//------------------------------// // Lets keep the light, forever true // Story: Love, marriage, and Scootaloo // by Alchemystudent //------------------------------// Let’s keep the light forever true         Scootaloo rode through the quiet streets of Ponyville alone on her small scooter. It had been about two months since her plans to try hook Rainbow Dash up with Fluttershy had all ended in failure and since then, the crusaders had given up on the rest of the plan. Mainly because their reservoir of potential plans had all dried up, and they lacked any other ideas to send the two pegasi on potential dates. A small happy chuckle escaped her lips as her mind drifted away from the failures of the last two months and onto the achievements of the Crusaders instead, “I am so proud of Babs, getting her mark like that!” The orange pegasus exclaimed as she drove on ahead. This was how the preceding two months was spent, the small group of ponies trying to get their cutie marks. As her house came into view, she thought about how their Manehatten counterpart accidentally interrupted a sleepover that she was having with her friends to break the news. This was why Scootaloo was traveling home so late, she wanted to give her best friend and her cousin time to part and plan how to celebrate the occasion. Stopping at the rope ladder that led up to the cloud home, the orange pegasus climbed slowly up the ladder and through the front door of her home, trying her best to not wake up her ‘mother’. As the filly made her way up the stairs and past Dash’s room, she heard the pegasus snore quietly, “Mmmmm, Fluttershy.” “Great, another one of Those dreams,” muttered Scootaloo under her breath. “Dashie,” squeaked a soft voice. “What?” Scootaloo deadpanned as she took a peek into the room and her eyes widened at the sight on the bed. Laying there was Rainbow Dash, her hooves draped across a buttery-yellow pegasus. Said pegasus had her forelegs wrapped around the barrel of the cyan mare, resting her head on the shoulder and snoring contentedly with her mane a little out of place. It did not take long for the gears in Scootaloo’s mind to figure out what she walked in on, “Oh, my, Celestia,” she whispered under her breath as she backed away. “They-They’re-They are- They...” Miraculously, the small pegasus found the strength to walk away quickly from the sight of her mother and her mom’s marefriend in bed together without shrieking in utter glee and made it to her bedroom. Once there, she began to thrust her hooves up triumphantly into the sky before falling back onto the bed, giggling, “Hehehehehehehe! I did it! I DID it! I got them together, I got them together I...I just saw my mom and future other mom in the afterglow!” As the revelation of that news came to her, she quickly stuck out her tongue, “YUCK!” The next morning, Rainbow Dash opened her magenta eyes as the first rays of the sun hit her eyelids. Groaning and moaning at how she was woken up, she shook her head a little to wake herself up fully before trying to get out of bed. Moving slightly, she found her process impeded by a pair of yellow hooves. A warm blush filled her cheeks as she quickly remembered the events of the previous night, and slowly untangled herself from her mare’s grip. Moving slowly, she got out of the bed and kissed Fluttershy softly on the cheek. Fluttershy let out a soft giggle as her marefriend’s lips touched her cheek and whispered, “Morning.” Dash smirked as she looked at the sleeping pegasus, “Mornin, snuggly. I’ll go make us some breakfast and then we can go pick up Scootaloo together.” “Ok,” Fluttershy groggily said, slowly wiggling under the covers. Walking out of the room with a smile, the rainbow maned pegasus trotted down the stairs and to the kitchen. As she walked to the cabinet to get some cereal, she did not notice the orange filly sitting at the table with a bowl full of cereal, “Morning, Dash!” The orange filly exclaimed, a smirk on her face. “Mornin, Scoots,” Dash said as she grabbed a bowl, only to drop it as her eyes widened in shock, “SCOOTS! When did you get here. “Last night,” Scootaloo said. “Last night?” Rainbow Dash asked, a little surprised. “Yeah, Babs and her family dropped by for an unexpected visit last night, so I had to cut the sleepover short to let them have some family time,” Scootaloo said, before smirking, “So did you have fun last night?” “Y-Yeah, I did. I had a blast last night,” Stuttered Rainbow, getting a drink of cider. “I bet Fluttershy was,” Scootaloo nonchalantly said.  