Rainbow Dash wafted down gently on the little fluffy cloud she had selected for her nap. Her hooves touched down with a muffled ‘pomf’ and she finally allowed her wings to relax, letting out a sigh of contentment. She wasted no time fashioning the cloud into a comfortable bed and got herself ready to doze off.
Taking her first nap for the day before 8 o’clock... Most ponies would have considered that the ultimate proof of her laziness, but the truth was that Dash had woken up at dawn to practice her aerial stunts. Early morning was one of the best time for flying: the air was cool so she didn’t even sweat at all, the sky wasn’t cramped by slowpoke pegasi and if Rainbow Dash happened to miss a turn and crash (not that this was likely to happen, mind you), nopony was there to see it.
So, while most ponies were merely starting their days, Rainbow had already racked up several hours of training. Since she was off weather duty that day and didn’t need to save her strength to do her job, she had pushed herself into a nice training session. So, Rainbow was not lazing about, she had deserved that nap and was going to enjoy it.
She had barely finished fluffing her cloud and lying down when she heard a faint buzz. Not opening her eyes, she flicked her ears and swatted the air with a hoof to try and get the bug to leave her alone, but the buzzing only grew louder. With a groan, Dash opened her eyes and scanned the air for the offending insect who dared bothering her. Fluttershy might not approve, but if it didn’t leave her in peace real soon then it was getting squashed, plain and simple.
Rainbow quickly became frustrated when she was unable to find it and confused as the sound only kept growing louder. It seemed to come from the direction of Sweet Apple Acres, so she turned to face the orchards and squinted her eyes.
A little cloud of dust appeared on the road, progressively getting closer and still accompanied by the buzzing of wings.
“Scootaloo?” Rainbow asked herself.
Soon enough, she could see what seemed to be an orange and silver blur heading at breakneck speed on the road. Her wings weren’t buzzing so much as roaring, now that she was approaching Dash’s cloud. The young pegasus’s scooter looked different too, but Rainbow didn’t have time to examine it as Scootaloo passed under her, the sound of her wings dropping a few tones as she now moved away from Rainbow.
“Whoah!” Rainbow’s eyes widened, seeing the dust floating in the air where the pegasus-powered scooter passed a few seconds earlier. A grin appeared on her face, her competitive side prompting her to ignore entirely the fatigue from her earlier flying. Rainbow Dash spread her wings and jump-started so quickly that the cloud she was standing on disappeared in the air.
She pumped her wings, following the trail easily until she caught sight of the purple tail whipping in the wind at the source of the dust cloud. Rainbow accelerated, slowly gaining ground on the speeding filly, wondering since when Scootaloo was able to go this fast. Still, she was the fastest flyer in Equestria, so Rainbow didn’t have much trouble catching up.
Scootaloo disappeared.
It took Rainbow Dash a few seconds to realize that Scootaloo had made a left turn so sharp that she had left her pursuer behind, going in a straight line. Rainbow stuck her wings out and angled herself to lose speed and turn around. It only took her a few seconds to go back to the intersection where she had lost the speeding filly, but Rainbow had already lost a lot of ground.
For a split second, she thought that she might lose that race.
The Rainbow Dash losing a race?
She huffed and flapped her wings harder than ever, launching herself forward at full speed. The town houses turned into a blur as she sped along. She vaguely heard once or twice somepony yelling at her, but by the time whoever was asking her to stop had finished his sentence, she was already far away.
Her vision focused only on her target, the orange pegasus getting closer and closer. She saw her fifty meters ahead, then forty, thirty... Only a little more and–
Scootaloo stopped suddenly, forcing Rainbow to swerve at the last second to avoid crashing into her. Rainbow found herself heading straight toward a wall. She flared her left wing to change her course and narrowly avoided the house, instead heading for a cart that was parked in the street. Rainbow turned both of her wings down, changing her direction at the last second once again, going directly up this time, but not for long.
If one were to look in the sky at this moment, they would have been graced by the unusual sight of a low-hanging cloud with a blue pony’s rump sticking out of its underside, legs kicking in the air and a prismatic tail swishing about.
“Rainbow Dash?”
The voice was muffled, but Rainbow still recognized her almost-sister Scootaloo. After some wiggling and pulling, the clouded pegasus managed to free herself and glided down to the ground near her number one fan. She shook her head to get the last pieces of cloud off her mane and blew out the bits that had gotten in her mouth.
