//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Volatile Times // Story: Sisters: Chasing a Happier Time // by lightfox lowell //------------------------------// Chapter 3: Volatile Times By Lightfox Lowell Nothing but darkness surrounds Rainbow Dash. She starts to shout out in the darkness, “Hello! Anypony here? Where am I...?” Rainbow Dash can see her own breath. Even for someone that sleeps in the upper clouds, this place makes her shiver. It does not seem like anyone is around. She is alone in this place. Suddenly, from behind her, a voice all too familiar to Rainbow Dash: “I trusted you...” Rainbow Dash’s blood runs cold and her wings spring out in surprise. She slowly turns to look at the source of the voice. “I trusted you to take her in,” Pin Puller says. He has a glow around him and is somewhat transparent, his eyes lifeless, and from his mouth flowed a bit of blood. Rainbow Dash’s blood felt like ice and her legs would not stop shaking. “No... Pin Puller, I wanted to! They would not let me—I’m sorry!” “I trusted you...” Pin Puller fades away into the darkness. “No! Wait!” Rainbow Dash starts to run over to him, but she feels herself falling and wakes up just in time to see the floor come up to hit her muzzle. Thump. Rainbow Dash lays there for a second before sitting up. “Owww...” she looks around her room and lets out a sigh. “Just a dream...” Rainbow Dash stands up and looks out her window to see it’s still about midnight. Her mind is wracked with worry for Scootaloo, to the point where Pin Puller is haunting her sleep. Letting out a sigh, Rainbow Dash walks out of her room, only to pause at a door in the hallway. Scootaloo’s room... Dash walks in slowly. The room was just as Scootaloo had left it just the day before. They had not collected any stuff from Dash’s home, only from Pin Puller’s. The new Wonderbolts poster that they got at the show already decorated the wall, but that did not hold much interest for Rainbow Dash right now. She walks up to a picture that has her and Scootaloo right after Dash’s return from the Wonderbolt Academy. Scootaloo was proudly holding up a wing pony badge, Rainbow Dash still in her uniform with her lead pony badge. Rainbow Dash is silent for a long time, just looking at the picture, before returning back to her room. ‘Don’t worry, Scootaloo, I’m going to get you back.’ After going back into a dreamless sleep Rainbow Dash wakes up in the morning and just lies in bed, trying to think. ‘Yeah... sure, Rainbow Dash, you’re going to get Scootaloo back... The second you figure out how.’ Letting out a sigh, she stands up and walks by her closet. But while she’s walking, she steps on something that lets out a soft crunch. Rainbow Dash stops dead in her tracks and lets out another sigh. “What was that...?” She picks up what it was and looks it over. Luckily, the damage was not too bad: it was her coronation outfit’s hat. ‘Heh, good thing it’s not ruined. I guess I should have put you away right when I got back... from... Twilight—!’ She drops the hat. ‘Why didn’t I think of that before!’ Rainbow Dash rockets out of her house and right for the Golden Oaks Library. When she finally arrived, she flies in from the window. “Twilight I need your hel—” Rainbow Dash stops, lands, and then just stares. Twilight was talking to a delivery pony before Rainbow Dash interrupted her, but that’s not what stopped Rainbow Dash mid-thought. She is just staring at a familiar large crate. “Rainbow Dash! What did I tell you about using the door!? I mean, really! If you're going to barge Uwah!—” Rainbow Dash suddenly tackles Twilight Sparkle. “It was you!? This is your fault!?” Rainbow Dash yells, pinning Twilight to the floor. “Rainbow Dash...? What are you talking about!?” Twilight Sparkle asks, a bit upset that her friend had barged in, and then tackled her to the ground. Rainbow Dash points at the crate. “Did you order that!?” “It’s just a bunch of books to study.” “That box killed Pin Puller, Scootaloo is sitting in a orphanage at Cloudsdale because of it, and they won’t let me take her home!” Rainbow Dash then slams her hoof into the ground next to Twilight’s head. “And you’re telling me that box is yours!?” “Um... Yes?” “Twilight! You... its... Uhhhg!” Rainbow Dash gets off and punches a wall. “Rainbow... You said Scootaloo is at an orphanage? Why? Who is Pin Puller?” The delivery pony speaks up when Dash remained silent. “Um, I don’t know who Scootaloo is, but Pin Puller is... was a conductor for the train station. I had heard there was an accident with