At that remark, Rainbow Dash immediately spat out the cider she had been drinking, “W-What? What makes you think I was doing anything with Fluttershy last night. We were-” “Oh, you are here already Scootaloo,” Blushed Fluttershy as she came down the stairs and saw the two sisters. Lightly rubbing her hoof while a small blush came to her cheeks, “I...I think I’ll be going home now. See you later Rainbow Dash.” As Rainbow Dash watched her lover walked out, she turned to look at her little sister, “Ok, so me and Flutters have been going out for two months now. She’s just been really shy about this and didn’t want to tell everypony just yet. You ain't upset about this are ya?” Scootaloo’s eyes opened wide at this, “ARE YOU KIDDING? I AM EXCITED ABOUT THIS! I have been waiting for you two to get together for a while!” With a squee and a laugh, the little filly got off the chair and ran to give her sister a congratulatory hug, “Now that you two are together, you two can get engaged and then married and then-” “WHOA KID!” Dash exclaimed, pulling away a little and looking down at Scootaloo in disbelief, “Just because me and Flutters had a really ‘great’ time last night, doesn’t mean that we are ready for something like that.” “Dash, do you love her? Do you like holding her? Are you really close to her to the point that you two almost know what the other is thinking?” Scootaloo asked, smiling as Dash nodded her head to each answer, “Then there’s the answer.” Dash sat the little filly on the ground and rubbed her hoof through the purple mane, “ You’re a shrew debater you know that kid?” A cheerful chuckle escaped the filly’s lip as she looked up, “It’s a gift. Now, I got to see the girls, Babs just got her cutie mark and that calls for a big party with the four of us!” “Right, see ya later kid,” Dash said, smiling as she watched her little charge leave. With a contented sigh, she walked over to a small cupboard and pulled out a small box. Smiling softly to herself, she opened it to look at a bracelet, meant to go over one’s hoof, “Now to just talk to Rarity.” “Hey, Rares!” Rainbow Dash said, flying into the boutique as the marshmallow mare finished the last stitch on a suit, “I need some advice.” “What sort of advice, darling?” Rarity asked. “How,” Nervously, she put a hoof behind her head as she looked to her longtime friend, “do you go about popping the question.” “OH MY GOODNESS! THIS IS SO WONDERFUL!” “Rarity exclaimed as she hugged the cyan mare tightly, “I am so proud of you, finally asking Fluttershy to be your wife! Oh, I cannot wait to design her gown! I have been dreaming about this for ages!” “Wait, what made you think it was Fluttershy?” Dash asked. “Rainbow, my dear, everypony in the entirety of Ponyville could tell that you two had been getting closer as of late, and the rest of us could see just how much you two were falling for one another,”  Rarity then turned her head and grumbled, “It’s just that now I owe Applejack 50 bits.” “What?” “We had a small betting pool between the four of us on how long it was going to be before you popped the question,” Rarity explained, “I had thought you would wait a year, but Applejack figured you’d move fast and would do it in two months. But never mind that, tell me, how you were going to ask?” “Well, I was thinking,” Dash explained, “I was going to say, ‘Hey, Flutters, you and I have known each other for most of our lives...how about you and I go and spend the rest of our lives together.” At the end of this, Dash noticed that Rarity had looked at Dash with a disbelieving look, “What?” Calmly, Rarity placed a hoof onto Dash’s shoulder and shook her head, “Rainbow Dash, you are about to propose to Fluttershy. Fluttershy, who is one of my dearest friends and somepony I care deeply about, and you are going to ask her a life changing question. One that could affect her entire life,” her eyes then narrowed as she grabbed Rainbow Dash by both shoulders and yelled, “YOU ARE NOT ASKING HER OUT FOR A BIG HAYBUGER AND SOME FRIES!” “Well, what’s the problem?” Dash asked. “Rainbow, you need to romance her,  woo her, and charm her. You should do things for her that, when you have her in your hooves and looking deep into her blue eyes that she will be putty in your hooves,” Rarity then smiled, “and then when you ask her that question, she will have no choice but to say, “YES!” Rainbow Dash arched an eyebrow at all of the spectacle, “So what do advise, oh Mistress Rarity?” Rarity chuckled as her brow narrowed, “My darling Rainbow Dash, watch and learn.”         