Owner of a Lonely Heart

Rainbow Dash felt the brightness of sunlight press against her closed eyes as she slowly began to wake up. She stretched out her hooves far up into the air, cracking all of the unawake bones that were still waking up from her sleep. Her eyes opened to the beaming sunlight that had awoken her, as they quickly adjusted to her surroundings. She planted her hooves that were in the air back onto the bed, side to side of the mattress. She laid there with open arms and her eyes leisurely closed back up, as she listened to the sounds of morning ring in her ears. The peacefulness couldn’t have been any better that morning, for the only thing she could hear was the sound of her breathing. She loved waking up on a warm summer day in Cloudsdale.

Dash brought up her hooves back up into the air again, and instead of getting out of bed, she picked up a fluffy pillow lying next to her, and pounded it against her face, as she went back to sleep. Dash’s style of doing things was very unique. One minute she could be bouncing off the walls fanatical, and be napping on the cloud covered ground the next. Her friends saw her as a very outgoing, which was an underestimate, for Dash was much more active than that. Dash did whatever she felt like doing, and didn’t like taking orders that would affect her “agenda” from anypony. It seemed to be Dash’s life only focused on eating, and resting, and dreaming, which Dash saw no problem with.

Dash squirmed around in her bed sheets, becoming more and more comfortable with each move she made. She then remembered the dream she had while she slept that night, the she been having almost every week now. The excitement of the dream never got old, and it always brought a smile to Dash’s face thinking about it. It started out late at night, when darkness was the only thing anypony could see. The only thing that could be heard was the whistling wind in the air that breezed by. Then, she would explode into the air from the ground, going straight towards the murky clouds as she left a gorgeous gleaming rainbow streak behind her. She was no longer a filly like she was in reality, but instead she was all grown up, with the most beautiful wings anypony could’ve imagine. Her long and flowing hair flapped ferociously in the air, as she darted at extreme speeds. When she was at nearly cloud level, she then shot back down aiming towards the ground. Her goggles pressed against her face and her wings worked overtime as they couldn’t catch a break. Her astonishing blue uniform glared in the light of her own rainbow trail that she left behind that shone across the area. Suddenly, coming from all directions she was joined by three other pegasus’s, who all carried on the same uniform as Rainbow Dash. They would continue flying at the crazy speeds they were pulling off and then do several amazing tricks in the air. She was a Wonderbolt, and the best one on the team.

Dash couldn’t get the group out of her head ever since she saw them perform an air show on she watched on the TV months ago. Dash’s eyes were glued to that screen as the Wonderbolts performed a spectacular routine in some city she couldn’t quite remember. Dash had never seen anything so stunning or attention grabbing in all of her life. She didn’t realize that flying could pull somepony’s thoughtless attention so easily like that. It was like she was in a trance watching the trail’s that the several flyers left behind them as they did all sorts of mind-blowing actions. That’s when Rainbow got interested in flying.

Her interests in flying grew larger and larger each day after what she had witnessed. It wasn’t only her that was growing a special kind of love for this obession, but many of her friends started to catch notice in their own ways for soaring. In fact, not only her friends, but it seemed all of the young pegasi were falling in love with the hobby. Soon enough, everypony was being taught how to rise into the air. Everypony was starting to learn the most important thing that they would ever learn in their lives, all except Rainbow Dash, who cried buckets full of tears at the fact of that.

Just then a faint noise rang through Dash’s ears. The sound was muffled and barely audible, due to the fact that feathers covered by a pillow case blocked all sounds coming from everywhere. She became curious about the sound, so she brought her head up from the pillow. She quickly began listening in to the conversation going on from all the way downstairs.

“Marrying you was the worst mistake of my life, you brute!” screamed a voice coming from outside Dash’s bedroom door. Dash felt a rush of uneasiness go through her body. She knew another argument was going on downstairs. She only prayed it wouldn’t get violent.

“Well I got better things to do right now then to argue with an ignorant prick like you!” yelled an even angrier voice coming from the outside. Dash found her father’s voice the most frightening sound that had ever made it through her ear drums. Dash lived in her own personal hell, living in a war between her aggressive father against her innocent mother.

It almost brings tears to Rainbow’s eyes whenever her friends point out that she has to walk everywhere. They would just be flying five feet in the air miraculously as they flew to all of their destinations. They would usually pick at her about it, which usually made Dash feel distressed, but then you had the bullies who plagued her about it. They would force her to cry immensely for they knew that Dash didn’t have normal parents like everypony else to turn back to. They had nothing to lose, for they thought they were better than Rainbow. They all had parents who taught them with precision and affection, while she had… well nopony to even raise a hoof to help her.

She wasn’t poor, in fact her family could pay for flying lessons, but her parents’ way of life prevented her from doing a lot of things. Her father was rarely ever home, and when he was everything became a living nightmare. He abused everypony in the family, and anger taught him how to be over reactive. Both Dash and her mother have both mental and physical scars to prove it. Her mother said there was a reason behind all of this behind her father’s actions. Her mother said there was a reason behind all of this behind her father’s actions. She explained that her daddy was ill, and there was something wrong with his brain. That was the explanation on why he was so abusive and angry all of the time. Which wasn’t really a good excuse from Dash’s views, but it clarified one thing. Her mother also added that he got unwell after they had married, which was why he looked so happy in all of the pictures she had of him when he was actually handsome and thin. Weirdly enough, none of those pictures had him carrying the “magic drinks” he always had in his hoof.

Dash’s mother was far too busy caring for the house and for her own safety than to worry about flying lessons for Dash, even though she really wanted to for her daughter. Her father however couldn’t care less for what Dash wanted. She remembered one time months ago when she had asked her father about flying lessons, days after she had gotten interested on the topic. He just laughed, and looked into her eyes with iniquity.

“Flyin’ ain’t gonna get’cha anywhere kid. Might as well lose that dream before it gets crushed.” Was what he said. Those words shot through Rainbow Dash’s heart like bullet through tissue paper.

The rough sound of the wooden door slamming shut outside of Dash’s room made Rainbow jolt. She knew whatever the heated dispute was, it was now probably over. Whenever one of her parents left the house so intense like the way one of her parents just did downstairs, whatever the argument was, it was pretty severe.

