Home Sweet Home

by ACTASAP

Rating: teen
Tags: Thunderlane, Main 6, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Rainbow Dash, Comedy, Other, Romance, Sex, Slice of Life
Length: 28632

Rainbow returns home for a three month vacation from the Wonderbolts, where she has to adjust to family life, including the responsibilities of motherhood.

After years of training and determination, Rainbow Dash has finally achieved her dream. She, along with her husband, Thunderlane, have been accepted into the Wonderbolts, quickly becoming fan favorites. Everything was going exactly as planned, so Rainbow felt unprepared when she received the news that she was pregnant.

Rainbow was certain that this was the end of her career, until Thunderlane offered to resign from the Wonderbolts to take care of their child. This allowed her to remain a Wonderbolt and over time she rose up in the ranks and became second-in-command.

However, the success of her career let her avoid the responsibilities of parenthood. So when Spitfire give her a three month vacation, Rainbow Dash will have to adjust to family, and forced to confront her fears and insecurities about being a mother.

This story takes place after all my other fics, including Come Fly With Me.

Special thanks to Allonso Bronyguy fro doing the cover art and for the editing.

Published 2014-12-11 20:10:02 UTC
Last updated 2015-08-21 18:34:23 UTC

Prologue

Rainbow Dash let out a long, bored, sigh as she sat in the chair outside of Spitfire’s office. She always hated waiting to see her superior officer, it made her feel like a foal who was waiting to see the principal. The Wonderbolts had just gotten back from a four month tour across all of Equestria, so she was anxious to get back to her Wonderbolt suite to get some rest.

After ten minutes of waiting, a cadet finally emerged from Spitfire’s office, letting Rainbow know it was her turn to be seen. She stretched her limbs for a brief moment before finally heading into the office of the only pony who outranked her.

“You wanted to see me ma’am?” Rainbow said as she entered the room.

“Yes, I wanted to talk to you,” Spitfire told her in a friendly voice, letting Rainbow know she wasn’t in trouble.

“With all due respect ma'am, it’s been a long trip and I would like to get some sleep before we have this talk.”

“It will only take a second. Please take a seat.” Rainbow knew there was no way of postponing this so she sat in the chair in front of the desk.

“How’s your family?” Spitfire asked her teammate and friend with a warm smile.

“They’re good,” was all Rainbow said. Her eyes shifted around the room as she search for any inspiration for a new topic.

“What’s new with them?” Spitfire asked before Rainbow could change the subject.

“Not much to really talk about. Thunderlane’s still the stallion I fell in love with and Silverwing’s doing fine for a growing young boy,” Rainbow answered as best she could, but she noticed that her commanding officer’s smile started to fade.

“Rainbow, when’s the last time you saw your family?” She asked in a more serious tone.

“Well we were just on that tour of Equestria for four months, but a week before that they stopped by headquarters for their monthly visit. So four months ago, but now that we’re back I’ll tell them to come by for another visit sometime soon,” Rainbow assured her.

“That won’t be necessary. I think it’s time you take a vacation,”

“Thank you ma’am, but I don’t need a vacation at the moment,” Rainbow told her commanding officer who frowned at her words.

“Rainbow, why don’t you want to spend time with your son?” Spitfire bluntly asked. Rainbow jerked her head back in surprise and raised an eyebrow at the yellow mare.

“Where is this coming from?!” Rainbow asked, not even bothering to try to be formal.

“Well you haven’t taken a vacation since you’ve returned from your maternity leave three years ago,” Spitfire pointed out.

“I take time off for the holidays and for Silverwing’s birthday!” Rainbow angrily reminded her, while glaring.

“You take time off for the major holidays, and even then it’s only for a day or two. Don’t forget, I’m at those Hearth’s Warming parties Applejack hosts on her farm and I mostly see you interacting with your friends but I rarely see you interacting with your son. I’m glad you take time off to see your son on his birthday, but you’d be pretty heartless not to,” Spitfire’s commented, which only intensified Rainbow’s glare.

“My son is busy catching up with his friends too. Besides, Silverwing and I spend a lot of time together on Hearth’s Warming morning, so I think we’re allowed some time with our friends.” Rainbow huffed defensively, but Spitfire just sighed at this.

“Rainbow, you’ve only taken three days off this year. One for your son’s birthday, one for your wedding anniversary, and one for Scootaloo’s graduation. I think you’re due for a vacation,” Rainbow’s glare soften as her friend spoke to her with a calm voice

“I appreciate your concern, I really do, and a two week vacation would be nice and relaxing but-”

“Three months.” Spitfire’s said, cutting the cyan mare off, who stared at her as if she had said the sky was green.

“Wait, what?!”

I’m giving you three months instead of the typical two weeks. I feel like you’ve earned it.” Spitfire took a deep breath, anticipating another long discussion with Rainbow Dash.

“The Wonderbolts need my services, I can’t leave them for that long. It’s also better for my family if I stay here too. Don’t forget, Thunderlane is a stay-at-home dad, so they rely on me for income. If I don’t provide for them, they could lose our house and be forced to live on the streets, begging every pony passing by for even the tiniest scrap of food. Do you want my family to starve?!” Rainbow placed her front hooves firmly on the desk and stared at her with furrowed brows. Spitfire just rolled her eyes at her friend’s melodramatic display and gently nudged her hooves off her desk..

“You just came back from a world tour that lasted for four months, I think you have enough money to give your family; not to mention the money you got from all your merchandise.” It seemed like everyday there was a new contract to sign to put her face on something. This led many of her teammates to believe that she was the most popular Wonderbolt, or at least the most marketable.

“What if there’s some kind of emergency? You’ll need the fastest flyer in Equestria to help out with the situation,” Rainbow said with a smug smile and closed eyes.

“You are one of the best flyers we’ve got and you’ve earned your rank of second-in-command, but we’ll be fine without you for three months. Besides, I think your family, especially your son, needs you more,” Spitfire assured her.

“My family understands how demanding my job is and they’re fine with the occasional visit. It’s just like how my mom died giving birth to me, so my dad had to spend a lot of time working to provide for us. I spent a lot of time at daycare or over at a friend’s house, but I didn’t mind, it just made the time I got to spend with him even more special. I’d say my son is more fortunate than I was at his age, since he has at least one parent who’s always around.”

“Yes, but I’m sure you would have loved having your dad around more often, just as I’m sure your son would enjoy having you at home for a while. I’ve seen the way he acts around you whenever him and Thunderlane visit and how clingy he is to you. Even when he’s surrounded by the Wonderbolts, a dream of almost every pegasus child his age, he only cares about being close to his mother. That kid idolizes you and he’d love to have you back home, please don’t disappoint him,” Spitfire pleaded.

Rainbow refused to make eye contact with Spitfire as she used her right foreleg to give her left one an uneasy rub. Her face portrayed a mixture of guilt, hesitation, and even a bit of fear, which she quickly tried to replace with a look of frustration before looking at her friend again.

“I don’t know why we’re even discussing this, Skinflint will never allow me to take a three month vacation anyway,” Rainbow said as she lifted herself out of the chair and headed for the door.

Skinflint was a strict manager and cheap when it came to the business side of things. To his credit though, his penny-pinching ways were apparently effective since the Wonderbolt’s profits had increased ever since he took over as their manager. Most of the time he would even attend the parties they’d have after their shows to unwind and have a tankard of cider. So he could be cool, but his main focus with the Wonderbolts was profit and it wasn’t profitable to have your biggest star take a three month vacation.

“I already got his permission to give you this vacation.”

Rainbow stopped dead in her tracks when she said that and slowly turned her head, her mouth slightly agape.

“H-How did you get him to agree to this?”

“I have to train the new recruits, without pay,” Spitfire sighed. Rainbow remembered that the yellow mare was the one who trained her and her husband when they attended the Wonderbolt Academy. However, when she mentioned this to the captain back when she first joined, she told the cyan mare how much she disliked training the cadets. She had always thought of it more as annoying menial work, and she especially hated all the paperwork that came with it.

“.....Y-you didn’t need to do that for me,” Rainbow meekly said.

“If this is what it takes to make you realize that both you and your family needs this, then yes I did,” Spitfire said with a mix of firmness and softness.

Rainbow was speechless. Her captain, her friend, was willing to do a job she barely tolerated just so she could have a three month vacation. Words could not describe the cyan mare’s gratitude, so instead she tried cracking a joke instead to break the uncomfortable silence that filled the room.

“On the bright side, Skinflint probably won’t send you to any more meetings with Ms. Harshwhinny,” Rainbow chuckled at her own joke but Spitfire just frowned.

“I keep telling you, she’s not as bad as you make her out to be,” Spitfire scolded her, causing Rainbow to roll her eyes.

Recently, Ms. Harshwhinny had been interested in sponsoring the Wonderbolts in exchange for special shows at the Equestria Games. Since Spitfire was the captain, she was the one who usually met with her.

At first, Spitfire couldn’t stand these meetings. She’d always complained about her grumpy demeanor and her strict standards for professionalism. After a while though, the yellow mare actually started to return from her meetings with a more upbeat attitude, claiming that she got Ms. Harshwhinny to loosen up a little.

“Yeah yeah, that’s what you keep telling me,” Rainbow waved a dismissive hoof. “Except every time she comes to our training camps she’s still the same strict and uptight mare I remember working with years back. It also seemed, at least to me anyway, that there was some tension between you two.”

Spitfire paused for a moment, as if she was hesitant to respond to this. “I don’t know if you’re doing this on purpose, but we’re getting off topic.”

Rainbow frowned at this, wondering if her mind really was subconsciously trying to avoid talking about this vacation.

“You really think I need this vacation?” Rainbow asked.. It was more of a rhetorical question, but Spitfire answered anyway.

“Even though I’ve been a Wonderbolt longer than you, you’ve taught me so much, even before you were a bolt. One of those things was to be loyal to yourself and to your beliefs, and I truly believe you and your family need this.”

Rainbow Dash let out a defeated sigh. After what Spitfire did for her, there was no way she could come up with any more excuses as to why she couldn’t take this vacation, it would only prove her point that she was avoiding this. Besides, even if she wouldn’t admit it to her friend, she really did miss her friends and family.

“Well then, I guess I’ll be seeing you in three months.”

Rainbow drooped her head down after exiting Spitfire’s office as she sluggishly walked through the halls. She didn’t lift up her head until she had reached her own office. Once inside she grabbed a nearby duffel bag and made her way over to her desk to pack various things,but when she got to the pictures on her desk she paused for a moment to admire them all with a smile on her face.

First was a picture of her and her friends on one of the many picnics they used to have before she became a Wonderbolt. Every now and then, she’d get a care package from her friends with a letter explaining what’s been new with them or what’s happening in Ponyville. She was hoping this vacation would also give her some time to spend with them, though she didn’t think that would be a problem with Applejack since their sons were best friends with each other.

The next one she looked at was a triple picture frame, each one containing pictures from her wedding. The first was a picture of her and Thunderlane sharing their first kiss as husband and wife. The second was a standard wedding photo of the couple holding each other close with a bright smile on their face. The third was similar to the second but it included their family members, his parents, her dad, Rumble, and even Scootaloo. Rainbow’s mind drifted for a moment as she remembered how happy she was when she heard her surrogate sister had gotten together with her brother-in-law.

However, the last picture made Rainbow’s smile fade. It was a family photo that her husband and son had taken but since she wasn’t around her son held up a picture of her as if she was in the photo too. She was touched by this, of course, but it also made her see Spitfire point about needing this vacation.

After packing each photo, Rainbow closed up the duffel bag and put it over her shoulders. With a heavy heart, she turned off the lights in her office as she exited and locked the door behind her. Then she headed in the direction of the mess hall to inform her teammates of her vacation.

There were some nights where it would be a struggle for Rainbow to fall asleep and it seemed tonight was going to be one of those nights. She tried sleeping in different positions, sleeping on more than one pillow, and flipping her matress over, but none of it seemed to work. She was even desperate enough to try counting sheep, but she only got to 14 before giving it up. To make matters worse it was a cold October night and even her heavy blanket couldn’t keep her from shivering. After an hour of frustration, the cyan mare lifted herself out of bed and made her way to the kitchen, thinking a late-night snack would help.

Her fridge was mostly emptied due to the fact that she wasn’t a very good cook and she usually ate out. There was still a little bit of food though, most of which she planned on packing tomorrow morning and taking home with her, and after a quick scan, she found some carrots and grabbed one. She took a seat at her table to eat her snack, alone with her thoughts.

She tried to think of the bright side of this vacation; like seeing her family and friends again or just being able to relax on a nice, puffy cloud, but Spitfire’s words from earlier were also buzzing in her mind. As much as she hated to admit it, her friend was right, she was intimidated by motherhood.

Thunderlane had asked her about the possibility of having children when they were engaged and once again after they got married, but both times she told him she wasn’t ready for that yet. They had both finally achieved their dream of becoming Wonderbolts and they quickly became fan favorites due to their gimmick of being a married couple that performs their routines together. Their careers were on the rise, so there was no time to even think about the idea of children.

They were still sexually active though, but she was taking emergency contraception pills to prevent pregnancy. One day, however, her and Thunderlane had overslept and needed to meet up with the other Wonderbolts before they left for their show in Fillydelphia, and in their hurry she forgot to pack her pills. Unfortunately, they didn’t realize this until it was too late.

She still remembered how nervous and terrified she was when the doctor told her she was pregnant. Thunderlane’s first reaction was to fly around the room shouting ‘I’m going to be a dad’. She wished she could’ve been as enthusiastic as her husband but her mind could only focus on how unprepared for this she was.

Her career as a Wonderbolt had just begun, a career that she dreamed of having since she was a foal, and now she felt it was coming to an end. She wasn’t sure how, or if, she could balance motherhood with her job, especially since her job required her to travel around Equestria. She did her best to keep this fear hidden but her husband could see right through her. One night, Thunderlane confessed to her that he knew she was scared of having this baby and what it would do to her vocation, so he decided to resign from the Wonderbolts after the baby was born, so he could take care of him. He was giving up his dream job so she could keep hers. She was speechless, she didn’t know how to express her gratitude other than wrapping her hooves around him and throwing her lips against his.

Once their son was born, Thunderlane announced to the public that he would be leaving the Wonderbolts when his wife was ready to return. Rainbow even made a surprise appearance during his final show and the two got to perform one last routine together. She had always felt a little guilty about staying with the Wonderbolts, while her husband became a stay-at-home dad for their son. There were times where she thought about taking a long vacation, like Spitfire was making her do now, so she could be there for her son, but she never had the courage to go through with it.

Her first experience with motherhood during her maternity leave wasn’t exactly the most pleasant experience. If it wasn’t for some assistance from her friends and husband, she wasn’t sure how she would have gotten through it. She lost count of how many times his crying would wake her up in the middle of the night as she’d struggle to figure out what he needed. Then there was the diapers, she shuddered as she thought of the horrible stench that attacked her nostrils while she was changing him.

She couldn’t help but laugh at the irony, she had helped save Equestria from numerous threats and performed many death defying daredevil stunts, yet it was motherhood that she was afraid of. Then again, she remembered a time when she was scared of a serious relationship with Thunderlane. It wasn’t until she had a talk with his brother and realized just how much she really cared for him, and now they were happily married, even if it was a long-distance marriage. She really did love her son too, and she enjoyed the time they spent together whenever they visited each other.

Whether he was visiting her at the Wonderbolts training camp or she was visiting him at home, she always made sure to play with him and show him some tricks she would be performing for her next show. However, spending that much time playing with him also allowed her to avoid most of her motherly responsibilities, which she preferred since she liked to consider herself the cool, fun parent while Thunderlane was the more responsible one, yet still fun in his own way. She knew she wasn’t going to be able to do that this time though, but it couldn’t be that hard. After all, she was Rainbow Dash, the fastest flyer in all of Equestria and second-in-command of the Wonderbolts, so childcare should be no problem for her. Although, she wouldn’t be able to do anything if she didn’t get some sleep soon.

She had finished her carrot so she crawled back in bed to resume her nightly struggle of trying to get comfortable. She continued to toss and turn throughout the night until it eventually tired her out and sleep finally overtook her.

First Day

Rainbow Dash leaned her head forward as she flew closer to Ponyville, checking to see how far she was from her destination. She could see the small town from this distance so she estimated that it would take her a few more minutes to arrive home.

She had actually gotten a decent nights’ sleep last night, something that had not been as common for her as she’d like. However, she also didn’t get up until 10 in the morning, which was 3 hours later than she had planned on waking up, so she was in a hurry to leave. She had another carrot for a quick breakfast and then did some last-minute packing of food and other little trinkets around her suite. After a half hour she had finally left her suite and headed back home.

