Won't Let it Bring Me Down

Won't Let it Bring Me Down

By: Crystal Heart

Chapter 4: Moments and Meetings

Rainbow Dash flew home at an incredible speed, desperate to get away from Soarin. All in all, she just didn't want to see anypony at the moment. She just wanted to be drowned in her own thoughts.

Dash arrived home a couple hours after she left it, and entered the living room, shutting the door tightly behind her.

"Where have you been?" Firefly asked her, as she flew up to her. Dash took a few deep breaths, and roughly shook her head.

"Didn't Dad tell you? I was out flying!" she said. Firefly tasked her eyebrows.

"For three hours?"

"Yeah! Is that a problem? I'm an independent mare now, Mom. I can take care of myself, you know!"

"I'm well aware. Now come on, I'll get a breakfast cooking for you," Firefly said, rolling her eyes slightly, and gestured the cyan mare to follow her inside the kitchen

"Uh... no thanks, Mom. I already ate," Dash said with a nervous expression. Firefly whipped around to look at her, and gave her a confused look.

"What do you mean? I thought you were out flying!" she exclaimed. Dash nodded.

"Yeah, I was. But I met up with a friend, and we had breakfast together," she said. Firefly tilted her head to the side.

"Which friend was this?" she asked. Dash gulped. Oh no.

If her parents found out that she had been hanging out with a stallion, they would surely be very angry. Dash knew that she couldn't become close with a guy, because she couldn't risk falling in love.

Although that probably already had happened.

"Ehh... it was an old friend. You don't know them," she finally settled on saying. Firefly gave her one last glance, before shrugging, and trotting away.

Dash released a long breath she hadn't realized she was holding in. She plopped down into the couch, and sighed.

"Sweet Celestia, what have I gotten myself into?"

"Rainbow Dash! Hoops and his family are here!" Blaze called to his daughter, who was busy sulking in her room.

"I'll be down in a minute, Dad!" she yelled back.

Hoops, his little sister,and his parents were paying a visit to the Dash family today. Just to decide on the final wedding date, and stuff like that. Dash of course, wasn't the least bit happy about it.

She knew this day was going to be coming sooner or later, but she didn't expect it to happen so fast... anyone could tell she wasn't ready. She wasn't ready at all.

All she wanted was to go out for a fly. Maybe meet up with Soarin, and have another almost-date! She really liked hanging out with him... he brought a sense of comfort whenever he was in her presence.

Dash trudged down the cloud steps, coming face to face with Hoops.

"Hey, Hoops..." she managed to say. Hoops only snorted.

"Nice seeing you too, Rainbow Crash."

"Whatever..."

The two made their way over to the living room, where Blaze, Firefly were already waiting. Along with Basketball Dream, Champion Star, and fifteen year-old Red Checker.

Blaze and Basket were chattering to themselves, while Firefly and Champion were quietly speaking about something that would remain a mystery. Blaze smiled wide, as he saw his daughter and he companion enter the room. Probably because they were both so close together.

"There are the lovebirds!" he exclaimed, gesturing over to the small couch besides him. It was the old loveseat that Dash's parents had given her. She never used it, so it was quite a surprise to see it out.

"Dad... please. We're not lovebirds," Dash said with a tone of pure annoyance. Blaze's smile faltered slightly, but remained intact.

"Anyway, take a seat! Snuggle up together! You know, what fiancé's do..." he said. Dash rolled her eyes, and sat on the far right of the sofa. Hoops doing the same on the left. Blaze frowned, and shook his head. Dismissing it to get to more important matters.

"Firefly, would you like to explain?" he asked. The pink mare only nodded before clearing her throat.

"We believe today is the day when we finally decide on the wedding date. Do you two feel comfortable about that?" she asked. Both Dash and Hoops shook their head instantly. Firefly sighed, and looked over to Hoops' parents.

"Would you like to give it a go?" she asked. Champion nodded, turning up to face her son and future daughter in-law.

"You two really must stop acting this way! You are about to get married to one-another!" she said. Hoops put in a huge fake smile.

"Oh don't worry, Momma. I'm trying. It's Rainbow Cra- I mean, Dash that isn't!" he said, shooting her a sly glare. Champion groaned, before looking over to her husband. Basket nodded.

"Look, you two like each other! You have for a long time! Why is there a sudden change in your attitudes?" he asked. Dash grumbled, and covered her face in her hooves.

"Oh, I don't know... maybe because I'm being forced into a marriage... or something like that," she said. Blaze gasped.

"Rainbow Dash! Don't talk to your father in-law like that! It isn't polite!" he exclaimed. Dash rolled her eyes, and purposely forgot the apology. It wouldn't have been a very pleasing one, anyway.

"Whatever..."

Firefly inspected her daughter thoroughly. Dash never acted this way during one of these meetings! She always tried to be nice... but this, this was very different. Firefly knew that something was up. Dash was her daughter... mother's know everything about their daughters.

She decided to let it go, and observe her more throughout the course of the evening. Maybe then, she would be able to draw up a conclusion about her spicy attitude. With tortilla chips on the side...