“Look’s like daddy’s going out for another drink.” Dash quietly said to herself cheerlessly. She once again twisted in her bed sheets finding a more comfortable position to sleep in. The angle her back was tilted at gave her the feeling like she was on a cloud, which she had actually experienced before. The thoughts of the amazing dream came back to her head, as she almost fell back to sleep mode, until the sounds of several mini volcano’s erupted in her lower area. It was time for breakfast, she had realized.

She gave out a moan that sounded of disappointment. She wished that she could sleep in for another hour, but her tremendous hunger disallowed her from doing her indolent task. She pulled the sheets that enclosed her body off of her lethargic body, and rolled out of bed. She landed on all fours, as she took a minute to stretch out all of the dormant bones that still were in her body. She cracked all of the small bones one by one; as her extremely famished stomach made Dash feel more unpleasant then she needed to be.

She stared up at the door that blocked her way from her breakfast. It always made Dash feel a little embarrassed that she couldn’t even reach her own door knob, let alone flying. She jumped into the air as she managed to cling onto the knob with her hooves. She turned from side to side, as she finally managed to creak the obstacle open. She then let go, as she went outside the room with a smile on her face.

She made her way through the empty hallway as she came towards the long staircase that seemed endless from her viewpoint. It was just a simple straight stairway that stopped at two levels. She was located on the third floor where her bedroom was located, so the stairway made its way from the top, middle, and bottom of the house. She made her way down the grand flight of steps, and as she reached to bottom, a terrifying sight caught her eye. Hundreds of shattered pieces of glass, along with a large broken beer bottle were shattered across the floor that was heading towards the kitchen. The brownish liquid seemed to have formed a puddle where it lay, getting only bigger and bigger. That answered one of Dash’s questions.

She carefully made her way around the sharp glass, and headed on towards the kitchen room. She made a right turn that lead into the large kitchen room, which included an eating table as well with many cooking machines. As she focused towards the table, the smile that had once been stretched across her face was nearly slapped across her face off.

She saw her sitting on a chair facing away from Rainbow, with her head on the table uncontrollably weeping. She was taking in deep breaths as the sounds of sobs filled the air, as she began to stutter out words that Rainbow didn’t quite understand. Dash could feel her mother’s pain; she had lived through one of her father’s outbreaks before. Rainbow saw that her mother’s once beautiful rainbow mane looked like it hadn’t been groomed in weeks, and she cringed at the bruises on her snow white arms.

Rainbow slowly walked towards the chair where her mother sat, who didn’t even notice her come into the room. She looked up into the side of her mother’s face, which shined with the tears that had been falling down her eyes for a while now. It made a tear in Rainbow’s broken heart to see what she was seeing. Not in her life had Rainbow seen her mother show so much misery in her days being married to the obese pony controlling her. Rainbow could sense that for months now that her mother was falling into a world of depression, even when Rainbow told her things that she thought would cheer up her mother. Her own sorrow wasn’t just affecting her, but everypony else around her, especially Rainbow. Without the desired love from her mother, Rainbow felt like she had nopony to care for her.

Rainbow slowly brought her hoof up towards her mother’s thigh, which made her mother jolt with panic. She slammed her hooves down on the table with her head shooting up from the table with her teary eyes opening up with shock. She even gave a mini shout of alarm as her head swayed side to side trying to see what had touched her. Rainbow Dash backed away from her crazy mother, making her tear up at what her father was doing to her mother. Her mother was afraid of everything, including the soft and gentle hands of her daughter.

As Rainbow’s mother’s eye finally made their way to the frighten face of Rainbow Dash, the sudden realization of what she just did to her daughter only made only brought more tears to her trembling face. What happened next occurred so fast, that Rainbow couldn’t prepare for impact. Open arms jumped forward to Rainbow Dash, as they tightly grabbed onto her body. Rainbow could feel the tears ride down her back, as the source pressed against her shoulder. Rainbow stood there for a moment, not too sure about what to do next. But as the miserable sounds came out from the mouth of her mother, Dash found her arms tightly hug her mother back as she found herself become teary to the eyes.

“I’m so sorry Dashie… please… I love you.” Said her mother continuing to whimper.

“I know mommy. I love you too.” Dash said not entirely understanding why her mother was saying those words to her. She just couldn’t imagine the argument that could’ve made her mother break down like this.

It seemed like hours as Rainbow’s mother continued to clench onto Rainbow Dash, who managed to let one tear flow down her warm cheek. Then Rainbow could feel the tightness release from her body, as her mother had a change of mood on her face. What showed up was a heartwarming smile that sparkled in the lights. Rainbow’s heart began to repair at the sight of the face that promised kindness.

“Would you like something to eat, Dash?” Dash’s mother said, no longer sobbing. She raised her hoof up towards her wet eyes as she wiped off most of the remaining tears that were still in her eyes. Almost immediately, Dash respond with several nods all signaling definitely.

A chuckle found its way out of the once miserable pegasus’s mouth, as she slowly rose up and turned away towards the cabinets to get some food. Dash leaped onto the vacant chair as she began to hear the sounds of tableware clatter together and the sounds of breakfast being made soothed her ears. Dash looked down to see the tears her mother had left behind while she wept harshly. There were so many tears; it seemed to have made a mini puddle as the lights made the puddle twinkle. The reflections were like a mirror, as Rainbow Dash found herself lost in old memories, probably the farthest she could think back.

“Mommy, why are you frowning?”

“Oh, it’s nothing Dashie.”

“Mommy, why are you crying?”

“Those are personal reasons that are none of your business.”

“Mommy, why are you hiding?”

“Dashie, please leave me alone for a bit longer. Until he goes away.”

The bowl landed on the table with a thud, as the tears splashed away, interrupting Dash’s unpleasant memories. She didn’t bother to look up at her mother’s somewhat happy expression on her face, as she began to eat her cereal with the spoon her mother brought along. She walked over to the other side of the table and took a seat on the empty chair, placing a hoof on her cheek as she just sat there. She took a deep breath as she began to stare at Dash, who was devouring her cereal. She carried on a dull expression as you could only hear the sounds of food being consumed.

“Guess what mommy!” Dash said with enthusiasm. She looked into the gloomy ears of her not interested mother.