Once she had flown into Ponyville it didn’t take her long to spot her family’s house. She remembered how hesitant she was to move into Thunderlane’s house on the ground. He ended up convincing her by reminding her that if they lived on the ground then Scootaloo could come visit them, since she had recently found out that her wings would never be strong enough for flight. Visiting her idol had really helped the heartbroken mare come to terms with her handicap, and to Rainbow, that was more than worth moving to a home on the ground.

She dove down and landed just a few inches away from the front door, but found herself frozen in place. She was ordering herself to knock on the door but her hoof just wouldn’t obey. She was beginning to question if making her trip home a surprise was such a good idea. They might not be home right now, they might be doing something important at the moment, they could even be on their own trip. It seemed to her that the best solution was to leave a note on the door and come back later to see if the note was gone, then she’d know they’re fine with her coming home.

Rainbow was about to take off to see her friends instead but she came to a halt once she realized what she was doing. She was letting her nervousness get the best of her, something she told herself she wouldn’t do last night. She turned herself around and marched back to that door, but froze in place again as she approached, staring blankly into space. Finally, she raised her hoof in the air, took a deep breath, and then counted to three.

1….

‘You’ve got to do this’.

2….

‘You can’t keep letting your worries get the best of you’.

3.

‘Time to stop running’.

Her hoof made contact with the wooden door three times and then waited patiently for an answer. After a few seconds she could hear hoofsteps approaching the door, each one felt like its own earthquake that was about to swallow her up. The door slowly creaked open and a dark gray stallion stuck his head out. His yellow eyes went wide with shock once he saw who was at the door and the blank expression on his face quickly turned into a warm smile, one she happily returned.

“Hey,” he greeted her with a voice barely above a whisper, as he opened the door wider.

“Hey,” she greeted back.

Rainbow couldn’t hold it in anymore, she rushed forward and wrapped her hooves around her husband, pulling him into a passionate kiss. Thunderlane wasted no time returning his wife’s kiss, as if he was just seconds away from doing the same thing. He gently caressed her back as she ran her hoof along his mane, also lightly pushing his head forward to make the kiss deeper. They broke the kiss a few seconds later but they still held each other in a tight embrace with affectionate smiles on their faces.

“Daddy, you said you were going to-” Another voice said but quickly cut himself off. Thunderlane released his grip on his wife and she diverted her attention to the three-year-old colt who was now staring at her with his mouth slightly agape. He had a light gray coat, almost like silver, magenta eyes and a rainbow mane just like his mother’s.

“MOMMY!” The colt ran to her as fast as he could and then leapt in the air, tackling her. Rainbow fell backwards on the ground out of surprise, while Silverwing stood on her chest like a dog might do. She held the little colt in her hooves and gave him an affectionate rub on his head.

“Hey there squirt, did you miss me?” She playfully asked.

“Yeah I missed you a lot. I missed you like this much,” The little colt said as he stretched his fore hoofs apart by a foot, something both of his parents silently chuckled at.

“Is that so, we’ll I’ve missed you this much,” Rainbow imitated her son but she was able to stretch her hooves out further apart due to being bigger.

“Oh yeah, well I really meant to say that I missed you this much,” Silverwing tried spreading his hooves further apart but he shortly reached his limit and started to lose his balance. Thankfully Rainbow was quick enough to catch him in her hooves before he fell off her.

“Don’t hurt yourself kid, let’s just both agree that the amount we missed each other is indefinable,” Rainbow’s response made the colt’s head tilt in confusion.

“It means we missed each other a lot.” Rainbow could help but be amused by her son’s naivety. This must be how Twilight felt whenever she used big words around her and the rest of their friends that they didn’t understand.

“Oh, OK. So what are we going to do today mommy?” Silverwing eagerly asked with excitement in his voice. “Go to the lake? Play some games? Tell me stories?”

“Maybe a little later mommy could show us some of her tricks for her upcoming show,” Thunderlane suggested as Silverwing nodded in approval.

“I would, but I actually don’t have a show coming up so I don’t have any new tricks to show you.” Thunderlane jerked his head back and cocked an eyebrow at her response, but he quickly replaced his surprised expression with a smile.

.”Well it’s nice to hear that you have a break after your big summer tour, but I could’ve sworn I saw a Wonderbolts show scheduled for next month. Did they cancel it?”

“No that’s still going on but I’m not going to be a part of it. I’m on vacation,” Rainbow informed her family. Thunderlane stared at her with a skeptical, yet playful expression.

“You took a vacation? Don’t get me wrong, both Silver and I would be more than happy to have you home for two weeks but that seems-”

“Three months,” Rainbow interrupted, causing her husband’s joking demeanor to quickly disappear.

“W-What did you say?” He meekly asked.

“I had enough vacation time saved up for three months, so you’re stuck with me for awhile.” She looked to the three-year-old colt in her hooves, who wore an expression that she’d describe as pure joy and adoration. Thunderlane, on the other hoof, looked to be in a state of shock as he just stood there frozen in place. It almost seemed like he was about to faint at any moment. Just as Rainbow was beginning to grow concerned about her husband, his lips started to quiver as a small smile started to form on his face and it was growing bigger with each passing second.

“That’s wonderful. How did you ever get Skinflint to agree to that?”

“Thank Spitfire for that, she pulled some strings to get me this three month vacation.”

Thunderlane gently lowered himself to the ground, laying next to his wife and child. Before they could ask him what he was doing, the dark gray colt threw his hooves around them and pulled them into a group hug. Rainbow leaned her head forward and nuzzled her husband, letting out a content sigh. She started to close her eyes to enjoy this moment even more, but then they suddenly shot open once she had finally noticed something, her husband’s girth.

Whenever she got to see her family again she had noticed that her husband would occasionally put on a few pounds. She never really thought much of it back then, but now she would actually consider him pudgy. It was disappointing to see him gain this much weight, especially when she thought back to his more athletic, muscular build back when they were both Wonderbolts. She continued to stare at his gut until Thunderlane finally pulled away from the hug and lifted himself up.

“I was about to make some lunch before you got here, I better get back to that. I’ll leave you two alone to catch up some more.” Thunderlane’s happy expression quickly became one of concern when he noticed his wife staring blankly at him.

“Is something wrong Rainbow?” He asked, offering her his hoof. A slight smile returned to Rainbow’s face as she took his hoof and lifted herself up.

“No, everything’s fine. I guess my mind just wandered off for a moment,” her excuse was technically true. Thunderlane retained his concerned look but he quickly switched back to a happy expression. He then gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and then headed back inside.

‘Everything is fine’ she told herself. Sure, Thunderlane might have gained some weight but he was still the pony she loved and she still considered him attractive, so there was no problem. Still, it wouldn’t hurt him to lose a few pounds, she’d have to come up with some kind of exercise program for him.

Rainbow’s thoughts were interrupted when she felt something tugging at her right foreleg. She looked down and saw Silverwing struggling to pull her towards the house.

“Come on mommy, I want to show you my room.” He said, grunting as he tried pulling on her hoof. As cute as it was to watch the little colt try to move his mother, Rainbow knew he could hurt himself doing this, so she walked with him into the house. She still let him hold her hoof though so he could feel like he was actually pulling her upstairs to his room.

As soon as the cyan pegasus stepped into her son’s bedroom, her jaw hit the floor and her eyes darted all around the room. The walls were decorated with several Rainbow Dash posters. His bed was covered with the Rainbow Dash bedsheets and a little plush toy of her was tucked under the covers. Next to the bed was a dresser where a Rainbow Dash alarm clock and Rainbow Dash lamp sat on top of. It seemed everywhere she looked there was some piece of merchandise of her in this room. To say this was intimidating was quite the understatement.

“Isn’t all this stuff awesome?” she heard her son say.

“Yeah, it’s really something,” Rainbow Dash said, doing her best not to sound timid or cowed.

“There’s another thing I wanna show you that’s just as cool.” Silverwing flew over to a small bookcase in his room. Rainbow recognized the book her son pulled out from the lower shelf, it was a scrapbook that Thunderlane had begun making when they first started performing for the Wonderbolts. With the book in his hooves, the silver colt flew to his bed and gently plopped down. He patted the spot next to him on the bed and his mother sat on her haunches in that spot.

“This is a scrapbook of newspaper stories and pictures about you that I made,” Silverwing happily told her.

“Really? You made this all by yourself?” Rainbow asked as she playfully cocked an eyebrow at her son, causing him to slink back a little.

“Well, daddy helped a little,” The three-year-old colt shyly admitted. Rainbow Dash silently chuckled to herself before finally looking through the scrapbook. Even if she didn’t know her husband was the one who originally made this scrapbook, it would have been obvious just from looking at the first few pages. Those were the pages that contained newspaper articles and pictures about the time her and Thunderlane used to perform together, there was even an article about her pregnancy and his resignation after their son was born.

She continued to flip through the book until she got to the articles and photos from when she starting performing by herself. When she returned to the Wonderbolts after her maternity leave, Thunderlane had asked her if she could mail them the local newspaper from whatever town her show was in so they could make this scrapbook. As she looked through the scrapbook there was one review from a Manehattan show that caught her eye, with the headline “Rainbow Dash adds an extra splash of color to Wonderbolts show”. This one was especially great since it featured a picture of her signature move, the sonic rainboom.

“That one’s my favorite,” Silverwing excitedly stated as his wings fluttered.

“Yeah, I like that one too.”

She still remembered the first time she performed the sonic rainboom for her son during his first birthday. She remembered how far his jaw had fallen and how his eyes were fixated on the colors in the sky and he had the same reaction when she performed it on his 2nd and 3rd birthdays too. No matter how many Wonderbolt shows Rainbow had done, she never felt as much pride in what she did as when she performed for Silverwing.

“Your sonic rainbooms are so awesome. Now that you’re here you can do them everyday!” Silverwing wings fluttered even faster, lifting him an inch off of his bed. The cyan mare gave her son an uneasy grin.

“Maybe I could do a few of them for you, but I don’t know about everyday.” It felt like somepony had just stabbed her in the heart as soon as she saw her son’s smile start to droop.

“Why not?”

“Because that’s something special I do for your birthday and if I do it too often then it won’t be special anymore and you’ll get tired of it,” Rainbow explained, but her son frantically shook his head at this.

“No I won’t, I could never get tired of the sonic rainboom.”

“You say that now but trust me, it will happen. It reminds me of when I was a foal in flight school and how there was this one student who had this awesome, jaw dropping trick she would do, but that was the only trick she knew. She would constantly perform it and we enjoyed it the first few times but after a while it just became boring. Eventually we realized that she was just doing this to try and be cool, but repeating the same move over and over again was actually making her uncool. So if I did the sonic rainboom every day not only would you get bored of it, but you’d also get bored of me too.”

Silverwing listened intensly to every word his mother spoke and by the end of it he was trembling. “No, I don’t want that tohappen. I don’t want to get bored of you mommy!”

“Don’t worry, I won’t let that happen. Like I said, I see no harm in doing a few, but I’ll space them out. That way you won’t get bored of them, or me,” Rainbow assured him as wrapped her wing around him. The gray colt breathed a sigh of relief and hugged his mother.

“Thanks, you’re the best mommy ever.” A small blush found its way onto Rainbow’s face along with a hearty smile.

“You’re a pretty awesome son too.” The three-year-old colt quickly lifted his head and stared at his mother with a twinkle in his eyes, as if the princesses themselves had praised him.

“Rainbow, Silver, lunch is ready. I made grilled cheese sandwiches.” The two pegasi’s ears perked up as they heard Thunderlane’s voice calling them. Silverwing immediately separated from his mother and hopped off his bed, rushing out of the room.

Rainbow took her time getting off of the bed as she grabbed the scrapbook and put it back on the shelf where it had been earlier. Before heading downstairs, she took one last look at all the merchandise of her that decorated the toddler’s room and sighed. Her son’s words from earlier about how she was the best mother ever echoed in her mind, she only hoped she could live up to his expectations.

When Rainbow made her way to the kitchen and took a seat at the table, she saw that Silverwing was already wolfing down his sandwich, much to Thunderlane’s dismay.

“Slow down son, this isn’t a race,” he advised him, but it mostly went ignored as the young colt only slowed down slightly. Thunderlane sighed and shook his head before turning to his wife and placed her sandwich in front of her.

“Before I forget, there’s someone else who wants to say hello to you.” She gave her husband a curious glance before he dashed off. Her eyes were fixated on the kitchen doorway, eagerly awaiting this surprise guest. After a few seconds, she finally saw a dark gray hoof gently pushing a tortoise into the kitchen. Rainbow’s face lit up when she saw her beloved pet and she bent down to give him eskimo kisses just like she used to.

“Hey there Tank. How’s the most awesomest pet in all of Equestria?” Tank replied by giving one of his trademark slow smiles.

It still felt weird for Rainbow to see her pet without the propeller attached to his shell. Unfortunately, the tortoise had a habit of crashing into things when he wore that propeller, which was quite hazardous when you had a young child around the house. So when Silverwing was born they removed it, another reason she was glad they owned a home on the ground. Although, Thunderlane had once mentioned to her that he would occasionally take Tank out for walks around town and put the propeller back on his shell.

Rainbow was so focused on Tank that she didn’t notice her son had finished eating his lunch until he hopped off his chair and started pulling her hoof again. “Wait till you see how fast I can fly,.”

“Hold on Silver, your mom hasn’t even finished eating lunch yet,” Thunderlane said.

“But I want mommy to see me fly. Can’t she just bring her lunch outside? Silverwing aked.

“No, you’re just going to have be patient. Mommy is going to be here for three months, so you can wait just a few more minutes,” Thunderlane firmly told his son, who responded by pouting.

“It’s OK, I don’t mind skipping lunch to see my son fly if he finished his lunch and did his stretching exercises. You have done your stretching exercises right?” Rainbow asked with a cocked eyebrow in an intimidating manner.

“.....Y-yes,” Silverwing answered with a cracked voice.

“Well that’s good to hear, because if you tried flying without stretching out your muscles you could hurt your wings and then you wouldn’t be able to fly for a long time.” Rainbow could hear her son let out a gulp when she mentioned that last part.

“Well maybe I could do a little more stretching, just so I don’t hurt myself.”

“While you’re doing that, I’m going to finish my sandwich and by the time I’m done you should be done too.” The young colt nodded at his mother’s words and then rushed outside.

“Remember, stay close to the house, don’t wander off,” Thunderlane added before Silverwing could run out the door

Rainbow gave a her husband a victorious smirk and sat back down at the table, finally taking a bite out of her grilled cheese sandwich.

“Interesting method,” Thunderlane said.

“I guesh I have a way wif kidsh,” Rainbow said after taking another bite.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full, you don’t want to set a bad example.” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes at Thunderlane’s teasing but she didn’t respond, focusing on her lunch instead.

After finishing her lunch, Rainbow went to go join her son outside but she stopped once she felt her husband’s hoof tapping her back. He stared at her in silence for a few seconds, as if he was trying to think of what to say to her.

“.....Keep a close eye on him, he tends to think he’s better than he actually is. Make sure he sticks to the basics, nothing advanced,” Thunderlane advised, but Rainbow cocked her eyebrow at this.

“Of course I’ll make sure he doesn’t do anything too advanced. Don’t worry, I got this.” Sure, she didn’t have as much parental experience as him but she thought he’d have a little more faith in her than that.

“I know you do, but when he’s flying he seems to forget just how young he is and with you here he might try to do something to impress you. That kid really looks up to you,” Thunderlane said with an apologetic tone, causing Rainbow’s expression to soften.

“I-I noticed he has a lot of my merchandise in his room.” Rainbow did her best not to sound meek or nervous when saying that.

“Yeah, whenever some company makes a new product of you they always send us one for free, so we have all of your merchandise. Although I must admit that we didn’t have room for everything so we have to keep some your stuff in boxes in the attic.” Rainbow felt like her jaw was about to hit the floor. She made a mental note to remember to read through her merchandise contracts a little more carefully for now on.

“Well, I probably shouldn’t keep Silverwing waiting much longer,” As eager as she was to end this conversation, she also didn’t want her son tiring himself out just from stretching.

“Let me take care of these dishes and then I’ll join you two outside.” Thunderlane collected the three plates from the table and placed them in the sink, while Rainbow exited the kitchen.

Before she headed outside, Rainbow made a quick stop to the bathroom to wash her hooves and face. After washing away any remaining traces of her lunch, the cyan mare opened up a nearby cabinet to get a small towel. However, she saw something in there that would have made her do a spit take if she had drank some water.

With shaky hooves she reached up and grabbed a small box labeled ‘The Rainbow Dash home pregnancy test’. The slogan said ‘Guaranteed to be 20% more accurate’ but in the corner of the box, in small text, it read ‘Not an actual guarantee’. She had only said ‘20% cooler’ once during the Wonderbolts show, so she was surprised that this was something her fans kept referencing.

