Sisterly Bonds

by Secret_Shadows

Bonding

Scootaloo was pushing Rainbow down the path to the school building.

“But, I” Rainbow started

“But you have to Rainbow!” Scootaloo said, she now grabbed Rainbow’s tail in her mouth and started dragging Rainbow down the path. Rainbow’s hooves were scraping along the path creating a small dust cloud.

“I, No I don’t” Rainbow said as she flapped her wings taking flight, only to be pulled back down to the ground by Scootaloo.

“Yesh Youth Dof” Scootaloo said through the tail that was still in her mouth.

By this point Scootaloo had managed to drag Rainbow to the School grounds and Cheerilee was witnessing this event.

“What is going on here?” Cheerilee asked running over to them.

“Hepho Msh Cheerifee” Scootaloo said through the tail in her mouth. She spit out the tail and spoke again.

“Here is Rainbow Dash for the conference” Scootaloo said as she gestured to Rainbow who was still collapsed on the ground.

Rainbow jumped up and brushed herself off and quickly put on her cool shell.

“Yeah, I’m here for Scoots, for some conference thing” Rainbow said nonchalantly.

“Ok then, um Scootaloo, I told you to bring a parent, not a friend.” Cheerilee said, she had a slight look of concern on her face.

“I am her Guardian miss Cheerilee” Rainbow said

“Oh, well then come with me Rainbow, Scootaloo, wait on the chair outside the room.” Cheerilee said.

As Cheerilee and Rainbow entered the School and the door closed Cheerilee wasted no time.

The school room was a colorful room filled with drawings and art from the students. The windows were shaded with curtains sewn by the students for an art project. It was truly a friendly classroom.

“What in Equestria is going on? What happened to Scootaloo’s parents?” Cheerilee asked.

“Well, apparently, she is an orphan, and I found her, and took her in” Rainbow said.

“Yes but, you?” Cheerilee asked, a look of fear for the filly’s life went across her face.

“You think I can’t take care of a filly?” Rainbow replied getting defensive.

“Now now, thats not what I said, take a seat, lets um, lets get down to why you are here” Cheerilee said.

Rainbow sat down across the table from Cheerilee, several papers were scattered across the table.

“So, why am I here?” Rainbow asked.

“Well, Scootaloo is, falling behind academically” Cheerilee said, she was looking a bit unsure about Rainbow’s ability to actually help with the situation.

“Falling behind academically?” Rainbow asked, the confusion on her face was astounding.

“It means she is failing, and if she doesn’t bring up her grades soon, well, she could be held back a year” Cheerilee said.

“Held back, no, not Scootaloo, I’ll make sure she doesn’t fail.” Rainbow said starting to look overly confident.

“Don’t look at it as failing, look at it as a year long opportunity to review the material” Cheerilee put on the most fake smile ever. “Yeah she might fail.”

“No she won’t, if she fails than my name isn’t Rainbow Danger Dash!” Rainbow said.

“But, I thought it wasn’t?” Cheerilee said.

“Technicalities” Rainbow said before spreading her wings and starting to float in the room to make herself look more intimidating.

“Well, there is one option, if she can raise her grade in math, she might be able to pass” Cheerilee said still completely unsure of Rainbow.

“Well then, that’s what I’ll help her with, I won’t see Scoots fail!” Rainbow said as she started to float to the door.

“Well, ok then, I guess you can go?” Cheerilee said so confused as to what just happened.

“Yes, yes I will” Rainbow said as she flew out of the room and landed next to Scootaloo.

“So, what is the verdict?” Scootaloo said, she held her head down like she knew she was failing.

“Well, you’re uh, you might fail” Rainbow said noticing Scootaloo get a bit more depressed.

“But I am gonna help you!” Rainbow said.

Scootaloo looked at Rainbow, then she looked like she had lost all hope.

“Hey now, I can be good at math, sometimes, if I try, maybe” Rainbow said.

Scootaloo got up from her seat. “Yeah, but its probably not enough” Scootaloo said, she started to walk away a bit but her wing twitched and she winced in pain. Rainbow noticed this.