“Hmm?” her mother replied in a uninteresting tone.

“I had that dream again last night! Each time I have it, it feels more realistic!” Dash explained with even more exhilaration.

“Which one?” her mother asked in the same tedious tone she had before. Dash became a little disappointed with her mother’s mood.

“You know the Wonderbolt one!” Dash explained trying to jog her memory.

“You still are having those dreams?” her mother asked beginning to smile. She sounded like the typical mother just trying to please her child.

“Of course I am! And I think Gilda is too!”

“I think that’s just-”

Rainbow’s mother was interrupted by the sound of wood being pounded on by astrong force coming from outside. Rainbow’s mother was lost in her words for a few seconds.

“No… he can’t be here. That was too quick!” she said raising the volume of her voice. Dash saw that the table was now shaking uncontrollably, with her mother’s trembling hooves pressed against the table. Moments after the large bangs, a bulky and evil sounding shout came from the entrance of the house. Dash swore she saw the furniture shake when her ears were blasted by the sound of the fuming intoxicated pony.  Both heads bolted towards where the sound came from, and faces of terror rose upon both Rainbow Dash and her mother as they both realized who had arrived back home.

Blood was the first thing Dash saw on his face when he came storming in. There was a large bruise with many other bleeding scars on his face that were definitely not there the last time Dash had seen her father. Judging by the damage on his face, there were probably more scars that secretly surrounded his fat body.

Dash would describe her father as a plump, hideous, creature who only found happiness in other pony’s sorrow, but her mother always tried to convince her that that wasn’t the case. Dash didn’t understand why she still gave the colt second chances. She was like a running politician, always trying to please the man who judged weather she lived another day or not. It just didn’t seem fair.

“You’re bleeding again.” Dash’s mother spoke out, noticing the huge and aching looking gash on his forehead.

“Well way to go miss obvious!” retorted Dash’s father in his low and raspy voice. The sudden remark made Dash’s mother back away a few inches. She was bracing for impact.

“What happened?” Dash’s mother asked in a calm voice, keeping her cool. Rainbow became terrified with thoughts that she would be in the middle of another enormous battle between her parents

“I’ll tell you what happened! One simple joke token the wrong way caused the joint to become an instant fiery hell-hole!”

“I can’t imagine who in Equestria swung the first fist.” Dash’s mother replied, quickly regretting her rude comment.

“Well look who’s the comedian here! Everypony needs a sense of humor do they in this house!? Well for your information, I won’t be returning there for a few weeks… that lousy blind bar owner!” Dash’s father explained in a bad mood, “That means I’ll need to take some from my own stash.” A smile appeared on his face, having high hopes for another bottle of anything that he felt like.

Dash kept her head low, trying not to make any eye contact with her father, but the sound of a mini gasp coming from her mother caught her attention. She raised her head upwards and looked into the petrified face of her mother. Her eyes were the size of mini plates as she bit her bottom lip harshly. When Dash listened closely, she could hear the sounds of whimpers streaming out of her mouth. Sweat droplets poured down her shaking face, which gave Rainbow the uneasy feeling in her stomach. She felt like running from the scene to avoid any conflict from the scene, but it was too late to make a full decision.

He went over to the kitchen cabinets and kneeled down towards the one with a very protective lock on it. Dash noticed her mother begin to hyperventilate, as she began taking in short and quiet breaths that were barely noticeable to the naked ear. He took out what looked to be like his wallet, and fished around in the opening for a few moments. Eventually, he managed to bring out a small but very shiny looking key from the leather case. He made a few attempts in jamming the key into the small hole that sealed up the secret compartment, until he finally got the key in. In nearly half a second, he twisted the shimmering key furiously, letting the lock fall down to the floor.

Almost ripping the pull out drawer out of its place, he ferociously ripped open the wooden storeroom expecting to find his large hoard of liquor. His jaw nearly dropped down to the cold hard floor as his eyes, which were once filled with expectations, nearly shot out from his eye sockets. His mouth began to stutter out jumbled up words as the high hopes in his head came crashing down to the low and miserable ground. Not one drop of liquor was found in the blank and soundless cabinet.

Many moments had passed by as he began to mourn over the loss of his secret pleasure hideaway. His mind was wiped with bewilderment and uncertainty, until he had enough of the sappy feeling. His eyes nearly caught on fire with rage as he shot his head towards the table where Dash’s mother now sobbed.

“You!” bellowed Dash’s father at nearly the top of his lungs as he gradually and dramatically began to stand on all fours again. He got into a fighting position as he stared into the horror-struck eyes of his own wife.

“That stuff will kill you one day! You need to realize that!” Dash’s mother pleaded as she stood up from her chair. There was no place to run from the annoyed colt, as he slowly walked towards Dash’s mother. The fire in his eyes signaled to both Rainbow Dash and her mother that this event wouldn’t end well. Even how much you would plead for mercy from the uncontrollable colt, his mind would be blinded with revenge, until he was satisfied with what he had done.

“You just made the biggest mistake of your life.” he spoke calmly with his low and raspy voice. His head then twitched a couple times, and the calmness was no longer. “I’ll teach you to get in the way with my life you bitch!”

Dash just sat on her chair frozen to the bone, trying to ignore the chaotic madness that was going on in front of her eyes. Her ears were used to the piercing volume of the yells and screams between her parents, which probably wasn’t good for her hearing. She could only pray she wouldn’t get involved in this mess.

The colt raised his hand in the air, aiming directly towards Dash’s mother’s neck, as she tried to protect herself from him. Tears flowed down her red eyes, as you could hear her prepare to scream when the pain arrived. Out of nowhere, he brought his other empty hoof up in the air, as he without delay, grabbed onto Rainbow’s lengthy and flowing rainbow hair. Rainbow Dash let out a horror-struck scream of agony, as her father began to talk.

“It’s sad that the one’s you love have to pay for somepony else’s own thoughtless actions.” He said as he looked into the scared stiff eyes of his own daughter. Rainbow’s eyes were staring directly at the hoof that was preparing for impact. Her once wide eyes closed shut as she braced for impact, until the sounds of sobs rushed into her aching ears.

“Please! Don’t do this to her,” screamed her mother as Dash’s father began to smile, “Hurt me instead!”

