The Great Fairflanks Adventure

The Great Fairflanks Adventure – Chapter 2

By Windrace

The auditorium was large and noisy. At least a hundred pegasi were sitting, chatting loudly to their neighbors. Rainbow Dash felt uncomfortable with so many other flyers around, some showing off doing tricks overhead. She didn’t like that Snowblast had left her by herself. Her loneliness left and her heart jump in excitement when she noticed a familiar yellow pegasus, chatting to a group. “Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she trotted over. The pegasus turned around and Rainbow Dash immediately saw the kite cutie mark. “Oh, I’m sorry. I looked like a friend of mine,” Rainbow Dash said backing away. She looked around trying her hardest to find somepony she recognized but with little success. Rainbow Dash finally decided to sit in the back alone. She put her hooves up on the chair in front of her and put on the sunglasses Snowblast gave her as the room went dark. A large projector came out of the ceiling and flashed a bright picture of the weather-training center on a screen, which was situated on the stage in the front of the auditorium. “Wow, we don’t even have something like that in Ponyville,” Rainbow Dash murmured to herself, “I thought Fairflanks was a wild, rustic town. This place is more high-tech than Canterlot.”

“OK, quiet down everypony. Please can I have everyponies’ attention?” a purple pegasus shouted into a microphone. “Thank you. Welcome to this years Fairflanks Weather Management Qualification Training. This is the most ponies I’ve seen in years and it looks like we’ll have some great fun. First off, before we start our presentation, I’m Allstar your lead trainer, and I would like to introduce to you the other trainers for this year.”

Five pegasi stepped up in a line, but Rainbow Dash had trouble seeing who they were from where she sat.

“Our cloud trainer is Cumulus,” continued Allstar, “our wind trainer is Rushstreak, our snow trainer is Snowblast.” Rainbow Dash’s stomach jumped with excitement at the sound of his name. “Our rain trainer is Splasher, and last we have a special celebrity filling in for our lightning trainer, Spitfire from the Wonderbolts!”

A little shriek echoed through the auditorium and heads turned followed by a loud buzz. Rainbow Dash shrank into her seat embarrassed.

“Ok, ok. I know everypony is as excited as the mare in the back,” Allstar said looking straight at Rainbow Dash, “but if we could now direct our attention to Rushstreak, she will start us off with a little safety brief.”

Snowblast patted Rushstreak on the back as she walked on center stage. Rainbow Dash did not like that at all. “Hello, how is everypony doing?” Rushstreak said cheerfully.

A loud in synced, “good,” echoed back.

Rushstreak smiled and continued, “We just need to go over a few rules to make sure everypony is safe during the training. We don’t want to have any accidents do we . . .”

Throughout the presentation, all Rainbow Dash could think of was how lucky and excited she was. She was friends with one of the trainers and best of all, Spitfire was here, so Rainbow Dash could showoff some of her moves. She might even pull a sonic rainboom and the Wonderbolts would ask her to join them. She could not wait to start the training.

“You! The mare in the back with the sunglasses on, what do you think the answer is?”

Rainbow Dash snapped back into reality, “Come again?”

Allstar looked at the other trainers with suggestive eyes and asked her question again, “What is the angle at which you should fly at in order to round up a medium sized cloud?”

Rainbow Dash looked at crowd staring inventively at her, leaned back, put her hooves up on the seat again, and said coolly, “I have no idea, I just fly at whatever angle I happen to be at and round up clouds all day long.”

A few gasps filled the hall and Allstar stood there dumbfounded. Spitfire saw how insulted she was and cut in, “Maybe if you weren’t day dreaming and paid some attention, you might have known the answer. And no you should never fly around like that, you might get yourself and somepony else hurt one day.”

Being scolded by Spitfire caught Rainbow Dash by surprise and she immediately felt ashamed. She put her hooves down, sat up, took off the glasses, and watched in defeated silence. However, it only took a few minutes until Rainbow Dash started day dreaming again. Her mind was not on the lessons, or the Wonderbolts, but of the mare, Rushstreak, who was off to the side having her mane hoofbrushed by none other than Snowblast. Rainbow Dash could feel the envy bobble up inside her. How dare Snowblast play around with Rainbow Dash only to be foaling around with other mares. She wanted answers.