The atmosphere in the CMC clubhouse was very jovial as the 3 were partying up a storm, “Come on, Babs! Y’all have to tell the story again,” Applebloom said, looking to the door to see if Scootaloo was coming in yet.         “All right. So  there I wuz,” the brown filly began, “walkin in the back alleys of Manehatten with my two friends, when suddenly, some bullies from my ol’ school showed up. Of course we tried to walk away, but theys wanted to fight us. One of them pulled a knife and I stood my ground while the others got away. I rumbled, fought, and got knocked for it, but when I woke up,” a smirk came to her face as she turned her flank to show off the image of an apple inscribed in a shield, “There it wuz.”         “That was an awesome story,” Scootaloo said, walking up the ramp to meet the other three, “It’ll go great with the other awesome news I have.”         “Scoots! Ya finally got here,” exclaimed Applebloom as she watched her friend come in.         “Whats the news?” Asked Sweetie Belle.         “Well, remember all of the stuff we did two months ago with Rainbow and Fluttershy?” Asked Scootaloo, watching two of the fillies nod.         “What stuff?” Babs inquired, looking confused.         “Well, two months ago me and the others tried to get Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash together,” Scootaloo explained.         “Shouldn’t ya have waited for that to happen naturally?” Babs argued.         “But that would’ve taken forever! And besides,” Scoots said, smirking, “They would have never done it without us. And, that’s what happened! They got together!”         Applebloom and Sweetie Belle looked at each other, smiled, and let out a huge cheer, “WE DID IT!”         Taking hold of Applebloom’s hooves, the white unicorn mare jumped up and down, “I can’t believed our plans worked. They actually worked! Now we can move onto phase 2: Getting them engaged.”         “Uhhh, shouldn’t ya wait for a moment and think this ova?” Asked Babs as she watched the three mares run throughout the clubhouse to get out their  “Operation: Get Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash hitched” plans.         “No time! We have waited two months and that is too long for my tastes!” Scootaloo said, lifting up the white board and drew up the diagram.         Babs let out a deep sigh and looked up with a bit of determination in her eyes, “Ya know yuz all sound crazy, right? But what the hey, I’m in!”         Sweetie Belle smiled as she reached over and stole Scootaloo’s helmet, “GREAT!”         “HEY!”         “Sorry, Scootaloo but I had been planning this one for a while!” Sweetie said with a smirk as she ran up to the podium and lifted up the pointer with her magic, “So here’s how it’ll go down-”         “What we are going to do, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity said, tapping her pointer with her hoof, “Is first, you will ask Fluttershy to go to the most fabulous restaurant in Canterlot. Luckily for you, I have connections. Then I’ll-”         “-get Rarity to put Fluttershy into a spiffy and spectacular outfit. Then, we’ll follow them to Canterlot, where they’ll dance to some awesome-” “-Soft, classical, romantic music as provided by Octavia. After which, you two will enjoy a nice and romantic dinner. Perhaps a-” “Flaming meal with some awesome fireworks!” Interjected Babs as she looked at the stick figures representing the two pegasi. “Right, then Rainbow will-” “Present the ring in the middle of the beautiful sonata, declaring your love for her!”  Rarity finished with a flair. “Do you really think that this plan will work?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Darling, its... “Going to be perfect!” The sisters said, simultaneously. ______________________________________________________________________________         The next day, Rainbow Dash was dressed out in an athletic and sleek dress and pacing like her hooves were on fire, “Ok, Dash you can do this! I mean, its just a simple question and Rarity said that the night she had planned is gonna be perfect. There is no reason to worry about this,” the blue mare then struck a pose with all of the confidence that she could muster, “Ya got this.”         “Hello Rainbow,” shouted a soft voice from above.         Rainbow Dash turned to look up at the incoming buttery yellow pegasus as she flew in, “Heaaaah,” was all she could get out before the sight of Fluttershy in her dress caused her to lose all ability to speak.         “Oh, did you like my dress?” Fluttershy asked, twirling around a bit to give Dash a full look at her gown.         Rainbow Dash looked on in a bit of stunned silence as she gazed at the green dress, the way that the outfit clung nicely to the curves of her body began to affect the cyan pegasus’s mind, “Yeahhhhhhh,” Dash mumbled, still unable to find the ability to speak.         “It isn’t too much is it?” Fluttershy asked, looking at the small cut in the top and how the lower part seemed to empathize the soft curves of her flanks, “ I asked Rarity when she put it on me and she said it wasn’t. But I was worried that it might have made me look sultry, it doesn’t does it?”         “Uhhh, nnnno, no it doesn’t,” Dash nervously said, her mind unable to form proper sentences.         “Should we, go inside?” Asked Fluttershy, taking her marefirend by the hoof.         “Y-Y-Yeah,” Dash stammered, her mind finally finding the strength to talk again as the two walked into the fancy restaurant. Once inside, Dash led the buttery mare to the dance floor, a desire to have a little dance with her mare friend in her eyes. On the dance stage, a grey earth pony began to play a soft love song for the appropriate mood. Laying her cyan hooves onto Fluttershy’s shoulder, Rainbow Dash began to dance with in perfect tempo with the music.         “Ok, Vinyl, HIT IT!” Sweetie Belle cued Vinyl, not noticing the grey earth pony mare playing the song.         “Got it! Man, I love playing with Tavi,” the white unicorn said, smirking as she grabbed a stereo system and leaped onto the stage.         “Tavi?” Sweetie asked, looking at the stage to see Octavia playing, trying to ignore the DJ pony getting the music ready, “I didn’t think that she was playing tonight. I thought Vynyl was free to play alone tonight.”         The DJ listened to the music that Octavia was playing with her band and shot a look that read, “really?”. Smiling deviously, the unicorn lifted up another record and began to play some of her own music. Octavia’s eyes opened wide in shock at the loud noise from the music and furrowed her brow in response. With a flick of her mane, she looked to her band and tapped her foot in order to signal the group to pick up the tempo in order to match Vinyl's song. As the music began to pick up speed, Scratch let out a soft chuckle and smiled deviously as she began to speed the music up as well, adding a touch of her own to the beat with a mix of techno.  Seeing this challenge present itself, the grey earth pony gritted her teeth and began to change her tone and style of song.         The white mare stepped back in utter shock at this turn, surprised that her longtime roommate could pull something like this. She then shrugged and gave a smirk of confidence as she quickly changed the tracks on her set, making sure that she added some beats in order to match the skill and melody of the opposition. Undeterred and unimpressed by the music selection from her opponent, Octavia continued to play her song. The two mares then looked at each other from across the stage, desire to win and show off their skills pumping through their blood along with the fire in their eyes. Stopping her song only long enough to draw her bow across the instrument slowly, she flashed her opponent a look at that dared Vinyl to make the next move. Vinyl saw the smirk and accepted the challenge in kind as she began a slow beat that turned into a blast of techno and rock to oppose Octavia’s hard instrumentals mixed with a soft tempo.         As for the effect this had on the two lovers on the floor, Rainbow Dash took the musical duel all in stride. Taking a hold of her pegasus date, she swooped her along the floor and moved in perfect rhythm to the odd mix. Keeping her hooves onto Fluttershy’s shoulders, she continued to dance in a weird ballet of speed and grace. Fluttershy, her eyes widened at first in shock, gained a knowing smile on her face as she began to move in tandem with Rainbow. Keeping close to Rainbow, she moved with all the grace that she had mixing her dance with the blue pegasus.         Together, they found a way to mix their usual style  of dance with the music’s otherwise chaotic tone. This strange mix of techno and symphony created a music that was fierce tempered with gentleness, while being quiet yet with a loud spirit. In return, the dancers moved along with the beat in a dance that was firecly loyal yet kind at the same time, supporting each other to make one another brighter. Much like the two dancers themselves.         