//------------------------------// // 16 A Gathering of the Elements // Story: What's Really the Most Important? // by KrishnaKarnak //------------------------------// “Scoots!” Rainbow Dash said, kneeling down next to the the little filly's bed. “Scoot-a-looooo!” Silence greeted these words. Dash rolled her eyes but smiled warmly at the sleeping pegasus, affection beating in her heart. She gave the child a soft prod in the stomach with her hoof. “Scoot! Wake up, kiddo. Scootaloo!” Prod, prod, prod. Rainbow Dash stopped when she noticed Scoot's eyes slowly open. “I'm... awake...” Scootaloo mumbled, turning away from her big sister. Rainbow Dash stood up tall, folding her arms and began to count in her head. Within ten seconds, Scootaloo's slow and quiet breathing told Rainbow that the filly had once again fallen asleep. “Wakey, wakey!” Rainbow Dash said cheerfully, leaning low to scoop Scootaloo into her arms and flopping down on the bed herself. Scootaloo awoke with a start as Dash picked her up, immediately protesting and snarling like a wild animal. As her hooves beat against Rainbow's chest, the blue pegasus nuzzled the younger one with her head. “Simmer down, sport!” Dash laughed, placing a kiss on Scoot's forehead. “Last day of school, remember? It's officially Summer!” Scoot immediately stopped thrashing about and gave a gasp of surprise. “I forgot! And LEMME DOWN!” The filly pushed herself out of Rainbow's grip and scrambled to the floor, her little wings buzzing excitedly. She vanished from sight as she ran from her room. Rainbow Dash heard a distant 'snap!' as the bathroom door closed. Grinning to herself, Rainbow Dash stood up and made Scootaloo's bed. Rainbow Dash moved downstairs and into the kitchen. Brilliantly warm sunlight streamed through the window, which Dash pushed open to allow a cool breeze to freshen the dusty morning air. She got to work on breakfast, putting a kettle on the stove with some water to boil and pouring some prepared oats and brown sugar into a pair of bowls. She moved to the refrigerator and opened it, pulling out a jug of milk. As she closed the fridge door, she paused to look at a little calendar pinned to it by a magnet. June 17th was circled with three little hearts drawn around it. Rainbow gave an impatient little sigh. Three more days before the Wonderbolts returned from Saddle Arabia! The Monday following the airshow, Soarin had to leave with most of the team to travel abroad on a mission for Princess Celestia. Although they would only be gone a week, four days of which had already come and gone, it had felt like a year to Rainbow Dash. The kettle began to whistle and Dash moved over to the stove, twisting the knobs to turn off the burner and pouring the boiling water into the bowls. She mixed in some cold milk and stirred the contents with a silver spoon each. “Scoot! Hurry up!” Dash yelled out to the ceiling, placing the bowls on the table and cutting up some green apples with a knife. She placed the apple slices on a napkin and put it in the centre of the table. Sitting down herself, her eyes again flashed to the calendar as she began to eat. She amused herself with happy memories of the previous Saturday. The building anticipation to the airshow had made it all the more exciting to finally perform. Reviews in the papers the next day had been quite positive. Although they did not do each and every one of their planned maneuvers, the show had been so very successful. As Rainbow Dash took a drink of water, she closed her eyes and remembered laying her head in Soarin's lap as she had begun to flip through her old photo album. He had been so sweet to her that night. Their first kiss and their cuddling in her bed were wonderful to remember. They had been talking about what exactly they enjoyed with one another. They had finally fallen asleep in each other's arms around five in the morning. It was as Rainbow had always dreamed. Had he really been shy all of this time? How long had he liked her? The mare doubted it was quite as long as she had liked him, of course. Especially given the fact that he had been dating Spitfire. Did it bother her? Again, Rainbow doubted it. The fact of the matter was that her spending the night with Soarin had only increased her desire to end up together with him, and she resolved to work tirelessly to attain that. At least she knew that it was a real possibility now. He was interested in her, really and genuinely interested. And that meant the world to Rainbow Dash. “Nice of you to join me!” Dash said when Scootaloo finally sat down at the table. “I had to find the card I made for Miss Cheerilee!” Scoot said, standing up a self-made card on the table. “See! I drew the picture on the front myself! And I wrote her a nice little poem and said I love her and we're all gonna miss her over the summer!” “You're so cute sometimes, kid! I'm sure Cheerilee will love it.” Rainbow said. “Now eat up, your oatmeal is getting cold.” Scootaloo began to rapidly scoop the oatmeal into her mouth as Rainbow herself finished up, popping a few of the apple slices into her mouth. Dash left the kitchen to find a brush on the hallway table. Once in hoof, she returned to the kitchen and stood behind Scootaloo, brushing out her hair and mane. “Quit it!” Scootaloo groaned, pulling forward against the tug of the brush. “Naw.” Dash teased, using her wings to hold Scootaloo in place. “I'm older than you, Scoots! Why would I obey you?” “'cause I'm