Chapter 50 – A Fatherly Approach

It was mindless of him. He knew Rainbow Dash wouldn't be in her room, yet Tusks had done this mindlessly just to be sure. He would walk by her room, himself mostly being the last to wake, and knock on her door as he passed. He believed it to be good luck at times and gladly repeated the ritual until it became second nature, a habit of his that he would gladly repeat if it meant that they would keep winning. So, he was surprised to hear her voice call out from her room after he had done this ritual once again, never had he heard it so distressed either. She was trying to hide it under an angry tone, but he could hear it, he had heard it from himself in his youth. "GO AWAY!" she called out.

he stooped, his eyes open wide in surprise as he turned his head back to the room, "What the…? he asked himself and walked back to the door. He didn't even say a word, he just placed his hand to the door itself and let himself in.

"I told you to LEAVE ME ALONE!" Rainbow shouted, and actually ripped a piece of her cloud off to throw at him, hitting him square in the face before it dispersed. Tusks stood there wide-eyed in surprise as the fluffy thing had encompassed his vision and then disappeared. "Oh Tusks." he heard the cyan pegasus say as she let her anger fall, "I'm sorry, I thought you were…" she couldn't even finish her sentence without letting some tears form.

"Ok…" the large Treeopon said as he tried to shake off his surprise, "Talk."

Rainbow Dash turned around and hugged what was left of her cloud, "I don't wanna…" she began and let her eyes open wide at his next set of words.

"I'm as stubborn as Applejack and my presence is a {snort} master key for every door in this facility, I also hate {snort} being out of the loop so start talking!" he told her as he folded his arms.

Her eyes narrowed in annoyance, and she slowly turned to look him in his eyes, "You're not going to leave until I tell you everything, aren't you?" she asked.

"And no matter how many times you throw me out, {snort} I'll just come right back in!" he confirmed.

"Do you know what privacy is?" she asked.

"Yes, and right now being alone is the last {snort} thing you need. You'll just dig yourself into a pit {snort} of sorrow." he told her, "I've done it, I don't recommend it. {snort} TALK!"

Rainbow Dash exhaled loudly, a groan so deep in her throat she almost thought she'd suffocate from its simple release, "It's all Breeze's fault." she said, "If he hadn't gotten her pregnant…"

"Hold on…" he said stopping her, "Start from the top, I forgot to turn on my alarm this morning and slept in till now. Who did he get pregnant? And how? I thought he was here the entire time?"

"I guess I do owe you an explanation after that outburst." she said and sat up in her cloud, "Breeze and I went out to the town this morning, just to relax and have some fun. But we met up with a girl from another planet that claimed to have Breeze's son. And apparently, it was true."

"From when?" he asked.

"I don't know, about eight years ago or something. She was the one that gave him his curse." she said.

"Yeah, I remember that mission." he said, "I was the leader of their squad when Breeze {snort} went off by himself to scout ahead and got lost when a {snort} group of enemies heard his approach. So, he got with a girl during that {snort} time and now she has his kid? How did she even know it was him?"

"She's a shaman." the pegasus said simply.

Tusks simply chuckled at this, "A shaman?" he asked, "He told me he rescued someone that day. I had to {snort} write it down in the report." When Rainbow Dash glared at him, he realized that they were one and the same, "Wait, if he had to rescue her, then that means she {snort} was in prison and that only happens when a shaman starts abusing{snort} their power to…" he started rambling in thought, and was interrupted when Rainbow Dash coughed intentionally, "Sorry, continue!"

"She found us while we were relaxing, fully intending to get Breeze back for herself." Rainbow continued, "Me and her began arguing, and then Breeze disappeared." Tusks lifted one of his eyebrows at her, "Yeah, you heard me, he ran away while I argued with his old witch!"

"That might be a little harsh." Tusks said, "I've never known him to run from something he found precious to him."

"Neither have I." Rainbow said in shock, and somehow melted into a somber disappointment, "Until now."

"I have however known him to be {snort} the butt end of fate's jokes." Tusks suddenly said, "Give it time, the truth will come out."

"That's not all." she said as she turned from the Treeopon, "She said some…pretty awful things as well, like how I'm holding him back and how he'll never see me the way he sees her and such."

"I wouldn't believe her." Tusks said, "She's probably saying things like that just to put filth in yer tank." he said, and earned a curious confused look from the pony he was trying to console, "She's trying to get under your skin."

