//------------------------------// // Part 4 // Story: Change in Plans // by jessekruz //------------------------------// "That was especially good today, Spike. Did you try something new with the hay fries?” Twilight asked politely as she savored the last bite of her meal. “Thanks! And yeah, I found a new recipe for the hay fries in one of the cook books we just got in.” Spike replied, smiling at the compliment. “That explains it. Well, Spike, in order to thank you for such a good meal, I’ll take care of the dishes tonight.” she said as she began to levitate the dishes over to the sink. “Alright. Thanks, Twilight!” Spike grinned. He then burped up a fireball with a letter materializing in its wake. Spike grabbed the letter before it fell to the ground. “It’s a letter from Princess Celestia.” “Oh! Give it here,” Twilight changed her magic's focus to the letter, and in the process spilled water everywhere as the plates fell into the sink. “Spike, do me a favor and clean the dishes this time. I have to see what the princess wrote.” “Fine, just leave me to clean up this mess...” Spike complained in an annoyed tone. “Thanks, Spike. I owe you for this.” Twilight said, running out of the room and into her main study. When She sat down and levitated the letter to the desk, opening it easily. “Okay, let’s see what the princess found out about little Scootaloo...” Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle, What you have brought to my attention is an interesting case, but I will not be able to answer all of the questions you have for me through a letter. I would like to request for you to come back to Canterlot for a short amount of time so that I can explain some of this in greater depth. I will send my royal guards over to pick you up tomorrow around noon. I would advise you to pack enough things for a few days. Now onto the next part of your letter. I was able to find some information on Scootaloo, but it honestly is a bit disheartening. From the records that I have been able to get a hold of on her, it appears that she was born at the Cloudsdale hospital. On the day of her birth, her records show that she had the exact same disease that you diagnosed her with, but the head doctor at the time was called away for an emergency and was unable to do the surgery. After that the details get a bit hazy, and the parents never came back for their one-month check up. But knowing that Scootaloo lives near you and that she had that disease I contacted the Ponyville Orphanage. I was hoping that I wouldn’t find her there, but unfortunately I did. They gave me their records for Scootaloo, and I learned that an anonymous pony had dropped her off there about two days after her birth. Other than that, there wasn’t too much about her. Apparently the orphanage had taken her to a doctor that misdiagnosed her as a healthy foal, so they had no idea that she had the disease. Now the last thing that I learned about her was that during Scootaloo’s stay at the orphanage, only one pony tried to adopt her. That pony was none other than your friend and one of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, Rainbow Dash. However, the adoption didn’t work out because Scootaloo was unable to live at Rainbow Dash's house. The reason being that on the day of the adoption, Rainbow Dash had flown Scootaloo to her house and as soon as Scootaloo hopped off of Rainbow Dash's back and onto the clouds, Scootaloo fell through. Luckily, Rainbow Dash was fast enough to fly down and catch Scootaloo before she hit the ground. After that incident, Rainbow Dash took Scootaloo to the hospital to see what was wrong and they found out exactly what you did yesterday. One last thing about that: it appears to have happened a couple of weeks before the Equestrian Games inspector came to the Crystal Empire. Now before I end this letter, I would like to advise you to go visit Rainbow Dash to see what she has to say on Scootaloo, and I would also like you to tell her what you have learned about little Scootaloo. Sincerely, Princess Celestia The implication of the letter left Twilight perplexed. She couldn’t believe that Rainbow Dash had tried to adopt Scootaloo without letting anypony know about it. Also, she couldn’t figure out why the princess would need her to actually come up to Canterlot; she didn't see how a spell could be that difficult. Still, Twilight decided the best thing to do would be to talk to Rainbow Dash and get to the bottom of what happened with Scootaloo. Now with the thought of talking to Rainbow Dash on her mind, Twilight trotted to the door. “Spike, I'm going to need you to do me another favor. I need you to pack me a suitcase for a couple of days. Princess Celestia requested for me to come up to