The End
Hearing Scootaloo’s voice for the first time in three days, Rainbow Dash fervently pushed past the wires and tubes and just held Scootaloo in between her forelegs, resting her head on top of the soft purple mane.
“Are you okay?” she heard a familiar voice whisper from within the embrace.
“No,” Rainbow replied, shaking her head. She was far too emotional to describe her condition as anything close to ‘ok’. “But I think I will be,” Rainbow Dash added as a measure of reassurance.
She reluctantly let go of Scootaloo and inched away. “You look awful,” Scootaloo said, as soon as she got a better look at her big sister with her greasy mane and thick bags under her bloodshot eyes.
“You look awful,” Rainbow fired back weakly.
The quiet moment was interrupted by a small gasp as Misty dropped the apple she was holding and ran to the other side of Scootaloo’s bed. Almost instantly, Scootaloo was enveloped in another hug.
One of the nurses must have heard the commotion because a few minutes later Doctor Feather walked into the room. Despite her stoic nature, she visibly relaxed when she saw Scootaloo awake and cogent.
Before the doctor could say anything, Rainbow spoke. “She’s awake. That means she’s going to be okay, right?”
“It’s a very promising sign,” Dr. Feather said carefully. “I want to keep her here for at least twenty four hours to monitor her vital signs. And when I do release her she’ll need to stay on the ground for at least two weeks. No flight practice, no cloud walking, nothing that could task her magic reserves even in the slightest.”
“But then she’ll be able to fly, right?” Rainbow asked, saving Scootaloo the trouble.
“Her magic regulation system just went through a shock, not to mention her wing muscles. She needs rehab. Once that’s done we’ll know if the surgery worked,” Dr. Feather said addressing her remarks to Scootaloo as much as Rainbow.
Under most other circumstances Rainbow would have complained about having to wait some indeterminate amount of time to get what she wanted, but the relief that Scootaloo was awake was soothing any negative emotions she might have felt. Applejack could have told her that there’d be no cider this year and she would have shrugged it off as a minor annoyance, she was so placid.
“You’re going to have to find a place for her to stay on the ground,” Dr. Feather said as she recalled her home visit to Rainbow’s cloud mansion.
Rainbow was about to invite herself to Fluttershy’s when a different voice chimed in. “Maybe you could stay at home,” Misty offered quietly.
Scootaloo scrunched her face as everypony turned to look at her. “Can Rainbow Dash stay with us?”
“Of course, baby.”
Dr. Feather nodded and turned to leave, now that her patient had passed her first major milestone toward recovery.
Rainbow gingerly ran a hoof through Scootaloo’s mane one last time and ran out the door to catch up with the doctor, managing to reach her about halfway down the hall. “I just wanted to say thanks doc,” Rainbow said, awkwardly scratching her foreleg. She had snapped at the doctor more than once, but Scootaloo was on her way back to her old self and she wasn’t so naive as to believe that it was pure luck. “Umm, I don’t really understand any of this medical stuff, but I kinda get the sense that maybe this could have gone a lot worse if you weren’t calling the shots.”
The doctor shrugged at the remark. Speculating about what another doctor might have done was not a productive area of inquiry most of the time. “Y’know, most of the time I try to keep my distance from patients and their families.” Doctor Feather paused and Rainbow waited for her to finish her remarks. “She’s special. I’m glad…I’m glad that this worked out.”
Rainbow spent the next two weeks sleeping on the floor and accompanying Scootaloo to rehab in between weather shifts. Magic inhibitors looped around her wings prevented her from even hovering, but Scootaloo completed all the wing exercises everyday without complaint, despite not knowing if they were only exercises in futility.
Finally the big day came, and after a quick breakfast of oatmeal. Rainbow flew Scootaloo to the outskirts of Ponyville, her favorite practice field.
Waiting for them were Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, along with their sisters. Twilight, Fluttershy, and Pinkie stood just to the left of them and Misty stood next to Fluttershy.
Scootaloo looked at the ponies gathered on the edge of the field, all with hopeful smiles. “There are a lot of ponies here,” she whispered.
Rainbow looked out at the assembled crowd and shrugged. “I figured either you’re gonna fly and we can all celebrate, or you won’t and you’ll have a bunch of ponies who’ll tell you that you’re still awesome anyway.”
“I guess that makes sense,” Scootaloo said, though she still looked nervous.
“You want em gone? Say the word and I’ll fly us halfway across Equestria and we can do this just the two of us.”
Scootaloo thought briefly about the ponies who had assembled to cheer her on. Her fellow crusaders had of course supported her unquestioningly and uncritically throughout everything. And along with that support came the support of Applejack and Rarity who had granted their homes and more than a few hours of their time in assisting their efforts. Pinkie had offered them more than a few free cupcakes and milkshakes to help take the sting off their failures. She already knew Twilight had been trying to help figure out why she couldn’t fly, and even before that the library was a valuable resource every time the crusaders needed more information. And lastly, Fluttershy had been there when both she and Rainbow needed her, every time. This was almost as much their moment as it was hers.
