9. Can't stand the heat? For Celestia's sake put out the fire!
Scootaloo had never thought she was insane enough to put her own tail on fire. Apple Bloom had never thought Scootaloo would be stubborn enough to put her tail on fire. Looks like they were both wrong. A very scared little filly ran in circles in the suddenly a lot less peaceful clubhouse. Her tail a giant bundle of flames, creeping closer to her blank flanks.
"Put it out, put it out!" she screamed, "Sweetie Belle, put it out!"
"I can't," the unicorn cried, "Twilight only taught me how to start fires!"
Panic quickly overtook them. The fire was consuming Scootaloo's tail. Luckily for them, after the last few times they'd exploded the house or put it on fire, the clubhouse was now covered in fireproof paint. Even if Scootaloo would go up in flames, the rest of them were safe.
Stride jumped towards the closet and yanked open the doors. He grabbed one of the custom made capes Rarity had provided. He thought where he could find water, but with no time left he figured it'd have to do.
"Scootaloo, lay down on the floor!" he exclaimed.
"It's chasing me!" she cried out, "It's chasing me!"
He managed to intercept her and push her down on the floor. She covered her head with her hooves, her watery eyes closed shut. Stride quickly covered Scootaloo's tail with the blanket using his mouth. Coming so close to the source of heat, his eyes teared up. Luckily, it had the effect he had hoped for. The fire was gone.
He sat down next to her and tried to console her. She was crying into her hoof.
"It's over now, Scootaloo," he said.
Her pinkish tail had lost half its length, he had noticed removing the blanket, and the end was scorched black.
Her flank had some mild scorch marks, but he was pretty sure they'd heal.
He shot an angry glare at the other crusaders.
"Are you out of your mind?!" he shouted, "You could've killed her!"
Apple Bloom pouted, "She's the one who went through with it! I just wanted her to pick truth!"
Stride shook his head, "Then you should've stopped her!"
"Stride, that's not how truth or dare works," Sweetie Belle said.
Stride helped up Scootaloo, she stood wonky on her legs.
"Com'on, Scootaloo. Let's get out of here."
The burns didn't seem that bad, but it was still a good idea to have somepony take a look at them. Also, he figured she'd like to visit the day spa to make her tail a bit less... obvious. After all, the last thing they'd want was for Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon to mock her with it.
As Stride and Scootaloo walked out the door, Sweetie Belle turned her head towards Apple Bloom.
"This is by far the worst idea we've ever had."
The fur on Scoot's cheeks was still a bit sticky from crying, but her mind was a lot clearer now. Her shorter tail felt strange and uncomfortable. She was glad Stride was around. He however gave her a pensive look, "Why would you go through with something like that?"
She swallowed a chunk in her throat. She was afraid he'd ask that question and she was pretty sure the answer was going to sound really, really silly.
"Actually, I uh, I'd seen ponies do that before in the circus so I thought I knew what I was doing.
I kind of thought Sweetie would be able to put it out."
Stride shook his head in concern, "I know friends are ponies you'd entrust with a lot, but perhaps you should check what they can and can't do first next time."
Scootaloo let out a relieved sigh. She was glad he hadn't called her crazy, even though she was pretty sure she was crazy and she was pretty sure he knew that.
"Do you live close by?" he asked, "Perhaps your parents would like to take a look at this themselves."
"Do you think your mom would help?"
"Yes, but-"
"Then let's go to your place!"
She realised she hadn't thanked him yet. After all, he might've actually saved her life back there.
Okay, brain. It's time for you to get back on duty. How are we going to thank him?
No response.
I hate you, brain.
Knowing she lacked the words to say enough, she resorted to her everlasting impulsiveness. She leaned towards him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. She quickly drew back, her own face a luminescent red. Stride blushed and gave her a surprised look.
"Thanks for saving me," she said.
