A Diamond in the Rough

by Rainb00m

A Rainbow in the Dark

The soft snoring from Scootaloo, and the clopping sounds his hooves made as they hit the earth, were the only noises that penetrated the silent and rather unusually cool night as Solar trotted along the path to his parent's home. The moon illuminated the path ahead and casted a shadow of his form onto the ground below. Solar looked at his shadow, with Scootaloo's sleeping form on top of it, out of the corner of his eye and smiled. His mind swam in the sea of memories stored within his brain. The scent of Rarity invaded his nostrils. She smelled of honeysuckle. He let out a sigh as he felt a tingle on the cheek that she had kissed.

He could feel Scootaloo's gentle breathing on his back as he trotted along the path. His speed picking up a bit as his parents home came into his view, slowing only when he felt his younger sister starting to slide off his back.

For what seemed like an eternity to accomplish, Solar reached the door that kept the inside of his parents' home safe from Mother Nature. He lifted one of his front hooves and slowly pushed the door open. It let out a low moan as it opened up to allow the Pegasus to enter. Solar walked slowly into the home and stopped to allow his eyes to adjust to the dark interior which seemed to wrap around him and his younger sister like a blanket.

Their house was not one that pegasi usually lived in for they lived inside of a rather large tree. When Solar was a colt, they had lived in the skies much like Rainbow Dash currently did. They had moved down to the earth after Solar had left for Cloudsdale shortly after Scootaloo was born. If Solar could turn on a lamp without awaking his younger sister or alerting his sleeping parents, he would be in the living room, which was adorned with a rug, coffee table, couch and pictures of Solar, Scootaloo and the rest of their family.

Solar stood there for a few seconds to allow his eyes to finish adjusting to the darker interior of the house before he dared to venture any further inside. He moved slowly towards the staircase which was located near the back of the living room and started to climb the stairs carefully as to not let the sleeping filly on his back fall off. He reached the top and walked slowly towards his sister's room. Solar silently thanked Celestia that her room was the closest to the staircase. He nudged the door open with his noise and it silently swung inward and he walked in.

Her room was covered with various posters of Spitfire from the Wonderbolts and pictures of her and Rainbow Dash with only a few of them containing Solar. One of them that did contain him was of when she was born. Solar looked at it for a few seconds and a smile awoke on his face. Fighting back the small army of tears that were trying to force their way down his face as memories flooded his mind, he turned his head to look at a picture of Dashie and Scoots and mouthed the words "Thank you, Dashie" and turned around to put Scootaloo to bed.

A sense of guilt and regret washed over him as he thought about how he had not been there much for his sister. He was glad that Dashie had stepped up and been a replacement role model in his absence. He was glad that his oldest and dearest friend had taken up the burden of teaching Scootaloo the things that he should have taught her and for somepony for Scootaloo to look up to.

When he reached the bed, he lowered himself closer, whispering "Scootaloo, we're home." No answer from the filly. He tried again for the next few minutes until he saw one of her eyes flutter open. "We're home, little sister." He whispered. Scoots let out a big yawn and climbed off her brother's back and onto the bed and curled back up into a ball. Smiling, Solar grabbed the blanket that sat on a corner of her bed and pulled it up so that it wrapped itself around her. Satisfied, he nuzzled Scootaloo and started to head out of the room when he heard her sleepy voice say

"Big brother?"

He stopped where he was at and turned his head to say "Yes, Scoots?"

"You're not going back to Cloudsdale…right?"

Solar chuckled. "No, little sister. I'm here to stay."

"Good." Her sleepy voice spoke up. "I don't want you to go back there…I love you, big brother…" and with that, Scootaloo slipped back into deep sleep.

"I love you too, Scoots." He whispered back and returned to his task of leaving. He trotted out of her room, slowly closing it as he left and headed down the stairs. Being careful of how fast he moved down them and back outside of the house. He closed the front door behind him and trotted a few steps away from the door before he yawned and stretched his wings.

The fresh air infiltrated his nostrils and gave him a sudden jolt of energy. His legs kicked him off of the earth and he spread his wings to keep himself airborne. As he ascended into the heavens, he let his mind wander once more. He thought of this evening, he thought of how he needed to be there more for his sister. He thought of helping Pinkie set up the party and how she seemed more…Pinkie Pie-ish than usual. He thought of Rarity more than anything else. He would see her tomorrow. His excitement caused him to perform a few loop-de-loops in the sky.

