As Rainbow and Spitfire sored gracefully through the sky, Spitfire couldn’t help but ponder on the final part of Rainbow’s conversation with her parents. They had mentioned some pony, Scooter… something, she couldn’t quite remember, who she hadn’t ever heard Rainbow mention before. Whilst she didn’t usually make a conscious effort to peer into the personal lives of her colleagues, there was still some time before they arrived at the boot camp, and she couldn’t help but make an attempt to satisfy her curiosity.
“Hey Crash.”
“Yeah Spitfire.”
“Who was that pony your parents mentioned back there?”
“Eh… What are you talking about?” Rainbow asked with a confused expression.
“Ya know, Scooter roo, I think was her name.”
“Oooohhh, Scootaloo. Yeah, she’s just a big fan of mine… And I’d be lyin’ if I said she wasn’t like a little sister to me by now.”
“Ahhh, I didn’t know you were the mushy type Crash.”
“Oh, shut up! I’m just bein’ a good mare! She… deserves it.”
Rainbow found herself, almost instantaneously, stopping in mid-air. The terrible experience from the prior night having crept, like a grotesque centipede, back into her conscious, making her feel uncomfortable as it prowled around her mind as it plagued her once more with her doubt of Scootaloo’s safety. Spitfire suddenly realised that her teammate had stopped flying, and thus trailed back. Though she was never the most intuitive of ponies, she could tell that there was something causing great distress to Rainbow Dash.
“Hey, Rainbow.” Spitfire asked in an unusually sympathetic tone. “What’s wrong?”
“It… It’s nothin’ Spitfire, lets just get to the academy.”
“No, Rainbow, there’s clearly something in that dense little head ‘a yours that’s bothering you. And I wouldn’t be doing my job properly if I didn’t sort this out right away… It’s about this Scootaloo mare, isn’t it?
“Uh… Yeah. Fine, I’ll tell you. Just, please, take this seriously.”
“I will Rainbow Dash, now start talkin’.”
“Okay. Scootaloo’s an amazing, incredible, awesome little filly, who just gets better and better every time I see her. She’s only eight years old, an’ can’t even fly yet! But she’s always pushing herself to new limits, testing herself… Ya know. You might’ve guest from her name that she’s pretty good on a scooter. But my Celestia, she’s trained so hard on that thing that she could probably reach speeds on that thing that could give us a hard time! She’s so determined to always get better, to learn how to fly, to help other ponies, to get faster on her scooter. She’s one of… No. She is the greatest filly I’ve ever met!”
“Wow, I can see why you’ve taken a liking to her Rainbow.”
“Yeah! But would ya believe it, she’s the one who admires me! Even before I was a Wonderbolt, she was startin’ up a Rainbow Dash fan club. She’d try an’ copy everything I did and ‘d always get this adorable little smile every time she saw me. But then there was this one night, where me, her, my friends Rarity and Applejack and their little sisters were out campin’… And I MAY’VE made the really dumb mistake ‘a tellin’ some less than foal friendly stories to those three fillies. But that’s the thing, the other two had their older sisters to protect them from the nightmares. Scootaloo had nopony. Then, on this one night, towards the end of the trip, she finally got so scared that she ran away from the cave we we’re sleeping because she thought that the Headless horse was gonna get her.”
“My Celestia! You told little fillies that story!”
