//------------------------------// // Advice From the Library // Story: Down to Earth Family // by Zenaron //------------------------------// Chapter 6 – Advice from the Library Ponyville Library Twilight was sitting in one of the many chairs in the library enjoying her worry free day by reading a book, when there was a sudden knock at the door. Twilight looked up at the door and sighed. “I wonder who that could be?” she asked herself before she levitated her bookmark into the book and closed it. “Well so much for this being a day to catch up on reading.” Twilight said as she made her way to the door and opened it to reveal Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. “Hi girls how are you doing?” She asked with a smile. “Hey Twilight, so listen, I have something I need some advice for.” Rainbow Dash said with an uncomfortable note in her voice. “Of course, I would be more than happy to help if I can. Please come on inside.” Twilight said stepping out of the way so that the two mares could walk in. “Can I get either of you anything to drink? I think I still have some tea left.” Twilight asked as she trotted towards the kitchen. “Yeah sure I didn’t have time to eat breakfast this morning so I could go for something.” Rainbow Dash said with a shrug of her shoulders. “Ooh, ooh do you have any sugar to put in it?” Pinkie asked bouncing up and down in excitement. “Of course Pinkie, I know you wouldn’t have it any other way.” Twilight said as she came out of the kitchen levitating a tray with three cups, a pot of tea, and a big cup full of sugar. Pinkie Pie clapped her hooves together, and bounced over to the table in the middle of the room, followed by a much less enthusiastic Rainbow Dash. Twilight gently sat the tray down on the table and levitated two of the cups over to Pinkie and Rainbow Dash and put the third one in front of herself. She then levitated the pot and poured tea into each cup. Pinkie Pie grabbed the cup of sugar and poured the entire contents into her cup. She then picked the cup up in her hoof and downed the contents in one drink. “Yum, that was the most awesomely amazing tea ever Twilight.” Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she set the cup back down. Rainbow Dash stared at Pinkie for a moment then shrugged it off just ignoring it as just another Pinkie Pie thing. She lightly took a sip of tea, and sloshed it around inside the cup. “So where is Spike?” Rainbow Dash asked as she glanced around for the little dragon. “He is helping Rarity with something, and I’m glad you liked it Pinkie.” Twilight said with a smile in Pinkie’s direction. “So Rainbow Dash what is it that you need advice about?” Twilight asked before taking a sip from her cup. Rainbow Dash looked up from her tea and sighed “Ok, where to start? Well I guess I should ask if you knew that Scootaloo was an orphan?” Twilight’s eyes widened in surprise as she heard the news, then her expression changed to one of concern. “No I didn’t know that. Where has she been living? There isn’t an orphanage in Ponyville as far as I know is there?” Twilight asked placing her cup on the table. “She was living in a crate downtown between some of the shops until last night.” Rainbow Dash responded putting down her cup. “Till last night, what happened to change that?” Twilight asked as she raised a questioning eyebrow. “Well, now she’s going to be staying with me.” Rainbow Dash said proudly tossing her head back and flashing a cocky smile. “That’s great Rainbow Dash, but how did you find out that she was an orphan?” Twilight said with a relived look on her face. “It’s kind of a long story.” Rainbow Dash said scratching the back of her head with her hoof. “Ooo I love stories!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she bounced her seat enthusiastically. Twilight took another sip from her cup as she waited for Rainbow Dash to continue despite her wanting to avoid the subject. Rainbow Dash sighed “Ok fine, so me and Applejack-” “You mean Applejack and I.” Twilight corrected with a matter of fact tone in her voice. Rainbow Dash started at Twilight for a few seconds then continued. “Ok fine, Applejack and I were up on the hill out north of Ponyville when-” “Wait, why were you and Applejack out there of all places?” Twilight interrupted with a confused look on her face. Rainbow Dash’s cheeks reddened a little at this question. “Uh…I was showing her some of my new moves, totally awesome moves.” Rainbow Dash answered stammering a little, with a small smile on her face and ending with nervous chuckle. “Oh, I guess that makes since.” Twilight said with a nod. “Ooh new tricks huh, what kind of new tricks, the looped doope ones or the ones with the super-fast hairpin turny ones around obstacles?” Pinkie Pie asked as she jumped around replicating each trick as she described it as best she could for not having wings. “Uh, I don’t remember, but that’s not important.” Rainbow Dash said watching Pinkie Pie jump around the library before she