//------------------------------// // Chapter 68; It IS That Easy // Story: Working Towards The Future // by Dasponi //------------------------------// The rest of the meal passed quietly. They would occasionally talk and when Star Shine was asked about the flying lessons he was giving he gave simple and non-committal answers. He didn’t want to inadvertently upset Scootaloo by talking about some foal that was a lot younger than her flying. Spending a week with him was going to be more punishing than she expected. He hoped she was flying by herself then. He wasn’t entirely sure how he was going to convince her to keep wearing the brace even after she could fly. Part of him was hoping she’d just be a bit of a speed freak like Rainbow Dash and she’d keep it on just to fly faster and faster. It was probably his best shot at it. “Hey Shine, you okay?” Rainbow Dash asked, tapping him as their desserts arrived. Scootaloo had chosen ice cream and the two adults had cake. Star Shine shook his head to pull himself together and smiled at Rainbow Dash. “Fine thanks Dashie, just thinking.” Star Shine replied. “Anything I should know about?” she asked him, hoping that he would actually stop hiding things from her and would talk about them instead. “‘Fraid not. It’s a surprise I have in store for you.” he replied. He giggled because he did actually have a surprise in store for Rainbow Dash when they got home. He had been a very busy pony with all of the time he had to himself during the day. Even when spending his time giving lessons he had two train rides in which to think and plot and plan. “Oh….looking forward to it.” Rainbow Dash replied. “Sorry about, you know, uhhh…” he began, unsure of how to phrase her apology. She hadn’t exactly doubted him. At best she had jumped to conclusions. “Don’t worry about it.” Star Shine replied quickly, before she could actually finish her apology. “I was thinking about something else too, but it’s nothing important.” he said, well aware that Scootaloo was watching the display. He could hardly say what he was thinking in front of Scootaloo and if he told Rainbow Dash that he’d tell her later then it would have probably caused unnecessary worry. Rainbow Dash might get mad at him for taking matters into his own hooves and deciding what was best, but this time he definitely felt in the right. A short time later, after everything had been eaten and paid for, the trio made their way through Canterlot and back to the train station. Star Shine couldn’t help but notice the way that Scootaloo looked at everything around her. He couldn’t blame her really. Canterlot looked incredibly beautiful, even at night. The way the light from the street lamps and the moon bounced off of the polished surfaces of the pathways and houses made it perhaps more beautiful than during the day. That you could only really appreciate the subtle beauty and graces of light during the night was another reason Star Shine loved it so much. “It’s pretty great isn’t it?” Star Shine asked, leaning down to Scootaloo. She jumped as she was so lost in her thoughts she forgot where she was and who she was with. It’s nice yeah, but there’s something about it…” Scootaloo replied, musing. Rainbow Dash looked across at her. She had looked uncomfortable before but said it was because she was worried about Star Shine and how he might react to her problems in school. “Maybe you’ll work it out when you spend some more time here.” Star Shine suggested. He was very curious about what might be bothering Scootaloo. “Yeah...maybe.” Scootaloo said quietly. “If it bothers you being here then I can come up with something else. You don’t have to come here if you don’t want to.” Star Shine offered. As curious as he was he didn’t want to make Scootaloo uncomfortable. “Nah it’s okay, I want to spend a week with you anyway.” Scootaloo replied, nuzzling up against him quickly. Rainbow Dash smiled as she watched. She was just as interested in what might be unsettling Scootaloo. She herself had never had any problems with Canterlot. It’s not like there were guards everywhere like the last time she had come for the Royal Wedding. She was quite happy to see the place looking so normal. Star Shine was about to reply when he saw that they had made it to the train station. They were ushered onto the train and made their way to a private compartment. “It’s nice you want to spend time with me Scoots, but it won’t be all fun and games you know.” Star Shine said when they were finally settled down in their seats. “You’ll be waking up before Rainbow Dash and spending a lot of time on a train on your own.” he explained. “I know, I know.” Scootaloo replied. “You gonna be okay on a train on your own?” Rainbow Dash asked. It seemed obvious Scootaloo would have to do that but it hadn’t occurred to her straight away. “I’ll be fine. I’m not a little kid.” Scootaloo replied. “You are a little kid.” Rainbow Dash countered. “You’ve just been through more than most.” Star Shine added, resting his head on the table in the compartment. “Hey you okay?” Rainbow Dash asked him. Scootaloo hopped over to him too. Any kind of annoyance at what he and Rainbow Dash had said had been replaced by worry. “I’m fine.” Star Shine grumbled, his voice muffled by the table