"Just like that! You got it Squirt!" Rainbow Dash encourages as Scootaloo's wings buzz quickly. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle watch with excitement as their friend very slowly lifts off the ground.
Rainbow Dash and the CutieMark Crusaders stand on a hill on the outskirts of Ponyville, an empty and quiet location to allow Scootaloo to get in some practice with hoepfully no interuptions. Rainbow Dash wears a baseball hat backwards on her head with a whistle on a string around her neck, she observes Scootaloo closely, making sure Scootaloo followed the directions she gave her.
In recent weeks Rainbow Dash had begun pushing Scootaloo harder in their practice and Rainbow's lessons even became far more frequent throughout the last month. While they had been training a couple hours every few days Rainbow usually had work to get done or other business holding her up, but recently something had changed. Rainbow would wrap up all the work she had in no time at all, allowing her to work with Scootaloo for several hours everyday of the week, assumeing no world ending catastrophe caused her and the other elements to leave. While the increased training did cut into crusading time a bit, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were more than happy to cheer their friend on as she attempts to fly and as hard as the training can be Scootaloo couldn't be happier, as Rainbow Dash had started hanging out with her outside of practice a lot more often she felt she finally had the big sister relationship she'd always wanted.
Rainbow Dash watches as Scootaloo hovers off the ground just a little bit, her face scrunched in absolute focus. Rainbow smiles proudly while walking up to the filly without her noticeing, Scootaloo strains and tries to keep going but her wings are to exhausted and give out, Rainbow moves a hoof and catches Scootaloo at the same time her wings give out and places the tired crusader on the ground gently.
"Nice work Squirt, that was higher and longer than any hover you've done so far. Keep this up and you'll be flying in no time." Rainbow Dash congratulates while smiling, a smile that becomes a cheerful grin when Scootaloo looks at her with a big smile.
"You really think I'll be able to fly?"
"Of course Squirt, I garuntee it. Now why don't you take a quick break? I've got one more thing in mind before we end todays practice." Scootaloo almost immediately runs over to sit with Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, the latter of whom has a small bottle of water for her to drink. Whether she just wanted to relax or wanted to get to her next activity faster Rainbow simply chuckles while watching the little fillies.
"Hi Rainbow Dash." a familiar and bubbly voice calls causeing Rainbow Dash to turn around just as Derpy lands a little ways away. The happy gray pegasus approches the group, one eye greets Rainbow Dash while other seems to say hello to the Crusaders. Derpy has a brown satchel wrapped around her and a mailpony hat on her head.
"Hey Derpy, what's up?" Rainbow asks as Derpy opens her satchel.
"This is for you Rainbow." Derpy says as she pulls a letter and a muffin from her bag and hands it to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow takes both and looks over the letter while taking a bite out of the Muffin.
Something that takes Rainbow Dash off guard is that the letter is actually for her, Derpy has a tendency to deliver letters to the wrong pony, usually somepony a house or two nearby that can simply deliver the letter themselves. Taking a look at the date on the letter Rainbow sees that Derpy even delivered it right on time, another thing she doesn't do very often. Looking at the letter hesitantly while swallowing the bits of muffin in her mouth Rainbow concludes theres two possibilities here, It's either a coincidence or something really important. Rainbow Dash opens the envelope and reads the letter quickly.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders look on in worry as Rainbow Dash's body tenses, Rainbow lowers the letter and her worried expression is plain for all to see. She coughs then turns towards the three fillies with an apologetic look on her face.
"Squirt, I'm really sorry but I gotta go." Rainbow looks away for a second before continueing. "Can you three tell the girls I'm gonna be in cloudsdale for awhile? I wanna meet up in Twilight's Castle when I get back, so I just need them to wait for me there ok?" All three fillies promise to deliver Rainbows message, and with a quick thank you Rainbow Dash takes off into the sky.
