//------------------------------// // Let's Have a Chat // Story: Helping Scootaloo // by SpikeisCute //------------------------------// Spike and Scootaloo barely got any sleep that night. Spike was usually one to wake up early but he slept in so late that Twilight thought he was sick. So she let him rest while she found a book about illnesses in the library. Starlight found Twilight and walked over to her. "Hey, Twilight! Whatcha doing?" she asked. Twilight looked up from the book. She looked upset. "Oh, hey Starlight." "Is something wrong?" "Spike slept in way later than usual. I'm worried he might be sick. Even though it's been getting warmer." Twilight explained. "I'm sure he'll be fine." Just then, Spike walked into the library with his blanket in one claw. His eyelids were half-closed though you can clearly see his eyes are bloodshot and there were bags around his eyes. "Morning Twilight. I'm ready to work," he said. His voice sounded scratchy. Twilight walked over to Spike and put a hoof on his forehead. It felt warm. "Nope! You are going back to bed mister! I'm afraid you've gotten sick!" she said, scooping him up with one hoof. "But Twi! I'm fine!" Spike whined. His throat was against that statement though because right after those words came out of his mouth, he started coughing. Twilight raised an eyebrow as Spike sighed. "Fine..." Twilight walked out of the library with Spike cradled in one hoof. Starlight rolled her eyes and chuckled. Today was going to be a long day. Much akin to Spike, Scootaloo also slept in and woke up late that day but she was used to it. Sleepless nights in the clubhouse were similar to this. 'Ok. Maybe not that similar. I almost stayed up all night thinking about him. But he's so cute and funny with his little smile and his laugh and his eyes... Ok, that's it! This needs to stop now!' Scootaloo groaned into the pillow. She had slept in the guest bedroom that night. It wasn't much but to her, that meant the world! "Hey, Scoots! You awake?" Rainbow Dash asks, entering the room. "Yeah. I'm up." "Great! I made breakfast for you downstairs!" "Really? Thanks, Rainbow!" Scootaloo jumped out of bed and rushed downstairs. Rainbow Dash chuckled and rushed down after. They made their way to the island and Scootaloo hopped on the stool. Rainbow brought some eggs and waffles out and placed a plate in front of Scootaloo. She started eating in silence while Rainbow sat down next to her. "Hey, squirt! We're heading to Cloudsdale today! I need to talk to my parents." the blue pegasus said. "What for?" "I-I need to ask them something." "Oh ok! Can Twilight and Spike come with us?" Scootaloo asked, feeling her heart flutter when she mentioned Spike. "I don't see why not!" The filly finished her breakfast and went to the bathroom to brush her teeth and take a shower. Rainbow Dash had brought a toothbrush for Scootaloo. It was a Wonderbolts toothbrush. (Of course). Once Scootaloo finished, they went to go pick up Twilight and Spike. Scootaloo was pretty excited to hang out with Spike. Not because she likes him. It's because he is her friend. But then why didn't she pick the other members of the CMC? They were available. 'Ugh! Why is this so complicated?' They arrived at the castle to see Twilight and Cadance chatting up a storm. "Jackpot! I get to hang out with Spike and talk to Princess Cadance!" Scootaloo whispered to herself. "Hey, Twi! Scootaloo was wondering if you and Spike were available to head to Cloudsdale with us." Rainbow Dash said, kneeling so that Scootaloo could slide off her back. "I'm sorry Scootaloo. Spike is currently in bed right now because he's sick. I don't think he got enough sleep last night," Twilight explained. "That's actually why Cadance is here. I needed someone to watch the school but I also needed help watching Spike." Scootaloo felt a twinge of sadness in her heart when Twilight said Spike was sick. But then she remembered she can still talk to Princess Cadance. "Umm... Princess?" Scootaloo asked nervously. "Yes, Scootaloo?" Cadance said. "C-can I talk to you? In private?" "Umm, sure!" As the two ponies walked out of the room, Twilight gives Rainbow a confused look only to get the same look back from the blue pegasus. Cadance and Scootaloo walked into an empty room and sat down to talk. "So what