"That's what I thought as well, she's definitely trying to get under my skin…but he did sleep with her, and didn't tell me about it." she said, "And then she told me about the murders he's committed, the…assassinations and all that. How could she know about all of that? It took a lot of consoling to get him to tell me that he has blood on his hooves. And even longer for him to tell me how much. I still trusted him with my life, but, now…"

Tusks' shoulders slumped a bit, he hadn't really considered the impact of how much death the two boys had seen would affect the ponies. Though her knowing about Breeze's past meant that the mistakes he had made would be easier to understand, he was sure there was something else under it all, "That's not all is there?" he asked.

"I'm just sick of his past creeping up on me." she finally said, "Every day I'm with him I learn about another stunt he pulled to get into trouble or even some perverted act he did just to keep from seeing his past in his dreams. I'm sick of it all sneaking up on me. I just want it all to stop…you know?"

Tusks sighed, what could he say? There were no words to help right now, so instead, he walked up to her and attempted to sit down. His mindless thoughts simply didn't register that she was actually laying down on a cloud, and thanks to this, he actually fell through the cream-colored puffs and down to the floor with a loud thud. Rainbow looked to him through her tears, the grunt of slight pain on his face as he rubbed his tail, and then grinned up at her, this caused her to start to chuckle a bit, but then he began to do the same, and soon both were in full hearty laughter that could have easily been heard in the next garage over. They laughed for a good while, each contributing to the joy of the other as they let their bellows influence the atmosphere. The laughter silenced just as slowly as it had begun the two just basking in each other's company, "He does care for you, you know?" Tusks said suddenly and softly. These words caught the pegasus in a curious surprise, and for the first time in a long time, she found herself listening more intently than any time she could have ever remembered. "He's gotten so screwed up because of the killing, {snort} because of the assassinations, that only the screwed up could help{snort} him cope. I'm not excusing his past but you have to {snort} understand that life on the Genesis Ark was a struggle, not {snort} paradise. You had things you had to do and only {snort} you could do them. Not all were proud moments but to {snort} blame him for his past appearing like that, just {snort} think how he feels." he said. Rainbow looked up at him, her curiosity now in full swing, "He's got no one left who can {snort} stop the nightmares, and now that his past is {snort} reappearing he's scared, scared that the one thing to give him peace of mind is about to walk away." the Treeopon took in a huge breath, and smiled gently, "He's just as scared as you now. Scared and angry at himself I bet. He's always been like that. What you two need to do is talk, take it slow, but talk. Let him know just how much his past is taking a toll on you, let him know just how you feel about it. He'll listen, but you gotta open up to him first. I assume you already did that once since he trusts you so much."

Rainbow sighed a bit, "I just…forced it out of him I guess." she said, "I got mad, then he got mad and then he told me about the nightmares…" she thought a bit, and blushed, "Then I hugged him."

"You forced him to admit he was scared, huh?" Tusks asked, "Then why is it you both have such a hard time being vulnerable? {snort} I mean; caring isn't a bad thing, right?"

"We both got reputations to uphold." Rainbow countered.

"But not to each other!" he said, "You've seen him without his brave face and he's seen you without your awesomeness. right?"

Rainbow thought a bit, it had been a long time since the two of them had seen each other in such a vulnerable state, to just open up and talk with no worries of judgment or ridicule. But she had to think, a secret place maybe, a sacred spot for just the two of them? She was startled from her thoughts when Tusks lifted himself from her floor, and dusted himself off, "Well, whatever you do, just get it done before the next race." he said, "I don't need my gunner and my pilot unable to function as a team because of something like this."

"Is the race really why you tried to console me?" she asked, getting the Treeopon to smile.

"Guess I'm just growing up." was all he said and turned, the door to Rainbow Dash's room opened just in time to get a small glimpse of Pinkie Pie with Lau on her back zip by with the two twins, Divs and Livs chasing after them. The twins were instantly chased by an angry Applejack and Writch with Twilight hot on their tails. Breeze followed behind, somehow exhausted by whatever effort he had made.

"Why are children (huff) so hard to (heave) keep up with?" he asked in exhaustion and turned to Rainbow Dash and Tusks as the two of them started laughing. To this, he could only look at them and smile while he gasped for breath.