Dash’s father’s hoof was halfway towards Dash’s faced before he heard that last comment. He nearly slammed his hoof against the precious cheek of the now crying Rainbow Dash. His smile eventually smeared off his face, as he kept a good grip on Rainbow’s hair. Then he finally let go.

“You know what? This is just stupid. You’re right; I should beat you instead of her to the ground.” He said softly regaining his smile. Right after he said that, he shot the hoof that once held Rainbow’s hair and gripped onto the hair of his wife. Another ear splitting scream filled the air, as he roughly dragged her outside the room. She tried tugging his fat hands of her head, but it was no use, as it did absolutely no affect on the colt. Dash wished she could save her mother from the horrors of her father, but she had to face the facts that there was nothing she could do. The last thing Dash saw on her mother’s face was her mouthing out ‘please’, and moments later after the two left the room, Dash could hear the ear-piercing screams come from the outside.

Rainbow had actual dreams of saving her mother from her father’s cruelty. She wanted to give him a taste of what his fat mouth deserved all of these years of nothing but negative actions. But at her size and age, her father could do unimaginable things to her that she couldn’t protect herself from. Things she did not want to be revealed in front of her eyes. Rainbow was force to suffer through everything her father brought upon the family, and she realized she wasn’t living in the perfect family home.

Tears began to roll down her eyes, as the screams of pain coming from her mother shot through her ears like a rock through water. Each scream spoke a different story, some more anguish sounded than the others. Her father always overdid his “deserved punishments” he forced upon all who dared to challenge him, which explained several of the brutal marks found across Rainbow’s body. More tears started tumbling down the young filly’s eyes; she just wanted everything to stop. She wanted her world to stop. She wanted everything to go blank for the rest of time.

“Hey, come on Rainbow. Wake up.”

Rainbow felt large hooves of somepony familiar move across the side of her body, as her tremendously dry eyes began to slowly open. At first all she could see was the silent darkness of night, but as her eyes got use to her surroundings, everything became much more vivid. That was, until an intense light pulverized her eyes, causing her to close them almost instantaneously.

“Dashie, come on now, wake up.” whispered the raspy voice of a large figure standing next to her. Dash’s mind couldn’t comprehend what was going on around her. The sudden awakening already caused enough stress for her, as she tried getting back to sleep.

“Dash, get up now!” the voice whispered out again. This time however, it sounded annoyed and the tone felt like whoever was talking to her was threatening her life. After those four words spoken, Dash realized who was attempting to wake her. Her heart began to beat much faster with fright.

Rainbow’s eyes sluggishly opened to the blinding lights, as she quickly twisted her head to the side of her bed to official see what was waking her. The heavy evil looking figure had his face looking down upon her bed like a vulture. His bloodshot eyes gave Dash’s the idea he had been awake for awhile now.

“Well come on lazy! Get outta this bed!” He said in a irate but quiet tone. However, there was only one question in Dash’s head she wanted answered.

“Dad… what time is it?”

“Never mind that,” he said impatiently, “come on. I need to take you somewhere.” There was something very unusual about the fat pegasus, as he began to smile instead of glare hatefully into Dash’s confused face.  He also showed good posture, which was something Dash had never seen on her father in ages. There were still the pictures of him smiling when he was actually fun to be around with.

Dash had no choice but to follow her father, in fear he might bring her out of bed by using force. She jumped out of the bed as her father began to speak.

“Dash, be very quiet when you follow me down the hall. We don’t want to disturb anypony now do we?”

“Whatever you say, daddy.” Dash replied very puzzled. The only pony who lived in this house was her, her father, and mommy. Dash wanted to know why they weren’t trying to disturb her mother, but she was too busy focusing on not messing up her father’s orders.

Dash’s father led the way by creeping open the door that headed down the hall, and gently placing his hoof outside the door. Dash just followed through, coming up with solutions in her head why they were even doing this.

In nearly five minutes of tip toeing and quietly breathing down the long hallway, they both had made it to where the staircase stood. It would’ve token Dash at least ten seconds to do it at her normal pace, but her father gave her a fierce look whenever her hoof made a large noticeable noise when she planted her hoof down on the ground to fast.

It took even longer to get down the stairs then it did going through the hall. Whatever plan Dash’s father was having, Dash thought he must’ve thought it all out precisely to get it this exact. Without both of them making peep going down the steps, they finally made it towards the door, and as soon Dash’s father opened the grand piece of wood, they were off into the night.

Dash took this opportunity to speak out to her father since they were no longer a disturbance in the house. She had many questions she wanted to know about.

“Daddy, what’s going on? Why are we going outside?”

“That isn’t important now Dash.”

“What do you mean it isn’t important!? Why are we outside when it’s the middle of the night!? I want to go back to bed!” Dash whined.

Dash’s father gave Rainbow a stern look as he signaled her to be quiet. She could tell he was quite annoyed, so she backed down a tad bit for her own safety.

“You can sleep on my back, how’s that?” he asked lowering his back down allowing Dash to ride on it. Dash still wanted her questions answered, but she didn’t want to argue anymore with her father. There was no point in trying to win a fight you just couldn’t win. She waited a few seconds before proceeding onto the large and flat back of her father.

It was tough at first for his overweight body to take off into the air, but after a few minutes, he actually managed to jump up and not come back down. He was panting like a dog, but he was making good progress. After Rainbow got comfortable on her father back, she was about to badger him with more questions, now that he no longer had the energy to fight back at her if she went too far. However, her eyes started getting heavy. She made a tiny peep as an attempt to speak towards the flying pegasus, but her mouth had become too weary to even move. Her eyes closed shut, and the last thing she felt was the wind brushing against her mane.

“Dash, I think you better wake up.”

Dash could barely hear those words, as everything felt very unclear. For a second, Dash thought she was dreaming, hearing strange noises in her head. But as her nerves and senses began to regain control over her body, everything felt a little too genuine to be a dream. Her eyes gradually opened to the sight of blaring lights, which came in nearly every direction possible. She waited a few seconds before attempting once more, and as her eyes opened to what she saw, her jaw nearly fell to the ground.

