"Okay Fluttershy, are you ready to see the newest most-amazing super fantastic trick ever performed by a Pegasus?" the rainbow maned pony hovered excitedly in front of another Pegasus resting on the edge of a soft cloud.
"Um...I think so?" Fluttershy answered hesitantly. Rainbow Dash just shook her head, groaning.
"Can't you show just a little bit of enthusiasm? You're the first pony who's gonna see this trick. You should be thanking me for the opportunity!" Fluttershy averted her gaze. She really didn't understand why Rainbow Dash kept inviting her out to these things. She knew that she didn't make for a very good cheering squad, though she tried her best.
Still, Rainbow Dash had a point, being able to see all of her tricks first hoof was always an amazing experience.
She'd just have to try harder, for Rainbow Dash. She took a deep breath...
"Okay, absolutely. I am so super ready to see your amazing new trick," she said in a voice she hoped was enthusiastic enough, but didn't go too far. She didn't want to shock anypony.
"Well...that's actually pretty good for you," Rainbow Dash admitted. "Okay then, prepare yourself for the coolest trick ever!"
"Actually, I was kind of wondering...why are you doing this new trick? I mean, you already have the sonic rainboom," Fluttershy found her asking.
"Well I can't do the same trick every time, even a sonic rainboom will get boring eventually. I'm gonna need new stuff for when I join the Wonderbolts. But thinking up new tricks is no problem for a pony like me, now just sit back and take in my greatness," Rainbow Dash rushed off into the air, quickly gathering all the clouds in the sky. Fluttershy made sure to keep her eyes locked on the tough Pegasus. She didn't want to miss a moment of this trick.
Okay, so Rainbow had all the clouds put together in one bunch and now she was...punching them?
No...she was shaping them! But into what? She was able to recognize the form of a wing...maybe Rainbow Dash was making a beautiful butterfly, or a majestic falcon?
But then she saw a long thin tail curl out of the clouds, joined by a large powerful head full of sharp terrible teeth...
Rainbow Dash was making a cloud d-d-dragon!
Rainbow Dash was moving faster and faster around the clouds as the dragon continued to form. Two pairs of monstrous legs grew outwards and in just a few moments the body would be finished.
Fluttershy knew the dragon wasn't real, but did Rainbow Dash have to make it so...scary?
When she was finished the cloud dragon seemed to take up half the sky. Rainbow Dash zoomed ahead of its gaping maw, her own momentum pulling the dragon behind her. Fluttershy could barely believe it, Rainbow Dash was going to battle a dragon for her trick!
As the dragon followed her Rainbow Dash would pause every few moment to deliver a few quick attacks, but Fluttershy could tell she was also subtly altering the air currents to hold the dragon's shape together and to keep it chasing her. Rainbow Dash must have been working on this for months!
The dragons mouth was right behind Rainbow Dash now, seeming almost snap at her tail. It drew closer and closer until it was almost colliding with her.
But that was just part of the show, right?
Just like how it almost looked like Rainbow Dash was being pushed by the cloud dragon and being forced towards the ground. Just like how Rainbow Dash was yelling and trying pull out of the steep dive.
All part of the...show?
"Oh my goodness oh my goodness!" Fluttershy exclaimed, diving off the cloud after her friend, but she was so far away!
She flapped her wings as fast as she could, cutting through the air. Thankfully, she saw Rainbow Dash pull away from the mass off clouds, but she was still spiral out of control, she needed something to land on or else she could end up crashing into the ground!
What could she do? There had to be something...something...
There! A cloud that Rainbow Dash had missed somehow. Straining her wings she arced over to Rainbow Dash's chance of safety and snatched it out of the sky.
Okay, now if she rushed over here she should be right in Rainbow Dash's spiraling path. Just hold the cloud right here and Rainbow Dash should neatly land in its cushion surface.
Rainbow Dash smashed face first into the cloud, bringing her to a crashing halt.
"Ugh..." she groaned, muffled by the cloud. Slowly, she pulled herself out, rubbing the top of her head.
"That was amazing Rainbow Dash!" Fluttershy said. "I've never seen a trick like that before."
"Yeah, but I'm the one who's supposed to defeat the dragon, not the other way around," Rainbow Dash grumbled, settling herself down on the cloud. "I just need a little more wind control to make it all work." She looked over the edge of her cloud to see the last of her dragon dissipate into the air.
"You'll get it soon Rainbow Dash. I can't think of any Pegasus that's worked harder than you," Fluttershy told her, settling down on the cloud.
"Well of course, I've got to be the best I can be Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash replied, grinning boldly at her. "I mean after all..." She paused.
"After all...what?" Fluttershy asked.
"Well...I've gotta surpass my dad one of these days," Rainbow Dash finished after a few moments silence.
