The Best I Can

by RuinQueenofOblivion

Bond

Rainbow looked at the sleeping form of Scootaloo in the crib and sighed a little, she honestly had no idea if she'd be able to do this. She already was nervous enough about helping raise a filly, but trying to help raise one from such a young age? Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.

She didn't really understand why she had been asked to do this. She figured that Sunny Smiles had some sort of reason for it, but she didn't understand what that might be. She sighed a little and looked down at the baby pony again.

"Scootaloo, I honestly don't know if I'll be able to do this," she said softly as she brushed the filly's mane out of her eyes. "But I'll do my best."

"Are you okay Rainbow?" A voice from behind her asked and she turned to see Sunny Smiles behind her.

"Oh, yeah I'm okay, I'm just thinking about all this is all," Rainbow said with a sigh as she looked down at the filly again. "Why did you pick me?"

"I know its hard to understand right now Rainbow, but someday you'll understand that we had our reasons for this," Sunny Smiles said with a sigh as she wrapped her wing around Rainbow gently. "But let me assure you that we picked you because we have faith in your ability to be a good big sister for her. I know it won't be easy, but I have faith in you, you'll do just fine."

"You really think so?" Rainbow asked as she looked up at the matron.

"I know so Rainbow," Sunny smiles said and ruffled the filly's rainbow colored mane. "Its not going to be easy but you'll never have to do it alone."

"I know, I'll do the best I can," Rainbow said with a smile as she looked down at the foal. "So, umm, what happened to her parents?"

"They were killed in an accident in Canterlot recently," Sunny Smiles said sadly as she looked down at the foal. "They were good ponies from what I understand and its too bad she won't ever get to know them..."

"Yeah," Rainbow said sadly, she at least had gotten to know her parents for a few years before they had died in the storm, Scootaloo would never have that, which meant she would have to become the foal's family.

Something she would be willing to do, she just had to hope she'd be good at it.

"I'll be the best big sister ever," she said with a smile as she tried to sound more confident than she really felt.

"I know you will," Sunny said as she hugged Rainbow gently. "You're going to be just fine, I have faith in you.

Rainbow nodded and smiled a little, that had helped her a bit, she just hoped it was going to be enough.

"Rainbow, wake up!" A mare's voice shouted and she opened her eyes to see her mom looking at her scared. "Come on, we need to get you into the shelter!"

"What's wrong mommy?" Rainbow asked as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

"There's a bad storm coming sweetie," her mom said, Rainbow could tell that her mom was afraid right now.
It hit her after a moment that she was dreaming, she was re-living the day her parents had died. It wasn't the first time she had this dream, and no matter what she tried it always ended the same way.

Her mom picked her up and carried her to where her dad was getting everything set up in the shelter. It was big enough for all three of them, not that it mattered.

"It'll be okay Rainbow, you'll be fine," her dad said as the two of them hugged the filly gently. "You'll be okay, I promise."

"But you won't! Rainbow protested. "Please, don't leave me, you'll die if you do!"

"Rainbow, I know you're scared but we don't want to leave other ponies behind," her mom said and nuzzled her gently. "Just remember, we will always love you Dashie."

"Our special little filly," her dad said and ruffled her mane. "We'll always love you, no matter what."

Rainbow sighed and hugged her parents again as she started to cry a little. She hated these dreams, every time it reminded her of what she had lost and she hated that she kept being reminded of it.

"I love you too," Rainbow said softly before they picked
her up again and set her gently in the shelter. "Please, don't go..."

"We have to Rainbow... I'm sorry," her mom said and with that they closed the doors to the shelter and closed them up.
She never saw her parents again after that. She had been told by other ponies that they had gotten as many ponies to the shelters as they could before getting caught up in the storm itself.

Dying as heroes weren't enough for a pony like Rainbow though, she had still lost her parents in a storm that they should've been able to stop.

She just wished that it had been stopped in time.

Rainbow's eyes opened up as she heard the sound of a foal crying, for a moment she couldn't remember where she was or what was going on. She bolted up in bed when she realized it was coming from Scootaloo's crib near where she was sleeping and she rushed over to it and looked down at the crying filly.

"Shhhh, calm down Scootaloo, what's wrong?" Rainbow asked as she looked down at the crying filly, she had no idea what she was supposed to do here.

The door to the room opened and Sunny came in with a bottle as she gently picked Scootaloo up and let her feed off it. Rainbow let out a sigh of relief, at least nothing bad was happening if Scootaloo was just hungry.

