A brown pegasus mare was silently searching for something through a pile of papers on her desk.

„Where the hay did I put it?” She was a bit angry at herself for misplacing an important brochure.

She took a deep breath and adjusted her light blue mane.

„I think I already looked everywhere.”

Her green eyes wandered around the small office.

„Desk, checked. Purse, checked. File cabinets, checked. Coffee table, checked. Couch, checked.”

The booklet was still nowhere in sight.

„Maybe I accidentally threw it away?” She cringed at the thought of going through the trash.

Just as she was about to dive into the bin, a colorful piece of paper caught her attention.

„ Of course, I checked everywhere except for the most obvious place.”

With a sigh of relief, she picked it up from under her desk.

„This will make things much easier.” Her mind drifted a little as she reminded herself why she was doing all of this.

Bronze Feather was a social worker at the Cloudsdale Orphanage, she was the warm blanket that protected kids from the freezing cold of institutionalized childhood. She found inner peace in her work, even more so after her husband’s untimely death. Many of the foals who lived there left that place as young stallions and mares. Bronze Feather always went the extra mile to ease up their harsh ascension to adulthood.

In contrast, the others mostly treated their work like any other job in Equestria. They pretended that their lack of true commitment didn’t really matter. They didn’t realize or maybe just didn’t care that, at the end of the day, it only caused more harm. It’s hard to substitute a true, unconditional motherly love. It’s impossible if you don’t even try.

A loud thud snapped Bronze Feather back to reality. She opened the door and looked towards the floor. A little pegasus filly was lying on her back and rubbing her muzzle with her hoof. The goofy smile on the kid’s face explained more than words ever would.

„You really need to be more careful, sweetheart. Come in, Rainbow Dash. I need to talk about something with you.” The mare said, smiling softly.

Rainbow Dash was a bit more hyperactive than usual.

„Miss Bronze Feather! Miss Bronze Feather! Why did you call me over? Am I finally getting adopted? Are they nice ponies? Are they rich? Am I going to have a brother? Is their house big? A sister? How old are they? Where do they live? When will I meet them?” She was bouncing in front of the mare with a wide grin on her face and eagerly awaited for a response.

The cheerful stream of words caught Bronze Feather off guard.  

„Here we go again…” The mare quietly sighed.

„We already talked about this, sweetheart. I’m really sorry but that’s not why I asked you to come over today. Have a seat, I want to show you something.” She said, trying to avoid the inevitable.

Rainbow Dash stopped listening to her halfway through. She wasn’t jumping anymore. Her body started showing the first signs of an incoming mood swing.

„How much longer will I have to wait? Why does nopony want me? Is there something wrong with me? This is so unfair! I want to have a normal life!” The filly was throwing a fit.

One look of disapproval from Bronze Feather was enough to quickly settle her down. Deep inside, Rainbow Dash knew that this was the main reason why she was still here. She was always overflowing with unspent energy which resulted in temper issues. The potential parents couldn’t handle outbursts like this and gave up soon after one happened. Bronze Feather was already used to them and did all she could to stop them from happening. She found a great solution to the problem but had to wait until now to implement it.

The filly hopped onto the yellow couch and sat down, her head hanging low.

„I’m sorry I shouted... But I’m not stupid. I’ve been here since birth. There must be something wrong with me. Why won’t anypony adopt me? I want a real family…” She repeated herself with much less emotion in her voice.

She was tired of waiting for something that probably was never going to happen. Her eyes started welling up.

„I want to be normal…” Rainbow Dash was now sobbing quietly.

The mare slowly approached the couch, sat down next to the cyan filly and put a wing over her.

„You are perfectly normal just the way you are. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you. You just need to learn to control your emotions better. You’ll find a loving family when you’ll be least expecting it. Until that happens, I’ll be always there for you. Okay?”  The mare said with a soft, calming voice.

Rainbow Dash hesitantly nodded her head, tears still rolling down her face. Bronze Feather knew she had to be patient. They sat like this for a couple of minutes and the filly was beginning to calm down.

The mare decided to break the peaceful silence.

„Rainbow Dash, who would you like to be when you grow up?”

 A puzzled look appeared on the filly’s face. She sat there quietly, thinking deeply about the answer to the unexpected question.

„I don’t know…” She answered.

„That’s all right, sweetheart. Let me rephrase my question. What’s your favorite thing to do? Something that you couldn’t live without. Something that makes you truly happy!”  The mare asked again.

Bronze Feather felt a twitch under her wing and managed to fold it just in time before the filly jumped into the air.

„Flying! Flying makes me really happy!” Rainbow Dash shouted without a trace of hesitation.

“But there’s nothing special about flying. Every pegasus in Equestria can fly. I could be a weather pony, I guess, but that’s a boring thing to do.” She continued, her enthusiasm gone again.

„Did you know that there are ponies who do air acrobatics professionally and, if you work hard, you could become one of them someday. How does that sound to you?”

“Air acrobatics? What’s that?”

Bronze Feather took the chance to show the brochure to the filly.

„This will explain it better than I will, read it carefully.”

Rainbow Dash curiously sank her gaze into the piece of paper she received. With each word she read and picture she saw, her eyes grew bigger and bigger.

„They’ll teach me all those things over there?”

„They sure will!”

„And I could do this for a living when I grow up?”

„Those are only the basics but the short answer is yes. I’ve got tickets to a professional show. We’ll go see it when you get back from the flight camp. Go pack yourself, you’re leaving tomorrow.” The mare playfully tapped Rainbow Dash on the flank. The filly gave her a quick hug and bolted out of the office.