If You Hear Me, Let Me Know
About Time
Scootaloo laid in Lightning's embrace. They had spent the night with each other after Lightning proposed, and Scootaloo couldn't think of anywhere she'd rather be. The couple had spent the last half hour curled up together in silence, Lightning gently stroking Scootaloo's mane the whole time. Despite how long they had been dating, they had never moved in with each other. Neither of them agreed with the idea of moving in with a pony they weren't married to, and given how little they were in Ponyville at the same time, moving in just didn't make any sense.
That was all about to change though. Scootaloo fiddled with the necklace that hung loosely around her neck. She moved her head and kissed Lightning: her fiance. She loved thinking of him as such. She had been waiting for him to propose for years, and was getting more annoyed with every year that she lived unmarried to him. She kissed him again.
"There a reason for that?" Lightning smiled down at Scootaloo.
"Do I need one?" she responded, challenge evident in her voice.
"Do you want one?"
"Don't I already have one?"
"Do you think you do?"
"Yes, I -wait- buck. You win." The couple laughed. Even after seven years they were still playing their silly game of questions. Somehow it just never got old. The couple felt like they were schoolponies again. It had been far too long since they had just laid in each other's embrace. It felt wonderful. It wasn't long before Scootaloo had fallen asleep, Lightning stroking his sleeping fiance's mane.
Scootaloo... is my fiance... I like the way that sounds. The thought made Lightning smile. He looked at the clock. It was 10:30. He gently shook Scootaloo awake.
"Uggh, why'd you have to go and do that?" Scootaloo asked with a grunt.
"Because tomorrow we have to get up early and go to Canterlot for that big show you guys are doing. And since the alarm clock is in your room, it looks like we're gonna have to move."
"That doesn't start until six at night... and we're not on until around ten. But I think I prefer the idea of sleeping on a bed as opposed to a couch anyway." Scootaloo groggily stood up and made her way to her room. Lightning followed close behind. When they reached her bedroom, they curled up together on her bed. Lightning set the alarm, and before they knew it they were both asleep, each dreaming of the life that was now set before them. At that moment, nothing mattered to either pony except that they were each in the embrace of the love of their lives.
The horrendous series of noises that could only come from Scootaloo's alarm clock woke both of the ponies instantly. Lightning jumped out of bed.
"Scootaloo, what the HAY is that? Is... is that a screaming foal?! And... nails on a chalkboard?!" Scootaloo smashed the alarm with a force that should have destroyed it, yet somehow the resilient piece of screaming plastic held its own. It immediately shut itself off.
"What can I say? It works, doesn't it?" Scootaloo shrugged as she crawled out of bed.
"So does obnoxious beeping." Lightning gave Scootaloo a deadpan stare. She walked over to him and planted a kiss on his muzzle.
"Good morning to you too, Lightning." Lightning blushed and returned the favor. Scootaloo pulled away and smiled taking a quick look at the necklace that laid on her nightstand. She made her way to her bathroom, giving Lightning a quick whip with her tail as she passed him.
"What was that about?" His curiosity was piqued. Not to mention he was now quite aroused, despite how early it was.
"I'm taking a shower. You're not going to make me do that alone, are you?" she asked teasingly. Lightning grinned.
"I thought we were going to wait until we were married for the more... intimate activities."
"Who said anything about sex? You're just so much hotter when you're wet," Scootaloo said softly.
"I'll take that as a compliment." Lightning followed his fiance to the shower. This was going to be a good day.
Lightning and Scootaloo landed on the porch of the Dash home. They had agreed to fly out to Canterlot with Rainbow, Spitfire, and Steel. Scootaloo pushed the door open, and to nopony's surprise, Spitfire was already cooking breakfast. She stopped when she saw the new piece of jewellery that adorned her daughter's neck. Spitfire smiled warmly.
"Hey Rainbow! Our daughter has a shiny new necklace! I like it!" Rainbow rubbed her eyes as she entered the kitchen.
"Wow. He spared no expense. I'm impressed." Rainbow hugged her daughter. "I'm really happy for you, Scoot." She then gave a quick grin in Lightning's direction. "Even if it took the colt at least five years longer than it should have to actually propose." Lightning blushed in embarrassment.
At this point in the conversation, Steel had woken to the smell of Spitfire's cooking and made his way to the kitchen. Steel hadn't changed much by means of appearance over the last seven years. He made no effort to style his unkempt mane for any reason, and didn't care how his coat looked. It drove Rarity insane. However, since his adoption, an image of a burning set of wings had appeared on his flank. A grin spread across his face when he saw Scootaloo and Lightning.
"Hey there, Rockstar. What's up, Hotshot?" greeted the colt. Lightning, in return, grinned at Steel.
"Just meeting up with your lazy flank before we all head to Canterlot for Scoots’ show." Steel looked Scootaloo over.
