The Fears of Yesterday

by SolidFire

Everything I Dreamed...

Everything I Dreamed...

A sad melody came from Sweetie Belle's piano as she began the final song of Iron Pony's set. The watching crowd immediately recognized it and began to scream its approval. Everypony knew the song, it was the band's most popular song. With a representative from 0n3P0ny records in attendance, the band knew they had to perform a perfect set. Nemo offered a perfect close to any show, so it was natural that they would play it last. Thus far the show had gone flawlessly. None of the members had made a single mistake. As the small orchestra the band had recruited from the school began to play about halfway through the song, the crowd lost it. It was the first show where socks had been thrown on stage. Scootaloo laughed and kicked the articles of clothing out of her way. She didn't understand the appeal anyway. If ponies walked around naked all day, it didn't make sense to her that putting odd wool garments on one's hooves was sexually appealing. It didn't matter. As long as she never caught Lightning wearing them she wouldn't care.

"Once and for all, and all for once, Nemo my name forevermore," Sweetie Belle finished beautifully as the rest of the band continued to play. When the music stopped, the approval was evident through everypony in the audience. Despite not even having a record label, Iron Pony had begun to attract crowds with an excess of eight hundred ponies to almost every show they played. As the band stepped off the stage, Lightning took their instruments and set them in their respective stands. He set Scootaloo's guitar right into its hardcase. Everypony knew he took extra measures to be careful with his marefriend's gear. He always had, even before they had started dating. While Lightning and Applebloom were cleaning up the stage, the rest of the band went and mingled with whoever stayed behind after the show. Spitfire and Rainbow found Scootaloo and hugged her.

"Great show Scoot! Your ma was rocking out like I've never seen," Spitfire said with a laugh. Scootaloo noticed that Rainbow looked fairly dizzy. And she had a hoof gently rubbing her neck.

"She overdid the headbanging didn't she?"

"Depends on who you ask." Spitfire gestured toward Pinkie Pie. Just because the music stopped didn't mean she was going to. She was still bouncing around, headbanging and screaming as if the music was still playing. Scootaloo laughed. The party pony hadn't aged a day in the last seven years, physically or mentally. She was still the same wild and wacky Pinkie Pie everypony knew and loved. Before Scootaloo could open her mouth to speak again, Sweetie Belle tackled her.

"SCOOTALOO! 0N3P0NY WANTS US TO GO TO THEIR STUDIO IN MANEHATTEN! THEY WANT TO PRODUCE AN ALBUM!" Scootaloo, though still a little out of it from the surprisingly powerful assault by her friend, immediately jumped to her hooves.

"Are you serious?!"

"YEEEEESSSSS!"

"What are we waiting for? Let's go!"

"After we graduate. They said we should finish school first. Apparently when we start our careers it will be a while before we can come back here. The guy seemed surprisingly nice. I wasn't expecting a guy from a record company to care at all about our personal lives." Scootaloo took a minute to process what Sweetie Belle said.

"How long is 'a while'?" Scootaloo was concerned now.

"Apparently about a year. One of their other bands is going on tour right after we graduate and we'll be going with them. What's wrong? Isn't this what we've been working for?" Scootaloo didn't hear her.

"Lightning..."

It had been three months since Aerial died. Ever since the day of her funeral, Scootaloo had vowed that she wasn't going to miss a moment with anypony she loved. Now she was faced with a difficult choice. If she followed her dreams, she was likely going to miss out on an entire year with the stallion she loved more than anything on the planet. If she stayed behind it was likely that she would never achieve what she had been working towards for the last seven years. Scootaloo bolted backstage and wrapped her forelegs around Lightning.

"Woah Scoot, it's nice to see you too," he said with a laugh. Scootaloo pulled away with a sad look in her eye. "What's wrong?"

"We were just offered a record label..." Lightning's face lit up. This is what his marefriend had been working towards for the entire time he had known her. He couldn't be happier for her. So why wasn't she happy?

"That's amazing! Why do you look so down?"

"We'd be going on tour right away after we graduate." Again, Lightning's face lit up. Confusion set in again a moment later.

"So why are you so down? This is everything you've dreamed of the entire time I've known you." Scootaloo looked up at Lightning. Her eyes shone with tears.

"Because if I accept their offer it means I won't see you for a year. Likely longer because you'll be starting your racing career after you graduate. What if this is it for us?" Lightning hadn't thought about it that way. The prospect of losing Scootaloo to their respective careers concerned him, but he wasn't afraid. He sat next to her and put a wing around her.

"Scootaloo, no career, no distance, and no amount of time can keep us apart. If we managed to work through Jade's tampering in the early days of our relationship then we can handle a little time apart." Scootaloo smiled. She hadn't thought about Jade or Steel since Aerial's funeral. They had fallen completely off the radar. Scootaloo had decided she would hope Jade would be found and leave it at that. It was odd that hearing his name comforted her, but then again it was Lightning who had said it. Scootaloo burrowed into Lightning like she always did when he had a wing around her.

