Rainbows, Chickens and Clouds

by Bunnybooze79

Chapter 5

The air was different here. Perhaps it had something to do with the height or maybe because she was technically still over the Everfree Forest that had its own set of rules when it came to weather. Scootaloos eyes were firmly locked on the horizon and she did not dare look down.

“It’s working! I am flying!”

Just as she said those words to herself, she felt the cold grip of gravity once again getting a hold on her. As before she doubled her efforts to stay airborne and as before the effort was futile. Her long jump was nearing its end horizontally and slowly changed its course into a more vertical direction.

The realization of what was happening hit her like a ton of bricks. It didn’t work, she couldn’t fly and was now going to fall hundreds and hundreds of feet down to the hard ground that did not want her to leave. A cry of fear etched its way out of her mouth, but ended as fast as it had began. Scootaloo had hit something.

All she could see in front of her eyes was white. It took a couple of seconds before she finally understood what she had hit. A cloud! Her fall to certain doom had been halted by a single medium pony-sized cloud. High above the ground a tiny pegasus hung onto the cloud with half her body on top and the other half dangling over the side, wings still buzzing furiously.

Scootaloo had never been on a cloud before, something that all other pegasi took for granted. Curiosly she muzzled the fluffy savior. It felt strange to the filly, the best comparison in her mind being an extremely fluffy marshmallow. Lost in thought she stopped her wings from buzzing. Immediately she began losing her grip on the cloud. With a panicked yelp she started flapping her wings again and the careful balance was restored. She tried to pull herself up onto the cloud, but her sprained foreleg betrayed her and with only one foreleg she was not able to muster enough strength. Then it dawned on her, she was utterly stuck. Not able to pull herself up by her legs and as soon as she stopped flapping her wings, she would slip off her saving cloud.

“If I just stay here for a while, the others are sure to come look for me.”

Her voiced opinion on the matter at hand was full of truth and had she stayed in place she would have been found rather swiftly. Unfortunately her constant flapping made her move forward at a fast pace in the direction she was facing. Even more unfortunate was the fact that she was facing away from Ponyville, her friends and potentially anypony that could save her.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Twilight Sparkle returned to her library. Her search for Scootaloo had been fruitless and she hoped that the little filly had been found by one of her friends. Rarity was already waiting for her.
“Anything?”

“I’m afraid not. Sweetie Belle is going to wait in my boutique in case she does show up there later. I… I didn’t say what Fluttershy found.”

Twilight nodded in agreement and was just about to tell her friend what she had found out, when the door opened and Applejack came in. The look on her face mirrored that of Twilight. She barely had any time to sit down before the door opened again and Fluttershy followed by Pinkie Pie came inside.

“Oooooh, are we having a party?” the pink pony inquired with a wide smile on her face.
Twilight decided to inform them what she had found and bring Pinkie Pie up to speed on the current events, but something else came to her attention.

“Where is Rainbow Dash?”

“I.. uhm… I couldn’t find her at home, so I left her a note saying we needed her help right away and that she should hurry to the library.” Fluttershy explained.

“Help? Why do we need Dashies help? Whats going on?” The smile in Pinkies face had vanished and now she looked worried.

“Fluttershy found Scootaloo’s helmet floating in the river about an hour ago. It’s in pretty rough shape so we fear something might have happened to her. I went to the orphanage to see if she was still there…”

“Wait, what!? She is an orphan? But that’s just awful.” Pinkie interrupted.
Twilight kicked herself mentally. Until now the only ones that knew about that were herself, Rarity and Applejack.

“Yes, Pinkie. We only know that since this morning ourselves. Whatever the reason was not to tell anypony about it, it is not our main concern right now. I talked to her caretaker and she said that Scootaloo had left before any of the others woke up. She had left a note saying she would be out all day playing with her friends.”

“Sweetie Belle was all alone this morning. Besides she was going to be picked up by our parents this afternoon.”

“Applebloom was with Big Mac doing her chores. Somethin’ that she was going to do all day. Ah checked the clubhouse, but there was no sign that anypony was there since yesterday.”

“I think whatever she had planned to do today was not to involve anypony else. I fear she might be hurt.” Twilight looked to her friends seeing her own worry mirrored in their faces.

“Then we have to find her!”

“Find who Pinkie?” Rainbow Dash said as she casually flew in through the open window.
She looked at the worried faces of her friends.
“Whats going on?”

