//------------------------------// // Part 1: The Setup // Story: Restoring A Lost Bond // by SuperPinkBrony12 //------------------------------// Scootaloo groaned a bit, as she struggled to push a heavy cardboard box across the wooden floor of her house. When she had agreed to help her mom, Dizzy Twister, move some old things to the basement, she had not expected the job to be so exhausting. It turned out that her mom had a lot of old stuff that she no longer needed. They were going to reside in the basement, until Dizzy Twister could figure out what could be donated, and what could only be thrown away. "Thank you again for helping me out, Scootaloo," Dizzy Twister smiled warmly "If it was just me moving these things, it would take all day." Scootaloo forced her best smile, as she replied "Hey, it's the least I can do after you fixed my scooter after that nasty accident yesterday. I didn't think it was possible to put it back together." "It just takes a little bit of tlc, and the right amount of know how." Dizzy Twister laughed a bit. "Not to mention, being good friends with Princess Twilight. And from what I hear, you're well on your way to becoming a little mechanic yourself." "Well, I figured that if I was going to constantly be riding my scooter, it wouldn't hurt to learn how to fix it." Scootaloo said cheerfully, before she went back to pushing the heavy box. It was hard work, but she didn't want to complain after she'd already promised to help. "I'll bet some of this stuff is my dad's old hockey gear," Scootaloo thought, as she finally managed to push the box into the basement "Or maybe it’s my mom’s old exercising equipment." Scootaloo didn't know much about the past of her parents. All she knew was, both her mom and her dad had been born and raised in Cloudsdale. Her dad had originally been a professional hockey player, but now he was a manager for a major league hockey team, and only played the sport whenever he came home (which was not often), while her mom stayed at home. Both her mom and her dad loved her very much, but they did have a tendency to sometimes unintentionally embarrass her, which is why she never really talked about them to her friends. It wasn't long before most of the boxes were successfully moved to the basement. Soon, there was only one box left, and Scootaloo eagerly volunteered to move it. She regretted the decision. Her body had been worn out from pushing several boxes of similar weight, and this made it harder to push. Scootaloo wasn't the type of pony to give up so easily, however. "I can do this! I just need to put a little extra effort into it!" Scootaloo thought to herself, and began to push the box with her head harder than she pushed before. Dizzy Twister quickly grew concerned, Scootaloo seemed to be pushing too hard. Not only was she straining herself, but she wasn't paying attention to where she was going. "Be careful, Scootaloo!" Dizzy Twister called, but it was too late. Scootaloo didn't notice the slight bump in the floor, until after she had pushed the box across it. One second, everything was fine. But the next, her legs began to slide, and her body fell to the floor. Scootaloo groaned, and quickly picked herself back up. "Are you okay, Scootaloo?" Dizzy Twister asked with concern, slowly trotting over to her daughter to check for signs of injury. "I'm fine, I just lost my balance for a second, that's all." Scootaloo said, brushing the dust off of her coat. Dizzy Twister breathed a small sigh of relief. She then turned her attention to the box Scootaloo had been pushing, and opened it up. "Good, nothing's broken." she said, breathing another sigh of relief. Just then, something inside of the box caught Scootaloo’s eye. Her curiosity getting the best of her, she raced over, and began digging through the various objects, until at last she found it. It was a book that looked like it hadn't been touched in a very long time. But the rest of the details were hard to make out, because it was so dusty. Brushing away the dust, Scootaloo found that the book was a dark blue in color, and printed on the front cover in bright yellow letters were the words "Cloudsdale High". Scattered all around the front and back covers, were cartoonish sketches of clouds, the various Wonderbolts logos, and various objects that Scootaloo assumed were statues of famous Cloudsdale figures, like Commander Hurricane and General Firefly. "I see you found my old Cloudsdale High