At first Dash couldn’t believe in what she was seeing. Excitement ran through her bones at the sight of the magnificent and astonishing Canterlot Castle, which was only a few miles away from where she was laying down. She knew where she was. She was in Canterlot.

She looked out into the large city where ponies trotted on what seemed like golden streets that stretched for miles. Lights covered the incredible skyscrapers that sliced into the air like a knife. Sounds of chattering, arguing, screams, and anticipation rang like music into Rainbow Dash’s filly ears. The blue covered, sun blaring, sky shined down upon everypony who trotted under it, and Dash loved every second of it.

Dash swerved her head towards the face of her father, who was facing away from her with a grin on his face. She saw in front of him was a huge line of ponies, looking as if they came from all sorts of places in Equestria. They were all facing towards a large building, and they all had excitement in their eyes. Dash recognized the astonishing monument from when she watched TV, but she couldn’t quite put her hoof on where exactly she saw it from. But then the posters hanging across the coliseum walls jogged her memory in nearly an instant.

‘An air show nopony will forget!’, ‘A once in a lifetime chance to witness the greatest flyers of them all perform!’, ‘The greatest show ever to be witnesses’, was what all of the posters read.

“The Wonderbolts…” Dash whispered. Dash thought her heart skipped a beat at the news. Rainbow was only thinking of one thing.

“Daddy… Is this… are you really!?” Dash said blurting out words. Her father looked down into the sparkling eyes of her blissful daughter. He nodded with contempt, and followed with Rainbow Dash’s heart exploding.

The fill’s sparkling eyes quickly developed glimmering tears of pure joy, as they fell out one by one. She gave her father probably the biggest hug she had ever give anypony in her life, as Dash began to laugh at the entire fact she was seeing her lifetime idols. However there was something besides that that felt more special than the show.

She never imagined the day in which she would see an actual smile of joy on her father’s face, and how the smile actually meant something to her. Something about him changed, and she knew it was for the better. Maybe after this day there would be no fighting. No more times in which he would come home like a monster. She would actually live in the family she only pictured in her dreams.

Minutes passed after her father had showed the ticket booth pony the two tickets to the show, and were finally seated on the huge bleachers. Everypony everywhere was being obnoxiously loud; they even caused the seat to rattle with the racket they were causing. Rainbow’s father brushed his hoof over Rainbow’s hair, and gave out a cheerful laugh as he saw the keyed up expression on his own daughter.

“You know Dash, there’s something I want to give you when we’re done here.” He said trying his best to be louder than everypony else surrounding him. But Dash didn’t notice him at all, as the audience overpowered her father’s low and raspy voice. He decided to make his move later on that day.

Rainbow would never be the same pony after seeing what she saw in those two hours. She was engulfed with inspiration, stimulation, and cheerfulness and you could literally see stars in her meaningful eyes. Rainbow kept a large striking smile on her face throughout the entire duration of the show, as her teeth shimmered in the glaring lights the Pegasus flyers made. Even on the way out of the arena she was flabbergasted with intense ecstasy. Those were the best couple of hours in Rainbow’s lifetime, and she couldn’t wait to rub it in to everypony. With her large father by her side, they both walked over onto the streets of Canterlot, heading towards who knows where.

They walked together silently until Dash’s father came to a direct halt, and Rainbow stopped with him. Rainbow Dash became puzzled, as the look on his face became much more serious than before. He took a deep breath and kneeled down to Dash’s height.

“Hey Rainbow, there’s… well, something I want to tell you.” He said growing a smile on his face. Rainbow stared up at her father with contentment.

“Yes daddy?” Rainbow asked. Rainbow’s father turned his head the other way for a second, noticing an empty bench not too far from where they were. He grabbed Rainbow’s hoof and carefully walked towards the bench, rudely pushing everypony who walked by them away. He sat onto the bench with a great thud, and Rainbow took the rest of the space on the bench that her father didn’t consume. She looked into her father’s deep eyes.

“What is it daddy?” Rainbow asked curiously. Dash, for once in her life, began to feel sorry for the pony that she once hated her guts towards. It was weird how Rainbow Dash’s mind worked. She could hate the living hell out of somepony for some stupid reasons, but if that specific pony did a real nice thing for her later on regardless of what he or she did, her feelings towards that pony would change instantly for the good. Dash began seeing the true goodness in her father, for the fact he made one of her biggest dreams come true.

“I have faith in you kid, that you could one day be like that new Soarin’ flyer in the show you just witnessed today. That’s why I took you to this show. To demonstrate you I know you could fly like them one day.” He said proudly. Rainbow’s once cheerful face, drooped down dramatically with gloom.

“But daddy, I can’t fly like them. I mean… I wish I could… but I don’t know how to. I’m a weak flyer.”

“True,” he said noticing her daughter’s depression, “but doesn’t mean we can’t start now.” Rainbow seriously needed to get to a hospital for the amount of times her heart exploded that one day. In just a matter of seconds, Dash began bawling out tears of absolute delight. She could just picture it, flapping her wings in the cool air… feeling free.

Dash gave her father a massive hug, with the thoughts in her head he was making two of her biggest dreams come true in less than 24 hours. Flying meant a whole lot more to her than watching professionals do it. Maybe one day she could be the professional.

“But there is something I must add here Rainbow.” He spoke up.

“Whatever it is daddy, I’m sure I’m going to love it!” Rainbow replied, having her mouth ache from all of the smiling she did.

“Living in the house in Cloudsdale is not going to work out with your lifestyle… and more importantly your training.” Her father said. Rainbow slowly began to release her father from her hooves. She had a look of confusion on her face as her smile became weaker.

“Huh, why not daddy?” she asked sounding a little worried.

“You see, mommy’s going to be major problem with this whole flying business. Take it from me; she doesn’t want you to fly at all. She’s being way to overprotective and keeping you grounded. She just doing this to mess with your head, Dash. She wants you to suffer to the point in which you cry.” He explained vigorously. Dash was dumb stricken by the words that came out of his talking mouth. Rainbow felt like she was living a huge lie of all her life, thinking she was loved by the only pony that cared for her.

“But… I thought mommy loved me. She said so…” Dash thought in her head.