amazing and you love me! Duh!” Scootaloo giggled, throwing her head back and staring up at Rainbow. “That may be true!” Rainbow Dash agreed, giving Scootaloo another kiss to the forehead. “But that doesn’t mean I'm going to let you walk around looking like a zombie. Dashie's got a reputation to keep!” "Yeah. Suuure!" Scootaloo grinned sarcastically. "And I'm a parasprite!" Once Rainbow finished, she gave Scoot an enormous hug, holding it long enough for the filly to start struggling again. “What do you want to do this afternoon, Scoots?” She asked, flying a foot into the air so Scootaloo could do nothing but writhe fruitlessly. “I dunnooo! Lemme gooo!” Scootaloo protested, trying to bite at Dash's arm. “Wanna go see Tank again?” Dash asked, dropping Scootaloo carefully back on to her chair before the filly could sink her teeth into Rainbow's arm. “Uh... Okay! But I want ice cream!” Scootaloo said with a huff as she landed on the seat. A few minutes later, they were standing outside of the house once more. Holding Scootaloo's lunchbox by the handle with her teeth, Dash jerked her head up in a gesture to tell Scoot to climb aboard. As Scootaloo did so, Dash waited for that tell-tale buzzing. “Heeey... Sis?” Scootaloo asked, leaning forward on Rainbow's hair to look down at her face. “When's the Summer Sun Celebration? Is that tonight because school's over?” “No, ya silly goof!” Rainbow said, flexing her wings, smiling when she heard the humming of Scoot's own wings. “That's next week! On the LONGEST DAY OF THE YEAR! We're going to Canterlot to watch it.” Scootaloo gave an excited little giggle and squeezed her limbs tight against Dash's neck. “That's gonna be awesome! Now FLY, minion!” Rolling her eyes, Dash jumped into the air and caught herself with her wings. Ponyville flashed by below as they sped to the schoolhouse for Scoot's final day of school before the Summer break. As expected, she saw both Rarity and Applejack there, having just lead their own sisters to class. “Wassup, girls?” Dash said, touching down softly on the grass and bending low to allow Scootaloo to scramble off. “Have a good day, Scoots!” “Howdy there, Rainbow Dash! Didja hear the news?” Applejack greeted as Apple Bloom rushed off with Scootaloo to join Sweetie Belle, who was already at the school steps. “Uh... news?” Rainbow asked, confused. She shook her head. “What news?” “We've been summoned to glorious Canterlot!” Rarity exclaimed, giving a frenzied shiver. “You're JOKING!” Rainbow said in surprise, adventure twinkling in her eyes. “I guess we gotta play the heroes again, huh?” “That's what I'm bettin'!” Applejack nodded. “'bout time, too! Things have been mighty quiet 'round here lately.” “Oh Celestia, AJ. You're starting to sound like me! Stop it before ya muck up my swagger!” Dash grinned, flapping her front hooves as if shooing her off. “Wrap up your weather duties early today, dear!” Rarity said. “We must all meet with Twilight around noon. She will fill us all in with the comprehensive particulars!” “Gotcha... I think! Wait, who's telling Pinkie and Fluttershy, assuming they don't already know?” Rainbow asked. The two wingless mares looked to one another, and then back to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow rolled her eyes. “... I'll check in with them when I'm clearing the clouds. You two go be useless for a few hours! Catch ya later!” “The farm needs RAIN LATER!” Applejack called out as Dash accelerated into the sky. Giving an airy wave, Dash tore away with mounting excitement. Well, this was certainly interesting! It looked as though her relaxed and enjoyable week will have a stimulating ending. The Wonderbolts had paid her handsomely for the airshow, allowing her enough leisure room in her funds to leave her job at the weather factory. She was once again the main Weather Pony for Ponyville, which was the easiest job in the world to Rainbow Dash. Dash got to work very quickly. She soared over the roofs, ploughing her way through the clouds over the town square. She rounded up the clouds over other portions of the town that would require rain, including Sweet Apple Acres. Getting everything done by noon would be an easy task. Otherwise, it would have been one of those days where she would simply go for a nap or chill at her old cloud home, still floating above Ponyville. As she made her way around the little village, she stopped by Fluttershy's cottage and hammered on the door. “About time!” Rainbow Dash sighed as the yellow pegasus opened her door. “Oh... hello, Dash. I'm sorry I took so long... Angel Bunny is being a... um, difficult hare...” Fluttershy said awkwardly, bowing her head in shame. “Uh... riiight...” Rainbow Dash said, cocking an eyebrow as she peered around Fluttershy to see Angel standing in the middle of the cottage, holding a carving knife in one paw and a pencil in the other. “Do you want some... help?” “Oh! No, no, no! Thank you, though!” Fluttershy beamed. “I have, um... a stare... that works...” “Well, I won't question this any further for my own sanity!” Rainbow half smiled, still concerned. “Listen, you think you'll be able to get over to Twilight's by noon? The six of us are meeting there. Apparently Celestia has summoned us! So, y'know, don't go die or something stupid like that. You're sorta needed.” “I will do my best not to disappoint you girls...” Fluttershy said meekly, inclining her head. Rainbow rolled her eyes as Fluttershy closed the door. Next stop for