//------------------------------// // Chapter Seventeen; Distractions // Story: Working Towards The Future // by Dasponi //------------------------------// Star Shine was looking out into the distance when he saw a blue dot appear. It was approaching at pretty high speed. It could only be Rainbow Dash. “Here she comes. Now I want you to stay out of sight for a minute.” Star Shine said to Scootaloo, who was still on his back. “Why?” Scootaloo replied. “It’s just for a minute. You’ll see. There are some things she might not say in front of you.” Star Shine said, raising his wings to hide the filly on his back. A few more moments passed and Scootaloo heard something hit the clouds below them as Rainbow Dash landed. “Where’s Scootaloo?” Rainbow Dash asked, looking around for any sign of the filly. Rainbow Dash dropped the machines on the cloud and marched over to Star Shine, who brought his wings together tighter to try and hide Scootaloo better. “She just nipped to the bathroom, she’ll be back in a second.” Star Shine replied, avoiding Rainbow’s eyes. He was always a terrible liar but if he avoided the eyes he could almost pull it off. “I need to ask you something actually while she’s gone.” “That’s funny because I need to ask you something too.” Rainbow Dash replied. She was getting much too close to Star Shine for his comfort. If she just peered around his neck she might have seen Scootaloo. He straightened his neck, both to look more assertive and also to help hide Scootaloo. “Me first. Now why did you give up on Scootaloo after two days?” Star Shine replied quickly, not giving Rainbow Dash a chance to interrupt or ask her own questions. Star felt Scootaloo tense up at his words and he carefully moved a wing to gently stroke her. “Give up? I didn’t give up on anything!” Rainbow Dash replied indignantly. She found the idea that somepony thought she had given up on something to be utterly offensive. Offensive enough to temporarily forget what she wanted to find out in the first place herself. “You tried to teach her to fly for two whole days before you gave up and called me in.” Star Shine kept his voice level. He knew the best way to anger Rainbow Dash and to provoke a response was to keep calm and not respond with anger. Plus he wasn’t actually angry at Rainbow Dash about anything. He just had to make her believe he was. “I didn’t give up on her! I would never give up on her!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “That’s not what she thinks.” Star Shine replied. Rainbow Dash was stunned to silence and her face dropped. Star Shine afforded himself a small smirk that his plan had actually worked. Rainbow Dash didn’t talk for a few seconds, her mind racing. “She thinks I gave up on her?” Rainbow Dash replied quietly, looking up at Star Shine. Star Shine nodded and Rainbow’s face fell again. “I wouldn’t give up on her. I’d do anything for her. I didn’t mean for her to think that. She just wasn’t getting it and I wasn’t able to do anything about it. What I tried didn’t work and you know how impatient I can be. I didn’t give up on her though. I gave up on myself. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to teach her so that’s why I called you. I didn’t give up on her, I swear I wouldn’t. If it was any other pony I wouldn’t have even bothered calling you. I thought you’d be able to do something I couldn’t. I didn’t mean to ups-” Rainbow Dash said before being cut off by the feeling of something brushing against her leg. Rainbow Dash had been so caught up in her own world and her grief at the thought of upsetting Scootaloo she hadn’t noticed the filly at all. While Rainbow Dash was talking Star Shine had lowered his wings. Scootaloo had hopped down and walked over to Rainbow Dash when she had heard enough and was now cuddling up to Rainbow’s legs. “It’s okay Rainbow. I get it now.” Scootaloo said. Rainbow Dash leaned down and nuzzled Scootaloo. “Hey Scootaloo. How much of that did you hear?” Rainbow Dash’s voice was returning to normal. She had started breaking up while talking trying to explain to Star Shine her reasons for calling him so quickly. “All of it. I was on Star’s back. He said you might not say anything if I was around.” Scootaloo replied. “I’m sorry Scoots. I didn’t mean for you to think that way. I want you to know I’ll always be there for you.” “I know. I’m sorry too, for thinking like that.” “Never be sorry for how you think Scoots. Tell me next time though, okay?” Rainbow said, ruffling Scootaloo’s mane. Scootaloo giggled and nodded in response. “You can be a real jerk sometimes.” Rainbow Dash said to Star Shine. “I was right though wasn’t I? You wouldn’t have talked like that if she was around.” he replied with a smug smirk on his face. “I probably would have said it to her, but you’re right I wouldn’t have told you.” Rainbow Dash replied. Scootaloo laughed as she saw the smirk disappear from Star Shine’s face. “Well you still love me right?” Star Shine asked, looking a little hurt. “Wait, love? You don’t mean?” Scootaloo asked, looking between the pair in shock. “No he doesn’t mean that. He told me once that I’m not his type.” Rainbow Dash replied. “You mean he’s?” Scootaloo began. “No I don’t think he is.” Rainbow Dash cut her off, guessing what the next words out of Scootaloo’s mouth might be. “He must be if he doesn’t like you.” “I’ve thought that too, I mean look at me.” Rainbow Dash replied, striking a few poses while Scootaloo laughed and clapped her hooves together. “Mares...” Star Shine said, rolling his