"Wowwie, look at her go." Derpy says while approaching the CMC. "But before I forget, here ya go Sweetie Belle, this is for you." Derpy says with a smile while giving Sweetie a letter and a muffin, before any of the girls have a chance to speak, Derpy salutes and flies off to her next delivery.
"Derpy come back! This letter is for Berry Punch!" Sweetie Belle shouts as Derpy flies off. The pegasus in question simply turns and gives a happy wave before continueing her flight.
*****************************
"What do you think could be the problem?" Rarity asks the collected Elements Of Harmony as they sit in the throne room of Twilight's castle awaiting Rainbow Dash's return.
As they were told to by the CMC, Twilight and the others have been waiting for Rainbow Dash to return, each mare coming up with their own theories as to what could be going on. While Twilight, Applejack and Rarity sit more calmly Pinkie Pie moves around wildly while somehow remaining in her seat, Fluttershy just sits quietly, her face not as frantic as Pinkie's but not as curious as the others. Spike simply waits in the corner reading a comic book, barely paying attention to whats happening.
"Must be something mighty important if'n it got Rainbow flying off ta Cloudsdale so quick." Applejack comments from her seat. Pinkie Pie jerks around in her own chair consumed by worry.
"What if the Wonderbolts want to kick her out!? Or she got in trouble with the weather factory!? Or what if she has a secret group of friends she likes better than us and all she's afraid of is us discovering them and ruining her good time!?" Before anypony can attempt to calm Pinkie down, Discord appears in a flash of light, his serpent-like body wrapped around Fluttershy's seat with his head laying lazily on top of the chair. The being of chaos rolls his eyes before speaking.
"Trully you worry about the silliest things Pinkie." Discord says nonchalantly while absentmindly staring at his lion paw. "I'm sure it was just a letter from her doctor, and when she returns she'll inform you she has six months left to live." At that suggestion Pinkie freezes in place, she stays so still she looks more like a statue then a living pony. Statue Pinkie wobbles than falls onto the ground, when she hits the floor Pinkie erupts to life and begins to cry loudly, more tears coming from her eyes than should be possible. Fluttershy looks at Discord harshly as the throne room begins to flood.
"Discord! You can't joke about something like that!" Fluttershy reprimands sharply. Discord recoils before looking away sheepishly.
"Yes, I suppose that was a bit to mean." The Chaos lord admits while tapping one finger from his paw and claw together awkwardly. "But I was just curious what she'd do." Discord takes a look as the tears have risen so all the girls have to stand on top of their thrones to not get wet. Discord rolls his eyes once again. "Alright, I'll fix it." Discord snaps his fingers and all of the tears disappear and Pinkie is placed on her chair with buckets on both sides that catch the continuing waterfalls of tears without ever getting full. Discord then appears in front of Pinkie and claps his hands to get her attention.
"Stop crying, Rainbow Dash isn't dying ok? Forget I said that and just go back to what you were doing." Discord waits for a moment until Pinkie starts moving around frantically spouting off random scenarios as to what Rainbow is up to. Satisfied, Discord moves back to sit near Fluttershy.
Twilight clears her throat causeing everyone to look at her. "Let's not fret over this, we'll find out what's going on when Rainbow returns. For now, lets remain calm and wait."
"Twilight is right." Rarity Chimes in, she faces Pinkie and continues. "Darling, you're concern is touching but please remain calm. Remember when Rainbow Dash joined the Wonderbolt Academy and you feared she would forget us within five minutes of leaveing?" Pinkie nods her head. "Then you'll recall that your fears were incorrect about that." Pinkie nods again. "So why don't we find out whats going on first? Then you may fly off the handle if you so desire." Pinkie nods a final time as the room settles into silence. Rarity feels content for a moment then hesitantly looks at Pinkie, silently regretting giving her permission to 'fly off the handle'.
While some small conversations spring up over the next hour waiting for Rainbow Dash the Elements mostly just wait, Fluttershy occasionally giggling at some comment Discord whispers into her ear. after what feels like forever the mare everyone has been waiting for finally walks through the doors of the throne room. Rainbow hesitantly looks at each of her friends individually before flying over to her seat and sitting down, all five mares and Discord lean toward Rainbow expectantly, Rainbow taps her hooves together before speaking.