yearbook," Dizzy Twister said with a smile, standing over her daughter's shoulder "I knew I still had it around somewhere.” "What was Cloudsdale High like?" Scootaloo asked. She knew she was years away from even thinking about attending the school, but that didn't stop her from being fascinated with it. After all, pretty much every adult pegasus she knew had attended that school. "It was alright, the school wasn't anything to write home about, but there were some fun after school activities to enjoy," Dizzy Twister told her daughter. "In fact, I first met your father during some of the hoofball games between Cloudsdale High and Griffon Academy. Those were some fierce grudge matches." "No kidding, Dad says the two teams used be fierce rivals ! Always playing pranks on each other, and rubbing their victories in the others faces!" Scootaloo said excitedly, as she flipped through the pages of the yearbook "It's too bad the two schools are in different leagues now, I would love to see them go at it!" Suddenly, a picture in the top right corner of one of the pages caught Scootaloo's attention! It had been circled with a red marker, and as Scootaloo flipped through the pages, she noticed several other pictures with the same red circle. Looking through the first picture, Scootaloo could see what looked like a younger version of her mom posing with what Scootaloo assumed was her class. Scootaloo gasped, when she saw a young cyan colored mare with a familiar rainbow colored mane and tail standing off to her mom's left side. "What is it, Scootaloo?" Dizzy Twister asked, when she saw her daughter's eyes widen in surprise. "Mom, you never told me that you and Rainbow Dash were friends!" Scootaloo exclaimed, very nearly dropping the yearbook on the ground. "What do you mean, Scootaloo?" Dizzy Twister asked, her face morphing into a confused appearance. "Well, that is you standing in the center of the front row in this picture, isn't it?!" Scootaloo insisted, as she showed her mom the circled picture. "Yes, that's definitely me," Dizzy Twister nodded, and chuckled a bit when she saw how loosely her mane and tail were styled "I almost forgot I used to look like that. It's amazing how much can change over the years." "So, it is you! And that's definitely Rainbow Dash standing off to your left," Scootaloo explained, pointing to the cyan colored mare that had her right hoof around Dizzy Twister's shoulder, smiling along with her "And don't tell me it's somepony else!" Dizzy Twister's face shifted from the happy state it had been in seconds ago, to a more serious look. "Rainbow Dash and I were indeed friends. The best of friends I might add," she told her daughter "When we were both young mares attending Cloudsdale High. We hung out a lot, and I'm sorry to say, we got into our fair share of mischief." “Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?” Scootaloo gasped. “Unless, you’re not friends anymore!” “That’s not true, Scootaloo. Rainbow Dash and I are still friends, we just aren’t as close as we used to be.” Dizzy Twister replied. “Then how come I never see you together, except whenever Rainbow Dash needs to talk to you about something I did?” Scootaloo asked. Before Dizzy Twister could answer, Scootaloo had set the book on the ground, and had bolted out the door. Dizzy Twister shook her head, but couldn’t help but chuckle a bit. “Fillies will be fillies.” she said to herself At the Cutie Mark Crusaders Clubhouse, Scootaloo told Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle all about her morning. It had taken a couple of tries though, since she had arrived at Sweet Apple Acres almost out of breath. "Well, that's.... interesting, I guess," Sweetie Belle shrugged "Rarity apparently used to be friends with this pony called Suri Polomare, before she moved to Manehattan to make it big. Rarity doesn't like to talk about Suri much though, she says it has something to do with 'Fashion Week'." "Don't ya think Rainbow Dash would've mentioned somethin' like that by now?" Apple Bloom asked Scootaloo "I mean, you two are practically sisters at this point. She has to have met your folks at least once." "I don't really like to talk about my parents when Rainbow Dash is around, I don't need them embarrassing me in front of her," Scootaloo replied. “Besides, Rainbow Dash never talks about her parents.” "I still think Rainbow Dash would've said somethin' about bein' friends with your mom." Apple Bloom said