Romance and the Fate of Equestria

This is, by far, the most added-on chapter the story's ever seen. I've had a full outline of every chapter in Part Three since… shortly before Part Two was over, I'd say. Which was a crazy long time ago. Ever since, I've been adding things to nearly every chapter as the ideas come to me, and never more so than in this chapter right here. This scene just kept on inspiring me to make it… more so. There's probably some deep psychological reason for that, something drawn from my real life, but darned if I know what that reason is.

Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Five

Rainbow trotted down the stairs of her cloudy house, quickly putting on a cutesy, pouty-lipped face at the sight of Big Daddy and Derpy sitting at the dining table.

"Good morning, Daddy!" she chirped. "What's goin' on here?"

Derpy rolled one of her eyes in exasperation.

"Your adorable-ass roommate over here made blueberry pancakes," Big Daddy said with a grin, indicating the huge stack of them at the center of the table.

"Aww, that's so sweet of you, ba…" Rainbow began, before pausing in mid-word and stammering for a moment. "It's so sweet of you," she finished lamely, taking a seat at the table.

"So…" Big Daddy said. "Now that I've got Rainbow Dash here, I've got a question for you… Goopy, was it?"

Rainbow gave a dry bitter laugh, which she hastily transformed into a girlish giggle. "Her name's Derpy, Daddy. What kind of name of Goopy?"

"I dunno, what kind of name is Derpy?"

"It's short for something," said Derpy. "I don't remember what."

"Well, I wanted to ask you: where do you really live?" he challenged.

Derpy froze, wide-eyed. "I'm… sorry?" she squeaked.

"You heard me. Where do you really sleep at night?"

Rainbow and Derpy exchanged nervous glances. "Daddy," Rainbow said with an unconvincing, forced laugh, "she sleeps in the room next to the one where you're sleeping."

"No, I don't think so," he said darkly. "I got bored yesterday and explored your whole house. That room is pretty empty. You two said you've been roommates for a month now, but I don't think that room's been lived in for more than a couple days. What's really goin' on here?"

Rainbow glared at him disdainfully. "First of all," she said venomously, her voice beginning to lose the childish affectation, "don't search my house! Who does that? If you're gonna rifle through my stuff, you couldn't have done that when I was a kid and I had stuff worth finding? Secondly, I think your ranger skills have gotten rusty, old man. The room doesn't look lived in because Derpy doesn't own any stuff. We were making plans to go and get her some so the place could be more homey."

"That's actually true!" Derpy said quickly, relieved. "We were just talking about it before you came into town. Getting me some stuff of my own."

Rainbow smiled at her graciously. Derpy took one look at her and nodded decisively.

"But, um, the truth is…" she said. "I really have only been in that one room for just this weekend. I actually sleep with Rainbow Dash. The reason I left my fiancé was that Rainbow and I were in love."

Big Daddy swung his head toward Rainbow, who was merely gaping. "You… you… how could you…" she stammered.

"Derpy, could you give us a moment?" Big Daddy said quietly.

"Of course. I'll be upstairs."

She started flying away, and Rainbow quickly snapped back to reality. "Wha—hey!"

Derpy stopped.

"Thank you," Rainbow muttered. "That needed to happen."

"I know," Derpy replied.

Rainbow smiled with admiration as Derpy went upstairs without another word or look back.

"Listen, Daddy, I um…"

"It's okay, Rainbow," Big Daddy assured her. "You didn't have to hide from me that you were in a serious relationship, but I understand why you did." He lowered his voice conspiratorially. "Don't worry about a thing. I don't believe her."

"You don't?" Rainbow said in alarm.

"Well, I believe she thinks it's true," he clarified. "Some ponies just can't get the real meaning of a relationship through their heads. It's all right, sweetheart, I know you. I know you're just goofin' around with her. If she wants to think you're in love, that's her problem. Am I right?"

"That's…" She sighed in disbelief. "No, Daddy, she's right. Okay? We're in love."

