Love, marriage, and Scootaloo

by Alchemystudent


I think I love you

I think I love you

        It was sullen and quiet in the clubhouse on this particular day.  The three crusaders laid around in various positions with the romance books that they’d collected for research splayed out before them as they tried their best to come up with how to execute their latest plan. With a loud annoyed grunt, Scootaloo grabbed her ‘Crusader shipping planning military helmet’ (patent pending) and forced it over her face, “Doesn’t anypony have a plan, yet?” She muffled through the helmet.

        Applebloom looked up from her book with a pencil in her mouth, “Oh, Ah got it! What if we wrote a letter to each sayin ‘Confess your lies!’ and make them go to each other.”

        “That won’t work,” Scootaloo said with a sigh as she laid on her back, “Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy both know my hoofwriting. Even if we don’t include me, there is nothing stopping Dash from going to Pinkie and have her point out that its our writing.”

        “OOOH!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed, raising her hoof as she raised her head away from her book. “What if we had Dinky or Pipsqueak write the letters instea...oh wait, no. Same problem huh?” A sigh escaped the little filly’s mouth as she watched the girls nod in response, “What if we made Fluttershy feel guilty about a lie she said once?”

        “And how do we do that? Fluttershy’s not the type of mare to hold in a secret for that long,” Scootaloo said, thrusting her hooves in the air.

        “Ya know, Ah think one of the big problems with this plan is that none of us know that much about Fluttershy. So we can’t really figure out what she would lie about for a long time,” Applebloom said dejectedly.

        “Yeah,” Scootaloo sighed, rolling onto her belly, “it’s also tough to do when you remember that they had been friends for years.”

        “It’s like us,” Sweetie Belle said as she put away the book, “We’ve known each other for a while and we tell each other everything.”

        Applebloom and Scootaloo looked at each other and nodded in response. With a small grunt, Scootaloo rolled onto her belly and looked to her friends, “To tell you the truth, I was hoping that we already have Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash as a couple by this time and we could use this plan to bring them closer together.”

        “Maybe we should just skip this plan. Ah mean,” Applebloom said, pointing her hoof down at one of the open books, “ every time one of these writers pull the old ‘Ah’ve got a lie Ah’ve should’ve told ya from the beginning,’  or the old ‘mah lie is something that really isn’t that big, but it will hurt ya’ type of things, it’s always just to force some drama on the book. It always seems to lead to nothing but a bunch of worthless padding!”

“Yeah, they always seem to get together in the end, and we know that they will. So what’s the point of separating them with a stupid lie?” Sweetie Belle asked, putting away the book.

“Yeah, lets try to think think of something else,” Scootaloo said, taking out another book before looking outside the window, “Hey, what time is it?”

“About 3:30,” Sweetie Belle said, looking at the clock behind her, “Why?”

“3:30? We got to call this short, Ah got some chores to do,” Applebloom said, getting up and walking to the door, nudging her head over her shoulder.

“Uh,” Scootaloo quickly took the hint as she looked over to her friend, “Yeah, and I’ve got somethings to do. Talk to ya later!” Scootaloo said, putting on her scooter helmet and walked out of the door and down the steps to her scooter.

“All right, bye!” Sweetie Belle smiled as she waved bye, before looking at her cutie mark. Her contented smile grew a little bigger as she stared at the heart shaped around a bell and a music note. The day she had gotten it, just a short few weeks ago, was one of the happier moments of her life. The smile then turned into a little bit of a frown as she thought about the lack of a cutecenera for her achievement, like earning her goal was meaningless.

Little did she know, that just outside of the clubhouse, two little filles smiled and began to wisper, “Come on, lets get over to the botique and wait for her. The party is about to start.”

        “Oh, Ah can’t wait. Sweetie’s gonna be so surprised!” Applebloom softly whispered as she and Scootaloo sped off, “This party is going to be something else.”


