"Dad!"
Lightning Dash froze. He looked to his right as he saw a young blue and white unicorn gallop towards him. His wife and daughter traveling beside him watched with quizzical faces as the unicorn cried out once more.
"Dad, is that you?"
The unicorn's face was now only inches from Lightning's.
Color Blotch's hoarse 13-year-old voice trembled. His white-tipped ears were wilted, and the fur on his cheeks was crisp with dried tears.
Lightning Dash spread his large black wings and cleared his throat, staring, confused, back into Color Blotch's worried red-orange eyes.
"Um… Do I know you?"
"Yes, dad, it's me, Color Blotch! Your son!"
Lightning Dash stuttered with his speech.
"I... I don't have a son."
"Well forget about me, I need your help!"
Color Blotch's eyes watered, and the heart behind the splash of purple fur on his chest beat quickly with panic.
Without responding, Lightning Dash encircled Color Blotch, observing everything about him from his yellow, green, and black mane to his navy blue coat and white horn and hooves. He glanced at his flank and hesitated. A yellow wooden paintbrush within a spiral of red marks was imprinted upon Color Blotch's hindquarters.
"That cutie mark... a unicorn... those eyes..."
Lightning Dash's heart dropped.
"Oh no. No, it can't be!"
Looking very confused and disgruntled, Lightning's 16-year-old daughter Clover spoke up.
"Dad, what is he talking about? What's going on?"
After tilting her head, trying to make sense of the situation, Lightning's wife Derpy Hooves let out a sudden gasp of realization, clamping her hooves over her mouth.
"Dad, it's mom. She's in trouble," Blotch exclaimed once more.
Taking a deep swallow, Lightning Dash lowered his wings heavily.
"And who, might I ask, is your mother?"
"Color Flourish."