Chapter One: "A Letter and a Visitor"
"Tank, you really need to be more careful with these propellers," Rainbow Dash said. She and Tank were alone, on the ground below her cloud palace. It was a day like any other in Ponyville: sunny, warm, and cheery. Tank stood on the ground without wearing his helicopter rotor. Rainbow Dash had it, repairing the destructed propeller blade. It broke when Tank collided with a large rock.
The rotor was still powered up, forcing Rainbow Dash to hold it still with her front hooves, and twist the new blade into the empty slot with her mouth. She then strapped the rotor onto the tortoise.
"There Tank. Try to be a little more careful from now on."
Tank flew off; and Rainbow Dash turned her head just in time to see a male mail pony, dressed nicely in his uniform, trotting toward her. His coat was a light gray and his mane and tail, black. His postal uniform was navy blue, and the mail pony had a handlebar mustache.
The mail pony trotted up to Rainbow Dash. "Letter for Rainbow Dash," he said before reaching into his saddlebag and pulling out Rainbow's letter.
"Thanks," she said before taking the letter. The mail pony trotted off as Rainbow opened the envelope, took out the letter, and read it:
Dear Dashie,
I have important news and am coming to see you in Ponyville. Expect me this Friday on the train from Manehattan.
Love, Dad
"Oh, my gosh!" Rainbow Dash yelled as she hugged the letter, "My dad is coming to Ponyville!"
At that moment, without any warning, Tank flew in and banged against Dash's head, knocking her unconscious temporarily.
Soon, it was Friday. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, and Twilight were waiting on the platform at the train station. Pinkie Pie was absent because she was scheduled to foal-sit the Cake twins. The train from Manehattan was due to arrive any minute; and Rainbow Dash was in the sky, looking for it.
"The train is due any minute, and I don't see it all," Rainbow Dash stated, slightly agitated at the delay of the train.
"Wow, Rainbow Dash, I can't believe we finally get to meet your father," Twilight said enthusiastically.
"Yes, it is exciting, since you never seem to talk about him," Rarity agreed.
"Yeah, why is that?" Twilight asked.
"He never came up in our conversations," Rainbow Dash said, not once taking her eyes from the tracks from Manehattan.
"So, what's he like?" Applejack inquired.
The question distracted Rainbow Dash from her lookout. "He is unquestionably, undeniably the best dad ever!" she yelled. She flew to the four below her, "He was an air chief marshal in the Wonderbolts!"
"Your dad is a Wonderbolt?" Twilight raised her brow, "Why have you never told us?"
A serious change in mood occurred within Rainbow Dash. Her eyes closed; her head hung low, with her spectral mane covered her eyes; and she placed all four hooves onto the ground before the others. She sighed, "Because, he's not a Wonderbolt anymore."
"Why? What happened, dear?" Rarity asked.
"Well, the year I moved to Ponyville, he had an accident. One day, during a drill, he accidentally clipped his wings." The group, except Fluttershy, gasped. Rainbow Dash continued, "Since he couldn't fly, he had to retire from the Wonderbolts; and he and Mom had to move to Manehattan."
"Was your dad the reason you were so determined to become a Wonderbolt?" Twilight asked.
Rainbow Dash replied, with her mood lifted a little, "Yeah, and because they're awesome!"
Just as Rainbow turned her head, she saw the tower of smoke and the train from Manehattan approaching, seconds from pulling into the station.
The train stopped at the platform, and ponies, varied in both appearance and purpose for this trip, disembarked from the train cars. Rainbow Dash quickly glanced from car to car, looking for her dad. She searched through all of the windows of the cars, which ended in a disappointment.
Then suddenly, a bass voice yelled, "Dashie!" from the direction of the engine car of the train. "Dashie's" head turned, and through the steam from under the cars she saw none other than her father walking toward her and her friends. He was taller than the five mares by a considerable amount and carried a tan-colored suitcase. He had a bluish lavender coat, and the colors of his mane and tail, both of them remarkably short, were the fathering traits of Rainbow Dash's hair. His Cutie Mark was of a puffy white cloud with rays the colors of violet, red, and faint yellow coming from the cloud in straight stripes with a triangular indentation in each stripe.
Rainbow Dash's eyes glistened as she yelled, "Dad!" She jumped up and wrapped her hooves around her father's neck. He returned it with his right hoof. "It's so good to see you!" the mighty Rainbow Dash cried.
"It's good to see you, too, Rainbow Dash," he replied.
