//------------------------------// // A Pegasus in Need // Story: Growth of the CMC: For Better or Worse // by PrinceUniversa //------------------------------// A Pegasus in Need Rainbow was breathing heavily as she was knocking the door hard hoping to tell Rarity about something quickly. Her mind was racing as she was knocking frantically on the door even as she heard Rarity calling out. By the time she stopped knocking; Rarity opened the door, a surprised expression clearly etched on her face, “Rainbow? What seems to be the matter?” She was trying to word out what was troubling her but each word came in audible gasps as she desperately tries to tell her, “I… ha… tried to… have a little… chat with… Scoots…but…” She was deeply exhausted trying to breathe in and out as her mind was still going into overdrive. Rarity can see her concerned but she was not able to understand why she was breathing heavily if she were to just have a simple chat with Scootaloo, “Darling, I can see wanting a simple chat with Scootaloo but why are you…?” The fashionista got cut off by the cyan mare whose eyes were wide with shock joining alongside her panicked expression, “Scoots is gone!” That managed to get Rarity as she raised her hooves to her mouth in apparent shock. Sweetie Belle came up to Rarity to ask who was there but when she heard that the orange pegasus went missing, she alongside her sister both simultaneously screamed, “W-hh-aaa-tttt!?” Rarity looked at her sister who was worried sick for her friend. Rainbow was waving her two forelegs high up in the air at the state of panic, “I know! I’ve been looking over Ponyville by air so far and I haven’t found her at all!” Sweetie, despite being worried, could not help but notice that the cyan mare was shaking her forelegs like what Apple Bloom did when they discovered that they gave a love poison to both Cheerilee and Big Macintosh. It relieved her worries for a fraction. “Well if you were wondering, she’s not here… Have you told this with Applejack?” As much as Rarity wanted to knock some sense into the orange pegasus for fleeing at this time, she thought it would be best for Rainbow to do that as she is her guardian. “Yes I have Rarity! And are you sure that Scoots is not there with you possibly hiding?” The white mare shook her head much to the cyan pegasus’s dismay, “Well if she’s not here, I’ll continue to look around for her! I can’t believe she does this of all times…” She spread her wings forward and flapped them onto the ground ascending to the sky. Rarity looked upward to see Rainbow continuing her search. From the distance she can see Applejack with her little sister frantically searching for Scootaloo. She felt Sweetie Belle’s hoof on her shoulders as she was deep in thought. Looking at her little sister, their eyes shared the same concern for the orange pegasus. Without anything needed to be said, both left the boutique in search for Scootaloo. Rainbow was above the city checking every known possible area for where the elusive Scootaloo could be. Despite the advantage of seeing the whole town from above, she could not any sign of the orange pegasus anywhere, “Sweet Celestia Scoots, why you got to do this now?” The cyan mare was beginning to worry for the filly’s safety. Having done a second scan of the whole town and with no luck on finding her, she descended down to where Rarity, Applejack, and their siblings were meeting up. A forlorn look was etched on Rainbow’s face, “Any luck on finding the squirt?” All six shook their heads much too all of their dismay, “Ah can’t find the slippery pegasus… what in tarnation was goin’ on in her mind t’ do somethin’ like this? She’s hidin’ alright but where?” “Well we’re not going to just stand around here are we!?” Sweetie exclaimed loudly. The three were relatively surprised by her sudden outburst. Apple Bloom moved to her friend’s side, sharing her sentiments and supporting her friend. Both looked at each other smiling a bit seeing that despite the rocky start with their feelings for each other, they still had the spark of friendship they made. Their smile did not go unnoticed by their older siblings as they too were smiling see their friendship steadily returning back to its former strength. After a moment of happiness, Apple Bloom retuned back to the topic, “Ah’m with Sweetie on this! We can’t just stop our search fer Scoots right?” All three of the guardians looked at each other. They shared the young fillies’ sentiments but they looked almost everywhere wondering where the orange pegasus is. Almost being the keyword. Suddenly the cyan mare’s eyes widened as she smacked her face, “Oh my Celestia, I can’t believe I forgot about that area!” All four were looking at Rainbow