“Don’t remind me! Anyway, I don’t know what it was, I think Luna may have visited me in a dream, I can’t quite remember. But, something. Something came over me that made me KNOW she was in danger. I flew out as fast as I could, and low and behold, I saw her going so fast that she went straight off a cliff, luckily, I was there and caught her just in time. I dread to think… Never mind. She had been pretendin’ the entire trip like the stories weren’t bothering her and that she was the same fearless pony I had always seen her as. I’m still disgusted with myself to this day that I didn’t realise what she was goin through, and that the tail of the Headless horse, ya know, one of the scariest ponytails in existence! Might have been a bit too much for a tiny filly with nopony to comfort her! But, despite all that, I’m still really thankful that that night happened, ‘cause that was the first time I ever got to show the little Squirt the comfort an’ support she really needed from me, not just constant compliments and jokes, but somepony to actually take her in their forelegs and tell her everything’s okay, to really be there for her when she’s not feelin’ so hot. That night… That night was the first time we were really sisters, and we’ve stayed that way ever since. The time we’ve spent together over the past couple ’a years has been incredible. And through it all, she’s helped me see things in different ways, an’ I’ve supported her through some of her darker times, and stopped her from doin’ some dumb things she’s not quite ready for. More than that though, she really has become like family to me. I… I love her… Ha, go ahead and laugh Spitfire”
“Don’t worry Rainbow, I’m not gonna. I think it’s noble that you’ve taken this filly under your wing. That you’ve gotten so close to somepony you’re not even related to. I definitely couldn’t do that… But Rainbow, some of the things you’re describing… Isn’t that the parent’s responsibility? Not yours. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great that you’re willing to show this one little filly so much love. But don’t you think the parents should’ve… Ya know, been the ponies to step in when she was doin’ those dumb things she wasn’t ready for. That shouldn’t be your responsibility.”
“That’s the thing Spitfire, I was just about to get to that. Ya see, I think it was about… Two weeks ago now, when Scootaloo was with this teenage, stallion Pegasus. He was a good flyer, I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw him at the academy in a few years. But by Starswirl’s beard did he have no common sense! He actually though that this tiny little, eight-year-old filly was thirteen!”
“Seriously! That makes no sense!”
“I know right! I’ve only ever seen that level of stupidity in bad Daring doo fanfiction! Only there it was to for a lousy excuse to move the plot along. This was real life! Anyway, him and Scootaloo were gonna go down this HUGE hill, like, it was practically a mountain.”
“Wait! Are you talkin’ about that ginormous peek that you can practically see from all the way up Cloudsdale half the time.
“I’m sad to say that I am. An’ those two were just gonna go straight down it, as if it were any ordinary hill!”
Spitfire looked on at Rainbow, her mouth pressed down with the unbearable weight of shock. Like Rainbow, Spitfire had become synonymous with pushing herself to unbelievable lengths in order to better herself, often putting herself in danger and disregarding any concern for her own physical wellbeing. However, she was also similar to Rainbow, in that she couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable at the idea of a young filly risking so much for a simple thrill. Whilst she more than encouraged young foals to push themselves, or else they could never reach their potential, she detested the idea of somepony so small permanently injuring themselves because they couldn’t recognise a reasonable limit.
“Rainbow. She could’ve gotten seriously hurt! That hill’s way to steep for a little filly. And that’s coming from me. I hate accepting limits!”
“I know Spitfire, it was reckless of her to even think that goin’ down there was okay! Movin’ on though, she had done two races before that one, and this was gonna be the tie breaker. Only I had been watchin’ ‘em the entire time, ready to step in just in case she fell… So then there she was. At the top of that huge hill, I knew she was going to get really hurt if she went down it, but I had been feelin’ really overprotective all day, and I thought that if I stopped her from racin’ it would make her think I didn’t trust her. But eventually, just as she was about to ride down, I remembered that part of bein’ a good sister IS stepping in sometimes to stop your younger sibling from doin’ somethin’ that’ll get themselves hurt. So, naturally, I swept in an’ saved her like the awesome streak of awesomeness I am! I made sure that the Pegasus stallion would think a little more in the future, an’ that that Scootaloo knew that I still trusted her, but that she was still a filly and wasn’t ready for such a big drop. We hugged it out, forgave each other, and I was just happy that the filly I love so much was safe.
“Nice story Crash, but how do Scootaloo’s parents fit into all this?”