“Scoots, are you ok?” Rainbow asked, she tilted her head as she tried to get a closer look at Scootaloo’s wings.

“Yeah I just-” Scootaloo was cut off by a very large pain in her wing, she nearly collapsed to the ground.

“Scootaloo what’s the matter?” Rainbow said as she raced over to Scootaloo.

“My wings, I think, I think they are broken” Scootaloo said as she winced in pain again.

Rainbow inspected Scootaloo’s wings.

“They aren’t broken, you need to shed some feathers and do a bit of preening” Rainbow said.

“B-but didn’t you say it wasn’t going to hurt?” Scootaloo asked still upset by the pain.

“Yeah but I didn’t think your wings were in this bad shape” Rainbow said as she gave them a closer look.

“Uh Rainbow, can you stop looking at my wings, It’s making me uncomfortable” Scootaloo said.

“Well, I can’t help if-” Rainbow was cut off.

“Then lets go home first” Scootaloo said.

“Ok, climb on my back” Rainbow said as she lowered herself down to Scootaloo’s level.

Scootaloo climbed onto Rainbow’s back, nearly falling off from the pain.

“Are you on?” Rainbow said.

“Y-yes, but I, I don’t think I can hold on” Scootaloo said, shaking from the pain in her wings.

“OK, well, just try to” Rainbow said as she lifted off.

The flight back to their home was tedious, Scootaloo almost fell of several times but they eventually made it.

Scootaloo fell off of Rainbow’s back onto the cloud.

“Scootaloo, lay on your stomach and spread your wings out” Rainbow said as she started to inspect Scootaloo’s wings again.

Scootaloo laid on her stomach and tried to spread her wings out but she wasn’t able to move them at all. Her eyes started to tear up in the pain.

“It hurts Rainbow! I-I c-can’t move them!” She cried.

“Well, I’ll help you, just, try to extend them” Rainbow said as she used her hoof to try to help Scootaloo’s wings extend.

After several agonising moments of pain for Scootaloo, Rainbow was able to get Scootaloo’s wings spread out far enough for her to inspect them.

“Scoots, your wings are pretty banged up, so you’ve never preened your wings before?” Rainbow asked.

“N-no, I don’t even know what that is” Scootaloo said still crying from the pain.

“When did they start hurting?” Rainbow asked as she examined the wings even closer.

“T-this m-m-morning” Scootaloo said, her pain was becoming so intense it was starting to make her feel dizzy and lightheaded.

“Well, I can tell you why, you never shed your feathers and the new ones are trying to grown in and its irritating the skin, you may need to remove some feathers” Rainbow stated a bit worried for Scootaloo.

“B-but w-won't that h-hurt?” Scootaloo asked, her eyes were closing, the pain in her wings was very intense.

“It, it might, but you’ll feel better afterwards” Rainbow stated.

“Just make the pain stop!” Scootaloo yelled. Rainbow wasn’t thinking anything more of the pain than it was just pain, but to Scootaloo, it was a horrible memory.

“Ok, ok! I need to pull some feathers out, it might hurt-”

It already hurts!” Scootaloo screeched in her pain.

Rainbow leaned closer to Scootaloo’s wings and gripped one of the feathers in her mouth and pulled it out. Scootaloo felt a sharp pain where the feather was but it started to relieve the intense pressure in her wings a few seconds after. Rainbow went in for another feather and pulled it, again relieving the pressure in Scootaloo’s wings. Feather by feather the pain went away for Scootaloo eventually only feeling the pain of the feathers being plucked, every time producing a small yelp.

“Ok, I, I think I got them all” Rainbow said, she had plucked nearly all of Scootaloo’s feathers, but most of them were irritated and needed to be plucked.

Scootaloo was exhausted from all of the pain, but she was glad it was finally over.

“Hold still Rainbow” Skylight said as she plucked her daughters feathers one by one.

“But it hurrrrtttttsssss” Rainbow moaned.

