A/N: Ummm...yeah, sorry about the wait. Kind of have been getting my flank kicked in school recently by classes and other things, so writing has been a bit difficult. Also came to the realization last night I might have diabetes...gonna get that looked into, but it’d explain a lot actually.
Thank you for everyone who has been supporting this story so far, and I hope to hear from you in the comments after the chapter to know what you thought! I also have some other stories you may like, so check out my profile if you like my style! Thank you, and enjoy!
It was with a long groan that Rainbow Dash looked over her completely totaled living room before turning to the cause of said mess. Or, rather, causes.
“Now what have we learned?”
“Sweetie Belle should’n do magic?” Apple Bloom offered as a solution.
“Hey!” her friend complained from beside her, her normally white horn displaying black burn marks at the tip.
Rainbow turned to the one she would likely have to talk to more later after the other two were picked up by their sisters, “Scootaloo.”
The orange filly bit her lip as she tried to come up with an important life lesson learned, “Suffering is magic?” Rainbow rolled her eyes, causing Scootaloo to try again, “Suffering is caused by magic?”
“Uhhhh…closer...” Rainbow was looking for something more along the lines of ‘Do not have the untrained Unicorn filly try levitating something that can explode’, but she could let Soarin handle that specification later. For now she just needed to make sure things did not get worse.
Apple Bloom piped up again, “At least Sweetie did’n get into the fireworks this time.”
“No fair! You used the codeword, so I launched them!” Sweetie Belle complained at her Earth Pony friend who was recounting that time they (or rather, she) launched a pile of fireworks for no good reason and burned down not only a shop, but also the gazebo Big Mac had been working on.
Whatever were they going to do with these three?
As the two continued to bicker, Rainbow Dash tried to interject, “This isn’t going anywhere, is it?” her words fell upon deaf ears and the two continued to argue, it now escalating to the point where hooves were flying and the two fillies began to tumble around on the ground as Scootaloo nervously watched them.
Rainbow Dash was not about to pry them apart, having been quite fond of solving things with her own hooves at the same age and never really having gotten beyond that point.
“When Soarin is back and can look after Scootaloo I’m going to bring you two home, okay?”
That sounds responsible, right? Rainbow tried to reassure herself of that just before the tumbling ball of flying hooves rumbled past her and collided with her side on the way.
Rainbow rubbed her hoof and winced as the fillies continued their brawl across the room. Why couldn’t they just have a book on this sort of thing? She was beginning to question whether she should intervene or not.
The sound of something breaking behind the Pegasus made Rainbow groan and shake her head, not feeling up to this.
“Soarin, where the Discord are you?”
Warm pie in satchel, Soarin was leaving Sugarcube Corner at that same moment when his eyes caught sight of something interesting. There were many ponies who looked alike in his experience, and this old friend happened to be one of them, but Soarin always prided himself in being able to know him at first glance...sixty percent of the time.
“Hey, Caramel! It’s me, Soarin, man!”
Across the street an orange pony with a brown mane turned to face Soarin with an ecstatic grin, his old friend’s voice immediately catching his attention.
“Soarin! What are you doing here?” Caramel asked as the two approached one another, meeting halfway through the street.
Soarin blushed as he thought about this little detour and how he should of been at Rainbow’s house a good half hour ago, but the promise of warm pie kept him waiting at Sugarcube Corner, “I’m visiting my marefriend right now, but I stopped to bring home some pie. How have you been?”
“I guess I’ve been doing well. Broke up with my ex-marefriend a bit ago when Ponyville got all wonky, but I’d say I’m good beyond that!” Caramel stated in a chipper voice, referring back to that one time that everypony in Ponyville hated eachother.
The idea of a breakup made Soarin a bit nervous. He knew he was engaged with Rainbow and all, but things did go sour in some relationships. He was determined to make sure that didn’t happen to him, as he was quite accustomed to how things were and wanted them to stay that way.
Soarin gave his friend a reassuring look, “Sorry about your break up, but I’m glad you’re doing better nowadays!”
Caramel shrugged before giving Soarin a light punch on the shoulder, “So, back to you, I couldn’t believe it when I heard you were a Wonderbolt! Shy Soarin, a Wonderbolt? That’s just so awesome!”
