----  A Rainbow in the Rain ----

Everyone must leave the nest eventually

To fly or to fall

The choice is theirs.

She stepped onto the rock of fate as she did so long ago, looking out through the torrential rain to the faint outline of the stormy-grey city of Cloudsdale.  A cyan hoof wiped away the water that dripped from her hair and into her eyes, casting the unfortunate liquid into the depths below.  Her magenta eyes followed the droplets into the chasm until they disappeared into the cloak of darkness, leaving her staring downward into the hole that had decided her fate when she had only been a filly.

Voices from the past, unbidden and unwanted, rid themselves of the sands of time and spoke out from the deluge with the same strength that they had been when they were versed by ponies.  ”Rainbow Dash, come back here!”

”No, Dad!  I’m not going back home!  Not with all those jerks!”  Rainbow Dash shook her head, dispelling the echoing words from the forefront of her mind, but she couldn’t help but to look out into the falling rain with searching, hopeful eyes.  For a moment, a pair of soft, yet stern eyes appeared from the dark before fading into the grey once more.  “Hey, Dad.”

”Rainbow Dash, what are you doing?!”  Two shapes formed themselves from the mist that hung ever-so-slightly above the ground, color slowly leaking into them to reveal a cyan filly with a rainbow mane staring angrily at an older, ocean-blue stallion with a silvery mane that looked as if it had never been combed in his life.  The slightly worried voice spoke out again.  ”Rainbow Dash, please come back!”

The little filly jumped up angrily and flapped her wings to stay in the air like some sort of angry hornet, her mane bristling.  ”No!  I’m never going back!  You can’t make me!”  The present-day Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but smile at her younger self’s squeal of fright when her father leapt at her and grabbed her with his hooves, gently but firmly as was his usual method for dealing with the cyan pony’s fits of stubbornness and anger.  ”Let me go!  I don’t wanna go back to them!”

The larger pony suddenly dropped the smaller onto the rock’s surface and kneeled down to her height before brushing away one of the many tears of frustration that leaked from the filly’s eyes.  ”Rainbow Dash.”  The filly turned her head away angrily to glare sullenly at where Rainbow Dash looked onto the scene.  “Please, listen to me.”

Rainbow could remember the words that her younger self had said, and what they brought.  ”Why aren’t you just taking me back?  Mom would.”

At the time she didn’t see the deep-down pain that she had caused her father, but now she knew how much it had hurt him.  After a few moments of nothing but the sound of falling rain, the stallion spoke again with a quivering voice.  ”Rainbow, you should know that I’m not mom.  I could never be that beautiful.”  After a moment of staring out to where the present Rainbow dash stood with a faraway look in his eyes, he turned back to the little filly.  ”But I know that Rainbow Prism would never let herself be upset at some stupid colts that felt like they needed to mess with her.  She would walk on with her head high.  As her daughter and namesake, you should too, Rainbow Dash.”

The cyan pegasus tackled her father in a tight hug of forgiveness and apology, which was eagerly returned by the latter.  The little filly’s body shook with sobs as she allowed her emotions to break free of the bonds that she had wrapped around them.  They stood there in the embrace for what seemed like an age before finally breaking apart and smiling watery smiles at each other.  As they were walking away, the head that was topped with a prismatic mane turned to the one topped with silver.  ”Hey, Dad?”

”What is it, Rainbow?”  The soft, rumbling voice merged with the sound of thunder.

”Why did Mommy leave?”

Rainbow watched as the stallion’s hooves faltered before he chuckled and replied.  ”That’s a story for another day, Rainbow.”

A knife of bright lightening crossed the sky and, by the time Rainbow’s vision had cleared, the other two ponies had evaporated back into the mist and left her staring the empty air where they had been.  “You never did tell me that story, Dad.”  Rainbow Dash shook her head sadly, reaching up with a shaking hoof to brush away the tears that mixed with the rain and flowed down her face to the ground below.

She turned away to find a small break in the storm, bright shafts of sunlight leaking in from the holes in the clouds above and creating the most beautiful of rainbows as the golden rays crossed over into the stormy grey.  She sniffed loudly as she glared at the beauty that mocked her with its radiance.  Another flash of lighting slashed apart the rainbow with its jagged spikes and sent a flare of white spreading across Rainbow’s vision.

A voice echoed over to her from within the blinding light, a deeper and harsher version of her own.  ”Stop cryin’ and get up, Rainbow Dash.”  As her vision cleared, the cyan pegasus noticed another apparition of the mist, this time the floating water coalescing into what seemed to be an older version of current self pulling up a slightly older version of the little filly that had been there moments ago.  Shock washed over her like the cold rain that dripped down her back as she recognized the faint face of the larger pony.  ”You won’t get anything done just blubbering on the ground.  Get up already and shut your mouth.”