CRASH!
The sound of something shattering echoed through the cloud house. Firefly jerked up from where she was stirring a pot of soup. The celery soup was bubbling at a medium simmer and would be done for lunch time. She stopped and tossed the silver ladle onto the counter top before turning the soup off. The sound of the crash had come from the living room. Her pink wings unfurled as she took to the air. Her feathers cut through the air currents, soaring like the Wonderbolt she had once been.
She only stopped when she had reached the living room and landed. Her jaw dropped. Being a Pegasus, she had frequently done her civic duty and helped with Equestria's weather. So, in her professional opinion, she could honestly say that it appeared a tornado had slammed through the main room of the house. Brightly colored action figures were strewn all over the floor. Plushy Wonderbolts dolls (Including hers-that made her heart warm just a bit), hard, plastic action figures, a stuffed bunny, a stuffed rabbit and a stuffed fox, a toy shovel. It was as if a six year old had emptied the contents of her toy box.
If a bit of messiness with ones toys was the only thing on display in the room, she'd have just gone back into the kitchen. That, however, was not the only oddity that was in the room. A mahogany table was placed at the far corner of the wall, or it usually was. Now, it was toppled. Purple, blue and golden plates had been sent scattering over the cloud floor. Luckily, none of them were broken due to having landed on such a soft surface. The four legs of the upended table stuck straight up. A white, round, white and black patterned football rested right next to it.
The red vase was shattered. Crimson shards littered the white surface of the floor. A six-year old filly stared right up at her, her lips trembling and her magenta eyes shining with unshed tears.
Firefly frowned. "Rainbow Miriam Dash! You know full well you are not supposed to be throwing balls in the house! I have told you before!"
"But Mommy, it wasn't my fault!"
Firefly blinked. The statement had been made with complete conviction. She cocked her head. "Dash, just take responsibility-"
"It was the ninjas! The ninjas threw the ball."
Firefly's gaze drifted to the "butt burner"-a quarter-inch thick wooden paddle that had somehow not been disconnected from its loop during the maelstrom. A pattern of flames decorated it. She shouldn't listen to this nonsense. She should put her hoof down, and administer a dose of discipline to the filly's rump.
Dash gulped.
Firefly lowered herself onto the floor. "Okay, Dash. Okay. Ninjas. Where'd those bad ninjas go?"
Dash hopped into the air. "They disappeared! Back to the shadow realm!"
Snerk. "The shadow realm? Isn't that from Bu-Gi-Oh?"
"Yu-Gi-Oh, Mom!"
She hid the grin behind her hoof. "So, ninjas from Yu-Gi-Oh showed up and broke the vase, huh?"
"No, I had to run off the ninjas!"
Firefly raised an eyebrow and wondered why she was humoring this. "How'd you run off the ninjas?"
"I threw the ball at'em!" She pounded her hoof.
"I thought the Ninjas broke the vase?"
Dash blinked several times. "Um..."
Firefly shook her head. Time for the charade to end. She trotted over and unhooked the paddle. This was, as always, going to be more painful for her than for Dash. Still, it'd be fair to give her one more chance to confess. She tucked the butt burner in her wing. "I guess I'll be needing to spank those naughty ninjas."
Dash shook her head so vigourously that her rainbow mane flew everywhere. "Yep, you should!" She buzzed her wings in an attempt to zoom up the stairs. Firefly caught her in a feathery prison. Dash bounced to the ground and spat out a pink feather. "What'd ya do that for?"
She lowered herself back to the cool surface. "Well, I'm just curious. Where'd the ninjas even come from?"
Dash was silent for a few minutes. "The Shadow Realm!"
"I don't think we have an active portal to the Shadow Realm in our house."
But, it was Equestria. It was always a possibility wasn't it? For all she knew, Dash was telling the truth. She shook her head. Dash chewed her lip. "What's a portal?"
"It's like a door."
"Oh." She pouted. "You could have just said door."
Firefly patted her mane. Dash plopped down onto the floor and screwed up her face in a state of deep concentration. Firefly simply waited. Every few seconds, Dash would open her mouth as if to say something, but then stop. Firefly simply sat on the comfortable clouds. "Well, Dash? Where'd the ninjas come from?"