Date 7: A lie that causes a temporary breakup

        On the other side of Ponyville, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were walking along the soft path that led outside of town. As Fluttershy looked to the small birds flying around them she also listened to Rainbow Dash bragging, “This show is going to be AWESOME! The Wonderbolts will be flying in and...” the cyan mare went on, not noticing the mare next to her pondering.

        Fluttershy looked over her shoulder at the talking Rainbow Dash, listening to her talk on and on about the flight team. Letting out a sigh she said, “Ummm, Rainbow?”

        “And then Spitfire will swoop in with a-” Dash continued on.

        “Rainbow?” Fluttershy squeaked, trying to get the pegasus’s attention.

        “Then we’ll watch the big finale where Fleetfoot and Surprise-” Rainbow continued, unaware of her friend’s calls.

        “RAINBOW DASH!” Fluttershy squeaked, the noise just loud enough to frighten a small mouse.

        Turning her head to look back at the yellow pegasus, Dash floated to ground level with her, “What is it, Fluttershy?”

        “I need to tell you,” Fluttershy nervously stated, “The truth is...I never liked the Wonderbolts shows...all that much.”

        “What?” Dash asked, raising an eyebrow at this.

        “Their shows are just too loud and noisy, and they are always the same,  are usually boring and why don’t they get some new fliers?” Fluttershy ranted, and then looked at the shocked pegasus in front of her, “I am so sorry, pleasedon’thateme!”

        Rainbow’s first reaction was to yell at her about why she didn’t say anything before for all of that time, but then she looked at the cowering pegasus before her and sighed, giving a roll of the eyes before responding, “I’m not mad Flutters. I’m just annoyed at the fact you never told me this before. Why did you keep coming with me if you hated the shows that much?”

        “Well the truth is,” Fluttershy blushed, “I just went there because it was a chance to spend some time with you. Even if I can’t get into the performace like you can, I just like staying with you and listening to you talk about it. I just like being near you and doing things with you, and you...kind of outperform them any day.”

        “I do? Well of course,” Dash said with a bow.

        “Well, its true!” Fluttershy said, walking up to Rainbow, “You always find new ways to perform your stunts, adding new twists because you want  to make it perfect, and always trying to make it the best that you can. Like you are never satisfied with one style or approach, because you want it to be the best. It’s,” Fluttershy then smiled a little, “inspiring.”

        Rainbow Dash threw her head back in a chuckle at this statement, letting the approval getting to her head, and then turned her head away a little as she began, “As long as we’re being honest here,” she said, rubbing the back of her head. “I kind of don’t really like those butterfly migrations you take me on.”

        Seeing that her friend was about to give out some apologies, she quickly put a hoof to Fluttershy’s mouth, “Wait, before you say anything- Look, I just hate the whole migration thing its just too boring for me. But, I only go to those things with you because I...” a soft smile came to Dash’s face as she continued, “really love to hang out with you and just listen to you talk about them. When you get into talking about birds, butterflies, and all of that other animal stuff, its just too awesome for words. Come on, do you see yourself when you get like that?”

        “Well, no,” Fluttershy said, shaking her head.

        “When you get started on talking about animals and stuff, you become just as enthusiastic as I am about flying! You just become so,” Dash struggled for a moment as she thought about the right word, “passionate.”

        “P-P-Passionate? ME?” Fluttershy questioned, feeling a little embarrassed.

        “Yeah, really passionate. You just get into it so much, that I can’t help but love it,” Dash said with a confident smile. She then cupped her friend’s chin and looked into her blue eyes, “Look, there are just some things that I like doing with you that I can only do with you. Yeah, Twilight can fly now, but she hasn’t been doing it nearly as long as we have and I like pranking with Pinkie, but she doesn’t have that cute squeak when she gets embarrassed. I love to hang out with AJ, but I always prefer  to compete with her or try to oneup her and Rarity can be annoying sometimes with how often she tries to ‘pretty-me up’. But with you,” Dash let out a little chuckle, “I can relax, show something about myself that I can’t show to others. It’s why I do things like taking you out jousting, tornado drills, and stuff like that. It’s just  that sometimes it’s better when it’s just you, and...its just more special with you and I love spending those moments with you.”