****

When the presentation was over, Rainbow Dash exited the auditorium and waited impatiently outside where Snowblast had told her to wait for him. Only after all the other pegasi left, did she see Snowblast coming laughing with Rushstreak. Rainbow Dash bit her lip until it started bleeding. The small pain felt good and coincided with her raging feelings. Snowblast ended the chat with a quick kiss and Rushstreak trotted away giggling. Snowblast walked slowly toward Rainbow Dash obviously in deep thought. His thought was disrupted when fuming Rainbow Dash popped up in front of him. “You put on quite a performance out there today,” he said misjudging her anger.

“So did you,” she said under her breath.

“Well, I talked to a friend and he said all the hotels are packed tonight,” Snowblast said as the two walked together. So many pegasi came to this years training the hotels are overwhelmed. Sooooo, I guess you stay at me place tonight.”

“Fine,” she replied coldly. She didn’t know why she was following this backstabber. She wanted to give up and leave Fairflanks right then. She had not felt this betrayed since the death of her father when she was a little filly. The memory brought up some angry tears, which she quickly wiped away so Snowblast wouldn’t see them. Snowblast, with his excellent eyesight, saw them anyway and wondered what could trouble her so much. He feared to ask so she didn’t get the wrong message.

“You know we can get there faster if we fly,” he said trying unsuccessfully to be funny.

Rainbow Dash didn’t answer but shot up into the night sky disappearing. Snowblast stood there smiling and waiting for her to come back. A few minutes later she floated down and hovered next to him, “I don’t know where I’m going.”

“Follow me,” Snowblast said taking off himself. Rainbow Dash tried to keep up with Snowblast but he was much faster than she had anticipated. Realizing he was going too fast for her, Snowblast slowed down so he flew next to Rainbow Dash. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize how worn out you were,” he said hinting at her speed.

“I’m not tired,” she said flapping her wings faster. “You’re just . . . you’re faster,” she lowered her voice.

“What was that,” Snowblast said not hearing what she had said.

“YOU’RE FASTER! OK!” she screamed feeling rather odd. She had never said that to any pony before and words hurt her. “This has been a trip of many firsts for me,” she said sadly.

“Don’t worry, once you practice a little on our wind fields, you’ll be just as fast if not faster than me in no time,” Snowblast tried to comfort the obviously hurting pegasus.

****

They reached Snowblast’s home just as ice was starting to form on Rainbow Dash’s wings. Snowblast gracefully glided down to the front door, but Rainbow Dash, who was not use to ice on her wings, crashed into a tree by the front of his house.

“Darn ice. Stupid tree. Dumb wind. Can’t even fly straight here,” Rainbow Dash muttered to herself. Snowblast helped her up and the two stepped inside. The warmth felt so good to Rainbow Dash and she quickly flung herself on the couch in the middle of the room. It was a nice snug single room log cabin with one bed in the far back corner and the small open kitchen to its left. Besides the couch she was lying on, the place was a mess. Pots, pans, and bowls stacked high in the sink, stains covered the countertops and the floor looked like it hadn’t been swept in years.

“Sorry about the mess, hadn’t had time to clean,” Snowblast said quickly trying to straighten things up.

“It’s fine,” she grumbled remembering she was still angry with him.

“Angry about something?” Snowblast said sitting down on the other couch next her’s.

“Yes!” she said furious he would ask such a question.

Then it hit him. He tried to think of the nicest way to say it, “You know if you had paid more attention to the presentation, and not gave Allstar that type of answer, you might not have been reproached like that. You have to watch what you do and say, Rainbow Dash. They were talking of kicking you out today after the session. If you’re on your best behavior from now on, they might forget about it. I’m sorry you mad, but you have to let some of your pride go.”

“That’s not it,” she growled resting her head on her forelegs.

Snowblast realized what she was mad at. He didn’t want to tell her the truth because he didn’t want to lose her friendship. But she has to know. These thoughts scrambled through his mind until he made his decision.

He had to tell her.