Dash preened herself. Firefly noted that there was a feather out of place. Dash struggled to reach what had to have been an unbearably itchy spot. Firefly reached out, picked Dash up in her hooves and sat her in her lap before bringing her mouth down on Dash's wing. She searched through the appendage, brushing through her daughter's primaries with her muzzle, occasionally causing the younger Pegasus to giggle when she located a ticklish spot. After brushing through her feathers a few times, she very lightly took hold of the broken feather and lightly slid it out as gently as she could.
Dash's lips jutted out and she bounced out of her mom's lap. "It was all stupid Lightning Wing's fault."
"Lightning Wing?" Firefly repeated the name of the Wonderbolt her instructor had flown with. "What'd Lightning Wing do?"
Dash reached for the doll of the white furred, red maned Pegasus and clutched it tightly to herself. "He's the one that wanted to go fight the ninjas."
"Why'd he want to fight the ninjas?"
"They kidnapped the princess!" She grabbed her Princess Celestia doll and raised it high in the air.
"Ninjas kidnapped the princess?" She faux gasped. "We'd better call the royal guard!"
Why on earth was she listening to this silliness? It concerned even more that she was finding herself vaguely entertained by the nonsensical tale. She stretched out her front legs, settling in for the long haul. Dash continued waving the two dolls around, trying to continue the story.
Suddenly, she hopped up and ran around the room. Firefly watched. "The princess was taking her daily walk!"
"And that's when the ninjas got her?"
Her daughter launched into the air, fluttering her wings in an attempt to keep herself steady in the air. She still stumbled, frowned and steadied her flight path which ended with her falling on her bum. Her eyes teared up then her face lit up as if she'd discovered something. "She was taking her daily fly! A dragon got her!" She grabbed up a green dragon doll.
Firefly raised an eyebrow. Dash had a lot to learn about weaving a coherent lie. "What happened to the ninjas?"
Dash looked befuddled for a few seconds before she grabbed up a black ninja action figure. She plopped down and set the ninja on top of the back of the dragon. Satisfied, she started zooming around, rocketing into the air.
"Um, Dash? You were telling me about how the ninjas riding the dragon kidnapped the princess who was taking her daily walk?"
Dash tossed the ninja and dragon away, plucked up poor Princess Celestia and flapped her wings. "She was taking her daily fly!"
"Fly not walk? And she couldn't out fly a dragon?"
Dash drummed her hooves on the ground. "It was a super-special, mega-awesome dragon!"
"Alright, alright. So the ninjas riding the super-mega special awesome dragon-"
"Mega special, super-awesome!"
"Alright. The mega super awesome special dragon was being ridden by the ninjas who kidnapped the princess who was on her daily flying walk?"
"Yep!"
"You know, if you just fessed up, you'd just be half-way done with your corner time right?"
Dash tilted her head, brought all her great mental faculties to bear, taking all advantages of the intellect she'd been born with. "Then, Wind Spear told me about it cause everypony knows how special I am."
Firefly facehoofed."Yes. Yes you are. You are a very special filly and Mommy loves you very much. Also, didn't you say it was Lightning Wing?"
Dash groaned. "Wind Spear told Lightning Wing who told me."
Fluttershy's mom never had to put up with this. On the other hoof, Fluttershy was so shy and scared of everything that Firefly seriously wondered if she didn't need therapy, medication and a rubber room.
That was mean, she knew it was, but she'd seen the filly literally running from her own shadow. Dash was so brave that...well, it might serve Dash better if she learned the virtue of caution.
Before she got in another fight with a baby roc.
Dash spun around with the toy dragon and toy princess. The ninja was sent flying to the floor. Dash scrambled to pick it back up, only accomplishing dropping all of them. That was the moment Blaze decided to wander into the living room. His muscles were covered in a thin sheen of sweat and he had a towel slung over his shoulder. He blinked several times as if he could magically make the mess go away. "Rainbow Dash! What did you do?"
"I had to throw the ball, Daddy! To make the ninjas go away!"
He glanced at Firefly. "'Fly, I thought we agreed on immediate consequences."
She shushed him. "It's getting good. Could you go check on my celery soup? Add water."
He shrugged. "Listen, Dashie. You can't lie to your mom. She knows. She always knows."
Dash's tail slashed at the air behind her."Well, then, the Wonderbolts told me about the dragons that kidnapped the Princess-"
"I thought the ninjas kidnapped the princess."
"The ninjas were riding the dragon?"
"Right. My mistake."
Blaze's lips curled upward. "I'm going to go check on that soup."
"Remember, medium boil!"
