A beautiful day. A sunny day. A cloudless day. Students shouldn’t be stuck inside a room all day.
“Okay class listen up!” Cheerilee says walking to the chalkboard. “It’s time for another big assignment!”
The entire class sighs. They have just completed a major assignment, one of which many have failed to get done, and now they are about to receive another one.
“For this assignment, I want you to write about something that is most important to you and why. I’ll give you in-class time tomorrow, but it will be due next week.”
The bell above the school clangs and clashes its clapper, waking up a drowsy Scootaloo, who sits in the front row.
“Class dismissed everypony! All but Scootaloo.”
“Looks like barey here is in trouble again!” Diamond Tiara says waving a sassy hoof in the air. “Have fun with your afterschool lesson, loser.” She leaves the classroom.
Scootaloo doesn’t retaliate. Instead, her thoughts paralyze her.
I’m in trouble now.
Stupid lessons. Always boring me. It’s not my fault.
“Scootaloo, you with me?” Cheerilee asks tilting her head in concern. “Is everything all right?”
“Yeah, sorry about that. I was lost in my thoughts,” Scootaloo says, getting up from her seat. She looks up at Cheerilee. “Am I in trouble?”
“Not at all! But Diamond Tiara is. I’ve seen her misbehaving like always,” Cheerilee says, lowering her head giving Scootaloo a wink. “Anyways,” she raises her head, “why were you sleeping in my class again? You promised you wouldn’t anymore remember?”
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Cheerilee. I…uh, I didn’t get much sleep last night because you know,” Scootaloo lies.
Opening her eyes wide, Cheerilee shakes her head in disbelievement.
“You still haven’t found a proper home yet? Why haven’t you told me anything? I can help you, Scootaloo, if you just give me a chance,” Cheerilee says, taking a seat on the floor, in front of Scootaloo. Cheerilee reaches for her and she flinches. Cheerilee pulls back. “Please, let me help you. No filly like yourself should be out alone at night. You can trust me.” Cheerilee touches her shoulder. Scootaloo draws back.
“No, I haven’t found a home yet, so stop asking me,” Scootaloo yells, running toward the door. She stops in front of the door. Looks back at Cheerilee. “I don’t need your help, or anypony’s help.”
Those words stun Cheerilee. In all her years of being a teacher, she has never heard such words from a student, or anypony for that matter. She looks down to the ground and her ears flop down as a frown adorns her face. She almost says something, but her hesitation locks her jaw.
Cheerilee and Scootaloo have gotten so close in the past few months. They’ve spent a great deal of time together, because Cheerilee has told Scootaloo that she too has had no home, no parents—nothing but despair—as a filly. They would even go out to lunch, and talk about various things: Scootaloo would tell tales of her ridiculous crusader adventures, and Cheerilee would tell tales of her childhood. Sometimes Cheerilee would take Scootaloo out to buy her candy and balloons.
Stepping on the cobblestone stairs amid scattered debris, Scootaloo saunters onto the grassy path. Squinting her eyes from the intense sunlight, she looks up to spot a cyan Pegasus in the air. Gazing back down, almost with eyeless range, she notices Rainbow Dash in front of her.
“Hey, squirt!” Rainbow says, with a look of content on her face. “Ready to go to the ball game?”
“Yeah, I guess so,” Scootaloo replies.
Scootaloo glances back at the front school door. She only wants one thing: to run back, burst through the front door, in tears, give Cheerilee a hug, and apologize for everything she has done. Scootaloo knows what she has done, but she cannot say it to Cheerilee, or else her past despair will enkindle. Scootaloo is happy being Rainbow Dash’s sister, and she doesn’t need any reasons to endanger her happiness from the exposure of the truth.
“Let’s go then. Hop on,” Rainbow says, lowering her flank. Scootaloo jumps on, and Rainbow takes flight.
Cheerilee, standing on the cobblestone staircase, watches Rainbow disappear in an instant in the cloudless sky.