"I love you Lightning." He froze. He had felt incredibly strongly about Scootaloo for years, but he had never really been willing to use the word 'love'. Maybe it was time to give it a try. Scootaloo was different from anypony he had ever met. Every time he saw her he got butterflies in his stomach. Maybe... maybe it was love.

"I love you too Scootaloo. I love you too." Scootaloo burrowed deeper into him. She had been terrified after she said those words. She had no intention of letting that slip for quite a while, but for a moment she didn't control her speech. Something within her just forced her to say it. She had never been happier with a word choice in her life.

"If y'all are done with yer lover moment Ah could really use some help over here." Applebloom was not pleased that Lightning had stopped working to indulge in Scootaloo, but from what she heard of their conversation she had decided to wait until it was over to break it up. She had always respected Scootaloo's relationship with Lightning, but nothing irritated her more than when it stopped Lightning from working. When the two lovers pulled away, they both helped finish taking down and packing up the equipment on stage. The two young lovers had a spring in their step as they packed up. Their relationship had just taken a turn towards perfect. Although they knew they'd face some trials in the near future, they weren't afraid. They were ready and willing to face whatever life threw their way.

---

By the time Lightning and Scootaloo arrived back at the Dash home, Rainbow and Spitfire were already in bed. They could tell because of the noise the adults were making.

"Don't they ever get tired of each other?" Lightning asked.

"Believe me, they mix things up. I've walked in plenty of times to check on them because one of them hurt herself."

"How do they-"

"Don't finish that question." Lightning decided that he really didn't need to know anymore.

"Wanna find a cloud?" The two ponies heard a particularly loud moan from inside.

"Please."

Spitfire and Rainbow Dash watched from the window as Lightning and Scootaloo flew away. The plan had worked perfectly so far. Make loud noises from the bedroom, Scootaloo and Lightning immediately assume they're having sex and fly off to a small cloud where it would be easy to sneak up on them.

"Ready Rainbow?"

"Ready," Rainbow replied while hefting a string of firecrackers.

Scootaloo and Lightning landed on a nearby cloud. The noises from the house had faded into silence. Either they're done or we're out of reach of the noise. I'll take either one. Scootaloo pressed her lips to Lightning's. Lightning returned the favor. There was more passion behind them this time than usual. Scootaloo pulled away and burrowed happily into her coltfriend. Nothing could possibly ruin this moment.

Except for the string of exploding firecrackers that had been slipped between them.

Scootaloo was livid when she arrived back at her house. Normally she would appreciate a prank like that, even if it had been performed on her. But ruining that?! Everything was perfect! Scootaloo stormed to her room. Tank nervously crept back into his shell.

"Too much?" Spitfire asked Rainbow. Rainbow held her head high.

"Not enough. If I let them go on there would've been tongue wrestling. I don't ever want to see that." Spitfire still felt guilty. It had been a pretty cute moment between them.

"I think I'm going to apologize to Scootaloo..."

"I thought Lightning was gonna piss himself! That was ingenious!"

"I think we hurt her feelings..."

"Oh Spitty, we gotta do that again some-Spitfire?" Spitfire slowly knocked on Scootaloo's door and pushed it open.

"Scoot?"

"Not right now Mom."

"Scoot, I want to apologize. Rainbow and I shouldn't have done that."

"But it was hilarious!" Rainbow called from down the hall. Spitfire facehoofed.

"Everything was so... perfect. Then you bucked it up with a string of firecrackers. Although it was kinda funny you should've picked a better time." Spitfire couldn't help but snicker a little. She stopped after receiving a glare from her daughter.

"I know Scoot."

"So it won't happen again?" Scootaloo asked.

"Oh, it'll happen again, I just won't ruin a perfect moment for you. Just really good ones." Scootaloo rolled her eyes. Her parents sure did love pranks. Scootaloo smiled.

"I guess that's as good as I can hope for. Love you Mom. Goodnight."

"Night Scoot." Spitfire smiled softly as she closed the door. I'll have my revenge, Scootaloo thought as an evil smile twisted across her face.

Author's Note:

Disclaimer again, I don't take credit for this story, as it is an approved re-post from the original author, coupled with the permission of the site's staff. I got a bunch done this past twenty-four hours, so expect a bunch of chapters today as my gift to all you followers and the fans of the original author of these stories.

Comments

[TheVirtuousOne]

Hehehe, I await your plotting scootaloo...

[TheVirtuousOne]

Hehehe, I await your plotting scootaloo...

[ROB24DOG]

Nemo as in Night-Wish's Nemo??

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

5252251 Yep