‘I REALLY need to read my merchandise contracts more carefully,’ Rainbow thought to herself with a shudder.

Rainbow found her son just a few feet away from the front stoop, stretching his forelegs out as far as he could. His head shot up as soon as he heard the door opening and closing. “Am I done stretching mommy?”

“Yeah, I’d say you’re done but let’s wait for daddy. I’m sure he’d love to watch you fly too,” Rainbow suggested.

“OK,” Silverwing said with a disappointed sigh.

An awkward silence filled the air while they waited for Thunderlane to join them outside. Eventually Rainbow Dash grew uncomfortable with the silence and tried to start a conversation.

“So, how are you enjoying learning to fly with daddy?” she asked with genuine curiosity.

“It’s fine, but it would be so much cooler if you were teaching me.”

“You may be right, but your dad’s still pretty cool.”

“But he always stops me before I can do any cool moves.”

“Well maybe you’re not ready to do those cool moves yet.” Before Silverwing could respond, the front door opened up again and Thunderlane stepped out, gently nudging Tank out too.

“I’m surprised to see you’re not in the air yet Silver. Unless, you’re so fast that you already finished flying. Aw, that means I missed it,” Thunderlane let out a disappointed groan, but Rainbow could see that he was trying hard not to crack a smile.

“Naw, we didn’t even start yet, we were waiting for you,” Silverwing corrected him, clearly not understanding his dad’s sarcasm.

“Well now that daddy’s here, why don’t you show us how great of a flyer you are.” Rainbow took a seat next to Thunderlane, wrapping a wing around him and pulling him closer to her.

With an eager grin, Silverwing bent down for a few seconds before flapping his wings and pushing himself up, taking flight. Once he was in the air the young colt zipped forward, flying as fast as he could, stopping when he reached the third house on the right and then he turned around and flew in the opposite direction. Once again, he stopped after he passed three more houses and flew back in the direction he was previously flying towards, repeating his process. Every now and then he would perform a loop or dip down and fly at a lower angle before flying upwards again, but most of the time it was like watching a ping pong ball be bounced back and forward. His moves were not original or exciting in the slightest and his speed would be considered average for a foal his age, but nevertheless, his parents cheered for him and clapped their hooves.

“Nice job kid! I’d say that’s enough for today, so you can come down now,” Rainbow called out.

“In a minute,” Silverwing responded when he flew past them.

“Silverwing listen to your mother and get down here,” Thunderlane said with a strict voice.

“I will then daddy, I just want to do one more trick.” The three year old colt flew upwards until his parents could barely see him.

“Silverwing, get down here now! You know you’re not supposed to fly that high!” Thunderlane raised his voice but when he got no response his parents sat up, ready to go after their son. However, before they could take flight they finally saw their son coming down, but he was doing so at an alarming speed. Both parent’s eyes went wide with fear as they realized what he was doing.

“He’s trying to do a sonic rainboom!” Rainbow shouted as her and Thunderlane dashed into the air and blocked his path.

Silverwing tried to stop when he saw that his parents were in his way, but he had enough momentum that he crashed into his mother’s chest. Rainbow Dash quickly grabbed him before he could fall and then slowly lowered herself to the ground, carefully setting her son down. The silver colt stared at the ground, but from what Rainbow could see of his face it contained a mixture of embarrassment and soreness.

“What were you thinking trying to do that sonic rainboom?!” Rainbow exclaimed, sounding and looking angrier than she’d have liked to.

“You told me that if you did the sonic rainboom too often then I’d get bored of it. So I thought that if I did it then I wouldn’t get bored of it,” Silverwing responded with a few tears forming in his eyes.

Rainbow’s expression softened into on of guilt as she looked over to her husband. She expected him to be angry but his cocked eyebrow seemed to be out of confusion rather than indignation.

“Silver we’ve been over this, you have to learn the basics before you can do the kind of moves your mother does,” Thunderlane said with a sigh.

“I could’ve done it,” Silverwing mumbled.

“No, you could’ve hurt yourself. You’ve only just learned how to do loops two weeks ago, you’re not ready to do something like the sonic rainboom,” Thunderlane told him but the colt rolled his eyes at this.

“Your father’s right, you’re not ready to do a sonic rainboom.” Rainbow Dash knelt down so that she could be at eye level with her son while she spoke to him. “Give it some time and some more practice, then I’m sure you’ll be able to do it when you’re older.”

“But you were able to do a sonic rainboom at a young age,” Silverwing pointed out.

“Yeah, but I was still older than you when I first did it so I had a lot more flight practice. Remember how you weren’t able to stop yourself from falling when me and daddy got in your way? If you had trouble with coming to sudden stop, don’t you think you’d also have trouble making that sudden turn upwards to perform the sonic Rainboom?”

Silverwing’s ears drooped down and he looked away from his mother, refusing to answer her. Rainbow placed a forehoof under her son’s chin and gently lifted his head up so he could see the sympathetic expression on her face.

“I know how you feel, you made a mistake by trying to do something you weren’t ready for and you’re so embarrassed by it that you actually feel angry. Trust me, I’ve known that feeling plenty of times, especially when I was around your age,” Rainbow told him in a calm, gentle tone.

“Really?” Silverwing asked with disbelief.

“Sure, I’ve messed up so many of my stunts when I was younger that some of the other foals actually called me Rainbow Crash,” Rainbow admitted with a chuckle. She remembered how irritated she felt whenever somepony called her that, but now that she had accomplished so much she couldn’t help but laugh at those memories.

“We’ve all been through things like that. I can’t even begin to tell you about all my stupid mistakes and most of them were done trying to impress your mother. I remember this one time where we went on a camping trip and I tried to act all tough and macho because I didn’t want to look weak around her. However, acting tough like that only caused me to make even more stupid and embarrassing mistakes. Thankfully your mother didn’t think any less of me and accepted and loved me for who I was, not what I thought I could do,” Thunderlane said to his son as he gave him a comforting pat on the back..

“And he’s not the only one who did something stupid to try and impress me, your aunt Scootaloo did a similar thing on another camping trip. She tried so hard to prove to me how brave she was that she actually tried to stay awake all night so she wouldn’t have nightmares about the scary stories we told around the campfire. Being without sleep for that long caused her to do some stupid things, at one point she even fell down a waterfall, but thankfully yours truly saved her before she could fall to the bottom and hurt herself. After I rescued her, she confessed to me that she was trying to impress me so I’d take her under my wing, is that what you were trying to do too,” Rainbow asked.

“....Maybe a little,” Silverwing shyly admitted. Rainbow used her wing to pull her son closer to her so she could hold him in a small hug.

“You don’t have to do big, fancy tricks to impress me, you’re already an awesome son and I love you,” Rainbow Dash said as she nuzzled the little colt.

“Thanks mommy, I love you too.” Rainbow looked over at her husband who was giving her a proud smile. She knew he probably would have killed to have a camera right now to take a picture of this moment.

“It still would’ve been cool if I could’ve done the sonic rainboom. I really wanted to see it again,” Silverwing sighed but he didn’t sound too disappointed as he was a few minutes ago. Rainbow Dash released the gray colt from her hug and started stretching her legs.

“Yeah it would be cool to see the sonic rainboom over Ponyville, and I did say that it wouldn't’ hurt to do one every once and while…..Keep your eye on the sky.”

Before Silverwing or Thunderlane could say anything, Rainbow Dash was gone in a flash. She flew around several of the neighboring houses as if they were part of some obstacle course. This added a little extra flair and style to her flight but it also served as a bit of a warm-up for her stunt. After that she flew higher in the sky until her husband and son were barely visible and then she made a sharp downward turn.

Rainbow Dash loved the feeling of the wind rushing in her face as she plummeted down towards the ground. This was easily her favorite part of the trick because no matter how many times she did it it always felt exhilarating; it was quite the adrenaline rush. She could already feel herself breaking the sound barrier as a mach cone formed around her and soon enough an explosion of colors filled the sky and a rainbow trail followed her as she flew around the neighborhood.Out the corner of her eye, she could see a look of wonder and astonishment on her son’s face.

Rainbow’s eyes went wide when she suddenly felt this pain in her wings. She tried to ignore it but the pain in her wings only got worse with each flap.

“No, not again, not now,” Rainbow whispered to herself.

She hadn’t been entirely honest with her son about why she was hesitant to do the sonic rainboom when he asked her earlier. Sure, she was concerned that he would tire of it if she did it too frequently, but that wasn’t her only reason. During one of the Wonderbolt’s Summer Tour shows last month, Rainbow’s wings would ache when she finished her routines. She found this odd but she ignored it, figuring that she might have just pulled a muscle and that she just needed to rest. However, this continued to occur whenever she performed one of her signature stunts and the pain grew worse each time it happened.

If she had told Spitfire or Skinflint about it, they probably would have made her take a leave of absence from the team until she got better, so Rainbow kept it to herself. Now that she was forced to take a vacation anyway, maybe she’d have to see a doctor about this.

Her wings started to feel like they were cramping, she had to land now or else she’d crash. Her landing wasn’t as graceful as she’d like, but she still managed to slow herself down just enough to prevent skidding across the ground. Still, it wasn’t entirely easy for her and her legs felt a little sore afterwards, at least she hoped they were sore due to the landing.

Before she had time to muse over this any longer, Rainbow saw her son leaping towards her. He threw his small hooves around her neck, using his wings to keep him afloat.

“That was so awesome!!!” The three-year-old colt shouted. Her son’s admiration made it even easier for Rainbow to ignore her pain.

“Of course it was, I’d never disappoint my greatest fan,” Rainbow said with a smug smile. She looked over to her husband, expecting similar praise from him, but instead she noticed his face portrayed a look of concern.

“Are you feeling all right?” He asked her, but Rainbow quirked her eyebrow, feigning confusion.

“Yeah, why do you ask?”

“Well your landing was kinda sloppy, plus I noticed you weren’t flapping your wings as fast or as strong as you normally do.”

“Don’t worry about that, I guess I’m just a little more tired than I thought. Don’t forget, I did just fly all the way here from the Wonderbolt headquarters.” Rainbow realized just how flimsy her excuse sounded when she saw her husband’s puzzled expression.

The cyan coated mare bit her lip nervously as her mind raced trying to think of a more believable excuse. However, she was offered some relief when she heard a familiar voice calling her name.

“Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash.” The voice grew louder with each call. All three pegasi shifted their heads in the direction of the voice and soon enough, a pink furred and maned mare came bouncing along. Attached to her chest was a baby carrier with a white coated, brown haired filly, happily giggling as his mother bounced towards her friends. Rainbow thought the baby attached to her chest was the only reason her hyperactive friend didn’t pull her into a bone-crushing hug.

“Aunt Pinkie!” Silverwing cheered, letting go of his mother’s neck as he rushed to the pink mare, hugging her legs. Pinkie smiled down at the little colt and gave him a pat on the back. If it had been any other pony that her son had shown this much admiration and excitement for than Rainbow might have felt jealous, but Pinkie was considered a friend to all children.

“Aunt Pinkie, mommy’s back!

“I saw, it’s so exciting! As soon as I saw the sonic rainboom I knew one of the coolest mares in all of Equestria was back in Ponyville,” Pinkie said with great enthusiasm, with Rainbow slightly blushing at her friend’s praise.

“Hey Pinkie Pie! I’m happy to see you again too, and this must be Confetti. Your mom told me a lot about you in her letters.” Rainbow gently rubbed the baby’s chin, causing her to gurgle. “How old is she?”

“She’s eight months old. Isn’t that right my sweet little cupcake? “ The baby cooed in response before Pinkie turned her attention back to Rainbow Dash. ” I’m happy you finally get to meet her, I didn’t think you’d get to see her until our Hearth’s Warming Day party. Speaking of, when did you get back and why didn’t you tell me?” Pinkie asked.

“Well the Wonderbolts finally got back from their summer tour yesterday but they told me I had three months of vacation time saved up that I had to use. I just got back home about an hour ago,” Rainbow answered, bracing herself for Pinkie’s over the top reaction. The party mare’s eyes grew three times as big as she let out a long, drawn-out gasp, and after that she had a smile so big her face trembled.

“This will be the best three months ever, It’ll be just like old times! Come on, we’ve got to go tell the girls about this.”

“Sorry Pinkie, I’m anxious to see the girls again too, but I’m planning on spending today with my family.” Rainbow was expecting Pinkie’s mane to deflate and for her to go into another one of her depressed states. That’s why she was surprised to see that she had the same cheerful grin she almost always had.

“That’s all right, I understand, but we definitely have to get together sometime soon. Maybe the six of us could meet for breakfast tomorrow at Morrow’s diner.” Silverwing’s eye’s lit up and his tail started wagging, showing that he agreed with Pinkie Pie’s suggestion.

“That sounds nice, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that place,” Rainbow said.

“Really!? They have some of the best food ever!” Silverwing reacted the same way Rainbow might have if she heard that some pony didn’t know who the Wonderbolts were.

“It’s actually mine and Silverwing’s favorite place to eat. I could show you where it is,” Thunderlane said.

“Can we have breakfast there too, daddy?” Silverwing asked, his tail wagging in excitement.

“Sorry son, but this breakfast is just for your mom and her friends.” Thunderlane told him and he responded with a dejected groan and a drooped down head. Rainbow hated seeing her son feeling this down, but thankfully she thought of an idea.

“You guys could always sit at a different table if you really want to go,” Rainbow suggested, with Pinkie nodding in agreement.

“Can we daddy? Please,” Silverwing begged with doe eyes.

“Well if it’s all right with your mother than I don’t see why not,” After receiving his father’s approval, Silverwing let out a big “yes” as he hopped into the air fluttering his wings.

“How does 9 a.m. sound?” Pinkie asked.

“9 a.m. tomorrow sounds great. I can’t wait to see you all again,” Rainbow said.

“Can Aunt Pinkie stay and play ball with me and mommy?” Silverwing asked after coming back down to the ground.

“I’d love to little guy, but I really should go tell the rest of our friends about our breakfast tomorrow, then I gotta put Confetti down for her nap,” Pinkie gestured to her daughter who was already starting to doze off. “That does sound like fun though, we’ll have to do that some other time.”

The pegasi family waved goodbye to the pink mare until she was out of their sight. Rainbow could see that her son was trying hard not to look gloomy over his Aunt Pinkie leaving so soon.

“I’d still like to play ball with you, if that’s what you want.” Just as Rainbow expected, Silverwing’s face lit up at her invitation.

“My ball is in the backyard, race ya to it,” Silverwing said, kneeling down into a sprinting position.

“You’re on kid,” she replied with a competitive smirk, and with that the two pegasi were off. Of course, Rainbow knew she had to let her son win but that still didn’t ruin her fun, which came as a slight surprise to her.

“Hey, wait for me,” Thunderlane called out, joyfully chasing after his wife and son, leaving Tank behind. The tortoise barely lifted his right foreleg, in a typical slow tortoise fashion, before the dark gray pegasus came rushing back, scooping him up in his hooves and carrying him out to the backyard so he could be with the rest of the family.

“So the mean grumpy bear turned into a nice happy bear and he shared all of his jars of honey with the rest of the animals in the forest. The end,” Rainbow Dash gently closed the storybook her son had asked her to read before going to bed. Silverwing was snuggled comfy in bed with a weary smile on his face.

“I love that story,” Silverwing yawned.

“It was no Daring Do, but it had it’s moments.” What Rainbow had found most humorous was that Thunderlane actually bought him a book where the main character was a bear. Her husband had a fear of bears ever since their camping trip a few years ago.

“I have a lot of other cool books, I have one book about this big dog and one about a fish that looks just like your mane. I even have one with a turtle that actually races a bunny. You should read those.”

“I think one story is enough for tonight, but don’t forget, I’m here for the next three months so there will be plenty of time to read you those stories.”

“Mommy, I’m really happy you’re home.” Silverwing finally shut his eyes, missing his mother’s hearty smile.

“Yeah, me too. Sleep tight.” Rainbow gave her son a quick kiss on the forehead and pulled his covers up. She turned off the light on her way out, but not before taking one last glance at her sleeping son.

Rainbow slowly opened up her bedroom door, just in case Thunderlane was already asleep. Instead, she found him wide awake laying under the covers, waiting for her with a seductive grin as he patted the empty half of the bed. The cyan mare put on her own seductive look to match her husband’s and she slowly trotted over to their bed, crawling under the covers.

The pegasi couple wasted no time throwing their hooves around each other and pressing their lips together for a passionate kiss. His hooves roamed along her back while hers were wrapped tightly around his neck. Thunderlane suddenly broke their kiss only to place several smaller kisses on her neck. Rainbow let out a soft moan as she lifted her head, giving her husband easier access.