        “I like spending that special time with you, too,” Fluttershy said with a smile, leaning up. Looking into Rainbow’s eyes as her lips neared Rainbow’s, “Rainbow Dash, I think I-” she was then interrupted by what sounded like a party cannon going off, “WHAT WAS THAT?”

        Pulling away from Fluttershy for the moment, Rainbow Dash took to the sky and saw bright lights coming from the Carousel Boutique, “Hey, isn’t today when Sweetie Belle was having her surprise cutecenera?” Dash asked, watching Fluttershy nod in response, “Come on, lets check it out!” Dash said, taking Fluttershy by her hoof and taking her to the area of the party.


Date 8: A moonlit walk

         A few moments before the party began, Sweetie Belle was walking alone to the Carousel Boutique. As she made her way to the door, the little white filly began to hum and come up with a new song in her head

        Doo-doo
        Dreams come true
        Once more I’m into you

        When she had discovered her special talent, she found out that not only could she sing, but also had a penchant for writing lyrics as well. The ease of which the lyrics came to her was the type of thing to bring a big smile to her, especially since her friends were all busy with other things and left her alone for the afternoon. Opening the door widely, Sweetie Belle called out, “Rarity! I’m home!” Taking a look inside, she found it deserted, “Hmmmm? Where did she go? I thought she had something important to make for a client,” she said out loud to herself as she put away her saddle bags.

        Looking ahead in the dark room, the little white filly saw a box on the stand where Rarity’s clients would normally stand to pose in Rarity’s latest outfits. Arching an eyebrow  at the box, she walked up to it and lifted the box to read the card, “To my Sweetest Belle, from: your biggest fan.” Curious to what was inside it, the white filly  quickly began to rip the package to reveal it’s contents, “Oh my Celestia!” Sweetie exclaimed as she looked at the blue dress in front of her, “This is beautiful,” her tone of glee came out as she quickly put her dress on. As she put it on, she was happy to discover how well it fit her body and was able highlight her developing beauty. Looking at the sparkles of her dark blue dress, she was quickly reminded of the outfits of Cherry and Twinkle Turner that she liked so much. As she continued to look over every inch of her new dress, she heard a large boom coming from outside. Walking off the stage and out the door, the young filly was surprised by the sight of a large party outside her door.

        “SURPRISE!” Shouted Pinkie Pie as she leapt out from under banner, walking over to the little filly and giving her a little hat.

        Sweetie Belle stood there in shock and surprise as her two friends walked over to her, “You guys threw me a cutecenera, but I thought-” Sweetie began but was interrupted by Scootaloo.

        “Yeah, we agreed to wait until all of us got our cutie marks, but we figured it-” Scootaloo began to explain but was interrupted by Applebloom.

        “Would be more fun if we each had one for us and then a big one fer when we are all done to celebrate s making it as a group,” Applebloom stated, a smile on her lips as she stood next to Sweetie Belle.

        Some small tears came to her eyes, “Thanks guys, you’re the best. Thank you,” Sweetie squeaked.

        “Hey! None of that!” Pinkie Pie said, wiping some of the tears away, “This is a party and they’re meant to be fun! NOW LETS PARTAYYY!!!”

        As the party began in earnest, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew in, quickly joining in on the festivities. They immediately found their friends and began to while the day away, talking about their own stories and remembering the cutie mark crusaders disasters in getting their old attempts to get their marks. Sweetie Belle, meanwhile, played and danced with her friends, trying her best not to brag about how great it was to have one finally to two certain bullies.

