Rainbooms and Romance

by Kodeake

Dark

Dark

(Continuation of Belief, about one year later)

Scootaloo’s heart thundered in her chest as she ran through the deserted town of Ponyville. It was dark, the moon and stars hidden by a thick, black layer of clouds. Her hooves ached and her legs burned in protest, every step sending a jolt of pain through her limb. But still she pushed herself to run faster and faster. She couldn’t afford to slow down, even a little, or It would catch her.

Her breath came in short, fast pants as she raced through the dark streets. Her eyes widened in shock and fear as It appeared in front of her. She skidded to a halt as fast as she could as she desperately looked for an escape. Her eyes locked on an alley between two buildings. She whirled around and dashed down the even darker alley.

She flung her head around over her shoulder; breathing a sigh in relief when It wasn’t following her. As she looked over her shoulder, she failed to look forward and notice the rock until her hoof hit it. She stumbled, her momentum continuing to carry her forward as her hooves stopped, sending her tumbling head over hooves down the alley. She slid to a stop a short distance from the rock and sat up quickly. She shot a glare at the rock before remembering what she was doing. Spinning back around to continue her escape, she came face to face with It.

She spun back around in a panic, only to find that the alley that had once been there was now nothing more than a plain, red brick wall. She was cornered. In a flash of desperation she ran to the wall and started pounding on it with her hooves, praying for something to happen before it got her. Her heart felt like it was trying to burst out of her chest as the wall continued to mar her path.

Giving up on her fruitless pounding she spun around to face her impending doom. She stared with wide, fearful eyes as It grew closer to her, inch by inch. Instinctively, she pressed herself as flat against the wall as she could and squeezed her eyes shut. Suddenly, she felt a pressure against her chest as It started doing whatever it was going to do. She screamed out in panic. She flailed her hooves madly, trying to push it away, but something bound her legs and wings.

Scootaloo shot upright in her bed, still panting heavily. Her entire form was drenched in sweat and tangled in her blankets. She looked around the darkened room frantically, ensuring It wasn’t there. Finding that she was safe, she allowed herself a few deep breaths to calm down.

“It was just a dream,” She breathed, holding a hoof over her chest in an attempt to slow it’s frantic pace. After a few deep breaths her breathing and heart rate were back to something close to normal and she laid her head back down on her pillow. After getting into a more comfortable position, she recovered herself with her blanket and closed her eyes.

Her breath caught in her throat and her eyes snapped open when It was there. She looked around her room again; still nothing was out of the ordinary. She closed her eyes again, but as soon as her lids slid shut It was there again, ready to chase her down. She fought the urge to panic, instead trying to go back to sleep.

“It was just a dream… it’s not real,” She muttered to herself over and over again, but it did little to dispel her mind’s image of It. Every time she shut her eyes It would be there, and every time she saw it she would panic and snap her eyes open.

Eventually, her mind started to get the better of her as the time she had her eyes open increased with her breathing. Every shadow looked like It’s silhouette and every sound It’s breathing. It was hiding in her closet, peaking through the tiny crack of the not-fully-closed door. The wind in the leaves of the tree library was It shuffling across her floor, and the sweat on the back of her neck was its heavy breathing from right behind her.

Her breathing grew into fast pants again as her imagination ran wild, taking everything her senses perceived and bending it to her fears. She grabbed her blanket and pulled it up over her head, hoping to hide herself from her own fears. Unfortunately, the darkness created by the blanket was the perfect place for her mind to project It.

She flung the blanket of in a terrified huff, looking around her room for something – anything – that could stop her imagination. Finally, her eyes settled on the wooden door to her room, shrouded by darkness against the wall. She knew that, just beyond the door, was the hallway. And not two doors down was another darkened door leading to another darkened bedroom.

Could she though? What would they say? What would they do? Surely they wouldn’t allow it. Sure, they had allowed her to stay in their room the first couple nights she had been living in their tree library, but that was only while they cleaned out a room for her. The spare bed had long since been moved out of their room and into hers. No, she couldn’t, she’d just have to find a way to deal with it.

Pulling the blanket back around herself, she rolled into the most comfortable position she could find and closed her eyes. It took all of two seconds for her eyes to fly open again. It had been there, and it had tried to attack her again. It was her imagination, she knew it was her imagination, but that didn’t stop her mind from believing what it thought it saw.