“I’ve missed you so much,” Thunderlane said softly between kisses. He placed one more kiss on the nape of her neck before moving up to her ear. Rainbow was forced to hold in a loud squeal that might have gotten Silverwing’s attention when she felt her husband lightly nibbling on her ear.

“I love you Dashie,” he whispered in her ear. He was about to kiss her again but he was suddenly pushed away by his wife, who was giving him an annoyed glare.

“I told you not to call me that, you know how much I hate that nickname. The worst part is that I can’t even think of some cute nickname to give to you as payback,” Rainbow Dash pouted.

“I always liked it whenever you called me Thunder, it makes me feel strong and proud,” Thunderlane commented with a puffed out chest.

“I don’t think you understand the point of payback. If it makes you feel strong and proud then it isn’t embarrassing, and it certainly isn’t cute,”

“I don’t know I always thought it was cute when you said ‘Oh Thunder you’re so big, you always make me feel so good,” Thunderlane did his best to mimic his wife’s voice, which Rainbow playfully rolled her eyes at.

“Remind me again why I married somepony as immature as you?” Rainbow jokingly asked.

“Hey, I’m more mature than you and who else is going to take care of Silverwing,” Thunderlane chuckled, but he stopped immediately once he noticed his wife’s smile fading.

“That’s true isn’t it?” Rainbow asked with a somber voice. Thunderlane’s ears flopped down and he placed a reassuring hoof on her shoulder.

“No, it’s not true at all. I was just trying to be funny, but I guess I just ended up being stupid,” he said as he gave the back of his head an uneasy rub.

“It is true, I don’t know the first thing about being a mom. Every time I visited home, including today, I kinda bluffed my way through it and look what happened. You warned me that he might try to do something dangerous that he wasn’t ready for, but I ignored it and because of that our son could have gotten hurt, maybe even killed.” Rainbow’s voice choked up a little from trying to hold back her tears. Thunderlane pulled his wife into a tight hug and softly caressed her face with his muzzle.

“That didn’t happen because you were smart enough to realize what he was doing and fast enough to stop him. I know you tend to second guess yourself whenever you feel intimidated, but you also seem to be forgetting that you don’t have to do this alone. You’ll always be able to look to me for help and guidance, we’ll be a team again just like when we were both Wonderbolts.” His words felt a little corny to her, but they still managed to bring her smile back.

“And just like when you were a Wonderbolt, there’s no pony I’d rather have on my team than you,” she said as she tucked her head underneath his neck, nuzzling him.

“I wouldn’t want any other pony but you either. You’ll feel better about this after a good night’s sleep.” Thunderlane released her from his embrace so he could turn off the lights. Rainbow decided to take her husband’s advice and laid her head down on a pillow, shutting her eyes.

“So what happened to you after you did the sonic rainboom earlier?” Rainbow’s mind went into panic mode as soon as he asked her that. She knew it was probably a good idea to tell him about the pain she had been feeling after doing her stunts, and he’d probably know what to say to make her feel better, but she just couldn’t bring herself to tell him, not yet at least. Instead she started snoring to make it look like she had already fallen asleep.

She felt a pair of hooves wrap around her again and pull her closer and then a warm, gentle kiss being placed on her forehead, followed by a soft voice whispering “I love you”. She really wanted to respond with an ‘I love you too’, but then he would know that she wasn’t really sleeping.

However, as she laid there in her husband’s arms, Rainbow Dash realized that she was far more comfortable now than she ever was in any of the hotel beds or her bed at the Wonderbolt’s suite. She could even feel herself dozing off, unlike how she would normally toss and turn throughout the night until she finally fell asleep. She began to wonder about this, but didn’t get far into this query before sleep finally claimed her.

Morrow's Diner

RING RING RING RING

Thunderlane let out a barely audible groan as his alarm clock went off, waking him from his peaceful slumber. It took every amount of strength he had just to lift his hoof up to search for the source of that evil ringing. His hoof flailed around for about a minute until it finally found its target and silenced the clock. He was about to allow himself to drift back to sleep but then he realized that his wife was no longer wrapped in his hooves and after forcing his eyes up, he saw she was missing from their bed.

Thunderlane forced himself out of bed to find his wife, but before he could start his search, he noticed the time on his alarm clock, 6:02. He wasn’t fully awake yet, so maybe his eyes were just playing tricks on him, since he always set his alarm to go off at 7. He rubbed his eyes and held the clock up for closer inspection, only to see that the time was now 6:03. Before he could question this oddity any more, Rainbow Dash entered the room, holding a cup of coffee in her hooves.

“Good you’re up, I made coffee if you want some,” she said as she took a sip of her coffee.

“I think something’s wrong with my clock, it went off an hour earlier than when I set it,” he thought out loud. He was considering just writing it off as a strange occurrence and forget about it for now. Although, if it continues happening then he’ll have to take it to Time Turner to see if he could repair it.

“Oh that was me, I got up about a half hour ago and I set your clock to go off at six.” Thunderlane was a little more than annoyed when she admitted this, but his face didn’t show it. He figured he could still go back to sleep so no harm was done.

“Did you forget that you’re on vacation? You’re not with the Wonderbolts right now so you don’t have to get up at ridiculous hours, and neither do I.” Thunderlane fell back into bed, trying to fall back asleep but that was interrupted when he felt his wife’s hoof poking him.

“Well I got you up this early because I thought we could go for an early morning flight, just like we used to when we were both Wonderbolts. Besides, it would be great exercise.” As soon as he heard that last part, Thunderlane understood her motives. He had caught her yesterday staring at his stomach and how much weight he’d put on. She tried to pass it off as if she’d been lost in thought but he knew she was really taken aback by it.

Raising Silverwing wasn’t exactly the easiest thing to do by himself. Sure, he would occasionally get help from his brother, Scootaloo, or Rainbow’s dad, but most of the time he had to take care of him alone, and that could get very stressful at times To make matters worse, he didn’t have much free time anymore, so he could no longer work out like he used to when he was a Wonderbolt.

He could tell her that. Tell her that his weight gain was due to having to raise their son all by himself, but then he knew what would happen. She’d feel guilty and blame herself, insisting that she was a horrible wife; he couldn’t do that to her. Besides, a little exercise probably wouldn’t kill him, even if it was this early in the morning.

With a heavy sigh, Thunderlane ignored the voice in his head telling him to go back to sleep and lifted himself out of bed. “All right, let me get a cup of coffee first and then we’ll go out flying.”

Rainbow smiled and gave her husband a quick kiss on the cheek. “Good, I can’t remember the last time we went out flying together.”

“Six months ago, when you came home for our anniversary,” he answered.

“Oh yeah, it just feels like it’s been forever,” Rainbow claimed.

“Sure it does, now lets get this over with,” is what Thunderlane wanted to say. Instead, he took a brief moment to stretch his legs and wings and then followed his wife downstairs.This was going to be a long morning, but thankfully he had breakfast at Morrow’s to look forward to, and the chance to introduce Rainbow to a new friend.

Thunderlane quickly scanned his surroundings and once he was certain his wife wasn’t watching him he wiped some sweat from his brow. They had been flying laps above their house for about forty minutes now, but his wings had started to tire ten minutes ago. As usual, his wife didn’t even seem to be breaking a sweat, but then again this was probably just a daily routine for her.

The dark gray pegasus suddenly felt a hoof tap him on his back, but when he looked back all he saw was a rainbow blur zipping right past him.

He felt like he should be frustrated over not being able to keep up with her, but he had to remind himself that she had always been better at this than him. He had been perfectly content with doing duet routines with her, but when Rainbow got pregnant with Silverwing, Thunderlane got to fly solo. However, he quickly discovered that his wife was much more popular with the fans than he was.

No matter how hard he tried, he could never really excite the crowd like he used to when he flew with his wife. Whenever he’d look down on the crowd while he was performing, he’d always see bored expressions, and some would even leave their seats. In fact, it was reported that concession stands sales would go up whenever he was doing his routine. It made his decision to retire much easier.

There were still some fans who were disappointed when he announced his retirement since he wouldn’t be returning to perform with his wife, but that disappointment quickly faded once Rainbow returned. While his popularity faded after going solo, she became more popular than ever. It made sense to him though, her moves were always bigger, flashier, and required more skill than his. She was simply better than him and she deserved her popularity.

Thunderlane was so lost in thought that he was caught off guard when his wife zipped past him again, but this time she turned back around and approached him.

“Wow you really are rusty, that’s the fifth time I’ve lapped you,” Rainbow playfully gibed him.

“I don’t really get to do much flying these days unless it’s with Silverwing, and even then I have a hard time keeping up with that kid.” The married couple shared a small chuckle at this.

“Don’t worry, now that I’m back I’ll be sure to whip you back into shape,” she said as she lightly patted his stomach. Thunderlane knew she was just being playful and that there was no malice in her words, but it still didn’t feel good when she poked fun at his weight. Still, he felt the need to put on a happy face and take it as the joke she intended it to be.

“Yeah I did let myself go a bit. I guess I’m lost without your guidance,” Thunderlane chuckled with a hint of nervousness, but thankfully Rainbow didn’t seem to pick up on it.

“Well my guidance isn’t doing you any good if we’re just hovering here. C’mon, let’s see some hustle,” Rainbow commanded, but Thunderlane didn’t budge.

“Don’t you think we should call it quits for now?” Thunderlane asked.

“Nah, we’ve only been flying for 40 minutes.”

“But we still have other things we need to do. Both of us are going to need a shower after this and do a little preening. We have to feed Tank, then wake up Silverwing and get him ready to go meet our friends at Morrows Diner.”

“We could easily go for another 20 minutes and still have enough time to make it to Morrow’s by 9.”

“Y’know, they say that when you start a new exercise program and you should always start small and work your way up to more advanced stuff. Maybe 40 minutes is a good starting goal and each time we go out flying we’ll go for a few minutes longer than before.”

Rainbow Dash placed a hoof under her chin, pondering her husband’s preposition. “All right, we’ll compromise. 10 more minutes.”

Thunderlane let out a defeated sigh, it was clear she wasn’t going to give up on this. Ten extra minutes was probably the best he could hope for. “Fine.”

“Well then let’s not waste any more time,” Rainbow said with a smirk before flying away with Thunderlane trying to follow her, or else she’d start teasing him again.

“Can’t we go any faster?” Silverwing whined. The four-year-old colt sat on his mother’s back, holding onto her neck as they flew to the diner. Thunderlane flew ahead of them so he could lead the way. The diner wasn’t far from their house so they were flying slow and leisurely, much to their son’s annoyance. Although, that wasn’t the only reason for their lack of speed.

Just as they were finishing their morning workout, Rainbow felt her wings start to ache again. Thankfully it wasn’t as bad as it was yesterday when she was doing those stunts for her son, so she thought a hot shower might help her feel better. It did, but her wings still didn’t feel like they fully recovered yet, so she had no objections when Thunderlane suggested a more laid-back flight.

“Be patient Silver, we’ll get there soon enough,” Thunderlane told him.

Rainbow could feel her son fidgeting around on her back. She didn’t understand how this kid could be this anxious and impatient just to go to a simple diner. If she had been some random mare that happened to witness this scene, she’d think the colt was going to an amusement park or some kind of sporting event. Although, his enthusiasm did spark her curiosity on how good the food really was at this place.

After about six minutes of leisurely flying, they finally arrived at a place that Rainbow would describe as small and quaint, with a sign in the window that read ‘Morrow’s Diner’. Silverwing wasted no time hopping off his mother’s back and running towards the door.

“Don’t go too far Silver, wait for us,” Thunderlane called out but was ignored by his son, who entered the diner. His parents tried to follow him, but a light green pegasus stallion with a yellow mane and tail blocked their path.

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to intrude but you’re Rainbow Dash aren’t you?” he asked, while Thunderlane looked through the window.

“Yep, that’s me.” Rainbow would have thought of a cooler response, but she was a little more concerned about catching up with her son. Her eyes shifted back to her husband, who had now moved away from the window. He wasn’t panicking, so she saw that as a sign that their son was OK.

“I had heard that you lived in this town, but I just wanted to make sure it was you. Besides, how could I pass up the chance to meet the greatest Wonderbolt of this generation.” A proud smirk found it’s way onto Rainbow’s face.

“Well I don’t like to toot my own horn, so that’s why I let other ponies do it for me. I’d love to continue chatting with a fan, but me and my husband should really get back to our son.” Even if Silverwing was OK now, she didn’t want to leave him alone in the diner for too long.

“All right, but how about a quick autograph before you go?” The stallion asked as he pulled out a pad and pencil from his saddlebag.

“Sure, I guess I could do that for a loyal fan. I assume you want my husband’s autograph too?” Rainbow asked, but the stallion’s smile dropped. He turned to Thunderlane, staring at him for a moment before turning back to her.

“I’m sorry but I don’t really know who your husband is.” Rainbow’s head shot back and she gave the stallion a look similar to one she might give a pony that said they didn’t know who Celestia and Luna were.

“You don’t know Thunderlane, the best wingpony in all of Equestria? We always performed together when we first started out as Wonderbolts and we were very popular with the crowd. You must be a new fan and that’s why you don’t recognize him, but trust me, he was one of the all-time greats,” Rainbow proudly stated. She looked to her husband to see that even though he was smiling, there was a trace of uneasiness to it.

“Well I’ve been a Wonderbolt fan for almost my entire life, but now that you mention it, I do vaguely remember you performing with somepony when you started out.” The light green pegasus sounded slightly annoyed.

“And that pony was Thunderlane, my husband. Since we performed together it might be cool to get both our autographs. So what do you say?”

The Wonderbolt fan remained silent, as if he had to actually think about this for a moment. After about ten seconds, he finally responded with an emotionless “OK”.

Rainbow Dash stepped aside so that Thunderlane could give him his signature first, noticing that he looked as indifferent as the stallion. After her husband jotted his name on the paper, she then signed her name on the same piece of paper. The pegasus thanked them and then went along his way.

“You do realize that he probably only took my autograph because he was scared he might not have gotten yours without it?” Thunderlane asked.

“Yeah, and I signed it on the same page as yours just to make sure he wouldn’t just throw it in the trash or something like that. I guess we better get in there before Silverwing starts causing trouble,” Rainbow said with a chuckle as they walk to the door.

“I’m sure he’s fine, when I looked through the window he was talking to Cinnamon Swirl.” Rainbow Dash stopped in her tracks and raised an eyebrow at her husband.

“Who?” she asked but he didn’t answer, he just held the door open for her.

When she walked in she spotted her son talking to a red pegasus with a green mane who looked about eight years younger than Rainbow. She was also wearing a waitress outfit that covered up her cutie mark.

They were tucked away near the kitchen doors having a private conversation, whispering so Rainbow couldn’t make out what they were saying. The red mare, who had knelt down to Starking’s level, wrapped one of her forelegs around him and used her other foreleg to give him an affectionate rub on the head.

Thunderlane smiled at this sight, but Rainbow felt like her stomach was twisting in knots. It was awkward seeing another mare, other than Pinkie Pie, being this close with her son, especially since she was a stranger to her.

The mare lifted herself up and walked towards Thunderlane, with Silverwing following her as if he was a loyal dog. She gave him a warm, friendly, smile as she spoke. “Hey there, I was just asking your son what you’ve been feeding him lately. At the rate he’s growing he’ll be as big as a house.”

“Hey don’t look at me, I’ve mainly fed him various vegetables, hay, and one treat a day. It must be those flapjacks he orders here. So I think the better question is what have you and your grandfather been putting in the food?” Thunderlane questioned her as if he was a royal guard interrogating a suspect, but the smirk on his face showed that he was just messing with her.

“Oh just the usual, eggs, flour, sugar, oh and this secret growth formula that grandpa gave me when I was younger, but I can’t possibly see how that would have an effect on him.” Cinnamon Swirl tried to sound serious but after a few seconds her face finally started to crack as both her and Thunderlane started snickering.

Rainbow felt invisible as she watched her husband interact with this mare as if she was an old friend, while also ignoring her. Even her son, who would rarely give her a moment's rest yesterday, was more interested in the conversation between his dad and the waitress. She let out a small cough to try and get their attention.

“Hi, you must be Rainbow Dash.” The waitress approached her with a smile on her face, but it didn’t feel as genuine as the one she had given her husband earlier. It seemed like every muscle in her mouth was for forcing her to look happy. “You family has told me so much about you.”

“Really, because they haven’t told me anything about you.” Rainbow felt her husband’s wing nudge her after she said that. She looked back to see him with a disapproving look on his face that read ‘be nice’. Despite this, the red furred mare was lightly chuckling at her remark.

“Don’t worry, I’m not surprised. Even if they had mentioned me before, I’m sure a high ranking Wonderbolt like you would have bigger things on her mind than a simple waitress,” she said with an innocent tone that made Rainbow Dash want to roll her eyes.