“Mommy’s going through tough times now, and probably will need to be on her own for a long time. And Dash, when I say long, we’re talking years hear. She needs to be alone for awhile and this is the only way we can help her. It’s best we go someplace where there are lots of open spaces and parks to practice on… say Manehatten?” he said trying not to make Rainbow feel any worse than she did already. Rainbow’s mind couldn’t think of anything about what to think of her mother. She almost couldn’t believe in what her dad was saying to her.

“Is that the big city place?” Rainbow asked cheerlessly. Her father chuckled at the comment and replied with a nod signaling yes.

“Now Dash, I’m going to respect your decision here. We can either go to the city and you can learn how to fly freely. Or it’s that we go back home where we’d have to do it secretly. Which one will it be?”

Dash didn’t know which life to chose. She either had the life of living with a family member that hated her feelings, or she had the life of being a city pony. She would lose everypony she knew from home… but learning to fly just was too important for her.

“I guess we can sometimes go visit mommy.” Dash said as a tear fell down her eye. Her father wiped the tear off with his hoof.

“We’ll leave tomorrow.”

The hours that past after the air show were probably some of the best times Dash would ever experience with her father. They visited sites across the grand city, admiring every detail of what they had to offer. The foods and entertainment were some of the coolest things Dash had ever laid her eyes upon. The tastes of the cuisine were so much pleasing to taste than her mother’s cooking. Her and her father literally went overboard on the ‘all you could eat buffet’ they had at a nearby restaurant.

Everything they did together only made Rainbow more excited to move to the big city of Manehatten. At first she felt extremely sad for going, but as she began to love city, she knew she should’ve been born a city pony. If city life was as good as she imagined and was just like Canterlot, she would be living in her own paradise. She would meet new friends; in fact she would meet better friends. She would have friends that didn’t pick on her weak flying abilities, at least until she learned how to completely out fly them with her father’s teachings. Also, she would have friends that would understand her struggling life, and for once, they would just be all pegasus ponies.

When her father rented a small room in a nearby hotel, it was almost impossible for her eager mind to fall asleep. She would never forget this day, which she considered the best day of her life… so far at least.

She dreamt about everything she pictured about Manehatten. There were dazzling lights that lit up the entire shadowy sky, and they were practically everywhere she looked. There were faces that came and passed by her on the sidewalk that surrounded the blacktop streets that were engulfed with carriages and automobiles that were in traffic. Then she pictured her house. It was on the top floor on an expensive looking building that was so high it went passed the low clouds that were lit by the moonlight. Up in that room, was her father, and smiling next to him was her mother. They greeted her with open arms, and there was the smell of fresh cooking coming from the kitchen. It felt so right to Rainbow Dash; she knew one day that that dream in a few years would be coming true.

“Hey Dash, wakey wakey.” whispered the pleasant voice of her father. Rainbow’s eyes shot open, her mind knowing she was now awake.

“Daddy!” she nearly yelled as she brought her hooves up to hug her father. He hugged back, but he had to push her daughter away to tell her the news.

“Listen, we gotta get going down to the bottom of the mountain where Canterlot stands if we want to catch our ship.”

“Daddy… we’re going by boat to the city?” Dash asked confused.

“It’s much cheaper and more efficient and-“

“But dad, what about the stuff I still have at home? I thought we would visit home to get our things before we had to go.”

“You mean these things?” he said pointing his hoof to a suitcase that looked nearly full with items. The suitcase was ready to burst open with everything inside of it about to explode. Dash stared at the suitcase, and something clicked in her head.

“Daddy… you planned this?” she asked. Her father’s happy expression turned immediately to a one filled with fear. “You forced me to leave home in Cloudsdale?” Dash said a tad bit concerned. Just then her father’s face began to sweat. His eyes swerved around everywhere as he began to stutter with nervousness.

“Well… I… you see Dash. I… I... sort of needed to protect you from your mother’s insanity. I didn’t want to tell you the hard way, but your mother had a nervous breakdown the night in which you were asleep with all of the stress pilling on top of her. That’s why I had to force you to come with me.” He said sounding confident with what he was saying.

“Where did you get the tickets then?” Dash asked as curious as she was. She started having a gut feeling about going to the city now.

“I have a friend… uh… you remember Fire Star don’t you? You see he was going to go to the show with his filly daughter, but something came up and well… I knew how much you loved those Wonderbolts, so I decided to take you there myself. He gave me those tickets a week before the show.”

Dash had no choice but to go follow her father, and she thought his explanation sounded pretty convincing to her. The whole scandal about the unexpected suitcases was brought to the back of her head, as the fun thoughts rushed back to the front. She stormed out of bed and went towards her very own suitcase. The size was a little too big for her to carry along, but she managed to find a way of moving it by dragging it. The two made their way out the door of the cheap hotel, and Dash saw the sun being halfway up o\in the horizon. It was early in the morning, but there were still many ponies out doing everyday tasks you would normally see in Canterlot.

It took a while to get to the train station, which of course was pretty busy full of ponies that looked as though they came from all over Equestria. Some ponies were with families, some were going on their own, and some just lived at the station. Dash thought that the ones who lived at the station looked pretty funny as they would usually be sleeping with old hats over their faces. Some had buckets with signs written in poor hand writing asking for money, and Dash thought they were joking. Dash kept close to her father as they were shortly boarded onto a train that laid on the rails that stretched for miles both directions.

They were both very silent; in fact they were pretty worn out from the lack of sleep they received by waking up so early. They sat at two empty spaces of the train, and Dash brought her suitcase down to the ground of the train. She looked over to her dad’s suitcase that was on his lap. She could only wonder what may have been in there, for there was really nothing else to wonder about that was fun. The train gradually became very crowded full of ponies looking as if they all had a different place to go to.

Some of the ponies looked very serious and wore suits. They also were wearing stern looking shades and carried big brief cases, some with names of businesses. Along with those types of ponies, there were also breathtaking ones, who wore all sorts of things. Hats, necklaces, earrings, you name it. They came all in different sizes and shapes, and each pony had a specific style to them.

Dash looked around at everypony, admiring the differences until all of a sudden there was a large force that bumped her, and nearly brought her to the ground. Then she heard the ear shattering train whistle. The train was starting to move.