continued. “Anyway, Applejack and I were up on the hill when we heard crying coming from the old cemetery. So we decided that we should investigate. We started making our way through the cemetery, and after some searching we found Scootaloo crying over some graves.” Pinkie Pie sniffled as she tried to fight back the tears. Twilight got up and trotted over to Pinkie Pie and patted her shoulder with a hoof to comfort her. Pinkie Pie reached up and whipped a tear from her eye and smiled at Twilight. “Sorry,” Pinkie Pie said as she composed herself, “so then what happened?” “Well neither of us were really sure what to do, but that didn’t stop Applejack. She decided that she would ask Scootaloo what was wrong, but when she did Scootaloo took off running. So Applejack and I chased after her, which didn’t take too long for me to catch her, you know with me being the fastest flyer in all of Equestria and all.” Rainbow Dash said as she stood up and puffed her chest out. Both Pinkie Pie and Twilight nodded, and Twilight gestured for her to go on. Rainbow Dash sat back down and continued. “Ok so then she led us back to the graves and told the two of us about what happened to her parents, and how she ran away from the orphanage she had been living at. After hearing all that I figured she could come live with me.” “Wow Rainbow Dash, that’s very kind of you to do that for her, but you do know that taking care of a filly is going to be a lot of hard work don’t you?” Twilight asked giving Rainbow Dash a very serious look. “Actually that’s why I came here. I was hoping that you could give me some advice about taking care of Scootaloo.” Rainbow Dash said hopefully. Twilight reared back slightly “ME? WHAT MAKES YOU THINK IWOULD KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THIS?!” Twilight asked loudly with a bewildered look on her face. “Well you raised Spike from a hatchling, so I thought that maybe you could give me some tips on how to take care of a kid.” Twilight calmed down a bit and considered Dash’s Point. “Yes that is true, but taking care of a dragon and taking care of a filly are two very different things. I seriously doubt that most of what I learned taking care of Spike would help you with Scootaloo.” Rainbow Dash sighed and nodded her ears drooping a little. Twilight tapped her chin with her hoof trying to think of anything that might be able to help. “You could try asking Applejack for advice.” Twilight suggested looking up from her pondering Rainbow Dash’s head shot up and a slight blush appeared on her face. “NO!” she shouted suddenly causing both Twilight and Pinkie Pie to jump in surprise. “Well why not? She has a sister the same age as Scootaloo. She’d be the perfect pony to talk to.” Twilight said persuasively. “Yeah Dashy, why can’t you ask Applejack?” Pinkie Pie asked questioningly. Rainbow Dash’s face started to redden as she tried desperately to think of an excuse that would appease the two ponies standing in front of her. “I just can’t okay.” Rainbow Dash responded lamely not being able to come up with anything else. Twilight frowned at Rainbow Dash’s answer, after a few seconds her horn stated to glow. “That’s not a very good answer Rainbow Dash. Why can’t you ask Applejack about it? Did you two have a fight? Do we need to talk about it?” Twilight asked as she put on a pair of glasses, while a quill and notepad floated over to her. “No that’s not why I can’t talk to Applejack. I…I just can’t tell you, you guys wouldn’t understand.” Rainbow Dash said as she backed away from Twilight. Pinkie Pie got up and walked slowly towards Rainbow Dash. “But Rainbow Dash we’re you’re friends of course we’ll understand. You trust us don’t you?” Pinkie Pie asked with a sad look in her eye and a quivering lip. Twilight nodded and took a step forward to stand next to Pinkie Pie. “Rainbow Dash you know we care about you. We just want to help.” Rainbow Dash looked from one of her friends to the other and sighed. “Alright fine, I’ll tell you.” Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and continued. “I…I think I’m in love with Applejack.” Rainbow Dash said looking down not wanting to see the look of disgust that would be on their faces. “Oh Rainbow Dash that’s just wonderful!” Twilight exclaimed as she clapped her hooves together in excitement. Rainbow Dash’s head shot up with a confused look on her face. Just in time for her to be tackled by a pink blur. “Rainbow Dash that’s so superreficly spectacular, oh you know what this calls for, A PARTY!” Pinkie Pie yelled jumping off of Rainbow Dash and leaping into the air. “You mean you guys don’t find it gross or weird that I’m a fillyfooler?” Rainbow Dash asked as she got up from Pinkie Pie’s tackle. “Of course not silly, we’re you friends and we’ll support you no matter who you love.” Twilight said with a kind smile. Rainbow Dash smiled back at Twilight and trotted over to her and the still celebrating Pinkie Pie. “Thanks you two, you’re the best friends anypony