My Little Dashie: Moving Day

I just really couldn't believe how fast time has flown by. Dashie is turning fifteen already and were finally moving out of my parents' home for good. Yep, tomorrow we are ready to move to our new home far away from the rundown neighborhood we've grown accustomed to. I was a bit nervous though as Dashie and I had to sit down and talk about one last thing.

"Please daddy, you know I can do it," Dashie pleaded with all her heart.

"Dashie, it's not that I don't think you can do it. I know you can, but it just seems too dangerous," I said trying to be as stern as I could.

A friend of mine from my old job had agreed to help me move out of my parent's house and there was no way I could let him see Dashie. Dashie insisted on flying all the way to our new home in the country. Again, it's not that I don't trust that she can't make it there on here own; she is a strong young mare after all. I've watched her fly for hours tirelessly in the park, she was more than capable of taking care of herself in the skies. I just didn't feel comfortable with the idea of letting her fly on her own, or at least, without me watching over her.

I tried to convince her that it would be better (and safer) if she rode in the back of the U-haul trailer, but I knew my Dashie. She didn't like the prospect of being coped up in a windowless trailer for more than an hour, even if I arranged enough of the storage to make a comfortable area for her. And so here we were; at a standstill as to whether or not there was any other option that we could make a compromise on. I looked around the living room, hoping an idea would show itself, but all I saw were the somewhat neatly stacked cardboard boxes with various marker labels of what was to be taken. I looked back to Dashie, her eyes pleading with intense brilliance. Those beautiful scarlet eyes; I could almost never say 'no' to those eyes, yet I felt like I couldn't just go ahead and say 'yes' either. I thought as I bit the inside of my lip, and then decided.

"…ok."

Dashie's entire face lit up like it did the first time we had Christmas together and I gave her a present. She squealed with excitement and skipped around like she was on top of the world. It took a few minutes to get her fully grounded, quite literally, so I could get a few more words in. I had to give her a few rules as to how she would get to the new house. After our little talk, I decided it was time for bed as it was getting late, and we had a big day ahead of us in the morning to come.

---

As my friend and I loaded the last box of stuff into the U-haul trailer attached to his truck, I took a glance back at the old, rusty house I live in. It looked just like any other house on the block, but I would never forget the countless memories that made this house stand out among its decaying brothers. I couldn't pack everything from the house to take along as there was not enough room, which made me sad that some of my parents' personal stuff had to be sold or left behind. Though I was happy enough that I at least made sure that all of Dashie's stuff would make it on the trip. My friend had picked up one of Dashie's boxes of trinkets and toys earlier on and asked me what they were. I quickly played them off as my own stuff which he laughed at seeing that some of the items seemed a bit girly. Of course, he didn't argue on whether I should really keep them or not since I had bolded the word 'Keepsakes' on the box itself, but that didn't stop him from giving a little chuckle about it.

My friend called from his truck, which was pulling the storage trailer, to see if I was ready to go. With one final look to my old home, I wondered what my parents would say if they saw me now, ready to depart from the place they themselves and I called home for years. Though one last thing remained to be done and I stole a quick glance up toward the sky where I spotted Dashie's rainbow colored tail peeking out from behind a fluffy little cloud. From the night before and this morning, I told her that she would need to stay above the cloud cover, out of sight from anyone else and watch out for low flying planes. I prayed that she would be fine, it worries me that I won't be able to watch over her for the time being.

---

Rainbow Dash sat on her perch of a cloud high in the sky above the gray city she called home far below. She squinted a little to make out her father who was looking up at her, giving her a knowing nod. She nodded back as she remembered what her father had told her about staying out of sight. This would be no problem for her as she could fly faster than any other bird she's ever seen and she would merely have to fly among the clouds to avoid being spotted. She watched as her father got into the truck that he and his friend would be taking to the new house and take off.

About half an hour later, Rainbow Dash found herself soaring high in the sky. She inhaled a great deep breath of fresh air and just let herself glide on a warm updraft. Rainbow Dash had never flown anywhere besides in the park and the excitement of seeing the new landscape shuffle below filled her with glee and anticipation. Down below she looked on through the breaks in the clouds to see the road known as a 'highway' that her dad was driving on with his friend. If she wanted to, she could concentrate long enough to spot the silver toy sized truck totting the U-haul trailer as it skittered along the highway. Of course Rainbow Dash didn't need to keep track of the truck amid the various forms of metal vehicles, for she had memorized the map to their new home in her head. She just wanted to make sure her father was still there and didn't end up in a wreck along the way. When she was sure of her father's safety, she would go back to enjoying the freedom of the open skies.

