Dark Corners of the Mind

Chapters

Dark Corners of the Mind
Mental Punching Bag
Confrontation and Conflagration
The Hospital
Vacationing
Epilogue: All Bad Things Come To An End

Dark Corners of the Mind

This final week had been hard on Ponyville’s primary weather pony. A multitude of farmers and event planners wanted a different thing, and had all filled out their weather request forms for the same week. Needless to say, she’d been pulling double and triple shifts all week in order to accommodate for the demand. A piano recital needed clear, sunny weather while Sweet Apple Acres required some light (but steady) rain. That Applejack had annoyed her to no end constantly asking Dash to adjust the volume of rain in different sectors of the farm. Eventually, she gave up on Applejack and left to do other weather-related duties. Finally, insane pace of the week slacking slightly, she found a soft, low-flying cloud on which she was going to sleep until the end of time. Nothing could part her from this hard earned respite.

“Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie Pie’s shrill scream startled the sleeping pegasus into falling off of her cloud into an undignified heap.

“Ok Pinkie, I’m up. What do you want?” Rainbow Dash mumbled tiredly, trying to rub the sleep from her eyes.

“No, silly, you’re down! Didn’t you see yourself fall? Actually, you were probably asleep at the time? Didja feel yourself fall?” Rainbow Dash just groaned and rolled over onto her back, looking up at Pinkie’s cheery face. “I guess you did. Ooh! Guess what Dashie! It’s just so exciting!” Pinkie’s voice cyclically grew in volume the nearer she was the resting cyan blob, as she repeatedly bouncing skyward, landing scarily close to Dash’s wing. Dash snapped it back against her side, slowly getting her legs beneath her and struggling to stand.

“I am awake,” she corrected herself. “What do you want Pinkie?” Rainbow Dash said, more than slightly grumpy about being woken up. Pinkie skidded to a stop.

“Oh right! Twilight is planning some big and fun party for us all! I was just helping her but I said ‘You know who needs to be here? Rainbow Dash! She loves a good get together, and since she’s been working so hard these last few days, she’ll want this party to make her feel better!’ And then Twilight said-”

“Ok, ok, I get it. I’ll go help.”

“Well let’s go, Grumps McGurt! Time’s a-wastin’!” Dash’s shoulders drooped to the ground, and cast a wistful glance back at that soft, luscious cloud.

Twilight heard the duo coming long before she ever saw them, the tell-tale ‘boing boing boing,’ of Pinkie Pie was hard to miss, and the ‘scrape scrape scrape’ no doubt originated from the tired hooves of Rainbow Dash. Sure enough, moments later the two entered through the door to the library, Pinkie timing her bouncing perfectly to miss the door frame.

“Hey, RD, I could use some help over here,” Applejack said, waving her over with a hoof. Rainbow Dash. “Twilight and Pinkie are busy planning events or sumsuch, so you and I get to mail the invitations. In fact, the first batch is already on the way!” Rainbow caught a glimpse of Derpy taking off, carrying two very full bags of mail. Rainbow Dash pawed at the mail, packaging one letter for every two that Applejack packaged.

“So, uh, what’s the occasion?” Dash asked, resting her head on the hardwood table. Wow, was that table comfortable.

“It’s nothing special, it’s just my folks are coming into town, and,” Twilight began. Dash’s eyelids began to fade closed despite her best efforts to force them open. No matter how hard she tried to pull upwards, gravity was going to have its way. Every passing second, time seemed slow and her eyes felt heavier and heavier.

“Mhm, that’s nice,” Dash’s voice trailed off into sleep.

“…my folks wanted to meet you five and your families.” Rainbow Dash’s eyes snapped open.

“Our families? As in: we are inviting our families here?”

“Yes, of course. You know, it was surprisingly hard to find the address for your family. It’s like you never wrote it down when you moved here from Cloudsdale.”

“N-n-no, I wrote it down…” Dash lied unconvincingly. Applejack peered over the stacks of envelopes at her friend, curiously.

“You ok, sugercube?”

“Uh yeah. Fine. A-ok, heh,” She flashed an quick smile at the group retreating back towards the door. “I uh, just realized I have to go um, do some weather stuff. Yeah.” Dash fairly splintered the doors in her haste to leave.

“What was that about?” Twilight asked, curiosity piqued.

Pinkie Pie trotted down the street, greeting her friends along the way. She headed for Rainbow Dash’s abode, hoping to prank a few other people.

“Oh Dashie!” She exclaimed, elongating the ‘ie’ sound longer than should be physically possible. Dash dropped angrily from her house right in front of Pinkie Pie.

“What?” she yelled, anger radiating from her every pore. Dash obviously hadn’t slept, her mane was more unkempt than usual, and her eyes were bloodshot to the point where it gave her eyeball a reddish look, instead of a healthy white color. Pinkie took a step back in surprise at the unexpected outburst.

“I, uh, wanted to know if you wanted to hang out today and prank people. You seemed a little upset yesterday.”

“Upset? Hah! I’m not upset!” Rainbow Dash’s demeanor quickly deteriorated as she struck an even more aggressive stance. “I just want to be left the hay alone by you crazy ponies! I don’t give a buck what you thought I felt yesterday, I didn’t feel anything unusual! I’m perfectly normal! No problems! Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to do important things!” Dash launched into the air in a flurry of wind, leaving Pinkie in a cloud of dust.

“Sheesh, what’s her problem? I’ve never seen her act like that before,” Pinkie asked, to nopony in particular. She dismissed the event as just Rainbow Dash having an off day, and went about her business.

Dash careened through the sky careless of where she was or where she ended up. She aimed for a lone cloud, increasing speed to the point where the wind screamed past her ears, whipping her mane into a multihued frenzy. The speed felt freeing; the blinding wind pushed her worries from her mind and all she felt was the adrenaline rush accompanying death-defying velocities.

A sharp pain in her left shoulder flipped her over and sent her careening into the ground. The ground raced towards her, and she snapped her wings out to their fullest extension, in vain trying to catch enough traction to alter her course. A cracking noise sounded as she impacted, wing first, tossing loam in all directions as she slid along the ground. Climbing out of the long furrow she had left in the ground, she began looking around for the source of her painful shoulder and now quite obviously broken left wing.

“Fluttershy!” The yellow pegasus picked her head up from where she too had impacted the ground.

“Oh, hello Rainbow Dash. I’m sorry if-”

“What’s the matter is the sky not big enough to let me fly in peace?”

“I… uh…”

“I mean seriously! What is wrong with you? I was obviously going for a speed run, and any other pony would have been able to hear me a long ways away!”

“I’m sorry if-” Fluttershy began.

“No, you’re not sorry. If you were truly sorry, you would have moved in the first place. That’s why I hate you Fluttershy, you’re just uselessly hogging up the air. A worthless pegasus who can barely fly. In fact, I’m not even sure I’d call it flying! More like slightly controlled disaster.” Even though Fluttershy tried to remain assertive, the insults struck too close to home, and she began tearing up.

“B-b-but Rainbo-”

“I don’t want to hear it, Worthless. In fact, I don’t want to see you ever again.” With that, Rainbow stood up and limped away, her broken wing hanging uselessly at her side, and a broken pegasus sat behind her silently crying and confused at the drastic change in her friend.

Applejack was walking up the road, hauling an empty apple cart back from a good day at the market, whistling a happy melody. She immediately stopped at the sight of an irate and filthy Rainbow Dash, a broken wing hanging off her side.

“Hey RD, are y-”

“Buck off.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me, buck off.”

“Sheesh, a little grumpy are we?” Applejack mumbled to herself as the flyer passed by. She continued down the road for a ways, a little concerned for Dash, but otherwise with undampened spirits. Soft sounds of crying came from around the corner. She walked around the corner, finding what was apparent to her to be Rainbow Dash’s crash site. Loam had been tossed around the area like confetti, and the ground bore the scars of a crash site. Painfully obvious was the sobbing yellow pegasus, head buried deep into her own pink mane. AJ ducked out from her harness and dashed over to her friend.

“Fluttershy, are you hurt?” The pegasus shook her head, still buried in her hooves. “What’s wrong?”

“R-r-r-rai!” She sobbed, before dissolving into tears again.

“Rainbow Dash?” AJ asked. The pegasus nodded. “What happened?”

“Col-collided!” She managed to work out, after quite a few false starts interrupted by tears.

“But you’re not crying because you are physically hurt, are you?” Applejack queried after a quick inspection of the timid pony. The pink mane snapped back and forth rapidly, Fluttershy vigorously shaking her head. “Then why?”

“Sh-sa-sa-said I wo-wor-worthless!” She said, bawling.

“She said that?” Fluttershy nodded.

“A-a-nd she never wants to see me aga-ai-ai-ain!” Applejack straightened her back.

“C’mon Fluttershy, let’s go pay a little visit to Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy resisted.

“N-no, I think I’ll j-just g-go home,” Fluttershy said, for the first time looking past her own hooves, and directly at Applejack with tear-filled eyes.

“No can do. We’re going to solve this. Nopony treats their friends like this,” Applejack said, resolve steeling in her eyes.

“No, i-it’s quite alright. We can do this later, r-right?” Fluttershy said, backing away from the earth pony. Applejack reached over, snagging Fluttershy by the mane.

“Come on, Fluttershy. We’ll get Rainbow Dash to apologize if I have to beat it out of her.” Applejack said through gritted teeth.

Applejack followed Rainbow’s trail, which was fairly easy to follow as the broken wing left a trail in the dirt. After a following the trail for a bit (and from stopping Fluttershy’s retreat twice), Applejack followed Rainbow Dash into Sugercube corner.

“Hi guys! Anypony for a cupcake?” Pinkie said with a huge grin.

“Ah, no thanks. Have you seen Rainbow recently?” Applejack said, trying to pull the dejected yellow mare through the door.

“Oh yeah! She came in all grumpy and went upstairs without a word!”

“Great, let’s go talk to her.”

“Ooh! Can I come with?”

“Sure, I guess.” The duo pushed Fluttershy up the stairs first. Fluttershy’s head poked over through the doorway, and she began backpedeling rapidly.

“Don’t let her back away, Pinkie! Keep pushing!” Applejack said, straining.

“It’s not what you think!” Fluttershy said desperately. “We really shouldn’t be here right now!”

“Push!” Pinkie yelled, and all three stumbled to the top of the stairs. Applejack was the first to stand to her feet, and first to get a handle on the situation.

“Rainbow? What are you doin’?” She had expected a defiant, angry mare, not this. She wasn’t sure what to do. Rainbow Dash huddled in the corner of the room, her broken wing hanging off to her side. What stunned Applejack the most was what Rainbow was doing with her right hoof. Rainbow was pressing a knife against her own throat.

“No, no, no. It has to be him or me, him or me!” Rainbow Dash laughed crazily. “One or the other, it has to be.” The trio took tentative steps forward, before frustrated at Rainbow Dash, now deeply concerned.

“Who is ‘him?’And what has to be?” Pinkie said, suddenly realizing that it was not the time to discuss parties.

“Him! The problem! Can’t solve. Speed doesn’t reverse time. What if it did? Would it fix?”

“Rainbow Dash, why don’t we find out? Please put down the knife,” Fluttershy pleaded.

“There’s no other solution. It has to be, just a quick slash, and a solution is formed. No other way.” Rainbow Dash had tears streaming down her face, but still laughing at the predicament. “Stay away!” She shouted as Applejack was reaching for her wing.

“Easy now, I’m just trying to fix your broken wing.”