All too soon, the music  ended and Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy trotted back to their table exhausted. On the stage, Octavia and Vinyl looked at each other, tired but glad to have their little duel. Slowly, the white unicorn held up her hoof for her friend and in return, the grey mare held up hers and they shared a hoofbump. Rarity, who was watching this from behind the stage with a look that screamed ‘my plan is ruined’, shook her head and asked herself, “WHAT WAS THAT? What in Celestia’s name was Vinyl  doing here, what was up with that music selection, and why did nopony tell me about this?” Rarity asked, frustration in her voice. “Well, at least it can’t get any-”         “I AM GOING TO PICK UP THEIR ORDER!” Silently yelled a brown pegasus waiter as he struggled with another stallion.         “Excuse me! But I have done engagement orders like this several times before, I am the most qualified,” the yellow unicorn objected.         “But an old school friend of mine wanted me to do this!” The teenage stallion said, trying his best to get to the table.         “Excuse me, but WHAT are you two doing?” Rarity asked, looking at the arguing stallions.         “I am sorry, miss Belle,” the older stallion said, “but this intern was trying to barge in on the job that you requested of me.”         “And all I am saying, is that I am a former Ponyvillian and I want to serve those two girls as a favor to-” he was quickly interrupted by Rarity.         “Tutut! I know how to solve this,” Rarity said, pushing the two waiters to the side, “You go get their order, and you bring the wine.”         “Uh, wine?” The other waiter asked.         “Yes, wine, is that a problem?” Rarity looked at the teenager weirdly.         “Well, its just that we getting something else,” the stallion continued as he looked behind him at a big red stallion carrying two barrels marked ‘Apple Family Cider.’         Rarity arched an eyebrow at this and looked to waiters, “Look, you ust get their orders, and I’ll handle this.” Walking away, she walked over to the back while grumbling to herself, “Try to work together with this resturant in order to get my two friends together and see it all fall to pieces before you. See if I will ever make them new uniforms at half price ever again.” Walking outside, she looked at the red stallion as he held a barrel over his shoulder, “Big Mac, what are you doing?” She asked, very sweetly but with some venom in her voice while running her hoof along Big Mac’s chest.         “Well I-” Big Mac began but soon was interrupted by Rarity.         “I don't want to hear it. Are you delivering cider?” Rarity questioned.         “Eeyup,” Big Mac plainly said.         Rarity then let out a smooth chuckle, “Big Mac, you do NOT bring cider to a restaurant like this! When you are proposing to somepony that you love, you should put the ring in a glass of wine, not cider. Wine, is romantic, cider is NOT ROMANTIC!”         “But-”         “Now, go and store your cider elsewhere and come back with some wine!” Rarity demanded, much to the annoyance of the red stallion. Rolling his eyes, Big Mac walked off to the kitchen and laid the barrel of cider to the side, wondering why his sister asked him to bring the barrels over there if nopony wanted any cider. He then sighed and walked out of the building, not seeing the two earth fillies walking behind him with some vials on hoof.         As Rainbow and Fluttershy began their order, Scootaloo noticed a bottle in the hooves of one of the waiters. Her eyebrow arched in curiosity, she walked over to Sweetie Belle, “Sweetie Belle, what’s going on?” Asked Scootaloo, her voice in a whisper, “I thought you had asked Long John to help with the order and get some cider. Not wine!”         “I don’t know,” Sweetie Belle exclaimed, a look of shock on her face. “I told him to bring some cider for Rainbow to put the ring in, because of how much she loves the stuff. I don’t know who that other guy is and what happened to the cider.”         “Guyz? We got a problem,” Babs said, sneaking over to the two fillies, a nervous Applebloom in tow.         “What problem?” Asked Scootaloo.         “Well, me and Applebloom decided to help with the meal a little for ya while you got everything else ready. I brought some stuff from mah Aunt Orange’s cabinet to help and...”         “And?”         Applebloom gulped, “When we were looking at the food, trying to see what they were ordering, Babs accidentally grabbed mah growth serum formula. Ya know, the one I made during our time with Twilight? I was gonna show it off to Babs and she took it. Ah tried to stop her but it slipped and fell onto this barrel of cider.”         “Oh no,” Sweetie Belle squeaked.         “So...what’s going to happen?” Scootaloo gulped.         “Well, near as Ah figure...what’s gonna happen is that the serum might cause all that liquid to build up, and more and more of it is going to be produced and well...”         A look of utter fear came over the two fillies as they turned to look at the place where the kitchen was, and saw how a wave of yellow cider was coming from within, “TIDAL WAVE!” The four screamed as one as they ran out of the restaurant.         “Sweetie Belle?” Asked Rarity, watching the girls run by.         “Girls?” Asked Fluttershy.         “T-tidal wave?” Asked Dash as she looked at the kitchen, her eyes opening wide in horror as the doors burst open by the force of a powerful giant wave of brown cider. Moving quickly, she grabbed her marefriend and tried her best to save Fluttershy before they could be overtaken by the large wave of liquid. However, even with her speed, she just could not escape the oncoming wave before it washed over them both and sent them out of the restaurant.         After a few moments of swimming in cider and being washed against the waves, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy found themselves sitting against a fountain of Cadence. Completely soaked and part of her mane over her eyes, Rainbow Dash let out a small grumble, “Well, that was...something,” she said, pushing her mane back. Looking up, she stared at the buttery pegasus before her, the pink mane covering one eye and smiling a little. As the cyan pegasus looked at the mare, she noticed the buttery mare smiling more before breaking into a fit of giggles.         “Oh, Rainbow, this date was fun,” Fluttershy giggled. “I never thought I would get washed out of a restaurant by cider.”         Dash, finally seeing the hilariousness of the situation, began to laugh as well, “What can I say, I like to pull the unexpected on you sometimes. It’s what I do.”         Slowing down her laughter, Fluttershy nodded and pushed aside her mane, “Never a dull moment it seems. Everytime I’m with you, you make it exciting.”         Dash smiled back at her and reached behind her blue wing, “Hey Fluttershy, how about I go and make everyday of your life, just as exciting?”         “Rainbow, what do you-” Fluttershy stopped as she saw the box in front of her, the small golden hoofband inside gleaming with a gem. Looking back up at Rainbow Dash, she let out a small quiet, “YES!” Tackling her marefriend to the ground and kissing her deeply, running the yellow hoof along the cyan wings.Closing her eyes, Rainbow Dash returned the kiss with just as much passion, rubbing her hooves along Fluttershy’s back.         “YEEEHAW! CONGRATS YOU TWO!” Cheered Applejack from behind the bushes.         Disengaging from Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash sat up and looked towards the sound, “Applejack? When did you, where did you?” Dash asked as Fluttershy blushed a deep red and hid behind her strawberry mane, wiping it slowly.         “About right when you two landed. Ah just had to see how things were going to go,” Applejack said. “That and I had to help dry off Rarity.”         “And for that, I thank you,” Rarity said before running to Fluttershy and giving her friend a big hug, “OH, Fluttershy, I can’t be happier for you.”         “OH THIS IS GOING TO BE SO GREAT!” Cheered a pink and bubbly mare as she popped from the fountain to tackle hug her two friends, “MY two besties are getting married! Oh, I better start planning the cake and then there’s.”         “Pinkie Pie?” Asked Dash as she tried to get air from the pink mare’s big hug.         “Oh, I am so happy for you two! I can’t wait to tell the princess about it,” Twilight said, flying in from above the trees, crashing soon after. Shaking her head, she got back up and hugged her friends.         “Thanks, twilight,” Fluttershy said.         “Anypony else saw us getting sappy back there?” Asked Dash as four young fillies came rushing out, in particular an orange pegasus who jumped and hugged the two mares.         “YES! You two finally did it! I’m going get a new mom, or is it dad?” Scootaloo asked herself and then hugged the two mares again, “I don’t care, I’m getting a bigger family.”         “Family?” Dash asked, looking down at the filly and then back up at the mare before smiling, “Yeah...a family.”