“Well life as a Wonderbolt can get pretty hectic at times, but now that I’m on a three-month vacation I’ll have to take time to get to know you better,” Rainbow said, reluctantly trying to be civil due to her family’s sake.

“I guess I better start off by introducing myself. I’m Cinnamon Swirl, I’m a waitress here, but I’m sure you figured that out already due to my uniform. I also help out in the kitchen on Tuesdays and Saturdays and I make the pastries every morning.” Cinnamon pointed to a glass case with some cookies, danishes, brownies, and cinnamon buns which, as much as Rainbow hated to admit it, looked delicious.

“It’s first come first serve with them, and once they’re gone that’s it for the day. So you might want to buy one soon because they’re pretty popular with our patrons,” Cinnamon added. Rainbow Dash was annoyed by the smugness in her voice, but she had to admit that she was being a little hypocritical.

“It certainly sounds like keep yourself busy,” Rainbow said the first thing that came to her mind.

Cinnamon nodded in response, “My grandpa owns this diner, so I try to do as much as I can to help him out.”

“I’m guessing your grandfather is Morrow,” Rainbow commented, even though she wasn’t particularly interested in the diner’s name.

“No, Morrow was my grandma. She was always a huge source of inspiration for my grandpa and was always supportive of his decision to open up his own diner. Sadly, she passed away before this place could open so he decided to name it Morrow’s Diner in her honor. Also he couldn’t name it after himself because no pony would eat at a place called Stinky’s Diner.”

Once Rainbow noticed that her both her son and her husband were laughing at Cinnamon’s joke she quickly forced out a laugh, hoping they didn’t notice her hesitation.

“I’d tell you about myself but I’m guessing my family’s already done that.”

“Yes I suppose they have. You son was just telling me about that vacation you mentioned earlier, which I was very happy to hear about. You have such a wonderful family and I’m sure it must kill you to constantly be away from them, but now you can finally spend some nice, quality time together.”

Sure, her words seemed kind and friendly enough and she was certainly cheerful and peppy, although obviously not to the same level as Pinkie Pie, but something about her just didn’t feel right. When Cinnamon spoke with Thunderlane it felt genuine and natural, but when the waitress spoke with her it felt insincere.

Before Rainbow could question this any further, she heard a familiar voice call out “Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash, over here.” The cyan mare turned her head to see a pink mare, a white mare, and a yellow mare wave her over to their booth.

“It seems like your friends are anxious to catch up with you, so I won’t keep you.” Cinnamon told her before turning her attention to Thunderlane and Silverwing “As for you two, I see that your favorite booth is available.”

“The one next to the window?” Silverwing excitedly asked.

“The one next to the window.” Cinnamon gave the small colt a pat on the head with her wing.

Rainbow ignored the uncomfortable feeling she got from the mare friendliness towards her family and she headed for her friend’s table. Rarity and Pinkie Pie were sitting on the left side of the booth and Fluttershy was sitting by herself on the right side, so Rainbow Dash sat next to her foalhood friend.

If there was any hint of Rainbow’s wariness towards the waitress on her face, then it was replaced by a huge grin after seeing her friends again.

“Rainbow Dash, so good to see you again, darling,” chirped Rarity.

“We’ve all really missed you a lot,” Fluttershy added, giving her foalhood friend a small hug.

“Thanks, I’ve missed you girls a lot too and I really appreciate all of your letters. They always made me feel like I was back in Ponyville chatting with my old friends. So I guess we’re just waiting-”

Before Rainbow could finish her sentence, a lavender alicorn walked through the door. Her eyes darted across the diner until they stopped in the direction of her friends’ booth and she made her way over there, taking a seat next to Pinkie Pie.

“Sorry I’m late everypony. My guards were insisting on accompanying me into the diner, thankfully I convinced them to just wait outside. Out of everything that’s changed since I’ve become a princess, the extra security is still something I’m getting used to,” Twilight explained to her friends, before turning her attention to Rainbow Dash.

“Ponyville just hasn’t been the same ever since you left Rainbow, it’s good to have you back. Pinkie told us you’re on a three-month vacation.”

“Yeah but I’ll talk about that once AJ gets here.” Rainbow noticed the smile start to fade from Pinkie’s muzzle when she said that.

“Actually Applejack’s not coming,” Pinkie waited for her friends to let out their disappointed groans before she continued. “It’s her day to work in the fields while Soarin’ watches their kids, and since it’s close to harvesting time she couldn’t take time off to join us for breakfast.”

After a few seconds of silence, Pinkie’s dreary expression switched to a more joyful one as her ears perked up. “Although, she did tell me to ask Rainbow Dash to bring Silverwing over tomorrow so he can have a playdate with Starking. That should give you two plenty of time to catch up with each other.”

“This won’t be the same without Applejack, but at least you’ll get to spend some time with her tomorrow,” Fluttershy commented and the other three nodded in agreement.

“Do you not see her that often?” Rainbow asked her friends. She could imagine that taking care of a farm and a foal with brittle bone disease would take up most of AJ’s time.

“We usually visit her at Sweet Apple Acres once a week and sometimes we’ll see her in the marketplace, selling her apples. I think Fluttershy meant that it’s more important that you see her rather than us, since you’re always out of town,” Rarity stated.

“How has Starking been doing?” Rainbow asked.

“He’s been great. He hasn’t had an accident in a while and he even started flying two weeks ago.” Pinkie’s reply caused Rainbow to cock an eyebrow at her friend.

“What do you mean he started flying? Starking’s an earth pony.” Rainbow figured Pinkie probably had him mixed up with another foal.

“Oh we wouldn’t dare rob Applejack of the chance of telling that story but trust me, it’s a very sweet one,” Rarity teased. This only made Rainbow’s curiosity elevate, but she knew she wasn’t going to get any answers until tomorrow.

“You girls could come with me when I go visit her tomorrow,” Rainbow suggested before adding “I’m sure AJ won’t mind.“

“I’d love to but Cheese is supposed to come back home tomorrow from that party he threw in Baltimare,” Pinkie said, causing a smug smile to find its way onto Rainbow’s face.

Rainbow Dash always felt a sense of pride whenever Pinkie talked about her marriage with Cheese Sandwich since they hooked up while planning her and Thunderlane’s wedding.

“I’m afraid I can’t go either. I have an awful lot of work to do that I really need to catch up on,” Rarity sighed.

“I promised Dr. Goodall that I would lend a hoof at the clinic tomorrow, so unfortunately I also won’t be able to make it.” Fluttershy said as Rainbow gave her an understanding nod.

One of the few times Rainbow took time off of work was to help a grieving Fluttershy after learning of Angel’s passing. The yellow mare had became a bit of a shut-in., never leaving her cottage unless it was necessary and only interacting with her friends and the animals. Her friends hoped to cheer her up by spending time with her, but ultimately, it was Discord who was the most helpful by telling her “You know, I’m gonna live for thousands of years; that means that, sadly, some day I’m going to lose you just like you lost Angel. Would you like it if I became a sad hermit after you’re gone, or for me to continue living and spending time with my still living friends while sharing stories about you?”

Fluttershy took her friend’s words to heart and helped come to terms with her grief and move on with her life. She also started volunteering at the veterinary clinic every now and then so she could try to help other pet owners, and if possible, prevent them from losing their pet. She continued to take care of the wild animals too and even got help with that from Discord, something Rainbow always wanted to see.

Rainbow’s train of thought was interrupted when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye that stole her attention. She turned her head slightly to see her husband and son’s booth where the waitress was taking their drink order. However, she seemed to be engaged in a conversation with them as they were both giggling at something she had said.

The cyan mare narrowed her eyes at this scene. ‘Come on, it doesn’t take that long to take a drink order and most restaurants would probably fire you for taking so long. So move on to the next table already,’ Rainbow thought to herself.

As if she had read her mind, Cinnamon Swirl finally moved along and approached their booth. Rainbow quickly averted her eyes and pretended to be engrossed in her friend’s conversation, which was now about the Crystal Empire, by nodding her head until the waitress came to their table. She had the same cheerful expression she had seen her with before, so Rainbow Dash didn’t think she caught the irritated stare she was giving her a few seconds earlier.

“I’ll get your drink orders as soon as Applejack gets here,” she said in a peppy tone.

“Actually, Applejack won’t be joining us today darling,” Rarity informed Cinnamon, who frowned at this news. This was the first time Rainbow saw this mare without a smile on her face.

“Aw, that’s too bad. I always enjoy hearing how her son’s doing. You really have to admire her for all the hardships she has to overcome.” The group of friends, even Rainbow Dash, smiled at the waitresses statement to show their approval.

“Well then, I guess I can take your drink orders now. Let me guess, milk for Pinkie, orange juice without pulp for Rarity, tea for Fluttershy, and grape juice for Twilight.” The waitress and the four mares shared a chuckle, confirming that her predictions were correct.

“That just leaves you, Rainbow Dash. If I were a betting mare, I’d say you’d want a cup of coffee to start the day,” she guessed with a slightly cocky tone that irked Rainbow.

“You might have been right, if I didn’t have a cup of coffee earlier this morning.” As petty as it was, Rainbow felt pleased with herself for making her wrong, but she tried not to let it show.

“Well four out of five isn’t bad. So what will it be then?” Rainbow opened her mouth to answer her but quickly closed it once she realized she didn’t know what drinks they served.

“One moment.”

After grabbing a menu that was on the table, she quickly looked through the drinks but nothing looked too appealing to her at the moment. She considered ordering apple juice, which is what Applejack probably would have gotten, but she always felt that that was more of a drink for foals. Rainbow let out an inaudible groan, she really hated what she was going to say.

“Just get me the coffee,” Rainbow mumbled.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you. Could you repeat that?” Cinnamon asked.

“I said I think I’ll have the coffee anyway, nothing else looked that interesting,” she said in nice and friendly manner.

“If you want my advice, you should get the orange juice like Rarity ordered. We use only the freshest oranges around and squeeze them to perfection,” the waitress suggested, much to Rainbow’s annoyance.

She felt a temptation to give a snarky response like ‘if I had wanted orange juice then I would have asked for orange juice’. Instead, she remained polite and civil in her reply “No thanks, I’ve never really cared for orange juice.”

“All right, then I’ll be back with your drinks shortly.”

“Wait,” Pinkie called out before Cinnamon could leave their table. “could you set aside a cinnamon bun for me?”

Cinnamon Swirl smirked at her as she leaned in closer to the table. “I already have, but let’s just keep that between you and me…..and the four of you.”

They all chuckled at the waitress’s joke, except for Rainbow Dash. However, when she noticed her friends laughing she once again forced herself to laugh along, until Cinnamon left.

“Whenever I’m out of town on princess duties, I always go to at least one diner or restaurant. Yet I’ve never found one that could match this place in service,” Twilight stated and the others voiced their agreement.

“Yes, Cinnamon Swirl does a really good job at making you feel welcomed. She certainly lives up to the phrase ‘service with a smile’,” Rarity commented.

“Whenever I come here Cinnamon always asks me how my animals are doing. She even let me put up some flyers in the diner for animals that really needed a good home,” Fluttershy said, perking up a little bit.

“Plus her pastries are the only ones that come close to the ones me and the Cakes make,” Pinkie chimed in.

Rainbow Dash was doing the best she could to ignore her friends praise ofthe waitress by shifting through the menu. She wished she could share her friend’s admiration, but something about this mare’s upbeat attitude was very off-putting to her.

“So Twilight, are you coming with me to see Applejack tomorrow?” Rainbow asked in an attempt to change the subject.

“Didn’t you hear me earlier when I said I couldn’t go? I have a meeting with Cadence tomorrow at the Crystal Empire to discuss preparations for the next Crystal Fair.” Twilight told her, but Rainbow gave her a smirk.

“Crystal Empire, eh. Be honest, are you really meeting with Cadence or are you just going to make out with that royal guard boyfriend of yours.” Rainbow snickered at her teasing but when she looked to her friends to see if they also found it funny, she noticed they were dead silent as they gave each other uncomfortable glances.

“Flash and I broke up about two months ago.” An agonizing silence filled the air after Twilight said that. Rainbow Dash gave an uneasy rub to the back of her head and avoided eye contact with her friend.

“I’m sorry to hear that…I thought you two made a cute couple.” It wasn’t much, but Rainbow hoped her words would help after she had stuck her hoof in her mouth.

“Yes and I hope you still aren’t blaming yourself for this break up. No matter how much work you put into them, some relationships just fail.” Rarity gave her friend a comforting pat on the back.

“Thank you and don’t worry, I got over blaming myself. There were some signs that I either didn’t notice or ignored that showed that our relationship was in trouble. I had asked him about transferring over here as my guard so we could see each other more often but he wasn’t interested in moving to Ponyville. Now I can understand not wanting to move, but every time we visited each other he never really seemed enthusiastic about our dates. It’s as if he was bored of our date, bored of me. We already didn’t see each other that often so you’d think he’d be a little more excited,” Twilight solemnly explained to her friends.

“Well then that’s his loss,” Rainbow angrily replied, the only reason she didn’t slam her hoof on the table was because she didn’t want to make a scene. “If he didn’t appreciate how awesome you are than he didn’t deserve you. You did the right thing breaking up with him.”

“Actually he broke up with me. He sent me a letter saying that he just couldn’t deal with being in a long-distance relationship anymore so he was ending it,” Twilight said with a tone almost as soft as Fluttershy’s.

“....Oh…..” Rainbow Dash was cursing herself for not being able to think of something comforting or reassuring to say.

Just then, Cinnamon Swirl came to their table with a tray of drinks on her back, interrupting the awkward moment. For once, Rainbow was actually happy to have her here.

Cinnamon set the tray on the table and passed out the drinks to the ponies that ordered them, but she hesitated for a moment when giving Twilight her grape juice. “You seem distraught Twilight. Are you still feeling down about your break up with Flash Sentry?”

“I’ll admit that it still kinda hurts but I have responsibilities as a princess and can’t let myself be troubled too much. Being here with my friends certainly helps,” Twilight said.

“I”m happy to hear it’s helping and I’d like to help you by getting your order. So what will it be?” Cinnamon Swirl asked, not guessing their orders this time, much to the relief of Rainbow.

“I think I’ll have two fried eggs on a piece of toast,” said Twilight.

“I’ll take an order of waffles a la mode please,” said Pinkie.

“I always did enjoy the french toast here, I’ll have that,” said Rarity,

“The vegetable omelette sounds nice,” said Fluttershy.

Rainbow was about to give her order but Cinnamon Swirl spoke before she could. “Since this is your first time here I’d recommend having-”

“I’ll take the scrambled eggs with a side of hay bacon,” Rainbow interrupted, her with a harsher tone than she’d have liked, but at this point she couldn’t help it. This mare didn’t know what her taste and preferences were when it came to food, so who was she to tell her what she should order.

The waitress seemed a little taken aback by her tone of voice, but she quickly switched back to the same smile she had all morning. “That’s good too.”

Once Cinnamon left, Rainbow saw her friends glare at her, except for Fluttershy, who gave a much softer, yet still disappointed look.

“You really shouldn’t be so harsh with Cinnamon,” Fluttershy muttered.

“Fluttershy’s right dear, you’re being quite rude,” Rarity added.

“Sorry but I was getting annoyed with her trying to tell me what I should get, without even knowing me. If I had wanted her recommendations, I would have asked for it,” Rainbow complained.

“She’s just trying to be nice,” Twilight replied.

“A little too nice,” Rainbow said under her breath while pouting.

The cyan mare watched as the waitress approached her son and husband’s booth. She gave Silverwing a small box of crayons, which he immediately used to work on the activities on the placement, and gave Thunderlane today’s newspaper. It looked like it didn’t take her long to get their orders but she still stuck around and chat with them just like before. This time, however, when Rainbow looked into the red mare’s eyes she could’ve sworn she saw admiration and affection being directed towards her husband.

“Are you feeling OK Rainbow?” Fluttershy asked, breaking Rainbow’s concentration.

“Yeah….Why do you ask?” Rainbow raised her eyebrow at her friend’s question..

“Well, it sounded like you were grinding your teeth,” Fluttershy respond with a softer voice. Rainbow didn’t realize she was doing that, but with the way she was feeling right now she wouldn’t put it past herself.

“....I guess I’m just getting a little impatient waiting for our food. I must be hungrier than I thought.” Rainbow Dash struggled trying to come up with a decent lie, so she settled for this terrible one. Judging from the looks of incredulity she was getting from her friends, they weren’t buying it.

“Rainbow Dash will you please tell us what’s bothering you?” Twilight pleaded with a concerned tone.

“Yeah, how are we supposed to make you feel better if we don’t know what’s wrong?” Pinkie added.