“No fix, no fix. Pain drives away pain. Another solution.” Dash babbled, tapping the tip of the blade of weapon against her temple a few times. “Permanent or temporary? Can pain be permanent? Must move at specific velocity and impact ground at correct angle to break specific bones. Difficult to predict. Only one way.” Rainbow Dash raised her hand, straightening out the path of the blade, and steeled herself against the slice. “Goodbye, friends.”

Years of hard work and training paid off, as Applejack’s powerful and quick applebucking legs snapped into Rainbow Dash’s hooves, sending the knife skittering across the floor.

“No! I have to clear my head! Why? I have to stop it from returning!” She screamed desperately, reaching for the weapon. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie jumped across their friend, pulling her to the ground. Rainbow Dash’s wing snapped against the ground painfully, bringing back some momentary clarity.

Fluttershy found herself in an awkward embrace as Rainbow Dash clung to her crying heavily, heaving out the words ‘thank you’ over and over. The trio sat Rainbow Dash up against the wall. Applejack broke the silence.

“Rainbow, what’s going on?”

“I don’t talk about it. Solution not reached,” While Dash was obviously thinking a little straighter now, she was still nowhere near a healthy state of mind.

“We just stopped you from killing yourself. You’re talking about it.” Applejack said flatly.

“Solution hasn’t been reached yet! Can’t solve! You removed my only method of clearing my head!” She exclaimed, desperately trying to get them to understand.

“Silly, we’re your friends! We want to help you!” Pinkie Pie interjected. Rainbow Dash looked hesitant, before giving in.

“You can’t invite my parents.”

“You were this stressed about your family coming out to visit?” Fluttershy asked quietly.

“Not my family, my father. I can’t deal with that again.”

“I take it you don’t see eye-to-eye with your father?” Applejack said.

“It’s not like that!” Dash fairly shouted, eyes snapping towards Applejack with an alarming severity. “I can’t think about him without going through flashbacks.”

“Of what?”

“Oh, nothing, really.” Rainbow’s eyes darted back and forth across the floor.

“That’s a load of hay and you know it.” Applejack crossed her arms, in a no-nonsense fashion.

“I had a lot of pain—growing up I mean. Lots, and lots of pain.”

“Well, I suppose everyone goes through tough times as a kid, especially in high school,” Fluttershy said, trying to comfort her friend.

“No! You don’t understand! Augh, none of you do! This is why I don’t-” Her attempt to get up was halted by Applejack pressing her shoulder to the wall with a hoof to emphasize what she was about to say.

“Make us understand.” There was no arguing with Applejack. Rainbow Dash finally snapped.

“Did you have to dodge knives as a kid? Deal with being hit with chairs? Or bricks? Did you wake up every day, wondering if this was another day where your Dad would flip out, leaving a path of chaos and destruction behind? Are you haunted by those memories? Can you recount in vivid detail where you stood in your bedroom while you could hear your own sister crying in pain in the room over? Do you know that feeling of terror as your dad storms past your room after beating your sister, and all you can do is hope that he won’t come in? Do you know how to deal with the thoughts of guilt that will plague you for the rest of your life for doing not a single bucking thing that night? No? Then you will never understand. So don’t give me this ‘we will understand’ crap, because I know you won’t. No one does.” The trio stared at her in horror, as she recounted that small fraction of her life to them. She realized her outburst and sank back into the wall, tears streaming down her face, a small outlet to the ocean of pain stored in her mind. Dash immediately slammed her head against the wall as soon as she realized what she had said. “Aw damn it, damn it, damn it! I swore I wouldn’t tell anyone! Damn it all…”

“Rainbow-”

“Shut up, AJ, I-urk!” Rainbow Dash’s attempt to regain her composure and tough exterior were smothered by a teary hug from Fluttershy.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Fluttershy said, concerned for Rainbow Dash.

“Do you have a time machine handy, so we can go back in time and put a stop to my Dad’s abusive ways? Then not really.” Rainbow gave her a quick hug back, then realized how long it’d been since she’d just been really hugged. She wrapped up Fluttershy in a bone crushing embrace, sobs wracking her body, as she buried her head in Fluttershy’s shoulder and mane. Pinkie Pie tapped her pink noggin trying to think of something to do.

“Come on, everypony. Let’s go downstairs and get some cupcakes, that’ll help cheer you up.” She said, putting a hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder.

“Thanks, that’d be nice. You know, it helps a little just to have told somepony.”

“Hey, if you ever need anything or start feeling down, any of us will be glad to help you out,” Applejack said with a smile.

“Fluttershy?” Rainbow started.

“Mmhmm?”

“I’m really sorry about what I said.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Thanks.” A glitter of light came from under the furniture, from where the knife rested. The gleam extinguished as the door shut, leaving the upstairs dark, quiet, and empty.

Mental Punching Bag

Rainbow Dash’s head snapped up from the couch, where she had been watching TV. She thought for sure she had heard someone land on her front porch, but didn’t see anyone. She sank down into the fluffy couch again, enjoying some of the cartoons that she had missed during her day at school. A few more minutes and the cartoon would be over, predictably with the coyote beating himself up while the quick roadrunner zoomed away. Nevertheless, it was endlessly entertaining. The front door swung open, smacking into the wall with as loud of a bang as dense cloud can make.

“Hello, honey. How was work today?” Rainbow Dash’s mom said from the kitchen.

“Fine! Just fine,” her dad said dismissively, before turning his attention to Dash. “And what do you think you’re doing?”

“Um, watching TV?” Rainbow said, scooting further away from the towering, angry stallion. Her father wasted no time beginning the families after-school routine.

“You good-for-nothing ingrate! Maybe if you weren’t so lazy, you’d make something of yourself. Look at you, watching TV when you could be practicing flying, or doing homework? You think I work myself everyday to provide for you and your oaf sister so you can squander your opportunities?”

“N-no, sir. I-”

“Well I don’t! Maybe you should think about that more often, before you waste your life!”

“Yes, sir.” Rainbow slunk off the couch, and began running back to her room, when something caught her back and tossed her against the wall, painfully. She swore under hear breath.

“What was that?” Her dad said, the room becoming gravely silent.

“I, uh-” Rainbow’s eyes darted back and forth as she desperately grasped at a story to cover her blunder.

“First you disrespect me by leaving before I’m done, then you swear at me? No one bucking swears in this house at all! You got that, you bucking piece of filth?” Each word punctuated by spittle and brain-jarring volume. Her father picked her up by her mane, lifting the young Rainbow Dash to eye height.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-” She started crying, fearing the inevitable.

“And no spine, too.” Her father spun rapidly, kicking her in the gut, sending her spinning up against the wall. Rainbow collapsed against the floor clouds, gasping for air that eluded her tiny lungs. “Stand up,” her father growled. Rainbow complied, legs still wobbling. Finally, a small breath! Her vision cleared and she righted herself in time to see the next onslaught. She ducked, avoiding the hoof that skimmed her mane, but didn’t see the brief case that came cracking down on her back. Rainbow Dash yelped a cry of pain.

“Dear!” Rainbow Dash’s mom called from the adjacent room, mercifully distracting the father enough to stop the outpouring of suffering.

“Fine,” He said, looking down with disdain at the bruised filly. “Don’t disappoint me like this again.”

Rainbow’s head snapped back, she instantly cursed herself for her carelessness. While her main focus was speed and racing, she never shied from any competitive sport, especially one that was cardio intensive. Personally, boxing remained one of her favorite side-sports, just two ponies in a duel of hooves and endurance.

Rainbow stepped to her right, preparing herself for the next flurry of hooves. She snapped out two quick jabs, temporarily blinding her opponent. Ducking down, she twisted her body, giving power to her cross, driving the air out of her opponent’s lungs. She finished the combo with another powerful cross to the head, which was knocked her opponent sideways. She stepped in for a follow-on cross, raising her hand, trying to squeeze every bit of power out of her posture that she could. Seeing the opening, the opposing dropped, jabbing and crossing the stomach, trying to drop the gloves of her opponent. Dash’s powerful cross skimmed through the air above her opponent. The boxer stepped in, giving Dash a savage uppercut, hook, followed by a powerful cross aimed for the mouthguard Dash. Dash shifted backwards with each blow, weakly snapping out a jab, striving to interrupt the pounding she was receiving.

Ding! Match over.

Rainbow fairly tumbled out of the ring, head still buzzing from the well thrown cross. Her opponent came out of the ring, pulling off her headgear, trying to air the sweat out of her yellow mane.

“You ok, RD? I really got you with that last cross,” Applejack’s drawl was easily heard, despite the muffled sound originating from the mouth guard. Rainbow spat hers out.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I asked for it. Looked like I knocked the wind out of you back there.”

“Hoo boy, did you ever. Still can’t breathe quite right,” Applejack said, putting a gloved hoof over her stomach. “You say this stuff really helps you? I don’t quite see what fun you have in getting punched in the face over and over.”

“It’s good aerobic training! Plus, it allows me to get my anger out on somepony else, if problems show up.”

“Well, like I said before, if you ever need anything, let me know. And if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go shower than sleep for a week or two.”

“Yeah, later!” Dash waved at her compatriot, as she left the gym. She still had some energy to work out. She trotted over to a heavy bag, trying to shut out memories. She could convince anypony and everypony—except herself—that this was just aerobic training. Every time she stepped in the ring, from the first punch she took to the end of the bout, all she could do was envision her father. The bag shuddered from the repeated blows.

She focused her energy on maintaining form, her own body shaking with exertion and the impacts on the slowly swinging bag. She came up with a hook, where her father’s head should have been. She grunted a few more times, snapping a quick 1-2-1 combo, punishing her father’s eyesockets with heavy strikes. She finally let her forehooves come to rest on the ground again, as she began to tire rapidly. Her vibrant mane clouded her vision, hanging low over her eyes. She quickly swiped it back with a hoof, to where it stuck to the side of her head. She desperately needed some water.

She walked over to the drinking fountain, talking a deep gulp of water, before splashing some on her already sweat-soaked mane. She removed the gloves and headgear, putting them up on the racks to dry out. Quickly checking her face for any cuts or bruises, she exited the gym.

Outside, she stretched deeply, and shook off what sweat she could. She slowly and painfully extended her wings, trying to let them air out a bit. In a brief moment of forgetfulness, launched herself upwards towards her home, but came crashing back down. Dash rubbed her sore snout and walked back to town, rubbing her nose. Wow, that smarted. Hurt way worse than boxing ever did, at least not through the padded gloves and helmets. That particular pain felt familiar though, far too familiar. It brought back memories from home. The horrid flashbacks started to come back, just moments away from breaking through her fabricated sanity forcing her to relive every punch, every pain, sound, smell, thought, and sight; every cry for mercy that was never answered. No amount of athletic endeavor, albeit familiar and rewarding, could push those memories out of her head now. She had pushed them down for a long time, and they were coming back with a vengeance. Maybe if she focused on something happy, like going to the Gala…

Ah, damn it. The act of trying to suppress them was bringing them back to the light of day. The thoughts, the images, the memories, they all came rushing back and thrashed about within her head, forcing her to stop, grit her teeth, and pray that she didn’t start crying again. Mission failure.

Dash bolted.

Tears streaming down her face, she tore through the center of town a multicolored wrecking ball, knocking over carts, ponies, and goods that stood in her path. A few vendors tore after her, screaming obscenities about their spilled vegetables and wares. Dash raced past them, their insults stinging more than she would have admitted to anypony.