Soarin blushed. He was also accustomed to being given high praise, being a celebrity and all, but he tended to block it out given his general humility. Hearing it from an old friend though just made him plain bashful though, “It’s nothing all that special. Everypony is great at something, I’m just skilled at flying.”
“Hey, it’s better than being a farmhand in my book,” Caramel’s eyes quickly darted around the moment he finished saying that, “Not that I don’t love my job! Celestia, AJ better not have heard that…”
“AJ?” Soarin wracked his brain for a moment before remembering who that was, “Oh, is that the orange mare who’s Apple Bloom’s mom?”
“Sister, actually,” Caramel corrected with a weak laugh.
Soarin shrugged, “Messed that up the other day too...hopefully I learn before I run into her again! She’s good friends with Rainbow and I don’t want to make her mad.”
Caramel blinked, “Wait, you’re dating Rainbow Dash?"
The Wonderbolt questioned whether he should add that he was now engaged to Rainbow as well, but seeing as how he hadn’t talked with her about telling other ponies he decided to keep it under wraps, “Yeah, I guess you could call it that. Been awhile now too, actually. You know her?”
Caramel nodded his head with a grin, “She’s friends with my neighbor, Rarity-”
Soarin was sure he remembered this one, “The prissy but otherwise nice marshmallow?”
That seemed like an apt description to Caramel, who laughed, “That’s the one! But yeah, I’ve heard quite a bit about Rainbow. She’s become quite the celebrity in fact these past couple years! Always could see her sleeping around town before, but now everybody notices her!”
Soarin blinked, “Sleeping around town?”
Caramel nodded once again, “Yeah, you can find her on just about any of the clouds you see around town one day or the other!”
He didn’t seem to notice Soarin letting out a breath of relief as he continued, “So, you said you’re going over to her house now? I wouldn’t want to keep you! I should be heading back to Sweet Apple Acres myself...AJ hates it when I take too long!”
Soarin smiled to him and waved as he spread his wings to fly, “Have fun with that! It was nice seeing you man!”
He had no idea about what his little detour had led to.
“Honey?”
“Yes?”
“Why is everything broken?”
Soarin placed his still warm pies down on the only table in the living room not upturned or scorched, his face confused and worried. Rainbow Dash was in another room with the fillies from before, although Scootaloo had come to greet him at the door and was trailing behind Soarin.
“Hold that thought, you can talk with Scootaloo about it. I’m going to go drop off Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, okay? Be right back.”
Soarin turned to say goodbye, but Rainbow Dash whisked out the door with two fillies still trying to grab one another in her hooves. Soarin rose an eyebrow before looking down to Scootaloo.
“So...interesting day?”
She shrugged, not meeting his eyes, “Kinda. Didn’t know horns could spark and kinda catch fire before.”
Soarin nodded to that, also not having known that, before trying to piece together just what happened in the room. After a moment he decided a different question was in order, “Everpony okay?”
Scootaloo sighed, “Yeah. Sweetie just should put some ice on it and she should be fine. And Apple Bloom will need some on her eye from where she got hit.”
“What’s the matter?” Soarin bent down a bit so that he was at Scootaloo’s level, making it harder for her to look away from him.
The filly sniffed as she tried to not cry, keeping a neutral face on but failing to fool Soarin, “Mom-Rainbow’s not very happy. We kind of wrecked the place.”
Soarin leant his head forward and rubbed it against hers, nuzzling her forehead softly, “It’s okay Scootaloo. Accidents happen after all.”
Scootaloo reached her hooves forward to hug Soarin and he did the same, their embrace lasting just long enough for Rainbow Dash to zoom back into the house.
Rainbow dashed into the broken living room with a nervous smile, “Hey, sorry ‘bout that. Kind of wanted them to stop arguing.”
Soarin chuckled before nodding over to the pie in the room, “Pie?”
Rainbow shrugged, “Sure,” she looked down to Scootaloo, “Hey Scoots, can Soarin and I talk for a moment?”
Scootaloo nodded, not moving at all from the fuzzy light blue chest she was up against, “Sure.”
Her caretaker rolled her eyes, “I meant alone.”
The filly gave a nervous laugh as she exited the hug and scampered out of the room, “Oh, haha, of course. Totally knew what you meant.”