“Well, ya see, that night I got thinkin’. Why hadn’t Scootaloo’s own parents stepped in when they found out that their little daughter was gonna go down the biggest hill for miles. They had to’ve known, and no reasonable pony would’ve let their foal do somethin’ like that… Then I realised. I hadn’t ever seen Scootaloo with her parents. Not even once! So I decided, I had to know what Scootaloo’s home life was like, that there were… ARE other ponies besides myself that love her like she deserves. I tried to find out a little bit on my own for a while. But I got nowhere. Nopony else seems to know anything and Scootaloo just wouldn’t budge whenever I asked her myself. So that’s when I got my own parents involved, they were always so good at gettin’ me to tell them things when I was a filly, even when I REALLY didn’t want to. And so far, they’ve been a huge help, we all gave Scootaloo a great day yesterday, and they’ve encouraged me to go see the parents directly, I just met the mom yesterday. She seemed nice, but a little off and immature. And I’m gonna be meetin’ the dad soon as well, so everything’s good… Ha, sorry, I just gave you a needlessly long story summary of everythin’ that’s happened so far, I guess I just got carried away. But yeah, that’s Scootaloo and my relationship with her.”
“Ha, I never did take you as the sisterly type Crash, but I guess now that I’m seeing it, it kinda suits you… Now Rainbow, I don’t got a lot of experience with foals, an’ I’m sure that your definitely better at this than me. But if you don’t mind me sayin’, it seems to me like you might be getting’ a little too nervous about all this.”
“I AM NOT!”
“Oh yeah. Then why did your parents have to talk you into talkin’ to this filly’s folks, when it was clearly what you needed to do?”
“Yeah… Right. She didn’t want me to… And so, I…”
“EXACTLLY! Look, if I learned one thing from my brief experience with foalsitting, back when I was a teenager, its that you’ve REALLY gotta get tough with foals when they need it. They have to remember that you’re in charge sometimes. I know it can be hard, given that they’re so small an’ all, an especially with how close you are to this Scootaloo, but you’re gonna need to be a little stricter with her right now. Just sit her down and get her to tell her what you need to know to help her, without any arguing.”
“Yeah, that’s all good, but I don’t wanna scare her or anything. I mean, I’m not the tallest pony in Equestria, but I must be a giant to her. An’ if I get to strict on her, it could damage are sisterhood.”
“He, you’re probably right… See, you’re so much better at this than me. So, I guess you’re just gonna have to find that right balance, bein’ strict enough with her to get her to talk, but not so much that you give her too much of a scare. I’ll leave that part up to you Crash.”
“Thanks Spitfire.”
“You’ll do great…Though I do hate admitting that you’re better than me at something.” Spitfire said sarcastically.
“Ha, come on now, let’s just get to the academy.”
“Couldn’t agree more.”
The two mares flew off into the morning sun and towards the Wonderbolts academy, ready for a day of intimidating the best and brightest flyers from all over Equestria, all in a similar position to what they had once been in, in order to find the absolute finest and passionate pegesi to join the prestigious Wonderbolts. Rainbow and Spitfire’s unmatched flying speed made their trip short, Rainbow watching as the long line of recruits stood in a perfect straight-line formation, juxtaposing Spitfire’s berserk description of them. Nevertheless, she was prepared to once again find the greatest young fliers Equestria had to offer.
The day went by very quickly, Rainbow taking full advantage of the same intimidation techniques that Spitfire had once imposed on her, breaking those with weak souls and inspiring those who were truly fit for the challenge to push themselves harder. By the end of the day, she believed she had picked out a select few from the once large crowd of recruits who were capable of standing beside her as an ally in the Wonderbolts. Though there were still more challenges these ponies would be forced to face, she saw a passion in them that would guarantee their victory.
The day began to come to a close, Celestia dropping the sun once more as Luna effortlessly lifted the moon to take its place. Though the view of the moon was distorted by horrific rain clouds that were slowly consuming the sky, ready to release a torrential storm onto Equestria. Rainbow stood at the edge of the academy, stretching her wings, prepared to make the short flight back to her home to greet her parents before slipping into a well-deserved rest that would properly prepare her to continue her investigation into Scootaloo’s home life the next day. She was finally ready to discover the whole truth.