A Dash of Love Soared Through the Skies

A Dash of Love Soared Through the Skies

By: Crystal Heart

Chapter 12: Over The Years

When Rainbow Dash and Soarin brought Sandstorm and Stronghold home, Ace and Spectrum were overjoyed! Princess Cadance and Shining Armor visited often, and Dash and Soarin were both extremely happy with the new additions.

Well, most of the time.

There was no doubt about it, Rainbow Sandstorm and Stronghold Skies proved to be difficult babies. Especially for amateur parents like Dash and Soarin.

After plenty of sleepless nights, wet diapers, and the occasional instance when Stronghold escaped the house, Dash and Soarin were pretty much done. Who knew handling a baby would take so much work? They did. They had two.

"Argh! Soarin! Get in here!" Dash called to her husband from the bathroom. Soarin came wobbling in with an eight month old Stronghold on his head, pulling his hair.

"Yes, Dashie?" He mumbled, as he desperately tried to get his son off his head. Dash looked over, and then back at her daughter who was busy throwing her bath toys around.

"Could you give me those toys Sandy threw from under the sink?" She asked, tilting her head to said location. Soarin grumbled, and bent down, picking up the toys, and handing them to Dash.

"Thanks." Dash mumbled, giving them to Sandstorm, who merrily threw them again, laughing her head off. Dash sighed, and picked her daughter up from the cold bath she was in. She grabbed a towel, and wiped her off, ruffling her mane slightly as she went along. She then turned to Soarin.

"Here. You take Sandy, and I'll try my best with Strong." She said, as the couple exchanged babies. Soarin sighed, and went into the twin's room. Dash smiled after him, and started running another cold bath for her son.

"Oh Strongy... Your father is getting very stressed because of you and your sister." She mumbled to him, while he just started swimming around in the tub. At least he didn't throw any toys at her. Instead, he splashed water all over her body.

"Hmph."

"Sandstorm! Stronghold! Time for dinner!" Dash called out to her three year old children. They ran inside, and took their seats, smiling innocent smiles.

"What did you two do?" Soarin asked, raising his eyebrows. Sandstorm shrugged.

"Nothing, Daddy! We are very good little children. Aren't we Strong?" She said, directing her attention to her brother. Stronghold nodded.

"Yeah! Sand's right! We didn't do anything!" He said, turning to look at his mother. "Mommy! When's the food gonna be ready?" He whined. Dash looked over, and rolled her eyes.

"Strongy... It's right in front of you." She said. Sandstorm and Stronghold looked down to find a plate of steaming hot vegetables. Sandstorm then smirked, and looked over to her brother.

"And it was riiiiiiiight there, in front of me!" She sang. Stronghold glared at his sister, before turning to his mom.

"Mommy! Make her stop!" He said, as Sandstorm continued.

"Just to close for me to seeee!" She sang again. Dash raised an eyebrow at her daughter.

"Where's that song from?" She asked curiously. Sandstorm shrugged.

"It's from a new movie... About these strange creatures who walk on two legs. Eh. I forgot most of it." She said. Dash gave her daughter a weird look, before returning to cooking the food for her and her husband. The twins looked back at their own food, and grimaced.

"But we want candy!" Sandstorm cried. Stronghold nodded.

"Yeah! And chocolate cake!" He said. Dash glanced over to Soarin, who shrugged. Dash sighed.

"We can have all of that later. For dessert. But if you want to eat it, you need to finish your food first!" She said, going up to the two foals. She lightly tapped the spoon in front of them, and gestured to the vegetable salad. The two children sighed, and started munching on the food, grimacing after every bite.

"Yuck!"

The twins were now seven years old.

The family of four had gone through their ups and downs, but in the end, it was all worth it. Soarin and Rainbow Dash wanted nothing except their children to be happy.

Then, came that one fateful day.

Rainbow Dash and Soarin were up early, sitting on the couch, with their eyes closed, just thinking about how wonderful life had been over the past few years.

It was peaceful at this time of day, since the twins hadn't awoken yet, and Dash and Soarin cherished it very much.

"Today's my parent's anniversary..." Dash mumbled. Soarin looked down at her.

"Oh... I'm sorry, Dashie." He said softly.

Suddenly, the doors to the room burst open, revealing a very confused looking Rainbow Sandstorm and Stronghold Skies. Dash and Soarin jumped, and looked at the children.

"We were up all night reading this!" Sandstorm said, handing over a thick book to her parents. The minute Dash and Soarin laid their eyes on it, they gasped.

"W-W-Where did you find this?" Dash asked slowly. Stronghold shrugged.

"It was in the attic. Mom! We didn't know you had these adventures!" He said. Dash sighed, and closed her eyes.

"Sandy... Strongy... You don't just read stuff that's found up there without asking us first!" She said, looking over to Soarin. Soarin nodded.

"Your mother's right. This book is not something you should have read. Now go up to your rooms." He said, before the twins looked down sadly, and trotted up the stairs.

The minute they were gone, Dash frantically looked over to Soarin.

"Soarin! They read our diary!" She said. Soarin took a few deep breaths, and nodded.

"This book contains everything. Everything from when we first met at tryouts, to when we had them. No doubt they didn't understand some of it... They're only seven. Their knowledge and reading skills are limited. But still... They have a general idea about everything now..." He said, shaking his head.

"They know about their grandparents..." Dash said quietly. The door creaked open, and in came Sandy and Strong once again.

"Did Rainbow Blaze really do all those things, Mom?" Stronghold asked, as he came up to his mother. Dash's eyes widened as the two approached, and she tightly gripped Soarin's hoof.

"Is it true that you ran away?" Sandstorm asked them. Dash and Soarin both closed their eyes, and didn't answer.

"You know what... The Empire's getting a little boring for my taste. How about we take a little vacation?" Soarin asked to the three other ponies. They all instantly brightened up, and nodded.

"Yay! You're the best, Daddy!" Sandstorm said happily, jumping up, and doing a flip in mid-air. Soarin chuckled.

"Alright. We're going to Hawaii!" He said happily, as his children and wife all leapt happily onto him.

Back on the other side of Equestria, Rainbow Blaze and Firefly stared at a picture of four ponies. Them, with their two children. Rainbow Dash and Spectrum Dash.

"Do you think she's okay?" Firefly asked, leaning onto her husband.

"It's been eight years, Fire. And she still hasn't come back." Blaze said bluntly. Firefly closed her eyes, and let a few tears escape. "I would go looking for them... But I don't know where she's gone. I tried asking Spectrum and Ace, but they said they didn't know either..." He finished.

"I can't stand living here with this guilt on my shoulders..." Firefly said. Blaze nodded, and turned to his wife.

"I think we all need a little vacation." He said. Firefly opened her eyes, and nodded.

"Yeah. We really do. It's even our anniversary today!" She said. Blaze smiled softly.

"Let's go to Hawaii. And we'll ask Spectrum and Ace to join us."