He paused. "Honey, she's upstairs, I don't think she can hear you—"

"Okay, then I'll speak really quietly!" Rainbow said in annoyance. She leaned across the table and whispered in his ear, enunciating every word: "I am in love with her." She leaned back and glared.

"Oh, darlin'…" he said in a pained voice. "I thought I taught you better than that. Did you not see—? Were you not watching my life while you were growin' up? Do you wanna end up like me?"

Rainbow looked as if she'd been slapped. "Wow," she remarked. "Wowwwww. Now? You say that now? I spend my entire life trying to get you to ask that question, and you say it now? Because I fell in love? What is wrong with you?"

"What are you talkin' about?" he demanded.

"Do you remember how I acted as I was growing up?" Rainbow sneered. "The way I let you catch me doing all kinds of bad stuff?"

Big Daddy laughed. "Let me catch you?"

"Oh, get real, Daddy! We both know I'm too cool and too clever to get caught if I didn't wanna get caught. Open your eyes, man, why do you think that when I got high, it was out in the open on the schoolyard where anypony could see me? Why do you think that when I went out clubbing with my friends, it was at your favorite hangouts? Why do you think that whenever I had sex, it was in your bed, at the time of day when you'd be coming home from work? Huh? It's called acting out, Big Daddy. Lots of kids do it, I just had to do it a lot louder than the other kids if I was gonna get you to notice.

"I did these things because I wanted to hear you say the words 'Do you want to end up like me?' so I could give you a big, fat, dramatically echoing… 'NO!'" Rainbow pounded the table with a hoof. "No, I don't! I love you, Big Daddy, but I don't want to end up like you."

"Hey, I had no problem with the sex and the drugs," he said. "Whatever you wanted to do with your life, great. That was great! 'Cause you were protecting yourself from the pain of the world. Why do you think I do those things? It's too late for me, I'm just going numb, but you? You never let the pain get to you." His expression softened longingly. "I envied you for that. I was proud of you."

"Ugh!" she exclaimed in disgust.

"I admired you for being such a free spirit," he said insistently. "I knew you were never gonna get tied down and lose everything. You weren't gonna end up like me." He glared at her darkly. "But if this is somethin' you envision lastin' longer than a cheap high, if you really love that filly up there, then it's too late. You learned nothin' and I was no good at all."

"Daddy—"

"She doesn't own any stuff?" he snapped. "It's pretty clear what's goin' on there. One day, she's gonna fly out that door with half your stuff and you will never see her again."

"What if that's not what she's after?" Rainbow said through gritted teeth. "What if she loves me? Did you ever think of that?"

"Not really," he said coldly.

"Well…" She spluttered inelegantly for a moment before mumbling, "Start thinking about it!"

Big Daddy softly tapped his hoof against her dining table, thinking hard. "Rainbow," he said quietly, "did you ever wonder why I never told you about your mother?"

"My mother?" she said in alarm, momentarily caught off-guard by the subject change, before shrugging it off. "Not really, no. Only every day for the past twenty-seven years."

He winced at the retort.

"Why?" she said suspiciously. "Is now suddenly the right time?"

"I think it is. I never told you who your mother was because, the truth is, I really have no idea who she was."

"I'm sorry?" she demanded. "How does that work? How does a guy not know who the mother of his child is?"

"If you'd let me tell the story…" he hissed. "The first I ever heard of her was when these lawyers came to my door, see? Some mare had died, and in her will, she'd had it set up so her baby daughter would go to the father: me. I didn't believe it. They showed me a picture of the deceased, they told me her name, but I didn't know this mare. But you…"

He reached out to stroke Rainbow Dash's mane, and she recoiled. "Don't touch me," she growled.

Big Daddy backed off agreeably. "You had that beautiful mane just like me, and my father, and my grandfather. Heh, it looks a whole lot better on a filly than it did on any of us. Once I got my hooves on some solid proof that that was your real mane color, that you had it when you were born, I realized it must be true, I must be your dad. As far as I can figure out, I must have been with this mare when I was too drunk or high or somethin' to remember even the slightest detail about her."