"Are you okay Rainbow?" Sunny asked as she looked over at Rainbow who was looking at the filly in the mare's forelegs. "You look a bit shaken up."

"I had that dream again," Rainbow said with a sigh as she looked down at the sleeping Scootaloo.

"Oh, the dream where you show up at school naked?" Sunny asked with a smirk which just got a strange look from Rainbow.

"I don't normally wear clothes, why would that be anything that disturbed me?" She asked and Sunny just chuckled a little at that. "No, I mean the dream about when my parents died..."

"Oh, I see," Sunny said as she looked at the filly sympathetically. This wasn't the first time she had seen a filly or a colt who had seen their parents die and had recurring nightmares about it.

Rainbow sighed and rubbed her foreleg a little, she honestly had no idea what she was going to do about this. Ever since the death of her parents she had been bothered by the memory of her parents' death. It was part of the reason she wasn't so sure about being a big sister to Scootaloo, she had lost her parents and she wasn't sure if she would be able to be a good family to the filly.

"I'm still kind of figuring out what I'm going to do," Rainbow admitted as she looked down at Scootaloo who had finished feeding and cooed softly. "Why did you really choose me for this?"

"Rainbow, you're going to be okay," Sunny said as she gave Rainbow a gentle smile. "I know things aren't going to be easy for you, but you were chosen because we knew that you'd be able to help her as best you could. We picked you because both you and Scootaloo deserved a chance to have a family. I know its hard to understand, but everything is going to be just fine."

Rainbow nodded softly and Sunny gently gave Scootaloo to her. She smiled a little as she held the filly in her hooves and she stared up at her with her light purple eyes.

"I don't know if we're going to be able to do this Scootaloo, but we're going to try and do our best," Rainbow said with a smile as she stroked the filly's mane. "We have a long way to go before we are able to figure our lives out together, but I promise I'll always be there for you."

Sunny smiled a little as Rainbow gave the filly back to her as she fell asleep. It had saddened her that such a wonderful young filly had lost her family, and that she hadn't ever been adopted, but Sunny had seen Rainbow grow a lot since she had arrived at the orphanage.

Maybe the mare who had asked her to put Scootaloo in Rainbow's care was right, maybe this was for the best somehow. Not that she had much of a choice, it wasn't the kind of thing you would say no to if that pony asked you to do it. She took a deep breath and put Scootaloo back in her crib while Rainbow yawned a little.

"Looks like its time for both fillies to get some sleep," she said with a chuckle as Rainbow laid down in her bed and Sunny gently placed the covers over her. "Don't worry Rainbow, you're going to do just fine as her big sister."

Rainbow smiled a little and closed her eyes as she drifted off to sleep.

"Aww, she's so cute," Fluttershy said softly as she looked down at the sleeping Scootaloo, she had come to visit Rainbow at the orphanage a couple of days later and had asked if she could meet the filly. "What's her name?"

"Scootaloo," Rainbow said with a light smile and Fluttershy looked at her strangely. "Yeah, I know its a weird name, but I like it, it feels like it suits her somehow."

"Yeah, I can see that," Fluttershy said with a soft smile as she looked down at the filly. "Do you know what happened to her parents?"

"Not really, all Sunny Smiles told me was that they died in an accident," Rainbow said with a sigh as she looked at Fluttershy. "I'm still kind of getting used to this, I mean I didn't think she'd be so..."

"Young?" Fluttershy asked and Rainbow nodded. "Yeah, I can see why you'd feel that way, but I think its going to be just fine. Scootaloo, you've got a great big sister who's going to be taking good care of you."

Rainbow smiled a little as she looked over at Fluttershy who looked back at her and smiled with a nod. She looked down at Scootaloo again and wondered a bit about what might have happened. She must've had no family left if she had wound up here, though she had to wonder why she had been sent here if her family had died in Canterlot.

Maybe something else was going on here that she didn't quite understand. She briefly considered that maybe Sunny Smiles had done something specific to arrange it, but why would she do that?

"So, what are you going to do now?" Fluttershy asked. "I mean, you've got a lot of work to do if you're going to take care of her. I'll be here to help you of course, if you want me."

Rainbow smiled as she wrapped her foreleg around Fluttershy. She was happy to have a friend like Fluttershy who was willing to help her out given how crazy things were going on.

She smiled a little and looked between Fluttershy and Scootaloo, she just had to hope that everything was going to be okay.