"We were thinking, that the wedding should be held sometime in March," Blaze finally said. Dash snapped her head up with wide eyes.

"But... that's only a little more than a month away!" she exclaimed. "That's way too soon!"

"No... if we hold it off any longer, you two might never get to marry!"

"Wouldn't be such a bad idea..." Dash grumbled under her breath. No one heard it but Firefly and Hoops, who were both on either side of her respectively. Firefly gaped. Dash would never act like this without a good reason... she knew her daughter was at least a little better than how she was currently displaying herself.

"I completely agree..." Hoops whispered back. Dash bit her lip, and looked away from him. Straight into the eyes of her mother.

Firefly quickly begun her search. Staring deep into Dash's magenta pools. She picked up many emotions hidden within the walls of her pearly eyes. Fear, scaredness, plus more. But there was one very prominent one being shown. She just had to dig a little deeper.

Of course... how couldn't she have seen it before?

Her daughter was in love...

"Oh... this looks delicious, Ms. Firefly!" Hoops exclaimed, as he stared at the arrangement of differing meals laid out in front of him. Firefly smiled, and nodded.

"Why, thank you, Hoops. I'm glad to see that you enjoy it!" she said politely. Hoops nodded, before taking another sip of his carrot soup. Dash, who was sitting besides him, was just playing around. Her spoon swirled through the thick, creamy orange liquid, not coming up once to touch her lips.

"Is something wrong with your soup, Rainbow?" Champion asked. Dash quickly shook her head, starting to get up.

"May I be excused?" she asked. Blaze raised an eyebrow at her in confusion.

"What? But you haven't even eaten anything yet!" he said. Dash nodded.

"Guess I'm just not hungry..." she said, before trotting out of the dining room. Firefly stared after her with a small glare. She would have to get to the bottom of this. Now.

"Rainbow Dash? May I come in?" Firefly asked, as she knocked on her daughter's door to her room. She heard a few quiet sniffles coming from inside, before the door creaked open just a crack.

"W-W-What i-is it, M-M-Mom?" she asked, her voice shaking heavily. Firefly looked upon her daughter's face in concern, before pulling her into a tight hug.

"What's wrong, Rainbow?" she asked. Dash shook out of her mother's embrace.

"Nothing is wrong, Mom! Why would you think that?" she asked.

"Because you've been acting awfully strange nowadays..." Firefly replied, putting her hooves on Dash's shoulders.

"I'm fine..." she said. Firefly raised an eyebrow, and crossed her hooves.

"You sure about that, honey?" she asked. Dash sighed, and sat down on her bed.

"It's just that... why do I have to go through this whole arranged marriage thing? There must be a reason, right?" she asked. Firefly looked away, and closed her eyes.

"You're right. There is a reason," she said. Dash's ears perked up.

"There is? Great! Could you tell me?" she asked. Firefly sighed, and nodded.

"The thing is, when I was pregnant with you, your father was best friends with Basketball Dream. He still is, of course. When he heard that Basket's wife was expecting, he sent me to go and make small talk with her. Champ and I connected, and we started discussing out future children. I told her I was having a filly, and she told me she was having a colt. Of course, this got your father really excited, and he decided that the two foals would become good friends, and soon fall in love and get married. He was afraid he would lose his friendship with Basket, after he got married and such. He was just acting over pressure. He thought the only way the friendship would remain was if the two foals were to marry in the future. Therefore, if anything did happen, it couldn't have lasted long. But then, a thought came to your father's mind. What if you and Hoops didn't get along? Then all of his plans, hopes, and dreams would be ruined! And he didn't want that to happen, obviously. So he met up with Basket, and they both decided that there would be an arranged marriage between the two foals. Once you were born, your father and I tried to get you used to being around Hoops. Hoops seemed like a pretty good colt. Of course, that got our hopes up. Maybe the arranged marriage wouldn't have to happen? Maybe you two would end up falling for each other anyway? But then, one day after flight camp, you came home complaining about him... telling us he was the rudest, most awful colt ever. This broke your father and I's hearts... we were so looking forward to a nice, drama-lass marriage. Then, the arranged marriage was set. Then again, it isn't a fully arranged one... but that's besides the point. Anyway, Dash... your father thought we didn't have any other choice! I know you know how important friendship is to ponies! And your father was just acting under... I guess you could call it, 'friendship pressure'... we're really sorry... but just remember, please don't make us even more unhappy with what we did by... falling in love with another colt or something. It would really break our hearts. I'm already regretting doing what we did to you... but your father is stubborn, Rainbow Dash. I wish I could have knocked some sense into him... but I really couldn't. I was really for the idea back then... but that was almost twenty-three years ago! I'm so sorry, Rainbow Dash. I really, truly am..." Firefly said, looking back up into her daughter's eyes.

Dash's eyes were filled with tears. She couldn't stand to see her mother in this state... she knew she had to cut off every relationship aspect she had with Soarin. It was for her own good... she couldn't risk betraying her family like she already had.

"Mom... I had no idea... I'm so sorry..." she said, before hugging her mother once again.