Title:           Forbidden Feelings Ch. 1
Author:          heidi666
Pastebin link:   http://pastebin.com/nyAqEksm
First Edit:      Saturday 28th of July 2012 03:59:03 PM CDT
Last Edit:       Saturday 28th of July 2012 03:59:03 PM CDT

Rainbow Dash was flying over Ponyville, shifting the final few clouds over for a regularly scheduled thunderstorm. The other pegasi who were supposed to be on weather duty had failed to turn up due to a cold that was making the rounds, so it was just her. Not that she minded in the slightest – rocketing through the skies was her favourite pastime after all, and it was excellent practice for her lofty goal of getting into the Wonderbolts.
It was late afternoon, and everything was closing up for the day. She waved to a few ponies down below as she soared over the market, putting the finishing touches to the cloud cover. All she had to do was wait until the ponies had cleared the market and then kick off the storm, after which it would more or less take care of itself, so she pulled up a half-grey cloud and let herself relax upon it. As she watched the ponies below packing everything away, she noticed the little foals at the schoolhouse running out followed by an exasperated-looking Cheerilee.
She half-smiled, and though she’d never tell a living soul she kind of envied her friends Applejack and Rarity for having little sisters. When they’d meet up, Dash would always have to suffer through the constant moans of how Sweetie Belle was cramping Rarity’s creativity or how Applebloom was holding up harvest season with all her antics, but she could tell that deep down they both loved their sisters very much. Dash recalled her less than happy childhood: a bum of a mother who quite frankly saw her as a waste of space and an ex-Wonderbolt reserve father who perhaps cared for her too much, always pushing her harder and harder. Being an only child made things even worse as he heaped all of his already high expectations onto Rainbow.
It was from him that she inherited her obsession with flying but when he finally convinced Rainbow to try out for his old outfit she just couldn’t handle the pressure. He’d built up a whole choreographed scene that he was sure would wow the judges and the crowd at the biennial tryouts, and they’d practised and practised for weeks beforehand...
“Now Rainbow, remember that the Wonderbolts are the best flying team in all of Equestria! Surely you want to get into the best, don't you? Lets try these moves again...”
And Rainbow would do her Super-speed Strut and her Buccaneer Blaze moves over and over again until her father was happy, or as close to happy as he would ever be. The day before the tryouts she even pushed herself beyond her father's expectations and managed a Sonic Rainboom as she was diving down for her Filly Flash – she was so proud that she'd even managed to wow her father!
“Rainbow Dash, that was... amazing! Very few ponies have ever, and I mean ever, managed a Sonic Rainboom!” He managed to stammer out of his wide-open mouth. Her sense of satisfaction soon vanished as he started to mutter to himself, deep in thought. Finally he turned to her and said “Rainbow, if you can do it once, you can do it again – we absolutely must put this into the routine, the Wonderbolts will take you in on the spot! This is what we'll do now...”
She then had to sit through her father eagerly re-working the whole routine for two hours – it finished of course with the elusive Sonic Rainboom. Dash finally piped up at this point, and in a small voice complained, “But Dad, I don't even know how I did it, I just thought about making you proud and going faster and faster and it just sort of...happened!”
“Nonsense Rainbow, all you have to do is believe in yourself and you'll be able to do it no problem. I trust you.” He flashed her a winning smile and they flew home together, with Dash slightly reassured.
The next day, they trotted over the clouds to the arena. After waiting for what seemed like ages at the registration desk, Dash was waved through. The usher however stood in front of her father with an apologetic look on his face. “Sorry sir, only contenders in this area. You may of course have one of the premier seats we reserved for the relatives in the arena.”
Rainbow ran back tugging at the usher's leg, “Aw please sir, let my dad through! I need him with me!” The usher didn't even glance at her as he said, “Sorry kiddo, you're on your own for now.” Her father gave as best of a smile as he could as he reassured her, “Don't worry Rainbow, I'll be right in front of the entrance. I'll be the first person you see – just concentrate on me and you'll be fine,” and he walked away to the spectator's entrance.