“And its going to hurt even more if you keep fidgeting, now stop moving, I am almost done” Skylight stated as she pulled more feathers.

“Ow!” Rainbow yelped as her mother pulled one of the feathers very fast, it was one of the most irritated feathers.

“Sorry, that feather was really irritated” Skylight said.

“Are you almost done!?” Rainbow asked.

“Almost, just three more” Skylight stated as she plucked the last three feathers.

“There”

Rainbow looked back and examined her wings noting that she had no more feathers.

“My Wings!” Rainbow yelled.

“Your feathers were poorly taken care of, I told you this was going to happen, but you didn’t listen” Skylight said.

“B-but all of the other pegasus will laugh at me” Rainbow said.

“No they won’t, they all had to do it at some point, even me” Skylight said.

“Now Scoots, you may want to go rest for a bit, you seem like you were in a lot of pain and I would rest if I were you.” Rainbow said as she cleaned up the feathers.

The only response Rainbow got was that of a light snoring.

‘I hope she is ok, that had to hurt’ Rainbow thought to herself remembering her own pain and suffering. As Scootaloo snoozed Rainbow picked her up and carried Scootaloo on her back and laid her down in her Sleeping bag.

‘I really need to get her a real bed’ Rainbow thought as she pulled the cover of the sleeping bag up over Scootaloo.

“Sweet Dreams” Rainbow said rather out of her normal cool shell tone as she walked out of the room.

“You horrible little filly, you were not suppose to see that, now you’re going to be punished” A pegasus mare said.

Scootaloo was cowering in fear on her bed in the orphanage, she had walked into an office and saw another orphan being punished and she was not suppose to see it.

The mare pulled Scootaloo off her bed with the help of two stallions and she laid her out on the floor.

“Such nice wings, its a shame we are going to have to remove them” The Mare said as she started ripping feathers out of Scootaloo’s wings with impressive force. Scootaloo started to bleed out of her wings from this improper removal of feathers.

“Please, stop, please make it stop! I’ll do anything!” Scootaloo yelled, she was starting to cry.

“Its too late, you’ve been a bad filly and you need to be punished” The mare said as she pulled more feathers out of Scootaloo’s wings.

“P-pleasssseee, it h-hur-rts, P-p-pleas-s-se s-stop” Scootaloo cried. It was so painful for her, why anypony would do this, this torture of a poor innocent filly.

The mare pulled the last few feathers out of Scootaloo’s wings with a force that it nearly knocked Scootaloo out from the pain.

“No! W-why a-are you d-doin-ing th-this t-t-to m-m-me” She cried, the pain was so intense that she had just stopped caring about anything else. She accidentally wet herself.

“Aw, the poor little foal has had an accident, and all over my beautiful tail, cut her tail off then make her sit in her mess” The mare said to the two stallions.

“Somepony Help me!” Scootaloo yelled in her sleep.

Rainbow got up from her slumber on her sofa and ran into the bedroom to find Scootaloo tossing and turning in her sleep.

“Scootaloo, what’s the matter?” Rainbow said frantically.

“Anypony, Somepony! Help!” She yelled in her sleep.

Rainbow ran over to Scootaloo and shook her awake.

“Scootaloo? Scoots? Wake up!” Rainbow yelled.

Scootaloo gasped for breath and jumped up with her eyes open, she was crying wildly.

“Scootaloo, what’s the matter?” Rainbow asked as she pulled Scootaloo closer into a hug, thats when Rainbow noticed Scootaloo had wet the bed. Rainbow didn’t pay it much mind though.

“I-I, h-h-he-h-help-p” Scootaloo said through her frantic tears.

“Shh, shh, it’s ok, it’s ok, you’re safe now.” Rainbow said as she hugged Scootaloo tighter.

“D-don’t l-let th-them h-h-hur-rt m-m-me R-Rainb-bow” Scootaloo cried as she hugged Rainbow.

“Shh, it’s ok now, everything is ok now” Rainbow said trying to calm Scootaloo. This was the first time Rainbow had seen her so upset.

