“Daaaad! Hurry up!”
Rainbow Dash’s father chuckled; the only time he’s seen his daughter this happy was when he took her to a Wonderbolts show.
“I’m coming Dash”
He caught up to her; Rainbow Dash was already making attempts to fly, but she couldn’t lift more than a few inches above the cloud they were walking on. She ran ahead once more, mind and body filled with excitement.
The little filly eyed the building, it was a tall cloud construct that was joined by many other cloud buildings, extending the school grounds as far as the eye could see. An arch above her adorned the words “Cloudsdale Elementary”. It was her first day of school, and she was static on the prospect of making new friends and actually learn something about flying unlike in kindergarten.
She had a dream: one day she would become Equestria’s best flier and Captain of the Wonderbolts. Ever since she saw them at the city’s dome she couldn’t stop thinking about the team. The way they soared through the skies, wind blowing at their manes as they risked their lives in the most daring and beautiful tricks. All leaving their signature traces in the air, coloring the blue expanse and giving it more life. Rainbow Dash wanted that, she needed it.
“Alright Dash, this is your fist day eh big girl? Behave out there and make lots of friends alright?” He gave her a noogie, making her blush.
“Jeez dad, okay, okay! Hehehe, I’ll behave and make friends, promise!” She gave him the biggest grin she could muster, further amusing her father.
He left and she turned around to have a better look at the building, many other small fillies and colts were already frolicking and playing inside the establishment. Rainbow Dash ran inside, the filly couldn’t be late or she’d miss out on what the new school had to offer.
She wished she missed out; it didn’t take long to realize her class wasn’t exactly formed with the politest pegasi of Equestria, in fact, quite the contrary. Most of the ponies in her class didn’t like each other, and they didn’t like her either.
“C’mon Rainbow Crash, is that all you got?”
“What did you just call me!? It’s Rainbow DASH!”
Rainbow Dash fumed, an orange colt from her class just witnessed her crashing onto the cloud floor, failing to pass through the last ring in the obstacle course. She thought the flying classes would be enjoyable, but the task was harder than she initially predicted, and her peers constantly harassed her whenever she failed. It didn’t help the ponies that mocked her were doing better as well.
“Hahaha, Rainbow Crash! That’s hilarious!”
A brown colt joined the orange one and gave him a hoof bump, they laughed at the filly’s expense as she looked for help among her colleagues. But all she saw were the other colts smirking and the fillies rolling their eyes, nopony was willing to lift a hoof to assist her.
“C’mon you slackers! There are more obstacles to go, Rainbow Dash; you’re doing this one again until you get it right!”
“But-“
“I don’t wanna hear it Rainbow Dash, do it again! What are you looking at slowpokes? I said there are more obstacles!”
Her flying instructor seemed to have a temper that nopony in her class dared to face, they quickly obeyed. Rainbow Dash had forgotten his name, not that she cared much about him anyway, he always seemed to pick on her and, much like her classmates, never confronted or seemed to care about the bullies. Unfortunately, this was a rule among the teachers, and not an exception.
Hours and hours were spent sitting down on a chair that was barely comfortable, listening to lectures she was barely interested in. Rainbow Dash didn’t care about “Commander Hurricane”, even though she had to admit that was an awesome name, and whatever he and his subordinates did over a thousand years ago. She wasn’t even born back then, why was this important at all!?
She quickly tired of waking up so early in the morning to be bullied and be informed of things she barely understood or cared about in the slightest. The little filly attempted to take naps during the classes she didn’t like, but her teachers had zero tolerance on ponies that slept in.
Her only comfort was the flight lessons, but they only happened twice a week. The schedule was too strict, and there wasn’t enough free time in recession, she really missed the nap breaks from kindergarten.
“Rainbow Dash!”
“H-hun?”
“You slept in! Do it again little filly and you’ll be sent straight to the principal’s office!”
“W-what? No, Uh... I-I wasn’t sleeping in!”
“Really? Then what were we discussing young lady?”
Rainbow Dash frantically searched for something in the classroom that could give her a clue, but the black board was empty and she didn’t even took her book out of the bag. Her teacher glared at her, knowing she was right about her sleeping. Her classmates only delighted at her predicament.
“Uh…”
Her teacher sighed: “Open your Geography book Rainbow Dash, page 27”.