        The party wore on through the day and well into the night, with the ponies only becoming more livier as the night descended on the little hamlet. Looking back at a small stage, Sweetie Bell quickly ran to the round platform and grabbed the microphone, “ Um, excuse me everypony! If I could have your attention,” she spoke into the microphone. “ I want to thank everypony for coming here, it means a lot. Standing here, I can’t help but think of all the effort that me and my friends put into getting our marks, but it was all worth in the end. But,” she then looked to Scootaloo and Applebloom with a smile on her face, “I wouldn’t have found it out if it weren’t for my friends. That is why I came up with this song, to help remind them what they meant to me.” With a glow of her horn, the little filly began the music and began to sing.


There I was, with a sulken head
Waiting for my destiny

        Turning her head to look at her friend, Rainbow Dash noticed Fluttershy’s hooves tapping in synch to the beat. A smile came to her face as she asked, “Hey Flutters, wanna dance?”

        “Oh, me, w-well...” Fluttershy stammered as she hid behind her pink mane.

        “Come on!” Dash said, picking up her friend in her forelegs and flying high into the sky.

And when my friends are there, nothing needs to be said
We stand to hold each other up

        Pinkie Pie watched the two pegasi flying up into the sky and past the clouds, giving a small cheer in response, “Yeah! Go for it you two!”

        “Well, its about time,” Rarity said, standing next to Pinkie as she watched the pegasi flying away, “I guess I better get to designing soon.”

        Sadly, Scootaloo was too busy listening to her friend’s song to see the culmination of her plans coming to fruition.

Funny how all dreams come true
when its me and you
The day we met I found my destiny

        After the two broke through the small set of clouds, Rainbow Dash set her friend softly down on the bank and held her at hoof’s length. A cunning grin came to the cyan pegasus as she then twirled the butter-colored mare to her. Fluttershy let out a small squeak as Dash pulled her in close, and then smiled softly as she laid her head onto Dash’s shoulder. For a short while, the two danced softly on the clouds, their hoofprints making tiny little dance steps in the clouds.

Its funny how you make me feel
Safe and sound
how you keep me from getting turned around

Down on the ground, Scootaloo and Applebloom decided to join the songstress on stage, finding a way to hum in perfect harmony. Though they didn’t know the words to the song, they were able to pick up on the beat easily enough to join their longtime friend. As they could feel the music flow through them, they found themselves dancing alongside Sweetie Belle better than before        

Here we are, heart to heart
It’s great feeling you so near                                                                                                 You kept my world from falling apart
Keeping yourself so dear
baby

        Up on the clouds, Fluttershy broke from the close contact with Rainbow Dash to begin dancing to her own beat. Watching her partner move along the beat, Dash began to copy her movements and trying to add some unique movements on her own. A soft smile coming to Fluttershy’s lips, she danced up close to Rainbow Dash, brushing her side against Rainbows slowly. As she did, Rainbow Dash extended a wing to rub along the curve of her back.

Funny how all dreams come true
when its me and you
The day we met I found my destiny
We can be like fools, its true

        Turning to face Rainbow, Fluttershy again began to dance to the beat, allowing the music to dictate how she was moving. Rainbow Dash put on a small smile as she flew below the cloud bank and then flew up and over Fluttershy, making a few loops over her. Fluttershy decided to follow her friend’s lead, grabbing some clouds of her own and tieing the hoops together before landing next to her cyan friend.

Dreams come true
when its me and you                                                                                                               The day we met I found my destiny

        If anypony were to look up at the cloud bank, they would see that it turned into a heart with the letters “RD+FS” in the center.

Just look at what we can do
When its just me and you

        
Grabbing each other’s hooves, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy began to dance at hoof’s length, rising higher and higher into the sky as they danced. Moving softly, each trusting each other completely like two life-long dance partners, the two allowed themselves to dance along to the  music’s upbeat tempo.

Funny how dreams can come true
When its just me and you                                                                                                               The day we met I found my destiny

        
As the music began to near its end, Fluttershy took both of Dash’s hooves and twirled the cyan mare into her, letting her rest her head on Rainbow’s shoulders. Dash’s eyes widened at this assertive moment, but as she came into contact with her friend, she let out a contented sigh and rested her head on Fluttershy’s shoulders. With their bodies in close contact with each other, they finished off their dance as Sweetie Belle came to the last verse of her song.

