It had been a long day for Rainbow Dash. First, she had to begin weather patrol in the morning, busting clouds and making sure the weather was up to standard for the rest of the week. Then were was a meeting with Twilight for all of her egghead business. She was planning on what to teach the students next week at the School of Friendship, as well as counting up the votes for Teacher of the Month. Rainbow had longed for her photo to end up on the school’s wall, and not a certain yellow pegasus that has that title right under her muzzle for several months in a row now. Finally, she had to squeeze in some training practice with the Wonderbolts, who was preparing for another upcoming show in Canterlot.
It was late in the afternoon now and she was exhausted. Maybe she should make a schedule for herself, but she didn’t want to become like Twilight, always fussing about if she was late for this or that. Right now, all she wanted to have is a nice long nap. Her parents awarded her for the best napper, and it was true. She could nap anywhere and still sleep like a log. She could nap near Saddle Lake, up in one of Applejack’s many trees, much to the orange earth pony’s annoyance, or a nice fluffy cloud. It was the third option that Rainbow Dash chose. There was nothing better than resting your tired body on a fluffy cloud bed. Being a pegasus had its perks. Of course, owning the skies and flying at supersonic speed is amazing, as well as scaring ponies with storm clouds on Nightmare Night. However, the ability to walk on clouds and sleep on them is what many unicorns and earth ponies would dream of doing.
If you were a skilled unicorn, you could use a cloud-walking spell, but it requires a lot of energy and focus. In addition, being asleep on a cloud would make a unicorn lose their focus and would result in a nasty fall. Cloud-walking was truly something unique to pegasi, and Rainbow was certainly glad to have this ability.
Her musing was interrupted when she heard the sound of hoof steps from down below. She tried to ignore it and go back to her nap, but there was something off about that pony’s steps. It seemed to be more sluggish and weary, unlike the usual trotting of a regular pony. Deciding to see what the problem was, Rainbow Dash rolled onto her belly and lazily opened an eye as she looked down towards the ground. She spotted a purple unicorn trudging along the path to the centre of Ponyville.
Starlight dragged her body down the dirt path towards her guestroom at the Castle of Friendship. She was exhausted and wanted nothing more than lie down and get some sleep. Each hoof step brought her closer to the castle. She had waved Sunburst goodbye at Ponyville Station, her foal-hood friend heading back to the Crystal Empire. She and her friend wanted to get on the train immediately after hearing that her parents wanted to come along. Sunburst’s mother, Stellar Flare, even made a list of the stuff they should do with them. They hurried onto the train before Stellar and her father, Firelight, turned around to board the train.
“What’s gotten you in such a bad mood?”
Starlight looked up at the sky to find a cloud where a certain blue pegasus with rainbow-coloured mane and tail, looking down at her with a confused and tired look. Starlight gave her usual nervous chuckle and a wry smile.
“Hey there, Rainbow,” Starlight answered, “I just got back from a very tiring friendship mission.”
“Yeah, Twilight told us why you weren’t in the castle of hanging out with Trixie,” Rainbow nodded from on top of her cloud bed, “This was your second map mission right?”
“Yep, though I didn’t go alone like last time,” Starlight explained, “Sunburst was with me.”
“You and Sunburst went on a friendship mission together?” Rainbow beamed, “That’s so awesome! Twilight didn’t say that you were off with him!”
“Yay,” Starlight said with heavy sarcasm, earning an even more confused look from the pegasus.
“Why are you like that? Should you be happy that you managed to complete your friendship mission with Sunburst?”
“No, no,” Starlight chuckled and waved her hoof, “I’m glad that I didn’t have to do the friendship mission only. It was rather what the friendship mission was about.”
“Oh,” Rainbow raised an eyebrow, “Want to talk about it?” Starlight thought for a moment before collapsing to the ground. Rainbow Dash followed and lied down next to her friend.
“The map sent me and Sunburst back to our hometown to fix a friendship problem we had for a long time,” Starlight explained, “It was about our parents. Sunburst and his mum, Stellar Flare, and me and my dad, Firelight.”
Rainbow Dash smiled and nodded, “Let me guess. Parent issues?”
“How do you know?” Starlight perked up.
“Firstly, what is your dad like?” Rainbow urged her to carry on her story.
“Urgh!” Starlight groaned and put her hooves to her face, “My dad wouldn’t stop treating me like a foal! He always wants to rub my cheeks and give me these ridiculous pet names like ‘pumpky-wumpkin’ and ‘chipmunk cheeks’. It’s so embarrassing!” She closed her eyes and gave another long groan in disgust, her cheeks taking on a red tint.
She shot her eyes wide open as she heard Rainbow Dash laughing her flank off. She was rolling on the ground with a hearty laugh, thumping the ground with a hoof.
“I’m glad you see some pony enjoying my misfortune,” Starlight growled through gritted teeth. Eventually, Rainbow calmed and wiped a few tears from her eyes.
“Sorry, but that was too rich!” Rainbow giggled with mirth in her eyes, “And what if a certain friend tells your story with all of her friends…”
She trailed off as Starlight’s horn glowed with its turquoise aura.
“Why don’t you find out…” Starlight warned lightly.
“Anyway,” Rainbow Dash tried to get back to the topic of the conversation, “If you want to know about embarrassing dads, I know everything about it.”
“Really? I thought my dad was bad enough,” Starlight said with interest.
“Please!” Rainbow scoffed, “My dad, and mum, but dad especially, wouldn’t stop praising me over everything that I do. My dad would give me these big hugs and get all teary-eyed over every achievement that I do. They even have a room where they keep everything, and I mean everything, they thought was super special.”
“What kind of things?” Starlight asked.