Rainbow Dash tried to avoid eye contact with her friends, but all that did was cause her gaze to shift back to her family and Cinnamon Swirl. Their dialogue was inaudible to her, but she guessed that Thunderlane had just given her a compliment due to the waitress’s smile. It was the same kind of flirty smile that she used to give him when she first released how much she truly loved him.

“Have you noticed how friendly Cinnamon seems to be with my family, especially Thunderlane?”

Her friends gave one another confused glances until Rarity finally spoke up “Darling, are you implying that Cinnamon has feelings for your husband?”

“Come on, you don’t find anything suspicious about how she keeps lingering around my family’s booth or how she’s being overly friendly with my husband?” Rainbow was careful not to raise her voice in this public place to avoid drawing attention to herself.

“It may seem like she’s been overly friendly but that’s just how she normally acts around her friends. Sure she may be lingering around their booth, but if you’d look around you’d see that it’s a slow morning today with not a lot of customers, so it gives her some time to chat with some friends. I assume the only reason she’s not talking with us is because she knows we haven’t seen you in a while and would like to catch up,” Twilight explained, only to be given a dirty look by Rainbow.

“No, I know that look, it’s the same kind of look I used to give Thunderlane when I discovered my feelings for him,” Rainbow pointed out.

“Perhaps she just flirting with him so she can get a bigger tip,” Rarity suggested, but Rainbow shook her head at this.

“If you had seen the way she acted when we first walked in, the way she tousled my son’s mane and the flirty banter she shared with my husband. You’d have thought she was their wife and mother.”

“But she’s not their wife and mother, you are. So there’s really no reason to be all worked up about this,” Fluttershy reminded her but Rainbow rolled her eyes at this.

“All I’m saying is that it’s frustrating and uncomfortable to see some random mare having the type of homely interactions with my family that I should be having. I’m sure Pinkie would feel the same way if it was Cheese Sandwich instead of my husband, just like Rarity would also be flipping out if it was Spike,” Rainbow complained

“Don’t you think it’s possible that you’re being a bit paranoid because in your last relationship Soarin’ broke up with you after he discovered he had feelings for Applejack. So you feel threatened by Cinnamon’s friendly interactions with Thunderlane,” Twilight theorized, but Rainbow cocked an eyebrow.

“Threatened?” Rainbow asked with a slightly harsh tone.

“Yes, but if you ask me this isn’t just about your husband, I also think you feel intimidated by Cinnamon’s relationship with your son. You’ve always been nervous about motherhood ever since you first found out you were pregnant and you seem to be afraid that this mare might be more of a mother to him,” Twilight explained. Rainbow remained speechless for a moment but the anger portrayed in her eyes spoke volumes, so much so that it actually startled the alicorn princess.

“No pony asked you!” Deep down she knew that there was a kernel of truth in Twilight’s words but she couldn’t bring herself to admit it to her friends or to herself. “Guess there are some things you don’t know everything about and relationships seem to be one of them. No wonder Flash broke up with you.”

Rainbow’s eyes went wide with shock when she realized what she had actually said, followed immediately by her friends gasps. She already felt guilty but the hurt look she was getting from Twilight made the cyan mare feel like she wanted to bury her head in the dirt.

“I’m…I’m sorry, that was way out line and really uncool of me,” Rainbow softly apologized, almost scared to look at her friends.

“Thank you for apologizing, but maybe I also stepped over my boundaries too. How about we just forget the whole thing,” Twilight said with a friendly smile, that Rainbow was happy to return.

“Why don’t you tell us about your first day back home Rainbow?” Fluttershy suggested as a way of changing topics.

“You should have seen the look on Thunderlane’s face when I told him about my three month vacation, I thought he was going to faint. My son was just as excited to have me back home and eager to have me watch him fly. He’s pretty good for his age but he can be a bit cocky and sometimes tries things he’s not ready for, but still good,” Rainbow boasted.

“I wonder where he picked up those traits from,” Rarity mumbled, but Rainbow didn’t hear it.

“Then the three of us spent the entire day playing and flying until it was dinnertime. A little later I tucked Silverwing into bed and read him a story. I’d say that was an awesome day, don’t ya think?” Rainbow asked her friends, as if she was seeking their approval.

“It sounds wonderful,” Fluttershy stated and the rest of their friends nodded in agreement.

“I can’t wait till I can have similar experiences with motherhood that you, Pinkie, and Applejack have had,” Rarity commented, piquing the interest of her friends.

“Have you and Spike considered adopting a foal?” Rainbow asked, but Rarity broke eye contact and stared at the ground. She lifted her head up a moment later with a happy, but nervous, smile.

“Actually, I’ve been meaning to tell you girls something…..I’m pregnant,” Rarity said after taking a deep breath.

Her friends started at her with wide eyes and slightly lowered jaws, except for Pinkie Pie. The party pony pulled her friend into a big hug and said “Congratulations, I can’t wait to throw your baby shower.”

“How did that happen?” Fluttershy asked.

“That same way all babies are created, only it happened between a pony and a dragon,” Rarity explained.

“But is it even possible for a dragon and a pony to breed?” Rainbow asked.

“Spike and I never thought so but in 11 months we’ll have proof.”

“I am curious about the science and biology behind this, but I think I speak for all of us when I say, we’re very happy for you and Spike,” Twilight said and all of her friends nodded in agreement.

Rarity smiled and breathed a small sigh of relief. “Thank you, all of you. I must admit, I was nervous about telling you about my pregnancy, afraid you’d think the worst of me, but now I just feel so foolish. Although I can assure you I was much more skittish when I told Spike about this.”

“Don’t worry about it, I think we’d feel the same way if we were in your situation. So how did Spike react when you broke the news to him?” Rainbow asked.

“When I finally worked up the courage to tell him he seemed confused at first, just staring at me with an unreadable expression. I feared he was angry and that he would let out a beastial roar or break something. Then he ran up to me and pulled me into a loving embrace. A little later he told me that one of two things happened, either he miraculously impregnated me or I was having an affair, and the latter seemed much more unrealistic,” Rarity explained, blushing at that last part.

“That sounds really sweet. If there’s anything you ever need just come to one of us and we’ll be happy to help you,” Fluttershy offered.

“Thank you and I’m sure I’ll need all the help I can get, especially since I have no idea what to expect from this pregnancy. This baby probably won’t be a normal pony, so does that mean I shouldn’t expect a normal pregnancy?” Rarity wondered out loud.

“You and Spike should ask Princess Celestia about this. If something like this has happened before then she’d probably know about it and would be able to shed some light on your situation so you’d know what to expect,” Twilight advised.

“Spike has already contacted Celestia about this and she said she’d like to meet with us this weekend to discuss it,” Rarity told her.

At that moment, Cinnamon Swirl came to the table with their orders, forcing them to end their conversation.

“It really was great catching up with all of you again,” Twilight commented.

Breakfast had been finished and paid for, now all that was left was for the five friends to say their goodbyes.

“We must do something like this again when Applejack can be with us,” Rarity insisted.

“That would be nice, it would be just like the old days when we first became friends,” Fluttershy stated.

“Ooh, maybe I could throw a just like the ol’ days party,” Pinkie enthusiastically suggested.

“Heh, a good ol’ fashioned Pinkie party sounds awesome. It was really cool seeing all of you again and thank you for inviting me to breakfast. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to rejoin my family.”

Rainbow waved her friends goodbye before heading over to her family’s table. Both of their plates were bare, except for a few crumbs and some syrup stains on her son’s plate.

Rainbow opened her mouth to say something, but Silverwing energetically spoke first “Mom! Mom, I had flapjacks!”

Rainbow couldn’t help but chuckle at her son’s excitement. “Is that so? What did your dad have?”

“I had an omelette with cheese and mushrooms and a bagel on the side,” Thunderlane answered.

“Not as cool as Flapjacks,” Silverwing muttered matter-of-factly.

“It’s also not as messy and it seems like you still have some syrup on your face.” Rainbow grabbed a napkin from the table and used it to wipe her son’s right cheek. The young colt squirmed, trying to escape his mother’s cleaning, but she had her hoof wrapped around him to prevent this.

“Really? I thought I got it all,” Thunderlane let out an exasperated sigh.

“It’s just a tiny spot on his cheek, easy to miss. In fact, I’d bet that he probably licked his plate again after you cleaned him up when you weren’t looking. So, are we ready to go?” Rainbow asked after cleaning her son’s face.

“We’re just waiting on our check,” Thunderlane told her as he raised his hoof up, signaling for Cinnamon to come over with their check.

“I take it you two enjoyed your breakfast?” Cinnamon asked.

“Perfect as always, as was your service,” Thunderlane complimented the waitress. It was hard to tell with her red fur, but Rainbow could have sworn she saw her blush.

“You’ll have to come back sometime on a Tuesday or Saturday so I can cook for all of you,” Cinnamon offered.

“Of course we will. I’d love to treat my family to a meal made by one of Ponyville’s best cooks,” Thunderlane said, making Rainbow want to groan. She was beginning to understand how her husband put on that extra weight.

“Y’know, tomorrow’s a Tuesday, why don’t you just come by for dinner,” Cinnamon’s tone suggested that she was joking but Silverwing looked as if she had just said it was Hearth’s Warming Day.

“Can we mommy? Can we? Can we?” Silverwing pleaded.

“Sorry squirt but we’re going to be busy tomorrow. We’re going to Sweet Apple Acres so you’ll get to play with Starking.” Silverwing’s face lit up when his mother told him this. However, he still didn’t seem as enthusiastic as he was when he thought they were coming back here tomorrow.

“It will be nice to talk with Soarin’ again and I’m sure you’re anxious to see Applejack again, since Cinnamon already told me that she couldn’t make it today,” Thunderlane mentioned before lifting himself out of the booth to pay the check.

While he was doing that, Cinnamon turned her attention towards Rainbow Dash. “So, how did you enjoy your first breakfast at Morrow’s Diner?”

“It was good. The coffee was nice and the food was delicious,” Rainbow genuinely answered, even if she wasn’t fond of this mare, she had to admit that the food was good. “Sorry I can’t really go into much more detail but I’m not much of a food critic.”

“That’s all right. It’s just nice to know you enjoyed it and my grandpa is going to be thrilled to hear that. He’s a big fan of the Wonderbolts.”

“Is that so?” Rainbow asked, anticipating an autograph request.

“Yeah, you should have seen just how excited he was the first time your husband came in here,” Cinnamon mentioned, surprising Rainbow.

“Really? Most ponies seem to forget about Thunderlane’s time as a Wonderbolt.” Rainbow could feel herself starting to warm up to this mare.

“Not my grandpa, he recognized him the instant he came into his diner and told me that this was a special customer. I must admit that I’m not the biggest Wonderbolt fan so I didn’t see it but the more he came in, the more I started to notice what my grandpa was talking about, especially when I saw how loving and devoted a father he was.” Cinnamon stared blankly in space for a moment, as if she was reflecting on her fondest memories of him. A pleasant smile slowly appeared on her face just as Rainbow’s started to fade.

“You really are a lucky mare to have somepony like him. Hopefully one day I’ll be able to meet another stallion like him and I can have as lovely a family as yours.”

And just like that, any warm feelings Rainbow was starting to feel towards her were gone and replaced again with suspicion and uneasiness. She wasn’t even sure how to respond to this, but thankfully Thunderlane came back after paying his check, so she didn’t have to. Instead, she moved closer to him to the point where their bodies were only an inch apart. Then she affectionately wrapped a hoof around his neck and planted a kiss on his check.

“Ready to go now?” Rainbow asked with a slightly seductive tone. Her left eye wandered to find Cinnamon Swirl, but when she found her she was just staring at them with a smile.

Thunderlane looked confused by this sudden display of affection but his cheeks and ears were flush red, so she knew he was enjoying this. “Y-yeah sure.”

“Be sure to say hi to Applejack for me when you see her,” Cinnamon called out to the pegasi family as they were leaving.

Rainbow held open the door for her son and husband but before she walked out she took one last glance back at Cinnamon to see her still staring and smiling at her as she waved goodbye. The cyan mare couldn’t help but find this eerie as she closed the door behind her.

A Crash Course

Even after her eyes had opened, Rainbow Dash still laid in place, waiting to fully wake up. Her thoughts drifted back to the waitress at Morrow’s Diner and how her family adored her. That wouldn’t be so bad if she wasn’t convinced that this mare had feelings for her husband. So she wanted to knock her down a peg in her family’s eyes by showing them that anything the waitress could do she could do better.

The first thing she had to do was escape from the spooning position her still asleep husband held her in. She gently slid his left fore hoof off of her waist until it was resting at his side. The hard part was going to be getting out of his right fore hoof which lay underneath her and wrapped around her chest. She slowly peeled the hoof off her chest and then, after carefully grabbing a pillow, slipped out of his hoof and put the pillow in her place.

Rainbow Dash took a moment to admire her work from the air. It was hilarious, and even a little cute, seeing Thunderlane snuggling with the pillow. She was tempted to plant a kiss on his forehead, but she knew that would probably wake him up. Instead, she silently flew out of the room and down the stairs, into the kitchen.

She opened up a kitchen cupboard and searched through it’s contents, moving on to another one when she didn’t find what she was looking for. She ended up searching through four cupboards until she finally found her target, a box of pancake mix.

Her son certainly seemed to love the pancakes he got at the diner yesterday, but Rainbow was willing to bet that they made them using a store-bought mix, and she was going to prove it.

She looked to the side of the box to read the instructions and couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw how easy it looked, and she couldn’t help but chuckle. All she had to do was stir the pancake mix with some water and then pour it in a pan and let it cook, flipping them on occasion. How much more simple could it be?.

Thunderlane wasn’t sure why he was cuddling with his wife’s pillow but he put it back on her side of the bed. Just like yesterday, Rainbow was absent from the bed but he figured she was making some coffee before they went out for their morning flight. The dark gray stallion really wanted to go back to bed until his alarm went off, but that would just make it harder to get up later if he got too comfortable.

The gray stallion forced himself out of bed and started to make his way downstairs. However, he stopped halfway down when he heard some grunting coming from the kitchen, followed by a string of expletives that made it easier for him to identify the voice as his wife’s. Thunderlane slowly crept down the stairs, careful not to make any noise, and peeked into the kitchen to see Rainbow standing in front of the stove. She was holding a spatula and it looked like she was trying to jam it into whatever was in the pan on the stove.

“Rainbow, what are you doing?” A puzzled Thunderlane asked as he walked into the kitchen. Rainbow Dash froze in place for a brief moment before slowly turning to face him, looking like a deer in the headlights.

“Hey, I was planning on surprising you and Silverwing by making breakfast…surprise,” she said with a nervous chuckle.

“So what’s the problem?” Thunderlane asked, making Rainbow’s brows furrow.

“The problem is that I can’t lift these stupid pancakes to flip them. I finally got the spatula underneath one but when I tried lifting it, that part of it just broke apart,” Rainbow complained before resuming to slip the spatula under the pancake.

She was basically ramming into it at this point and using so much force that the pan was actually moving. Thunderlane placed a hoof over hers to stop her and he slowly turned her around so she could face him, while using his other hoof to turn off the burner.

“Stop and calm down for a second before you end up hurting yourself. Instead of getting angry, try to think why this is happening. Did you cover the pan in butter or olive oil?” Thunderlane asked but Rainbow quirked her eyebrow.

“No, why would I do that?” she asked with a slightly snarky tone.

“Because that’s what you do to prevent food from sticking to the pan, like your pancakes are doing now,” Thunderlane explained matter-of-factly to match her snarkiness.

Rainbow looked confused by this and she grabbed the box of pancake mix and stared at the side of. “It doesn’t say anything about that in the instructions. All it says is to set the burner to medium heat, mix water with the pancake mix, pour the batter into the pan, and flip on occasion until they’re golden brown. It doesn’t say anything about covering the pan in butter or olive oil.”

“Well it is considered common cooking knowledge, so most instructions probably won’t include it,” Thunderlane mentioned. Rainbow’s ears flopped down for a brief moment before she quickly lifted them up, accompanied with a pout.

“It should be included, it’s not common knowledge for everypony,” Rainbow stated. As much as Thunderlane loved his wife, her prideful nature could get a little annoying at times. He had to wonder if he was this bad on that camping trip they went on a few years ago.

“I really do appreciate the gesture, but maybe you shouldn’t have been so impulsive about this, since it’s something you don’t have much experience with,” Thunderlane suggested, earning a glare from Rainbow.

“So you’re basically saying I shouldn’t try anything new at all,” Rainbow said with a raised voice that threw Thunderlane for a loop.

“You know that’s not what I’m saying. What I meant was that you should’ve learned a little more about cooking before attempting this. We’re meeting with AJ today, you could’ve gotten a quick cooking lesson from her and tried this tomorrow,” Thunderlane corrected her with a firm voice.