She would have enjoyed more until she saw something quite unexpected a little ways down the highway. The road, or lack of a road, drew closer with every flap of her wings. Giant, oddly shaped vehicles ran to and fro behind the cut off, tearing up chunks of pavement and earth. Rainbow Dash thought about it for a moment and realized that this was what was called a 'construction zone'. She looked down below to see the traffic, including her father's truck, begin to shift right on to a different road. She took another glance back to the road's cut off to see a just large enough sign for her to read 'Detour'. She knew what the word meant; a different road used to get around from a main route. Rainbow Dash knew she could just fly right over the construction zone and meet her father later at the house, but she wanted to follow the truck and see where it led.

Not too long afterwards, her father was driving through a small town that led to a reconnection of the highway further on. Though Rainbow Dash found her ears perking up to faint sounds that were coming from the town below. She scanned the little town below until she found where the source of the noise was coming from. In an open area near the edge of the town, many people were gathered in front of a stage of some sort. She could hear the people cheering and yelling loudly and beyond that, the harmonious sounds of musical instruments. A concert; Rainbow Dash had seen a few of them on TV before and has listened to all kinds of music as well. She had found that in her own taste in music, she preferred rock and a bit of country. Although Rainbow Dash could tell that the band that was playing wasn't any band she knew, the rhythmic beat of the instruments were just as pleasing to her as the ones she did know.

She shook her head as she realized that she had lost her attention in following her dad's truck. When Rainbow Dash turned to search for truck and trailer, she sighed in relief that it had not gotten through the town traffic just yet but soon would be. She got up and prepared to take off when she heard a new round of elated cheers and musical notes echoed from below. Rainbow Dash looked back between her father's truck that was starting to disappear over the horizon and the concert down below; she bit her lip as she weighed her options.

'I can catch up in a few minutes,' she thought as she made up her mind, 'and it's only one song.'

With that, she sat back down on her cloud to watch the concert, but from way up in the sky she had to strain her ears to make out the tune properly. She huffed and laid down on her cloud, disappointed in her wasted opportunity. That is, until an idea flickered in her mind. She knew it would be dangerous and her dad would scold her harshly if he ever found out, but she wanted to see her first live concert up close and that's exactly what she was going to do. As fast as she could, she plunged toward the ground and found refuge in a mighty oak tree. After brushing a few leaves out of her mane she pushed a couple branches out of the way and was welcomed by the stunning tunes of the crowd and band. It was incredible; the musicians played a mixture of soft rock that went into a crashing bend of pop. The crowd threw their hands up and screamed every time the lead singer threw his hands up between beats.

The sights and sounds made Rainbow Dash squeal with excitement along with the crowd, but soon something else caught her attention. A light breeze brought the scent of some kind of sweet pastry to Rainbow Dash's nose that came from what looked like a trailer that had part of its side cut out. Above the open window on the trailer the words 'Funnel Cake' were colorfully laid out. Rainbow Dash tilted her head, she had never heard of funnel cake before, but she knew what cake was and this smelled delicious. A couple people walked up to the trailer and talked to another person inside. The person inside handed over a paper plate with what looked like fried dough squiggles with white powder on top. The first person to get their 'funnel cake' immediately picked up the squiggle and bit into it, and once more smiled in delight. Rainbow Dash could feel her mouth begin to water as another breeze wafted the sweet aroma to her. She already felt guilty that she was at this concert in the first place, but she wondered if she would ever get another chance like this again. She looked left and right as to make sure no one was looking, and like a lightning bolt was already hidden under the cover of some bushes just behind the 'Funnel Cake' trailer. The aroma had grown more intense and was now intoxicating. Rainbow Dash peered out from the bushes to see the trailer's backside and saw that it had an open window like in the front. One of the people from inside of the trailer set a couple plates of funnel cake on the window sill and turned away to work something else. Rainbow Dash looked onto the treats that had a bit of steam rising off of them; they were freshly made. With another quick glance to her surroundings, she rushed in, picking up the closest plate to her, and just as fast bolted back up into the tree she had been hiding in. It was delicious, Rainbow Dash thought as she devoured the puffy, sweet pastry. The powdered sugar made it all the more sweeter, some of it getting on her face which she eagerly licked off.