“Stupid mare! Go be worthless somewhere else!”

“Only a fool would do such a stupid thing!”

“Go home, you worthless piece of filth! Why don’t you ruin someone else’s career?”

“Dash, what are you doing?” Dash glanced to her right, seeing Twilight running alongside her, with a concerned look on her face.

“Go away Twilight, I don’t want to talk about it!” Dash put on a burst of speed, leaving the purple unicorn far behind.

Dirt kicked up behind her as she left the paved paths of Ponyville central, obscuring her from view. She was losing it, she could feel herself slip. Too much was trying to come out at once, she needed help. And she knew exactly who to talk to.

Angel almost had a heart attack as a sweaty, smelly, and dirty multicolored pony smashed the door open, and immediately began screaming.

“Fluttershy!” Fluttershy jumped a few feet in the air in surprise, completely unprepared for her visitor. She had been trying to feed a pair of squirrels, but in her terror she had thrown the nuts high to ceiling, before being tackled by Rainbow Dash.

“I didn’t do anything!” Rainbow screamed at her, face contorted by gritted teeth. Fluttershy looked up at the pony in confusion. Tear streaks cleared small paths of dust off of Rainbow’s Face, landing on the floor beside Fluttershy.

“Pardon?”

“I didn’t do a single, damn thing! I could have stopped it!”

“Could have stopped what?” Rainbow paced back and forth, wiping her face with a dirty hoof, spreading dirt between the two but not actually cleaning anything. Fluttershy got to her hooves, and placed a wing around Rainbow Dash. “Dash, please tell me.” Dash collapsed into sobs.

Rainbow Dash got home from school, finding her father’s briefcase by the door. That was a good sign, it means he wasn’t overworked and going to come home cranky. She shrugged the backpack off, and placed it by the door. She shuffled in, expecting to hear the normal sounds of the day: Mom cooking, Dad watching the TV, her sister being quiet and studious in the back. Instead, it was silent. She slowly eased the door closed with her hind leg. Maybe Dad was sleeping.

She moved through the house as quiet as possible, not wanting to wake her father. She found her mother sitting on the edge of her bed, looking downtrodden and on the edge of tears.

“Mom, are you ok?” Her mom flashed a fake smile at Rainbow, trying in vain to reassure her.

“Yes honey, I’m fine,” she wiped tears from the corners of her eyes. Rainbow Dash made the large jump (for a filly) up to the top of the bed.

“Mom, you’re crying.” Rainbow lifted a hoof, brushing off a tear from her mother’s face. Her mom just hung her head, shaking with barely controlled tears.

“I’m so sorry, Dashie. I’ve tried all I can to protect you and your sister from your father, but I haven’t been successful. I’ve been sitting here trying to think of how to leave your father, but I don’t have anywhere to go, or anything to do. I can’t support you, and I no judge in their right mind would give custody of the children to the parent without a job.” She wrapped up Rainbow Dash in a hug, her shoulders heaving.

“It’s ok, Mom. I don’t blame you.” Dash hugged her usually stoic, tough-as-nails mom. Her mom pulled out of the embrace, and gave Dash a directive.

“Go get your sister, I’m sending you both off to flight school, even though you are a few years too young.” Dash jumped off the bed, in search of her sister. She tiptoed through the house, finding her sister sitting cross-legged on a pillow, engrossed in fiction.

“What are you doing?” Rainbow hissed, spotting the book she was reading. “You know Dad forbids fiction books! They’re trivial and a waste of time!” Her sister looked up from the book she was reading.

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll be fine! Look, just a few more pages and I’ll be done with the chapter, then I’ll put the book away.” Rainbow looked nervously around, afraid of what might happen if her sister was caught.

“As soon as you’re done, just come meet Mom and I in her bedroom,” Rainbow said, backing out the door, and scurrying down the hall with haste. She turned sharply, slamming her back against the doorframe, out of sight of the hallway. She closed her eyes, thanking Celestia that the worst had not happened.

“What are you doing? Is that fiction?”

Oh no.

“Uh, yes sir, it i-”

“You’re reading that rubbish? After I specifically forbade it?” Rainbow could hear the tears welling up in her sister’s eyes.

“Yes sir, I didn’t think th-”

“That’s right you didn’t, you never do! You brainless ponies just drive me crazy!” Smashing sounds came from the other room, as tables broke and desks flipped. Dash winced with every sickening ‘thunk’ noise as debris impacted her sister’s body.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t-ow! Stop, Dad! Please!”

“Stop what? Stop making sure you fillies grow up to be successful? Stop making sure you have some discipline in your life? Tell me, oh infinitely wiser one, what should I stop?” Their Dad was bellowing at the top of his lungs now, causing Rainbow Dash to quake in fear, despite the fact that the anger was not directed at her. She tried to move to help her sister, but she stood stock still, rooted to the ground. Dash swallowed, trying to will her legs to move into the hallway. The hoof remained stubbornly still, save for the terrified quaking of her legs.

“Dad, augh!” The crashing continued and Rainbow stood stock still against the wall, crying for her sister. Finally the auditory barrage ceased, and Rainbow peeked into the hall, desperately praying that her father wouldn’t enter into the room she was in, and continue to exact specific brand of punishment. Her Dad walked into the hall, sending his signature scathing glare at those who looked on, but then disappeared down another door.

Rainbow eased out from her hiding spot, peering into the ruined room. Glancing around the room, all of the books that had been in here had been scattered about. Furniture was broken, as were spirits. She was never going to read unless she had to, that’s for sure. No need to risk this. She spotted her sister in the middle of the mayhem, laying down in pain, surrounded by books and broken furniture. Guilt overrode her every thought as she saw her sister laying there. She had observed this entire thing, and had done-

“-nothing,” Rainbow Dash finished the story, tears streaming down her face. Fluttershy pulled Rainbow Dash closer, trying to comfort the mare.

“Rainbow Dash, it wasn’t your fault.”

“Like hell it wasn’t! I could have intervened, I could have done something!”

“What could you have done?”

“Anything!” The single word exploded out of Rainbow Dash laced with pain and anger, carving through the normally peaceful house with acrid sharpness. The house remained silent for the next few moments, the only sound being the short, panting breaths coming from Dash.

“Dash, it wasn’t your fault. You were doing the only logical thing at the time. You were a filly, doing your best to survive a bad situation.” Rainbow Dash looked unconvinced, hooves clapped on her head, either trying to pull snakes out of her head, or trying to protect her head from an unknown attacker. Fluttershy couldn’t tell what it looked more like. “Rainbow, you can’t beat yourself up for stuff that you didn’t do.”

“Exactly, I didn’t do anything!” Fluttershy shook her head.

“That’s not what I meant. You can’t control what your father does, and neither can you go back in time and fix the problems that existed then.”

“It’s not that easy. I can’t just flip a switch and move on,” Rainbow said, hanging her head.

“Of course not, it is a process. And who knows, maybe you can process it enough to confront your father when they get here for the party in two days.”

“Two days?” Rainbow had mercifully forgotten about that—until now. “Oh, no no no no no no no. I-I-I can’t do that,” Rainbow said, jumping to her feet, shying away from Fluttershy. “Too many memories, habits, problems. Too much in my head—can’t think straight. Anger! How do I control my anger?” The sudden onset of this extra stress left Dash stumbling for the correct words.

“Rainbow, you’re one of the bravest ponies I know, if anypony can confront this big of a problem, it’d be you. And don’t worry, Pinkie, Applejack and I will be there to support you in any way we can.

“Only if you guys are there the whole time,” Rainbow said after a long pause.

“Mmhmm, we will be there.” Rainbow Dash didn’t look relieved, rather she looked unsure of that to do next.

“Fluttershy?”

“Yes?”

“Can I stay here tonight? I don’t really feel like being alone tonight.”

“Of course.”

Confrontation and Conflagration

The adage goes: ‘time flies when you’re having fun,’ apparently it also flies when you do everything in your power to prevent it from passing. Rainbow Dash had spent the last two days dreading the Parents Party, intentionally ignoring this monstrosity for as long as she could. No matter how hard she tried, ignoring something does not necessarily prevent it. Needless to say, the two days had sped by faster than she would have liked, leaving her here, in the middle of the decorated park, watching the pairs of parents show up, most often accompanied by their daughter and/or son. She noted Applejack and her folks walking up the path, immediately behind Bon-Bon and her family. It seemed the entire town had their parents with them, and were now at the entering into the area set aside for the gathering. Rainbow dash heaved a sigh of stress, stepping from the growing darkness of night into the light perimeter of the party.

Twilight had arrived with her parents a few minutes earlier. She surprised, to say the least, when she discovered Pinkie Pie was setting the party in a more serious mood, and could only speculate as to why Pinkie Pie was taking this approach instead of her usual extremely cheery and youthful game infused party. Nevertheless, Twilight welcomed the change of pace. Pinkie had certainly sold the mood, setting the party in the middle of the park at night, lit from a chain of torches a meter off the ground or so. Tables dotted the lit area, with a buffet table sitting at the physical center of the party grounds. Was… was that Rainbow Dash? Way over there on the other side? What was she doing over there? Geez, she sure wasn’t in the party mood. She must have had a bad day at practice. Twilight turned her attention away from the cyan pony, redirecting her focus back to her parents, making introductions, and in general making more friends.

Applejack trotted over to Rainbow Dash, who was half-hiding behind a table.

“Hey there, Sugercube.”

“Wassup?” Rainbow’s voiced sounded entirely lackluster.

“Are you gonna be ok?”

“I don’t know. I swear to Celestia, if he starts anything—physical or verbal—and I’ll snap. If I do, you, Pinkie, and Fluttershy will have to stop me.”

“No problem, we’ve caught you after Discord, and we’ve seen you angry before. Piece of apple pie.” Dash sighed.

“Even the anger you’ve seen I’ve controlled somewhat. This will be different.” Something in RD’s voice made AJ stiffen in anxiety.

“Don’t worry about it, we’ve got your back. Now go join the party, you need to get out there and relax!” Rainbow Dash slowly rose, regretting every step closer to the cluster of ponies.

“Rainbow Dash!” The sudden voice at her side startled her, causing her to jump sideways.

“Gyah!” Twilight stood there, apologetic.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you. I just wanted you to meet my parents. Mom, Dad, this is Rainbow Dash, the fastest flyer in all Equestria!” Twilight said, with a touch of pride for her friend.

“Oh, it is so nice to meet you!” The purple and white mare said, “Twily’s told us so much about you!” Twilight smacked her hoof to her face in embarrassment when her mom used her pet name.

“The Rainbow Dash? The winner of the recent Best Young Flyer competition? It was the first time that a Pegasus from Ponyville had won that competition in over 50 years, if I’m not mistaken. Your victory there made headline news even at Canterlot,” the solid blue stallion said.

“It did?” Rainbow made a nervous laugh. “I did not know that. I’m glad that someone finally recognized my skill.” Rainbow stood a little straighter.

“You really have a lot going for you, I wouldn’t be surprised to see you joining the Wonderbolts in the next few years. It’s quite the honor to meet you. I hope I can get you to sign a copy of your rookie card,”

“You have my rookie card?” Rainbow asked, surprised.

“I do indeed, I have always been a fan of Flyer Card collecting. I always try to grab the rookie cards each year, usually pretty cheap and every few years or so, one or two ponies will stand out from the crowd and make the value of that card skyrocket. After your Sonic Rainboom and victory at the Best Young Flyer, your card went from a five bit card, to almost four hundred bits, and your rookie card even more. If you land a spot on the Wonderbolts, it’ll surely at least double.” Mrs. Sparkle’s eyes glazed over as Mr. Sparkle went on about his Flyer Card collection. Rainbow was still stuck on the beginning part though.

