Cats in the Cradle

by Blue Flame

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, Sad, Romance
Length: 1805

The early life of Rainbow Dash

The story of how Dash grew up from when she was born to the day she becomes captain of the Wonderbolts

based off of Harry Chapin's song "Cats in the Cradle"

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-01-14 04:00:10 UTC

Chapter 1

My child arrived just the other day. She came to the world in the usual way.

"Congratulations! Its a girl!"

She was beautiful. She had a mane just like mine: rainbow colored and unruly. I couldn't speak. The doctor held her up to me and put her in my hooves. He smiled at me and said "By the look on your face and the fact that you cant even speak can mean two things. Either you will be an amazing father, or a horrible one. Hopefully a good one" He turned to leave and said "I'll be back in two minutes to give her the tests and clean her up. I'll also get the papers for the birth certificate." I stared in her eyes as she cried and after about five minutes, she stopped and looked back and smiled. I could not handle the amount of happiness I was feeling at this point. I held her to my wife and she held her for a while I dreamily stared at her. Eventually the doctor took her to do his tests and such, and when he did I already felt terrible for letting another pony take my child. I remembered that he's a doctor and that I can trust him.

As the doctor started cleaning the blood and grime from my daughter, I realized that we had not decided a name yet. I pondered and pondered. I went into the deepest areas of my brain and searched for a name. It hit me. 'Rainbow Storm'.

I checked with my wife to see if it was a good name. She thought it was good, but she wanted it to be 'Cloudy Dash' like her mother.

"But Cloudy Dash is much better than Rainbow Storm!"

"Do you hear yourself? Rainbow Storm is a GREAT name!"

-Five minutes later

"Okay, lets have a compromise."

"Yeah, good idea"

"How does Dashing Storm sound?"

"No, That's too coltish"

"How about Rainy Storm?"

"You do realize that she is a FILLY right?"

"Hey, hey it's just an idea"

"I've got it...Rainbow Dash"

"Uhh, Rainbolt these names suck. Wait. What did you say?"

"Rainbow Dash"

"Hmm. I think I can settle with Rainbow Dash"

"Yeah, I like it"

There it was. My daughter. Rainbow Dash. My Dashie. She was perfect.

RAINBOW DASH- DAUGHTER OF RAINBOLT AND CLOUDY STORM was printed on her birth certificate.

Cloudy and I cuddled with her for the next couple hours while the doctors did all of the legal stuff. I honestly didn't realize how much time had passed until I woke up hours later.

"Sir, Mr. Rainbolt?"

"mmmm"

"Mr. Rainbolt, may I please speak to you? I'm from the Rainbow Factory to discuss your insurance"

My eyes instantly opened. A stallion with a weird looking green mane was tapping me. He wore a tie and glasses and a briefcase with papers sticking out of it in an extremely unorganized fashion was sitting next to his rear.

"HMMM? OHYEAH. SORRYBOUTTHAT"

"It's quite alright. May we please go into the hallway? I do not wish to wake the child or the mother. She's adorable by the way."

"Thank you! Okay, lead the way!"

I basically bounced into the hallway with an excessive amount of happiness.

"AHEM, Mr. Rainbolt, It appears that your insurance does not cover....um....Anything."

"WHAT? WHO ARE YOU AGAIN?"

"I'm Inky Quill. Again, I'm from the Rainbow Factory, and I'm here to tell you that since your recent loss of a job, you will not be able to cover these payments. I'm very sorry."

My heart fell to my hooves. No. Through my hooves and through the floor. Even through the clouds and down to the little town below. I felt my heart smash to pieces as it hit the ground.

"WHAT? LOSS OF A JOB? I HAVE WORKED AT THE RAINBOW FACTORY FOR FIVE YEARS NOW! I HAVEN'T BEEN FIRED!"

A grey Pegasus stallion with strange derpy eyes crashed through door on a wheelchair spontaneously startling everypony.

"Oops, I just don't know what went wrong! Oh yeah! Letter for a Mr. Rainbolt! From the Rainbow Factory!."

He gave me the letter and clumsily waddled out the door knocking over many items. I hastily opened the letter and read it impulsively.

To a Mr. Rainbolt,

We are sorry to inform you that the Rainbow Factory has lost a lot of money in the past year because of lack of efficiency and too many frequently occurring accidents. We have been forced to lay off many of our work force to keep our budget under control. We regret to inform you that you are one of those workers. You will receive compensation for a week after you leave, but we cannot offer more money because of the tight budget.

Thank you again for your service.

-Glaze, CEO of the Rainbow Factory

I could do nothing but stare. I read the date printed at the top of the letter.

"WHAT? THIS LETTER WAS WRITTEN THREE WEEKS AGO? I NEVER EVEN RECEIVE MY COMPENSATION!"