Felling humiliated, she obeyed.
“What’s wrong Rainbow Crash? Your father can’t afford a decent bed for you to sleep properly?”
Somehow, despite only attacking her with words, when the bullies were girls the situation was even worse. The colts physically harmed her once in a while and only made fun of her calling names and always focusing on her failures. But the girls judged her; everything she did was scrutinized and thrown back at her, always at a negative light. They always managed to make even positive facts about her seen as a bad thing.
She spent seven months in this new school, and she couldn’t bear it anymore. Dash didn’t fight back from the bullies; she wanted to be calm and collected like her father was. But that backfired, as her peers considered that a weakness and she became an easy target.
Rainbow Dash grinded her teeth, she had enough of these bullies suffocating her and insulting her family and herself. She wasn’t going to take this anymore, she tried being nice and patient, but if they weren’t going to reciprocate, then she was going to fight fire with fire.
“SHUT UUUUUP” She screamed and lunged at the filly, punching her repeatedly in her snout, she let go of all her frustration from the past months, all of her pain and sorrow was turned into violence, she continued to yelp as she punched the girl below her. After she broke the filly’s nose, her teacher separated them.
“That’s it; you’re in a lot of trouble Rainbow Dash!” Her teacher grabbed her wrist tightly and dragged her to the principal’s office, calling her father afterwards.
Rainbow Dash's father chatted with her teacher briefly. He looked shocked to know what his daughter did, she had never exhibited this kind of behavior at home, and she always told him things were fine. He glanced at her. It was only for a brief second, but the look of disappointment in his face hurt more than any crash she had ever experienced.
They talked with the principal, he was fortunately more lenient on Rainbow Dash, but was still very firm with her father about her behavior. He promised he would talk with her and discuss why she would do such a thing. She never got herself into trouble for the most part of the year, so there was no suspension.
They walked home instead of flying, silently. Her father didn’t know what to say, her mother had died while giving birth, and he had to figure out how to act for both parts as a single father for the most time. This was one of the hardest parts. He pondered his options, and why his daughter would act this way, she always said school went fine, although she never really wanted to talk about it. He figured it was just something of her age, but perhaps it was something else he may have overlooked.
She was always a bit downcast after coming back from school, but looked happy when she saw him. It was tough to be observant when you had to juggle financial issues and two employments, but he thought that was no excuse, he should have talked with her more, paid more attention to her and her problems. Was he a bad parent for this? Did he end up raising a child with violent tendencies because he was not present enough? Doubts gnawed at his mind. He had to take the initiative and have a serious and long conversation with her.
They returned home, it was a very small humble abode. He sat in the living room on their old decaying sofa.
“Come here Rainbow Dash, we need to talk”.
A lump formed in her throat as she looked up to her father, he looked sad. She knew it was her fault; the filly loved her father and never wished to cause him harm, but it happened. She messed up; tears formed in her eyes and flowed down her cheeks as she had this realization.
“I-I’m so sorry, I-I didn’t…” She ran up to his lap and repeatedly apologized, begging for forgiveness as she wept.
Being surprised for the second time that day, Rainbow Dash’s father hugged her tightly. She seemed to be in pain as well, something was wrong and she didn’t tell him.
“Hey hey, ssshhh. It’s okay Rainbow Dash, it’s okay. Tell me, what exactly happened back in your class?”
She swallowed her sadness briefly and wiped her tears away, trying to speak, it was difficult.
“I’m… I’m sorry, I slept in class and t-then… It… it was Firefly! S-she said you couldn’t afford a good bed for me to sleep! She always says mean things to me, and the other ponies in class too! They… t-they” She sobbed, and started crying again.
It was worse than he thought, not only was she being bullied, but her entire class was onto her.
“Why didn’t you tell me this sooner Rainbow Dash? I could have helped you.”
“I didn’t want to worry you dad… You already have so many problems with your jobs a-and money.”
The Dash family was never known to be very wealthy, Rainbow’s father’s parents have passed away long ago and their heritage was small, giving him an uncomfortable house with a few furnishings. He married Rainbow’s mother out of love, and she wasn’t on a much better situation. It was a daily struggle to maintain the house and raise his daughter; he already owed a mortgage to the bank.
But he worked hard, and it paid off. He managed to keep a dignifying lifestyle for his daughter, but it seems she knew about his troubles. More than he knew about hers. It pained him to realize this, but it was time he changed his ways.