“I didn’t know anybody really saw me as an up and coming star.”

“Why of course! The racing community sees you as the best in the amateur tracks right now, and we’re anticipating you going pro any year now, and expect you to surpass the majority of the pro circuit in your first season. Your victories at the Las Pegasus Invitational and the Manehatten Open really made it obvious for us.” Rainbow fumbled for words, completely taken by surprise that someone had even followed those races.

“I… uh…”

“See what you’ve done? You’ve gone and flustered her!” Mrs. Sparkle said, gently reprimanding her husband for his over-zealous behavior.

“I’m sorry. I was just so excited to meet such a talented mare!”

“Talented, but lazy. Note how little she’s accomplished with her life.” Rainbow recognized that voice. Twilight noticed Rainbow stiffen, and her face transformed from pleasant to disagreeable faster than a normal mare should.

“Twi, Mr. and Mrs. Sparkle, I’d like you to meet my father,” She said deliberately, sounding to Twilight like she was suppressing a lot of emotion.

“I beg to differ, sir. I’ve seen a lot of racers in my day, and I think your daughter has the makings of a spectacular racer.” Mr. Dash chuckled mirthlessly.

“Maybe she has the physical make of a racer, but not the guts. Not the spine. She dropped out of flight school when things got tough, and she’s in Ponyville of all places. She should be in Cloudsdale training with the best flight trainers in the business. No drive, I tell you.”

“But that’s what’s so spectacular about-” Rainbow couldn’t take any more, she could feel herself coiling up for a strike, opting to instead back slowly out and exit the conversation before she did something she regretted. Or did something she wouldn’t regret, but would say she regretted. Still fuming, she walked her way towards the cider bowl in the middle of the park. Maybe a cool drink would calm her down. She quickly poured herself a cup, downing the glass in a single swig. Wow, that was tasty. While certainly not a situation fixer, it helped calm her down a bit.

“Oh hello, Rainbow darling.” Rarity strode up with her parents in tow.

“Hey Rarity. What’s up?”

“I’d like you to meet my parents,” she said, motioning towards the mustachioed stallion and pink mare to her side.

“Pleased to meet you. I’m Rainbow Dash.”

“We’ve heard much about you. You’re the mare that works at the orchard, right?” Dash chuckled.

“No, that’s Applejack. I’m the athlete.”

“That was you? Oh.” Surprised by the abrupt shift of mood, Rainbow became inquisitive.

“Why, is that bad?”

“What? N-n-no!” Rarity’s father backpedaled, “It’s just that from what we hear from Rarity, you’re an accomplished athlete, plus it seems like you’re in the sports column every week. We were just surprised to come here tonight and hear one stallion discrediting all that you’ve done. It was just odd, we’d heard nothing but good things about you and your achievements until we came here. We thought he was off his rocker, for the record.” Rainbow stiffened, and then spoke very slowly and deliberately.

“This stallion, was he about this high, a dark blue color with a red mane?” She motioned a height slightly taller than herself.

“Yes, that was him! Do you know him?” Rainbow’s demeanor went from cautiously inquisitive to livid in a manner of milliseconds. Her eyes narrowed in anger, completing the transformation to a mare completely unrecognizable to Rarity.

“If you’ll excuse me, I have some business to attend to.” Each word packed with venom, and said in a slowly and barely contained manner. Rainbow backed out of the conversation, leaving the family confused as to what was happening.

This was the last straw. She approached a group of ponies, her father and Mr. Sparkle still in a heated debate over Rainbow Dash’s future as a flyer. She passed a torch, pulling it in all its meter-long glory from the ground with a quick motion. Her father noticed a light approaching rapidly, and shifted to the side just in time to watch the fiery brand come whizzing by his face, scorching the ground in a flurry of sparks and fire, leaving a harshly scorched mark behind. The Sparkles were caught off guard, and jumped back in surprise. Mr. Dash dodged a few steps back, chuckling.

“What, you want to fight me after all these years? Had you been worth fighting for or against, you would have stood up for yourself years ago.”

“What can I say, I’m making up for lost time.” Dash lunged forward again swinging the torch low at her father’s legs, which he deftly avoided, a smirk never leaving his face. All the ponies were too shocked to do or say anything as the fight continued. Dash brought the brand back across, the shifting light crackling close to his face before zipping past his head doing no damage. The torch stopped, impacting a table with another burst of sparks. Before anypony could blink, the sparks lit the thin paper tablecloth on fire, which rapidly spread to the others, turning the place into a blazing inferno in the split second. Panicked screams arose from all around as they ran for the exit, most with no idea of what started the blaze in the first place.

“Now you’re trying to kill everyone in order to get your ‘revenge.’ How cute. I should have known that you or your dumb sister would try to cause mass damage, since you won’t take me head on.”

“Shut up!” Rainbow swung the firebrand again, aiming for the chest of the arrogant stallion. He moved swiftly, trapping the stick with the burning end well away from his body, bringing down a hoof that swept the stick from her hand, leaving the blazing weapon in his hands.

“Want to know how real ponies fight? Watch and learn,” he said, his signature grin never wavering.

Most ponies would have been afraid of a towering stallion with a flaming weapon, but Rainbow Dash was beyond that. Fury overrode her every sense, and all she could do was follow what her body told her to do. At this point, everything rode on instincts. With a rage-fueled bellow, she charged her opponent, jumping over the scorching end of the torch, swinging a kick at his head. At the last second, he ducked enough to allow the kick to skim through his mane. The brand swung back rapidly, catching and burning Rainbow’s back left leg. Pain had no bearing in her motivation anymore, fighting was going back to the cave-pony days. She reached down, ripping up a piece of flaming table.

Mr. Dash paused for a second, unsure of himself for a second. The plank his daughter held was entirely engulfed in flame, her hoof had to be getting severely burned where she held it, but she seemed not to notice it. Whatever, she’d pay for her stupidity later. Finally, someone he didn’t have to hold back on! This was a day he’d enjoy for the rest of his
life.

Rainbow swung the flaming debris like a massive sword, slashing downwards savagely. The blow was parried by the torch, casting a blaze of sparks into the sky, lighting the two in a devilish red glow. Rainbow followed through, smashing her weapon into the torch her father held. The two locked eyes past their locked staves, both sets of eyes reflecting the fire around, enhancing their hellish appearance. Muscles strained as the two pushed each other with their blazing sticks.

“You know how real ponies fight? They don’t do it by beating on fillies, you son of a bitch,” Rainbow snarled, voice sizzling through the flames towards her target.

Mr. Dash shifted his weight, letting the mare tumble past him. She spun as fast as she could, ducking to avoid the blazing stave that swung perilously close to her head, catching her mane on fire.

Rainbow shifted her hooves, twisting to send the plank in a stabbing motion towards his stomach. He easily batted the attack away, swinging the brand around and down at Rainbow’s back. Rainbow spun as fast as she could to avoid the back-breaking blow. The sound of her wing breaking meant nothing to Rainbow, the fight wasn’t over until somepony lay dead or dying. Having both wings broken just meant she wouldn’t be flying for a few weeks, but she didn’t care at this point.

Still, the blow sent her skittering across the floor, landing on her back. Her father reared over her, stabbing down with the torch. Rainbow noticed for the first time that the end that had been stuck in the ground had been sharpened to a point. She pushed herself to the side with her wing, bones popping and snapping further, a few jutting from the skin. The stick swung down and stuck deep into the ground. She got to her feet, as her father struggled to pull the stick out of the ground. She bellowed at the top of her lungs as she swung the flaming stave at the surprised head of her father, still pulling up on the embedded torch.

“Yeargh!”

Applejack ran out of the conflagration, coughing and smelling of a singed hair and smoke.

“Whoo! That’s quite the blaze. Is everypony ok?” She said finally, coughing every few words.

“No I’m not alright! Look what happened to my party!” Pinkie Pie wailed, gesturing wildly towards the burning decorations. The blazing inferno continued to consume her hard work, sending dancing flames, bulbous plumes of smoke, and shimmering heat waves skyward. The triad almost entirely obscured the party grounds and beyond from view.

“Is everypony ok except Pinkie?” Applejack asked, mildly annoyed. Everyone nodded their heads.

“What happened in there,” Rarity asked after it was confirmed that nopony was injured.

“It was the strangest thing!” Twilight said, jumping into the conversation! “I’ve never seen Rainbow Dash act like that! She came in really upset, swinging a flaming torch at her father. In her flurry, she set the tables alight. Honestly, someone should reprimand her for her behavior!” Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy froze.

“What did Rainbow Dash do, again?” Applejack said gravely. Twilight recounted the story for them briefly. The three excused themselves, making bad excuses for their departure. Twilight watched the trio run away, wondering what was the matter with them to set them off like that. Did they know something she didn’t? She’d have to investigate.

“Anypony see her?” Applejack whispered to the other two fervently, as they scanned the crowd for a hint of a rainbow colored mane. Fluttershy shook her head.

“I do hope tha-”

“Yeargh!” The trio’s head snapped back towards the inferno. In the midst of the blaze, two ponies were locked in combat. Wordlessly, the three turned towards the blaze, setting off at a dead sprint.

Her father jumped sideways at the last second, the flaming debris swinging past, leaving a trail of smoke and sparks, temporarily obscuring Rainbow’s view of her target. She gritted her teeth, dropping to a knee and swinging horizontally. The impact snapped the torch in half, and sent Rainbow’s weapon spinning off into the blaze. The two stood up and faced each other, readying for the next flurry of attacks. Rainbow set her hooves, preparing herself for her move. She tensed every muscle in her body, preparing herself for her strike.

She pushed off, using every muscle in her body, tearing across the empty space in record time, her flaming mane whipping into a twirling, snapping frenzy behind her, giving her an other-wordly trailing a mixture of fire, smoke, and sparks. Ducking low at the last second, she came up under his guard, wrapping him into a tackle, pushing him before her. The pair impacted a wooden table, the impact with her father’s back shattering the charred wood. Rainbow was the first to recover from the ensuing tumble, snapping to her body upright, her boxing finally paying off. Jabs followed each other mercilessly, interspersed by a few severe crosses and finishing with a hook to the head. Rainbow watched with savage glee as he reeled from the blow.

Her enemy stumbled to the ground, regaining his balance rapidly, grasping something from the ground. He brought himself back toward Rainbow, immediately punching her in the shoulder. Had someone poured water on her shoulder? It immediately felt wet and sticky. She glanced down, noting the blood pouring from a gash down over her arms, falling to the charred grass moments later. Wounds meant nothing. Blood is expendable. She knew from her athletic training her heart was strong, and she could survive for about 30 seconds without, enough time to maim and destroy this hated man if he did stab her heart.

She glanced back up, noting the hellish fire glinting off the small blade clutched by his hoof. His signature smirk shone even brighter, with the flickering light reflecting off his teeth, making them stand out from his coat. The two circled each other slowly, each watching every aspect of their opponent. Stance, posture, hoof placement, each and every motion was judged, both trying to figure out who was going to move first, and what they would do. Rainbow set her jaw in place, she was going to end this now.

