Rainbow Dash should have felt at home here, where the cacophony of athletes at Rainbow Blaze’s training facility managed to penetrate the closed office. The grunts and shouts of muscle builders, followed by the clang of falling weights. The rhythmic footfalls of runners on the indoor track. The muted collision of flesh against boxing mitts and dummy pads. She would have felt at home if it wasn’t for one thing…

Her father’s Wall of Success spanned before her, a sweeping testament to Blaze’s achievements and connections. Even in the shafted early morning light that filtered through the window blinds, the dozens of trophies winked with smug supremacy in their glass cases on the shelves.

Photographs preserved meritorious moments like that time Blaze had dinner with the state governor or the celebration with the gold medal Olympian he had trained three years ago. Even in monochrome, his cropped rainbow hair drew the eye.

Framed newspaper articles read in bold headlines Blaze’s personal success in various sports: basketball, football, soccer, and even a short stint in hockey. It was in track and field, however, that her father found widespread acclaim.

Thanks to him, Everfree University had dominated the national championships. He’d done this at the age of nineteen, no less.

Rainbow Dash had just turned nineteen-years-old a few weeks ago, and the pressure to measure up to his success was at an all-time high.

She felt simultaneously eager and panicked to meet the standard of excellence that Rainbow Blaze had set.

On the other side of the room, sitting behind his desk, her father was carrying on about his latest client—some rising star for the next Summer Olympics. She only half-listened.

Blaze was perfectly happy to hear himself talk. Rainbow Dash dropped a grunt here and there to demonstrate that she was aware he was still moving his lips. It wasn’t until he brought up the last soccer practice that she turned to look at her father directly.

Rainbow Blaze was seated with his arms crossed high on his chest. He leaned back, making the leather of his office chair groan as he looked down his nose at her.

“So, what’s going on with your shooting?” he asked with an air of annoyed disappointment.

She wrestled her features into a neutral look as she went to stand in front of his desk with her hands in her jean pockets.

“What do you mean?” she replied cautiously.

“It looks like you’ve been slacking off. That’s what I mean.”

Rainbow Dash’s jaw tightened and she clenched her fists in her pockets, making the fabric strain against the backs of her hands.

“I’ve been practicing ball control in my spare time like you told me to. Could I have kept working on my shooting aim? Sure. But my vice-captain, she’s been helping me on—”

Rainbow Blaze’s lips thinned as his eyes narrowed. “You know better than to blame others for your failures, least of all me.” His voice was soft but cold.

She fell quiet and braced herself.

Blaze shook his head and sat forward. It was a look she’d seen many times. Her father saw something he didn’t like, and he was going to kill it. Now!

“As for private training with your VC… That ends today. I can’t believe I have to tell you that training too closely with lesser athletes will only drag you down. You’re team captain. There’s a reason she’s second place, Dash. You want to be a champion? Train with champions. It’s no wonder your shooting’s off. You must have picked up some bad habit of hers.”

Rainbow Dash couldn’t take that. Sassaflash wasn’t just her vice-captain, she was also her friend. She glared as she leaned onto his office desk. “Sassaflash is a great soccer player—!”

“She is a weight that will drag you down,” he interjected, like he were speaking over a toddler rambling about inanities. His yellow eyes, however, were focused on her. Vigilant for defiance. “Dashie, this VC sounds like the kind of shitty friends your mother hung around. Just listen to your ol' man. Don’t go down that road… You hear me?”

Rainbow Dash felt a flash of cold. Her body stiffened as she instinctively looked down at her sneakers.

She should have seen it coming. Blaze stooped to bringing up her mother whenever she started to stray from his path of success. That didn’t stop it hurting every time.

When she gathered herself, she forced out a laugh, a fierce smirk spreading across her lips. “Come on, Dad. I’m awesome! There isn’t a person alive who even comes close to what I can do on the field. No one’s gonna drag me down!”

Even this optimism was a pushback. Blaze hated when she pushed back.

He stood to his feet and pointed a stern finger at her. “You’re gonna be an awesome disaster if you keep mucking around! Listen, I'm looking out for your star, kid. Remind me... have I ever let you down? Ain't I been good to you?"

Rainbow sighed and bobbed her head wearily to the familiar questions. Here we go...

