The day following Scootaloo's defiant outburst of firm believing, the young pegasus sat in her clubhouse. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were both busy so she was by herself for now, the inside of the clubhouse its usual not at all creepy shrine to Rainbow Dash. Posters lined the walls, some of them autographed, and the limited furniture had a rainbow motif.
"Scootaloo!" A harsh voice called from below, breaking her from her thoughts.
Scootaloo's head jerked upwards, and she frowned but moved to the window to look out and down. Silver Spoon sat wrapped in an oversized scarf, her eyes gleaming beyond the thick frames she wore on her nose. There was surprisingly little reason for her to be over in this part of town, she'd never visited the clubhouse by herself before. Whenever she came by, it was always with... the other one.
"What do you want?" Scootaloo asked, a little more bitterly than she'd intended.
"Came to see how you were doing," Silver said, rubbing the back of her head with her hoof. "Diamond is off on a trip with her parents, so I don't have anypony to hang out with."
"I'm fine," Scootaloo said. "I'm staying up here until Santa comes. My mother said he might not get me the plushie I want, so I'm staging a protest."
Silver tipped her head. "Let me guess, that Rainbow Dash one that all the stores are out of that nopony can get?"
"Yeah, that one!"
"But, Scootaloo, Hearth's Warming is days away! You'll freeze up there!"
"So be it," Scootaloo said, and turned away from the window. She heard Silver try to get her attention for several minutes, but she ignored her stubbornly, and did not return to the window. She waited until silence had resumed for several minutes, and peeked out again, seeing nothing except snow. She smiled in victory, but it was her only victory that day. Although she intended on staying up there for three more days, she was rushing down the ladder again as soon as her mother called her for dinner.
The next couple days dragged onward, but the thought of the elusive Rainbow Dash plushie was never far from her mind. Hearth's Warming Eve night arrived with such force that it nearly slammed into her when she did realize what day it was, and both of her parents looked down at her with patient love.
"Do you think Santa will bring me Rainbow Dash?" She asked hopefully, looking up at them.
Her parents exchanged a glance. "I wouldn't get your hopes up," her dad said hesitantly. "I'm sure he's trying really hard, but if you don't get it, it won't be the end of the world." He smiled faintly.
"It might be," Scootaloo muttered, and hugged both of her parents before going up to bed. She had little intention of going to sleep, wanting to stay up and listen for the sounds of reindeer and such, but her eyes were heavy, and sleep took her within half an hour.
-HEARTH WARMING DAY-
It felt like she'd slept for only a few minutes, but her eyes sprang open to the faint burst of early morning light. Scootaloo gasped and bolted out of her bed, nearly tripping over her hooves as she ran down the stairs. A moment later, she was screaming, and her parents were running down the same stairs after her, afraid for the worst.
Scootaloo sat underneath the tree, screaming at the top of her lungs, a Rainbow Dash plushie held tightly in her front hooves. Rainbow Dash featured three butterflies on her flank, but was otherwise flawless.
Her parents exchanged a confused glance, genuinely confused as to where in the world such a thing had come from. All three were so eclipsed by the wonders of the magical morning that none of them saw the small filly standing outside the window in the snow, a small smile on her face. Coming from a wealthy family certainly had its perks. She had no less than six flawed Rainbow Dash plushies at home, simply because she had wanted to play Changeling Invasion and her father had gotten Filthy Rich to pull some strings.
Pushing her glasses up on her nose, the small filly disappeared off into the snow.