did you want to talk about?" Cadance asked, obviously intrigued by what Scootaloo has to say. "I figured that since you're the Princess of Love, you can help me out with something." Since Cadance stayed quiet, Scootaloo continued talking. "I keep having these weird feelings around Spike." Yet again, she explained to the princess how she looks at Spike and how she blushes and her heart beats faster than usual. She also explained how she feels her heart flutter when Spike is mentioned. When Scootaloo finished, Cadance started snickering and then burst out laughing. You didn't need a genius to figure out where this was going. "What's so funny?" Scootaloo asked. "I'm sorry," Cadance said. "But I think that it's pretty clear you have a crush on Spike." "Ugh! Not you too!" Scootaloo groaned. "What do you mean?" "Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom think I have a crush on Spike as well. And for the record, I think I would know if I was crushing on someone." Scoots explained. "Well if you say so," Cadance said, leaving the room. Scootaloo followed suit and walked back into the library. Rainbow Dash noticed her first. "Hey, squirt! Ready to go?" she asked. "Yeah! Can I just go talk to Spike first? I want to see how he's doing." Scootaloo asked, immediately covering her mouth afterward. 'What in the name of Celestia was that? Did I just ask to go check on Spike? What have I done?' "Sure! If it's ok with Twi here." Rainbow said. "It's fine," Twilight confirmed. "Just make sure you keep your distance from him." "O-Oh ok..." Yet again, Scootaloo walked out of the library. This time she walked towards Spike's room. Her heart was beating and her face was covered in red. 'Ok, calm down Scoots! This is Spike we're talking about! Your friend! Just walk in, talk to him, and get out! You got this!' Scootaloo reached Spike's bedroom door and took a deep breath. She raised her shaking hoof and knocked on the door. There was some coughing and sneezing before Scoots heard a scratchy voice. "Come in!" Scootaloo slowly peeked her head inside the room to see a bunch of burned tissues surrounding Spike's bed with Power Ponies comics scattered all over the floor along with some other books and right in the middle of it all was Spike, himself. "Scoots? What are you doing here?" Spike asked. Scootaloo cautiously stepped inside his room and sat down, making sure she wasn't sitting on a burnt tissue. "H-Hey Spike! I was just..." Scootaloo trailed off, looking away from Spike. "Just what?" "I just wanted to see how you were doing!" the pegasus said quickly. Scootaloo's cheeks were red and her heart was beating 10 times faster than it was before. She tried to avoid making eye contact with Spike but she yearned to gaze into his sparkling, green eyes. "Scoots?" Spike asked. Scootaloo looked up and her eyes immediately gazed into Spike's eyes. Even though they were bloodshot, they still sparkled to her. "Yeah?" she responded. "Thanks for coming. I was feeling really lonely today." Spike said, also blushing and gazing into her eyes. Once again, Scootaloo was the first to look away. The duo then started to look anywhere but each other, now blushing in embarrassment. "So umm..." Spike started. "How long are you staying?" "I don't know," Scootaloo said. "Rainbow said that we had to go and see her parents. That's why I'm here in the first place. I wanted you and Twilight to come with us." Spike and Scootaloo talked for what felt like hours. But in reality, it has only been 5 minutes. Rainbow Dash walked into the room soon after. "Hey squirt? Ready to go?" she said, before looking around the room. "Whoa! What went down in here?" Spike giggled sheepishly. "My bad." "I'm ready!" Scootaloo said, hopping onto Rainbow's back. "See you later Spike!" "Yeah! See you later Scoots!" Spike replied. As the two pegasi left the castle, the purple dragon flopped down on his back and sighed. "Now I know I like Scootaloo more than a friend." Scootaloo felt the wind in her mane as Rainbow flew towards Cloudsdale. 'Ugh! This is hopeless! If Princess Cadance couldn't help me, no pony can!' The little pegasus groaned into the older pegasus' mane. "Hey Scoots? Everything ok?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Huh? Oh yeah! Everything's fine!" "Then why did you need to talk to Princess Cadance?" Scootaloo began to stutter. "I... umm..." Meanwhile, in her mind, she was panicking. 