The Missing Goggles

Scarlet looked up at the sky. The bright sun was slowly falling towards the west horizon. Evening was on its way, and the three fillies were almost done with their first day of work.

“That should do it for today!” called out Rainbow Dash from a distance, as she picked the final cherry from the top of a tree. “I think we're all caught up!”

They had worked two hours in the morning, and two more hours in the afternoon. At first, the simple task of picking cherries hadn't sounded strenuous at all. Surprisingly enough, however, all three of them were mentally exhausted because of how detail-oriented the job was.

Rainbow Dash hopped down from the tree, using her wings to soften the landing. She was a few trees away from Scarlet, so the two made their way towards each other. Fluttershy approached as well, several little animals following in her steps.

“First day of work, complete.” Scarlet said. "I hope there's more jobs for us in the future, because this one is totally monotonous."

“I know what will make you feel better!” said Rainbow Dash enthusiastically. Scarlet cocked her head to the side in confusion.

Rainbow Dash crouched down in a cat-like pose to emphasize the theatricality of her incoming statement. “A race!” she yelled at the top of her lungs, hopping in the air with her arms spread in excitement. This outburst scared away all the creatures near Fluttershy, much to her disappointment.

“Talk about dramatic.” Scarlet thought to herself, sighing.

“Aww, come on!” said Rainbow Dash. “It'll be fun! We haven't had a good race in weeks! In fact, the last race I flew was against Dumbbell and Hoops, the day Fluttershy and I got our cutie marks.”

“Right,” said Scarlet, “your cutie marks...”. She stared back at her flank. All she could see was her blank, red coat.

Quickly realizing the implications of her words, Rainbow berated herself. “That's not what I meant, Scarlet... sorry.”

“It's fine,” Scarlet said, brushing it off. “I don't care that much. Racing sounds like fun, actually.”

Rainbow Dash leaped into the air yet again. “Yes! Alright, lets go!” she began to soar up in preparation.

“Hang on,” Scarlet said, “I need my goggles.”

Rainbow stopped in mid-air. “Ugh, I don't see why you need those things. I'd have thought you got used to the air rushing into your eyes by now. Quit being a wimp!”

“I don't need them to fly,” Scarlet explained. “They're just important to me, that's all. I don't need to explain my reasons.”

Suddenly, Scarlet realized something, and the thought of it possibly being true caused her heart to sink.

The last time Scarlet remembered seeing her goggles was in the cellar behind the orphanage in Cloudsdale. She had put them in the drawer there one day, but forgot to take them out before leaving.

“Oh, no.” muttered Scarlet. Now Rainbow was the one who was confused.

Before Rainbow Dash had the time to question her friend, Scarlet bolted towards the house, flying at top speed. “No... I can't be right about this. This can't be true!” she thought with growing fear.

[][][][][][][][]

Scarlet burst into the bedroom she shared with her friends. She looked around, and upon seeing her red trunk lying underneath the bed, she raced towards it without a moment to spare. She pulled it out from beneath the wooden bed frame, and opened it. Inside, there were a few things she hadn't unpacked yet. Mainly a few of her books, which she had already read, and some trinkets from her younger years. She dug through her things without any regard for their fragility, tossing them over her shoulder like they were completely worthless.

“They have to be here. They have to! I couldn't have possibly left them in Cloudsdale!” Scarlet thought to herself as she frantically sifted through her trunk.

Once she had emptied the main pocket of her trunk, she moved on to the side pockets, unzipping them one by one. Her hopelessness grew, and her thoughts subconsciously shifted back several years.

[][][][][][][][]

The warm, spring sunlight shone in through the silk curtains, which were neatly draped over the windows. It was another perfect afternoon in Cloudsdale, and a family had just arrived home from a pleasant lunch together.

In the living room, a blue-coated stallion sat in his chair. On his lap sat a young filly with a red coat, holding up an atlas that was almost as big as she was. The two of them studied this enormous map together.

“In ancient times, the pegasi were known as a great warrior race.” the stallion explained. “They were renowned for their superior military tactics, both offensive and defensive. However, during Celestia's rule, she developed revolutionary military strategies that could not be surpassed by mortal ponies. Those strategies were confined to the capitol city of Canterlot, in order to maintain balance.”

“Daddy,” started the young filly, “What's the point in all this military stuff? There have been almost no wars in the history of Equestria, and those that we know about were petty. Why are all these things necessary?”

The father smiled. “Nothing gets past you, does it, Scar? You're right, none of the wars in Equestrian history have been substantial enough for most of these things to be necessary. However, that doesn't guarantee the same for the future. It's best to practice caution for all situations like this.”

“What do you mean, 'all situations'?” asked Scarlet. “What else is there?”

The father chuckled. “If I listed everything, we'd be sitting in this chair for weeks. Months, even. All I'm trying to say is that knowledge in every form is a valuable thing. You never know if a seemingly pointless fact will come in handy one day.”

Scarlet began to question her father more, but he held up a hoof. “I know what you're about to ask, and I'm thrilled that you have such a voracious appetite for knowledge, especially at your age. That being said, there are some things I can't downright explain to you. You'll just have to experience them for yourself.

“Cerulean!” called a beautiful voice from the other room. “We need to leave soon! Preparations for the tornado start in less than half an hour! We both need to be at the weather factory, in uniform, ten minutes early!”

“Of course, Golden!” replied Scarlet's father. “It's not like they can start without us!” he said in a facetious tone.