“But I could have done it if the instructions didn’t leave out an important detail,” Rainbow countered, sticking in her nose in the air.

“Y’know that kind of attitude is only going to lead to more mistakes that could cause more problems next time,” Thunderlane warned her but she rolled her eyes at this.

“I think you’re overreacting, I only made one mistake and the worst thing that happened was that some pancakes are stuck to a pan. For somepony who’s never really cooked before, I’d say that’s something to be proud of.” Her voice boasted the usual confidence. as she patted herself on the chest.

“True, it could have been worse, but your mistake is a bit more of a problem than you make it out to be. We’ll probably have to scrape these pancakes out and it’s gonna be difficult to clean off the pan,” Thunderlane told her, pointing to the residue from the pancake she had managed to lift part of, but Rainbow waved a dismissive hoof at this.

“It’s just a pan, it can’t be that hard to clean. Even if it is we can always just buy another one, it’s not like we can’t afford it with my salary,” Thunderlane scowled at that last part. He had been willing to cut her some slack since her heart was in the right place but now her flippancy was getting frustrating.

“Sure, if it’s too much trouble to take care of things properly or act responsibly we can just frivolously spend our money to replace those things. What a great lesson to teach Silverwing. Let me guess, if you had accidentally started a fire then it wouldn’t have been a big deal because we could always buy a new house, right?” Thunderlane’s tone was a little angrier than he intended, but he felt it got his point across. However, the daggers in Rainbow’s eyes made it abundantly clear how she felt.

“My point was that the worst thing that happened was a pan might have been ruined, but it can be replaced. It’s not the end of the world so there’s no reason to get all bent out of shape, oh wait, you already have,” Rainbow responded with a fierce voice.

The husband and wife stared at each other intensely, but their confrontation came to an end when they heard the sound of a small voice. Their faces wiped clean of all emotions, except for concern, and they slowly turned their head to see their son entering the kitchen.

“Mommy….Daddy…..what’s going on?” He asked as he rubbed his tired eyes.

Thunderlane glanced over at his wife to see her with the look of a foal who had gotten her hoof caught in the cookie jar. Sweat was racing down her forehead and she was biting her lip so hard he was surprised that she wasn’t drawing blood. After the argument they had, the gray stallion thought he should feel a little satisfaction in seeing Rainbow struggle to explain what happened to her son, but he didn’t.

Anypony who knew Rainbow Dash knew just how much she valued her reputation, but when it came to their son, she always worked even harder to keep it intact. Everytime they’d go to visit her at the Wonderbolt’s camp she’d always be in the middle of some extravagant stunt and when she landed she’d actually pull the “Oh hey, didn’t see you guys there?” line. He always thought it was a little over the top, but Silverwing was wowed by it every single time. Then there was the flight back home and how their conversations normally consisted of how cool mommy was.

Thunderlane let out a small inaudible sigh. He wasn’t sure if he was about to do the right thing, but it would certainly make everypony, including himself, happy.

“Sorry, bud, did we wake you? I was trying to make some pancakes for breakfast but I guess I’m out of it this morning because I screwed up big. Look the pancakes are actually sticking to the pan.” Thunderlane held the pan upside down and even shook it a little but the pancakes didn’t fall out, making Silverwing laugh.

“Yeah, I guess it is pretty funny but I still feel like a big doofus for screwing up. I’m very lucky mommy came down when she did and she told me what I was doing wrong so I’ll never make that mistake again. I’m starting to wonder how we lasted this long without mommy’s help,” Thunderlane spoke with a voice so sincere that it could have even fooled Rainbow.

“Mommy should stay home with us everyday, she makes everything better,” Silverwing happily stated. Thunderlane let out a small chuckle as he nodded in agreement, but his eyes were focused on his wife, who looked to be at a loss for words.

A smile quickly replaced the stunned look on Rainbow’s face, letting Thunderlane feel like his lie was worth it. However, her smile faded almost as fast as it appeared and she hung her head down low. When she lifted it back up, a small grin had returned to her face, but he could notice a trace of guilt in her eyes.

“As much as I’d love to take the credit for being the pony who saved breakfast, I can’t because your father’s story was a lie. Remember two days ago when you tried to do that sonic rainboom and how you made a mistake by trying something you weren’t ready for? Well that’s what happened to me. I’ve never cooked before, I don’t really know anything about cooking but I still thought that I could do it just as well as professionals, but dad’s already showed you how well that turned out. So, sorry for ruining breakfast.” Rainbow’s eyes were glued to the floor during her confession, which Thunderlane guessed was so she could avoid eye contact with Silverwing. It was as if she expected him to be hurt or upset by this, so he hoped his wife could see the look of indifference on their son’s face.

“That’s OK mommy. Breakfast must be really really really hard,” the little colt said, followed by a barely audible sigh of relief from Rainbow.

“Yeah, it is, that’s why we should be thankful for your father. If a super awesome pony like me struggles doing this, imagine how hard it must be for daddy who does this everyday,” she told him. Thunderlane interpreted this as her way of thanking him for trying to take the blame.

“Thank you daddy.” Despite never feeling like his work around the house was unappreciated, it warmed Thunderlane’s heart to hear his son actually thank him for it, even if Rainbow basically pushed him into doing so.

“Don’t mention it, it’s what I do. Why don’t you go play while I try to fix this mess, with just a little bit of help from your mother.” Thunderlane could see his son’s face light up before he trotted out of the kitchen so fast you’d think there was a fire.

“Remember, no playing ball in the house,” Thunderlane called out to Silverwing, and a low groan was heard immediately afterward.

Thunderlane chuckled at his son’s response but when turned to his wife, his expression changed to an apologetic stare. “...I’m sorry about that little fight we had.”

“Yeah, me too. I guess I was being a little too hard on you.” Thunderlane opened up the pantry and rummaged through the various foods to search for breakfast.

“Also it was really cool of you to try and cover for me back there.”

“I should feel upset at you for ruining that award-winning performance,” he said with a chuckle, “but I’m proud of you for telling the truth.”

“Well what kind of role model would I be if I didn’t take responsibility for my failures. In fact, I was thinking maybe you could give me a few cooking lessons, if that’s all right with you,” Rainbow meekly asked. Thunderlane turned to give her a hearty smile.

“I’d like that.”

Rainbow could see several rows of apple trees in the distance, letting her know that they were close to Sweet Apple Acres. She turned her head slightly to the right where her husband was flying right alongside of her. He nodded, signaling that he saw the trees too, and they began to lower their altitude, while Silverwing clung tightly to mother’s back.

Rainbow spotted a familiar face at the entrance and gave him a friendly wave before landing right at the fence. The blue, male pegasus waved to his friends before approaching them.

“Don’t ya think you’re a little early for our Hearth’s Warming party? It’s not even Nightmare Night yet,” Soarin’ spoke with a faux serious voice that Rainbow smirked at.

“Well this year I figured I better get here early, maybe now I can actually get the first tankard of cider instead of Pinkie,” Rainbow jokingly replied. It took a few seconds but a grin slowly started to crack on Soarin’s face as he let out a small chuckle.

“It’s good to see you again Rainbow, and I’m happy to hear about your vacation. You’re an amazing Wonderbolt, even better than I ever was, but I always felt like you worked a little too hard. So it’s nice to see you get some time off to relax with your family.”

“Heh, it is nice to be back home but being with Silverwing doesn’t really give me much time to relax,” Rainbow chuckled.

“Is that so? Have you been giving your mother a hard time?” Soarin’ asked the little foal.

“Uh-huh,” Silverwing replied while nodding his head innocently and the three adults snicked amongst themselves.

“Well why don’t you give your mom a break and go play with Starking. He’s been anxious to see you for a while now because he has something big to tell you,” Soarin’ said with almost child-like glee.

“Pinkie told me that he started fl-” Rainbows sentence was cut short by Soarin’s quick intervention

“Ahp ahp ahp, you’re going to have to wait a bit longer to hear that story. I’ve already told Thunderlane about it, but I know Starking would want to tell Silverwing himself, and AJ would probably kill me if I told you about it before she did.”

Soarin’ then turned his attention to Thunderlane and briefly shook his hoof. “Always nice to see you around here too Thunderlane, and how have things been with you?”

“Oh same ol’ same ol’, though things are already starting to get more exciting with Rainbow being back home and I’m sure it will continue that way for the next three months,” Thunderlane answered.

“I’m sure they will too and I’d love to talk with you about that over a pint of cider, but I don’t think I’ve got time for that,” Soarin’ told him.

“That’s all right, I don’t either. Somepony’s got to watch after our kids while our wives are chatting,” Thunderlane replied as the two stallions shared a friendly laugh.

Rainbow was happy to see her husband getting along so well with her ex, though she did find it a little weird to see them as close friends. She thought back to when she was younger and how Thunderlane used to hate Soarin’ because he was jealous of the crush she had on him, despite not having met him at that point. However, she shook those thoughts from her head and ignored that weirdness because the less she thought about her lovesick teenage years the better.

A deep “ehem” suddenly filled the air, as the four pegasi turned to see Big Macintosh standing just a few yards away, giving Soarin an impatient stare.

“I guess I better get back to work, got a lot to do before Nightmare Night later this week. You’ll have to stop by some other day when I’m not working in the fields and you can tell me about what’s been happening with the Wonderbolts.”

The pegasi family gave their friend a quick goodbye wave, as he rejoined his brother-in-law, and then made their way down the dirt path that led to the farm house. They had only taken a few steps down the path before Rainbow leaned toward her husband and whispered “Yesterday Pinkie told me Starking starting flying. What’s the story behind that?”

Her husband gave her an impish smile as he replied “You’ll just have to wait a few more minutes to find out,” which Rainbow pouted at.

As frustrating as it was to be teased by all this buildup, Rainbow had to admit that it piqued her curiosity. Her mind wandered as she tried to figure out how an earth pony could possibly fly. Had science made some kind of advances that she was unaware of that gave the foal artificial wings or allow him to actually grow his own? She silently chuckled and allowed herself to get lost in a thought about the sweet, innocent Starking becoming some kind of cyborg pony.

As the farmhouse drew closer Rainbow could see her old friend sitting on the porch with her two children close by. The one-year-old filly seemed to be sleeping peacefully in a toddler carrier, while the four-year-old colt was fidgeting with his mane. An elderly Winona was also there and was sitting very close to Starking, as if she was watching over him.

Starking’s face immediately perked up when he spotted the pegasi family and he called out to them, which also got the attention of his mother. Applejack gave a hearty smile to her friends and waved to them with as much enthusiasm as her son.

Silverwing’s tail was wagging the instant he heard his best friends voice and he wasted no time dashing towards the farmhouse, his parents following close behind. Starking was about to run to them but Applejack placed a hoof out to stop him, keeping him from getting too excited so he wouldn’t injure his brittle bones.

“Yer a little early for our Hearth’s Warming party, don’t ya think? Applejack greeted her with a chuckle as they drew closer, but Rainbow rolled her eyes.

“Your husband already made that joke.”

“He did? Dang, Ah thought Ah was bein’ clever,” Applejack looked disappointed for a moment but it only took a second for her to perk up again. “Oh well, Ah’m sure he made it funnier, he always was better at that kinda stuff than me.”

“I’ve really missed you and the rest of the gang,” Rainbow said with a hearty smile as she extended right hoof out for a hoofbump, and Applejack was more than happy to return it.

“We’ve missed you too and you can’t imagine how happy we are to have you back for the next three months. Then again, Ah’m sure they told you that yesterday durin’ breakfast.”

While his mother was distracted, Starking crawled off the porch to see his best friend and the two colts gave each other a gentle hoofbump, emulating their parents greeting.

“Guess what I did? I flew! I finally flew!” Starking’s face beamed with excitement but Silverwing stared at his friend in confusion.

“How did you do that, you haven’t grown wings yet?!” Silverwing asked, checking his friend’s back to see if any wings started to sprout out. The adults immediately shifted their attention to their children’s conversation, especially Rainbow Dash, who was eagerly awaiting Starking’s response.

“My dad put me in this thing, I think it was called a harness, and then he put it on too and flew around the farm, so I got to fly too. It was awesome!” This was the best explanation Rainbow could hope to get from a four-year-old foal.

After all that build-up Rainbow was expecting something much more grandiose, and yet a heartfelt smile found its way to her face. Unfortunately, her son didn’t seem as touched by this, judging from his dull expression.

“Oh, then that means you didn’t actually fly, your dad did and he just carried you,” Silverwing pointed out with a disparaging tone.

“Well I….I...” Starking struggled coming up with a response as a tear started to form in his eye.

Rainbow could see Applejack and Thunderlane giving Silverwing an icy stare, and she couldn’t blame them. After all, he was being nasty to his best friend, but she didn’t think yelling at the kid would solve anything. So she quickly thought of something to say before they could scold him.

“I wouldn’t be so quick to judge his methods of flying if I were you kid. After all, it’s the same way your Aunt Scootaloo used to fly.” Thunderlane and Applejack’s glares started to soften now that Rainbow was handling the problem.

“It was?” Silverwing asked with a somewhat shaky voice.

“Yeah, I don’t think we ever told you this but your aunt Scootaloo can’t fly. She always wanted to be just like me, kinda like you, but her wings were never strong enough to lift her off the ground for more than a few seconds. It broke my heart knowing that this little pegasus’ wish to fly would never come true, so I decided to help her out. I held her up high in my hooves as I flew around, letting her experience the excitement of soaring through the sky with a relaxing breeze flowing through her mane. I helped make her dreams come true and Starking’s dad did the same thing for him,” Rainbow told her son, whose expression had guilt written all over it.

“I’m sorry Starking,” Silverwing said with genuine remorse in his voice.

“That’s OK,” Starking responded with a few sniffles, drying whatever tears may have formed in his eyes.

Rainbow looked to her husband and best friend to see them giving her an approving grin that filled her with pride.

Thunderlane approached the two colts and knelt down, allowing them to get on his back. “Now that we’ve got that out of the way why don’t we get down to some serious playtime?” The dark gray colt’s sentiment was accompanied by two replies of “Yeah!” and then they were off, with Winona running after them, leaving the two mares alone to chat.

“Ah really appreciate you talking with yer son like that and getting him to apologize to Starking,” Applejack said

“No problem. That was a really cool thing Soarin’ did for your kid and I wanted him to recognize that too. It’s all about communication,” Rainbow replied with a cocky tone, feeling much more confident as a mother than she had since she got here.

“It certainly makes me wish you were here to keep him in line more often,” Applejack started to chuckle at her friend’s boastfulness but slowly stopped when she noticed the confused look on Rainbow’s face.

“What do you mean by that?” Rainbow curiously asked, but AJ gave her a nervous stare.

“Well, yah see…..sometimes yer son can be a bit of a bully.” Applejack nervously admitted and while Rainbow’s head jerked back, her face displayed no malice expression.

“What does he do?” Rainbow asked with no trace of emotion in her voice.

“There have been times where he tries to pressure Starking into doin’ dangerous stunts that would seriously hurt him. He’ll also call him names like baby or sissy whenever he won’t do what he wants to do. There was one time I had them roll a ball to each other instead of throwing it so it wouldn’t hurt Starking, but Silverwing complained about this saying that was how babies played,” Applejack explained, but Rainbow’s face remained a blank slate.

“What does Thunderlane do about this?”

“Usually he’ll give him a stern talkin’ to and make him apologize, but sometimes he’ll punish him by takin’ him home and groundin’ him,” Applejack answered, and Rainbow’s expression finally changed into a defense stare.

“So what’s the problem then if he’s getting punished for this bad behavior? Sure it’s not good that he’s acting up but he’s a kid, kid’s act up and they eventually outgrow it. Do I need to remind you of all the times I used to torment Thunderlane when we were younger?” Rainbow tried not to raise her voice too much so neither of their families would hear this.

“Look, Ah ain’t trying to attack yer son and Ah understand that he’s just a kid, but he keeps doin’ it even after bein’ punished. We just saw him insult mah son right in front of us, even though he’s gotten in trouble for doin’ that before. Ah’m just worried that this could escalate further and Starking could actually get hurt,” Applejack took on her own defensive tone but still managed to keep her voice calm so Rainbow would understand that she had no malicious intent.

Rainbow’s expression softened as did her voice, “I can understand why you’d be concerned, what with Starking’s medical condition, but I don’t think we should worry about this too much. Sure, that was a crummy thing Silverwing did but don’t forget that both of them were very happy to see each other and to play together again. They really are good friends, and as Silver gets older he’ll realize that and treat him with more respect.”

Applejack let out a sigh before saying “Ah guess yer right, Starking certainly was happier than a pig at suppertime when he heard Silverwing was comin’ over.”