His eyes narrowed at her blasé attitude as his tone shifted to something flickering with angry insult. "What... you don't trust my judgement anymore?"

Rainbow stilled at the change in his demeanor. Her father could go through moods lightning quick—and the faster he went through them, the more dangerous he was.

Solidifying her fear, Blaze laughed suddenly and waved a hand. "You really wanna be like your VC? Then go on! See how long you last without me!"

His smile waned as he thumped his chest with a hand. "I know you're talented. Of course you are. You’re my kid. But talent don't mean a damn thing without the right training, and I... train... champions. I don't waste my time on losers, Dashie."

Along with her mother, Uncle Hothoof was a ‘loser’, too. Rainbow hadn’t seen him since she was six, and that was her father’s brother, a fact that she felt uncomfortably aware of at that moment.

Blaze held up his hands, his eyebrows lifting. "Train with me? Then abide by me. I told you that the first thing when you asked to join my little league team, remember?"

The man ticked a scolding finger back and forth like she was nine years old again. "That doesn't change just because you're the captain of Everfree University's sophomore team now!"

Blaze sighed heavily and opened a folder on his desk. He rifled through its contents. "If you can't respect that, then you better pay me your fees for the month now, because I ain't giving a free ride."

His words became soft and chilly—like a sudden cold snap had overtaken him. "That's my final word on the matter." He didn't look back up at her.

Rainbow Dash’s smirk wiped off her face and her throat clenched. She wanted so many things. She wanted to yell. She wanted to turn on her heel and leave. And though she didn’t want to admit it, the pricking at her eyes suggested she wanted to cry too.

But winning over all of that was a heavy weight that settled in her gut, a black and numbing fear, and it was this sensation that drove her to hold out her hands the same way she would if she were warding off some angry dog.

“Woah, woah! Geez! I’ll do it, okay?” She chuckled nervously. “I’ll stop training with Sassaflash! All right? Okay, dad? But I mean, give me a break! She’s an important part of the team, not some benchwarmer.”

Her spine curled just a fraction. She added hurriedly, “Like, I mean— She’s going to be at every practice! That’s not what you meant, right? Avoiding her at practice? Because I can’t do that!”

Blaze glared at her a moment longer before smirking in satisfaction. Perhaps there was even some amusement in his eyes at seeing her squirm. “Team practice? Sure. I thought that was a given. But your personal training should be between just you, me, and whoever I deem fit to train with you.”

He walked out from behind his desk and passed her on the way to the door. “And today, that’s Bullseye. Ex-pro soccer player who led his team to win the World Cup at least once. He’ll be working with you on your goal shooting.”

She chewed her tongue. Years ago, such a prestigious athlete would have had Rainbow doing backflips. Now they just made her wary. Whenever Blaze brought in such an individual, she knew the pressure for an excellent performance would be quadrupled.

Rainbow Dash watched her dad go to the office door and open it. He paused in the bright doorway, his shadow stretching long into the dimly lit office. “Well? What are you waiting for?” he snapped. “Go get changed! Chop, chop!”

The sounds of the training facility poured into the room, clearer and crisper. They were the sounds of elite athletes honing their skills for the sports they loved.

Rainbow Dash would have felt at home here...if it wasn’t for her father.

---

Their home was cozy compared to the neighbors, but Fluttershy didn’t mind. It felt safe, snug, and warm. In contrast, Star Weld grumbled regularly about ‘this tiny shack.’ Her brother always seemed to be bumping into things, no matter how she rearranged the furniture.

It was true that you couldn’t take two steps from the front door without having to walk around something, but at least they owned the place. Plus, it was their childhood home.

She wanted to remind her brother of these things when he glared around at the various knick knacks that crowded the moss green walls, but her courage always left her before she could even assemble what to say.

Personally, she liked the knick knacks—the small ceramic animals, the snow globes, the foreign curios… It was a loving collection their parents had accumulated since before Fluttershy had even been born. Star had wanted to get rid of them years back, but she had begged him not to.

It was bad enough that he had packed up their parents’ room and turned it into a storage space. Removing the knick knacks would have been the same as burying their memory in her eyes. Few things in life did she stand firm on, but this had been one of them.