Rainbow jumped forward, testing his reaction. The blade swung swiftly at Rainbow’s forward arm, slicing a decent size gash. She dodged forward, jabbing at the stomach, but the knife came down, slashing another chunk out of her body. She knew she’d have to retreat and get a stick or something else; she couldn’t do anything to this defense. Her father took advantage of the momentary lull, snapping forward, the knife whistling through the air in downward motion towards Rainbow’s neck, his own hoof being singed by the blaze in Dash’s mane as she ducked the motion. He recoiled, thrusting forward with the blade again. Dash gritted her teeth. She batted the blade away from her body, stepping up to the shoulder of her father. Boxing came back in to play, beginning her punch with the her hooves firmly planted on the ground, accelerating it through the swift twist of the hips, and finally coming out her hoof, smashing the where the skull and spine collided. Her father collapsed, instantly unconscious.

Victorious. At last. Now to finish this day the way it was meant to be finished. She grasped the knife from the ground where it lay, and rolled her father over, readying a strike. She paused just long enough to tilt his head back, fully exposing the neck.

“Die, you abusive, worthless piece of filth.” The blade came whistling down, impacting a pink blur, Dash finding herself spinning sideways. The knife stuck in Pinkie Pie’s arm as she pushed the weakened Rainbow Dash to the ground.

“Dashie, don’t!”

“Get out of my way Pinkie, I have to kill him! I can’t let him live!”

“Rainbow Dash, what do you think you’re doing?” Applejack came sprinting up.

“Doing what I should have done years ago, now let me finish the job! What… what are you doing? Fluttershy, stop!” Rainbow Dash pleaded with the other Pegasus to stop attempting first aid on the fallen stallion. “He’s not worth it, leave him be. Just let me kill him!” She screamed.

“I’m sorry, Sugarcube. This is for the best.”

“Applejack, what are yo-” Applejack kicked Dash in the head. Rainbow’s vision went black as she left consciousness.

“Let’s get these two to a hospital.”

The Hospital

Cushy. Fuzzy. Itchy.

Rainbow Dash’s senses slowly returned to her, beginning with her sense of touch.

Dry. Swollen. Bitter.

Antiseptic. Hint of unshowered ponies and smoke.

Light. Not blinding, but bright.

Beeping off her side, rhythmic and steady.

Oh, and there was pain. She had forgotten about the pain. Rainbow dash groaned, trying to roll onto her side. The sudden movement sent pain shooting down both wings, which were spread out below her, constrained out by a cast and secured by straps to prevent excess movement.

“She’s awake!” Rainbow snapped her head towards the source of the high-pitched voice, immediately regretting the sharp motion.

“Ow! Oh, hey Pinkie… Pie…” Rainbow Dash trailed off as realized the futility of talking while Pinkie fired off her planning of the ‘Rainbow Dash Waking Up’ party in her signature rapid staccato. During her exposition, Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, and AJ walked into the room, similarly opting to wait until Pinkie was finished before speaking.

“…best party ever!” Pinkie collapsed onto the foot of the bed, as if the upcoming party was so amazingly fantastic, the mere description of it was too much for a pony to handle. Twilight waited to see if Pinkie was truly finished before she began. Twilight, satisfied that the exuberant pony was finished after a few seconds of silence, turned back towards Rainbow Dash.

“So, what in the hay happened back there? I mean you father was obviously didn’t approve of you becoming an athlete, but you didn’t have to burn down the entire party!” Damn that purple, inquisitive pony. Did she have to have answers for every mystery she came across? Rainbow’s eyes flickered between Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Applejack. Applejack shook her head, they hadn’t told the other two about RD’s past yet. Twilight noticed the glances, narrowing her eyes, trying to put all the pieces of the puzzle that she had spent the last few days assembling. “Your father abused you, didn’t he?” She said slowly, at last.

“What? That’s crazy? Ow…” She blurted, perhaps a little too loudly, a little too abruptly, simultaneously scooting away from the uncomfortably logical purple mare, instantly causing pain to shoot across her body again.

“It’s the only thing that makes sense. You’ve been acting strange lately, Rainbow Dash. You’ve been purposefully avoiding even the mention of your father, let alone the party. You go tearing through town like a wrecking crew without a word of apology or explanation. I’ve seen you less and less lately, and when I do, you’re always slouching and slumping. You’ve been acting like you’ve been rehashing everything that has happened to you, except it’s all come rushing back at once. How am I doing so far?” Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie were all biting their lips, hoping that this set of inquiries wouldn’t push Rainbow’s brain further than it had already been stretched.

“Honestly Twilight, do you think that Rainbow Dash’s mother would have known about that and stopped it? Don’t be ridiculous,” Rarity spoke up from the back, causing the trio of ponies who knew the truth to breathe a sigh of relief.

“Rainbow Dash is fine, just worn out from her extra shifts as a weather pony.

“And that’s another thing, where was your mother? I saw your father, but I never saw your mother at the party.”

“Nothing! Nowhere, she’s fine! Uh, she was home… sick! She got sick with the flu, and had to stay… home,” Rainbow Dash blurted.

“Uh-huh,” Twilight was unconvinced. “So when I get back to the library this afternoon and do research, I won’t find anything?” she pressed.

“No, you—I—you’ll find—argh!” She snapped her hooves to her head, as if the questions caused her physical pain.

“What happened to her Dash?”

“Nothing! She’s home resting!” Each word caused seemed to cause physical pain to Rainbow Dash.

“Dash, what happened?”

“She’s home, waiting for my father’s return!” It was obvious that this conversation was wreaking havoc with her psyche. She forced her eyes closed, contorted her face, and shielded her head with her hooves, trying to block an unseen attack.

“Hey Twi, maybe we should go,” Applejack tried to intervene.

“No! Something’s wrong here, and I want to help!”

“Please, Twilight, can we go outside?” Fluttershy ventured.

“Not until Rainbow Dash tells me the truth! Is that really so hard?”

“She’s dead!” All eyes turned towards the bed-ridden pony, the volume and anger left everypony in the room speechless. Twilight immediately felt guilty for pushing so hard.

“Rainbow, I didn’t mea-”

“My father, sister, and my mother went on a trip out west, and had to stay in a motel. My worthless, abusive—” Twilight’s posture fell as her worst predictions came true. “Yes, you heard me right—abusive father got drunk, and knocked over a lantern. Burned the place down, with my mother and sister inside! Are ya bucking happy? Congrats, the ‘Oh So Smart Twilight’ figured out the ‘big mystery of Rainbow Dash.’ You ought to get a prize, bringing my only secret to light. I’ve got an idea, let’s tell all of Equestria how bat-shit crazy Rainbow Dash is! See what happened in her past? Let’s flaunt it to the world! Sounds fantastic! See that one part of her that’s sacred, the one part she never lets see the light of day, because if it ever gets out it’ll drive her insane? Let’s toss it into the open and walk all over it! Are you happy that you got to do all this? Good! Now get the buck out!” She slammed herself onto her back, ignoring the shooting pain. The other five just stared her in shock and horror. Twilight gulped.

“Rainbow, I wasn’t tryi-”

“Did I stutter? Get the buck out!” She yelled, the whole room reverberating with the volume of each venom-laced word. The entire hospital went dead silent, the only noises from the various electronic medicinal equipment. The five stood stock still for a second, before silently filing out of the room. “And stay out!” She yelled at their retreating forms. Twilight turned to Applejack.

“Why didn’t you tell me? I didn’t know, all I wanted to do was help!” She pleaded.

“I’m sorry, Twi. Even we didn’t know about her mother. She just told us about her father.”

“And why didn’t you tell us about him? Wait, what do you mean, ‘we?’” Rarity walked up.

“Were you three keeping this a secret from us? Why?” Rarity chastised the yellow Pegasus and two earth ponies. Fluttershy’s sorrowful expression told volumes, even though nopony said a single word.

Rainbow Dash fumed in her hospital room, partly at Twilight for being so nosy when she obviously didn’t want to discuss it, but mostly at herself for shouting her secrets to the world. Now everypony knew her better than she would have liked. As much as she liked being friendly with people, she had always used her athleticism as a shield, a barrier, something that only she could do so that she was never too involved with anypony. She didn’t want to get to close of friends, let alone a romantic partner, in order to avoid discussing this; and she had just shouted it to the world.

It was oddly freeing, in a way. It was finally off her chest, she could finally rest. She could finally sleep. Blissful slumber, how she longed for its soothing embrace.

“Hello, daughter.” Dash’s eyes snapped open, adrenaline pumping through her veins.

“What are you doing here?” She said, straining to reach her opponent, realizing with some fear that the straps that secured her wings also kept her from moving.

“Finishing what I should have done years ago,” he said calmly, picking up a scalpel from a nearby table. “I wouldn’t make a noise, if I were you.”

“And why the-gurk!” she quickly found herself struggling to breath, as he slammed all his weight down on his legs, and consequently on Rainbow Dash’s windpipe.

“Shush now, don’t you cry, mama’s never gonna sing another lullaby!” The scalpel shone in the pale hospital light.

Rainbow Dash bolted upright screaming, the pain from her wings bringing her back to reality. Drenched in sweat, she glanced around the room, looking for her father. He faded away, as did the terror from the nightmare.

She let herself gingerly back on to the bed, taking care not to disturb her wings too much. Still soaked in perspiration, the cloth below her stuck to her backside in an irritating fashion, and no amount of squirming could loosen the offending fabric. Despite being about a half minute behind the outburst, a group of three nurses charged into the room to ensure that Dash was ok—and more importantly—still alive. No amount of protesting or waving could move them away from her bedside for the next half hour. The only upside of the situation, was that she could finally get some answers from the staff.

“So, uh, where’s my father?” she finally ventured.

“Oh, we don’t know,” a nurse she recognized from her last visit to the hospital said.

“What do you mean, ‘you don’t know?’ Don’t you have the room number written down?” she said, flabbergasted.

“We do, for sure. But he only was knocked unconscious, unlike you. We checked him in, but he checked himself out maybe eight hours ago. Lucky for you, he decided not to press charges for aggravated assault.”

“Lucky for me? Why did he even have the option to press charges?”

“Well, by all accounts you attacked him with a flaming torch first.”

“Typical.” Dash’s brows furrowed angrily. “He would always find ways to maintain the advantage. Was anyone else hurt?”

“A few ponies were treated for smoke inhalation, but nothing serious.” Finally, the dreaded question.

“How long until you let me out?”

“Well, that’s a tough question.” Here we go. “The knife wound is healed to the point where you could leave, but
couldn’t do any strenuous activities. The burn on your leg is pretty severe, you’ll want to stay for another day or two to make sure that is healing in a timely manner before you go. When your mane caught fire, it burned a significant portion of your neck, and you ought to be very careful about that. Your wings are going to heal it good time, if it was just those you could leave now. Your hooves however, that will take a bit.”

“My hooves?”

“Witnesses say you brandished,” she paused, searching through a stack of papers on a clipboard. “a ‘flaming plank/axe thing.’ Holding that for so long gave you fourth and third degree burns on portions of your hooves.”

“Fourth degree? I thought there were only three degrees of burns.”

“A common misconception. While third degree burns destroy the entirety of the skin affected, fourth degree burn damages the muscle and tendons underneath, often severe enough to expose the bone, as it was in your case.”

“But they don’t hurt at all. Is the bone really exposed?”

“The painless feeling is because all the nerves were destroyed. The pain comes later. And yes, but the bone is only exposed in a small area.”

“So, is this going to limit me at all?”

“Define ‘limit.’”

“As in ‘will it hinder my athletic abilities.’ Could it stop me from going pro?”