Soarin bit his lip as Rainbow looked to him, not sure what she wanted to say, “You’re not mad at me for being late, are you?”
“Only a little,” she pecked him on the face and giggled, “You can make it up to me after I carry you out of the wedding bridal style.”
Soarin laughed at the possibly-not-a-joke, “So, we going to announce it to your friends or-”
Rainbow Dash guffawed and shook her head no, “I rather not have them know just yet. Rarity will overreact and make it into some big production, Twilight will likely read everything there is on the subject matter and on you-”
Her fiance cut her off to clarify something, “Twilight, the unicorn with wings?”
“Yeah, that’s her!” Rainbow affirmed energetically before continuing with a deep breath, “But yeah, I’d rather hold off on them knowing for now. After all, we’re the only ones who need to know right now, right?”
“I guess-”
Soarin was the one cut off this time as an idea struck Rainbow Dash, “Hey, I think I should introduce you to my other friends! You’ve met them all except for Fluttershy and Twilight, so how about you meet them too?”
He supposed that such a thing would not be a bad thing, but the idea of meeting royalty unnerved him a bit, “Sounds like a good idea, I think?”
Rainbow nudged him gently as she spoke in an amused voice, “Oh come on, they aren’t all that bad. Fluttershy might duck for cover when she sees someone new, and Twilight might lecture you a bit but I doubt she’ll be that boring.”
Soarin lifted an eyebrow, “Princess Twilight lectures ponies?”
Rainbow scoffed“It’s what she’s best at. She’s a bit of an egghead after all.”
He stuck his tongue out at his avid reader, “Like a dragon calling a diamond dog greedy.”
“Hey!” she complained, only for Soarin to stick out his tongue again.
He laughed as she tried to grab the tongue with her hooves, “What? It’s true.”
Rainbow’s mood took a turn for the worst as something came to mind, her shoulders sagging as she spoke, “You know, I wish it’d rub off on Scootaloo...she’s barely doing better than me when I was in school.”
“Hmmm,” Soarin tried thinking about the issue. He hadn’t heard about this previously, not that Scootaloo had many chances to get report cards in the time he’d have been interested.
That said, the former academic was now very interested in Scootaloo’s learning, especially since his special somepony was not exactly an expert in the ways of studying, “Maybe having a dropout as an idol could have an effect on her desire to study.”
“Hey!” Rainbow Dash complained with a jab to his chest, Soarin snickering as he sidestepped it.
“Just saying that it is a possibility. How about I see if I can help her?”
Rainbow Dash lunged at him again, but this time it was to steal a kiss.
Having him and Scootaloo both made Rainbow quite sure there were not many luckier mares out there. Not everypony wished to be a princess after all. Some just were happy to have others to be with.
The three Pegasi were working on cleaning the broken and burnt living room when a polite knock on the front door caught all of their attentions.
“Who is it?” Rainbow called, only to receive no response. She gave Soarin a glance, seeing if he knew anypony that was coming over, but he shook his head no. The two left the living room, and the cleaning, to Scootaloo as the went to the door.
Rainbow opened the door to find a familiar face there.
Dressed in his same black suit was All Thread, who bowed to the mare in front of him, “Greetings miss Dash. I hope that I have not come at a bad time.”
Rainbow gave him an odd look, unsure as to why he was there, but opened the door fully for him to enter anyways, “No, not at all. Come on in.”
Soarin gave his family’s butler a curious look, not sure why he was there either, “What’s up, Alth?”
“I was in the area and decided to pay you a visit,” the stallion took a breath of the house’s air before continuing, “I take it there has been a fire of sorts?”
“Kinda, but-” Rainbow started, only to be cut off by All Thread heading directly to the living room.
“It will be handled.”
The two adults followed after him into the living room, where Scootaloo continued trying to sweep up soot and dust. The butler stopped in the room at the sight of Scootaloo, who similarly stopped what she was doing to look at him.
Soarin felt the need to introduce the two, seeing as they had not had the chance to meet yet, “Scootaloo, this is All Thread. He’s my family’s head butler.”
Scootaloo’s eyes grew to the size of dinner plates, “A butler? Your family has butlers? That’s awesome!”
Soarin gave a nervous chuckle as he thought about his family, “Alth, this is Scootaloo. Rainbow and I adopted her awhile back.”