it was on. “I’m just tired is all.” he explained. Scootaloo hopped back next to Rainbow Dash and left him be. She also decided to stay quiet and let him rest. Rainbow Dash did the same and the rest of the journey passed quietly. --- While the three Pegasi were enjoying their dinner, Diamond Tiara was sat at a writing desk in her room wondering just what to do. When she was in Rainbow Dash’s house she had glanced over the note she found and wasn’t too sure what it was. She just noticed that it was definitely written by Scootaloo and was probably something important if it was still there. She had read the first little bit and saw that it was about Scootaloo feeling useless and unable to do anything. After reading the whole thing and realising just what it was, and just what Scootaloo had done, she wasn’t sure what to do. She didn’t question that what she was doing was something she had to do, she just didn’t know what to do with the note. She didn’t really believe any of it and thought that Scootaloo was just being an attention seeker. She might have had a bit of a troubled past but Diamond Tiara was not about to beleive that she had tried to jump into the Gorge. Scootaloo must have shown it to Rainbow Dash or something and gotten a lot of sympathy. There was no way at all that Scootaloo had done something like that. She was just being an attention seeker. An attention seeker that had to be punished. After much deliberation Diamond Tiara decided to put the note away and get Silver Spoon’s opinion on it and what she should do. There were other stories she could write and if need be she could print something in both Saturday’s and Sunday’s papers. That might even be a better idea. Writing two stories in two days would really get to her. She started work on the first story she had to write. It didn’t take as long as she thought it would to write. Writing from reality made it much easier to write. Getting the stories in the paper hadn’t actually proven to be much of a problem. Her dad might have taken a much more vested interest in her life now but he hadn’t totally invaded her privacy. She was still allowed to work at the Foal Free Press as long as she stuck to her job of using the press. Her dad was impressed that she wanted to work and doubled her allowance whenever she did. The Foal Free Press was voluntary but Filthy wanted her to know the value of work. She also wasn’t watched when she was working and took a lunch she kept in her saddlebags. Saddlebags that were, thankfully, not checked. Filthy thought that was definitely a step too far and wanted Diamond Tiara to know that he was interested in her life and not trying to invade her privacy or anything. If anything he was actually a little upset she didn’t see it the way he did, and fought against him so hard. Filthy Rich himself was stood at the bottom of the stairs of his house. He looked up and saw Diamond Tiara’s room. The door was closed, like it always had been lately. He wasn’t even sure anymore when she had started shutting him out and hiding away. She was doing so much that he wasn’t even aware of. He considered going up to her room and knocking on the door, trying to speak to her, but decided against it. The distance between them was far greater than just the stairs and he knew it. It would take time to fix that broken relationship. He wasn’t even sure how to be the father he wanted to be. A good start would have been walking up those stairs but he just didn’t know it. He settled instead for going to his study, and seeing what his little princess had been up to. “She did WHAT?!” Filthy Rich exclaimed when he found out that Diamond Tiara had been to pay Rainbow Dash a visit. “How could you let that happen?!” he chastised the guard who had found her there. “I’m sorry Mr. Rich. She slipped away from me. I thought you’d be happy she wanted to help Scootaloo.” the guard replied nervously, backing away from Filthy. “Happy?! I told you to watch her, and that she wasn’t to go near those two and you tell me that not only were you NOT watching her, but she went and did the one thing I didn’t want her to do. You expect me to be happy after that?!” Filthy Rich hissed. He sat down at his desk and sighed, resting his head on his forelegs. “Why don’t you go talk to her about it?” the guard offered, risking venturing near to the desk. Filthy Rich let out another sigh. “If only it were that easy Firefly.” Filthy Rich replied dejectedly. Firefly was a little surprised that Filthy Rich had used his name. He wasn’t sure Diamond Tiara even knew it. “But it is that easy sir. Just go knock on her door and talk to her.” Firefly replied. “I talk to her just fine, why can’t you?” “I wouldn’t even know what to say to her.” Filthy replied. Firefly let out a sigh of his own. Filthy was making this a lot more complicated than it needed to be. “Thanks to us,” Firefly started, referring to himself and the other guards that had been following Diamond Tiara around, “you know a fair bit about her. Even if you didn’t then all you have to do is just talk to her.” Firefly finished before heading out of the study. Filthy Rich grumbled to himself. He didn’t need parenting advice from a guard who couldn’t even keep an eye on the pony he was supposed to be guarding.