//------------------------------// // 3 - Big Sister // Story: Soaring on Little Wings // by tom117z //------------------------------// Three Days Later “So, what did your parents want to see us for anyway?” Scootaloo asked her idol, sitting on said idol’s back as she flew them both up to the floating city above. “Heck if I know,” Rainbow Dash responded. “They didn’t really say in their letter. Only that it was urgent and that we should be there as soon as possible.” “You don’t think there’s trouble, do you?” “Nah, I doubt it,” Rainbow Dash responded. “Honestly, it seemed more… happy.” “How could you tell?” Rainbow chuckled. “Trust me, if you grow up around them, you can tell.” “They literally said they were happy in the letter, didn’t they?” “Yes. Yes they did.” “What DID it say, exactly?” “Something like, and I quote…” Rainbow Dash cleared her throat as she prepared the best impression of her overly excited mother she could. “To our Rainbow Dash, the best Wonderbolt ever! Something had just happened and your father and I are really happy and excited about it! Please, collect Scootaloo and come here right now! And I mean now, no delaying now!” “Wow, talk about being vague,” Scootaloo deadpanned. “Wonder what’s got them so hyped up?” “Well, we’ll find out soon enough,” Rainbow Dash muttered as they flew directly through the first cloud layer and into the city itself. “For better or worse.” “Or worse?” “Where my parents are involved, anything could happen,” Rainbow replied with a slight shudder. “Eh, you worry too much,” Scootaloo dismissed. “Yeah. You’re probably right,” Rainbow agreed, though notably half-heartedly. “Hold on tight, we’re almost there.” Rainbow Dash sped up ever so slightly for the last leg of the flight, passing by several other pegasi going about their days amidst the city in the clouds. The cyan mare ducked and weaved through the larger building towards the centre of Cloudsdale and began moving out to the ‘quieter’ parts of the city. On the outskirts, away from the stadium and weather factories, there was much more open space filled in only by the odd house here or there. It was out here that both the parents of Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash lived respectively, and from their height it didn’t take long for Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo to spot the residence they had been searching for. Rainbow Dash stopped in the air for but a moment to adjust her vector of approach, and then promptly dived down towards it with a barrel roll that had been performed purely for Scootaloo’s enjoyment. They slowed down to a crawl as they neared the cloud surface a short way from the house, before Rainbow folded up her wings and gently landed on all four hooves. “We’re here, squirt!” Dash announced. “You getting off, or am I carrying you the whole way?” “I can walk just fine, thanks,” Scootaloo shot back, hopping off of Rainbow Dash’s back. “We heading in?” Rainbow Dash nodded in response, proceeding to lead the way with Scootaloo falling into step beside her. They walked up into the front garden of the house and towards the front door, Rainbow paused for a moment before giving the front door a loud knock. It took a few moments, but a small commotion began inside and the voices of Windy Whistles and Bow Hothoof could both be heard. A few moments later, the door opened and the widely smiling face of Rainbow Dash’s mother appeared in its stead. “Oh, my little Dashie!” Windy squeed as she gave her daughter a big motherly hug. “I’m so glad you could make it, and as fast as ever!” “Yeah well, your letter sounded pretty urgent,” Rainbow said as she hugged her mother back, before breaking it off. “What’s got you so excited all of a sudden?” Windy giggled. “Oh, you’ll see.” The mare then laid eyes on the young filly beside Rainbow Dash, and her smile widened just that ever little bit wider. “And Scootaloo!” Windy greeted cheerfully, patting the filly on the head. “I’m so glad you came along too, how have you been?” “Just fine, Mrs Whistles,” Scootaloo replied. “Oh, dear you needn’t call me that! It’s just Windy, please!” “Oh, OK… Windy.” “See? Isn’t that better? There’s no need for such formalities among us!” Windy Whistles stated. “Now, come in! We have much to talk about!” Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo glanced at each other, and then did as they were told. As they stepped into the hallway, Windy shut the door behind them and proceeded to stand expectantly by the entranceway into the living room. “So… where’s Dad?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Oh, he’s in there,” Windy said as she motioned into the living room. “With the surprise!” “Surprise?” Scootaloo enquired. “What surprise?” “Pinkie Pie didn’t put you up to anything, did she?” Rainbow Dash asked with concern, looking over her shoulder expecting to see the bubbly pink mare pop out of the wall any moment. Windy Whistles tilted her head. “Pinkie Pie? Isn’t that one of your friends?” “I take that as a no then.” “So, what is the surprise?” Scootaloo asked in anticipation. “Why don’t you both go in and have a look?” Windy said knowingly. Rainbow Dash then heard a noise come from the living room that made her stand bolt upright and her ears home in on the sound. She could have been mistaken, but she swore she just heard the sound of a baby coming from that room. That Morning Little Wing gave a tiny little yawn and consciousness returned to her. Slowly, she blinked her eyes open and took note of her surroundings. It was her third time waking up in that crib, and she still found the experience rather surreal. She was still in the bedroom of their daughter… or, that ‘other daughter’ as it stood now. It was a sizable room with blue being very much the dominant colour scheme. From the decorations around the room, right down to the motivational poster of a tortoise, she had managed to piece together the personality of her supposed adoptive sister. She seemed… competitive, at least as a child anyway. And thus far she had only referred to their daughter in Little Wing’s presence as ‘Dashie’, though Little Wing guessed that was more an abbreviation of ‘Dash’; however, it had yet to be seen if that was her first or surname. Little Wing sat up, examining the room a little more as she had been doing by routine those past few days. Those days had been spent exclusively within her new home, her ‘parents’ doting over the little filly and making sure to stock up on all the supplies needed to effectively raise a small child. It was still taking some getting used to, though emergent infant instincts certainly made the transition easier than she’d expected. She still had yet to be given her own room, though from what she had overheard from Windy Whistles and Bow Hothoof suggested their house included a guest room that they intended to convert into her new bedroom. But that was all for another day, for now her stomach was rumbling and she wished to be freed from her crib. “BWAH!” Little Wing babbled out, the most she could seem to manage despite attempts otherwise. “Bwah! Bwah!” With her little wings fluttering, she got up into her still wobbly legs before then lifting her forelegs up so they were planted on the edges of the crib while she used her hind legs to steady herself on the small mattress. “BWAH!” Little Wing shouted out again, though this time a small bang from the hallway beyond the door signified that she had got somepony’s attention. The bedroom’s door opened up and Windy Whistles poked her head in, smiling on seeing Little Wing stood against the side of the crib. “Ah! Good morning dear!” Windy greeted happily as she trotted into the room, seeing Little Wing hold out her fore hooves expectantly. “You want out of there, huh? Alright, come on then.” Windy used her wings to scoop Little Wing up on out of the crib and onto the mare’s back. The filly made sure she was sat comfortably between the two wings and then made some pleased baby babbles to signify her readiness. Windy smiled gleefully. “I’m glad you’re comfortable. Let’s go get you fed and changed, hm?” From then it was the morning routine Little Wing had known since arriving at the home a few days previously. As Windy had stated, she was firstly fed and had her nappy changed. Bow Hothoof had taken a few days off from the weather factory where he worked due to Little Wing, and he spent half his time with his wife and new daughter and the other half planning out how to convert the guest room into Little Wing’s brand new abode. The rest of the morning had been spent with Windy Whistles assisting Little Wing in walking, of which the filly was making small progress and was now able to walk a whole three or four steps before landing flat on her face. Though, Windy had always been prepared to catch Little Wing as she fell and offer comforts if she ever hurt herself, even if Little Wing herself never felt she needed it. Intermittently, they would take breaks from the walking lessons to play with some little toys that Little Wing’s adoptive parents had provided her. Some were brand new, and other had apparently belonged to ‘Dashie’. She particularly enjoyed the Wonderbolt action figures that were pitted against a hydra doll. She had at first thought that Windy would find the epic battle as being inappropriate for the filly, but it quickly became obvious that their older daughter had done similar things with the toys when she had been Little Wing’s age. Then, lunch finally came around and Bow Hothoof had brought a high chair into the living room. There they sat her down and provided her with a bottle of baby milk. Though Windy Whistles still fed her personally in the mornings and evenings, during lunch they provided her a bottle and would likely start phasing into that full time soon if Little Wing had to guess. How long exactly ‘soon’ was she didn’t know, but she didn’t particularly care either. She felt content, and for the first time in all her lives she felt welcome. Then somepony knocked on the door. Little Wing put her bottle down and her gaze followed Windy Whistles curiously as she hurriedly exited the room. “Oh, I bet that’s her now!” Bow Hothoof stated, causing Little Wing to tilt her head and wonder who he was talking about. Little Wing could hear the voice of her adoptive mother be joined by two new voices, both rather raspy but one definitely sounded younger than the other. They certainly knew each other, and Windy Whistles sounded even more gleeful that usual which was certainly a feat in itself. “Bwah?” Little Wing called out questioningly, curious to see who their visitors were. There was silence for a few moments, and then the elder raspy voiced person spoke up again. “Uh, Mum? Was that a foal I just heard?” “Oh! I guess, the game is up!” Windy stated as she cantered into the living room with two other ponies following shortly behind. The ponies with her were both mares. One was definitely a child, the mark of a shield with a lightning bolt symbol on her flank, and orange coat and a dark purple mane and tail that matched her eyes. She seemed to be between eight and ten years old if Little Wing had to hazard a guess. The other one, however, she could easily recognise from the pictures. The other was a cyan mare with a rainbow coloured mane. Her mark was the symbol of a rainbow lightning bolt striking from a cloud. “Rainbow Dash,” Windy Whistles spoke. “Meet your new sister, Little Wing.” Rainbow Dash and Little Wing’s eyes met, and Rainbow’s expression was extremely perplexed by the mere existence of the little filly. Little Wing wilted a little under the intense study, letting out a small nervous squeak that made her parents’ smiles become a little bit more worried. “Oh my gosh!” Scootaloo shouted out, not being nearly as out of it as Rainbow Dash. “She’s so tiny!” Scootaloo rushed up to the high chair and propped herself against it to get a good look at the filly, the filly in question suddenly feeling rather overwhelmed by it all. “I didn’t know you were pregnant! When was she born? Can she fly yet? Is she as awesome as any child of yours is bound to be!?” “Bwah?” Little Wing muttered shyly, and ultimately unheard. “I have a few questions of my own,” Rainbow Dash stated, albeit less enthusiastically than the orange filly. “For one, I know for a fact you were NOT pregnant!” “Yes, that’s right,” Windy confirmed. “You see, she’s adopted. It happened only about three days ago.” “Three days!?” Scootaloo blurted out. “What happened?” “We found her,” Bow explained. “Abandoned, alone and very scared. They wanted to throw her in some orphanage when we brought her in, so we decided to give the girl a proper home instead.” “Aw, who could do something like that?” Scootaloo asked sadly. “I mean, look at her! She’s so tiny and cute!” Little Wing wilted back that little bit more as Scootaloo forgot the concept of personal space, but luckily Bow Hothoof saw her discomfort and made his move. “Scootaloo, could you give her a bit of space please? I think you’re overwhelming her.” Scootaloo hopped back, a guilty look appearing on her face. “Oh, sorry…” “It’s alright, dear,” Windy assured. “You’re just a new face, and all of this is already new to her as it is.” “So, this is a permanent thing or something?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I mean, you could have at least told me you were planning to adopt a foal!” “Well, us finding and adopting her kind of all happened within a few hours…” Windy admitted. “What?” “Dashie?” Rainbow didn’t know what to think. “So, what? You did it all on a whim? I know I’m not exactly renowned for thinking things through, but seriously?” Rainbow’s parents glanced at each other. “Dash, it was the right thing to do,” Bow Hothoof maintained. “I… Maybe, I don’t know. But still…” Rainbow Dash sighed, trying to gather her thoughts. “This… is kinda a big thing to drop on me like that. I-I think I need some time to process this.” “I… alright,” Windy said, sounding decidedly less happy than she had moments earlier. “Take all the time you need.” “Yeah, thanks,” Rainbow said, walking out of the room and then out of the house to get some air. Silence returned, and the remaining ponies in the room shifted uncomfortably. Little Wing’s ears drooped, she hoped she hadn’t just become a wedge between family. She didn’t think she could handle something like that. “Is she going to be alright?” Scootaloo asked with obvious worry, looking at where Rainbow Dash had just exited. “Just give her some time, she’ll come around,” Bow Hothoof assured hopefully. “Maybe we should have broken the news a little slower…” Windy Whistles then noticed how down her new daughter appeared to be, and thusly plastered a brand new smile on her face and planted herself next to Little Wing. “Don’t worry, honey,” Windy cooed while planting a kiss on Little Wing’s head. “As your father said, she’ll come around. And she is going to adore you!” They could only hope.