Scootaloo was watching her with a mixed expression of surprise, joy and awe (as appropriate when the best flyer in Equestria was nearby). Rainbow flashed a cocky grin. “Hey squirt! I see you’ve gotten pretty fast. Almost didn’t catch up with you... Almost.”
“You were following me? I didn’t see you there.” Scootaloo started jumping up and down in excitement, her wings fluttering by her sides. “Oh! Oh! We’ll have to do a proper race sometimes. Did you see how fast I was going?” she asked, making a sweeping motion with a hoof to illustrate her point. “And look!”
Scootaloo turned her flank towards Rainbow, who wondered what she was showing to her, until she spotted the picture of a winged wheel appearing in black and silver on the orange fur.
Rainbow smiled and looked at Scootaloo’s face, which was sporting a grin that could have made Pinkie Pie jealous.
“You got your cutie mark? Awesome!” Dash made a celebratory flip in the air and tussled the filly’s mane, making it even more disheveled than it was from wearing her helmet.
“Wait here! I gotta show my mom!” Scootaloo darted inside the house both ponies were standing in front of.
Rainbow Dash realized that this was the first time she came to Scoot’s home. She wondered what kind of pony her mother was... It was a little strange when she thought about it: Scootaloo was close to a sister to her, but they had never met each other’s actual family...
Rainbow hadn’t been paying attention to where she was going while she followed the young pegasus on the road, but now taking a look around, she recognized the style of houses from the southern edge of Ponyville.
Now, Ponyville didn’t really have a bad neighborhood, since there was barely any crime in the city at all, but the south of the town was where the cheapest houses were to be found, which in turn meant that the least fortunate ponies were basically all living here, which, in turn, did nothing to increase land prices and so on...
What appeared to be Scootaloo’s house was typical of the neighborhood: it wasn’t dirty or run-down, but it was the most basic building you could get. A single story house, with a plain greyish coat of paint, plain windows and a plain wooden door. The only things that distinguished this house from the dozen of similar ones in the street were a few potted flowers on the window sills and the “Welcome” doormat.
That and the strange contraption that Scootaloo had rode on. Now that she could observe it, Rainbow found that it didn’t look at all like her old scooter. She turned around the machine, examining it from all sides.
For starters, it had only two wheels rather than four, one on the front and the other at the rear. They were much bigger, too, about half the height of the whole machine. Between the wheels, the body of the scooter was a frame made of metallic tubes shaped more or less like a triangle. A simili-leather seat near the back and two handlebars near the front. Rainbow pushed on one, making the front wheel turn. She guessed that was supposed to steer the whole thing.
“MOOOOOOM!” Scootaloo’s shrill voice snapped Rainbow back to reality. “Mom! Come on out! I’ve got something to show you!”
Some muffled half-comprehensible muttering came back as an answer.
“Come on!” Scootaloo continued loudly. “Get up mom! It’s important!”
“Alright, stop yelling! I’m coming,” answered an annoyed voice from inside.
The orange ball of excitement came back out, almost jumping on Rainbow Dash.
“Hey! Have you seen my new ride?” she asked with the kind of proud smile Rainbow had seen countless times. In the mirror.
“Yeah,” she answered, looking back at the strange machine. “What happened to your scooter, squirt?”
“Nothing,” she answered while trotting on the other side of the contraption. “It’s at Sweet Apple Acres, but I’m not sure I’ll ride it again anyway, now that I have this baby!”
“And what is that thing exactly?”
“Scootaloo!” The two ponies jumped up at the harsh, commanding voice that came from just beyond the doorframe.
Rainbow turned and saw a charcoal-colored earth pony mare walk out of their house. She had a bright orange mane and tail, about the same hue as Scootaloo’s coat, that reminded her a lot of Spitfire’s, only shorter. “What’s all the ruckus?” she asked with a frown.
The mare turned around to look at the Ponyville tower giving Rainbow a look at her cutie mark. It looked like a pair of golden horseshoes one next to the other. The shape was a bit unusual, though.
“8:15? 8:15?!? What the f– fudge?” She walked towards Scootaloo, stomping the ground with each step. “Why’d you come and wake me up this early? And weren’t you supposed to be at Apple Bloom’s place?”
They weren’t horseshoes, Rainbow thought. She had seen these once, but struggled to remember what they were exactly...
She shivered when things clicked in her mind and she realized that Scootaloo’s mom had a pair of brass hooves for a cutie mark. Two questions quickly followed in her mind: why was she looking at Scootaloo that way and what kind of pony has 'punching' as a special talent? She may not have been very big, but she was obviously well muscled, easily on par with Applejack. Definitely not the kind of pony that anyone would want hitting them.