****

“I love you,” the snow white pegasus said leaning closer to her cyan body until she could feel his breath against her back sending shivers up and down her spine.

Rainbow Dash’s ears perked up and she lifted her head off her aching legs. Looking at Snowblast with teary eyes. This was exactly what she wanted to hear and was about to express her feelings toward him, when her bliss was shattered.

“But I think you are mistaken,” Snowblast forced the hurting words out, “The love I bear for you is not one between lovers, but love between a father and a daughter.” He could see his rainbow companion’s face drop, and watched as the sadness took over.

“I didn’t tell you everything during our conversation on the train. I left the Wonderbolts because of my pride in the wide picture. But . . . I lost . . . more than friends . . .” the words choked him, “A year into the Wonderbolts I met the most beautiful mare of my life. We got married and had a beautiful daughter, Solar Flare. She had the most beautiful pink eyes. She was the fire that inspired me everyday. But as I gained my precious gem, I lost another. My wife didn’t make the pregnancy and died shortly after giving birth from an illness. I cared for my little bundle by myself for a while, but as soon as she learned to walk and talk, I thought it was about time I continued my work with the Wonderbolts. I felt bad leaving her alone at home, but I missed the notoriety and wanted more. It was my drug. Since I lost my wife, my daughter and the Wonderbolts were the only things keeping me together. Unfortunately, I had to choose which one to concentrate on, and I . . .” he said whipping a tear away, “I choose wrong. My anger grew and my tricks became more bazaar and dangerous. The crowds loved it and my pride swelled. My friends started to leave me, saying I was getting too arrogant and was no fun to be around anymore. I had more time then, which I should have used to be with my daughter, but soon I found myself touring again, leaving my little one alone for days at a time. After one successful tour around Equestria, I came back to find nopony at home. I searched through Fairflanks to find my daughter, but nopony knew where she was. It was only a couple of days later when the troopers brought her little broken body to me door. . .”

Tears streamed down Snowblast’s face, accompanied by light sobbing. Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but feel his pain for she too had a dark past. “What happened to her?” she asked trying to hold back the tears.

Snowblast regained his composure and continued, “She got bored, went outside into the mountains, and was killed by an avalanche. The troopers only found her because one of her little wings was sticking out of the snow. After losing her, the Wonderbolts didn’t cut it anymore. I fell into a depression, quit my job, and sat at home drinking and crying most of the time. It wasn’t for another couple months when Rushstreak found me lying on my floor half-dead, did I start to come back to reality. She had known me from the Pegaspeed Academy, was the only nice pony to me. Guess she had been looking after me since my wife died. I owe her my life, I would be six feet under now if it weren’t for her healing words and loving help. But you, Rainbow Dash, to answer your question from before, the reason why I like you so much is . . .” he stammered with tears flowing from his eyes, “every time I look into your eyes, I see my daughter.”

Snowblast shuttered, unable to say any more. Rainbow Dash lay there watching the full-grown stallion sobbing uncontrollably, with tears of her own. She realized it all made sense. She thought she was attracted to him in a romantic fashion, she was wrong. She felt foolish for not recognizing the truth. He had told her the truth, so now it was time for her to come clean.

“I . . . I have something . . .” Rainbow Dash thought carefully of the words she was about to say, “My dad and I were best friends when I was a young filly. He was the one who taught me to fly, and he would always have time to give me a flying lesson,” Rainbow Dash said with a clenched throat, understanding how difficult it was for Snowblast to recount his past, “One day he was teaching me flips when a big lightning storm appeared out of nowhere. We tried to get out before it became too bad, but my wings couldn’t handle the high winds. Lightning was striking everywhere and I was terrified, that’s when my dad came and sheltered me under himself, shielding me from the lightning. We were almost to Cloudsdale when a strike hit him. The pegamedics said he died before he hit the ground. After that, I became the ‘stallion of the house’ and had to take care of my mom, who took a long time to recover. I guess,” she said staring teary-eyed at Snowblast who had gotten up and sat next to her, “I guess I never recovered myself. I miss him.”