“Rainbow Dash, look at me. No job or money is ever, ever going to be more important than you. If you have any problem, you tell me okay? I love you, and I’m here for you, and I’ll do anything to make you happy, alright?”
She sniffed and nodded.
“I know it’s hard Rainbow Dash, and you’ve been a very polite filly this year. Look, I’m raising some money right now, and in about a year we can try changing your school. Would you like that?”
She nodded again.
“Ok, just one more year alright Rainbow Dash? Just be patient, you can do it; you’re the most awesome filly I know after all”.
Rainbow Dash finally smiled, and hugged her father again.
“Look, I know you’ve been trying to be patient with the bullies too, but don’t let the other kids get to you. Fight back; just don’t use violence ok? If you just pretend you’re going to hurt them, most will be too scared to try anything. You understand?”
“O-okay…”
It wasn’t exactly the best of life lessons, but it worked out for himself when he was her age. He still remembers scaring off his bullies by lifting a brick off the ground and threatening to hurt them with it, he heard the poor bastards even wet their beds that night.
For the next two months, the bullies were very quiet. They didn’t mess with Rainbow Dash for the most part. When the year was over the Pegasus found herself conflicted, her father didn’t want her to be violent, but violence worked. The bullies had left her alone for a while, but as the year ended they resumed picking on her, albeit very lightly. It seems they had found new targets within themselves.
On the next year, a very timid filly transferred into her class, her name was Fluttershy. Dash was reluctant to meet her, fearing she might be as bad as her other classmates. The teacher introduced her and the little yellow Pegasus ran to her seat, barely looking at her colleagues.
Much like last year, on the first day the teachers were rather lenient on the classes and homework. As usual Dash ended up ignoring most of them, and recess soon arrived. Fluttershy took this time to try introducing herself, with much effort as she fought her own shyness to do so. Most ponies simply ignored her or rolled eyes at her timidness, but then she saw Rainbow Dash. Suddenly her demeanor had changed and she smiled.
“A rainbow mane!” she quickly trotted over to her new, rainbow maned peer.
“Y-yeah, so what?”
“It's so pretty! Doesn't this mean you can do a Sonic Rainboom?”
She blushed, and then inquired: “A… what?”
“O-oh, you didn’t know? I-I’m sorry…” She quickly lowered her head, and hid her face behind her rather long mane. She slowly backed away.
“W-wait, don’t go! What’s a Sonic Rainboom?”
“Um… it’s a legend my grandmother told me once. She said that if a pony with a rainbow mane goes fast enough, they can make a beautiful rainbow without needing a factory!”
“Woah, no way! My dad works in the factory; he said the process of making a rainbow is really long and hard!”
“W-well, it is a legend. She also said her own grandmother got her cutie mark thanks to it, but there are no pictures or any proof of it, and nopony ever confirmed if it actually happened. But I didn’t think ponies with rainbow manes existed, so maybe it can really happen.”
“Wow, it really is a legend! Just like I’ll be one once I do it! Oh uh, name’s Rainbow Dash.”
“I’m, uh, F-fluttershy.”
It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship, on the coming months they chatted away and confided on each other. Rainbow’s mood considerably improved and she started looking forward to school every day. After a while, they started visiting each other’s homes, Fluttershy pointed out how small Dash’s home was, but did not add any offensive remark. She never judged other ponies, and the cyan filly was very thankful of that.
“Where’s your mom?”
“Oh, um… She’s usually not home, like my father.”
“Oh, ok. So what are we gonna play?”
“We’re doing homework first; you promised you would let me help you if you helped me with flying. I-I mean you did promise me Dashie…”
Rainbow Dash wasn’t sure what to think of that nickname, but it was certainly a big improvement over “Rainbow Crash”, which her classmates still called her.
She sighed: “Alright alright, what is it today again?”
“Geography.”
She groaned; it was her least favorite subject after History. She was a Pegasus living in the clouds, what use she had by studying the ground!?
“It’s not that bad Dashie, Geography is fun!”
"Oh, like Math?”
“Uh, w-well.”
There were only two subjects Rainbow Dash was actually better than Fluttershy: P.E. and Math. And she really exploited that when she was friendly teasing her friend, who once told her with unusual assertiveness how much she disliked Math. Rainbow’s grades were still very low averagely, and if she didn’t do something about it she could repeat the year.