“The lamp I brought when I first flew around the house, the first apple I bit into when I grew my first tooth and even the first potty I used!” Rainbow sighed. It was Starlight’s turn to burst into a fit of giggles.
“Yeah, yeah, yak it up,” Rainbow grumbled and crossed her forelegs.
“At least you had a trophy room for something,” Starlight sighed, “Dad left my room the same as it was when I left Sire’s Hollow.” She immediately regretted saying that and she put a hoof to her mouth. Rainbow was quick to notice and a sly smile crept up on her face.
“And what was your room like when you left your hometown?” Rainbow asked.
“Just… your average foal-ish room,” Starlight said slowly, beads of sweat trickling down her face.
“Come on, tell me!” Rainbow Dash pleaded. Starlight bit her lip for a moment before letting it all out.
“I had a… phase…” She trailed off.
“A phase?” Rainbow’s eyes lit up, “Wow. Sunburst leaving must have taken you to the dark side.”
“It was just a phase, okay!” Starlight snapped.
“That’s what they all say,” Rainbow teased. Starlight gave a low groan but eventually broke into fits of laughter again as they lay on the grass.
“What kind of things your dad would do if you were out in public?” Rainbow Dash asked as she continued to gaze up at the sky.
“As he was always treating me a foal, he would want to wrap me up when he thinks it’s too cold outside. I would walk around unable to breathe or walk properly. When I feel down, he would warm up some milk and cookies, cooing at me and give me this ridiculous headscarf,” Starlight said glumly, then turned to Rainbow. “As your parents are always praising you, does it get out of hoof?”
Rainbow nodded and put a hood to her muzzle, rubbing in annoyance.
“It was particularly bad when Scootaloo found my parents and invited them to a Wonderbolts’ show with the rest of Crusaders,” Rainbow told her story, “Their cheering was so loud from the stands that every pony was backing away from them. Me, along with the other Wonderbolts, could hear them while we were performing.”
“That does sound a bit distracting,” Starlight added. Rainbow nodded.
“It got worse when they decided to launch fireworks at the same time.”
“Oh, then I take it back,” Starlight paused, “That sounds like the worst.”
“Then there was the signing. My dad got so enthusiastic that he tore off his shirt and flung it at some poor filly. My teammates were having the time of their lives.”
“You think you had it bad?” Starlight rhetorically asked, “Every nightmare night the local farm had this big pumpkin field. My dad would pick a pumpkin up and declare to every pony around ‘See this pumpky-wumpky? This over here is my pumpky-wumpky.’ I just wanted to choose a pumpkin and get this over and done with!” Starlight rolled her eyes.
“Yeah, I would want to fly out of that situation,” Rainbow gave a small smile, “But since you went on this map mission, did you manage to make up with your dad.” Starlight smiled as she gazed up at the sky. A mother bird and chick flew by.
“It got so bad with both Sunburst’s and my dad that we snapped and told them that we didn’t need their help and embarrassment as parents to us. After spending some time together and helping with the local town, it turns out that the real reason that map made us come here is to tell our parents how we felt about them,” Starlight explained, “I told them that he should stop treating me like a foal and that I have grown up and moved on in the world. He said that he only did this to make me feel safe. To be the father you can always rely on if you want to come back. He didn’t mean to make me push him away because of how embarrassed he made me feel when I was around him.”
Starlight closed her eyes and smiled, happy she completed a successful friendship mission again and reconciled with her father.
“How did you make up with your dad?” Starlight turned to Rainbow, a regretful face on hers.
“Just like you, I lashed out at my parents. I complained about how annoyingly embarrassing they are, even saying that they were the worst parents I could ever have. Scootaloo was there, and I even let my number one fan down. After a talk with Scootaloo, she told me how she always dreamed of having parents like that.”
“Why? Scootaloo must have some pony close to give her encouragement,” Starlight asked.
“With their parents being away a lot of the time, no pony close was truly there to say that she can be the best of the best, unlike me. The squirt showed me that their encouragement and support made me the most awesome pony I was today. I realised that I was just taking their support for granted.”
“And so how did you make it up?” Starlight smiled
“With the help of the Wonderbolts, we gave them a private show and special routine I managed to agree with Spitfire. Although she was a bit peeved I cut off her tail during the tour with my parents, she was more than happy to help me.”
“Family is complicated,” Starlight mused.
“And I thought my routines are complicated enough,” Rainbow sighed. They both looked up at the sky.
“So why were you so tired back there?” Rainbow asked.
“Sunburst’s mum always loves to make plans for her son. After our friendship mission, She suggested that they should come and visit us. As much as I love my dad and managed to forgive him, I don’t think I can survive the train ride with him to Ponyville.”
“Imagine if your dad and my dad met each other?” Rainbow asked mockingly.
“I don’t think either of us can live with that,” Starlight muttered.
“Applejack and Rarity will never stop pestering me about it,” Rainbow shook her head. She shivered at the idea.
They both continued lying on the grass.
“Thanks for the chat, Rainbow,” Starlight thanked, “After a long friendship mission, I didn’t know that I needed to get this off my chest.”
“Hey, what are friends for,” Rainbow smiled and puffed up her chest proudly, “Fancy getting something to eat? Talking about family is surprisingly making me hungry.”
Starlight got up and nodded, “I could get something to bite into as well. Just remember to not use those nicknames.”
“If you want to know about nicknames, get signed up into the Wonderbolts,” Rainbow teased, “There are a lot of them, but best not Spitfire’s.”
“No wings,” Starlight pointed to her back, “So are we getting food or not?”
“Totally,” Rainbow got up.
They both chatted some more as they made their way into Ponyville proper as the afternoon slowly moved into the evening.