Canterlot and I will be leaving at noon tomorrow.” “What?! Why would Princess Celestia need you up in Canterlot when we just got home from there a couple of days ago?” Spike asked with surprise and annoyance in his tone. “Spike, you know that I am a princess now and I have certain duties that I have to uphold. So if Princess Celestia wants me to come to Canterlot I have to listen; it's my duty as a princess.” Twilight said, doing her best to act the part as princess. “Alright, I understand... Will I be going too?” Spike questioned curiously. “Unfortunately, no. Princess Celestia requested it just be me.” “Okay...” Spike sighed, slightly disappointed. “I’ll pack for you after I finish cleaning up the rest of the kitchen.” “Thank you, Spike. This is why you are my number one assistant. Well, I have to go get some supplies, so if you don’t mind I'll be back in a little bit.” “Fine, just leave me here to finish all the chores by myself. I'm going to have so much fun.” he commented sarcastically. “Thanks again, Spike.” Twilight said as she made her way out of the library. Finally out of the house, Twilight made her way towards Rainbow Dash’s home, hoping that she'd be there. As Twilight got closer, she remembered just how high up Rainbow Dash’s house actually was. So instead of even attempting to fly up herself, Twilight teleported up to the porch of Rainbow Dash’s cloud home. Twilight, assuming that Rainbow Dash was home, began to knock on the door. Within a couple of seconds she heard a shout from inside saying, “I’ll be there in a minute! You don’t have to keep knocking." Then, a few moments later, Rainbow Dash had opened the door. “Hey, Twilight! What are you doing here? I thought you were taking the rest of the day off! How did you even get up here?” “First of all, I have magic, remember?” Twilight replied rather bluntly. “Oh, right...” Rainbow Dash scratched the back of her head, realizing her mistake. “Second, I'm not here to have any more lessons; I came here to talk to you about something else.” Twilight tried to keep her expression passive. “Okay, what’s up?” Rainbow Dash asked nervously, unsure of what Twilight could want. Her wings twitched restlessly at her sides. “Would you mind if I came in first? I'm still sore from crashing during the lessons.” “Sure, come right on in.” She stepped aside. “Thanks,” Twilight smiled weakly as she made her way over to the living room couch. “...Alright, Rainbow Dash, I just have a few questions about you and Scootaloo.” “Like what?” Rainbow Dash was still anxious to hear more, uncertain about what Twilight was going to say next. She remained standing in front of her friend. “First, I want to know why you hid the fact that you tried to adopt Scootaloo.” Twilight stared pointedly at Dash, getting right to the point. She watched as the Pegasus gulped. “I-I don’t know what you're talking about. I never tried to adopt Scootaloo; I mean, she's a great little filly and like a little sister to me, but I never tried to adopt her.” “Rainbow, I know that you did. Princess Celestia told me herself.” “Why would Princess Celestia know about me trying to adopt Scootaloo?” “She was getting some information for me on Scootaloo.” “Wait, why were you trying to get information on Scootaloo?!” “That doesn’t matter right now; I'll tell you after you answer my question.” “No! I won’t answer until you tell me why you were snooping on my and Scootaloo's business!” Her wings flared out aggressively and she glared at the sitting Alicorn. "It wasn't snooping! But I know how stubborn you get and it isn’t even worth the trouble to argue with you. Yesterday, I noticed that I had never seen Scootaloo fly. I thought that was odd so I did some research on what could have caused something like that. I ended up finding out that Scootaloo has a rare Pegasus disease. I learned that there was only one cure and it could only be done by an Alicorn. Unfortunately, the page of the book detailing the procedure was ripped out so I couldn’t figure out how it was done. Since I couldn’t find anything, I sent Princess Celestia a letter asking if she could give me any information pertaining to Scootaloo. When I received a response this morning I learned that Scootaloo did have the disease that I had originally diagnosed her with and that you had tried to adopt her, but couldn’t because she was unable to walk on your cloud home.” “Wait, there's a cure for Scootaloo’s disease?