with a skeptical look "Rainbow Dash probably just forgot, because she hasn't seen my mom in so long. If I didn't see you girls for a couple of years, I'd probably forget we were friends, especially if we didn't keep in touch very often." Scootaloo concluded. "So, why did you want to tell us this? Sweetie Belle asked. "I was hoping that, maybe you girls might have an idea on how fix their bond" Scootaloo explained "It's obvious that they never intended for their friendship to drift apart. And I'm sure they'd really appreciate it if I could make them friends again." "I don't know if that's such a good idea, Scootaloo," Apple Bloom said nervously "Applejack says ya can't just force ponies to be friends, cause it don't work like that. Besides, you don’t even know if their friendship needs fixin’." "I'm not trying to force my mom and Rainbow Dash to be friends, they already are friends!" Scootaloo defended, even though that argument wasn't one hundred percent solid. "All I'm doing, is giving them a little nudge to start hanging out more often. There's nothing wrong with that, is there?" "Well, I don't know about that." Apple Bloom replied, still skeptical. But Sweetie Belle quickly said "Of course there isn't! Princess Twilight did the exact same thing with her old friends from Canterlot!" "Wait, she had friends before she came to Ponyville?" Scootaloo asked. "Of course she did, don't you remember that picture in her castle with all those ponies we hadn't seen before?" Sweetie Belle replied, "Princess Twilight told us that those ponies were her friends from when she lived in Canterlot. And she mentioned something about this one pony that got really upset when Princess Twilight didn't come to her party. So Princess Twilight made it up to her with a new party. And after she apologized for not being a good friend, everything was sunshine and roses. I don't remember the pony's name though, I think it was moon something." Just as soon as those words had escaped Sweetie Belle's mouth, a light bulb went off in Scootaloo's head. "That's it!" she exclaimed "I've just come up with the perfect idea!" "A party?" Apple Bloom asked "I fail to see how a random party, even if it's thrown by Pinkie Pie, could work." "It doesn't have to be a party," Scootaloo explained "All I have to do, is get Rainbow Dash and my mom into a situation where they have to talk to each other, and before long they'll be friends again! If it worked for Princess Twilight, it can work for me!" "And just how do you plan on doing that??" Sweetie Belle asked Scootaloo "More importantly, what does that have to do with us?" Scootaloo smiled "I'm glad you asked, Sweetie Belle. Because you and Apple Bloom are gonna help me get the party all set up." “Is a party really necessary?” Apple Bloom asked Scootaloo, this was sounding less and less like a good idea. “A party is what Princess Twilight used with that one pony, so why shouldn’t it work here?” Scootaloo asked, and she proceeded to explain her plan "I’m gonna ask my mom if Rainbow Dash can do the Sisterhooves Social with me. I’m sure she’ll say yes, but it’s the only thing I can think of that will get her and Rainbow Dash into the same setting.” "Can Rainbow Dash even participate with you? You two aren't technically sisters." Sweetie Belle asked "Hey, Applejack let you race with her the last time you did it," Scootaloo replied "If you and Applejack could compete, I'm sure an honorary big sister like Rainbow Dash would be allowed." "She has a point." Apple Bloom admitted. "I don't know about this, Scootaloo," Sweetie Belle said, now it was her turn to be nervous "Don't you remember what happened when we tried to get Big Macintosh and Miss. Cheerilee together?" "That was because we were trying to play matchmaker, this time is different," Scootaloo said boldly ."We're just reuniting two old friends. And who knows, maybe we'll get our cutie marks for this?" Of course, Scootaloo was pretty sure that the chances of getting a cutie mark for making two ponies friends again were slim at best. But she hoped it could sweeten the deal enough for Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle to agree to help out. "Cutie marks, huh? Well, I suppose it's worth a shot." Apple Bloom said with a shrug. "Same here, though I still don't think it’s going to work." Sweetie Belle admitted. "Oh come on, it'll work! Just you wait and see!" Scootaloo said boldly "Now, here's what we'll need for the party."