“Well, you’ll certainly have to do some significant amounts of rehabilitation. And while walking may be impaired a little, you should regain most of your capabilities. In time.” Dash groaned, leaned over to grab a book. She fumbled for a few seconds, dropping the book on the ground. Her dexterity was certainly—and dishearteningly—limited. The nurse smiled sweetly and put the book on Dash’s bed.

It took Dash longer than she wanted to admit to clumsily open the Daring Do novel to the correct page and start reading. It was a struggle to separate the individual pages in order to continue Daring’s adventure. She was relieved when a purple glow flipped the page for her, before she realized the source. She snapped a glare at the door, to where an apologetic Twilight stood, staring and pawing at the ground uncomfortably.

“Dash, I just wanted to say I was sorry. I didn’t know.”

“Of course you didn’t. Nopony did. And that’s how I would have preferred to have kept it, but somepony had other plans.” Twilight looked even worse after the mild scolding.

“Can you ever forgive me?” Rainbow thought about it for a second.

“Come over here for a second,” she said, motioning with a bandaged hoof. Twilight walked slowly across the room, looking like she had received an ‘F’ on an exam. Dash tensed up, then relaxed. “Fine, you’re forgiven. I thought about hitting you, but you look like you’ve punished yourself enough.”

“Really?” Twilight’s muzzle grinned from ear to ear, at the sound of the unexpected outcome.

“Yes, really.”

“Oh, thank you!” She wrapped Dash in a surprise hug. “I felt so terrible about unintentionally forcing you to admit to what your fa-” she stopped mid-word, catching the steely glare from Rainbow Dash at the unwelcome subject.

“Let’s change the subject.”

“So what’s the plan, now? You’ve already fought your father, are you going to bring him to court?”

“There is no plan. And that’s not a subject change.”

“No plan?” Twilight seem genuinely surprised. For a pony who was always planning and scheduling, not having a plan for the day or a portion of your life seemed so foreign. Celestia knows, she hadn’t lived a day in the recent years without having every single day planned out.

“Right.”

“There’s always a plan.” Twilight couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“Not this time. He would have me dead to rights at court—I did assault him.” Rainbow Dash sounded resigned to a horrible fate, like a prisoner who knew there was no escaping the electric chair or a traitor walking towards a firing squad.

“No, now I go my own way and he goes his. And if we meet again, I kill him.”

“That’s not much of a plan.” But at least she had some sort of plan to fall back on, even if it was a barbaric one. That made Twilight feel a little better; things weren’t entirely foreign.

“I’m pretty sure I just said that.”

“Oh, I know!” Twilight said, brightening. “When was your last vacation?”

“No idea.”

“Well, there you go! Whenever you get out of here, all of us will go on a vacation! That is, if we can get Rarity to stop being angry at Fluttershy, Pinkie, and AJ. She was so upset that they didn’t fill us in on the situation. We could have helped!”

“No, you couldn’t.”

“I beg to differ,” Twilight said, suddenly very self-confident, “I’ve read plenty of books on therapy. I’m sure I could at least have talked to you about it in some fashion.”

“Your definition of help and my definition of help are very different.”

“How do you define help?” Dash laughed mirthlessly.

“You could have lent me a knife or some other weapon. Better yet, do you know any way to travel in time?” Twilight stiffened, as if trying to avoid the subject.

“I’m sure I don’t need to lecture you on the butterfly effect,” Twilight said sternly, after a long pause.

“The butterfly wuzzahwhat? You know what? Never mind. I’m sure it’s a bad idea.” Dash said, dismissively.

“Well, I’m going to go make plans!” Twilight said, suddenly excited. “I’ll be back when I can!”

“You do that! I’ll be here! You know, reading…” Dash yelled at the rapidly retreating unicorn. She brought her book up to her eye-level again.

“Hey there, sugarcube!” Damn, it was going to be hard to finish this story. She set the book back down, redirecting her attention to the country pony, obviously coming in fresh from a hard day’s work. Very obviously.

“Jeez, Applejack! Haven’t they heard of showers at Sweet Apple Acres?”

“No,” she said in her deep southern drawl, “have you ever heard of working for a paycheck? Look at you, laying around all day with a book! And they call you an athlete.” Rainbow Dash laughed, immediately feeling the muscles in her back spasm painfully.

“Ow, ha ha ha, don’t make me laugh. How’s everypony doing?”

“On the farm, or in town?”

“Both.” Applejack thought for a moment.

“Applebloom got an A on a recent history report. Big Mac started dating some mare from town. Rarity is still peeved at me. Fluttershy hasn’t come out of her house sense you yelled at us a day or two ago. Oh, and Cheerilee started a function to help cover some of your medical costs.”

“That’s nice of her,” Dash said.

“Ain’t it?” she said, before abruptly changing topics. “You really need to go check on Fluttershy, she thinks you’re furious at her.”

“I can’t do much of anything right now,” Dash protested.

“I know that, but when you are able to get out of here, at least for an hour or so, you should drop by her cottage and talk to her. Nothing we can say will get her to believe us.”

“Alright, will do. Oh hey, Twilight’s planning some sort of vacation thingy. You should talk to her, and make sure she doesn’t schedule us all to go to an egghead convention, or something.

“I’ll do what I can, but no promises. If she gets in one of her ‘must learn everything moods,’ ain’t nopony in the universe that can stop her.”

“Just try. For my sake. Oh, and AJ?”

“Yes?”

“No farming conventions, either,” she said with a grin.

“Now that ain’t fair!” Applejack said in mock protest. “Now you get some rest, Dash. You’ll need every bit of it to heal up from those wounds.”

“Yes, mum!” Dash called out to the retreating Applejack. She snuggled down into the sheets of the hospital bed, finally able to absorb herself fully into Daring Do.

Vacationing

Fresh air is truly a thing taken for granted. For Dash, who had been cooped up that sterile prison for a few weeks, the multitude of fragrances innate to outdoors was a welcome change to the overpowering aroma of antiseptic and medicine. She vowed never to spend another day in a hospital, temporarily considering having Twilight draw up a formal declaration, but quickly decided that such an undertaking would have unintended consequences, like having to listen to a lecture about the history of vows and legalities throughout the history of Equestria. No thanks.

She weighed her limited options, finally opting to head west, towards the Everfree Forest. Personally, she dreaded her talking to Fluttershy. Normally, every interaction between the two ponies ended with Dash unintentionally hurting Fluttershy more. Needless to say, Fluttershy was a good friend, and Dash didn’t want to hurt her more than she already had, but didn’t know how to get Fluttershy to realize that Dash wasn’t frustrated with her without a physical interaction. She turned her atrophied legs towards Fluttershy’s cottage, taking off at a light jog.

It sure felt nice to exercise, at least a little bit; she hadn’t done any since she was admitted into the hospital almost two weeks ago. The trot kicked up enough dirt to dirty her otherwise extraordinarily clean appearance. Not that she minded though, hospitals were too clean for her liking. She despised the feeling of having to maintain an entirely proper appearance, 100% of the time. Not that she didn’t enjoy getting dolled up for the Gala, but that was different. That was a one-time event, to live that way reminded her too much of the perfection demanded of her by her father, and she tried to avoid things that brought those memories to light.

Dash trotted to a halt, noting the odd silence permeating the forest. The cyan pony glanced all about, the only splash of color in an utterly green and brown void. She had expected to see a white rabbit, or a red bird, or anything! There wasn’t a single animal outside. Dash continued forward tentatively, not really afraid, just confused. I mean, it wasn’t as if they had been turned into zombies, had they? Was that even possible? They were just… inside! Yeah, they were inside, no need to be alarmed. No zombies.

Had Dash not had her wings in casts, she would have literally flown into the air in surprise when something grabbed her tail and pulled on it.

“Oh, it’s just a cat!” she said, breathing a huge sigh of relief at the calico kitty. Dash knelt down to bring herself to the approximate same height as the multicolored feline.

“Meow.”

“Hello, cat. Is Fluttershy home?”

“Meow.”

“Uh-huh. Well, lead on then!” Dash was silently praying that cat was actually responding to her, so that she wasn’t just talking to an animal like an idiot. She was also praying that nopony was watching. What the hay, while she was praying, she might as well pray that the cat could understand her.

The cat looked steadily back at Rainbow Dash, then turned towards the cottage with a haughty tail-flip. Dash stood still for a few second looking at the vain cat before turning towards the cottage and walking behind the cat. The cat ducked into the house via the cat flap, leaving the quick-tempered pony outside.

“I hope this means that Fluttershy is home,” she muttered to herself, knocking on the door. “Fluttershy! Are you home?” She was about to turn and walk away when the door swung open a few inches, apparently by nopony. Dash looked inside the house, scanning for Fluttershy. The conclusion of her search showed only an irate Angel, tapping his foot at the base of the door. That would explain why she didn’t see anypony open the door, Angel was much shorter than the average pony.

Angel’s arms were crossed, face set in a disapproving scowl.

“Hey, Angel, can I come in?”

Angel shook his head.

“Oh, is Fluttershy home?”

Angel shook his head again, growing more impatient.

“I see. Do you know when she’ll get back?”

Angel made a series of clock-like motions, and after a few repetitions, Dash interpreted it as ‘not for a long time.’

“Oh, that’s ok. I can wait.” Dash lay down on the porch. She had a feeling Angel was lying, and she was trying to prove her point. A tiny pair of paws pushed hard on her spine, in vain trying to get the leverage to push her further away from the house. “What’s the matter, Angel?” Dash said, feigning innocence.

Angel gestured wildly, making walking hand motions, and pointing towards the road.

“You want me to wait inside? Gee, Angel, that’s so nice of you!” Dash pushed open the door, with a furious rabbit pulling with all its might on her back hoof, failing in its attempt to halt Dash’s progress.

“Hi, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy said meekly, one eye barely peeking out from behind her shielding mane.

“Fluttershy! Angel seemed to think you weren’t home. Any reason why that might be?”

“Oh. Um, I uh…”

“Ha ha, I’m just joshing with you. So, what’s up with you?”

“I have been taking care of some ill animals.”

“So I see,” Dash said, eyeing some medicine, orderly displayed on the counter. “Will you be having some free time soon?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I’ve been really busy recently.”

“Come on, Flutters. The rest of us are going on vacation, and I was told to check up on you and make sure you were coming.” Not entirely true, but she didn’t know of another way to discuss her outburst. She wasn’t exactly an expert at laying her soul bare to all others. In fact, she’d learnt long ago that those sorts of encounters only led to pain, and had avoided them at all costs. Hence, her hesitation at AJ’s request to go talk to Fluttershy. Nonetheless, she was the cause of Fluttershy’s distress, and she wasn’t going to abandon her friend.

“But the sick animals! I can’t leave them!” Fluttershy pleaded, desperate for a reason to stay at home.

“We can get Lyra to take care of them for a bit. Come on Flutters, it just won’t be the same, if you don’t go!”

“I-I can’t!”

“This isn’t because I yelled at you in the Hospital, is it?” Finally! She had succeeding in harnessing the conversation and bringing it where she wanted it.

“I… No… It’s… I’m just too busy!”

“You know I wasn’t mad at you, right?”

“You weren’t?”

“Nah, I was just frustrated at everyone and everything—though mostly at Twilight. Anyways, I forgave her, and everything’s cool now.”

“Oh, good.”

“Yup.” A few seconds of awkward silence passed between the two, Fluttershy absentmindedly pawing at the ground.