When it was Dash's turn in the arena he was the first to cheer as her name was announced over the megaphones. As the crowd waited for her to come out he kept going with the rest of them. They kept waiting for Dash to make her entrance, but soon he was the only one left. Eventually even he stopped when the rest of the pegasi turned and started to give him odd looks. He turned around and left the arena with his head hung low as the next young contender flew out in a dazzling display when his name was called.
When the event was over he was finally allowed into the contenders' area by a highly annoyed usher. He wandered for about half an hour until he found Dash shaking in a corner, muttering to herself. “I thought I brought you up better than this,” he said coldly to her. “You shamed not only yourself today but your family as well. Do you have any idea how I felt when everyone turned on me and I was the only one cheering for you?” Dash could only gaze back at him with tear-filled eyes and a quivering lip. She could hardly recognise the pegasus in front of her – there was no solace in her father’s eyes, but only contempt. “Don’t bother coming home tonight. I’m sure you have friends you can stay with,” he practically spat at her as he turned on his hooves and trotted away without a look back.
Of course, she didn’t have any friends in Cloudsdale. All her time had been spent practising her daring tricks and racing, leaving her with precious little time to socialise. She finally picked herself up off the cloud-floor once her father had left, and she flew shakingly to the outskirts of Cloudsdale where she cried herself to a dreamless sleep on a fluffy white cloud.
The next morning she'd woken up with a fiery determination in her mind. She would get into the Wonderbolts, but on her own two wings and no-one else’s. So she practically jetted back to the house and hammered on the cloud door. Not that it made much noise of course, but eventually her mother came to open it.
“Oh, it’s you. I was wondering when you’d show your useless face again. Go apologise to your father, he’s still upset from yesterday.” Rainbow gulped at this show of indifference, but decided to plow on.
“You know pegasi leave their family when they’re ready? Well, I’m ready. So I don’t need you any more. I’m going to make my own way from now on!” She proudly announced to her mother, whose blasé expression remained unchanged. In fact, her normally flat mouth slowly started to curve upwards into a sneer.
“Oh that’s right is it? Look at you. You have no job. You have no home. You have no confidence! Don’t make me laugh and get upstairs right now young filly.” Rainbow Dash turned right round and launched off not looking back once. Her mother just raised an eyebrow and shut the door thinking that her father would be only slightly more disappointed than she was – which wasn’t very much anyway. They'd raised their child until she declared her independence, so really what Dash did now was out of their hands. Meanwhile Dash was making her way at full speed to the Cloudsdale jobcentre, trying desperately to suppress her tears.
She wiped a tear and her smile back up on her grey cloud returned as she wistfully remembered how she found an apprenticeship to the captain of the Ponyville weather team, eventually inheriting the house and making it to that position herself.
Her train of thought suddenly got derailed as she noticed the marketplace was completely empty and it was past time for her to start the storm. She cursed her trip down memory lane as she zipped back up through the grey clouds and started jumping up and down on them, starting the lightning chain reaction that would power the storm after she’d gone back home. Once she was satisfied that it was pouring and that there was enough lightning in the clouds to keep the storm going, she decided to fly off home for a well-deserved night’s sleep.
Dipping below the whiter clouds for a quick shower, she noticed a certain orange filly with purple hair squelching back in the mud from Sweet Apple Acres. Surprised to see Scootaloo out under the downpour she swooped down, coming to land in front of her. She was even more surprised to see her barely acknowledge Dash’s existence – normally the filly was ecstatic to be around her idol. Dash nudged her, “Hey Scoots, why under the rain?”
“S-s-sor-ry Dash, I g-guess I forgot about the s-storm...” Dash's heart almost broke at how downtrodden Scootaloo's voice sounded. She continued listening as the filly explained how she was visiting her friends at the CMC clubhouse and walked home, the storm only starting once she was halfway back. Rainbow noticed Scoots' legs shaking and her teeth chattering and interrupted her tale - “Hey kid, you’re in no condition to walk home on your own. C’mon, jump up and I’ll put you up for the night.” Relieved to see Scoots finally put up a smile, she bent down, let her clamber on and took off to her home in the skies.
She pretended not to notice as the filly hugged her tightly, buried her face in her neck, and mumbled to herself so quietly as to be almost inaudible, “Love you Rainbow Dash…”