“Th-they c-cut off m-my f-feathers, an-and m-my t-tail an-an-d I-it h-hurt” Scootaloo cried. Her tears were a torrential downpour.

“It was just a bad dream, you’re fine now, just try to calm down” Rainbow said, her voice was calm but she was having a hard time keeping herself composed seeing Scootaloo like this.

“N-no it w-was r-real, th-they c-cut off m-my f-feath-thers a-and t-t-tail” She cried even harder.

“Who did, I’ll go and-” Rainbow was cut off.

“Th-the or-orph-phanage p-p-pon-nies” She balled her eyes out crying. Something so traumatic, to an innocent little filly, who would anypony do such a thing.

“I, I h-had for-forgot-t-t-ten a-about it, th-then y-you pr-preened m-my f-feathers, an-and I r-reme-membered-d” Scootaloo was on the verge of passing out from her crying.

“Scootaloo, calm down, It’s ok now, everything is going to be ok, I won’t let any pony hurt you ever again” Rainbow said, she was trying to reassure Scootaloo, but it just didn’t seem to be working.

“Th-Th-thank-k y-you” Scootaloo said, she was crying hysterically but she was starting to calm down.

It was at this point Scootaloo realised she had wet the bed.

“No! Rainbow Dash I am So Sorry! P-please d-don’t be m-mad” Scootaloo said as she started to get upset again.

“Scootaloo, it’s ok, I told you when we were at Twilight’s, its fine, I, I uh had the same problem when I was little, It’s ok, I am not mad” Rainbow soothed, normally she would be upset about having to clean the sleeping bag, but after what she just heard she wasn’t even thinking it.

Rainbow was more concerned with keeping Scootaloo safe and comforting her.

“Come on, why don’t we take a moment to breath and calm down, then go get you cleaned up, hows that sound?” Rainbow asked, at this point she released Scootaloo from the hug she had embraced her in.

After a quick round of baths and another splashing war Scootaloo and Rainbow were sitting in the living room of the cloud home around a small candle. The sunset was shining into the house casting an orange glow among the walls. They were doing a jigsaw puzzle of the Wonderbolts.

“Scootaloo, I think you should talk to a doctor” Rainbow said as she slid a puzzle piece into its slot.

“You mean, about my wings?” Scootaloo asked as she fussed over a puzzle piece that would not fit.

“No, I mean about your experiences at the orphanage” Rainbow said as she took the puzzle piece Scootaloo was fussing over and put it into the correct spot.

Scootaloo stopped and her eyes widened a bit.

“No, I, I don’t want to remember that place” Scootaloo said, she started to tremble just thinking about it.

“Scoots, calm down, it’s just a suggestion, I just feel if you talked to a doctor they could help you.” Rainbow said as she placed another puzzle piece in its spot, she had done this puzzle several times.

“Hey thats not fair! You know the puzzle!” Scootaloo pouted playfully as she shoved Rainbow with her forehooves.

“Yes but you picked the puzzle” Rainbow said as she shoved back.

“Yeah but-” Scootaloo could not finish her sentence as she was cut off but a fit of giggling.

“No arguing with me!” Rainbow said as she tickled Scootaloo in a scene that could only be described as cute sisterly bonding.

“R-ra-haha-inb-bow S-s-stop-p” Scootaloo said in her fit of giggles.

“I will, but first, who is the most awesome, best, most coolest guardian pegasus?” Rainbow asked as she continued to tickle Scootaloo.

“Y-you a-are R-Rainbow-w” Scootaloo said through her fit of giggles.

“What was that? I can’t understand you?” Rainbow said playfully as she continued to make Scootaloo giggle.

“You a-are th-the m-m-most b-best a-and c-cool-lest g-guardian p-pegasus” Scootaloo         managed to say through her giggles.

“You missed one” Rainbow said as she continued to tickle Scootaloo.

“A-and Aw-aw-awesome” Scootaloo said as Rainbow finally released her ticklish hold on Scootaloo.

