//------------------------------// // Chapter 78; Lights // Story: Working Towards The Future // by Dasponi //------------------------------// “Why would she do that? Why would anypony do something like that?” Rainbow Dash asked. There were tears streaming down her face and she was shaking with a mixture of anger and despair. Star Shine was next to her in a heartbeat with his foreleg around her. “I don’t know why she would, but don’t worry. We’ll do something about it. Right now you need to go up to Scootaloo.” Star Shine replied. He was more angry than upset himself. Diamond Tiara hadn’t attacked him specifically and Scootaloo hadn’t attacked him. He had no real reason to be upset other than that his friends were being attacked. That made him far more angry than upset. “But...but...you heard her. She hates me now.” Rainbow Dash replied, turning into Star Shine’s chest. Star Shine nuzzled her and gently stroked her mane, comforting her. “She doesn’t, she’s just really upset. You’ll be able to calm her down again.” Star Shine explained. “What...what about you? What are you going to do?” Rainbow Dash asked. She had never seen Star Shine so angry and had no idea what he could and might do in this state. “I’m going to find that stupid little witch and reduce her to a fine dust.” Star Shine threatened, bringing his other foreleg around Rainbow Dash and clopping his hooves together. “She’s gone too far this time.” “No don’t do that! That won’t help anything and it’ll just make things worse!” Rainbow Dash replied, squeezing Star Shine tight to try and calm him down. “I need you here, and going after her won’t fix anything. Please...stay here. Please.” Rainbow Dash pleaded, crying again. Star Shine let out a sigh and kept his calm. He returned the hug and nuzzled Rainbow Dash. “I won’t go after Diamond Tiara, but I do still need to go out.” Star Shine replied, releasing the hug and heading for the door. “Where are you going?” Rainbow Dash asked, reaching out for him. “I’m going to get your friends and take them to the library. We’re going to do something about this.” Star Shine explained. He ran over to Rainbow Dash and gave her another hug. “Trust me, Scootaloo will be fine. She just needs you to go calm her down.” he told her. “How can I calm her down? She’s so mad. Not just at Diamond Tiara but at me too!” Rainbow Dash said dejectedly. “Kids say things like that all the time.” Star Shine reassured her. “How would your mum calm you down when you got upset?” he asked her. Rainbow Dash thought about it for a second, calming down again and smiling when she thought about it. “Usually she’d sing to me.” Rainbow Dash said, her smile growing bigger. “Then go sing to her.” Star Shine suggested, smiling at Rainbow Dash. “But, what would I even sing?” Rainbow Dash asked, wracking her brains for something to sing. “Just sing whatever comes to mind. Or what it was that your mum would sing.” Star Shine said. Rainbow Dash nodded. She gave Star Shine one last hug and headed for the stairs. “Good luck, I’ll see you soon.” Star Shine said before heading to the front door. “Good luck to you too. You have any ideas?” Rainbow Dash asked. She couldn’t think of any herself. Her mind was just too occupied with thoughts of Scootaloo. She had just been too distraught to really think of anything. “I’m not sure, but we’ll think of something. You stay here with Scootaloo and I’ll be back soon.” Star Shine said. His own mind had been fluctuating and he’d been having trouble focusing. He was normally an ideas guy and had some good ideas. Diamond Tiara had really done a number on all of their psyches. He gave Rainbow Dash one last nod and headed out the door. Rainbow Dash turned and headed up the stairs. She stopped outside Scootaloo’s door, mentally preparing herself for what she was about to see in there. She breathed deeply and pushed open the door. It was as bad as she was expecting. Scootaloo was curled up on her bed, still crying heavily. She didn’t even notice Rainbow Dash come in. She did look up when she felt the shift as Rainbow Dash sat down on the bed next to her. Scootaloo looked at her and stopped crying, her tears replaced by anger again. “What do you want?” Scootaloo asked angrily. Rainbow Dash fidgeted and looked down at the floor. It was one thing to say she was going to try and calm Scootaloo down, and it was a whole other thing to actually face the reality that right now Scootaloo was incredibly mad at her. “I...I…” Rainbow Dash began. Scootaloo went back to burying her face in her mattress, not even wanting to look at Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash sighed, and began singing gently. The only song that she could think of was the one that Star Shine had played for her. It was a love song more than anything, but there were some lyrics that were pretty appropriate to her current situation. I've been watching you stumble Through the darkest night Let me tell you It's gonna be alright I can see you've been trying but Your wings got clipped Been waiting