this crate, it fell at some point and well... crushed Pin Puller.” “Scootaloo’s father... They were like a second family to me and he died because of you!” Rainbow Dash screams at Twilight. “And now Scootaloo, my little sister, is stuck up at Cloudsdale because of some stupid law that won’t let me take her in because of my age!” Things start to slowly fall into place in Twilight’s mind. "Wait, you mean... The box... My box... it— Oh Celestia." Twilight Sparkle then stands up. "But I- It's just a box of books! I just wanted to do my best for Celestia; I didn't think anypony would get hurt!" Twilight starts to pace back and forth like she is trying to process all this. What logic she throws at this situation falls apart and she starts to panic. She had incidentally made one of her closest friend’s life crumble in front of them, ‘Nice work, Twilight! Princess for less than a week, and you already managed to ruin the life of one of your friends!’ "I didn't want to hurt any—” Twilight cuts herself off. ‘No... I need to help her.’ She puts her hoof to her chest, takes a deep breath, and stretches out exhales. Calmness returning, panic leaving, and her mind sharp. Twilight has a plan. Twilight points at the delivery pony.“You. Out.” The pony wastes no time leaving this awkward situation. “SPIKE! Get me all of our Equestrian law books!” Spike, who had been staying silent near the stairs watching the whole scene go down, springs into action. Before Rainbow Dash can blink, there is a pile of books near Twilight’s desk. Rainbow Dash’s eyes are still full of anger. She goes to say something but before she can even open her muzzle, Twilight casts her Zipper Lip spell. “Rainbow, I understand that you are angry with me, but we can resolve that later. Let’s first get Scootaloo back to you. I don’t care if I have to rewrite laws, I am not letting her stay there.” She then undoes the spell. Rainbow Dash shoots a glare at Twilight, but she knows she cannot not do this alone, “Fine, Twilight, how can I help?” “I need you to go home and get ANY legal papers you have: birth certificate, weather factory worker papers, and anything else you can think of. “ Rainbow Dash gives a salute and flies out of the window, which clauses Twilight to let out a sigh. Back at Rainbow Dash’s home, Dash braves the most treacherous area of her house; the attic. Sometimes Rainbow Dash is sure she might find Daring Do looking for lost treasure up here. It had been like this ever since she inherited all of her father's stuff, and she knew her papers were, sadly, lost somewhere within. “Welp, let’s do this.” Rainbow Dash dives into the maze of boxes and other objects. *** The same morning, back at the Feather Loft Orphanage, the breakfast bell starts to ring out into the hall. It takes Scootaloo out of the nice dream world she was resting in, where she was with Pin Puller and Rainbow Dash. Scootaloo opens her eyes to see that, sadly, the orphanage was not just some sick nightmare... She climbs out of her bed and starts to walk down the hall towards where some of the other foals are walking. Letting off a soft yawn, Scootaloo could only think to herself, ‘This sucks... I’m sure yesterday was the worst day ever.’ She looks into the cafeteria to see Morning Dew and Sunnyrain already sitting down and eating. ‘it’s not getting any better anytime soon.’ After Scootaloo gets her breakfast, she finds a table to eat alone at. Not a hard task; there are only about 10 foals here including her self. But there is something bugging her, ‘I wonder why I am the oldest here...’ “That’s because most join the flight camp at your age!” an overly cheerful voice says from behind her. This sudden outburst makes Scootaloo jump in her seat. The chair leans back and keeps going, forcing her down to the ground. She looks up to see the source of the voice, its Sunnyrain. “Ow... How did you—”. Sunnyrain interrupts “Know what you were thinking? It was suuuper easy! You were looking at everyone with this really puzzled look, but you didn’t look sad, so I said to myself, ‘they must be wondering why they are the oldest,’ because when people wonder why we are all here they have a sadder look about them than you have right now. Not that you don’t look sad! Because you do, but its not super duper sad, like sadness on top of sadness. You’re only sad about what’s happened to you.” Scootaloo blinks, “A—are you related to Pinkie Pie?” “Who?” Sunnyrain asks, her head tilted to the side. Scootaloo gets up and sits back down at her table, “Uh, never mind.” She starts to eat breakfast again, which consisted of some really bland cereal and apple juice. “Sooooo, what are you going to do today?” Scootaloo sighs. ‘Please make her go away.’ “I am going to wait for Rainbow Dash.” The whole cafeteria goes silent and everyone looks at Scootaloo now. “This again? She dumped you here. Get over it!” Morning Dew says. “That is not true! She didn’t have a choice! A bunch of stupid laws would not let her take me in!” Scootaloo shouts back. “Laws? Isn't Rainbow Dash friends with one princess, and knows the two sisters really well? I think she could have taken you in if she wanted to.” “I...But...” Scootaloo’s eyes go wide, and she goes silent. “Hah! Now you see it. You're trash that was slowing her down, and as such, you were thrown away.” “Morning Dew! You’re doing it again. You don’t need to be so mean to everypony.” Sunnyrain speaks up against Morning Dew. Morning Dew glares at Sunnyrain, like she wants to say something but can’t. “Humph, fine, not like it matters.” Then she walks out. Sunnyrain sighs, but does not follow Morning Dew. She instead walks to Scootaloo’s side. “Hey, it’s going to be okay. I already told you, there is noooo way she’s not coming back for you.” Scootaloo did not hear a word. Her mind is locked away in the darkest of places. ‘She is friends with Twilight... and they all send letters to Celestia all the time. Morning Dew is right, Rainbow Dash could have kept me if she really wan—’ But before she can complete that thought, Sunnyrain starts to shake Scootaloo every witch way. “No! You stop that right now!” “AHhHHHhhHHHhH!” Scootaloo manages to break free from Sunnyrain’s shaking attack. “What is wrong with you!?” Sunnyrain sees her chance to get Scootaloo’s mind off things. “Oh! That depends on who you ask.” “What.” “Oh yeah. If you ask Cloud Dream, I am a really special filly and there is only things right with me! “ Sunnyrain says with a cheerful chirp. “Buuut, if you ask my parents, it’s the fact I am a pegasus.” That line leaves Scootaloo a bit dumbstruck. “What could possibly be wrong with you being a pegasus!?” “Heh! Well you see, my parents are unicorns, Well, a super duper rich family too! They have all this stuff that Cloud Dream calls a “High Class Bloodline” but I don’t know what that means. What I do know is that they wanted a unicorn foal!” Scootaloo, still a bit puzzled, just nods. “So they got REALLY angry when I turned out to be a pegasus. They sent me off to live here when I was just a little filly.” Sunnyrain speaks in a voice that is way too happy for all this. “Wait a second. Wait a second. If they sent you away when you were really young, how do you know about them?” “Oh! That’s the best part. They sent a letter on my fifth birthday. It told me all about them, and how I was unworthy of the family name, not to use it, and to never come looking for them!” She still says this in a happy tone. Scootaloo’s eyes are wide, her wings limp at her side, and her jaw is trying to see if it can touch the floor. The reaction around the cafeteria is.. well nothing, like everypony had heard this story once before. “B—but, you’re so...” “Happy? Well, yes I am. If it was not for them sending me off here I may have never found my cutie mark.” She turns to show a mark that was a raining cloud with a sun above it. “So I am thankful to my parents, and I still love them. Now! You stop being a silly pony! Rainbow Dash is a cool pony, so you can’t be crying if you’re her sister.” Scootaloo quickly wipes her eyes and gives Sunnyrain a smile. *** Back at Dash’s house, Rainbow Dash is pinned under a bunch of really heavy boxes. She has given up on trying to call out for help and is now trying to push her way through the cloud floor of the attic to freedom. “Stupid building clouds, being so solid!” Rainbow Dash keeps pushing, only for the floor to finally give and she falls into Scootaloo’s room, a few of the boxes landing right on top of her. “Owwww... Okay, I am somewhat happy she was not here to see that...” Then she sees that one of the boxes that fell on her is labeled “Paperwork”. “YES!” Rainbow Dash cries out. After about thirty minutes, Rainbow Dash had gotten the last of the paperwork she needed and sets off with saddle bags full of everything she thinks Twilight will need. When Rainbow flies into the library, she can see quite a few books floating around along side a few letters from Celestia. “Um, I’m back.” Twilight looks over at Rainbow Dash and gives a smile. “Good. I think I have everything we will need. Let’s go get Scootaloo back.”