The orange filly deflated a little under her mother's glare, but kept smiling happily. "I'm sorry mom. But I had to show you something. Look at this!” standing on her hind legs behind the machine, she presented it with her forehooves.
Rainbow became nervous at the expression on the face of Scootaloo’s mother. It looked like she was about to bite her face off... Scootaloo, on her side, kept grinning as she showed her contraption. Dash’s eyes switched between the two ponies and she remained ready to spring into action. If that mare was going to do anything to Scootaloo, she would have to go through Rainbow first.
Her mom sat on her haunches with a sigh. “Okay,” she said, interrupted in the middle by a yawn. “What the heck is that?”
“A roadster! Well, that’s what Apple Bloom called it anyway. She built it, so I guess she gets to name it too.”
“Apple Bloom?” Rainbow and Scootaloo’s mom asked almost at the same time.
“Yeah, remember how she got a cutie mark in engineering?”
Rainbow nodded. It was about a month ago that Apple Bloom discovered her talent for design and construction. Applejack didn’t really want to admit it, but there was a good reason that the Apple family’s barns tended to fall every few weeks... Until Apple Bloom drew some actual blueprints, that is.
“Since then, she’s been studying how to make my scooter better. And safer, too. She really insisted on it having brakes, for some reason.” Scootaloo shrugged. Maybe she had so gotten used to crashing into the scenery that she considered it a normal part of driving. “But in the end, she came up with a whole new design! Isn’t it awesome?” she asked, showing the brand new roadster.
“Yeah, it’s nice,” Scoot’s mom answered flatly, “but couldn’t it wait till later?” She yawned again. “I gotta get some sleep, Scoots.” The mare turned around, heading back towards the house.
“Wait, that’s not all!” Scootaloo jumped in front of her mother, showing her brand new cutie mark.
The mare’s eyes widened slowly until they looked like two giant emeralds. “You got your cutie mark?” Scootaloo nodded with a huge grin.
“That’s wonderful, Scoots!” The filly was almost smothered by the bone-crunching hug she received.
“Mom! Too tight!”
“Oops! Sorry, Scoots,” she said as she replaced her daughter back on the ground. “I was just so excited. My little filly’s finally got her cutie mark!” Being denied her hugging, Scootaloo’s mom proceeded to batter her daughter with kisses.
“Moooooom! Stop that! Gah! Come on, not in front of Rainbow Dash!”
The mare looked at a very laughing Rainbow Dash. “Don’t mind me, keep going!” the blue mare said when she managed to catch her breath.
“See? She says it’s okay,” Scootaloo’s mom looked at her with a predatory smile.
“Noooooo!” The filly fell back on her haunches, waving her forelegs to try and keep the attacker at bay.
“Aww come on, Scoots. You’re not embarrassed by your mom, are you?”
“When you’re being all mushy like that I am!” Scootaloo answered with a frown, crossing her hooves on her chest.
“Hey, it’s not my fault you’re so f– freaking adorable!” she answered, quickly placing one last peck on her daughter's forehead. She giggled, but managed to restrain herself from doing more, even despite Scootaloo’s adorable pout. “All right, get off your butt and let me see that mark, at least.”
The filly complied quickly, with a smile on her face.
“Aw yeah, that looks bitchin’! That’s my girl.” Scootaloo's mom held a hoof near her daughter, which she promptly bumped with a grin.
“Heh. It just might be on par with my own awesomeness,” Rainbow said with a wink. Scootaloo and her shared a little laugh.
The charcoal mare turned around and sized up Rainbow with a discerning eye.
“So, I finally get to meet the Rainbow Dash, huh?”
“Oh right sorry,” Scootaloo said in a hurry, “I didn’t even introduce you two. Mom, this is Rainbow Dash. Rainbow, that’s my mom!”
“You don’t have to call me ‘mom’, though,” the mare added with a chuckle. “I’m Matchstick.”
Rainbow shook her outstretched hoof, wincing a little at the strength of her grip.
“I’ve heard a lot about you,” Matchstick said, “mostly from Scoots.”
“Heh. Only good things, I hope.”
“You have no idea,” she answered with a roll of her eyes. “So, Scoots, you got that cutie mark for driving that... uh...”
“Roadster!” Scootaloo chirped. “Here, let me show you. You’ll see, it’s awesome!”
