//------------------------------// // Guide me Home // Story: I Dream to Fly // by MrDynasty //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash blushed and looked back to Scootaloo. “I love you too, Squirt,” she said. Rainbow craned her neck to kiss Scootaloo’s nose. Scootaloo wrapped her arms around Rainbow and hugged her tightly, not letting go. She looked away and gave out some small coughs before turning back to Rainbow. “It sounds like your voice is coming back squirt, it’s been too long since I heard that sweet voice of yours,” Rainbow Dash said with a slight smirk. Scootaloo blushed and continued to hug Rainbow Dash. Rainbow started walking again, slowly towards Scootaloo’s house. During the trek across the small village she admired everything that Ponyville had to offer. Rainbow had never had the time to admire Ponyville, but now she had the time to gaze around. It was magnificent. It was a drastic change from her usual rushing about to and fro, but she couldn’t do that now; she had the sweetest, kindest filly in Equestria nuzzling her neck. Rushing could startle Scootaloo, or maybe even hurt her. Rainbow looked all around her. “Wow, Ponyville is beautiful… I’ve never realised that before.” Scootaloo pulled her face away from Rainbow’s neck and continued to hug her while Rainbow trotted along the stone path through town. Not long after, Scootaloo remembered that Rainbow Dash was taking her over to her own terrestrial house and not to Rainbow’s home of clouds floating lazily above Ponyville. “Ca…n’t I just… stay… with… you?” asked Scootaloo, forcing the words out. Rainbow looked over to Scootaloo and smiled at her. “I would love to squirt, but… couple things there. You have a family to take care of you and also… I’m not exactly mother material myself.” Scootaloo frowned and her eyes looked towards the ground. Rainbow wondered why Scootaloo was so reluctant to tell anypony about her parents. “C’mon squirt, why can’t you tell us about your parents?” Scootaloo looked away and shook her head. Rainbow was going to have to find out, for Scootaloo’s safety. She decided that she would not only walk over to her house, but also talk with Scootaloo’s parents. Rainbow continued to trot over to the house, with Scootaloo still being unusually apprehensive. Eventually, they reached Scootaloo’s house. Scootaloo was about to get down to let herself in to the dilapidated house when suddenly Rainbow Dash opened her wings to stop Scootaloo. Scootaloo looked quizzically at Dash. She smiled and replied, “Sorry squirt, I need to check up on your parents, I need to know okay? Also, I don’t feel comfortable letting a sweet filly like you down on your feet yet.” Scootaloo just stared at her uncomfortably, leaving her arms around Rainbow’s neck. Rainbow knocked on the door a couple times. There was no answer, not even any noise. Rainbow looked back at Scootaloo to see how she was reacting, she was still in the same position that she was before Rainbow started knocking. Rainbow turned around and tried to open the door, it was stiff and old so opening it was tougher than she thought it would be. After some pushing and pulling, the door creaked open as Rainbow pulled it. She started to trot inside the house, examining everything she could. Scootaloo was trying to get down as she walked in, Rainbow noticed and bent down, allowing Scootaloo to get down safely. Then Rainbow wrapped one of her wings around Scootaloo and looked over to her. “Don’t go anywhere, okay? I don’t want to lose the filly I love the most. Just stay close to me,” Rainbow said. Scootaloo nodded her head and looked around. Rainbow tucked her wing in and started moving further into the house and went into one of the rooms. Inside was what looked to be a living room, it had a couch, a table, some chairs and a cabinet in the corner. It seemed pretty casual, although, it looked like the furniture had not been touched for a long time. Rainbow looked over the Scootaloo. “Hey squirt, when was the last time someone sat in here?” Scootaloo replied by shaking her head, and then looked away. Rainbow was still bothered Scootaloo’s hesitation to answer any questions. She decided it would be best to not push the issue at this point. Rainbow redirected her gaze to the nearby doorway and trotted out of the living room, continuing to the room across the hallway. It was a kitchen by the looks of it. “Why is your house so quiet and empty?” asked Rainbow, more to herself than to the orange filly by her side. Scootaloo didn’t reply and made her way over to the fridge. Rainbow didn’t want to leave Scootaloo’s side, but she knew the filly wouldn’t do anything to hurt herself. So Rainbow left the room and started up the stairs that were next to it while Scootaloo remained in the kitchen. “Hello? Anypony home?” she yelled. Once she reached the top of the stairs, she looked around. There were three rooms, one at each side of the corridor. The one at the end appeared to be the bathroom. Rainbow entered the room to her left. It was empty and had a double bed; no one was in it and, like the furniture in the living room, appeared as though it had not been touched for quite some time. She began to search through the room to see if there was anything that would offer a clue about Scootaloo’s parents, as this was obviously where they had slept before. She opened a drawer and found a small picture. It was a picture of Scootaloo as a foal. Rainbow picked it up to get a closer look. She smiled at the picture and placed it back in the drawer; she then turned around and looked at the bed. She decided to lay on it for a second to get an idea of how long ago it was used. She climbed onto the bed and sat down. She then rolled onto her back, instantly realising that the bed felt equally as uncomfortable as it had looked. “Huh… seems like it hasn’t been used in ages. It’s very cold and rough. I don’t like it. I don’t see how anypony could,” mused Rainbow. She rolled off of the bed and lifted her hoof to her chin, wondering how long it must have been since Scootaloo’s parents had last been there. By the condition of the house it seemed like it could have been