They derpy grey Pegasus returned through the window this time and yelled

"WHOOPSIE! I forgot to give you this" he said as he handed me a small box the size of hat box. "It's also from the Rainbow Factory"

He left, and I tore open the box and counted the numerous gold coins inside.

"hundred one, hundred two..........ONLY FOUR HUNDRED BITS? THIS WILL ONLY LAST A MONTH AT MOST!

At this point I started to panic. What if I had to leave my nice home and live on the streets? What if I'm forced to sell drugs for money? OR EVEN WORSE. WHAT IF I HAVE TO GIVE MY DAUGHTER AWAY? I began to sob my eyes out. I guess Cloudy heard me from the room because she floated out and saw me on the ground crying.

"Honey? WHATS WRONG?"

She woke Dashie from her sleep and she began to cry. She turned to Inky and gave him a death stare.

"What have you done to my husband?"

"N-n-nothing! I swear! I just informed him about his insurance!"

Cloudy picked up the wet piece of paper with her free hoof and read it. She too began to cry.

"I'm sorry, but I must take my leave" Inky said as he quickly galloped out of the hospital before the mare killed him.

I found a job opening after two weeks of struggling. The baby seems to get weaker an skinnier every day. We quickly exhausted our 400 bits to buy things for the baby. Formula, diapers and whatnot. We have been forced to take from our savings just to survive. I fear that even our savings will not last long with the new member in the household. We weren't rich in the first place, but we were happy. Oh we were happy. Smiles never faded from our faces when the baby was around. We didn't want to raise a depressed child, we wanted to raise a happy one.

I was looking in the newspaper for job openings while Cloudy rationed out the limited coffee. It would be our last cup for possibly weeks or months. we tried to savor it the best we could, but it was gone as fast as it came. As I read a article about some new "Wonderbolts" group a light bulb went off in my head.

"Honey, I'm going to join the Wonderbolts"

"The what?"

"The Wonderbolts. A new flying team or something. The salary is decent and all you need to do is be a good flyer! I was the fastest stallion all through middle school and high school!

"GOOD! THATS GREAT!" She ran to him and gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "When are tryouts?"

"Ummm....It says here, they are accepting new recruits.....TODAY AT NOON!

"What? noon? that's in an hour! hurry up and eat your breakfast and go be the best flyer in Equestria!"

"YEAH!"

I gobbled down my breakfast and practically burst down the door trying to not be late. I flew as fast as I could to the training facility on the edge of Cloudsdale. I could already see the line of new recruits at the door. There weren't many recruits. There were like six or seven. I landed at the back of the line behind a filly who looked about 12 or 13. she had a mane that looked like it was on fire. She felt me land and turned around. She gave me a quick glance and lazily responded

"You'll never make it. Too old."

"Excuse me? I'm 20. Still young"

"HA! What a joke. Get out of here before I humiliate you."

Damn, this kid was starting to piss me off.

"NEXT"

The annoying brat turned to me and said

"MY TURN! WATCH AND LEARN GRAMPS!"

"good luck" I muttered

"I wont need it"

"I hope you crash" I said even quieter

"What?"

"Nothing"

She was told to do a couple tricks and take a speed test. She aced the speed test, and even broke an academy record or something, but when she was doing a reverse twist freefall landing, she landed flat on her face. I don't remember ever laughing harder at anything in my life.

"NEXT"

As she took the walk of shame, I turned to her and said

"Hey kid"

"What?" she sniffled

"Get out of here before I humiliate you"

"I HATE YOU"

"Vice versa"

She stomped away crying softly, and I laughed like an evil bastard.

"Hehe, dumb kid"

"NEXT"

Oh crap! I flew over to the judge tables and asked what I needed to do.

"well, first do the speed test."

"Okay"

I moved over to the yellow tape marking the start and finish line and got ready to fly.

"READY? SET. GO!!"

I took off like a rocket and before I knew it, I had circled around the entire facility instead of the small portion I was supposed to by accident.

"WHAT? HOW DID HE? 12.4 seconds? THATS FASTER THAN THAT SPITFIRE FILLY! BESIDES HE WENT ALL AROUND THE FACILITY!"

They were all amazed at my speed and agility. I guess I still got it.

I finished the stunts they asked me to preform and they all applauded. I'm in! "I AM A WONDERBOLT!"

I rushed home with my new uniform and some money they had given me for my struggles after hearing my life story in the interview. I rushed inside the house to find Cloudy sitting with Dashie on the couch.

"LOOK DASHIE! DADA IS BACK! how did it go honey?"

I said nothing as I puled out my uniform and tossed the bag of bits in front of her. I don't think I have ever been hugged so fiercely before.