could ask for.” “Group Hug!” Pinkie Pie said as she pulled both Rainbow Dash and Twilight into a big hug. The three friends laughed until Pinkie Pie let go. “So how did Applejack respond when you told her?” Twilight asked with a smile. “Well…I haven’t exactly told Applejack yet.” Rainbow Dash said with a nervous chuckle. “WHAT!” Pinkie pie and Twilight said in unison. “But Rainbow Dash I can’t throw you guys a party unless she knows too.” Pinkie Pie said in a pleading tone. “Hey I was going to tell her up on the hill, but then we heard Scootaloo and I kinda forgot.” Rainbow Dash defended with a sheepish look on her face. Twilight nodded her understanding, and then scratched the bottom of her chin with her hoof. “Is there something wrong Twilight?” Pinkie Pie asked looking over at her. Twilight looked up and nodded once. “As a matter of fact there is. Rainbow Dash, you said that Scootaloo ran away from an orphanage.” Rainbow Dash nodded in confirmation. “Yeah that’s right, so what? That doesn’t change anything does it?” “Actually Rainbow, it could change a lot of things. If she ran away from the orphanage, then even if you take her in that wouldn’t make you her your legal guardian. So if somepony told the orphanage they could come and take her back to the orphanage.” Twilight said in a worried tone. Rainbow Dash’s eyes got big from the realization of what Twilight had just said. Then her eyes squinted in anger, and she snorted hot steam out of her snout. “I’d like to see them try to take her away.” Rainbow Dash said as she stamped her front right hoof against the floor. “Calm down Rainbow Dash, there is a relatively easy way to make sure that that won’t happen.” Twilight said putting her front hooves up threateningly. After a few seconds Rainbow Dash calmed down a little and gave Twilight a curious look. “Oh yeah and how can I do that?” “Well you could simply adopt her officially.” Rainbow Dash blinked a few times and looked down feeling a little stupid. “Of course, that’s a big decision, and it’s not one that you should take lightly.” Twilight said making sure Rainbow Dash understood the weight of this decision. Rainbow Dash stood there looking at the ground for a few more minutes before she looked up and nodded. “Alright I’ll do it.” She said with strong conviction in her voice. “Are you one hundred percent sure?” Twilight asked one last time making sure Rainbow Dash was ready. “Yes, I’m sure. So what do I have to do?” Rainbow Dash asked looking Twilight straight in the eye. “Ok, first you’re going to have to go to the mayor’s office and fill out the necessary paper work. Then you might be interviewed by somepony to make sure that you will be a good match for Scootaloo. I’m not a hundred percent sure about the process. I’ve never had to do this before, but I know the mayor will be able to help you.” Rainbow Dash nodded taking in everything as best she could. “Ooh Rainbow Dash is adopting Scootaloo. You both know what this calls for right?” Pinkie Pie asked bouncing in excitement. “Pinkie when I get this sorted out I want you to throw the biggest party you can for Scoots alright?” Rainbow Dash said as she spread her wings open. Pinkie pie sat back and saluted. “Yes Sir Mama Sir.” “Now if you two will excuse me I have a filly to adopt.” Rainbow Dash said before she leapt off the ground and flew as fast as she could out the window towards the mayor’s office. Twilight and Pinkie Pie stared at the window Rainbow Dash left out of for a few minutes before they looked back at each other. “Do you think she’s doing the right thing?” Twilight asked Pinkie Pie a hint of concern in her voice. Pinkie Pie nodded. “Yep! I think that Rainbow Dash is doing exactly what her heart is telling her to do and my Granny Pie always told me as long as you follow your heart. You can never go wrong.” Pinkie Pie said as she patted herself on the chest. Twilight nodded in agreement. “I think your right Pinkie.” “Whelp I guess I have to get going. I have the biggest most awesome party to plan, and I have to find and invite everypony.” Pinkie Pie said as she started hoping towards the front door of the library. “Alright Pinkie, I’m going to look and see if I can’t find a book that might have some tips that Rainbow Dash can use.” Twilight said as she turned to peruse threw the library. As Pinkie Pie opened the door she stopped. “Hey Twilight” Pinkie Pie said as she looked back in at the other mare. “Yes Pinkie.” Twilight responded as she turned back to face her. “Those glasses make you look really cute.” Twilight blushed brightly and looked down at her glasses. “WELL…I gotta go bye Twilight.” Pinkie Pie said as she closed the door and sped away. Twilight stood there and looked at the closed door for a few minutes, almost hoping to catch another glimpse of the pink pony, before she turned back to her books, a slight blush still on her checks. She smiled as she started to search for something to help Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo.