//------------------------------// // Hearth's Warming Promise! // Story: Dashin' All The Way! // by sonicfan05 //------------------------------// After her slow and somber flight in the night sky, Rainbow finally made it home to the Castle of Friendship. The castle itself was very big and impressive looking. It looked like an actual tree but made of crystals instead of wood.  There was a flagpole on the castle’s side, a few windows and there were even a balcony and an upper deck for sightseeing or as an alternate entrance for those with wings. As tempting as it was to land on the upper deck, something within Rainbow told her that she should just enter her home the normal way tonight. She softly landed on a snow-covered porch near the front entrance and let out a long sigh, letting out a small fog from her breath in the process. No doubt that her family will be upset with her again, especially from Scootaloo. She was usually late for almost every Scootaloo’s scooter competition with Rainbow’s promise to try to make it on time on Scootaloo’s next event. But this time, Rainbow Dash actually missed Scootaloo’s entire competition, and it was the most important competition nonetheless. She had no excuse this time, except maybe being held up by that stupid police pony. But still, she screwed up and she’s going to have to make up to Scootaloo somehow and hoped that her daughter will forgive her. Knowing that she couldn’t delay the inevitable, Rainbow gently opened the front door and entered the castle. The inside of the castle itself have stonewalls, marble floor and crystals columns. A big long purple rug stretched from the front door to down to the end of the hallway. There are many windows as well as open doorway that leads to different halls and rooms. There was even balcony above her with many different stairways. Hearth’s Warming decorations were already set up around the castle; such as purple ribbons wrapped around the columns, and mix of red and yellow drapes hung over the balconies or above the doorways and windows with rid ribbons or bells placed in between. As a center point of the drapes, there were many fully green Hearth’s Warming wreaths with a red bow at the bottom of the wreath. There were even a magic powered holiday lights with various different colors, hung around the walls. Despite the warm and welcoming atmosphere, Rainbow felt that the environment was much more gloomy then it should have been. Before she could go any further, she heard somepony clearing their throat. Rainbow sighed and slowly turned around to see Starlight Glimmer standing by the door with a hard look on her face. Starlight Glimmer is a unicorn mare with a very strong magic that almost rivaled Twilight’s. When they first met, Starlight used to own a town that dedicated to make everypony equal and influence others that cutie marks are actually a bad thing. After Twilight and the gang turned the whole town against Starlight, Starlight sworn revenge on Twilight and her friends. Rainbow didn’t see her again until months later, supposedly after Starlight attempted to change history of Rainbow Dash’s first Sonic Rainboom. When Twilight offered to teach Starlight about friendship as her teacher, Rainbow Dash didn’t know what to think. At first, she wasn’t comfortable in letting a former villain live with Twilight and helping her after everything Starlight done, but overtime, Rainbow slowly accepted her as her new friend. Even after Starlight completed all of Twilight’s lessons, Starlight remained living in the castle, even after Twilight and Rainbow married. Twilight considered Starlight to be her long lost sister she never had, even made Starlight to be as her best mare. Starlight took the role of being an overprotective sister very well, especially when she looked ready to tear Rainbow a new one for hurting her niece. “Hello Rainbow Dash,” she said slowly. “How nice of you to finally join us after you missed your daughter’s scooter competition.” Rainbow groaned. “Back off Starlight, I really tried to be there this time! Honest!” “Then explain to me how you never showed up!” Rainbow winced and slowly turned back towards the hallway to see her wife, Twilight Sparkle, standing in front of her with an unreadable expression. Spike the Dragon, Twilight’s number one assistant and son, was standing next to her with an uncomfortable expression. It doesn’t take a genius to know that Twilight was peeved and Rainbow Dash was in deep trouble. Rainbow gulped. “Okay look, before you say anything to me, hear me out!” When nopony said a word, Rainbow continued. “I was finishing up writing my reports of every one of our newly cadets of this year that it almost slipped my mind! I left as soon as possible and I even used my Sonic Rainboom! But then a may have caused an accident at some small town before Ponyville.” From the panicked look on Twilight’s face, Rainbow quickly added, “Nothing serious and nopony is hurt! But because of the damages, the cop gave me a ticket and… that same stupid cop made me do all that ridiculous field somber tests before I can go and…” Rainbow looked down. “Because of that, I missed it.” Rainbow looked back up to her wife again. “I really tried to make it this time! I really did! I would never purposely leave anypony hanging, especially to Scootaloo!” No one said a word. An uncomfortable silence lingered for some time until Twilight finally responded. “Well what you did, or at least tried to do to make it to Town Hall was very reckless! I’ll have to go visit the next town to repair the damages and pay for your fine!” Rainbow looked down in shame, feeling guilty for nearly put everypony in danger due to her actions. “As for