Rainbow quivered with rage. "Charming," she spat. "Do you still have the picture of her?"

"No."

"What was her name?"

"I don't remember."

"Oh, come on! How did she die?"

"Suicide."

Rainbow gasped.

"Drowned herself," Big Daddy said grimly. "The lawyers told me the whole thing. She made out her will, and then half an hour later, she stuck her head in a washtub. Held her breath until she passed out; then once she was unconscious, she drowned." He chuckled bitterly. "You gotta really wanna die to pull that off. That shit takes some self-control."

Rainbow didn't have a response. She was slumped in her chair, her eyes wide and her spirit broken.

"I'm sorry," said Big Daddy. "It's not an easy thing to learn, I'm sure. I know you probably liked to imagine your mom as somepony beautiful and wonderful who loved you very much and wished she could be with you. I'm sorry for breakin' that illusion, but it's true. She died on you, Rainbow Dash. And I'm tellin' you this now so you understand that love, it… just isn't a real thing in this world."

Rainbow's face darkened and she turned her head away from him. "What about the love between a dad and a daughter?" she growled. "Is that a real thing?"

He didn't answer.

"You're wrong," Rainbow said flatly. "Okay? You just are. Love is as real as the air we breathe. You might as well sit there and tell me that we don't control the weather! You can't write off love itself just because you had some bad experiences, man. Look at me, I've been drunkenly drifting through a series of one-night stands since I was thirteen because it was the most meaningful thing I could ever rustle up, but all I thought about that was, hey, maybe real relationships aren't my thing right now, maybe I'll figure it out when I get older. But to give up hope entirely, I really don't think that ever even occurred to me. Apparently, giving up runs deep in my genes, but it's just not a part of who I am. So… I'm not gonna end up like you, you miserable bastard. I'm not gonna live this cold non-existence of your life, you… you… you hollowed-out… monstrosity."

He blinked several times. "…What?"

"I'M NOT GOOD WITH THE POETIC INSULTS, ALL RIGHT?" she snarled. "Look, let me just break this down into what you need to know: Derpy is the better half of me. She's my whole world, and everything she says and does makes me realize that I'm hers too. Every day, I try my best to express that as well as she does. It's a challenge, but I love a challenge. And I'm so certain that we're supposed to be together, that I'm going to ask her to marry me this year at the Summer Sun Celebration. And then we'll get married on… I dunno, some kind of real romantic day. Probably not the anniversary of the day we first hooked up, 'cause that was her wedding day to the other guy, some ponies might say that's in bad taste, but whatever, we'll pick a day.

"But, but, but, but the point is this: I love her. I will always love her. And if you've got a problem with that, you can get your ass out of my house."

Sneering at her, Big Daddy scooted his chair backward and stood up. "All right," he said. "Sorry to disappoint you, Rainbow, but if you're gonna give me a reason to get out, fine, I'll get out."

He walked to the door, but stopped when he reached it, turning back to her in confusion. "Aren't you gonna—?"

"I said get out and I meant GET OOOOUUUUT!" she screamed, swooping down and shoving him away. "Out! Out! Out! You completely screwed up my life! I had no childhood, you understand? I look at the foals running around town, and I think, is that what kids are supposed to be like?

"There's… there's this kid Scootaloo," she said, her voice growing slow and quiet. "She thinks I'm the greatest. She wants to be me. And I act like, 'Hey, I get it, anypony would want to be this awesome' while I'm thinking, gosh… I wish I had her life. I should be the one following her around everywhere she goes."

Tears streamed down Rainbow's face. "I'm sick of pretending that the way you raised me was even close to okay. Get out. Get out of here. Now."

Big Daddy's face fell. "Yeah, well, I should've seen this comin'. You're lettin' me down, just like everypony else I ever thought I loved." He sighed and turned away.

"Well, maybe think about taking some responsibility for your own actions, you bastard," Rainbow rasped. He was already gone, out the door, and she was crying too hard to have been audible anyway.

Only a short few seconds passed before Derpy came down the stairs. "Rainbow?" she whispered.