The filly quickly strapped her helmet on and jumped on the bike in one move. Forehooves on the handlebars, her hind legs were just touching the ground, keeping her stable. With a buzz of her wings, she darted down the street and stopped a few dozen meters away and turned around, facing the two mares again.
Holding the brake command with a hoof, she flapped her wings faster and faster, raising dust behind her. When she released the brakes, Scootaloo and her roadster shot down the street like a bullet.
Rainbow and Matchstick were temporarily blinded as she rushed past them, both from the dust and their own manes being blown in their eyes. Once she reached the end of the street, Scootaloo almost threw the bike on its flank to make the sharpest turn possible and made another pass in front of the two mares, even faster than the first. Another tight U-turn later, Scootaloo came to a screeching stop in front of them, jumping off the bike and striking a pose for her audience.
Rainbow stomped her hooves and whooped in admiration of the filly’s stunts. “All right Scoots, that was awesome!”
“Are you crazy?” Matchstick screamed, the look in her eyes so angry that it bordered on murderous. “The fuck is wrong with you?”
The whole street quieted down while she glared down at her daughter. Rainbow’s voice got stuck in her throat.
Matchstick raised her furious eyes at a lone stallion who was observing her outburst with a shocked look. “What are you looking at, shithead?” she roared at him.
“No– Nothing,” he stammered, quickly deciding to trot away.
“Yeah, keep walking.”
“M– Mom?” Scootaloo asked pitifully.
“What was that, Scoots? Are you trying to kill yourself?”
Scootaloo cowered into a little orange ball on the ground, stuttering apologies. That was too much for Rainbow, who jumped in front of Matchstick and almost shoved her face in hers.
“Hey, what’s the big idea?” Rainbow yelled at her.
“Mind your own fucking business!”
Dash gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes at the aggressive mare. “I think it’s my business,” she hissed. “I may not be her real sister, but I don’t care. If you touch a single hair on her, I’ll kick your tail into next week.” She punctuated her threat by a jab of a hoof to Matchstick’s chest.
“Oh, you want a piece of me?” Matchstick raised herself on her hind legs, maintaining her balance effortlessly, while her forehooves went into a guard stance. “Come and get it, then.”
“What, you think you scare me?” Rainbow jumped on her rear legs too. She may not have the same training as the earth pony seemed to have, but with her wings to help her, standing straight wasn’t a problem. “You think you’re tough, huh?”
“I know I am,” Matchstick answered plainly.
Before she had any time to think about it, one of Matchstick’s hooves had taken a jab that stopped only a few hairs’ length short of her muzzle. Rainbow almost fell on her back when she instinctively drew her head back, staggering a couple of steps backwards to keep her balance. She gulped when she realized that she had been too slow, too: Matchstick’s hoof was already gone when Rainbow reacted. That one was only a warning.
Cold sweat started to run down her multicolored mane, but Dash shook her head and scowled in determination. For Scootaloo, she wasn’t going to back down. Matchstick kept glaring at her, clearly not intending to step down either. She had eyes that were promising efficiently delivered pain.
“Stop!”
The two mares froze at Scootaloo’s shout.
“I’m sorry, mom. I’m sorry! Just... stop!” Tears were welling up in her little purple eyes. Scootaloo started sobbing, repeating “I’m sorry”, apologizing for whatever her mother was angry about, even if she didn’t understand.
A look of horror and guilt appeared on Matchstick’s face.
“Oh no...”
She fell on all fours and shoved Rainbow out of the way without even thinking about it. “No no no no no no!” She wrapped Scootaloo in a hug and rocked her gently. “Shhh, it’s alright Scoots. Please stop crying.”
“Sorry...”
“No, no, it’s okay.” Matchstick held Scootaloo against her chest, petting her mane while Rainbow remained too dumbfounded to move.
“It’s my fault,” the mare continued. “I shouldn’t have yelled at you. You scared me, that’s all.”
Scootaloo looked into her mother’s eyes questioningly.
“I’ve seen you crash a hundred times with your scooter, kid. That was bad enough, but now that you can go ten times faster...” She squeezed the filly a little tighter. “I just don’t want you hurting yourself.”
Scootaloo hung her head sadly. “I’m sorry, mom... I– I won’t ride the roadster again...”
Matchstick hugged her tight for a moment, then took a deep breath and nuzzled her daughter. “No. Don’t say that, Scoots.”
“Mom?”
She sighed. “It’s your special talent... If you want to ride, I won’t stop you.”
“Really?”