⁂
After the ball game, Rainbow and Scootaloo decided to go home. It had been a game against the Raining Pegasi and the Galactic Earth Ponies, who, of course, won. They succeeded; they were victorious; they accomplished the feat!
The stars glow white against the purple sky; the moon glows boundlessly, and most residents of Ponyville reside for the night in their homes.
“What did you think of the game, Scoots?” Rainbow asks, shifting her aerodynamic pattern to a higher elevation.
“It was okay I guess,” Scootaloo mumbles, holding onto Rainbow’s chest. She rests her head on Rainbow’s neck. Tears drop.
“What’s with you? You seem awfully down. It’s not like you.” Scootaloo doesn’t respond. Instead, she opens her eyes and looks down at a bird’s eye view of Ponyville.
Flambeaux alight the homes below with an amber glow; ponies stroll along in the jubilant night next to their valued ones; some sit beneath droopy willows in a mossy garden by a pond with the moon’s reflection; the stillness of the night holds….
They arrive at the Rainbow’s cloud home.
“We’re home, Scoots,” Rainbow says, looking back at Scootaloo.
Scootaloo slides off of Rainbow’s back, landing on the cloud surface. They both walk through the front door.
⁂
In the foyer of the cloud home, the brown clay-structure embeds the left wall, which allows one to hang, hats, coats and other outdoor clothing. Beside the clay wall, is the staircase, and beside the staircase a white pillar stands. Threads of cloud swirl into a swooping S shape to form the railings. Along the far edges of the room, two windows carve into the walls, and a couch sits in front of them. Upstairs, Scootaloo’s room is on the right and Rainbow’s on the left.
Scootaloo lies on her cloud bed, looking—at the purple sky—out her open window. Thinking. She can’t get her mind off of what has happened today. It won’t leave her mind and it sure as hay won’t resolve itself if she hesitates to speak up. A knocking at the door stuns her from her reverie
“Hey, Scoots,” Rainbow says, poking her head out from the ajar door. “Can I come in?”
“Of course you can,” Scootaloo says, turning around to face Rainbow. “I need to talk to you about something.” Rainbow walks in the room and sits down on the cloud bed, facing Scootaloo.
“What’s up? Does this have to do with you being so down today? Because, if it does, I want to know what’s going on,” Rainbow says, touching Scootaloo’s left forehoof. Scootaloo draws back. “What in Celestia’s name is wrong with you? I can’t even touch you now?”
Out of all the years Rainbow has known Scootaloo, she has never seen her so distraught, so estranged to Rainbow. The day Rainbow adopted Scootaloo, she only wanted to be in her touch, and in her presence. But now, it feels the complete opposite. To Rainbow, it feels like the love Scootaloo once had, along with her admiration and obsession, for her is gone.
Does Scootaloo regret being with me? No, no, can’t be. She shakes her head. Remember Twilight’s words Dash: “You love without regret and without love you regret.” Oh, Twi, I wish you were here with me now.
Scootaloo slides off her bed, looking out her window. She turns around to face Dash. “You want to know what? It’s you.”
Rainbow jerks violently from her seat upon hearing those words. “What? Me? Scoots…why would you say something like that?”
“Because you’re making me live a lie!”
“Excuse me? A lie? How do you figure?”
“When you adopted me, you didn’t want ponies to know that you and I were sisters. So you lied about it to everypony. Everypony thinks that I got kicked from the orphanage because of how useless I am.
“I stuck to that story because I wanted to keep the promise I made you about not telling anypony. I didn’t want to disappoint you. I lied to Cheerilee, my best friend, again today—not to mention I snapped at her. She wants to adopt me, but she can’t. You know how close I am to Cheerilee. I’m going to lose my friendship with her because of your lie! And if I do lose her, I’ll hate you!”