"So, uh, I just got back from Cloudsdale. Something came up and I had to get the hospital-" Rainbows explanation is interrupted by Pinkie Pie suddenly giving her an enourmous bear hug while crying.
"Noooooooooo! You can't Die Dashie!" Pinkie cries while buckets float around her and catch her tears.
"Pinkie! The only thing killing me is you crushing me!" Rainbow manages to choke out, prompting Pinkie to let her go.
"I didn't go to the hospital for me Pinkie" Rainbow explains while catching her breath from Pinkie's hug, Pinkie leans while quickly returning to her seat and resumes leaning forward expectantly. Rainbow Dash looks around the room hoping for an answer for what just happened. Rarity coughs lightly to gain her attention.
"Don't worry about that Darling, why don't you tell us why you went to the hospital." Rainbow just nods.
"I had to go visit someone, she's not doing so great which is why the doctor contacted me." Fluttershy looks at Rainbow with concern.
"Oh Rainbow, you- you don't mean-"
"Yeah I do." Rainbow Dash looks down at her hooves. "It's my Mom."
Upon hearing that revelation everyone in the room is stunned into silence, most of them from surprise as Rainbow Dash never spoke of her family let alone her mother, but one yellow pegasus in the room was silent with fear for she actually knew the mare in question. Fluttershy gets out of her chair and moves next to Rainbow to lay a comforting hoof on her shoulder.
"What's wrong Rainbow? What happened to Morning Dew?"
"She's just sick, She'll be fine Flutters, Mom is tough you know." Rainbow looks at her childhood friend with confidence, but the timid pegasus can see the fear hidden in her magenta eyes. Fluttershy gives Rainbow a surprisingly strong hug before taking a few steps back, afraid to crowd the other pegasus.
"Oh Rainbow Dash, that's terrible" Rarity Laments from her seat. "If there is anything at all we can do, we'd all be happy to help." The other Mares all agree immediatly, Discord even flashes a supportive grin and Spike even while absorbed in his comic book manages to give a thumbs up though everyone wonders if he's actually aware a meeting is going on. Upon hearing her friends support Rainbow Dash laughs nervously while scratching the back of her head.
"Well, haha, since you mention it. There is one favor I'm gonna need. It's nothing really, trust me you won't even remember it it's so tiny." Rainbow continues laughing nervously while looking anywhere but at her friends who just look confused.
"What is it Rainbow?" Twilight asks from her throne. Rainbow stops laughing but continues to avoid her friends gazes, they all lean further toward the nervous mare until Rainbow takes a deep breath and looks at them sheepishly.
"Ok so here's the thing." Rainbow Dash says quickly before talking slower for her explanation. "I didn't get to visit my mom very long cause she actually fell asleep not long after I got there. I talked to one of the doctors and he told me that she'd been in there a couple days and her condition was getting worse everyday, but they were doing all they could." Rainbow begins rubbing her right hoof absentmindly. "So I talked to him a bit longer and he said your emotional state can effect your condition, Which is why he's glad I came as fast as I did, since me being around will make my mom happy and their hoping it'll help her condition a little too." Rainbow looks to each of her friends and chuckles nervously. "So I thought to myself 'what makes my mom happy? What can I do to help her?' that's when it came to me, the one thing my mom always hoped for. The one thing she'd always wanted to do, her dream I guess you could call it."
"B-But Rainbow-" Fluttershy stammers out. "Morning Dew's dream is to see you get married." Everyone in the room gasps and looks at Rainbow in shock. Rainbow Dash just rolls her eyes.
"Yeah I know Fluttershy, but I'd have to be pretty stupid to tell her I'm getting married. I never even told her I'm dating anypony, there's no way she'd buy that."
