Prologue: Happier Times
Sisters: Chasing Happier Times
By Lightfox Lowell
“So you’re looking for somepony to take you under their wing, huh? Yeah, I might be up for something like that."
For Scootaloo, hearing this statement come from Rainbow Dash was the stuff of dreams. Something she always wanted but never really believed would come to pass. But at the end of the day, after that faithful camping trip, it did.
From that point on, life's been pretty good for Scootaloo. She had gained the mentor and sister she had always wanted. It also meant the end of the long days when she would end up alone. Even if he is rarely seen, Scootaloo does have a parent: her father, an earth pony named Pin Puller. While she does love him, his work as a train conductor takes him away from Ponyville for most of the day; sometimes nights as well. On days like these she would be home alone or spend the time with the other members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. It was not a bad thing but she did get lonely. However, that had finally ended; on such nights Scootaloo now finds herself in the awesome company of Rainbow Dash in her cloud home.
While one might ask, “where is her mother?“ the answer is somewhat complex. She is/was a humble mailmare pegasus. She had left one day to deliver a package to the Cloudsdale post office, but she never arrived. She has been missing for about two years now.
At this point there is a gravestone , so to speak, with nobody.
All of this had an unintended side effect: most people in town began to get quite used to connecting Scootaloo with Rainbow. This had its ups and downs. Everyone could see Rainbow and Scootaloo as being like each other's sister. But Scootaloo having a sister meant something else. She was no longer untouchable for the chaos she made with the CMC. While Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom had always been held accountable by their family, Scootaloo never really had to worry. With her father out of town most of the time, she could get away with just about anything the CMC did. That ended after what the Town calls “The Great CMC Syrup Flood.“
***
The day had started off quite normally, at least for Ponyville standards. It had also looked like it was going to be keep being a good day until the CMC learned something that should have never been told to them: one single fact that seemed so harmless to Cheerilee at the time.
"Syrup is made from tree sap."
“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS SYRUP MAKERS!“ marked the end of a good day in the town of Ponyville. Before anypony had time to react, a wave of syrup had overtaken much of the town center. While nopony was hurt, and the damage quite minimal (It turns out they are not good at making proper syrup and it was quite watered down) the town's ponies were not happy.
“You three are not going anywhere!“ shouted a very sticky Mayor Mare.
While Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had resigned themselves to their fates, Scootaloo spoke up with something she had said quite a few times before.
“Uhh... Miss Mayor, my dad is not home right now,“ said Scootaloo, giving an apologetic smile.
She had almost started to get up when the mayor replied. “I never said anything about your father, Scootaloo.“
This confused Scootaloo to no end. If they were not making her wait for her father, then who could it be?
The answer came around a corner alongside Applejack and Rarity. A rainbow mane, a cerulean coat, cerise eyes full of anger and disappointment: Rainbow Dash.
Mayor Mare gave an almost prideful smirk at Scootaloo’s face when she saw Rainbow Dash coming. For almost a year this filly had been getting away with the CMC’s wave of destruction. But seeing Scootaloo’s eyes go wide and her wings fall limp, she knew she had finally gotten the little filly.
Scootaloo’s eyes went wide and her feathers felt like they were going to fall off of her wings at moment. Her legs started to buckle when she saw the mayor walk up to the three older mares and start talking. Her poor filly mind was racing with thoughts. ‘Rainbow looks really mad, what did they tell her? Why did they bring her here? What if this made her not want to be my sister any more?‘ It was that last one that made Scootaloo's heart feel like it was going to stop beating.
Applejack and Rarity were the first to be done and collect their sisters. While Scootaloo was sure they had said something, it was lost to the filly's mind. The only thing that mattered to her was that Rainbow Dash and the mayor were still talking. A few more seconds passed. It felt like hours. Rainbow Dash finally gave a salute to the mayor and then started to walk to Scootaloo.
“Come on, Scootaloo, we're going home.“ Rainbow Dash then lowered her wing to allow Scootaloo to climb on.
While Scootaloo was being shown how to fly, and was improving by the day, she still needed help to get up to Rainbow Dash's home, which was the home Scootaloo had to assume she was being taken to.
The ride was abnormally silent. Scootaloo tried to talk to Rainbow Dash a few times but never got a response. By the time that they got to Rainbow Dash’s house, Scootaloo had started to think that the syrup in her coat was going to harden and make her into a scoota-statue, or somehow fuse with Rainbow Dash. But thankfully this proved not to be the case when they landed on the front clouds of Rainbow Dash’s home and Scootaloo hopped off of Dash’s back.