eyes. The topic of conversation had left him slightly flustered and just a little annoyed. He had broken one of the few actual rules of being a colt and had allowed two mares to gang up on him. “I’m sorry what was that?” Rainbow Dash asked mid-pose. “It sounded to me like he said something nasty.” Scootaloo added. “I didn’t say anything. ANYWAY,” Star Shine replied, raising his voice to cut off any retort by the pair and cover any retort they might already be making. If there was an argument then he would not win it and would just end up incredibly embarrassed, and he was embarrassed enough. “I’m pretty sure that Scootaloo has a flying lesson.” Star Shine finished, lowering his voice again. “Oh right, that’s what I wanted to ask you.” Rainbow Dash said, facehoofing. She had been so caught up in everything that had happened since she got back she had forgotten to ask Star Shine about Vacuus Medeis. “Don’t worry about that anymore. I’m really stupid and it’s nothing to worry about. I thought you had tried for longer than you did and I freaked out. I’ll talk to you about it later but right now I have a lesson to give.” Star Shine replied, taking a guess at what Rainbow Dash might have wanted to ask him about. Even if it was anything else he was keen to get started with the lesson and get some answers for himself anyway. “Alright, I guess, but you owe me.” Rainbow replied. She didn’t want to interrupt Scootaloo’s lesson or bring it up in front of her. “I promise I’ll talk to you about it.” Star Shine said. Rainbow Dash nodded. “Now, Scootaloo, do you think you could get your scooter?” he asked Scootaloo. “Huh?” Scootaloo asked. She had been caught up in things herself and was wondering what Rainbow Dash and Star Shine had been talking about. “Right, I’ll go get it.” she said before wandering to the door. She turned around when she got there. “Wait what do I need that for?” she asked. She jumped when she saw how close Star Shine was to her. He had been following her, wanting to get something from the house himself. He was also slightly worried about what might happen to him if he was left alone with Rainbow Dash for too long. His plan to distract her away from his mistake had succeeded. There was no point in staying in a situation where it would be brought up. He would have told Rainbow Dash what she wanted to know sooner but was afraid the details might make her freak out more. It would take a while to explain everything to her and as long as Scootaloo was around, a while was not an amount of time they could really afford. “We’re going down to the ground. I want to test your wingpower and, if it’s too small, I have a brace of my own that’s better than Rainbow’s. I’m going to go get that, while you get your scooter.” Star Shine explained. Scootaloo nodded and ran inside. “I’ll be back in a second.” Star Shine called back to Rainbow Dash before following Scootaloo inside. Scootaloo and Star Shine split up once inside the house. Scootaloo ran upstairs to her bedroom while Star Shine went into the living room. He had arrived with some luggage and had left it here before going to the school with Rainbow Dash to pick up Scootaloo. He hefted his saddlebag onto the table and opened it up. He pulled out the brace before closing his saddlebag and setting it back down. The brace looked just like the one that Rainbow Dash used except there was no dial on it. Instead there was a panel with buttons on it. There were three in all. A blank one in the middle, a button with a minus sign to the left, and a button with a plus sign to the right. He opted to slip the brace on instead of carrying it and once it was on, pressed the minus button a few times so it wasn’t holding his wings back at all. It was designed for ponies smaller but it still stretched around his frame. Scootaloo kept her scooter in her room when she wasn’t using it. She hadn’t really thought about how it never went through the clouds. If she had asked Twilight she would have learned that when something is made by a Pegasus, or when it is owned by one long enough, the magic that allows a Pegasus to walk on clouds seeps into it, allowing the object in question to stay on clouds. She picked it up and rested it on her back before walking to the stairs unsteadily as she was supporting her scooter with a foreleg. “Do you want a hoof?” Star Shine asked as he saw her carefully make her way down the stairs. “I’m okay.” Scootaloo replied. Normally Rainbow Dash would have helped her or carried the scooter, but she didn’t trust Star Shine enough to let him carry the scooter. Star Shine held out a hoof to support Scootaloo instead and stop her from falling down the stairs. “Thanks. What’s that you’re wearing?” Scootaloo asked, giggling a little at how silly he looked in it. “It’s the brace you’re going to have to wear.” Star Shine replied. “I’m going to have to wear that? Great.” Scootaloo said sarcastically. “Hey you wore Rainbow’s. This is just a different design.” Star Shine said defensively. He liked his little brace. “I guess.” Scootaloo replied, rolling her eyes. “Thanks again.” she added as they reached the bottom of the stairs. “No problem. Now let’s go get you flying.” Star Shine said. Scootaloo nodded enthusiastically and the pair hurried back outside to Rainbow Dash. Scootaloo jumped up onto Rainbow Dash’s back and told her to go down to the ground before she had time to question anything. Rainbow Dash took off and Star Shine followed her down to the ground after grabbing the measuring devices Rainbow had dropped.