Lightning could taste the glory of days long sense gone lingering upon his lips each time Nimbus won.
His day in the spotlight was over in the eyes of his peers but he was determined to live on through the achievements of his only daughter turned trainee.
She was the appearance of Celestia and Lunas twilight sky, the feathers and coat of sunset orange bouncing brightly from under her mane and tail of twilight purple. He believed she had been marked by the royals upon birth, that it was some sort of sign that she appeared this way and possessed such skill.
Yes.
His name would be famous again and soon his glory would overshadow that of the new bloods Spitfire and Soarin.
Oh how he despised them.
It was not as if they did anything wrong by following their dreams to become Wonderbolts but alas as it often is when they young fulfill their dreams the old are forced to retire from their own.
He would never give up his right to fame even if he had to live through his daughter.
A smile made its way across his lips as the thought of one he trained himself surpassing and retiring both Spitfire and Soarin.
He could no longer see her as his daughter, his pride and joy. She was now his protege, his claim to fame and way to victory.
Nimbus smiled up to her father as he flew over to meet her at the finish line, she had finished second place in a national ranked race against mares with their cutie marks in flying. She felt honored to fly beside them and humbled that she was able to attain such a high rank among them.
Her nickname in the circuit was affectionately
Cloudwalker.
Sense as long as they could remember the orange filly has been following around them on the clouds, Her mother had never stepped forward to claim the child. In Lightning's hay day any mare would have claimed him as her own but now with his fame all but dried up he was hardly the catch now.
He approached her with a look of disappointment on his face. He was never happy unless she won the race, never happy at all. No words of encouragement like the others got at the races, just him leaning to pull her by her little wings and forcing her to train again and again.
"Nimbus!! wipe that smile off your face!! Did you bring home first place? NO!" He was huffing at her now, he hated it when she was pleased with failure and when she saw her opponents more like great teachers then the enemies he saw them for.
This was the second and most important reason why no mare wanted him anymore. Sense tasting the bitterness of defeat at the hooves of the new era he had become so bitter and crude. As time went on the mares pitied poor Nimbus more and more, often sneaking her away to get her some free time from the races.
It was another day, another race...
Nimbus whimpered on her little grey cloud, not daring to dive off into the blue of the sky once more. He should have never forced such an advanced trick on a filly her size.
Her wings were nowhere near big enough to support the trick and she always hated dives.
Hurdling faster and faster to the ground at full speed, pulling up at the last moment before death.
But this was caused by her father catching wind of a legendary trick believed to have been a myth until a filly performed it some years ago. He had been saving it until she was the first fillies age, oh yes he had been building up to this.
"Today Nim we are going to perform a move of legendary proportions, the sonic Rainboom."He was positive that this would be the move to make him go down in history as the best flyer, neigh, The best pony in all of Equestria!
However the look on the orange fillies face was far from that of one who thought of this as a one way ticket to stardom, no it was the look of a pony who thought this was a one way trip to the morgue.
She gasped looking up at her father, this was a joke right? Nopony had ever done it before, it was just a myth!!!
The sonic Rainboom was an amazing maneuver sure to easily place one at the top of the top but just as easily ruin the chances of flying properly ever again.
"I have faith in you, we are going to make a new version of it...called the Thunderboom....First we need a thunder cloud or two..."He was a pony obsessed with fame and glory, lusting after it like the addiction it truly was. And like any other addiction it too had changed him for the worse. He cared not for the safety or in this case the lack of safety even tho this was a move even in his glory days he dared not attempt.
The only risk he had now was of being blinded by the flash of lights from the photographers after the competition.
He wanted all of the glory and none of the real stress or burden, no, That all rested on a fillies shoulders who was little more than four apples high.
And so without any regard for the obvious dangers staring him in the face he flew to her side and pushed her from the clouds into the open sky.
"Its to give you a head start!!!!"
It was her least favorite, a dive but this time she was unable to get the right angle as she plummeted faster and faster from the heavens, Cloudsdaile quickly becoming smaller and smaller in her sight.The worst day possible began.
She was now huddled onto her cloud, ignoring her father as he screamed for her attention. Nimbus was afraid of flying now....She would have been a goner if not for the tree. The thing that terrified her the most is even as she feel to her apparent demise, he remained still, just watching as she fell to her death.
Thunder stopped and sighed, this was never going to work as is. She was useless now, who ever heard of a Pegasus that was afraid to fly? It was an obvious decision now.
Thankfully it was almost Tuesday.
Rainbow Dash groaned as she drug a heavy green bag into the alley. She had drawn the duty of cleaning up after Pinkies latest party, when your number comes up for a Pinkie party its nothing personal its just the way it is.
She tossed the bag to the appropriate spot, raising her hoof to wipe off her brow of sweat.
"Done and done!" She exclaimed and turned back, halting as a single can rolled down the alley behind her.
She crouched down, carefully looking for the source, mentally preparing herself in case it was some sort of unwanted vermin or even worse if it was a new pet of Pinkies! Either way it spelled troubled and possibly the need to get Fluttershy in both cases.
Among the trash bags, beside an abandoned electric scooter was a shuddering filly, staring up at her with such beautiful purple eyes.
The orange lips quivered under the basket upon her head, she had awoken here with something red on her head, inside this basket wrapped in a blanket.
Rainbow was unsure how she got there but she knew for sure, the little one needed help.
