Crystals Grow on Rainbows

Part Five: Parental Decisions of a Delicate Nature.

In this case, Opal's plan was to ride down the hill on Scootaloo's 'borrowed' scooter until reaching the launch ramp. From there, it would be a simple matter of performing complex manoeuvres, before retrieving the scooter and landing down safely. This was sure to get everypony's attention, 11 years on and Rainbow Dash still hadn't taught her the awesome parts of flying.

Up until launch went smoothly enough. She had used one of Twilight's spells to clear out all the rocks and sticks in one go, and then filled in the holes with her own hooves. It was an irony that frustrated her to no end. Flying was in her blood, not so much magic. And yet it was almost all magic training so far in her life. Five years in fact, most of it she had bludged through, teleporting had been a total flop. But she did have a knack for weather spells, being a weather pony like Dash seemed quite cool.

All those thoughts vanished when she hit the ramp at nowhere near the speed she expected. Her target was far short of the grassy fields, taking her instead to the thick forest below. "Nononononononono! Come on! I was so close!" She gripped onto the scooter tightly and began flapping her wings, but the descent was still way too fast. This was what she got for borrowing her aunt's scooter? Another trip to the hospital where they would all scold her for being so reckless. That'd be the second time this year anyway, and ninth overall.

Her eyes closed instinctively as the trees came close to giving her a nice, hard hug. All that training for her horn, and nothing that would save her from such an incident. Another way of teaching her to be a responsible little princess, or to stop taking naptime in class? A jolt to her side forced her eyes open, now no longer falling downwards, but sidewards. Her eyes slid around to hooves of sky blue, and a mane coloured like her own.

"Mooooooooooooom! This isn't fair!" She was still clutching onto the scooter, much to her relief. This was the third iteration of Scootaloo's method of transport anyway, breaking this one too couldn't end well for her. Though the moment she saw the ground nearby, she dropped it and tried to run for her life. Rainbow Dash caught her tail instead, pinning her to the ground gently.

"Opal! Don't you realize... that was pretty awesome, what you tried to do actually. But don't you realize that stealing Scootaloo's scooter is a bad thing? Even if it's to pull off a great stunt like you were going to?" Rarity had strong disapproval of her approach to discipline, but it seemed to work for her whenever Opal got out of control, like now. Presenting the pins that adjusted the height of the ramp to her seemed to deliver the message well enough.

Opal herself was hurt by the fact that her idol of all ponies, not to mention paternal mother, had sabotaged her attempt to pull off an awesome stunt. "But... all the other ponies care about is my magic. They want me to be able to, make all these awesome spells and do tricks, well Aunty Trixie does. Why won't you teach me to fly like you do?" A sigh came from the mare, a question asked so many times, and one she was soon to break on.

Ruffling the already scruffy storm of azure and rainbow hair that her daughter liked to wear her mane in, a different approach came to Dash's mind. "Learning how to control your magic is important. A lot of ponies need to learn it's there; you're special in that it's the other way around. But flying, it's a lot more dangerous. You can't just zap an injury with your horn and fix it." She was reminded again that the filly's twelfth birthday was coming up soon. "How about I make it a special present, for a special somepony on their special birthday."

An unsatisfied groan came as the response; Opal was rubbing her face into the grass out of frustration. "I don't want it for a birthday present. I wanted it three years ago, when you promised! It's not like I'll fly off into the Everfree forest and become a brumby pony the minute I can. Ponyville is great, far better than boring Canterlot with unicorns who dislike kids." Dash giggled at that, a rather accurate description of the capital city.

"Fine, tomorrow... I'll teach you take-off's, since that seems to be the part you struggle with most. Once we've got the basics covered again, we can move onto more practical things, like cloud kicking and speed. Deal?" Her filly nodded reluctantly after a few moments of considering it. "Good, now let's get you and the scooter home before Mom notices okay? You know what she's like, and she treats me the same way still."

*

Ponyville hadn't changed too much in the past twelve years. Trixie, in line with her new initiative as a proper entertainer, had set up a magic tricks shop for all ponies, mostly the non-unicorns of course. Twilight having graduated from her studies had in a similar fashion taken to teaching unicorn magic, being Opal's mentor for whenever she was in Ponyville. Pinkie was Pinkie, and now had Icing Sugar and Chimmy Cherry of her own. No-one felt they had the courage to ask how she had come to have twin foals, let alone who their father was. As expected however, they were almost identical to their mother.

"Opaaaaaaaaaal!" The two colourful ponies had set down near Sugar Cube Corner, seemingly in time for a filly who looked a lot like Pinkie to rush up and greet them. Icing's white streaks through her wild mane had earned her the name, as did her tendency to leave all cupcakes without any toppings. Opal did her best to please the Pinkie twins, but sometimes they just got under her skin.

"Oh hey Icing, I didn't think you'd be up at this time in the afternoon." The pink filly was only four, and the only word she consistently got right was the name she often squealed. "Hey uh, I don't have long to stay and chat today, maybe we can play tomorrow, okay?" It was hard to refuse her, but the alternative was Rarity feeding her gems for dinner. Spike wouldn't have a problem with that at all, but she grew out of chewing on them years ago. It was a reminder of her foalhood that seemed to work well as punishment.

Icing clung to her leg anyway, until Pinkie Pie rushed out and picked her back up. She hadn't really changed a bit in her own appearance, despite having two foals to look after. "Opal! I just finished a new cake recipe, do you wanna try? Do ya? Do ya? Do ya?" Rainbow Dash stepped in between the two at that point, to the filly's immense relief.

"She's uh, tired. Been racing down at Whitetail today, and y'know how fillies can be with their sleep. We'll stop by tomorrow anyway, I promise." Rubbing Icing's chin softly with her hoof, Dash motioned with her rear leg for Opal to break for it. That signal she didn't need to see twice to interpret, speeding away before Pinkie's attention was back onto her again.

Bursting through the front door at breakneck speed, she was up the stairs and in her own room in ten seconds flat. Seventeen and a bit actually, but she liked imitating Rainbow Dash's quotes. "So you're home at last Opal." The filly's eyes went wide at the sight of Rarity sorting out some of her clothes. Bad, very bad. She hadn't been fast enough, and now it would be emerald salad for tea!

Opal jumped up onto her bed with little enthusiasm. "I didn't mean to be out later than I was supposed to be, I promise." She lay down in a small huddle on the middle of the blanket. She was still rather small, though everypony had begun to insist that she'd start growing quite quickly once her next birthday had come. But right now, she could really do with not feeling like a newborn foal.

"Opal, I'm not upset, not about you staying out late at least. I'm only concerned that you didn't clean your room before leaving today, you've never left it messy on purpose before." Opal's face hit the covers again, another talk about her behaviour. Wasn't she allowed to have a little inconsistency in her life without alarm bells going off everywhere? At least she was consistent about not liking magic school.

"I wanted to try out a new idea I had, and I forgot. It's no big deal okay?" Rarity paused in folding up the clothing, turning at last to her daughter. To everyone else, she was almost entirely Rainbow Dash incarnate. She didn't like being part unicorn it seemed, and while that did have some concern for her mother, it was understandable. Despite that, Rarity chose the spot right above her horn to kiss her.

"Oh, you just had to say so before and that would have been fine. You've been such an independent filly, sometimes I worry that I'm not doing enough." Opal didn't like being treated like a princess; it had always come across as uncool to her. But she still had a really caring mother to go to, and the awesomest dad in Equestria of course. But it was the hugs from Rarity she appreciated, after every argument and punishment, she still loved them.