“Yes,” she answered with a nod. Scootaloo’s smile became wider and wider.
“But!” Matchstick added quickly. “You have to be careful. First, you always wear your helmet.”
Scootaloo nodded vigorously.
“Second, no riding in the streets. It’s too dangerous, with all the ponies and carts and stuff. Okay?”
“But... Where can I go, then?”
“I don’t know... Maybe we can find a place outside of town, where there won’t be anything in the way.” Scootaloo gave a little frown at that.
“Hey,” Rainbow piped up, “I know tons of deserted places outside of town. I go there to practice all the time. No worries, squirt. I’ll show you.”
“Really?”
Rainbow nodded with a grin.
“Is that okay mom?”
“Alright. Just... Make sure there’s always somepony nearby. Just in case something happens. Okay?”
Scootaloo agreed immediately, nodding her head so hard it could have fallen off. “This is gonna be awesome! You totally have to race me, Rainbow!”
“You know I will,” she answered with a smirk. “And I’m gonna win too.”
“Oh yeah? We’ll see about that!”
Matchstick chuckled a bit. “Promise me you’ll be careful, though.”
“Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!”
“Good,” she said with a satisfied nod. “I’m sorry for yelling at you, Scoots. And I’m sorry for swearing, too.”
“Mom, I don’t care about that.”
“You should,” Matchstick said sternly. “No swearing! You’re not a punk. Understood?”
“Yes, mom.”
“Good.” She released Scootaloo from her hug, letting her stand in front of her and mussed her mane one more time. “I’m real proud of you, Scoots. Never, ever forget that, ‘kay?” The filly nodded once more with a bright grin. “Now I guess we’ll have to ask Pinkie to throw you a cuteceañara soon.” Matchstick was again interrupted by a yawn. “Not now, though. I really have to sleep.”
“Oh! Wait!” Scootaloo jumped in the air. “We have to go see dad! I‘ve got to show him my cutie mark!”
“Well, sure.” Matchstick answered.
“Can we go?”
“What, you mean right now?” She raised an eyebrow at her over enthusiastic daughter. “We can’t go today, Scoots. I have to work tonight. And I really need to rest, too.”
“But... But if we catch the first train, we can be back before you have to go to work, right?”
Matchstick shook her head. “Vigil had to take the day off, so I’m pulling a double shift today. I’m sorry, Scoots, I really can’t go today.”
Scootaloo slumped a little. “But then when? Tomorrow’s Sunday so it’s no good.”
“I know. We can go next Wednesday, I’ll have the day off and you don’t have school either, right?”
“But... But that’s like half a week away!”
“I’m sorry,” Matchstick said as she put a hoof on Scootaloo’s shoulder. “That’s the best I can do. You know how it is, the hospital has to remain open at all times so I get crappy hours too. And no, you can’t go on your own, Scoots.”
“Wait,” Rainbow interrupted, her eyes going wide as she stared at Matchstick. “You’re a doctor?”
The mare watched her with a befuddled look for a moment, until she burst into laughter. “Ha, that’s cute,” she said with a grin. Once she managed to stop her laughing, she cleared her throat and explained: “I’m a guardsmare. Same hours, much less pay.”
‘Right, that makes more sense,’ Rainbow thought.
“We have to look after the mental patients, after all. Or, you know... Anypony that might try to break in and steal slippers,” she added with a wink.
Rainbow felt her face burning. “A book!” she blurted out. “I was trying to get a book, not some silly slippers.” Matchstick only chuckled at her embarrassment.
“Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo exclaimed suddenly, jumping in the air at once.
“Huh?” the two mares said synchronously. They both stared as the filly bounced up and down the ground like an orange rubber ball.
“Rainbow Dash can take me to see dad!” she said.
“Whoa, slow down, squirt,” Rainbow answered. “I’m doing what now? And where is your dad anyway?”
“Canterlot. We can go together, right mom?”
Matchstick hesitated a little, giving an unsure look at Rainbow. “Easy there, Scoots. You can’t just tell Rainbow what to do.”
“Oh, that’s okay,” Rainbow answered. “I didn’t have much plans for today. Besides, Canterlot is like what? Two, three hours flight away? That’s nothing!” she added with a nonchalant pose, polishing one of her hooves on her chest fur.
“You’re gonna fly me there?” Scootaloo asked, amazement on her face. “Oh please mom, please say yes!”
“Scoots, don’t–”
“Pleeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaase?”