They entered town. It was a busy day today. There were ponies cleaning up after the Nightmare Night festivities and numerous salesponies offered their goods on market stalls. Scootaloo caught a glimpse of Applejack offering two apples for the price of three. The chocolate stand Discord had manned yesterday was now a stand for oranges. A grey pony with a ginger moustache looked shocked at his oranges as they sprouted wings and flew off towards freedom. Celestia's sun was already quite low on the horizon, causing the clouds to reflect many shades of pink, orange, red and yellow.
There was a degree of worry on Storm's face which could only be matched by Rarity looking at a bad dress. She quickly slid towards her medical cabinet and picked out some bandages and ointment. Scootaloo frowned at the bandage.
"I'm not walking around with a bandage diaper all day, thank you very much."
Storm shook her head, "You wouldn't want to walk around with scars for the rest of your life, would you? We need to make sure this doesn't get any sunlight!"
Scootaloo groaned, "Fine, but I'm not leaving the building as long as there are bandages."
Stride lifted a brow, "In other words, you might as well not have the bandages?"
"Well, I suppose you could sleep over for a few days, but you kids both have school again next week," Stride's mom suggested.
Scootaloo sighed, "I don't suppose we could use some healing magic?"
Storm put down the medicinal tools on the table.
"I guess if Burst were to work his magic, they'd be fixed by then..."
"So, I'm staying here then?" Scootaloo asked, her voice filled with hope.
Storm grimaced, "But what about your parents-"
"No problem," the filly said.
The mare took another look at Scoot's tail.
"Perhaps I can take you to the spa to get that tail fixed before school, next week."
"Sleep well," the soft voice of Stride's pegasus mother sounded through the room, before she turned off the light and closed the door. Stride didn't feel sleepy at all. Especially with Scootaloo lying on the mattress on the floor next to his bed. He had slept in the same room as Scootaloo before, but they'd never been alone together. He felt like he had to strike up conversation somehow. A little voice in his head said, "Tell her, tell her everything. About your condition, about loving her..."
He didn't listen to that voice and instead opted for something different, "How was flying training today?"
The light of Luna's moon falling through the split between the curtains was just enough to see Scootaloo grimace, "Well, we didn't really train today, we uh, we just sort of talked."
"About what?"
"Nothing," Scootaloo answered. She bit her lip, "Girl stuff."
It was a bit strange to hear Scootaloo say she had been doing 'girl stuff', but Stride decided to drop the subject.
"What did you do today?" the filly asked.
Stride shrugged, "I helped clean up Miss Cheerilee's office."
Scoot's left ear perked up, her right ear folded. She stared at him with a large frown,
"You helped Miss Cheerilee clean up her office?"
"Well, it was just cleaning mud off the window, actually."
"Oh, okay."
It became silent again. Stride turned in his bed so he could face her better. She sat up in her mattress and scratched her neck.
"Stride, can I ask you a question?"
Stride shrugged, "Sure."
"Have you ever been afraid of dreaming?"
He thought about that. Had he ever? Yes, yes he had.
"Well, there was a while I had a lot of nightmares. I was afraid to go to sleep."
Scootaloo nodded, but didn't seem satisfied with that answer.
"It's just," she looked out the window, "Sometimes my dreams are just too good."
Stride didn't really understand what she meant by that.
"Sometimes my dreams feel so much better than," she sighed, "So much better than real life I don't want to wake up anymore."
Her chin rested against her chest.
"I mean, in dreams there's so much more I can do."
Stride lifted up her chin with his hoof, forcing her to look straight into his eyes.
"Like what?"
She gently flapped her wings, "Like flying."
It felt like a sword went straight through his heart. He'd had that kind of dreams before. Dreams in which he had his wings. Dreams in which he grew older, in which he could exit his adolescence, go senile... The kind of dreams that made him cry when he woke up. He'd never considered somepony else might be having the same problem.
"Scootaloo, I've had dreams like that too," he said. Of course, for all Scootaloo knew he was an earth pony, so he couldn't start talking about flying dreams.
