't notice I was staring at the lawyer with my mouth hung wide open. I was astonished to the point that I didn't realize him sort through the pile of papers on the desk and find an old, yellowing envelope.
I just couldn't believe it. It wasn't possible. It wasn't.
It just wasn't...
But here it was.
I quickly reached out, grabbed it, and resisted all my rushing impulses to rip it open.
My mouth felt as if it was glued shut, but I managed to muster a few words, "Thank you. I-I think I'm going to go now. Bye."
I rushed out of that building faster than I ran away from Pinkie Pie after she drank that double espresso once.
I needed to read this.
My mind raced as I flew through the bright Saturday skies. What the hay? How did this even happen? I guess I was overjoyed, but confused as well. My mind raced and I desperately just wanted to open it now, read it, and then burn it.
But no...
This was important.
I wasn't even paying attention to where I was flying, but soon enough, I was standing in front of my father's grave.
We had buried him below his favourite oak tree... It was the one on the edge of town; we used to play here so many times. It was probably one of my favourite spots, but after he died, it became my least favourite. It was just a cold, hard reminder of his death.
Sometimes, in the summer, we went down here and he read me stories, because, at the time, I didn't know how to read. It was always a nice time here, except for when I yelled at him for Celestia knows why and ran away for like two months...
I'd rather forget about that. I was too much of an ass to him, anyways.
I sat down beside the grave. The wind rattled, but the tree I leaned against protected me from most of the harsh breeze. The winds twisted and coiled and the leaves fell from the weathering tree, an effect of the early autumn arriving. I could tell it was clouding up; when it's Ponyville's only weather pony's day off, what do you expect? This scene felt too cliché, like it was going to start raining after I finish the letter or some BS, and then I would start wallowing in my regret or something stupid of that sort. If this actually happens I'm going to go slap that lawyer reaallly hard.
Sighing, I decided to stop complaining and actually read my father's last words. I gently opened the wrinkled paper, showing multiple pages of hand written lettering. The cursive was undeniably my father's, and the aroma of old ink drifted from the aging pages. There was no date.
I sighed, took a deep breath, prepared myself for sentiment, and began reading.
Dear Dashie,
Not to sound cliché or anything, but if you're reading this, then I'm either dead or in a mental institution. I'm hoping on the former.
Anyways, since I'm probably dead, I'd like to make it very clear that I love you.
I never minded your temper, or, well, to put it truthfully, your personality. Not to bash at you, really. I couldn't be more proud of you.
No matter where you end up in life, I want you to know that I will support you.
...~~Unless you end up on the black market. No means no!~~
Either way, I hope you achieve whatever dream you've dreamed, although you were pretty secretive when it came to that. I could tell you wanted to be an aerobatic, perhaps a Wonderbolt?
I hope you achieve that goal; I really do.
I'd also like to stress that I had a darn good time raising you. Yeah, even when you caused a tornado to trash our house that one time I didn't let you go pranking.
Seriously.
I found pleasure in watching you spend three days cleaning up that mess.
I hope you find this letter sooner rather than later, because I don't want you to end up worrying about if you've displeased me or anything of that sort.
Trust me, Dashie, you mean the world to me. You are the most determined, daring, loyal pony I have ever known. I know you will only amount to great things.
I really am proud of you, truly.
However, I must ask you, although I'll never be answered, because, you know, I'm dead, why did you never come back?
You ran away ~~to join the circus~~ because of some argument, and you've been gone for so long. I haven't been counting the days, but it feels like years.
I haven't forgiven myself for that. You left, and right now, you're still gone. And that's why I need to tell you this.
After you ran away, I decided I needed to write this, in case I die before you come back. You won't ever find this letter before I die, I hid it in my back account. But this is important.
I need to tell you this.
I forgive you. I forgive you for all the fights you've started with me. I forgive you for every blow you gave me. I forgive you for running away. I forgive you for telling me you hated me, because I know you didn't. I forgive you for every wrong you've done, and every sin you've collected.
I guess, to put it in simpler terms, I forgive you for everything.
Why?
Because I love you, Dashie.
I have and I always will.
-Your father, with love,
Rainbow Strike
It took me a long time to process this. After all this time, all the regret I've felt, all the remorse, and I now realize that he really loves me?
This can't be.
But...
It is.
A mixture of feelings overwhelmed me. All my regret and sorrow washed away, only to bring upon me new depression. This is just a sad reminder of my father's death, but a reason for me to feel happy, as well. My father never gave up on me.
My father never gave up on me.
That means so much. It means so much. So much...
I feel as if my heart has been shattered into millions of broken pieces; it was broken in a way that reflected my melancholia.
But now...
Now it feels as if some sort of loving force has picked up all those broken pieces and mended them into an actual heart.
A heart...
A heart that can love again.
Forget sappy ponies crying over deaths, this is actually worth it.
And that's when I realized I'm crying. I'm crying in the deserted field beyond my home, under an aging oak tree, staring at a letter that means the world to me. I'm crying in my most sentimental place, in a place I loved, in a place I call home.
Home...
What is home, a simple little detail of life, or a foundation of everything you've ever grown upon? Home is where your loved ones lay. Home is where you are loved. Home is love.
Home is my father...
This is the only place I can call home. Here, standing above his grave, watching the wind blow past me and the breeze shake my hair. This is where I am at home.
And as the skies grow dark with the prevailing night, I stand here, in memory of my father, in love for my father, in reflection for all the wrongs I've done that have been turned right.
Here I stand, tears flowing down my cheeks, but the happiest I have ever been.
Here I stand, with a feeling of completion drifting through my heart.
Here I stand, in the only place I can call home...
...Thank you, Daddy.
Author's Note
Well this came out of no where.
Somehow I managed to make the description almost the exact same description as Dear Daddy... Wow...
If you loved, liked, disliked, or disproved of this, tell me why in the comments so I can improve. Thanks!
You have managed to crush my feels. Twice. " -EpicNinjaGamer