Back On The Saddle

Bow was sitting on his couch, looking through a box of old books and VCR tapes that he collected many years ago. It filled him with a wave of nostalgia to find all the things that gave him most of his joy for a somewhat embarrassingly large portion of his life. It was like opening a portal to the past. The books on the top were caked with so much dust that the words were almost unreadable, but the tapes were perfectly clean, though they did smell like someone dipped them in applesauce and left them on the floor of a public bathroom for a few weeks. He spent most of the afternoon just admiring his ancient collection, as if it was the only real accomplishment he made in his life. His time of youth may be spent, but he still holds on to his memories, if only for the sake of pretending that the current stage of his life wasn't as monotonous as it seemed. The silence was abruptly broken by the sound of a knock on the door. Sighing heavily, he walked over and opened it, expecting it to be some random door to door salespony. They were becoming quite common in this neighborhood as Cloudsdale has a much more isolated economy, due to being disconnected from the ground. The door opened revealing another rainbow coloured pegasus standing on the cloud mat.

"Hey, dad!" Rainbow Dash said, excitedly. "Sorry, I haven't been..." She was cut off as her father's arms wrapped around her with the force of two hydraulic presses.

"Dashie! I haven't seen you for almost a year! I know you're often busy with your Wonderbolt duties and all that, but you should really come visit more often. You didn't even send me a letter last Hearthswarming."

Rainbow looked down sadly. "Yeah, I know. I'm sorry. I just forgot." She knew it wasn't the greatest excuse, but she couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Why don't you come inside, I found a whole bunch of my old movies. I even have those recordings of Monty Ponthon episodes. We could watch those and than maybe we could play some board games and..." He stopped talking as Rainbow started to giggle, signaling him that he was getting ahead of himself.

"I don't think I'm going to stay for that long but I can hang around and talk for a little bit if you want. So how have you been doing? Did you find a job yet?" Rainbow Dash asked as she made her way over to the couch and draped herself over it like a blanket.

"Well, um..." His earlier enthusiasm drained as he was reminded about his financial issues. He scratched his neck, looking down at the floor with a hint of shame. "Well, no..."

Rainbow Dash groaned and sat up from her seat. "Seriously? Dad, how is that possible? How long has it been, two years now? Really though, you need to get one before you end up looking the house. I don't want that to happen."

Bow glared at her angrily. "It's not that easy, Dash. You know how it is sometimes."

Rainbow sighed, wiping the gunk out of her eyes. "Look, if you need money, I promise I'll help you out..."

Bow grimaced. The last thing he wanted was to mooch off of his pride and joy. "Look can we change the subject? I'll get it sorted out before it's too late." He made his way over to the couch and sat down, leaning his head back behind him.

She put her arm around his neck. "If you don't want to talk about it than you don't have to, but seriously, you're telling me that you've been doing absolutely nothing this past year besides lounging around the house, moping?

Bow giggled. "I didn't spend the entire time here. I went out and... socialized a little bit." Rainbow couldn't help but notice a little bit of nervousness in his voice when he said "socialized", but she didn't put too much mind into it.

"And when you say socialized, you mean that you went out drinking and vented your frustrations to random ponies, right?"

He rolled his eyes. He didn't even want to respond to the jab. Rainbow took that as a sign to tone down the criticism a little bit. "Okay, I know that your whole midlife crisis thing won't last forever, but I think that you have more control over your situation than you give yourself credit for. If mom were here, she wouldn't be happy to see how far downhill this family has gotten. I want you to be happy. You're the only real relative I have left."

A tear came down the side of his face that Rainbow couldn't see. The mention of his wife brought back bad memories. "Rainbow, there is one thing I think you might like to hear." He smiled again.

"And what's that, Rainbow asked?" She wasn't sure where he was going with this.

"I umm... I started dating someone." He blushed a little bit, still carrying his genuine smile.

Rainbow shot up. "No way! You gotta be pulling my leg!" She clapped her hooves together. "That's great dad! At least you got your loneliness problem fixed."

He laughed nervously. "Thanks. I was worried that you might not be accepting of me entering a new relationship. I know your mother meant a lot to you."

She punched him in the shoulder. "Come on. I wouldn't let that get in the way of your happiness. So who is she? Is it someone I know?" He tensed up a little bit. The truth was that he wasn't dating a mare, but a stallion who he met at the pub. He knew that Rainbow was a very nice pony, but part of him worried that she might not be accepting of him being with another stallion. He had a couple of bad experiences earlier in the month with some of the more traditional pegasi in town who seemed to be really nice to him before he told them about the pony he was currently spending his day with.

"Umm... I don't think so." He started sweating.

Rainbow Dash nudged his elbow with her hoof. "Dad, come on. You don't have to be embarrassed. I have to know!"

"Well, It's kind of complicated." He twiddled his hoofs together.

She raised an eyebrow. "It's not one of the wonderbolt cadets, is it? There are rules about that, you know."

His eyes darted around the room. "No, it's not that. It's just that... Uhh..."

Rainbow looked him straight in the eyes. "Come on dad. Tell me..."

He sighed in defeat. "It's not actually a... mare... umm... I'm... I'm dating a stallion, his name is Jelly Truffle."

Rainbow's eyes opened so large, you could put a dinner plate over them and she'd still be able to see half the room.

"Oh..." she said. Bow could hear the gears turning in her mind.

Bow curled his hooves under his chin. "That... That doesn't bother you... Does it?" He asked, nervously.

Rainbow blinked twice and waved her forelegs. "No! No! I just... Uh... I don't... I didn't..."

He was trying really hard to avoid eye contact. "I'm... I'm sorry." He said in an almost Fluttershy like tone.

Rainbow hugged him. "No, dad! It's okay! I'm just surprised is all. I didn't know that you were gay. I mean like... Uhh..."

He squinted a little bit. "I don't know if I'm... gay... I just... I'm still figuring things out. He was always really nice to me and when he asked me out, I said yes because I really like him... I don't know."

Dash started snickering. "Dad, it's alright. I understand. You don't have to try and deny it. I just think it's funny how after 20 years without mom, you just randomly started dating another stallion. I think it's good that you're back on the saddle, so to speak."

He giggled in response. "Thanks, Dashie. I know that he could never replace your mother, but if we end up together for a long time, will you accept him as part of the family?"

Rainbow acted shocked. "Of course I will! If you really care about him as much as you say, than I'd be happy to consider him a part of our family."

Bow hugged her back. "Thanks sweetie, you're the best."