I Dreamt to Fly

by MrDynasty

26: Lets Talk It Out.

Scootaloo had left before even meeting up with Rainbow Dash or Twilight after the race, seems she just got up and went home without much of a trace. Of course Rainbow Dash and Twilight were worried when they couldn't find her at the finish line, but they were quickly told by Spitfire that she decided to go home by herself. All Twilight and Rainbow Dash could do was fly back home as well and hope that Scootaloo was there when they got back.

On their way back, Twilight tried to initiate a conversation with Rainbow Dash, but nothing but silence seemed to come from her. "...The weather was nice today; was it you that cleared the clouds?" Twilight asked, flying alongside a drained looking Rainbow Dash. She didn't respond to her question, prompting Twilight to try and come up with something else to talk about.

"...I heard that Ponyville is getting another small vegetable store near the middle of town, apparently a lot of their stock will be imported," she stated as she raising her leg. Yet again, no response came from Rainbow Dash, not even an idle glance.

Twilight began to get annoyed relatively fast, annoyed that Rainbow Dash was doing the thing she said she wouldn't do if Scootaloo lost. "...You said you weren't going to be disappointed or upset, Rainbow Dash. So far you aren't proving that to me!" She said, her tone changing to something more serious.

Luckily, this garnered a response from Rainbow Dash. "I'm not upset, or disappointed! I'm worried!" She said, her head perking up and looking over towards Twilight. "She didn't even wait for us before leaving and it's making me paranoid!"

Twilight's ears flopped back as she placed her hoof on her chest. "You think I'm not paranoid too? I'm worried that she might have wandered off to somewhere that we wouldn't be able to find her; she could get lost if she isn't careful!" Twilight said, rubbing her own shoulder.

Rainbow Dash shook her head. "I heavily doubt Scootaloo would do something like that. She's most likely back at my place sitting in her room, feeling all gloomy," she said, beginning to pick up the pace a bit as she flew. "Even if I doubt she'd wander off randomly, we should still get back as soon as possible, just in case."

After a couple more minutes of flying, Rainbow Dash and Twilight finally got back to Rainbow's Cloud House. Taking no time at all, Rainbow Dash trotted through the front door and looked around, hoping to see Scootaloo somewhere inside. She wasn't in the living room, so Rainbow Dash's next best bet was Scootaloo's room. She trotted over to the door and knocked before listening out for a reply. Unfortunately, there was none. "...Scootaloo? You in there? It's only me and Twilight here," she said, opening the door slowly.

She peered inside when the door was open enough to fit her head through, but she still wasn't able to see Scootaloo, at least not directly. Her eyes quickly fixed onto the blanket on the bed, which was rolled up almost like a burrito.

Of course it intrigued Rainbow Dash, prompting her to open the door fully and trot inside the room. Upon getting close enough to the blanket, she poked it with her hoof and tilted her head. A small wiggle came from the blanket as it was poked, making Rainbow Dash realize that Scootaloo was probably wrapped up inside of it. "...Squirt? Why are you rolled up in your blanket? You could talk to me about what happened if you want to," Rainbow Dash said, placing her hoof on the blanket again.

Not much of a response came from Scootaloo, other than a few small wiggles.. To her dismay, Rainbow Dash began to unroll the blanket. Eventually her head became visible as the blanket was unrolled enough; her eyes were both wet and tinted red, hinting that she had been crying for quite a while. Her chin was lifted up by Rainbow Dash, who also leaned down to get their head's level with each other. "...Please, Scoots. Talk to me about it, I don't want you feeling upset!" She said in a soft tone.

Scootaloo's eyes glanced over to her, not sure of what she could even say. "...Sorry... about what I did," she said, rubbing one of her eyes afterwards.

Rainbow Dash shook her head slightly. "No need to be sorry, Squirt! We're all still so proud of you; not coming in first place wasn't your fault," she said, sitting down in front of her.

Scootaloo shook her head as well as she continued to rub her eye. "But it was my fault! I lashed out on the other stupid filly who was pushing me over and over. If I hadn't have joined in with the pushing, I would probably have won! I'm so stupid!" She said as she turned away from Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash sighed as she rubbed her own neck. "Come on, Squirt. It's not something worth moping over. You did so fantastically amazing, we're all surprised that you even got this far! Remember what you said way, way back before the league even started? You said you'd be happy enough if you passed the first course, and then you ended up nearly winning! It's okay that you didn't win, because you learned so much and impressed so many ponies anyway!" She said, raising one of her legs up.

There was a slight pause after Rainbow Dash had finished speaking. Not much came from Scootaloo, other than an occasional tail swish. "...Rumble deserved it more than I did anyway, it wouldn't have been fair to take what he rightfully earned away from him," she said, letting out a shaky sigh afterwards.

Rainbow Dash's ears flopped back as she felt ultimately useless at trying to improve Scootaloo's mood. "You would have deserved it as much as he did, you worked super hard! ...Although, he did attend the previous two leagues while this is the first one that you've participated in. Whoops, I'm not helping," she said, seemingly annoyed at herself for speaking too much. "Okay, before I make things worse... maybe I should just leave you alone for now. Just know that I'm still super proud of you, Squirt. You're always going to be a winner in my eyes," she said as she rubbed Scootaloo's head.

She waited for a little bit, hoping to get at least a word out of Scootaloo before she left. It looked like that word wasn't going to come, so she decided to just get up and leave the room. She was met by Twilight as she left, who seemed to have been waiting for Rainbow Dash to come out of the room. "I'm guessing she's in there? Is she upset?" Twilight asked curiously.