On the other hand, Fluttershy held no love for the moss green walls.

She could admit that the paint color had the potential of creating a soothing effect on the ambiance of their home. That was, except for the early mornings. When the sun’s rays would have lightened up any other home, the paint absorbed the weak light, making the house gloomy and oppressive. Even the knick-knacks seemed to leer from the shelves, their forms casting eerie shadows onto the traitorous backdrop.

This was the kind of atmosphere that Fluttershy awoke to on a regular basis, and the very same that she faced that particular day.

Even after getting ready and making breakfast, the house felt too dim and sleepy. She would have liked to have turned on the lights, but Star Weld was adamant about saving money on energy, so she didn’t. While she understood his reasoning, she really disliked cooking in such poor lighting. Yet, for now, she’d simply have to bear it.

Star emerged from the back hallway, dressed in his workman’s overalls. His messy mane of royal blue hair flopped to the side, though it was clear to her that her brother had at least made the effort to run a comb through it. He muttered a good morning as he sat in the breakfast nook.

Already prepared, Fluttershy set a plate of eggs, two slices of toast, and vegetarian sausages. Star was an omnivore, but Fluttershy, a long time vegetarian, felt ill just at the sight of raw meat. It was just a sign of his love that he respected her sensibilities. Fluttershy didn’t doubt that being able to still have eggs and milk helped a lot too.

When she sat down at the table with her own plate, Angel Bunny hopped into her lap. She smiled and gave him a piece of lettuce from her breakfast salad. A companionable silence descended on the small family as everyone ate.

It was when Fluttershy was halfway through her plate that Star Weld suddenly asked, “So how is the new job coming?”

She stiffened, her head ducking down before she caught herself and lifted it again with great effort. To everyone else, her behavior would have been observed as just her typical shyness—but Star Weld knew better, and she didn’t want him to worry.

Clearing her throat, she said, “It’s fine. You know I like working with animals.”

That’s sort of true at least, she thought with a little sigh.

The sound was her first mistake. Star Weld swallowed the food in his mouth and set down his fork. “Shy? What’s up?”

Fluttershy winced. She looked at her brother sidelong as she poked at her salad with her fork.

“Um,” she shrugged and finally gave in to her earlier urge to curl in on herself. “I like working at the animal hospital. I just wish… I felt like I was doing more.”

Now Star Weld frowned. “I don’t get it,” he said. “You’re helping to heal sick animals, aren’t you? How is that not enough?”

Fluttershy let her hair cover her face and shrugged again. She set down her fork and hugged Angel to her chest, much to the rabbit’s consternation. She’d made him drop his lettuce.

Star sighed, picking up his fork again. “Look, Fluttershy. I get it. Starting a new job isn’t easy. But I really think this is better than the animal shelter. There, you were just a volunteer petting animals. At the hospital? You’re earning decent pay, helping animals in a way that matters, and you’re even getting credit for school. Isn’t that the whole point?”

She gave the tiniest of nods, unable to fault his logic. Angel squirmed in her embrace, and she let him go. Holding him wasn’t making her feel all that much better anyway.

Her brother continued as he scraped food from his plate. “Fluttershy, you’re old enough to start helping out around here. That scholarship you won last month was a big help, but it doesn’t cover all your school costs. I still have to pay the mortgage and stuff, y’know? So just keep at it. I know you can do it.”

“Mm, hmm,” she said, peeking at her brother through her bangs.

He caught her look and smiled in what he must have thought was an encouraging fashion. Only half his face was lit from the front living room window, and the warm light highlighted his ragged features. Star Weld had shadows under his eyes, and he’d even missed a spot shaving his face, leaving one scruffy blue patch in the hollow of his cheek.

Fluttershy’s eyebrows pressed together in concern. What time had her brother come home from the auto garage last night? She wanted to ask but refrained. She wouldn’t really gain anything from knowing. Star Weld didn’t like it when she worried about him anyway. She swallowed at the lump in her throat, then straightened. Her features reluctantly settled into an expression of levity. Fluttershy pointed demurely at her cheek.

“You missed a spot,” she murmured through a stiff smile.

Next Chapter: Chapter 1 (2020 3rd Draft Edit) Estimated time remaining: 16 Hours, 18 Minutes