her was Sugarcube Corner. As she soared toward the little bakery, Dash recalled meeting with Rarity outside of it the day before the airshow. Her heart swelled. Rainbow Dash felt so moved whenever she thought of all of her well wishers. She landed on the cobbled street and approached the shop doors, stepping aside as Mr. Cake walked out with a delivery. “Pinkie!” Rainbow said as she walked in. “Listen, we need you t-” Rainbow Dash was immediately floored as the pink earth pony leapt upon her. “Hellooo!” Pinkie screamed in ecstasy. “Fancy meeting you here, because I work here and you work outside! I love when my friends come to visit me, especially YOU, Rainbow Dash! You're one of my top five friends! I mean, everypony in Ponyville is my friend so I have at least a top million or so but you're an extra special friend, like an extra special glazed cherry on top of a cake, so that's another top five friends on top of my top million friends!” “Uh... yeah...” Dash said, pushing her wings against the floor to spring back to her feet, Pinkie Pie falling off of her. “Okay, so, I'm already quite weirded out today, so I'ma make this nice and brief: Twilight's house, twelve o'clock. Make sure you're there! Important Elements of Harmony biz.” Pinkie Pie bounced back to all fours alarmingly fast, a huge grin spreading across her face. “Oh, wow! You brought me NEWS! Just like when we were in CLOUDSDALE and I brought YOU news! It's like we're top best friends or something!” Pinkie squeed loudly, giving Dash a great big hug as the pegasus tried to back up to the door. “Well, I'll let you get back to work! I've got a lot of cloud busting to do!” Dash said airily, waving a hoof at the clear patch of sky visible beyond the door. “I'll see you at noon!” “G'bye Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie cheered. Rainbow whittled away the time left until noon at her leisure, flying all around Ponyville and clearing up the rain showers she had caused earlier that morning. When the post office tower showed 11:45, she zoomed off to Twilight Sparkle's large tree house. She found the other girls just about to enter. “Welp, there's Rainbow Dash. 'spose we should see what this is all about.” Applejack said as Dash landed next to them. “Glad to see you're still alive!” Rainbow laughed, giving Fluttershy a little tap on the shoulder. “Um... what?” She replied, confused. “Nothin'.” Rainbow rolled her eyes and followed Applejack inside. She was feeling the excitement build again. “Wonder what adventure we're gonna go on?” The others shrugged as they continued on inside, stepping into the first floor of Twilight's home. The first sight to greet their eyes was Spike the dragon, pacing back and forth. His eyes widened with delight upon seeing them. “Oh, thank goodness!” Spike said gleefully as he ran over to them. “I'm glad you all showed up! Twilight's been panicking all day, I didn't know what to do...” “Please, Spikey-wikey! What's going on? Whatever do you know?” Rarity asked him in a gentle voice. “I just know that we're waiting on Princess Celestia, R-... Rarity!” He said, a little flustered. “Wait, wha' y'all mean?” Applejack asked, eyebrow raised. “Aren't we... aren't we going to meet her in Canterlot?” “No...” Spike said, shaking his head. “The Princess sent a letter an hour ago: She's coming here herself.” Rainbow felt a little swoop of fear in her stomach. Her first instinct was that whatever had happened was dire enough to speed up the meeting. It was as if the Princess had no time to wait for the six of them to get to Canterlot. Fluttershy gave a little gasp. “The Princess is coming to Ponyville? But that must mean bad news...” “You could say that, Fluttershy...” came Twilight's voice from the staircase. Rainbow and the rest of them saw her descend into view. “I'm glad you've all showed up! Please, come upstairs. We're all waiting for you.” “... 'We'?” Rainbow Dash questioned as Twilight Sparkle disappeared back up the stairs. “It's not a party... is it?” Pinkie Pie asked in a concerned voice, a tone she seldom used. “Doesn't sound like it...” Fluttershy whimpered. Rainbow lead the group this time, climbing the stairs in slight trepidation. As she reached the next floor, the first sight her eyes caught were all the bookshelves spanning the entire length of the circular wall. Then she felt her jaw drop. Twilight was sitting on the floor with her head bowed. As the other ponies came in behind her, Dash saw Twilight look up at them. She was indeed not alone. Dash's eyes scanned around the room. Twilight was surrounded by the Wonderbolts, all arranged in a semi circle around her and Spitfire. They were all still in their flight suits, as if they had only just arrived back in Ponyville. All except for Spitfire, who had her hooded headpiece down and her goggles around her neck. Instead, she was wearing her iconic sunglasses. Rainbow caught Soarin's eye and she shot him an admiring look. He smiled weakly back, but was looking wretched. “What...” Dash said in a strained voice, walking over to Soarin. “You're all back so soon!” Soarin nodded, walking forward to meet her and giving her a quick hug. “Yeah... But it's great to s-” “Of course we're back already, dammit!” Spitfire snarled, cutting Soarin off and marching toward Rainbow Dash. She stopped to glare at her. Slowly, she turned to face the others. The Captain tore the glasses off of her face and threw them to the floor. “We're back because we've failed.”