//------------------------------// // Chapter 18 // Story: Home is Where the Heart is // by smileyfacer //------------------------------// A thousand apologies for not having this up sooner. I am both happy and sad to tell that this will be the final chapter of Home is Where the Heart is. It’s been quite wonderful to write this story, even if it turned out to be ending quite later than I thought, due to the circumstances of my grandmother’s passing. I hope that this will be a satisfactory ending for those who have followed and read this story, and if not, well, I’m sorry. But I hope to be writing an epilogue, to see what will be going on in the lives of Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash. Hope you enjoy, and have a wonderful Christmas! :) Rainbow Dash galloped out of the barn, and embraced Scootaloo as she cried. All of the ponies inside the barn thought she was crying out of misery, but when they noticed the huge grin on her face, they all let out sighs of relief. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle leapt outside the barn as well, and gave each other wide smiles and happy glances as they stared at the scene. Scootaloo silently cried as Rainbow Dash held her close, and nuzzled the cyan mare’s chest affectionately. Rainbow Dash said nothing, but only smiled as tears fell down her cheeks, as she stroked Scootaloo’s purple mane. Daisy said nothing, but merely nodded to Applebloom and Sweetie Belle as they got eye-contact. “Who in the hay is that, Applebloom?” Sweetie Belle pointed out, causing Applebloom to shrug as they looked at eachother, then back to the unknown filly. But by then, she was gone, and the only ponies outside of the barn, were Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash and themselves. Applejack stepped outside the barn, and quietly coughed to get attention. Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash looked up, with sparkles in their eyes and smiles on their faces. “Yeah, AJ?” “Pardon me for interruptin’ this huggin’ session ya’ll, but lil’ miss Scootaloo still got a party to attend!” Rainbow Dash widely smiled at Scootaloo, before she ended their embrace. At first, Scootaloo looked nervously at Rainbow Dash, then towards the barn with several wide-smiled ponies, before looking back to the cyan mare. Rainbow gave a wink, and lightly nudged the pegasus on her rump. “C’mon, Scoots, this is for you.” “Really? You promise, Rainbow?” The mare nodded confidently, and couldn’t help but laugh loudly as Scootaloo galloped into the barn with Applebloom and Sweetie Belle by her side. Rainbow Dash stood outside of the barn, quietly observing the little filly. Her smile was hard to hide as she finally saw the filly she knew, and even loved, stuff her face with cake, muffins, candy, and laugh as if there was no tomorrow. She barely even noticed Applejack being by her side, observing the filly as well. “Why, you did a mighty fine job, RD. I can feel it in my hooves that Scootaloo will be the happiest filly she can be, up in the skies wit’ ya.” “Thanks, AJ. I hope so too.” The two mares shared a look, before they too, entered the barn to celebrate. Scootaloo was sure she’d never see the day, where ponies held a party for her. Scootaloo, the chicken. Scootaloo the silly filly, and so many other hurtful names that Diamond Tiara, alongside Silver Spoon had made up. But for the first time in quite some time, Scootaloo realized that it didn’t matter. No matter what those two fillies had said or done, nopony had ever thrown them a surprise party. Scootaloo had her own surprise party. As if it wasn’t cool enough to have that happening, the longer Scootaloo took to take her surroundings in, she realized it was a Scootaloo-themed-party. With wondrous Scootaloo-themed decoration and food, the pegasus spent an awful lot of time just walking around to see how it had all been done. There were dozens of different delicious pastries, which Pinkie Pie herself had made. Most of them were either purple or orange, to match Scootaloo’s mane or coat color, but Pinkie had managed to bake the most intricate patterns of intertwining orange and purple on the pastries. Scootaloo felt dizzy after trying to count the patterns, and reluctantly gave up. The drinks were as delicious as the pastries, and whenever someone took a sip of the punch, bubbles would magically appear to spell ‘Scootaloo - the best filly!’ “Do you like it? We asked Twilight to do it with magic!” Sweetie Belle asked, and enthusiastically stirred the punch, only to spill near half of it. But nonetheless, bubbles moved to spell what they did when the contents of the bowl were still: ‘Scootaloo - the best filly!’ Scootaloo giggled, before hugging the farmpony and unicorn, and moving on. Even if the barn was loaded with drinks and deliciousness, there was still room for a dance floor. It was always crowded by ponies, but when Scootaloo had the desire to dance with the Cutie Mark Crusaders, the ponies dancing were quick to move for the guest of honor. “C’mon Scoots! Let’s dance!” Sweetie Belle cheered, and held Scootaloo’s hoof tight as she moved to the dancefloor, Applebloom close on their tails. Tiny hooves were rhythmically moving to the music, with wide grins on their faces, the three ponies partied as if there were no troubles in the world whatsoever. And in just that moment, there wasn’t. Not for Scootaloo, not for Rainbow Dash, or for anypony in that barn. Rainbow Dash had been observing Scootaloo dancing. Even if there was still some things to sort out with the headmistress and the orphanage, Rainbow Dash’s heart and pride swelled as she looked at the filly. No matter how much she wanted to ensure that Scootaloo understood the love and adoration that all of the ponies in that barn felt for her, she couldn’t wait to place a very exhausted filly between her hooves, and fly them home. Not to the orphanage, not to her cloud castle, but to their home. Rainbow Dash tossed the thought around in her mind, and almost wanted the filly to collapse from exhaustion now, so that the two could go home in peace. But she knew that Scootaloo needed this night, and not for the first time in her life, Rainbow Dash happily put another pony in front of herself. Through many hours of dancing, eating, drinking, and more dancing, the little pegasus was starting to tire. Scootaloo’s smile stayed on her face, but it was near impossible not to notice her wings hanging low from exhaustion. Yet no matter how tired she looked and was, the pony kept on dancing, alone, in the middle of the dance floor, even with dimmed music and lights. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom were struggling to stay awake with Scootaloo, and it was almost as if matchsticks kept their eyes open, as they gazed at their friend on the dance floor. Most of the guests had gone home, and all of the older mares were just waiting for the guest of honor to collapse from tiredness. But of course, Pinkie Pie wasn’t tired at all, and she happily pranced and danced alongside Scootaloo. But no matter how much Scootaloo tried to keep up with the older ponies, the candles inside of the barn were nearly burned down to the ground, and the moon added extra light inside, she was tired. With lowered and exhausted ears, Scootaloo slowly walked up to Rainbow Dash, who was waiting patiently for Scootaloo to say those words she’d been wanting to hear: “Can we go home?” Rainbow smiled, and looked at Applejack,Twilight, Rarity and Fluttershy, whom all nodded encouragingly. Pinkie hadn’t even noticed that Scootaloo had left the dance floor, and continued to dance with great enthusiasm. “Yeah, Scoots. We can. Just go say bye to Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, then we’ll go home.” Scootaloo skipped over to the two fillies, whom were already sleeping on the table they laid upon. “Goodnight, fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders! Thanks for an awesome night, I can’t believe you’d do all of this for me”, she whispered, and smiled as she saw how they both mumbled something, she couldn’t understand. Scootaloo pranced back to Rainbow Dash, and felt renewed by the mere thought of going to her, no, their, awesome house made of clouds. The older pegasus hugged her friends tight, before they had to drag Pinkie from the dance floor, and call it a night. Rarity left for the Carousel Boutique, as Big Macintosh gently carried the two sleeping fillies into the house. Applejack was short behind, but locked the barn before saying night to Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo. The tiny pegasus charged at Applejack and hugged the farmpony tight. “Thank you for doing this, Applejack.” Scootaloo said, and smiled widely at the orange mare. Applejack smiled back, but then pointed a hoof to Rainbow Dash. “Aw