//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: Keeping Secrets // by Soniclink137 //------------------------------// “All right, are you ready?” Scootaloo asked Thunderlane. “Yeah, so I just stand here until Rainbow Dash comes past this hallway, and then I jump out and prevent her from leaving right?” Thunderlane asked for confirmation. He was standing in a crossroads out of the way of where Scootaloo plans to bring Rainbow Dash in. “Yeah exactly,” Scootaloo said. “And make sure that Rainbow Dash doesn’t leave until she and Soarin’ talk!” “So how do you exactly plan on getting them here anyways?” Thunderlane asked. “Don’t worry about that,” Scootaloo said. “Me and Rumble have that all taken care of.” Thunderlane rolled his eyes. So far Scootaloo hasn’t told him anything about what Soarin’ and Rainbow Dash were fighting about. And if she has accidently left hints about what is happening between them, Thunderlane wasn’t able to pick up on them. So Thunderlane has been virtually left in the dark with no clue of what is happening or how serious it is. He would be complaining about him being in the dark, but for now he didn’t care about that. Rainbow Dash gave him a few hints on how to train harder and become a Wonderbolt, so if it wasn’t for her, Thunderlane doubt he would even be in this position right now. This is the least he could do to help pay Rainbow Dash back. “Well if you have everything done here then go get them,” Thunderlane said. “I’m not waiting here forever.” “Right,” Scootaloo said. Scootaloo then went halfway across the Wonderbolt H.Q to see how Rumble is doing with his side of the plan. It took Scootaloo a bit to find where Rumble is because of what she specifically asked him to do. But she eventually did, and made sure to see how he was doing. “So Rumble, did you find Rainbow Dash yet?” Scootaloo asked him. “Yeah,” Rumble said. “Rainbow Dash went from the observatory to the hiding out in the training room. And it’s working because she is the only one there.” “Why would she be the only one there?” Scootaloo asked. “Usually it’s impossible to do anything in there with how many ponies use it. Heck I’ve been wondering that for a while now. There seems to be no Wonderbolts in anyplace I usually see them.” “Well according to my brother, everypony was trying out a new trick today and it didn’t work out too well,” Rumble explained. “So pretty much everypony is sore and not in the mood to train. Even my brother is staying as far from the training room as possible.” “I guess I missed a lot from leaving out of boredom during practice,” Scootaloo said. That might explain what is wrong with Soarin’. “You actually get to watch the practices?” Rumble asked. He was really impressed that they let Scootaloo watch them practice. “A few,” Scootaloo said. “I’m usually at school when their practicing, but when I have the day off of school I can watch the practices here if I want to.” “Why do they let you watch the practices anyways?” Rumble asked. “I mean I’m related to Thunderlane and I haven’t been able to watch any of the Wonderbolt practices yet? So what connections do you have?” “Well actually, Rainbow Dash won a custody case for me a while back,” Scootaloo explained. “So technically, Rainbow Dash and Soarin’ are my legal guardians or something like that. I don’t know the exact specifics, but they are both in charge of raising me. And since they both spend their weeks practicing here I’m around here as well. So when I’m off school, they let me watch practices.” “Oh wow,” Rumble said. He gave Scootaloo an impressed expression. “That’s…pretty cool. I didn’t know you actually lived here. I just thought Rainbow Dash was bringing you here like Thunderlane did for me.” In a bragging manner, Scootaloo said, “Those two are pretty awesome aren’t they? They really worked hard to get me out of the home I used to be in, with parents that didn’t care about me. And as a bonus, I get to hang around here. It’s pretty cool.” “Yeah I guess,” Rumble said. “You’re pretty lucky Scootaloo.” “Thanks,” Scootaloo said. “So how about you try and get Rainbow Dash over to the target spot?” Rumble asked. “While I’ll go down to the mess hall and get Soarin’.” “Sounds like a plan dude,” Scootaloo said. “Just remember, if it involves pie, Soarin’ will go for it. Use that to your advantage.” “It’s just like old time huh?” Rumble said. “Yeah, this reminds me of back when we were crusading, trying to find out cutie marks,” Scootaloo said. “We used to do stuff like this all the time. But let’s hope this works better than our usual cutie mark attempts.” “Yeah. Well, I’ll see you in a bit.” “See ya.” Rumble left to go get Soarin’ while Scootaloo went in the other direction to get Rainbow Dash. As Rumble said there was, when Scootaloo opened the door there was absolutely nopony there except for one that left off a rainbow colored flash as she hid behind one of the machines. Scootaloo decided to feign ignorance on Rainbow Dash’s situation in hopes that she wouldn’t become suspicious of Scootaloo and not follow her. So she walked up to where Rainbow Dash was hiding and said, “Hey Rainbow Dash! What are you hiding from?” “Oh Scootaloo, it’s just you,” Rainbow Dash said as she climbed out of her hiding spot. “I’m not really hiding from anything. I’m just, you know, hanging out and stuff. Was thinking about maybe doing a bit of training her, but decided not to because I need to be careful for the foal. So now I’m just leaving.” One of the similarities Scootaloo noticed Rainbow Dash has with all her friends is that they are all terrible liars. “Oh, well if you’re leaving then would you mind coming with me?” Scootaloo asked. “I have something I need to show you.” “Uhh…sure I guess,” Rainbow Dash said. “Let’s just…be a little careful on the way.” “Why?” Scootaloo asked. “Uhh…no reason,” Rainbow Dash lied. “Just want to uhh…avoid bumping into anypony accidently. Yeah that’s it.” “Ok let’s go!” Scootaloo said. ~ Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash passed by the specific hallway causing Thunderlane to step out into the hallway. Rainbow Dash didn’t notice him, or if she did she didn’t react, and she continued walking with Scootaloo right to the target spot. They both stopped in the middle of the hallway. “So what do you want me to see around here?” Rainbow Dash asked while looking around. “Just a second,” Scootaloo said. “It’ll come soon.” “What will come soon?” Rainbow Dash asked. As she asked that Rumble and Soarin’ came walking along. It took Rainbow Dash a few seconds, but when she did she looked nervous. Rumble moved next to Scootaloo, and Soarin’ went up to Rainbow Dash to finally confront her. “Dash,” Soarin’ said. “Uhh…hey Soarin’,” Rainbow Dash said while she was trying to back away. “How’s it going?” She backed up a bit more and ran into Thunderlane, just as Scootaloo planned. She tried to go past him, but Thunderlane blocked every move she tried to make. She was trapped, because she wasn’t really able to make it look discreet, or at least any more discreet then she was already looking. “Rainbow Dash we need to talk,” Soarin’ said, making sure it is known that he is serious. “There is nothing that we need to talk about,” Rainbow Dash said while she was obviously thinking of a way out. “Oh come on!” Scootaloo called out in frustration. “Will you talk already?!” Rainbow Dash and Soarin' both looked at Scootaloo before looking back at each other. Rainbow Dash was looking really nervous, yet she still didn’t say anything. Soarin’ was trying to think of a way to get Rainbow Dash to talk, since she isn’t going anywhere with Thunderlane behind her, preventing her from leaving. “Rainbow Dash you can’t keep leaving me in the dark like this,” Soarin’ said. “I may not be in the best of moods right now, and you haven’t exactly helped me with that, but I will support you with whatever is happening. I told you when you were worried whether you would get in the Wonderbolts or not, that I would stick with you no matter what happens. I may not be the Element of Loyalty, but I’m still going to be loyal to you no matter what.” Rainbow Dash sighed. “I wanted to tell you in a better situation than this,” she said. “You can’t exactly say the situation I proposed to you is better than this one right here,” Soarin’ reminded you. “Yeah, but if Spitfire didn’t push you, you probably wouldn’t have,” Rainbow Dash said with a small laugh. “Fine.” She looked back at Thunderlane. “Would you and your brother mind leaving? This is between just me, Soarin’, and Scootaloo. Don’t worry, I’m not going to run away.” Thunderlane and Rumble both nodded and walked off in Thunderlane’s direction. “Ok then,” Rainbow Dash said. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes before continuing. “Soarin’, I’m going to have a foal.” There was silence for a moment causing Rainbow Dash to open her eyes. She saw Soarin’ completely shocked, with his mouth hanging open. He tilted his head over and moved his eyes towards Rainbow Dash’s stomach. “No I’m not showing yet you jerk!” Rainbow Dash said. Soarin’ looked back in Rainbow Dash’s eyes. His mouth hung open for a bit more before he closed it back up. The next thing that happened with his mouth is a huge smile appeared on it. It was the largest Soarin’ smiled since their wedding together. “Dashie, why didn’t you tell me this earlier?” Soarin’ asked. “This is great news!” “So…you ok with it?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Of course I’m ok with it Dashie!” Soarin’ said. “Why in the world wouldn’t I be? I’ve told you before that I want a foal for myself. I would be more worried about you not being ok with it. You’ve never told me whether you thought you were ready to have a foal yet.” “Ehh…I’m fine,” Rainbow Dash said. “Yeah, I’m still not one hundred percent sure that I’m ready yet, but I ready to try. It might be a bit difficult, but at least I know I’ll have plenty of help. And besides, it’s not like I’m given much of a choice right now either. And hey, I’m sure it’s going to be a pretty awesome foal.” “Of course it is,” Soarin’ said, “after all, you’re it’s mother.” “Ok, that’s enough,” Scootaloo said. “I’m out of here before you two to get too lovey dubey in front of me.” Scootaloo rolled her eyes and walked off. She next went to where Thunderlane and Rumble were waiting. “Looks like the plan worked,” Scootaloo told them, “so thanks you two.” “Remember, you still owe me one,” Rumble said. “Well if she does you two will have to work that out back at Ponyville,” Thunderlane said. “I think it’s about time I get you back home Rumble.” “This weekend,” Scootaloo said. “We’ll meet up this weekend and I’ll see what I can do to pay you back.” “Ok, see you then Scootaloo,” Rumble said as he and Thunderlane went for the exit. “So everything worked out huh?” asked a voice from behind Scootaloo. Scootaloo turned around to see Spitfire walking up from behind her. “Yeah,” Scootaloo said. “Oh yeah by the way. Rainbow Dash probably should be the one to tell you this but…” “Rainbow Dash is going to have a foal, yeah I already know,” Spitfire said. “I figured that would be the only thing she wouldn’t tell Soarin’ that would make sense from this morning.” “Well I still don’t get one thing,” Scootaloo said. “Why didn’t she tell Soarin’ right away?” “It’s something that is normal for when a mare is carrying a foal,” Spitfire explained. “They tend to worry more about the wellbeing of foal and will sometimes put off telling the stallion about it if they are worried about them taking it badly. Though it is a good thing you got them to talk, because this is not something you want her to put off.” “Have you seen something like this happen before?” Scootaloo asked. “Yeah,” Spitfire admitted as she looked up thoughtfully. “I’ve seen it a bit more then I like.” Spitfire looked back at Scootaloo. “So good job helping them out Scootaloo. You’re growing into a pretty good kid.” “Uhh, thanks I guess,” Scootaloo said.