I Dream of Rainbows
The night sky above Ponyville was a howling gray haze that rumbled and flashed as bolts of lightning danced between the clouds. Not even the tiniest shaft of moonlight was able to penetrate the brackish sheet of dull misery that hung over the town. Every few seconds, a flash of heaven-sent electricity would light up every building, alley, nook and cranny, casting the usually bright and cheerful buildings in grim and lifeless shades of white and black.
In one building in particular that was no more than a mossy and abandoned storage shack, there was a stirring. Beneath a blanket of white and tattered cloth that lay in a lump in a shady corner of the rickety structure was a pony. A filly. She curled up against the cold that seeped through the various cracks and pores in the wood and wished that sleep would come, so that she wouldn't have to suffer in her loneliness as she shuddered and shook, waiting for the storm to pass. She weathered each thundering blast with whimpers and moans.
THOOM
Scootaloo sniffed and pulled her covers closer, barely managing to suppress another wave of shivers.
"I hate the rain..." she mumbled into her damp sheets. Damp, not from the showers outside, but from the tears of the child waiting, praying for somepony, anypony to send the cold away.
But she had nobody. No friends that didn't have warm homes and warmer families to keep them safe. No parents, or guardian to hold her close and tell her that everything would be alright. Not even a home to call her own. She didn't belong.
This wasn't the first, second, or even tenth storm that the young pegasus had endured, but it was by far the worst. A full month of backed up rain was the price to be paid - the penance for a month of shine and relaxation in celebration of Discord's defeat. The weather team had decided to get rid of it all in one fell swoop, rather than have several bad storms spread out over the course of a week, just to get it over and done with. The town would be fine.
They hadn't known about her.
The endless drone of rain on wood was briefly interrupted by the sound of breaking branches and rustling leaves. Scootaloo looked up at the tree that was visible through one of the windows along the front of the shack, but whatever had caused the disturbance had already passed. She was about to lower her head again when there was a crash. The front door of the building suddenly slammed open. She jumped at the unexpected noise and peered out from the shadows as the barely lit form of a pony dragged itself into the poor excuse for shelter. It violently shook itself off before turning around and closing the door, the wooden frame giving a gentle squeak as it glided over the wet flooring and snapped back into place.
The young filly watched, cold temporarily forgotten, as the pony breathed heavily in the darkness, evidently trying to catch its breath. She was about to call out to the fellow refugee from the storm and offer them a spot under the meager cloth she'd managed to find, when a pair of wings snapped open at the anonymous pony's sides, and it renewed its efforts to shed as much water as possible by rapidly flapping them in place.
A pegasus.
Scootaloo hesitated. She wanted to hope beyond hope that the heavens had really blessed her, and for some reason she felt that calling out would make the unchangeable reality known, and that she'd lose the fortune she could fool herself into believing she had. Maybe some gifts are best left unopened.
But life doesn't always let us remain ignorant.
A blinding flash of white lightning was all it took to imprint upon the child's retinas the image of the toned wings, sleek body, cyan fur, and matted mop of chromatic hair that was Rainbow Dash, standing right before her.
Her pulse began to race, and she gasped. She couldn't help it.
The idolized mare before her whirled her head around, magenta eyes scanning the darkness for the source of the noise.
"Who's there?" she called.
Scootaloo struggled to find her voice and reply, doing her best to stop her teeth from chattering, "I- It's me, S- Scootaloo."
Rainbow cocked her head in surprise, "Scoots? What're you doing out here in this kind of weather, squirt?"
The awestruck filly quickly did away with the rags before her heroine had a chance to see her looking so weak, and struck a confident pose. Rainbow couldn't make her out clearly in the completely shadowed corner of the one room they shared, but she didn't care. Anything to impress her.
"I-I was just... Heading home," she lied, "w-when the storm broke out. I couldn't make it all the way across town in time, s-so I just made for the nearest shelter I could find. What about you?"
The older pegasus took a step back and her wings quivered with tension as she flashed a look like she'd just been caught doing something shameful. She seemed to debate internally for a while, but ultimately sighed and answered, "I sort of... Got caught out in the storm." She tapped her hooves together in embarrassment.
The filly scoffed in disbelief, "You g-got caught in a storm that you helped set up? You're p-pulling my f-feathers here!"
"It's true, dumb as it sounds, but it was an accident. I was flying above the clouds, keeping an eye on things to make sure that everything went as planned, when there was this huge blast of lightning. I was a bit too close when it went off, and the thunder knocked me right out of the air. The moment I hit the rainclouds, my wings were too soaked to fly me back up, so I just sort of fell."
"You fell?! From all the way up there?" Scootaloo exclaimed in shock.
