//------------------------------// // Things Get Better // Story: Fly Like You // by Jinzou //------------------------------// Twilight awoke to the gentle feeling of lips pressing against the base of her horn. She let out a sleepy moan and went to stretch, only to find her left forehoof trapped under something. She opened her eyes to see a shock of purple hair laying on the aforementioned appendage.  Scootaloo? Wha- Oh… right… I told her last night that Firefly passed. We must have cried ourselves to sleep. So wha- Twilight pushed herself up and scanned the room. She was on a couch, and somebody had laid a blanket over her and Scootaloo, and tucked them up to the chin. On the other side of the couch was another blanket and a pillow.  Twilight looked the other way and found Rainbow Dash with her forehooves propped up on the arm of the couch near her, a soft smile on her face. “Morning, sleeping beauty.” Rainbow gibed. “Just wanted to let you know that you have an appointment with Kind Mind in an hour and a half. Wanted to make sure you have plenty of time to Twilight around, worrying about going into therapy. Also it’s already past noon.” Twilight yawned and stretched again, pausing at the peak of her stretch to boop Rainbow Dash on the nose. “Nope. No Twilighting for this mare. I’m all ready to get this thing going.” Twilight’s attention returned to the filly cuddled into her. She took a brief moment to run a hoof through Scootaloo’s mane, trying to calm the raging bedmane, but it was ultimately fruitless. “I made you guys some pancakes too, they’re in the kitchen.” Rainbow piped in after a moment. “Spike even said they were ‘passable', especially considering my past with baking.’” Twilight rolled her eyes and chuckled. “Of course he did.” Twilight took a moment to study Rainbow Dash’s face, her gaze lingering on the scar over Rainbow’s eye. “And it’s good to know that under that tough exterior, my special somebody still has a heart of gold. Let’s wake Scoots up and get ready for the day. I’m ready to destroy those pancakes.” Twilight leaned down and gently nuzzled the filly in her embrace. Scootaloo merely responded with a groan and cuddled deeper into Twilight’s coat. “Five more minutes…” she slurred. Twilight shot a look at Rainbow Dash, one eyebrow raised. Rainbow Dash however, had a devious grin on her face. She extended one of her wings and gently plucked a feather from it, slightly wincing as she pulled it out. She moved it around in her mouth so she was holding the stem with her teeth, and made a face at Twilight. Twilight’s eyes widened as she realized what Rainbow was doing, then grinned herself. She lifted the blanket off the two of them with her wing, then pulled Scootaloo in close with her right forehoof, hoping that would prevent Scootaloo from accidentally kicking her. “Should’ve listened to your mom, kiddo!” Dash spoke through the feather, before lunging forward and tickling the spot between Scootaloo’s wings. Scootaloo’s eyes instantly flew open as her body started spasming and she began laughing uncontrollably. Scootaloo rolled over, grasping the instrument of her torture. Her relief was short lived though, as Twilight plucked a feather from her own wing and began tickling Scootaloo as well. Scootaloo rolled onto her back, breathing heavily as she had a momentary respite from the tickle torture. She immediately regretted it as both Rainbow Dash and Twilight started tickling her ribs. “S-s-s-sto-ha-hop!” Scootaloo giggled, rolling onto the floor to escape the feathers. She wiped her forehead and continued breathing heavily for a few moments as she got her bearings. “That was… the worst way to wake up.” Scootaloo panted. “I’m sure I could top that.” Rainbow smirked, spitting out her feather. “And besides, now you can enjoy the pancakes that I made and didn’t almost burn a house down with.” “If you manage to burn down a crystal castle, I’ll be very impressed.” Twilight snarked, winking at Rainbow. “Anyway,” Rainbow said, winking back at Twilight. “Scoots, Doc Kind Mind said it might be nice if you can go with Twi to the therapy session. Do some ‘family therapy’ or something.” Scootaloo popped her head over the couch and stared at Twilight. “You’re going to therapy?” Twilight’s smile faded somewhat. “Yes, Rainbow convinced me to work on those things we discussed earlier.” “Oh…” Scootaloo trailed off, before instantly perking up. “That means I can introduce you to Kind Mind! I mean you already met her, but you’ve never had a session with her before! She’s just the coolest!” Twilight chuckled. “I can’t wait.”  "What are you doin' here?" Big Mac questioned. "Applejack is helping at the castle so I thought I'd help out here, 'cause I'm awesome like that." Rainbow Dash replied. "So let's grab some baskets and get to work." Big Mac peered intensely at Rainbow Dash for a moment, before shrugging and pulling some additional baskets out of the barn, loading them into the cart. He wordlessly gestured for Rainbow Dash to follow him and walked off into the orchard. The duo worked in silence for a few minutes, arranging baskets and bucking -or in Rainbow's case, flying into the trees-. Rainbow chewed the inside of her cheek, a question needling at her. "Hey uh, Big Mac, you and Applejack basically raised Applebloom since she was born, right?" "Eeyup." "I mean, it's not like I'm worried or anything, I know I'm gonna be an awesome parent, but uh… what's it like long term? Like, does it keep getting easier or sorta stay the same or…" Big Mac turned to face Rainbow Dash square on. "It's gonna be the hardest thing you ever do." Rainbow Dash landed on the ground, an eyebrow raised in confusion. "Why? I mean, they're just foals, right?" Big Mac shook his head. "They're your foal. With them will come responsibilities and difficulties." He paused for a moment. "Be glad you didn't deal with diapers." And for a few more minutes there was silence, save the sounds of applebucking.  "I… There's…" Big Mac spoke suddenly, stumbling over his own words. Big Mac stared at the ground for a moment, before meeting Rainbow's gaze. "Emotions. Foals are big balls of emotions, and that's what makes it hard. I'll never forget the first time Applebloom came home crying because she was bein' bullied. It hurt to see her like that. You can always bandage flesh, but emotion? That's time." Big Mac bucked a nearby tree, filling the baskets underneath. "Seems you already know about that last part." The two continued carrying on in silence at that, until Big Mac spoke up again. "Worst part is when you're the source of their pain. Couple times when she was younger Applebloom would tell me she hated me when she was upset. Over and over. And I believed it at the time. 'Course she apologized later, but that's when I realized I had to grow up fast. I couldn’t just be the big brother, I had to take my Da's place. This meant finding a middle ground between what I let and don't let her do. It's a challenge to say no sometimes." Rainbow Dash landed. She flattened her ears and rubbed at her leg. "Will Scoots do that? I don't know if I can take her telling me she hates me."  Big Mac hummed. "Eeyup. And she'll believe it at the moment. But later she'll be fine. She'll really only ever hate you if you give her a reason."  "But what if I push her too hard? I mean Applejack did and Scoots is still scared of her. What if I'm too harsh and trigger an attack?"  Big Mac turned around again and regarded Rainbow Dash.  "She's gonna do things you don't like and you need to teach her not to do that. She'll try and get out of it, but you now have responsibilities as a parent. If she has an episode, you know how to pull her out." Rainbow Dash stared at the ground and kicked at the dirt for a few moments.  "I-I'm scared. I don't want to break her." Rainbow bit at her lip to try and suppress the incoming rush of emotion. "You won't." Big Mac stated simply, returning to his work.  Rainbow stayed still for a few more moments, digesting what she had been told. "I sure hope not." She said aloud, to nobody in particular. With a shaky breath and a determined look, the rainbow maned pegasus returned to her work. "Ugh, the appointment should have been over hours ago." Rainbow complained, flopping onto the bed she and Twilight shared. "What's taking them so long?" Rainbow's ears perked up as she heard the familiar sound of the front door to the castle close. "It's about time too. The moon is already up." Rainbow muttered to herself, standing up and flying over to the entrance of the castle. Walking in were a very tired looking Twilight and Scootaloo.  “What took you guys so long?” Rainbow asked. Scootaloo opened her mouth to answer, but yawned instead. Twilight gave off a small chuckle.  “Sorry Dashie, we had an extra long session. I had a lot of stuff to talk about. But I feel… surprisingly a lot better.” Scootaloo stumbled over to Rainbow Dash, pressing her head against Rainbow’s forelegs, and moments later, emitting a soft snore. “Uh,” Rainbow paused. “Is therapy supposed to be physically tiring?” To her surprise Twilight let out another chuckle.  “Let’s put her to bed and then I’ll tell you why.” Rainbow Dash leaned down and slowly picked Scootaloo up, trying her best to not wake the slumbering filly. She and Twilight gently fluttered over to Scootaloo’s room, and after carefully tucking her in, Twilight grabbed Rainbow by the hoof and led her out of the castle. Twilight led Rainbow Dash to a large cloud behind the castle. “Um, Twi, what are we do-” Rainbow Dash was interrupted by Twilight lighting up her horn. She immediately started breathing heavily and groaning, and Rainbow Dash rushed over to her, pulling her into a wing hug from behind and holding both her front hooves. Twilight grit her teeth and with a soft pop, she teleported a small device to them. For a moment it sat there, suspended in a purple aura, then Twilight dropped it. It landed on the cloud with them, slightly sinking in. The device looked like some kind of horn coming off a wooden box, and on the top of the box was a vinyl record. “A phonograph? Twi, what are you doing?”   Twilight took a few deep breaths to calm her nerves, then gently pushed Rainbow’s hooves off of her, winding up the phonograph manually, and started the song. The song sounded vaguely familiar to Rainbow Dash, but she couldn’t quite place it. It was some sort of slow orchestral piece. Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash with a soft smile, jumping off the cloud and then flying next to her. Twilight held out a hoof to Rainbow. “Rainbow Dash, would you do me the honor of granting me a dance?” Rainbow Dash blinked hard. Where had this come from? “Uh, Twilight? Hate to be a killjoy but… you can’t dance. We all saw you at that Canterlot party on your birthday.” Twilight just smiled. She reached out and grabbed one of Rainbow Dash’s hooves, and pulled Rainbow to her. As soon as Rainbow left the cloud her wings instinctively started beating. Twilight moved the hoof that wasn’t holding Dash’s hoof to Dash’s waist, and pulled her in closer. The two mare’s chests were pressed against each other at this point. Twilight leaned in and whispered into Rainbow’s ear. “Humor me.” Twilight pressed the right side of her hip against Rainbow’s, tilting the pair counter-clockwise. Twilight slowed her wing flaps, so the pair bobbed up and down in the air. Catching on quickly, Rainbow placed her free hoof on Twilight’s waist, and gave her a shaky smile, their wings unsynced. “Uh Twi… I don’t know how to slow dance.” “I’ll teach you.” For several moments the two bobbed together in the air, slowly spinning. Rainbow Dash synced her wing beats with Twilight, so the pair would fall quickly, then shoot up at the same time. “You’re a quick study, Dashie.” Twilight giggled. “Yeah well…” Rainbow’s cheeks tinted pink. “I got a good teacher.” “Well in that case, onto the next lesson!” “Wait, wha-” Twilight released her grip on Rainbow Dash’s waist, pushing her body away as the only thing that connected them was the foreleg they were holding hooves with. Twilight raised her hoof high in the air, and after a moment Rainbow realized what she was trying to do. Rainbow pulled Twilight toward her and past her side. As Twilight passed by Rainbow, she did a slow twirl in the air, and as she reached the other side, and their hooves were as far apart as they could be without letting go, Rainbow pulled Twilight back into her chest, and placed her hoof back on Twilight’s waist. A moment later Rainbow took lead, leading Twilight in less of a rotating pattern, but in long sweeping motions going left and right, trying to hide the fact that she didn't really know what she was doing. Rainbow pushed them apart, then raised her hoof and brought it past her slower, happily watching as Twilight took advantage of the speed to spin a few more times. As Rainbow pulled them back together, Twilight rested her cheek on Rainbow’s shoulder. “Mm, this is nice.” Twilight said. “Yeah!” Rainbow agreed vehemently. "Damn Twi, when did you learn to dance?" "So uh... reason I was so late? I asked Rarity to teach me how to dance for you." "You had Rarity... dance with you?" Twilight gave off a chuckle and raised her head off Rainbow’s shoulder to gaze into her eyes. "Oh my goodness, Dashie are you jealous?" "I uh..." "Don't worry, Pookie,” Twilight grinned. “I only did it for you." Rainbow chortled and gave Twilight a peck on the lips. “You’re such a sap, Twi.” Twilight’s cheeks tinted pink. “You love it.” Rainbow just smiled. “I love you.” Twilight pushed her lips against Rainbow’s for a moment, before pulling away, face far more pink than before. “I love you too.” Twilight rested her cheek on Rainbow’s shoulder again, humming along to the song as the duo danced in the air. The next morning the sun dawned on two ponies sleeping snuggled up on a cloud, exhausted after hours of dancing.