Unless you told her. No, he thought, she's had to endure enough today.
"Perhaps it's something you shouldn't be afraid of," he said, "Perhaps it's something you should be looking forward to."
Scootaloo nodded. She broke eye contact and only then, Stride realised how much he had enjoyed looking straight into her eyes.
"You're right," she agreed, "Let's sleep then."
The Dreamscape was nice and warm tonight.
"Sorry I couldn't show up yesterday," Luna said. She appeared behind him.
"Some foal was having a really heavy nightmare about video game characters trying to eat him. Where were we?"
Stride shrugged, "You'd just said I didn't value myself."
Luna nodded, "Of course! Stride, you don't value yourself."
"I still have no idea what that means."
"Oh. Makes sense."
The princess of the night made another image appear. An image he'd rather not see again, because it showed Scootaloo's burning tail. The Dreamscape was now uncomfortably warm, almost burning hot.
"Can't you make it stop doing that?" Stride asked, looking around at the appearing flames worried.
Luna shook her head, "I'm powerful, but limited. The owner of the dream is always stronger if their emotions get the best of them."
Stride nodded. He tried to calm down. It was just a memory, nothing was burning. The fires around the platform vanished.
"All this time you spent thinking of yourself as not important," Luna said, "But how important is Scootaloo to you? How important are your friends?"
Stride tilted his head. They meant the world to him.
"They're everything to me," Stride answered.
Luna nodded, she nudged his head so he looked straight at the image.
"You saved her life today, Stride," she said.
"It was luck," Stride answered.
She shook her head, "Everything you've done in your life had a purpose. Your birth created the happiest years of your mother's life. What you told Scootaloo earlier, it has helped her beyond your imagination."
"How do you know all these things?"
"Dreams are memories, Stride."
Stride rolled his eyes. Great. Someone who knew his every secret.
"Do you understand this, Stride?"
He turned away from the image. If he hadn't been there, who knew what might've happened? Perhaps he was making a difference.
"I think I do," he muttered. Luna lifted his chin and winked, "Great, then my work here is done. See you around, Early Stride."
The Dreamscape faded. The orbs of light dimmed down, shortly afterwards being replaced by a beam of sunlight cast between two curtains.
Stride didn't feel like getting up. He stretched his arms and flexed his neck. His eyes were still a bit heavy. He rolled over and looked at the mattress they'd stalled out for Scootaloo to sleep on. She was still asleep and Stride could see her dreams were sweet from the broad smile across her face. She was lying on her side, her face directed towards Stride's bed. He noticed her wings would occasionally flap.
He felt the bumps on his back. They were already diminishing a bit. The doctors had said this would happen. If Stride would've been a normal pegasus, his wings would've been getting their full wingspan at this age. The bumps were the result of a few joints switching. He could see Scootaloo's wings were fully grown, despite their small span. After all, girls' bodies go adolescent faster than boys'.
The beam of light Celestia's disk blasted through the room was soon interrupted by a lonely cloud. It became colder, so Stride pulled up his sheet over his shoulders. He heard a faint yawn as Scootaloo stretched inelegantly, her mouth wide agape. She rubbed her eyes and grinned at him.
"Hiya, Stride!"
"Good morning."
"What time is it?"
Stride opened the drawer and picked up the clock he kept there. It was very early in the morning. His parents probably wouldn't be up yet, so he saw no point in going downstairs just yet.
"Way too early," he answered.
Scootaloo scratched her mane, "So, what are we going to do today?"
After all, she couldn't go outside till her scorch marks had healed.
Stride didn't recall telling her much about himself. Of course, the orange filly had quite often told him about her awesome adventures, but he was sure she hadn't told him all of her adventures quite yet.
"Perhaps we could just, you know, talk," he answered. And maybe tell her the thing.
Scootaloo sighed and fell on her back, "But that's so boring!"
Stride shrugged, "Come on, it'll be fun! You can ask me any question."
Scootaloo's eyes shimmered, "Any question?"