Scootaloo breathed very deeply for the next few moments.

“Alright Scoots, it’s getting late, time for bed” Rainbow said as she picked up the candle and started off to the bedroom.

“Aww, do we have to?” Scootaloo said as she tilted her head and made her eyes as big as she could.

Rainbow stopped and set the candle back down.

“Well, I guess you can stay up for a bit longer” She said contemplating a thought in her head.

“Cool! So I was thinking may-” Scootaloo was cut off as Rainbow pounced on her in yet another tickle war.

The night continued on like this for the two pegasi, an endless battle of tickles and several puzzles.

“Alright Scoots, its nearly half past midnight, it’s really time for bed now.” Rainbow said as she picked up the candle once more.

“Ok, Fine.” Scootaloo said as she obediently followed Rainbow to the bedroom.

They each laid down in their respective beds, Scootaloo now having her own small bed complements of Pinkie who store beds all over Ponyville, in case of bed emergencies.

“Goodnight Rainbow.” Scootaloo said as she settled herself in under her blanket.

“Goodnight Scoots” Rainbow replied as she also settled in her bed.

“Scootaloo?” Rainbow said a few moments later.

“Yeah Rainbow?” Scootaloo replied with a yawn.

“The other night you said you loved me, I was just wondering-”

The only response was the content snoring of the small filly in the bed across the room.

Rainbow smiled a bit before she too rolled over and fell asleep.

The Next Morning...

Breakfast was quiet, neither of the pegasi at the table had anything new or interesting to talk about.

“So, uh, Scoots, I really think you should go talk to Twi or Flutters.” Rainbow said as she took a bite of her sandwich.

“I dunno, I don’t really want to talk about-” Scootaloo started only to be cut off by Rainbow.

“Look Scoots, you really should talk to somepony about this, I am not giving you a choice” Rainbow said in a stern voice

“Well, if I have to go then you have to do something for me.”

Rainbow looked at Scootaloo with a confused look on her face.

About ten minutes later Scootaloo was pushing Rainbow down a small dirt path to the Cutie Mark Crusader Treehouse.

“Ohhh no, Scootaloo, I like fans, but I don’t do fan club meetings.” Rainbow said as Scootaloo continued to push her down the path.

“But Raaaainbowwwww, you said you would.” Scootaloo moaned.

“But, I don’t like fan club meetings, they are full of sweaty, smelly, geeky ponies” Rainbow responded instantly regretting her choice of words.

“D-do you think I am sweaty, and smelly, and geeky?” Scootaloo asked as she stopped pushing Rainbow and looked up at her with a sad expression on her face.

“Uh, that’s not what I-”

“Look everypony! Its Rainbowdash!” A fanclub pony yelled from the treehouse.

‘Great, this is going to be a long day’ Rainbow thought to herself as she was swarmed with ponies.

Several moments of being mobbed by ponies and trying to hide in the clubhouse later...

“So, as you can see, Rainbow is the most awesome, most coolest of all of the pegasususus there is” Snips said as he and Snails finished their presentation.

Scootaloo was sitting next to Rainbow, still looking a bit upset about what Rainbow had said earlier.

‘I sure did mess up, maybe if I-’ Rainbow’s train of thought was interrupted when another club member stepped up to the podium and began to speak.

“Rainbow Dash, would you like to answer a few questions?” The member said gesturing for her to step up to the podium.

“Uh, sure, I guess?” Rainbow said as she walked up to the podium.

A roar of questions fired all at once causing a bit of an overload for Rainbow.

“How fun is it to fly?” “How did you become a great flyer?” “What’s it like to be in the sky?”

“I uh, its-”

“When do you plan on entering the Wonderbolts?” “How do you feel about the ponies that idolize you?” “Do you plan on giving flight lessons to other pegasi?”

The last round of questions hit Rainbow a bit hard, now that she was taking care of Scootaloo, she would be unable to join the Wonderbolts, more importantly however, she had hurt Scootaloo, one of the few ponies that idolized her like she idolized the Wonderbolts.