All Thread bowed to the new addition to his master’s family, “It is a pleasure to meet you, miss Scootaloo.”
The pleasantries over, Soarin tried to stop All Thread from grabbing Scootaloo’s dropped broom and tray in vain as the butler scooped them up, “Now Alth, you don’t have to clean here. It’s really okay-”
The butler instantly got to work, simultaneously speaking in a polite but reprimanding tone to Soarin, “Master Soarin, you once tried to convince me you could clean a dining room by yourself to celebrate your parents anniversary. It happens to be the only time my job has ever been threatened because of how terrible it looked afterwards.”
Rainbow laughed at her special somepony as he blushed and thanked the stallion, “Point taken. Thank you Alth.”
All Thread looked to Scootaloo as she stood in his path of cleaning and gave her a small smile, “Young lady, you may go about your business. I can handle this myself, so you need not worry yourself on my account.”
Like music to her ears Scootaloo would swear, and the young filly dashed off out of the room to go do filly things, “Thanks mister!”
Soarin gave a nervous laugh as he watched Alth go about cleaning at a faster and more efficient rate than all three of them had been going together, “I’d offer to help if I wouldn’t get in the way.”
The butler nodded to him as he continued to work, “The would-be offer is appreciated, sir.”
Just as suddenly as the guest had arrived, he fulfilled his duty and left, even turning down offers of eating with them and taking some pie back with him. Soarin was quite sure he knew no more humble a pony than All Thread, and was grateful that at least somepony was sane in that manor back home.
As the day went on, Soarin decided he best enact that plan he mentioned to Rainbow earlier about helping Scootaloo with her work. He found her in her room, eyes glued to a television set where a movie was playing on the screen.
Soarin knocked on her door before entering, giving a large smile to the filly, “So, Scootaloo, what’s up?”
Scootaloo barely even looked to him as the movie continued, the filly completely absorbed into the events on it, “Watching a movie.”
Soarin sat down beside her on her bed, quickly admiring the Rainbow Dash style sheets, and noticed that he had seen the movie before, “I like a lot of the Marevel films.”
The movie, Thor, was having an action scene playing out which was what was capturing Scootaloo’s nigh-undivided attention, “This one has my favorite characters. Prince Loki is so much like Princess Luna, who is so much more awesome than Princess Celestia.”
Soarin took a moment to think about what she said before realizing that he agreed with her, “You know, they are a bit similar. Jealousy issues, older siblings people like better, falling from grace in an attempt to get respect...odd, huh?”
“They should totally get married after he gets out of prison,” Scootaloo replied deadpan, apparently shipping her princess with the movie’s prince.
Soarin rubbed her head affectionately as he laughed, “Fictional characters can’t get married to ponies, silly,” he noticed that this scene was only at an early part of the movie given its setting, but he was fine waiting to do what he came to do, “Now, when it’s over I want to talk to you about your schoolwork.”
That got Scootaloo’s attention away from the screen, her voice panicked, “Please don’t get mad. I don’t wanna fall asleep, but Miss Cheerilee’s so boring-”
Soarin shook his head to stop her, “I’m not mad at all. I didn’t do too well in school for years when I had some things going on in my life, and I had things infinitely easier than you. I just want to help you, okay?” he wrapped a hoof around her and pulled the filly in to a hug, which she quickly returned.
The fear quickly faded from Scootaloo as she realized he was there to help her, not scold her, and she settled into leaning her head on him, “Can you help me with my math then tonight? Reading isn’t so bad, but I don’t really like numbers.”
Soarin nodded to her before nuzzling noses with the filly, “No problem. You’ll be an ace in no time with a little help, I’m sure. Math and science are my specialties after all, since I studied Aeronautics in school. Flight academy and all.”
Scootaloo averted her eyes, “I wish I could go to a flight academy, but they don’t want ponies who can’t fly.”
Soarin was not about to have her feel sorry for herself, so he spoke up, “Hey, you’re getting better aren’t you?” Scootaloo nodded, having managed to get to where she could hover now without much incident.
The Wonderbolt took a hoof to move her head, making her face him as he spoke reassuringly, “How about this, if you manage to improve your grades enough I’ll see if I can take some time off from work and come get you after school. We can get a lot more practice in that way.”