"Your dad? I don't think I've met him before," Fluttershy said, in fact, she realized that she'd never met either of Rainbow Dash's parents.
"Well of course not, you're always down here with your animal friends. Dad's usually up in Cloudsdale working on the weather," Rainbow Dash explained. "But if you met him, you'd understand. He's probably one of the coolest ponies in all of Equestria!"
"Dad? I'm home from flight school!" Rainbow Dash called as she walked into her house. She could always count on her dad being home before her, and he'd always be waiting in-
"I'm in the kitchen Dashie," right on cue, his deeper voice answered her. Grinning to herself, she sauntered into the kitchen to see her father hard at work chopping up no less than seven different fruits and vegetables.
"Dad, I'm way too old for that silly nickname," her dad just shrugged at her complaints, a small chuckle escaping his lips as he focused on the food in front of him. "So what are you working on today? Something old, or something new?"
"Something very new! I found this new fruit in the market called a guava, and I'm trying to blend its flavor in with everything else. Very difficult, don't want it overriding anything. But if I can do it right, it should be fantastic! Just need to mix these fruits together like so and then..." Rainbow Dash just nodded along, when her dad got going she knew it was just easier for everyone if you looked like your were listening.
"Is this gonna be like the time you thought a licorice sauce would be a good topping for grilled cheese sandwiches?" she asked with a coy grin when her dad had finished.
"I thought we all agreed that was an acquired taste? And besides, you can't get something perfect everytime," he paused for a moment. "Anyway, how was flight school today?"
"Oh it was awesome dad!" Rainbow Dash's wings started to flutter excitedly, pulling her around the room. Her dad quickly focused on her. He was probably making sure she didn't hurt herself, like that would ever happen. "My teacher started going over the techniques you needed to pull off the tough flight moves. And then, since everyone paid such good attention, we got to watch a movie with the Wonderbolts!"
"What kind of movie?" her dad asked, sucking in his breath a bit as she passed by his knife collection.
"It was from one of their shows in Canterlot! Spitfire and Soarin were in the leading pulling off the cooles tricks I've ever seen! They had barrel rolls and somersaults and loop-de-loops..." the more tricks she listed off the faster she flew around the room until she was almost a blur. In fact, she bet there was enough room in her to do one of the tricks! She would just need to turn there to avoid smashing into one of the cabinets and-
Something yanked her out of the air down to the kitchen floor. Her dad's hooves were clasped tight against her sides so that no matter how hard she flapped her wings, she wouldn't move.
"Aww dad, I just wanted to do one trick," she complained.
"Well how about this? We can go outside, away from something dangerous or breakable, and I can watch you do the tricks there?" he offered, releasing his grip.
"Oh yeah! Great idea dad," she ran out of the kitchen in less than a second, diving off the front deck into the open air. Her wings were held out steady and strong, keeping her aloft. Her dad followed about a minute after, probably making sure the kitchen was in good order before he left. She didn't see the point, what was gonna happen? Would the food rebel if everything didn't look nice enough?
He simply stepped off the edge of the deck, hovering softly over to her.
"Okay, so what trick would you like to do first?" he asked, settling down on a nearby cloud.
"I think I'll warn up with one of the easier ones. A triple barrel roll finished with a loop-de-loop!" she stated with bravado. "Let's do this!" Immediately she was rushing through the air, the wind whistling in her ears. She had to pick up enough speed so the trick would look cool enough. Out of the corner of her eye she could see that her dad had given her his full attention. Good, she wanted him to see what a good flier she was.
And execute the trick...now!
She dropped one wing slightly, sending herself into a spiral. The first two turns went great but her wing got caught on a stray breeze on the last and knocked her off balance.
Stupid! That was the first thing her teacher had taught them today, always be aware of the wind currents! It took her a few moments but she was able to right herself. Still, she'd lost most of her momentum, it just wouldn't be worth it to finish the trick. She glided back to her dad, landing on the cloud in a huff.
"Well done, that was great Dash!" he congratulated.
"It would have been better if I had finished it..." she grumbled.
"Still, I bet you're a better flier than the rest of your class," her dad consoled, wrapping a wing over her back.
"Yeah, probably," she admitted. "Hey, I've got an idea! What if you do the trick, then I can watch and see how it's done!" She always heard her classmates talking about how their parents would help them with flying lessons. For her, it had mainly been self taught at home. If her dad helped teach her, there was no telling how great she could be!
"Oh, well..." it seemed her dad didn't fully agree with her. "I may not be the best teacher..."
"Come on dad! You can do this!" she urged. Finally, her dad slumped down with a sigh.
"Okay, but remember, I'm an old stallion so I may not be able to fly as fast as you," Rainbow Dash just nodded and kept rapt attention as her dad glided off of the cloud.