Rainbow was starting to get taken back by all of the questions, the ponies started to mob her and she started to step backwards a bit.

Scootaloo jumped to the podium and spoke. “Sorry everypony, we have to go.” Scootaloo said, probably saving Rainbow from being mobbed.

A few moments later...

Rainbow and Scootaloo were sitting on a park bench in Ponyville, clouds were rolling in and the wind was starting to pick up a bit. A nasty storm was planned for the evening.

“Maybe bringing you to a fan club meeting wasn’t the best idea” Scootaloo said

“I’ll say, that one pony looked like he was ready to cut off my mane and tail to keep for himself.” Rainbow joked.

“Don’t even joke about tails being cut off.” Scootaloo said as she held her own tail in her hooves.

“Scootaloo, I’m sorry about what I said, earlier, I didn’t mean you...” Rainbow trailed off

“It’s ok, I’m just a smelly, sweaty, pony anyway” Scootaloo said, her ears fell flat and she hung her head down low.

“Scootaloo I didn’t say that, come on, you know I don’t feel that way about you.” Rainbow said as she pulled Scootaloo a bit closer to her. “You’ll always be like a little sister to me.” She said hugging Scootaloo.

“Rainbow?” Scootaloo said after a short pause.

“Yeah Scoots?”

“Do, do you ever wonder, who your parents were?” Scootaloo asked, her ears fell flat again as she asked the question.

“Well, I knew-” Rainbow stopped for a moment. thinking about it, the last time she tried to think about her parents, she couldn’t even remember what they looked like, she had no pictures, not that much of a memory to go off of either.

“Maybe, maybe sometimes” She said.

“Well, do, do you ever wonder, if you had a brother or sister that you don’t know because you didn’t know your parents?”

Rainbow was thrown into a bit of a flashback remembering that night.

‘Where are they! My sister and my parents! Mommy! Daddy!’

Rainbow’s little flashback was cut off when Scootaloo started to give her a strange look of concern.

“Uh, I, I did have a sister, but...” Rainbow trailed off.

“Oh, well, what happened?” Scootaloo asked, probing for more information.

“Well, I, they died, when I was very young, I don’t remember much.” Rainbow said as she started to get a bit depressed from the whole conversation.

“At least you have some memory, I don’t remember my parents at all” Scootaloo said, she noticed the expression on Rainbow’s face and her blank stare into the sky.

“Why don’t we fly home, I, I think I left a candle lit” Rainbow said as she got up off the bench and started to spread her wings.

“Oh, ok” Scootaloo said as she did the same.

The two pegasi flew home side by side, silent as can be.

That Night...

“Wow! Look at that mommy! look how fast they are going!” Rainbow said in awe as she watched Spitfire perform an amazing trick.

“Look over there Dashie, check that out” Refraction said as he lifted up his daughter to let her get a better view.

“Wow!” Rainbow said, still in awe watching the entire Wonderbolts performance.

All of the sudden Rainbow was in a line to get an autograph, then another flash and she was the next in line.

“Ohmygoshohmgoshohmygoshohmygosh” Rainbow said over and over again as she walked up next to Spitfire to get a picture and an autograph.

“Hey kid” Spitfire said.

Rainbow was unable to speak, she was so overwhelmed by meeting her idol.

“Go on Rainbow, lets get a picture” Skylight said holding up a camera.

There was a flash and then Spitfire turned into a massive flame engulfing Rainbow’s surroundings.

Rainbow’s parents started to move backwards a bit and Rainbow was completely surrounded in fire as the walls seemed to fade away.

“Run Dash, Run!”  Refraction yelled as he and Skylight started to gradually get farther and farther away from Rainbow.

“No! Come Back! Don’t Leave Me! Mommy! Daddy!” Rainbow yelled.

Rainbow’s parents disappeared in a large blast of fire and Rainbow started to fall down through a ring of fire.

Scootaloo was awoken by screams of terror from Rainbow.