She found Rainbow, crumpled on the floor and heaving with sobs, but at the sight of Derpy she managed a smile. "H-hey, Derpy."

Derpy slowly approached, reaching out a gentle, comforting hoof, but Rainbow took her by surprise by grabbing her abruptly, pulling her close and sobbing into her chest.

"I'm so sorry, sweetie," said Derpy, stroking Rainbow's hair. "I tried not to listen, but it got… loud."

"Mm-hmm," Rainbow squeaked, her voice muffled.

Derpy sat there and waited as Rainbow continued to cry, offering no words, only physical comfort, embracing her tighter and tighter as the minutes passed. Soon, Rainbow took a deep breath and shortly thereafter was silent.

"Rainbow?" Derpy said quietly.

"Yeah?"

"Are you really gonna propose to me at the Summer Sun Celebration?"

Rainbow wiped the tears from her eyes absently and looked up at Derpy. "That's, uh, that's the plan, yeah. It was gonna be a surprise, but… I guess that doesn't matter too much…"

"I thought we were going to try living together for a year before talking about the next step," Derpy objected.

"No," Rainbow sighed. "I can't do it. I can't wait a whole year. I want you to be mine forever, and I want forever to start, in a very official type of way, as soon as we can."

Derpy's eyes grew misty. "Oh, sweetie…"

On a sudden inspiration, Rainbow flew over to the closet near the front door, pulling it open. "Listen, Derpy, I… I want you to have this."

She presented Derpy with her thick black cloak, holding it aloft by its silver, wolf's-head clasp.

Derpy's eyed widened and her lip thinned, inhaling reverently at the significance of the gift. "You want me to have your dad's cloak?"

"It's not my dad's, it's mine," Rainbow said impatiently. "You don't have any possessions? Well, this'll be your first. I love this thing, it's a part of me. And I want you to have it."

"Okay," Derpy peeped. She took it, and slowly draped it around her shoulders. "Ooh, so fuzzy!" she squealed in delight. "Oh… it's like having you with me all the time to keep me warm wherever I go."

Rainbow Dash smiled, then sighed and looked out the window at nothing in particular. "Derpy, can you do me a favor?"

"Of course. Anything."

"Could you… sleep in that guest room again tonight?"

"The guest room?" said Derpy, blinking in alarm. "But… I've been sleeping in the guest room all weekend. That's, like, two nights. Two whole nights without… you." She bit her lip, staring at Rainbow meaningfully.

Rainbow chuckled. "I know. Those two nights drove me crazy too. But… tonight, I gotta think about some things. I just now let out some stuff that I've been sitting on for… most of my life. If we did anything… intimate… before I had a chance to sleep on all of that and put all my sad thoughts in safe, normal places, I'd just feel like I was taking advantage of you."

"Oh, honey, you can take advantage of me," Derpy urged. "Please, pleeeease take advantage of me. Won't it be so much better than just lying in bed sad? I wanna help you."

Rainbow laughed again and walked over to Derpy, stroking her face with the back of her hoof. "You're cute when you beg. And by tonight, I'll probably be begging too. But remember when we were tempted to stay in bed all day, and you said you'd be the strong one? I need you to be the strong one again for me. Okay? No matter how much I want it or you want it, if I sleep with you today, my conscience will never let me forget it. Promise me you'll be the strong one."

Defeated, Derpy hung her head. "Okay. I promise." She sniffled. "I love you so much, Rainbow Dash."

"I love you too." Rainbow nuzzled Derpy's face. "We'll see where I'm at tomorrow morning, okay?"

"Okay," Derpy peeped. "Rainbow… I don't think this is over forever. You'll get your daddy back someday."

"Maybe you're right," said Rainbow, sighing. "I don't even know if I want you to be right…"

Derpy's eyes moistened and quivering, darting around as she tried desperately to figure out what to say next. Finally, she forced out, "Pancakes?"

Rainbow sobbed violently, causing Derpy to jump backward in surprise. Rainbow was smiling through a torrent of tears.

"Pancakes would be awesome, babe," she choked out.