Rainbow Dash pulled back her hooves and looked to her friends. Everypony, this is my dad, Former Air Chief Marshal, Rainbow Strike," she introduced to her friends. Rainbow Dash threw a hoof around her father, "Dad, these are—"
Rarity rudely interrupted Rainbow Dash by zipping up to Rainbow Strike. With an expression that would gag Scootaloo, she cooed, "I am Rarity…" Rarity batted her eyelashes, "…Miss Rarity."
"I'm pleased to meet you, Miss Rarity," Rainbow Strike greeted. "And—"
"And he's married," Rainbow Dash pointed out, staring at the silvery-white potential home-wrecker. Rainbow Strike looked at Rainbow Dash in that same fashion while the others merely stood to the side, knowing not what to do other than toss their eyes between the two.
"As I was saying," Rainbow Strike said as he turned back to Rarity, "I'm pleased to meet you." Rarity, in her dramatic way, fainted as Rainbow Strike walked by her to the others.
He and Rainbow Dash walked up to Twilight, and Rainbow Dash said, "This is Twilight Sparkle. She's the brainy student of Princess Celestia."
"Pleased to meet you, Twilight Sparkle," Rainbow Dash's father greeted.
"Pleased to meet you, Rainbow Strike. I'm sure you have a lot of stories from your years as a Wonderbolt. Would you mind telling me some of them one day?"
"Certainly."
Rainbow Dash and Rainbow Strike moved down the line, to Applejack. "This is Applejack, and she her family run Ponyville's own Sweet Apple Acres."
Applejack tipped her hat, "Howdy, Rainbow Strike."
"Hello, Applejack. I've heard great things about your orchard's apple foods."
"Aww, shucks, you're too kind."
"And," Rainbow Dash said, "I'm sure you remember Fluttershy."
"Of course I remember Fluttershy! How have your been dear?"
"I've been fine," Fluttershy replied softly, yet not too shyly, "Thank you for asking."
Rainbow Strike looked at Rainbow Dash's friends, "I thought you said you dad another friend. Where's this Pinkie Pie you've told me about?"
Rainbow Dash replied, "She's—"
"I'm here!" yelled the pony in question as she trotted on the platform to the others. With her, Pinkie Pie had brought both Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake, placed inside the black saddle foal-carrier. Pound Cake was on Pinkie's right, and Pumpkin Cake was on the left. As Pinkie Pie trotted, the foals lightly bounced in their carriers, laughing joyfully. All three of them reeked of foal powder.
Pinkie Pie trotted up to Rainbow Dash and Rainbow Strike. With her usual expression of happy, joyful, and cheerful, she said, "Hi there. You must be Rainbow Dash's dad. It's good to finally meet you! I'm Pinkie Pie, and these are Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake. I'm foal-sitting them. Wow! You look really big and strong, but I guess you have to be to be a Wonderbolt! Sorry I can't give you a traditional Ponyville welcome. Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake don't really like the confetti cannons. You know, loud booms and such. You can come by Sugar Cube Corner later, and I can give you the welcome there! No! How about instead we have a party! A party saying, 'Welcome to Ponyville!' Oh, we can have cake, games, and punch! What's your favorite punch? Mine is tropical; but I also like fruit, orange, lemon-lime, blueberry, grape, raspberry, cherry, blue raspberry, mango, pineapple, and cranberry. Gummy, my pet alligator, likes a combination of blue raspberry, cherry, and grape." A large smile then appeared where her words used to be.
Unable to think of anything else to say, Rainbow Strike said, "That combination of fruit sounds good to me."
"Great! I'll get the party set up for you tomorrow! We can't have it today because Mr. and Mrs. Cake won't be home until late tonight. They have a large catering job in Canterlot. Oh, I need to know where you will be staying so I know where I can find you."
"I'll probably be at a hotel," Rainbow Strike said.
Again, Rarity zipped right up to Rainbow Strike and said, "Oh, there's no hotel in town." That was a lie. "But, I do have a spare bedroom at my boutique."
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, "Fine, he can stay in the boutique." Then, she pressed her nose against Rarity's, "In separate bedrooms."
Rarity threw back her head pompously, "Fine."
She trotted with other ponies following her.
Applejack caught up to Rarity. "Whoa, Rarity," she said, "I didn't know you fancied older ponies that way."
"Hmph, well, we all can't have older brothers, now can we?"
Applejack's face crumbled into an angry scowl, and she decided to leave the group and head for her home. Other ponies also headed home until it was just Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Rainbow Strike heading to the boutique.