She broke down this time and curled up in a ball. Snowblast moved closer and rested his head on her soft cyan back and said, “I think we both know why we appeal to each other. You need a father-figure and I need a daughter-figure. Call it chance, but I believe we were supposed to help one another.”

Rainbow Dash lifted her head, smiled, and said sniffing, “Thank you.” The rest of the night was filled with laughter and talk of past memories shared by the light of the warming fire.

****

Rainbow Dash woke up to the buzzing of the oven timer. The house was filled with the smell of newly baked muffins. Her newly dubbed “father” had let her sleep in his bed while he slept on the couch. Only in the light of day did she finally identify the soft nature and familiar smell of the bed. Clouds. This small reminder of home allowed a trifling amount of sadness to reach her heart, as she thought about her friends in Ponyville. She could spend the rest of her life here, but she could never think about abandoning the ponies she shared so much with. Loyalty was her element, but for the first time in her life, Rainbow Dash considered shunning it.

These thoughts continued until she notice a puzzled Snowblast staring at her with a tray of steaming muffins. “You look like a fish trying to inhale air. Everything ok there sparky?”

Rainbow Dash jumped out of bed and whispered, gazing at the tray, “What happens after I receive my license? What happens to . . . us?”

“You ask too many questions,” Snowblast knew another long talk was inevitable, but the next training session was soon. “Let’s cross that bridge when we come to it. Right now you to eat and moving, you’ll be late for the next session.”

The next thing Snowblast knew was a flash of rainbow and two muffins missing from the tray. He looked around in a daze and found Rainbow Dash standing at the door with bulging cheeks and muffins crumbs covering her face. He just chuckled, put down the tray, trotted over to her, and the two departed.

****

Rainbow Dash knew what to do; find the raincloud, round it up to the correct position, and make it stop. Sounded easy enough for her. She took off as fast as she could through the cloud training area. She felt all eyes on her, and aspired to make an impression on those eyes which mattered most, Spitfire and Snowblast. As the other pegasi watched in the stands, Rainbow Dash dashed up in a bluish, rainbow flare. She picked out the darker raincloud from the whiter, puffier billows and raced toward it. As she approached, Rainbow Dash wondered why it was taking her so long to reach it. After another minute of soaring past the forests of clouds, the little cyan pegasus stopped in front of the dark raincloud that towered over her. Intimidation swept over her as she tried to size up the monstrous storm cloud. Looking below, Rainbow Dash could see the instructors taking notes and Cumulus taking off nearing her position. She swallowed hard ready for the criticism she was about to be hammered with.

Cumulus hovered in front of her, his searing gaze made Rainbow Dash nervous. “Loudmouth ponies don’t get far here, Miss Dash. Why did you stop? Did you pay attention to the presentation, or do we need to go over the proper techniques of cloud herding . . . again?”

“No, I know exactly what to do. It’s just . . .” she answered lowering her voice, “It’s so big.”

“Well, from your flattering actions on the first day, I assumed you were an expert, so I choose the largest cloud for you. Good luck.” With that, Cumulus dropped down leaving an opened mouthed Rainbow Dash gaping at the enormous task she caused herself to do. This was her chance to show these frostbitten arctic ponies how a Cloudsdale pegasus does it. She mustered up and shot away leaving enough space for her initial charge. Down she sped swiftly orbiting the monster cloud, though the faster she zoomed around, the faster she grasped that this cloud was going nowhere.

“Faster, I have to go faster,” she proposed to herself panting and speeding up even faster. Rainbow Dash tried to maintain the fastest speed right before entering the stage for her sonic rainboom, but a sudden gust of wind whacked her into the cloud and knocked her cold. She woke up in a free-fall, rocketing toward the widening ground. Panic and fear caused her wings not to respond and she continued to fall. She had just failed the cloud training. For a second, she considered meeting the welcoming ground before her, but thoughts of a grief-stricken Snowblast loosened her clamped wings and she pulled up, missing the ground by a few feet.

“Are you ok? What happened up there?” an anxious Snowblast popped up.

“This is going to be a long day,” the already tired pegasus replied.

“You better save what strength you have left for the other sections,” Snowblast said softly seeing the younger pegasus’ gloom. “Don’t worry Dash, I’m sure you’ll ace the others. Plus this is only the second day. You have three more days to try again and the final test is in four days, these are only trainings. It’s ok to mess up.”