“Uhm… didn’t you read my note?”

“Note? I was out practicing my cool new moves and decided to have a break. I flew here to lend a Daring Do book.”

“We fear Scootaloo may be doing something dangerous again.” Twilight explained.

“The squirt? Why do you think that?”

“Because nopony has seen her since yesterday evening. At home she left a note saying she would be out with her friends, but they haven’t seen her all day.”

“Relax Twilight. I bet she’s just practicing some cool new moves, just like I was.”

“No, I won’t relax. This is serious.”

“Geez, what is it with you guys and the kid lately? Cut her a little slack why don’t ya?”

“Well if you wouldn’t have filled her head with your nonsense we wouldn’t have to worry.”

“Non… nonsense? Hey, training to be a Wonderbolt is not nonsense! If the kid wants to take a page out of my book, then good for her.”

Twilight became more and more irritated at the pony in front of her.
“Oh would you just stop with the Wonderbolts already! This is important!”

“Excuuuuse me? What could be more important than that?” Rainbow Dash stopped hovering and turned to face Twilight directly after landing.

“Oh for the love of Celestia, would you please stop being such a narcissistic egomaniac for a second and think about others!” Twilight burst out. Rainbow Dash looked stunned at the now irate unicorn.

“Hey! I think about others all the time. Element of Loyalty remember? And who saved all those ponies last year?”

“You mean the ones that were getting annoyed by your constant self-congratulating? The ones that we all saved dressed up as Mare-Do-Well?”

“Err.. Twilight? Maybe ya should back off just a little.” Applejack tried to intervene. She noticed that her unicorn friend was beginning to tread dangerous waters so to speak. Twilight did not move and kept looking at Rainbow Dash.

“No Applejack I won’t. It’s about time somepony told this pony some unpleasant truths.”

Rainbow Dash snorted half amused and half annoyed. It seemed to her as if Twilight had woken up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Normally she would just casually let Twilight rant, but the purple pony had crossed the line by dismissing the Wonderbolts as unimportant.
“Yeah, ok. Come on then, Twilight. What else you gotta say to me?”

“You know, I really hoped you would have learned something with all the Mare-Do-Well stuff. But you never did, did you? Same old self-centered Rainbow Dash. Praising herself above others as usual.” Twilight began entering full-rant mode.

“What wrong with that? I have the skills so why shouldn’t I be proud of them?”

“Oh, yes. Don’t get me wrong. If somepony would ask me if you are the best flyer in all of Equestria, I wouldn’t even have to think about it for a second and say yes. What’s wrong with that is that the young filly that looks up to you the most might be in danger of hurting herself, again. Because you kept on encouraging her.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.
“Hey, I said I would be like her big sister and show her a few things. I never said that I AM her big sister and would start to raise her. Why do you keep bringing that up?”

“It’s just a title for you isn’t it? Another feather in your cap to go on about how great you are. Scootaloo takes it seriously and therefore it is also your responsibility to look out for her.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. She is NOT my responsibility. Like I have been saying for the hundredth time today, I just would teach her a few things when she is ready. Raising her and all that stuff is the hooves of her parents, not mine.”

Twilight paused for a brief second to calm herself down a bit and to change her approach to try to get her friend to understand
“Have you ever even talked to Scootaloo?”

“What’s that for a question? Of course I talked to the kid.”

“And what exactly was is that you were talking about?”

“Well….me mostly and the Wonderbolts.” She replied with a shrug.
Twilight shook her head and let out a frustrated groan.

“Well if you might have taken the time just once to talk to her and let her talk, you might have learned a few things. Things that she hadn’t told anypony else maybe. Things that made her take off early this morning to do who knows what.” She picked up the helmet from a nearby table and held it in front of Rainbow Dash’s face so that she could see the large dent. “If she would have told anypony, than it would have been you, her big sister.”

Rainbow Dash looked in horror at the damage done to the helmet.
“But her parents..”

“And if you would have listened you might have found out that the one little filly, the one that was yearning the most to have some kind of family figure, was in fact an orphan.”

It felt like a dagger piercing her heart and Rainbow Dash closed her eyes, trying not to believe the words out of her friend’s mouth.

“Why do you think she was so elated to hear that you would take her under your wing? Because you would teach her stuff? No, it was because she had found somepony that agreed to be a family figure for her. Her big sister and you didn’t even care about that did you? Can you even imagine what is going through her mind? Can you even imagine how lonely she must have felt all these years? How it must be like to be an orphan? Do you even….”