Dash found the whole train ride boring, for everypony in the whole cart was dead silent. Nopony wanted to start a conversation, and neither did she. She looked to her father who had his neck back sleeping off as he rode. In fact, the only noise ponies heard was the blaring sounds of her father’s snoring. Dash turned her head behind her, noticing the sun was rising more into the air, as the sight of everlasting fields stretched on for miles in front of her. The trip was fascinating, for the fact that the rails spiral down the mountain where Canterlot is built, and sometimes went through mini caves that blocked sunlight to come through the windows of the train.

As the train came to immense halt, Dash rubbed her hooves against her father, rudely waking him up.

“What is it?” he said half asleep in an impolite tone.

“Daddy, we’re at the bottom of the mountain.” Dash said as she saw outside a sign that said ‘Canterlot Bay’. To the words of that, he shot up from his seat and held his hoof upon Rainbow Dash’s. He tugged her along out of the train, nearly pushing everypony out of his way. Dash almost dropped her suitcase by her father’s fast getaway.

As Dash exited the train, everything looked like the station back at Canterlot, except for the smell. The aroma smelled worse than it did back up in even the main city of Canterlot, and the ponies appeared different too. They looked more uncivilized than the ponies up in the city, but then again, Canterlot was a very elaborate city. Maybe that was the reason why her father wanted to move to Manehatten instead of Canterlot. Manehatten seemed more of a wild city as in Canterlot they were given odd stares by decorative looking ponies as they walked around the city.

“Well there’s the boat Dash,” he said pointing towards a large dirty looking ship, ‘you see, we’re going to ship over towards the dock of Manehatten, and once we get settled there-“

“Daddy?” Dash said.

“Yes Rainbow?” he replied.

“When will we ever see mommy?” Dash asked.

“Well,” he said sounding serious, “hopefully when she recovers from her breakdowns I’ll mail to her. How does that sound.”

Dash only nodded, she wished her mother could come along with her. Whenever she thought of her, she remembered the times in where she cared for her whenever daddy got carried away. She comforted Dash, which was something she was really going to miss… but then she remembered what her father had told her, how everything was just a lie. Still, saying goodbye to somepony you lived with your entire life was tough.

“We have a bit of time before the boat leaves Dashie. How’s about we walk on the beach for a bit?” he said staring upon the long strip of sand that stretched for miles ahead of them.

“To swim?” Dash asked in confusion. He chuckled, as he brought his hoof upon Rainbow’s back, looking out to the millions of sand grains that lay before them.

“Dash, this was where I met your mother.”

The thought of her mother almost brought tears to Dash’s eyes, but something told her in her head that her mother was going to be alright. She would wait for her to get better, and then they would live in a happy family again.

The two walked down onto the vacant beach, as the cool mid morning breeze brushed sand against their hooves. They were exhausted from the amount of sleep they received last night, so they didn’t go too far out before they stopped.  Dash’s father practically fell backwards onto the sand, as he used his hooves to push his upper body upright. He faced the endless ocean as his eyes gazed upon the rising waves that went back and forth. Dash was still on her hooves looking at the boat they were to ride in.

“It was just like this Dash. Nopony to disturb us, the sun was just rising over there, and all I could see was that face.”

Dash completely ignored the cliché speech that her father was giving, all Dash could think about was her new life. All Dash did was stare at the crowded port full of ponies, as her father rambled on about how Dash’s mother became insane after their marriage, explaining what convinced him to do this with Dash. Rainbow’s mind, however, was focused on the future. She thought about if her mother never recovered and came to Manehatten, and if her father would remarry somepony new. Rainbow gave out one last sigh, wishing just to see her mother’s face one last time before she went.

“Lightning Flicker, wait! Stop this!” screamed out a voice.

Rainbow Dash did not move a muscle, as she kept staring at the boats assuming the scream had to do with none of her business. She still kept thinking about her mother, which actually started to bother her. She assumed things would start to feel better once she got to the city.

She heard off to her side her father scramble to get up from the sand, which caught Rainbow’s attention towards him instantly. She stared into her father’s eyes, which were now opening wide with shock. She saw his hoof close tightly into a fist, as he then spoke to Rainbow.

“Here comes your mother, kid.” Said her father completely taken aback and irately.

At the news of that, Rainbow shot her head towards the port area, in which see saw somepony violently pushing her way through the crowd. She nearly jumped onto the beach, as she ran for her life towards her and her father. She saw tears fly off her head as she ran furiously, nearly tripping on the ground. She had large black and blue bruises on her face, as her uncombed hair flew viciously in the air. She was calling out Rainbow’s name along with screams; Rainbow was thunderstruck at the sight of all of this.

To save time, Rainbow’s father signaled Dash to follow him towards the breathless pegasus, as he grabbed onto Rainbow’s hand, tighter than ever before. They both slowly walked as Rainbow’s mother got closer and closer.

A few moments had passed before her mother finally caught up with both Rainbow and her father. A furious looking expression shown on her father’s face towards the exhausted pony that now stood before him. He snickered with disgust at her.

“It’s been a while since you ever spoke my name in front of my face, Autumn.” He said keeping his calm. All she could do though was look into the perplexed eyes of her daughter.

“Hello, Rainbow.” She said with relief. Dash stared at her mother’s shining eyes. Something wasn’t right. Didn’t her father say her mother detested her?

“Hello, mommy.” She replied, not knowing what was going on. She looked back at her father, knowing something was up. Along with her mother showing how much she cared for her, there was nothing wrong with her mother at all like what her father had been telling her about. She wasn’t loony or anything; apparently her father had missed something when he explained her to her.

“What are you doing here?” said Dash’s father very heatedly. He didn’t act angry like this at all during the time he was having with Dash the past 24 hours.

“Did you know how freaked out I was to see your friend Fire Star come up to the front door with his nose bleeding, claiming you stole his two tickets to a Wonderbolts show? You don’t think I could’ve just offered your friends at the bar a couple of drinks to make them talk why my only daughter was missing when I woke up, did you? How you intended to ruin my life by taking away what really mattered to me in this world! I literally searched all of Cloudsale! I even called the police! Then when I realized the Wonderbolt show was taking place in Cloudsdale, I’ve flew right over here, went to the cheapest hotel in the city, assuming you would be there. I told the colt who worked behind the desk your description and how he was carrying with him a young rainbow haired filly, and he told me they went out the door to Canterlot Bay twenty minutes ago!” She explained word by word. She then paused for a moment to see the fat face of her husband blush with embarrassment that she had figured him out entirely. He took a step back, as he opened his mouth to speak, but she spoke out first.

