//------------------------------// // 27: Everything's Fine. // Story: I Dreamt to Fly // by MrDynasty //------------------------------// While Scootaloo's mood was better than it was after she ate some ice cream with Rainbow Dash, she still felt quite down afterwards. She felt too demotivated and tired to do anything, especially anything to do with flying. Once she got back home with Rainbow Dash, she quickly went back into her room and huddled up into her bed again, not to be seen for the rest of the day. This mood carried on for next couple days, as Scootaloo continued to spend her time solely inside of her room. Rainbow Dash tried to motivate her several times, hoping to pull her out of the dumps and get her back on her hooves. Unfortunately, any attempt she made either had very little impact, or was completely ignored altogether. The only time Scootaloo ever came out of her room was to eat and drink, and even then she barely talked. Rainbow Dash felt ultimately useless at trying to help, just like she did before. It took a whole week of moping around before Scootaloo started feeling somewhat better. She still wasn't as lively as she was before she lost the league, but it was still progress nonetheless. Instead of curling up into a ball inside of her duvet like she had done for the whole week, she chose to sit beside Rainbow Dash on the couch. They both sat quietly, unsure of what to talk about. Rainbow Dash didn't want to risk ruining Scootaloo's improved mood, yet she still wanted to try and help her as best she could. Scootaloo looked around the room from time to time, feeling awkward about the seemingly endless silence that became increasingly annoying the longer it went on. A few yawns escaped her lips as she felt sleepier than she normally would. Rainbow Dash twiddled her hooves together in silence, feeling concerned for how Scootaloo felt at the moment. If either of them was going to start talking, it was most likely going to have to be Rainbow Dash. "...Is there anything you'd like to do today, Squirt? I think both me and Twilight are free most of the day, so we could all go and do something fun together if you wanted to," she said, looking over to Scootaloo with a small smile on her face. Scootaloo kept silent for a bit before shrugging her shoulders. "...I dunno, Dash. I doubt I'll be that interesting to talk to, especially considering how tired I feel right now," she said, rubbing one of her eyes. Rainbow Dash nudged closer towards her on the couch. "I think you just need something to get you fully awake. If you sleep too much, you'll just end up sleeping more and more as time goes by. Plus, wouldn't it be nice to go do something fun? It would definitely kill the boredom, that's for sure," she said as she let out a small chuckle. A small sigh came from Scootaloo as she continued to rub her eye. She knew she couldn't just sit here all day, and that it would clearly be much better to try and have some fun at least. If anything, it was only going to improve her mood, maybe even take her mind away from her problems. She put her hoof down and looked over towards Rainbow Dash with a crooked head. "Well, what could we do that would be fun?" She asked curiously. Rainbow Dash put a hoof to her chin and pouted, trying to think of something fun that they could do together. She didn't want to suggest flying, as she didn't know if Scootaloo was up for it in her current state. "...We could go over to Twilight's place and chat with her and Spike? You seemed to enjoy Spike's company before. Either that or we could visit someone else, maybe Applebloom or Sweetie Belle?" She asked as she looked over to her. Scootaloo quickly shot down the idea of visiting Sweetie Belle or Applebloom. "N-No, that's okay. I'd be a big wrench in their gear or whatever, probably no fun to hang around right now," she said, scrunching her mouth up as she rubbed her own cheek softly. Out of nowhere, Rainbow Dash pulled her over and wrapped one of her arms around her. "Come on, I heavily doubt that, Squirt. I bet they absolutely love having you around! Even if you may be tired and down in the dumps a bit," she said as gave off a small smile. "But if you really don't want to visit them, we could just go to Twilight's like I said before. That or maybe we could go and get something to eat at Sugarcube Corner." She said as she lifted her hoof up in motion. Scootaloo could feel her tummy rumbling when the thought of food entered her mind. "...You know... I suppose it would be as good a time as any to go and get something to eat." Sugarcube Corner seemed to have been doing some good business today, as the place was packed by the time Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo got there. They were both sitting at one of the tables inside the establishment, waiting for what they ordered to be delivered to them. At least Scootaloo didn't feel awkward anymore thanks to the plethora of chatting ponies inside of the bakery; the less awkward silences, the better. They didn't have to wait that long for their order to come as Pinkie Pie hopped over with two plates on her back. "Aaaaaand here's your big blueberry cupcake with extra sprinkles, Rainbow Dash," She said as she picked up the plate with her mouth and placed it on the table in-front of her. Rainbow Dash gave her a small look of confusion. "I didn't ask for extra sprinkles," she stated, pulling the plate closer to her with her hooves. Pinkie Pie nodded and gave off a wide, shiny grin as she spoke. "I know you didn't, I put them on there myself!" She grabbed the other plate off of her back and placed it in-front of Scootaloo. "And here's your caramel coated muffin! It's all nice and warmed up for you, oh and it's a bit gooey, so I included a napkin as well," she said before she suddenly shot off back into the kitchen again, presumably to help with the long, busy line of customers waiting to buy. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and picked up her cupcake with one of her hooves. "Pinkie Pie should stop altering orders like that, even if she has good intentions. Oh well, at least I got more than what I paid for," she said, taking a big bite out of the cupcake. A load of sprinkles broke off and dropped onto the table as she ate, creating quite a big mess for somepony to clean up later. Scootaloo decided to sniff her muffin at first, but she accidentally got to close and dabbed a small amount of caramel on the tip of her nose. She licked it off with her tongue and picked up the muffin with her hooves. She bit into the muffin, taking a large, gooey chunk out of it. A thin trail of caramel followed her mouth as she pulled her head away from it. "Mmmb, thath pbretty schweet," she said, rudely speaking with her mouth full. "Huh?" Rainbow Dash asked as she looked up to Scootaloo and tilted her head. She took another large bite out of her cupcake, causing yet another barrage of sprinkles to fall down onto the table. Scootaloo let herself swallow what she had in her mouth before she spoke again. "I said, that's pretty sweet." She pulled up the napkin that Pinkie gave her with one of her hooves and wiped her mouth, getting rid of the caramel that coated her lips. She enthusiastically took another bite of the muffin before she heard her name being called. She looked over to where she heard her name, only to see Sweetie Belle and Applebloom come over to her with happy grins on their faces. "What's up, Scootaloo? Haven't seen you in over week! How did the league go?" Applebloom asked, looking up to where Scootaloo sat. Scootaloo swallowed and wiped her mouth again, suddenly looking a bit more drab than she did before. "I...I, uh... lost," she said, putting the muffin down and frowning a bit. Applebloom's expression stayed mostly the same except for her mouth, which straightened out into a neutral expression. "Oh. I'm guessing you're a bit upset about that." She stated before getting her arm shoved by Sweetie Belle. A small groan of pain came from her as she rubbed her arm roughly. "That's okay, Scootaloo. It doesn't really matter," Sweetie Belle said, keeping a smile on her face as she looked up towards Scootaloo. Scootaloo looked over to her and raised her eyebrow. "Wait, it's okay?" She asked curiously, not expecting her friends to be fine with her losing. Sweetie Belle nodded, sitting down on the floor afterwards. "Of course it is! You got to the finals, which was already incredible enough! So what if you didn't finish in first place; there's always room for next year's league," she said, smiling up to Scootaloo. Scootaloo gave a small nod before she gained a slight smile. "Y-yeah, I guess so," she rubbed her cheek a little bit with her hoof. "At least I learnt how to fly, that's the important part," she said, picking up the muffin again with her hooves. Sweetie Belle stood up again. "From what I heard, you learnt a lot more than just flying, but I suppose you better tell us about it when we meet up again at the club house. Maybe even show us!" She said, having her voice crack mid sentence. "Anyway, me and Applebloom were just waiting to get something to eat when we spotted you sitting here. Figured we could chit chat a bit since the line was so long. We better jump back into the line now that it's shorter than it'll ever be, so I guess we'll talk to you again later!" She said, waving to Scootaloo as she began to eagerly trot away back into the line with Applebloom. Scootaloo waved back, taking a big bite out of her muffin again. She glanced over to Rainbow Dash, who seemed somewhat cocky about what just happened judging by the small smile on her face, and a couple dozen sprinkles as well. "See? I said everything would be fine." Scootaloo chuckled nervously. "Y-yeah, I guess you were right." Scootaloo rushed back inside Rainbow Dash's house once the door was open, trampling over a bunch of un-read mail in the process. Rainbow Dash shrugged, trotted in and quickly closed the door. She ran her hooves through the pile of un-read mail, looking for anything that might be worth opening. A letter with a shining sequin quickly caught her eye, prompting her to pick it up to further examine it. Upon closer inspection, the sequin was that of the Wonderbolts logo. She expected that the letter's contents were most likely going to be some sort of certificate of participation or something. She carefully tore open the letter with her teeth, trying not to damage it's contents. Inside she could see a folded piece of paper and nothing else; didn't seem to interesting. She took the paper out of the letter and unfolded it so she could read what it was about. It didn't take too long for Rainbow to see that it was an invitation to the celebratory test flight with the winners of all of the Leagues! Everypony that participated in the league was allowed to come and watch all of the winners perform a small show in honour of their new member. Her sudden smile quickly dwindled however, as she was unsure if Scootaloo would want to go. She figured she'd ask anyway. "...Scootaloo, where are you? Could you come here for a moment?" She asked, looking around to try and find her. Scootaloo quickly trotted out from the kitchen upon hearing her name being called. "I was in the kitchen getting a drink," she said, coming over to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash glanced at the paper again before turning to face Scootaloo and passing it over to her. "The Wonderbolts invited us to a post-league celebration for the most recent winner. Anypony is allowed to go and watch, but it says we'd be allowed to go into the front seats. Anyway, I figured I'd ask if you wanted to go or not, since I know you're a little... upset... over it," she said as she rubbed her neck. Scootaloo glossed over the letter before handing it back over to Rainbow Dash. "Well... it would be pretty rude not to go, probably. It'd look like I was a sore loser, which I am, but still," she said, pausing and letting herself think about the proposal. "...I suppose I'll go, might as well." Rainbow Dash took the piece of paper and trotted over to a table she could lay it on. "Well, if you change your mind, just tell me. We have four days until it happens, so it's plenty of time for you to decide if you want to go or not. I don't mind if we do or if we don't go, I'm not too fussed," she said, looking over to Scootaloo with a smile. Scootaloo smiled back. "I need to go and congratulate Rumble anyway. Even if I'm a sore loser, it doesn't mean I shouldn't have good manners."