"Well what ya gonna do then Rainbow?" Applejack asks, still looking surprised at her friend's mother's dream.
"So since I can't do that for her." Rainbow Dash begins laughing nervously again. "I may have, haha, done the next best thing-" Rainbow swallows hard before finishing "-and told her I have a marefriend."
"WHAT!?" Everyone yells at once, even Spike who lowers his comic book. Fluttershy just stares with her mouth agape.
"Rainbow Darling why would you tell her that?" Rarity asks utterly baffled. "How do you expect to get away with such a lie? Especially since you do not have a-" Rarity's eyes widen in realization. "Ooooh, I see."
"Rarity?" Twilight says while turning from Rainbow to the fashionista. "What is it?"
"Well havn't you realized the favor Rainbow Dash is requesting?" Three mares shake their heads while a Pegasus and Draconequus look at a very uncomfortable Rainbow Dash. "Girls, she wants one of us to pretend to be her marefriend in order to try and make her mother happy." Rarity ignores the surprised gasps and turns to Rainbow Dash. "Isn't that correct Rainbow."
"Yeah, you got it." Rainbow admits sheepishly. "I wanted to have this meeting so we could decide who'd be willing to do it."
"I'm just confused Rainbow." Twilight says, her eyes still wide from surprise. "Why does if have to be one of us? Why do you even need to pretend?"
"I don't have the best luck finding marefriends. Plus you girls are my best friends! You're the only ones I'd trust with something like this." Rainbow explains.
"As your oldest friend and a fellow pegasus, Fluttershy would be the obvious choice on paper." Rarity muses. "But I'm willing to guess that, that wouldn't work right?"
"Oh no." Fluttershy answers quietly. "Morning Dew knows I don't like mares, so she wouldn't believe that."
"And Applejack is out of the question to." Rainbow speaks up. "Just the thought of lying about something like this probably has your skin crawling." Applejack nods her agreement.
"Oh oh! I can do it!" Pinkie Pie shouts while jumping up and down in her seat.
"Um Pinkie" Twilight begins, waiting for Pinkie to look at her. "You can't walk on clouds." Pinkie slowly sits back down and enters a thinking position.
"Somepony could use a cloud walking spell." Rainbow suggests. "But the thing is, my mom has never taken surprises well, I'm a little afraid you'd give her a heart attack in her condition."
"But Dashie!!" Pinkie whines, when a blast of confetti and a swarm of balloons burst out of nowhere behind the party pony. Pinkie puts a hoof to her chin and looks away thoughtfully. "I can probably fix that."
"Why don't we look over the requirements?" Discord inquires from his spot near Fluttershy. "We need a mare, one that this Morning Dew doesn't know." Fluttershy raises her hoof to add something.
"She needs to be able to walk on clouds with wings or a spell." Fluttershy gets a nervous look. "A spell she can reinforce herself before it wears off." This time Discord raises a claw.
"Oh, clearly she must be able to lie well and act appropriately in any situation." Discord holds his paw to his chest with smugness. "And of course I know just the mare."
With a snap of his fingers Discord is covered in a bright light, when it dissapates Discord has taken the form of a very odd mare, with mismatched wings and feet, with two different horns on his head. He speaks confidently in his normal voice. "For Dashie's sake I shall take one for the team, no need to thank me."
Before anypony else reacts to Discords announcement Fluttershy grabs his snake tail and yanks on it, causeing Discord to return to his natural state. Discord laughs loudly as Fluttershy huffs. Pinkie Pie laughs too while Rainbow offers her own little chuckle.
"But seriously now girls, uh and Discord and Spike" Rainbow gets everyones attention. "I think we all know the perfect actress for this situation." Rainbow says while looking with a grin at who she meant.
Slowly all eyes in the room turn to face a pure white unicorn whose blue eyes scan the room for their intented target, only for realization to set in. Rarity chuckles slightly before fluttering her eyes and gestureing a hoof to herself.
"Oh" Rarity says quietly. "You mean Moi?"