Finally Rainbow Dash spoke up as she kicked a cloud and let it rain on herself to get the syrup off. “Scoots go take a bath and I will be back before you get out.“
“Oh, okay Rainbow Dash... But... where are you going?“ asked Scootaloo.
“I have to go round up the weather team to cook up a storm to wash away somepony's syrup flood,“ replied Rainbow Dash.
Scootaloo’s head lowered to avoid Rainbow Dash’s gaze. “Oh yeah... that makes sense.“ She then watched as Rainbow took off into the sky leaving Scootaloo alone with her thoughts.
She went into the house and into the bathroom. Dash had shown her how to kick clouds to make them rain a long time ago, and she put it into practice here. Sitting in the rain, she thought about what was to come next. The poor filly gave a shiver of fear. She stepped out shortly after and dried off.
Walking back into the main part of the house, Scootaloo found Rainbow Dash waiting in the main hall with a her coach hat and whistle.
“Okay Scoots, your dad is not home which means I’m in charge of you,” Rainbow Dash stated. “And since you made me and my weather ponies work more today, I’m going to make you work more, too.” Rainbow Dash had a grin on her face that made a shiver go down Scootaloo’s spine.
Scootaloo had stopped trying to count the wing-ups... But she had done about sixty laps around the perimeter of the house by the time Dash let her “take fifteen.“ She laid there, on the cloud floor, as the world felt like a mix of pain and soreness. She was sure Dash was trying to kill her with the longest, most painful workout she had ever experienced. The worst part was the sun was not even down yet.
‘One hundred and twenty... one hundred and twenty laps.‘ That was all that was in Scootaloo's mind as she was barely able to walk into the house with Rainbow Dash. Her wings felt like rubber, her body fire. Was this what Apple Bloom felt like after her sister made her work on the farm? Scootaloo was not sure, but what she did know was that a cutie mark in syrup making would not have been worth this agony.
“Heh! Okay, Scoots, I think you've learned your lesson,” said Rainbow Dash. “Do you think you'll be covering the town with syrup again any time soon?”
“You say that like I’m going to be able to move again any time soon...” Scootaloo looked up weakly at Dash.
Rainbow Dash flashed a smile at Scootaloo. “Heh! Yeah, you'll be a bit sore tomorrow. But how about you crash in bed with me tonight. Sleeping in the most awesome bed in Ponyville will help.”
Scootaloo smiled and gave a quick nod. Dash then scooped her up and let her rest on her back as she carried her to bed.
In Scootaloo’s mind, she might have been sore, in a bit of pain, and really tired, but one thing mattered more: Rainbow Dash was still her sister, and that was worth everything that had happened that day.
***
Scootaloo’s father, Pin Puller, was thankful for Rainbow taking Scootaloo under her wing. He often worried for the well being of his daughter when he was away from Ponyville. But at the end of the day there was not much he could do about it. With his wife missing and bills piling up he had to keep working whenever he could.
After a few dinners and watching her train Scootaloo to fly, the bonds of this “family” grew. Soon, Dash being over for dinner was the norm, but Pin Puller still remembered that first day; the day where he where thought his worst fears had come to pass.
It was the morning after Scootaloo was to return from her camping trip. Celestia’s sun was just barely on the horizon when a train pulled into the Ponyville station. A stallion with bags under his eyes walked off the train and checked out for the day with the station manager.
It was Pin Puller, heading home after a long night's work. Even if he was exhausted, the stallion wore a smile on his face. He had not seen his daughter in about two days. She had begged him to go on a camping trip with her friends. He saw no harm in it so of course he let her go.
Pin Puller opened the door to their home and trotted inside. He noted that the house was oddly clean. Normally when Scootaloo was home alone he came in to find it partly destroyed. He shrugged it off and walked to Scootaloo’s door. He opened it quietly, only to see the bed was empty. Then it hit him: the house being clean, the door was even locked. Something must've happened-- she had not come home!
Panicked, Pin Puller ran out of the door and into the cold morning. He had to find Scootaloo, and he had a good idea on where to start: Sweet Apple Acres, owned by the Apple family who Scootaloo went camping with.
Finding Applejack was not hard. Pin Puller saw her leaving the barn with a cart right as he got to the farm.
“Oh good! Applejack, I needed to see you. Have you seen Scootaloo? It did not seem like she got home last night,“ said Pin Puller, with a hint of panic in his voice.