'Crap! This is bad! I can't let Rainbow know about...that! She'll go haywire!' Then Scootaloo stuck to the only thing that seemed acceptable at a time like this. "Uhh...." "Scoots?" Rainbow asked, not knowing what was going on. 'Sweet Celestia! I think I broke the kid! Rainbow Dash landed on a cloud and took Scootaloo off her back. Then, she started shaking Scootaloo by her shoulders. "Earth to Scootaloo! Snap out of it!" Rainbow said, vigorously shaking her. "R-Rainbow! Stop sh-shaking me!" Rainbow Dash listens and stops. Unfortunately, the shaking made the poor filly dizzy. She shook her head and looked up at Dash. "Now can you tell me what's going on?" "What do you mean?" Scootaloo asked, acting oblivious. "Oh come on Scoots! It's pretty obvious that you haven't been acting like yourself lately." Rainbow stated. "I haven't?" "Yeah! You've been hanging out with Spike way more often and I get it. It's just that you've been acting real nervous around him lately." "W-What?! How do you know that?!" "I asked Twilight to cast a spell so when I'm not in the room with you, I can still watch you. Wow. That sounded way less creepy in my head. Anyway, the spell doesn't pick up audio so you're lucky." "Ok first off, weird," Scootaloo starts. "And second of all, how much did you see?" "Oh that's easy. All of it! I saw you and Spike sleeping together, you and Spike reading comics, you and Spike in the bathroom. Too bad I couldn't see where you went the other day after you guys went to the clubhouse." "I guess you already know then, huh?" "What? About your crush on Spi-" "Shut up! I don't have a crush on him! What is up with everypony saying that?" Rainbow Dash chuckled and knelt down letting Scootaloo climb her back. "Whatever you say squirt. Whatever you say." The duo arrive at Rainbow Dash's old house, aka her parents' house. Scootaloo, once again, slides off Rainbow's back and walks toward the door. She knocks on the door and a familiar voice comes from behind it. "I'm coming!" The door opens and out comes a pegasus with the same coat and eye color as Rainbow Dash. She has a pinkish-orange mane and tail and is wearing a yellow sweater. "Oh hello Scootaloo! What a surprise!" Windy Whistles said. "Hello Mrs. Dash! Rainbow and I came to visit you! She said she needed to talk to you about something!" Scootaloo explained. "Is that so? Well then, come on in!" Rainbow and Scootaloo walked inside the house. The rainbow-maned pegasus looked around her childhood home. It was cleaner than the last time they visited this place. "Mom? Did you clean up this place a little bit?" Rainbow asked. "Yep! I managed to do a little cleaning!" "Where's Dad?" "I told him to go grocery shopping. I basically had to push him out the door! You know how your father is!" The trio got to the kitchen and each sat down on a chair. "Scootaloo, honey. You can go watch the TV if you'd like!" The instant Windy finished her sentence, Scootaloo jumped up and ran from her seat and into the living room. Windy shook her head and chuckled. "Sometimes that little filly reminds me of you, Dashie." "Mom?" "Yes sweetie?" "How did it feel like to take care of me? Like as a filly?" "Well, given you were energetic as a filly, it was pretty tough. But we managed. Why do you ask?" Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and started. "A few days ago, I found out that Scoots is an orphan." Windy gasped at this news like expected. "Oh dear!" "I'm taking care of her right now but I'm planning to adopt her." Rainbow explained. "Why, that's wonderful!" "But the problem is that what if I'm not a good parent? What if I'm not there for her as much as I want to be? What if-" Windy Whistles puts a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder and gives her a reassuring smile. Rainbow looks back at her with watery eyes. Windy pulls her daughter in for a hug. "I-I'm scared Mom. Scared that I won't be good enough for her." "Rainbow Dash. Look at me." Rainbow listens and looks at her mother. "You will be a good mother, you will be there for Scootaloo, and you will be the mother you want to be." "Y-Yeah. I guess I will. Thanks Mom..." Windy pecks Rainbow on the forehead. "That's what mothers are for."