And then she looked at her mom. She seemed a little out of place in the crowd. Scootaloo had always kept her home life at a distance from her personal life. But before the crusaders, and before any of this, her mom had held her up trying to help her fly when she didn’t know what else to do. And every time she came home with bumps and bruises, her mom would dutifully bandage them up and give Scootaloo a hug that made the hurt a lot more bearable. And for the past two weeks she had waited on Scootaloo hoof and hoof, walking with her to rehab when Rainbow Dash had to be at work, cheering her on from the sideline as she built her wing strength back up.
This was her victory too.
And if it didn’t work, they deserved to know that as well.
Scootaloo took a deep breath and looked up at Rainbow. “Let’s do this!”
Rainbow grinned at the brashness. She pried the bands off Scootaloo’s wings and took a step back. “Nothing’s changed, squirt. You know how to do this. Just jump up and flap your wings.”
Scootaloo took another deep breath, crouched down and propelled herself in the air as high as she could. As soon as she was airborne she squeezed her eyes shut and started furiously flapping her wings, more desperate than she had ever been to stay aloft.
A strange sensation began to radiate down from her wings; it was a cold chill that rapidly warmed up as it spread through the rest of her body. She heard Rainbow’s voice call out, “Easy does it kid. Slow down a bit.” She opened her eyes and gasped. She was still off the ground! She couldn’t quite hover in place, the force of her wings kept pushing her back and forth, but she wasn’t falling either.
A loud cheer went up from the crowd. It wasn’t the most graceful flight ever, but it was flight.
However loud the crowd was, it didn’t remotely come close to the thundering ‘Whoo-hoo” that Rainbow exuberantly cried out. If a passerby happened to wander by they could have been forgiven for thinking that Rainbow was the one flying for the first time, given how giddy she looked as she zipped around the wobbly orange pegasus.
Scootaloo flew back and forth in a small circle a few times, still trying to calibrate her balance now that she had a third axis to worry about. It didn’t take long before she felt her wings start to ache and she landed softly on the grass as everypony galloped over to congratulate her.
“Oh, wow, um thank you everypony.” Her breathing grew labored. “Umm..” Scootaloo began to panic as she struggled to express her gratitude and joy, and why was she crying? This was as happy as she could remember being.
But as usual Rainbow swooped in to save her. “Me and the kid have secret pegasus stuff to talk about. We’ll be back in a second,” Rainbow said, hooking her foreleg under Scootaloo’s and taking off toward the nearest cloud. High above Ponyville, and safely out of view of their friends, Rainbow gently set Scootaloo down next to her.
“Lesson number one about flying, kid: if you ever need some space, you can always borrow a cloud. We’ll work on your altitude later.”
Scootaloo took several deep breaths and wiped at her eyes. “Thanks, Rainbow. I guess umm that I’m a little overwhelmed.”
“It’s a big day for ya kiddo, it’s cool. We can head back down whenever you’re ready.”
Scootaloo looked up at her big sister. The sun was to their back, the backlighting making Rainbow look even more like some sort of mythical figure. Scootaloo reached out and gingerly touched the scar that ran across Rainbow’s barrel. Thanks to some healing spells and fast pegasi metabolism, what was once a red gash had faded into a barely noticeable thin blue line. She started to speak softly. “When we first became sisters, you weren’t always there for me. Sometimes you were late meeting me, and there was that one time that you forgot we were suppose to hang out completely.”
“Umm yeah, sorry about that?” Rainbow said, trying to imagine why Scootaloo would bring that up on what was possibly the greatest day of her life.
Scootaloo started to tear up again but pushed through, determined to say what she wanted to say. “But when I needed you…really needed you…you made me feel safe and then you gave me a home and now I can fly and none of it would have happened without you.” Scootaloo broke eye contact, staring down at the cloud for the next part. “No matter what I do, I won’t ever be able to make it up to you.” Scootaloo sniffled loudly before taking another deep breath and again wiping her eyes, but also looking directly at her big sister. “But I’m gonna try. So if you ever need anything.” Her voice trailed off as she couldn’t quite figure out how to finish that sentence. I mean as long as I’m offering ponies things they don’t need I may as well give Filthy Rich the twenty one bits I have saved in my piggy bank.
Rainbow Dash smiled and stroked her chin thoughtfully. “That’s a pretty big offer, Scoots. I mean, anything can cover a lot of stuff.” The pensive expression disappeared as it was replaced with an even wider grin. “Can I have a hug?”
Scootaloo tilted her head, seemingly confounded by the request.
“I’d like a hug,” Rainbow repeated. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but-”
Before Rainbow could finish she felt a pair of small forelegs wrap around her neck as Scootaloo jumped up and buried her face in the crook of her neck. She let the filly’s torrent of emotions wash over her, absorbing them as they poured forth, punctuated by tiny squeezes of the orange forelegs wrapped around her. For every squeeze Rainbow responded by softly stroking her purple mane. And as she let the little filly silently pour out her feelings, slowly both ponies got their emotions back under control. After a few minutes, Rainbow gently set Scootaloo down in front of her. “Thanks kid. There, now we’re totally even.”