Cerulean closed the huge atlas, and set it down on the coffee table in front of them. “Well, I guess that's all we have time for today.” he said. Scarlet looked down in disappointment.

“Hey, don't worry, kiddo. We still have every day after this to talk all we want. If I were you, I'd look forward to tomorrow, instead of holding on to today.”

Scarlet looked up, smiled at her father, and got off of his lap. At the same time, Scarlet's mother walked into the room. She had a beautiful gold coat, and a rich crimson mane. She was already in her weather uniform, and she had a name tag that read “Golden Lightning”. She stared at Cerulean impatiently.

Cerulean quickly caught onto her death-glare. “Alright, alright, I get it. You can stop staring at me like that. I'll go get dressed.” he said. He quickly left the room, and returned minutes later in the white uniform worn by all the pegasi at the weather factory. His name tag read “Cerulean Lightning”.

Golden smiled. “That's more like it.” she said. She turned to Scarlet. “You'll be alright by yourself for several hours, won't you?” she asked. Scarlet nodded.

“Good,” she responded. “We won't be back until late tonight, so go ahead and eat when you get hungry. There's some hay casserole in the oven. Preheat it to three-hundred fifty degrees, and ten minutes should be fine.” she finished. She kissed her daughter on the forehead, and Cerulean did the same.

They started to walk out the door. Golden went first, and right before Cerulean left, he turned and walked back to Scarlet in a sneaky manner. He bent over and whispered, “I know your birthday isn't until next week, but I wanted to give you an early present.” he said as he held out his flight goggles.

Scarlet gasped. These goggles had been passed down in her dad's family for generations. “Daddy... won't you need them for the tornado? Come to think of it, don't you need them for your job, period?”

Cerulean chuckled. “Of course I need goggles! I just don't need these goggles. I have plenty more at the factory.” he held out the goggles to her. Hesitantly, she reached out and took them.

As she held the worn-out goggles in her hoof, she stared at them in wonder. These goggles had seen and been through so much. Now, they belonged to her

.

She looked up at her father, who had a huge grin on his face. Scarlet jumped up and gave her father a tight hug, cherishing this moment. “I love you, Daddy.” she said softly.

“I love you too, Scar. Happy early birthday.” he said lovingly. Slowly, he put her back on the ground, where she stood in place without another word.

“Cerulean! Hurry up!” called Golden from outside.

Sadly, the moment was broken. “Well, I better get going. Don't stay up waiting for us if you get tired.” he said. With that, he quickly left, closing the door behind him.

Scarlet stood there, staring at nothing in particular, with the goggles in her hoof.

Suddenly, Scarlet was abruptly pulled back into reality, where she continued to search through her trunk like a maniac.

[][][][][][][][]

Scarlet had made it to the last pocket in her trunk. Alas, her goggles were nowhere to be found. At this point, it became certain that the goggles were still in Cloudsdale.

Scarlet slumped against her trunk like a rag doll that needed stuffing. With all her might, she held back the urge to sob. “I can't believe I left them.” she said in a choked voice. Her eyes were like an unstable dam about to burst.

Then, Rainbow Dash walked into the room. Immediately, Scarlet managed to get her composure in her friend's presence.

“Scarlet, are you okay?” asked Rainbow Dash, somewhat concerned.

“Yeah.” replied Scarlet. There was still a hint of a choke in her voice.

“You know, you don't need to make such a big deal out of a stupid pair of goggles. We can just to town and buy you a new pair at the convenience store.” said Rainbow.

“You don't understand, Rainbow.” started Scarlet. “Those goggles meant more to me than you know.”

“Why?” asked Rainbow jokingly. “Did you win your first race with them or something?”

Scarlet sighed in annoyance. “No, I didn't. They belonged to my dad. They were the last thing I had left of him. Now... they're gone.”

This statement left Rainbow Dash speechless. She realized what she had said to Scarlet was completely insensitive, and she wasn't sure how to word an apology, or anything for that matter. She was able to relate with Scarlet on this subject better than anypony, but she had no idea how to handle this particular situation.

Finally, she spoke. “Scarlet, I'm pretty sure I know how you feel.”

Scarlet grunted in response.

Rainbow continued. “When my parents died, the only thing I had to remember them by was a hair brush. It was really strange, but they used to brush my hair whenever I was upset. I don't know why, but it would always cheer me up.”

Scarlet said nothing.

“Do you know what I did with that hair brush? I threw it in the trash. I didn't want to use such a stupid thing to remember them, when I knew I would never actually forget about them.”

Scarlet chuckled a bit. “That actually explains a lot.” she said as she looked at Rainbow's always-messy mane.

Rainbow smiled. “What I'm trying to say is that you don't need some object to keep your parents' memory safe, when you already have it locked in your mind. You're not going to just forget about your parents one day, are you?”

Scarlet shook her head.

“Good.” said Rainbow Dash.

There was a long silence, then Scarlet stood up. “You know, Rainbow, this isn't at all like you. When did you become so profound?”

“Well, I don't know what that means,” stated Rainbow Dash plainly, “but I do know that I can be serious and helpful when I need to. Don't expect it to happen often, though, and whatever you do, don't tell Fluttershy. I don't want her thinking I'm all sappy.

Scarlet laughed at this. “I'll try to keep my mouth shut. So anyway, Rainbow, how about that race?”

A huge grin formed on Rainbow's face, and Scarlet knew everything was going to be alright.