“Somepony Help! Put out the fire!” Scootaloo lit a candle and started to go over to wake Rainbow up.

“Rainbow, wake up!” Scootaloo said as she brought the candle closer to Rainbow.

Rainbow’s eyes shot open and focused on the fire from the candle, it was all she saw in her haze. She jumped backwards falling off her bed and pushing herself back into a corner of the room.

“Mommy! Daddy! Help!” She yelled as Scootaloo started to get closer.

“Rainbow, its just me, are you ok?” Scootaloo said.

There was a boom of thunder which just made the situation worse.

“Put out the fire! Mommy! Daddy! Anypony! Help!”

“Rainbow, its just me, It’s Scootaloo, and its just a candle, snap out of it” Scootaloo said as she pushed Rainbow, snapping her out of her nightmare.

“W-what?” Rainbow said still shaken, she started to hiccup and shake wildly.

“Rainbow, are, are you ok?” Scootaloo asked.

“Y-*hic*-eah, I a-*hic*-m f-fine, why wou-*hic*-ldn’t I b-be” Rainbow said, obviously not fine.

“Rainbow, you are definitely not fine, you’re really upset, what’s the matter?” Scootaloo said, she was genuinely concerned for Rainbow.

“N-nothing, I, I’m fine” Rainbow Said, heart racing a mile a minute, nearly as fast as she could fly.

“Heh, it’s funny, you hiccup when you’re upset, just like me” Scootaloo said as she sat down next to Rainbow.

“Y-yeah, how ‘bout that.” Rainbow said, still clearly upset, tears were rolling down her face.

“Rainbow?” Scootaloo asked.

“Y-*hic*-eah?” Rainbow asked.

“What was all that about your mom and dad?” Scootaloo said, probing for information, she just had to get Rainbow to open up to her.

“It, it was nothing” Rainbow said, denying even saying anything about it.

“Rainbow, I may be a filly, but I wasn’t born yesterday” Scootaloo said trying to make a small joke.

“Well, I” Rainbow paused for a short while. “I had a dream, I, I was at a Wonderbolt derby with my p-parents and I, they, there was fire everywhere and, I couldn’t save them” Rainbow managed to say through her tears.

“Rainbow, I’m sorry, but, its ok now, it was just a dream.” Scootaloo said.

“But, that’s just it Scootaloo, it wasn’t, thats how they died, in a fire.” Rainbow said, she focused on that candle as she remembered.

“We’ll always love you Rainbow, remember that, you didn’t do anything wrong” Skylight said.

“B-but, when will I see you again?”

“You might not, just remember, me and your father will always love you.”

“Go Dash!” Refraction yelled as a rafter fell causing more fire to spread throughout the room.

Rainbow started to tear up as she left the room.

“I’ll never forget, always I will love you” Rainbow mumbled to herself.

“What Rainbow?” Scootaloo asked.

“It’s nothing, it is just something my mother said.” Rainbow said.

And for the next half an hour the two Pegasi sat silently watching the storm through the windows.

“Scoots?” Rainbow said, looking away from the window.

“Yeah Rainbow?” Scootaloo asked, as she too looked away from the window.

“You, uh, jeez I don’t know how to say this without it sounding awkward and uncool” Rainbow started.

“What Rainbow?” Scootaloo asked with a puzzled look on her face.

“You, uh, you want to sleep in my bed tonight” Rainbow said, then she spoke again very fast
“you know, because of the storm, think of it as a sleepover, like, a sister thing.”

“Sure Rainbow, but only if you tell me why you really want me to.” Scootaloo said.

“Because I don’t want to be alone because of the nightmares” Rainbow mumbled to herself, a bit too quiet for Scootaloo to hear.

“What was that?” Scootaloo said in a smart tone.

“Because I don’t want to be alone, I don’t want to have more nightmares.” Rainbow said in a loud and embarrassed tone giving up her pride.

“That’s better.” Scootaloo said as they both climbed into Rainbow’s bed.

Soon both pegasi had fell asleep, to enter the warm dreamland provided by the other.