//------------------------------// // An Uncomfortable Conversation // Story: The Love of a Family // by Asterid //------------------------------// Chapter 1 – An Uncomfortable Discussion Rainbow Dash soared through the skies above Ponyville, trying to clear her head and sort out the thoughts and feelings that were careening around inside her multi-hued head worse than Pinkie Pie on a caffeine rush. After completing a complex series of loops and twirls, she managed to sort her thoughts into two piles, How to help Scoots and Things to discuss with Twilight. The Scootaloo pile was fairly simple, centering mainly around helping her surrogate sister get into the air and fulfill her promise to get the little orange filly to fly under her own power. But this came with a whole different set of issues. By Pegasi Law, Rainbow couldn’t teach Scootaloo how to so much as glide without written permission from her parent or guardian. As a certified flight trainer, Dash had the necessary paperwork. By the sisters, she already had it filled out and ready to be signed, which meant she would need to get the squirt to introduce Rainbow to her parents and get them to sign off.  The pile of things she needed to discuss with Twilight was another manticore altogether. Back in flight school, she had realized that she was attracted to mares. This became even more evident after failed teenage romances, first with Soarin and then with Thunderlane. She had confided in her closest friend, Fluttershy, shortly after being transferred to the Ponyville weather team once she graduated. Moving romance to the back burner, Rainbow focused on her career, soon becoming the youngest head of town weather team in twenty years. Then came the fateful Summer Sun Celebration when Twilight first came to the quiet town. The pretty lavender mare had distracted her so much on their first meeting that she literally knocked Rainbow out of the sky. After several seasons of adventures and shenanigans, Rainbow had realized what was originally a close friendship had become a deeper feeling that she didn’t want to acknowledge let alone verbalize, lest her hard won reputation for being the coolest, most awesome pony in Equestria be throw out the window. Thinking about the newest member of the Equestrian Royalty brought a delightful jolt through the cyan Pegasus, similar to when she would fly through an active storm cloud.  Righting herself after completing a spiraling dive that brought her closer to the ground, her sharp Pegasi eyesight caught sight of Scootaloo leaving the schoolhouse and decided she would drop in on her favorite filly. Slowing down to match Scoots’ speed, Rainbow followed the orange filly to the town park and watched as leaned her precious blue scooter against a tree. Stretching out her tiny wings, Scootaloo buzzed like a hummingbird and jumped into the air, trying to gain even the littlest bit of flight. Hovering for a few seconds, she gave a whoop of excitement before crashing to the ground. Dash waited until the squirt had picked herself up and dusted herself off before making her move. With a quick backflip, Rainbow zoomed to the ground before flaring her wings and skidding to a stop in front of the little filly. Flashing her trademark cocky grin Dash did her best hero pose before addressing her biggest fan. “Hey Squirt,” She said, ruffling Scootaloo’s mane, “How’s everything going today?” “Dash!” The filly exclaimed as she trotted up to her idol, “Things are good. We had history class today. You know how much I love that. How are things going for you?” “Can’t complain,” Dash responded, folding her wings around her barrel, “Got some good news for you though. Remember when I promised to teach you to fly?” “Do I ever!” Scootaloo squeed, “Can we start today? Please, please, please!” “Wish we could, squirt.” Rainbow said, sitting on her flank, “Law says I need to speak to your parents and get them to sign off on me taking over your flight training.” “Wait, what law?” Scootaloo asked, panic creeping into her voice, “What if you don’t get permission?” “Well, if I don’t get permission, I can’t teach you anything.” Dash replied, a look of concern on her face, “But, I’m a little surprised your parents haven’t taught you about the Code of the Air. That’s one of the first things a Pegasus learns when they are young.” Scootaloo grumbled to herself to low for Dash to hear and hung her head. Softly, Dash could her sniffles and sobs coming from the little filly as tears streaked wet tracks across her muzzle. Moving next to her little sister in all but blood, Rainbow wrapped on of her large wings around the crying child before pulling her close. “What’s wrong, Scoots?” She whispered, concern cutting through the thick layers of indifference and ‘coolness’ she usually had when she was speaking to someone. “I don’t know my parents,” Scootaloo said bluntly, “I’ve been living in the Ponyville orphanage for as long as I can remember and the people that run the orphanage are Earth ponies. So no one has taught me this code your talking about and no Pegasus family has come in to adopt me. I mean, is there anything we can do?” “I don’t know of anything that we can do…” Dash replied, giving the little filly an affectionate nuzzle, “But I know someone who might be able to give me an idea or two. Go grab your scooter and we’ll hit Sugar Cube Corner before we go talk to her.” As Scootaloo walked over to the tree to collect her most prized possession, the skies overhead began to darken as a roar of thunder echoed through the sky. Trotting back over to Dash, Scoot looked up at the older mare with a trace of fear in her lavender eyes. “Is there supposed to be a storm today?” She asked, her voice cracking. “No, there’s not a storm scheduled until the end of the week. This must have blown in out of the Everfree,” Dash replied, kneeling down on her forelegs, “Climb on kid, I’ll carry your scooter and fly us to Twilight’s castle. She’ll be able to help.” Gently climbing onto Rainbow’s back, Scootaloo lay down between her wings and gently wrapped her hooves around the older mare’s neck. Grasping the small blue scooter between her forelegs, Dash flapped her wings, catapulting the two into the sky. Looking over the horizon, Dash could see a large storm cell churning above the Everfree forest, bolts of green lightning cascading across the clouds and occasionally striking a tree.  Gotta move fast Dashie, she thought to herself, The squirt is counting on you to get her to safety. Taking off in a rainbow colored blur, Rainbow sped over the countryside towards town, hoping she would be able to outpaced the magical storm.