“Can I still come on vacation?” Fluttershy eventually ventured.

“You bet!” Dash said, suddenly brightening. “Speaking of which, I should probably go pack, though I do have one quick question for you, before I go.”

“What is it?”

“How do you live with this guy?” Dash lifted up one hoof, Angel firmly attached to her leg, biting and punching in a fit of rage. Fluttershy swooped the violent rabbit away from the athlete, flashing an apologetic smile, before scolding the rabbit soundly.

On the road again -

Just can't wait to get on the road again.

The life I love is making music with my friends

And I can't wait to get on the road again.

On the road again

“Applejack, stop singing!” Dash pleaded desperately. Too late. Pinkie had already seized the Fillie Nelson song, and was dancing and singing uproariously. Not that normally she would have cared, it’s just that sometimes Pinkie could get on Dash’s nerves. Oh Celestia, Applejack and Pinkie were singing together.

And I can't wait to get on the road again.

On the road again -

Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway

We're the best of friends.

Insisting that the world keep turning our way

Dash’s brightened up, noting an inn nearby. They had been walking for almost eight hours, and she was ready for a break. Unlike certain farming earth ponies, Dash was not accustomed to walking for extended periods of time. Had it been an eight hour flight, it wouldn’t have been a problem. Unfortunately, only two members of their party were naturally flight-enabled.

Dash relied on fervent pleading (after the outburst of song had subsided) in order to get the other five to agree to spend the night at the motel. The group ventured inside, with Rarity (whose demeanor the others deemed most likely to garner better service) leading the way up to the counter. Dash was surprised by lack of illumination within the structure. The dimly lit lobby revealed a few aged, sage green couches well adorned with stains and tears. The assemblage of couches were formed concentric, facing towards a single well used coffee table. Far from ornate, the plain wooden table had seen its better days, covered in nicks and coffee stains. The few windows that existed were small, and partially clouded with grime. Nevertheless, the light coming through them choked out before it could fully illuminate the room, casting deep shadows in the corners. The entire place smelled of mold, sweat, and a few other unnamed scents that she desperately did not want to identify.

“Excuse me, sir,” Rarity said, batting her eyes at the gruff, chain-smoking stallion behind the counter. “We would like to get some rooms for the night.” The stallion blew out a plume of smoke towards the group of ponies, eyeing Rarity carefully.

“Name?”

“Rarity.”

“And how many of you are staying the night?”

“All six of us.” He looked over the group again, locking eyes with Fluttershy and Dash.

“You four can go to room 212,” he said, motioning at the unicorns and earth ponies, “but you two will have to go elsewhere. We don’t serve your kind here.”

“What do you mean ‘you don’t serve their kind,’” Rarity asked coldly.

“Don’t have any grudge against you, but I’ll be dead before I let a pegasus back inside my motel,” the stallion spat the word ‘pegasus’ like the worst possible curse. Dash couldn’t take any more of it. She pushed her way to the front of the group, locking eyes with the foul-smelling stallion.

“What do you have against us?” Dash planted her forehooves directly on the counter, squaring off against the towering stallion. Eyes locked, the stallion responded.

“This place looks like a dump, yes?” Dash had been expecting a more aggressive response.

“I-uh, yeah it does.”

“Well you and your kind made it this way! This place used to be a shining jewel, but a few of your kind came along. A nice looking family, so I said ‘Sure I’ll let them in, how bad can they be?’ That very night, that no-good pegasus lit my whole place on fire. Killed his family and a few others in the blaze. Served that family right, though. All pegasi are no-good war-mongers who cause trouble. Name a single war that the pegasi haven’t been chomping at the bit to go off and fight in! Is there one? Name one.”

Dash sat there silently. She knew she had recognized the motel name from somewhere. She had been in flight school when she had heard the news, and right now this wasn’t making her feel any better. The other ponies stood stock still, unsure how Dash was going to react to this confrontation. Twilight had instigated the outbreak that had alerted them to the Dash family situation, and she had no idea how the athlete would react when faced with this kind of altercation.

“Did you say that it ‘served the family right?’ Why did it serve them right?” Dash said icily.

“That family was asking for trouble. A bunch of no-good ruffians. Not one of them would have amounted to anything. And that is the high end of the pegasi. All of you are a vile group.” Dash didn’t care his opinions about the pegasi, she did care about his earlier statements however. She reached up, grabbing his mane. She meant to pull him down, but his mass was to great and she pulled herself up to his level.

“That was my family,” she said through gritted teeth.

“Good riddance.” Dash pulled down and jumped, rapidly vaulting on top of the stallion. The surprised stallion reared backwards, trying to shake its unlikely passenger. Dash’s head smashed against the ceiling, her jaw cracking together loudly. The stallion dropped back the floor, readying for its next attack. Dash raised an arm, smashing it down into the back of the head of the stallion, stopping any further attacks. She steadied herself, ending the fight with a savage kick to the head.

Dash jumped off as the stallion collapsed to the ground, grabbing the first thing that appeared within hooves reach: a chair. Wheeling as she landed on the ground, she raised the chair high above her, aiming for the head of her fallen opponent. A blur appeared from the side, smashing her to the ground.

“What the hay do you think you’re doin’?” Applejack said, stripping the chair away before letting Dash back up.

“I… I… buck.” Dash sprinted out the entrance, smashing the door open. The others immediately set out after her, struggling to find their target as they came from the darkened interior to the blinding sunlight. They spotted her sprinting across the field towards a cliff. The five broke into a dead sprint. Twilight tripped up the fleeing Rainbow Dash with a magical swipe; the others instantly jumping on top of the cyan athlete.

“Dash! Don’t do it!” Twilight shouted in Dash’s ear.

“I’m not allowed to go look at the view?” Dash grunted out from under the combined weight of the other ponies.

“You weren’t planning on killing yourself?”

“What? No! I just wanted to look.” Noting Twilight’s look of suspicion, Dash added “I Pinkie Promise that I’m not going to kill myself.” Twilight motioned for the others to get off of Dash. Nevertheless, she remained close by in order to grab Dash if she tried anything.

Dash walked up to the edge, looking down into the chasm before her. The craggy rock face dropped off towards the valley below. A rushing river carved itself down into the valley, joining the cliff in a cloud of mist, the result of a cascading waterfall that sent massive amounts of water and debris over the cliff every second. A forest kept the closest bank of the river from view, obscured by thousands of bushy evergreen branches. Yet Dash observed none of these things, just staring off into the distance not focusing on any particular detail.

“I’m an idiot,” she finally said after a few minutes of contemplation.

“Beg pardon?” Applejack said, surprised by the sudden proclamation.

“I let my past define me, instead of shape me,” Dash said, slumping forward, eyes downcast. Even her bright plumage didn’t make her look cheery.

“I don’t understand,” Twilight interjected.

“No matter what I did or where I went, I never dealt with what my dad did to me. I never addressed it, and it stayed inside my head until I exploded. I should have talked to someone, or done something to deal with it, but I didn’t. And when I finally was forced to confront it, it consumed me. I couldn’t think about anything except that, and I could barely function. I let it control my actions, and everything that remotely reminded me of my past had to be destroyed. I nearly killed that guy in there, it wasn’t his fault—even if he was a jerk. No, I have to accept what happened in my past. It sucked, and I still don’t like it, but it did shape me into who I am today. Ha, it even helped me in some ways. Never expected that sort of thing to end up helping me in the long run.” Dash still was looking down.

Dash finally stood up, looking the other ponies. She wordlessly walked back towards the path, stopping upon reaching the trail.

“Let’s go guys, we’ve got a long way to walk before we get to the next motel!” Dash smiled for the first time since the beginning of the whole ordeal. The others grinned, happy to see their friend return to normal. The others joined their compatriot, beginning the trek towards their next stop.

Epilogue: All Bad Things Come To An End

15 years later

Dash had thought about this day for many years, but never once dreamed that she would be attending. Sure, she had fantasized about being the instigator of this event, and even come close to doing so once, but never in a million billion years did plan on attending voluntarily. She tugged at the black gown made for her at a significant discount by Rarity, who had become a major player in the fashion industry, after a relatively slow start in Ponyville.

The gown dropped gracefully to the floor, pooling into a sea of midnight at her feet. Despite its elegance, she still batted at it uncomfortably. No matter how fine or sophisticated it may be, or how much Rarity tried to make it feel familiar to Rainbow Dash, she would always be more comfortable in athletic gear. And yet, most of her discomfort came not from the clothes, but from attendance. She turned at the sound of hooves in the hallway.

“Mommy, do I have to go?”

“Yes, son. You have to go,” she said to her colt, Jet.

“But didn’t Dad say we don’t like Grandpa?” Curse that kid and his blunt inquisitiveness. Did he inherit that from her, or from his father? Probably a little of both.

“Well,” Dash started, delicately. She hadn’t told her children about her childhood, and didn’t plan on discussing it until they were older, if at all. “We weren’t as close as you, your sister, your father, and I are. Nevertheless, we still want to attend this for him.”

“But why?” Jet obviously did not want to be helpful. Dash rolled her eyes.

“Because I said so. No go check on your sister, see if she is ready to go yet.” Jet grumbled as he walked away, tugging at the suit jacket he wore. Realization suddenly dawned on Dash, and she sprinted towards the hallway to call out to Jet. “But don’t go into her room! And don’t yell! Knock—neither really hard nor super lightly—on the door, and talk peacefully!” Jet continued down to his sister Bolt’s room, slightly deflated as his mother had single-handedly negated his plans to irritate his sister.

Dash felt a hoof on her shoulder. She turned, seeing her husband, with empathy in his eyes for his multicolored wife. She snuggled into his embrace.

“Oh Soarin’,” she sighed. “I wish I knew how to react.”

5 days earlier…

Dash was getting up there in years (though she would fervently deny any such allogation), and even she and Soarin’ (who she had married 12 years, five months ago, three weeks ago) were the only two enduring members of the Wonderbolts; the others had all retired and moved on with their life. Despite being ‘Mama Dash’ to the team (as the younger members quickly nicknamed her), she was still the only pony on the team capable of Sonic Rainbooms, though she was training them, hoping to eventually get the entire Wonderbolt team—after she was gone—to be able to perform the Sonic Rainboom. Until that day though, she still got to do her favorite part of any show; the part she was doing right now.

That wind! Oh, it would never get old. Dash blinked back as her suit became instantly drenched as she ripped asunder a nearby cloud. She could feel the barrier beginning to build at her hooftips. Instantly throwing extra power to the wings, she rushed forward, noting the thickening barrier, gauging how fast she should push herself. She began pressing forward even faster, noting she was slightly behind schedule. The viewing stand approached rapidly, Dash pushing a final effort into her wings. The barrier broke and she surged forward. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw that she had detonated the Rainboom directly over the viewing grandstands: right on target.

Dash curved backwards and over the grandstands, appearing as a giant ‘C’ in the sky to any observer to the side of the main event. She twisted and tumbled, dropping straight downwards, righting herself at the last second to join the formation of tight flying, blue-clad pegasi. The dropped to the ground before the stands, striking a heroic pose. Talk about an awesome finale.

“Mares and Gentlestallions, the Wonderbolts!” The announcer’s voice rang out across multiple speakers. The crowd erupted into cheering and applause, music to the tired performers’ ears. The next few hours were something the entire group both loved and loathed: autographs. While most of their fans were great, there were always the creepy ones. Really creepy. For instance, one fan wrote a series of love poems to Dash, and insisted on performing every single one of them. He got through one and a half before security showed up. There was also that mare who attacked Dash with scissors to get a clip from her mane. Not to mention all the attention that Soarin’ got, plus the random encounters with stalkers and fans on the street.