Snowblast just stared at her dejected face, waiting for a smile or some sign of cheerfulness, but all she did was turn away and say, “I hate failing.”

“Rain is next and you told me how you love to take flights in the rain in Ponyville. That should be a snap for you Dash,” he said trying to perk up his depressed friend. At last, success! A smile crept on Rainbow Dash’s face as she remembered the feel of the soft raindrops dripping down her soft cyan coat and wings as she danced around in the spring showers back at home. The memory brought some new vitality back and she was ready to attempt the next section.

****

“I think their trying to kill us,” said the terrified colt standing next to Rainbow Dash as both stared up at the colossal waterfall in front of them.

“Don’t sweat it kid,” Rainbow Dash assured him. “Just fly as fast and hard as you can. Here, watch an expert do it,” she said proudly as Splasher, the rain instructor, motioned her to the base of the waterfall.

“All you have to do is fly up through the waterfall to the top. I will meet you there. Ready when you are Miss Dash,” he hovering above her until taking off to the top of the falls.

Rainbow Dash gazed at the cascading water crashing down on the rocks before her, and looking back to the terrified pegasi behind her, smiled and took off into the falls. She had completely underestimated the strength of the falls. The torrent was nothing like the soft raindrops she was used to, but she was not about to give up on this one. She flapped as hard and fast as she ever had, but after what seemed like hours, Rainbow Dash’s stinging sore wings failed her and she plummeted to the bottom, plunging into the freezing pool below. She dragged herself out and stood soaking wet, shivering, and embarrassed as the other pegasi looked on with grinning faces. She glanced at Snowblast looking for comfort, but he only shook his head. Splasher came down from the top, and told the next pegasus to try. He flew up having the same trouble as Rainbow Dash, but soon remembered the important flight style shown during the presentation, and spiraled up making his way to the top of the waterfall. Rainbow Dash watched in repulsion as he came down also wet and cold, but carrying a huge smile on his face as the other pegasi cheered. With her hurt pride and stinging wings, Rainbow Dash tottered away with Snowblast.

“You gave your best shot Rainbow,” Snowblast said holding her close with a compassionate wing.

“I did it again, I’m a failure. And my wings hurt . . . a lot,” she croaked back, letting her wings drag on the ground.

“Stop worrying. As long as you know what to do for the final, you’ll be fine. I hope they don’t hurt enough not to have dinner out tonight. I would like you to officially meet Rushstreak, if you’re ok with that,” he answered.

“I guess,” she said still thinking about how sore her wings were.

“Great! We’ll go back home, wash up and meet her at Le Pégase Voler,” Snowblast shouted with delight.

“What’s that?” Dash asked.

Snowblast looked at her with amazement, “It’s only the best restaurant in Equestria! Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of it? Well aren’t you in for a surprised, we may be a frontier out here, but we have damn good food. Come on let’s get ready.”

****

Sitting with Snowblast at the table in the middle of the restaurant made Rainbow Dash feel very uncomfortable. Her rainbow mane had been tidied up and brushed back out of her face, a request from Snowblast. The last time she wore her mane like this was at her father’s funeral. The slight pain in her wings didn’t help, plus the menu was entirely in another language, which frustrated her even further.

“Ah, they’re here,” Snowblast said drawing Rainbow Dash’s attention to the front door.

“They?” she asked confused.

Rushstreak and another younger pegasus trotted over to their table. He was a strongly built bluish-grey colt, around the same age as Rainbow Dash, with a silky black mane and three wavy lines for his cutie mark. But it was his eyes she noticed again. Those big deep blue eyes. She felt as though she was back on the train in Ponyville.

“What’s with these colt’s eyes here?” she muttered to herself.

Rushstreak noticed Rainbow Dash gaping at her guest, “Rainbow Dash, I would to meet my nephew, Windrace.”

“Hay,” the shy colt stammered turning red.

“Hay,” replied the awestruck cyan filly replied turning the same color.

Recognizing the situation, Snowblast muttered under his breath, “Here we go again.”