"Is it true?" Diamond Tiara demanded.
"Is... what true?" Applebloom asked.
"I wasn't talking to you, blank flank." Diamond Tiara snarled. She turned to look at Scootaloo. "Is it true what everyone's been saying? You had Rainbow Dash and Princess Twilight take your father to court?"
Oh no. I was hoping nobody would know. Now I'm never gonna hear the end of this. Oh Celestia, why did Diamond Tiara have to hear about it?
"What did you hear?" Scootaloo finally responded.
"I heard enough." Diamond Tiara responded, her face strangely neutral. "Your father got basically a life sentence. Assault, attempted murder... foal abuse..."
Scootaloo felt her face get hot.
If Diamond Tiara goes where I think she's going, I swear to Celestia one of us is ending up bleeding.
"Yeah. It is. What of it?" Scootaloo growled.
Diamond Tiara shared a glance with Silver Spoon, she returned to look at Scootaloo with that same neutral, unfeeling expression.
"Go on, say it." Silver Spoon commanded, nudging her friend's flank.
"I..." Diamond stuttered, electing to look at the ground. "I'm sorry."
The Crusader's mouths dropped in stereo.
"I can't imagine what it's like to live with a parent who actually hits you and... well if I had known, I wouldn't have picked on you. Or made fun of the fact that you can't fly. I know what it's like to..." Diamond Tiara trailed off. With a sudden burst of anger, she straightened up, and went back to glaring at Scootaloo. "This doesn't change anything though. You're still a blank flank and we aren't friends. But... we're going to keep a little more distance from you. We can go back to how things were when you've recovered."
With a sassy hair flip, Diamond Tiara turned around and walked off, nose held high in the air. Silver Spoon turned back around and addressed Scootaloo with a much more sympathetic expression. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry too. You'll never get Diamond Tiara to say it, but she felt terrible when the news spread. She looked like she was almost in tears when she realized how badly she treated you, considering your... past. I'm gonna do my best to keep her from picking on you... but I don't really think I'll have to try too hard to convince her."
With a much more serious look, Silver Spoon turned around and followed Diamond Tiara.
The Crusaders gaped at each other. They never thought they'd see Diamond Tiara apologize for anything in her life. The trio was left completely speechless until the end of recess. When they got back into the classroom, both Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon refused to make eye contact with any of the CMC. All three fillies were so out of it, they had to be admonished several times by Cheerliee about not paying attention. But for all that had happened in the last few days, no, the past few months for her, Scootaloo couldn't focus on any of Cheerilee's lesson on the scientific process. Her mind was continuously spinning.
"No, see this feather is broken, so you just need to yank it right out." Lectured Rainbow Dash, pulling a feather from one of Twilight's wings.
"Ow!" Twilight complained.
"Well this would hurt a lot less if you did it daily, egghead." Rainbow laughed. "Alright, this one is done, let me see that other wing."
As Twilight extended her other wing, she sighed in content as Rainbow started preening it. It was... a strange experience, but actually kind of soothing. As she relaxed with her head in her hooves, a sudden thought occurred to her.
"Uh, Rainbow Dash? Isn't two adult pegasi preening each other considered... kind of an intimate activity? Like, something you'd do in a relationship?" Twilight asked nervously.
"Now don't go getting the wrong idea here." Replied Rainbow Dash nonchalantly. "Okay, yes, preening another pegasus is something you either do to your own brood until they can do it themselves, or while in a relationship. But you're a special occurrence considering you got your wings as an adult, and your parents never taught you this. So in comes the awesome Rainbow Dash. Besides, if you trust me enough to false-marry me, then this shouldn't be an issue."
It was sound logic. Still, Twilight couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable.
"It's just..." Twilight trailed off. "Well, this feels pretty nice, and with all this stuff about the civil partnership, and everyone else taking it out of context and shipping us together, it feels a bit... I don't know. If we were in a relationship I'd say it's moving too fast, but we're not, and it just feels kind of... strange. N-not that there's anything wrong with that."
Sighing, Rainbow Dash plopped on the bed beside her friend. "Twilight, be 100% honest with me. Do you like me like that?"
"Uhh... Not in the romantic sense, no."
"Then chill. Okay sure, this has been a bit weird, and I've been a bit uncomfortable along the way too, but I've come to expect weird ever since my 'little sister' became my daughter." Rainbow Dash twisted her face into a strange look. "That still feels weird to say. Look, all I'm saying is, yes, we've grown closer, and this whole... civil whatever is really weird, since I'm not so sure about how our relationship is seen... Like, if I liked another pony would that be seen as cheating?" Rainbow tapped her chin, lost in thought for a moment. "But you know who we are, and I know who we are, so stop sweating the small stuff. What's important right now is us giving Scootaloo a great life. If anything else comes up, we'll tackle it then. Sound good?"
Twilight smiled at Rainbow Dash. "Rarity is right. You really have matured recently. I was expecting you to just joke about it." Twilight looked away at that moment. "But that just kinda makes what I'm going to say a bit more awkward... Since you elected not to read some of the government documents you legally signed..." Twilight rolled her eyes. "I'm going to have to explain it to you. Those documents you signed regarding the civil union had some more... conditions."
Rainbow Dash said nothing, merely fixing Twilight with a curious look.
Twilight swallowed. "So, some of the conditions you signed for say that the... couple... has to have the same residence. And since my place here in this library counts as a public building, and therefore unfit to raise a foal... I either am supposed to move in with you, or we're supposed to find some place together on the ground to move into together. I mean, we could try to blow this off, but for the next two years we're going to get visited by FPS personnel once a moon to make sure all the conditions are met. If they aren't, they could legally send Scootaloo away to an orphanage. And then there's this thing whole thing with Scootaloo having to be able to access it, but with her current progress with flight..."
Rainbow Dash rolled on her back, her expression unreadable. She stayed silent for so long Twilight began to fear that Rainbow was upset with her.
"Well I'm not giving up my cloudhome, that's for sure. And the thing is... not that I really have a problem with you moving in, is that I only have two rooms in my house, and I don't think Scootaloo is at the point where she's comfortable sleeping alone without having nightmares... But she's going to have to get used to it soon. And my room isn't really... big enough to fit two different beds..."
Twilight felt herself blush as she realized what Rainbow Dash was implying.
"I might be able to make it bigger if I move some stuff around..." Rainbow Dash said, more to herself than Twilight. "But if you promise not to try and preen me while I sleep, I suppose I can live with that." Rainbow Dash visibly brightened up. "Plus, I bet you've never slept on a cloud mattress before! They're way better than a normal box-spring like you have. The experiences aren't even comparable!"
The two sat in a companionable silence for a few minutes until a thought occurred to Rainbow Dash.
"Hey Twi." she started. "Do you think you can help Scootaloo fly? I mean, it's not like her wings are weak, she rides around on that scooter all the time. And when they were trying out for flag carrying, she scootered all the way from Ponyville to Trottingham to get on the train. And sure, her wings are small, but most fillies her age don't really have too much larger wings. Those usually come in a growth spurt. I mean, it might not mean too much to you, but it would mean the world to me and Scoots if you could help."
Twilight hummed in contemplation. "Well, I could give her a look. Scan for magical imbalances in the body, test her wing synchro, maybe take a look at the form, but I'm not going to promise results."
Rainbow Dash sighed happily.
"That's all I can ask for."