He mock saluted. "Yes, Ma'am!" Then, he disappeared into the kitchen.
Dash paused, chewing on her lip.
"You were at the part where the dragon riding ninjas kidnapped the Princess so the Wonderbolts told you because of how special you are."
Dash hopped up and down, the clouds pushing her up every time she bounced down on them. She got so caught up in the bouncing she apparently forgot about the elaborate con she thought she was pulling on her mom.
"After the Wonderbolts told me, I went to go rescue the Princess!" She shot into the air.
Firefly stood. "This still doesn't explain why the vase is broken."
"The ninjas did it!"
"I thought you threw the ball to get rid of the ninjas."
Another perplexed expression crossed her face. "Um...the ninjas caught the ball when I threw it!"
Firefly hummed, indicated for her to keep going. "Also, you said Lightning Wing wanted to go rescue the Princess."
Dash clutched the doll representation of the Wonderbolt to her chest. "Lightning Wing asked me to come along!" She lept into the air, ran laps in midair before plopping back down. "The floor was lava so we couldn't go across the floor."
"Not a problem since you have wings."
"My wings were tired from training!" She scurried up on the couch and perched there, preparing to leap, crouching low and her tail wagging behind her. Firefly was impressed by how Dash calculated the trajectory, using the right amount of force when she sprang off the couch, gliding over the alabaster surface.
Unfortunately, she put just a bit too much force into the leap, careening in midair. Firefly's wings instantly snapped open and she prepared to catch her, end this nonsense and carry out the task of disciplining her offspring. She didn't need to. Dash corrected the wild spin and landed not so gracefully on all four legs, prancing to a stop and working out the force she'd put into the spin with the extra movement.
She giggled once she'd triumphed over gravity. Firefly brandished the paddle, approached Dash. Dash pawed at the floor, not looking up at her.
Firefly lifted her chin. "How much of that story was true?"
Dash refused to make eye contact. "I threw the ball. I'm sorry."
"And you thought you'd make up a story? Dashie, you know better. I'm more disappointed in you for lying. I'm going to have to give you a paddling for that."
Dash pouted. "Can I finish the story first?"
"Fine."
Dash reared up with a theatrical flourish. "Then, we tracked down the ninjas and um...um..." Her shoulders slumped.
Firefly laid a hoof on her shoulder, ushered her to turn around, her rump in the air. She lifted the paddle. "Dashie, it would have been easier if you'd just told the truth. I wouldn't be spanking you if you had."
She swung the paddle and it collided with a firm smack across Dash's tushy. Dash jumped. Firefly didn't hesitate to bring it down again, a second smack landing in the center of her sit spot. Dash yelped this time as the paddle sailed through the air and spanked her bottom. Dash cried out as Firefly beat the paddle against her behind.
Her tushy reddened beneath the firm swats, first turning pink and then darkening with each new swat. Firefly's paddle popped her posterior in a stinging cadence that had Dash squirming after a few seconds. She rubbed her shoulder blades, keeping her still and her bottom in place for the punishment.
Dash tried not to completely cry as the pops from the paddle rang out across her backside, but she couldn't keep from drumming her hooves on the floor with every swing of wood meeting her backside. The swats falling down on her rump were firm, each one bringing a sting onto her fanny.
The paddle fell on her rear in a quick cadence, a popping of wood against behind. Dash tried to be brave, tried to hold onto the stoicism a lot of Ponies associated with her, but tears began to fall down her cheeks and she let her discomfort be known with a sharp cry.
Firefly didn't let up with the paddling although she did put less force into the spanks when she saw how red her daughter's bottom was growing. She wouldn't want to cause serious harm so she settled on three more spanks. She steadied the paddle and brought three last swats on the filly's bum.
"OWWIEE!" Let free, Dash danced around the room, wiping at her eyes. Firefly pulled her into an embrace, using her wings to caress her back, shielding her in a feathery hug. Dash sniffled and hugged her, nuzzling her head against her chest. Firefly nuzzled her. "Alright. So next time, are you going to tell Mommy the truth?"
Dash nodded. Firefly threaded her hoof through the filly's mane until she stopped crying. "Why don't we clean this room? Whoever does it fastest gets a cookie."
Any residual tears vanished and a broad grin broke out on her lips. She flew from her mom's cuddle and whooshed around the room, straightening everything that had fallen and her toys. Firefly watched and went to get the broom by the door.