the rest of your story, don’t explain this to me! You should explain this to Scootaloo!” Rainbow sighed and slowly looked up. “Where is she?” “She’s in her room,” Spike spoke up for the first time. “She’s been sulking in there since we returned home.” Rainbow nodded to Spike in thanks before she slowly trot down the hall to her daughter’s room. Scootaloo was lying on her bed, reading the latest Power Ponies comic that featured Zapp. She left her scooter gear at the corner of her room, including her trophy that she won from the competition earlier today. But she wasn’t in the mood to celebrate, nor she had the sense of pride of winning. When the one pony she wanted to come by and see her performing never showed up, it all felt meaningless to her. She was just looking at the advertisement page of the Zapp action figure, when she heard her bedroom the door opened. Scootaloo looked up from her comic for a moment and when she saw who it was, she quickly went back to her comic again. Rainbow was standing outside of Scootloo’s room with her pained look on her face. “Um… hey squirt.” Rainbow said quietly. Scootaloo continued to read her comic, ignoring Rainbow. Rainbow cleared her throat. “So… uh… can I come in?” Again, Scootaloo ignored her. She never said yes, but she didn’t say no either. With that logic, Rainbow Dash cautiously entered Scootaloo’s room. Rainbow wasn’t sure how to approach and fix this. When it comes to racing, training younger recruits, and saving the world, Rainbow was able to do it head on without a second thought. But when it comes to talking to her kid who felt down, it was actually the most difficult thing for Rainbow. Rainbow eventually stood near Scootaloo at the side of Scootaloo’s bed and then tried to break the ice. “So…” Rainbow began, trying to sound upbeat. “I heard you won the competition. Congrats squirt! I knew you could do it, but was there any doubt? I’m so proud of you!” Scootaloo continued to ignore Rainbow as if Rainbow never entered her bedroom. Rainbow sighed and took a glimpsed at the trophy sitting at the corner of the room. “Oh, is that it?” Rainbow said in her happy attitude again. “Is that the trophy? That looks so awesome!” Rainbow flew over to the trophy and picked it up and then flew back to Scootaloo’s side. “This has to be the coolest trophy I ever seen! It’s cooler then all the medals I won! Heck, it’s way cooler then the golden headpiece I won at the ‘Best Young Flyer’ competition! You are a one cool filly Scoots!” Scootaloo finally put down her comic and turned to Rainbow with an angry look. “Oh yeah, I’m a cool filly, but it’s too bad that you missed my competition and broke my promise that you be there!” Scootloo leapt off of her bed and went over to her bedroom window, looking at the stars in the night sky. Rainbow sighed somberly and gently placed the trophy on the floor. She slowly trotted over and sat right next to Scootaloo who was still not giving her stepmother any attention. “All right Scoots, I get it,” Rainbow said softly. “I messed up. I almost forgot about the date and I was… held up, but that’s no excuse. I really wanted to be there and to see you perform! Believe me, I-” “You supposed to come Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo nearly shouted as she turned to Rainbow with a scowl. “I wanted you to be there, but you didn’t! Everypony else did! Twilight, Spike, my best friends, your best friends, my teacher, my classmates—heck! Even my former bullies Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were there… cheering me on! But you don’t! The final round was really important to me! It’s one thing that you showed up late at all of the other rounds, but you missed the most important round! You really hurt me Rainbow and you broke my promise! How can I trust you if you didn’t keep your word?” Once she said her piece, Scootaloo went back to star gazing through the window. She then started sniffing, but tried to keep herself from crying. Rainbow, for her part, looked down and lowered her ears in shame. She felt very guilty for making her daughter upset. She really wanted to fix this, but how can she do this after she practically broke Scootaloo’s heart, especially on Hearth’s Warming? Rainbow sighed sadly. “You’re right Scoots… I let you down. What I did was… really lame and I’m really really sorry.” Scootaloo ears perked up, but she still kept her eyes on the window. Rainbow continued. “I may have missed your competition, but I really wanted to make it up to you. You just name it and I will do something very special just for you and only you! Not for the Wonderbolts, not for any of the Princesses, not even for Equestria itself… just you.” “You… you mean that?” Scootaloo asked softly as she slowly turned to face Rainbow with her watery eyes. Rainbow nodded with a gentle smile. “Of course I mean it Scoots! It can be about anything! Maybe something special you wanted for Hearth’s Warming?” Scootaloo looked down, rubbing her leg in a timid manner. “I… I don’t know Rainbow Dash. You probably think it’s silly. Besides, Santa Hooves got it covered.” “It’s nothing silly when it comes to you Scoots,” Rainbow gently coaxed. “And since this is the busiest holiday of the year, even Santa needs help from us ponies every now and then.” Rainbow leaned towards Scootaloo with a playful smirk. “So… what is it, hmm?” Scootaloo just sat there, paused for a moment. Suddenly, she stood up and her wings were flapping as she started speaking excitedly to Rainbow Dash with a huge grin on her face. “I want an action figure of my favorite superhero from the Power Ponies, Zapp! With moveable hooves and glows in the dark and her necklace shooter and her retractable