All the members of the Wonderbolts were smiling and being all-around friendly, while simultaneously watching the lines and the crowd for the kooky ones.

“Thank you for coming!” Dash said smiling, handing back a signed picture to a happy fan, motioning the next up. “What can I do you for?” Oh, here was a creepy one. The young stallion before her licked his lips, leering at her.

“I, uh, can I get an autograph?” He said haltingly, handing her a picture. Dash looked at the picture. Oh gross. It was of the stallion. Naked. Didn’t ponies know she was married? She sighed, realizing she did get paid for this part, no matter how unpleasant it may be. She signed it, and was about to hand it back when she realized she’d have to make a minor correction to his behavior.

“Hey! Eyes up here!” Dash gestured with a hoof at her eyes. He gulped guiltily. “Have a nice day!” She said with a forced smile. She looked over, noticing Soarin’ giving the young man a steely glare. The stallion trotted off quicker than one would expect. “Thanks,” she muttered towards her husband.

“Anytime,” He replied earnestly. About to return to his line of fans, he paused, spotting someone in the crowd. “That mare hasn’t stopped staring at you in a long time,” he said, pointing at a specific earth pony mare in the crowd. Dash followed his gesture, noting the pony in question.

“Well, she hasn’t done anything yet. And staring isn’t uncommon, if it isn’t normal. Let’s just see how it plays out.” Dash kept an eye on her for the remainder of the day, but she barely moved. The longer the day wore on, the more uneasy she became. Eventually the park emptied except those the Wonderbolts, the staff, and this one mare. Finally, she approached Dash.

“Excuse me,” she said timidly.

“Yes, you’ve been staring at me all day. What do you want?” Dash snapped.

“It’s about your father,” she began.

“I haven’t seen him in 15 years, what makes you think I want to see him now? You can tell him to go kill himself,” Dash immediately recognized that this might have been a little harsh, but she didn’t really care. Then again, don’t kill the messenger…

“I can’t,” the mare said, choking back tears.

“Why not?”

“He died a few days ago of a heart attack.” The pony hung her head in remorse. Dash leaned back into her chair, unsure how to respond.

“So? What do you want me to do?” The earth pony looked up in shock.

“I, uh, expected you to want to attend your father’s funeral.”

“Why do you even care?” Dash queried.

“I’m your mother –in—law, Joy.”

“He remarried? When?”

“Five years ago. Why does it matter, your father died!”

“Did he ever tell you about me or his previous family?”

“Just that you were estranged and your mother and sister died in a horrible accident.” Dash snorted rudely, casting her head to the side. Looking back, she realized the drastic negative impact she had on Joy.

“Fine, I’ll go to my father’s funeral.”

“I’m not trying to force you to go, I thought you’d want to go!” Joy sounded offended at Dash’s reply.

“No, it’s just that it’s obvious Dad didn’t tell you all about what happened, that’s all. If you want me to, I’ll even get on the podium and give him a eulogy.”

“It’s obvious to me that you didn’t get along because you’re a horrible pony. But you should give a eulogy to such a prestigious stallion.” As Joy turned to go she felt a hoof whip her shoulder around. Dash had jumped across the room, facing the earth pony mere inches away.

“My Dad and I had issues, but they weren’t my fault. Don’t you dare say that they were.”

“And how can you be sure of that?”

“Trust me. I’ve had to deal with it for years.”

“I’m sure you’re confused,” Joy said with a sweet, slightly condescending smile, “I know my husband, and he is not the kind of pony that would give you a problem that you would have to deal with for a long time.”

“Lady, part of my contract for joining the Wonderbolts initially stated that I had to go to a therapist.”

“Therapy for what? Excessive niceness?”

“Getting hit in the head with heavy objects. Repeatedly.” Joy was taken aback, mouth flapping but unable to form coherent words.

“Uh… Are you…”

“Take a deep breath and speak clearly.”

“He was abusive?” She whispered the last word fiercely, like she was discussing a topic that was taboo for generations.

“That’s putting it mildly.” Joy turned, walking slowly away. Stopping suddenly, she turned back to Dash.

“It’ll be in the Canterlot chapel. At 10:30 this Friday.” It was Dash’s turn to be surprised.

“Canterlot? Seems pretty high-class for him.”

“He is one of Canterlot’s foremost businessman.”

“Well, that’s a change for the better. I’m guessing everyone will be very high-class.” Joy nodded. “I guess I’ll have to talk to Rarity, see if she can make me a dress in the next few days for cheap,” she said absentmindedly, to nopony in particular.

“The… Rarity? The owner of the foremost fashion line in all Equestria?”

“Yeah, we go way back.” The two stood there in an awkward silence for a few moments.

“Well, I must go make more arrangements,” Joy said.

“And I should go talk to my husband about this entire ordeal. Nice meeting you, Joy.”

“Likewise, Mrs. Soarin’.”

“Please, call me Rainbow Dash.”

Present day…

Dash and her family strode into the chapel, thirty minutes early. She had asked Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rarity to come for moral support… if that was the right term. She just didn’t know how she was going to deal with the entire scenario. She pressed forward into the throng of saddened upperclass ponies. After walking aimlessly for a few minutes, she noticed one particularly well-groomed, white stallion approaching her.

“I say, aren’t you the world famous Rainbow Dash?”

“Uh, yeah I am. My husband Soarin’ is…” she paused, scanning the room for his signature blue mane. “Over there, watching the kids.” She gestured across the room, nearby a grove of fake potted plants. She didn’t think this guy would try flirting with her, as he was reeked of sophistication, but she had learned the hard way to cover her bases.

“I assure you, my intentions are not of that nature,” he said, seemingly not offended. “I was just curious as to what an athlete of your caliber is doing at this function.”

“Um, why shouldn’t I? Is it bad that I am?”

“It’s just I would have expected people to attend who had invested interest in the deceased. I am praying that this isn’t some crass publicity stunt for your flying team.”

“I’m going to let that slide, because my father and I have never been close. It doesn’t surprise me he didn’t tell any of his friends about me.”

“Did you see you were his daughter? I apologize, my actions were vulgar and inexcusable.”

“Meh, don’t worry about it.”

“Nevertheless, I do feel quite bad for my behavior. I’m sorry, I never properly introduced myself. Fancypants, at your service,” the stallion said with a polite bow.

“Oh! You’re the most important pony in Canterlot!”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Fancypants said modestly.

“Oh, sorry. I don’t know much about the inner-workings of Canterlot. That’s just how Rarity described you.

“You know Rarity, the only mare with whom I entrust with my suits?”

“Oh yeah, we’ve been friends since Ponyville. Even if she is a fussbudget, she’s a great friend. She’s around here somewhere, too.” Dash said, glancing around.

“If you could all take your seats, we will begin shortly,” a voice said over the loudspeaker, cutting off Dash’s conversation. They exchanged the customary, courteous goodbyes, and then parted to find their separate seating. Dash found her family rapidly, Soarin’ pointed out which seat was hers. Just as Dash sat down, she had to stand up again as a Joy took to the podium.

“Before we lay him to rest, we have a few speakers who want to share their memories of this illustrious businessman. First off we have the world-famous athlete Rainbow Dash.” Dash rose, walking gingerly between the rows of ponies towards the podium. Before she could get to the aisle, Soarin’ caught hold of her shoulder, giving her a reassuring pat. She flashed a nervous grin back at him.

Taking the podium, she looked out at the rows and rows of eyes staring back at her. While used to performing in front of crowds, this was different. And uncomfortable. Dash cleared her throat.

“I know many of you were wondering what possible relation I have with him,” she started. Her suspicions were confirmed by the subtle nodding of heads. “An athlete always on the road, being important enough to be the first speaker at his funeral. Well, he never talked about me, and I didn’t talk about him. Ever. We never liked each other, and in general preferred to pretend that the other didn’t exist. Although I’m pretty sure some gossip magazines made the connection a few years ago, nobody listened and that’s how we preferred it. Nevertheless, Dad did teach me some things as a kid that I still use today.” She could almost feel them recoil in shock as she admitted her parentage.

“As you may have guessed by our stark separation, we didn’t always see eye to eye. Nonetheless, my childhood was tough, and he taught me the value of perseverance. Life sucks. And while did learn that from him, what he taught best was struggling through the suck and move on. Embrace the suck, recognize that it happens, and realize that it shaped you, for better or for worse.” Dash stepped down from the podium, trying to shake the feeling that she had just undermined her core values by praising the man who had caused all this pain in her life. She pushed the thought aside, going back to her seat wordlessly.

“Did Grandpa really teach you that?” her daughter Bolt asked.

“Yes, Boltie. In his own way.”

“If he taught you all that, why don’t you or Dad ever talk about him? Or Grandma?”

“Hush now, let’s listen to the next speaker,” Dash said, stroking her daughter’s mane. That was a topic she’d avoid for as long as possible.

Finally home after the long day, Dash began pulling her dress off her shoulders. The whole day was so weird. She felt like an island. The entire congregation was sad and teary, but Rainbow Dash stood there stoically. Neither sad nor happy, she was the only one who seemed unmoved by the whole ordeal.

“Here, let me help you out of that dress,” Soarin’ said, walking up on her from the side. Dash punched his shoulder, knowing exactly what he was thinking.

“Someday we’ll have to tell the children,” she said, turning towards them.

“Eventually, yes. When they’re older. We can’t keep dodging their inquiries about your mom forever.”

“Eventually.”

“You remember when I first started taking serious notice of you?”

“Yeah, it was right when I showed up for practice the first day.” Damn, he’d been caught. He thought he had been able to hide it then.

“Well, yeah. I meant when we started getting serious about starting a relationship.” Dash nodded.

“Yeah, I remember. I remember having to spend a lot of time with Applejack when we did that show in Ponyville, trying to get her to teach me how to make an apple pie.”

“Wait, you didn’t know how to cook one before?”

“Ha ha, no. I just remembered you really liked that one pie that AJ made at the Gala, and thought it would make you take more interest in me.”

“I… did not know that.”

“There’s a lot you don’t know.”

“Hey! You know, I was going to be romantic and emotional, the way you females appreciate,” he exaggerated the word ‘female’ like it was the strange, foreign concept. It actually was, but he didn’t want to admit that.

“Ok, ok,” Dash conceded. “What were you going to say?”

“Well, I was going to say that the thing that really attracted me to you, other than your figure of course, I mean yowza!” Dash slugged him.

“I thought you were going to be romantic.”

“You ruined the mood first. In all seriousness though, it was your spirit I fell in love with. You’re confident, and you always persevere through the trials and tribulations, and you’ve been the best thing in my life since you-mpfh!” Dash interrupted him with a kiss.

“Thanks,” She said, when they broke apart.

“For what I said?”

“For that, and for not being like my father. For being everything that he should have been.”

“Anytime.”

A/N: In case you were wondering, I did research the Jet’s name. The word ‘jet’ originated in the 1500s from the French word ‘jeter,’ which meant ‘to throw.’ Totally legitimate name, even without planes in Equestria.

Also, for the foreseeable future I’ll only have time to write oneshots, and very infrequently at that. So, if you are interested in continuing this story, let me know and I’ll happily turn over the story to you. It’s not that I don’t want this story to continue or think that there isn’t any more to be told (because there is), it’s just I don’t have enough time.