shucks, Scoots, but you’re thankin’ the wrong pony.” “Still... it’s your barn!” Scootaloo defended, before hopping back to Rainbow Dash. Applejack shook her head with a smile, before she turned to the house, dreading the extra chore of cleaning up after the party tomorrow. But deep down she knew, that hosting a party for dear Scootaloo, was a chore she didn’t mind at all. “Wanna go come and catch some shut-eye?” Rainbow Dash asked, and gently shook Scootaloo, as she seemed to have fallen asleep, resting her head heavily on the cyan mare’s side. “Uh-huh...” Scootaloo mumbled, and drowsily glanced at Rainbow Dash. The older mare giggled, before bending her legs, allowing Scootaloo to climb up on her back. The little filly struggled to get up properly, due to her exhaustion, but with some hassle, Scootaloo was safely placed upon Rainbow’s back. “Put your front legs around my neck, Scoots. I promise that I won’t fly too fast right now, but you’re so tired, you might just slide off, alright?” Rainbow Dash didn’t get a response, but when she felt two legs around her, she knew the filly was ready. The pegasus began moving her wings, and before too long, the two ponies were airborne. Scootaloo tried to keep herself awake, and take in all of the things that she knew awaited her when she, too, could fly. She could feel Rainbow Dash’s strong muscles working beneath her, the wind singing sweet songs to her, and the occasional tickle as the pegasus went through a cloud. Rainbow’s steady beat of wings carried them forth, just that sound was lulling her to sleep. The filly fell asleep long before they reached their home. “Scootaloo? Scoots?” Rainbow Dash shook herself; not too rough to throw Scootaloo off her back, but not too gentle either, so the filly couldn’t not awake. Scootaloo snorted slightly and struggled to keep her balance as she slid off the cyan back, She rubbed her muzzle with her hoof, and stretched her frail wings. “We’re here, Scoot.” Rainbow Dash turned her neck around, and nuzzled the still groggy filly. “We’re home.” Scootaloo’s eyes were half-closed, but the smile on her face was evident. She had only admired Rainbow Dash’s house from a far, dreaming and wishing, she’d one day get to see it up close, let alone get inside. She remembered how fluffy the cloud was when she and Rainbow had gone to practice her flying, but there was something different about the cloud that she now stood on. It was somehow sturdier, and didn’t feel as bouncy, nor fluffy. “Feel the difference?” Rainbow asked, and giggled at Scootaloo’s confusion. “Yeah, but why are they different?” “Well, in Cloudsdale, they make all kinds of clouds. Some are for weather, some for building, and some for other purposes.” “What other kinda purposes?” Scootaloo asked, as she continued to hop on the cloud with renewed energy. Rainbow shook her head with a smile, before urging the filly forward. “I can’t remember, Scoot! I’ll ask Twilight for a book about them one day, alright?” Scootaloo nodded vigorously, before taking her attention to her new home. Even if it was dark, the rivers of rainbow that flowed throughout the clouds were still obvious. The clouds that were closer to the actual building where Rainbow resided in were shaped so that they almost resembled slides. Scootaloo couldn’t wait to see if she could actually use them as slides, once she learned to fly. The house itself seemed to have three floors, but she wasn’t sure if it was so, or if the ceiling was simply very high. “Wanna see your room?” Scootaloo gasped, and looked at Rainbow Dash with incredulous eyes. “My... my own room? Really?” Rainbow Dash nodded, before trotting ahead, and into her house. Scootaloo followed after excitedly, her small wings buzzing as if there was no tomorrow. Rainbow Dash took a deep breath as she stood before her door. It wasn’t just opening her door and going into her home anymore, it was shared now. Shared with a very important filly, and as Rainbow Dash opened the door, she knew that that was just how she wanted it to be. After a quick tour of the house, Rainbow Dash went to show Scootaloo the thing she had looked forward to the most; her own room. “Close your eyes, Scoots.” Rainbow gently commanded as they walked up the stairs to the second floor, where both mare and filly now had their rooms. Scootaloo closed her eyes hard, her excitement almost making it impossible to keep them shut. She