Rainbow Dash nodded, letting out a small sigh. "Pretty sure she's upset; the wet fur around her eyes seemed to give it away," she said as she slumped down, putting her backside down on the ground. "Worst of all, she doesn't seem to be listening to anything I say, pretty much just ignoring it completely. I'd love to try and help her, but all I think we can do is wait and see if she feels better tomorrow. She's a tough kid, she's bound to get over it eventually," Rainbow Dash said, dawning a hopeful smile.

Twilight nodded to her. "Maybe, but I'd still keep an eye on her. See if you can talk to her about it sometime soon, surely that would improve her mood," she said, lowering her leg. "Anyway, I'll probably have to go and check on Spike back at the castle, I don't like leaving him alone for too long. Please keep me updated on Scootaloo if you can, hopefully she'll just feel better in time," Twilight said as she began to trot away.

Rainbow Dash's smile slowly vanished as Twilight left, eventually ending at a frown once she was fully alone. She would have gone back into Scootaloo's room to try and talk it out with her, but she figured it was best to leave her alone for a while. For now, all she could do was read a book or maybe play with Tank for a bit, but asides from that, she had nothing else to do. A nap sounded nice since it did seem like the best way to ignore her problems; who knows, maybe Scootaloo would be okay after she would wake up. Yeah, a nap seemed perfect right about now.

Rainbow Dash was laying awkwardly across her hospital green coloured bed sheets, having all of her limbs uncomfortably spread out like a snow angel, but if that's the type of position she likes to roll into while napping, then surely she must like it.

Her nap was coming to a close as the irritating sound of birds chirping echoed through her bedroom. She rolled over onto her side while lifting her head, taking a quick glance around her room before groaning. "Stupid birds! I was having a nice dream!" She said before letting her head flump back down onto her thick bed sheets.

She would have gone back to napping again, but she quickly remembered about Scootaloo and that she should go and check on her, just to see if she's okay now. She let herself slide down off of the bed and onto her hooves before she trotted out of her room and over towards Scootaloo's. She wobbled occasionally on her way there as she had just woken up from quite the deep nap, meaning she was still quite sleepy.

Once she reached Scootaloo's room she knocked on her door, hoping to get an answer. "Scootaloo? You still in there?" She asked curiously. After a couple seconds of silence, the door was opened quietly by Scootaloo, who looked somewhat tired judging by the bags under her eyes. Rainbow Dash nudged closer through the open door, standing in the middle of it's frame. "Hey, you okay? You look all dried up and tired. Actually, have you even left your room since I went for a nap?" She asked, tilting her head and lifting up one of her hooves.

Scootaloo shook her head and rubbed one of her cheeks. "No, I've been in here for the past two or so hours. I didn't even know you went for a nap, I think I just assumed you went and did some flying or something," she said, looking up towards her.

Rainbow Dash shook her head and waved her hoof a bit as she spoke. "No way! I wouldn't have gone out and just left you here to mope. If I was going to go anywhere, I'd have asked if you wanted to come with me," she said, letting herself trot fully inside the room before sitting down. Scootaloo moved back to allow Rainbow Dash to come inside. There was an awkward pause after that, with neither of them knowing what to say.

Unlike two hours ago, Scootaloo seemed okay enough to talk now. Rainbow Dash figured that she would try talking to her about the race. "...So, you okay? If you want to talk to me about what happened, you can," she said with a soft tone.

Scootaloo shrugged, sitting down in-front of her. She seemed hesitant about speaking at first, but eventually gave in as she began to talk. "...I just think that if I hadn't have responded to the other filly that was pushing me, I probably would have won. My temper got the best of me and it allowed Rumble to get ahead in the last second. I was so happy when I crossed the finish line! I felt so impressed and proud of myself, only for all of that happiness to get pulled away from me," she said as she dipped her head down and frowned.

Rainbow Dash sighed, trying to think about what she could say to try and enlighten her about the situation. "...Rumble was most likely saving all of his energy for the final lap. Maybe he would have sped ahead of you anyway, even if you didn't lose your temper?" She said before seeming somewhat annoyed with herself. Her mood dipped as she let out another small sigh. "...I-I'm not very good at helping am I?"

Scootaloo shrugged again as she began to speak with a sad tone. "You're better than a lot of other ponies, that's for sure. No worries, though... I think I'll be okay in like a week. I still feel really disappointed in myself though, I probably could have done so much better than I ended up doing," she said, rubbing the side of her head.

Rainbow Dash pulled Scootaloo's head up and smiled. "You shouldn't feel disappointed with yourself! Look how far you got in the league, in-fact, you nearly won! You could barely even fly around six weeks ago, then you ended up beating some of Equestria's best flying fillies. You need to be proud of what you've achieved! Even I'm a little jealous about how quickly you learned compared to the lengthy training I had to do most of my childhood," She said as she had a soft smile on her face.

Scootaloo's mood seemed to lift a bit as she began fluttering her wings ever so slightly. "...I guess I did go from 0 to 100 real fast, didn't I?" A small smile crept over her face as she nudged closer to Rainbow Dash. "Even if you aren't very good at helping with my mood, thanks. I wouldn't have done any of this without you. All of your teaching and training really helped me get my hooves off the ground, quite literally," she said, looking up to Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash ruffled up Scootaloo's mane with her hoof. "Hey, don't mention it. I'd do anything I could to make your dreams come true," she said, slowly standing up and stretching. "So, wanna go get some ice cream or something? The sun is still as bright as ever,"

Scootaloo nodded, standing up as well. "Sure, I could go for some ice cream," she said, smiling up to Rainbow Dash.

Author's Note:

Not a big fan of this chapter myself. A bit too much filler and not enough killer. If anything, it's a transition from the last into the next.