Again her eyes fell on the door to her room. There was no way she was getting back to sleep like this. Maybe they would let her, just once. No, no she couldn’t, this was her problem, and she didn’t need to bother them with it. Making up her mind, she rolled over yet again and tried to slow her heart again. She could hear it pounding in her ears as her eyes continued to race around the room. Everything she looked at was It and every time she closed her eyes It was there. There was no escape.

Suddenly a large gust of wind blew through her open window; the change in air pressure opened her closet door wide. Standing in the shadows was It, getting ready to leap out at her. She had to stifle a scream as she dashed out of her room and into the hall.

Her legs trembled with fear as she made her way down the hall. She knew It would be following her, and that she had to hurry, but at the same time, she didn’t want to wake her adoptive parents. So she settled for a speed walk down the hall.

Her heart pounded in her ears as she approached the door to her parent’s room. Would they be mad at her for doing this? Would they send her back to face It? The journey down the dark hall seemed to stretch on for an eternity, and yet she reached it before she was ready. She stood hesitantly outside the door. What was she doing? Was one nightmare really enough to scare her into seeking out the protection of her parents?

No, she didn’t need them for this. She turned to make her way back to her room, only to dash into her parent’s room when It was running down the hall after her.

-_-_-_-

Rainbow’s eyes fluttered open to the darkened room she shared with her wife. Something had woken her up, but she didn’t know what it was. She cast a quick glance around the room without bothering to sit up. Finding nothing, she rolled over to a more comfortable position, finding herself facing the back of Twilight’s head. She smiled to herself at the peaceful sight of her wife. Like a moth drawn to a flame she slithered closer under the blankets, wrapping her hooves around Twilight and pulling her into her chest. Twilight murmured happily in her sleep and pressed back into the new source of heat.

With a satisfied smirk she rested her head in the crook of Twilight’s neck and closed her eyes. Within seconds she felt the haze of sleep begin to cloud her mind, aided by the warmth of the unicorn in her arms.

“Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow’s ear flicked at the sudden noise. It sounded like somepony was calling her name.

“Rainbow Dash,” the voice called her name again. Sleep was instantly pushed from her mind as a realization dawned on her; that was not Twilight’s voice.

“Rainbow Dash?”

Rainbow rolled her head over to see who it was. All she could see was the dark silhouette of a pony looming over her. Her mind instantly kicked into overdrive; there was some unknown pony in her room in the middle of the night. With a start she untangled herself from Twilight and threw the covers off herself as she stood on the bed. She lowered herself down to a defensive stance between the intruder and Twilight.

“Who are you? What are you doing here?” Rainbow growled, squinting to see the pony’s face through the darkness. She heard Twilight fidget behind her.

“Rainbow?” Twilight muttered groggily, opening her eyes to see Rainbow standing over her.

“M-mom, it’s me!” Scootaloo cried, backpedalling away from the pegasus still glaring at her.

“Scoots?” Rainbow asked, allowing her glare to soften as she stood from her crouched position and hopped off the bed. “What are you doing here in the middle of the night?”

Twilight sat up in bed, watching as Scootaloo nearly vibrated in what looked to be fear. Her eyes were glancing quickly between the door, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight, though it looked like she couldn’t decide which one to be more scared of.

“Are you alright?” Twilight asked, clambering out of the bed and standing next to Rainbow. The filly shrivelled under her gaze.

“Y-yes?” Scootaloo answered shakily. Twilight raised an eyebrow in doubt, with the way the filly looked at the door, she had a pretty good idea what was going on. Rainbow seemed to catch on to Scootaloo’s unsure tone.

“What’s wrong, Squirt?” She asked, dropping her voice to a more comforting tone. She folded her wings back into her sides as the adrenaline faded from her system.

“I… I-I… I kinda…” Scootaloo’s words tumbled over each other as she tried to explain her predicament. She didn’t know what to say or how Twilight and Rainbow Dash would react. She glanced to the door again. It was either telling them and praying that they would understand, or facing It again. Taking a deep breath, she made her choice.

“I... h-had a… n-nightmare…” Scootaloo mumbled quietly, averting her gaze from her mothers and down to the floor. Twilight gave a slight smirk while Rainbow raised an eyebrow, waiting for the filly to continue. When she didn’t, Twilight spoke.

“And when you woke up, whatever was in your nightmare was everywhere you looked?” Twilight asked with a knowing look. Scootaloo could only nod. Twilight chuckled while a look of realization dawned on Rainbow’s face.

“Every sound you heard was it coming to get you, every shadow that moved was it moving around your room, and every door was hiding whatever it was behind it,” Twilight recited, as if reading from a book. Scootaloo looked up with a spark of confusion behind her eyes.

“Yeah, but how did you-”

“I was a filly once too, you know,” Twilight answered her question before it could finish leaving Scootaloo’s lips. Twilight heard a chuckle from next to her. She turned to see Rainbow trying to hold in her laughter.

“What?” Twilight asked pointedly.

“It’s just… this is exactly what happened on that campout we had a few years ago, remember?” Rainbow asked through her laughter.

“Oh yeah, I remember you telling me about that now! Didn’t she end up nearly falling into a river or something?” Twilight said with a giggle. Scootaloo felt her face heat up from embarrassment. Suddenly, Rainbow’s chuckling silenced.

“Didn’t you learn anything from that Scoot’s? I told you; you could always come to me when you’re scared, that goes double now that I’m your parent.” Rainbow’s tone was serious yet comforting.

“I thought you’d be mad at me…” Scootaloo admitted sheepishly, lowering her head back down. It sounded so silly now, why would her parents ever be mad at her for being scared?

“We’d never be mad at you for this,” Twilight assured.

“Yeah, now come on, let’s get back to sleep,” Rainbow offered, motioning to the large bed in the room. Scootaloo felt a wave of panic wash over her.

“Wait, what am I supposed to do? How did you deal with it?” Scootaloo asked, turning to Twilight. The older mare smirked.

“Well, there was really only one thing that helped me get through it when I was your age,” Twilight explained as she climbed back into her bed, Rainbow following suit with a matching smirk.

“What was it?” Scootaloo asked, a little more desperately than she would normally admit as she trotted over to the bed.

“Well, when I couldn’t get back to sleep, I used to go to my parent’s room, just like you, and they’d give me something to help me sleep.” Twilight couldn’t contain her mischievous grin as she lay down in the bed next to Rainbow facing the little orange filly.

“What’d they give you?” The filly asked with a glint of hope in her voice.

“Well, I’d wake them up and tell them what was wrong. Then, they would give me…” Twilight trailed off as she grinned widely at Scootaloo, Rainbow chuckling behind her.

“C’mon Twilight, quit teasing her!”

“They gave me… CUDDLES!” Twilight cried, snatching up the little filly in her purple magic and bringing her onto the bed between her and Rainbow, giggling like a mad pony. Scootaloo was dropped down onto the bed between her two adoptive parents, her mind catching up to what had happened. Once it did, she couldn’t contain her smile as she was wrapped in Twilight’s hooves.

Rainbow joined in their embrace shortly after, sandwiching the filly between her two mothers. Scootaloo couldn’t be happier. She smiled, rubbing her cheek into Twilight’s soft chest and feeling the loving embrace of a mother. Her eyes began to droop with the aid of the warm embrace of her parents, the safety of knowing she had ponies who loved her aided her journey back to the land of dreams. Not even It could get her here.

Twilight smiled and loosened her grip as she felt Scootaloo relax, a light snoring emanating from the filly.

“She’s asleep already,” Twilight spoke quietly, prompting Dash to ease up on her own embrace. “She falls asleep faster than you,” She added mockingly as Rainbow shuffled back a bit. Rainbow just chuckled as she watched the filly sleep.

Twilight released the filly all together; Scootaloo subconsciously curled into a small orange and purple ball between the two mares. Twilight levitated the blanket back over all three of them, Rainbow draping a wing across her wife and daughter. Soon the rhythmic breathing of three sleeping ponies filled the room, broken by the occasional light snore.

Comments

[Pitdastardly]

AAARG!! my heart! give it back!

[EddWar]

DDDDDAAAAAAWWWWW

[I AM CINNIMEN BUN]

HNUGGGGHNGG CUTENESS OVERPOWERING MEEEEEE.

[crackle486]

Read this in my poorly lite room on the middle of the night. Actually creeped me out a little until the dawwws started.