Scootaloo turns to her window again. This time, she walks up to it and places her forehooves on the cloud sill. Looks out. Lowers her head. “All for you,” Scootaloo says, calming her voice. Her voice is breaking, tears pooling in her eyes. Rainbow walks over to her crying sister.
“I did it all for good reason, Scoots, I promise,” Rainbow says, placing a hoof on her sister’s shoulder. “I thought you didn’t care.”
“Of course I care! And tell me!”
“Then look at me, and I’ll tell you why.” Scootaloo turns around and looks up at Rainbow. “You see, Scoots, when I lost Twilight in that horrific accident, I felt nothing but complete despair.
“I acted foolishly, I made rash decisions, I was stupid after I lost her. But then I realized something: you were always there for me. You always cheered me up and you dried my tears. After all, you admire me the most. You knew what I was feeling, because you knew what complete despair felt like.
“I had nopony after Twilight died. I still had my friends, but they didn’t understand me the way you do, and I didn’t want anypony, especially my friends, to know. If they found out, they would’ve probably thrown me a freaking intervention for being ‘ill.’ I did this so we could be together, and you’d always have a home to come to. And a sister who loves you.”
It all makes sense to Scootaloo now: Rainbow isolated herself from her friends, and the things she loved—practicing flying stunts, reading Daring-Doo novels and doing mischievous pranks—yet that didn’t work. The more isolated Rainbow felt, the more connected she got. The more connected she got to Scootaloo.
Very seldom does Scootaloo ever hear about Twilight, but when she does hear about her, it means something significant; it usually only comes from Rainbow. Nopony else. A few days ago, Scootaloo and Rainbow were out for dinner, and Rainbow overheard another pony talking about Twilight ungraciously. Rainbow snapped at him amid ponies. Scootaloo will never forget the words Rainbow spoke: “Tell me not of her flaws; of her strengths tell me all.”
“I didn’t know that! I’m sorry, sis!” Scootaloo croaks. “I’m a terrible sister for thinking you would make me live a lie. I’m sorry for yelling at you, especially after all you’ve done for me. I didn’t know about the whole Twilight thing because you didn’t tell me until now.”
Rainbow wipes the tear streaking down her cheek with a hoof. “It’s okay, Scoots. We don’t need to keep this secret anymore because I know that’s not what you want. It’s not what I want anymore, either,” Rainbow says softly. “I just don’t know how Cheerilee will take it.”
“Oh, my sweet Celestia! Cheerilee is gonna hate me when she finds out the truth. I can’t lose her sis! She’s my best friend.” Scootaloo is trembling, snot and tears mixing on her face.
“Shhh.” Rainbow pulls her close, wraps her forehooves around her shaky, little body. “Shhh. It’ll be all right. We’ll talk to Cheerilee about all of this tomorrow. Together. You’ll see. You won’t lose her, I promise.”
Scootaloo’s voice muffles under Rainbow’s chest, but she can hear the panic in it. “Please make sure that she won’t hate me! Oh Celestia, Rainbow! Please promise you won’t make her hate me.”
Rainbow doesn’t know what to say. How could she promise? She embosoms her crying sister, rocking her back and forth. Scootaloo howls into her chest until her tears dry, until her periodic shaking stops and her frantic pleas dwindle to indecipherable mumbles. Rainbow waits until her breathing slows and her body slackens. Scootaloo is asleep in her sister’s arms.
Rainbow carries her to her bed, places her down. Then Rainbow gives her a kiss on the forehead. “I love you, Scootaloo. And I always will.” Rainbow walks to the door. Looks back at her sleeping sister. Scootaloo lies there, unmoving in a worried slumber, very still in the hoofs of sleep. “Goodnight little sis.” Rainbow closes the door.
Then Rainbow walks to her room and lies down on her own bed, looking out the window at the purple sky. Thinking. “You won’t lose her sis, I promise. Because I know what to do.”
In a matter of seconds, Rainbow closes her eyes, falling asleep, motionless in a deep sleep, very still in the hoofs of sleep.