“Well, shoot, Pin Puller. Last Ah saw her was with Rainbow Dash. If Ah remember correctly Dash was taking her home,“ replied Applejack.
Rainbow Dash. This was a name Pin Puller knew all too well. Scootaloo talked about her day and night. Personally he was not too fond of the daredevil pegasus. She seemed to be rubbing off on Scootaloo, who was always trying to “be as cool as Rainbow Dash” by doing reckless stunts. He quickly thanked Applejack and wasted no time heading to Rainbow Dash’s cloud home.
When he got there he noted that he could have planned this better. Being an earth pony he had no way of getting to the cloud home above him and it seemed so high that shouting appeared to be useless.
Then a voice came from behind him. “Um mister? Do you need to talk to Rainbow Dash?”
Surprised, Pin Puller quickly turned around to face the mailmare that had replaced his wife at the post office after she vanished: Ditzy Doo.
“Oh, Ditzy... Actually it’s good to see you. Yes, I need to speak with Rainbow Dash. I also think Scootaloo is with her,” answered Pin Puller.
Ditzy listened while she put some mail into the ground level mailbox. “Oh, sure, Mister, I’ll fly up and tell her you're down here.”
Shortly after going up, she came back down just to tell him they would be right down. Then she flew off.
After a minute or two Pin Puller saw Rainbow Dash kick off the clouds of her house with an unmistakable orange filly riding on her back. Shortly after landing, Scootaloo got off and hugged her father.
“Dad!” exclaimed Scootaloo.
Pin Puller pulled his daughter into the hug, his eyes hinting a bit of anger and worry. “Scootaloo, why are you here with Rainbow Dash? I was worried sick about you!”
Rainbow Dash gave off a small chuckle which seemed to make Scootaloo remember how sappy she was being, so she ended the hug right there.
“Well you can blame me for that,” answered Rainbow Dash. “I took her home in the middle of the storm we had last night, but she let it slip that she would be home alone. I was not going to let that fly so I took her here.”
“That and she told me she would take me under her wing and teach me to fly!” exclaimed Scootaloo.
The thought of Scootaloo flying was enough to make Pin Puller’s eyes go wide. “She did?”
“Hah! Maybe we should go your house to talk about all this, Scootaloo. The middle of a field is not the best place,” said Rainbow Dash.
Back at home, Scootaloo sat next to Rainbow Dash as they told Pin Puller of the events that had happened during the camping trip. And while he was less thrilled about the part where Scootaloo almost got herself killed, he was thankful for Rainbow Dash having saved her. But that aside, the whole taking Scootaloo under her wing part left Pin Puller a bit put off. Rainbow Dash was reckless, brash, and arrogant. However, at the same time, seeing that huge smile on Scootaloo’s face while she sat next to Dash made it hard to say no. So, out of the the love for his daughter he put his fears aside and said he was willing to give Dash a chance.
He quickly found out that he had misjudged Rainbow Dash. While what he had thought about Rainbow Dash may have been true, She was a good pony at heart and seemed to care for Scootaloo. She always made sure their training was done in a safe way, and always made it clear to Scootaloo that she can’t go trying to do the things she does. “I’m awesome, Scoots. You’re awesome in training.” was the way Rainbow Dash put it.
It took time, but the three ponies started to see each other as family.
From that day forward, Pin Puller could rest a bit easier on long train rides, knowing that his little girl would never be alone again.
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This is very promising. Keep up the great story. I really look forward to what you make of this.
...GO ON
....Wow...
I'm rather enjoying how this story is going so far, and I'm interested to see how it will progress from here. Good work so far...don't slack off.
Looking forward to more :)
Always a sucker for feel good Scoot stories.
2333707
Ah well... I hope you enjoy what is it come.
2331867
2331628
I had a feeling I would see you two. ;D
2333398
But but procrastination is totally my special talent. Just kidding I find writing this a lot of fun, so it's not likely to take a lot of time.
2335584 Then I am pleased.
2335584
Now, why on earth would you expect to see me?
2335843
I spot you a lot in comments of stories I have read. You seem to like Scootaloo and Dash stories. So I had a feeling I would be seeing you sooner or later. Its that or some one that shares that exact AV, witch is totally possible.
2335873
Careful, guys. This one is observant. =P
2335873
Yeah, I have been reading a ton of Scootaloo and Dash fics. You are quite observant.
What can I say? I like
! 2335584
Loved it!
Looking forward to reading more!
“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS SYRUP MAKERS!“
Well...they're getting tree sap on them FOR SURE this time. LoL
This chapter is funny.