“See, I don’t think he’d be that excited if he felt he was being visited by a bully. Besides, if my son does start acting up I’ll just step in and say something to him to get him to stop, just like I did back there. I know how to get through to him,” Rainbow proudly boasted.

“Ah don’t doubt that with the way that kid talks about you. Ah’d even say that he listened to you better that one time than he normally does for Thunderlane.” Rainbow Dash chuckled lightly at Applejack’s remark.

“Heh, yeah it reminds me of myself when I was younger. My dad or some other adult would always try to tell me something important but I’d always ignore it but I would certainly listen whenever I’d hear a Wonderbolt say the exact same thing in an interview.”

Applejack was about to respond but when she opened her mouth the only sound that was heard was the peeps of a little filly saying “Mama”. Both mares perked up their ears and turned their heads quickly to see AJ’s one-year-old daughter, Swift Apple, waking up from her nap and fidgeting in her seat.

“Aw, I’m sorry my sweet little apple. Did we wake you?” Applejack cooed as she rushed over to her daughter and scoop her up in her hooves. The baby gave a few short nods in response as her mother gently rocked her.

“Well Ah guess Ah’ll put yah in yer crib fer the rest of yer nap, but first you should say hi to yer Aunt Rainbow.” Applejack held her daughter out to see the cyan mare with the rainbow mane.

“Hi,” the baby filly muttered with barely any energy behind it. Rainbow couldn’t tell if she was just tired or shy, although it was probably both.

“Hey kid, I heard you started flying recently, how’s that been going?” Rainbow asked but Swift didn’t respond. Instead, the little filly stared at her for a few seconds before turning herself around and buried her head in her mother’s chest, attempting to fall asleep again.

“Sorry Rainbow, but Ah guess she ain’t feelin’ too chatty today,” Applejack apologized before giving her daughter a quick kiss on her forehead.

“No sweat, I understand. We pegasi need all the sleep we can get so we can be super awesome later,” Rainbow told the small filly, but AJ smirked at her.

“Well you would know. With all the times Ah caught yah nappin’ in mah trees Ah actually considered chargin’ yah rent,” Applejack joked.

“You should feel honored that the second-in-command of the Wonderbolts once slept in your trees. If word got out that was where Rainbow Dash took her naps they’d probably declare this entire farm as a national landmark,” Rainbow claimed in an over the top manner that the farm mare snickered at.

“OK, Ah’m gonna put Swift back in her crib for the rest of her nap, maybe you could use some of that time to deflate that ego,” Applejack playfully chided her before heading back inside the farmhouse.

Rainbow tried waiting patiently for her friend to return but it only took ten seconds for her to grow bored. The cyan pegasus took to the sky, scanning the farm to find Thunderlane and the kids. She spotted them playing a game of hide and seek with Starking laying his head against a tree as he counted to ten. Thunderlane was a few feet away hiding behind a tree, but she could see him trying to stick his tail out the side so the frail colt could spot him easily.

Once Starking finally lifted his head off the tree, he immediately took notice of the light gray tail sticking out from the tree. When he was caught, Thunderlane put on his best “oh darn” face but then joined him in looking for Silverwing. Rainbow stared fondly at this cute scene, but that feeling was lost when she saw where her son was hiding. The light gray pegasus colt was sitting on a cloud, snickering as he watched his dad and best friend wandering around aimlessly, searching for him.

Rainbow was disappointed to see that AJ’s claims about her son seemed to be spot-on. She considered going over there to tell them where he was hiding but dismissed the idea when she noticed Winona barking at the cloud Silverwing was on, catching the attention of both ponies. Thunderlane flew up to the cloud and gave the boy a disappointed stare before picking him up and bringing him back down to the ground.

“What are they doin’?” Rainbow looked down to see that Applejack had return, so she landed back down too.

“They’re playing a game of hide and seek,” Rainbow answered, purposely leaving out her son’s cheating.

“That’s nice to hear. It’s one of the few physical games Starking can play without the risk of hurtin’ himself, and Ah know Silverwing enjoys it too,” Applejack commented, making Rainbow wonder if this was not the first time he did something like this. It actually reminded her of the time her and AJ competed with each other in the Iron Pony Competition, and all the tricks she pulled to keep herself from losing.

“So, how was breakfast with the girls yesterday?” Applejack asked.

“It was great seeing all of them and hearing what they’ve been up lately. Which reminds me, have you talked to Rarity lately?”

“No.”

“Well you’re going to want to do that soon because she has some big news.” Rainbow hoped that her tease of information made AJ just as curious as she was when Pinkie told her Starking had flew.

“Ah’ll have to pay her a visit some time soon. Ah wish Ah could’ve been there, especially since Pinkie told me you were going to Morrow’s diner. Mah family loves eatin’ there every now and then, what did you think of it?”

“The food was pretty good and I liked the coffee, but I think I’ve had better. It was a cool place, but I’ve been to diners all around Equestria and I’m not sure this one would make my top ten,”

“Then Ah’m guessin’ yah didn’t have a pastry while you were there, cause if yah did Ah’d guarantee it’d at least be in yer top five. That Cinnamon Swirl really can bake, and Ah can’t imagine there’s another diner with service better than hers.She’s really good with Starking too and always ask me about him when we run into each other. She even gave him an activity book and some other toys back when he had a nasty fracture and had to stay inside.” Applejack spoke with pure admiration that caused Rainbow’s smile to drop.

“She certainly seemed nice and my family seems to adore her, but… I don’t know, I guess I’m just not as fond of her as you and the rest of our friends are,” Rainbow admitted.

“Why’s that?” Applejack curiously asked with a hint of disappointment in her voice.

“I don’t know. I guess she’s just a little too peppy and perky for me.” Rainbow excuse was met with a raised eyebrow from Applejack on an otherwise blank face.

“She’s too peppy and perky for yah and Pinkie Pie ain’t?”

“Hey don’t forget it took me a while to warm up to Pinkie after I met her,” Rainbow defensively pointed out, which didn’t even seem to faze AJ.

“Then maybe in time you’ll warm up to her too.”

“Maybe but I wouldn’t get your hopes up,” Rainbow flatly said, making Applejack frown.

“Did somethin’ happen between you two yesterday?” the orange mare asked with a serious, and slightly concerned, tone.

Rainbow paused for a moment, debating with herself on if she should tell AJ that she suspects the waitress has feelings for her husband. Her friends certainly didn’t seem to take her suspicions too seriously, so would her best friend also dismiss her claims. Then again, she was the element of honesty, so if there was any pony’s input she valued on this subject it was hers.

“I….I just felt uncomfortable with how friendly she was with my family. Whenever she talked with Thunderlane she came off as a teenage schoolfilly with a crush. Every time I’d glance back at my family’s booth she’d always be there, wrapped up in a conversation, making them laugh, and staring at my husband with affectionate eyes and a flirty smile.Then there were moments like that with Silverwing too, like when she’d wrap her hoof around him or tussle his mane. He even seemed more excited to come back to the diner than he was to come here and play with Starking. It’s almost as if she’s trying to be their mother and wife, in fact, right as we were leaving she…” Rainbow stopped when she noticed Applejack staring at her as if she was a crazy pony rambling to herself.

“....Oh nevermind, you probably just think I’m crazy just like our friends did and I’m sure Thunderlane would think that too if I brought this up to him,” Rainbow said with a sigh, hanging her head low in dejection.

The confused look on Applejack’s face was replaced with one of sympathy and she gave Rainbow a comforting pat on the shoulder.

“Yeah that all does sound crazy to me, but Ah wasn’t there yesterday so maybe Ah’m not the best pony to judge. Also Ah can actually understand where yer comin’ from since I sometimes Ah can’t help but feel a tinge of jealousy whenever Ah see Soarin’ chatting with some random mare,” Applejack confessed.

“Really?” Rainbow asked, her tone barely concealing her surprise.

Applejack nodded in response “Even though Soarin’ left the Wonderbolts he’s still remembered fondly and Ah know there are some mares who’d walk to Tartarus and back just to be with him, so sometimes I have to wonder ‘why me?’ Why would a famous celebrity like Soarin’, who could have any mare he wants, settle for a simple apple farmer like me?”

“Settled?!” Rainbow slammed her hoof on the ground and gave her friend a firm look. “Don’t you dare think that, not even for a second! Soarin’ didn’t settle, he chose to be with a mare that loved him for who he was and not a mare who was attracted to him for superficial reasons, myself included. Think about that love note he left for you out of baskets of apples on Hearts & Hooves day, or how he surprised you at his last Wonderbolt show by proposing. You two have even dealt with the hardships of raising a disabled son who can break his leg just by running, and your marriage is still just as strong as ever. He’s not going to throw all that away just because a bunch of mares are swooning over him.”

Applejack smiled at her “You’re right, I know he’d never leave me for another mare, just like I’m sure you know that Thunderlane would never leave you either, even if Cinnamon really does have feelings for him.”

Rainbow’s eyes shifted downward, staring at the ground and seemingly hesitant to speak “But what if….what if she’d be a better wife and mother than me?”

“Rainbow, that would be like me worryin’ that there are other apple farmers better than me. Some might be. Some might not. That’s not important; what is is that Ah do mah best with mah own farm, not comparin’ mahself with them. Besides, Thunderlane and Silverwing obviously think yer doing a good job since they’ve got nothin’ but nice things to say whenever they talk about you; and I ain’t never heard them talk about Cinnamon Swirl the way they do you,” Applejack assured her

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Rainbow said with a smile but her voice lacked her usual confidence and sincerity, something Applejack picked up on.

“If yer still feelin’ nervous about this, the only other advice Ah can give ya is to talk with yer husband about this. Ain’t no better way to lay yer worries to rest.”

It took a lot of willpower for Rainbow not to sneer at this advice. Was she just supposed to go up to him and say ‘You know that waitress you’re good friends with? Well I think she wants to be more than just friends with you.’ She could see his reaction now; he’d give her a confused, blank stare for a few seconds, maybe even chuckle a little, say something like “You’re cute when you’re jealous,” and then insist that they’re just friends and there’s nothing else between them. Though if Thunderlane told her that he didn’t have romantic feelings for her then she’d believe him, but that doesn’t mean she’d trust Cinnamon Swirl.

“Mom! Mom!” A voice shouted out. Rainbow and Applejack turned their heads to see Silverwing running towards them. Thunderlane wasn’t far behind him, with Starking riding on his back and Winona walking by his side.

“Mom, could you do some of your tricks for me and Starking?” Silverwing pleaded with puppy dog eyes that Rainbow couldn’t say no to. Besides, a few stunts would probably be good to help clear her mind of this whole business with the waitress.

“Excuse me, Applejack, but my fans demand a performance, and who am I to deny them such an awesome display.” Rainbow then took off with enough speed that Applejack had to hold onto her hat to keep it from blowing away.

First, Rainbow flew straight towards the apple trees, weaving through them, as if she was a ball bouncing off a wall. She then zipped over to a nearby rail fence, gracefully flying between the rails but then did several somersaults around it until she built up enough momentum to launch herself in the air with the speed of a bullet.

The ‘ohs’ and ‘ahs’ she heard from the kids let her know that they were impressed but that wasn’t good enough for her. Rainbow wanted to make them cheer so loud their voices would go hoarse, and she knew just how to do it. She was going to find the biggest cloud in the sky, punch several holes in it, and then fly through all those holes with rapid speed. Her heart raced with excitement when she spotted a cloud that was about twice as big as a normal one, perfect for her big finishing stunt. She dashed towards it with an excited smirk on her face, but then her eyes went wide with fear.

Once again, her wings suddenly started to feel stiff and cramp, just as they did when she did the sonic rainboom for her son two days ago. She hadn’t even been trying to do the rainboom and yet her wings ached just as much as they did that time. Just trying to flap her wings to stay airborne was causing her a lot of pain, and her heart skipped a beat as she felt herself start to drop. She tried to ignore the pain and flap anyway, but it proved as effective as trying to walk through a tidal wave. Thankfully she was able to give herself a big enough surface area just in case she crashed, just as her Wonderbolt training taught her.

Time seemed to slow while she plummeted towards the ground, hearing the gasps of her family and friends when they realized that this was not part of her act. Then Thunderlane took action and shot into the air as if he had been fired from one of Pinkie’s party cannons. Rainbow had never seen such a determined look on her husband’s face, that alone made her want to believe he’d catch her, but unfortunately she was falling faster than he was flying. He seemed to notice this too and tried flapping his wings harder and faster but it still didn’t look like he was generating enough speed.

The cyan mare closed her eyes and braced for impact but instead she felt herself come to a sudden stop. A wave of relief had washed over Rainbow when she opened her eyes and saw that she had stop about seven or eight feet off the ground. The next thing that caught her attention was the light blue fur she was now laying on, which she easily recognized as Soarin’s back.

“I’d say that makes us even for the incident at the Best Young Flyer Competition, but I still owe you for saving me at Rainbow Falls,” Soarin’ said with a friendly chuckle after they landed and Rainbow carefully lifted herself off his back. She looked to the sky to see Thunderlane lightly panting and although he looked relieved, she also noticed a small amount of insecurity hidden in his eyes.

“Mommy! Mommy! Silverwing shouted, running up to her as fast as his little legs would allow him. “What happened mommy?!”

Rainbow could see the tears forming in her son’s eyes and gave him a light pat on the back “It’s OK, I just had a little accident but I’m fine now.”

Applejack, Starking, Big Macintosh, and even Winona were also gathering around Rainbow, giving her concerned stares that felt like a bunch of cold hooves gripping her heart. Before any of them could say anything, Thunderlane landed right in front of his wife and pulled her into a hug.

“Thank you Soarin’. I...I don’t even wanna think about what could’ve happened if you weren’t here. We really owe you,” Thunderlane said with a tone as soft as Fluttershy’s.

“Don’t sweat it, you would’ve done the same for AJ if she was in trouble too,” Soarin’ modestly pointed out.

Rainbow could hear her husband mutter something under his breath that sounded like “How? I couldn’t even save my own wife.”

Thunderlane released her from his hug and looked her straight in the eye when he asked “Is there something wrong with you? This is the second time you’ve nearly crashed while performing a stunt since you’ve came home.”

All eyes were glued on Rainbow as they waited for her explanation and her mind was going a mile a minute trying to think of one. She considered just lying to them but if she had to be frank with herself and there was no way they’d believe if she tried to pass this off as a simple accident. Besides, maybe this is something she shouldn’t keep from them since her wings have been giving her problems for the past month and it was only getting worse.

With a heavy sigh, Rainbow finally looked to her husband and said “For about a month my wings would sometimes hurt after I’d perform one of my stunts.”

“And when were you planning on telling me about this?” Thunderlane asked with a low irritated voice.

“I didn’t think it was that big of deal at the time. The pain wasn’t too bad and it didn’t really affect my stunts too much except for a few botched landings, and it would usually go away after a few hours or after a hot shower. It also only happened after I would preform a big move like the sonic rainboom, this was the first time it happened during a normal stunt,” Rainbow retorted defensively to match her husband’s tone.

“So this has happened multiple times and that wasn’t enough to convince you that this was something to be concerned about?! Besides, you mentioned that it would happen after doing the sonic rainboom, so what made you think it wouldn’t happen when you did the rainboom for us two days ago?!” Thunderlane’s tone raised even higher, no longer concealing his frustrations.

Rainbow tried to avoid eye contact with her husband. She knew he had a point but she didn’t want to admit it. “Can’t we not do this now?”

Thunderlane opened his mouth as if he was about to shout but then he paused and looked behind him. Both Soarin’ and Big Mac were pretending to look away, while Applejack kept her head down with her hat covering her eyes. Starking and Silverwing were watching them but they both looked confused, and even a little scared. The dark gray stallion turned back to his wife, giving her a more empathetic expression.

“You’re right, that’s not important right now. What’s important is getting you to a hospital.” Although Thunderlane’s voice became kind and soft, there was a bit of firmness to it.

Rainbow nervously hesitated for a few seconds as she considered arguing against this idea. She always hated going to the hospital because it usually meant that she’d be restricted from flying for some time, and she doubted this would time would be different. However, if she had to be grounded then now was the time to do so before she had to go back to the Wonderbolts in three months. These bouts of pain were getting more serious too and if she had crashed there then she might have spent the rest of her three-month vacation in a body cast. Ignoring it hasn’t worked so far, so maybe it was time to finally go to a hospital.

“Guess we’ll have to cut our reunion short,” Rainbow said to Applejack, who gave her a warm smile.

“Don’t worry about it, we’ve got plenty of time to get together again once yer feelin’ better,” Applejack responded and Rainbow nodded in agreement.

Rainbow called to her son, who still seemed confused by all of this but he waved goodbye to Starking and then followed his parents as they left the farm in silence.