She was having a blast; the music, the freedom, the food, the day just kept getting better and Rainbow Dash was not afraid to show it. Unfortunately, she wasn't paying attention enough until she knocked her funnel cake plate from atop her branch. She gasped as she tried to grab it before it fell but was already out of her reach. Rainbow Dash watched as the paper trash fluttered downward and land perfectly at the feet of a small child that was below. The little boy jumped a bit at the piece of rubbish that fell from the sky and looked around to see where it came from. He finally looked straight up and gasped again at what he saw. For a moment, the little boy and Rainbow Dash locked gazes with each other, just staring as neither of them made a move. Rainbow Dash cursed herself for letting herself be seen and shot up through the tree branches and back into the sky.

"Mommy, mommy!" the little boy tugged at his mother's jeans as he watched in excited wonder, "Look, it's a flying pony!"

The mother, although not paying attention, replied back, "That's nice sweetie."

Rainbow Dash hid in the safety of the high flying clouds to catch her breath. She was a bit sad that she wouldn't get to see the rest of the concert like she wanted to, but she at least got to listen to two of the songs and tried her very first funnel cake. Of course, all good fun had to come to an end as her eyes went wide as she suddenly remembered her dad and how she was supposed to be catching up with him. The sun had already begun its descent after its high noon rise; Rainbow Dash had stayed a bit longer than she had thought. If she hurried now and hopefully caught a good tailwind, she was sure she could make it to the new house on time. She sped off in the direction of the highway, leaving the playful little town behind.

---

I paced nervously at the porch of our new home. My friend had already helped me unload all the stuff from the trailer into the house and left to go back home. Now all that was left to do was wait for Dashie to arrive; although that's what I have been doing for the past ten minutes. I looked down at my watch, sorry, make that eleven minutes. I scanned the sky again, hoping to catch even a glimpse of my little Dashie's rainbow colored mane. But all that could be seen were a few lazy clouds drifting on a light breeze. Had she gotten lost, or maybe even worse? Maybe I'm just being a bit too paranoid, but I just couldn't get this nagging feeling out of my head that something might have happened. I never should have let her go alone like this.

I was about to go grab a light jacket to go out and search when a little cyan blur zipped through the clouds and came closer. I finally realized how tense I was and deeply sighed in relief as Dashie descended from the sky. We hugged for the longest time; I didn't want to let her go, ever. I was just so happy to see her safe and sound and my worries unfounded. After our reunion I questioned her on what had happened and if she was alright.

---

Rainbow Dash flew nonstop from the little concert town along the highway and over the twisting roads that led into a countryside miles away. She was fortunate enough to catch that tailwind she had been hoping for and shaved a good fifteen minutes off her travel time. The road she was following below showed fewer and fewer houses as it went on. The terrain took on unsettled woodland like features as she passed another house. With her memorized map she discovered that next house (about five miles to go) would in fact be her new home. Rainbow Dash would be more excited if she wasn't so worried about how late she was already. With as fast as her wings could take her, she sprinted toward her destination.

Not ten minutes later, her new home came into view. It was a very large home indeed; a two story brick and elegant siding house. Even from way up in the sky where she was, Rainbow Dash was awe struck by the sheer size. The light glistened off more windows on the side of the house than all the windows on her old home. She smiled as she thought about how the house would be very spacious and airy. She liked it, and couldn't wait to see just how amazing the inside was compared to the outside. But before all that, another twist in her gut reminded her of how she had lost track of time and was now late. Although as she got closer, she didn't see her father's friend's truck or trailer anywhere near the new house which could only mean one of two things. Either her father's friend had already left and she hadn't noticed him drive away or they haven't made it yet which worried her even more.

Of course her fears of the latter were washed away when she spotted a small figure on the house's porch waving her down. She let herself drift down and found herself in the arms of her father once again after so long. It felt so good to know that they had both made it safely and held each other in an embrace they wanted to last forever. Then the inevitable came and Dash's father asked where she had been. Rainbow Dash had to do everything she could to keep from fidgeting nervously against her will. She gave her best possible smile and said that she got a bit lost after fighting against a strong headwind and had to retrace her way back to the highway. Her father frowned, she knew he was thinking that he himself was to blame for her ordeal, but quickly reassured him that she was perfectly fine and safe. He smiled back and invited Rainbow Dash into their new home to check out everything inside. She felt a bit guilty that she now held her own personal secret, but relieved and somewhat ecstatic that she had gotten away with one of the best days of her life. Besides, she was sure that it wasn't like her father never had a few secrets he hid from her.