befuddled by why this sudden reaction. Her eyes were gleaming as she looked at the four, “Look, I don’t have the time to explain this but I got to go where I would go when I’m feeling down!” Before she got the chance to hear her friends argue back, she ascended and soared towards her special location, “For the love of Luna, let Scoots be there…” She blazed pass the many clouds scattered around silently praying that the orange pegasus was where she thought she could be. Over pass Whitetail Woods, she saw a single pond that she used to go to whenever life threw something awful back at Rainbow herself. Right next to the pond itself was the filly she was looking for, “There you are ya squirt…” She descended nearby the trees without alerting her presence yet. As she landed, she looked upon the filly looking rather calm. The cyan mare for once, was rather nervous of having this conversation with her. She knew that this may come to pass someday but this was so sudden of her. She wanted to but was lacking the resolve to have a decent conversation with her biggest fan. Scootaloo was admiring the pool and the serene feeling of watching the fish swim underwater. She would always go here whenever she was feeling down, it helped to calm herself quickly. She let out a sigh remembering her friends splitting up when they learned that they had feelings for each other. It was so bizarre for her to have feelings for her two friends so suddenly. Was it normal to go through something like this? She did not understand any of this at all. She was clutching trying to clear her thoughts, “What am I going to do…” Rainbow’s thoughts broke when she heard those words. She looked at her seeing that she was speaking with herself, “I… I don’t know what do about this or how should I feel about this…” She put her two hooves down looking at the fish once again, “I never thought of our friendship going like this before. I mean I wouldn’t mind it at first but now? I’m so confused on how to handle this…” The cyan mare stood there watching the orange filly staring at the pond. Despite her feeling nervous having her first discussion with Scootaloo about this, her resolve begun to steel itself. She let a deep breath and stepped out of the trees, “Face the problem head on Scoots.” The orange pegasus jumped from hearing her idol’s voice. She turned round and saw Rainbow smiling as she came forward, “Rainbow Dash! H-How’d you find me here?” She stepped next to Scootaloo and sat down watching the fish swimming by, “It was easy, this use to be my favorite spot to think about stuff. At first, I’d thought you wouldn’t be here but… well, here I am.” The orange filly looked away from her idol’s eyes and watched the fish with her. She was very surprised to be standing at the same spot where Rainbow would be sitting whenever she was thinking. She couldn’t help but almost blurt it out, “So… you went here whenever something was bothering you?” Rainbow still bore her smile as she wrapped her fan in her wing, “Yep, always have been, thanks to Fluttershy showing me this place.” The wind was blowing pass them as the silence claim them for some time. Both watched the water ripple a bit from the breeze as it traveled upstream towards them. Scootaloo thought back to her first time when she and Sweetie backed Apple Bloom up when Diamond and Silver were bullying her for being a blank flank. It was silly but had it been not for her, they would have never met each other. It was rather ironic that Diamond being friendly to them caused them to split apart now. As the ripples reached the shore, she turned to her mentor whose wings still wrapped around, “Rainbow… I have something to ask of you.” The cyan mare turned to her fan still wearing smiling, “Come on squirt, don’t be shy! What’d you got in mind for me?” The orange pegasus was rubbing her hooves together in nervousness. Her mentor was here and she knew that she might not get another chance to speak this ever. She looked at her, her eyes pleading for her answer, “Could you… be with me? I want to meet my friends again and settle this… I don’t want our friendship to break like this.” Rainbow pulled her fan closer to her as she embraced her in a hug, “Of course I will for you! Me and your friend’s sisters talked out about this and decided to meet each other under the gazebo on Hearts and Hooves Day so you three can talk it out. We’ll all be there for you.” Scootaloo let a few tears escape as she hugged back Rainbow, “Thanks Rainbow, that means a lot for me.” “I know squirt, I know.” They stayed there enjoying the scenery in front of them. The calmness of the ripples soothed them. On the day, all of them knew that this was going to be life-changing for the three fillies.