"Something's different... does it involve that shiny thing hanging from your neck?" asked Steel. Scootaloo laughed.
"Yes it does. Steel, I'm pleased to inform you that Lightning is going to be your brother in law very soon." Steel managed a grunt as a response.
"Took you long enough."
"Well, now that we're all up to speed, what do you guys say to getting some food? Breakfast is ready." Before Spitfire could react, everypony had already found a seat at the table in the kitchen. Spitfire laughed and began to serve everypony. As usual, she herself took her own helping last. As the family ate, Steel looked around. Everypony was smiling and laughing together.
Everything seemed right with the world. Then again, for Steel, the fact that everything seemed right was exactly the problem. He had many doubts that he couldn't shake. Even though he now understood that his father hadn't been good to Scootaloo, what was to say she didn't deserve it? His father had only hit him when he deserved it, and Steel still couldn't remember ever being beaten by him. Everyday Steel found it harder to put on his facade of trust and love for his family.
The anger that burned inside him remained. Living with his sister's adoptive parents was an everyday reminder of the family that had been ripped away from him. The father and mother he had before coming to this small town. He still vividly remembered seeing his father's broken body before him. It haunted his dreams almost every night, and he could barely manage to look at his sister without attacking her for killing him. One day, all of his questions would be answered. One day very soon.
"Go away, it's early and I'm hungover. I-who the buck are you?" Sweetie Belle's voice was incredibly haggard. It was obvious she had gotten a full night of drinking in the night before, and it was also obvious a less-than-moral stallion had taken advantage of that. It was made even more obvious when a weak, white aura enveloped the door and the stallion was forced outside.
Scootaloo planted a forceful hoof in the scumbag's face for taking advantage of her friend. He grunted and took off down the hallway. Scootaloo facehoofed, watching him flee. Sweetie Belle walked to the door. Her usually pink and purple mane had been dyed red and black, and although she normally had it styled in a spiked mohawk, it now hung disheveled around her face. Her tail, equally disheveled, bore the same color pattern and hung about halfway down her hind legs.
"So Sweets, what happened last night?" Scootaloo asked casually. This was not an uncommon conversation between the two friends.
"Same as always, Scoot. Not a buckin' clue," Sweetie replied groggily.
"Perhaps you should quit drinking," suggested Scootaloo.
"You're probably right. If you'll excuse me, I need to go clean myself. And buy a pregnancy test."
"You know you won't be able to tell for another month, right?"
"I like to be prepared ahead of time," quipped the unicorn.
"Fair enough."
"Scoot, do my eyes deceive me or is that a shiny new engagement necklace?" Scootaloo blushed and smiled.
"It sure is! Lightning finally proposed last night. Took him long enough."
"And you said yes? You always were an idiot, Scoot."
"Just because I don't screw every pony that buys me a drink doesn't mean I'm an idiot."
"No, you're an idiot because you're submitting to marriage with a stallion that dated you for seven years and didn't give you ANYTHING. Where is his sorry flank anyway? I thought you said he was coming to this one," Sweetie asked.
"He's watching Steel. My parents wanted to take a day for themselves in Canterlot, and you know how Steel looks up to Lightning."
"Yeah, kind of like your obsession with Rainbow Dash before she adopted you, but a LOT less extreme," Sweetie replied with a small smirk.
"Pretty much. Where's everypony else?" asked Scootaloo.
"Sleeping. Like I was trying to do when you began obnoxiously knocking on my door."
"Sweets, it's ten in the morning. It's time for you to get up."
"When every voice isn't a scream and I can open my eyes without being blinded is the best time for me to get up." With that, Sweetie Belle closed the door to her hotel room in Scootaloo's face. Scootaloo simply facehoofed and walked away. It was when she saw Sweetie Belle and her other bandmates in that condition that she was glad she wasn't much of a drinker. She decided to go find Lightning and Steel. She wasn't going to have much time to spend with them before the show started and she wanted to take every moment she could right now to focus on her personal life; to focus on her family.
"You're getting hitched?! Are you retarded Scoot?!" Kitty was stunned. The fact that anypony ever got married was something she didn't understand, and why Scootaloo was making that mistake was something she couldn't fathom.
"Kat, lay off of her. If she wants to spend her whole life only buckin' one stallion, that's her choice." Jimmy was attempting to defend Scootaloo, but the thought of 'bucking' made Scootaloo shudder. She was happy to use that word as a form of profanity, but to actually have sex rough enough to be considered a 'bucking' was a thought that made Scootaloo's groin hurt.
"I better not ever get a bucking from Lightning...I'm not into rough stuff."
"How the hay would you know? You've never even had sex before! You've been with the same bucking stallion for SEVEN bucking years and you haven't even screwed him once! SEVEN YEARS!" Sweetie Belle didn't understand Scootaloo's desire to wait until she was married for sex. Especially when the stallion she was waiting to marry was Lightning. A mare has needs, and that stallion wasn't meeting hers.