“What you’re doing is absolutely absurd! Please, it isn’t right for her!” She pleaded. Rainbow’s father’s face nearly exploded at the comment she made.

“And a girl living in a family that is on the break of destruction? That’s not right either.”

“Oh Please! You don’t care about Dash! As soon as you get to Manehatten, you’ll abandon her as a father like you did with me and her! She’ll be home alone waiting for her daddy’s promises to come true! And when he does come home pissed to the face, you’ll treat her like you treated me!” yelled Dash’s mother with tears coming down her face. Her father just watched her with a stern look on his face. Dash didn’t know what to say.

“Dash!” called her mother, kneeling down to her filly. Dash stared into her eyes with fear, signaling her that she had her attention. The tears she saw in her mother’s eyes made Dash feel melancholy.

“Has your father told you about moving to Manehatten?” she asked, fearing her daughter’s answer.

“Yes.” Dash replied.

“And do you really want to go?” she asked sounding more teary, hoping for the answer she wanted to hear.

Dash thought about her mother’s question. Her father was offering her the chance of a lifetime if she went on with him. She did want to go. She wanted to pursue her flying dreams. She actually had faith that her father had changed.

“Yes, I do.” She said making up her decision. Her mother was struck deeply by her answer.

“Dash, you must listen to me,” she said grabbing onto her shoulders, “it’s important. Your father is just using you to get what he wants. He knows if he takes you from my life I’ll be heartbroken until the day I die. You can’t believe in everything he’s-”

Just then Dash saw her mother being brought down roughly to the sandy ground. It all happened too fast for Dash to recall what exactly happened, but seeing her father’s hoof in front of where her mother’s face just stood gave Dash a good hint on what happened. She watched her mother lay crying on the ground with an ugly mark on her cheek and with blood coming down her nose. She just laid there whimpering.

Dash now realized something she should of saw coming a long time ago. What she once saw in her “new” father was all but a lie. She just realized what her mother was telling her was true; her father didn’t change at all. She was tricked by his clever plan, and by his good actions. She thought he had quit the bad stuff. The magic drinks, the smoking sticks, all of those things that made him mad. But no, she knew that while she was growing up she’d end up just like how her mother was right now. On the ground, abused to the point where her own blood would flow out of her mouth. A rush of fear ran through her body, she was now terrified of her father once again.

“Stop scaring the girl, Autumn! She’s made her choice and she wants to be a city girl for now on!” He said acting like she was the bad pony. Dash was frozen at the sight of her attacked mother, as her dreams of being taught how to fly by the pony she once looked up to were now gone. She felt her hoof being tugged by a strong grip.

“C’mon Dash. It’s time to go to the boat.” He said sounding extremely strict. Dash couldn’t stop staring at her weeping mother, too weak to rise up and defend her daughter. He tugged on her again, becoming more livid, until he managed to drag her away with her on the sand. Dash didn’t want to say goodbye to the pony who actually cared for her.  She tugged away from her father’s grip, who was putting on quite a fight not to lose her, but she managed to break free from his fat hoof after a third try.

She ran towards her mother who was still lying on the ground, and went down on the ground. She opened her hooves wide across her body as she began to let out tears, as the thoughts of leaving her home came into her head.

“Mommy, please don’t cry! I… I want be with you!” She yelled in misery, holding tight to her mother who began to hug back.

“You do?” her mother said burying her head into Dash’s chest.

“Yes! I don’t want to go!” cried out Dash. The two began to mourn in each other’s desolation as Dash’s father just stared at the two. He grew extremely impatient at the sight of this, and he knew the boat would be leaving soon. He decided to take action. He reached out to grab Dash by her hoof, as he started to mumble to himself.

“Look what you’ve done now,” he said grabbing Dash’s hoof pulling her away from her mother, “Dash, we’re leaving now!” He pulled the young filly away from her mourning mother, as Dash began to cry out more tears. He picked up both suitcases with his empty hoof as Dash struggled to get free. She made up her mind; she didn’t want to see her father’s lying fat face ever again.

“Daddy! Let go of me!” Dash screamed. She looked up into her father’s face, who was completely ignoring her every move. Her mom was right, he didn’t care for her well being at all. Dash had no choice but to do what every little filly would do in a situation like this, by using her teeth. She took good aim at the hoof that grabbed onto her tightly and in nearly a few seconds later, Dash was set free.

Her father yelped at the sudden painful sensation, as Dash ran straight back to her blissful but heartbroken mother, who looked into the eyes of the fearful pegasus. Dash nearly jumped right on top of her, as the both began holding each other tightly on the sandy beach. Tears were now falling down onto the sand, as the sun shone across in the now grey sky.

Dash’s father just stood where he was, holding the part of his hoof that was bitten. His face showed of annoyance and hatred towards the two ponies that were now better off on their own, and he realized he had lost his own war. His mission to make his wife’s life a living turmoil had failed. There was nothing left to do but to just walk away.

So that’s exactly what he did, and he was never heard from again.

Many minutes had passed by until words finally formed into Rainbow Dash’s mother’s trembling voice.

“Rainbow Dash, I know of the things that awful colt promised you.” She said overwhelmed in tears. Just then the thought of the entire things Dash’s father promised made its way into Dash’s head. She cried even harder. She thought she was so close to capturing her dream, but it all just vanished in the summer breeze.

“I promise those things will happen.”

“You mean…” Dash said with her sparkling eyes looking up at her mother.

“There’s a flight camp in Cloudsdale that I think you’ll love.”

Dash hugged onto her mother even tighter.

“I love you mommy.” Dash said as her mother began to hug back almost as strong as Dash did. Dash promised to herself that very moment, she would never in her life speak of the past 24 hours she just experienced. There were just some things other ponies couldn’t know about her.

“You don’t know how big of a smile you bring to my life every day Dashie. The future will hold better things for us now that he’s gone. But whatever happens next to us Dash, just think pride in yourself. Pride is all you need.”