Twilight couldn’t finish her next sentence as Rainbow Dash opened her eyes and looked into hers. She felt as if for the very first time she actually saw behind the arrogance and massive ego that surrounded Rainbow Dash’s persona. What she saw in her eyes was…pain. A huge pain that she had hidden so well for so long. Twilight just looked into her eyes and saw tears beginning to form. Within a heartbeat the pegasus flew out the window that she had entered and sped off out of sight.

“Rainbow Dash! Wait!” Twilight shouted, but she was already gone.

“Wha’ was that? Was she cryin’?” Applejack asked. The other ponies in the room had stayed quiet during the exchange between Rainbow Dash and Twilight.

“I… I think she was.”

“Oh my. I think you may have gone too far Twilight.” Fluttershy remarked quietly.

“What do you mean? I didn’t think she would react like that. If anything I would have thought she would have put up a fight.” Twilight turned to Fluttershy looking confused. The anger she felt before washed away as questions popped up in her mind.

“I know you didn’t know what for an effect your words would have.” Fluttershy looked at the confused friends surrounding her. “I think there is something you should know.”

_________________________________________________________________________________

“Before I tell you I want you to promise me never to reveal what I am about to tell you.”
The tone in Fluttershy’s voice let no room for discussion.

“We promise.” Twilight replied and shrank back a bit as she saw the look in Fluttershy’s face.

“I really mean it. You must never tell another soul, because Rainbow Dash made me swear not to tell anyone. But I light of the events todays you perhaps should at least know why she reacted the way she did.”

Worried and confused the friends made a Pinkie promise and awaited Fluttershy’s explanation.
“Do you know what summer flight camp is?” Fluttershy asked and looked at her friends.

“It’s some kind of school? Where pegasi learn to fly?” Twilight tried her best to remember what she had heard and read about it.

“Yes, that’s right. Summer flight camp is something that Cloudsdale does to help pegasi learn to fly who couldn’t learn it from anywhere else. Some parents, like mine, were too busy with their work to properly teach their children. Others came to flight camp, because their parents can’t fly. Like Mr. and Mrs. Cake. They have a Pegasus child, but neither one of them is one themselves. Others again simply do not have a family to teach them, like Scootaloo or even Rainbow Dash.”

“Wait what? But she said that she watched together with her family how Cloudsdale was not chosen for the pony games that one year.” Pinkie asked in a confused tone.

“They were…. There was an accident a while later. Neither one of them made it. Rainbow Dash was placed in Cloudsdale’s orphanage soon after. It was… a bad experience for her. She was bullied by the others and soon fought back. She made some bad decisions while she was there. Some of her friends were not the nicest ponies you could meet. It changed her I believe. I hadn’t met her before flight camp, but I don’t think she was always the way she is today. Showing weakness just makes you a target for bullies she once told me. I believe that she was talking from experience.”

Her friends were silently listening to the story Fluttershy told them, their heads hung low.
“One day something bad happened. I don’t know what it was and she never told me in detail, but she ran away from the orphanage and enrolled into the flight school of the Cloudsdale guards. Her behavior and attitude got her expelled rather quickly. With no place to turn she came to me here in Ponyville. I had just moved into my house with the help of my parents. The last pony I would have thought ever to see again was her, but there she was asking if I could let her stay for a night or two. She told me very vaguely what had happened and that she didn’t have anypony else to turn to. I helped her find a job here in Ponyville on the weather team and a few weeks later she built her own cloudhome with permission from the mayor at the time.”

Twilight felt bad, really bad. Without knowing it she had forced Rainbow Dash’s bad memories to be relived.
“I have to apologize to her.”

“No, you can’t. It is better if she doesn’t know that you know. She must tell you herself otherwise you might just push her further away. Besides we have the matter of Scootaloo still on our hooves.”

Twilight shook her head to clear it.
“You are right. Let’s fan out and try to find her.”

Comments

[Raven]

Arg! It pains me to see so little upvotes for this! It's so well done (to me anyways)!

[thereareonly2genders]

the story is great but there are a ton or errors. especially in this chapter. I enjoyed the development this chapter had tremendously though

[TheGreatEater]

Finally somepony puts Dash in her place.

[Fluttershyisacutegal]

poor dashie