months, maybe longer. No, that can't be right, she thought to herself. Rainbow Dash shuddered at the thought of Scootaloo living like this by herself, and she trotted out of the room and into the next room across the hall. It looked to be Scootaloo’s room; the walls were blue and light poured through a small window over the bed across from the door. Rainbow trotted over to Scootaloo’s bed and felt it. It was much softer and more plump than the double bed in the other room. She looked around and saw a desk beside the bed, on it, was a picture frame and an alarm clock. Rainbow trotted over to the desk and picked up the picture. It was a picture of her and Scootaloo together. Rainbow placed the picture back on the desk and continued to look around the room. Nothing seemed out of place, nothing seemed wrong with the room. In fact, besides the obvious lack of Scootaloo’s parents, nothing seemed particularly wrong with the house in general. Rainbow decided that she would leave the room and check on Scootaloo. She turned to move away from the bed, when she suddenly tripped on something “Ah! What the hay was that?” she yelled as she hit the floor. She looked back to where her hoof had struck the object. There was a small lockbox on the floor, partially under the bed. It had a keyed lock on it that hadn’t been secured. She didn’t really want to snoop through Scootaloo’s stuff, but she had to try and find evidence of her parents. She pulled the box out from under the bed and slowly opened it. Inside were pictures, a feather and a small book that looked to be a diary. Rainbow picked up the feather and stared at it for a couple seconds. She carefully inspected the blue feather. “This… is one of my feathers.” She held the feather close to her wings and compared the colours. It was the same cyan hue as her other feathers. She then placed it back in the box and took out some of the pictures. Most of them were of Rainbow Dash, other subjects involved her house and other specific things to do with Rainbow. She stared at the photos for a moment before placing them back into the box. She was hesitant to pick up the diary, as that would be Scootaloo’s private place for her to write. Although this was the most likely place to find the answers she was searching for, Rainbow resisted the urge and slid the box back under the bed. She stood up and started to turn away from the bed, when she noticed that there was a small bump in the bed that appeared to be something under the blanket. Rainbow pulled the covers off of whatever was underneath. It was a small hoof-knitted doll. Rainbow picked it up and stared at it for a couple seconds. Rainbow’s vision blurred as she looked at the doll. The doll was blue with a recognisable prismatic mane and tail and had a carefully hoof-embroidered cutie mark of a cloud with a rainbow lightning bolt. She wiped her eyes and looked at her hooves, they had tears on them. “A doll of... me?” Rainbow placed the doll down on the bed again and covered it up. She turned around to make her way out of the room, when she saw Scootaloo standing at the door. “Squirt... look, I’m sorry that I was sneaking around your room,” Rainbow said. Scootaloo looked behind Rainbow to her bed. She then looked back at Rainbow Dash who was nervously shifting her weight from hoof to hoof. Scootaloo trotted through her room and pulled the box out from under her bed. She opened it and pulled out her diary. With the diary held in her mouth, she trotted back over to Rainbow Dash and held it to her. “I can’t just take your diary squirt… it has your private thoughts and matters… I can’t invade your privacy like that,” Rainbow said with a shake of her head. Scootaloo placed the book on the floor at Rainbow’s hooves. “This…. should explain… some… things Dash.” She trotted around Rainbow Dash and jumped up onto her bed. She pulled the covers out and grasped the Rainbow Dash doll in her mouth. She then hopped off the bed and left the room. Rainbow looked around the room, puzzled about the events that had just transpired. She looked down to her hooves to see the book lying there. The book had Scootaloo’s name on it and also a small signature. The signature was Rainbow Dash’s own form of writing style. “I don’t want to invade her privacy… but is she… asking me to?” she thought. Rainbow grasped the book in her mouth and sat on the bed. She opened it to a random page. It looked to be dated to about two weeks ago and it was a pretty short entry. Today was one of the worst days of my life, not only did I fall out with Applebloom, but I also fell out with Applejack. I don’t know how I’m going to make it up to them, but I must somehow. I would ask Rainbow Dash for help, but I’m not too comfortable with showing my face around Ponyville today. What if Rainbow hates me now? What if she never wants to see me again? I’m just going to let this blow off and keep low for a while, hopefully Applebloom will forgive me after not seeing me for a week or two. Ponies may wonder where I am, but they won’t care too much. No pony ever does. The only pony who I know that cares about me is Rainbow Dash, she is so kind and caring. She may be a super duper awesome daredevil flyer, but deep down, I know she is like us all. I wish Rainbow would realise how much she meant to me… she is the only pony I can call… my mother. She means the world to me and if she hated me, I’d have nothing left. I love Rainbow Dash like she is my own mother. Something that I wish was true. I love Rainbow Dash more than anypony in the world… I wish she knew. Rainbow was staring at the last sentence, it broke her heart. She had tears in her eyes and her heart was beating slower than ever before. She felt her chest and gulped. “Squirt… why didn’t you tell me?” Rainbow said to herself. She wiped her eyes and continued to re-read the passage over and over again. I love Rainbow Dash… I love Rainbow Dash… Rainbow then closed the book slowly and placed it to the side of the bed. She then looked over to the desk beside Scootaloo’s bed and picked up the picture frame. She stared at it for a while as her vision became clouded with tears once again. “I love you too… Scootaloo.”