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed excitedly, ignoring everything else she'd just heard Twilight say. Her bad mood a few seconds ago seemed to alleviate completely, leaving her with perked ears and curious eyes. “Yes, and I'm going to be meeting Princess Celestia tomorrow to discuss the cure since it wasn’t in the book.” “Really?! That's amazing! Do you really think you could be able to cure Scootaloo?" “I hope so... Anyway, I want to know why you didn’t tell any of your friends about your trying to adopt Scootaloo.” “Well, basically I wasn’t sure if the orphanage that Scootaloo was staying at would let me adopt her. I wanted to wait until after it was official to tell all of you about it, in case it didn't work out. However, the first trial day of her staying with me... well, you know what happened. The orphanage gave me the option to move to the ground, but I didn’t, and still don't, have enough bits to get a new house, so I wasn't able to adopt Scootaloo.” Rainbow Dash said with a quiver in her voice. It was obvious she was still affected by the experience, but was trying to hold herself together so she wouldn’t ruin her "tough" image. “I am so sorry, Dash... Why didn’t you come to us? We could've tried to help you; maybe we could've helped you raise enough bits to help pay for a new house.” “I just didn’t have it in me to tell any of you.” “I understand, Rainbow Dash, but you do know that your friends will always be there for you.” “Yeah, I know... Thanks, Twi.” “If you don’t mind, I have one more question. How much would it mean to you if Scootaloo was able to fly?” “Ever since me and Scootaloo went camping with Rarity, Applejack and the rest of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, she's been like a little sister to me. She told me about where she lived and I knew that I couldn’t let her stay there anymore, so I asked her if she wanted to live with me; it was the happiest I had ever seen her. When we realized she couldn't live with me, I felt horrible. If she had the ability to fly and she could live with me, I know that it would be the coolest thing that has ever happened to me, and I'm sure it'd mean a lot to Scootaloo.” The Pegasus hadn't hesitated once and her voice, thick with feeling, resonated throughout the entire room with devotion. There was no doubt in her mind. “Thank you for telling me that, Rainbow. I know how hard it is for you to open up,” Twilight smiled as she gave Rainbow Dash a hug. “Okay, okay, that's enough... I can’t handle all this lovey-dovey stuff.” Rainbow Dash coughed, reverting back to her normal self as she pushed Twilight away. “Alright, well, I have to get going; Spike thinks I'm just getting supplies for my trip to the castle. Oh, I almost forgot: I won’t be at practice for the next couple of days since I'll be in Canterlot." “Duh. You said you were going to meet with Princess Celestia; I didn’t think she would come down to Ponyville just to tell you about a spell.” “Oh, yeah... I have to get going. See you later, Rainbow Dash.” Twilight nodded to her friend before making her way out the door. “See ya.” Rainbow Dash gave her a half-smirk, shutting the door behind Twilight. After Rainbow Dash had disappeared into her home, Twilight made her way down a path to the edge of the cloud. “I wonder if I could just glide down... I know that I failed earlier, but it may be worth a shot,” Twilight thought aloud to herself. Thinking that she would be able to succeed this time, Twilight jumped from the cloud and unfurled her wings smoothly. As soon as her wings were spread, she'd caught onto the air and glided for a bit, but that didn't last long. She soon lost her balance again and began to fall towards the ground. Thinking quickly, Twilight teleported to the ground, allowing her to escape unscathed. “Well... That could have gone better. I really thought I had it there for a second. At least I didn’t land on my back this time.” Twilight grimaced. Not bothering to dwell on her most recent failure, Twilight made her way back to Ponyville to actually get some supplies. Once she was done with her shopping, Twilight made her way back to the library. Without knocking, the Alicorn opened the door and shouted inside, “Spike, I’m back!” “Hey, Twilight! What took you so long? I didn’t think it would take that long to get supplies.” Spike watched her with a mixture of curiosity and suspicion dancing in his eyes. “The Quill and Sofa Shop was closed, so I had to go to the other side of town to get more quills.” Twilight replied, telling half of the truth. “Okay, but I still don’t think it would take that long... I guess it doesn't matter. Anyway, I finished the kitchen and was just about to start packing for you. But now that you're here, it would be nice to get some help to pack your stuff.” Spike commented, hoping Twilight would help him with the work. “Sure, Spike,” Twilight answered as she levitated some of the items that she'd just purchased out of the bags. “Thanks, Twilight...” Spike grinned. He was happy to finally get some help.