Scootaloo responded by shaking her head. “We’re not even, Rainbow Dash. A hug can’t possibly make up for everything you’ve done.”
“You’re only saying that because you don’t know how awesome a Scootaloo hug is. Too bad, too. They’re pretty much the most awesome things ever, and I’ve gotten more than a few of them, so yeah, I figure that last one makes us even.”
“But-”
Rainbow draped a wing over her little sister and looked her in the eyes. “No buts Scoots. I love you, plain and simple. We were always even. Heck, if you really want to keep score here, you’ve already given me more than I could ever give you, so how bout you cut your big sister a break and just call it square.”
“Square,” Scootaloo said, though it wasn’t quite clear if she believed it. “Still no cutie mark though,” she said, glancing over her shoulder with a slight frown.
As long as Rainbow was rocking the big sister thing, she figured it wouldn’t hurt to add one more life lesson onto their little cloud bonding session.
“Kid, your cutie mark doesn’t matter,” Rainbow said, letting out a deep breath as though she had just revealed some deep dark conspiracy fostered by the children of Equestria.
“What do you mean?”
Rainbow turned her back so that the rainbow colored lightning bolt that adorned her flank was in full view. “Look at mine. What do you think it means?”
“Well it’s a lightning bolt and a rainbow, because your mane is a rainbow and you like to fly fast and do awesome stuff.”
Rainbow chuckled at Scootaloo’s totally accurate characterization. “Sure do. But if you didn’t know me, what might you think it means?”
“Umm, maybe you really liked being a weather pony?” Scootaloo guessed.
Rainbow chuckled again, this time for a different reason. “Yep, that could work. I had one stallion tell me that I must always look on the bright side of things.”
“Boy was he off,” Scootaloo scoffed.
“He sure was. What about Fluttershy’s cutie mark, what does it mean?” Rainbow gently prodded.
“It symbolizes her connection with animals because those butterflies saved her,” Scootaloo said, recalling Fluttershy’s story about how she got her own cutie mark.
“Couldn’t it also mean that maybe she just really likes butterflies, or that she flies gently or something?”
“I guess,” Scootaloo said with a shrug
.
Rainbow pressed onward, hoping her meaning would become clearer. “Twilight’s cutie mark is some weird symbol and Rarity’s could mean almost anything. What your cutie mark is doesn’t matter. What matters is what you decide to do with it. So what do you want to do, Scoots?”
Scootaloo folded her hoofs in front of her as she considered the question. “I think I really like flying,” she said, verbalizing the first thing that popped into her head.
Rainbow gave Scootaloo another big smile. “Of course you do. What else?”
Scootaloo thought for another second, briefly reflecting on her short life. “I still like to ride my scooter, and I also kinda like to dance.”
“I know,” Rainbow said with a smirk.
“You know?”
“You really think I haven’t seen ya dancing around the house? What else?”
“Well, I really like it when you tell me bedtime stories, and I was kinda thinking maybe I could try telling stories sometime.”
“Awesome. We can start tonight. You pick the story and you tell it. I’ll just listen. Anything else?”
Scootaloo’s voice grew lower and more somber. “I was thinking… there are a lot of foals who need help and, well, not everypony is lucky enough to have a Rainbow Dash, like I do. I kinda thought maybe one day I might go work for Foal Services and try to help kids who are being hurt, like you helped me.”
“That’s a nice idea Scoots. Maybe your mark will be a shield? Or it could be some dancing shoes or a book. Maybe it will be some kind of weird symbol. It won’t matter. You’ll be awesome at whatever you decide to do and your cutie mark will remind you of that. But you’ll still do what you do because you love doing it.”
“I never really thought of it like that.” Scootaloo leapt up and gave Rainbow another hug. “Thanks Rainbow Dash.”
“Most awesome things ever,” Rainbow whispered as she hugged Scootaloo back. “Now c’mon, you’ve got a bunch of ponies who want to celebrate with you. We shouldn’t keep them waiting.”
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RD's speech about cutie marks is funny coming from the pony who woke up with another cutie mark and was blindly all, "I must be an animal care taker."
5977023 I think it was a bit more complex than you're making it sound. Good point, though.
Move "." up to "shrug".
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wouldn't
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I loved it !!!!!!!
I'm so glad Misty and Rainbow have both been supporting Scootaloo through all this. I can totally see Scootaloo being a volunteer big sister for Foal Services to help troubled fillies and colts.
5977023 Her memories were modified as well, she thought she always had it.
You know looking back and re reading this a whole 3 years later, and just seeing the random comments I put or quotes I remember.
We often say that throughout time we change so much, but looking back at this I just realise I haven't changed that much. This story is still awesome, the relatationship between Dash and Scootaloo is loving and caring and the overall themes are stuff I still remembered before re-reading. Ok weird rant over. Just want to say this story is amazing and thanks to past you for writing this. Or maybe its nostalgia....idk...
8821903
Glad it holds up