Happiness and Tears

RDcrystalheart

Chapter 24: Rocky Settlements

"Rainbow Dash! Where do you want these?" Scootaloo called over to her big sister. Rainbow Dash smiled sadly in reply, pointing to a large stack of boxes near the front door.

"Over there's fine, Scoots," she said, returning back to her own moving boxes that were in desperate need of unpacking. She grimaced at the weight of them all, flaring out her muscles in an attempt to make them lighter.

"Come on guys! If we hurry up, we can start moving everything in tonight!" Soarin called out to the foursome. Lilian nodded.

"Soarin's right, let's keep our heads down and work," she agreed. Rainbow Dash huffed.

"Okay okay, I'm going as fast as I can!" she exclaimed, heaving a large box out of the truck. Soarin was able to hire a moving service last minute thankfully, so everything was going to plan so far.

Soarin frowned at Rainbow Dash's words.

"Well could you go a little faster?" he asked, furrowing his eyebrows as he returned to his work. He barely even heard Rainbow Dash's reply.

"Okay okay you two, that's enough," Lilian said, heading over to help Scootaloo with her things.

"Hey Rainbow Dash have you seen my scooter?" Scootaloo asked, looking through one of the larger boxes. Rainbow Dash looked up at her, wiping a few tears away from her eyes before shaking her head.

"They're probably in one of the other boxes or something, I don't know," she said, "don't ask me, you know I'm not in the mood for any of this." Soarin visibly pricked at her words.

"Any of this? What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, turning to face her. Rainbow Dash gulped, shaking her head again.

"Nothing, nothing. I didn't say anything," she said. Soarin sighed, tempting to calm himself down as he returned to work.

"What are these?" he asked, holding up a few crumpled papers. Rainbow Dash brightened upon seeing them.

"Oh! Those are my old Wonderbolt posters!" she exclaimed happily, reaching out to touch them. Soarin instantly blocked her view and put them behind his back.

"Why did you bring them? That was very valuable packing space!" he said sharply. Rainbow Dash's eyes widened as she took a few steps back. Soarin panted heavily, closing his eyes and turning his back on her. "Whatever."

"Soarin..." Rainbow Dash started, coming up to him, "are you alright?"

Soarin flared his nostrils. "It's okay. I'm fine, let's just keep working, alright?"

Rainbow Dash nodded and retreated back to her original spot.

"What do you think is going on with him?" Scootaloo asked Rainbow Dash as she took a few boxes from the moving van. Rainbow Dash sighed, looking back at her husband and shaking her head.

"I'm not sure, and frankly, I don't want to find out," she said. Lilian walked up to them.

"He's probably just stressed. All this drama must have taken a toll on him," she suggested. Rainbow Dash's nose scrunched up at the mention of 'drama' as she passed a box to her younger sister. She looked at Scootaloo with teary eyes.

"Oh Scoots! You missed your drama play that you and your friends put on together! If we had stayed back, you could have performed for us!" she exclaimed sadly, tears now falling heavily from her eyes. Scootaloo gave her a look of concern while Soarin just grumbled out of annoyance a little further back.

Soarin turned from the box he was unpacking to face Rainbow Dash as his anger flared.

"Well by all means, just go on back then!" he said, on the verge of shouting.

Rainbow Dash quickly turned to him, her ears budding in color. "Excuse me?!"

"Yeah! That's what I said. If you're so fussy on living here, just go on back!"

"What the hay are you talking about, Soarin?" Lilian said, cutting into the argument before it got out of hand. "You were fine a few days ago."

"Well it isn't exactly a few days ago now, is it?" Soarin said coldly. Rainbow Dash's eyes widened.

"What's the matter with you?" she said, her voice rising by the second.

Soarin wiped the budding tears that were threatening to fall. "Oh? What's the matter with me? Oh I don't know, maybe the fact that I was kicked out of the house I was grown up in? Even if I did never actually belong there?! Huh? Maybe that's what's bothering me!?" he yelled. "Maybe you and your precious baby sister can go talk it all out, because I lost my sibling to studies!"

"And I lost my parents! Both of them!" Rainbow Dash shouted.

"I did too! All four of them!" Soarin yelled, "my birth parents never cared about me, now my adoptive parents left me on my own too. How do you think that feels?!"

"My mother abandoned me in my time of need! My father is dead!"

"Well it was bloody likely for your mother to leave you," Soarin said, now losing control of his voice. Rainbow Dash took a step back as his words sunk in.

"What... what are you trying to say?" she asked in a ghostly whisper. "That you never wanted to marry me? Well, newsflash Soarin, it's too late now!"

"I'm not saying anything! Why don't you just shut up and leave me alone?!" Soarin yelled back at her, his entire face burning red.

Rainbow Dash stood shellshocked in front of him, her mouth open; no words dared to escape. She slowly inched away from him, a frown plastered on her face.

"Fine. If that's what you want," she said quietly, turning around and breaking into a run. She zoomed in the direction of the house.

The weight of the situation finally sunk on Soarin's shoulders. He gasped, what had he done?!

"Wait..." he tried, his voice cracking as he called for his wife, "wait... wait... Rainbow Dash!!"

But she had already disappeared into the house, out of sight.

Author's Note