“Hehehehe, I’m just kidding, let’s get this studying over with so we can play and practice flying, c’mon!”
“D-don’t run please!”
Fluttershy also had a really warm relationship with Dash’s father. He was really nice to her and was very responsible when watching over them, making sure they were safe but still having a good time. He took the girls to a Wonderbolts show once, Fluttershy had never seen them before and she loved it.
“I told you they were cool!”
“Yeah! They were so fast though, sometimes I couldn’t really keep up with what was going on.”
“You’ll get used to it after seeing them more.”
“Oh yes, I asked my parents, I’m going to change schools next year too! The same one you’re going!”.
“Oh my gosh, that’s awesome! Just three more months to go!”
“Hey girls, make a pose over there, I’m taking a picture.”
With a rather over sized camera, the pair grinned and he took the shot. A picture of two smiling fillies was made; it was the last picture they took with just the two of them. Smiling in the hopes of a better future in a better school filed with new friends.
However, they still had to deal with the bullies in their current school. When the two of them were together, they didn’t seem to bother them very much. But they attacked when the girls were alone, especially Fluttershy. At the very last month of the academic year, Fluttershy couldn't keep up with Dash in P.E., and ended up failing an obstacle as her friend flew far away.
She was still a weak flyer despite taking lessons from Rainbow Dash, who was admittedly a very bad teacher, and she didn’t practice very often, coupled with the fact she was also very tired that day from not sleeping well the night before, and a recipe for disaster was cooked. She tried flying through the cloud ring, but ended up landing narrowly on it, then falling through and sliding on a ramp, the momentum carried her forward and she struck a flag which covered her body. Finally landing, she took the flag off her body to find two colts hovering and laughing over her.
“Nice going Clutztershy, better ground you permanently”
“Hah, my baby brother can fly better than you!”
It was the most humiliating moment of her life; she was never this bad at the obstacle course before, even if she was still terrible at it overall. But then, out of nowhere, her rainbow maned friend quickly appeared and landed in front of her.
“Leave her alone!”
“Ooooh, what are you gonna do, Rainbow Crash?”
“Keep making fun of her and find out!”
“You think you’re such a big shot? Why don’t you prove it?”
“What do you have in mind?”
After school, they set up a racing ground with clouds. They have also arranged a few thick wood poles to determine the race limits, so passerbies wouldn’t waltz in race. Fluttershy held the flag with her teeth nervously, she hoped her friend wouldn’t get into trouble for setting up a race with no permission, but at least she wasn’t being violent.
“You’re going down!”
“In History maybe! See you boys at the finish line!”
Rainbow Dash grinned and readied herself for Fluttershy to wave the flag. When she did, Dash bolted ahead at high speed. Fluttershy spun out of control, nearly falling off her small cloud; she fortunately managed to reach up at the last minute. Looking at the race, she saw Rainbow winning.
She was winning! She was going to prove those bullies she was no pushover, and tell them not to mess with her friends anymore! One of the fools even crashed onto a cloud! Hah, loser! She looked back at the other one behind her and blew a raspberry. When she turned her head back around, she didn’t see the wooden pole and crashed headfirst into it.
She fell, the bully behind her at first pointed and laughed, but then he noticed she wasn’t recovering.
“R-rainbow Crash?”
Dash opened her eyes slowly; she could feel a strong wind blowing behind her, and a pain in her head. With her eyes fully open, she saw a most beautiful sight. The Sonic Rainboom spread before her, just as vivid as Fluttershy had told her once. She smiled, and kept falling.
“RAINBOW DAAAAASH!”
Fluttershy mustered all the strength she had left in her and bolted after her falling friend. She couldn’t let her friend fall; they were dangerously high in the clouds. She tried using everything Rainbow had tried to teach her, but she knew she hadn’t practiced enough. She could see the ground clearly now, and extended her hoof toward Dash.
She felt her friend for a fraction of a second, and then she hit the ground.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
Fluttershy, being a weak flyer, didn’t exactly know how to control herself at high speed. With tears in her eyes she attempted to fly back up, with no success. She crashed sideways in the ground, dislocating her shoulder. She yelped loudly, it was painful.
But not as painful as seeing her best friend’s lifeless body on the floor.