"I'm pretty sure that will change tonight," Scootaloo said with a grin as she sipped from her cider.
"But you're not married," Sweetie teased. "That would break your moral standards." Scootaloo grinned. She still didn't look up from her cider.
"Ahh, but that's where you're wrong. We have a song that has a wedding scene in it."
"Scoot, what are you-" Scootaloo put on her best puppy dog face and looked at Sweetie Belle.
"Sweetie Belle, will you marry me and Lightning on stage tonight for all the world to see?" Sweetie Belle grinned.
"You never do miss a chance to add a visual element to one of our shows."
"You buckers enjoying the show?!" Sweetie Belle shouted into her microphone. The audience screamed in response. "Glad to hear it! Now, something happened recently that is going to cause us to make some changes here in Iron Pony. I'm sure many of you out there see the shiny new necklace Scoot is wearing. That's because the idiot decided to go and get herself hitched." The crowd screamed again in applause.
"Now, I still think she's an idiot for her decision to say yes when she was proposed to, but I really am happy for her. We all are. In fact, we're so happy that we're going to interrupt our usual performance to bring out the unfortunate stallion that's going to marry her and play a love song for the two of them." As she finished her sentence, Lightning flew out of the sky with a storm cloud trailing him and landed with a loud crack of thunder on the stage. "Nice entry, Lightning."
"Thanks Sweets."
"Anyway, we wanted to play a song to share their ‘Little Piece of Heaven’ with all of you in the audience tonight." As she finished her sentence, the ominous sound of a full orchestra and choir filled the stadium. The audience erupted in applause. After a short time of playing only the orchestra and choir, the band joined in. Jimmy carried the group with a heavy drum beat. Sweetie Belle lifted her mic with her magic, and began to sing their "love story".
"Before the story begins, is it such a sin? For me to take what's mine, until the end of time! We were more than friends, before the story ends. And I will take what's mine, create what none would ever design!"
Sweetie Belle continued to sing the morbid tale of... well, love wasn't the right word. It was the first time anypony outside the band and Lightning had heard this particular song. Scootaloo didn't have much to do on her guitar because most of the music came from the recording of the orchestra, so she mostly just gave hoof gestures to demonstrate what was happening in the song. The rest of the Dash family stood in the front row of the floor. Even Steel couldn't help but rock out to the music that his sister and her band was playing.
"Almost laughed myself to tears!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA!" Scootaloo echoed Sweetie Belle with a maniacal laugh.
"Conjuring his deepest fears!"
"Come here you bucking mule!" Then something happened that nopony in the audience expected, but everypony loved. Jimmy moved his head to a mic by his drum kit and began to scream.
"MUST'VE STABBED HIM FIFTY BUCKIN' TIMES! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! RIPPED HIS HEART OUT RIGHT BEFORE HIS EYES, EYES OVER EASY! EAT IT, EAT IT, EAT IT!"
"He was never this good in bed, even when he was sleeping! Now he's just so perfect, I've never been quite so bucking deep in!"
As the song carried on, the audience noticed it only got more and more morbid. They loved it. After a chorus of chanting from on stage, Sweetie Belle turned to Lightning.
"Do you take this mare, in death, for the rest of your natural life?"
"Yes, I do." Sweetie Belle nodded and turned to Scootaloo.
"Do you take this stallion, in death, for the rest of your natural life?"
"I do," Scootaloo responded in a demonic whisper. Sweetie Belle smiled.
"I now pronounce you-" Instead of finishing the wedding ritual, Sweetie Belle jumped back into the chorus. Scootaloo kissed Lightning anyway. A mixture of applause and cat calls rang out from the watching crowd.
"But baby don't cry-aiy-aiy-aiy." The sound of rolling thunder left the speakers as Sweetie Belle thanked the audience and the band headed offstage.
That night, Lightning noticed that Scootaloo was kissing him more passionately than usual. And more forcefully. And that she was pushing him straight to his bedroom.
"What's gotten into you, Scoot?"
"You have a problem with it?"
"Not in the slightest, but I'm curious."
"Well, I've been waiting for seven years to get something out of you, and seeing as Sweets married us up there, I think it's time we finally meet each other's sexual needs," Scootaloo said, almost growling. Lightning grinned.
"You're very straightforward, Mrs. Spark. I've always liked that about you. Although quite frankly I don't know if that counts."
"It works for me, now get that door open so we have a bed for tonight's activities."
"Actually, if you'd look at the clock, it's two in the morning."
"Then expect to fall asleep at four."
"Ooh, forceful. Sounds tough. I like it." Lightning used his hind leg to kick his bedroom door open. Scootaloo quickly forced him onto his bed. It was going to be a long morning for the two of them.