"Well, yeah. I'll admit, I got pretty spooked when it happened, but as luck would have it, I was right above a tree - the one outside. I wasn't able to fly, but I still managed to glide myself into the branches, and that pretty much saved me. Now I'm grounded with no hope of getting back in the air till these clouds rain themselves out."
The young pegasus' heart fluttered. She may have been trapped out in the storm, but so long as she could spend it with the one she revered above all others - The Rainbow Dash - she was happy. She was beyond happy. She was ecstatic.
Even with her newfound elation, though, Scootaloo had trouble getting her body to act the way she felt. Her limbs were stiff from hours spent motionless and huddled, trying to conserve heat and having little success. No matter how convincing the facade she tried to put up for Rainbow, she was still a long way from being okay.
Despite all this, Scootaloo's ears perked up and she gave a genuine smile, "Hey, if we're waiting this out together, we wouldn't want you to get sick, right? I found a blanket you could use to warm yourself up." She grabbed the thin sheet of fabric and held it up for Rainbow to see.
"Oh, good idea,” she said. “My back's still sore from the fall and I could use some rest."
She gave her tail one last flick to do away with whatever last bit of liquid she could before plodding over to her eager fan and curling up beside her. She reached for the blanket, but Scootaloo was quick to cover Rainbow herself, after which she sat back and watched her with a proud smile, glad to have helped her.
The mare smiled gratefully and was about to curl up for her nap when her eye flew open and she glanced over at the child that was contentedly watching her.
"Where's your blanket?" she asked with a hint of suspicion in her voice.
"Huh? Well, um," Scootaloo hesitated, "I don't n-need one. I got lots of sleep before you showed up and I just don't feel like napping anymore. I'll be fine." She waved a hoof dismissively.
Rainbow wasn't buying it.
"Oh, is that so?" she smiled, "And here I was about to offer you a spot under mine. I'm freezing here, and someone as hotblooded as you would heat me right up!" She lifted a wing, exposing a space right up against her side for the youngster to rest her head.
"R-really?" stammered Scootaloo. She didn't want to seem weak by seeking warmth, but if it was to help her...
She gingerly tiptoed over to the gently smiling Rainbow Dash and eased herself down into the offered space. She had to force herself not to squeal in delight as she made contact with her sleek side, and pressed her head right up against the athlete's chest where she could hear the firm and resonant thump of her heartbeat.
The cyan pegasus shifted her wing so that it covered the foal, forming a pocket of heat between them. Only her wide and glittering purple eyes were visible from beneath the overshadowing limb, and to these she smiled wide and said, "Thanks, Scootaloo. Now get some rest."
She said my name. Oh my gosh, she said my full name!
Wings fluttering in absolute delight at hearing her proper title used by Rainbow Dash for the first time in memory, Scootaloo closed her eyes and drifted off in the embrace of her savior. The thunder continued to roll, the winds continued to howl and the driving rain continued to batter the aged wood of the temporary shelter, but none of those things mattered to the young filly who for once had someone to keep the cold away.
She didn’t even notice when the shivers stopped.
***
The morning sun shined hotly on a freshly soaked Ponyville. All around town, stallions and mares, colts and fillies were peeking out of their various houses to make sure that the monstrous storm had finally passed. The ground was muddy, and the road was even flooded in some parts, but the town would be fine. Everything would be alright.
In one building in particular, there was one pony not so quick to rouse herself for the new day. Beneath a ragged makeshift blanket, a tiny lump stirred after hours of peaceful slumber.
"Mmmm." Scootaloo yawned. She stretched her wings and each leg in turn, slowly pushing herself off the ground and rubbing the last of her weariness from two bleary pupils.
"Aw man, that was the best nap I've had in forever. What about you Rainbow-" her eyes snapped open and she spun around, scanning the room but finding herself, once again, alone.
"Was... It only a dream?" she whispered to herself as her wings drooped and her heart sank.
Outside, she could hear the many hoofsteps and voices of the townsfolk as they resumed their days. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle would be among those, and they had plans for the day. Scootaloo sniffed once, then held her head up high, as she always did. She didn't have time to feel sorry for herself. She had friends to go play with, and cutie marks to find. If even for only a few hours a day, she had purpose, and she could feel like she belonged. And so with a refreshed body and a weary spirit, she got up and walked towards the door.
But something made her turn around. As she was about to open the door, she turned for a final glance at where she had had the wonderful dream, and spotted something; A flash of blue beneath the greyish cloth.
She gulped and rushed to it, flinging the blanket away to reveal-
She gasped.
It was a feather. A long, immaculate feather that was a beautiful, unmistakable shade of cyan.
Not a hint of worry or doubt marred the smile of the filly as she skipped out into town, eager and ready to face life.