Funny how we help dreams come true
When its just me and you                                                                                                              
You helped to find my destiny

        
As the music came to a close, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy continued their little dance, hovering in the air with their bodies cuddling close to one another. As Rainbow Dash listened to the soft breathing of her dance partner, she took a quick look down at the lake, “Hey, Flutters?”

        “Hmmmm?” Fluttershy murmured, enjoying the closeness of Rainbow Dash and the soft touch of her coat.

        “Want to go and walk by the lake?” Dash asked, looking into Fluttershy’s eyes with a smile.

        “Sure,” Fluttershy said with a quick nod and flew off  towards the lake, with Rainbow Dash right behind her.  

        After a short flight to the nearby lake, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash landed softly on the beach next to it. Taking the buttery-colored pegasus’s hoof, Rainbow Dash walked with her along the shoreline, the moon above lighting their journey.  Dash looked at Fluttershy, highlighted by the moon’s bright glow and admired the way that she looked at that moment, as if she was a transcendent being, or a fairy of love that she had read about in a Daring Do book.

Meanwhile, just a few miles away, a mint green unicorn looked up to her beige earth pony mare and smiled, bringing out her lyre to play her final song. A soft breath escaped the unicorn’s lips before she began, deciding to tell her maiden why she had been singing the songs for the past few days. This was her gift to her love, to honor the day that they promised to each other to be there for all time. To love and support one another, and to be the one that they could rely on. As she began this song that would tell her everything that they meant to each other, Lyra mouthed out the words to Bon Bon, “I love you,” and then began to play her last song of the week. This song was a pledge to her, and a promise to live up to the vow they made that day so long ago.

As Fluttershy walked with Rainbow Dash, she laid her head onto the blue pegasus shoulder. Breathing softly, she allowed herself to enjoy the warmth of her dear friend and the softness of her body. The walk continued to take them around the water’s edge, never touching the water but leaving behind an obvious trail. Looking up at her dear friend, Fluttershy asked, “Dash, have you ever thought about what’s going to happen when you finally make it into the Wonderbolts?”

“What do you mean?” Dash asked, stopping their walk.

“Well, when you make it there,” Fluttershy said, scratching the ground beneath her, “you’re not going to have much time to raise Scootaloo, or time for your friends.”

“Hey, none of that!” Dash said with a bit of confidence, “There is no way I am going to let my dream going to interfere with spending time with my friends or my little sis. I am going to make time! After all, Surprise is a mom herself and she raises her kid pretty dang well. And even if I can’t...I know Scoots will be well taken care of,” Dash said, tucking her friend’s chin, “ because I know she has five awesome gals to help raise her: AJ, Pinkie , Rares, Twi, and you.”

“Oh Dash, you know I will always be there to help,” Fluttershy said, looking into Rainbow’s magenta eyes.

“I know,” Dash said softly. As she stared into the blue eyes of her friend, her mind began to think back to the events of the past few days, “Fluttershy?”

“Hmmm?” Fluttershy asked softly.

“I think...” Dash began, thinking of what this mare meant to her. The mare that she swore to protect when they were fillies, to stand by no matter what was going to happen to her, “I...”

“Yes?” Fluttershy asked, looking into Dash’s eyes, thinking of how this mare would help support her through thick and thin, was the mare who would make her see that she was better than what she gave herself credit for.

Dash, remembering the things she lost with Sunny, that she gained with Flutters, and how this was the mare that would allow her inner self come through, steeled her resolve and said, “I love you.”

“Oh Dash,” Fluttershy said, quickly leaning up, “I love you too.” and with that, pressed her lips against Dash in a deep passionate kiss.

Meanwhile, as Lyra finished her song, Bon Bon mouthed out, “I love you.”