His form was absolutely perfect, she couldn't believe how steady his flying was. Everything looked amazing.
At least for the first part...
"Um...are you okay dad?" she asked hesitantly. With a muffled grunt her dad pulled his head out of a wandering cloud, shaking the stray vapor loose.
"Well...half of a roll is pretty good right?" he asked a little sheepishly. Rainbow Dash couldn't help herself, she burst out laughing.
She didn't know how long she kept it up but was finally able to get herself under control after her dad had flown back to their personal cloud.
"Oh, sorry dad, it's just that you're...you're really not that cool are you?" she said to him.
"Well..." he looked a little hurt, but finally admitted it with a nod of his head. "But that's what I've got you for Dash, you can make up for me. You're much cooler than I'll ever be." He managed to finish with a smile.
"Probably," Rainbow Dash agreed, though a small part of her felt a little bad about it.
"But I think that's enough tricks for today. I think I'll head back to the kitchen," her dad said, stepping to the edge of the cloud.
"Wait, can't we stay out a little bit longer? How about we play a game or something?" she asked.
"Oh...you know I'm not really good at that sort of this Dash. Why don't you wait for mom to get home?" he replied.
"Ugh, but it always takes forever for mom to get home from work! C'mon, it'll be great. Let's start by building a cloud fort!" she squirmed away from her dad and started to gather up stray clouds, building up a wall around them. Her dad tried to help her, but it was obvious he didn't really know what he was doing.
"Hurry up dad! We need to get this finished before the dragons get here!" she warned him.
"Dragons?" her dad was a bit skeptical.
"Yeah, they're almost here!" she glanced upwards and saw a lonely cloud drifting toward them. No, it was a great big red dragon on patrol! It hadn't noticed them yet, but it would soon, and then it would be a fight for their lives!
"Now lie down, we need to be quiet so we can get a sneak attack," she said, waving her dad over next to her.
"Wouldn't it be safer to wait for the dragon to pass by?" he offered, nestling down next to her.
"Well where's the fun in that?" she whispered back, but it was still too loud. The clou-dragon heard her and angled down towards them, its mouth opening up in a toothy smile. "Oh no dad! The dragon's coming, get ready!"
"I don't know Dash...I'm just not any good at this..." he just shook his head.
"Come on, he's getting closer!" she pleaded. The dragon was nearly on top of them, the sunlight glimmering over his scaled skin. "I need your help dad, even I can't beat a dragon on my own!" He still looked unsure. It seemed like she would have to do this on her own. It would be tough, but she'd manage somehow.
The dragon dived down towards her as she braced herself. She knew it wasn't real, but a part of her was still worried.
What if it was real? Would her dad really just leave her like-
"Ahh!" a battle cry shocked Rainbow Dash out of her thoughts and suddenly her dad was flying through the air. "Don't you dare lay a single claw on my little Dashie!"
Ugh, why he'd have to to ruin his battle cry with something like that? Wait...she could work with it.
The battle cry was so weird it even confused the dragon! Her dad smashed into its snout with a powerful kick, knocking it out of the sky with a painful wail.
"So how was that Dash?" her dad asked, a triumphant grin on his face.
"That was so awesome! But look out, more are coming!" on the horizon ten more dragons were heading towards them, no wait, it was a hundred! No, there were too many to count, they practically blotted out the sun!
"Then I'll need your help, won't I?" he told her. In an instant, she was right by his side.
It was Rainbow Dash and her dad against every dragon in Equestria.
The dragons never stood a chance.
"Hey dad?" Rainbow Dash nudged the resting stallion. She didn't blame him, she was absolutely exhausted after fighting back all those dragons. Still, he managed to force his eyes open a little. "I'm sorry about...what I said earlier. You're way cooler than I thought."
"Hey," he gave her a grin. "You know I'll always be there to protect you Dashie, no matter what." Rainbow Dash grumbled a little, but didn't say anything. She simple nuzzled closer to his side, wrapped underneath his wing.
"Thanks dad," she whispered before a yawn overtook her. That was probably enough action for one day, a nap sounded pretty good right now.
She closed her eyes.
"Well, um, what makes your dad so cool?" Fluttershy asked Rainbow Dash.
"Well uh...it's not one of those things that you can just put into words. If I had to try I'd say...he was always there for me. He was just the best dad I could have asked for," Fluttershy smiled at her, accepting the answer. "Now move back, I'm gonna try the trick again." Fluttershy quickly obeyed, moving back to an empty cloud further away.
Watching her for a moment, Rainbow Dash turned her gaze towards the welcoming sun.
One day dad...one day I hope I can be as great as you...
She jumped.
Author's Note
Because family.