“Thank you,” Scootaloo whispered to him. Soarin could feel the fur on his side grow the slightest bit wet, not that he cared, and he embraced her again. After a moment Scootaloo pulled herself back so that she could look up at him.
“So, uh, I’ve been wondering...what exactly do I call you?” she asked softly.
“Uhhh…” come to think of it, Soarin didn’t really care what she called him so long as it wasn’t anything bad, “Whatever you want, really.”
Scootaloo leaned her head on him and closed her eyes, “You and Rainbow are gonna get married, right?”
He had not asked Dash about telling Scootaloo, but he was quite sure she was a risky pony to tell given her age and chance of telling her friends who happened to be sisters of who they were keeping this a secret from, “Uhhh, what makes you say that?”
“I overheard you guys,” Scootaloo noted with a nervous grin, “So, if you’re getting married, I can call you dad right?”
Soarin nodded. He liked the sound of that.
Scootaloo squeezed him tightly, “I love you, Dad.”
“I love you too, Scootaloo,” he kissed her forehead before retracting and nodding towards the open door, “How about I go make us some popcorn for us to eat while we finish the movie?”
“Woohoo, popcorn!”
He’d grab Rainbow while he was down there. Some family time would be nice to have, especially since he did not have any work the next day.
As the movie ended and Soarin helped Scootaloo with her homework, the night got darker and darker. Rainbow Dash came up to the room and tapped her daughter’s shoulder to remind her of her nightly rituals.
“Okay, it’s bed time Scoot. Go brush or Colgate won’t be happy.”
“Okay,” Scootaloo replied in a depressed tone, her head tired and longing for her pillow and not her toothbrush.
Rainbow shook Scootaloo a little bit to wake her up, “Brushie-brushie missie!”
Scootaloo scampered out of the room to the bathroom so that she could do just that, leaving Soarin and Rainbow Dash in the room.
Soarin grinned at Rainbow, “She’s just like you, Dashie.”
His fiance shrugged, “Yeah, but I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not.”
He laughed as he took a playful jab at her, “I know what you mean! You’re quite a handful-”
Rainbow stuffing a hoof in his mouth cut him off, letting her reply to him with an amused voice, “I’ll admit I’m...slightly difficult to handle, but so what? I’m worth it.”
“So is Scootaloo, right?” Soarin asked, already knowing the answer.
His fiance laughed, “Yeah, you’re right. Doesn’t make having a pre-made filly easier to handle.”
Soarin stretched out as a yawn overtook him, also getting up to head out the door, “She worships you, Dash. Wish I had a fan like that.”
Rainbow followed him out in the hallway, where she kissed him on the lips and brought him in for a hug, “You do. She just got so lucky to be able to date you.”
Their hug was interrupted by a small hoof poking them. The adults looked down to see Scootaloo, teeth sparkling, looking up at them.
The filly glanced over to Rainbow’s room as she spoke, “So, Dad, are you going to be sleeping over tonight?”
“Sleeping over?” that was not a thing Soarin did just about ever, given how far away he lived and the irregularity of their schedules.
Scootaloo nodded vigorously, “Yeah! In some of the books I read special someponies live together in a house, even before they get married, so I was wondering if you were going to live here too.”
“Well, I...” he glanced over to Rainbow who only smiled at him, “It’s Dashie’s house and I have to go to work a bit away so I haven’t really moved in here 100%. Not that I have work tomorrow though...”
Scootaloo noticed what he meant, so she trotted into her room and let out a yawn, “Ahh, okay. Well, goodnight mom and dad.”
“Goodnight squirt,” Rainbow called to her as the door closed, leaving her with Soarin in the hallway.
The blue mare looked to the blue stallion with a large and mischievous smile, “Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty tired, Daddy. Wanna go to bed?”
“Uhhhmm...sure?”
They would have both fallen asleep right then and there if Soarin hadn’t learned that Rainbow snored quite loudly. He considered the snoring worth it, having been upgraded from the couch to her bed.
A/N: Thank you for reading, and I hope I can hear what you thought in the comments below! Your support inspires me, and I'd love to hear from you all! And feel free to check out my other stories if you enjoyed this one! I'm always looking for new comments and thoughts on them as well!