He continued his flight back towards Sugarcube Corner, humming softly to himself as the houses below him started to fill with ponies returning home. Solar looked down in confusion, the party had just started. Why was everypony leaving? Upon closer inspection, he saw that they were bringing their foals home.

He started the descent back down to the earth as Sugarcube Corner came into view when a rainbow sped past him. Solar stopped in mid flight and twirled around in the air to watch it go. He knew that it was Rainbow Dash who had just sped past him.

"That's odd…Dashie isn't one to leave a party so early…" he mumbled to himself.

He looked back at Sugarcube and then back at the direction where he saw Dashie take off. He took off after Rainbow Dash without a second thought. His black and red streak followed after her multi colored one. He followed it for a good mile or so and the rainbow trail ended abruptly as if she just dropped out of the sky. The black Pegasus stopped and hovered, looking around in the skies wildly for if she had just slowed down or if something had grabbed her in mid flight. His ears perked up as they picked up a noise that originated from the ground below, he tilted his head downward to look at what was underneath him and saw a rainbow mane sitting next to the lake that was below him.

He slowly started to make his descent from the sky and he watched her as she sat near the water's edge and he thought a whisper came from her as he got closer. The sound of his beating wings seemed to have aroused her from her trance as her head snapped up to see who was trying to sneak up on her. She seemed to relax as she recognized who the wings belonged to as a small smile appeared on her face.

"Hey Solar." She said as the black Pegasus landed next to her. "I thought you would be at the party after you brought Scootaloo home." Dashie added as she watched Solar fold his wings and sit down. He looked at her and shrugged and said

"I was on my way back when you dashed past me." He chuckled a bit at his pun while Dashie just smiled. She sighed before saying

"I just needed some air." She wasn't exactly lying, she needed the fresh air. But, the biggest reason was so that she didn't have to watch Solar and Rarity flirt again. Solar studied her for a minute, his blue eyes trying to read her eyes. Rainbow Dash kept them where they were, looking into Solar's eyes.

"I understand…it is pretty crowded in there. I think Pinkie invited everypony in the village there." Solar said, he smiled and looked out towards the lake they were sitting by.

It seemed like an eternity before either of them spoke, Solar being the one who broke the silence.

"I never thanked you…"he said, eyes fixated on the reflection of the moon on the surface of the lake.

"Thanked me for what?" Dash asked, turning her head to look at him.

"For being there for Scootaloo." He turned his head away from the reflection of the moon to look at her as he spoke to her.

"Oh…it was no big deal." She replied, smiling.

Solar grinned and he looked up to the sky and he inhaled some of the air.

"Well…what shall we do now?" he asked her.

"I wasn't planning on returning to the party…you can go back if you want to." Dashie replied.

Solar nodded. "I guess I should go back for a bit." He turned around to get ready to take back off into the air. "I'll see you at home then." Solar said. He stopped in mid turn and he turned back to Rainbow Dash and held out his right front hoof for a hoof bump, which she accepted by bumping his hoof with her own.

"Of course!" Dashie replied.

Solar grinned and levitated into the air. He waved to Rainbow Dash and he took off into the night, leaving a red and black streak in the night sky. Rainbow Dash watched him as he went and she sighed and kicked a rock that was near her front hooves and heard a splash! as it hit the water's surface. She could tell he cared for Rarity and she wasn't happy about it.

"He's my closest friend… why can't I be happy for him?" She asked herself. With a final sigh, she lifted herself into the air. She suddenly felt tired and drained of energy. She just wanted to go home and rest.

And that's what she did, she flew back to her cloud home, passing out as soon as she walked through the front door. Solar returned a few hours later and almost tripped on her sleeping form. He chuckled and managed to move her over to her couch that also served as her bed and he covered her up with a nearby blanket.

"Good night, Dashie." Solar whispered, he turned and trotted to his own room and yawned. The black Pegasus crawled into the bed that sat in the middle of the room and fell into the realm of dreams almost instantly.

The dreams he dreamt contained mixtures of Rarity and fantasies of another nature. Twice he awoke in excitement for the day that he and Rarity would spend together, only to gaze outside the window to see that Luna still governed over Equestria's skies. With an impatient sigh, he closed his eyes and went back to sleep.