in line but Your turn got skipped I'll be there when you need me I'll be there when you call Yeah I'll be there to catch you when you fall Know that I'll never leave you Out here on your own I'll be the lights that guide you home There was more to the song but that was all that was really appropriate. Rainbow Dash was singing softly with her eyes closed and both heard and felt Scootaloo shift while she was singing. She opened her eyes to find Scootaloo was curled up against her and, most shocking of all, was smiling again. “I’m sorry for saying I hate you.” Scootaloo muttered. She was crying again. Now it was more because of what she had done than what anypony else had done. “I got so mad I...well...it wasn’t your fault.” she added, not entirely sure how to phrase her apology. Rainbow Dash put a foreleg around and her and held her close. “Don’t worry about it. I probably should have gotten rid of that note.” Rainbow Dash replied. She lowered herself down on to the bed properly and Scootaloo huddled up against her. “Maybe, but she shouldn’t have come in here, or taken it.” Scootaloo admitted. “And I shouldn’t have gotten mad like that.” she added, apologising again. “I told you it’s okay.” Rainbow Dash said, nuzzling Scootaloo. “I got mad too, and so did Star Shine. I’ve never seen him that angry.” “Where is he anyway?” Scootaloo asked, looking up at Rainbow Dash. “I thought he’d come up with you.” “He’s gone out. He’s going to get Twilight and everypony else and they’re going to do something about all this. Something that hopefully doesn’t involve pulverizing Diamond Tiara.” Rainbow Dash replied. Scootaloo shivered at just the mention of the name Diamond Tiara. “She probably deserves it.” Scootaloo said, rolling her eyes. Rainbow Dash giggled at her. It felt good to let some of the tension out. “Maybe, but it wouldn’t be a good thing. Let’s not turn Star Shine into a murderer okay?” Rainbow Dash said, still giggling a little. “Yeah yeah, I guess so. It would be kinda bad.” Scootaloo relented. It would have only ended badly for them. “Can we just hurt her a bit though?” Scootaloo asked, far too happy given what she had actually asked. “That would still be pretty bad. I’m sure Star Shine and the girls will think of something.” Rainbow Dash replied. She couldn’t help but giggle at the thought of Diamond Tiara getting some actual punishment for once. “I suppose we could hit her with a storm cloud again if we got the chance.” Rainbow Dash relented. Scootaloo laughed at the memory of Diamond Tiara after they had shocked her, with her mane all frizzy and slightly blackened. “Do you think we could move? We can start again some other place.” Scootaloo asked after a comfortable silence. Moving certainly would have been one option. The Ponyville Times probably didn’t actually get much further than Ponyville itself. There was a very strong possibility that Equestria at large was not at all aware about anything that was happening. Ponyville was a pretty small place. At least compared to the grandeur of Canterlot. “If we really had to.” Rainbow Dash replied. “But only if we really, really have to. It’s not fair that we’d have to go when she was the one who did this. All our friends are here too.” she added. “Besides where would we go?” she asked. “We could go to Canterlot. I bet Star Shine can afford it.” Scootaloo offered. Rainbow Dash thought about it for a minute and shook her head. “You’re not comfortable in Canterlot. We couldn’t stay there.” she replied. Scootaloo sighed, knowing it was true. She wished she knew what it was about Canterlot that made her so uncomfortable. She didn’t even realise she had a problem with the place until she actually went there. Something about the place just reminded her of things she didn’t want to be reminded of. “What about Trottingham? We could go live with Star Shine.” Scootaloo offered. It was another good suggestion but once again Rainbow Dash shook her head. “That’s way too far away and besides, he doesn’t even have much of a home there. It’s probably about the size of the..clubhouse.” Rainbow Dash said, slowing down as she realised what she had said. Scootaloo shivered. “Yeah, let’s not live there.” Scootaloo said, laughing weakly to try and dispel the bad memories of living in the clubhouse. “We’re going to live right here. I’m not gonna let her take me away from the ponies that I love. I refuse to let her win.” Rainbow Dash declared. “Yeah, besides I like living here. I’ve had a lot of fun in Ponyville.” Scootaloo replied. “That’s right, and I’m sure the town won’t abandon you yet.” Rainbow Dash said, gently stroking Scootaloo’s mane again. The two sat together and waited to see what Star Shine could and would do. They had managed to lift eachother’s spirits up a little and had been cheered up enough to hope. Hope was, after all, the worst thing one could lose. Even in their wildest dreams they probably couldn’t have imagined what Star Shine was getting up to, and what together he and their friends would manage to accomplish.