The puppy dog eyes were too much for Matchstick. She sighed in defeat and turned her eyes to Rainbow. “Sorry about this, Dash... You’re sure you don’t mind?”
“Not at all. I was going to do some exercising today anyway. Might as well go for a flight.”
“Well... Alright, then.”
“Thanks!” Scootaloo shouted while jumping on her mother’s neck to hug her. Barely a second later, she was on her bike. “Wait here, Rainbow. I’ll be right back.”
“Be care–” Matchstick started, but Scootaloo was already gone. “-ful,” she finished flatly. The mare shook her head and sighed. “I swear, that filly has too much energy for her own good.”
“No kidding,” Rainbow answered. “Sometimes it’s hard to keep up with her. I had to catch her falling from a waterfall in the middle of the night once...”
Matchstick suddenly became silent, staring at Rainbow with eyes as wide as dinner plates. Her mouth worked for a moment without any words coming out and when she found her speech again, it was still pretty limited. “You– She... You what?”
“Heh...” Rainbow laughed awkwardly. “Guess she didn’t tell you about that, huh?”
“Bu– Gah! How did that happen? Was she hurt?” Rainbow saw the fear and anxiety in her eyes.
“Don’t worry, I caught her in time. Not sure what she was doing out by herself at night, though.”
Matchstick sat on her rump, holding her head in her hooves. “She’s crazy. I’m gonna lock her inside the house, I swear!”
“Hey, relax!”
“Relax?” She raised an eyebrow at Dash. “My daughter almost got herself killed. How am I supposed to relax?”
“I’m there! I’m like her extra-awesome big sister. I’ll keep her out of trouble, don’t worry.”
Rainbow held her heroic pose, wings flared and one hoof raised while she smirked in all her awesomeness.
Matchstick wrapped an arm over her eyes and sighed slowly. “Well, I guess it’s better than nothing... Thanks,” she said with a small smile. “And uh... sorry for... earlier. I know I have a short temper, so... Yeah. Sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Rainbow shot her another cocky smirk. “Good thing you stopped though, I didn’t want to have to kick your tail.”
“Kick my tail?” Matchstick raised an eyebrow at this. “You’re lucky I didn’t rearrange your muzzle, Dash.”
“Like you could even touch me. I’m the fastest pony in Equestria, you know?”
“Hmm hmm. You keep telling yourself that,” she answered with a chuckle.
“What, you think I’m bragging?”
“Quit dreaming, Dash. You couldn’t take me on.” Matchstick flashed her a smirk of her own.
“Pah! I can take you in my sleep!” Dash jumped in the air and hovered near the charcoal mare.
“Care to put your money where your mouth is?”
Rainbow hesitated for a moment. Maybe getting into a fight with her wasn’t such a good idea. But Matchstick had an arrogant smirk that Rainbow couldn’t bear to leave alone. She thought she was better than the one and only Rainbow Dash... Unacceptable.
“What do you have in mind?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.
“You know the Horsepower Gym?” Rainbow nodded. “They have a ring and some gear you can borrow. We can have a little bout, if you think you’re up for it.”
The pegasus wasn’t feeling all that confident, considering the knowing grin on Matchstick’s face and the fact that she had no experience in boxing...
“Fine, you’re on.”
Rainbow Dash never backs down from a challenge, after all.
“Alright, it’s your funeral. Like I said, I’ll have the day off next Wednesday.”
“Sure, I’ll find some time to whoop your rump,” she concluded, attempting to convince herself at the same time. She could take that mare. Rainbow Dash was a world-class athlete who had fought Equestria’s most dangerous enemies and Matchstick was just a regular security guard. She had this in the bag.
The sound of Scootaloo returning derailed that train of thought as soon enough, the orange pegasus jumped on the ground and rushed to Rainbow.
“Alright, Rainbow. We can go!” she chirped, patting a pair of saddlebags on her back.
Rainbow Dash lowered herself on her knees and the younger pegasus quickly climbed on her back, hooking her front legs around her neck.
“Ready?” Rainbow asked, standing back up again.
“Hyah, Rainbow! To Canterlot!”
Dash gave her a flat look while Matchstick facehooved.
Scootaloo chuckled awkwardly. “Uh... Please?”
Matchstick shook her head and laughed softly. “Well, be careful you two. Rainbow Dash, you take good care of my little girl. And bring her back before night.” Rainbow gave her a salute and jumped into the air. Even with Scootaloo’s added weight, Rainbow had no trouble gaining altitude and built up speed in the direction of Canterlot.