nearly tripped over a step or two, but Rainbow Dash never faltered to support her. As they stood before the door, Rainbow Dash pushed it open, and quietly told Scootaloo to check out her new room. Scootaloo opened her eyes, and felt tears shaping in her eyes alongside a gasp. She entered the room, and almost felt dizzy as she turned to gaze at every little thing in there, even if there was only a few. It wasn’t too personal yet, but nonetheless, Rainbow Dash had done her best to make it feel like Scootaloo’s own room. There were no posters decorating the walls like there was in Rainbow’s own room, but she had a feeling that Scootaloo wouldn’t hesitate to soon have them plastered with various idols of hers. When Rainbow Dash had gone to the orphanage and spoken to the headmistress after concluding that Scootaloo should live with her, she had managed to get the few personal belongings she had. Her beloved Wonderbolts cover, and Teddy, the teddybear. “So, Scoots, I guess this’ll be your room. I got all your stuff from the orphanage. But we’ll go to the market and get some awesome things, so it doesn’t look so boring now, alright?” Scootaloo nodded excitedly, and went back to nuzzle Rainbow Dash’s strong chest. “It’s so awesome that you’re here, Scootaloo.” Rainbow whispered as she held the tiny filly close. The little filly nodded again, before walking back to her bed, and snuggling under the Wonderbolt adorned cover. “Night, Scoots. Let me know if you want something, alright?” “I will, thanks.” Rainbow smiled and quietly shut the door, leaving Scootaloo to sleep for the first time in a place that was actually her home. She couldn’t wait to sleep in all day tomorrow, and wake up in the same place as Rainbow Dash. Scootaloo was sure her eyes had never felt so heavy, and she was sure that sleep would come easy to her. But after hours of twisting and turning in her new room, Scootaloo realized she couldn’t. She felt as if she was ready to fall into a deep sleep, yet her heart was pounding as if she’d run a race and she couldn’t understand why. Teddy was held close to her as always, and the cover was positioned just like she always wanted it. Then why was sleep evading her? Scootaloo had a vague idea, and quietly rolled out of bed. She opened the door, and peeked down the hall. The house was quiet, of course, and the door to Rainbow’s room was only slightly opened, as if Scootaloo was being invited into it. She heard the loud roar of the pegasus’ snoring, but found it strangely soothing. She tip-hooved into the room, and saw how the silhouette of the mare rose and fell with each breath. “Rainbow Dash?” she whispered, and started tugging at the cover. The pegasus grunted, and quickly pulled back the cover that Scootaloo had taken from her. “Rainbow Dash?” Scootaloo continued to tug at the cover, before finally climbing on the bed, and started to poke Rainbow’s shoulder. “Eh, uh, what, who...”, Rainbow muttered, before turning her eyes towards Scootaloo, “Oh, hi Scoots. What’s up?” “I can’t sleep...” “Oh...” the pegasus muttered. Scootaloo hoped that Rainbow would understand what she was getting at, but she suspected that the mare was too sleepy to get it. “Can I sleep in here?” A smile slowly spread on Rainbow’s face, who said nothing, but lifted the cover, so that Scootaloo could crawl under it. With an excited squeal, Scootaloo slipped under the cover, and snuggled up close to Rainbow’s warm body. Faint memories of sleeping next to another pony slipped Scootaloo’s mind, but she paid them no attention, and was only happy that she could share beds with the one and only Rainbow Dash. Her heart slowed down to a relaxing slow pace, and her breath did the same. Scootaloo turned her head, and looked at Rainbow Dash, who's eyes were closed, her breath deep and relaxed. “Rainbow Dash?” The left eye opened, and glanced at Scootaloo. “Thanks for being my big sister.” Rainbow smiled, and shut her eye again. “Thanks for wanting to be my little sister.” The pegasus replied, ”now sleep.” Scootaloo pulled the cover close to her, and yawned loudly, before she finally slept. Together, the two ponies had wild and vivid dreams of an adventure that couldn’t even get close to becoming a Wonderbolt, or be as great a flyer as Rainbow Dash. That fateful evening, Scootaloo the chicken, and Rainbow Dash, Equestria’s best flier began the adventure that is widely known as family.