wings and a realistic voice activator that says five different phrases, including…” Scootaloo then stood on her rear hooves and placed her fore hooves on her hips and said, "It's… ZAPPIN’ time!" Scootaloo stood on all four of her hooves again and quickly added, “Accessories sold separately. Batteries not included.” Rainbow laughed. “Okay, as cheesy as that catchphrase, that does sound like an awesome toy!” Scootaloo nodded eagerly. “Yeah! Zapp is like the greatest superhero of all time! All of my friends is getting one, including Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon (even though they won’t admit it).” Scootaloo then deflated. “Whoever doesn’t have it will be the lamest filly in Equestria.” Rainbow Dash grinned and placed her hoof on Scootaloo’s shoulder. “Well squirt, that lame filly won’t definitely be you!” Scootaloo smiled happily before she dived into Rainbow’s hooves and hugged her tightly. “Thanks Rainbow Dash! I love you so much!” Rainbow smiled lovely and hugged her back. “I love you too Scoots!” “Oh c’mon Twilight,” said Rainbow, as she explained to her wife about what had happened between her and Scootaloo. “Me and Scoots made up! You should’ve seen how happy she is when she talked about the toy. We practically bonded! Isn’t that a good thing?” Twilight sighed as she picked up her brush with her magic and combed her mane with her dresser mirror in front of her. “I’m not saying it’s bad Rainbow Dash. While I’m glad you two patched things up, but you basically solved it by promising her a gift.” “But it’s the holiday’s Twilight!” Rainbow argued. “It’s the time of the year of giving gifts to your kids!” Twilight huffed and turned to face her wife. “That’s not the point Dash! What she really wanted from you is for you to spend more time with her! But your job is making this difficult for her!” Rainbow sighed but gave her wife her reassuring grin. “Twi, I promise. I will spend a lot more time with her, starting with Hearth’s Warming day!” Twilight rolled her eyes as she turned back to her mirror, brushing her mane. “Whatever you say Rainbow Dash.” “I mean it!” Rainbow insisted before she smirked. “In fact, Spitfire happened to give me a-” “Oh that reminds me!” Twilight spoke up, cutting Rainbow off. “You got the toy right?” … … … … … “…what?” Rainbow responded dumbly. “The Zapp toy,” Twilight clarified, finishing up fixing her mane. “You know, the action figure of Scootaloo’s favorite superhero she’s been gushing about for months and I asked you to get it on your day off a few weeks ago?” Rainbow tried to recall her memories based on her wife’s words, then suddenly her eyes widened in horror. Uh oh! Not hearing her wife’s response, Twilight slowly turned towards Rainbow Dash with a worried and suspicious look. “You did get it, right?” Twilight then got up from her chair and then trotted up to Rainbow and looked in her wife’s eyes. “Please tell me that you did!” It was right there and then, Rainbow had to come up with something fast. While she hated seeing Scootaloo very upset or angry because of her actions, doing the same to her wife, was even worse. When Twilight gets upset, she usually suffered from her anxiety attacks. It hurts Rainbow to see her wife in that state but at least she knew how to calm her down and make her wife feel better when Rainbow offered to help her out. When Twilight gets angry on the other hoof… Let’s just say she would rather face the combine evil forces of Queen Chrysalis, Tirek, and King Sombra than facing the wrath of her alicorn wife. “O-OH YEAH! RIGHT!” Rainbow lied, slapping herself on her forehead playfully. “That toy! Yes, I got it!” “Rainbow Dash…” Twilight stated in her warning tone. “Really Twilight, I got the Zapp doll!” Rainbow said quickly. “T-the one that glows in the dark and her retractable wings a-and her necklace shooter and a realistic voice box that says,” Rainbow stood up on her rear hooves and then she placed her fore hooves on her hips and said, "It's… ZAPPIN’ time!" Man that was cheesy! Rainbow stood on all four of her hooves again. “Chillax Twi, I got it!” Twilight sighed in relief. “Oh good, and you actually knew all of it’s features! I’m impressed!” Rainbow puffed out her chest. “Well, what can I say, I’m awesome!” And I was lucky that Scootaloo told me about its features earlier. “I bet you are,” Twilight gibed playfully before she pecked Rainbow on the lips. “I’m sorry for doubting you. Now let’s go to bed.” As they were getting into their bed, Rainbow was panicking in her head. Aw jeez, first I missed Scoots’ Junior Pro Scooter Competition and now this! I need to get this toy and fast! Rainbow was trying to get herself comfortable in her bed as she was coming up with a plan. Then, a sudden realization came into her mind and she let out her huge grin. Of course! They didn’t know that Spitfire gave me two weeks off starting tomorrow! I’ll just pretend I’m going to work as normal but I’ll actually be at Canterlot’s Toy Chest so I can get that toy! Then I’ll head back home, surprise everypony that I’m off for the holidays and Scoots with have her Zapp toy for Hearth’s Warming! This plan is foolproof!   Nodding to herself and felt confident for a well thought out plan, Rainbow was ready to close her eyes to get some sleep for her secret shopping trip tomorrow. She nearly went to dreamland when her wife spoke up. “I really am glad that you got the toy,” said Twilight, as she was about to use her magic on their lamp. “Because at this point, they will be impossible to find.” Rainbow nodded to her wife with a smile on her face, but as soon as the lights turned off, Rainbow laid back on her pillow with her eyes as wide as saucers. Oh crud!